Easter Weekend and more

I seem to have a lot going on, since I'm not around here as much as I'd like and I am way behind on most of my TV shows (serious problems around here), but at the same time I can't seem to account for all my time.

It's fine. I'm probably just losing my mind. While I'm busy trying to find it (and getting some stuff done--hopefully) I'll leave you with a little round up from my weekend and a couple pictures I've taken recently.

My parents got back on Saturday from Hawaii (don't even get me started with the jealousies), I picked them up from the airport and we headed north. Along the way we stopped for lunch and swung by the outlet malls. I was successful in finding a bag that will be perfect for my upcoming travels.

It was great to hang out as a family, go out to brunch with my grandpa (he was having a pretty good day), and enjoy some sunshine. Now it's back to the grind (relatively in my world). I have a lot to get done this week before I head off for a week of traveling (more on that later).

The weather here has been pretty delightful the past few days. Yesterday I went bare legged with my dress and the bus was hot (but in a good, yay-winter-is-finally-over kind of way).

Now I'm off to get some work done for real. Don't worry though, I won't completely exhaust myself. I have plans for sushi this evening. Self care, as my roommate who is studying to be a therapist calls it.

Awkward and Awesome: Could I use any more punctuation?

Man, this past week has been a doozy. For everything I've had going on, it's a good thing I don't have a job even if it makes the bills a little more stressful (but I promise the only debt I'm going into is the student loans. Isn't that a good thing?!). <-- The inordinate punctuation usage. (Also, did you get the sort-of Friends reference? No, just me then.)

As you can tell from the progression of that last paragraph, I'm clinging to my sanity, but just barely.

I'm fine really.

Anyways, before this blog completely gets off the tracks, let's move onto the main event, the awkward and awesome moments of my week.

Awkward:
- This past month being the third rainiest one on record for the state. Ridiculous.
- Babysitting and class on the same day as a killer migraine. Nothing that a drug cocktail (I kid), copious amounts of caffeine (seriously), and a couple pieces of pizza can't cure.
- Feeling like I haven't been home all week. Oh wait...I haven't.
- Getting back in the hang of writing more than just these silly blog posts. And I don't mean academic, more the opinion/reporting type writing. It doesn't come naturally to me but I'm going to be doing quite a bit this quarter, so I better get focused.
- Being distracted mid-post by homework. I mean, that's probably actually a good thing.
- All the vacation photos my parent's have been sending me from Hawaii.  It's just not right (in that it makes me very jealous).
- My school to-do list that I may or may not be ignoring right now. Not ignoring, just haven't had time for. That all changes tomorrow afternoon.

Awesome:
- Seeing my friend's baby (the one born on leap day) for the first time today. She was on her best behavior for me (meaning we went for a walk successfully and I wasn't forced to change her diaper). It was the first visit grace period.
- A maybe trip to PA. In a little over a week. I'll share more when I have the deets.
- Sunshine, cherry blossoms, going for walks...the little springtime moments that make the rainy days a little easier to deal with.
- Feeling like even though I'm not working, I'm finally doing things in my spare time that will benefit me professionally in the long run.
- Plans with a good friend tomorrow. She called last minute and I answered.
- Red lipstick. It instantly makes me feel ten times fancier. Try it sometime. (Also, liner is key to it really working.)

I think I'm calling it quits there. I could probably come up with more but sleep is a better choice at this point.

P.S. Sorry I haven't been around commenting much. I hope to catch up soon!
P.P.S. Since Instagram just opened up for Android this week (and it's awesome), add me if you haven't yet (eewiley).
P.P.P.S. Have a lovely Friday!

Balancing It Out

This past weekend I was up at my parent's. They are out of town (in Hawaii!!), so I hung out with my brother and the dogs, visited my grandpa, mowed a couple lawns, and hid out from the rain.

I've also launched myself head first into this quarter. One of my classes is focused on running an election blog on a newspaper's site. We have to make a pitch, come up with story ideas, travel, etc., and we now only have 8 classes left. It's crazy.

My other class, on interactive design, is the first that has me feeling a little over my head. Not that I think I'll drown, but it's definitely going to stretch me.

And my work with the student-run blog continues to ramp up. This week I may even be doing a little writing.

I have never been more thankful to not be working than right now.

At the same time, I'm also having fun. Don't worry. And taking time for the little things.

This afternoon walking across campus, I snapped a great picture of the blooming cherry trees. I made a pit stop on the bus ride home for a free scoop at Ben and Jerry's. I also got plenty of snuggle time in with my parent's springer spaniel, Jamaica, this weekend.

What little things have you been enjoying?

Yummy Banana Muffins

I've had a couple bananas sitting on my counter, getting older and looking less and less appealing. It was the perfect excuse for making banana bread (except I don't have a bread pan, so banana muffins it was).

Chocolate-Swirled Banana Muffins
adapted from this recipe

Ingridients
- 1 c white flour
- 1 c whole wheat flour
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 c sugar
- 1/4 c butter (softened)
- 3 mashed ripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 c lowfat greek yogurt
- 1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter.
3. Mix in bananas, eggs, and yogurt until just blended
4. Add flour to wet mixture. Mix until just moistened.
5. Microwave chocolate chips in medium bowl. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly.
6. Add 1 c batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined.
7. Spoon batter, alternating between the plain and chocolate, into greased or lined muffin tin. Fill the muffin cups 1/2 - 3/4 of the way full.
8. Swirl batter with a knife.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until knife/toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling (or do what I did and enjoy a warm muffin or two).

Enjoy!

A couple notes: your muffins will turn out the best if you mix them as little as possible when combining the wet/dry mixtures. Just make sure all the ingredients are incorporated. Avoid overcooking the chocolate chips in the microwave. Melt a minute at a time, and make sure to mix pretty well after each minute as they will melt more as you do that.

Awkward and Awesome: Rainy Day

Every time I write this post I want to start out by saying, "it's Thursday," as if you didn't know. How original, right? So I swear, this week is the last time.

I'm keeping it short and sweet, like most weeks. I'll be back tomorrow with the muffin recipe. Hold your breath!

Awkward:
- Having my professor ask me a question and completely blanking. I knew, but in that moment, not so much.
- Trying to write this post and completely blanking out.
- Taking a "shortcut" driving and losing 15 minutes of my life. I'll never get that back.
- Featuring new TV series that we are watching all the time (see below). It's like all we do is sit around and watch the boob tube.
- The length of time I sometimes go without washing my hair. But I hear that's actually good for the hairs. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Awesome:
- Two pairs of shoes for less than $20. I'm doing a bit of a closet overhaul and I found some great shoes to replace ones that I don't wear often.
- Having a meal at our favorite Indian place before taking my mom and dad to the airport. Chai! Butter sauce! Naan! Love!
- My classes this quarter. I've only had them once, but I think they'll be interesting/challenging/awesome.
- Plans for the summer are starting to come together. Fun! Now I just have to figure out class/financial aid, NBD.
- Starting Friday Night Lights all over again. Love that show.
- The weather last week. Cherry blossoms. In a picture, this:

Happy Friday!!!

Half Baked

I'm off soon to my second class of the quarter in just a little bit. Exciting. I entered the week dreading going back, but class Monday night energized me and made me excited for what's to come over the next two months.

It's been a few days since I unplugged for 24 hours. I'd call it mostly a success. It was sort of a cheater unplug as I still was watching TV (just basketball!). The only thing that was really hard, answering a text or phone call then seeing how many unread emails I had.

That made my type-A fingers itch a little. But I made it!

Sunday I got to hang out with a friend I haven't seen in a while. We made pizza (TJ's pizza dough is delicious and easy) and watched basketball. The perfect lazy Sunday. I also met up with a few of my classmates to catch up and relax before classes kick off again.

Yesterday, my sister and I headed out to Redhook Brewery to play trivia with Stevie and her friend. It was a lot of fun and we did pretty well, especially considering we totally bombed the music round. 8th place! Out of more than 20 teams.

And today I made some delicious banana muffins. Don't worry. I'll be back soon to share the recipe.

For now, happy Wednesday! What fun have you been up to recently?

Guest Post from Israel, #2

My cousin Michelle is back to share a little more about her time in Israel. She's just sharing two posts for now, but I plan on bugging her to share more soon. This one is a little longer, but I didn't want to break it up into two posts. 


Michelle will be over in the States this summer, so you'll see her around my blog then, too. For now, enjoy this post, check out the first if you missed it, visit her blog, and let me (and her) know if you have any questions. All the pictures in the post are ones Michelle has taken in Israel. It looks like a gorgeous country!

Where is Be'ersheva? What is the city like? 
Beersheva is located in the south of Israel, quite close to the Palestinian border. This city is the biggest in the southern area, and it's mostly known for it's students and the Ben Gurion University. Climactically this place is a hot spot. Because Beersheva is located in the desert, the temperature varies a lot just between day and night. Winters here are cold, but it's a different cold than in Finland. The cold here is dry and it get's to your bones, and due to nonexisting heating in the houses, you can pick between freezing outside or freezing inside.

But summers here are completely the opposite. It's pretty much sizzling hot the entire summer and temperatures can rise up to 45C. I've also experienced a sand storm or two by now. During one of them I learned that one should never walk in a sand storm with an open mouth. Live and learn.

What kind of volunteer work are you doing? 
I work in a hostel for autistic people, or "friends" as they are referred to here. In my hostel there are 9 friends, between the ages of 17 to 32. My job is to help around and make their dailylife as normal as possible. The friends need help in clothing themselves, eating, going for walks, doing sporting activities and art etc. Autistics need a lot of routine, so my days at work are somewhat the same every day, although they never are. If that makes any sense.

I work 5 days a week, and my working days can include a morning shift from 6:30-8 and an evening shift from 3:30-10. The friends go to school or a work shop for the day, so there are no in between shifts during the week days. Fridays and Saturdays are different because of Shabbat, when everything is closed and the friends stay at the hostel for the whole day. The week here in Israel starts on Sunday, so my perception of time has changed to Israeli time.

What is life like there? Daily routine? Living arrangements? 
For now I live with two roommates in an apartment building quite close to the hostel. One of my roommates is from Germany and the other is from CA, USA. It's been a great time with these two women, and I've become very close with them both. We're supposed to get some more volunteers in a couple of weeks, and when our new accomodation facilities open there will be 14 volunteers in total staying and working with the friends.

(Since Michelle wrote this, two men from Korea have moved into the apartment, making it five people in two bedrooms. But that, maybe, is a whole post by itself.)

What's been the best part of the experience? 
Learning new things about myself through autistic people. I know I'm here to give them a whole lot of things, but the work has given me back more than I imagined or expected it would. I'm so happy that I took this time out of my "normal life" to come here and experience something unique.

What's been the hardest thing so far? 
The Israeli mentality is sometimes frustrating. They do things backwards around here. I was also warned before I came here that although Israelis are friendly people, it can be hard to become close to them and feel accepted as "one of the gang". It doesn't really help that volunteers don't speak Hebrew and some workers find communicating in English hard. Life as a volunteer here requires just A LOT of patience. And luckily one can always learn Hebrew!

Recently, you've had first had experience with being in a war zone (more or less--what exactly would you call it??). What is it like? How does it affect daily life? 

The conflict between Israel and Gaza flames up once and a while, and the Israelis have to deal with aggressive consequences when it happens. Most of the cities in the south get rocket fire when Hamas (the terrorist organization operating from Gaza) and the IDF (the Israeli Defense Force) start another fight. I obviously put everything in very simple terms here, and the issue is way bigger and more complicated than I ever could describe it. But to everyone else it basically means that once in a while the air raid siren will go off and you'll have to find the closest shelter when that happens.

A few weekends ago we had more than a dozen times when the siren went off and missiles threatened the safety of the citizens of Beersheva. Over 100 missiles were fired at southern Israel from Gaza just last weekend. Schools were closed for two days because of the rocket fire (luckily because one missile hit a school here in Beersheva). In our apartment building we do not have a bomb shelter, so we have to go down to the stair well and stay there until the siren goes off and there are one or two blasts. 

The Israelis have a very effective protection systmen called the Iron Dome. Basically it catches and destroys most missiles before they hit anything, but unfortunately it doesn't work with 100% accuracy. This experience has definitely been the scariest in my life so far, and it's humbling to think that this is the normal life of people in Israel.

Just as a conclusion I'd like to say that volunteering is one of the best ways to gain new experiences: to meet new people, to learn new skills and to see what life is like in another culture. You can also volunteer in your own community in one way or another if you're not up to traveling far, so I definitely recommend to everone to have a try at it!