Advice to a College Freshman From One in the Know

So, you're going to college. Here's some things I wished I knew when I was a naïve little freshman. You didn't ask me for any advice, I know, but I'm your big sister, so you're gonna get a list anyway 

1. For the first couple of months, keep your door propped open whenever you're in your room. Seriously. People are going to be walking around a lot, so it's a great way to meet your hall mates and make great friends.

2. Don't be stupid, though. Lock your door when you're not in. People suck sometimes.

3. Don't get too involved in settling down the first couple of days. You can unpack later, it can wait. Run around campus, do all those stupid freshman welcome things, and get to know people. 

4. Do not be the person who burns something in the community microwave. You will forever be known as the dummy that set the fire alarm off at 2 am in the morning on a school day. You will get death threats. Especially don't be the person who sticks a wet baseball in the stove because you want it to be dry when you play catch. Just don't. 

5. Treat ratemyprofessor.com like the Bible when signing up for classes. It will save you a lot of heartache and sleepless nights. 

6. Have a couple rolls of your own toilet paper. You never know when it will become a rare commodity. 

7. Never get into the habit of just smiling and nodding when someone is talking to you. You may end up accidentally agreeing to a date and then have to ninja around campus for months to avoid him because you're too socially awkward to face him again....

8. High GPAs look great on paper, but sometimes it's more important to network and gain relevant experience. Get a job, volunteer, intern, do whatever it takes to gain some experience. Get to know your professors. You don't need to become best friends with all of them, but if you can get close to even a few, they can be great resources and possibly provide letters of recommendation for you in the future. 

9. Before classes start, walk around campus and find all of your class locations. You will avoid being that pathetic looking freshman frantically running around the hallways and barging into class 20 minutes late on the first day. 

10. Remember to have a social life. You're in college, have fun, do dumb stuff, just be safe about it. 

11. If you find you're having trouble staying awake in class, sit in the front. It's harder to doze off when the teacher is glaring at you or, worse, spits a lot. It's gross, but effective. 

Anyway, have fun! These next four years will be amazing for you, I'm sure. Keep in touch!

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International Coffee Day 2018

Aging has its benefits --- for people and for coffee, as studies continue to reveal.  In the world of coffee aficionados, the best flavor comes from beans that have been "monsooned", or stored in an open-air warehouse where the beans are exposed to the tropical elements for approximately 16 weeks.  The added moisture and wind result in a low-acid, full-body brew.  The process mimics shipping methods of the 1600s, when coffee from India travelled to Europe aboard sailing vessels.  The journey took up to six months, with the beans soaking up the moist air.  As shipping methods became faster, coffee got a sharper taste.

Maybe all that natural aging has increased its health benefits too.  Recent medical research indicates that drinking coffee lowers a person's chances of getting colon cancer, gallstones, cirrhosis of the liver, Parkinson's disease, and type 2 diabetes.  Plus, coffee helps control asthma and alleviates headaches.

As it turns out, Americans drink so much coffee that coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in their diet.  Take that, fruits and vegetables.  

-- Have a Good Day

Coffee


Cat Poop Coffee


Iced Coffee Recipes






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College Graduation: Tassel Colors Decoded

You can show your smarts at the next university or college graduation you attend by matching up some of the tassel (or robe or hood) colours to the area of study, using this key:

-- Have a Good Day, Sept 2012

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Filipino Thanksgiving Dinner in the USA

Our simple Thanksgiving Dinner.  Most were prepared by 3rd-born, 21 year old daughter.  Such a hard worker.  So proud of her!

Almonds, candied pecans, wasabi peas

Traditional turkey

Spicy Chicken & Mushroom Soup

for soup: lime, green onion, cilantro

Spring Rolls with shrimp + peanut butter sauce

sweet potatoes with pecans/marshmellow

Asparagus with parmesan cheese

freshly-baked bread

Muffins and Cookies

for dipping in chocolate

fruit salad in trifle bowl

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Captured in Pencil ??

Daughter ♥ BF

Cat poop Coffee is expensive

Here is our daughter's status post on FB a few days ago: 

AHHHHHH!!! I have  kopi luwak beans! Yes, that's right. Cat pooh coffee. Sarah S is the best roommate ever! :D

Me oh my. Our college-aged daughter, in the midst of an academically-challenging semester, has found some respite, some comfort, some fun, some sense of accomplishment --- not through the dissection of a cat in her pursuit of a Nursing degree --- but through the ingestion of what has passed through the digestive tract of the Toddy Cat .  Ewwwwww. Gross. Yuck. I admit that I'm probably speaking out of ignorance, but still.....Just imagining from whence the beans spewed forth hinders me from enjoying one sip of this super-expensive brew.

She and her partners-in-crime are shown below:

Afterwards, she noted a reaction to the coffee.  This was her e-mail to us:  The allergic reaction I had was just itching, slight redness, and a few small raised welts on my face. But since allergic reactions are always worse the second time, I probably won't have that coffee again..... 

Holy, Holy, Holy

Duo, as performed by our daughters on Piano and Flute
To God be the honor and glory:

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Holy, Holy, Holy!  Lord God Almighty!
 Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
 Holy, holy, holy!  Merciful and mighty,
 God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

 Holy, holy, holy!  All the saints adore thee,
 casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
 cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
 which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

 Holy, holy, holy!  Though the darkness hide thee,
 though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
 only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
 perfect in power, in love and purity.

 Holy, holy, holy!  Lord God Almighty!
 All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.
 Holy, holy, holy!  Merciful and mighty,
 God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

by Reginald Heber 

Holy, Holy, Holy

Easy like Sunday morning

...on a Saturday.  I had been on the PC,  got up to return to my room, and this was the scene that greeted me.  Jillian pounding on the piano playing Beethoven precluded conversation, and forced the three on the sofa to focus on their lap top computers.  Hopefully, it was to complete schoolwork, and not just to check on Facebook.  Better still if they weren't just "talking" amongst themselves.

Just had to take a picture for posterity's sake.

Snake Snack Time

 Meet Fluffy the Boa Constrictor; plus an un-named, hungry Corn Snake.  Camille (and AJ)  partook in a snake feeding class at the Nature Center at Camp.  I feel slightly disturbed by the pictures of the innocent baby Gerbils.  Born to be eaten alive...imagine that!

ouch

The audience/class (feeling pity for the gerbils, I'm sure)

Summer 2010 Teen Employment

Jared & Camille are now at Camp; and have made a commitment to working there all through camp season 2010.  God bless them with safety and success, with no missing body parts nor burns.  Here  they are goofing off, as usual, with my bag in hand:

Fit to print!

Weeee're famous! 
Or,  should I say AJ & Camille are famous?!  They got into the CSA Fall 2010 catalog.  Check out their pictures -- Camille with her Flute ensemble group; and AJ with his Clarinet teacher:

Up-Do Time

Before leaving to return to college, Camille had a hair-cut-and-style session at E Beauty School. It took a couple of hours, but I think the student did a fine job.

One is the loneliest number

I enjoy having a large family.  The crowd, the noise, the hustle/bustle, the liveliness  --  added up, mean fun and excitement (though involving a lot of hard work).  Silence and inactivity, in the context of family, is booooring and totally dulls-ville. 

So, our main acitivity on Saturday mornings is music lessons from 8:45 am till about 12:15 pm  Last Saturday after Junior Choir class, we ran into Anne, Camille's former Flute teacher through WC-CSA.  The day was so warm and sunny that she and her three students were practicing outside, away from the usual 'ol stuffy classroom. If it were still last year, Camille would be right smack dab in the middle of the group, practicing/playing her heart out on her Pearl flute.  She bacame such a good flutist  because of Anne's expertise, and her own efforts and rigorous practice sessions. Yes, it was good to see Anne once again.

How I miss Camille and how I miss flute lessons! I miss the applause during Recital season for her playing so well.   I miss being spoiled with the constant "noise" of flute and piano music throughout our home.  Her siblings still play the piano quite often, thank God (now you can add Clarinet to the mix); and Kristi picks up her guitar and sings now and again, but the Flute has been silenced -- at least temporarily.  In 3 and a half years, Lord willing, we'll have a Flute-playing Registered Nurse in the house!

That's the best-case scenario.  Realistically speaking, the children will slowly, but surely be leaving and living on their own, taking their music with them.  Their future families will certainly benefit; but as far as the music being exlusively mine and Romy's, those days are numbered. So, will the fun be over in the future?  Will the noise level in our home be finally reduced to dead silence (horrors! yuck! no way!).  Hopefully not.  Lord willing, there will always be RRE Family parties and get-togethers.  And Christmas parties.  And...I can hardly wait for this:  our children's weddings, their future families, our future gazillion Grandkids!  May it be so, Lord, may it be so.

Camille modelling a John Atencio Yellow Topaz ring with her Pearl-brand Flute.

Camille in her Fencing outfit/uniform (modelling my Chanel bag)

...how can one be warm alone?  And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.   Ecclesiastes 4: 11, 12