Alright, so I took that big test today.  It went relatively well.  I think.  At least until I get it back!! 

So the things I’ve been doing…well, Friday I stayed in to study for my tests.  It was a blast!  I was planning on going to bingo but I was tired, and it was cold out, and 4 hours of bingo was not looking to appetizing. 

Then Saturday for some reason I decided to get up early to go to Franklin Mills where I bought about 8 pairs of shoes.  For some reason.  Then I studied m0re!

And Sunday was 100% studying because I took that break to go shopping.  Again, a blast.

Something that was really fun though is Morris and I started getting up earlier and taking the dogs for a walk.  We take them to Anderson and Gladfelter because there’s this nice patch of grass that is kind of enclosed so they can just run around.  I have a video of them playing…I’ll upload it later when I figure out how to. 

And then Monday was tests 1 and 2 in chemistry and calculus. I have class all day Mondays so nothing really exciting there. Then on Tuesday I had class all day until 4 and after that I decided I deserved a break so I went to Target.  To tell you what for, I couldn’t.  (I kind of emotional shop when I’m stressed, not good for the bank account!)  I got Xerces a super cute Valentines dress.  It was on sale for $2.  Good buy right there (get it? Like the commercial?? haha I’m soooo not 100% with it).  And then I studied until the wee hours of the morning. 

And then yesterday I went to Maoz and it was absolutely delicious.  And then I studied more!!!! (I like my G.P.A where it is) and then, at 2:30 a.m., I went to bed for a delightful 3 hours during which I kept waking up and thinking about my big Paleontology test.  And now it’s done.  I don’t have to study again until Sunday when I’m also taking the practice GRE’s!! 

When I get home, I’m taking the longest nap, going out for dinner, and then maybe convincing Morris to take me to see The Other Boleyn Girl.  I really liked the book  : )

Alright, not really 100, but close enough.

 Friday there will be a monster post on everything I’ve been doing outside of studying for my tests this week.  It’s not a good week for me. 

 Here’s something fun though!  A list of all the words/phrases that people search and google and make it to my blog:

Search	Views
daschund beagle mix	4
wonky eye	3
cute countdowns	3
daschund beagle	3
plaza pizza temple	2
as worn by yours truly	2
wittenburg arden	2
a really pretty mom	2
brokeback jacket	2
pspca	2
kim morris cakes phone number	1
pinata mickey	1
paws philly vests	1
“brokeback jacket”	1
wittenburg, arden	1
“ripped his pants”	1
peter griffin onesie	1
emo cut himself	1
all legos	1
“50 west 50″	1
amanda’s	1
daschund/beagle mix	1
arden theatre wittenburg	1
tomi k morris	1
wittenburg arden theatre	1
owlamanda	1
andrea sunbury pa myspace	1
mikey haley	1
my coworkers forgot my birthday	1
“wonky eye”	1
daschund beagle mix picture	1
franklin mills bought	1
plaza pizza +temple	1
“peter pan”, “walnut street theatre”	1
” peter pan” “walnut street theatre”	1
+hx +”50 west 50″	1
interns lazytown	1
“50 west 50″ and hx magazine	1
taco chew toy	1
“beagle mix”	1
amanda blog	1

Crazy.

Life has been so busy!!  I’m taking two Upper Level classes in my major and they take about 90% of my time… but I love it 

My Geochem proffesor, Dr. Grandstaff (better known as “G”)  says the craziest things.  Some are inappropriate to write here but some classics:

“Alright, I think we bit the wad for today…”

“How old do you think the diamonds are in bling?”

There will be more of those.

As for fun stuff, I can’t even remember what I did during the week, mostly because it was nothing.  On Friday Morris and I went to Maoz (yeah, I’m obsessed) and we took the dogs for a walk on South Street.  That’s right.  Dogs.  We adopted little Leonidas, a Cocker Spaniel.  He and Xerces get along reallllly well. 

And here’s what makes me go to South Street at least once a week:

 

I know it doesn’t look spectacular, but it is the bombdiggity.  I know that word is so outdated, but it’s the only word I could think of to describe Maoz.  And they just opened a second store in Center City!

 So we got our Maoz and walked to the end of South Street to eat because it was a phenomenal day!  There was a little girl there (with her parents) and she came over and was playing with the dogs.  It was so cute!  She kept telling me how she was getting a dog and she just loved playing.   Here’s a picture of some giant people on the bridge over Columbus Boulevard:

And South Street from the bridge (all the way at the end):

And then we walked around Society Hill and met some really nice people.  Like, people that compliment you, and then tell you to have a nice day.  I’m not very used to that.  We walked for about an hour and the started to make our way back to our car on Poplar but on the way I stumbled onto Fabric Row.  Now, I’m not like, “Fabric Row, yes!!”  I was like, “wow, that looks interesting.”  It was fun to just explore somewhere I never was before.  I’m so glad I have dogs to walk around neighborhoods I don’t live in  : )

One mistake I think a lot of people make at Temple is not getting into the city enough.  Granted, sometimes I am guilty of this too, and I get a little burnt out from the whole college scene.  It’s very refreshing to be able to take the subway into the city on anyday and just escape the 2 chapters of chem reading and homework, the geochem thermodynamics homework, the Paleontology lab, and calc test.  Very refreshing indeed.  But now it’s getting to crunch time with all of that!

But before I go I have Saturday and Sunday yet to talk about!

Saturday morning I had work which was nice because I need money reallllly bad.  But it also was fun!  After that I had an interview in the city for a mindless, more flexible job, much like BK.  Then Kim, Morris and I  went to eat at Olive Garden and I was a little disappointed by the actual food but it was still fun. 

Here’s Kim and I in front of City Hall!

Oh yeah! I changed my hair! Suprise!

and Morris and Kim on the other side of City Hall:

And then there’s this poster in the subway that is an advertisement of Sylvester Stallone’s new movie and I really think he looks like my friend Tomi K here. 

I know you have no idea what Tomi K looks like and the picture is really blurry but you just have to trust me on this one.  Have I ever lead you astray??  : )

 And today, Sunday, Morris and I went to go look at a house.  I didn’t like it except for the super cute dogs in the back.  But they don’t come with the house.  And then I went to KMart to get a new water bottle (my last one broke coincidentally just as I saw the cat that scratched Xerces eye that resulted in a $202 vet bill) and it was $9 marked down to $2.  That was my crowning achievment of the day!  And then I took Kim to the asian market and I got stuff to make pickles.  I know. Random.  But that’s college life!

Wish me luck with this week! It’s going to be a tough one!!

Oh but really quick, Kim, Morris and I went to Tea Country at the Edge (a residence hall on campus) and it was so cool!  I loved it!  I tried going back today but it was closed.  But if you ever find yourself on campus and want some tea, remember Tea Country.

So Sunday was Morris’s 21st birthday and it was a blast! Unfortunately, we are back to school, so the for the first part of the day we did homework! No better way to celebrate : )

But of course we take the celebration of birthdays seriously here at Temple so it wasn’t just birthday, but birthweekend. It started on Friday when Morris and I went to his fraternity’s house to see everyone. I didn’t take any pictures there because I forget my SD card in my computer : (

But then Saturday, not really a celebration, but we went looking for houses for next year. We drove around and found a whole bunch of places that are renting, however none that are exactly what we need. So sadly enough, the large house with all my friends for next year isn’t going to happen. But in better news, I found all these houses in South Philly that are SUPER cheap and they allow pets! I’m really pumped! Like right now I pay $375 and utilities but the places I’m finding are about $200 a person. And we have another friend that is thinking about moving in with us and that will make it even cheaper! All the houses are 3 or 4 blocks from the subway (just like I am now) and offer a new environment so that’s really exciting : ) Plus I’ll be saving a lot of money!!

I found this cute little thing driving around:

I have more some pictures of the area I’m moving to but they come later…

And then Sunday night we had a dinner for Morris’s birthday with just really close friends. We had planned to go to Monk’s cafe because of their diverse menu (Mussel’s for the boys, vegan burger for me!). Well, we waited 45 minutes but walking around and finding an ATM. Here we are at a store (with an ATM) which I was at freshman year!

(this has nothing to do with the birthday) So one day my friend Josh and I decided to go to the city to walk around. I’m not really sure why. I’m sure it had something to do with our Sociology class that we didn’t want to do work for. So I got a crazy craving for chocolate covered pretzled, we walked alllll over, and finally found some.

Me, Freshman year, with my pretzels and Jolt. We had about 3 that night. They need to bring that back. It was good : )

haha this was on the facebook and josh captioned it “amanda…u do not need sugar and jolt”

Here’s most of us in that store again, waiting for Sean at the ATM.

So back to the birthday.

We got back to Monk’s and then our over enthusiastic hostess informed us we all needed to be 21 if we weren’t with a parent.

So…we headed to Olive Garden (yeah, it’s our go to place!) and waited there for 30 minutes but it was well worth it!

And I saw this in a window somewhere and I think it’s so pretty!

So, at Olive Garden we had an awesome waiter. He was very good at what he did. First, he tells us we get 3 wine samples so that made me happy! And basically we ate, and ate, talked about old tv shows from our time, ate, and it was pretty awesome.

This picture is really funny.  Alex and Kim both work for HX magazine and they were trying to make “HX” with their hands.  Well, Alex forgot he was the “X”…

But then they got it 

Morris when he got his cake (with our awesome waiter in the back).

and Me and Morris:

Sean looks super creepy in this picture.

That other guy is Nikita.  He normally doesn’t look like a young version of Sandman from Spiderman 3.  Funny story about him:  Morris and I met him in the pool room at the SC sometime last year and then we kept seeing him around campus.  Then as we were driving looking for a spot (which i never recommend in the city) we saw him and he ended up joining us for dinner.  And Sean knows him too.  What was the funniest though was we saw him walking, Sean was like, “STOP THE CAR, ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW!  NIKITA!”  and then I got honked at for blocking traffic.

So back to the night.   We went back to the car and thankfully I didn’t have a ticket. I’m always paranoid about that wherever I park.  Anyone see Parking Wars?  It’s about Philadelphia Parking Authority.  My mom watches in hopes of seeing me.   Then when we got home some of Morris’s fraternity brothers came over with cake and we played Rock Band for a while.  Then everyone left and Morris and I gave Sean a ride home (he lives in Kensington, on Hazzard street…kind of funny) and then Morris and I decided to drive to South Philly to check out that area as a possible place to live.  Notable places:

Pat’s King of Steaks:

and Gino’s (so bad for the environment with wasting electricity):

Not like I really care because I’m vegan…but for tourists it is a big attraction.  They’re also open at 2:00 a.m. on a Monday.  And just down the street is the Italian Market and South Street so it’s a really great area  : )

And then I started a wonderful week of classes!  And I’m gonna do some homework and update about what happened during the week in a little.