7 Quick Takes Friday (vol 5)

Merry Christmas, all!  I hope you had a blessed celebration with your families!

--1--

Silent Night....I'm babysitting 3 of my nieces and nephews tonight, and they're all tucked into bed.  Compared to the 5 or 6 I usually have when I babysit them, tonight was a piece of cake.  They're never, ever difficult for me, but sometimes it's harder to feel like I can individually talk to them.  And since I'm only home/see them every couple months, I really value those times when I can spend time with them all.  It's a blessing to have them all so close by!

--2--

Stasia was kind enough to remind me that we have just over 2 weeks until we leave.  No pressure.  None whatsoever.  (read:AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!).  Have I started packing? Nope.  Is everything put away from the fall semester? Haha, no.  I have 14 days left!!  It'll totally happen.

--3--

Christmas was very nice.  My parents and aunt and I went to my sister's for Christmas Eve (she and my brother-in-law have a gathering with friends and family), then to Midnight Mass, opened gifts on Christmas morning, and then the whole family came over in the afternoon.  Favorite gifts?  Monogrammed note cards from mom and dad, tickets to My Fair Lady in DC this Sunday, and a "ticket" to go see Les Miserables with my aunt!!  

--4--

We received more sad news this week... my mom and aunt's cousin passed away on Christmas Eve.  My parents and aunt are currently en route to the funeral (or trying to be, if this storm doesn't mess things up!).  Please keep their family in your prayers!

--5--

At the end of the semester, I decided that I was going to read Harry Potter.  I realize this can be a controversial series, but I am halfway through book 3 and I'm loving it!  (and here Stephanie and Josh and Elizabeth and everyone else can cheer =).)  I got so excited when I found out that the 4th book is ~300 pages longer than the 3rd!  Yes, I can understand why people may not like it, and I'm not a fan of the fact that Harry gets off the hook so often and so easily, but other than that, I'm really enjoying the series!  Maybe I'll do a longer post about it when I finish the series...

--6--

I did end up baking cookies last week.  Actually, they were more like shortbread bars.  Some had lemon icing, some had vanilla, and others were plain.  My family must not like shortbread, because only 2 little squares got eaten on Christmas.... oh well.  More for Mom and I!!

--7--

And again, I give you more music.  (I guess this is just gonna be a weekly thing...!)  This time, from Lindsey Sterling, an amazing violinist.  Enjoy!

xoxo,

7 Quick Takes Friday (vol 2)

Hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary

--1--

I'm home again!  It's yet another whirlwind trip home late Tuesday night, back again early Sunday morning.  Leaving early Sunday, that is.  Evelyn is driving back with us, so we should have a fun car ride!  And I'm imagining there will be some homework done, as well.  Nothing like productivity!

--2--

Thanksgiving was a little different this year- My brother and sister-in-law hosted, so it was at their new house, but my sister and brother-in-law were hosting his family at their house.  So we had a mere 12 people for dinner instead of 19 :P  We all pitch in to make parts of the meal, so I made the spinach artichoke dip for the football-watching, as well as the cranberry sauce and pumpkin bars. :)

--3--

One of my favorite parts of breaks is seeing friends... Wednesday morning I met a friend from high school for breakfast, and tonight I saw another high school friend for FroYo ;)  Que delicioso! *

--4--

I didn't brave the stores for Black Friday.  Or gray Thursday.  BUT I did go shopping for a couple things that I needed, both for the remainder of the school year and for Austria.  I purchased some quite awesome boots to replace my old ones that are literally falling apart!  I also think I'm going to try the mall tomorrow for new snow boots for overseas.

--5--

You would think that as a college student, I'd be quite adept at finding sales.  But I am just now getting the hang of it.  I've found quite a few handy websites to help with saving money!  And who doesn't love saving money??  Of course, Amazon is a common go-to.  Hukkster is a new website that helps you track sales.  You just find an item on, say, Macys.com and then "hukk it"- the item is added to your hukkster page and you'll be notified if it goes on sale!  Lastly, Coupons.com has coupons for tons of common items, from sausage to shirts at Target to pens.  This week, there are $671.66 in available savings!

--6--

I could happily spend many hours doing many different things- reading, scrapbooking, watching Once Upon a Time... but when I am in an organizational frame of mind, I love to go to blogs like i Heart Organizing and admire people's beautiful houses.  She has some amazing ideas for organization, and they are (mostly) totally do-able!

--7--

Last week, I gave you a video that I couldn't get enough of.  This week, I share one that you will only want to see once.  But it is worth watching.  Prepare to laugh.

I hope you all had a beautiful day with your families!
xoxo,





*I have no idea what that technically says... hopefully it means something like "How delicious!".  My spanish skills are questionable.

With a Grateful Heart

Thanksgiving Day is a day that most see as a day of family and food.  But, as my pastor reminded us at Mass this morning, it's primarily a day to thank God for what He does in our lives.  That's so important for me to remember, and I definitely don't do it enough.

My "Thankful" List

My Faith- a God who loves me, a Savior who died to save me, and the Spirit who gives me so much grace and inspiration

My Family- Mom, Dad, Aunt Patti, Christine, David, Teresa, Jake, Sarah, Matthew, Joseph, Tobias, Rebekah, Catherine, MaryGrace, Celia, Jacob, Jonah, Rosie, Baby G*: You guys are awesome, I love you, and I thank God for you every day!  Thanks for keeping me “in the loop” while I’m constantly away from home :P

My “Second Family”- John, Josh, Zechariah, Peter, Mario, Stephanie, Grace, Kirstin, and Amanda: Thank you all for the beautiful friendship that we all have.  We’ve all been blessed beyond imagination and God certainly knew what He was doing putting us all together this summer!  I say this with all the sincerity in my heart- you are family, and I love you.

My Friends- Hannah, Robyn, Hannah, Leslie, Abby, Leslie, Gracie, Evelyn, Stasia, Grace and everyone else who has made me who I am over the years: I’m so grateful that you’re in my life.  I’m sorry that I haven’t kept in touch with all of you like I should have, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten you.  Thank you for your friendship.

What else I’m thankful for: (in no particular order)

Confession

Spiritual Direction

love

the opportunity to go to a Catholic school **

Once Upon a Time

Waking Rose

Principles of Biblical Studies class

Skype and Google chat

laughter at 2 am

photoshop

quotes

Montana

The Milky Way

the founders of Crossroads and all current directors

Andrew and his beautiful witness

tea & scones

conversation with friends who expand my worldview

* surprise!  Come June, I will have a new little niece or nephew!!  Needless to say, I’m fairly excited (read: I’m freaking bouncing off the walls!)

** despite the fact that sometimes it drives me nuts… ;)

What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving Day?  Maybe tonight, before you fall asleep, you can say a quick prayer thanking God for something that you usually take for granted.

xoxo,

Dropping like ... Stanley

This post requires a pre-explanation: Who is Stanley?

I will give you some hints.  Stanley likes flies.  He is green.  He lives in a pot.  Night Shift loves him.

Stanley is a Venus Fly Trap.

Don’t ask why we scoured Lowes’, Walmart’s, and Hy-Vee’s galore to find him.  All you need to know is that when we (Mario, Stephanie, Josh, and I) found him, we were quite elated:

 (Stephanie)

But Stanley wasn’t happy living in an RV.  He quickly began drooping and no amount of sustenance, whether it be flies or cereal, would make him happy again.  So Stanley resided in our (non-working) sink, looking sad in a half-filled cup of water.  And just 10 minutes ago, Stephanie buried him in the trashcan.  He came quickly, and died almost as quickly.  And this, my friends, is the situation I'm in.  My health came back, and went away very quickly.

Monday night, I cried for the first time while on Crossroads.

I think anyone in my situation would have.

Let me back up a minute.  I was put on day shift again after 2 weeks on night.  Monday, it was super hot.  Like, 100.  I was prepared, though: I bought a hat, I had sunglasses, sunscreen, and plenty of water.  I started by first shift of the week walking with Grace.  She and I walked for a mile, then I had to get back in the van because my calves were killing me.  I had had 3 charlie horses the night before, so I thought that’s what it was.  After another 10 miles of others walking, Grace and I headed out again.  I had gone 2 before I started getting heat exhaustion symptoms.  At 3.5 I got back into the van, thinking that water and protein would make me feel all better and I could walk again later.  Well, faintness turned into spacey-ness turned into an escalating pounding headache, and I could feel my blood sugar crashing.  Nothing that I did helped.

Meanwhile, Amanda’s blood sugar was crashing too, so she couldn’t walk or drive, therefore John had to drive the whole way.  Peter is gone for the week, so Josh is doing most of the walking on night shift because Mario is injured.  Kirstin's ankle is hurting.  Michael, the guy who's with us for the week, also hurt his ankle.  It ended up that Grace did the majority of the walking (like, 21 out of 30 miles).  We got our 30 for the day, but just barely.

When I got back to the RV, I called Mom and after talking to her I realized that my body just can’t do day shift anymore.  I was crying, Mom was crying, Amanda and Grace were crying; we were overall just a huge mess.  I came in the RV where John and Josh were and (with tears streaming down my face) I told them “I just can’t do day shift anymore”.  Thankfully, they had foreseen this happening (as I had.  I had just been in denial…) and had put me on day shift just as a trial.  They were understanding (thanks, guys!) and promptly moved me to night.  I drank some water, told my family what was going on, and went to bed.

*sigh*  This isn’t how I was envisioning the rest of my Crossroads journey.  I figured I’d be the healthy one who could be put on any shift.  Not the girl who has to ask special consideration.  I hate having people worry, and I hate not being able to do what everyone else does.  I just really have to remember that God does know what he’s doing.  He knows that I will do just as much good on night shift as I would have on day shift.  That I can pray as much and do just as many sacrifices on night.  There is a reason.

So I am permanently on night shift.  And I’m ok with that.  As I said to my family, that just means that I’ll have more time to call people!!

~~~~

I’m gonna make some changes to my blog right now, and the next couple times I have internet.  My plan is to take away my graphic design page (because I never use it), change my book shift page, and add a pictures page with highlight photos from my trip.  (And I'm pretty sure this is gonna break a cardinal rule of blogging by telling you this, but) I'm gong to do a couple blogs in advance to be posted automatically for you guys.  With pictures and captions and such.  Enjoy, in advance!

Please, please, please keep us in your prayers.  Even though our RV is air conditioned, it’s still sweltering in here, and I can’t even imagine what day shift is going through at the moment.  Pray for our health, our safety, and God’s will in every aspect of this walk.

xoxo,

A time to mourn, a time to dance....

Um, well, first of all, an apology- has it really been almost a month since I posted?  Whoops!  Needless to say, it's been quite a break!  There were some highlights (seeing family and friends, not having to do school work, reading a whole lot, being in the kitchen again...) and some lowlights (getting sick, Mom and Dad being sick, my brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews all getting sick within one week of each other.... yeah.  Sickness was the worst part.  But it didn't last long!)

Christmas was lovely.  We went to Christmas Eve mass, the next morning my parents and aunt and I opened gifts, and in the afternoon the whole family came over.  Lots of people, and lots of fun! :)  (There is actually a serious post shortcoming regarding a valuable lesson learned at Christmas dinnertime.... it may or may not be amusing as well. :P )

So, as you may have guessed, I'm back at school.  Hence the title of this post.  I'm mourning the end of break, but I'm extremely happy to be back.  I'm very excited for my classes this semester.  I'll be taking 6 classes, which is one more than last semester, but 5 of them are going to be really good, I think.  Today I had Media and Society and French 202 (this one'll be interesting.... there are 25 people in our class, which is big for a language.... and some of them have only had 2 years of French while others are in their 5th (that's me)...... and a couple don't know how to say their numbers..... and one girl is very excitable.  yeah).  Tomorrow is going to be nuts- I'm in class from 9:30-5 with one break.  I start with Introduction to Catechetics, run to Embryology in the science building, run back to Catechetics 1, have a lunch break at 2:15 then go back for Radio/TV at 3:30.  Welcome to my Tuesdays/Thursdays.  At least they're good classes!

I shall update you all on my classes tomorrow!!
xoxo,

Tell the World I'm (Coming) Home

Yes, it's true.... first semester is over, done, finis, and I am home once again!  Except this time, I'm home for a whole month!

Does life get better?  I submit that it cannot!
(And if you don't get that reference, come talk to me.  I will quickly solve that problem)

Sooo....what's been happening these past couple weeks?  Lots o' stuff.
Last week, I had five exams in six days, which meant very little sleep and lots of hilarious conversations with Evelyn :)  (In case you're dying to know, I did get my scores back, and I am happy :D )

After we were all done with our exams, we piled into a van.  What an amusing car trip!  Picture this: a driver and 6 students, an 8-seater van, 5 suitcases, 3 oversized duffel bags, 6 backpacks, and approximately  10 smaller bags.  I kid you not, we literally could not move.  And when we stopped for a stretch break, we pretty much had to unpack 5 bags before anyone could move.  :P

Oh- saddest moment of my week.... I had bought a CD to listen to after finals, so I finished my last final went back to my room and ripped open the plastic, put it into my disc drive........ and it wouldn't load.  Turns out the CD won't play on macs, but it will on PCs.  Seriously, Apple?  That's just lame.

I can't believe that Christmas is only 5 days away.  Woah.  Where did the year go?  Christmas is going to be so awesome..... Christmas Eve, we'll go to mass then to my sister's house for hors d'oeuvres.  Christmas morning, My parents, aunt and I will open presents, then get ready for all my siblings and nieces and nephews to arrive in the afternoon.  I love spending time with my entire family... we play games after dinner, and that's always tons of fun.

This has been a post full of italics..... wasn't it Anne Shirley who made some comment on italics?  Or was that Rose Brier?  It's so bad when you get book quotes mixed up.....

"And I shall memorize every line in this book and paint it in calligraphy on my living room walls.” 

That is very tempting, honestly.  How interesting would that be, to have a living room with calligraphied walls?  Better yet, to have a library with calligraphied walls!  (Before you go look it up, no- calligraphied isn't a word.  I made it up.)

Last, but not least, I will be changing my background and design once again, so don't be confused when you see my blog next time!!

xoxo,

Home Sweet Home

After a long, 6-and-a-half hour long car ride, we finally made it back home!  It was a fun trip- we talked about school, temperaments, the Myers-Briggs test, books, movies, and snow.

(sidenote- I am baffled by the appearance of snow before November.  Driving home, we looked out the window and saw white fog.  Only, it wasn't fog- it was snow.  Insanity!

It is awesome and somewhat confusing to be home.  The bathroom sink is lower than at college, the bed is wider, my room is darker, and my desk chair is significantly more comfortable. :D  It's a familiar environment, but at the same time, things look different.  Part of that comes from the fact that we redid the kitchen (and put new flooring in the entryway and the living room) right before I left, so while I saw all the changes, I didn't really have time to get used to it all.  And then my room is different too, because most of my things are at college!!  Nevertheless, it's wonderful to be home.  *happy sigh*

Today was a very productive day.  I got my hair cut (by my sister's amazing hair stylist who understands curly hair!!).  Then Mom and I went to the Running Store for some sneakers for me.  The Running Store is mind-blowing.  In a previous post, I recounted my horrible experience of looking for sneakers near college, and how they had no shoes that fit me.  Well, after the lady at the Running Store watched me walk, watched me run, and measured my feet, I had good fitting shoes 15 minutes later!  Wow.  We then had lunch, and headed to the mall for some cold weather clothes..... thank goodness I found what I needed!  It's getting chilly soooo much earlier than normal this year!

So today it was snowing here at home, too.  I mean, it's ok for West Virginia to have snow, but not us!  It's wayyyy too early.  And it didn't even stick!  I just looked at the weather website, and we have a "Freeze Warning" in effect until tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow..... It's definitely going to be a very good day. :)  After mass in the morning, my brother and sister-in-law, sister and brother-in-law, and all the kiddos are coming over for brunch.  I haven't seen any of them except my brother in 2 months!  (Not counting Skype....)  And then in the evening I'm going to get together with one of my very good friends who I also haven't seen in 2 months.

I also realized that I didn't post the pictures from the flash mob.  Here are a couple:

Evelyn and I wrote up dozens of post-it notes and put them on people's doorknobs in our dorm, telling them about the flash mob the next morning

The guy on the left is Peter, who came in from Chicago to lead the flash mob.  We were all gathered in really close together, so the balloons formed a sort of tent. :)

We marched up the stairs in a parking garage on our walk through the city!

I'm hoping to possibly get a video I took up soon....... 

Well, I'm off to continue memorizing "La Cigale et la Fourmi" (The Cicada and the Ant) for French.  I never realized how hard it is to memorize something in another language!!

Stay warm, everybody!
xoxo,

Don't Panic....

I know, I know, right now Mom's thinking "Ah!  She's still up at 1 am!", David's thinking "Ha!  I told her she'd be up at 1 am", and Robyn's like "Hehe, I should Skype her right now."  Yeah.  I bet you all want an explanation as to why I'm writing a blog post at one in the morning.

The simple explanation, dear friends, is this: when one sleeps until 11:30 in the morning, one does not feel very tired at midnight.  So one watches short Pixar clips online with one's friends, and then writes a blog post.  Yes, it's true.

So...... this was quite a week, to say the least.

The excitement started last Friday, when my parents got here.  We went to the sporting goods store in hopes of finding sneakers.  (This is the same sporting goods store that my brother had kindly taken me to, two weeks prior.  the same one that didn't carry my size.)  But my brother had also informed me that "you're supposed to get sneakers one size bigger than normal".  So, in we went to look for size 11 shoes.

Whadaya know, they didn't have any that fit.  The arch was too high, the back was too loose, the top was too tight, the arch was too low, there wasn't an arch at all, the laces weren't right, or, worst of all, they were pink.  *run in fear!!!!*  After a half hour of trying on just about every pair, I did something that I never thought I would do.
...
..
.
.
..
...
I tried on men's sneakers.

I may be crazy, but I did it.  And they weren't half bad.  They just weren't..... right.  So we left.  And as we walked towards the exit, the lady asked, very nicely, "Did you find anything you were looking for?"  "No.  But that's ok."  :)  Poor lady.

I had some nice dinners with my parents, a lovely trip to Walmart which ended with us trotting up and down the aisles in hopes of finding dried mango.  (we did find it, eventually.  thank goodness!!)

And then on Saturday, I got to do something that I will probably never forget.  I got to (Irish) dance with Scythian!!!!  In case you don't know who they are, they're a Celtic "rock" band.  Rock gives the wrong impression. (here's a link to some of their music, if you're interested!  http://www.reverbnation.com/scythian  (disclaimer: I was not paid to advertise.. :P )  Four of us choreographed a dance to Drums of Belfast and got to perform in front of a whole bunch of people.  There was so much energy and it was awesome to be able to dance again after a five month hiatus.

After Mom and Dad left on Sunday, I brushed up on my French and Catholicism information, as I had 2 midterms on Monday afternoon.  Basically my entire week was spent studying.  I was one of the *cough* lucky *cough* people who had all five midterms last week- two Monday, two Thursday, and one on Friday.  Friday's was the only really painful one- I concentrated on the wrong info.  But I wasn't the only one- my friend and I commiserated over lunch and realized we both had made the exact same studying mistakes.  *big sigh*  At least they're behind me and I don't have to worry about any more tests or quizzes until.... Monday.  Oh well.

Friday after the poetry test was really really good.  I went to the vocation fair, which, by the way, is the largest in the country.  There were something like 40 religious groups there.  And I got more papers, flyers, holy cards, and free gifts than I could ever want.  Voila:

Nothing, I repeat, nothing is in two pictures.  Everything is only pictured once.  Is that not insane, or what??  

(sidenote- no, David, there was no convent there of cloistered sisters with 10 foot high walls.  Sorry)

(sidenote 2- there were a couple cloistered sisters there, though.  Am I the only one who sees something strange about this?  I mean, doesn't "cloister" mean you don't leave?  Maybe I'm imagining things.)

The other awesome thing about Friday was that I got to EM for the first time!!!!  It was a really cool experience, and I get to tomorrow, as well!  *happy dance*

Third awesome thing- we watched Phantom!!  I love that movie....... I hadn't seen it in a couple years, so it was great to re-watch after seeing it on broadway.  

After midterm week, both Evelyn and I were exhausted, so we slept in this morning and did random homework and pick up stuff today... and then tonight we saw the Incredibles.  I had never seen it.  Apparently one of the characters is like Ev's teacher, so it was hilarious to finally see this character. :D

Tomorrow is just another bumming around day... actually, it's technically today.  I should probably get to bed.  So, goodnight!  

xoxo,

YIPEE!!

Check it out!  I'm an Extraordinary Minster!!!!!!


*deep sigh*  Now I've gotta practice before the Fieldhouse masses next weekend so I don't completely fail on my first go.


So, after last Monday happened, the week went uphill quite a bit.  I mean, how could it go worse after Monday??


Tuesday after classes, my brother came to see me.  He had a meeting close to campus and came by after his meeting.  He took me to Walmart (which doesn't sound that exciting but it really was), then to dinner at this really yummy Mexican restaurant, and then to a sports store to look for shoes.  Would you believe that they did not have one single pair of sneakers in my size?  No, not "no shoes in my size that I liked".  Literally not any at all.  Ridiculous.  So I'm stuck with running in shoes that give me blisters, for at least a little while.  It was great to see my brother again.  :)


The rest of the week was fairly uneventful.... except for the massive amounts of rain that we're getting.  And then the cold has come in.  And then it's gonna get warmish later on in the week (as in, low 70s!!  This is exciting!)  Yesterday it was 42 here, and then I spoke with my friend who's at college in TX, and she said it was 75 there.  #jealousy  


Hold up.  Did I just use a hashtag?  The world must be ending.  


I also just realized that I can make my type purple.  #happiness


Next weekend is homecoming, so my parents and brother and sister-in-law and some nieces and nephews are coming up!!  I can't wait to see everyone!


Finally, you may have noticed that I changed my name on here from Chevonne to Allison.  And now you're wondering what's going on.  Well, when I first started this blog, I decided to use Chevonne as a pen name (Chevonne is the Irish female version of my confirmation name- John.)  And lately, people have been slightly confused as to who wrote this blog, since my "real name" isn't on it.  (one of those people was my brother..... hehe).  So I figured now was as good a time as any to change to my real name, Allison.  = )


xoxo,

It was not today.

Today was just one of those days.

It started fine.  I got up on time, got ready for class, packed my bag, and left for the caf.  And then things just started to go wrong.

Today would be the day they decide to pack up the hot breakfast food early.  5 minutes too early.  Meaning that I had to just have cereal for breakfast.  I went for the granola that I knew had protein in it, but it was stuck in the cereal dispenser, so I had to settle for rice crispies.  Fine, but not very substantial.

Poetry was .... poetry.  That's the only way to describe it.  While leaving class I dug in my bag to find my wallet/cell phone case, turned on my phone, and happened to notice that my key wasn't on my keychain.  I remembered then that I had taken it off the keychain that morning when I went to brush my teeth.  No big deal, I thought, Evelyn (my roommate) would be out of class in 2 hours, and then I could use her key to get into the room.  In the meantime, I would read the next chapter of Poetry to get ahead, go to mass, and meet her after lunch.  Wonderful.  Things were looking up.

Fast-forward 2 hours- I read poetry and attended mass, headed to the caf to eat Evelyn for lunch.  I called her on the way to let her know where I was.  She didn't answer her phone, but usually it's on vibrate, so I left a message.  20 minutes later, I still hadn't seen her.  30 minutes.  40 minutes.  A friend comes by and tells me Ev misplaced her phone.  Aha.  No wonder.  She'll be in the caf in a little while and we can go back to the room to look for the phone.

We finish lunch.  Still no Ev.  We leave the caf.  She's sitting outside on a bench.

Turns out she left her key in the room.  With her ID.  So she not only couldn't come into the caf, but also couldn't go back to the room.  And she was waiting for me, so she could use my key.


Perfect.  Just perfect.

So we head back to the dorm, get in using our friend's key, and head up to our floor to find an RA.  And things just went downhill from there.

The office was closed.  One RA was sleeping.  Another RA was at lunch.  We had seen another leaving the building as we walked in.  2 others weren't in their rooms.  Finally, we decided to interrupt one who was studying.  She was very willing to open the door for us (thankfully!).

The rest of the afternoon was fairly normal.  Until I headed to French class.  As I walked away from the dorm, I realized I had forgotten my Foundations of Catholicism notebook.  Which meant that in the half-hour between French and Foundations, I had to walk to get dinner, buy dinner, eat dinner, walk to my dorm, get the notebook, and walk back to class.  I spent the "down moments" of French class strategizing how to best go about doing this.

French.  Run and buy dinner.  I was trotting up the (cement) stairs near the student center and completely fell flat on my face, whilst holding a cup of iced tea.  Thankfully, there was a lid, but in the process of saving the tea I killed my leg.  I made it into the dorm, ran up 4 flights of stairs, quickly consumed a grilled chicken wrap, threw my notebook in my bag, ran down 4 flights of stairs, got outside and saw that it was pouring, ran back up 4 flights of stairs to get an umbrella, back down those same 4 flights of stairs, and back across campus.  Whewph.  Talk about exercise!

I think that's where the excitement for the day ends.  At least, I hope so.  Because it's 10:35.  Not that the time really has anything to do with it.  Oh well.

Well, this is exciting, but it's happening tomorrow:  my brother's coming!!  Yippee!!  He has offered to take me sneaker shopping..... little does he know what he's getting himself into.  hehe  (Don't worry, I'll go quick like a bunny.)

I'm off to do homework- I don't want to have to do any tomorrow night!

xoxo,

Yes, we are (Catholic) college students ... and other musings on college life

It is awesome to have Jesus living in your dorm.

I mean, to live in Jesus' dorm.

I love seeing friars when I'm walking to class.

There is safety in numbers, especially when you get a discount on your dance ticket.

The book club is going to be discussing "How to Find Your Soulmate Without Losing Your Soul".

We may not have a football team, but we have frisbees.  Lots of them.

There must be a sale on turkey; we've had it 3 times in a week.

Lights out is always characterized by the sound of girls chanting the Salve Regina.

Movie night is ended with the comment, "Wasn't that a great scene of redemption at the end?"

The appropriateness of movies at said movie night is determined by the USCCB standards.

One of the best feelings in the world is opening your mailbox and seeing one or more pieces of mail.

A better feeling is seeing a card with a yellow sticker in your mailbox.  Indicating the reception of a *gasp* package!!

It's great to open one of those boxes and find scented dryer sheets.

My "mysterious nephew" simply made my day last week.  

There is nothing worse than looking at your watch and finding that your class begins in 4 minutes, and you're still in your dorm room.  

After looking at your watch and bolting across campus, it's sooooo relieving to walk into that classroom precisely at 2:15.

And it's frustrating when the professor doesn't begin teaching until 2:18.  I could have saved my breath!!

The campus internet is so protected that I can't unsubscribe from the wig emails I've been getting.  (Yes, you read that right.  The last one read "Be who you want to be in a wig".  I'm who I want to be without a wig, thank you very much.)

The chapel has at least 10 girls in it every night at midnight.

12:05 mass is always full.

10:30 mass on Sundays is wall-to-wall packed.  Every. Single. Week.

There are too many households to visit.  I want to go to them all.  

Praise and Worship night is almost as well-attended as weekday mass.  Almost.

Did I mention that I love it here?

Yeah, I figured that you got that message.

xoxo,

Finally! And Not Yet!

Well, here it is.  The place where I will keep my family and friends posted about my Adventures in College (which reminds me of Adventures of Isabel, which was my name in french class....anyway....)  I'll miss them all terribly.... I'm especially going to miss seeing my nieces and nephews grow up (they change a lot in 3 months!).

I honestly can't believe that I'm finally going to college.  I mean, I've wanted to go to Franciscan University for so long, it seems funny to actually be going there in 6 short days.  But, at the same time, I can't wait to get there, already!!  It's so far away!

Thankfully, I have enough to do to keep me busy in those 6 days, namely, packing.  And getting all those little last-minute items that are oh-so-necessary (toothpaste!).

I hope you all enjoy my stories about college.... keep me posted about life 'back home', too!

xoxo