This is mostly because I want to brag about the girl I get to eat lunch with because I realized how much I miss seeing her. Her name is Paige, she's 5, and she's awesome!

Every Tuesday and Thursday we would get together, rush through eating lunch, and then read a book or color or even make our own jewelry some days. Mostly I think I just miss that she's so honest. I think that little kid's honesty is actually a really cool phenomenon: they say what's true simply because it is--with no ulterior motives.

Luckily, I get to see her again in the fall!

In other news, I haven't blogged in forever and so much has happened since then I wouldn't know where to begin. But, in the past few weeks, I've had a great time hanging out with my college friends who visited and my high school friends who I hadn't seen in a too long.

It's been great!

...But I'm ready to do something productive so hopefully that will start up soon!

Here are some pictures from a walk I went on today. Enjoy!

(This is my favorite. I really liked the texture)

I'm so excited that tomorrow is the weekend!

That's basically all. My attention span is down to an all time low.

Examples:

This is me, finishing my book

And here I am writing an essay

And these are my notes from class today

(Amy, I used that verse you sent me for this one)

By some form of mercy (found mostly in caffeine to combat sleep deprivation), I still got everything done. At least it's fun, right?

StompFest Tomorrow!

and Jamba Juice. at some point.

Well, right about now, I should be reading All the King's Men with some form of diligence considering my procrastination over the past 2 weeks was at an all time high, but I just can't bring myself to it and needed this to stop from falling asleep. As it turns out, the sophomore slump is a reality.

But, I have really been enjoying this semester and this break (kind of break--I've done more reading in the past 48 hours than in all of last week). It has been really good to hang out with my sister. She's 16, a high school sophomore, and has it way more together than I ever have in my life. Which is cool and gives her this alien (to me) sense of direction that is actually pretty inspiring. Today we went to see The Last Song. We both have a sort of sweet spot for Nicholas Sparks despite the fact that he tends to make us cry... a lot. I liked it. And, as always, I liked our drives where we gawk over new music the other one has found and wants to show off and intermix the listening with conversation that can just be honest and unguarded. Being with her is like being safe to be vulnerable.

Other good things that happened this weekend were:

Getting to hang out with Mon and Kels. They're my two best friends from high school (slash kind of junior high). It wasn't until we were all together again, sitting outside of Marble slab because they had closed and we were still there, just talking, that I realized just how much I missed them. I mean, we talk and I miss being able to see them but I realized how much I missed just being with them yesterday--which made really ready for summer to get here.

Selena, Maria, and I signing on a place to live! It was a HUGE relief to know that we had something and now I'm just really antsy to get in there and start decorating. Not to mention that now I'm going to be super ready to get out of the dorms!

Having a good talk with my mom the night I got back.

Anyway, I'm going to attempt to go back and ready another 100 pages of this book before calling it quits for the night.

HAPPY EASTER

I'm really glad it's the weekend. This week has been one of those where it feels like the wind sweeps everything up in the first few days and you spend the rest of your time trying to figure out where it came from and what changes it made. But, for now, it's the weekend. Which is a good time to try to be still and appreciate the breeze.

To do so, I thought I'd go over some of the better parts of my week.

I heard from my sister. She's out being amazing in New York and fell in love with the city. We basically planned out our lives for the next 5 years and decided we could both move there and be happy. She could go to Columia and I could find some grad program there and it will be all set and perfect. Here's a little insight into our conversation:

"Well we're going to have to go to broadway a lot. But it's cool because we'll become friends with the ticket people so they'll let us in for free. We're also going to go to H&M a lot. Because it's freaking awesome!"

The Wickett girls are just going to be so happy in a few years we won't be able to stand ourselves.

I had a really funny and ridiculous night out with Claire and Kelly. It started out with us making muffins and ended with a series of random events. Both of those girls are great. And I love them.

I got to eat at Homestead, which is always a treat.

Tonia and I went to see Macbeth. We both enjoyed it. The evening was followed with a run to Froyo. So good!

One of my morning classes was cancelled!

And today we went to go see Green Zone, shop at Roots, grabbed a great dinner, and made lots of food (for a bake sale) with friends.

Oh! I heard a quote that I really like: A loss of innocence is often followed by an increase in humanity.

Tomorrow should be a day full of homework, but probably won't be.

I'm hoping for a little Cameron Park visit, some bike riding, and a movie.

...is it really Saturday?

Well, the housing expedition did not go expected. But, it looks like we found something great all the same. Basically, we might get to live in a 3 bedroom apartment, which would be awesome. I'd get to live with Selena (who I live with now and is great) and Maria (who I've gotten to know over the past semester and who is also wonderful). Things are definitely looking up!

Basically, today is the last day of my spring break and I don't know how it flew by so fast. I've had a really good time so far and I'm just not ready for the week to be over with and for school to start back up. However, I am interested to see how the next semester (side note: I basically call the rest of the time after we get back a new semester. I think Tonia and I were talking about it and it just caught on) goes because every time I come back from a long holiday break, something always changes. And, from conversations I've had with a few friends, things are going to be changing a lot. Should be fun!

Speaking of fun... my day today was full of it. My parents took me to Ikea, then out to eat in the West End, and, to top off the greatness, to the Art Museum. My dad, while we were walking around, said that today reminded him of when I was little and we would go on trips to the museums in Houston. Looking back on my childhood (ok and now too when I'm honest), my parents were (are) pretty awesome at fostering creativity. There's one huge example of this that always sticks out in my head as one of the coolest things my parents did for me when I was little: They bought one of those turtle sand boxes for me but, instead of filling it with sand, they put beans and macaroni noodles and little beads in it and would give me empty containers to make instruments with in it. They kept it in our kitchen so I could play while my mom and dad cooked dinner. I later found out that they kept it inside the house because it was one of the only ways to keep me from complaining about not getting to go outside to play. Apparently, my favorite activities as a kid were playing with sidewalk chalk (basically drawing all over our driveway), and going to the pond to feed the ducks with the left over bread from whatever meal we were eating.

I think I'm safe in saying that not much has changed in that aspect of my life.

Ok so the last few days have been a bit of a blur. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I was strangely inspired and excited after talking with Claire. I think we stopped talking at about 11:30 and I then spent the next 4 1/2 hours painting out the excitement. I love random spurts like that. I get them at school but I don't even have any of the materials I need or the time to devote to it (due mostly to the joy that is interdisciplinary study). But last night, I had all the time I could stay awake to use... although I still lacked paint, so I had to use what we had left over from when I painted my room this summer. I still like it though!

Sadly, I forgot all about pictures with Tonia... But the day itself was AWESOME. I love going to Cafe Brazil in the mornings. That, followed by a great portion of retail therapy made the first half of my day exceptionally great. The second half--or maybe I should say thirds considering the time I spent on the picture...whatever, halves are workin for me--of my day was good too. I went on a walk with my mom for about hour or so; we used to go on them all the time so that we could just be outside (I think she just know how much I like being outside and goes on them for me really, she's a good mom) and hang out. I had really missed them. Then I went off to spin class with my dad and when we were back we all had dinner. I had also really missed home cooked meals.

Speaking of which... tomorrow I'm headed to Waco for the day to check out some houses for Selena and myself to live in. Wish us luck! I'm expecting something really great to happen: mostly because I was really bummed that the duplex we were going to live in with a bunch of our friends fell through. But, the more I look back on my life, the more I realize that a lot of the disappointments I keep coming across are really more like great opportunities for something better than I would have planned.

Humbling?

Yes.

The World's Moving Backwards

Today was a great day. It was my first one back at home over break and I got to sleep in for the first time since school started back up. I had forgotten how great it felt to lay in bed and not feel like I needed to start on work. Basically, the feeling continued on throughout the day and I ended up making granola for the first time in way too long, making lunch for my mom and myself, cycling, and reading while it rained. I'm gearing up for a great day with Tonia tomorrow. I'm hoping to take some pictures with her--because we have next to none together.

Fingers crossed.

Moving Backwards- Ben Rector

This is the current song that I'm obsessed with. I talked about this with Claire a few weeks ago and we both agreed that songs can sometimes just speak to people; for now, this is the one that is really synced with the way things have been going this year (although, not in a sad way, more of in a, I'm just ready to be honest way). Anyway, the song is by Ben Rector. I like a lot of music but the thing that I like the most about his is that the lyrics are so honest and original. Not to mention that his songs include the piano which makes me incredibly happy.