Tales from your local coffee shop

Today's coffee shop tales come from Indigo Coffee Shop & Bookstore. I sit here writing to you from this super cool room with sweet gold foil ceiling tiles and intricate wood designs. I got a mocha, the usual, and I spent about two hours going through Facebook and Twitter catching up on everything there is to know in the world of social media. This table that I'm sitting at is super cool because it's next to a window and it looks out over a main downtown street in the Haymarket District. It gives you pretty sweet vibes.

They even have one of those cool "take a book, leave a book" areas (too bad I don't have a book I could leave because otherwise I would totally participate). I think those things are the coolest. I really love book stores, but not just Barnes & Noble and the big chains, but those little ones that are tucked away with cozy reading corners and cool stories along the shelves. It makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop. (Hopefully all of my English teachers throughout the years will appreciate this). I also love coffee, so this whole coffee shop bookstore thing is really working out for me. The only thing that would make this place better is if there was a little bit of mood lighting, I'm a big fan of lamps (#lamplife5ever #ILoveLamp).

*Sidenote - I really love how I can just write about whatever I want on here, and in my own style. Like, yes I talk in hashtags sometimes, and yes I think I'm really funny in case you were wondering. I guess you could just say #MillennialProbs. I think I spend 50% of the time trying to convince people that I'm funny. Which I guess could mean that I'm not actually funny, or just half funny. (I'm giving this too much thought). If you know me, you know that I can be really sarcastic, and I like to impersonate people when I tell stories with their "voices" (I use quotations because their voices usually sound nothing like the way I sound when I'm talking like them (usually this applies to my mom, sorry mom). Anyways, back to what I was talking about earlier...

I love looking down the street and seeing all the lights lit up. It reminds me of New York, only on a way smaller scale. I used to close my curtains and pretend the lights showing through in my dorm room were the lights in NYC (they were actually the glistening lights of Plaza 900, our subpar dining hall, but a girl can dream). Missing those sorts of things about NYC makes me wonder if I will ever want to move there some day. Sometimes I think I want to, and other days I remember it's signature smell of pee and cigarettes and I reevaluate my choices... Other things I don't know if I could live without include green grass (I know there's Central Park, but there's just something about green grass that puts you in a happy mood). Also, I love driving and I definitely wouldn't be able to do that in New York. I love going for a drive to clear my head (it's not as relaxing as it used to be though ever since my radio antenna blew away as I was driving down the highway, now I only get 4/10 radio stations but it's better than nothing. Also, no I don't have an aux cord, I drive an '05 Mazda 6 - too old to have an aux and too new to have a tape recorder).

Well, I suppose I've rambled on long enough for now. Until tomorrow or next time...

XO

Madison

Song of the Day: 10,000 Weight in Gold//The Head and the Heart (love them so much)

p.s. I'm pretty sure I saw a drug deal go on this morning as I was driving to work, it was a weird start to a not-so-interesting day. Also, here are some cool pics of the coffee shop I'm at!

School Vibes

super cool first day of school picture for my mom

So now that I am a sophomore in college, I no longer live in a dorm. I feel like I am 98% adulting (minus 2% because my parents still pay for some of my things and I call them a LOT to ask random questions).

I now live in a duplex/house with three other girls and it's a pretty cool set up. We have a two car garage, washer and dryer, and it's two-stories. These are the things you get excited about when you get older, example: "YES, it comes with a washer and dryer, that's awesome!" (this was an exact quote from me a couple of months ago). Other things I've decided you start to get excited about when you're older include, but are not limited to: cheap gas (below $2, this one gets me really pumped), good deals on things like paper towels and dish detergent, and sales on pretty much anything (really anything that can save me money because I'm a poor college student and I hate spending money on things that aren't fun, gas, oil changes, cleaning supplies, etc.). My parents will probably think this is funny.

Anyways, yesterday was quite the adventure. My first day of classes were really just one class and it wasn't until 5:30 p.m. and it wasn't even on the same campus that I was used to (really great, NOT). Apparently there's this little thing called East Campus, cool I was like oh so they just like to use directions like yeah okay that makes sense, nope it actually means "EAST CAMPUS" as in drive 10 min to a different location. Luckily, Quinn helped me realize my mistake because that could have been a really sad first day, *dresses up and tries to look cute, ends up missing night class (only class of day)*. Yeah that would have made me feel like poop, however, I was in luck because due to my incredible sense of direction (ha) and keen observance to time I managed to get across campus/town and arrive 2 min late. It was a pretty big accomplishment, not gonna lie.

Today presented itself with another very daunting feat, the good ole' 8 a.m. class (this has been the downfall of my college career, no matter what I do I can't seem to get away from them). Fortunately I was able to drag myself out of bed at the crack of dawn (jk it was just 7:30) and make it to class. Except I hadn't been to an actual school day yet so I was pretty unfamiliar with how everything worked, first there was the parking adventure (mastered it), then it was finding some random building I had never heard of (I ended up walking all around campus only to realize it was right next to my parking garage (sweet). When I finally spotted the building I happened to run into the Associate Dean of the Journalism School, who I have met and talked to multiple times (I know I'm really cool), and she informed me that the class I was going to was actually over capacity so I had to go to a whole other building and find another classroom. I was not pleased to hear this information, but I found it eventually and I ended up being 15 min late *cringe* (being late to class is the worst, everyone stares at you and makes you feel really stupid and I was like ugh).

Anyways after that whole mess I left and met Quinn and we went to our Philosophy lecture. It was okay, but I was most excited for the four hour break I have between classes, it's both a blessing and a curse. On one hand I like the break, but on the other hand I would like to just be done with class already.

So after class I got to talk on the phone for a much needed catch-up session with my best friend Lexy. It was good to unwind after a weird two days. And now here I sit writing to you from the library next to two girls talking about eating healthy and working out and the boy with the 100% self-made duct tape backpack. Man, college is interesting.

That's all for today, but I'm sure I will have many more stories to tell after the way this week has been going.

Until next time,

Madison

Song of the Day: Amadeus//Family and Friends (the beginning is by far the best part)

That time I was the new girl, again.

Today is my first day of my sophomore year of college. Wow, time flies. I started this blog when I was a sophomore in high school so that's pretty crazy, you've been with me through it all.

Today is a familiar feeling. I am a new girl once again, only this time it was by choice, not because my parents made me.

Jefferson Elementary School
California Elementary School
Moreau Heights Elementary School
Pray Woodman Elementary School
Amanda Arnold Elementary School
Russell Middle School
Houston High School
Lee's Summit West High School
University of Missouri
University of Nebraska

That's a lot of different schools, ten to be exact, and yes, I have attended all of them. If you're reading this you probably know me from one of these places.

Today I start school at the University of Nebraska. Many people will ask me why I decided to transfer and the answer is really complicated, but long story short I just wanted to start somewhere new. It's kind of ironic, since all my life I pretty much despised being the new girl. But, somewhere along the way it became ingrained in me. I am the new girl, the new girl is me (just kidding), but I almost feel like I have this inner timer that's like "okay Madison it's time to go, you've lived here more than two years so let's find someplace new."

Regardless, today is still pretty hard. I'm in a different state and I miss my friends and the girls in my sorority, but at the same time I'm glad to be somewhere else. It's a strange feeling, it's like I'm torn between two places. One side of me wants to stay in the same place and keep the same friends and stay away from the unknown, but the other side of me wants to venture out, meet new people, step outside of my comfort zone and break the norms. I suppose the second half won, because here I am.

I'm writing to you today in case that's you, maybe you're the new girl for the first time, maybe it's something you're totally familiar with like me, or maybe it's just your freshman year of college or high school or even middle school. Well don't worry because I have been where you are now, I have experienced all of those things, those tingly butterfly feelings in your stomach, all of it. Maybe you have friends or people that are mad at you because they feel like you left them by moving somewhere new. I've been there too. It almost makes the whole situation twice as difficult because then you feel like you can't talk to those girls who were once your absolute best friends. If that's the case it will all be okay, wounds heal and time helps fade the pain.

Today I would like to leave you with a quote, it seems to have always held true in my life, and I hope that's the case for you too.

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind." - C.S. Lewis

Cheers to new adventures!

Love,

Madison

Song of the Day: All I Want//Kodaline

p.s. Happy new school year! Also, here's some awesome pics of my new roomie, Alex, and I eating some watermelon (: