Remember Me?

Once upon a time, I got lazy and decided that my blog didn't need me for a while. Here I am, not promising that I'm back, but popping in to say hi. So HI.

Since the last time I was here, I got serious and decided that I was going to apply to grad school for the Fall of 2015. This isn't a decision that was taken lightly. I've sighed over and over as I went back and forth weighing my options. Wait until Kris is done his masters, get married, then go to school for 4 years or go to school while Kris is getting his masters, and get married when we're both done in 4 years or stay at home every day for 4 years and eat mashed potatoes, while not being productive to society and start to hate myself. Anyone see a pattern in the amount of time all of this will take?

Anyway, here I am with a handful of schools picked out and only one I that I really have my heart set on. I just finished the first 3 of many application essays where I adeptly make myself sound smarter, more worldly, and less lazy than I actually am. And I. do. not. want. to. write the. rest. of. them.

OH and I've started an online math class because why not torture myself even more? 

I keep telling myself it's all for The Doctorate. It's all for The Doctorate. 

Back to editing essays.

Here are some upbeat pictures to keep you from noticing the terrible (and complain-y) quality of this post. Ciao!

Hola! Grand Occidental Xcaret (Mexico Recap Part 1)

"Can I get a hoohah two times Tuesday?!" (Anyone remember that commercial? Nope? Just me? Okay then.)

I hope your Monday was awesome! Who am I kidding, you people hate Mondays. Today is the first of my three, count'em THREE Mexico recap posts. They'll mostly be photo dumps, but I'm sure you'll be so mesmerized by my amateur photography skills that you won't even care about the uneven ratio of wordage (did you know that's a real word?). 

So the theme for Mexico recap: part 1 is the resort. We stayed at Grand Occidental Xcaret in Riviera Maya. We were upgraded to the Junior Suite which had a king-size bed and sitting area with a private deck. Since we stayed for 6 days, we were allotted 4 reservations at the gourmet restaurants (coming in part 2). 

The resort was built on a site that had ancient Mayan ruins and there was a ton of wildlife. There were red macaws in the lobby, lizard-iguana-scaly things everywhere, and there was even a pen that had a bunch of flamingos in it even though I neglected to take a pic of them.  

There were 4 pools, a beach, and an an a cross between beach and pool for adults that sat right on the water (ie - where we spent most of our free time). There were waiters that brought tequila shots drinks down to the water and I drank a lot.

Anyway let me get back to the photo dump. Enjoy!

Hasta luego.

It's Still Christmas

Posting 2 days in a row. Who the hell am I?

It's finally time for my Christmas recap! Since I seem to be the last person in the world who's still in the Christmas spirit (Still have 9 more days!) I don't feel bad about posting my recap so late. I took so many pictures this year that I can't possibly put them all in a blog post. So I'll only post about my favorites. Click over to The Empty Teacups Facebook page for the full album! ( <-- shameless plug )

This year was very low key and since I got the trip to Mexico as my gift there wasn't much under the tree. And I'm totally okay with that. It meant that I got to focus on the presence of Christ in Christmas. I spent time with my favorite people and it was freaking awesome.

Alright, let's get on with this ish. 

Personalized ornament my mom got for us. My favorite present.

Me and boyf dressed to the nines

My beautiful siblings

Our Lady of Grace, my favorite place to be

Pure awesomeness and holiday spirit. 
p.s.- the dude who owns this house is an electrician.

And that concludes my holiday wrap up! Did you see any crazy lights like these? What were your favorite moments this season?

I Never Will Play the Wild Rover No More

Finally I'm free! Except not really, but that's okay. I handed in my rough draft for my article critique this morning at 12:30 on Tuesday and got out of class 40 minutes early.  When I got to my audiology class, I found out that I got the highest score on our last exam. WHOOP! I rewarded myself with a Blue Moon after class. OKAY now that all of that important information is out of the way, it's time to get to my weekend recap post.

I have no idea what I did on Friday, but I remember drinking an Angry Orchard.

SATURDAY: I woke up at the ass crack of dawn to shower and pack my bags for the Celtic Classic in Bethlehem, PA aka the largest celtic festival in North America. Any other time, I would've been screaming, but I was so excited for this weekend it didn't even matter. After a road rage filled trip to Dunkin Donuts (bitches be trippin') we hit the highway and got to our hotel an hour later where we were greeted by eleventy billion bikes from the Shamrocks bike gang.

When we got into the room we looked around until we realized that the shower was in the living room, which was also our bedroom...and kitchen. I repeat: THE SHOWER WAS IN THE LIVING ROOM. Don't believe me? Here's proof.

Next, we left the hotel to head into town for the opening parade. I've never seen more men in kilts (see also manly skirts) or bagpipes before. It. was. awesome.

After the parade we went to get some food hallelujah! We sat and listened to some Irish band play while stuffing out faces with pulled pork sliders and Irish nachos.

The rest of the day was spent drinking Magner's Cider (my fave) and eating some more.We saw two Irish comedians, Irish dancers and watched Barleyjuice aka the best Irish rock band I've ever heard perform.

Right before we left, we grabbed some strudel to take back to the hotel, where I proceeded to eat it like this.

On Sunday, we woke up and grabbed breakfast at the hotel before heading out to church and then back to the festival for shopping before heading home. Mom bought me a little booklet full of Irish wedding traditions because I already picked my wedding date want to get married on Saint Patrick's Day.

It was the best weekend I've had in a while and I was sad to leave Bethlehem to go home and write a paper.

Now for a photo dump of the rest of the weekend pics.
XO - Monny

Rhymes with Bendy's

Hey Peeps!

I've been kinda bummed this week because my summer officially ends on Sunday night. Classes start on Monday. This is the first year I'm not super excited to get back to school. LAME.

I was organizing my Google Drive files when I came across something that made my week 10x better. I found a note that I wrote about work in 2011, about a week before I quit my last job. It makes me happy that I'm not in a place like this anymore. I may complain about my job now, but at least I feel safe when I go into work every day (usually). And I can tolerate my coworkers (usually).

Keep in mind that I was with this company (and their annoying redheaded mascot) for almost three years. I had seen and heard everything I needed to. Even from my first week there, I thought that it was "beneath me," but I was 17 and desperate for a job that would mold the schedule to my every whim when I went away to school.

So here it is. My angry, fed-up "time to find a new job" letter.

Calling all strippers, ex-cons, and drug addicts: WE'RE HIRING!

I'm sorry, but I don't think it's too much to expect a little more from a company whose slogan claims 

that they're "waaay better than fast food." 

Apparently re-frying chicken that is more than 5 hours old and passing it off as fresh is acceptable now.

Using dirty utensils to serve cheese sauce? Acceptable.

People who steal multiple chicken sandwiches to bring home to their family everyday? Acceptable.

Hiring heroin addicts who are exotic dancers as their night job and letting them handle money? Acceptable.

Dumping buckets of water on the toilets to clean them at night? Acceptable.

Centipedes crawling around the floor and flies landing on condiments? Acceptable.

Shift supervisors with parole officers who drop the f-bomb in front of customers? Also acceptable.

Restaurant managers who get high on their smoke break? Acceptable.

General Managers who see all of this and ignore it? Definitely acceptable.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!

It's pretty sad when I can't even trust my coworkers to make a sandwich for me during my break. I won't even eat something unless I know I've personally prepared every single ingredient. I can't even wrap my head around the fact that this is okay to them.

Eat at your own risk.

This totally makes me appreciate my current job and everything it allows me to do. I know this kind of stuff doesn't happen everywhere, but I'm sure it happens in a few places. Always check your food before you eat.

What are your first job horror stories?

XO - Monny

P.S.- Since this post is photo-less, here are some rare gems from the "pictures that should probably never meet the internet" file.

being gangsta  //   in the wardrobe of my dorm room