2014.

Tonight at midnight, 2013 will be over.

And with it, so many memories.

Did the year fly by for anyone else? I feel like I was just ringing in 2013.

2013 was a good year for me. It started out a bit rough coming in from 2012, but in every way I am glad that 2013 happened.

Here's why:

1. I went on a cruise.

 

2. I swam with dolphins! 

3. I was forced to come out of my shell and sing in front of my entire music class.

4. I made an A on my 42-page Capstone project.

5. I turned into a rainbow at the Color Me Rad 5k.

6. I realized exactly why I want to be a teacher.

7. I started working on my teacher's certification and got a job substituting at my old school.

8. I discovered Veronica Mars (and bought the DVDs).

9. I graduated from college. 

10. I turned 20!

11. I took a cake decorating class. 

12. I had the best Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I also got to cross numbers 13, 31, and 56 off my bucket list, and I'm well on my way to crossing off number 11.

Some not so fun things that happened this year that turned out to be okay anyway:

• I almost died.
• I almost died again.
• My TV made life difficult.
• I was trapped in my house for 4 days.

That's pretty much it. The good definitely out-weighed the bad this year.

So, what does 2014 have in store? SO much and I'm so excited.

First and foremost, I will be completing the first part of my teacher's certification and will be able to start teaching full-time by the fall semester (!!!), Lord-willing.

I also have the opportunity to be a first grade assistant teacher for four weeks in January/February while the current assistant is out on maternity leave.

The Veronica Mars movie comes out on March 14th. I might have it written in really big capital letters in my planner. Maybe.

There may be a possibility for a family vacation in the spring, but I'm not getting my hopes up. More on that later.

I'll also be attending at least 6 weddings, give or take a few.

As far as resolutions go, I don't usually have any, but there are a few things this year I'd like to work on.

1. Having days off from work really throws off my routine because I think I can sleep in for as long as I want and then do nothing all day. This year, I am going to focus on getting into an everyday routine -- even on my days off -- and making the most of my free time. 
2. I would like to pay more attention to my finances and budget my spending more. I have been using Mint.com for awhile, but have more been adjusting my budgets according to my spending instead of the other way around. I currently don't have a lot of expenses to pay, so I think that's a good habit to go ahead and get into before it's too late and I'm broke.
3. Spend more time with God daily (this is pretty much going to be on my list every year).
4. Invest in others more. This is something I have been working a lot this year, and I want to continue to do this even more. I really am happier when I am focusing on others instead of myself.

I am also going to really focus on expanding my blog and readership this year, which I am excited about. It will be a lot of work but it is something I've been wanting to do for awhile (I even posted about it several months ago and then proceeded to do nothing about it, haha).  Feel free to spread the word if you know someone who might enjoy reading. :-)

I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Year's Eve tonight! What are your plans? I will be starting out the evening at a big party, and ending at a smaller get-together at my friend's new apartment. Looking forward to bringing in 2014 with all of my friends.

Happy New Year!

P.S. If it weren't for this post, I would have had 34 posts for the third year in a row. Seriously, I'm not trying to do this.

Subway Adventures.

Today I had worship team training at church from 10am-4pm. And let me just say, the series of unfortunate events that happened at my lunch break had Kayla written all over it. In big capital letters. Underlined four times. With an exclamation point.

This is good, guys. Just you wait.

Unfortunate Event #1: The Elusive Subway.

We were on our own for lunch but a large group of people (my friends included) were going to Taco Cabana. Which I found really surprising because I didn't know people actually liked Taco Cabana. Like, seriously, if we're going to have tacos I'd much rather have Taco Bell. But then again, I'm probably not the most reliable judge of food.

Anyway, obviously I was not okay with Taco Cabana, but I did want to spend time with my friends, so I was going to get food elsewhere and then meet them there. I decided that I wanted Subway because a) Subway is kind of healthy, and I've been feeling guilty about all the junk I've been eating lately, and b) it sounded really good. So, I got in my car and set off for Subway. Only I couldn't remember exactly where it was, but I had a pretty good idea. So I headed that direction and figured I'd see it eventually.

So I'm driving. And I keep driving. And I keep driving. Because Subway is past all the other fast food restaurants. I know* that it's further up the road, so I just keep driving. And every once in awhile, I think I've passed it. So I start to turn around but then I see another group of buildings coming up and I convince myself that that's where Subway is. But it isn't. After doing this about three times, I began entering unrecognizable territory, so I decide to turn around for real this time.

*Me "knowing" where things are located is like a five year old "knowing" how to do calculus correctly

I'm driving back and looking for Subway. And I'm not finding it. And I'm like, "Are you kidding me? Was it seriously further up? Does Subway even exist anymore?" AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN, I SEE IT. And I'm like, "SUBWAY! I see you! But...how do I get to you...?"

It was like behind a bunch of restaurants and...I don't even know. Like, it was there, but it was hidden. So I maneuvered my way through the Walmart parking lot and down a couple back roads and finally I'm in the Subway parking lot -- the actual Subway parking lot! -- and I park and get out of my car.

Which brings me to...

Unfortunate Event #2: The Door with the Sandwich On It.

I walk into Subway, ECSTATIC because I'm really hungry, and the first thing I notice are SIX bulky guys, about high school age, probably football players, sitting together and staring at me (quite angrily I might add) in dead silence at Subway. Just sitting there. With no food. Not standing in line to order. And I was like, "Do these guys know how Subway works? You have to go stand in line..." But then I looked up and realized that there was no one at the register. There were employees in the back (who saw me walk in), but no one at the front. So I stepped to the side and joined the awkward silence while these big scary guys just...stared at me.

While I'm waiting, I can't help but notice that Subway is a lot smaller than I remembered it being. Did they remodel? Why would they remodel and make the place smaller? Or maybe it just looked smaller because of the new design. But the counter looked way too small to hold all the sandwich fixins. And why did it smell like pizza in there?

And then I look at the door, and right below the picture of something that very closely resembles a SANDWICH (and sandwich = Subway) are the words "Little Caesar's."

Sandwiches > Pizza.

 

Little Caesar's. Last time I checked, that was different than Subway. And I'm completely mortified at this point that I have walked into and stood in for several minutes the WRONG restaurant. I have been stared at by creepy high school boys that totally had the ability to kill me. I have been acknowledged (but not served) by some very busy Little Caesar's employees. And I could feel the eyes of all 6 scary boys and all 3 employees on me as I silently walked out and never returned.

And before I walked into Subway, I read every sign from top to bottom just to make sure.

Unfortunate Event #3: I Give Up.

Thankfully, I was able to get my 6" tuna sandwich on Italian without a hitch, and I made it to my car and out of the parking lot without incident.

By the way, at this point our one hour lunch break is more than half over.

Anyway, I'm driving to Taco Cabana to catch up with my friends (for, like, a whole 15 minutes), but I was so...flustered, I guess is the word...from everything that just happened that I passed Taco Cabana. And at first I was like, "I think I just passed it..." but then I was like, "oh, no, it's further up here." But it wasn't. And by the time I was 100% sure I had passed it, I was almost back to church.

There just wasn't any point in turning around.

I was probably just going to pass it again anyway.

So I pulled into church and found a table inside to eat at while I recovered from the previous 45 minutes' adventures.

So yes, ladies and gentlemen, in 45 minutes I managed to:

• Get lost on a street I have traveled hundreds of times
• Share some delightfully awkward moments with 9 strangers
• Get so distracted that I just straight up passed my destination
• Just give up, because seriously, why do I even try to be cool? 

By the way, those first three things happen so often that I had to give them their own tags.

And to my friends who may or may not have been waiting on me to show up at Taco Cabana (I'm not even sure they knew I was coming, but just in case): I DID NOT ditch you guys on purpose. I totally intended on showing up, and wanted to...but, like, seriously...I just needed a moment to myself. To recover. Because...it was a crazy 45 minutes, y'all. Real crazy. Kayla levels of crazy. And Lord knows it takes time to recover from Kayla crazy.

Kaylzy? Oh, I know! Crayla. Wait, no...that sounds like a crayon.

Whatever. It doesn't even deserve its own word. You know what they say: when you name things, you just get more attached.

Which doesn't really apply in this situation but that's okay. The point is...well, actually there isn't one. (Other than to make you feel better about yourself, of course).

Sorry to have wasted your time.

It Goes Both Ways.

This morning, after having a conversation with a few friends about being an introvert, I found myself once again thinking about how extroverts just don't understand introverts.

I know all you introverts out there have complained about it. Because it's true. They just don't understand. I can't tell you how many times I have sent my extroverted friends links to articles explaining how introverts are wired (and there are PLENTY of them, probably because writers tend to be introverted). And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

But then I stopped myself. And I thought, Wow, I sure complain about extroverts a lot and how they don't understand me. But you know what? I don't understand them either. I wonder how often they complain about me?

It's so true, though.

 

Sometimes I feel like extroverts think their subdued friends carry a scarlet letter. Like introversion is a disease. Like there's something seriously wrong with introverts and we need to be fixed. And that just isn't true. There's nothing wrong with being an introvert.

But that doesn't mean we're perfect.

Just because extroverts don't understand us does not make us the victim. But it also doesn't mean we need to educate them on how they should treat us. It's not our job to fix others; it's our job to fix ourselves.

So I did a google search on "how to understand extroverts." And I learned some new things about my outgoing peers that I never realized before. And now I see that while there are definitely things that come more natural to them than to us, overall, they don't have it any easier than we do.

Extroverts cannot change us into one of them. And likewise, we can't change them into one of us. But what we can do is change how we relate to them. Because just like introverts want extroverts to treat them a certain way, extroverts want introverts to treat them a certain way.

Here are some articles about extroverts that I thought were really helpful:

5 Myths About Extroverts that Need to Die | Unfettered Ink
The Care and Feeding of Your Extrovert | The Badger's Sett
Understanding Extroverts: The Survival Guide | My Super Charged Life
Pickles' Guide to Understanding Extroverts | The Shadows Keep on Coming

Extroverts, if you guys want to learn a little bit more about how to relate to introverts, here is one of my all time favorite articles about introverts. As a fellow introvert, I can vouch for the validity of his post. Take good notes; there may be a pop quiz.

10 Myths About Introverts | Carl Kingdom

Keep in mind that everyone is different, so I'm sure none of these points apply to every extrovert/introvert in existence. They should more serve as a guide to better understanding.

And remember, just because we can't change what comes natural to us doesn't mean we can't choose to do it anyway. The choice is always there, we just have to make it.

I Hereby Declare the Summer of Awesome Fun Begun.

Yesterday was the beginning of summer, according to the ninety degree weather and the surplus of fun that came with it.

Not only was yesterday the end of the stressful last couple of weeks I've had (with finals and helping my mom with her play), it was also the day of the Color Me Rad 5K. Which, if you haven't heard of it before, is awesome and fun and you should sign up to do one.

Basically, it's a 5K (that is untimed so there are no winners or losers and therefore no pressure to run) where you start out looking quite angelic (or albino, whichever) in your clean white clothes, and then 3.1 miles later you come out looking like a rainbow exploded on you. Which is basically what happens; every kilometer or so, you are coated with color. The entry fee is a bit pricey, BUT they donate a portion of the proceeds to charity and you get cool sunglasses and T-shirts and a cargo ship of fun (boatload seems too small a metaphor).

ANYWAY. Don't just take my word for it. See for yourself.

You also get cool tattoos. And you can put them anywhere you please. Including, ahem, 

"over your heart...." 

  Before: Looking fresh in our clean white shirts. Please excuse the innappropriate tattoos.

 After: Rocking the hippie look in our psychedelic tye-dye. Far out.

  Our backs. Mary didn't want you to see mine, apparently.

 Love these girls. Also, in case you can't tell, I have this awesome blue Robert-Downey-Jr-esque 

facial hair thing going on.

We make super cute rainbows, IMHO.

So, as you can see, that was a whole lot of fun. Minus the whole ninety degree weather thing. But one large Sonic cherry limeade later and that was quickly resolved.

Which brings me to another point. Have you heard about Sonic's new milkshake flavors this summer? My summer goal is to try them ALL.*

*Minus the ones with peanut butter, coconut, or bacon in them, because I do not like peanut butter or coconut, and bacon just straight up doesn't belong in a milkshake.

BUT I am greatly looking forward to trying their cheesecake flavors, their cream pie flavors, and their chocolate-covered banana/strawberry flavors. GREATLY. 

I'm also excited to make this summer the best summer of all the summers that ever were. Even better than the summer of '69, which according to that one song was apparently pretty great. But it will be nothing in comparison to the summer of '13.

Yesterday was a great way to kickoff the summer, and in a week and a half, I'll be officially DONE with college, which will be another great continuation of the greatest summer ever.

After that, I don't know what this summer holds in store for me. But whatever it is, it will be stupdendous.

How are you celebrating the Summer of Awesome Fun?

The Fabulously Spectacular New Year's Eve Extravaganza.

I am going to attempt to recap my New Year's Eve party in the quickest way possible, because I was just crawling into bed when I realized that I'm about to get on a ship for a week and won't be able to blog anything, and I didn't want my New Year's post to wait that long. It is also going to be fast because I have to get up at like 3am to drive to New Orleans where our ship leaves. Sooo yeah. Excuse me if this post feels rushed. It is.

In a nutshell, my New Year's Eve party was quite successful and a lot of fun. What we did was this:

1. We started at 7, and had all the guests bring food. Drinks were provided by me and my friend Meagan who co-hosted. The first hour of the party was spent allowing guests to arrive, set up food, mingle, eat, take pictures in our "photo booth," etc.

2. At 8, the festivities started. We gathered upstairs for a few announcements/rules and then the fun began. I had set up a "dart board" with 4 balloons on it to be popped each hour. Inside each balloon was a piece of paper with an activity written on it. We had a volunteer come up each time and throw a dart at one of the balloons on the board. Whatever the paper inside the balloon said was the activity we did that hour. (Thanks to Pinterest for that idea!)

3. The first balloon held the "trivia game" activity. I had made a 2012 trivia jeopardy board with tons of questions about things that had happened in 2012. The categories were "Movies, TV, and Music," "Celebs," "Sports," "Facebook" (questions about Facebook statuses, etc. made throughout the year by various people), and "Your Lovely Hostesses" (questions about me and Meagan from 2012). We divided into three teams and each question had a multiple choice option for half the points, and a bonus question for an additional 50 points. I think everyone had a lot of fun being competitive and learning new things about 2012.

4. After that we mingled for a bit, and then popped the next balloon which was the memory game. As people were coming in, we had everyone write down a funny memory from 2012. This "game" was simply reading the memories out loud for a laugh and then trying to figure out who wrote it. Nothing too exciting, but it did provide some entertainment as we looked back on the year.

5. The Oreo contest. We took volunteers to participate in a contest to see how many Oreos people could fit in their mouths. The winner had 13. It was quite exciting. And disgusting.

6. The last game of the night was fishbowl. That's the game where everyone writes down three things on three pieces of paper, puts it in a bowl, and then each person has a minute to go through as many of the papers as they can. First round is like Catchphrase, where you can say anything to get your team to guess it. Second round you can only say one word. Third round is charades. Fourth round is sounds. It gets harder but everyone already knows all the words in the bowl, so in a sense it might even be easier.

7. At midnight, we turned on the TV to watch the ball drop. We supplied everyone with the appropriate noisemakers, and plastic wineglasses with sparkling grape juice. I also made a special midnight cake to kick off the New Year. And pretty much after that everyone disappeared. haha

So that was it! I will end with a few pictures from the photobooth so you can see what it looked like, and one of the cake, and then I'm off to bed cuz like I said...3 am. And feel free to steal any of these party ideas if you'd like...it's not copyrighted (and if you threw a party yourself, I'd love to hear what you did!).

 Guess who's in the middle.

 We had fun hats and accessories and stuff.

 

My family!

 

 My cake! (My mom decorated it).

Happy New Year to all and to all a goodnight.

See y'all in a week. <3

30 Days of Thankfulness.

Lately my Facebook and Instagram feeds have been filled with posts detailing things that various people are thankful for. One thing that you're thankful for, once a day, for the entire month of November. Not sure where it started, but I kind of think it might be the female alternative to Movember/No Shave November.

November: The month of thankfulness and beards.*

*Important note: not to be confused with thankfulness FOR beards. No woman I know enjoys the barbaric appearance of the male gender during the month of November. Or any month. Keep that in mind, guys.

Anyway, I wanted to be thankful, too. But instead of posting one thing every day and adding yet another thing to read on your Facebook feed, I'm going to post all 30 at one time. Right here, where you can choose to read it now or later or not at all. And so, without further ado, 30 things I am thankful for.

1. The Lord Jesus Christ and everything that comes with believing in Him. I am a sinner. I deserve nothing more than death. Yet my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ decided that I (and everyone else on Earth) was worth a second chance. He came down here and died so I could live. He saved my life, and He saved yours too. As if that isn't great enough, all He asked in return is that I live my life for Him. And though sometimes I fail, he continues to be merciful and forgiving. I am so not worthy, yet He loves me anyway. And for that, I am eternally thankful.

2. My family. No matter how loud, crazy, weird, annoying, imperfect, and embarrassing they might be sometimes, I wouldn't trade them for anything.

3. My friends. I'm an only child. Because of this, my friends have always meant so much to me. My friends have acted as siblings to me my whole life, and I'm thankful that they love me and don't mind being in public with me even though they know how weird and crazy I am.

4. My church. My church is awesome, y'all. The sermons are always applicable and they're like, super good stuff. Everyone is welcoming and they make serving fun. I have created so many healthy relationships and am consistently furthering my walk with God through my church. I'm also grateful that I have a church to go to, because so many people in other countries don't. 'Merica.

5. America. Even though the president that I believe would have been best for this country lost the election, I am still grateful, because it could be a lot worse. The fact that there's really no country that would be better to go to says a lot. I'm proud to be an American.

That concludes the serious/main/long items. The next 25 will be much shorter and random.

6. This weather. High is 82 today. Right now it's 68. I'm currently (I probably won't be when I actually post this) sitting outside on my college campus because I had a bunch of time to kill after taking a test. The grass is green, the trees are changing color, the sky is clear, and the breeze is just right. I could stay here all day, but I have to go to work in about 45 minutes...

 Imagine sitting in the shade of a tree, in 70 degree weather, and this bliss surrounding you.

7. Work. My job. I have an awesome job at a fantastic company with great people. I love it. And though it's not what I ultimately want to end up doing with my life, having a job -- especially one that you love -- is such a great privilege these days and I'm going to hold on to it as long as I can.

8. The guy who is currently studying in the next tree over from me, because he provided me great entertainment for me as I watched him greatly struggle to climb the tree. I actually think he got stuck. Poor guy, but it did brighten my day.

9. The bee that has been buzzing around me for the past 20 minutes. He hasn't stung me yet. Thanks, little guy.

10. Ice cream. And sweets in general. My sweet tooth would seriously suffer if these things had never been invented.

11. My bed. If you have never laid on my bed...you're missing out. Everyone who has agrees that it is the most comfortable thing since yoga pants.

12. Yoga pants. Who invented these?! I must meet this genius.

13. The inventors of CLEP, DSSTs, and online college courses who are helping me obtain my college degree in just one year.

14. Thomas Edison State College, who accepts unlimited transfers and allows you to take online courses. Without TESC, I wouldn't be able to graduate this summer and/or have to move to New Jersey for a semester.

15. Sunsets and sunrises. Not only are they fun to watch, they're a great reminder of the Supreme Artist. God is so creative.

16. Summer. A break from school is always much needed after a long semester. And I do love warm weather.

17. Fall. Usually by the end of summer I'm ready for slightly cooler weather and fall clothes. And of course, Starbucks' salted caramel hot chocolate.

18. Music. Without music...I think I might die. I'm always listening to it. ALWAYS. I'm listening to it right now. I don't really know why I like music so much...I just do. It's a huge part of my life. And I'm thankful for it.

19. Children. Little kids have a tendency to make my day, no matter how bad it's been. I think they're cute and hilarious and I just love them.

20. My car. I would have problems getting places without it because my school is 30 minutes away from my house, and I go straight from work to school...and both my parents work, and there's really no one else who could take me. Also, I got a really nice car for a very affordable price. Also something to be thankful for.

21. Food. Mainly because I'm hungry right now.

22. Graphing calculators. Because as confusing as they are to me...I would not have passed calculus without one. (Though I might have done better if I knew what all the buttons did...)

23. Animals. I just love animals. Big, small, cute, ugly, indoor, outdoor, red fish, blue fish...you get the point. I would be lost without my pets. They mean the world to me.

24. Flexible professors, church leaders, and bosses who are willing to work with my busy schedule.

25. Laughter. I love laughing. I think it's the greatest thing since milkshakes. (Though I think laughing came first, so never mind). Imagine how much more boring the world would be without laughter.

26. Writing. Writing is my outlet. I turn to writing when I'm happy, sad, angry, embarrassed, nervous, scared, or excited. Imagine all that emotion bottled up inside me if I couldn't write...I would explode.

27. A house. This is in no particular order by the way. Because I'm definitely more grateful for a house than graphing calculators. But yeah. Really thankful I'm not living in a box on the street.

28. Crossword puzzles. A much more productive way to kill time than watching TV or staring at Facebook, because you learn things, too. It's a mini brain workout, and it's fun! Win-win.

29. Pop Tarts. One of the only ways I will eat breakfast, is if we have Pop Tarts. And my stomach greatly appreciates when we do.

30. Life. You know...I couldn't experience any of this if I didn't have life. If Jesus hadn't died for me, if my parents hadn't wanted me, if I was in a country where Christians are persecuted...yet here I am, alive. So many of us take it for granted when really it's probably the greatest privilege we're given. Go life.

And thus concludes my one day of 30 days of thankfulness.

What are you thankful for?

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

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger...

 ...or just really tired.

We slightly changed the words to Kelly Clarkson's song to fit HEART. But that's as far as we got, because we fell asleep after that. :)

Anyway...THIS is the post you have been waiting for!

Honestly, I have dreaded writing this post. Why? Because it was three weeks of constant activity...it wouldn't be a post, it'd be a book.

And honestly, I DON'T want to write all of that. So instead, I'm going to give a brief summary of what we did, why we did it, and I WAS going to show you a couple videos, but I'm giving up on that. I will post them in the future if I am able to. So please enjoy this picture-less, video-less, very, very summarized summary of HEART!

What is HEART?

HEART stands for "Hearts Eager and Ready for Training". It was the summer training program that my church's youth group offered to the girls this summer. The guys had one too, called SWEAT (Student Work Experience and Training). We love acrostics at my church.

The program was open to all students 6th-12th grade. Students had the option of going three weeks, two weeks, or one week. The girls renovated a lifeless house; the guys transformed a barren property. The first week we had 9 girls. We added 8 more the second week and 10 the third week for a grand total of 27 girls.

We had guest speakers throughout the weeks to come talk to us about things such as finances, relationships, dating, cooking, and first aid.

The point of the program was to teach young men and women a good work ethic, diligence, perseverance, and teamwork as well as important life skills, all while learning to live together and provide for each other.

We cooked meals together, cleaned together, tiled floors together, painted together, scraped floors together, ate together, laughed together, learned together, and most of all, we grew closer to God together.

There was a lot of togetherness.

What did we do?

• First, we ripped out the carpet. It was GROSS. Awful. And we couldn't move our bags in until that happened. That's how bad it was.
• We then spent the next three days scraping the brown moss of terror.
• We painted all the walls and ceilings. The people who had previously lived there were smokers and the poor dry wall was suffering from that.
• We cleaned. Because all the surfaces in the house were as gross as the carpet.
• We laid vinyl tile in the laundry room, dining room, and kitchen.
• We meal planned, grocery shopped, and cooked.
• We did dishes.
• We spackled with hot pink spackle that turns white when it dries. Awesome.
• We caulked.
• We did minor landscaping.
• We wrote songs.
• We saw the boys once a week (!).
• We made necklaces, hair flowers, trivets, soaps, bath fizzies, and other things that I don't remember.
• We worshiped Jesus.
• We learned, grew, and endured.
• We made new friends.

And, last but not least,

• We had fun!

Believe it or not, yes, we had fun.

What is "the brown moss of terror?" 

Well, underneath the carpet in the kitchen, dining room and laundry room, was this wonderful little brown carpet pad that was glued to the floor underneath. Literally. It would not come up. And it needed to. We spent three days scraping it. And it looked kind of mossy, so it was dubbed the brown moss of terror.

Songwriting? That sounds fun!

Yes, yes it does. One Friday the boys came over and had written us a song to the tune of "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. So we wrote them a song to the tune of "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen and sang it for them the following week. Unfortunately, I don't have a video of that.

I do, however, have a video of this song that Meredith and I wrote while painting the bathroom...which I was going to post, but now I'm not. So...sorry! haha

We also had a High School Musical dance party. It was epic. I know you're jealous.

What does the house look like now?

Awesome.

Amazing.

Beautiful.

It's practically a castle.

Well, compared to what it DID look like, at least. :)


So, now you know how I spent the last three weeks of my June (after my senior trip). Exciting right? It was a great time, and a great experience, but I'm glad to be home and back at work. About to start college. Oh, I'm a sophomore now, as of yesterday. Cool right? I'm probably the only freshman at UTA who's actually a sophomore. Hehe. I cheated the system.

My Week With Shamu.

Okay, so in actuality I only really spent about 30 minutes out of the whole week with Shamu. But it was a better title than "My San Antonio Trip," which was the other option. I'm not good with titles.

Anyway! I will now recount the events of my senior trip to the best of my ability. Don't worry, there's pictures, for those of you who hate reading.

We left the morning of Saturday, June 2nd to begin our epic adventure of initiation into adulthood in none other than the very city that marked the turning point of the war for our beloved state of Texas' independence! Others who journeyed here before us include Samuel Houston, William Travis, and Jim Bowie. In fact, I probably set foot upon the exact place where Davy Crockett's lifeless body laid...cool, right?

(Please excuse the history lesson. My mom's an American history teacher. Though I may or may not have had to turn to google to check the accuracy on a few of those facts...shh. Don't tell.)

Anyway, my faithful companions on this adventure were my good friends Meagan, Ellen, Christopher, Luke, and Stephen! Now, take a break from reading, and enjoy these pictures:

 

Ready for a week of epic awesomeness.

Remembering the Alamo...or, trying to remember, at least.

 This was Luke's idea. I think he was the only one who knew what we were doing. 

Something about a line...?

Okay, so that was day one! Well, and the second half of day two...we went to the Alamo at the end of the second day after we got back from Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. But I don't actually have any pictures of Schlitterbahn cuz, you know, it's a water park, and iPhones don't take very high quality pictures in water.

Actually, I didn't take any of these pictures...so you can blame the friends I stole these pictures from for not taking pictures at Schlitterbahn. Which is a German word, pronounced Sh-litter-bon. In case you read that, and thought I was crazy.

Anyway, day three, and my personal favorite day (:D) was dolphin day! Also known as Sea World day. If you don't know, my favorite animal is a dolphin. Shamu was cool too, but he is also capable of eating people. Dolphins just want to play with people. They're pacifists. And much less risky.

Also, there are about five killer whales at Sea World, and they are ALL named Shamu. Even the baby is "Baby Shamu". Such a scam. I hope the kids never find out. Because when I found out, it was like my whole childhood was a lie and I could never trust Shamu again.

Dolphins don't lie to little kids.

Anyway, picture time!

 

Waiting for scam artist Shamu(s) to come out.

 

So Shamu can pose. Big deal. Dolphins can do flips. BACKflips. That actually

requires talent. 

 

I look a lot happier in this picture. Probably cuz we were waiting for the DOLPHIN

show. 

 

Reason #52 why dolphins are better than Shamu: That mouth is open for a fish.

NOT a human being.  

I fell asleep in the car on my new pillow.

 And there's the pillow. It was too perfect that the dolphin one was purple.

Okay, I think I'm done ragging on Shamu now. 

Tuesday we didn't do much. We were going to a fancy steakhouse for dinner that night, so we didn't want to do anything that would make us look all gross for that. Sooo...we went bowling! And then the BOYS made us go SHOPPING for like TWO HOURS. First time ever I have been stuck in a mall sitting on a random couch in the middle of the building waiting for a boy to finish shopping. And hopefully the last time; it wasn't too fun.

They had to buy a sweater vest for Christopher, but it was some big secret so the girls had to go away. And it took them FOREVER to find one.

So then we got back to the hotel and had like 45 minutes to get ready for dinner. And then we went to Chamagaucha steakhouse which was AMAZING. I've never eaten so much meat in my life. It's one of those places where they just keep bringing out more and more and more and more meat until you're about to die from fullness and then they still bring more.

 

Bowling!

 

In the elevator in our pretty dresses :)

 

At the restaurant.

 

 We told them we were celebrating our senior trip, and they brought us a free

slice of cheesecake! It was gone in 30 seconds. So good.

 Us in front of the restaurant. Christopher is wearing the vest that took two hours

to find. I hope it was worth it.

Day four was Fiesta Texas day! I LOVE theme parks and roller coasters, so that was fun. It was really hot, though. I was so dehydrated by the end of the day...I think I walked around for about 20 minutes (or it felt like it) looking for a water fountain...only to find out there was one like five feet away from where I started searching. We left by mid-afternoon, and just hung out at the hotel the rest of the day. Then, that night, we went to the Chart House Restaurant in The Tower of the Americas for dessert. It's a really fancy restaurant in downtown San Antonio that overlooks the city and actually revolves so you can see the whole city and not just a quarter of it. I tried creme brulee for the first time and I will definitely be getting that again. It was so good.

 Waiting in line for a ride I don't remember the name of. But whatever it was, it

 gave me whiplash and a headache.

On "The Scream"! About to shoot up 5000 feet into the air! Or whatever a 

more realistic height is. I'm not good with numbers. 

 At the Chart House. Isn't that view amazing?

Our last day, we left in the morning and then spent part of the day at Schlitterbahn again before heading back home. It was sad that it was over. Because it was fun. And who likes it when fun ends? 

  The only Schlitterbahn picture we have.

All in all, it was a really fun trip. I especially appreciated it because I didn't get to go on my school's senior trip and I had been pretty bummed about that. Then I found out the possibility of a smaller senior trip with these great friends of mine and I was super excited! So glad it worked out, and that we got to do everything we wanted. :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering or concerned...we did have parents with us. Mine and Christopher's were there, but they didn't go anywhere with us. They were just there in the same hotel/city with us, you know, in case of an emergency. It was fun!

So yeah, great time with some great people! And then I came home, had about three days to re-coop, and then I had to pack all over again for the three week summer training program I went to next! I will have a post about that up...later. As in, like early next week later. Like Monday or Tuesday. More likely Tuesday, because I'm a procrastinator. But we shall see.

Did you go anywhere this summer?  

The Class of '012.

Yes, I did realize I wrote "'012". I did that on purpose. "Class of '12" sounds like it's missing a syllable.

Sooo....I'm graduated! That wonderful day that you all heard me talk about way too much...it finally came! I graduated Tuesday, May 22nd, and boy does it feel grand. Cue the music... "I feeeeeeel good! *duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh* I knew that I would! *duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh*"

 But in all seriousness, I am so glad it is over. It has been so stressful the last several weeks, as you may have guessed from my lack of presence in the blogosphere. I have pictures, which I know you are dying to see...but if I put them in this post, this post is literally going to be a mile long...so, I will dedicate a separate post to them later, but here's a preview:

Oh yeah, things got crazy.

So, you may be wondering...now what? I think the question most commonly heard by new graduates is "So, what are your plans for your future?" Ah, the future. I am a future person. I have my wedding planned. Heck, I have my funeral planned. (Have I mentioned I'm a planner?) I like to think ahead. However...my future is kind of hard to explain....

"I'm going to be enrolling full time at UTA in the fall, because I was valedictorian and have a scholarship I can only use if I enroll full time. However, I'm also going to be testing out of various courses through CLEP and DSST and also taking some online courses. Then I will take all the credits from UTA, the testing, and the online courses and transfer them to this random state college in New Jersey that you've probably never heard of called Thomas Edison and receiving my diploma from there with a degree in liberal studies. My goal is to finish in two years, then go on to get my teacher's certification."

That's the true answer to that question. But what I actually say is,

"I'm going to UTA."

It saves a lot of time and I don't have to answer a gazillion questions about why I'm doing it that way or how we heard about the college or the tests or whatever. Occasionally, people ask about my major, to which I say "liberal studies" and then pray that they don't know that UTA doesn't have a liberal studies program because that just brings up a whole bunch of other questions that I really don't want to answer.

In the much nearer future, however, I have some exciting things going on as well. For instance, I am leaving in the morning to go to San Antonio with some of my best friends for about a week. We're going to Fiesta Texas, Sea World, and Schlitterbahn while we're down there. We're also planning on a fancy dinner at an expensive steakhouse and dessert in a revolving tower overlooking the city. Can't wait! :)

(Don't worry...we have parents going with us, they just won't be hovering.)

Then, a few days after I get back, I am leaving for 3 weeks to go live in/renovate a house with a bunch of other girls from my youth group. We will also be learning life skills like cooking, cleaning, budgeting, laundry, etc. It should be a lot of fun, though it will definitely be challenging as well. So just a heads up...I will be MIA for most of June as I can't bring a phone, a computer, or anything like that with me.

July, I plan on working more, and doing some school (I already have 27 hours! That's almost a year of college...and I just graduated! Woohoo!). Hopefully I'll still have some time for fun though...I don't want to be the boring person who works all the time... :) Anyway, I'm bringing my laptop to San Antonio so you may be hearing from me there. I am definitely most excited for Sea World. When I was little I wanted to be a marine biologist, because I love dolphins so much. Haha, can't wait!

 Oh, on a side note...my phone and charger mysteriously moved outlets last night. My parents said they didn't do it. I have come to the conclusion that someone in my family is a sleepwalker, and I intend to find out who. The culprit will NOT get away with this...unless of course it's me, in which case I forgive myself.

From Messy to Marvelous.

And once again, I'm late on the blog posting. I just had the craziest week in school, with a 10 page paper and a 6 page paper due on the same day. I also got sick this week, so that didn't help. But, now it's Friday, the week is (almost) officially over, and I have no plans tonight. So, here I am to update you on the most exciting event of a high school girl's life...

So, if you read my last post you'll know that two weekends ago I participated in a mud run. Well, this past weekend, I did essentially the complete opposite of jumping into mud.

I...

Went to prom! Yay!

And let me just say, it was fabulous. Getting ready was probably one of my favorite parts, despite the fact that it took FOUR HOURS to curl my hair. I have a lot of hair. This is good because I know that I will never be bald. Other than that...it's really not good. If you don't think you have enough hair....just be grateful you don't have too MUCH hair.

ANYWAY....enough about hair...you want to see pictures, don't you?

Good thing we took some! :) I will narrate my way through the pictures, so you can feel like you were there, and then be jealous that you weren't.

 

After curling my hair, I looked like a poodle. Did I mention I have A LOT of hair?

 

The final touches.

Time for pictures in Meagan's front yard!

 

Fun fact: I got my dress for free and have been saving it for five years.

"I don't want to go to prom with HER..."

My back is awkwardly arched...

 

Meagan's overly excited, and I am in shock. Typical.

 

 Aww...friends!

Hey, look! More friends!

 

Look at our pretty dresses. :)

 

 We took a lot of pictures...

  

Tree shot!

 

 On the way to prom--so exciting!

 

Personally, I think the sunglasses complete the look...

We met up with some more friends at prom...

...and things got a little crazy!

Group shot! We're defending the boys.

 

And now the boys are defending us...

 And now I'm about to murder Alex. Don't mess with me.

And that would conclude all the pictures I have from prom. We also had a fabulous dinner with this amazing, mouth watering raspberry mousse for dessert. It was so good, I almost cried when it was gone. And then the dancing was a ton of fun...even though I'm not a dancer, and probably made a fool of myself.

I think my favorite part though was getting ready. I love getting all prettied up and spending extra time on hair and makeup and stuff. For example, I love my hair curly...but I don't typically have four hours of free time, so I usually leave it in its naturally wild and crazy state.

Prom ended suuuuper late...at 1...I didn't get to bed until after 2! Most of our group went to IHOP afterward...but I had to be at church at 7:30 the next morning, so I passed on that one. 

So, that was my exciting Saturday! My first--and last--prom. It was a lot of fun and totally worth the money, but I wouldn't do it again. I think it's worth the money the first time, but not a second, if that makes any sense at all. If it was free, however, I'd go every week.

Also, I mentioned in a previous post that I had a recital coming up this past Friday. That got canceled because one of our girls got sick and couldn't sing. It is now going to take place sometime at the end of May, so I will post about that whenever it happens. Just in case anyone was wondering.

And I have one last note! I wanted to give a quick shout out to Memory from the Lowercase Letters blog. Her 18th birthday was on Wednesday, so I'm a little late, buuut 18 is too important to be forgotten. Happy birthday, Mem! You are now officially part of the adult world. Enjoy! :)