"I'm Coming Home. I'm Coming Home. Tell the World I'm Coming Home!!"

I'm done!!! Finishing finals is THE greatest feeling in the world. It's especially great when it means that I am completely done with that class and that it is finally time to go home. The lack of homework that I should be doing always freaks me out once the semester is over, but I love it. Tomorrow I plan to read "The Help" and People magazine on the plane....not "The Multigenerational Developmental Systems Perspective" or "Discovering the Western Past." It's kind of wonderful having absolutely nothing that I should be working on. Christmas break is the greatest. I am mostly packed and am now going to try to get a couple hours of sleep before I leave. Dallin is giving me a ride to the airport at 3 a.m. and then I just have 3 plane rides, 2 layovers, and a 2 hour drive before I'm HOME!! It's going to be a very long day, but so worth it. Minus that it was 65 degrees here today....I don't really think that will be the case in Burley. I guess I can deal with that though. 15 hours and 33 minutes until I land in Boise!!

Also, today was Beka's birthday. (Do you like how this blog has become a place for birthday shout-outs?) We took her to dinner at Applebee's which was delicious and a great way to end the semester. 

Happy Birthday Beka!

P.S. This is us with Elder and Sister Crowther on the last day of class. Together we are the "Recess Friends." Elder Crowther made up a parable about us one day in which Institute is recess time and we are their friends on the playground.

 

Almost Done...

So today was crazy...but good. This morning I had my Western Civ final, which almost caused me to have an emotional/mental breakdown while I was studying for it last night. I didn't really sleep all night because I was super nervous and nauseous from not eating well yesterday. I didn't know anything and was sure that I was going to fail and then, by what I know can be attributed to divine intervention, I not only survived the final, but I feel pretty good about it too. Whooo! The rest of the day was mostly spent running around like a crazy person. Then tonight Imari, Kenzy, and I finished frosting some sugar cookies. Our attempt at eclairs failed epically yesterday, so we decided to go with the classic Christmas sugar cookie instead. Once we had a plate of cookies frosted, we took them to Elder and Sister Crowther's apartment to tell them Merry Christmas. We ended up staying at talking to them for almost 2 hours. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love those people. I loved them as my Institute teachers, but this semester I feel like they are my best friends too. It was so much fun to just sit and talk to them in a casual setting. They are the most incredible people. I can't even explain it. We made plans to have a game night with them next semester, and Imari and I are going to play them in tennis. Apparently Elder Crowther gets super competitive and Sister Crowther is a beast at the net. We are going to get killed. I'm super excited though. I absolutely adore them and they seem to like us a lot too. Mostly that was the highlight of my day. It was an awesome break from finals to talk to those two. They are so funny. Now I have un poco mas studying to do for my last final at 8 tomorrow morning. Then it's packing time! Only like 35 hours until I'm home!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. My personal trainer (Kenz) made me do a suuuuper intense workout today. Imari and I tried to hide from her but it didn't work. She kicked our butts today. I love her for it though.

Oh Finals...

I feel like finals week wouldn't be nearly so stressful if people would just stop talking about how stressful it is. All the hype about finals week always stresses me out more than the actual tests do. Plus, in college finals week is super chill because all we have to do is take a few tests all week. No class or anything else to worry about. Don't get me wrong, it is stressful and I am super nervous about my finals, but let's not get over the top about it people. Today I slept in, worked out (Kenzy has become my personal trainer and she is kicking my butt!!), lazed around for a while, practiced my guitar, studied for my Art History test, talked to Elder and Sister Crowther, went to my guitar jury (like a final for private music lessons), took my Art History final, bought some shampoo and conditioner, studied for my Western Civ final, went to "New Years Eve," studied a little more, and now I am headed to bed. Really not a bad day considering it's finals week. Tomorrow I don't have any finals so it will consist of taking Imari to get her car fixed, working out, studying, painting, and making eclairs for Elder and Sister Crowther (We decided we wanted to make them something for Christmas and they told us eclairs are their favorite. We are doubting whether we can actually make them, but we are willing to try anything for the Crowthers...love them!). So yep, there's life right now. Mostly I have been wanting to start packing my suitcase for the last two weeks. We are getting closer to that being a reasonable thing to do. So excited to get home. Two more finals and a couple final paintings to go!

Also, it's this kid's birthday today. Weird that she's 20. That means that I'm 2 weeks away from being 20. When did we get old?? Also, I really was going to call you today, Heath. Kind of I got busy and the day got away from me. I'm sure you were busy too. Good thing I will see you soon! Happy 20th Heath! Love you!

You Can Count on Me

I'm dreaming tonight of a place I love

Even more than I usually do

And although I know it's a long road back

I promise you

I'll be home for Christmas

You can count on me

Please have snow and mistletoe

And presents on the tree

Christmas Eve will find you

Where the love light gleams

I'll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams

I have been doing pretty good this semester with not getting homesick. Of course I  always miss my family and want to be with them, but I have had so much fun and so little free time this semester that I was pretty distracted from actually being homesick. However, now that I have less than a week until I go home, I am definitely dreaming of that place that I love more than I usually do. I am sooo excited to go home. So, now you get a list of all the reasons that I'm excited to be back in good ol Burley, Idaho:

1. My family. Duh. I can't even begin to tell you how much I like those people.....it's a lot

2. My friends. Another duh. There are four wonderful girls that I haven't seen in far too long. I am so excited for some of our best friend time. 

3. My bed. The ridiculously squeaky, twin bed from the 50's that I have here is just not cutting it for me. I am so excited to sleep in my extra big and comfy bed. 

4. My house. Mostly I love everything about that place. It's clean, the dishes are always washed, the counters always wiped down, the kitchen floor is always swept, laundry is cleaned and folded and put away ridiculously fast, it smells good, and I looove when it's decorated for Christmas!

5. My puppy. That little guy is crazy but I sure do love and miss him.

6. A haircut. Darla has cut my hair pretty much my entire life. She is the only person that I trust to cut my hair which means I only get a haircut when I am home. I need one really bad.

7. Upper Crust, Stevo's, Chadwick, Edith's, and Taco Bandido. Burley classics that I am super excited to eat at.

8. Snow. As much as I love that there are still days that I can still go outside without a jacket on here, December just isn't December without snow. I kind of need a white Christmas.

9. My hot tub, my fireplace, and my hot chocolate maker. They make snowy days so much more fun.

10. No school. I am ridiculously excited to be done with the semester and have 3 weeks of zero stress. That will be incredible.

11. Christmas. I mostly love everything about Christmas and I am so excited to be at home where I can really get into the Christmas spirit.

12. My ward Christmas party. I have always loved that thing. I don't know if I will be home in time for it, but I hope so because I love it.

13. My ward. I love those people a lot. So many people there that I am so excited to see.

14. Hysterical laughing time with my sisters. We get a little weird when we are all together and it's mostly my favorite thing in the world. Also Mitch looking at us like we are psychos when we get stuck laughing for literally hours.

15. My piano. I love that thing. SVU's pianos are all old and out of tune....makes me appreciate mine so much more.

16. My 20th birthday. I am so excited to be done being a teenager. I feel like I was done being a teenager a long time ago but I'm excited that it will be official soon. Maybe it's all in my head, but I feel like I will be taken more seriously by my fellow students when I can say that I'm 20 and not 19. 

17. Gingerbread house making. We are pretty pro at that. 

18. Christmas morning cinnamon rolls....need I say more? 

19. Family time reading the story of Christ's birth from our little advent calendar books. We have never been good at reading one each night, so it usually turns into reading all 24 little books on Christmas Eve.
20. My family. Can I say that one again? I am so excited to be home with them.

So maybe this is dramatic and makes it sound like I have been living some cold, lonely existence for 20 years. I haven't. I've had fun. I am just so ready to be home for Christmas!

Can I tell you how much I love these kids? No, I really can't. 

.................

9 days and 13 hours until I am home!! Whooo! I really want to be in that lovely frozen wasteland. Also, the to-do list is getting shorter! I love when that happens. Today I finished the process of applying to BYU to take summer classes. It feels good to get that out of the way. I have had a lot of people stress when I have mentioned something about applying to BYU. Apparently I am not allowed to stay there. My bishop pretty much told me he wouldn't sign my ecclesiastical endorsement until I promised that I would be coming back to SVU after my summer in Provo. Super funny. Probably BYU is going to terrify me and I will be more than happy to come running back to my comfort zone of SVU.....all 800 of us. I kinda like this place. Also we had our last activities committee meeting of the semester tonight. After we were done putting away the decorations from the dance, Branden told us that he was taking us all out to dinner tomorrow night as a thank-you. Then he gave us all a hug. I mostly never know how to take that kid, but I won't complain about free food and hugs. It's nice to feel appreciated........................ Wow I just got hard core writer's block. I really have nothing to say tonight (obviously). I feel like there's lots I could say but I just can't..............write it.......type it.........think of it.......know if it's worth talking about...........um yeah I'm struggling. I'm going to be done now and go to bed.

And just because this post isn't random enough already, here is Cassie's random question of the day: Why do trains honk their horn/blow their whistle so much? BV has tracks that run through it and there are always trains on them, and the trains are always super noisy! They just pull their little horn/whistle  the whole time they are driving through. It's extremely loud and unnecessary I feel like. Plus trains are loud enough as it is. Why is this necessary? I don't know. It makes me crazy though.  And now I'm really done.

You Must Be Extremely Bored if You are Taking the Time to Read This Post Today

So I keep not updating this because A) It has been a crazy week and B) I don't really have much to say. Neither of those things have changed, but here I am. The rest of Thanksgiving was wonderful. After Imari and I tried all 7 kinds of pie at the hotel's Thanksgiving buffet, we spent the majority of the day napping in hammocks. Can't complain about that. I was definitely reluctant to come back to real life. The last few weeks of school are rough. I don't know why every professor feels like it's a good idea to have their major projects/papers/presentations due in the last few weeks of the semester. Okay, it kind of makes sense. But it's super annoying. Especially because after Thanksgiving I am just ready to be done. Last week was pretty intense and I mostly lived in the library all week. Luckily, I made it through and now we are on the downhill slope. Thanks to my Art History paper being made optional (which obviously means I'm not doing it) I have finished all of my big assignments and mostly just have finals to stress about now. Getting close. Today was ridiculously long and I have been going since 6:45 this morning. Hopefully the rest of this week isn't quite so long and busy. I created a massive to-do list of every little thing that I needed to accomplish before I went home. It's pretty lengthy and I add more to it every day. Fortunately, I also cross things off everyday. Mostly that's why I make to-do lists; I love crossing things off of them. It's just a little high for me. Apparently I was looking a little worn down today because in institute my teacher was going around shaking everyone's hand before class started, and he stopped when he got to me and asked me if the end of the semester was kicking my butt (or something to that effect). I said "Yep it sure is!" Dang spiritual people who can see right through my calm, cool, and collected mask that I thought I wore so well. Oh well. Only two more classes of Western Civ (and all of my other classes)! That makes me a happy kid.

In other news, Saturday night was our Winter Formal. I got stuck being in charge of the photo booth so I drug Kenzy along with me and we sat and creeped on people all night while we waited for someone to come get their picture taking. Too much fun (sarcasm?). At one point, we walked into the ballroom where the dance was for like 15 seconds and decided we weren't feeling it. We had fun just talking and creeping though. Also I wore my poofy red dress and got a ridiculous amount of compliments on it. I am really bad at taking compliments, especially to that extent, but it was kind of fun. Then we went to Kenzy's house and her, Dallin, and I watched Sherlock Holmes which none of us had ever seen before. I was pretty impressed with it. Oh also Kenz and I made homemade bread on Saturday. It was DELICIOUS! We are such good little homemakers. It made three loaves....I think we are down to one now. Don't judge.

Wow this is a lot longer than I was expecting. Sorry for the rambling. I'm going to be done now. It's bedtime. Bye.

P.S. Willard (Voldemort's middle name that he now goes by) is still alive and happy. He spent the weekend at my house because Imari was gone. We have been bonding. We just love that little creeper!

Oh! P.S. again! Thanksgiving was Cheri's birthday and since I haven't written since then, this is me wishing you a happy birthday Cher! Love ya!

She's a special one.....

Also, Imari's birthday was yesterday. While she was gone we filled her room with balloons, streamers, banners, rose petals, dollar store presents, and googlie eyes (super creepy)! And then we took her to dinner. Happy 21st Imari!

Voldemort's a Crab

I loooooove breaks from school! Granted, I have tons of homework over the break, but we aren't talking about that right now. After two days that felt like an eternity, I finally got done with class yesterday and my break officially started. Then it was off to Myrtle Beach. Best plan. After six hours in the car last night I was starting to wonder whether or not this was a good idea....it was worth it though. This place is the best. I made Imari come with us because I couldn't let her stay in BV alone over Thanksgiving. That was also a great plan. We are staying in a super nice hotel on the beach complete with 3 swimming pools, waterslide, basketball court, fitness center, spa, a zillion conference and ballrooms, THE comfiest mattresses in the world, and......HAMMOCKS!!! We are in heaven. This morning we slept in and then worked out in the super high tech fitness center. Then we tried out the hammocks for a minute before going for a stroll on the beach. Myrtle Beach is 60 miles of beach. Sooo great! I love the feeling of sand in between my toes. We could have walked all 60 miles of beach, but we turned around when we got to huge flock of birds who wouldn't fly away when we got close (Imari has a legit fear of birds). Then we showered, got ready, and did homework for a minute. The rest of the day was spent eating and exploring the boardwalk along the beach. So much fun! The weather was almost perfect (it was a little windy at times) and the whole place just looks like it came straight out of a Nicholas Sparks book (which it kind of did). Also, we bought a hermit crab. They have them all over the place and we just couldn't resist. We aren't technically allowed to have pets in our house, but we didn't think he really counted. His name is Voldemort. We love him. Also, he is a little creeper and I am a little terrified of him. But I still love him. So yep, that's mostly my story today. I'm a happy kid.

Speak Now!

Oh hey. Soooo Taylor Swift was AMAZING!!! Seriously. I love her so much. It worked out that Imari and I had seats next to each other, and Kenzy was on the complete opposite side of the building. Kenzy had a pretty good seat though. Imari and I were on the very top row. Taylor looked pretty little from up there. Despite having much better seats than us, Kenz decided she didn't want to watch the Taylor Swift concert by herself. So, she sat on the stairs next to Imari and I. What a nerd. It was so much fun though. After the concert, we stopped at a gas station for gas and caffeine to get us through the long drive home. We definitely found the sketchiest gas station. You know you are in a questionable place when there is a police officer just hanging around outside the gas station. We were a little nervous. Our caffeine managed to keep all three of us awake for the whole drive home, and the tornado warning and massive thunderstorm decided to leave us alone so that we could get home safe. That was nice. We got home at about 3 and were all super perky the next day......or something.....

I feel like it's been a while and I should have more to say, but I don't really. The weather is ridiculously nice for it being the end of November. Love this place. Also, I only have three more classes until my Thanksgiving break begins!! Whooo! Unfortunately, I have a massive project that I have to do over the break. Rude. I really wish that I was going home tomorrow. It will be weird having Thanksgiving somewhere other than in Burley with my family. I don't know if I love that. But my dad is getting here tomorrow and we will be spending the rest of the week at Myrtle Beach! (What? A beach again? Told you that's how my family rolls) I am excited for that. Mostly it will be nice to just have a little break. I really love those. Well I think that's all that I have to say tonight. I have just been busy with all of the stress that comes with the end of the semester. So excited to be done!

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. Taylor won artist of the year at the American Music Awards last night! Told you she was amazing. Also I love her because she has won tons of awards and somehow is always completely shocked when she wins another one. I want to be her best friend.

Ni Hao!

Guess what!! I turned in my paper and made my deposit today! Which means.............I AM OFFICIALLY GOING TO CHINA!!!!!!! I am ridiculously excited. You have no idea. It will be amazing. Best people, best advisor, and Business credits that I desperately need. So perfect! Also, it's China. Super cool. Minus that I don't speak Chinese, lots of the toilets are holes in the ground, we are staying in hostiles, and the plane ride is 20ish hours. Other than that it's perfect. We are going to have the best time. Can it be May yet???? And that's all I have to say today folks. That was definitely the highlight of my day. Goodnight.

Going here! Jealous?

Oh, also, TOMORROW IS TAYLOR SWIFT!!!! Also, we are driving home after the concert; not staying the night. It's a 4 1/2 hour drive. We may die. At least we will die happy.

Update

This kid can sympathize. 

One diet Dr. Pepper, small bag of M&M's, and 2 Motrins later.....I am done!!! Man I hate writing papers. But it feels so good to have it done. Technically it's just the rough draft, but kind of that's how I write my papers. I write a rough draft and then read through it once to make sure I didn't say "adn" anywhere instead of "and," then I print it out. Is that bad? I don't care. I'm so happy to be done. Probably I will do my quick read-through later. It is time to do something fun!!! I wish I knew what that was going to be.....

Procrastination....

Soooo I have a paper due in Western Civ on Monday. I decided to start it today. It's supposed to be 1500 words. I am currently on word number 945. I have been on that word number for a loooong time. I got done answering the first part of the question, so I decided I could take a little internet break. That turned into a really long break. It got dark outside while I was taking my little break. And I am sick of sitting in this chair and staring at this computer. Why don't I just finish it and be done? I don't know. Why am I blogging right now instead of just getting it over with? I don't know. I know what I'm going to say, I just lost all motivation to finish it. The longer this break has gone on, the less motivation I have.

On another note: today is Veteran's Day. I love veterans. So much. I take being an American for granted a lot, but when I am consciously thinking about it, I get very patriotic. We are so blessed. So so blessed. And I adore every person who has sacrificed to give us the wonderful lives that we have. Last year I went to Arlington on Veteran's Day. That was so incredible. I wanted to go again this year, but I skipped class on Monday so I didn't feel like I could skip again today. That was so cool though. If you get a chance, go to Arlington on Veteran's Day. Or any other day of the year. I love that place. It's impossible to come out of there without a greater appreciation for veterans and this country. Love it.

Okay, I am going to finish my paper now....maybe....

P.S. I was stressed today because it's 11/11/11 and everyone was saying how this is the only time ever that this will happen so make the most of it. How do I make the most of it? What are you supposed to do to commemorate something like that? Well, I spent my 11/11/11 sitting in my hard chair, staring at my computer. Definitely made the most of it.

Another one...

This is me trying to keep certain demanding people happy. So, post #2 for the day. When Mom and I were driving home from Virginia Beach on Monday, we saw....wait for it....cotton fields!! Yep, real live cotton fields just like from the plantations during the Civil War times. They still exist! Okay, I thought it was cool alright? They were super cool looking too because it's harvest time right now so the cotton is all grown. They were just these big fields of white fluffiness. After getting excited every time we passed one, (which was pretty often) Mom finally pulled over so I could get out and take a picture.....and touch it.....and pick it. Yep, I stole some cotton shhh! It was pretty exhilarating for me. We also stole seashells from the beach. The sign said to leave things in its natural habitat and just take a picture of it, or draw it, or write about it in your journal (that's for real what it said). What a joke. We took some. They are pretty. Hopefully I don't get arrested for having stolen cotton and seashells!

Cool yeah?

These aren't actually my pictures, but mine are similar. It's less time consuming to take picture off Google images.

:D

Do you know what I love? Laughing. Real laughing. Like can't breathe, abs in pain, tears streaming out of my eyes laughing. It is the best feeling in the world. And that is today's thought.

Also my weekend was WONDERFUL! Love my mom and taking a little break from life. So fun.

Momma!

I will be seeing my mom in 18 hours and 5 minutes (thank you google countdown). It's safe to say that I'm excited. I really like that lady. I am picking her up from the airport in Roanoke and then we are driving to Richmond. Then on Saturday we will drive to Virginia Beach (because beaches are kind of our thing....even if it is November) for the rest of the weekend. I may be skipping class on Monday. It will be worth it though. I spent all day today (and will spend part of the day tomorrow) doing homework, studying for tests, doing laundry, and cleaning so that I can have the best weekend ever! So so excited!

Oh, also I went to Footloose tonight. So good! We watched the original last night in preparation. I can't decide which one I like better, though Kevin Bacon did a much better job of his angry dance scene than this new kid did.

P.S. the countdown is now 17 hours and 51 minutes....  :D

Happy Sabbath!

What a lovely day! I have wonderful housemates who seem to have made it a daily goal to boost my self esteem. Between them, my visiting teachers, and my Relief Society presidency, my self esteem was helped a lot today. I was complimented and told I was pretty so many times today. I don't care who you are, that is nice to hear. They did it so genuinely too that I had a hard time blowing it off and shutting it down like I usually do. All I could do was blush and say thank you. At church I was sustained and set apart for my new calling. I am the relief society extra activities coordinator. Another made-up student ward calling? Yep. I don't know for sure what I do yet, but I am told that it's important. Then I made Mom's enchiladas for house dinner after church. Those have always been a favorite for me. They are super simple too which is very nice for me. I like simple food. I didn't think they tasted quite as good as Mom's, but nothing ever does. Then we had a Stake Relief Society fireside which was just lovely. I love our stake Relief Society presidency.

The negative of today? Virginia has decided it's winter. It has been sooo cold these last few days. So, of course, just when it started getting really cold, the heat in our house decided to stop working. We are living in an igloo. I am FREEZING!! Time to bundle up and go to bed.

P.S. People around here always say "Happy Sabbath!" on Sundays. Like it's a holiday. I have never heard that before I came here, but I love it.

Good Stuff

I have some good news for you!
1. I got a 98% on my Family Process test!
2. I got a 98% on my Art History test!
3. I got a 95% on my Western Civ test!
(Are you impressed yet? I sure am!)
4. I got Pintrest! I haven't done a lot with it yet and it is a little confusing to me, but kinda fun. Mostly all that I know about it is that it's addicting and a time waster. Perfect!
5. I am going to China! Okay, this isn't for real yet. I went to the interest meeting on Tuesday and couldn't believe how badly it made me want to go. Sooo bad! It's sounds amazing. Now all I have to do is find out how much my parents really love me.....Daddy? ;)
6. I didn't get blown up! Apparently the threat said the school would be blown up at 6:00 pm on Monday if the bomber didn't get a million dollars by then. What an idiot. A) they called from a cell phone and were caught pretty quickly and B) if you want a million dollars, you are definitely asking the wrong people. SVU is broke. Nice try.
7. I didn't have to go to court this morning! Also, I just realized that I never really told this story so I shall give you a brief summary. A few weeks ago, my housemate's wallet was stolen, used, and destroyed by Imari's housemate. (What is this world coming to?) Anyway, that whole process has been pretty intense and annoying. It's hard not to get drug into this mess when you are housemates and friends with the victim and the theif's housemates. What a mess. Anyway, I had to write a statement for the police officer one day because I had seen the girl come into our house the morning that Brigitte's wallet was stolen. She came in and said something like "Oops wrong house! Haha sorry Cassie." Apparently that's a bigger story than I had thought it was. I wrote my statement and a couple weeks later was subpoenaed to court. Fantastic. There is a reason I don't commit crimes: I have zero interest in being anywhere near courtrooms, police officers, judges, etc. It's safe to say that I was less than happy when I found out I had to go to court. A lot less than happy. Especially because I would have to miss class for it. That upset me the most. (Nerd? No. I just don't like failing.) Fortunately, on Monday I decided to be a big girl. I made some phone calls and told them that the statement that I wrote was all I had to say and I had class that I really couldn't miss. After a couple days of phone tag, I was informed that I had been relieved of my duties and didn't have to go to court. YESSS!! You have no idea how happy that made me. I was able to go to Art History today and talk about Greek statues rather than sit in a scary courtroom and be questioned by scary lawyers. (Brigitte said the guy questioning her was super scary and she didn't even do anything!) Unfortunately, (and ridiculously) the girl pled not guilty, so she has to go to a grand jury in January. I will probably be subpoenaed again then. Awesome. We aren't going to think about that now though mmmmk?
8. I vacuumed my floor and did my laundry!
9. My momma will be here in 7 days and 18 hours!!
10. I am going to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

Duck and Cover!

So, I am probably going to get in trouble for not telling anyone this earlier and just putting it on my blog now. I just didn't feel like telling the story lots of times. Please don't hate me.

Last night when I was moments away from crawling into my bed, I heard my housemates come in downstairs. They were talking very excitedly (not happy excited, like frantic excited...kind of) but I couldn't really tell what they were saying. Then Beka came into my room and told me to turn off my light because she had just gotten a text that said the school was on lockdown. As soon as I did, I heard our HRA at our door. He is usually a super chill and fun guy....he wasn't at that time. He told us to keep all of our lights off, lock our doors, and don't even think about leaving the house. That's all the information that we had for a long time. My housemates and I all sat in our dark living room waiting for more information. Eventually we were informed that the entire campus was on lockdown because the school had received a phone call saying that there were bombs placed all over campus that would be set off if they didn't get some money (so Hollywood). Then we were told that the SWAT team/bomb squad was checking things out and we should prepare for the possibility of evacuation. By the time it got to be about 1:30, my house decided we probably weren't going anywhere and we could go to sleep. Of course, it was a little difficult to sleep at that moment. I finally fell asleep at about 2:45 when I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and my brain was tired of thinking of all the worst case scenarios. They ended up evacuating all of the residence halls on campus to buildings that had been cleared by the bomb squad. They got to go back home around 3:30. Luckily, our little housing complex is down the hill from campus so I got to stay in my bed all night. The lockdown was finally lifted at 5:30 this morning. Pretty exciting night.

I didn't freak out too much because I knew that nothing was going to happen. I'm pretty good at not getting worked up about things and just staying realistic. It is hard not to get a little nervous when you have such limited information though. Mostly I decided that if someone was really going to bomb something, they wouldn't call and give a heads up. And they definitely wouldn't wait for the bomb squad to search the place and everyone to be safely evacuated before they did anything. They would just blow the place up. Yeah?

Considering the majority of the school was up until at least 3:00, most of us thought cancelling some classes would have been reasonable. The administration didn't agree. Lots of professors made that decision on their own though and cancelled their individual classes. My first class today was Western Civ. My professor for that class is not a super loving, sympathetic, and understanding lady. Half of our class showed up and after they whined about not getting any sleep, she announced that we were having a quiz. Awesome. Miraculously, she told us after the quiz that it was just going to be extra credit for making it to class that day. Then she attempted to get into her thrilling (sarcasm) lecture. The class was dead. No one was taking notes or even attempting to respond to her questions. After about 20 minutes, she told us that she could see that this lesson was going nowhere today so go home and take a nap. I was shocked. But relieved. I never would have expected that from her.

That was pretty much how the day went for everyone. The whole campus was talking about the bomb threats, but I wouldn't say they were "buzzing." Everyone was zombies. It was a super weird day.

In other news, today was our first "Margarita Monday!" We made strawberry daiquiris (which aren't actually margaritas, but we have to keep the alliteration). They were soooo good! This has definitely just become a weekly tradition.

Ugh cool it. They were virgin.

Oh Fall....

Remember how I love Saturdays? Yeah, yesterday was a pretty great one. It started with tennis. Always a wonderful way to start the day. Imari and I still have a little ways to go before we could be considered professional, but we did better than last time I think. Mostly it was just super fun. Then I showed her and Kenzy my flood wall because I wanted to take pictures of it. So we walked all the way down it and then hung out at the end of it for a while. 

Welcome to my morning run....

Not too bad huh?

While we were hanging out on the bench at the end of the trail, Imari discovered a little caterpillar. I fell in love. We decided he probably wanted to come home with us, so we put him on a stick and carried him all the way back to the car. His name is Louie (pronounced Loo-EEEEE!!). 

Isn't he precious?

When we got home, we put Louie in a little jar with some sticks and grass and water, and Imari punched a hole in the top so he could breathe. (Does that sound like something 8 year old boys do?) Then I went home and tried to be productive and made a quick Food Lion run. Then I went back to Kenzy and Imari's (mostly to check on my Louie). When I picked up his jar to check on him, I couldn't see him in there. He's pretty bright and fuzzy so I didn't really think he could be hiding. He was definitely not in his jar. Imari and Kenzy had just checked on him 10 minutes earlier and had decided that he was dead. Obviously he tricked them. In those 10 minutes he had scootched out the hole in the top of his jar and had managed to hide himself pretty well. After a pretty intense hunt, we found him and put him back in his jar with a new lid. I checked on him today. He is quite happy in his new habitat. We are mostly excited for him to turn into a butterfly.

After our frantic caterpillar hunt, we went for a drive up the parkway. It is GORGEOUS right now. Holy cow. We all hung our heads out the window snapping pictures as we drove....none of those turned out super awesome. I did get some good ones though. Probably you will just have to wait for them to be on Facebook because this post has enough pictures. 

The rest of the evening was spent watching "The Sound of Music," going to Waffle House (a pretty sketchy place, but with good chocolate chip waffles), and stargazing until 2 in the morning (while wishing we had boyfriends to enjoy the stars with rather than each other). All in all it was a pretty wonderful, relaxing Saturday.

And of course today was lovely because it's Sunday. Melissa gave a marvelous talk in Sacrament meeting about the power of prayer and I finished my last landscape painting, which turned out slightly better than I thought it would.

I wish weekends were longer.

A Fairly Wonderful Couple of Days

Sooo I keep thinking I should blog because a lot has happened in the last few days, and now here I am and I can't actually remember what I wanted to blog about. Bear with me.

On Tuesday night, I bought...wait for it...A TICKET TO TAYLOR SWIFT!! Too excited! Kenzy's friend had gotten two tickets to Taylor's show in North Carolina from her boyfriend.  Apparently he just bought them and said grab a friend and go see Taylor Swift.  Imari and I decided that we couldn't let Kenzy have all the fun, so we bought ourselves tickets. I went to the opening show of this tour, so I have actually already seen this concert, but I wasn't about to let them go to Taylor Swift without me. Also I'm pretty sure that I could go to her concert every day for a year and never get tired of it. SO good! I was a little hesitant to go because tickets are expensive and it's on a Wednesday night four hours from here (which means I will be missing some classes). However, it was pointed out to me that I am a college kid and totally allowed (and almost expected) to do spontaneous, fun things like this. I feel like this is an acceptable reason to skip class. I can be responsible for the rest of my life; I am going to have fun right now. Justifying? You bet.

 I took my Western Civ midterm on Wednesday morning. I hate that class. A lot. My professor gave us four possible essay questions and told us that the day of the test we would draw one out of a hat and that would be the one that we wrote on. After a lot of studying, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on 3 out of the 4 questions. What question did my class get? Yep, the one I didn't know. Awesome. I managed to write 3 pages on something that I knew very little about. I talked about stuff that we had learned but it may or may not have actually answered the question. Hopefully she is nice with her grading.

On Wednesday night I did one of the most terrifying things of my life, which turned into a whole lot of excited, happy screaming and celebrating when I had accomplished it. Due to the fact that this isn't a private blog, you will have to talk to me if you want more details on this....which I would be happy to give.

I can't really remember the things that happened on Thursday or Friday that I wanted to tell you. Probably nothing too exciting.  And then there was Friday night. Sooo much fun! Again, you can ask if you want more details.....or I will tell you without your asking. Mostly it was wonderful. :D

Summary...

Homecoming weekend = Good
Lots of homework during Homecoming weekend = Bad
Homecoming dance = Good
Setting up for the Homecoming dance = Exhausting
Church = Good
Lots of movies and junk food = Good and Bad
2 missionary letters and a wonderful package = So Good!
Studying for Western Civ II midterm = Death
E-mail from a student about the Homecoming Dance being the best dance EVER = Soo good and rewarding!
Not having time for naps = So bad
Hot, gooey brownies from my lovely housemate = Good
Not having time to call one of the many people that I want to talk to = Bad
Still studying for Western Civ II midterm = Still Death
Waffles and pumpkin ice cream for lunch = Good
Allergies freaking out and/or startings of a cold = Bad
Pumpkin in general = Good
Midterms = Bad, Bad, Bad
Having fun and being distracted enough to no longer be so homesick = Good
:)

Is It Sad That My Title Takes Longer to Come Up With Than My Actual Post?

Good day. A little hectic, but so good. I have to get up early so I will just give you some of the highlights that I remember at the moment.
1. Fallen leaves + rain = THE greatest smell ever! I love being outside right now.
2. I didn't have Art History today.
3. My Family Process professor lost his voice so he whispered into a microphone today. He made a joke about him talking like Batman, and we all just cracked up because that's totally who he sounded like! It was hard for me to take him seriously for the rest of the class.
4. Speaking of Batman: today was Superhero day for Homecoming Week. I wore my Batman shirt that I got Senior year from the little boys' section of Walmart. Love it.
5. Imari and I made plans to play tennis with Elder and Sister Crowther (our institute teachers and the greatest people I have ever met) So excited!
6. Best part of the day: I had an Activities Committee meeting tonight. After the meeting I had to head over to the SAC because I was in charge of the movie for tonight (this mostly means shutting everyone up so we can pray, turning off the lights, clicking play, and popping popcorn....nothing serious). Branden was walking over to the SAC with me because we were using his laptop for the movie. (Branden is the VP of Campus Programming...aka kid in charge of Activities Committee) He's a fun kid  but we don't really have a super tight relationship. He tells me what to do, I ask him questions if I have any, and then I do it. That's the extent of our communication with each other. As we were walking to the SAC tonight, he started telling me how much he appreciated everything that I do. He said he had just been thinking about it and he loves that I never complain and I always do what I say I will, and he doesn't feel like he needs to check up on me to see if I'm doing my jobs. It wasn't anything major, but shoot that was nice to hear. That is always my goal with these things. I don't want to be "that" girl who is always missing meetings, or complaining, or making excuses for why she didn't accomplish her jobs. Those people irritate me and my goal is to never be one of them. It was nice to hear that I am accomplishing that goal and that it is recognized and appreciated. I told him that this is what I love and that I know how hard it is working with people who are less than enthusiastic and unreliable (high school student council was a frustrating time in my life). Branden and I didn't know each other at all before this year, but I feel like I have proven myself to him now and I am starting to be trusted with bigger responsibilities. I love that.

It's Late Okay?

Cool Story: It was super rainy today. When I went to Institute it was dark and cold and pouring rain. When I came out of the Institute building 50 minutes later, it was sunny and warm and just barely sprinkling. Coincidence? I think not. Of course it started up again later, but that is irrelevant. It took a break for a minute because I went to Institute. You're welcome everyone.

On another note, I had my first cup of hot chocolate of the season tonight. I have been freezing all day so I stopped at the gas station and got some before my meeting. So delicious! And way cheaper than a cup of hot chocolate at Maverick. I was pleasantly surprised. I will be going back there often.

Temple Day....minus the temple

See that wrap around porch? Yeah....

Good news: I didn't have school today! Once a year SVU has a "temple day." They cancel all classes for the day and take buses to the DC temple so students can do baptisms and service on the grounds. Yeah, BYU doesn't do that do they? I didn't actually go to the temple today though. Our ward was leaving at 5:00 a.m. and Imari, Kenzy, and I decided we didn't love that idea. We decided that we will go to the temple on our own sometime in the next few weeks. Instead of going to the temple, we participated in the service projects that the school had going on around campus for the students who didn't go to the temple. We were given the task of scraping and painting the front porch of main hall. This involved getting on our hands and knees and scraping off all of the flaky paint, sweeping the porch off, taping around the edges, and then painting the whole thing. The front deck is huge. Luckily, we only had to do half of it....which is still a lot. I must say we did a pretty incredible job....the portion that the three of us did looks great anyway. We got done with our little service project about 4 hours later. Exhausting. When we were finished, we remembered that water doesn't clean off oil-based paint. Shoot. We were messy. Imari was the worst because she had tried to clean off a paint brush with the hose, and ended up getting her hand covered in paint. We tried to wash our hands using hot water and soap, but it didn't do anything. Also, oil-based paint is sticky which was super annoying. We ran into some staff who told us that you are supposed to use gasoline to get off oil-based paint. Great. They also listed off some other obscure chemicals that no college student would have lying around in their apartment. We ended up hunting down a maintenance man and Imari asked him if he had anything that could clean off her hands. He said he probably did, but it might burn her skin. She was desperate. He also said that it might take the color out of her skin. No big deal. Luckily, it just took the paint off without doing either of those. After our hard work (it really was hard) we went to Dairy Queen. The only thing that got us through those 4 long hours was that we were treating ourselves to pumpkin pie blizzards when we were done. Definitely was worth it. They were soooo good! I love pumpkin pie, but I was a little wary of it being in blizzard form. It was absolutely delicious. If you like pumpkin pie, i would definitely recommend it. Might be my new favorite....minus that it made me want to be at home having Thanksgiving dinner with my family really bad. Nuts.

Yummmm!!!!

Also, an hour after our blizzards, we went out to dinner. That's how we take advantage of being college kids without parents to control us: ice cream BEFORE dinner. Ha!

Mostly it was a good day but I am bummed that tomorrow is Wednesday. Today felt like Saturday.

P.S. Last night Kenzy made me watch "The Roommate." Suuuuper creep. Definitely don't watch that until you already know your roommates well enough to know that they aren't psycho creeps.

Food and Fun!

Oh I loooove weekends!! Here's the rundown....

Friday: Went to class. Sat outside and did my painting for a couple hours. It was super beautiful outside and I even got a little baby sunburn. It's times like that when I remember why I came to school in Virginia. Went to the Institute building for "Friday Food and Fun." We had nachos. I love free food. The rest of my Friday night was spent sitting around a kitchen table talking and eating cupcakes for about 4 hours. I know, we are party animals. So much fun though. I hadn't laughed that hard for a long time.

Saturday: Buena Vista has this annual craft fair type thing called "Mountain Days." They close down the main street and everyone sets up cute little booths all over. I was hesitant to go because, knowing BV, it wouldn't be too impressive. It was actually pretty cool. Beka and I wandered around for a while and I got a cool new ring. Yay jewelry! The rest of the day was spent with Trisha. Now that I don't live with her, we hardly ever see each other which had started to get fairly depressing. So we remedied that. Our afternoon/evening/night/early morning consisted of: Crunchwrap supremes (what else?), 2 hours in Goodwill, more food at Lee Hi's, a super grumpy waitress, a tour of the sketchier places in a hotel, Titanic, muffins, Youtube videos, and Modern Family. So much fun! Oh, also I got a package from my grandma! She is so wonderful!

Sunday: Today was Stake Conference so we had church 3 hours earlier than usual. That made for a Sunday that felt like it lasted forever. Stake Conference was good, though I will admit my attention span was struggling today. We had fun watching all of the babies. After conference was over, we started talking to the guy who was sitting next to us. He was surprised how many college-aged kids were there because he didn't think the percentage of LDS people in this area was very high. He had never heard of SVU. We told him about it and he was in shock. Apparently, he and his wife are from Utah and recently decided that they needed to move to Lexington, Virginia. They had no idea why, but they just did what they thought they were supposed to. It turns out he is a Physics professor and has been working on finding a school to teach at. Coincidence that an LDS professor felt prompted to move across the country to a town that just happens to be 5 minutes away from an LDS college that he had never heard of? I think not. We will be seeing him again. That was way cool. After conference, Kenzy and Imari made pumpkin cookies, so I went to their house to enjoy them. While eating our cookies, we watched "Beauty and the Beast" and "A Knight's Tale." Two favorites. I also took a little nap. Then we had cheesecake. Yes, this has been an very unhealthy weekend. Sometimes it's hard to care. It was a very fun weekend, even if I did gain 10 pounds. I'm over it.

And tomorrow is Monday. Yuck. Also it's Homecoming week. That's fairly exciting.

Goodbye Summer :(

Fall is here. The mornings have been really cold this last week, which I don't love. It warmed up during the day today though. I sure do love sunshine. Also, the leaves are starting to change. Last year I couldn't wait for the leaves to change. I was so excited to see Virginia in the Fall (it's gorgeous by the way). However, now I know that after the few weeks of lots of pretty colors, everything is bare and dead and brown and depressing for a looooong time. I don't love that. I'm not quite as excited for the changing of the seasons this year. I just love warm.

Hmmm is it obvious that I don't have anything exciting to say when the first paragraph of my post is about the weather? Come on Cas. It actually has been a pretty eventful couple of days, but I don't think I should expound on that at this point. Not on my blog anyway. Instead, you get the weather report. Also, Homecoming week is next week. Being on the Activities Committee, this means that it is going to be a CRAZY week. I'm excited. I know, I'm weird, but I LOVE being busy with stuff life this. I would much rather be running around putting up posters, and setting up for dances, and running the popcorn machine at the movie than be writing papers and studying. Unfortunately, I have to do both. But, the fun craziness makes up for the incredibly un-fun craziness. Who knew there could be good and bad craziness?

In other news, I will probably be failing my Western Civ II class. I cannot focus in that class. Her teaching seems really spastic to me and I am constantly stressing to keep up with her in my note taking. My notes are so disorderly and make no sense because she jumps all over the place, and doesn't finish thoughts and just makes coherent note taking impossible.  Also, the readings are super boring so I don't actually pay attention when I read. This equals me failing the quizzes. Frustrating. I hate failing.

And now we will be jumping to another random thought: I am starting to learn how to be a creative cook. I hate monotony in every aspect of my life....including food. I am not one of those kids that is content with PB&J or Ramen every day. Also, I like good food. I have lots of the easy stuff, but I am always trying to dress it up somehow. If I'm going to cook, I want to actually cook and make it worth my time. If I'm going to eat, it should be something enjoyable not just something to stop the growl, right? I think so. This mindset complicates life sometimes, but when I have the time I really love to actually cook good food. I haven't gotten too crazy yet, but I am slowly turning into a gourmet chef. Okay, not really, but I am having fun learning how to make healthy and tasty meals for myself. Probably this is a good skill to work on now.

So yes, I am mostly just being a college kid. Not a lot to report.
Come visit me.
The end.

The Good, The Bad, and The Boring....

Oh hey! So I haven't been feeling like I have anything good to say really, which is why I haven't said anything. I guess now I can make a little culmination of the last few days and it might turn into something somewhat worthwhile. Here is the good and bad of the last few days:

Good: I saw two deer on my run on Thursday morning!
Bad: The Sox lost. I never knew I could be so upset about something like that. I honestly was in mourning. I don't really want to talk any more about that.
Good: I wasn't murdered on my run on Thursday morning which was an hour earlier than usual....and thus an hour darker and foggier. Super creepy.
Bad: I think Harry Herbert died....or maybe that's good? I never knew how I felt about that little guy.
Good: I started working on Rosetta Stone. I am pretty pro at Spanish already. Estoy bebo agua y como una manzana. Okay, not that impressive. I'm working on it.
Bad: I am starting to get discouraged by the lack of boys in my life. I know, that sounds dumb and pathetic. But maybe I am pathetic right now. I just need a little more testosterone in my life, and there is currently zero.
Good: I got a perfect score on a really confusing assignment in my Family Process class.
Bad: It is cold here. I hate that. Sooo not ready for winter.
Good: I got mail!
Bad: A police came to my house on Friday night and questioned me. Not an enjoyable experience.
Good: My momma bought her plane ticket to come visit me!
Bad: I had a Family Process test on Thursday and have an Art History test next Thursday.
Good: I found THE most delicious apples in the world at Walmart! They were one of the seasonal on sale things and holy cow! So big and crispy and delicious!
Bad: I am sick of grocery shopping. I feel like I do it all the time. I wish I was at home where the kitchen is always fully stocked.
Good: I washed my sheets! I love clean sheets so much!
Bad: I miss my family and non-virginia friends A LOT! I don't know why I am so homesick, but I am. It's hard being so far away from those people that I like so much. Really hard.
Good: General Conference was this weekend. It was incredible! I love this church so much!
Bad: I need to vacuum my room.
Good: I just talked to my baby sister for an hour. I love that kid a lot! It freaks me out how old she is these days, and yet I wish she was older so she could come to school with me. I need my sisters.

And that's a wrap!

Blisters and Baseball

Be proud. I went running this morning despite waking up and finding a huge blister on my foot. When I saw that I was tempted to crawl right back into bed. But I didn't. Somehow it hurt when I was walking but didn't bother me at all when I ran. Weird. But wonderful. Also I went a lot farther on my run today and it felt sooo good! It was gorgeous outside and somehow I felt awake and energized. Definitely the best way to start a day. Also, I had an upsetting realization when I remembered that the sun will start coming up later and later. Problem. Right now, the sun isn't up when I leave but it's close enough that it's light outside. I don't really want to run in the dark. Or the freezing winter weather. Shoot. I think that if I keep doing this I will make some really great new friends though. There's these little old guys that I have seen on the path the last few times I've been. Some are kinda creepy/hobo looking, but they are super friendly. It was super foggy this morning and I could see two people walking towards me out of the fog. One was pretty big and had a big stick or something in his hand. When I was about 30 yards from them I suddenly thought maybe it was dumb of me to be heading straight toward two strangers with something that looked like it could be used as a weapon. I felt like it would be dumb for me to turn around at that point so I just kept going toward them. They ended up just being some little old guys (minus little) and they were super friendly as they passed.  That is true with a lot of the BV locals. There's some interesting people in this town but, for the most part, they are really friendly. At least from my experience.

Good news! On Monday I ordered Rosetta Stone (my hope is to learn Spanish from that so that I don't have to take 2 more semesters of Spanish class) and it came today! Super quick huh? I think I have it all installed. It was a process and freaked my computer out. I think we are good now though. I'm excited to start using it. I hope it works as good as they say!

Not so good news...I went to talk to my academic advisor today about my schedule for next semester. He basically told me that I'm crazy. That's what I wanted to hear... I am currently signed up for 17.5 credits, not including Institute. 9 of those credits are with my advisor, Professor Rodriguez. He is the head of the FCD department and so, this being SVU, he pretty much teaches every FCD class. His first concern was whether I would be able to handle that much of him. Luckily, he's a good teacher and I have liked the classes that I have taken from him so far. The problem is that his classes require a lot of work....and I have 3 of them next semester. He pretty much gave me the break-down of the classes that I am taking from him. He said 2 of them require lots of reading but aren't too difficult. Then he said that the last one is hard. He didn't try to sugarcoat that at all. He said it's a very difficult class and taking it with that many other credits will be pretty intense. He basically told me that if I don't plan on doing any extracurricular activities or having a social life next semester, I should be fine. Awesome. Also I have a test in his class tomorrow. I don't love that.

So, I have had butterflies in my stomach all day today about the Red Sox game tonight. So nervous! I got to watch the first 45 minutes before I had to go to my Communications Committee meeting. Once again, it was very hard to pull myself away. At my meeting, we were going around doing little introductions and in mine I said that I was a Red Sox fan and that I was currently dying because they were playing a huge game and I was missing it. A few minutes later Gina, the wonderful girl sitting next to me, nudged me to show me that she had brought up a live streaming of the game on her laptop. We are best friends now. I was super excited about that. I promise I paid attention to our meeting.....and the game. After that meeting, I had to go to an Activities Committee meeting. Unfortunately, Gina isn't on the Activities Committee. Fortunately, I have an app on my phone that lets me check the score. Not as good as the actual game but better than being in the dark. Unfortunately, my stress must be prolonged because the game was delayed because of rain. Nuts. Hopefully I will be able to watch them finish it.

Sweet Caroline...

:) So, I just got done watching the Red Sox game. It has been waaay too long since I was able to watch one of those. I either am busy when it's on, or it's not on my one of my few channels on my TV. Frustrating. Tonight I had some time so I decided to flip on my TV and cross my fingers that it would be on. It was! I had to leave in the middle of it for an Activities Committee meeting (which was very hard for me to do) but I made it back in time to see the ninth inning.....and Papelbon pitch. That excited me. P.S. they won! I love watching them play. It causes me stress like nothing else, but it makes me happy. Sometimes I think it was probably a bad idea for me to become a baseball fan, because when it matters (like this week) it stresses me out! When I am watching a close game, I sometimes feel like I am more nervous than the players are. When Beka came into the living room and saw me in the fetal position hugging my pillow she asked if it was a close game. At that point, it wasn't. They were doing fine. But I can never relax because I know how quickly it can change. As stressful and nerve wracking as it is for me to watch, it's almost calming at the same time. There is no better way to end a long day than with a good baseball game. Also, I've decided that I'm marrying David Ortiz. When that kid smiles it literally makes me smile. Okay, he's not really a "kid" and he could be married for all I know. But I fell in love with him tonight. 

Unfortunately, tomorrow is a huge game and I have meetings at 8 and 9. I will get to see the first hour and, with any luck, the end. My fingers are crossed for them. 

P.S. Sorry this whole post is about the Red Sox. I did do other things with the last few days, this was just the most exciting part. Is that sad? Oh well.

I DESPERATELY want to go back here! Anyone up for a quick trip to Boston tomorrow?

Best. Night. Ever!

 

Another Good Day

Um wow. The Relief Society broadcast tonight was soo good! If you didn't watch it, read or watch it when it is available online. It was incredible. I love President Uchtdorf so much. I could try and tell you the highlights, but I wouldn't do it justice. Just listen to his talk. So good.

In other news, I found somewhere to run this morning! Finally! On the outskirts of town we have a floodwall....I think that's what it is. There's a little walking path that goes along the top of it. It's not super long but luckily I'm not a marathon runner. Also, it's a gorgeous place to run. Running is so much easier to do when there are fun things to look at while you're doing it (not like the inside of a gym, wheat fields, or dairies like I had at home). To the right is the Maury River and to the left are the Blue Ridge mountains, with lots of pretty trees, etc in between. Doesn't get much better than that. The path ends where the wall (not really a wall, more like a long hill)  drops off to the river. There is a cute little bench at the end of the path where I sat and looked out over the river for a minute before heading back. Whoever put that there was genius. Such a pretty view! Maybe I will take my camera with me next time. You need to experience this too. I'm so happy I finally found a good place to go! Now I just have to find a good time. Shoot.

Also, Imari and I made our Cafe Rio salad dressing today. SO good! I have never been so excited for a salad in my life. It was delicious. Probably I will make it all the time.

I love Saturdays.

Welcome to Buena Vista, Virginia. I found this picture on Google and it looks like it was taken from pretty close to where I ran today. Pretty huh?

It's Friday Friday!!

So, it's a little late (for me anyway; don't say anything Heath) so I am going to make this brief. Today I only had one class (love Fridays!) and we just watched a movie in it. My professor wasn't even there. It was an educational one that was relevant though. Cool it. When I got home, I found that someone had brought cinnamon rolls for me and my housemates. There was a really sweet little anonymous note with them about how great we are. So nice! I wish I knew who it was from. It made my day anyway though. Then Imari and I went to Food Lion to buy ingredients to make Cafe Rio salad dressing. So excited! It will be delicious. Also we bought french bread and spinach dip and had that for lunch while watching Imari's favorite movie, Fried Green Tomatoes. It was a really good one. Oh also Imari bought a starfruit. Neither of us had ever seen one before and we were intrigued. So she bought one. I think I liked it. Definitely different, but pretty good. Plus, it looks like little stars when you cut it. Cute!

Tonight the school did another movie night (Cars 2) and Imari and I were the popcorn girls again. We are pretty pro now. I have decided that this is the new career path that I am taking. I'm buying a popcorn machine and setting up on a busy street corner. I will be rich. I also managed to not fry my hand this time. That was good news. After the movie, Beka, Imari, Kenzy, Dallin, and I went to Lehi's and had Mobo Fries. Pretty delicious. Now it's almost 2 and I am going to bed. The End.

Oh, You Know...

Sometimes it's hard to blog when the internet is down.....or you have nothing to say. I have had both of those problems this week. I think it's list time:
1. On Tuesday I donated blood! I am always terrified when I do it, but I love doing it. I think I have saved 18 lives total now. Tell me there's a better feeling? Plus, I got a free t-shirt. That's mostly why I signed up this time
2. On Tuesday I also got a graduation audit. I went and talked to the registrar and she told me where I am in regards to graduation. I had kind of figured it out by myself, but it was nice to hear it officially from her. She said that if I just do my major, I can graduate in December 2012, and if I do my major and Business minor I can graduate in April 2013. I am planning on doing the Business minor and 2013 is when I had been hoping to graduate since the start of this thing, so that was good to hear. Unfortunately, I took it really easy and took some unnecessary classes my first three semesters because I thought I had plenty of time (which I did before I decided to do a minor) so my next three semesters will be pretty intense if I want to get done on time (wow, run-on sentence much?). Is it bad that I can't even enjoy this easy semester because I am so stressed about the coming semesters? Yes, yes it is. I'm doing what I can to make my future easier. It's tricky stuff planning a life. I wish someone would do it for me. Mom?
3. On Tuesday night Melissa and I went to Lynchburg for the boys' soccer game. We stopped at Barnes and Noble first because Melissa's nook was having some struggles. While there, I bought some books. Duh. I bought "The Help" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns." Both depressing books, but I am excited for both of them. That's one of the things that I am doing this semester so I don't have to worry about it when things are crazy next semester: reading books for fun. I am going to fill all of my free time with books/movies/etc so I have that all out of the way and can focus on school next semester. Joke! But really.
4. I went to Painting yesterday. I don't know why I tell you about my painting class all the time. I guess because it's exciting for me that I'm trying something new. Professor Crawford managed to find something great to say about my ugly painting. She is wonderful. She asked what I thought of it and I told her I didn't love it. Then she told me she was going to be real with me. She said she is the cheerleader, but sometimes she has to be the coach....or something to that effect. So I was expecting her to say, nice try but you're right, it's ugly. Did she? Nope. She said it was a different style....oriental actually.....and that I could find lots of famous painters who paint like that. She said I could let that be my style if I want it to be because it's different but good. What?? I thought it looked like a 3-year-old painting. She is so great. She makes me feel good about my less-than-artistic abilities. Our assignment for this week is to paint 12 little landscapes using only 17 strokes each.....tricky! You won't be seeing any of those either. Sorry.
5. My lists are ridiculous!
6. We had our first senate meeting yesterday. I feel pretty important being one of four senators who are returning. Everyone else is new to the whole thing....even the president. It was a little chaotic last night trying to get everyone....including the president....to understand how things work in there. It will take some time for everyone to get in the swing of things, but I think we will be able to do lots of good once everyone gets a feel for it. I'm excited.
7. We had our first activities committee meeting tonight with all of the new senators. (well, only like half showed up, but that was the idea) Committees are supposed to meet once every other week. Branden decided that the activities committee will meet 2-3 times every week. Is it weird that I love that? Yes. However, remember how I have an easy schedule right now? It gives me something productive to do. And I just love it. Planning activities is my thing. It makes me happy. I love that it's so easy to get involved at my school.
8. The Red Sox are killing me. I've decided that it's probably a good thing that our TV has very few channels so I can't watch the games because I don't think I could handle it. I can barely handle the scores/recap the next day. Come on guys.
9. Virginia has some of the biggest, friendliest (aka obnoxious), most disgusting bugs I have ever seen. And there's TONS of them! Here are two of my back porch friends.

This is a leaf bug. Technical term? I have no idea. He looks like a leaf. I call him a leaf bug. They are everywhere! Kinda cool....in a sneaky creeper way. 

This is our pet spider Harry Herbert. Remember all those webs I've told you about? Here is the artist. He currently lives outside the glass door of our kitchen. Is it a little hard to eat breakfast with this kid creeping over my shoulder? Yes, yes it is. 

I watched him fix his web the other day. Creepy as he may be, that was pretty cool to watch.  Harry has helped me gain a greater appreciation for spiders and their incredibly annoying webs. That's hard work folks!

10. I miss my family A LOT! Sometimes I wonder whose dumb idea it was to go to college so freaking far away! I wish I could go home on the weekends and watch Lexi play volleyball or play Sorry with Mitch. Sigh. Okay, done whining now. I can be a big kid for 2 more years and then go live at home for the rest of forever! Joke. But really.

Okay that's enough of this crazy list. It's definitely bedtime.

 P.S. I dreamed about Harry Herbert the other night. He is obviously a very big part of my life.

A Day of Rest :)

Well I just love Sundays so much! I have made it a goal this semester to not do any homework on Sunday. Best. Plan. Ever! My Sunday evenings have always been filled with stress because of homework that is due the next morning. That is not the way a Sunday should be spent. So it won't be anymore (hopefully). It really makes the day so much more enjoyable knowing that I am free to do whatever I want. Even when I have those assignments that aren't due soon but would be good to work on when I have free time; I don't even let myself think about them on Sunday. So nice! Church was good today....minus that I had to speak in sacrament meeting. I was terrified. I've never loved public speaking, but I can handle it and it's gotten easier as I've gotten older. I almost didn't dislike speaking whenever I was a youth speaker in my home ward. Partly because I only had to talk for 5 minutes. Partly because I could talk about whatever I want. Partly because everyone in that ward knows me so well, that one talk won't change their impression of me. Partly because those wonderful people are pretty easy to entertain/make laugh. And partly because all the old people love you no matter what you say, and all the little kids don't listen. None of those things are true in a student ward....which equals not fun. I got through it though and hopefully won't have to do it again for a long long time. After church it was my turn to cook for "house dinner." We trade off every week who cooks Sunday dinner at our house. I made pasta with my mom's homemade spaghetti sauce. I have always loved that stuff so I thought it could be a good idea. Everyone else seemed to like it too so that was wonderful. (Also, yesterday I made banana bread that everyone seemed to like. I love when that happens.) The rest of the evening was spent writing in my journal, reading for institute, talking to my family, writing a letter or two (I haven't actually gotten to that part yet) and, obviously, blogging. Wow, is that really all I did today? Where did my day go? Oh well, it's Sunday so that's allowed. Well, I better get to those letters if I want to finish them tonight by a reasonable hour. Good thing I don't have class until 10 tomorrow. And Painting is cancelled! It will be a wonderful Monday. Happy Sabbath! (That's what everyone says here. I kinda like it. It's like a holiday every week!)

P.S. Imari and I played tennis yesterday! It was the first time in a very long time for both of us so we weren't expecting much. We weren't too incredible, but we surprised ourselves. We had some good volleys and I hit a couple of good shots. We planning on playing a lot more often now. I'm so excited. Even though I didn't do a wonderful job, it felt soooo good to play again! I love that game!