30 Day Blog Challenge

So, as much as I have wanted to be a good blogger in the past, I have always failed at that goal. BUT-seeing as how this is my last semester at Baylor (AAH!), I really want to keep a record of the time I have left here. So to get me started, I am going to try to do this 30 day blog challenge that I found on Hannah's blog (I don't know Hannah. But I know some people who know Hannah, and I somehow clicked onto her blog and thought that this was a great idea! So I'm borrowing it.) Hopefully, this will give me something to blog about each day and maybe, just maybe, turn me into a REAL blogger!

Here are the 30 days.

Day One- A recent picture of yourself and fifteen interesting facts.
Day Two- The meaning behind your blog name.
Day Three-A picture of you and your friends.
Day Four- A habit that you wish you didn’t have.
Day Five- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to.
Day Six- Favorite super hero and why.
Day Seven- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you.
Day Eight- Short term goals for this month and why.
Day Nine- Something you’re proud of in the past few days.
Day Ten- Songs you listen to when you are happy, sad, bored, hyped, mad.
Day Eleven- Another picture of you and your friends.
Day Twelve- How you found out about blogger and why you have one.
Day Thirteen- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.
Day Fourteen- A picture of you and your family.
Day Fifteen- Put your ipod on shuffle: first 10 songs that play.
Day Sixteen- Another picture of yourself.
Day Seventeen- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why.
Day Eighteen- Plans/dreams/goals you have.
Day Nineteen- Nicknames you have and why you have them.
Day Twenty- Someone you see yourself marrying or being with in the future.
Day Twenty one- A picture of something that makes you happy.
Day Twenty two- What makes you different from everyone else.
Day Twenty three- Something you crave for a lot.
Day Twenty four- A letter to your parents.
Day Twenty five- What I would find in your bag.
Day Twenty six- What do you think about your friends?
Day Twenty eight- A picture from you last year, and now. What has changed since then?
Day Twenty nine- In this past month, what have you learned?
Day Thirty- Your favorite song.

So-here goes nothing! Day 1 post coming up soon.

Summertime!

Hey there! Well, I am officially on summer break now, and have been for over a week. So far, nothing too exciting has happened, unless you count watching lots of daytime TV and avoiding studying for the GRE as exciting. I think I'm saving up my excitement points for later in the summer. Speaking of which, I leave for Italy in exactly 20 days! WOW! I'm really excited and still unsure of exactly what it will be like, but I know it will be amazing no matter what.

Tonight is my brother's last KF Orchestra concert, and therefore the last one my family will attend after 11 straight years of them. That is so crazy and I can' t believe my "baby" brother is so close to being finished with high school! I am really getting old!

OK, one more thing (I don't think anyone reads this anyway, but if you do...) you should check out my uncles' blogs. They have the awesome opportunity to travel with the Passion World Tour all around the world; they have been to Kiev and London and are now in Tokyo, with more places to come. Passion is all about making Jesus famous with college students throughout the world, and it is amazing to see what God is doing! It's so cool that there are college students all over the world, just like us, who want to reach their countries for Jesus. So pray for them, and keep up with their blogs if you want! (Links: Jim and Todd)

I am going to get off the computer now (I've only been on it for 5 hours or something today). Dad will be home soon, and we are off to Chick-fil-A (yum!) and Sean's concert! Ciao!

O, Long-Lost and Neglected Bloggie...

Hello. I should start this post with an apology, because I haven't written in over a year (and a half!), and that definitely makes me a BAD BLOGGER. A lot of times I would think about blogging and then think about having to 'splain myself and then not do it. So I am attempting to get over this fear, and not even offering an explanation (since there isn't one) and I am going to start blogging again! (Maybe. At least I'll try.)

Enough of that. Obviously I won't be summarizing my whole life in the past 18 months in one post, but let me try and hit the high points (in random-very, very random-order):

• I'm almost done with my JUNIOR year of college (can you even believe? Because I can't.). In fact, finals start tomorrow. And yet I am blogging instead of studying. Please ignore this fact.
• I have somewhat decided on a life path/goal...I am focusing on Child and Family Studies and hope to go to grad school and get my Master's Degree in that field, and then...work with children! I know that sounds kind of lame and vague, but here's the thing. When people say they are going to med school or law school or some other kind of graduate school, there is usually a very specific, defined career goal associated with that. Doctor. Lawyer. Accountant. But with a degree in Child/Family Studies, there is still a lot of latitude with what I can do career-wise. Because of that, no, I still don't have a concrete idea of "What I Want To Do With My Life". But I am OK with that, and actually I think grad school will be a great time of refining my interests and seeing what is out there. Because, if you haven't noticed, children are EVERYWHERE. So that means I could potentially work ANYWHERE. Score.
• I spent last summer working as a mother's helper/nanny for an amazing family in Houston who were having a crazy, chaotic time of things and really needed my help. It was so much fun and I miss those kids!
  
• I have a nephew! He is adorable and has brought tons of fun and excitement into the family...we seriously sit around at family gatherings and wonder what we did before Mac was born, because it must have been so boring!
• I have made some of the best friends in the world at Baylor. It took a little while, but I think they were worth the wait. We have fun doing random goofy stuff and I sometimes can't believe there are other people in the world who are interested in the same dweeby things I am!
  
• Both of my parents have moved in the last two months...which means that I no longer have any connection to the neighborhood in which I grew up. Not sure yet how I feel about that, but I am really excited for both of them because they love their new places! (I haven't seen Dad's yet, but I am sure it is great!)
• I joined Sing Alliance, a group here at Baylor that exists solely for the purpose of participating in Sing. I had always loved watching the acts every year and finally decided to take the plunge and participate, even though I am FAR from being a dancer, and singing is only a minimal part of the show. It was absolutely amazing and I am so glad I did it. We won 3rd place overall, and People's Choice for Best Backdrop! (Go here to watch our amazing act!) Even if we hadn't won anything, it would have been worth it because the experience was so amazing. I can't wait to do Pigskin in the Fall and Sing 2011 next year!
• Finally, and possibly the most exciting piece of information (at least to me right now) is that this summer I will be going to ITALY for 8 weeks to be an au pair for an Italian family! I can't say much more than that, because I have been asked to be very cautious about the family's privacy, but I am super excited and also a little bit terrified. Again, this is something way out of my comfort zone (not really knowing what to expect, kind of spontaneous), but I am really excited for it and hope that it is an amazing experience

Obviously, I could go on and on, but I think I will stop here-that is a somewhat sufficient summary of the past 18 months. I have to credit my return to blogging to my BFF (no really, Best Friend Forever) Rebecca, because she started a blog and I had to say "Oh, hey! I have one of those, too! Well, I did have one...a long time ago..." So when she visits my blog I want there to be something more current for her to read than something I wrote when I was 19. Ha. I should probably go study now! Wish me luck, and hopefully I will talk to you sooner than November 4, 2011. =p

Rule Follower

I am a rule follower. I always have been. OCD, anal retentive, whatever you want to call it...I just like things to be done the "right way", and that includes following the rules. I always thought this was just a part of who I am, but something that happened last night got me to thinking...

My friends and I went to see Quantum of Solace last night (really good movie!). But because our schedule got a little off (read: we were unable to tear ourselves away from the Friends of Waco Library Book Sale in time to make a Wal-Mart run before dinner), we ended up having an hour to kill before our movie started. So we decided to go to Wal-Mart and get some candy to take into the movie theater with us (which is, technically, breaking the rules.) But I was fine with it...I have cousins in NC who are experts at sneaking stuff into theaters and besides, I think charging $3.50 for a box of M&M's is ridiculous. So we bought our (cheap!) candy at Wal-Mart and went back to the theater. As we were parking, Rachel and I wondered if we could also sneak in our drinks that we had left over from dinner. A few moments and some clever purse zipping later, we were walking into the theater laden with contraband candy and soda. Oooh the criminality. All was well until, as we stood in line waiting to get into the theater, I felt a strange wet sensation against my leg. Soon, a drop of Coke fell onto my toe. Yeah-my drink was leaking. All down in my favorite Vera hipster. I high-tailed it to the restroom and tried to dry out my purse and its contents (including my candy), but didn't have much luck. I poured the drink out and went back to the theater. Having a soda in the movie was SO NOT WORTH IT.

So I think this is why I always follow the rules-because when I don't, I GET IN TROUBLE. No matter what. Freshman year of high school, when everyone was sneaking out of their hotel rooms on the orchestra trip? I was in the group that got caught. It is inevitable. I know this is really a good thing, keeps me honest and everything, but sometimes it's just annoying! This is why I am a rule follower. The moral here? Don't try to get me to break the rules with you...it probably won't end well.

In other news, SIC 'EM BEARS! We totally WHOOPed up on the Aggies today, which really isn't saying much because, well, they suck, but it was still fun! And cold-very, very, cold. I think I'm going to go curl up in bed and watch some more football. Sounds good to me. Later people!

What I Know and what I Do

What I know: I serve a God who is bigger than this election. He is big enough to take care of this country, and He already knows everything that is going to happen in the next 4 years, and beyond.

What I Do: I've been glued to the TV and internet for the past few hours, counting every electoral vote and watching the little states turn blue. And worrying.

"So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -Romans 7:21-25

This is so me right now.

Why am I blogging???

I could list for you all the things I should be doing. Things like studying for a Calculus quiz that's in 10 hours, reading articles for a research paper that needs to grow 3 pages by next week, or even just taking a shower and getting into bed before 11 for the first time all week. Why am I not doing those things? I really don't know.

Here are some random thoughts that are tumbling around in my brain. Please don't expect this to make any sense, because most likely it won't.

I really don't want to get ready for bed, because that means I have to take my makeup off. I so seldom get "pretty" when I'm at school, but tonight we had an orchestra concert and I just wanted to look a little nicer than usual. And now I really want to stay dolled up for just a little longer, just a little longer...I don't really know why.

I had 2 tests yesterday. The one I felt pretty good about I already know the grade, and it's a B. Ick. The other one I was pretty sure I bombed walking out, and realllly don't want to see the grade now.

I am so so very unsure of what path my life is going to take. Sometimes I think not having a real major is a curse, because it has allowed me to sort of slip and slide along under the radar, and I could keep doing that. I just don't want to. I want to have a defined goal, an ambition, a plan! I'm a planning kind of girl! Everyone has an opinion, and I know it's going to be discussed this weekend, and I just-don't know what to do.

Tonight was my first ever orchestra concert that not one person in the audience was there "for" me. I have always had at least one parent, friend, pastor, something there to hear me. I didn't play well, either, my mind was all over the place. It was weird. Also, I don't think orchestra is going to fit into my schedule next semester, which is really sad. But then again, who knows what my schedule for next semester will look like? See above.

I have serious roommate issues. I just want us to coexist, but she thinks that we should still be "BFFs" like we were in high school. If I had it to do over again, I would never have roomed with someone I already knew. At least not someone I knew so well. A roommate should be someone you like, but not someone you really feel compelled to spend lots of time with and spill your every living secret to. Doesn't work, people, and now we're stuck together 'til May, doing this awkward dance around each other's feelings, and I just wish I could get out of it.

My brother is now a licensed driver-that makes me feel so OLD! All my friends are turning 20. In a lot of ways, I feel ready to leave the "teen years" behind, but 20 just seems really up there in age. I know it's not. But it seems that way. 17 always seemed old, too. I guess it's just a matter of perspective.

I have definitely already started listening to Christmas music. It's my favorite. I can't wait for the weather to get cold and stay that way. It's been teasing us the last few nights, but it always warms up in the daytime. I'm so ready to stop sweating every time I walk outside!

Today I ate: pancakes, a banana, hot tea, a cupcake, crackers with cheese, a Coke Zero, a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, waffle fries, a Capri Sun, another cupcake, a piece of wheat bread, and a cheese stick. It was a weird culinary day, and I think my stomach is starting to realize that and let me know how it feels. Urgh.

Whoo, well that was definitely random. I guess I just needed to get some stuff out "there". I think I will go take a shower, and probably wing it on the Calc quiz.

"Glory be to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Alleluia. Amen."

Something to Say...

So I've been informed that people actually read this blog...really? Why? Oh, I'm just kidding. But I feel bad because I really don't have all that much to blog about. This week is Vacation Bible School, and I have 2-2 1/2 year olds. They're cute, and it's actually a lot easier than my normal preschool job...go figure, right? I've been working switchboard after VBS, too, which makes for long days but at least I'm making some money this week (since VBS is volunteer).

I'm in this weird spot of missing some parts of Baylor life (mostly the people...not so much the food), but still really enjoying being with my family...I know it's weird, but I would honestly rather just sit at home and hang out with my family than go out and do whatever it is I'm supposed to do when I go out. For the most part, anyway. There are some days when I just have to get out, but then I do and I'm ready to come home. But like I said, I miss my Baylor friends too.

It's Father's Day weekend, which means several things...The US Open, so leave Dad alone and let him watch golf, and the banjo show. Ah, the banjo show. My grandfather is in a banjo band (let that sink in for a moment, will you?) and every year they have their big show down in Galveston on Father's Day weekend. I can't say it's my favorite theatrical performance of the year, but we always go because he loves it and we love him. A few years I even performed in the show, but we won't go into that. That's a post for another day. But that's really what these holidays are all about, I guess...doing something that may not be your favorite thing to make someone else really happy. OK sentimental moment over, I'm going to bed because y'all, I'm exhausted. I tell ya, getting up at 7:30 and dealing with babies and phone calls all day will do that to a girl.