Blog

When sitting down to do my homework and have my snack, I realized that I can write something about it. I was eating Tru Fru, AKA my favorite snack ever. Tru Fru is basically frozen chocolate covered fruit that’s also ridiculously expensive. I’ve tried quite a few varieties, and I decided to rate them today.

Milk Chocolate Strawberry – 8.5/10

Their Milk Chocolate Strawberry variety is really good, but also pretty sweet. This isn’t a bag that I can eat in one sitting. It’s a little too sweet for me, and it makes me feel a little sick if I eat too much. For me, this is a better choice for eating in smaller servings instead of the whole bag.

Dark Chocolate Blueberry – 8/10

The dark chocolate pairs nicely with the blueberries, making it not too sweet. The only reason that I rated it an 8 is that I’m not a fan of blueberries. I like them fresh, but the frozen blueberries they use feel a little off to me. They’re weirdly different than regular frozen blueberries. Other than that, they’re really good!

Dark Chocolate Cherry – 10/10

To me, these are absolutely perfect. The tartness of the cherries and the dark chocolate are amazing together. It’s the perfect balance, and I could eat an entire bag of these. The size of each piece is also perfect as well. It’s small enough to where I don’t have to awkwardly bite it. Out of all the flavors, this is the one I reach for the most.

Chocolate PB+Banana – 9/10

This one is one of my favorites in terms of taste (even more than the cherries), but the bananas get mushy if they thaw out too long. I usually don’t eat bananas because I don’t like the texture of them, but I can eat them frozen. The peanut butter coating instead of the white chocolate is also a nice substitution. I love chocolate and peanut butter together so this is perfect for me. I would’ve rated these a 10/10 as well if I didn’t have a problem with the texture of mushy bananas.

After nearly a month of trying to schedule my local interview, it finally happened. Today was my interview with Jane Taylor, the owner of Prairie Road Yarn.

I came and sat down with her a little bit after 9:00AM, which is when the shop opens. Her store had a cozy sit down area, which I really liked. The actual interviewing part was very nice, and I wasn’t anxious or awkward at all either. The interview went shorter than my industry interview, but I still think I got a lot of good information!

She started her yarn business as a retirement job, which I thought was really surprising! She also talked a lot about the”behind-the-scenes” parts about owning a business as well, such as bookkeeping, inventory, and social media managing. She started hosting knitting/crochet classes around the same time she started her business. She told me that as a yarn shop, it almost felt like a requirement to host classes. Hosting those classes was one of the best ways to build a clientele. Even now, most of the classes that are hosted there are beginner classes.

In addition to yarn and supplies, there were also things made by local vendors. These were items that were knitted and crocheted, as well as other items. This isn’t directly interview related, but I personally loved the yarn that she sold and how it was arranged in the stores. I’d go back there and shop just based on that alone!

Overall, the interview went great, and I’m glad I finally got it done and can get to writing the article!

I believe that the October-February slump is a real thing, and it has been hitting me HARD lately. To combat this slump, I’ve resorted to taking breaks between projects to play Minesweeper, Wordle, and Connections. As of right now, the only one I’m good at is Wordle.

Minesweeper is my favorite, and it makes me think the most out of the three, but I’ve only won twice out of the many, many games I’ve played. I’ll sit in front of a computer screen playing a single game of minesweeper for ten minutes! I even had little sticky tabs covering the mine spaces on my computer screen. That’s part of the reason why I won that game, though.

I also enjoy doing the Connections, but I can’t get past the first category most of the time. Yesterday’s game was really easy, and I actually ended up winning, but every other game I’ve lost. My favorite part is seeing all the word combinations AFTER I lose. Having a “why didn’t I think of that?” moment every day is pretty funny.

Wordle is definitely the easiest for me to do, but It’s still a challenge. I typically use the same starter word every time, and it’s a bummer when NONE of the letters from my starter word are used.

I looked up if any of these games actually make you smarter (spoiler: they don’t), but I think it’s fun to give my brain a break in a more productive way instead of going on my phone! Maybe I’ll win all three games tomorrow!

for my Design Development class, we’re working on designing packaging for an imaginary, made-up product of choice. I wanted to do something skincare/makeup/hair related, and I eventually decided designing a package for hair oil. I got to think of the brand name and aesthetic, which was really exciting! This is a project I’ve been looking forward to since Tony first mentioned it.

When thinking of a brand name, I wanted to play around and sneak my name in somewhere. I decided on the name “Living Fruits” since my brand was a natural beauty brand. I kept a very simple aesthetic and incorporated some green/leafy themes in my packaging. I took inspiration from other clean beauty brands and what they did with their products, as well as the box I brought in as a reference.

Currently, this is where I’m at with my package. I don’t think there’s a whole lot left that I need to do, but I still want to mess around with the positioning of what I have on the box.

I did also make an isometric version of my packaging, so I could see a more accurate version of what my packaging would look like before I printed it. Next Monday I’ll probably do a test print and fold everything together and see what it looks like. Looking at the packaging laid out flat, I might miss a few things compared to looking at the finished product.

I’ve enjoyed most of the projects from this year so far, but this one is definitely one of my favorites! I like that I had full creative freedom with what I wanted to make. I also really enjoyed the brand development as well!

While driving to the building for tour day, Apple Maps gave me the wrong directions. I had to self-navigate my way there, which made me a little bit late. The initial frustration soon wore off after I saw how cool the inside of the building looked.

The open floor space really stood out to me, and I liked that everyone’s cubicle was uniquely decorated! I also liked that there was a lot of unoccupied space as well to keep room for growth. I thought that was very nice, and I’m glad that’s something that the company considers.

I loved that there were plenty of break/rest areas. All of what they did on the inside made it feel more comfortable/home-y if that makes sense. It gets rid of the dry/dull 9-5 feeling. I obviously have to mention the slide. I loved it. If I worked there, I’d find a reason to go down the slide every single day. Speaking of, I could see myself working there one day! I loved the work environment, and I’m definitely considering applying for the creative web position once graduation gets a little closer!

I was surprised to hear that they do more than just basic web design for car retailers as well! Building websites for small business and other branding/design projects were something I would not have expected. The work that they do is definitely more than I initially thought, and I’m pleasantly surprised!

I’ve also been getting more and more interested in my book! I finally finished the first part (which ended with Emma throwing her wedding bouquet in the fireplace). Emma is also pregnant, and her unhappiness with her marriage/life is making her physically ill. I know this sounds a little morbid, but I’m excited to read more on her slow progression into insanity. After doing a little more research on the book, Emma eventually has an affair and commits suicide (I can’t remember if I mentioned either of these things in an earlier post).

Now that I know what happens later in the book, I want to read it quicker and watch everything unfold!

Since my last post, I’ve started to get back into my book, and read the Sparknotes summaries from the first few chapters so I could understand it better. So far, Charles was made fun of in elementary school, he went to medical school and slacked off, and post-grad, his mom made some arrangements and he was able to practice in fancy area (I’m assuming it’s fancy from what I read in the summary online). Charles’ mom also arranged him a marriage, which was his first wife. Charles gets called to do farm work, where he meets a girl named Emma. Charles starts to develop feelings for Emma while still being with his wife. Emma starts to like Charles as well. Charles’ wife dies suddenly, and after that is when he starts going to the farm more to see Emma, until they eventually get married.

When I first read it, I thought that Charles met someone while working at a hospital and she suddenly died under his care. I’m glad I read the online summary or else I would’ve gotten confused very quick.

After reading the summary and analysis of the first few chapters, I’m a lot more interested in the book! The title of the book, “Madame Bovary” refers to Emma after she married Charles and takes his last name. The first bits of the book focused on Charles and his family instead of Emma. The focus was on Charles’ mom and first wife (which can also be referred to as Madame Bovary). The author did this to show how different Emma is compared to the other women in Charles’ life.

When Charles and Emma were planning their wedding, both had different ideas of what their ideal wedding was, which also emphasized how different they were. As I’ve kept reading, there are a lot of areas where their differences are highlighted. Emma realizes she isn’t as happy in this marriage as she thought she was, and she begins to become dissatisfied with her life. Before I read the book, I looked up what it was about, and one of the main parts of the book is Emma’s unhappiness with her marriage and other aspects of her life as well.

I’m getting more interested in the book, especially after hearing the story focus on Emma and Charles instead of JUST Charles.

I remember saying that I was going to read every single night before I go to bed. I have not been doing that. The last time I picked up that book was Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were all late nights for me and I couldn’t squeeze in the time to read at all. Unfortunately there’s no real book update in this blog post. This is the only update I have.

Now for the more exciting part. I had last Friday off, so my friend and I decided to have a shopping day. Him and I were wanting to hang out, and I normally never have Fridays off, so this hangout planning was perfect. Him and I went to nearly every music store in the area for one specific CD. I have been on the hunt for Alice in Chains’ self titled CD since I first listened to it on Spotify. Two of my favorite songs are on that album, and I want to be able to listen to it in my car at a very loud volume. Normally, my car doesn’t play music that loud anymore because my bluetooth transmitter is old. My car’s full volume is equivalent to half that of a normal car.

I could just be a normal person and look for this CD online, but where’s the fun in that? I unfortunately didn’t find the CD I was looking for, but I found two CDs that are just as good! I found a Deftones CD and a Radiohead CD. Radiohead is one of my favorite bands, so I’m glad I finally have a CD from them in my collection!

I started reading my book on Tuesday, and I think I’m around 20 pages in. Nothing too interesting has happened in the book so far in my opinion. The guy in the book (I think his name was Charlie or Charles…I’m not sure) went to a new school when he was a little kid, and he was really quiet and dropped his hat on the floor all the time, so all the kids would laugh at him. The chapters I read also talked about his family, and his medical schooling. If I remember correctly, as an adult he worked at a hospital, and he started to develop feelings for one of his patients, but she died shortly afterwords. I’m not sure that my summary is 100% accurate, but I thought it’d be cheating if I looked it up before I typed all of this out.

That same night, I also decided to go back and play some Animal Crossing after a few months. I forgot that the color of the leaves and grass change during the seasons, so I was very surprised when I opened the game to find out everything was yellow. The last time I played, the grass was bright green! One of my villagers ended up moving out and quickly got replaced by another villager. Now I have one single wolf villager in my town full of cats. When I first made my town, I used my modded DS to edit my map and change all of my villagers, and I haven’t gotten around to changing them out again. Part of me wants to keep the one oddball in my town for fun. I already planted flowers around his house, so I think he’s staying.

When I was playing the game, I also found out that there’s a town Halloween event, so I’m thinking of playing tonight so I can see what it’s about (instead of going outside and doing actual things for Halloween). Playing for a little bit this week was really fun, and I hope I can find some free time to play it again soon!

Since today was my day off, I had four important things on my agenda: start my marketing homework, wash my hair, go to the library, and stretch my septum (sounds incredibly exciting…I know).

A little bit before classes were over, I got an amazon notification that my package shipped, which had my new septum jewelry in it. I’ve been slowly stretching my septum over the last few months, and it’s been really fun! The only downside to septum stretching is that it feels like getting it re pierced all over again every time I go up a gauge size. I went from a 12 gauge to a 10 gauge earlier this afternoon and it HURT! People online say that stretching your septum isn’t supposed to hurt, but the other half say that it hurts no matter what, so I’m not gonna freak out over it too much. If I wanna go up to an 8 gauge I’m definitely gonna wait longer in between stretches. People recommend to wait a few months in between sizes, and I waited a month and a half.

The size of the jewelry in this picture is the same gauge size as the jewelry I’m wearing right now.

I’ve also been wanting to get back into reading (I think I mentioned this in an earlier blog post as well), and I finally did some looking and found a book I wanted to check out. The mechanics in my brain started to work and I decided to pick out a classic. I decided to check out “Madame Bovary”. I looked up a brief summary, and I thought it was interesting. I’m setting a goal for myself to do at least a little bit of reading every night before bed while I’m drinking my tea (I totally sound like a grandma writing this. Maybe I secretly have an elderly woman as a ghostwriter haha). Back to what I was talking about, though, drinking tea before bed is very relaxing. Adding some reading into my night routine will be really good for me!

Let’s hope I actually read my book and enjoy it! I have until November 19 to finish it!

Last weekend while I was doing laundry, I ran into one of my friends and asked him to hang out while we waited for our laundry to finish. Him and I were walking outside, and we noticed a little red dot moving around outside and shining at us. We looked up and noticed someone shining a laser pointer out of their window. We thought for a bit on what we should do, and we eventually decided to creepily stand outside the window and stare at them for a bit.

After a few minutes of doing that, we decided to go knock on their apartment door. The first few times we knocked there was no answer. We heard people rustling around inside, so we knew that they knew we were outside. My friend and I decided to go back outside their window to see if they still had the laser shining outside.

After going back outside, we noticed the blinds and curtains moving at one of the bedroom windows. They were peeking at us. My friend and I thought it’d be funny if we went back to their door to creep them out a little bit. We knocked on their door and we started talking while waiting for an answer. While him and I were talking we heard voices inside. We eventually started talking to them through the door until they eventually let us in.

All the people at the apartment were very nice! My friends and I had a game night a couple of days ago and we invited them over to play with us and it was a lot of fun! Compared the small amount of people I talked to last year, this is definitely a refreshing change. Being semi-social is a lot more fun than hiding in my room all day.

On the topic of being social, there was a student housing pumpkin event that I went to and I had a lot of fun with it! I also took way too much halloween candy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of my pumpkin, so all I can provide is the image of what I painted on it. We’re gonna leave it to the imagination in terms of image accuracy. I think my rendition of it is incredible. I have two more pumpkins sitting in my car (that are not stolen from student housing) that I still need to do stuff with. I don’t know if I want to carve or paint them. Once I get some people who are willing to do it with me I’ll definitely do one or the other!