Summer 2014

Good morning, everyone! It seems kind of crazy to be thinking about the end of summer already, but it's come to the point where next week is my last week of work and I'm already making plans to move into my new home. This summer has been sort of a transitional period in my life, and although I didn't picture it to have gone this way, I am grateful for the peace I've been gaining as a result of it. Today I just wanted to share my summer experiences (and plans for the school year) and hearing all about yours. Please let me know all about the highlights of your summer or exciting plans in the comments below!

From wacky sleep cycles, to making money, to getting ready for the new school year, to Skyping with a special friend, to learning yoga, to consuming way too much sugar, it's been a lazy schedule overall. I think that when I'm living at home, I tend to enter some sort of state of hibernation. I learned the other night that when you don't get enough sleep on a night, you start to accumulate sleep debt, which can be made up for by sleeping a little longer within the next few nights. Considering my sleep schedule (or lack of it) during the year, I shudder to think about how much sleep debt I probably have. But the good news is that I've been paying off the deficit gradually.

Speaking of debts, I did my best to work a whole lot to help minimize that student debt. Last week I worked 38 hours, which is the most I've ever done. This week, I'll just have 28 hours which will be pretty nice. I surprisingly have a lot of expenditures: club fees, taekwondo competitions, plane flights (I'm hoping to visit my uncle sometime this year), and of course going out to movies and meals with friends. I recently started tracking my budget through mint.com, and I was utterly astounded at how much food I bought. People with mortgages will probably laugh at me, but I spent so much money on food this summer! I was quite impressed with myself. Anyhow, this summer it dawned on me that living can get pretty expensive. So, I went on to apply for two jobs and managed to land both of them.

The first job is probably the one that you'll care more about (I'll explain why): working the front desk at the residence hall I'll be living in. I've got the graveyard shift, guys. There won't be very much to do during these wee hours of the night, so I'll probably be writing to you during these times! I can't make any promises, but we might step it up from one post a week to two posts a week. I guess we'll see how it goes! My semester is going to be a lot busier because I'll also be working as a tutor and also got a position as a research assistant in a health psychology lab. I am definitely excited to be busy this semester after a relaxed spring semester fresh from transferring and the lazy pace of this summer.

Some of my friends found it hard to believe when I told them, but I haven't practiced any taekwondo this summer! There were just too many conflicts with my work schedule and personal things going on too. I try to console myself by saying that I've been doing yoga. Don't get me wrong--the meditative style of yoga has helped with my flexibility and is great fun. It's a form of exercise that I'm hoping to incorporate into my morning routines during the school year because I do enjoy it, but I missed taekwondo quite a lot. Anyhow, these are two of my favorite yoga classes by Ali Kamenova that I've found to be awesome for beginners and have been trying to master lately:

Other than that, I had a wonderful experience going on a cruise around Scandinavia and Northern Europe earlier this summer! We ate lots of delicious food, met many incredible people, and saw lovely sights. It was an absolute pleasure and I am grateful for that family time.

Well, those are my highlights. What are some of yours? And what are you most looking forward to for the year? Let me know in the comments! Next week, I'll be writing a post on what working in the food industry has taught me, so don't forget to subscribe!

Smile on,

-Riley XO

Monsters University

Since my friends and I live on the edge, we went to see the midnight showing of Monsters University last night.

Disney has a dear place in my heart because it basically sums up the entirety of my childhood. I grew up singing "Part of Your World" and "Hakuna Matata," and humming the tunes to Beauty and the Beast or Mulan.

Do any of you have that experience, where you watch something from your childhood and realize that there was so much more to it than you thought all along? Well, for me, this is true. When I see some of the morals, rhetoric, and--let's face it--dirty jokes from Disney movies now that I hadn't realized before, it's like having an epiphany.

Anyway, I don't want to give anything in the movie away, but it is in essence a story of finding your strengths, and persevering despite unreasonable odds.

You know, some people treat life as a gambling game. If the odds of failure are high, we often don't even try. But if it's your dream, why not try? Is life even worth living if you don't pursue your dreams? And don't the risks make achieving those goals even more thrilling?

To me, the movie was ultimately about staying true to yourself (which is a valuable lesson taught in many Disney movies, but one that I am learning constantly).

Monsters University was pretty much the perfect movie for me and my friends to watch though, not necessarily for the entertainment, but for the sentimentality effect. Monsters Inc. came out when I was only seven years old. Mike Wazowski and Sulley were characters that I grew up knowing. It sounds kind of cheesey, but Monsters University was kind of a bridge between my childhood and college, considering the timing and theme.

I absolutely loved watching this movie and would very much like to see it again.

Please do try to get a chance to watch it, and if/when you do, feel free to leave your thoughts on the film in the comments! The blog has a new format from before, so just scroll up and click on the speech bubble at the top right hand corner of the post.

Have a great day!
-Riley XO

8 Things to do with Your Friends This Summer

Hey all, so summer is finally here! Summer is one of the best times of the year for students--as you probably know. Suddenly, we have all of this free time to spend doing whatever we want. But it's not worthwhile to just sit around at home staring at the ceiling and "relaxing" the whole time.

The purpose of this blog is to give you reasons to smile, and what could be a better reason to smile than having made new memories with your friends?

image from http://summertdl.wordpress.com/page/2/

Without further ado, here are eight creative ways for you to spice up your summer with a group of friends.

1. Organize a mystery party. I've only organized two mystery parties, but they are incredible. Some mystery parties can be pretty expensive for student budgets. However, I found an excellent site that has a free mystery party! Please click here to read the synopsis and available download for Michael Akers's "Sour Grapes of Wrath." Mystery parties are fun because it allows any number over four people to participate.
2. Make collages. Gather some magazines (or pictures) and brainstorm a topic--anything from friendship to desserts to vacation destinations. Then, take some time alone to create your own collage. Afterward, present your collages to your friends and see what different ideas you have. You could be surprised.
3. Play Ultimate Frisbee. Get a nice-sized group and get outside. Run, enjoy the air and sun. It doesn't even really have to be Ultimate Frisbee. Just make that trek to the park--do something active!
4. Cook dinner. For your parents. Yes, for your parents. If you're anything like me, this may seem like a daunting task, so that's where the friends part comes in. Gather your friends at around 3:00, watch a quick TV show, and then set to work trying a fancy recipe. Don't settle for spaghetti; try making something like Eggplant Parmesan or Chicken Pad Thai. Also, the best dinners have a nice dessert to finish off on a sweet note. This is also nice way to show your parents or mentors how much you appreciate them.
5. Learn yoga. Okay guys, maybe this sounds silly to you. Some of you might be shaking your heads. Well, yoga is something that I've personally wanted to learn for a long time. Us teenagers are under a lot of pressure when it comes to balancing our work, school, extracurricular, and social lives. Learning some yoga, meditation, and breathing techniques this summer will help you to lead a healthier, more relaxed and steady life.
6. Organize a service project. It doesn't have to be anything too complex. Motivating a group of teenagers to wake up early in the morning to volunteer at a soup kitchen is work enough. Plant a tree, or go together to visit a nursing home. Not only will you help the community--you'll also have fun doing so with your friends. And who knows? You just might learn something about yourself and each other.
7. Make a music video. Find a completely random song, learn the lyrics, and try to top the original MV with one of your own. If you need help finding a random song/video, here is one that may leave you shocked for a couple minutes, but would definitely be...interesting...to try tackling. Please follow this link to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g
8. Go on an adventure. I'm blessed to live in the lovely state of Colorado, and I have the ability to go to the mountains for a hike. But even if you don't have mountains, there must be hills, beaches, valleys, or beautiful fields or forests to explore within a reasonable distance. Our generation is earning a reputation for being too "plugged in." So take a day off, and be one with your friends and the breathtaking scenery that is all around us. Bring a camera, sunglasses--don't forget your water bottle or sunscreen either!

inbetweenthekeys.blogspot.com

And there are my eight things that you can do this summer. I hope that this gives you some ideas to treat yourself and the people around you--to make add a little something to the story of your summer.

I really tried to think of activities that would appeal to people of a variety of age groups and interests, but if you have any of your own, please feel free to share in the comments below.

Have a wonderful time!
-Riley XO