Gonna Set My Spirit Free

Due to the fact that there is some sort of local basketball game that was voted "more important than normal CBS broadcasting", my Wednesday night is wide open. 

Wednesday is our typical TV night because we literally watch 3 hours of TV. 

Survivor. Criminal Minds. CSI. 

But now that's all rescheduled for 1:37am so I have been forced to readjust. 

Rather than make the most of these 3 free hours by studying and preparing myself for tomorrow's 9:30am midterm, I decided to update on February happenings! 

Let's be real- I can study when I'm dead. Isn't that how that saying goes? 

I'm pretty sure it is. 

So February in Raleigh is much different than the February's that I grew up knowing. The temperatures vary quite drastically from day to day. I have honestly experienced all 4 seasons in just 1 week's time. 

One day it's sunny and high 60's, then the next day freezing rain falls from the sky. 

Ridiculous. 

Whiplash. 

But I like to make the most of those pretty days and take pictures. 

The skies are always blue. It's pretty great. 

 The Meredith Monument. 

It's actually not called that, but I don't know what else to call it and it always looks so important so I figured my title was fitting. 

Seriously though- prettiest campus ever! 

This past week also delivered big-time when I made my first Cadbury Creme Egg purchase of the spring season. 

It was a pretty big deal. Big enough that it made its way to my February summary.

I was also lucky enough to spend a whole weekend with some pretty crazy people. I laughed more than I have in a really long time. 

Uncle Randy and Jessica drove down so Jess and I could celebrate our birthdays together. 

Did I mention we had a blast? 

We did lots of city things- restaurants and breweries, eating and drinking, laughing and being ridiculous. Like seriously, every time we drove somewhere all 5 of us would sing at the top of our lungs to whatever song was playing on the radio. 

We didn't even know half of the songs we sang along with, but that didn't stop us.

And here come quite a few photos summarizing our weekend together. 

Enjoy it. 

Jess and Randy were stuck in traffic and that made Carter and I sad. 

(Honestly, I was more upset that I had to clean the bathroom, but we won't tell them that.)

Dinner at Tyler's 

Happy 21 to us!

Love love love

We also walked through the mall before the stores were opened. There were not many people there- but let's be real- I would have posed this way even if the mall was crowded. 

Then Jessica got real cute. Lynda's laughing loudest since she's holding the camera, my laugh sounds like it's coming from the heavens because I was at the top of the escalator (and because I'm angelic).

All aboard the tiniest and most childish merry-go-round! 

Randomly located in the food-court by the way. I thought that was weird too. 

You just let your child ride while you eat a chic-fil-a? What child doesn't want to eat in the food-court? 

Anyway, I was in the tug-boat and clearly I rocked it. 

But then, like every other good weekend and fun time, the Blanks had to drive back to Pennsylvania. It was sad- I cried. Actually I didn't, but it did suck that they had to leave. 

MOVE TO RALEIGH. 

This is me being pushy.

Last night was another great February happening- it was Skye's birthday celebration! 

She turned 21, so we took her out for dinner at Beasley's Chicken and Honey then made a few stops before landing at Tir Na Nog where we were serenaded by a fun and entertaining Irish band. 

Skye's fiance surprised her and spent the evening downtown with all of us! 

Skye, Katy and I after stuffing our faces with fried chicken on top of thick waffles dripping in honey. 

So delicious. 

So the band at Tir Na Nog was called Full Set- there was a drummer, a fiddler, an elbow-bag-pipe player (whatever that is), an accordionist, a flutist and a guitarist. 

It was toe-tapping fun. 

That sounds stupid- it was just fun. Lots of fun. 

And the band guys were attractive and had thick Irish accents so naturally I was very interested and they kept my attention. 

Skye was friends with the elbow-bag-pipe guy whose name was Chris. She bought their CD and they all signed it- super friendly. Apparently they just won "Best New Artist" in Ireland this year? Pretty impressive. Anyway... I fell in love with the fiddler, mostly because he was a fiddler with an accent. 

And yes, he was looking directly at me as I snapped this. Probably because we were sitting closest to the stage and I was being really obnoxious about my love for the fiddle. 

Seriously though- what I wouldn't do for a fiddling Irishman. 

There they are- the guitarist is semi-hidden but you get the idea. The girl with the accordion was stinkin adorable. Can you imagine...

"Do you play any instruments?" 

"Yeah, I play the accordion. Nbd."

Shut up.

And then because you can't hear pictures, here's a nice video showing off my boyfriend's fiddling skills. 

Just kidding, he's not my boyfriend guys! 

Also, I apologize for the little man dancing in front of my camera. He was unavoidable. He also was not doing any type of Irish jig, contrary to what you might think. He was mostly just jumping around kicking his feet and making it look like he was doing Irish dance. 

Believe me- he wasn't. 

Ali also came to Tir Na Nog with us, but I don't have any evidence to prove that she was there. Sorry Ali! Although she does have a really cute picture of us on instagram, and if she sends it to me I'll put it on up! 

(wink wink!)

And that brings us to February 27th. I don't anticipate a whole lot happening tomorrow that would be blog-worthy. I have to pack, pick up some goodies at the Crains, and take a midterm. 

Packing- not exciting. 

Goodies at the Crains- EXCITING! 

Midterm- definitely NOT exciting. 

Then Friday I get to go home! But by then it will be March, so we'll save that for the March happenings. 

And speaking of my midterm- I really should review a few more times before calling it a night. 

Maybe next year I'll be more motivated to study for exams. 

Or maybe it'll just never happen for me. Exams don't intimidate, scare, or motivate me. 

How un-studious of me?

It's about time

Guys, guess who finally made time to sit down and make some changes??

I did. This girl.

The last time I updated my blog was when I created it- pretty sure. So it was time. Let's be real. 

I was also hoping that this time I wouldn't have a huge amount of stuff to catch up on, but again I was wrong. 

Not that lots has happened, but what has happened is pretty monumental in my opinion. Like a BTR concert with the UNC Clef Hangers- that was pretty cool. A bunch of preppy guys decked out in bow-ties, flair-filled vests and khakis can serenade me any day! 

We helped ourselves to their vests when they foolishly left their dressing room unattended. It was like they begged us to try their vests on. 

No one got any phone numbers- much to all of our disappointment- and I think everyone cried about it. But we did get a semi-group picture with BTR and some of the Clefs. 

Us girls decided to go stomping through Raleigh the other week- that was a fun time. We found a random wall filled with color and we asked a kind-looking passerby to snap a quick group shot for us. 

We also found a cow sticking out of a building and had to take a picture with that too. It's not every day that you see a cow's rear-end sticking out of a window in downtown Raleigh! 

Then we walked around and acted crazy and drank coffee. Good group bonding time- you know. 

You know what else was really monumental for me?

Turning 21. 

Since my birthday was on Monday, we decided to celebrate all weekend long. Doesn't everyone do that? 

Kyle surprised me by flying down Friday night in the middle of this freak ice-storm that Raleigh just so happened to be experiencing. His flight was delayed at least 3 hours and our previous plans were pretty screwed up by the weather stuff. Lynda was going to have him show up at dinner wearing a big red bow to surprise me. 

Since that didn't happen, we all waited up playing Mario on the Wii until 11pm, then headed out to the airport to pick him up. The weather men were advising us to stay indoors what with the treacherous road conditions and all, but nothing could keep us from rescuing Kyle from the airport! Not that he was in danger, but for real- who wants to be stuck in an airport on my birthday weekend?? Not this girl. 

We did so many fun things that weekend, it'll probably make you really jealous. So if you can't handle it, if you're going to get all upset and start to really hate us, then just stop now. 

I'm serious. 

So serious.

Okay so here we go. Saturday we started the day off right- with a trip to Jubala for coffee and biscuits with the Crains, John and Harry, me and Kyle. 

Lynda and I had matching outfit concepts, and that was enough for us to pose appropriately for a photo. 

Boots, scarf, leather jacket- very similar concept. 

This was Kyle's first visit to Jubala and I'm pretty sure it was a huge hit. I know he was a big fan of the ham and cheese biscuit, but they lost a good 10 points when he realized he couldn't order a caramel macchiato (his number 1 go-to-drink). But he ordered the brown sugar cinnamon latte, and I think that he actually liked it. 

He drank it down to the very last drop anyway. 

Then someone took another picture of Lynda and I. We don't ask for these things, they just kind of happen! 

Just kidding, we totally asked someone to take this for us. 

Deal with it. 

 

After coffee we headed over to The Alley for some good, retro bowling. 

No computers, oldies music, and the foam gutter-guards. 

Perfect.

 

Harry and I decided to pose like the bowling pin on the window. I think we did a pretty great job. 

Then Kyle had the brilliant idea of making me into the lumpy bowling ball beside the pin. Of course, how silly of us to have originally ignored the poor little guy! 

And again- nailed it. 

 

Unfortunately the bowling part of things didn't go well. 

In case I didn't tell you before, I can't bowl. 

We tried the same thing last year for my birthday with mom, dad and MC, and I had similar results.

Except this time I didn't drop my ball, so I guess you could say I'm improving.

So yes, Kyle beat me. He was nailing strike after strike and I was all, "Oh good, I got 4 pins!" 

So yeah, I was a little bit disappointed in the score- which I conveniently don't remember.

After bowling we headed to some very random shops and of course posed with the most outrageous things we could find.

 

First to Sugar Magnolia for some crazy colorful hats. Kyle was tempted to buy that hat- it was a great deal and I'm honestly shocked that he left it behind. 

At least I know what to get him for his birthday this year.

Then to Father and Son's- the world's most random store filled with everything from paintings to furniture to vintage clothes and hot-pink mannequins. 

Lynda found a great pair of sunglasses. Can't you just see her lying on the beach sporting these babies? She didn't get them though- too bad. I think she was looking for something with a little more pizzazz. 

Kyle came around the corner at one point and very seriously said to me, "Cait, I found your wedding dress! You have to come see this!"  He was all excited as he grabbed my arm and quickly led me across the store and into a room with this. 

I told you. Hot-pink mannequin. 

The fact that she's pink- kinda weird. Then we see that she's basically chewing on her bangs and is missing a left hand and... do you have goosebumps? Because I really do. From all the weirdness. Moving on.

The one good part of this store came in the form of a vintage couch that just happened to be my favorite color- mint! 

I want this couch. I want it in my cute downtown apartment that I don't have. 

Let's be real- this couch would make the look 100% complete. 

 

After the random shopping/browsing/entertainment, we headed off to Mellow Mushroom for some dinner. 

Kyle kept calling it "the mushroom". It was pretty cute. 

So there we are with our left-over potato pizza. It was literally a baked potato with sour cream, bacon bits, and cheese on a pizza. I didn't think it was possible either- but it is guys. It really is. 

Since this happened before my birthday, when Carter got a free fountain beverage coupon he quickly handed it to me and loudly exclaimed, "That's for you!" 

This is me being super happy for my free fountain beverage. 

Once again reminding me that I wasn't yet 21. 

 

Then after eating at The Mushroom (ha ha) we walked at least 5 miles down the street to the Cupcake Shoppe. Yes, it was 5 miles I'm pretty sure. All uphill too. It's like they wanted to kill me. Ugh. 

But the cupcakes were good- Kyle's never seen a fancy shmancy cupcake shop that only sells cupcakes. Apparently Lock Haven isn't into that?

They're missing out. 

 

 

Then Saturday ended. Saturday was a very long day- like never-ending, but in a good way. 

Then along came Sunday and whoever can guess how we started our day can call themselves special. 

That's right. Another Jubala start- pretty fantastic. 

 

Kyle and I enjoyed our lattes a lot. I actually look quite surprised to see mine. Kyle looks really excited. 

Basically that's exactly how we were feeling. 

We do get normal every now and again. Someone at school told me that they think Kyle and I look alike. I wondered if she had her eyes shut while she was looking at the picture. Just kidding- but I do think it's cool that someone things we look similar. It's cool.

 

 We also went to see a movie Sunday afternoon- Silver Linings Playbook- with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. 

It had 4 of my favorite things: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, lots of Eagles talk, and a lot of crazy. Seriously though- great movie. One of my new favs. 

Of course we did dinner in style- Bull City for some freaking amazing burgers. We were all big fans. Kyle told us that he liked Bull City the best of all the things we did that weekend. It was pretty cute.

 

There's all of us after devouring our burgers. Seriously, amazing. 

And then came Monday- my actual birthday. 

My actual 21st birthday! 

It started off pretty mild- Kyle and I had the morning/afternoon to ourselves so we went to the mall for some Gloria Jeans coffee. Kyle and I agree that it is the best coffee we've ever had.

So of course we took pictures with our favorite coffees. 

Then we went to Target because Kyle didn't believe me when I said that they have an entire isle of wine. 

There he is, in his isle of wine. He was in his heaven. 

Needless to say, he was pretty impressed. 

We did a pretty fantastic dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant with fabulous food and a waitress who was very attentive to my birthday needs. 

 

I don't know what I ate- some kind of pasta with chicken that was top notch. I'm actually sitting here drooling over the picture of that food.

My first drink was some kind of nutella something. Honestly the name was "nutella" so I didn't ask questions- just went with it. It was delicious! 

I was forced to wear some party glasses and a couple strands of garland. When I say forced, I mean someone literally put the garland around my neck and the glasses on my face. To be fair I really didn't fight it, I thought it was funny. 

You only turn 21 once, right? 

After dinner we headed off to sing some Karaoke and I had a blast! I picked some songs that really did nothing extra to highlight my vocals, clearly it was my first attempt at karaoke. There was a woman there named Lisa who really dominated and had obviously thought through what she was going to perform. I just got up there and had a fun time if I'm being honest. 

So that's how my 21st birthday went. It was a great time. Kyle left on Tuesday evening and I had to come back to classes and my new routine on Wednesday. Before he left he kept saying "I can't believe Christmas vacation is over already! I don't want it to end." 

At that point it wasn't quite February yet, so I guess that makes sense. I usually like my Christmas break to last through all of January too.

Back to reality, blah. This weekend is pretty quiet. I have loads of homework to catch up on after not having done anything last weekend. BTR is singing for some kind of high school leadership thing tomorrow morning at Meredith. We have to be at the Chapel at 9:30- please pray for me. 

Now I'm going to cuddle up and watch a movie. A girl just came by asking if I had Clorox disinfecting wipes for her to use. I don't know her, but I think she lives on my hall. I'm convinced that my life would win if I ever entered a "most random life" contest. Not that I would ever enter a contest like that, but I had to make my point. 

So there's that!

Something about Christmas

I was going to sit down and write a quick post covering all of this year's Christmas/New Year festivities while mom and Kyle are out on a walk (which is sure to give them the breath of fresh air they were for some reason craving), but then I realized that I haven't done anything blog related in a very long time.

I really get frustrated when that happens. Now I feel all pressured into making sure I don't leave a single thing out.

I'm getting even more frustrated by the fact that every time I hit the shift key to type "I" this computer just decides not to capitalize it. Perhaps I'm simply too fast a typer for mom's snappy new Mac laptop. Either way, if I fail to capitalize an "I", please just keep it quietly to yourself and know that I really don't care.

So let's get down to it. Thanksgiving? Was fun, lots of food, volunteering at the Family Center in Gap on Thanksgiving day, MC left me for Florida, etc. etc. etc.

We made cookies (while wearing the same sweater and proudly calling ourselves Ketchup and Mustard).

We ate Amish lady donuts on Thanksgiving morning. 

Then we volunteered at the Family Center. They were such great volunteers. 

Our job consisted of welcoming folks to the community center. We mostly opened doors. We also happened to be sitting in front of a coat rack. So naturally Dan figured out how to open the door without applying himself too much. We really were GREAT volunteers. 

Genius. 

Shasta was cute as a button- typical. 

Everything happened so fast after Thanksgiving. Finals proved to be a bit of a challenge, but they were just as fast and relatively easy, as i expected them to be. Too bad that by the time finals roll around i'm ready to be finished and free- studying can be a bit rough, but so far so good.

Then just like that it was Christmas break. We started the holiday season by doing a candle tour of Historic Oakwood. Or something like that. There were a lot of old houses and it was a lot of walking and my wittle wegs got weawy tired.

Then it was back home to Lancaster where the smell of manure and frigid temperatures welcomed me back with open arms.

The dryer is dinging at me every 30 seconds. The funny thing is I am going to sit here and ignore it until mom and Kyle get back. Then i'll act like I didn't hear it or it just began. *Turns up iPod so as to drown out the dryer.*

Christmas at home was pretty interesting. I spent a majority of my time before Christmas shopping with MC for final gifts for the brothers and parentals. I spent my time after Christmas shopping for myself and a new wardrobe. Park City and i know each other pretty well now. Mary Catherine and i even went so far as to name one of the more attractive Park City employees who we saw on a regular basis. We call him Alex. He works at the sock stand. I know- he sells socks Cait? But he's cute and usually is looking pretty snazzy and WORKIN' that sock stand. Not just any socks though... sports socks. We may or may not have taken some photos of him while "shopping" on Black Friday. But now i've said too much. Please, if you know the one that we call Alex- just pretend that you don't or whatever.

MC also sang with the Chamber Singers at Kitchen Kettle one Saturday afternoon. I was definitely feeling a bit of deja vu most of the time they were singing. They went to Disney this year and sang the same songs that i sang during my time with CS. It was a little bit weird, a little bit nostalgic, and a lotta beautiful. Mostly weird because MC is supposed to be this cute little drama-queen/baby girl who asks me to play with her hair and if she can wear my makeup and shoes and jewelry etc. Instead she's cruising around in her own vehicle and turning 17.

Stop.

Anyway.

The Blank-girl-cousins had a fun time being 100% natural.

MC and I felt free to be ourselves. 

We took about 20 of these sorts of selfies. Get over it.

Oh. There's the Chamber Singers in Kitchen Kettle.

Sigh. 

Then it was Christmas Eve- Dan man sat on me and we took a picture because that NEVER happens. 

Jk- it actually happens a lot.

What did I get for Christmas? Well, a whole lot of new clothes (because that's my favorite thing), a few thousand pairs of earrings (because that's also my favorite thing) and some new shoes (because that's really my favorite thing). This Christmas: Success.

And what Christmas would be complete without some One Direction paraphernalia?

I also got some of grandma Martin's canned peaches- SCORE. 

Shasta played with Hurley.

Not so much "played with" as "ran away from" or "stared at". You know.

And it snowed a lot- so fun.

We spent another New Year's Eve in the house that Jack built on Cardinal Hill. Jack literally built this cabin, and he made a few mistakes along the way. For instance, in my family's bathroom he did one heck of a job with the water installation or whatever you want to call it. The hot/cold water knobs in the shower are backwards. I had forgotten until I jumped into a freezing cold shower. That's something you'll only forget once! What's even better is that Mr. Jack rigged it so that steaming hot water re-fills the toilet bowl after a good flush. Well, after any flush. So no freezing cold toilet seats for us in the early morning- or ever. May seem like a blessing, but go ahead and think about the consequences a hot bowl of water may have on... well, you know.

I read a Ted Dekker book, helped Grandma and the aunts complete at least 4 puzzles, went sledding, ate too much, bought pumpkin spice cappuccino, danced in the town square, and played an entire game of Quelf with my shirt on backwards.

Dan also attacked me and wouldn't let me go. No one helped me and they all acted annoyed when they heard my cries of terror.
I managed to get this picture as proof of the abuse I suffered and quickly texted it to my mother. She just laughed and laughed.
Whatever.

It snowed the day after we arrived, adding a few good inches of fresh snow on top of what was already there. Naturally we made use of the driveway, road, and farmer's field. I haven't gone sledding since high school. I always seem to miss the good snows with being back in Raleigh for January and February. I think I went down the track maybe 4 times before i was done. It is shockingly difficult to walk up a never-ending hill covered in at least 6 inches of snow while wearing your father's hunting boots which are 3 sizes too big. Don't hate.

MC took a few dumps into the bank and ended up covered in snow. Then cousin Ethan decided to photobomb. It's cool.

We spent our last few hours together singing away 2012. 

Cousin Jeremy was jamming with his guitar and harmonica combo. He also sings- A triple threat!

Oh... random- but this was from MC's birthday party. Little bit out of order here, but I am not about to go through and find it's proper place in the chronological timeline of events from that weekend FOREVER ago. 

Deal. 

New Year's Eve was a big day for us all- we spent the morning and afternoon preparing ourselves for the hopping party we would attend in New Bloomfield. The huckleberry drop was a booming success last year, so we thought it the only logical choice for ringing in 2013. After 2011's cow drop failure, we were ready to show the rest of the family how New Bloomfield threw a party. Mom and Dad, MC, Kyle, Kevin and Melanie, Jeremy and Mechelle, Maria, Joel, Brady and I piled into 2 vehicles and headed out around 11pm. Sure enough, we weren't disappointed when we arrived just in time to dance the entire Macarena, followed by Cotton Eye Joe and a few other crowd favorites.

The huckleberry dropped, we all cheered, the fire truck went nuts, and a man ran around in a diaper. You know, typical.

Dan didn't go with us though, and that was very upsetting. Who was i supposed to squeeze or tickle at midnight? It was troubling for us all.

There's the Huckleberry. Look how cute guys!

Mom and Kyle's walk ended long ago. Now I'm just waiting for MC to get home from musical practice, Dad and Dan to get home from work, supper to be ready and over, and then I can have my final evening in Lanco. We're going to see some of the cutest little kids ever to walk the planet before they jet off to Europe with their parents. That will be followed by the season premier of the Bachelor.

This season Sean Lowe is the Bachelor- he was on the Bachelorette last season with Emily and he quickly became one of mine and MC's favorites. He unfortunately didn't find love with Emily, so now they're giving him his own season with 26 ladies in waiting. We're pretty pumped. Word on the street is that he starts the show shirtless. Let's just say we'll be glued to the TV at 8pm sharp. Don't hate.

Then I'm off to the big city tomorrow morning. Anyone who wants to tag along to Raleigh is welcome to ride along down with me! Introverted me is excited for a good solid 4 hours of alone time, but 7 hours? I usually go a little bit crazy. I'll be sure to have my favorite boys (One Direction, Chris Wallace, Zac Brown, etc.) prepared to sing to me most of the way. We'll all survive.

Obviously this post has been written over the course of a few days- so sorry. Life is busy kids.
In my final few hours in Pennsylvania this is what happened:

Shasta got her shots and was sad and sick. Shame!

Mom, Kyle and I had a lunch date at Lickety Split in New Holland. I made a new friend, and we all enjoyed some mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Oh and some good sandwiches- but you know. Ice cream rocks- especially mint choco-chip. 

We had a great time and I already want to go back.

Mostly because I want some ice-cream. 

Also because I miss mom and Kyle.

And a little bit because the place was super cute.

And that's my vacation- the last 2 months of my life- summed up! I think I mostly covered the most important parts. I think.

Oh wait... something super important is that I read the Tim Tebow book.
Tim Tebow is always important.
I finished it this morning and now I'm feeling pretty lost because he's finished.
I just felt so near to him while reading...
 Just kidding guys- I'm a little bit obsessive and borderline crazy, but I'm not that weird.

This week is going to be fun- starting my internship on Tuesday. Think of me- I'm a mess of mostly nervous and super excited.
Now I'm off to do some more Sunday night crazies. BTR just had a practice for our concert on Tuesday night. We practiced outside around the fire pit. It was good fun.
We could do that because it is really warm here this weekend- High of 75 today.

Why don't you all live in Raleigh with me? That's right- no reason.

Bunch of losers.
(JUST KIDDING YOU'RE REALLY NOT. YOU'RE JUST MISSING OUT.)