Post Spring Sing

Where oh where to begin... This semester has been crazy busy.

My last post was about the beginnings of Spring Sing and well, now it's over. This year's show was much better than last year's, and I also had way more fun preparing this show. The director made it a fun environment while accomplishing the same goal instead of yelling at us all the time. Spring Sing really is one of my favorite times, not because I literally have no free time, but because it gives me a chance to spend more time on the relationships with my sisters that will last a lifetime.

Sure, I've been grumpy, happy, and probably in every kind of mood imaginable, but my friends still seem to love me, or they're doing a great job faking it. ;) Overall this Spring Sing show was better than last year. Every club improved their show making it even more enjoyable. Now that Spring Sing is over I have a little more free time this week then it's Spring Break!! But after Spring Break brings the never ending evenings of homework and projects I procrastinated, the multiple club events we postponed because of Spring Sing, banquet season, New York City (this one I'm actually excited about) then on to dead week and finals.

When I look at it that way, all I can see is the rest of my semester flying by. I've had a little reminiscing time tonight and realized how fast college has flown by. It seems like yesterday I was a freshman on OC's campus, and just last week I enrolled for my final fall semester. Not that long ago I was excited to move into the dorms, and now I'm in the apartments which seems like a huge milestone when you're a freshman for those of you non-OC people. (It's pretty awesome :p) I'm sure there are many other things I can come up with, but there's no need for me to shed a tear. College has been amazing so far and I know my senior year will be even better. I would just prefer time to slow down so I can enjoy it even more.

I suppose I can conclude with wedding plans. I booked our photographer (thanks Jerry and Rachel!!) We don't have a date or a venue yet. BUT since spring is coming we'll start looking soon once things slow down a bit. Along with looking for a place, we'll take some official engagement pictures. :) I've been pinning stuff like crazy on Pinterest and I can't wait to start planning things for real this summer. I've decided on my bridesmaids and quite frankly, I just can't wait to marry my best friend. :)

I feel like this post has been an emotional roller coaster, but that's exactly what I am.
Until next time, enjoy this lovely song, and many others, by the Piano Guys.

Spring What?

Needless to say, the hectic-ness of the new semester has begun. I'm now in my third week of classes, and I can already tell it's going to be a tough semester. But, with the help of my friends, we will all make it through. :)

The main part of the Spring Semester that EVERYONE talks about is Spring Sing!! Whoop! We had our first practice last night, and it was amazing. We just learned songs to begin with, but just for the first practice, we're looking pretty good. There are a couple reasons why I love Spring Sing so much, and of course there are some down sides too, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. Spring Sing brings quality time 3 times a week with my sisters of Pi Zeta Phi. It gives me the chance to get to know all the girls even more, and brings us closer. That is by far the main reason I love Spring Sing so much. Without it, I would only spend time with my sisters at meeting, games, and maybe for dinner occasionally. The other reason I love Spring Sing is because I love to sing. ;) Betcha didn't know that one! :p Spring Sing gives me a chance to sing and dance and joke around with my sisters, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

This semester has been a rough one with my relationships with friends. It's been challenging finding time to spend with my fiance', family, and friends, but I'm getting there one step at a time. These next 6 weeks are about to bring a bigger challenge, but I think I'm ready for it this time.

OHH Wedding planning! I've narrowed it down to a few locations I want to look at, and we've picked a tentative date depending on where we have it. My mom and I went dress shopping this past Monday, and I have a better idea of what I want now, and I may have found the one I want. :) Other than that, plans are still in the works, but things are starting to fall into place.

I think that is all I have for now. :)

Song of the day: Two Black Cadillacs - Carrie Underwood 
P.S. Watch the video, it's legit. :)

New Year, New Beginnings

Nothing like starting off the new year with a blog post right? Let's see, the last time I updated this thing was in October. Needless to say, a lot has happened since then. In November I turned 21, and on that same day I said yes to marry the man of my dreams. :) We are still working on setting a date, but the wedding will be in May of 2014 after I graduate. I'm so excited I can't even begin to tell you. I've been looking at places online, and since I want an outdoor wedding, I'll have to wait a few months before we can actually go visit, but more will be coming soon. I have a lot of ideas swimming around in my head, I just need to get them sorted out.

With December came stress and fun as usual. Dead week and finals were pretty rough, but I ended the semester with 5 A's and 1 B so I can't complain. Okay, I can, but I'm not going to. :) After finals came working at Chick-Fil-A for the entire break to make some extra cash, and I did just that. I also took a class over break so I could lighten my workload this semester because 18 hours last semester was lot to handle. In addition to class and working I got to see my handsome fiance a lot and I couldn't have asked for a better break. :) We got to experience the fun/complicatedness of having to go to two separate family Christmases, which turned into a total of 5 Christmases, but we got them all done. I'm so excited to marry into that family.

And now a new year has begun, as well as a new semester. This semester brings Spring Sing, Wedding planning, 15 hours of school, work, and many more things, but I'm ready for it. I'm anxious to see what God has planned for me this year, because He is stirring a lot in me right now. So if you don't mind, say a prayer for me to keep my mind and heart open to what He has to say and that I'll do what he wants me to do. I have a tendency to be stubborn and not listen, but I'm going to try and change that this year.

So here is to new beginnings. I'm excited to see what this new year brings.
Let me know if there is anything I can pray about for you.

Song of the Day: Firm Foundation

P.S. We sang this at church tonight, and for once I actually listened to the words instead of just singing them, and I challenge you to do the same. Do you really believe that he is your firm foundation?

Stress.

My dream, along with everyone else's is to have college without the classes. I mean seriously, who wouldn't want to work a few hours a week, spend time with friends all day, and not live at home? I'd take it in a heartbeat.

It seems like every time I write a blog it's after church on Wednesday nights... I guess the teacher just leaves me with something that makes me think every time. Our series is still Limitless. But last night we talked about Time Management. I'm pretty sure God was talking directly to me because I'm having issues with that right now. The first point of his lesson was, Learn to Say No.

Hello, that is my major problem. I can't say no to anyone. I want to help everyone with everything to the point that I have so much on my plate I just want to shut down. And if you can't tell, I'm at this point right now. Sure I may not be a nursing major that has clinicals or whatever, but I'm just as busy as every other person on this campus.

Sorry I definitely went off on a tangent there. Back to God. Every day I'm realizing that I need him more and more. I'm starting to manage all my stuff better because I've actually been spending time with him every day. Confession time, I've never kept up with daily Bible reading this long before. So far I've been doing it for a month. I can tell you right now, this last month has been better than ever. I may have been crazy busy, but I know that I have Jesus standing right beside me helping me through it. Pretty sad that it has taken me so long to realize that if I just let him in I'm more at peace.

I made the decision to become a Christian 7 years ago, and I think I'm closer to God now than I was when I made the decision. I know I was baptized for the right reasons, but I think I was still on the "camp high." I never had anyone study with me, so I've been trying to figure things out on my own. Needless to say, it's been a struggle for awhile, but I'm glad that God has given me the strength to power through and it's totally worth it.

Anyways, school is school like always. We're playing flag football in intramurals right now, and volleyball starts soon. We have three leagues, so I may die before the season is up. Pray for me. :)

I hope everyone has a fantastic day.

Song of the Day:
Legacy - Nicole Nordeman

School? What's that?

Well, it's been three months since I stepped off that plane and came home from Europe. Ever since then, all I've wanted to do is go back. I think I left a piece of my heart there, and I can't wait until I get the opportunity to go back.

So many things have happened since then. School, rush, interviews, intramurals, club, and a million other things. We'll start with school. I'm taking 18 hours this semester, which is pretty crazy let me tell ya. Recently Accounting majors have been applying to different firms trying to get internships for this summer. I'm in this boat as well, and I have three interviews in the next two days. Needless to say I'm nervous, and anxious. But, I got a nice little reminder this morning from my little Pi sister. It was a simple note that said: 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Simple, yet so powerful. It was just what I needed to hear this morning because I've been trying to handle everything on my own. I've balanced it alright so far, but I'm slacking in many areas. At church we've been talking about how God is Limitless. I'm limited. Very limited, so why do I try to handle everything on my own when I'm limited? God is limitless and can handle anything, no matter how big or how small. Slowly but surely I'm realizing that I need to give it to him. Yes, it may have taken 21 years for me to realize this, but better late than never. 

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now. Since school started we've also had Rush and Induction. Things were different than last year, but they were still a lot of fun. I love my new little Pi sisters, and I cannot wait to get to know all the new members this year. So far, they're pretty amazing. 

Well I have a test I need to study for and interviews to get prepared for so that's all you get for today.

Song of the Day: 

I Will Rise - Chris Tomlin

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good Night...

I apologize that my final travel blog has taken me three weeks to write. Once I came back, my life just picked up where I left off and I haven't had time to look back.

Looking back on my trip I still to this day can't believe I actually went. God truly blessed me with an amazing group of people to go with, and he blessed me with a safe and smooth sailing trip. Nothing major happened, no one was hurt or sick. It was great. Jet lag of course took its toll on me the first few days, but I started preparing for it before we left and I was not as affected as other people were, so I'm rather proud of that one. There were some early mornings, but have no fear, I'm sleeping in until 10 now just like any other summer day so all is well in my world. :)

I don't even know where to start with this trip. Before, I will be honest, I believe in God, and I did the going to church and going through the motions thing. But this trip definitely changed that for me. I was completely uprooted from my usual comfort zone and thrown into a place where I didn't know how to talk to the locals or what was socially acceptable. I repeatedly found myself leaning on God throughout this trip, because no matter where I am in the world, he's the same. It took me 20 years and leaving the country to figure that out, but hey better late than never right? ;) This trip definitely changed me for the better. I learned that in order to travel with all kinds of different people, you have t be flexible. Very flexible. I ate things that I wouldn't normally eat. I did things that I didn't want to do. But I did it all in order to make sure the trip was enjoyable for everyone, and I can say everyone on our trip was like this. We all tried to work together to be flexible.

One of the things I loved the most about the trip is getting to know the Dvorak family. Yeah I knew Jim a little before I applied for the trip just because he knows my mom (just like everyone else on campus). But after this trip, I really do feel like part of their family. God could not have blessed us with better sponsors.

I will be honest and say I want to go back. I missed my family and friends terribly, but now that I've seen them, I'm ready to go back and explore the world more. I'm not saying I want to be gone for 6 weeks at a time, but I am ready to go see other things that are out there. I miss walking out of our hotel and being surrounded my tall buildings. I miss everything being within walking distance. I miss riding trains through mountains and seeing the beautiful scenery of Europe. I mean I love flat Oklahoma and nothing can compare to the sunsets, but man, Europe is beautiful. I can even say I miss the subway system, just a little bit. :p Only because it was SO much easier to get around town.

There are still so many things that I didn't get to do in Vienna, but I'm sure glad I was able to do what I could when I was there. I'm very thankful to be home. I'm also thankful to be adding more money to my bank account rather than spending it all. ;) Until I travel again, I'll shortly return this blog to my normal blog and I hope you enjoyed reading about my travels, and I hope you keep reading to stay updated on my life.

This song seemed appropriate... ;) So Long, Farewell! - Sound of Music

Italia

I don’t even know where to begin. Italy was fantastic! We went to Rome, Florence, and Venice. Italy, unlike the other parts of Europe that I visited actually believes in air conditioning. Well, in most places.

We took a night train from Vienna to Rome Monday night, and spent Tuesday and Wednesday there. In those two days we visited the Vatican City, Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Coliseum, the Spanish Steps, and a lot of other stuff. I also got to see the Trevi Fountain and the Coliseum at night. It was beautiful. St. Peter’s is HUGE. They have stones in the middle that mark it’s size compared to other churches in the world, and they don’t even compare. The Vatican was rough because we got off the train, changed clothes, and headed out. So we were all pooped and didn’t want to do anything, but we made the most of it that we could. I will say that my favorite place in Rome was the Coliseum. We walked out of the subway, and it was right in front of us. It was beautiful. (I’ll post pictures soon I promise)

On Thursday we took a morning train to Florence. We arrived at our hotel, and like usual our hotel rooms weren’t ready so we stored our luggage, changed, and headed out. We started with the Medici Chapels, which are the people that basically founded Florence, then we had a walking tour of Florence. It lasted roughly 3 hours so needless to say we were a little tired… After the tour we checked into our rooms, rested for a little while and headed out to the market. It was so cool! I bought many souvenirs for others and myself of course and even used my haggling skills I inherited from my mother. ;) The Italy versus Germany soccer game was that night too so we stopped by one of the biggest showings of it in the city, then I headed back to the hotel to catch up on some journaling and slept. The next day we headed out to a couple of museums and had a lot of free time.

Saturday morning we were headed to Venice. This was my first sighting of the ocean since we flew over it coming to London. It was spectacular. The entire city is a group of islands, but in the part that we were in they had filled in some of the canals to make it possible for pedestrians to walk around. We again had a walking tour of the city, went to the Doge’s Palace, San Marcos church and had free time. It was a blast! Our last official thing to journal about was the Doge’s Palace, and even then it was hard to keep journaling. Out of all the cities, Venice was definitely the hottest because of the humidity. I don’t think I’ve ever sweated so much in my life. But Venice was definitely my favorite. The people were nicer, there weren’t any cars or motorcycles to run me over, and it was just cool. I mean, the gondola ride may make me biased but I had such a great time.

Each city had it’s own thing that I loved. I loved the things I saw in Rome. I loved the markets in Florence, and I loved the people in Venice. This week has been a long one, but a great one. Today I’m hanging out in Vienna, then I’m headed home tomorrow. I can’t believe this trip is already over. It’s been such a blessing. And since this blog is already so long, I write another one when I get home.

Peace.