I need some advice

When you read this, please leave a comment or e-mail me. Thank you.

Ok. Two days before the hardest semester I will ever encounter. Part of me is extremely excited and the other part is terrified, but I'm ready. I'm ready for the challenge.

This is not what I need advice about. It's something that could make this semester better or worse. Growing up, I learned that if there is something worth fighting for, then fight for it. I have kept doing that through my life, however, I have hit a serious road block that makes me want to quit fighting. Now before some of you jump to the conclusion that it is in regards to medical school, have no fear. My dream has not changed. It's actually incredibly small and superficial and yet it has been the hardest thing I have dealt with in the past six months.

As many of you know, I joined a National Co-Ed Honor Fraternity. It has truly changed my life. I have very close friends who I met through the brotherhood. I am more involved in activities and I enjoy classes more because I have study buddies who happen to be my brothers. However, last semester a major conflict rocked our chapter's world. Honestly, nothing has changed. There is a particular individual who has personally attacked me and I feel like I should not verbally respond in fear that I might say something that shouldn't be said. (If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.) That's all I will say about the extent of the issue since it is a personal issue between brothers.

Over the break, the issue was dropped, until 2 days ago. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I feel as though I should stand up for myself since I, as well as several others, have been wronged, but I also feel as though I just want to quit. I have more important things in my life that require my attention. I've invested too much time to quit the fraternity, but the lack of accountability and support from other brothers have made me wonder if it is really worth it. I'm just having a hard time. What do I do? Do I fight? Do I risk saying something that shouldn't be said? Do I end up losing the friendship I have with some of the brothers that have become some of my closest friends? Or do I forget it entirely? Move on? Quit? I don't know.

I know, this is a childish, superficial post, but really that is all the argument is. I don't feel as though I did anything wrong. No, I know I didn't do anything wrong. You know when you're little and you do something that you weren't supposed to do, but you told your parents that you didn't do it, but deep down you feel guilty because you know it was wrong. Yea, it's not like that. I don't feel guilt for anything I've said or done. So why is this so hard? I don't know. Just leave a comment and give me a little advice as to what to do. What has worked for you if you have been in this situation? What would you do if you were in my situation? Now's the time I need advice that Yoda would give Luke Skywalker or Mr. Miyagi give to his Karate Kid. Seriously. Please comment.

Christmas!

First, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Holidays!

This Christmas has been great. On Christmas Eve, we opened presents as tradition. Ate Jean was able to join us too that evening. Ryan and Butch also stopped by to change gifts. Christie and I got several things. One surprise gift that I got was a GPS. It will definitely be useful in these upcoming months with various trips. Probably the biggest surprise of all of Christie and my presents was the spa day that Mom and Dad gave us. Mom decided to wrap the reservation slip in a box filled with macaroni in order to throw us off. Today was the day that we went and got a girls spa day. We each got a hydrotherapy session, 1 hour massage, and a wonderful pedicure! It was probably the best massage that I have ever had. I will definitely sleep well tonight. I also got several things that I had on my wish list. I put a few board games so I could bring them back to Johnson City to play with my fraternity Brothers. Out of the three games that I got, it looks like Smart Ass is going to be the most fun. I can't wait to play it with Ryan, Elizabeth, Sara, Courtney, Megan, and Jarrod. It's a great game!

On Christmas day, we went over to Grandmama's just as tradition to open gifts. We got a lot of gift cards. We will be going shopping tomorrow to use some of them. One of the gifts that I about immediately put on that Uncle Wayne gave me was a Seattle Grace Surgery Team sweatshirt (Grey's Anatomy for those who don't get the Seattle Grace reference). I also got a couple of Grey's shirts from Christie. I will be set for January 8!!!

Well, I just wanted to update a little. Tomorrow will be jam packed just like Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and today. We are going to eat breakfast at Panera, go to church, probably eat lunch, go shopping, and as one of Daddy's Christmas gifts we will see the Tale of Despereaux sometime during the day.

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!

P.S. For those who like pictures, you will have to go to my mom's blog and shutterfly. I've been slacking this year on pictures. ;)

Home Sweet Home

I am home! It is my second full day home. Ryan and I left Sunday night after he got off work at 6 to come home a day earlier than planned. It was very nice. I actually stayed awake the whole drive! That's crazy.

It's been nice to be at home. Yesterday, Christie and I spent the whole day together. We watched some tv and then she went to a yearbook signing at school. Once she came back, we went to the pet store to buy another tank for her beta (well, her friend's beta that she is taking care of and is paying her back). She also got a present for Butch! ;) We then went to Providence to buy some last minute gifts. After shopping we came home, wrapped gifts, ate dinner, and watched a movie called The Women. It is a definite rent for all females! It's a mix between First Wives Club and Sex and the City. It was awesome!

Today, I will be spending some time with my daddy and later on with Christie and Mom. This afternoon Christie and I will be spending time shopping (more window shopping today than yesterday) at Opry Mills. Mom and Uncle Wayne will meet us there to go watch Titans Live (?? I think that's the name). It's going to be a fun filled day!

Well, that's all for right now. Everyone have a great day before Christmas Eve!

P.S. I'm hoping to see my brothers (not in reference to my brothers of PSP), Zack and Alex, sometime this break. Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. ;)

Christmas Shopping in Johnson City

Hello all!

I just got back from another trip of Christmas shopping. I love Christmas shopping. It's so much fun. I don't like shopping on Black Friday, but I do like shopping for Christmas gifts.

However, shopping in Johnson City is not the same a shopping at home. At home, I can spend hours at one mall with Christie and/or Mom and Dad just looking. It's so much fun. Yea, sometimes it's crowded, but it's great! There are tons of stores for a variety of things. Making a wish list to have on Grandmama's fridge on Thanksgiving day is not hard when there are so many options from so many stores.

This year, I have found it fairly hard to do both. I just got back to my apartment from the Johnson City mall. I have gotten a few things for my family. Dad is the hardest to buy for, as always, but here it's nearly impossible. I left at 6 and I'm already back at 7. Here's my experience. Well, I'm by myself because Ryan is working and everyone else is at home (not in Johnson City). I went to the mall to buy my Dad's Christmas gift and maybe find something else to give to my sister. If you have ever been to Johnson City, you will notice that the mall is just one step up from Harding Mall (in Nashville). It's nothing compared to Cool Springs or Opry Mills. First, parking was a nightmare. I tried using my Mom's technique of following someone out of the store to take their spot, however, the old woman decided not to leave until I drove down another lane! I had to park very far away, but I was ok.

When I went into the mall, it was like a football game just got out. The Johnson City mall is the high school hang out of the entire town. I understand that going to the mall with friends to shop and maybe hang out in th food court is fun, I mean I did it, but these high school kids are something else. First, the outfits, craziness. Call me an old fogie, but mini skirts and Uggs are not fashionable, especially not in winter time! It's not cute. Put some clothes on. Second, they congregate in the middle of the walk way. MOVE!! Then they roll their eyes when someone says excuse me. Eh. I know I'm ranting. Ok, back on track. I went to buy the gift that I knew I was getting Dad. Finding another gift for Christie was impossible. She doesn't need a scarf in Florida. She doesn't need another sweater. She doesn't need any teenie bopper anything! So around 6:45, I gave up and drove back to my apartment.

It's not the same as home. I would have spent all day shopping if I were at home, but not here in Johnson City. I guess I'm just ready to be home. I'm going to be going back to Nashville on Monday. I can't wait. Three more days!

Well, anyway, just needed to write a little bit. Hope everyone is doing great!

Kinda Bored

Hello world!

It's blogging time. I am currently sitting here in my apartment by myself, sick, and eating a popsicle to soothe my sore throat. School is over, YAY, and there weren't any shifts to pick up at the hospital, at least on my floor anyway. All week I will be just sitting here. I could clean, but I don't want to. lol. I've done a few things for PSP for next semester, but there's not much that I can do until the school year starts.

Ryan and Elizabeth are at work. Marc is travelling to Ohio today. Most of my brothers are going back to their homes. Boredom. Ok, poll time. What do you do when you're bored? I know. This is a really random post, but I'm kinda in a random mood. ;) Oh, it also sucks that Grey's Anatomy doesn't come on until January! Not fair! At least I still have House and Private Practice.

Well, enough rambling for now. I'm going to get another popsicle. Maybe later today or tomorrow I will post a more focused, interesting blog. ;)

Have an awesome day!

Finally

Finally I have a minute to blog. I have been so extremely busy since the last time I blogged. I don't really know where to begin really.

School has been going well. I got an A on that speech that I was talking about and a B on that Micro test. I just got my paper for History of Ancient Greece, with the help of the my friend Jesse, (60% of my grade) and got an A on it! Don't have to rewrite it, thank goodness. I'm currently working on a few papers as well as one last speech. Finals are in about 3 weeks. I have already signed up for my classes for next semester. I'm taking Physics II (and it's lab), Evolution (for my Biology major, not by choice!), Ancient Religions with the magnificent Dr. Burgess, and Eastern Religions. I am just about finished with my minor, and I am a few classes from finishing my major. Next semester will be the least amount of hours that I've ever taken, and I'm so excited about it!

Extracurriculars. Fun, fun! Well, first, I would like to say that Ryan and I had a good start to the 6:30 AM workout routine (until I got sick again). We hope to continue this when my health problems get back to normal. Also, I participated in the intramural volleyball team for Phi Sigma Pi and had a blast! I didn't get to play in the last two games because of the ER visit, but I still had fun through the first part of the season. Speaking of Phi Sigma Pi, well...I have had my ups and downs with the fraternity. One thing that I have loved is getting closer to two particular brothers, Sara and Courtney. We have had so much fun shopping, eating, working out, hanging out, playing Apples to Apples, watching Grey's, fighting with the rest of the brothers, etc. Induction of the Alpha class is next Monday. I am proud to say that Ryan and my little brother, Mary, will be inducted on that day! I'm so excited for them!!!!! You guys know how proud I am of Ryan, but I would like to speak about my little first. Mary has been awesome. She made above a perfect score (she got the bonus question right too) on the National Exam. She helped our team win in the Big/Little Bonding events. Mary has just been awesome and I'm so happy for her. Ryan is the president of Alpha class and has been great at it. I've seen leadership qualities that I haven't seen before in him. He is very well liked among the brothers and he has attended all meetings since he was pinned as a initiate. I'm very proud of him as well.

Lastly, my health. I have had a couple of ER visits since the last post. You can read the details on my mom's blog. They have been kinda scary, but I have been in good hands during both times. I would like to especially thank Ryan, Elizabeth, and Courtney for helping me out last Sunday morning at Starbucks. I have a couple of diagnostic tests next week to maybe help figure out what's going on. Hopefully something is found out soon. I just started work again after a month, until last Sunday.

I am just happy to be home. Ryan brought me home yesterday. I had just been in bed ever since Sunday morning, with the exception of one lab and two fraternity meetings, so Mom wanted me to just go ahead and come home, which I was very glad to do. I slept most of the way home, as usual. Today, I've been out a couple of times with Mom and have been working on a couple of school projects due next week. Christie comes in at 7 tonight. I can't wait to see her. We have so much to catch up on.

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll have another time to blog, but ya never know with me. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Sorry!

Ok. So I was doing a lot better at keeping this thing updated, until this month. I think the March and October are my busiest months of the year!

Short update (since I have class in about 30 minutes).

Basically, with all of the medical drama going on with me, I've been playing catch up in classes. I'm doing fine though. I just finished taking a Micro exam, which was much easier than I thought it would be. I'm about to go give a speech for one of my classes. I'm not really nervous; I'm just worried that I might run over time. I mean come on. 4-6 minutes for an informative speech? That's it! I could talk about my topic for hours! Thank goodness it's not about Grey's because I would soooo take the whole class period.

Other than classes, I've been working a lot on Phi Sigma Pi stuff. We have our initiate class. I have two little brothers, Carrie and Mary. I'm having so much fun. Elizabeth and I worked on our first newsletter and it took a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. I should work on the next issue that I would like to publish on Monday, but I don't know how realistic that goal is. ;) Another fun Phi Sigma Pi thing was mudball yesterday! Homecoming is this week, so Phi Sigma Pi is participating in various ways for the first time at ETSU! Yesterday I played mudball (volleyball in the mud) with 4 other brothers and Courtney's brother (her biological one). Now I know some of you are probably thinking that I'm crazy for playing mudball, especially with all the medical problems I have, but I have always wanted to play, and by golly nothing was going to stop me! ;) It was so much fun. Elizabeth, the designated photographer, should have some pictures up soon.

Really, that's all that's been going on. I've been taking a Kaplan class for my MCAT and making a schedule for next semester (with only 13 hours!!!! the lowest amount of hours I've ever taken). I'm getting really nervous about this whole medical school application process. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Well...I can't really think of anything else to update on. Oh fall break! I'll save that for my next post. ;) But, for a preview, look at my mommy's blog for her version of fall break.

Blog later!

Hectic Health Week

Hello world!

Ok. Many of you know that this week has been horrible in terms of health. At the beginning of the month, I had some problems with my heart and respiratory rate at work. I got off work early and went to an urgent care clinic. I was then referred to a doctor. The doctor told me that he wanted to monitor my heart, so he put me on a 30-day event monitor. Every time I had an episode I could press a button and it would record my heart rate that could be sent to the doctor.

Last Sunday, I was at work and was doing fine. Around 3, I started feeling a little dizzy. After cleaning a patient (around 3:30), I decided to press the heart monitor button and send it to the doctor. I was sitting down as I did this. I was very dizzy and had a hard time breathing. Instead of gettting back to work after sending my heart reading, I continued to sit on one of those doctor's rolling stools. My co-worker, Jessi, kept walking by making sure I didn't need anything. Around 4, she told me to call Ryan because I was extremely flushed and she was worried about me. She also wanted to roll me to the nurses' station so the clerical could keep an eye on me until Ryan got to the hospital. Jessi continued down the hall to finish my vitals that I have not gotten for 4 o'clock and sent a nurse to come check on me. The nurse tried to roll me to the nurses' station when I passed out in her arms. They immediately called rapid responders and took my vitals. My BP was 150/98, heart rate 110, blood sugar 90, sat rate lower 90s, and respiratory rate was up in the 40s. Once rapid responders got there, they put me on oxygen (they had to, I mean I was working on the pulmonary floor of the hospital) and go me on a stretcher. They took me to the ER. When I got there, they cut my scrub top (including the wires to my event monitor), got an EKG, and got several vials of blood.

What was really nerve racking for me was the fact that Ryan was on the way and had no idea what had just happen. I knew the nurse had called my mom and probably said something completely ridiculous. And in the back of my mind was what were the patients and patients' families thinking when they saw their caregiver rushed off of the floor after a code had been called.

Apparently, the nurse had told my mom over the phone that I was "non-reponsive and that they were working on me". The reaction was Mom and Dad rushing to Johnson City in record time (for them) and Mom calling just about everyone. I knew that this would happen. The correct thing to say was that I was no really in any condition to talk, but that I was ok and Ryan was on the way to the hospital.

After a few hours, the doctor came in and diagnosed me with vertigo. I was discharged shortly after that. Once I got home, I laid on the couch until Mom and Dad got there. The repeated joke was "If you wanted us to come and visit you, all you had to do was ask! You didn't have to go to the ER!" ;) It was nice to see them.

This past week, I have seen my PCP and he has set me up for a tilt-table test to see if it is truly inner-ear that I am dealing with. Also, I saw him a second time this week. I currently am dealing with walking pneumonia. So, this past week has been sitting on the couch, trying to stay caught up with my classes, and sleeping.

I know this is a long post and I'm kinda being a Debbie Downer, but I wanted to blog to let everyone know what the situation was and that I am ok, just sick. Thank you for all of the prayers! Keep praying. Hopefully I will be back with a better update.

Stay healthy!

The past two weeks...

I have a day off today (well, I don't have any classes), so I am writing a blog since my mom seems to be keeping up with hers better than I have and she's had it for maybe a week. lol.

The past two weeks have been great! I've been pretty tired, but they have been good weeks. The week before school started I was doing Preview stuff. (For those of you who don't know what Preview is, it is a weekend event for incoming freshman to get to know the campus and students a little bit more before their first day of classes.) Monday started training. Thursday was the first day of Preview. I had so much fun at both the training and Preview. I had an awesome co-leader, Shawn Stewart!, and a great group of students. It was a lot of fun. Shawn and I dressed up at a blue and gold Thing 1 and Thing 2. We had so much fun! Some of my favorite events (as a whole group) were Jeff Dye's act and the hypnotist. Jeff Dye was pretty funny. He had a lot of great jokes. The hypnotist was great as usual. I was so close to being completely hypnotized. Apparently, I was out for a while. I was sitting in my chair and when I opened my eyes everyone was staring at me. I was like, "oh no. What did I just do?" Everyone told me that he had asked those that were hypnotized to raise their arm up and supposedly my arm shot up. My Co was so scared. lol. He was sitting next to me, but when I opened my eyes, he was about five seats down. ;) The whole event was so much fun! Oh and Shawn got Mr. Preview 2008. I was very lucky to have such a great co-leader and group my first year. I have pictures posted on my College Shutterfly if you want to see. I can't wait to do it again next year. Wednesday is going to be our Preview group reunion. I should have another post and pictures up. ;)















The first week of school was pretty nice. I have it scheduled so I only have classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I work at my APS job on those mornings and on Thursday mornings. It's a little bit difficult because I do not have a break in between my classes, so i always have to eat on the run or just run to class. I'm enjoying all of my classes, except for Public Speaking. I guess I've had so much experience holding group meetings and such that this class bores me to no end! It also doesn't help that our professor is a grad student who teaches us like we are in elementary school. Oh well. My favorite classes so far are my history classes (Ancient Greece and Christianity) with Dr. Burgess. He is such an awesome teacher. Yes, I'm a loser, and bought all of the books because he has made me interested in both topics. I actually pretty excited about the papers due in those classes.

This week is going to be pretty busy. I have some work stuff (mandatory staff meeting) and club stuff to do. Also, Skye, our regional consultant for our chapter of Phi Sigma Pi, is staying with Elizabeth and I for the week, so I really should be cleaning now, to visit our chapter. I am so excited about Rush in about 2 weeks! ;)

Three random things:
1.) Went to the rheumatologist last week. He believes that I am doing well. There haven't been any problems recently (except for one finger that has been giving me problems, but he is just keeping an eye on it). He's really a great doctor. I felt like he truly cared about me as a patient. Hopefully I can wean myself off of my medicine soon.

2.) Work is boring. ;)

3.) I'm going back on my diet again. This past summer was pretty much junk food city. I excited though. I started on Sunday. If I can get through these next two weeks, Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, then I will be set! I have also gotten a plan for working out at the CPA doing yoga, "Girls Night Out", and boxing again. I'm pretty excited.

I guess that is it for right now. Hope everyone has a great week!

Several Announcements!

I'm trying to be good by updating weekly. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't.

My first announcement is that I have uploaded pictures of my apartment on my "College Life" shutterfly page for all of those who haven't seen my apartment.

Second announcement:
We have a "community dog" as my roommate would call it. Ryan adopted a dog from the shelter a few weeks ago. His name is Butch. He is a terrier mix, and we think that he has rottweiler in him because of his markings and stance. He is very sweet and is a very good dog. He only barks when he misses us, he doesn't jump on any furniture other than what he is allowed on, and he is house trained. Butch has made our lives a little less stressful. I'm glad we got him.


Third Announcement:
I have completed my summer classes! I took Organic II lecture and lab over the summer because I was so ready to be finished with chemistry once and for all (except for the MCAT of course). I am happy to say that I got a B in lecture and an A in lab! I am so excited. Hopefully I'll remember all of this information for the MCAT next semester.

Fourth Announcement:
Elizabeth and I went to Nashville for our Phi Sigma Pi National Convention where we received our charter for our new chapter, Epsilon Xi! It was great to come home and to meet new Brothers from across the nation. We have a lot of ideas to bring back to our chapter. Ever since we got back to Johnson City, we have been preparing for an unofficial meeting and setting up various things. We are very excited to start the new semester.

That's all I have right now. There's a quick update of what has been going on lately. Blog hopefully next week!

In Memory of Caitlin Currey

On July 27, 2008, one of my sister's best friends was killed in a car accident. Caitlin Currey was a wonderful young lady who always brightened any room that she walked into. She always had a smile on her face, even if she was mad, and she had the cutest voice. Christie and Caitlin met each other in middle school at East Literature and I played the flute with her in band. They were both planning on going to Tampa this fall to start college.

In memory of Caitlin, I wanted to share two of my favorite memories of her. The earliest memory that I have of Caitlin is when she was over at our house. She came over just to hang out with Christie. I walked by the living room and heard them giggling. I looked in and they were just playing cards or something and they looked at each other and started laughing as if there was an inside joke. They did this all the time. The last memory I have of Caitlin was at her sister's wedding. She was so beautiful. She looked all grown up and proud. This is where the picture above was taken.

Caitlin was an awesome person. She was very sweet and kind. She will truly be missed. Please keep her family and friends in your prayers.

Update!!

Wow it hasn't been a month since I last updated! lol. Anyway, there's been only a couple of things going on recently.

July 4th
Mom, Dad, Christie, and Grandmama came up to visit me in Johnson City. They got to see my apartment with all of the furniture set up the way it's supposed to be. We grilled out on July 4th and had pizza for dinner. Christie, Elizabeth, Marc, Ryan and I went to go see the fireworks at Science Hill after dinner. It wasn't like Nashville, but it was fun. We all had a lot of fun playing games, eating out, and just chilling.

Summer Session
The Monday after July 4th weekend, I started school. I am currently taking Organic Chemistry II, both the lecture and the lab. I have lecture everyday and lab twice a week (for 6 hours!!!). As of right now I have taken two of the four tests. My first test I got an unbelievable 99!!! I was so excited. I'm waiting for the results of the second test since I just took it today. It was a really hard test, so I don't think I'll be getting another 99, but maybe next time.

Since most of my time is for school now, I have cut back on my hours at work. Work has been going fairly well. It's nice to have afternoon's off though like today.

Next blog should be a little bit about my Phi Sigma Pi convention next month. Until then, everybody have a wonderful rest of the month!!! ;)

I can't believe it

Ok. So now I truly cannot believe that I haven't blogged in such a long time! Well. There have been several things going on, so again, as usual, another extremely long (probably boring) post.

Move-In
I have moved into my new apartment!!!! Elizabeth and I moved in the weekend before my sister's graduation. I had been living in a hotel and crashing on Ryan and Marc's living room floor until it was completed. We have completely unpacked and everything. We continue to move things around and hang up various pictures and shelves, so when we finally finish those things I will post pictures. (We should have it done before July 4th so my family can see the finished product.) This apartment has officially moved me into the adult world. I am paying rent, utilities, and making payments on my own furniture! It's exciting, fun, and tedious at times. I love my apartments, especially on days like today when I'm off work and have absolutely nothing to do (especially since Ryan has my car for work). I will continue to post updates about the apartment as things come up.

Graduation:
Going home for almost a week and a half was awesome! Christie's graduation was great! I can't believe that it's been two years since I've graduated. The party was even better. There were so many people and a ton of food. It was great to see all of the cousins and everybody. We had a blast!

Vacation & Christie's orientation:
About two weeks ago, the family went on a Caribbean cruise for a much needed vacation. My parents really needed one out of the four of us. Four move ins/outs, graduation, and graduation party all added to that. Our cruise went to the Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Honduras. It was so much fun. The first day, we just hung out on the boat and got a lot of sun (yes, Mom and I were the ones who got sunburned on the first day, but hey, I'm darker than Christie now! ;) ). In the Grand Cayman Islands, we went on a tour that took us to one of two of the turtle farms in the entire world, Hell, and Stingray City. I personally liked Stingray City the most. We got to swim with, feed, and hold stingrays. It was a great experience. When we went to Cozumel, it was rainy, so we just went shopping for the day. Belize was my favorite place. We went cave tubing! It was awesome, especially because we had an awesome guide! There was plenty of shopping there too! In Honduras, Mom and I went on a catamaran excursion with snorkeling while Dad and Christie went on a snuba excursion. Mom and I had so much fun! It was a gorgeous boat and we had a ton of fun exploring the coral reef. We even saw a flounder, which our guide told us was a very rare fish to see at that particular coral reef. We both got a lot of sun (no sunburn) that day. Mom and I also enjoyed shopping there. There were some beautiful mahogany pieces there. We wished we had the money to buy something because it was just gorgeous! I have pictures of the trip on my Shutterfly, so click the link on the left titled "Random Pictures" (Those reading this on Facebook have to go to my original post on Blogger to see them).
After our cruise, we went to Tampa for Christie's orientation. After we left the port, we went to go see an apartment complex that Christie was interested in. It was great! It's like an off-campus dorm. Christie, of course, fell in love with it and signed a leasing agreement with them. It's just right across the street from her college and is going to be a great fit from her. The first afternoon we went to see Billy and Geri's new house. It is beautiful. I loved everything about it. We also got to hang out with the cousins at Olive Garden for dinner. It was very fun! Marcus and Joey are so big now. They are adorable. I can't wait to see the new baby soon! Monday, while Mom and Christie were at orientation, Dad and I went exploring with Christie's GPS. We did A LOT of shopping. I found my new favorite clothing store, Papaya. I have added a link to the left. Dad and I also went to the big International Mall closer to downtown Tampa. It was awesome! The shopping in Tampa is WAY better than here in Johnson City. I have to save up some money for when I visit Christie so I can buy some stuff there. Tuesday we pretty much the same as Monday. Dad and I got to join in on some of the orientation activities, like getting her ID made and going to the bookstore. It was fun. The campus is beautiful. It's so perfect for Christie. I know she'll enjoy it. I've already let her know that she has to start a blog, and try to keep up with it better than I have since she is really far away.

This past week:
I have pretty much been working and cleaning around the apartment all week. My family is coming up to visit on July 4th, so I'm trying to get some last minute things put up and organized. Today is my second day off since I got back from vacation. I just got some fish last night, so I will probably spend the next few minutes trying to name them. They will be in my next Shutterfly album along with pictures of my apartment.

That's all I can think of right now. Hopefully I will be able to update before a ton of things happen again! ;) Bye world!

Since my last post..

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am now a brother of the Epsilon Xi chapter of Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity. I was inducted on April 21st along with 20 others. It's so great! I have also been chosen to be my chapter's delegate to the National Convention in Nashville! I'm very excited!

This past week, I have moved out of Luntsford Hall and into a hotel for a few days. I'm officially homeless. This week, Ryan and Marc moved into their new apartment, and that is where I am staying now until my apartment is ready for Elizabeth and I to move in. I absolutely love it here! It's very quiet, beautiful, and just awesome! I can't wait to move into m apartment. It's going to be great.

This week I have done nothing but work really. There was one day they let me come home because there were too many people on the unit, so I got to help Ryan and Marc move their stuff from storage into their apartment. They have it pretty much unpacked so far. Today I helped out with Orientation at ETSU for the incoming students for the summer sessions. It was fun. I remember how I was at orientation. It was pretty cool helping out. I'm curious to see how the orientation for Christie will be and if it is anything like our orientation. Now, I am sitting in the apartment in the living room next to the window. It's kinda gloomy outside, but its a nice view. I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do until Ryan gets off work. I'm kinda tired. I guess I will take a nap since somehow I have updated the blog now. ;) I'm really going to try to blog more often, especially on my days off and Ryan has to work.

That's all for now! Blog soon!

2 More Weeks!

Ah! I know. I haven't blogged in forever. Ok, I guess this will be another long blog to catch everybody up.

Let me just start with the weekend that was very exciting. The last weekend of March, Mom came up for the Carrie Underwood concert. We had soooo much fun just spending Mommy-Daughter time the whole weekend. We went apartment searching (and found one!), furniture shopping, spa daying, and eating! We had a blast! To elaborate a little more, Elizabeth and I are moving into an apartment in the middle of May. We found and put a deposit on this apartment during that weekend. Mom took us furniture shopping and bought us a living room set. Later on, Mom and I went to another furniture store and I bought my bedroom furniture! The preparations are going by sooo fast! I can't wait!


This month, I have been pretty busy. I've been studying, working on papers, looking for things for the apartment, and working a lot! It's been pretty busy! This past week I was working on Relay for Life things. Relay for Life was a hit! It was so much fun. If you want to see pictures, just click the link on the right named "College Pics". They should be on that page.

Well, I need to go study and start packing. Blog again soon!

Spring Break

Hello everyone!
I know...I know...I'm a slacker. I'm not very good at keeping this thing updated. I've just so busy and then when I have down time, I just want to sleep. ;) Anyway, Since I haven't updated in like a month, I will recap. Hopefully it won't be too long.
School is going well. I'm making A's which is great! I actually am enjoying Chemistry for once in my life (did I really just say that?), as well as my Ethics and Humanities class. (By the way, if you have any ethics related topics that I could journal about, comment here :)) Genetics...what to say about Genetics. The teacher seems really nice, but I cannot, I repeat, CANNOT understand or listen to that woman for more than 30 seconds. I've stuck to reading the book. Other than that, I will register for the fall semester in a couple of weeks. I'm pretty excited.
Another exciting thing that has happened that I haven't mentioned is that I got a job! I am a Certified Nursing Assistant at Johnson City Medical Center in the Med/Surg department. I have worked 2 weekends so far, and I have a week or two left of orientation. I'm enjoying it. I'm learning a lot, not just about patients and such, but about the interactions between employees. It's really interesting. I can't wait to find out more. I got my first paycheck this week and I was so ecstatic! :) It's nice to be making some money now.
I bet a lot of you have been wondering about my knee since I'm working now. I'm managing it. I'm taking my medicine and icing and elevating my knees when needed. I'm just kinda sucking it up right now. I can't let it stop me from living my life. So, since I have this outlook on life (lol) I have been working out a little bit. Elizabeth and I try to go swimming or go to yoga at least once a week, it we aren't too busy. Recently, Ryan and I have attended a non-credit boxing class offered twice a week. Uncle Wayne, you'd been so proud of the both of us. :) It is actually a lot of fun. We are going to continue to go as long as other things don't conflict with it.
There are two extracurricular activities that I have become very involved with this semester. The first that is near and dear to my heart is Relay for Life. It is the American Cancer Society's annual fundraiser. I am a team captain for the Luntsford Hall Council & Friends Relay for Life team. I have a wonderful team. We have had several successful meeting. I would like to ask of all of you who are reading this, is if you can visit my team and/or personal Relay for Life page (you can find the links to the right of this post). If you would like, please make a donation to either myself or to one of my team members. Our goal as of right now is $1000. I'm very excited. We kicked off our first major fundraising event, the penny wars. So far, 2nd floor is winning. ;)
Another extracurricular activity that I am going to spend a lot of time with during the rest of my time here at ETSU is Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Fraternity. Yes, I said fraternity. It is a co-ed fraternity built on leadership, scholarship, and fellowship. We are founding a new chapter here at ETSU and I am part of the founding group. I am currently in the Initiation program and will be inducted in April. I am very excited about doing this. There are some great opportunities and not only can I call Elizabeth my roommate, but my brother. ;)
Well, that's basically it. As of right now, I am officially on Spring Break. First, I don't understand the "Spring" part of it considering we practically got a blizzard all day Wednesday and Thursday morning. There was at least 1 inch of snow. I bet it was more actually. It was too cold to pay attention. Oh, and, snow boots don't always keep you from slipping on snow or ice. We so should have had a snow day, like Davidson County Metro schools (grrr. not fair Christie!) The second part I don't get is the "Break". I work both weekends and Tuesday and Thursday. In between those days I will be working on 4 papers as well and studying for almost all of my subjects and my Phi Sigma Pi history lesson. I know...there's that tiny violin. It's ok though. I wish I could go home a visit for a while, but I figure that I will see everyone in May. :)
I guess that's it for right now. I might blog again over the break if something interesting happens at work or it snows feet or something. ;) Have a good Spring Break everyone who is on break! :)

Recap of Last Week

Hello all!

I have some time before I have to do anything or go anywhere so I have decided to write the blog that I had promised before. First, I will let you know about my first snow day of the year!

As you can see from the pictures, we got about 2 inches of snow. The first thing Elizabeth and I did was build a mini snowman right outside of our dorm. We also made him a snowdog for company. ;) After building the snowman and having a small snow ball fight with Emily, we headed over to Ryan and Marc's room for breakfast. Ryan made us all waffles! They were wonderful! After breakfast we decided to go to Willow Springs Park and go sledding. You may be wondering how we went sledding. Two words: tote lids. We figured that would be a little bit easier to come by than stealing trays from main meal. We only found one good hill to sled down. A lot of the snow had melted. (There are videos of all of us sledding on Elizabeth's blog. Just click "The Roomie's Blog" under Awesome blogs and you will find them on the top right of her blog. Check them out. They are hilarious.) After sledding, we went to Walmart to get some food to make a warm lunch. Ryan, again, made a fabulous meal for us. After eating, we watched Good Luck Chuck. It was pretty funny. After a while, Elizabeth and I helped Ryan and Marc rearrange their room. It wasn't as hard and I thought it would be and it looks great! The rest of the night was pretty typical, dinner, t.v., then sleep. It was a pretty good day.

I know some of you are wondering...aren't you in east Tennessee for school? How's school? Well, I have finished my first week and a half here. I have attended all my classes, except my Genetics lab due to the snow day. So far, I like most of my classes. Chemistry (both general and organic) is finally making sense to me. I took my first Organic quiz today, and I'm sure that I aced it. Humanities is interesting as usual. My ethics class is going to be fun. I get to keep a journal, and so far I have written so much in it for only having attended 3 classes. The only class that might be a little bit of a challenge is Genetics. I love the topic, after all I thought about being a geneticist when I was younger, but the teacher is a little hard to understand. My book will become my best friend this semester.

Well, that's all for now. I should have an update pretty soon on a job opportunity that I have had and some extra curricular activities. Hope all of you have an excellent night! Stay warm! ;)

A Better Blog

Alrighty! So I thought my next blog was going to be about my first week of school, but I have something more exciting to write about. SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Elizabeth and I woke up at about 6:40. We looked outside and saw a wonderful blanket of snow (there will be pictures later. I promise. Elizabeth is going to try to upload some pictures, so check "The Roomie's blog".) on the ground. I then hopped in the shower. When I came out of the bathroom, Elizabeth informed me that ALL CLASSES ARE CANCELED!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!! I still have to go to my APS job at the Student Health Clinic, because nursing clinics and such are still open, but maybe I can get out early. I am soooo excited. I am currently thinking what to do with my day. I think I might try the Lunch Break Yoga, depending on my knee. I will probably also go and play out in the snow for a little while. It is supposed to keep snowing until about 10 this morning. I'm just very excited because these snow days don't happen very often here in east Tennessee. I guess that there is enough snow and ice to keep people from getting on campus. Well, I am off to work. I will probably post again to talk about what I did today. I do know that Ryan is fixing his roommate, my roommate, and me waffles for breakfast this morning! :) Have a wonderful snowy/wintery day! ;)

Christmas Break Part 3

Alrighty. I thought it would be at least a week before I would post again, but I know a lot of people have wondered about my current away messages today, so I decided to give you guys an update.

Yesterday, I was at a doctor's office, job shadowing a breast surgeon. We went to the second patient's room. The doctor had been talking with the patient. All of a sudden I felt dizzy and my stomach began to hurt really bad. I figured that I could just sit in the chair in the room and be fine, but I never made it to the chair. I blacked out before I got there. They brought me to another room and gave me some crackers and a Sprite. I still didn't think that everything we right. Mom came to the office and we saw the overflow doctor for my primary care doctor (thank God it was in the same building). Well, a whole lot of talk happened and she decided to run some blood work (some for the symptoms then and some to compare with the blood work that I had done to check for JRA) and have an EKG. Well, getting all of that done wasn't too bad, but anyway, I had to wait until today to figure out what the results were.

Today, I received a phone call. The doctor had called my mom and then I got a hold of her. She told both of us that I should go and see my primary care doctor as soon as I can. She said my white blood count was elevated and that my EKG came back showing that my heart rate was slow with a little bit of irregular rhythm and that I needed to be on antibiotics for a bacteria infection of the GI tract. So, of course, I went to go see my doctor.
So, I went to Dr. Owens. She was very confused of the whole situation, so I retold my story. She said not to take the antibiotics because it could possibly do worse. She also said that the elevated white blood cell count, lower blood pressure, and the EKG results were related to the blacking out. She called it a vasovagal episode (a.k.a. fainting). My body just freaked out a little bit. So everything was ok relating to my incident yesterday.

So...that seems like everything is perfect again...but of course...you're wondering about my knee(s). Well, Dr. Owens also informed me that my rheumatologist failed to tell me that I have JRA. They aren't changing any medication or anything since my current pills are working fine. She just suggested to try and become healthier and walk as less as possible (ha! yea right). She also told me I should really think about what I am planning to do in the future in regards to my career. Apparently I need a "low stress environment". I know...you're thinking what I'm thinking...Jillian, low stress? yea right. I'm kinda taking that as lightly for right now, but it's still something I will have to think about.

Well. That has been what's going on for the past couple of days. Everything is going ok. Just pray that nothing else happens! Blog later! :)

Christmas Break Part 2

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Years!

Let's see. I left off talking about before Christmas, so I'll tell you how my Christmas went. We had a small Christmas, but it was very nice! One of my favorite things that I got for Christmas was my new Venus (in pink) phone. It came at a great time, because I spilled punch on my other phone and two of the numbers began to stick. It's wonderful. I got a lot of great things to bring back to the dorm with me, like a real tool kit (to replace my dinky one), a cook book, and a shopping bag (so I can help save the environment! ;)). I also got the Colby Calliat CD, which I love, and I bought two CDs I had been wanting with the iTunes card I got (Thanks Ken and Christy!).
From my grandmother and Uncle Wayne, I received several gift cards, which I have used almost all of them, since we didn't have Christmas lists this year. It was very nice being able to spend time with family and having a small Christmas. It wasn't hectic.

The days after Christmas were filled with shopping and preparing for the New Year. Christie and I had a major shopping day at Opry Mills and then at Cool Springs when Mom got off work. Since then, I have been to Opry Mills twice more, once with Ryan and the other with Christie again (for the VS semi-annual sale !!!!) After Christmas we also got to celebrate with a good friend, Aaron, who treated us out to P.F.Changs. We had a wonderful dinner and had a lot of fun. It's great to see him when he and I are both home. :)

New Years. We did a few things for New Years. On Sunday, my family and I went to the Melting Pot to have an early New Years dinner because Dad had to work both New Years' Eve and New Years' Day. It was again, one of the best meals ever (that wasn't made by one of my family members ;)) It was absolutely wonderful. I suggest that everyone save up some money and got there at least once or guys, save about $15 take out your girl to dinner and then take her to Melting Pot for the chocolate fondue for dessert! It is awesome! Anyway, moving on...New Years' Eve Christie and I had a party, which consisted of mostly her friends. We had a great time. We played pool, ate delicious snacks, played Pit and Battle of the Sexes, watched a movie, and of course bring in the New Year, even though we kinda missed the ball drop. ;) After every one left on New Years' Day, we went to Ate Glad and Uncle Prom's house for a brunch. We got to spend some time with them and see Nittie and baby Norah, who is absolutely adorable might I add. (See pics of her by clicking "A Mommy's Blog" on my links.) We had fun.

The rest of this week has been cleaning up the house and just chilling. I have one more week here at home until I go back to ETSU to start my spring semester. (Then, yes, I will be back for the long weekend for MLK weekend.) Right now I don't really have any plans other than watching the playoff game today. Tomorrow, I will be job shadowing Dr. Lawson, a breast surgeon. I'm pretty excited!

Well. That's all for now. I think that there will be one more part to my break that I will post later. ;)

Christmas break Part 1

Hey guys.

The title of this blog includes "Part 1" because I plan on blogging again sometime during my break. I have a month long winter break from school YAY!

I am back home. I haven't really done much other than Christmas shopping, figuring out what my schedule will be like next semester, and looking for a job as a certified nurse assistant.

Nothing really has happened too much since I've been back. Yesterday I went out with Ryan, Christie, Zack, and Sarah to Opry Mills. We ate at Chili's and then walked around the mall. After dropping Ryan off, Christie and I watched Stick It. It was an ok movie. It was nothing too spectacular. Alex and Zack came over to the house. We watched Mighty Ducks. I was so surprised of how little I remembered about the movie. It had been such a long time since I've seen that movie.

Christmas. When I got home, everything had pretty much been decorated. Our colors this year are blue and silver, school colors of my alma mater, for Christie's graduation. We had our annual Christmas potluck for my parents' Sabbath school class. It was fun. Christie and I pretty much just talked to Angel and Uncle Steve. Other than that, it has just been Christmas shopping. We are normally done shopping for everyone early, but because we are having a small Christmas due to our Philippines mission trip we have had to try to get some small gifts, without Christmas lists. It has been fun though. I have got to spend a lot of time with my dad when he is off in the morning and a lot of time with my mom when she gets off work.

Let's see. What else. Oh, my knee has been doing pretty well. I got the results back from my labs. My ANA titer was positive, but they think it has something to do with my thyroid. Also, the blood test for RA came back negative. So, we are back to square one. I haven't had to wear my giant brace since I've been home (knock on wood). It has been nice.

Well. I think that is it for now! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Thanksgiving Break

Ok. You guys can let me have it. I know I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I'm a slacker. I'm also extremely busy. It's ok though. Instead of recapping from the last time I blogged, I will give you a recap of my lovely Thanksgiving break.

Tuesday:
I got to leave ETSU after Elizabeth's last class. I dropped her off at the Lebanon exit as usual and then took Ryan home. From what I was awake for, it wasn't too bad of a drive. When I got home, I ate dinner. MMM, my mom's salmon dish. It was so good. After dinner, Christie and I went out and got a couple of movies and got Starbucks (yes, Starbucks is not on my diet, but it was Thanksgiving, I was going to cheat anyway.). We came back home and watched Evan Almighty. It was a cute movie. I think Christie and I enjoyed the outtakes more than the movie itself. It wasn't what I was expecting. After the movie I got to go to sleep in my own bed. :)

Wednesday:
Unfortunately, I had to wake up early to make my doctor's appointment at another doctor, a rheumatologist. I went and he reviewed my lab results from my last doctor's appointment. He told me good new, I don't have Lupus, not that I was worried about that, but away...I wanted to run some more blood tests because he was concerned with my rheumatoid factor. From what he gathered from my history, lab results, and a short examination, he thinks I have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. I haven't received the results for the blood test I took that day, so keep me in your prayers.
I can make one tiny update. When I went to the doctor and got weighed, I had lost 6 more pounds. I have lost a total of 18 pounds! ;) Yay! GO me!
After the doctor's appointment, we went back home and wished my sister, Christie, a happy 18th birthday. I can't believe that she is 18. I just turned 18. At least I though I did. Gosh, I'm going to be 20 in April. Ok, let's not go there. Back to the day. We went to the Cool Springs area to get our hair cut. We then went to the mall and Target to do some shopping before the craziness started after Thanksgiving.
After our day at the mall, we went home to meet Daddy and got ready for Christie's family birthday dinner at Maggiano's. After picking up Ryan and Ate Jean we went and met Grandmama, Uncle Wayne, Auntie Menie, and Uncle Steve. We had a lovely dinner. Christie opened her presents after dinner. She opened everyone's, but Mom made her save her and Dad's for last. When Christie got the box, she paused and decided to tell a story of how she knew that it was a Nikon camera. She said that the wrapping paper was see through and that Mom and slipped up a couple of times. All of us around the table listened patiently and nodding quietly pretending to agree with her. When she opened the box, she found books. Not new book, but books that had been taken right off of her own shelf. She then read their card and immediately responded with a pouty lip and an "I hate you!". We all went to the parking garage to show her her real present, a 2007 White Volkswagen GTI. She was so excited.

Christie, Dad, Ryan, and I rode with her after we all had settled down a little bit. We dropped off Ryan, and then went home.


Thursday:
We didn't wake up too early, at least I didn't. When I went downstairs I immediately saw the circulars of the newspaper scattered everywhere. I knew Mom had already planned the shopping trip for the next day. We left to go to Grandmama's house around lunch time.
Thanksgiving lunch (and dinner) was absolutely amazing. I knew I would be out on the floor since I hadn't had so many carbs in one sitting for such a long time. I concluded, as long as I got to eat Grandmama's fresh bread, cheesy potato casserole, and apple pie and Mom's dumplings and banana pudding, I would be completely satisfied. Boy was I. The food was excellent!
When we returned home and after changing into some comfy clothes, the family watched Ratatouille. It was a very funny movie. I would put it right up with Finding Nemo. I would let that rat cook in my kitchen any day. ;) Christie and I have the running joke of the French chef and his re-enactment of the rats magically appearing. (::Snapping:: whoo. They're over there, and then they're over there!). It is definitely a must watch movie.

Black Friday:
Thankfully, I didn't have to wake up at 3:00 in the morning just to go shopping. Because my family are going to the Philippines in July, we are having a small Christmas in order to help pay for the trip. Mom had decided that there weren't any gifts that we needed to bust doors for, so we left casually after breakfast. We got some party decorations (see Saturday). We then headed to Target and Kohls. I was in need of some new clothes because I had lost a total of 18 pounds as of Wednesday (it's a total of 21 as I write this post). We found several shirts at Target. But that best thing of all was trying on a size 9 pair of jeans (one size less than I used to wear) in the dressing room, then screaming in ecstasy because they were too big!!! I immediately ran out of the dressing room to tell Mom and Dad and find a smaller size. After picking another style, I tried on a size 6 and they fit perfectly! That was the highlight of my day.
After shopping a little bit, Christie called and said that she got off work early because no one was at the zoo. She picked up Zack and they ate lunch with us. After lunch, Christie, Zack, and I went and just walked around Opry Mills. After walking around for a LONG time, we met Mom and Dad at Casa Fiesta for yet another surprise for Christie. She had to wear a sombrero and get whip cream all over her face to celebrate her birthday. It was a pretty fun day.


Saturday a.k.a. Operation Christie's Surprise B-day Party:
In the morning, we went to church as usual. After church Christie was supposed to meet Elizabeth, my roommate, at Opry Mills to hang out since they hadn't seen each other. We dropped her off at the food court. I then called Elizabeth and we met her on the other side of the mall to get the beautiful cakes that she had baked and decorated for the party.


We then headed back to the house to eat left-overs for lunch. Sarah then came over and we started decorating the carport and the rec-room. After blowing up 75 balloons and putting up several yards of streamers, the entire place was decorated. People started arriving. We waiting anxiously in the front yard after I received the phone call from Elizabeth as a cue that she was on Smith Springs Road.

They turned in the drive way and we all saw Christie laughing and almost crying in the passenger side of Elizabeth's car. When she opened the door, she immediately exclaimed "I Hate You ALL!" as we expected her to. We had a great party. There was dancing, eating, and just hanging out. It was so great because Mom, Sarah, Elizabeth, and I had been planning the surprise party for so long. Christie could have sworn that it was going to occur on the next Friday. She had no idea! Christie had the surprise birthday party that she wanted, and the best thing is that we got away with it!


Sunday:
Nothing too special. I just went back to ETSU to continue with classes.

Sorry for the long post , but imagine what it would've been like if I recapped the past two months! :) Hopefully I'll post soon. Much love!

September

Wow! It's been a long time since I've blogged last. I know. I'm doing so bad. Oh well. It's just seems like I blogged yesterday, and it is August. Now September is over and we're off to October. It's crazy. Let's see. Where to start.

The first weekend in September was Labor Day weekend. I was not planning to go home, but Ryan, Elizabeth, and I decided to go home for the weekend. Christie had planned a deck party, so I got to spend some time with her and some of her friends. It was nice to be home for a visit.

The second weekend, Ryan, Elizabeth, and I went home at the request of Ryan. He was celebrating his 20th birthday on September 10, so he wanted to go home for the weekend. I went home to celebrate Daddy's birthday (even though it was the next weekend). We had taco salad and watched the Titans' game on Sunday. Saturday was such a fun event! Daddy, Mommy, Christie and I went to Coolsprings and just spent the day there. Christie got her formal graduation pictures retaken. We went to the mall, different outlet stores, and Jason's Deli. We had so much fun. Our last stop was Target. I think we had too much fun there. Christie and I still laugh at how Mom ran with a shopping cart down an aisle to keep us from finding her, while Daddy just laughed at the three of us. We had so much fun! I was so glad that I got to go home for Daddy's birthday.

The third weekend in September, Elizabeth, Ryan, and I stayed here at ETSU and watched the Gators vs. Vols game. It was so funny to have two Vols fans in the room with me. Let's just say...GO GATORS!!! They won 59-20. Elizabeth made some awesome chili! The rest of the weekend consisted of shopping at Walmart and sleeping.

Last weekend, Elizabeth and I went to Indian Creek Camp to be counselors at the Young Women's Retreat. We had 11 teenage girls in our cabin. Two of our girls were on crutches (which actually was a blessing) and most of them were freshmen. Elizabeth and I definitely felt the generation gap between the girls. We had beautiful weather and the retreat was very enjoyable. It was nice to get away from school for a weekend.

This weekend, we haven't really done much. Slept mostly to catch up from our missed sleep from last weekend and this week. We just had taco salad for lunch. It has been a pretty good week so far.

Now other things. I know I need to have a few updates.

My knee:
I had an episode one Friday and I was on crutches almost 2 weeks. I went to the doctor and found out not really anything different than before. I am now wearing a $1200 brace and I have just weened myself off of my crutches. I have 3 more weeks of physical therapy. Hopefully I will be able to walk without too much pain.

My diet:
My diet has been going very well! I haven't weighed myself since September 8, but then I had lost 14 lbs. in two weeks. Ryan had lost 17 in two weeks. I will not weigh myself for a while, but I feel so much better. I am finding that a lot of my once "skinny-day" clothes are now clothes I wear everyday (well, when I didn't have this huge bionic woman brace on). I'm excited about fall. I might have to get some new clothes because a lot of the shirts that I have now are too big for me! ;) I will give another update soon.

School:
School has been going well. Not really much to say. The only things that are different is that I am the secretary of Luntsford Hall Council. It's a lot of fun. We have a lot of excellent activities planned. The most exciting one for me is the trick-or-treating in our hall. Hopefully I can take some pictures and post them up.

Well. That's all for now. I will try to be better about blogging this month, but I can't promise anything. :) Much love!

P.S. Check out my college pics of the Young Women's Retreat (and the move-in pictures if you haven't already looked at them). ;)

My First Day as a Sophomore and New Mommy!

Hello all!

I just wanted to give a little update about my first day today. Today I went to Biology III, Organic Chemistry, and Humanities I. Biology III was pretty good. It seems like the professor is going to be funny, and I think I am going to learn a lot more interesting than that plant biology. Organic Chemistry was not as bad as I thought it would be. My professor seems a little tough, but I think if I just study everyday, I will be able to do well. I am not looking forward to my four hour lab tomorrow (and the rest of the year every Tuesday), but oh well. Lastly, Humanities was awesome! The professor was very personable and very enthused about the subject. I was planning on minoring in Humanities, and today just reaffirmed that that is what I want to do. I'm so excited about that class.

Today, I also started back at the student health clinic for my Academic Performance Scholarship job. It was...let's say...hectic. I got to meet and show around a new girl. It was just extremely busy. Let's just leave it at that.

Lastly, what some of you are probably wondering because of my post title, I have some new pets. Elizabeth and I got a beta fish. His name is Eugene and we have had breakfast with him every morning so far. He's really cool. Ryan and I got two black mollies, one dalmatian molly, and a japanese shrimp for our aquarium that we bought last year. Molly, Ted, Cruella, and Bubba Gump. This morning I got a surprising text from Ryan saying that he found three baby fish. As of right now, we have found a total of five baby fish! We think that one of the black mollies is the mom. We were very excited (except for the fact that we had to go and get another small fish bowl). I can't wait to watch them grow up! ;) Yea, so I am now a proud mom of our fish.

Well, that's all that I can think of right now, but I will blog sometime soon.

Goodnight!

The Start of Year Number Two

Hello all!

I am currently sitting in my dorm room thinking of things that I need to do. I moved in completely yesterday. My room mate, Elizabeth, moved in on Thursday. She is participating in some Preview activities right now, so I have the room to myself for a little bit.

I have been really excited about my room. I have all new furniture and new hard wood floors. My bathroom also have a new face to it. I love everything about it. Mom and Dad came up to ETSU with me to help me set up. Daddy put up the shelves, picture frames, and calendars. (This is quite funny now because I just now got the memo that I wasn't supposed to hang anything on the walls. Oh well. I guess that there will be a small fee withdran from my dorm deposit. I still like it a lot!) Mom helped me organize and unpack. We made a few trips to Walmart already. It's been really exciting. So far, I have my clothes organized, and my desk is somewhat organized. Elizabeth and I still have quite a bit of rearranging in our kitchen and pantry, but we have a whole year for that. ;)

Anyway, I start classes on Monday. It's going to be a pretty long day for me, as well as Elizabeth. I'm pretty excited though.

Well, I'm going to get back to organizing. I will upload pictures on Shutterfly sometime this week. ;)

Have a great week!

**FYI My school e-mail has changed a little bit. It is now zjmq2@goldmail.etsu.edu! Just to let you know.

All right. Since my roomie, Elizabeth, has a blog now (check out the "Awesome Blog" section) and is keeping up with it better than I am, she has become my motivation to update my blog.

Let's see. Since the last time I blogged, everyone is back home from vacation. Christie has gotten back to US time and is sleeping during the night. I, for once in my life, am tanner than my sister from my vacation. Today Christie and I worked at Ate Jean's house.

Here is an update for all of you who know about my knees. Just to catch everyone else up to speed, I have had problems with my left knee for about 7 years. During the month of June, I could hardly walk or stand for a long period of time without wearing a brace. So, Monday Mom took me to an orthopedic doctor to get it checked out. We scheduled a MRI for that Thursday, then I would come back to get the results. Well, on Tuesday afternoon I had an event with my right knee. It hurt so bad I couldn't walk. I was on crutches for 3 days. After all of that drama and the MRI, I found out that my MRI of both knees came back normal. I'm glad it's good news, but I am still on a search for the reason why both knees hurt so bad. I currently wear braces on both knees. I walk like a penguin (or a duck if you prefer) and am still in a lot of pain. But, oh well. Just keep me in your prayers please.

Well. I think that is it for now. I just wanted to update. I also would like to direct everyone to my room mate's blog, just to see how's she's doing. :)

Much love!

This past week

I know that I haven't blogged in a very long time. I just want to say that I am very sorry to all my readers. School was ending and I had so much to do and I couldn't find the time to blog.

Well, instead of just picking up where I left off and writing another extremely long blog, I will just tell you about this past week. As most of you know, my sister is in Australia, so I have been home alone for the second week of June. This past week I got the opportunity to do my clinicals for my Certified Nurse Technician training this week. I worked three twelve hour shifts. I thought that it would be extremely long and probably pretty boring. Actually, I learned quite a lot. There were three people who I met that really have a special place in my heart now because of this experience. One lady that I worked with is 102 years old. I was assigned to feed her, even though it was eluded that she never ate anything. At that dinner service, she ate 75% of her food and drank all of her liquids. Everyone was absolutely amazed. Another lady, I call her the Dr. Pepper lady, was just so sweet. After talking with her, she found out I was going to school to be a doctor and throughout my last day she called me Dr. Jillian. She was so sweet, and boy did she love Dr. Pepper. The last person was a lady that I met. Let me call her Ms. H for now. She was such a sweet lady. She had no use of her legs and no significant use of her arms. On Friday (my last day) she was assigned to me during the morning shift. I was able to do all of her care (that should be done everyday) and even rearrange and organize some things in her room. We talked about everything. She was so patience and kind. Because she was a nurse, she was able to walk me through every step of a lot of the skills that I needed to complete my clinical rotation. She holds a special place in my heart for teaching me more that any of the nurses or nurse technicians that worked in the long term care facility.

Right now, I am in Cancun, Mexico on a much needed vacation!! We got in later today, so most of the day was waiting and flying. Some of you might be thinking, "Why is she blogging on her vacation?" Well, I about almost ready to go to bed and I just had this on my mind and I wanted to write a blog about it while it is fresh in my mind. Anyway, tomorrow is going to be a day lounging around the pool. Hopefully, I will blog sooner than I did last time.

Have a great week!!!!

Our first good snow

Yay! Today has been a much happier day. One, because I slept most of it away. Two, because it snowed! Not just flurry snow, but snow snow! Enough snow that a snow day would actually make sense. ;)

It started snowing, I guess around 4. I wasn't really paying attention, considering how the weather forecasters always say it's going to snow four inches and it never does.


It is still snowing right now and is supposed to continue throughout the night. I'm really excited. I've only been able to play in it for all of two minutes. (I only went outside to take out the trash). It's probably a good thing since I'm still sick. It's very pretty though. Hopefully it'll stick around for a while so maybe I can make a few more snow balls. ;)

Is it better to have a million things happen to you in one week or over the course of several weeks?

Alright. I have a lot to blog about!
WARNING: If you want some happy, ordinary news, skip to the bottom of my blog, but if you want to hear what has been going on lately, keep reading.

This week has been a long and crazy week. It all started, I guess on Wednesday. Ryan was cooking dinner and I was sitting on my new couch (let me know if you haven't seen my new rearranged room) watching TV. All of a sudden, I feel this incredible pain in my right knee. Since the 7th grade I have had problems with my knee, but this was the kind of pain unlike I have ever felt before. It hurt so bad that I began to cry uncontrollably. This, of course, freaked Ryan out. We handled the situation with two IcyHot Ice packs and two Advil. As of right now, my knee is okay. I wear a brace everyday and keep it elevated at night.

The next night was pretty fun, despite the fact my knee was killing me. Ryan and I helped our friends, Cassie and Tiffany, move into their new dorm room in Luntsford (the same dorm room as me). Cassie and I started around 2:30 and people came and left helping us. I called it quits around 1:30 that morning (my normal bed-time is around 10:30-11). We had a lot of fun moving and taking a break to go to Golden Corral, but staying up was probably not the smartest idea for me.

Friday: I got ready for Elizabeth to come over to ETSU. She had her QB orientation. It was great to see her again. Elizabeth, her mom, Ryan, and I went to eat at Smokey Bones. It was a lot of fun just chilling out. That night, Elizabeth and I stayed up and talked until 2:00 in the morning. The next day she and I went to eat with her mom and then she went to her orientation. That was the right before she left for home.

Saturday was a day of rest for me, literally (not in the sense of Sabbath exactly). I basically slept the whole day away trying to make up for the sleep that I had missed the past couple of nights. When I woke up, Ryan called and said that Cassie, Tiffany, and Adam wanted to go to the movies. I was completely up to it, as long as we didn't watch something like Hitcher again. We all piled in Adam's car and drove to the movie theater. We stood in line to find out that the movie we wanted to see, Norbit, was sold out for that time. Instead, we bought the latest showing. We went to the mall and ate. Around 9 something we watched the movie, which was absolutely hilarious! After the movie we went to Cassie and Tiffany's new room and played DDR and watched Dane Cook. Once again, I didn't make it back down to my room until 3 that morning.

Sunday: I slept again most of the day. I did some homework and some cleaning up from over the weekend. Then, BOOM, another health crisis. I looked at my right eye to find a giant, red bump on my eyelid. My eyelid was swollen and really itchy. That night I called Mom and Dad to tell them about it. That led to calling Uncle Tony (the amazing eye doctor). I found out that I have an infection that caused a sty. I now take antibiotics twice and day and have eye drops. It seems like a simple treatment, but don't be fooled! I have to take the pills with meals, but no dairy! If you know me, you know that I love my milk and cheese. I also can't lay down for 30 minutes after I take it also. My favorite out of all of the restrictions is the fact that I can't wear contacts or make up until everything is cleared up. And of course what happens on Monday? A huge red bump on my face, which I can't cover up because of my eye.


Tuesday: I woke up with a scratchy throat. Great! I thought I was getting sick. After classes, Ryan and I headed to Walmart to buy me a humidifier and some things for my own cold care package. On our way there...BOOM!!! A car accident. Not in front of us, or by the side of the road, it was us! We were on State of Franklin and it was raining. The light, which is a horrible light, turn red. The car in front of us stopped short. We then stopped pretty quickly. The car behind us tried to stop, but his tires slipped and hit us in the back. My first accident in my car (while I was in my car). My car is fine, just a few scratches and dents, but as you can see, his was not. I am now in the process of finding some places to repair the minor damages to my car.

Today, I woke up with a sore throat and a runny nose. So I'm pretty sure I am sick. I've been drinking lots of fluids and resting when I can.

Now for the happy stuff!
I first have to say thank you to Ryan. He has been with me through the whole week. He even got me flowers to cheer me up. They were closed at first, but they opened up the next morning. They are absolutely beautiful!

Valentine's Day was great. My classes were not that bad and even though work was crazy, I got some of Candy's Butterfinger cake, which was very yummy. That afternoon Ryan and I just spent time with each other. We went to the store to find something to do (I will blog later on what we have done together the past few weekends). We came back to my room and he cooked me dinner while I baked him a cake. We watched some TV and just hung out. It was nice to finally relax. I also got a couple of surprised for Valentine's Day.

Ryan surprised me with a much needed watch. It's exactly what I wanted, a round-faced, silver watch. In the mail I could a box of goodies from my parents. It had candy and some other little neat things in it. Today, I got the book Captivating from Aaron in the mail and a card from my parents and Grandmama. That was definate pick-me-up.

Well, I think that is it right now. I just ask that you keep me in your prayers. Have a great day! ;)