Shopping and Such

Whoa! Today has been quite the day! It's been a shopping day, that's for sure.
Stopped at the running store for another pair of shoes. My old ones are almost at 500 again! Probably in a week and a half, they will be. Goodness. I decided to stray away from my Mizunos to some New Balance. Are they good? They feel more pillowy. I hope that's not a bad thing.
Next was to visit my little baby cousins. My cousin who was with me at the time and I drove over to play with them until their parents came home. Don't worry, they were with my aunt and my mum. After their parents returned, it was time for shopping with mom and auntie.
My mom loves buying clothes. I do too, but I always feel a little anxious about it. I'm my dad's daughter, so I'm kind of frugal. Even when someone else is buying. Especially then, because I start feeling kind of guilty. She's told me a million times not to, but old habits die hard. I suppose the school clothes argument still holds valid

We were offered tickets to go to a concert out in the country, so my cousin and I headed to it right after shopping. Now, we're in a big ol' field listening to some tunes.  Eventful day, but in a good way.

What excuses do you give yourself to go shopping?

Dealing With Money, Financial Aid, and School Situations

What an influence money has on our lives. Goodness.

The last few days I've been worrying about money. I know I think about it too much, but it's been on my mind even more lately. There are a few reasons for this.
First of all, running is starting to suck up my money. When I've looked at my past big purchases, they've been two things: School supplies and running things. Even with a discount from the running store, I still had a good chunk of money yanked away when I got my shoes. I've been wishing I could sign up for more little races during the summer, but then I think, "Oh wait. That costs money." Looking at Northwest running magazines filled with races has been like looking through a clothes magazine for me. (Seriously, it's the environment of runs! They're so fun and upbeat!)

My other piece of concern comes from my decision to take summer classes. It'll be good to take classes during the summer to get them done, but money is not fun to deal with. It turns out that I can't get financial aid, so I'm going to have to pay out of pocket. I know that my mom might want to help me, but I feel like I need to pay for it myself. The only other thing that causes concern with this is a smaller amount of hours of working to earn money back for the next year... hooray being a (sorta) adult!

Another thing that stands on the subject of school finances is how I'm figuring out my financial aid for next year. I don't think it's to the right school right now, and I've fixed what I can of it... but I think my parents need to do some things on the form. Gosh, I hate how dependent it makes me sound. Ha, it's funny because I am their dependent! Am I right? Yeah, maybe not.

Other big thing on my mind? Trying to figure out where I'm going to live next year. I'm not looking towards living in the dorms just because it's really pricey, and I don't want to. I'm hoping I can find someone to live with, but I also have ideas for worst case scenarios. I simply hope it just doesn't get to that.

In other news, I continue to have the appetite of a starved piranha. When I was training for my other run, I don't think I was this hungry all of the time! I haven't even run as far yet! Pish. I'm gonna gain twenty pounds.

Apparently I can't resist cookies either. Hence the comment above.

I'm quite tired... Time for rest.

What do you do to keep your finances in check? What do you do when you need to make big purchases?

Different Personality Friends, New Running Shoes and Gels

Sometimes, you simply wonder just where the time goes. It's already past 11!

So last night was the Cinderella Ball held by one of the dorm halls at my school. It was just a fun night to go out to dinner in fancy dresses and dance around like a crazy person.
I ended up going with two of my pals from school. It was fun going with friends because the last time I went to a dance with a date, it ended up being really awkward. Perhaps that's what happens when you ask a very shy sophomore to a dance. Oh well.

Not the best picture of me. Yikes.

Some people only see certain sides of you. Maybe it's so we fit better into the mold that society gives to us, maybe it's just so we have as many people as possible like us. I can't say. I bring this up due to the fact that the friends I went with are... a lot more religious than I am. Our usual conversations are alright, but it gets kind of awkward in certain situations. They'll start talking about worship, and I simply sit there thinking, "Please change the subject, please?" Other odd thing about our personalities? I think parties... college parties are fun. Ones that aren't as innocent as they were in grade school for someone's birthdays. I can't really show these guys this side of my personality, because... Well, I guess I don't know why.

I went to go buy my new shoes today! They're pretty much the same type of shoes that I had before despite being a different wave number or something. They're Mizunos again, and they feel a lot like my old shoes. I like 'em though. I don't know how my run is going to be with them though.

The other things that I bought at the running store? Some running gels!

I don't know when I'm going to use them, but I became overly excited about buying them. Crazy? Perhaps. My real concern is knowing how far I should be running to consider actually use them. I grabbed Strawberry Banana, Vanilla Bean, Vanilla Orange, Mint Chocolate and the Pineapple one above. Gah, they make me just want to go on long runs!

To my runners out there: Have you ever used running gels? How far/long did you run to use them?
Are there certain friends you act differently around?