A Great Day to be Alive

I hope you're doing alright.

The song on the radio: Need a refreasher? Here he is!

It's such a happy song that reminds me of when I was little and had no cares or worries or responsibilities, when mom made me take a nap each day, and I practiced my handwriting in school.

Oh to be young again! 

But if I was young, I wouldn't  have been off gallivanting on a beautiful North Carolina beach with a great friend, making memories and taking pictures.

The beach was wonderful! I've never seen such a gorgeous beach before in my life. 

Ocean City MD and NJ don't got nothin' on Emerald Isle.

Even the name sounds heavenly... Emerald Isle... 

A [mostly] empty beach for us, with shells a plenty...

Pretty friends.... 

Gorgeous skies... 

Lots of wind... 

And extreme beauty.

A pretty good "second best" way to spend my Easter holiday.

Soaking up the beauty of His creation. 

I can't get over how flipping pretty everything was! 

We also happened to stop by the cutest neighborhood ever, in Swansboro, NC. Jenna used to live there, so she knew all about the little town.

This is the pier that was right down the street from where she lived. Can you imagine living so close to this view?!?

So we had a photo shoot on the pier =) 

It was the greatest day ever. 

We wanted to take a picture as we drove over that bridge that was behind us in all of the pier pictures. So, this is us going over that bridge. It was huge, it was semi-frightening, but most importantly it took us to the island- Emerald Isle!

"At least we have the windows open!" - Jenna.

We did lots of other fun things too.

We had lunch with Elvis...

And posed with some pretty interesting mannequins. 

All sunburn and home-sickness aside, we had a fantastic weekend.

Yes, I'm quite crispy this morning but it's not a big deal. 

Who cares if we fry our backs and our legs and our foreheads (don't ask how that happened)?

This week is going to be a long one, I fear. 

My day is so jam- packed today and it scares me to think about it. 

Honestly, this blog post was most unnecessary and really taking time away from the titillating stories that I need to read for my English class.

Then final projects, papers, and presentations the rest of this week, only to be followed up with a fantastic week of final exams! 

Yes please!

But then I'm home. Hallelujah, hallelujah. 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and in exactly11 days I will have reached that light. I will hug the light, I will sing to the light, and I will dance with the light. 

I'm so excited!!!!!!

xoxoxoxo

Define: Frightened.

Yesterday at this time, I was beginning to become very scared. 

Yesterday at this time, North Carolina was pounded with tornadoes. 

I spent the better part of my afternoon sitting in the hallway, 2 floors below my room, waiting for the storms to pass. 

Let me just set the scene a little bit for everyone:

I was sitting in a dark hallway underground, with no windows, with 20 or so girls from my building (a few were hard-core freaking out, crying, screaming, yelling, taking pictures?), no TV, no idea what was happening outside, and worried that the storm would maybe tear my building apart and ruin all of my belongings. I made sure to grab what I valued most before the great descent: my computer, my phone, and my wallet. 

I think next time I should be a bit more prepared. 

Maybe I'll take wheat thins like the girl next to me.

Best case scenario- there is no next time.
In case you need a visual... I'm at the end of the hallway on the left.

I told you someone took pictures.

And after about 2 hours of intense storms and powerful winds, we finally were in the clear.

I wanted to kind of get an idea of the damage done in the state, and was a little freaked out by what I found. 

Click here to see a video of the damage in downtown Raleigh.

My campus is located just outside of downtown. 

At most, it's a 5 minute drive (but that's mostly because of traffic). 

This is a link to the news article about the storms. I am in Wake County. According to some rumors I heard while huddling in the hallway, one of the tornadoes touched down and was traveling just one street away from where my campus is.

So, totally and completely freaky. 

I have never before experienced something like this. 

But I didn't even experience anything! 

Our campus came out virtually untouched- a few tree limbs scattered around, but nothing nearly as serious as what others experienced.

Want to see the storm approaching the city? Click here!

This time lapse video thing was taken on top of the RBC center in Raleigh. 

Remember when I went to the Carolina Hurricanes game? That's where I was- the RBC center. Conveniently located approximately 5 minutes from campus. 

So flipping scary! Had I known a cloud like that was coming towards us while I was crammed in the hallway of the ground floor of my building, I probably would have been a lot more worried.

But! We're okay. 

And the Crains are okay. 

Phew! 

Thanks to everyone who warned me about North Carolina's great positioning in what people like to call, tornado alley. 

That was so sarcastic- I had no idea I was moving myself to tornado alley. I would rather be safe in PA and learning about such places and disasters from the safety of my home on the mountain, surrounded by valleys and hills and all that good stuff. 

But here I am, so close to destruction. 

It's so sad- so many people affected. 

Apparently downtown Raleigh was closed yesterday after the storms went through because there was such a need for emergency services and stuff. 

Intense. 

I survived though, phew! 

Hallelujah, praise God! 

Because with only 8 days of classes and a week of finals left, I would have been very, very upset if that got screwed up by a flipping tornado. 

My apologies to the Shaw University students as this is the situation they've found themselves in. 

That would stink.

So that's the story that kind of took the front seat in my life. Nothing else that is necessarily "blog worthy", unless everyone would be interested in hearing how I'm going to clean our bathroom today, or that I bought a skirt for $6 at Target, or that my floor is dirty, or that I didn't straighten my hair today, or that we were out of hot water all day yesterday... 

Just nothing exciting. 

Nothing.

OH, I lie. 

I have 19 days left until I'm finished with my very last final!! 

Time flies when you're in college, regardless of the amount of fun you're having. 

Because seriously, I could have sworn that last weekend I was home, surprising my family with a quick weekend visit. Or that I was just bonding with my car in the middle of the intersection on 340 this morning. 

Holy cow! 

So, 8 days of classes, 7 days of finals, and 4 days of weekend/days off. 

That's totally achievable. 

Totally. 

(Next weekend I'm going to the beach, I promise to have more up-lifting and fun stuff coming after that!)

Until then, continue to keep the people affected by the tornadoes in your prayers! And don't forget to thank God for keeping YOU safe-- even if you're not in North Carolina or Virginia. 

Thanking you =)

I Never Saw Blue Like That

When I am in Heaven, I'm going to ride around in a Hossana taxi.

Except, I think I will want it to be bright pink.

Or, maybe purple? 

But I could enjoy a bright green one too. 

I imagine it to look something like this one...

Probably my favorite taxi service in Raleigh. Not that I have ever used a taxi, but if I ever needed to, this one would definitely be my first call. How great?

And now I will always have their number. 

Moving on. 

This past week has been a little bit of crazy busy. I started work- want to know all of the great things that I've been doing?

I thought you would never ask!

I made sure to document all of the "big" things I was doing. 

So this was Thursday. 

I started off with a shredding machine, 4 empty trash- bags, and a stack of papers that was higher than you would want a stack of papers to be.

After about an hour, my boss made a good attempt to break up the monotony.

How many lightbulb- stress things do you think there are?

There were 72. I counted.

Then, I counted out 25 graduation cords because there are 25 seniors graduating from the honors program. 

I sorted through the bag, untangled tassels and was slightly annoyed when I realized after untangling the 25th cord that the bag included 26. 

But it was okay, because my next job was better. 

I got to go on a walk to deliver a letter. 

Then, I received a stack of papers that needed de-stapled.

Staples don't work well with shredders. 

I did it. I took every single staple out of those packets. Some of them (I would say a good 50%) had been folded in half and mailed- therefore requiring the use of at least 2 staples. 

So that was fun.

And then, because the packets had names written on them, I had to shred them all.

Destroy the evidence!

So I did. I destroyed it baby.

And that was how my work day came to a close. 

With 4 bags, filled with shredded paper. 

Would you believe me if I said that I got a few paper-cuts along the way? Because I think I did. 

But it's all okay, because as I was walking back to my room I realized that the entire campus is beginning to blossom! 

It was a beautiful day. I have seriously, never seen a sky so blue. 

And yes, there are flowers all over that archway. Little yellow flowers, and they smell good and they look good and they remind me that Spring is finally here!

I love blue skies and Spring flowers.

And, I only have 27 days left until my last final is finished. 

There are 7 Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes left, and 5 Tuesday/Thursday classes.

What the heck??

I can't believe it's almost over. But it's exciting, that's for darn sure! 

One thing is certain- Pennsylvania better be seeing Spring in full swing by the time I'm home in May. Otherwise, I might just have to drive myself back here. This crap that I'm hearing about PA getting snow like two weeks ago... yea that's not going to fly for me.

Snow in April is bad.

Maybe the saying should be modified a little bit to say:

April (rain) showers bring May flowers. 

But then again, May flowers have come in April- so maybe March (rain) showers bring April flowers?

And what about, "first of May barefoot day"?

I definitely went barefoot in March.

I don't remember the exact day, but I'm pretty sure "barefoot day" doesn't rhyme with "March", so that would have to be totally re-worked. 

One would be wise in making rhymes that were applicable to all climates, rather than just the north or just the south. 

I mean I'm just saying.

And now, I'm going to make a good attempt to focus. But first, a question.

For a communications paper I must write, would you kindly answer the following questions?

1. Are you from a rural or urban area?

2. Approximately how much TV do you watch a day?

3. Would you consider the world a good or a bad place?

Thanking you all from the bottom of my communications notebook.

Make it a great Saturday.

If Your World's Got Somethin' Missing- Eat Pie.

Hello world! How ya been? Good to see you my old friend.
Yes, I have changed my page.

Do you like it?
I changed it last week, and then again tonight.

I think it's going to stay this way for a while though.
I was ready for something different, and I thought this was fun.
Let me know what you think!
Anyway...

I'm so full right now, if you would touch me I might pop.

Today has been a long day. Possibly the longest of my life.

When I think back to this morning, I can't remember how I got out of bed, if I ate breakfast, or what I did in any of my classes. That's how long this day was. 

It was a great day too. Is that weird??

Well for starters- My alarm sounded at 8:20. I got out of bed at 8:35. 

I was so tired.

Did the whole morning routine thing which is always fun. 

Oh, and I managed to pull together a whole outfit to match a headband. I really wanted to wear it so my whole look was geared towards matching that headband. 

Skye gave it to me yesterday and I really, really like it! 

So this is what I wore today, I wish I took a better picture of my headband but I didn't and I don't feel like walking allllll the way across my room, finding my camera and taking a picture now. 

So here's what I got...

Please disregard the detailed drawing of an antibody (part of the joys of a roommate majoring in biology) and other random messages and such.

That's just how we roll.

Speaking of Skye, she is going to be my roommate next year! I'm so excited, we're going to have fun. So much fun.

Anyway, continuing with my day... 

I managed to pull myself together, gathered my gear for the day and headed out to breakfast around 9:10 with Alyssa. 

We made it out the door and then realized that it was pouring- so much rain. 

We promptly turned around and grabbed our rain stuff, ran to breakfast, chowed down, ran to the library (where our English class was supposed to be meeting), realized our class was not in the library, ran to our actual class and succeeded in missing only the first 5 or so minutes of class.

Rough morning, to say the least.

English and health were boring and monotonous, I almost fell asleep in both. 

After health came lunch, where I managed a piece of pizza that was so greasy I could hardly keep hold of it and some chips.

Then, I headed over to my new job and worked!

Yes, I worked!

And this is what I have to show for all of my hard work...

3 bags of shredded paper. 

Go me, Go.

My favorite part was when I accidentally tried to shred an envelope that was stuffed, stuffed with random papers and the like.

I jammed the shredder. 

And then about an hour later, I jammed it again. 

I just had it down.

I did lots of other things too though, it went well. I enjoyed my first day, but it was not nearly as fun as the Cupboard gang. 

Then after a quick nap, I was off for dinner with the Crains. 

Don't ask me where we went, because I don't remember.
But- their menu was filled with quite the interesting options... such as:

1. Young goat

2. Chihuahua cheese

3. Mole sauce

4. Many other things that I couldn't pronounce

We weren't so impressed with what we got- apparently the dude in the kitchen went salt happy as he marinated Lynda's pork in salt, cooked it in salt, added salt to it while it cooked, and then proceeded to salt the final product. 

And a few other things - like our touch and go waiter with his curly hair and fake- wanna-be- Spanish accent thing.

So then, we decided to get some pie. 

What a brilliant idea, open a pie shop? It's lovely, I'm so glad we went.

Such a cute little restaurant thing.

The Piebird.

Lynda got coconut creme

Carter got some kind of almond pear

And me, I was missing home and wanting Lancaster county summer goodness.

I got Shoofly pie. 

We'll just say that the ice cream was the best part. 

It tasted a little bit like the time I attempted to make my first shoofly pie- I used the wrong molasses and baked it for too long.

Kinda chewy and way too molasses-y.

But good for them for trying! We were just shocked that they were serving it.

Lancaster is getting out! 

10 points for success!

And now, now I'm back and full and tired and not looking forward to waking up again tomorrow. 

I should be though- I should look forward to waking up every day. 

And I am! 

I'm just going to be. 

I also found out that I missed the newest episode of Glee tonight.

Shucks city!

Miss Independent (and sickly)

I have gained three things since last Thursday.

Two are pretty cool,

the third... not so cool.

1. Daddy bought  me a car.
I haven't named him yet, we don't know each other so well. So... suggestions are welcome.

2006 Jetta? Thank you father of mine!

What I like best about my car? There's a tie for first place.

I love the sunroof and the radio.

Love.

MC and I spent a few minutes taking pictures inside. And yes, I was actually calling someone.

That's not posed. lol

Please excuse my awkward hand perched most unusually on the top of the car. 

We were having fun.

I'm scared to drive it. Not just because it's a stick and I have NO idea how to do it (as evidenced by my stalling in the middle of an intersection on 340 and then nearly frying the clutch), but also because it's so gosh darn pretty! 

My dad did a pretty splendid job.

I got to see it after surprising the family last weekend. I just couldn't stay away! 

The Crains so kindly allowed me to tag along on their trip north.

Now let me tell you what, that was one interesting car ride.

If you look to my right, you will see a big shiny thing.

That, my friends, is a 500 pound stove that couldn't take the heat. (ha).

Lynda was so kind as to help out a friend. 

Don't worry, I'm just the niece ;)

But seriously, it was okay. Just don't tell Lynda I said that.

Oh great, thunder storm warning. Quarter-sized hail.

(How does that work?)

Weird! I love a good storm though.

Stay away from windows...? I'm definitely glad I sleep right under the window.

Anyway...

2. I have a job!

This is pretty appropriate considering my father just told me to stop spending money. 

Just kidding!

I had the interview yesterday and got the job today! I'll be working on campus, in the Honors Office as the student assistant. 

I'm pretty excited, it'll be nice for a little something different.

And it will be nice to see my old friend again.

OLD friend.

M O N E Y 

The girl next door just sneezed and I said bless you. 

Aren't you jealous of our thin walls and loud neighbors?

You should be.

But the sneezing brings me to my third and most recent acquisition.

3. I have a sore throat. 

Not fun, not exciting, not rewarding, not enjoyable, not healthy, not cool.

At least I no longer have a fever.

That went well this morning. Especially my nap when I kept thinking I was awake, but I really wasn't.

At one point, I was dreaming that I went to the bathroom and realized that either my roommate or suitemate had found a little cupboard thing and put it next to the toilet and they kept all the toilet paper in there. I thought to myself, "well that's nice. I just wish that they had left a roll out and easily accessible." I proceeded to open this cupboard thing to find absolutely nothing inside. 

No toilet paper. 

Every girl's nightmare. 

And then I rolled over and realized I was still sleeping, and willed my eyes to open.

They didn't. 

It wasn't until someone knocked on my door and the sun decided to shine directly into my eyes that I 'woke up'. 

Groggy-stupid at its best.

Kind of like how I feel now. 

It's still pretty early for a college student. In case not all were aware, to go to sleep at 10:39 at night is rather wimpy. 

No I'm not kidding, people have contests to see who stayed up the longest on any given night.

They're all dumb- the people and the game. I like sleep and sanity, and I find that one does not easily come without the other. 

High of 69 tomorrow? I'll take that. Today's 85 was a little warm for me. It's March 23rd people- I don't think I'll get used to this weather. Ever.

So I'm off to drown myself in cold medicine and try to get some much needed rest before my oh so exhilarating day tomorrow.

(I mean that with all of my heart. (Just kidding))

Kisses, kisses,

Tylenol cold and flu,

Caitlyn.

What a Girl Wants

Ask any normal college student what he/she looks forward to the most over breaks, and they will most likely respond with one or both of the following:

1. Home cooking

2. Relaxation (in the form of sleeping, reading, or simply being lazy)

This proves that my life is far from normal.

Due to the fact that our kitchen is being made over, the stove and such are pretty much out of commission.

Yes. So much for the home cookin'. 

Welcome home Caitlyn! Enjoy your spring break- now please help me put the kitchen table into the family room and make sure Shasta doesn't run over the new tiles and oh yes- your morning coffee isn't going to happen this week.

Instead, we've been going out to eat and stuff.

Thank you Yoders, for your delish ham balls that practically qualify as a home cooked meal.

Lancaster's finest- yum. 

And as for the second- relaxation- there has been little to none of that this week either.

The book that I was supposed to have read for my English class managed to work its way out of my bag, however, it has remained on my floor. And, the only reason that I moved it was because it was on a shirt that I wanted to wear, and I needed to move it. 

Needless to say, it may be out of my bag, but it still hasn't been read.

I've had plans everyday. Fun plans. But no time to sit and read and watch TV and nap and daydream. 

I just wanted to daydream! 

But I've had fun.

Kyle and I took mom out for a late birthday breakfast. We crashed DJ's Diner and had a pretty great breakfast.

 

Love me some OJ

 Mom's breakfast. 

Super!

And now, here it is- Friday afternoon- I have roughly 2 days left. What to do? What to do.

I have decided that I am ready to go back to school now. I'm excited.

Not so excited for all of the work that awaits me. 

But what is life without a little bit of hard work?

Fun. Life without hard work is fun.

But that's beside the point and now I totally forget where I was going with that thought... So we'll just move on for good.

So usually when I come home I take a butt load of pictures of the most random things ever. Turns out, I didn't actually take pictures this time.

Maybe a few. But I've seriously let people down. 

Even myself.

I'll fix that- maybe tomorrow. 

And for now, I'm going to finish watching Angus, thongs and perfect snogging with MC and Kyle. 

Funniest movie ever.

Result!

Honey Let Your Hair Down Too

Even if I was interested in concentrating right now, I wouldn't be able to.

According to others on my hall, the girl who lives next to me has a full stereo system, and she likes to put it to good use.

It's some R&B station right now.

Makes watching One Tree Hill a bit difficult, but I'll get over it.

I have to wait 12 minutes until I can watch the rest of my episode, because I can only watch 72 minutes at a time. But don't worry, I've found a way around the system and know how to successfully shave 15 minutes off of the 30 minute wait time.

Someone just made popcorn.

Ah... dormitory living!

On a happier note, I will be home in 6 days =D 

I'm smilin'

My weekend is off to a great start. Last night, I went to my first ever NHL game at the RBC Center in Raleigh. 

It was so much fun.

I went with Alyssa and Jenna- Carolina Hurricanes vs. Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Good thing I'm not into Pittsburgh.

We had a really fun time! Jenna had never been to a game either, and after last night, she decided that she was going to be a hockey fan.

 

We decided that standing would only happen when it was "required". 

Falling would not have ended well. 

High seats! 

 Me, Jenna and Alyssa.

We were decked out in our black and red- go Canes go! 

 A Penguin in time-out.

 The people I live with.

They're pretty cool =) 

 Hurricanes won. 

Boom!

 Daddy and I used to watch hockey games on tv just in case they got into a fight. 

Well, this was one of two very short- lived fights that I managed to capture.

I'm not sure why it's in black and white- guess my camera setting got changed and I didn't have time to change it before they were completely finished throwing punches. 

This one's for you dad ;)

Jenna and I experiencing our first hockey game together.

Again I say, it was a blast. Lots of energy, and we even got to sit in front of a crazy drunk man dressed as a penguin. 

Yea, he was weird.

And then, the good weekend continues as I only have one assignment to work on, and it's a paper that I practically have written already!

Well, not exactly but  a full outline sort of counts.

Apart from waking up this morning at 9:17 to my father laughing at me after he realized that he woke me up with his phone call and my inability to properly function due to the searing pain in my shoulder/back, all has been going well!

I guess it could have been worse- he woke me up one time by "nudging" my head with his foot. 

I was sleeping on his and mom's floor- but still, kicking my head?

Not cool.

And I'm not sure what's up with my back. I need a good old fashioned- Kyle style back rub to make it feel better. 

Good thing I only have to wait 6 more days!

For now, I'm off to bigger and better things.

Not. 

I need to start that paper. Good for me.

Keep it real.