I survived Orientation!

Hello again everybody! I returned from my orientation late last night, and overall, it was a positive (albeit extremely tiring) experience!

On Sunday, my mom, sister, and I drove out to Chicago. We stopped at the Chicory Cafe in South Bend, Indiana for lunch. It was pretty solid food, but I don't think I'd need to make a tradition out of going there on the way to and from school. I had no idea South Bend was so urban, also! Seeing it from the highway, I always figured it was just the gaggle of Holy Cross colleges surrounded by cornfields, so I was pleasantly surprised. It was a pretty town. We arrived at our hotel around 5:00, so after checking in our first priority was getting dinner. The last time I was in Chicago with my mom, I really wanted to go to Shake Shack. When I did my National Youth Leadership Foundation program at Fordham University last summer, I went to the one in Times Square and fell in love with it! So, we went to Shake Shack and it was everything I'd dreamed it would be, and then some! When I've moved in, I'll have to make the trek there from time to time! After eating, we went to a Neiman Marcus Last Call store, and I got a great handbag for an incredible price! My sister got hereself a Michael Kors bag and some Versace sunglasses. She loves shopping brands, so she was ecstatic to find them all at fairly reasonable prices. After that, we went back to our hotel and tucked in early.

The next morning, we went to Wildberry for breakfast. I had cinnamon roll pancakes, and they were INCREDIBLE! Wildberry specializes in pancakes, although the rest of their menu is pretty fantastic. After that, I was sent on the L towards DePaul! I was over an hour early for check in, so I tried to take care of some business beforehand. I didn't get everything off my list, but I'd managed to get my ID photo taken! After a while, I went to the check in point and got in line to get my room. I met some fun people in line, and they were quite nice! Everybody was pretty nervous about the whole thing and the process of meeting new people and the like, but excited as well. I checked in, put my stuff in my temporary dorm, met my roommate, then went to the Student Union to start off the day.

On the first day, the first thing I went to was a free-stuff fair sponsored by the various services DePaul has to offer like their Career Center, Housing Services, Rec Center, and Athletics Department. I picked up a ridiculous amount of free stuff! I got two water bottles, a tee shirt, tons of candy, two bags, a collapsible hamper, soooo many pens, rubber bracelets galore, and more! After the fair, all the students and parents went into this large conference room where there was an introductory speech from the dean of students and were then assigned into groups. The groups were divided by major, so all but 5 people from my 28-person group were going into Digital Cinema. We did some icebreaker activities in our groups, then went on a tour of the Lincoln Park campus. After the tour, we had a talk from the Campus Safety department, then had dinner. The dinner was an awful imitation of Chinese food, worse than airplane food! So, I didn't eat too much. After that, we went to the Theater School and watched a performance about different issues like diversity, drinking, sexual/relationship violence, etc. It was pretty funny, and handled the issues well. Afterwards there was a talkback session with our groups about the issues from the show. After that, we went to the rec center. First, we had an hour-long "competition" between all of the groups, and mine won which was pretty great! I got another free tee shirt from that! Then, we were let loose in the rec for an hour. Finally, we went back to the dorms and they had some activities lined up on all the floors. I played cards for awhile with a group of people from my floor who were pretty nice and welcomed me over, to play with them. Our group later went to a different floor where some of the orientation leaders were doing "spirit animal readings" which was something that couldn't be described, but had to be experienced! All through the building, you could hear the singing (well, screaming) of the people on the Karaoke floor. At midnight, we all had to head back to dorm rooms, although it didn't matter if it was our own. So, my group went back ton one person's dorm and played Apples to Apples until about 2:30 in the morning! 

The next morning, I had a protein bar in my room while I got ready because I 1.) wanted to sleep in and 2.) remembered the quality of the previous night's dinner and wasn't about to try their breakfast. We went back to the Student Union, got into our groups again, and did some more fun games. My group started off by playing some rock, paper, scissors based games, but then we decided to do trivia. That's when I pulled out the big guns... Not many people who didn't go to grade school with me know it, but I'm a BEAST at trivia. I was on a junior Academic Challenge team in 5th and 6th grade where I carried the team, I consistently kick ass on trivia games, and for a long time, I held the record in the European History category on the app QuizUp. So, people were incredibly surprised when I, the unassuming girl that people assumed had about average, maybe above-average intelligence knew the answer to all these obscure questions without hesitation! I got a round of applause, and if that's the most impressive thing I do in college I'm okay with that!  After playing games, we all got L tickets and took the L down to DePaul's Loop campus.

At the Loop, we went to a brief talk from the Career Center at DePaul, then we went to register for our classes. I'm really excited for my schedule! Three of my four classes are related to my degree! I am taking a class called "The Foundations of Production," a screenwriting class, a class about ethics in computer games and cinema (it counts as a gen ed course!!!!), and then my "immersion week" course that continues for 7 of the 10 weeks in the quarter. My classes are from Monday to Thursday, and all go from 11:00-4:30, so I'm super excited! I'm also really happy about my AP credits- I don't have to take a single science class or history class again! After scheduling everything, we had some boxed lunches (which was the only half-decent meal they provided) then went on a brief tour of the Loop campus. We then went to Millennium Park and took some group photos by The Bean, then had a brief Q&A session with our Orientation Leaders before heading back on the L to Lincoln Park to head home.

Overall, I had an amazing time at Orientation and I'm glad it was so fun! I'm really optimistic about my first quarter at DePaul, and yay for having about 5 weeks until I move in! 

Orientation!!!!

Tomorrow morning I head into Chicago with my mother and sister, and on Monday I'm heading to DePaul for my orientation session! I'm super excited, but a little bit nervous that I won't like any of the people there. I'll be sure to write a post about it and take pictures of it (and Chicago, of course) for you to enjoy when I get back!

My check from InboxDollars came in today!!!! I'm super excited. I've earned $15 since I cashed in my first check ($50), and I'm still earning every day. It's incredibly easy to earn on InboxDollars, and I'm glad I stumbled upon it while looking for scholarships last winter!

A-Z of Self-Improvement

I have been on a journey of self-improvement over the past few years, and frankly, it's really freaking hard. So, I'm making this list in an effort to motivate myself, and hopefully motivate some of you, to improve in the ways you want to improve, whether it involves health, weight, career, personal relationships, and so on.

Always think through your actions. There's a reason behind every positive change you make.

Be true to your values. Don't lose your integrity and the things that make you you in an attempt to change. Improvement isn't about swapping, but upgrading.

Care about what goes into your body. I personally struggle a lot with this, but even the smallest efforts can do a great deal.

Do everything in your power to maintain a positive outlook.

Eat healthier options of things you love, that way you never feel like you're missing out.

Forget about people who make you feel like less than you are. They aren't your real friends.

Go. Nothing happens until you start trying.

Help somebody who needs it. Make that a habit.

Integrate more physical activity into your day. You don't necessarily need to train like a Navy SEAL 24/7, but every little bit helps!

Judge situations with a discerning eye. You don't want to make decisions you regret.

Kill your doubts. Sometimes, you are your biggest critic. I am always the first one to call myself weak when I buckle under stress, I am the one who underestimates and trivializes my own abilities, and I am the one who says "you could never do that." I need to stop, and if you put yourself through that kind of pain, you need to do that for yourself too.

Love something. Anything, it doesn't matter! Caring about and being passionate about something gives zest to life and infinite reasons to live.

Make your own happiness. Don't rely on other people to be your sole source of joy. They should add to it, not create it.

Never sell yourself short. You can do anything you put your mind to.

Open up to yourself. Be able to acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses.

Pamper yourself. You freaking deserve it!

Quit a bad habit. Whether it's smoking or nail biting or anything in between, you can get out of it.

Read- it's a great way to stay informed, improve your cognitive thinking skills, and you can find even more things that inspire you that way.

Sit next to somebody you don't know. Engage with them, you could make a new friend, a business connection, or simply brighten their day!

Take time out to contemplate your day. Think over each moment before you go to bed, and try to focus on the positives. Tell yourself that tomorrow is a new day.

Wear what makes you happy. Trust me on this one, it's an instant confidence booster!

X out negativity in any scenario. Whether it's a poisonous person creating drama in your life, food that's terrible for you, a vice that negatively affects your relationships, or just a bad attitude, cut it out of your life.

Yoga it up! It's fun, relaxing, and helps get you into shape while relieving stress and tension.

Zone in- focus on what you are doing and live in that moment. Whether it's a surge of energy during a workout or a moment of inspiration at work, don't lose your focus.

Every step taken, no matter how small, will get you where you want to be.

I hope that this post can be of use to you and I in our journeys, and if you enjoyed it, please share it! 

BIG NEWS

Lately, I've noticed that my blog has been suffering. My most recent posts haven't been doing so well, not too many people are viewing my blog and enjoying the content, and overall I personally feel like blogging has become a chore. I'm not going to stop, don't worry! But I've decided to make changes to this blog to shake things up a bit, and to reinvent it in a positive way.

The first of these changes- a NEW NAME! I've been thinking about that for a while now, and I've decided on the perfect one. I'll be changing the domain as well, so be ready for that. I will post the domain link before I change the name, that way you can find my blog again. 

Secondly, I'll be reinventing my content. Most of my content on this blog is personal, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it's not as interesting to many readers. I will not be eliminating personal content, but I will be incorporating other forms of content such as tutorials, current events, opinion pieces, entertainment news, lists, reviews of products, shows, and movies,  and I'm bringing back recipes! I will also be using more photographs to keep things interesting, and I'm learning how to create pin-able images so readers can share posts more easily on Pinterest. 

I do not plan on changing the appearance of my blog, but if I decide to change the layout or something, you will all be duly informed. 

Now, it's impossible for me to do all of these things simultaneously, so it'll be a slow and steady process of figuring out what works for the blog and what doesn't. I'm really excited for this, and I'm hoping that the new and improved Adventures of Emily will be more accessible and interesting to readers, and better reflect the new things coming in my life.

Ouch...

Last night, I returned from my improv hiatus and went to my first rehearsal since March! It was very different from our usual rehearsals- it was incredibly physical. Basically, it was two hours of nonstop cardio and energy and holy crap it was intense! It was a ton of fun, nonetheless. There's a show this Saturday, and I'll be going with some of our neighbors. Anywho, after getting more cardio done in that rehearsal than I have in the  entire summer and moving my body in ways I normally don't/can't my whole body is sooooo sore! Like my neck feels broken, and it's super painful to stand up straight. 

Today, I've been doing several chores, but I still have many more to do! I've also been online shopping for dorm things. I've found a lot of stuff I like, so hopefully I can seal in those deals and order them today!

Jurassic World and Inside Out

Last night, my sister and I took advantage of our local theater's half-off ticket day to make a double feature of Jurassic World and Inside Out. I enjoyed both movies very much, but here were my overall thoughts!

Jurassic World was very entertaining, even if there were some far-fetched things. For example, the desire to militarize velociraptors, the improbable intelligence, malice, etc. of the Indominus Rex, the fact that the two kids just so happened to have experience fixing up a car and managing to restore a 23-year-old car in about 25 minutes, BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD'S CHARACTER BEING ABLE TO MAKE IT THROUGH THE WHOLE ORDEAL IN HEELS AND EVEN OUTRUNNING A FREAKING T-REX PERIOD, etc. Also, Chris Pratt's character was a bit of a jerk about women, which is eh. He was still fantastic in his performance, though. I don't think this movie will be bringing home Best Picture at the Oscars, but I'm sure it'll at least get some nominations in the tech categories like visual effects or sound mixing.

Inside Out was a masterpiece in so many ways! The story was perfectly executed, and oh my goodness the animation in this move was SPECTACULAR! The amount of detail in every single frame was extraordinary- it was like every little piece of the picture had its own unique texture. The short before the film, Lava, was also adorable in every way and gave me "all the feels!" My prediction is that this movie takes home Best Animated Feature, and perhaps receives a nomination for Best Picture like Up did when it came out. I would say that this is the best Pixar movie since Up, hands down. Also, I think that Lava could get a nomination in the animated short category. 

Overall, it was a pretty fantastic movie night, and hopefully something I can do again soon!

I SURVIVED GRADPARTYPOCOLYPSE!

After days of endless stress, chores, and preparations, the grad party of doom came, was a success, and went! Things are slowly starting to return to normal in my house (thank goodness) and while I still have to tackle a chore mountain every day, it's a big relief that the whole thing is over. 

Thanks to the party though, I'm finally in a place of financial stability! From that party alone, I earned DOUBLE what I made last year working at Famous Footwear. I'm still trying my hardest to find employment, however. I haven't found any success in that region! While I had my interview with Kohl's and felt it went well, my suspicions were correct, and I received a letter in the mail thanking me for my consideration, but they would not be hiring me. 

I still haven't gotten anywhere with Care.com jobs, which is also frustrating, but I did get my pay for turtlesitting, and I do have a job lined up for the end of the month. 

On the bright side, in less than one week I'll be heading to my orientation at DePaul! I'm really excited, and I can't wait to meet some new people, experience the dorms, and schedule my classes (and get my ID!). It's really starting to hit me that I am going to college! 

Also, my apologies for the recent infrequent posting. My sister has been using the laptop to watch The Goldbergs (great show, by the way! I highly recommend it) so I've been left without a computer. On the bright side, once I'm back from orientation my parents and I are going to get me a new laptop, and I can start blogging even more consistently from that instead!

Hectic Week

So far this week has been a whirlwind, and it's only Tuesday! (Well, technically it's Wednesday now, but still!)

Yesterday, I was running around all day long. I worked out and then went to run errands and go grocery shopping with my sister. (She's back from Florida now, yay!) I then had an interview at Kohl's, and then dashed to a late date with Andy. We went to this really good burger restaurant (they have spectacular mac and cheese bites with this amazing buffalo dipping sauce- absolutely to die for!) and then went back to his house to hang out. We watched Woody Allen's Love and Death, and I really enjoyed it! It was quite witty and overall hilarious. I have very mixed feelings about Woody Allen, but I can't deny that he is a gifted artist.

The Kohl's interview went well! Depending on how quickly they can get in touch with my references, I could ACTUALLY GET A JOB! Like I'd only be around for about a month this summer, but when I'm on my lengthy fall/winter break I'd have a job waiting for me already! My parents are ecstatic, they've been incredibly disappointed with my job hunting struggle so this is definitely a relief.

Today was a bit less hectic, but I was still insanely busy doing chores. I prepped decorations for my graduation party this Saturday, I gardened a lot, cleaned my room some more, took many surveys on my various rewards sites,FINALLY set up a PayPal account, and I planted my succulent garden and it's a-freaking-dorable!!!!!! This isn't the best picture quality, but it's the only photo I have at the moment. I'll have to post pictures of my budding (pun entirely intended!) houseplant menagerie!

The next three days are going to continue in the same pattern of chores and chores and chores and chores, but whenever I have free time I'm going to try to paint or do other productive things!

Until next time, then!

Busy Day

I'm taking a break from developing carpal tunnel syndrome (I was fixing cabinets) and oh my goodness I need a nap, but frankly that just isn't in the cards for me today! 

So far today I "went to mass" and then ran some errands for my mom. I was at Home Depot, and I picked up a ton of cheap and cute succulents to plant a succulent garden with! I've got quite the lowkey green thumb; I've been taking care of an orchid for the past two and a half months, and I am just DYING to expand my reach a bit. Like I adore house plants, but I don't care for very high maintenance ones. My orchid only needs one ice cube a week and medium sunlight to survive, and that's basically the same with my new succulents! When I finish my garden, I'll have to post a picture of it here.

I picked  up some bedding at Target for my dorm, and that was exciting! Hopefully everything will all come together soon.

I still have a gazillion things on my to-do list, but lucky for me my sister will be home in about an hour and can help me out with at least half of the things (cleaning our cat's litterbox, doing the dishes while I take care of taking out the trash, and so on.), and I also have to fill out the Home Depot application that my parents want me to do. I highly doubt that I'll get hired there since some degree of expertise/strength is required, which I utterly lack, and I'll also be leaving for school in a month and a half so it's not like I'd be around for long. 

Hopefully everything works out for itself, because tomorrow is looking to be another equally (if not more so) busy day than today was!

Guess who found a Webkinz with the tag still on it....

I took a trip down memory lane tonight while cleaning my room when I found a Webkinz (from like, 8 years ago, no less) with the tag still on it! For those who don't know/remember, Webkinz were a fad from when I was in grade school. You would buy a Webkinz stuffed animal, and it had a tag with a code attached that you would use to "adopt" it on Webkinz.com, where you could take care of it in a virtual world where you could play games, learn, etc. It was really a ton of fun!

I decided to create a new account and see what I could do, and ohhhhh was I surprised...

Webkinz.com has gone to the dogs. 

Back in my day, everything on Webkinz was free to all, and that was glorious! Now, Webkinz has tiered membership where only those born with a silver spoon in their hands (AKA the kids whose parents are fine with paying a fee to a fad website) are able to access all the features of the site, including most of the jobs, the majority of the games, the only decent clothes, certain furniture pieces and room styles, ALL the "classes" at the "academy" (even those normal folks with free membership are able to purchase academy "uniforms" from the clothing store- what's up with that?!), and even certain foods!

WEBKINZ HAS CREATED A CLASS SYSTEM. IN TRUTH, IT'S AN OLIGARCHY. MY CHILDHOOD HAS BEEN EFFECTIVELY RUINED.

2016 Election Ridiculousness

So this upcoming Presidential election is the first one that I'll be able to vote for, and I'm really excited to get involved with the democratic process! However, this election, even though it's still a year and a half away, I'm already overwhelmed by the whole process. THERE ARE LITERALLY ALMOST 20 PEOPLE WHO HAVE DECLARED THEIR CANDIDACY THAT'S WAY TOO MANY! The primaries alone are going to be a train wreck!

Here's the list of everybody running as of July 2nd:

1. Hillary Rodham Clinton- Republican
2. Jeb Bush- Republican
3. Donald Trump- Republican
4. Bernie Sanders- Democrat
5. Ted Cruz- Republican
6. Martin O'Malley- Democrat
7. Rand Paul- Repubican
8. Lincoln Chafee- Democrat
9. Marco Rubio- Republican
10. Jim Webb- Republican
11. Ben Carson- Republican
12. John Kasich- Republican
13. Carly Fiorina- Republican
14. Mike Huckabee- Republican
15. Rick Santorum- Republican
16. George Pataki- Republican
17. Lindsey Graham- Republican
18. Chris Christie- Republican
19. Rick Perry- Republican
20. Bobby Jindal- Republican

I'm sure that as we get closer to the primaries and/or candidates start running out of money, that list will narrow down some, but it's still a ridiculous amount of candidates! I'm definitely going to be checking up on this list periodically, updating it and researching candidates. Hopefully my research can help you with your decisions in the primaries and in the general election!

JOB HUNT UPDATE!!!!

I got a call this morning from my local Kohl's, and they set up an interview with me!!!!!! I'm ecstatic to have an interview in the first place, but I doubt I'm going to get hired when they find out how soon I leave for school and that I won't be able to work very much during the school year.

Despite that, I have some hope now!

Welp, my sister dropped her phone into a pool in Florida...

I made $70 today!!!!

Good news from your favorite broke girl- I sent for my first check with InboxDollars! It was $50, and while it took me a while to ear, I am so happy that I finally have it. In the hour or so since I sent in my payment request, I earned almost $6! I'm pretty thankful for this. While the money I make off InboxDollars is by no means substantial, every little bit helps and this gives me some relief in the midst of my unemployment.

My other $20 today I made by doing chores for my grandparents. It was quite the workout, really- I threw out my back! Hopefully I can get a real job soon, I'm doing my best to get employed, but I think I'm going to need to shift my focus towards stores in Chicago. Who wants to hire somebody for just a month anyways?

So, wish me luck in my broke-ness, and may I find employment soon!

Dorm "Essentials"? SOS

So one thing I've been working on lately has been finding supplies and decor for my dorm room at DePaul. I'm incredibly excited for college, and I'm unbelievably stoked to move someplace new! However, It's very hard to tell if I will really need everything that's considered an essential.

For instance, one thing my school had on their list was dishes, dish towels, and silverware. Like if you live in an apartment-style housing unit, that makes sense since you'd probably be doing some of your own cooking! In a dorm however, not so much. Especially since we are only allowed to have a microwave, Keurig, and mini-fridge. Like they have community kitchens on every floor for when you just have to bake, or cannot stand meal-plan food any longer, but would I really need to bring all sorts of utensils and plates and the like?

Storage is one thing that I'm not too sure about. I've seen what a dorm in my building looks like, and they're pretty spacious! Being a hoarder of pretty much everything though, I know I'll need to find ways to make the most of that space, though. The thing is, I don't want to have too much storage to the point where it becomes unnecessary. 

I'm worried that I may go overboard with decor, as well. Like I'm dying to get a tapestry from DENY Designs (THEY ARE SO COOL!!!) but they're all $50, just for a 4 foot by 5 foot tapestry. The larger ones cost $70.... I don't know if I wanna spend that much, you know? In addition to that, I have like a bazillion pictures that I have to display SOMEHOW but I don't wanna take up too much space. I definitely need to look into some other options. Like I have this great magnetic chain thing, but that only handles so many of my priceless memories! I may try using a cork board, and using paper clips with tacks. I'm not too sure yet.

Like this is stressful! Moving into my college dorm is my first foray into adulthood, and I'm terribly ill-prepared! 

Trolling Christians for Funsies got me feeling Introspective

I'm changing my major to "fighting strangers on the internet" and I'm going to get a doctorate in reading bitches for filth in 140 characters or less.

I've been dragging people who have made incredibly homophobic tweets under the #JesusWins tag on twitter. It's a response to the #LoveWins tag that came out when gay marriage was legalized nationwide. Some of the responses are kind, like "Love won 2,000 years ago when my savior died for me," but others are like "Leviticus 420:69 homos are an ABOMINATION and need to DIE" like I know my fair share about Christianity from attending Catholic school since I was 7 and attending Vacation Bible School many summers when I was little and I know that no kind, loving god would wish death upon somebody no matter what they did.

It's people like this that make me incredibly glad that I'm leaving organized religion behind. Faith is great, it's beautiful and if you have a faith you deserve every right to practice it! However, sometimes people hold onto their faith so strongly they refuse to let other people believe in their respective faiths.Using religion as an excuse for hate is a real abomination, not worshiping in a different manner, loving someone of the same sex, etc. 

I don't know if I'll ever find faith again, but I don't think I will until I find something loving and accepting of all.

Summertime Sadness

Not only is that one of the catchiest Lana Del Rey songs, but it's how I'm feeling now...

My sister is gone until next week, my boyfriend is in Canada, all my friends are busy/live far away, and I don't have a job (STILL!) so I'm bored as heck, and frankly I'm living a purposeless existence. 

I really doubt that I'll get hired anywhere at this point. Who wants somebody who's leaving in a month? NOBODY. I haven't had any luck whatsoever with Care.com jobs, I keep applying but nobody is getting back to me. Like come ON I spent $9 on a background check for this?!

It's just so frustrating, and it's even harder to put on a brave face and be hopeful about what the next day is bringing.

Oh lord, yesterday was wild...

Yesterday was incredibly eventful for me! In the morning, I found out that I made it onto DePaul's comedy magazine so I'm incredibly happy about that! Then, I went on the tour de grad parties and that was quite the adventure...

I was invited to five grad parties yesterday and I only attended four of them. The first three I went to were very tame, but the last one was not. There was a lot of drinking- the only people completely sober were the hostess's little cousins. I only had one wine cooler- I didn't want to look like a prude. I wasn't really having any fun though. None of my friends were there and I didn't really know anybody who was partying that well. So, around midnight I went to a couch away from the fray and went to sleep with a few other people. 

Around 2 AM, all hell broke loose. The hostesses dad is a very mean, angry drunk, and with all the noise downstairs he was completely enraged. He and the hostess were in a shouting match for about half an hour, then he went on a rampage kicking everybody out. I was scared and didn't want to be there the next morning, so I grabbed my purse and went to my car. The other partiers were pretty drunk, but none of them were about to go on the roads. Some of them walked to a different party in an adjacent neighborhood, others got driven home by the hostess's older brother, and some just pretended they were asleep and decided to wait it out until they were sober and could drive home. 

I really hope that everyone got home safe, and I think I'm gonna be avoiding large, wild parties for quite some time!

GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES

REMEMBER JUNE 26TH, 2015 AS THE DAY THAT EVERY MAN AND WOMAN ACROSS THE NATION, WHETHER THEY ARE CIS OR TRANS OR NONBINARY, COULD FINALLY MARRY WHO THEY LOVE!

Words cannot describe how happy I am that this has happened! The majority of my friends are members of the LGBTQA Community, and knowing that they can finally have the marriage rights they deserve and finally get married unhindered fills me with so much joy. 

Check out my Care.com profile... Pleeeeeease?

If you wanna give my Care.com profile a look, here it is!

Care.com Update

So I decided to pay for a backup check on Care.com! It was only a preliminary one, but I don't really need to go the whole nine yards for the $60 one! I have no record, so that would be a waste of money. Hopefully having the background check will give some more incentive for people to hire me. Pet sitting is a job I adore doing, so I really want things to work out here! Just to get one or two calls from these families would be miraculous for me!

I'm also going to ask my neighbor, who I've pet-sat for before, to write a review for my profile and to rate me, and if I can put her down as a reference. Doing that would be greatly beneficial in getting me some jobs lined up, and I'm sure she'd say yes!

Ohhh I really hope this works! I need everything I can get right now.

Best Online Money-Making Methods(so far)

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you're probably very aware of my lack of a job and my broke-ness! I've been doing my best to apply to places but haven't had much luck, so I've had to look into a lot of alternative methods of earning money. Thank goodness for the internet, am I right?! Some of them have been super helpful, others I'm still working out the kinks.

1. InboxDollars

I joined InboxDollars back in February when I found it on a scholarship website. It's been hands-down my best site! I've earned $50, by doing a variety of things. It has numerous ways to earn. You can earn money through reading email, using their search engine, doing surveys, completing offers, playing games, etc. They also have tons of sweepstakes and give prizes for doing surveys! It also has connections to other similar rewards sites. Small disclaimer: there is a $3 processing fee for payments (because they send checks), but they are looking into additional methods of payment like InboxDollar credit/debit cards, PayPal, and so on. You do get a $5 bonus for signing up and can earn around $10 in the first week, so check it out if it seems right for you!   

 2.Survey Spot

I only recently joined Survey Spot, but I like it a lot! It's hardly taken any time to earn, and they have a variety of payment options including PayPal, iTunes, Amazon cards, or airline miles! Their surveys aren't terribly time consuming, and I haven't had a single issue with it!

 3. MySurvey 
I have been on MySurvey for a little while now, and while it isn't the fastest way to rack up rewards points and cash (there never seem to be many surveys for me to take) it still has been useful for me! MySurvey, similar to Survey Spot, has multiple forms of rewards to redeem for their points including PayPal cash and gift cards to all sorts of stores including Amazon.com and Macy's. 

To be honest, that's about it! I haven't had much luck with some sites, but I'm always looking. I'll update this post from time to time when I find a new site that works great!

The Power of Taylor Swift

When I was in 6th grade, Taylor Swift's first single, "Teardrops on my Guitar" was released. I didn't know it then, but she was quickly becoming the most powerful pop singer in the world. Now, fresh off of kicking Apple into submission with this tumblr post, she is more powerful than ever. Never before has an artist had so much ability to make and break corporations, and it's really quite formidable. However, is it really right for one person, no matter who they are, to have that immense power?

One of Swifts claims to fame is the way she treats her fans: with kindness, generosity, and with genuine love. In the past year alone, Swift has had cookie-eating parties with fans, donated to fans in need, written blog posts of support for those going through boy troubles on her blog, and even showed up to a fan's wedding at one of her concerts. All of that is practically unthinkable, and in doing that Taylor has created a devout following for herself. 

Despite her wonderful treatment of fans, she does not treat others the same way. One English freelance photographer, Jason Sheldon, revealed in this post the hypocrisy in her demands from music companies and the image contracts photographers must sign in order to cover her tour. In addition, her legal team has cracked down on Etsy stores that featured fan-made items using her lyrics/likeness. It can be argued that these people are "leeching off her fame" to make some money for themselves, but hey, they have to live too! As someone who is broke as it gets and is constantly looking for a way to raise money so I can get by, I can understand their struggle and the difficulty of having these sorts of opportunities taken from them.

This year, Swift is bigger than ever and she only keeps going up. However, nobody knows what the future holds or if these allegations will cause any issues in the future. 

Ugggggggh I'm going to vomit- my parents made me apply to work at a gas station chain. I actually don't want to be hired if that's my job. There's no place more dangerous for an 18 year old girl to work than at gas stations, especially late at night. God I hope I don't get hired....