Memorial Day Cleaning

Spring Cleaning Time!!!!

I've always had a love/hate relationship with weekends and other scheduled days off. On the one hand, it's always good to have time off from work/school, and there are certain things that you really only have time for on the weekends (shopping, going out with friends, etc.), but on the other hand, weekends and holidays are outstandingly disruptive to the normal flow of life; everything is either closed all day, or closes early for half the day. This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and since everything was closed all day, or closed early, I decided to do to much needed, albeit very belated, spring cleaning.

My plan was to go through all of my stuff, and switch out my winter clothes for spring/summer clothes, and get rid of everything I'm not using (e.i. things I hadn't used in more than 2 years). It's very hard for me in general to get rid of anything because I attache sentimental value to just about everything. For example, I had some tie-around belt that I hadn't worn since I was in middle school, but I never have been able to get rid of them because my mom was with me when I picked them out, so now they remind me of her. Then there are the clothes that I can still wear, but have been saving until I can find that perfect top, or skirt, to wear it with. I've suckered myself into keeping soooo many things thinking like this, knowing deep down inside that the chances of me wearing whatever it is are close to nil. All in all, I did actually manage to part with a lot of my stuff, and even freed up one of those 4 gallon plastic storage bins!



Of course, there were some things that I could never get rid of, even if I never use them, like these animal hair scrunches. My mom bought these for me when I was in elementary school, I'd I still think they are the cutest things ever. Even though I'm not going to wear them in my hair, I'm still going to keep them out with the rest of my stuffed animals.

I also found my dog purse that I never have actually worn out anywhere. My mom bought this when I was in high school, and I love it because it looks so real, and I always have wanted a posh little lap dog! Of course I'm also keeping this to keep with my other stuffed animals as well.

Then I found all of my old jewelry that I had put away in high school because I thought it was too adolescent looking. Most of it I had bought when I was in middle school, but the fish and rock necklace I got from a family vacation we took to Tennessee when I was in the 3rd grade. Looking at it now, though, I see that it is all still quite fashionable, and I can even wear it with a lot of the clothes that I have now (silly high school thinking).

Here are my Junior Classical League shirt from high school that we wore to the Fall Forum(yeah, I was a total nerd), and my Hey Day hat from junior year of college. The theme for our shirts that year was the "Clue" game version of the assassination of Julius Caesar, which is why the shirt reads: "It was Brutus in the Forum with the dagger".

Hey Day is a Penn tradition that has been going on for at least 100 years. Originally it was a formal ceremony where the president of the university announced that the rising juniors were officially seniors at the end of the year. Now, it has turned into a Styrofoam hat wearing, bamboo cane carrying, food throwing procession down the main walk of campus, where the president gives a short speech dubbing the rising juniors as official seniors! You may have notice that chucks on the rim of my hat have been bitten off. Part of the current Hey Day tradition is to bite off parts of other people's hats. Honestly, I have no idea when this part was added in, or what the significance of it is, but it does seriously add to the fun factor of it all!