Although I no longer code anywhere close to the amount I did in high school, I have realized several unexpected benefits from my years of sitting in front of the computer. The most important, in my opinion, is my typing speed. Although last semester I rarely needed to take notes in class, this semester my laptop has been extremely useful. While I watch others around me struggle to record important facts and tidbits, I can only thank my well-trained digits that I don’t have to stress over incomplete notes. Yep – become a coder, you’ll thank yourself later.

Jan 26th

Today, I don’t plan on sleeping much.

I’m not sure about the rest of the world, but I generally have issues sleeping. It’s been a problem for a couple of years now, but I can’t seem to shake my late night turning and tossing. Back when I was in elementary school, my mother would try to coerce me to sleep early – making me write essays on the negative consequences of no sleep as punishment. »

Jan 25th

Just thought I’d post a quick blog about the website – the backend coding of it at least. I’m sure most of you have already figured out that I’m using masonry.js for my formatting. Although it took me a little bit of time to figure out, I love it – works in most browsers and fairly straightforward. Right now I’m using the basic single column option (I just applied the CSS styling to my posts tags for WP inside the loop). »

Jan 24th

Today I braved the unusual weather.

I’m not sure exactly how global warming is supposed to work, but I’d like to blame the very peculiar weather that I encountered on the way to my CPR certification class. It wasn’t exactly raining, yet by the time I arrived at the class I was covered with tiny droplets. The class went fairly well, even though I was terrified I would fail the written portion of the exam – I’ll be picking up my certificate this Friday!

Jan 22nd

Today, I spent time with my (future) roommate.

If there’s one thing to bond over, it’s food – and thankfully I have found a lover of Taco Bell in my future roommate. We met last semester at a club meeting, and have slowly been cultivating our friendship over random things such as claw machines, nail polish, and hot (mild) sauce.

Jan 21st

Today, I questioned the diet of campus squirrels.

While walking back from classes, I happened to spy a particularly fat squirrel chowing down on a Butter Nutter.

Jan 19th

Today, I realized that I’m not a morning person.

I find it funny how in high school, I could always manage to get up around 6:00am… yet in college, it takes 3 alarms to drag myself out of bed at 9:00am. On another note, today I found out that Hostess is going out of business, and that means that the Twinkie will soon be a sugary confection of the past. Hopefully I can still buy a pack before they’re taken completely from the shelves.

Jan 18th

Today, it snowed.

While walking back from signing up for CPR classes, my friend and I caught a snowflake. I rarely see such pretty snowflakes… but they serve as a sad reminder that a winter snowstorm is just around the corner.

Jan 17th

Today, I tried something new.

I love trying new things- at least when it comes to food. And so when I saw Ramune on the menu when my friends and I went out to sushi, I was extremely excited to try this melon flavored beverage. The interesting thing about Ramune is the marble that rolls in the neck of the bottle – a marble that is apparently impossible to take out (unless the bottle is smashed against the wall of a random alleyway.)

Jan 15th

Today, I packed.

Tomorrow I leave once again for school (yes, I am now a college student… which is sort of scary seeing as how I started this blog back in high school). I’ve been enjoying my break from studying, but I can’t keep sitting on my bum forever. It is sort of amazing how much extra stuff I’ve amassed these past few weeks. »

Jan 14th

Ever since I reopened the site (roughly four days ago), I’ve been plagued by spam bots. At first I was overly optimistic and almost fooled myself into thinking that I had some very interesting, and completely random, commenters – but alas, I highly doubt my readers’ interest in buying gold or reviewing brushes for collies. »

Jan 13th

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.”

- Carl Reiner

Jan 12th

Today, I got away from the city.

I decided that I would take some time away from my computer and enjoy a change in scenery – by taking a day trip. Although it was for a very short period of time, I enjoyed seeing trees again. Even the weather was cooperative today, a relatively balmy 52°F, which makes me question when the snow will fall this year.

Jan 11th

Today, I played in an art store.

When I woke up this morning, I decided that I would make a visit to my local Dick Blicks. I went in to buy some card stock, and I left with a bag full of Sculpey clay, sharpies, rice paper, and a variety of other goodies that I could not resist purchasing. I can’t wait to start crafting, and I will be posting my finished projects soon!

Jan 10th

Lovely meringues.

Today I decided to whip up a batch of meringue cookies. It’s amazing how many of these delicious melt-in-your-mouth treats can be made with only three egg whites, a pinch of salt, and some sugar.

Jan 9th

While coding this theme, it took me a while to figure out how to give certain categories different styles on the front page. After browsing the web for a bit, I found that there are several ways to do this, most of them involving multiple loops in WordPress. Most of these solutions seemed a little too complicated for what I needed, so here’s what I came up with. (I am not saying that this is the best way, but it has worked splendidly for me thus far. ) »

Jan 8th

WordPress, I love what you’ve done with yourself – especially your ability to include images in featured posts. In the past, I’ve always done this through custom fields (which was quite messy in my opinion), but thankfully I will have to do that no more! »

Jan 7th

Time sure flies.

This past month, I was fortunate enough to have an internship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I’ve learned quite a lot and I think I’m honestly going to miss waking up at 8:00 every morning and running like a crazy woman to the train station. »

Jan 6th

I was feeling quite ambitious today.

Today I decided I’d try my hand at some pan seared scallops. Although I consider myself somewhat skilled in the kitchen when it comes to baked goods, I’m usually quite clueless when it comes to more savory dishes. In the end, I figured that I couldn’t go wrong with a basic salt and pepper rub and a bit of time in an oiled skillet. Thankfully, I didn’t completely fail at my little experiment.

Jan 5th

One of my favorite recipes recently is these ridiculously easy almond bars. I first got this recipe off this amazing website. »

Jan 4th

These bunnies are addicting to draw. 

Something that I have been loving lately is my Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet. This old thing has been sitting in my closet for a while, just begging to be used. I got my tablet roughly three years ago, when I first began my illustration work. »

Jan 3rd

The one good thing about having a blog is the fact that it’s a public documentation of my random musings. Although the old website is now stored away on my computer, I still find it hilarious to read through my past blogs. My favorite posts are those that have to do with my New Years Resolutions. Reflecting on these (mostly failed) resolutions, I’ve found that they are basically the same year after year – get good grades, try and have a social life, and work on the website. That being said, this year, I’m going to try and push myself to try something different. »

Jan 2nd

And I’ve brought bunnies with me :)

It’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged, and honestly, I’m not sure what to say after being gone for so long. My life has been through many changes, mostly good ones thankfully, and I’ve managed to find myself several new hobbies. »

Jan 1st