"Yesterday was Tuesday, but Today is Tuesday too!"

I promised y'all yesterday that I would post about school and probably life. I really am sorry that I haven't posted in a while. I got slammed with 4 research papers and reading. Lots and lots of reading. It was horrible. But now finals are upon me and communication will dwindle from this end. But here is a recap of the past few weeks:

I was home this past week for Thanksgiving. I may or may not have seen you, if not then I apologize. But like I tell everyone, I'll be home again in nine days and I'll be home for a month. There's going to be plenty of time to see me. Anyways I was home and it was glorious. Literally sleeping in my own bed and not having to wear shoes while showering was life changing, seriously. I really did miss my bed and actually being able to fall asleep and not lay in bed for an hour pondering the purpose of life. But I also enjoyed seeing my family and friends. 

I spent Thanksgiving with my family which was really nice. I was beyond thrilled to eat a home cooked meal. I also saw most of my friends. I had a bowling party with my friends from Savers and it was a blast. I also went ice-skating and shopping with my cousins, which was fun. I did in fact go Black Friday shopping. Actually I shopped Thanksgiving night, so yes I am one of those horrible people who shopped, but as a college student, how can you not pass up such great deals? And I did get to chill at home, which was the best part. 

I realize that my last post was about the CMAs I think, so I will recap what's happened since then in a short tidbit. I got to interview country singer Josh Turner. That basically made my life. He spoke at Belmont about his new book and so I got to interview him for the Vision. He was such a sweetheart, like seriously I don't think I have ever met a nicer guy. So that was beyond cool. But other than that, I've just been getting all my homework done and working. Basketball season started so I've worked a few games. It's been fun. I literally get a front row seat and am getting paid at the same time. It really is a win-win for everybody. But honestly that's it.

Currently I am watching the Blackhawks vs. Blues game and it is majestic. I seriously miss being able to watch the Hawks and thank the Lord NBC Sports has a live stream online which is free. One of my favorite words! I'll probably do some more studying this evening once the game is over....GOAL!!!!! YES Versteeg!!!!! Okay sorry y'all, back to my post...ANOTHER GOAL!!!! YES KANER!!!!

Like I said, finals start this week, so may the odds be ever in my favor. I'm hoping they all go well, I'm sure they will, but one can only hope so much! And then like I said, I'll be home in six days. I'm already excited to be back. There really is no place like home! 

P.S. I have decided to title my posts as Supernatural quotes from now on as long as they work with what I wrote. And since yesterday was Tuesday, well this one works :)

"Don't make me get my gun boy"

A while back, I wrote a post about my Supernatural scarf with it's devils traps and angel symbols and how some old lady gave me a hard time about it. I wear it quite frequently actually, with no shame whatsoever. But today was different. 

I wore it to Harris Teeter (a grocery store-equivalent to Jewel). I was minding my own business, standing in line ready to check out, when a girl of about 10 years old told me she liked my scarf. I said thanks and went back to listening to my music. But her mother gave me this horrified look like I worship Satan or something and pulled her away and moved to another line. Now normally I could care less about something like this, but seriously was it necessary to move your child away from me? I think not. Even if I did worship Satan, which I do not, it's not like I'd try summoning him while at the grocery store. It just really pissed me off that she overdramatized the whole situation. Like good god you're child complimented me. Get. Over. It. 

Sorry for the rant, but my point is we shouldn't automatically judge people. So I wear a scarf based on a TV show that is like my life. I'm also a college student, and we're crazy as it is. Don't judge someone without knowing their story. That lady didn't know that Supernatural has affected my life so much. She doesn't know that because of the show, I found solace after my grandpa's death because I read Jim Beaver's book, Life's That Way and related to his situation. She doesn't know that Jensen Ackles made me cry after watching him tear up when a fan said he was Oscar-worthy. She doesn't know that Jared Padalecki's smile makes me die inside. She doesn't know that the Supernatural fandom is like my second family. She knows none of this. She made an assumption. And as a society we need to stop doing that.  

I'm tired of being judged. So I wear a devil trap/angel symbol emblazoned scarf. How does that affect YOUR life? Oh that's right, it doesn't. 

So I may not be the ideal weight by society's standards or my doctors, but does that affect you? NO! 

I dye my hair. Does that affect you? Nope.

I don't wear fancy clothes like GAP or Abercrombie or Hollister or whatever the hell is popular these days. Does that affect you? Oh no you say. Shocking. 

I am sick of society's standards for women and men. We're not all going to weigh 120 pounds, have blonde hair, blue eyes, a dazzling, white smile, or even have the perfect house with an expensive car. My god we are all going to be different. You wanna know why? Because that's the way God created us. And if you don't want to read about God or religion, than see-ya! Nice knowing ya. But seriously, God doesn't want all of us to be the same. That's why we're all different. He wants us to not conform to society. Screw it. I sure as hell am not going to conform to society's standards. 

I will eat real food, wear a t-shirt and jeans with my devils trap emblazoned scarf of course and continue watching Supernatural and listen to country music. I will continue to be myself. The one that God created. 

I do apologize for the rant, but I'm being serious guys. I am sick of people judging one another. Be nice to each other. You never know someone's back story. A smile or kind gesture could make their entire day, not some snarky remark about being a Satan worshiper, which I am not, obviously. 

I will leave you all with this for the night. Peace. 

P.S. The title is a quote from Supernatural spoken by the one and only Bobby Singer. It seemed fitting since I talked about Supernatural and well I won't explain the rest. 

Carry on My Wayward Son

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter, then you know that I am a fan of the TV show Supernatural. Let me rephrase that, I am a member of the Supernatural fandom and have pretty much dedicated my life to this show. I'll give you the backstory of how I got into it and why I'm even blogging about it. 

Two, quite possibly three years ago in January my best friend Kelley asked if I had heard of a show, Supernatural. I said that it sounded vaguely familiar but I had never seen an episode. She told me that I had to start watching. So naturally I started watching it on Netflix. And my god was that the day my life changed forever. I don't know if any of y'all watch the show, but the phrase that starts one's obsession is "Dad went on a hunting trip and he hasn't been back in a few days," said by the ever-so-sexy Dean Winchester played by Jensen Ackles to his brother Sam, played by the even-sexier Jared Padalecki. Both men hail from the great state of Texas just as an FYI. Hook em' horns! But the line is infamous in the Supernatural community. That's what got me hooked. I should give y'all a quick summary of the show:

Sam and Dean are brothers. Their father, John, who is the world's biggest asshole is a hunter. And no not a camo-wearing-mud-slinging-pickup-truck hunter. He hunts monsters, demons, ghosts, pretty much any 'supernatural' creature. Sam and Dean follow in his footsteps. So their mom burned on a ceiling when Sam was 6 months old and they finally hunt down the demon who was responsible and kill him. Then there's this whole Heaven vs. Hell theme and basically Sam is Lucifer's vessel and it's complicated. Their half brother Adam has been in 'the cage' aka Hell for 1664 days and the fandom is obsessed with getting him out. Currently Dean has the Mark of Cain and it's complicated. There's demons, angels, salt, burning, demon traps, and a black 67' Chevy Impala. But it's such a damn good show.

Now you may be wondering to yourself, "why the heck is she explaining this show to us? it seems horrible!" But trust me, it's not. It's probably the greatest show I have ever watched. And why you may ask. Because it's centered on family, loyalty, life, death, resurrection, and most importantly, redemption. Jim Beaver's character Bobby says in an episode, "Blood don't end with family boy." And he's sure as hell right. Blood doesn't always mean you're family. You can have friends that you consider family or blood related family members who you don't consider family. It could go either way. But my point is, life lessons are taught in this show. The Winchester boys taught me to never give up even when I want too, family is the most important thing, don't be ashamed of who you are, and always salt and burn the body after murder...(I'm joking about the last one...). But seriously Sam and Dean are just simply amazing. The show has literally saved lives. It's brought people together to create the biggest fandom. Misha Collins who plays an angel, Cas, refers to us (the fandom) as a cult. And sadly it's true. We're pretty dedicated. 

Fan dedication may scare some actors who portray fictional characters, but Jared and Jensen embrace it. When reporters try to get them to bash us, they'll defend us. And they should. We've kept them on TV for 10 years. But in all seriousness they appreciate their fans more than any other actors out there. And I really am not being biased here. I'm simply being honest. But why does this all matter? Why am I blogging about this when I should probably be studying for finals? 

Because this show and these actors changed my life. It may sound silly or dumb, but I'm being serious. I don't know how to describe it, but seriously they changed my life. I am a member of the greatest fandom of all time, and I spend all of my free time blogging on Tumblr about Supernatural. Sam and Dean showed me that your life is worth living and making every day count. Supernatural is literally one of the most important things in my life, behind my family, friends, and the big man upstairs. I'm writing this because I don't want to feel judged when I talk about the show or actors or characters. I know this show like the back of my hand, so excuse me if I want to talk about it. Sam and Dean Winchester, Bobby Singer, and Cas saved me. They gave me hope. 

So I will continue to wear my devil trap emblazoned scarf with pride. When my Supernatural 'hobo bag' arrives, I will use that with pride. People laugh and joke that TV shows can't change lives.

I beg to differ.  

CMA Night

Many, well most of you know that I am a HUGE country music fan. I live and breathe it. It's my addiction. Any of y'all who also share my passion know that the CMA's are like the Oscars essentially to country music. It's the one night were country goes glam! The show is a pretty big deal and it's held every year right here in Nashville at the Bridgestone Arena! 

About a month ago my professor Dorren told my friends and I how to get in for free. All we had to do was look for the guys handing out wristbands.

Finally the big day arrived, for those of you who don't know, it was Wednesday night. My friends Jade & Jacquie went with me. All three of us dressed super nice. I wore a dress and heels. For those of you who know me, I hate dresses. But hey it's the CMAs, I can't really wear jeans to such a prestigious event. Anyways around 4:45 we got a Lyft and headed downtown. When we got to the arena, there were already roughly 20 people standing in line to get free tickets. We got in line and waited. A few times I literally ran down Broadway in heels and a dress to search for the man with wristbands. Tragically I couldn't find him. I did find one of Dierks Bentley's people and tried to persuade him to let us in, but that was a no-go. I ran back to the line and we waited. 

We waited for roughly 3 hours in the rain. Finally two women appeared and handed out tickets! Jacquie grabbed them and off we ran to the doors! When we got inside, there were tables filled with stacks of commemorative books. Naturally I grabbed three. I also grabbed 3 copies of the special edition People Magazine. But Florida Georgia Line was on the cover, so I had to grab more! While we walked to our section (114), Jason Aldean was performing his single, Burnin' it Down. And yes I sang along the entire time. We found our section and had to wait behind this curtain until the next commercial break. Before that happened, Little Big Town performed with Ariana Grande. LBT was really good, I sang along to them. When Ariana hit the stage, I about vomited. I cannot stand her. But that's for a different blog post. Once they finished we were able to head to our seats. And our seats were amazing! 

They were to the left of the stage and like 10 rows up. As soon as I sat down, I immediately began looking for all the stars. And there they were like 50-100 feet from me. I obviously spotted Tim & Faith, Keith & Nicole, Mike Fisher, Dierks, Florida Georgia Line, Vince Gill, Lady Antebellum, and others. But then sitting like 50 feet from me was none other than Billy Currington. Guys I almost died. Then it got better. I noticed a strikingly handsome gentleman in front of Lady A. He had glasses on and I knew he looked familiar. I just couldn't figure out who it was. Then it hit me. Guys, it was Tim Tebow. I sat under the same roof as Tim freaking Tebow. He was like 100 feet from me. I almost had a heart attack. 

But seriously the awards were so much fun! Seeing Luke, Dierks, Tim, Carrie, Brad, and others perform was amazing. You'll watch the show on TV and think that it's cool, but being there is just a whole other ballgame. During commercial breaks everyone gets up and talks with each other and they take pictures together and hug one another and it's just fun to watch! When Vince Gill won the Irving Waugh Excellence Award, I will admit that I teared up when he teared up. The emotions were high at that point. I also teared up when Luke won his first ever CMA which was the night's top honor, Entertainer of the Year. I am a huge fan of Luke's so I was rooting for him all along.

Truly it was a magical night. After the show was over, we waited out in the lobby for a bit. While I was standing there, Frankie Ballard walked by. He's an up and coming country singer. I chased him down and asked him for a picture! He was super sweet about it! 
Finally we headed out, but not before I grabbed more copies of People Magazine! We went outside onto Broadway and it was popping! Little Big Town was performing at Rippy's Bar and across the street Carl Black Chevy dealership was throwing a VIP After Party. We saw Big & Rich perforn from outside and then Lee Brice sang! 

Around 11 p.m. we grabbed a Lyft and headed back to campus. But first we made a pit-stop through Wendy's Drive-Thru since none of us had eaten all night. Finally we made it back to campus and that was the end of CMA night! It truly was a spectacular evening and I'm so glad I was able to spend it with two amazing friends! 

These are the moments when I know that I picked the right university! 

Late Night Blog Session #1

I'm titling this "Late Night Blog Session #1" to forewarn y'all, that there will be plenty more late night blogging in the future. 

It is currently 1:04 A.M. as I type this. I know what most of you are thinking, Katelyn you should be asleep! And yes, you are correct. I should be asleep. But I've discovered that I am most productive late at night. Strange I know, but I think it's very true. During the day I get super distracted, mainly by my laptop. I mean it's hard to not get distracted by my MacBook. I log on to work on an essay or check Blackboard, but I wind up on Tumblr, Facebook, Netflix, Gmail, and the list goes on. I can dwindle the hours away on social media sites. It's terrible, I know. But it's quite addicting. Have you ever binge-watched a TV series on Netflix? If not, well then where are your priorities? Just kidding. But seriously, try it one Saturday afternoon. It's almost like a spiritual experience. 

Well another week of college has gone by, and I shall fill you all in. Not much happened this past week. Although there was one exciting moment! I've probably mentioned it, I don't remember, but I have been attending Belmont Vision meetings. Which is Belmont's newspaper, it's all online which still amazes me. I really miss the feel of a newspaper and deadline week, but I guess I can go buy a copy of the Tennessean and I don't need that extra stress in my life. Anyways, that article on the professor who worked with Death Row inmates was published on Tuesday!  Here's the article! Read it if you want or don't, whatever floats your boat. I'm still doing well in all of my classes. It was another week, where every professor decided to load on the work, so the next few weeks shall be fun. But I guess it keeps me busy and what not, so I shouldn't complain. It would just be really nice if I didn't have so many research papers to write or books to read in a short amount of time. But hey that's college, right? I also explored a bit more this past week. I guess it's not really exploring, but I walked down to 21st Avenue which is like 4-5 blocks and went to the Dunkin Donuts by Vandy (Vanderbilt). All I will say is, those students are pretentious and need to have a class in manners. But that's all I will say. After I got my coffee, I walked down 21st and went to Harris Teeter which is a grocery store. I just wanted to look around and see if they had any good sales. Sadly they didn't. But that's really about it for this past week. If I think of anything, I'll write about it in my next post. 

I did watch the newest episode of Sons, and let me tell you, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I won't spoil anything, but if you haven't seen this episode, where are your priorities? Anyways, the final scene made me bawl my eyes out. Seriously, I thought I was going to die. My heart ached and I couldn't stop crying. Once I was calm, I called my mom so we could dissect the episode and she reassured me that all is good, for now at least. That's the problem with certain websites, they don't show you the preview for next week so you assume people died but in reality they're still alive. So thank god I called my mom. This upcoming episode will probably send me to therapy though. It looks intense! Darn you Kurt Sutter. 

Tomorrow the Titans play the Texans. I am crying on the inside. JJ Watt will be 3.5 miles away from me. Yes only 3.5 miles, and I won't be there. Let's have a moment of silence for this tragic occurrence. But really I guess it is for the best. I don't have a problem buying a ticket, I mean JJ is worth it but risking my safety isn't. I don't want to take the bus. I don't feel super comfortable taking it into downtown and then having to switch buses and figure that whole mess out. And I refuse to pay an arm and a leg for Uber or Lyft. They can both kiss my butt. They claim to be cheaper than taxis, but I'm pretty sure a taxi would be cheaper. But anyways, I am a semi-broke college student who shouldn't be spending money on a Texans ticket. Please forgive me JJ. 

Well that's about it guys. If I think of anything more exciting, I will for sure let y'all know. Oh yes I did think of something. I applied to be a Bruin Recruiter this past week and I heard back and I made it to the interview process! Basically Bruin Recruiters show prospective students around campus, answer their questions, and encourage them to attend Belmont. I really, really, really want this, so please just keep me in your prayers! Or hum for me, whatever works for you! Thanks guys!

Peace! <3

Writing and Reading are Good for the Soul

"Love is easy, and I love writing. You can't resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you're in love." ~ Ray Bradbury 

I love this quote. It speaks to me on a spiritual level. I'm currently a Journalism major and I plan on spending the rest of my life writing. Hopefully about sports, but it's also been a dream of mine to publish a novel someday. I love writing. I also love reading. I find them both to be therapeutic. There's just something about writing down your feelings or a scene you imagine in your head and making them come to life. I have this problem where I write random paragraphs about random things. And I have to edit and perfect them. Then I feel like they go to waste because I never add anything else to them. They're just lonesome paragraphs on random pieces of paper, strewn about my desk. But writing is extremely therapeutic. I find that I get lost while typing and realize that hours will go by and all I've done is just write. 

The same goes for reading. If I find a really good book, and I mean a truly spectacular book, I can read it in two days tops. It's just a passion of mine. Throughout my time spent in public education i.e. kindergarten through high school, I always excelled in reading tests. I always had an above average score, which I do like to brag about because like I said, reading is a passion of mine. I can always find comfort in a book or relate to a certain character. I agonize and sympathize with them, even though Nabokov stated that one should never connect with book characters. But books are just amazing. There's so many out there, it actually depresses me that I will never read every published book. Yes I know that's nerdy, but I like books. They get me, and I get them. I can get lost in books. 

A few posts ago, I mentioned one of my favorite books, Life's That Way, by Jim Beaver. Jim is a well known actor. You may not notice his name, but I'm sure if you saw a picture of him, you'd recognize him. He was in the TV series Deadwood and has guest starred in various shows i.e. NCIS, Major Crimes, Justified, etc. But I know him as Bobby Singer from Supernatural (one of my favorite TV shows). Anyways, Life's That Way, is a memoir on his wife Cecily Adams diagnosis with cancer and the struggles and what not. I mentioned in that post that y'all should read this book. I do highly recommend it. And I don't recommend books often. Strange I know seeing as how I love books, but this one hit home. I read it right after my grandpa passed away from cancer and I found solace in reading it. I could relate to Jim's emotions and struggles. This book truly affected me in such a profound way. It's been almost 10 months since I read it, in two days nonetheless, and I still think of it often. I don't know how to describe it, but I think it says a lot about the book and author if said book stays with you. I don't really know why I'm sharing this really. It may be due to my sleep deprivation and the urge to blog, but really if you get the chance, read Life's That Way. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll hold on to those you love a lil' more tightly.  

Back to writing though. There's another quote about writing that I simply adore, mainly due to it's truthfulness. "A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people," ~ Thomas Mann. I've struggled with my writing. I always thought that I was a good writer, until I took AP Lang my junior year of high school. My teacher, Mr. Turnbaugh was a tough grader. But it pushed me to try harder and go outside of my comfort zone. I worked really hard that year, and my writing improved tremendously. Fast forward to senior year when I took AP Literature. I thought Lang was hard, it has nothing on Lit. I was pushed WAY beyond my limits in that class. At the time, I hated it. My papers were always returned with a lower than expected grade and there were times where yes, I cried. At home of course because I was so stressed. But then I began to realize that Captain Oz was helping me and pushing me to succeed. And succeed I did. My writing keeps improving and I'm really proud of that. 

Currently I am in the process of writing a FanFic. For those of you who have no idea what that is, Urban Dictionary defines fan fiction as: when someone takes either the story or characters (or both) of a certain piece of work, whether it be a novel, tv show, movie, etc, and create their own story based on it. And that's a pretty accurate definition. Most people write fanfics for their own pleasure...if you catch my drift. Mine's not like that. It's based on Sons of Anarchy and inspiration I had for an actual book. I'll tell you the story of how it all came to be a fanfic. For my first year writing class, we have 10-minute free writes about random words, quotes, etc. So one day the topic was anything. So I wrote a few paragraphs and got inspired to write a novel of sorts based on them. I was actually re-watching Sons while typing away, and decided to turn it into a fanfic based on Tig. He's my favorite, even though he's messed up, those of you who watch it know what I'm talking about. But it all just came together so I've been writing it as a fanfic ever since. I'm 22 pages in, the longest of anything I have ever written, besides that 16 page paper on stem cell research junior year of high school. If I ever want to publish it, I'll have to change the names and locations, but it's always a possibility. Y'all can ask to read it, but you'll be denied. For now that is. I'll admit there are parts that are not appropriate, but you Sons fans know how inappropriate that show is. 

I really don't know why I shared this knowledge with you all. Probably because I'm tired and felt the urge to write, and maybe brag a little. But I wanted to use an example of how I get lost in writing and reading. I literally go back and read it from the beginning and get lost in the imagery and raw, physical emotion. Even while writing, I'll get lost and realize that I spent hours just typing away and editing parts of it until I think it's perfect. It's a newfound love of mine. 

This post has nothing really to do with college, so sorry if you were expecting a post on school or something of that nature. But I just wanted to talk to y'all about something not related to college. I want y'all to know the real me. That's another reason I started this blog. I want everyone to see the real me. The me at random hours of the day. The me who can ramble on about books and writing. The me who gets distracted and rambled throughout this post. The loud, lovable, (full-on) crazy me. I will be honest in my posts, and if you can't handle that, well then I'm sure there's other blogs out there that cater to your desires. Because this blog is all truth and crazy. Peace out y'all. 

Home is Where the Heart is

I was always taught in AP Literature to never use a cliche in my essays. But this isn't AP lit and I couldn't come up with a better title due to lack of sleep, so I'll have to deal with it. The majority of y'all know that I went home this past weekend to good ole Carol Stream, and my God did I realize just how much I missed it. 

After a lengthy wait at the airport, I finally made it to Portillo's! And was it delicious. I probably ate that hot dog in like 30 seconds, no lie. Partially because I was starving, but Portillo's is just heaven in your mouth. After Portillo's, I finally got to go HOME! And boy did it feel amazing to walk through the front door and be greeted by Sparky (my dog) and just crash on the couch and do nothing. I really can't describe how it feels to come home after being gone for awhile. I guess it's something you have to experience to be able to understand what I'm talking about. But anyways it was a good first night back. But then when I got to sleep in my bed, oh my god it was like sleeping on a cloud. I miss it so much. Saturday morning, my parents and I went to breakfast and harassed Kyle at work. Later on, I went to Savers and saw a bunch of my friends. It was awesome to see them all! After that, I went to Sonny Acres and surprised my best friend Kelley! And boy was she surprised! It was pretty awesome to see her! Sunday, I went to church and saw all my friends and everyone. Monday, my mom and I spent the day together, shopping and what not. I also stopped by her work to see everyone! Then I went back to Savers to see even more of my friends! That night, my family went to Giordano's and had the best pizza! Let me tell you the struggle of living in the Chicago area for 18 years where pizza is a staple food, and then you move and nobody understands the importance of good pizza. Tuesday I just chilled at home and packed, and then that afternoon, my parents took me back to the airport. It was bittersweet to say goodbye, but hey I'll be back next month! That's my four day weekend in a nutshell! It's hard to explain everything in a blog post, partially because I can't remember everything I did, and because it really was just awesome to be home. I'm looking forward to coming back next month and seeing everyone again and people I didn't get to see this past time, that's directed at you Pastor Craig!(: But it was a good weekend. 

It's been a good week at school. Nothing major has happened. I'm still learning new things every day. I just got back from the volleyball game! I had fun, even though they lost. My parents will be happy that I got out of my room and away from Netflix for one night! Oh but I shall share this funny story with y'all!

So when I was home, my mom bought me a Supernatural blanket and scarf! Sam, Dean, & Cas are on the blanket and it's pretty freaking fabulous if you ask me. As for the scarf, well that's another story. It's black, and in white there's anti-possession symbols, some other symbols pertaining to the show, and devils traps. Now the devils traps have a pentagram in them but there's other symbols around it. It's just a Supernatural thing. So anyways, my mom was kinda nervous about me wearing it at school and getting in trouble and what not. So I wore it yesterday, and there were no problems. No one cared. Today however, I went to Kroger to buy some stuff. As I was walking around, I notice an elderly woman a few feet in front of me, headed towards me. And she had this look in her eye and immediately I knew she was headed for me. She approaches me with this shocked expression and asks me why I'm wearing pentagrams around my neck. Now I could have done the easy thing and explained that it's from a TV show, but no, I had to be a jackass. I proceed to reassure her that they are not pentagrams but in fact devils traps, anti-possession symbols, and various other symbols. Needless to say, she looked horrified. So she reaches into her purse and pulls out one of those Ask-Jesus type booklet and handed it to me as she told me there were numbers in there that I could call and get help. She then said that she would pray for me. Now like I said, I could've said it's from a TV show and I'm a Christian and I'm just uber-obsessed with Supernatural. I probably should have done that, so she could save the booklet for someone who could really use it. But it truthfully made my day. Anyways I just thought that was one of those priceless moments that don't happen often. 

So tomorrow I am volunteering at a women's shelter with some girls from my dorm. I'm really looking forward to it! I think it's a neat opportunity to help give back to the community! But that's about it on this side folks. I did receive some nice letters and cards this week! Y'all should send me some letters, or even better, free stuff in a care package! 

ONE. MORE. DAY.

Y'all can probably guess by the title of this post, BUT if you can't, let me help ya. One more day till I am home! I know, I know you guys are just as excited as me! But seriously I am super stoked to be back for four days. 
It's funny, when I was preparing to leave the 630 for the 615, I was excited beyond hell to get out of there and start a new chapter. Truthfully I still am. I'm having the time of my life at college. But I also miss home, like home itself. There's no way in Hell that I miss that treacherous state of Illinois, but I miss the people and the food, definitely miss the food...With that being said, I cannot wait to get a hot dog from Portillo's tomorrow once I get home! The food isn't that bad here, I mean we have a Chick-Fil-A on campus, how awesome is that!?!?! But it's definitely not Chicago style pizza or hot dogs served in the Caf. Heck it's not even a good-old fashioned home cooked meal. But I guess I'll take what I can get. 
Aside from my apparent love of food, I'm super stoked to see my family and friends. I realized it will be pretty much two months to the day that I haven't seen any of my friends. And that's a long time to go without seeing them all. Sure you go to college to make new friends, but let me tell ya, it's not the same. My friends Kelley and Jocelyn have known me for 15 years! Yes 15 years, that's a really long time to be friends with someone if you ask me. And their like the sisters I never had. So it sucks being far from them. And all of my friends I made at Savers and church, I miss you all! And am so excited to see you all! And obviously I'm way beyond excited to see my parents and Kyle. It's been almost two months since I've seen them, and I do miss them. After living with them for 18 years, it's still weird not seeing them every day or fighting with Kyle over something stupid. So I will say it again, I am super stoked to see my friends and family. And to go to church on Sunday at Medinah because I have missed everyone there as well! :) 
I'm also pumped to have four days off to relax and just chill. Truthfully I will probably be spending a lot of time catching up on all my TV shows like Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., but most importantly Sons of Anarchy. Yes I watch it, and no I'm not ashamed of it. And no my parents aren't horrible parents because I watch it. I am 18 years old and an adult, and they shouldn't be judged because of a TV show that I (emphasis on the I) watch. So if you want to judge them, be gone. This is a judgement free zone. It is not tolerated on my blog. If you wish to judge me or my parents, seriously get out. You're not wanted here. Anyways I have waited almost a month to get caught up with Jax and the gang, and I can guarantee that I will watch every episode of season 7 tomorrow evening, even if I have to stay up till 3 in the morning. And I will be fangirling hard, you have been warned! 
So that's that for my plans this weekend. But I do want to share a pretty awesome story with you all that I experienced this morning. I am writing for the Belmont Vision, which is the school's newspaper that is online, y'all should check it out sometime. It's pretty legit. I'll even be super nice and include the link right here: www.belmontvision.com
Anyways I am writing this article on a professor who spent 5 weeks this past summer teaching inmates on Death Row about Shakespeare. Which I think is super fascinating. She told me all about the experience, which was super interesting to hear about. Long story short she basically used some of Shakespeare's essays on mercy and similar topics and started a discussion with the inmates. She said that the unit she worked which is actually the calmest and non-violent unit in the state of Tennessee. But truthfully just hearing some stories about the inmates was honestly just super fascinating. I know I've said that, but it really was. I can't describe how honored I felt to listen to her describe her time with them. She also discussed how the prison and legal systems are flawed. Although the inmates on Death Row have committed some crazy, heinous acts to land themselves there, they are still humans regardless of how you see them. They deserve at least somewhat decent treatment and basic human rights. Inmates who aren't on Death Row and who will eventually rejoin society aren't given for lack of a better word, lessons on how exactly to rejoin society. After spending months or years in prison, they are thrusted back into society, sometimes with no clue of how to re-adapt. The whole system is just unique I guess in itself. But I truly did feel honored to listen on her experience. It opened me eyes. Oh and she also told me how the inmates collaborate with students on art projects. The inmates will start the projects and then the artwork itself is transmitted outside of the prison, since students are not allowed in there, and sent to the students. They then finish the artwork and it is sent back to the inmates to see, and then there's actually a gallery filled with all of the artwork. She showed me the website filled with pictures, and like the nice person I am, I will also include that link here as well if you desire to see some of the pieces. I must say, some of the artwork is phenomenal in my opinion. Here's the link: www.reachcoalition.wordpress.com So check it out if you want, or don't. It doesn't matter to me. But I just thought I'd say this story with y'all. I thought it was pretty fascinating. 
But that my friends is about it. Some good news, I got a B on my Intro to Audio & Video Production midterm, as well as on my Foundations of Journalism midterm. So I'm passing! WOOOOO!!!!! I actually have B's in both classes which is spectacular! I'm not sure about the other 3 classes, god forbid my professors actually enter grades on Blackboard. I'm assuming that I'm passing, since no one has told me otherwise...But for reals I am going to sign off. I need to finish packing and do some last minute things around here before I come home! 
So I shall see some of you in 24 hours, others of you 48, some 72, and others well I may not see. But there's always Thanksgiving to see everyone as well, just remember that folks! 

Dreams do Come True

Once again it's been awhile since I've posted guys, and I apologize for that but it's been hectic here in Music City. Last weekend my grandma and grandpa drove down for family weekend and it was great to see them. We had dinner that Thursday evening and Friday is when the real fun began. I had to cover the volleyball game for the school newspaper, so my grandparents came out to support Belmont and I sat on "press row." After a long 5 sets, we went back to my dorm. My grandpa built me a bookcase so I needed to get that into my room and then of course my grandma and her friends made me food so that needed to get put away. My grandpa also helped me un-loft my bed. If y'all read my last post, you know what happened that night and I'll give you a hint, Kliff Kingsbury :) So that was Friday night. 
After we finished our mini-project, we headed off to the Lakes' house. Pastor Lake and his wife Kristen are family friends and live near Nashville. My grandparents were staying with them, and I was invited to spend the weekend with them. It truly was a fun weekend. Saturday we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and roamed around downtown Nashville for a bit. Kris also took us to the Nashville Symphony house where we listened to some excellent music. We went back to their house and truly I cannot remember what we did...oh wait we did get Pizza Hut for dinner. I know all of my Chicago friends and family are shaking their heads because to us, Pizza Hut really isn't pizza. But that's the closest thing to real pizza down here and it was 7:30 at night and we were hungry. So we ate and watched some college football, and I think that's it. 
Sunday we went to church, which was actually quite nice. Then we went to lunch at this place called The Chop House and my god do they have good food. I got the chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and mac n' cheese and dear lord was it amazing. It was almost as good as a home cooked meal. But when you eat food at the Caf all day, any food outside of it is close to home cooked. Afterwards the women went to Wal Mart so I could get a few things before heading back to school. That afternoon, Kris and my grandma brought me back. It was kinda hard to say goodbye to my grandparents, but thankfully I'll see them next weekend! 
This past week wasn't too bad, except I'm sick. Again. I've had a cold all week and it's been terrible. Thankfully I get better every day, but as I type this, my congestion level is still high. I took another midterm for my Foundations of Journalism class. I didn't do too bad on part one, and I am waiting for the results of part two. But really school wise its been kind of boring around here. 
I'm trying to think if anything else happened this week that's noteworthy...I really do need to start blogging more often so I remember.
Oh but wait, I just remembered something! Sometime this week, I think it was Monday, I went down to Mail Services to retrieve a package from my mom. But when I got there, I was told that there were TWO packages for me and I got super excited because it means people are thinking about me and I get free stuff which is always good! :) I waited to open them when I got back to my room so I pretty much ran to my room to figure out who sent the mystery package. Much to my surprise, my Savers family sent it! They gave me my old tagging gun, some buttons, a pencil, some uniforms so I can go mess with the Goodwill employees....They also included notes, lots and lots of little notes. We have these white tags at Savers that are used to make bags, and so they wrote on them and put them all in a ringlet thing. 
I will say now and with no shame that I cried as I went through this package. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before but the Saint Charles Savers closed last month and it's just really heartbreaking. My co-workers are like my family and I love them all, well most of them ;) But the fact that they sent me this package means so much to me, like I can't describe how excited I was to go through it. 
So that's about it. I come home in 6 days which I am super pumped for. I'm really excited to finally catch up on all of my TV shows, but most of all to see my family and friends AND to sleep in my bed. And to finally get a home cooked meal. Now I'm going to go try and not have a heart attack as I watch this Texas Tech game. Seriously I want to punch Davis Webb in the face!!! 
OHMYGOSH I totally forgot the purpose of this post until I saw the title which made me realize why I started this in the first place. Sooooooo Tuesday night I got to cross an item off of my bucket list. I saw Rascal Flatts at the Grand Ole Opry! Literally I have wanted to see them play there for like ever and Tuesday night it happened and it was just as magical as I had envisioned. I was probably one of the youngest people there, seeing as how 98.9% of people there were 65 and older and tourists, my god were there tourists swarming everywhere. It was crazy. But the show was awesome. There were some opening acts like Bill Anderson (I think that's his name), Connie Smith, Marty Stuart, Jackie Lee, Easton Corbin, and Brett Eldredge who I am also in love with. Then at 8:45 the moment I waited years for finally happened. Rascal Flatts came on stage and performed Payback to start the show off. They then joked around especially about Joe Don because the night before his wife had their third baby! But they performed a few of their hits like My Wish and then had an acapella jam with their entire band which was stellar. Then Gary was like well thanks y'all for coming and then was like wait just kidding we're gonna do one more song. So there was this girl in the front row who had Down Syndrome and Gary shook her hand and talked with her. She asked them to sing Stand, and they did. Like without any problem, the band just started playing and they performed it. If you haven't heard the song, go YouTube it right now. This song is pure perfection. It definitely helped me change my life and get out of a rough patch I was going through. But I just think it's amazing that they would just listen to her and sing it and they're just gifts from God. Seriously Gary's voice is what I imagine Heaven will be like. But it truly was a fantastic evening. I'm counting down the days until I can see them again!
So this is truly it guys, I promise. Until next time, keep it real folks! 

Like I Can't Even Right Now.

Hello my dear readers! I do apologize for my absence in posts, but I have been quite busy with school and trying to catch up. It's been quite a week. I had three papers due, a midterm, a quiz, and the amount of reading assigned to me was almost sinful. But I managed to get everything done and I feel confident that I did well on my midterm, so that's all that matters. I do have some super exciting news though. And please ignore the title of this post, once you discover my awesome news, you'll understand why this title makes sense. 
I believe it was two posts ago where I had mentioned my love for Kliff Kingsbury and threw out the idea that I was going to write to him. 
Well I did. Literally right after I posted, I immediately began writing him a letter. And no it wasn't me declaring my love for him or anything of that nature. Although I did mention a wedding, but we'll get to that. So I shared a story with him about my grandpa Len. Last year was when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and I shared with Kliff how we would watch the Texas Tech football games at the nursing home and how much closer we got because of it. I also mentioned how I bought one of those, "Our Coach is Hotter than Yours," shirts which is my favorite shirt ever! And I said how I would joke with my grandpa about Kliff and I getting married and what not to lighten up the letter. I pretty much thanked him for bringing my grandpa and I closer in his final months. If you really want to see what exactly I wrote, I can email you a copy of the letter. 
Once I edited it and had my mom read it over and edit it, I printed it off like 6 different times. The first time it printed crooked, and then a few times there were ink spots and this had to be perfect. Then of course my signature wasn't perfect on one of the copies, so I had to print another one off. But it was work it. So I walked to mail services and had it mailed off. First I had to buy an envelope and of course the writing on there had to be perfect so it took me literal like 10 minutes to write out the address. The guy I handed it too was 1) happy & shocked that I knew how to properly address an envelope, apparently there are college students who don't know how to do that and 2) was intrigued on why it took me so long to address it. He jokingly asked if I was sending it to the president and I responded, "No my future husband." The look on his face was priceless. So that was sometime last week, perhaps the 20th I believe. 
I told myself I would give it two weeks for him to receive the letter and hear a response, and if I didn't hear back in two weeks, then I would lose all hope and probably cry myself to sleep for weeks. 
Friday night I was out with my grandparents and didm;t get back to my room until 8:30ish, but I will tell y'all that story in a separate post. So we get back to my room and my grandpa is going to help me un-loft my bed, so I needed to move things around. I was busy moving my shoes and some other stuff when I noticed a letter on my desk. Truthfully I didn't pay much attention to it because there was no return address, it was turned upside down, and my grandma was rushing me. So after 5 or so minutes, I needed to move my desk which meant paying more attention to the letter. I glanced at it and saw that post office mark over the stamp and saw it was sent from Lubbock, TX. That meant it was from one person, and one person only. I literally began to shake and freak out. My grandma was confused as to what was happening and my grandpa was still trying to work without me. So I literally began jumping up and down and screaming. I opened it, carefully of course, and saw the heading of the card and it read: Kliff Kingsbury. So naturally I began to cry because I was so happy and excited and I couldn't even at that moment. I knew I had to call my parents because they're really the only two who can relate to my excitement. And yes, they were super excited for me. My grandma had no clue who I was even talking about, so she didn't understand my level of happiness. She was more concerned with me helping my grandpa, but how am I supposed to move my bed when Kliff freaking Kingsbury wrote me a letter. Me, Kliff Kingsbury, a letter. Yes it's all true. Literally to try and explain my level of excitement, just cannot be done. 
But I should explain why this means so much to me. Yes it's true that I am in love with the man. Have you seen how gorgeous he is? He's a gift from God. But that's not the only reason why I love him. He's super humble and an all around good guy. I actually just read an article on him by Sports Illustrated. A few years back a woman who was getting married and worked at Tech who was close with Kliff had lost her dad and asked Kliff to give her away. Which he did. He also ushered people to their seats because the usher was late. That may not seem like much to some of you, but he's just such a nice guy. And he cares about the fans and people in general. He also lost his mom to terminal cancer in 2005, which has affected him. He's hardworking and amazing and just a good role-model. Although I look up to him for other reasons... 
The fact that he actually took time out of his day to write me back is just awesome in my opinion. Not many athletes, coaches, celebrities, etc. do that. And he did. And it just makes me so happy. 
I just wanted to share this with you guys, because most of you know how obsessed with the man I am. And like I can't even right now :)

P.S. I've included a picture of the note, just in case any of y'all want to see it!

Good Vibes Needed

One of my favorites actors, Jim Beaver wrote a memoir, Life's That Way. If you ever get the chance, go to the library or buy it from Amazon, but read it. It's such a good book. I literally read it in two days and bawled my eyes out, imagining the pain he was feeling. I won't give much away but his wife gets cancer and the book chronicles her journey with it and how it affects the family and what not. But Jim wrote it using all the emails he sent to friends and family and it's just amazing. At the end of the emails he would always put something along the lines of asking people to pray for them and if you weren't religious he would ask you to hum or whatever you preferred. I thought that was pretty clever the way in which he'd ask. 
So tonight I am asking all of you: friends, family, strangers who stumbled upon my blog, to please pray or hum for me, whichever you prefer. I haven't asked much from y'all the past month I've been down here, but tonight I could use some good vibes. 
This past week has been pretty stressful to say the least. I finally got to see the real side of college. In short, I have three papers due next week, I need to read an entire book by September 30, I have a test next Thursday, and overall I have a ton of homework that needs to get done. Needless to say, I have been super stressed this week on top of being sick. Last weekend I started to not feel well, so my mom being super awesome found this program down here where a mom from Belmont will bring your child chicken noodle soup, crackers, cough drops, Kleenex, & some other stuff when they're sick. There's also a note written by your mom stuck in there. It really made my night. And I knew my mom wanted to help since she feels terrible that I've been sick and away from home. But wait the fun doesn't end there! 
Probably Monday or Tuesday night I started to feel nauseous. And that nausea has lasted literally all week. Last night was so bad that I ate an apple (my RA Michaela said they help) and sat outside my room for like 45 minutes because I didn't want to wake Elizabeth (my roommate for those of you who don't know). Needless to say I did not get a lot of sleep last night. I missed my 9 am class this morning because I was too exhausted to function and still felt sick. I went to health services to try and figure out what's wrong with me. Apparently nothing. It just may be a bug. But the nurse practitioner, whose super nice by the way was like well since you have some pain it may be subtle symptoms of appendicitis. So I was like no that can't happen. I really didn't want to have to call my mom and be like "oh yeah everything went great until she said I may have appendicitis." But she just said to watch my pain level (which is gone now) and if it gets worse to someone take me to Vanderbilt's hospital. 
After I was done, I of course had to call my mom to tell her I was essentially fine for the moment. She actually handled that phone call pretty well. We then decided later that I can't have it after trying some exercise thing her co-worker suggested. 
But I still have nausea and feel pretty crappy. I'm assuming it's from stress and what not since I'm so overwhelmed right now. But praise the Lord it's the weekend and I can do homework pretty much every day. 
Oh so then I came back to my room after my last class to grab my wallet so I could go to Kroger and get some soup since it's on sale. So I walk into my room and Elizabeth, her mom, and grandma are all in there and her mom Teresa hugged me and was super sweet about me not feeling well, she then tells me that she brought me a goodie bag with stuff in it. She brought me chicken noodle soup, Kleenex, cough drops, the most warmest socks ever, a protein drink, saltine crackers, Purell, & white chocolate M&Ms. Needless to say I was so appreciative and realized I have an awesome roommate who has an awesome family. Let me tell ya it really means a lot to me that she brought me all this. I still ran to Kroger to get some more soup since that's probably all I'll be eating for the next few days and got some orange juice and a caramel apple because it was on sale and why not? I then came back to my dorm room and ate some soup and have been watching Netflix ever since. But I figured I'd update y'all and ask for prayers/hums/whatever floats your boat, for me to get better and for my stress level to go wayyyyy down. Also pray that I survive since Texas Tech's bye week is this weekend...(;
And a reminder, I'll be home 3 weeks from today :)

Beautiful & Productive Day

I find it amazing how much more homework I get done when I sit outside. Literally I actually get stuff accomplished when the sun is shining down on me and I sip my coffee. Lately my favorite spot is right outside the Curb Event Center on the Belmont Boulevard side, right across from Circle K and Bongo Java. Occasionally I go into Chick Fil A which is right inside the Curb Cafe and get a sweet tea or fries or both depending on my hunger level. But sometime last week I discovered that I wasn't getting as much homework done that I needed too. Then I discovered that I get bored just sitting in my dorm room. So I took action and perused campus in search of the perfect studying spot. On Saturday I sat in one of the gazebos and read 12 Years a Slave and didn't get much done. Probably because it was right after I watched the Texas Tech/Arkansas game and was pissed beyond belief. 
A majority of y'all probably don't know this but my grandpa Len went to Tech so the past couple of years we always talked about their football team. And then last season Kliff Kingsbury returned to coach and my God if you don't know who I'm talking about, then go Google him and all his glory. But last season was the last my grandpa would be able to watch the games, obviously none of us knew that at the time. But we would watch them when he was in the nursing home and I would 'joke' about marrying Kliff, and I use joke loosely here people. I told my grandfather that I would marry Kliff in a country themed wedding in a barn, and I plan on sticking to that promise even if it lands me in jail (kidding...). So I've followed Tech mainly because of the beautiful creature that is Kliff Kingsbury, but also because it reminds me of my grandpa. And he actually understood my craziness about football and Kliff. So anyways I live streamed the game on Saturday and was quite disappointed in Davis Webb and the defense. I even wore my grandpa's Tech shirt to bring luck, but obviously that didn't work. 
So I went to the gazebo, and read but I just kept getting distracted. So I went to dinner then back to my room to get my laptop and went out again in search of the perfect spot. It had to be outside though because Saturday was a beautiful day here in Music City. It was like 70 degrees, no humidity, and slightly overcast: perfect in my book! 
Yesterday it was the same weather so once again I went back to my spot and accomplished a lot! I was pretty proud of myself. I got a lot done that is pretty important so I was quite happy with myself. Then today I went back and read more in 12 Years a Slave and actually read almost 100 pages in a 2 hour span, so needless to say I will continue to do homework outside. I function better apparently out there in the real world. Tonight I got done more homework and am not as far behind as I was before so I am quite happy. 
Now I'm going to go write Kliff a letter declaring my love for him ;) Please pray that it doesn't get me arrested! 

Communicating Rocks!

As a college student whose far from home, precisely 500 miles to be exact, it sucks sometimes. I know when I was still living at home that I was counting down the days to get to Nashville, but lately I've actually been missing it. It being home. Sure I've adjusted well and made some new friends, but it's not the same. Luckily I live in the digital age. As my Mass Media professor has taught me, I am a digital native. So lucky for me I have Facetime, Skype, a phone, computer, etc to communicate with my family and friends which is nice. I always enjoy seeing everyone's faces from time to time. So far I've facetimed my mom, dad, Kyle, and luckily they've been with my grandparents so I've seen them "face to face." My friend Lynette also facetimed me one night, which actually made my day. It's kinda an indescribable feeling seeing someone's face that you've missed so much. And no it's not the same, but I know that some of you understand what I am trying to describe. Then there's those texts from people that you weren't expecting to respond, and well it makes your day. But that's a story for maybe another time. There's also obviously Facebook which is how I communicate with the majority of everybody, and email for that matter. 
But there have been a few occasions where I have actually received a handwritten letter. Yes y'all read that correctly, a handwritten letter. I received one from my grandma Faye, my mom's bff Laurie whose handwriting is freaking AMAZING and she's one of the coolest, most nicest peoples I have ever met! And then one today actually from my Pastor (his wasn't handwritten, but it was a letter therefore it counts in my opinion). And it's pretty awesome to get letters from people. I don't know how to describe it, but it's a great feeling seeing that there's mail in your mailbox and someone actually was thinking about you and sent you a letter. It's just nice knowing that people care. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing messages on Facebook or emails, but there's something vintage about a handwritten letter. And it pains me to call it vintage but let's be real, who really writes letters anymore? So maybe it's not vintage, just cool. 
Then there's this thing called a care-package. And let me tell you, as a college student, I love getting care packages. They're freaking awesome! Plus it shows me again that people were thinking about me and I appreciate that. I appreciate that people send me free things, particularly food, but really it makes me smile. Granted my mom is one of the only ones who has actually sent me a legit package, but still I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. 
The moral of this post is that I love communicating with all of you. That's why i started this blog was so everyone could stay informed, but most of all so I stayed in touch with everyone. I love seeing any form of communication of y'all. It really makes me feel special, and miss you guys! But luckily for all of us, there's only 29 more days until I'm home! And I cannot wait to see you all! 
Goodnight my friends! Keep it real :)

Total Blonde Moment

It's been awhile since I've posted guys, and I'd like to say it's because I've been busy doing homework (which is true) but I got obsessed with a TV show on Netflix and I watched it non-stop. But now it's over and I feel like there's no point in life anymore. Just kidding, but seriously it sucks when you're all caught up in Netflix and there's no way to start the next season without buying it for an absurd amount of money on Amazon. Anyways that's not the purpose of this post.
When I got to Belmont, I discovered they have this awesome feature. They partnered with Enterprise Car Rental to provide students the option to have a membership and basically rent a car when they need to. So I joined because let me tell ya, it sucks not having a car to take you where ever you want to go. I just received my membership card this weekend to start renting. I need the card because I have to hold it over this gray box that lets me into the car to get to the keys in the glovebox. So yesterday I needed to get the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook for my foundations of journalism class. Now this book is like the Bible to journalists, literally it gives you everything you need to know on how to be correct in your articles, stories, etc. It's amazing and the hardest concept all at the same time. Anyhow so I needed to get it pronto, but I didn't feel like spending an arm and a leg at the Barnes and Noble at Vanderbilt. They'd probably charge me an arm, and two legs just because they think they can. So my professor, who is freaking awesome by the way, told me to check out McKay's which is a used book store. It's so much more than that but I'll get to that, first my blonde moment of the year. 
I set up a reservation to drive the Mini Cooper(yeek!!!) from like 1-2:30. I get down to it at 12:59 and scan my card and get into the car. I grab the keys out of the glovebox and put it in the ignition. I don't know how many of you are familiar with a MiniCooper, but the key goes in, it's not a normal key, ir's more of a circle thing that goes in and then there's a start button. So I put the key in and hit start. The car starts, I put it into reverse, & try to drive. But it won't drive. It'll only go on reverse. So I start to panic and immediately think I broke it. So I put it in park and call Enterprise and inform the lady on the other end what's happening. She tells me she's going to run a report and figure out what's wrong. I then realize the car never even started and it won't start so she goes to find out what's happening. Long story short, I'm on the phone with her for like 25 minutes, during which I'm reading the owners manual trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I then realize that's there's an automatic or manual start. I follow the directions and out the car in neutral and hit start and BAM it starts and will drive! So naturally I freak out and students walking by probably think I'm having a seizure or something to that effect. The lady gets on the phone and I tell her the good news and she's nice enough to extend my reservation until 3! Finally I drive off in search of this book. 
For those of you who haven't experienced the feeling of not driving for awhile and then driving again, it feel so freakin' liberating. Let me tell you, driving around Nashville and down the freeway with the windows down and country music blasting, I felt like a million bucks! It was just such an awesome feeling to drive again! I finally get to McKays, and holy crap is it like my Heaven. This place is like a warehouse of used books, that are cheap!!! I walk in and just see books for what seemed like miles. An associate told me where I could look to find the book, I get over there, and whaddya know, there is none. So I decide to drive down the street to Goodwill to get khakis for work. Oh yeah I've never mentioned that I got a job in the athletic department. It's mainly sitting at the front desk being a receptionist i.e. answering the phone, telling people where to go, filing, doing stuff for coaches, etc. It's pretty chill. But I need khakis for when I work games, and low and behold I don't own a single pair. So I drive on down and discover the internet has lied to me. Shocking I know. But it's not a Goodwill store, just an "express donation center." Like what kind of crap is that? This is why I only shop at Savers, but then again I'm biased. So I'm just like screw it and decide that I'll go to Kroger by Belmont to get milk. On my way back I discover there's a Sonic and well I have to stop and get a cherry limeade because they're like the best thing ever. So I get my drink & hop back on the freeway and head to Kroger. I get there, get my milk, almost get hit by an oldish woman driving in the parking lot, and head back to campus. I get back and hold my card over the gray box again to lock it and end my reservation. As I'm doing this a girl walks by and is like do you need help? I'm like a pro at the Cooper. In my mind I was thinking where was she 2 hours ago when I really needed help, but I said no and carried on with my exciting life. So that was my blonde moment. I'm not really sure that counts as a blonde moment, but like I care. Moral of this, not all cars operate the same way, don't trust the internet, and driving can liberate you. 
Not much has happened today. I realized I did some of my homework wrong for my First Year Writing class, which I need to correct for Friday. I paper-clipped papers for a coach that were asking people for money, shocking I know, a school that charges $40,000 a year is asking parents, friends, and family members to donate money to a certain sport that will go in their "restricted" account, whatever that entails. I shouldn't be so hasty, maybe tuition funds don't go to sports, I'd hope not, but y'all get my point. Literally not much else happened. I've been slaving away doing homework all night so I'm going to sign off and catch some zzzzz's as tomorrow shall be a long day!