smartgrlbecca

01:56 pm: Hey ya'll
Hey!

Another Monday. I can't really complain though - reading my messages from you guys this morning, it sounds like tons and tons of you had lots of homework this past week and over the weekend. Youch.

This past week, I started reading the book "The Kite Runner." Has anyone read it? I'd be interested to hear what you think. I'm not too far in yet, but thought I'd ask. It's about a boy growing up in Afghanistan during the 1970s and then about his life in California after he and his father are forced to leave Afghanistan.

Anyway, so I had another fun weekend. On Friday, a bunch of my friends and I had a dance party at one of their apartments. I know that probably sounds silly, but it was a ton of fun. We just turned on good dance music and moved all the furniture out of the middle of her living room and we all danced around. Yeah, writing that I realized how ridiculous it sounds but it was tons of fun. It's nice to just let loose and be silly sometimes. It was a good stress reliever. :) Then on Saturday, I got together with some other friends and we had a really low-key night just hanging out. Two of them brought their guitars over to my place and played for us for awhile, so that was pretty cool.

And Valentine's Day is this week.... I'm never quite sure how I feel about Valentine's Day. What do you guys think? Commercial holiday or a good opportunity to tell the people you love you love them? At any rate, I'm making cards for some of my friends. Seemed like fun, and it's a good excuse to bust out the markers and construction paper and let them know I love them.

Oops, I have to get going. Ciao!

<3,

Becca

03:44 pm: Greetings!
Well, it's Monday. I have to say, usually I'm not one of those people who minds the beginning of the week so much, but man, am I dragging today. Oh well. I bet I'm not the only one. :)

I guess it is harder to buckle back down to work when you had such a good weekend, so maybe that's it. I wound up spending most of my weekend in Detroit, and it was so much fun! It's a nice change of pace to hang out somewhere different than here in Ann Arbor sometimes, and I was so antsy last week (probably spring fever...it's finally February!!) that getting out of the city probably did me a lot of good. Anyway, on Friday I went to see the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and it was amaaaazing. For those of you who like classical music, this was a show you wouldn't have wanted to miss. They brought in this famous French pianist to perform and it was an incredible show. It made me miss having the time to play the piano like I used to!

Then on Saturday, I actually finally went to see Persepolis, the movie I wrote about before. I didn't make it last weekend because some stuff came up so I was excited to see it (and because one of you guys left me a comment saying it was awesome, which made me want to see it even more!). It was even better than I thought it was going to be. It was both funny and very sad, but the style of the film was pretty sweet. It's based on a graphic novel (I think I mentioned that before), so the whole film is done as though it's a comic, essentially. It was really cool, and I hope that more films are made in this kind of style.

Anyway, I should probably get going but I wanted to update. Talk to you soon!

Love,
Becca

02:51 pm: I can't believe it's Thursday already. Pretty crazy. Where did the week go?

I got to spend a lot of quality time with my friends this week, so I am really happy about that. I went to go see the movie "Juno" with two of my friends... has anyone seen it? It's about a girl in high school who gets pregnant and decides to give the baby up for adoption. That's obviously a really basic synopsis of the plot, but I thought it was really well done. It was both really sad and really happy and completely sweet. All three of us liked it a lot. Also, the music in it was phenomenal! I'm definitely going to have to pick up the soundtrack.

This weekend, I'm going to go see the movie "Persepolis" in Detroit. It's a movie based on Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel of the same name, and it's about her childhood in Iran after the revolution. I can't wait to see it. It's supposed to be amazing. So my friend Alison and I are heading over to Detroit to check it out, and I think we're going to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts too. They just remodeled it, and I haven't seen it since, so I'm excited about that too. All in all, it should be a good weekend. Now, if only it would stay sunny out....

:)

01:08 pm: The weekend
Even though I felt like this week went by really really fast, I am still so happy that it's the weekend. For some reason I'm just really tired and I can't wait to just veg and hang out. Plus, it's going to be freeeeeezing here this weekend, which gives me a fantastic reason to stay inside and hibernate. Sometimes, with all my inclinations to just crawl right back into bed during winter, I wonder if I should have been a bear.

Anyway, so tonight I am hanging out with my amazing friend Amanda after work. She is so cool - I'm sure you guys would all love her. We both really love the actor Colin Firth, so we're having a Colin Firth movie watching night tonight. Though we're interrupting it for a dinner break with some of our friends. One of my best friends in the whole entire world is coming to visit this weekend, and I'm so excited that I'll get to see her tonight. She moved in August to start attending Seminary. She's studying to be a minister!

Tomorrow, I have to bundle up and run nine miles. Wish me luck! The wind is supposed to be brutal. With all the layers of clothes I'm going to have to wear, I'll probably look like a big polar bear jogging along. Oh well. Then I plans with a couple friends who are about to head out on a cross-country train trip adventure. They bought month-long passes to ride the Amtrak around the US and so they're setting out on that soon.

Sunday should be pretty relaxing. I have a book to review for SmartGirl, so I'll probably just read that and chill. It looks like it's going to be a good one though.

Talk to you soon!

Love,
Becca

02:33 pm: New Year's Resolutions!
Hey ladies,

I can't believe it's 2008 already. Like...I really can't believe it. Will I sound really old if I say I can vividly remember New Year's 2000?

This year, for New Year's, I went down to Chicago to celebrate with my friends, and it was a lot of fun. We made dinner at my friend Emily's apartment and then we went downtown to watch the fireworks at midnight. We kind of wound up going to the wrong place (whoops!) but it was snowing out and it was really beautiful anyway.

And now that it's the new year, some New Year's resolutions are in order, I think! I think mine seem a little more like goals than resolutions, but I guess in the long run they are pretty much the same thing. So my first resolution/goal is to run a 25K (15 mile) race in May. It's a charity race and I've always wanted to run it, and I decided that this year I finally have enough time to train for it properly. It's going well so far - I'm at mile 10 in my training, and I still have four months to go. If this one goes well, maybe I'll try for a marathon. I mean, if I get to 15 miles, why stop?

My other big resolution is to figure out a life plan. I know that sounds kind of silly, but I need to make some decisions about when I'm going to grad school, where I want to move, etc. It's a really exciting position to be in, but it makes me nervous too. So that's a big goal, and one that will take a lot of thinking.

And my last one (which is a little easier) is to learn how to cook! I am a horrible cook. I mean, I can make grilled cheese and scrambled eggs, and that's it (and honestly, even those are a little questionable). So I'm going to try to learn. That should be pretty fun.

So have you guys made any resolutions for this year? Feel free to post a comment and share. I'd love to hear about them.

Talk to you soon!

Love,
Becca

04:52 pm: It's snowing!!
Sometimes, when I'm in a very holiday spirit, I really like snow. And I think today might one of those days. There have been big, fat snowflakes falling all afternoon and I can't wait to get outside to see them. I know I can complain an awful lot about the cold up here in Michigan, but I think every now and then my Michigan heritage kicks in and reminds me that I really am a Michigan girl at heart. Meaning, as much as I whine about it, if I didn't have winter every year, I'd definitely miss it. There's just something lovely about fresh snow.

I hope everyone here in the US had a good Thanksgiving. I did! Like I wrote last week, I was able to spend lots of quality time with my family and I can definitely be thankful for that. What did you guys do? If you want, you can always leave comments and I'll respond to them!

This week is looking up to be a pretty good one. I have plans with lots of my friends to hang out after work, and my mom and sister are coming to visit on Saturday to go Christmas shopping. Everything feels so festive.

Well, I have to get going so I guess this is a short post. I'll write more soon.

Love,
Becca

04:44 pm: It's almost Thanksgiving!
I don't know about you guys, but I love holidays. Probably because I grew up in a family that loves holidays - but nonetheless, because of this, I really enjoy November and December because they just feel so festive!

So it should come as no surprise that I'm counting down the days to Thanksgiving (though I should add that my sister is probably counting down the days to Christmas already - I'm not quite that bad!). It's less than a week! I am really excited because I get to see lots and lots of people I love and care about. Starting on Wednesday - my two best friends (both of who are living in other places now) are back and the three of us are getting together to catch up. I can't wait! I miss them so much. And then Thursday I'll head down to Illinois to spend time with my mom's side of the family...all my aunts and uncles, my cousins, their kids. There will be lots of people and lots of food and it should be lots of fun. What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving (for those of you celebrating)?

I have to admit - one of the reasons I like Thanksgiving is because the day after Thanksgiving, I can start listening to Christmas music. This is a funny rule my sister instituted when we were younger, but she wouldn't let anyone listen to Christmas music at home until after Thanksgiving, and even though I don't live with her anymore, I still follow it. It's funny how you get stuck on traditions, isn't it?

That's all for now. Happy almost Turkey Day! :)

Becca

10:03 am: Happy Tuesday
I have to admit, I'm a little sad about the weather today. It's been absolutely beautiful here. I mean, absolutely beautiful. It has been warm and sunny and just perfect outside. And when I woke up this morning, it was cold and rainy. Yuck. My mood definitely took a downward turn when I saw that.

However, there are lots of wonderful, wonderful things going on in my life so I can't really complain at all! I just found out this week that the guy I have been best friends with since we were five (so we've been best friends for about 17 years now) proposed to his girlfriend and they're getting married! I'm going to see them tonight to hear about all the details but I'm very excited for them. It does seem strange that I'm at a point in my life where my friends are starting to get married, though! I guess I never really feel old enough, you know? I shouldn't be too surprised. My own sister got married a few years ago, and she and I are pretty close in age.

Otherwise, this week hasn't been too eventful. Does anyone watch Lost? I have seen the first two seasons but stopped watching because I felt like the show wasn't that great anymore. But since then, I have been informed that the fourth season is awesome and that I have to catch up and see it. So I'm going back with my boyfriend and watching the whole show from the beginning. Kind of a large undertaking, but it's fun and I'm catching all those little plot details I missed the first time. If you don't know the premise of the show, it's about the survivors of a plane crash who are stranded on an island and all this weird, crazy stuff happens to them. Any other Lost fans out there? If you are, don't tell me what happens in seasons three and four yet!

I have to get going. Talk to you soon!

Love,
Becca

04:13 pm: Contrary to popular belief...
I am still alive! I haven't been the best at updating my journal (as I'm sure you can tell), but I promise promise promise I'll be much better.

To update you on what's been going on in my life, I graduated from U of M back in April and while it's a great feeling to be done, it's also been a strange adjustment. You get used to going to school full time and always being in classes or doing homework, and then suddenly, you're just done! It's a pretty crazy feeling. But I had a great summer with my friends, and it helped me transition to what I suppose is my new post-college life (though I have to admit, I don't feel that grown-up at all!). It's been a bit hard though - so many of my friends (including my two best friends) moved away and have started grad school. It's weird having to make new friends when you're still in the same place!

But anyway, as you can see, I've decided to stay here at SmartGirl! I'm excited to be here for at least another year. I'm not quite sure what my future plans are, but I'd miss you girls too much if I left!

In SmartGirl news, we have three new mentors - Anita, Paige and Alyssa - who just started with us, so check out their journals to get to know them, too!

Love,
Becca

04:52 pm: Thanks for your help!
You guys are awesome. Thanks to those of you who have helped out with book club suggestions. We're working hard to get that up soon, and I'm excited. Hope you are too!

I have another question for you. I'm a firm believer that you guys should have as much say about the content on the site as possible, so I was wondering if there are any specific themes you'd like us to use for our monthly themes or any specific topics you'd like us to make surveys about. I'd love to get your input.

Okay, that's all for today because I have to get going, but I just wanted to ask! Thanks for your help, girls. :)

Love,
Becca