Crazy Semester!

So, this semester has been going on for all of a week and a half and it is already all kinds of crazy.  Seriously.  Between Organic II, Physics II, Medical Microbiology, and Psychology I already  know that I will have NO free time this spring.  The one thing that is keeping me sane though is my friends.  If you've been reading my blog, you know that my friends mean the WORLD to me and without them I would be a little more lost than I already am.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have lab in the afternoon (Physics on Tuesday and Organic on Thursday).  Because of this, I am stuck on campus pretty much all day, but I did give myself a break for lunch.  Well, my friends and I have a standing lunch date on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  On Tuesdays it is me, CDM, SC, SS, SP, and JBA.  On Thursdays, we get a couple more people including DMB.  We have so much fun during lunch.  It's great to sit in the Student Union and just be obnoxious and loud.  I love it!

Another thing that I can already tell is going to keep me sane is my Ballet class.  I told y'all about it when I first signed up for it, but now it has started and my, oh my, it is F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!  We had our first technique class on Thursday and wow.  I could feel the burn and all we did was warm up and learn how to walk.  Crazy.  

I thought y'all might like to see the leotard that I am wearing because I love it!  Our teacher has a very strict dress code: Black leotard, pink tights (smile), pink ballet shoes, hair in buns and out of eyes, and nothing else.  I picked up this leotard at the small sister's ballet school.  It is the Capezio American Ballet Theatre Twist Tie Back Leotard.  I have it in black. It is super comfy and I think it is just darling.

I have some physics homework to do now, so I'll try to write this semester, but it might be very scattered and sporadic.  Later!

Ps.  If you get a chance please say a little prayer for a fellow blogger Grits.  She is such a darling girl and is going through some tough times right now.  Leave her a little love if you feel led to do so.  

Chicago!

So, I told y'all about how I was planning on going to Chicago this month. I went and it was awesome! I had such a great time with all of my school friends.  I went with the Honors College at the University I attend.  It is called the Sophomore Service Trip and it is basically an opportunity for us to get away and do some good in the world.  It was fabulous.  We left from the Honors College at 7:00 pm on Thursday night and took a fleet of Charter buses to the Amtrak Station.  Yes, we took an Amtrak to Chicago.  117 twenty year olds in two train cars.  It was a 12 hour trip and it felt like it was every bit of those 12 hours.  Luckily we traveled at night both there and back so we were at least able to sleep for most of the trip.  I brought my sleep mask so that was very nice to have.  

Once in Chicago, we checked into our hotel and changed into our warm clothes (the highest temperature in Chicago the whole weekend was 7* F) and headed out to our volunteer sites.  We had five different sites: the YMCA, the Salvation Army, a greenhouse, bicycle building, and my group, the Treehouse Animal Haven.  We spent the day clearing out a basement in their downtown location so that they could use the extra space for a free clinic to spay and neuter feral cats.  Isn't that great?  For dinner that night, we went to a Brazilian Steak House where they bring the meat out on skewers.  It was super yummy.

On Saturday, we were supposed to go back to Treehouse to help at their Argyle Street location, but the people who work there were super nice and let us wander the city handing out fliers to promote their "Sex and the Kitty" program.  It's a great program that allows families in the area to trap feral cats, bring them in to be neutered and then return them to the wild.  We had a fabulous day wandering the city and seeing a lot of cool sites.  

That night we had a fabulous night of partying.  We played circle of death with the cool kids.  I played with Diet Pepsi, don't worry.   That is a fabulous game that is super fun to play before going out.  Then we went to eat some authentic Chicago deep dish pizza and my goodness, it was delicious.  We had planned to go to the Hancock building for dessert afterwards, but they wouldn't let us in because we were under 21.  Oh well, we still got a great view of the skyline.  Later SLG, DMB, and I went down to Navy Pier for some pictures.  We took some pretty fantastic ones (NOT) but here's the best.

On Sunday morning, CMC and I headed up to the Magnificent Mile for some hardcore shopping.  It was so fun.  We also went ice skating with some friends.  Poor C could barely stand.  As for me, my skating skills came back and I was able to not look like a fool! Ha.  We had so much fun that whole day and then finally headed back to the hotel so that we could head back to Union Station as a group.  Another 12 hours, and we were back to Memphrica so we could head back to the Honors College (we arrived in Memphrica at 5:45 am...it was VERY early).  

But by far, the highlight of the weekend, was when I stumbled into a fabulous store that sold Snuggies.  You better believe that this girl SNATCHED that up.  It is amazing and lovely.  And it is endlessly entertaining, ask anyone who was on the trip who I even talked to on the way home!  Later kids.

Pray for Kelly and Baby Harper!

Please join me tonight as I pray for Scott, Kelly, and Harper.  Kelly's blog is one of the first blogs that I started reading and it's really what got me into blogging.  It has been such a joy to watch Kelly throughout her pregnancy and it is even more of a joy to see her faith and trust in God and Christ. 

Baby Harper was born today and it is looking like there are some very serious complications.  There is, however, something that we can all do, and that is PRAY.  Pray that the Lord will show his hand in all of this.  Pray that Scott and Kelly and their families are comforted during this time.  Pray that Harper can recover from this.  Pray that this precious family will be given strength and hope.  Pray for them to see the hand of the Lord and to have peace this night so that they can have much needed rest. 

I will leave you all with some scriptures.  Thank you for joining me in this.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is, that we may have this hope, that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

Moroni 7:48

New Phone

So I've been having some serious issues with my phone recently and I really want to get an iPhone or a Blackberry.  I just think they would both be so nice to have, but in order to get one of those, I would have to commit to two years of a $30/month data plan.  I don't really feel like, at this point in my life anyway, I need to be throwing away $360 a year just to be able to get on facebook all the time.  So, instead, I bought an LG Shine.  It is red and gorgeous and it has plenty of  storage space on it for ringtones.  YAY! Ringtones are seriously fabulous.  I think that ringtones are something that can definitely personalize a phone.  My ringtones are so eclectic, and I just love them.  Today I got the Pride and Prejudice theme song and it is perfect.  

In other news, I leave for CHICAGO in less than a week.  That is so crazy.  I really feel like I need to start packing right now because I know I don't want to be doing it next week when classes are starting up.  I was watching the Weather Channel last night and yesterday in Chicago, the high was -1 and that was at midnight and the rest of the day it never got above -6.  What will I do?!?!  I seriously might become a little ice cube.  Or maybe a non suicidal Anna Karenina.  I also found out that the Jonathan Adler store is probably too far away from our hotel for us to go, which is way sad. 

That's all for now, just waiting to hear from Kelly that baby Harper has been born.  

Dogeared

Here's a confession, I don't really wear jewelry.  I don't know why, but I guess it's because my mother doesn't wear much jewelry (she actually wears cocktail rings instead of her engagement and wedding rings).  But, I am never without my initial necklace, which I love.  And I usually add another simple silver necklace.  My favorite of these necklaces are Dogeared.  They are so simple and precious, and the cards they come on are TOO cute.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

Isn't this one precious? I think it is so sweet. 

One thing that I really love about these necklaces is that they stand for something.  They are a constant reminder of how we should be acting.

This is one of my themes for the new year, let my light shine from within. One of the best ways to start letting your light shine is to believe.

So true.

My Favorite Shoes

About a month ago, I bought a pair of heels for VP, but once I got home, I decided that I already had heels that would work for VP that I liked better and returned the shoes. I got store credit for those shoes, and just barely used it.

 I got these shoes, in black, to wear with casual outfits and possibly wear when I go out in the winter.  I LOVE these shoes, they are fantastic, and the contrast stitching really adds a little something to otherwise plain black shoes.  I took the smallest sister with me and she told me that I "had to get these because they look like they have pasta on them."   Who am I to argue with that? 

Because the store was having an awesome sale, I also picked up some cute brown flats.  These also had contrast stitching, and they look pretty professional (when you don't take the picture with photobooth on your mac) which is what I need!  They are going to be awesome for running errands in jeans and a button down shirt!  I am so excited to wear these all the time.

For Christmas, I picked myself up these shoes.  I am going to Chicago in the middle of this month, and I don't really want to wear Uggs like everyone else.  I'm hoping that these will be enough to keep me warm.  They are a little big on me, but I am planning on wearing some thick wool socks with them, so the size won't be an issue.  What do you think?  I really love my other Topsiders and these are so comfy (I've been wearing them a lot).  I'm pretty excited to have a pair of "winter" Sperry's because that's not usually the season that you think of Sperry's going with. 

What do y'all think? Will I be warm enough in Chicago?

DANC 151

So, I'm all registered for classes in the spring, and most of my classes are things like Medicinal Microbiology, Physics II, Abnormal Psychology, Organic Chemistry, and various labs, BUT, I am taking one class that I am very excited about.  That class is DANC 151.  To give you a hint about what this class is all about, here is a picture clue.  

Yes, I am taking Introduction to Ballet I.  (Don't worry, I forced CDM to take it with me, so I won't look like a total fool)  This class, obviously, is an intro to basic ballet and basic ballet terms.  It meets twice a week for an hour and fifteen minutes and I am SO excited about it.  I haven't taken ballet since second grade, and basically all I know is a plie' and the five positions, and even with those, I only know the feet, not the arms.  I am basically hoping that this class will be good cross training for the 5k I want to run and a good cardio workout.  If I like this class, I'm definitely going to take another class like this over the summer during Physiology.  I am also hoping that my schedule over the next couple years in pharmacy school will give me enough free time to be able to keep taking dance classes.  

Another reason I am taking this class is that I am getting 2 credit hours for this class, and they are graded (easy A!) and it is a great way to have accountability for an exercise program.  What better accountability than a grade?   Anyway, once the semester starts (January 20th) I am going to start a sidebar with what we're doing in class and maybe some posts about what we're learning.  I'm so excited!

2009

Happy 2009 y'all.  I hope it is fabulous and fantastic and that you accomplish the goals you set for yourself.  As for me, my goals are to: not fail out of pharmacy school, run a 5K, and be awesome!