Reflections From A Blue-Eyed Girl

California here I come!!

2010-05-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

I came home on Saturday to a surprise from my parents....my mom and I are headed to CALIFORNIA for a mother/daughter trip!! It just so happens that we will also be cheering on the HU baseball team while we are out there! I am pumped!! I will be there until Friday, so stay tuned for pictures after the weekend. Praise the Lord for summer time : )

MCC Conference Champs!

2010-05-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

CONGRATS to the HU baseball team on winning the MCC Conference Championship! It has been an exciting week filled with baseball games, finals and packing, It has also been a somewhat stressful week to say the least. But I am done with school and it is officially summer!! The baseball boys find out tonight where their regionalswill be. Can't wait to take a road trip!

Last night we had to celebrate their huge win while others celebrated being done with college forever. There were a lot of different emotions in the air, but we all still had a great night.

Today has been filled with packing, packing and more packing. My parents came to help me pack up most of my stuff and take the couch back home. I'm not sure when I'm actually going home, I just know when I leave I only have my clothes and bathroom stuff to take with me. I have mixed emotions about summer. I am ready to be home with my family, but at the same time I am really going to miss my friends. I am excited to see all my high school friends though! It is also that time when my money is running low so I'm looking forward to working and earning some money. I still can't believe that summer is finally here! This year flew by! Exactly one more month until my birthday...get pumped! I hope you all have a safe trip home and enjoy your summer.

Done with classes!

2010-05-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

I am FINALLY done with classes for the year and it feels great! Junior block is over forever! I was able to get all of my projects and lesson plans done even with all the baseball games last week.

The weight and stress has been lifted off my shoulders. I am oh so happy! I only have a few papers left and one final before summer. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! I am so excited for summer and all the plans that are starting to be made.

21st birthday

Cubs games

Lady Antebellum concert

Cedar Point (possibly multiple times)

Going to the lake

Hanging out with friends

Trip to Chicago

Bonfires

Chris' baseball games

Weddings

and sooo much more : )

Busy week ahead

2010-04-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

I had a great weekend full of friends, baseball and homework. The weekend went by too fast! I had a great time with Chris this weekend. We went out to dinner and hung out with his friends for most of the weekend. We went out to eat and saw the movie Date Night. It was really fun! Then on Saturday the rain held off for the boys' baseball games. It was actually a pretty nice day for baseball.

I have three weeks left until summer break 2010 which doesn't seem that far away, but I have so much to do before then! Its time for me to buckle down and see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Here's my schedule for the week:

Teach a science and math lesson on Monday to my first graders in Fort Wayne
Baseball games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday
Thursday teach a math lesson that Dr. Priddy comes to observe
Teach 4 Kindergarten lessons about the farm
Bulletin board for reading

I need to manage my time wisely this week : )

Whats new with me

2010-04-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately with school and teaching that I haven't even thought about blogging. Lesson plans are beginning to take over my life, but I guess that is what the rest of my life will be : ) I am currently in a first grade class every morning at Abbett Elementary school in Fort Wayne. I have 1 out of my 6 lessons done and I will teach another one this week. Lets just say that this is going to be a growing experience, not so much a helpful one. I have 3 more weeks left in the classroom, not like I am counting haha.

Last week Cassie and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert and it was AMAZING!! Carrie recently won the ACM award for Entertainer of the Year : )

Another update with my life is that I have a boyfriend [Chris Menzie] who is absolutely amazing! Things are going really well so far!!

Other than that I am pretty much just counting down the days until summer. I have a lack of motivation right now, but the time is coming down to the wire so I actually have to get my stuff done now. The next three weeks will be busy but I will try and blog some.

Spring Break 2010

2010-03-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

This past week was one of the best weeks of my life! Four of my friends and I went down to Daytona for Spring Break. My aunt lives down there and has another house that she rents out and she really cut us a deal. We drove my car, Roxy, down there and it took about 18 hours. The drive wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We had a lot of fun in the car.

This picture was taken right after crossed the Florida line. We were all so ready to get to Daytona.

We had pretty good weather so we could all work on our tans. It was also awesome to drive Roxy on the beach! It was probably one of highlights of the trip. There were about two days that were cloudy but we still went out to the beach.

We had fun going out to dinner every night!

We also got up one morning to see the sunrise and we got Starbucks : )

This was our last night with Beth and Naomi. We had a lot of fun!

One night we got dressed up and went out. We had way too much fun!!

The ocean was freezing but we had to get in it one day and it was totally worth it!

And of course the classic jumping picture! These were just a few of our pictures from our trip. If you want to see all of my pictures go http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=215352&id=502638274&ref=mf

Weekend at Home

2010-03-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

This post is a little late because I have had a crazy couple of days. This past weekend I went home and it was glorious! I had to go home to pack all my clothes for spring break! I also had a lot of things to do for my wonderful education classes. Of course all of them involved making things, welcome to the rest of my life haha. I dyed noodles to use for manipulatives for early childhood and for math methods.

Then I also had to make homemade hand sanitizer for my discovery day science center. There are about 150 third graders coming to HU on Friday and we are having a little science fair for them. My station is about germs and I have the students make their own hand sanitizer. They even get to choose what scent they want it to smell like. I hope everything goes well!

Yes I know you're thinking wow she is lame for doing that on her weekend. Well I didn't have a choice and this is just a peak into the rest of my life haha. I came back to school to hang out with Bradie and we had a great time like always! This week has been a crazy week with all the projects I have been doing including my bulletin board. I have also had to study for a test. But that is all over and I can see the light! I barely have any homework for the rest of the week. Thursday is going to be my cleaning and packing day and then Friday is science discovery day and one class. Then we are taking off for FLORIDA!!! I can't wait!!!

Background Change

2010-03-04T22:52:00.001-08:00

I've got Florida on the brain in case you couldn't tell by my background change : )

Hope you all have a GREAT WEEKEND!!! I'm going home to pack for SPRING BREAK!

Things I Love This Week

2010-03-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been obsessed with making lists and countdowns. I make lists because they make me feel accomplished. I love cross things off my list as I get them done.

Then the countdown I have is for SPRING BREAK of course!! Only 9 more days until I will be on my way to Florida! Daytona Beach I cannot wait to meet you! I am really dreading driving but I am trying to stay very positive about it.

Another thing that I really love is the weather! The sun has been out a lot and it is warmer outside! Spring is finally here! Hopefully : ) Today I went for a run outside and it was amazing! I am looking forward to riding my bike again after spring break. Here's what the weather looks like for the next eight days.

Fri
Mar 5
Mostly Sunny 41°

Sat
Mar 6
Sunny 45°

Sun
Mar 7
Cloudy 50°

Mon
Mar 8
Cloudy 47°

Tue
Mar 9
Mostly Cloudy 46°

Wed
Mar 10
Showers 46°

Thu
Mar 11
Cloudy 48°

Fri
Mar 12
Showers 46°

I also love chocolate! I have been eating it more than I should, but when I am feeling stressed it always makes me feel better. I am also loving the pod casts from Nappanee Missionary Church. It is awesome that I can watch Pastor Dave's sermons. Recently they have been doing a serious called With All My Heart and I have really been able to relate to it. I love technology because now I do not have to skip a week. Its glorious!! I have been going tanning more than normal lately to get ready for spring break and I have really loved being in the warm bed twice this week. Tanning is so relaxing and wonderful! Yes I know what you're all thinking, it causes skin cancer, I am sorry but that does not stop me. I hope you all take time to reflect what you have been loving this week, it is really fun!

Being Social

2010-02-26T12:27:00.000-08:00

This week I chose to be social instead of hitting my homework hard. Bradie and I went to the boys basketball game at IWU. We had dinner with Steph, Ben, Kerri, Tim and Josh, it was very fun! The boys unfortunately lost the game but we were still glad we made the drive there. Bradie and I made sure we got some pictures with our favorite cheerleaders and great friends!

I paid for being social later in the week, Thursday night to be exact. I had to make a poster for my science discovery center and instead of making it Wednesday I made it the night before it was due. I went shopping with my mom all day on Thursday so I didn't start my poster until late Thursday night. I got it done though : ) Then tonight I am enjoying having a Grey's Anatomy marathon while working on my project for Differentiated Instruction. Woo hoo for Fridays at Huntington! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

My soul's rest

2010-02-23T15:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was spending time with God and I was reading Psalm 62. I found it quite refreshing because it talks about how my soul finds rest in God. Then I started thinking about the different areas of my life where my soul needs rest. Here is Psalm 62 for you to enjoy:

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

How long will you assalt a man? Would all of you throw him down-this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

They fully intended to topple him from his lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath.

Do not trust in extortion or take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong, and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.

Fun-Filled Weekend!

2010-02-22T16:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend we celebrated Cassie's 21 birthday! I had so much fun!

Cassie, Bradie, Kristen and I

I love my roomies! Just wish Emily could've been there!

All of us girls! Just some of my favorites at HU : )

The weekend was so so so much fun! I have some amazing friends!! But now it's time to get back to reality and all the homework I have for the week. Today was fine, I just hate Mondays because they are so long! But I have a feeling that this week is going to be a good week! I have a decent amount of homework but if I manage my time wisely, I should be fine. I am going to the basketball game on Wednesday at IWU with Bradie and we are eating dinner with my friends. I can't wait to see them! Then on Thursday if the weather cooperates, my mom is taking me to Fort Wayne to go shopping! Well that's all for now...

3 Weeks!

2010-02-20T14:44:00.000-08:00

ONLY 3 MORE WEEKS UNTIL SPRING BREAK!

I am so excited for spring break, it can't get here soon enough! Five of us girls are driving down to Daytona Beach to stay in a house that my aunt normally rents out. She is cutting us quite the deal too! However, I can't think about spring break too much because I have so much to do before then!

Tons of reading and multiple quizzes over the reading
Study for science exam
Science Discovery Center
Math problems
3 more math journals
4 Projects for Differentiated Instruction
Running Records Quiz
Diagnostic Reading Test
Assignments for our early childhood unit
6 more hours of kindergarten observation
Teach 5 lessons to my kindergarten class

Wow after looking at this list I have become depressed ha. Back to the books I go : )

Dry

2010-02-10T21:12:00.000-08:00

Lately I feel dry in my walk with God so I have made a commitment to myself that I will not get on facebook, my blog or any other website (besides my email) until I have spent time with God each day. It is going to be really hard for me, but I think I will be able to handle it.

I went home this past weekend and I really enjoy the sermon series that my church is doing right now. There are actually podcasts on Itunes of the sermons, so I never have to miss them. The series is called With All My Heart and it is over Jeremiah 29:10-14. I wrote that passage on one of my posts a couple weeks ago. I am excited to listen to the rest of the sermons and I hope that God just ignites a fire in me.

This week in chapel Shane Claiborne is speaking and I recently started reading his book The Irresistible Revolution. I have enjoyed the book so far and I really liked chapel tonight. Shane is a radical with extreme faith and I am hoping by reading his book that I can learn a lot and grow closer to God.

Heres some food for thought:

What kind of teacher, doctor, lawyer, business manager, nurse, radio host, missionary will you be? Will you let the brokeness of the world affect how you live out your profession? Will you allow there to be reconciliation in your work field? Break down the boundaries of class and race?

These are some tough questions that Shane Claiborne asked tonight and they really got me thinking...

Optimism

2010-02-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

I feel like everyone around me is so negative, however, this week I have been very positive. I have a fun filled weekend ahead of me and I can't wait! My week has been pretty good so far and I have just been in a great mood! Last night Bradie and I went to the boys basketball game at IWU and I got to see Steph! It was wonderful! I also got to see Ben, Kerri and some of their other friends!

My schedule this semester is wonderful! For the first time since my first semester at HU, I am not taking 17 credit hours...PLT!! The reason for my post today is that I just want to remind everyone to count your blessings! When you get stressed out with school, just think about the people in Haiti and what they're going through right now. It important for me to keep things in perspective because when I think about the entire world, my life doesn't seem as bad as I sometimes make it seem.

Philippians 2:1-4 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others.

Expect the Unexpected

2010-01-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

About four months ago, God's plans changed for my life. Of course I was not happy at first, but I am so thankful for what God is doing in my life now. God has really taught me to trust in His plan. I want to encourage you all to expect the unexpected. I have learned to just go with the flow and by doing this, God will bring different things your way. Even when you least except it, a person or a situation will be sent to you from God. I hope that you will continue seeking God's will for you life and that you will learn to be patient waiting for God's time. I am just telling you that you will get discouraged because we always want immediate action, but if you seek God with patience and reverence, He will find you and bless you.

Jeremiah 29:10-14

I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.

When You Got a Good Thing

2010-01-28T19:04:00.000-08:00

This is one of Lady Antebellum's new songs and I wanted to share it with you. All of their songs are amazing, but this one just really clicks with me this week. I hope you like it as much as I do!

So happy!

2010-01-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend and the beginning of my week have been GREAT! This weekend I went ice skating and it was soooooo much fun!! Bradie spent about 24 hours with me and it was amazing! I didn't want her to leave HU and I miss her so much already.

Then I went home for part of J-term break and I got to see Steph and Kaila. It was wonderful! Steph and I hung out with some old high school friends one night and the next night we went to a comedy show with Kaila and visited our friend Alex at Notre Dame.

Kaila and I at her apartment at Bethel!

This week was the beginning of the spring semester and so far it is off to a great start! My schedule is wonderful because I don't have any 8:00 classes and I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursday. I have a feeling that this semester is going to be an excellent one!! The new Lady Antebellum cd came out yesterday and I have been listening to it nonstop ever since. I'll give you my review and recommendations later this week. But now I must get back to my reading, oh so much fun!

Mixed Emotions

2010-01-20T15:54:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of my J-term practicum and I had mixed emotions about it. One of the perks of getting up at the crack of dawn is seeing God's beautiful creation. The sunrise this morning was phenomenal!

I had a great last day with my 5th grade class! I taught a lot today and it was great! I had mixed emotions about it because I fell in love with the students. They were all so unique and I enjoyed getting to know all of them. I learn so much when I'm in the classroom teaching, which is why I am not looking forward to going back to sitting in class taking notes and having homework. I grew so much from this experience! I absolutely loved being in a diverse classroom and I loved 5th grade!

I now have four days off to do nothing before spring semester starts. I am staying at HU for a couple of days to hang out with some friends and hopefully Bradie will come too! I want to go shopping, ice skating and whatever else comes up. I'm going home later this weekend to hang out with some old high school friends and then going to ND for a comedy show and to visit Alex.
It's going to be a great weekend!

End of J-Term

2010-01-18T16:23:00.000-08:00

This weekend was very eventful!! I went to visit Steph at IWU and we went to a Mosquito Fleet concert with Ben, all his friends and his GIRLFRIEND : ) We had a blast!

Then on Saturday I came back to HU and some of us girls went to the basketball game at St. Francis. Sadly, we lost the game. Then we went to Steak and Shake afterwards. I had a nice relaxing evening watching movies with one of my friends. Sunday I went to church and hung out with Bradie ALL day! We went to see The Book of Eli with some friends at night and then she spent the night. It was glorious!

Today I have been working on the many reflections that our due for my J-term practicum. I procrastinated a little too much and I still have 7 more to go. This J-term flew by!! I can't believe I only have two more days left with my wonderful 5th grade class! Well I must get back to my reflections. Happy Monday everyone!

Attitude

2010-01-12T19:04:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share something with you that I read every morning as I'm getting ready for my day. Enjoy!!

Attitude

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.

It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.

It will make or break a company...a church...a home...a team. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.

By: Charles Swindoll

J-Term

2010-01-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

This past week I have been at Weisser Park Art Magnet Elementary School for my multicultural practicum. I have been blessed to be in a fifth grade class with a teacher who really knows what he's doing. The experience has been a real eye opener because the school is very diverse. This week the students have been working on poetry and they used their senses to describe a marshmallow. They were then able to have a fun project where they made snowmen out of marshmallows. It was so fun watching them make their snowmen!! One week of my practicum is down and I only have six more days in the classroom. I have mixed emotions about it.

Reflecting back on 2009

2009-12-31T09:42:00.000-08:00

As I reflect back on the year 2009, there are many great memories that I hope to never forget. There are also many unhappy memories that I never want to remember. Like all years, 2009 had its ups and downs. But God picked me up when I was down and things have never looked better! As I head into 2010, I just pray that God will continue to transform me. This year I plan on being patient and waiting to see what God has in store for me. It's not all about me, it's about Him. I look forward to many fun memories with my friends! I look forward to growing closer with my family, friends and God. I just have this feeling that 2010 is going to be a GREAT year!

Here are some things I don't want to forget about 2009:

Celebrating birthdays with all of my HU girls
Spring Break and our great group of people
Going to Florida to surprise my mom over Easter break
Flying Kellyn's Barbie kite down the mall
Visiting Bradie for her 21st birthday
Pong and Peel nights in the summer
Annual Cubs games in the summer
When most of my HU girls game to visit me for my birthday
OG nights with some of my favorite girls
Going to the lake with Steph, Jordan and Ben
The Stance and Hoe Down
Davis Hall Follies-Kellyn and Adam were so funny!
Olympiad! The pink team won and Bradie and I got 1st place in our three-legged swim haha!
Going to Nashville with Steph, Ben and Alex to visit Jordan! One of the best weekends of my LIFE!
Midnight showing of New Moon with the roomies and Michelle
Toby Mac concert at HU
Spending 4 weeks in Mrs. Schroeder's second grade class
Hanging out with all my friends on Christmas break!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!!

Home for the Holidays

2009-12-28T11:04:00.000-08:00

I have been slacking with my blogging, but my break has been wonderful so far!! It has been so relaxing! I came home to my dog who is now HUGE!! She follows me around everywhere and even waits outside the bathroom door until I am out of the shower. She is so sweet, but she is crazy because she is still a puppy.

I was able to substitute teach twice when I was home and that was a lot of fun! I was in first grade and sixth grade PE. Plus I was really excited to earn some extra money! I've been spending some quality time with my family and of course hanging out with all my friends! The boys are still crazy and fun like always! It was really nice to catch up with the girls too!

My Christmas with my family was very relaxing. We stayed home all day and it was so nice! My parents got a garmin, a new camera and a gift card to the Buckle! I used my gift card today while shopping in Fort Wayne with my parents! I got three new cute shirts!

We already had Christmas on my mom's side of the family, but we have yet to have the Cripe Christmas. That is taking place on January 2nd and I can't wait. I am really excited for New Year's Eve as well! There are 12 of us who are going to the Emporium for dinner and my dad is taking us in one of the Turtle Top buses. It was going to be a party limo bus, but that is not available anymore. We are dressing up, so naturally I bought a new cute cocktail dress! Then we are going back to Jordan's to hang out and spend the night. I cannot wait!! I just love being at home and I don't want to go back to school on the 4th. I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas break [if you're on break]!!

Great Reminder

2009-12-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Lisa sent this passage to me and I absolutely love it! It is a great reminder for me to focus on my relationship with God and the rest will fall into place. It's by my desk and I read it everyday. I hope it brings some encouragement to your life.

Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone,
To have a deep soul relationship with another,
To be loved thoroughly and exclusively.
But God, to a Christian, says,
"No, not until you are satisfied, fulfilled and content
With being loved by Me alone,
With giving yourself totally and unreservedly to Me,
With having an intensely personal and unique relationship
With Me alone.
Discovering that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found,
Will you be capable of the perfect human relationship
That I have planned for you.
You will never be united with another until you are united
With Me alone,
Exclusive of anyone or anything else,
Exclusive of any other desires or longings.

I want you to stop planning,
Stop wishing,
And allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan existing,
One that you cannot imagine.
Please allow Me to bring it to you.
You just keep watching Me, expecting the greatest things.
Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I Am.
Keep listening and learning the things I tell you.
You just wait.
That's all.
Don't be anxious.
Don't worry.
Don't look at the things you think you want;
You just keep looking off and away up to Me,
Or you'll miss what I want to show you.
And then when you are ready,
I'll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than any
You could dream of.
You see, until you are ready and until
The one I have for you is ready
(I am working even at this moment to have you both ready at the same time),
Until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me
And the life I prepared for you,
You won't be able to experience the love that
Exemplified your relationship with Me.
And this is the perfect love.

And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love,
I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your
Relationship with Me,
And to enjoy materially and concretely
The everlasting union of beauty, perfection and love
That I offer you with Myself.
Know that I love utterly.
I Am God.
Believe it and be satisfied.

~ St. Anthony of Padua

End of the Semester

2009-12-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

I am finally done with classes and it is such a great feeling!! I finished all my reflections and papers for my junior block field experience and I only have two finals left. Here is a picture of Mrs. Schroeder's second grade class and I on my last day with them. I fell in love with these kids. I had no idea that I would like teaching students that were this young, but I loved it! They made me a precious book with letters from each of them. I love it! I learned so much being in their class for 4 weeks and I am so pumped to be a teacher now!

This weekend my apartment mates and I decided to have a cookie decorating party. We had a pretty good turn out and I had a lot of fun. Emily played guitar for a while and some of us played Mario Kart. We still have a lot of cookies left over, so feel free to come over and get some!

Lately I've been praying a lot and God has really been doing a work on my heart. I've been struggling with understand what God's plan for me is, but he is teaching me how to be persistent in seeking Him and to be patient while waiting on Him. It's hard but I am making it through. I recently dove into 1 Peter and I got a lot out of it. I would encourage all of you to read it! Here are some of the verses that I think God specifically wanted me to read. I love it when God speaks to me.

1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply.
1 Peter 3:3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
1 Peter 4: 7-10 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply , because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various form.

I have one exam on Tuesday and one on Thursday...I cannot wait to be home!! Good luck to all who are studying for finals!!

Sorry it's been so long

2009-12-07T19:24:00.001-08:00

I have been slacking when it comes to blogging. I have been very busy with my junior block field experience and I have another crazy week ahead of me. But I promise that when I need a homework break this week, I will write a very insightful post. I am loving being in the second grade class that I'm in. I love the students and I love being able to teach. My professor came to observe my lesson today and it went very well!! I was so relieved!!

Here's what I've been up to lately:

Toby Mac came to HU!!

Going out for Emily's 21st birthday a week early, since we won't all be 21 on her actual birthday

I finished my reading bulletin board today!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season comes around, I would like to stop and take a moment to reflect on the things I am thankful for.

My Saviour and his unconditional love for me
My family [my parents, Evan, the Cripe side, and the Rookstool side]
My amazing best friends [Bradie, Cassie, Joni, Emily, Brittany, Beth, Carrie, Kellyn, Steph, Brittney, Ben, Dustin, Jordan, and Alex]
The good times in life
The struggles I have been through over the past 20 years and how they make me stronger
Izzie
The education that I am receiving at HU. I cannot wait to be a teacher!
My past, present, and future [I am thankful for how the past has shaped me, how the present is everchanging and I look forward for what is to come in the future]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Music Review

2009-11-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been listening a lot to John Mayer and Carrie Underwood. They both have a new Cd's that came out in November and they are both really good! I wanted to share them with you!

John Mayer's CD is called Battle Studies and one of my favorite songs is Half of My Heart which he sings with Taylor Swift. I like a lot of the other songs too [Perfectly Lonely, Assassin, Who Says & Friends, Lovers or Nothing]

Carrie Underwood's new CD is called Play On. I don't really like most of her past Cd's, but my friend Jordan told me that I had to check it out. And he was right, it's so much better than her other ones. The songs are much more mature. My favorite song is Change, but they're all so good!! What Can I Say is also really good! It's a duet with Sons of Sylvia.

So if you're bored today, you should check out some of these songs! Have a great Saturday!!

New Moon <3

2009-11-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

Last night at midnight I went to see NEW MOON with my roomies and two other friends [Michelle and Ashley.] We got to Jefferson Pointe around 9:30 and then we all got some Cold Stone! So good! However we had to eat our ice cream in the freezing cold while we stood in line. But it was worth it to get there early because they let us in the theater at 10:00. We found a theater that was pretty open and got some great seats! The wait for the movie went by pretty fast! As you can see below that I am for TEAM JACOB!! I have been ever since I read New Moon.

EYE CANDY!!

Bradie and I were so excited!!!

We had to buy candy for the movie so of course we got New Moon candy

We had to wait in line and it was freezing! We were also cold because we were eating Cold Stone in line ha!

We got some great seats and we were ready for the movie!!

I had to buy a Jacob Black cup!!

The movie was so amazing!!!! So much better than Twilight! I am for sure going to see it again!! We had a great time and I wasn't too tired today when I went to my second grade class in the morning!

NASHVILLE!!

2009-11-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I went to Nashville, TN and let me tell you it was one of the best weekends of my life!! Steph, Ben, Alex and I drove down to see Jordan at Belmont! Jordan didn't know that Alex was coming and he was very surprised! The look on his face was priceless!! Jordan showed us his campus, all the sweet places in downtown Nashville, the celebrities houses and the Grand Ole Opry! It was awesome! I don't know why I live in Indiana ha. I took a bunch of pictures but these are just some of my favorites!

Only 3 more hours to go : )

The lights of downtown Nashville

Sweet view of the city from a bridge

I love this picture and I love my amazing friends! They are my oldest and closest friends! I love you guys!!

Toby Keith's house

The gated neighborhood where Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood and Joe Don from Rascal Flatts live! The houses were HUGE!!!

Group picture in front of the Christmas tree at the Grand Ole Opry Hotel. They hotel was so nice and nothing like I expected!

The Grand Ole Opry!! I wish we could have gone inside!

Such a good restaurant!! We waited for an hour, but it was so worth it!!

I love this girl like crazy!!

Ben was so funny and he was the DJ for basically the whole trip. He picked great non-screamo music and he put up with all our pictures : )

Jordan was obviously the official tour guide of our trip. I never get to see him since we live so far away and it was great to be united again!!

Alex was able to take time out of his busy ND track practices to come with us! I was so very glad!! It was great to catch up with him!

We had fun standing on the side of the road for about an hour, can't you tell?

We walked to a sweet restaurant and on the way we took a picture with the Belmont sign : )

Amazing cookie dough egg rolls! The egg roll shells were like pasteries, not actual egg rolls.

Halfway Gone

2009-11-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry I have no time to blog but I just thought I'd share with you a song I heard today and I really liked it! Now it's back to writting a million lesson plans!! Wish me luck! 2 MORE DAYS UNTIL NASHVILLE!!

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All Work and No Play

2009-11-10T09:45:00.001-08:00

My motto for the next couple of days must be "all work and no play." I have so many things to complete before the weekend so that I don't have to worry about anything while I am in Nashville. Therefore, am I'm probably going to be in the library for hours and won't have time to blog [unless I need a study break.]

My to do list:

Study for Language Arts final
Finish Social Studies unit [3 more lesson plans & overview]
Finish Language Arts unit [4 more lesson plans & meeting with my group]
Finish my WebQuest for computers
Early Childhood Education reading and online quizzes

My countdowns:

1 more day of junior block classes
3 more days until Nashville
9 more days until New Moon at midnight [btw I already have my ticket!!!]
16 more days until Thanksgiving break

One last thing, one of my friends told me to read Psalm 63 and so of course I listened to him. I loved it and I want to share it with you!

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.

But the king will reign in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Home for the weekend!

2009-11-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

When I came home this weekend I did not expect anything to be different besides my dog Izzie. She is still growing like crazy!! However when I walked into my room there was new lamp sitting on my table. My loving mother bought it for me when it was 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I love it!!

I was also craving pumpkin pie this last week and I didn't even tell my mom, but of course she knows me too well and already had one made for me. It was so good! She even sent some back with me!

Anyways I had a great weekend at home. The weather was amazing!! I even went for a jog and took Izzie with me. She does so well now, she doesn't even have a leash. I have decided that big dogs are way better than small dogs. I also got to spend some time with a couple of my friends and that was really great! But now I have to come back to reality and all the work that I have to do this week. My junior block classes are ending, but I have one big final and two of my units are due [which means tons of lesson plans]. But this weekend is going to be awesome!! I am going to Nashville in FOUR days!!!

NOVEMBER!!

2009-11-04T15:18:00.000-08:00

GUESS WHAT...IT'S NOVEMBER...WHICH MEANS CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!!

I have been listening to the N'SYNC Album every day for the past couple of days. I love it!!

As this week continues, my pile continues to go down, which is always a good thing! This week has gone by so fast because I am have been doing homework non-stop. I am pretty much done with homework for the rest of this week, but I have a ton of stuff to do this weekend. For now I am just going to relax and have some fun with my friends!

On a sidenote, the countdowns have begun:

5 more days of junior block classes
9 more days until I go to Nashville
21 more days until Thanksgiving Break

Happy Halloween!!

2009-11-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!! Normally I am not a big fan of Halloween but this year my friends decided that we needed to dress up and get off campus for the night. So Cassie, Emily and I went to Ball State to visit some of Emily's friends from high school. Let's just say that Ball State's Halloween parties are a lot crazier than Huntington's Masquerade Blade : )

I dressed up as a sailor! Ahoy!!

Elf, sailor and nerd

Here we are in our characters : )

The 3 of us with Emily's friend Courtney

My weekend was so much fun, but I have a crazy week ahead of me. I only have a week and half left of my junior block classes which means that I have a lot to do before then. I'm going to be in the library all week!! Here's a list of all I have to do this week:

Readability Check Lesson Plan
Reflection Question
Handwriting Assessment Book
Literature Book Set 4 (read ten children's books)
Work on S.S. and L.A. units (total of 8 lesson plans)

I hope you are all having a great Monday!! Oh and one last thing, if you read my blog, I would love if you'd add me as your friend on facebook!!

Olympiad 2009!!!

2009-10-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

I have had so much fun this past weekend and it's not even over yet!! Olympiad kicked off on Thursday night and my friends and I were all decked out in pink. Here are tons of pictures from this weekend.

Us walking over for opening ceremony!!!

Bradie and I <3

My roomies!!!

Having fun at the events on Friday night

Emily dominating in the Relay Race!

Bradie and I all warmed up and ready for our three-legged race!!

It hurt so bad to duct tape our legs together!!

Finally ready for our race [both excited and nervous!]

Ready, set, go!!

I was dying on the way back down, but we WON!!!!

Bradie and I were SO happy that we got first place!!

Then after Olympiad we showered and dressed up like Ninjas to go to Sean's house!

We had a great time with Johanna and Emily!!

That's all for now though. Tonight Cassie, Emily and I are going to Ball State to visit Emily's friends. Happy Halloween everyone!!

So Insightful

2009-10-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

Have you ever met someone that gave you the best insights ion life? I just find people some people to be so inspiring. This past week I had a really great conversation with one of my friends. He really inspired me and helped me get through some things that I have been dealing with. I feel like it's always good to get a boy's perspective on life and to find a guy who is actually willing to talk about deep stuff is a RARE thing! That is my exciting news for the week ha.

I found out that I could switch my junior block placement, so now I am in second grade. It's not a whole lot better but I'm just glad that it's not kindergarten.

Anyways, tonight there are more Olympiad events that I'm excited for!! Bradie and I are participating in the three-legged swim and I'm a little nervous about it. Oh well hopefully we just don't get last haha. Sorry this post was so lame, I will try and get some pictures on tomorrow.

Crazy Week!!

2009-10-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

From now until November 11th is going to be crazy for me as I finish up all my units and projects for my junior block classes. I am trying not to stress out too much but I am already starting to freak out. And on top of all the stuff the homework and studying I've had/have to do this week, it is also OLYMPIAD! I am pumped for it to start but I can't get behind on my homework. Here are some pictures from last year...

Another random fact, I just found out today that I have been place in a kindergarten class for junior block and I am not thrilled about it. I have no desire to teach younger elementary but I guess I will just have to make the most of it. Please pray that I find a good attitude towards it.

Also this past week is the first week that I have actually been happy for like the past two months!! I just have a whole new look on life and I'm enjoying the freedom that I have been given. My family and friends are so awesome and I would be lost without them. I have received multiple emails that have really just been an encouragement to me! God has also been so good to me!! I'd like to share a different version of the James passage that I shared with you last week.

The Message James 4:7-10
So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

I just really love that passage and I hope it helps you today.

Favorite Songs

2009-10-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share with you my three current favorite songs. I listen to them everyday, multiple times a day. I hope you enjoy them!

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Also here are a couple of pictures I took over Fall Break. Sorry this post wasn't more exciting, I have so much homework to get done. Hope you all have a wonderful afternoon.

Encouragement

2009-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Last night I checked my facebook one last time before I went to bed and I saw that I had a message. It was from my senior high youth pastor Derry and his words really meant a lot to me. It's always such a great feeling to know when people are praying for you. He shared a verse with me and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Home Sweet Home

2009-10-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

There is nothing better than coming home after one of the worst weeks of your life. It was so great to just be at home and to be able to spend time with my family. I wish Fall Break would never end!!

This is on a side note, but two of my best friends came to visit me on Wednesday to cheer me up and let me tell you the truly made my day. They both go to IWU so it wasn't too long of a drive for them! We also took a picture and it turned out perfect because Ben actually smiled! Thanks guys for visiting me!

Now back to my Fall Break: On Friday I went to my brother's football game. It was senior night and they won!! I was freezing during the whole game but it was worth it because my brother got a QB sack and had an awesome game!! I can't believe he is already a senior, where has the time gone?

Then on Saturday Steph and I stopped by to see Jordan our long lost friend who lives in Nashville. Alex came over too and we had a blast just catching up! We actually stayed up until 2:30 just talking and laughing. It was great! I love my awesome friends!

Then on Sunday I went to church and Pastor Dave's message was really good! It was about connecting with other believers during life's toughest challenges. At times I felt like Pastor Dave was speaking directly to me. We should not be ashamed of our baggage and we should ask people to join us when we are suffering so that we can help carry each other burdens. It was just great to be back at NMC, I really miss it when I'm at HU.

Then today I went shopping all day with my mom! It was great! She bought me a lot of cute new clothes, shoes and a new winter coat! I'm pretty excited about it all! Tomorrow I will post more pictures because you need to see the pretty trees behind my house and how huge my dog has gotten!

On another note: I'd like to share a passage that has really gotten me through this past week.
James 4:7-10 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

I love this passage because no matter what I feel, God will still lift me up. This week I have felt a lot of feelings and I continue to look at this passage daily because it reminds me that God is right by my side no matter what. I just love it!

Inspiration

2009-10-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

This week my 7 friends and I had our first night of Bible study on Tuesday night. My amazing friend Kellyn had the brilliant idea to start this Bible study. She is the "leader" of the group : ) We are going to be going through the book of Psalms one or two chapters at a time. We went through Psalm 1 and each of us talked about what stuck out to us from the chapter. We got a lot more in depth than I thought we would and we had some really good discussions. This Bible study has inspired me to spend time with God daily. I actually desire to spend time in prayer and in God's Word, instead of it just being part of my to do list. I am excited to see where this Bible study will go and how I will grow in my faith!

On a side note: I am not doing as well in my junior block classes as I had hoped. The grading scales suck. 100-94 is an A, 94-84 is a B, 84-70 is a C and so on. So lately I would normally be getting a B, but instead I am getting a C!!! UGH its so frustrating!!! I hope the next time I have tests, they will go better. Well that's all for now. Tomorrow I am going shopping and I am PUMPED!!

Boggle Your Mind

2009-10-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

This is my bulletin board that I did for Language Arts. I chose it because I want to teach upper elementary school students and I thought this board would be a fun way to start out spelling lessons. The students will play Boggle for three minutes and I will change the board letters after the end of each week.

Fun-Filled Weekend

2009-10-05T18:11:00.001-07:00

On Saturday it was homecoming weekend at HU so we went to Davis Hall Follies.

Here's a picture of all of my friends after the Follies. We finally have a picture of all EIGHT of us! [Carrie, Bradie, Beth, Kellyn, Cassie, Brittany, Emily and I]. Kellyn was in the Follies, which explains the outfit that she is wearing : )

I love my awesome friends!!!!!!!!

Junior Block is Taking Over My Life!!!

2009-10-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I haven't posted anything lately, I've be SO busy with all my education classes. To be honest this past week has been a week from hell. I have no free time ever!!!

Here's a preview into my crazy week:

Monday I had a test and 5 classes. I also had a lot of stuff to work on for my bulletin board.
Tuesday I had to observe story hour at the Huntington Public Library and finish my bulletin board! I was really stressed that night because I also had a lesson plan due for computers and a bibliography due for social studies. [oh and don't worry I will be posting a picture of my bulletin board soon.]
Wednesday I had to work on my literature book set #2, journal questions and write a phonics mini lesson.
Tonight I have to make a power point presentation for computers, read a book for Language Arts and plan out activities, and draw my classroom model for early childhood. Also Grey's Anatomy is on tonight so that makes my day so much better!

Sorry this post was so boring but expect some pictures SOON!!

HOE DOWN!!

2009-09-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been SOOOO BUSY with all my education classes I never have time to blog. But here are some pictures from the HOE DOWN this past weekend!

Kellyn and I actually took a normal picture together

I wanted to practice before we got there, but obviously Emily did not

Emily and I striking our poses

I love this girls!!

We were missing a few though

My favorite HU soccer player : )

My friends are awesome at line dancing!! There were in the top twenty people!!

Weekend full of Piercings

2009-09-12T19:25:00.001-07:00

This weekend a bunch of my friends and I went to Jefferson Pointe to get away from campus. We all squeezed into Kellyn's car [Ethel] and we had a blast! Our first stop was Claires, where Kellyn got her ears double pierced and Kristen got her ears pierced for the first time! Here are a couple of pictures from our fun night!

Kellyn was a little bit scared but she did great!

Kristen wasn't scared at all : )

They got precious pink stickers that said "I got my ears pierced at Claries"

We ended the night eating ice cream from Coldstone [well some of us had some]. And then we took a night bike ride when we got back.

Its been forever

2009-09-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

So sorry for the long break! I've been really busy and I just kind of forgot to blog. So get ready for one of the longest posts ever.

I am now back at HU and I am loving being with my friends! I am living in an apartment in Forester Village with three of my friends and we love it. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will post them sometime tomorrow. I love not having to go to the DC for dinner and I am loving cooking/baking in my own kitchen. I am in all education classes except for my weightlifting for women class : )

Here are the classes I'm taking:

Integration of Technology in the Classroom
Language Arts Methods and Materials
Social Studies Methods and Materials
Literature for Children
Early Childhood Development
Fundamentals of Reading
Weightlifting for Women

Sounds fun right? Ha not quite. I always have SO much reading to do and tons of busy work. I mean don't get my wrong I am looking forward to learning how to become a teacher, I just don't like having 4 education classes a day. It gets a little overwhelming. But don't worry about me, I'm sure I'll make it through ha.

The first weekend of school was the Stance, where everyone just stands on the "mall" and talks. It doesn't sound fun, but it really is!

My apartment girls

Love these girls!

Then I went home for Labor Day weekend and went to my brother's football game on Friday night. They lost by one point! It was very sad! I took a couple pictures of Izzie because she is HUGE!! She now weighs 40 pounds! I can barely even pick her up anymore!

Well theres my life in a nutshell....more to come soon!

End of Summer

2009-08-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that summer is already coming to an end. Next week at this time I will be at HU organizing everything in our apartment. Its all so exciting but sad at the same time. I am really going to miss being with my family everyday. I'm also going to be so lost without Izzie. I take her on walks everyday and now I won't be able to : ( But I'm very very excited to see all of my friends again! I wish we could just go back and hang out, I don't want to go to class!

However this summer has been a GREAT one! The past couple of months have been very exciting. I've hung out with my friends, gone tubing, putt-putt golfing, visited Joni where I got a crazy 4 wheel ride plus we went mudding and I shot a gun for the first time. I've been trying to read all of the 55 children's books for this fall, however, I'm going to have about 20 more books to read this fall. I plan to read them right when I get back to school, we'll see if I actually do. I hate saying goodbye though. This week I went out with my friends for our last get together. Tiffany couldn't make it but Steph, Brittney, Ben, Dustin and I had a good time.

Last night I went to my brother's first football game of the season and they won 18-3!! My brother played awesome! He got in on a lot of tackles, shared a QB sack, and recovered a fumble to score a safety!! Actually he really scored a touchdown but the ref. was an idiot!! I was so happy for him!

I also received some very exciting news two weeks ago. I am now a certified substitute teacher for Goshen Community Schools!!! I was soooooo excited! I'm actually subbing two days this week! I had no idea I'd actually get called to sub before I went back to HU! So please pray for me because I am very nervous, but excited at the same time. On Tuesday I am subbing for a high school language arts teacher [9th and 10th grade I think] and on Wednesday I am subbing for a 1st grade teacher in the morning and a 5th grade teacher in the afternoon. 3-4 different grades in two days! CRAZY!

One a side note, my Facebook won't let me sign in anymore! I never even changed my password. I have asked them to reset my password a million different times but they never email me back. I'm so pissed about it! I need Facebook haha! Anyways I hope you all are enjoying the rest of your summers!

Oh and P.S. one of my best friends KELLYN has a boyfriend!!!!!!!! I just thought you all should know : )

You Know You're Getting Old When...

2009-08-03T07:42:00.000-07:00

You know you're getting old when....

You find enjoyment in going to an arts and crafts festival in search of wall decor. [Which by the way I did find a piece of wood that says "Friends are the family one finds along the way"] I love it!
You need a rug for people to take their shoes off when they come into your apartment. [This probably only happens if you're a clean freak]
You get excited when you see that wall clocks are on SALE!!

It really hit me after shopping for stuff for our apartment [Cassie, Bradie, Emily and I], that I am getting old. Its so crazy to me! I don't know why time goes by so fast but I hope it slows way down. When I was younger I always wanted to be older, but now its the opposite.

Here's my schedule for the week:

Monday: clean the house, Pilates, get allergy shots and run to the library for children's books
Tuesday: working...ugh I hate painting!
Wednesday: working again : ( Then hanging out with Ben and Steph after work!
Thursday: working again boo! And probably hanging out with Ben and Steph again!
Friday: possibly helping my mom make a million sandwiches for the football boys and then off to see Joni in Grand Rapids!!! Hopefully Bradie can come too!
Saturday: come back home from Michigan sometime in the afternoon and then pool party with my friends at my house at night!!
Sunday: church of course

I hope you all are enjoying your summers. Only 25 more days til I'm back at HU!!!

DONE DONE DONE!!

2009-07-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

I am finally DONE with my summer classes and it feels GREAT!!! Now I can relax and I don't have to stress out about homework anymore. I can now focus on making money before I get back to school. I still have about 40 children's books to read for my class this fall but I'm hoping that won't be too bad. One month from now I will be back at HU and it will be our first day of classes. I'm not dreading it at all, I'm so ready to be back. I miss my friends like CRAZY!!

Plans for the weekend:

South Bend Silverhawks game Friday night
Saturday I am going to relax and find some books at the library
Sunday more relaxing and possibly going to the Amish Acres Arts and Crafts Festivle with my mom

Take notice that none of my plans involve doing homework!!!! I'm so happy : )

PICTURES!

2009-07-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been up to this summer. I finally took time to upload all my pictures. Enjoy : )

Tiffany, Steph and I at First Fridays in dowtown Goshen

Hot Tub : )

Izzie is getting so big!!

I love fireworks!

This one is my favorite!

Out to Olive Garden for Steph's birthday

JUMP!!!

Gotta love those self timers haha

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

2009-07-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been forever since my last post! I've been so busy with work and homework. After I come home from painting for 8-9 hours, I feel like doing nothing. And on the days I don't work, my face is stuck in my textbooks. But after this week I only have two more weeks left of my classes! PLT!!!

Here's what I've done so far this week:

Monday: hair trim and went shopping with my mom. We had a Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupon so I got some stuff for my room with Bradie : )
Wednesday: Enjoyed my day off work, except I was stuck doing homework all day!!! UGH!
Thursday: Painted for 9 hours...oh so much fun

I AM SO READY TO GO BACK TO HU!! I miss my friends soooo much!

Mini Trip To Chicago

2009-07-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

My brother had the week off from football so my parents decided that we should go stay overnight at Chicago. I was soooo excited because I LOVE Chicago!!! The first day we went to Woodfield Mall!

Then we drove to our hotel that was right by Michigan Avenue and put our stuff away, only to take off again to go eat at The Grand Lux Cafe. It's one of my favorite restaurants ever! The next day we shopped along Michigan Avenue and I took some pictures : )

Nike Town

Oh how I love this place! I never buy anything, but I love looking

The John Hancock Building

Giordano's

Evan loves this pizza, so of course we had to eat lunch there

I also found a really cute pair of YELLOW shoes [high heels] to wear with my dress at Payless! I then decided that I needed more yellow clothes to wear with my yellow shoes so I bought 2 dressy yellow shirts from Forever 21. Oh how I love shopping!!

One thing that I didn't expect to get out of this trip was a new phone! Evan's phone contract was up so he upgraded and got an Envy Touch, and I guess with that phone you get a free phone with it. So I got it and said goodbye to my old Venus. I've been wanting a plain flip phone for a long time so I was really really happy!

Well that pretty much sums up what I did Wednesday and Thursday this week : )

Tan Lines

2009-06-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you're outside for 8 hours, painting in the super super hot sun??

MAJOR TAN LINES!!!

Let me tell you that today was not the best day for me. It was 90 degrees out with barely and clouds or breeze. Ugh! I am very tired and annoyed with how tired I am. Summer is supposed to be fun but instead the sun is sucking the life right out of me!! Tonight I am just going to relax and maybe do some homework...but lets be real, probably not haha.

My HU girls came to visit!!

2009-06-21T19:14:00.000-07:00

Some...but not all of my HU girls came to visit me to celebrate my birthday this past weekend and I finally figured out why my pictures couldn't load, so now you get to see all the fun we had!

First of all this is my most recent picture of Izzie. She is growing so fast!

Cassie, Emily, Joni, Bradie and I

We saw The Proposal and it was so good!! I loved it! Anyone who is thinking about seeing it...you should definitely go!

The yummy birthday cake my parents got me from Dutchmade Bakery. Its amazing!

All of us girls about ready to go swimming = ]

This picture cracks me up!

Jumping pictures are pretty much my favorite! I'll never get a picture like this ever again.

Bradie and Joni both spent the night, but Joni had to leave early in the morning. So Bradie and I took advantage of the gorgeous sun!

And of course we had to do one of these again : )

These pictures pretty much sum up my weekend. It was so good to see all my friends again and to catch up with them. I loved hearing about everyone's summers. But now that the weekend is over I have to get back to the grind. Work and my online classes have been keeping me really busy which is why I have not been posting lately. I will try to update more often : )

Busy Weekend Ahead...

2009-06-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in while. I've been so busy with work and my online classes started this week so I haven't really had time to blog. Izzie is doing a lot better now. She doesn't have as many accidents inside and I'm pretty sure she feels like we're her family now. However she bites a lot and her teeth are very sharp!! But I love her and she's so stinking adorable!

This is the last week that I am a teenager and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I don't want to grow up but then again I am the youngest of all my college friends so I am excited to be catching up to them.

I have a very busy weekend so I thought I should blog now or else I might not get around to it. Here's the schedule:

Friday: Cubs game with my dad and my grandpa. We get a free license plate cover if we're one of the first 10,000 fans...which we will be : )

Saturday: MY BIRTHDAY!! Woo hoo! My parents are taking me out to dinner. I get to pick the restaurant but I don't know where I want to go yet.

Sunday: I have my cousin Bret's open house in Huntington. I can't wait to see my family!! Then Sunday night I have to finish my homework for my online classes.

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

P.S. ONLY 8 MORE DAYS UNTIL MY COLLEGE GIRLS COME FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!

Update on whats been going on lately

2009-06-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

I started work last week and I am painting a really old building at the family business [Turtle Top]. I can't say I really enjoy it but oh well I'm getting paid. I'm only working 3 days a week but its for sure keeping me busy. I also clean the house once a week for my mom.

This weekend I went to see one of my best friends [Bradie] for her 21st birthday!! We went out to dinner with her family and then came back to her house and just hung out. Bradie's parents had some left over alcohol from a race they went to the previous weekend so they had Bradie try some different drinks : ) We took a lot of crazy pictures and then watched some One Tree Hill [of course!]

Then on Saturday I went over to Brittney's to hang out with my friends. The boys played croquet and then the girls played and I won! I thought it was so fun! We had some Wooden Peel pizza and it was delicious!! We had a pretty good time. It was really good to be with my girl friends again.

Last week my mom was really pushing for getting a small dog and my dad said no. He said the only way he would get another dog was if it was golden retriever. So last week my mom called a family in New Paris and we went out to see the puppy's. We fell in love with one of the girls [me, mom, dad and Evan]. So the next thing I knew...my dad pulled out the check book and made a down payment on one of the girls. I WAS SO EXCITED!! After a long debate we finally decided on a name for her. Isabell and we're calling her Izzie. She's so adorable! I wish I could put a picture of her on here but I still haven't figured out what's wrong with my computer.

But if you wanna see my pictures...check out my facebook.

Long Weekend

2009-05-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Even though I haven't started work yet, I really enjoyed the long weekend. It was so nice to spend so much time with my family. On Monday I also spent time with Patrick's family. His sister's had sectionals for softball so I went to their game bright and early Monday morning [9 am]. They of course won and then also won their night game. They were supposed to play the championship game tonight but couldn't because of the rain. Hopefully there won't be any rain on Thursday so they can play.

Monday afternoon my brother [Evan] and I went on a pretty long bike ride. I always love riding my bike but it was even more fun riding with Evan. We don't really ever get alone time, so I enjoyed soaking up every minute of it. Monday night I hung out with my friends. My friend Tiffany who now lives in Florida was home for her sister's wedding. It was so awesome to see her again. I missed her so much and I feel like we pick right up where we left off when we hang out. However, tonight she was headed on a plane back to Florida : ( But we all had an awesome time. We just hung out and played cornhole. I'd post some pictures but my computer still won't load them and I can't figure out why. Just trust me, we had a great time!

Today was not the most fun, I cleaned the whole house [vacuumed, mopped and dusted = the works]. Tomorrow I have to finish by cleaning the 3 bathrooms...oh what fun! But my mom is paying me so it's not all bad. I've really enjoyed the rain today. I love the smell of a sweet summer rain when it's still sunny and humid outside but its pouring down rain. Today I saw a rainbow and it was so beautiful! God is so great for creating things like rainbows.

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer vacation!

One Week Down

2009-05-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I've already been home for a week. It feels like just yesterday when I was at HU hanging out with all my friends. Don't get me wrong, I love being at home! But I really miss my friends and all the fun things we do.

Today was a great day! After one week of procrastinating...I finally unpacked all of my stuff! It feels wonderful to be organized again!! Then after that I decided to take a load off and I watched 2 episodes of Desperate Housewives with my mom. [They were on Lifetime]. I really liked it and I think I might want to get into it...after I finish catching up on One Tree Hill of course.

Unexpectedly Sad Day

2009-05-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning I thought it was just going to be a normal day. I had my "to do list" of things I wanted to accomplish for the day. Here's what was on my list:

workout [yes I did this, my mom and I went on a 35 min bike ride and it was glorious! Then I did some abs...ugh]
layout [the pool temperature wasn't quite warm enough to float in so I just layed out on the lounge chairs. I got some great color!]
haircut [I got a major trim and I love it! I'd post some pictures but my computer won't let me upload any]
clean up room [I'm still in the process of doing this but it is much better]
unpack stuff in guest room [I am currently taking a break from unpacking my crap. I cleaned out all my binders...oh what fun]

But while I was getting my hair done one the the ladies in Tangles [Tabitha] got a call from her son's babysitter, saying that her son [Asher] was blue and the paramedics were working on him. She stormed out of there! All of the ladies in Tangles were so worried, as was I. About 30 mins later one of the ladies got the call and Asher had died. He was only 4 months old!! Then everyone started crying, I even did a little bit. I never expected that to happen when I woke up this morning. No one knows what happened but we all assumed it was SIDS. How awful! I've been thinking about it ever since. I know that he is now in heaven but he didn't even get a chance to live his life. It really put a damper on my day : (

Please pray for Tabitha and her family and the babysitter

Summer!!

2009-05-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've blogged. I've been so busy!! I came home from school Thursday afternoon and relaxed pretty much all day. Thursday night I watched the Grey's Anatomy Finale with my mom [while talking on facebook chat with Beth and Bradie]. It was so intense!! I have no idea what will happen next fall. But I hope Izzie doesn't die!

Then on Saturday I made it back home in time from the Cubs game to see my little brother Evan go to prom. He looked so grown up and handsome! It made me feel SO old.

Sunday I enjoyed going to church and seeing all my friends. Then I attempted to start unpacking but I didn't get very far. I still haven't gotten very far. I've been so busy. The past 2 days I drove over to Ivy Tech in South Bend to get signed up for my 2 online classes. Well yesterday they had a 2 hour wait so I just came back today. And I finally got into my classes. Praise the Lord!! I also worked out today because I feel like I've been so lazy lately.

Tonight I am going to be watching American Idol and I'll be voting for KRIS ALLEN!! I would encourage you all to vote for him too! Oh and PS....I wanted to put pictures on here of everything I've been up to but I haven't been able to get them to load. Sorry!

One More Day!!!

2009-05-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

I HAVE ONE MORE FINAL TO GO!! I have Geography at 8 am tomorrow morning and then I am leaving HU for summer! Oh boy I can't wait. However I have to find some motivation tonight to actually study. But I can't wait to get out of my room. Its depressing because my parents came over and got all of my stuff yesterday. But its also exciting because that means I get to move all of my stuff back home!

My futon is gone and my room is back to its original setup

My posters are all gone and my walls are bare and boring

My fridge is gone and my room is all picked up

So since I have nothing much else to do I have been watching One Tree Hill like crazy! I'm already halfway through season 4. Bradies been watching it a lot with me too : )

For all of you who are done with your finals, I hope you have a safe trip home and an amazing summer!

Study Break!

2009-05-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

So I've been studying SO MUCH this past weekend and I just need a break! So I decided to write a new post. Yesterday I studied Western Civ all afternoon. And today I've been focusing on math. I'd say that I've studied for about a total of 6-7 hours this weekend and I feel like I still have more I need to study. I hate school!! Monday I have my hardest finals so once tomorrow is over, I'll be home free!

Here's a list of the top 10 things I can't wait to do this summer:

Cubs game (this Friday!!)
pool parties with my friends
laying out
riding my bike
hanging out with my family
having bonfires
cruising in the Z
eating Chief ice cream
catching fireflies
jamming in the car with the windows down

I hope you all had a great weekend and good luck on all your finals!!

Last floor outing...ever!

2009-05-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night we had our last floor outing for the year. But for me it was my last floor outing forever, since I will be living in an apartment next year!! About 20 of us went out to eat at Casa's in Fort Wayne. We had reservations but still had to wait about 40 mins. It was totally worth the wait though because we got free salad and appetizers. We had so much fun!

Bradie and I on the way there. I drove and she rode shotty.

All of the Roush 2nd ladies

My side of the table (Beth, Bradie, Kellyn and I)

My future roomie and I = ]

Kellyn and I : )

Miss Cassie and I after dinner

Precious Em and I : )

Bradie and I got the perfect picture to blow up of ourselves for our room next year!!

One side note: Today is the last day of classes!!!

I am so glad that this semester is over. Now I gotta get studying for the 4 finals I have. My hardest two are on Monday so I'm already starting to get stressed. So ta ta for now...off to fry my brain. Good luck with all your finals!

Reflecting Back on Sophomore Year

2009-05-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

As my sophomore year comes to an end...I thought I would look back at all the fun times and share them with you. You have probably seen a lot of these pictures before, but now you get to see them again!

The first event of the fall semester was The Stance!

Going out to Casa's for Kellyn's birthday. About 9 or 10 of us all fit in Ernie and it was so much fun!

Then the Hoe Down. It was raining outside so it was inside Becker Hall, so it was really hot! Kellyn won best dressed!

Patrick dressed up too : )

We drove to the boys soccer game at IWU. I drove and the whole way there we listened chick music. Taylor Swift, N'Sync, etc. Lisa made a sweet video of Kellyn singing/dancing to "Our Song" by Taylor Swift.

Roush 2nd powder puff!! We didn't even score a touchdown but we had so much fun!!

The Halloween Skate Party!!! We all dressed up as pumpkins! Aren't we cute : )

Olympiad!!! We were on the orange team...and what do you know, got last place!

Kristen went to state! She played awesome! The girls lost but they fought hard.

one of our many random nights staying up late. not sure what we're doing but it sure was fun = ]

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

we had a dance party for the end of the first semester and it was so much fun! Yeah we look ridiculous but it was so worth it!

During J-Term Bradie, Kellyn and I ran around our floor and took pictures with people randomly. It was a lot of fun and this one was my favorite.

We went out and played in the snow. I hate the cold but I bundled up and had a lot of fun!

Superbowl Sunday! We went to the Shively's. I didn't really pay attention to the game but had fun with the girls.

Going out to Outback for Cassie and Brittany's birthdays. Oh how I love that restaurant!!

My amazing friend Brittney came to visit me. It made my week when she came and we had a blast catching up!

Jason Mraz Concert at Purdue. He was so good live and I had so much fun with Patrick.

Steph and I went to visit Ben at IWU for his birthday! It was nice to see him again and meet his friends.

Brittany and I went to Indy for our photography field trip. It was so nice to finally miss some classes. Even though it was freezing we had a lot of fun!

Cassie and I went to by the new Rascal Flatts CD at midnight!

Girls night out going to see 17 Again.

Beth and I got into Kappa Delta Pi. We love making our parents proud : )

Attempting to fly the Barbie Kite. She had a good run, but then crashed into a tree and got stuck for a while. Don't worry, she's still alive.

My first Cubs game of the season. Patrick and I got free tickets from my uncle! They played like crap, but oh well.

Enjoying Spring with my girls! The trees were so pretty so we just had to take pictures by them!

And there's my recap on my sophomore year of college. It's been a great year! And there's still 9 days left of it, so I'm sure they'll be more pictures : ) I hope you're all having a great start to your week!!

2nd to the last weekend before SUMMER!!

2009-05-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend I finished season 2 of One Tree Hill and now I am on to season 3. GET PUMPED : )

Friday night I went to go see this movie with my girl friends (Beth, Cassie, Brittany and Bradie) and it was so good! People magazine only gave it one star, but I'd give it 3 stars!! Despite the cheesiness, it was so cute and precious! Plus Matthew McConaughey looked GOOD!!

Then when we got back from the movie we played cards and put Bradie's masks on! Haha may seem kinda lame, but we had so much fun!!

Then on Saturday I went home because Patrick's sister Kristen was going to prom! I went with her to get her hair done and it looked SO BEAUTIFUL!

She went with her friend Landon from church. They looked so great together!

She looked so grown up! I can't wait for her to come to HU next year!!

And now that the weekend is over, its back to the grind. I have 2 tests, one paper and two quizzes. But guess what....ONLY 11 MORE DAYS UNTIL SUMMER!!

I have amazing friends

2009-04-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

Over the past year and a half at HU I have made some amazing friends!! They are so much fun to be with and I'd be lost without them. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Beth Portice

I just met her this year but she's wonderful. We have the same major and tons of classes together! She's so sweet and I love learning new things about her.

Bradie Vance

Wow where do I begin? First of all, we have a love/hate relationship. We love to hate each other. Even though we fight, I love this girl to death! She's going to be my roomie next year and we're going to have a blast!!

Brittany Carlson

This girl is amazing. She's carefree and so much fun to be with. We laugh all the time and always have a great time. We also have amazing conversations! Recently we have both become pros at photography.

Cassie Screeton

I love this girl! She's so funny and makes me laugh constantly. We have a lot in common, including our love for the Cubs! Whenever I have a bad day, I always run to her : ) She's a great listener!

Emily Knapp

Oh precious Emily! She's so chill all the time and I love it! We have some great random times together. She makes me laugh and I love some of the comments she makes.

Joni Holsem

I just met her this year and I feel like I've known her forever! She's my workout buddy and we tell each other pretty much everything. She's so sweet and caring! I don't know what I'd do with her!

Kellyn Atkins

We never take a normal picture together and I love it. She's so great and funny! We've had some great times together and awesome talks. We're both very opinionated with makes for an amusing time sometimes : )

Lisa Oesch

We had some crazy, fun and awesome times while she was at HU. I'll never forget all the great times! But now she is at Bethel : ( But this summer hopefully we will reunite!

Countdown

2009-04-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

Attention everyone...there are only 16 MORE DAYS until SUMMER!! It seems like so far away, but really its right around the corner! Then I will be able to have fun like this again!

But before that I have:

8 more days of classes!
one more math assignment to turn in...yes I repeat ONE MORE!
3 more Western Civ quizzes
2 more geography quizzes
one more chapter to read for Ed Psych
finish my calendar for photography
one more math test
4 final exams

This post is short because I am too busy watching ONE TREE HILL : )

And don't forget American Idol is on tonight! Its the TOP 5 so you better tune in : )

Well until next time....have a good night!

Babysitting

2009-04-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight Brittany and I babysat our photography teacher's children. She needed someone at the last minute and we were the ones she needed : ) The children were so much fun.

Jonas was a bundle of joy. He laughed and made weird noises all night. It was sooo funny! He also ate a ton at dinner!

Luca was a little booger. He picked on every one else and tried to get into trouble. He was so adorable though...as you can tell!

Micah was the big brother who helped Brittany and I out. He was very responsible for a kindergartner. He was also very sweet.

Then I didn't take any pictures of Hannah but I've talked about her before. She didn't give us any trouble at all. She pretty much played piano all night.

The children wore us out. I seriously don't know how my teacher and her husband do it! Brittany and I are now resting on the couch enjoying the quiet : ) When we get back to HU we are going to AJ's Diner!! Woo hoo!!

Chicago Cubs

2009-04-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder why I love the Cubs so much. For those of you who don't know, the Cubs haven't won the World Series since 1908. But I still continue to avidly watch them. I love going to Wrigley Field. The atmosphere is so awesome. No matter what the score is, the fans are always routing for the Cubbies to win.

My uncle had tickets he wasn't using so yesterday I went to the Cubs verses Reds game, in hopes for a big WIN! However, the Cubs played like crap and lost 7-1. I had a lot of fun though. You can't not have fun at Wrigley! Its one of the best places to be!

Of course Patrick came with me and then he asked Luke and Tyler. I was just one of the guys and it wasn't bad at all. It was a glorious day and we got back just in time for me to watch GREYS!! I was so happy!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the warm weather!!

Fun-filled weekend!

2009-04-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

I had a very fun weekend! I did no homework on Friday and Saturday because it was so nice outside. Friday afternoon Bradie, Joni and I layed out....HU style. It was wonderful!!

Then on Friday night, my girls and I went to go see 17 Again. It was dumb and cheesy just like I thought it would be. Watching Zac Efron was the only good thing about the move haha.

On Saturday some of my friends and I all got up early for Spring Work Day!! We helped at the Huntington Council of Aging. We walked around downtown Huntington and passed out information to the elderly about how they can get help if they live alone. Some of the neighborhoods were pretty scary! Later in the afternoon Joni and I went to my aunts to lay out and for a really long bike ride. It was wonderful!

On Saturday Patrick and I went to Fort Wayne with Luke and Cassie. We at Logans and it was so good!

Then we walked around Jefferson Pointe because it was so nice outside!! I didn't even need a jacket!

Sunday was crappy and rainy so I worked on homework for pretty much the whole day.

Now for this week:

I have one of the busiest weeks of my life ahead of me. I am not looking forward to it. Tonight my parents are coming for my Kappa Delta Pi induction, so they are taking me out to dinner. I'm excited for that! But today I have to pick up my pictures and matte them for night class. I also have to go to class after the ceremony. Then I have to finish my math homework and work on my country report.

The rest of the week I have...

1 quiz
1 test
7-10 page paper
math homework

That may not seem like a lot to you but it is to me! I hope you all have a wonderful week! ONLY 24 MORE DAYS UNTIL SUMMER VACATION!

Jigsaw Puzzle

2009-04-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about how I only focus on the jigsaw puzzle pieces in life.

What I mean by this is that I tend to focus on the little things in life. The things that make me sad or mad. How some acts towards me or how I see other people acting. When someone hurts my feelings or gets on my last nerve, I tend to take it too seriously.

I have been thinking and praying a lot about it and I need to focus more on the BIG picture in life. So what if someone hurts my feelings or gives me a weird look. It doesn't matter in the whole scheme of things. When my friends leave me out to dry or annoy me, I should focus on all the other wonderful things they do for me and how special they are to me. So from here on out I am going to open my eyes to see the whole picture in life.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

I had such a good Easter weekend. My mom was so surprised when my dad brought her to the airport to pick me up. I had such a good time with my family. I didn't want to come back to school. Here's a few photos from the weekend...

This was my first day at the beach with the boys. The water was freezing but I got in anyways. I love this picture of my brother and I so much!

The classic family photo = ]

I loved watching the sunsets, even when the clouds covered up the sun

The boys : ) They were hilarious! They said Fo Show at least 100 times haha.

My mom and I finally got some girl time when the boys drove home on Saturday. It was glorious!!

The last sunset : (

Easter with my mom. We were laughing so hard because we were struggling to get a good picture.

SHOCKED!

2009-04-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

I have some VERY exciting news to share. My dad's been planning to have me come to Florida to surprise my mom. She's on spring break with my dad and Evan and his friends so you can imagine the fun she is having : ) We didn't know if it was all going to work but my dad sent me the flight information last night. I'M PUMPED! So I leave tonight and will be in Indian Rocks Beach at 9:30!! My mom is going to freak out!

I also wanted to wish you all a very happy Easter Break!

It's Been A While

2009-04-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

First off I'd like to start off saying that I'm sorry that I haven't blogged lately. I've been so busy with school and I was really busy this weekend. Here's a recap of the past couple of days.

I went and saw this movie on Friday night. IT WAS AWESOME!! I loved it! If you haven't seen it, you should probably go.

Then on Saturday I cleaned my room and bathroom and then my friend Steph came to visit me. We went down to IWU to visit our friend Ben for his birthday. We had a ton of fun!!

Then on Sunday I hung out with Patrick for a while and then I worked on a lot of homework while watching some of the first season of One Tree Hill. Bradie wanted me to start watching it since we'll be roomies next year! I'm halfway done with it = ] Too bad theres SIX SEASONS!!

Then yesterday I went on a field trip to Indy for my photography class. It was FREEZING!!!
But Brittany, Matt and I managed to have fun anyways. We walked around downtown and took pictures and then we went to the zoo. Then we went to the Eagle's Nest restaurant and it was a revolving room. It was really cool!!

Then last night, even though I was SO tired from being gone all day, I went to Walmart with some of my girl friends to get the new RASCAL FLATTS CD!!! I've been listening to it all day and I LOVE IT!! They're so good!!!

So as you can see I've been pretty busy = ] They busyness continues as I go to Pizza Junction with my floor, work on math homework, study for Western Civ test and watch American Idol!

Love Who You Love

2009-04-01T13:06:00.001-07:00

Rascal Flatts continues to amaze me!! Their new CD comes out on Tuesday and I can't wait!! They have a new song out and I've been listening to it all day! Its called Love Who You Love. Here are the lyrics.

I should have stolen every moment

Now there's a page with not enough on it

Where we belong

I guess I'll never understand it

Why do we take it all for granted

Until it's gone

Cause then it's gone

Love who you love

With all that you have

And don't waste the time that flies so fast

Love who you love

And say that you do

Hold on as tight as they'll let you
Love who you love

Give all ya' got like its your last day

your heart and soul before its too late

And pull 'em in

So close enough that they can feel it

With every single breath that you're breathin'

Breathe it in again and again

Love who you love

With all that you have

And don't waste the time that flies so fast

Love who you love

And say that you do

Hold on as tight as they'll let you

Hold on, Hold on

Love who you love

Say that you do

yeah yeah yeah

Love who you love

With all that you have

And don't waste the time that flies so fast

Love who you love

And say that you do

Hold on as tight as they'll let you

Love who you love

yeah yeah

Hold on, keep on holding on

yeah, yeah

With every single breath you're breathing

Love who you love

Here's the link if you want to listen to the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zRHzpvkDE0

Hannah

2009-03-31T06:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday in my photography class my teacher brought in her 8 year old daughter Hannah. Hannah has been blind since birth. She read us a story in class and I was amazed watching her read braille. Hannah was very intelligent and was very enthusiastic when reading. Her personality was so spunky and I thought she was so precious. I truely enjoyed meeting Hannah.

My teacher, Rebekah Hubley, has the cutest family! Her blog http://movingmountainshubleystyle.blogspot.com is very moving. Her daughter Hannah and son Jonas, who is from Haiti, are both blind. Her older son Micah struggles with spina bifida. Her family is also going to be adopting a girl from China who is also blind. I would encourage you to read her blog. Her families story has impacted my life and I hope that it will impact yours as well.

Oh Happy Day!!

2009-03-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Cassie, Bradie, Emily and I will be living in FORESTER VILLAGE next year! I'm so stoked! Kellyn, Beth, Brittany and Carrie also got into the apartments! Woo hoo we're all so excited! This news really brightened up my day = ]

Tonight I have night class, boo. I'm hoping we get out early. This week our assignment was experimenting with people in black and white. Here's one of the picture's I'm turning in.

I think it turned out pretty well = ] Then tonight after class I have to study for Ed. Psych. And we have a mandatory floor meeting. Yep my life is pretty lame right now hahaha. I hope you're all having a good start to your week!

Overused?

2009-03-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

I was wondering if the word love can be overused? So often I find myself saying I love that or I love this, but do I really truly love it? I think I use the word love just a little bit too much. The word love has become one of my main words that I use to describe something.

Here is a list of things I say I love, but don't actually love:

my clothes
the books I read
the TV shows I watch (except for Greys)
my pictures
my shoes
Roxy
my bike
my cell phone
Facebook
my camera

Here's a list of things that I do actually love:

my Saviour
my parents
my brother
my extended family
Dusty (RIP)
my friends

There is a big difference between my two lists. My first list is all made up of material things and my second list is all the important people in my life. Instead of saying love when I describe things I am going to say enjoy or like, etc. The word love is so strong and I feel that it should be used in moderation.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 reminds us of what love really is

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does now envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

Change of Heart

2009-03-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

The past couple of days God has really been speaking to me about how I need a change of heart. Last night I just prayed that God would give me a better all around attitude. I have been holding things in from the past and I decided that I need to get over them and move on. I don't want to have any enemies so I finally decided that I would bridge the gap with some people who I have broken friendships with. Things are starting to turn out positively and I'm very glad.

I was reading in James 3 last night and some of the verses really stuck out to me.

verse 6 talks about how we need to tame our tongues because the tongue corrupts the whole person
verse 10 talks about how cursing and praising to God should not come out of the same mouth

So to all who read my blog, I am trying to work on taming my tongue and sticking to my change of heart. Pray for me : )

Spring Break went by too fast!!

2009-03-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

Spring Break 09 flew by! I felt like I took one blink and it was already time to head back to Indiana. I'd like to share with you some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

This was where we stayed, Marriott Beach Place Towers. It was wonderful!! Thank you Luke's parents : )

This was the view from our balcony. Absolutely amazing!! I want to go back right now!!

This was our first official night in Fort Lauderdale. We went out to eat at this wonderful restaurant called Mangos. However we decided not to take a cab back and ended up walking about 3 miles back. I got some pretty bad blisters, actually I still have them.

Beach day #2. It was a gorgeous day! Just the right amount of wind and the sun was so strong! I loved it!! We also saw some sexy women wearing thongs, however I didn't get a picture haha.

This is probably one of the most awkward pictures, but I love it. I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends to go on spring break with. We had so much fun together!!

This was our 3rd day but it rained ALL DAY!! But the waves were AWESOME so we went in the ocean even though it was freezing! Patrick came out with us, he was the only brave boy.

Patrick and I didn't plan to match, it just always happens : ) We went out for a nice walk on the strip together. It was wonderful!!

This was Emily's last day with us : ( It was a little too windy to be at the beach so we decided to lay out by the pool. We relaxed pretty much all day while reading our books = ]

Our last day at the beach!! It was pretty sunny though so I was happy. However I decided to not put any sunscreen on and I ended up regretting my decision later.

We decided to dress up for our last night. We went to this fancy restaurant called Charlie's Crab. It was right on the intercoastal canal and our table was by a huge yacht.

Patrick and I

We bought matching shirts and wore them on the way home : )

Well these pictures pretty much sum up my trip. I had such a good time and I want to go back right now. I am so sick of school!! Only 8 more weeks until summer baby!!

SPRING BREAK!

2009-03-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, you've guessed it! Spring Break 09 is FINALLY here! I leave tomorrow for Fort Lauderdale! Bring on the beach, sun and ocean! I'm so excited...it's supposed to be in the high 70s and low 80s the whole week! I'm just praying that it doesn't rain at all. So I just wanted to inform you that I will not be posting anything for the next week. To all my friends, I hope you have a GREAT spring break. Until next time...

Tribute to my best friends!

2009-03-10T21:05:00.001-07:00

Over this past year and a half I have come to realize that I have amazing friends in my life. When I graduated high school early, I was sad to leave my friends behind. My life began to change and none of them realized what I was going through. But this year they are all going through the same I went through. I believe that we are now all on the same page in how much we value one anothers friendships. I have some crazy unique friends, but my life would be so boring without them.

Stephanie Joyce Cook

We were pretty much inseparable from 7th grade through senior year and we always have a great time. She knows me inside and out! We can go without talking for over a month and pick up right where we left off!

Brittney Paige Anglin

We've been friends since 4th or 5th grade. We have so much fun together and this girl cracks me up. I feel like we always pick up where we left off too = ]

Benjamin James Fox

We've been friends since 5th grade and there's never a dull moment. He's my tight like an "X" buddy and we're pretty much always normal when we're together.

Whittley Sheets

We've only been friends for about 2-3 years, but I feel like I've known her for much longer. She is one of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet.

Tiffany Faith Neilson

I'm not really sure how long we've been friends, but she came into my life because of Alex : ) She now lives in Florida and I never get to see her!

Jordan Lee Kirkdorffer

We've been friends for about 3-4 years and we always have a rockin time together. He goes to college in Nashville so I never get to see him.

Alexander Andres Korenstra

We've been friends since junior high. This is typically what Alex is doing every time we hang out haha. He has a great laugh and runs track at Notre Dame!

Dustin James Eby

We've been friends since junior high and this is a typical Eby face. He is one of the biggest goofballs I know!

As we go on, we remember, all the times we had together and as our lives change, from whatever, we will still be friends forever

I just wanted you all to know that I love you all SO much and I miss you all like crazy! I can't wait until summer so we reunite again = ]

Spring Break is almost here!!!

2009-03-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't had time to blog lately. I've been so busy with getting all my homework done and I went home this past weekend. But good news...only 3 more days until spring break and 5 more days until FLORIDA!!

Spring break will start after...

I go to 6 more classes
Attend 2 more chapels
Take 2 more tests
Take 1 quiz
Get plenty of sleep
Clean my room and bathroom
Pack

I'M SO READY FOR SPRING BREAK ITS INSANE! I'm ready to relax and not worry about school at all. All I can think about is the sun, sand and ocean. Eeeee I'm so pumped!

On another note, American Idol is on for TWO HOURS tonight! Its the Top 13! Get excited! Kellyn and I have already claimed the Roush 2nd lounge = ]

I hope you all make it through the next 3 days! Good luck with your tests!!

SB on the Brain

2009-03-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to study. I have two tests tomorrow and I don't want to study at all! There are only 9 days until I get a break from school and only 11 more until I head to FLORIDA!!! I can't freaking wait! Right now all I can think about is spring break. In 11 days I will be here = ]

I hope the next week and a half goes by so fast! Tonight I will have no social life because I have to study. BOO!

Sorry to my fans...this post wasn't one of my better ones.

Photography Class

2009-03-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

I am really enjoying the photography class that I'm taking. I thought at the beginning of the semester that it was going to be pretty hard, but it's not hard at all. Brittany and I are learning some great ways to take pictures and I LOVE IT! This week's assignment was exposure and light. We had to experiment with moving light.

This was the first one I tried

Brittany spun Christmas lights around and I set the shutter speed at 30 secs

Thanks friends for spelling out my name!! I love it!

The last two photos I am turning in for class. Tonight I have class until 9, then AGP meeting at 10 and then working on my geography presentation with my Bachelor obsessed partners. Hopefully we have time to work on it : )

Wonderful Weekend

2009-03-01T18:21:00.001-08:00

I had a wonderful weekend at home! It was so good to be with my family again. Friday night I hung out at home and it was so nice to be with my family. Saturday morning my mom and I headed to the mall to do some shopping. I got a ton of great stuff! Seeing all the summer clothes made me want to be in Florida so bad! 2 more weeks baby! Here's a glimpse at what I got...

The weekend went by way too fast. Before I knew it...it was Sunday. I loaded up my stuff and headed back to HU. I hope the next 2 weeks fly by because I am so ready for spring break. I have so much stuff to do before spring break though. Boo school! Well I hope you all had a great weekend! Until next time...

TGIF

2009-02-27T11:18:00.000-08:00

THANK GOODNESS ITS FRIDAY!!!!

Last night I had so much fun with the girls at Bdubs!! I have amazing friends!!

Heres a glance into our evening...

I am going home this weekend! I haven't been home in a while so I'm very excited! Tomorrow I am going shopping with my mom and I can't wait!

On a side note, I am currently counting down the days until spring break: 16 more days until we leave for Florida!! Emily bought her plane tickets today! Woo hoo!

Thrilling Thursday

2009-02-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

Last night the HU bball boys WON!! It was one of the best games I've ever been to. Congrats boys!!

On a sad note, Grey's Anatomy is not new tonight. I'll have to find something else to do between 9-10 : (

But I'm going to Bdubs tonight with my girls for dinner! I can't wait!

Today in Geography class we watched a short clip on factory workers in Juarez, Mexico. It made my heart break and reminded me of all the people I'd met on my mission trip there. I miss IMPACT so bad!

My amazing team

The Ramirez FamilyMariela

VBS

I want to go back to Juarez. God has placed a burden on my heart for this area and I will go back someday. Hopefully sometime SOON! I would love to go back this summer, unfortunately I just don't see that happening.

Well I am now off to start my big pile of homework. Fun fun!

Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

Last night we had a floor meeting and my RA challenged us to spiritually challenge ourselves over the next 40 days. Some of the ideas were:

Read your Bible for a certain period of time every day
Find something good in someone every day
Intentionally pray in silence everyday
Give something up and replace it with time with God

I decided that for the next 40 days I am going to block out 30 mins each day to spend time reading the Bible and praying. I am also going to work on not being so negative. Instead of talking bad or down about others, I am going to try and find the good in everyone. This also includes belittling my friends, even though I also do it in a joking manner. 40 days without negativity seems like a pretty big challenge for me...Wish me luck!!

Today I am going with Beth to the Homework Help Hour. Time to practice my teaching skills! And tonight I am going to the boys basketball game at Grace. Good luck boys!!

My first post

2009-02-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to crack down and make a blog. Beth's blog really influenced me to make my own. Keep up the great work Beth = ] I'm not sure if anyone will read my posts but its worth a shot. I love typing so I think blogging is going to be very fun! Bare with me for the first couple of weeks as I figure out what I am doing, I promise I will get better. I must now see what the Roush 2nd Challenge is and then I am working out. Until next time...