This is a rose right? right?

I do keep a private diary but I thought I would make a public diary today too. 

As they say, its been a hot minute since I have blogged on here. I've been busy with other things. Work, school, socializing and recharging from socializing. This semester I am in 5 classes (when four is full time), I'm taking three credits of gym, I'm working three jobs, and I am co-president and co-founder of an outdoor club of about 150 members. I'm busy but I am so so happy. 

Right now its 11:06 pm in Friday October 12th (2018). Fall break began after classes today. For me, Fridays consist of Math from 10-11, Physics from 12-1, Physics lab from 1-4, and work from 6-8. Today because the library has short hours for fall break, I didnt have to go to work. The library had already closed for the day. 

Yesterday was a good day. This year my room (I live in a single) is so big! I have so much storage! I really love my room. I walk into it and I feel at home. I love the plants in my room, the sunflower wall art, the fairy lights. The colors and the vibe. Last year my favorite places to be on campus were the London Room in Old Library and the Architecture Studio in Rockefeller dorm, but this year it is my room. I still love the London room and Architecture Studio but I love my room more. Anyway, yesterday a rug came in, a great big blue 5 ft by 5 ft square. Its so good. The thickness is 2 inches. Its so soft and thick and... for lack of better words, good. I also got oreos and gluten free oreos yesterday from Trader Joes with a friend and after that went to Rite Aid and got command strips. With them, I put up a piece of cheap wall art that I had in my room last year but was having trouble keeping up this year. It went up with the new, heavier duty command strips!! Love it. So yesterday was a good day. 

Rug $84 from Overstock.com

That said after all my shopping yesterday, I ended up staying up late. I was up til 5:12 doing math and physics homework for today. My alarm went  off at 9:16 to get me up. Four hours of sleep!! Wow.

I woke up in a great mood though. The only thing interesting through the day was when I went to the dining hall for lunch and they had a tea I really enjoy! It by a brand called Tazo and called Wild Sweet Orange. Its mostly warm citric acid but something about it makes me really happy. They hadnt had it yet at school (we're a semester and a half into the semester) so I took a few teabags, which I have brewing now. 

Today after classes, I was supposed to go shopping with friends but both of them cancelled. Still wanting to go out, I went to a bookstore called Title Page. It had a lot of old books and the bookkeeper Mrs. Potter was the sweetest woman. I was just browsing but gave her a number so she could call me if a book I was interested in was availible. She seems to be a real gem. 

I then went to Verizon because my phone had stopped charging sometime in the week. It was really stressing me out. The Verizon here was much more staffed than the one from where I am from. When I walked in 4 people welcomed me and were ready to help. Much different than in my hometown where you can go grocery shopping for a week or two between  when you check in and when someone is ready to see you. It takes hours!! where I am from. I usually bring a snack. It turned out that all I needed was a new charger. Thank goodness. It took about five minutes from the time I walked in the door. I called my parents to say that my phone worked again after charging it for a bit. 

My next stop was volunteering at the Haverford observatory from 7-9. I love these events. We were using 12 inch. 16 inch, and 8 inch telescopes and looking at cool things like Saturn. Always a treat. I was helping with a craft. Kids could split open oreos and create a diagram of the phases of the moon  with them. The craft (or at least the oreos) was a hit. Its always an interesting  time to explain physics to those who are 5 and 85 both at these events, some who know much more about astrophysics than I do and some who know much less. 

Tonight we found a book from 1906 about binary stars I believe. There was an incredible amount of research published in this book. (We found the book because the craft was in a beautiful 8 sided room which was both a library and the location of my astro class last spring). Amazing and tall ladders going up up up to the books at the top of the shelves. 

After the event was over I went  shopping at a local ACME as the dining halls are closed this week and I will have to feed myself for the next 9 days. It was a lot of fun to buy food and I think I did a mostly reasonable job. It was difficult that I do not have any knives or cutting boards, nor complex cooking appliances ( I have a good popcorn popper and a fantastic water kettle. Love them both but you can only do so much) or even a can opener. 

I was already thinking about what I would get before I got to the store. I know I wouldnt need any drinks, deserts, snacks, or junk food. I wanted to limit fruits and mostly get a canned fish, rice, and vegetables. I came out with so much food and stayed mostly healthy with one drink stuck in there because it was such a good deal. 

I am super lucky to also have a fridge, which I got for sale at the beginning of the year, and that it also has a freezer. 

What I got: 

GROCERY
2 lbs Gluten Free (GF) long grain rice $2.69
5 lbs GF rice $5.29
GF Bread and Butter Pickles, (my fav!!! and a glass jar for free) $2.99
2 x Hunts GF diced tomato with pull tab lid $1.00 each = $2.00
10 x Sardines in Water (I enjoy these, its a treat! But I didnt need ten) $10
GF Powdered High omega 9 Peanut butter $4.99 (luxury as well)
Pack of 30 GF tortillas $2.79

NONEDIBLE
Kleenex (I was out!) $1.50

FROZEN/REFRIGERATED
3 lbs frozen  blueberries $8.99 
1000 g GF Greek Yogurt $5.00
4 lbs frozen carrots, green beans, corn, and peas $4.39- (Because this item says it may contain wheat I put it in the free pantry). 

PRODUCE
1 Gallon Apple Cider (My FAV) $4.99
1 lb baby carrots $1.99
2 avocados $4.00 (too expensive!!)
Romaine hearts (4.99) (also too expensive, I was not paying attention to the price)
Celery (my fav!!) $2.99

Grand total: $69.68
Number of items: 27

Regrets: 
4 lb Frozen veggies $4.39
4 sardines $4.00
Romaine hearts $4.99 (I would do cabbage instead)
Apple Cider $4.99 I said i wasnt going to buy drinks but you cant beat the price and apple cider is my fav. 
GF Diced tomatoes $2 (no pull tabs
Total regrets: 18.37

What I am left with after that: 69.68-18.37 = 49.31 
Divided by 9 days, lets say 9.5 because I only got one meal today the dining hall closed at 1:30 (I was in physics lab then) and figured I needed sleep more than breakfast. The cost per day is: $5.19 which is pretty sweet. Cant do that on fruit and drinks and snack foods. And also that includes the kleenex which I just needed in general. If you take out that, the cost per day is down to 5.03. Thats not bad. Imagine if i was eating meat!!! I would have to pay so much more. 

I am also expecting to have excess of most of things and have other foods in my room to supplement. I have a handful of GF granola bars, some oatmeal, some chia seeds, some collagen, popcorn kernels etc. 

And thats about all I have to say other than its now 11:53. I have done quite a lot of typing out things and I havent had anything to eat since about 11:30 so I might get a bite to eat. I'm thinking tortillas and greek yogurt. It makes me so so happy that my phone is charging.  After a week of worrying about losing my phone and being late to work, I can  stop worrying now. Its going to be okay!! 

I walked into my room with my groceries and my room smelled so nice and it is so good to be home. I have been really busy for WEEKS and tomorrow is probably the second or third time since I got to school that I will be able to sleep in. I havent been  able to sleep in in weeks and I get to sleep in tomorrow and Monday!!! I am so excited. 

Oh, one last thing. its much cooler than its been all fall so far. Yesterday was high of 85, today was high of 60 and tomorrow night its supposed to be like 38 or 40 degrees. I think its fall now!