Let's do this, again.

Sometimes life gets way too hectic for me. When I think that I've taken on the worst, another batch of life gets thrown at me. That isn't to say that I'm ungrateful for "the worst" in my life. It's a great way of learning what I can and can not handle, what I'm able to emotionally blow off and what will really get to me and in most instances, when my friends will be there for me.

Since I last updated, which was in february, I have had one heck of a semester trying to recover from the fall of 2010. I finally got my GPA to a point where I won't be concerned that I'm falling into my old bad, bad habits. I've grown extremely close to some of my sisters and distant from others. I've become an Alumnae from my chapter, though I completely plan on supporting my sisters and helping out as often as I possibly can (I have a feeling that if I just up and disappeared that several of them would completely kill me). I've declined a position on next fall's homecoming committee so that I can better handle my classes in the fall and build my GPA back up from my slight tumble.

Tim has been accepted to the University of Miami in Oxford, Ohio. With his tuition being waived, receiving a $15,000 stipen and a possible $4,000 to be thrown at him, I'm quite proud and though it has been a struggle, I've become more and more accepting of the fact that he may spend the next 3-6 years in Ohio rather than year. At first I was devestated by the idea, there were plenty of "how do we handle this?" late night talks and we've come to a conclusion, for now. As I've told everyone who has asked (and there have been several) we're going to see how this first year being "for serious" long distance goes and then reevaluate how we handle our relationship from there. There is no intention of breaking things off though, which we're both happy about.

Lately, we've been reading "The 5 love languages" per suggestion from one of my sisters, Kendall, who just got married and has also dealt with a long distance relationship (her fiancee at the time was living in Kentucky while she was here in MO). It's been an interesting read and for those of you who haven't read it, I wouldn't suggest it exactly, but I wouldn't tell you not to read it. The basic idea is that through reading this you'll find your partner's pirmary "love language" and know how to speak to them and show them how much you love them through that. The languages are:
1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Gifts
4. physical touch
5. acts of service.
If you know yourself at all, you'll probably be able to tell which is your primary right off the bat, but you may also have a close second, too. Will this book help us with our long distance relationship? I'm not sure, I know it's been an interesting read and then to compare to our relationship but there are times in the book where I can't help but think "Ok, that's just ridiculous".

I have also been reading the Harry potter books for the very first time, curtosey of my soulmate Allison. I've only gotten through the first two (the second I practically finished in a day) and I'll be getting the others tonight from Allison at one of our newly initated sisters (Casey) Harry Potter Party. I'm hoping to finish the series before the very last movie comes out, or at least with in a week of the movie coming out. Here's hoping!

I have also also been reading "The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime". For those of you who don't know, it's a book about a kid (teenager) who has Autism. It's actually an interesting read and insight into the mind of a person who has autism. But with the other books hanging out in my (heavy) messanger bag/purse, I haven't gotten more than a few chapters through it.

I had planned on taking a summer math class to get it out of the way but it had been canceled (a week before it started and two weeks after the payment was due, ugh). So with it being summer and Tim leaving prematurely before it's over, I've been spending the majority of my time with him. I've been trying to get as much "STL" in his system as possible (though I don't know if he realized that). So far we've had every Saturday this summer (and for the rest of the summer) planned. Yesterday, we went to the Zoo and I conqured my fear of sharks by petting a few of them at the Caribbean Cove stingray (and now shark) exhibit. Next weekend we're going to a wedding, then six flags. The following weekend is the beginning of my birthday celebrations and we're going to start it with a tour of Anheuser Busch. The weekend after that (the last weekend of July) will be my 3rd annual birthday camping trip. We've got about 15 people going this year (so far and if no one backs out, that is).

I've found that I've grown more impatient with most people. I feel that part of this is because I've become more impatient with myself. I haven't consistantly worked out in a year and a half, part of this is due to the fact that I've been so insanely busy but the even bigger part of that is that I haven't had the motivation for it. I've been realizing a lof of my own faults lately, I feel this is because I've gained weight and through seeing that I've become much more analytical of every other part of me as well.

That being said, I've decided that my birthday will mark the end of negative outlooks, the excessive cussing, attitudes and moodiness. Granted this will be something I have to work towards as bad habits are the worst to get rid of, but 23 is one of my very favorite numbers and I intend on making it one of my very favorite years (starting with my birthday celebrations).

So that's all for now! Let's hope I can keep this updated from here on out. :)

The end of February.

February is always a month of mixed emotions for me. For years my favorite holiday has been Valentine's Day but over the past several years I've just gotten my own hopes up and expected whoever I was with to follow through. I don't mean that I expected some grand gift, but I just wanted them to feel like it was as sweet as a day as I thought it was. Now, that's kind of unreasonable for a gal to expect of her guy, especially if she doesn't clarify this, right? Yeah, well.

So this years Valentines day was spent with my little sis, Leila. We got free tickets to the blues game and had a complete blast! The Blues won, thank goodness, and Leila discovered a passion for Hockey (always a bonus)!

My parents bought me a kitten this month as well. It was partially a Valentine's Day gift, partially a "here, stop being so lonely living alone" gift. I'm not really sure how I ended up with the perfect kitten for me ever, but i did. I adopted MacInnis ("Mac" for short) from the Heartland Human Society three weeks ago. They think he's a maine coon mix. He was found on a farm out in fenton and we got him with all his shots and nutured. Mac turned six months yesterday, actually.

And when i say he's the perfect cat for me, I mean it. He's floppy, so sweet, loving and playful. He's also kind of a retard--I say that in the most LOVING way possible! Don't take offense. He falls off of things ALL of the time, runs into things, and meows at nothing. He also sleeps in the most ridiculous of ways. You'll have to check his facebook album for the ridiculous amount of cute-ness that he is. :)

Alpha Xi Delta had our recruitment week this month as well. It went well, I suppose. I invited two of the girls from my photography class out and both of them received a bid--so that was really great.

My sister, Krista, turned 21 last sunday (the 13th) and this saturday we celebrated with a suprise party planned by her boyfriend and myself. It was great (I had a bit too much fun though...)! Tim also came home this weekend and though i didn't get to spend a lot of time with him, sober and just the two of us, I loved seeing him.

With the dreariness of the months and weather that want to be spring but are simply teasing us comes the feeling that everything is going wrong with my life. I had the freak out about how it's going to take me FOREVER to graduate with a degree and lately I've been freaking out about the possibility of an even further long distance relationship between tim and I when he goes off to grad school. Seeing him this weekend helped to reassure me of my feelings for him and that I shouldn't worry about things that aren't happening yet.

Currently, I'm focusing on my grades and doing well. But I've been super excited lately for the St. Louis Blues Autism Awareness Game coming up. I'm so proud of all the hard work that's gone into this and I can't wait to see it finally come to life! A bonus to this is that March 1st is also Ihop's Free Pancake Day, so I'll be doing both of those things in one night AND Tim will be coming home for the game and staying the night. I believe that'll help hold me over till he's home for his spring break.

That's all for now. No pictures this time simply because I've got too much going on and felt really guilty for not writing lately!

PS: If you haven't gotten your tickets for the blues game be sure to do so soon! last day to order them is Sunday!!

Tomorrow school starts.

To update before the school fun begins.

New Years: was a blast. We had the party at Pat's house, who has a great set up for people to come over and play games, enjoy some music and just in general hang out. It's pretty low-key but always a blast. Scalera and I were planning it (sorta) together, and it turned out to be pretty awesome. Surprisingly, I sent out the message to dress up (if you want) and quite a few people did! It was varying levels, but still really fun! Jaime made a life-size cookie monster, which was especially great since he ALSO dressed up, served up some drinks and down his sorrows while singing. It was honestly a blast. And one of the best parts was that two of my sisters came! Krista and Allison joined us for the night. I always enjoy when my two worlds combine and do well together. Krista is now dating Scalera and Allison (i think) is getting pretty comfortable around my other friends.

Cookie monster, of course.

Allison, myself & Krista

Jaime, me, Becky & Erica

Tim & I

Oh! And I gave Allison her best christmas gift that day. I had to keep myself from keeping it for myself, ha.

Spamalot:  was also a blast! I saw it a few years back when it came around on it's first tour but Tim had wanted to see it for himself. We got tickets through UMSL's student life (pretty cheap) and got to enjoy the show. It wasn't bad, not nearly as good as the first time around, but still enjoyable. Previous to the show a group of 8 of us went to the City Diner which is literally right next to the fox and opened up back in July. It's not terribly expensive and is pretty decent tasting. Unfortunately they were extremely busy and so the customer service was lacking that day.

Erica, Becky, Myself, Krista & Hailey

Tim & I, inside the fox, lower Balcony seats.

Trevor & Hailey, City Diner

I love the fox :)

Last update for this blog post will be my christmas gift from timmy. Since not all of us have a constant source of income, I had to wait a bit for my christmas gift from him but it was worth it.

For Tim's christmas gift I got him:

"[red]Wings Suck" Blues Jersey.

I don't have any pictures of the ones he gave me but I got the newest (and from what I've read the last) Post Secret book (Confessions on Life, Death, and God), hand made post secrets by Tim. One for every month we've been together. AND an incredibly soft blanket from target that I've been dying for since a few weeks before christmas.

So to end, this break was pretty great. I cant wait for the semester to start (though I'm somewhat dreading it). I've got a goal for this semester and I'm hoping to achieve it. I've eliminated most other distractions and we'll see if that helps.

So that's it for now :)