The past few weeks have definitely had their ups and downs, their busy parts and their lazy parts.

I've worked a few times, but not many hours. I've been trying to work out but I just wish I had the time and motivation for it. If I did, I would be doing speed training three times a week and distance training two days a week. But for the most part, I have just been doing a little speed and a little distance here and there. But alot of abs, which is always good.

For Christmas, I got some movies, the new Fall Out Boy cd, a sweatshirt and some other clothes, a couple of pairs of earrings, a new hairstraightener, a massager, some candy, and some ornaments.

At Christmas at my grandmas, I got to see alot of my cousins and aunts and uncles. Dogs Ike and Juny were also there. I got a sweater from my grandma and a necklace.

I went to a Christmas party/welcome back for a friend that studied abroad in England this semester. We did a white elephant gift exchange and I got the movie Wedding Crashers. The gift I gave was a smelly candle and two diaries. We played card games and it was a really fun time.

Today a friend came over and we played four games: Sorry, Stratego, Yahtzee, and Life. I only won Yahtzee.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, but I am working, so no big plans. It's gonna be a really busy night too. On New Year's Day, the powwow girls are getting together to see a movie and go out to eat, so I am pretty excited for that. Also, it's a friend's birthday on Saturday, so we are going out for that too.

Even though I have plenty to do here at home, I am getting sick of being here. Too much time at home isn't good for me and I am ready to go back to school. Only 12 more days...

Boredom is the word to describe the majority of my break so far. All of my friends didn't have finals until this week so they are home now, but all week I had no one to hang out with. And my brothers both had school still so I was home alone for the most part.

I went gift shopping with my dad one day tho, which was fun. We went to this new coffee shop/cafe and I think it would be awesome to work there. So definitely this summer I am going to apply there. And many other places because I am sick of the job I have now. So far I was supposed to work four days and I have only worked one because the restaurant closed due to the bad weather on the other days.

And speaking of bad weather, today is really really cold and windy. The past couple days it blizzarded (is that a word?) and now we have soo much snow. The drifts come up to our porch but I think we actually have about a foot and a half. The wind chill is ridiculously cold.. I think the news said -30.

I guess my boredom lead me to be kind of productive. I made at least ten different kinds of christmas cookies this week. And we are still baking more today. I found an awesome cookie cook book at my house and I am so excited to try some of them. I'm gonna get so fat from all the cookies. Good thing I'm working out. Yesterdat I did 2.5 miles of speed work on the treadmill and did 17 mins of abs and core. I wish I had the motivation to workout like that everyday, but I just get so lazy and would just rather lay on the couch and watch a movie. I wish it would warm up so I could run outside. But I don't think I will be that lucky.

This week I went to see my youngest brother's holiday program at school and then that night he was in the Christmas pageant at church. He was a wiseman. Tomorrow night is my other brother's band concert, so I will get to go see that as well.

I think we are finishing our Christmas shopping on Wednesday, so that's cutting it close. I think my dad should be home that day too (he is a trucker), which is exciting. On Saturday, we are going to my grandma's house for Christmas with all my aunts, uncles, and cousins so I am also excited for that.

I sure hope this New Year is good. I've been waiting for a while for it.

FINALS ARE OVER.

It feels amazing to be done. I had my last final this morning at 8 and I honestly think I did well on it. I studied for three days for it and I am really hoping it paid off.

Last night I ran the 4x4 at the track meet. We didn't do so well. I ran a 67 split and the other girls ran 65, 67, and 70. We need to be around 61/62 if we want to make it to nationals, so we have ALOT of work to do. I am going to try to train really hard over break so I can get into really good shape to run that race. Coach said that since we have such a good shot at going to nationals in the relay, that race has to be my main focus. So I guess I won't be doing much hurdling this year.

Even though I am done with the semester, I am waiting to go home until tomorrow. I still need to pack and then tonight I will get to hang out with my friends and boyfriend before we all part for break.

It's finals week and I am super busy. This weekend was my last weekend at school for the semester so my roommate and I had a fun girl's night with some friends on Friday and then my boyfriend and I hung out on Saturday. On Sunday, we had the Fall Sports Banquet for soccer, volleyball, and cross country. I got a letter award and a the Pflieger-Olson academic all-conference award for soccer.

Yesterday was the last regular day of classes and its a relief to be done with those, but I still have alot of finals to work on. I turned in my creative writing final today, which was supposed to consists of 2 prose pieces or 6-8 poems. I had 3 prose pieces and 2 poems. Hopefully they are A-worthy.

Tomorrow I have my illustration final at 10 and my psych final at 1. My last final is marketing at 8 a.m. on Thursday. I am not looking forward to that but studied all day yesterday and today for it. Tonight I have to do acommunity service project for soccer at an elementary school winter carnival so I won't have much time to study. And tomorrow night I have pep band AND a track meet. I'm only running the 4x4 but it's at 9 p.m. I'm not happy about running at this meet because I don't want to be there running and getting back so late when I should be using that time studying and going to bed early. But oh well, such is life.

I found out that even though I told the restaurant I work at back home that I want to work ALOT over break, they gave me 8 days out of the whole month that I'm home. I'm really angry about this because I need to make money to pay for tuition next semester and for books. I need to find another job ASAP, but I have no idea where to work that isn't 20 or 30 miles away. So basically, on top of stressing about finals, I have to stress about money and finding a job. Needless to say, I can't wait til this semester is over.

I haven't blogged in a while because of Thanksgiving Break. I went home on Tuesday and that night I got my hair cut. I initially wanted just wanted it trimmed but then decided to get alot cut. Right now its just above my shoulder when I straighten it, and its almost another inch shorter when its curly. I think I got about 6 inches cut.

My dad had turned my room into a recording studio. There is a drum set, mixing board, microphone, guitars, bass, EVERYTHING. He has completely taken over my room and I am not liking it. But I guess now I can learn to play the drums ;)

On Wednesay I went I shopping in Mankato but didn't buy anything. I am never in the mood to buy stuff around the holidays. I'd rather just buy stuff for other people. My mom did tell me though that I need to make a list for her, but I told her she is on her own, because I have no ideas.

On Thursday we went to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I was delicious: turkey, cheesy potatoes, rolls, corn, wild rice, and stuffing. But I hate stuffing, so I definitely did not eat that.

On Friday I didn't do much of anything. But on Saturday I hung out with my high school buddies which was really nice. I hadn't seen any of them since I left in August, so it was great to catch up with them.

Sunday was Vespers, the choir concert. We had two performances and the choirs sang 8 songs and it featured a 12 year old violin player. I thought we did a pretty good job, and the second performance was definitely better.