Day 163: Craft Time!

Fun things for the day:
1) Got to see Leann and Jamie again for a little bit after their tours and info sessions today!
2) It rained and was beautifully cool out! Plus got to wear the boots.
3) I got a nice ~25 minute nap in my General Anthro class (don't worry, 15 minutes of it was a break in the class)
4) Found a pencil
5) For Girl Scout Camping next weekend, our campus group made crafts so we can "swap" with the campers. It's a tradition. We made cute little gator head/alligator clip/magnets. They are ADORABLE. Don't have a picture of ours, but here's what we were aiming for. Ours have teeth.

So we spent over 3 hours working on them. CRU was moved off campus due to the rain, so I probably wouldn't have been able to go to that anyways. I miss CRU. :(

So... It is 1am and I am ready for bed! Yay! All caught up on Vampire Diaries!!! Officially all caught up on all my shows. Except that apparently Greek is being canceled and this week's episode was the last one, but they haven't put it online yet. :( BOO.

Goodnight!

Day 162: Spring Cleaning

Today, I cleaned my half of the room! Woo!! It hasn't been this clean since we moved in. I am thoroughly impressed with us.

Tonight, my cousins Leann and Jamie (of the moose cupcake cousins), came for a visit before their tours and programs tomorrow (Jamie is a prospective student). We went to dinner at Olive Garden and enjoyed a fabulous (if I say so myself) night time driving tour of campus. It was soooo super great to see them and have family at school. Extra bonus besides the delicious dinner (don't remember what it's called, but sooo yummy. Their new "special" thing that's on commercials. Try it.), Leann made brownies! Really yummy brownies! So family + brownies + clean room = love.

It's been a very very long day, so off to bed here. Goodnight!

Day 161: Trivial Pursuit of Happiness

Tonight was my final exam for the Bahamas class. It went really well with questions like "If you had $1 million to spend on protection over 5 years, which part of the island would you protect?" and "If you were teaching a class in San Salvador, where would you take them and what lessons would you emphasize the most?"

Anyways. So that was great. Afterwords, some of us in the class proceeded to Applebee's for the trivia night and 1/2 off appetizers. It was my first time at trivia and the place was so packed they had to turn people away! Crazy! The questions were hard, but tons of fun and we had a great time being together again. The rounds are 10 questions and during one round of your choice you can choose to double all the points you earn. We did that on a round and got EVERY question right! So DOUBLE POINTS. That was the round they decided to award the winning team with a free dessert. So we had a delicious chocolate chip cookie sundae. We ended up in 5th place out of 20, which is quite awesome considering we had never played as a group before. Hopefully we can do it again in the near future, because it was so much fun!! The top 3 groups get prizes, the best one being a $25 gift card to Applebee's. Which would cover two weeks of our appetizers... so we need to win. :)

Great night! Bed time at 1:15 am so I can get up at 7. Woo.... :/

Day 160: Raining Elephants and Whales

Yes. That's right. It rained much harder than cats and dogs today. It was like elephants and whales out there. While driving home to school (on the interstate), I couldn't see the car in front of me because of all the rain. That's how bad it was. But alas, I returned with just enough time to make it to my afternoon Bio class.

Got to walk at least 2 miles today in the process of returning the car to my brother's apartment. That was fun. (It wasn't raining then) Then Phi Lamb meeting and back home. Danielle stopped by to give me some banana bread, a sweet potato, and my baking dish back. And then we proceeded to talk for the next hour and a half. I love random hanging out time! She's off for the next couple days spending time with her family, so the food situation is less appetizing than normal. But I have all the fixings for quesadillas and tacos for several nights! :)

Day 159: Anti-Procrastination

I can't believe I'm writing this blog. I'm going to look back on this day when I have doubts of the reality of the situation. And the situation is this: I finished a 5 page paper a day before it's due. Seriously. I am the Queen of Procrastination and Study Avoidance. Just ask my dad, he comments on it all the time. But I abandoned my role for the day and delved in to the research summary I had to write about Project Hermit Crab for the Bahamas class. And it's finished. Started and finished it in a matter of 3 hours. And I'm going to credit it 1) to God for helping me finish quickly 2) to Michael Buble for singing to me the whole time without getting tired (thank you YouTube!) and 3) to my little hermit crab buddies for being the sweeties that they are and actually providing me with the material to write on. But really... Buble. Amazing. Enjoy.

Other than that amazing accomplishment of today, here's what went down. Woke up. Went to Publix. Saw several people from here. Talked to them. Bought groceries. Went to cute ice cream soft serve trailer that has opened while I was gone. Ate ice cream. Got ready for church. Went to church. Saw some of my friends at church (most were on spring break elsewhere). Cooked dinner for the 'rents (honey roasted cinnamon sweet potatoes and grilled chicken). Wrote paper (see above).

THE END!
I'm going to go to sleep now. Night!

Day 158: Racing through the Day

Today went by so quickly! I got to have lunch at my favorite restaurant with my best friend, Grace! It was so great to get to see her and my second family for a while. Yayy! <3 Love them!

After that, went shopping with my Mom at a couple places. Before we knew it, it was after 8 and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. A quick stop at Tiajuana Flats and then back to shopping. I got a new reusable bag from Joanns that is really cute with birdies and trees and such. I love eco-friendly things!

Mom and I got home and watched Racing Stripes on Netflix on the new X-Box. We had both seen it before, a LONG time ago, but we were laughing the whole time. Didn't remember how great it was! And now it is time for bed. The day just raced by, but was full of fun!

New thing for the day: Banana Pudding Milkshake at Chick-fil-A! SO GOOD.

Day 157: Sweet Home Surprise!

I got a huge urge last night to go home. So I got my brother to lend me the car and I finished my assignments for the day, packed a little bit, and headed home around rush hour. It only took me 20 minutes to get out of the city, which is pretty great! I got to my home town at 8:03 and pulled in to the high school. My friends Kaylee and Tyler were performing in their last home show of their winterguard and percussion shows (respectively). Tyler went on too early, but I got there just in time to see Kaylee. And BOY were they surprised to see me! I only told two people from back home that I was coming, so it was really great to see their faces! Luckily Kaylee wasn't throwing a rifle when she spotted me, otherwise there could have been some damage done...

Anyways, got to see them very briefly. Then headed to my house. Mind you, my parents had no idea that I was going to be home. My dad is leaving for a trip tomorrow at 5am and my mom was going to do some gardening and stuff around the house this weekend. I shut off the car lights, closed the door really quietly and rang the doorbell. When my dad looked through the window and saw me, he let me in saying "get your butt in here!". My mom was so surprised! I started crying because it's just so great to be home for a weekend and see my friends and family. So YAY! After we all got over the bewilderment, just got to hang out for a while and talk. Over spring break (which I obviously wasn't home for), my dad won an X-Box, so I just played around with it for a little bit tonight. Hehe

And now it's midnight and I'm exhausted from being sneaky, so I'm going to head to bed.

Surprise to everyone from back home!! Let me know if you'd like to be seen. I have a lot of work to do while I'm here, but will try to spend some time for fun.

<3
We We We so excited. We so excited. - For this weekend!!!!!

Day 156: Zebra Print

My new phone case came in today!!! It's multi colored zebra print!! Exciting, right!? I was really excited. Here's a picture of the highlight of my day:

So I'm really happy about that. In case you couldn't tell that. Other than that and class today, nothing really exciting happened. In General Anthropology we watched a very awkward documentary. It made me quite uncomfortable and lasted far too long. Luckily it is over, and I only have to revisit it fore the final exam. *phew* (It'd make you awkward, too, so I won't go into details)

After my Girl Scout meeting tonight, one of my friends showed me a "secret" (but obvious if you look at it) staircase out of the student union. I can't believe I never knew they were there. But now I'm going to use it all the time. It's amazing how the simple things in life can make you so excited!

Off to bed rather early tonight for I have quite a day ahead of me. Hope you have an awesome FRIDAY!!!!

Day 155: Reef Life

Today's big event was watching Finding Nemo. I've wanted to watch it since we went to Seahorse Key a month ago (Pre-Bahamas weekend)! So I finally got to watch it! Hooray! I like knowing some of the different life that is in the reef scenes. It was fun to combine science with one of the most popular Disney movies. Definitely the highlight of the day.

Besides that, woke up early, went to lab, got a slice of free pizza, went to class, napped, hw, TV. Good stuffs. In lab, we went on an exploration outside to do some distribution counting tests. We calculated the distance between antlions, organisms I had NEVER heard of until today! But I've seen them before, so I don't understand why I didn't know what they were. Here's a video of them in case you didn't know what they were either.

Danielle made us personal chicken pot pies tonight for dinner! Yummy! Hooray crescent rolls. So many uses for them!

Hannah and Brooklyn went to a Chris Tomlin concert two hours away and just got back. I'm really tired so going to go to bed now. Hope your Thursday is splendid!

(Oh, not too important, but I spent a lot of time manipulating my class schedule for next semester (and the rest of them) today. I'm now looking into double majoring in Anthropology and Sustainability. I'll probably have a better decision when I know what exactly I need to take for Sustainability, but in the meantime, with only 2 anthro classes next year (each semester), my last 4 semesters will only need 1 anthro class each. I think that is pretty manageable, how bout you!?)

Day 154: Up to Date

I know that I keep saying that I'm back to normal, but I guess I just didn't realize how much things change when you're out of contact for 2 weeks.

I had accountability group today and got to catch up with two of my sisters, which was so good! Also had the Aztec Civilization test, so now I'm caught up in that class. I finished my pre-lab and lab work from last week before 10pm, which is unheard of for me. It was basically just a really nice feeling, to be up to date with everything.

Another aspect: I finished all of the episodes of Bones that have been shown before. So now I can start watching it in real time every week! I'm going to miss being able to see my friends any time I want, but happy to have another show to watch weekly. I thought I had missed a bunch of episodes of my shows while I was away. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I only had 1 episode each of NCIS, NCIS: LA, and The Good Wife (not including tonight's shows, but I normally watch them later anyways). So Yay!! Just need to get back on track with Glee, Royal Pains and Vampire Diaries. And Greek if I have time, but that's not super important.

It sounds like I watch a lot of TV. But I DO get everything else done that I need to. I love having most of my classes on Tues/Thurs! Definitely trying for that next semester as well.

Since the advising appointment yesterday, I've been trying to think of what classes to take next semester. I don't think I'm going to do the business minor. Mostly because 1) I don't want to take those classes right now and 2) there's a MS in Management that is a 1 year program that you don't need any business experience for. So instead of applying and hoping to get in for a 2 year MBA right away, I can do the MSM and then come back if I want my MBA later. But we shall see! Right now just looking at Sustainability major and Anthropology minor. :)

Good day. Goodnight.

Day 153: Major Change

The internet keeps on shutting off, so this is going to be really quick while I still have the internet.

2 main parts of today
1) New Biology section = new teacher! A young American ecosystem ecologist to teach ecology! YAY! I really liked him - entertaining and understandable. So these next 5 weeks shouldn't be too bad for that class.

1) b. Had lunch at the A Cafe with Danielle and Chelsea right after that class!

2) I went to an advising session tonight. I met with a really nice adviser who was actually quite helpful! My intended major is Sustainability. But it's not an option until fall, so I have to wait a semester. However, I had to change my major so I didn't get in trouble for not being "on track" (trouble could include not being able to register for classes). So now my major is Anthropology since I'll be taking classes to satisfy my minor next semester. Shortly into the beginning of the fall semester, I will be able to declare Sustainability as my official major and hopefully leave it that way. WOOHOO.

So. As an Anthropology major, I bid you goodnight before the internet dies yet again.

Day 152: First Day of Spring!

Happy First Day of Spring!

I'm officially back to normal! My nails are painted, the whiteboard is decorated and the fridge is full of yogurt! I can't tell you how great it feels to be back for real. It only took a week... Today started off normal, went to Publix, made delicious calzones with Danielle, and watched Bones in between. Jenny and I also decorated posters for our Phi Lamb sister for Dance Marathon (a Children's Miracle Network fundraiser that you'll be hearing about in 2 weeks). So pretty much just a normal day. I also uploaded some Bahamas pics to my Facebook, so if you are friends with me there you can take a look.

Seriously though, I am so excited to have breakfast foods for tomorrow morning! WOOHOO YOGURT!

Day 151: Spring Saturday

Since I didn't get a spring "Break" today was my spring break. I woke up after 1pm, watched Bones all day and did a little laundry in between. I only left the room to go to the laundry room and bathroom, which I consider successes in the day. I had PB&J's for both of my meals today, too. Even after eating a million PB&J's in the Bahamas, I really enjoyed them today. Probably because 1. that's the only food I have in my room and 2. they weren't on really thick slices of homemade bread like in the cafeteria over break. :)

One of the episodes of Bones that I watched today was based in an aquarium with a ton of tropical organisms and GUESS WHO KNEW THEM AND THEIR SCIENTIFIC NAMES??? Yes. My Tropical Marine Ecology class helped me understand an episode of my newest favorite show. Therefore, I consider the class a success. Hehe!

In the Bahamas we had several "quizzes" out in the field on scientific names of 24 families of fish and 53 different kinds of coral. Yeah. So our assignments during the day were to go snorkeling and observe different things and find as many different organisms as possible. Talk about fun! The water was so beyond blue, it wasn't even funny. The last day that we were in San Salvador, we went to a little beach and had 2 hours to just relax (which was unusual since we were usually in lecture or doing research). I climbed in the hammock and slept while being swung gently by the wind with an amazing view (when I wasn't sleeping) of the ocean and beach. That was definitely my favorite moment of being in the Bahamas. Even for not liking the typical "tropical paradise" as much as the next person, it was gorgeous! (I would prefer being snowed in in a cabin in the mountains than going to the beach)

So I just thought you would want to hear a little about the trip! Like I said before, more to be coming in the next few weeks of blogging, in little increments.

Day 150: The Meet Ball

Today was a pretty crummy day. I woke up semi-early to study for my Bio2 exam. Then took said exam. I don't think it went that well. This week has just been so incredibly busy that I didn't have the time and energy to focus on preparing for the test. Augh. Oh well, can't do anything about it now!

After the test, I retreated to my room for an afternoon with my newest best friends, Dr. Temperance Brennan and Special Agent Seeley Booth (of Bones). Then I got ready for the night out. Our girls' community group put on a dinner "date" for a guys' community group tonight. It was called "The Meet Ball". Meet people, have a ball, eat meatballs, at the Meet Ball. Ingenious, we know. Anyways, Jenny picked me up and we got to the house around 5. We helped decorate and cook and overall prepare for the dinner date. Unfortunately, as soon as I got to the house I developed one of the worst headaches ever. I feel like this is a recurring trend. I'm sick of it! So headache + icky week = the desire for an introverted night, which was not tonight.

Party went really well with really great food! (Baked Ziti, garlic bread, meatballs (none for me), salad, Tiramisu, and Oreo Chocolate Chip double cookies (and new Peanut Butter ones) ) But like I said, didn't feel up to it, so wasn't particularly involved. I left early and came back home where I was consoled with silence. So lovely. I colored a picture in my dinosaur coloring book which was very therapeutic. So much fun.

So yeah. Today/this week was pretty much not good. Too stressful and tiring. I can't function like this. OH, forgot to tell you about my melodramatic freak out. When getting ready for the Meet Ball, I couldn't remember which side of my hair I usually wear my bow. It really bothered me and I didn't feel like myself for forgetting that. :(

If you haven't heard this viral song by now, I'm quite surprised. It just came out on Monday and already has over 18 million views. This afternoon was 16 million. SO FAST. And it's not all that great, it's just annoyingly catchy. And has been stuck in my head all day. Plus it's been on everyone's Facebook so ... yeah. I only watch it to make fun of the video. I do NOT enjoy this song. But I have to share it with you since Hannah played it while I was writing this. Enjoy your Friday by Rebecca Black.

Day 149: Back for Real

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is my St. Patrick's Day headband! Bright green with shamrocks on white ribbon.

I feel so much more like myself today. I can't tell you what it was, just today felt normal (besides being overwhelmingly exhausted and still having so much to do). Here we go.

Started the day with Aztec Civ. class. We learned about some of the kings and their names. Among them are "water face" and "excrement". Our teacher has nicknamed the last one "King Poop". So you can see how much I enjoyed that class today! Plus I found out/realized that "Isabel" is the Spanish version of Elizabeth. I have no idea why I didn't realize that before, but it was really mind boggling to me.

Proceed to the scene of my next two classes which were relatively boring. Following classes, I reported to Danielle's for a healthier-than-the-last-two-weeks meal of omelets and honey cinnamon sweet potatoes. Then a little studying before CRU.

CRU tonight. Wow. It's always exactly what I need. The music, as you know, was incredible. The last song we sang was With Everything (listen to it, it's amazing!). They haven't played this song in several months. Hannah and I listened to it several times this morning and commented on how they haven't played it. And wouldn't you know, tonight they did! Such a powerful amazing song.

At CRU I got to see Jenny for the first time in 15 days. It was such an amazing feeling. We're used to seeing each other almost every day, so this break has been very difficult. She drove me back after CRU and we ended up talking for 45 minutes in the car... Even though we got that time to catch up, we determined we can never have enough time to catch up. So yeah. Luckily we'll get to see each other quite a bit this weekend because we have a project to do together (more details when it is done).

Something else you need to know about today: The campus has never looked prettier. While I was gone, everything surged green. Maybe it was for St. Patrick's Day, but I really noticed the beauty of our campus today. Thank you, God for making such a beautiful campus and for creating Springtime to showcase that beauty.

Bonus: Got a letter and some cough medicine from my momma! The envelope had a Toy Story Rex (the dinosaur) sticker on it. The woman that got my package commented on it and I replied with how much I love dinosaurs. She said "My son loved them too, but he grew out of that." and looked at me like I was insane for loving them still at 19. I didn't even start to love them until high school time, so I don't get it. Luckily, I have been reassured by many of my friends that it is completely normal for me to love dinosaurs and she is in fact the odd-woman-out for thinking that it is juvenile. HA. I rawr in your general direction.

Anyways... it's midnight and I need some sleep so I can wake up early and study for my Bio2 test tomorrow at 11:45. Please pray for wisdom about plants! Also, of course Japan needs prayers. Also, a freshman at the school died of alcohol poisoning over spring break. It just breaks my heart that she didn't have a strong support system to help her out and prevent this from happening. I would just request prayers to have this incident help others in their situations. And finally, prayer for many of my friends who are just having crummy weeks dealing with many different kinds of stress.

Thank you for reading my blog today! I have really enjoyed being able to share with you again and actually finding things to write about. Boy did I miss this! <3

So let hope rise, And darkness tremble In Your holy light, And every eye will see Jesus, our God, Great and mighty to be praised.

God of all days, Glorious in all of Your ways. Your majesty, the wonder and grace, In the light of Your name.

Our hearts will cry Be glorified, Be lifted high, Above all names. For You our King, With everything, We will shout forth your praise.

Day 148: Tlamatini

Today I worked on my Aztec Civilization project most of the day. We had to read the pictographs that the Aztecs used in their writing system to "teach" their sacred history. From their origins to a large battle and capture until their movement into the Basin of Mexico to their capital city Tenochtitlan. The project was quite difficult, but really satisfying when finished.

Tonight we had a fire drill. It was really annoying, as always. I called my parents and talked to them about the Bahamas. Hooray fire drills!...

I know that the last couple of blogs have been so short, but this week has been so incredibly busy and I just don't have the energy at night to write a bunch. I need a spring break! Oh wait... that's already passed...

OH YEAH. I got my luggage back today! Our friend Katye who used to live on the floor, but moved to Mississippi, kindly drove me to the airport so I could pick up my suitcase. It was left in the Bahamas because the airplane was too small to hold all the luggage. Instead of just sending a plane back that day, they decided to wait and send it the next day. Really annoying, if you ask me. But I got it back and now I'm happy. My most valued possessions inside the suitcase are my retainer, hairspray, and iPod charger. Now that they are safely returned, I intend to sleep well with my teeth correctly adjusted and listening to music. :) Goodnight!

Day 147: Back in Town

Today was my first real day back at school. I went to classes, had a test, went to a review session for a test on Friday and studied. Hooray back to work...

Fun thing for the day: I got to have lunch with Amy (Jenny's older sister) at Designer Greens, a salad/flatbread place just off campus. Yumm and so much fun to catch up! Tonight for dinner, Danielle kindly made delicious sausage and peppers and honey corn bread. I am so blessed because I only had a few minutes to run upstairs and put it in a Tupperware to take to the study session. Thank you Danielle!

Our former hallmate, Katye, came back from Mississippi today for her spring break! She walked in randomly tonight and gave me quite a surprise! So excited to get to see her for the next few days even though they are super busy! <3 Goodnight!

Day 146: Bahamas Part 1

I don't have the energy to write about the trip to the Bahamas now. Just know that it was fantastic and the best spring break I've ever had. Lots of work, but I "graduated" the class with a "B.S. in Reefology". You should be jealous. ;)

Got back to school at 6am Monday Morning after being awake for 24 hours (a lot for me). Therefore, I slept until 5pm and didn't do a whole lot. More information coming in the next few days. Must wait for people to put pictures up since most of the great pictures came from underwater cameras... :)

Hope you had a great 11 days without me! I missed writing so much!!!! Talk to you very soon!

Day 145: Busy as a Blue Crab

I had tons of classes today, a quiz in the Bahamas class, and lots of reading to do before tomorrow afternoon. So it was a very busy day. My friend Skylar interviewed me for her reporting class assignment. That was exciting.

I just finished the reading I'm going to do for tonight after sitting here for over 4 hours without moving. I'm definitely ready for bed. But first, I have to pack... So here goes! Suitcase weighing less than 40 pounds, a small duffel with my fins/snorkel&mask/bathing suit and my purse must all be packed so I can sleep.

Tomorrow morning: lab, bio2 class, lunch with Jenny, and then headed to MIAMI!!!! This will be my last post until I'm back on American soil early morning Monday March 14th. So until then... I bid you Adieu.

Have a splendid spring break if you have one! Please pray for me and many of my friends who are traveling on missions trips over break (many to Seattle and Atlanta). Be safe, everyone!