Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, all! Hope you're enjoying the holiday and having a lovely, relaxing day. :)

A Few Quick Complaints

My dog's breath smells so incredibly bad right now.

TLC must have run out of ideas ever since Jon & Kate Plus 8 became John minus 9. All that's left are reruns and about 8 shows about little people.

The school district that my high school was in has decided to just start winter break early in light of the snow this past weekend, despite the fact that the roads are completely clear now and there should have been 2 more school days before break. Why couldn't they do anything fun like that when I was still in high school?

My old job told me they don't need any help for winter break because they're really slow, until today when they only need me for 3 days including New Year's Eve. I need the money, but New Year's Eve? Really?

Enough complaining...

:)

Better Late Than Never

I also owe Ebony over at Sizzling Publications a very belated thank you for giving me the Gorgeous Blogger award!

I have to give five facts about myself so here we are:
1. I really want a puppy.
2. I'm home for winter break and lovin' in.
3. I love chai tea and my awesome boyfriend helped me figure out how to make it just like Starbucks does!
4. I love having enough time for blogging and having a break from "real life."
5. I love lists and am therefore addicted to this blog.
Thanks again, Ebony!

PLEASE???

Can I just please have a puppy? Seriously, PLEASE?!

Oh wait, nope, because I'm a college student with next to no money and I don't know where I'm going to live in 4 months, let alone how I can feed a furry friend. Or at least, that's why my way-too-rational boyfriend tells me, and I know he's right, but it's just not any fun, sorry.

So, there you have it. Please excuse my whining.

Also, it's a blizzard!

That's it.

Maybe There's Something Wrong With Me

I've been having this problem lately where I can sleep for forever. I kid you not, I went to bed the other night at 11pm and slept solidly until 12 pm the following day. And I'm not talking like, I doze on and off and am just too lazy to get out of bed. I'm talking solid sleep. And even when I try to set an alarm, I either sleep right through it, or it wakes me up long enough for me to turn it off and immediately fall back asleep. And when I finally do get up, I could easily take a nap at any time. It's disgusting and I never, ever used to do that. I always used to be able to sleep for 4 hours and feel fine or whatevahhh.

Now it's this vicious cycle that goes like this: sleep 12 hours, wake up and stay up really late because you've just slept for half of a literal day (i.e. what's happening right now), sleep only 5ish hours so that you will actually be tired enough to fall asleep at a regular hour of the night, sleep 12 hours. Ugggh, what is my body trying to tell me? Why did I just write a whole blog post about sleep? Ahhhhh.


PS--WINTER BREAK WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Let Me Tell You a Hilarious Story

Amidst all the end-of-the-semester cramming for finals and finishing of projects, etc, I had to pause and share a really funny story about my crazy seester with you all. Seester is a mere 18 months younger than I am, so we have the joy of sharing a huge amount of our lives together. Maybe way too much. Anywho...

A few months ago, my sister and I were riding along in the car, and a song that she liked came on the radio. This song, to be precise. In case you are familiar, here's the chorus:

i know sometimes its gonna rain,
but baby can we make up now cause i can't sleep through the pain.
girl i don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
and i don't want you to go to bed, mad at me
no i don't wanna go to bed, mad at you
and i don't want you to go to bed, mad at me

After we finish listening to it, the conversation went something like this:

Seester: Don't you love it!?
Me: Uh yeah, sure, it's nice.
Seester:You know that's my philosophy. I thought about it, and it's such a good idea to work things out before you go to sleep at night. You know, make sure you talk through them. That may be the best thing I ever thought of by myself.
Me: Uhh, sis, you didn't think of it.
Seester: What!? I totally thought of it before you did!
Me: Does the phrase "don't let the sun go down on your anger" sound familiar at all?
Seester: Are you serious?!? Aww man! Here I was thinking I was so philosophical and awesome and I totally stole it from the Bible!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, my crazy, Bible-quote-stealing Seester.

Weekend!

Well, here we have it, ladies and gents.  I am only 2 weeks and some finals away from surviving my first semester at Liberty!  I can't believe how quickly it went, but things have been great, despite my lack of blogging regularly.  I have a pretty good chance of getting straight A's too!  Barring any huge debacles on my finals.

  I'm going to try to do better keeping up with this blog next semester, and actually live up to what I started this for in the first place!

:)

Thanksgiving Break!

After working full time and going to school part time for a few years in order to save money to go away to school full time, I am definitely more appreciative of some of the things that come along with being a full time college student.

Easily the one that I like the most is loooong breaks.  One thing Liberty does right is giving the students long holiday breaks and I love it!  I've been on Thanksgiving break since classes ended last Thursday and because of my schedule, I don't have to go back until the Monday after.

Enjoy your holidays everyone :)  I definitely will be!

Absentee

Well, my lovely followers, I'm sorry I've been an absentee blogger.  Unfortunately, I'm realizing that being a full time student and keeping up with my homework right now means that I am not going to be able to blog regularly for a little while.  Never fear, I'll be back...but probably at longer intervals.
Hope you all are having lovely weekends in the meantime
P.S. Check out Nina's great blog.  She awarded me the "Gorgeous Blog Award."  Thanks Nina!

You Go First

Let me just tell you, first of all, that I was halfway through typing this post when my cell phone fell out of my pocket, landing on my keyboard, and somehow pressed a combination of keys that highlighted the whole entry and deleted it. This was promptly followed by the auto-save doing its thing and saving the nothing that had just occurred, so I couldn't even retrieve what I'd written. I am pretty sure that I could never make that happen again in a million years and I am trying to figure out whether or not I'm amazed or just annoyed that I have to re-type.

Anyway, I enjoyed a relaxing and fun Halloween at home this weekend. The boyfriend and I roadtripped home after classes on Friday and then came back to school late last night. I know relaxing isn't a word usually associated with Halloween, but it was great! Especially because school has been sooo crazy lately with midterms and projects and all of that being due, and I was missing my fam.

But, without further ado, I have to share a funny kid story with you!

This weekend, we went to Chipotle, which if you are not lucky enough to have one near you, is a chain restaurant known for their delicious, awesome and HUGE burritos. We don't have one in Lynchburg, which is a constant source of lament for me, but thankfully we have plenty at home and one on the way home from school about an hour away that many of us stop at. So, after we had our food, I went to find the bathroom (don't worry, this isn't gross).

It's important to note that Chipotle is one of those places that has one-room, one-person bathrooms without stalls. Well, I walked in and before I could close the door, a little girl (probably about 8 years old, so old enough to know better) walked in right behind me. I stood in the doorway, expecting her to realize that there was only room for one, and walk back out. Instead she just stood inside staring at me for a second, at which point I told her, "it's just a one person bathroom."

Without budging, she looked at me, gestured to the toilet and said, "Oh. Well you can go first?"

Ahh, kids say the darndest things!

Slacker Tuesday

I'm ashamed to say that for the third week in a row, I've missed out on Stick 'Em Up Tuesdays. I've been busy. Sue me.

Anyway, I promise I'll get back to that one of these Tuesdays, but for now, I'm just going to vent a little.

I am not naive enough to think that just because I'm in college now, everyone will grow up and be civil to each other. Obviously, and unfortunately, that is not the case. There are plenty of adults, past college-aged included, that treat each other with ridiculous amounts of malice and are just plain rude. Albeit, sometimes rude behavior is warranted, whether or not it is the right response, but I just do not understand some rudeness.

For example, when walking around your college campus, why would you ever feel that it was necessary to make eye contact with and then completely fail to acknowledge somebody that you know on a first-name basis? This has happened to me 3 times this week with 2 different girls. Obviously, there are times when you pass somebody in the hall and they are just not paying attention and do not realize that they've passed you without acknowledging you, but I have met and hung out in mutual-friend situations with both of these girls before, and both of them have looked me in the face, pointedly avoided even waving, and continued on their way.

It's shameful, honestly. Especially for people who call themselves Christians. God calls us to be gracious and loving to everyone, especially one another. How can someone who claims to believe that intentionally ignore another human being? What's the deal, mean girls?!

Blogging Hiatus

Well, I accidentally took a little hiatus from blogging. I flew to California to be a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding and to make a very long story very short, the airline completely screwed things up and I had to fly back a day later than scheduled. Which meant getting 2 hours of sleep before taking 3 midterms, hence the lack of blogging. I'm in the process of trying to get my money back/some compensation for the debacle that was my attempt to fly home from LA. It's good to be back :) I'm carving pumpkins tonight and thrilled that fall is here! Happy weekend!

It's Only Tuesday...

This week has been crazy for me, and it's only Tuesday! Unfortunately, I'm not going to do Stick 'em Up (go visit Supah-Mommy's blog for her fun stickies and the instructions if you'd like to participate though. I'll be here, doing homework...

Homesick

I'm a little concerned that being home for this break is going to make me homesick once I get back to school. It's kind of funny, because I didn't really expect that I would get homesick. I'm not unhealthily attached to my parents/family, although I do love them a lot and get along with them well. But I worked so hard to be able to go away to school and pay rent and all of that, so I thought that I would just appreciate it so much and have such a great time that I wouldn't really be missing home.

But now, I feel like I'll be so sad when I leave. I only have a few more hours left at home before I have to return to school, and even though I do really appreciate the opportunity and I enjoy my classes and my friends, I am really going to miss my family. I guess that's a good thing though; better to miss them and look forward to the time that we can spend together than not to get along with them and be frustrated that I ever have to come home on breaks. That's a good way of looking at it...

Overpopulation?

I'm not sure about you guys, but I often hear concerns about overpopulation, generally in response to pro-life arguments and the extreme fertility of some families like The Duggars, who are expecting their 19th biological child this spring. I'm not trying to begin a huge abortion debate, although I will tell you that I am pro-life. If you'd like to know why, I'd be happy to tell you my reasons, but I'm not going to engage in a scream-match, crazy-person debate full of name-calling and ad hominem attacks, because I think that those are unnecessary. I'm also not trying to say that everyone should have 19 children, or that it's even fathomable to do so. Nor am I trying to downplay world hunger, or other social problems that are often explained by overpopulation. But I came across this video, and I think it's really interesting, considering that so many issues seem to come back to overpopulation.  I'm having html issues, so you'll just have to click here to see the video!

What's the deal? Thoughts?

Giveaways!

Fyi, everyone should check outSupah-Mommy's blog for some awesome giveaways! She usually adds new ones every Friday, and there are always a ton going on! So fun! You have no excuse! I'm entering to win the Julie & Julia book for now, but the possibilities are practically endless! :)

Fall Break!

I'm officially home from school for the next few days on fall break. And boy, am I thankful that Liberty participates in this delightful mini-vacation from school! It's great!

So, I got home yesterday evening, and have been enjoying spending time with my family and eating some delicious home-cooked meals. I also never realized how strange and wonderful it is the first time you come back home after a long break. It's been almost three months since I was last home, which is the longest time I've been away from the area in my life. I didn't realize how much I missed the familiarity of it all until we drove back past my old high school and all of the places I used to take for granted when I lived here. Feels like home to me :)

Stick 'Em Up!

Once again, it's Tuesday, which means time to post some sticky notes all over blogland. You can thank Supah for this delightful idea! It's super fun, you should join in :)

In addition to all of the fun, I only have one class tomorrow and then I'm headed home for a long weekend for fall break! I'm so excited. It feels like it's been forever since I've been home, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting to see my family, friend, and reignite my addiction to Chipotle. Mmmmm

My Diva Roomie

Well, my roomie has begun reading my blog and decided that since her life is so crazy and interesting that I should begin writing solely about her. What a diva, huh?

I forgot to tell you guys, I got an A on my first real college exam! Hurray!

And, for your aesthetic enjoyment, here's a picture of Lynchburg from the top of the Snowflex. Soo awesome!

The one that got away...

It's Thursday, which means it's time for Mama Kat's prompt!

So, why am I ecstatic that the one who got away, got away?

Well actually, I already wrote this prompt for a Totally Awkward Tuesday, which you can find here. In a nutshell, I'm so glad that my Curly Ex-BF and I broke up, because now he's dating my good friend, Blondie, and he introduced me to my amazing now-boyfriend. I know, crazy huh?!

Stick 'em up!

Well, unfortunately, I think Totally Awkward Tuesdays are done forever. They just weren't the same without Tova, so unless she comes back, I don't think I'll be posting anymore. Unless it's just a story that's so incredibly awkward that I must blog about it.

Thankfully, I have

to keep me busy! Here goes...

Okay, that's about all! If you want to Stick 'em up too, head over to Supah-Mommy's blog! (She also has some really good post-its, so you should check them out!)

Dear Mr. Weekend,

I don't know if I can take this anymore. You're such a tease. You come around, once a week, only for a few, very short days. Although our time together never ceases to be wonderful, before I know it, you're gone again.

I just don't understand. Is there someone else? If so, believe me, I love you more than anyone. I don't think I could survive if you left me for another woman! Or did I do something to upset you? If I did, please tell me! I can change, I swear! We can make it work. I'll do anything to keep you around forever.

Yours Always,

la aventurista

Rainy Saturday

I'm excited for a few reasons:

1. It's a rainy Saturday and I love those.

2. Liberty football is playing JMU tonight in the rain! It's going to be a really good game and hopefully we win! Apparently the stands are already packed, because JMU is trying to push us out of our own student section, and apparently brought a ton of students.

3. It's the weekend!

New layout!

As a reward to myself for finishing a paper that's due tomorrow, I fixed up my blog a bit! I wish I knew more about html, etc. so that I could have a really fancy blog, but I'm learning...what do you guys think?? :)

Busy, Busy Tuesdays!

Well, it's beginning to look like Tuesdays are going to be the busiest day of the week for my blog! Not only is it totally awkward (originally hosted by Tova, check out Nina's blog for the current headquarters. Oh yeah, and my accidentally-early post is here!

And there's a new, fun Tuesday happening! Post-it Note Tuesdays!!

Here are mine:

Now, I should probably go be productive and finish some homework! Happy Tuesday :)

Whoops!

It's a good sign when, as a college student who is supposed to be at the peak of my ability to process and learn new information, I do not even remember what day it is. Which is pretty bad, considering I went to all of my Monday classes today, and somehow still thought that it was Tuesday, when I wrote my Totally Awkward Tuesday post for the week. Good one.

Anyway, hope all of your Mondays started off well. :)

Totally Awkward Tuesday

Well, amidst all of my studies, I somehow found the time to continue to share an awkward story with you all. Although Tova Darling, the founder of Totally Awkward Tuesday, seems to be down for the TAT count, awkward things keep happening to me (seriously Tova, we miss you! Come back!). Go figure, huh? These days, NINA over at Nina's Theories has been posting the McLinky with all of your awkward stories on her blog, so go check her out :).

Now, as you can imagine, starting school at a university with 15,000 other undergrads has plenty of potential for awkward situations. Especially when you consider all of the young men and women looking for "that special someone" to start the semester off right with (at least that's what the girls are generally looking for--I have a feeling the guys are looking for something a littler less serious). Some of you may remember that I already have a special someone, the boyfriend, who has been for a while now. I'm sure to some girls, this would be no hindrance to finding someone else to pal around with for a while, but I'm a pretty faithful woman, and I'm perfectly satisfied with my man now. In other words, I'm not looking.

In light of that, I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression, however I'm not against making some new friends either, whether male or female. So, when one of my professors suggested that we all get in groups to complete an assignment, and the only person around me who remained group-less like myself, was the guy a few seats over, who I'd never spoken to in my life. So we did that awkward introduction, we have to do this group, thing and made small talk for a few minutes until the whole class reconvened.

As class ended, said guy got up, asking me if this was my last class for the day (it was a Friday) and what I was up to afterward.

Talk about red flags! He may have just been being friendly, but I wasn't about to take my chances. So I said, "yep it's my last class, have a great weekend!" and hustled as quickly as I could in the opposite direction, despite his shocked, "why is this girl running away from me?" look. Ooops, sorry pal. I hope we can be friends?

So yeah, in hindsight, that may not have been the best way to handle that situation...

Not the Point

I realized that I suck at the intended purpose of this blog! While I titled it to record my adventures these days, one of the main purposes was to detail the ins and outs at one of the most conservative universities in the nation. I must admit, I haven't really done that. So I promise to try harder, since I said I would. Homework has been taking precedent over blogging, so I guess that's how these things go. Ohhh well :)

Who Could Say No to a Face Like This?

Well, Roomie got a puppy! She's only 14 weeks and needed a home because her previous owner got into drugs and couldn't take care of her anymore. How crazy is that? Anyway, despite the ridiculous circumstances, she's the most well behaved puppy I've ever seen. She doesn't bark, rarely even whines, isn't hyper, doesn't chew, and is already housebroken. And she's adorable! I definitely have a weakness for puppies!

I mean, honestly, who wouldn't love that face? Please forgive the poor photo quality (gotta love cell phone pics), but even with that working against her, she's adorable!

Unfortunately, Roomie's parents (whom she lives with when school isn't in session), are less than thrilled, so we don't know if she'll be able to keep her! But really, who could say no to that face?

Rocky, what goes on in your head?

As inspired by Mama Kat's weekly writing prompt.

Rocky, my dearest reptilian friend (box turtle), you perplex me.

First of all, you hibernate. What does your brain do during this time? Do you have cool dreams or do you just get really, really bored?

Secondly, what's it like to be cold-blooded? I'm sorry I love the air-conditioner so much in the summer time, that must be kind of chilly for you. And I'm sorry that I forgot your heat lamp at home.

Do you like our new living arrangements in the Dollhouse? If not, I apologize, since you have been acting kind of funny lately, and I can't tell if it's because you're about to go into hibernation, or if you're just being lazy these days. Or if you hate me for moving you here, when you were perfectly happy back home.

What's it like to have a shell? Does it annoy you when it makes you trip and walk clumsily?

Do you miss your mom?

Are you lonely?

What does Roomie do when I'm gone? Anything embarrassing?

And last, but not least, would you be opposed to sharing my love with a puppy?

Love always,

me

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

Even though Tova Darling, the creator of Totally Awkward Tuesday, seems to be out of commission on the awkward front until further notice, I suppose I'll keep on Tat-ing it up. Why not? Laughter is the best medicine, and that's about all that these previously awkward situations are good for now!

For this week, mine actually happened like 10 minutes ago. I have a long break between my last class and my next one, but not quite long enough for me to go home and take a nap (so unfortunate). I usually come to the computer lab, or the c-lab, as it is lovingly called around campus to work on homework (blog).

I was sitting over in the corner on a couch, with two chairs directly across from it and a mini coffee table in the middle of it. I understand that usually, a group of people studying together would occupy a space like that, but there were plenty of other open areas to sit, so I figured I'd take a comfy seat on the couch. Before long, a girl comes up and sits in the chair directly across from me. I don't know her at all, but I smile to be polite, despite the fact that I find it odd for someone I don't know to sit so close to me when there are plenty of other comparable seats available. Before long, her friend joins her. So now there are two girls who I have never seen before in my life, sitting so close to me that other onlookers would think we were all good pals. Then, even though I'm visibly studying, with multiple books open and taking notes, they begin to chatter incessantly about some girl in someone's dorm and blah blah blah.

I know that I said that there are very few things that bother me, but a complete disrespect of personal space and noise level does not fall into that category. I was so annoyed/weirded out, that I just got up and moved over to the next seat, so that at least their conversation wasn't right in front of my face. And what did they do? Immediately, they got up and left. What in the world?! After all of that, they leave the very second that I decide I can't handle the distraction anymore. People!

So I don't know if that actually counts as awkward, but at the very least, we can chalk it up on the list (seems to be getting longer and longer) of things that really bug me.

Otherwise, everything here is going well. I'm settling into classes, getting all my assignments completed, even if it means staying up till terrible hours of the night (I'm a true college student now, let me tell you!), and I went to Liberty football's first home game of the season. They won by a ridiculous amount! :)

Just put the phone down!

Let me just preface this rather critical post by saying that I'm a pretty laid-back person. Things that bother most people, do not usually bother me. I like to take it easy and I'm pretty go-with-the-flow. However, one things that is totally obnoxious is when people use cell phones in completely inappropriate situations. Let me give you a few examples that I've encountered recently:

If you're in a pet store, browsing around for doggie bones and the like, it's probably not a good time to have an intense argument about the custody of your children on your cell phone.

When you're a patient at a physical therapy clinic, and you're trying to make appointments, or better yet, you're actually in the middle of your appointment with the therapist, this is also not a very good time for a cell phone conversation about what you're going to cook for dinner later that evening.

When you're driving along the highway, going 65+ mph, it's probably not a good time to pick up the phone, get into a heated conversation involving boisterous waving of appendages, and swerve back and forth between multiple lanes of traffic. (I personally don't have anything against a phone call while you're driving now and again, but if you can't keep the vehicle on the road while doing so, please refrain)

When you're in the quiet study section of the library at Liberty University and your roommate/friend/whomever calls, it is not the correct time or place to raise your voice at them in frustration because you "are in the library working on the homework assignments that you didn't have the time to finish last night!" And, for what it's worth, a one page paper is definitely not the most difficult of assignments that you'll have in college, so you may want to keep that in mind as well, when complaining at the top of your lungs.

I think that's all I've got for now. So, what's bugging you guys lately?

EDIT: Very shortly after I posted this, my boyfriend texted me with a worthy addition to the list. He went into a public restroom and someone in one of the stalls was having an indepth conversation while on the toilet. Really, people?!?!

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

Although TAT's founder, Tova Darling may have written her last awkward story, I still have at least one good one left in the awkward arsenal.

And actually, I have to give credit to Valorie over at her blog, On the Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness, for her awkward story, because it reminded me of mine.

I know I've blogged about my middle and high school youth group adventures a little bit, and this is no exception. It was the summer after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the gulf coast of the United States, and my youth group planned a mission trip to Mississippi to help out with people who were still recovering from the damage. We went for a week, and did any kind of construction work to repair some of the wreckage for people who could not afford to completely fix their homes.

We stayed on air mattresses in this random church that had opened their doors for multiple groups like us to stay during such trips. There were probably five other youth groups staying at the church at the same time as we were, which meant that showers were a problem. These temporary shelters with shower stalls were set up, with separate sections for men and women. We had to wait in line every day after we got back from working in order to get a shower, but it was well worth it.

One day, my friend and I happened to get to the showers when there was no line. It was awesome! The way it was set up was similar to dormitory-style shower stalls, where there is a main walkway with a few stalls to choose from. I showered first, and in an effort to let my friend get in the shower quickly, I covered myself in a towel and stepped into the main walkway. There was no door from the main hallway, blocking sight from the outside, but I figured that it was girls only, and I didn't care if any of them saw me in my undies. I commenced changing, and once I had gotten myself to at least bikini-level coverage, I saw a very male face peering over a fence, right at me.

What I hadn't realized earlier, was that there was a small house, with a fenced backyard that backed up right to the ramp to enter the shower structure, and that the creep-o that lived there (not one of the other youth group members) got a good show. The best part was, that even when I caught him and made eye contact, he didn't look away or back down, whatsoever, and I was still standing there in just undies.

I reacted immediately by screaming and pulling open the curtain of the stall my friend was currently showering in, catching her by surprise and narrowly escaping getting an eyeful of her in shower-mode myself. We laughed about the whole situation, and I waited (in hiding from the creep) until she was finished so we could walk out together, right past the creep who was still just standing out near the showers. Sooo awkward!

Da da da daaaa! Blog Award!

Well, I am thrilled to have been honored with the Kreativ Blogger award!

Thanks, Katie!

Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award. (check)
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog. (check!)
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award. (check)
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might not know.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Here are seven things about me:
1. I hate the abbreviation "thru." Ugghhh!
2. I love pomegranate-flavored items, especially drinks.
3. I have a pet turtle and he is awesome.
4. I hate coffee, but I love tea. Especially chai tea lattes from Starbucks, which I have figured out the secret to making myself.
5. I want to have a ton of kids one day.
6. Colorado is my favorite state thus far.
7. I am so excited to get a puppy of my own some day.

Next, I'm supposed to pass this along to seven other bloggers. I'll try not to re-award it to those of you who have already received it, but if I do, sorry!! Here are 7 great blogs!

1. That Chick Over There @ Jason. For the Love of God.

2. JennyMac @ Let's Have a Cocktail...

3. Fai @ Letters from a College Student

4. Mama Kat @ Mama's Losin' It

5. Judi @ Lines Composed...

6. SimplyValorie @ On the Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness

7. NINA @ Nina's Theories

Wow, can I just say that this is the first blog award that I've received that I've actually followed enough people to pass the award along to? Yaaay!

Happy Sunday, lovelies.

I Can't Say I Really Blame Eve...

Most of you know, or are at least familiar with the Biblical story of creation. You know, God creates the heavens and the earth, the animals, and a guy named Adam. Then He decides that Adam is probably lonely and could use a companion, so He speaks Eve into existence as well.

Here at Liberty, this account of creation has been referenced in the first few sessions of almost all of the classes that I have this semester (could have something to do with half of them being Bible-related requirements...).

Most of you are also aware of what happens next in the story. God tells Adam and Eve to take care of the garden, which they happily do because it's beautiful and everything is perfect and dandy, but the one thing that they cannot do is eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or they will surely die. At that point, nothing died yet, so I'm sure that sounded even bigger and scarier than it does to us now. So anyway, they go along on their merry way, and take care of the garden and of the animals, until one day, Satan, in snake-form, comes to Eve. Here's where the trouble begins. The serpent is "crafty" and deceitful, citing all of the reasons why God surely will not kill them, and going on about how He's just trying to keep Adam and Eve from knowing the truth. Sneaky little devil...

And Eve falls for it! She reaches up and takes one of those forbidden fruits and bites right into it! I think it's pretty often that Eve gets the brunt of this whole situation. Yeah, she did what God told her not to, and yes, obviously that's bad. But many people forget to mention the part where Adam "was with her" in the garden, and he ate of the fruit as well. He was with her. He could have easily stopped her, or set some ground rules like, "let's just not go near that tree, since we can't eat from it anyway." Both Adam and Eve were at fault, not just her. And that sneaky little serpent was making some pretty good points about how she "surely wanted to know the truth!" Didn't she?

I'm not saying that the choice she made was right. In fact, it was the beginning of all the wrong. But I wouldn't have done a thing any differently.

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

It's Tuesday again! Thankfully, I didn't forget this time :). Hop on over to Tova Darling's blog to get the scoop on the Queen of Awkward (because she started it, not because she's the most awkward).

Todays' TAT actually involves some very important people in my life, and is no longer awkward. And if any of you are interested to hear the story of how I met my sexy boyfriend, read on!

First we will need to rewind to my freshman year of high school. I was dating (as much as you can call it "dating" when you don't got to the same school, and neither of you have a driver's license or a paying job) a guy who we'll call Curly Ex-BF (he has a serious white-boy fro. We're talking seeeeriouuusss). Eventually, it didn't work out between us and we broke up. We all but lost touch for the remaining three years of my high school experience. He was a year older than I am, so he graduated a year before me, and actually went away to college at Liberty, of all places.

At the end of my senior year, my best friend (a year younger than I am), who we'll call Blondie, because she should have been, decided she wanted to go on a college visit to Random College in Nashville. Since she wanted to drive (substantial car trip from our town), she invited me along to see the school and to be her roadtrip buddy. I happily obliged since I love roadtrips, especially to Nashville. Well, it just so happens that Curly Ex-BF decided to start texting me up a storm, even though we'd barely spoken for the previous three years, just as we start this roadtrip. It just so happens that Liberty, where Curly Ex-BF was attending school at that very time, is right smack-dab on the way home from the college we were visiting in Nashville. And it also just so happens that Blondie was considering going to Liberty as well, and yes she would love to accept my Curly Ex-BF's offer to stop by on the way home and visit him and see the school. At this point I was not interested in going to Liberty, thank you very much), but the curiosity of seeing what the ex was up to these days got the best of me.

So, we decided to stop by and see Curly on the way home. The three of us got dinner together, and Blondie and Curly really hit it off. She asked me for his number on the way home, and they started going out shortly after he got home for the summer. That's right ladies and gentleman, my ex-boyfriend and my best friend started dating.

He also played on a softball team, and she invited me to come along and keep her company while he played. She also mentioned that he had a good-looking friend who went to Liberty with him, but also lived in the area, and would be playing on the team with him as well. So I went. So I almost collapsed when I saw how good-looking my Curly Ex-BF's friend was. So we hit it off right away, and now he's the wonderful boyfriend whom I am proud to call my own today.

Now, the four of us all go to Liberty.

I can honestly say that my ex-boyfriend, who is dating my best friend, introduced me to boyfriend, and that the four of us double date. :)

Please Note

The grand opening for Liberty's very own SnowFlex was this past weekend. Basically, it's a synthetic ski slope, the first of its kind in the U.S., that can be used all year long, regardless of temperature. Looks pretty sweet to me! I guess I need to lug my snowboard here to school with me next time I make a trip home so that I can be a part of the fun! It's also nice because it's only $2/hr for students to ski or snowboard. While it's not a full set of slopes like a ski resort would be, that's still super cheap! My college budget loves it!

It's also Spiritual Emphasis week, a sort of spiritual kick in the pants to start off the year. There are services tonight, tomorrow, and Wednesday night with a special guest speaker, whom I've heard is really great. I didn't get around to checking it out tonight, but I'm thinking about going tomorrow and Wednesday to see what it's all about. Besides, it can't hurt to get a little extra dose of Jesus a few times during the week ;).

Speaking of which, I'm really enjoying being here so far! I had a lot of reservations about everything at first/right before I got here, I'm really enjoying the whole experience so far. I really like my classes, and I love that they're taught from a Christian perspective, even if I disagree with a few of the rules. And even that isn't bad, because many of them are not enforced as harshly as they appear to be on paper. Not bad.

I figured out the Google Reader thing! It's great! If you don't already have one of these delightful creations set up, just click here, and sign in with your Google account (whichever email that's hooked up to your blogger account). All the blogs you follow will be in one place, and you can read them as you go, entry by entry, like one big email account of blog entries. I'm sure that most of you know of/have one of these already, but I just figured mine out and it makes my life a lot easier, so hush and pretend you just found out about it!

I really miss my dog.

These Things I Know For Sure

in no particular order...

1. I love my roomie.

2. I love my boyfriend

3. This is where I'm supposed to be.

4. I love Law & Order.

I'm thankful that I don't have too much homework.

5. I can survive on my own if needed!

6. I never want to live alone.

7. I like college!

5 Best Things About the First Day of School

I decided to do something new (to me) in blog-world today and write on one of Mama Kat's prompts that she provides a list of every week. I chose the "5 Best Things About the First Day of School," since I just had a first day of school on Monday!

Here goes:

1. New school supplies! This might make me dorky or something, but I love new pens, binders, and notebooks. Too bad you usually have to use them for homework (eww).

2. New friends--you know, your fellow classmates, who have to endure the same torture that you do, so you band together as a result.

3. First day of college usually means new furniture (this year anyway...), which I love with every fiber of my being.

4. Learning things! I know this sounds totally lame, but learning is pretty cool when you think about it. Especially since I'm privileged enough to be able to go to college, as many people don't get that opportunity.

5. Fun college-campus activies: sporting events, campus-wide block parties, the list goes on and on. It's never boring!

Other than that, the first week is going well. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for the 7:40 am class on Tues/Thurs, but I get the feeling I'm going to need a stronger alarm. Otherwise, all is well thus far! Enjoy your week :)

Totally Awkward Tuesdays!

Once again, this Tuesday caught me by surprise. I've been so busy with getting ready for classes and going to classes and trying to get from one side of the campus to another, that I nearly forgot about my TAT! Check out Tova Darling's blog for the full Totally Awkward Tuesday story.

My story was my first awkward college experience. Unfortunately for me, there are probably many more to follow. Anyway, my new roomie and I share the basement of The Dollhouse, as I like to refer to the single family home that the 5 of us rent out. In the basement, there is a large main room that two of us share as a bed/living area, and a smaller, unfinished room that we've converted into a TV/sitting area.

My boyfriend and I were sitting on the couch, watching some TV (and that is all!), when my roomie got home. She had 2 of her friends with her and after all the introductions were made, she announced that it was gross how she always has to come home to my boyfriend and I making out (this has never actually occurred). My roomie is tricky, and very sarcastic (but I love her). Since we had just met her friends, this made for a very awkward few minutes, but thankfully her friends know exactly how she is and just shrugged it off and laughed. Silly roomie...

Tuesday/Thursdays are my looong days for classes, (5, to be exact) so I'm on campus taking a break in the computer lab/library. So far, I really like my classes. Even though there are a couple of the mandatory freshman classes that everyone thinks are really lame and extremely easily (thank God for that), those seem to be pretty interesting as well. We'll see!

I survived!

I have officially survived my first day of classes at Liberty! Actually, that's a pretty overdramatic statement considering the fact that I only had 2 classes today, and they are both those easy but mandatory freshman classes.

Overall, I actually liked the classes/experience today a lot. I think it's awesome that the professors pray to open each class, and they have a very genuine love for their students and a desire to see them succeed. At the community college that I transferred from, this was far from the mindset of many of the professors, some of which visibly hated their jobs. So that's really refreshing.

Things I don't like:

1.Parking is ridiculous. I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise at all, since enrollment at Liberty increases every year, and the first week or so is always frenzied (not to mention the number of parents still lingering around campus). Anyway, as a commuter student, that makes it a little frustrating to get from class to class, but I've been assured that this will die down.

2. There are so many people everywhere! I don't mind a lot of people, but it's a little overwhelming. This will also die down after a few days, I know, but it's sort of shocking after going to a community college with about 30 people (maximum) in each of my classes. I've never felt so small-town!

3. I got $400 automatically from the school as a scholarship to use on books. Little did I know, these expire in October and I sort of forgot to use any of them on my books this semester. So, I can trade them in for a Barnes & Noble gift card since that's what our bookstore is. Big ooops. I definitely don't need $400 in Barnes & Noble money, but the bookworm in me is pretty psyched about it anyway. :)

All in all, it really wasn't bad though. I love being in college!

I think I'll have a better (or more realistic, anyway) feel for everything tomorrow, as I have the more difficult classes then. We'll see!

one day down...err...too many to count to go

So my first full day as an official Liberty student went pretty well. Okay, I'm lying, it was pretty rough. I woke up to a phone call that my dad had to go to the hospital back home and received a call from my own doctor's office letting me know that I have some pretty crazy things going on with my thyroid. Did I mention that this is the first time I've ever been away from home? Needless to say, when you add that to the drama of moving in here that began yesterday, you get a recipe for a pretty bad way to start off the whole "college experience." I'm thanking God that my boyfriend is here with me, so that I had a least one person I know and trust to hug when I got all this crazy news.

Thankfully, my dad is okay and is back at home again after many long hours, my thyroid will be fine, I'm sure, and the Dollhouse situation seems to be worked out as well. And I was feeling pretty good because I found my way around campus by myself pretty well and navigated getting my parking permit, student ID, and picking up the books I'd ordered (all in separate places, by the way). Tomorrow I have to go to transfer orienation, which will likely be a long, boring session of information that we didn't really need to know. But thus is life, I suppose.

The adventure begins

So, it's my first night in the Dollhouse, as I like to refer to the house that I share with four other girls closeby to Liberty. I have to admit, while I did nothing actually Liberty-related today (I didn't even go on campus yet), I am completely exhausted! And I'm not sure that I'm loving it yet. Let me tell you why...

1. I first entered the basement (that I'm sharing with one other girl, who won't be getting her until Friday), and there was water all over the floor. Apparently there have been a few leak issues that are supposedly were resolved right before I got here, so there shouldn't be any repeat incidents, but it wasn't exactly the greeting that I was expecting.

2. My landlord doesn't know about me. In the state of Virginia, having more than 4 unrelated females living together in the same house is legally considered a brothel (explains the lack of sorority houses). Most college kids who need to get around this law just put 4 names on the lease and have one unsigned roommate, and no one's the wiser. Well, apparently the landlord of the Dollhouse stated that if we have a fifth roommate, he wants more rent money. My lovely roommates decided not to tell me this until today, when I move in. So rather than pay the extra money, they elected to try to hide the fact that I'm living here. I suppose that's understandable, but I really wish that I would have known about it ahead of time, especially when you consider that my honest-to-a-fault parents are less than pleased. We'll see what happens...

3. I hardly unpacked a thing. I should probably get on that. Ahhhhh

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

Once again, I nearly forgot that it's Totally Awkward Tuesday! I know I said that my next blog post would be from my new room in the Dollhouse at school, but I lied, because I want to participate in Tova's Totally Awkward Tuesdays! Hop on over to her blog for all the details.

This awkward story happened while I was working as a receptionist in a physical therapy office. Before I worked there, I had no idea how crazy some of the patients are. Well, the front desk that the receptionists (me) sat behind was pretty tall. A person of average height could definitely see over it, but it made for a relatively tall divider between us and the patients who were making appointments at the front desk. It also gave the appearance that we were sitting much closer to the patient that we actually were, but because of the desk's height, our actual seats on the ground were much further from where the patients stood in front of the desk than it appeared.

One day, a male patient, who must have been in his late 50s or early 60s, for reasons that I have yet to figure out, decided it would be a good idea to reach across the desk, through the expanse between patient and receptionist and pinch my cheek. It was even more awkward because he underestimated the distance and had to lean really far forward in order to accomplish the cheek-pinching. It was so awkward.

Happy Tuesdays!

Here We Go....

I'm headed to school in a little more than 24 hours! That is, if I ever manage to get everything I need packed up, and that my flat tire gets repaired tomorrow (what awful timing...). Because tomorrow is going to be crazy, my next blog post will be from my room at school! I have to go to move in to the Dollhouse, go to orientation, and then classes start on Monday! Here we go...

Miracle please?

Somehow, I need to pack up all of the necessary contents of my room (and clean) in the next 72 hours. Ohhh my.

One Letter That I Wish I Could Send

So, I stumbled across this awesome blog, Letters from a College Student, where Faith tells it how it is, with the kind of honesty with which we all wish we could speak freely. I figured I'd try a letter of my own, since I'm anonymous anyway, to get a few things off my chest.

Dear Friend,

I had trouble addressing you as "friend," since I don't really consider you that anymore. I'm sorry for that, but I just don't think that we are. I'm sorry for everything that I did wrong, because I know that I had a part in it. I'm sorry that I didn't handle things the right way when I did finally stick up for myself. And I'm really sorry that it took me so long to do so.

I do, however, think that there a few things that you should be sorry for as well. The list goes on and on, but I'm trying desperately to forgive you for all of it, so I will keep it short. I wish that you had apologized for all of the times that you tried to rob my joy. I wish that you would apologize for all of the times that you pretended you didn't see my frustration and my hurt when you manipulated me. I wish that you would apologize for all the times that, because of your many insecurities, you tried to make me insecure as well. I am happy to let you know that even now, it hasn't worked. Despite your hardest efforts, I haven't let you affect my confidence. I wish that even after I confronted you, and laid everything bare so that we could work it out, that you had actually listened, actually apologized for your fault in the situation (I don't claim all of it), and that we would have been able to reconcile.

I am really sorry that we haven't been able to be friends lately, and that I doubt that we will ever be again, but I don't regret distancing myself from you. It has been one of the best things that I have done for myself, and after 20 years of letting you walk all over me, I vow never to let you, or anyone else do that to me again. Thanks for teaching me that, it was obviously a lesson that I really needed to learn.

Sincerely,

Me.

I needed that.

Closing in!

Well, officially 7 days (that's one week, people!) until my first-ever move away from home, and the beginning of my (real) college career! I'm nervous! And excited. But mostly nervous at this specific moment because this is probably the biggest change that I'll experience thus far in my life. That's pretty serious! It sounds so silly in comparison to actually growing up (which I've sort of done backwards anyway, since I've been working full time the past 2 years in order to be able to go to college full-time now), but it's going to be way different from what I'm used to, although I'm definitely excited to see where things go! Now it's just a matter of getting everything I need packed up in my car, which in itself will be a small miracle.

I'm beginning to think my new roommates will start to make regular appearances in my blog posts as well, as I'm living in a house (which I like to refer to as The Dollhouse) with four other girls. Something blog-worthy (and probably very dramatic) is bound to happen, but I'm hoping that it won't! Wish me luck ;)

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

Oh my word! It's Tuesday again already! And I almost missed it...I completely forgot that today was Tuesday, until I noticed that everybody else is writing out their totally awkward stories (check out Tova's blog for all the details)! Ahhh!

This awkward story actually happened to my mom way back in the day before she married my dad. She was over at his house, playing Pictionary with my dad and his parents. She and my grandfather were on one team, and my father and grandmother were on another team. So it got to be my mom's turn to guess what my grandfather was drawing (contact lense, by the way). So everyone was guessing words related to the eye, pupil, eyelash, etc., and my mother blurts out, "UTERUS!!!"

My stunned grandfather must've dropped his pencil and my dad and grandmother stopped in their tracks. Apparently, my mom had meant to say iris and that other lovely body part just slipped out in its place. Apparently, the group laughed for about an hour. I'm glad it was her and not me, though, but they can all laugh about it now :). I love my mom!

100% True!

I have a baffling but 100% true, happened in real life, story to tell you. I wish that I could say that something like it happened to me, but 1. I have an amazing boyfriend already and 2. it just didn't. It happened to my roommate, who seems to be a magnet for situations like this.

So let me start at the beginning. She and I are avid baseball fans, although for different teams. Well the team that she loves was playing the team that I love, so the two of us went to see the game. She noticed a guy standing around before the game, sporting her team's jersey and said something along the lines of, "look at the guy with the eyebrow ring! How cute is he?!"

Without thinking much of it, the game starts, and we all return to our seats. His is a section over from ours, although not really close at all. After the game, we continue on with our lives, all but completely forgetting about the guy with the eyebrow ring.

Fast forward to yesterday, when my roomie gets on a plane headed across the country to visit a friend of hers. I got a text from her asking if I remembered Guy With Eyebrow Ring from the baseball game, which I did, because by some crazy odds, he was on her flight! Seriously...the very same flight she was on, headed across the country! At first I didn't believe it, but she swore that it was true and even claimed she'd try to talk to him and ask if it was him to make sure.

Then, she calls me today to tell me that, not only were they on the same flight, they had the same 3 hour layover. She said that for a little while, they were waiting, and kept catching each other awkwardly stealing glances at each other. Finally, she boldly walked up to him (I can't say that I would've done the same, to be honest), and says, "You may think I'm an idiot for saying this, but did you go to the such and such baseball game this summer?" To which he replied, "Yes! That's where I know you from!"

What are the odds? Apparently, they continued to talk for all of the remaining layover, and he even asked the person sitting next to her on the flight to switch seats with him so that they continue to talk for the second half of the flight.

That being said, I've come to the conclusion that my roommate's life would make a much better blog than mine!

Things I'm excited about

a handy-dandy list for your reading convenience:

1. moving to VA to go to Liberty (less than 2 weeks left!)

2. Preseason football begins tonight!

3. I just entered Rachel at it's a hero's giveaway for a Starbucks cup!

4. I'm not going anywhere out of town this week and I just get to spend time at home hanging out with my brother.

5. I rented "The Good Life" with Zooey Deschanel, who I have an intense girl crush on

I'm pretty sure that's all for now. Hope you all had lovely weekends :)

Happy.

Well, I'm back from the last vacation-ing that I'll be doing for a while! Yes, very sad, I know. I completely missed this week's Tova's Totally Awkward Tuesday as well, and I'm very sorry about that! But what's done is done. I do have a fantastically funny (now, anyway) story from vacation for you though.

First, you should know that I went to the beach this past week with my boyfriend and his family. And I mean his whole family. Let me break this down for you...the boyfriend is the youngest of four siblings, who are all adults, 3 of which are married, 2 of which have families of their own. One of these families has 4 kids and the other has 5, making a total of 9 youngsters ranging in ages from 1-14. In addition, both of my boyfriend's grandmothers and his parents accompanied us on vacation as well. In case your head hurts, or your math skills are comparable to my own, that equals 19 people. Not such a big number, you might say? Did I mention that all of these 19 people (including small children) stayed in the same, 3 bedroom beach house?

And actually, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be! I'm usually pretty optimistic and I like to think that I have a good attitude most of the time, but I'll be the first to admit, I was not thinking that having so many people in one house was going to be a good idea. But everyone was somehow fit in (including people sleeping in sunrooms and attics, on couches and air beds) and everything went pretty well.

My boyfriend's mother instructed us that I would be sharing the laundry room with my boyfriend's 13-year-old niece. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I would be sleeping in the laundry room. On vacation. Once I realized there was an actual bed involved, this was not so surprising to me. Due to the rather large size of the laundry room, a full bed was pushed into the corner of it. While I was frustrated at first to have to share a bed, since I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep recently, it ended up working out fine since I really enjoy his niece and we had a grand old time. Well, if you're ever seen Dan in Real Life, then you have the perfect picture of the situation I found myself in when my boyfriend's mother decided that a load of clothes needed to go in the dryer at 7 o'clock in the morning on our vacation. I probably don't need to remind you how noisy dryers are (not the new, nice, quiet kind), especially when you're sound asleep less than three feet from them.

Needless to say, I was not thrilled when it happened. But now I think it's pretty funny, so no harm done.

Ebony over at Sizzling Publications tagged me in Six Things That Make You Happy, so here you are:

1. my turtle

2. my boyfriend

3. my bed...ahhh

4. the beach

5. my family

6. new furniture

I'm also supposed to tag 6 people whose blogs make me happy, but I don't follow enough blogs apparently, because many of the people I would have tagged have already been tagged. So until my blogging popularity increases (or if it does...), I'll have to remain tag-less. Sorry to disappoint!

Vacations galore!

I apologize in advance for the inordinate amount of parenthesis used in this blog entry

Well, I got back from vacation number one a few hours ago (thank God for the end of the longest car ride ever), and overall it was great! I went surfing for the first time (loved it), got a nice starter tan, and even sent a post card to my pen pal! I felt very accomplished. It was also my boyfriend's first vacation with my family (even though he's been around for a while) and the extended family loves him, the immediate family loves him more; it's really great for all parties involved.

There is some sad news :(. I have (had?) a pet zebra finch, and literally a few hours before we got home, a freak near-tornado swept through our town, with wind speeds we haven't seen in...ever (seriously, one of our trees was completely uprooted), and knocked over the birdcage (they like being outside), causing it to collapse, and allowing my favorite bird-friend to escape! So I was pretty upset upon discovering this, but I'm holding out hope that she'll fly back unharmed when she gets hungry. Or that she at least enjoys her new found freedom to the fullest.

I'm also feeling really productive because my arrival in good ol' Lynchburg, VA for college is closing in and I'm being really good about deadlines for things related. You're allowed to be proud if you want.

And lastly, I leave for vacation numero dos in less than 48 hours (you're allowed to be jealous)! I'm just taking advantage of finally getting to act like a student and have summers off again, so don't judge.

Totally Awkward Tuesdays!

In case you're new here, Tova Darling started Totally Awkward Tuesdays, where we all share are incredibly awkward life stories.

Today's is actually an awkward moment for my lovely boyfriend, which I enjoyed very much, but must have been mortifying for him. We're on a family vacation right now and we invited him to join us. Unfortunately the car ride involved with this family vacation was extremely long, and at some point, he, my mom, and I were all sitting on the back bench of our family's humongous conversion van chatting and somehow the subject of plants came up. My mother was mentioning something about a certain plant and the boyfriend began to make a witty comment about organisms (somehow associated with said plant) and instead it came out "orgasms!" He immediately covered his face, embarrassed as all get out as my mom and I launched into hysterical laughter. It was great! And thankfully I have a very easy going, cool mom who was not offended in the least by the use of the word "orgasm" by her daughter's boyfriend. We're just thankful my dad wasn't within earshot ;).

In other news, as I said before, we're on vacation, and my internet access is limited, so it will be a little while before I'll be able to catch up with all of your TAT stories. It will happen eventually though :) Have a great week!

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

It's Tuesday again, and you know what that means! Totally Awkward Tuesday, of course, which you can learn more about by visiting Tova Darling. Basically, everyone just shares their awkward stories so we can all laugh together about how awkward life is.

This is probably the single most awkward thing that has ever happened to me.

My wonderful boyfriend and I had been dating about six months when we went to a friend of mine's graduation party. She lives about an hour away from us, and we had a ton of other things to do that day, so we ended up arriving late and then just staying and hanging out with her and her boyfriend after the party, which was at her grandparents' house. The rest of the guests had left, which left the four of us, plus her parents and grandparents, who were all upstairs cleaning up after the festivities.

The four of us decided to go downstairs to the basement and play ping pong for a little while. She and her boyfriend were not very shy (in front of us anyway, I'm not completely sure why) about displaying their affection, and rather than playing ping pong, they decided to go off to the couch in the corner and get affectionate. Since my boyfriend and I were not too interested in watching whatever was going on (I've been assured since that they were "just talking," although I don't know how much of that I believe), we took to the other corner of the room, out of sight from the two of them and got a little more cuddly than we probably should have in someone else's basement, where we had no idea where entrances to the outside were or whether or not someone may decide to walk into the basement whenever they pleased. Almost exactly on cue, just as we began to kiss (and by kiss, I mean contine to holding hands, since I strictly adhere to The Liberty Way);), my friend's father comes busting through the door, right in front of us (nope, that wasn't a closet), catching all three of us off guard. He then felt the need to announce his presence, making the situation even more uncomfortable. To this day, I am still embarrassed every time I see the man. Although I guess it would have been more awkward for my friend's own father to see whatever was going on over there with her, so taking one for the team isn't too horrible. Thankfully now we're all able to laugh about it.

I Don't Like Chick Flicks...

You what? That's right, I don't like chick flicks. I just don't. I'm all for love and romance, and I think it's a wonderful thing, but there are very few full-fledged chick flicks that I appreciate. I'm not sure exactly why, aside from the fact that love usually is not the way it's portrayed in movies and many movies portray it in a very unrealistic light. Sometimes that's great and I'm all for it, but most of the time it doesn't work for me. Many people think this is really strange, and I think even my boyfriend wishes that I would drag him to a few so that he could complain about it later, but that's just the way it is. However, I do have a small list of a few that I actually enjoy.

1. 10 Things I Hate About You -- The classic high school romance/comedy, based on Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," and starring Heath Ledger pre-Brokeback, so what's not to love? It's pretty hilarious (which can make anything bearable)and I first saw it when I was pretty young, so there are good memories attached and all of that.

2. A Lot Like Love -- This one wasn't especially popular, but I really liked it. Not your average love story, but it is really funny and a has a little bit of a "different" feel to it, so it's not just your typical, utterly predictable, boy-meets-girl-fall-in-love-happily-ever-after movie. Plus Ashton Kutcher just cracks me up.

3. Any of your 80s teen movies (ie- The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Say Anything)-- All classics about life for the American teenager and impossible to hate. I'm not sure if they even qualify as chick flicks, but I've been told that they do, so I'm going with it.

And now I can also add

4. Definitely Maybe -- I just saw this a few nights ago, even though it came out a while ago and I liked it a lot! I didn't hear anything about it, which usually indicates a movie that's not really worth seeing, but it's really cute, atypical plot, and I liked the not-so-predictable ending. Plus, there's an adorable reference to penguins and Ryan Reynolds surprisingly doesn't do too bad of a rendition of one of Nirvana's classics (don't worry, he only sings one line of "Come As You Are"). Any movie where Ryan Reynolds and Kurt Cobain can coexist peacefully is okay by me! Plus, Abigail Breslyn is adorable and the soundtrack is pretty awesome.

I'll let you know if I can think of any others, but honestly that's all I can come up with right now. What's your favorite genre or movie?

The Whole Story

Let me first just say that, to be completely accurate, this is actually just the beginning of this particular story, contrary to the title of the post. Although, it is pretty long, which I felt warranted adding the "whole" rather than the "beginning of." You were warned.


Thus far, the majority of my blog entries have not really been related to "the big adventure," (aka going to Liberty University this fall) as it has not actually started yet. But I realized that this particular adventure has a lot of background information involved and that I should let you all in on it. So, here is my effort to explain my thought process on the whole Liberty thing.

First off, I am a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ's crucifixion, and subsequent resurrection, saved me from my sins and that I would be hopelessly lost without His grace and love. I also love church…I think that coming together as a believing community to care for each other and for those outside of the church is really important. That being said, I also think that there is a lot of bad that has been done by members of the church in the name of God, which shouldn’t have been done in association with God at all. Actually, some of it just shouldn't have been done at all.

This has forever frustrated me because it gives all Christians a bad name and it is not an accurate representation of what we believe (this subject could fill many blog entries, so for now I'll leave it at that). Some Christians are extremely judgemental and unforgiving.

If you had asked me a few years ago, I would have told you that Liberty University fell perfectly into this category. For those of you who aren't familiar with the school, it's a very conservative, Christian university located in Lynchburg, VA (I know, the name couldn't be worse, although I hear it's actually named after John Lynch, the founder of the town). This is Liberty's offical code of conduct, known as "The Liberty Way." All students are expected to follow it and there is a reprimand system in place for broken rules. A student receives a certain number of reprimands or "reps" when caught breaking a rule, depending on the gravity of the rule and the situation.

Before I knew very much about it, I had no desire to be involved in anything that was remotely close to fundamentalist, and on paper, Liberty sounded like just that. I had heard horror stories of extremely strict rules that had to be adhered to, and that sounded to me like a huge lack of grace, which seems a more than a little hypocritical since, as Christians who recognize how much grace Christ has shown to us, how ridiculous would it be not to show some of the same to others? Needless to say, I was not interested in attending a school like Liberty, and I didn’t understand why so many people did (approx. 13,000 students will be joining me this fall).

Fast forward a few years to high school graduation time. Everyone was frantically trying to decide what to do with their next chapter in life…which school, which job, etc. By this point, it hadn’t worked out for me to go away to the school of my choice (way too expensive), so I went with Plan B: get a full time job and save some money and enroll in community college part time. A lot of my friends chose to go to Liberty. And strangely enough, by a very complicated turn of events, I became friends with a few current Liberty students who lived near me, including my very amazing, very handsome now-boyfriend (seriously, he's the best).

From their stories, this school that I thought was a big, judgmental group of faculty exacting their over-the-top rules on a bunch of college kids, actually sounded like a pretty good school. Their academic programs were far-reaching and highly acclaimed, their student activities were extensive, exciting, and fun, and their rules were not nearly as bad as they seemed (it’s all in how strict your RA is).

After visiting my boyfriend and friends there many times over the two years following my high school graduation, the whole idea didn’t seem nearly as bad. I learned that Liberty's administrators actually do show a lot more grace than they get publicity for, proven by a few first-hand accounts of students that I'd met who should have gotten kicked out, but were given second chances.

Still, I wasn't completely convinced. Personal freedom has always been something that I think is extremely important, and while I have always tried to use a reasonable amount of self-control and to live a Christian lifestyle, the rules at Liberty still seemed a little too intense. However, after a couple years of working full time and studying and going to community college classes in my spare time, going away to a four year school college and having that whole experience, even at a school like Liberty, was looking more and more appealing. So, sometime last fall, I filled out my application.

After I was accepted (not a difficult task, by the way), I found out the Liberty has a huge alumni base that donates a lot to the school, which, combined with co-founder Jerry Falwell’s (I know, I know, more on that later) multi-million dollar life insurance policy, allows the school to give exceptional financial aid. It turns out this was no different for me, and going to a private, out of state school would end up costing me a quarter of what it would cost to go to any state school in my state. This came as a huge surprise/relief since I've often been frustrated that so many other Christian colleges cannot or do not give nearly this amount of financial aid.

So there you have it, I guess. So many thoughts, prayers, and scholarships later, I found myself confirming my attendance for the Fall 2009 semester as a Liberty student. So we'll see how things go.

I’m not living on campus, so I won’t have a RA (resident advisor--the main source of rule-enforcement within the student body), but I’m still a little bit nervous since Liberty’s ultra-strict reputation precedes it. I also know that there have been a lot of doors opened for me to go there without taking out any loans thus far, and I don’t believe that that’s a coincidence. Besides, if an ultra-liberal, Brown University student can do it, then so can I! I’ll keep you updated on how it goes once everything starts up! For now I’m going to enjoy my summer!

My First Blog Award!

I am very excited to share that I got my first blog award thanks to Ebony over at Sizzling Publications! So now I have to follow all the instructions and pass it along!





1. “The Honest Scrap” award is not one to hold all to your self but it must be shared!

2. First, the recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves in their blog that no one else knows.

3. Second, the recipient has to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers.

4. Third, those 10 bloggers all have to be notified they have been given with this award.

5. Those 10 bloggers that receive this award should link back to the blog that awarded them “The Honest Scrap’ award.

Well, I don't think I even have 10 things to list that no one knows, but I will list 10 things about myself, so here goes...

1. I love avocados and I could eat them with nearly everything, or just by themselves.

2. I am in love with a wonderful man :)

3. I would like to live either at the beach, or in Colorado one day.

4. I love reading and I really wish I had more time to do it (right now I do since I'm off work! Yay!).

5. I really like adventures.

6. I really like Ikea.

7. I'm not very good at accessorizing, but I'm working on it.

7. I've kept a pen & paper journal since the 2nd grade.

8. I have a really high tolerance for physical pain (emotional, not so much...)

9. I'd like to have a ton of kids whenever I get married somedayyyy

10. I love my bed-related items like pillows, blankets, covers; anything comfy and wonderful.

I know this is lame, but I think that almost all the blogs I follow have already been awarded this, and most of them pretty recently, so I'm not going to be tagging anyone :(. I guess I'll have to go make some more blog friends :)

This calls for a celebration!

Today was my last day at work! That's another perk of going away to college; you get to quit your job and start over somewhere new. I am really excited about that! And my now ex-coworkers are great and gave me some nice going-away things.

I've also decided after hardly any deliberating at all that I'm keeping the name la aventurista. Thanks for your input, ladies. I realized that I picked the name in the first place for a good reason and that I like it a lot! So I'm keeping it :)

I'm currently on a housesitting adventure for the owner of two boxers. While I generally have nothing against boxers, I'm thinking this may begin to change, because one of these has diarrhea on the carpet literally every time I leave the house, no matter how short an amount of time it is. It's getting really old. Usually, I'm not too easily grossed out, but cleaning up somebody else's dog's crap is one of the lowest points that a person can get to.

I also figured out how to post on the blog via text message (no data plan for me yet), but at this point I don't see how it would really be worth it since you can only successfully post 160 characters or less. So maybe I'll use this for very short blog entries when I don't have computer/internet access. Otherwise, I don't really see how it would be helpful.

Beach vacations begin in 9 days!

I'll get to that...

So, I realize that the bulk of my blog entries to date have been Tova's Totally Awkward Tuesdays. While there is no doubt that TATs are great, I'd just like to put it out there that I will get to more about my actual "adventures," etc.

I'm also thinking that I need a more name-like pseudonym? But I kind of like my sort of made up "la aventurista." Maybe I should just take off the la, since that's more name-like anyway. Thoughts on this?

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

It's Totally Awkward Tuesday again! If you don't know how it works, go visit Tova!

My story for this week actually happened a few weeks while I was housesitting. The owner of the dog had me over to the house on two separate occasions the week before the housesitting actually started and gave me extensive directions for her dog's care. The dog, who was actually really sweet, is named Katie and is an older dog, but she seemed easy enough to care for. The owner instructed me that she did have an electric fence installed, but that the neighbors and their dogs would be out of town that week, and since they were the only reason that Katie ever ran out of the yard, having her electric collar on would not be necessary while I was there.

So, I arrived Friday afternoon and let Katie out, sans collar, as instructed. While we were outside, the other neighbor came over wondering if I could let her dogs out while she would be gone the next day, which I agreed to do. She asked me to come over so she could give me a key and show me what to do for her dogs. So, we go over and she explains what to do, and after no more than three minutes, I leave to go back over to where Katie is. Well, instead of finding Katie anxiously awaiting my arrival, I find a panicked neighbor lady has driven up and is screaming for Katie's owner. When she finally breaks for air, I explained that I was housesitting and her owner was out of town.

"Katie is down the street!" she yelled, still panicked. "The neighbors are with her, you have to go get her right now!"

So I'm thinking, oh great, the dog that supposedly never runs away is off like a shot as soon as I take charge. Thankfully the nice neighbor who had been distracting me from watching Katie in the first place (I'm currently housesitting her dogs actually) hopped in the car with me to go find Katie down the street. We drive up and are greeted by a whole throng of overly-concerned, retiree neighbors who immediately display their disapproval of that fact that I came so close to losing the dog and trying to hide their rejoicing that something actually semi-exciting happening in the neighborhood for once. Since I'm young, and actually reasonably responsible, I'm always frustrated by older adults who think "those crazy teenagers are up to no good," which was obviously the mindset here. One lady even had the nerve to ask if I was the one in charge of watching the dog and when I answered that I was, she replied "well, where were ya?!"

Thankfully, I quickly retrieved Katie, put the collar back on, and didn't have another problem the rest of the week. And when her owner returned, she apologized for ever telling me to leave the collar off in the first place. Take that, meddling neighbors...

In other news, in preparation for heading off to Liberty in the fall, I had to take an online computer assessment before my classes start. I did it a couple days ago, assuming that it would be really easy and that I'd pass with flying colors, since I consider myself to be pretty computer-literate. Well, apparently, I'm not up to Liberty's standards! I didn't completely fail or anything like that, but I definitely didn't pass (75% or higher). I'm slightly ashamed, but not too much, since, in my defense, they asked some of the most obscure questions about Microsoft Word that anyone could ever come up with. (Example: How do you make formatting marks visible? First of all, what exactly qualifies as a formatting mark? And secondly, why are they invisible to begin with? Anyway, apparently they're those backwards P's that symbolize a new paragraph. I'd have a much easier chance of passing an html proficiency test, I guess) So, quick poll, who thinks that it's a good sign that I'm failing tests before classes even start? ;)

8 Things!

The lovely Frannie tagged me in this fun list, so here goes!



8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. two back-to-back beach vacations in a few weeks (I love having a boyfriend who takes me with him and having all that time off work before I...
2....go to real college)
3. Andy Davis concert!
4. my Ikea-furnished basement apartment with my awesome roommate in a few months
5. seeing my awesome boyfriend later this evening

6.getting off work (oops I'm slacking...)
7. being DONE with this job, only 4 workdays left!
8. being a new blog-ista!!

8 Things I did Yesterday:

1. Worked
2. had an awkward Tuesday!
3. hung out with some friends
4. watched Man On Fire (Yayy Denzel!)
5. ate popcorn
6. woke up way too early
7. got really excited about being finished with work!
8. talked to the lady I'm housesitting for next week

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Go to Italy
2. Finish school completely debt-free (might still be a possiblity...pray for me...)
3. break dance (or any kind of dance)
4. play guitar reaaallly well
5. decorate and accessorize well
6. be better at math (it's terrible)

7. publish a book (or many)
8. surf

8 Shows I Enjoy:
1. The Office
2. NCIS
3. GossipGirl (I know, so embarrassing, but very addicting!)
4. The Bachelorette (also embarassing, although I'm fed up! Jillian needs to stop picking losers!)
5. Prison Break before it got cancelled:(
6. Full House (I cried when that one went to reruns, but hey I was approximately 7 years old)

7. that's probably all the tv i watch...
8. If you had a TV show I might watch it though...

Since I don't really even have 8 followers or "blog friends" yet, then whomever would like to can repost this and pretend I tagged you :)

Totally Awkward Tuesdays!

For an explanation of what Totally Awkward Tuesdays are all about, visit Tova Darling!

My story for this week actually just happened yesterday and did not happen to me at all, but it is so good that I have to share it! I currently work as a receptionist in a physical therapy office (only a week left!) On a pretty regular basis, we have patients that come to their appointments straight from work in their business clothes, so they change into gym clothes in one of our appointment rooms before they exercise. Yesterday, one guy did this very thing, and for whatever reason, not only did he remove his underwear (I don't know about you guys, but I don't really consider it necessary to go commando while exercising, especially in a medical setting), he proceeded to accidentally drop his boxers and leave them in the middle of the floor in the room when he left. We then had to strategically explain that he had left something in the room that he had just changed in and watch as the poor guy figured out exactly what he had left.

Let this be a lesson to all to keep better track of undergarments...and judging by the short, tight gym shorts he opted for, he really should have just left those undies on!