Being Scared

So as I write this post, I'm feeling super sentimental. I know a lot of my posts, Facebook statuses and even Tweets have been centered with growing up and leaving college, but this is one of the biggest moments of my life. For once, I can actually admit I am scared. 

I'm scared to leave this life behind. I'm scared to start a new one. I'm scared I'll never talk to some of the people I know consider my friends. I'm scared I'm just going to go to work and then come home and go to bed and repeat everyday for the rest of my life. I'm scared I will have no life. I'm scared I will be bored out of my mind because I won't have anything to do. I'm scared I'm going to mess up and be a bum in my mom's basement the rest of my life. This is the first time in my life where I feel like I don't know what the next step is. I mean, we've been in school our whole lives and that's just the way it was. Going to college was never an option for me, I knew that was where I belonged and I was going to do it no matter what. Now, I'm 18 days from graduation and I have no idea what is going to come next. 

Yes, most of us will leave college and begin working for the next 40 years until we can retire, but maybe that is not for everyone. Maybe we want to go backpacking around the world, maybe we will go back to grad school, maybe we really will live in our parents' basements for the next few years, but whatever it is, I'm going to embrace it. This is the time where we really find out who we are. We really find out what friendships and relationships are real. It's going to be hard to keep in contact with everybody from college, but if it's meant to be it will. This is the time where I see what kind of person I really am. 

Maybe 20 years from now I will reread this blog post and laugh at myself for all of my fears from graduating. Maybe I'll cry. Who knows where I will be in 20 years, heck even in the next 6 months. But I know that there is a plan for my life and I need to stop worrying about it and really let God take control. 

Good luck to all my fellow classmates on your future endeavors  I hope that I will be able to creep you on Facebook and hear all about your exciting experiences after college!

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” 

~ Fitzhugh Mullan

One of the best weekends ever!

This second half of the semester has been the most memorable part of my college career. I have been doing things I wouldn't usually doing and hanging out with people that I haven't ever hung out with before. I have been having the time of my life and am not ready to give it up!

Friday I spent some time with friends and went to see a show downtown. It was super packed and super interesting to watch. People are crazy for sure. And some older ladies are just super mean. There were a few women that were complaining that they couldn't see and that we needed to move when it was no specified seating and only standing room. I need to learn to be more aggressive because I typically just let people push me over, but these ladies were rude so I just pretended not to hear them.

My roommate won a contest so we got to be VIP. We felt so cool haha I was super tired and went home but got to hear some crazy stories from them when they got home.

Saturday, Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press came to Crusen's again. I love listening to them play because the connect with the audience so well. After singing along to some great songs they were eventually done playing and we headed to the new club downtown. Continuing with our VIP status, my other roommate knew someone that worked there so we got to skip the whole line and then get in for free too! We danced around and did silly choreographed dances from high school and had so much fun. We stayed until they closed and then proceeded to Richard's. There was a table that had a "reserved" sign on it but since it was almost 5 in the morning I thought this was a mistake so we just sat down. Sure enough, we got in trouble and had to go sit downstairs.

I got a horse shoe and was in love. I don't know what it is about Richard's cheese sauce, but it is addicting. What is your favorite thing to get there? I feel like I should try more things before I graduate and have to become an adult!!

Sunday was spent playing slow-pitch softball and then working at the Band Perry Concert! I got to wear a bright yellow t-shirt that had SECURITY written across the back. I'm sure I looked super intimidating. The best part was that I got to watch the concert and get paid for it :)

This weekend was an overall success and I'm sure this one will be as well since I'm going to see Kenny Chesney Friday and my best friend will be in town on Saturday!

Finishing up strong!

This past week has been intense. Like most of my fellow classmates, I'm in MTG 490 and our second marketing plan was due yesterday! The simulation is interesting but there are sooooo many different things to factor in and try to plan for. I got super overwhelmed this time and I really hope that my group was able to pull through and that we will end up doing well!

I also am in BMA 452 this semester and our teacher has us finish our project early in the semester. With that being said, it was due today! I was the editor for our paper which shouldn't be a big issue... but when the paper is over 200 pages total it gets hectic. I have had like no sleep the last few days and therefore have felt like I have had many out of body experiences haha. Sometimes it feels like I'm just floating around and running through the motions but with no thought behind them, weird. But now that both of these projects are pretty much done, this semester should be a lot easier. We have like a month left seniors. This is weird. I do not like it at all. This second half of the semester has literally been the most fun ever! 

Last night after I turned in my project, my house decided to make old school videos of us dancing and being stupid. Sooooo funny. I'm making sure they never ever get deleted and will be playing them at all of my roommates' weddings. 

This weekend is going to be very fun and exciting and I really just want it to be Friday right now.

PUPPIES!!!!

So as the semester concludes, I find myself getting more stressed out than ever. Last week, I decided to not worry as much and just let things happen. After all  I'm not in control over what goes on in my life so I need to quit worrying about it and live my life to the fullest. I've been spending a lot of time hanging out with my roommates and having crazy shenanigans with them as well (plenty of funny pictures & videos). We had a heck of a week celebrating one of their birthdays! We are going to be training for a mile run (yes I know I said training for a mile, we're wimps) to help benefit Habitat for Humanity. With that being said, we walked to Sweet Cece's and got frozen yogurt instead of running haha One of my roommates had never been there before and didn't know how to get her own yogurt and ended up with an $8 cup of yogurt! Too funny! 

Another highlight of this past week has been that my mom took my little sisters to St. Louis for spring break and they ended up coming back with a puppy. That wasn't in the plan at all so I was super shocked! He is a Yorkie/Shih Tzu mix and I am completely obsessed. He only weighs like two pounds right now and is full of energy! He has such a huge personality for being such a little dog and I am in love! Puppies just make the world such a better place! He doesn't have a name yet... my family is stuck between Chewy, Toby and Louie! Help decide!!!

Bradley Cops were Nice??

Last week, I finally decided to relax and stop worrying about things and live a little. With that being said, I went to see this new fancy club called Berlin downtown. It was really fun and full of super interesting people because most Bradley students were home for the weekend. After leaving there at four in the morning, we decided that it would be fun to walk back because it was still so nice out (dumb decision I know). Walking back we shared stories and dreams about where we all hoped to see ourselves in the next year. It was really relieving to hear that I was not the only one that was scared of what my life will be like this coming summer. We made it in front of Campustown and boys being boys... they decided to do something stupid. They decided that they wanted to steal some of those political signs. Me, being the good person that I am, told them this was a very dumb idea and that they probably shouldn't do so, but they didn't listen. A Bradley cop pulled up behind us and shined his big spotlight on us. He made us all show him our IDs to prove we were of age, and then let the people that hadn't been being bad continue on. The others got a lecture about stealing and littering but then were also let go. This was the most shocking experience of my life because typically cops are not so friendly, but hey, maybe they are trying to change their stereotype. Overall, last week was one of the funnest weekends I have had this semester so far!

Spring Break Recap

This year's spring break was officially the best spring break ever! I honestly went into the trip with doubts and was super worried that it would be all work and would not be any fun at all. 27 students from Bradley left last Saturday morning for a trip to Miami to help with Habitat for Humanity. We all crammed into 2 mini-vans, a suburban, and a Honda Accord. I was responsible for driving 6 other people in one of the nicest mini-vans I had ever seen.

The ride was supposed to be about 22 hours. It felt like forever because caravaning with 4 other cars takes a lot of patience. People were constantly taking bathroom breaks and wanting to get food. My van was all about getting to Miami asap. The trip wasn't too bad and eventually we got the hang of it. It would have been way better if we didn't have two bears in our van that snored super loudly all the way there.

Once in Miami, we unloaded our stuff at the church and headed to the beach that Sunday! It was a blast and we found a quiet place to relax and take a nap. We all were passed out in the fact that we didn't even notice when people had taken down a ton of tents behind us. Once we felt like we had a little bit of life in us we walked over to where the party was. Let's just say... people are crazy! One of the girls with us had the worst luck ever...she got stung by a jelly fish and then proceeded to lose her phone. We came back from the beach and all fifty of us girls fought over the 3 dirty shower stalls the church provided us.

Monday, we had orientation early in the morning with the people from the Miami chapter of Habitat. She was very upbeat and super friendly. Once that was over, we headed back to South Beach again! I decided to take it upon myself to make sure the girl from yesterday had fun today. She definitely did. We walked all the way up & down the beach and met a lot of interesting people. Once we came back, it was time to go home. We went out to TGI Friday's and ate there until we were dragged home. I played basketball at the church afterwards and eventually passed out for the night.

Tuesday was our first day building. We were stuck nailing beams into cement walls. This was almost impossible. We had to swing the hammer at awkward angles and hit the nails with enough force that caused a spark off the nail. This was so hard so after lunch we snuck up on the roof to nail in some boards up there. After building, every one was drained. We decided to stay in and play card games. We played a game similar to Apples to Apples and had a blast. This was when we all started to really bond as a group.

Wednesday we went to a different site. We met a really awesome guy from Haiti named Charles. He had so much great information and honestly taught us some life lessons. We learned how to landscape primarily today. We sodded and planted trees all day. We were all covered in dirt from head to toe. After building, we got free pizza from a sponsor. It was deliciousssss and super filling. We then got to the beach around 5. We had just dug a lazy-boy recliner in the sand (like a big trench that looked like a recliner) when it started pouring. We were really hoping that it would blow over but instead we got drenched walking to the car.  We played some games in the parking lot until it stopped raining and then headed back out. We ended up wandering the streets for a little while and actually saw a guy in a bikini in CVS. He was totally NOT MY TYPE! He had bright pink lipstick and eye shadow on and some dollar bills hanging out of the back of his suit. He also had a tramp stamp that said "bet U won't". It was quite the site to see. We walked around the beachfront for a while and one of the girls went in the portapotty. One of the guys was a meanie and started to shake the pot so she ran out screaming (it was a really funny sight) We then ended up salsa dancing in a hotel lobby for a while and then went to eat a French sandwich bar! Delicious!

Thursday we got to build with Charles again. Before we started working, we met some crazy cats wandering the streets. We probably shouldn't have pet them but they were super cute and the kid waiting for school said one was named Sass-a-Frass. We did the same type of thing for most of the day but then moved to a new house where we tore up a driveway. We stacked over 400 bricks and then shortly found out that these bricks needed to be moved to the back yard. We made an assembly line and had great teamwork and eventually accomplished this goal. We were all completely covered in dirt from head to toe and had dirt caked in every nook & cranny on our bodies. We went straight to the beach and jumped right in the water in the hopes that we could wash away all the dirt. We hung out on the beach and made another big lazy-boy couch and played games for most of the night. We went to eat at Manolo's which had really good food as well when one kid thought he lost his wallet but come to find out it was in the van. The reason I mention this is because everyone lost everything this trip. I lost my dear sunglasses in the ocean as well!

Friday was our last day working. We went to the same site as we went Tuesday and cut down shrubs and trees that had overgrown the property. While we were cleaning up this debris we found a ton of old clothes and shoes. It was really random and everyone liked to throw it at each other which was super gross! Habitat for Humanity provided a really delicious Cuban lunch and then we said our last goodbyes to Charles. We then finished the day off by doing insulation in one of the houses. We said our goodbyes to all the staff and headed back to the church to get ready for our last night. All of the girls got super dressed and we went out to a really nice Cuban restaurant called Sergio's. There we had the best Sangria ever and I had an amazing grilled chicken sandwich. From there we went to walk around South Beach one last time. We went in a club and danced around for a while before heading into a bigger club called Mango's. There were sooooo many people packed in there with all different genres of music playing on different dance floors. I had so much fun and was so sad when the night was over. I passed out in the car on the way home from pure exhaustion.

Saturday we woke up ready to pack our stuff up and hit the road. Everything was going well until someone locked our van keys in the car. Luckily Enterprise was able to get in contact with someone that came to let us in to our car. We packed everything up and switch people around and into our van. We literally had one of the funnest car rides home talking about all of our inside jokes. We  stopped to eat at Steak and Shake where an old man fainted and we almost had to give CPR! It was really scary and I thought I was going to have a heart attack as well! Luckily he was ok and all he wanted to do was eat but they took him to the hospital to monitor him for sure. In the middle of the night at one of the gast stations, we saw a lady go crazy on a guy! She just started punching him and attacking him. It was insane! The guy just stood there and took it from her until finally someone else was able to stop her. People are crazy! We drove home through the night and got back into Peoria around 11 am. Luckily we missed most of the snow but my feet were sure not happy to be wearing flip flops in the freezing cold weather. It was super sad saying our goodbyes because we had all grown so close this trip.

It's crazy to believe that my last spring break is officially over. I loved every single second of it and met a lot of great people I never would have known before. It's crazy how much people really do judge books by their covers. I know I do, and I would really like to break this habit because this break was a prime example of what you could be missing out on. This break was so rewarding. I gave my time up to volunteer to build homes for people less fortunate that are out there trying to support a family while living on the street. Sometimes it may seem as though my life sucks, but in all honesty there are so many people way worse off than me. I will never forget this trip and how it changed my life. 


Sorry this is so long, I just don't want to forget anything about this trip.



VJH, DF, Hey Sista.

LaSt SpRiNg BrEaK eVeR?!?!!?! Spray tan gone wrong.

Do you remember when it used to be cool to type like that all the time?!?! Especially on AIM <--bringing old school back right there!

So in preparation for this spring break, I didn't want to remain pasty white anymore. So instead of going tanning (which I no longer do because I had pre-melanoma freckles (I don't like to refer to them as moles because they really were just large freckles on my spine) last summer that I had to have remove), I went with some friends to get a spray tan. 

**On a side note (rant of the day/public service announcement): if you go tanning, please get skin cancer screenings often. I thought that I would be fine because I tan easily and I come from a Hispanic background, but last summer made me realize that no one is safe. I am not telling you to change your lifestyle because I know that people told me how bad tanning is all the time but I kept going anyways. So please just be careful and get checked often! 

Back to the spray tan....so I had never gotten a spray tan before and had no idea what to expect. The girls at the salon were not very helpful either. My friends tried to explain to me what I should do but of course I was assuming the worst. The attendant took me back to the room and shut the door. I began to put the "barrier" creme on all my dry skin like my friends told me to do and slipped the hair net on.  I then hopped in the stall and pressed the button and waited for the worst. 

The machine doesn't count down or anything so I had no idea when it was coming. It started and was freezing. I couldn't breathe and when I opened my eyes to turn around, a brown haze was around me. My eyes were stingy and watery and all of the sudden the cold dark mist was on me again. After about a minute of torture, I was released from my jail cell.

I wiped off the excess brown off my arms and realized it was too late for my legs. I had dark brown stripes down the back of my calves. I tried scrubbing with the small towel provided to no avail.

I walked out of the stall ashamed and embarrassed of how the spray tan got the best of me.

While typing this today and looking at my hands...I realized how oompa loompas must feel. My hands are orange except where the "barrier" creme was. 
My spring break is definitely off to a fun start and I can only imagine what Miami has in store for me! 

Enjoy break everyone!! : )

Shaved Bear?

First off, have you ever seen a shaved bear? My grandma (being the grandma that feels that it is necessary to spam my facebook wall five times a day) sent me a picture of a shaved bear...no idea why but it made me laugh because it looks so dumb and helpless lol and really ugly.

This week has been super busy once again! Thursday is our first exam in 490 and I will be praying to the marketing gods that it isn't as bad as it sounds. I have already mentally checked out and am counting down the minutes until I leave for spring break.

Tomorrow is an exciting day at work for me! The Caterpillar Sustainability Report comes out (woo-hoo!!!). This report is like 80 pages long and takes them almost half a year to produce. I know that it is not a very interesting topic but it is super important to such a large business like Caterpillar.

My aunt and her husband have been in town from California for the past week or so. It's been really nice to see them but it makes me jealous at the same time! I love it out there. The weather is amazing, there is so much stuff to do, they have In & Out.... It's just awesome! One day I really hope that I can live out there.

Welp, that's all for now. Back to cramming for this exam.

Enjoy spring break everyone! Scary to think it's my last!

Semester Flying By...

This past week has been super crazy! I feel like I am never home because I am either at work, in class, or meeting with various groups to accomplish projects. As much as I hate having all of these projects this semester, I've realized how important they are. Lately with all of the interviews I have been doing, I have been able to use my group project scenarios to answer their questions so it works out nice! This semester has flown by so far! Can everyone else believe that it is almost halfway over?!?!

 I am getting so excited because for this spring break I am actually going with Habitat for Humanity to Miami! This was something I never thought I would do. I love the feeling of helping others but had never actually thought about giving my spring break up to do so. Luckily, we are taking rental cars this year so we will have our own form of transportation once we get down there! This means we can enjoy activities other than building houses, painting, landscaping, etc... We already booked a trip to go parasailing and I can not wait! Has anyone else been to Miami? What are some of your favorite things to do there? We are going to South Beach one day but other than that we haven't decided!

Be Yourself

This week has been super rough. I feel like the semester is still beginning yet I am completely overwhelmed with projects. I have so many group projects right now that I feel like I have no life. I constantly am trying to plan my schedule around those meetings. I want all the homework/group projects/exams to be over, but I am not ready to be done with college at the same time.

Tonight, I went to the last men's basketball game. Dyricus went to my high school and it seems like I was just at senior night for that. Now I just got home from senior night from college and it seems surreal. I spoke with my boss about staying on full time and it was crazy. My boss is actually retiring later this week and it was crazy to talk to her. I will just be starting my career and she is finished with hers. It really is the circle of life. She gave me a great piece of advice. It may seem like common-sense but it really stuck out to me. She told me to be myself and keep pushing for my dreams. She told me that there is no use pretending to be someone I'm not or pretending to be interested in something I'm not. There is no reason to live your life like that. So that's my goal for the rest of the semester. I'm going to be me, and if people don't like it...well they can just deal with it. I don't want to pretend to be something I'm not while I could spend time enjoying my life.

On another note, I started watching One Tree Hill this week. I know, I know. I'm wayyyyyy behind. This series is super old but I never had time to watch it before. Does anyone know what happened to Chad Michael Murray?!!?! I feel like the world is missing something without him hahaha


If you are in need of a laugh... watch this video.

Going Country

I got to go see Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, and Thompson Square on Sunday night! Best decision ever. Luke Bryan is an all-around great show. He seemed so personable on stage and really connected with the audience!! Plus, who doesn't love a nice smile and some good dance moves?! haha 

Yesterday I bought tickets to see Kenny Chesney when he comes to Peoria at the end of April. I think I am becoming a country girl. It's crazy to think how much I have changed. When I was younger, I absolutely hated country. Any time my mom tried to play it in the car, I would plug my ears in sing la la la la (you know...like annoying little kids) until she changed it and now I voluntarily am going to two country concerts in a two month time frame.

Currently, the semester has gotten super busy. MTG 490 (capstone) is consuming my life right now while my group and I try to write our huge marketing plan. Thankfully Dr. O'Brien has a heart and extended our deadline until next Tuesday so we have more time to finish. I just still feel as though this semester hasn't really begun. Maybe it's because I don't want it to end because I don't want to graduate and be an adult yet. 

Instead of a quote this week here is an interesting link that I found while procrastinating on Pinterest...

26 Moments that restored our faith in humanity this year. I know some of them are silly but some made me happy to know there are still good people out in the world. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/moments-that-restored-our-faith-in-humanity-this-y

Worrying is like a rocking chair

Today (Tuesday 2/12), I had an interview that went really well except it is technically for a position that is currently non-existent. Confusing, right? They are considered creating a new position and they think I would be a great canidate for it...they just have to determine their budget to see how soon they could create it! So keeping my fingers crossed for something positive!

Last Friday night, a band called Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press came to Crusen's. They are so much fun to watch and I recommend going to see them next time they are in town. They are a cover band and play so many great songs! Most of my boyfriend's fellow fraternity members are obsessed with them, but during their intermission the lead singer came over to say hi to me (you shoulda seen my boyfriend's face! it was priceless)!! At the end of the show when all of the guys were being creeps and trying to get their pictures taken with the band, they asked me to take the photo. The guys from the band turned their backs to the boys and began posing with me! When the frat bros asked what was going on, the band was like "ohhhhh we thought you meant we should get a picture with her!" Anyways, it was really funny and all of the boys were jealous of me! 

As this semester keeps on dwindling away and I keep worrying about becoming an adult, I'm going to end each of my posts with a quote I enjoy.

Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.

Goat for sale?!

This week hasn't been as exciting as I would have hoped but nevertheless, it's the last semester so I will cherish every single second of it! Superbowl XLVII (I think?) was last night and I could have cared less about the actual game. Instead, I was busy eating all kinds of dips while watching the commercials. The "Goat 4 Sale" ad was my favorite and I could not stop laughing. I think it was pretty cool how Doritos actually let their fans compete for a winning ad!

I ate at a really good restaunt that is in the Metro Center called The 50's Diner. If you like milkshakes, this is the place to be! http://www.the50sdinerpeoria.com/

This week is the job search and I'm super nervous and I HATE writing objectives. I have no idea how to make an objective sound good.  I've worked at Caterpillar for the last two years but I'm going to be keeping my options open at this job fair and will be speaking with other employers as well. I really don't want to grow up but I am hoping to land a job I love and then it won't seem as bad.

Starting a blog...

Today starts the first day of a new era--writing a blog. I think the last time I really had a so called blog was back in the days when Xanga was cool. I remember spending hours on there writing about everything and anything. This time, I want my blog to be memorable. I will be graduating in a few short months and my life is going to change. I will be an adult, working at least 40 hours a week, five days a week. Ew. Adulthood freaks me out and I'm scared that once I graduate I will no longer have a life. So, in essence, this blog will serve as a reminder to me about how I spent my last semester at Bradley University as an undergrad. I want to write about something eventful that took place in my life. That way when I'm bored and have nothing else to do post-college, I can come back and read this to remind myself that I used to have a life haha.

So starting off, last Thursday I went out to dinner with my roommates at Lorena's in East Peoria. If you have never been here, you should definitely go. The food is amazing. The real highlight of my trip was that my roommate got awkwardly hit on the entire night by a waiter that wasn't even our waiter! His pick-up line you ask? "you're so nice, what's your name?" It was a great night and something I never want to forget.

Hopefully this upcoming week brings more exciting adventures and I get my computer back (it semi-crashed last week and is taking forever to get fixed). I did already start off the week by twisting my ankle during Zumba (embarrassing, don't ask me how) so it should be pretty interesting.

Until next time!
Jessica