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About Me:

My name is Steph, and I am a senior Marketing major with a Communication Studies minor. Since this is my last year at Butler, my main goal is to enjoy every moment that I have left, while doing as much as humanly possible. I am a marketing analyst at the Butler Business Accelerator, a Speakers Lab tutor, and a Butler blogger (obviously). I also am an Alpha Phi, the President of the Butler University Student Foundation, a member of Alpha Kappa Psi (a professional business fraternity), and a member of the Butler American Marketing Association. In the small amount of free time that I do have, I love crafting, watching large amounts of television, and enjoying my favorite comfort foods, like sweet tea.

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Posts Tagged “Fall Break”

Sewing: My favorite and least favorite of all crafts.

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Stephanie

There are several times this semester when I have truly wanted to just put everything on hold, take an evening to myself, and craft.  But, I somehow have stayed dedicated to all of my homework and tasks for my activities on campus, and I saved all my crafting for Fall Break.  As usual, I ran out of time to actually finish everything during break….so I just put the finishing touches on one of my things over the weekend.  Here are the things I made….

The newest addition to my Alpha Phi wardrobe....

I just love pillows...

I made the shirt out of a t-shirt that I bought from Target ($10), a Vera Bradley cloth napkin (around $4), and an old white t-shirt to outline the Alpha Phi letters.  Cutting out the letters wasn’t too hard, I just used a sweatshirt I already had to trace the shapes that I wanted, then used those as stencils.  I ran out of time after that step, so I came back to school with cloth letters and a shirt, but no shirt with letters.  Then this weekend I decided to just tackle the entire project….which made me truly hate sewing.  I attached the letters to the shirt with Heat ‘n Bond hem, then sewed around them with my sewing machine to give them the look I wanted, and to make sure that they didn’t start to fall off…ever.  This was a struggle…to say the least.  It took entirely too long (around 4 hours), so I don’t think I will be making another shirt like that anytime in the near future….and I will most definitely cherish that shirt.

The pillow, on the other hand, was extremely simple.  I took a plain pillow I already had and stitched on felt “petals” in the shape of a flower.  It was so easy, and just look at how cute it is!

Even though sewing can be outrageously difficult (especially when you have a VERY cheap sewing machine), I truly love being able to look at something on Pinterest or on another crafting site and to know that I can make it.  I might say some choice words to my sewing machine and debate throwing it out the window when it doesn’t do what I want it to, but in the end…I usually have some pretty cute stuff.  Which is always totally worth it…obviously.

 

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Everybody loves Fall Break…

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Stephanie

Breaks from school are always great….but the ones that come at a point in the semester when you really have no homework at all to do are always the best.  That’s how my Fall Break was this year, a fabulous 3 days of chilling out on my couch, while still being somewhat productive…in regards to nothing school related…at all.

Since I am interning currently at Slingshot SEO, I stayed on campus for an extra day to get another day of work in.  It was kind of nice to slowly ease into break by finishing classes one day and then just working the next day, instead of rushing home and crashing right away like I usually do.  Instead, I postponed the crash for a day, by driving home after work on Thursday.  This was really nice, because I packed up my things leisurely, I had already recovered from all of my tests that week, and I just chilled out as I drove all the way home.

I love the drive home...

Once I got home….I saw my dogs, as usual…and then I did not leave my couch from about 9 p.m. Thursday night until around 4 p.m. the next day.  So my first goal for break, resting, was officially a success.

Love my puppies...so much.

The rest of my break consisted of going out to eat with my parents (we only cooked one meal for the family the entire weekend), shopping with my mom, and doing a bit of crafting to get my creative fix for the weekend.  I took a little bit of homework home to do, but I somehow succeeded at never opening a book or even thinking of school for 2 whole days (I did some homework on Sunday), which was an absolutely beautiful thing.

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Laundry – The Bane of my Existence

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Stephanie

One thing that I absolutely hate about college is doing my laundry.  I actually like and appreciate the act of doing the laundry, but I do everything I can to save money wherever possible, so I mostly don’t like paying to wash clothes.  Every time that I pay 75 cents to wash and 75 cents to dry a load, it feels like someone is robbing me blind of all of my quarters, which are basically gold to a college student.

Since I really dislike paying out that $5 or so in quarters every time I do laundry, I have learned to hold out on my washing until I go home.  This is nice because I don’t have to worry about leaving my clothes in the washer for too long, or about someone taking any of my stuff….but it is also an absolutely EXHAUSTING process.  When I went home for Fall Break, I documented everything so that I could share it with all of you.

First, I pack up all of my dirty clothes, sheets, and towels at school…drag them to my car…and drive home.  Once I arrive home, I enlist the help of my Mom, Dad, and any other individual that happens to be at my house, and we carry everything from my car to the kitchen/laundry room.  I usually park all of my stuff in the kitchen, because it is the first room that you come to in my house, and there is plenty of space to lay out everything I possibly can.

My Laundry – Stage 1

After I get the laundry upstairs, I have to sort it.  This is usually the most depressing part, because it either smells rather bad, or I realize how much stuff I really have, which is completely unreal.

My Laundry – Stage 2

After I sort the laundry, I tackle the washing and drying process, which is pretty time consuming when you have about 6-7 loads to do.  It was a lot more fun this time around though, because my parents just got a new washer and dryer, which is always exciting.  When my mom was teaching me how to use the new washer for the first time, we legitimately stood by the washer for the first 10 minutes, just watching it fill with water and begin to wash.  (We’re not crazy people…I swear.)

Once it is all dry, I have to sort it by type, and get it all packed up to take back to Butler.  I separate everything into piles of t-shirts, jeans, sweatpants, sweatshirts, tank tops, and nice clothes.  When I’m done…there is usually a mountain of clothing on our loveseat in the living room….

My Laundry – Stage 3

I guess I could completely avoid the sheer size of this project if I did laundry more than once every month/month and a half…but I like leaving it until I absolutely HAVE to wash things…since I dislike it so much.  And, usually, this way I don’t have to pay to complete such an annoying and time-consuming task.  There’s always a bright side….

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The top 5 reasons I love breaks…

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Stephanie

I love coming home… a lot.  This year, I haven’t been able to come home nearly as much as I would like, so this is only my second time home (the first was Labor Day weekend, and now it is Fall Break).  But every time I come home, I do the same things, and the routine comforts me in a way.  The routine changes slightly, depending on the time of the year and what I need to do, but these 5 things are the constants for every visit of mine.

  1. The food. Eating at home is basically the best of both worlds, home cooking and going out to eat.  There are several places that we always MUST visit, like Bobe’s Pizza, our favorite Amish restaurant, the BBQ place in town, or Sweet Stuff Cafe, so basically I could eat out for every meal, and be perfectly content.  But, since my dad is a farmer, and we always have a pretty impressive stash of beef, I love having a good steak dinner or my dad’s famous Sunday lunch complete with pot roast and homemade mashed potatoes.
  2. The drive. If you have never driven to southern Indiana, you should.  Basically, as soon as you get south of Indianapolis, the landscape turns into beautiful rolling hills with tons of trees…which makes for an absolutely perfect drive on a fall day.  My drive home yesterday would have only been better if I could control the weather since driving on a sunny day is so much more pleasant than driving in constant rain for 2.5 hours. 
  3. My couch. Last night I sat down on my couch around 9:30 p.m., and did not leave it until 4:00 p.m. today.  Of course I left to eat and to grab a few other things, but other than that….my couch and I have been the best of friends.  It is the perfect place to sleep, watch TV, or write blogs, so really, what else do I need on Fall Break??  If only my parents wouldn’t mind if I took this couch with me wherever I go… then I would basically be set for life.
  4. Seeing my dogs. I have two dogs, Sophie and Stella, who I do not see nearly enough.  Stella is a spunky (spunky is an understatement) lab mix, and Sophie is a calm and poised Great Pyrenees.  I love them both…especially when they greet me as soon as I pull in the driveway.  Unfortunately, Stella’s outrageousness makes playing with them for any length of time completely exhausting… and then I feel bad for Sophie because Stella is a complete attention hog.
  5. Doing my laundry. The one thing that I like the least about college is doing laundry, or paying to do my own laundry.  So I usually bring it home with me….which makes for entirely too much work on the weekend…but at least I don’t have use all of my quarters to pay for it.

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Ants. Ants. And More Ants.

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Stephanie

About two weeks ago, we started seeing ants crawling around our room.  They mostly hung out on my desk, even though we did see them a few other places around the room and in our bathroom.  At first we thought they were coming in through the window, which made sense because my desk is right beside the wall and the window, and little bugs like ants love coming inside when it starts getting cold in the fall.

One of the little suckers...

After they didn’t go away after a day or two, I went down to tell our house mom.  (She helps coordinate everything at our house, from meals to the maintenance man, while making sure that we don’t burn it down.)  I told her that we had ants, and she gave me the little ant traps that usually do the trick.  So I set them out by the window, on the floor around my desk, and by my roommate’s desk.  Over the next week or so, I didn’t really pay attention to the ants because I was busy with tests and papers and life, and I never sat at my desk because I wasn’t in my room since I was studying so much.

Then, right before my very last test…I had one hour to finish studying, and I chose to stay in my room.  POOR CHOICE.  The ants were worse than ever, and I couldn’t handle it.  Basically, I went to war with the ants.  I moved everything off of my desk, found their favorite place on my desk (a tiny Tootise Roll), and took off on a killing spree.  After using stickers and hairspray to clear away most of the ants, I had to go take my test, but when I came back…they were still there.  Fortunately, the next day the Orkin man came and found their source (a space between the baseboards and the wall…behind my desk) and he took care of them.  I found a few more while I was doing my post-test cleaning spree, but overall, I think they’re gone.  I’m giving them until Fall Break is over, but if I see more when I get back….its going to be war #2, and this time I am going pull out more than just hairspray and stickers.

*I didn’t take any more photos…because it got rather graphic and gross.  Let’s be serious, no one wants to see that.

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How to survive wintertime at Butler…

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Stephanie

So about two weeks ago, right before finals, a HUGE amount of snow was dumped on Indy.  I was supposed to go to a family wedding that weekend, but the snow kept that trip from happening, and it kept me from leaving campus for a few days, because one of my windshield wipers was broken, so I couldn’t exactly see if I drove in the snow.  Having all of the snow right before finals was kind of good and bad at the same time, because it made me not want to leave the house, but then sometimes the only thing that made me feel like studying was looking at all of the beautiful, glittering snow.  :)   It was so strange having snow before Christmas though, because for the past few years we haven’t been dumped on until January at least, so I am really glad that I was prepared for the weather.  Here are some cold weather tips….and if you are from anywhere south of Indianapolis, pay attention!

  • After Fall Break, bring back some scarves and gloves, and a big coat.  Sometimes the cold weather holds out until Thanksgiving, but this year it didn’t….and I was very glad that I had my mom bring me my big coat before Thanksgiving Break.
  • If you have a car….invest in a really nice ice scraper and some de-icer. I also highly recommend that you leave these things in your room instead of your car, because if you get a huge snow and you can’t get into your car…you are kind of in a jam.  So I have de-icer in my car and in my room, just in case.  And ice scraper wise, buy one of those huge ones with a brush and everything.  You will thank yourself later.
  • Also if you have a car, if you know it is going to snow a ton, back into a parking space.  This might just be a personal preference thing, but I would much rather not have to back out of a spot with tons of snow on the ground….mostly because my car sits very close to the ground.
  • Invest in snow boots, or something very similar.  These come in handy when it snows a ton on a Sunday night when you are studying in an academic building, and the grounds crew hasn’t cleared paths yet.  My friend Lindsey and I had to pave our own way to the Pharmacy Building and back during finals week because of this…and snow boots would have been a great thing to wear during our trek…

Even though winters in Indianapolis can be rather intense for us southerners, anyone from north of Indy thinks we are crazy when we freak out about 5 inches of snow.  So, don’t worry, it isn’t usually too outrageous, it is actually beautiful!

One of my favorite pictures of Butler after a big snow....

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I didn’t forget about you, Fall Break!

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Stephanie

A few weeks ago (actually 4 to be correct), we had Fall Break.  Then, as soon as we came back….we started to count down to Thanksgiving Break….which starts next Friday!  So I was looking through all of my blogs from the past few weeks…and I realized that I never actually blogged about Fall Break, which is really sad considering that Thanksgiving is SO close.  So bear with me….and here is a quick rundown of my Fall Break.

Thursday- For my first day of break, I decided to start it off on the right foot by going to the orthodontist to get my permanent retainer fixed.  Who doesn’t love appointments at 8:30 a.m.???!!  Then I spent the rest of the day being so productive by watching all of the TV shows that I had missed recently.  Phew…it was a tiring day.  Then I ended the day by going with my Mom to attempt to pick up some political signs (this was pre-election), and when they were all out….we just had to make the best of the situation….so we went shopping.  Great first day of break.  :)

Friday- On Friday I was actually productive in a good way.  I had a meeting that morning…and then studied (kind of) all afternoon.  That night I visited some of my friends Taylor and Chase at USI and UE (Southern Indiana and Evansville)…and just had a pretty awesome and chill night.  :)

Here I am with Chase, and our other friend, Braden. They were my ushers for my pageant this past summer, and they did a rather amazing job. :)

Here are Taylor and I....just being the cool kids that we are.

Saturday- Saturday was the only day that I had nothing planned for….so I decided to study all day…..but I quickly became entranced with all of the good movies on TV that day….so studying didn’t really happen.  Later that night I went to a dinner that my Mom helped organize…and then helped shape the future of my friend’s little brother.  I went over to hang out with his sister, but that night he was working on his college admissions essays, so of course we had to help him out.  We tried to guide him the best that we could…without doing it for him of course…and I think we did pretty well.  :)

Sunday- As always, Sunday was a busy day full of washing clothes…packing…finishing up homework…and doing entirely too much.  Ugh.

I guess that my Fall Break was alright….but it was pretty anti-climactic.  I had planned on studying so I was ready for everything when I came back, hanging out with my friends, hanging out with my family, and still somehow finding time to just sleep and do nothing.  But…surprise surprise….that didn’t happen.  So now I am going to try to do that all over again in a week and a half, when it is time for Thanksgiving Break!

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