My Bachelor's Degree Served A Purpose??

I am the worst blogger ever.  Why do I even try??

So as of sometime before noon tomorrow, I will officially be an employed college graduate.  I just have to fax in my acceptance of employment and I will be an Account Executive at Cision in the city.  I can no longer whine and complain about having no job and being stuck in po'dunkville Connecticut... but I'm sure I will find something else to lament about.

OH WAIT!!  I have it already.  Where the f am I going to live??  I currently know nobody who is moving to Manhattan/BK, and I definitely can't afford an apartment on my own (nor do I want to, being the social creature that I am.  Pre-gaming alone is generally looked down upon.  Although then I would have fewer problems walking around in my underwear).  So after two days of no leads on roommates, I have spent the day scouring Craigslist for roommates/apartments/sublets/people who won't kill me hopefully.  If you are one of those people that I emailed, hi.  Yes, I'm the only Courtney Schiessl in existence (ayyyoooo).  Yes, my last name is a rap slang term.  Yes, I like to think I can bro out better than I actually can.  And yes, I love to rage.  And watch reality television.  I'm quite a unique individual.

I'm fairly certain I sound like the least appealing roommate ever.  Whatevs.  Andrea loves me.  Too bad she ditched me for a one bedroom in Brooklyn.  I'm not... jealous... or anything...

BUT I FELT LIKE I should document this momentous occasion with a blog entry, which has subsequently turned out to be slightly anticlimactic.  I don't think I'll really comprenday how I feel about all this craziness until I jump into it, which is cool and whatever.  Oh, except I know how I'll feel about moving day.  IT WILL SUCK.  Anyone want to help me move a full-sized bed into a walk-up?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller??

How long do you think that people will reference that movie?  Forever, I hope.

I just realized that last Friday was the first Friday that I didn't think of the song "Friday."  Thank the freaking lord.  I thought it would never go away.

I'm ashamed that referencing Ferris Bueller's Day Off made me think of Rebecca Black.

This post is really turning stream-of-consciousness.  I think I should go now.

PLEASE FIND ME A PLACE TO LIVE IN A WEEK AND A HALF KTHANKSBYE

I wish I was cooler,
Courtney

Five Things From The Past Five Days

Let's get caught up on the recent news in la vie de Courtney.

One: We went to Poughkeepsie this weekend.

It was basically too awesome for words.  Or memory, apparently.  But we did take some good pictures.

Like this picture from the bus that took us between bars.

Or this picture of Connor and Andy dancing.

Or this picture of bros being bros, as always.

All I have to say is if that was any indication, my grad party is going to be Ah.  May.  Zing.

Two: There was a tornado in a city twenty minutes away.

Listen, Mother Nature, I don't know if you know this, but tornadoes suck.  Also, I live in Connecticut, not Oklahoma or Kansas or whatever.  What is a tornado doing all the way over here?  I'm very confused. Check out some of the crazy video and pictures in this ABC News article.

AND ALSO the article says that "there are an average of two tornadoes every year in Massachusetts."  WHAT??  YOU ARE BLOWING MY MIND ABC NEWS!!

Advice from tornado expert Andrea: wear a bike helmet when hiding from tornadoes.  I don't think I have one.  I'm screwed.

(Let's hope that the weather stays safe tonight and tomorrow please!)

Three: I had interviews today in Manhattan.

Woooo!!  It was pretty sweet.  But I will not talk about them any more because I do not want to jinx them.  Instead, I will say this: it was so hot out.  It was so humid.  It was so gross.  I hate having to walk around and be all gross and sweaty and ick.  I stopped in like every Starbucks I could to cool off.  Good thing there's one on every block.

I also read a whole book.  I also had to take a bus.  It was rush hour.  I got bus-sick from reading on the bus.  Blah.

Four: I got coffee on my way home and it sucked.

It was from McDonald's at a rest stop.  Figures.  Gross.


And lastly: Who invented those really, really bright headlights on cars that look sort of blue-ish?

I hate them because they are really stupid.  They are too bright, and they blind me, and they look blue in my rear view mirror, so when I glance at the mirror, I think there is a cop behind me and I freak out.  Even if I'm not speeding.  Because I really can't afford a ticket for any reason right now.

Five things from the past five days.  Now we are all caught up.  Now isn't that grand?

Time to go get a snack and watch How I Met Your Mother,
Courtney

I Ran?

This week has been the start of Courtney gets healthy again, and it kindof really sucks.  You see, once upon a time in March I was in Wild Party and looked like this:

But then spring break happened and I spent about two months devoting all my time to being a senior and doing all the things seniors need to do before graduation 24/7.  And then I got home and I was like, crap.  This sucks.

So this morning I was watching a ton of How I Met Your Mother because it's my new favorite show and it's set in New York, so of course I'm obsessed, and I made myself go out for a run.  Have I ever mentioned I don't run?  I.  Don't.  Run.  But I don't have the money for a gym membership, and I don't have a car to get to the gym anyways, so it was my only option.

I was only planning on running around the block because I'm a big baby, but when I started, I got some grandiose vision of being an awesome runner who can run for miles and miles, so I changed my route a bit.  This is what it looked like.

Results:

I did not run the whole time.  Please.  It was hot and I haven't exercised in two months.  But I DID run a lot of it.

I (surprisingly) did not get a sunburn.  I get a sunburn in like two seconds of exposure without sunscreen.  This makes no sense.  Perhaps I was running so fast that the sun couldn't burn me.

I got a blister.  It's on my right heel.  I need better running shoes.  My running shoes were twelve dollars at Target.

I am very, very, very tired.  Mondo tired.  But How I Met Your Mother is on.  I have priorities, you know.

-----

I shall keep myself accountable on this blog.  MUST.  LOOK.  GOOD.  FOR.  GRAD.  PARTY.  AND.  HAWAII.

This weekend I'm going back to the Bronx and to Poughkeepsie for a grad party!  WAHOO!!

There-is-a-gnat-on-my-computer-I-will-kill-it!!!,
Courtney

Today I Did Nothing Of Importance

I woke up.

I gave someone some musicals off of my iTunes.

I showered.

(Not in that order)

I ate some miso soup.

I put away some clothes.

I temporarily thought that a bag of my clothes was missing and I ran around and freaked out because I thought it was when a bag of my shoes was stolen all over again.

The bag of clothes was in my kitchen cart which makes no sense.

Uhmmm... what else did I do?

Is that really all I did?

...I watched Bridezillas...

...not ashamed...

OH AND I APPLIED FOR A JOB!!  Most productive event of the day.

I've lost count of the amount of jobs I've applied for.  Probably like 70.  Or more.

I went to Friendly's with my parents.

I got all cranky at my mom because I told her I was fat and she just told me to start going to the gym.

We went to the gym and found out it would be $99 for the summer but $73 for a month and HOW DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL??

...so which one do I choose?!?!?

I watched a bunch of TV shows.

Now I'm watching Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.

It's not as good.

Why is Penelope Garcia on this one too??

Sometimes TV spin-offs don't make sense.

I vow to make tomorrow more productive.

Now I will go to bed.

...but not right away because Criminal Minds, even though it's a spin-off, is still creepy.

Goodnight!
Courtney

Lemon Meringue Pie Please?

Today I biked to the grocery store to get lemons to make a lemon meringue pie for my parents anniversary.  I biked.  With a backpack on my back.  I'm really cool.

But then I made the pie (and shrimp scampi!) and it was really good and I took some pikshures for you to see here.

LEZZ MAKE A PIE!!!

Start by combining four egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar (save the egg yolks!).  Whip in your REALLY AWESOME YELLOW KITCHENAID STAND MIXER until they form soft peaks, then add in two tablespoons sugar.

Keep whipping until they form stiff peaks.  I almost just said hard peaks.  That would be incorrect.

You need a baked pie shell, so bake it if you have an unbaked one.  Unbaked + the oven = baked.  I got a 5 on my Calculus AP.

In a saucepan, throw in 1/3 cup cornstarch...

1 1/3 cups sugar...

1 1/2 cups water...

And a pinch of salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling.

My hand looks really weird in this picture and I hate it.

While you're waiting for it to boil, you gotta zest some lemon.  I had a really difficult time at this part.  Is this what you use to zest a lemon?

I mangled this poor lemon.  I definitely didn't do this correctly.  Good thing I don't pretend to be perfect.

I even forgot to take a picture of the zest.  You need a tablespoon.  Imagine that here.

Next, you need 1/2 cup of lemon juice.  It took me 4 lemons, probably because I juiced them wrong.

This is what a half cup looks like, in case you were wondering.

Remember those egg yolks I told you to save?  This is why!  You're going to...

WHISK THEM!!  Good job.

Does your cornstarch/water/sugar mixture look goopy and gross now?  Good!  You're ready for the next step.  Remove that pan from that there heat!

Now, this part is very important... you need to temper the eggs.  Basically, you need to add the hot hot mixture to the eggs slowly so that you don't cook the eggs instantly.  Otherwise, you'd have scrambled eggs instead of a pie, and I really hate eggs.  Which is weird, I know, but they just gross me out.

So, as you are whisking the yolks, add the hot mixture into the eggs one ladle at a time, until at least half of the hot stuff is mixed in.

I added in pretty much all of the mix.  This is what it should look like if you did it right!

Now, pour the egg mix back into the saucepan and cook over low heat for another minute or two.  Then, remove from heat.

Add in three tablespoons of buttah...

...and the zest and juice.  I'm silly and knocked the zest into the juice while I was taking pictures.  Don't be like me.

Stir until completely combined!

Like this!  This tastes really good, but don't eat a lot of it because it has raw egg yolks, and while I've never gotten salmonella, it's just a little yucky.

Pour the yellow goo into the pie shell.

Nom!  Now comes the fun part.  Take your meringue (if it has fallen a little like mine did, whip it back into shape again!)...

...and if you like to be cool and creative and make more work for yourself you can put it in a bag, cut a hole in it, and pipe it on the pie.

It looks like packing peanuts!

Or a cloud.  No, mostly just packing peanuts.  Make sure the meringue covers all the filling, even to the edge, then pop it in the oven (375F for 10-14 minutes!).

And then it will look like this yummm!

Deliciouso.  Stick the pie in the fridge after a little while or else it will turn into soup like mine.  But it still tasted really good!

Ta-da!  You made a pie.  If you want the original recipe, you can find it on the Food Network site. 

So now I have a raging headache and I'm going to go to seeps seeing as I have to wake up tomorrow and unpack.  I have no clothes.  None.  My life is in the garage.  Ahhh!

It was really a pie not soup I swear,
Courtney

Sernior Week, Part 1

Today I had a productive day of applying to jobs, watching My Fair Wedding with David Tutera, working out, doing laundry, and watching ABC Family with friends.  Oh, and playing a game of "Guess that 90's tv show theme song."  I didn't win.

Now I shall share senior week here on my blog, or at least some of it.  It may get too long because I'm not very selective with the photos I share and I uploaded 150 pictures to Facebook from senior week.

Unrelated note: When I was a sophomore in high school we had mad drams with our prom limo and I got into a big fight with my friend John over it and I was having a sleepover, so we were IMing angrily (oh dear, AIM fights) and he proceeded to tell me that it was his "sernior year" instead of his "senior year."  So of course, I taunted him for not being able to spell, at which point he called me a "birch" instead of "bitch."  I miss that guy.  He's almost a lawyer now.  Hi John Portonova!  I hope you don't typo when you're angry anymore.

The point of that story is that most of the time when I hear the word "senior" I think of saying "sernior."  Hence the title.

Tuesday Tierney Tinkers Takeover was awesome and nostalgic and awesome again.  We ruled at drinking games and showed the freshmen who's boss and survived a monsoon for 2.2 seconds.

And I'M JUST SAYIN'... it was my idea.  Brush yo' shoulders off.

AND I FOUND THIS!!!  Courtney '11, carved during the spring of my freshman year into the wall at Tinks.  I shall forever live in Tinkers legacy.

Senior Ball was at Pier Sixty in Manhattan and it was gorgeous and there was lots of nomfood and nomdrinks and everyone looked beautiful.  Especially my four lovely ladies.  Psst... the one in the green was my date.  We may not have boyfriends, but we always have roommates!

Of course we got our dance on and I relived New Orleans with Jen doing the Booty Shuffle.  Diana even looks pretty here when I spring a random photo from above on her.

Also, we totally kicked these two randos out from our table who took Di and Mike's seats when we were signing up for seating.  And by kicked out I mean we told Di and Mike to just sit down and start eating at the two empty place settings, and nobody ever came over to try to take them back.  It worked out well.

We even took a break from dancing to pose for another picture.  I like this one better than the first because it's just so us.

Our friends were so nice to let us on the party bus that they rented for the night in order to get to the rooftop bar (yes, rooftop bar!) and back home.  It was pretty awesome.  I downloaded every song I remembered listening to on the bus that night... and I'm pretty sure that our rendition of "Party and Bullshit" will never go away.  Not that I want it to.

AND PARTY BUS AND BULL SHIT!!  Really original.

PS... that's KMac on the left and Jack on the right.  I'm pretty sure they weren't ready for this picture.

I have a video of us in the party bus, but I don't think this blog is ready to handle it quite yet.  Needless to say, we were all incredibly sad to arrive back in the BX at 4am, but it didn't stop us from party party partyin'!

I just realized all the good Encaenia and PADD pictures are on my parents camera, and I need to go to bed because 1) I'm tired, 2) I'm getting sick and my roomie Katie had really bad tonsilitis last week so that sucks, 3) I need to get up and get stuff for my parents' anniversary tomorrow, and 4) If I keep watching Diners Drive-ins and Dives I will eat, like, some brisket.

Okay, not brisket because we don't have any.  But something like that.  Yeah.

It is monsooning, I hope my stuff doesn't get wet, and I really need to unpack because I have no clothes.

Not an exaggeration,

Courtney

...Now What??

I graduated.  From college.  I am no longer a college student.  I am an alumnus.  What is this crazy talk?

This past week has been the craziest and best experience ever, and it's so difficult to accept that it's over because I just want to relive it over and over.  I moved home yesterday, and the only thing I can do is sit here and not know what to do with myself.  The job hunt is going to be FULL FORCE from now on!!  Also, I guess now I have no excuse for not blogging because I really have nothing else to do.

I'll have to post pictures at another time because I kindof can't handle it right now and Facebook won't let me tag any pictures so I am annoyed but let me just say...

They let this girl graduate from college.

Also this girl (from last night of freshman year).

This girl (high school graduation).

THIS ADORABLE LIL BABY!!!

These BFF's.

These biffles (December of sophomore year, going out for some birthdays).

These itsy bitsy freshies.

WE DID IT!!!

.......so now what???

Having a bit of a reality crisis,
Courtney