I don't even know where to begin...

I don't feel like I'm the same person that I was when I wrote my last post. Reading over this blog feels like reading someone else's words and thoughts. That probably sounds pretty dramatic but it's actually probably a pretty normal, healthy circumstance. We're all growing and changing, especially during this time in life, when we're making life decisions and figuring out who we really are and who we want to be.

I've made some interesting self-discoveries this semester. Some things I already knew, but not so clearly and other things were kind of a shock to me. One thing I realized is that I am a people-pleaser and that I could get into a lot of trouble for that. I realized how much everything I do is influenced by what other people think and want instead of what I really believe and think is right. Growing up means taking responsibility for your own actions and following the dictates of your own conscience. So I've been trying to work on doing that, but it isn't easy. I didn't even realize how much I depended on other people's convictions before I earnestly started thinking for myself.

Another thing I've learned is that it is possible to bite off more than you can chew. I definitely did that this semester and it's been a struggle. I enjoyed everything I was doing but it was too much and the stress made me resent even the things I loved doing. The result is that I've changed my major to a B.A. in Music instead of a B.M. in Piano Performance. I will never have to take an overload of credits again and I will definitely be able to graduate on time. I'll also have time to take a creative writing minor, which is really exciting since writing is one of my favorite things to do. It wasn't an easy decision but I know that it was the right decision and that it is what I really want.

A month ago tomorrow I started dating one of the percussionists in Symphonic Band. His name is Josh. He is pretty amazing. We have pretty great times together. I kind of like him a lot. :) I'm so thankful that we've been given the opportunity to be best friends and support each other during this time in our life. No one can know what tomorrow holds or where our paths will take us, but I know that no matter what happens in the future I'm never going to regret this friendship because it has taught me so much and helped me to grow and mature. He has already been there for me in so many ways and the discussions we've had have stimulated my thinking and caused me to really think through things I hadn't before.

I don't know if anyone will read this or if it will just look like rambling to those who do take the time to skim this, but I hope that if you are reading it and you are someone who struggles with caring too much about what other people think... that you will take a step back and consider if it's really worth it. Thinking for yourself and making your decisions is a little scary but it's also liberating and will cause you to become a deeper, more well-rounded and well-grounded individual. Just some thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back on Campus

I arrived back at school on Wednesday afternoon and moved into the apartment I'll be sharing with four other girls this year. It's looking pretty snazzy so far. Of course, every place has it's quirks - bathrooms without fans, faucets that work backwards (usually), outlets randomly placed 2/3 up the wall, and a disposal that spits food back up from time to time. But all in all it's a sweet little place and I love it.

All of my roommates/suitemates are cool and tonight we're going to have a taco dinner to break the ice and get to know each other better. Should be loads of fun.

I've really enjoyed running into familiar peeps around campus, reuniting with old friends, and making some new ones too. It's looking like it's going to be a good year.

I'm going to be working two jobs this year and taking 18 credits. I have no idea how it's all going to work out, but I'm excited about all of it. The highlights include being a peer mentor along with another Emily - a good friend of mine - to the Honors students, learning to play the organ, giving my first college recital (AHHHHH), and making all sorts of yummy deliciousness in our kitchen.

Hopefully I'll have a minute here or there to post something here again before Christmas break! :-D

Hellooooooooo Out There!

I know, I know, it's been forever since I last posted and I'm sure you all have been dying of anticipation for my next blog post. ;-) I apologize.

But honestly, I haven't had two seconds put together! It's amazing how quickly time can go by when you're working. Already I've been home a month and in some ways I feel like I never left. Life goes on at McD's the same as always - crazy, busy, stressful and yet somehow retaining an element of fun, creativity and adventure. It helps that I've rekindled some old friendships from last summer and made a few new ones as well.

However, for the time being, I've asked to cut back on my hours so I can focus on practicing piano and writing scholarship essays. I tried working full time and still keeping up with piano and such, but that was just definitely not happening. It's a bit of a risk, but I think a safer one than going an entire summer without practicing. Let's hope those essays come through! (Loving to write has to come in handy sometime, right?)

Besides practicing and writing, I'm also trying to get in my 45 volunteer hours before I go back to school. If you know of anything I can do to earn them, let me know! :)

It's raining here at my little house in the woods. The sky is dark and stormy and I'm inside, cuddled in my blue and yellow rag quilt with a hot cup of Constant Comment tea. If you don't know what Constant Comment tea is, you should try it. But now I'm just rambling.

I don't have any pictures to post of me or my family or stuff around me today. And I'm too lazy to take one. But I saw the coolest kitchen ever the other day, and as this is kind of random post, it should fit on here perfectly. I saw it and fell in love and said to myself, "Self, I would very much like to have a kitchen like that someday." So I pinned it.

I mean, is that not fab?

Anyway, hope you all are enjoying your summer and staying well and happy! Adios! 

I'm Going to a Party

A choir party to be exact. I love choir parties. Actually, I just really love choir and choir parties are like everything good about choir plus good food and extra time with choir friends.

My sister decided to make a cheese ball. Cheese balls are pretty awesome.

Sarah is pretty awesome. 

I decided to make brownies. Brownies are my favorite. 

I like brownies so much I borrowed a friend's kitchen twice last semester to make them, aided by my accomplice, Cara. 

I miss her. We're going to make brownies and lots of other stuff next semester in our very own beautiful kitchen. We will have parties of epic proportions. B-) 

Well, I will see you all later. . . I have some brownies I need to taste-test! 

Toast. . . French Toast

I don't have to go to work until eleven today, so of course the natural outcome of that was a breakfast that involved strawberries.

Can you say YUM? 

Now I'm ofski to help promote world peace by making Krabby Patties at the Krusty Krab! Hope you're all having a splendiferous* day!

*Splendiferous is actually a word. Who knew??

We Went Strawberry Picking

Today is my day off so we decided to go on an 

adventure in a strawberry patch in Nokesville. 

The Strawberry Patch 

Sarah

Me
 

And I'm Still Rolling Along. . .

Ahem. I was all excited about being a faithful blogger and it's been TEN WHOLE DAYS since I posted last. I am ashamed. :( 

But to bring you all up to date: Exams are over. I survived (barely) and I'm home! My dad and my uncle came down and helped me clean and pack and then took me to Disney World! We spent half of Friday in Animal Kingdom and the other half in Epcot. We even stayed for the fabtabulous fireworks and braved the rain in our Mickey Mouse ponchos. Fun times. :-D

Since I've been home I've been doing a bit of spring cleaning, unpacking and catching up on watching "Lark Rise to Candleford." It's good to be back with the home folks, eat real food, and see rolling hills of green again. I missed Virginia a lot. 

On Thursday I called McDonald's to see if they had a place for me and they asked me to come in Friday morning! I guess they missed me. :-P I worked eight hours yesterday and today. Last summer I was nothing but a frightened young whippersnapper so I didn't dare ask for Sundays off, which I regret. This summer I asked Jackie right off about not working Sundays and she was totally chill about it. Yay!

Also on Thursday, I spent most of my morning quite ruffled and troubled because I could not get our vacuum cleaner to work. I was distressed over this because my room was in desperate need of vacuuming and my allergies were flaring up something terrible and if your vacuum fails WHAT CAN BE DONE???? I researched machines and they're all frighteningly expensive. I grew more impatient and frustrated by the minute and I spent several hours on this search for the affordable-yet-powerful vacuum. I eventually gave up and decided to check my grades and financial aid again. My grades were posted (well, all but one) and my financial aid package was complete and <drum roll. . .> I found out I got a another scholarship for next year! ! ! And then I laughed at myself for how wound up I'd gotten over a stupid vacuum cleaner. My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills (and is quite generous about them) and I was wasting energy worrying about a dust-sucking machine. That's embarrassing. :-P 

And is if that weren't enough to put all my worried feelings back where they belong, my dad came home that night and fixed the vacuum for me and I was able to vacuum all around the house without buying a new one after all! It reminded me of Matthew 6: 

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, 

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 

And why are you anxious about clothing? 

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: 

they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon 

in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

So yeah, I just wanted to share that in case any of you all are worried about anything. We have Someone watching out for us Who knows our every want and need and holds back no good thing from us! :) Take heart and happy weekend! 

Adventures of Insanity

I feel like this accurately describes the craziness of my life right now. 

Today was a day of epicness.

It was the start of my final exams. I gave my very first speech and people laughed. Which was good. I mean, it was supposed to be funny.

It was the end of my voice lessons. It rained. Hard.

I got an email saying my Workship hours are logged and I have 45.5 hours. Sweet!

Then I went on a random run to the DMV with my two awesome friends, Ben and Matthew. It was pretty intense - we had to go through security. They were just renewing registration or some such thing. I got to hold the paperwork. But they couldn't put the 5-15 on because it was raining. Fun times.

Later Matthew and I went to Chipotle and ate real food. I just finished my leftovers, they were great. I feel like this last week is nothing but stress and eating and partying with people because you're going to be parting ways too soon. Also studying and finishing projects as close to the last minute as you can get.

Tomorrow I'm going to Paris Cafe and Dunkin' Donuts. I have an 8am exam. I have a book report and three papers due. I have a room to pack up and clean. I'm really excited and I'm not even being sarcastic about that.

Now I'm going to bed and sleeping. Hopefully not dreaming about all the stuff I have to do. :-P 'Night folks!

Finals Week

I've lost it. Gone over the edge. My mind is gone. (And I haven't even had coffee yet...)

Note: For audio, you must click the X in the top left corner of the screen.

Page 16 of 489

I am writing this because I am supposed to be writing a book report on The Art of Teaching Piano, edited by Denes Agay. I'm on page 16 of 489. In case you didn't read the title of this post. 

An excellent time to take my 32nd break and write up this blog post. 

I'm also famished and lightheaded from lack of food. My last food break was like... THREE hours ago. But I'm surviving on a frappuccino that a friend graciously gave me. I'm not sure if frappuccino is capitalized or not. 

Also, I wanted to take this time to rejoice over the beautiful truth that I have only one more week of school left before I am homeward bound! Hard to believe and increasingly terrifying as I consider how much I have to get done in this week, but I am SO READY FOR SUMMER. 

Don't get me wrong - school has been fab. I've made fantabulous friends, experienced things I never dreamed of (even some I had dreamed of!), learned loads about music, and, most importantly, learned more about God over these last two semesters. But I am quite ready for the comforts of home! From sleeping in my own beautiful bed to inundating my niece and nephew with hugs and kisses to singing "When We See Christ" at my own church, I'm exploding with excitement about going home. 

To wrap up this procrastination exercise, I'm gonna ask you all for prayer about my job situation. I worked at McDonald's last summer - a job I was very thankful for - and I would be quite happy to work there again. I would be even more happy though if I got to work at Five Guys instead. I put my application in and they said they'll be reviewing the summer applications in a couple weeks, so I am hoping... and praying... but we'll see what the Lord has planned. :) 

Ciao! Happy procrastinating! 

And So It Begins...

Why am I starting this blog? 

An excellent question. 

I had a blog once... I locked it away from the public eye when I came to school because I didn't want future classmates to read it and think I was... weird. 

It didn't work. They found out that I'm weird anyway. 

I also knew I wouldn't have time for it. Which is true. I don't. But I'm losing my sanity from blog-withdrawal. So I'll just have to make time for it. Who needs sleep anyway? 

Thanks for dropping by and giving me your attention in this vast abyss of internet communication. I am honored.