License to DJ

There is something undeniably empowering about rolling down the car windows and jamming out to a great song as I'm cruising down the road. Having just recently acquired my driver's license, the novelty of being able to drive anywhere at any given moment has yet to wear off.

When I hit milestone birthdays growing up, my family would ask if it felt any different, and of course it never really did. Just because I could say I was another year older didn't mean I would instantly feel its effects. When I passed my road test just a few months ago, however, I felt more aged the moment I was handed my temporary license.

I have already learned that if I want to avoid speeding tickets, I should probably steer clear of the Pearl Jam CD's that I always bring along for the ride, but they are just too good. Collecting CD's has always been a hobby of mine, and now that I rely on them to enhance my driving experience, they have never seemed more precious. I usually bring five CD's in the car with me, so I have a good selection to choose from depending on my mood. I do this for every car trip, even if it's just to go pick something up at the grocery store, which is a mere ten minutes away.

Blasting great music with the warm breeze blowing through my hair, this is shaping up to be a great summer.

The regulars

Tea Time

As a budding tea enthusiast, I love trying different types of tea to see what I like. A hot cup of tea is my go to treat when I don't want to indulge in a late night snack but need something to keep me going on late nights of studying. Loose tea is great because you can find some unique blends at specialty shops that can't be found in a run of the mill grocery store. Loose tea also produces less waste without the disposable teabag

On a trip to Colorado back in December, I happened upon a spice shop in Breckenridge, and couldn't help but treat myself to some new herbal blends. There are a few things that I never feel guilty about spending money on, and tea is one of those purchases. With flavors like Bombay Chai and Chocolate Mint Truffle, I flitted around the shop grabbing products off the shelves faster than I could add up the prices.

I was making my final selections when I saw something else that caught my eye. Walking over to the back wall of the shop, I picked up a small plastic ziploc bag with a single red jasmine tea bud inside. I had remembered a scene from Marie Antoinette when she had prepared a cup of this very same tea. Elated to try it on my own, I added this single bud to my handful of purchases and headed to the register before I could pick up anything else.

This single bud has been sitting in my cupboard waiting to be brewed, and the other day I decided it was time to to test it out. It came with no special instructions, so I plopped it in a piping mug of hot water and waited to witness the magic. After several minutes the bud barely blossomed, leaving me rather disappointed. The flavor, however, was subtle, but magnificent. Maybe my blossom didn't unfold as perfectly as in the movie, but my delicious cup of tea was totally worth the build up.

Run for the Roses

It's the fastest two minutes in sports they say. Others call it the most exciting two minutes in sports. My grandma would call it the most nerve wracking two minutes in sports. A true horse lover, my grandma always spends those two minutes hunched on the couch hands clasped under her chin, hoping both horses and jockeys make it to the finish line unscathed. With a grandpa that has always been involved in the horse racing business, the Kentucky Derby has always been a big deal to my family.

There are always two things that are guaranteed at our family get together on derby day:

1) I could always count on my grandma to give me the scoop on which horses to watch.

2) My family could always count on me to go to town on the platter of shrimp as soon as it hit the living room coffee table.

This is the second year that I will be watching the Kentucky Derby in a college dorm, and it does not hold the same appeal as a family gathering at home. This Saturday is one of the first really nice spring days we have had in a while, but the Kentucky Derby only happens once a year, so I will be spending my day inside, eyes glued to the television.

This year my grandma will be watching the derby in a hospital room with my grandpa as he deals with some health issues. Even though we will not be watching the race together, we will all still be watching, rooting for our favorites. And by the time the Preakness rolls around, we will all be together again.

Dino Puppet Adventures

Over spring break I took a trip to Niagara Falls, Canada with a couple of friends. We had a blast playing mini golf, riding the SkyWheel, and going nuts at the arcade. The best souvenir I came back with was a handful of dinosaur finger puppets. I chose them as my prize in exchange for my arcade tickets.

These dinosaurs have since provided me with more entertainment than I should admit to. Having acquired the habit of placing the dino heads on various objects, the dinos frequently travel with me in my backpack or purse, waiting for the next photo op. I originally started with six dino puppets, but four have been given away to a few very privileged friends. Here I give you a first look at the Dino Puppet Adventures. Check back for more on the dino puppet series.

This is Leon. He's a dino-monkey hybrid, and the half-cousin of the legendary Reptar lizard.

A Waste of Plastic

Over the course of the academic year I have been accumulating a unique collection. In the campus dining halls, students can rent out to-go containers in case they need to eat on the go. These containers often come with a set of disposable utensils, which makes sense for students who don't have utensils with them (and don't steal them from the dining hall). The reality is that most of the students take the containers back to their rooms to eat, where they likely have their own silverware to eat with. So the question is, what happens to all of those utensil sets that go unused?
Since August of 2011, I have collected 91 of these plastic utensil sets. I never needed to use a single one of them, but I didn't want to just throw them out because that seemed wasteful. I plan on returning them to the dining hall so they can be used in the future. The dining facilities can service around 20,000 students and must give away a fair amount of these plastic ware sets. If every student took out a container just once a week, that's 580,000 sets of plastic ware distributed in a school year. That's a lot of plastic.

Ready to be returned to the dining hall