What a week!

Well it has been quite the week. Yesterday morning my Aunt Donna lost her battle with cancer. This is exactly two weeks after my great-grandmother passed away. It's hard being so far from home when so much is going on with my family right now. It is sad when anybody passes away, but it is easier from it is your 98 year old great grandmother, and not your aunt who is still too young to die. God is good, and I know he will use this tragedy for good, but right now it still hard, especially for my Uncle Tom. I fly home tomorrow for my great-grandmother's memorial service, but I won't be able to make it home for my Aunt's funeral which is next week. Anway...prayer for my family, especially my uncle, would be great.

Memories from the place we called: The Office

Last night I went bowling with a bunch of my friends from BCC and it was a lot of fun! We thenwent to Skylark to hang out some more and get something to eat. When I went to BCC there were a bunch of us who used to hang out in the Student Assembly office (or as we called it, "the office") Now to the common person hanging out in the Student Assembly office doesn't sound all that exciting, but the office is what brought us all together. I met so many interesting people there, some I will probably never see again, and others who became my close friends. So as we all sat at Skylark we started reminiscing about our favorite memories. So here are just a few of the ones we thought of (in no particular order):

1) Imagine If

2) heated debates about every topic imaginable

3) candy cane wars

4) Joe, Sam, and I's snowball fight on the first day of school (in August!)

5) The time Joe was trying to rip his ID card and couldn't do it, then he handed it to me and I ripped it right in half-no problem

6) What what in the butt

7) Parking appeals!!!

8) all of us going to the mall to pick up the new tv for the office

9) Kyle and Jaci's "love for each other"

10) convincing Andy that just because a girl has a night "booty" doesn't mean you should date her

11) Crazy Mike and his inappropriate jokes

12) all of us going to IHOP for free pancake day

13) all of us going to Denny's for free grand slam day

14) All the midnight showings we went to

15) Game nights

16) NAPPING

17) debates with Shawn-I really feel like we made an impact on his life

18) Shawn's daughter drawing me a picture

19) Jaci's (aka "butters") awesome catchphrases "whoah", "dude", "whatever", and "wow"

20) Jaci's surprise birthday party and getting her a bunch of random things at the dollar store including a giant pair of granny panties

21) Dr. Andy and his sometimes awkward comments

22) All the Halo playing even though I wasn't very good

23) All of Joe's "that's what she said" jokes

24) Awesome last names including Butterworth (butters), Day, Bolles (balls), and the Horne brothers

25) Aaron yelling "thirteenth grade" and getting us all in trouble- then us having to fight for our right to hang out in the office again

26) The pena game everyone was obsessed with

27) Ultimate Frisbee

and many many more! Most of you won't even understand most of the things I listed. Although I have heard the office isn't the same as it used to be, I will never forget all the memories we had together. So thanks to everyone to made the office so awesome: Chris, Joe, Andy, Aaron, Jaci, Brandon, Chris Perez, Zach, Billy, Nate Bolles, Seth, Sam, Luke, Aaron (bob), Ozz, Christian, Emily, Sarah, Lexi, Annie, Ben, Joanna, Jon, Seth Knapp, Nate Rittenburg, Kyle, Katie Keesler, Shawn, Sandra, Danielle, Theresa, and Pete. I don't think I left anyone out....

Good Eats In Nashville

Sorry I haven't blogged in the past few days. Today I am going to blog about one of my favorite things-FOOD! :) Nashville has some really good places to eat. I try not to go out to eat very often because it gets pricey.

Last night my suite mate, Chandler, her boyfriend, Jeremy, Chris, and I went to Sunset Grill to hang out and get some food. It was sort of a last minute decision. If you go after 10pm they have a late night menu, so that's what we did. Chris and I shared a piece of carrot cake with cream cheese flavored ice cream. It was delicious! Chandler and Jeremy shared nachos, which is also really good.

Today my roommate, Kim, is hosting a prospective student so after church a bunch of us went to Pei Wei for lunch. Pei Wei is another one of my favorite places to eat in Nashville. They have really big servings and the food is really good. Apparently Pei Wei is a chain, but I had never heard of it until I came to the south. I always get their chicken fried rice bowl. They have all sorts of Asian food though-Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese...

One of my favorite things in the south are "meat and 3s". It's the closest thing to a home cooked meal in college. There are a bunch of different meat and 3 places, but my favorite is Copper Kettle. Last semester their were always coupons for it online, but sadly there are no coupons this semester. It can get a little pricey, but Chandler and I like going there every once in a while for a treat.

There are so many good places to eat in Nashville. I didn't even talk about the coffee shops, but I will save that for another post. Mom-if you are reading this, don't freak out I really haven't been eating out that much and I am budgeting! I won't be spending any more money until I come home next week :)

Going Home A Week From Tomorrow

My spring break starts a week from tomorrow! I am really excited to get to go home and see my friends and family. It will be great to eat a home cooked meal! I cannot tell you how sick of the school cafeteria I am. I would like to eat REAL meat! Another thing I always look forward to eating when I go home is pizza! NY has such good pizza, and italian food in general. I took this for granted growing up-Nashville has limited pizza options. Although it's always nice going home, I am not looking forward to a cold spring break. While my suite mates are all going to a warm beach for break, I get to go home to snowy NY. In a way this will be good. I haven't been able to ski at all this winter since I have been at school, and it just didn't work out over Christmas break. So hopefully I'll be able to ski, but skiing isn't meant to be for SPRING break! I am so sick of sweaters and bulky coats. Oh well, maybe it will be warm by the time I return to Nashville. That's my rant for today.

My thoughts for today

Today has been a long, yet productive day. I made a list of things I had to get done, and I think I did all but one of the things on my list-to start a group paper. It's ok though, I'll work on it on my break tomorrow. I have also done a lot of reflecting today I feel. Nothing profound or anything, just about life in general and how I got to where I am today. As part of Belmont's curriculum we have to go to so many convocations before we can graduate. Today I went to one where the President of Belmont, Dr. Fisher, and his wife talked about a book they recently published called "Life Is A Gift". They interviewed just over 100 people who were about to die asking them questions such as "What brings you the greatest joy in life?", "If you could tell the world one message what would it be?", "What is your greatest regret?", etc. It was a really interesting convo and I'm glad I went. It just really made me think about what is really important in life. I went on about my day but then I was to Chris' school and we got into a conversation with another guy who lives in Chris' dorm. He was just asking how Chris and I met, so we told him and then the conversation led to other things about our lives. It just made me reflect on my life once again and just how much I have grown in the past few years. Here I am at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Just a few years ago I never would have thought this is where I would be, but here I am. Well those are my random thoughts for today. Goodnight!

Day 2 of Blogging

2 days in a row! Yeah! I don't have too many thoughts for today, so today's post will be brief. It has been really cold in Nashville these past few days and it is making me sad. Last weekend was absolutely gorgeous! It was sunny and in the high 60s! Today there were snow flurries...Oh well. It will get warm eventually! On a happier note-today IHOP is serving free pancakes! My suite mate, Chandler, and I are going to get some soon. Then LOST is on tonight! LOST could very well be the highlight of my week. I had a critique today in my design class and it went well. I love seeing everyone's take on the same project. It truly shows how many different ways and approaches you can take to solve the same problem. I guess that is one thing I love about art. Well I apologize for the randomness of this post. Just writing things as I think of them. Pancakes are calling my name! :)

I'm back!

Well I haven't blogged in a really long time, so I am going to try it again! I can't guarantee I will get to blog every day, but I will do my best.

The last time I blogged I was going through a really hard time in my life. It was definitely a time where my faith was tested. I was going through a transitional phase, and it felt like the world was crashing down on me. Since then, a lot has happened. I went to Broome Community College for a year, and as I stated in my last post, I met some truly amazing friends. One of those friends, was my boyfriend, Chris. We have been dating for almost a year and 4 months now, and I couldn't ask for a better boyfriend. During my first year of college I learned a lot and had a lot of fun, but after a year it was time for me to move on. I transferred in the fall to Belmont University which is in Nashville, TN. Nashville is a longggg ways away from Binghamton, NY, but God was telling me this was the next step I had to take in life. Being here has been such a wonderful experience. I love Nashville, the people, the weather, the southern culture, all of it! It has forced me to mature on multiple levels. God has also placed some more wonderful people in my life who have stretched and encouraged me both mentally and spiritually.

As I look back on these last few years, it amazes me how fast time flies by. It seems like just yesterday I created this blog for my high school Communications class, and now here I am almost two years later and just about half way done with my college career. I haven't decided yet if this is a good thing, or bad. I just know I don't want to take any minute of it for granted because before I know it college will be over and then I'll have to face the real world. On that note, I'll try to write tomorrow. Goodnight!