Although Justin Bieber* would tell me differently...

 As part of a month long challenge to blog daily, I am joining some honest, funny, and real women in #reverbbroads11. Day 6: List 10 things you would never do. 

In no particular order, and with varying levels of seriousness, I present my list of 10 things I will NEVER do.

10. Be in Guinness Book of World Records for longest fingernails. (It's too gross to even post a picture!)

9. Swim the English Channel. (It is cold and I'm not that great a swimmer!)

8.  Get any additional piercings. (One hole in each ear is plenty for me.)

7. Participate in a casino heist a la Ocean's Eleven. (That is one good looking group of people, though!)

6. Run for political office. People are mean and will look for every reason to smear you. I'm not thick-skinned enough to handle that.

5. Stand in line for midnight madness or early-bird specials on Black Friday. I can't think of anything that I would want that badly to forgo sleep over.

4. Become a crazy cat lady. Enough said.

3. Be ungrateful for my health. There are so many people who are dealing with outrageous medical bills, terminal diagnoses, and daily pain.

2. Stop being thankful for my loving husband. He is my best friend. He is loyal, hilarious, creative, and my perfect other half.

1. Take my family for granted. I would not trade these 90+ people for anything! It is amazing that we can all get together and have so much fun together. I am blessed that I have so many great relatives who have become friends over the years. (Video courtesy of my dad from our Winter 2009 family gathering at Virgina Beach, VA.)

*lame nod to "Never Say Never" by the Biebs. Add that to my list: I will never see that movie!

Things I am Loving Recently

First of all, I am SO glad that it is going to officially be spring on Saturday! Of course, it first means that my birthday is soon, but it also means that the weather is getting warmer and everything is turning green again!

So, to continue the celebration of things I love, I give you the following:

1. The color orange

[source]
There is just something so cheery about this color! I have been loving my rust-colored cable-knit tights this winter and am looking forward to breaking out my orange t-shirt a little more often in the spring.

2. Blue cheese chips from The Loop

[source - Or you could make them at home from this recipe!]
The melty, but tangy cheese, the warm chips... what is not to love?! (All things in moderation, however, as I am sure these are definitely not low-fat!)

3. The Big Bang Theory

[source]

A co-worker lent us the DVDs of the first two seasons and this is a sitcom right up my ally! Witty but smart humor and a great ensemble cast. We are now recording the current season on DVR (if we don't get to them on Monday nights!) and may consider purchasing our own versions of the first two seasons. If you are a little bit nerdy (come on, admit it), you should check this out!

Current favorites and things I could do without right now

Favorites:

1) First-year orientation. It is great to be a part of welcoming all these new students to campus! (And it gives me something to do 4 days a week!)
2) Rita's Ice. See previous post about that one. Yum!
3) Preparing to move in 2 weeks! I cannot wait to be out of our current apartment and into the house we are renting!
4) Carrboro Farmer's Market. They had blueberries, blackberries, and corn last week. Where I come from, those are August foods!
5) Summer talent shows: SYTYCD, America's Got Talent, Top Chef Masters


Things I could do without:

1) Mosquitoes. I cannot even eat lunch outside without becoming lunch for these pests! And these are much more fierce than Ohio mosquitoes... the bites swell even bigger than I am used to.
2) Slow weeks at work.
3) My lack of hairstyle. My hair ends up in a ponytail or messy bun almost every day. This has got to change!
4) My apartment complex. It is time for this relationship to be over. Too bad they have ridiculous policies and we can't end our lease 8 days early!
5) Really hot, humid weather.

Things I love about my job: #1

Students in general are just pretty great, but every once in a while one walks in to my office and I just think to myself, "This is a really cool person!" So far in my current job, I have met few such students. Lucky for me, they tend to be repeat visitors, so I have a chance to really get to know them well.

One of these students came in today. She has come in before to talk about her major and course planning, but her purpose for scheduling today's appointment was to talk about her "big picture": the goals and opportunities that she wants to have while she is in college and potentially beyond.

I LOVE when I don't have to fill out a worksheet or look through a student's record and can just sit back in my chair and have a real conversation!

We spent about 30 minutes talking about service opportunities on campus and off, traveling, a fellowship program offered on campus, training opportunities she might want to pursue, and more. I didn't have to do a lot of talking; I just got to listen and synthesize what she was saying to give her some of the starting points that she was looking for. Since I am interested in service-learning and social justice, this student and I see eye-to-eye on many things, and I am really happy that I can help point her towards opportunities to let her "learn, develop, and grow" (thanks, CSP!)

I really hope that at least some of my students see me as more than just their academic advisor. Not that I have the qualifications to be a life coach or anything, but I at least would like to have more of these "big picture" kinds of conversations with students. I would guess that the larger my student base becomes, the more of these conversations I will be able to have. I really just like having some students who are intentionally looking for these conversations from the beginning, though. In my work, I want to help students have an "experience [that] started a chain reaction that transformed some aspect of [themselves]" (Chickering & Reisser, 1993). I guess that's one of the reasons I love doing what I do.