My Final Post of 2010

It's hard to believe its already the end of 2010. Its been a year of changes and with its ups and downs. I started blogging mainly to hopefully make a difference to someone out there reading. My life and most times is rather dull and God willing the year 2011 will find me all sorts of places doing all sorts of things. I type this to you as I sit alone in my apartment. I could have been with my family, if I didn't have to babysit-which wound up not happening anyways, which is unfortunate. So I feel that I could have stayed and enjoyed some more time with the fam. Anyways, a recap of my year:

I'm still in college and had finished another year in May. I stayed in South Carolina and took a summer class and it gave me the opportunity to do some exploring around here. In April, God took home my cousin Rebecca who had been battling cancer. She was an amazing person here on earth, and she has made a huge impact on her community. She started a fund, Cure With Hope which is raising money for Mass General children's cancer ward. Right after she passed I went up to Boston to visit my sister and brother-in-law and we went to visit my aunt and uncle. I very much love the city of Boston. I need to spend more time to see everything, but I got to see quite a bit. I journeyed to MLC for probably my last time in May to see many of my friends graduate. I was sad that it wasn't me, but hey got to roll with the punches. My brother graduated from highschool in early June and is now attending Kansas University. My parents moved to Florida right after my brother graduated. I was blessed to finally get a job at the end of August and now am a babysitter for a pretty great kid. For Thanksgiving I went to North Carolina to my aunt and uncles cabin. It was nice to get a little break from school and the chaos that is. In my previous post I mentioned my Christmas break and its getting close to coming to an end. I'm happy yet not looking forward to starting classes. The sooner they start the sooner I get done.

Well that was a short version of the major events that happened this year. I hope next year is full of amazing opportunities and wonderful surprises. I hope I can cross some things off my bucket list. So this is so long 2010 and hello 2011!

Christmas Break

I have been on Christmas break now since Dec 9th. It has been a very much needed break and very relaxing. I road tripped back to Wisconsin to visit friends and family. Although I was sick for the first 3 days and was limited to what I could do! I did a lot of shopping and hanging out with my best friend Amber. I also went to visit my grandparents and a few other friends. I unfortunately was not able to visit everyone I had hoped, mainly because my stay in WI was limited and I had to be back in FL by the 23rd. But I did have a great time regardless. I also got to meet some new people!

My brother and I drove 21 hrs straight to get to FL. It was a long trip and it had its normal bumps...traffic, not great weather, bathroom stops and gas fill-ups. We ate as unhealthy as any person could, fast food all day. We finally arrived around 1 am on the 23rd. After a much needed shower I was off to bed.


Christmas Eve came and we went out to dinner at a sushi place and then we went to church...arriving late as is usual for my family. Christmas Day came and went, it didn't even feel that we had Christmas. On top of that the weather was near 70 definately not our typical Christmas weather. We did skype with my sister and brother-in-law and that at least made it feel that we had more family here. I did get a lot of gifts but the best one by far was getting a Wii system. Although, I'm happy with the material gifts I received, I am more happy of the birth of Jesus. His birth means so much: soon it will be his death and ressurrection that we ponder and thank him for.


The next few days will mainly consist of more relaxation. I will be returning to South Carolina on Thursday and will continue babysitting again. Classes start Jan 10th...which is crazy, but I am ready to get this last semester (keep fingers crossed) underway. Of course I will still have summer class, but I'm ok with that. It gives me more time to look for a job and travel the southeast before I move for good!

Amber and I with Sprecher man

With the Grinch

Making Christmas cookies

Blue Christmas

There is nothing like the sound of Elvis's voice! The lyrics I guess should be sad, because who would want to be away from someone they love or care about during the holidays? Any person would have a blue christmas. But unfortunately in this time with a war going on, there are a lot of people who will be having a 'blue' christmas. They may not necessarily be alone, but heck if your spouse was overseas during the holidays, that can't be very fun! Even though I love the beat and sound of the song, I would certainly not want to have a blue christmas!

O Christmas Tree

I decided since many people have advent calendars and countdowns to Christmas that perhaps I could briefly talk about a Christmas Carol/song everyday until Christmas. Today is O Christmas Tree otherwise known in German as O Tannenbaum. I'm not a big fan of this song, but it is quite popular on the radio. It is about this time of the year most people are cutting down trees or bringing out the fake ones from the basement and putting them up. Decorating the tree with lights and garland as well as ornaments begins over the next few weeks as well! I'm going to miss this years tree picking. I miss the family bundling up and driving to the Christmas tree farm and we'd walk for what seemed like hours around the place trying to find a tree. Most of the time we would walk through a foot of snow and be completely frozen by the time we are done. We'd probably complained and hated it, but I look back and wouldn't take back any of those times. They were so much fun! The family together finding a tree that will only last for a few weeks. I always looked forward to sipping on hot cocoa after the fact and then sitting by a warm fire afterwards.

The tree is a symbol of life to me. We continue to grow and learn through the whole year, we don't stop and die when the weather changes. The tree is always green, even through the cold and snow.

Today I went to a Christmas shop and they had a whole bunch of fake trees decorated in different themes: SEC football teams, beach, snowflakes, marshmallow figures, seasame street and sock monkey's just to name a few. I love how creative people can be with their trees. It reminded me of a time back in grade school when we took a field trip to the museum and they had trees decorated from countries around the world. It was pretty neat to see how another country would decorate. Its funny/interesting to see that Christmas is a world holiday and we all celebrate it. Usually I just think about people in the states and that they are the only people who do this. We may all have different decorations and traditions, but yet we still sit around a tree. Its practically the centerpiece of Christmas (except that Christ is!)

So if you are decorating a tree...have fun and be creative and remember people on the other side of the world are doing the same thing!

Photo is not mine!

Thanksgiving

It felt so nice to get out of S. Carolina for awhile. It was nice to have a break from school. Although now that I'm back it is really hard to get back into the rhythm of doing anything! I've been doing a lot of thinking about my future, but I have to get through next semester and summer and hopefully I will be done. fingers crossed.

My crazy brother!

Anyways, Thanksgiving was spent at my aunt an uncle's cabin in N. Carolina. It is probably a tradition now. We've been going for more than 5 years now. I love going to the middle of nowhere and not having access to the internet and not having good phone service. It forces you to get connected with your family. But its not hard. I haven't seen most of my family in months so there is always stuff to talk about. I arrived on Wednesday mid afternoon and was greeted by my brother and my uncle and his brother. I sat down and had some lunch and a brewskie. (much needed after the long drive.) I spend most of the afternoon talking to my brother. My dad drove up that night and hit a deer about 2 miles from my aunt and uncle's. Luckily he was ok and the car wasn't damaged. The deer was ok too! On Thursday, much of the day was spent cooking and eating. We had turkey, quail, sweet potato souffle, mashed potatos, broccoli casserole, rolls and of course multiple choices of pie. Much to my surprise I couldn't eat as much as I normally do, I have weight watchers to thank for that!

On Friday, my aunt and mom were not feeling well, but my mom wanted to get out of the house, so we went to Blue Ridge, Georgia. The town was so cute and decked out for Christmas. My dad, brother and I got to sit in santas sleigh, but I forgot my camera so I have no picture. It was cold that day, not even above 40! But it felt nice. We did a little shopping and then headed back.

River in N. Carolina

Saturday, my mom left to go back to Florida, cuz she wasn't feeling well and had to work the next day. My dad, brother and I decided to go for a drive and drive we did. Dad wouldn't listen to me and so he took a wrong turn. But I guess what are adventures for if you always follow the map? Needless to say I conked out on the way back. We went out for Mexican food with everyone. I tried to put my Spanish skills to use, but alas, I suck! We watched many college football games as well. Many good games and more shuffling of BCS standings. This makes me happy!

Looks like snow, but its frost!

Sunday I left. I didn't want to leave just yet! Mainly, because I knew when I got back I'd have to get back down to the nitty gritty final projects. Also, because I love hanging out with my family and being in beautiful mountains. My car needless, to say was completely frosted over. Luckily, my dad had given me a scraper before he left so at least I could scrape it off.

Just an Update

Well the 1st semester of my final year of college is coming to an end. We have the rest of this week and then the week after thanksgiving for classes and then exams and thats it. I have been crazy busy with projects, papers, studying, etc and I can't wait for Christmas break to come! Even Thanksgiving break will be nice, so I can get away for a little bit. I've also been babysitting a lot more than I usually do. Liam is so funny! You ask him a question and he won't answer anything remotely to what you just asked. Like last night, he spilled his spaghetti-o's on the floor and I asked him how that happened. He said, "It hit my head and fell off my spoon and in the garbage." Ha ha ha. I have no idea how that equates to it landing on the floor but its funny no less. Then I took my glasses off to clean them and he wanted to try them on, he looked so cute! I took some pictures and will try to get one on here. He's such a cheese! Anyways, I hope soon before I leave and have no internet access for thanksgiving, I can post a blog on here about the things I'm thankful for!

PEACE!

It's been awhile

It has been awhile since I wrote last. So much for trying to stay on top of this thing. But hey, I guess that means I have been busy with other things. Those other things would be school and work. There is never a dull moment in my life. Currently, having difficulities getting into a needed class for next semester otherwise I won't be graduating. That is never a good thing. But I guess when life hands you lemons you got to make lemonade.

In honor of all the struggles I deal with I know there are always good songs to remind me that things are going to be ok...Life Ain't Always Beautiful by Gary Allen

Life ain't always beautiful
Sometimes it's just plain hard
LIfe can knock you down, it can break your heart

Life ain't always beautiful
you think you're on your way
and it's just a dead end road at the end of the day

But the struggles make you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has its own way of takin' its sweet time

No life ain't always beautiful
Tears will fall sometimes
Life ain't always beautiful
But its a beautiful ride

And I wish for just one minute
I could see your pretty face
Guess I can dream, but life don't work that way

But the struggles make you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has its own way of takin its sweet time

No life ain't always beautiful
tears will fall sometimes
Life ain't always beautiful
But its a beautiful ride