Snow!!

This morning I woke up to a winter wonderland! Well, I guess I sat last night and watched it snow for a bit, so it wasn't a surprise. It was one of those pretty, really sparkly snows. I don't know how much is on the ground but enough to muster a snowball or two. By tomorrow we are suppose to have enough snow for a bunch of snowballs! I've never actually had a snowball fight here at Coe, but have taken to making snow angels with friends, lol. Put on your mittens and grab your scarf...we're going to play outside!

View from my window!

Don't Worry...I'm Still Here!!

I realize that I have failed to post for two weeks now. Understand that this is only because these weeks passed without my recognition. I have no idea where that time went!! I have been bust keeping up with my classes--a portfolio for my independent study class, a final paper for Creativity, self portrait for Painting, and a continuous stream of readings and responses for Social Psychology. I have also spent a lot of time with the dance team as we prepare for the State Competition coming up this Friday!!

For Thanksgiving I was able to put all of this aside for a few days. Andrew and I made the 11 hour drive out to northwest Kansas on Tuesday. I spent a day helping my dad with corn harvest, a day hunting with Andrew and my little brother, a day going around town and visiting people...it was busy! Thanksgiving day we had a small meal at home with the 5 of us for lunch, then went over to a friends home for an extremely large dinner. I was very thankful for the opportunity to go home and spend time with my family. It was also great having Andrew come with me; especially for the company on the drive there and back.

Back at school now I am overwhelmed with the amount of work that is left in the final week and a half of the semester. I can't believe how fast all the time has flown!! I'll update you soon on how it is all going...promise!

Me and Andrew getting ready to hunt.

Little brother and Andrew hunting

Pretty Kansas sunset :)

Oh my gosh! I totally forgot to post last week...sorry! Pinkie promise it won't happen again. It just shows how busy I have been! Every free moment has been spend studying for the GRE. This is the general admissions exam for graduate school and I'm taking it this Thursday! I'm super nervous.

And I may have lied a little bit. Not ALL of my free time has been spent studying (but a lot of it!). This weekend I managed to find enough time to head down to Iowa City to tailgate for the Iowa vs. Northwestern game. Five friends and I packed into Nicki's boat of a car and jammed out all the way to Iowa City. Once there we were greeted with black and gold everywhere...it was crazy! I wish we'd had tickets to the game. We ended up going to Sonic for lunch instead and only caught the 4th quarter on TV when we returned. It ended up being Iowa's first loss of the season :(. I still had a great time though.

Did I mention it was 65 degrees all weekend? In November! It was crazy beautiful. Sunday I spent watching a heated game of badminton, cruising in the boat-car with the windows down & music up, and going for a bike ride around Cedar Lake. Then I finally came in side and completed 2 practice tests for the GRE before working on my homework for the week.

Check another great weekend off the list! Wish me luck on Thursday!

It's More than Just Corn!

Update on my life:

I had a fabulous weekend. :) I was able to spend a bunch of time with my friends [including a dinner with my roommates!], Coe won our football game, I spent a night dancing in Iowa City, didn't worry about homework AND went to the prettiest place EVER: the Palisades.

SEE:



This is a state park only 15 minutes from Coe. It was such a beautiful fall day on Sunday, that I couldn't help going to wander the trails and checkout all the trees changing color.

All that sunshine and happiness has shrunk down to a faint glow as the clouds moved in and my workload seemed to quadruple! I have received all of my final projects for my classes and have a LOT of work to do in the next month. I can't even believe October is over...no idea how I'll get through November. Also...I take GRE in 2 weeks. This is the ACT of graduate schools--I'm so nervous!! So, this week is full of homework and studying and time management. At least I have pictures of my blissful weekend to help me through!

Rock & Roll!

Rock and Roll: the theme of my life for the past 4 days.

I just returned from Cleveland, Ohio (my first visit to the state) where I attended a Business Communications Conference with 2 Coe professors and 5 other students. The theme of the conference: Communication Rocks!

What's with all the rock and roll? Cleveland is home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! And we were lucky enough to spend an entire morning there! I loved it. Anything from Woodstock to Elvis' purple Cadillac to Micheal Jackson's sparkling glove....I saw it all! Probably could have spent days at the kiosks full of hit music.

The rest of the trip was really good too. At the conference I was able to attend a resume, apprentice, and networking workshop where the panel consisted of professionals in the PR field. SO COOL! I basically spent 3 days brushing sleeves with people who have been in the business for years and really know there stuff. (PR is where I hope to be someday!).

I even had a glimpse of fame when I was selected out of the 200+ crowd to come on stage by one of the keynote speakers. Long story, but I ended up on stage with a full body suit and mask with the nickname, "pudding girl" haha.
[http://twitpic.com/m566p or http://twitpic.com/m56kl]

Anyways, I'll stop rambling about my trip and show off some of the pictures I took!

Cleveland skyline :)

Me with the guitars of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum :)

Nick and his best Micheal Jackson move at the Rock and Roll Museum, haha.

GIANT billboard of Lebran James. Can you see Erin? She is the tiny person in front!

Pretty fountain in downtown Cleveland.

The Cleveland Browns! (I don't really watch football, lol)

Back to the Grind

Well, fall break has come and gone. It was a great 4 day weekend...I wish I could extend it! My adventure began Saturday morning when my roommate Kim and her boyfriend decided they were driving up to St. Paul, MN to see our friend Sarah. I was torn between going with them and going to Iowa City to tailgate the Iowa homecoming game, so I flipped a coin. Minnesota it was! We drove up in time to catch the end of the artist crawl in downtown St. Paul followed by an awesome dinner with Sarah's family. Sunday morning Ben, Kim and I started back to Cedar Rapids, but not before stopping at the Mall of America!! I was my first time there AND Kim and I rode the roller coaster at 10 AM...it was awesome!

As soon as we were back in Cedar Rapids (5 hours later), we picked up Jenna and Ethan and drove out to Wilson's Orchard in Iowa City. It was such a cute place to be; we had a great time! We weren't able to pick apples because of the frost, but found some sweet pumpkins to decorate our apartment with. Also ate the best apple turnover of my life. We were going to end the night with Quarter-mania Bowling, but we were beat and all ended up watching movies.

So Saturday and Sunday were my relaxing and adventure days. Monday and Tuesday I spent a bunch of time on homework (over 6 hours in the studio for Painting I!) and worked on my grad school applications/search. I also found time to go shopping and do some arts and crafts :) . Overall a fabulous weekend!

Classes start back today, but it will be a short week!

Sponge Bob at Nickelodeon Universal in the Mall of America. "Think Happy!!"

"Having fun at Wilson's Orchard" with Kim, Ben, Jenna and Ethan :)

Kim and I with our cute little pumpkins.

Cutest picture ever! All of us in the rows of the orchard.

Homecoming Pics :)

As promised! A brief recollection of my fabulous week:

The senior powder-puff team huddled up. We were the champions!

Me and the corvette I rode during the parade :)

Some of the Homecoming Court at halftime of the football game. Note the King and Queen on the left!

My roommates and me ready to head to the dance. We stopped for a photo opportunity with Elvis! [Yes, we have an Elvis cutout in our apartment]

As I walked into the dance I found my name on a star! This is my friend Ethan, co-chair of the Homecoming committee--he helped plan it all!

A few friends at the dance! :)