Day 243

Today! Yay...I've finally caught up! I tell you...it sure is touch to catch up after the days happened a week ago. Anyways, I had to start my office hours today (I'm required to have 2 office hours a week for QuadWorks in order to fulfill my requirements). I chose my hours to be from 9-10 Tuesday & Thursday mornings because I have nothing during those times & I'd rather go ahead and get everything done early before class rather than have something else after class to do. I had a little bit of trouble getting into the office but once I did, I did some research for Bear Brigade and emails that needed to be done about QuadWorks. I ate breakfast in the office too and once my hour was up, I went back to my dorm to grab stuff for class. Psychology went pretty well. I'm enjoying it so far and hope I continue to do so. We were talking about some characteristics of people that are either/or (a gene with only 2 alleles) like having the ability to roll your tongue, or having your earlobes attached to your head, or being able to raise one eyebrow at a time, or having dimples...stuff like that. It was pretty cool to see who had/could do what. The coolest I think was when he asked who couldn't roll their tongue. 25% of the world's population cannot because it's the recessive gene (something like that) and it was almost exactly 25% of our class who couldn't! Like 10/40...almost exact. Well at least I thought it was cool. :) We got out like 10 minutes early so I met Alex outside of his dorm and he walked me about 10 feet to my next class. I had education next and I bought a snack out of the snack machine because I didn't have time to eat. Edu went well and we got out just as we were suppose to...which of course left me like 10 minutes to get to choir. Lovely. I made it with plenty of time and I just know I'll get in good shape basically running across campus every day. :) Choir went well...I'm really excited about the music and members. Though half of the class is freshmen, we have a good sound & of course and awesome director so I can't wait to hear how we sound once we learn the music! After class, I went to a Mercer Madness (March Madness but just for us) meeting with a couple of QuadWorks people and the basketball coaches. We planned what we wanted to do for MM & I'm excited about it! I went and said Hello to Alex for a few minutes because we're both so busy I didn't know if I'd get to see him again or not. After, I went and checked on my friends on Sherwood 1st and we decided to go on to an early supper. We went directly to the UC (didn't want to face another caf supper with no good food) and we all ate either Subway or Chick-Fil-A. Yummy yummy. :) Great fellowship for sure. I'm really excited for this year (for multiple reasons) but definitely because I'm making new friends while still keeping my old ones! I love new friends!! :) Now my hands are tired from typing and my eyelids are getting heavy and my brain is slowing down. I have to read some history and scientific inquiry before bed, but I tell you - bed will be a very welcoming thing when the time for sleep comes! :)

Day 242

Monday, August 30, 2010. I woke up about 7:15 for my 8:00 history class. I decided before class that once class was over I could just go back to sleep for an hour and a half or so before my next class. That didn't happen because I got hungry and went to the caf for breakfast after history...in the caf I ran into one of my friends and we discovered that we both have 8:00's & 11:00's & nothing in the middle! Why not eat breakfast together? I had already gotten my to-go box so it was too late for Monday but from then on we would plan on eating breakfast together. I was happy to make that discovery. I was prepared for my next class once I got back to the dorm so I settled down to eating my breakfast and browsing facebook mindlessly. I know that sounds boring but it's so nice to have a brain dead activity ever so often. I had photography at 11:00 and our professor showed us what our pinhole cameras will look like. They're so cute! They are these little wooden boxes...only a few inches by a few inches. He took a picture with each of the two cameras he had prepared so he could go through the whole process with us. We went into the dark room next. That room is tiny...I thought it'd be a lot bigger. Anyways, he showed us the whole process: take the film out of the back of the camera, dip it in each of the specific chemicals for a specified amount of time, & dry the photo paper. Once it was dry and properly chemically-altered, we headed into the computer room. There he scanned the picture onto the computer and opened it in Photoshop. The prints are inverted so we are going to have to invert each one on photoshop, crop how we see fit, and adjust the light/dark settings to make it a lovely product. :) I'm not a big fan of photoshop but it is necessary here. I'm really getting excited about this class...we will get our cameras Wednesday and will begin the pinhole photography process! Yay! I headed to lunch with one of my photography friends because luckily we got out of class early again...early enough to eat lunch! I had scientific inquiry next. We are set up in little groups and our activity today was to show us how working together in the field of science specifically is important. Each group was a "country" and each country had a specific problem...for instance my country spoke like 15 different languages....others were not allowed to touch anything green for a religious reason. Something like that. We were all given some pieces from a puzzle and we asked to put what we could together not knowing what the puzzle looked like as a finished product and being hindered by whatever problem we were assigned. As time went on, the problems were diminished and we were awarded more puzzle pieces and shown bit by bit what the puzzle looked like. The pieces were to represent data and the activity was to show us that collaborating between countries to gather "pieces to the puzzle" and to help each other is important if you actually want to make progress towards any initiative. After class, I hung out in my friend's dorm on the 1st floor and we went to eat supper. After a not-so-great supper in the caf, I went and saw Alex briefly. Before long though, I headed to my weekly QuadWorks meeting. It went well but I'm getting more & more overwhelmed about what I'm actually going to have to do for my committee and specifically homecoming. I'll survive but it'll be tough. I went back to Alex's and we watched some TV with his suitemates. We went and drove around Macon so they could find food...it was a longer drive than it needed to be because they couldn't decide what to eat. Haha. Getting back to his dorm, I didn't stay long because I was just so tired. I eventually crashed about 11:30 exhausted but happy about a good day. :)

Day 241

Sunday I was a slacker again and slept in until 11...oh how heavenly. :) I showered and settled down into doing homework. Once Alex was awake and had eaten lunch, he came over and we set up our separate homework stations and I settled into reading history while he worked on his Calculus 2 homework. After we got about half way through, we took a break and went to Walmart. Getting back, we went over to his dorm and completed homework. Settling into a homework routine sure isn't the funnest thing in the world...that's for sure...at least I'm back with my friends. :)

Day 240

Saturday! I slept in a little bit I think Saturday morning. Eventually, I made my way over to Alex's dorm and hung out with him for a while. I watched he play video games with his roommates until we got hungry then we went to Ron & Cheng's to eat. That is like my favorite-discovery-from-last-year-restaurant. Once you've tried it, you basically love it. It is Southern food plus Chinese food all perfectly seasoned. Just plain wonderful. Plus it's pretty cheap! So yeah - we all love it. :) After eating & more video games, Alex and I wandered over to one of our friend's apartments. Some girls over there had already begun the baking process for some brownies/cake and the rest of the people were playing more video games. I tried my hand at a game or two of mario smash brothers but I definitely failed at those attempts. We ate the yummie goodies and played some Wii...I'm better at that...I promise. :) A fun evening with friends is always lovely.

Day 239

Friday. Ah. Finally a breather...at least after class that is. I mean nothing happened in class that went bad...it was my first true day for my MWF classes. I honestly can't remember much of what I did Friday after classes. I'm guessing that it was just a "let me breathe" day. :)1 week down, many more to go!

Day 238

Thursday was the first real day of class in my opinion. They all went well and after class, I met up with Alex and we headed to Forsyth. Caleb had a home cross country meet and he wanted us to go and watch him run. It was nice to see Mom and Dad again...though like always they are helping run the meet...direct traffic and lead the runners. Grandmom arrived just as the guys were starting so she, Alex, & I trekked around the course so we could watch the runners at specific points. Caleb was in 1st place probably for 2/3rds of the race and finished in 2nd place with the awesome time of 19:18. Yay! :) We didn't have time to watch the girl's race because Alex had soccer practice back in Macon. I sat in the car while he was practicing and did homework...with a run to McDonald's when I got hungry. After his practice ended, we headed back to school. I immediately parked and went to Jittery Joe's coffee shop for the first meeting of the year for CSF! There was a good turnout and I'm excited for a great year. :)

Day 237

Wednesday August 25 was basically another first day of classes because I went to my second set of 3 classes for the first time. Once again, it was syllabus reading day. History is going to be an...interesting class...I'm not so excited. Photography (pinhole) I'm psyched about and can't wait to get started! Scientific Inquiry is going to be ok...I'm not really thrilled either. So MWF is going to be great for me...haha. :)

PS- Thanks Ashley for the adorable photo subject! :)

Day 236

Tuesday = First day of classes for the fall semester of Sophomore Year. I have 3 classes everyday but Tuesday's are especially tough because they're all back to back...with 10 minutes in between each. Nothing really happened in the classes...we just got read the syllabus and told all of the rules that we have heard before. Thankfully, I know people in my psychology class and my education class is basically the same people as last year...with a few exceptions of course. Choir was called off for the day because everybody needed to re-audition (in a sense) in front of Dr. Roberts. So I scheduled a time and went. We had spots in the choir already but he wanted to find our placement and voice part. I was really nervous but he made things go smooth and easy so there was nothing to be worried about. I was definitely tired after day 1 of classes...but looking forward to a good year! :)

Day 235

While Sunday seemed easy and full of relaxation, Monday was extremely hectic. I can't exactly remember what I did during that morning but once I was up and showered, I headed to the CBF office to help Aimee, Kathryn, and Rachel finish up Bear Fair decorations for CSF, load the stuff in vehicles, and take everything back to Mercer. We set our booth up in the UC and prepared to greet the freshmen! At it's peak, the UC was packed full of people so it was difficult to get people's attention and get them to come to the booth (apparently the yummy cookies, brownies, & candy didn't work so great). We did get some people to come through and show interest in CSF so that's really exciting. After I worked half of the Bear Fair shift, I headed to get a little bit of relaxation. Not long after it seems, I had to go to Special Event Team "Training". Since I'm a returning employee, I didn't hear anything new and thankfully was allowed to leave early. Those lucky freshmen get to host overnighters...I'm SO glad that that part of the job is over. After, I immediately headed off to QuadWorks training. I was given a lot of information in a very short time. I'm still trying to digest it but I'm going to survive this and succeed! I know it! :)

Day 234

Sunday August 22, 2010. I'm excited to be back on campus but still getting used to it at the same time. I enjoyed sleeping in Sunday morning and after a little while, Ashley and I met up with Emily and Bonnie. We were off to CSF's director's house to decorate posters to prepare to Bear Fair on Monday. Every club and organization has a booth at Bear Fair and we had to help CSF's look good! Aimee's apartment is really cute and we had a fun time socializing (& working of course) with Rachel and Kathryn. Since I'm updating these blogs ever so late I can't really remember all that I did these past few days so I can only really mention the highlights...Anyways, I'm super excited about CSF this year and everybody involved! :)

Day 233

First Day back at Mercer: Saturday August 21, 2010. I woke up early this morning, about 8:00, and hopped into the shower. Last year I took for granted a full bath/shower in the bathroom in my suite. This year, I have a lovely, tiny walk-in shower that isn't so much fun. Anyways, after I got completely ready I walked to Jittery Joe's to meet my CBF boss. I am going to be a part of CSF (cooperative student fellowship) this year at Mercer (I was oblivious to it's existence prior to this summer) and we wanted to try to help some freshmen move in today. Aimee knew of one person who was interested in CSF so we were going to try to help her but as soon as we found her on campus, the Mercer Movers had beaten us to her luggage. Oh well...we still enjoyed a brief fellowship time with her and her family as she moved in. The 5 of us in our little group walked around campus for a little bit and I showed them my dorm room when we got to it. After we went off to our separate ways, I worked on decorating my room until lunch time. I met Gayle-Anne and her roommate in the dorm and we headed to the Caf. I sure hadn't been in the caf in a long time and boy was it ever crowded with lots of freshman and their families. After lunch I went to the bookstore and picked up my books that I had ordered. Then I met back up with Gayle-Anne and her roommate, after I had gotten lots more of my room decorated, and we were off to Target/Bed, Bath, and Beyond/Michael's. We had a successful shopping trip and we stopped and got an early supper of to-go hibachi fried rice with shrimp. Yummy! Now I've met my suitemates and am enjoying a moment of quiet in my dorm...who knows what's in store for tonight!

Day 232

Friday. August 20th, 2010. Move In Day. I woke up at 7:00, ate breakfast with my family before they were off to work and school, and drove Caleb to school. I continued packing things when I got back home and I was almost finished with things by 1. Around 1, Dad got home and we were off to Mercer to help arrange my room with my roommate, Ashley, who had already been there for a few hours. We really didn't do much but we got some ideas for how to arrange my stuff once it was in the room. Alex was arriving at this point so Dad and I helped Alex, his mom, and one of his roommates move all of his stuff into his room from the car. He sure did bring a lot of stuff haha. After we left his room and Mercer, Dad and I headed back home. He went back to work and I kept doing small things around the house and gathering other little things I had forgotten earlier. Once Mom got home from work we sat around some and started bringing my suite cases down stairs so they could be one step closer to the vehicles for transportation to Mercer. Dad picked Caleb up from cross country and we loaded the luggage, random appliances and decoration into my car and Dad's truck. Caleb hopped in the car with me, and Mom rode with Dad on the way to Mercer. We parked and I texted Alex saying that we had arrived. Mom, Dad, Caleb, and I took the first load up to my room and after making it back to the truck, we found Alex, his mom, and one of his roommates standing by the vehicles so we did have some extra hands to carry everything up to the third floor. After everything was unpacked, we began the slow process of putting everything away. When it was time to eat, a huge group of 12 of us went to Olive Garden. Though the wait to be seated was longer than desired, the food was good as well as the fellowship. We made a quick trip to Target and then Mom and Dad dropped me and Ashley off back at our dorm. I told them goodbye and was sad to see them go. :( I continued on the fine detail work in my room for a while and then went a saw Alex's room that he had been working on. I was definitely glad to be going to bed after a long day. :)

Day 231

Thursday has arrived. Hard to believe, but it was the last full day I had at home! I slept in a little bit and continued the process of packing things up to move in on Friday. I ordered some pictures to get printed at Walmart and I set to decorating the bulletin board I had bought with Mom Thursday night at Walmart. I had really cute ribbon and push pins and foam letters and I knew the pictures would look great too. After basically sitting around watching too many episodes of Say Yes To The Dress and Bringing Home Baby, I went off to go into town to deposit my paycheck into the bank and to pick up my pictures from Walmart. Getting home, I arranged the pictures and got movie tickets from the school year last year and attached them all with push pins. It looked so cute! Mom got home and we sat around and talked until Caleb and Dad got home. We ate yummy brunswick stew and spent the rest of the evening relaxing. :)

Day 230

Wednesday August 18, 2010. I slept in a little bit on Wednesday because I was enjoying another day being off of work. I either sat around watching TV or I packed a little bit more (I can't remember which) before I was off to town. I had a hair appointment and I was very ready to get a new hair cut. Last summer, basically a year ago, before I started my freshman year at Mercer, I got my hair cut super short. I had grown it out since then (with only one hair cut in between) and it was starting to annoy me at the length it was. Maybe that was just because it was time to get a hair cut...who knows but no matter the reason, I was ready for something new. I told my stylist that I wanted it about shoulder length but without layers and something that kind of framed my face. I was really happy with the result and I have loved it ever since. I went to church where Dad was and to school where my Mom was currently so I could show them my new hair. They both liked it. :) I called Gayle-Anne my friend from Mercer who I'd gone to Amphora with a few weeks ago because I knew she hadn't picked up her piece that she painted with me and it was time for me to pick up the latest piece I'd picked. We set a time to meet at Amphora and we both were very pleased with our beautiful pieces of artwork. :) Afterwards, we went and ate at Johnny's Pizza right beside the pottery studio and sat and talked. And talked. And talked. It was great girl time...I'm so excited to have great friend time at Mercer this year! After we finally left the pizza parlor, I went back home. It was a full but good day! :)

Day 229

Tuesday August 17, 2010. Today. I woke up around 9 again and though I was trying to convince myself otherwise, I went running. I told myself it was time to try out my new running shoes and socks so I got ready and headed out to the road to stretch. Boy was it ever humid. I just ran through the neighborhood (just under 2 miles) but I was happy when I finished that I had gotten my lazy behind out of bed to run. I always feel so good after I've run. My shoes felt good...I still have to break them in some but I look forward to many good workouts this year with my college friends. The socks are really awesome too. Other than the fact that they're lime green, they are the "no show" type but they have this little tongue on the back that prevents the heel of the shoe from rubbing your foot's heel! I know I sound super lame for liking this so much but I ALWAYS have trouble getting blisters on my heel so these awesome socks hopefully saved my feet from blisters today! :) I drank Gatorade after I finished and jumped in the pool to cool off. I showered and then settled in front of the television to take a break. Mona Lisa Smile was on TV and it was just starting so I decided to watch it! It's a 2003 movie and it has some big names in it. I didn't think I had seen it before and it looked good. I did enjoy watching it and I think watching it again would allow me to catch more of the details I missed this time. I went up to my room next and tried to start the cleaning room/packing for Mercer process. I straightened my room up and then was basically at a loss of what to do to pack. I left everything in a pile after moving out at the end of last semester so that is a big part of the packing I have to do. I just need to buy some more supplies from the store. Mom read this book loaned to her and really liked it so she thought I would enjoy it during my last week of freedom. It's called Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen and I must admit, I started it and finished it all in one day. Now, mind you, it isn't very long but now I once again have nothing else to read. I do strongly recommend it for you readers out there. For supper, we ate corn, hamburgers, french fries, peaches, and blackberries. That was a ton of food, I couldn't eat all of my share! We watched a little bit of TV after supper and now we're all in bed if not already asleep. Tomorrow means that I will be moved into Mercer in less than 3 days! That is so hard to believe.

Day 228

Monday August 16, 2010. I took off from work this week so I slept in to the late hour of 9:00 haha. I basically just sat around watching TV for the majority of the morning. I did send some pictures online to CVS to get printed so I could complete my photo album. Dad called asking if I would like to accompany him to run an errand to Macon. I needed to get out of the house so we were off to Office Depot. After a successful shopping trip, we stopped and got lunch at Chick-Fil-A. He dropped me off at the house and I picked my pictures up from CVS. I put them into the photo album and completed the labels for them. I bought ink for my printer, too, something I had needed to do for a while. Once everybody got home from work and school, we heated up the lasagna that Alex and I had made last week for supper. Caleb had soccer practice so they didn't have much time to sit around the house. I stayed home and then at 8:00 I watched the Devil Wears Prada on Fox. I love that movie, it's so good! :) They got home from soccer and after a little bit of TV, we all called it a night.

Day 227

Today! It is so hard to believe that it is already August 15, 2010. I can still remember clearly trying to write 2010 instead of 2009! Church went well this morning. I was the only person other than my teachers in my Sunday school class this morning. I like having other people in there with me but it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. I sat with Mom as usual during the main church surface. It's kind of sad because I probably won't be home this time next week. I'm excited to move back to Mercer and see all of my friends again but I will definitely miss my family a lot once I'm back in Macon. Dad had a deacon's meeting so Mom, Caleb, and I headed home. We were not quite sure what to eat for dinner but I came up with the idea of sausage biscuits and everyone liked the idea so that's what we ate, along with peaches. We turned on Did You Hear About the Morgan's? and I enjoyed watching it and fiddling around on the computer while Mom and Caleb took a nap. Caleb had to head off to choir so he hopped on his bike and was off to church. I left to return the DVD's to Ingles and also to drive around town to find something to take a picture of. I went to a lot of places. Through the square, by the high school and middles school, down Montpelier Road, and back the long way home. My last photos were of a railroad crossing sign and I knew that they would be my favorite. When I got back home, I made a bologna sandwich. I sad down to eat it and I texted Alex. The second that it was sent, I received a text from Alex! It seems we sent each other a text at the exact same time. Perfect timing. I am now watching mythbusters with my wonderful family. :)

Day 226

Saturday was a lot slower of a day compared to Friday. I slept in a little bit and then relaxed at the house with Alex while my parents were off running errands and Caleb was rafting with the youth group from church. Mom got home from grocery shopping so I helped her unload and put away the food she bought. I fixed Alex lunch and after he ate, I fixed myself a sandwich, too. He had to leave not long after so he could get home in time to watch his sister cheer with her Cheer Squad at a Gwinnett Braves Game. I went and watched some TV and took a nice nap. Dad and Caleb made it home and all of a sudden, the bottom dropped out! It was pouring and the sun was still shining. During the shower, we all drove to the church to look at a few things and coming home, we ordered some pizza from a place downtown Forsyth. Caleb had invited a couple of friends over to watch scary movies, play video games, and stay up late. Once one had arrived, we went and picked up the pizza. After eating it, we all decided that though the pizza was alright, we had all had better and it really wasn't worth as much as it cost. Caleb's second friend arrived and we went to go check out some movies from Ingles. They rented Repo Men and Shutter Island as scary movies (apparently nothing really fit their bill for a good scary movie) and I got Did You Hear About the Morgan's? The whole family plus Caleb's friends watched Repo Men. The story line wasn't bad but (though I kind of expected it) there was a whole lot of blood and body parts. So I didn't watch all of it haha. The sane people went to bed then and the boys stayed up until about 2:00 this morning playing x-box games...to my parents annoyance of course. :)

Day 225

Friday was a good day. I woke up early enough to tell my brother goodbye as he left with our parents for his first day as a sophomore! Alex and I got ready and we were off to Macon to meet our friends Cecilia and Korin. Alex had some errands to run, but the three of us girls were on a photo expedition. We started our adventure at Saint Joseph's Catholic church. I have seen this church multiple times and have really wanted to photograph it because it is such a gorgeous church. Cecilia and Korin had already taken some pictures of it but we decided to go inside and take some shots. Luckily just as we were entering, a man was standing inside with a camera himself. He had a key to the balcony so he offered to take us up with him. He was really into photography so he gave us some tips as we took pictures of the church. I enjoyed taking pictures throughout the whole church just because of how beautiful it is. Next, we walked downtown a little bit. Wandering some of the safer streets, we stopped ever so often to take pictures if we saw something interesting. Alex caught back up with us and we went onto College Street to take pictures of the huge, old homes along the way. Even starting as early as we did, it was extremely hot outside and we were all tired and worn out by the time we made it back to our cars. I had a lot of fun going around taking those pictures so hopefully those trips can happen throughout the year. Alex and I then went to Mercer to buy a drink to cool off. We wandered Heritage Hall and stopped by the library to check up on some books we had ordered. Dad had wanted us to meet him at the Chick-Fil-A so we headed there for lunch not long after. Then we went and Dad bought me some new running shoes from our favorite shoe store. My shoes have hot pink highlights and the socks are lime green. :) Awesome. Getting home, we relaxed a little and then got ready before heading out once again...this time with the whole family. We went and ate at Polly's - a good seafood place - before going to watch The Expendables. The movie was ok...I didn't like it so much because there was a lot of blood and gore...not really my kind of movie. Getting home, I was definitely tired but I was happy because we had a great day. :)

Day 224

Today: Thursday August 12th, 2010. Today was my last official work day for the summer. It was kind of sad to leave because I'll miss all of my co-workers but I'm glad to have a little bit of a break before school starts. Alex had another soccer practice in Macon today so he's going to spend a couple of nights here so he can see me for a couple of days before school starts back. It was funny because as soon as I parked in the driveway, he pulled up into the driveway! Perfect timing. :) Dad was home with Caleb and Mom got home soon. They were off to Caleb's school orientation quickly so they weren't home long. Alex and I then had the task of making lasagna for supper. Thankfully we had instructions from my mom so the preparation went just fine. Alex went to soccer practice and the rest of my family got home from the high school. (Caleb is a sophomore, how crazy is that?) Then the four of us ate the lasagna (& yes it was yummy). Caleb and Dad were off to Caleb's soccer practice. While we were eating, the sun was shining but it started pouring all of a sudden! It didn't rain for long but I was able to get some neat pictures during the rain. I worked on clearing off my memory card for my camera and mom washed/folded some clothes. Now we're watching some TV and waiting for everyone to come home from soccer! :)

Day 223

Wednesday was another full day though not as crazy as Tuesday. I headed to work and all went well...especially the yummy lunch at Ingleside Village Pizza with the co-workers & boss. Oh how I love that pizza. :) After work, I headed back to Zebulon Road to go to Amphora with my friend Kathryn from high school. She's off to Georgia Tech soon and I'm off to Mercer soon so we wanted one last hoora before going to our respective schools. She painted some coasters (GT themed of course) and I painted a little wall decoration thing. I used stamps to write LOVE on one side and SMILE on the other. I painted each side different colors and had different little doodles so whenever I feel like it, I can turn the plack around and have something different! :) It was good to see Kathryn again before we start our college years. :) Heading home, I ate some yummy chicken and mashed potatoes with the family. I'm in such disbelief that summer is almost over! I have to enjoy every moment while it lasts. :)

Day 222

Tuesday was a very, very, VERY full day. I woke up and got ready to head into Macon at the usual time but instead of immediately heading to work, I headed to my eye doctor's office downtown. I had normal checkup so nothing to get worried about but, like always, I have to get my eyes dilated...not cool. Though I can tell the formula has improved, I really do despise getting my eyes dilated because you can't focus on anything up close and your eyes are extra sensitive to sunlight. Anyways, so after a long appointment consisting of mainly waiting, I went to work. On the way back, I was stopped at the stop sign at the intersection of College Street and Riverside Drive. I photographed the College Street sign because I figured it was fitting since I start back to school very near that street in just over a week! That is so hard to believe. Anyways, so I worked my alloted time at work and then immediately headed to my Grandmother's (also in Macon). She had called me on Monday saying that she wanted to take me out to eat to Red Lobster so that was where I headed Tuesday after work. We ended up eating at 5:00 because I had a schedule to keep. I hated that I had to eat and run, but I enjoyed my time with Grandmom. As soon as I left her house, I drove home to pick up my brother to drive him back to Macon to the movies. I got him to the movie just before it started (he saw Dinner with Schmucks) and then I wandered around Zebulon Road until it ended. I had to buy contact solution at Walgreen's and then I went to Khol's. I talked to Alex a little in the parking lot on the phone because we were both bored haha. Then it got too hot in my car so I talked to him while wandering around the store. I ran into some friends from high school so I had some good conversations with them. Caleb's movie ended so we headed to Chick-Fil-A to get milkshakes (strawberry for me and cookies and cream for him) before heading home. Whew...can you say what a day? :)

Day 221

Today I headed back to work. My poor baby car had to go to the shop to be serviced. :( It acted kinda funky a few days ago but no one at the shop could figure out why and now (fingers crossed) it seems to be fine. That meant that I had to drive my Dad's truck to work. I learned how to drive on his truck so I can manage it but I really don't like driving anything other than my car. The truck is so much higher off the ground than my adorable bug! Work went fine and I made a successful Kroger run (during work) in the truck and after work, I also made it to the other side of Macon so I could fill up my Dad's truck with gas and finally pick up my potter piece from Amphora. I was really happy how my letter "H" came out, though the mistake I made is pretty obvious. That's ok...I am very happy with how it looks otherwise. :) I got home and Dad and I went to go pick up my car from the shop and then get some new windshield wiper blades. Later, Mom, Dad, and I picked Caleb up from cross country practice (they had to run outside in nearly 100 degrees! craziness). We went and ate at the Hong Kong Palace really close to our house before Caleb had to go to soccer practice. He is one busy boy I tell you. So, Mom & Dad left to take Caleb and I took some pictures at home. Yes, I know that I took another picture of the zenias but I am going to get the goodie out of them while I can! I'm watching Cake Boss now (I LOVE this show!) :)
I still find it hard to believe that I am 221 days into this project! I'm so happy that I've come this far and I can't wait to see the rest of the year through my camera! :)

Day 220

Sunday, August 8, 2010. I woke up, got ready, and headed off to church with my Mom and brother. Sunday school for my class went well and a pretty good group showed up. Church went well but I was hungry and ready for lunch by the time we got out of the service. Caleb, Mom, and I went to Walmart to pick up some subway for lunch. I enjoyed my sandwich as always and I crashed for an hour nap - it was so nice! I love naps. :) I really didn't do anything else exciting for the rest of the day...just kind of sat around, relaxing and watching TV with the family. After everyone headed up to bed, I wasn't tired yet so I opened A Cinderella Story up on youtube and ate some of the chocolate that Alex had brought me back from Europe. The movie was as good as ever and by the time it ended, I was ready for bed! :)

Day 219

Today has been a sort of quiet day. I went to bed at 10:30 last night because I was so tired and my body wouldn't let me sleep past 9:00 this morning. Oh well...ten and a half hours isn't too bad. I went downstairs and Mom and Dad were working hard on fixing the beans/peas to be frozen and cutting up the peaches for the same purpose. I lounged around for a while and eventually got my computer and camera for something to do. I got a macro filter and grabbed a vase of zenias my mom had put together and sat on the floor in the sun so I could get some shots. I love macro photography...it's so much fun. Especially with these macro filters...I have to buy myself some of these! Later, I tried to peel and cut up a peach but it proved more difficult than I had wanted it to. A little after 12, I went up and showered because Mom and I were off to a bridal shower for a girl at our church! I think it went well and she got a lot of nice gifts. We got home and chilled out for a while. Now, I'm updating my blog and Mom and Dad are off to another event tonight. It's hard to believe...I'll be moved back into Mercer before I know it! :)

Day 218

Yesterday, I woke up around 7:30 and got ready to head off to Six Flags. I took my picture for the day while I was getting ready because I was worried that I wouldn't have the time or energy once I got back home that night. Mom had put some zenias into my bathroom so I used them as the photo's subject. I do enjoy having them in there...they're such a pretty spotlight on my sink! So I left the house about 9:30 and headed towards Atlanta. I made it to six flags in about an hour and fifteen minutes but the most annoying part of the journey was waiting in line to park! Once I had parked, Alex parked next to me and we walked together to the main gate to meet everyone else who had already arrived. Eventually, 13 people showed up (including the two birthday people) so I think that was a pretty good turnout. We started off riding Goliath (I was pretty nervous about it but it turned out just fine) and it was so hot that we decided to hit a water ride next. The water ride line was just as long as the line for Goliath but we were happy once we had finally settled into the huge tube. It was a river rafting type ride and so of course, everybody at least got a little wet. That helped to cool us off some but we were hungry then so it was time for lunch. It was already getting late into the afternoon...time was going by pretty fast. I ate a good BBQ sandwich and we were off again. Some people wanted to ride the Scream Machine but the majority still wanted to let lunch digest so we went next to Gotham City. We rode the Batman coaster and then Mind Bender. We all gathered again and looking at the sky, it looked like a storm was approaching. We thought that it would go by quickly, but no such luck - it started thundering and lightening and we were shooed away from our shelter under an umbrella. We took refuge under a bridge (along with a large number of other people from the park) before the bottom dropped out. A river started flowing under the bridge it was raining so much. A lot of people got caught in the rain but they really just passed through the bridge and probably headed on to their cars. We stood around for a while not sure of what to do but eventually we all said goodbye and headed off towards our vehicles. It was a shame we had to call things quits so early but I at least had fun despite the horrible heat and annoying rain. It was good to see some of my Mercer friends again...I'm ready for everybody to move in so we can see each other every day! I got to my car, tried to dry off a little, and headed on out towards home. I got home and watched a couple of movies with my parents...Caleb was at a Braves Game. So overall, I had a good day. :)
PS - Happy early birthday, Rebekah and Blake! :)

Day 217

Today! August 5, 2010. I once again skipped going running and slept the latest I had all week. After eating breakfast and getting ready, I was off to work again. I had Greek for lunch (Greek Quesadillas) from the down town deli. This is my second time eating Greek and oh my goodness...it is so yummy! Anyways, I finished up my 20 hours and set off towards my Grandmother's. I was suppose to pick up my Amphora pottery piece today but we had a change of plans so that didn't work out. On the way, I had to get gas because I was out! Glad I made it to the gas station. The whole family met at my Grandmother's and we set off to Montezuma, Georgia to go to Brown's to gather our favorite type of peaches: Elberta. Elberta peaches are not found very easily and this location is home to them. Brown's is also home to many home grown country vegetables and zenias. My parents picked out what beans and peas we wanted to buy and bushels of peaches and Mom and I went to the zenia field for Mom to pick some flowers and for me to take pictures. They're just so pretty, I love photographing them each time we go. To cool off (and just to eat some), we all enjoyed some peach ice cream - very delicious! We drove back to my Grandmother's to pick up my car and to drop her off and we dropped by Chick-Fil-A before going home. We enjoyed out chicken sandwiches and a nice family evening relaxing and watching television. Tomorrow I'm off to six flags with some Mercer friends, so it's time to get excited! :)

Day 216

Wednesday. I skimped out on running again and went to work as normal. I stayed longer than normal so I could make up for the time I had missed Tuesday. Getting home, I worked on finishing up the photo album I had started earlier this summer. I had put the pictures in but there was room for descriptions that I hadn't filled out yet. Dad was at church, Mom had a meeting, and Caleb had a youth party to attend. I wasn't doing anything, so it was my job to take Caleb. So after a yummy supper of mini pizzas, I went on my adventure. The driveway to the location of the party is an easily missed dirt road and is hard to navigate...at least that's the case for my car. Though difficult, I successfully drove my car up the driveway and back down after I dropped Caleb off. On the way, I passed a cemetery and since I hadn't taken any other pictures that day, I thought I'd stop on the way back home. I did stop (though I almost missed that turn, too) and was glad I did. The sun was just starting to set so the lighting was really neat. There were such a wide variety of graves and decor that I enjoyed taking pictures of them. The centerpiece of this cemetery is this a huge cross so I took different shots of it. My favorite shot, though, is of the sun setting behind the cross. I made it back home and watched So You Think You Can Dance with my parents. :)

Day 215

Tuesday! I could not convince myself to wake up and run so I slept as long as I could before waking to shower and get ready for work. I took my left over "Spagana" from Cheddars to eat for lunch and it was very yummy again. I left work early and headed to get my new parking sticker for Mercer next year. I went home then and mom and I went to the post office quickly to try to mail a package before Alex got to my house but as we were checking out, Alex called saying he was at the house...woops. So we were late getting home but that's ok. So Mom, Alex, and I sat in the house chatting and eventually turned on Oprah. It was good to see Alex, though it was only a short visit. He was off to soccer practice (the reason for him coming to visit) and Caleb came home from his quick beach trip. We ate supper and later, I went to Dairy Queen to meet up with a couple of my high school friends. We sat and talked for about an hour and a half catching up. It was good to see them...especially since we all move back to school so soon!

Day 214

Monday.
Monday I woke up and went running. It was still dark outside when I started running but I felt like I walked into a cloud of humidity as soon as I stepped out of the house. My run was tough but I was glad that I did it. Work went well and afterwards, Mom and I went to the mall to shop around for a few things. After a successful trip, we went with my dad to the movies to watch Charlie St. Cloud. I really enjoyed it and I think my parents just thought it was good. Dad attributed my liking of it to my thinking that Zac Efron is good looking...though I did enjoy the movie because of the movie I can't argue with his statement. :) We ate at Cheddar's and enjoyed it a lot.

Day 213

Today! Sunday August 1st, 2010. I woke up, showered, and got dressed as normal on a Sunday morning. Sunday school was full (which was nice) and the lesson was good. I sat beside Mom as always for the main service and Dad talked about me. It is a fairly common occurrence but still. I don't really mind but he likes to tell the congregation things that I never even knew myself! I learned today that before I was born I was called "Bud" by some of of my parent's friends. Too bad I turned out to be a "Bud-ette" (according to my Dad again). After church, we made ham & cheese sandwiches and put them on broil in the oven so the cheese could be nice and melted. Ohh yes it was yummy. :) Since then, I've basically just sat around watching TV (shark week themed myth busters is on now) and taking a few pictures. Yeah, I know the salt & pepper shakers are random but I see them multiple times a day & I thought that the picture turned out pretty cool. :)

Day 212

Saturday was a full day. I slept until 10:30 and after I was showered and ready, Mom and I were off to Atlanta to her brother's house. He and his partner are foster parents for 3 cute little kids and the middle child was turning 3 and had a Dora the Explorer birthday party. The drive up was a little stressful because we had to drive through Atlanta but we made it to the house just before the party started. A large number of kids showed up and I think everyone had a great time, especially when Dora came for a visit! Right before we left, a storm hit and the bottom dropped out. Mom and I didn't know whether we should wait out the storm or head on out but we decided to run for it (literally) and even though the car was at the edge of the lawn, we were pretty wet once we got into the car. Driving was more difficult because we weren't familiar and you had to drive slow because of all of the water and the visibility was low. Anyways, once we got past downtown Atlanta the storm basically cleared and the trip continued on smoothly. We watched the other two movies once we'd gotten home and they both were not enjoyable. Disappointment there but that's ok....you choose some good ones & you choose some bad ones. :)

Day 211

Friday!! Work went well, though was tiring. I got home and mom suggested that I could try to take pictures of bubbles! So we went outside and she blew bubbles and I tried photographing them. WARNING TO ALL PHOTOGRAPHERS. Unless there is some magical method to taking pictures of bubbles, I found it impossible. I didn't have enough time to focus on a bubble before it either blew away or popped. We tried multiple times and nothing really turned out like I wanted. Bummer. At least we tried, thanks Mom. :) I did end up just taking a picture of a flower growing outside and I really liked how it turned out so I used it as my photo-of-the-day. That evening, we bid adieu to Caleb as he headed off to Hilton Head with two of his friends & one of those friend's family. He was excited about a last minute beach trip so I hope he has a good time! Dad rented some movies from Ingles and we heated up leftovers. We watched Our Family Wedding and it was pretty cute. It could've been made better but that's ok, it was an enjoyable evening! :)

Day 210

Thursday (July 29th) was a fun day. I went to work like normal and afterwards, I dropped by Gayle-Anne's place in Macon and we were off to Amphora Pottery Studio to paint some pottery! I love amphora, I have gone for a few years now and I love it more each time I go. I took some high school friends once but I don't think they really enjoyed that sort of thing so I was so happy that Gayle-Anne was excited to go and had as much fun as I did while we were painting. We walked around the walls of the store trying to figure out what to paint (there are so many interesting possibilities). Gayle-Anne chose an extra large mug and I chose a large fancy letter "H". We had to choose colors next and I chose solid white for the background then about 5 or 6 bright colors to put polka dots all over the "H". Gayle-Anne painted her mug purple with a white design on the outside and then painted the inside really cute: she wrote "time to make more coffee" on the bottom, painted a ring of white to represent sugar & wrote sugar on that layer, then she chose a brown-ish white to represent creamer, and then a light brown to show the coffee. So we painted for probably about two hours and talked about everything under the sun, as is the norm for most girls. :) It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go back with more friends from school! :)