when life was good

against all common sense, i took off for hesston over thanksgiving. there were definitely things i could be doing here, but i went to see bethany, brenda, josh, kevin, and the buhrmans. i ended up seeing a lot more people than that and had a amazing time! it was fanstastic to catch up with the nebels and have coffee with ron and deb. my lunch with kevin was entertaining, as always, and i had so much fun sitting at the round table in drubers. then on friday night i spent time with josh and kris at newells. this was by far the most relaxing part of the trip, mainly because i was with 2 people who i am entirely comfortable with. they know me and still choose to be friends with me. we laughed and laughed all night and had some great conversations with the two of them.

now i'm looking at less than a week until finals and i'm done for the semester. and i only have 2 finals and one presentation next week. after friday, when i have a presentation, a portfolio, and a case study due, i'm on the home stretch. now i'm at panera with my roommates and we're working on homework, except for i decided to take a little break. ;)

over christmas break, i'm looking forward to spending time with kristin and colette and erica and kelly and sara and i may even get to see carrie! i think those few weeks will go by quickly, but it would be great if i could make them last forever. next semester will definitely be lighter than this one, but i really need a break from homework and the drama at school.

since it's december, i can officially play christmas music!! and i found out that amazon is having 25 days of free christmas music, offering a new song each day. it's heaven. check it out.

and being in your life is gonna change me

like always, i'm procrastinating again! it's wonderful! this weekend was filled with so much excitement that it's a little hard to get back into the swing of things. we went to patrick ressler's hour after on friday and it was incredible! he has such talent...he can take any song and make it his own. i could listen to him for hours. then on saturday we had celebrations for betsy's birthday. we started at chili's then moved to 411 for a wicked awesome dance party. SOOOO much fun! i loved it!

it was also the holiday open house weekend in downtown goshen, so i worked both friday and saturday. from now until christmas i'll work on sundays. i love it...we put of the christmas decorations and started playing christmas music! it's magical!

but perhaps the biggest news of all, and definitely the highlight of my week so far....JOSH CAME TO VISIT!!! he was only here for a day and i saw him for only like 5 minutes, but it was soooooo great to see him again! he's my best friend, and being apart for over a year and a half has been super hard. the chances of him coming to goshen next semester aren't too great, but at least i got to see him for a little bit. and since i'm going out to hesston for thanksgiving, i'll see him next week too! it's fantastic!

back to the chaos of my life....pray as i'm finishing up all of these projects and exams!

i and love and you

another weekend of no productivity and a lot of fun has come and gone. this weekend was filled with work, dance parties in the loft, more work, the beautiful fall wedding of two of my friends, an incredible musical at westview, playing piano at church, a fulfilling meal and grandma's, and sleep, lots of sleep.

i got sick on friday morning, but i didn't really have time to slow down and deal with it until yesterday. in fact, at em & al's wedding, i'm pretty sure i had a fever. but i was convinced i would have fun this weekend. and fun i had. friday night's sleepover with colette, erica, and kelly was just what i needed to forget all the stresses of school and life and just be. we had a blast attempting to dance, and we even have a few videos on facebook to prove it. these girls are so refreshing to be with because they actually know me. they know everything about me and totally accept me for that. i love them.

there were so many highlight on saturday. emily and alex's wedding was at the top. it was so beautiful; very vintage and definitely emily. it was fun to see two people who i've gotten to know pretty well in the past year get married. it wouldn't have been half as fun if i didn't know alex, but they are just so perfect for each other.

westview always puts on great musicals, and this year was no different. they did beauty and the beast, and let me tell you, it was almost flawless. it was crazy seeing ryan up there, though...i wasn't expecting that. but it was good. i can't believe how well my cousin zac did. he was hilarious and pretty much stole the show!

yesterday i finally got to sleep. i slept for about 3 hours during the day and then went to bed early. i feel much better today, only a stuffy nose is left. i also got my h1n1 vaccine today so hopefully that'll help me from getting the flu again in the future. now it's back to hectic schedules and a multitude of projects!

many shades of black

i feel like my life is really stale right now. i'm at a stand still. things aren't going bad, they're just not going entirely wonderful either.

i have so much to do that it's hard to even think sometimes. i have no motivation to do all of those things, which throws me off completely. and every night around 9:00 i start getting this awful headache that follows me no matter what. my magic headache medicine can't even help it.

my spiritual life has felt a little stiff lately too. i've been going to church and even helping, but it's to the point where i can't really listen to any christian or praise and worship music because it just depresses me. i can't really remember the last time i've felt as though god was truly here. that scare me.

but through it all, time keeps ticking. somehow i'll make it through.

it's a good thing i love christmas.

the other side of the door

midterm is officially over and and it's all downhill from here. that's the scary part. every single semester, it feels like there is nothing to do during the first half, then all of the sudden there's a mountain of work in front of me...projects. lesson plans. exams.

as much as i hate it, it's definitely helping me become a better teacher. i was so scared at the beginning of the year because i thought i knew nothing, but as we're out in the schools more and more, it's becoming more natural. it fits so well with my personality, and i'm so glad i've found something i love to do. the kids i've worked with so far are so much fun and i look forward to going to the school 4 mornings a week, even if it is early.

i've also found a lot of time for fun this semester. i took a trip to chicago over fall break with kelsey and renee. we had so much fun walking around the city and shopping. just like last year, it made me realize how much i love the city and really want to live there at some point. just to see if i could do it.

over thanksgiving i'm heading out to hesston with kim to meet up with bethany and maybe audra. i'm soooo excited to see b again!!!! it's been way too long. and of course, i love seeing audra, but i also just saw her this summer. i'll stay with the nebels and hopefully see the burhmans and kevin while i'm out there. i'm looking forward to going back to kansas.

and hopefully between now and then josh will come out to visit the college. he keeps putting off deciding when he'll come, so who knows if he'll actually show. but it would be great to see him again since it's been over a year.

well, i have to go wash dishes...we have way too many right now...oops!

i've got a feeling

this summer flew by. real fast. and now i'm sitting in my new apartment starting my senior (but really junior) year. it's crazy. but i love it.

summer was good, of course. but it got to be really long. as much fun as i had at camp, i was ready to be done. it was time. and i thought i wasn't really ready to come back to school, but it's actually been a lot of fun! i love my apartment and my roommates and it's so much fun being back with friends. this semester is going to be really busy...but it'll be a blast too!

stay tuned for updates.

i think about you in the summertime

well, summer is off to a fantastic start. after 3 weeks of camp i've determined that amigo centre is the one place that recharges me and makes me feel the most alive. the feeling of love and acceptance and closeness to god that i get when i'm there is incredible. and the people are fantastic too. the leadership team this summer is exeptionally great. we have so much fun just hanging out together and laughing at each other, and by "each other" i really mean me. :]

the rest of the staff is extremely interesting. they're a lot of fun, it's just that they're all so unique. for the most part, it is a really young staff. i think there are only 4 people that are older than me. and that makes me feel really old. but i see maturity in them that is needed for our jobs, which makes me excited about the summer. i can't wait for our first group of campers to come tomorrow and to really get the party started!

i do feel really bad, though, about how much i forget about most of my friends during the summer. that sounds horrible, and in fact it probably it, but i have some friends that seem to be more my summer friends. like maggie...we met at camp and we've been friends ever since, but we only really see each other in the summer. so we're together all the time. over the past 3 weeks i think there have only been about 3 days when we haven't been together. and living at camp during the week really takes a lot of time away from other friends...seeing them or just calling them. i was able to have two long converations with friends this past week which was awesome, and i'm sitting here with my bestie right now!! so if you're feeling like i'm ignoring you, sorry. just call me!


.i.love.summer.