Day 269: Retiring?

Hey folks. I think that I'm going to retire from blogging for a while. Just so you know.

These last few weeks have been busy but a lot of fun. Full of Christmas sweaters, parties, studying, finals, cookies, brownies, other treats, flute playing, Disney and dinosaur fun and good friends and family. And I've only been on break for 4 days! I'm sure the rest of break will be similar (minus the studying). Overall this has been the best semester of college so far. It's just been great to meet so many new people who I'm proud to call my best friends.

In January I will be going to Atlanta Christmas Conference/Passion 2012. I'm sure it will be amazing!!! That's about it for exciting news, though. Here's a picture of my little Phi Lamb family at our Christmas lights outing.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Day 268: Thanksgiving Break

Hello Everyone! As you can tell, I've been busy lately and haven't written. Woops. Thanksgiving break was a great relaxing few days. My family had a crazy pajama party/game night with my cousins. I got sick and then better again. I ate a ton of food and just finished off my last piece of pumpkin pie tonight (sad day). I got a high B on that test from last week and I'm all set for finals. I have a lot of Stat lectures to watch, but this week is mostly about planning Phi Lamb's Initiation ceremony. It's a bit of work and preparation to get everything ready, but I'm so fortunate that I don't have school work to focus on this week, so YAY!

The last two days have been absolutely gorgeous. Monday it rained and was cool and today was sunnier and cooler which means I got to wear boots, a turtle neck, and sit outside on my break to read. Simply Gorgeous. As soon as I got back from break, I cleaned my room extensively and Kayla came over and helped decorate. I have a 3ft Christmas Tree on my dresser, lights over the whole room practically, and ornaments hanging from my ceiling. It's so cool! I wish they could all stay up longer than 2.5 weeks... I'll probably leave them up over break and have a Christmasy January, too.

I water marbled my nails yesterday in red and green with a white background. Some of them look really good, others not so much. But I think it was successful for my first time doing it!

The rest of the week is busy, so I'll tell you about it now. Tomorrow night is Worship Under the Stars with Phi Lamb. Thursday, my brother and I are buying tickets to see Monty Python's Spamalot in February! I am so excited and glad that we'll be going together. Friday night, the Freshmen Leadership Council is hosting Winter WonderSwamp, so Hannah and I are going to check that out. Then we will return home for a movie night/former roomie bonding time. Saturday my cousin Leann and my Mom will be passing through on the way to see my cousin play in the Tri State Band concert. So we will go to lunch and possibly a craft show! And finally, the highlight of the week, Saturday night is the Christian Greek Semi-Formal (aka a dance). I'm super excited to go! Sunday will be busy but I will definitely be attending the music department's Christmas Concert. YAY! I love Christmas music!

Hope you have a wonderful week and I'll try to talk to you soon!

Day 267: Late Nights

So sorry that the writing is getting more an more spaced out. I've been going to bed after 3:30am every morning, so I don't really feel like writing a ton. It's 3 now and I just finished studying for my test tomorrow. I'm ready to go to bed at midnight soon. Tomorrow night will be a long night, too, partying, hanging, and helping a friend write a paper. So yeah. Here's a quick run down of the week from what I remember right now.

Monday - Normal Monday
Tuesday - Community Group and I don't remember what else.
Wednesday - An advising appointment with a "Natural Resource Conservation" advisor. Contemplated changing my major again. Not sure still. We'll see. Had lunch at A Cafe. Participated in a flash mob for Dance Marathon, which was awesome. Then went to class and ran to the Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History with Elizabeth for our class assignments. Then we went to a Taco Night at a friend's apartment. The evening culminated in Elizabeth and her little Kayla (later joined by my little Sarah) coming over to my room and watching Pocahontas and hanging out. That was a very late night.
Thursday - Went to CRU which was off campus and after Kayla came over, shortly followed by Sarah and we of course stayed up late again.
Friday - Stuff. and then we went out to Sonny's for dinner and headed to CRU's Barn Dance. Everyone gets dressed in plaid and cowboy boots and heads to this random field in the middle of nowhere where we are taught to square dance. It was a lot of fun, but more work than I was expecting. After the dance, Sarah and I stargazed on top of her car for almost an hour. It was so beautiful. We got some dessert and then drove home. I then did some homework because I'm productive lately.
Saturday - My parents came up for the game! We went to the dining hall for brunch and then headed to the game. It was a rough first half, but we won the game. It was a pretty empty game which was nice for us. After the game we went to the car and tailgated with some delicious food. Sarah and Kayla came later and we ended up going over to some of the BYX boys' apartment and played Monopoly. It was a lot of fun, but very long. I went down to $31 and no properties, back up and then down again to $21 and one property and ended up almost winning! Well not really, but I did last the longest. I only had 3 railroads and the two utilities and I managed to hang in there with the guy that had all of the properties and hotels and houses for a good 30 minutes. It was exhilarating.
Sunday - My parents picked me up and we had a picnic lunch. Then they drove me to Lake Wauburg where there was a Phi Lamb party. It was pretty fun, but I was exhausted (because the night before I was up late again doing work). I came back and took a nap and headed to the common area to study with Sarah and Kayla. While here, I ate leftover Sonny's, free Thanksgiving food, got the Michael Buble Christmas CD from a friend, took a 45 minute walk, finished my Wikipedia project and paper, and started/finished studying for the Environmental Economics test that I have tomorrow. The Wikipedia page was a ton of work, but it's finished now. You can see it here! Please read it and enjoy all of the work that I put into it. Thank you!

And now that I've been in this room for 8 hours, I think it's time to leave. Goodnight!/Good morning!

Day 266: Busy Fun

This was by far the busiest weekend I have had at school this year. But it wasn't busy in a bad way, just packed full of SO MUCH fun!!

(Thursday finished up my tests and work for the week. Tests didn't go that great but oh well.)
Friday was Veteran's Day so we didn't have school. Instead, the brother frat, BYX hosted a cookout at the school lake recreation area. We played volleyball, talked, and went out on the lake. Four of us took a row boat and paddled with canoe paddles and two others hopped in a canoe. We just cruised around the lake. So much fun!! When we got back to shore, the people that were left all started taking pictures. Which lasted another 20 minutes (of pure craziness). But the pictures came out great and hilarious. Precious memories. :)

After the lake, the car went to Cracker Barrel for dinner where I had the yummiest pancakes with peach topping. Mmmm. We had a great time laughing there, too. As soon as dinner ended, we raced back to campus for the basketball game. We stood in line for 45 minutes, but that was just more time to hang out with everyone! We won the game with 99 points!

At this point, I went home and watched The Holiday and painted my nails. I tried this new technique where you dip white nails in rubbing alcohol and place a piece of paper with a design on it on top of the nail. It takes the ink off of the paper and transfers it. It worked pretty well, but next time I'm going to use a darker print. Right now they are pink/red/purple paisley on a white background. Next time (aka next week) ZEBRA!

Saturday I went shopping with my friend Sam (not the one from the other stories). We were shopping for Barn Dance which I will tell you about later in the week. But basically I needed a plaid shirt to wear. And I found one. We were looking for boots too, but didn't find them on that outing. We did however run into my little and her best friend (Elizabeth's little) Kayla. They were also who I hung out with all of Friday, just so you know. And today actually. Anyways. We talked for a little bit at Goodwill and parted ways. They ended up going to our next stop and hiding in wait for us to come into the store. Very sneaky!!! Very funny! After both parties finished shopping for the day, A study night was held in my dorm commons. I didn't have any studying to do, so I colored pictures of dinosaurs and solved Sudoku puzzles! So relaxing. Then my brother and his girl friend picked me up for a late night Target/Walmart run. I got a belt and new boots that I will wear to Barn Dance. They are wintery, not western, which means that I can wear them for all kinds of things.

Today I woke up, went to Publix with my brother, and then was picked up by my Little and taken to TCBY. Kayla's boyfriend was visiting and he was forced to meet the "family". The visit was complete with intense questions to determine his character and if he is suitable for our lovely Kayla. He is. Also, the yogurt was delicious.

After TCBY, we ran back to campus for UniteNow Worship. All of the Christian organizations get together after a week of 24hr prayer and have a 3 hour worship session. It is so great to meet people from different organizations and all get to worship together. Just amazing.

After the Worship night, Sarah, Kayla and I went back to the commons again for another study night. Only difference is tonight I did my laundry while they studied. And in the meantime I tried to find classes for Kayla to take next semester to fulfill her gen-eds. It was pretty amusing. They're still at their studies. I came home at 2:15 and it's now after 3. Late night studiers. Woo.

So that pretty much wraps up the weekend! I think I saw my roommate a total of 6 minutes the entire 3 days. That's not good! I hope you had an equally fun/productive weekend!

<3 And a belated Thank You to all veterans and current military members. <3

Day 265: Productivity

I don't think I've ever been as productive in one weekend as I was this weekend. I slept in on Saturday, right through most of the homecoming football game. Then I worked on my massive amounts of work for the week. Here's the lowdown. (Where'd that phrase come from?) I have an Archaeology test and a Statistics test on Thursday. I had to catch up on Stat lectures, fill out an 80 question study guide for Archaeology, and study for both of these classes. For Sustainability, I had to read 5 chapters of Ishmael (which is very good) AND work on our term paper project. My group and I are creating a Wikipedia page for the class. Don't worry, I'll link to it when it's finished. The project isn't due for another two weeks, so I thought that the group meeting we were having would be kind of pointless this weekend. Instead I found out that we had the rough draft of the page due online at noon on Monday. Um... WHAT!?!?!? Needless to say, that's all I did on Sunday. It takes a ton of work to make a Wikipedia page. I live chatted with an administrator so he could teach me what I needed to know. But regardless, we couldn't put the page up "live" until next week anyways thanks to Wikipedia rules. I have to build my "street cred" a little so I am worthy of Wikipedia's name. :) And my TA approved the draft and said it looked great. So that was a huge relief.

Monday I went to the advising office to change my major. I had to wait almost two hours, but I finally am a Sustainability Studies major! YAYY! Unfortunately, to be 'on track', I have to take 3 core classes next semester. Too bad they only are offering two... (one of which I just found out about today). I have an appointment to meet with the Sustainability adviser, who is also my teacher for the class who wrote the book that we have to read that I don't particularly enjoy. Hopefully he is knowledgeable in the area of advising. As I get to register for classes on Thursday, it is imperative that I figure out which classes I'm taking ASAP. I was aiming for no class Fridays, which I may have mentioned. Unfortunately, I think that will be impossible. The two classes I have to take are MWF2 and MWF5 (periods). Second period is 8:30AM. Goody goody. I liked sleeping in so much this semester. So now I'm trying to rework my schedule so I have Tues/Thurs off (except of course for my Fruit class where I get to eat free fruit (and cookies)). Hopefully it all works out. I'll let you know later.

Tonight was community group, which was amazing. We are doing a bible study on the women of the bible. Tonight we discussed Abigail (1 Samuel 25) and the Proverbs 31 woman. So awesome. Check it out. Last week was Hannah (1 Samuel 1) READ THEM. Such awesome Godly women.

Tonight was also archaeology night. YAY....

Tomorrow will be statistics and then Thursday will be tests and Friday will be NO SCHOOL!!!!

Ready for the Christmas break countdown???

10 M/W/F classes (not including the Wed before Thanksgiving, because who goes to class then anyway?)
7 T/R classes (if I decide to go to class Tuesday before Thanksgiving, which is unlikely)
= 17 school days (+/- 1) until finals!!!! YAYYYY!!!!!

I like when you can count the days until break on your fingers and toes.
Darn. I was just looking at my schedule thinking that I could essentially go home before the Monday of Thanksgiving week since I only have one class Monday and my Tues/Wed classes are excused/canceled. But I see a slight snaf-oo in my plan. I have a test Monday. :( Maybe he'll change it!!! We are behind in that class... Hopefully.

Well enough ranting for the night. Sorry I don't write as often anymore, but isn't it more exciting to get a great long blog one night than 3 teensy weensy blogs every night? It's like getting to eat an entire cookie rather than just a bite at a time. Mmm Cookies...

Day 264: Homecoming Week

WOOT homecoming week at school! You know what that means? No school tomorrow!!!! YAY! Phi Lamb and our brother frats and sister sorority all get together for different events during the week. Last night we had a hilarious Skit Night. It was so much fun to go to it and hang out with all of our brothers and sisters.

After the skits, my little Sarah and Kayla, Elizabeth's little, decided to camp out for BEAT shirts. For 5 games each season, they hand out free shirts for the first 1800 members to reach the door. Normally the line is insane and it's difficult to get them unless you get there early. Today wasn't the case, but we camped out anyway. It was something I had been wanting to do at least once during college, so now I have!

I was interrupted by a friendly visit in my room and now I have no energy to finish this blog. So instead of sentences, here's the phrases of what happened.

• ate pizza
• bought air mattress
• watched movie
• made friends with cop on patrol
• another friend joined us
• (he's in our brother frat)
• stalked brothers in the frat to learn their names
• added them all on fb
• talked
• a lot
• walked to bathroom 7 mins away
• several times
• got more snuggies cuz it was COLD
• got cold
• went to sleep at 5
• got brought breakfast by a sister
• woke up b/c it was cold
• went back to sleep
• woke up from Fed Ex delivery truck
• ate cold pizza for breakfast
• got free shirt
• went home
• showered and crashed after only having 2.5 ish hours of sleep
• tried to wake up and failed
• was late to class
• got there and it had apparently been canceled
• was really confused
• instead got football ticket with my brother
• came home and took a quick nap before class
• class
• took a 15 minute nap
• went to surprise birthday dinner for my Grand-Big at TGI Fridays
• got 137 reward points for tonight's dinner
• now have enough to get a free dessert and chicken/seafood meal OR free ribs/steak dinner
• YAY
• came home
• watched the season premiere of BONES!!!!!!!!!!!!
• I missed BONES.
• now it's back
• yay
• super happy
• decided to sleep early
• over an hour and a half ago
• now I'm going to bed

Goodnight world. Hope you enjoyed the brief story.

Day 263: Happy Halloween!

This weekend I went home to enjoy the company of my parents and best friend (and her family). Friday we went to dinner, watched Despicable Me and did a puzzle. Saturday I got my hair cut and went to Grace's house for "Oktoberfest" where we hunt for pumpkins, eat delicious food, and play fall inspired games and such. It was so much fun. :)

Today (Halloween) we had a special Phi Lamb meeting where we all dressed up in our costumes and then played games and ate sweets and such. I dressed up as Gru from Despicable Me and my friend Nicole dressed as a Minion. We had so much fun and had many people tell us we had the best costumes. I agree. We were adorable. That's pretty much been my life the last few days! Sorry for not writing too much, I feel like we're getting into the same stuff that happened last year around this time, so not much is super new.

Happy November!

Day 262: Banality

Besides the fun word in today's title, nothing much has gone on the last few days. I don't have any tests for two weeks, so I haven't had to be studying. Tuesday night Kayce, Hannah and I went to the gym for Thriller Night. They have this program every year before Halloween where they teach the Thriller and other dances to spooky music. We also learned a hip hop dance to Monster by Kanye West. It was a lot of fun!

Wednesday and Thursday after school I just enjoyed watching TV and doing some homework. I also packed to go HOME this weekend! YAYY! I got a BEAT t-shirt and free TCBY with my brother this morning, that was fun. This is a very unorganized blog. Woops.

My dorm's fire alarm went off an hour ago. It was annoying and woke many people up. Anyways, now I'm ready for bed. So goodnight!

Day 261: Even More Exhaustion

Sunday Kayce and I went to a service event for Phi Lamb at a church. They were having a fall festival and we helped make cotton candy, popcorn, set up dinner, and other random things. I had no idea that cotton candy was a) so difficult to make and b) so messy. It was windy out and the floss was flying everywhere, so there was sugar all over my clothes and hair. Fun... But we got a delicious dinner while we were there! Yay! And I ran in to a friend from back home, so it was all good. After my nap (see below), I made pumpkin muffins. YUMMM they are so good! Bringing some home for my best friend's family for Oktoberfest (aka pumpkin goodness weekend). :)

Today I had a double date lunch with Elizabeth and our littles. It was a lot of fun, but the entire day I was just so exhausted! I have no idea why. I came home from Saturday exhausted, slept an entire night, was up for 5 hours Sunday and took an hour nap and was still exhausted, slept an entire night last night, took an hour and a half nap today (not to mention falling asleep in class) and I'm STILL EXHAUSTED. I'm going to bed right now, which is pretty early for a school night, especially because I have more reading to do, but I'm just stopping for the sake of consciousness tomorrow during class. I really have no idea what is going on, just that it is really annoying.

Tomorrow night I have 4 different places I could be, so I have to decide what I'm doing... Oh the joys of college! (No, really, I do enjoy having so many fun options!)

Day 260: Fun Exhaustion

Thursday I went to class and studied.
Friday I had an economics test that didn't go so well, but it was Angie's (roommate) birthday, so we celebrated! We went to the A Cafe for lunch and then watched Princess and the Frog for a late night movie night. We all fell asleep during the movie and it took a lot of energy to get up and really ready for bed.

Today I had to be up early to get to Fall Retreat for Phi Lamb. We went to a really nice church for our first part of the day and then moved to do service as a sorority for the last half. We painted the entire inside of a house! This house is going to be used to house women just out of prison so they have a comforting place where they can learn about God. It's such a blessing and we got an inside look before it's finished! We had so much fun, but it was a lot of work. In just over 2 hours, we painted 6 rooms, ceilings, and hallways and did yard work. It's amazing what you can do with 70 people! YAY!

After retreat, my little Swill, Elizabeth and her little, Kayla went to "Fun at the Farm" with Swill's church. It was really far away and we got lost on the way there, but it was worth it for free dinner and lots of fun. we got back about 8:30, but it felt like midnight to me. I have no idea how I'm still awake. Hannah and her roomie Rachel and I tried to do a movie night, got 15 minutes in and got too tired. Hahhaa. My hair smells like smoke form the farm's fire and I keep finding paint in random places (I know it's in my hair, just can't see it...). I'm going to bed and dealing with it tomorrow.

Goodnight! I really hope that the helicopter circling around finds their suspect soon. It's so loud!

Day 259: Fall Fellas

Tonight Phi Lamb and our Brothers Under Christ, BYX had a social. We went to the town next door that has one stoplight. We ate at a delicious BBQ restaurant and then headed out to a brother's family farm. There was a bonfire all set up for us when we got there! We made smores and talked by the fire. Some people played guitar and sang. We also had a bobbing for apples competition. It is finally cool here, so I got to wear jeans for the first time since Ohio. YAY JEANS! Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, so I'm going to wear long sleeves. Yes, I am really excited about it. Anyways, tonight was so much fun, but I smell like smoke. Also, I really should have been studying tonight instead of star gazing... Oh well. Tomorrow I'll skip CRU and work my butt off for Economics.

Sleeping with the windows open tonight! :)

Puzzle Time!

Day 258: Course Planning Continued

I haven't been up to much out of the usual these last few days. Just been studying, doing homework, fighting with my printer, and going to meetings. Last night after I finished my reading, I explored the list of minors for something I'm interested in semi-related to sustainability. While I have two majors, I still need a minor so I have classes to keep me busy. Even with two majors and one minor, I will only have to take 12 credits a semester, so I might do a double minor as well. We shall see! Anyways, the program I'm currently looking into is Urban and Regional Planning. I really enjoyed the urban planning part of our Sustainability class and I know that I would like the classes, too. Even if it didn't help me in the work force (which I'm sure it would), there's a class on Housing that details all about the housing market and such that would be good to know. There's also a class using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which is a program that has been discussed in 3/4 of my classes this semester in all different fields. I'm thinking it might be an important tool to get familiar with. Another class I can take is all about historic properties and their preservation. I just think that the subject lends itself to a lot of interesting classes that relate easily to sustainability and anthropology. Just trying to decide which class to take next semester to kick it off.

It's 2 and I'm tired so I'm going to bed. Earliest I've been to bed in about a week or more. YAY sleep!! :) Goodnight!

Day 257: Fall Fun

This weekend was so much fun! Saturday I went to Phi Lamb's family day with Kayce's family. It was nice to get to meet some of my sisters' parents and see them enjoying themselves. Plus, it was absolutely beautiful on the lake with a very nice breeze. :)

Today, Jenny, Sarah and I went to a corn maze 20 minutes away from home. It was a family friendly fall atmosphere with a huge corn maze, putt putt golf, hay bale fort, hay rides, and so much other fun stuff. We had a blast! Inside the maze were stamping stations. You stamped the letter onto the paper you got and had to unscramble the letters after to solve the riddle. It was a lot of fun to have a purpose other than getting out during the maze. We raced a few times to find different things, and got lost plenty more. I know I went around in circles more than I care to remember. We also went on the hay ride that took you to the cow pasture to feed the cows. That was a lot of fun, but really messy. Their tongues are so long and of course, very slimy. All in all it was the most fun I've had this year so far and I got to share it with my Big and Little, which made it that much better.

Inside the maze after finding the final letter for our word scramble

Me and my Little <3

Me (my hand) feeding a gorgeous white/tan cow!

Hope you had a great weekend!

OH I baked pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing thanks to my cousin Leann. They are so good and are halfway gone after about 36 hours... Also, I think they caused my roommate to like pumpkin flavors. I may have to watch them more closely!

Day 256: Family Lovin'

Yesterday in my Sustainability class, we got to go outside and talk about the different problems we see in our lives related to sustainability. We drew pictures to tie everything together. It was a lot of fun! Then I did laundry, which took a while because the laundry room was SO FULL. Apparently Thursday is a popular night to do laundry. Now I know!

Today after class, Jenny's parents came up. It was "Parents' Night" at CRU, so there were tons of parents at our meeting. Beforehand, Jenny's family and I went out to Mochi where I got some delicious Pumpkin fro-yo. Yummy! AND on the way I saw a solar trash compacter! I'm going to walk over there just to throw something out someday soon. So awesome.

Now I'm tired so I'm going to go to bed. That is if I can fall asleep with all of the noise going on next door...

Speaking of next door, my roomie is gone for the weekend so it's a little lonely sitting in the room without someone to talk to. Good thing I have plans tomorrow!

Day 255: Classics Night

After class today, I went to Danielle's dorm to hang out with her and our friend Chelsea. It was so much fun to get to see them together and catch up a bit. Then I caught dinner with a Phi Lamb pledge at the dining hall. It was "Oktoberfest" and consisted of German food, although it really wasn't that German...

When I got home tonight, I decided to watch a movie. I realized that I forgot to ever watch the new Jane Eyre that came out this year, so I settled in and watched that. I was a little distracted by the way they set up the movie for the first part. They switched between present, past, more recent past, far away past, present, etc. It was weird considering the book is one of my absolute favorites. Sad when they have to take so many things out of the book to make it into a movie. I actually thank my AP Lit class for having us read the book so thoroughly. Note to any high schoolers, this version is not a good substitute for reading the book. You will fail the test on Jane Eyre if you only watch it. Read it :)

After Jane Eyre, I wasn't quite ready for bed, so I decided to watch Casablanca. It's one of those movies that you hear about all the time, but you never have actually seen. I really liked it. Probably could have used a little more context, but for that time period everyone would have known what was going on. Plus I finally realized where famous quotes came from ("I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"). Plus, who doesn't like classic films?

All in all it was a great day full of lots of classical fun. :)

Day 254: Test Time

Today was the day of my two midterm exams. Yay, they're over now! I started the day having lunch with Elizabeth, which was good. Then I drowsily listened to my archaeology lecture. And then came the worst exam I've ever taken. It's an "intro" class and is incredibly difficult! Not okay. I guess we'll see how it went in a few weeks, but I'm not super confident. After the Sustainability exam, I came home to find that the maintenance men changed our key passes from swipe machines to sensors! Now instead of having to take out the card every time we need to go inside, you can leave the card inside your wallet inside your backpack! That's what we had last year and I'm so glad I didn't have to live all year without it. Hooray!!!

I chilled/studied in my room for a bit and then went to Phi Lamb Prayer Night. It was nice and relaxing to have some prayer time before my next exam. I left a little early and headed to my Statistics exam room. Happy Night, I definitely rocked that exam! I have to say I kinda like math tests way more than my liberal arts tests. There's only one right answer and you either know how to do it or you don't. And I knew how to do it. So yay! At least one test went well today! AND I don't have another sustainability test until finals, so that's good news.

After finishing the homework that is due tomorrow, I watched Princess Diaries 2. A few friends and I were talking about it last week, so I decided to watch it again. OH! Also, I remembered that I wanted to try to take the "fruit class" (Growing Fruit for Fun and Profit) next semester, so I looked it up and hopefully I'll get into that. You get to eat different fruits and learn about locally grown produce and all the stuff that goes along with it. I've heard it's not hard, but pretty fun and yummy! We shall see!

Day 253: Study Study Study

I have 2 midterms tomorrow/today so all I've been doing is studying. Wish me luck!

Day 252: Study Game Night

Sorry I didn't get to write yesterday. I was exhausted after waking up early to volunteer for a high school shadowing program. Two senior girls came with me as we toured around campus, rode the bus, and went to class for three hours. It was really hot and tiring, but a good time. Doing it again in a month!

After classes were done for the day, I went to my Community Group's sleepover for a little bit. We played games, had pizza and just talked. I left way early and went to a Phi Lamb game night. There were so many things to do that I just tried to make as many as I could. The game night was great because they were playing Quelf! I think I've mentioned it before, but it's the most fun game on the planet! We played with about 10-15 people, so it was way more fun. I highly recommend getting it.

Today I slept in a bunch and studied for my Statistics exam on Tuesday. My cousin Leann sent me a package with Pumpkin cookie mix and Pumpkin Spice marshmallows!!! YUMM! My best friend Grace and I got to skype with each other! For a study break, I had a dance party with my neighbors (blasting songs on my speakers out the window for all to hear). Then Kayce, her roomie Olivia and I had a movie night and watched Easy A, which was pretty good. Especially because The Scarlet Letter is one of my favorite books. (the movie references it a lot). During the movie, my brother dropped off some stuff from home that he picked up this week. Included was a bag full of all my Halloween decorations that we forgot to get earlier. YAY! So I spent the last hour or two decorating my room, the hallway door and the bathroom. There are now orange Christmas lights in my room along my door, a skeleton hanging on the wall, pumpkin lights spread out along my desk and dresser, a spiderweb tablecloth hanging on our door from our room to the hallway, fun Halloween things sticking on the door cover (nametags, a notepad to write on, and cute critters), and orange pumpkin garland with black bat wire garland hanging around the bathroom mirror. Hopefully the cleaning lady won't mind. In case you missed me talking about it, I absolutely love October/Autumn/Fall and the festivities involved. Plus decorating is SO much fun! Last year we were only allowed to decorate inside our room since we couldn't put anything on the outside of our doors. So this year I went more extreme. YAY! Now it's late and I need to get to bed so I can wake up and do more studying! Hooray two midterms on the same day! Wednesday and beyond will be a great week.

Day 251: Course Planning

Tonight was one of my favorite nights of the semester... the Registrar for the school uploaded the course listings for next semester! Although I didn't mean to, I just spent about 2 hours going through the list and figuring out which classes were offered when that I needed. There are 118 elective choices for the Sustainability Major. Guess how many are being offered next semester that I qualify for? 39. Yep, that's it. Less than 1/3 of the classes. There are 4 different sections we have to study in (Ethics, Economics, Architecture, Ecology) and there are only 3 classes for each of the first two topics being offered in Spring. Kind of hard to take classes then, isn't it?

Regardless, tonight was good. My two friends that are in my Intro to Sustainability class are working on a project with me for the class and we just got 2/3 of our ideas approved by a pretty strict teacher! Yay! And we are all trying to take a class together next semester. Hopefully that will work out. We shall see!

Besides class planning, today was a normal Thursday with Accountability Group, class, Moes, Girl Scouts, and CRU. :)

Day 250: Movie Night!

Tonight Kayce and I made ziti for dinner and then settled in for a movie night. We watched Bridesmaids, which her big sis got for her last week. It was alright, but the main character made me angry and it was pretty crude. I also got to see my Little tonight! She was in bible study next door and came to say hi. This morning I had lunch with my friend Devin. We knew each other from back home and are now in the same bible study, which has been so great in getting to know her better! So all that fun plus classes made up my day. Goodnight!

Day 249: CG Lovin'

Yesterday was a typical Monday, including the 75 pages of a boring book to read for class today. I fell asleep reading at 2am and decided to just go to bed. I finished it during archaeology class today which wasn't interesting so I could focus attention on reading. Yay!

Besides class today, I went to our Community Group "merge" with the freshman "Real Life Group". The freshmen have been in their own separate group for the first six weeks of school and then they get to join back up with the rest of us. We had a great time getting to know each other tonight. We ate good food (including my first slice of pumpkin pie of the year!!!) and played the game Signs. Someone stands in the middle and each person has their own sign/hand signal. The people around the circle pass it to other girls using the signs for each of them. Meanwhile, the "it" person tries to figure out who has control of the signs while the other players are trying to distract them. It was a lot of fun! My sign was the "Taylor Swift Heart" below. Hehe!

Anyways, it was just a great night of fun and fellowship with my new girlfriends. :) Hope your Tuesday was just as great!

Day 248: Sausagefest

Today's exciting thing was Sausagefest. It wasn't that exciting, just some free food, music and 30 ft water slide in the courtyard. Kayce and I went together and waited forever for a hot dog. But it was free so I guess it was worth it? Other than that, we went to Publix and made tacos together. And I did homework with the rest of my day. Pretty much caught up on Statistics now! Our test is next week and I just have the review to do (which is a lot, but at least I'm done learning material! Yay!!

Today was so nice outside (could have been cooler, but I'll take it). I've had my windows wide open and they are staying that way for the next 24 hours I hope. As long as it doesn't get too hot, but tomorrow is supposed to be cooler again. Don't know what else to tell ya. Hope your weekend was fantastic and relaxing but productive! <3

Day 247: Big Game

Today was our toughest home game against Alabama. We didn't win, but it was beautiful outside and I got to see my old neighbors for tailgating! Yay! PLUS, I ate my first pumpkin flavored treat of the season today! :)

That's all that happened today, so I'm going to spend time talking about B/L week. I'm just going to do a picture of the gift for each day and then talk about reveal.

Monday: Phi Lamb/Unity day

Tuesday: Comfort Day (Including Snuggie, Brownie-cookies, socks, etc.)

Wednesday: Favorites

Thursday: Woodstock (Music festival) Day I also had a record for
her of the Woodstock Soundtrack

Monday we all delivered the baskets in a group. Tuesday I had my roommate deliver it. Wednesday I snuck in her room and blew up balloons and put sticky notes on her dresser and little lamb confetti all over everything. Thursday I set up a scavenger hunt around her dorm. She had to look up bible verses and figure out where they lead her, like to her mailbox or bathroom. The last clue lead her to her roommate's closet! Hehe!

At reveal, Jenny, Swill and I all wore our shirts (see Wednesday's basket) that I made. The Bigs got there before and we were given balloons. Our little got the balloon of the matching color later and they could use that to find us. My family was in a wooded area hiding and my balloon popped within the first 2 minutes. So I just tied the dead balloon to the tree I was standing by. After being there for over 30 minutes, the pledges were finally released and they came to find us. As soon as Swill found me, her balloon popped, too! We're definitely big/little. Or maybe the tree was out to get us, I don't know. We had a great time taking pictures with our family after and then went to dinner. Each family has their own tradition of where they go. Our rather recent tradition is to go to McAllister's, a local hotspot. After all 20 or so of us got dinner, we split off. Jenny, Swill and I along with three other girls all went to Mochi and hung out before heading home. It was so much fun, but super exhausting. Here's the final product of the week! My beautiful little, Swill!

Day 246: REVEAL!

I almost forgot to write this blog before I went to sleep. Actually I think it will be very short because I am worried I couldn't stay awake to finish it.
Tonight was Reveal! All the littles got to find out who their bigs were finally. And my little's name is Sarah (aka Swill), so I'm sure you will need to know her name in the blogs to come. I love her soooo much!!! I will give many details tomorrow, I promise. Actually I don't. How bout by the end of the weekend.

Tomorrow I am taking a much needed day of rest with just a little tailgating thrown in. Just enough to say I did it/use my BEAT ALABAMA shirt. I am now going to head to bed and wake up whenever I wake up.

Goodnight my precious Little Swill!!! <3

Day 245: B/L Week Day 4

Today was the last day of delivering gifts (for me anyways) for Big/Little week. And I have to say I think today's idea was the best. Again, I can't tell you until tomorrow, but know that you will find out very soon. I am so excited for Reveal!!!

Anyways. Today I had accountability group, returned home to finish studying for Archaeology exam, aced said exam, did gift deliveries for other people, ate 3 week old carrot stuff in Sustainability class, went to Moes with Kayce, went to half of CRU and then came home to do Stat work/quiz, which I also aced (on the first try!). Two things I am elaborating on... My archaeology exam was seriously the easiest test I've ever taken. It was 40 multiple choice questions that came directly from the study guide and two extra credit questions that were worth 4x as much as a MC question. I might have gotten 2 questions wrong. If so, I still got over 100% on that test. SO relieved! Second, my TA for Sustainability is a little eccentric. His wife and daughter made this organic meal for our class three weeks ago. It was just shredded carrots and ginger with water and salt to preserve it, but it was made in a huge bucket and had been left unrefrigerated in a house without A/C. I was concerned at first, but it wasn't too bad. I got a scoop that had way too much ginger in it, so I couldn't finish it. I like ginger, but in small amounts. I don't think I'll be making sustainable foods any time soon...

I am so excited for tomorrow but I HAVE to go to bed!!! Goodnight!

Omygosh. I forgot one of the biggest parts of my day! I can't believe it. I left my room, delivered gifts, went to class and came home to realize I didn't have my wallet/keys. I freaked out and retraced my steps, asked someone to check in that classroom for me, tried to have people from my floor look for them upstairs but no one was home. I was in line waiting to pick up a replacement key and got a text that I could get let in by a floormate. And after I was upstairs and freaking out (I thought that I was going to ruin my little's surprise because I thought they were somewhere she could have found them), I found them hanging on my hook in my room. Turns out that I had my hands full of gifts when I had left the room and I didn't lock it because Angie was still home. So I spent over an hour looking, got many people involved, and they ended up safe and sound in my room. Praise the Lord! I hope that will never happen again... B/L week is stressful! :/

Day 244: B/L Week Day 3

Today I had soooo much fun for Big Little week! I really wish I could tell you about it now! But alas, Friday will be here soon. Thank goodness because tomorrow is going to be a very busy day. Other than class and B/L stuff today, I went to Worship Under the Stars with Phi Lamb and the 3 other Christian Greek organizations. It was great and I got to meet some new people! Kayce's big had "food day" as the theme today and gave her her favorite dinner from Outback and 5 Tupperware containers full of desserts!!! So I was fed well tonight (since I live next to Kayce, I just stole what I wanted hehe). I have been studying Archaeology for my test tomorrow. And other than that, preparing for tomorrow's big/little day, which should be the best by far, at least delivery wise. Talk to you tomorrow!

Day 243: B/L Week Day 2

Yes, expect a boring title for the rest of the week. Today I didn't get to see the delivery of the gift, so I can't say what her face was, but I heard she loved everything so much!! Thank goodness for Facebook to show us random stalkers what other people are thinking! Today was a great day! I had a roomie lunch with Hannah (roomie from last year). Then my double block class a) watched a semi entertaining movie and b) got out an hour early. I planned on going home during the break and doing something fun, but instead I ran into 3 different people within 3 minutes of getting out of class. I ended up hanging out with some of them and other Phi Lamb girls for a little bit, then sat in class early and listened to my new SWITCHFOOT music. YAYY!!! I love them. Definitely in my top 3 favorite bands. I have a favorite song already and I've already played it 20 times (all the rest I've only listened to 5 or 6 times). But you can see how long I've been sitting in my room based on that...

After classes, I helped Kayce's Big get stuff together. She tagged her car (wrote on it with window markers) and creepily got stuff in her room without her there. Then later when Kayce was home, two guys from our brother frat delivered her gift. It was awesome! More on that at the end of the week, don't let me forget!

I am absolutely exhausted after reading so much bad grammar in my study guides tonight. It should be illegal for a professor to have bad grammar. Just ridiculous. Anyways, going to bed. Goodnight!! Can't wait for Friday night's blog with lots of pictures and stories! YAY!

Day 242: B/L Week Day 1

Yayyy Day 1 of Big/Little week was today! All the bigs exchanged baskets outside and then we paraded in and delivered the gifts. It was so great to be able to sit and watch our littles open their presents! I got to see her face as she was opening things and exclaiming. It was adorable! And it definitely made me even more excited for this week! So today I just crafted/prepared some more, baked goodies, and read for class. Yay doing homework. Actually this week's chapter was really interesting and encompassed more of the things that I actually care about in regards to sustainability. Less about the geological patterns of ice melting patterns but more about bicycles and parks and public transportation and making "cities for people, not automobiles". Good stuff! Anyways, it's late and I need to get to bed. Goodnight world, and my little!

Day 241: Arts and Crafts Weekend

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I was super busy. I got to Skype with a friend Saturday morning. My mom came up Sat afternoon and we went to Zaxby's with my brother. Then we headed to the next town to hit craft stores for Big/Little week supplies. After three stores and a quick run to Publix for dinner, we headed to the hotel and set up my craft station. I painted for most of the night and then learned how to iron letters onto shirts. It was an exhausting day but really great. This morning we did a little more shopping and then came back to school. My mom and I went to a cute cafe grill place that had very delicious food. She had a club sandwich (which I got for dinner) and I had a Ham Apple Gouda Cheese sandwich. YUM. We picked up Angie (roommate) and went to Publix. And since then I've been in my room crafting more. Painting details, making T-shirts, cutting stuff out and all that good stuff. This weekend was productive, just no homework was accomplished... But on the plus side, I should be finished with pretty much everything for B/L week. Just have to put everything together all pretty in baskets/bags and get people to deliver them! Yay!

And so now at 2am with school and baking and other things to come, I say Goodnight.

Day 240: Let's Go To The Mall

Yesterday I didn't blog because there wasn't much to say. It was a normal Thursday except that I had to study for my economics exam. Today I had said exam and I think it went pretty well! I finished 20 minutes early, even! Yay first exam of the semester is over with! My "fairy grand-big" Amy and I went to the A Cafe for lunch. It was so yummy and we got there early enough that there were only a few people there. So relaxing!

After classes, Elizabeth and I went shopping for our littles! We went to the Family Christian Store and then a few stores in the mall (<-- check out the song that's there from How I Met Your Mother (tv show)). It was a blast looking at stuff. I bought a lot and went a little over budget. Still have a lot to do though. I changed one of the themes of my day which made it a lot cheaper/easier so yay!!

We ate dinner and then headed over to a sisterhood Movie Night and Dessert Potluck. Not a lot of people ended up coming, so we had a ton of food to eat over a small group. We had a blast though and watched He's Just Not That Into You. Then some of us ended up talking for almost two hours. So much fun! Now it is late and I really need some sleep.

Goodnight and Happy Weekend!

Day 239: Prep work

I didn't get to blog last night because the internet went out, so I just decided to combine Tues/Wed into one post. I sent a questionnaire out to my Little and she replied back with her favorite things. So naturally, I have reduced school as a priority and moved on to planning my gifts for big/little week next week! I have at least one day all planned out and it will be awesome! Can't wait to share with you all!

Tonight I did kick in the study mode for my Econ test on Friday. Kayce and I studied for a while in her room and then we moved to the student union (also for a snack). We got back after midnight after studying for about 4 hours. And I am proud to say that I feel well on my way to getting an A on that test. I hope.

I did some more prep work for B/L week, but now it is time to go to bed. I forgot that I have to be up earlier than normal the next two mornings... Yay.

Day 238: Big/Little Picks

Today I spent a ton of time reading the book for my sustainability class. That's the only fun non-Phi Lamb thing to report.

Tonight's Phi Lamb was a prayer night. And after that, we got to pick our Big/Little Sisters! We write the names down on a notecard and then the officers match up the pairs as best as they can. And at the stroke of midnight, the Bigs get the e-mail containing the name of their new Little. It was such a tense and stressful waiting period! I sat in Kayce's room and we did homework/studying until I got the e-mail. The Littles don't know who their Big is for another two weeks. So while I was super excited to get my Little's name, Kayce was freaking out because she has to wait so long to hear. Next week will be Big/Little week where the Big sisters shower their Little's with anonymous gifts and love. It is seriously going to be the most fun week to plan for! Can't wait to share it all with you! (Hopefully my little won't be reading this but just to be safe I'll censor it...)

It is late and I need a bunch of sleep after this stressful but exciting day. Goodnight world! I love you Little! <3

Day 237: Delightful Decisions

Today was a pretty great day. Started out by going to Books a Million with Kayce to buy new bibles. We spent a very long time looking at them and both found ones that we liked. After that, we were on our way to Publix and got super hungry. We decided to try the place next door called Stevie B's which is similar to Cici's pizza. It was delicious and we had a ton of fun and food. My favorite was the Philly cheese steak pizza. MMMMmmm. Then we went to Publix as per the normal Sunday activity.

I went to church tonight with two of my sisters. It was the only other Catholic church I hadn't been to (in the city) and is the only one that has a specific contemporary Mass. The church was ginormous and had great music and families and little children running around (cutely). I am SO excited to hopefully call this church home for the year.

Later this week is my neighbor Alyssa's birthday. In celebration, we surprised her by flash-mobbing outside her window. We got her to open her window and recited a Romeo and Juliet inspired poem which led into us serenading her Happy Birthday. It was so much fun and she was surprised and loved it. Yay first birthday of the year!!

Then we had a floor meeting to plan events for the semester. Many people couldn't go to the ones that we've already had since they were at random times. This way, we all voted on the days and got a majority of the people (in most cases all) to be able to make it. Yay teamwork.

Tomorrow night will be the night that big and little sisters are chosen for Phi Lamb. I wasn't planning on taking a little, but I am very excited to announce that I will be getting one! Yay! It took a while to decide tonight, but Kayce came over and we used our new bibles as guides. Afterwords, I was talking to one of my sisters on Facebook and she asked if I knew Kayce. She thought that we would get along well. We both laughed and told her that we were already best friends and neighbors. It was by far the funniest thing that happened to me today. :)

And so now, after a great and exhausting day during which I did no homework, I bid you Goodnight!

Day 236: Fan-tastic Day

Today was gameday again! I had sold my ticket to the game, but still went tailgating before. Phi Lamb and our brothers/sisters had a tailgate with awesome pulled pork sandwiches and desserts and such. Yum! Plus it was great company. We left the tailgate and came back to cool off in our rooms. I stayed and watched my statistics lectures during the game. I brought up the live broadcast of it on my computer and every time I heard (in real life) the stadium explode with excitement, I flipped off my stat lecture and caught the touch down or other exciting event. So I got to watch the good parts of the game without having to sit through the boring parts.

Around the 3rd quarter, my roommate Angie and I went to the dining hall for dinner. It was really good and pretty empty so we got to enjoy ourselves. By the time we got home, the game was pretty much over. Andrea, my friend from back home, called me after the game and I showed her around the dorm and a little of campus. We got Mochi (Yum) and then walked back to their car. I had a great time catching up a little and getting to see a familiar face. And after that I just chilled in my room, unmotivated to do more homework. That's what Sunday is for, right? :)

Sisters tailgating together!

Day 235: Shawn McDonald

Today was a great day! I slept in, went to Stat lab and then had free time since my econ class was canceled today. Yay! Jenny picked me up at 5 and we met some girls at Mi Apa, a delicious Latin Cafe. Some of the best chicken and rice I've ever had. Tonight we all spoiled ourselves by getting "tres leches" (three milks) for dessert. I still don't know exactly what it was except delicious. There's sweetened condensed milk and some sort of bread in part of it. But SO good. Plus it's like... $1.50 and they have a drive thru, so we may have to go there some time just for the tres leches! After dinner, we headed to a nearby church for a small Christian concert. The artist was Shawn McDonald. I didn't know who he was before this week, although I did know some of his songs from the radio. The concert was a ton of fun and he made some beautiful music. And mistakes, but that's the fun part of live performances! We waited around after the concert to meet him and get a group picture. Basically the night was a total blast. I'm off to bed so I can rest before tailgating tomorrow!

All I Need
Take My Hand
Closer

Day 234: Sleepova!

Today was awesome!!! I had the first accountability group of the year with an amazing group of girls. After, some of us stayed and kept talking. Then one of the girls, Erica, and I figured out that we were both going to lunch at the same time at the same place with our "Ruby Buddies" for Phi Lamb. So we got to double date! It was so much fun and I really didn't want to leave to go to class. But I did since we have a test next week. After my delicious piece of chocolate cake that is.

And after all my meetings etc. tonight, my friend/sister Sam came over. She has to be in line at the stadium super early to upgrade a ticket and she lives off campus, so she decided to sleepover and be right there. When she got here, we both realized that tonight was the season premier of Vampire Diaries so we watched that together. It was awesome!!! We're off to bed now (earliest I've gone to sleep in a while...). Goodnight!

Day 233: Flintknapping

I don't really have anything exciting to report about today except for what we did in Archaeology lab today. Our TA taught us the art of flintknapping, aka hitting rocks with other rocks to make sharp stone tools. It was cool how he could show us what someone had done to a rock, the techniques and technologies used, to be able to get it to that shape. Plus he used an old moose antler for part of the hitting. It wasn't too hard to do as long as you knew where to hit on the rock. I am, however, glad that I can buy a knife from the store rather than having to make one myself. Also, we discovered that the rock statue (on campus) called the "potato" is the perfect kind of rock to make these tools from. I hope someone doesn't try to attempt this and ruin our beloved abstract rock statue. :)

That's all for today! No evening activity = homework and tv. Yay Wednesdays!!!

Day 232: Deluxe Dinner

Today I got a pleasant surprise! Danielle texted me in class and invited me over for dinner at her place. We made rice, grouper, and corn on the cob. It was soooo delicious and just great in general to have a real meal and to cook together. Yay for food! After that, I went to community group (bible study) and got to know those girls better. It was great because there were only a few of us there, and I love small groups! After I returned to the room to do homework. Yay...

Also, it is International Chocolate Day!! To celebrate, I had Nutella, a banana, and Nilla Wafers for dessert. Mmmm :)

Day 231: Happy Monday

Mondays are officially my favorite day of the week now. I only have one class and then a 6 hour break until I have to be anywhere. It is just relaxing to be able to have a day to sleep in, catch up on work, and still get to go outside and see people. Yay Monday! Bonus: My economics teacher canceled class on Friday so I only have one class Friday this week, too! Party!!

Tonight was Phi Lamb's first real chapter meeting. It was great to get back in the swing of things. I'm super excited for my "ruby buddy" this week. We also put in orders for our first merchandise of the year, a super adorable frat tank. This is the first draft of it; it changed a little, but you get the picture.

I think that about does it for the exciting news of the day! I'll talk at ya tomorrow! <3

Day 230: Driving 'Round Town

Today Kayce took me shopping for new sunglasses. Mine broke Thursday. They are still wearable, but I can't bend the arms backwards to fold in on themselves. So we went to find new ones! We had a great afternoon of shopping and trying on clothes. After shopping, I went to church. The church I had been going to but wasn't pleased with got a new music director. Plus I found the mass that is more college centered. So for this week, it was great. Hopefully it will continue to be as such.

Sad news for the day, I didn't get the Eco-Rep for housing position. Oh well! Hope they still use my ideas for stuff. It's 3am. I think I should go to bed now...

Day 229: Game Day

Game Day 2 has come and gone. I woke up late and watched 3 hours of Statistics lectures back to back, which is usually impossible. Then I went to pre-game dinner at the dining hall because it is cheaper during game days. The game was alright. We had great seats, we won 39-0, and the company was great. But the people surrounding us were obnoxious and drunk and that kinda just ruined the night. Plus the closer you get to the field, the hotter it is! And who really likes the Florida heat anyways? Not me. Not going to another game until November, so hopefully it will be cooler by then. That's pretty much all I did today. And it was nice. Goodnight!

Day 228: Froggy Froglonza

Today was a great day. Much better than yesterday. I went to lunch with Danielle and her neighbor from last year, Sarah. We of course went to the delicious A Cafe which was absolutely packed, but absolutely delicious. I didn't have Stat lab this week so it made it easier to catch lunch. After I went to class, I had a "Diamond Buddy Date" with two new pledges at Mochi. It was great getting to meet new girls and let them know how awesome Phi Lamb is.

I checked my mail and got a note from my bff Gracie, so that was exciting! Then this evening Jenny picked me up and we headed to her house for a girl's night with some of our buddies. We ended up watching my second favorite Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog! I loved getting to laugh with them and singing the songs. hehehe. All around today was a froggy day because my throat has been killing me. Last night/this morning I got a bad cough. And I actually talked a bunch today so that's not good for it either. Hopefully I won't have to talk much until the game tomorrow and then I will have no voice for the rest of the weekend. Anyways, off to bed to let this Nyquil work its magic. Goodnight!

Day 227: Frustration

I had a frustrating day that I'm not going to detail here because it would just get me more worked up. Right now I'm just feeling sleep deprived. I am off to bed (really early for me).

Two good things happened today though! I went for an interview to be an Eco-Rep for my dorm area. We find out Saturday if we were chosen. Hopefully so! It would be a lot of fun and a lot of good experience to add to my resume if I get it. Second thing, tonight was CRU. Back in the University Auditorium aka the "Crazy Cathedral" which is one of the most beautiful spots on campus. I sat with my new community group, Danielle, and a new Phi Lamb pledge. That pretty much made my day so much better. It always does.

Goodnight!

Day 226: Crafty Fun

Today was a splendid day. I went to lunch with my "pearl buddy" from Phi Lamb at the A Cafe. We met up with another group of lambs who were getting to know each other, so that was fun. Then class... yay. After class I relaxed a little bit and got a text to go to Publix with my neighbors. It was great because we got to spend some productive time together. When we got home, my neighbor Lorena and I made brinner together (pancakes and scrambled eggs...YUM!). Then we went to a craft night on campus. It was so popular that by the time we got there pretty much everything was used up or was in line to be used up. So instead of making cute canvas or cork boards, we got these little wooden frames and decorated them with stamps and stickers that just looked silly. Then they put out those black papers that you scratch off so there is a rainbow underneath (you know what I mean?). I kept mine for home and now they are finished and look AWESOME, in my opinion. One of them is Zebra print. I know, I'm cool.

Lorena and I also grabbed the only foam animals left in the building. The little foam stickers that have cute shapes that 6 year olds love. We ended up with 3 little piggies, a cow, a bear, a lion, and a #9 that we turned into a whale. When we got home, Lorena and I spent about 45 minutes coming up with cute puns for the animals. We put the sticker and the note with the pun on our neighbors' doors so we could all have "Door Pets". Here are the puns so you can laugh with us. And then I'm off to bed to prep for a very busy Thursday tomorrow. :)

Bear: "Teddy Roosevelt is beary excited to meet you!"
Lion: "Dandy was lion around waiting to be found by his mane ladies."
Cow: "Lauren and Lorena are udderly excited to present to you, Milky Way!"
Whale/#9: "Hi! My name is Spunky. Lauren and Lorena wave hello!"
Pig 1: "Hello my name is Baconator. ?Por que? Hogs and Kisses!"
Pig 2: "Hello my name is Porky. Sowprize! Hogs and Kisses!"
Pig 3: "Hello my name is Hammy. I never sausage a beautiful sight! Hogs and Kisses!"

Day 225: Sick Wave 2

Woohoo. I am sick. Again. I think I have one of the worst immune systems on the planet. I am always sick! This is proven by the fact that my brand new box of Dayquil capsules is empty... Today I was too sick to table for Girl Scouts, so I slept a little bit longer and then had to go to 4 hours of class. I have to say, even though I enjoy my classes, today was rough. I kept nodding off during both classes and completely missed the topics for most of it. I have no idea how notes ended up on my page, and they are probably incomprehensible. Oh well.

Besides that, I went to a new Community Group tonight with Danielle. I loved my old CG, but I just wanted to be able to meet new people from CRU. I loved it and will be coming back for more. And now I am going to bed. Early for me, but I need some sleep. A lot of it.

Day 224: So Much Reading

My brain hurts. I don't think I've looked away from the computer for more than 10 minutes at a time today. Actually I think it's more like 4... I slept in and then got to work reading for my Intro to Sustainability class. This book is shaped like a novel, but written like a textbook. The information is interesting, but there are too many stats and information repeated several times over in each chapter. I had to read 3 chapters (of 40 pages each) today. By the end I was just reading the first sentence of every paragraph and completely ignoring the ones with numbers in them. I don't need to know exactly the number of gigawatts of energy the Phillipines and Taiwan and India and China and Mexico and Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo AND the United States all could produce by 2020 if we followed the new energy saving plans. Which are great, I just don't need that much information. Reading 120 pages at a time, I'm not going to remember that. The only thing I remember from 12:30 pm today is that polar bears are starting to become cannibalistic. That's all I remember from the first chapter. That's not good.

BUT now I am finished with the reading. Until next weekend when I have 2 more chapters to read. Aye Aye Aye.

And with that, I am going to bed. Because I'm exhausted. And yes, I read for forever today so I feel I earn to go to bed now. Very busy day tomorrow, but that's Tuesday for ya! Night.

OOOOH one great thing that happened today is that I won a $25 gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond!!! They had this sweepstakes going for the last 2 months and finally on the last day I won an instant win prize. Now I'm just hoping I know someone that wins the $91,000+ retail value sweepstakes. Hopefully me. Or my cousin who showed me the site. We shall know in a few weeks. :) But I'll take a free $25!

Day 223: Crispy Day

Before I forget, yesterday was day 222, which I thought was pretty cool. Day 333 should be Christmas Eve if I calculated correctly! Yay!

Today I went to lunch with Jenny at Crispers. I had this delicious steak sandwich with spinach and artichoke chips! Mmmm. Then went to Publix as per a normal Sunday. I made a delicious omelet for dinner along with these awesome blueberry muffins that my mom bought for me. They come in this cool container, you add a little water and BAM out comes muffin mix. Brinner on a relaxing Sunday = awesomeness.

Other achievements of the day include watching 2 Statistics lectures (back to back mind you which is even more difficult) and some TV viewing. I wish every weekend was a long weekend. It would be so much more fun! Tomorrow will include lots of reading for my sustainability class. Hopefully I will be able to get through it all. It's kind of difficult to read. :/ Night!

Happy Happy Birthday to my lovely mother!!! <3

Day 222: Beat the Owls

Tonight was the first game day of the season! My parents came with our old neighbors and we tailgated the afternoon away. I also took them around and got free stuff like towels and coupons and such. My mommy bought be a cute blue and orange zebra print watch. I love it. I'm super motivated to wear only blue and orange clothing the rest of the week so I can love wearing my watch. :)

Bonus: We won the game!! Which always makes it more exciting. I still don't think I'm going to go to many of the games, but I'm sure I'll have fun at the ones I do go to.

I have officially finished watching every episode of House ever created as well. Yes, I am proud of this accomplishment. If you are new(ish) to my blog, you should know that in the the past year I've watched every episode in chronological order of the following: The Nanny, Scrubs, Boy Meets World, Dawson's Creek, Bones, and now House (all at least 6 seasons long). I may be missing a show, but I think that's it. What should be next up? Suggestions welcome.

Goodnight, and Go Gators!

Day 221: First Laundry Day

Today's exciting event was doing laundry! Yay laundry... Went to class, came home, watched TV (Arthur was on!) and then did laundry and watched more TV while I waited. The machines are pretty far away, but it wasn't too bad tonight. And they got new machines that don't just take our school ID anymore, so you can just use your debit card. So convenient. I was pretty much the only one in there, which was nice. Anyways, that was about all the excitement I had. Hope you had a great Friday!

Day 220: Elizabeth's Birthday

Today, Kayce (neighbor) and I went to the A Cafe for lunch (twice in one week, YAY!). Then class, as usual. After class, a group of us went out for Elizabeth's birthday! We went to Satchel's Pizza, which I've written about before. You can read about that adventure here. Delicious pizza and great company. Then we went to her sister's apartment to eat cupcakes and play games. We played telephone pictionary (one of my favorite party games) and Apples to Apples. Fun night! When I got home, Angie (my roommate) painted my nails blue and orange zebra print for the game weekend. We talked and found out that we have the same favorite color, both love Despicable Me and we both eat our pizza backwards. We are the same person. I love it! I forgot that my class tomorrow is earlier than the rest of the week and further away so I really need to get to sleep... Goodnight!

Oh yeah! Something else that I did today: I applied to be an "eco-rep" for the residence hall government. We shall see what comes of that, but hopefully I will be able to start making a noticeable difference on campus in conservation of energy! Yay sustainability!

Day 219: The Lion King

Today was a pretty good day. It wasn't 9 billion degrees outside because there was an it's-going-to-rain-soon-but-not-actually-rain-at-all-coolish-breeze today. After classes, I picked up my football game ticket with my friend Sam. Because we have season tickets, we got a free shirt to start off the year!! It is my first free Gator shirt as a sophomore. Therefore I'm pretty excited. Not that I don't have enough blue shirts in my closet which is pretty much all I end up wearing...

After that, Elizabeth and I went to Mochi for a lady date. Both of our lady dates with Phi Lamb girls couldn't happen this week, so we decided to get together instead. We had a blast and after Mochi ended up sitting in that aforementioned breeze while we waited 45 minutes for her bus to come. Woops, guess we talked too long at Mochi! So the peanut butter/white chocolate macadamia nut yogurt was pretty much my lunch. I approve. We also went to the bookstore so I could buy my stat workbook which Amazon failed to send me within a week. And I need it. So now I have it! Yay! And since I have the book, now I'm finally catching up on lectures and took the first quiz today. Got a 100% on the first try. Granted, I could have answered those questions in elementary school (seriously, stem and leaf plots?? really?) but it still made me happy. Plus you get 3 chances to take each quiz and get to drop the lowest 3. I don't see how this class can be bad. :)

We had a fire drill during my stat lecture, so I paused it, grabbed a book and ran downstairs. I read a few pages and then remembered I had a package to pick up. And as soon as I got back from picking up my book, we were allowed to go back into our rooms! Good timing! After everything was done for the day, I got a Lion King song stuck in my head and decided to watch it. There's just nothing like one of your favorite Disney movies to end the day on a happy note. But I'm still not tired. Nothing an episode of House can't help!

Goodnight!

Day 218: Return to A Cafe

HOORAY! Hannah and I got to go back to the Arredondo Cafe for lunch today. If you are just joining my adventures, Hannah was my roommate last year and the A Cafe is the best place to eat on campus. Full salad bar, buffet, entree, meat carving station, desserts, and a drink for $8.49. Plus great friends that work there, which makes it an overwhelmingly awesome place to have lunch. Anyways, Hannah and I got to go there and enjoy ourselves. Yay for catching up!

After lunch, had 4 hours of class which was ok, then ran home quickly. On Facebook I saw that BYX, Phi Lamb's brother fraternity was having a worship night for their rush (Side note, if you are a Christian guy here, you NEED to join them because they are some of the best people on the planet) so I ate dinner and ran over to worship. I had to leave that early to get to my Girl Scout meeting. After GS, I ran into two of my sisters in the food court and sat and talked with them for a while. And then returned to my room where I finally wrote everything in my planner, and realized I have a stats quiz I need to do (aka I need to watch the lectures so I can do the quiz) (don't worry Mom, I'll get it done). I also finally wrote down all of my lunch dates, events, and homework/reading that needs to be done every day this week on the whiteboard by my bed. So there should be no excuse for me forgetting a lunch date hehe. And now at 2:15, I think I am ready to call it a night. Fare-the-well blog readers. And Ben.

Day 217: Induction

Tonight was the Induction ceremony for the new pledge class of Phi Lamb. As ceremonies chair, I got to be in charge of the event. So those "crafts" that we made this weekend? The lambs for the pledge's doors. So we spent all weekend making them, I organized them today, and tonight active sisters delivered the lambs to the pledges apartments or dorms. It's hard work sneaking in to deliver lambs! Since we don't have keys to the dorm halls, you have to stand there and wait for someone to come in/out or answer your knocking. I helped Elizabeth deliver one at the apartments on campus. My hand went numb from knocking and it took like 15 minutes. We had to be let in to 2 different doors by 2 different people. But it was a lot of fun! Thanks to all the sisters who helped out!

My lambie from last year!

So all I did today was Phi Lamb planning. I bought roses at Publix. They were the most beautiful roses! I should have taken a picture... oh well. The church ended up not having air conditioning in our normal meeting space, so we had to improvise in a different room that was cooled. It was worth changing up the plans. I love me some air conditioning.

Goodnight!

Day 216: Back to Cooking

Hooray! I finally got back into the kitchen today and made some delicious ziti. Bonus: I get to have the rest for dinner later this week. Mmmm. Downside: I found out that whoever else cooks in our lounge is a slob (apparently our RA). There were dirty dishes left all over the gross counter and in the sink. I just don't understand why you would leave the tiny space we have dirty. AND they live like 6 feet from the kitchen door. That's just inexcusable. If Danielle was our RA, all of the dishes would have been thrown out by now. Hehe.

Other than that, I went to church this morning, finished up the Phi Lamb crafting, went to Publix, watched Becoming Jane, and chilled in the room. :)

A happy Sunday indeed. <3

Day 215: Crafting

I spent the afternoon crafting some things for Phi Lamb with a few of my sisters. It was a little hectic because 15 people had responded that they could come, but only 4 of us showed up. Everyone just figured that the other 14 people were going so it would be okay. It ended up working out fine because we needed an overnight time for stuff to dry, but now we have to do part 2 tomorrow. Thus, I am going to head to bed and get ready for church, more crafting, and Publix. Happy Weekend!

Day 214: Progressive Dinner

I'm officially through the first week of school! And throughout the week I dropped 3 courses and added 1 new one. So I'm only at 12 credits, but I'm going to enjoy that. Plus football tickets AND I applied for a part time job with the food services company on campus, so we'll see where that goes. Two of my friends got jobs super quickly after applying since apparently they need a lot of people. Even a few hours would give me a little spending money and something to do (as long as it's not at 6am. I happen to love sleeping in...)

Tonight's Phi Lamb rush event was the Progressive Dinner, everyone's favorite. You hop into someone's car with people you don't really know. Then you drive to one house for appetizers, one for dinner, and one for dessert. While you're at each house, you get to meet up with 2-3 other carloads of people and get to know them, too. It was a delicious blast! Except that there are now 3 Lauren's in Phi Lamb. This should get interesting... Extra bonus, met a rushee that is a friend of a friend from back home and knows lots of people that I do too! I love strange occurrences like that!

I watched some TV and now I am so ready for bed. Plugged my new computer battery in today and it worked great except for the fact that it's been plugged in for over an hour and it's only gone from 20% to 52%. That's a little funky. Hopefully it's just because it's the first time it's really charging. Because I am not sacrificing longer battery life for longer charge time. That's ridiculous. I may have to rethink computer brands next time I'm shopping (which hopefully won't be for a while...)

Goodnight everyone!

Day 213: Treasure Hunt

Today's Phi Lamb adventure was a treasure hunt across campus. I was a clue giver, so I got to stay in the same spot and meet up with the rest of the groups at the final destination. We all got ice cream as a secret treasure surprise. Yay! After the treasure hunt, we headed off to the first CRU of the year. Elizabeth and I got there kind of late, but we didn't miss much. There were over 1,200 people there!! We had to walk all the way to the top of the theater to find seats. So grateful that so many people were there. Not to mention that throughout the night, at least 94 people gave their life to the Lord. That's just so fantastic! That was pretty much my Thursday. The end!

Day 212: Take Home a Treasure

Tonight's Phi Lamb Rush event was a craft night. Our rush week is centered around treasure, so we painted little treasure boxes! I of course did mine in zebra print. It was lots of fun!

Other than that, I woke up early to table (hand out flyers) for Phi Lamb, watched lectures, attended lectures, (archaeology lab is so cool!) and realized that I was getting/am sick. I hate the beginning of school sickness. Boooo. So now I'm going to take some Nyquil and get some rest. Busy Thursday ahead! <3

Here's a link to the front page story about the beautiful Amy that ran in today's school newspaper.

Day 211: Memorial

Today's classes were much better than yesterday. I think I need to sit in the front to hear better, but they should be more interesting and educational.

Besides class, tonight was the memorial service for Amy. It was moved inside because of rain, so the room overflowed with people. It was amazing to see how many lives she touched. The President of the school came to speak as well as the dean of the Health and Human Performance college (where Amy studied). Her family was present and spoke, recognizing her sisters as a major impact on her life and had us all stand so they could see who we were. I forgot to bring tissues, so my shirt sleeves were completely soaked by the end of the evening. The stories and thoughts that her friends shared were truly the highlight of the night.

Amy's entire life was lived for the Lord, and every single person that she met recognized that. She lived as an image of Christ, something we should strive to do every day.

Day 210: First Day of School

Thank goodness for drop/add week. I had 3 classes today and dropped two of them when I got home. That's the kind of day I had...

My environmental economics class seems great; love the young intelligent professor. Cultural Anthropology professor, not so much. I'm sick of not being able to understand the teacher! When there is an American TA standing right next to him, correcting what he says. Not to mention the fact that he spent the class reading the syllabus aloud word by word and explaining how to use the online grading site that is pretty much self explanatory. The syllabus is under 'syllabus', assignments under 'assignments' and the online tests under 'assessments'. We go to the best university around, and you think we can't READ!?!? Needless to say I dropped that class until next semester when I can get a different teacher.

Then came West African Dance. Which would have been an awesome class. Unfortunately since my fall in Ohio, my knee has been failing me in the good-feeling department. After just watching the 4 minute demonstration, I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that this year. Hopefully another time I can go back and take it again.

So my new schedule is Environmental Economics, World Archaeology and lab, Intro to Sustainability Studies, Statistics, and the online career planning class for my dorm. I think that should keep me busy enough with Phi Lamb, football tickets, and gym classes across the street, don't you?

On a more positive note, I finally got to go back to Mochi tonight with a few of my sisters and a future pledge. They had cake batter AND red velvet tonight. Swirled was delicious. And made me very happy. Then I came back here and played on the computer until 2 am. Now I'm tired and can go to sleep! I seriously love being able to wake up at 11am. So awesome.

Have a great first week of school to you students.

Day 209: One More Angel

Today has been a very hard day. During our Phi Lamb pre-rush tea party, we discovered that our sister and chaplain, Amy, passed away this morning. It broke all of our hearts. She was the most encouraging person you would ever meet. We are so thankful that she was in our lives for this brief time, but now she is dancing joyfully with the Lord. I am especially thankful for our community and sisterhood that has been so supportive and comforting. Here are just a few of the things that were shared in our community today.

Rest in Peace Amy, we will see you soon!

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:1

Although we mourn the death of our beloved sister in Christ, we rejoice because she is in His presence and has heard the greatest words one could ever hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

You say: "I can't figure things out" but God says: I will direct your steps (Prov 3:5-6)
You say: "I feel all alone" but God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Heb 13:5)
You say: "I'm anxious" but God says: Cast all your cares on ME (I Peter 5:7)
We are grieving, but we know that God's plan is bigger than ours.

"And I tell you all of this so that you may have peace in me. Here in this world you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart for I have overcome the world." John 16:33

"Weeping may last through the night, but Joy comes in the morning."

You Hold Me Now

Earth has lost a wonderful woman, but heaven has gained an Angel.

Day 208: BTS part 2

I just rented a book from this site. So you should link to it from here and rent a book or two, too. It was super cheap and included shipping both ways. PLUS if you rent from here, I get $5. So if you are a college student in need of some textbooks, check out Campus Book Rentals.

http://campusbookrentals.extole.com/a/clk/bxLW

Day 208: Back to School

Welcome back, blog readers!!! I am officially back at school and moved in to my new dorm. Which is FABULOUS I must say. I have my own room connected to my roommate's and we share a bathroom with the rest of the gang from last year. Only 8 girls sharing a bathroom? Yes please!! It's so much nicer, although I loved my room last year. Plus I have a great window view and curtains too! So here are some pictures of my room all set up. Gotta go get ready for the day. Helped my neighbor move in, taking my roommate and her friends to find their classes later, then going to Jenny's new apartment for a Girl's Night In.

I LOVE COLLEGE!!!

Window view that is difficult to capture because of the screen. But it's pretty with architecture!