Christmas

Well my time in the midwest has been nice. Mom and I went shopping almost everyday before Christmas (well not really but it felt like it). My sister and her family came over Christmas Eve to have lunch and open presents. My neice liked the scarf I made for her. I ended up undoing all of it (2 small yarn bunches worth) a week before so I could make it thinner. It was too wide for an almost 9 year old. But I do wish I had made it longer, but oh well. she said that with the yarn I have left I can make her a hat.
Christmas day we went to my grandparents' house. All of our extended family was there including my grandpa's brother and his wife. In all I think we had 23 people there! That's the most we've had in a long time. And my grandparents' house isn't very big. There was even a table set up in the living room; that was the first time in all my life I was allowed to eat in my grandmother's living room. :)
After we all open our presents we have a wrapping paper fight. It's a lot of fun.
Being around all of them got me to thinking about some things. My grandma mentioned how thankful we all should be. My cousin got in a pretty bad car wreck a few months ago. (i think it was during the summer) he hurt his back pretty badly, a lot of ribs, his thumb, and some other bones were broken. From the looks of him yesterday he has recovered pretty well. Something funny he said was how when he got thrown from the car, his shoes came off, his wallet came out of his pocket as well as his cell phone, but he was still holding his cigarette. He cracked up about that but did add that he got rid of it right away. how crazy is that?
My other cousin had her little boy, her live-in boyfriend, and his daughter were there. I could definitely tell the daughter feels very left out of the family. My cousin doesn't seem to treat her very well. . .and her dad although he has gotten better definitely likes paying more attention to his son. I watched her throughout the day and she definitely looked sad. I don't think she has any contact with her mom at all. I only see her once a year maybe so it's hard to feel like I know her at all. Plus she's only like 11; I don't do well with 11 year olds.
My family does have a lot to be thankful for really. To the point that thinking of some of my friends' families really makes my heart just ache. Well it makes my heart ache anyway. I have a few that have really faced some challenging things over the past year or so. I try to pray but the words seem so hollow and I've never been good at the encouraging bit. I hope they all know that I am always thinking of them anyway and know my heart goes out to them.
OH! and now I know how to quote stuff and creat a link! All of the little buttons at the stop of when you type an entry don't show up on my computer when I use safari (the mac web browser). I'm using my brother's computer and all this new stuff just pops up! ha!

I did it!!!!!!!!!

I got an A- in organic chemistry!!!!!!!!!!! And an A in lab!!!!!!!!! I am so freakin excited!!!!!! Woohooo!!!!!

Study, study, study

So, this week is finals week. I have my Physics and Organic Chemistry final tomorrow (Monday). I've done pretty good at studying. If I really just buckle down today I think I'll be fine. The physics final will be a little bit of a joke since we are allowed to use our notes. At this point, though, I really don't care. I really don't understand much of it; I just need a decent grade.
I leave Thursday to go home for the holidays. Mom and dad are picking me up then we're going to go to Chipotle. Dad loves the place! I've always joked that one of these days I was going to go buy a couple of burritosand take it on the plane with me for my parents. Now I don't have to if I fly to Indianapolis. There's one just a few miles from the airport!
One of my roommates got me wonderfully comfortable slippers for Christmas and a coffee mug with a J on it. I bought my other roommate a small box of Godiva chocolate. She literally squealed with delight. I bought some for family as well, but I may have to go back...I can think of a few other people who might enjoy some. :) Hell! I want some too, the truffles are SO good.

Do you ever have little things that just annoy the crap out of you? I do. (surprise, surprise) I need to vent them for a little bit here, maybe it'll help me let go....first, my roommates didn't want to buy trash bags after the ones I bought ran out because there were some left from the people who lived here before, a whole roll of them. Now these trash bags are smaller than we need for the trash can and thin and my roommates never (ok almost never) bother to empty the trash when it's full. because it's too small the edges always fall into the can and they just keep piling stuff on and never bother to fix it. It drives me nuts! I hate taking out the trash to begin with so I got into the habit of buying fairly sturdy bags with flaps that fit over the edge and they are easy to tie. That way I don't have to worry about the bag breaking or stuff falling out. Why am I the only one who wants to make this easy? I bought some trash bags and I would love to use them except I don't want to if they're never going to buy them. So I try to not let the little thin stupid trash bags bother me, but oh well. Today i couldn't resist, i put a good one in the trash can. Maybe someone will notice the difference.
And I don't understand making a cup of tea and then leaving the tea bag in the cup and putting it in the sink. Why can't they just throw the tea bag away?
I also don't like how they just throw dishes into the cupboard to where there's a big bowl on top of a little bowl. I am too used to my family who arranges things in an organized fashion in the cupboard. Big plates, then little plates. Big bowls, then little bowls. less risk of them all just collapsing! Oh and then where our pots and pans are: they take some out and then after they're clean they just throw them in on top of whatever's in there. So there's a little frying pan or a little lid carrying the weight of a huge pot. Again, I think I'm just used to my family's arranging things in an organized fashion.

Ok sorry to vent about these tiny, trivial things. I just needed to get them out.

Seven Things Tag

So today I got tagged by Val (sorry still don't how to make a link) and because I really don't want to do my organic homework I thought I'd give it a try. Here goes:
Seven Things Tag

Seven Things to do Before I Die:

1. Go to Europe (especially France, Italy, and England)
2. Go to New York City
3. Go whale watching (specifically for orcas)
4. Attend a fashion show
5. Take a really awesome picture
6. Go to South America
7. Donate money and work with some kind of relief/research/charity organization

Seven Things I cannot Do:

1. Speak a foreign language (I stole that one)
2. Ski (that should be above on what I want to do before I die, I do live in CO, after all!)
3. Understand Physics
4. Tap dance
5. Sing opera (not that I really want to)
6. Paint
7. Talk to single, available men (ha! I couldn't think of anything else)

Seven Things That Attract me to my Husband
I'll let you know in about 20 years......
But to switch it up for all my single and fabulous friends:

Seven Things I Love About Being Single

1. I can go just about anywhere I want, when I want
2. My money (what little of it there is) is all mine
3. I can go to the movies by myself (seriously I'm going to hate having to go to the movies with a boyfriend now that I'm so used to going by myself)
4. More time to study! woohoo!
5. Possibilities are endless for me right now without having to worry about someone else's plans
6. I can do just about whatever I want, when I want
7. um. . .I can't really think of anything else at this point. Basically no one else to worry about!

Seven Things I say Most Often:

1. Crap
2. Shit
3. Idiot
4. I hate physics
5. I want Chipotle
6. Stupid, freaking idiot (used mostly when driving)
7. Damn it

Seven Books or Series I Love:

1. Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. Cast A Long Shadow by Ruth Childers Seamands
3. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning
5. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6. Face Forward by Kevyn Aucoin
7. and my new fav: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (even though I haven't finished yet)

Seven Movies I would watch over and over and over and...

1. White Christmas
2. Meet Me in St. Louis
3. Anchors Aweigh
4. While You Were Sleeping
5. Rent
6. Chicago
7. Guys and Dolls

Seven people to tag:
I don't know seven people who have blogs that haven't already been tagged just.....Kristi! Have at it!

Windy and stuck

90 mph winds were clocked in Golden today. Which is like 5 miles from here. 90....that's hurricane force winds. It sucks. It snowed here Friday night/Saturday morning, which is absolutely beautiful but now it is supposed to be super cold and windy.
AND today was the first my truck got stuck in the snow and I had to get pushed out day of the season! woohoo! (please recognize intense sarcasm here).
Oh well, I'd rather have Colorado winter weather than Illinois winter weather anyday. I'd much rather have snow than ice or a mixture thereof. It really is beautiful when it snows here. All the snow sticks to the trees and then the sun comes out and it's all shimmery and silvery. ok yes, Illinois does get snow...but there's just something different about it here that I love.

so here's to the snow, 20 degree temps, and hurricane-force winds! (I'm trying so hard to be optimistic and cheerful)

God

I don't know what to think about God. This week in chapel I sat there listening to Larry Crabb talking about prayer being a way to build our relationship with God (instead of being a give me, give me thing) and I sat there going "yeah, right." I have a hard time believing that God actually cares about me. I don't know how to have a relationship with God. I'm still convinced I will end up having a life that I hate if I really trust God. He knows that, I've told him that a million times. How do I get away from thinking that? There are things that I can't stand about Christianity and those things have influenced my idea of who God is. I'm not sure how to change that or if I want to.
I have never felt that I fit in the typical Christian atmosphere...but I don't feel comfortable in non-Christian circles either.
Oh! I don't know. I guess I'll figure it out sometime.

Ok, enough about God.
Yesterday I saw Pride and Prejudice. It is SO good. Now, I've never read the book (I started reading last night, so hopefully I'll get through) so I don't know how "true" it is to it, but nevertheless, I absolutely love it. It has a wonderful cast including the guy who plays Mr. Darcy. Oh! He's wonderful! At one point he's walking across the field with his long coat blowing in the wind and just the way he walks is so. . . manly and sexy. He's the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. I love the story. It was a real romantic story unlike a lot of the movies that come out nowadays (even though i like those too).

Only two more weeks of school then it's back to good old Illinois for a few weeks. I'm excited to see my family.