Thursday Thoughts

It's been awhile since my last post, due to the craziness of the last few weeks. I started working at Camp a few weeks ago and it has been a incredible, but challenging ride so far. I was blessed with the opportunity to have a lead position in the Kindergarten and First grade class this year, but I wasn't quite prepared for what all that meant. You see, Kindergarten is new to camp this year, and while I love all the little kiddos in my group, they learn at a much different pace and way than my groups in the past. I have had to challenge myself, and the staff working with me, to grow in patience every day and remain open-minded to new ways of teaching. It's not been easy, but it has been cool to watch these kids learn, develop, and grow over the last 3 weeks. I am happy to say we have finally figured out a system that works wonders, and they are all learning our routine wonderfully!

On another note... Erin's wedding is only 1 month away! We have all been planning and preparing for months, but it still doesn't seem real that she's getting married in a month. I have a hard time believing we're old enough to be at this stage in our lives. It seems like we should still be sneaking out to play in the hospital, playing school, and driving each other absolutely bonkers. But, the time has come. I am so proud of both her and Stephen, and am very excited to have him join our family for good. 30 days and counting!

In 6 days, I will be heading to DC to see Meredith. I told her last year I had never been to DC so we have been planning this trip for months. I am sooo excited to see her and Jessica! Hanging out with them is always filled with lots of laughter, jokes, and good times. I'm also excited about going to the Smithsonian! Meredith always laughs at my dream to see a blue whale in person, and they have one there, so lets just say I'm a little bit excited.


Well I think that's all for now. Happy Thursday!

Meghan McCloskey

In continuing with my posts about my best friends, let me tell you about my great friend Meghan McCloskey. She and I have been in design classes together since freshman year. Our friendship, however, truly started during our drafting final. She was part of the group sitting at the tables where I was working, and through all the late night dinner runs, venting, and laughing at all the crazy things people said/did that week, we quickly became friends. She is one of my best friends in design and each year our friendship grows stronger. So here are a few of the many things I love about Meghan:

1. She is the CAD queen.
2. She can do pretty much anything on a computer.
3. Her one and only breakdown in 3 years is by far my favorite quote ever: "I'm sooo tired!"
4. The 6th time is always the charm for her.
5. We shared a bed together in Charleston.
6. She has a Radar friend.
7. Jodi got her wet the first time they met. (Best IHOP night ever!)
8. She always puts forth an effort to make it to any important event we may have.
9. She is by far the best frolicker I know.
10. Her flashlight app is amazing! Although her camera flash is just as entertaining.
11. She enjoys all the little things in life more than anyone I know.
12. She plays with inchworms.
13. She works in a closet.
14. Her boyfriend can get her to say the craziest things with his Mad Gab games.
15. She's practically immune to alcohol.
16. She is nice to everyone, but the ID5 knows her true feelings better than anyone!
17. She always has a full stash of food and basic necessities in her locker.
18. We ate dirt together.
19. She's great at following the water brick road.
20. I can always count on her being my norton buddy.
21. She can do her work and still find time to paint picture frames.
22. A wanna-be ID5 member finally spoke to her again.
23. She will be living across the hall from us next year and attending weekly family dinners.

Meghan thank you for being such a great friend! Thank you for all the times you've listened to me and helped me through the hard times. Thank you for always taking time to make all of your friends feel special. Thank you for the millions of times you've helped me in the CAD lab. I know it can get annoying, but it means the world to me that you are always willing to help when I can't seem to figure things out. Thank you for making design nights more fun, and always being part of my support system. I could not have gotten through these last couple of years without you and I'm so proud to call you my friend! I love you and I miss you!! Bring on senior year :)

Before and After: Adam's room

My cousin Adam decided a few months ago, that he was ready to take his room from little boy themed to a teenage grown up room. My aunt asked if I would help with this transition by painting and getting new bedding for his room, and of course I said yes. Adam originally told me he wanted a Florida Gators blue bedroom. Dee and I were both reluctant, but it's his room so we went with it. I quickly drew out the room on SketchUp and played with different colors going along with the Florida Gators idea. When he saw what I had come up with, he almost instantly decided not to go the Florida route, in fear that it would become another themed room. (Dee and I were both a little relieved at that point). So we started talking about other color options, and I tried to get an idea of what he wanted his room to be like. When he saw the color I had painted my room, he fell in love and instantly decided to go with grey. So, I got the paint, bought the bedding, picked out some fabulous curtains, and got to work. After 4 very LONG days of painting and setting up, this was the result:

Before:

After:

After 4 days, 3 gallons of paint, some new bedding and curtains, and I think I succeeded!

Jessica Rose

I've been meaning to continue my posts about my best friends, and then finals came around and I forgot all about it. So lets continue...

Jessica was my lovely roommate this year. The story of our friendship is pretty interesting but oh so incredible. Last year, the IHFC club on campus (Interiors and Home Furnishings Club) took a trip to Charleston. Jodi, Meghan, and I (the only sophomores on the trip) knew we wanted to share a room but needed a fourth person. Jodi quickly told us how much she loved Jessica, how sweet she was, and that she'd make a great 4th roommate. We all said ok, and off to Charleston we went. It was an incredible weekend, and we all had a blast. Jodi was right, Jessica was a very sweet girl and we all got along great. However, to be honest lol we never really hung out or saw each other again that year (mainly because of projects). When it came time to choose housing for our Junior year, Meredith, Katy, and I decided to live together. I didn't have anyone to share a room with, so we just left it up to the school to choose. The person they put us with first, was well....just not going to work. So I asked the school to find another option. Little did I know that they would email me later that summer saying Jessica Rose was my new roommate. My first thought was please let it be the same Jessica, and it was! I was so excited to know the person I was living with, but I had no idea it would turn into such a great friendship. After that, the rest is pretty much history. Our year was great, we got along SO well, and have become such great friends! So here are a few of the things I love about Jessica:

1. She has the most incredible time management skills.
2. She is the CAD/Revit/Design princess!
3. She is just as much of a neat freak as I am.
4. She is my crafting/creativity buddy.
5. She loves Army Wives.
6. We walked between Chase and Trevor together. (that's where our true friendship began.)
7. She and I can sit up into the wee hours of the night talking without ever running out of things to talk about.
8. She is always on time for our 11 o'clock chats with Meredith.
9. She understands what I'm thinking with just a glance of the eye.
10. She will sit and listen to us rant about anything relating to Design.
11. She, more than anyone, shares my love of hanging out and laughing at all the crazy things Meredith does/says.
12. She is the best eavesdropping partner anyone can ask for!
13. She and I share a deep love of the nights when we get to close the curtains.
14. We can both easily sleep until 1pm.
15. She has a boyfriend who understands color-ways and their importance.
16. She will gladly lock herself in a room with me for tear-jerker sundays.
17. She has gained an official, and coveted spot as the 5th member of the ID5.
18. She passed Meredith's initiation.
19. She has slept with both me and Jodi now.
20. She's living with us next year!
21. She is always up for an ice cream trip to norton.
22. She loves to play tricks on people.
23. She taught me everything I know about how to navigate Market.
24. She's not afraid to explore and take ridiculous pictures with me (especially at market).

Jessica, thank you for helping make this my best year of college yet! I could not have asked for a better roommate or friend. Thank you for listening to my countless hours of random thoughts, and being for there for me when times got hard. You are one of the sweetest, most loving, understanding, and patient people I know. I'm so happy to call you my friend and cannot wait for next year! Love you and I miss you!

God's perfect timing

As I mentioned in my last post, God truly shined through when it came to getting this summer course. This may seem like a small thing to some of you, and I'll be honest, I almost overlooked it myself. But the Lord came through, like he always does, and I'd be a fool to not share how he blessed me.

So a few weeks before the end of my semester, I happened to check my class records to make sure I was on track, and kind of get an idea of what my final year of college would look like. Much to my surprise, as I read through and wrote down everything I needed, I quickly realized that I was not going to graduate on time. Somehow I was 2 classes behind, and lets just say I had a minor freak out. I quickly scheduled an appointment with my advisor and we walked through each class. I was going to have to take a full semester load both semesters and still have to take one course over the summer. There were two issues I had with this:

1. I had paid a LOT of money for my schooling and it was infuriating that I now had to pay for a class outside of school.

2. A full course load 2nd semester next year, meant stress times 100. Senior Seminar is 2nd semester and that class could be a full course load by itself.

So I called my mom, and basically decided that I'd try to get into 2 courses this summer: Biology and Sociology. I looked up classes, found some I was interested in, got them approved by the school, and sent my applications in. At this point, I thought I was good to go. Wrong. Once I got accepted at A&T (where the Bio class was) I put the form in to be entered into that course and got a quick response that the it was full. My heart sank but I didn't give up. I emailed the professor, explained my situation, and thought he would let me into the course. Wrong again.

So since Biology was full, I tried for Sociology. That class was full too. Apparently I had applied too late and it was looking like I was out of luck for both classes. Now I was beginning to really worry, and had another minor freak out. So I prayed, and prayed and was left basically to trust God to handle things. I had almost given up when my aunt recommended checking NCSU for my classes. I looked and they had a Sociology and a Biology class. I was feeling a little better and thought things were looking up again - I wasn't completely wrong this time. My school, refused to approve the biology class but they would approve sociology. I desperately wanted to take my Biology over the summer because it's so hard to fit in with my studio courses at school, but I figured I would at least get one class done, and could graduate on time. So I applied, got approved, registered, and paid for the class. I wasn't thrilled with the situation but it was better than nothing, and I thanked the Lord, and put it all on the back burner as I finished up the semester.

It wasn't until last week that I really thought about my summer class at all. While working at the Church, I got a call from my A&T advisor (where the first bio class was), saying that a spot had opened up for the Biology class and if I wanted in, all I had to do was pay. I was SO excited but had to take a step back and really look at things.

1. I had already paid for my sociology class.
2. I had to take an extra class 2nd semester next year so there was no point in taking 2 classes this summer if I was going to have to pay for another one at school anyways.
3. Money is pretty tight so I definitely couldn't pay for two classes this summer.
4. If NCSU wouldn't give me my money back for the sociology class, I would have to stay in it even though I desperately wanted to take Biology instead.

I called my mom, explained what was going on, and then quickly called NCSU. It was 4 o'clock at this point, so I knew my time to catch someone in the office was running out. I contacted NCSU and they said that since the class had not started yet, all I had to do was drop it from my schedule and they would give me a full refund of my money. A FULL REFUND! Now come on, you can't tell me that's not God's handy work right there! I was thrilled! So I quickly called A&T back, she added me to the Biology course, and the next day I was able to pay.

God is SO good! He got me into the class I needed, I will be able to graduate on time, I won't have to take a full course load with senior seminar, and by getting into this class he saved me almost $150!

Thank you Lord for your blessings and watching over me every step of the way. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayers. Even in the smallest things you are faithful and I'm so thankful for everything!

"But those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." -Isaiah 40:31

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and future." -Jeremiah 29:11