So I need to write a speech...

It has to be about me, and it has to be interesting.  I really shouldn't have this much trouble coming up with interesting stories about my life.  I mean, there are things like uni-mouse and the fire corner and unicorning and jelly bean maracas, but nothing that can become a story in and of itself.
hmmmm...

Back in Bolivar

     It's been fantastic!  I'm going to have to work really hard this year to get my GPA up, but I know it's possible, and I know that i have a God who loves me and who, either way, knows what's best for me.  I'm loving almost all of my classes (I think my favorites are Chinese and Speech and a class on the Gilded Age), especially now that I've dropped Old Testament.
     I'm going back to church tonight, which I am absolutely elated to do.  It's been 3 months since I've set foot through the doors of Freshwater, and I am more than ready to get back!  I'm also hoping to drag along a few freshmen!(:

I'm an anchor who dreams of being a balloon.

I pretend to be a free spirit while leading a spectacularly boring life.

I collect adventures, but never actually go on any.

My room is filled to the brim with books about other places, souvenirs from cities I've never visited, posters of far-away places, balloons, TARSISes, trains, and other things that could take me away, if only they were real.

If only they were real.

In my head, I've been to so many places.  I've wandered the streets of London, rented a flat in Paris, and hiked Meiringen, Switzerland.  In my head, with help from the internet.

I know my way around Google maps way too well.

Oh to be a vagabond.

Surprises

Sometimes, Noisetrade downloads come with extra surprises.  It's usually album art or lyrics or a video.  I'd just like to thank the artist who included this with his music:

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

I Promised Baby Pictures?

Abigail Lee was born to Amey and Cody on May 19th, 2012

But who needs words when there are baby pictures!!!

d'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

The Dress Project

Because of some unfortunate circumstances last Friday involving a science experiment gone horribly awry [or car problems, you choose], for my final week of school I had 2 small bags and one box of clothes to get me through the week.  What did that box contain? Dresses. A dozen dresses.  Naturally, I decided to take it as a challenge... could I make it through the week wearing a dress every day?  Well let's see....

Saturday:

I dressed for the river, ended up at a prairie, and was later invited to go cliffjumping, so I wanted to wear a fun summery dress.  Wore denim shorts under it so I just took the dress off for swimming and wore shorts and the tank top.

Sunday:

I wore my Monet dress, the one I bought for Easter.  Ran lyrics at church, ate lunch, and had a splendidly lazy afternoon.

Monday:

I cheated a bit and wore grey jeans under this one because it was a little short to wear to class by itself.  This is probably my new favorite dress!  My roommate forgot to hide the scissors, so I also sported some self-chopped bangs.  I ended up changing into shorts for the bye bash, but wore this to my last day of classes and to lifegroup.

Tuesday:

It's a personal tradition of mine to dress up for the first day of finals.  I changed last-minute and ended up wearing this lacy 1920's-esque dress!

Wednesday:

Nothing special, I wear this dress a lot, and was in enough of a hurry to not do anything to my hair.  8am finals will do that to ya!

Thursday:

I wore this dress over shorts and a tee shirt on my last day in Bolivar.  I ended the year with a second clifflumping excursion at Stockton lake!  Ended up driving back to KC soaking wet, still in the clothes I went swimming in, but it was worth it!  Had a great end to a great year, even if it involved cheating a tiny bit on the dress thing.

And there you have it: a detailed description of my wardrobe for almost an entire week!  I sure hope this was enjoyable!  Next week: "What I ate for lunch every day for a week"

[actually, I just found out my cousin has gone into labor, so my next post may very well include baby pictures! squeeee!]

Today involved a broken car and an awesome concert...

Scattered around were naps, midnight wal-mart runs, and the sort of messy dinner conversation that uses Disney princesses to segue from an overly amusing menopause discussion to an overly serious Calvinism discussion.

I also happened across a pair of students who were rollerblading/skateboarding down the sidewalk in dressy clothes, carrying a cake.  Sure wish I knew THAT story.

I didn't get to go to KC, but I got to see To The West Coast perform:

and I got some swag:

and then I came back to my dorm and realized just how little stuff I have left here:

Basically, dressing for this next week will be difficult.  I did think to grab a couple of bags of clothes, but I ended up with a LOT of dressy stuff.

I'm thinking this week would be a good time to try to wear a dress every day for a week.  While I didn't think to grab some jeans or a towel, I did end up with 12 dresses.

So maybe today didn't go as planned.  Regardless, God is so very good!

When I'm bored or feeling adventurous, I roam Google maps.  Sometimes I find a place nearby that looks appealing enough from the sky for me to get in my car and try to find it.  It's funny how these silly little towns can mean so much, how the curves and angles of these roads conjure up memories.  Lines equate to friends and spots of green equate to summer evenings spent lounging in a field talking about life and friendship and time travel.  It's also interesting to compare these silly little towns that mean so much.  I didn't realize the one was so much bigger, so much more city-like than the other.  Squares of concrete replace the carefree curving streets, filling in with lines and houses what the other fills in with eighteen years of memories.

What will these images mean to me in 20 years? in 50?

So I made a schedule.... Next fall I'm taking some classes I'm really excited about, and some that I'm really not (I mean, intro to computing would be bad enough by itself, now I have to be at Taylor by 7:35 tues/thurs?!).  This is the first semester I actually have to go to class on Fridays.  It's also the first semester I'll be up before chapel, and the first semester I don't have a class that goes until 4:15.  In other words, I'm buying an espresso machine.

I'll also be spending a lot of time in Taylor.  I don't mind, it is where I'll be spending most of my college career as it is, but it does lead to a few questions..... How much can I get away with?  Should I buy a lazyboy, or will some beanbags be enough?  Should I camp out upstairs, near the history department, so between classes I can make friends with the people who will be grading most of my papers for the next 3 years, or downstairs where I'd have a good view of the business department, whose male students frequently wear suits? And finally, if I have to be there by 7:35 some mornings, should I just consider living there permanently?  Heaven knows it'd be more convenient than having to walk all the way from Leslie, and I'm sure no one would mind.....

On another note, did you notice how I colour-coded my schedule by building?  Taylor is purple because purple is the best color and Taylor is the best building.. and because I knew I'd be seeing the most of it.  Redford is blue because blue is next to purple in the rainbow, and Redford is next to Taylor.  Chapel is orange because I only had 2 really workable colors left.  Jester is red.... on the record, because that's where I'm taking Chinese and red is China's color, and also because it's the farthest on the rainbow, but off the record, because Jester is the devil and it makes me mad and I wish I didn't have to hike down there.  I have nothing against any of the departments in Jester... I just had some bad experiences there last semester. bad. experiences.

Well then.  There's a peep into my madness.  Have fun psychology majors!

[I say psychology majors because if anyone ever reads this insanity, it's more likely to be a college student than an actual psychologist, unless someone gets concerned enough to take this to an actual psychologist, in which case, sorry.]

All semester, I've been keeping track of peculiar and funny moments in my phone.

Some of these are things I might be shot for making public/reminding people of, but since this is a blog that, to my knowledge, has one reader [me], I will clean out my phone here. Enjoy!

Gracie: "I want a pet chicken"

Bailey: "But your favorite food is chicken."

Gracie: "No it's not, it's people!"

JulieS: "I am wearing khaki pants, do you THINK I sell drugs?"

Girl in Mexican restaurant: "Did you know that the holocaust was when Hitler killed the Jews? Isn't that SAD??"

Friend: "Woah! What'd they do?"

GiMR: "Nothing! That's why it's sad!"

Gracie: "Hey Mandi, want a band aid?"

Mandi: "Ewh! Grace, yuck"

Gracie: "No it's ok, it's old, i haven't used it in like... A year!"

Leah: "Maybe that's how I'll get super powers... if malaria and herpes combine"

Abby: "Once, I thought I made up a new word by combining pansy and wussy... then I Tweeted it. I thought I was being funny and clever"

JulieS: "Do you want to go to the feeding trough of Mellers to put food in your bellers?"

Talking about weighted grades:

[person]: "well gym doesn't carry more weight"

Jesse: "I carry more weight because I didn't go to gym!"

Dr. Mrs. Waters: "Have any of you ever done any sculpting before?"

Taylor: "I made a Yoda statue in third grade"

Faith: "Mine's very similar to that, I made a Stormtrooper my senior year"

Gracie: "Hey Bailey, do you like people with dark skin or light skin?"

Bailey: "Um, I like them both."

Gracie: "No, you can only choose one! It's a game!"

Beka: "I would be Pippin... or Legolas... I'd be Pippin and Legolas combined! I'm Pipolas!"

JulieS: "This sounds like the start of a really bad fanfiction."

Madi: "I think this will help the athletic and boy-type people"

Mikaela: "you have a girlish figure"

Jesse: "are you calling me fat?"

JulieM: "Jared, your concubine loves you!"

Faith: "I am NOT his concubine!"

Jared: "Why not? Corey's my concubine."

Faith: "That's disgusting."

Jared: "No, it's a new-covenant thing. We're friends! That's what concubine means!"

Faith: "....that is NOT what concubine means."

Leanna: "There is no other song, under Canada, given among men, by which we may make references."

Taylor: "I've never snorted anything before... except drugs."

Jesse: "If you barbecued a shoe and didn't tell me it was a shoe, I'd probably eat it. So don't trust me on taste."

Mom: "What's the highest number named?"
Bailey: "I'm not sure I think a google"
Mom: "What comes before that?"
Grace: "www dot and then dot com"

Mandi: "People on Facebook keep using too big of words that I don't understand! Like, nostalgia. And Ron Paul."

Jesse: "You could put the ice cream in a bowl."

JulieS: "But then I wouldn't get a cone."

Jesse: "You can put the cone on top! Then it's be an upside-down ice cream cone, and you can post it on Pinterest, and you'd get a like or something"

Gracie: "When a guy wants to be rich, he has to think 'I want to be rich!' then read a book about being rick, and when he grows up, he'll have a lot of money! Also, he has to care about the laaaaaaadies"

While watching Independence Day:

Joe: "We need some jumpsuits, cigars, and a desert."

Taylor: "I can be the desert"

Jesse: "They told us we could eat after the show, so I brought some to-go boxes from my room and took a pound of beef and an entire cake."

JulieS: "I have concluded that Ariel was both Adam and Eve."

Comforting Beth after someone jokingly called her a ho:

Leanna: "...you have pure eyes, and pure hair, and a pure nose, and pure sleeves, and pure cleavage... you have pure cleavage!"

Mandi: "Isn't there a kind of fish that climb trees?"
Grace: "Apples grow on trees."
Mandi: "Fish don't GROW on trees, they just climb them to eat the apples!"

JulieM: "You can't hate God!"

Beka: "Oh yeah I can! Especially when he's black and has weird freckles!"

JulieM: "What if you get to Heaven and Jesus is black and has freckles?"

Beka: "Well He still wouldn't be Morgan Freeman!"

Grace: "Aunie! did you get any A's?"
Me: "Yes, I got some A's"
Grace: "What about B? did you get a B?"
Me: "Yeah, I got a B too"
Grace, with a look of horror on her face and a dramatic gasp: "WHAT?! NO!"

Things that happened this week:

I went swimming at Sunset Bridge with Ellie, Leanna, Mikaela, and Hannah.

I explored the weird depths of the UAC storage room.

I attended 4.5 of my usual 10 classes.

I listened to some Gregorian chants by candlelight.

I saw The Kopecky Family Band in concert [and bought their cd!].

I went to Easter Chapel.

I had a picnic in the woods alone with my Bible.

I walked into class 20 mins late because I had been having a picnic in the woods and reading my Bible.

I bought some new clothes.

I went to The Well, where we concluded the Romance series.

I cleaned my room.

I shared my drive home with Ellie and Hannah.

I surprised my family by showing up a day early.

I watched Doctor Who and had to explain everything that went on to Gracie.

I made brownies.

I dyed Easter eggs.

...and then I blogged!

We'll see what sort of adventures I get myself into this Easter weekend!

So I should probably talk about my Chicago adventure...

I left school on Thursday and went to my grandparent's house. We ate mexican food then went to bed early so we could be up and leave town at 5. We traveled for 10 hours, stopping at some of Iowa's gorgeous rest stops, getting Cinnabon, and eating pizza and going to Wal-Mart to buy warmer clothes in a town Ronald Reagan lived in, a fact that impressed my grandmother to the point of standing on a booth in Pizza Hut to take a picture of a picture, while asking the teenage waitresses about his involvement in the town:

We got to the city around 3 and thanks to some closed roads, got a good tour of downtown Chicago. We arrived at our hotel and checked in, and admired the view from our rooms:

Then decided to go on a highly-photographed walk.

After going around the block, taking pictures of every little thing we saw... the sentences "oooh look at that fancy McDonald's! Let's walk by and take a picture of it!" and "look at those potted flowers! girls, can I take a picture of you with the flowers?" were both uttered, as evidenced here:

We decided to walk the mile to Moody Bible College, where Bailey is hoping to go in two years.

We ate dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, where we were served by Wendy the Waitress and surprised by how many songs we knew. Then we went to Walgreen's to load up on souvenir tee shirts, mints, mugs, magnets, etc.

On Saturday, we started the day with Chinatown. We went into all sorts of shops, visited a Chinese-American history museum, and I got to see some borderline racist moments from my family. I bought a mug, plate, and teabag dish from a little cookware store with a very cute cashier.

After an authentic Chinese lunch at the P.F. Chang's next door to our hotel, we started getting

ready for the main event: The wedding reception!

The plan had been to meet in the lobby on the 6th floor, then all go down the street to Joe's seafood restaurant together. The elevators [lovingly dubbed the hell-evators], however, had decided to give out. As it was, the hotel had 2 elevators doing the work of 5. With one elevator not working, the wait had become about 20 minutes per trip, and you'd be lucky to fit 2 people on. It got worse when we heard rumors that someone from our group was stuck on the broken elevator! After making sure everyone was accounted for and that the people who had no choice but to take an elevator were safely on their way downstairs, the rest of us decided to take our gussied up selves down a filthy industrial stairway we had thought let out in the lobby, but, as we found out after going through

a door that locked behind us, let out around the corner from the hotel.

Everyone made it safely to the party, which was done extremely nicely, in a private room of a nice restaurant. People busied themselves getting drunk, taking pictures, and congratulating Josh, Kimberly, and Kimberly's little daughter Elaina.

Dinner was a formal 4-course affair which lasted an hour and a half and included platters of seafood, fancy bread, and the best fillet ever cooked.

After everyone ate, we lingered to talk and enjoy the company of people we didn't often get to see. Gracie kept herself entertained by going up to people and playing fashion designer, critiquing their outfits, to the delight of the groom's drunk friends.

On Sunday, most of the extended family left early, my parents and sisters and I ate breakfast and checked out of the hotel, and we went exploring.

We went to the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower [formerly Sears Tower]:

We froze riding the ferris wheel at Navy Pier, dressed for spring in Kansas City in the Pier's 30 degree weather:

And we visited a fascinating Chicago landmark:

We then busied ourselves taking all sorts of photos:

Today was the most wonderful adventure! It was the sort of day that makes a person happy just to be alive! Perfect weather, a full gas tank, and 5 hours free time meant I got to go exploring! I used the trusty Google machine to find a park a few miles outside town with river access. It. Was. Gorgeous. Made me remember why I love living in Missouri!

I'll just leave you with a few pics:

Friday! I didn't tell you about Friday! Or Saturday!

*Flashback*

Friday: I woke up at 7 am and went to the friendly neighborhood grocery store to meet up with my lovely friends! Then the girls piled into the Holbrook's suburban while the guys opted to watch the Muppets with the younger kids in the Lowe's van, and we all headed out to Union Station in Kansas City! We went to the Titanic exhibit first, where we were assigned roles of passengers, Jacob being the richest man on board with an 18 year old wife, Elise trading a survivor with 2 kids for somebody who drowned who didn't have any kids, which was preferable for her, and Tom being a 15 year old girl. We all thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit, which was really interesting and well put together, even being comparable to the permanent Titanic exhibit in Branson.

After that, we took a break for lunch, then some of us went to Science City while others went and did a Lego robotics thing that lasted incredibly long, and by the time it was over, the Science City people had gotten bored with the museum and were pressing our faces against the glass, or startling mothers and their small children when the elevator doors opened unexpectedly during a photo and they were greeted with this:

That evening, the lot of us met at the Lowe's house to cram into their 12-passenger van to go see the Hunger Games movie together! Even though I haven't read the book, it was extremely enjoyable! Making fun of the fangirls, who came decked out in homemade tee shirts with their hair in braids and trying to make it into Twilight by declaring themselves "Team Gale" and "Team Peeta", was also extremely enjoyable! Watching a movie with people who crack jokes during it is another thing which is, wait for it, extremely enjoyable!

Saturday: I met up with Beth at 11 and we drove out to St. Joseph where we wandered around the city looking for good Chinese food, but finally settling on Panda Express. After we ate, we went to Glore Psychiatric Museum where we wandered around looking at exhibits, being startled by mannequins, talking about Phineas Gage, and also finding our way to Native American, Black History, and Civil War exhibits, which included stories about people being broken out of jail by their mothers who hid pistols and files in their hoop skirts.

.....and then on Sunday I went back to BoMo. And THAT was my weekend!

I have been absolutely LOVING the weather this week!!!

Yesterday after algebra I went and picked violets...

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my phone with me and I lost track of time and sort of missed a class... But I didn't feel too bad about it, because it meant I got to dance around to Owl City while I arranged these, then I read some of Black, then I went to Leanna's room to watch Gilmore Girls [which I had never seen until yesterday] until dinner!

At the CA meeting last night we prepared for a BIG surprise for SBU that's going to be awesome and is happening on my birthday!

Then, I finally took the leap and went to lifegroup at Becker's house! I've been wanting to start going to that one, even though I'm already in one, to get to know some of the FC college students better. I've just been nervous and putting it off. But then Steven said his dad had smoked 20 lbs of pork that was going to be there last night, so, you know, I had no choice!

Today so far has been EXCELLENT and promises the sort of adventures that made me decide to blog this now instead of trying to cram in with this post, which had kinda been my plan.

So I'm off! Hopefully to get tan, take lots of pictures, and spend some quality time with my God!

Today I was supposed to finally defeat Captain Hammer with a devious plot which involved disguising myself as a statue, using my freeze ray, singing an evil little ditty, then destroying him with my death ray at a homeless shelter dedication, then winning the heart of my true love. Unfortunately, my plan went horribly awry when... I slept until 2. But hey, I did go to my grandma's house to eat tacos for her birthday today, so the day wasn't a complete waste!

I also finished the TTWC project I started a few days ago! The lettering could be better, but overall, I like how they turned out:

Tomorrow I'm going to Union Station with some of my best friends! Should be extremely fun! I also get to find out whether Nick and Jacob are moving to Colorado... I almost think I like not knowing better. It kind of sucks, because it'd honestly be such a good thing for their family that neither answer is necessarily good. Still, I'm selfish enough to really hope they don't move away!

So tonight was... epic! After being sick all day, I thought it'd be a fun idea to drive out to Overland Park to rock out with Manic Drive [and Pearlescent Shepherds and The Florescent]!

After getting to Overland Park and having quite a bit of trouble finding this place, we made it!

The venue itself was really awesome, one of those church-owned clubs, and sister and I made it on time, which was a relief!

They entertained those of us who were waiting for the bands to start by having this guy blow up a hot-water heating pad until it popped and tearing a phonebook in half.

Then the music started! The Florescent, an electrona band who uses gameboys to make music, made up of an absolutely adorable married couple played first. Then a guy rapped a few songs, then a hip-hop duo, Pearlescent Shepherds, played. In between sets, sister and I got to know some awesome people [seriously, if you want to make friends at a concert, pass around glow sticks!] and there was some dancing, a push-up concert, some freestyle rap, and a few testimonies.

Then.... Manic Drive!!!!! They've been in KC 3 times, and sister and I have seen them here 3 times now. They're really freaking awesome!

Thanks to a janky system, it took them 3 tries to start.. I guess it just couldn't handle their epicness!

the show, however, was fantastic!! I came out covered in sweat, deaf, and sore. Couldn't be better!

Afterwards, sister and I somehow managed to be the last people in line to meet Manic Drive! And thanks to Shawn's scatterbrainedness, we got to talk to the band for a good 20 minutes!

The girl working the table creeped on Keith, Shawn, and Michael while we were waiting for a picture:

and then they posed for a couple of pictures with us!!

So yup. Tonight was epic!

[did ya like how I kept slipping in the title of their newest album?]

11 pm, when I'm starting to feel sick? Obviously the best time to start a new craft project!

After spending way too much time on Pinterest today, I had to make something. So I gathered my resources and came up with an idea rather quickly.

This project is very much inspired by the meaning behind To The West Coast's name. Creepy? a little bit. Gonna look awesome? Heck yeah!

Of course, since this project requires about 3 coats of paint and 2 layers of Mod Podge, it'll be a few days before it's done...