Saving Lives!

That's what the Dance Team did today; or helped do anyways. We hosted another blood drive today and had one of our best turnouts ever! We're just finishing up the all-day affair. Eventually we will go out to eat as a team. I'm excited...I'm so hungry! Dance team has been taking up quite a bit of time lately. We have had tough practices everyday [it hurts to take my coat on and off, I'm so sore!] preparing for upcoming performances. Tomorrow we are performing twice at the halftimes of the men's and women's basketball games. Anyone can check out our performances on our Facebook fan page! Just search: Coe College Dance Team!

MLK Day of Service

Classes have commenced though not today. Today classes were canceled to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In the spirit of this day, the Service Learning Department hosted a service opportunity for students on campus. I thought it sounded fun, so I went. I ended up being one of nearly 60 students who spend 2 hours bagging almost 7000 meals to be sent to Haiti. There was originally only enough money raised by students to produce 4800 meals, but a couple of different departments on campus chipped in part of their budget to help cover the rest. It was really cool doing something to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. My job this morning was to add the rice to the bags of food. The rest of my day has been spent catching up with friends and getting ready for the dance team performance at the men's basketball game tonight!

Back to Coe I Go

Well, I feel as if my winter break is over. I am heading back on Wednesday though classes do not start until the 13th. There is quite a bit of work to be done on my honor's thesis before the semester gets started.

My time at home has passed quickly with lots of adventures. We had three days of Christmas seeing both sides of the family. I spent several days fighting a cold. New Year's was spent at home with a few good friends. I also spent a weekend in Denver visiting an old friend and a day shopping with my mom. Little has been completed on my list of things to do so I will spend the next two days scrabbling.

Then back to Coe for my last semester!

It's that time of year...Christmas cookies!!!

My brother and I have both been on our winter breaks since Saturday [I was done Tuesday]. Sleep and TV kept us entertained for awhile, but they both soon lost their luster. After putting up the Christmas tree and wrapping all of our presents, the only thing left to do was to make Christmas cookies!! I made my all-time favorite sugar cookies. Kayler made his first attempt at gingerbread men! He even had to make his own cookie cutter since we have failed to add a gingerbread man cut-out to our collection. They turned out pretty...big, lol. We both frosted them and I must say--they look good! Dad already taste tested them for us!

All of our cookies!! And Kayler decorating :)

Each of us with one of our cookies!

Kali and Kayler with the Christmas tree [never mind our pajamas!]

Done & Headed West

Whew! I survived one more finals week and am now packed and ready to head home for the holidays. It is an 11 hour drive :/. I am pretty sad leaving my apartment and roommates for so long. To celebrate before we left, we got together with another apartment full of friends and had a Christmas feast. We had an entire turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, veggies, jello, rolls...you name it. Following our meal we had a secret Santa gift exchange. It was a lot of fun! I can't wait to get back next semester. I will be done (hopefully) applying to grad schools, have an easier schedule, and will be able to spend lots of time with my friends. Gotta soak it up--it will be my last semester! Anyways, the open road is calling my name :)

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 :)