Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Nineteen.

That's how many years I've been alive, as of yesterday.

You may think it's pretty impressive that I've survived 19 years. But 19 really isn't all that impressive; it's the age in between the onset of adulthood and an entirely new decade. It's almost as bad as 17: the age between the age of legal driving and the onset of adulthood.

My birthday was pretty good. I mean, there was no way it was going to even slightly compare to my 18th birthday, but considering the circumstances, it was pretty good.

The circumstances being, despite it being my birthday, I still had to engage in my everyday life. Meaning school, work, and growth group.

I got up at 6:30 am to go to my 8:00 speech class. The best thing that happened in that class was that I did not have to do my impromptu speech yesterday--that would have been a terrible start to my day.

Oh, and my dad went out and bought donuts for breakfast! :D

Then I went to my logic class, where I got my test back. I got a 92! Happy birthday to me!

After school, I went to Starbucks to claim my free drink of choice with the birthday coupon they sent me. I got a venti double chocolatey chip frappucino, because no, I don't like coffee.

Then I got to work where I found a beautiful arrangement of flowers on my desk from my parents! For the next hour and a half, though, it felt like it wasn't my birthday anymore, until I got my present from the company. (What they do for birthdays is give you a $25 gift card to the place of your choice and pass around a card for everyone to sign). To be completely honest, I like cards more than presents...I think I read through what everyone wrote like three times before I even noticed the gift card attached to it. haha

I asked for an Amazon gift card, which I will probably be using to buy Christmas presents.

When I got home, I had a couple more gifts waiting from me for my parents. The main one was one I knew was coming, because I had straight up asked for it: tickets to see Les Miserables at the Bass Hall!

Guys, this is the broadway cast in my very own town. Guys, this is on my bucket list. Guys! It's on Saturday!! IMSOEXCITEDIJUSTCANTHIDEIT.

Anyway, my mom also made me a book full of my prom pictures and two recipe books, one of my dessert recipes on Pinterest (and some others) and the cookbook we used at HEART which is incredible.

We went to Steak 'n' Shake last night, which isn't my favorite restaurant but we went to my favorite one the night before. Steak 'n' Shake is really good though, and it has milkshakes.

Then I went to growth group, which is like a discipleship group/book study. We had our launch party yesterday, so that was fun getting to know people better and learn about how the group is going to work.

And then I came home and went to bed.

Overall, pretty good day.

Oh! And then there was the party going on on my Facebook wall.

Guys, this is the reason I love Facebook. Do you know how much I love birthdays? More than Christmas. I'll talk about why some other time, but birthdays are like my favorite thing ever. Not just mine. Anyone's.

Anyway, when I woke up at 6:30, I already had 11 people write on my wall. By noon, I had over 30. And by the end of the day, about 60 people had wished me a happy birthday, on Facebook alone.

That's not counting the text messages, phone calls, and the people who signed my card at work.

And now I'm sad because it's all over...though I do still have Les Mis to look forward to! :D :D :D

Friday, September 14, 2012

It's (Almost) My Favorite Season.


Behold. An alphabetical list of the reasons why I love fall.

Apples.

Apple pie. 

Boots. 

Blankets.

Candy corn.

Caramel.

Caramel apples.

Chicken noodle soup. 

Cider.

Cinnamon.

Cinnamon rolls. 

Crisp air.

Daylight savings time ends.

Family.

Fire in the fireplace.

Halloween.

Halloween candy.

Hayrides.

Hot chocolate.

Jack-O-Lanterns.

Jumping in piles of leaves.

Leaves.

Mashed potatoes.

My birthday.

Orange.

Pine cones.

Pumpkins.

Pumpkin patches.

Pumpkin spice Febreeze.

Red.

Scarecrows.

S'mores.

Spices.

Spice cake.

Sweaters.

Thanksgiving.

Vanilla.

Wreaths.

Just bask in those words for a moment and then try to tell me you're not super excited for fall.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Update. (Yep, That's All I've Got.)

 [Disclaimer: Before reading this post, it is important to note that I wrote this last Friday, with the intention of posting it on Friday. However, for some reason Blogger decided to completely shut down and not allow me to post anything until now. My teacher I think got confused and let us out of class 30 minutes early, so I decided to try again.]

So, the other day I was at Wendy's with a bunch of people and I totally dropped my entire tray of food on the floor. Surprised? Me either.

In other news...

I started college last week! It randomly started on a Thursday, and I figured out that's because we only get two days off for Thanksgiving break. Personally, I'd rather start on Monday and have the whole week off, especially since I'm probably going to be going out of town...but whatever. I'll just skip my classes. I'm in college. I can do that now.

Anyway, so I'm taking speech, critical thinking, psychology, and music appreciation. So far I have had no homework, except for a small speech in speech class.

It was an introductory speech. We had to introduce someone else in the class. So we had partners, and lucky for me my partner was a fifth year senior and showed me where my next class was on the first day of school. Anyway, our speeches were today, and throughout the whole speech, my partner called me Carla. Which, by the way, is not my name.

I think I know what happened. There's a girl named Carla in my class and she happens to sit right next to me. My mom's name is also Carla. My teacher was trying to remember all of our names and going through them got to Carla and I, and then made a joke that those are easy to remember because they're so similar. Then I said, "My mom's name is actually Carla." And I saw my partner right down in her notebook that my mom's name is Carla.

So I think that through her off. But now I'm concerned that I won't be getting my grade. Because the girl who's name IS Carla didn't go today because her partner wasn't there. And my teacher announced at one point that she didn't have Kayla marked down as having gone, to which of course I said I had. Anyway, the fact that that happened concerns me...because now I'm afraid Carla might be getting my grade even though she didn't go...

But she got the last name right, so maybe it'll all be okay.

Anyway. My second class is critical thinking. Which is my least favorite class. Because a) I took a class exactly like this in high school so I'm not learning anything yet, and b) of my four classes, this instructor is the least exciting. He's not bad at all...it's just, all my other instructors are better.

I love my psychology professor. Plus I love psychology. I think it's interesting and he makes it even more interesting.

And then there's the appreciation of music. Supposedly the easiest class at UTA, and I believe it. All we do in class really is listen to music and watch YouTube videos...there's discussion and stuff, but...yeah. It's easy.

So I have classes every morning until 11, then I go to work until 4, go home, eat dinner, and then do more school work pretty much until I go to bed which is why I haven't posted anything here in a long time...

And then there's the gas issue. I drive 30 minutes to school every morning. Then I drive an additional 30 minutes to work, and another 15 minutes home. Five days a week. Y'all. I filled up on gas on Sunday morning, and by the end of Wednesday I was at half a tank. I used to fill up once every two--maybe even three--weeks. In 4 days I used half my tank. And on top of it all, gas prices continue to go up...

Oh, and another thing...how do people gain weight in college? I am failing at this. In fact, I'm pretty sure that with the 15 minutes it takes to walk both ways between the campus and the parking lot, having to walk to the other end of campus just to get some food, and the severe lack of time I am finding to actually EAT, I'm actually losing weight.

At the moment, I'm enjoying a lunch I brought from home (because my wallet is crying from all the fast food I've been buying lately) and sitting at a picnic table by a lovely fountain I found. This is the best way, I've discovered, to actually enjoy my food, since usually I'm in such a rush. Here's a picture:


Check out the fountain in the background!
 
Oh, and if you're wondering about my hair, yes! I got a haircut. I'm trying out bangs again, though they're a little long. Partly because it's been a few weeks, and partly because they were always like that. But please don't judge by the picture -- it's not very good.

Anyway, I've still got a few minutes, but I've run out of things to say and I've just about finished my lunch, so I guess I'm going to go now. I CANNOT wait for Monday -- no school, no work. Labor day may be my new favorite holiday. (I'm sure that'll change when Christmas rolls around, but right now, it's my favorite holiday.)

Happy early labor day!

[UPDATE: I got my speech score back. 47/50, not bad. I think that's a 94. Anyway, the good thing is I got my score, not Carla. The bad thing is, the name Karla is written on my evaluation sheet, and I think I may be getting called that the rest of the semester in that class. Oh well, at least it's just a few months, and what's a name, really? And oh my gosh I think a squirrel just tried to kill me with an acorn...]