She Works Hard For The Money

I once had a job where I dressed up like a chicken and danced on the side of the highway.

Just thought that might be something you would like to know.

Happy Weekend!

Utah Should Pay Me to Promote Their State.

As if you need to be told again, I went to Utah last summer and the Rocky Mountains changed my life.

Seriously, what a great state: mountains, lush greenery, sun beams between the mountains, the Mormons.

Anyway,

today I was sitting in chapel (paying attention, NOT #chapeltweeting) when I heard this announcement:

“The Harding Nursing Student Association will be selling Premier Jewelry in the Student Center tomorrow and on Wednesday, March 2^nd.  They are fundraising to be able to travel to the National Nurses’ Convention in Utah.”

I’m sorry, what? Since when was the Nursing Student Association going to Utah and WHY DIDN’T I KNOW?

I audibly gasped. And when I say audibly, I mean it was so loud that I practically sucked all of the air out of the Benson auditorium.

The guy sitting in front of me turned around with a look of confusion. His face was a mixture of “she’s cute” and “what’s wrong with her?”

I shook my head and dazily said,

“I just love Utah.”

True story.

It's Always Better When We're Together

I miss these girls.

I miss them so, so much.

Individually, I miss everything they bring to the table. As a group, I miss our interaction. I miss the uncontrollable laughter that is in every conversation the five of us have.

I miss how honest we can be with each other.

I can hear Kaylee telling me now, “You don’t match.”

(She’s my go-to girl for things like that. If no one else, Kaylee will be straight up honest.)

I’m feeling really dragged down right now. I don’t feel like myself sometimes—and with friends at school feeling the same way, it’s hard to rest.

Dear Emma, Katie, Kaylee & Morgan,

Can we please get together soon? And by soon, I mean when Kaylee get’s home from freaking Idaho. Let’s order pizza, get ice cream, and talk ALL NIGHT. Seriously. Because right now, my soul needs ya’ll.

I love you all. You have no idea. Or maybe you do.

One of your four best friends,
autumn bottom

p.s. why did we choose different colleges? I feel like we should have thought this through.

Blessings In Surprising Places.

 
Lately, God has been opening my eyes and moving me in directions I never thought possible.

For one of my pre-nursing classes, I have to do 12 hours of elder care volunteer work, 12 hours of preschool volunteer work, and 12 hours of school-age children volunteer work.

I am so excited to work with the kids. I love the tiny people so much! Elder care? Oh boy. That was about 20 miles outside of my comfort zone.

And of course, I was assigned to have my first rotation in elder care. I put it off until this week—the week before it is due—to actually volunteer.

I was so very wrong in doing that. I absolutely LOVED my time at the retirement home I went to. The members there have such sweet souls and brought so much joy to my day!

I remember sitting at a table with two women and thinking, “this is where I should come when I’m not having a good day.”

From now on, I won’t be afraid to step outside of my comfort zone.

What a blessing this elder care rotation has been in my life!

Where Did The Weekend Go?

It’s been a good weekend.

Good hiking, good friends, good food.

Such good times!

 

 

What did you do this weekend?

Motivation

Jarah posted this lovely image on her blog a few weeks ago and right now, it is exactly what I need to see.

School is not getting any easier. It’s actually getting a lot harder.

I need to remember that this is my dream and that all of this work will get me to where I want to be, but right now all I can think is HOW LONG UNTIL SPRING BREAK?

 

23 days. I can do this.

Ebay Find.

Currently, my most prized possession is my new leather backpack.

It is about ten shades of awesome and I want to take it everywhere. Even places I don’t need it, like the caf or gym. I want to show this beauty off.

Excuse this picture of me. I look slightly high (for the record, I wasn’t) and of course my mouth is open. Do you expect more from me?

You shouldn’t.

But there my backpack is in all her glory. Do you love it or do you l-o-v-e it?

What is your most prized possession right now?

Ah Tuesday…

…the day with 57 hours.

After a very long and stressful Anatomy & Physiology lab, Brette and I decided a long drive with Coldplay and Diet Dr.Peppers from Sonic were just what the doctor ordered.

We ventured to the town of Letona, population: 202. Or something like that. It was kind of sketchy but the sun was setting and the sky was pretty.

 

Octo-Tot is our little pet who rides around in Gwen (Brette’s car).

We decided today to take him to Canada with us when we go in March. He’s pretty excited, as usual.

It was a surprisingly good day—for a Tuesday.

February 14, 2011.

Ah Valentine’s Day- the day of eating your weight in chocolates and other sweets.

My mom was precious and sent me homemade fudge brownies and sweet sugar cookies.

I ate one of each and then felt guilty so I dominated the elliptical for awhile.

My Valentine this year is more than one person- actually, 7 special friends of mine who I love dearly!

To optimally enjoy today I have been listening to some love tunage. These songs will melt your heart:

The Way I Am – Ingrid Michaelson
Better Together – Jack Johnson
Yellow – Coldplay
Sea of Love – Cat Power

Happy Valentine’s Day my sweets!

Thank God For Days Like These

Today was one of the best days I have had in a long time. After days of being cooped up inside from snow and ice, the weather turned 66, sunny and amazingly beautiful!

And since I love anything outdoorsy, we went to hike Sugarloaf mountain.

It was my first time hiking Sugarloaf and it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. Like, rock climbing difficult.

But that just made the view at the top even better!

Funny story:

Morgan was ahead of me when we were climbing back down. I slung my purse off and tossed it at her over a ledge for her to catch.

And she dropped it.

It fell into a deep crack between boulders. Deep, deep crack.

We gasped. It had our iPhone’s, car keys, and my wallet.

I died a little bit inside. My PHONE! My precious child. Well anyways…

Morgan was a beast and crawled down to get it while I prayed that my car keys didn’t fall out and our phones weren’t broken.

Thankfully everything was still inside and now it’s just funny that she dropped my purse.

Oh, let's not forget about the 11 year old boy who threatened to knife me because I wasn't hiking back down fast enough. Seriously.

And THEN, he pulled out the knife. Naturally, I said "I'm gonna hit you in the face, kid" and he backed off. Kids these days...

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Then we came back to school and split a $5 Domino’s pizza four ways. College budget, people.

It was an amazing day and I’m so thankful for it!
We have an amazing God.

Pure Excitement

…because

A lot of snow blew into the south and the world shut down! Noooooo class, today or tomorrow!

Fist pump.

Thank goodness Arkansas hasn’t quite figured out what snow plows are. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Feel free to comment and let me know how jealous you are.

A Rush of Blood To The Head

And so it began.

Snow blew into town and with it seasonal depression, four tests and a pending research paper.

“It’s too much for little Autumn,” I proclaimed, and then I clicked on Blogger and made my narratives lonely.

Finally though, I knocked two tests out of the way and my eye stopped twitching.

The stillness of my eye told me that the hardest had passed. I wrote down everything I knew about tissue, fetal pig organs and the human anatomy and goodness gracious it was time to write for fun.

I rewarded myself with a Nutter Butter shake from here and then came back to my room, donned my purple sweat pants and began writing.

It’s good to be back, my sweets.

Almost as good as that Nutter Butter shake, but let’s not get crazy.