Welp. I survived my first week of school.

So it happens. And I feel kind of like a dork for Writing A Blog Post about Surviving My Very First Week Of School, but that’s how I roll. I was filled with way more anxiety about returning to school this year than I was in previous years, it boils down these three things:

1. I’ve been in community college for what feels like an eternity now, and this was my first week at University (finally!).
2. I met someone, who now lives far away. University means we can’t talk as much as we have been these past few weeks. (Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!)
3. All the girls downtown wear sexy boots and tights and dresses and ivory-carved necklaces and I have to catch a bus, a train, walk 12 blocks to get to campus AND then run across campus halfway through my day and sexy boots, tights, dresses and ivory-carved necklaces just don’t really fit into those wardrobe choices, right? I have been making do with my brand-new (for the term) graphic tees and my ever-trusty plaid shoes.

I am very excited and also dreading the coming term. I have two literature classes and a history class, which means I will be doing gobs and gobs of reading and also gobs and gobs of writing. Hopefully I can get past my initial hatred of doing work of any kind and find a way to enjoy the inevitable work I will have to do.

Because I don’t live on campus (though I would love love love to) I can’t quite wear the fascinating boots and skirt combinations that 99% of the girls on campus here wear, but I can make my own attempts with flats and my own cute tights. I will post an update on that next week!

So, I’ve been pretty open about how I work for this company where you wear green aprons and serve delicious lattes. I love my job! It’s awesome.

Next week we are releasing a new product called VIA ready brew. It’s instant coffee, and totally delicoius. My problem with getting excited and selling it is the fact that I don’t drink brewed coffee. I’ve had a really hard time becoming excited for something that (I thought) had no applications to my life.

And then I remembered this.

Like I say in that post, there is never an inappropriate time for cake. Lost your job? Eat some cake. Won an award? Eat some cake. Found a puppy? Eat some cake. Got a flu shot? Eat some cake.

But I digress.

Last week I did a quick twitter survey of whether I should combine VIA with a chocolate cake. My three responses were an overwhelming yes.

2 packs of VIA + 1/2 the batter in a chocolate cake mix.

= 1 pretty lookin’ cake.
The marbled effect really doesn’t make a difference in baking, except maybe make the coffee taste a little more potent. And really, the cake just tastes INCREDIBLY RICH. Not so much like coffee.

And here it is frosted, with coffee beans on top! I think that next time I will use chocolate covered coffee beans, and maybe use a little bit more instant coffee. It is SUPER delicious, though!

Overall verdict: awesome. You should try it!

I have been attempting to fully enjoy these last weeks of September summer.

On Tuesday I start school (my first term full-time at a University!) and everything will be crazy and not-so-crazy again. I am definetly ready for a regular schedule. Don’t know how ready I am for homework.

1. Fall.
2. The colour orange.
3. Lion statues.
4. Scarves.
5. Comparing sweet things like romance to Michael Bay films.
6. Cute girls in sweaters.
7. School starting.
8. Toy guns, and girls with old guns in general.
9. Baking cookies.
10. The idea of leaving love notes out in public for strangers.
11. Wearing black and gray.
12. Red trees that look like they’re on fire.
13. Drawing on craft paper.
14. Squirrels.
15. Looking at old photos.
16. Watching old episodes of Recess online.
17. The chilly early-morning smell I remember from childhood.
18. Making plans for Halloween.
19. Gray eyes.
20. Diamond tights and blue capes.

What do you love right now?

If there is anything foolish that I ever do that irritates my friends to no end it is invest in the lottery.

Powerball, Megabucks, oh you fickle gods of chance. I find myself dreaming of what I’ll do when I win. Buy a cottage, fix it up. Attend school full time, move into a fancy glamourous downtown condo. Pay off my parent’s mortgage. Travel to Australia. Visit DisneyLand for three weeks. Buy that black and white striped Ralph Lauren jacket. Buy more “rich white woman” nautical themed clothes in general. Ride a zebra.

You know, important things! Important things I need! Someday! It will be all mine, and I will dive headfirst into a pool of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck did in DuckTales.

I don’t invest a lot of money in the lottery–when it comes down to it, I’d rather have my dollar bill to buy a pack of M&M’s out of a vending machine, but I faithfully put my $2 in every other week and hope and pray and dream.

Yesterday my sister and I ran to the store to check our tickets. She went first, (”Sorry, not a winner”) and then I pulled out mine.

“Please see cashier.”

My mind exploded with excitement. A million dollars? A gabillionzillion dollars? Ten dollars?! The possibilities were endless. I impatiently waited in line at the customer service desk, flinging angry thoughts at the slow pokes in line ahead of me.

I tapped my red wedge flip-flops. I twirled my hair impatiently and I am completely, one-hundred percent guilty of glaring at the wife-beater wearing, bald man who oh so desperately needed to exchange this neon-green garden hose for the neon-green garden hose that was fifteen-feet longer and SERIOUSLY YOU CANNOT TELL THAT I HAVE JUST WON THE JACKPOT GET OUT OF MY WAY I HAVE A NAUTICAL-THEMED PASHMINA AFGHAN TO PURCHASE.

I finally got to the front of the line and thrust my ticket at Hal, the customer service representative. Hal smiled, took my ticket, inserted it into his machine and handed another slip of paper back at me.

“Sorry, hon,” Hal said, as he tapped his fingers on the plexiglass table, “Lately the system’s been all skewed and been tellin’ people who aren’t winners to come see me. Looks like it just did it to you, too.”

I accepted back my ticket and the receipt declaring that I didn’t win meekly and walked away, tossing both into the nearest trash can as my hopes, dreams, and plans of diamond-encrusted toothbrushes flew away.

It was then that Hal’s words hit me, and I was filled with indignation. People who aren’t winners. People who AREN’T WINNERS? I nearly turned around and gave him a what-for. How DARE he?! I am totally a winner. In fact, I am the winningest person around. I, Brittney, am a winner.

WINNER.

WINNER.

So I fluffed my hair, stomped my foot, and pulled out another $2 to invest in my future. I am going to prove Hal wrong.

I am a winner, Hal. You just don’t understand.

Ladies, gents, the time has come to examine the things we love the most…

The things we carry around with us.

Whether you’re an amazing individual who can sustain themselves by simply carrying around a well-worn wallet, or the fashionable fox who lugs around a roller-suitcase filled with everything they might ever need, we all have baggage we keep with us in the day-to-day.

This is my purse.

As you can tell, I’m somewhere in between those two people, not being secure enough in myself to only carry a wallet, yet not needing the kitchen sink on my adventures into the real world.

What do you carry around? I stick to my wallet, my trusty iPod (it’s name is Crane), my cell phone, a manicure set, some gum and a few other essentials.

There are days though, where I find myself bogged down with papers (empty tip envelopes, old mail, gum wrappers, bus tickets) and other extraneous things (books for the bus, extra necklaces, a spare tee shirt) and I have to center myself and reorganize, and pare myself down to the bare essentials.

In an attempt to keep myself organized, I have a small zip-up pocket that goes into every purse I carry. In it I have, my tin filled with emergency aspirin, a tube of lotion, and eyedrops. That way I always have the little things that I run out of when I’m on the town.

What do you keep in your purse always? How do you keep yourself organized?

I have found that when someone is having a hard time, really it’s the little things that can help to make a day better.

That’s partly why I tend to focus on little good things in life, to focus on those, and to remember them when the TERRIFYING HUGE AWFUL NO GOOD things explode in our face and leave us smelling like singed kittens and butter.

I’m super girly, but one thing that never fails to make my day a little bit brighter is my octopus ring.

It’s small, cute, and quirky. I can’t wear it to work, so it is reserved for Little Days of Special Importance, such as meeting a new friend downtown, or going to get frozen yogurt with the girls.

Do you have any little things like this that make you happy? Please share!

Lately life has piled upon me, and time and inclinations and attention spans just haven’t been working for blogging.

I generally find topics to blog about from my conversations with lovely ladies who lament or wonder how to do something, or from a random fashion find of my own.

I like my blog for what it is, but am at a point where I need a little more input from you, my online reader, who I don’t necessarily know, or who doesn’t get a chance to say anything to me in person.

So, dear readers, here is my question post–what do you want to see more of on here? Do you need (fashion, shopping) advice on anything? I am no Daddy Likey (seriously kids, she’s amazing) but I am one of those people who can always articulate and come up with ideas, so I’m good for that.

What do you think?

SO yeah, I’ve been bad about updating, and I’m not going to lie, today was my first day off in what felt like forever, and I spent the entire day covered in cheetos in front of my television watching reruns of NCIS.

But you know, in order to make the day worthwhile, I spent my time tonight editing a video of Daisy, one of the puppies I dog-sat for this month, to share with you.

And here she is:

It was totally worth it.