This week is the last week of classes before finals week! Most of my last minute stuff was crammed into this week and next week actually won't be too bad.

Next Monday my Advanced Poetry class is having a reading for the chapbooks we made. Chapbooks are just short collections of poetry.. mine has 18 poems. We had to design and produce the books ourselves.. and I am still in the process of printing mine! My chapbook has serious, funny and running themes throughout and is titled "Fate Can Wait" because it was my favorite line from any of my poems and the collection kind of has underlying tones of chance circumstances.

Other final projects and assignments in the works are the graphic design + media arts website created by those of us in the interactive design class. Right now we are in the process of coding the website and I am anxious to see how it all turns out! I also have a take-home test in my lit class, which I also had to do a literary analysis and oral report for, but thankfully that is all over with. For media studies, we had to keep a journal of all the media we came in contact with for five consecutive days and then write an essay about our average media consumption. I found that I use the internet the most, followed by radio/music, tv, movies and magazines and books. For my honors class, we had to give a presentation and my partner Brooke and I did ours on the topic of "H1N1: 1918 and 2009." We basically just showed the similarities and differences between the two influenzas viruses and why there was a cause for alarm in 2009 (because the virus was very similar in structure to the virus of 1918 which kills millions).

Track is in full swing these days and we actually have our first track meet on Saturday. I will be running the 60 meter hurdles and 4x400 relay. I have not done either of these events in a very LONG time, so I am both excited and nervous for them. Because it is just a pre-season meet, we are not expected to run exceptionally well.. the coaches just want to see where we are at fitness-wise. However, I do want to impress them, as well as excel during my senior year!

Since I have not blogged in such a long time I have not yet told of my last Vespers experience. Vespers was on November 29 and we had two performances that night. It went amazingly well! Singing with the orchestra is such a beautiful experience and I honestly cannot believe how beautiful we sounded at each performance! We all sang with such emotion and feeling.. you could really tell the audition was feeling everything right with us. I still sad that it was my Vespers performance, but I can always come back next year and watch!

Next weekend is graduation and I have a few friends graduating, which will be sad :( But I am hoping it prepares me for next semester when I and the rest of my friends graduate! I can't believe how fast this year is going.. I am not ready to say goodbye, but I am ready to start a new chapter of my life! Grad school here I come!

Tomorrow is the first day of Thanksgiving break. I need this break soo bad. I don't have many plans, and I will end up doing some homework, but it will be great to be in a different place for a while.

Yesterday was our band concert. It went really well, and I am still getting compliments on it. I had a few flute solos and I guess I made some good impressions. Sometimes, I wish I could play professional flute in an orchestra. That would be cool.

Yesterday, we also sang at First Presbyterian Church in Sioux Falls for choir. Since some of their church members are singing with us at Vespers (which is next Sunday!), so we returned the favor and sang with them at their Sunday Service. We sang two mixed choir songs and one chamber choir song and I was really surprised and impressed with how well we sang. It made me even more excited for Vespers. For this performance, we went up to Sioux Falls on Saturday afternoon and actually stayed with church members (homestays). It was actually a really cool experience and I really liked my hostmom. We went out to eat at this really cool restaurant called Grille 26 and then we went to her house. I helped her make some puppy chow and then we watched Ratatouille. Even better, I got to sleep in a HUGE bed! She even made us breakfast-puff pancakes with apples, sausage, fresh fruit, and tea :)

It seems like everyone went home tonight for break, or perhaps its just all of my friends besides Gina. I might not even have any classes tomorrow, but I stuck around so I could pick up my brother in Sioux Falls tomorrow afternoon and make the rest of the trip home with him.

Guess what? Only one and a half weeks until Thanksgiving Break and then only two weeks until finals! I am so ready for this semester to be over. There were times when I questioned my major, questioned my extracurriculars, and questioned myself, wondering if I could handle everything I put on my plate. But I can finally see the finish line! It's just a hop, skip and jump away!

Speaking of hopping, skipping and jumping, track officially starts next week. I started working out this week though.. I was getting restless and I also wanted to get a jump start on training. We have a new assistant coach this year who will be helping us with strength and conditioning. So far, I have done a few lifting workouts and I am super sore. But I know that weight training is something I need to do to be a stronger runner.. my little arms right now can't propel me!

My online portfolio project was due today. The theme was a flower garden outside, so I had a sky and clouds and grass as the background, and then I had flowers pop up when you rolled over the links. Its cute. And I like it more than the last portfolio I did because it actually has a theme. And I have more work to display on it now ;P

My toe injury is healing, slowly but surely. The nail hasn't shown any signs yet of falling off, but just give it time and I'm sure it will. It's still purple and gross, so I am glad that the weather has gotten cold so I can only wear shoes and no sandals.

This past weekend was Family Weekend and there were a bunch of activities going on. On Friday night there was bowling, but my friends and I got distracted and ended up going pretty late into it and didn't get a lane.. so we played DJ instead and it ended up still being a good time. Saturday was a super busy day for me. I helped at the GPAC cross country meet because it was held in Yankton this year and then I had to hurry back to the school to give tours for the campus visit day. I hadn't given a tour in over a month, but its just like riding a bike.. you never forget how to do it! Later that day, I had to play pep band for the two basketballs games and in the evening I went to the fall play. It was such a good play and I had a lot of friends in it, which I think made it even better! It was very cute and senitmental and everyone did a great job. On Sunday my mom came over because I was playing flute for the Family Mass. I played "The Prayer" which you may have heard before (by Celine Dion :)). We also went to the Family Weekend Brunch.

It will be nice to go home in about a week. It won't be much of a break, since I will have several papers due and much reading to accomplish for when I get back, but it will be nice to just get away from campus for a while. I am excited to see some friends too that I haven't seen all summer. Oh, and of course, do some Black Friday shopping!

This week, I thought my soccer career was going to end early. At our game on Wednesday against Dakota Wesleyan, with 40 seconds left in the second half, I went to kick a ball and I got it, but a DWU defender went to kick too, and got my big toe. I went down hard, but got up like a champ since there was no point in leaving the field for the last 40 seconds. Over the next two days, I had a very purple and swollen toe. The athletic trainer had to drill a hole in my toenail TWICE to drain the blood underneath and relieve the pressure from it. I sat out from practice those two days because my toe hurt too much to wear shoes. Yesterday, we had another game, and I wasn't sure if I would be able to play. So I went to the trainer again and since my toe still hurt to touch, he sent to the clinic to get an xray to see if it was broken. It was my first ever xray and I had to go by myself so I was nervous. But, it turns out my toe was not broken after all, just severly bruised. The doctor showed me the xray image and I saw all my little foot bones perfectly in a row. Except there was some pretty visible swelling too. She said I should not practice until it no longer hurts to put a shoe on... so hopefully I don't have to miss next Wednesday's game too! My mom and brother, and my friend Kelly are coming to that game, so I want to give them something good to watch! Also, what was funny and ironic about missing yesterday's game, was that it was against Concordia, and I missed that game last year too because I was severly sick with a stomach flu! Crazy!

I feel like I have spent the past month in two places: the classroom and a bus. We have travelled the Midwest up and down and over and under for soccer this year. We hit Iowa/Missouri/Illinois which equalled about 16-18 hours on a bus on our first big trip and Nebraska/North Dakota on the second one which equalled about 20 hours on a bus in one weekend. Unfortunately we have been having some bad luck and our record is only 1-10 for the season. We are at the midseason mark right now, so hopefully we can get over our slump and make some magic happen.



As for the classroom, I am still trying to find a routine to work out my 21 credits. The hardest part about it is that I have no morning classes.. they are all in the afternoon and evening. Most college kids would think that is the best situation ever because they can sleep in every day, but for me, I would just rather have my classes 8-12 every day and get them out of the way.



Outside of school and athletic news, I got a new phone! My Blackberry took a turn for the worst, so I finally got rid of it. I ended up getting the LG Ally.. its a droid and it runs soo much better than my Blackberry did. I can actually make and receive phone calls again! And its really cool because its a touch screen and it came with a 4gb memory card so I can take a ton of pictures and have a ton of music on it. I feel like such a kid just talking about it... :P

My favorite class right now is probably Calligraphy. Its so much fun and actually really relaxing to just write letters. We have learned all the lowercase letters in italics and started on the uppercase letters. We have written some quotes and have full pages of words.. I always feel so accomplished after I write a whole page of something!

Third week of school done. Those three weeks went by so fast, and yet they didn't go by fast enough to be stress-free. Since I am taking 21 credits this semester, I am swamped with stuff to do. But what makes it more difficult is that all of my classes are from 1-4pm and then in the evening. So I don't have any classes in the mornings. So either, I have to get up early and do homework in the morning for hours on end (which is weird and contrary to the routine of every other college student) or stay up really late to do homework after my evening classes get over. Its hard to manage my time, but I have been doing my best :)

Soccer has been quite the adventure this year as well. Right now our record is 1-5. We played in a tournament in Canton, Missouri. It was actually alot of fun because we got to stay in a hotel for three days, play two games, go shopping in Quincy, Illinois (we hit so many states on the trip!), and get some quality team bonding time in. We lost out first game we played, but won the second.

Since then, we lost the next three games we played. We have definitely had our share of injuries, which makes it frustrating during games because we barely have any subs and we have players playing positions on the field that they aren't used to.

I am also getting used to my new job with the school newspaper, The Moderator. In previous years I have been a writer and the ad designer, but these year I am also the ad manager. That means I have to call area businesses and see if they want to advertise with us. I have five so far, but would like to get more. I hope my public relations skills work well for me! Tonight I worked on designing a few of the ads that I got.

This week I found out I was picked to be a "Hometown Hero of Character" for Mount Marty Athletics, as well as a male athlete from here. I had never heard of this award before, but apparently area high school and college athletes who show good character are given this award. On Monday, a spokesperson for the award is coming to Mount Marty to take professional pictures of us for a poster that we are going to be on. We had to write a statement about one of five character values, and that will also be on the poster. I chose to write about respect. Anyways, I think its a pretty cool honor and really appreciate being chosen for it.

This weekend is going to be an R and R weekend. We don't have any soccer games, which is totally unheard of! We usually have one (if not two) games every weekend, so I am definitely going to take advantage of all the extra time to get majorly caught up on homework!

Schools starts tomorrow! It will be my last first day of school.. bittersweet, I guess. I AM excited to be done with school but have no idea where I will end up afterwards. The world is my canvas, I guess!

The past two weeks we have had two-a-days for soccer, and as a team we have had ups and downs. We have a lot of talented new players (3 freshmen and 2 transfers), but we have also had a lot of injuries to deal with. BUT, as of right now we only have two players out with injuries and one should be good to go by the weekend, which is a huge sigh of relief. However, the other player out right now is my roommate April.. she fractured her wrist at practice last week and is out until as least September 13th. And of course, it was on her right hand, so she is getting used to doing everything (or at least everything I don't do for her ;P) with her left hand. She is a very valuable player on our team and one of the best (if not THE best) defensive player on our team. So she will be missed dearly during our first part of the season.

I have actually been learning a new position this year, outside back. I have never played a defensive position before.. I have always been an outside mid or forward, so its a lot to learn. Some days I feel like I'm progressing really well, while other days I feel like I can't grasp anything. Its been frustrating but as soon as I can play in a game and get a real feel for the position I think I will improve.

Our first games are next weekend. We are playing in a tournament called the Culver-Stockton Classic in Canton, Missouri. I am excited to go and excited to play! It will be nice to take a trip and sight-see, as well as hopefully win some games! The winner of the tournament gets a trophy, so we definitely have our eyes on it!

My class schedule this semester is pretty odd. I only have one morning class, 11am MWF. All my other classes are in the afternoon 1-4pm. And I have two night classes as well. Its going to be a struggle with soccer to get to all these classes and make up work, but I've done it before and can do it again.

Besides tomorrow being the first day of school, its my 22nd birthday. I don't think I will do much for it since I will have class and practice. My mom and youngest brother came to visit yesterday and my other brother just got back from Montana yesterday and met us here in Yankton, so he had pretty perfect timing. I may go out to eat with Isaac or something, but who knows!

Wow.. I think I spaced off the entire last month of the summer. I haven't blogged in exactly 3 weeks and 3 days.

This is my last week of summer. Soccer starts on Monday, and its gonna be a killer two weeks of practice. Coach emailed us all and said we will be having fitness practice in the mornings, a meeting or lifting in the afternoons, and soccer practice in the evenings at the fields. BY THE WAY, we have NEW fields this year! Ones to call our very own.. I am very excited about this!

At work the past few weeks I have been busy designing. I made posters for the new archery program that is starting here this fall, postcards for last minute financial aid reminders, finished up the orientation materials, made a few newspaper and magazine ads, and lots of other fun stuff. This is my last week of work, which is sad because I will miss the paycheck and actually getting to make finished projects. But alas, I still have one more year of school before I can be let loose into the real world.

Next week will be my last week as an RA. I just hope that when the fall sports kids move in they don't cause a ruckus! I have lots of posters to make for orientation and really need to get started on that. Kelly, the other summer RA, has been busying making posters, so I need to play catch-up.

School starts on August 30.. aka, MY BIRTHDAY. I am okay with it, I just hope with classes and soccer practice I can still find room for a little fun :) I feel so old.. a lot of my friends just turned 21 this summer and I will be 22! But my roommate April turned 22 yesterday, so at least I'm not as old as her!

Tonight I made tatertot hotdish for the few of us still living in the dorms. Kelly had made some for a potluck we had a while back and I wanted to one-up her and show her how it was REALLY done :) So, I worked my magic and it was a hit! No leftovers!

I think I took too much time off from blogging! Its been about two and a half weeks since my last one.

Last weekend was the best weekend of my summer! My friend Theresa got married! And I was a bridesmaid! We have been friends since middle school and she graduated from MMC. I followed in her footsteps in coming here, actually.

Anyways, last Friday I went home for the rehearsal. Isaac and our friends Jordan and Becca came with. The rehearsal was at the church in Jackson and didn't take very long. The groom's dinner/rehearsal dinner was at the golf course in Lakefield. We had tacos lol. How sophisticated ;P After the dinner, we played yard games are Theresa's parents house. Becca and I teamed up against Isaac and Jordan for very intense game of ladder ball.. and we won! Although I would like to think it was a big feat beating these boys, they are notorious for being a bad ladder ball team :P

After the lawn games, we went back to Jackson, but this time to see my friend Lucia. She was a foreign exchange student at my high school two years ago when I was a freshman in college and I got to know her really well and hadn't seen her since then. But she came to the U.S. to visit this summer and I was so happy to see her again! It was really great to catch up and she finally got to meet Isaac. She had talked to him on the phone but was never able to meet the person with the voice.

Saturday morning, I had my hair done at the salon with the other bridesmaids. My style was half up with spiral curls and "little" poof. Lets just say, I would hate to see what the "big" poof looks like! Theresa's sister Laura and I both did similar hair styles, while two of the other bridesmaids did side ponytails and the other two did up-dos. So, we all had hairstyle partners!

We got to the church at 11:30am for pictures. Our bridesmaid dresses were "marine" blue.. somewhere in between royal blue and navy blue. The best part about them was that they had pockets! So we didn't have to haul around a clutch with everything we needed. Anyways, we tooks bridal party pictures for almost two and a half hours in the church as well as outside. It was such a gorgeous day out.. sunny but not extremely hot.

The wedding ceremony was amazingly precious. The groom (Mike)'s dad is a pastor and precided the ceremony. His sermon was awesome because he was able to give personal stories about Theresa and Mike.. like how they were caught smooching in the back of the bus in middle school and how when Mike wanted to transfer to USD, he told his dad that he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life, but he was sure he wanted to be with Theresa. Isn't that just adorable??

The reception was a blast. It was at the Windom Community Center, by the lake (which we, of course, took more pictures by!). The bridal party made their grand entrance (I was escorted by Derek, who I graduated high school with and it was great to see him and catch up with him), then the bride and groom cut the cake (they didn't make a mess of their faces, thankfully!), then we ate some amazing food (catered by the Hi-Lo, where I used to work), and danced the night away. I kept saying that the reception was like a school reunion because there were so many people there from high school.. alot of whom I hadn't seen SINCE high school!

The next day, Isaac, Jordan, Becca and I went to a place called Red Rock Dells. Its about 45 minutes from my house, near Sanborn, MN. Its a beautiful little sactuary in the middle of corn fields. There is a creek that runs through these hugh cliffs and there is even a waterfall! The rocks are about 30 feets high and there is a pool of water at the bottom (where the creek empties into) and you can jump off the rock into the water. So thats exactly what we did. I did this when I was in high school too, so I was the expert. It is so much fun. Isaac and Jordan did it probably a dozen times and they were so sore the next day! I guess the impact of the water was just too much for their sensitive bodies ;)

Here are some pictures from Mike and Theresa's wedding:

Theresa with her bridesmaids after the wedding (so she is a Mrs. in this picture!)

Becca, Jordan, Isaac and I (Becca's dress was unintentionally the same color as our bridesmaid dresses!) (also note the beautiful bouquets we had-purple daisies with green roses)

Guess who is walking down the aisle??

Theresa before the ceremony!

Here are some pictures from Red Rock:

Me with the smaller waterfall.. there was one ten times bigger too!

Becca jumping off the cliff into the water!

I have been really busy with work, giving tours and going to Isaac's baseball games. He pitched his team's first win of the season! That was really exciting. His brother pitched their only other win too. Talent must run in the family.. that, or they are really lucky. ;)

This week I was asked to play in the orchestra for the community theatre's production of "My Fair Lady." I missed the first rehearsal yesterday because my flute was locked up in the instrument closet at school, but I retrieved so I can go to the next rehearsal on Thursday. Isaac is also in this play, but he is in the chorus.. so he gets to sing and dance on stage!

Tomorrow Isaac has a baseball game in Dakota Valley, so we are going to go shopping in Sioux city in the afternoon and have lunch with our friend Heidi. I asked her to find a cute little place for us to eat at, so hopefully she comes up with someplace cool!

It seems like all my paychecks are disappearing so fast because of gas, food, wedding gifts, summer fun and everything else I have to pay for! BUT there are still things I need to go shopping for at the mall :)

My friend Theresa's wedding is in less than two weeks! I know she is getting VERY excited, and that makes me so excited! I should really start practicing walking in my high heals.. I'm nervous about walking down the aisle in them! I would probably be the one to break an ankel during the ceremony.. ;) I am excited to get my hair done and just be a part of the festivities. Some of my friends and I are thinking about going to Red Rock on that Sunday. Its this really cool water hole with a waterfall and gorgeous scenery. The point of going would be to jump off the rock, which is probably 50 or 60 feet high. I have been to Red Rock and done this before, so I will have to be the expert instructor when we go :) It should be fun!

This weekend was my friend Jordan's birthday and he came to Yankton to celebrate. My friend Kelly also came this weekend to help celebrate, which was nice because she lives in Omaha now. We are planning a get-together with Gina for the end of July and will go to the Omaha Zoo!

The mosquitoes are horrible here right now. I think I counted almost two dozen bites
on just my left foot after this weekend! I hope I don't get west nile, because apparently its
going around the area.

I am running a 5K roadrace on the 3rd in Crofton. It will be my first one since August last summer! I am excited to see how I will do and hopefully I can win my age division! I don't know what else I will do over the holiday weekend.. but all I care about is that its a long weekend and I can do nothing and still be satsified :)

Another week down. And only two months left of summer vacation! I can't believe soccer starts so soon. There are a few guys staying at the dorms this summer who are working for the National Park Service and they played soccer with me this week. I need to get more touches on the ball.. but I think I am on pretty good track as far as training goes.


Isaac and I aren't going to Colorado anymore for the 4th of July weekend because he has to work. Even though this will save us probably 3oo dollars (in gas money!), I still wanted to roadtrip, go to Colorado for the first time, see the mountains, and visit my aunt and uncle. Oh well, I guess it just wasn't meant to be.. we will have to find some other time for the adventure.


Last weekend was my friend Beth's wedding. The ceremony was.. different. They did a "foot washing ceremony" which pretty much speaks for itself. And there were THREE pastors presiding the ceremony. We didn't stay for the dance because it was almost ten when we left and it hadn't even started yet! We ended up going to the late showing of "Get Him to the Greek" which was hilarious! I definitely recommend seeing it! We stayed at my friend Laura's apartment. We got up early the next morning to go to Isaac's baseball game but it ended up getting rained out, so we got to hang out with Laura a little longer! She showed me the house she is buying, too.. she is growing up so fast! (She graduated from MMC in 2008 and is a math teacher in Iowa, in case you were wondering!)

Yesterday I went to the beach for only the SECOND TIME this summer. Usually I go to the beach MUCH more, but with the consistently rainy days, its hard to find time to go when it actually IS nice out. We were only there for less than an hour, but I still managed to get a little red.. its better than burning to a crisp or not getting ANY color, but I wish I could just tan like normal, non redheaded people do :P

Today Isaac had another baseball game in Vermillion. He pitched the whole 9 innnings and they won! It was the Zips first win of the season and I was so proud of Isaac for playing so well. I know he is excited that he pitched their first and only win ;)

I don't have much on my agenda for the next two weeks, but I will be going home on July 9th for (my best friend from high school) Theresa's wedding. I am a bridesmaid and honestly cannot wait! Its going to be such a fun time! The time between now and then will pretty much consist of working and going to more of Isaac's baseball games. He has one in Dakota Valley so I think I will take the afternoon off from work so we can go shopping in Sioux City.

ALSO, my German-exchange student friend Lucia is coming to the U.S. to visit next week!! Its so exciting because I haven't seen her in two years! I will have to make a very special trip home to hang out with her for a while because who knows when she will travel across the ocean again to visit!

TGIF.

For some reason the weeks are flying by, just not as fast as I thought they would be. I mean, this was my fourth week of work already, but it seems like I have been working for WAY longer than four weeks. Some projects I have been working on include the covers to the new students planners, a poster for the new bede art gallery exhibit schedule, and I actually am finished with Paddlefish! We uploaded it to the printer yesterday.

I also re-vamped my resume.. now it looks like a real designer's resume! And I finally accomplished the feat of getting all my information on one page.. at one point in time it was two full pages, pushing three.

This weekend Isaac and I are going home for one of my best friends from high school's wedding. She is getting married outside at Lake Okoboji and I am really super excited for this. Its gonna be great to see her and all my other friends from high school and just to celebrate her special day with her. After the reception Isaac and I are going to stay at my friend Laura's house.. a sleepover! :)

The concert last weekend was amazing!! The venue was really nice and pretty small.. and Motion City played such a variety of songs.. it was the best concert yet. It was the fifth time I have seen them live, so that's saying a lot.

My aunt and uncle have invited Isaac and I to come visit them at their ranch in Colorado for the 4th of July weekend. It would be so awesome to roadtrip there to see them! Isaac just has to make sure he can get that weekend off.. and we're there! They live on a ranch with horses that's on an orchard with apples and pears and other fruit. I'm sure its gorgeous there and I can't wait to see it!

I get my first paycheck of the summer this week.. I can't wait! Don't worry, I'm not going on a huge spending spree.. my savings account just looks so empty right now, so it will be nice to actually have something in there!

Last Friday I left work early to hang out with Gina who came up for a few days. We went to the beach (first time this year!), Dairy Dock (raspberry sherbet!), and then treked out to Dell Rapids to see our friend Briana. She was having a nice little get-together. She grilled burgers and veges and her mom made an awesome homemade ice cream cake. A bunch of people from school showed up, which made it even better.

My brother Tyler was here in town all last week. He needed a place to stay before he headed out to Montana for the summer, so Isaac's place was his pick. He left on Sunday afternoon and made it to Flathead Lutheran Camp yesterday afternoon. He made multiple pits stops along the way, to see and stay with friends, including his roommate who lives in Montana. He is going to be a camp leader/counselor/etc etc there. He said they have a different age group come and stay each week so it will be a new experience each time. He is excited for hiking in the mountains and camping.. he bought lots of gear for it all: hiking boots, a rain coat, a sleeping bag, a pocket knife.. I think he is set!

This Friday (two days from now) Isaac, Gina and I are going to a Motion City Soundtrack concert in Omaha. Its pretty cheap and I think its at a small venue, so it should be a really good show! I always prefer the small shows to the huge ones. We are going to stay at our friend Kelly's apartment in Omaha.. she just moved in and wants to play hostess! On Saturday we are all coming back to Yankton to celebrate Gina's birthday. Should be a fun weekend.

As for work, my three jobs have been keeping busy. Being an RA in the summer is pretty stress-free, which is nice. I have been giving a couple tours a week for ADMIT, and at college relations I have done everything from press releases to designing freshman orientation materials to reading the newspaper to find MMC articles. Ahh.. all in a day's work.

This week was my first week of work. I'm working at the college relations office, which is where I do work study during the school year. I think its actually considered an internship, which is great. I had to learn how to log and close jobs and do bills, but besides that my job is pretty much the same as before. I have been working on putting together Paddlefish, I did a ton of press releases, and today I worked on designing the cover for the new student planners.

Isaac had a baseball game on Wednesday in Vermillion. He is playing for Alcester, which is pretty far from Yankton, considering he played for Wynot last year, but he wanted to play on his old team and with his brother, so I guess if it makes him happy... :) They were leading until the 7th inning when Alcester seemed to fall apart and ended up loosing 8 to 5. It was only an exhibition game, though, so it doesn't count towards their season. Isaac pitched a few innings and I always love watching him at the mound :)

Speaking of baseball, MMC's team did amazingly this year. They actually set a new school record for most wins in a season and made it to the national tournament! Their run at the tournament ended today though. BUT, they can't be disappointed because they won all the conference honors and were the first MMC baseball team in history to make it to the national tournament. They have a lot to be proud of!

Last weekend I went to all the garage sales in the City Wide Rummage sales. I got up really early Thursday and went to probably 20 garage sales. I ended up hitting the jackpot at one of the first ones where I found a TON of jewelry. I spent 7 bucks on 10 necklaces, 10 pairs of earrings and two bracelets.. the basis of a whole new beading summer! I also picked up a ton of yarn because my summer goal is to 1) learn to crochet, 2) crochet often enough to be decent at it, and 3) be good enough to crochet a flower scarf, pair of very delicate earrings, and a cardigan. (All of which I have found photos of and instructions for online.)

After tonight I only have one week left of my summer art class. So far, I have painted one painting with oil pastels (of the rocks and water at Cozumel), painted a series of three pictures with watercolors (of little flowered porcelain teacups in the art room), an oil painting of the bluffs and reflection of the sun on the water down by the dam (Dave took us on a little field trip down there to paint one day), and I also painted some plain wooden beads I got from a garage sale. I don't know what I am going to paint next, but hopefully I can think of something tonight so I can work on it all next week.

All A's again.. I honestly don't know how I have managed to keep a 4.0 every semester in college. In high school I graduated with a 3.9 because of a B or two. I guess I've just been lucky.

Finals week flew by and I was done by Wednesday with all my classes. However, I had to ambassador five days in a row after that. So summer vacation didn't start for me until Saturday afternoon.

On Wednesday and Thursday nights we had to ambassador by serving dinner for the President's Society and the Staff/Faculty Recognition dinners. They went quite smoothly when compared to the Catholic Gala dinner we served, mainly because they had far less people and there weren't kids and people EVERYWHERE. On Friday we had our own appreciation lunch and then had to usher at Baccaularette. On Saturday we had to lead the procession and usher at graduation. Graduation was sad this year because I had friends graduating.. I'm not looking forward to next year when the rest of my friends (and I) graduate.

On Saturday afternoon, Isaac, Gina and I went to Council Bluffs to a Relient K and Paramore concert. It was outside at an amphitheater and the place was huge! Luckily it didn't fill up. It was a really good concert.. the last time I saw Paramore I wasn't too thrilled with their live performance but that was about four years ago and they had improved alot! They had so much energy and played all the good songs ;) Relient K was really good too.. I didn't know alot of their songs, but they are Isaac's favorite band so I know he was a super time. The band Fun played too.. the lead singer is actually the same singer from the band The Format and I LOVE THE FORMAT so it was cool to see them too.

This week is going to be pretty laid back for me. I don't start work until next Monday, so my days are completely free. I have my night class, but that is just from 6-8pm every night (and it goes from May 10-28, so its a pretty short class). Today I gave a tour, downloaded music for probably an hour, made lunch, made some sweet new earrings and baked some blueberry muffins. I hope I don't run out of ways to entertain myself before next week ;)

These are the earrings I made today :) I might turn the green one on the bottom left into a pendant for a necklace.

Also, if you would like to see my online graphic design portfolio go here: http://stephanie.mmcgdma.org/.

It's still a work in progress, so don't worry if a few things look a little off.

Its May! And you know what that means.. its almost summer!

This week is finals week and it will be the easiest finals week for me ever. I have a take home test that's due on Wednesday (but I already have it done!), a regular final test on Wednesday, and my graphics project and spring project for my honors class are due on Tuesday. So that means only three days until my semester is over.. and my junior year!

I am staying on campus this summer and working at the college relations office where I do work study. I believe I will start that on May 17. I was also selected as a summer housing assistant so I am very excited to start all of this. I am also taking a summer art class, which starts on May 10 and is for two hours every night. I have a class with that professor now and I asked if we could paint outside everyday and he was thrilled to do that!

I am making an online portfolio website for my final project in my graphics class. I am really really close to being done, I just need a little help in some areas. My professor said I can get it up on the internet after finals week, so in a blog post to come, look for a link to it!

Finally time to blog again. In the two weeks I have been away, much has occurred: choir tour, home from tour concert, Sioux City relays, Catholic Gala, Lia Sophia party, and oh-so much more!

Choir tour was successful. We sang at five high schools in two days. We pretty much had everything down by the time our home concert rolled around a day later. I had a flute solo in a Chinese song, which was probably the crowd favorite at each school. Not because of me, of course, just because it was upbeat and in CHINESE :)

Because of the choir concert, I had to miss the Friday events of the Sioux City relays (aka all open sprinting and mid-distance races and the hurdles). So, on Saturday I ran the 1500m. Its become somewhat of a tradition for me now - only because I also ran that event at SCR last year. This year however, it was NOT pouring rain.. it was gloriously sunny! And I ran the race in 5:44 which is about 20 seconds faster than last year. Needless to say, I am quite pleased with my performance in my once-yearly event. We are supposed to have out last meet before conference tomorrow at Dakota State but I'm not sure if it will happen... there is a 70 percent chance of rain! If I we go, I am scheduled to run the 100 hurdles and 800m.

Last weekend I also Ambassador'ed for the Catholic Gala. It was quite an experience. We served supper to about 200 people and an auction was going on the entire time. They had quite the spread of things to bid on - wooden patio chairs, purses, kids toys, fruit baskets.. you name it! And let me tell you.. these people LOVED to donate money! It was really cool to see how generous people are when it comes to giving back to their church.

I also hosted a Lia Sophia jewelry party this weekend. A bunch of us girls got together and basically just oogled at jewelry. Because I was a hostess, I got super sweet benefits and discounts on the jewelry.. and I ended up getting 9 new things! Ahh..

Since I am staying on campus this summer I applied to be a summer RA/summer housing assistant. I had an interview for that this week and I really hope to get it. I think it would be alot of fun, and since I haven't ever been an RA before (because I think I'm too busy for the commitment) I think this would be the perfect opportunity. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm getting so excited for school to end. I only have two books to read, an oral report, two tests, two papers (which are done, just needed to be handed in), a marketing/advertising plan, and portfolio website to finish. Its getting close!

On Thursday, I have to attend the noon forum for Paddlefish. My story "Existentialism and the Orange Chair" was selected for publication and also won the non-fiction award. My video "Ode to Serotonin" was also selected and awarded the motion graphics award. I have to read my story to everyone, so I hope they all enjoy it.

Oh, and Happy Earth Day! :)

Today was my first outdoor track meet of the season. The real first meet was last week, but I didn't go because it was during Easter break. At today's meet I ran the 100 meter hurdles, the 200 meter dash and the 4x400 relay. It was my first time running the hurdles in over a year.. last year I struggled to get my stride and steps down so I just took time off from it. This year, I have a teammate who is a very good hurdler and she has been helping me with drills and stuff. Its also nice to finally have someone to just hurdle with. Anyways, my time was 18.44 in the race, which met my goal. My fastest is 16.8, so I figured getting that or 17-something would be too high of a goal, so I figured I could get 18-something and I did! Hopefully I can keep improving and get my time down more before conference. The 200 wasn't bad, but I didn't run very fast. And I wasn't supposed to run the relay but someone got injured and needed me to run. I ended up running my split much faster than I expected.. 65. Thats the fastest I have run a 400 in a long time. So needless to say, I was very pleased with my performances today.

For Easter, Isaac and I went to his family's house for the weekend. I think he was really happy to be home for a while and to get to hang out with his siblings. I got to experience a Baptist Easter service, which was interesting. They had two baptisms and a child dedication which were also neat to see.

I feel like I am not going to have a break from school until school is actually over. Each week until the end of the semester I have multiple projects, papers and assignments due. Summer just can't come fast enough!

I have been so tired lately and am so looking forward to Easter break so I can catch up on sleep, among other things.

Over break I am going to get major research done for my oral report in World Lit and my research paper in my Honors class. I want to make sure I get that out of the way so I don't have much to worry about after break. I will also probably finish our current book in World Lit, so that will be one less thing to worry about too. For a while I have felt like I have had too much to do and too little time to do it. I guess I am just ready for summer break.

I have decided to live on campus this summer, since apparently there are no 3-month apartments available in town. But I still don't know where I will be working. I am still hoping vigorously that I will get a position in the college relations office where I currently do work study. But all of that is still in the works, and I am still on edge.

My current project for Web-Based Motion Graphics is to make a game in Flash. Mine is a puzzle of a palm tree (yep, one of my own photographs from Mexico :)). The plan was to finish it this weekend, but I got stuck when trying to make the restart button (which puts the puzzle pieces back to a jumbled pile), so I didn't accomplish much.

My first track meet is on Friday. I am hoping and praying that the weather cooperates, because last year was a crap-tastic year for track meets. I had one race last year that I ran in pouring rain. So I'm hoping this year will make up for it.

Isaac and I will be going to his house for Easter to celebrate with his family. It should be a different experience because they are Baptist and I am Catholic, so I will get to see how an Easter service works in a Baptist church.

I'm back from Spring Break but wish I was still in Mexico. I had so many great experiences - I got to see Mayan ruins, go snorkeling with tropical fish, see Mexican mansions along the coast of Cozumel, see white sand beaches and swim in the clearest waters I have ever seen. Not to mention, I got there via a cruise ship! I have decided to share my vacation through photos, instead of just talking about it.. :)

View of the "Lido" Deck from a higher deck on the Carnival Ecstasy.

First sunset on the ocean.

Eating sushi (I didn't like it).

Standing on the "Temple of the Seven Dolls" at the Dzibilchaltun Mayan Ruins, in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico.

The clear water in Cozumel, Mexico.

Towel animals! We got a new one every night.

Briana, Kelly, Me and Gina getting hit with a wave in Progreso.

The path our ship took during our cruise.. the circling was done during the fog when we were waiting for the port to open (we got an extra day on the cruise because it took a day for the fog to lift).

I am leaving for the cruise to Mexico in two days! I'm so excited! The cruise is on Carnival Ecstasy and the route is in the Western Caribbean. We are leaving on Friday at 2 pm and driving to Galveston, Texas. We are stopping in Missouri for midnight bowling along the way, too which will be a good start to a good week :)

We are boarding the ship in the morning on Saturday and leaving land that afternoon. There is a special late supper for us on the cruise and they actually have "dress codes" for the dinners on the cruise. So, basically, this means I will be wearing cute dresses and skirts very often! BUT I am also bringing five pairs of shorts (I hope thats not too many :P).

On Monday we are porting in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico and my friends and I are going to go shopping and check out everything that's there. On Tuesday we are porting at Cozumel and we booked a shore excursion for snorkling! We take a sail boat out on the water and then snorkle with the tropical fish and then come back and go to a beach party! I cannot wait to see all these crazy awesome fish! AND to top it off, I'm going to try to get a waterproof camera so I can take underwater pictures of these fish! Great idea right? Right.

We leave the ship on Thursday morning and then, since its a choir trip, we are singing at two schools in Houston and staying the night there afterwards at a sweet hotel. On Friday morning we are singing at two more schools in Texas and then driving to Kansas City and spending the night there.. I think we get to go shopping and stuff that evening too. Then on Saturday morning we will leave to come back to Yankton.

Did I mention how excited I am? :)

This week has been a long week, but at the same time, its gone quite fast.

Isaac surprised me with roses this week.. I had kept "hinting" at him to get me flowers for Valentine's day, which in reality was me flat-out telling him I wanted flowers. They were orange roses, with a note that read "Orange flowers for my orange head." How romantic. And also, while we are talking about Isaac, he got a job today! After a month and a half of searching and applying he finally found work.. at Bomgaars. My johnmate Kelly works there so I think she worked her magic and helped him get the job.. either way, I'm happy. The poor little guy has been trying so hard.. he must have applied 20 places!

But enough about him. I finished "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and it was amazing. I have never been a big book reader, but this book was amazing and makes me wonder why I haven't.

In motion graphics we are making websites for our next project. We learned code in Flash all last week, which was frustrating and confusing. However, I managed to pull together a pretty cool website called "baubles and beads." If you couldn't guess, its a jewelry website. Later in the semester we have to make another website and I think I will make my online portfolio.

This weekend I am playing in an indoor soccer tournament in Sioux City. I haven'y played any indoor soccer yet this year so it should be interesting. And speaking of the weekend, I never mentioned last weekend. I went to Tonic Sol Fa in Sioux Falls on Saturday.. if you don't know, they are an amazing a cappella group. MMC's Smooth Benediction a cappella choir opened for them and they did great. Tonic Sol Fa was super entertaining and I was so glad I got to go. On Sunday I went to another concert.. but this time it was Remedy Drive! They are so good live and present such a good message. We even got to meet them after the show, but for me it was like the third time meeting them :P

This week was homecoming.. and it was super busy.. but super fun!

The festivities started on Sunday with free bowling.. for Gina, April, Isaac and I it was quite an adventure because the lane we were using kept have trouble. First, it kept resetting itself and giving us spares and strikes (which none of us complained about), but then the thing that drops the pins down broke the light on the lane and it shattered everywhere so that had to be cleaned up and then we had to finish the game without a light. But, we finished it.

On Monday we went ice skating. It was only my second time ice skating ever, and at first I struggled.. but then I tightened my laces and it helped so much! Tuesday I had class so I didn't join the fun (laser tag, human bowling, caricatures). On Wednesday I had pep band and watched the basketball games. Thursday was the dodgeball tournament which was super intense because the hardcore teams threw the balls so hard they bounced of people in the audience. So even if you weren't playing, you still had to dodge the balls! After the tournament was a free movie, "The Book of Eli." It was definitely a different movie.. not what I thought it would be..

Friday was coronation. I had to ambassador for that, and afterwards there was a magician/comedian. He was super funny and really interacted with the audience. I loved it when he would show a trick, show how it was done, and then totally blow our minds by taking it to another level. For one trick, he shoved a hankerchief into his fist and it "turned into" an egg. When he showed us how he did it, he had a plastic egg in his hand the whole time and it had a hole in one side that he shoved the hankerchief into. But then right after showing that he cracked the very same egg into a glass and it was real! I don't know how he did it...

On Saturday there was a "tailgate party" and roommate survivor. April went home this weekend so Gina and I did the roommate survivor. The first challenge was a scavenger hunt.. we failed at that to say the least. The second challenge was an egg drop contest and, again, we failed. But the last challenge was trivia and we totally won! However, winning that one challenge didn't help much because we came in 4th place.

The dance was that night and I had alot of fun at that. I wore a pink dress and Isaac wore a red dress shirt in honor of Valentine's day ;) Speaking of, we didn't do a whole lot for the occassion.. we stayed in cuz it was nasty out and made supper together and watched a movie. Most of the day, however, I did homework. Since it was a three-day weekend my teachers thought it was a good idea to load me up with it. I begged to differ.

Today Gina and I went shopping for dresses to wear in Mexico. We were very successful. Only 20 days left until we leave for our cruise! I'm so excited!

February already. And a week into it too. This weekend has gone by so fast. On Friday night, we had a choir party. It had a theme of "5" which was odd at first I'll admit, but the food choices were quite genious. Gina and I brough a trail mix that had five ingredients: M&Ms, gummy bears, pretzels, goldfish crackers, and popcorn. Other people brought multi-grain cheerios (that has five different grains), crackers and dip with five different kinds of crackers, a five-layer chip dip, etc. During the party we watched The Simpson's Movie because there are five family members in the Simpson's family.. clever, eh? After the choir get-together, Isaac, Gina and I watched the Hangover, and then Gina and I decided we wanted to learn Stu's Tiger Song on the piano. We YouTubed a tutorial for it and then went to the music hall to learn it. It was much easier than we thought, and it 0nly took us half an hour to learn! So, since we conquered one song, we moved onto another and learned "Us" by Regina Spektor. That song was even easier to learn and it sounded really cool when we both played it (one high octave and one low).

On Saturday I had my last track meet of the season before the conference meet. I ran the 1000 meter run and ran four seconds faster than the last time I ran it. I also did the 4x400 relay which is something I haven't done it nearly a year. I failed at that tho (ha!) and we got last in that event. Oh well.. I just hope enough people drop out of the 1000 so I can run it at conference! Otherwise, I will probably going as an alternate for the 4x8 and 4x4 relays, which will make for a super boring day.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday! April and I are hosting a party in the lounge and everyone is required to bring good food. April is making nachos, I am making lil smokies, Gina is making white grape/peach punch, and others are bringing muffins, fruit, and other good snacks. Since the Vikings aren't in the game, I really don't care who wins or loses.. April is all for the Colts, so I think I might root for the Saints! ;)

This weekend I ran the 1000 meter run at the track meet. It was the first time I ever ran that event and it was quite interesting. I thought it would be similar to running the 800, just with an extra lap, but no. There were two heats and they intermixed the runners, so fast and slow people were together instead of one heat of slow and one heat of fast. Because of this, I struggled with pacing myself. I ran my first lap WAY too fast.. 35 secs. By the fourth lap, I was done.. I ran that one in 49 secs.. it sounds so pathetic, BUT I managed to beat one person. And if I want to look at the bright side, I PR'ed in that event! (Because I had no time to beat since I hadn't run it before!)

I have been doing some winter conditioning workouts for soccer as well as my usual track workout. I lift with the soccer team on Tuesdays and then run my track distance workout afterwards, and on Wednesdays I do my track speed workout and then finish the soccer conditioning workout.

For my first project in Web-Based Motion Graphics, we have to create a character in a world using Flash. My character is a ballerina. Our second project is to animate a character, so I will have my ballerina dance on a stage. I'm getting more excited to learn how to use Flash animation, since most of the animations you see on the internet are made with Flash.

Right now, as I am blogging, I'm watching the Vikings/Saints football game. I am, of course, rooting for the Vikings but this game is very frustrating and intense. I think I need to focus my attention on the TV for now in hopes that my extra concentration helps them out.

First week of classes... and surprisingly enough, I don't have much homework. I already read my first book for World Lit, so I just have to skim the chapters before class. And I already don't have Motion Graphics tomorrow and Writing and Publishing on Friday.

In April I will be hosting a Lia Sophia party in Yankton. I'm super excited about it because I absolutely love their jewelry! A new collection for spring is coming out in February so that will be the catalog used at my party.. it has a bunch of new necklaces that I just love! There are a lot of perks to being a hostess of these parties too because based on how much you sell at your party, you can get a lot of free jewelry.

My first track meet of the season is this weekend. I honestly don't know how prepared I am for it or if I am even in good shape. Yesterday I ran four miles and it felt okay.. but I know I can do better. Today I will be doing a speed workout so we will see if I die during that or not ;) I think I will be running either the open 800 or the 4x800 at the meet. Either way, its half a mile so it doesn't matter to me what I run. I hope doing that can help me improve on my 400 time though because I would love to get back on the 4x400 relay team. Also, in addition to my track workouts, I will be doing some of the winter conditioning workouts with the soccer girls. I think it will help me a lot to get in better shape (and faster) and I will also get to hang out with those girls, since I don't get to see them much during the off season.

I have a three hour art class tonight, and I'm lucky I have no homework yet, because I would have to be using this time to get it done. I don't know how lucky I will be in the upcoming weeks though!

I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I last blogged! I guess I have a lot of explaining to do..

The beginning of my Christmas vacation was pretty uneventful. I basically spent my days sleeping, eating, working out and watching movies. Vacation is basically the only time I get to do that! We had Christmas at my house the Sunday before since we would be in Pennsylvania the day of. I got some pretty sweet gifts: a new blue and gold soccer ball from Teague, a mug and hot chocolate from Tyler, a pearl earring/bracelet/necklace set and earring tree from my mom, and earrings and The Hangover from Isaac.

The next day, we drove up to the cities and stayed in a hotel because our flight was early the next morning. We got to the hotel just in time to catch the shuttle bus to the Mall of America, so we went. I'm not the biggest fan of the MOA, basically because its just too big and takes forever to get through the stores. I did however go to Urban Outfitters since I made a commercial for it in class and wanted to see how close I was to capturing the right feel. I was way off on the clothes but pretty dead on with the atmosphere.

We had to get up at 5 am to get catch the 6 am shuttle to the airport. We flew out at 8 am and landed in Detroit by noon. Then we flew out and were in Scranton by 4. It was the first time I had flown anywhere in probably ten years.. and it was Isaac's first time flying! It was great getting to see my aunts and uncles.. I hadn't seen them in so long!

We did a bunch of fun stuff while in Pennsylvania... a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton hockey game, skiing at Sno Mountain, gambling at the Mohegan Sun casino, shopping in the Pocono Mountains. Plus, I think we went to the mall four or five times, I got to hang out with my cousin Kristen, and the whole family helped make Christmas dinner. I had such a blast.

Since we got home, I haven't done much. Isaac and I went to my friend Brynn's house for new years and we had a good time. Then on New Year's Day, we took Teague sledding and I wiped out more times than not. A couple days ago, Isaac's brother (who plays for USF) had a basketball game in Worthington so we went to watch him play, and then that night we went bowling in Fairmont with a bunch of my friends. After, we went to my friend Allie's house and played with her new puppy Emma.. she is a golden lab and is beyond adorable!

For the rest of the week, I probably won't be doing much. I need to be working out and running, but its below zero outside and my treadmill is broken, so that leaves me with two options: running stairs in my house or riding the stationary bike. Both are pretty lame and not hard workouts. I can definitely say that I won't be in the best of shape when I get back to school.