The first weekend in October I went to visit my friends Abi, Vanessa and Grant in Wichita, KS. It was an awesome weekend to be away from school and spend quality time with good friends. It was a busy weekend enjoying new restaurants, as well as old (I miss Jimmy Johns). There was Woofstock - a fun dog festival and fundraiser for the Humane Society.
Abi and her dog Truman
Vanessa and Grant try to control spazzy DakotaWe also spent time shopping. I was very excited to go to SuperTarget as it reminds me so much of home and we don't have one in Waco (just weird Target Greatland). We went to Panera and enjoyed breakfast including hazelnut coffee - yum! Donald Miller was in town so we went to hear him speak and rep his new book - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. We helped out at the event by passing out registration cards so we each got a free copy of the book! It's now on my Christmas Break reading list.
Abi and I waiting to hear Donald Miller speak. She's pretty intense about it.
Wichita was great and it was so nice to have a break before midterms. Midterms....ugh. Those were not so fun. After two midterms, 35+ pages of paper writing, hours and hours spent in the library, and probably about 5 gallons of coffee, I have now made it through the halfway point! There is still a lot of work left to do, but I have a little bit of breathing room again.
The weekend after midterms was Homecoming. Let me tell you, people love homecoming round here. Friday night I went to the bonfire with my friend Amy and her family. It was the biggest bonfire I've ever seen - accompanied by the marching band and the burning of an Oklahoma State Cowboy (not a real one). We also caught a performance of the Pigskin Revue that night.
Let me see if I can adequately describe Pigskin....to start you must know that sorority and fraternity's are a pretty big deal around here. They don't have actual houses, but most of the undergrads are part of one and they are very active volunteering and planning other activities. I'm still learning about what it looks like to be in one. Luckily, as a grad student I don't have to deal with any of this :) Anyway, in February there is a BIG competition between the various sororities and fraternities called SING! Basically what happens is that they have 6 weeks to prepare a complete song and dance routine where they combine various songs to fit a theme/storyline. They pick the songs and costumes a year in advance and then start painting a full stage backdrop, but they can't start practicing until Spring semester begins in January. Most routines involve at least 30 peoples, and sometimes 2-3 times that many, so these are big productions. They compete in February, and then the top 8 acts get to perform at Homecoming in the Pigskin Revue. They were pretty amazing. My favorite was done by a fraternity and it told the story of a boy who dreams about being a super hero. It was hilarious!
The next morning I met up with Amy and her family again and we watched the homecoming parade. Their dog Mosquitoe came along so it was great to have a doggy friend around. I miss all my dogs back home! The parade was fun but it was definitely an early morning after being out late at Pigskin the night before. I didn't take pictures of this but I'm tagged in some on facebook, so you can check them out there.
I didn't go to the homecoming game, because well it was a busy weekend and most of you know I'm not a big football fan. That evening my friend Rachel hosted a fabulous dinner party. She went all out. I showed up early to help and she immediately put me to work making custom napkin rings out of gold molding putty which we sculpted into beads and baked. Dinner was an awesome pumpkin bisque, biscotti, sauteed green beans and pears, caramelized onions, and pork loin with a fruit compote. Dessert was an excellent pumpkin bundt cake with caramel and butter rum drizzle. The whole evening was just a really good time with some new friends and amazing food. Sorry...no pictures.
This past weekend was Halloween. Friday night Amy and I went to Fright Night, a local haunted house hosted by a Baylor sorority and fraternity (I can't tell you which ones). I was in a group with Amy and three other Baylor girls. They were so scared! The entire time just screaming hysterically. I'm not going to lie - I laughed pretty hard. I don't know, I guess I just don't find ridiculous things like that very scary. It was fun though. Afterward we got to eat smores and drink hot chocolate. The whole thing was a fundraiser for Younglife, which I am now a new volunteer for.
I just got involved with Younglife a few weeks ago and am still in the process of figuring out what I'll be doing and where. I've gone to a couple of meetings and am very excited to get involved working with high school kids again. I'll let you know more about that as it develops.
Ok, so you may notice some additional info off to the right side of my blog. I've decided to use this as a platform, along with my fb profile, to promote causes that I care about. Currently, I am writing a paper about a woman who is a survivor of human trafficking in which she found herself held captive as a sex slave. Read more about her here:
Abi and I waiting to hear Donald Miller speak. She's pretty intense about it.Wichita was great and it was so nice to have a break before midterms. Midterms....ugh. Those were not so fun. After two midterms, 35+ pages of paper writing, hours and hours spent in the library, and probably about 5 gallons of coffee, I have now made it through the halfway point! There is still a lot of work left to do, but I have a little bit of breathing room again.
The weekend after midterms was Homecoming. Let me tell you, people love homecoming round here. Friday night I went to the bonfire with my friend Amy and her family. It was the biggest bonfire I've ever seen - accompanied by the marching band and the burning of an Oklahoma State Cowboy (not a real one). We also caught a performance of the Pigskin Revue that night.
Let me see if I can adequately describe Pigskin....to start you must know that sorority and fraternity's are a pretty big deal around here. They don't have actual houses, but most of the undergrads are part of one and they are very active volunteering and planning other activities. I'm still learning about what it looks like to be in one. Luckily, as a grad student I don't have to deal with any of this :) Anyway, in February there is a BIG competition between the various sororities and fraternities called SING! Basically what happens is that they have 6 weeks to prepare a complete song and dance routine where they combine various songs to fit a theme/storyline. They pick the songs and costumes a year in advance and then start painting a full stage backdrop, but they can't start practicing until Spring semester begins in January. Most routines involve at least 30 peoples, and sometimes 2-3 times that many, so these are big productions. They compete in February, and then the top 8 acts get to perform at Homecoming in the Pigskin Revue. They were pretty amazing. My favorite was done by a fraternity and it told the story of a boy who dreams about being a super hero. It was hilarious!
The next morning I met up with Amy and her family again and we watched the homecoming parade. Their dog Mosquitoe came along so it was great to have a doggy friend around. I miss all my dogs back home! The parade was fun but it was definitely an early morning after being out late at Pigskin the night before. I didn't take pictures of this but I'm tagged in some on facebook, so you can check them out there.
I didn't go to the homecoming game, because well it was a busy weekend and most of you know I'm not a big football fan. That evening my friend Rachel hosted a fabulous dinner party. She went all out. I showed up early to help and she immediately put me to work making custom napkin rings out of gold molding putty which we sculpted into beads and baked. Dinner was an awesome pumpkin bisque, biscotti, sauteed green beans and pears, caramelized onions, and pork loin with a fruit compote. Dessert was an excellent pumpkin bundt cake with caramel and butter rum drizzle. The whole evening was just a really good time with some new friends and amazing food. Sorry...no pictures.
This past weekend was Halloween. Friday night Amy and I went to Fright Night, a local haunted house hosted by a Baylor sorority and fraternity (I can't tell you which ones). I was in a group with Amy and three other Baylor girls. They were so scared! The entire time just screaming hysterically. I'm not going to lie - I laughed pretty hard. I don't know, I guess I just don't find ridiculous things like that very scary. It was fun though. Afterward we got to eat smores and drink hot chocolate. The whole thing was a fundraiser for Younglife, which I am now a new volunteer for.
I just got involved with Younglife a few weeks ago and am still in the process of figuring out what I'll be doing and where. I've gone to a couple of meetings and am very excited to get involved working with high school kids again. I'll let you know more about that as it develops.
Ok, so you may notice some additional info off to the right side of my blog. I've decided to use this as a platform, along with my fb profile, to promote causes that I care about. Currently, I am writing a paper about a woman who is a survivor of human trafficking in which she found herself held captive as a sex slave. Read more about her here:
4 comments:
It's good to have you back.
i would like to see you! let's plan some time in while you are home. :o)
When does the next one come out? You can't be that busy? Are you going to be making a drive north for Thankswintermas?
Update fail!
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