Welcome to San Marvelous

Hello, oft-neglected blog. Once again, a busy life has kept me from processing through my keyboard the past month’s events. I think it can be summed up in this:

In the span of 11 days, I graduated with my master’s degree; went home to Arlington to celebrate my brother graduating from high school; drove back to College Station, packed up my apartment, and moved to San Marcos; met my new roommates in my new house; unpacked; was a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s wedding; said goodbye to Greg for the summer; and started a new job.

My parents and I at my master’s hooding ceremony

My brother and cousin as little kids. This photo was part of their senior banquet display.

Putting up some decorations in my new room

One of the only photos of my from Jen & Kyle’s wedding… hopefully more will surface soon!

Greg & I at Jen & Kyle’s rehearsal lunch. He left for Colorado shortly after.

Arch in the UAC overlooking the San Marcos square, the building where I work at Texas State.

Whew!

So far I am enjoying the new chapter of my life in San Marcos.

I’ve been on the job a week, and although it’s been a whirlwind of training and “Math 1316 is useless,” and “Just follow the core curriculum,” and prepping for 5000+ freshmen to come through our office this summer, I think I’m going to love it.

My house is adorable and my roommates are great.

Greg’s (my?) church has been so welcoming. I’ve already played with several babies, and been invited to watch movies, play games, and to an Arrested Development Season 4 marathon tonight! I also talked with our pastor about officially coming on as associate volunteer staff, and I’m excited to see that role unfold.

So far, life in San Marvelous has been pretty marvelous! I’m enjoying my three-day weekend and looking forward to finally unpacking/organizing the last few boxes, meeting new friends here, and learning how to live this new full-time job lifestyle sans homework!

Last week was bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s

This morning I am taking a breath and trying to comprehend what happened in my life this past week. In the last seven days I…

• Got a job offer
• Changed my summer plans
• Officially decided to move to the city where my boyfriend lives (“Life’s too short for it not be about the [boy] sometimes.”)
• Accepted a job offer
• Applied for an apartment in said city

It just all happened so quickly! One day I was getting excited about a summer in the mountains with Greg, hanging out with college students and applying for more jobs, hoping to eventually land one in San Marcos for the fall.

The next day I was crying and debating as I tried to figure out if this awesome job I was just offered in San Marcos was worth missing my summer in the mountains. I felt in my gut that it was.

The next day I accepted that job and then proceeded to tell all the people and sort out all the details about me changing my summer plans.

The next day I cried and felt sad about losing Colorado, but also excited about my new job.

The next day I went to San Marcos for the weekend and started realizing, this is my new life. I just signed up for this for the foreseeable future. What??

The next day I continued to feel a little like that, but I also applied for an apartment.

The next day I helped 2.42 Church set up for their Sunday service and thought, this is my new church home. These are my future friends and “family.” I also reflected on the past two years in College Station and with my Fellowship Church family and cried (with joy, but also sadness) about that.

So basically I felt all the things.

I am excited to start a new job doing something I love.
I am proud of myself for having a job lined up before graduation.
I am grateful for all the support I’ve received from my friends, family, and mentors during grad school and this decision.
I am thankful to God for this opportunity.
I am sad about not being in Colorado this summer.
I am disappointed that it all didn’t work out perfectly for me to go to LT and have a job.
I am dismayed that Greg and I will be hundreds of miles away from each other this summer.
I am nervous about starting a new life in a new place.
I am worried about making new friends all over again.
I am afraid I will never get familiar with the layout of the roads in San Marcos.
I am pumped about a summer of working on personal projects like cooking, exercising, crafting, and nesting in my new apartment.
I am hopeful about joining a new community of believers in San Marcos.
I am happy that Greg and I will be able to be in the same place in the fall and onwards.
I am glum about leaving College Station and my “family” and friends here.

I have a lot of feels to sort through, it looks like. But in the end, I think the positive emotions outweigh the negative. Yes, I am grieving the loss of my summer plans and the loss of my life in College Station, but I know it is time to move forward to new adventures, and I know this summer will be best for me in the long run. But it’s still good to sit in those emotions and feel them out as I give them to the Lord. However, I do hope this coming week is a little less emotional, because I’ve got enough stuff in my emotional cup to work through for now!

Raising my expectations

I used to pray when I was in high school or so that someday God would give me a tall boyfriend. But I had minimal expectations.

“God, I mean, just make him taller than me when we’re barefoot. Like, give me half an inch taller even if I’m just in flats. That’s all I’m asking! 6’1″! Can we make that happen?”

I had these low expectations because, guys, I’m 6 feet tall.

I was told by the photographer that I could not stand next to the bride in this photo, lest it be even more awkward than it already is!

This past week several of my good friends and acquaintances were in Michigan for a ministry conference. This conference hosted people I know from churches across the country: my church from Mizzou, my church at A&M, my future church at Texas State, plus friends from other churches I met at LT 2010 and friends who planted a church in Pittsburgh. It was a collision of my worlds in some ways, which is why I saw these two photos:

Greg & Mazvita

Greg & Amanda

It was funny to see my Mizzou friends excited to meet (or “remeet”) Greg now that we’re dating. But it was also funny to get these pictures because it emphasizes how tall Greg is!

Because compared to me…

…Greg isn’t that tall.

I mean he’s got six inches on me, but that’s the national average height difference between most couples, according to The Tall Book.

So it just goes to show you that sometimes God gives us more than we could imagine asking for. Or even fathom possible! My 13-to-22-year-old mind would have never have thought myself lucky enough to date someone who is a “normal” amount taller than me. And so together, I think we help one another feel “normal,” which is nice for some freakishly tall people like us.

24

I’m on a blogging roll! I think I may be a certifiable binge-blogger… nothing for WEEKS, then BAM! Four posts in five days!

Anyway, last week was my 24th birthday. I figured I needed to blog about it because I blogged about 23 and 22. I really can’t believe I’m 24. I’m officially in my mid-20s. It’s weird that I am anywhere from two to six years older than most college athletes. I am one year away from being a quarter-of-a-century old! But I don’t really feel depressed or old or anything. Part of this might be because I shared my birthday week with my now-28-year-old boyfriend. Nothing like a little perspective to make you feel young and spry!

The Monday of my birthday week my roommates threw together a small surprise part with about 5 of my friends, which was really sweet. Thursday, on my actual birthday, my roommate Megan took me to Chuy’s for apps and happy hour margs. Overall, it was a simple birthday!

Birthday Tex-Mex with Megan!

But because Greg’s birthday is three days before mine, we celebrated with a sickeningly adorable joint birthday party in San Marcos this weekend.

Lighting the candles on our shared cake! He lit my pink candles, and I lit his blue candles because everyone knows you can’t light your own birthday candles.

Happy joint birthday! It’s hard to tell in this photo, but the pink and blue candles spelled out both “24″ and “28″ because I am super clever.

We had a bunch of friends from Greg’s church over for cake (that recipe pretty much, just minus the cream cheese in the icing), food, games, and then we watched Brave because Greg associates me with blazingly ginger heroines. How sweet!

Greg got me a Texas State T-shirt (Eat ‘em up, Bobcats!) and an ADORABLE kitty coin bank from Japan, which is slightly broken now due to some party guests wanting to see if the kitty would take chips and toothpicks as well as spare change… And now Greg’s ordering me a new one, haha.

I got Greg the card game Bang! and five Bill Cosby CDs because he loves Bill Cosby. I also made him a jar with date ideas for our summer in Colorado.

Not my photo, but it’s the same concept. I colored coded the sticks for various types of dates (day trips, things in Estes Park, things on the Y grounds, hikes, etc.)

Overall, it was a really fun birthday that I did not mind sharing at all. Hopefully there will be more shared birthday week events in years to come!

Greg sporting the Mizzou T-shirt I mentioned in my spring break post at our party. Doesn’t he look great in black and gold?? Go Tigers!

CoMO Spring Break 2013

I’m a little slow updating, but spring break was last week, and I took advantage of my gracious graduate assistantship supervisor and took the week off to head up to Missouri for the first time since I graduated almost 2 years ago!

Absolutely Mizzou-tiful

It was a really lovely time of seeing old stomping grounds and hanging out with dear friends and mentors. It was hard to balance a week of seeing lots of friends, trying to do all of my favorite CoMO things (didn’t make it to the Ragtag… womp womp), eating my favorite CoMO food, trying to be a little productive with job searching and support raising, while also trying to relax during what was likely my last spring break ever. Although it was a busy week, I love every part of it and am so glad I got to visit the Zou! Here’s a little of what I did:

• Ate delicious Apples & Sausage on a pancake with Samjay at Cafe Berlin, a CoMO brunch MUST.
  

  Cafe Berlin (photo by Samjay)

• Visited with Mariah in Mizzou’s beautifully gothic Memorial Union.
  
  

  Memorial Union

• Dined on Addison’s famous Nachos Bianco with my blog friend, Kate, IRL! It was our first time to meet in person after two years of internet friendship!
  
  

  Kate & Me

• Hung out in Center Hall and Sporcled with the ladies of Dobbs Canvas Group, aka what my undergrad small group became after they closed Mark Twain Hall for renovations.
• Applied for some reslife jobs at Mizzou and in Texas, and ended up with a phone interview!
• Visited the Missourian and caught up with one of my favorite editors, the lovely Liz Brixey.
• Grabbed some delicious cookies from Ellis Library’s Bookmark Cafe and washed it down with some Kaldi’s coffee before catching up with my favorite eccentric and brilliant professor, Dean Ted Tarkow.
  
  

  Bookmark Cafe cookies. Soooo good.

• Walked across campus to see the newly renovated Pershing Commons and chat with my former Freshman Interest Groups colleague and Director of Mizzou’s ResLife, Frankie.
• Resisted buying so many glorious black & gold souvenirs, settling instead on a T-shirt for the boyf. He joked that he now has a shirt to mow the lawn in. Jerk. #Aggie
• Drank some Fitz’s rootbeer in Kaldi’s and worked on support raising.
• Spent the evening snuggling and giggling with my five hosts (Katie, Elaine, Samjay, Allie, and Michelle) in their adorable house, the Loo (which stands for Land of Oz).
  

  The Loo gals and me

• Grabbed gyros at Casablanca with Pastor Garrett and his lovely pregnant wife Brenna. (Can’t wait to meet baby Eben!)
• Walked over to Pastor John aka Drage‘s house and hashed out my summer internship job responsibilities for LT and talked recent and upcoming life events.
• Spooned and took the best nap ever with Samjay.
• Treated myself to way too much food at Flat Branch with Allie. By far my favorite restaurant in CoMO. Had to get the Flat Branch burger smothered in their ‘Chokes & Cheese for old time’s sake, followed by their cookie sundae with black & gold Tiger Striped ice cream. Also finally got around to trying a sample of six of Flat Branch’s own brews. My favorite was definitely the Oil Change Oatmeal Stout. Dark and chocolaty with some coffee flavors; yum.
• Craft nighted it up with Mazvita (Mah-’gee-ta) and made some adorable fabric flower hair clips. Buy one here to support Mazvita and invisible chonic illness awareness!
  

  Craft night! (photo by Mazvita)

• Enjoyed a famous Rollins Dining Hall omelet with Elaine.
• Lunched at the Upper Crust with my Walter Williams mentor, Maggie. Although it was a good lunch, I’ll have to remember in the future brunch is the best there.
• Grabbed some Which Wich with my dear friend Justin who also happened to be in town.
• Took a walk/hike through Clyde Wilson Memorial Park, tucked in the back of the East Campus neighborhood, with Samjay & Michelle
  

  Hiking with Michelle and Samjay

• Crashed Dobbs’ Canvas Group
• Watched a terrible movie on Netflix with Michelle.
• Enjoyed delicious Thai iced tea and peanut phat thai from Bangkok Gardens with my former internship supervisors, Jill & Laura.
• Toured the under-renovations Mark Twain Hall, my home for 3 years while at Mizzou.
• Enjoyed the spring weather, the Columns, and Peace Park with Michelle.
• Crashed a Rollins/Dobbs canvas group video game hangout.
• Went home early for more snuggling, giggling, and worship with the Loo gals on my last night in CoMO.
  

  Worship time!

Overall a beautiful week in Missouri!

The choice is yours

I’ve been thinking a lot about choices and how I spend my time lately.

I’m going out to Colorado this summer, and guys, I am out of shape. Like real bad. And I don’t want to be out there in the mountains gasping for every breath on the walk to the dining hall. It’s just pathetic. But unless I make time to work out here in Texas before May, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Because you don’t get in shape by thinking about it or hoping it will happen.

Just like you probably won’t finish your homework or studying or reading by wishing it was over. And I won’t raise $8000 to pay for my summer internship by fretting about it. And we won’t develop an intimate relationship with the Lord just by complaining that our relationship with the Lord sucks.

We all have choices to make. We have to stop thinking and wishing and hoping and complaining and worrying and fretting and do something.** We have to make a choice about how to spend our time.

You can choose to hit the snooze button, or you can choose to wake up in time to be in the word.
You can choose to swing by the bank on the way home from work, or you can choose to walk across campus to the bank in the student center and get a little exercise in.
You can choose to go home to a distracting apartment and forget that you need to make follow-up phone calls for support raising, or you can head to the office and get down to business.
You can choose to avoid your homework by checking Twitter every five minutes, or you can go to the local coffee shop and knock it all out.

Doing hard things is about making touch choices about where your priorities lie. It’s amazing that I claim I don’t have time to work out, but if someone special calls, regardless of what I’m in the middle of, I find an hour to talk to him on the phone.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is… I have to take responsibility for my time and my choices. “I’m busy” is true. But it’s not a real excuse. The real excuse is, “I can’t do this because it’s just not as much of a priority as other things in my life.” And sometimes that’s really tough to admit. But if you think about it, it’s the truth.

Sometimes it really just is a tough decision. “I don’t have time to play in the worship band this week” is really “I am choosing to place homegroup events, my relationship with my boyfriend, support raising, homework, and a friend’s bridal shower above playing in the worship band.” Placing worship practice below those other priorities isn’t bad, it’s just a decision I had to make last weekend. And it was hard because I really love playing on the worship team! But if I’m honest, I don’t value it enough to consistently place it above my homegroup and boyfriend and schoolwork. Do I choose worship over those things sometimes? Yes. But not always. This past weekend I made a different choice based on what was important to me that weekend.

Sometimes it’s convicting. “I don’t have time to read my Bible every day” is really “I’d rather watch TV.” Ouch. That’s hard to hear. But I can’t really deny it.

I guess I would just say, what are my choices saying about me and what is important to me? Again, I’m not saying all my choices are bad, I’m just saying that they tell other people about what I value.

So here’s my challenge. What do your choices about your time say about you right now?

Make a choice. Own it. Be responsible for it.

**Do not mistake me for saying “don’t pray about something, do something.” Prayer, in my opinion, is “doing something.” But God also calls us to physically do things like “make disciples,” so sometimes we’re supposed to do more than just pray.

How’s it going?!

It’s been two months since I posted. Oy. This semester was supposed to be less busy than last semester! Alas, this prediction does not seem to be coming to fruition… thankfully, I think I would say that although this semester has been busy, my busy-ness hasn’t necessarily been difficult. Now, balancing everything has been challenging, but the tasks I need to accomplish are fairly straightforward.

Lately, when someone asks me how I have been doing, this has been my standard response: “Well, my life right now is pretty much school, work, homegroup, support raising, job searching, and Greg.” So I’ll fill you in on how it’s been going.

1. School
I am in my last semester of grad school, and BOY, do I have senioritis. I’m only taking three classes, but each day I have class I have to amp myself up to go. Not that the classes are bad, I’m just so ready to be done and graduate. Less than 90 days to go, people! Homework is definitely being pushed back until the last minute, but I’m trying not to be on total cruise control…

2. Work
Work is… work. Putting some structure to the peer mentor program we started last semester. Not too much going on here.

3. Homegroup
This semester I joined our small group’s leadership team, which means several extra meetings a week, but I don’t mind much at all. I love my fellow core team members Dustin & Megan, and I can’t complain about getting to meet with amazing women from our church for support and discipleship! Homegroup is interesting this semester; we’re on the cusp of losing about half our members to graduation, but I’ve been enjoying it and am excited to see the growth the Lord has in store for Shockwave.

4. Support Raising
Oy, this is probably one of the more time-consuming things on my plate. This summer I am interning as a staff member at Colorado Leadership Training, but in order to do so, I need to raise $8000 to cover administration costs, training, travel, my summer wages, and fees. Support raising is tricky because it’s never really done. I could work for 8 hours a day every day for a week on ministry team development (MTD), and I most likely still wouldn’t be done after that week. I have to be careful to use my time productively but not get sucked into MTD because I have other responsibilities that need taking care of on a day-to-day basis. So far the going is sort of slow. I’ve had four people give and about 30 tell me they want to… Hoping to see the balance in the account I’m responsible for go up soon! (If you’d like to hear more about the internship, check the “Colorado LT” tab above!)

5. Job Searching
Oh job searching… you are so tricky. I do not understand your timing. I need a job in mid-August. Are the jobs that are open now willing to wait for me until then? Who knows. I am trying to discern good ways to spend my time by applying to jobs I am really interested in but not applying for jobs out of sheer necessity yet. It’s been tricky to because I am trying to find a job in a limited area. Which, by the way, is the same area as a certain boy. I’m trying to move somewhere FOR A BOY. What is my life? This leads me to #6.

6. Greg
One of the more fun aspects of my life! Greg and I celebrated six months of dating last week, which is crazy to me. I can’t believe I’ve been hanging out with this guy for half of a year! Things are going quite well, if I do say so myself. We try to see one another ever other week, but this semester it’s been slightly more frequently… until we get to an upcoming break with what looks like five weeks in a row of mismatched weekend plans (psh, who needs women’s retreats, discipleship conferences, and mission trips? #longdistancechristiancoupleproblems), which will probably suck. But at least we have the summer in Colorado to look forward to! (Yes, Greg’s going to Colorado, too. No, that’s not why I decided to go. But you know I am definitely not upset about it either…)

I guess I have a #7, too.
7. Miscellaneous
Because I don’t want you to think I work/go to class all day, raise support all night, then only ever spent time with Greg. I have other friends! And roommates! And a cat! And regular TV shows I watch and musical instruments I play and books I read. Respectively:

• Friends: Biweekly coffee dates with my amazing friend Jen (whose wedding for whom I will have my first bridesmaid-ship in May) and whatever phone calls/friend dates I can squeeze into Fridays/Saturday mornings/Sunday afternoons
• Roommates: The lovely Megan, Catha, Kristina, & Christina (whose wedding I’ll be attending in less than a month!) who fill my house with goofiness and laughter
• Cat: Still adorable and mischievous as she’s ever been. Though I might be slowly teaching her to have separation anxiety because I have been out-of-town approximately 12 of the last 35 days…
• TV Shows: Bunheads, HIMYM, New Girl, The Mindy Project, Modern Family, Up All Night (which hasn’t been on?), The Office (don’t get me started on how much Andy sucks this season), Parks & Rec, and (RIP) 30 Rock.
• Musical instruments: Played guitar and sang for Sunday worship for the first time ever a few weeks ago! Guitar and viola on my own as well.
• Books: Read the first two C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy books and a young adult novel so far this semester. Plus a bunch of books over the winter break (Bossypants, Life of Pi, The Night Circus, The Tall Book)

So… that’s how it’s been going lately. I really do want to blog more regularly, but let’s be real: that hasn’t happened much since August. Dang you, 18th grade!

Adulthood already?!

Y’all. I think I’m growing up.

As I predicted back in September, this year has been different. I’m in the same apartment, taking classes with the same people, hanging out with my same small group. But something’s changed.

Last year I still very much felt like I was a college kid. Yes, I had one college degree, but I was still 22, living with four other girls (three of whom were still working on their bachelor’s degrees) in a mismatched apartment, hanging out in a college small group full of undergrads, staying up until 2 a.m. procrastinating school work, knowing I had two years of this college life to go before I had to face the real world. All my friends were on college schedule.  All my friends were single and loving (?) it.

I got a cat and MY LIFE CHANGED FOREVER. Ok, not really, but c’mon. She’s totes adorbs.

This year I am still just a 23-year old with four roommates, but I did homework on Saturdays like a responsible person and actually was productive on weeknights (thanks, Mugwalls!). I still have my small group, but it has fewer undergrads (and VERY few underclassmen) in it now, and we’re all starting to learn what it’s like to get up early and work more  and go to bed at decent hours. I’m in bed before midnight if not before 11 most nights. I am responsible for another living creature’s life (Shout out to Scout/Scouty-poo/Scouty-pants/my baby… I am not a crazy cat lady despite what my Instagram account might show, I swear). Those four gals I lived with last year? Yeah, all in serious relationships now. Me too, for that matter. I’m thinking about the real world and what happens next. I don’t have another two years of school to hide under. I gotta face adulthood.

Me, my roomies from last year, and our significant others.

And while this is sort of scary, it’s kind of not at the same time. Although the transition has been noticeable and a little jarring at times (Guys. Greg (“the guy”) has a house. Like he owns it. Now he is an adult.), it feels fairly natural, like this is the next logical step in this thing called life.

You stop staying up into all hours of the night wasting time and start having a normal-ish sleep schedule. People pair off and get engaged/married. You actually start using Mint.com to budget yourself because suddenly you’re sort of making a decent amount of money (sort of). That collection of 60 college T-shirts? Yeah, they gather dust in you dresser because it’s business casual every day, and really no one needs 60 T-shirts for the weekends because you actually do laundry at regular intervals instead of saving up three months’ worth and taking it home at Thanksgiving break. (Actually, I can’t lie. I took home a suitcase of dirty laundry at Thanksgiving, but that was only because I am soooo busy with my adult life that I didn’t have time to wash them at school…)

Catching some high school football with Greg over Thanksgiving break.

And so it goes. I go to work and work on things mostly unsupervised because my supervisor wants me to feel like a professional. I decide I actually want to buy a solid pair of nude heels that cost more than $20 because I should be making sartorial investments like that now. I drive out-of-town on the weekends and visit my grownup boyfriend for the weekend. I come home and snuggle with my cat and watch TV. (Still not a crazy cat lady.) And I think I’m okay with it. I think, as much as I adored my “college years” and as much as I still adore college students (pretty much majoring in them), I’m ready for the next step.

Some college ladies I still ardently adore. They came to visit me on their Thanksgiving break!

I’m ready to be an adult, guys! I am! (But I wouldn’t mind my parents still covering my cell bill and car insurance…)

So adorable, amirite?!

Dangit, Grandma

There’s a reason I haven’t blogged much at all this semester. Well, a few reasons, really. Some being…

1. I work 30 hours a week.
2. I’m enrolled in 12 hours of class.
3. I have never had so much reading in my life.
4. This takes up most of my waking hours.
5. And oh yeah, my grandma was prophetic.

Just let that sink in a little and let your mind ponder what I could possibly mean by “my grandma was prophetic.”

Ok. On to the story.

My life this semester is pretty much an endless and relentless  and monotonous cycle of work, class, homework, repeat. Add a dash of catching up with friends here, a sprinkle of homegroup and church activities there, and then, oh yeah… a Guy*. That’s where Grandma’s prophecy comes in.

Now, I am hesitant to write about the Guy, not because our dating is a secret or anything, but because I respect the Guy and don’t necessarily want to blab the details of our relationship all over the internet for everyone to read. But this story was too good not to share, so I hope you don’t mind me sharing it, Guy!

You see, my dear grandmother passed away in April after a long, fulfilling life of raising 10 children, 30+ grandchildren, and last time I counted, though this number might be off, 17 great-grandchildren. She was an amazing lady. So her passing was sad, but not unexpected, and honestly a little relieving. Grandma’s hanging out with Jesus now, and I’m pretty sure she’s laughing to herself because she’s watching me live out her prophecy.

Ok, I’m getting to the prophecy part now, I promise!

The last time I saw my grandma in person, though I spoke with her over the phone before she passed, she told me, and I swear this is word for word her last words to me in person:

“Don’t let any boy mess up your education.”

At this time I found this pretty funny and highly implausible.

“Grandma, I’ve made it 23 years without any boy messing with my education, not to mention 23 years without a guy even letting me know he’s interested in me. I do not think this will be a problem. And even on the off-chance that some guy does come along and wants to take me out, I certainly will not let him mess up my education because I am a strong, independent woman, and I will earn my master’s degree by May and be self-sufficient, so help me!”

Less than four months later, enter the Guy. The highly unexpected and surprising guy. The long distance guy.

Y’all. Dating and getting to know someone really well is time-consuming. Like, a really fun and exciting time-consuming, but time-consuming nonetheless. And then you add a two-hour drive to that time-consuming, and it really starts to add up. Between weekend visits and Skype dates and phone calls, your free time starts to diminish (in a really great way, Guy!)… that free time you were supposed to do your massive amounts of homework and reading for your 12 hours of class.

Oops.

So yeah. I’m pretty behind on my reading right now. And if I’m not careful, Grandma might start haunting Guy to make sure he isn’t “messing up my education.”

But in all reality, he isn’t. My work gets done. I might skim some chapters and skip some not-as-important articles, but it’s getting done, and I’m going to graduate.

And dangit, I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty fun having a Guy around to “mess up my education.”

So Grandma, I hope you and Jesus are having yourselves a laugh up there in heaven because I did not see this coming, and I kind of feel like Sarah when the angels told her she was going to have a baby. You got me!

*Note: His name is not actually “Guy.” Just trying to keep some internet mystique going!

New and improved for the 2012-2013 season!

Y’all. It’s been six weeks since I last updated. I apologize for that, but the past six weeks have been pretty insane, so I think I have a good excuse.

In the past six weeks I…

• Wrapped up my internship at Willamette
• Moved back to Texas
• Unpacked my room from the bed beg incident and got a new bed sans bed bugs!
• Welcomed three new roommates into my apartment
• Starting forming friendships and relationships with all sorts of new people
• Ate Yogurtland four times in one week
• Started a new job
• Moved into a new office
• Started a new internship
• Went to Galveston with my family to celebrate my mom’s doctorate degree
• Got new glasses
• Started calling freshmen I’ve never met to invite them to church
• Got a cat
• Reunited with my worship band friends and played during the first college-only service at church
• Started my last year in grad school
• Went to Hipster Prom
• Have attempted to develop new healthy study habits
• Did a lot of other things that I can’t even remember because it’s been such a crazy six weeks

So there you have it. My excuses for not blogging. The problem is that I want to blog about all of it! Don’t you want to know how my last two weeks in Oregon were sans bike? Don’t you want to know about my new kitty? Don’t you want to know about how this semester is going to be amazingly challenging and rewarding and an entirely new experience in a familiar setting? Don’t you want to know what Hipster Prom is?

Well, maybe you don’t care that much. But I do because I want to intentionally document this time in my life because, y’all, it’s getting a little crazy! I was just emailing my missionary-friend-in-Africa John about my life, and all I could say was, “EVERYTHING IS NEW.” I could be super spiritual right now and say something like, “Behold, I am making all things new,” but I’m pretty sure Jesus wasn’t talking about my new job and roommates.

Anyway. Look for updates soon. Because even though my Google calendar is pretty much a solid block of colored squares at this point, I will make time to blog!

Famous last words…