Fully Restored... Well, sort of.

YES! I was able to put all the pictures back up! However, I didn't put any captions on there... So the question of the day:

Should I put them all back on there or not?

They're all on Facebook so it's not like it'd take THAT long to put them back on there... just copying and pasting... but I don't wanna go through the work if they're not going to be read... I dunno.

It's up to you. Want them or not? Let me know.

Great news of the day! Travis and I have found FREE parking in Minneapolis while we're off to Florida for Spring Break! SO excited! Thanks to "Pirate" here at DSU, we're able to save an extra $70. Woot! Can not wait until next weekend! OMG, it's NEXT weekend! AH! Can't wait! Did I mention that already?! lol

Stay Tuned!

Ugh...

So, the other day I thought I would clean up some of the duplicates that I had in my album attached to this blog...

I ended up deleting some of the pictures that were actually in my 365 Project's page. Go figure.

SOOO... that means I have to reload them into that page again... Therefore, it will be "under construction" for the next couple of days. Luckily, the pictures are in the album still so I won't have to upload them again, but I do have to go through and add all the captions and what not again.

Ugh.

Thank you for your patience and as always...

Stay tuned!

To Go or Not To Go

Alright... I am torn. My mom presented me with a proposition.

     "You can come to live with me after graduation (in Iowa) and not have to pay rent."

Oh boy.

So, I've barely been putting any thought into this since she mentioned it a couple of months ago, but she brought it up again today. Needless to say, it's rolling around in my head. Let's review my current options.

A: Stay in my current apartment > (Hopefully) Acquire job in Sioux Falls until grad school
B: Move with mom after graduation > (Hopefully) Acquire a job in Iowa... most likely Dubuque or Davenport

A.... I get to stay closer to the friends I've made over the last 5 years, including staying closer to Travis. I already have 2 opportunities (possibly 3) lined up in Sioux Falls. I just have to get my car fixed...

B.... I would be going back to my high school area... to my old friends... who don't know me now (compared to knowing me back then). I'd be away from Travis and the friends I have here. AND as far as job hunting goes... I haven't done any in that area so I'd be starting from scratch.

Ugh. Decisions that need to be made, but I just don't have the time to make them right now. >.< Therefore, I'll be putting off this discussion with myself for probably another couple of months. *makes event in mental calendar*

Onto other things... --interruption of prank caller-- Wow. I haven't had one of those on my cell phone before. How lame are some people? Really? >.<

ANYWAY... Things are going pretty well. School just keeps going... homework comes in waves. A bajillion projects/assignments one week, then like 2 the next week. Sucks, but I've been feeling more productive as the semester goes on so I'm hoping it really kicks into high gear soon. :)

As far as those prospective jobs in Sioux Falls go, I have until March 31st to get my resume/ portfolio ready. Once I start thinking about that, my workload triples. I guess I could tell you about my idea for my mini portfolio, eh? Okay... Thanks to Travis, I will be able to make a cost-effective "mini" version of my suitcase portfolio. Ready...? Wait for it... wait for it... DVD case that looks like a suitcase. :D Ta-da! It wouldn't open like a DVD, but like a suitcase instead. Oh yea. :D The title would be "Melissa Jean: Traveling Artist/Musician." Done. haha Tell me your thoughts!

And I have to give a shout out to my readers!
-Denise, I know you are reading my blog even if you don't comment just like I read your even when I don't comment! Love your TCT shots. :D
-Molly, I wasn't aware that you read this until the other day in choir. ^_^ Thanks for reading!
-Everyone else, thank you very much for staying tuned! Hopefully, I can keep you interested! LOL

Valentine's Day Weekend

This past weekend could not have been any better. Really amazing.


Alright, it started Friday. Travis and I got together with a few friends and just had a good time. He and I walked together to Stadium. Even the walk there was nice. It was a little chilly, but I was walking with Travis. Anyway, we went to the bar, not to get drunk, but to just hang out and have a great time. When we were done at about 1-2 am, we were dropped off at my place. He stayed with me so we could get ready to go to Sioux Falls early the next morning.


Saturday couldn't not have been any better! Travis and I went to Sioux Falls for the entire day. Got there about 10 am and went all over town. We started at Hobby Lobby so I could look for ideas for sending out my resume and portfolio in mini form. Came up with a great idea that I will explain later. After that, we took to Target to look at the toys for him and swimsuits for me. We both found what we were looking for, but wanted to still shop around so we figured we would come back later. Then, we went to the mall. Ended up spending most of the day there going to multiple stores. Basically, we took a left from the food court and followed the path around. Hot Topic (where I ended up buying him a second gift of a Deadmau5 hoodie), Victoria's Secret (that I had coupons for, but wasn't in the buying mood. Not sure if it was because of all the people in there or what, but I just wasn't comfortable), Walden Books (This is where I ended up telling him what I had gotten him... and I ended up really bummed because now I didn't have a surprise for him... still kind of bumming about that), and Kay Jewelers. Yes, Kay Jewelers. We went there because they have Pandora-like charms that they called "Charmed Memories" that work with Pandora bracelets. So, beforehand I had chosen some of the charms out of a book, but I forgot the book in the car. Because of that, I went with him to pick one out. Well, actually... We picked out three different ones and then he made the ultimate decision. Which was perfect...

Absolutely beautiful addition! 

And it's reasons like these that I have to thank my mother for the bracelet in the first place so that I can have memories and stories like this with each charm. <3 Then, after we've chosen the charm, he turns to me and says, "You should go to another store... just in case." As if that wasn't a big enough hint for what was to come later, I followed his request. I ended up in Claire's, but decided that was too close because I could still sneak peeks at him. So, I went to another store that I can't even remember because I was so excited and so... just... thinking. lol Then, I end up leaving that one and drifting further away from Kay's so I wouldn't be able to spoil anything, if anything, that he had planned. Just as I was doing that, he came up behind me. (How perfect, right...) *sigh* After that, he ran the bag out to the car and I met him in Express. I tried on a couple of shirts, but by then, I wasn't really in the buying mood anymore. We had already been walking around for like 4 hours by this time. However, I ended up buying some camis and that was it. We were getting hungry and this point because we were trying to avoid the lunch rush we saw when we first got there. We chose to eat at Burger King (yes, very bad... ) since it was completely different from where we planned on eating supper. When we finished our food, we ended up heading back into Victoria's Secret so I could use my coupons and then, we were done. 

Barnes & Noble was our next stop. All I had to do here was pick up his non-surprise gift of the 30th Anniversary Wooden Rubik's Cube. I'm pretty sure he has almost one of every kind they have so I thought that would be better than "The Incredibles: Collector's Edition." He even said it was the better choice. *thumbs up* He looked around at a few things and I followed. I didn't want to be tempted by anything and my feet were hurting. :P 

Hm... then, we heading next door to WalMart to finish up with most of the shopping for the day. That's where I had most of the stuff I needed to get. Um... We looked around there for a while... basically killing time at this point until we went to dinner. Found some cute rings on those cheap towers... One was with hearts and an asymmetrical design. Even Travis thought it was cute. Now... at this point, I was confused because our shopping was almost over and, to my knowledge, Travis hadn't found my second gift. While I was trying not to think of that fact, I went about and picked up everything I needed. Done. 

I'm pretty sure that's when we headed back to Target because we still had more time to kill. I definitely didn't find anything better for swimsuit selection at WalMart so I wanted to go back and get the one I had tried on. Even though we were killing time, we thought it best to split up, so he went to go look for his Halo action figure. THEY WERE BOTH GONE! His action figure and my supposedly-cleverly-hidden swimsuit were GONE. Unfortunately, his figure was the only one of the kind he was looking for and the bottoms to my swimsuit I picked out was the only one in my size. I guess it was okay about my swimsuit though because I ended up picking out one that I liked a little bit better. (You'll see pictures of that in about 3 weeks!) 

Then, we were finally ready to eat! We pulled up to Chili's and parked. We had decided earlier in the week that we would exchange gifts over dinner so we brought those inside with us. As we were doing this, I mentioned how it doesn't really even matter because, I thought, that we didn't have any surprises for each other since we had either picked out what we wanted or ended up telling what we bought. (>.< Still kicking myself for that.... ) Anyway, we sat down, without waiting, and ordered our drinks and appetizers. It was at this time that we decided to exchange gifts since it was before our hands would get messy and what not. I gave him his first. He still loved it. I mixed it up for him and he solved it in less than 5 minutes. I have no idea how he does it. Amazes me. Then, it was his turn to give me my gift. Remember, at this point, I'm under the impression that I'm only receiving a charm from him so when he puts this down: 

I was just a little confused. "Why all this wrapping for something I already know what it is?" I keep unwrapping it, just thinking it's my charm. I get all the paper off and open the box to find the jewelry box. Then....

O. M. G!

SO SURPRISED! I just completely started nervously giggling and covering my face. Yes, I teared up. Just a bit... quite a bit. I probably kissed him like 50 times. I just couldn't get over it. I mean, jewelry is a big deal to me. Any kind. Well, like... the charm wasn't really a big deal. I mean, it was because it was from him, but the necklace... Huge. Totally unexpected! And perfect. I kept telling him that I wanted something that I could show off and say it was from him. Now, I have two! 

And now, it wasn't just the gifts that made this weekend amazing. Actually, those were an added bonus. The overall feeling that I have when I'm with his is so positive and so... good. So awesome. *sigh*

You think I'm done now? NOT! We still have the movie! We went to Century after we were done eating the great food. Any takers as to what movie we saw? The Eagle (2011) It was actually pretty decent! It was so nice to be able to sit down for an extended period of time since we had done so much walking all day. 

When the movie was over, we didn't waste much time getting back to Madison. We were both tired. We ended up putting in close to 12 hours of shopping/hang out time in. That takes a lot out of a person... So, when we got home, we had a little ice cream cake, hung out for a bit on the couch, then ended up going to bed to watch TV. Yea, we actually almost fell asleep with the TV on. Nothing else happened... and I was perfectly okay with that. I fell asleep in his arms. That was the most wonderful ending to the most amazing day. <3

So there you have it. That's my Valentine's Day post. And in case you didn't know, I love Travis J. Bentley with all my heart! *sigh* ^_^ 

Definitely Stay Tuned! 

Free time.....w-w-what's that?!

That's basically how I feel lately... Last week... or should I say that last, like, 3 weeks have felt that way. This week was actually a little bit of a break. I didn't have much due other than my Computer Graphics II Project which was my stop motion.... Lipton Tea Party. Enjoy! Oh, and let me know what you think! :D I enjoyed making that! :D


However, in one day, my list of homework went from having about 3-4 things to having about 10... or 12. Yea. Thankfully, there are a few things that aren't due until the end of next week or later, but still... GAH! It never ends, does it? And it just had to be that way for my last semester, huh? Here and I was silly and thinking it would be an easy last semester. Ugh... Oh well... Keep on going! 


Working out is sort of working out. I've been doing my work outs at least once a day even though I wanted to get into the routine of doing them twice a day. However, with rehearsals in the evenings... and they incorporate dancing... I really don't have the motivation to work out more than once a day. >.< 


Alright, I guess I wasn't as into writing a blog today as I thought I was. Today is just kind of... tired. lol Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can. :)


Stay Tuned!

1 down... 11 to go...

YEA! I was able to keep up with the project for a whole month! Sweet!

Very excited! There are something things that have happened in the past few weeks while I haven't blogged that are good and, of course, there are some bad. At this point in time though, the good is outweighing the bad and I'm loving it.

Let's see... not sure if I mentioned this or not, but right before I left for the ACTF trip, I was laid off from Classic Corner. So, I was worrying about money and everything while I was on the trip. Thankfully, my father was able to electronically transfer money to me to help relieve the tension. Then, while I was on the trip, I filed for unemployment so I could still be able to get by while finding a job. However, I quickly realized that looking for a job in this weather, without a car, is not enjoyable in the least. Plus, it's not likely that someone is going to hire me since I can only work weekends anyway. Bleh... New subject needed.

Okay... let's see. ... It's the first day of February. Valentine's Day... Red. Is. EVERYWHERE. Granted, I'm all about celebrating with a loved one... but it's horrible if couples only celebrate each other and their relationship once a year. I'm pretty sure Travis and I show our appreciation of each other all the time. <3 Speaking of, Travis and I are going to be having our Valentine's Day celebration on Saturday. We're going to Sioux Falls for a whole day. Shopping, dinner, etc. Maybe even a movie... Hm. Not sure though. We'll see.

Now, I'm going to take the mention of shopping and head towards Spring Break. While we are in Sioux Falls, I'm going to have him help me pick out a swimsuit for our trip to Florida! Warm, sunny Florida for a week sounds pretty damn good compared to this 3-foot high snow pile we call Madison, SD. OMG. So, so excited. ^_^


Feeling like a different color....Purple? Green? Yea, green... for now. :P I'm feeling a little bit better about life beyond graduation. As far as jobs, I've decided that I'm re-applying for an internship at Fresh Produce. Then, I have a toe in the door at Funky Fresh because I applied there for an internship after my summer one fell through and they actually contacted me again wondering if I still needed an internship. I told them that I graduate in May and would be happy to work then. So... For Fresh Produce, I need to apply by March 31st. I plan on having my resume and what not ready by then anyway so then I will send it to Funky Fresh at the same time. Hopefully, my car will be fixed and running by then too. 


There's another problem... my car is still out of commission... Hopefully with my tax refund coming in the next couple of weeks and another refund from the school, I should be able to handle paying to get it fixed... I hope. >.< Not having a car is getting really old. 


Anyway... New subject to finish out on. Can't leave it on a bad note. Um... I guess...


Stay tuned! :P