Tis the Season

I decided to reward myself for finishing a final today with two things: Papa John's pizza and the purchasing of Christmas decorations. I have already been listening to Christmas music for the last week or so, but I figured it was time to step up my game and decorate my lonely, cinder-block wall apartment. So I went off to Wal-Mart with Andrew and Rory in tow in search of items that bring in holiday cheer! Twenty minutes and fifty dollars later and you get this...

hooray for pre-lit Christmas trees

got to have a picture of home :)

And with that, I think I'll pour myself a nice, warm cup of apple cider and watch It's a Wonderful Life for the second time week. Two more weeks and I'm off to Minnesota for Christmas break! Yippee!

Best Distractions

I am the lucky RD on Duty getting to stay on campus for Thanksgiving break. Three cheers for me...or not. I mean who wouldn't want to spend a holiday break on a deserted college campus? Sign me up! In reality, it's probably the best thing for me because I have more work than I can handle at the moment and this gives me plenty of time to work on everything. However, when you are one of the few people left on campus, it forces you to get pretty creative with the ways you entertain/distract yourself. Take for example tonight. My RA Danyelle and I were hanging out in the lobby, she was on duty and I was working on a never-ending theory paper. And the next thing you know we are having our own little dance party. Want to know a quick way to make a dance party for two more exciting? Dance by a mirror or a window. Suddenly a dance party of two turns into a dance party of four! Don't judge. The dance party then turned into me reliving my gymnastics day pretending that the tile floor was the beam. A few cartwheels and pulled muscles later, another dance party breaks out. This time we're dancing on the furniture. And then comes to music play list of all the best songs from the 90's. Tonight's jams were O-Town's "All or Nothing" Destiny's Child "Say My Name" and All Saints "Never Ever". And then finally the building of the fort. That one actually stalled out in the planning stages, but we still have four days left of break so I'm pretty confident we'll pull it off eventually! If anyone has any other brilliant ideas for distractions from work and boredom, please share!

I'm There Too

The song "I'm there too" by Michelle Featherstone has been something of an anthem to me for the last few weeks. It's one of those songs that as soon as it comes on, it makes you catch your breath and it gives you chills. I have been thinking a lot about the lyrics and what it means to be there for someone. In my life I have so many people who have come alongside me and have gone through life with me. And in return, they let me do life with them, which to me, is a huge honor. It's something of a comfort to know that you can turn to them on your worst day and in your worst moments and they'll be there, but that they can also come to you on their worst days and worst moments. But what I have found to be difficult is to have people in your life that you so desperately want to do life with. You want to be there in every single good time as well as the bad. But for some reason, they don't want to share life with you. Even worse, they don't want to share life with anyone. And that breaks my heart. And I guess I understand the mentality behind it all because I've tried to do life all on my own. But I couldn't do it.

There is something that happens when you become vulnerable and you let someone else in. And yes, it's scary as heck to have someone there seeing all your deepest darkest secrets and seeing the "you" you have been so afraid to show. And then they stay there with you and love you through all of it. And that's when you realize that you no longer want to do life on your own. And that having someone there who will stick by you through the good and the bad is the most special gift you could ever receive.

So to everyone who lets me live life with them and lives life with me...thank you.

Lyrics to "I'm There Too"

I see myself in you
In everything you do
And when you’re all alone at night
You know I am by your side
Cuz I’m there too

I see me in your eyes
And I’m the tears you cry
And when you fall apart
And are dying from a broken heart
I’m there too

I see your footsteps in the sand
As you journey on across this land
But if you should fall on your way
Then I will carry you that day
Cuz I’m there
I’m there too
Yeah I’m there too

I see your face in mine
And I know there’ll come a time
When you will take my hand
And I will understand
That you’re there too
When you will take my hand
And I will understand
That you’re there
You’re there too

Movie Viewing Experience

Last night was the opening of part one of the last Harry Potter movie. To say that it was one of the most interesting and entertaining movie viewing experience I have ever had would be an understatement. The buzz all day was whether or not we could still get tickets for the midnight showing. The large and classy Boone theater was already sold out so we were forced to look at theaters elsewhere. The resulting location: Lenoir, NC which was about 45 minutes down the mountain. By way of conversation with a few of my staff, we came to the conclusion that leaving around 9:15 was going to be a wise decision. We had pre-ordered our tickets but we didn't know if we were going to have to wait in a line to get them. And then our concern was about the masses all arriving early leaving us to the seats in the theater that are lowest on the totem pole. We thus left Boone shortly after 9pm to put us into Lenoir right around 10pm.

Our arrival into the city limits of Lenoir is when the story spices up. Driving down the road, we nearly missed the theater because of how run down it looks. The anticipate line we had suspected - non-existent. There were four cars in the parking lot and I am certain that three of them belonged to workers of the theater. The theater had a whopping 2 movie screens. Movies playing: Harry Potter and Megamind. Here's a quick glance at the theater and all its glory.
The waiting to get in the door turned into waiting within the comforts of our own car. Shortly after our arrival, four more ASU friends pull up right next to us. They were also in shock over the unique environment we would partake our movie viewing experience within. They confessed that they had in fact been calling this particular theater multiple times throughout the day to make sure they still had tickets. Apparently during their last phone call, when asking how many tickets were left, the lady shared that there were 400 tickets left. How they fit 400 people in that theater was beyond me. So we decided that at 10:45 we might as well head inside and scope out the best seats, not that we had any competition. (there were now only 7 cars in the parking lot) Tickets were only $5 so we loaded up on popcorn and soda and entered our names into a drawing where you can win a wand. Went and found some seats and the theater and decided to make our own fun while we waited an hour for the movie to start. We may have been some of the older people in the theater and I'm pretty sure we were the annoying people that everyone eventually wants to kill too. We found particular enjoyment in playing the trivia game prior to the previews with too much enthusiasm. My friend RJ felt the need to assist us in locating the exist in the movie theater multiple times. And then finally, Harry Potter 7 began with a grand total of 29 people in the theater. no joke. It was a pretty great flick. The darn snake made me jump too many times, but in general I really enjoyed it!I"ll probably go see it a few more times before it leaves theaters, especially if every viewing is as entertaining as this one! Now begins the 6 month wait for part 2!

Counting Down...

I have started the countdown until I get to return to the great state of... for three weeks! I have just over that amount of time until I will be arriving in beautiful Minneapolis! And I can't wait to see my family. To sit on the kitchen counter and talk to my Dad for hours. And maybe get a little horseback riding in with Mom. And to finally get to see my niece who I haven't seen for 4 months! I am so excited to spend sometime with my girls Jorgen and Liz. And to work on crossing off everything on our To-Do List with Sarah Dibbern. And I really can't wait to see my little puppy A.J. Isn't he cute?! All except when you leave for five months, that little puppy you left, turns into And I am for sure stopping at both of these locations multiple times!
So if you can't tell, I have a lot of great things to look forward to when I arrive in the land of 10,000 lakes including my brother's wedding! Yay Trent and Liz! So I just need to make it through one more paper, one more presentation, three more finals and I will be home! Minnesota, I'll see you soon(ish)!

Birfday!

Wow. Folks, it's my birthday. Which means year 26 has arrived. Unwelcomed mind you! (PS I'm not sure unwelcomed is a word) Anywho, might as well ring in year 26 on a positive note! Can't wait to see what this year has in store!

Flowers=Smiles!

Good motto for life: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Matthew 7:12. One way I live this out, I buy people flowers. Why? Because I like being able to send them to people who may need some encouragement, for birthdays, to say CONGRATS or maybe for no reason at all! But I will come clean, I also send flowers because some day I hope to get them in return. Call me selfish. It's OK. I've come to terms with that. However, the times I have gotten flowers are very few and far between. Most of the flowers I have received in life have been from gymnastics meets and those days ended 8 years ago. But as of recent days, my luck in being the receiver of flowers has changed! VICTORY! The first may have been due to sudden hints to my Sr. RA Adam when I said in Harris Teeter (a grocery store for all you Minnesotans) "I always buy flowers for my friends with the hope that they will buy me flowers." Thus resulting in... "Aww...Thanks, Adam! You shouldn't have!!" :) And then today, I receive these... from mommy dearest by way of Leigh Carruth. Mom, this is the one and only time I am thankful you stalk people on Facebook...LOVE YOU! So for the moment, it appears the flower drought has ended! And with that I'm all smiles here!

Update: More flowers recently arrived! Man, I guess you just need to move 20 hours from home for people to finally send flowers! This particular arrangement I had to track down in the parking lot of Cafe Portofino here in Boone then brought them back to the tailgate I was at. Got some strange looks from drunken football fans. But, if anything it added some class to the tailgate! Thank you, Jorgen! The flowers are as fabulous as you are!!

Loves from a Wanna-Be Dancer

I LOVE DANCING! I love watching it, I love doing it. I love it! There is something about the story and the emotions shared through the movements and music that often stop me in my tracks and take my breath away. I don't know how many times I have teared up due to the rawness and authenticity displayed through dance. For me, dance shares things that I wouldn't be able to share with words. Stories can be told about addiction, breast cancer, falling in love, falling out of love, the list continues. Note: I am in no way, shape, or form a trained dancer. This fact is something I give my mother a hard time about whenever I can because instead of dance classes, I was chasing my brothers around playing tee-ball and taking snowmobile lessons. Nonetheless, dance is still something that speaks to me in incredible ways. So here are the links to a few of my favorite dances, most of which were performed on So You Think You Can Dance! If you have the time to look them up, I encourage you to do so. They're pretty great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6_JssnEjVs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRPhQAoPFt8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnguqsMQmg4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XCIy2Zkkz8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1wr42lSuo8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HShpoVtjzko&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLtSfYX8tJk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk9-qH5fyTU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ZsxvtH6Zc

Beautiful Mess

The month of chaos has finally hit. And while my to-do list is a monster the length of my body, here I am instead, blogging. Oh well, this helps clear my cluttered mind...even if only temporarily. Recently, well what am I talking about, this entire semester I have found myself in perma-stress. It's the technical term for being constantly stressed out. OK, no it's not, but for the moment it works. Every time I take time for myself, whether that's calling someone from back home, watching T.V, or even catching up on the oh-so elusive sleep my body continually craves, in the back of my mind is all the things that I need to get done. What e-mails do I need to send out (P.S. I just remembered an e-mail that needed to go out yesterday...darn it), what conversations do I need to have with my staff, what reading do I need to do, what paper still needs to get written, what project have I totally forget about, what meeting did I forget to put in my calendar, what program needs to get finalized, what questions did I need to remember to ask my supervisor, oh and my laundry!! And the moment I cross off one thing from my list, 5 more things are added. And the month of November is the epitome of madness. I mean check out what my living room looks like at the moment. Ahh! It stresses me out to even look at it now! However, even with my crazy schedule and monstrous to-do list, I often find myself so thankful that I am here getting to do and experience all this. So far it has been an experience that has helped me really reflect on who I am and who I want to be. In the few months I have been here, I have gone through things that really tested me and some experiences have darn well broke me! But even though my life at times seems like a hot mess, I am still able to find beauty within all of it. What more can I ask for?!