Life with Madi

Something I've struggled with a lot as a college student is the notion of going home for the weekend.  Social cues and media examples always show how teenagers are supposed to hate their parents and, once they fly the coop, never want to come home again.  This, I say, is ridiculous. 

I love my parents.  My sister is my best friend.  This is why last year, when I spent over three months at a time away from the people that I loved the most (I was in Colorado for school, my family in Texas- such is the life for any out-of-state student) it was a wake-up call for me, but a much needed one.  I learned how to live by myself and I made a few close friends and basically, just kept myself busy.  I got a job at the newspaper.  I got involved around campus.  I learned to love my school.

Now, though, it's so much different.  My parents are here, and the friends I choose to spend time with these days are few and far between (don't pity me- I'm not spending my nights curled up on my bed alone, crying myself to sleep out of loneliness.  I've got my people but just not as many as I would prefer).  My weekends are a little bare, so lately, I've been taking the 2 hour trip between FoCo and Parker and using the weekends to spend time with my family. 

I do this a lot, and one weekend, it really got to me.  I stayed in my apartment and when my mom urged me to come spend the day with her and the family just for a Sunday, I felt wrong.  I looked back on all the interactions I'd ever had with friends where they mentioned how terrible it was to constantly head home on the weekends, and what was 'normal' and 'right' and 'good'.  Needless to say, I got in my own head. 

This weekend, I may stay and I may go, the choice is kind of up in the air.  But the fact of the matter is- I realized that the only person who really cares how often I go home on the weekends or not is me.  I need to stop judging myself for things that, in the end, don't really matter at all.  So I want to spent time with my family.  Big whoop.  I may be lame and the most nontraditional college student in the world for that reason but honestly, I don't really care. 

This uncaring attitude of mine may not last for long and I may go back to my old ways of constantly self-judging, but the fact of the matter is is that right now I need to realize that nothing in today's society should be considered 'normal' or 'right'.  Everyone is different and no one has the exact same college experience.  Some people go home on the weekends, and some people party until their brain hurts. 

And you know what? I'm going to do both. 

No, this is not some new disease that I invented/am plagued with.  Actually, this just means that I'd really like a dog and I've been obsessed with the idea lately.

Now, don't fret- I realize that I'm most likely not prepared for single dog ownership yet and besides, my apartment complex doesn't allow dogs anyway.  However, the idea is super-enticing.  I've helped raise dogs my whole life, but I'd need to think about the economic toll a dog would take on me, along with other things.

BUT STILL,  I'd love someone to walk through campus every day and take to the Oval and take with me to my parent's house to run around in the backyard and take up to Horsetooth to hike with me and basically just love.  Maybe this means that I'm more obsessed with the idea of a dog than what it would take to actually care for one, but I know that if I ever did become a single dog owner (and I keep saying that because my family already has two dogs, but I hardly see 'em since I live two hours away) that I would be an incredible caring owner.  I would freaking SPOIL that dog.

Plus, overcrowding in shelters is a huge deal, and so many dogs are being put down every year.  If I did get a dog, I'd get a shelter pup- that's the way to go.  No pet shops!!!

Anyway, this is just an idea for now.  I've heard a lot of bad experiences of young dog ownership from a lot of people so I'm just going to keep the idea in my mind for a while.

P.S...I totally took a quiz online on what breed would best match my personality and this is what came up:

But it's leaving me!  All the leaves have fallen, the weather is turning from chilly to downright cold, and it's set to snow tomorrow.

NO FALL DON'T LEAVE ME MY INSTAGRAM WILL NO LONGER BE BEAUTIFUL

In other news, I saw Looper today and it was 50 shades of AMAZING.  If you don't know what my threshold for amazing is, think about it this way- it's right up there with The Dark Knight Rises.  And THAT'S serious.

I really thought Joseph Gordon Levitt's prosthetics were going to be distracting in the movie, but they actually weren't.  He was still his handsome self, as ever.  I'm always in such awe of actors like JGL- just years ago, he was this little indie movie actor and now he's an enormous star.  Plus he created and runs HitRecord.com, which is the coolest site ever.  I just love his passion for everything.



In other, OTHER news, I did the perfect pen bun today.  That's when you stick a pen in your hair.  Ah, the life of a writer.

And ready to move into my apartment tomorrow!  I am so excited, and I've been jangling my new keys in everyone's face lately:

Hey, remember this blog post when I talked about the Paula Deen tea kettle I've been lusting after for my new apartment?

WELLLL....

But here's what I've been up to:

#1- Trying to get a job, though the only plausible field I can think of that will hire me for a month and a half of work (until I head back to Fort Collins for school) is babysitting.  So I've been trying to babysit.

#2- Preparing for apartment life!  Me and the Mom went to Kohl's yesterday and got EVERYTHING for my bathroom...light blue and ivory is the color theme.  I think I want to escape to Cape Cod every time I...you know.

Speaking of apartment life...you guys know how much I love decorating.  I've got my very own space to play around with this time around, which means I'm taking this VERY seriously.  How seriously?  I'm making an inspo board with pictures and furniture and color swatches that I want to influence my space.   Here are some pictures that are going to inspire it, and you see if you can guess the theme:

Today my mom really wanted to get out of the house, and I know she's been wanting to go antique-ing, so we headed out to Centennial to a really swanky store called Old Glory.  It was amazing- and EXPENSIVE.  I wanted everything but alas, I am poor.

So, what to do next?  Well, head over to Goodwill, of course!  We immediately grabbed, like, five things as soon as we walked in the door, and everything was so cheap.  My mom found this for me:

Hey y'all.

So if you haven't seen my recent vlog post (click on My Vlog in the upper right hand corner of this page!) or read my blog in the past week, you should know that I am getting a studio apartment and I plan to decorate it as if I live inside Emily Henderson's brain.

So now that I'm almost officially living in a studio next year (which means I can decorate however the EFF I want!), I've been online furniture shopping like mad.

And here are my favorite items so far: