Awesome Deal

Ok, so this is one of the few times when I actually feel good about buyin jewelry.

Last night mom, Elisa and I went to Market Street and wandered into Charming Charlie (I'd never been there before, and honestly I don't see much reason for me to ever go back, but you know, I had a good time anyway). As usual I found my way to a clearance section and found these two really cool chain necklace & earring sets on clearance for $6 each, down from $12.97. That's still a bit much for me, but there was a sign that said 75% off already marked down jewelry, meaning each set was now $1.50! Well that fit right into my price range, so I took them on up to the check out and paid a total of $3.25 for two pretty awesome sets of chains, and I do love chains.

But still, I'd say that the chain stuff only made about 5% of Charming Charlie's inventory, and the rest isn't my style. So I think my first visit is probably going to be my best.

Finals

I finished my last week of classes yesterday at 9:50 with Astronomy. My 1:00 class was cancelled because our teacher deliberately finished on Wednesday, which was nice. It also meant that I could go out with Lorie for some fun! First we went to get her haircut, which turned out SO beautiful. I knew she’d look good with short hair, and it makes her look older and more chic. Then we went to a few stores looking for just the right boots for a new dress she has, and fortunately she found them at Ross for less than 20 dollars, which apparently is a bargain. I, on the other hand, rummaged through the clearance rack of dresses and found four that were perfect for me, in more ways than one. First, they are ankle-length. It is so hard to find ankle length dresses! Designers seem to think girls only want knee-length or just-passed-the-knee-length dresses, which is NOT true. But I got a teal and a blue that were the same style, which looks like a mix between a mermaid and an empire, sort of. The tops are a little lacking in support, but I don’t mind. I like the backs too: they’re these cool knit designs. And then the best part was the prices: the teal was $3 and the blue was $5, not sure why they were different. The third dress is a purple tube top, with a kind of gypsy-looking print. Very pretty and summery, and also only $5. I decided not to get the fourth dress, which was a halter top, cotton, blue, and closer to an empire style. I liked it a lot, but it had even less support than the first dresses. So for about $13, I got three dresses for less than what I would have spent on the shipping for one of the amazing handmade hippie dresses I’ve been looking at online. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t necessarily think that these Ross dresses are better than the handmade ones, but at least I can HAVE these. At this moment in time I’m not willing to spend upwards of $70 on one item of clothing, no matter how much I love it, and I do absolutely love those hippie dresses.
Well then we got back to the dorm and Lorie took a nap before class, so I went to work on revising my best poems to go into my chapbook that I will turn in with my poetry workshop final on Tuesday. So far it’s going well, though I am getting stuck in a few poems. I also hung out in Mary and Darby’s room for a while and watched Angel with them and Kristin while continuing to work on poetry. That was fun, though not exactly productive, though I’m not sure I would have been any more productive sitting by myself all night, which I usually am, but I just wasn’t feeling up to being alone then.
Overall, I am not worried about my finals. My Astronomy final comprises only questions from the first four tests—nothing new—and since I made 100s on all four of those tests I think I can manage the final. My Lit Crit final is only identification: I’ll read a few paragraphs from different analytical essays and I need to write down which criticism is being used. Simple. But I also have to turn in a portfolio of the analyses I’ve written during the semester with some reflections on what I’ve learned. Also pretty simple, and it’s not due until Monday so I’ve got some time. For poetry I have to make my chapbook, then in the final we will revise a poem he hands us, and read two of our own poems to the class. Hopefully that will go well. My Film final is Monday night and is basically a simple comprehensive multiple choice test, or so I’ve heard, but since I’m not taking that class for a grade I’m not too stressed about it. I don’t have a Bowling final, and my Bible final isn’t until Wednesday and only covers that last amount of information we covered, so after my Lit Crit final on Wednesday morning, I can spend from then until Friday morning studying for that. For now I’m focusing on my poetry chapbook and Lit Crit portfolio, they are my priorities because they require the most thought and effort and are due sooner.
I’m so blessed to have such a laid-back finals week. I know quite a few people who are very stressed, so I know this is a gift, and I’m thankful for it. Now it’s just a matter of me actually sitting down and finishing everything. And Lord willing, Ben and I will be on our way home right after the Bible final on Friday with no heavy traffic, no accidents, no bad weather, and no car problems.

A Lovely Tuesday

So yesterday was pretty much amazing. I'll walk you through my day. I woke up, took a shower, went to the Connections Cafe and chatted with Becky (the lovely lady who works there) for a while then went to sit in my Bible classroom. Class started at 9:30, we took an attendance quiz because about 10 people were gone so we got extra points just for staying in town long enough to show up. We ran through an introduction of Proverbs, and THEN, class got out 45 minutes early. So I came back to the room and played Words With Friends (a scrabble game application on the iphone) for an hour or two. Then I used a meal plan, went to the Campus Store to buy a few drinks for the rest of the week since it'll be closed during the holiday. Then Lorie (my best friend here at ACU) drove me to the hair cutter place, but since I had 50 minutes until my bowling test and there were a few people ahead of us we decided to come back later, so we went to her room and hung out, looking at pretty dresses on eBay and chatting, all the while realizing how amazing it would be for us to live together at some point because we feed off of each other so well. Then I went to bowling, finished the test in less than 10 minutes, and bowled one game in which I gtot a spare the first frame, followed immediately by a turkey!! FINALLY! I have been waiting so long to get a turkey! It was so exciting! In the end I bowled a 156, less than my high score of 160, but still, I got a turkey! If I had just bowled a spare in the 10th frame and gotten my extra pins I would have beated my 160. Oh well. No big deal. I will admit that I say a little prayer every time I step up to the approach, because I figure, God's the one controlling the pins. I mean, I've seen a ton of perfect throws that look like they'll make perfect strikes, and they'll leave one or two pins, or really off throws that end up making strikes. So it's pretty unpredictable, and there's no reason not to incorporate God into all the little aspects of life anyway.

So yeah, after my fabulous game Lorie and I went back to the hair cutters and I got the best hair dresser I've ever had. She was so patient, supportive, and excited for me while she was cutting. We started out a little cautious with my hair, but after a while of going at it with a sharp razor, I finally decided I just wanted her to bring out the clippers and shave it down really short. And she did, using a 1.5 guard in the back, a 2 guard on the sides, and then blended it all in and chopped up the top a little. It turned out so perfectly, and when she looked at it she was like, "I want this haircut now!" ^_^ And the great thing was that the cut only cost 7.95, totally worth it! Her name was Vanessa, I need to remember that, lol. (pictures are on facebook)

So then Lorie and I came back, went to the food court to use our meal plans, then I had to rush off to go to the planetarium for my Astronomy class at 5:30. We learned a little about Uranus, and I remembered how much I like planetariums, sitting in the dome theatre looking up like your looking at the sky and actually seeing all the stars.

Well I got back at 7 and hung out with Lorie the rest of the night, which was wonderful. She bid on a dress on eBay that is super cute and won it at around 10. I spent the whole time looking at handmade hippie dresses, which are soooooooo gorgeous! And if I was rich I would buy them all. I want that to be my style now! It also inspired me to make my own dresses, but I'd have to learn how to sew and make dresses first. It would be so worth it though. And if Lorie and I live together, we are definitely going to make our own clothes, and have tea parties, and be all free-spirited and artsy and read and listen to music constantly, oh goodness, sounds like heaven! So if we don't get hired as RAs, there is still an upside to look forward to! While I would love to be an RA and get paid to live in the dorm, I won't feel bad if I don't because being Lorie's housemate will be amazing. ^_^

Ok, so at around 10:45 Lorie went to bed because she has work at 5am (which is where she is now), so I went to my room, but for some reason I could NOT fall asleep. I don't think I drifted off until around 1, but the next thing I know it's 3:25 and I'm wide awake. So I took a shower, and got on my computer to pass the time. And now I am listening to music while Lorie is at work watching Spirited Away, and now that I'm finished with this post I can chat with her on Facebook or something, lol.

So that's my fabulous yesterday, and now it's time for Thanksgiving Break! I have a few things I want to do, but nothing school related since I have no homework whatsoever, and no finals to study for. Woohoo! Free time!

Pants

Here's a new maxim I want to adopt:
You were not made to fit into pants, pants were made to fit on you.
I don't want to be concerned about what size I fit into, no one should be thinking, "Oh if only I could fit into size _!" People should be thinking, "I need to find a pair of pants that fits ME the way I like." That's what clothes are for, to fit US, not us to fit THEM!
I bring this up because I need a pair of black slacks to wear when I'm working, and I don't have any, so mom went to Kohl's and bought a pair for me. But she told me they are size 3s and I have been stressing out ever since she told me because I'm worried that I've been gaining so much weight that they won't fit, and if they don't that will just make me so depressed. The gaining weight thing alone I don't mind, it's the needing new clothes that would bother me. Everyone has this notion of me that I'm still so small and thin, and so if they buy me clothes they might buy me size smalls, but I'm trying to NOT be small anymore! And this is what I was always worried about, is people's ideas about me needing to change. Everyone always thinks of me now and thinks, "Wow, she's so thin!" But I'm not anymore, and I hate that people need to change that view because I always liked people being able to think that about me. But I'm not thin, and I'm only going to get bigger from now on. I'm not "the skinny girl" anymore, as painful as that is for me. But what's REALLY painful is when I get new clothes that people expect to be able to fit me but they don't because they're too small, but people bought a small size because that's how they picture me. I hate that people will have to change their picture of me. I wanted to stay thin forever so that that picture would never have to change. But I'm different, and still changing, and it's scary. I want to be able to fit into size 0 again and size extra small, because that's how I feel others see me, and it's how I want to be seen. But I don't, and I can't get that way again, it just isn't going to happen, so I have to get people to know that I'm not thin anymore so that I don't get any clothes that won't fit and will make me depressed. I wish I really could just see clothes sizes as a way to judge which would fit me best, not as a determinant for how happy I am. It's ridiculous, but it hurts so much to know that I've let myself go and I can't fit into a size 0 and have it be baggy anymore. I hate it. I wish I was dying sometimes just so that I could enjoy the last few weeks of my life and know that the end was soon, that I would never have to be miserable again. Somehow, knowing that I was going to die would make me so much more at peace with myself. I would know I wouldn't have to put up with the world much longer and could live my last days however I wanted without a care. Wow, that's really sad. Oh well.