I'd Rather Be Sleeping

It's Monday and I'm not going to pretend to like it.

I hope you all had an awesome weekend! I had so much fun with my family this weekend, but I won't have time to write about it until tomorrow or Wednesday. #sadpanda

Yes, I actually sent this Snap out last night.

After enjoying myself all weekend, I got home to a messy room(why do I do this to myself?) and a 4-6 page paper that I hadn't started writing yet(still working on it). These guys were pretty decent writing buddies, but I could not concentrate no matter what task I was working on.

I guess it's time to get off Twitter and get back to my actual schoolwork. To the dual monitors, Batman!

Any tips for getting stuff done when you can't concentrate?

See ya when I see ya!
XO - Monny

I Hate Facebook

Happy Friday!

I'm so happy I made it through this week! All that's standing between me and Irish Shenanigans Celtic Fest 2013 is Stat class, work, and one sleep!

Back to today's #Blogtember post. I'm supposed to be writing an anonymous letter to my Facebook friends, but I hate letters. Instead you get

THINGS I HATE ABOUT FACEBOOK

"Click LIKE if you love God, keep scrolling if you love the devil." These posts drive me batshit insane. If I want to prove I love God, I'm sure I can find another way to let Him know. I don't need to use Facebook to do it. I'm pretty sure He doesn't have a Facebook anyway.

Math problems. If I want to do math, I'll start my stat homework. I don't need to put my answer in the comments for no one to see. This is social media, not Algebra I.

Game requests. No I don't want to play Candy Crunch, Shitville, Diaper Dash, or Vampire Mafia. I have more important things to do than sit on my ass racing to serve fake customers lemonade or burnt souffle.

Drama queens. There is nothing worse than the girl/guy who starts shit on Facebook, only to post a status saying that they're "so done with people who cause drama." YOU CAUSE ALL OF IT. If you don't want people to know about how much drama is in your life, you probably should post every insignificant life problem on Facebook.

Diary entries. We the people do not need to know every single detail of your day. This is the real world - people just don't care that much. If you want to document your day, create an online diary and write in it for you. We don't care how many calories you consumed today or what color your underwear is. Anyone who cares that much will text you or call you on the phone. Spare us, please.

My brain has it's own file folder for stuff I hate about Facebook, so this probably won't be the last post you'll read about it. And as usual...

I know you hate Facebook too, let's talk about it in the comments!
XO - Monny

Linking up with a hungover Princess Whitney for #backthatazzupFriday !

In honor of the Irish Weekend I'm about to experience, here's one of my favorite Celtic Woman songs!

Tea Makes Me Happy

Good morning, loveys!

Today's #Blogtember prompt is to go to a coffee shop and write about what makes me happy. The baristo just called me for my salted caramel mocha and I am ready to roll (I started this post last week, so I'm not actually at a coffee shop this morning).

One thing that makes me happy is a bangin' list so guess what format this post is going to be?

TEA - I love anything and everything to do with tea. (Duh, I named my blog after it)From pretty teacups to dinosaur shaped infusers, I pretty much go bananas over anything tea-related.

BOOKS - They make me happy, especially the ones that I formed my childhood around. I'm looking at you, Dumbledore. I'm pretty sure the only thing I talked about from 1998 to now 2008 was Harry Potter. P.S.- I'm currently reading The Casual Vacancy. Can't get away from JK Rowling!

BABY FEET - I can't look at baby feet and not smile. They're tiny and pudgy and I want to bite them, end of story.

OLD PEOPLE - Not the bitter ones. I love the ones who tell you you're pretty and smile even when it's raining. I love the old couples who walk the mall, holding hands 50 years later.

OFFICE SUPPLIES - I want all of the Sharpies, binders, staplers, and Moleskin journals...always. It's a disease. If you buy me a pretty pen, or a new pack of Post-Its, I'll probably have a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

BROADWAY/OFF BROADWAY SHOWS - I love a good sing-a-long. You can read about my love for Wicked here or my mini advertisement for My Mom's Italian, Dad's Jewish, and I'm Still in Therapy here. My sister and I have yearly subscriptions to the off-Broadway theater near us so we get to see a lot of shows.
Grab your favorite drink and tell me what makes you happy!
XO - Monny

The Last Rose of Summer (Gratitude: week 7)

Happy HUMP DAAAAAY!

I’m linking up with Erika from Chimerikal and the always awesome Steph G for this week’s Gratitude post. It’s been a busy week so far, but I’m trucking through in anticipation of Celtic Fest 2013 this weekend. I can’t wait to hang out with my family and listen to some awesome pub (see also: bagpipe) music while drinking a pint or two.

This week I’m grateful for the fact that I have a 97.5% I have in my clinical management class and that it’s finally starting to feel like Fall (Please refer to Ashten’s entire post about it). Bring on the pumpkin everything.

Here are some more things that I’m grateful for this week.

ONE: Dress clothes that are also comfortable. I love dressing up and looking nice, but I hate when I have to be uncomfortable to do it. Hello, flowy dress, stretchy leggings, and flats.

TWO: Finding pretty bits of nature when everything else is dying.

THREE: Caterpillars on the way to night class. How can you not smile at this little fuzz creature?

FOUR: Shows that cause side-splitting laughter that turns into crying. Seriously, go find this show in a city near you.

FIVE: Inspiration in the form of a phone wallpaper. Everytime I look at my phone, I smile.

Hope you're having a fantabulous week!

XO - Monny

Monica Lately

Not to be confused with Chelsea Lately (who is awesome btw).

It's Monday, y'all!Today's #Blogtember post is to talk about life lately.This is good because I really don't have too much time to dedicate to blogging this week.

My weekend was pretty uneventful, except the part where I went to see a one-man play...twice. My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish, and I'm Still in Therapy was the funniest show I've ever seen. We laughed almost non-stop for 105 minutes. If you ever get the chance to see one of Steve Solomon's shows, go see it, I pinky promise, you won't be sorry.After the show on Friday night, I went home and helped my cousin start her blog. She's only one post in, but she is very excited to be writing and sharing her life with all of you in Blogland!

Saturday night I saw the show again (just as funny the second time) with Sarah and we laughed our butts off before running back to her car in the pouring rain. We went back to her house and she microwaved made me some pancakes(YES!). Then I forced her to watch an episode of My Strange of Addiction about a dude whose in love with his car and a chick who's been snorting baby powder for 16 years. Then we watched the next episode where a girl kept digging in her ears and and a different girl drinks (yes, I said drinks) nail polish.

COULD NOT HANDLE IT. I just made this face the whole time.

ANYWAY, my week is gonna be a hot mess so I'll be reading, analyzing, and reviewing articles for my research paper, working, and packing for the Bethlehem Irish Festival!!!

Lately, I've been trying to get my assignments and to-do lists organized. 

Lately, I've been drinking pumpkin flavored coffee.

Lately, I've been switching my summer and fall wardrobes.

Lately, I've been sneezy.

Lately, I've been achey(sp?) from lifting heavy boxes at work. Hello exercise.

Lately I've been anticipating the return of my favorite shows!

Linking up with Sami and Jenni.

See ya on the flip side!

XO - Monny

Gratitude : week 6

Happy FRIDAY (Friday, gotta get down on Friday) Blogland!

I've gone at least 2 weeks without linking up with Steph for Gratitude, so I'm smushing it all into this one post. Don't worry, I didn't stop being grateful for things, I just got lazy.

There are so many things to be grateful for.

ONE: Spontaneous dinner and drinks at the Irish Pub with the boyfriend.

TWO: Finally having a minute to start a book I've had for almost a year. One chapter in and it's just as good as I expected.

THREE: Pumpkin coffee season!

FOUR: Bewley's breakfast tea to wake me up (straight from Ireland Wegman's).

FIVE: Starting the search for grad schools.

SIX: Last minute road trips with Peggy and Dad!

SEVEN: Finally having a picture of Me and Kim after being friends for 2 and a half years.

EIGHT: and discovering different gardens every Monday at Temple Ambler with Kim.

NINE: Finding inspiration in the most unlikely places.

Last, but not least, I'm thankful that there are throwbacks songs like this to start off my weekend.

XO - Monny

The Boy Behind the Blog

Happy Thursday(almost Friday)!

I forgot to do this the last 2 months so this month I actually put it in my calendar. Boyfriend was all ready to put up some answers last month but I was a slacker and never checked to see when the questions went up. Now that I'm on top of things, I present

THE BOY BEHIND MY BLOG

1. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
A Siberian tiger

*he loves the Bengals and the Detroit Tigers EVEN THOUGH HE'S NOT FROM THOSE PLACES*

*Look at the fancy tiger slippers I bought him...fierce*

2. What is your favorite meal?
Filet mignon because I love steak and it's the best kind.

*yes and yes*

3. Do you use any forms of Social Media? What is your favorite?
Twitter because there are only 140 characters and it breaks news for sports first. But I never tweet anything.

*he never tweets anything...ever*

Watching the Flyers with @littlemonnny wut wut
— Kristopher Cramer (@Krispy_Crame) September 15, 2013

*I tweeted that on his phone*

4. Beer, wine, liquor, other, or none of the above?

Beers and liquor are my favorite, expensive taste for both. I'd rather buy a better, more expensive glass of either and sip it rather than chug something cheap.

*once upon a time, Kris accidentally ordered and drank an $85 glass of scotch...good times*

*at least he looked good  doing it*

5. Complete the sentence: "Never have I ever..."
...seen the  Wizard of Oz.

*I don't get it either*

Hope you enjoyed meeting my boyfriend, can't wait to see what he can come up with next month! 

XO - Monny

Wine-ing About the Weekend

Hi Lovelies!

I'm lazy this week. It isn't because of school or work. I just open this post and then close this post without giving it much thought. I don't feel like writing it. I've been writing it for 3 days now.

Here's my hump day weekend recap.

FRIDAY:  I went straight from school to work on Friday and clocked in an hour early. #dolladollabillz After work, we sat on the couch and watched home videos. I can't even fathom how obnoxious I was in tenth grade (Mom and sis say I'm still like that. It might be true).

SATURDAY: On Saturday afternoon I went to a wedding ceremony with my mom for her friend's son.  It was beautiful and purple and the bride looked exquisite.

After the wedding, we hopped in the car and headed to the Renault Winery.

We ate dinner in their gourmet restaurant. It was the bombdigs. First course was a sweet potato pancake with roasted duck(still can't believe I tried duck) and baked peaches. Second course, which isn't pictured because I'm an idiot was a veal and gorgonzola(?) manicotti with creamy tomato sauce and basil infused olive oil. My God, I could've eaten 10 of those. Next they gave us raspberry sorbet that was floating in their blueberry champagne. LAWD. It was so freaking delish. Last, I ordered the 2 filet medallions with fingerling potatoes(there were only two.) and green beans. Mmm.

After dinner we went to my aunt and uncle's house and I gave my 9 year old cousin all of our "formal" dresses. I made her promise to take good care of them so I didn't have to kill her. I have to admit, it would be kind of hard to kill something that looks this cute in your senior prom dress though.

SUNDAY:  I sang at church then went to Kris's aunt's house for dinner. It was so delicious. And we had pumpkin dump cake for dessert. HEAVEN. Before dinner, I decided to take a walk in their backyard and spotted a trampoline. I haven't been on a trampoline in like 6 years.

It was awesome and fun until I fell on my butt...into a puddle of rain water. But don't worry, it was captured on video! Please excuse the sideways-ness of the video(boyfriend doesn't know how to use snapchat correctly)

After dessert, we went home and I started my sign language homework. I had to answer questions from a DVD with this guy. I really can't get past the eyebrows. That's all I could concentrate on so I ended up rewinding the section like 4 times. CREEPTASTIC.

Hopefully my next post doesn't take another half a week to write and I get my ass(ass ass) back on the wagon.

Have a happy HUMPDAAAAAAAY!
XO - Monny

#SelfiesForDays

I can't believe I just named my post that.

TGIF! Today’s #Blogtember prompt calls for a self-portrait. I can’t draw. But maybe, just maybe, it wants me to figuratively paint a self-portrait of myself so yous can learn more about me. In the case that it’s option one, I’ll improvise and use selfies instead. Maybe I’ll throw in a little option two and show pictures that really describe who I am.

I’m a girl who loves taking pics with her family. Can you tell by the way I take selfies with my sleeping dad or how I’m pseudo-attacking my brother? Maybe you can tell I love my family by the pictures I post with sis The Mustached Gangsta. Apologies to mom, who doesn’t have a goofy picture with me lately. I guess I could always use a quote from her because I have plenty of them. I’m giggling silently to myself on the train at this one “I keep inadvertently playing with her toes.” Yeah, that's good.

If you happen to look through my phone you’ll figure out another thing that makes me me. Food and drinks are a central theme in my selfies (and Instagrams for that matter). I mean I don’t look like it, but food is one of my favorite things. Seriously. Give me a five dollar cup of buffalo tots and I’m on 

cloud nine. Except don’t make me pay for the expensive gourmet tots because that price is cray cray.

Apparently I like hiding when people take pics of me? No, I’m not Asian. Yes I can fit my whole body into a hoodie (or toybox, hamper, or locker). No, I’m not a G, but I can pretend, right?

I make faces. Lots of faces. The first two are some gems I found in Greg’s Skype folder from my freshman (Sophomore?) year of college. Damn, screenshot feature. I have no idea about that last one.

That last one kinda looks like the obsessive girlfriend meme.

Here are some more weird pics. This picture is a gross exaggeration, but did you know that I’m allergic to the sun? Forrealz, I can’t go out for an extended period of time without getting hives all over. #sadpanda Also, I’m really good at turning myself into Mariachi singers on Snapchat. And then something about battling people with giant foam Q-tips? Also, freshman year of college. I think I thought I looked like a badass. Pffft.

Lastly, I take a ton of selfies at work. Add me on Snapchat and that’s basically where the majority of my Snaps come from. Works Snaps all day, erryday.

  

I hope you enjoyed the plethora of embarrassing selfies/non-selfies.

XO - Monny

Linking up with the no-longer-single Whitney for #backthatazzupfriday 

Blogging About Blogging

Happy Thursday, Bloggers!

Are you ready for today's Blogtember prompt? Discuss ways that blogging or social media has changed you. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet because I have a special visitor today.

Since I started blogging, I've learned that I can actually write stuff worth reading. I also use social media way more than I used to. I mean I was always kind of addicted to Twitter and Pinterest, but blogging has allowed me to become friends with girls all over the country. Since we're all on Twitter and Snapchat all day, erryday, we can talk to each other, no matter what time zone we're in.

I'm also less afraid of putting myself(my weirdness?) out there. I definitely am more comfortable with myself, knowing that everyone else is kinda weird too.

I mean, who wouldn't want to receive Snaps like this?

 And now for today's special guest, drum roll please! I'd like you all to meet my gingery cousin Gregory. Greg and I have been best friends since the day I was born. We have more inside jokes than anyone I know and I know I can talk to him about anything and he'll always have my back(even when I'm dressed like a boy).

Thank God for puberty.

Notice: we're still both blind as bats.

Ohmygosh, his post is so cute. STAHP!
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#12 – How has social media changed my life?

Greetings, internet! The Soulless Avenger here! My name is Gregorius (Stop lying, it’s Greg), Monica has mentioned me a few times before (I’m kind of a big deal) and she has given me the privilege to guest post on her blog!

Social media has recently made my life 95% better. I’ve met this girl on Facebook through my buddy, Mike, a few years ago. It started out just commenting on the same pictures and posts but as the years went by she and I started talking more. Her name is Katie, and I finally had the chance to meet her in person about a month ago! 

A few days after we met I invited her to attend a Harry Potter party with me that my friend and I were throwing. I could go on and on about her and that night but I don’t have time to write a novel! We shared our first kiss that night, this girl who I’ve had a crush on for nearly 2 years! So, how has social media changed my life? It helped me get my first real kiss, and with a girl who I think is wonderful!

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Can You Hear Me Now?

Good morning afternoon!

Today's Blogtember Prompt is Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

Since I was a senior in high school, I wanted to be a Speech-Language Pathologist. I wanted to work with stroke and accident victims, administering speech therapy and teaching them how to talk again so they could regain some normalcy in their lives. I decided that I didn't want to work with kids because they were so young and they didn't know what they were missing out on, whereas adults were used to talking their entire lives just to have their voices taken away from them. I wanted to give a voice to those who didn't have one.

When you're an undergrad for Speech Path, you don't only learn about speech stuff.  There are two branches of Communication Sciences --speech and hearing. You need a graduate degree to get a job in either field so I always knew there was even more education ahead. I never wanted anything to do with hearing science (audiology). I thought, "the ear is gross and boring. I wanna help people talk." And I thought this for years. Three years.

Fall semester of last year, I had a really difficult class. It was writing intensive and I could. not. deal. I was working 25-30 hours a week, plus coming home and doing schoolwork after being out of the house for 16 hours. I dropped my availability to just weekends and I still couldn't catch up on my homework. I had a nervous breakdown and after having too many panic attacks in one week, I talked to my parents and then my adviser for advice. I dropped the class that was giving me such a hard time and I felt like a failure. How would I ever survive graduate school when I couldn't handle one stupid undergrad class? I looked at application requirements for graduate programs for speech and seeing the 3.8-4.0 average GPAs of the acceptees, I freaked out.

Then there was a moment of clarity...

I decided to Google audiology and I fell in love.  I wanted to know everything about it -- the anatomy of the ear, hearing aids, sound waves, cochlear implant videos on Youtube. I looked up schools with Audiology programs and found that they were less competitive than the speech ones. The degree is a four-year clinical doctorate(scary!), but I finally found my calling in life.

I'm graduating in January so I'll be attending grad school next Fall. This semester is going to be rough between work, classes, taking the GREs(yikes!), asking for recommendation letters, and applying to the 10 schools I have on my list.

So this is the most long-winded post I've ever written. Here's a baby hearing his parents' voices for the first time. Love it.

Funny how one freak-out can change your whole life.

XO - Monny