an oldie but a goodie

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

My love for deli sandwiches and salads exponentially increases in the summer time due to the Phoenix heat. The other day after running errands I made my sister accompany me to one of the best kept secrets in Phoenix. It is in this sandwich shop I cried to my Dad about boys teasing me in high school, had a serious talk with my Momma about my Dad remarrying, had a great 32nd date with Clayton, and fell in love with the Thursday special.

On the corner of 13th Avenue and Jefferson sits a white and red converted house. This is the Old Station. Their inexpensive yet hardy deli sandwiches entice customers while their broccoli cheddar soup keeps them coming back. The shabby little building decorated with old license plates and metal signs is cozy, but can be a little cramped during the lunch rush. The outdoor patio seating is made up of plastic chairs and tables, perfect seating for lovely weather. These amazing sandwiches can be purchased from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

This is the roast beef with provolone, everything on it and a side of macaroni salad.

Personally, I like my mac salad with more mayonnaise and no carrots.

But if you like that sort of thing then you will love their macaroni salad.

I also got a 32 oz fountain Coke.

Refreshing.

The gorgeous Bee enjoying her turkey and provolone.

She's too cool for a side.

Yep, that's tap water in her 32 oz Styrofoam cup.

And she happens to be wearing on of my favorite t-shirts of all time.

ASU Go Greek Fall 2007.

Love.

I hope you try the Old Station soon.

update of my life

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Happy Sunday morning! I'm already on my second cup of Irish Breakfast Tea from Twinings listening to Joshua Radin and as my little fingers are whizzing up and down on the keyboard I've realized I desperately need to remove the chipping linen colored polish off my fingers and get a manicure. Miss Aimee is on a budget (moving into the Willow house= bills) so maybe I'll get one before the wedding...

So I realized that since I've been completely MIA for the month of May I should update you on exactly what I have been doing, besides not blogging. The following is a photo diary for the last month.

April

For our senior trip, my cohort decided to go to Las Vegas in the middle of April. We spent two nights reeking havoc on the strip.

We stayed at the Trump Hotel, right off the strip.

It was super nice. There was a TV in the bathroom mirror.

The first night we went to Lavo. Don't we look fly?

The next day at Tao Beach.

I think that girl should've gotten a medium instead of a small.

Just sayin.

This is my wrist after the first 24 hours in Vegas.

Love it.

In Devils' Advocates we have a tradition. During your last tour while at the SRC you have to jump into the pool. Of course I did it. I wasn't going to miss out on one of the greatest traditions at ASU.

Soaking wet and loving it.

May

Chi Omega always hosts their last date party of the spring semester on the first weekend of May. The party theme was High School Cliques. Clayton and I agreed that the cheapest and funniest costumes would be redneck/hicks. Of course we are members of the 4-H Club and active in the FFA.

When asked "what's under your shirt?" Clayton would respond in his thickest accent "Bout 7 months" or "Our love" depending on who was asking. Hilarious.

And yes I am wearing a baby blue scrunchy with matching blue glitter eye shadow.

I might not have been his first love, but he promised that I would be his last.

Mother's Day is the ultimate challenge to try and sneakily impress your Mom and make her cry. This year Clayton's Mom really wanted pictures of her guys. My Aunt Lani took awesome photos of them to be framed for their Mom.

Happy Mother's Day Lora!

The handsome Nelson boys.

Lani managed to get a few of Clayton and I.

How did I get so lucky?

For Mother's Day Clayton decided he was tired of looking at my Momma's yard, so he got his best friend/roommate Jon to help along with Bee's boy David to clean it up.

This is the backyard BEFORE the boys went to work.

4 1/2 hours later. Amazing.

Happy Mother's Day Momma!

The handsome men who made the backyard transformation possible.

Among other things, the month of May yields one of my most favorite days of the year. May 13 is my birthday, this year I turned 22. For those of you who are not familiar with my upbringing you will be astonished to know that this was my 6th birthday.

Happy Birthday Me!!!

The beautiful cake my lil sis Lane brought to me.

After the boys and I got into it. Yes, that is strawberry filling- yum!

My WONDERFUL boyfriend and GREAT friends went through the trouble of planning me a surprise birthday party. Unfortunately, it was a surprise party so none of the pictures from the party are on my camera. I'm still trying to track them down.

In short, it was a complete surprise. The dinner party was perfectly understated.

I'm telling you, I'm the luckiest girl on the planet.

The Williams Family was very fortunate enough to have all settled in the glorious Phoenix Metropolitan area. This means that I got to grow up with my cousins as my best friends. I can't believe how old we've gotten. One of the girls I'm closest to, Katie, got engaged last year and is getting married this June. Congratulations Katie!!! Of course we took her out and showed her the time of her life for one of the last times as a single gal!

My cousin Katie's Bachelorette Party. The bridal party minus one.

Heather, Katie, and I- ridiculous as always :)

The last two weeks I have slowly moved all my belongings from the Chi Omega house (aka Adelphi) at Arizona State to the gorgeous Willow district. Moving and unpacking has taken me awhile. Especially since every time I get to it I end up turning on music and dancing around like a crazy person instead of getting anything done.

This is me finally getting around to unpacking my room in the Willow house. Kind of.

That wraps up the last four weeks or so. Despite being busy and trying to split my life between Phoenix and Tempe, I will try to be more current with posting.

Now I have to go shower because I was supposed to that a half hour ago.

I hope you're staying busy.

breathe in, breathe out

Hello, my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

I'm not going to panic.

I have to complete an internship to fulfill my graduation requirements. It has to be at least 480 hours, but preferably 560. That works out to 40 hours a week for about 15 weeks. I have to work directly beneath a CTRS. I have to do it in the fall.

I REALLY want to stay in Phoenix, since I just spent almost 2 weeks of my life moving and unpacking. Since my ENTIRE family is in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. Since the love of my life is 35 minutes away on the light rail. If I get desperate I would be willing to travel up north (Prescott, Showlow, Flagstaff, etc) or down south (Tucson, disgusting) to do one. If I don't find one somewhere in Arizona I will have to apply to camps in Utah and Alaska. Eeek!

My advisor said I need to have an internship solidified by June 1st.

I'm really going to try not to panic.

I hope I find an internship in Phoenix.

give away winner

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

The winner of a fabulous set of pillows is the one and only... Haleigh!

Congratulations Bee!

In other news, moving + my cousin's bachelorette party + life in general has given me some sort of sore throat, head pounding thing. I feel awful. Plus my new room isn't anywhere near unpacked :(

I'm going to go make another cup of chamomile tea and take a nap.

I hope I start to feel better.

willow house

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

I'm sitting at the desk in my new room typing on a Macintosh computer. I'm not officially moved in yet, but I'm periodically dropping things off between last week and this week to try and get everything over here without killing myself. A few things at a time doesn't seem so bad.

By the way, I hate that this computer underlines my name as if it's spelled wrong. Dinosaur never did that.

My new room is completely barren save for the boxes and duffle bags I have littered the floor with. The only furniture in the room is the desk which the computer I am working on sits atop and a twin sized bed with an old window pane serving as a head board. It will take some getting used to. The noises of the house, the sounds outside, and the new smell will all take time to adjust to, but I know its the right thing for now.

I would post pictures, but my scatterbrained self has left my camera at Clayton's house. I think it's on the shelf in the front room. At least, I hope it is.

Things to do:

1. Find my camera

2. Get tea for the Willow House (that's what I just named my new home)

3. Blog about the AMAZING surprise birthday party my boyfriend and sisters threw for me this past weekend. Not only is he charming and good looking, he is considerate and sneaky.

4. Call Clayton and tell him how charming, good looking, considerate, and sneaky he is.

5. Remind everyone about the free giveaway

Don't forget to comment to win the FABULOUS pillows before this Wednesday at noon!

I hope I get my to do list done.

goodbye chi omega

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

In my last post I promised to expand on what I meant about leaving my student organizations. In Chi Omega in December and in May we do what is called "Senior Wills". They happen at the last meeting of every semester and provide outgoing seniors with the chance to pass on trinkets, wisdom, and memories. I gave a ton of stuff away, but I also had something to say. Unfortunately I couldn't bring myself to saying it for fear of crying. So here's what I wrote and wish I had the strength to say:

I didn’t live on campus and knew no one at Arizona State my freshman year, so in an attempt to make friends I went through recruitment. Honestly, how I made it into Chi Omega is still a mystery to me, but I couldn’t be more grateful that fate had dealt me such an amazing hand.

After almost dropping, I was initiated in January of 2007 and fought with my parents about moving into Adelphi. My Dad assured me that spending money to live on campus, or worse a sorority house, was simply a waste of money. He couldn’t have been more wrong. I moved into Adelphi my sophomore year in an attempt to get to know more girls and become closer with the house. It was that year I accepted the New Member Educator position within the house. My sophomore year also marked another huge accomplishment: in a command decision Kelley P. decided to take me to Sigma Pi for the first time of my college career. I am forever grateful to Kelley for this memory. I remember thinking if anyone other than Charlie’s Angels could pull off a denim jumpsuit it was Kelley.

Although I had already been active within the organization for two years, my Chi Omega experience didn’t really start until my junior year. In August I broke up with my long time high school boyfriend. After the breakup I thought I had lost my best friend, but Chi O proved me wrong. I just hadn’t met her yet. I lived in Adelphi again my junior year and made the best memories. With my two closest friends we stole fraternity composites, snuck into bars, and had the time of our lives.

After crying in her room for an entire afternoon Allison confided that in her opinion I was the most improved out of our entire pledge class. At first the comment seemed like an insult, but the more I thought about it I realized it was the biggest compliment anyone could receive.

Before I knew it senior year was upon us and for the life of me I have no idea where it went. It feels like we just finished with recruitment and here I am saying goodbye.

After arbitrarily ending up in Chi Omega because of ennie-meenie-minie-mo the house took hold of me and has since not let go. I cannot imagine, my college experience or my life, without Chi Omega. It has struck me to my very core and as a result is part of my being. Being a part of this sorority has shown me how to live to my full potential and truly flourish. Without the amazing women I have met in the Psi Epsilon chapter I would have never made it through heart breaks, the deaths of family members and close friends, inheriting a wicked stepmother, and college life in general. I can’t think of a crisis my sisters cannot fix.

I know that I am getting so much more out of Chi Omega than it will ever get out of me; lifetime friends, memories that will last forever, and some of the most hilarious moments of my life all for just over $600 a semester. What a steal!

When we stand up here and tell you all how fast it goes by we really aren’t lying. Go to date parties even if you’re tired or stressed out. Skip Starbucks during January and February to go on spring break with your sisters. Console a Chi O even if you have a paper due in the morning. These women are the ones you will make the best memories with.

For My Lil Sis Lane: you are the single greatest thing I have done for Psi Epsilon. I knew you were meant to be a Chi O, even when you didn’t. I know you took a chance on me being your big sis since we only really had about a year and a half together, but I am so honored to call you my little sister. You are one of the strongest and most dedicated women I know. You are classy, discrete, and brave. I know you were sad about Personnel chair at first, but I knew you would be perfect. You have done a wonderful job thus far. I am leaving Psi Epsilon in confidence knowing you are helping lead our house to do amazing things. I know I wasn’t around near as much as either of us would have wished this past semester, but know that I am always here for you. I’m just a phone call away, even at 3:30 am. I am so glad we’re sisters. I love you.

For My Baby Sister Haleigh: I have literally been counting down the days until you were going to be a Psi Epsilon since my freshman year. After experiencing something so powerful it changed my life, I wanted to be able to share it with you. While I’m sad we only got to spend a year together, I am excited for you to experience Psi Epsilon for yourself. I cannot wait to hear your crazy Sigma Pi stories, see cute pictures from recruitment, and meet your little. Like myself, I know that you too will flourish in Chi Omega and reach your full potential. Without Chi Omega we are still sisters, but now we can share the bonds of sisterhood I have gotten to know so well. I am proud to call you my sister, and honored to call you a Chi Omega sister. I love you Bee.

For Sara: You are my very best friend. Even when we don’t go to the same parties or when we don’t see each other for five days you are still my best friend. You are the first person I want to call when I am facing personal crisis and one of the only people that can make me feel better after a bad day. I am so lucky that I got to live with you for the last year and a half. Thank you for making my college experience. I love you.

For Caitie: After my huge breakup junior year you forced me to function and helped me become human again. Thank you. While you and Sara are the reason I hate drinking sugar free red bull, I am grateful for all the times it kicked in and helped us stay up til all hours of the night. Without you I would not be the same. I will always cherish the memories we have and I cannot wait to make more. I love you.

For Heather: You were one of my first friends in Chi Omega, an accomplice at Kappa Sig, and a great drinking buddy. I know you are going to knock the socks off of the guys at J.C. Penny. Promise to stay in touch no matter how carried away your new job makes you.

For Rachel: I know moving into Adelphi this past spring was difficult to adjust to at first, but I was ecstatic you moved in. Our room became so much more interesting and lively with you here. I’m sure living with me was difficult, as I often didn’t keep clothes or dishes on my side of the room. To tell you the truth you are one of the funniest people I have ever met and I’m insanely jealous of your super model hair. When I attend Chi Omega events girls are always asking me, where’s Rachel? Where’s Sara? I’m so happy I got to live with the two most popular girls in Adelphi. Despite not being around much, I’ve gotten to know you well and will miss coming home to you on the couch watching an addicting TV show. Thank you for making this semester exciting.

I hope you're ready to say goodbye.

a real life giveaway!

Hello my name is Aimee and this is a real life adventure...

Okay so I know I've been completely MIA, but for good reason. The biggest reason is its just the end of the year and assignments are becoming due and living situations are changing. I'm moving next week into an adorable house in the Willow district. Unfortunately for me the appliances are as antique as the crown molding and ceiling tiles. I've been dreaming about redoing the bathroom with one of these bathroom vanities to spruce up the place. What do you think?

In addition to craziness of moving, Friday I turned in my capstone (code for: freakin hard) project and now I'm "studying" for finals. I'm also tying up loose ends and saying goodbye to student organizations such as Devils' Advocates and Chi Omega. More on that later. With all that gearing up for summer and being excited for my birthday are taking over any free time I may have.

To make up for my extended absence I am doing another giveaway! After much deliberation I am giving these adorable pillows away!

They will look fabulous on a couch or atop a bed, not to mention I will be insanely jealous of the winner!

Rules: post a comment wishing me a happy birthday by Wednesday May 12 and I will announce the winner Thursday morning!

Good luck to all!

I hope you're feeling lucky.