About a month ago, I went to the grocery store in a rush, having been put in charge of cooking chicken pot pies for my visiting family. This was unusual because my boyfriend is the one who cooks, so I was stressed. Of course, I forgot the chicken at the store, but I did buy something else. Something better. A baby succulent priced cheap as a manager's special.

I figured because it was on sale that I wouldn't have to care much for it. It was probably dying anyway, I assumed. I didn't think I'd get emotionally attached.

Maybe because the plant was the only thing present when I struggled cooking or maybe because it's so cute and little, but I fell in love with that plant way faster than any average person should.

Other things that point to my not being average is that I'm not a pet person, and I don't want kids. So, naturally, I'm going to replace all those with a plant. A probably-dying plant.

Since then, I go between loving my plant and being stressed out about it. I don't know much about plant care, so when its "leaves" started turning brownish gray, I didn't know what to do. A few days ago, I repotted it in a much larger home with fresh soil. I'm hoping that it will live. So far, so good.

Today, I went to the farmer's market and was almost convinced to buy yet another plant, a viney vinca. As I struggled with my decision, I told the lady selling the vinca that plants stressed me out.

"Plants aren't supposed to stress you out," she exclaimed. "Plants are supposed to bring you joy."

It was then that I realized my plant did bring me joy. The stress I felt was because I was a new plant mom and didn't want to kill something so innocent. My baby plant had been shoved aside, sitting on a lone crate in Kroger, marked down to the lowest price possible when I found it. Now, it sits in a fancy pot with good soil and someone who cares about it.  It may be silly to love a plant, but I sure do.

This originally ran in Sidelines' print and online edition and can be viewed here.

With midterms right around the corner, every college student needs to de-stress and cool down with Creamy World, a fresh frozen yogurt, ice cream and smoothie bar.The fluorescent green and orange walls paired with the ‘50’s-diner-inspired checkered floor are sure to wake you up in this spacious place. But you aren’t here for the decor, you’re here to pull the levers to more than ten rotating flavors of frozen yogurt.

With flavors ranging from triple chocolate and Tahitian vanilla, to Valencia orange sorbet and sea salt caramel pretzel, you’re sure to find a sweet satisfier. If you’re feeling extra adventurous, you can swirl flavors, such as key lime bar and birthday cake.

Load up your cup with some, or all, of its 58 toppings, such as granola, sour gummy worms, strawberry mochi or Twix. Good thing specials and discounts can be found on its Facebook page, Creamy World Frozen Yogurt N More. Use a coupon and double up on the Ghirardelli chocolate and caramel sauces, hot fudge or marshmallow fluff.

If you get too caught up in the froyo fun, you may find yourself spending more than expected. Typical of any frozen yogurt place, the price you pay is related to cup you weigh.

What makes Creamy World different is its supplier, Honey Hill Farms, a frozen yogurt provider that mixes fresh milk, dairy and real fruit with other whole ingredients to create yummy yogurts and sorbets.

If you’re not interested in frozen yogurt or think desserts shouldn’t be healthy, then check out the ice cream bar. The frozen treats display an array of flavors, such as the unique spumoni, the forever-loved O’Charley’s caramel pie and a refreshing blackberry cordial.

If you don’t want to bother with anything you can eat with one of Creamy World’s brightly colored plastic spoons, try a smoothie instead. With eight different offerings, you’re sure to find one that goes down smoothly. Tell your mom that you ate your fruits and veggies after you try the carrot orange vegetable medley and the wild cherry cranberry. Think smoothies are boring versions of ice cream? Add a kick with the sustained high-energy blend or multi-vitamin and mineral blend.

No matter what sweet mood you’re in, you’re sure to be satisfied at Creamy World.

This originally ran in Sidelines' print and online edition and can be viewed here.

There is no sound sweeter after all-nighters and term papers than stapling the final draft together. The library’s ever-present sounds — students shuffling, pages turning, keyboards clicking — dim as you reach for the shiny black beast.While you may not take notice of this beautiful moment, instead scurrying away to beat the clock to class, someone does. His name is Jason Vance.

Vance, an assistant professor, is the creator of the “Dead Staplers” Tumblr, documenting the birthdates and death dates of every stapler that comes across the James E. Walker Library’s first floor reference desk.

“Just for my own curiosity, I decided to start keeping track of how many [staplers] we threw away,” Vance said, gingerly turning a stapler in his hands to show the neatly written “14” in Sharpie.

This stapler, along with the other 13 lining the windowsill in his office on the library’s second floor, is “dead.” Cause of deaths: repeatedly jammed or simply broken in two.

Soon, his curiosity bloomed into a quirky phenomenon. He began snapping photos of the staplers and posting them on Tumblr with such humorous captions as, “STAPLER 11 IS MISSING. It has gone missing two previous times (on April 1 and June 28, 2013). I am not worried. It will come back when it’s ready.”

Without any advertising since the blog’s creation in January 2013, people began to take notice of the quirky site.

“It just kind of took a life of its own … it’s really bizarre,” Vance said, laughing at the notion he may be a library celebrity.

Library Lover
Working in bookstores and libraries during and after college, Vance has found a home in our university’s four-floored beauty.

“Libraries are no longer just about books — or staplers,” he quipped before describing his love of libraries. “There is so much technology …. It’s much more than just books. We still love books, but it’s just become so much more.”

He not only works at the reference desk, but also spends a majority of his time teaching research classes for a span of majors in the library.

“There is a lot of learning, a lot of research. You get people from all different disciplines — the math people coming in and working out big complex formulas on the white boards, and the literature people coming in and reading books and typing papers, and you have the people coming in and taking naps,” he said.

It’s hard to imagine this academic taking a nap in the place he knows so well. Vance has worked at the library for five and a half years, but it’s clear he enjoys libraries from all decades. He pulls a book written in the 60s from his desk. As he flips through “What Does a Librarian Do?,” dust flutters from the pages to show pictures of card catalogs and librarians stamping cards.

Hanging on his office wall is a poster dedicated to the Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky, who delivered bags of books on horseback in the 1930s. These librarians were a topic of one of his many published research papers.

He has even turned his dead stapler project into a satirical article for “College and Research Library’s News” magazine, which will be published this fall or winter.

When he started the stapler project, the desk had three. After 19 deaths and two missing, the desk is left with seven. The three original staplers did not make it.

The graduate of library sciences from Simmons College described scenes of people placing papers in the stapler and then stomping on them to get the papers to join in metal-enforced matrimony. Other times, he’s witnessed students using the staplers as actual hammers.

This epidemic is felt around the nation. Vance unintentionally touched a sensitive spot for librarians with his blog and has even received emails from Canadian librarians who support his efforts in bringing awareness to dead staplers.