Chocolate Dreams

I love me some chocolate. Chocolate flavored, chocolate covered, chocolate in any form. It's not normal if I go a day without having at least one thing with chocolate in it. So today I'm sharing my favorite chocolatey treats. If I know you personally, read until the end where I encourage you to do the same.

1.  365 Everyday Value Hot Cocoa. Normally I wouldn't care if I bought something that wasn't organic, but choosing this hot chocolate mix is so easy. Not only is it organic, but it's free of artificial flavors and hydrogenated oils. I especially love that you scoop the mix out yourself because then you can add as much as you want. I'll add a spoonful to my coffee or double the amount when making hot chocolate, which you can't do with packaged cocoa mixes. Found at Whole Foods Market.

2.  Snack Factory Dark Chocolate Crunch Pretzel Crisps. I'm not dark chocolate's biggest fan, but these chocolate covered pretzels are heavenly. If I eat more than a handful, I'll get a headache because of how rich they are, but I don't even care. These are the perfect combo: sweet and salty. Found at most food retailers.

3.  Brookside Dark Chocolate Acai. These are the best kind of candy. Fruit flavored centers covered in a dense layer of dark chocolate. They have the most satisfying texture and are soft and chewy in the absolute best way. They come in blueberry acai, pomegranate, and goji raspberry but no flavor is better than the other. Found at most food retailers.

4.  Trader Joe's Cocoa Almond Spread. If you are a die hard Nutella fan, get ready to fight me because I'm saying this spread is better. Unlike Nutella, this spread is made with almonds and is thicker and more chocolatey.  I had a habit of eating it straight from the jar to get my chocolate fix, and boy did it do a great job. Found at Trader Joe's.

5.  Ghirardelli Dark & Sea Salt Caramel Bar. When it comes to chocolate bars, I'm not picky. I'll eat as cheap or as expensive as it gets. My boss spoiled us with premium Ghirardelli chocolate in the beginning of the year and the ones with caramel filling were by far my favorite. I really do feel like I'm floating on clouds when I eat these. Found at most food retailers.

Now that I think of it, putting together a fancy gift basket of someone's favorite treats would be a great Christmas gift idea. If we're friends, make a post about your favorite foods and specialty items and I'll see what I can do come Christmas time. I'm serious. Let me make your day by giving you a bundle of your favorite things.

On Repeat: 100.3 WNIC Detroit's Christmas station
# of times I've watched The Princess Diaries this school year: 3
# of coffee shop visits this school year: 5

Nykerk Love

If you were wondering about my lack of blog posts in the month of October, I was involved with a massive tradition at my school and didn't have a lot of time. The tradition is called Nykerk and has been around for 79 years. Basically, it's a competition between freshman and sophomore girls by way of song, play, and oration. I was a part of the song category where 124 other girls and I dedicated 13 hours a week to practicing a medley with synchronized hand motions. Our big performance was on Saturday where we were scored by a panel of judges who decide the winner by averaging the scores of all three categories in both grades.

After three weeks of practice, this is what we looked like (watch in HD!):

(The view is better in this video, but the sound quality is better here)

I'm in the front row, fifth from the left.

Not too bad, eh? I actually thought we were pretty good, but that was before I saw the video recording. After watching it a few times, I can totally see why we didn't beat the freshman. We were rushing and barely had any props in comparison. You can see our competition here. (They did a fantastic job. Nykerk Love!)

The whole show is three hours long and song girls like me are judged on smiling the entire. time. I had a coughing fit right after we performed because my mouth was dry from smiling for so long. Plus, we're pretty much packed like sardines on the 40-year-old bleachers. Our running joke was "Get Nykerk comfortable!"

One of the really fun things about being in Nykerk is getting a morale boy. Our practices can be long and tiring so every night we look forward to a goofy skit performed by a group of guys we call "song boys." Their job is to make us laugh and feel special...and buy us candy. Every guy has to morale seven girls each week of the Nykerk season, but the twist is that the girls don't know who is moraling them until the night before the performance. So they hang encouraging posters on our doors, tape candy to them, and sign with their secret signature.

Chuckie Finster, my morale boy, went over the top on the last day. In a pumpkin bucket, he gave me 13 Hershey's chocolate bars, my favorite bag of chips, and a bunch of other candy. This was in addition to the other candy he had already given me with his previous posters. I never thought I'd say this, but I am now sick of Hershey's chocolate. Then, as tradition goes, he showed up at my door on Friday night and presented me with a rose. Nykerk Love is so sweet.

I hate stats class

Research Question: Does Intro to Statistics make Erika an unhappy student?

Hypotheses:
      Null: Intro to Statistics has no effect on Erika's happiness.
      Alternative: Intro to Statistics makes Erika unhappy.

Studies show that going to Stats class three days a week for a total of 210 minutes makes Erika feel useless and dumb because she cannot pay attention to the professor's heavy Russian accent. Her average quiz score is 67% or D+. After spending 6 hours studying for the second test, she received a 65% which left her feeling frustrated and discouraged.

The p-value for this study is 0.00001, therefore we reject the null hypothesis. In conclusion, we have strong evidence to suggest that Intro to Statistics makes Erika an unhappy student.

Welcome to my life this semester. Today, I spent 2 hours trying to work on a stats project with my friend Sarah, but all we accomplished in that time was downing 14 oz of our favorite coffee drinks and writing "I hate stats" on a piece of paper with our non-dominant hands.


That's the worst thing about going to a liberal arts college: you're required to take 10 credits of math and science no matter what your major is. Yay for sucking at stuff!


On Repeat: Just the sound of my future crumbling into nothingness
# of times I've watched The Princess Diaries this school year: 3
# of coffee shop visits this school year: 5

A boy I know

Until second semester of my freshman year of college, I could say I've never had a boyfriend.* I hadn't even been kissed. Surprising to a lot of people, I was perfectly content with the single life. Some of my friends were vowing to never kiss a guy until they were engaged and I thought: hey, that sounds easy! I've gone 18 years without kissing anyone, what's another 10 or so? Sure, I lived for the couples in Nicholas Sparks movies and had many not-so-PG daydreams about certain members of One Direction, but when it came to actually having a boyfriend? I wasn't interested. I preferred the fun of crushing on guys and spending all night acting out scenarios of us together in my mind. I didn't want to be tied down by having a boyfriend. No way.

But then I met Joel and things changed.

During the second half of our freshman year, we had back-to-back classes together and lived in the same residence hall. The more I saw of him, the more I found myself loving the way he would play with his glasses when he talked to me and how small he looked next to his giant of a best friend. I loved how he knew every German grammar rule without having to look at his notes and that he never wore jeans. I had a crush on him, but that's all it was -- a crush like normal.

Our study sessions stretched longer and longer as we'd often watch movies as a way to spend more time together. Then one night in March, after the credits to Stuart Little had long passed, I told him I liked him. I wasn't expecting him to do more than say he liked me back, so when he asked me to be his girlfriend, I was shocked. You mean there's more than just liking each other and watching movies on the beanbag chair and sharing secret smiles when we pass in the dining hall? You actually want to be in a committed relationship with me where you basically pledge to never be interested in anyone else? Really?

Shoot. I really didn't know how love worked.

I turned him down. Non-single Erika was not someone I knew and I wasn't ready to meet her any time soon. Yet he still made my heart stop when he'd come into class with wet, post-shower hair and I'd find every excuse to be with him. ("Yeah, we have to read Psalm 38 for Religion. I'll see you in three hours, roomie!")

He asked me out again, then again until I finally said yes. I told myself I couldn't live my whole life in  A Walk to Remember fantasies. No matter how scared I was, I had to start somewhere.

Now, seven months into our relationship, I've learned more things about myself than I ever would have thought. I've become less judgmental, more thoughtful, patient, and incredibly grateful. Without him, I'd still be blind to the great things God is doing in our lives. He is incredible and I am blessed by him daily (he doesn't know it, but I see God in him all the time).

Happy seven-month anniversary, J-Slav!


*To anyone who knows me personally and is thinking, "Hey Erika, what about that guy junior year who--" "Don't remind me!" say I. I was able to successfully suppress any thoughts of him and I advise you to forget about him too unless you'd like to see me throw up.

Good News

I stumbled on a quote today by an atheist that said something like, "If you have news that could save my life but you don't share it, you hate me." Never before had I thought of denying someone the gospel as a form of hatred. But I get what they mean. What love are we giving to the world if we are not spreading the Good News?

I believe God's love can be shown through our actions. We can help someone in need by offering many things: food, shelter, clothes. We can smile at strangers and sincerely ask how they are doing. We can volunteer our time, go on mission trips, and encourage positivity.  There are a lot of things we can do to spread the love of God. Yet even with all of this, if people are still dying without Jesus, how much did we really help?

This is where we Christians are called to do more. In addition to living out God's love, we are meant to tell others of the new life they are promised through Christ. We do this through evangelizing, or preaching the gospel. To Christians and non-believers alike, evangelism can sound like a forceful and unloving task. In actuality, sharing the life changing Good News can be done very gently and lovingly. God would never give us a mission if He thought it would turn His children away from Him, and He certainly doesn't call us to do it alone. God is for us, and the more we seek to expand His kingdom, the more we will grow spiritually. So take a moment to think. How will you spread the Good News today?

If you want to know more about the Good News or have questions about anything else, please comment below. I'm far from knowing all the answers and I'm certainly having my own spiritual struggles at the moment, but I would love to listen to your thoughts and pray for you.

To start your week off right, I made a playlist of my favorite worship songs. Sing along!

truth

I'm having trouble believing I'm anything more than an eyesore.
I keep telling myself I'll never make any friends because I'm so annoying.
I'm convinced no one will ever love me without wanting to get rid of me first.

Sometimes you just have to tell yourself to shut up.
Stop buying into lies.
Don't sell yourself short, because you are truly beautiful, special, and made to do great things.

Negative thoughts don't go away so easily, but with the smallest effort toward thinking the truth, the easier it is to keep yourself from falling into satan's trap. 


On Repeat: "Gotta Get Through This" - Daniel Bedingfield

30 Days of Blogging

Normally I'd be spending November typing word vomit into Microsoft Word for two hours a day, but this year, I ain't got that kinda time. I'm referring to NaNoWriMo, a worldwide challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I still want to write though, so I'm committing to something a little less demanding of my time: blogging every day in November! It's exactly like BEDA, but in November... you totally didn't need me to explain that. Anyway, I'm really excited to get my butt in blogging gear. If this is something you think you'd enjoy, then join me! Let's be friends and come up with post ideas to do together. Because really, what will be more rewarding at the end of the month? A tumblr page of pictures you didn't even take or a collection of ramblings, thoughts, and dreams that comes straight from your heart? The answer is the latter if you weren't sure...

Some blog ideas I already have in mind:

• My go-to shower playlist
• A review of my life on Twitter
• How to: get over One Direction
• Sharing my found poems
• Why you shouldn't buy Hunter rain boots

Thanks for reading and happy blogging!