She's Baaack.

♪♫♭Guess who's back? Back again. Schmidty's back. Tell a friend. ♭♫♪

My Spring semester was absolutely crazy busy, and left me with very little time to blog. I also had very little to write about, but I'm back with lots on my mind! So, what did you miss the past six months? Well, let me break it down for you: 

1. I struggled through Financial Accounting (for the second time), but made it out alive and with a passing grade! 
2. I have been "CrossFitting" harder than ever before and have seen some great progress with my strength and endurance. In April, I was awarded the Female Athlete of the Month at Gator CrossFit. I am so blessed to be part of the Gator CrossFit community and look to forward to each and every workout. Well, almost every workout. 
3. On April 11, my roommate and best friend Callie and I attended a Taylor Swift concert in and had the time of our lives. 
4. Over the past two semesters, I have watched eight of my closest friends turn 21 and we have took Gainesville by storm each and every time. On Friday, it will be my birthday, and I will finally be...20. #Junebabyproblems
5. Atop Snowshoe Mountain, on March 9, my beautiful cousin Marie married the man of her dreams in the most picturesque wedding I have ever been in. I didn't meet her husband Brad until the wedding rehearsal, but I immediately felt like I had known him for years. Brad and Marie are truly a match made and heaven and I am so honored to have been a part of their wedding and cannot wait for their future together. 

So that's what you missed. The past six months summed up in a paragraph or two. Of course, I'm probably leaving out more than I realize, but those were the highlights that came to mind. This summer, I am in Gainesville taking Managerial Accounting and Calculus 2 (prayers, please). Despite the courses I'm enrolled in, I expect to have a significant amount of free time these coming months to get back into blogging. My project for the summer will be a weekly Bachelorette recap. The Bachelorette (sister-show to The Bachelor) is a another ridiculous (addicting) dating show on television that occupies me each and every Monday night. Though it won't be comparable to my summer in Rome, I hope it still proves to be entertaining and worth the read. I will be posting on Tuesdays with the recap from the previous night. In addition, I hope to be able to throw in another post every now and then in the mix. I'm so excited to be writing again; thanks for reading and enjoy! 

Writer's Block

As the new year approches, I have been struggling to think of things to write about. Each Monday, I have sat down at my computer and tried to come up with something to post, but as you can see, for the last 4 Mondays I have been unsuccessful. For those of you that have been following me from the very beginning when this blog was "Make Way for Alligators", it has been a year and a half now. Unfortunately, I have written about all of the "timely things" such as New Years Resolutions, Valentine's Day, Christmas, and more. As 2013 rolls around, I would feel weird writing about those same subjects again for much of the content would probably be the same. My daily life in Gainesville is not nearly exciting enough for me to write about, trust me. Being almost entirely consumed by school, I'm afraid that my blog would become much too educational for my liking.

So, here's the plan. I will be taking a hiatus from my weekly blog posting until further notice. I don't expect this to be very long, but I think I need some time let my brain relax. Hopefully after this break I will have come up with and stored away great material to write about for many Mondays to come. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you...which I'm assuming is none. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic start to the year 2013. That is, of course, assuming the Mayans were wrong and we all make it past December 21, 2012.

President Obama Re-Elected

Well, it's official. With the re-count of Florida finally in, President Obama will have another four years in the White House. On November 6, all of America tuned into their televisions as the votes trickled in and the projections started being made. For the first hour or two, Republicans felt pretty comfortable that Romney would win this election. At the time, he had many more electoral votes than Obama and was also leading in the popular vote. Democrats, however, were also extremely confident that President Obama would win this election. As the voting polls in the more populous states began to close, it became clear that Governor Romney would need to win almost all of the battleground states to pull out a victory in this election. Even at the sight of this large feat, Republicans remained confident and assured their viewers that Romney would pull out a "straight-line" victory. As 10:30 p.m. approached, none of the critical states could be accurately called as all of them were still too close to call. Just after 11:00 p.m., breaking news came in that President Obama would win Ohio. The Democratic Headquarters was beyond excited as this would almost surely secure President Obama four more years in the White House. The Republican Headquarters was quiet and tense as the audience stared at the television hoping for some sort of miracle for Governor Romney. That miracle would never come. President Obama would go on to win Virginia, Nevada, Colorado, and Florida giving him 332 electoral votes, many more than the 270 required for re-election. President Obama would also win the popular vote by almost 4 million votes. The last time than an incumbent lost re-election was George Bush Sr., so it was most definitely a stretch for Governor Romney to pull out a "W". Despite his loss, Romney clearly gave Obama a run for his money in what ended up being a pretty close election.

It's clear that America is changing, both demographically and in our mindset, and America wants a President that sees this change and views it as progress. I hope, and am optimistic in the idea that, without another election in his future, President Obama will be more apt to work with both parties and accomplish more of the goals that he had previously set out to do. To his defense, this is no easy feat. America is clearly divided, which I find to be very discouraging. I think that both parties need to make significant changes and an effort to work together. Some say that in order to have a chance at winning the election in 2016, Republicans need to completely rebrand their party and come to the middle on issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Unfortunately, these are two of the issues that Republicans believe most strongly in and the likelihood of that happening seems to be very slim. In my opinion, America is at a very critical point in its history. I will be very interested to see what happens in these next four years. I hope that in 2016 we will see an America that truly has moved forward as President Obama has so coined the term.

One Week Until The Election

Alright ladies and gentlemen. We are officially one week away from the 2012 presidential election. Next Tuesday, (weather permitting) America will make its way to the voting polls and cast their ballots. Analysts are claiming that this could be the closest election since 2000, and Ohio could very well be the deciding state. As candidates are trying to put in their final words and last attempts at persuasion, Hurricane Sandy hits the northeast coast. Meteorologists claim that this storm will be felt by nearly one third of the United States. Hurricane Sandy has already caused 26 storm related deaths and millions are without power. New York City is almost unrecognizable as cars float down the flooded streets of Times Square.

So, what does this powerful storm mean for the final week leading up to the election? Well, immediately it has forced both candidates to cancel campaign appearances. With the race as close as it is, these final week appearances were critical for both President Obama and Governor  Romney. Some news stations are saying that this storm will benefit President Obama not only by giving him the opportunity to act "presidential" in handling this natural disaster, but also by possibly slowing the steady momentum that Governor Romney had been gaining in the past few weeks. As voters focus on this storm, Republicans worry that the independent voters may forget about the debates and provide Romney with some what of a uphill climb as November 6th approaches. That being said, I believe that both candidates are doing the politically correct thing by essentially not making this storm political. It's important that in these times of trial and disaster competition is temporarily set aside to "come together" as a nation.

Stay safe in this crazy weather, and I will see you next week when we will have a winner of this 2012 presidential election!

Vice Presidential Debate 2012

Contrary to the Presidential Debate last week, the debate between Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan struggled to name a clear winner. However, if one had to be chosen, most sources say that Vice President Joe Biden was the victor. The style of this debate was polar opposite to the Presidential Debate we saw just a week ago: both candidates were seated and the tone was much more combative. Now I don't believe that either of these characteristics are inherently negative, but I did not "enjoy" this debate nearly as much as President Obama versus Governor Romney. Whether it was through masking laughs (or in Biden's case, outright laughing), interruptions, or consistently fact checking the other candidate, it was clear that these two men had no intentions of playing clean tonight. Biden had some serious work to do following his boss's performance in convincing America that the two really do want to be reelected this November, and Ryan was expected to continue the energy and solid performance of Governor Romney.

In my opinion, I found the moderator to be biased in favor of Joe Biden. After asking around, I received mixed opinions. Political party affiliation had no effect on opinions, so I can only conclude that it depends on the person. I saw a woman who worded questions in favor of Biden and often challenged Ryan on what he was saying. She continually pressed for more information, which in many people's opinion made her a great moderator. In mine, however, I saw it as helping Biden in making his points. Biden received many comments about his performance, and most of the negative ones referenced his constant interruption and blatant laughing at Ryan. Despite his etiquette, Biden was still named the winner by most sources.

One of the last topics discussed was defense and foreign policy. Each candidate has clearly different views on what America should be doing abroad. Having grown up in a strong military family, I have the upmost appreciation for our troops. I would love a world in which everyone got along and war wasn't a concern, but that won't happen in this lifetime. Having accepted that fact, I strongly believe in having an equipped military. I find it hard to justify backing out of every operation abroad when on September 11, 2012 we experienced a terrorist attack in Libya. It's clear through the increasing attacks, protests, and crimes towards the United States of America that was are not every country's friend and still have very real enemies in this world. Better safe than sorry.

I am looking forward to tomorrow's second Presidential Debate as it will focus much on foreign policy. I am eager to hear both sides' opinions, but almost more eager to see the energy and attitude that President Obama will bring following his poor prior performance. I highly doubt that President Obama will let Governor Romney walk away with another victory so easily. I am expecting (and hoping) for a much more engaging debate tomorrow evening.

Round One: Romney

Last week, President Obama and Governor Romney participated in their first debate leading up to the election in November. I was very excited for this debate as I am still looking to finalize my decision on who I will be voting for. The results of the debate, however, surprised me. Both Democratic and Republican sources named Romney the clear winner of the debate. America knows President Obama for being a compelling speaker, and on Wednesday, we were all shocked. President Obama gave off the presence that he just didn't want to be there and wasn't prepared at all for the debate. President Obama's body language was submissive, and also dismissive. He wasn't able to retort to many of Governor Romney's comments and often laughed off Romney's statistics. Romney's constant eye contact with the President and correction of the statistics President Obama was revealing let him easily dominate the stage and get his points across much more clearly and compelling than President Obama.

If I'm being completely honest, I didn't fully understand much of what was being said. I was either analyzing the delivery too much or I simply don't understand much of politics. What I did hear was both candidates talk of a balanced budget for our country, though both presented different definitions of what that entails. The passive aggressiveness of both candidates made me rather uncomfortable. Governor Romney often talked over the mediator and beyond his time. I know that he was just trying to get his point across (and he did), but it still made me uneasy. While the debate's content is extremely important, I believe what resinated with America was the presentation of the material. Governor Romney clearly came prepared to debate any and every topic, while President Obama lacked his spark and usual eloquence. An overwhelming majority of the country was disappointed in our President, but don't count him out of the race just yet. Although Governor Romney jumped significantly in the polls, (I'll leave the credibility for you to determine) most polls still show Obama winning the election. It's clear that both candidates still have their work cut out for them in the next 29 days.

This Thursday evening, Vice President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan will take the stage for their debate. Let's hope that both candidates come fully prepared and equipped to make their case for this country.

Just One of Those Days

Welcome to October everyone! It's breast cancer awareness month and Halloween will greet us on the 31st. Unfortunately, I've been having one of those "bleh" Mondays and am having a bit of a writer's block. School has been very challenging this semester thus far, and I spend most of my days in between Calculus, Accounting, and Statistics. On these ever so rare days when I just don't have the energy or mindset to write something compelling, I feel like I still need to give you a little something. When in doubt, search YouTube for videos and hope that my readers don't get too upset with me! :)