New Camp, Same Camper

Was that the fastest summer ever? My summer consisted of chasing the cutest kids in the world around town and cheering my superstar catcher of a brother on at his baseball games. When I wasn’t in the driver’s seat of a minivan or on a flaming hot bleacher, you could catch my mom and I hunting down the cutest finds a college budget could afford for my new apartment. I just couldn’t wait to deck out the first apartment in college with pieces that will most likely get trashed for year #2. Since you asked for a little sneak peek of what our shopping days consisted of, I’ll give you a taste, but only because you begged. It goes a little something like this…”But mom, it has a pineapple on it!!” “You’re right it’ll go with the rug, put it in the cart and don’t tell dad.” “Deal.” And if you wanted to be in on the action, we were at Target most every Tuesday and Saturday, but if we found something better at Home Goods on Wednesday, we were back at Target on Thursday to return Tuesday’s finds. So the answer is yes, it was indeed the fastest summer ever.

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While trying to find things to fill an apartment, I learned about the moolah that’s required to live on your own more than ever. After my mom told me that Pottery Barn was just absolutely positively never an option for my apartment, we got resourceful. I am so lucky and beyond grateful for the people that cleaned house for my new “house”.  Also, shoutout to Facebook Marketplace for allowing me to find old items down gravel roads in the middle of nowhere that just needed some extra love. My new-old dresser works great and my clothes appreciate it- they told me!

 

Well, where my clothes go I go, so that means I am officially all moved in. Last night was my first night and I really do love it. I mean, aside from the fact that my mom isn’t here and my bedsheets were the worst, I really do love it. My roommate, Nicole, and I had Halo Top for dinner and learned that apparently cable TV just isn’t for everyone. What’s better than that?

This morning when I woke up, I came to the realization that my sheets just had to go. They are the material of swishswishswish pants and I got a weird feeling inside every time I moved a toe. So as of now, I have no idea where any of my classes are but ask me how to get to Target- I got you. We went back to Target where I proceeded to feel every set of sheets to make sure they had no similarities whatsoever to the ones I already had.

Since we were out, we stopped at Walmart to pick up a screwdriver for the shoe rack that I bought on yesterday’s trip to Target. Did you know you need tools to assemble things? Me either. Here’s a snippet of the conversation with the man in the FISHING department (which FYI is separate from hardware) as I held up the screw I brought: “I need a screwdriver to fit this screw for my shoe rack, do you have one?” He goes, “Ma’am that is the most basic screw there is, yes we have a Phillips screwdriver. Are you building this yourself?” You should have seen the concern on his face when I nodded my head. Well sir, I built it myself and it looks great.

I have absolutely no idea what to do until Monday, but don’t think I haven’t thought about driving home for a quick visit. Until then, I’ll keep putting things in my planner and watching vlogs on Youtube. This may sound like a complaint, but trust me, I’m one happy camper.

Peep:

 

GRATITUDE BONUS: I couldn’t be more thankful for my Pyatt people. They make leaving so hard, but they continue to help compose a life of fabulousness for me. I seriously don’t know if I could blink without them!

 

Moving On Up

“Enough already! We get it. You had a perfect roommate in college. You became best friends. You didn’t want to leave her. We know!!!” complains everyone that follows me on any social media platform, or just knows me in general. And yes, I am sorry for the overload of love and sap, but these nine month sleepovers do not go as well for everyone, and I am just so grateful.

I won’t lie, in the beginning, there were times when I thought to myself, Is this seriously going to work? Living in such tight quarters with someone is not easy, and we will be the first to tell you that. We would also BOTH be the first to tell you that if someone had asked us if we’d become best friends by the end, it would have been a flat no. Madelyn and I went to grade school and high school together, so right off the bat we were breaking college roommate rule #1- Don’t room with a friend.

I do understand this philosophy of steering clear of strong relationships and branching out for the first year of college, but I am way too much of a homebody and creature of habit to be thrown into a brand new place with my bonus being a stranger to sleep in the same room with. Yeah, no thanks.

Fast forward from the worry and the secret Pinterest board planning our beautiful temporary home (which ended up as fabulous as we dreamed), Madelyn and I did not want to leave! Yes, we do understand that with a water bottle and a good playlist, we could walk to each other’s houses, but that just is not the same as spending late nights on our rug laughing about nonsense when we should clearly be studying. Or illegally making toast and grilled chicken on our forbidden grill. Or getting ready together while staying in our towel wraps for an excessive amount of time. Or knowing when we need a group nap with little lights. It just isn’t the same.

We were calm, cool, and collected about moving out until a friend had mentioned it took several hours to move out of her dorm. We looked at each other both thinking, we have sooooooo much more s t u f f than she does. We went home, turned on music, and got to work! We didn’t even know where to start, but we began by stripping the walls. Literally, paint, drywall, you name it, it came off the wall!DSC00731

We resolved this (not so) small problem like any smart girls would, a field trip to Home Depot with a piece of the wall that should have still been a part of the wall! They matched the paint, we returned, and the wall started looking better than before. No one could tell, and there was no way in heck we were going to pay fines for having cute decor.

All in all, our adorable 2409 became such a fun place where laughter and smiles came aplenty and homesick tears began to fade as the weeks went by. We have a million and one memories of our time that we made just about as fun as anyone could with plans to move on for a million and one more. That teeny tiny room gave us the friendship that we will forever be thankful for.

Next year will be much harder than I had anticipated. Don’t get me wrong, I am eager, anxious, and beyond excited to get to Mizzou, but I am sad that my best friend and roommate will not be coming with me. Instagram, we have many plans to reunite and annoy the heck out of everyone, so don’t you worry. She will be knee-deep in nursing school and I will be waist-deep in papers that I don’t know how to start, but we are moving on to bigger and better things to make our lives extra fabulous. This is my fab life, and I am oh so grateful that Madelyn is apart of it. 

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Her smile was constant. Mine came after the constant flow of tears. Because I was sad? No, no I just checked my final grade in Econ. 

 

PS: we decided that we lived so well together as roommates, we shouldn’t let it go to waist. After we graduate, we will be coming at you Monica Geller and Rachel Green style until we meet our lobsters. Now THAT will be fun.