UCO Tips For Basic Survival

Tuition is only going to get higher from here on out, so I'll share with you a few tips that helped me get my money's worth during my time here at UCO.

1) Planners: If you miss the first week of school festivities in the Fall or Spring when they give out freebies, don't worry. Go to the 4th floor on the Nigh, and on the far right of the staircase outside the offices of Student Affairs there will be a desk full of planners for you to take for free provided by the school. (It has important off dates!)

2) Free Stuff: Not all that school e-mail you get is crap. I like to look at the Broncho weekly events. ESPECIALLY student commuter week later in the Fall. Free snacks, shirts, mugs, and random SPB gear await you. I still have a succulent plant I made in a lightbulb with UCO SPB and it's ALIVE to this day. I've also got a few memory sticks and t-shirts scattered somewhere in my things. If you don't use your e-mail, just look-out for what's going on around the central clock-tower on campus.

3) Free Food: Wesley Foundation Ministries feeds students for free on Thursdays from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. They'll even advertise it on the school sidewalks (if you even bother to look down), So go get a nice home-cooked meal from the generous people at the church.

4) Parking: If you get to school early around 8:30 A.M., Parking along Campbell St. (Not in the lots) is free if you don't want to buy a parking decal. It's not too bad of a walk compared to parking in the surrounding neighborhoods if you manage to make it to school on time.

5) Quiet areas: I rarely study at home. If you have the time to explore campus, do so. You'll be surprised to find some quiet closed off nooks with comfy seating, outlets and technology. Sometimes you'll even have a whole room to yourself! People will even leave stuff on tables they don't need anymore. I've picked up a few supplies on my way.


These are my top 5, but if anyone else has any tips or suggestions feel free to help someone out. College is a struggle for most of us.

I won't be keeping up with this blog! If you wish to keep up with me, you can find me on instagram @aawreally.

Closing In On My Trip To Sin City

I think now it's safe to say that I mentally checked out 2 months ago. There's 2 more days left of school and I am so ready to graduate! I recently had a nightmare that the school called me and told me I could not graduate because I forgot to attend one class all semester and I was still 1 credit shy.

Speaking of graduation, I plan on heading out on the road with my boyfriend and our friend Chris as soon as finals are over. I won't walk for my Bachelor's degree because personally, it really would be a waste of time for me. I can either sit for a couple of hours and listen to some lame ass motivational speech about my future by someone I don't care about, or I can go on a memorable trip with booze and a wad of cash. EH.

I have two quaint little Air BnB's booked for our road trip on the way to  Albuquerque and back. We 'll be staying at the Stratosphere by the strip in Vegas towards the end of the trip. I have big plans to visit the Grand Canyon along the way and will be visiting distant family members I haven't seen since I was 5 years old. The car is ready to go with just a few minor fixes and we'll be on our way out Thursday morning!

I'MSOEXCITED.

"Packing Leftovers For Myself And For Later"

I realized the older I get, the less I start to enjoy the holidays.There's no more lounging around and being somewhat invisible to adults because now I am one. I have a lingering weight of anxiety due to deadline's coming up even though I'm on a "break", but most of all here are my top 5 reasons why:

1. I now have the responsibility to contribute something for get-togethers. This would be okay if it was only my immediate family, but there's a lot of us who get together. Thankfully, my banana bread was a big hit, but my family knows I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen and questioned it's safety.

Me (center left), my brother (left of me) and a small portion of us cousins 

2. I'm at the age where I'm kinda expected to start another chapter in my life. Being part of a traditional family and bringing my boyfriend over, I'm obviously going to get bombarded with "So when are you getting married?" and " Have you gained weight? You better not be pregnant yet." from my aunties. To make matters worse, my cousin thought it would be fun to start a rumor that I was pregnant, so my family kept a close eye on me as I was finishing my third plate of helpings. (Girl's gotta eat.)

3. Suddenly, I am the first person to pack leftovers. I am broke as a joke. I've been budgeting for my Las Vegas road trip, so it's put a dent in what I typically spend at the grocery store. Also, my mother's honey glazed ham goes hard and my cousin fried the turkey this year. No complaints eating leftovers to get by for a couple of weeks on my end. I love to make ham sliders with King's Hawaiian bread rolls with pieces of pineapple and mayo with a little bit of sprinkled crushed pepper. 

4. I don't make it to Black Friday. Not that I ever did, because I end up in a food coma attending everyone's Thanksgiving and eating copious amounts of food.Anyways, the point is, I start to slow down at around 7 P.M. and my bedtime is at 9 P.M. Also, I don't even have the luxury of extra cash to spend. I just want to be able to watch the chaos unfold one day.

5. At some point in the night, I have to have some sipping whiskey beside me. You never know what kind of questions are going to be thrown at you from someone who just came out of nowhere. (Have we met?) It's also useful when I get stuck in a card/board game and I'm trying to humor my company even though I want to disappear into another room for a few hours because of the amount of regret I have for over indulging. 

UCO, Y U No Copywrite?

The Mass Communications department at the University of Central Oklahoma offers a Strategic Communications major where students can utilize this degree in a variety of fields within the workforce.

I just so happened to land myself in an E-commerce position at a plastics company here in the city and was immediately familiar with the terms SEO and content marketing, but I did not know how to copywrite. It is one of the tasks that they have me doing due to the marketing department itself being small. In all honesty, this position is so important it should be designated to one person specifically. Also, there are no classes offered at UCO on copywriting. The intro to advertising class does not even mention this.

Copywriting is defined as the written persuasive content through online media and print materials used for the purpose of marketing and advertising to raise brand awareness. It's pretty much the make and break for a product and let's be honest, it's not easy to make plastic sound sexy.

I've had to use descriptive words out of my usual vocabulary such as "Superior", "Maximum", and "Rigidity". These terms are important because let's say you are promoting a certain product. Say your competition is trying to sell the same product, but they happened to market it differently and the copy is way better. Consumers are going to go for the competitors brand because they SOLD it to them in terms that they can understand and they could easily find what they were specifically looking for.




For example, on one of the projects I am currently working on I have to beef up the content on a glass washer. (Yes, exciting.)

Which product sounds better?

"Sturdy polyester bristles for dependable cleaning in a busy foodservice environment"

"Commercial grade bristles that meet sanitary needs in both residential or foodservice environments"

The second one, duh.

It's minor changes in verbage, but it gets straight to the key points with more of an impact. Copy can be outdated and wordy, so it's important to keep the consumer's interest at hand. I mean, what makes sense to you? Personally, I don't care what the bristles are made of, I want to know what it can do for me.

Anyways, that's what I've been struggling with at work and I hope one day UCO does open a class for it. Copywriting can be quite difficult and it goes to show content is important in EVERYTHING. It's a powerful tool to use because it shows you can sell something.

Exfoliate Your Life With Aurelia

I am someone who has to put a little more effort when it comes to having baby soft skin. My skin is so dry that my "scales" put reptiles to shame.

I'll share with you a few products I use for my thorough habits that involve sandpapering my skin down so I can shine like a beautiful little gem.

I like to use this face mask about twice a week or when my face starts to feel rough from my make-up. Make sure that shit goes down the drain after you wash your face, it can stain your sink pretty bad, but luckily it's easy to clean as well.

I swear by exfoliating bath gloves.  I am very precise when I clean. Walmart and Target  are trippin' trying to sell these around $3 - $6. You can find these at Forever21 or some dollar stores for a buck.

 This scrub is AWESOME. I love to use it in the shower, but be careful because the vitamin e can be slippery. My skin feels super soft afterwards and it retains moisture for more than a day.

I'm looking to try this face wash next, I'm currently using Yestocarrots moisturizing face wash, but it doesn't have the scrub factor I need to feel clean.

If you have a little extra money to splurge on, I heard good things about Lush's ocean salt. I have yet to try this as well and I've had no problems using Lush products.

(Bonus: All of these products don't test on animals!)

I have an uncle who is closing in on 60 and still looks like he is in his 40's. He goes to a dermatologist and gets dermabrasion done and religiously exfoliates with high-quality products. I'm not a trauma nurse, so until I can afford his kind of lifestyle, I'll stick to my routine.

Happy scrubbing!

Why Get With The Hero When You Can Have The Villain?

For some reason growing up, I've always preferred villains over the super heroes. I watched Dr. Strange last Sunday and it is a movie I would definitely pay to see again. (Probably not because it was expensive and I'll end up downloading it later..)

Fabulous.

I was so happy to see Mads Mikkelsen playing the role of Kaecilius, (Oh. Uhh,spoiler alert?) So I'm going to take a moment out of the stress and bustle of everyday life to fangirl over my favorite actor/villain.

Mads Mikkelsen is a successful Danish actor that plays any role of the antagonist flawlessly. He is best known for his more recent roles as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the Hannibal TV series, Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, and The Accountant that Rihanna snuffs off in her music video for "Bitch Better Have My Money". I'm pretty excited for the new Star Wars movie coming out because I got to see his fine ass in the previews for Rogue One.

He's done an excellent interview with Esquire earlier this month on why he is always the villian and why he loves it.It's pretty interesting because of the amount of talent and energy it takes to tap into that role.

Mikkelsen is 50 years old and could be my dad (Zaddy..), but I'd still run off with him into the sunset. My boyfriend doesn't read this and probably won't as I sit here giggling over my laptop.

The House Hunting Begins

I live down the street from the Yukon's Best Flour mill, an old relic that the city was built around.

I also don't live in a nice area. For the people who don't know Yukon as well, as soon as I mention Charlemagne Apartments they cringe. These apartments are poorly built and house meth heads to low income residents. I don't live in those apartments, but I do live in the townhouses across the street.

The townhouses don't have a name. They are owned by a small Indian man who attends the Indian Pentecostal Church around the corner. You can easily spot them by the canary yellow color of the buildings with forest green lining and dark red brick walls that fence around the backyard areas and garages. There are only 8 houses and they are sectioned off in the middle of an alley way where the dumpster and tool shed sit between the four houses.

I make my home in the first 4 townhouses closer to the main street. One neighbor moved out 2 months ago, and another was evicted at the beginning of the month. My house sits in between two neighbors so now one side is left open and unprotected.

My boyfriend spoke with other other neighbor this morning as he was taking out the trash. He was getting ready to leave because someone recently broke into his car and robbed his car tags. He also said in the last apartment, number 8, two intruders jumped the brick fence and broke into the house while the family's little boy was home alone and in that same division there is a man who beats his wife. According to the landlord, the tool shed was also broken into 2 weeks ago.

It's unfortunate because the townhouses are fairly nice inside and decent for the rent. They're just not in an opportune area. My boyfriend and I wake up several times a night alert to any noise we hear. I also keep weapons hidden around the house for worse case scenarios. I shouldn't have to feel that paranoid in my own home. I mean, I don't live in New York anymore.

It just doesn't sit right with me feeling like my little family has been dodging bullets, so it's time to start looking for a better place to live. Meeko needs a bigger backyard to run around in anyways.

A Millennial Left Behind In Her Old Ways

I am far from tech savvy. I can tinker with new technology and figure how to work it eventually, but I don't really have the drive to unless the situation is urgent. To put that in better perspective, I just recently figured out how to navigate around a Mac laptop because my job required me to use one. I grew up using a PC, which can seem much more complicated than using Apple products. It's just like learning a different language to me.

Apparently, I'm behind on social media as well. I overheard students talking about Facebook and saying "I never use it anymore, that's for old people."

I. Still. Use. Facebook.

The main forms of social media I thrive in are Facebook and Instagram. With Facebook, I can get more of what I need to say without being limited to character count and Instagram is there if I don't feel like looking at words and just seeing pictures.

The social media accounts that my friends are constantly on their phones for and that I do not have are Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Actually, I do have a Twitter account, but I never put the time into it. It just sits there with a few re-posted memes.

My friends always ask if I have a Snapchat. I never figured how to work it and I always hated opening videos on my phone. Live streaming isn't a thing for me, especially when my friends always record me while I'm eating. I'm sure everyone wants to see how many french fries I can fit in my mouth. *eyeroll*

I like the idea of Pinterest, but I didn't like how it notified me of everything I did via e-mail. I'm sure there is a way to turn it off. I may give this a try again because of the inspiration I can draw from it.

I also love using film camera's. I've had a few nice digital ones, but there's nothing like the nostalgia of  having something you have to wait for to develop. I'm also a piece of trash when it comes to taking care of  really fragile and expensive things, so those digital camera's broke over time.

It's not the best quality, but I do enjoy buying disposable camera's in Walmart for going out and about. I always anticipate the day I get them back because I don't always remember where I've been with them. I have one more film roll I need to develop today and I can't wait to drop it off.

My friend bought me a disposable Ilford Camera for my Bahamas trip.

I took this photo of a stray dog when I was visiting the Philippines. (Looks like Meeko, huh?)

Bargain Deals And Dirty Laundry

I finally have a washer and dryer in my home. It was supposed to be a surprise, but my boyfriend is terrible at keeping secrets and he slipped up in conversation when I asked him about his gardening purchases. (He was ready to argue about the price of the set, but I was talking about the lawnmower.
The fool.)

Dane bought the set on craigslist from a local guy after comparing prices with two other sellers in the Yukon area. The guy was honest and offered to drop the set off at our place and install it for us. I'm very finicky when it comes to pre-owned appliances, but the washer and dryer looked to be in mint condition and fit perfectly in our little space. It even had a little history, the man told us he knew the previous owners very well and that they were clean freaks. It also happened to be one of his buddies that just retired from the Yukon Police Department. Turns out, that very friend was one of the police officers caught up in the Yukon sex scandal getting blow jobs at the nearby gas station. Tsk!

Don't worry, I'll be transitioning to eco- friendly soaps after this.

The man had to replace some of our dryer tubing due to it being ratty and dirty. There hasn't been a washer or dryer prior to me moving in or during the time when Dane lived there with his roommate, so we'll have to talk to the landlord about replacing it entirely. We ran a few test runs and it worked just fine, he even said if there were any issues he'd replace the set entirely for free.

I am very happy because that means I don't have to make the 30- minute drive back to Midwest City anymore to do laundry at my mom's. Dane was getting ready to do his first load of laundry and I noticed immediately he was using softener thinking it was detergent. The blank stare he gave me said it all as I stopped and asked him if he knew what he was doing. I guess i'll be taking care of most of the laundry duties from here on out...

A Girl's Weekend In Tulsa To See Big Gigantic

I was at work texting my friend Jordan when she was reminiscing of the time she lived in Tulsa before she had her baby and moved back to Yukon. She described Tulsa as having an entirely different vibe from Oklahoma City and that she regrets accepting a raise and moving down to Dallas. The last time I was in Tulsa was for a 30 Seconds to Mars concert and it was in the middle of a freezing winter at night, so I didn't get to do much sight-seeing. She immediately jumped on the idea of taking a girl's trip down to Tulsa for the weekend and I was already amped for it since it was pay day.

I haven't had a girl's night in YEARS. Most of my friends have been busy starting the next chapter in their lives such as grad school, marriage or having babies. Also, since i'm not single anymore, I don't go out as often as I did to get silly drunk. Luckily, Jordan's husband offered to watch the babe as we made plans to catch a Big Gigantic concert at Cain's Ballroom during our stay downtown. I haven't heard of them up until now so I was anticipating a really ridiculous time.

Jordan's friend Carly joined us on our trip, she met Jordan when she was also living in Tulsa at the time. The drive was beautiful as the trees changed colors the closer we got to town. It was my first time seeing a concert at Cain's and we made it right on time for the main gig. Despite being 3 beers and four shots of tequila in, we had a blast. (I was loving the bouncy floors the venue had) and Big Gigantic put on one of the best shows I have ever been to. We didn't stay long and barhopped the rest of the morning before calling it a night back at the hotel.

It makes me laugh to put in perspective how much older we're getting because of how conservative we were dressed compared to the crowd and the fact Jordan had to pump her breasts before and after the night so she wouldn't lactate all over the place. (That pump actually lulled me to sleep..) We woke up early Saturday morning and grabbed brunch at Brookside By Day after some light shopping. Jordan showed me where her old house was and I LOVED this little area by Tulsa. It was really as if I traveled to a smaller town in Colorado. My favorite part was how close everything was and people were out and about walking.

Pardon the shitty phone quality

I took more photos on my disposable camera because I was too busy having a good time to pull out my phone. We will definitely be back for a longer stay next time, especially when I'll have the time and money. It was such a successful trip with the three of us, I think we all needed that girls night.  

The First Step In Improvement Is Realizing You Suck

I've been juggling two internships while working on my last semester at UCO, and I'm mostly caught up on my list of things I need to do. At one of my internships I'm currently assisting Individual Artists of Oklahoma re-brand their overall mission and promote their big fundraising event in November called Red Dot. It's an unpaid position, but I'm really excited to be a part of an organization that is very involved within their community and will constantly be growing in the Oklahoma City area.

I'm typically the type of person who works great under pressure. Recently, my dilemma is I've been putting myself in these really stressful situations where I avoid a lot of my work and cram it right before the deadlines. As a result, the work I've been putting out is sub-par and clearly rushed.

I don't know why I do this to myself. I hate it.

My writing has been suffering a lot from this and it's been bothering me. It not only impacts my art internship, but also my e-commerce job when I write copy to promote products and when I write essays for my classes.

I was asked to write a short press release to promote a recent event for kids in the community to have an alternative fall break at an arts camp, so thinking that the task was a piece of cake, I put it off and wrote it in less than 15 minutes. I had a professional colleague that works in public relations revise my work and what she came out with put my copy to shame.


I realize she literally writes for a living and she even comforted me by saying "It took me YEARS to get AP style down."

I'm not entirely concerned because the great thing about internships is that they are meant for you to LEARN, but if I want to further my career in the communications field, I better get my shit together.

Here's a quick resource to refer to if you happen to get in a writing pinch.

7 Things On Amazon That I Try To Make Sense Of

I currently work as an E-Commerce Marketing Intern for a plastics company here in Oklahoma City. I spend a majority of my week at my desk detailing our products on Amazon and managing the company's sales analytics. Naturally, I'm inclined to venture away from my task and look at all of the latest deals.

I start adding products I want to my wish-list and narrow it down later to what I really need, but let's be real, I don't need to be spending money on anything right now.

I started finding products that were questionable. Who the hell is buying this stuff? Why does it have so many reviews? From there, I would continue to scroll through to find as many random items I could possible.

Here are just a few I found:

$527.99 + $139.99 Shipping

That's right. For almost $700 you can buy a candle that smells just like air.

$12.95  On sale

This Vol. is actually a fun play on Cards Against Humanity, there's more decks and they are all compatible with the original game as well. 

$34.75

Just in case you wanted the Aloft Hotel version for your fish.

$8.47

I personally wont need a guide for this. 

$10.30

A great conversation piece for people with anxiety.

$88.61

Add a little culture to your pet's life with this teepee. (It also comes in various sizes and patterns)

$6.99

The description says it all. 

"Perfect for future hipsters"

There's tons of weird stuff out there on Amazon. Feel free to let me know your favorites and how you justify them when you're shopping for the season.

Clear Vision Going On 6 months of Lasik Eye Surgery

Getting my vision corrected has been one of the best investments I have made in 2016. Before my procedure, I was near-sighted almost at a - 6 prescription for both eyes.  I now wake up free from the discomfort of stuffing contacts in my sleepy eyes, being able to watch TV without my glasses shifting off my face, and not planning around a day to go spend money on a new box of lenses.

I received the standard laser vision correction. In this procedure, a thin flap is created on the cornea and is folded open so that a laser can be used to reshape the inner cornea. The flap is then returned to its position and is left to heal naturally. (Thankfully, I have really thick corneas to work with that made me a great candidate for this procedure.)

On the day of my surgery I was given numbing drops in my eyes to prevent discomfort, a small dose of Valium, a warm blanket and a Thunder Rumble doll to hold. The most uncomfortable part of the whole procedure was the device placed on my face to hold my eye lids apart. (You don't feel any pain, but you sure do feel the pressure of it suctioning to your face.) 

The room was freezing and I was placed under a bright light as the eye surgeon sat behind me, looking directly over my head. He told me to keep still and open my eyes wide as he carefully pulled back the flaps of my cornea with a precise surgical tool. It was interesting because the light above me eclipsed over and all I could see was darkness with a crescent of bursting light. He then shifted my head over according to which side he was working on, under the laser that would shape my cornea to correct my vision. The procedure took 3 minutes per eye.

I couldn't feel the laser, but I could hear the loud clicking sound it made and could smell it burning away the cells in my eyes. After, he moved the flaps back over my eyes and I was done! The room was blurry and I couldn't see immediately after as I rushed to put on my darkest shades and walk out to the lobby where my boyfriend sat waiting to drive me home. (Always. Have. A. Driver.)

I was in excruciating pain within minutes of being outside. I spent the day in a dark corner of my room huddled in the corner with a hot pocket. I was provided numbing drops which helped greatly over the next few days before the pain finally subsided and healed after sleeping most of it off. Blood vessels started to surface around the incisions of my eyes for a few weeks making me look crazy. Every now and then I still see bursts of light at night when I drive, but it's not as bad. 

My eyes are still going good as long as I keep them and myself hydrated. (They have a tendency to revert back if not properly cared for.) I only get bad dry-eye effects when I wake up in the morning. Now, I don't even think twice that I even owned glasses or contacts. I would hate to have it done again if needed, but I hopefully i'm good for the next 20 years or until my eyes start aging. 

Hiking On A Rainy Sunday At The Beautiful Red Rock Canyon

I was anticipating the fall weather to move in and finally cool things down last weekend, so the dreary and drizzly weather made me VERY happy. Our friend, Chris Moranchel suggested we drive about an hour and a half to go hiking out in the small town of Hinton just to get out of the house and explore. The overcast also created the perfect lighting for him to shoot photos of our little family. It was Meeko's first time out on a nature trail with us and he had a blast. I didn't think to bring a sweater, but I stayed warm dashing through the trails with him. Luckily, Meeko didn't run very far before darting back to us when we called him. He didn't have any problems being off a leash, which is great for future adventures.


It was muddy, damp, and cold, but the scenery was beautiful and quiet. Chris did a fantastic job capturing our vibes and our little one who can't seem to keep still for even a second. My boyfriend appears to be far more photogenic than I am and i'm still trying to figure out how I feel about that. We had a lot of fun despite spending at least 30-minutes back at the car pulling out all the stickers stuck to our pants at the end of the trail.

You can check out more of his work on his blog by clicking here.

I'm excited for a plan that is in works for a Vegas road trip in December where we (except for Meeko! He stays with Grandma.) plan on stopping by the Grand Canyon. 

Hard Luck In A Casino Down In El Reno

Last Friday, I spent the night at Lucky Star Casino just to do something out of the usual to start my weekend. I took out only $20 from the ATM but relied on my new player $10 card for the majority of the night. The employees at the desk that signed me up were far from helpful on explaining the point system on the card, so in short, I had no idea what I was doing. I learned very quickly that gambling is not one of my vices.

I walked through the hazy cigarette smoke filled aisles looking for the right machine to waste away at. I finally sat down at a Galapagos Island themed game and it took me less than 10 minutes or so to lose $5. I looked around to see a few older people sitting by who look like they've been sitting in the same spot for centuries and decided to get up and try a few other games.

Anxiety started to set in as I watched my bets lose and my money diminishing. There had to be a system to this. Maybe I wasn't pushing the buttons in the right order? I don't know! I imagined my mother, who loves to gamble, sitting at one of the machines and wondered how she subjects herself to this. I contemplated how much I could get for my $20 (A rotisserie chicken...Maybe even 3 of those.) I drained my free player card on my third machine and I probably won't ever return with the way my luck panned out.

In the end, I didn't spend my $20 bill, but I did put it towards my lunch on the way to Red Rock Canyon the next day. I think I'll just stick to spending my money on food and drinks.

Post coming soon on my hiking trip in Hinton,Oklahoma!

I Need A Hobby.

I'm 25 and I don't have a passion. This knowledge really sets in and bothers me when I start to question myself.

"What do I really enjoy doing...?"

At home, I spend a majority of my time watching Netflix, pacing around the apartment looking for something to clean or lurking on the internet and getting my feelings hurt. I recall reading, sketching, roller-blading and even gaming online when I was younger. I may have outgrown several of those hobbies, but there's always a sense of loss when I find remnants of them. It's almost as if I can't relate to who I once was. I don't know if my attention span has dwindled over the years or I just haven't found what I'm particularly good at yet.

Recently, I've tried to pick up weight-lifting, yoga, painting with acrylic and cooking. There's only so much time before I'm looking for something else to do again. Instead of dabbling in things here and there, I would like to be committed to a hobby that helps me grow as a person. I don't want to be boring and go about the same crap everyone else is doing. I need to do something that will revive the imagination that is unique to me.

I fear living a stagnant life, but I try not to let it get me down. My starting goal is to stop making excuses for myself and be more open to opportunities that I would typically shy away from.

An Unfortunate Turn of Events At The Fair

Note the sunglasses in his pocket.

The Oklahoma State Fair marks the anniversary of the first date I went on with my boyfriend Dane. We made it inside the fairgrounds at around 6 P.M. and enjoyed the evening walking around incoherently, playing nostalgic coin games, and watching people make fools of themselves. It was a great time and we were even able to the find the correct gate exiting the fair easily for once. (Last year we ended up walking around forever trying to find where we parked and it is the last inconvenience you need at the end of the day.)

Before reaching the car, we spotted a man in the parking lot who looked very perplexed. When we approached him, he barely spoke English and his car was stuck in a ditch filled with mud. My first thoughts were "What kind of idiot thinks this is a great parking spot..?"

 Anyways, Dane and I decided to help this man and ended up failing on our first attempt. In fact, Dane nearly threw his back out and I almost got a hernia forcing on this 4- door sedan as its wheels spun out with no effort. Another good samaritan sees us in passing and helps us on our second attempt pushing from the back bumper. I got a running start and together we finally managed to free him from the ditch. The man drove off without much of a "Thank you", but we didn't think about that until we were halfway home.

I always run to greet our little pup after being out all day and took him outside to potty when I heard Dane yell "GODDAMMIT!" from inside the house. In the process of helping this man, Dane lost his polarized Ray-Ban sunglasses that were inside his shirt pocket. It was a his only pair and a gift from me last Christmas. A good deed that otherwise would have cost that man $70 in towing fees actually cost us almost $200. He wasn't mad over the material aspect, but more so the sentimental value and proceeded to question the universe in a fit.

It was a shitty situation, but my goal was not to let it to ruin the rest of our night. I affirmed that what he did wasn't necessarily a lost cause and that it shouldn't deter him from helping other people. My only hope is that very same man will pass on the favor and help someone else in need. Next year though, we're leaving the expensive stuff behind.

"Kindness is one of the greatest gifts you can bestow upon another. If someone is in need, lend them a helping hand. Do not wait for a thank you. True kindness lies within the act of giving without the expectation of something in return."

-Katharine Hepburn

My Transitioning To Cruelty Free Products For Little Meeko

Hi! I'm Meeko.

Today I learned that beagles are one of the many animals used in testing after viewing a cosmetic advertisement advocating its brand as cruelty free. According to the Huffington Post, this breed is commonly used often because of how docile and small they are. This immediately did not sit well with me. My new puppy is a beagle mix and I can't imagine anyone wanting to harm that little bundle of love. 

I rushed to my last class for the day before I got too emotional and googled companies that currently do not test on animals. I want to make it a goal to transition to more cruelty free brands for the little guy in the house. There's a lot of information out there, so you have to be careful when it comes to misleading articles if you want to research for yourself. 

PETA can be intense, but they are great at providing lists of cruelty free companies as well as companies that do testing. Surprisingly, the transition does not seem as difficult as you would think it would be. (I also don't purchase too many cosmetics, less is more for me.) 

Here are a just a few companies.

The testing is still very well prevalent around the world. I understand we've come a long way with the help of animal testing for the sake of science, but it's not fair to manipulate and abuse these creatures. How do these "scientists" sleep well at night after a days work? In my opinion, there should be more funding for technology to make better programs that can replicate what a living animal can provide as an alternative. It's interesting how being a new pet owner really changed my perspective on this topic.

The Beagle Freedom Project is a non-profit animal rescue that negotiates with laboratories in exchange for the release of dogs and other animals.You can support their mission by clicking here.

Exploring One of Oklahoma's Attractions For The First Time

I made it a point to visit the Wichita Mountains and be able to say I ventured out to see what this state has to offer. My boyfriend and I, along with a few friends decided to head out to Lawton during Labor Day weekend on a whim. We wanted to to find the most interesting way to start our hike, so after speaking with a wizard (the information guide as my friends referred to), he sent us through Charon's Garden Wilderness Area to find what was (use your imagination) a waterfall.The 3 bags of french fries I ate on the drive to Lawton could have explained why I wheezed my way through the area, but as first time hikers we took on one of the moderate to difficult trails.

Dane, Zac, Jess and I at the base of what was a waterfall

On the way back, we half assedly (is this a word?) decided to stop by Medicine Park and the timing could not have been perfect. Turns out, the town was having a small Blue's festival that lasted into the evening and we took full advantage of the $1 beers.

We left very content with our decision to explore and combined ability to navigate without dying in the wild. Together, the goal is go back and take down the easier trails around Mt. Scott and possibly make plans on visiting the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge.

Who Am I?

My name is Aurelia, but I go by Auri for short. I am a college senior at the University of Central Oklahoma on my way to achieving my Bachelor's degree in Strategic Communications. The purpose of this blog is general, mostly to keep me on track with my goals or at least give the illusion that my life is somewhat well organized. I hope to get a better sense of how I write during the next 4 months and get out of this institution with an easy grade.

Happy reading!