strange moment of the day

I was walking to the T this morning, on my way to work, and I spotted a nice shiny quarter laying right there on the side walk! Smack in front of me!

What did I do......... I kept walking.

One part of me was thinking, "Harmony, you could have used that quarter, you idiot!" and another part of me was thinking, "You don't need that quarter and someone who really needs will be the one who finds it." But why am I still thinking about that moment? Maybe its because I hardly ever see a quarter on the ground?

I don't know....it was a strange moment.

You want to do WHAT?

Within the past year, I have realized that there are so many things that I want to do in my lifetime. Some of them include typical things like get married and have kids, start a business, etc. But more importantly, I want to do things that people don't {typically}do.

First and foremost, I want to become a certified skydiver. This means that I will be able to complete solo jumps out of an airplane without being attached to a professional. There are so many pros to becoming certified, besides the fact that I can jump alone. If I were to be certified, every solo jump would only cost around $20 instead of $200! So not only would it be cheaper, but I also could go so much more frequently. 

So, after I become certified to do solo jumps I want to......... SKYDIVE MT. EVEREST! Yes, this is a new thrill-seeking adventure where you jump out of an airplane at 29,000 ft {with an oxygen tank} and landing at the highest drop zone in the world... Are you kidding me? No, and I am going to do this before I turn 30.

After I get skydive certified, the next thing on my list is my Scuba certification. Ever since I was a kid I had a love for the ocean and sea life. I have always wanted to go to Australia and Scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef. It seems like such a surreal experience to be able to see all of the colors and exotic fish the live in these truly unique habitats.

Another reason why I want to be Scuba certified is because I am {dying} to swim with the Great White Sharks off of the coast of South Africa, AND I recently learned that you must be certified in order to do this. Supposedly these Sharks are the size of cars... {Side note: I know its Shark Week, but that didn't necessarily influence me to write this post}. Lets be real, how amazing would it be to see a shark the size of a car swimming around you with layer upon layers of sharp teeth. #surreal

I have officially added both of these certifications and experiences to my Bucket List. Do you think I am crazy?

my love for the city, my love for the burbs

I {love} living in the city. Everything that you would possibly want, is right at your doorstep. There are amazing restaurants, museums, bars, people, places to go, and things to do. However, living in the city for the past few months has made me crave fresh air and open space!

This was a very eventful weekend that I spent outside of the city. I went from Boston to Babson to bumf**k nowhere, and loved every single minute of it! On my way to Babson to grab my car, I was walking from the train  back to campus, through Wellesley enjoying the trees, {not in a hippie way}, and  I got to buy lemonade from these little kids who had a lemonade and brownie stand. These would normally be things that I wouldn't be able to stand, {walking that long distance from the train and kids who want my money}. But this time I actually enjoyed it.

Later that night I journeyed out to the country with one of my friends to rather, "house/dog/cat sit/eat a LOT of good food". It was wonderful. On Saturday we played mini golf, ate veggie burgers, got mani/pedis, played with adorable dogs, and watched Secretariat {which was the only stressful part of the whole weekend}.

On Saturday night I ventured back into the city to make sure my lovely boyfriend was sane enough for our .... {Skydiving}.... adventure the next day. Poor guy had a really bad weekend. Everything he was doing was going wrong and he was so stressed.. boy did I feel like a bitch making him jump out of an airplane after having a rough weekend. But I think he ended up really enjoying it and I know we will enjoy these photos forever...

Love these photos! You are welcome for not putting up the embarrassing ones.

So, overall this was a successful weekend. I spent time in the middle of nowhere with one of my best friends, and jumped out of an airplane with my boyfriend. And now... its back to work for another 2 weeks!

a new obsession

So I decided yesterday that I was going to right about books or movies on Wednesdays. I am still going to write about them, but I never found a cool consistent name, so I figured I would just make up title's as I go along..

As books go, I LOVE science fiction, fantasy, and I suppose "young adult", even though I would never say that out loud. I will never forget when I went to Barnes and Noble to look for a book in a series I was reading, and I could not find it anywhere! I looked in the sci-fi, fantasy, and fiction sections and it was nowhere to be found. I eventually found the series in the "Young Adult" section next to books with animations.. sad.. but the series is AWESOME.. {I will be sure to write a review about them later}.

My new obsession is with The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. If you have not read this yet, then you are completely missing out! This trilogy is considered young adult, however after reading it 5 times straight, I don't think it should be read by 12 year old pre-teens. I am 21 and it still freaks me out.

The Hunger Games Trilogy is truly a futuristic gladiator story. It takes place in what was left over of the United States after years of civil war. The US becomes dominated by a ruling caste who live in the luxurious capital while the rest of the country lives in separate poverty stricken districts. In order for the capital to maintain control over all of the districts, they force each of them to choose, by lottery, two children who will participate in the Hunger Games. These games are essentially a reality show in which the children fight until death, while the entire country watches...

These books are very well written, with vivid details that make you feel like you are there in middle of the games. All three of them are on the New York Times Bestseller list and are the top downloaded books on Kindle. They are amazing, and they are even making a high-budget Hollywood movie of the first book, and I am sure each of the others. I encourage you to read them before the first movie comes out in March 2012!

oh what to write about...

I have just come to the consensus that the reason that I don't post articles as much as I should is because I can never decide what to write about. I love art, food, books, movies, travel, adventure, etc. but would it be too awkward for me to just randomly post about one of those topics?

After I kept thinking about this oh so serious issue, I decided that each day of the week I should write about a different topic or theme. So starting tomorrow, Wednesday, the topic will be books/movies {I am still trying to think of a clever name for Wednesdays, so check back tomorrow and see what I decide}.

Until then, look at pictures of tree houses!

I will have a tree house..... someday.

blog, i have failed you.... but I am back!

I am completely embarrassed by how many posts that I have written since I started this blog over a year ago. A year ago, my goal was to post at least two articles a week, allowing me enough time to have a life, be a student, work hard and party harder. But clearly I worked {partied} too hard and didn't focus on writing hardly anything about my "life, love, and art".

So, my goal for this next year is to start posting two articles a week and to actually keep up with it! So much has happened within the past year, some things I have written about and all of the others I haven't. To make it easier, I am not going to try to update my blog about the last 6 months, but simple move forward and document what happens in the future.

Living in Boston has been wonderful! This is the first time I have lived in a big city, been able to drink legally, and had to pay rent... I have grown to love Boston {in the summer} and can see myself living here for the next few-several years. I have been interning at Gemvara for over a month now {i love it} and I have realized that YES I want to start my own business, be my own boss, and have an exciting life not working in a cubicle. However, I have also decided that I do not want to be unemployed when I graduate and therefore have already started looking for jobs. Too premature? I don't think so.

My goals for the next 6 months are to....

-Research one of my new venture ideas and write a business plan by December 25th.
-Have many job opportunities/ a job offer by October, if possible! I know marketing doesn't usually hire until Spring semester though, so if I don't have a job by February of 2012, I am going to start freaking out...
-Post on my blog two times a week.
-Enjoy my last Fall semester of college.
-Skydive with my lovely boyfriend {countdown: 1 week}

I know that if I stay focused I can achieve these goals. I don't think they are too ambitious... I tried to be reasonable... Right?!

Bamboo

In order to get credit for going to Ghana and teaching students about business, each one of us has to write a paper/ independent study on a topic of  choice. Prior to our trip to Ghana, I had decided to write a simple case study or two on local entrepreneurs. However, while we were in Ghana I participated in a project that we called the McVety project, named after our mentor, Chris McVety, who was essentially organizing and helping us with the project. The objective of the project was to consult with local artisans based out of the fishing villages who were being impacted by the decline in the fishing industry. We were helping them to think through and write out their business plans and to essentially expand and grow their businesses. While developing these plans we were also trying to get them to think about their environment and eco-tourism in their communities. What  sustainable form of livelihood are they going to have once the fishing industry collapses? We were there to help them solve this problem. I personally worked with a very talented artist who  painted, made clothing and designed fishing boats for the fishermen. We walked through his business plan and I helped him change his cost structure in order to expand his business. I learned so much from him and I hope he learned a little bit from me.

Throughout the week and after many discussions with our mentors, Chris and Glenn, we came up with a research topic that might actually have a direct impact on the livelihoods of Ghanaian people. Bamboo is an extremely abundant and untapped resource in Ghana. It is used in simple everyday life, for constructions and home furnishing purposes, however, it in no way manufactured or produced as an income for the people. That is where we come in. There are two other students working on the Bamboo project. One member of my group is writing about the history of Bamboo is Ghana, how it was brought from Asia, for what purposes, and what species are currently in the country. Another member is doing a current industry analysis of bamboo in the world and in the western region of Africa, and then specifically in Ghana. And that leaves me. I am writing about the future of Bamboo in Ghana. What opportunities do the Ghanaian people have in the Bamboo industry? How can Ghanaians take bamboo and create sustainable forms of livelihood? What can they make? What can they produce?  These are all questions that I have been trying to answer when writing my paper.So our goal for our research paper, it to do a complete analysis on the Bamboo industry in Ghana, past, present, and future. Hopefully we can make at least a microscopic impact, right?

So if your wondering what I have been learning about this weekend, other than Entrepreneurial Finance and Biotechnology, it is Bamboo. I have enjoyed learning about Bamboo, but I am sure that when 2 months is up, I am going to be completely sick of reading and thinking about Bamboo... (But of course, I could never get sick of learning about Africa and talking about E-ship :) ) 

Check out the new and innovative, "green" Bamboo Bicycle... 

Bamboo framed bicycles are lighter and stronger than steel-framed bikes, adaptable to difficult road conditions and can be easily modified for different needs, such as carrying farm loads, passengers, food, and water. They also are environmentally friendly for all of you "Green" folk. 

Way Over Due

I have not written a post in over 3 months! This seems crazy to me since I have done so many amazing things in the past 3 months. I was home in Kansas City for Christmas, then I was in Ghana for 2 weeks to teach business, and now I am back at Babson having a wonderful second semester of my junior year. But even though it has been a long time, I am going to catch up and start posting about Ghana and what I have been doing.

I also have several things to look forward to this year. I will be in California next weekend, to get away from this terrible New England weather. Then I will be in Italy for Spring Break. And then I will be turning 21 and working somewhere (which has yet to be determined). So, although this post might be short and sweet, expect many more in the near future.

Here are a couple pictures from Ghana!

My teaching partner, Lily, and myself with our class from Methodist Secondary School

Me with the artisan that I helped write a business plan to expand and grow his business.

A Rush of Adrenaline

I suppose that the title of this post accurately represents my skydiving experience. J

From the time that we left San Jose to when we arrived to the Hollister, CA Municipal Airport, I was extremely surprised that I wasn't freaking out about jumping out of airplane and freefalling for 11,000 feet. I even signed a waiver saying that I know this is crazy and I might die but I still want to do it, and THAT didn't even freak me out! I just figured that at least by the time we were flying up to our free-fall location I would start to be nervous. Hmmm

The Experience:
Skydiving is something that a only .000001% of our population actually wants to do and does. It is dangerous and risky and often times it is only associated with people who are considered "adrenaline junkies".

I never ever considered myself an adrenaline junkie. I was scared to do most things like jump off cliffs (which I have done with a lot of persuasion), jumping out of airplanes and even riding roller coasters. I learned that it isn’t the danger of these things that I am afraid of, it is the pain. I am truly scared of pain. I would much rather jump out of an airplane and have the exhilarating feeling of free-fall, then jump off of a cliff into a body of water.

Free falling through the sky is unexplainable. It is an experience that although almost no one has, but one that everyone should have. It doesn’t matter if you are scared of heights, or scared of pain, or scared of death, the feeling is so surreal that once you’re up there, nothing even matters anymore. You are literally flying. It’s truly magical, and for me, it was not scary at all!

I would also like to give credit to my amazing jumpmaster, Scott. He is the one who helped make this experience so enjoyable! He walked me through the whole entire process and the only thing that I had to do was open my mind and take it all in... Oh and smile at the camera, of course. Jumping out of an airplane 15,000 feet up in the air with Scott was awesome!!



I have found a passion/hobby that I am sure I will be doing many more times in the future. I have decided that my New Year’s resolution is to become a certified skydiver, enabling me to jump solo and pretty much whenever I want to. I asked my mother this question when we found out that this was our Christmas present, “What if I want to become professional skydiver instead of a businesswoman/ (what would you do if I dropped out of school to skydive for the rest of my life)?” Her response was, “I have always told you that I would support all of your decisions and that if you don’t want to live an average life then that is fine with me!”
…..Hmm, I wonder how she feels about that question now.

My "New" Blog!

I originally created this blog to write about my crazy college experiences, however I realized that is what Facebook and Twitter is for. I have now decided to focus on writing about my travels, the books I read, the art I make, and the unique experiences that I have. I am going to have a more professional yet casual writing style, opposed to my random thoughts. So I hope you all enjoy my "new" blog!

Thanksgiving Break

Oh the lovely weather of California.... is not here this week! Normally it is 70 degrees and sunny here in San Jose, however for the whole week that we are here, it is not supposed to get up past 60. And it has been raining for the past 3 days, which is sort of a bummer. However, I suppose it is better than the weather in Boston.

Guess what we are doing on Friday? TANDEM SKYDIVING!! We are so excited. Hailey and I talked about it a lot this summer and our mom remembered and decided that it would be tons of fun if we did it for Christmas. So, at 11am on Friday morning we will be jumping out of an airplane :) .

Recently, I have felt as if my life has no excitement. Yes I am going to Ghana which is AMAZING, and I love my classes and I am a junior and I have some great opportunities coming my way, but I just feel a little bored. So I know that skydiving is going to give me a whole new perspective on life... If I can jump out of an airplane and free fall for 5,000 feet, then I can pretty much do anything.



More posts will be coming later this week! Especially with pictures from Friday!

Spring Semester 2011 Schedule!

I finally have my schedule filled in for next semester! This is both good and bad. Since this semester has been relatively easy, this means that next semester is going to be pretty difficult! I am taking difficult classes and on-top of that, all my friends are going to be abroad! I honestly do not know what I am going to do without them.

So although I am not looking forward to my friends leaving and the classes I chose, I do get to go to Ghana and that is something that I can definitely look forward to!

Here is my schedule:

Monday- 8:00am- 9:35am - Entrepreneurial Finance
9:45am- 11:30am- Strategy
11:30-2:00pm Work at the Mail room (2.5)
Tuesday- 8:30-11:30 Work at the Mail room (3)
11:30- 12:45 Biotechnology
3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting
Wednesday- 8:00am- 9:35am - Entreprenuerial Finance
9:45am- 11:30am- Strategy
11:30-2:00pm Work at the Mailroom (2.5)
3:00-6:00pm Babysitting
Thursday- 8:30-11:30 Work at the Mailroom (3)
11:30- 12:45 Biotechnology
3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting
Friday- 3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting

Ghana Program January 2011

I haven't written a post for my blog in a while A. because I haven't had much time and B. because I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about. Well I realized that I have had the opportunity to go on this amazing trip with other Babson students and I want to be able to remember all the details. So writing posts about the preparation for this off-shore course, the trip itself, and the semester after, are perfect topics.

My Freshmen year at Babson I learned about this off-shore course that a group of students take with Dean Hanno. It is a 2 week trip to Ghana in January. During the trip the students are assigned a high school where they teach the students how to write business plans, act as consultants to the local business and individuals in the nearby towns, and to essentially learn about Ghana and it's culture. And from that.. I was sold.

I applied as a Freshmen, but was way to inexperienced and uneducated on entrepreneurial practices and consulting. At the time, I felt completely qualified. I knew that although I was only a Freshmen, I knew that I could handle it. And luckily, Dean Hanno felt differently.

Sophomore year rolled around, and I decided to remain persistent and apply again. That year I was very confident that I would get accepted. I had taken entrepreneurship and economics courses, done extensive research about Africa, and knew that that year would be the year that I would take this course. Well, yet again, I wasn't accepted. I was sad for a while, but knowing that I still had two more years to apply for the course made me feel better. And I won't lie, I held a grudge for a little while... but still decided not to give up. I wanted this and I was going to get it!

So..... 3 months ago, the time came when applications for the Ghana Program January 2011 were due. I emailed Dean Hanno and yet again expressed my interest. He told me "Harmony, you really think I would turn you down 3 years in a row?". That little email exchange got my hopes up , however I knew with all of the applicants there was still a big chance that I wouldn't be able to go. Well, lone behold, Dean Hanno emailed me 2 weeks later tell me that I had been one of the 45 students chosen for the course. I was ecstatic and could not wait to get started!!

Since that day. We have had 2 weekends of classes out of 3 and I have learned a lot about Africa, Ghana, and the program itself. I would tell you all about what is going to happened and what I have learned, however, my Macro class is about to start and I don't want to get it trouble typing away on my computer :).

I will post again soon!

Oh Babson

Wooo we have now been back in school for a week, had a couple classes, alot of Sigma Kappa recruitment training, and of course some other fun outings.

As for tonight, it is our last night of going out for a few days and our last night to relax. Recruitment is this week so we will all be very busy once tomorrow rolls around. Therefore, we figured we would attend the ABC party.

I guess this is sort of self explanatory.. basically we are allowed to wear anything but clothing. I am wearing a pillow sham, made into a dress, Dana is wearing a plastic table cloth with the Disney princesses on it, and the average outfit is either a trashbag or body paint... However, since we are a nice group of respectful girls, we figured we would go in theme, yet stay covered :)

Here are some pics from our outing last night....

I have to go get ready for tonights festivities, but there will be more posts this week about recruitment and the fun things we are all doing.

Last Day of Work!!

Well hello...

I am currently sitting at work, done with all my projects, waiting for the clock to reach 5:15.

It is currently 2:47.... will I make it? (i doubt it)

So to kill a few minutes, I figured I would post something. My flight leaves tomorrow night at 10:50pm. I am taking a redeye (on purpose), which logically speaking it was a good idea. This way I will be able to sleep the whole time and when I wake up, I will be clear across the country. I am already completely prepared for this.. I have a neck pillow, sigma kappa blanket, eye cover, and ear plugs... And I can't forget to buy some tylenol PM to take when I get to the airport so I will pass out as soon as I sit down...  Therefore, I think it will be a successful flight.

And when I arrive bright and early at 7:30 am... Hopefully Hailey will have remembered to pick me up! :)

Good-bye San Jose, Hello Boston.

3 Days in Counting

1 more day of work and 2 more days until I fly to Boston. I am so excited to go back and see all of my friends and get moved in and have fun for the first week before we get slammed with work! These passed few days cannot go any slower.. I am going nuts.

There is only one thing I am not looking forward to and that is .. the New England weather.. I have been lucky enough not to have seen ANY rain for the past 3 month which has been pretty much amazing. However, as soon as I get back the rain will start and then in a couple months time, it will start to snow... oh joy. Luckily we will be back to California for Thanksgiving  and of course again around Christmas :).

Anyways.. I can't wait to write again when I get to Boston and see everyone.. This is when I will start to post more pictures and document all of the crazy things that happen!

TGIF

I am SO glad its Friday... This means that I only have 2 more days of work left and 5 more days until I am back at Babson! So exciting!!

So since I wasn't sure what to write about I decided that I would just share some things that I have purchased recently :).

I bought these sheets in Blue for my NEW full-size bed that I bought off of Craiglist. I am so excited about them. I also bought a new Duvet cover (pic below) that hopefully matches the sheets. I decided to revamp my room for the remaining 2 years of college. I needed a change and now I think its going to look awesome.

I also bought a white shag rug which I think will look great as long as it doesn't get some sort of alcohol, probably tequila, spilled on it the first day back.... hmm, we'll see.

My next purchases are going to be a nice floor lamp and a mirror for the wall :).

As for clothing.... This has been a good summer in the retail sense. I don't normally splurge or go shopping at all so, this summer was a lot of fun.. I really needed some nice new things. However, I still have not bought a pair of oxfords, which I have to get for this winter season. They are definitely on my yet-to-buy list.

Countdown until I get to see my friends! 5 days :)
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What a weekend!

This weekend was very nice and relaxing! Hailey left on Friday, which was a little depressing even though we pretty much talk to her every other hour anyways! Hailey, I am glad your back in Boston, now I can buy stuff off the internet and it can be sent to you! haha

Anyways, on Saturday night we went to the Jazz and Salsa Festival in downtown San Jose. It was a lot of fun! There weren't as many people out as we expected, but the music was still really good. We mostly stuck around at the Salsa Stage, and had a blast watching everyone dance, especially the drunk Americans falling over while trying to shake their hips. It was quite the party!

Later that night we went back the the same Hookah Lounge, Tangerine, that we did for a birthday a few days earlier. It was even more fun this time. There weren't that many people there, but all the waiters kept coming over and talking with us about whatever came to their mind. They were very entertaining! We had French Kiss flavored Tobacco this time... which I don't know what exactly a French Kiss is supposed to taste like but we decided that a good way of explaining it would be, well, it tasted like a white cherry slurpee from QuickTrip... Basically it was my favorite one yet. :)
Tangerine:


And now the fun part happens... as we were waiting for the light rail (which is basically in front of strip of night clubs and bars) we decided to just people watch. This was very entertaining for us. As the man who sat next to us said, "It looks like those girls had to lube-up to fit into those dresses" and he was exactly right. Lets just say that if you are a little pudgy/overweight, you probably shouldn't be wearing skin-tight clothing with your ass hanging out and giant stilettos. A. you will fall and all your goods will fall out of your latex clothing (yes this happened). B. It's cold, people feel bad for you and no one thinks that you look "hott". I felt sorry for most of them... maybe it was just the location we were at? I dunno, but never is clothing like that okay to wear.... trust me.

I do have to say how happy I was when we saw the two 80 year old women who were dressed in their red-sequined party clothes leaving the Lido Club at 12:30am. I hope I still get to have fun when I am that age...... hmm.......

And Sunday, we just hung out and laid by the pool. I started reading the 4th Twilight book for the 5th time. Lets just say this week is going to fly by.

My very first entry!

I am so excited to write my first entry on my new blog! I have been talking about creating one for about a week now and have finally done so. This blog is for me to write about all my experiences in college and anything that happens to catch my attention and gives me a reason to write.

As of now, I am waiting waiting waiting for the day that I get to go back to Boston to see all my my friends and start school! I love it here in California but its just not as fun when your friends are all the way across the country. I am pretty sure that all my posts for the next week are going to be about how I am preparing to go back and what I am looking forward to, but to keep it less boring I will try to upload some photos to help describe my feelings :).

To make my first post more interesting I will tell you about me and Hailey's 2 1/2 month overdue birthday dinner with our mom! Well who cares that it was overdue, it was still a ton of fun! First we went to a Sushi restaurant in downtown San Jose which was really good! Although, while we were eating my mom pointed out how she thought it was bizarre that they were playing Eminem in a nice little Sushi Bar. I had to agree.... After we ate, my mom had bought us this adorable cake that was decorated like Tinker Bell, I wish I would have gotten a picture, but Hailey and I demolished it before we would have even gotten the camera out :).
What comes after cake.... presents!
We each got these adorable Tiffany key necklaces and a string of pearls! We were so excited! The last couple of years we haven't been able to spend our birthday with our mom so this one definitely made up for it!
Here is a picture!

Following dinner we took mom to smoke hookah for the first time. We went to this new hookah lounge called Tangerine in downtown San Jose. It was really nice with comfy couches and trippy lights. We ordered Sea Breeze, which was very tasty. We all really enjoyed it and will definitely be going back!

Last night was a nice way to send off Hailey and celebrate our birthday at the same time! Mikey will miss hanging out with you all day Haibay.