And Sometimes Your Life is Like a Beatles' Song...

" I get by with a little help from my friends."

Heard that.

Sometimes when I'm with my friends, it could appear from an outside perspective that we are hitting some pretty heavy narcotics. Truly, we get real weird and pretty loud and make strange body gestures. 

*Side story: This is real life, I promise. During my senior year of high school , I participated on the basketball team. I choose the word "participated" because I literally had no idea what I was ever doing. I just ran around a lot and jumped and stuff. Anyway, I was probably on the team for more of a social aspect. Ok, ok to the story… In the locker room I decided it would be completely brilliant to attack two of my greatest friends (shout out to Becca and Haley), while they were already laughing. Long story short, after a few blows to the stomach and continuing to be absolutely ridiculous, I succeeded in making them both urinate their pants with their uniforms already on. It's safe to say that the next day, each of us were called into the coach's office to be questioned about the use of drugs. I promise, this is so true, it's insane. So hilarious. I digress, but that story is too funny not share. 

But despite that, I assure you, I have not and will not ever "get high with a little help from my friends". Regardless of this popular line from the famous Beatles' song, I do find truth with a majority of the rest of George, Ringo, Paul and John's transcendent words. 

Last week, I enjoyed wallowing in my own self pity. I admit that life got the better of me. It's as simple as that. I was full of exhaustion, stressed with 14 billion pages of studying for physiology (yay, dietetics), suffering from the winter blues, blah blah blah… Upon all of this, I thought it would be super cool to just deal with everything by my self-righteous (more like naive), independent self (again, naive), you know, because that's what I do. My genius game plan: keep everything in my head and walk around like a creepy depressed zombie. Not the best idea, that's for sure. Well, using some type of weird telepathic powers, Jenna and Maria sensed my selfish, baby-like sadness all the way from Indy. 

So last Sunday, as I sat in Panera sipping my fourth gallon of coffee, I was blown away by the best surprise of my entire life (except for the time, at the age of 17, my dad told me that I was going to have a sister, Brooklyn. Oh, and then again, two years later, when he told me that I was going to have a baby brother, Beckett. Woah, babies. Everywhere.) Whatever, back to the point, IT WAS THE GREATEST SITE OF MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE. Although at first I was completely overwhelmed with a sense of immense confusion and more confusion on top of that, I finally realized that standing before me were my two best friends. The other 2/3's of HJM (aka Maria and Jenna for those of you who can't put together context clues). Instead of crying or screaming, I think I kind of blacked out. Not really, I seriously just can't remember what my initial reaction was, but I'm sure it was just enough to disrupt a once innocent place of dining. Yeah, you could say that I was pretty freakin' excited. 

This video is actually a decently realistic representation of how I usually act in surprise situations. Let's just say that they're my favorite and that I can maybe, sometimes resemble the horrifying qualities of a good Kristen Wiig impression, except I'm likely to be worse dressed, obvi. DAT SWEATER.



Jenna just doing what ever it is
that she does.

Basically, for the next three hours, I ditched the books and had some much needed time with my favorite people. Although we were in a crowded restaurant, it was like time stood abnormally still for a while. Just enough of a break for me, myself and I to catch a breath from the stressful week before. I cried, they listened. I laughed, they laughed along with me. Let's be honest, there was so much obnoxious laughing. I vented, they supported. I sweated (which I tend to do, a lot), they stared in disgust. I was broken, and they mended my defected heart slowly back together. People, friendship is a beautiful thing. It is the force that picks us up when we have fallen and the push to keep us moving right along down the path we call life.

Looking back at the events that occurred last Sunday, it's hard to define the emotions that streamed through my scatter-brained skull. I honestly believe that I do not have the emotional capacity, nor the in-depth vocabulary, for that matter, to describe exactly what it was that I felt. Simply no words to justify my intense feeling of overwhelmingness, my great appreciation, the wonderful blessings in the form of friends, or the outpour of love. It was (insert every best adjective here).

All I can really say is that my life is good and my friends are the best. I am forever so very grateful, not to mentioned blessed beyond measure. Hardships and stress will come and go, but the relationships that I form along the way are solid. Hard as rock, forever, indefinitely, completely solid.  I am constantly, CONSTANTLY reminded that life is not some independent test and it's not supposed to be taken on alone. So thanks for that reminder, Jenna motha Henna and Young Mar Mar, you guys are the bestie mcbest.

Last Sunday, I was so unbelievably amazed by the personification of friendship portrayed so bluntly in front of me. I was humbled to an incredible extent.  I'm not too cool, too strong, or too capable to reach out to my support team, my friends, my family. Maybe someday I'll decide to take my own advice and learn. But until then, I figure that I will continue to be consistently reminded. Ladies and gentleman, God does not put such unique and special people in your life to be overlooked, but to be valued and pursued in times of brokeness. So, yes, last week was tough. But guess what? I survived. And I'm still here today, writing this testimony. How? Perhaps the Beatles' had it right, you do "get by with a little help from your friends." 

So, what do I want you to take away from my experience, other than the best story about locker room urination ever? The next time you're feeling a little down, in a slump, or a attempting to overcome one of the crazy obstacles that life throws at you, seek. Seek your friends, seek your family, seek your spirituality, SEEK HOPE. You will make it through, I promise. It's all about the perseverance, my friends. Just keep on keepin' on.

--Haley 

Probably the most normal picture you will
likely ever see of us. So, enjoy that.

Anyways, here's what happened last Sunday. All 3 of us were actually in the same place. At the same time. And it was literally the best day ever. 

The Surprise.
So we (aka Jenna and Maria) decided to surprise Haley. But here's the thing... We literally had no plan. Haley is usually the one who plans and organizes these excursions, so this was a really difficult task for us to take on. We contacted Haley's roommate, Lindsay (she's the cutest, best person), to try and organize the whole thing and she helped us determine where Haley would be when we arrived in West Lafayette... That was as far as we got. So we're driving to Purdue last Sunday with no plan and no idea how we were going to surprise her, but we knew that it was going to be epic because Haley has the best/weirdest reactions to things, especially surprises. 

Haley was at a Panera studying when we arrived in West Lafayette, so we parked the car and began walking up to the door. This was when we realized we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. During our road trip we kept discussing "So how should we surprise her?", but we never got further than "I don't know". But it was a good thing that we didn't plan anything, because as soon as we walked in the door Haley and Maria made eye contact. It was extremely awkward because she was just staring at Maria like she was the most horrifying human being she had ever seen. Then, in typical Haley-fashion, Haley yells (seriously she yelled) "WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?" and began power walking towards us. The look on her face was a mixture of confusion, nausea, and joy. Then we hugged and she was still really confused so we stood in the middle of Panera awkwardly for a few minutes. And the rest is history. Like true history because we recorded it. On this very blog.

The Highlights.
We feel like the only possible way for you, the reader, to understand the exact chaos and ridiculousness that each encounter involving the three of us entails, is through a fews pictures. Prepare yourself.


                                                                                             

You could say we're pretty weird...but that would be the understatement of the century. So now we're going to leave  you with our favorite quote from our reunion last Sunday. This quote happens to come from our very own, the one, the only, the supremely lovely, Jenna Payne. "Guys, you know how my New Years Resolution was to workout more? Well, I've been trying to run more frequently, and I haven't really ran consistent distances since high school cross country. When I run, my legs rub together and it's really painful ("chafing", we've all been there) Like so painful. And it has been bleeding. Every time I run the skin that has gotten scabbed over starts bleeding again. I don't know what to do." Eruption of laughter. Upon more and more laughter until the point of tears. So horrifyingly hilarious. Thus the day Jenna learned about chafing and the ability to prevent it by wearing running tights. Success. 

Until next time folks, HJM

"Gotta Get Down on Friday"-- Valentine's Day

So, Friday. Valentine's Day. A day that we have either immensely looked forward to, or perhaps even a day that we have completely dreaded. A day full of love, food and gifts, or maybe just another day. How will you be spending the renowned February 14th? 

There seems to be this unspoken rule that you have to be in a serious, committed relationship to enjoy Valentine's Day. False. And if you're not, you might as well sulk in your bed, by yourself, while devouring an entire container of ice cream (although that's something that should always be encouraged, single or not), and crying every time one of your friends uploads an Instagram picture with the caption "#BestValentinesDayEver #PerfectDate, #blessed, #LoveOfMyLife". Again, false. Personally, we think this whole mindset is absolutely ridiculous. In fact, there are multiple ways one can spend their Valentine's Day, significant other or not!


We have found that one great way to spend Valentine's Day is by furthering your relationship with the one thing that you've fought so hard to keep constant in your life, despite your friends and family telling you that you spend entirely too much time by yourself with this item: Netflix.

Maria has a lot of experience in this area--

My relationship with Netflix started a little over a year ago when I began watching the show, Greek. It was rather life changing. It was comforting knowing that every day when I came home from class or work, or when I was up at 2am and couldn't sleep, there was something there to turn to, even if that was a TV show. Once Greek was over (you should know that when I watched the series finale I laid in my bed, in the dark, and told my roommates to leave me alone while I cried because it was over...), the relationship continued with watching all seasons of Gossip Girl (Chuck and Blair forever <3), One Tree Hill (Chad Michael Murray will you marry me?), and Desperate Housewives.   I also got up to date with the earlier seasons of Revenge and Parenthood (I literally cry during every episode of Parenthood. Never fails). This has all lead up to my most recent obsession with The Office (See previous blog post about Kevin Malone).

Netflix and I have shared a lot of happy moments together. For example, we bonded when Greek ended and it gave me recommendations for my next show to watch, leading me to Gossip Girl. Also, Netflix typically isn't the jealous type. It always gives me about 10 seconds to determine whether or not I want to watch the next episode of a show or spend my time doing something else. I like to think that its feelings are hurt when I choose the latter option, but I try not to do that too much, anyways. 

Among the positive things, we have had a few rough patches, like any relationship. The wifi at my house isn't necessarily the greatest, so the screen often freezes, making me beyond frustrated. I guess this isn't entirely Netflix's fault, but its easy to put the blame on something other than our crappy internet provider. However, the biggest rough patches that stick out in my mind is when Netflix teases me by only having one or two seasons of a show. For example, I started watching Revenge,  and found that I could only watch the first two seasons on Netflix. Now I'm required to either DVR the most recent episodes, or actually watch them LIVE. It's pretty annoying, honestly, but I guess this is an area where we can work on our relationship.

Anyways, that was super weird, but you can see that there is always an option on Valentine's Day that doesn't include human beings. You might feel weird about it at first, but I promise you that you will never be disappointed by Netflix... ever. So, get excited about your Valentine's Day date with Netflix. It'll be pretty special, I'm sure. 

Please take the time to laugh at this. Outrageously hard. Office fan or not.

There's also the option of spending time with your your best frandz. Why? Because friendship is supreme and should be celebrated...with snacks, obviously. 

Haley--

Usually Valentine's Day is the perfect opportunity for me personally, to be the absolute epitome of morose. Truly. I used to be your classic "vomit at the sight of PDA", fake trip to break up a romantic moment between a couple (I'm honestly the best fake tripper, like ever. Ask anyone.), mock anything Valentine's related kind of girl. Although, I'm still not a fan of the whole being passionate weirdos in public thing, I've come to respect the meaning of this chocolate celebration, flower infused, rom-com filled holiday. That meaning being love. At 20 years old, I'm ready to admit that I love love. I will shout it from the roof tops, obviously if I had access to one. (For those who know me, this is quite the testimony. Until the age of 16, I refused to show affection of any sort, like in no way whatsoever, despite the situation. Seriously.) But now, older and wiser...I love. I love the love between my grandparents. A love that has taught me so much about sincerity and honesty. I love to love hummus and pretzels. I love to watch the film I Love You, Man (which has love in the title, so it's completely relevant and expresses the ultimate love: bromance). Ultimately, I love the overwhelming love I hold for my family. I just love it all. I LOVE LOVE. 

So this Valentine's Day, I will be celebrating the season of love with those who I...you guessed it, love. On Friday the 14th, I will be sharing chocolate and laughter and strangeness with my Clear River small group ladies! Yay, party! We will be taking the time to enjoy community and fellowship with each other all the while delighting in the night's discussion. Following this, we will be journeying on over to Fairway Co-op to attend a dance party. I've honestly been practicing my dance moves for 18 days straight, breaking a sweat and almost a few bones in the process. Yeah, I get a little weird. 

Anyway, to say that spending time with my friends this Valentine's Day will be awesome is a great understatement. I completely look forward to being psycho and eating and breakdancing and loving and celebrating and partying and eating and just enjoying this, for me, newly enjoyable holiday. So this Friday, get out (or stay in for that matter!), devise a plan to have fun  and be crazy with friends! Hooray for Valentine's Day, or Galentine's Day (get it, it's like Valentine's, but spending it with your "gal" friends? Yessssss, thank you to Amy Poehler for that fantastic revelation of a word.), however you plan to celebrate it!

Potential Ideas for Valentine's Day with Friends:

1. Movie Night! Collect your favorite movies and enjoy a night in! Expect the best with a good movie night, unless of course you have terrible taste in films, then obviously you're going to run into some problems. A word of advice: Let's be real, you can never go wrong with Paul Rudd. Enjoy.

2. One word: Indulge. Honestly, Christmas was like two months ago. When was the last time you went crazy on desserts and candy? If your answer happened to be two nights ago, join the club...the struggle club (I nominate myself for president)

3. Dance Party! Step one: Compose the greatest playlist of all time. Step 2: Have water on hand. Dehydration is serious business, people. Step 3: Convince everyone surrounding you that you're a complete spaz, via dance moves of course.

4. Get Crafty: Let's kick this one old school. What happened to the good old days of glitter glue, gel pens and puffy paint? Get festive! Gross amounts of hearts and glitter are acceptable.

5. Go Out! Gather a group of friends and dress up (preferably in an old floor length ball gown because that would be hilarious). Go out for a night on the town! Personally, I enjoy exploring new restaurants and studying menus #foodieproblems. PS If someone actually goes out in a ball gown and has picture proof, I will literally give them $50. Ok, maybe $5, but still... #brokecollegestudentproblems

For our soon-to-be elementary school teacher, kids have a very unique take on Valentine's Day...

 Jenna--

For me, Valentine's Day is full of memories of waking up to our kitchen table decked out in a red and pink table cloth, heart candies everywhere, and little presents my mom had picked out for us.  My Dad always came home from work with roses and we all exchanged cards.  It is a cute little holiday that came and went each year without much notice.  Now being an elementary education major and working in schools everyday, has brought back memories of what an elementary school Valentine's Day is really like.  Allow me to take you back a few years.

First of all, weeks before February 14th kids start working on their Valentine's card mailbox things.  How do they make such elaborate boxes you ask?  Let's just say these mom's have a lot of time on their hands.  First, you start with an empty shoe box (if you ask me, this is a good excuse to buy a new pair of shoes...) and cut a hole in the lid.  The rest is simple.  Cover it with as much paper, heart cut-outs, stickers, fat baby cupids shooting arrows, and fake plastic flowers that you can find.  When you think you're done, take a bottle of glitter and dump it on the entire box.  I recommend doing this step outside unless you're trying to make your carpet forever sparkle.

When the big day finally arrives, kids come to school decked out in appropriate themed clothing, Valentine's mailbox in hand.  They spend the day doing their normal activities with the teacher finding ways to incorporate a heart theme into every worksheet.  The afternoon comes to an end with a Valentine's Day class party.  Parents put on games, crafts, and snacks galore.  When the sugar rush finally wears off and kids stop bouncing off the walls, my favorite, and final activity takes place: passing out Valentine's Day cards.

I love sitting back and watching students hand out their cards.  Why?  Because kids are not afraid to wear their feelings on their sleeves.  Each student has a card for every other student in their class.  When these 7 and 8 year olds pass out Valentine's Day cards, they are genuinely telling each person that they appreciate having them in their life.  They are not embarrassed to tell someone that the care about them or to thank them for being their friend.  When was the last time I told someone "thank you for being my friend"?  I have no idea.  I look at these kids and wish I could sit down and write just a simple note to everyone I love and appreciate on Valentines Day, like they do.  1st and 2nd graders don't view Valentine's Day as a mushy holiday to go on an elaborate date and spend a bunch of money.  They see Valentine's day for what it really is all about: showing the people you love that you care about them.  Thinking back, that's what my parents did for me and for each other on Valentine's Day.  It is a normal day with the people you love, but it gives you an opportunity to let them know how much they mean to you.

So what am I going to be doing on my Valentine's Day?  Spending it with the people I love.  Whether that's being weird with my psychotic Alpha Phi sisters, cheering on our new freshman in the school-wide skit competition they have been working so hard on, or going to Pei Wei and exchanging gag gifts with the coolest guy around, I think it's going to be a pretty good day.  I suggest you try having the mindset of an eight year-old, and for one day be open about how much you care about and appreciate the awesome people in your life.  Believe it or not, it still feels good to tell someone how much you care about them, even if you don't get to put it in a make-shift mailbox covered with glitter (Sorry that for most of you elementary school was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I suggest changing your major to something awesome such as hanging out with kids all day).

Think of Valentine's Day as a chance to spend time doing whatever you enjoy most or as an opportunity to unite with your favorites, whether that's your significant other, your friends, family, snacks or something like Netflix. Just make the most out of this Friday and at least attempt to be happy about it! And if you're still not hyped about this day, DO NOT FRET. ACCORDING TO OUR SOURCES FEBRUARY 15TH IS 50% OFF OF ALL CHOCOLATE DAY. ENOUGH SAID.

Happy Valentine's Day!
-HJM

10 Reasons Why Kevin Malone is the Most Underrated Character on The Office

It's obvious all three of us have quite the obsession with the Office. It's seriously the most hilariously weird show and if you haven't started watching it, you need to. Really though, you NEED to.

There are characters on the show that everyone loves: Jim because he's unbelievably good looking and his witty sarcasm, often displayed through impromptu glances at the camera, is the best, Pam because she is married to Jim (enough said), Dwight because he's so serious about everything and repeatedly gets picked on by Jim, and, of course, Michael Scott because he is the "world's greatest boss" (and he even has the coffee mug to prove it). 

But what about Kevin Malone? Kevin doesn't typically play a huge role in any given episode, but his few minutes of stardom in the episodes are beyond comical and ridiculous. Let's just say that he's often overlooked. Here's a look at why he is underrated and a few snapshots of his most hilarious moments. 

1. He plays the drums in a band called Scrantonicity. I mean seriously. The band is called Scrantonicity. And sometimes he sings. Also, he wear's a fedora. You go, Kev. 

 

2. Kevin wins the "Dundie Award" for "Don't Go In There After Me" which references him smelling up the bathroom every time he goes in. Just imagine him making this face every time he walks out of the bathroom...

3. He is extremely protective of food, which obviously makes him one of our best friends. Not to mention, in one episode he tried to see how many m&ms he could fit in his mouth. We encourage everyone to challenge themselves in this exact same way.

4. Kevin is one of the highlights of Jim and Pam's wedding (which is one of the most epic things to happen ever during The Office, or our lives for that matter), mainly because he wears a horrifying toupee. 

5. He attempts to make life easier by speaking with fewer words. Clearly the best idea he's ever had.

6. Again, he understands the importance of food and the need to eat it, no matter the time, place, or situation. 

7. Michael once spread a rumor that Kevin had someone inside of him working him with controls. Kevin was distraught, but let's be honest, we all wished that it was true. 

8. Kevin understands that working out is the worst, especially when his parking spot is taken and has to walk a few blocks. He summed up his feelings by saying  "some people have to park really far away and walk all the way to the office, and some people sweat too much for comfort." We feel ya, Kev.

9. He understands that sometimes, you just can't deal with stupid people. 

10. And finally, the most epic Kevin scene of all time, displaying, once again, how important food is, especially homemade chili. And that spilling food is the worst thing that could ever happen to someone.

And here's one more hilarious moment, in case you didn't get enough. 

What's the moral of this blog post?  It's pretty self explanatory.  Take time out of your day to sit and watch an episode of The Office.  I know we all have a million and one things to do this weekend, but trust us, there is no better way to procrastinate.

Yours Truly,
-HJM