Weekend Update

So, my family has a habit of coming in town when I am in town and don't have a lot of time. Like this weekend, for instance. I leave for D.C. Wednesday morning, and have a ton of work to do until then.

However, I love my three nieces and they are a lot of fun. One of my sisters and brother-in-law brought them in town to surprise my Pops for his birthday. They went up to his office, and I know he really enjoyed it! We had his birthday dinner that night, and I hung out with the girls in the hot tub till it was bed time. I hung around for a while and headed to the fine establishment of Whataburger with two friends when they got off work.

Saturday, I went out to the lake for a little bit to visit some friends camping. In Tulsa, it was completely overcast, but when I got to the lake it was hot and sunny. And I mean HOT. I haven't felt the sun in 90 degree weather in about two years, so it was a little bit difficult for me. I have also realized that I am more of a wimp about getting into cold water. I have always been a fish, and cold water hasn't really mattered to me. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME?? I will have to fix this! After the lake, I came back and waited for dinner. I ended up napping till 9:30, when we finally started dinner. Silly family. I love them though! I attempted hanging out with Kara afterward. This meant teaching old people the Cupid Shuffle and being the only two people knowing how to do Boot Scootin' Boogie. It was fun, but we were so tired!

Today- I really should keep packing. I would really not like to, but I am for real running out of time! At least now I have a plethora of business casual clothes. I went on a shopping spree (sort of) at New York and Company on Friday. I spent a lot, but I save around 300 dollars!! I love that place.

It is now time for me to finally crawl out of bed and go eat breakfast. I have procrastinated long enough!

:)

Picking a Direction

So, I know I am not the best blogger, but recently I feel like I have been even worse. Lately, I just haven't really known what to write. When I was 14 and started blogging, it was just random hyper trails of thoughts, that looking back upon don't make the most sense (but I love them!). Lately, I basically just give details on what is going on in my life. I really enjoy to re-tell stories that have happened to me in the past-- this is probably my favorite, and surely the most enjoyable to read.

When I moved over to blogspot, I did it just for friends and family to read about my life adventures (beginning the blog with my study abroad visit to China). Over time, sparked by my roommate's blogging, I have picked up many blogs that I read- people that I have never met. I have grown to look forward to hearing more from them and learning more about their lives. I have seen a community in this blogosphere that I haven't really been a part of before.

It seems that people dedicate so much time to their blogs, never to disappoint their readers. I want to be a part of this world, but I am not quite sure that I am at a point in my life that it can really mean something. Well, this is what I have been thinking the past month or so.

I decided today though, that this does not have to be true. If I don't make it true. My blog can mean a lot to my friends, but can still mean something to others. I take a lot in from the blogs I read, but most of them are from women late in their twenties or early thirties. They are married, happy, and know what they are doing with their lives. I, however, am at a crossroads. I am still in college, with one year left. I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I can't write about the same things, and that is okay!

I am going to start focusing on how my life is at this crossroads and I am completely undecided about life. I hope that as I continue to tell the tales of my life, I will be able to relate them not just to the person I am, but to the person I wish to become. I hope that those who read my blog will be able to take away lessons from another perspective of life- one that we have all been through, but have been separated from for just a little while. Hopefully I will be able to learn from you all as well, as I have already been for almost a year now.

I hope that this direction will leave me blogging more frequently, and help you all get a better picture of who I am as a person. I like to think that I am pretty great! So, to sum, here I am with a new direction/focus for my blog: "A Journey through a Crossroads."

:)

The Favorite Man in my Life..

"Pops" or "Dr. Dad"...
Who is a giant goofball...

is 64 years old today!!!

Happy Birthday Pops!!

:)

Fun times in T-Town

So, this week at home has been GREAT. At first it was really hard being here, because I kept thinking about how my best friend/roommate/big would not be coming back with me to Norman next year. I nearly cried at very inopportune times and have really gotten to practice my skills at holding back tears. However, my friends have been good at keeping me distracted and alive! I have gotten to see lots of them, watching movies, visiting, dancing, and singing in my high school's reunion choir. It was great amazing to get to perform again. I did theater throughout high school and have been in choir since I was in 4th grade. College has been fun, but has lacked the performing part of life that I love so much.

I have gotten to spend time lately with some friends that I haven't really gotten to see much since college started, and it has been a blast. I wish the weather would warm up though, so I can get some swimming and sun-time in! I suppose I should be using this time to unpack and repack, instead of sleeping till at least noon, but then I wouldn't feel so relaxed!

Basically, I am very happy right now and feel great. It has been nice to catch up on sleep (the other night I slept 12 hours straight through). I look forward to the rest of this week!

Let's Play Pretend!

Who doesn't just love to do it?

Every dead week, our sorority has mandatory study hall called "Campusing." Each member does 4 hours sometime during the monday-thursday nights that week. I always choose to get my hours done immediately, meaning Monday. If I don't, those lingering hours eat away at my life the rest of the week, because other fun things ALWAYS come up that I would rather do. So, that is what I did Monday night. Sat in our dining room next to one of my best friends, Michelle, and attempted studying.

I say attempted, because it is pretty much impossible for me to ever do productive studying in campusing. I can't focus because there are so many people in one room and I just want to people watch and wonder what they are doing. I did pretty well though, for the first 3 hours. I kept to myself, and attempted answering questions for roommate's Tell the World Tuesday. Hour 4 struck. And the capsule inside of me that holds all of my craziness back from the world exploded. Michelle and I began skype chatting with roommate, who was proctoring study hall. Michelle is studying speech pathology, and I decide to start typing as if I have a speech impediment (sbeeech imperirmens). Now, I actually did have a speech impediment when I was little, so no disrespect to anyone with one!

Typing with a speech impediment turned into also have a Chinese/Swedish accent. I was absolutely ridiculous. We all started typing in all caps at one point, and were having a lot of trouble holding in our laughter.

It was great, though. I remember playing pretend when I was little. I was so unafraid of going outside of the box and trying something completely different than what I was. I miss those days! I love the creativity of children, and it is one of the reasons I am excited for the years (much far away from today!) that I will raise children. Children are so much happier because they let their mind explore. It is fun to pretend and use that creativity. It keeps happiness alive!

What are some ways that you use your creativity?

And I leave you with one of my new favorite commercials. Wal-mart has a new series of them out, but I could only find one on youtube. My favorite is the spatula one! Here is the one I could find:

:)

It isn't official unless it is on Facebook

This is pretty much all you ever need to know about me:

Home

There is just nothing like being home...

Lately I have been more of a homebody than ever. There has been a lot of hurt this year, and home is my healing place. It is the only place I ever lived before college. It is the only place I know how to fix my emotions. It is the only place I know how to truly be myself. It is the place where all my questions are answered.

I have one week of finals. I have two weeks of time at home before I head out to D.C. for the summer. At this point, I am really sad about not being here this summer. I know D.C. will be amazing, but I want to be home. I want my friends, my late nights, my days spent by the pool/at the lake/ at the river. I want to go camping. I want to spend time with the people who embrace me for who I am and encourage me to be everything I can be. I want to spend my birthday with my brothers, who have been waiting for my 21st birthday for 7 years. I want to celebrate my best friend's birthday. I want to meet Ke$ha with my Big.

Most of all, I want to feel the way that this weekend has made me feel.

I can't wait for those two weeks!

:)

Beginning of the End

So, all morning I was trying to think about how to write what I want to today. Everyone is so excited, yet I am not. I don't know how to express that. My roommate and I talked about this last night, and we are both on the same level. She expressed her reaction in a way that is exactly how I feel, so I am posting hers below:

"First of all, as a Christian, I know there will be no mercy for the things he [Osama bin Laden] has done. It hurts me to feel okay about this because of my beliefs. But it's a struggle because he caused so many more lives to be lost than his one that was probably deserved.

Second, I can't help but be worried about what is to come. Yes, killing bin Laden was something our country needed to hear about, needed to see, needed that sense of ease, but I honestly feel like it's more of a symbolic thing for the US rather than something that is going to mean anything to the entire Al-Qaeda community. There WILL be retaliations, I can feel it. .......
My prayer for all of America is to remember that it wasn't Obama, it wasn't Bush. It was the men and women in ALL branches of the military that unselfishly sacrificed time away from their families, and the men and women who are still doing that today. It took 10 years to find him. I hope that all of the military could breathe a little easier after the news last night. This doesn't mean it's over. Killing the leader does not mean the revolution itself is over, it just means that their public figure is no more."

I cannot feel happy about death. It makes me sad to think how happy our country and the world is over one man dying. Over killing him. I think, "if I had seen Osama walking down the street, would I be able to kill him?" No. Simple as that. Maybe if he were trying to kill me, now that is a different story.

I watched Obama's speech, and was a little disappointed how often he talked about himself. However, I did like how he stated that this is not a war against Islam. It is a war against terrorism. It is important to remember who it is we are fighting.

I know the inevitable will happen: the end. While I am confident in my religion and what the long-term future holds, I still fear the pain and destruction our world will one day see. I fear that this day is looming. I fear that this will be the beginning of that end.

I hope this event brings together our nation, as well as others throughout the world. There is plenty of evil in the world, and I hope we stand strong against it, together.