February 20th-26th

I don't know what it is about blogger lately but it's been hit or miss on writing new posts! I guess that's what I get for procrastinating

Monday: After a long day I stopped by the APO intramural basketball game. We almost always lose, and this week was no different, but it's still fun to go support them. We always have tond of people in the stands and are really over the top with cheering, we even make our players go through a tunnel afterwards haha. It's really fun to be a part of! 

Tuesday: I am a teaching assistant for general chemistry, and this week their lab was a test of patience and impulsivity. They added one solution to another, drop by drop, until it turned a very faint pink. Add it too quickly or make a mistake and your solution turns into that bright fuscia color. We had lots of frustrated little freshman who became lazy or impatient and ended up with the "bad" color. They are all really competitive and it was fun to watch them so focused and see their faces light up when they knew they did it correctly. This was probably my favorite lab so far.

Wednesday was uneventful so we made some peanut butter cookies with kisses on top.

Thursday I had racked up enough punches on my Yo! punch card to earn my free cup of frozen yogurt. I love this place because you get to add all your toppings yourself.

Friday was APO chapter retreat! We went to this place called Mountasia, which is basically your typical putt-putt, go-kart and arcade place. APO had pre-paid for us, so we basically just ran around like children and had tons of fun! The highlight of my evening was the go-karts -- it's really fun to race when you know every single person on the track. Me and my friend Cristi ended up doing the go-karts SEVEN times. It was great!

Saturday was a busy day. I started the day at the Science Museum volunteering with some crazy awesome middle school students. After lunch I went to a tea party for my friend Danielle's birthday, and then in the evening my parents stopped by for some dinner and graduate school planning.

On Sunday we officially booked a spring break trip. Me and Lauren will be adventuring through Austin and spending a few days in Galveston. I've never been down to the Texas coast so I'm really looking forward to it! We got an awesome deal on the hotel and have planned out an awesome list of things to do. I'll also be spending a few days at home before returning to TCU for the remainder of the semester.

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February 13-19

Ok, so after technical difficulties abound on Sunday, the blog is up! I apologize for the delay!



Monday was baking day! I made Valentine's themed Funfetti cupcakes for one of my classes the following day. We still had regular class but one of my professor's wanted some sweets :)

Tuesday was Valentine's Day! I had a really great day. I'm usually feeling a twinge of lonliness or what have you but I can honestly say I was feeling splendid. Me and a bunch of friends got dressed up, went to Olive Garden, and saw the movie "This Means War" which was hilarious. This is a picture of my meal, which was delicious. I don't know why none of us remembered to get a picture of the whole group together!

Wednesday was Blend Off! Blend Off is Alpha Delta Pi's major philanthropy event where different student organizations come together and compete in to make a fun drink/theme/presentation. All the proceeds from the event goes toward the Ronald McDonald house, which is a place families can stay to be near the hospital if a child is receiving inpatient treatment. I always loved RMH, but having worked and volunteered at Baylor for a few years has allowed me to actually meet several families who have benefitted from these facilities, which makes it extra special! This picture is of the team I coached -- the marching band sorority! I love it when my band life and sorority life meet. These girls put together an awesome table themed "Pop rock and drop it" (instead of pop lock and drop it, the lyrics to a hip hop song). They used pop rocks in their drink and it was really fun! This event was especially powerful for the TCU community as some not-so-nice news was released about illegal activity among members of our student body. 17 arrests were made (including several football players) for selling drugs, and the students were all expelled. The story has received nuch news coverage, and our campus has been swarming with cameramen. Definitely a scarey time for TCU.



On Thursday my roommates and I went to the BYX Date Auction. BYX is a Christian fraternity and they way they raise money for their charity (Fefugee Services) is by auctioning themselves off as dates... very christlike haha. The event was really fun and although I walked away having not purchased a date, I'm glad I went to support my friends. On the way out it was pretty exciting because TCU sometimes puts on random events in the commons, and we stumbled upon a MONKEY! He had a little lollypop and was available for holding. For those of you who ever knew me as a child, I LOVE monkeys! He was precious and I love being in the right place at the right time



Friday: We braved warnings of bad weather to watch the TCU Baseball home opener. It stayed nice for most of the game -- no rain, but it got pretty chilly. We stayed for a while and then headed back to Emily's apartment to watch "Midnight in Paris" which is a great movie!

Saturday: I am at a loss as to why this picture refuses to rotate. So, we're just going to go with it. I went with some new APO members to a dance concert that was held on TCU's campus.It was a benefit for the AIDS Outreach center of Fort Worth. The dancing was beautiful, and I recognized a few of the students. There was a lot of current music being used for the routines and overall a great production, especially when you consider that it was put on entirely by students-- student dancers, choreographers, lighting designers, everything!

Sunday: We had APO meeting, and played some funny games of the "Whose Line is it Anyway" variety. Apparently we have some commedians among us. I also went to church with Lauren -- I think I've set a personal record for how many weeks in a row I've been attending church. I really love Christ Chapel and am trying to get more plugged in there before I have to leave.

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Week Six: Glitter, Guns, and Good Food

Monday was an exciting day to say the least. It has become tradition in my apartment to somehow decorate each person's room for their birthday. Since Lauren's was coming up Erika was experimenting with an awesome glitter balloon idea from Pinterest. The balloons looked awesome and fun with blue glitter inside, but unfortunately we had a balloon explosion incident that left our apartment covered in blue glitter. Not the worst problem to have, but still somewhat of a hassle as glitter is impossible to clean. Let's just say I definitely feel like a celebrity or something as I walk through our hallway...

Tuesday was nothing special. I've been on a horrific junk food kick since the weekend. I started with a full bag of skittles (one of the big bags, not the little packets) and by Tuesday had eaten the whole thing almost completely myself except for what's left in this mug. I just couldn't help myself but at the same time I realize how ridiculously disgusting that is haha.

Wednesday: Another uneventful day. Some of my roommates are fans of the tv show "Psych." I've watched it a few times but definitely don't catch every single episode. Anyway, so one o fthe main features of the show is that in every episode a pineapple is strategically hidden somewhere in one of the scenes. So while you're watching the show, you are also trying to locate a pineapple. As a fun little game we hid our own pineapple in the apartment. Whoever finds it gets to hide it for next time. Erika has had it for a while now and hides it really really well, so this week she re-hid it to give us some hope of actu ally locating it. I never really spend too much time searching, it's usually somewhere that you'll eventually stuble across it so we'll see how this one goes!

Thursday it was Lauren's 21st birthday! I had quite a few great pictures to pick from, but I wanted to brag a little about my awesome brownie decorating skills. I have the most unsteady hands and no talent in cursive writing, but for some reason this icing turned out fantastic if I do say so myself. They taste pretty good too :) We went out to a bar called the Library for a little while to celebrate, but didn't stay too long as I had an Anatomy test to be studying for. It counts as studying if the bar is named "the Library" right? ;)

Friday was birthday celebration part two! We went out to a mexican restaraunt with Lauren and her extended family. It was really fun to get to meet more of her family. We had a huge group and great food!

Saturday was ADPi's "Dad's Weekend." We went skeet shooting like last year, only this time you traveled to different stations to shoot at different targets. For whatever reason, I had so much more fun this year! I felt a lot more comfortable with the guns (last year was my first time ever shooting a gun, and it hurt!) and I even actually hit a target! (That's one more than last year! Haha). It was so cold outside near the end of the morning but I definitely enjoyed it. And dad definitely held his own with the real Texas hunters... overall was a great morning. We topped it off with a trip to get some excellent barbeque, just in case skeet shooting wasn't southern enough.

Sunday (well, technically Saturday evening but it lasted until after midnight so I'm counting it as Sunday!) I was invited to a concert at Billy Bob's. I'm not a huge country fan but I had a really good time dancing and chatting and watching Lauren freak out about Luke Bryan. He's got some wonderful dance moves and was fun to watch. I don't think country will ever be my thing, but I'm glad I went! It's been snowing/sleeting here on and off so I'm currently crossing my fingers for a snow day tomorrow... unlikely but a girl can dream. On Wednesday it's supposed to be back up in the 70s again! Texas weather is usually hard to keep up with but this season it's been especially confusing!

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It's February!



Monday: This week got off to a HORRIBLE start. I woke up feeling so sick. If I sat upright for longer than 15-20 minutes, I felt like I would pass out. I made it to my first class at 8am and tried to tough it out, but had to go outside and lie down a while and then go back to class to keep from passing out. As the day went on I started getting feverish and it was painful just to even lie down, so I skipped the remainder of my classes for the day as well as my TA job. I felt bad having to miss it already since I've only been there a week, but my supervisor was really understanding about it all. Since I pretty much stayed in bed all day, this picture is of an art project I started a while ago. I painted it over the weekend so this is kind of cheating, but it hasn't been on the blog yet so I guess it's fair game? The quote is from one of my favorite songs, and definitely applied to Monday. I think back to a few years ago and how missing a few classes would have sent me into a raging panic attack. I've come a long way since then and totally do not regret my decision to take care of myself and stay in bed all day!



Tuesday: I finally finished my project! I had been afraid to melt the crayons because I was scared I'd mess up all my hard work on the painting. But, after constructing a baracade with duct tape and aluminum foil, and a lot of help from my friend I finally worked up the guts to finish it. I think it turned out pretty awesome, don't you? I missed another class this morning so I could sleep in and was still feeling pretty weak all day, but made it through.

Wednesday: This is another silly picture because my Wednesday was rather boring. I dissected a cow eye and a sheep brain in Anatomy lab which was pretty cool, but they don't allow cameras... and if they did, I'm sure no one that reads this blog would want to see it! Me and my roommates are planning a little Valentine's Day get together. It's been a running tradition for at least a year now to treat ourselves to dinner and a movie with lots of baked goods all around. I saw these Disney princess tattoos at the grocery store a few days earlier and decided they would make a great addition to our party. It doesn't matter how old you get, if you're ever feeling mopey and single, reverting back to childhood movie characters is clearly the best coping mechanism ;) 

Thursday: Me and Lauren decided to try a new activity on campus called Senseless Acts of Comedy. I had always been hesitant about going because I was never sure if it'd actually be funny or not. Basically, what it is is the college student version of the tv show "Whose Line is it Anyway?" They have a bunch of improv games that they pull audience members for or take audience suggestions. It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that well in a while. This picture was taken by my friend Danielle (she had a better view than I did) and I don't rememer the exact context, but someone has been involved in a death-by-sled accident. Overall it was a great night and I hope to make it to more of these weekly shows!

 



Friday: So many wonderful pictures were taken at this semester's Chapter Retreat with ADPi that I had a hard time picking just one! We went to a place called Pump it Up, which is basically a huge gym full of counce houses. Everyone was encouraged to wear neon and we spent a few hours doing obstacle courses, slides, and just jumping up and jown like maniacs. It was great! The picture of us on an inflatable is me and some of my closest ADPi friends, and the other where we're standing and making our diamond symbol is me, one of my grandlittles, and all 4 of my great grandlittles! Unfortunately Jacqueline and Alex couldn't make it, but it's hard to get my whole family in the same place at one time. After chapter retreat was over I went and saw The Woman in Black, which was terrifying but so good! It's been a while since I've seen a scarey movie in theaters. Daniel Radcliff is a wonderful actor.



Saturday was a pretty lazy day. I ran lots of errands, did some studying, and made a dent in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". So far it's pretty slow, but reviews say it picks up and eventually it's worth it. I hope they are right! I also rented some movies from Redbox with Lauren and we had a little date night complete with lots of junk food.

Sunday: We started our day at The Aardvark... for church, not booze! Christ Chapel, the church I used to attend my freshman and sophomore year has been experiencing some growing pains over the last year after one of their buildings was closed down. Their college service was very dear to me and I had a really hard time finding a good replacement. Since then, they have reconvened in the comfort of a local bar on TCU's campus. The owner lets the church and it's students use the facility for free, and selflessly gives up his time to get the place ready for us in the mornings. No, it's not exactly traditional, but it's exactly what I needed and I'm looking forward to spending the semester with these lovely people :) Afterwards I went to Ulta to spend a gift card I've been hanging onto. The result: new nail polish! My hand (on the left) is sporting some "Panda-monium" while Lauren (on the right) is Niki-Manaj-ed out with some sparkly "Metalic 4 Life". We watched the super bowl and to be honest the commercials were kind of disappointing, and the Patriots lost. Not that upset, because my only ties were that a few TCU alum were playing for them, but still a bummer. Who were you rooting for?  

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