Standing Up

Happy second day after my birthday everyone! 

A happy day it has been indeed!

The biggest thing on my mind right now? The weather. 

I think it snowed at home yesterday, am I right? Well, it didn't snow here. 

Ha, snow.

The temperature yesterday reached 60 degrees. Unheard of, right? Right.

Today, right now, it is 66 degrees. We have a fan going in our new room because it's so hot. Meredith still has the heat running, and we're not allowed to open windows. But I just might have to crack it a bit, because it's so BEAUTIFUL outside. 

It's making me really, REALLY anxious for Spring and Summer. I seriously want it to be this temperature all day every day for the rest of my life. 

This is what my Heaven will be like. Except like, 98709730948 times better.

It will be PERFECT.

And yes, I did say new room! 

It was kind of a quick decision, but me, my suitemate Alyssa and my friend Jenna now live in a suite together. It's quite fun actually. Alyssa and I are rooming together, and Jenna is just through the bathroom =) 

So yesterday the Crains and Alyssa's mom came over and helped us throw our lives into trash bags to lug them all the way over to a different building to empty them all again. Ha. 

I've decided that I'm never going to move halfway through the year again. I'm just going to keep the moving to a bare minimum- like, two times a year at the most! 

But I got all of my stuff in and set up, and now I'm relaxing! Alyssa's still unpacking some of her stuff, but for the most part, it's looking really good! I snapped a few pictures quickly...

This is our new view. And my water bottles/travel mugs.

Much nicer than the parking lot, am I right?

My bed. I'm thrilled that my blankets no longer touch the floor. I mean, they're pretty close to touching now but that's mostly because I fixed my bed in a hurry today.

 My closet. Please don't look too closely. You won't be impressed by my organizational skills, I promise you won't be.

Oh, and the fridge is right there too!

My desk. Lots of cords, I know. It's not as big as my first desk and so I'm struggling a bit to make it all fit!

The dresser separates our desks. My desk is on the right =) 

This is kind of a shot from the door. (But not really). That board above my bed will be filled (soon enough) with loads of pictures and fun things. It's a huge cork board, so that will be fun. I plan to buy a sheet or something to put over it, and then I'll put my pictures up with thumb tacks of some sort. 

I'm excited! 

I didn't take any pictures of the bathroom, because it's mostly just a bathroom. Who needs to see that? Exactly.

So that was fun, as I'm sure everyone can imagine. Also, my address has changed just slightly. So before you send me letters, make sure you check on my new address. Just for your FYI =)

But anyway, I'M 19! 

Sorry, I didn't mean to shout.

 Jenna, Abigail and Morgan decorated my door, which was nice =)

Friday was lots of fun- I had a few classes, then went out for dinner with the Crains. 18 Seaboard? Yea I think that's what it was called. It was lots of fun. The waitress even gave us special desserts! 

Carter's birthday is actually today, the 30th. So we celebrated together for the first time since I was little! 

Sorry for the poor picture quality, I've been forgetting my camera lately.. not fun.

I gave him a Meredith sweatshirt for his birthday. Gotta represent! 

After we got back from dinner, I went with my big sis to see Country Strong, which was really fun! The movie was... well... I would not recommend it, but we had a good  time. 

Then yesterday I moved. 

I woke up at 8am. Yes Dad- I WOKE UP AT 8 IN THE MORNING. 

And then I was packing my stuff, and moving, and unpacking, until about 6pm. LOTS of work. But we did have a lunch break in there- Jenna and I went with Lynda and Carter to a restaurant that I always forget the name of... anyway, we used the $10 Lynda found on the ground to pay =) Fun times.

And today, to finish out the weekend, I had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM. 

What a weekend! And now, I get to read and read and read and then read and then start a paper, and then read some more! 

Ah, the sweet smell of procrastination in the late afternoon! 

Oh, just kidding. That's actually just the cheesecake I brought back with me. 

Delish! 

And we officially have 34 days until Spring break- yes please! And after break, we have (I think) 56 days until the end of the semester. 

Goodness gracious! 

Feels like just yesterday I was moving in!!

Oh wait... it was. 

Happy Sunday!

Born For Broccoli

Today, for the first time all year, I decided to take advantage of the delicious broccoli that lives on the salad bar. 

Personally, I'm not a fan of broccoli in my salad. I guess that's why I've always avoided it.

Anyway, I had a few pieces, loved it, and went back for more. 

Yes, I slightly regret eating so much of the stuff- because you really can't get that smell off of your breath so easily BUT I do thank my mother for somehow making me love broccoli. I actually believe that it should be considered some sort of junk food, that's how much I like it. I remember fighting for it when I was younger- I had to beat Danny and Kyle to the best pieces, and if I didn't move fast enough, MC and her quick little fingers would eat it all up before I even had a chance!

Our mother did pretty well considering we fought over broccoli as toddlers and pre-teens. 

I actually think I mentioned to her the last time that there was a big thing of broccoli in the fridge that she needed to get at least 3 times the amount for the next time.

Random, I know. But if you were burping up broccoli every 5 minutes, you would probably blog about it as well.

Give me a break.

I have a hard time believing that it's January. Fact: yesterday weighed in at a whopping 60 degrees Fahrenheit. I was most confused!

On one hand, I love it- because Spring is one of my favorite seasons. 

On the other hand, I do enjoy winter. Usually by the time February comes around I'm ready for barefoot day, sunny skies and swimming pools. 

But January? 

Two years ago it snowed on my birthday and we had a snow day. 

Last year- yeah I'm pretty sure we had a delay of some sort.

I never worried about "begging" my mom to let me skip on my birthday, because that was never an issue. The snow took care of that one for me.

This year?

The Weather Channel data:

Sunny skies

Chance of precipitation- 20%

Hi/Lo- 45/29 degrees F

Probably won't be getting a snow day.

Whatever.

I really should not be updating my blog right now, I have a laundry list of things I need to get done. And yes, one of those things just happens to be laundry.

Funny how these things work out.

I have a pile of laundry so high that it almost didn't fit in my closet, I have never- ending projects for my health class, I have a paper to write for communications, the bathroom is in dire need of some TLC, and there was something else but I totally forget. 

Yet somehow, my blog manages to squeeze its way onto the list.

I don't think I mind.

There are no pictures in this post. I just realized this... next time, promise. 

This morning I woke up when a photo fell on my face. My "wall of pictures" is right over my head, and the tape has been failing in its duties. It won't be much longer, they'll all be down in a few days I'm afraid. But I didn't think much of it at the time- just pulled the picture from my forehead and placed it on my desk. Then fell asleep again.

When I got back from class, I looked at the picture- my family and I at my graduation. 

SHAME! 

How sad. But it's a very nice picture, that I love!

My procrastination has gone too far. I'm going to work, I'm going to work, I'm going to work, I'm going t.....

Pink Lemonade!

(Oh, disregard that).

Whenever 2011 Happened

UPDATE! 

It's 2011, and that's crazy! 

I can't believe Christmas is now over. I'm so sad! It always goes so flippin' fast, but it hit me  when mom asked Kyle and I to bring the Christmas lights in.

We never did it though. To be honest, I forgot and I don't think Kyle realized we were supposed to. I was probably supposed to tell him. Oops! Oh well. We'll go with the "we refuse to accept that it's over" argument. What's another day with Christmas lights?
Oh, scratch that. Kyle did them without me and I never knew it =) Ha.

My New Year's Eve was definitely one to remember- a bit anticlimactic for sure, but in the best way possible. First of all, I didn't go with the annual New Year's party as I had in the past, rather spent the weekend at my grandparent's cabin with the whole Martin Fam.

So anywho... It all started when Maria wanted some sparklers.

Seeing as how our cabin is located in the middle of redneck country, Pa... we didn't think that would be difficult. SO... we went to the little local grocery/hunting/all purpose store in town, and started searching. After asking the lady in the store if she had any sparklers, we found some pretty snazzy tanks! The box told us that these tanks shot "flaming pellets", and the directions were quite simple: "light and get back". 
They were real winners.
Before leaving, the lady told us about the big New Year's event- There was going to be a cow dropping at the McPhee farm! (McPhee?) She told us that they were going to drop this lit up cow from a big silo with a spotlight to light it up so everyone could see it. They also told us that steaks would be served after the drop... I'm still not sure if that was true or not. But we were interested, especially if they were going to play holiday music!
We thought it was a great idea, and could not wait until we could check out the party.

So we decided that we needed to be there early to get a good spot before the cow drop went down. We left our cabin at 11:15pm.
We had some simple directions, and didn't think it would take very long to find.
Well let me tell you, mom, Kyle, Danny, Mary Catherine, Maria and I drove and drove and drove and drove- and we couldn't find this place.
The whole time, we were looking for this huge cow on a big silo at a big farm. Eventually, one of us thought that maybe we passed it at one point, so we did loads of backtracking and passed this place about 5 times before we decided that we had found it.

It was nothing like we had expected.

Pardon the poor picture quality, but yes- this was our cow.
And yes, we were sitting DIRECTLY across the street.
This picture is to scale.
We had a pretty good time laughing about this- how redneck?

But the best was yet to come!

About 10 minutes before 12am, these girls walked up and down the streets, past all of the cars parked along the side of the road (all 6 cars), asking for donations.
I thought maybe that the money for the one string of lights it took to light up the cow was a bit out of their budget. Needless to say, we kept our windows up and donated nothing.

And then... when the countdown began...
The spotlight turned out to be an over-sized flashlight which revealed the man sitting on top of the cow and the rope pulley system that he had rigged to lower the cow. Because of the rope, the cow drop was literally a drop- the countdown was a bit tricky- "10... 8... 7... 6... 321!" That was funny.
When the cow was officially "dropped", the barn next to the silo light up, 2011. So that was cool =) A bit unexpected, which is good.

And the holiday music? Turned out the guy who was holding the flashlight just opened the doors on his big truck and played the stereo really loud. It was some Kenny G song... woop di doo?

And then on the way back to the cabin, we were all giddy and excited to tell everyone what the big event was actually like. Well good joke- but everyone was sleeping when we got back.
Therefore, the night was nothing like we had expected.
But we had fun.
And we have stories!

And now, here I am, all snuggled in my Raleigh bed watching the newest episode of Jersey Shore, and trying to calm my nerves- classes start tomorrow. All new classes!? Is it weird that I'm freaked out? And nervous? It's like the first day all over again! And tomorrow I have 4 classes- yuck! I'm such a wimp.

But before we know it, I'm going to be all finished with my first year of college. Oh boy, I can hardly even wait!


Bring it on!

BEST DAY EVER.

And it's still early!

I can't believe it's Christmas! But I'm glad it is. 

I've always thought it would be kinda neat to have one of those movie Christmas mornings- like all the kids run downstairs and drag the parents out of bed and all sit around the tree and open presents... but that NEVER happens, and this is why.

1. Whatever child can actually wait until Christmas morning to open gifts is my hero. I'm always jumping and leaping and ready to go by Christmas Eve morning.

2. According to MC- who actually wants morning pictures of themselves plastered all over facebook? I mean, there will be pictures, and they WILL go on facebook, so we must look good. BUT that would mean we have to wake up at like 7am on Christmas morning, and who wants to do that? Not her. And I agree with her.

ANNNNNND Third...

3. Even if we were to wait until Christmas morning, it would not be such a peaceful awakening. This was the plan: last night, I set my alarm to wake me up at 9:15, finally decided on Glee's version of "We Need a Little Christmas" to wake me up, then locked it in. However, Danny is better than any alarm clock.

This is where the un-peaceful aspect comes to play.

I was sleeping soundly, and for some reason dreaming I was in high school... weird. So anyway, my door SUDDENLY whips open.... and I took a deep breath and tried to be as still as possible- as if the door crashing into the back of my wall wasn't enough to freak me out or anything. But nothing happened. So I peeked through the layers of blankets, and there- in the doorway- stood my younger brother, Danny. I thought for sure he was going to pounce, but he just stood there, texting. 

Thanks Haley.

Oh but then, out of nowhere, he came flying into my room and started shouting about how Santa had come. Well, sorry bud- but first of all, Santa is a joke and I'm not about to fall for that trick again. Second, we opened gifts last night, and you re-gifted the necklace that I bought for myself at least 2 years ago. So I remained still, and tried not to think about the pain, and ignored as best as I could. But seriously, he's oh so persistent. 

Next thing I know, the vacuum was being plugged into the outlet outside of my room, and Dan turned it on and started singing a variety of unknown Christmas carols as he "vacuumed the hallway" before 9 in the morning.

And that is why my life could never be like the movies. It's too chaotic and crazy and VERY unpredictable.

So I'm awake now. My poor alarm started freaking out after about 10 minutes of my not-responding because I wasn't tucked, safe and sound, in my bed!

Sigh.

But lots of other fun things have happened in the short time that I've been awake- so it's good.

And the whole vacuum thing was pretty good- I laughed quietly (which is hard) and tried to stay still (WHICH IS EVEN HARDER). 

Oh dear. Now we must decide what to wear to grandma's for Christmas... and by "we" I mean, Mary Catherine. Sorry.

posted because she's reading it now 

Merry Christmas to all.

For unto us a Child is Born- and His name shall be called WONDERFUL!

It's A Beautiful Night, And What Are We Doing?

I've seen freedom and I'm in love. 

AND it's Christmas. If you turn your volume up and direct your attention to the very end of the page, you will find that yes, I have indeed switched to my Christmas playlist. 

And I LOVE it. 

Wow it's been a while since I've updated- my bad! Finals have a way of pushing and shoving their way into every single aspect of one's life and becoming all consuming. You know, no big deal.

BUT I'm finished! As of 3 o'clock today! Well, technically 6:30 because that's when I turned my paper in, but that doesn't really count because I had it finished yesterday. 

ANYWAY. All went well, they were probably the easiest finals that anyone could ever take. 

I'm not sure why, but I always manage to get myself out of the super hard finals. I'm okay with that. It's a sneaky ability that I've acquired over the years.

Yes, ever since Kindergarten. 

But I've been super busy! That's for sure. You see, my brilliant professor who shall remain nameless decided it would be a super smart move to assign a research paper instead of a paper/pen type of final test. 

I wanted to punch him.

I worked on that paper for 6 days, stressed and didn't sleep because I was worried about the dumb thing. 

Needless to say, I was unimpressed with his self-proclaimed brilliance.

BUT it's okay! Because it's over now- yes yes yes yes yes!

AND because I know you're all dying to hear this... I got my biology lab final grade back. Guess who the newest biology flipping master is? ME. A 97% on a lab final? Thank you, I would like that. 

And the biology final- biggest piece of cake EVER. Am I relieved? Yes.

 I spent some time building relationships with the Crains this weekend. Except it wasn't a weekend, it was Monday and Tuesday. That was fun. 

Oh! Story, WITH pictures (the best kind)!

Someone had the bright idea to go get ice-cream Monday night.

Let's set up the scene first.

This is the coldest December that Raleigh has experienced in... forever.

Today started off at a whopping 18 degrees. It was cold.

So cold that Saturday, we had snow.

The beautiful view of the parking lot out my window. Let's not talk about how much I wish I had anything else to look at. Parking lots are SO not scenic. 

So back to the story.

Someone had the bright idea to go get ice-cream Monday night. Naturally, it was the decisive one of the bunch (and I'm not referring to Hurley). 

So we piled into the car, dog and all, and made our way over to the crazy ice-cream shop that is (for whatever reason) open in flipping December. 

We stand outside (the whole place is outside) for roughly three hours before the chick behind the nice glass window decides to acknowledge us, and then we each sample 2 flavors, and then we decide, and then we each order. 

So we're talking and enduring the cold, when all of a sudden, Lynda decides that Hurley looks lonely in the car and needs company so she TAKES OFF to sit with him in the nice, warm car. 

To be fair... Carter did tell me I could sit in the car as well. But I reminded him that unless he is capable of popping out an extra hand or two, he won't be able to manage 3 cups of ice cream and a cup of ice cream with a dog treat. 

So we wait. How long will it take her anyway?

So we stood there...

I mean... it wasn't THAT cold.

No. It was.

Then after like an hour, we started wondering whose idea it was to get ice-cream in the first place in December. 

Then we remembered.

If you look closely, you can see that she is smiling like crazy.

Bet you didn't expect that one to bite ya now did you Lynda?

And yes, Hurley is sitting in the passenger seat. 

However, he was in the driver's seat before Lynda got there.

And five hours later, we got our ice-cream.

But it was fun and makes for a good opportunity to tell a fun story =D

And now... now I'm just sitting on my bed with absolutely nothing to do. 

Listening to Bruno Mars, that's fun. 

I bought his CD from Amazon last week- it was a $5 special. I couldn't help myself.

Shhhh don't tell Dad!

Speaking of Father...

I really need him to buy me a car. That way, I could be 3 hours from home right about now...but no. I must wait on the next available ride out of here which departs at 1pm tomorrow. Not bad, but still. I need a car.

But I'm packed and all ready to hit the road!

Add to that stack my laundry basket which is filled and running over. And my towels. And (possibly) my sheets. 

I don't know why I do this to myself!

Anyway, goodnight to all! 

CHRISTMAS TIME'S A COMIN'!

Life Is Now One Big Countdown.

CHRISTMAS IS LESS THAN 1 MONTH AWAY!

I need to get my butt in gear and start buying these Christmas presents... oh my word!

But Thanksgiving was nice =) It was bound to be with the snow flurries right away Thursday morning. I woke up to Sharon singing up the stairs, "Caitlyn! QUICK! If you look out your window you'll see big, fat snow flakes!"

So I looked, and was happy.

I cheered when we entered Pa, and when I saw signs for Lancaster, and when I saw signs for Gap, and when we got to that one road that I don't remember the name of but is long and straight and is fun to drive fast on (hehe Dad!).

But Thanksgiving is over already, what a fast holiday!? Fast, unlike my drive to and from Lancaster, Pa. The drive back to Raleigh took a little over 8 hours. A trip that we can usually make in 7. Freaking Thanksgiving traffic jamming up I-95 in Manassas and such.

Fast like I want this week and next to go. Finals- *shivers* in 5 days! BUT then I can go home and not have to worry about ANYTHING remotely related to school!

Oh goodness!

Wanna know what my favorite part of the past few days was?? Driving! And being able to drive myself places on backroads, or even just 2 lane roads. No big highways or interstates or anything like that. Sure the drive is a bit longer, but backroads are quite unbeatable.

And I don't have a car down here... or up there... thanks Dad.

RIP Soren Lawrenson.

Daddy did make a good Thanksgiving dinner for us though, I enjoyed it!

Dan and MC found the wishbone, and MC won herself a wish ;)

And Kyle put up our Christmas lights! yay =)

We also went to Kitchen Kettle for some fun stuff (Yarn, we bought yarn), and acted like tourists and didn't even care!

We sang with the choir...

Played trumpets with the angels...

Used school bus #23 as a backdrop...

Searched for an exit...

And had a fabulous time!

It's a good thing that I only have to wait 11 days until I go back for Christmas vacation! It'll be crazy.

We added 238 pictures to my camera card in 5 days. Imagine what we can do with a whole month.

It's mind boggling, I know.

I keep on counting down!

mmmm It's Christmas time =)



Christmas Time's a Comin'!

I googled "Thanksgiving Songs" in a weak attempt to try and make my excitement for Christmas a bit more bearable and these were a few of the results.

1. America the Beautiful

2. Star Spangled Banner

3. God Bless America

To name a few. I decided that this is the reason that I sing Christmas carols starting in late September, early October if I'm lucky.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is simple: to inform.

The first piece of news is concerning my competency essay score. I re-wrote the essay on Monday, and I got my score today.

You ready for this?

A 2-

So I passed.

Can I get an amen?

Thanks.

For those of you who don't remember, my first score was a 1+. And Emily Sproul told me to shut up and stop writing because she couldn't believe it or something?

Well yes, Em I passed. A 2- is not fantastic, but it's passing.

The other great piece of news you ask?

Next week at this time I will have spent a whole night in my very own bedroom with my very own bed and blankets and walls and pictures and AH I can't even wait!

And I will be able to hug my family again!

Can you say boo-ya?

Good work.

Thanksgiving is just a great holiday, and I cannot believe that it is already here. Seems like just 2 weeks ago I was moving out and getting set up all on my own so far from home.

Such a crazy weird feeling.

6 Days until I can run through real dirt, smell the countryside, tickle Danny, kiss Shasta, drink coffee and chat with my Mom, drive around the back roads with Kyle, laugh at Daddy's quirky ways, and read Mary Catherine's mind.

Sounds like Heaven, does it not?

It's going to be an early night for me. Don't make fun. I'm tired!

Witch Hazel,

Caitlyn.