Migraine

Lately, I've been having pretty severe headaches. I blamed it on birth control (I'm currently switching to a new one to see if it helps), stress, and lack of sleep. But I'm starting to think it may be migraines instead of headaches. I know they are hereditary and my grandma suffers from them.

And it's almost like I can sense when they are coming. I woke up this morning for Spring Sing practice and just knew today was the day. Throughout the day I experienced some warning signs (I didn't know these were warning signs until I googled migraines about 30 minutes ago).

Warning signs:

Exhaustion (I took 2 naps today, so about 5 hours of nap time!)

Craving sweets (I'm ashamed to say I ate a whole box of milk duds!)

Yawning (When I wasn't sleeping!)

One of the migraine triggers was the frequent use of stairs. I live on the third floor. There is no elevator. In fact, every single one of my classes is up two flights of stairs, including chapel- 3 flights- because I sit in the balcony. And of course none of these buildings have elevators!

Around 6 the pain began. It is always behind my forehead and throbs. I took two 'headache reliefs' and settled in to watch some TV. It took the edge off but it was still a severe ache. I couldn't get comfortable. About 4 hours later the throbbing began again, worse. I got nauseous and dizzy. I took two more 'headache reliefs', realized I needed something stronger, so I took an oxycodone. I laid under the covers shielded from any noise or light and drifted off. My roommate Ali was so sweet, asking me if I needed anything and talking softly. I got so lucky with her!

The oxycodone knocked me out for about 2 hours and now I'm awake at 3, migraine free! I think the caffeine from the headache has me up...my heart is beating pretty quick.

Anyways, does anyone else experience migraines? Is this what I'm having? I have an appointment with a neurologist, so hopefully they can tell me for sure.

By the way, I just discovered 'Fade Into You' by Mazzy Star. I'm actually kind of ashamed to admit that since it has been out since like the 90's. Oh well, I just bought it on iTunes and have it on repeat. I also rediscovered 'The Shawdowlands' by Ryan Adams in my library. Of course, anything by Ryan Adams is musical genius-ness. I urge you to invest!

Snow, Ice, & Crazy Arkansas Weather!

Afternoon

This snow day could not have come at a better time! This semester has been so busy for me, and I've managed to get behind in homework. Definitely not good! I don't know what I was thinking taking two English classes this semester, plus History, Psychology, Old Testament...I feel like all I do is read! Or go to Spring Sing practice.

So today is my relaxation day! I will not pick up a single educational book, I will stay in my pajamas all day, and just...be.

As we speak there are brownies baking in the toaster oven (I'm that talented!), and I wish I could capture the smell because it is divine!

Late afternoon

Campus is such a fun place to be right now! Guys are on the front lawn having an intense snow ball fight, people are sledding down the Benson ramp, snow angels are on the ground, and lousy attempts at snow men are going up. Beth, Haley and I threw a few snow balls, attempted said lousy snow men, and now we're back upstairs drying off!

It's so pretty outside. I hope it keeps coming down until Monday!


Anyways, we just ordered pizza and are settling in for a movie marathon. House of Wax, She's The Man, How To Lose a Guy In 10 Days, Mean Girls, & A Walk To Remember.

What have you done/are doing today?!

"To appreciate the beauty of a snow flake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.”

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord...
-Ephesians 5:19

Every Sunday night at 8:30 at Downtown Church of Christ here in Searcy, about 400 Harding students come together and make the most beautiful music. Acapella, of course. You can literally feel God's strong presence so much that you close your eyes and get chills.

I wish I could capture it in a video! I can't, though, so here's a song called Do Not Fear by The Good News Singers here at Harding. Amazingness, I tell you.

Cloudy with a chance of cookies...

Today, Kaylee came to Harding for a visit! We made Valentine's day cookies. They turned out very cute if I do say so myself! Oh, and the title? We rented Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Very, very cute movie! I definitely recommend it.

And while watching Hope For Haiti, this happened...and an unknowing Kaylee will probably kill me for this!

Icee Down!

All throughout my 2:30 to 3:45 American History class, all I could think about was getting a cherry flavored icee from the student center. My mouth was practically watering.

So naturally, when class was over I trekked across campus. I grabbed a white styrofoam cup and dome lid, and to ensure I got my money-worth, I placed the lid on and filled the cup up as far as it would go.

What happened next should have been my first warning that this icee was defective. It had never done this before! Precious red yummy-ness started oozing out of the top of the lid and all down the sides. I panicked for a half second before grabbing napkins and cleaning the cup off.

I took a big, long slurp and walked to my car. Unknowingly, I was enjoying my last few minutes with my icee. As soon as I got in my car I reached to put it in my cup holder when the lid popped off and my overly full icee spilled everywhere.

I thought I could salvage it. After all, I had saved it in it's prior malfunction. I reached for an empty water bottle from the backseat and attempted to pour it in. Not good.

Eventually I accepted my icee's fate and placed the icee cup in the parking lot. I couldn't save the icee, but I could save my car!

In the end I guess I can't be too disappointed. I did get a few sips.

What happened to you today?

God's Beautiful Earth!

spon⋅ta⋅ne⋅ous –adjective
coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation; natural and unconstrained; unplanned

Normally I am not a spontaneous person. I like lists, a plan, an itinerary...

But Beth and I decided to actually do things on MLK weekend! Saturday we relaxed and watched The O.C., but Sunday we decided to go to Memphis (unknown to my parents!) We went down on Beale St., ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, went to the zoo, and Beth got her lip pierced. The day was so much fun because we didn't have any plans when we went. We just drove around and found things to do. I loved it!

Hard Rock Cafe

Beale St.

Memphis Zoo

Me with the zebras!

On Monday we went hiking! On our drive through Vilonia I picked Kaylee up. We stopped at a diner in Morrilton and had root beer floats and greasy food, then headed to Petit Jean. It was so beautiful and the weather was fantastic. I enjoyed God's creation all afternoon! It was nice to spend a day outdoors, climbing rocks and seeing waterfalls instead of being cooped up in my dorm room.

So tell me what you did over MLK weekend!



p.s. Please pray for my mema who is having surgery tomorrow on her thyroid.



Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.

Saturday Nothing-ness

Weekends are what you make them. In high school it was fun to go out on weekends and blah blah blah. In college you pretty much do fun stuff whenever you want. Tuesday night in Little Rock? Sure, why not, my paper can wait.

So weekends mean down time. Relaxation from a crazy busy week. I'm fine with never stepping foot into the hallway, much less outside.

But since it is the first weekend back and I like to think I'm not completely lame, I did do things! Friday night Beth and I went to see The Lovely Bones. I thought it was really good! The suspense had the entire theatre sitting up. That's my tiny movie review!

Today we had Spring Sing practice. It was a lot of fun! I'm really excited about the show now. Our theme is Rock & Roll which is fun. Later, Beth and I went out for Mexican and then made rice crispy treats with pink heart sprinkles.

Now it's on to a movie marathon! Baby Mama.

The rest of the 3-day weekend is up in the air. Memphis on Monday is in the works! Yay for being spontaneous! Hopefully some art museums are open.

Anyways, the fruits of my labor are below. Enjoy looking while I eat them!

Go Rest High on That Mountain...

This post is dedicated to my maw maw Fro, 92, who passed away this week. We love you, we miss you! Go rest high on that mountain and wait for the rest of us.


The funeral was in Natchitoches (Nak-a-dish), Louisiana, my first home! It was in the beautiful church above- St. Anne's Catholic Church.


Here's a bit of my Cajun history...

The first home I ever came to!

Front Street, down on the river. It has an awesome brick road. A very historic part of town, and my favorite!

Truvy's Beauty Shop (Steel Magnolia's!) Also, my family's house. Yeah, we have home videos of them shooting this movie. Pretty cool, I know!



You can't be from Louisiana and NOT love meat pies. I know what you're thinking. Meat pies? Sick! Oh how wrong you are. It's a Cajun thang ;)



Another favorite part of going to Natchitoches is seeing the Cypress trees with the spanish moss on them. So southern...I love them! And of course the plantation homes. This is the Melrose Plantation, and a Cypress tree in the river!




And of course the Christmas festival. There is nothing like it. Meat pies, fireworks, lighting up the river, music, crawfish boils...



Natchitoches won't be the same without you maw maw!

"Go rest high on that mountain, son your work on earth is done. Go to Heaven..."

Semester Stress

(Bubble wrap on the wall down my hall!)

Enough said.

Domestic

Living in a dorm room doesn't allow for domestic things us southern girls like to do, like cooking, gardening, and housekeeping. Unless cooking Ramen in a coffee pot counts as cooking. Sure, we improvise, like using a tea pitcher as a popcorn bowl.

We do get the opportunity to dorm-keep. Bi-weekly Health & Safety checks warrants me the right to break out the purple vacuum cleaner and Swiffer without my roommate thinking I'm a clean freak. I'm also in charge of the toilet. But I would hardly call it housekeeping!

And as for gardening, the only plants I have are pink flower pens sitting in a jar of coffee beans. Great for decoration and smell, but they aren't producing the tomatoes I had hoped for.

So you can imagine my jealousy when my senior Fashion Merchandising friend Sarah got an on-campus apartment. With a kitchen. Lucky for me, she made me dinner tonight! How very domestic of her.

The menu? Two different kinds of pasta and orange juice! It was yummy.

Now back to the reality that I am not a 27 year old married woman. Club meeting, Bible homework, and a hall meeting at midnight.

Did I mention I'm drinking fruit punch out of a plastic cup? Yay college!

All I can say is that there's a sweetness here, a Southern sweetness, that makes sweet music. . . . If I had to tell somebody who had never been to the South, who had never heard of soul music, what it was, I'd just have to tell him that it's music from the heart, from the pulse, from the innermost feeling. That's my soul; that's how I sing. And that's the South."
-Al Green

Out with the old, in with the new semester!

When I first moved to Harding, I was very into the cliche pink and zebra print. Then, I joined Iota Chi (whose colors are fuschia and black!) and suddenly all I could see on a daily basis was pink...and black.

Needless to say, spring semester meant new decorations! I still have pink and black to represent my lovely club, but I changed it up quite a bit!

You like?

Dark I know, but it's a phone picture. I made a wall of scrapbook paper. I think it turned out pretty cute. (It's the wall with IX on it!)

Two canvas's, some ribbon and a few pictures! It's hard to make the walls not look like a mental hospital, but I think it looks cute considering!

I have to admit that I went a little crazy with the hot glue gun and ribbon. An 'A' made out of ribbon, and ribbon strips with pictures.

Eh, anyways, class starts tomorrow. Comp 2, World Lit 2, and Old Testament. Oh yes, and chapel at 9!

Pictures deface walls more often than they decorate them.

-William Wordsworth

Would You Like Fries With That?

Oh, the joys of working fast food! There's nothing like the smell of grease during a 6 a.m. opening shift.


Que the ranting.


At work (Sonic) this morning, in the 27 degree weather, I bundled into my fleece jacket, grabbed my red tray and was out the door with an order. Great, they are the only customer and they parked seven stalls down.


Annoyed but still smiling, I walk hurriedly to their car and deliver their food. Three route-44 Dr. Peppers and cheese sticks. And then I see it. The look every customer gets on their face when they realize they should have asked for a drink carrier. So, I brace myself.


And then it happens.


"I'm sorry but I'm going to need a drink carrier."


Of course you do. Of course...you do...


Still smiling, however, I reply "OK I'll go grab one!" and return to the heated building. Perfect time to unleash on other carhops who understand the annoyance!


I return the carrier and ask if they need anything else. "There wasn't marinara sauce in my bag."


Oh dear! How terrible of me to not have read your mind before bringing out your order. I always forget that step. I mean really? I was supposed to know you wanted marinara sauce?


Pretty sure at this point (still freezing, by the way) smoke is coming out of my ears.


I have no choice but to be sassy. "Sorry, it wasn't on the ticket so I didn't know you wanted it."


But because I'm such an awesome carhop I go and get it. Anticipation of a tip is the only thing keeping me smiling. I return to their car:


"Thank you!"



"Your welcome! Have a good day!"



No. Tip.



So if you're reading this and you frequent Sonic, ASK FOR A DRINK CARRIER WHEN YOU ORDER! Actually, ask for anything you need. Extra salt, an extra spoon, ten peppermints- I honestly don't care what it is you want me to bring out, I will be more than glad to do it the first time. Not the second, when you park at the back and it's 27 degrees.



P.S. Carhops don't make minimum wage. So scrounge up your extra quarters. Thank you!



On a funnier note, we have some crazy customers.

I'm a Big Kid Now!

I wasn't much into the blogging world during my first semester of college, which I kind of regret because it would be fun to go back through and read the memories. So tonight I decided I would recap everyone (and myself!) of my very fun/stressful/tiring/interesting/crazy first semester as a college student!

On August 20th, 2009, I moved out of my parents home and made the 45-minute trek to Harding University in Searcy. I was beyond excited, let me tell you! I had a countdown going all summer!

I took 15 hours that semester- Chemistry & lab, Music Appreciation, Speech, New Testament (amazing class!), Wellness, and Nursing 100. Soon it was time to branch out and make friends. What better way than to join a club! No, not like drama club. Us private school kids have "clubs" instead of sororities . Mixers began and I went to a few different clubs. Iota Chi (Jesus Christ in Greek) stood out to me most- and, their colors are fuschia and black! So, I decided it was the club for me! I went to the rest of the mixers and then was invited to Visitation (definition: going to every girls' room and getting to know them.)

Once Visitation was complete, we had to wait until bid day. I prayed a pink and black card would be sent to my room. It was! Then, the "fun" began! Club book, bags, shoes, dress code, pumpkin pie slip-and-slide, all-club devo in the GAC, chanting "pink and black until we die," memorizing names and offices, major dates & minor dates, several trips to Wal-Mart, crying in the student center, deciding I wanted out, Beth talking me up, a dorm room that threw up pink and black tool, picking pumpkin seeds out of my hair for hours, 7 hours of sleep all week, avoiding the student center at ALL costs, dance off, Unity shirts, "eenie meenie minie mo, all you girls in the clubs wanna know, Iota Chi!" And of course, rough night.

My roommate Mackae-Lynn, from California, was cool but I think we were far too different to continue living together! My roommate Spring semester is Alli, one of my pledge sisters! And, I love my suitemate Beth! She's my Harding bestie. Bethy Boo, this is a shout out to you! Here's to pizza/movie Wednesday's, braving the caf, baking!, snuggle time, Set the Fire to the Third Bar, hot movie rental guy, McDonalds, surviving club week, and The O.C.!

I very much enjoyed decorating my dorm for holidays, too! During Halloween we had a banner of witch heads that strung across our bathroom, and paper pumpkins in our room! Christmas was even funner. I strung lights, wrapped the doors in paper, bought a pink wreath!, cut out paper snowflakes, and put up a tree! It was very festive.

Harding offers several ways to become involved in community service. A friend and I went to the Sunshine School which is a school for children with handicaps. It was an amazing experience and I'm so glad that I went! They were the sweetest kids and I loved playing with them. The boy in the picture below was my "buddy" for the time we were there. He was almost blind, but he still loved to swing!

Finals. Um, no one ever tells you how hard those are! High school is "semester test." No no, not the same. At all. Thank you Sears dormitory for stocking the vending machine with Nos and hot fries. I'm not entirely sure what I would have done without you! Also, thank you Beth for laying in my empty room and half-watching The O.C. while filling out thousands of notecards! That all nighter was fun :) Disclaimer for picture below: it was finals. Don't jude our appearance.

And finally, thank you to my besties who came to visit. I love school but I sure miss my girls! I love sharing my world with you.

I learned a lot about myself this semester! It was a great experience and I made so many wonderful friends. I can't wait to see what Spring 2010 has to offer me. When I know, so will you.

“You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don’t have. The work never ends, but college does…”

-Tom Petty

Deserted

No, not dessert like a brownie, but desert- as in "If I was deserted on an island I would bring..."
In other words, this is a list of things I cannot live without. I'm not listing Jesus because, come on guys, he is the ultimate and should be a given!


1. The fam- They are all nuts but I guess I am genetically engineered to love them.

2. The besties- as previously blogged about! In case you're too lazy to scroll down, they're THE most amazing girls on the planet.

3. The iPhone- it pretty much never leaves my side now as it is. This was the best technology advance to date.

4. Music- I won't go into the whole spill, but I love me some music. Foo Fighters, Damien Rice, a little Kate Voegele. Mellow, guitar folkish stuff rocks. Anyways, this is a picture of my iTunes (1,050 songs thank you very much!) Currently listening to: Times Like These (acoustic) -Foo Fighters live

5. One Tree Hill- Quite literally the most amazing show on television. Hot actors, great music, dramatic plots, and a splash of hometown feelings. It doesn't get any better than all a'that!

6. Strawberry Chapstick- It's like candy for your lips. I always have a tube.

7. Books- Nicholas Sparks is amazing. Ditto with the Twilight Saga. Currently reading The Lovely Bones. It's a good'en! I love crime novels, as well.

8. Crime shows- CSI rocks my socks off. As does Snapped. I also follow popular murder cases, like Casey Anthony. It's my thang. By the way, this is not my shirt, but it came up when I googled 'crime shows'. If any of you lovely readers are interested in buying me this shirt, head on over to zazzle.com! ;)

9. World War 2/Holocaust- You fellow World War 2 fanatics know this sign. It's the gate to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Yeah, I know right? Weird obsession. I can't help it, I love all things World War 2!



10. The 80's- I wasn't even alive, but I love me some 80's. The hair, the clothes, the music. It's all pretty fabulous! Not to mention Saved By The Bell & Growing Pains. Sheesh. I was totally born in the wrong decade.