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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 “Thanksgiving”

Senior Year Goal: Read a Book on the Mall

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Stephanie

Last week I blogged about how I want to have a class outside sometime before I graduate…and this is somewhat of a continuation of that blog.  It might sound strange…and it kind of is.  So first, there are a few things that you need to understand.

  1. I never have free time.
  2. I read so much for class that I am usually burnt out on anything in book form.
  3. Since I don’t have free time and I read a lot more than I would like to already, I never read books.

I know, this is really sad.  I used to love to read…back in my Accelerated Reader days in Elementary School.  Then school kicked it up a notch and I haven’t had time to read ever since.  Sometimes I will read books over breaks though, like over Thanksgiving when I read The Help, or over Spring Break when I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I really loved reading both of these….and it made me realize that I actually do like reading…so I should probably try it more often.  Hence, my new senior year goal….to read a book on the mall.

Since I am so used to spending my only free time napping or watching TV, the first step will be to just read.  Then, once I get into that a little bit more…I might be able to drag myself off of my futon…and I’ll go outside.  I know, it sounds like a next to impossible task (and it really is), but I think that I can do it.  At least once…maybe??  Perhaps if I just remind myself of how much I loved reading on the beach over break, then it will be easier.  I can try at least, I guess?

My favorite reading spot... on my Vera Bradley towel... of course.

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Dear Christmas Break, Please Come Soon!

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Stephanie

When you are a student, there are weeks where you just don’t think that either

  1. it will ever end….      or
  2. you will live through the madness.

And sometimes…before Thanksgiving and Christmas…it lasts for two weeks instead of just one.  Right now, it is Wednesday of the last week before finals…and this is Day 11 of my quest to get everything done before finals.  I had a feeling that this was coming up when I got back from Thanksgiving Break…but I really had no idea what was coming.

In the last week and a half I have worked on projects for up to 8 hour stretches…stayed up until 3 or 4 about 8 times (and I have to be at work at 8 a.m. every day)…put together 2 huge final presentations…while living the rest of my life by going to class and work and finishing up things for all of my extra-curricular activities.  Basically…I am ready for break.  I think I have made it through the worst of it, because I only have one class left this semester, and more importantly, I only have 3 finals next week.  It is going to be the easiest finals week that I have ever  had…and it will be beautiful.  I will finish finals on the Friday of finals week at 10 a.m….and the sun will be shining…and life will be great once again.

Success...I can feel it coming!

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The Best Thanksgiving Dinner…EVER.

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Stephanie

This Thanksgiving, I celebrated the holiday in a very different way than I usually do.  Usually, I spend my morning being lazy and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and then my family and I go to my cousin’s house for a HUGE family gathering.  All of my Grandma’s brothers and sisters (she is the oldest of 9) and their families comes to Thanksgiving, so it is usually a pretty crowded get-together with tons of food.  This year I was visiting my sister, Natalie, and her husband, John, in Albuquerque over Thanksgiving, so for the first time ever, I got to celebrate with less than 50 people.

This was totally new to me, mostly because for the first time, we had to cook everything.  When you are in a big family, one person makes the turkey, one makes ham, one makes potatoes….and so on.  We obviously didn’t want to sacrifice the quality of our Thanksgiving meal, or the variety of foods we would have, so we made everything that we wanted….which just took a little bit longer.  Some didn’t think that we could pull it off…but we worked ahead (by making pies, rolls, and the turkey the night before) and on the day of we each took a different part of the meal, so it was all ready right on time.

I was really proud of our spread of food…so I took pictures…obviously.  Check them out:

The table setting for our Thanksgiving dinner.
Our apple pie…
My personal favorite – the cheesy potatoes
Baked beans…
Stuffing….
The most delicious turkey…ever.
Perfect rolls…

Somehow, we finished off the turkey, the baked beans, and the cheesy potatoes all before dinner…and of course it was all delicious.  But the real accomplishment of the day was that we made all of this….and my sister and I didn’t hurt each other in any way.  Impressive, huh?

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My Journey to the Top of the World: Part II

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Stephanie

Yesterday, I went hiking for the first time, on the Sandia Mountains with my sister, Natalie, her husband, John, and John’s brother, Paul.  We planned for about a 6 hour hike, but we weren’t positive about where we would stop and everything until halfway through (check out Part I if you haven’t yet).  Long story short, we decided to push through and hike to the top instead of stopping.  We googled the trail, and found out that there were 19 switchbacks, and then about a mile of pretty easy trail after that until we could be at the top.  So….we kept hiking.

At first, we were really glad that we kept going, because we were getting into a more rocky hike with snow, and it was way more fun than the first half.  The views were amazing…so obviously we knew that it was worth it….

Natalie was ready to go...

Then, we realized that we were pretty close to being out of water, and we knew that we were not even close to being finished.  Right around then we got into an area with tons of snow….so we decided to eat that instead….which worked out pretty well.

Snow...our makeshift water.

Since we knew that there were 19 switchbacks left, we counted them.  The first few were alright, and then they started getting harder and harder.  Around switchback #8, it hit us….and it was a legit struggle.  There was snow all over the trail, it was really steep, and it was outrageously long…and I thought that I was going to die.  But, somehow we pushed through…and made it through the worst of the switchbacks.  Around #14, they started getting significantly shorter, and after #19 we only had about a mile or so left…and it was cake.

This was my favorite view…by far.

Even though the last mile really wasn’t awful (except for all of the mud from the melted snow)….we had been hiking for almost 6 hours….and we were exhausted and hungry…really hungry.  We started hiking around 9:45, and lunchtime came and went…but we didn’t really have a choice but to keep hiking.  Around halfway through, Paul offered to buy everyone lunch at the restaurant at the top of the mountain if we made it up there….so that was really pulling us through.  We each knew that we wanted a coke, a water, and something really unhealthy….so that was really all that mattered to us.  So as soon as we made it to the top….we went straight to the restaurant and got down to business. We ordered four cokes and four waters, told them to keep the refills coming…and we got an order of onion rings and chips and queso.  Perfection.

Onion rings and our chips and queso....amazing.

The leftovers of the best cokes we had ever tasted....

So, 6 hours and 10 miles later, we were finished.  It was the most exhausting day ever to say the least…but now at least we can each say that basically we own that mountain now….because we hiked it and took names while doing it.  Forget the fact that we rode the tram back down the mountain…because we were really not wanting to work our way all the way back down.  It wasn’t being lazy, because #1 – nothing is considered lazy after you hike for 6 hours and #2 – we were just being time conscious, obviously.

My sister and I at the top of the mountain...

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Trying something new for Thanksgiving Break…

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Stephanie

I’m currently on Thanksgiving Break, and for the first time ever I am not following my usual break routine.  This includes the following things…in this order:

  1. Drive home
  2. Eat some great food
  3. Sleep
  4. Lay on the couch
  5. Watch every one of my TV shows on Hulu
  6. Sleep
  7. Watch every movie that is decent on TV
  8. Go out to dinner with my parents
  9. Hang out with my friends
  10. Sleep
  11. Wash clothes

This time around…instead of recuperating from school with this routine…I flew to New Mexico.  My sister, Natalie, and brother-in-law, John, moved here after they got married in July, so John’s brother and I flew out to spend Thanksgiving with them.  We’ve been having a great time seeing their new home and exploring a new part of the country…but I’m not going to lie…I miss being lazy.  I always use breaks to be as lazy as humanly possible and to watch move television than anyone in their right mind should.  But, I keep reminding myself that I didn’t fly halfway across the country to sleep and sit inside…so I need to make the most of my time here.  I’ll be posting more about all of our adventures, including hiking up a mountain and making our first Thanksgiving dinner on our own (help us, please!).  So check back soon for updates!

The view of the mountains from Albuquerque...

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College Life vs. Real Life = Totally Different

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Stephanie

This summer I realized something pretty big, something Earth-shattering.

Ok, maybe it isn’t that big.  But it still is rather important.

Contrary to popular belief, college life is not real life.

For the last 3 years, I have felt like a grown-up, like a real person with real life problems and situations.  Actually, it’s not real at all.  Most of the problems I see every day not things that happen in every day real life.  For instance, people coming over and drinking all of our slushies (apparently not everyone has a slushie machine in their house), or not being able to put holes in my walls while I’m decorating my room (look out for a blog on my back to school crafting and decorating soon!).  But most importantly, college distorts our perception of time.

Most semesters are about 16 weeks long, so our lives revolve around that singular time period.  We worry about the test that is coming up next week, then once that passes we move onto the midterm the next week, and lastly the final that we cap off the semester with.  Even with projects, everything has to be started, developed, and put into action within that 16 week time period, or else there isn’t a way to get graded for it.  On the flip side, in the real world, 16 weeks is sometimes much less time than is allowed to complete projects (or in some cases…brainstorm them), which is kind of a problem when you have an internship that is only a few months long.

Personally, I can’t wait to get out into the real world to be able to look at life in a more long-term prospective, because right now my version of long-term is Thanksgiving.  Past that, I don’t really think about things much, with the exception of my TBD post-grad plans of course….so on second thought….let’s stick with the college mentality.  I’m totally fine with postponing the inevitable for as long as possible….

Can't I just stay in college forever???

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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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My family is cooler than yours.

Posted on November 25, 2010 by Stephanie

During breaks like Thanksgiving Break (which I am currently enjoying), it is only natural that you see your family….especially since that is just what you do on Thanksgiving.  Every year we have two gatherings….one with my Dad’s family (all of his brothers and sisters and their families) and one with my Mom’s Mom’s family (or my Grandma’s family).  Each one always has its perks…for instance…

When my Dad’s family all gets together…the best part is hands down…the food.  Yes, the company is rather legit too (my family is amazing and hilarious, and I love hanging out with them)…but they are all such awesome cooks that its hard to beat that.  My Aunt Cheryl makes the best noodles known to man (that I technically know how to make….but mine just aren’t as good)….my Aunt Marcella makes this amazing dressing…and everyone in the family makes sweet tea the way that sweet tea is supposed to be made.

My Aunt Cheryl, cousin Audrey, Aunt Carol, cousin Rachel, my Mom, and I...all hanging out at Christmas last year...

At my Grandma’s family get-togethers….the food is also rather amazing….but I do love hanging out with them all…especially my Grandparents.  My Grandpa does entirely too much than he should, hence how he almost cut off his fingers a few months ago.  My Grandma loves to tell people exactly what she thinks, and she loves to say funny things that no one would ever expect to hear from her.  Like this summer, when we were redecorating our kitchen at my house.  We were talking about the new wallpaper that we just got, and she asked me, “Does your wallpaper have monkeys on it?”, and after I said, “No, it just has flowers on it”, she just said, “Well, that’s too bad.”  I know this sounds rather random…but it makes sense to me…because about a year or so ago, she found a roll of border on sale somewhere, and she liked everything about it, except for that it had monkeys on it…so she painted birds over the monkeys.  That is how she solves every decorating problem she has.  Just like when she couldn’t find curtains she liked, she painted the wall instead.  I love her outlook on life.  :)

My Aunt Annette, me, my Grandma, my Grandpa, my Mom, and my Uncle Denny all at our family Easter...

I hope that you all have a happy Thanksgiving….and that you enjoy spending time with your family this week!!! :)

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Black Friday…aka…the Superbowl of Shopping.

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Stephanie

I love to shop.  I mean, I REALLY love to shop.  I love to shop more than some people love to sleep, eat, or do other things that they like to do all the time.  To back up my point….here are two examples of how good I am at shopping, and how much I do it….

  1. Once, a friend of mine told me that if shopping were an Olympic sport, I would win a gold medal every time.
  2. This past semester, I went shopping every weekend….for a solid two months.  Now this does include trips to places like Wal-Mart and Target…for the necessities of course…but it also includes trips to the many amazing malls in this area…for things that were not necessary.

You might be wondering, “How does she do it?  How does she shop that much….and not go broke??”  Well…my secret is…searching for bargains until I cannot search anymore.  I love a good bargain…so naturally, my favorite shopping day of the year is Black Friday.  The most important part of shopping on a day like Black Friday is going in with a plan, and sticking to that plan.  My sister and I basically perfected this technique a few years ago, when we started doing the whole Black Friday thing.  My senior year in high school we went and we conquered all…by basically getting all of the Christmas shopping done for my whole family in one day.  The next year we did the same thing….and we were even better, I think, because we didn’t waste our time on certain stores (like Walmart…it just takes way too long sometimes.)  Last year we did not partake in the madness….and this year she is working (she is a crisis therapist now…and she is on-call) so she won’t even be able to come home for Thanksgiving.  Today, I talked to my Mom about possibly going…and she seemed up for it….but I’m not sure how this will all go…for a couple of reasons….

  1. About five years ago…we tried to go shopping on Black Friday.  We planned on leaving around 8 a.m….and we didn’t actually leave until 10 a.m., and we got there at 11.
  2. On that same trip….we arrived at our first stop…Best Buy…and once we found a parking spot, my Mom let someone else have it.  Then, while we were walking into the store, she directed other people to parking spots, as she said “Merry Christmas” to everyone we passed.

Yes, I love my Mom, how kind she is, and her never-failing Christmas spirit….but I don’t know if she can handle the intensity that is shopping on Black Friday at 4 a.m.  So, wish us luck as we undertake this endeavor….I hope that we both make it out alive!

How I prep for Black Friday....by hog wrestling. Shopping is serious business....

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