Dear Readers,

I have been a horrible blogger for about six months, so horrible in fact that you've probably all given up on me and will see this post only months after it was written. Nevertheless, I would like to tell you that I have moved to http://baileyhitch.wordpress.com, where I would love for you to join me!

Family

This has been a hard three weeks. On August 4th, my grandpa passed away, which, although expected, was still extremely difficult. He had such a presence in our family, it's hard to imagine us without him. Despite this though, these past weeks have been such a rich family time. It's been so good to be with my parents, grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins as we miss him together. It makes it more real, but more bearable as well.

Hiatus

I haven' t posted for a very long time. I wish I had a wonderful excuse like this, but I really can't think of one that would warrant my absence for almost two months. So the truth? I just didn't feel like blogging. Now that I am back, I am having trouble deciding what to write about. Graduating from college? Turning 21? Two sun-drenched weeks of swim lessons? Or how about the wonderful, slow paced summer I am having in SLO? I think I will settle on the latter. Although it was difficult to leave Oakdale, and family, and Sarah, for the majority of the summer, I think it was a good decision. My life in SLO keeps me active, where at home I am too prone to while away the hours reading and watching Grey's reruns. My days have been full of babysitting, chatting with friends, frozen yogurt, reading, games, puzzles, and a smattering of Gilmore Girls, all of which are contributing to a different, but wonderful, summer so far.

Peanut Butter Shake Day

Once a year, something special happens. It is called a Peanut Butter Blast with banana. Sounds pretty exciting, right? It's this smoothie that they make on campus that Caitlin and I discovered Freshman year thanks to a fellow peanut butter-lover. This "smoothie" is more like a shake; a perfect, peanut buttery, banana shake. Yumm. Unfortunately, it is one of those things that, after you eat, you dearly regret eating it. So we have a rule: only get one a year. This way when I get it, I don't feel too terribly guilty. As you have probably guessed by now, today was peanut butter shake day. To celebrate the last time we have to speak Spanish in a classroom setting (and let's be honest, probably the last time either one of us will speak more than two sentences in Spanish ever) Caitlin and I went to get the shakes. They were delicious. I still haven't fully recovered.

Yet another story

One of the biggest gifts my parents gave me was the ability to laugh at myself. Without that ability how would I share all of my stories with you? I'm convinced it would be impossible. This morning I was presented with an opportunity to practice this important skill. I was up at 5:00 am in order to make scones for the leadership meeting. I had made the batter and shaped the scones the night before, so all I had to do was pop them in the oven. Easy right? I thought so too. When I opened up the oven door I noticed that it was a tad smokey, but the majority of the scones looked alright. About two minutes later though, I was snapped out of my sleepiness by the sound of the fire alarm. I would like to take a moment to remember that, a) My scones were not that burnt, they definitely did not deserve the fire alarm and b) I live with fifteen other people, so when the fire alarm goes off at 5 am I am potentially waking up a small army. I was so embarrassed! Once I realized that I was the one that set off the alarm I ran around for a few seconds alternately waving a towel in the air (hopefully near the alarm) and searching for the whole-house fan. Luckily Emma woke up after a few horrible minutes and showed me where the fan was, and the alarm went off almost immediately. Half an hour later at my meeting, as everyone was sitting around happily munching on scones, I tried to convince myself that the whole ordeal was worth it. I'm not quite sure it was...

Return

I abandoned you. I apologize. It's just that I haven't felt like I have anything interesting or funny to say for awhile. I still feel like that, but I am going to try to muscle through, for all my faithful readers...or for my few faithful readers, I should say. I could talk about goodbyes, which I am getting a small taste of right now, or my mom coming, which I'm so excited for (!!!), but instead I think I'll talk about books, or one book to be exact. I've started reading The Help, and even though I'm still less than 100 pages in, I want to recommend this book to you. It has that wonderful good book feeling of To Kill a Mockingbird and Where the Red Fern Grows. I can attest to this because, in the midst of my senior project rough draft, midterms, and 15 roommates, I am still trying to eek out enough time to read a chapter or two a week. Should I have held off until summer? Most definitely. But now I consider it too late, so instead of regretting beginning this book I will recommend it to all of you.

P.S.

Do you like the new background or should I keep looking?

A Babysitting Adventure

In preparation for Mother's Day, I would like to share my babysitting experience from last night. I'm going to be watching two boys this summer and last night I watched them for the first time as a sort of test-run/acclamation period. It was a whirlwind of cut up hot dogs and diapers and super heroes. My favorite part of the night was when the 6 year old, Matty, began running around the house pretending to be a gorilla (this was after bath time, which meant he was still completely naked). Let's just say it's going to be an action-packed summer. The other little boy, David, was having a hard time sleeping because he's so congested. As I rubbed his back, changed his diaper, and gave him his breathing treatment, it occured to me that "mother" is a full time job and that Matty's long list of super heroes should definitely include his mom. When I returned home, covered in a variety of bodily liquids, smelling like diaper, and sporting a sore scalp from well-meant hair pulling, I was convinced that I was not meant to have children until I am well into my thirties.

Snapshots

I feel like the last few weeks have been a blur. I feel like each day blends into the next with few distinguishing marks. I'm trying to break this pattern by being productive and actually being with the people I'm with. Despite the haze of the last week, here are a few things that have stood out:
1. SNUB. This stands for Sunday Night Uhh...Bonding (so wittily named by yours truly) and is a time each week that Stephanie, Caitlin, Laura, Amy, and I have set apart to be with one another.
2. Beginning my work on Senior Project again. Although it's been hard to get re-motivated, it feels so good to be productive!
3. Andrew eating 9 cinnamon rolls in one sitting. Living with 8 boys is eye-opening.
4. Monday night bible study. Talking about God and snacking on brownie bites is a wonderful combination.
5. Making plans to walk with Anna. Although this morning's rain thwarted our walk today, we have big plans.

I miss being wet.

Today I miss being wet. I blame this on the rain, which always reminds me of Ireland. It's making me think of the day Colleen talked me into walking across town to check out a B&B and then getting caught in a colossal rainstorm. It was so bad that my umbrella was getting turned inside out and we had to find refuge in a cafe before we could complete the trip. Luckily this cafe had excellent berry crumble that kept us happily distracted. It reminds me of long afternoons spent trapped in the apartment, kept hostage by the solid wall of water streaming down our windows. I credit these long afternoons with giving me a true appreciation of Scrubs and Gilmore Girls. It's making me think of all the things from daily life in Ireland that I never thought I'd miss, like wet jeans and dripping umbrellas and ruined hair; sopping flats, permanently damp tennis shoes, and socks dried to a crisp on the heater. And these not so good things make me miss the great things, like flatmates and red hair and hot tea and fast, gray rivers.

Beach day

On Thursday, for the first time in way too long, I went to the beach. Just the thought that I was there in the middle of the week made it wonderful. That and the hot sand and the sun and my diet cherry 7-up. As I said, it was wonderful. I brought some senior project reading to make myself feel productive, but I spent a good chunk of the time just people watching. A few of my favorite finds were a chubby baby wearing a swimsuit stretched tight over her diaper, a semi-gothic teenager wearing her black cut-offs and holding a black and white beach blanket, and a college student napping with his Economics textbook over his face. Even though I was only there for an hour, it completely changed the tone of my day. Well, it did until I had to drag myself to Spanish. I'm making a resolution to go to the beach more often. Something tells me this will be one of the easier resolutions I have ever made.

Happy Easter!

Due to the fact that Easter fell a measly one week after Cal Poly's spring break, yesterday's holiday was the first Easter spent away from mi familia (please notice the smattering of Spanish). It was a little sad knowing that my family was getting together without me. Luckily, there were still nine of us in the house so we decided to have a little Easter celebration of our own. We started with an epic egg hunt put on by April and Anna. I think that my favorite hiding place had to be the one in the fish tank. Poor Wesley (the fish) must have been a little overwhelmed. After the hunt we had dinner together. Caitlin, Anna, April, and I made a ham, potatoes, green beans, deviled eggs, and the ever-popular Pillsbury biscuits. Even though we weren't at home, it felt like we were with family, which was really special. It's been such a gift to live with these people and develop relationships with all of them. Now, even though Easter is officially over, we are still celebrating it by eating our way through a pile of chocolate, cake, and jelly beans left over from the celebration. This would be a good time for my will power to kick in.

Challenges

Over Spring break I went in to observe some teachers at my old high school (insert OHS Mustang chant). What started as an assignment needed to tie up the quarter ended as a challenge. The last class I observed was taught by a young teacher who has only been teaching for 4 years. Watching her I felt encouraged that this was something that I could do. Moreover, I saw it as something I could love. As I thought over this during the next few days, I began to feel like God was challenging me with this. It's like he was showing me that teaching, although not the adventure that jet-setting around the world might be, may be what he wants for me right out of college. As much as this scares me (it means I have to grow up! gasp!) it's also exciting to think that I just might have found the thing God wants me to do.

My new pet peeve

One thing I've learned through observation this week: There is nothing quite as annoying as an electric pencil sharpener. Something about it drives me insane, especially because it seems like the need to sharpen a pencil is addictive. Once one student starts, every other person in the classroom realizes that their pencil could use with a good sharpening as well. Would it be completely crazy to hand out personal pencil sharpeners on the first day of class? Something tells me yes...

Smile

When Caitlin is surpassing me in blog posts, I know it's been too long since I've written. So here I am! I am a little written-out, considering that is all I have been doing for school, so I am going to give in to my tendency to write lists. I apologize if you don't love lists as much as I do, but I really can't resist the temptation. So...
Things that are making me smile:
My visit home last week. It was so good to see my parents and my grandparents!
Having Kate and Amy over for dinner.
Seeing Miss Rich, even if it was only for four hours.
My quiet times today and yesterday. I forget what a difference it makes when I stop and listen for awhile.
Passing Espanol. Here I come Span 121!
Plans for a study date with Laura and Stephanie.
My senior project, which is beginning to move past the ugly duckling stage and into a coherent paper.
The purple scrunchie I am wearing. Remind me, why did we stop wearing these?
So, even though it is dead week, I am doing pretty well. How can I not when I have this beautiful list going for me?

The problem with procrastination...

Is that it doesn't last forever. This weekend I spent two entire days doing work that I should have been doing the last five weeks. Because the internet was out at home, this meant that I spent a good amount of time in libraries and coffee shops, looking for any free internet I could find. Despite my miserable amount of homework, the weekend had some high points. Two of these happened at Sally Loo's, an adorable coffee shop in SLO that has become my new favorite. On Friday I got tea and scones with my lovely roommate Keri, and on Saturday I returned with April, John, and Caitlin to get some studying done. Although the studying wasn't fun, the company (and the bagel) was excellent.

Party Time!

Yesterday we had our house party. Although I had major doubts on our ability to pull it together we actually did it. Our theme was decades, so everyone was expected to dress up as a different decade (I chose fifties...so sad I couldn't find a poodle skirt). As early as last Monday the girls started to prepare. What would we wear? What year should we go for? What makeup should we use? So many decisions! On the other hand, the guys were (on the most part) completely unenthusiastic. Or so we thought. As us girls emerged from our rooms dressed in colorful clothes that were all years out of date, we were surprised to see that they guys had gone just as far out. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I think Kevin's Great Gatsby get up was pretty far up there. The night turned out to be a success. Some highlights were watching my housemates go crazy over karaoke, winning "juice pong" with Anna (don't worry, the most we got was a sugar high), and getting to play dress up again. It's one of those things I don't think I will ever grow out of.

Big news

I have big news for you all. Groundbreaking news for some of you. Sherbet is pronounced SHER-BET, not SHER-BERT. There's no r! Am I the only one who finds this absolutely shocking? My housemates were talking about sherbet the other day and I (rather condescendingly, I hate to add) laughed and told them they were pronouncing it wrong. Little did I know that for 20 years I had been saying the wrong thing. Now I am left with a dilemma. Do I say sherbert or sherbet? On the one hand, I will sound ridiculous saying sherbert, but I feel untrue to myself saying sherbet. Are you as shocked as I am, or am I the only one who imagined the r?

Nuns and Huns

Here's another observation story I think you'll enjoy:
Teacher - "Who were the most frightening invaders?"
Student - The nuns?
I had a hard time keeping a straight face, but to be fair nuns and huns do sound very similar. I have a feeling I'm going to miss 7th grade...high schoolers just aren't as funny.

All I really need to know I learned in 7th grade

Today I had a near-embarrassment moment (kind of like a near-death moment but a little less traumatizing). I have stopped observing at the middle school and have moved on to the high school. This morning, my first day in the AP US History class, the teacher told his students to brainstorm events and people that were memorable between 1814 and 1824. Anything come to mind? As a soon-to-be graduate of the Cal Poly History Department, I am a little ashamed to say that my mind was absolutely blank. He went on to call on each student in the class, and every one of them had an answer. It was at this point that I started to get concerned. If he was calling on everyone, would he call on me just for fun? I would have to admit I knew absolutely nothing that happened during those years. It was at this time that a student chimed in "Andrew Jackson" and I was saved. During my observation of 7th grade last week, the students were learning about Jackson and Henry Clay. So when the teacher turned to me this morning, along with 25 pairs of very intelligent eyes, I was able to say in a relieved voice, "Henry Clay." This goes to show that, although kindergarten was important, all I really need to know I learned in 7th grade. I have a feeling I'm going to have to brush up on my US history in order to observe this class!

Surprises

For several weeks now the girls in the house have been playing pranks on the guys. Although you may say that I'm biased, I think that our pranks have walked a fine line between funny and harmless. For example, when we put Andrew's stuffed wolf in a jello mold, we made sure he was sealed tight in his ziplock first. Unfortunately, the guys were not quite as sweet with their pranking. A couple minutes ago Caitlin emerged from the bathroom and announced, in a very distressed voice I should add, that the boys had put fish in our bathroom. I know! Not only are there goldfish in the toilets, but there are fish and seaweed in the bathtubs! It is disgusting, and I absolutely refuse to clean it up (take note John, I know you're reading). My consolation is that tonight is girl's night and we have plenty of time to dream up the perfect rebuttal.

Pasadena

There's nothing like good friends, good conversations, and lots of laughter to make a weekend. On Friday morning Anna, John, Caitlin, and I went down to Pasadena for Anna's birthday celebrations. Her parents went out of their way to make us feel welcome, filled us full of food, and sent us off refreshed and happy. Some of the highlights include playing hide and seek in the park, meeting Anna's family and church friends, exploring Pasadena, getting a picture in front of the Father of the Bride house, meeting up with John's sister, and going to the most perfect breakfast spot imaginable (Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Waffles with Creme Fraiche and Blackberries on top = great morning). Even the 3 hour drive was enjoyable, thanks to Anna's "tell me about a time when..." game. Now that we're back I'm determined to stay positive, look past the Spanish test and annotated bibliography looming in the close future, and focus instead on details like breakfast for dinner, girls' night, and left over valentine candy.

Breathe

I feel like I've been running all day. This morning I rushed to observe at the Middle School, rused home to change, rushed to school to take a midterm. I went from the midterm to Spanish, where it feels futile to even try to keep up. From there I sped to my haircut, then to the high school, and finally home. And then I took time to breathe. Although my schedule says that I should be using this time to work on my senior project, I decided that a quiet time was much more needed. And it was. Because now I can see my day in a different light. I'm able to remember the 45 minutes I spent in the 7th grade classroom learning to fold origami, that my midterm went much better than I had anticipated (thank you Lord!), and that I had a good conversation with my hairdresser. To tie this off, I'd like to share a song with you. I heard it at church on Sunday, and listened to it again during my quiet time. It's been such a blessing this week. Here it is...

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He love us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How he loves us all.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
Any my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about the way...

Community

For someone who is so often quiet, I really love relationships. It was during junior high sleepovers that I learned to love late night whispers and belly laughs and realized that something special happens in a room full of faded sleeping bags and Disney princess pillows. Even better than the girlish companionship of a sleepover are the intentional relationships I am learning to make in college. It is here that I'm learning that investing in people takes effort but is well worth the work. After all, I've been rewarded with some pretty amazing friends. Moving into the Wesley house I feel as if God has challenged me and blessed me with more opportunities for community than I've ever had. After all, I'm living with sixteen people, eight of whom are boys (I know, shocking!). I love honest conversations at our weekly girl time, studying in silence with John and Anna, chats on the roof during sunset, and the ongoing fellowship that happens when you live with someone...multiplied by 16. These relationships coupled with Stephanie and Laura (oh, and Caitlin) are ways in which God is blessing me right now.

I like...

Chatting in between rows of books at Barnes and Noble,
getting new, rubbery rainboots in the mail,
studying with friends,
sugar cookies at bible study,
sisters who understand me,
bread runs to Albertson's,
cozy new mattresses that greatly increase my napping rate,
sunsets on the roof.
So although this quarter has been challenging, it has been so so good.

He is enough.

In Him, I am enough.
I am smart enough,
pretty enough,
interesting enough,
funny enough,
lovable enough,
kind enough,
righteous enough,
captivating enough.
When I believe that I am not enough, I am believing a lie. And so are you. Because in Christ we are beautiful, captivating, righteous. I am praying that this week I can see myself through Christ, the way God sees me.

Update

I feel like I have been neglecting my blogging lately, so for those of you who don't live with me (Caitlin) or see me every day (Steph and Laura) here's what I've been up to.
- Senior project! I haven't decided if that exclamation mark is there because of excitement or resentment...or maybe both, but it has definitely started. I decided to do it on the motivations behind several of the accusers in the Salem witch-hunt. Right now I have a stack of books on my desk as an ever-present reminder of what I should be doing.
- Espanol. I'm surviving, which is about as much as I can say for that class.
- Housemate love. I am loving getting to know my housemates and spending time with them. Last weekend twelve of us went down to Ventura for a housemate's photography show and it was so fun!
- Observing. I've been going into two middle school classrooms for the last few weeks to observe for an education class I'm taking. This has been fun and is helping me decide between high school and junior high.
- Baking. This is a very recent activity (meaning this morning). It's my housemate Keri's birthday today, so Caitlin and I spent all morning baking her a "triple chocolate cake with white chocolate mousse filling." Not only does it have quite the title, it took forever! Thankfully it is done and is waiting for her in all its chocolatey glory. Yumm!
And...Mom is here this weekend!!

Scary Movies

I am definitely not one for scary movies. After I watched The Ring I was scared to pick up the phone for a week, and I still haven't forgiven my dad for forcing me to watch Jeepers Creepers. But once in awhile there is something so fun about getting really scared. Last night I caved and watched a "not too scary" movie with some of my housemates. Let's just say I definitely needed someone to curl up with, preferably Laura, since she's so good at that kind of thing. As the only girl watching, I was jumping, gasping, and screaming all by myself as the guys dozed, snickered, and talked about how outdated it was. Apparently it wasn't quite outdated enough for my taste. Anyway, I made it through the night nightmare free and can now add one more scary movie to my list.

The One who sees me

Out of the many things I love about the Wesley house, one of my favorites has to be living with Anna. Not only is she fun and kind and wise, but she has a knack for pointing me in the right direction. Earlier this week she mentioned Genesis 16, and the story of Hagar. She had been mistreated and used and I can't imagine the desolation that she felt. But the Lord stopped her, telling her instead to turn around and return to her jealous mistress. Now I'll turn to the text since I feel like I'm failing miserably at this summary...
"The angel of the Lord said to her:
'You are now pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery...' She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: 'You are the God who sees me,' for she said, ' I have now seen the One who sees me.'"
Just as the Lord saw the misery of Hagar, a misused servant who lived thousands of years ago, so he sees us. He sees all of me, my good moments and my ugly ones, and he loves me still. I think that's amazing. He sees me when I'm lonely and I feel like no one really sees me. That means I'm never alone. So I wanted to share this with you and encourage you that just as the Lord saw Hagar and just as he sees me, he sees you as well.

Rainy Days

I love rainy days, when the weather gives you an excuse to wear a sweatshirt all day, watch Friends reruns, and burrow in. I had so many plans for this weekend, like homework (for once) and a day trip to Cambria. It seems like the rain washed all of those plans away and brought long, cozy hours in the Wesley house, full of good conversations, games, and movies. It was the perfect long weekend, even if it was a little unproductive. But today it's back to reality, where rain means getting soaked on my walk to class, squeaky shoes and wet jeans. Wish me luck!

Slowing Down

This weekend has been such a nice time to slow down and take a breath. I feel like these first two weeks have been great but slightly crazy. There's so many people to catch up with, places to go, roommates to meet. So this weekend I'm trying to catch up on school work and spend quality time with the people in my life. So far this has looked like going to see Leap Year with some great girls, having a roommate date with Anna, picking cuties (the fruit) from the Cal Poly orchard, and squeezing in a couple (much-needed) hours of Spanish. And the best part? I still have two more days!

Girls

For those of you (which is probably all of you) who read Caitlin's blog as well, this will probably be a little repetitive. It's not my fault we're twins! Anyway, last night was "girl time" at the Wesley house, and it was so good. We all gathered in Anna and my room in the hope that by getting away from the boys we could have some good bonding time. The funny thing was to watch how quickly it happened. When you put nine girls in a room with lots of pink and red nail polish, something special happens. It was so fun to watch this group of girls, which has been friendly but not very cohesive, start to become friends. We laughed, cried, screamed...it was great. I am so excited to get to know each of these people, invest in their lives, and let them invest in mine. I'm starting to realize that God knew what he was doing when he put me in this house.

Ready or not...

I feel like this weekend went waaay to fast. I'm not caught up yet! Nevertheless, I feel like I'm going into this week much more prepared than the last. The house is clean, the laundry folded, I actually know the people I am living with, and I won't have to carry around a schedule when I go to class. Life is good.

Beautiful

God is so beautiful! I forget that so often, but when I remember it is overwhelming. I'm reminded of it in the beautiful sunsets, night after night, that light up the sky between Madonna Mountain and Bishop's peak. I saw it last night as I shared my heart with my roommate and she shared hers with me. I hear it in the honest, loving laughter that doesn't come at someone's expense. Most of all I see it in the life of Jesus. This was a man who invested in people selflessly, who loved the people who were hard to love and spent time with those who were ostracized, not accepted. He got angry with the pretentious religious leaders but showed compassion to the tax collector. How refreshing! When I remember God's beauty I remember that I am not giving my life to a church or a cause or a pastor. I'm giving my life to the beautiful Lord who gave everything for me.

Honestly...

I want to write an honest blog. After having a great discussion with my new, wonderful roommate Anna, I feel inspired to let you all know how this whole "re-entering" process is going. Part of it has been so easy and good. I feel that the Wesley house, although a challenge, is just where God wants me. In addition, it has been so so good to see my friends again and have that community back. Another side of me is having a harder time with this transition. It's not that I miss Ireland terribly or that I want to go back. Instead, it's that I've grown unaccustomed to parts of my life here and accustomed to my "normal" in Ireland. Part of this is the Christian culture here. In Ireland, the Christian group I was a part of was very small and very imperfect. That is to say, we weren't cool or well dressed or popular. We didn't get together every week because it was expected of us. Instead, we did it because we desperately needed fellowship and encouragement. Here, it's different. That's not to say that Christians in SLO aren't genuine. I just think that we all (myself included) get caught up in our own sub-culture. We hang out with Christians, talk like Christians, dress like Christians. I miss the hodgepodge mix of believers in Galway, where following Christ meant looking different, not the same. I feel like I don't fit in this Christian culture any more, and I'm not sure if I want to. Does this make sense?

Early Mornings

Just ask my Dad and you will know that I am not an early riser. On my lazy visits home I will get up bright and refreshed...about five hours after he does. But there is something about my Wednesday morning meetings (6 am!!) that I love. After the initial painful separation between my bed and I, it gets progressively better. This morning, as my first one in so many months, was extra special. It was so good to see these friends! After lots of hugs and questions, I snuggled in on the couch, listened to some great teaching by Pastor Steve, and got to hear what the rest of the team has been up to. And the best part? I still have time to take a nap :)

Overwhelmed

To be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed by the 14 roommates to get to know, by the book I have to read by Thursday, by the slow realization that I don't get to go back to Ireland and Colleen. The things I had grown so used to, like no studying, cold weather, and my new friend, seem to have disappeared. But I am also overwhelmed by good things. SLO has never been more beautiful than it is right now and I have never loved my friends more. I'm daunted by all the people to meet, but also so excited about all the friendships I get to form with my new housemates. So yes, I may be a little overwhelmed, but some of it is in a very good way.

I'm back!

I'm back in SLO, and it is so good to be here! It started with FINALLY seeing Stephanie and Laura, which was pretty much the best reunion ever. We are still giving spontaneous hugs. Everything else is going well too. It's like the town decided to woo me back to California, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. It's warm outside, smells amazing, and the hills are still a beautiful green. The Wesley house is just what I expected as well. My roommate Anna and I have a big room to ourselves and share a bathroom with Caitlin and her roommate Lauren. Everyone I've met has been really nice and helpful and I am so excited about all of my new housemates! It will take some getting used to, but I can tell it's going to be a great two quarters. I am just hoping that my classes today continue the trend...I'll let you know!