this is MAJOR.

literally.

today, i turned in my application for my major.

after a quick prayer over it, i turned it in and felt a huge weight off of my shoulders.

wish me luck ;)

[homecoming and such.]

this weekend at spu is homecoming, and last night was the homecoming dance. as always, one of my favorite parts is getting ready and taking pictures, as seen apparent in these pictures below. we got ready and made a fashionably late appearance around 9ish, then stayed until almost the end. more pictures are to come - i only got a few shots in because my hair & makeup took longer than expected (THANK YOU ALYSSA!) last year we went out to dinner after going to the basketball game (neither of which were accomplished this year....) you might be wondering where my roommate, taylor is in all of these pictures. she works for spu catering and worked 12 hour-days fri & sat so naturally by the time she got back, she was beyond tired. i know she really wanted to go, but she decided she should take it easy and relax. i'm so proud of her for dealing with the craziness of the homecoming festivities and being graceful and diligent through it all.

it's kind of sad knowing that this is the last year i'll go to a dance with a floor. it's so nice having so many sisters to share things with - we really made use of that this year...i think half of the girls borrowed dresses. alyssa & tori borrowed mine - and i was so happy they got use out of them! they both looked fabulous. afterwards, we ditched the glamour for something more practical - SWEATS and (non-5-inch-heels) walking shoes. we then made the 3-mile round trip to kerry park with most of us girls and some boys from our brother floor. i woke up this morning feeling like i'd been hit by a train, then run over by it. SO. SORE.

 sam & i (my across the hall neighbor)

aubrey & tori (in my teal dress)

 (alyssa, bekah & i)

 DANCE.

 post-party comfort.

kerry park!

this is what it looks like at night behind the railing ^

until hill hall ball 2012, 

a weary & happy dancer.

WINNING.

i'm famous i'm famous!
this calls for an OMG moment, ladies and gents.


can i get a drumroll..................


every week in macroeconomics, we have to post on blackboard (our online section for our classes) a blog related to a topic our prof assigns us. we do this in groups of 3, one person writes the blog for the week, and the other two comment on it and help edit it. every week, our professor picks her favorite blog and posts it on the public class blog. (i wrote the blog for the first week, lindsey wrote for the second week, and our other group member, esteban, is writing this week's.) it's supposed to be a "competition" between the classmates, but i'm not sure how many of them actually care....
i got a text from linds saying i won, so i checked my email, and what do you know? she wasn't kidding! 


okay, so i tied with another group, but mine's posted first so it doesn't really matter :) 
also, i apologize for the lame title. i wasn't going into this thinking that i would actually get chosen haha.


to view my [#1] blog, go here:


http://spuecon2102.wordpress.com/


i know it seems silly to be so excited about this, but after a) the CRAPPY day i had, b) the fact that there are 45 people in this class and c) the validation factor - it feels so good to be recognized for something you put a lot of effort into.


even though i might not be good at things like accounting (reason for crappy day), i know i'm a good writer. although you might not get that from my lack of grammar/capitalization on this blog.......


it's the little things in life, people!

truth.

a few weeks ago in my UCOR class, we had to write a paper based on several documents from the Renaissance/Humanist & Reformation period (ranging from about 1450-1600). One of the documents particularly struck me. 

This quote is from a Christian Humanist in the 1500s named Erasmus taken from The Paraclesis:

"Indeed, I disagree very much with those who are unwilling that Holy Scripture, translated into the vulgar tongue, be read by the uneducated, as if Christ taught such intricate doctrines that they could scarcely be understood by very few theologians, or as if the strength of the Christian religion consisted in men's ignorance of it...I would that even the lowliest women read the Gospels and the Pauline Epistles. And I would that they were translated into all languages so that they could be read and understood not only by the Scots and Irish but also by Turks and Saracens....Would that, as a result, the farmer sing some portion of them at the plow, the weaver hum some parts of them to movement of his shuttle, the traveler lighten the weariness of the journey with stories of this kind."

Erasmus

I think this quote reminds us that there is a difference between religion and having a personal relationship with God. it's also a good reminder to remember that God is not an exclusive God, but one that desperately wants us to lean on Him, listen to Him, and enjoy Him. It's also important to not judge others - because chances are who have no idea what they are really made of.

Thanks to Luther, Erasmus' wishes were answered. The Bible was translated into several languages quickly thanks to the printing press.

Do you take having a Bible for granted? I know sometimes I do. 

It's important to look back into history and try to imagine what life was like for our ancestors, who fought so hard to get this book into as many peoples' hands as possible.

3 day weekend [in pictures]

in my attempt to catch you up on my 3-day weekend, i am going to be using some visuals. half of these i stole from my friends hope & katie. the other half i took. these were all taken with a cell phone (although mine were not from an iPhone.....hence the cool instagrams) so bear with me.....

FRIDAY:

cupcake royale & beautiful sunset in ballard with hope

 cheering on stephanie at her gymnastics meet! [ps: we beat UW-lacrosse]

me & hope <3.

afterwards at menchie's! [from L to R: lindsey, me, hope, abby, & katie] notice my sample cup hahaha

SATURDAY:

babysitting little henry [who was sleeping] and their dog jack [the bigger one] and their friend's dog donovan [who both decided they wanted to sit with me on the loveseat....]

my hill where i got stuck. [this was taken seconds before my car was obliterated....]

 SUNDAY:

running errands with my dad....in my puff daddy jacket. [i kind of feel like the michelin man]

MONDAY:

my backyard. SO MUCH SNOW.

 the view from my porch

and my poor bug. [see the rimless front wheel?]

i went home this weekend to get some things done (LAUNDRY being #1...homework, baking, etc) and found myself in the first snowpocalypse of 2012. i was on my way home, and didn't see any snow until about 10 miles north of my house. i saw some snow lightly dusted on the side of the freeway and didn't think a whole lot of it. by the time i had taken exit 104, snow was falling and hitting my winshield. i somehow made it up tumwater hill, but once i tried to turn into our development (another hill) my front tires hit the curb and i got stuck. so i called my dad who rescued me and he tried to get in another entrance. my back tires slid out and we slammed into the curb HARD. we hit it so hard, that the front right rim broke off and our ride back home was very shaky (just like i was). what's important is that we weren't hurt, and we ended up making it home. i feel bad for my car though - it's like my baby :( we will be apart for awhile.

it's way snowier in olympia than it is in seattle, which is why i didn't believe my dad when he said there was a lot of snow. i just hope i can get out of my neighborhood later today to make it back up to school.

in other news:

• on saturday, i had the pleasure of going to the metropolitan market in lower queen anne which CHANGED MY LIFE. seriously. it was the best grocery store experience i've ever had. thanks bekah - you da best.
• my mother got a facebook while in texas for my aunt's birthday thanks to the help of my other aunt.....first texting, now facebook....what's next? an iPod? twitter?? this will be interesting.....
• i won the yahtzee championship against my dad. i am going to use this public space to brag. I WON.

i will update you on the snow (cross your fingers for school cancellation!) as it progresses. or doesn't. 

have a wonderful day off (and if you don't, i hope your day is still wonderful despite that.)

shout-out.

i've had several different trains of thought running through my brain in the hopes of developing them into a honest, sincere, and hopefully somewhat entertaining blog post. while both you & i wait on that to happen, read one of my best friend's posts that i can most definitely relate to (minus the boyfriend part ;)) and just had to share with the rest of you. she was able to eloquently put into words what i imagine many girls - teenagers, college students, and adults - deal with at one point or another. finding identity in God - and Him alone. i can say from personal experience that this is a constant struggle for me.
hope is a wonderful writer and woman of God that i am so proud to call my friend. my sister. i hope you find her as inspiring as i do - because she is one of a kind.
so here it is: truthful, insightful, and inspiring.


go here:
http://hkatheryn.blogspot.com/2012/01/his-love-abounds.html

a little taste of macroeconomics....

for the first time (and maybe the last time) i'm going to post one of my homework assignments on my blog. every week in macroeconomics, we have to find an article that has to do something with the economy, sometimes relating to a specific topic we've discussed in class. since we've only had a few class sessions, we could pick whatever we wanted as long as it's...... A) related to something economic B) not more than a week old C) 700+ words. i realize this seems kind of formulaic, but we had a few questions that had to be addressed. so bear with me.

so here it is.....my summary. i know this is putting it all out there....but i feel like i have to try!

Article Title: Obama Odds May Rise as Unemployment Falls

Author: Mike Dorning

Date: Jan 7, 2012 

Word count: 1042 words

Summary: (536 words)

The primary question this article is addressing is: As unemployment continues to improve, will Obama’s chances of being re-elected as president improve simultaneously? In other words, will our current president’s efforts to improve and repair our unemployment debacle create trust and win the American public’s votes?

The overwhelming answer/solution as presented in the article to this issue was that if Obama can keep the sense of an uprising economy and continued progress of diminishing unemployment into spring 2012, then his chances of being re-elected are far better. The reasoning of this is due to the fact that most “voter perceptions” of presidential candidates are formed and solidified in the spring/summer before a November election. As with any solution, this isn’t the only feasible option. Some interviewed for this article claim that voters need more to be convinced Obama is the right option for the next four years. Declining unemployment isn’t powerful enough for people who have been perpetually without work. Also, only one president since WWII has been re-elected with the jobless rate at over 6%. This fact does not sound promising to any future elections for Obama.

Since we have only had two class sessions thus far this quarter, there is not enough information we’ve discussed in class to tie in with this article. That being said, Obama’s re-election is going to be in the news for the next 11 months, so understanding the issues surrounding it is essential to be a well-educated voter. This article discusses most obviously unemployment, voting, political history, world issues and events, and the status of the economy in general.

In regards to how this article personally affects my life, there are a couple different reasons. Since I was not yet old enough to vote in the 2008 election, I didn’t pay much attention to what was going on economically, or even politically speaking because I could not do anything about it personally. Since then, I have gotten somewhat wiser and have realized that my reasoning was not entirely accurate. Now that I am of voting age, it is key for me to know why I vote for a given candidate. To expand from that, I’m not that far away from having a job/career of my own, and it’s important to have a viable job market so I can become financially stable and support myself independently. It’s pretty daunting for college students or post-grad students to think about finding a job, so it is important to stay current on the situation. I can’t think of how this correlates to my personal faith, other than having faith in God that he has a plan for my life and that I have to trust in Him.

Elaborating from this article, I would like to know more about the other presidential candidates and what their specific plans to continue improving unemployment are. To paraphrase the end of the article, it could be risky to choose another candidate entirely because of the unknown future of the economy and how they choose to direct it. Also, does Obama have it in him to continue the boost in the economy and keep unemployment down? I suppose only time can tell with the upcoming primaries and election!

Link from Bloomberg (redirected from Business Week):

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-07/obama-s-odds-for-re-election-may-rise-as-unemployment-rate-falls.html

new quarter, new start.

today was the first day of the rest of my life!.....well, not really. but it was the first day of winter quarter. in the new year. so it's basically the same thing, right? 


for not being in school for nearly a month, today wasn't as bad as i was anticipating. this morning, i had macroeconomics at 11am and ucor [the west and the world] at 1:30pm. i was planning on waking up around 9, going to the bookstore and getting coffee. instead, i woke up at 10. somehow, i was able to do both of those and still get to class on time. my macroeconomics class is in the exact same classroom as my ucor 1000 i took last winter quarter. i had a bit of deja vu. the professor, dr. mason, seems pretty engaging which clearly is in my favor, as macroeconomics can be slightly.....well....dull. although we're supposed to meet M,W, & F, we only meet together as a class on mondays and fridays. on wednesdays, we're supposed to get together with our group of three to blog about whatever the subject is that week. one person writes it, the other two comment on it. so that shouldn't be totally foreign to me ;)


pros:
-i have a few friends taking this class with me
-it's a totally new subject and its too early for me to hate it (SCIENCE and math)
-at least half (if not more) of the class are boys. a rare feat for spu.
cons:
-quiz on the syllabus on the first day
-fear of uncharted territory for me


next; ucor. i have this class with one of my best good friends, bekah, who also happens to be my SMC. (refer to previous posts for a face). i am going to be completely honest, this class is going to be boring. it's about history, which i've never liked in the past. the professor is in his mid 60s (he told us he was born in '48....you do the math) and is a very soft spoken gentleman. that being said, i am going to try to have an open mind and try to soak up as much as i can in the short amount of time possible.


pros:
-i know someone in this class
-i will definitely come out knowing more than i did when i came in
cons:
-it is history.
-there are a ton of essays and quizzes (tests=bad=fail.)

other than going to class, i went to safeway to pick up a few necessary items (i.e. a toothbrush...), finished unpacking, had a floor meeting,  hiked over to safety and security to get my card reactivated in order to get into my hall, fought the masses at the bookstore,

      rearranged some pictures.....

bought this cute holiday mug on sale at starbucks.....

despite the POURING rain, today was pretty good. it's been so wonderful to get reacquainted with my friends and to start having a schedule. it's going to be a difficult quarter - no doubt about that. but as always, i'm going to take it one day at a time. and rely on God to carry me through the rest :)