A look back...

In honor of the fact that I'm leaving for Austria tomorrow morning, I decided to paste a few snippets from the blog I had while I was there for the first time...

"ok, austria is like too good for words. i live in a castle! haha not really but it's a really nice old monestary that doubles as a hotel! and i would be perfectly content living out the rest of my days here. well, that is if the karatause could be moved to america. but seriouly. my room is adorable. me and cali kate and becca are like triplets. everything we own is like in a line...from the beds to the hooks in the bathroom. i discovered this stuff called nutella and i believe it may be the reason that i am called to live in austria. seriously, it's like 20382 times better than peanut butter. annnnd it's good on everything ESPECIALLY peanut butter. it's like a chocolate, hazelnut spread and apparently you can get it at aldi's in the usa? i'll definitely be bringing some home. it seems like i've been here a lot longer than i have. i'm already adjusted! classes start tomorrow. i'm pretty excited."

"i've found a second love (next to nutella) and their names are paprika pringles. i love them. but i have to contain myself so i don't have to pay for double the plane seatage coming back"

"we drank an entire bottle of wine. one bottle you say? ok, this was an extra large bottle...i think there were like 6 or 8 glasses worth in there. anyways, me and my triplets got our drinkin goin' on. we were loud. i fell. a lot. we tried to sleep on the street...? an RA came to the door when becca screamed bloody murder because catherine came in the room. hmmmm i tested the unbreakable water bottle by hurling it against the wall. i announced to everybody in gaming, via the window, that i love boys. by the end of it all i was sleeping in a bed full of zimmel crumbs, soaking wet from the fact that i can't drink water properly (even sober...i swear i have hole in my lip). we had to wake up the next day, pack and get on the bus very bright and early."

"We traveled by bus, train and airplane all day, reeking havoc and creating ruckus wherever we went"

Ah! That's just a little look at how much fun I had in my semester abroad. Anyways, I'm leaving tomorrow and staying for five days. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I am

I am sad that I lost my favorite pen
I am angry that my ex-boyfriend cut me out of his life entirely (aka de-friended me on facebook)
I am annoyed that I can never find anything to wear in the morning
I am frustrated that I don't know for sure if my GPA will be high enough to graduate
I am nervous that people will stop loving me if I have a bad day
I am terrified of unconditional love
I am livid because Obama is our new president
I am disappointed that no matter where you are girls can still be exclusive bitches
I am drained by the constant pressures and committments in my life
I am hurt...

I am happy that I'm going to Austria in a little more than two weeks
I am ecstatic that I will be starting my new job soon
I am comfortable in my cozy house and driving my crazy car
I am blessed that my life is so led by the Spirit
I am loved when my roomate and I do hilarious things
I am excited for the twinkles going through intensity
I am content with the storylines of Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, and The Hills (haha!)
I am going to be okay...

You're so vain...

Do you like my new scarf? I know it just looks simple...nothing worthy of a second glace. But to me, it's perfect. The colors look like autumn. Also the added bonus is that it's Betsey Johnson and I must say, I love Betsey Johnson in the twisted way that Catholic school girls love wearing red lace panties. Her style is so not me, I've been to a couple of her stores and I felt like a complete outsider. Amidst all the dainty dresses, I looked clunky and far too preppy. Yet something about her crazy and tacky designs make my covered-with-the-Ralph-Lauren-pony heart soar! I cannot wait for the day that my husband says "My pregnant hormonal wife gets whatever she wants," and I can name my first daughter, Betsey!! Then someday when she claims that I'm too safe and old fashioned, I'll tell her about her namesake.

I've been duped! Or was I?...

I missed a lot of televised entertainment in the year of 1994. I was 8 years old and I had made a bet with my father. If I could stop watching TV for one year, he would give me..........ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS! Throughout the year, I kept busy doing homework or reading while everybody was gathered around the tube. It was also a great guilt trip for my siblings and parents when they would just sit down to watch something and I would appear with a deck of cards or to request a game of street tennis. My brother made a similar bet, but it was for fifty dollars and he had to stop playing nintendo. He made it two weeks, haha. At the end of that year on New Year's Day at the stroke of midnight, my dad handed me $150 (a bonus because he never thought I would make it). A small fortune! I felt like the luckiest kid on earth and I had worked hard for my money. Nowadays, I spend more than I made that year for a one night stay at the Hampton Inn. The thing is though, as an adult I have particular shows that I watch every week but I can never seem to be the kind of person to just sit down and suck my life away in front of the TV. I have a feeling that my dad's gift to me 14 years ago was more than just the cash.

My Boxes

So, I have these boxes. There are about 15 of them. They are shoeboxes and they are in the closet back at my parents house (these, my hope chest, and my shelves full of books are the only things that are actually mine in my old room). The reason I started this collection was because when I was in sixth grade my best friend had a boyfriend. And to celebrate this beautiful and sacred week long relationship, she had collected little artifacts that she could call "theirs." There were movie ticket stubs, the CD that they both loved, his notes to her...things like that. This gave me an idea and right then and there I decided that I would start filling a shoebox too, just for me and my memories. Throughout my junior high, high school, and college years I dumped everything from broken keychains to my well kept journals into my boxes. I saved everything that I knew had some sort of feeling attached to it. My plan is to go through it someday and throw out what I don't need (the warranty for my walkman from 7th grade, perhaps) and the rest, well that'll be exciting for my kids to look through someday, won't it?