I used to be a musician like you, then I took a tuba to the knee.

I'm really on top of writing these on time (Sunday nights).
Oh yeah, or not.
Anyways, Thursday was a pretty good day. I was wearing my purple Star Wars shirt, BIT pin and some blue and brown argyle socks - I felt pretty awesome :D Even though it was another disgustingly slushy and grey day. That meant that I just relaxed and read when I wasn't in class, which was nice :]
 No one was making the house dinner, so I had to decide whether I was hungry or nauseous - a common issue with me, annoyingly. I had 2 biscuits and settled on nauseous so I was done.
I had some time and homework to do, sp I thought I'd watch the Lion King while doing the work - I mean, I know it well so I don't have to watch really closely.
Well, the flaw in my logic was I'd forgetten how I love that movie, so I didn't really get much homework done... ;D
Then it was time for our first BIT meeting. We got our membership manual things and we started the process of learning about the fraternity, chapter, band department and university. It's pretty cool, I'm enjoying it.
We had to divide up into committees for the semester - I'm on the Walkabout committee, so I'll be planning Walkabout. Walkabout is where we set up some sort of scavenger hunt -type thing for the active brothers so they can get to know us new kids. We also got started on choosing our class name. My favorite quote from the evening is the title of this post :D (it's a Skyrim joke, if you want to know here)
After that fun, I went back to A-gate and watched the X Games skiing with Jake, Seth and Kyle - I was using them to hold me accountable and make me do homework instead of sitting and reading my BIT manual like I would've.
However, it didn't work so Friday I didn't let myself read it all day. Yes, I need to do this kind of rewards and punishment system on myself - it's actually quite efective. Most of my rewards are watching movies, or reading, or I get an oreo :D
Class was rather uneventful, and then I got home and made myself some potato soup and biscuits for dinner :D (my mom made me some soup and froze it for me to have here :D I love that potato soup)
I went to badminton to get the money and things, then went to have a bike workout. I haven't played in 9 months or so, I got the feeling I'd just embarass myself and whoever got stuck playing with me and went to bike.
I got back and the big tv in the second floor common room was free. So I had a choice - did I want to watch Beauty and the Beast or hook up my PS2 and play The Force Unleashed (Star Wars game)? Decisions Decisions...
The Force Unleashed won :] I was having fun - and at one point Pat stopped by to see what I was playing. At first he thought it was the 360 - I laughed and told him that it was my PS2. (the Xbox 360 has better graphics - and Kyle has the game for the 360.) That was fun, I stayed up till about 1.30 playing - Kyle and Seth were playing a computer game downstairs so I didn't have to fight them for the tv :D
Saturday I got up and did my Spanish homework, so I let myself go through the BIT manual (see - reward :] )
Around 2 I went to the Union to hang with my friend John - the one from my Stat class last semester. He's a great friend, I'm glad that we're still able to hang even though we don't have a class together.
After winter break, my mom sent me this thing to hang on my wall where I can put pictures and whatnot - I needed a drill though (and I do have a rad set of tools, but evidently my dad didn't think I'd be needing a drill amongst the wrenches and wire clippers :D ). Andrew does have a drill, though, so I finally got it up :]

Here you go. I like it :D












That night was a Bang! night. It was slated to be a MOW event, so during house dinner the guys voted that Catherine and I are now men so we could join them :] It was a fun night - we played 3 games and had somewhere between 8-10 people playing throughout the duration. I highly dislike being sheriff, so I was rather glad when I wasn't for any of the 3 rounds :D
Sunday I did some more homework - yay! O.o
My reward was a movie, thoguh, and I picked The Hunt for Red October. I haven't seen it in a while, it's a good movie. There's one scene where I always think of my dad, he says it's his favorite character - basically all he says is 'Yeah, yeah' to everyone who says anything to him through the entire walk to his office. I was laughing :D
The Winter X Games were still going, so Seth and I watched them for a bit before I went to church and he kept working on homework.
After church I had chapter - we decorated envelopes for valentines :] which means I need to go out and buy 50-something valentines. I need to get some food too, so I'll be going out in my free time on Thursday.
After chapter was another BIT meeting - we started our lessons and played Jeopardy. We were in teams, one team was the Vipers and my team was the Viper Eaters / nom. nom. / Honey Badgers / We Give No F**ks
Quite the team name, no?  :D We started out as the Viper Eaters in response to the Vipers, then it just got gradually longer and longer :]
After the meeting, a group of us went out to Five Guys and Red Mango. That was fun :D
I got back home and watched more X Games with Seth, Kyle and Catherine. There was a guy that did the first front flip ever on a snowmobile, it was insane. I still don't know how he managed to pull that one off. Then we saw the finals for the snowboarding super pipe - Shaun White is insane. He had a 94 from his first run, then messed up the second. Before his last run, no one had beaten him so he goes out to take his vicory lap. It was an awesome run - and he scored a perfect 100. My jaw dropped, all of us in the room were just in awe. His goof off run was the one where he just smoked the records. It was pretty nifty to be watching :D
So now I've caught up to today. I had class this morning, and in Spanish they keep talking about studying abroad. I want to go back! Seriously - if someone called me up and offered me an opportunity to move to Great Britain tomorrow, I'd pack up what I could and fly over this weekend. Maybe I'll look into a Spring Break Trip... :D
I had a quiz in Probability today - and the first question was inspired my a Dr Seuss book so I had to read it three times to figure out what was going on and what they wanted from me :]
Tonight's orchestra and a badminton meeting, and I'm rather tired, so hopefully they won't go too long so I can sleep.
Peace.
-Carly

I'm not a procrastinator, I'll just do it tomorrow...

I meant to write this three days ago, and then every day in between. Oh well.
Last Tuesday (the 17th) was a pretty good day. My CS lab is going to be interesting - we have it before the week's lectures. So, none of us really have any idea what is going on. Should be a fun time... :]
I went home after, wondering why I though I'd have to pack my lunch on Tuesdays since it was only 1.30 and I could just eat at the house. Then I almost forget about exec meeting - oh, it's not Monday, is it... I got back to Wesley in time, though, so that was good :] Then I got to hang with Shilpa :D That was fun, we went to Greyhouse (a coffee shop just off campus) and had some hot chocolate while we sat and chatted. It was nice to be able to talk with just her.
That night was Jimmy Buffett night at the basketball game so I wanted to go, but I didn't have anyone to go with :[ So I went to the FFF study instead - we talked about more Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I'm really enjoying this study :D
And then Wednesday came again. I don't like Wednesdays. However, if I'm ready early enough then i can get starbucks :D That was a nice start to my day :] What was fun was starting the Probability homework and realising that the professor hadn't gone over one of the chapters yet.
During the day, I was incredibly tired. However, I told myself, if I do my work now then I get to watch The Princess Bride tonight with Amanda :D We had talked about wanting to watch it again :] And I was good, so we started the movie. It turned into Princess Bride with Commentary by myself, Amanda, Jake, Seth and Kyle :] That was a fun evening. Afterwards, Kyle, Seth and I put Goblet of Fire in and did some more homework.
Thursday started off like Wednesday had, until I walked out of my class and saw the snow :] I had already planned on getting a haircut (my hair was getting long, as I realised when I wore it down for my Psi interview :] ), so that meant that I got to practice driving in snow as well. I didn't do too badly either, I'm still alive :]
I was chilly, so I heated up some of the potato soup that my mom had made for me :D So yummy!
I got some homework done before going to my CS recitation - where we learned about the same exact things we had gone over twice in lecture and once in lab. Fourth time's the charm? It was so boring.
But then it was time for dinner - and there was a mix up so two people got pizza from different places, so much pizza! It was good though :]
I still had some Probability homework to finish, so I was up until 1.30 and still confused.
Being up till 1.30 made it rather difficult to get up for class on Friday - thankfully I don't start till 9.30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The day went by rather uneventfully, until it started snowing. And once it started, it went crazy. Amanda and I had planned on watching The Matrix because neither of us has seen it, so we wanted to be ready for the FFF group. However, it was disgusting outside so we decided to postpone the party to Tuesday. And I'm so cool - I spent my friday night in my room watching Sherlock on Netflix. But I really enjoyed it, so it works :]
Saturday I had quite a list of things to do. I got my laundry started and dod my dishes before going grocery shopping. However, I was running late to have lunch with Jacob and Sarah, some violins, so I had to just bring the cold stuff in and take care of the rest after.
Lunch was really fun, I enjoy hanging with my orchestra friends outside of class :]
When I got back, I had to do some major straightening up of my room - including transferring some of the food to my closet for storage as I rearranged the stuff in there. I love my room, but it would be awesome if it were just a little larger...
I spent the afternoon watching Eddie Izzard and Skyrim before Seth and I went to Liz's apartment for dinner and game night. That was really fun, we made these pot pie things and played Apples to Apples :]
Sunday I once again managed to sleep through my alarm. I wanted to wake up at 6.23 because I had to get up and get dressed in business formal for Psi. So, when I saw that my watch said 6.52 I got a nice adrenaline rush that woke me right up.
We went out to Triple XXX, a local burger and breakfast place. That was fun, we pretty much took over the restaurant :] Then the BITs took our First Order - we're officially Brothers In Training.
I decided to stay dressed up for church, it was an excuse to wear my fun new boots :D And I got to play the hymn of the week with Amanda again, that was fun :]
After church was the first chapter meeting. I'm excited to be in KKPsi :]
Monday was back to class >.< However, I was done at 2.30 so I got to hang at home for a good chunk of the afternoon before orchestra.
After orchestra, we had a game night. Pat, Kyle, Payton, Catherine and I played Small World. It was a fun game, even if it was a rather epic failure on my part. Oh well, I was having fun :]
Tuesday was lab again O.o And again, the TA had to explain some of the concepts. I feel bad for him - we will always have lab before lecture.
But this week I didn't almost forget the COM Exec meeting, so that was good :D
I didn't have much time between the exec meeting and when I was going to meet Amanda for our new dinner and The Matrix date, so I got a little homework done and headed on over to Wesley.
We went to Boiler Market - a place in Chauncey that I'd never been before - and had some yummy soup in bread bowls :] And then we got to play with the huge TV in the basement to start the movie.
We got to about 10 minutes from the end before we had to join the rest of the group, so Eric let me borrow the movies so I can watch the rest of the first and then the others.
That night was a Star Wars themed FFF - I thouroughly enjoyed it :D We talked about the Jedi v. Sith and how Obi-Wan told Luke that he must do what he felt was 'right, of course.' It was a good talk. And it was nice being in a room of other Star Wars geeks ;D
So Wednesday, we meet again. Today I had to get up and go to class again, annoyingly :] I also had a lot of homework to do before tomorrow (still do, but we're not going there). That added to the fact that it started dropping rain/sleet/snow/hail/nastiness from the sky, it was a rather gloomy day.
Normally it takes me 5 minutes of my 10 minute break to walk home from CS lecture. This means that I haev time to grab a snack and relax for a bit, even if it's only a little bit, before going to orchestra. Well, today it was narsty (no, that's not a typo) outside so it took me 9 of my 10 minutes to walk home. I didn't have time to get food or drugs for the headache that was growing. So I returned from orchestra in pain, tired and hungry. I grabbed what food was quickly available to me and went into the second floor common room to sit on a couch. Payton and Seth were also there and we decided to watch Kung Fu Hustle - a Chinese Martial Arts movie that Payton and I both enjoy, Seth had never seen it before. So that was a good way to end my lovely (cough) day.
Now I should probably do the homework that I need to finish for tomorrow. Or maybe I'll just sleep and wake up early. I guess we'll see.
Peace.
-Carly B

I don't want to give anything away...

I feel like y'all might enjoy hearing what happened :]
The KKΨ brothers were running late, so I went to the badminton meeting thinking that they'd come to Aldersgate while I was in Lafayette (they delivered the bids personally). However, partway through the meeting, I got another text saying that they were running still later.
Because of this, I was back at the house and reading when I got a call from one of the brothers. He was verifying where I was, and then asked whether I wanted to know then or keep the suspence. He decided for me and I told him how to get to the house. Then he said something along the lines of 'Not to give anything away, but you might want to get your stuff together if you haven't eaten yet. Just some advice.'
So I got my jacket and wallet and shifted to read downstairs. When he got here, I read that I was offered a bid and the apparently Jake and Pat both know the guy so that was pretty funny.
The entire chapter including BITs (Brothers In Training) went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings (not the best place for vegetarians, but I found an appetizer). We pretty much took over the resturaunt - it was really fun :]
So yeah, that's what my night was like. It was really fun, and today I get to hang with Shilpa after class. Should be a fun day :D
Peace.
-Carly B

Wednesday, bloody Wednesday...

This should be a fun semester...
On Wednesday, I had classes 9.30-10.20, 11.30-12.20, and 1.30-2.20 and they are all in buildings right near each other so I just sat in the Math library or the basement of Beering in between. Then, after my 1.30 class, I went to Wesley and had a meeting with the Fellowship committee. My CS class was 4.30-5.20, then I had to get back to the house and then to orchestra from 6-8. I was not looking forward to being on campus from 9.30 till 8, but then we got out of orchestra early! I got to home and do nothing :D Which was awesome because I was annoyingly tired after the crazy day. Wednesdays are going to be just so much fun...
As a polar opposite, Thursday was a great day. I had one class - I was done at 10.15. I decided I wanted Starbucks, so I made a stop there before leaving campus, and they actually spelled my name right  without me having to spell it (quite often, I'll just give them my name and see what they come up with - it's fun :] )
Then I needed to make a trip to the mall. I found a Bears shirt in Old Navy - now whenever I watch a game with my family I don't have to borrow my mom's shirt or my dad's sweatshirt :] One of the main reasons I went was because I needed to find a pair of boots - and I found a pretty cute pair :D I also needed a pocket anti bacterial holder thing from Bath and Body Works for my lunch box. I was planning on baking cookies, so I found a kitchen store and got a spatula and two things to mix the MMs into the dough with. It was a pretty good trip :]
And then I got home and saw that there was a box in the mailbox - from amazon. My Kindle was supposed to get in on Friday, so I was super bloody excited when It got in a day early :D :D And I may or may not have gone slightly crazy with the free books - there are 72 books on there and the one I paid for was only $0.99 :D
I baked my cookies as I read and we had an excellent dinner by Payton for our first house meeting of the semester. He made this cheeseburger soup - for my vegetarian version it was like a potato soup. Then it was an evening of Skyrim.
Basically, a perfect day :D
Friday arrived with some snow. Unfortunately this meant that the Purdue Ice Polishers had been out. Purdue has these things instead of plows where they sweep the snow away - we call them Ice Polishers because they just make the ice underneath the snow a lot more slippery. Thanks for the boots, Mom - I'm pretty sure I'd've frozen my toes off if I'd just worn my tennis shoes :]
I had the rest of my soup for lunch - so I needed a microwave. Unfortunately, this meant that I was eating my lunch at 2.30, I was hungry :]
The Friday fellowship of the week was bowling in the Union, except there was a wait to get a lane so we decided to play some pool instead :] It was pretty fun, Julia, Amanda and I weren't doing so hot, but it was a good time :]
My head was hurting, so I came home to relax and read for the rest of the evening.
Saturday was great - I basically just read all day :D I had dinner with my friend from my stat class last semester, John, and evidently it was his birthday, though he didn't tell me that until after we ate :]
After dinner, I watched some football before Skyrim took over once more. 
Sunday was basically the same, just without the dinner. I was reading and then realised that it was 4.35, so I didn't go to Wesley either - oops. :]
Today, I had my Psi interview. I think it went well, I guess we'll see. Later on I'll find out if I got a KKΨ bid and then I have a badminton meeting, but for now I should probably eat lunch and I need to do some laundry and homework.
Later :D
-Carly

Without music, life would be a mistake.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Well, here's the Colorado entry I promised :D By date too (because that's how I typed it into the word document I was using as a journal).

30 December, 2011
Today we started the journey to Colorado. I joined everyone at about 1 at Jake’s House in St Louis. We had a wonderful lunch prepared by Mrs Ohlemiller, and then we were off.  We made good time, too – we were at KU by about 9.30 (central time). We stayed at the campus religious center for the night – I got to sleep in the library area, with the books :D Before going to sleep, we had a short devo by Jake and music by Jake and Mario – they both brought guitars. It’s going to be such a fun trip!

31 December, 2011
Part two of the drive.  Today Bob decided to take a nap in the morning – when he fell asleep, it was hilly and green and pretty, then he woke up and it was flat with not a tree in sight. He wanted to know what happened. After our first rest stop, I took my turn napping, and I slept through most of blink 182’s Neighborhoods – I fell asleep during Ghost on the Dance Floor and woke up about halfway through Fighting the Gravity. When I woke up, I discovered that Bob had wanted to open his bag of beef jerky and put it right next to my nose and see what happened, but Matt advised that I was out cold so probably nothing would happen.
It was so windy today! We even sat through a dust storm in Kansas – it went from low visibility to zero and then back and forth for a bit. It was wild :] Once it cleared, we were driving through Colorado and we started to be able to see the Rockies in the distance. I started getting really excited :]
We made it to Denver airport way before Shelly and Mariah’s flights arrived, so we spent some time near the baggage claims. Chris had been telling Bob, Mario and I about a conspiracy how the airport is the headquarters for the Neo Nazis and their new world order. Evidently the murals on a wall depicted their plan – and I’ll give it to them, one of those murals was really creepy – but we were just laughing about that a lot. Once Shelly and Mariah arrived, we drove the rest of the way into the mountains.
And we arrived at the cabin! It’s a small cabin, I don’t know how they fit 17 people in here last year, but it’s cozy :] The girls claimed the loft, so the four of us (Kara, Mariah, Shelly and I) have our own little space. We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner – it was yummy :D Mario and Jake played some songs for us, we sang Dear Prudence by the Beatles and Waterfall by Jimmy Hendrix) and had a short devo. Then we celebrated the New Year in Eastern Time (so 10 here) and then people dispersed – some went to sleep and others stayed up reading or whatever.  I stayed up to text my family at midnight their time (11 here) and then I went to sleep. I love mattresses :D Last night hurt after a while.

1 January, 2012
Happy New Year! Where the hell did 2011 go??
I think I was the 3^rd or 4^th to get up today. And I had a text from John – at midnight here, so he stayed up till then to text me. He’s a great friend :] We had a rather laid back morning – so I’m going to do my devo tomorrow morning instead :] Most of us made a trip up to Panoramic Point – the views were breathtaking. It’s so beautiful here. Glen showed us some of the various mountains, and we even saw Wyoming in the distance – it was a clear day so we saw the Snowy Range of Wyoming. We decided to take a hike after looking around – we were in a pretty area of forest. Chris, Jake, Bob, Kara and I went on the hike to the campground while Matt, Shelly and Glen went back to get the van. The ending of the hike was pretty much all uphill – Kara and I said that our lungs were hurting from the lack of oxygen :]
After we got back, everyone had a snack/lunch/brunch type thing and we spent a few hours reading or crocheting (Kara) or napping (Mariah and Shelly). Everyone but me went to Golden to meet up with a Wesley alum for a late lunch – they left at 1.50 – and then they stayed out and went to Denver for a Buddhist/Christian meditation service. So, I spent the day reading and playing solitaire :] I went for a walk a little earlier – Glen had mentioned that if you followed the barbed-wire fence you’d eventually come to a place where you could jump it and wind up in the Rocky Mountain National Forest. So I went exploring for that. And sank up to my knees in snow at some areas. I made it to an area where I could cross, and then found a fallen tree to sit on. I sat there for a while and enjoyed the silent peace. Then I started thinking (a dangerous pastime for me…) and I asked for a sign, something to show that I am doing the right thing with my life, even if I have no idea what I’m doing. I was there for a bit, then I looked up and saw that the sun was setting. However, the sky was stunning – it had become absolutely beautiful. I said ‘I’ll take it’ and went back to the cabin to take pictures of the sky.
I decided to shower and get a snack, so I showered and had some Grape Guts mixed with Frosted Flakes. It’s a yummy combo.
Everyone got back at about 8 and Bob made breakfast burritos for dinner – those were yummy. There was more reading and hanging until a devo about the service that I didn’t go to, but it was an interesting devo – we talked about what’s real to us and things like that. It was good.

2 January, 2012
Cross Country skiing today. So annoyingly painful…
It didn’t seem like it would be all that hard, but then I realised that I really don’t know how to ski, so that was troublesome.  But hey, it was so much fun, even if I know I’m going to be sore as hell tomorrow.
In the morning, it was myself, Bob, Kara, Chris, Shelly and Glen cross country skiing. I wound up having to rent stuff – and I’m actually super glad I did. If I’d stuck with the shoes Glen had I probably would’ve broken my ankle or something instead of bruising it. I really liked the last stretch of path that we were on – it was pretty flat and pretty straight, so I could just enjoy the scenery instead of worrying about my skis or falling over and dying.
When we finished the morning run, we all ate our lunches and split up. Chris and Kara went to the downhill slopes – Chris to ski and Kara to snowboard. Glen and Bob went back to do some more cross country, and Shelly and I stayed in the van to nap :D We all reconvened at about 4.30 and left to pick up the four that went to Nederland and Boulder. While we waited for their bus to get back, we got some groceries and went to a small coffee shop-type place that was a train car. It was really cute :D We all went back to the cabin and Mario made us some yummy spaghetti with meatballs (Kara and I had butter and parmesan on our pasta :] ) and bread. It was a great dinner after a workout day.

3 January, 2012
Today was an early morning – especially for Shelly and me. We were all getting up around 6 to go to Rocky Mountain National Park, so Shelly and I got up to make pancakes at about 5.30 so they’d be ready for people when they got up. Mario was the only one not there, because he was taking a day by himself at the cabin.
And we actually made it out on time – like not Wesley time either. It was quite impressive :] On the drive there, we saw a moose and a bobcat. It was really cool – they were right off the side of the road.
Before going to the park, we made a few stops to just enjoy the scenery. Being in the mountains again reminds me of the Highlands – I so want to live in Scotland. So badly.
And then we got to the park. It was stunning, how beautiful the sights were on our hike. We hiked about 3.6 miles total – the first half was all uphill, then we go to go back down :D In and amongst all of this hiking, we made some stops to climb rocks and walk on the frozen lakes. We took a wrong turn at one point and got to see a frozen waterfall – that was really neat. Group picture time :D
It was incredibly windy as we got higher up. On one of the lakes, we were being blown backwards and couldn’t stop because we were on ice :] Then, at Emerald Lake – the end destination – there was a large pile of rocks that everyone was climbing. I climbed up as high as I could, the view was stunning. I really wish I’d taken my camera, but I guess it was good because the pocket I’d’ve kept it in was soaked when I got back to the van :D It was all so pretty, I just can’t get over it.
After that hike, we went to hunt for wildlife and, seeing none, we went to the Alluvial Fan. There was a dam at one point there, and then it busted and flooded everything downstream, kicking up boulders and trees in its wake. We went to the area where the water first hit after breaking the dam and it was really pretty. The others climbed around, I just sat and enjoyed the sound of the running water and threw rocks at the ice. One of the rocks actually broke, the others I was trying to make into the patch of water without ice over it. I made a few :D
We ate in Estes Park, basically right near the park, because we were all hungry and didn’t want to wait till we got to Nederland. We ate at a Mexican restaurant and I had some yummy rice – I wasn’t all that hungry so I just had rice and then a bowl of cereal later on. During dinner, the people that watched Gilmore Girls (Shelly, Mariah, Glen and Jake) were giving names to everyone – I was Laura. Evidently I’m smart and a lot of cute guys are attracted to me. I said I liked it :D

4 January, 2012
Oh how I love the sky. Bob, Glen, Jake and I hiked up Mt Fairburn this morning to see the sunrise – it was absolutely beautiful. We came back and there was breakfast by Chris and Kara waiting – it was rather nice :] Glen, Chris, Kara, Shelly and Bob went skiing again this morning, so the rest of us spent the morning at the cabin.
Once Glen got back from skiing, he drove the five of us that didn’t ski to Nederland. What a hippie town :] Our first stop was a cute little coffee shop that used to be a train car. It was a great atmosphere, and they had vanilla steamers! Then we went walking around the shops. Evidently, there is a 3-1 ratio of dogs to people – there are something like 2000 people and 6000 dogs. It was wild, we saw some adorable dogs in the stores we visited :] I found an ornament for mom, and the lady working that store said that dogs were a perfect example of love and acceptance and that by having more dogs around, the people hoped to learn from them. We stopped at a bakery during the day, and I got a chocolate croissant! I miss Pret. Tonight we get to sleep in the tent – snow camping! Should be fun…

5 January, 2012
Bugger it was cold last night. I brought people’s things in from the tent – it seemed like everyone that came back in was either freezing or just fell back asleep so I started hauling things in. Once we were all awake and ready, most of us went to hike Mt Fairburn. What a long hike that was – I only went to the first summit and it was plenty for me. Thankfully, Chris didn’t go so he let me use his snow pants – they helped a lot. I wasn’t feeling well and Shelly’s toes were getting cold, so we both started down before the others. It was a long walk back too… but as soon as I got back into the house, I took off Chris’s snow pants and grabbed the jar of peanut butter and a spoon :D Mariah was making lunch today, the made-to-order quesadillas were very yummy after the four hour hike :] Later on in the afternoon, once everyone was showered and ready to go, we all left for Boulder. Jake, Mario and I were the only ones that didn’t have a strong desire to go to R.E.I., so we got out of the van and started wandering. We looked through some fun antique shops, then found an adorable shop – ‘Piece, Love and Chocolate’. It smelled delicious, and Mario found some gluten-free cookies for his girlfriend (and my housemate) Catherine. He’s a good boyfriend – she hasn’t been having the best of weeks. We wandered around some more and I saw these athletic banners for Colorado University along the main street. I saw one for Ralphie II – he was there from 1979-1986, so I think he’s the buffalo that scared my Uncle Jon’s Colorado State (rival) football team out of their wits :D When we reunited with the group, we did a little more meandering before we got hungry and ventured back to the cabin. I got some fun new hand warmers :D
Dinner was mac n cheese made by Jake and then we had a final devo in the cabin.

6 January, 2012
Of course, the night I get the best sleep is the night is the night before we all leave… However I get to sleep in the library again so that’ll be fun :D The drive back was pretty fun, I played some games with people in the back seat, I lost at hearts again O.o. We stopped at Subway for dinner, however they don’t offer much for vegetarians so Kara and I decided to just wait and have some cereal at the ECM. For the last stretch, I was sitting in the middle bench with Mario and Jake, Shelly and Bob were in the back. We had a fun time; we played some improv games and talked about various relationship difficulties. That was an interesting conversation, but it was cool how we had a bunch of different perspectives.
We got back to the ECM and I reclaimed my spot with the books :D Mario gave a devotion and apparently I’m the ‘Cool Socks Girl’ – Bob mentioned that when he was saying how the people made the trip better. I do have some pretty sweet socks :D

7 January, 2012
Today Shelly and I went for run at 5.30 in the morning. Bloody hell, I’m so out of shape. Then it was off to the races again, only this time pretty much everyone passed out within the first ten minutes. When we woke up again, well most of us anyway, we were in Missouri. Today, the back half of the van played Quiddler – a scrabble-like card game. I had a hand where I really wanted to play nexus but I couldn’t quite get it. I was sitting with Jake in the middle seat, and we were both sucking it up pretty nicely in the beginning :] For lunch we stopped in St Louis, and if I’d realised how long we were going to be there, I’d’ve called the Bogdas and seen if they wanted to hang for an hour. As it was, Mario and I were the ones that weren’t eating out so we relaxed in the Starbucks the entire time.
We drove some more and got to Glen’s parents’ house for dinner. The Robinsons are great people, it was cool to meet them and we all shared various travel stories. They’ve been to all of the 50 states – I think that’s a great goal in life :] I've got a good start, I'm at 28.
We got home again at about 9.30, and then Jake and I went back out with Catherine, Seth and Payton (the other three who were already in Aldersgate) for half price appetizers at Applebee’s. That was a lot of fun, getting to hang with people again. Then Seth, Catherine and I stayed up later just talking. I missed the house :D

There you go. It was an amazing trip, I'm sad that I won't be able to go on it next year.

Then Sunday was the day that I got to see my parents again :D I was operating based on the assumption that they wouldn't get there before noon, so I set my alarm for 10.30, I'd stayed up late the night before and so would get some nice sleep and still have time to get ready.

So then I woke up at 8.30, and decided to just read for a while since I evidently can't sleep past 9.

When they got there, I remembered how bloody small my room was as I'm trying to figure out where the deuce I'm going to put everything... However I procrastinated on that to go to McAlister's for some lunch - it's a good thing that my parents were there because I had very little food.

Wesley that evening was a devotion-type service on stories from Colorado. And then I got to relax for the evening - Kyle kept trying to get me and Pat to go to recreation but we were both tired enough that we just wanted to chill in the common room.

Then classes started again. Yesterday, I went to pick up my books and they gave me a huge box for 2 books ans an iclicker. Not sure why, but I guess it worked.

Communications was my next class, and my teacher is from SEMO - I laughed to myself :] He's pretty cute too ;D

I had to pack my lunch, so I had poptarts, peanut butter and a bagel from Wesley. Lunch of champions! I made a grocery store run after my stat class - I have food again!

Orchestra last night was short as well - we didn't play and just talked about a few things. I want to know what we're playing - that's my favorite part about the first class is going back home and listening to the music :D However, I got back to an email telling me that my Kindle Touch is on its way, so that was awesome as well :D :D :D It's supposed to get in on Friday - I'm so excited!

The BCS title game was on as we had a house meeting to sort out parking and things, but I was only half watching it. What I saw was boring, though, so I paid even less attention.

Today I got to made a real lunch - sandwich, carrots, Veggie Tales fruit snacks, applesauce, Teddy Grahms and some Reese's :D And I used my fun new lunch bag that I got for Christmas :D

We had our first COM exec meeting today, that was good. We got various positions sorted out and decided who was covering what for the semester.

Now it's dinnertime, so I think I'm going to go get some food before going to the bible study tonight at Wesley - Mario's doing a Faith, Science Fiction and Fantasy thing for the first few weeks and tonight's Harry Potter :D Should be fun.

Peace.

-Carly B