Final Blog in the Final Week...of Finals.

I cant believe how fast not only this semester has flown by, but this entire year. I started a new relationship, worked my ass off to stay in the nursing program, joined a sorority,and had tons of  wild and crazy nights I'll never remember with the people I'll never forget. Looking back at the year I realize that although this year wasn't as "eventful" or "exciting" as freshman year, it has been far more enjoyable and I can honestly say that I am truly happy. I've had way more good days than bad days, and that is all that really matters. I have learned so much the past two years at school, not only about the human body, or how to write a Shakespearean Sonnet, but about myself. I know what I like and what I don't, and I am more confident in myself than I have ever been in my life. I have gotten rid of all of the bad influences in my life and surrounded myself with people who genuinely care about me. Its hard to believe that I am now half way done college, but I look forward to growing even more in my final two years here at Stevenson University.

Jennifer :)

OK, so I didn't find my best friend on StumbleUpon, but I think the story of how we met deserves a post!:

I remember the remember meeting my best friend Jen like it was yesterday. I was the first day of the sixth grade in our second period agriculture class. There are five elementary schools that feed into Hereford Middle, and I came from the smallest one- Fifth District Elementary. Each class I went to that day I saw more and more new faces, which became overwhelming. I had tried talking to people in a few of my classes as an effort to start making friends. Most people were equally as eager to converse, but some people were very shy and didn't say much. I complemented one girl, Jessica, on her shoes, and she thanked me then continued to sit quietly for the rest of class. This discouraged me because I had to sit next to her for a whole year and I didn't want to spend it in silence! When I got to agriculture class, Mr. Doepkins called each of our names in alphabetical order and sat us in our seat. When he got towards my part of the alphabet I paid close attention to who I would be seated with. "Groff, Hilgartner, Hunter, Jackson. You four are seated here.", Mr. Doepkins said as he pointed to our table.  We took our seats and waited for him to finish seating the other students. Once everyone had a seat he went over the syllabus. This part of class always bores me because I can read a syllabus by myself, I don't need someone to read it to me! As I sat there and pretended to be following along, I felt a poke coming from my left. "Hi, I'm Jen. Whats your name?"She was wearing a blue Abercrombie and Fitch shirt which was very fitted on her muscular arms, and a pair of white shorts. She also had her hair pulled back tightly with small braids feeding into it. Judging by her hair and large muscles, I knew she was a gymnast. Once we started talking I knew we we're going to be friends. We talked about everything from where we're from to what we like to do for fun. "I love shopping!"she said. "Me too! We should go shopping together soon!" We did end up going shopping a few weeks later, and every year since then we have gone to the same mall together on that date to celebrate our friendship.

Tieing the Knot

My absolute favorite thing to plan, watch on tv, think about, and talk about is wedding planning-I LOVE everything about weddings( it's actually somewhat of an obsession!). Every Friday night my roomate and I look forward to TLC's "BrideDay Friday", featuring shows all about weddings! My favorite is Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, but I love them all! StumbleUpon helps feed my obsession with all of the pictures of dresses, rings, venues, and cute photography ideas. My dream wedding ring is a cushion cut diamond, embellished with more stones on the band. Who ever I end up marrying has his work cut out for him because I have part of my dream wedding picked out already, from the ring to the flowers! My favorite part of weddings is the photography. I cannot wait to take engagement photos and have cute pictures taken with my husband on the day of my wedding. There are SO many adorable photography ideas online that I love and cant wait to have taken myself :) And finally, the most important part of the wedding- the dress. I have already decided that Im driving all the way down to Atlanta to buy my wedding dress from the store on "Say Yes to the Dress", but I have no idea what kind of dress I'll end up buying. I love lace, open backs, fit and flare, and sweetheart necklines- hopefully they make a dress that combines everything I love!

Neat Nails!

 Ever since I was little I've LOVED painting my nails and getting manicures with my friends. Whenever my friends would come over we would get out our little bins of nail polish and spend hours trying out new designs, so when I discovered creative nail ideas on StumbleUpon I was beyond excited! I love bright colors and wild patterns and I found so many great ideas online! One picture that caught my eye was super simple yet extremely beautiful. All you do is put sparkles on the tips of your nails and make it fade the closer you get to the nail bed. Another was a little harder but still super easy to do. All you need is three different nail polish colors and reinforcers and you can make a cute heart design! One picture I found was of an increasingly popular nail design trend- tie-dye nails! Its hard to pick up at first, but once you get the hang of it it becomes much easier. All you do is drip a few polish colors into a cup with room temp water and swirl it with a toothpick, then stick your nail under the water and the polish will stick to your nail!

Fun and Games

     My absolute favorite things to StumbleUpon are funny pictures and videos. Anything to make me laugh or smile is the perfect distraction from the stress of school. Pictured are a few of my favorite funny pictures I have come across lately:
"Finding Nemo" is one of my all time favorite Disney movies:) Its funny, cute, sad, and makes you feel better no matter what kind of day you've had. When I came across this picture I laughed so hard because it combines one of my favorite movies with one of my favorite new songs/sayings! For those of you who have never heard of "YOLO", it is  a term coined by Drake in his song "The Motto", and stands for "You Only Live Once". The phrase has become increasingly popular and is popping up all over the place, like on funny pictures on StumbleUpon!

     Another fun thing I found on StumbleUpon is a BINGO card to fill out at Almaty! My best friend Erin and I go to Walmart at least once a week when we're both home from school so this game is perfect for us. Some things it has to look for are a mullet hairdo, people with a full cart in the express line, and randomly eaten food items on shelves to name a few. This would be a fun summer activity to take to Walmart with a group of friends to compete to see who can get bingo first!
      Lastly, in the spirit of "Finals Week", I included a picture I found that made me laugh because of how true it is going to be over the next few days. As I mentioned in a previous post, I LOVE coffee :) I am also a nursing major, so finals week is a very stressful time of the year. This picture made me laugh because it combines two things I love very much in a funny way!

Preparing for Summer

 As summer is approaching, I am starting to be more conscious of what I am eating and beginning to exercise more regularly to get my "beach body" back, and StumbleUpon is a great website for finding new exercise ideas and tips. My normal gym routine consists of thirty minutes of cardio and thirty minutes of strength training, followed by ten minutes of stretching. While this routine is effective, I am starting to get really bored of doing the same old things every time, so I made it my mission to find new ways to get my cardio and strength. One article I found really stood out to me because it tells you different exercises you can do to tone any and every part of your body! The article is entitled "5 quick fixes for anything that jiggles". This article is perfect for anyone who has a "problem area" that they want to learn how to tone up and feel more confident. Another article I found that interested me was entitled "Song Workout for Abs and Obliques". Basically, you choose 5 songs and do the "a" exercise during the song until you reach the chorus, then you switch to the "b" exercise. This is fun because I love listening to music while I work out, so incorporating it into the workout is perfect! Doing the moves along with the song makes the workout seem faster and less painful, so Ill definitely be doing this one often! Lastly, StumbleUpon is perfect for providing that extra little bit of motivation you need to keep you going during your workout, with inspirational quotes and pictures. Some are cute, some are funny, and some are inspirational. One of my favorite motivational quotes/pictures I have found on StumbleUpon is of a girl running on a beach, with a quote encouraging you to keep going and not to get discouraged if you don't see results right away. When ever I don't feel like going to the gym I just look at this picture and immediately my mood is changed and I'm ready to work out :)

DIY Dorm

One thing I love about websites like StumbleUpon and Pinterest is all of the arts and craft ideas I find. I love DIY activities, so I'm always looking for ideas online. Lately, I have been looking for ideas for cute decorations for my apartment next year. As a junior, I will be sharing an apartment on campus with three other girls, so Ill need some unique and innovative decorations to set my room apart from the others! I love vintage looking pieces and personalized art work, both of which I found tons of DIY ideas on Pinterest! The project that stood out most to me was a canvas that you can personalize with any quote you'd like. According to the directions, you take an old picture or painting on a canvas and put letter stickers on it to spell out the words of the quote that you want to display. You then paint over the canvas with any color paint you'd like (white makes the quote stand out best). Once the paint dries, you peel off the stickers, revealing the original picture where the letter stickers used to be! This is such a cute idea and a super easy way to personalize any room! Another idea that I thought was adorable were homemade teacup candles. You can find beautiful old teacups at any flea market or thrift store, and many craft supply stores sell wax. To make this craft you simply melt the wax down and pour it evenly into the teacup, making sure to place a candle wick in the center. I love candles and the old teacup ties in the vintage look that I like, so I'll definitely be making these over the summer :)

Nom Nom :)

One thing I love about StumbleUpon is all of the delicious recipes you can find on it There is everything from how to make homemade ice cream to how to cook an entire four course meal, and everything in between! I have always loved to cook and I'm always interested in finding new recipes to try for my friends and family. My favorite recipe I've found yet is for how to make "Bang Bang Shrimp", like the dish they serve at Bonefish. This dish is one of my favorite things to order when I eat out, so finding a recipe on how to make it was so exciting! I was skeptical at first on how close the shrimp would taste to the dish served at the restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out delicious! It did take a while to deep fry the shrimp, but it was SO worth it in the end :) This recipe isn't for novice "chefs", but once you figure it out it's a lot easier the second time! This is a recipe that I will definitely be saving for later use, and I would recommend it to anyone who loves Bonefish's "Bang Bang Shrimp" and a challenge!

Bang Bang Shrimp

4.9 from 16 reviews

Yield: 2 – 4 as appetizer

Ingredients

• 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• For the sauce:
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 4-5 teaspoons chili garlic sauce, such as Sriracha sauce
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• For the egg mixture:
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• For the breading mixture:
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• For frying:
• 8 to 12 cups vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl; cover and set aside.
2. Combine beaten egg with milk in shallow bowl; set aside.
3. Combine flour, panko, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and basil in another shallow bowl; set aside.
4. Bread the shrimp by first coating each with the breading mixture. Dip breaded shrimp into the egg and milk mixture, and then back into the breading. Arrange the coated shrimp on a plate and pop them into the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This step will help the breading to stick on the shrimp when they are frying.
5. Heat oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees F. Use amount of oil required by your fryer.
6. When oil is hot, fry shrimp 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on rack or paper towels.
7. When all shrimp has been fried, drop the shrimp into a large bowl. Spoon about 1/4 cup of sauce over shrimp and stir gently to coat.

Werid....

       Today I "Stumbled Upon" a fascinating piece of information. A study was done at Cambridge University that proves that the human brain doesn't read every letter of a word by itself. As long as the first and last letters in the word remain the same you are able to read without a problem. I challenged my roommates to take the reading test, and we even we even made a game out of it to see who could read it the fastest! I also tried to test the study by taking a word and mixing it up every way possible to see if it could still be read, and I beat it! For instance, the word "American" can be rearranged the following ways: Aercmian, Aciamern, Arcieamn, etc. I asked my roommates again to figure out what the mixed up word was, and only one could figure it out within a few seconds! Then, I inserted the word into a sentence to see if it was easier to figure out. I wrote the sentence, "Eh bmceae a mbeemr fo the Arcieamn mlairity", and asked some other friends to decipher the code and no one could figure it out!
     
 The second thing I found on StumbleUpon today was an adorable Valentines Day card written by a student for his teacher. I thought this would be appropriate to blog about because yesterday was Valentine's Day! This year, I spent the majority of my Valentine's Day either in class or studying. I had a big physiology exam today so I spent 4 hours studying- how romantic! What made my Valentine's Day really special this year was the person I got to call my "valentine", my boyfriend Nick. We didn't get to spend much time together (except for the history class we have together!) but it was still my best Valentine's Day yet :) We exchanged gifts the night before since we didn't get out of class until 9pm, and I absolutely LOVED my gifts! My favorite gift was a complete surprise- a gorgeous purse that Nick had picked out ALL BY HIMSELF! I was so proud :)

My very first blog EVER :)

Hi. My name is Emily and this is the first blog I've ever had a blog before. First, here's a little info about me: My full name is Emily Marie Hilgartner and I am a sophomore nursing major at Stevenson University. I have been a member of universities cheerleading team for the past two years, but in high school I played volleyball, basketball, and ran track. I have twin sisters named Hope and Hannah who are 15 years old, and a brother named Josh who is 30. My goal in life is to one day become a nurse practitioner or midwife, and work in the Labor and Delivery unit at Johns Hopkins.

Like I said, I've never done this before so I was stumped on what I should blog about. When choosing a topic for my blog I tried to think of something I do or see on a daily basis. As a college student, much of my time is spent either in class or in the library, so that didn't leave much to write about. As I sat and pondered possible topics my mind began to wander and I found myself doing what I always do to pass time- stumbling. Stumbling isn't as dangerous or clumsy as it sounds, its exploring new websites based on my particular interest on a website called "StumbleUpon". Ever since I discovered StumbleUpon about a year ago I've been addicted- if I'm on my computer, there's a good chance I'm stumbling! I love this website because it's personalized to my interests, and opens me up to new websites and information I never knew existed. My friends make fun of me because I always start of my sentences, "So I was on StumbleUpon,.....", but I find so many interesting things each day it's hard not to share!

Today, the website that interested me the most was actually the very first website I stumbled upon. The website features information entitled, "The Medical Benefits of Being Addicted to Coffee". This instantly got my attention because I am a nursing major, as well as a coffee addict. I typically drink about 2-3 cups a day, so it was interesting to see positive effects that come from my addiction. Apparently, drinking coffee can reduce your chances of developing problems like Type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, and heart disease!