anyone out there still paying attention?

well, i really have no excuse for going AWOL for a month...unless you count 'college' as one....

school has been really busy- this is the last week of classes before finals and i leave winona forever. it's a weird feeling!

i went home for easter and had a really nice long weekend with family and friends. i haven't been taking many pictures because my 'short lens' is in the shop being (hopefully) repaired. so i only have my ginormous long lens, thus limiting my photographic capabilities.

HOWEVER i have been doing some computer stuff! i got to design alecia and dustin's graduation party invites! :) they both turned out smashingly well and i am proud of them! dustin's aunt debbie even asked if i would do josh's (her oldest) when he graduates in a couple years!! :) i'll post the grad invites on another post- its just easier that way!

as i'm getting ready for this "next adventure" at ucm, i find myself feeling frustrated that i'm still here at winona- i am sooooooo ready to get to missouri! however, i know that i have a lot of things to get done this summer and that the 3 months plus a few days that i have for summer break will go by fast- they always do. and there will be some tough decisions that are going to have to be made before i go...

deep thoughts

so i haven't posted in awhile......i've been meaning to- really, i have!- but school seems to have other ideas about how i spend my time. the good news- only 17 days of class left!! (and then finals...boo!)

you know how i complain about lyme disease? well, i know of a certain, important person, in my life who's struggling with something much, much worse- cancer. and i hate that i can't do anything to help her except just be a supportive niece. i hate that cancer seems to have "picked" our family to attack- robyn is the 3rd person in my family to be diagnosed with it. i hate that we all have to watch her battle this, and remember the battle my grandma lost to this same stupid disease. why does it always pick the good people? the people that have so much love to give and lessons to teach and stories to tell? why can't it attack the terrorists, the really bad people in the world?

i know that her chances of becoming a survivor are greatly increased compared to what my grandma's were...but it still scares me shitless. i just don't want to lose anyone else in my family so young.

news

for those that actually read this...i have an announcement.

(no, mom, not THAT kind of announcement....jeez) :)

i am going to be transferring to the university of central missouri in the fall. its farther away than winona state is, but its a better fit for me and what i want to do with my career. i'm really really really excited about this, even though some parts of my life will become more complicated, i feel that this is what i need to do.

:D

random uptdates...and other ramblings

i really do have a reason for not updating this as much this semester/year as i did last year:

i am taking 17 credit hours this semester, so almost all of my spare time is spent working on homework. i'm trying to get better at working on things in small chunks, but its not easy. most nights i choose sleep over homework, which has gotten me into some tough situations.

so...here's an update on my month of february:

~2/4-2/6: went home. friday 2/4 was momma's birthday (i won't tell you how young she is, you'll have to guess ;) ) that was also the weekend of the beef banquet- alecia gave her crown to the new queen. aaaannnnddd i went out with a couple friends that i hadn't seen in- literally- years. we had a BLAST :)
~2/15: d and i's 1 year anniversary. hard to believe, huh?! i am so happy to have him in my life- sometimes i really wonder what i would do without him. because i'm a broke college kid, i made him a collage, as seen below

~2/23: band concert was, well, i guess it would be yesterday now. we were supposed to have it this last sunday but it got postponed due to weather. it was an hour and 20 minute concert- i couldn't feel my lips for like an hour after that. we played 7 songs- 3 of them were 3-movement pieces and only 2 of them were 1 page. yeah- it was a looooooong night.

~i am super excited for next weekend- know why???? do ya? huh, huh?? well, ok, i guess i'll tell you :) its spring break!!!!! i'm going to be home for A WHOLE WEEK! (can you tell i'm excited?!) i haven't been home in a month, so i can't wait. :D

thoughts...

i was thinking today (a dangerous thing to do) as i was walking through campus, looking all around, i couldn't help but think that everyone thinks spring is sooo beautiful and new and pastel colors and bunnies and babies...
not really. spring is really ugly, when you think about it. the ground that's been covered in snow is suddenly exposed again, the ground is over saturated with excess water from the melting snow and rain, there's mud everywhere...
yet somehow we find that beautiful. same thing with child birth- its supposed to be this great experience, but from what i've seen (since i haven't experienced it for myself and don't plan on it anytime soon), its anything BUT great.

so how is that beautiful, but other things aren't?

ps- i'll try to post again soon- it's getting really busy with school. :) don't give up on me yet :)

i have some time between classes.....

well i have about 20 minutes, so i thought i'd fill y'all in on me :)

i have been having a *really* hard time with sleeping/staying awake. i'm falling asleep around 11:30 or midnight, and i have to wake up by 7 every morning to go to class at 8 on m/w/f and i eat breakfast with jo before her 8 am class on t/th. m/w/f, i have class from 8-10, then i work 10-12n, then i have class 2-4:30 (wed. i have class 2-6pm cause of my biology lab). after i get done with classes, jo and i work out for about an hour, go eat supper, then do homework/talk to boyfriends and family/talk and eventually pass out from exhaustion. t/th i work 9-12n, then class 12:30-3:20. i have a terrible time in a few of those classes staying awake. it's not that i'm not interested in the classes- i really love all of them- it's just physically impossible to stay awake- i literally close my eyes for a few seconds and i'm unconscious- not kidding, altho i wish i was. i've started drinking amp energy drinks BUT ONLY WHEN I REALLY NEED THEM 'cause they cost money- which i don't have. they seem to help, but i really really don't want to get addicted to them like others do *cough-m'lynn-cough* :)

on a bright note, i'm feeling better physically- i can now jog about 3 laps and keep up with jo- something that's harder than it sounds, believe me. my calf muscles have loosened up- we've started stretching before and after our workout- and i think that's been helping a lot. and it feels good :) we raced a lap- all out sprinting- and i kept about 20 feet behind jo, which felt good. we did learn, however, that the curves in there are WAY too tight to really go all out, so we probly won't be doing that again anytime soon :) but it was fun :)

well jordan and i have been keeping up with the workout routine- we did 230 crunches last night! i'm feelin' them today- but in a good way. when i clench my abs and stab at them with my fingers, i can feel them!!! for the first time in *ages*, i have abs!! :) they aren't visible yet (there's a layer of flub that's in the way) but i'm feeling better. our goal is to jog a mile (10 laps on the track) in a night, usually doing 2 laps at a time. we couldn't do that last night cause my calf muscles decided to stay really tight from monday night's workout. they're better now, but stairs still hurt. i gotta look like an old lady going down them- i can't really bend my knees cause my calves hurt so bad. i toughed out 4 laps last night- my out-of-shape mid-section was my doing in there, tho. we also did free-weights last night- feels good to work the biceps! they've been in need of some iron pumpin' :)

other than that, i don't really have that much to update on. just kinda gettin' settled into the routine again.