My Last RA Training

as an RA... Hopefully, I'll be returning to the graduate school world and will get an opportunity to work with RAs again but, for now I am sitting here realizing that I just completed my last RA training (which feels so bittersweet). Anyways, this RA training was a blast. We covered conduct, student concerns, and programming.

We actually just remodeled our programming so that all of the programming proposals are done entirely online. I'm really glad we switched because before we wasted so much paper. We're still working out all of the kinks but, so far I have really been enjoying the online version. We basically just use google forms and all of the programming information gets placed into a document that I read over and transcribe into my spreadsheet so I can track programming points.

All of the Senior RA/DAs!

 During training we participate in different competitions. Some of these competitions include karaoke, minute to win it challenges, and the traditional lip-sync! Lip-Sync is a winter training tradition and the different buildings all get songs and get really into it.

This year we changed things up and allowed each staff to choose the song that they wanted to perform based on professional staff members. Some of the songs that were chosen were "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Sharped Dressed Man," "You Don't Know You're Beautiful," and my staff's "I'm the Man" by Aloe Blancc. All of the lip-sync performances were incredible and my staff had a great time putting together "I'm the Man." Sheridan-Pangborn actually won the contest, so I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate the end of training.

It was a fabulous last training and I'm really excited to see what the future holds for RA training!

2015 Goals

I know I'm 7 days late on posting this... but, you're never too late to write about your hopes and dreams right? Anyways, 2014 was an amazing year and I hope 2015 will be just as amazing. So, below are my 2015 Goals & Dreams!

Blog Goals: 

200 GFC Followers - Last year my goal was 75 GFC followers! Well, I am over the moon knowing that I gained a total of 188 followers in 2014. So, thank you to all of you who regularly visit my little blogopshere. It means so much to me that you all continually come back and catch up on what's happening at Radiating Sunshine. 

New Signature Line - I have had the signature below for quite sometime now, so in 2015 I would like to kind of remodel the signature and maybe change it up a bit!

Blog 3-4 times a week- Last semester I got really bogged down with academics, RA Life, work, and making time for my family and friends... unfortunately my blog kind of took a hit, so I would like to post more regularly and really get back into blogging. 

Personal Goals: 

Travel - I started 2015 with a trip to Pittsburgh with Josh! I hope I can continue traveling... maybe during Spring Break take a vacation with my girl friends and over the summer visit a new place! 

Stay Connect with Friends - Now that all of my High School friends and College friends are graduating I really hope I can stay connected and maybe visit them at their new jobs and stuff like that. 

Live in the Moment - Although its nice to think about the future and get excited for what is to come... I really want to live in the moment and be thankful for everyone in my life and for everything I have. 

Academic Goals: 

Figure out my post graduate school plans - I don't know what those will be! I applied to several graduate schools and a few jobs so, hopefully I'll hear back from them throughout the upcoming semester. 

Graduate with some from of 'cum laude' or with honors - Throughout these past four years I have worked really hard on maintaining a nice GPA. I am not a 4.0 student by any shot, but I think come May I'll be able to graduate with 'cum laude' and i want to continue that throughout my future schooling. 

A Great Way to Start Off the New Year

I don't know about you, but my 2015 started with a bang of excitement and new places. Like seriously every part of so far has been amazing. On New Year's Eve, Josh and I went out with my parents to their friend's house. After ringing in the New Year we held our annual New Year's Day party and watched bowl games.

Earlier last week I got the idea that we should go to the Ravens vs. Steelers game in Pittsburgh! I have never been to Pittsburgh and it is Josh's favorite city, so after the Steelers won against the Bengals we started to make arrangements to go to the game.

So, Friday night we left for the city! I'm so thankful that Josh has family up there so we got to stay at their houses. Anyways, we got to the city around 5pm and Josh, his brother, and I explored the city. It was really nice having him show me landmarks and his favorite spots. The city itself is absolutely beautiful. Like seriously the bridges and the buildings were remarkable. We're hoping to go up during the summer time to see the pretty fountains.

We got in the stadium really early so we could get the free terrible towels! For dinner we got Primanti Bros cheesesteaks. If you're ever in the city I would definitely recommend going to there for lunch or dinner. It was probably one of the best sandwiches I have ever had.

So, we were probably the luckiest fans ever. All week they were forecasting rain for the game. We packed our ponchos (I went incognito so that way I didn't get harassed for being a ravens fan) and we were ready for the storm. But, it never rained and it actually started to warm up as the night went on. I couldn't have asked for better weather and I'm seriously so blessed that we stayed dry and warm the entire game.

I absolutely love this poor quality picture with my favorite guy!

Unfortunately for Josh and fortunately for me, the Ravens won! I couldn't really celebrate while at the stadium because I was surrounded by a bunch of Steelers fans. Josh was a good sport and the other fans were really nice. We had a blast road tripping up to Pittsburgh. We listened to good music and sang our favorite songs.