New Covies

Tonight my youth pastor and his wife had a hang out at their house for the high school youth from church (plus some of us college kids). It was so much fun. It was so nice to spend time hanging out with people I know and love, and some that I'd never met before. We played some games, Dustin and I duked it out on Wii boxing (we tied), and we all just hung out and talked. They are all such wonderful people. I love New Cov, and the youth group, and the friendships that I've made because of it. It's one of the things I miss most while I'm at college. Anywho, it was a great time, and it was nice to get hugs from my friends, they make me feel loved.

A Night With the Boys...

...well, sorta. It was a night with the boys for a while, and then more people showed up. Last night I got to hang out with Dustin, Kyle, and Tim. We had a lot of fun. We played Rock Band, and it's pretty sweet, not gonna lie. If you haven't played it before, it's like extreme karaoke. You can have up to four people play, each person either being the drummer, bassist, guitar player, or the vocalist. We all had a good laugh at/with each other. Later some people who worked TEC when I went through came over, so it was nice to see them. We watched Kill Bill. I'm not a big fan of blood and all that, but the movie was really good. Anywho, it was nice to spend time with all of them. It's good to be home.

A Weekend at home

Saturday was Christmas at the Strandlund's. Every year, my mom's two sisters and their families and our family all go to her parents' house to celebrate Christmas. We always have a good time. It's nice because that is the only time each year that we all get to see each other. One of my cousins graduated from college on Friday, and then another cousin graduates college in May. It's weird to think that I am only two years behind them...

Sunday was a wonderful. I got to be back at New Cov for church and our pastor was not on sabbatical this Sunday, so I got to hear him preach. I got to see some more friends that I hadn't seen yet (including one I hadn't seen since August!), so that was incredible. I also got to hear the youth band play! Kyle got it back up and running, so that was great to be a part of. I really miss it. After church we went to lunch together, well, most of us...and after that I hung out with Emily at Wal-Mart while she waited for her pictures. We ran in to some of our friends while we were there, so we got to spend some more time with them. That night I watched a movie with my brother, so it was fun to hang out with him.

Kayne came over today! It was only for about 30 minutes, but it was nice to see him. His mom came also, as well as his dad, so I got to meet him for the first time. The three of them are doing well, so that was great to hear. Kayne is something else.

Tonight we had our Christmas Eve service at church. I was glad that we were in town for it this year; we were in Omaha last year. Kyle played in the band during worship, and he and our worship leader did a guitar duet, and it rocked. Let me tell you, this boy is incredibly talented. It is amazing, and he taught himself. I am so proud of Kyle. He's probably sick of hearing that from me, but I really am. He is just a wonderful person. I'm so proud of him and what he's done musically, and who he is as a young man. I love my friends.

Kyle, Emily, and me last summer

Well, Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your family, friends, or whoever you celebrate with.

Emily Cohn!!!!!

Today was just a wonderful day. First, I had lunch with my good friend Jared, then I got to hang out with my brother as we finished up some Christmas shopping, and lastly I went to a movie with some of my friends, one of which was Emily!!!!! I haven't seen her since June 9th! She moved to Florida, I went to school in Illinois, and now we are back home at the same time!!! I missed her so much! I also got to see Dustin and Kyle, who are two absolutely wonderful people!! It was so nice to be able to catch up with Jared, Emily, Dustin, and Kyle today. They are such amazing friends, and I love them all so much!

Oh, and about the movie...we saw National Treasure 2. It was okay, I liked it better than the first one, but I also didn't like the first one. It definitely wasn't as cheesy, so that was nice. I don't know. My opinion doesn't really help because I wasn't a fan to begin with. Anywho, that's that. Off to bed.

A Christmas Carol

Tonight my mom and I went and saw Southwest High School's production of "A Christmas Carol," and it was amazing!!! It was so nice to be back at Southwest, especially in the theatre. It was so fun to watch my friends in the show! My buddy, Bryson, was Scrooge (I totally called that casting months before it actually happened), and he is incredibly talented. He was amazing! I'm so proud of him. I talked to him after the show, and I got big Bryson hugs, I needed big Bryson hugs. I also got to see some of my friends from high school, so that was really nice. It was especially nice to see Heidi!!! I miss her so much, she is so wonderful! It was nice to catch up with her. I basically just loved tonight. It was awesome to see the show, see it with my mom, and talk to and hug some of my friends. It's so nice to be home.

Heidi and Me in Wizard of Oz

Bryson and me in Westside Story

I'll be home for Christmas

In fact, I already am! Yesterday I finally got to come back home! Finals are over, the girls are back home with their families, and now I can be with mine. It's a nice feeling to be back. Seeing my dad at the airport was amazing, and then seeing my mom and brother at the restaurant last night was amazing as well. I love my family, and I can't wait to spend the next two weeks with them. That's really all I have to say. If I kept writing I'd just keep coming up with more ways to say "I love my family," and I think you understand that already. Anyway...hooray for wonderful friends who provide rides to airports, and for airplanes; together they got me back! I'm so happy!!!

Parties in auditoriums and boxes

Last night we had our Black and White party. Two sets of brother/sister floors got together and had a sort of end of the semester bash. It was so much fun! There were about 30 people, so that was a success. Everyone seemed to have a great time, so that totally made it worth it (it would have been even if 5 people showed up, and one person had a great time). Anyway...

Today is my 20th birthday! My mom sent me a birthday party in a box, and it was awesome! She always comes up with the most creative things, and they are always wonderful. Betsye got a small group of friends together and today we spent some time having the party. It was so nice. We all had a great time. It was really hard being away from my family, but it was nice to have my friends around to celebrate with me (and not laugh at me for crying).

Here are some pictures from both events (all pictures are on Picasa):

(Big Mama and Big Papa) and (Storm, me, Betsye, and Grant)

(Me and my girls) and (Me and Betsye)

I sang every verse of "The First Noel" known to man...

I swear, that has to be one of the longest songs ever. We sang it in chapel today, and it felt like it was never going to end. I wish I would have counted how many verses we sang, but I can tell you that it was ridiculous. I felt bad because I was laughing, but I really couldn't help it...

I forgot to mention that Sunday night was the Christmas party for my floor! We went to our floor parents' house and made cookies and did our final gift exchange for Secret Santa! It was a lot of fun. And, our floor parents made us cookie dough so we got to make authentic, homemade cookies! I figured I would have had to buy cookie dough, but instead we got to actually roll out dough, use cool cookie cutters, and then decorate with homemade frosting! My girls are quite the cookie-makers. Here are a couple pictures, and there are more on Picasa from both the all Burritt party, and our own party.

"Twas the Night Before Christmas..."

Tonight we had the opportunity to gather in Ladue Auditorium and listen to the President of the college read The Night Before Christmas and the gospel of Luke's account of the Christmas story, and it was nothing short of amazing. When I got the e-mail about it, I was incredibly excited. It was a bring your own mug event and they had hot chocolate and coffee for us to drink as we listened. I had just finished my incredibly long and time consuming psychology paper, so it was sort of a reward for finally getting done. We all sat on the floor as President Mannoia read the stories to us by the light of a single lamp. It was beautiful. I'm not exactly sure why it happened, but it made me cry when he read the stories to us. I've been incredibly emotional for the past while, and having President Mannoia read to us filled me with so much peace and comfort. It was really nice. I don't really know him that well, but I really admire President Mannoia. He's gone through a lot this last year after losing his wife to breast cancer this summer, and he has handled it with so much grace and has wholeheartedly continued to love and support the students, faculty, and staff of the college. Needless to say, I really needed tonight. I think we should have storytime with President Mannoia more often.

Happy Things

So, I realized that my last couple of posts only highlight the stress that is plaguing me, but there are things that are happening that are fun and happy! Like, yesterday Betsye, Storm, Grant, and I went to Wal-Mart to shop for the Black and White party we are having for our floors next week, and Betsye and I ran away from the guys for a little bit. They were following us, not very closely, and we just took off! They kept calling us, and we kept not answering, and when I finally answered a call, I acted like we had innocently been shopping the whole time and they were the ones that disappeared. The best part was...they bought it! Good times.

And, on Thursday night we had our annual all Burritt Christmas party. We invite all of our girls, and then tell them that at the conclusion of the party there is a mandatory all hall meeting, but in all actuality, we bring them all together so that we can deliver presents that their parents have secretly sent them! It is really exciting. I love the event, but I realized that I don't like it at the same time. Some parents don't send presents, so the RCs dig through a pile of gifts to find something to give their girls that didn't get anything sent to them. I felt like crap doing it. I felt absolutely terrible for those girls who didn't receive a present from their family. While getting a gift and note from your RC could be special, it certainly pales in comparison from getting a gift from your mom and dad. Nonetheless, my girls enjoyed themselves and we had a lot of fun! My fellow RCs and I and our CRE all got ridiculous Christmas sweaters for the party, it was pretty sweet, not gonna lie.

Psych papers make me get up early on Saturday mornings (I've been up since 9)

This week was decent; could've been better, could've been worse. I want, actually need, to go home, and I don't think I'm patient enough to wait until the 19th!!! I'm going to spend the day writing a paper for Psychology. I'm not really motivated, and the paper is kind of a joke (not like funny ha ha), but alas, I must do it anyway. And today was supposed to be Michael Buble study in the hall day...but...currently I am by myself (which is not how this was supposed to work).

Last night my friend Steph Plant did a Christmas music concert, and it was amazing! She has an incredible voice, and I love Christmas music, so it was a winning combination.

I'm sleep deprived, hungry, and I'm avoiding my paper, so...I should probably stop avoiding and start writing or I'm going to be stuck here longer than I wanted to be.

Do you ever have something you want to say, but know for some reason or another you just can't? Well, my something would have gone right here, so instead of actually saying it, I'll stop typing and do my paper instead. Have a nice day.

Warning: venting session

The past few days have been okay (meaning that they've had good moments). Friday night I went ice skating with some friends and I have some lovely bruises on my knees to prove it. Saturday night we had Girls' night out, + Storm, and went to see Enchanted (I highly recommend it, it was flippin' hilarious). Today I went to hear the Messiah. It was weird not singing this year, and being there really made me miss choir, but it was nice. And then tonight I had my breaking point. Wanna know what it was? I told a girl that I would drive her to the airport or the train station, on my birthday. It wasn't the two fire alarms this week that were complete annoyances (Greenville actually had 4 total, 2 in Burritt, 2 in Joy. I'm pretty sure the fire department hates us...), it wasn't dealing with attention seekers, it wasn't spending two days writing a worthless paper, it was me volunteering to drive someone on my birthday that broke me. It was just the last straw I guess. It was about time for me to break though (and by break, I mean cry, just to clarify...). I knew it was going to happen, I've had the thought of finals swimming in my brain, I'm trying to write a paper that I'm clueless about, I'm away from home, I have zero motivation, I'm dealing with being let down by someone I care about and finding out that really I was just letting myself be taken advantage of, I'm stressed and insecure, blah blah blah...anyway, this blog was really just me venting (I changed the title from breaking point to what it currently is so that if people didn't want to put up with me, they could just ignore this). So, thanks for reading the vent. Off to do research for this mystery paper. Wish me luck...Happy December!

Fire alarms and Bed pegs

Today was the first Burritt fire alarm of the year, which is really saying something! Burritt has ridiculously sensitive fire alarms, so usually the alarms would have gone off at least 5 times by now, but miraculously, it took until the end of the semester to set it off! Malina and I initially thought it was us that did it (it went off the second I opened the oven to take out the pizza I was making for Kara), but it turned out to be a microwave from 3rd floor. Anywho, it was quite an adventure! Then, tonight, two of my girls decided to rearrange their room, which was quite the adventure as well. After some failed attempts, some successful moves, employing the muscles of someone's boyfriend, and finishing the job with our own muscles, I ended up pinned against the wall. Yeah, we didn't quite think it all the way through, so there I was, between a bed and a wall. I had barely enough room to squeeze my way out, so it all ended up okay. Even though it was difficult at times, we had a lot of fun. We laughed so hard, and just enjoyed each others' company. I love my girls, and that's all there is to it.

Home Sweet Home

I just spent an incredible weekend at home. I'm at a loss for words trying to describe it to you. Basically, I'm the luckiest girl alive; I had amazing, loving parents waiting with hugs for me at the airport, and I got to hang out with them all weekend, I have the coolest brother on the face of the planet, 2 of my 4 wonderful grandparents came for Thanksgiving, my friends rock and made time for me (It was nice to laugh with them again), I got to spend all day Saturday and the first half of Sunday with the most adorable, most incredible little boy to have ever lived, some more of my friends let me keep them up past their bed time :), and I got to go to New Cov again (and even though Tim Johnson didn't preach, I got to see Kyle and Dustin for the first time, so that was awesome). Anyway, that's a summary of how I'm so blessed. And, those are also the reasons why today was awful. Leaving all of that at home was so hard. 4ish days at home was definitely not enough. Luckily, the Bears were awesome today, and they were on TV, so they helped make up for the sadness (a little bit) of leaving (and I got to see my girls again!). Anyway, I already miss home, and everyone there that makes me feel loved.

That's me and my little stud muffin, sometimes known as snotface, more commonly known as Kayne, and previously referred to as "the most adorable, most incredible little boy to have ever lived"

Anywho, please pray for me. I'm dealing with something that I thought would be semi-better after being home, but it actually hurts worse now for a reason different than would be expected. So, please pray for healing. And pray for motivation. I'm extremely unmotivated at this moment, and I have a lot to do before finals, so I need to get my game face on.

Well, that's that. Time to finish a movie (Meet the Robinson's), and then off to bed...

Thanksgiving

1. Waking up in my home

2. I. Love. Football on TV...

3. My Grandpa's stories

4. Being with 2 of my grandparents, my parents, and my brother for Thanksgiving

5. House! - my mom lovingly tapes the House episodes while I'm at college so we can watch them when we are together, and we had a 4 episode marathon! Pretty sure that is my favorite show of all time. I highly recommend it if you are not already hooked...

(Kayne, the little boy wonder who lived with my family for 7.5 months, is coming over in about an hour! I can't wait to see him!!!)

Big Wednesday (random fact: that's the name of a 1978 surfer movie)

1. Route 66 - my driving music was the soundtrack to Cars. So, I'm driving along, listening to "Route 66," and I thought to myself, "too bad this song isn't about highway 170," and then I looked up and saw a sign that said "Historic Route 66"!!! It was pretty sweet. And, I recommend the soundtrack if you are a Cars fan.

2. Bad weather not producing bad results - it rained all day in St. Louis, and it snowed some in Nebraska, so I was worried that would mess up my travel plans, but I made it back with no weather related problems!

3. Mechanics - so, my flight was delayed 2 hours. One of our engines wouldn't start, so the mechanic had to go in and fix it. Thank you Mr. Mechanic for fixing my plane so that I could come home!

4. Seeing mom and dad at the airport, and seeing Taylor at home - and hugging them of course! Its so nice to be back with my family. I love them more than I could explain to you.

5. Being home - I think that speaks for itself

Tuesdays with [Marisa]

1. Friends that go out of their way to make you feel special - my friend X walked me to class today. I was a ways in front of him, and he hollered my name and asked me to stop so that he could walk me to class. It was sweet.

2. Michael Buble, aka, the only man who is welcome at a girls night :)

3. Finally feeling like I can rest - the girls have all gone home, and now I can just be. It's a nice feeling. Thank you God for rest.

4. Jared Delzell and Dustin Garrett - they both made me feel special and cared about today, they are wonderful friends, I'm so excited to see them!!!

5. Fried chicken with the girls - we had our pre-Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Betsye made fried chicken, and Emily let us feast in her apartment. It was a wonderful dinner!

"Monday, Monday" (so, I know that's in a song, but I don't know any other words...)

1. Laughter

2. 1st Burritt Annex lounge - we have a lounge at the end of our hallway, and I spent a good chunk of my afternoon down there with some of the girls. It was a lot of fun, and it was nice to all hang out together.

3. Cell phones and e-mail - so you could argue that that would count as two things, but think of them more as falling into the same category, the category of "things that allow me to stay connected with those I love that are far away from me in a place that I can't wait to go back to!"

4. You lack knowledge of choice grapes and wild vines! I will now destroy you! - that translates to the study time Betsye and I had for Old Testament Survey today. I more so enjoyed the company rather than the actual studying, but that's to be expected. We had a good time, we laughed, we cried (not really), it was beautiful.

5. "I think I might have given a girl mono today." - #5 reason to be thankful translates to my roomie! (she said that today (she gave a half eaten pop tart to a girl today and she doesn't know if she bit the pop tart, or ripped it) (Kara has mono) (anyway)) She's amazing. Random roommate selection worked in my favor last year. She is so much fun and has been an amazing support system this year. She puts up with my rambling, and actually listens to it. She doesn't realize how much that means to me, and how much she means to me, and she never will be able to understand because I'll never be able to explain. Basically, I love my roomie.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

1. Tim Johnson's online services: there's nothing like a slice of home every once and awhile on Sunday mornings, and I miss Tim's sermons every Sunday

2. Sheena, well, Amy: during my junior and senior year, I ate lunch with this girl named Sheena. She is absolutely wonderful. Last year she was adopted, and she also changed her name to Amy. Well, she called me today out of the blue, and it made me so happy! We talked (I guess she talked and I listened) for awhile today, and it was really nice. I learned today that she is no longer a Backstreet Boys fan; she grew out of them (except for Nick, she still likes him).

3. Re-runs: Some of my girls and I watch America's Next Top Model every Wednesday. Unfortunately we missed it last week, but fortunately they play re-runs on Sunday! So, we all gathered in my room to watch the show. I love it because it is ridiculous, and also because it is a common interest between us so we can enjoy it together.

4. Surprise hugs

5. Ice cream! Dawn, Amanda, and I all had ice cream at dinner tonight. Good choice considering the cold outside temperature...

Things to be thankful for...

I really liked what the man at the Annex said about having a thankful heart the other day. My life has been pretty crazy lately, and I think sometimes I get lost in the chaos and forget how much I have to be thankful for. And, I'm not necessarily talking about the big things, like my family (they are easy to be thankful for), I'm talking more like the little things that can surprise you and make your day. So, with that being said, I thought I would make a list of 5 things each day that I'm thankful for in the weekish leading up to Thanksgiving. My boss had us do this one time, and it really is incredible. I think it will help me stay grounded and keep things in perspective. Despite any junk that might be happening, I still have so much to be thankful for. Here's a Friday/Saturday list:

1. Friends who love football: I watched the Oklahoma/Texas Tech game last night with my friend Xavier and a couple other people, and then they broke out in this amazing discussion about college football, and it pretty much rocked.
2. Make-a-flake: there's this website where you can cut your own snowflakes! My mom showed it to me a couple years okay, and Storm reintroduced me to it this year. It's a lot of fun (there's a link on the side).
3. Lauren's hugs: she's one of the girls on my floor, and her hugs make me happy!
4. Lunch with Betsye: on Friday we went to a little restaurant in town called Sam's and had soup and sandwiches. It was nice; it was good to have time with BETSye.
5. Murder mysteries: Kaitlynn, Andrea, Amanda, and I had so much fun together on Friday night at the play (A Murder is Announced), and we had a great time trying to figure out who was the murderer. We also realized that we aren't very good detectives. None of us figured it out...

Merry Thanksmas!

I decided that yesterday Betsye and I celebrated Thanksmas! We sat in my room and made Happy Thanksgiving notes for our girls (we traced our hands and made turkeys :) !) while watching Rudolph! It was quite fun! We have a habit of trying to make Christmas come earlier than its supposed to, and this year's attempt was much more successful than last year's. See, last year Betsye and I tried to make Christmas cookies before Halloween, and...we ended up burning them...some towel and cookie sheet waving saved us from setting off the fire alarms...stupid Burritt ovens!

Also, yesterday I realized that I'm spoiled. Mr. Bob, my theatre director, spoiled me. I went with a couple of my girls last night to a high school play. Kaitlynn's brother was in the show, and she invited us to go with her. I was excited, and it was a lot of fun, and they did a great job, but it paled in comparison to Southwest theatre. Two of the funniest things were that they "drank tea" a lot, but they didn't actually use liquid (and they didn't pretend very well), and at a one point they started flipping through a photo album, and all the pages were empty! I was laughing so hard when that happened (hard, but quietly so as not to disrupt the show)! Also, all the characters had British accents, and it was clear that their director hadn't made them a CD of the British dialect...anywho, thanks Mr. Bob. Thank you for spoiling me.

"Another [autumn] day, has come and gone away, in [Greenville, Illinois], and I want to go home..."

I love it here. I love my girls. I love my friends. But I need a break. I haven't been home since August 4th, and I desperately need to go back. I will be home in a little less than 5 days from right now, and I am so excited! Pray that these next few days go by quickly so that I can hop on a plane and fly back to my home. I was working out this morning and I had a conversation with a man from the community. We talked about how my family celebrates Thanksgiving, and we talked about how excited he is to see his 12 grandchildren. Anyway, he said that one of the greatest gifts God gave us was the ability to have a thankful heart. Well, right now, more than anything, I'm thankful that I have amazing, loving parents, and an amazing loving brother to go home to. I can't wait for Wednesday.

Cake Baking, Smore Making, Concert Going, Leaf Blowing, and Singing and Dancing in the Rain

Sunday night, we went to Kaitlynn's house and her mom made us dinner! They barbecued, and made cookies, and it was wonderful. It was nice to have a home cooked meal, and to hang out at someone's home for awhile. Her family was super nice, and they were wonderful to welcome us in. We also played some ping pong, and let me tell you...my girls have mad skills.

Monday afternoon we had an amazing rainstorm. Betsye, Storm, and I played in the rain after we had lunch, and it was so much fun!!! I love playing in the rain! Betsye and I did our fair share of puddle jumping and what not last year, and now we found another friend to join us! Storm led us in rain dancing when the rain slowed down, and to my amazement, it worked! Personally, I think it worked simply because his name is Storm...anyway, for some reason the rain just makes things seem better, even if they aren't that great. I like rain because its fun, but more than that I like it because I like to think of the raindrops as God's tears, like he's crying for us and on us because he knows how we feel and he cares for us. Anywho, I love rain, and my friends.

More importantly, Monday was my roomie's birthday! She's no longer a teenager! She wanted us to sing her happy birthday 20 different ways. We made it to 11, and then we got sidetracked by a concert, so we got close! I love her so much, she's the best roomie ever! Speaking of concert...11 of us went into St. Louis on Monday night to go to a Regina Spektor concert! She is amazing! Her voice is unique, and is incredible! It was a lot of fun. After that we went to Steak and Shake, and that was fun too. It was nice to have a night with my friends, and to celebrate Kara's birthday with her!

Then, today Betsye and I played in the leaves! There are a lot of trees here, so there are a lot of leaves, which are perfect for pile making! We started out on campus and our friends Dustin and Michelle played with us, but then Betsye and I left for a park just outside of town called Patriots Park. It was so much fun! There was also a playground, so we took advantage of that as well. Here are a couple of pictures. I put the rest on Picasa. There are a lot...we got snap happy...

Bringing out the little kid in me!

Friday night some of my girls and I went into St. Louis to have dinner. We ate a place called Old Spaghetti Factory, and it was delicious! The best part though, was the balloon man. This guy was walking around to different tables, making balloon animals. It was so cool, and I got so excited. Well, we had our eye on him the whole night, trying to track him down, and finally he walked by our table! I flagged him down, and then he made us balloon hats! Basically, it made my night. This guy was incredible; he has been making balloon animals for 9 years, and he taught himself. Here are the fruits of his labor:

Then, this morning I definitely watched Saturday morning cartoons! How cool is that? Granted, they aren't as good as they used to be, but the simple fact that they were Saturday morning cartoons was all that mattered. And, I just want to say that while Batman is cool enough and man enough to have his own show, Superman needs to have a show with a whole Legion of superheroes. I guess he can't get the job done by himself...

And to cap things off, we had a pillow/watergun fight with our brother floor tonight. Dawn and I were sitting in my room, and randomly we heard a bunch of guys yelling, and next thing we knew, Storm was running into my room, leading his guys in beating us with pillows. It was funny. Then, he called at 11:15 to let me know that they were planning on coming back at 11:30 and told me to get ready for them. At first we thought they chickened out because it was 11:45 and they hadn't shown up yet, but then he called to say that they were "running errands," and the attack began! I'm pretty sure we won though because they had pillows, but we had pillows and water guns. I'm not gonna lie, it was awesome. I love our brother floor.

The joy of being serenaded

My girls just made my week, actually, made my month. I was sitting in my room with Kara and Betsye, and all of a sudden someone threw rocks at our window! We pulled up the blinds and saw four of my girls standing outside the window (Taylor, Dawn, Kaitlynn, and Amanda)! They then proceeded to serenade me with "My Girl." It was so wonderful! They just warmed my heart. I love them so much. Well, they wanted to do more, so we decided to go serenade Storm! Dawn, Kaitlynn, Amanda and I all walked over to his dorm to sing to him. He lives on fourth floor, and we weren't sure which room was his, so I resulted to calling him and told him to pretend that someone just threw rocks at his window and to look outside. We started singing "Build Me up Buttercup" to him, only meaning the happy parts, and it was so much fun! A bunch of guys from other parts of the dorm came to their windows when we started singing, so it made it that much funnier! Anyway, Storm said we warmed his heart, so mission accomplished. I just thought I'd share my joy.

A Bonfire with the Brothers

Tonight my girls and I had our first activity with our brother floor. It was so much fun! We went out to this nature trail thing, called the Gullies (its really cool, and its right behind our dorm), and had a bonfire! It was the first time that my girls had met some of the guys, so it was a great opportunity. We made smores, shared random stories, and had some good laughs. It was a great way to cap off my weekend. They were a lot of fun. Storm, the RC of our brother floor, is an awesome guy, and he has a great group of guys on his floor. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them more this year! Well, I'm going to finish watching Batman Begins (!), and then I'm off to bed! Oh, and one of my girls, Dawn, straightened my hair today. It's an odd sensation being able to run my fingers through my hair...you decide for yourself if you like it or not...

My girls at the bonfire

The hair from behind, and that's my good buddy Storm

So I saw my former classmate on a package of underwear today

That's right. A girl I went to high school with was a model on a package of underwear we saw at Wal-Mart today. Weird, I know. But really, how many people get to say that during their lifetime? Not very many...

"Happy Birthday" Kaitlynn!

A couple of my girls and I went out for a night on the town last night. We went to Edwardsville, and went out for dinner and a movie. We saw Dan in Real Life, and it was really good! It wasn't what we expected, but it was good nonetheless. It was more of a romantic comedy than a straight up comedy, but we all enjoyed it. Before we went to the movie though, we went to eat at Red Robin, and it was so good. I needed a real cheeseburger. DC cheeseburgers don't count. Anyway, we pretended it was Kaitlynn's birthday and got a free sundae! Her birthday was only a week and a half ago, so it wasn't too far off...plus, Red Robin is over priced, so we deserved a free scoop or two of ice cream. Anyway, it was just a fun night with the girls, off campus. I think the off campus part was what made the night the best! My girls rock, so they made it pretty special too.

PART FOUR: Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, my dorm does this trick-or-treat event for the community. Each floor picks a theme and decorates their hallway. For two hours on Halloween, the little kids come and trick-or-treat, and we get to dress up and hand out candy. Our floor picked Disney for our theme. It was so much fun! The girls did an amazing job decorating (most of it happened while I was at the ER with Angela)! We built Cinderella's castle out of boxes, and decorated the hall in three sections: Under the Sea, the Enchanted Forest, and Princess. We all dressed up as different characters, and stood out in the hallway waiting for the kids. My girls also rocked at making costumes, they looked so good! I was Wendy and my roomie was Peter Pan. We had so much fun! After the kids were all gone, my girls and I went over to the hospital to see Angela. We got some funny looks since we were still in our costumes, and a nurse came in and took our picture. Anyway, I'll stop writing, and I'll conclude with some pictures:

At the hospital with Angela

More pictures on Picasa!

PART THREE: I hate ER doctors

This is where my chaos begins. I will try to keep this brief so you don't have to read a novel. We'll see how that goes...

It all started on Monday. One of my girls had an infection on her forehead, so she went to a local doctor, and later I took her to get her prescription. The doctor didn't do a proper examination of her, just gave her some pills. I got a call from her, and one from her mom on Tuesday because her eye was swollen and she was feeling worse. Well, I took her to the ER (we don't have any sort of walk-in clinic), and they did some blood work and determined that they needed to drain her infection. Before you read this next part, keep in mind that this girl weighs about 90 pounds. Well, they drained the infection then gave her 2 vicodin, 2! vicodin, for the pain. 90 pounds + 2 vicodin = bad. After we got some ice cream, she fell asleep until 7 PM. After she woke up, so had constant nausea, and vomited after eating or drinking anything. Another one of my girls looked up side effects of vicodin, and found that persistent vomiting is a serious side effect, so we brought her back to the ER. Well, my sick girl, Angela, is freaking out and is in incredible pain. They draw some more blood, but the nurse messes up, so she has to draw from the other hand. Angela hates getting her blood drawn, so this just makes her freak out more. To make it worse, they had to draw blood a third time because initially they didn't think they would have to rerun blood work since they had just done it that afternoon so they threw it away, but later they actually did need to run the blood work. Who does that? Who throws away blood while the patient is still getting treated? The doctors don't seem to care, and rarely came in to see her. They put her on some IV fluids because she was dehydrated, and they kept giving her meds for the nausea. None of the meds were working, so they eventually gave her a CAT scan. After we got back from that, 3 other girls from the floor came to see her, and the doctors gave her some more nausea meds and some anxiety meds that put her to sleep right away (thank goodness!). The CAT scan results showed some inflammation of the kidneys, and the doctor said that she thought she had something called Pyelonephritis, which is an infection of the kidneys. They put her on some IV meds, and transferred her over to inpatient care at about 4 AM. I have never said so many bad words in my life. Everything inside of me wanted to scream in the faces of the doctors and nurses, but I restrained myself because on the off chance I have to bring a girl to the ER at some other point this year, I don't want them treating us even crappier because I blew up in their faces. I stayed the night with her, and her parents left in the morning to come down to be with her. Two of my girls came in before their classes to see Angela, and they made me this really cute goodie bag with a bunch of random things. My girls are amazing. Angela woke up about 9, and the nausea set back in. The girls came back, as well as one of her teachers, so that was nice. I kept rubbing her back to help her fall asleep, but people kept waking her up. Her doctor came in from Monday and was a real pain in the butt (except, I'm using a much stronger word in my head). As he walked out the door, Angela kept saying I hate him, I hate him. I got her back to sleep, and then her parents came about 1:15. I filled them in on more details of what had happened, and then I left the hospital after being there since 11 PM the night before, and getting 1 hour of sleep at the most. Anyway, I hate the ER. The doctors are awful, they don't care, and I just hate them! They kept Angela overnight on Wednesday and released her Thursday morning. The doctor ruled that her nausea and symptoms were due to a vicodin overdose, which was their fault. Stupid doctors. They ended up waiving the doctor fee from Monday and one of the ER fees since we had to come back because they screwed up. The vicodin is out of her system because they flushed her with fluids, and the kidney infection is treated (the inflammation was also partially due to her being dehydrated, so the fluids helped that as well). Her parents took her home on Thursday so that she can get some good rest and recuperate. Anyway, that's the story. It turned into a novel anyway, that doesn't surprise me though...things have calmed down, and I'm so glad its Friday!

PART TWO: I love boys who hold open automatic doors

When a guy holds a door open for you, it makes you feel special. It is a very gentlemanly thing to do, and most girls appreciate it. But, when a guy holds open an automatic handicap door for you, you just gotta laugh. I appreciate the gesture, but more so I appreciate the laugh! They must feel so silly walking away after holding a door open, just to see it stay open on its own. Anyway, I just wanted to share my smile moment. More power to you boys who hold open automatic doors, more power to you.

4 Part Post

So...this has been a whirlwind of a week, and I decided I would divide the happenings into 4 parts. Let the good times roll!

PART ONE: Move over Brian Griese, there's a new quarterback in town!

and her name is Marisa Ford! That's right, I will be assuming the quarterback position for the Chicago Bears, they just don't know it yet. So, about 11 o'clock on Sunday night, me and three of my girls went out to Scott field to play some football. It started out as a simple game of catch, but we later started running some pretty ridiculous plays. Basically, we learned that we rock the game of football. Some time we are going to be playing football with our brother floor, and they have no idea what is going to hit them. Watch out boys, we are coming with our game faces on!

Mommies and Midterms

Well, I just had a wonderful weekend after a few pretty bad weeks. My mom came to town for Homecoming/Parents' Weekend, and we had a great time. First, I'll rewind to the beginning of the week...I got to spend most of Sunday to myself, so that was nice. I tried to watch the Bears' game in my boss's apartment, but the Rams were on. Stupid Rams cable. After that I went to a park right outside of Greenville to have some me and God time. It was beautiful, and much needed.

On Wednesday it was the Homecoming celebration. Before last year Greenville wasn't allowed to have dances because they are Free Methodist. For some reason they decided against that rule, and so this year marked the 2nd annual Homecoming Dance. As part of Homecoming, Greenville also has a dinner, but neither myself, nor my girls wanted to participate. So, instead of paying 10 dollars to eat DC food, some of my girls and I went to a nearby town to spend money on dinner with people we know and love. It was a lot of fun. We went to this place called The Pasta House for dinner and then we went to Coldstone for dessert. One girl's boyfriend came with as well, but he seemed to have a good time. My girls are awesome, so of course we had a blast! I'm so blessed to have them, they bring so much joy to my life!

That's my roommate! Isn't she amazing?!

This was also midterm week. I had one test on Wednesday, a psychology test like thing and a midterm on Thursday, and a test on Friday. It was stressful, but now its all over with and I don't have to worry about it any more!

Last year before I came to Greenville, my dad got me and our family webcams so that we could stay in touch that way, but it didn't work when we tried it. Well, my good buddy Emily and I tried it out this week, and the webcam works! So, this week I've been talking to Emily via webcam, and its so great! I haven't seen her since she left for Florida in June, so its so good to see her face! I also got to talk to J to the effrey this week, and that was long overdue. It was awesome to catch up. I got to talk to two of my favorite people in the world this week, so that was amazing and helped me survive!

Then, on Friday, my mom came! I can't express to you how much I needed that! We had such a good time hanging out and spending time with each other. We went to a concert put on my the music department on Friday night, and that was pretty cool. Saturday was full of football. Greenville kicked butt, and Nebraska not so much, but they put up a good fight. We also watched House! Mom taped the episodes for me, and brought them with so we could watch them together. That show is amazing! We also had a sleepover last night, so that was a lot of fun. The weekend went by way too fast, but I'm so glad that she was here! I love her so much!

Only 3 more weeks and I get to come home for Thanksgiving! I haven't been home since August 4th, so I'm going to withdrawal. Well, that's today's novel. Thanks for reading!

America's Next Top Model...

...is me! So, one of my girls is in a business class, and one of their projects was to design and put on a fashion show. She was one of the people in charge of finding models, and I was one she found. Are you trying to picture me walking down a runway? Difficult, and pretty hilarious, isn't it? Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I had a good laugh or two trying to design outfits earlier this week (fall, athletic, winter, party, and rock), and I laughed inside as I walked down the runway, wondering how absolutely ridiculous I looked, but it wasn't that bad. This was way outside of the comfort zone for a girl who wears jeans or sweatpants and t-shirts on a daily basis, but Leslie and I had a good time. And...I definitely got 50% of already cheap clothes, so that was a nice plus! I left Value City with 4 bags of clothes (strange, I know), and spent $75 on 10 items of clothing! Isn't that incredible?!? 10 things for 75 dollars. This is so not like me. But who wouldn't take advantage of a sale when you need clothes (so maybe a couple things I just wanted, but I owned 1 pair of jeans before today, 1, so most of it was need). Anywho, that was my day. Maybe not quite America's Next Top Model, but it's a beginning...and an end. Sorry, no pictures.

It's an Epidemic!

So...it's been a long time since I last posted, and a lot has happened. Here's a rundown:

Thanks to my wonderful dad, I got to go to a Husker game!!! I met Colton, Taylor, Cole, and Cole's uncle at Mizzou, and we were privileged enough to sit through the slaughtering. I wasn't too upset though. I was just grateful to be at a real football game, under the lights, with the Huskers playing, and good company. There was this psychotic woman in front of us though. She had this crazy annoying hand clapper that she shook for everything, good or bad. There are two things that I hate at games: cowbells, and now hand clappers. Taylor and I grumbled at her the whole game; it was a great bonding experience. I offered the boys 10 dollars to break it and throw the pieces in opposite directions, but they never took me up on the offer, which is good because she would have gotten them kicked out. Yeah, she got a Mizzou fan kicked out for standing. You read it right, standing.

Annoying hand clapper in action

The Monday after the game was fall "break." Break is in quotations because it is only one day long, and in my opinion, break should be atleast 3 days, if not more...anywho...we went to the zoo in St. Louis that day! It was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with some of my favorite people in the world, so that was pretty sweet. We saw monkeys fighting, I rode the carosel with Betsye, and Storm and I almost got gorilla poo flung at us! We were standing at the gorilla place, and the gorilla took a dump, and then the zookeeper yells "Everybody get back! He might throw it!" The rest of our group left, but Storm and I waited just in case the monkey threw the poop. Much to our dismay, there was no flinging. We got a pretty good laugh out of it though. After the zoo we went to Fitz's and Coldstone. It was a great day!

Okay. That brings us to this week. Here is what our hallway looked like on Tuesday at about 5:30 PM:

Here's why: LICE! So, one of my girls realized she had lice over the weekend so another girl's mom came up on Tuesday to do hair checks, and found actual lice or eggs on 15 of the 18 girls checked! Gross!!!!! Myself, my roommate, and another girl were lice free, so that was a relief due to the huge beast that resides on my head, and the diaster it would have been to try and rid me of the lice! Anyway...this led to freaking out, an instance of crying and hypervenalating, and mass chaos. We had to call down girls that spend a significant amount of time on our floor to come and get checked, and most of them didn't have it. After we had all been checked, everyone stripped their beds, even those without lice, and made a huge pile of things to be washed, and then another pile of things that just needed to be sprayed, as you can see in the pictures. Not long after this started happening, random people were showing up on the floor and were like "I hear you have lice." The bad thing about living in an all girls dorm (one of the bad things) is that things spread fast. Lucky it was just word of the existence of lice and not the actual lice...well, I ran over to CVS and bought spray and shampoo to rid us of the infestation. I then spent the next 3 hours and 45 minutes of my life doing laundry. God blessed me with having the laundry room all to myself, and having the exact amount of quarters needed to wash everything (we made a fund). So, at the end of the day, all bedding was washed, and every head of hair was treated, even those not containing lice. What a fiasco.

And today, we had two tornado warnings...or watches...whichever one makes the siren go off...and had to spend some time in the basement of Burritt. What a crazy week.

I hate Courtney Grixby

and I love my mom. This week was absolutely awful. I wish I could explain to you what went on, but part of me doesn't have the energy, and I have a duty to the girls to keep what they share with me in confidence. I thought things would calm down today, but they are just getting worse. I did have a bright spot today though that made this week semi okay! I got a card in the mail from my mom today, and in it was a poster of Courtney Grixby. Grixby is a player for the Huskers and is the bane of my existence. I will admit though that last Saturday he had a very good game (he was the "little hero"). Well, every week Nebraska puts out a poster of that week's player of the game, and it just so happens that Grixby earned this honor. So, mom decided to mail me this poster so he could grace my wall. I laughed so hard when I got the card and poster. I can't adequately explain to you how hilarious it was to me! Who'd of thought that someone I so strongly dislike could bring a little heaven to a week of hell?

Mom and Dad time

This last weekend I got to have Mom and Dad time, much needed mom and dad time! I hadn’t seen them since they dropped me off at Greenville on August 4th, so I was missing them big time! We had a great time together. We went to Dairy Queen and Mario’s (a wonderful pizza place that my dad absolutely loves) and hung out on Friday night, we listened to the Husker game, went to Carlyle Lake, had dinner, and mom and I watched the season premiere of House (!) on Saturday, and then they went to church and lunch with me on Sunday before they left. It was so nice to have a weekend with them, I love them and miss them so much! It’s such a blessing to have parents that support me and love me, and its such a blessing to have parents that I can get excited about seeing! They are wonderful. They’re the best! Here’s a couple pictures I took at the lake:

Picasa

I now have a Picasa website! Since I take a lot of pictures, I thought it would be nice to have a better way to share them with everyone, so you can find my pictures on Picasa. Right now I have some pictures of campus and also more pictures from Walk-About. Enjoy! Here's the address:

http://picasaweb.google.com/MarisaLeighFord

Oh, and my parents came this afternoon! It was so good to see them again and get to hang out with them. I missed them so much! I just love them so much and am looking forward to spending the next two days with them!

It's official...

Rex Grossman is benched!!!! No longer will Grossman be able to plague the playing field, at least not this Sunday! Cross your fingers though because a change in quarterback doesn't necessarily guarantee success at quarterback. Nonetheless...I'm pretty excited! Hopefully Brian Griese has some mad skills that the public is not aware of. I'm guessing not since it took Lovie so long to bench Grossman. Don't get me wrong, I respect Lovie, just wasn't a big fan of Grossman.

Anywho...

My parents are coming to visit me this weekend, and I'm really excited! I haven't seen them since August 4th, so I'm a little parent deprived. Hopefully I keep them entertained; there's not much to do in Greenville. We'll have a good time! I can't wait!

Things are going good down here. I'm keeping myself busy, which is not hard to do. I finished decorating our hallway this week. My theme for the floor is being who God created you to be, so the main decoration was going to be my girls (what better way to picture being unique than to use my girls individually?). I made picture frames, one for each girl, and took a picture of each of them, and finally got them printed out and put up! I lucked out because all the girls love pictures, so they actually are okay with what I wanted to do! I'm also filling up another wall with pictures from the different events we do. It's a lot of fun. I might take some pictures and post them for you guys to see. But, things are going great, so that's nice. I'll post more later. Thanks for reading!

Changes

Today has been a lot better than the past few days have been. Over the past couple of days I have had a few much needed, God given opportunities to have conversations and share moments with people that have really helped me. It's always awesome to see how God can take what could be a not pleasant situation and turn it into something awesome. Today has been very relaxing, so that is nice. Tonight I'm taking some of my girls to Pokey's for the first time! This is a monumental moment in their life at Greenville. For those of you who don't know, Pokey's, short for Pocahontas, is a town about 15 minutes West of Greenville. In Pocahontas there's this rinky dink little truck stop that serves amazing breakfast. Making late night Pokey's runs is an essential part of your experience as a Greenville student. I'm pretty excited. I'll let you know how that goes. Until next time...

New Pictures

Kara bought more fish this weekend. We now have 10. This could do much damage to our already awful track record when it comes to keeping fish alive...

I don't really have much to say, but I felt as though I'd been neglecting the blog so I figured I had better post something. Things are okay. I've been having a lot of fun with the girls on the floor, and we've done quite a bit this weekend, so that's been great. Other than that, things aren't the best in any aspect. Prayers would be nice. Here's some pictures highlighting what I've been up to:

Relay for Life was Friday, so a group of us walked (our floor and our sister floor). The pink shirts are in remembrance of Greenville's first lady who passed away during the summer after a 20 year battle with breast cancer.

Kaitlynn, Daeghan, and me all geared up for Greenville's first home game (they lost).

Saturday night we went to a lake nearby to barbeque with our sister floor. These are the girls from my floor. It was a lot of fun.

Girls' Night In

Tonight was a night of pizza and movies, and it was great. Some of the girls and I talked about going in to St. Louis for the night, but we decided to postpone and just chill. I think we made the right call.

I'm going to take the next few sentences and vent. I would just like to say that my offense is ridiculous. Grossman and my pair of running backs will together ruin the Bears chances at the NFC Central title. My defense is amazing, as usual. Bad news though: Mike Brown, and another defensive starter are out for the season with torn ACLs!!! Why does that have to happen to the defense?! I mean, if players have to get season ending injuries, couldn't it at least happen to my offense?!?!?! Oh well. I'm done. For now...

I'm still having a great time down here. I'm struggling a little bit though. Lately I feel like I have been giving every thing inside of me to everybody, but yet I get nothing back from anyone or anything, and it's not just with people at school. It leaves me feeling really empty. Also, I'm pretty sure that I have allergies, and I'm a little sick. Oh well. Nothing I'm not used to! Well, I'm going to bed now. Thanks for reading, I'll post more later!

Are you ready for some football?!?!?!

So it is 9:25, AM, on a Saturday morning, and I am awake. Actually, I've been awake since 9 now. And, right now, I am sitting in air conditioning, on a comfy couch, in air conditioning, watching College Gameday, and did I mention in air conditioning? There are very few things that will get me out of bed on a Saturday morning, and Husker football is right up there at the top of that list. I also had to make sure that no one else got to the TV before I did...Anyway...I'M SO EXCITED!!!!

The rest of the week was great. I'm in health class with a couple of the girls on my floor, and now one of them, Daeghan, and I are starting to go and work out together on a schedule. It's great. I'm a little sore right now, but we have so much fun and it's a perfect opportunity to get to know each other and grow our friendship.

Thursday night the girls and I had another PMS party. It was so much fun! We pretty much solidified the fact that we are the coolest floor on the entire campus. I knew that we were the coolest girl floor, and my friend and RC of my brother floor, Storm was convinced that his floor was the best, but after Thursday night, there is no way that my girls do not have that title. At 12:30 AM we made ourselves grills (the kind for your teeth, not the kind for burgers) out of gum wrappers, and proceeded to walk around the dorm and bring greetings from the West side. Represent. Yeah, we rock basically. (For those of you that don't know what a grill is, keep scrolling...visual representation lies ahead...)

Last night I took two girls, Andrea and Alicia, out to eat, so that was a good time. After that, I had a Will and Grace night with a girl who transferred. Oh I love that show. Anyway, I'm going to get back to College Gameday. Here are two pictures of some of my girls:

My girls. With grills.

If I happen to cross your mind...

So, the girls have only been here for a little over a week, yet it feels like forever. I guess if you think about it, I personally have been gone for about a month. Anywho, I'm exhausted. I would really appreciate your prayers right now. My girls are wonderful, and I love them with everything that is inside of me, so I drop everything any time they come into my room (everything means homework). Last night I got 4.5 hours of sleep, and not much more the night before that. I'm also under stress due to my workload and some other decisions I will have to be making soon. So, if I happen to cross your mind when you are conversing with God, it would mean a lot to me if you would say a few words on my behalf. Thanks so much, I love you all.

Cookies and Football

First, I just have to say...GO HUSKERS!!! It took them awhile, but they looked good on Saturday, and I'm excited about some of the new players! This will be a great season, as long as they don't take their dear sweet time getting their momentum up...

Oh, and ABC is ridiculous. So, I was all excited because I was in the only part of Illinois that got regional coverage of the Nebraska game, and then they screwed me over in the end. When there was about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, they went back to the studio and were all like "Well, it looks like Nebraska has everything under control here, so we'll take you to some bonus coverage." Bonus coverage means the Wake Forest game. I was so mad! So, I didn't get to watch the final minutes of the victory. Darn you Illinois and your regional coverage! I got over it though...mostly...

Everything is still going well. I'm exhausted, but I expected that I would be this way. My girls are as incredible as ever! We had a cookie party on Friday, so we baked and decorated cookies in our little kitchen. They were quite delicious, despite the fact that we have crappy ovens. After cookies some of us watched Grease, so that was awesome! I love that movie!

I have tons of homework tonight, mostly reading, so that will take a lot of time. I'm going to take a nap though before the "festivities" begin. This paragraph was pointless, but nonetheless, I'm still going to post it. I just wasted 8 seconds of your life. Have a happy day!

First day of class

Well, sophomore year has officially started. Today was my first day of class. And, so far so good! I've got one more class tonight (from 7:00-8:30), but it shouldn't be too bad...I hope...anyway...life hasn't been too eventful since last post. I've been keeping myself busy, which isn't hard to do these days. My girls and I are in the process of planning a trip to a nearby movie theatre to see Hairspray - Zac Efron is just so dreamy! So far, my girls have bonded over loving to have fun, cheerleading, and Zac. And, at this particular theatre, you get a drink, popcorn, and movie ticket for 6 dollars. Pretty sweet, eh? Well, that's all for now! I'll conclude with pictures of our lovely room! Have a wonderful day!

Don't you wish you had a couch like this?

The joy of roommates and floormates

My roomie, Kara, moved in on Saturday! It was so nice to see her again, I missed her so much! And...she brought back our fish! Lucky number 7 I guess (for those of you who don't know, we managed to kill 6 fish last year. Replacement has managed to survive thus far...). Also, we have a sweet new couch! Her parents bought a van for a catering company, so they had to take a row of seats out, and Kara managed to swipe the seats, and it makes a lovely couch. It's nice to have her back and to be all moved in. I'm in the process of getting all of my pictures up on the wall. I'll post pictures of my room once I take some...

I also just want to say that my floor rocks! The girls are incredible!!!! We had a party last night complete with pizza, ice cream, and chocolate. They are all so wonderful, and are getting along amazingly well. Thank you so much for all of your prayers.

Here are a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure:

That's my roomie!

Replacement: the fish that lived