it's beginning to feel like...

fall. FINALLY. even the fact that it's rainy and drab outside can't kill my mood today.

I almost didn't wake up this morning because the rain was coming down so hard the sun didn't rise! (I mean, I'm sure it did, but I couldn't see it. Therefore I was unable to greet and salute said sunrise, leading to my inability to wake up/get out of bed... ever.) However, I have tried to make the most out of this rainy monday by wearing my new trench coat (THANKS LISA... MOM). The only problem was that this coat did not have a hood to protect my sweet little head from Knoxville's acidic rain.
Problem easily solved: take hood off of another jacket and simply place it on head like hat. BADABING: hood. Nevermind the color difference, because who really cares if I match anyways? If there is actually a person out there who TRULY cares if I match every day or not, I pity the quality of your life. And sorry.

I love it when I ask permission to do something and the response I receive is "go for it".

Like:
Question:"Is anyone sitting here?"
Response: "No. Go for it!"

It's like a little pep talk. Like I have people throughout my whole day whose sole purposes are to give me that one encouraging phrase and smack my butt to get ready for game time. (just kidding about that last part). GO TEAM :)

I just realized I have been sitting here at Starbucks in John Hodges with my head phones on for fifteen minutes... without music. After realizing this, I open my itunes only to have my ears blasted with the highest volume of tunes.

And with that last bit of entertaining news, my table companion puts up her hood and tucks her hair in... to go outside?

false. She just was preparing for the next level her extreme studying sesh. I am now intimidated.

go team. -h.

lessons learned...

so here are a few lessons learned today:

#1: never wear your favorite shirt (or your brand new one) to do the dishes. you will ALWAYS get soapy suds on it. alwaysalwaysalways. don't do it.

#2. ALWAYS wear pants. you never know who might stumble into your room. (this particular lesson was not necessarily LEARNED today, but I was reminded of that one time I learned this lesson before...)

lesson #3; if you have homework, do NOT (and I repeat DO NOT) even think about getting on Facebook. whatever you need to do will never be done... until maybe 3 o'clock.

#4. It is always okay to go into someone else's room when they aren't there. Always. (perhaps to use a can opener or to eat some of their applesauce? just saying...)

#5: It's okay if you get lazy at night and don't charge your phone. Chances are when it dies, (and it will.... eventually) it won't even be that big of a deal and you might even get out of that one alive.

lesson #6, even if you have a scary dream, or a dream where someone does something mean to you or maybe proposes to another girl because he "thought you wouldn't care", it is not really appropriate to take it out on that person the next morning, because they didn't really do anything wrong in real life. (...or DID they? hmm...)

well, consider those lessons learned. I will now attempt to be on task.

-h.

so it's been a long time...

and even though I've been away for a long time, it's probably just because my life is so darn great. And that's not supposed to sound boastful... I've just been so blessed.
I feel a little awkward starting up again after my vow of blog-silence. Should I backtrack completely? Summarize my wonderful summer? Or should I just completely skip that part and not fill in any of the blank spaces of my blogging life?

Hmmm... I've never been good with making decisions. If you know me at all you know this is painfully true.

I guess I'll backtrack, summarize the good things, and leave out all the boring/uninteresting/embarrassing parts of my life as of late.

My summer was marvelous. It was full of laughter and tears, but mostly smiley, sunshiney days when there was nothing else I could do but love life. Camp Vesper Point will always hold a special place in the heart of my childhood, but I'm finding that it has a more lasting impact on my newly found adult life (I am now 20. no more teeny boppers for me!). Camp challenged me in ways I didn't think were humanly possible, and because of that I have learned so much. I was so blessed to be surrounded by the best of friends the entirety of the summer, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Wow... my summarizing skills surprise me. Touche self-doubting-self!

I am currently up to my old shenanigans. I have a test in half an hour, and instead of studying studiously, I am checking off things that have been collecting dust on my To Do list. Such as write a letter to my lovely pen pal, or update my dilapidating blog...

SO, as long as I'm getting SOMETHING done, my life is worth while.

SHALOM.

typical college student...

so, being the college student that I am, I am constantly moving and always have things to do. Because of this, I am forced to reconsider what I used to acknowledge as my "eating schedule".

yesterday, I was running a bit late to my first class, so I decided to have a late breakfast. So at 10 I had a bagel and coffee. I continued throughout my busy Monday, and finally finished classes at 4:30.

Now here lies the problem: I had a free dinner at 6:00, but I was STARVING. so naturally, I went to the cafeteria to consume 2 bowls of captain crunch and a couple of cookies beforehand. Of course, the whole time I was eating my subconscious was saying, "you'll be sorry... you'll be sorry... you be sorry..."

And I was.

Oh well. the 6:00 dinner was good, too. Free food is just so hard to pass up sometimes.

And here I am, in the cafeteria again. I had a lovely chat with my girl Janice. She has fly glasses. And six grand boys. We like to laugh together for thirty minutes while I hold my delicious yogurt parfait wishing I could eat it. She was hiding from me when I first came into the cafeteria, but don't worry, I found her.

Soooo... I guess I'll study now? I decided that the cafeteria is a good place to study. Probably because I've set my station up right next to the desert bar. Stellar.

These rainy days make me sleepy. I'm dreaming of spring days and summer nights. Fresh air and carelessness.

tom foolery

in light of certain events this week, (excellent weather, easter break, etc)

my word of the day is tom foolery.

the urban dictionary describes tom foolery as: Wreaking Havoc/causing general chaos/shenanigans....

First of all, may I just point out that shenanigans is an altogether stellar word. And I suppose that "tom foolery" is a phrase, not a word. However, it just seems fitting for this week.
ex. I am going home today, and much tom foolery will be going down.

You better recognize.

So, after a fun and music-filled car ride in Collin's stellar gold jeep, I am finally back home in good ole Leiper's Fork. I just finished giving my precious little sister a bath. She is absolutely gorgeous and is growing like a weed.


Currently my eight year old brother is running laps around our house because he got in trouble.

it's 10:00.

I love my family. I miss it so much. It is so so so so so good to be home. What a blessing my family is to me! THANK YOU, LORD!

In this moment, this is my shalom.

h.

"studying"

Currently I am in the library with some very stellar friends "studying"... also known as running around the 6th floor, climbing through empty bookshelves, and finding little unknown crannies in the library with comfy chairs!

the Urban Dictionary very correctly defines studying as: "what you're avoiding right now".

Right on target, Urban Dictionary. I am thoroughly impressed.

I have done everything from facebook, youtube, stumble upon, twitter, itunes, and solitaire in attempt to avoid my studying. I have also visited Starbucks twice, where I met a new friend Ayanle who is from Somalia. He moved to the United States in 2001. He lived in California for a year and then moved here. He doesn't know why, but he has friends so it's okay. He says I have a lot of friends. I said yes. I mean, I think I have a lot of friends. He was real nice and said that if I didn't like the Dark Cherry Mocha that, yes, he WOULD make me another drink. I debated on whether I should lie to him and say that I didn't like it so I could get a free drink, but I decided that I liked him too much to lie. That would build a rotten foundation for our new-found friendship.

So now I'm drinking some rockin' organic milk. the vanilla kind. it's pretty much wonderful.

I told my friend Allie that I would tell her something embarrassing about myself if she sent me a package of my most favorite things!! She agreed. Alas, I cannot think of what favorite things I would like for her to send me. So that gives me yet another thing to think about besides studying. Because obviously my list of favorite things is much more important than my midterm tomorrow.

soooo.... I guess I should attempt to study now...
which according to Urban dictionary is avoiding to study...
so by me saying that I am about to study, I am really saying that I am about to NOT study.

Which is exactly what I'm about to do.

h.

monsters

"we stop looking for monsters under our bed because we realized they were inside us"

The weather was gorgeous today. I feel like it was a little package sent from God saying "hey, I know life is hard sometimes, but look at my creation. It rocks, right?"

Yes. Yes is does rock. Thanks God. You're the best.

So lately I've been thinking about how jubilant life would be if we acted like children. We could play together and not worry about money, or homework. But we could be free. Children are so quick to believe in things, ( which makes it fun to mess around with them ) but I wish I had faith like a child. I have gotten to the point where I feel so independent and "grown up" that I no longer am able to put my trust into things that aren't concrete. Why do we feel the need to question everything?

Today in RUF, we talked about how God is offering us complete restoration, we just have to accept it. Inside, no matter how put together we seem, we have monsters. We can try and try to get rid of them ourselves, but the only one who can fully restore us is Him. He is pursuing us, why aren't we answering? WE ARE GLORIOUS RUINS. We are broken and restoration will hurt, but the promise of reconciliation is so beautiful!

So, as I sit here and eat my natural cheetos, I am asking God to give me faith like a child, so I can trust Him and be restored.

h.