and the results are in

Apparently, I have a much greater grasp on the concepts in Chemistry than I thought….

Yours truly scored the HIGHEST grade in all three sections of Chem 2 with an 88%! (The fact that an 88% is the HIGH grade should tell you something…)

I went into the final with a 101%, but since it’s 40% of the actual grade and no one even gets close to a 100% on it, keeping that perfect score was going to be impossible.

And speaking of impossible chemistry finals… I tied for the HIGHEST score of 153/210 possible points, which equates to a 74%! Again, a measley 74% doesn’t seem high, until you realize the national average is only 55%. Seriously.

In the words of my Chem professor in an email after the exam, I’m “bad ass.” Guess my dads’ parents’ smarts (they were both PhDs in chemistry) found their way into my brain. Sweet! (Good thing, since I have Biochemistry and Organic next…)

A huge thank you is due to Doreen, the chem tutor at ECC, who works incredibly hard to help us all understand the intricacies of chemistry. Doreen, if you’re reading this, THANK YOU!

And don’t get me wrong–I worked my butt off. Like, it’s all but gone. (Not really, but wouldn’t that be great?)

There were plenty of super smart people in my class (like Eric, who totally gets the concepts but can’t do the math, and Sarah–who actually went to high school with Carolyn–who is a whiz on the calculator, and even Bob, who is more drunk than sober, but still manages to “get it” instantly) who did not, or could not, spend as much time as I did studying.

So, I’m a pretty happy camper. With two 4.0 semesters under my belt, the pressure is ON to continue this trend (for lots of reasons, the least of which being my OCD-tendencies) once I get to Buff State, but that may not be a realistic (or even worthwhile) goal. We shall see.

But for now, I’m pretty impressed with myself. After all, in these past two semesters I pretty much tackled some of my biggest fears in life: going back to school (I didn’t know if I could do it) and CHEMISTRY (I thanked my lucky stars I didn’t have to take it the first time around).

This writer-turned-science major surprised herself, if not anyone else.

impulse shopping

This is what happens when Holly goes to Wegmans for ‘a few things:’

Hey, at least it’s all healthy, right? Just LOOK at all those colors!

HAD to get:

-bananas and spinach (only one left in the house–yikes!)

-cottage cheese (I have a cut-up pineapple in the fridge just begging to be paired with it)

-avocado (remember all those Julio’s chips Andrew shipped home??)

-strawberries (because I’ve waited all winter long for them)

-red pepper and sugar snap peas (homemade hummus is in the fridge as we speak–or type, rather)

-wheat germ (for a bread recipe)

-frozen blueberries and a lemon (for a muffin recipe and because berries are expensive enough)

-deli ham and light swiss (Andrew’s gotta have lunch tomorrow…)

OK, I’ll admit, I totally got sucked into the Nature’s Market section (like I ever DON’T?) and some SALES caught my eye…

…like this one for Health Valley Organic cereal bars and ‘pop tarts.’ It was $1 off each, and the blueberry was just calling to me. (Blueberry totally has been these days! I already made a plan to make Ellie Krieger’s blueberry muffins this weekend…) I figured Andrew would like the strawberry bars and I could mix some warmed ‘toaster tarts’ into our morning breakfast routine.

And then there was the sale on granola:

It was $1 off, too! In my defense, we’ve been out of granola for awhile now and I said to myself (out loud, of course) that I should get some more soon. I initially saw the ‘vanilla blueberry with flax seeds’ (there is that blueberry again) variety and grabbed it, only to then see the ‘maple walnut with chia and quinoa’ and ‘oat and honey WITH COCONUT’ flavors… There was just no deciding between them. At least they’ll last awhile…

Side note: Some of you are probably wondering why I would BUY this stuff when I can make it all myself, which I actually enjoy doing. A couple reasons:

1. I’m EXHAUSTED, and surprisingly busy. I’ve been catching up on random stuff since finishing up with school, as well as tackling a bunch of things that popped up, like arranging summer travel plans and working out a new gym routine.

2. I don’t really enjoy cooking in this kitchen. It sounds bad, but it’s true. Until I have ‘my’ kitchen, it just isn’t the same.

3. I’m starting The Hunger Games soon (maybe this weekend!), which will consume me for however long it takes to read them all. Andrew, I apologize in advance–I’ll make sure we’re stocked up on the unhealthy food you insist on eating when I don’t cook. Or maybe not.

4. The bright colors and yellow SALE tags caught my eye. (Hey, I’m just being honest.)

5. And lastly, I am (unfortunately) about to become just as busy as before. My summer online class starts in a little more than a week and I already took a look at the online info… It looks INTENSE, to say the least. Fantastic.

So yeah, despite ending school, I won’t be found in the kitchen too much just yet…

OK, back to groceries….

The Justin’s was on sale ($6.99 instead of $8.99… still pricey, but oh, so good!) and I’ve been eyeing this Cinnamon Raisin Swirl variety EVERY TIME I GO TO WEGMANS. EVERY TIME. I pulled the trigger today–why not? Kath eats almond butter on her carrots sometimes, and ever since I saw one of those photos I’ve been intrigued to try it. I thought the Justin’s would be the perfect accompaniment for some carrot sticks. (Oh, have I told you all I’m eating raw carrots now? I went my whole life HATING them, and then all of a sudden, they’re fine. What’s with that?)

And this guy was hiding behind all the store-bought goodness the whole time…

Beautiful, wonderful-smelling homemade bread. What better with which to pair the new cinnamon raisin peanut butter??

…and i’m DONE

(At least for the next two weeks before my online class starts…)

I’m taking it slow today; just trying to relax and enjoy tackling my GIANT to-do list (you know, the one with all the things I’ve put-off for the last two weeks…) piece-by-piece. Up first: BLOGGING!

So, yesterday was the big day; my Chem 2 final. I think I was more nervous for this one (despite my insane amount of studying) because I remembered how hard the Chem 1 final had been. Plus, everyone in my class knew I’d done exceptionally well on the first one, so I felt all this unnecessary pressure to do just as well the second time around. Only time will tell; I get my grade Thursday.

All in all, the test went well. A bunch of us showed up early for a study session with the tutor–which really just turned into a pseudo-party with donuts that probably served as more of a stress-reliever than anything else. I wish I could say that I walked out of the test a few minutes early knowing I’d done my absolute best and been able to feel incredible relief; instead I took every last moment and even then didn’t have a chance to go back and give the ones I’d had questions on a second look. The ACS finals are just like that; you just never know how you did until you get your grade. I’m not worried; the truth is that I studied hard, I’m a good student, I went into the exam with a 101% average in the class and the final is highly curved–if I don’t get an A, no one will. What I’m really interested in is my raw score on the final…

I did, however, take one last look at ECC before I left–all finished there!

Abigail and I had a late lunch at Arriba, where I enjoyed a small margarita on the rocks with salt (my absolute favorite) and just relaxed outside enjoying the mild weather. She just returned from a whirlwind week in Florida with her campus Christian fellowship from Penn State, so she was just as bushed as me. It was so nice to be able to (finally!) be able to enjoy talking about summer plans, Carolyn’s shower details and birthdays coming up (our summer is full of them).

Afterward, we got our nails done 🙂 (Because that’s what girls do, of course, and that’s what THIS GIRL does to reward herself after a semester well-done.)

This is the color I fell in love with at J. Crew a few weeks ago, but hadn’t had time to actually paint on my nails. It’s even brighter than this in person… What can I say? I wanted to CELEBRATE.

Abigail and I decided some iced coffee and Main Street-walking was in order after our nails were finished, so we ended our afternoon doing that. Oh, and trying on the HOT PINK HEELS Carolyn picked out for us for her wedding. Oh, they are bright. Oh, what an excuse to buy something I would NEVER buy myself in a million years. 🙂 I just told Andrew he’s going to have to take me places one can wear hot pink heels (with black pants, perhaps) so I can get some use out of them. Rick’s, I think?

Speaking of Rick’s… We were supposed to go there to celebrate the end of my semester, but it was a bit overcast. We love nothing more than sitting on their patio, every table full, on a beautiful night enjoying good food, good wine and good weather, and (unfortunately) it was just not that kind of night around here. So, we opted for The King and I, a thai place a bit north of Buffalo.

Love this outfit, and LOVE those shoes 🙂 I wore them for my exam.

After starting with hot tea (for him), white wine (for me) and an order of spring rolls (Andrew’s absolute favorite), our dinners arrived.

Instead of pad thai, my normal dish, I ordered their house noodles, which was similar but with more crushed peanuts, less tamarind and more veggies. YUM.

Andrew got a spicy stir-fry and gobbled it right up!

Don’t you love his shirt? He knew I would. It was a recent J.Crew purchase on super sale-$27.99! LOVE IT. He has these awesome light linen pants he’s always pairing with heavy or dark shirts/shoes/jacket, so this shirt will help give him something light and season-appropriate to wear with them.

We were both craving a little vanilla ice cream action, and Dairy Queen is Andrew’s favorite. (I’m a Kone King kind of girl, myself, but DQ is good, too. And it was way more convenient.)

Can you tell which one was mine? Despite my outright OBSESSION with ice cream, I was a good girl and ordered a small, which was just right. However, I’m already salivating over my next DQ treat: the ‘confetti cake’ blizzard they’re featuring this month. A mini-version will definitely find its way into my mouth when Abigail and I go to the mall to run errands later this week…

I have LOTS to do today… Up next: clean the house! Between all the freshly mowed grass we’ve tracked in (grrr…), hair, dust and other things that have been ignored for the past couple days, it’s a MESS!