Change is Coming
Sep 29, 2009 GRE test, School, Time management, Vegetarianism, animals, classes
Hey Red Wolves!
I apologize for not blogging in a week! It’s been crazy busy in my life. So…here it goes!
First off, I have made a major life decision. I have recently became vegetarian which means no meat, dairy, or egg products. I decided to change my lifestyle for the animals. After watching “Meet Your Meat” on Peta.com, I can’t even look at a piece of bacon or a burger without thinking about those poor, suffering animals being abused for human consumption. My main worry about becoming a vegetarian is that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the lifestyle. In fact, it’s very easy to be vegetarian (I just ate Boca’s Chick’n Nuggets – no chickens were harmed in the making of the food). In town, Kroger’s and Mejier carry a great organic/vegetarian selection. Wal-Mart is okay, but it’s not as great as the other two stores. If you want to go out of town, the best place to go is Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield, OH. This store has everything for everyone! I can’t even describe it in words!
To go with the new lifestyle changes, my educational life is changing. Over the summer, I applied to Ball State University’s Graduate School for school psychology. I was accepted into the school, but I have yet to hear from the program. Last week, I was scheduled to take my GRE test (a test you have to take to get into graduate school). Unfortunately, I took the practice test and completely bombed it! AAAHH! But, not to worry! I decided that I needed to study more, and I rescheduled my test for the middle of November. Lesson learned: Make sure to take the GRE in the summer and not during the school year!
I’m doing well in all of my classes, but the pressure of getting everything done is starting to get to me. I just feel that there are not enough hours in the day and days in the week to get everything done! I think I need to reorganize my time. What do you think?
Well kids…I gotta get going. Need to study before class tonight. Have a great week and I will catch up with you next week!
HOWL!
Cassie
Lions and tigers and GAP…OH MY!
Mar 27, 2009 Spring Break, Zoo, animals, shopping
Hey Red Wolves!
Well, Spring Break is almost over, and as promised I have stories from my weekend in Ohio at the zoo and outlet mall.
First off, we went to the mall instead of the zoo on Saturday, March 21 because it was just a little too cold to be walking around outdoors looking at animals. At least at the outlet mall you can rush inside a store to get warm. So, we started toward Jeffersonville where the outlet mall was and….we got lost! That’s right…we missed the turn to get to the outlet mall! We didn’t have the correct directions from Google Maps, so it just threw us off. I think a GPS navigation system would be a nice Christmas present. 
Anyway, we get to the mall and EVERYONE is there! You couldn’t even move an inch without bumping into someone. So, I started out at Gap and made my way through the outlet mall. The store I really wanted to go into was COACH to see what purses they had and their prices. However, you had to wait in line to even get in the store. They would only allow 5-6 people in the store at a time! So, I would have had to wait for at least 15 minutes to get in the store only to just look around? I don’t think so. I figured it wasn’t worth the wait.
After shopping, we went to our hotel room and rested before dinner. We ate dinner at this BBQ place across the street that has THE most fantastic carrot cake you could ever eat! It was homemade and warm! Yum…it makes my mouth water just thinking about it! Then, we went back to the mall to get some books to read and pick up some last minute things before we went back to the hotel room for bed.
The next day, we got up and headed out towards the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. We didn’t get lost this time, but where the Zoo is located is in a kind of scary place. But, with a short wait for our tickets we got inside the zoo and grabbed a bite to eat. After lunch, my aunt and I went to go see the giraffes where you could feed them at designated times. We got there just in the nick of time! We waited in line with a bunch of kids (I was the oldest “kid” in line), and a few minutes later I was feeding a giraffe a cracker! It was just a cool experience. They’re so tall, but they are so gentle. It was funny though because the giraffe we fed knew it was feeding time and went over to the feeding area before the zoo keepers even got there with the food! I guess they are just creatures of habit!
After the giraffes we looked at elephants, condors, big cats, wallabies, monkeys, and so much more! Its funny how the animals know you’re trying to take their picture, so they turn away from you as soon and you take the picture! The botanical gardens wasn’t quite up yet and some of the animals were not on display because it was too cold. So, when I go back I will go back in the summer time when all of the animals are out and the plants are in full bloom! Also, I am planning on getting a membership to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens because with that membership you can get 50% off or free admission to 100 other zoos in the country! What a great way to spend summer!
Anyway, this week as been productive and relaxing. I’ve have 2 pet sitting jobs as well getting some odds and ends done around the house! We still have two days left of vacation, so I’m just going to relax and psych myself up for the next 5 weeks of classes! I know we can do this!! It’s going to be tough, but I’ll be counting down the days until summer vacation!
I hope each of you are enjoying your time off, and I will see you on campus bright and early on Monday!
If you want to check out more photos from my zoo trip, please check out my Flickr site.
Until next time…
Cassie
Tags: animals, relaxation, shopping, Spring Break, Zoo