negligent

i realize that i have become an extremely negligent blogger and since coming to grad school i have only blogged once. it's not that life in muncie hasn't been exciting, because i has, i just apparently can't handle the long term commitment of keeping up with a blog. i can't make any promises, but i am hoping to make more time for writing. i have to finish some homework tonight, but i will blog tomorrow.

i think i can, i think i can, i think i can...

professor hester

hahaha! that's what some of my students call me when then email me. i find it to be extremely amusing. it's better than how some of the others address me.  i've had "yo prof." these children need to learn proper emailing etiquette.

anyways. i'm three weeks into grad school and teaching. only three weeks in and i'm stressed out and have already been on a roller coaster of emotions. actually, my moods and emotions kind of reflect what the temperature has been like here lately.  i don't sleep well at night.  i'm constantly thinking about what i need to do to be a better teacher. what assignments are due for my own classes.  and when i'm not thinking these things, i'm dreaming about these things! it's insane. but honestly. i love it.

i'm loving being a student and a teacher. to say that i love it all day everyday would be a slight stretch of the truth. for example today i was extremely stressed out and frustrated by a lot of my students. but then you have that one student who just gets it. and as cheesey, corny, and cliche as this is about to sound, that one student kind of makes it worth it.

my supervisor had to remind me today that i'm not dealing with all "A" students who's main priority right now is school. and i guess that's true.  and i guess i can be a little harsh and have high expectations.  but i just want my students to succeed.  i just want them to get it. to realize that they're now in college and that i'm not their high school gym teacher who's okay with lack luster performance and lame excuses. it's been a weird balance between caring too much and being professional.

d-day

first day of teaching and i am FREAKING OUT!!!!

take 2

so. i'm sitting in the student center at ball state university and i just finished a lovely meal of taco bell. yes. there's a taco bell in the student center. there's also an indoor soccer field and rock wall in the rec center. pretty awesome right? anyways...

it's so weird being a student again.  it's so weird finally being in indiana. as weird as all of this is, it feels right.  there's no doubt in my mind that this is where i'm supposed to be and that i'm doing what i'm supposed to be doing.  i just feel like God is constantly re-assuring me of that.  yeah there have been some difficulties and moments of anxiety or panic, but in the end everything just works itself out.  i really love this school. i love the communication studies department.  and i really like all of the other t.a.'s so far.  i'm really excited for what this year is going to bring.  i know that i'm going to be challenged and stretched and pulled and forced to grow in ways that i can't imagine and probably won't like, but that's the experience that i knowingly signed up for.  i'm excited to start teaching.  i had doubts. so very many doubts in the beginning of the week, but now i think i'm ready for it.  i think that teaching's going to be my biggest challenge.  but i'm ready for it, especially since it's what i think i want to do for the rest of my life.

i'm so thankful that i've had friends here to show me around, help me out, and just make me feel welcome and comfortable.  i think knowing people here has made this process so much easier for me. i really feel like this is home and i feel so comfortable.  i'm extremely lucky.

i also think the town of muncie itself is pretty awesome.  it's small, but i think there's enough to do.  the downtown area is nice and cute and has some neat places to hang out.  i live close to "the village" which is convenient.  it's nice to be able to walk to places if i need anything.  it gets kind of noisy on the weekend because there are a bunch of bars in the village, but it's not unbearable.  plus, i live right next to campus so i can walk to all of my classes which is just amazing. i lucked into that. i had no idea where my house was.

i'm anxious for everything to get started. (tomorrow's my first day of my classes, i don't start teaching till wednesday).  i think this is going to be a good year.

grad school does not equal undergrad...

...and ball state university does not equal high point university. but i view that as a good thing. so i guess this is a long over-due update on my new life as a grad student, gta (graduate teaching assistant), and resident of the lovely town of muncie, indiana.

where to begin? i feel like my life has been an adventure since i left pa to make the long and treacherous 10 hour drive out to indiana. my dad and i left on the 9th at 4 am to drive out here. i didn't think the drive would be that bad since i'm use to driving 7 hours from nc to pa and back. was i poorly mistaken. the drive from pa to nc, while long, is at least pretty and interesting. the drive from pa to indiana....not so much. there were mountains, and then there were hills, and then it was flat and dull and boring and drives you to the point that you just want to cry. but thankfully we made it to my house in one piece. my crappy little neon even made it without any hiccups (yet...we will revisit the topic of my p.o.s. car in a moment).

i could bore you with the details of my day to day life these past two weeks, but honestly, who wants to read that? so instead i'll do a list of things i've learned so far:

• grad school is going to be hard. i can already tell. i knew it was going to be hard, but i feel like i'm really going to be challenged this next semester. i'm taking 9 hours (which is considered a full course load and i've been told it'll feel like i'm taking 20 hours), teaching three discussion sections of comm 210 (bsu's required speech class), have 6 required office hours, and homework, grading, lesson planning (it's so bizarre to me that that is now part of my normal vocab). i feel overwhelmed whenever i stop to think about it.
• high point spoiled me. a lot. my house doesn't have a washer/dryer so i go to the laundry mat. it costs $2.50 to do one load of wash. just in the washer. crazy, right? it also costs $90 to get a parking pass for the whole school year and that only lets you park in certain parking lots. i only get 500 free prints/copies per semester. i have to pay to take the rec classes like zumba and pilates. basically i'm going to a "normal" school. i really don't hate it. i like that it's so different. i'm learning a lot and it feels nice to not be put in a luxurious little bubble.
• i'm not as awkward as i thought i was. i was so nervous about meeting the other gta's and making friends. making friends is so much easier when you're a little kid. not so much when you're an awkward 23 year old. but it's been okay. i really like all of the other gta's and i think i'm building friendships. it's good to know that i'm not the loner kid on the wall at gym class during dodge ball.
• it's okay to not have everything planned out. i didn't register for classes till monday. i was really anxious about it because i didn't know my schedule, didn't have books, didn't know what to expect. and you know what? i'm fine. i know i have control/planning issues. and it's instances like this that remind me that it's okay to not have everything planned. it may actually be a little better.

i'm sure there's other things that i've learned that i'm forgetting about but this post is getting pretty lengthy and i don't want to be extremely dull and boring. there is one entertaining story though. i got to ride home in the sheriff of delaware county's cop car yesterday. my car broke down on the side of 69 coming back from fishers. i was sobbing (yes. i was actually crying. embarrassingly full out hysterical crying) and the officer pulled in behind me and offered to help. i don't think i've ever been that thankful to see a police officer in my life. long story short my little neon is dead.

i shall return!

i promise i will start blogging again and update about my summer once i'm moved in and settled. i realize that have yet again, i have failed to complete a full p365, but i'm probably going to pick it back up once i'm in indiana. yes. that may be cheating a little bit. but honestly...who's counting?

p365: june 23

june 23: what a riveting and lovely day at work. i spent most of the day wrestling with and probably killing grape vines. there's rows and rows of grapes and they get tangled and need to be untangled. i basically compare it to what it would be like to machete my way through the amazon, minus the machete. don't be jealous of my super fabulous and glamorous job.

anyways, i've decided to retire the pair of toms that i've been wearing to work. they were already pretty beat up before i wore them to work and now they're pretty much shot. they lasted a good three weeks though!

r.i.p. ash canvas toms

p365: june 22 (except not really since i've skipped 3 weeks...)

june 22: well. long time no see? i have no excuses. i dropped the ball and majorly slacked at keeping up with this. i just hope that i can be more diligent from here on out!

so. since the last time i posted a picture a lot has happened. and by a lot  i really mean a lot of the same mundane thing.

i'm working at jersey acres at stone mountain wine cellar. it's a local fruit/dairy farm/winery. they basically do it all. i've been working there for about three weeks now (hmm. working for three weeks, blog is three weeks behind...anyone see a connection? but again...i have no excuses!) at this wonderful job i do everything from pick strawberries and rasberries to thin peaches and nectarines to work wine events like tastings and open houses to the majorly sucky task of hoeing and weeding the miles and miles of new strawberry rows. while at this job i'm outside all of the time which means killer awesome tan lines. i've decided that i'm not a big fan of the sock/sneaker tan, so i've been wearing toms. a toms tan line is much more fashionable anyways....right?

sorry!!!

i realize that i have been majorly lacking in the project 365 department. i've been busy adjusting to working and being home. i started taking some pictures and just never posted them, and then i just stopped taking pictures. i know, i know. i fail. but i'm not giving up on this. i just needed a small break and also some time to adjust to being back home. i plan on starting back up again with the pictures, however i'm giving fair warning that they may start to get boring because to say that my life is less than exciting in pine grove, pa would be the understatement of the century.  but i made a promise to myself to try to see this all the way through, and while it's technically not all the way through since i've taken 10 days off so far, i still want to finish it out to december 31. it will be good for me to come back and reflect upon.

so, starting tomorrow i will start taking pictures again and posting them. maybe with the free time i have i'll start editing them again and find inspiration in the most unexpected places. either that or i'll make my friends pose for photo shoots for me. :)

p365: june 5

june 5: spent the day relaxing. i did some more cleaning, but not too much. i have so much junk. it's been kind of therapeutic going through all of it and getting rid of a lot of stuff.

megan came home from d.c. today so a bunch of us went over to rossi's to hang out/welcome her home. this is the view on one of the roads on the way to rossi's house. as much as i complain about living at home and pine grove, i do appreciate how gorgeous it is. it just stinks that it's in the middle of nowhere.

p365: june 4

june 4: more time spent cleaning, unpacking, and re-arranging. it's a slow but steady process. i can only do a little each day or else i start to feel extremely overwhelmed and want to give up.

decided that i really needed to get out of the house. i've been wanting a new book lately so i went to barnes & noble in reading with my mom. i ended up spending way too much money, but got two new books, a devotional, and a new journal (hopefully to motivate me to write more and fill up my old one so i can start using the new one). it was nice to get out and to spend some time with my mom. being home isn't as bad as i thought it would be so far.

all through the night...

I’m home for the summer, which means that I get bored pretty easily.  Pine Grove isn’t the most happening place on planet Earth. Heck, Schuylkill County isn’t that happening.  The closest Starbucks is roughly 40 minutes away. Yep. Anyways, it’s a Saturday night, my friends are working, and I have nothing to do.  So, I decide to drive the 40 minutes to Reading to go to Starbucks and Barnes and Noble.  I’ve been thinking about buying a devotional for some time now and I figure since it’s the summer and I’ll have more free time, why the heck not?

Jess, one of my friends from project is always blogging from the devotional “Streams in the Desert.”  She was also reading through it on project so I decided to give it a try. I like that the day to day devotions aren’t overwhelmingly long, but they’re deep.  They make you think and give you a Bible passage to mull over.  They’re also dated day to day, month to month.  My OCD likes this aspect.

Anyways, today’s is based on an excerpt from Exodus 14:21:

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.”

The devotional goes on to talk about how quite often; God is working the most through the darkest times in our lives.  It says, “God works through the night until the morning light dawns.  You may not see it yet, but through the night of your life, as you trust Him, He works.”

This really struck me because I was looking through my journal at past entries and came to one from February.  I felt so defeated that month. It was like tidal wave after tidal wave kept hitting me.  I honestly felt lost and deserted and quite frankly I was losing faith pretty quickly. 

Through all of that though, the Lord was working. Through that darkness He provided light.  It wasn’t the exact light that I had been looking for, but still, it came and it saved. It was hard, but because I trusted him, he revealed a path to me that was beyond what I could have imagined.  He provided for me in ways that only he could.  He broke through the storm clouds and proved to me that he is worth hanging on for.  He had never deserted me like I had thought.  He was merely working on another route than what I had planned for myself.

Everyone has dark times and storms. It’s a part of life. It’s what you do during those times that matters.  It’s hard to not cave to yourself and your despair. One thing that kept me going was reminding myself that through all of this, the Lord was creating a plan that must be amazing beyond my comprehension or imagination.  He will provide light. He’ll work all through the night.  As cliché as I’m about to sound, the night may be long, but the morning will come.

p365: june 3

june 3: first day of my summer job. i'm working at jersey acres picking berries, working in the store, and doing other miscellaneous tasks. my back and legs are killing me from squatting and standing picking the berries, but it was a lot of fun. i'm just going to have a massive farmer's tan.

took zak out for rita's after work. that is one thing that i've missed about the north. some good italian ice. yum.

p365: june 2

june 2: first full day home. slept in a little then spent the day unpacking, rearranging, purging, and cleaning. i'm not even close to being finished. i have so much to do in order to get my room organized. i have piles of stuff everywhere!

p365: june 1

june 1: day of hitting the road! packed up my car with the last of my stuff and made it home. my wonderful dad had already unloaded everything from the van. however when he and my brother went to take the van back his car battery died so i drove to reading to pick them up and help him fix his car. it was a long day, but it's good to be home. even olive is adjusting to being here.

p365: may 31

may 31: last full day in nc. packed and ran errands all day. followed by lots and lots of cleaning. my dad came down with a moving van and helped me move out. saw bruce and becky and catie hammond and amy and said good bye. spent the last night in my apartment on the floor with olive.

p365: may 30

may 30: my room is mostly packed and ready to go. hung out with balls and went to r.e.i. and helped her get some stuff for the world race! came back and finished packing up my house. i hate packing. however, i got to go to dinner with eliza and see her before i left. it was great.

p365: may 29

may 29: went to discovery bible church for the last time to see ben and say goodbye. after lunch i came back and did some major packing. i feel like it's never ending. when i get back home i'm unpacking everything and doing a major purge of my life. i'm a pack rat and really need to get over it.

met up with balls and mary. mary's engaged! we were talking/looking at a bunch of wedding stuff. it's a lot of fun! we grabbed some dinner and hung out some more. balls just got back from her world race training. i'm so excited for her.  she's going to grow so much over this next year.

this is olive who just lazed about and watched me pack. i like this picture a lot. i think it's neat and i like the expression on her face, even if it's a little blurry.

p365: may 28

may 28: did some more packing and worked on my surprise for bruce and becky. i spray painted two huge b's that i got from the scrap exchange. they were broken from old bb&t bank signs. it was a lot of fun. i really liked working with spray paint.  i think i may do it more often.

went over to b&b's to hang out for the night. becky and i exchanged art. she made me this canvas for my new house. i LOVE it. i know so much time and love went into it. i can't wait to hang it up at my new place.

p365: may 27

may 27: last day at work. had a farewell lunch at southern roots. my co-workers gave me a card and a target gift card. one of my co-workers gave me a ball state travel mug. it made me really happy.

it was kind of surreal. as i drove away from campus my head knew that i wouldn't be back for awhile, but i don't think it's hit my heart yet. hpu has been my home for the past five years. i can't believe that i'm actually leaving.

soapbox

WAR SCHOOL from Ben Newman on Vimeo.


allow me please, to step on my little soapbox.

after watching this video what was your reaction? shock? horror? despair? the better question is, did you know that this is happening? every day? outside of our little comfy american bubble, children are being forced to do unimaginable things. things that we think only happen in movies or in books. here in america we are outraged that our gas prices are rising, that our iphone is broken, that our shoes don't match our outfit when around the world children, innocent children, and being forced and trained to do things that would rip anyone's soul to shreds.

this video forces you to open your eyes, to broaden your mind, and to think about more than yourself.  i came across it on tumblr. aside from being disturbed by what i was watching, i was even more disturbed by what i read.

lightburninonthedancefloor:

saracanfixit:

turboswag-:

kyyyyyyyylee:

-wewereinfinite:

starryash:

giantasspandas:

cigarettes-and-whiskey:

puremutiny:

This actually made me cry, please watch.

Chills. Brutal truth is just too much sometimes. But damn you all should watch this.

k when the little girl was forced to do that.. homan, teaaaaars :’/ This shouldnt be happening

The human society is disgusting. Ugh.

please, everyone that follows me, take the time to watch this. you really should.

This is so sad and upsetting

THIS IS INHUMAN. The world is fucking sick.

I can’t believe this is happening… and I didn’t realize it was until I watched this video. Some people are absolutely disgusting.

I had no idea this was happening until Tumblr pointed it out to me. Like, the world isn’t just about Glee and Apple products? Wha?

holy shit this video is incredible

wow.

OH MY GOD. THERE ARE NO WORDS.

Fuck. I cannot-

really opened my eyes

I have no words.

well this was amazingly shot, but i can’t even… no words. this just broke my heart. 

——

That was really powerful for 8 minutes. oh, god. 

At first I was like, “what the actual fuck?” And then I was like “No way this shit is actually happening man.” But then I cried a little bit when the end came up and said the facts about the ‘training camps’. This is fucking disgusting. ):

the fuck is this. i am shocked.

this is so sad. I cried. I cannot believe this actually happens in real life. This world is disgusting. What a shame it is.

oh my dear. this is insanity.

Please watch this. This shouldn’t be happening. This world disgusts me. 

just watch it.

Please watch and reblog. If you can reblog pretty photos and quotes then you can take 2 seconds and reblog this.

 omg. i can’t even.

As amazingly well shot as this is, and as much as this is a cause I really, really care about, it seriously almost makes me as mad how many comments are all “oh man I can’t believe this actually happens.” The fact that we live in a society that can so easily ignore/almost hide that this is a huge problem world wide is equally heartbreaking.

http://www2.invisiblechildren.com/ <— don’t just reblog. Do more. 

how can some people not know what is happening? do you not read the newspaper? do you not turn on the tv? heck, do you not watch movies? blood diamond? black hawk down? tears of the sun?

aside from all of this another question popped into my head. this video depicts white children soldiers.  how would these bloggers react if the children soldiers were black like so many in the world are? maybe it's the devil's advocate in me, but i wonder if they would react as strongly if the children in the video were black.  would people be as appalled and disturbed? this is something that is a reality for so many countries in africa. does the rwandan or darfur crisis ring a bell? the civil wars in the congo? children in these countries fear for their lives on their miles upon miles commute to school everyday. they worry about being kidnapped and brainwashed and forced to murder their families and friends.

it's proven that when the crisis in darfur and rwanda broke out america tuned out. i spent a whole semester researching it. american's couldn't relate. they didn't understand or know where the countries were so they didn't care. africa is one of those continents that has countries that are out of sight, out of mind.  i just wonder how americans would react if this were to happen in predominately white areas like canada or western europe? would they be more outraged because appearance wise, it hits closer to home?

i don't mean to sound preachy or accuse anyone of not caring. i just wonder what the world would be like if we were all more aware and more informed of our surroundings.

p365: may 26

may 26: had a good-bye lunch with lauren. :( exit interview at work and then going away party with some of my co-workers. my new glasses came in today!!!

p365: may 25

may 25: back to work for my last week...or i guess 3 days. super pack mode has been initiated. ugh. i hate it. i wish i could teleport everything from here to pa and then from pa to in.

p365: may 24

may 24: last day in indy. leanne came to town the night before. we explored alicia's greenhouse, went to charming charlie, and then lunch in downtown carmel. david was trying to tell leanne how the statues came to be.

leanne: "this isn't narnia david!"

p365: may 23

may 23: spent another day in the city then hit the road to head back to indy. on the way back we saw this beautiful sunset. it was crazy, but i'm so glad we stopped to see it.

p365: may 22

may 22: wedding day!!! got to see my beautiful friend emily get married. it was so wonderful. i had so much fun at the wedding and i had a blast catching up with friends.

p365: may 21

may 21: had breakfast with molly and then drove to chicago. we checked into the hotel and made it into the city. got to have dinner at an awesome irish pub/restaurant called the emerald loop, then walked around downtown for a little. i know i say it a lot, but i am head over heels in love with this city.

p365: may 20

may 20: friday! worked then drove to charlotte to fly up to indy. it was nice because i got to see matti! she also got to meet buddy bear.

p365: may 19

may 19: it's buddy bear's last day in the south. he said he's going to miss it, but is kind of ready to get home to the mid-west. he's all packed and anxious for the travel. he's excited to fly though, especially at night. buddy bear is quite the traveler.

p365: may 18

may 18: uneventful day at work. sam was in town for the night. she's riding with bruce and becky to charleston, sc for jenna's wedding. i went over to hang out with her and b&b.

buddy bear was excited to meet another one of my friends. he bowed to greet her in typical east asian style. he's such a gentleman.

p365: may 17

may 17:  hung out with bruce and becky tonight. got some chinese food then ran some errands around greensboro. good times. i'm going to be sad to leave them in a couple of weeks.

buddy bear knew i was going to get chinese and asked me to pick him up a pair of chopsticks. he felt like it helped to complete his ensemble.

p365: may 16

may 16: monday monday. another work day. actually, it's my last full work week at hpu. next week i'm missing a few days for emily's wedding.

buddy bear was wanting to get in touch with his roots so he donned the appearance of his far east brothers the panda bear. the look suits him if you ask me.

p365: may 15

may 15: church and lunch with friends. more packing, organizing, and generally attempting to get life in order.

on top of packing up my room i also started packing for indy/chicago this weekend. buddy bear is anxious to get back and hopped into my suitcase. no worries. he'll be travelling via backpack, not suitcase. don't want the little guy to suffocate or anything.

p365: may 14

may 14: wedding season commences! ran some errands during the day then got ready and headed to randleman, nc to attend paul and aimee's wedding!

it was a fun time and i got to see some friends that i haven't seen in awhile. this is ben being a wonderful groomsman. paul and aimee were trying to leave and he was blocking they're way. what a jerk.

p365: may 13

may 13: dun dun dun. friday the 13. nothing too exciting at work. hung out with jen and demmi all night, which was fun.

came home and started to pack some. buddy bear wanted in on the action and was hanging out in one of my plastic tubs.

p365: may 12

may 12: olive was feeling left out because buddy bear cuddled with daisy the night before. she wanted to feel loved too so they had some quality bonding time.

p365: may 11

may 11: another typical day at work.

went to bruce and becky's for the night for dinner and the watch modern family.  buddy bear was tired of being left behind so he tagged along. he and daisy became pretty good friends, especially since she didn't try to eat him. :)

p365: may 10

may 10: uneventful tuesday.

new episode of the voice. buddy bear got caught up in the moment and wanted to be a star too. typical bathroom singing into the hairbrush.

p365: may 9

may 9: slow monday at work.

buddy bear is anxious to go to chicago.  he was counting down the days, only 12 more!

p365: may 8

may 8: day of recuperation.

buddy bear was feeling the hpu spirit and wanted to join in.

p365: may 7

may 7: graduation day!!! another crazy day. had to be at the ceremony at 7 am and wasn't done until 3:30 pm. then went to winston to catie hammond's graduation party and got to meet her family and family friends. after that went out with catie, balls, mcgee, and erica. it was so weird. it doesn't feel like it's been a year since i graduated. it was also sad to say goodbye to people.

this is me and my two littles. i'm so proud of them!

(buddy bear had the day off. he just relaxed at home.)

p365: may 6

such a crazy day. worked commencement luncheon and baccalaureate.  kelly stayed with me so she could go to graduation. we watched the gran torino.

the movie has intense at some points, so kelly made sure that buddy bear had his eyes covered. we didn't want to traumatize him.

p365: may 5

may 5: craziness at work. getting ready for graduation weekend.

buddy bear wanted to play hide and seek with olive. he was staking out in her play cubes. she didn't take the bait.

p365: may 4

may 4: had an eye appointment at 1:15 and was planning on going back to work afterwards, but the appointment lasted until 4 and the dilated my eyes, so i was basically blind and useless. made it home and passed out because my eyes and head were throbbing.

buddy bear decided he was going to relax tonight with a southern treat of cheese grits and washed it down with some mint tea. i think he's really enjoying his time in the south!

p365: may 3

may 3: busy busy day of work. that's what happens during the week of graduation.

i got to talk to francesca! i haven't spoken to her in awhile. it was good to catch up. she's going to india for the summer and i'm so excited for her. i hope i get to see her at emily's wedding.

buddy bear wanted in on the action. hopefully he'll get to meet her in a few weeks!

p365: may 2

may 2: monday's are always kind of dull.

buddy bear is getting acquainted with olive. olive usually doesn't like stuffed animals and sometimes attacks them, but she seems to like buddy bear. they even shared a moment on the windowsill. bff's in the making? it's a possibility. i'll keep you posted.

p365: may 1

may 1: may day!!!

buddy bear had a very active and action packed weekend.  he decided to unwind at night by relaxing with a good book. he appears to be a fan of dan brown.

p365: april 30

april 30: buddy bear got to make another new friend!

eliza came down to go to the steak house on campus with me. she was excited to meet buddy bear. buddy bear even got to see the steak house and have some delicious lemon cello cake and orange blossom tea (we had to sneak him in).

buddy bear had quite the exciting weekend!

p365: april 29

april 29: buddy bear got to go on an adventure to charlotte. i met kb and brandon there for dinner...well i met kb there for dinner. brandon let us have some girl time.

we went to the cheesecake factory for dinner and saw usher! he was eating three booths away from us. it was crazy.

anyways, buddy bear was lucky to meet a lot of new friends this weekend.

p365: april 28

april 28: well, unfortunately buddy bear had to experience more crazy weather last night and another tornado watch and warning, but thankfully, he survived.

he relaxed by watching "the voice" on hulu and making some new friends. buddy bear is quite the social butterfly.

p365: april 27

april 27: i would also like to add that we only constantly prank david because we love him. so david, if you're reading this right now, instead of being upset, just embrace the love. :)

buddy bear had a long day. he survived his first north carolina tornado watch and warning. he decided to relax with a cup of mango mambo tea (which was shipped with him from his awesome aunt alicia) and some honey from his fellow honey bear. buddy bear is excited to see what tomorrow brings!

p365: april 26

april 26: drove back to nc. phonathon appreciation at feeney's. thai dinner with balls.

okay, i would just like to preface this by saying that i am not a bad person, i just love a good prank...and so does my friend alicia. so, one of our friends has this kind of "security" bear. his name is buddy bear and he's been around since before david was born. at one time or another alicia and i joked around that we were going to steal buddy bear. david freaked out, so of course we had to do it.

alicia and another cohort managed to swipe buddy bear out from under david's nose and alicia mailed him to me. did i mention that they're both from indiana? well i received buddy bear in the mail yesterday. from now on project 365 is going to revolve around buddy bear and his adventures down south. don't fret. he will be returned to his rightful owner come may when i visit for a weekend and a wedding. until then buddy bear is in for some crazy times!

p365: april 25

april 25: spent the day packing and hanging out with my family since i was leaving the next day. took my brother out to practice parallel parking and was actually impressed with how good of a driver he is. i was proud of him.

when you pull into our driveway there is a whole bunch of daffodils. the white ones have always been my favorite. sorry it's a little blurry, it was super windy!

p365: april 24

failed and didn't take a picture. sorry.

p365: april 23

april 23: my family did our easter dinner on saturday because my dad and brother worked on sunday and my mom and i went to visit my grandfather.

this is our easter dessert. it's a cake from junior's in ny. despite how it looks, it actually wasn't that good. i would much rather go to nyc and go to junior's in person and get some fresh cheesecake.

p365: april 22

april 22: got my hair chopped off...quite literally since it was about 5-6 inches. my mom also gave me my easter present early. i love disney movies!

hung out with some of my friends from home and went to see water for elephants. it was pretty good. i didn't have high expectations because i really liked the book and movies are never as good as the book. it was a well made movie, it just left a lot out.

p365: april 21

april 21: flash mob day at hpu...or at least what was an attempt at a flash mob. the dances were pretty good, it just wasn't executed very well.

after work hit the road to go home for easter. the seven hour drive is five hundred times worse at night. awful. just awful.

p365: april 20

april 20: met up with jessie and ktk for dinner at barbaritos then headed into the school for the petal points spring concert.

i always enjoy their concerts. they're such a talented group of girls and they always pick great songs.

this is of my fiercely wonderful friend caitlin rocking (another) solo.

p365: april 19

april 19: i fail at life and am a week behind...again.

went to mi pueblo for catie hammond's birthday. it was nice to hang out with everyone. i miss seeing them on a daily basis.

this is the birthday girl finishing a mango margarita like a champ.

p365: april 18

april 18: tough being back at work after a great weekend. got some packing done. working in an office has a few upsides. easy access to empty paper ream boxes being one of them.

dinner with bruce and becky. stopped at ed mckay's. i'm still working on rebuilding my music library after my last laptop go stolen. purchases of the evening: jon mclaughlin's indiana and jimmy eat world's bleed american.