What's the Catch?

Well, here I am back in Duluth after a 5-day Thanksgiving break. Being with my "surrogate" famil(ies) was the next best thing to going home.

Here is my Surrogate Family/Thanksgiving dinner #1, which was Wednesday night. Yum!

My friend Kristina and I went to the Como Zoo in St. Paul on Wednesday afternoon. It was a free zoo, which was pretty great! They had several types of monkeys (including a gorilla picking his nose-- and EATING IT, too!).

I spent Wed-Sun with my friend Abbey and her family. We had (another) turkey dinner Thursday, did some (non early bird) shopping Friday, more shopping on Saturday, then went to the "Holli-Dazzle" Christmas parade downtown Minneapolis Sat night. The pictures were a bit blurry, unfortunately.

Speaking of shopping... I got a new outfit-- puffy vest (a necessity in the midwest!), sweater, and jeans from American Eagle. Tsk, tsk, tsk... what's a poor college student doing spending all this money?!

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SHE WASN'T! Abbey and I were just browsing on Friday and half-heartedly went into American Eagle. The annoyingly peppy and fashionable employees pounced on us as soon as we walked in the door to give us our scratch it tickets- "EVERYONE WINS!" Abbey and I looked at each other and relunctantly collecting our tickets. The annoyingly peppy and fashionable employee noticed our lack-of-enthusiasm and commented, "Don't look so excited!"

Abbey scratched hers: "15% off. Cheers!"

I scratched mine: "$100 Shopping Spree. Cheers!"

Yeah, whatever. I rolled my eyes and went up to the sales guy and asked "So what's the catch?!" Well, annoylingly peppy and fashionable employee guy got REALLY excited, got on his radio and announced, "Someone got the shopping spree!" Apparently there WASN'T a catch and I was the first person at that store to win the $100 shopping spree!

NOW I was excited. Being the mature 21-year-old I am, I turned bright red and giggled. And then I shopped!!!!!

In the dressing room, the people working back there asked me "ARE YOU THE ONE THAT WON THE SHOPPING SPREE?!" I was the topic of many radio conversations. At one point I heard someone say, "We've got her in here!" ---Like I was going to run off without claiming my prize?!

I had been wanting/needing a puffy vest and new jeans, and was wanting to spruce up my wardrobe with a new sweater. And thanks to some great Black Friday sales, I was able to get it all!

What does an independent, 21-year-old college student who just got a cute new outfit for free do as she leaves the store?!

Call her mom.

The Windy City

Last weekend I went to Chicago (well, Wheeling) for an OT Student conference. I successfully filled a (free) tote bag full of (free) pens, (free) chapstick, and (free) goniometers (you know you're an OT nerd when you have a comepetition to see who can collect the most gonies). I also put my name on countless info cards in hopes to win a raffle. No such luck, but I am sure I'll be getting all sorts of fun calls and e-mails from employers in Indiana, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

We left school at 5:30am and 21 of us headed out in three minivans. Riding in style! It was an 8 hour drive and boy, is the way backseat of a minivan enjoyable. One week post-journey, I think I've regained feeling in my butt.

That night four of us headed downtown on the Metra. We successfully found the depot and got on the loading platform approximately 14 seconds before the tram came. We had to buy our tickets on the train when the conductor came around, and fyi- they really do punch the little holes in the ticket like in "Polar Express." Although mine wasn't in a magical, Christmas design...




The beautiful Chicago skyscape! This was down towards the lake/Millenium Park.








We only had a few hours in Chicago so we for sure wanted to find some good food. In Rachel Ray-esque fashion, I asked two employees at Sears Tower where they'd recommend going for dinner. Unanimous choice: Giordnano's.
Apparently, this is "world famous stuffed crust pizza."

(Jessica, me, Ashley, and Ruth)

Now THIS is pizza! Deep dish, oodles of cheese and canadian bacon in the middle, topped with sauce and pineapple.

http://www.giordanos.com/

So that was my taste of Chicago!

I'll have to catch Oprah next time.

Hi, my name is Senia and I am an ISFJ.

Today we took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator in one of my classes.

By a landslide, I am Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging. I feel like I can kind of go either way on the extra/introverted thing, but I came out as a clear-cut introvert. I think that's what I am at heart.

The definition for an ISFJ:

"Quiet, friendly, responsible and conscientious. Work devotedly to meet their obligations. Lend stability to any project or group. Thorough, painstaking, accurate. Their interests are usually not technical. Can be patient with necessary details. Loyal, considerate, perceptive, concerned with how other people feel."

So basically, I'm a bit boring. :-p

My favorite part is my designated prayer:

"Lord, help me to be more laid back, and help me to do it exactly right!"

Several of my OT friends are ENFPs, which always make for interesting study groups. Their (very telling!) prayer is:

"God, help me keep my mind on one th- LOOK, A BIRD! -ing at a time."

Monday and Tuesday Happiness

*I got a free (short) massage in the student union yesterday. Lovely.

*Range of motion practical on Monday = No assessment class yesterday or tomorrow. Range of motion practical complete = 98%. I'll take it!

*It was freakishly warm this morning. So warm that I decided to walk to school. Fortunately, by this evening, when it was raining and thundering, my friend graciously drove me home. Phew!

*Belated birthday dinner at Burrito Union. Yum!

*We did our Level II Fieldwork lottery today. I get 2nd choice out of 28 students (Summer fieldwork) and 9th choice out of 28 (Fall fieldwork). Lucky!

*I'm sitting in my pjs, watching the election coverage, and blogging. Wonderful.

*The Holidays are coming!!! That alone gets me excited! :-)