Update

So it's been a long time since I have updated on what's been going on in my life..

Since August, lots have happened..

I am still trying to figure out the whole health thing (haven't really gotten anywhere with that)

It's now December and Finals have been here and are now gone, I am thankful for the semester to be done with. I am looking forward to getting grades.

I am getting some time to go home over Christmas Break and I will be spending lots of time with my little turtle man Keeghan, who is getting bigger and bigger every time I see him.

Between work and school, life has been very crazy and now I am also in the process of moving to a different on campus housing option, somewhere that's quiet and a better environment for my mental and physical well-being.

I wish everyone a very blessed Christmas and a very happy Happy New Year.

God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith;
the warmth of Christmas, which is love;
the radiance of Christmas, which is purity;
the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;
the belief in Christmas, which is truth;
the all of Christmas, which is Christ.
--Wilda English

Craziness.. aka school

So I figured I would do some updating before things get really crazy.. meaning School!!!

So I am back working at school in our Director of First Year Experience Office. I am helping her get everything ready for New Student Orientation, Student Mentor traning and other misc. things. It's been busy, I was also hired as a Student Mentor, which I am really excited about. I love working with the first year students. We start traning on Wednesday and it's going to keep me busy with the schedule and working in all of that.

We have New Student Orientation in about 10 days.. ahh I can't believe it.. school is almost here. We start classes in about 3 weeks, it's just madness. I am looking forward to school starting, to getting back on a routine and seeing all of the girls and everyone else.

Health wise right now I am doing okay, I have my good and bad days. The last week or so have been really good, I was weighed again and I am down a total of 40 lbs from where I started beginning of this last spring semester. As long as I really watch what I eat and get enough exercise the pain is managable.

I was in Chicago for an afternoon with some of my sorority sisters and it was a blast. We visited the Museum of Science and Industry, mainly for the Harry Potter Exhibition they have going on right now. I got to walk down Michigan Avenue and do some window shopping and we also walked down to Navy Pier, which was absolutely gorgeous! We picked a really good day, the sun was shining and it wasn't too hot, it was just perfect.

Well I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their summer, because sadly its coming to an end.
God's blessings.

Lots and Lots..

So a lot has happened since the last time that I have blogged. For those of you who don't know I am now home and back in Fond du Lac. I saw a doctor out in Colorado because of some upset stomach and pain on my right side and she told me that I needed to have an ultrasound and see a surgeon. So after talking with my mom about this she wanted me to come home and have this done.

I came home on July 5 and I am now working back at school as a work study for our Director of First Year Experience. I am also going to be a student mentor this fall for the first year students (one of the student mentors). I moved back to Fond du lac yesterday and I am glad to be back at school to get a start on some things for the school year as far as Sorority and Panhellenic stuff.

Elsie had her puppies while I was gone, she had 4 and Lillian had 4 (but Elsie decided to eat 2 of them.. my dog is a cannibal I know, it creeped me out for awhile but luckily I was not at home when all of this happened).

Far Left: Elsie and Otis and Hermonie

Left: Grace

Also I became an aunt on Thursday July 16 to a little boy Keeghan Bruce Stafford. He weighed 4lbs 13 oz and was 17.5" long. He is so cute and I can't wait to spend time with him. I am kind of bummed about going back to school because I won't get to see him often and before I know it he's going to be big and probably couple of months old. I will get to see him at the baby shower this weekend and I can't wait, he is my little monkey boy!

God's amazing works..

So I have some time to finally sit and blog.. but here's an update on what's going on in my life and the wonders that God has worked with me..

I have been out here for 10 days and I have loved every single day of it. I haven't had a chance to do a whole lot because of work and still getting used to the altitude. I arrived last Monday (June 1) and started work the following day and worked everyday last week 8-4:30 except for Wednesday I woke up really not feeling well because of the altitude and the massive weather changes that we get out in the mountains. I had my first day off on Monday and just kind of bummed around the YMCA property and just relaxed. I have been doing a lot of walking out here, it's been quite a challenge because everything is either uphill or downhill (no flat ground).

I have 2 other roommates, one from Zimbabwe and one from Florida. Some of the other people I have meet are from all over not only the United States but the world. I have made friends with 2 girls from Jamaica and 2 from Uganda. We all spend a lot of time together.

I am working in housekeeping and I get to help make sure that the cabins and/or lodges are cleaned and ready to go for new guests. The Y out here just opened up a new lodge called Longs Peak and it's three stories, the 1st floor beig underground and the ground level being 2nd floor. But for a couple of days we were in there getting beds made and making sure everything was dusted and ready to go for people to stay out there this past weekend. But right now the Y is kind of slow which they said is really unusual for this time right now but hopefully things will pick up. I did hear that they didn't hire as many seasonal employees as they normally do in the summer which is okay because I am hoping for some overtime. This week has been kind of slow but we get the option of staying till 4:30 helping in laundry or something (which I did yesterday). The people I work with are all very friendly and very nice and understanding.

Today was my second day off for the week and I actually got to go hiking for the first time. I went with 3 other people over the Rocky Mountain National Park and we hiked Bear Lake up the Alberta Falls and about a mile past that. So 2 miles up and 2 miles down, I was really proud of myself, we got some really gorgeous views.

Since I have been out here I have felt much closer to God and I have been doing a lot of deep thinking and a lot of praying. Something that I find absolutely amazing out here is that most of the people out here are Christians and it has just amazed me how supportive all of them have been since I have arrived. There is a group of people out here for the summer with a program called "Leaders in Training" and every Tuesdsay/Thursday night they have worship services where anyone can go and they since songs and have a speaker come and talk with them. I went last night and they talked about how God will always take us back and he talked about Hosea and Gomer. It was just amazing to be surrounded by all of those people especially my age and just be able to worship with them.

But I have been making plans to hopefully go white water rafting and horseback riding. It's nice because a lot of the places around us and even on the Y property we get discounts for being employees. So yeah that about sums what I have been up to so far. I am hoping to get pictures up soon ( I am working on buying a camera this summer) but I hope everyone is well and I miss everyone!!

God Bless!

Summer

So mom and I got back from Ireland this past Wednesday and I will post more with pictures very soon. But here's a little bit about what we did..

Wednesday we left for Dublin and it was a very long day because we had an overnight flight so those always make for a very long day. Thursday we arrived in Dublin had a 3 hour wait till our flight to Shannon, arrived in Shannon and had a performance the same night. Throughout the rest of week we visited many different places such as Bunratty Castle, Blarney Castle, Guinness Factory, many Cathedral, Cobh (Cove), Cork, Dublin, Galway.. and many more places

So I am now off the Colorado for the whole summer I leave tomorrow (Monday) morning from Milwaukee at 11:10 am.. I am really excited, anxious, nervous all at the same time.. I will update more of my experience out there as the summer goes on I will have my computer and cell phone with me so please write and keep in contact!!

God Bless!

Starball 2009 / Big Band

I forgot to update on what's going on with school. It's finals week and I am taking a much needed break, I have two more finals to go tomorrow; one being my very last music theory exam and I have a presentation on small group process.

So 1 more day left and then it's finishing packing up my house and my room and getting it home. Back in April we had our Starball (our sorority formal) and it was a lot of fun. We had to use one mini van from the school because our 12 passenger van that the school owns broke down the night before.. total bummer it took us about 2 hours to get everyone to the hotel that we were having it at. But it was still a good time and getting people home and to the bars took just as long afterward but again it still was a really good time, everyone had a lot of fun!

So as soon as I can I will get some pictures up..

I also had a very exciting week about 2 weeks ago. I was on the committee for Marian's Big Band event and this year I was the Hospitality Chair (making sure they had food, water, etc.) and this year it was the Drew Davis Band and Josh Gracin. I got to meet Josh Gracin and the Drew Davis Band, I was on cloud 9 the entire time.. it was so amazing even though I didn't get to enjoy most of the concert, because I was making sure the bands had everything that they needed. But it was absolutely amazing! I would really recommend their music.

I hope everyone enjoys the nice weather when we do get it even though we needed the rain! Have a great summer vacation!

Update....

Hello..

It's been quite awhile since I last updated. I thought the saying was "April Showers bring May Flowers".. well it's May we shouldn't be getting April showers now!

So.. 7 days till Mom and I leave for Ireland I am really excited but nervous. The itenarary is packed full of all kinds of fun things that we are doing.

Wednesday (20th)
--> We fly from Chicago to Dublin (overnight flight) and Dublin to Shannon

Thursday (21st)
--> Arrive Ireland / Performance at Galway Cathedral

Friday (22nd)
--> Cliffs of Moher / Bunratty Folk Park / Killarney

Saturday (23rd)
--> Ring of Kerry Tour / Performance in Killarney

Sunday (24th)
--> Blarney Castle / Performance in Blarney / Cobh / Cork

Monday (25th)
--> Waterford Crystal / Glendalough / Dublin

Tuesday (26th)
--> Performance in Dublin / Books of Kells / Guiness Factory

Wednesday (27th)
--> Return to USA

So that is what we are going to doing in Ireland!
I can't wait like I said earlier I am very excited, anxious and nervous all at the same time!

Colorado, here I come!

So it's almost April already and that means the end of the semester is coming up fast and than summer vacation. I have found a summer job, which I am really excited about, I applied at a YMCA center in the Rockies (Estes Park) and I was hired. It's not exactly the job I want, but I can't complain, it's going to be an amazing experience and I am really excited! I will be there from June 1 - August 21. So I will keep in touch and should have more time for keeping my blog updated!

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Catching up...

It's been a long time since I have updated, I didn't realize how much time has actually past. I have been really busy with school and work and other things. In the past month and a half, a lot has happened!

The last time I wrote was middle of February and I was sick. I am starting to feeling a little better, still dealing with the headaches and stomaches, but they are getting better, as my stress level goes down so does the stomaches and headaches. I am learning different ways to deal with both of these. So February not much else happened.

Than March came.. and this year, definitely came went out roaring. I can't believe that we got snow this past weekend.. at least 3 inches.. crazy, but you would never be able to tell, it's all melted already.

Spring Break came and it was amazing. This year I participated in another mission trip, I had the opportunity along with 16 other women to go to Washington, Pennsylvania and work for Habitat for Humanity. The experience was quite an experience, we 'mudded' and sanded the drywall, it was very messy, but fun, learning a new skill is always fun for me. I don't know if I could do it for awhile though. So we left the Saturday March 14 and stayed in Toledo, Ohio for a night and then continued on our way to Pennsylvania, we ended up getting lost, but thanks to Ethel (my GPS, yes we named her), she got us there safe and sound. We stayed in a beautiful church the whole week on either the floor or air mattresses (most of us broke down and bought an air mattress while we were there). Friday (20) we took half a day to work on the house, it was also our last day and we spent the afternoon in Pittsburgh, which is a really pretty city, and we had dinner and than returned the church only to go to bed and get up the following morning at 4 am to be on the road at 5 am. We returned safe and sound to Fond du Lac at about 4:30 pm (Central time). I was so blessed to have had this experience, I learned about myself as a person and how God really does work in mysterious ways.

<-- Here are some pictures from the week

Top: Our entire group

Middle: Outside of the house (I think we are on Lunch)

Bottom: Dinner in Pittsburgh (I am sitting with our advisors)

So that is about it.. still trying to make decisions about school and everything.. so keep me in your prayers that God leads me in the right direction!

Valetines' Day

So I had to add this quickly, I had the most interesting Valentine's Day. I received the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers from my wonderful Mother. But I had to work most of the afternoon. Well my sorority sister Lisa and I decided that we were going to go and see a movie, but the one we wanted to see was in Oshkosh, well we go to Oshkosh get to the movie theatre and there is a huge line outside of the theatre, so we decided to see the later show. We get in line, get our tickets and went to eat, we ended up going to IHOP, which food was amazing.

After dinner, we went to see our movie, we decided Coraline and it was really good, a little creepier than I thought, but the animation and story line was really good, I recommend it to those who like the Tim Burton type movies. But it was a good night after that movie, we drive back and fall asleep to watching Sex and the City movie, so it was a good night overall, just a little out of the ordinary, because we were just bored and didn't want to sit home.

Also saw Gran Torino on Sunday.. highly recommended, best Clint Eastwood movie that I have ever seen.

sickness and other things..

So the week after my birthday really sucked, I started off the week on Sunday in between my shifts at work, I got back to house and started getting really sick, and I didn't know what it was, because I normally don't get that sick. Well on Monday I went to the school nurse and she told me to that she wanted me to go to the Urgent Care to have some lab work done, well my sorority sister Nicole was a complete sweetheart and took me. We get there and go in, took my temp and everything and did the lab work (which while the lab person was taking my blood, right before she stuck me with the needle, she cleaned my arm normal routin stuff when they take blood, but after she wiped my arm with the alcohol wipe, she got some on her glove, rubbed her eye and got alcohol in her eye, I was just a little scared), but everything came back okay.
Later that night, I was still having some dry heaving, even though the doctor prescribed me something for the nauseau, but it wasn't really helping, so another one of my sorority sisters Lisa took me to the Emergency Room. Again they gave me something for the nauseau, and sent me home.
Well Tuesday I wasn't really feeling any better and the headaches started. I called Mom and she had Christopher come and get me and I was home for a few days and even today I am still feeling a little off, but I think the sickness was a mixture of stress and possible food poisoning, but I will never know and I am still dealing with the headaches and the occasional nauseau, but I am trying to get myself back on a decent diet to see if that helps.

I also have been doing some soul searching and praying a lot asking God to show what to do at this point in my life, whether to stay at Marian or transfer to a different school. I am currently looking at Cardinal Stritch, but I really want to finish up my minor here at Marian, currently I have a Values-Based Leadership minor and I am really learning a lot about myself as a person and a leader. So I do decide to transfer it won't be till after next year. So please keep me in your prayers as I try and figure out what God has planned for me. I have also started going back to church when I can, I try and go Thursday evenings, which seem to be about the only time I can go, with my schedule, but since I have started going, I feel a part of me is no longer missing.

I hope everyone has a great week and that everyone stays healthy and I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day, whether you spent with a loved one or with family and friends.

Birthday

So I finally turned the big 22.. it was a little scary, because I don't feel like I am really getting any older, but than I realized that I am getting older, but it's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's just God's way of giving me more life experience. I wasn't able to really do anything on my birthday, due to Sorority recruitment, so I started off my birthday with a meeting than I had work and than I did absolutely nothing. It was amazing!

^(Marie and I)

Friday was the last day of formal recruitment for us and after our Bid Day Ceremony, my sisters made me a cake and sang Happy Birthday to me, it was fun even though I don't like being sung to, and I told them that. But I was really happy, because I did get to celebrate with them, since I was not able to be home.





Well that Saturday is when I got to celebrate, my 'big sister' Jean kidnapped me for the afternoon and she took me to Oshkosh and we met up with my twin sister in the sorority, we went to lunch and she treated us to not only that but to Mani's and Pedi's. That night I had dinner with some of my amazing friends, my sorority sisters and my cousin Marie came for dinner and afterwards those of old enough went out and had some fun, nothing major, but it was fun to just get out and have some fun. My birthday wasn't anything special, but I did get to celebrate with friends and my sorority sisters.

Birthday Suprise

Well my birthday is coming up on Thursday and today I got a suprise from two of my best friends in the world. We are known as the Three Kappateers to the rest of our sorority sisters (because we have been best friends since we came to college in 2005, we used to be inseparable)

I got a call this afternoon saying that I had an hour to get ready and that I was being 'kidnapped' for a few hours this afternoon. So I got ready and my two best friends Naomi and Kim came back to the house and picked me up and told me that since we the three of us are together (which doesn't happen very often) we are finally going to get our tattoos done. Something that we have been talking about for the past 4 years! I was really excited and along with that Kim got me a really cute small bag that's black with purple music notes and staff line on and inside was a Coffeemug that had piano keys and random musical things on.

<-- This is all three of our feet after the tattoos were done.

My finished tattoo -->

Naomi's finished tattoo -->

Kim's finished tattoo -->

They were all matching and we all did our favorite pictures.

Elizabeth - Red; Green - Kim; Blue - Naomi

I was really excited.. I am done with the tattoos for awhile now!

The Beginning..

Hey Everyone,

So I thought since this blog thing is a good way to let everyone know what's going on with school and life in general.

Well.. the spring semester has finally started and its been about a week and a half and already it's been very crazy. My schedule is pretty packed full with classes, lessons, practice and meetings.
Also for those of you who don't know I have changed my major. I am now a Vocal Performance Major with a Values-Based Leadership minor. Currently I am testing the water in some communication classes and if I like them, I am going to declare Communication as my second major. So far I am really liking them and with this degree, I want to travel and see the world.

My music classes are going great, I am on my last semester of Music Theory and Music History, which is really exciting for me. I am working on some really different pieces for my voice lessons, Joan (my voice teacher) wants to me to work on some arias (lots of runs up and down the scale) and some foreign language pieces.

Things with the sorority are starting to fall into place, it's been a long year for us so far, but things just keep getting better. I am the President this year, so I have my hands full.

I am also a Resident Assistant on campus and this semester so far has been nothing but interesting. I love my job though and I have about 35 residents, which include all of our Greek Housing and one house of male students (mainly hockey players).

So.. that's whats going on with school