Walkin' on Sunshine

Starting things off with a big apology for my last update. Stupid thing decided to just not include the majority of my post. Honestly, after I saw what had happened, I couldn't make myself write the same thing over again. I just had no motivation what-so-ever. 

But happy thoughts are always fun. So here's what I've been up to.

This past week was a doozie for me. I had an economics exam on Friday, a speech on Monday, human resource management exam on Tuesday, and an accounting exam on Thursday.

I was pretty stressed last weekend, and spent lots of time studying and making sure that I understood all of the material and all that. I made note-cards for my speech and everything. 

That's kind of a funny story. 

I had a hair appointment on Monday at 12 to get my color done. 

Yes, I now have dark hair again.

Lynda got the appointment for me, because she's good like that, so I drove to her house and left my stuff there (not my brightest idea), and then she drove to the salon. Which was great.

Anyway, it took a little bit longer than I was expecting it to take, and I had class at 3:30. So rather than Lynda taking me to her house first to get my car and my stuff, she took me straight to school so that I wouldn't be late. 

However, my stuff was in my car, in her driveway, at her house. 

So my note-cards that I worked so hard to prepare? Yeah they didn't happen. 

I winged it! (What else is new?)

I made stuff up, I talked slow, I made eye contact... I didn't do too shabby. 

We had "conferences" with the professor after everyone was finished, and I expected her to be all, "next time, prepare a little bit more- don't say 'um' so much..." but she didn't have one thing that I needed to work on. 

This is me, tooting my own horn. 

(It's my blog, I have my rights.)

I had excellent eye contact, she loved my intro, my time was 3:02 (fit perfectly within the 3-5 min. time frame), and I didn't say 'um'. Job well done. I can fake out my public speaking professor. 

I just looked online to see my grade for that speech- 100%. Life's good.

Then the rest of the exams- it was good news. 97% in economics, 91% in human resource management, and 92% in accounting. 

I'll take your praise. You can put my picture on your refrigerator if you want to. I'm open to things like that.

Then, to top off such a crazy week- last night was our Sizzlin' September concert at school. Well, it was moved to an indoor place because it was raining, but it was for Meredith students. 

So Gloriana and Tyler Hilton sang away my stress for a whole 2 hours last night. It was a great evening. 

Tyler Hilton opened up- he's a great live performer. I was in awe of his voice. He didn't miss a single note- a really great singer. 

He's pretty fun to look at too. Just sayin'. He's also my all-time favorite character on One Tree Hill- which is the greatest show ever.

I went with Abigail- she doesn't really like country music but she went with my anyway. What a pal! 

Gloriana is my favorite country band. Such fun performers and love their loud music!

It was hard to get pictures of this guy- he's so full of energy and was bee-bopping all across the stage. But he's my favorite- I love Mike.

Rachel, with the voice of an angel.

And Tom, who needs a haircut. 

We decided to brave the crowds of crazed college girls for some autographs/pictures.

And we succeeded.

 

Tyler Hilton held my hand as he signed my wrist-band. Sparks flew. I'm never washing my right wrist again. Just a warning.

Oh yeah, then I got a picture with him. There were fireworks. It was like the 4th of July or something. He's coming with me to Christmas dinners now. It's going to happen. 

4. Meet a famous person   

Checking that off of my bucket list.

And this is how close I got to Gloriana before my camera decided it had been through enough and happily turned itself off. 

 Completely full battery after a Gloriana/ Tyler Hilton concert= completely dead battery. 

I was so disappointed. They were right in front of me. 

No signatures or pictures from/with them. 

This time. 

I was very happy with the way that the evening went. I had a great time listening to great artists playing great music. 

Even greater? It was a free concert for students. Did I mention that before? 

So all of the crappy dining hall food, the bipolar temperatures of the dorm rooms, the fluorescent lighting everywhere... it's all okay because I met Tyler Hilton and almost met Gloriana.

Meredith and I are okay.

Meredith has been redeemed. 

So how can a weekend top this? We'll see. Next weekend might just do it. I'm going to Asheville, NC with the honors program. Biltmore Estate? Yes.

More on that later. 

Today has proven to be pretty relaxed so far. By the grace of God, it is not blitzin hot outside. High of 65, currently 60. Yesterday I don't think it even made it past like 58.

Can I get an amen?!

I'm so ready for Fall that I just made a playlist on itunes called, "Olive Fall" because, I love fall. 

Adele is singing now, Kenny G was just playing, and up next may be someone like Celine Dion. 

It's great. 

I have a project that I need to sort of start sometime today. It's not due until midterms, but I'm trying to be proactive this semester and continue to make A's and stuff like that. 

So I'm just going to sit here and daydream of the possibilities of this Fall, think about last night, and listen to my happy music. 

You enjoy your day too. 

...to make you feel my love...

You Know I Like My Chicken Fried

The time has come to once again write about my life. 

I'm game. 

Classes are off and running, and so far they're not too shabby. Here's why...

Since I'm pretty sure I'm going to do interpersonal communication, I get to take classes that are fun. Well, fun in my opinion. Right now I'm in public speaking and interpersonal communication- both of which are relatively easy so far. 

I just made a collage of my life last weekend, and tomorrow I get to present it to my interpersonal class, so that's fun. 

Then in public speaking, I get to talk about random things to 15 other people. It's fun. My professor told me yesterday that I have excellent eye contact, but I say "uh" a lot. 

Uh... shucks. 

My other three classes are for my potential business minor. The first is microeconomics, which has so far been the same as my macroeconomics class that I owned last semester. I mean, same book, same first 3 chapters, same material (obviously)- so it's pretty easy. Our first exam is tomorrow, and I'm so ready for it to be over so that I can finally start learning new things in economics. 

The second class is human resource management, and it's a little bit boring, if we're being honest. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it's really a piece of cake. We don't ever have homework, follow powerpoint slideshows in class... no big deal. Our first exam is on Tuesday, so hopefully I'll feel the same after that! 

And finally, I have accounting which is a nightmare. There is nothing else that I can say, except that I hate, hate, hate, accounting. And that's fine- it's certainly not for me. The only reason I'm taking it is because it is a prerequisite class for most of the upper level business courses, and my faculty advisor is an accounting professor.

We'll say accounting has become my new biology. I know... not biology again! Sorry. 

Anyway, Labor day weekend was nice- we had Monday off, so I didn't think it was enough of time to drive home, but I didn't want to be alone all weekend. So what did I do? I crashed with the Crains! 

And I had fun. 

I think they like me, because they gave me my very own house key. Now I don't have to wait on the front porch with the mosquitoes, strange neighbors and stray dogs. 

No, you can't have the key. It's mine and Lynda gave me strict instructions to NOT pass it around from person to person. It's my key. 

She was very nice about it though, and she is a great person and role model and influence.

She took me under her wing and showed me the ropes (or string?) in eyebrow threading. Well she didn't really show me, she just let me tag along with her to the cute little shop where I almost lost my life. 

Not going to lie- it hurt. Not just physical pain- though that was pretty rough. My pride also took a hit (not that I'm a proud person). This like, 12 year old girl who I could hardly understand due to a stinking language barrier threaded my eyebrows. I mean, I was letting a child rip my eyebrows out of my head with a flipping string! 

She first asked me to do something with my hands, I didn't understand so I responded with the infamous, "huh?" She proceeded to pick up my right hand, and guided it to my right eye where she pushed my eyelid down. Okay, so I hold my eyes shut, got it. I proceeded to do the same with my left hand to my left eye. 

This was wrong.