Saving All the Kitties, One Kitten at a Time

In October of my senior year, my family’s cat Cashy passed away. My others cats Pumpkin and Caramel took it hard and so did me and the rest of my family. Then in the summer we lost our beloved Saint Bernard Buddy Holly. During winter break, I decided to give my parents “the talk”. “The talk” consisted of me trying to convince my parents to let me get new animals. This talk always goes over well with my mama since she is the animal lover of the family. My dad on the other hand takes much more convincing.

Me and my dad went out to dinner right before I headed back to school once the weekend was over. I took this as the perfect opportunity to throw my pitch of getting a new pet specifically a new kitten. I explained to him how we have lived without Cash for over a year now and that Pumpkin is 16 years old and Caramel is 12 years old. My dad seemed shocked to see how old our cats are. I felt that he was going to say no but all of the sudden he said we should get two kittens. He explained that our cats are already old so we should get two so that they can grow up together. I was amazed that my dad was all on board with getting two kittens. We decided to wait until my spring break so both me and my little sister Maddy could pick them out.

As of this week I am officially on Spring break, so me, my sister, and my momma went to pick out the cats yesterday. We have been calling around shelters to find a pair to keep. We finally found that there were two sisters that needed a home. Growing up with all sisters, I knew they would fit in great. We were somewhat worried at first when we noticed how big they were for kittens. We were disappointed they weren’t like babies since they were already 9 months old. But we decided to take them out of their shared cage to play with them. They loved me and my family right away. They were already snuggling up to us and playing with us. We could tell they were such sweethearts. We had to wait for the Animal Service Worker to come to approve our adoption papers, so the cats had to go back to their cage. I got tears in my eyes as they hid and ran because they wanted to just go home with us not back in their small cage. The worst part is they kept pawing at the glass of their cage at us ready for us to be their owners. We unfortunately had to wait a bit for the worker to arrive.

Once she arrived, we filled the paperwork out as fast as we could and took them home. We put them in carriers (against my will but it was unfortunately a rule) and they cried and cried since the two sisters hated being separated and in boxes. A little background on the new kitties: they were in a home but got returned due to their previous owner’s newfound allergies, they were then stuck in the shelter for several months, and they have always been together and inseparable since they are twin sisters. Anyways, they were crying on the way to our house. But when they finally got to their new home we put them in our sunroom to keep them separated from our current pets so they can get use to them. The kitties, which we decided to name Blair and Belle, loved their new home. They love having so much more space and room to explore rather than being stuffed up in a cage.

After playing with them their personalities came out. Since they are identical twins, it will take us awhile to tell who is who. For now, we can tell them apart from their collars. Blair has the purple and pink collar while Belle has the pink and silver collar. However, Blair, who is named after Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf , seems to so far be more social, rambunctious, and playful. Belle, who is named after Belle from Beauty and the Beast, is a little more bashful but more loving. Overall, they are a great pair and a great addition to the family. The other pets seem a little skeptical of the new additions, but they are starting to like them more and more as they see them. Caramel watches them through the door a lot. Roxie, my dog, can’t wait to be their new playmate. Pumpkin, who is king of the house, isn’t exactly pleased with them yet, but I know with time he will love them. Anyways, we are so thankful we rescued these gems and we can’t wait the memories they will bring us.

xoxo,

Lilz Welz

Post Midterm Thoughts

These past two weeks, I have felt MIA from the blogging world and MIA from everywhere to be honest. Midterms week was tough since not only did I have one week of midterms, I had two weeks of midterms. These past two weeks have been full of tests and essays that felt like they kept piling up. But in those two weeks, there was also great things like I finished reading The Fault in Our Stars, which is just an absolutely amazing book. I had movie nights with my girls and long talks with friends from back home. Honestly, the good parts balanced out the stressful parts. But to wrap up my stressful week my best friend Katie came and took me out to dinner, spent the night, and drove me home for spring break.

Spring Break is honestly exactly what I need. I had some stressful weeks before it and it just feels good to be at home. Spring Break has already started off great. I went to a local art gallery opening that supported my old dance company. I went to Chili’s for girls night with my mama and Katie. I also had girl talk and ice cream with my friend of 14 years Alli. I truly have had just great relaxing time. I have caught up on shows, watched movies with my parents, and cuddled with my cat Caramel. It has been a dream come true.

This break is just perfect timing. After this week, I have so much coming up. I will know who I room with and where for Sophomore year. I will know my schedule for next year. I have my cousin’s bridal shower, and a family friend’s wedding. The 40th anniversary of my dance company and their gala is coming up. Honestly the last part of my freshman year is just going to fly by so fast with how busy I will be but I am beyond excited for all these events to happen. I can’t wait to blog about them either.

xoxo,

Lilz Welz

Positive Outlooks

I have been having some bad days lately, and they have been pretty tough to the point I did not feel like anything would make them better. I realized with this, however, that there’s two ways you can look at your day. You can either let the bad parts take over and let them bring you down or you can look at the good parts and let those lift you up. I have found that when you reflect on your day try to think of the good parts and it will make you so much happier. When I start to think of the bad things of my life, I try to remember the good things balance it out. So even though I have been having some tough days, I try to remember the amazing people I am lucky to have in my life, the amazing family I have, and the amazing opportunities I have.

Xoxo,

Lilz Welz

The Misrepresentation of Women in 2013

It is truly amazing how much women are misrepresented. People forget how successful women are and how much they have accomplished in these past years.

Oh, it’s Valentine’s Day.

Love is in the air today for the holiday loved and hated by many. Even though I am single, I try not to be a hater of Valentine’s day. I think Leslie Knope from Parks and Recs puts it best with her self proclaimed holiday of Galentine’s Day by putting aside time to take the day before Valentine’s day to celebrate her lady friends and how much she loves them. She shows us that we should not always think of Valentine’s Day as only a holiday for people with a significant other, we should see it as celebrating anyone you love in your life whether it be your friends, family, or even pets. So why mope on Valentine’s day because you are single when you have so many people that love and care about you in your life. You should show them your appreciation for them and how much you love them.

In fact, for this valentine’s day I chose to celebrate the friends I made at college. I bought cards and candy for the close friends I made here. And when most people will be spending their night with fancy dinners with their other half. We will be spending it seeing the romantic movie Endless Love and then eating lots of Panera. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.

The point of this is just to realize that Valentine’s day is what you make of it. You can mope around about being single or have fun with the people you care about. The choice is yours.

xoxo,

Lilz Welz

City Livin’

Instead of spending my weekend drowned in homework, I traveled to the one and only Chicago to spend the night at UIC where my friend goes. After a couple hours on the bus and reading some of The Fault in Our Stars, I finally made it to Chicago safe and sound and met up with my friend Kitzia. She gave me a short tour of UIC, introduced me to some of her friends, and then we were off to explore the city.

We first headed to Wicker park, the “hipster” part of town. In this area, there was a book store full of books of all genres, a record store, and plenty of vintage shops. I enjoyed all of them so much. We ate dinner in this area at a local place called Flash Taco. It was amazing. Kitzia was extremely happy with their food since she could get a horchata, her favorite drink.

After Wicker Park, we made our way to Millennium Park to fulfill my life long dream of ice skating there. We got there eventually but we had to take a few buses and L trips. It was exactly what I wanted. It was perfect. We ended our day with taking the classic pics at the bean.

After the fabulous day today, tomorrow I get to spend time with my older sister and another dear friend. This weekend will be the break I need before a tough week full of exams.

Xoxo,

Lilz Welz

Better.

As I listened to Regina Spektor’s lyrics “Will you feel better, better, better?” while I was walking to my dorm today, I couldn’t help but think I am feeling better. Life couldn’t be greater. I have been so busy these past few weeks hence why I haven’t been blogging. But in this busy time I have been having so much fun. In these last few weeks, great things have been coming  into my life. I found out I made the dean’s list after my first semester of college, which of course had to be broadcasted in my small town’s newspaper back home. I also was given a time slot for Marquette Radio and already had my first show with my friend Paula. We have an advice music show called Little Talks, which will be a great hit. I already had a dance tryout for Dance Inc., and was placed in two dances this semester. To my surprise, I actually was placed into two jazz pieces, which isn’t typically my style, but hey I am willing to try some new things. One piece is to Treasure by Bruno Mars and the other to Feeling Good by Michael Bublé. I also have returned to MUTV to be a production volunteer and already helped by being a camera woman for their first show of the semester. And I am pleased to say I have been pretty dedicated to making trips to work out almost everyday.

On top of all this getting involved stuff, I have been having a great time with friends. I went snow tubing at The Rock. I went bowling at the Annex, and not to brag I got multiple strikes. I have already gone out to eat at local restaurants with friends from home and here. I have even been to a couple MU basketball games already. And by a miracle I celebrated the rare day off from college due to the extreme wind chill by ordering Chinese food and watching the Bachelor with some of my favorite ladies. I must say that second semester is off to a great start, and I can’t wait for it to just keep getting better and better.

xoxo,

Lilz Welz

Back to Reality…

After a long break of endless hours of Netflix, seeing dear friends, and chowing down constantly on food, I have officially returned to Marquette. Monday was my first day of classes. Although I was exhausted and unmotivated, I made it through the day. My classes were so unlike what I am use to, and by that I mean they are actually more related to my major and were actually interesting. I started my day off with my journalism teacher telling me that I need to read more for fun which is quite the contraire from being told to read the text book. I cannot tell you the last time I read for fun, so I am excited to fit this into my schedule. My journalism teacher actually had us write the first day as well. It was definitely not the typical syllabus class. After that I had two communication classes one being primarily focused on public speaking, which I do not usually enjoy but I guess it will be helpful. The other one focused on media in the society. With my new found hobby of keeping up with the news, I am excited to see what that class will teach me. After a long day of enjoyable classes, I felt happier. I found myself actually making conversation in the elevator instead of avoiding any social interaction. I found myself feeling more relaxed and not already having anxiety of the amount of work this semester will entail. It was just a great feeling.

With having such a great day full of classes on Monday, Tuesday had very low expectations. My Tuesday classes consist of French and philosophy. I was not looking forward to either of these since I was almost positive they were going to be extremely boring. French was actually not as bad as I thought considering we dove right into things instead focusing the class around the expectations. The teacher actually had class participation the whole time instead of just standing in front of the whiteboard lecturing us, which is definitely a change. Philosophy was not too far off from boring. I walked into the classroom and it was dead silent. You could literally hear a pin drop in this room of 20 people. Once the teacher arrived, it was slightly better since he had some great stories to share, but we will see what the year brings for that class. Anyways, I am excited and ready for this new semester. I am hoping it will bring lots of experiences, memories, and ultimately help me grow. I will keep you posted of course.

xoxo,

Lilz Welz

 

The Weather is Quite Frightful

I was reading the news earlier today (one of my new year’s resolution), and I cannot believe this cold weather. Living in the Midwest is great for the fact that I get to experience all four seasons. I mean I love winter and snow in fact I would feel quite empty without it, but cold is not my thing at all. I especially cannot handle when the temperatures are as low as -20 degrees. The weather is so bad they already cancelled  the local schools for tomorrow this afternoon. This doesn’t affect me except for the fact this cold is making my parents very fearful and strict. All the hype of these low temperatures made my parents enforce that I am not allowed to leave the house. Do not get me wrong being able to stay at home and lay around with my kitty and watching TV is usually a dream come true; however, lately this is all I have been doing. The weather has been bad pretty much this whole weekend, so all I have been doing is watching endless hours of Dance Moms and Law and Order SVU while playing 100s of levels of Flow. Like I said this relaxing time is usually desirable but being a busybody I have had enough for my liking, which has lead me to officially hitting winter break boredom. I was hoping with only one week left before I travel back to Marquette that I would be able to see and spend time with more friends not be stuck inside. But I guess I will have to deal and find new ways to keep myself entertain.

xoxo,

Lilz Welz

 

New Year, New Me?

As I rang in the new year last night, I couldn’t help but think I want a change. So of course one can only resort to the typical new year’s resolution list. I can’t help but be a little skeptical of these resolutions for two reasons. One reason being  why use the excuse of a new year to change, you certainly can change whenever you want, which is very true. Second reason being I had an amazing 2013. If nothing changed, I could be perfectly happy. I mean I just faced a year of many successes and some hardships that ultimately made me become a better person. I also faced many firsts and lasts that added many memories to my year. Firsts being first time going to college, first Christmas without my beloved Grammy, first hard break up, first road trip, and other adventures. There were also many lasts like last prom, last time being known as a high school student, last time seeing many friends, last dance performance, last Girl Scout event, and more. Reflecting on these made me realize, however, the time for change is now. I guess you could say I have a few new year resolutions then. I certainly hope these stick and don’t turn out to end up on the back burner like past years.

When I contemplate what is really important for me to accomplish in 2014, it actually begins here. I had breakfast with a friend this past week and I was amazed by the fact she has 52 journals full of her thoughts, feelings, and experiences, which is what leads me to begin blogging. I decided this year I am going to put aside time to write what is going on with my life at least once a week for me to be able to reflect on later or even for others to enjoy reading. I mean I am a journalism major for heaven’s sake I should find time to write more for fun.

Awareness is another resolution for me. I want to be more aware of what’s around me this year. I cannot even begin to fathom how many people are so consume in only what is going on with themselves and their own world. It truly amazes me that they don’t take anytime to look outside of that. I find it crucial, especially now that I am able to be an active voter, to keep up with current events. I am going to take a vow to read news headlines once a day.

Not only do I want to be more aware of what is going on all over, I also want to have better awareness of how I treat people. After losing my Grammy and my sweet St. Bernard Buddy this year, I want to be sure to be more appreciative. Let me tell you I honestly have the MOST amazing people in my life. I have absolutely no idea how I got to be blessed. With that, I want to be sure to make more phone calls and write more letters to show how important these people are to me as well as keep up with their lives. I mean this doesn’t have to apply to only the core people in my life; I want to show more kindness to all. I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up last-minute New Year’s Eve treats. On my way out, I saw this older woman bent over straightening out the rugs for the workers and the other customers to walk on. This made me want to be more observant and think to do random acts of kindness like so.

I was driving my neighbor somewhere, and I overheard her say that she needed to add that to her jar. With all that vagueness, I of course had to ask what she was talking about. She explained that she has a jar that she keeps all year, where she puts in pieces of paper that has good deeds on it. Basically, whenever anyone does something nice for her whether it is someone treating her to some food or helping her pick up something she drops, she writes it down and puts it in the jar. Once the year is over she reads them all. I need to do this. I want to constantly be reminded how great people are. I guess you could say I am on the lookout for a jar.

Last but not least, I have a resolution of being more fit and healthy. I am certainly not one to care what people think, so being more fit is for myself. After tragically having to return my Christmas presents because they didn’t fit, I decided I needed a change physically. When I say this, I have not already gained the freshman 15 or any weight for that matter, I just want to be stronger and healthier. After years of endless hours of ballet 6 times a week, then going to nothing has really taken a turn on my muscles and motivation. I just need to be more active. This past semester of college I did do a little dancing but ultimately I need to do more beyond that. So here’s to a year of more abdominal exercises and running on the treadmill.

For being a meat and potato lover, I also have chosen to try to change up my diet. I want to cut back on snacks along with adding more fruit and veggies to my diet to try to become healthier. I also want to be more risky with food. I am probably one of the pickiest eaters, so it is quite hard for me to take a liking to foods, making me a scaredy cat for change. With that, I am challenging myself to stop going for the usuals at restaurants and start taking risks and try new foods to expand my appetite horizons.

I feel like that is enough New Year Resolutions for me. I got to try to be realistic here. Any who, I guess this will be here for me to check back in a year to see whether I passed or failed.

xoxo,

Lilz Welz, First Time Blogger