A short update.

Hey,

So I've decided to use Daisy from the Great Gatsby for my paper (shout out to Janiebug for the idea and possibly the only one who might read my blog anyway!). So crisis averted... for now.

I decided to join Tri Sigma. I'm already loving it and I'm not even a full sister. I have never had so many people sincerely interested in my well being at one time. The other day they all gathered in my apartment and decorated my door for bid day! I got a purple rush tshirt and 28 personal hand made cards from each girl. Each card said a little about themselves and had their phone numbers in them. It was so entirely sweet! Unfortunately it's a hundred dollars to be in it officially on sunday... so that sucks. But I like feeling involved in something again, like being apart of something bigger than myself.

These are all the cards and stuff they gave me taped to my door.

Isn't it nice? Notice the streamer and the balloon on the other side too.

I've had a revelation about what I want to do with my future career. I do like English and I love kids. But I realized that I don't want to teach English to kids, that I love them separately. The only reason I want to teach is to be around children and influence their lives for the better... not necessarily spread my love for reading and writing. I discovered that I really just want to study kids. That I want to get to know them on a personal level, I want to teach them about themselves.

So I'm thinking about child psychology for a masters degree. I want to hold focus groups for all sorts of girls and maybe even boys. I want to find out what motivates girls to act the way they do. What makes a bully into a cyber bully when they're philanthropists in school? Why do some girls click while others never will. What family issues shape their lives? How can I help? I want to motivate them. I really want to work with self-confidence and teach girls to notice their surroundings.

So child psychology may be the place to start. I'm having a meeting with my advisor on monday to see where this can take me.

-Love,

Lou

Need help!

Hey,

This isn't  a normal blogpost, it's just that I'm desperate.

I need to write a paper comparing Delilah from the Bible to another female character from the 19th century onwards. Except I can't think of a single one on my own... my brain is empty. Google is not helping me.

If you have any ideas please let me know. Please remember that Delilah is a temptress and a bitch, though she is fiercely loyal to her people the Philistines.

Thanks,

-Lou

Women and Greek Women.

Hey!

It's been a little while. However, I have much to report! I came back from the PASSHE Women's Conference at California University of Pennsylvania. I have to say that it was probably more for an older crowd of people, there were students there but the panels really didn't relate to anything our age group is going through. The hotel was BANGIN. The literally melted in the bed, the comforter, and the pillows.

It was a 3 hour drive to the University with another girl I had never met before. Turns out that she's pretty awesome though. She got a blister on her foot in the first hour of the conference and didn't wear shoes for the rest of it haha. We got along really well so it wasn't awkward hanging out with her for two days and two long car trips.

My favorite panel was the one about women representation in the media. They mostly talked about how female politicians are portrayed in the media. For example, did you know that Elena Kagan was harassed endlessly by the media over her sexuality. The cabinet told the media that she was not a lesbian, but did nothing to say that "Even if she was, what does it matter?" All because she didn't have a date to a wedding and had the stereotypical look of a lesbian. The other girl who I was with, who happens to be a lesbian, said "Funny, she doesn't look anything like me." That made me laugh because it's so true. Elena Kagan is the kind of woman that we've all seen before; over 50, short hair, stout body shape. True, she's not going to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader any time soon but she is a regular looking person. How many women can you count on your fingers and toes that look like this? Half of my female college professors have this same figure! And even if she was a lesbian, so what? Even if she was straight, so what? Why is her sexual preference front page news over her foreign policy preference? She's on the cabinet for goodness sake. Anyway, that's my rant about that.

My professor verbally accosted the hotel people because they lost her credit card information. They almost wouldn't let us leave the hotel because they knew that we had no way of paying. We were told that the university was paying for it, but they didn't have the card information so they thought we lied. I didn't hear the whole conversation but I did tune in for "It's actually very disturbing that you lost something as precious as credit card numbers in a hotel, I'm questioning your job abilities!" I think we ended up getting a discount on the hotel room :P

There was also a TON of free food! I ended up eating more than I probably should have because it was free. The first day I was so hungry that I ungracefully got up from the conference table in mid sentence of the chairperson announcing lunch. My female counterparts told me that it was the least subtle thing they had ever seen lol.

All in all, I had a great time! There were two awesome key note speakers at the conference. The first one was named Ellen Bravo, and she talked mainly about how the word feminism scares people away and men take the word the wrong way. She talked about how to incorporate equality in the home, especially in front of children. The other key note speaker named Ayana, talked about how women never negotiate because it's in our nature to accept whatever happens to us. The majority of women believe that if we "work hard and have good work skills" that we will be rewarded eventually by our employers, whereas men will ask for a raise without fear and without waiting for anybody else to say 'go'. Interesting topics, very great speakers.

My next topic is that of Greek life. Up until last week I was against the whole system. I was literally talking about how people are paying for friendships when they join greek life. Like, last tuesday I was complaining about it. Even on the car ride to the conference I was talking about my hate for all things greek. My older sister Jenna was very involved in Tri Sigma. Without it, she would have never made friends at school and never have been involved in anything. So when Tri Sigma had it's table set outside one of the class buildings.... I checked it out.

BIG MISTAKE because I might become a hypocrite. I went to one of their rush events and I was very impressed. The girl who talked to me was so so so nice and I ended up really liking the group a lot. They remembered me coming up to them and said how glad they were that I ended up deciding to come. I told them that I was on the fence about it because I'm a junior and I didn't know if it was me.

The reason I think I want to pledge tri sigma is because once I told my older sister that I was thinking of going to their rush event tonight she. went. balistic. She texted me super long texts, and then called and talked to me for a half hour. She told me what to say and wear and ask. She was so excited that now I feel like I can't back out. I like getting this attention from my sister. Then I actually went to one of their events and they were really awesome... so I don't know. I'm going to become a hypocrite if I join. And what do I have to gain from a sorority? I have a boyfriend and a best friend, do I really need anything else? What could it hurt? I've never really understood sororities, but they seem to have so much fun! It's like instant coffee, except instead of coffee grains it's a semester and instant friends! I've always loved community service and they're big into community service. Would I have the time? I'm not sure with my job being five days a week. And omg, my boyfriend would make fun of me so much. I'm going to ask my mom about it, and talk to Joe about it, and list the pros and cons. Since I'm not cheering anymore, it might be nice to be apart of something, something that doesn't make me feel like I'm not wanted. Cheering never got any better and I never made any good friends. I guess I don't miss the sport so much as the community and Lock Haven cheer never gave me that feeling anyway.... So I have a lot to think about. I want to, but I don't want to do it for the wrong reasons. I think it would be different if I really had nothing going on. A sorority would have been so great for me my freshman year when I had no friends or boyfriend or job... but now I don't know if I'm already fulfilled. And putting those pictures up all the time on facebook! And the corny status' about loving your sisters. But at the same time, so many people are in sororities and fraternities (including the co-ed honors fraternities) that it's almost strange to not be in one.

I'm very confused. As you can tell by my rambling that I'm on the fence about it. Please, if you're out there, let me know what you think.

-Lou

First Apartment Pictures!

Hey,

College is very different this year. But in a good way. My new apartment is fabulous, how I am going to pay for it myself is still keeping me up at night... but I'll figure that out at another moment. Here are some pictures that I promised!

Isn't it great? I absolutely love every room in this place. High ceilings, wood floors, cozy bedrooms, large closet, great pantry etc. etc. I am so happy with my first apartment. My grandmother thinks that People should only get apartments when they get out of school, but dorm life truly sucks.

Anyway, have to run!

-Lou

Some good things going on in my life :)

Hey,

So I am all moved in to my new place and it is kick ass. I love having my own room with french doors. It is so freakin cute. I love it, I love it, I love it! Pictures definitely to come. My roommate is awesome. She's been my best friend at school since freshman year and she's so easy to get a long with. She really is wonderful. I'll definitely put a picture of her up :)

Yeah. Here we are. This is a typical day being her friend.

Seeing my boyfriend everyday has been great. I worked all summer at a camp where I could never see him. I saw him once in 3 months. I was mostly distracted by my kids and work, but there were so many times that I missed him terribly. He's a cutie because he just wants me to be happy. He's not that good at sad feelings though. Haha whenever I'm sad he doesn't know what to say so he just gives me stuff. So far I've gotten a plastic dinosaur, a comic book, a slinky, and a box of play doh. I love seeing him everyday, he makes my day brighter. And he's not a bad cook either ;)

This is my goofy guy. I love him. And all of his hats :)

Classes started! Books are hecka expensive of course. I actually transferred one of my classes because I thought $80 for a text book was effing ridiculous. I'm taking the exact same class now with a different professor whose book is only about $21. Books are such a scam. In fact I went all last semester without buying a single one because of the expense. Thank God my boyfriend had my french books because they were $80 per book (workbook and textbook) and the cd's were $36. Do professors think college kids are made of money? Cause we're not that's why we all have student loans for the rest of our lives.

SOMETHING REALLLLLY COOL HAPPENED. The women studies administration at my school voted me as their representative as the PASSHE international women's conference! I am so excited! I was led to believe that they would pick a senior to go to the conference but they picked me! The school will pay for my hotel and meals and everything, it'll be freaking sweet! Me and this other girl were chosen to go and go to all of these different speakers and presentations. My mom was so proud, she was all like "You can make job contacts!" and I was all like "YEAH!" lol, real reaction. I'm going to wear a pretty suit too. I'm also going to take tons and tons of pictures for a portfolio!

I actually enjoy my women's studies minor a lot. I never realized how interested I was in the subject until I had stumbled into the minor. At first I did it just because it was six credits and it was an easily accomplished minor. I took women studies 101, which was a little awful because the professor was a little too into the writing assignments and not enough into the issues. She's an English professor so I guess that makes sense. I would do more activities than just reading articles about women studies. I think I can teach better than a lot of professors at this university.... but I digress.

I am so excited! Everything is happening so wonderfully!

-Love,


Lou

Moving in to the first official apartment

Hey,

Today starts my adventure of moving into my first apartment. Well, without a bed. My bed is coming on sunday. I'll probably be staying at my boyfriends place or, to my parents knowledge, on the futon. I have a 3 hour long drive to get back to Lock Haven University. My car hasn't even begun to get packed and it's going to take forever. Summer is officially over :( I'll post some pictures of my new place and my new roommate soon!

-Lindsey

Food Trucks for an American Recession!

Hey,

Through the recession my dad has gone through a lot of jobs. He owns his own video rental place but evil forces known as blockbuster, netflix, and redbox have made it difficult for much progress. Eventually he plans to shut down the store in the coming couple of years and move onto something more. Since 2008 my dad has worked for Wal-mart (I'm ashamed to admit that I was a little bit embarrassed about this when I was in high school), realtors agency, electrician, and an orderly for a hosptial. Most recently he has worked for a funeral home company picking up dead bodies in a hearse and bringing them to the funeral home whenever they... well, croak. This means that he is on call at all ungodly hours of the night. When he is called to get a body at 3 a.m., he has to drag himself out of bed, put on a suit and drive out to who-know's-where Pennsylvania and make the delivery. He tends to love this job because he loves to talk to people. He can make anybody laugh even with a dead body in the room.

However, he just got fired from this job last month for arguing over salary. This put enormous stress on my family, especially my mother. While he still has his video store and the hospital job, together they both barely make ends meet. Don't be worried though because he was offered a full time job at another funeral home with less strenuous hours on my 50 year old daddy.

While that is a God send my father has higher ambitions for himself. Bigger dreams that you and I would say to them "um, what?" In fact I did. I walked into the kitchen, and right there on the table was an unmistakable copy of "Starting a Food Truck Company: For Dummies" and "50 Great Food Truck Recipes." Yes. My father wants to start his own food truck company and have me work summers for him. I looked through the pages of the books wondering where on earth this idea could have come from. Immediately my dad pulled up a video online called Food Truck Revolution. I must admit that I was a lot more impressed than I thought I would be.

People who don't have the money to start restaurants, start food trucks. More often than not the food truck becomes an actual eating establishment but the truck lives on. I didn't realize how amazing the food that comes from them can be. It's funny because you can name your food anything you want at a food truck whereas a restaurant you would want to name your food something sophisticated. One food truck named one of their choices "Big Ass Sandwich" solely based on the fact that it really was a humungous sandwich.

There are setbacks however to running a foodtruck. If you have a truck with only one window, it limits you to one side of the street. The trucks themselves are the most expensive cost. For Dummies says that you should spend no more than 15,000 on your truck but the ones that sell for good are at least 25,000. Not only that but then you would have to have a mechanic check out the truck for fear of fault machinery. An ice cream truck is more expensive than burger truck. A pizza truck needs to have a  ceramic oven in it, which makes the temperatures in the truck unbearable hot. And the time tested question, where do you go to the bathroom?

BUT THINK OF THE GOOD STUFF. You can take your business anywhere. If you have to move, your business moves with you. Festivals and fairs often hire food trucks because the mess is easier to clean up. There is less customer attitude because they don't sit down to eat... they leave. When there's a concert in Philadelphia you can drive your truck right up to it and serve food to the multitude of people. Food truck food is less expensive but have more customers than an average restaurant. With the great social networking of the generation one can simply tweet "#LarrysBurgers Going to be in front of Lincoln Financial field between 12-3. Go Eagles!" and you will find a swarm of hungry costumers coming to your truck from wherever they are. It's becoming a wildly popular idea among the masses. One that I hope happens for my dad.

The other night my dad got all excited about this food festival on Germantown Avenue, in Philadelphia. We took my friend Matt who is always excited about new food. Me, my dad, and Matt arrived on the street and all you could see among the huge crowds were food trucks. As many that could meet the eye. There was your standard, italian, burger, and ice cream trucks. But then they got creative. There was a vegan truck, a Mexican bar-b-que truck, Native American inspired truck, grilled cheese truck, a hot doggery truck, and even a beer distributor truck. All of the food was delicious. The Native American inspired food truck even had blueberry soup, I didn't taste it for fear of wasting 3 dollars. But I did have one of their bean and cheese empanadas. 3 dollars well spent.

This was the menu for The Dapper Dog. At food truck conventions

they only offer 2-4 types of their food. On regular work days just driving around the

menu is more complete. Food truck only put out their best selling products

when they are competing.

My favorite truck was called Vernalicious. I had the most amazing mozzarella and pesto grilled cheese. The service was friendly, the food was great, the truck was adorable, all sorts of sauces were available at the ready. This particular truck also appeared at the Train concert just recently in Philly much to my delight. This is one truck that I would follow around on twitter... if I had a twitter. If you ever get a chance to try food truck cuisine, I say go for it.

This was the best truck in my opinion. Look for it if you're ever in Philly.

Delicious grilled cheeses.

Yours,

Lou