Gettin' in the groove

The first days are over.
The real first day (wednesday) was a good one. Although it was long (8am-8:45pm), it didn't seem so long because of breaks in my schedule. I had time to eat, hang out with friends, watch tv, etc. Today, however, felt never ending. Started at 9:30, and didn't finish until 5:30. No breaks. Yes, you read right...no breaks. Well, technically I will usually have a 3o minute break to grab some lunch but because I didn't think it through today, I thought that would be a nice time to return the psych book that I purchased the wrong edition of. All that to say, I was hungry after 4 hours of bio organic chemistry. Man, that class is going to be hard. You can always tell a class is going to be hard when the professor doesn't even bother with the syllabus and starts lecturing. What a drag.

I forgot how much chemistry DOES NOT make sense to my poor brain. I'm up for the challenge now, I just hope that I will not get discouraged.

Today was rough. I'm not going to go into all the details, because it's really not that entertaining, but I ended up sitting in on the wrong old testament class. I did learn about Mesopotamia and Israel, but it wasn't the right class. I also stepped in gum twice. The first time I was just plain ticked off because it was right after the whole old testament fiasco. The second time I laughed, but it was one of those "this is hilarious because it's the second time that I have stepped in gum today...but not really hilarious" laughs. You know? Maybe not.

School really is fun though. Hardy (the dining hall) got an update...a new deli section. I was pretty excited about that. We watched a super funny safety video from the 80's in chem where they had a manikin doing stop drop in roll while it was on fire. Funny. I got a coupon for two free glazed donuts at Shipleys. Friends are fun. Tomorrow is Friday, and we already have a three day weekend ahead of us!

Happy Labor day! Enjoy not laboring.

Let the fun begin!

Back in the big B! School starts tomorrow, and I'm a little scared. 20 hours is becoming more intimidating every time I think about it. My main goal is to not become reclusive. Actually, that's probably my 2nd main goal, my first is to pass everything.

So far so good though. I like my room, and my suite mates, who are super sweet. Seeing friends is fun, and I'm excited to make more.

This semester will be an adventure.

Here we go...

NOLA, she's really great.

I got the wonderful privilege of spending the past few days in New Orleans with DaniBeth and her brother Andrew. We did a ton of fun things. It was a taste bud extravaganza! The food was super delicious and I tried lots of things I had never eaten before. ie: oysters, budane balls (sp?), bengets, gyros, humus, praline bacon, malt & fries ice cream, fried green tomatoes, and I'm sure some other things I am forgetting.

We spent a little bit of time driving around at the areas that were hit the hardest by the hurricane. It shocked me how much still needs to be done. After two years, you can still look around and definitely tell something happened. Don't get me wrong, a ton of progress has been made...Andrew is working with a ministry called Baptist Crossroads that is helping rebuild the upper 9th ward. It was so neat to see how much progress has been made there. People are so proud and grateful for what they have. I'm inspired by their courage. One thing that I thought was really fun and neat is the owners of the new house get to choose the color they want it to be painted. The street is a rainbow of different colored, new, beautiful houses. I wish I would've gotten a better picture of it, because it's awesome, but it was pretty rainy, so the colors look dull. But they aren't!

Other highlights include:

Seeing 2 alligator fights. We went to Jean Lafitte park and played with some gators.
Listening to some awesome jazz music. The rain didn't stop us from walking around to find some music.
Playing with kids in Andrew's neighborhood. Super cute and sweet kids.

I hope you get to go to New Orleans someday. It's really great.

Slow down summer!

4 more days of math. I love typing that. This last "semester" of summer school has been a lot more enjoyable than Chemistry was. I am still, no doubt, glad that it's almost over. However, the end of summer school means the beginning of real school is coming soon. I have mixed emotions on that topic. I'm real excited to see friends. Not so excited about the 20 hour schedule I have gotten myself into.

Summer has just flown by. It's been a great summer though. Someone asked me today how my summer has been. I shrugged my shoulders a bit and said "pretty good". I got to thinking after that and it's been better than pretty good. I think that because there was no camp, choir tour, staffing, or any crazy adventures to make it interesting, I've figured it hasn't been that great. But really, it has. I have learned so much this summer! Not only about moles, world war II and polynomials, but I feel like I have really grown a lot in the word. I love that! I am so grateful to have a church to go to that teaches the truth, and dives in deep. I'm grateful to have knowledgeable, wise people who love me and don't care how many questions I ask...even if it's something that a 2nd grader could probably answer. Not only have I learned so many new things about God's word, but I have also learned that learning is a continual process. We will never arrive. The more I learn about scripture, the more I love it. I loved it 4 years ago when I became a believer because it brought me hope and comfort. I love it more today because it brings me those things plus instruction, insight, and clarity.

So, it's been a good one. I'm still not ready to come to grips with it being over, but let's enjoy the time we've got left!

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell.
-C.S. Lewis

You may call me Monet

Last week I got a little bored, and someone told me about a 50% off sale that Hobby Lobby was having.

Hobby Lobby always has such good sales, I'm not sure what made this 50% off sale so exciting since they have one every other week, but I went anyway.

I was walking around looking at pretty things and dreaming of how my house someday could be decorated when I passed the paint section. This section has never before been a section of my desire, only a section of admiration and wishful thinking, but the little voice inside that usually says "golly, I wish I could paint" said "hey, you could totally paint! It might not look good, but who cares!"

So, I did it. I called Danielle for some paint advice and made my purchase. I also got some chalk board paint (which you can paint on a canvas to make it like a chalk board).

After a couple days of toiling over what to paint, how to paint, and wondering if this was going to be something that I would look back on and think "Now Allye, did you REALLY think you could paint. Now, come on", I finished painting.

And guess what! I'm pretty dern pleased. I'll admit that I am no natural born arteest, and I most definitely don't have the talent that can make someone say "oooo ahhh", but maybe "hey, that's kinda cute". I think that if I thought about someone saying "hey that's kinda cute" to something I painted before this experience, I would accuse them of lying or "being polite".*

Anyway, you can be the judge:

This is the "chalk board", I got this idea from Danielle, she has one in Jameson's room, minus the swirly green design.

I'm happy. I even might paint again someday.

Here's some art humor to brighten your day:

A guy in Paris robbed the Louvre, he got past security but got caught when his van ran out of gas. When asked how he could mastermind such a crime and then make such an obvious error, he replied: "I had no Monet to buy Degas to make the Van Gogh."

*I realized after writing this sentence that I have used a ton of quotation marks, and am not sure how grammatically correct that is. Also, I think it might make me look like a crazy person that talks to myself a lot. That may or may not be true.

Ohhhklahoma

This past thursday I got the privilege of visiting my friends Danielle, Lance, and their baby Jameson for the weekend. It was so good to see them. We had a lot of fun together riding the Vespa (and meeting the egg man from Napoleon Dynamite), eating gelato, chilling with the kid and watching Willy Wonka. Jameson is getting big, and is still so stinking adorable.


It was a fun trip. Seriously, how could you not enjoy staring at that precious face and pouty lips all day long?