It's Beginning..

With the end of Thanksgiving break, brings the excitement for Christmas! On Saturday Georgina, Layton, Lebo and I decided to get some Christmas decorations from Family Dollar. We found tons of stuff which was great! Luckily, we spend more than expected on stuff, but we can use the Christmas items from year to year! Me and Lebo shipped our Christmas finds back to our dorms, using a found shopping cart.. yes, we pushed it a long ways. You don't realize how bumpy roads are until you are pushing a rattling shopping cart. We all decorated the Christmas tree we bought, which definitely is perfect for all of us, since we can't help put up our own at homes. And it now resides outside our room, and it makes me smile every time I see it.
On Friday the couple(Georgina & Layton) and I went to Lexington for the day and walked around the shops there, which was fun. When we were leaving a shop a lady asked us if we were going to the lighting of the town's Christmas tree, and we found out that they meet at Stonewall Jackson Cemetery and walk down the main street holding candles and singing Christmas carols, then go to the city park, where they have hot chocolate and cookies, and light the Christmas Tree. So we did that, and it was super fun. I love small town things sometimes! Afterwards we went to a sushi bar, and had delicious sushi, I never realized how yummy it was since I never had it at home.
The beginning also means, the beginning of the end, which means Finals, my first finals ever, scary! It is so hard to concentrate on studying when all you want to do is celebrate Christmas and have fun with friends! But, with two weeks of school and then finals, I definitely need to crack down. I have done all right on that. I also have a Orchestra Concert this week and a Choir Concert next week that I am trying to get ready for. So, I am slightly stressing, which is reflected in my eye twitching all the time, and my inability to sleep. I may have to reside on taking Benedryl(yes dad, it does work) to get a few hours of sleep. That is all. I love you! ♥

Bookstore with Harry Potter store qualities.

Ready to light our Candles

Sushi!

Our Christmas Tree!

Enjoying the Pie Lebers brought home

At the lighting of the tree

Thankfulness Day

Today is Thanksgiving, this morning I watched the Macey's day parade, and then around 2.30 I went with Georgina and Layton to the May's house, a couple that they know. They made a super yummy dinner, and we all stuffed our faces, and we barely saved room for some super yummy dessert afterwards. I am now super excited to talk to my family on Skype later this evening. In the mean time, here are some things I am Thankful for!!

1. mom 2. dad 3. danyssa 4. nicon 5. matt 6. friends 7. cheese sandwiches 8. snow at christmas 9. dogs 10. animals 11. forests 12. fall 13. summer 14. swimming pools 15. cameras 16. photographs 17. color 18. culture 19. language 20. buildings 21. sunsets and sunrises 22. waves 23. mountains 24. slippers 25. oversized sweaters 26. cute clothes 27. finding a steal-of-a-deal 28. hugs 29. clothes right out of the dryer 30. rainbows 31. Peace signs ☮ 32. flowers 33. butterflies 34. non-poisonous snakes 35. my fish! 36. Bowzer 37. good hair days 38. bleach 39. washers/dryers 40. febreeze 41. transportation 42. heaters 43. air conditioners 44. desserts 45. home-cooked food 46. dresses 47. jokes 48. music ♫ 49. good grades 50. movies 51. laughing 52. pillows 53. bedding 54. straighteners 55. blogs 56. cell phones 57. computers 58. ipod 59. scriptures 60. Jesus 61. holidays 62. hot chocolate 63. snow men 64. popcorn 65. being healthy 66. plastic 67. scented candles 68. christmas lights 69. walks 70. beaches 71. swimming suits 72. money 73. eyes 74. scents 75. soft things 76. letters 78. surprises 79. lotion 80. Internet 81. kleenex 82. pasta 83. skype 84. love ♥ 85. plans 86. singing 87. violins 88. coincidences 89. home 90. paintings 92. vacations 93. hot packs 94. lip balm 95. inside jokes 96. comfortable couches 97. carpet 98. school 99. books 100. soldiers 101. doctors 102. firemen 103. policemen 104. garbage guys 105. kind-hearted people 106. people willing to help 107. long showers 108. shavers 109. tights 110. knee-highs 111. make-up 112. new friends 113. stars 114. clouds 115. warm rain 116. clocks 117. alarm clocks 118. knowledge 119. cd's

Swingin' through Life

I have awesome friends.

On Facebook, all of our status's said "I love my friends"

We are awesome. ☮ ♥

On Friday night we had another bonfire, we ran into some people while we were in the Lobby of the Lofts, and invited them up. Apparently the girl is thinking of coming out here and was with the brother and her sister, they all were really nice we hung out with em the rest of the day. After the fire, we went to see my roommate Camille perform with the show choir here called Encore, it was fun and I'm glad we went. We then went back up to the Lofts and watched Baby Mama, probably becoming one of my favorite movies, I have watched it like 4 times since I have been here, it's crazy. We then went to the swing that is on the hill by campus and were there for like an hour, in the freezing cold. My bum got totally numb, it was horrible, but still super fun.

On Saturday, I cleaned, then did sectionals for choir and orchestra, and then all the sudden it was eating time. The group excluding Layton & Georgina went to Mitch's mod/trailer/thing and watched a movie, it was pretty good. And then just came back up here, and went to bed.

We were still late to church today. Lebo also left today, which makes me sad, I miss her already, everyone is already noticing how Georgina and I just look weird without Lebo, just kidding, but they notice she's gone. This evening our Family Home Evening groups delivered food to people in the stake who needed some help, we went to this cute little old ladies house, when I complimented how much I adored her house she said it was a "normal country house" and she had this cute accent, and gave us hugs. I want to visit her all the time, too bad I have no car. Anyway, we then came back to the church and had a dinner, where we ran into Mitchell and Brady, who told us to go sit where we were sitting before, and they had written us a cute note on a napkin, made my day. Well, I am super happy to only have 2 days of school this week, and I will need to find stuff to fill my no school Thanksgiving Break days with. 

Love Always ♥

Brady and Andrew

Me and the Lebster

The Giant(Brady) and Mini Mia

Andrew's angry face

Lebo swingin'

Lebo Nappin'

Gina and Layton's Drawing

Love letter

The Cutest Ones of the Bunch

The Lack of Sleep

Our Adorable boys

In the past 48 hours I have gotten 5 hrs of sleep. One reason is because of the Harry Potter premiere last night! I went with a big group to Lynchburg. One of our friends families lives there so we had dinner at his house, and then to pass the time we went to the mall where me and Georgina found a forever21 and I had to buy some leg warmers and tights, cause I love that store.

Layton in the Jungle

Christmas at the mall

View from our Seats

We then waited in line for a little bit and then we got to go into the theatre. We were sitting in the theatre for like 2 hours, but it was so worth it because we got some awesome seats! After the amazing movie we had an hour long drive back home, so I didn't get to bed until around 4.. and then I had class at 7. oooh man, I thought Biology was hard when I got a decent night sleep, when you only have 2 1/2 hours of sleep, it is really rough. I then took a quick nap after that, and then barely made it through Chemistry. I am so looking forward to my nap after German and Orchestra, cause right now I have all of my roomates in here sleeping, and I am trying soo hard to resist that lull of slumber.

Church Buildings

As I was studying in the institute here at school, I got slightly side tracked thinking about all the differences between the church building here, and the one I go to at home. The chapel is the normal two small benches with one long one in the middle, but it's fatter, and it has back row benches. The wards are smaller then back home, so it makes sense that it is smaller, there is also a wheelchair ramp up to the podium, which my home ward doesn't have. The colors here are green for the benches, like home. But a light wood, and not the red mahogany color, the pew and everything else is also that light wood, unlike the white. Also, there is a study room at the institute, and not at home.. which makes sense. In the classrooms there are whiteboards, and not chalkboards. There is a missionary board at home and here. So I know the church is the same everywhere.. but also, the churches are really quite similar on the West coast and on the East coast.

Fiesta!

Bonfire in the Mountains

Roomies! Aren't we just Adorable?

Our Tacky-Tack matching Virginia Sweaters! :D

Dinner at Macado's yumm yumm

This weekend was super fun! Andrew's sister had come to visit him so we proposed that it was going to be a Fiesta!  On Friday the gang consisting of the roomies, Brady, Layton, Mitch, and Andrew,  went to Macado's in Lexington and had a nice dinner, it was really nice eating something that wasn't cafeteria, or microwave food. It was super fun except that, Macado's had these statues of baseball players, that looked really realistic, one was at the top of these stairs, which scared me, and then I jumped again when I saw the one that was by our table. Bad decorating decision if I should say so myself. It's not good to scare your costumers. haha 

After dinner we went up to the mountains and had a bonfire. The guys showed their boy scout skills and made a great fire. We had these huge marshmallows that are specifically made for s'more making, it takes up two whole graham crackers, and half a bar of chocolate to make this awesome s'more. But they were soooo yummy. (Dad would be proud of my perfect marshmallow making skills, tan on the outside mooshy all the way through the inside)

On Saturday I attempted studying in the library for a few hours, I got a good hour or so in, and then Lebo came in and we got distracted and took some funny photobooth pictures on my computer. But it was super fun. That night the school was showing Inception in the SAC so we all watched that, since Andrew has been wanting to see that movie for probably 3 weeks now. It is the craziest mind-blowing movie ever, but it was good. We then drank hot chocolate outside, which is now, I decided that I should always drink hot chocolate when I'm outside cause it's so darn cold, and it keeps you warm. 

Then today is Sunday, and.. yeah, normal Sunday stuff. We were late to church, as always. haha but we are getting less late, which is good, it's just hard when church is so early. Me and Lebo now both have a cough, so we tag team a lot in our coughing, which I feel bad for the people sleeping with us. Georgina made us some tea which I am now attempting to drink, it's not very good, but I hear it's helps ya feel better, so why not give it a try, yeah? What is left to do today is call my loving parents, and go to hymns on the hill, which should be fun. I love you all. ☮

WoChEnEnDe

This has been the longest, shortest week. I think it's cause I have a Chemistry test tomorrow, so all week I have been studying, and dreading Friday to come, but then again, it's Friday! You have to love Friday and want it to come right? Basically, I don't know what I'm doing this weekend but I'm excited. What I want to do is bleach my old faded black pants, have a Bonfire, maybe watch some more modern family, clean my "space" in the room, study for Biology and German, and then I think I will feel super duper accomplished. yay!
Today I went to hear this guy, Nate Pence, in my school sing for his senior recital, and he can sing better soprano than I can, I'm not saying I'm a super high soprano, but I'm decently high, and he can go higher. It's awesome.. whenever I looked away from watching him sing I imagined some opera woman with the horned hat and the pointy shield boobs. But I was awed. Anyway, that was random but had to be said.


This is a video also, of a guy, who is good at singing at womanly levels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9-CS2v8wcc

Monday Monday

So.. today is a Monday, if ya wanted to know. I thought I had missed my Biology class this morning when I woke up to light coming in from the window and I had a few moments of panic until I realized we just had daylight savings! As Georgina told me, Biology is definitely less painful when it is light outside. It's weird that the sun is already setting and I haven't even had dinner yet though, that's kinda depressing. The weather today was perfect once it was full on sun! So, even though I usually hate Monday with a passion, this one was pretty good! I woke up to light, watched America's Next Top Model, ate oreo's and milk, made myself a picture a day blog, that you should check out... the link is posted, and I mailed letters to my friends, and sent my old camera to my parents!

Update of my recent Life

Some days I get out of bed ready to face a new day, excited to see what new adventures I will face. Other days, not so much, I just roll out of bed just waiting for the night to come where I can sleep and try again the next day.
This year I have started a new adventure in my life, called spreading my wings and leaving home, this leaving of home for me, is going hundreds and hundreds miles away to a small town called Buena Vista, where my college Southern Virginia University resides. I came out here not knowing anyone, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what would happen to me. I am doing the pre-med program here hoping in the distant future to become an Orthodontist, right now I am not expecting to marry for a while, so hopefully this goal can be accomplished, if I can get my General Biology grade up. Classes here are much as I expected, hard. Luckily, I have good teachers who are willing to work with me, and friends who get me to study when I need to. My other classes are General Chemistry, German 1, Orchestra, and Choir. All of which I am doing well in.
I Probably have some of the best roommates in the world. We have all become really close friends, which is nice to actually like your assigned roommates. The first is Ashley Abbott, or who we have nicknames 'lebo'. She is a proud resident of Vydor, Texas. She is majoring in Spanish and is just as quirky as I am, well, maybe not quite as quirky. I'm not gonna lie, I thought she was a little stand off-ish when I first met her, and I didn't know how well we would get along, but I definitely have learned the exact opposite. She is super sweet and super sarcastic, which always makes me laugh when she gets on a roll. I am with her a lot, which is fun, we are basically an old married couple, if that is possible. My other roommate is Georgina Griffith from St. George, Utah. At first I was super intimidated by her, I guess I'm intimidated by everybody, but she is super funny and way chill, she is also the one who helps me study for Biology since we have that class together. She has a boyfriend named Layton Checketts from Provo, and they are probably one of the cutest couples ever, he is leaving at semester to go on his mission, which we don't know where yet but should be finding out soon. There is also another roommate named Camille Hollandsworth, I never really see her, but when I do, she sure loves to talk, which was my first impression! so I guess that one was correct. She also has a boyfriend, which is a different one from the start of the year, and a missionary. She stays up til 4 in the morning doing who knows what, I don't know how she survives.
Health wise I have officially started my cold season, which ironically began the first day it snowed in Utah, so even though I have left Utah, I am still tied to it somehow. Lately I have developed a cough which is annoying, I mostly feel bad for my roommates when I have a coughing attack in the middle of the night and have to leave the room, cause I'm sure it disturbs their sleep too. They are being really nice about it though. I think tomorrow marks the 2 week mark of being sick, which isn't too bad, and hopefully I will get over it soon.
I'm not gunna lie, lately I wish I could be home in my room, just reading on my big bed, with no one around, just feeling completely relaxed. I miss a nice home cooked meal, I miss dad's sunday dinners, and mom's vegetarian and pasta dishes. I miss giving them a hug every night and telling them I love them. I also miss my friends back home, but I guess we had to all go our separate ways sometime. I just hope to see them all when I come back for Christmas, which I am super excited for, going home is what has kept me going lately. Oh my goodness, I can not wait to see the whole family at Christmas, including the long lost Texas couple!
Well, this has been a really long post, but I feel like I had a lot to catch up on, I love you all, and remember, I love getting mail and packages.. *wink, wink* just kidding. But give me a phone call anytime!