GIllville and the game...

There is this thing at liberty where students can get together the night before the game and campout, eat pizza, drink hot chocolate, and be woken up by coach Gill who brings donuts and orange juice. It was 28 degrees outside. freezing. i was wearing 11 layers and had just as many blankets. it was fun though, with my girls hannah, grace, and liz. because we gillvilled, we got early entrance to the football game and then we were chosen to go and watch the game with the chancellor and his wife. it was great:)

All aboard the hot mess express!

so everyone, please pardon me while i say for a minute how awesome these girls are. Hannah and Grace are two incredible Liberty Ladies who have helped me through the past couple weeks. I met hannah a couple three years ago doing CEF in Richmond. we recently rekindled our friendship and she is becoming one of my closest friends. She introduced me to grace who is great. i didn't even know that we have the same early morning class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (just goes to show how tired i am these days. ha!) she is just one bundle of sunshine and such a blessing to me. 

There has been a lot going on lately and hannah and grace have been very encouraging to me. when i told hannah i was having a rough week she invited me to stay the weekend with her and grace on the other side of our campus. when i got there she had it all set up perfectly and, if you look at the picture below, you'll see she even got new england coffee for me so i would feel more at home. what a gem she is:) 

we made a spontaneous surprise trip to richmond to see some friends and it was so fun. nothing like early morning adventures with that girl. it was such a great weekend away. 

We were extremely tired by the end of our weekend so we now have our very own hashtag as seen below (#hotmessexpress). this is us. we are both the run around and take care of everything kind of people and so it certainly suits the both of us. Starbucks even puts it on our pumpkin spice lattes. it's great. 

a pleasant surprise!

It had been a rough couple of days and i was really stressing over an exam that was coming up. Just as i closed my book to take a study break i told my study-buddy that i wish i could see some people from home and was really craving a hot dog. Right after those words left my mouth i got a text from my friend Holly saying she and her family were going to be at LU for a football game and she asked if i would like to join them and have some hot dogs at halftime. how cool is that?! i said yes of course. it was such a blessing to see their family and just take a break. i love them all so much and i'm so grateful for the opportunity they gave me to spend some time with them:)

a special weekend :)

so far, my favorite thing about being here is that i am closer to the one i love. He came to visit me last weekend and we had some fun times. we went to thomas road for church on sunday (a little bigger than we're used to, but it was a great experience.) it was a nice relaxing weekend for the both of us. even though it was really hard to say goodbye, as always, it was so special to see him and i can't wait to see him soon:)

happy birthday, sydney!

my friend had a birthday last weekend and we went to bloop ( a fro yo place) and celebrated :)

school shenanigans

my weeks are already packed with work and so lately i just need to make a strong cup of tea and get it done :)

the jammed door knob encounter part 2

if you read my post from a few days ago you should know that i was locked in the bathroom in the middle of the night and had to call for help.  well, i submitted a work order for this obvious issue. no one came immediately. however, katlyn forgot and let the door latch. from there it all spiraled down. she got locked in. i tried and tried and tried to get the poor girl out of the bathroom! we called the SLCs, the RAs, the RD and eventually the LUPD. it took about half hour, but we did eventually get her out of there!

church and tea with hannah

so i know this really nice girl and we were looking for somewhere to go to church. i was able to get the address to the same church my uncle went to while he was here at liberty and we plugged it in to the gps:) it was great! we went to panera after church for some rainy day soup and salad. from there we went and got some tea, truvia (because we try to be healthy;) and 2 mugs. we went back and had a nice cup of green chai tea...it was so yummy and perfect for the last relaxing day before classes started.

college, paris, and jammed door knobs?

My first week is about to start up and i'm getting excited:) It was hard to say goodbye to my family and i have to try not to think about Leah too much because when i do i start to cry. it's the worst! My room is looking more like i wanted it too and my paris theme is working wonderfully! :)

The kids i supervised in ct before i left sent me with a package to open when i was alone at school and i opened it yesterday after my parents left. it was the most precious thing! they all wrote down or drew pictures of something we did together that was a fun memory for them or something new i taught them. i cried. hard. for a long time because it was just that sweet! i miss them so much. My friend Jessica did the same thing and i am just amazed at how much love and support people have shown me. amazing.

also...want to hear a funny story? last night i decided to take a late shower. i turned on the water and the faucet thing started whistling wicked loud. i thought it would explode. i finally fixed it though. (super woman, yes i know.) after my shower i went to open the door and, much to my terrifiedness (which i know is not a word.) the knob was jammed and i literally could not get out. i tried and tried to turn that darn handle for like 5 minutes and my hands were bright red from trying! finally, i yelled enough to get somebody's attention who got someone who had some tools and i was able to get out. i do not wish to experience that again any time soon!

berry picking

Last saturday i went with the reimers family to a berry picking farm in Connecticut to get red raspberries, black raspberries and blueberries! they were so yummy:) on the way home we stopped at moolicious ice cream to get a pre-dinner treat (i got my usual strawberry cheesecake in a sugar cone). It was great! when we were going to get our picture taken it was funny that they said "would you mind taking our family's picture?" guess i'm their other daughter :)

Summer

Summer is in full swing and it is great! I'm getting a little but stressed with handling some of the final details for school in the fall, but it will all turn out fine. (i'm hoping!) Many of my summer days, lately, have been spent by the pool and it is wonderful. There is precious little that is as refreshing as a cold drink or ice cream by the pool in the sun. seriously. i love it. I can't believe it is already over half way over for me!

Distance makes the heart grow fonder...

Someone once said that distance makes the heart grow fonder. Although being away from Erik has been one of the most difficult experiences of my entire life, it has caused me to treasure, even more, every second I spend with him. He came to visit for the fourth of July weekend. Honestly, i'm pretty sure the amount of excitement built up in me when I meet him at the airport is one of the most fantastic feelings. ever. It was a short visit, but we sure made the most of all the time. We had some nice little dates at panera, our favorite local Chinese place, the pool and a few others. It was very special. Each time he leaves I have a terrible time saying goodbye, so I usually go get a burger and fries with Jess and Shan, then go begin a new countdown for the next time i will see him again! That new number is 31 days! (When I move down to VA for school.) I am so excited for the many more memories i will make with him in the years to come.

What to get for my birthday boy...

Usually, i have a very difficult time choosing gifts for that boyfriend of mine. But this year i was determined to get something that could hold some sort of sentimental value. So i began to think--then i came up with the idea of making a basket of some stuff that i knew would show that even if it was kind of lame...i tried and meant well. I got a basket, (like the plastic ones that are everywhere.) an assortment of some of his favorite candies, a card, a book on different ways to tie a neck tie, and make him a whole passel of "open when" letters. I call it the all about you basket. Just with special things that reminded us of certain things or memories, or just things that would show that i listened and payed attention to the things that he would comment on that he likes. Now, knowing me, it should come as no surprise that i forgot to take pictures of everything i put in there or of the finished product (which i was surprisingly happy with by the way.) but it turned out well and he liked it so i thought i'd share:)

a few more things off my wish-list

There were a couple things i really wanted for when i start college in august:

1. camelbak water bottle
2. North Face back-pack.


After my graduation party, i decided to take some of the money and spend it on
this fantastic back pack and camelbak. i was so excited to get them in the mail yesterday!

something i used to take for granted...

There are some things that i used to take for granted...a lot.
one of those things is being able to spend time with this guy.
I remember when we could plan to have breakfast together every other day.
a bacon and cheese omelet with home made hash brown potatoes was the usual order.
I remember being able to say "i want pizza tonight" and ten minutes later i was at his
house and we were eating napolis pizza.
There were times when i'd be having a bad day and a just little while after telling
him that on the phone, he'd come by my house and surprise me with a box of chocolate and just spend time with me while i drank tea and ate chocolate and told him all about it.
(of course he would just drink water because he would never drink tea...ever.)
Then i remember crying my eyes out on my porch the day before he left for college knowing
i'd only be able to see him for a weekend here or there--if only i had known what would
happen soon.
I remember having to tell him that i was moving. and not just to another town, but to another
state...way up north. can we say worst day ever?
It finally happened, i won't ever forget him to stopping by at 6am the morning
we were going to leave sp that he could say goodbye to me.
honestly, it was terrible. i'm pretty sure i cried the whole way to our new home.
He came to visit me a week ago and it was probably...no, for sure, the BEST time i've ever
spent with him. when you get so used to living without someone and suddenly you can be with them
all the time, it is quite enjoyable. I enjoyed every single minute we spent together. from rigorous hiking trips to him making me egg sandwiches in the middle of the night. He is the greatest. (i was so happy that my amazing aunt and photographer helped us capture some of our time together with a quick photo shoot!:))
I felt like a true queen the whole time he was here. I mean, how many guys would be willing to spend
a day at the mall looking for shoes? or spend an entire morning rushing around making finger sandwiches and egg salad for a graduation party? We had so much fun. it was tough saying goodbye, but i am looking forward to seeing him again soon.

Weekend fun

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday i got to spend some good time with Shannon and Jessica :) we had so much fun. these girls are crazy but I love them to death!