Catalina Cram Mixers

Fortunately, I never made it to the sweatpants stage.  No coffee either, but some really strong chai lattes.

On the standard collegiate two-semester calendar, there's an awkward, desperate two or three week period of time between Thanksgiving and winter break, where all the professors lose their desire to teach, students stop doing their work, but we are all institutionally obliged to tie things up.  The weekday cram sessions lead to some crazed partying, and in the North Country, that usually entails atrociously cold weather.  It was negative 26 degrees Fahrenheit at it's low last weekend!  Fortunately, my townhouse was hosting the festivities.. :)  Here's a visually review of the tail end of the semester:

 The Ruckus Bus Catalina Wine Mixer/Massacre part deux!  Courtney and I organized, along with lots of help from Laura and PJ.  I'll take any excuse to dress up and party with my team.

 What better way to kick off formal weekends with a French 75 (highly-recommend this cocktail.. for the recipe click here), peppermint chocolate pretzels made by yours truly, sugar cookies, and Cards Against Humanity!

Snagged this one from Sam's Instagram.

 The weekend after, the Artist Guild organized a student art exhibition, pulling together work from across campus of majors and just general enthusiasts (like myself) to have our pieces displayed at once.  It  was marvelous having my painting "Kanagawa Resurfaced" and four photos from China among all this talent.

  

Although I don't live in the Habitat theme house anymore, I still had an honorary invite to formal.  I borrowed my friend's outrageous leopard jacket and rocked it all night.. but apparently I look like Cousin It here.  Ha! o.O

I also bounced up the road to the Dub, where these awesome ladies were having a formal as well. So much dancing in so many dresses!

 Ah, and then it was time to hit the books.  I sat in the basement of the library collecting dust like the periodicals.. but I sat near the window so I could at least visually connect with the outside world.  At it's worst, I spent 11 hours there on Tuesday!  It's not naturally for human beings to be relegated to the same position for that long (see top illustration), but then again, I brought it upon myself and I did crank out my term papers.

 Winter skies are some of my favorite.  I was able to sneak in a breakfast date at the Blackbird, and then celebratory Thai food with my housemates at the end of the week.

The beautiful campus architecture almost redeems frostbite.  Almost.

~*~

It's funny, because we were begging for the semester to be over-- and now it is.  It's been a rougher one than I had hoped, which seems to be a shared sentiment across the board.  Elizabeth said seven down, one to go, and that honestly hit me like a pit in my stomach.  It's terrifying to consider what's coming "next" but things have a way of tumbling into place as they should.  This spring I have a lot to look forward to, but I honestly want to take full advantage of being a frivolous college student while it lasts and just have more fun (lest I find the ultimate unconventional-yet-fulfilling way to make money right after I graduate).

Now I'm home, preparing for the holiday, and gathering my bearings for another winter break full of adventure and pending travel in the new year; Boston, New York, and Florida... here I come!

Listening: Rubblebucket's new EP, "Save Charlie" ~I'm seeing them next Friday on the 27th, CAN'T WAIT