Last night with Danielle

A few pictures from December....

It was the end of finals week, and the sun had finally come out! It felt glorious. Well, I did have a paper to write, but a few of us decided to just lie out on the lawn. The the pres. came over to enjoy it with us, and Bleeker brought out the camera. So we held an impromptu lesson on the lawn:)

Afterwards, we got down to work.... by bringing out blankets and "writing our papers"After our day of rain and frigid weather, the mountains were gorgeous!!! Snow half way down the mountain.Jamie and Jana inevitably wound up in a paint battle. As did many of the girls.It is Providence tradition for everyone, during finals week, to put their hand prints up by the room they are staying in for the year. Thursday night, we played the roommate game. Each room sent one person up to the front, and asked us all the same questions. The person up front and the people left sitting down tried to give the same answer. We didn't do too well with the 'normal question section', we did much better with the 'random, why-the-heck-do-you-know-this-about-your-roommate section' ;) We also had a Secret Santa exchange going on that week. This is one of my roommates, Krista.Candace got SO excited when she found out her cute little snowman lights up and changes color! She was literally thrilled.Cadace was Jana's secret santa. We went to Target together and found these hilarious socks! We were hoping she would take it the right way. I think she did =) Candace and I couldn't help but laugh at these socks. They're great.We were a little nervous, though. Right before, someone had given a pretty necklace to the girl sitting next to Jana, and she was really admiring it..... Candace and I just looked at eachother and laughed.Aren't they hilarious? So much better than opening up a bottle of lotion, or something of that sort!

Lots of stress and studying was going on in our room throughout finals week, so at the end, we kind of exploded. We decided to hang our sheep (which Krista had so kindly given to us) from the ceiling. We even tied bells, which someone else had given to us, around their necks. They looked so silly hanging upside down from the ceiling. Either that, or we just had way too much energy after a week of exams =] Either way, it was a fun night. Candace also wanted to hang her sonwman, and really got a kick out of it, when it turned red and glowed on the sheep...... like I said, stress!

Up to date....

I really haven't posted much lately, but so many things have happened, that I'm not sure I could post about all of them. So I'll just fill you in on one or two things. First of all, the drama club (which I am treasurer or secretary of - I don't know which- lol) put on a play. Actually three, but you know what I mean =) Here are a few pictures.....Charlie BrownThe whole castThe ProposalIt's Nuts & The ProposalMichelle and I worked on backgrounds and setsPutting up the backgrounds

One of our backgrounds (for It's Nuts)
Other than that, all I can think of is that I went to a cross country banquet, which was fun. The whole team and guests went to a local Mexican restaurant. It was the first one ever, so it's always neat to be a part of the "firsts" :)

Dorm door

Our first decoration attempt were these pumpkins. The post-it notes name who is each pumpkin. On top was Candace, Stalin (Henry), Laurelinda, me, Evelyn, Krista.... I think

Then we put up wrapping paper that has candy and ice cream and pie all over it! We also taped some real candy onto the door....

.....which is fun, because now everyone is coming to our door to lick it (it is required that we take a picture of them licking the candy before they can take it off).

First adventure

I went on my first adventure, tonight. I started out the night listening to a piano/violin concert given by Sarah Vendsel and Izumi Kashiwagi. Very pretty. I left 2/3rds of the way through in order to go to support our softball team. The game was over with suprising speed... it usually happens that way. Anyways, when I came back, I started talking with Candace. We decided it would be fun to go to starbucks to read for a bit, since we'd both been wanting to catch up on some 'fun' reading. After sitting for about ten minutes, though, we were kicked out because it was closing. So we went to the Ontario airport to try to find a place to park. We wound up in a hotel parking lot near the airport so we could see the planes take off- none ever did. We did see a train, though:) Twas the first time I had done something completely random and spur of the moment like that.

Reformation week festivities :)

We've had quite a few activities going on this past week at PCC. It started on Tuesday night when they watched a movie called Luther, and then Wednesday night was a l"lecture" on whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween. I don't know much about either of them since I was doing homework on Tuesday, and Wednesday I had cherubkids. Thursday night we carved pumpkins! It was actually the first time I had carved one myself. I did one with Stalin (Henry for real:). We carved a ghost on one side, and then on the other, we put a tombstone, with my name on it!!! (I call him Stalin, he calls me Fall- or whatever the current season is). Sadness. I was carving out the tombstone, and he was standing behind me chanting 'go, August, go!' and dancing- pretty morbid. Friday night was also fun. I went to a softball game with Brett (PCC lost, as usual:( and then we were sitting in front of the office talking. We went to McDonalds with a couple of other people, but when we got back, there were four of us who finally (around midnight) decided to watch a movie. We piled the back of my truck full of blankets and pillows, and then the four of us squashed into my truck bed. I felt like I couldn't breathe, being stuck between two massive guys!

Yesterday, we had a harvest festival type thing for the kids in the community, and then that night sat around listening to different 'scary' stories and poems and things of that sort. It was pretty neat. And then we spent the rest of the night talking under the gazebo. PLUS, we got an extra hour of sleep- way awesome. And that was my week!

(I was mr. potato head)

Bio fieldtrip

I went on a Bio fieldtrip today:) It was quite fun. There are only 6 students, and 3 adults went, too. We headed out at 8 this morning to 1000 palm canyon. We hiked for about 1-2 hours looking at all the different vegitation. It was pretty fun. But hot. Very very hot. We then piled back int othe cars and stopped at the Date Oasis for lunch. We had brought our lunches, but we got to try a date shake:) It was mainly just sweetness in your mouth:) After that, we went to painted canyon. It was so gorgeous. It looked like all the paintings you see where the hills look red and green and blue. Pretty awesome. We hiked around there for awhile. Then piled into the car yet again. We stopped at in-n-out for dinner on the way home and then spent the trip home talking and napping. Twas a fun day, I just wish it hadn't been the weekend before mid-terms!!!! I should really start to study for those (thank goodness I only have 2).

Whatnot

I was able to go home this weekend to visit with Mary and Luke:) I left here Friday night around 8 and was home before nine. I love driving home. I love driving by myself, and I love doing it in the dark- I feel so isolated and wonderful. that sounded emo, but whatever:P Spent most of the weekend at home with siblings and grandparents- it was pretty cool. I came back last night, and was surprised at how much I missed people. It was nice to get back. It was so cold, though! The weather is definitely changing. Gone is the 108 degree weather we had for about 2 weeks. It felt like it was about 50 last night. Today was a lazy day, but I still managed to get a good chunk of homework done. Tonight I have to revise a paper, and then will hopefully be able to go on a walk- I haven't gone in a while. Oh! and when I came back yesterrday I found that my room had been completely cleaned. It's amazing. I don't think it has been this clean since BEFORE we all moved in. So yes, it has been a happy weekend, and will hopefully be just as good of a week (no tests/papers after tomorrow, so it is starting off well:)

Vball

My throat is now soar from cheering for volleyball. We won the last game, but lost overall. Twas still fun overall

I don't know what to call this

I haven't updated in awhile. But I don't feel like updating. So let me just say that in the past 8 days, I have sat on the side of the freeway twice, waiting for the tow truck to come. Thankfully it wasn't Rhoda that was in need of towing:)

Wipeout!!

Today we had a student senate planned event from like 3-5:30. Twas so much fun! Two or three weeks ago we all signed up for this event without knowing exactly what we were doing. We were sent an email telling us what team we were on. My team was amazing- I had a good mix of people that I kind of know and people who I didn't, but want to get to know better. We played tug of war (with a pile of flour and water in the 'pit'), that hula hoop game where you hold hands and try to send it on down the line of people, walked a plank with all 6 members tied at the waist, had like a 6 billion legged race, played volleyball with water balloons and towels. Anyways, our team ended up being in the top two! Which was somewhat of a surprise. The ending game was an all or nothing between the top two games. They had a pool full of pink lemonade, and the two teams lined up single file on either side. The person in front dipped a sponge and then passed over the head, the next person under the legs, and so forth and so on until the last person squeezed it into a bucket and ran to the front of the line. By the time we were done we were covered in lemonade, but regardless, we went to in-n-out covered in the sticky mess. Twas a really fun time.

Labor Day

We had a Labor Day bbq, and afterwards about 4 hours of volleyball!!! It was crazy. But fun:) My wrists are so bruised now, though. They are so sensitive that this morning in the shower, it hurt when the water sprayed on them. I guess I should learn when to stop playing. Or toughen up (I like the 2nd option better:).

Birthday:)

I must say, I've never seen a group of people work so hard to try to make a day so special. Monday night, a bunch of girls were watching a movie in the lounge room. The movie ended around 12:20, but being in a daze, I thought nothing of it. They did- they burst out singing Happy Birthday. I don't even know how they planned that, since I was sitting in the room with them the whole time! Unless they assumed I would watch the movie, and decided way earlier in the day. I woke up that morning to take a shower. I didn't have contacts in yet, but I saw these blurry shapes at the end of the hall with balloons and streamers. I could totally hear them saying- "here she comes, oh no, quick go in this way" :) lol. my roommates decorated my bed, and then scared me when I came back into the room after my shower, when they yelled surprise, and I was expecting people to be sleeping still (I couldn't tell who it was that was at the end of the hall). I foolishly thought that would get everything out of their system. No. Apparently, everybody told EVERYBODY else (even a visitor who had graduated last year and who I had met 5 minutes ago, came running back into my room to give me a hug!). I also received an embarrassingly loud and awkward round of happy birthday singing in the cafeteria during lunch by everyone in there. Bethany then came by for a visit (APU is only like 25 minutes away:):). Dinner was normal, except for the fact that these pieces of paper that have all the announcements for the day and are on the tables said Happy Birthday, August. I also got laughed at uncontrollably for the fact that I like mannequins (it was a good laugh, though). We were having a Bible Study at 10, but the leader asked if everybody could come in a little early. I went in and sat in a chair. I should have figured something was up when a couple people were holding cameras..... nope. They turned off the lights, and brought in a cake covered in things that partly define me. Like paints, a brush, and two little masks (which are now sitting on my desk). It was decorated amazingly!! I am so amazed at these ladies who went so far out of their way for me. All day, I was receiving cards and gifts outside my door. They certainly succeeded in making me see how blessed I am to be here among them.

Dorm!

Here is my bed and you can kind of see my desk in the corner. I took this picture the first day, so that I knew I'd have a picture with my bed made:)

Here is kind of our room layout(I am standing at the back, facing the door). You can see the foot of my bed, and Evelyn sleeps above me! She seems really nice, she is from Canada, and is best friends with another of my roommates, Candace. The bed along the wall is Lorelinda's- she has a desk set up underneath, which is pretty awesome. Krista is on the last bottom bunk, and Candace is above her! We all seem to get along pretty well- no one plays outrageously loud music or goes to bed at 2am (yet:). Though someones alarm clock did go off for like 12 minutes this morning. I'll try to post actual pictures of people at some point. I hate going up to people and actually asking them for a picture, though. So that is that, and now you can picture me in my room.

Goodbyes

At the end of this week, I am saying goodbye. And all this week, I am hanging with friends and family :) Monday: Bethany and I went to Signal Hill to talk- this random guy came up to us and told us how lucky we were to be sitting there in the most gorgeous spot in the world (in his opinion (and he's been to over 60 countries)). When we started to freeze, we went to It's A Grind for a hot choc. Tuesday: I got off work unexpectedly early, so I went to Baja Fresh. bought two tacos, and drove into a random neighborhood to enjoy them while sitting in my car listening to the radio- it was so much fun:D Then I went to Danielle's house to try to finish the painting we started ages ago. We have a little left to go. Wed: the Hippos are headed to Olive Garden (and who knows what after!). I'm excited. I haven't seen two of them in forever. Thursday I spend ALL day packing (I've not started yet) and then that night my grandma is throwing me a party. She is so cute. She is going to have an icecream cake (I love ice cream) and bubble water/perrier (which she is very enthusiastic about (I also like it, though)). She's cute, and I love her. Friday morning I wake up early to make the long drive out to school (hopefully with my mother- she might have jury duty) and say hello to my new world.

I haven't posted in awhile....
I've found out that I only have three roommates:) As I was expecting up to five, three sounds very appealing! Two are from Canada- best friends, they said. The other is from Arizona, I believe. I have less than a week to go. I leave Friday the 21st, stay at PCC over the weekend, then go up to Big Bear for a couple of days. It'll be an interesting experience.

We bought a rat! I haven't held one in such a long time- her name is Clementine.

Today was my last official day working at Julie's. From now on, I won't necessarily have a regular schedule- just whenever I can get home:) She gave me a really cute lamp for my desk. I'm quite excited about it.

Hopefully I'll get to see people this week. Planning on seeing Bethany on Monday. Hopefully dinner with the Hippos on Tuesday or Wednesday:D

Shopping, shopping, shopping!!

I feel like I just bought out a whole Target store!! I started the day with a text message from my mom basically telling me to get up, we're going shopping=] We started at South Coast, looking at pottery barn, z-gallery, crate&barrel, and macys. Fortunately, I found a bedspread (at macys of all places, where I've never been able to find anything). It's kind of a gypsie style. We had a half hour to kill before going to pick Jim up, so we stopped at a purse store. Tons of beautiful bags- I actually ended up buying one :/ so did my mom. This afternoon, we went to Target. I bought everything from school supplies, to sheets, to shampoo for college!! It's nice to have most of the items I need crossed off my list!

Luke

<3

Luke is so preciously cute! I'll post a couple of photos later- Right now I'm waiting for an opportunity to steal him away from his adoring parents and grandma!

Hippopota-picnic!

We went to El Dorado Park for a picnic! And ended up taking an endless amount of pictures:) Twas quite a fun day, I had missed Amy's hippos :P