Summer days, driftin' away

I moved into a new apartment over two weeks ago

and I STILL have not finished setting up my room

(I will post pictures of it once I am all done!).

The past few days I have been barricaded in there,

cleaning out the jungle that is my closet. I just finished this morning,

but let me tell you, it was NOT an easy task!

The good news is that I was able to accomplish a goal in the process,

#094: Donate clothes I 

don't wear to Goodwill.

A lot of the stuff I donated was brand new -- like never been worn!
I just had such a messy closet that I totally forgot they were there
and now, years after I bought them, they no longer fit me.
I guess I could have asked my friends or sisters if they wanted anything,
or even sold some of my items, but all I could think about was 
how selfish it would be to make profit off of these clothes when there
are so many people who need them much more than me. 

I still have a few more things to do before my room is finished,

including putting up pictures of family & friends and organizing my desk.

That probably will not happen for a while, though, because my summer has been so eventful!

I have been:

working...

playing with puppies...

celebrating...

and gallivanting about Hollywood...

I hope summer has been as kind to you as it has been to me!

P.S. The 4th of July is next Sunday! Are you as excited as I am?!

♥

Lazy days of summer?

Hello there.

Forgive me for not blogging recently, but summer in Santa Barbara
has been so wonderful and relaxing and...

Productive??
I guess I should tell you about all the goals I have been accomplishing...

Three to be exact ;)

Firstly, this summer and fall I am accomplishing goal

#096: Assist in Research at UCSB.

I kind of hate the fact that UCSB has this crazy party school reputation.

Yeah, students here certainly know how to let loose,

(hah. In more ways than one)

but MAN are they smart!  This school is ranked as the 11th best public 

university by US News & World Report, has five Nobel Prize winners as faculty members,

has the 2nd best communication program in the country, and 

and is reported have more satisfied students than any other UC campus.

So take that!

I am not one to let great opportunities pass me by, so when I found out that 

UCSB also happens to be one of the largest research institutions in the country,

I decided that I would never forgive myself if I didn't get involved in some way. 

I contacted a teacher I had last quarter, Professor Linda M. Putnam,

who actually created a fundamental theory in the world of communication,

and now I am spending my summer days researching the 

2007 Writer's Guild of America strike and how "new media" was involved.
Hooray for the advancement of knowledge!

IN OTHER NEWS,

You may have laughed when you saw that my list included

#085: Run a mile without stopping.

Yeah.. embarrassing.

Its just that, the last time I remember actually "running a mile" was in middle school,

and I KNOW I stopped to take a breather every now and again. 

However, like the dummy I am, I forgot to take into account the fact that I

was a high school athlete when I was making the list for my Day Zero Project.

 I may not have been "running miles", but with volleyball in the summer & fall 

and softball in the winter & spring, hell weeks, two-a-days, and 5 AM practices,

I was getting an insaneee workout. 

Going to college and not playing sports has been really weird for me; I feel like

I have had to recreate my entire identity. I've taken volleyball classes

here at UCSB just because I miss it so dang much and even yoga classes

just to remain active. Last quarter I wasn't taking any physical education classes,

so I started going to the gym (did I mention that UCSB is the most physically fit

campus in the country?). 

Long story short, I have been running 2-4 miles at the gym every time I go,

depending on how long I am there. I just realized that today, actually.

And I thought this was going to be one of the hard goals! 

Last but not least, I was looking over my list

when I realized that I accomplished a goal a while ago and forgot to tell you about it,

#067: Contact and thank an old teacher.

Do you remember when one of my high school teachers

sent me a letter that I wrote to myself in 10th grade? 

Which prompted me to, once again, write a letter to my future self?

I emailed her. I thought it was so sweet that she followed through

with her promise, when the entire class most likely forgot all about it.

I also emailed Dr. Mark Rose, an English professor at UCSB. 

I have taken three classes that he taught... all of which were about Shakespeare.

He may or may not have ignited a teeny obsession I now have for Old Willy. 

Seriously, Dr. Rose was great, and if anyone out there goes to UCSB,

I highly recommend that you take one of his classes! 

Well, not that this hasn't been fun or anything,

but this is where we say goodbye. I am pretty sure I made myself

look like such a nerd, but I can't really tell because I am literally

fighting to keep my eyelids open. Peace out everyone ♥

Spittin' Game

Would you like the good news or the bad news first? Let's go with the bad news.

I didn't vote today. I am a horrible person. 

Do you know how long it took African-Americans to obtain the right to vote?! 

Do you know how long it took WOMEN to obtain the right to vote?! 

And here I am, sitting in a coffee shop, relinquishing my civic duties all because I forgot to register. 

Not to mention, "Vote in an election" is a goal on my Day Zero Project...

 Anyway, I hope the rest of you were more responsible than me!

Ahh, time for the good news: I accomplished a goal!

053. Memorize a poem that I love

I took an Irish literature class last quarter 

(hah! Last quarter! Because as of 11 AM today I am on summer vacation!) 

and, although I was bored to tears in many of the lectures, I was exposed to some great authors 

(Yeats and Joyce, welcome to my bookshelf. Make yourselves comfortable).

One of my favorite authors was William Butler Yeats. 

That guy certainly had a way with words. 

I posted one of his poems on my blog a couple weeks ago, if you remember?

 I chose to memorize his poem, "When You Are Old," because it is easily the sweetest thing I have ever read.

So there I was, sitting in Barnes & Noble, wondering how I could prove to you that I have memorized it, 

when I had an Aha! moment. I could record myself reciting it and post it on my blog! 

However, since I, like most normal people, detest the sound of my own voice, 

I decided I would record myself writing it!

(warning: this video is longer than I had realized! I thought I turned it
off after one minute! So ... I won't be sad if you stop watching haha)

Spittin' Game at B&N from Marcella Thompkins on Vimeo.

As you can see, I was intercepted haha :) 

I ended up talking to this old man for about an hour! Oh geez... 

Anyway, I finished writing the poem. Bryan is my witness.

Here are the words, if you are interested:

 When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

♥

Me too

www.postsecret.com

The Bare Necessities

Last weekend Bryan and I decided to take advantage of the three day weekend

and visit his parents in Sacramento. I had never been to Sacramento before and I was 

SUPER excited to see Bryan's house, since he's seen mine on several occasions

(mostly I was excited to see all of his embarrassing photos... mission accomplished!).

Since his parents don't get to see him very often, I thought this weekend 

would be the perfect opportunity to accomplish goal 

#088: Unplug for an entire weekend.

You see, having a blackberry is both a blessing and a curse. 

I am so addicted to being connected to everything whenever/wherever I am.

I am also permanently attached to my laptop... 

I use it for school, to save pictures, to read all of my food blogs (hehe), to 

stay connected with friends...Seriously, it is my lifeline.

I have also been obsessed with my iPod recently -- I cannot go to bed without it

and I literally cannot stand listening to the radio (and the commercials!) for more than 10 minutes. 

This was the perfect weekend to unplug because I did not want to subtract from my

visit with his parents and I also did not want to waste any of the precious time we had there.

But let me tell you, a weekend without   

personal electronics is harder than it sounds! 

First of all, HELLO! I bake like all the time! 

Before we left, I wanted to make a quiche for dinner and I had the most

perffeccttt mushroom-spinach-bacon quiche recipe saved on my computer

that I was not allowed to access! So of course I had Bryan print it out for me. 

Does that make me a cheater? Maybe...

And on Sunday morning I wanted to make breakfast for Bryan's parents to thank them

for being such great hosts. The plan: lemon-blueberry-ricotta pancakes. 

So of course I forced Bryan to search for recipes and find the best one. 

Hehe. Sorry Bryan. Thanks for being my slave

(role reversal?).

The pancakes turned out okayyy. It is just kinda weird eating pancakes 

that are not sweet. But I think I would definitely try them again sometime...

The blueberry syrup that we created at the last minute, however, was AMAZING!

Blueberries, butter, sugar, cinnamon, and maple syrup. Sauteé for 5-10 minutes. 

You can thank me later.

So on Saturday we hung out around the house, napped by the pool, ate breakfast on the patio,

took another nap (we had to wake up at 5:30 AM for our flight, okay!), and had a poker tournament

with Bryan's high school friends and their families. It was really cool to finally meet all of them, 

especially because they all already seemed to know about me!!

On Sunday (after our ricotta pancakes) we took a drive to the Capitol and strolled around the 

gorgeous rose gardens. Oh, and did I mention it was 89 degrees?? Yikes! 

We were suuuper hot walking around in the sun so we drove around the city

trying to find a nice shady place to cool off. We ended up at a duck pond, 

which was really cool! I have never seen so many ducks before! 

And there were baby ducks! BABY DUCKS!

It was really beautiful. 

The only thing was there were geese that made sooo much noise

and I am pretty sure I witnessed a duck gang-bang. 

The poor victim was limping later :(

We ended the night with some really great sushi and then drove over to get some 

ice cream from a place called Leatherby's, 

which literally sold sundaes the size of my head. 

Pretty awesome.

All in all, Sac was a lot of fun! 

But...

While I had plenty of distractions, I could not help but to feel slightly cut off from the 

rest of the world; my sisters in particular. I may not talk to those

 crazy girls every day but at least I get to Facebook stalk them (muahaha) ... Luckily, when I turned on 

my phone Monday morning, I had text messages from all of them <3

YAY FOR UNPLUGGING!

YAY FOR NEVER HAVING TO DO THAT AGAIN!

AND YAY FOR SACRAMENTO!