Spring Closing Bulletin Board

So this is my Spring Closing Bulletin Board! I got my inspiration from the border that I bought from the dollar tree! It has flowers and bumble bees! The rest was my original ideas. I thought up the title "It's Time to Leave the Nest" and printed out bird coloring pages, colored them in, and wrote all of the RA's names on them. Then I made a garden on the bottom of the board with each of the residents on the floor. Every RA was assigned a color for their residents (I thought this idea was pretty brilliant of me!). I added the closing information that the housing office gave me and that was it! So easy, creative, and wonderful!

Monday Night Date Night: Build-a-Bear Edition

So be warned: This date happened a couple months ago, so my hair is long! I am sorry for waiting so long to post, but I hope you enjoy!

So this date is sweet and simple, but not necessarily something you see couples do all the time! I only see boys going into Build-a-Bear to buy their girlfriends presents and I wanted a Chris Bear and Samantha Bear! There are better times to go to Build-a-Bear, so I would suggest signing up for their email list! And definitely when you pay sign up for a "Fluff for Stuff" or "Stuff for Fluff" card, you get coupons sent to your email!

So here is us at work (and just so you know, Chris wore almost that exact same outfit the other day! I didn't realize how perfect it was!):

Chris with Samantha Bear!

Myself with my Chris Bear!

After the date!

This lady was walking through the mall carrying a CAT. It was awesome.

Now Chris Bear and Samantha Bear live on my bed, it is pretty cute!

Superhero Door Tags

So better late than never... My door tags! The building theme this semester was Superheroes! Each of the RA's needed to think of a way to display the resident's names in a way that went with the theme. I really, really wanted to make each of my residents into their own superhero on their door tag. I wrote their room number on the capes and I made a spotlight (I was thinking it was like the Bat Signal from Batman). I found two different boy superheroes and I traced them from my laptop, and traced another pair and turned them into girl superheroes. Just that alone does take a while, and then personalizing each superhero to make it look like my resident took a few days setting aside a couple hours to work on them. When they were finished they looked fantastic! Here are some larger photos in case you cannot get the full idea from the little one above.

My neat little stack of door tags--so easy to travel with!

All finished! Just need to add names!

Pre-yellow name signals!

Monday Night Date Night: The Great Gatsby Edition

I know I usually wait until Monday to post Date Ideas, but since I saw this movie before it was released I just couldn't wait until next Monday! Be sure to go see this film on your next date night!!

The joys of being an RA and living in the residence halls means that we get to go to early (free!) showings of new movies. This was the first time I have taken advantage of this and Chris and were able to go see The Great Gatsby before it hits theaters May 10! If you become a member of gofobo.com you will be able to see free showings of movies in your area!

In case you were not planning on going to see this movie you must change your mind! The music alone is worth the price of admission! Leo does a fantastic job, as always, and the move is spot on with the book for the most part.

I do not recommend seeing this movie instead of reading the book but if you want to read the book and see the movie I will say you will be prepared for any tests!

This particular date started off with sun and wonderful company with my Christopher love.

Then the downpour started...and we got a little wet.

 A picture of Chris and Myself while we were in line in the pouring rain (take note of how sunny it still seems...weirdest weather ever!)

It was pouring!

So You're About to Graduate High School...A Top Ten List for almost grads

I can hardly believe I graduated high school almost three years ago. My little sister is graduating this year and I cannot be more excited for her to go off to college! I am going to start a continuing series that will have some tips I have making the transition from ending high school and graduating to moving into and living in your first Residence Hall! The following list is filled with some things  that I was able to do before I graduated high school!

10) Go to a Water Park! 

It's that time of year when the weather is heating up! Grab a few of your friends and head over to a water park and work on your pre-graduation tan and have fun on some water slides!

This is a picture of my friends Jen and Emily with me when we went to Waterworld in our area!

9) Go to a Concert!

I love concerts! The music, spending time with friends, and people watching! A couple weeks before i graduated high school I got to go see Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum! My friends and I were next to a crazy group of girls, which made the night even more fun!

 Those are the girls I was talking about.

I went to the concert with my friends Emily, Jen (not pictured), and Nathan!

8) Go to a Broadway Musical!

Have you ever heard of the musical Wicked? It was showing in San Francisco when I was about to graduate and my awesome family got us tickets! We had a blast spending the day in the city and going to see the most incredible musical ever!

A picture of myself and my sister outside the theater.

7) Go to your Senior Ball/Senior Prom!

This is huge thing in my hometown and I think that even if you never went to any school dances you should definitely go to this one. There is usually food served and other activities, so you won't have to just be dancing. And you get to buy a dress and new shoes!

My sister and I at the Pre-Party for my Senior Ball

6) Go on a Hike!

I am lucky enough to live close to a mountain! So going hiking and other activities is very common for the youth in my area. So even if you just go on a walk with a group of friends and get some fresh air that is still a great experience!

Rock City is a hike that you can take close to my house, my friends and I took a lot of silly pictures that day.

5) Go on a Day Trip to a Lake!

Or the ocean, or river, or pool. Any body of water really, just enjoy the warm weather and have a picnic! My friend's family has a cabin and a boat and we got to spend a whole weekend on a mini trip. It was awesome and I faced my fear of deep water more than once!

Please note that I am probably five feet away from the water on a trunk that was wobbling beneath me! Scary!!

4) Go to a Midnight Movie Release!

I went to the last four Harry Potter midnight releases. Two of them happened when I was in high school! I loved the excitement of staying out late and going to see a movie with people who were as passionate about the film as I was. I'm not going to lie, I dressed up (photo evidence below). So if you have a movie that you want to see (ahem...The Great Gatsby) just bite the bullet and go!

I went with a few friends, Jen was one of them!

3) Go on an Adventure!

I am leaving this vague on purpose because an adventure to you is different than an adventure for me. I went on an adventure down a mountain, on a bike. Biking down a mountain is probably one of the most terrifying things I have ever done, but I did it! My hands were killing me at the end from gripping my breaks, but I felt so accomplished and it is an awesome memory I took away from my adolescence.

I went with my friends Thomas and Jen! You can tell that we are way high up!

2) Do Something Extremely School Spirited!

I was in marching band in high school, and up until my senior year that was about as school spirited as I got... But my senior year I wanted to be as school spirited as possible. Which for me involved painting my whole body yellow and participating in a rally. So awesome! So just once do something crazy school spirited! You won't regret the story you have to share!

Yep, awesome.

1) Be Acknowledged for the Hard Work You Have Done!

Being in marching band means when you have your last home game as a senior you get pinned with a yellow rose. I worked for that rose for my first three years of college and I was so excited for the Senior Game. Be sure to acknowledge the hard work you have put into high school even if it means grabbing a group of friends and treating yourselves to a nice dinner! You earned it!

That is a photo of my teacher pinning me with my rose!

Do you have any activities you are planning to do to celebrate the end of high school? Anything you want to do before you graduate?