The Way I See It

Today was a long, but great day. I don't know what has changed recently, but I feel like I'm having a more positive outlook on life.

Even though I had to work a bunch and run around to work, classes, and meetings all day (and I still have one more meeting tonight!), it was wonderful. I got my car fixed- thank goodness! Now I'm all good to drive and will make it home safe and sound after...

Countdown= 6 more days of class and then finals!


I am so thankful for family today too. Even though I rarely ever see my family here in Texas, they were here for me the second I needed them. Normally, the drive is too long for us to see each other and we are all too busy. But when I told them I needed help, the drive was no longer a problem.

I think that goes along with this quote. The world is smaller than you think and the people are more beautiful than you think.

Lately, I've been running into a problem; people are very quick to think the worst of others and judge them. But I think that we should think everyone has something good about them until they prove us wrong. I want to believe that people are inherently good and that the bad few make people nervous.

I know that's a random thought, but just something I wanted to get out there!

Count the good things

Today was much better than expected and hopefully the rest of the week will be that way too! Classes went by quickly, meetings flew by, I had dinner with friends, I went to Zumba, and I worked out for an hour at the Rec while watching The Voice. Ah-mazing. Definitely counting my rainbows today.

I don't normally watch tv, mainly because I don't have one. I'll watch certain shows on Hulu and sometimes I'll watch something random if I'm on a machine at the Rec, but nothing other than that. But tonight I saw that The Voice was on. My family watches it and I watched it a few times with them over the summer. I like the set-up of the show and there are so many amazing singers!



Tonight was the quarterfinals and the judges also performed with their groups! I saw Cee Lo perform with his own band too, which was kind of weird, but awesome!

But by far, the best performance that I saw was the guy who sang Hit Me Baby One More Time. From what I gathered, this guy was in the Mickey Mouse Club with Cristina and the gang and now is on her show! He always does rock songs, I guess, and Cristina pointed that out, so today he did a Britney song. I was astonished by how he changed this song into something that fit his voice and the clapping afterwards was never-ending.


Anyways, that guy has a lot of rainbows to count tonight too :) Isn't that quote adorable? I found it on Pinterest and I liked it.

She believed she could

I know it's been a while, sorry y'all! Being sick and having the most stressful week ever really got to me and writing a post was the last thing on my mind (no offense!). My car needs two new tires, which is going to cost a lot, but the shop I took it to tried to rip me off! I would rather not think the worst of people, but when they were going to charge me $400 for two tires, not including tax or labor, that's a rip-off. Unfortunately, everyone has been telling me that it's because I'm a blond girl with a nice car (thanks to my wonderful parents!) and I have TCU stickers on my car. I guess these people at the shop thought I was super rich and dumb or something!

Anyways, I'm getting that all worked out this week. Thankfully I have wonderful family and friends here. One of my friends dropped me off at work this weekend while my uncle drove to TCU to put the spare tire on my car and pick me up from work. He's looking into tire prices and hopefully will get me a much better deal! 

I just want this all to be worked out before I go home- I definitely need a working car to make it back to Arizona. And speaking of going home...

Countdown= 8 more days of class including today

I believe I can, so hopefully I will. Happy Monday y'all and sorry for the post full of complaints! I promise I'll post later and it'll be happy :)

Motivation

Countdown= 11 days left of class


Only 11 more days of class! It is going to be C-R-A-Z-Y, especially because I am still feeling sick and would rather be 100% for this last stretch. Apparently my family is sick too and I've been hearing of more and more students here getting sick. Not good, but i'm controlling my symptoms and can basically go through my life normally. 


Except working out. On Friday I went running outside and I felt the worst that day, so the only workout I've done since then is walking and 20 minutes on the elliptical. Plus, my workouts normally involve working out at 6 a.m. or late at night, so I think getting my sleep right now is more important. 


Bright side? When I feel better and can work out normally again, it will feel a million times better after this break! And at least this is making me have an exercise break this year- I don't normally ever take time off. 


Dark side? Running is going to be harder when I come back since I'll lose a little bit of my progress. But that's ok because all that matters is that in less than a month, I will be home! In less than 11 class days, I will be done with classes. And in about 3 weeks, I will be done with this semester!


Hope y'all have a happy Wednesday tomorrow! :)

Grateful

I realized this picture would have been perfect for yesterday- I was so grateful for my good day yesterday, even though it was rainy and gross out.

And I was grateful for today too! Even though I have so much on my plate and I can't wait for the semester to be over, I loved every minute of today. All of my classes and meetings with peers that I'm close to made me realize how much I love my day to day life at TCU.

Also, during my DC class today, 3 girls came in to tell us about their experience in DC last semester! Although I find that most students point out mainly negative things, one girl was so positive that she made me more excited for next semester than I've ever been. She said that yes, bad things happen. But the experience overall was unlike anything else and simply working hard, meeting people, and enjoying the experience will make next semester awesome!

I've also given up social media (besides blogging, tweeting my blog posts, and checking FB for messages) for the week. That may sound like a lot of exceptions to you, but the only thing that takes time is writing a blog post. Tweeting it takes 2 seconds and checking FB messages takes 3 seconds. So I'm cutting down on internet time drastically- and it has freed up so much time today already!

Although I feel a little bit out of the loop, it's been a great feeling to know that I'm not wasting time online. And I'm getting a lot done too.

Hope y'all had a happy Monday and enjoy the rest of your night!

happiness :)

Even though I am still sick, I decided to make the most of today. Sometimes I think that we all need to reevaluate our lives and our actions. Instead of being sick and stressed at my dorm in bed, why can't I be sick elsewhere. Rest has obviously not helped me get better, so I decided to enjoy my time instead (and just bring tissues with!).

Last night, I made muffins and watched Holes with a few girls from my dorm. It was so much fun to bake and relax- we used to do that all the time last year, but not so much this year. And Holes was one of my favorite movies as a kid. Shia Labeouf pre-growing up was adorable :)

And this morning, I went to breakfast and the TCU Men's Tennis match with a friend. For all of you in Fort Worth, y'all should try Red Cactus for breakfast burritos! I've never gone there for breakfast before, even though I've been at TCU for 2 years. Needless to say, I will be going back. The food was cooked fresh and tasted really good- I had a burrito with egg, cheese, sausage, and salsa. Yum!

And TCU won the match! Today was against Air Force for the Mountain West Conference Tournament, so basically it was a lot more structured than normal. Usually, we are allowed to sit on the courts, watch, play games in between sets, and be really relaxed. But today, spectators weren't allowed on the courts and the match was more serious. TCU won every single match though! Yay boys!

Now I must go do homework, but I'm ready to work now that I've found my happiness during my dark time. Thank you Dumbledore!

Not now!

I think I'm either a) getting sick or b) have really bad allergies. I hope it is b, just because I don't want to be sick with only 2.5 weeks left of school. Speaking of...

Countdown= 13 more days of class

On Thursday, my throat was burning and yesterday my nose would not quit running. Today is a little better, but not much. Benadryl and Mucinex are not helping either! 

This is basically me. Gross, I know. 

All of the websites say that if it's a cold, then I need to rest, eat well, drink plenty of water, stop exercising, take medicine, and wash my hands often. I have been doing all of that! But it's not working, which makes me think that I have bad allergies. 

All the websites say that I need to identify what I'm allergic to and basically avoid it. 

So going to the park this morning, running yesterday morning, walking around a lot today, and constantly being around flowers on my campus= bad ideas. 

Hopefully I just get better naturally and don't have to wait 3 to 4 weeks until I can leave this environment and go back to the desert!

I look like a mess

Oh goodness. I just did one of the most intense, short workouts ever. Within a few minutes, I was sweating like crazy- but enjoying every painful second of it!

I signed up for the Self Drop 10 Diet because:
1. I follow them on Twitter
2. I was tired of clicking on links from Twitter and not getting to see them because I'm not part of the Drop 10 Diet.

Hence, my choice to sign up. But after today's workout, I realized it was totally a good choice! They have such great workouts on there that take barely any time at all but are super effective.


Take today's workout.

HIIT It: Calorie Sizzler

Sprint for 8 seconds. On a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the effort it takes to run water and 10 is the effort it takes to run a race, aim for 8. Recover for 12 seconds at level 5. Repeat for 15 minutes. That's one workout down.

Instead of running since the outdoor air is really getting to me (allergies! ugh!), I did the workout on the elliptical in the Rec Center. I thought doing this workout on the treadmill would be awful, with having to change the speed every 8-12 seconds. The elliptical was easier because I set it at an intensity level, but could change my speed just by pedaling faster.

Seeing that it was only 15 minutes for the actual workout portion did not give me much hope. How could I possibly get a good interval workout in 15 minutes? But my mind quickly changed! This was so hard, but I kept pushing myself to go faster and faster. For the last interval, I was going 15 mph! Normally I went 11 to 12 mph for the 8 second intervals and 6-7 mph for the 12 second intervals. 

I also did a 5 minute warm up and 10 minutes after the workout to make it an even 30 minutes. I highly suggest trying this!

All I need

What an interesting idea: All I need is all I got. I like the picture, but I'm not sure on the idea. What do y'all think?

Sometimes I think this could be true. I like to think that we all have a sense of independence and know that we can accomplish anything we set our minds to because we are strong enough. We don't need anything else because all that matters is what you believe and what's inside of you.

But at other times, I think that I need a lot. For example, I often think that I need my family when I'm away. Or I need someone to talk to or someone to help me. And people always say that they need material things. Grades too! I say I need certain grades that I don't already have.

I guess that it all depends on how you look at it. Tell me your thoughts!

Happy Wednesday!

3 weeks from today, I will be having my last day of classes for this semester! As excited as I am, it's also making me a little nervous now. I definitely want the semester to be over already because it has been killing me, but I'm going to be a junior now! Half way done with college- scary thought. 

Where did the time go? How am I already done with 2 years of college? And if these two years went by quickly, I can only imagine how quickly the next two years will go by. 

Do y'all have freak out moments like that? One second, I'm begging time to go faster. And the next second I think that it needs to slow down so I don't have to enter the real world as soon. 

This picture made me laugh. Babies freaking out- y'all should Google that because the results will hopefully cheer you up and make you stop freaking out. That's what it did for me at least. 

Have a happy Wednesday! 

Fashion advice

How amazing is that idea? "Fashion your life as a garland of beautiful deeds." How often do you do things purely for other people?

Last night, I watched an episode of Royal Pains, which I haven't watched in forever! But it sounded like a good way to unwind after the long day. And during the episode, they portrayed one character as selfless, which you don't see on TV anymore. Everyone seems to be obsessed with themselves and doing whatever it takes to make them happy and advance their lives.

But this girl was willing to give up a great opportunity because her fiancé said he would miss her if she went away for a few weeks. And she wanted to do her best so that she wouldn't disappoint her boss. Basically her goal in life was to make others happy. If she had to sacrifice her happiness to do it, then so be it.

I wish I was more like that. When I'm at work and reporting, everyone else seems to come first. I rearrange my schedule around what others want and I am as nice as possible. But the rest of the time, I find that I put myself first. That's necessary sometimes because we'd all probably be too stressed and crazy if we always did what others wanted!

But I think that I can put others first a little more often. Like when a friends comes to my room to talk. I should listen and not be on my computer or interrupting. And when a coworker needs a shift covered, but I'd rather sleep, I should probably help him/her out.

These deeds are small compared to what Buddha probably had in mind. But don't forget, I'm a busy college student! I think one step at a time will work :)

Never fear

Countdown= 17 more days of class


Bam! I can do that! Today was easy and I only have one class tomorrow. I'm on top of my game and confident that I can make it through the rest of the semester. 


So I'm not fearing anything... today anyways. 


Some days I do fear things- like failing, doing something wrong, making enemies, etc. But the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Why should I fear failing? As long as I always try my best, then I can't completely fail. And everyone makes mistakes, so obviously I will do something wrong at one point. It happens and I should move on, not fear it. And not everyone can like everyone (as hard as it may seem that people might not like me). Haha, I'm just kidding. Maybe it's possible that people don't like my sarcasm or sense of humor on my blog. Well, I'lll just move on from that. I have plenty of friends and family that love me for who I am and that's all I need. No more fear here!

What can you look past?

Can you look past the fact that these last 19 days of class are going to be dreadful?


Can you look past the fact that we'll have finals after all of those classes?


Can I look past that these are my last 19 days of class at TCU for the next year?


Can I look past everything that hasn't been going as I would like in my life?


The answer is yes, y'all and I can look past all of that! Because even though a bunch of bad stuff happens, so many good things happen. For example, I had to wake up soooooo early this morning. But I got to see the sun rise during mass :) And I have hard classes and a lot of work these next few weeks. But the weekends will be full of time with my friends, which is always fun. And those 19 days are 19 more days of work out classes I can go to! So just be positive y'all! Especially since tomorrow is Monday haha. 

i carry your heart

i carry your hearte.e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                                                      i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Father Charlie said this poem as part of his homily this morning. We had sunrise service, which was more beautiful than I imagined it would be. Although it was cold, cloudy, and I had goosebumps all over, everything seemed to be perfect. One little boy made his First Communion today. The birds were chirping when we sang. And Father Charlie gave a beautiful homily that will stick with me forever. 

The story he told was of his 3 nephews who loved to show him pictures of themselves when he visited. In one picture, 2 of the boys were standing with their bikes and one bike was just sitting there, without the other boy. But that other boy pointed at the picture and said "That's where I was after I left the bike". So although he wasn't in the picture, he knew he was supposed to be there and was there at one point. 

Father Charlie also related this to the story of Stephanie and Christian Nielson, the couple in a horrible plane crash in 2008. The story is in Parade today, but y'all should look it up at some point. It's an amazing story- extremely sad at first, but although things aren't as they used to be on the outside withe the Nielson family, everything is the same on the inside. They still love each other, even if they don't look the same as in pictures. 

Father Charlie said this is the same as when Jesus left the tomb after rising. He was there, at one point. And it may not look like he is there, because we see things through a narrow view, but he was there and we will remember him being there.

I hope y'all enjoy the poem and get what I was trying to explain about the homily. Of course I can't say it as well as Father Charlie did :p

Hope y'all have a happy Easter! :) 

STOP

These past few days have been a blur! Between being a full time student and working 24 hours at my job this week, things have been just a little bit crazy. 


And of course, no weekend is complete without hanging out with friends as much as possible, like I did Thursday and Friday night. But tonight I will be a loner. I got back from work at 5:15, ate leftover Chinese food, checked emails, etc. Then I talked to my family on the phone for a while, but now it's time for homework (boooo, hw! on a Saturday night!) Shouldn't this be illegal?


I think so. But nobody listens to me apparently because that is what I'm doing tonight. It's alright though because I stocked up on grapes, hot chai tea, and iced tea. That'll be enough to keep me doing homework for a few hours until my early bedtime.


....



Now y'all must think I'm really crazy! Early bedtime too? Well tomorrow is Easter! Which means sunrise service! Which means practice at 6:15 for our mass at 7. It's so worth it though. If you've never gone to a sunrise service, please go at least once in your lifetime! Pure beauty. 


Well no more blogging for me tonight. I need to do what the quote says, which is go out and make things happen! Unfortunately for me, tonight that is homework. 


Have a great night y'all!

Beeeeeee.....

Wednesdays= Body Pump Mornings!!


I woke up early this morning to go to Body Pump and of course I didn't want to roll out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:50 a.m. Does that even count as morning since it's so dark out? I'm not sure about that... 


But as soon as class started, I was really glad I went (like always!). 


For some reason, I was super motivated today! Right at the beginning of class, the instructor said something about tripling warm-up weight for squats if you want results quicker. Normally I double my weight, but today I doubled plus a little more- so almost tripled! Just that piece of advice about seeing a change quicker motivated me. 


Isn't it weird how some days you can be motivated by just a quote or working out with other people, but other days, nothing motivates you? Maybe it isn't that way for everyone, but it is that way for me. 


And by the way, the little bee picture totally makes sense today because after class today....


Countdown= 19 days of class!!!


We finally passed that 20 mark! Woo hoo!


Everyone have a wonderful day :)

Light up the sky

Classes cancelled!

Updated News

Classes are cancelled until further notice- hopefully my spanish class is cancelled!

But there are 3 tornados near by, hopefully none hit us and everyone is safe!

Instructions: Repeat

Done with the first day of a four day week! Today was really long, but I made it and now I just need to repeat that for 3 more days... And actually if I repeat it for-


Countdown= 21 more days of class


then I will be done with this semester!


Now for a recap of today and yesterday!


Yesterday, the easter egg hunt with APO was so much fun! I think every beautiful Sunday should be spent outside with friends. We had the hunt and a BBQ while sitting in the grass near the tennis courts. I felt like my life couldn't be any more perfect :)


Then, I also got my updated grade for Reporting class! Drum roll please.... I have an 82 right now! I am definitely improving my grade and I think I can pull out a B or B+. Based on how the beginning of the semester went, I didn't think a B was possible. 


Today I woke up early to go workout/research for a story I'm doing. It's about a church exercise group, so instead of sitting around, waiting for them to finish, I worked out with them. 


Then I spent the rest of the morning working on other stories- geez, reporting takes over my life!  But it was all good, besides the fact that I missed the Honors Breakfast. By the time I got there, all of the food was gone. Boo hungry honors students. 


Now that class is over, I'm getting ready for Zumba and dinner with friends. I wish every day could be as good as today has been!


Enjoy the rest of your Monday :)

Happy Sunday!

This morning, I woke up early (early for a Sunday morning) and went out with one of the girls from my hall. Our plan was to grab Panera and go to the Botanical Gardens to study.

Let me just say that this was a brilliant idea. Trust me.

We ended up eating at Panera, but that was better so that our food was still warm. I got a Breakfast Power Sandwich- egg, cheese, and ham on wheat bread. So good! And I also got a pumpkin muffie for free- score!

In case you’ve never had a muffie (which I hadn’t before today), it’s just the top of a muffin. The best part of a muffin, especially if it is pumpkin flavored.

After eating, we went to the Botanical Gardens to study. This was good and bad.

Good:

I was really productive and wrote a lot the first hour we were there.

It was beautiful outside. Literally the perfect weather.

Bad:

After I decided I was tired writing, I just walked around, didn’t do homework, and wrote this blog post.

It made me want it to be summer already… more than I already wanted it to be summer.

I think I could spend the whole day at the Botanical Gardens. I would walk around, look at flowers, picnic, nap, take pictures- just have a perfect day. Too bad I have work to do (darn school!).

Well I have an Easter Egg Hunt later for APO and I’m really excited for it! I’ll let y’all know about that later. Have a wonderful Sunday!