hallo-WEEKEND.

i'm going to make this short and sweet because i have an INSANE amount of studying to do for my midterm tomorrow. yesterday, tay and i went to bellingham at the last minute. carly invited us to hang out with her and our other plans crashed and burned so we made the quick hour and 15 minute trip up there. we didn't even have costumes. luckily and graciously carly had a few tricks up her sleeve (as usual) so we ended up just fine. i was a monarch butterfly, carly was maria from "guess who" (see mom, i wasn't the only one obsessed with that game!!) and taylor was pop singer ke$ha, who she had no idea about. everytime we'd say, "taylor, this is SO kesha." to which she would say: "i'll trust that it is because i have no idea." hahaha. i'd say we did pretty well with the time we had. we dropped by a dance (one word: THRILLER) and saw a bunch of people from high school at our friend tim & dixon's house. it was basically BHHS: 2.0 - the next generation. the most random people were there. then we went to taylor's sister's apartment....where we stayed up until 5am - which i do not advise. it was so great being reunited with good friends who know me inside and out. 

 roommates!

 the work of art in progress.

 KE$HA completed.

 love her.

 the back! outrageous.

 we know how to have a good time.

 the full ensemble.

 frolicking with my BFF.

 my monarch wings!

 gettin our groove on.

 :)

 no words.

 bet you can't "guess who" she is....

 i decided i'm the triplet. the gluttonous triplet.

best friends.

reunited.

halloween.

western.

dancing.

love.

my hero.

study break. enjoy....

UPDATE.

yikes i am becoming a terrible blogger.....sorry!! i need to fix that......


let me fill you in on a few events as of recent:


-my intro to FCS (intro to family and consumer science) group had to do a service project, so on thursday morning, we went to st. mary's food bank in the international district. although this wasn't my first (or second) time volunteering at a food bank, i always get something out of it. even if it's not direct contact with the clients - another girl and i packaged cucumbers and split egg cartons for the majority of the time - i know i was making a difference....or to quote the mission of the FCS department : "improving the quality of life for individuals and families" .....i better do well on my final tomorrow ;)
-i also got the opportunity to see/hear Eugene Peterson speak. he's a big deal around here at spu. not only is he an alumni (class of '54!) but he also wrote The Message (which is a contemporary translation of the Bible) among 30+ other books. i know you're probably assuming i only went because i got extra credit in class (true) but i wasn't forced to go. i think it's amazing to see the person who wrote a version of the Bible that i often read. Dr. Eaton (aka PhilDawg) our president, introduced him as a "modern prophet" which goes right along with what i'm learning in my christian scriptures class about prophets.
-on friday afternoon, my cousin lauren and her friend laura took a weekend trip out to seattle and were able to squeeze in some time to see us! it was so great...i've seen her three times in less than a year. that has to be a record. i guess when all of your extended relatives live across the country, you've got to make it happen however you can! we had a wonderful time bumming around in queen anne :)
-this past weekend, hill hall had their retreat at camp casey on whidbey island. i didn't go to retreat last year, so i made sure i went this year. it was really fun - and really cold. highlights include: earning an "honorable mention" for our floor skit; watching the 6th hill boys play buck-buck for FAR too long; getting to explore fort/camp casey; fitting 6 people on a top bunk and having the 6th person fall off whilst getting down; the lamest night-game ever of which i quit after 5 minutes (i never was into team activities....); and bonding in general.  even though it was less than 24 hours, we made the most of it!
-today was my dear, sweet friend katie's 20th birthday! we went out to senor moose in ballard which was a cute little hole-in-the-wall mexican restaurant. my review: the chips were house-made and WARM, the guacamole was also one of the best i've ever had, and my tacos were delightful. i give this place 5 stars. 5 gold stars. we went to their apartment afterwards for dessert and presents. it was a good time!


i don't really have any other pictures from my week other than the retreat (most of which i stole anyhow) but do enjoy these lovely shots of camp casey!

(this little gem was all me. taylor would KILL me if she knew i put this on here. let's hope she never finds my blog URL....)

tell me what you've been up to lately!

what i wear wednesday!

alright, ladies & gents.....you know what day it is. i almost forgot it was wednesday since we didn't have class today (thank you day of common learning!) two more days until the weekend :)

i'm still new at taking the full-body shot.....i will get the hang of it soon, i promise! maybe i should just ask my roommate to take it for me....so excuse the blurriness.

i really like these boots, but they're kind of an awkward length for my height/short legs. and none of my jeans are skinny enough to tuck into them. oh well....

i haven't worn this shirt in about a year, even though i still like it. i guess i just thought i couldn't possibly get any more use out of it. i was wrong.

i hope your wednesday was wonderful ;)

and as for that bio test mentioned in my last post?? let's just say it was Deleterious.......

the agony of defeat.

defeat |diˈfēt|verb [ trans. ]win a victory over (someone) in a battle or other contest; overcome or beat : Arab armies defeated the Byzantine garrison.• prevent (someone) from achieving an aim : she was defeated by the last steep hill.• prevent (an aim) from being achieved : don't cheat by allowing your body to droop—this defeats the object of the exercise.• reject or block (a motion or proposal) : the amendment was defeated.• be impossible for (someone) to understand : this line of reasoning defeats me, I must confess.• Law render null and void; annul.

i'm feeling sort of defeated today; i haven't figured out if it's because it's a monday, or because monday is only a part of it. i'll try really hard to not make this post into a self-pity-party, because that's annoying. 

yes; it's monday. the worst day of the week. what's worse than mondays? having a test on monday. because that's exactly what i wanted to spend my entire weekend doing....studying. needless to say, i probably should have studied more for my animal bio test today. i know i'm not good at taking tests, and i'm even worse at science. that's just a fact of life. still, i couldn't help but feeling like i wanted to fall into a black hole after i turned my scantron in. oh well though, i can't do anything about it now. what's that saying again? better luck next time? i hope so.

i also feel defeated in terms of my future. all my life, i've been working towards the next goal....getting good grades, getting into college, having new experiences, finding a major, etc. but now that i've picked my major (for now) i feel like i won't ever be good enough to find a job after college. i know that sounds silly, but i not by nature a competitive person. i just am not. which leads us into my number one fear in life: failure. i guess i'm just scared of my life not turning out how i want it to.

but that's just the thing -- i'm ultimately not in control of my life. no matter what plan i have, or what goals i want to accomplish, it's in God's hands. he has a plan for my life, and i often ignore that, which only makes me more frustrated. i hate not knowing things. i don't like being lost. what is my life going to be like in 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? i can safely say i have no idea. which is exciting and scary at the same time. while i have no idea what is in my future, i know that God knows. which makes me feel better. 

i guess if i had to compare this whole idea to something else; it would be like using a GPS. usually, if you have no idea how to get to a location, you use the GPS to guide you. turn left?? ok. stay on this road for 3.2 miles?? sure. you have to completely surrender and put your trust in that GPS, trusting and having hope and faith that it is going to take you to your destination (on time, preferrably). God is the little voice inside the GPS. you have to trust in what he will provide for you. you have to trust that He is going to get you there, even if you take a few wrong turns along the way. it knows you will make mistakes; just like God does. the GPS accepts that, and will get you there regardless.

i realize that is kind of corny - but it's the best i got.

here's to tuesday; hopefully a better day.

:)

fusion and initiation 2011.

what i wear wednesday!

here it is.....what you've all been anxiously anticipating.....right?? haha....

today, hope & i went to noah's bagels before class (i'm still dreaming about my asiago cheese bagel....) and since i was getting up earlier anyway, i decided to make getting ready less awful by wearing something fun. since i have limited taking-picture-abilities, i tried to take this on my mac, but unfortunately couldn't figure out how to get the full body shot. i know, i'm a noob. so excuse the lower half being split into two pictures. and the obnoxious, unnecessary background space. 

a few items of note:

-what you don't see in these pictures is the raincoat i toted around all day....anticipating the rain, to avoid the drenching i received yesterday. has it rained today yet? of course not. typical, bi-polar, washington.

-and my boots.....i love these boots. i wear them entirely too often, but i don't care. they go with everything. so deal with it.

-nothing in this ensemble is new....but i've never put these particular pieces together, so it's new in its own way.

-i also straightened my hair for the first time since i've been at school - and i realized why. it takes so long.....i think i'll cut it again during winter break.

until next wednesday.....have a great rest of your day ;)

words to live by.

"....style is not about trends or emulating someone else's look. it's about embracing yourself--as you are-- and then taking pride in projecting that person to the world."


-Editor's Note, InStyle Magazine, October 2011




coming attraction:
"what i wear wednesdays" -- an idea stolen from my girl lindsey, who may or may not have taken it from another blog she reads. but it doesn't matter - my goal of this weekly installment is to show my loyal blog readers what i'm wearing on any given wednesday. and i'm not going to use this day to dress up on purpose, the goal is to be realistic. what you wear says a lot about yourself. are you feeling lazy? (sweatpants anyone?) confident? (high boots?) just average? (jeans?) you'll be seeing some new combinations, no doubt, but i'm sure you'll be seeing those days where i woke up 10 minutes before class too. i'm excited to see how this turns out....
but for now, i have to get back to homework. (or start it....)
LOVE.

chocolati cafe

taylor & i went to greenlake on this BEAUTIFUL and SUNNY saturday to try out a new coffee shop; chocolati. we had every intention of doing homework, but it didn't exactly get accomplished. i'm perfectly okay with that seeing as we had a table outside in the 63 degree weather! afterwards, we walked around greenlake for awhile. so thankful for her friendship and her ability to live with me ;) 

i got a pumpkin-pie flavored latte (so good) and she got something called 'dark vader' which had some form of dark chocolate. we both got croissants -- also delicious!

all in all, i was pretty satisfied. can't wait to try more places this year!

songwriter extraordinaire.

i have a confession:
i often think of songs i can re-write that relate to my life in an amusing way....usually in class, instead of paying attention. sue me ;)


i tried to find an old blog post of my last song re-write, but i apparently didn't even share it with my loyal blog readers! weird. last year, hope & I re-wrote miley cyrus's "the climb" -- first, because we hate miley cyrus and that song, and secondly, because it was about "climbing" up the hill to ashton 3-5x a day. hence the new title, "the climb: ashton style". we even made a "music video".....which hopefully never surfaces. if i'm being completely honest, hope wrote most of it, because she is really good at that kind of thing. 
but this one......it's all me.


remember that song from the 90s by paula cole called "where have all the cowboys gone?" ? i'm sure you would recognize it if you heard it. don't remember paula cole? she apparently won a grammy (thank you wikipedia).
anyway....so i was sitting in animal bio this afternoon waiting for class to start and thinking to myself "yikes...where are all the cute boys?" and then i thought of the song "where have all the cowboys gone" which turned into my masterpiece creation, "where have all the cute boys gone?" it's not completely finished, it's still a work in progress. 
but i'll give you a sample of it :


"the cute ones are never near, you see
I'll never get my ring by spring
or my MRS degree
it's like a constant competition
a free-for-all, even
just to get a nod down the street"


now, i'm not claiming to be a great songwriter, the title of this post is meant to be sarcastic. that said, i think it's fun to see what you can come up with. and as long as it's fun, who cares?

1W reunited: pumpkin patch style

this saturday, 1W (my floor last year) got together for a mini reunion. even only 9 of us could make it, we still had a great time! i miss them so much, but am so glad they are all within walking distance still. 

we googled "pumpkin patches in seattle" and came up with this: Fairbank Animal Farm and Pumpkin Patch. it was in edmonds, which is less than a half an hour from spu. it was the closest, so we thought what the heck? it turned out to be 75% animal farm and 25% pumpkin patch. but they gave us each a little cup of food to feed the animals, so that was fun.

a few issues i had with the animal farm part (and if you know how much i HATE the zoo, you should be impressed i lasted as long as i did):

-the incredibly loud geese that wouldn't stop squawking.

-the smell.

-the scary turkeys that fought each other for the food.

-the smell.

-the goats that kept running away every time i wanted to pet them.

enjoy our photo montage! ps: thanks hope for some of these ;)

                                               

jai thai.

last night, 1st Hill had their first floor dinner.....in style! we went out to Jai Thai in Fremont (which i had never been....but i recommend ;) ) although i didn't take any pictures myself, i stole some from a few kind ladies on the floor. everyone dressed up, and 98% of us wore heels, even my ROOMMATE who has worn heels ONCE in her life....prom. so proud of her! 
afterwards, we went up to the 6th floor (our brother floor) and tried inviting them to watch a movie.....which was a failure. most of them were playing basketball and the ones that were there were all playing VIDEOGAMES. seriously? videogames. on a friday night. WORLD OF WARCRAFT, HALO, ETC. talk about LAME. who does that? oh well, hopefully it was just a one time ordeal. hopefully.
i can't wait for the rest of this year with 1st Hill! they are wonderful and beautiful ladies.

 me and my roommate, taylor

half of 1st hill!