:)

It's my Birthday!!!!!

I have a lot to blog about. But not today.

SURPRISE!

I guess most of you know, but if you don't, here's my Sunday.

Sunday morning, I got up early (I know...shocker) and took the metro to the National Mall. I then attempted to walk from the Smithsonian metro stop to the Air and Space museum. There was a marathon going on and I had to walk through the marathon to cross the street. It was a bit of a frightening experience at times.

I sat outside the museum for like an hour waiting, and in that time I watched the marathon, listened to a marching band play inspirational music for the runners, and took a picture for a group of random tourists. I also almost froze to death.

When I finally got the text I was waiting for, I realized I was on the wrong side of the building. There are two entrances. So I endured the security check just so I could re-exit the building. Outside, West was there. and it was really great to see everyone. No one knew I was coming except my inside source of information (Momma Gooch). I had told them all that I was super busy. There were lots of hugs and surprised faces, but my favorite reaction was definitely Kaitlyn. She screamed and pushed through people and it was just super cute and fantastic.

I spent most of the day with Sam & Mitch. My littles (minus one). We really didn't pay much attention to the museum. We kinda just walked around and talked and messed around. Like old times. I got to hang out with Zach (both of them), Jordan, and Patrick, and saw a ton of others. It was so great to get a taste of home.

After the museum, we took a walk to Union Station to eat and shop and waste some time.
THERE IS A BOJANGLES IN UNION STATION.
I haven't had Bojangles since this summer and it was soooo great. We walked around some more. talked some more. Some stuff was jokes, and some of it was deep stuff. It was nice though.

Here are a few pictures of my day:

I walked with them to their bus. More hugs. I love hugs. I said goodbye to Griffin and Dave. and then we left.
I'm not gonna lie. I cried a bit when I walked away. I don't know if they were happy tears or sad tears...maybe a little bit of both. I miss everyone. I really do, but I love it here. This is my favorite city...at least out of all the ones I have been to. There is so much going on and it's beautiful and just amazing. I was so excited to share it with my friends from home. I loved it.

Conclusion: I love you & miss you all. I'm super proud of everything you guys have done and can't wait until the next time I get to see you.

So much greatness.

So my blog posts have been a little boring and spread apart lately, and several of you said something about it. So I asked you what you wanted me to blog about, and you said life in general. Up until this past week, life was pretty boring, so I didn't have much to say about it. Now I do.

Let's start with Wednesday. Nick got here...eventually. DC roads can be kinda confusing, so we spent like an hour and a half on the phone trying to figure out where he was and all that fun stuff. It was frustrating, but I was super happy to see him (:

Thursday & Friday we kinda just lounged around watching TV and stuff. It was nice. We were gonna go to the monuments one night, but it kept raining. So we didn't. I guess that's a trip for another time.

He left on Saturday, which was sad, but we had so much fun that it was okay. And I'm sure I'll see him soon anyways.

After he left, I went with Kellie to Colin Powell's booksigning. If you don't know who that is then get your life together and google him. I got the book signed for my mom, because she loves Colin Powell.

That night was my first ever concert. It was Train, and for those of you who don't know, Train is one of my alltime favorite bands. We had "obstructive view" seats, but we definitely had an amazing view.

It was fabulous. I had loads of fun.

Yesterday, RHA (my residence hall association, which I am on) hosted a pumpkin carving/ caramel apple making day downstairs in the common area of my building. It was sooo much fun and I'm really glad that I got to carve a pumpkin.

^ That's my pumpkin (:

So. My life. Long story short: I miss all of my friends and family, and I wish that you could all come and visit, but I love it at GWU. I have moved around a lot. Some places I stayed longer than others, but I have never felt so at home so fast. That whole "everything happens for a reason" thing...it applies to my life. Two years ago I hadn't even heard of George Washington University, but look at me now. I know I made the right choice. This is where I am meant to be.

Cliche moment over. I love you and miss you all. COME VISIT ME!

Wednesday

It's going to be an interesting day.

First off, I have voice and diction class. Which is always interesting especially this week, because we are giving impromptu speeches.

Then, I have my chemistry midterm. I am reallyreally dreading this. I hate college chemistry. A LOT! I'm a little bit worried, not gonna lie.

AFTER CHEMISTRY: Nick is supposed to be here! YAYYYYY! He's coming on wednesday and staying until Saturday. We're going to have a super fun time.

For dinner, I am going to attempt to make stuffed baked potatoes. Which could possibly go really well. We'll have to see.

THEN: we are decorating Cole Hall for Halloween. I feel super special because my house staff, Floyd, was basically like ALINA AND SKYLAR COME because we are known for being craftsy and decorative.It's going to be a fun time, and there is going to be pumpkin pie and apple cider and it's basically just going to be amazing.

Soooooo yea. that's my wednesday plan. And I can't wait. Tomorrow is going to be a super long, neverending day.

The Boys Across the Hall.

1. They like to cook. And they often make too much food.
2. They are willing to fix your DVD player so you can watch Tinkerbell.
3. They always have the good gossip.
4. They don't understand why you aren't watching the game, and are fully prepared to recap everything that has happened since you left the room an hour ago.
5. They can't fix your toilet. But they can tell you that it probably isn't going to kill you.
6. When you tell them that they are going to be Tracy and Edna Turnblatt for Halloween, they accept it. And are willing to learn the choreography.
7. They are competitive enough to make everything a competition, but distractable enough that you can win.
8. They are deathly afraid of bees. Like really.

All in all, Josh and Steve are great neighbors. Even if they are more girly than us.


Credit to Skylar Padia (http://foreverwithlov.blogspot.com)

Optimism

I got this printed as an 8x10 photo. My new goal in life is to be more optimistic. I feel like sometimes I don't always think about the bright side of things and I should. I just have to remember it could always be worse. I have a pretty great life. I'm in an amazing place surrounded my amazing people. I have great friends and family in several states. It can't get much better than this. So I'm going to try to always look and see a field of wishes instead of a field of weeds.

P.S. I love you all <3

blogging.life.etc.

So I haven't blogged since mid-September. and people have noticed. I've had like 3 people message me and tell me that I should blog more, but I haven't really had one big thing to blog about. So I'm just gonna blog about the last couple of weeks.

I got my first letter from Jordan! I'm going to send his letters tomorrow (: It's exciting.

I've been crocheting a ton. I usually don't do the same craft for a long amount of time, but I really love crocheting. It's awesome.

I got a joooobbbb! I'm not officially hired, but I'm a tutor for DC reads. Basically, I get to tutor super cute elementary school kids and get paid! I have to take the metro to get there, but it's like an adventure.

I really miss all my littles. Mitch, Sam, Ethan. I'm super glad I still talk to you three. Because you're awesome. But don't get a big head about it Sam!
I also miss my besties. We're all in college so we're all super busy and don't get to talk much, but I still love you guys and miss you.
I also reallyreallyreally miss my Nick. But he's coming to visit soon which makes me supersupersuper happy.

Towson. I really want to go. But I'm not sure how I'm getting there yet. I promise I will try my hardest to go, but if I can't, then I will definitely meet you guys in DC on Sunday. Someone text me and keep me up to date on all the fun band stuff.

That's my blog post. Sorry it wasn't very exciting. I will blog when I have more interesting stuff to talk about. Promise.

I love you all.

P.S. I don't get fall break and it really kinda sucks.

Just Because It's Not Forever Doesn't Mean It's Not Goodbye

So initially, I was going to blog about my weekend, but that will have to wait a bit, because I have more important things to talk about.

In life, you say a lot of hellos and goodbyes, but not all of them are forever.
When I randomly got stuck in a group with Jordan Hayes on a band trip to NYC, I never imagined that he would become such a great friend. Though I may not let him know as often as I should, I really appreciate everything he has ever done for me. He's one of those people that is always there for you, no matter what. A shoulder to cry on, a laugh when you need one, a fight club just for the heck of it ;P.

Tomorrow morning, Jordan leaves for a two year mission to Reno, Nevada. He won't have facebook access, phone access, etc throughout the duration of his mission, which will be really tough. I don't think I've gone a week without hearing from him, even if it was just a small talk type text conversation. I guess we'll just write letter. One for every week of the next two years. I've always wanted a pen pal, I just never thought it would be like this.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want anyone to think that I'm totally against this. He's going to go out to Nevada and do amazing things. I can almost guarantee you that every person that meets this kid will remember him for years to come. I'm not sure if it's because he's such a nice guy, or if it's because he's a giant goofball, but he's kinda hard to forget. He's like a brother to me. And I wish him luck in everything he does.

GOOD LUCK JORDAN!!!!! :D

Mail.

There are so many things to get excited about in college! Parties, friends, etc. But you know me. I'm strange. So naturally, I get excited about things that most people don't. For example: Packages! I love packages. Big ones, small ones, yours, mine, his, hers. I love them all. Sometimes, Skylar and I sit and refresh our email repeatedly until the package place closes.

Yesterday, I got one! It was a chair that my mommy ordered from Bed, Bath, & Beyond. You should have seen me trying to carry that up the hill to my room...Thank goodness chivalry isn't dead. A nice boy stopped and carried it part of the way for me. Good thing too, cuz it probably would have taken me hours.

Before:

After:

We also check the mail at least 4 times a day. Because. Well. Who doesn't like getting mail? It's an amazing thing.



We also got really excited last night when we got to pie our house staff, Floyd. It was really funny. Because he is just a hilarious person. I got pictures. but they're not very good and they don't want to download. so I'll just upload them to Facebook or something.

I also get excited when I talk to you people. Yes YOU. I love you <3. You're good people.

Freshman Day of Service!

Every year, the weekend before September 11, The freshman at GWU split up into groups and go to various places in the DC area to do community service. It's technically optional, but they make it sound mandatory. It doesn't matter though, because we all did it and loved it. It's one of the biggest community service days in the country. I think it's a fantastic idea. I love doing community service, but you know me. I love the look on people's faces when you do something nice for them.

My dorm isn't too big, so we were all grouped together. We went to a kid's community center and weeded up grass and painted a sign. Well...that's what everyone else did. Skylar and I made pots out of newspaper and planted kale in them for the garden. About an hour into it, some of the kids from the community center came out on decided they wanted to help us, which was all fine and dandy until they began multiplying. It reached the point where it was counterproductive, so Skylar and I passed off the newspaper planting job and started playing duck, duck, goose with the kids until clean up time. At which point, Will started spraying the kids with the hose. It was adorable

Overall, it was a surreal experience. I know I will never forget it. I had so much fun and it's always a great experience to do something for something else. It's an even better experience when you know that it will benefit a group of super sweet kids.

I Don't Know Where to Begin

I have about a million and five things that I want to blog about right now. I'm about to start week THREE at The George Washington University. My first full week of classes. I will definitely miss the free mondays, but I'm excited for another week.

I'm getting ahead of myself though. I should probably start at the beginning. I moved in on August 25th. My room is huge with captains beds, a mini fridge, microwave, etc. I decorated it super adorable. Skylar & I even have curtains (it's beneficial to be crafty). Our residence hall is amazing. There are only 40 of us, so we're all becoming really close, which is great even though it comes with drama. I love Cole Hall and don't regret living on the Vern at all.

I've made some great friends. No one can replace my NC friends though. My neighbor Josh is hilarious. He's super adorable and has an invisible roommate, Spencer...who supposedly comes home around 3am. But we never see him, so we assume that he's invisible. Then there are Steven and Roman. They are super sweet, but they seem to think that our room is a disastrous mess all of the time. So the other night, they came in and told us that they were going to vacuum anything that was left on the floor. The fact that the boys made us clean our room (which really wasn't all that messy) is a little ridiculous. They also cook. Which is fabulous! For Roman's birthday, they made pasta, chips, salsa, and guacamole, all from scratch. It was amazing. I've made several more friends (George, Kellie, Wil, Will, etc.) but I'm sure throughout the year you'll hear a lot about them.

Classes aren't too bad. They're all pretty small except for chemistry, which is amazing because the professor loves what he does, and Skylar and I spend a majority of the time cracking "That's What She Said" jokes and drawing animals. Don't worry, we pay attention too.

All in all, I love it here. I've never felt so at home anywhere, and I've lived in so many places. I don't think I've ever been so happy. And I can't pinpoint it to just one thing. Everything is amazing. I'm kinda just happy to be alive and living in an amazing place. I feel like everything bad that has ever happened to me just doesn't matter anymore. I get to start fresh and create my own future. I love it (:

The After Move

It's been two weeks since I left North Carolina, and it's been quite the adventure. When we first left we were under the impression (thanks to our realtor) that we would be moving in to a lovely townhome in Gaithersburg, Maryland. However, on our way up we received a phone call informing us that the house wasn't ready. So instead we went to my sister's. Over the course of a week, we waited for this town home. We stayed in a hotel for a few nights, but grew tired of it and then drove our UHaul to the nearest campground. There, we hiked, swam and even encountered a few raccoons.

After a few nights at the campground, my mom became impatient and decided that we would go house hunting on our own...without a realtor this time. We found a beautiful place in Germantown. It's smaller than we had originally wanted, but it's very homey and I really like it. There are pergo floors, a cute kitchen, etc. All in all, we got lucky and I'm grateful.

This move has been kind of tough, which is what I expected. I left behind a lot of people and it's heartbreaking. But this move has also shown me who I want to have relationships with longterm. One of these friends I never expected to grow close to, but in my last few weeks in North Carolina, we did. We worked on a project together that was very important to both of us, and throughout the project, we learned of our similarities. It's pretty great.

Another, has been my best friend for about three years. He's one of the most important people in my life, and there are so many times when I don't know what I would do without him. He listens to me rant and cry, even if it's over stupid stuff. He uses super weird slang with me (most people just look at me like I'm a freak). He respects my weirdness and I respect his. He's like a brother to me. Except, we don't ever fight like siblings or take each others stuff. We just get along and love each other without judgement. He's the best. I hope this is a forever friendship (:

And of course, there's always my boyfriend...but he knows how special he is to me, and no one wants to hear a teenage girl gush over her boyfriend in every post on her blog. So I'll leave it at that. Overall, it's been rough. But I'm grateful for my life and I couldn't ask for any more than I already have.