moving on to new topics

well since we seem to hit the point of no return on ever seeing another Netherlands post i might as well simply move on and update more recent happenings in my life! 

besides school - which does anyone really want to hear about? no i don't think i feel like talking about it either. it's not as thrilling as one may expect. back to what i was saying - besides schoolwork i joined the SPU speech and debate team this year. 

a month ago (yup that far behind) i went with the team to my first tournament at Western Washington University. I had an informative speech prepared and knew that i would be giving it friday evening (which my family got to watch!) and then saturday morning. i figured thats a good soft introduction since i've never done this before. 

however that was not the case. saturday morning one of my teammates asked me if i would be willing to take her place in debate because she was not able to do it. 

ummmm i've never done this......

i've never even practiced......

or attended a team meeting.....

sure? 

so 3 hours later i'm about to receive my first topic. for my first ever debate. without practice. or a coach. or help whatsoever. this should be fun! 

let me just recap what happens for the normal population that doesn't get into arguments for recreational purposes. They announce the pairings and both people go up to receive a list of 5 topics. taking turns they each choose one they don't want to debate until there is only left. then each person goes their separate ways and have 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the hosting college) to prepare arguments and get information using the internet, teammates, coaches, or whatever is available. then the round begins. The set up of speaking times is simply like so:

Affermative - 5 minutes

Cross examination from Negative - 2 minutes

Neg - 6 minutes

Cross examination from Aff - 2 minutes

Aff - 3 minutes

Neg - 5 minutes

Aff - 3 minutes

the first day I had 4 debates and felt down about all of them. the following day were 2 more and then the elimination rounds. for each round there were 4 of us that would prep together but our coach was in a different building so it was just us or sometime we were all on our own. in order to advance to elimination rounds you must win more than you have lost. 

shockingly out of the 4 of us that were debating i was the only one who made it to the next round! 

the entire team was there to help my prepare but i was shaking as i thought i had lost all 6 of the normal rounds. as it turns out i won 4 of 6 specifically the first 3 rounds!! that was certainly a huge confidence boost and gave me no way to tell my coach that i still didn't want to do it. 

i lost my last round by a 2 - 1 decision so at least i won one of the judges over! 

needless to say i was surprised and excited to see that i did so well for never practicing or even knowing what to do. maybe it just comes from having 3 siblings.... whatever it is i'm excited to see if i can get better! 

Busy, Busy, Terribly Busy

Goodness me! Has it really been almost 2 weeks since I last updated you all on my life?

Well that is quite unfortunate! 

So i'll run through all the exciting events that have occurred since that last post ages ago. 

Of course there was Thanksgiving to start and I was far too busy enjoying the yummy food and company to snap pictures!

This year we spent the day with all of my Mom's side of the family, it was so much fun to see all of them again and enjoy each other's company. Then the boy came over for a game of Pirates Dice and to steal me away to visit with his family. Spending more time with fun people and eating *more* food! That evening when I got home, the sis and I decided to hit up the Black Friday sales!

This is pretty much what Target looked like....SCARY

We finally arrived at the mall at 1 am and wandered around until 3 am when we decided it was time to sleep. 

The best part of breaks has to be the sleeping in and I certainly did that! 

The rest of the weekend was spent with family, decorating for Christmas, spending time with the boy, playing games, and enjoying time spent together with those I {love}. 

After that rejuvenating weekend it was back to the grind to finish off the last week and a half of school so that I can go back home for Christmas! As the week finally draws to a close I am so glad that I survived all the papers, presentations, tests, and readings I had due. 

Now just to study hard and finish finals!

Yesterday as a study break we hit up the annual SPU hosted event Tradition!! 

Dressing up in our winter best, the theme was really ugly sweaters but we didn't have any! 

Seeing friends, lighting the Christmas tree in Tiffany Loop, making cards and enjoying the air of joy makes going so worth being in the cold!

stolen from my coffee gal :)
waiting in line to get a photo with santa! 

Then today enjoying a 1st West reunion lunch at Red Robin! Goodness I miss seeing their faces and laughing with them everyday! They are all such blessings in my life :)

OK now to buckle down again and study for those pesky finals! Only 3 tests until I'm free to enjoy a month with family and friends!

In My Noggin'

Well I don't have that post of volleyball state yet (i'm waiting on some good pictures so just hang on! ) 

but instead I'll put off my homework a little longer and give ya'll an update anyway! Here are the top few things that are buzzin' around in my head! 

1. 

My Cali girl and I started the Jillian Shred level 3 on Monday and *OW* after taking a few days off in the middle I don't know if we were ready for that one! But doesn't matter to us we don't give up. 

2. 

I also need to start going to bed at a better time. I'll sit down at midnight and the next second it's 1:30....way past my bedtime! Maybe I should just wait til New Years and make that my resolution. 

3. 

Can you believe that we are already halfway through November already! I think we missed a few days in the middle somewhere... 

With the end of November coming up that means the Boy's birthday is coming up soon and I am the world's lamest gift giver combine that with the guy who needs nothing and has no ideas. That equals me with zilch. Great. Don't be surprised if I just give him a rock.
and finally 4.
I just registered for my classes next quarter and I'm rather (mostly) excited. I had to switch up my schedule a bit because apparently everyone wanted to take the same UCOR class I wanted. So I get to take Principles of Macroeconomics, Public Speaking, and Spreadsheets on Mon/Wed/Fri. As well as Beginning Voice and UCOR2000 on Tues/Thurs. That's a full 18 credits my friends! But I think it'll be fun, as fun as college classes can be that is.
On that note I should go finish those two presentations for this quarter! 

Study Study Study

that is the life for me.... 

Of course I don't have any pictures of all the studying because i'm entirely too focused..... 

......and my camera batteries died. 

My classes are enjoyable and I'm doing well so far! 

It's funny how what you learn suddenly helps explain so much in life and I'm realizing just how everything overlaps. What i hear about in Psychology also works for Communication and for Stats (sorta). It is helping to solidify everything in my head! 

Studying has also been a good not so bad time because it means going to new coffee shops with friends and enjoying a good cup of coffee :) 

Also a big part of my life has been the 30 day shred.... 

..::enter doom music::..

My cali girl and I have been working hard just about everyday. 

{except saturdays, we can't seem to get together sat and work out}

Our downstairs neighbors actually came up the first day and complained about how loud it was! 

Apparently every time we move our floor/their ceiling squeaks *really* loudly. 

Now i'm afraid to walk or breathe too loudly lest they can hear it and bothers them! 

{over exaggeration here but still we are super careful now}

So we worked out a deal that we would only do the shred during a set amount of time. 

We just finished our 10 days on level 1 and started today on level 2 - wow it's tough! But I can already tell that i'm stronger which is great! Now just to get those 6 pack abs!! 

That would be most of my life as of right now. Throw in a bunch of laughs, long talks, baked goods, and good friends and thats what i got going on!  

Oh and getting to see the boy this last saturday, finally! I was so happy to see him and talk to him face to face again :) I could go on and on about what a wonderful day it was and I did to my roommate! 

It was such a treat and I am grateful for every minute :)

Just how excited are you that November is almost here?! 

Bon Voyage!

OFF I GO!! 

Headed back down to SPU and higher education! 

Now that I have been down here for a few days already let me finally show you what's been going on! 

I'm really on top of things aren't i?

In my defense however I have been dealing with a cold. By now the sniffles are less but my voice has taken on a lovely squeak which my roomies find oh so funny. 

Well onto more fun topics shall we? 

Like my lovely apartment! 

I only have a small number of pictures {and not very good ones at that}

So I will take you on a short tour of our humble abode for the next few months! 

 First we have the living room. It's still not decorated but we are looking forward to making it warm and homey! 

This will be where we chill with friends and do all that super smart homework. 

Cuz that's all college students do right? 

Study study study study.

 Oh and where i'm hoping to do some 30 day shred starting soon! 

Gonna get ripped! 

Now we will move into the dining room that you can hardly see and the kitchen.

 Our dining room has a lovely sliding door to the itty bitty balcony and a fantastic view of the canal. And our kitchen. YUM :) Can't wait to cook all sorts of yummy meals and treats. 

Just to counteract the working out that I will be doing. Real smart I'm sure. 

And moving on.....

..... to see the super cute aprons that Grandma Dee helped me with {basically did all of} for the lovely girls of this apartment! 

Thanks to her for spending time to pick out each fabric specifically and put them together. 

They are *Stunning* 

at least they are to me :) 

And now into my half of the bedroom that I get to share with my Cali girl.
 It's a little messy here {or a lot...} but that would be my fault.
Oh and you see that wood box like structure just laying all over the floor. Yeah I was building a cabinet. No big.
Not like my dad builds houses for a living or anything.
 I learned from the best. {Except the part where I put the back on backwards. Yeah we won't tell anyone about that part} 

 **TAH DAH**
A clean room and a lovely finished bookcase :)
I even was able to tan two of my lovely friends! A big thanks to them for letting me tan them and helping me to jump this off the ground!
So that is my exciting first half week back in Seattle.
More groceries tomorrow and getting rid of this squeak.
Oh and homework.
Don't forget the important things.
TTFN!
*ta *ta *for *now!

Sun's Still Shinin'

"It's a great day to be alive. 

I know the sun's still shinin when I close my eyes. 

There's some hard times in the neighborhood but why can't every day be just this good?"

~Travis Tritt

I'm sure my siblings are sick of hearing me sing this loudly and very off key whenever it comes on the radio. hehe. But it has some tidbits of wisdom in those singable words. Some days aren't so much fun and feel like a ton of bricks landing on you {insert explosion noise} 

but cheer up better days are coming! 

Right now I'm super excited to get back to school and move into my new *apartment* with my roomies :)

Count down: 10 sleeps! 

Getting back to school will also signal the start of classes which would usually be seen as a bad thing but in this case I am actually excited for the classes I am taking! Now that I've said I'm excited does that mean that I'm not allowed to complain about them later? 

I just won't tell you if I do ;) 

Can you believe the long lasting sunshine round these parts?? For those of you not able to soak up this late hot sun it has been wonderful. Summer must have been mixed up and showed up in September instead.

Oh exciting news to share! (at least for me its exciting)
Recently (and i mean really really recently) I decided to start spray-tanning!
After working with Aunt Mandy and seeing first hand how it all goes down it seemed like a fun idea to start on the SPU campus! Now I have bunches to learn & practice but i'm super excited! Im spending WAAAAY too much time pouring over cool business cards right now. :)
So if you are willing to have a novice tan you.... call me up.

Well I think that's all the updates for now. Hmmm not thinkin of anything else. Sorry for the lack of pictures! I just don't seem to pull out that camera and use it. So i'll leave you with this inspiring line. :)

::PS::

enjoyed a fun night of bowling with the boy and two new friends. i am proud to say i won with a new personal record of *121* points! I've only ever gotten that high on the wii. Boom. Roasted.