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! ;)

Busy

Alright. I have not blogged in a long time. I've been really busy and I'm very sorry. I'm going to do a quick recap on my winter break and a little about my first few days back to ETSU. Alright. Winter break was very hectic, but it was a lot of fun. The first day I came back, Ryan and I went to HFA and visited our sisters and a few of our favorite teachers. The rest of the day was running to and from my house to Ate Jean's house and the hospital to visit my new baby cousin. She is so adorable. I will post pics soon, hopefully. The first week that I was home my family was either working or still in school, so I went back to work at Sears. It was very busy, and let me just say, do not, I repeat, DO NOT buy any electronics on eBay around Christmas. Just wait for that Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wi, or PS3 until after Christmas so you don't have to pay some ridiculous price like $8,000 (trust me someone did bid on a PS3 for that much on eBay). Anyway, It was nice to work and see some of my old co-workers. That weekend Auntie Delma and Uncle Tony came to visit. We had a lot of fun spending time with them at Ate Jean's house for the family party and at the Rockettes. About the Rockettes, it was ok. Let's just say that I was more impressed with routines that I've seen Tosha do than what I saw that night. They weren't bad, but they weren't amazing. Back to what I was talking about...

Christmas week was a lot of fun. I got to spend a lot of time with my family that I hadn't seen in a long time. Opening presents was a lot of fun too! I couldn't tell you what my favorite gift was, but I can tell you that I use my FM transmitter every time I get in the car, my Palm TX is used everyday, and my Grey's Anatomy Season II is in m DVD player right now. A few days after Christmas, my cousins, Billy, Geri, Marcus, and Joey, came to visit my family. They stayed with us for that weekend and left New Years' Eve. Marcus, and Joey, are so much bigger since when I last saw them for my graduation. Joey is a little cutie! His smile is adorable. He has a personality now. He's such a thinker, a deep thinker. He's going to be so smart when he gets older. Marcus is still as playful as he was. I have now been re-introduced to Thomas the Train and fish cookies (a.k.a Goldfish). Another thing that I learned from my baby cousins is that Disney movies (mainly Pixar) are really scary if you watch it from a 3-year-old's point of view. Think about Cars or Finding Nemo. Getting lost from your dad or getting lost in the middle of nowhere is pretty scary. Anyway, I felt bad on New Years' Eve, because I had to work. Marcus whined for me not to go to work. I had a lot of fun with them.

New Years' Eve was nice. I planned a party, but everyone else had plans. It turned out ok though. Ryan and I had a date to ourselves, that was until Louden showed up unexpectedly. It was good to see him again. The rest of the week I worked for my last week. The week before I came back to school I spent a lot of time with my mom and dad shopping, the movies, and buying two new cars (trust me we needed it). On Sunday, Mom and Dad drove with Ryan and I back to ETSU because between the two of us our stuff (like two printers, pots and pans, etc.) wouldn't fit in my car. It was fun spending time with them right before we had to go back to school.

My first week back was not too bad. I have survived it so far. I like the personalities of most of my teachers so far. I'm actually going to learn something in Biology and Chemistry this semester. I'm definately going to miss Dr. Burgess for World History though, but I guess I'll have to wait for next semester. Prob and Stats we are not going to go into right now. ;) Right now I am enjoying the rest of my day since two of my classes got canceled.

That's all for right now I guess. If I left something out let me know and I will blog again about that, but please don't be offended if I didn't blog about it today. It's been a month, so yea. I will blog sometime soon. I promise this time.

;)
Jillian

P.S. A shout out to Michael. It's his birthday today!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINNICK!!!! ;)

The Game

Do you ever wonder what those people who failed geography and math ended up doing as their profession? Well, I found out today. They are CBS sports casters for the Titans' games. Can someone please tell me where East Carolina is? Because there was a player from the losing Jacksonville Jaguars who is from East Carolina. Also, is the Tennessee football team the Titans or the Texans? Ya know, I always thought it was the Titans, seeing how we are the state of Tennessee and NOT Texas, but you can tell the news caster that because apparently he doesn't know. Finally, how do you know that a team has won a sports game? The team that has the most points right!!?!?!? Well, according to the CBS sports casters, that's not enough because in the last 40 seconds of the game when the Jaguars had their fourth turn over with the score at 17-24, the Titans needed to set up for a field goal.

I don't watch the Titans much any more because I had given up on them. Today was a great game though! I just wanted to share some of the things that I heard. The Titans may not be the best team in the league, but they are a lot better than most people give them credit for. So what if the offense only had about 100 yards total. I think its better to use your opponents offense to score points for your team because of turn overs than to use your own and risk getting hurt. Anyway, today has been a good day.

Blog later!
Jillian

Home Sweet Home

Alrighty. Exams are finally over. I have survived the first week of school, professors, dead week, finals, and my first semester of college. I'm so happy to be done for a while. Anyway, this last week has been pretty hectic with studying for exams, selling back my books, saying good-bye to my roommate, and packing to go home.

Today Ryan and I left around 8:00 am (Eastern Time) to go home. It was a nice drive, not too bad. We had soooo much stuff in our car. Basically enough clothes to last through the month, including work attire, and presents. It was crazy. Before we both went home we stopped at Hume Fogg to visit our sisters and have lunch, as well as visit some previous teachers. It was great to see everyone again. It was like a Class of 2006 reunion. There were so many visitors today. It was fun.

After I dropped Ryan off, I went to Ate Jean's house to visit a little bit. After visiting her and getting some stuff done for potluck tomorrow, we went back home and unloaded all of my stuff. Then!!! We got to go see my new baby cousin, Norah Kate. She was absolutely beautiful. She is so precious. It was great being able to hold her for a little while. It is so nice to have another baby in the family. Speaking of younger cousins, I found out today that Billy, Geri, and the boys are coming to Nashville after Christmas. I'm so excited. Did I mention that I'm so happy to be home with family??

Anyway, just wanted to post a little update. I should have several pictures throughout the break. Have a great weekend!

;)

Dead Week

Alrighty. This week is supposed to be "Dead Week" (hence the title). Anyway, it is supposed to be a time where the only thing going on is review for finals. That would be great and all except for the fact that I have 3 exams this week, in addition to learning new material in Calculus and World History. Let's just say that I'm a little stressed out. There are a ton of things to do, studying, finishing assignments, and doing laundry! Anyway, everyone, please pray for me these next couple of weeks. Pray that I don't go too insane and that everything will work out with finals.

Well the other day, when I happened to be really down, I saw that I got a package at the Housing office. Mom and Dad had sent me an Exam Care Package as well as a Cup of Inspiration. There was lots of snacks and lots of coffee and teas.

I also received two cards. Both unexpected, one from my grandmother and another from my aunt and uncle. Those were great surprises that really made my day.

In other news, I'm pretty much done with Christmas shopping. I'm just ready for winter break to go home and spend time with my family. Blog later! ;)

Jillian

Catch Up Time

Alrighty. I’ve been slacking on my blog recently. Yes, I have been pretty busy. Anyway, this blog is just a catch up from everything that has happened in October, as well as this month. ;)
Alrighty. October. The first weekend of October, Ryan and I went to Gatlinburg with my family. We rented a cabin in practically the middle of nowhere, but it was absolutely gorgeous. We, of course, went to the strip down town to do some shopping, get some fudge and caramel apples. And for the first time, except for Ryan, we went to Dollywood. It was dun. Ryan and I went on the new wooden roller coaster. It was awesome!!! It was a lot of fun. I think the highlight of the whole trip was the food. Mom and Dad cooked for almost every meal. It was a nice break from Main Meal food. We had lots of leftovers to bring back to the dorms. ;)
The next weekend was fall break. I thought it would be a nice time to sleep in and just chill out at home. Boy was I wrong. ;) Not that it was bad, but I was definitely wrong. Appointments here and appointments there. Ah! It was crazy. But every now and then I got some down time to just spend with family. That was nice. Ryan and I left early on Friday to go to Jennifer’s house to PARTY! ;) We had a lot of fun. Dry Ice, food, High School Musical, combined with our group of friends makes for a good time! Sadly, we had to leave early, but it was nice to see good friends from being away for such a long time. Saturday, my family went to church, as usual. And the rest of the week was pretty much hanging out with the family in between appointment times. ;) We left on Wednesday morning. We barely made it to our class at 11:30, but it was worth the extra night at home.

Ok, the next weekend, Ryan and I didn’t have anything planned, but we just bummed around ETSU, preparing for the next weekend which was Homecoming. Both of our families came to ETSU for homecoming. Mom, Dad, Christie, Uncle Wayne, and Grandmama came down on Friday. Hannah was nice and let Christie use her bed while she went home for the weekend. Christie and I talked for hours. It was so much fun. Saturday morning the festivities began. We went all around the campus doing the different activities, like the Haunted house, the Reese Museum, mechanical bull, and the other little booths. We watched the Blue and Gold game at 4.

Later we ate at Cheddar’s, a popular restaurant in Johnson City. Then, lol, we went to the Step Show. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I had fun. My grandmother did not. J Ok so that was not the best activity to plan, but everyone sat through it and laughed and had a good time. On Sunday, Ryan and I showed my family around Johnson City and then they had to leave. It was nice to have my family come a visit me. It was very exciting. J
November was not as busy as October in terms of travel. We had a lot of visitors here at ETSU. The first weekend my good friend, Elizabeth, visited me. We got to catch up on her life at HFA as a senior. I had made a tour for her, so she would have something to do while I had to go to my APS job. She had a lot of fun. She also went to class with me. That weekend was a lot of fun showing her and her parents around and just spending time with people that I haven’t seen in a while. Our next guest was Louden. It was fun just having him around. We had a lot of fun just hanging out, going to Main Meal, and going to the basketball game and other stuff. It was great having him visit.

The third weekend Ryan and I went to Easley, SC to visit a good friend, Aaron. We got there on Friday night. Saturday morning we went to church and afterward ate the wonderful lunch that we had made at midnight the night before. It was very good. After sun down, we ate at a Chinese restaurant (made by real Asian people) and then watched a couple of movies. Sunday, Ryan and I did laundry and the three of us watched the Beauty and the Geek marathon. Sadly we had to leave, but we had a lot of fun. That is pretty much it for major traveling and visitors in November.
Basketball season started, so Ryan and I have attended several games. The guys have a pretty good record at home, and we won’t mention the girls’ team right now. One exciting event that Ryan and I attended before Thanksgiving break was the tour of the Anatomy Lab for PMMD and PMMD applicants. We saw cadavers and got to talk to several medical students. Ryan and I had so much fun! Mom can tell you. She has never heard me so excited about something like this in a long time. Going and visiting the lab reaffirmed my career choice. I can’t wait until medical school! Well, enough of that now, I won’t go into details.
Ok, finally, last weekend Ryan and I went home for Thanksgiving. We left on Tuesday afternoon (much earlier than several students on campus) and came back on Sunday night. It was a nice long break. Wednesday I spent time with my Mom. We had a lot of fun. On Thursday, I went to Grandmama’s house and had Thanksgiving lunch. It was so yummy. Dumplins, potato cheese casserole, Grandmama’s bread, Deviled eggs, and so much more. Such a better alternative to Main Meal food. I could eat that stuff forever. We ate that all day. It was very yummy. Friday, Mom and Dad went Black Friday shopping, and bought a lot of stuff as usual, while Christie and I stayed at home, slept in and watched a couple of movies. That night, Ryan and I met up and went to Carly’s house for her birthday party. It was nice to see friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. Saturday, my family went to church. That night was very enjoyable. Mom, Dad, Christie, Grandmama and I went to P.F. Chang’s and then went to TPAC to see the Lion King. It was better than what I expected. Rafiki was my favorite performer. She had an incredible voice. I love that musical! It was awesome! Sunday, Ryan and I had to leave. We visited his aunt and uncle, as well as his Grandmother who was visiting for Thanksgiving. We finally made it back to ETSU around 11. It was a great break.
This week is not too busy. School is wrapping up and I’m already ready for the next break, which leads me to the next couple of pictures. The first one is the view of my door that leads to my room. I have to decorate a little bit. The last picture is going to be a surprise for my mom. Ryan and I set this up tonight. I bought it at Target in the dollar bins! I was so excited and thanks to Ate Glad and Uncle Prom, I got to buy it with my gift card! I still have some left. J Anyway, I will stop for now and I leave you with these two pictures. Hopefully, I will keep up with my blog a little bit better now that school is slowing down.

Love you all!
Jillian

P.S. Mellie, I’m still working on that 100 list thing. ;) Just haven’t completed it yet.

Wonderful Weekend

Hello everyone!

First off, I would like to say that I am not sick!!!!!!! Finally, it's about time. This weekend was absolutely amazing. I had so much fun this weekend.

First on Friday, I only had one class after work, so Ryan and I decided to go on a date. We ate at the Stir Fry Cafe because we had heard that it was a great place to eat. It was ok. It's not like home Chinese places. I loved the decor and the way that the resturant was laid out though. It was a nice ambience. Anyway, after dinner we went to go see Gridiron Gang. It is a really good movie. I liked it better than Invicible. The Rock did a great job in it too! Everyone should see it.

On Saturday, Ryan and I went to Johnson City SDA church. It's a small church, but it was really great. The pastor was so nice. He went out of his way just to meet us when we got there, and then to ask us to come back again! So, we concluded that Saturday is going to be our church day, since we like two churches in the area. In the morning, we will go to Johnson City SDA church, and in the evening, we will go to Grace Fellowship. After church, we went to eat at Chili's. Some people would think that we hadn't eaten for several days. It was yummy! We'll go there again sometime, maybe for another date. After that, we had to make our weekly trip to Walmart. ;) After Walmart, we went back to ETSU. He went back to McCord to change and get ready for the corn maze and I went back to Luntsford just to chill out before we went.

We left around 3:30 to go to the corn maze in Bristol. I was really excited because one, I really wanted to go to the corn maze and two we got to see the fall leaves on the way there.
This tree was already yellow last week. I see this every day when I go to class. It's so pretty.

Anyway, we head out toward Elizabethton originally, but eventaully we got back going the direction we should have been going from the start. We finally got to Stickley Farm and went through the corn maze.

It was amazing weather. The sun was shining, but it wasn't too hot. When we went through the maze the first time, we somehow got to the exit in 10 minutes, so we tried it again. The second time we went through, we made another wrong turn and ended up in the entrance again. Finally, on the third time, we made it to all 6 checkpoints and made it to the end. It was a lot of fun. Ryan and I made a good team.

After the corn maze we went back to ETSU. This morning, Ryan came over and he fixed biscuits, which was absolutely yummy! We watched Independence Day and then he left. Right now, I'm taking a short break from studying to blog about this amazing weekend. I have had so much fun! I can't wait til next weekend for homecoming!

Well, I got to get back to studying.

Love,

Jillian

P.S. There are more pictures on my College Pictures link. Just click the link and go to Oct. 20-22, 06 folder.

Anniversary

You know when the best time to get flowers is? A time when you least expect it. Today Ryan got me flowers. I wasn't feeling well, again but a different kind of sick, so he went and got me some medicine and these gorgeous flowers. You can't really tell in the picture, but there are hints of fuschia in them. They are absolutely beautiful.

It happens to be our 3 year, 7 month anniversary today. Yes, it's a bit cheesy and we don't celebrate those anniversaries, but it was nice that he got me flowers on this occasion and to make me feel better.

Well, I'm going home tomorrow for fall break...so I got to go pack. Blog soon!

Jillian