Road Trips are For...

• reminiscing with Jymez about the "old days", and then realizing how much better we have it now :)
• realizing that all music written before 2000 was epic and everything afterwards was crap.
• classic quotes:

J-"I love this road, it's like the road of the future- like I'm driving in 2010."
T-"That's like next year."

• making a quick stop in Pasco county to pick up some energy drinks and tall boys. Only the necessities of course.
  
• going out with our straight friend and meeting some fantastic gays. Love them.
  
• Attempting to order a million double cheeseburgers from McDonalds.
  
• Driving back to Gainesville the next morning at 9 a.m.
  
• deciding on a whim to stay the rest of the weekend just to go to the Rugby Toga Party.
  
• Running into a conspiracy theorist while shopping for toga supplies. And trying to lose the crazy woman while she followed us around Wal-Mart giving her lecture.
• Sushi. mmmmm
• Meeting up with a fabulous long-lost friend for dinner and talking for hours. and hours. and hours.
• learning the art form and dangers of a new hip drinking game "civil war"

"Civil War?? Is that game for real? Can I google it?"

• laughing with Courtney Ortney after a hilarious, but slightly serious, tumble down the stairs.
  
• running barefoot in the rain through the streets of Gainesville to sneak away from the STRANGE frat party.
• finally crashing at 4 am after talking some more with my fabulous long lost friend.

Hey, you only get to be young once right?

Living, Laughing, and Loving,
The Tiney Weenie

So Sad It's Over

Today is my last day of Spring Break '09 and I must say, it was an eventful one. Ok, so I wasn't one of those super hip-and-with-it students who went to the Bahamas or the Keys or anything like that. Lucky students! But I did stay in Jacksonville and had a fantastic time anyways. Who said you have to go somewhere to have an adventure?

My spring break actually started on a Friday because my UNF professors love vacations and think Friday classes are a crime. I completely agree. OfficerTripp and I planned a fantastic beach day full of sunshine, sand, and beautiful ocean. Too bad we didn't check the weather before we left! Ooops. Cloudy skies surrounded us and the winds made it very chilly!
Yuck. Solution to problem = The Lemon Bar. This tiny little Neptune Beach treasure is by far one of my favorite hot spots. This quaint little beach-side hotel bar comes complete with tables in the sand (to capture that good ole' beachy feel), an array of diverse regulars, and of course a view!

The next day we celebrated our friend William's birthday with the annual Williamfest. What an event that was! He informed me that each Williamfest had it's own personality and the previous parties had their own distinctive stories at the end. Want to know what came out of Williamfest '09?
A backyard full of barricades and barrels! EEEEEEEEEEKK was almost exactly my reaction the next morning when I found them! But the party was a ton of fun and a huge success.

[Side Note: We quickly discovered it's a federal offense to steal barricades from construction sites. Please don't call the cops on us, they've been removed. Thanks for the tip Goose!!]

Monday was a back-to-work day for all of us, but keeping up with the Spring Break spirit, OBrien, Siprelle, and OfficerTripp and I planned more festivities that afternoon. It was a beautiful day so there was only one solution = The Lemon Bar (again!). What's a better way to wind down from your day than having a few drinks with good company at our fave beach hangout? Once again, we didn't check they hourly weather reports until driving there.

Any Floridian knows that this is how the great Sunshine State works sometimes. One hour it's beautiful, and then the rainclouds come. No biggie! We'll make the best of it. And we did, nonetheless.

For years UNF has scheduled their spring break week just a little off from every other state university in Florida. The fact that my friends all over the state vacationed separately from me used to bother me. Then I realized how lucky I had it. Thank you UNF for scheduling your spring break to cover my favorite holiday, St. Patrick's Day! My Irish siblings and I decided to hit up Jacksonville Beach for this years St. Patrick's Day, as they have an assortment of traditional pubs. If you are in the area and have a thing for Irish Pubs, I suggest Culhane's, Fionn MacCools, Lynch's, and of course the Fly's Tie. Each one offers great traditional foods and most have daily live music. We spent the day visiting each one and finishing off at Lynch's. I dub this years festivities a success.

The rest of the week went accordingly. I juggled work and sleep and tried to fit in as much social time as possible. It's not everyday I get to spend a week with my favorite people.

The week finally concluded with an evening on the porch at Mellow Mushroom listening to the tunes Nate Holley. I suggest all of you look him up, he is by far our favorite local musician and you can catch him playing most nights of the week. His regular venues inclue the Fly's Tie, Freebird Live, and both the Southside and Fleming Island Mellow Mushrooms. Despite the fact that Florida weather had creeped up on us again the temperature dropped about 15 degrees (OfficerTripp and I are cursed for sure!) it was a blast.

Today is Sunday and I'm so thankful for a chance to relax after such a week! But I can't slow down now. I'm booked for the next month, literally! One weekend in Memphis and one in Tampa and somewhere in there I have a 22nd birthday. Don't worry, my Mac will be going with me to all of these places and I'll be sure to blog and tweet the weekends away.

Until then,
The Tiney Weenie

I Got It!!

As of today I am the new summer PR intern for the Firehouse Subs' Public Safety Foundation :)

I was absolutely tickled when she called me and offered me the position. I love how employers say "We'd like to offer you the position, if you are still interested." OF COURSE I'M STILL INTERESTED! This internship has a good rep @ UNF. It's one of the few out there where the interns ACTUALLY get to do work beneficial to their education and future careers.

Right off the bat, my first mission as the new Summer PR intern is the Men's Doubles Tennis Tournament here in Jax. It's a three-day tennis tournament that raises money just for FSPSF. Rumor is it's quite the event in the tennis world here in Northeast Florida and players from all over enter the tourney. Sweet deal.

I'm sure the rest of my summer tasks at the FSPSF will be just as eventful, and I'll keep you guys posted along the way.

For you MySpacers out there, check out FSPSF Myspace page.

Looking Forward,
Tiney

Second Guessing Myself

It's now day 3 of the adventures of Tiney and Ringo, and it's only getting pseudo better, I neglect to inform.

Yesterday I woke up optimistic and determined. I was going to drive this dang car, and drive it well!! The voyage to work went pretty well, no stalling but the ride was a bit rough. My shifting could use some work, not gonna lie.

I scooted out of Publix around 7 and decided I needed some serious bonding time with Ringo in order to get acclimated with this whole clutch/gas/shift idea. So I call BFF JRY up.

T: "You sleeping yet?" (it's only 8p)
JRY: "No! I just got back from zumba. What's up?"
T: "We need to drive."
JRY: "MMmm Frosty's are in order."

Off to Green Cove I go, pick up JRY, and we're off.

Approaching intersection at Lake Asbury Elementary. Red Light. First gear. FAILURE. Start up, try again. FAILURE.

There we were, stuck in the middle of an intersection!! My worst fear :/ It took 3 tries to get me out of that intersection. Guh, no bueno.

Wendy's was at least successful. Frosty's are my favorite.

I tried to gain my confidence back for the ride home. I was doing great until I hit Oakleaf. I was 10 minutes from my house and I just bombed the whole thing. Stall outs, jamming gears, bucking car. Whew, emotional Tiney.

Needless to say, my big brother stepped in and helped. Not only did he give me his car to drive to UNF today (thank you!) but he's taking me out for more lessons today. Clearly I need it.

A driving, emotional, basket case,
The Tiney Weenie

15 All Over Again

Today I had some serious flashbacks to when I was 15. I got a new car and I had to learn how to drive all over again. Let me start from the beginning.

I graduate from UNF this December and as a grad present my Dad wanted to surprise me with a new car :) But instead of just randomly picking one, slapping a big red bow on top, and driving it to my grad ceremony, he decided it might be smarter to let me pick it out. So today we went looking, and there sitting in front of me was the cutest Gecko Green VW Beetle. Exactly what I wanted. One catch - it's a manual. "It's alright," I thought to myself "I've driven manuals before, I can do this."

Wanna know the one perk about being in a crappy economy we are now? You can get a super good deal on a new car. In, Sign, Drive, Done.

Except the drive part. Clearly I was not as talented and coordinated as I expected because I couldn't even drive the car off the lot!! Off to an industrial road we go and about an hour later and a gazillion stall-outs I was only feeling a little better.

My wonderful and trustworthy father drove back to OP, there was no way I was going to make it through 5 o'clock rush hour traffic!! Dinner @ La Nop and an hour later I'm back at it in my partents neighborhood just trying to start the darn thing. After a few frustrating stall-outs I was reflecting for a moment and I literally felt 15 all over again.

Tiney @ 15 (car lessons w/ Dad part 1) "Tiney, you need to hit the breaks when making those turns. Now you're not giving it enough gas. Stop playing with the radio. Tiney, pay attention!"

Tiney @ 21 (car lessons w/ Dad part 2) "Tiney, what gear are you in? You're not giving it enough gas. Put your cell phone down, you don't have friends! Tiney, pay attention!"

Does anyone else see a pattern here?? Oh Dads, you gotta love them!

BTW, this is the new Beetle. It's name is Ringo and I love him!

lovin my Dad and STILL learning how to drive,
The Tiney Weenie

Tongue Twisters

While watching "The Wedding Date" Sister and I hear this quote.

"Talk about anonymity..."

TINEY: "Dude, I love that word! I just wish I could say it right every time so I could use it more often in sentences."
MICHELLE: : "Try it..."
TINEY: "An-on-ym-ity. An-on-ym-ity. See I got it. am-om-in-ity. Oh shit."
MICHELLE: (laughing at this point) "Can you say cinnamon at this point?"
TINEY: "Yes! cin-no-nim. Wait!..."
MICHELLE (crakcing up at this point)
TINEY: "C'mon, synonym and cim-am-min are legitmate..... crap!!!"
MICHELLE: (rolling off the couch at this point) "Hahaha I'm crying!"

How many years of school did I finish again?

Gaining my composure,
Tiney Weenie

If the NY Times said it....

For those of you who don't already know, I'm a psych minor. It's intriguing, truly. So when I find an article or website or something that relates to my daily discussions, I'm even more intrigued. An ongoing topic that comes up in all development classes, child psych, and perception classes is how television affects child development.

Does the TV help or hurt a child's development?

Believe it or not people have made millions of dollars off videos and programs that make your baby a "genius" or "the next Harvard grad."

News Flash people. It's not true.

There is such a thing called mirror neurons. The physiology of it is super complicated but to explain it simply, these neurons are dedicated simply to mimicking behavior. Period. So those kids who were saying "cat" "dog" "red" on the commercials learned through mimicking. Their brains haven't actually developed enough to know WHAT that is, just repetition. That's all. So save your money and relax!! Your baby could very well be the next Harvard grad, no videos necessary.

The good news is that no evidence shows that TV harms development like some have said. I'm not a mom yet, but I do know a few. And they've told me flat that the TV is their savior when it comes to some much needed "me time." So go ahead moms, TV away. And later in life when I do become a Mom, I'll feel safe while my kid is in front of the tube.

Taking note for future reference,
Tiney Weenie