5 Things They Don't Tell You About College

5:College Life Rarely Consists of Parties
           
          We've all seen it in movies, the protagonist gets to uni and immediately becomes a social butterfly. Something that they never tell you about however is that very little of your time is spent at parties. I won't lie and say that they don't happen but unlike the movies people do have to make time for their studies or they won't be at uni to party next semester. Unless you attend other un named University's of Iowa ;)

4:The Food on Campus is Surprisingly Good
       
          One thing that people seem to neglect to mention is that the food at most colleges is actually really good. A surprising amount of people come to college expecting the same garbage you are fed throughout grade school but that is just not the case. Colleges understand that people who are attending school are away from home and can't just get fast food. Most universities try and make the food as delicious as they can.They succeed in most cases.


3:High school Experience is Nothing Like College

          Throughout high school your teachers tell you that they are preparing you for college. They are lying through their teeth and they know it. In reality when you leave high school you are about as prepared for college as a third grader is to tackle calculus. In schools now a days you can slide by with very little effort and do very very well, trust me I did it. The problem with that is that when you get to college you don't know what to expect. This not knowing can really harm your performance in your courses.

2:Time Management is Everything

          They will tell you that you need to know this and you need to know that, but don't listen to them. Everything you need to know they will teach you in college. What you really need to know is how to balance your time between activities. The thing that kills most students is being unable to divide their time up between all of their work. You have to be able to give your work time, and also make time for fun and other things. This is something I've had to learn through trial and error, mostly error.

1:COLLEGE IS HARD!!
       
          You may hear that college is difficult but it's not. It is god damn torture. Colleges exist to train you for an occupation apparently no one told them however that not all jobs are rocket science. The difficulty level between high school and college or even a community college and a university is ludicrous. I was so unprepared for the difficulty gap that I'm lucky to even still be here. Even right now I'm thinking about how to pass my next test. Iowa State university has a graduation rate in the sixty percent range because of the level of their classes. If I could re do high school I would tell the school just where they could put their diploma because it has done me no legitimate good.

-Ross

       

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22

Happy Monday! Welcome back from the weekend!

I hope you all had an amazing weekend because I know I did. I turned 22 yesterday and I had such a great time with my family and friends, I am so blessed! Today's post is going to be just relaxed and casual, not really talking about anything specific except for my fun filled weekend :)

Me & Ross drove down home Friday afternoon and spent the whole night at his parents house. We were going to go to the football game but it was so cold that night that we didn't want to leave the comfort of the nice warm house. Ross' friends came over and we hung out until around 5 and then decided that we had a big day ahead of us so we better get some sleep!

That morning we woke up around noon and headed to my house. I knew I wanted to curl my hair so I had to start early! It takes me FOREVER to curl my hair, it's so thick and there are too many layers! 

I finally finished doing my hair and since we still had about 1 1/2 left before we had to leave I went to the barn and helped feed my grandparent's 3 baby calves, I just can't get enough of those cuties! I'm suppose to be naming the biggest one but I can't seem to think of a name for him, any suggestions?

It was finally time to go to Courtside, a bar and grill in town! I had a fantastic time there with my loved ones. I also had one of the best prime ribs I've ever had and excellent mashed potatoes to go along with it. We ate, drank, played shuffleboard, and just had one heck of a good time. After a couple hours of hanging out we decided to head back home and continue the party there. 

Me & my sister!

My love <3

My little cousin Parker!

My grandpa, he looked so thrilled to be having his picture taken!

My other cousin Cooper! 

Some of my most favorite boys! <3

You gotta be sill every now and then!

When we got back to my parents house we started a bon fire to stay warm. We also drank pumpkin pie-tinis which are absolutely amazing! We found the recipe in a "Hungry Girl" drink book. A few of my friends came out to the bon fire to help me ring in my actual birthday. We sat around the fire and laughed until we couldn't breathe!

I actually share my birthday with some pretty amazing people. This guy above happens to be one of them. We met when I worked at Hy-Vee in 2007 and even though we've been through some really hard times in out friendship we've managed to always stay friends and he's been there for me even when everyone else walked out, I don't know where I'd be without him. I also share my birthday with two lovely ladies that I graduated high school with. January must have been a busy month for people around my town! ;)

This is Bryer - isn't he the cutest thing ever! :)

Around 3 o'clock we were all getting tired so we decided to call it a night. I was plum tuckered out!

My mom made us a ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, scalloped corn, and rolls before we headed back to Ames. It was delicious! We let that settle for a while while we packed our things got the car packed. My mom got my a personal cupcake decorate like a flower and also bought a sea salt and caramel cheesecake as well as a pumpkin cheesecake. I blew out my one little candle, they sang happy birthday, we stuffed ourselves to the point of no return, and me and Ross headed North. 

I love going down home, it's so wonderful seeing all my friends and family again. However; Ames is where we call home now and it's always nice to come home and be able to sit and relax, and sleep in your own bed.

Today I did go out for supper with my roommate and her boyfriend and then my other friend. We ate at Old Chicago and let me tell you, I've never had better pasta then when we eat there. If you've never been to one you're seriously missing out! 

Thank you to anyone reading this that helped me celebrate my birthday. It was such a fun time and I love you all.

Until next year..

xoxo -Kristen

It's Not Always Rainbows & Butterflies

Hey guys, guess what day it is? HUMP DAY!! Woo Woo!

One thing Ross and I hear from a lot of our friends is that we have the "perfect" relationship and they want to have one like ours. Well I'm here to tell you that our relationship is far from perfect. We argue, bicker, and get annoyed with each other, but in the end we forgive and move on. So if that's your definition of perfection then yes, we are perfect!

I'm going to give some advice and information about relationships that I have learned through the 4 years of being with him. Now, I know not all relationships are the same and their is an exception to every rule, but these are just basic things I've learned and I hope it helps you or someone you know through anything they may be struggling with. 

1. You have to forgive & move on

I know this sounds like the hardest thing in the world to do sometimes, trust me, I've been in this situation, but you have to forgive them no matter how hard it may be. If you believe that what they did was too horrible to continue being with them then that's fine but there still has to be forgiveness. It may take you a week or it may take you a year but it still needs to be done. If you decide to break up after what happened and you don't forgive them they will always have that over you. Every time you see them you will instantly become angry or upset with them and they shouldn't have that type of control over you. Once you forgive them you can finally let go of them and the situation. That way when you happen to bump into them on the street you can smile, say hi, ask how they are, and move on with your life. If you decide you want to stay with that person then it's a must have to forgive them or your relationship will never be healthy or happy. You will always have what they did to you in the back of your mind and you can't have a healthy relationship while you're being bitter towards them. You may be able to hide it for awhile but I can guarantee that the first time you have an big argument what they did will be one of the first things to come out of your mouth. Which leads me to my next point.

2. Don't dwell on things that happened in the past

This is one of the biggest problems I have in our relationship. I hold onto things that happened a long time ago and I always bring them up while arguing which is NOT the thing to do. If you have something in your mind that you can't seem to stop thinking about than you need to sit down with your significant other and explain to them what's going on. There may just need to be more open communication between the both of you or maybe you just didn't get all your questions answered about what really happened. Regardless, you need to get those answers and not bring it up ever again. It's not fair to your partner when you bring up their past mistakes while you're arguing about present day things.

3. The first year makes it seem easy
I have noticed through most relationships, including ours, that the first year is a piece of cake. It's all lovey dovey with a cherry on top. This is the puppy love stage. Please do not be fooled into thinking that this stage continues on through the following years. Yes, there are times when those romantic puppy love type of things happen after the first year has came and gone but it's nothing like it was during that year. We use to talk on the phone for hours, we would even message each other on Facebook all the time because it seemed quicker then texting. He use to write sweet status updates about me in Latin, obviously I couldn't read them, but it was still sweet to know he took the time to do that. Do I miss those things? Of course. Am I still in love with him even though those things don't happen anymore? YES! Once you pass that year mark is when reality starts to set in. You will most likely have your first big fight right around this time, at least for us it happened this way. It's not always a bad thing though that you move away from the puppy love stage, it just means your relationship is maturing and growing. You're moving onto more serious types of things and you can really start to see who and what your significant other is like.

4. Love is a verb
I read an article once called "I Didn't Love My Wife When We Got Married". If you'd like to read it, click here. It is one of the best articles about love that I have ever read. It's about a man who thought he fell head over heels in love with his soon to be wife, but after marrying her he realized that what he felt was going away. He wasn't feeling that spark anymore. He thought that he had to be feeling something to know he was in love, he thought love was an emotion. He started doing things around the house, just small things like doing the dishes or making dinner, and suddenly he started to seeing the look of true love that she would give him when he did those things. Love is about putting someone else's needs above your own. I never really noticed it before reading this article but once I read it I started noticing the same feelings that he started feeling. When Ross makes me tea when I'm not feeling well, not because I asked him but because he just wanted to help me. That's true love. Think about it, when the person you love just does things for you or for the good of the relationship because they want too, not because you asked them too. Doesn't that make you fall even more in love with them? One of my favorite lines in the article is at the very end when he says, "living Disney movies in our minds, and tragedies in our lives."

5. Allow for girl/guy time
So, this is a hard one for me. I hate to admit it but I use to hate being away from Ross for more then just class time. When we first started dating I was obsessed, which is NOT a good thing. Trust me, we had a lot of problems because of it. To be honest I am still this way to an extent but definitely not as bad as at first. Now that we are in Ames and I've found some friends that I can go out and spend time with I think it's actually made out relationship stronger. Ladies, let your man have his friends over to play a night of Call of Duty. While he had his friends over you get out of the house and go get coffee with a group of your friends. Guys, let her go out for her friend's birthday party. While she's out how about going to the bar & grill and shooting some pool and playing darts with your friends. I promise you that if you allow them to do things with their friends they are less likely to resent you in the future and the time you do spend together will be that much more special.

6. Acceptance
The last little piece of advice I'm going to give you is to except the other person as they are. Everyone is going to have their little quirks and annoyances about them but we have to learn to either deal with them and move on or decide it's too much for us and leave. I know that I can be too hard on Ross sometimes when it comes to little things he does. Like, chewing on plastic straws! Errgg..I hate it so much when he finished his drink and starts chewing on the straw. If I don't stop him he eventually has the whole thing in his mouth. I tell him it's not good on his gums or teeth, he doesn't seem to care. I know I shouldn't bug him about it all the time because he hates it, but I think I care too much sometimes. We have to just let them be themselves and do things they want. Let them express their emotions, as long as they are healthy, in their own way. I would rather just keep talking about it and he would rather not talk and just let time take away the anger. I feel that some people can push their partners too far into doing what they want to do and in the way they want to do it. For one, that's not healthy, and for two, our partners are going to resent us one day for pushing them to do something they don't want to do.

I hope the rest of your hump day runs smoother then a camels back ;)

xoxo -Kristen

Eeekk..Zombies!

Happy Monday!!

I would just like to take a minute and say how happy I am that I gave in to peer pressure and started watching this show. I've always loved zombie movies/shows and after watching this my love has grown exponentially! If you've ever seen this show before you are definitely missing out. I heard from a few people that it wasn't very good but I decided to see for myself and you should too. Everyone has their own opinions on things so just because someone else hated it doesn't mean you will too, however; that also means that just because I love it doesn't mean you will. Guess you'll just have to find out for yourself. Ross even hated the idea of watching the show because he thought it would be stupid but once I started watching them I think he became a Walking Dead lover. He's always very into the show and he actually likes some of the characters and keeps saying he doesn't want them to die. "Shhh.. don't let him know I told. It'll be out little secret ;)"

Holy goodness! Can we just sit here for a second and admire how amazing this man is? ........................

Ok, back to writing! Daryl has got to be my favorite character on the show, not to mention almost everyone else's favorite as well it seems like. I would love to be a zombie extra on the show and have Daryl be the one to kill me off. You know how amazing it would be to tell people that I was killed with Daryl Dixon's arrows of love err.. I mean terror ;)

Last night was the Season 4 premiere and it definitely set the stage for some crazy things to happen in upcoming episodes. I don't want to go to much into detail about it because some of you may not have seen it yet, but when you do I'm sure you'll fall more in love with Daryl, darn it, I mean, "The Walking Dead", then you already were!

What are your thoughts on the new season or the show in general? What do you think is going to happen or would you like to see happen? If you're not a Walking Dead fan what are some other shows you like? We are looking for something new to watch in between episodes! ;)

xoxo -Kristen

Couple's Nature Day

So the lady and me decided to go to Ledges State park on Saturday. We have went almost every weekend for the last 5 weeks so it's not really a big surprise. The weather this week however has been more seasonal which means that the leaves have started to actually change.

Not bad right? You mix the beauty of the trees with perfect weather and some free time with your number one gal and it's a pretty good day. One of the best things about Ledges is that it has a lot of walking trails that are well kept and easy to walk on. However the trails also have the park planners attempts at steps.

These accidents waiting to happen slope downhill! Who's idea was it to put in steps that have no actual benefit except to add a little bit of pleasing aesthetics? If you can get past the step problem though it's a really nice place to go and spend an afternoon exploring. 

The leaves made a perfect background to some couples pictures. Also, this picture should be considered impressive because she used one hand to hold up her Rebel (camera) and still got it this clear. There is no place I would rather spend a day than right there next to her.

-Ross-

Long Time No Read..

Happy (Early) Saturday Morning Faithful Readers! 

I just wanted to take a moment and say I'm sorry for not writing for many many months. I'm not really sure what came over me but one day I just decided that blogging wasn't for me. I became very bored with it and just didn't want to continue on. However; over the past few weeks I have been logging back in and looking around at things. I realized that I really do miss writing to you guys and being able to share my experiences with people. So today I finally took the initiative to update everything on this blog and start fresh, I hope you guys don't mind. 

There's a blog I read religiously called Young House Love. If you've never read it before I encourage you to check it out, it's amazing. It's about a couple that mainly talks about the makeovers and projects they do in their house. Everything they do is so creative and handy. I hope one day when I own a house I will be able to do everything they can do. Back to the point of this, I really like how they have not only the wife running the blog but the husband as well. I thoroughly enjoy a blog that couples can share because I feel like it gives the reader a bigger array of things to read. That's why I decided to rework this blog and make it into a couples lifestyle blog. Does that mean I'll stop blogging about beauty supplies? No, of course not. It just means that there will be a lot more "manly" type posts as well as more relationship types of posts such as advice.

Thank you all again for coming back to me and deciding that I was worthy of your time. I hope you enjoy the brand new updated blog! Please feel free to comment below and let me know what you are expecting from us. Ross is new to the whole blogging thing so let him know what types of things you'd like to read from him.

xoxo --Kristen