Lent.

      Okay, so clearly this blogging stuff is just going to have to be a weekly thing. Just consider it a treat if I manage to post more often than that!  My Mardi Gras holiday was nothing too spectacular. There was no wild partying, no CPMG (you're lucky if you don't know what that stands for), and I remember everything that has happened in my life since my last post! I spent most of my time hanging out with friends, spending some serious QT with my momma, and getting in some good runs before the race...which is now only 9 days away! AHH! Anyway, there really was nothing too interesting about my break. It was a break that I needed sooo badly and one that I am sooo glad I got. Here are two of the highlights of my trip home...

Puppies!!! 

South Louisiana sunset.

      While I had a fabulous trip home, I had to return to the real world at some point. I headed back to Baton Rouge late on Wednesday afternoon, and I did some thinking on the way. I think this picture sums up my thoughts pretty darn well.

Basin bridge.

I took this while driving over the Atchafalaya. My apologies to all you road police who don't want me using my phone while driving! Anyway, I took this because I was taken aback by what I saw in my mirror. How could what was behind me look so different than where I was at that moment? Hadn't I just come from that view in the mirror? It's crazy how quickly our interpretation of one moment can change. Oh, and another thing. See how the view in the mirror is starting to get all dark and gloomy, while the view through the window is so beautiful and blue? Yeah, totally my life. It's time for me to leave all of the icky feelings and memories that have been plaguing me in the past. It's time for me to focus on what is in front of me. I need to pull it together, in school and in every other area of my life. 

      Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, as most of you know. It's a day that marks the beginning of Lent, a time of preparation through penance, fasting, prayer, and all that good stuff. My roommates and I have decided to give up all things sweet, which will definitely be a challenge. While I have always chosen something to give up during Lent, I've come to realize over the past few years that I need to do more than that. Lent is the perfect time to grow deeper in our faith, and that's what I try to do. I'm doing a Lenten devotional every night before I go to bed, I'm trying to focus more on thanking God for everything He does for me throughout the day, and the (Catholic) roomies and I have this grand plan of night prayer and rosaries. There is so much more to Lent than not drinking alcohol for 40 days and not having a burger on Fridays. If you don't do it for the other 300ish days in the year, at least open your heart to Him for these 46 days (gotta count Sundays, y'all!). Later!

Finally, a break!

      Have I really not posted since Tuesday? Geez! I'm awful at this stuff. Give me a sec to remember everything that has happened since then, and I'll tell you about it.
      Alright...Wednesday. Nothing really interesting went on during the day. I think I spent 6 miserably boring hours at work, filing papers and nagging the people in the lobby. After work, Stew and I went for a short run at the rec. It's funny to think that these days, a short run is usually 2-4 miles. There was once a time when a short run consisted of just a mile or less! My cardiorespiratory endurance has certainly come a long way in the past few months...excuse my kines lingo hehe. Anyway, that night we had a fundraising meeting for Jamaica. As much as I'm looking forward to going on the trip, I'm not at all looking forward to the fundraising...mainly because it brings back visions of ad sales from my high school yearbook staff days. If anyone out there knows of a way to raise some serious moolah, or if you would like to donate to our cause, feel free to let me know! As we get closer to the trip time, I'll do a post or two about last year's experience. It's crazy to think that exactly three months from now, I'll be with the brothers and the residents of the MOP monastery. I cannot wait!!!!! The impact last year's trip had on me is something I still think about every single day. It's insane how much more you are able to give when you're not worried about what you have.
      At some point Wednesday night, I probably went to sleep. Thursday was my last school day before this glorious break, but I had to give my second speech before I could consider my school week done. I hate those things so much! I spent an hour before the class actually started sitting in there reciting my speech out loud. Of course, when I had to present, I did awful. I spoke way too fast and most probably forgot half of my information. I just don't understand why it's so hard for me! I don't consider myself, but talking in front of people like that scares me to death. Whatever though. Just two more speeches to go! One is worth 20% of my final grade...okay, I need to stop thinking about it. After work and a little homework, BJ and I went to dinner at Shannon's house. He's a family friend who recently moved to BR, and we're happy to have him nearby! It's always nice to eat something home-cooked that you didn't have to cook yourself. After that, I got to go home and spend hours doing homework that I didn't understand at all. I wish I could say that physics will be the death of me, but honestly, every single class I'm taking this semester has an equal chance of killing me. I totally understand the idea of the sophomore slump now.
      Friday, I did the whole work/volunteer thing. I'm kinda bummed I won't get to go to the food bank next week. I'm starting to like hanging out with those crazy people! Once I got back from there, it was FINALLY time to pack up and go home. I always get stressed out that I'm not packing enough, but then I'm like really? You're going home. For four days. There are clothes there and a mother who will take you shopping if you have actually forgotten something important. I think it all stems from the time I completely forgot to pack underwear and didn't realize it until I was in Nevada. Embarrassing! Speaking of Nevada, that's where my bestest bud and the softball team are this weekend! I hope they all remembered their underwear...
      Anyway, it feels so great to be home. I spent last night just hanging out with my parents and my pups, and I didn't do much of anything today due to the flooding rains and tornadoes and all that good stuff. Typical Mardi Gras weather! I spent most of the day avoiding the school work I brought home and doing a little self-evaluating. I decided that I am sure I want to become and occupational therapist, and I might have browsed some potential grad school options. I'd love to go to LSUHSC and get to be with all of my friends as they do med/PT/nursing school, but there is also a part of me that wants to go somewhere farther away. I guess I need to bring myself back into the present and pull my grades up so I can actually do these things! Tonight, we celebrated my brother's birthday with some boiled crawfish and ice cream cake. I can't believe he's going to be 19 tomorrow...he's still like ten in my mind. This life goes by too fast!
      Here are some pictures from today...I'm feeling way too lazy to write them into the above post.

The neighbors put in a pond overnight...

My old girl has no teeth to hold her tongue in!

Never gets old. Nomnomnom.

      Before I end this, I feel like I need to say one more thing. I've been feeling amazing lately. Everyday, I notice positive things that are happening for me. Everyday, I feel a calm come over me when I think about the things I've been struggling with. I know this is a totally cheesy way to say it, but I can feel the wounds healing. I just don't know how else to say it! I feel like me again. I feel like I can give someone advice and actually feel sure that what I'm telling them is what I wholeheartedly believe. I've missed that!  I'm...happy. I really, really am. Later!

Happy Mixed Feelings Day!

      Hola amigos! I would wish you all a happy Valentine's day, but some people really don't like this day. I mean really, reallyyyy don't like it. So, happy Tuesday! Since I last posted, my life has become super interesting. I'm telling you, you won't be able to stop reading from this point on! Okay, enough with the sarcasm...
      On Sunday, I started out the day with some lovely Jesus time at St. Judes. I love the priests there, but they are going to be renovating the church after Easter, so we will probably have to find somewhere else to go. Unless we decide we can handle 700 people in the parish hall...that thought just gives me Christmas mass nightmares. Blehhh. Anyway, after that, I went to Alex's one and only game of the day. They won in five innings, so I didn't get to avoid my homework as long as I wanted to. I snuck a creepy picture of her while I was there!

The first of many creeper shots.

After the game, I came home and pretended to get homework done for a few hours. That night, we had our valentine's date to see The Vow. I guess you could say it was enjoyable. It made me totally miserable, but that's kind of the point of those movies...right?

      Monday was nothing special. I got to sleep late (8am feels like noon these days), and I only had one class to worry about. Class let out early, so I got to come home and act like a bum for a little while before heading to work for the afternoon. That night, in order to avoid writing a paper, I cooked some yummy chicken noodle soup. So Mrs. Janice, if you see this, send some more soup kits!

      This morning, we got a little valentine surprise on our porch! When I opened the door to leave for school at 7:15, I saw this blocking the door.

Please ignore the spider web...

Upon further investigation, I saw that the note said...

Follow the arrow...

Under the mass of spider webs, I found these!

Amazing.

Is there any better way to start a morning than finding a Reese's with your name on it? Heck no. Our dear friend, who identified himself as J.A.N., left all of us these sweet treats. It's kind of freaky that he was standing outside my window at some point, but I'll try not to think about that part.

      Now, I have to ask. Why do so many people hate Valentine's Day? This is my first single V-day in a while, and I didn't feel the urge to go around popping everyone's balloons and stomping on their roses. Even as a (somewhat) recently single person, I did not lay in bed all day hating happy people and happy things. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have minded having someone to spoil me, but that's just not the point. To me, this is just a day where we are called to remind those that we love how we feel. It's 100% possible to have a wonderful Valentine's Day without having a significant other. Too many people use this day as an excuse to throw a pity party for themselves. Come on, folks! No one wants to watch you pout! So, do yourself a favor. Remind your friends and family that you love them, and I'll do the same. If I had the time, I'd write everyone I could that means a lot to me one of my nice little letters. Too bad I have a paper and a speech to finish. Ugh!

      I was going to end there, but another surprise came knocking at our door! I had to share it with you guys.

So cute!

If you can't tell, each of us got a picture. Caroline is the giraffe, I'm the penguin, Mel is the lion, and Alex is the traveling turtle. You might ask yourself, "Huh?" but I have learned that some questions will never be answered, especially when you're dealing with the boy in that baby picture. This is our admirer up close!

Don't you just want to hug him?!

If you scrolled through here and just looked at the pictures, at least do yourself a favor and read this! For the rest of the day, love and allow yourself to be loved. Then do it again tomorrow. Maybe even the day after that. I promise you'll feel so much better. Later!

Going and Going.

      Much to my surprise, I managed to survive this crazy week! I feel like I've been going nonstop for as long as I can remember, and right now I'm fighting to keep my eyes open. I was really planning on getting some of my homework done, but that's definitely not going to happen. I'm forcing myself to stay awake until 10...is that a problem for other college students? Probably not. Oh well. Let me tell you folks a little about the past few days while my eyes are still staying open.
      Wednesday and Thursday were nothing special, but I did manage to take this sweet picture of the old capitol while I was running an errand downtown. I really want to spend some time exploring downtown, especially the farmers' market that pops up every Saturday morning.

Old State Capitol

      Friday, I did my first round of volunteering for my service-learning english class. Since the class is focusing on hunger, I'm working at the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and/or HOPE Ministries - both really great organizations! I did my first two hours at the food bank, and it was pretty interesting. After seeing all of the disgusting things people donate, I want to encourage you all to donate things that you would eat. Would you eat a can of something that expired in 2004? I doubt it. I'm not a picky eater, but I wouldn't eat about half of the stuff that gets donated. Just remember that you're donating the food to help feed hungry people, not just this thing called "the hungry". Anyway, I enjoyed getting to know the other volunteers too. My friend Victoria and two of the other volunteers will be there next Friday when i go back which is pretty exciting. One guy has three college degrees, but did something stupid that got him community service. He never said what, but I'm guessing something that would have otherwise resulted in jail time. Another lady is working on finishing up her degree (and three minors), and I'm pretty sure she's at least in her 40s. I can't help but be thankful that I am acting on my opportunity to further my education right now, not when I'm the old lady in the bunch. I'm definitely looking forward to  volunteering there more and getting to know everyone. Here's a picture of the boxes we managed to get packed in about an hour and a half. Good stuff!

These go to local pantries for sorting and giving out.

      Oh, I almost forgot! Stewy got a call for an interview at the LSu nursing school on Friday! I'll talk more about that when I get to Saturday though. When I got back from the food bank, we had to go shopping for big girl interview clothes. After that, we treated ourselves to some celebratory chicken salad from Zoes. Soooooo good. Then, it was time for softball season to begin! My sister and her family came over for the weekend, so I got to watch the game (and freeze to death) with them. The game seemed to take forever (and it was oh so cold), but I don't mind softball too much when I actually know people playing. I'm used to basketball's fast pace, so softball and baseball seem to take years to me. Oh yeah, and it was cold! Did I mention that? I mean yesterday was basically the first day of winter here in Baton Rouge. Madness I tell you! Also, we got to show off the tshirts we made for Alex. They're corny and cute and I love them!

Cute, right?

      This morning, I woke up bright and early to go with Stewy to her interview. AND IT WAS COLD. Sorry, I still can't get over the fact that it's winter. Anyway, it was so nerve-racking! I can only imagine what she was feeling. I could hardly handle sitting in the waiting room with all of the other interviewees! God was kind enough to give her a few laughable moments to ease the anxiety. When we walked in, her name wasn't on the list, but there was a Caroline Schmidt. The check-in lady assumed it was a typo, so she crossed out Schmidt and put Stewart. Two minutes later, the actual Caroline Schmidt walked in! Luckily, they let Stewy stay on the list, so there was no trouble. After being sent up and down the elevator a few times, she finally went to her interview (and most probably did great). She was prepared for most of the questions they asked her, and I'm sure that helped ease the stress a little. I guess it's time for me to accept that one of my bestest buds is going to be leaving me. She was silly enough to show me how to get to LSUHSC, so I can still bother her all the time! After we left the interview, we decided to go and celebrate with beignets at Morning Call. If good things don't stop happening, all this celebration food is going to make us obese. We also went to this ghetto shoe store, and I managed to knock down an entire boot display. Never a dull moment....

Nothing better than beignets and hot chocolate. Yummm.

      After we got back, it was time to go to Alex's games...and it was still cold. Colder, actually. Sorry I just can't handle this mess. I shouldn't have to wear leggings, jeans, long sleeves, sweatshirt, blanket, gloves, earmuffs, and thick socks to stay cold instead of frozen. Warm isn't even an option when the wind is blowing like that. I got to spend the afternoon and evening with my parents, brother, sister, and the rest of her clan, which was long overdue. I missed my mommy and daddy! The girls won a game and lost a game, so I guess there's not much to complain about. After the games, I went to dinner with the fam. My niece, nephew, and nephew's friend always crack me up. They make me feel so old though! Probably because I am. After dinner, mom was kind enough to take me on a quick grocery trip, so hopefully the roomies and I can survive until Mardi Gras break. Now, I'm sitting around watching Friends trying to keep my eyes open while Alex snores on the couch. I can only imagine how exhausted she is! Tomorrow, I have some serious work to get done. There are two papers and a speech to be turned in this week, and I haven't exactly started any of them. Also, we're doing a Valentine's dinner and movie with the girls. Who needs a stinky old boyfriend anyway, right? As for now, it's bedtime. I can't wait to get some serious sleep in for the first time this week. Later!

Is it Mardi Gras Yet?

      For some reason, I feel like blogging more than once a week is soon to become a rarity. I mean it's 1AM, and the only reason I'm up is because I had a stupid paper to write that I neglected to start until tonight. I've finished the paper though, so I guess I'm really awake because I have so much on my mind. I'll get to that later though. Let's see...I think I last posted on Friday, so let me give a recap of the weekend.
      This weekend was my first official study weekend of the semester. For me, study weekends usually consist of doing everything I possibly can to avoid studying...especially for a class like Physics. Saturday, I went with Melanie and Madeline for a run around the lakes. I was able to go a full eight miles, and when I was done, my foot didn't hurt! It's like a freaking miracle! I'm pretty sure tomorrow will be my last trip to the trainer, and then I'll be good to go for the less than four weeks of training left. Anyway, we decided to get a little studying done after that. At some point, we got a call from our friend Jacob Allen who was in dire need of a box. Long story short, we had to go and help him catch an escaped bunny that was hiding under a couch. If you know him, this doesn't surprise you at all. After that, me, Hannah, and Melanie decided to take a break to watch 50/50. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you watch it next time you're in the mood for something sad-but-in-a-funny-way. Admittedly it might not have been the best choice for us, but what can ya do? After the movie, we decided that the study break couldn't end quite yet, so we headed to Atomic Tattoo. For those of you who don't know, I have a tattoo, and that's where I got it. The place is really well run, and the people working there are professional (for the most part). I wish I could write that I turned Hannah and Melanie over to the dark side and got them inked up, but we walked away with just a new ear piercing for Hannah. Here it is!

This dude has braces...too young to be tatting and piercing.

      We decided to call it a night after that, and continue our studious behavior in the morning. 0:)

Sunday was full of more studying (and even more "studying"), and eventually we headed over to Brittany and Marisa's for some physics fun. I missed the Super Bowl, but seeing as how I don't like professional sports (it would be a stretch to call me a Saints fan), I could really care less who won or lost. I did watch the last thirty seconds thinking some amazing comeback was going to happen, but they totally let me down.

      Monday was the big day...my first exam of the semester. It wasn't until 6pm, so I had to endure a day of physical therapy, class, and work before I could get it over with. I found out today that it didn't go as well as I had hoped, but who cares? I've got to worry about the other three test and let that one go. Today ended up being one of those twelve hour school days that drain the life out of you. I mean really, it's just not right to spend 13 hours on campus a day when you don't live there. All I can say is that I'm glad it's officially Wednesday. Just two more days of class!

      Last night, this terribly awful Cheese Nip tragedy occurred. Check this out.

Hard to see, but notice the crackers are no longer living in their box.

Stewy was trying to move the box, but somehow it turned over and all of our crackers spilled out. We sat there half laughing, half crying while trying to clean up the mess. Well, I've come to the conclusion that my life is like a box of spilled Cheese Nips. Bear with me, people. No matter how hard I try to keep things right, there is always the chance that some outside force (such as a pillow) will come and mess up everything I've been working on. What are you supposed to do when something like that happens? All you can do is just pick up the pieces while you laugh and cry.

      When I said this semester would be my most challenging yet, I didn't know how much I would end up meaning that. Hell, we're not even a month in and I've considered locking myself in my apartment and never coming out multiple times. Not only is this the most academically challenging semester so far, it's time most emotionally challenging. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going around crying all day. I just catch myself thinking way too much and not dealing with it the right way. As Alex said earlier, we're getting to the age where people are expected to get engaged. Pressure!!! Being away at college does take some of that silly, irrational pressure off of us, but still! This is seriously just not something I want to be worrying about right now, and I really shouldn't be. And really, I don't know how much I'm actually worried about that. I think I'm just letting that have a place in my mind so I don't have to worry about other things. I guess it's just all connected to the immense unsureness I'm currently feeling. It's easy to tell myself to concentrate on school and the other things I can control, but it's much harder to actually do it. Let go and let God, right? But really, I'm fully aware that the pieces, good and bad, will all come together one day to form a picture that makes perfect sense. I'm just not patient enough to let this puzzle play out. Also, I've had the same dream every night for the last two weeks. Literally. I can't go into detail, but it's one of those things where you wake up so happy that it's true and then you're like...oh, wait, that'll probably never ever ever be true ever. Know what I mean? I need to go to a dream interpreter or something. Speaking of dreams, I think it's about that time. I promise my life is going to get interesting soon! I'll actually get a chance to breathe this weekend and see my family. If you know my parents and my sister's clan, you know a dull moment is hard to come by. Later!

      

Pause.

      Okay, so I just realized that I haven't blogged since last Sunday...oops! Apparently this blogging every day thing isn't going to work out. I've just been so busy this week! I didn't think I would survive it, but I guess I did if I'm sitting here writing this. I wish I could say this weekend was going to be a relaxing and rejuvenating weekend, but who am I kidding? I have my first exam Monday and since it's in Physics I have a ton of work to do this weekend. Tonight is my one night of no work before I get back into it. Anyway, let me give the recap of all the madness that has occurred during the past few days.

      Nothing interesting happened on Monday, so let's skip ahead to Tuesday. This was the day that I had to endure my first speech in Public Speaking. I wish I could say it wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be, but it totally was. It's just really, really hard to remember everything you are supposed to be saying when everyone is staring at you, especially the terrifying teacher. As if my speech wasn't bad enough, I didn't even make the time requirement. My next speech is coming up in less than two weeks, and once again I have no idea what I want to talk about. It has to be an informative speech, so I have to show the class how to do something or teach them about something they might be interested in knowing more about. I can't think of anything I know a lot about or that I could teach them how to do, so the anxiety has already begun. I have to bring two or three topics to class on Tuesday...ugh. Later that day, I got to spend over three hours in Physics lab doing nothing but measuring objects and calculating all kinds of things that don't matter. My sweet TA speaks hardly any English and doesn't understand a thing I'm saying, so getting questions answered took forever. I know it's just as frustrating for him, but geez! I can't say the whole day was too awful though. Between speaking and going to lab, I got to enjoy the sunshine in the quad with my friend Brittany. There's just something about "70s and sunny" weather on our campus that I can't help but love. I snagged a few pictures while I was there, so here you go!

The oaks in the quad.

Memorial Tower.

      On Wednesday, I had to be at school bright and early to make a video for my kinesiology class. As it turns out, I'm just as awkward in front of a camera as I am in front of people! I guess it's time to embrace the awkwardness, because after 20 years it's probably not going anywhere. After the video, I finally went to the doctor about my foot. I got x-rays but they came back negative, so I scheduled and appointment with the trainer for a few days later. That meant no stress fracture - yay! I spent the rest of the day working, and when I got off, BJ wanted me to accompany on a shopping trip. Believe it or not, the boy has never been to the Mall of Louisiana. I couldn't help but giggle at how uncomfortable the mall made him feel. We were there for two hours looking for just a shirt and pants...the boy is awkwardly shaped or something. Whatevs, we got some sibling bonding time out of it.

      Thursday was another ridiculously long day. I got to campus at 7:30am and left at 11pm. That's just not right! The brightest part of the day was getting to have an omelet from the dining hall with dear Britt. We reminisced about our times there and in the dorm last year. I never thought I would say this, but I'm so glad to have had Dr. Egedy as a professor. Whether the others are willing to admit it or not, he is the reason that so many of us from the dorm became such good friends. Who knows how things would have ended up if we had gotten a normal calculus teacher? It would have been less stressful, sure, but definitely not as memorable. There are times when I wish I could just go downstairs in my pajamas and spend hours "studying"in the lobby with my friends.

      Today was my favorite day of the week, no-class day! I guess you would call it Friday. I started off the day by going to the trainer at the health center to get this foot mystery solved. As it turns out, the top of my foot is sprained. It's an uncommon injury (typical for me) that takes a while to heal. Luckily though, treatment is easy. I just have to take lots of ibuprofen (which I totally forgot to do today), wear heel pads in my shoes, and go back for a few more treatments. I decided that since I took all week off, I would try to run this afternoon. The heel pads definitely helped - I ran two miles easily in way under twenty minutes, then topped off the workout with a ten minute bike ride. The best part of all was that my foot hardly hurt when I was done! My calves and shins really hurt, but that's probably because I did too much too fast. Sorry body, but the race is in a month. There is no time to spare! I'm going to attempt the 8 mile run with Mel tomorrow before I immerse myself in physics problems. I apologize in advance for not posting until after my test. I'll be surprised if I even have time to bathe. Later!