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?