Pages

Monday, September 28, 2009

Just Go Look at the Mountains

I made these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies this afternoon... Perfect for the fall and so, so easy. And by easy, I mean only 3 ingredients and just stir them together.

My sweet professor told us as we were leaving class today that we had to go look at the mountains today because it's one of those rare October days that you can see them perfectly. That made me start thinking that I need to do more things like that, just enjoy the scenery around me and take time out to do things like that because those things are just good.

Even before this, I had been thinking that I really don't want to just keep looking forward to the next weekend or the next break. I think that I'll look back and wish that I'd enjoyed my crisp autumn days once winter comes, and that I just enjoyed college when I had the chance. I want to take some time out to stop stressing, just to forget about all my responsibilities if even for just an hour, and do something that I love or something for someone else, because that's what makes things good, it's going to be what I remember as I look back on these days.

So I don't want you to forget to cherish the moment either, and I know that sounds so cheesy. But who wants to live for the next activity all the time, wasting away these perfectly good days?

So make a cheesy 'Cherish' card for someone, bake some pumpkin cookies, drink some apple cider or coffee and enjoy this fall weather (even if you do have 5 assignments due and 2 tests this week, it will be okay).

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Happy Fall!

Fall is off to a good start!

I woke up this morning to a chocolate chip pumpkin muffin and freshly brewed coffee.

My roommates, Nat and Gav, they're wonderful!

I love the Fall. It's time for so many great things. Time for...
fresh spiced apple cider
the colors red, orange, yellow and brown
gorgeous leaves
pumpkin flavored things (including pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin bread)
football... tailgating when it's chilly out
apple season (my favorite)
bon fires on cool nights
driving to the mountains
Thanksgiving... My favorite holiday
crunchy leaves (except when they are wet and I slip on them)
kickoffs to new TV seasons
Fall decorations... pumpkins, wreathes
real fires in the fire place
jackets (my favorite piece of clothing)


And the list could go on!

Hope you enjoy your first day of Fall and are excited for the season!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

How to Stop a Left Eye Twitch

I've had a constant heartbeat in my eyelid for three days now. It feels like my left eye is constantly blinking; it's hindering my vision, as a matter of fact. Mars, my sis, told me that she is worried that my heart is moving up to my eye lid. This could be serious, and that's why I'm blogging about it.

I have heard that this is also known as a twitch, but it wouldn't be nearly as riveting to just tell you that my eye is twitching. Plus, that's just one of those words--I don't think that is very pretty and I just don't like it.

Anyways, upon developing this extra heartbeat, I decided in my mind that this was caused by my not eating any meat in a week (not by choice, but by the choice of my college student budget). So, Friday night I ate plenty of red meat at Mimi's to get rid of the twitch, but we all know that my expertise is not in health, and my bright idea was without results.

Saturday night, I finally searched on google: How to Stop an Eye Twitch.

And the results?

Causes of eye twitching: lack of sleep, stress, fatigue, prolonged staring at a computer screen (you better watch out!), too much caffeine intake. ...So pretty much, my life is a cause of eye twitching... No wonder!

So, the solution:

Get rest. Relax. Don't stress. No caffeine. Take plenty of breaks from the computer.

.....Nearly impossible for a college student in the midst of 2 weeks of exams.

But, I do have a praise here, and it's a pretty good one!

The twitch is in my left eye, which I can barely see out of anyways. I don't even use that eye because I always forget my glasses. So, really, it worked out quite well for me.

So, to add to my list of things to praise God for: a twitch in my left eye.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

70 things to thank God for

70 things to Thank God for [this is not a complete list, just the first things that I thought of]:

the Bible
ice cream
my hope in Him
blogs
suduko
tennis shoes
laptops in class
the state of Tennessee
long-sleeved tshirts
finger nail clippers
football games
grandparents
funny professors
mountains
hummus with carrots
daily planners
L'Oreal Kids shampoo
cousins
schedules
an all-knowing God
loving people
polarized, prescription sunglasses
football games
the forecast
unity with Christ
Forever 21
rain boots
cell phones
bobby pins
miraculous healing
bulldozers
electricity
hand-written letters
clouds
G-mail
band-aids
eyesight
churches
braces
mentors
tape measures
the bus
kleenex
awkward moments
loved ones going to be with Jesus
running water
nicknames
chivalry
the grocery store
mercy and grace
oncologists
chapstick
pumpkin spice lattes
windex
homework
talented people
Intervention on A&E
vegetable gardens
finding money in a pocket
christian books
natural peanut butter with honey
real friendships
country music
flowers
apple cider
childhood memories
my bed at home
gum
cute kids
YouTube
creeks
Christmas time
fresh fruit
the simplicity of the Truth


I like to think about these things--the things that I take for granted, but that when it gets down to it, I would have a hard time giving up. And, when I'm feeling sorry for myself, I can think about these types of things and remember how great I really have it.

"Thank God in everything..." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Any more things you can think of? Please share!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I'm a Vegetable.

I'm a Vegetable.

The past 30 hours:

Awaken at 9, off to class, straight to lunch, head to the library for 3 hours, then to finance office hours for 1.5 hours, bus ride back to the apartment at 5:30, hurry to turn in homework by 6, drive to Val's to study, actually study, bake cookies for Crompton and Devin, come home at 10:00, go to Sonic for caffeine, back to Val's till 11:30 without my sonic diet dr. pepper (it's still in my room), back to the apartment to study until 2am, sleep 4 hours, wake up at 6am, 2 cups of coffee, study for a test at 8am, another 9am class, lunch at 10:30 with Mol, tutor a girl in finance, class until 1:10 and HOME by 1:30.

So my point? I've been lying in bed for over an hour and haven't slept. I drank too much coffee. I can't do anything really-- no homework, don't want to get out of bed, can't form a complete sentence out loud; I'm just a vegetable, jacked up on caffeine. It's a lovely feeling, really.

I have my small group at 5:00 and then my other small group at 7:00, and then The Cross and 9:00 but I'm thinking I'm going to be a vegetable by then, not jacked up on caffeine anymore, so The Cross may not happen this lovely rainy Wednesday evening.

By The Way: I thought that I knew a guy on the bus today, a guy who I met last night at Devin and Crompton's apartment. So I see him on the bus as I'm walking on, about to slide my bus card, and I cut my eyes over, gave him a cheesy smile and raised my eyebrows, like I knew him or something and was about to go talk to him (although it was a weird thing to do, no matter if I knew him or not), but keep in mind, this is at 1:10 after this long day. So, no reaction from dude. I proceed to get my card out after dropping all my wet stuff in the bus doorway, and then look at him again failing to give up on the first time he obviously didn't recognize me, and this time I squint my eyes, smirk, sit in front of him, then take a deep breath like I'm about to say something, but then I finally recognize the look of complete confusion and shock on the guy's face. Then I just turn around, and sit there in front of him for the rest of the 15 minute bus ride, never looking back, and ignoring him get off.

Why do I do these things? Why, oh why, do I make eyes at complete strangers on buses when I have to sit there with them (it's worse than an elevator)? I can almost guarantee you that I will see dude again this week. And he will definitely not forget that little wordless encounter.

I can already picture it, tomorrow:
7:30am: Mel enters bus.
7:31am: Mel just sees a seat and sits in it, not really noticing the bus buddy in the seat directly next to it.
7:31:30: Mel hits the bus buddy with her back pack. Oh wait, when she turns to apologize, she realizes, is that him? She doesn't apologize.
7:32am: Mel is feeling awkward, next to him. Her mind leaves her; she can't think of a single thing to say. She thinks that he thinks that she meant to sit there next to him. Obviously, he thinks she is a total creeper, first the eyes, then the next day sitting right next to him.
7:33am: Mel decides to try to talk to him. But all she gets out, because she thinks back to this post, she says, "Hey, I'm a vegetable!... [awkward pause] .... I mean, I'm Melissa."

Yes, this will happen tomorrow.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Definition of Productivity

"I think I'm going to try to be productive with my time tonight, so I'm going to get in the shower!"

I didn't really think about it, but Gav mentioned that my statement was very odd. After thinking it through, I guess it is a little weird, but ya know, college days are lazy days, and I don't really mind it. Showers are a big deal for me, especially if they last longer than 5 minutes.

Now I'm all clean and ready for bed. The big decision now is, to dry the hair or to let it be. The rain outside is causing me to lean toward the latter option. Maybe this won't be that productive of a night.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

What a morning!

Woke up this Sunday morning, got ready for church, and packed up my clothes so that I could head home after church for a few nights. Gavin had a friend over and so I started talking. Next thing I knew it was 11:10 and church had started at 11:00. I knew it would take me 20 minutes to get to church, and it was raining. I decided to go ahead and leave, just be a little (30 minutes) late. I lugged my overnight bag, backpack, lunch box, and purse all out the door and headed to the car until I realized that there was a steady drizzle and that I'd forgotten my umbrella so I came back.

And I decided it wasn't worth going to hear half of the message, that I probably wouldn't understand it. So here I sit, in my church clothes, listening to Christian praise music over the noise of the dishwasher, with my packed bags surrounding me on the floor. What a morning!

I'm so looking forward to home. I'm not going to lie, home is my favorite place ever.

Never alone
I'll be in every beat of your heart
When you face the unknown
Wherever you fly
This isn't goodbye
My love will follow you stay with you
Baby you're never alone
-Lady Antebellum and Jim Brickman

Friday, September 4, 2009

How Not to Figure Out What to Major In

I've been browsing the net, thinking about my future. Didn't come up with many plans, but I found some interesting information for those of you who don't know what to major in and who aren't yet JUNIORS in college. It's too late for me to go back now.


According to CNCB, the college degrees most in demand in 2009 are as follows, along with my thoughts on each:

1. Accounting. Good thing I just changed my major so that it is no longer accounting. That would have meant I probably would have had a job when I graduated. Sorry Dad.

2. Mechanical Engineering. Makes me sick thinking about any kind of engineering. I don't think I even know what engineering really is.

3. Electrical Engineering. My luck, I'd probably get electrocuted.

4. Computer Science. Computers. I don't get mad often. Unless it's at computers. I get angry at computers. I can officially state that I get more upset at computers than I do at people.

5. Business Administration/Management. Hey, I'm a Business major. Too bad I hate all of my business classes I'm in now. If, and only if, I did business as a career, I'm pretty sure the only part I'd enjoy would be buying new, really cute business clothes.

6. Economics/ Finance. My Finance class is killing me. Today we played a game in class and the teacher through a tennis ball and whoever caught it picked a friend nearby to answer the question. I knew NONE of the answers and I was so afraid I was going to get called on, I felt sick to my stomach and almost got up and left. But it would have made a scene because the other 150 students would have known- Oh, she's too chicken to play the game. To say the least, I don't want to go back.

7. Information Sciences and Systems. I'm also in an Information Systems class. It took me 2 days almost straight to even install the software on my computer. It's not looking so good.

8. Computer Engineering. Computers + Engineering. Definitely not.

9. Management Information Systems. Isn't this a repeat of number 7? Must be realllly popular.

10. Marketing/ Marketing Management. I've always wondered what marketing majors actually do.



So, my future plans are still slim. As far as my major, human resources, is concerned, well... in my HR class yesterday, the teacher was talking about how companies are needing less and less human resources people as the years go on (might not be the best sign for me, or my parents at that). But, honestly, I am not really planning on working in HR anyways since I really don't know what Human Resources people actually do.

I'm thinking Christian counseling at the moment. It sounds really exciting and interesting, but who knows what it's actually like, because I'm pretty sure you can't just shadow a counselor when they're working.

I have approximately 613 days to figure out what to do after I graduate. That sounds like a long time to me. Plenty of time, right?