Why Grad school is Actually the Hunger Games

After some particularly harrowing weeks of school and Catching Fire finally coming to theaters, I've been inspired to write this blog post comparing the Hunger Games (books.movies/scenario in general) to my short time in grad school.

That being said: SPOILER ALERT. If you haven't read the Hunger Games series, you really need to get on it ASAP. And go see the movies. But read the books first.



During the first week, you actually have stuff due. It's still "syllabus week" like in undergrad, but you're expected to have shit done already. It feels like coming up into the arena for the first time after you've just possibly said goodbye to your stylist for the last time.

During the first month, some professors expect you to already know what your thesis (or project) will focus on.

There's that one person in your program that ruins things for everyone else, naturally everyone starts an alliance against this person. We'll call them the Career.

If you're lucky, you have an awesome professor that everyone loves. They'll help you with your projects and be genuinely interested in your success in school, not just their class. This person is like your mentor and sponsor.

Of course, not all the professors are awesome. Some dislike you for no reason.

Sometimes you feel like you're in a literal fight to the death. With yourself. And the worst feeling is knowing that you've done this to yourself...

But you make great friends.

And you surprisingly laugh. A lot.

So maybe grad school isn't always completely like the Hunger Games, but some weeks it is. I'm just glad I've got my grad school besties by my side to help me.

Let's Talk Hemsworths

So I *finally* saw Thor: The Dark World yesterday afternoon. And Friday night I got to see Catching Fire, which was amazeballs. I can't wait to see it again. Needless to say, I had a weekend of Hemsworth brothers and I feel inspired to share my thoughts with you... In gif form, obviously.

Here's Chris. AKA Thor. He's like classic 90's Brad Pitt. But buff and hotter. And Australian, so he's got that accent thing going on...

Here's Liam. AKA Gale. He's the youngest of the three (yes, there's another one) Hemsworth brothers. Seriously, what are their parents doing right?!

So, basically any time they come on any screen (TV, movie, laptop, etc), I'm like...

Or...

And when I think about how lucky their leading ladies are (Natalie Portman in Thor and Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games), I'm just like...

And I wonder why I can't be so lucky.

I can't even go on. In conclusion...

Do you love the Hemsworths?

Almost Home Free!

I'm officially on Thanksgiving break. I've got the whole week off! I'm so thankful I've kept my sanity in tact (for the most part) through this first semester of grad school insanity. Even though I'll probably spend a majority of my week working on my final projects, I'm so excited no have have anywhere to be or anything to turn in for an entire week.

To celebrate the (unofficial) end of my first semester of grad school, this week I will be seeing Catching Fire with my friends at home, doing a little shopping, playing with Nappy a lot, and going to the TCU-Baylor game with my Baylor alum bestie, Katie. I ended up having the hook up for seats AND parking for the game and even though Baylor is going to smack the pants off of TCU to cap off the most disappointing season in 10 years, it's always a good time with me and Katie.

Maybe during my time off I'll be inspired to write an actual post that is interesting and not completely boring like this.

I hope those of you that get the entire week off enjoy it! Happy Thanksgiving!

Burning Pews

Fun title, right? I'll get to it in a minute. I'm back for a (late-ish) weekend recap!

I went home this past weekend for the first time in about 6 weeks! It was a very relaxing weekend... Mostly.

Friday morning, Nappy and I woke up super early and headed East. I had a haircut appointment at 11 and it was beyond a necessity. I hadn't had my hair cut since mid-July. I sat in class Thursday night looking at all of my split ends - not cute. After my much overdo hair cut, I stopped by my old office to say hi to everyone and visit for a few minutes. Two of my co-workers announced they were pregnant right before I left so I finally got to see their cute bumps! (Side note: EVERYONE is pregnant right now. I'm just married to my school work. But seriously the class of 2032 is going to be huge.)

After that, my mo and I grabbed some lunch and headed to the Junior League of Tyler's Christmas Market, Mistletoe & Magic. It was a total bust, except I found a super cute ornament for my bestie who is preggers (yep, pregger #3 of one post - these girls are all due 4 weeks apart from each other, too) and her hubby. After that, my mom and I stopped by this cute little cookie place and got a half-dozen snickerdoodles for me to bring back to FW. Seriously, so good.

Sister 2 Sister cookies. Delish.

Saturday was by far the busiest, and most fun, day I was home. We got up and took Nappy to the vet because he got groomed Thursday and they did something new and he got a staph infection. Poor baby, he's on the mend now though, no worries. After a quick glimpse of the TCU-ISU game, I got ready and headed to the chapel for a wedding. Here's where my fun title comes in...

TCU pulled out their win in the last seconds of the game (keeping us in the race for bowl eligibility, at least for the time being) and I may or may not have been trash talking and checking my phone for updates during the ceremony. Sorry, friends. Didn't mean to set our pew on fire. I got to see all of my wonderful Tyler friends and we had a blast at the reception afterwards. Not to mention we got to see two of our friends get married which is always a good time!

Kendall, Anna, Amanda, me, and Lindsay

After the reception, I went home and got comfy and watched part of the Texas A&M-Miss State game before Lindsay and Chad invited me over to look at all the cute baby clothes they already have and their new apartment! Why are baby clothes SO stinkin' cute?

Then we headed out for a delicious dinner at Villa Montez with the whole gang. Their mojitos are delicious but strong. About 3/4s of one does me in pretty good. After dinner, Lindsay and Chad took me to a cute little soda and candy shop that recently opened. It's one of the neatest places I've ever been to and they make their own soda! I got a bag full of candy and bought Lindsay and BB (our nickname for the baby since they won't tell us what they're naming him yet) a giant Laffy Taffy.

Dinner

Candy and Soda Shop fun!

I was going to leave Sunday, but I decided to stay one more night since I only have night class on Monday to worry about. Sunday was very low key, just hanging out with my mom and having breakfast for dinner - yum.

That was my weekend. This coming weekend, my friends are coming to visit me and we're planning on going to the Zoo to see the baby elephants and other random baby animals because the FW Zoo is having a baby boom! Plus the FW Zoo is amazeballs. I can't wait to show them the coolness of the Fort and take them to all the yummy restaurants. Ok, maybe not all because I have a list a mile long, but definitely some of my favorites.

How was your weekend?!