Back to School

After a fantastic summer, it's time to go back to school!! Here's to making improvements on last year and being the best that I can!

Packing

I hate packing. I hate moving. It's all stupid and a pain in my ass...

I check out of Hashinger tomorrow and move into McCollum! This whole process starts at 8 am, but I don't have to be fully out of Hash until Friday at noon. So, basically, my body is telling me the Olympics are far more important... Especially since I woke up at 6am today.

Packing can wait..

Nineteen Years Young

I am finally nineteen!! (: I can finally say I'm the same age as my classmates.. for a few months lol

I had the most exciting day ever. Honestly, it was the most exciting week ever.

Last Friday, I left Lawrence on a Greyhound and headed for Wichita! I spent the long weekend with my family in Branson as a mini-vaca. We went to Silver Dollar City and my mom and I got to go out on the boat with my aunt and uncle for an afternoon. We also did a little shopping, but that just goes without saying. Tuesday, I left Branson and began an eight hour bus ride home... If I didn't love to travel, it would have been awful. But I thought it was really fun and it was good chillin' time. :)

On our way to Branson!

On the bus to Wichita!

The 4th was amazing; best holiday of the year in my opinion!! I spent the day with Hadley, one of my co-workers and good friend. We went out to Clinton Lake to soak up the sun and sit on a sandy beach. Who doesn't love that?! After, we went to Subway to get dinner and came back to watch Iron Man (very patriotic, right?), and finally, FIREWORKS! We went to the town's firework display and they were great! I'm not one to complain about fireworks, however, so I may not be the best judge of how awesome they were!

Clinton Lake!

It was a secluded beach; perfect for anyone just wanting to relax!

Fireworks!

The next two days were filled with work and school. Mostly. I happen to have the coolest coworkers on earth, so we also went out to celebrate my birthday a couple times. Lots of ice cream has been eaten recently, but again, no complaints. :)

Friday night, I decided to do something crazy with my hair, since, traditionally, I dye it the day before my birthday. Red and Blue KU streaks were what I have been wanting to do for ages, so I asked Hadley if she'd do it, and she agreed! So that's how my 19th birthday began... rinsing dye out of my hair. ;) Honestly, though, it turned out great! After, Hadley made me s'mores as a late night snack and then it was off to bed to rest for the adventure to KC!

I love the city so much and I love exploring it and going to new places. I have been hearing about the plaza for YEARS, but I had never been. Jess hadn't been either, so I figured it would be a perfect place to shop; it so was!! It's soooooo beautiful and there are so many stores to go into, and it also has the largest Barnes and Noble and Forever 21 I have ever been into. I almost cried when I walked into the Forever 21 store. It was two stories of clothes, shoes, and more clothes. The B&N store? A measly four levels.... no big deal. We spent all afternoon there shopping.

The ASG baseball! And my Royals!

Fabulous picture!

One of the best friends I could ever ask for!

As we were leaving, we decided to pop in on Claire, since we thought she was working. We didn't know which theater she worked at, so we stopped at her house to ask, and it turned out she was home! We proceded to sneak up to her room and as we walk in, we were welcomed with a very loud, "WHAT THE HELL!?!?"  There is no better welcome. :) We stayed and chatted for a while, then Jess and I made our way back to Lawrence. I walked in the Hash front door at 11:59.50... The desk assistants wished me a happy birthday, and that was the end of my 19th birthday.

All in all, it was a fantastic birthday. I couldn't have asked or even dreamed of a better one. While it was the first that I was away from my family, and as I get older, I'm sure it won't be the last, I still had an amazing day with my extended family. What more could a girl possibly ask for?

<3

PS- I wish I was going to the All Star Game, but I'm not. :( I'll have to ask one of my coworkers all about it!

Colorado!

I'm on my way to Colorado! I'm part of the delegation (and will lead next years!) to represent KU Student Housing at NACURH, a national housing conference!

We are in the van right now, and there are nine of us total. Robert and Jessica are going too, so it will be fun! I actually think I'm the only one awake right now, except for Chris Sowa. He's driving.

It kind of stinks to be away from the other interns though. Granted, there are three out of seven interns in this van, but I miss the other four! We have all become a really tight knit group in just a week of training. And today was the first day of NSO, which is kind of a bummer to miss, but we'll have all summer to hang out! And we do, a lot. We like to watch the Celtics games, hang out in each others rooms, do room crafts at night and we are almost always together during the day working or eating lunch. It's been a real blessing to become friends with my coworkers because it makes my job just that much better.

And of course, all great jobs start with a fantastic supervisor, and I have tree! Alyssa is from Texas (Dallas actually!) and is just a doll! She will often be hanging out with us until 3 AM, watching the Game Show Network. Laura and Chris are Associate Directors of Student Housing and are just fabulous. Chris is also my AURH advisor (and driving this van down I-70), so of course he's fantastic!

I'll be back Monday with a NACURH post!

<3

Jess sleeping in the van!

Robert and Samy are OUT! Hey Dayona!

Summertime

Summer is finally here! I've spent my week home seeing all my friends and family I haven't seen much of lately. The thing that sucks about summer... Packing back up and going through clothes. I have too many!!!!

Home (:

My freshmen year of college is over. :(

I am horribly, horribly sad.. don't get me wrong. But I am more than ready for a break from difficult academics. My major is hard.. there is no way around it. And if I want into medical school, I need to step my game up, and I mean WAY up. Or, I need to figure out if I can live with doing something else with my life...

I honestly, don't know that I would be able to forgive myself if I gave up on my dream. So, I'm not quite there yet. However, I do have a great summer ahead of me to figure it out!

I have a job! A full time, 40-hour week job! I will be a Student Housing Intern for the Department of Student Housing (a future career in University Student Affairs? I don't think so..). I will be helping with New Student Orientation, giving tours, and I have time to prep for my system government duties (AURH).

I also get to go to NACURH; a national residence hall association conference in Boulder, CO! Four days in Colorado on KU's bill with two of my best friends and I get to do AURH work!? It's heaven for me!

And you know.. I turn 19.. Pretty fun. :)

I am definitely ready for this much needed, and deserved summer break.

<3

Moved out of 407 :(

And into 218 Hash!! :) (this is just my summer room! I'll be back in Mac in the fall, room 1037!)

PS: Happy Mother's Day, Mom!! <3

Broken Mirror

I'm not exactly what you'd call superstitious. I don't believe in the black cat thing, I don't avoid ladders, and I don't throw salt over my left shoulder (often).

However, when it comes to broken mirrors (and Friday the 13th)... I am HIGHLY superstitious.

Well, I broke a mirror on Saturday.

At first I was about to let my superstitions go... I had the best day!!

Claire, Jessica and I went to the Spring Football Game in the morning and ended up getting front row seats! We were right behind the white team, which kind of stunk because we were rooting for the blue team. But thats ok, I still got a ton of amazing pictures. The game was (seemingly) A-team versus B-team and I must say... It showed. The blue team won 45-0 in a swift, 2 hour game. Big Jay even came over to torment us! And there were these two little blonde girls next to us who were just adorable! They let me take their picture while they were trying to get the mascots and cheerleaders/dancers autographs! So cute!!

White Team!

Adorable!

:)

Claire!

My girls <3

Jess!

How fitting!

Later, we went to another hall's spring event: Lewis Luau! It was being run by our close friends in BLT and we wanted to go and support them and get some free sunglasses and a tye-dyed shirt. After, we went and hung out by Potter Lake to soak up some rays!

After we went to a baseball game and picked out the guys we thought were best looking... who doesn't love that!? Ok, half of the population, however, it was fun because it's been so long since I've seen a baseball game and I love it. Claire and I didn't get to bed until about 5 am because we were talking to Robert and catching up and having a really good time... One of the most exciting days ever!

Love these two.. :)

So then there was Sunday. The aftermath....
I woke up to a sunburn, heavy thunderstorms and a headache. So I took a shower after only a few hours of sleep so we could go to the baseball game... It was cancelled. Ok, great. I went back to sleep. I woke up a little while later to get ready for the Stoner Awards where I was up for a few awards... didn't win. However, I'm not too upset since it was my President who won all of the awards, and I'm really proud of him. I love working with him and I know he does amazing work; he deserves every award he won. (:

My 90s Boys! (:

Robert!

My BLT Girls!- they were 50s!

Best friend!

Monday was worse. Went to classes to come back for a night  full of meetings. That in itself sucks... when I arrived, Robert asked me how my interview went.

Um, interview for what?!

The housing internship I wanted. Turns out I was not selected for an interview. I was so upset, I had to get up and leave during one of my meetings and I definitely had a hard time the rest of the night. The upside was that I was super productive that night and got all of my quizzes and homework done for the week.

I called today to find out what happened and I had not changed my spring hours, so HR dismissed my application. Super. So, I'm struggling to still have a chance for this job and not have to go home this summer. Especially since I had turned down the two camp job offers. Well, wish me luck.

I don't know if I actually believe in broken mirrors, however, I am definitely hitting a rough patch. It's been a stressful year, but I  don't think I'm ready for it to be over. Well, I'm definitely not ready to study. I can put it off for a few more hours because I'm being sworn into AURH's Executive Board tonight! This is something I have wanted all year and I am so excited that it's finally here!

So, maybe broken mirrors don't mean seven years of bad luck (or three and a half in my case. Jess broke it with me!). Maybe they are meant for me to recognize the good luck I have instead of just the bad. Because it's easier for me to appreciate the good luck when I believe all thats coming is bad.

Life lesson # 994,694,381,505.99 :)

<3