LOVE LOVE LOVE DAY

I just wanted to say Happy Valentine's Day to all of you wonderful and amazing girls in my life. You really are the first loves of my life :)

I hope you were showered in love by whomever around you! I hope the rest of the week you continued to be loveddddd :D

Mushy Gushy Girlyness

Okay, it seems just yesterday and also at the same time years ago that I posted Robbie and I broke up. And now here I am to tell you that I am dating my best friend Zachary Graves. haha. I know for all of you this may seem extremely sudden (though I guess SOME of you called it long before I even saw it coming aha! COUGH! AMBER!) I would love to tell you all the story sometime, though this blog won't suffice, so we'll save it for one of our big parties I am guessin'. I will say that I am the happiest I have been in a long time and he has such deep trust and respect for me. He actually wrote me the most loving and awesome letter - one that says who he wants to be in Christ and in our relationship. Needless to say, tears came to my eyes. It has been completely and totally God led and you know me, the planner, well I actually didn't plan a BIT of it and that's why I know it's solely God. I can't wait to introduce him to you all. He's a sweetie :) Something is really different in all of this guys. Okay I'll stop being a mushy gushy girl - it's kinda embarassing. haha.


I just wanted to tell you all. I love you and I miss you and I hope you guys have been blessed and favored this week. LOVE!

Hello. It is Cassidy Gee Williams.

Hey guys... Remember me? I sure haven't forgotten any of you. It's kind of embarrassing how long it has taken me to post something! I don't know who's worse at posting: me or Caitlin. :D Hi Caitlin. 

Since I have been busy and away from the blog for so long, I decided that the best I could do would be to read the last post from everyone. It is exciting to know about all of the things going on in everyone's lives. It seems as though everyone has some pretty exciting goals and I will be keeping up with the blog better to know how everything goes. Kera linked my email with the blog, which means I'll be notified any time someone posts something. I think I'll be able to keep up with it better that way. If you guys want to do that as well, you should tell Kera because she's a blog boss. BAM. 

Music. I'm sure you are all sick of the same songs. Comment on this post and tell me some new songs to add to the mix. I would be more than happy to update the playlist. I know a couple of you have suggested some songs to me, but I forgot what they were because I'm a ninny. Also, if you tell me a primary email of yours, I can allow anyone to add songs to my playlist on playlist.com, and it awesomely connects with the playlist on our blog automatically and updates everything. It's great!!! :) So tell me your email and then you can add any song you ever want for the rest of your life. :D

It's been so long since I've posted, so I'll just note a few big things:

- My love life is nonexistent... :D I used to like this other half-Chinese guy named Neil, but now I think I just want to be friends with him. After all, Wasians have to stick together. 

- School is... going better I guess. I am working on getting my GPA up now so that my application to the English Teaching major will be a little bit more competitive. Right now I'm taking boring Lit theory classes for my major. EW. I honestly don't care what Terry Eagleton considers to be literature. Ha ha. 

- Friends: things are good! I just made a new friend named Shereen; she's half Iranian. It's pretty awesome. I love where I live because it's south of campus where all the poor people live. The poorer the college student, the cooler. :) It's a cheap party up in hur.

***BIG NEWS: I have officially decided that I want to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I will be leaving hopefully next fall, and I will be gone for 18 months. I will be able to send letters and email my family, but that's all! It's crazy. I am going to be working this summer to earn enough money to go. Unfortunately, I don't know if I'll be able to make it back to Ohio at all. :( I'll keep you guys updated on that though. 

I have some comments for you guys though: 

Gabby: How are you doing? Just in general? 

Jenny: Your dance class sounds so kick butt. Of course I'm jealous. You should make a video of yourself dancing. I would love it. :)

Amber: What is The Ground Beneath Her Feet about? The synopsis? 

Kera: Your goals make me so happy. I have noticed that you've been trying hard to even talk to me more, which I know isn't what you meant by improving your communication, but it is still nice! I like the title you gave yourself as well. 

Caitlin: What the snot. You're in another country and who knows when you'll get this. Tell me your favorite color shirt to wear. Yeah that's all I want to know. 

You guys don't even realize how amazing you are. I'm so lucky to have found friends like you in Ohio. I don't know who else in our whole high school I would have been friends with if you hadn't included me in your little group! I love reading about how you all are doing. 

<3  Cassi

Caffeine-Addicted Super Talkative Complimenter

I wanted to share a couple goals I've set for this semester :)


a) Compliment people
This means all the time, anytime and not just superficially because I feel I have to, but to truly mean it. So this has come to the point where I've told guys I barely know all that well, "Hey you smell really nice." I have found that once I started surpassing the first few awkward ones, they all roll off the tongue. You wouldn't believe the smiles I've seen :) (hey I just sung that in my head without even realizing it...."you wouldn't believe the [smiles] I've seen" It's originally troubles right?) Zach and I have decided to send little compliments in people's mailboxes just about little things that make us smile about them. (but we won't say who from!) It's almost like a fortune cookie in the mailbox, but it's about YOU! (hahaha I picted Uncle Sam holding a fortune cookie right there HAHAHA!)


b) Being bold / more assertive
Today, I asked this kid that I really don't know all that well that I kind of have a soft spot for, out for coffee. It was rather humorous. I really feel God leading me to get to know this kid better right? Well, after class today I said, "Hey you like coffee right?" "Yeah, I love coffee!" "You want to go get some sometime? *pause for effect* I don't ask that romantically." He chuckles and goes, "Sure, yeah, definitely." And so we chatted about where to. I am talking about stuff like that. :) And assertive in standing my ground and not being a doormat :) haha. Also and asking people to sit with me if they are eating by themselves.


c) Okay well I thought I had a third one......mer? Maybe it was YES YES. It's communication. Just getting in contact with people. Doing more one-on-one dates and more coffee dates. That one is a bit self-explainatory.


Basically what ends up happening is I am a caffeine-addicted super talkative complimenter by the end of this semester :)  bahaha!


I wanted to share so you guys can sort of keep me accountable and maybe to inspire you a tad. LOVE!

New Year's Tidbit

A NEW YEAR of 2011.

Returning to school has been nothing but encouraging :)

Some of my friends didn't know I had broken up with Robbie and they've been so sweetly concerned. Two of them are guy friends that we always tease each other (one as if we hate each other). I mentioned it casually in conversation and they both got really concerned and asked if I was okay. That has really shown me a) that this is exactly where I am supposed to be b) everything that has happened has happened just as it should.

I am officially a psychology major with a criminal justice minor. That was a big step to get it on paper and I was a bit nervous, but it's done and I am super excited. My parents aren't necessarily enthused for a few reasons, but I had to do it. I know that is where God wants me and I want to do it :)

I feel super excited and carefree this days. The snow is wonderful, everything tastes wonderful...haha. I'm in love with life :) I mean I always have been, but I am really embracing every small moment lately and I love it.

I do miss you guys more than I have before leaving to go back to school because I really feel that it clicked with me so much more how special you guys are to me. So, I am missing you guys! I talk about you all so much more haha. I think I said each of you names twice in stories the other day haha.

My Old Testament class looks like it will be really neat. The professor wants us to call him TC haha. He's this adorable Asian man with a lot of spunk. haha. He told us some adorable stories about him being a complete romantic (he loves poetry and took tons of Shakespearan classes in college). He says at the end of class, "This is a preface and a warning. I am an army brat." He goes on telling us how his father was a great high up there something in the military and fought in Vietnam. "He was my hero, confidant, my best friend." Tons of soldiers would come and stay at his house and how they had foul language. "So if I cuss, and I know I will because when I am tired, my filter isn't as good, don't be offended. It is my history and how I grew up. I mean, one time this guy from ALabama came and ate with us. My mom cooked him this amazing and wonderful meal and he just scarfed it up and ate and ate and ate. At the end he goes, 'That was so f* good." My adorable mother with her Asian Southern accent says, 'Ohhhh! I am glad you like it.' That is just how my family is." Haha It just really made me laugh how he portrayed it. And the fact that he's a romantic is so amusing. Mondays are going to be my longest day with 5 classes. I'll be taking general psychology and I guess the prof is a bit nuts. tehe. It'll be neat.

LOVE <3

Life Update

HEWO EVEWYBODY!

so i realized that no one at all has posted for a while, and i personally have not posted for like over a month. . . or something like that. so i decided that it is update on my life time :)

lets see . . . winter quarter is in full swing now and while my classes are not terribly difficult, a few of them are a pain in the rear-end. lol. first, we have French. which, don't get me wrong, is a beautiful language, but the class itself still sucks. lol. next is history of math. how exciting does that sound? well its about as exciting as it sounds. lol. i'm convinced the prof is like pre-alzheimer's bc he forgets where he is on the printed page of notes in the middle of a sentence, he's asked me the same questions about my major and year like 3 or 4 times . . . its just a waste of an hour for me. its a silly class. anyway, next is probably my favorite class, which is social dance :) we have learned fox trot and waltz, and we are currently working on swing dance :) in the rest of the quarter i think we are covering tango, salsa, and samba, and maybe mambo (?) i'm excited and i love the class. of course, i'm taking it with sam, dawn, and alex, and none of them are big dancers like me, so they dont have as much fun . . . oh well. lol. anyway, then i have linear algebra, which is easy and that's nice. and last but not least is exceptional learner. which is about special education and is probably the class i most dislike. i would like it if the prof actually taught, and taught us how to teach these kids. but no, we read a book that really just gives us a bunch of definitions and stats . . . *sigh*

anyway, so that's my academic life, whats next? oh! i got asked by a math prof to grade for him this quarter, so i get to log two more hours of work a week and i get to practice grading quizzes and tests and i love it :)

other stuff . . . ASL Club has taken off this year and i'm really really happy about it :) we got pretty blue tshirts made and i did a workshop with the Delta Zeta's because their philanthropy is speech and hearing and they loved it. i actually got a new member out of it :) and we have plans to work with them to have a Deaf Awareness Day on campus during Deaf History Month (March 13-April 15) and i'm excited about that too :)

umm . . . on a downish side, my roommate has been clashing with a few others in our group lately and its causing some tension, but i think some clear communication would fix it. . . i mean, i get frustrated with pretty much everyone in the group every once in a while, but i still love them all, and so yeah, nothing terrible is going on :)

another down note, recycling club had a purpose of collecting the recycling around campus. however, res life decided to make that a work study position, so we have basically lost the purpose of our club. . . so we need to rearrange to make ourselves about awareness and education. therefore, i may be coming to Caitlin/Amber/Gabby with some questions in the future . . . so yeah, on top of this, we are probably getting a new advisor, so yeah, recycling club is going through an upheaval, but i'm holding out hope that things will turn out for the best :)

on a happier note, its almost my one year with sam and i'm really happy :) lol. things with us are still wonderful :)

so yeah, that's pretty much all of it . . . i could ramble some more, but i dont wanna put you to sleep ;)

hope all is well for everyone else!!!

love always,

jen <3

News :)

Dear all,
I wanted you all to know that Robbie and I are no longer together.
Yes, I am okay with it and I am very much at peace about it.
It was a very calm, peaceful, and in some ways a sweet ending.
God is really working it all out for the good of everyone involved. :)

So yes, I love you all and can't wait to be seeing you soon!!

Love,
Kera

Faith We Would Not Fade Away by Honest Abe

I'm starting my own tradition: every post will be titled with some type of song lyric. Yay!

Sooooooo I suck. I haven't been on here in FOREVER. Things with school got wayyyyy out of control, I've just had craploads of work to do recently. So to update everyone on my life...

This semester has been fairly decent. Lots of things happened on campus, and it's really made me think about a lot of things. We were at a remembrance ceremony this afternoon for a first year girl who was killed in a car accident on her way home for Thanksgiving. It was heartbreaking to hear about. It just made me think about how short life is and how I really need to live my life the way I want to.

I received some...interesting news this weekend about a certain person. I'm sure most of you know who it (he) is. Surprisingly, I'm not really that torn up about it. At least, that's what I keep telling myself. But I got some sound advice from Eat, Pray, Love: "Send him light and love every time you think of him, and then drop it." Good words to live by.

I realized I'm in love with a language. Spanish. I freaking love it. Yet I'm saddened because next semester will be the last semester I'll have room in my schedule to take it. *tear*

For the past several months I have been utterly OBSESSED with Salman Rushdie. I'm in the middle of reading The Ground Beneath Her Feet and I'm telling you, I'm in love with this guy's writing. Ask Gabby. I've scared her a few times, actually, reading that book, by randomly sobbing or laughing out loud. But you guys know how emotional I get over literature. But anyways...READ IT. SERIOUSLYI'MNOTEVENKIDDINGYOUALLHAVETOREADITSOICANTALKABOUTITTOSOMEONEELSEAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Now that the spaz attack is over...I have a song I'd like to dedicate to all of us:
"We Are Okay" by Joshua Radin

Love love love always and forever,
Honest Abe xoxo

Winter Wonderland! by Gabs

So, I started to write a comment on Kera's post, but when I got to the third sentence of my second paragraph, I decided to just write my own post. Woohoo! First order of business: SLEDDING! I am so excited! I can't actually remember the last time that I went sledding. I actually think it might have been before Alex was born, and he will be 5 in a month. Crazy, right? He is getting so big and cute and just awesome! He has this new Spongebob hat that he wore every day this weekend. It was adorable. And he told me that I was his favorite person. Which is funny, because last weekend he told me he loved bacon more than everyone except Andrea. Haha. Okay, that's my tangent about Alex. =]
Second order of business: I AM LOVING THE SNOW! It is making campus look so pretty. Although it is less fun to walk through, even if the quad we live on this year is better salted and shoveled than the walkway in front of my dorm last year. At least for now, I'm trying not to get my hopes up. It was kind of sad at first with just the flurries, because all the snow melted away... Thursday night? Although Wednesday I did get to witness a girl totally wipe out on the ice in the middle of her drunken rendition of "Let It Snow". It was kind of hilarious. Although the effect was sort of lessened when we got back to our dorm and the full ramifications of "Wasted Wednesday" came upon us. Drunk people are so gross- Amber witnessed a girl spitting in the stairwell at one point. Ick! And don't even get me started on the mysterious substance my hand encountered on the stair rail the second week of the semester. I freaked out. Ha!
Anyway, I am not excited about finals, but I am pushing through. Yes! Mostly because I am really excited about next semester and I just want to get to it already. Even if it is going to be SUPER hard- I am going to be in 2 English classes, one of which is a really broad survey course (18th & 19th C British Lit) and another more specific class (Nature and Lit). Plus I'm taking an intro Women's Studies course, so there's 3 classes with a TON of reading. Then I'm going to be in a language class- German 2. That shouldn't be as hard. I just know that I am going to have a ton of papers to write, and lots of reading to do. I mean, we have to read 2 novels in one of my classes, and then a very large chunk of Gulliver's Travels, and then still a whole bunch of other stuff. And there are 4 required books in my Women's Studies class, 3 of which aren't the textbook, just novel-length books. So... woohoo! At least I like reading, and books. I am an English major after all. I guess this is what I get. We'll see how many sleepless nights I end up with....
Oh! So a health update. I don't know if I've told you guys, but I was diagnosed with a heart condition in March/April called POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome). Basically my heart races when it's not supposed to (I woke up almost every morning with a pulse of 120-not good!) Anyways, I've been on a beta blocker since then to regulate my heart rate. Well recently I've been having issues again- irregular heart rate, etc when it shouldn't be. Even after no caffeine for 3 days and switching up another med I'm on, it's still doing these funky things. So I have to go on a heart monitor for 2 weeks sometime this month- whenever the insurance decides to stop being stupid and just put the darn thing through. My mom got really mad at them- she asked the woman "What if she has a heart attack before the request gets processed? What then?" Needless to say, the woman did not have a response to that question. So, yeah. I'll try to keep you guys updated with that whole thing. Wish me luck!
I can't wait to see you guys!
Love, Gabby

Eggs and the F-Bomb - Kera

I thought since I have some spare time for once in three weeks, I am going to post here :)

As you all know the "f-bomb" has detonated....FLURRIES! I have to say it so beautiful outside especially when it is nice and fluffy and it catches in your hair and tickles your nose. It makes you feel slightly dreamy inside. Maybe it is just me? haha.

Lately I've been really evaluating my educational process....I think what I am going to do is space out my classes more and spend more years total in school. Taking 17-20 credit hours every semester is not a plan for success for me...I have 15 right now and two of my classes are killing me. It took me a while to accept this idea that was presenting itself. I am Class of 2010! Hurrah! But I've come to realize that sure I may say I am that, but if I don't learn what I am supposed to learn cramming it all like I've had to, I won't graduate then anyways. So what seems like a better plan? Exactly. ha. Now you know what is going on on that front.

I just did a "controversial chemistry paper" on birth control. I found it so facinating to read more in depth on the female body. You guys might think I am totally whacko sure, but I really have come to just admire what God has created. Sure, having a period can be annoying / gross at times, but after studying more on how many changes are occuring just so one little egg can dilly dally its way to potentially being fertilized is rather sweet if you think about it. And I wanted to share a little story that made me appreciate a little more "Aunt Flo". A woman in my Bible study told us probably 6 months ago now a little testimony of sorts. She and her husband have two children already and decided that was perfect for them so she had a procedure done that thinned the lining of her uterus so eggs could no longer implant. Yet, she started to have a maternal urge to have another child, but she kept ignoring it. All these women were having babies and she just brushed it off as being that "oh the baby is so cute I want one" syndrome. However, one day the Lord told her that she was going to have another baby. She laughed and was like "God, you know the surgery I had, how is that possible?" However in the course of the last few months she's found she is wanting a "miracle baby". Ironically, a lot of the devotionals that we in the Bible study read have ended up dealing with this awesome man of God saying "if you want a baby, start preparing" etc. Well the other day (and sorry if ahead of time this is gross for you guys), she said that she was on her period and she felt a gush of blood. What most women would typically feel is panic or digust, but instead her heart leapt for joy because that has not happened in the years since she had her surgery! That means her uteral lining is developing on its own! So to the point of the story is that.....I've just been awestruck by these little things I can take for granted or just find as "normal bodily functions" are really a blessing disguise. I had a little moment today where I just thought (of course I am going to say this in a sillier way than it was presented in my mind), "one day...that little egg that usually goes bye-bye will instead meet the sperm of its dreams and develop into a baby, my baby!" Isn't it really just kind of amazing? Anyways, I'll get off that subject for those of you who might be feeling a little queasy, but I hope it insome ways blessed you as it did me (as odd as it may be).

Annnnnd I'd like to say that we MUST go sledding this winter. I haven't been sledding in two, possibly three years and I am dying to go. So, you + me + snow + sled = adventure of a lifetime! Do any of you have sleds? I have a long yellow one that we could use.

I hope you're all doing swell and are chugging through the last parts of the semester (or quarter) and with finals! I know you will all do awesome!

P.S. The peppermint hershey kisses are amazing...I think I've fallen in love again :) Just when I thought hugs were enough....not anymore. ;)