Making the Most of My Winter Break

I can't believe my winter break is almost half over! Now that I've had ample time to be with friends and family, there are a few things I want to get done before I start my second semester. Here's a list of some of those things. I'm hoping that making it public will help get me motivated!

Practice wheel throwing and finish some artwork. Since I will be teaching some ceramics classes in the spring, I need to get as much practice in as possible. I went the entire first semester without throwing, so I need to get back into the swing of things!

Find homes for my artwork. I have a lot more artwork than I can handle. I'd like to find good homes for my sculptures, bottles, and pots. When I'm selling or giving away my work, people always ask me, "Well don't you want to keep that?" As much as I enjoy making the work, I could not possibly display and store all of the artwork I will make from now until eternity.

I also really love the thought of my artwork making it's way into the homes of family, friends, and strangers across the country. I have artwork in Philadelphia, Virginia, Kansas City, and St. Louis (obviously). How cool is that?

Here is  one little guy that needs a home:

Finish knitting my scarf. I've been working on the same scarf since Thanksgiving, and I'd like to finish it soon so I can start learning to knit more complicated things!

Practice my sewing skills and make more bags. So our sewing machine is getting taken to the shop, and I've been using the one at my Nana's house. Hopefully ours will get fixed soon--that will make it a lot more convenient for me to practice!


Clean up the backyard and tend to my compost. 

Before Fall Break, I said to my mom, "I wish I could come home. I'd rake the entire yard for you!" I enjoy yard work. Though my mom wished I could have come home (and not just because of my offering of yard work), it wasn't feasible. When I came home for Winter Break I got a surprise--my mom left the entire back yard untouched. So I get to rake up all the leaves for my compost. Yay!

Clean up the garden.

Enough said.

Finish "The Tightwad Gazette II". The trouble with library books is that I can't take them back to school with me. I'd like to finish this one before I go back.

Go to the Value Village monthly half off sale. Since it's winter, I can't go to garage sales and I've been itching to go. The storewide half off sale once a month at Value Village is almost as good. Hopefully I'll find some cool furniture for my mom to refurbish!

Cook up some recipes I've been wanting to try. I want to try recipes for making my own crackers and other items people typically just buy from the store.

Research internship opportunities and apply. Haverford pretty much has more resources than they know what to do with. I want to take full advantage of them.

So that's my list. Hopefully typing it out and making it public will help me get more done! What's on your To Do List?

Simpler Christmas Giving

Happy two days after Christmas!

I know these days after the holidays can be a drag--especially for parents and grandparents, the ones expected to buy all of the gifts, host the holiday parties, bake the christmas cookies, and make the holidays extra special for their family and children. This year, as I watched my mom stress over what presents to buy, as I went from store to store with my exhausted Nana (my grandma) to buy supplies for Christmas dinner, I felt sorry for these overworked women. The holidays had become a time of tiredness and anxiety for them. There must be a better way to do this, I thought.

For the past few months, as I have been reading frugality blogs and books like the Tightwad Gazette, I've picked up a few tips and tricks for making the holidays more simple and enjoyable. Since I'm not at a point in my life where I have to host parties or parent kids, but I do enjoy giving gifts, the concepts I learned about gift giving stuck with me the most. I'll share with you my refined process of gift giving this year.

I decided I wanted to change my process in these ways:

1. Simplify my gift recipient list. Instead of giving presents to a lot of people, I wanted to give a few, meaningful presents.
2.Plan ahead. Instead of doing all my shopping in December when I got home from school, I wanted   to start early. That way, I would have more time to spend with my family and friends during my short month break.
3. Look out for sales and coupons. I wanted to get quality presents while saving as much money as possible.
4. Be conscious of where my money is going. Instead of sending money to large factories in China that under pay and exploit their workers, I wanted to support businesses and causes of integrity.
5. Avoid making extra trips to the store, specifically for buying gifts. Shopping trips waste time and energy which could be expended in better ways.
6. Give a gift the recipient will actually appreciate. Oftentimes my siblings get gifts and want to return them. This also wastes energy and time. I want to give gifts that are cherished, not rejected.

In summary, I wanted to be thoughtful about my gift giving. In my mind, this is the most important part of gift giving, yet it is often lost in the frantic shopping around the holidays. Gifts become thoughtless obligations. In following the listed guidelines, I thought I could renew the thoughtful meaning behind gift giving and make it a more simple, enjoyable process.

How did I do? I'll let you be the judge.

For my mom, I bought these "Infinite Dance" earrings from Novica.

Novica is an organization associated with National Geographic that supports artisans around the world, providing them with fair compensation and loans to build their business. Some of the products on this site are pricey; however, they are quality handmade products. I feel good about supporting these artists in need, as opposed to sustaining large corporate factories. The jewelry is also much more unique than anything you can find at department stores, so I got to get my mom something really special!

Because Novica jewelry isn't cheap, I looked around for deals all through the fall season. In October, The Frugal Girl posted an awesome Novica coupon at Living Social Deals--buy the coupon for $20, and get $40 towards your Novica purchase. Though I didn't know what I was going to get my mom at the time, I knew I could find something for her at Novica in my price range thanks to the coupon I found. Instead of paying about $48 for the earrings, I paid only $28.

I was a little mad at myself for not looking around for more coupons when I made this purchase. A few days later, I saw a $5 off coupon. Though not a huge savings, every little bit helps!

For my sister Lacey, I decided to buy silk long underwear.

While this might seem like a boring or too practical gift, these are quality garments and a necessity in the cold Minnesota winter she has to endure at school. They are also more expensive than she or my mom could typically afford--at prices of about $50 for the top and $50 for the bottoms, totaling a hefty sum of $100.

If you know me at all, you know I would not pay full price for these. While she really needs them, I can't really afford $100 presents. Just when my mom had given up on this gift, I found that Lands End was having an awesome before christmas sale--40% off your entire order plus free shipping. In addition, certain colors of these silk long underwear were a reduced price--the lavender was $25 instead of $50. Though Lacey would have preferred black, she completely understood my choice of lavender when she found out it was half price! With all of these discounts, my total ended up being about $31--a savings of almost $70! This was by far my best Christmas steal. The only downside was that the product was Made in China from an unknown source. I didn't realize this until after I bought it.

I left Nancy's gift a little more open ended. In November, a group at Haverford had a fair trade sale, selling products from an organization called Serrv (similar to Novica). Again, I could feel good about supporting artists who were hand making their products and getting fairly compensated for them. At the sale, I discovered this elephant puzzle box:

I was immediately intrigued by it--I couldn't open it! The puzzle has four separate parts. Since Nancy loves elephants, this was a no-brainer. Though it isn't practical, I thought it was special and a good price at only $15. Before I wrapped it in my homemade cloth gift bag, I put a note inside redeemable for a $15-20 present that she really wanted but didn't get for Christmas. I think this made the gift a little more fun and interesting. It also helped me achieve my goal of spending similar amounts on each family member's gift.

I think I did a pretty good job of addressing my goals--to simplify my recipient list, to get gifts ahead of time, search for sales, know where/how the gift was made and feel good about it, avoid extra time consuming shopping and return trips, and most importantly, be thoughtful about my gifts. This has definitely been the most enjoyable Christmas giving experience that I've had. Next year, I plan to start my gift search in January--to maximize my thoughtfulness, conscientiousness, and savings!

What process or system do you use for gift giving? How do you maximize the quality of your gifts while minimizing the cost? Comment below!

A More Sustainable Christmas

Hey everyone!

I've been home for over a week, and time has flown by. I've been busy seeing old friends, going to church, working on art, being with family, and cooking my own food. I'm really glad I started thinking about my christmas presents before I got home, because I've had so many other things to do. I can't tell you what my presents are, but I can tell you I thought a lot about how I wrapped them.

I never thought of wrapping paper as wasteful. We only use it  once a year, so it never seemed like a big deal. But if you think about how many presents in the world get wrapped in paper every Christmas, the amount of paper waste is likely astronomical.

This fall, I read about making cloth gift bags on the Frugal Girl's blog and in Amy Dacyczyn's The Tightwad Gazette. It made me think about all of the packaging that is thrown away at Christmas. Even if you wrap gifts in reusable bags, many bought products come in cardboard boxes, plastic, and styrofoam. Wrapping paper is waste that can easily be avoided.

Though I didn't have much time or convenient access to a sewing machine (ours is broken), I managed to make and use one good cloth bag. My other three presents are wrapped in bags too--bags that we'd saved from years past. While they aren't cloth bags and they do require tissue paper, the bags can be reused by the recipient. Because two of these paper bag presents are for my mom and sisters, they will just stay in our family.

Out of all of these bags, the gold cloth bag is my favorite. I think cloth is just a little more classy--I've seen some really beautiful cloth bags by other waste-conscious people. These bags are also really easy to make--I was learning to use a sewing machine while I made this bag. If you have any experience at all, or even no experience, you can do this too!

Before you set out to buy that wrapping paper during after Christmas sales, why not try making some cloth bags instead? For a good set of instructions, check out the Frugal Girl's blog post on cloth gift bags.

How do you prevent wrapping waste? Comment below!

Coming Home!

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to be coming home in four days! As much as I love Haverford, it has been a long semester. I don't think I've ever worked harder academically than I have this past week. I've completed two classes so far, and I have two more finals to finish.

As I frantically finish up my final work, other things have fallen by the wayside. . .including the state of cleanliness in my room. I'm posting this picture of my room on fall break (1) because it makes me happy and (2) I'm pretty sure I haven't even shown my mom what my room looks like!

Right now it's hard to believe my room once looked like this--I decided to shield you from an updated photo. However, I plan to clean it before I leave--I can't stand leaving a mess behind! That will probably happen on Tuesday, along with a load of laundry.

Today, I need to study for my statistics final. After I take that (hopefully on Monday) and turn a rough draft into a final draft, I'm free!

Tomorrow, I'll be attending Renewal Christian Fellowship. I attended last week, and I really enjoyed the service! There are also a lot of other college students who attend, a few from Haverford, so I'm getting to meet a lot of new people.

I didn't intend for this post to be a rough outline of my schedule, but I really am constantly going through the list of things I'll be doing before I go home. The fact that I can list them off reminds me that I'll be back in St. Louis very soon!

What's your schedule like? Has the holiday craziness started yet? It's hard for me to believe it's December already! Leave a comment below.

Food Waste Friday: Storage Issues

With all the craziness of the holiday weekend, I made few blunders when it comes to food waste. Before I went to Virginia, I got a couple of bagels and kept them in my room for when I got back (I got back Saturday evening but the Dining Center didn't open until Sunday evening). Though it is hard to tell in this picture, the bagels actually molded between Wednesday and Saturday. I have no idea why--normally bagels keep at room temperature, but maybe I should have refrigerated them. Or maybe I should have kept them in plastic containers rather than plastic bags. I'm not really sure.

I also attempted to freeze these bananas in my mini fridge, but they never quite froze, and eventually they just turned bad. It has worked before, but for some reason it didn't work this time. I think my best bet is just to do this at home in a regular freezer.

Most of my problems this week were misjudgments relating to storage. Do you have any suggestions for me? Any similar stories about food waste? Comment in the box below!

Thanksgiving in Virginia

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile, but the semester is coming to a close, and I'll be coming home Wednesday, December 14th!  As much as I love Haverford, I really miss St. Louis and all of you family and friends at home. I've been working very hard too, so I need a break. It's truly a blessing that I get to come home for a whole month!

Because I couldn't come home for Thanksgiving break, I went to Blacksburg, Virginia to visit my Aunt Felicia, Uncle Dick, and my cousin, Galen. I'd never been to their house before, nor have I been to Virginia, so it was pretty exciting! My dad, Grammy, and Papa all drove from St. Louis to come for Thanksgiving too.

On Thanksgiving, we went for a relatively tame hike in the mountains, and I saw some of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

I brought my camera, but I forgot to take pictures. Uncle Dick had a much nicer camera anyway though, and this also meant I actually got to be in some of the pictures.

This is just a snapshot of my holiday in Virginia. I also learned how to knit (I accomplished a substantial amount on my scarf) and tried Yoga for the first time (What a workout!) I had a relaxing enjoyable time; I hope you can say the same for your holiday!

How was your Thanksgiving? Where did you go, and what did you do? Leave a reply in the comments box below!

Ceramics in the Family: Recent Art Projects

Happy Sunday!

I recently got an email from my former art teacher and Nancy's current art teacher, Ms. A. She sent me a photo of Nancy's latest work of a art, a little boat.

Isn't it awesome? I'm so proud of her. She made this using slabs, a hand building method that I never use. It's much too difficult for me. The first slab project I attempted warped and the second one cracked like crazy. Apparently Nancy has this down pat. Not only does her boat look beautiful, but the form is neither warped nor cracked.

This photo was definitely a shot of humility! I worked in clay for seven semesters in high school and took classes at Krueger Pottery. Nancy is only halfway through her first semester and her slab skills are ten times better than mine. The kid has so much talent. I love it.

Things like this make me itch to get my hands on some clay. What have I been doing art-wise lately? If you read my post about James House, you'd know that the pottery wheels only cater to right handed people, so I can't use them. I've done absolutely no ceramics at Haverford so far. Well, I wrote a proposal for The Students Arts Fund, a grant of $5,000 distributed for student art projects by the Haverford Humanities Center. I wrote up plans for running a six-week ceramics workshop series, and budgeted for a Brent B wheel, clay, and some new sponges. The cost totaled to about a thousand dollars, so I was unsure if the Students Arts Fund thought my project would be worth it. A few weeks later, I got an email notification that they decided to fund the workshops and the wheel, and I'm so excited!

So I'll be teaching four lucky Haverford Students all about wheel throwing. I wish I could teach more students, but we will only have five wheels, and the funding is for wheel throwing workshops, not hand building.  It's possible I could teach hand building to a larger group later on, but we'll see.

Have you been working on any art projects? I love to see photos and hear about other's work, so comment below!

Food Waste Friday: Mushrooms and Positive Change

Happy Friday!

It's been a hectic week for me as I've been catching up on work that I didn't have time to do last weekend on the HCF retreat. It was totally worth it, but it did require exercising my time management skills!

This week I had very little food waste--just a few mushrooms from my pasta sauce last night at dinner. The mushroom pasta sauce looked better than the plain sauce; however, it was really silly for me to get the mushroom sauce, because I don't like mushrooms. I think the sauce just reminded me of my mom's wonderful sausage spaghetti, because mushrooms appear deceptively like meat sometimes. Nevertheless, they didn't taste like meat, and they tasted absolutely nothing like sausage. Oh well.

On the bright side, In about one month I'll get to go home and eat my mom's food. Yay!

On a related note, our Dining Center is creating a new Dining Center Development Committee. Six students will get to be on this committee, and hopefully they will bring some positive change to the food and waste management. Students waste a lot of food at the DC (Dining Center) and it all ends up in the trash. It's a very sad thing to witness, but I have a lot of ideas to rectify some of these waste issues. So I applied to be on the committee. Whether or not I get the position, hopefully I can still present all of my ideas to the committee!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day--I'll be back later today or tomorrow with other news!

What I Learned: About Suffering

Hey everyone!

I know I just posted about the HCF Retreat, but I wanted to share with you a little more specifically what I actually learned.

In an InterVarsity bible study, you look extremely closely at one specific passage.

We had several sessions in which we did this; however, this particular passage, John 11:38-44, we looked at during a personal reflection time.

By breaking this passage down, I was able to truly apply it to my life. Consider the first verse. Jesus was "deeply moved" by the suffering of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He didn't just pity them or feel sorry for them. Their sorrow deeply moved him. Often times I find myself filled with overwhelming sorrow, and I think to myself, "No one cares that much. Or at least they don't really know or understand what I'm going through." But Jesus is deeply moved by my pain. I can share it with him. How reassuring is that?

And he's not just moved metaphorically. He's moved to act. He goes to Lazarus' tomb. Jesus isn't just emotionally disturbed my pain. He does something about it too.

However, he requires us to accept his aid. Jesus says to the mourners, "Take away the stone." And Martha doubts, "But Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Though I oftentimes will pray to God for help, sometimes instead of giving me what I think I want or need, God will respond calling me to some sort of action. I'll reject it, saying, "You want me to do what, God? That's impossible! I can't change that."

But God's command is always what I need, and I'll end up doing it eventually anyway. Jesus replied to Martha's doubt, saying, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the Glory of God?" Essentially, he's asking, "Why don't you trust me? You know that I know what is best for you." Depending on his command, I may struggle against it for awhile, but I will do it.

And when I follow God's solution to my problem? Everything works out. The mourners rolled away the stone, and Lazarus, once a dead man, was alive once again. Though my life won't be perfect (Lazarus' life wasn't perfect--he's later condemned by an assassination plot), I can find joy in the Lord.

In reading this passage, I found myself asking: "Jesus could have just snapped his fingers and resurrected Lazarus. Why didn't he? Why did Lazarus have to die at all? Jesus could have healed him." Essentially, why let the suffering happen?

Because the mourners eventually did what Jesus asked, "many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him." Lazarus was alive and well, and the mourners had found a new hope in Jesus Christ. Though I don't know the personal stories of these Jews, they probably were struggling with their own issues. However, Jesus used the pain of one family--Mary, Martha, and Lazarus--to transform not only the family, but the lives of many others as well. This is purpose enough for suffering in my book.

The Jews, Mary, Martha, myself. . .We all need time to choose. We need time to believe. We need to learn how to ask for help, be receptive to God's response (even if it requires effort on our part), and work through our sufferings. Because they do have a purpose, even though sometimes we can't always see it.

What are your thoughts on this story? Please post a comment below!

Haverford Christian Fellowship Retreat

Hey everyone!

I know I haven't written anything in awhile, and I missed my regular Friday post. But I was extremely busy this week doing extra homework so I could afford to take some time off. This weekend I went to the Haverford Christian Fellowship Fall Retreat!

Though I wasn't sure what to expect, I ended up having a great experience. Friday I was having a bad day and didn't feel very well, but the retreat gave me exactly what I needed. It gave me time to stop and breath. It gave me time to focus on things other than work. It gave me time to get to know my bible study mates better. It gave me time to have fun. It gave me time to refocus myself and my priorities on God, and I learned a lot about myself.

As far as the structure of the retreat, students from Haverford, as well as Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore, spent the majority of our time intensely studying God's word. It's hard to describe how this could be relaxing, but I think for the most part the change of pace from the college grind did the trick. We studied the stories of Mary, Martha, Lazarus and Jesus. We took small passages one at a time, beginning with the passage that helped me get through my exam a few weeks ago, Luke 10:38-42. Though it's only 4 verses, we 2 hours dissecting this passage! It was hard to believe, but we did.

This is typical of InterVarsity, the Christian college ministry that organizes the retreats. We had several other sessions on Saturday of similar length. With each session, we began the next passage in the story. These included Lazarus' death, his resurrection, and Mary pouring the oil on Jesus' feet and washing it with her hair. They printed out the passages on plain paper double spaced so that we could annotate them. We had time to study the passages alone, in small groups, and with everyone together. It was really amazing what there was to be learned by looking at passages in so many different ways!

We studied intensely, but we also got to have fun too.

We played an Amazing Race game, where we had to make M&M elevators, spray a can of whipped cream into a bowl and eat all of it as a group, pass a frozen banana down a line with our feet, make a marshmellow toothpick tower (above), and much more.

Overall, I had a great time!

How are your bible studies going? I hope learning as much from them as I learned this past weekend!

(pictures taken by Erin Kennedy!)

Snow Before Halloween?

I can't think of a time when I've experienced snow before Halloween. I totally was not expecting this yesterday. Normally, one of the first things I do when I wake up in the morning is check the weather. I've adopted this habit since coming to college because unlike high school, I actually have to walk from building to building to get to class, the library, the Dining Center, and so on. However, yesterday I forgot because I was in a hurry to catch the 8:46 SEPTA train.

Thankfully I grabbed my umbrella, but I was in for a bigger surprise than rain. 

I took this picture from my dorm window, as I was unwilling brave the cold after I returned from my adventure.

My group in my Urban Culture and Society class had to go observe Mishkan Shalom, a progressive synagogue downtown. Despite the weather, it was an interesting experience, as I had never been to a synagogue or a Bat Mitzvah before. Also, it was Shabbat Noah, so I got to read the Noah's Ark story from a Jewish perspective. I relished this short experience, and only wish that the rabbi had spent more time on the subject. However, Bat Mitzvah's incorporate many other traditions, so this was only a small portion of the service. I was definitely surprised at the length of the service--the Bat Mitzvah was two and a half hours long!

During the service, the weather took a turn for the worse. The temperature dropped, and it continued to sleet and snow. Luckily we were able to catch the bus, but the SEPTA trains had stopped running by the time we made it to the station! My group members and I waited with frozen toes for about 45 minutes, until an upperclassman friend of theirs from Bryn Mawr came to save us.

It was definitely an exhausting day, but the experience at the synagogue was worth it!

Did it snow where you live this weekend? I'm happy to say the forecast is sunny here for the next few days. I'm not quite ready for winter yet!

Food Waste Friday: Common Room Waste

Hey everyone!

This week I did pretty well with my food waste, aside from some oatmeal overflowing in the microwave. But I could still eat most of that. My hall has had a bit of waste this week (we often have shared baked goods and snacks), but I don't think this counts as my personal waste. However, I certainly would have eaten it before the mold started growing:

One of my hall mates made this really good pumpkin nut bread and brought it back with her on fall break. It was so good in fact, that it fooled me into asking her for the recipe when it actually came from a mix. This just got forgotten about.

Also, remember my post last week about wasting money by locking myself out? Well, the sign I made has prevented me from forgetting my key! Every time I see the sign, I check my pocket to make sure I have it. And I smile every time, because I saved myself another ten dollars. My mom also sent me a small clip I can use to clip my key to my belt loop, so hopefully that will help too!

On a completely random note, tomorrow I'm going to Mishkan Shalom, a progressive Jewish Synagogue to observe a service for a group project. I'm not Jewish, so I have never been to a synagogue before! I'll let you know how it goes.

How much food waste did you have this week?

Frugality and the Bible: What Do You Have?

This morning I read 2 Kings 4:1-7 during my bible study time. Though I don't share what I read every morning, I found this passage particularly insightful. This is the story of the Widow and the Oil, where a widow cries out to Elisha for help when a debt collector threatens to take her children as slaves unless she pays off her debt--and soon. (I suggest you take a look at it, the verses are much more eloquent than my summary!)

Though I've read the story before, today I read it with a new perspective. As I've gotten older, I've become fascinated with the idea of frugality. I've studied the subject for hours on end, because so much of the ideas behind living frugally, simply, and beneath your means can be applied in living a life pleasing to God. In my case, I'm passionate about serving the poor and meeting needs whenever I see them. A frugal lifestyle is perfect for me, because the more money I save, the more I can spend serving others and God.

Looking at this story again helped me to realize other reasons a frugal lifestyle can be pleasing to God. If you didn't click on the link to read the passage, watch this video. Or do both.

Notice the emphasis Elisha puts on the question, "What do you have?" (Watch closely at 0:45-0:50.) He is surprisingly forceful. But I think he does this to prove a point--we often focus on what we don't have, not on what we do have. I've found that no matter how bad my financial situation, focusing on what I don't have will not get me anywhere. However, when I stop, breathe, and pray to God to help me trust him, I often find peace, if not a simple way to take steps towards solving the issue. He may not give me the entire solution all at once, but he will give me the peace and strength to take action.

Though this story is about much more than frugality, it really reassured me choosing such a lifestyle.

How does this story inspire you? I'd love to hear your input--it's amazing how every person will learn something different from the same story!

(I'm doing a study from the Freestyle Living Blog. That's where I found the video, so I wanted to make sure and give credit! Also, credit is due to Crown Ministries for the video itself!)

Food Waste Friday and an Unexpected Expense

Hey Everyone!

It's Food Waste Friday, and I'm happy to report I have wasted no food this week!

However, I found out today that I've been wasting a lot of money indirectly. At Haverford, we have a student account that we prepay with $600 at the beginning of the year. We can spend this money at the bookstore, but it is also used for fines and other charges.

As many of you know, I can be kind of scatter-brained sometimes. Ok, a lot of the time. In high school, I always left my lights on, locked my keys in my car, and just plain lost my keys. I don't have my car anymore, but I have a new set of challenges. Namely, I will often lock my room with my key inside.

Now, if I had a roommate like the majority of other college students, this wouldn't be as much of a problem. I might have to wait until my roommate came back to get in my room, but that would be the extent of it. Since I have my own room, I have to call Safety and Security and have them unlock my door. This costs money. I just didn't realize how much.

I have locked myself out six times this semester. The first time is free, the second time is $5. Not so bad. But everytime after that? 10 bucks a pop! I've spent $45 dollars here just because I'm forgetful. That's more than I spent on my textbooks!

So I am taking some action. This afternoon, since I'm not too busy, I made myself a sign:

Yes, I'm in college and sometimes I'm just waiting for an excuse to color. But I'm really hoping this will help me save me my money.

Do you have any forgetful and costly habits?

Academic Blessings: Self Scheduled Exams

Hey everyone!

It's a beautiful Thursday here in Haverford. I think this picture captures what the weather is like today, even though I took it a few days ago. It's the Haverford Duckpond!

Anyway, I think the picture pretty much fits my mood. Which is a rarity in my crazy life. Today has been so relaxing for me, even though I had a two hour exam!

How can an exam be even remotely relaxing? At Haverford, the majority of our exams are self scheduled.  This means that the professor gives you the exam a few days a head of time and you complete it on your own time. My Abnormal Psychology professor gave us our exam on Tuesday, told us not to use our book, notes or any other resources, and told us to put it in a box outside her office by 5 pm on Thursday. It's that simple.

Most of the time when I try to explain self scheduled exams to people outside of the Haverford community, they don't understand how it works. "Don't people just cheat?" they ask. No, and that's the crucial point here. When students decide to come to Haverford, we make a commitment to abide by the Honor Code in all of our academic endeavors. The code is not a set of rules and regulations enforced by administrators, but it is a creation of students who are passionate about living and learning in a community of integrity and honesty. The Honor Code was created by students, is ratified by students, and is enforced by students. We govern it ourselves. The student body doesn't want to plagiarize or cheat, because we have created a beautifully self-sustained governing system that is too precious to jeopardize.

For the most part, our system really works, but no one is perfect. This is why we have Honor Council to help sort out disputes.

I'm excited to be living in a community with such strong values. It's refreshing to wake up on a Thursday morning, have a leisurely breakfast, then head off to the library to take an exam. I also allowed myself the time to read the Bible beforehand. I'm so thankful for this opportunity, because God gave me the words in Luke 10:38-42 that I needed to hear. I was anxious about my exam yesterday and early this morning, but Jesus said, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one." These words filled me with peace, and I was ready for my exam.

Had this been a typical, scheduled exam, I probably would have been too rushed to sit down and really absorb this passage. I wouldn't have been ready. With Haverford exams, I am assured that I will be tested on what I know, not how tired, or stressed, or rushed that I am.

Though you might still be skeptical of Haverford's Honor Code, it definitely works for me!

Subscribe by Email!

You can now subscribe to my blog through email! My Aunt Kathy suggested this feature (she has her own wonderful blog called Get a Job!). I'm sorry I didn't enable a subscription feature sooner. I subscribe to my favorite blogs, so it's silly that I haven't made the option available. Also, I know my posts can sometimes get sporadic, so it's hard to know when to check my site for new content. But never fear! You can now get updated on my life through emails.

To do this, go to the right-hand side panel. Underneath the "About Me" section is a "Subscribe via Email"  box. Just type in your email, and hit subscribe! Then you will be sent an email every time I publish a new post.

In addition, I am also going to try and keep my posts more consistent. The reason I write this blog is because I miss you all at home and I want to share my life with you. I think it is all too easy for college students to venture off and let their hometown relationships crumble, but I'd never want to do that--you are much too important to me! So I'm determined to at minimum post once a week, but hopefully twice or three times a week. We'll see where the rest of this semester takes me!

For your viewing pleasure, I found this beautiful tree when I was wandering around on campus yesterday. I hope you all have time to get out and enjoy the fall weather, it's wonderfully refreshing!

Haverford College Campus Tour No.1

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I went out and took some pictures of campus. It was stormy all day yesterday, and I would have taken more pictures had it not started raining. Anyway, I think Haverford's campus is really pretty over all, so it's a shame there are very few pictures of campus available online. But you're in luck--I'm going to give you a series of  insider photo tours! I hope you enjoy these pictures.

This is my dorm, Gummere. It's a strange building. Because it's built on a slope, the floors are staggered in 3 sections. There are three floors in each section, so there are 9 floors total. The floor plan and labeling system are complicated, and most people on campus don't understand it, so I'll save you from a mental headache.

I like this tree. Or is it a really big bush? . . .

Haverford's mascot is the Black Squirrel. This is an awful photo, but those little guys are too fast and too bashful for me to photo up close.

Here is Gummere again. On the right is another dorm, Leeds.

 We also have a nice little playground. What more could college kids want?

A sandbox, of course!

(Actually, the community uses campus as a park, it is that pretty. I always see families with young children wandering around.)

Did I mention Haverford is known for its trees? We're an arboretum. I really like this crazy one.

A lot of the trees have identification tags. Ever since I saw these, I wondered if it would bother the tree to have a plaque drilled into it.

Also on the playground area is this strange sculpture. I love it.

Except this side scares me.

I like it because no matter what side you are on, there is so much to look at.

Apparently kids can crawl through here. I wondered if I could fit, but I wasn't curious enough to get dirty trying.

This is Hall. I'm sure Hall was some Haverford alumnus who donated a lot of money for the building, as this is how most of our buildings are named. But don't quote me on it.

 Everything at Haverford was donated by alumni. Even the stairs.

I'm so excited the trees are beginning to change colors!

This is Founders Hall. This is the original building. Back in 1833, students lived, ate, and took classes here.

 This is Magill Library. It's the biggest library on campus--it's much bigger than it appears.

I'm fond of the windows.

This is Chase Hall. The Office of the Registrar and the Student Activities Offices are here. As you can see, Haverford is extremely fond of stone!

These are all the pictures I have for now. Check back soon for part II in my Haverford College Campus Tour!

Food Waste Friday: A Good Week and Rescued Bananas!

Hey everyone!

This week has been fall break for Haverford Students, so most of my classmates are gone. This means that the dining center is closed and I've had to fend for myself this week--I really don't mind, but it is a bit hard to eat well when you have no access to a kitchen.

Thank goodness for microwaves and mini fridges! We have a microwave on our hall and an anonymous person from back home donated two lovely mini fridges to Lacey and I. Though they were a bit dirty when we got them, the fridge has been a life saver this week.

This is all of the fridge food I have left from grocery shopping this week. I've been fortunate that I've let none of it go to waste. I was slightly concerned that I had way more overripe bananas than I could eat, but I solved that problem with a tip I learned from The Frugal Girl blog. She slices and freezes her overripe bananas for smoothies or banana ice cream, but they also taste great by themselves. I eat frozen bananas like candy, so I'm grateful they are much more nutritious!

TIP: Don't freeze your bananas with the peel still on them. You will spend precious time struggling to peel a frozen peel, and your banana will probably suffer in the process. I learned the hard way! You can leave them whole--just make sure you peel them!

I actually love frozen banana ice cream (essentially frozen bananas with milk in a blender), and it doesn't have to be anything fancy. But play around with it--I found that just bananas and skim milk has a slight after taste, so I add peanut butter and it's awesome. You can add a lot of other ingredients too and generally it will still be much cheaper and healthier than any ice cream you can buy at the store. If you want to try it, there is a great one at a website called Pennies on a Platter. I actually don't remember whether someone posted this recipe on The Frugal Girl Blog or if I found it on Google. But if someone did suggest it to me, I'm very grateful!

Let me know if you try any experiments with frozen bananas!

Is Ceramics Dying at James House?

It's fall break!

Now that I have a whole week off, I'm planning to get organized and back into my artwork. This weekend I explored James House, a center dedicated to student arts. It's supposed to be a space stocked with art supplies where students can go and create art on their own time.

See the super cool bird on the side?

The inside is also supposed to have "rotating murals." I'm not sure if the walls were always this way, but right now, they aren't exactly my taste.

To my delight, they do have a kiln.

They also have nice Brent Wheels. . .

. . .they are just very dirty.

They have clay too!

We do have some very messy artists here. . .

But apparently there are some clean ones too.

At one point, this was an educational space.

But right now, James House and the ceramics studio seems extremely under used. I'd really like to breath some life back into this space through teaching wheel throwing, but sadly, the wheels are right-handed! They are an old Brent Model B that only go one direction, counter-clockwise. Left-handed people throw clockwise. Most newer wheels have a reverse switch, so they can go both directions. 

I think it'd be a good investment for Haverford to purchase at least one newer wheel that can be used by the left-handed and right-handed students alike. The Brent Wheels they have are good, sturdy wheels, but they are old. Eventually they will need to be replaced anyway, so it would be a good idea to invest in a newer Brent B model. These newer Brents accommodate both the left-handed and right-handed artist and even come with a 10 year warranty. The $985 price tag is small when you consider the decades of use Haverford students would get out of this wheel!

I'd like to write a proposal for funding this wheel. Though I would definitely benefit from its use, I think others would benefit much more from what I can teach them about wheel throwing. It's almost a lost art on this campus--there are no formal ceramics classes, and the ceramics club seems to have disbanded. I'd love to teach classes, and I think there is enough interest in it that it could happen. 

We'll see. I've yet to come in contact with other ceramics artists on campus, and I'm really curious to find out who, if anyone, uses the ceramics equipment.