Day #7304 - End of a Teenage Era

So in just under two hours, I leave my teenage years behind and move into my twenties. While the past 6 years have been eventful to say the least, I'm actually much more nervous about this new chapter. From 8th grade until now, changes have obviously happened in me - junior high, all of high school, and half of my college career all done. But as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I still love The West Wing and government, music, books, art, crafts, am incredibly shy even with people I do know, want to make friends that will last a lifetime, and find a place in this world where I truly and absolutely belong. So I guess this is a sort of toast by me for me - here's to everything that brought me to today and to everything that is to come. Who thought it would ever happen? Certainly not me :o)

Day #7292 - The Great 08-08-08

So even though this particular date was a few days ago (my 7,290th to be exact), I still feel as if I should document the occasion in some way.

The biggest deal for me was the fact that two days ago, the games of the 29th Olympiad started. Now for those of you who may not know this about me, I LOVE the Olympics. I love watching the opening ceremonies and seeing what the host country's culture is like and especially the march of nations when all the athletes come together in the spirit of competition. To me, it is progress toward a greater good, however small a step it may be. Plus, there are some really unique things to watch on tv now for the next two weeks, sports that no one ever really notices except for these once every 4 years. So good deal! I love the Olympics.

Earlier in the day I met with Amanda and Elissa about final detals for the apartment - fun times were had and the discussion was lively.

Last night was a mini-Verona reunion bbq. Again, fun times were had and it was nice to hang out with new friends and talk about old times. Plus everyone seems to have liked my lemon jello.

Other than that, I've just been gearing up for this last week before heading back down to school. Today I think I'm going to start tackling the decision of what clothes to bring (which for a girl can be quite a dilemma). I'm really hoping to start the year off on a positive note and stay that way for the semester. I'd really love to make Dean's List again and just remember to stay focused on the things that really matter. And if I'm able to have anything resembling a social or love life, that'd be nice too haha.

Day #7286 - They Built It, So I Came

So I know I haven't written here in a while, but I have two reasons for that: I've either been incredibly busy and therefore haven't had time OR things have been so boring that there's nothing to say. However, the past few days have been pretty memorable.

The week itself was pretty standard - Mom finished up school on Thursday, I worked more on getting stuff for the apartment and finishing up my shopping for recruitment. The other night we watched Sweeney Todd as a family, which none of us had ever seen before - wow. Quite, quite bloody and incredibly sad, but really interesting and well done. Oh theatre! I also had a shopping and baseball day with Michele which was nice - the two of us haven't really gotten to hang out just the two of us much this summer.

Yesterday, Mom, Dad, Steven and I went on a mini-roadtrip. On our way to Iowa, we stopped in Freeport, IL (Home of the Freeport High School Fighting Pretzels) and saw Little Cubs Field. Basically it's a miniature-Wrigley Field, complete with ivy and a scoreboard. It was pretty cool. We continued on to Galena where we walked around the town and saw President Grant's home. After spending the night in Iowa, we woke up bright and early to go play some baseball on the Field of Dreams in Dyersville. Wow. That was just plain cool. I'm not the brainest girl in the world especially when it comes to sports. I rarely understand all the rules, but I can appreciate and enjoy watching the game. I actually made some decent contact with the ball when I was up to bat, roamed around in the corn, and saw the big white farm house. It was such simple fun and I couldn't have been happier just to PLAY. We drove home after that, stopping in Dickeyville to see a fake grotto and then Pitosi to a micro-brewery. All in all, a very nice little trip.

Oh, and most people know that I'm a lover of storms. However I'm not going to lie, tonight's storms freaked me out. I don't like it when it's quite this close haha. However, rain usually means I'll sleep well tonight, and I'm all for that :o)