Nashville and rest

Tonight, after the tease from many regarding the potential of having classes being canceled (and that not being the case), I decided that I needed to just chill. I was up until almost 3am last night doing homework that was due today (and thank the Lord I did!), and after 4 classes between 9:30am and 6:00pm, I decided to cancel all of my evening plans. My plan: to relax on my comfy sofa, have some tea, and watch Nashville. The only wrench in this plan was going to retrieve my Macbook, and finding that they failed to put all of my stuff back onto the computer..... But after that period of stress, I was rest time. I even got a visit from Kelly; we drank tea and chit-chatted in my living room.

The point is, I am more stressed out than I care to be, and I need to learn when to give myself some time to just be. Time where I'm not running around, panicking about my to-do list, stressing over classes, or planning/attending a meeting. No, I need unstructured periods of relaxation with no agenda whatsoever. It's a nice treat; try it soon if you haven't recently. I still have a lot that needs to be done, but I feel less anxious in this moment; it's nice.

Gear shift..... Nashville. It's a new show on ABC, and I love it! The acting keeps me intensely intrigued, the plot is complex enough to pique my interest, and the music is pretty awesome too. Here are a few of my faves to date:

Remember Lennon and Maisy? This is them! They are casted as the children of Rayna on the show, and in the last episode they performed this song (originally sung by Hayden Panettiere's character, as heard above) in their talent show :) They are AWESOME!

Yep :) I'm a fan. And I'm so happy that I can now enjoy all of this from the comfort of my own Macbook. It's so nice to have it back! In other news, my hand looks much better! It's barely red or even sore now. I only had to wrap it like this today:

Better than the mummy hand I had yesterday....

Haha.... Well, goodnight loves!

Homecoming and a burn.

Well, this weekend was JMU's homecoming! I enjoyed getting two free shirts (10th anniversary purple-out and homecoming t-shirts), the pep rally on the quad Friday evening, our SAO alumni "tailgate" Saturday afternoon, the football game versus Georgia State Saturday afternoon/evening, a B-dubs dinner with SAO loves (taken to-go and enjoyed at the Fishbowl), and a Halloween party at Sarah and Nancy's Saturday night :) I'll skip over details at this moment, because I hope to post later with pictures included courtesy of Hannah :) However, this is a picture of seester and I at the game:

As for today, I spent it sleeping-in, doing very little homework, shopping for non-perishable foods (in case Sandy blows through), preparing for our SAO business meeting, going to said meeting, taking a stroll through Walmart, celebrating the cancellation of tomorrow's classes with Campus Cookies, and watching Spice World with my fishies :) Now, let's talk about the second part of this post title--- the "burn" thing. So, while making myself some pasta for dinner, I went to pour my noodles into my housemate's strainer. I had never used it before, and it was one of those collapsible ones. I thought it would just pop open when the noodle hit it, but that is not the case... Thus, boiling hot water poured right across the surface and onto my hand. It was quite a bit of water, and yes it was rather hot. It didn't hurt at first, but it certainly did three hours later after our meeting; hence the trip to Walmart for burn ointment/gauze wrap. So my hand stayed looking like this:

And now it looks like this (thanks to the wonderful care of Lauren):

 I'm a hot mess. Haha. And even though I know classes are canceled, I'm still not sure about work. I really hope it is, because I feel like my hand is going to give me problems once it gets stuck in a cutting glove and thrown into a toaster oven multiple times.....

 Anywhoo, goodnight loves!

Guess where I'm going?

January 1st-4th, 2013.... Yes, I'm going to Passion!!!! I am so thankful :) I am going to see Jesus at work in a way that I never have before, and I'm going to get to experience that with some of my dearest friends. Yes, I'm going to Passion with Eighteen22! I am beyond excited :) This is almost too surreal. EEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

A Prayer Request

I've been struggling with something as of recent, and these verses basically sum it up....

^“21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"
{Matthew 7:21-23}

If you could pray for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and upset when I dwell on this, and it gets hard. The one person I've talked to about it was so comforting and encouraging in her prayer, but I know that what I ultimately need is the peace and guidance of God. I need to listen, hear, and obey; I need transformation.

I love you all! And if there's anything I can do to be praying for you, please just let me know!

The Election

Okay, we all know that we're in the middle of a presidential campaign. I myself am registered to vote, and I know which box I'm checking come November 6th. And I've known for a while my stance, who I'd be inclined to vote for, and what issues are important to me. What I did not realize, however, is how nasty people get during election season. I'm not talking about the candidates, either; I mean my friends that I love and generally respect. The rude slanders and unnecessary comments being made all over my Facebook and Twitter feeds are despicable. The hostility of these debates I can bare, but not seeing my friends being so disrespectful; especially since they're my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Even before the debates, I constantly confronted this issue of being belittled for my political standpoint. My friends, and even family members, ridiculed my opinions, and they spoke to me as if I were senseless and naive. I am neither, and I was appalled. Someone literally even told me that, "When you're older, if you have any sense, you'll change your mind." Well, if I didn't have any interest in swinging the other way before, then I certainly don't now--- not after comments like that or the snide commentaries on my social media feeds... Needless to say I long await the race to be over.

As for the Fishbowl, we're a split house. Some of us are voting one way, the rest the other. Thus, I made it a point to make sure that we have equal representation on our house. If there's one poster, there darn sure better be another! It's fair that way, I think :)

Obama/Biden poster in the top window; Romeny/Ryan in the bottom.

P.S.- I purposefully omitting my platform. I don't need to stir-up avoidable drama, you know? I respect everyone's opinions, whether they're in line with mine or not. Utilize your voice; you do you. If you're acting for what you believe is right/best, then to that I say, "You go Glen Co-co!" Haha :)

Lennon and Maisy

Jennifer introduced me to these two amazingly talented girls! They are sisters (8 and 12 years old) that have their own YouTube channel singing covers of various songs. These two are my favorites that they've done to date. Give them a listen; you won't regret it :)

Life Updates

Hello blog world!

It's been 2 days shy of a month since my last post, and dang.... That really is a long time. The sad thing is, I've been so busy and stressed out that I haven't given it a whole lot of thought. Junior year is rough, y'all. Not the "sophomore slump" kind of rough, but legitimately hard. My work load is crazy, and my extra-curriculars on top of it just magnifies the overwhelming nature of it all. But anyways, I'm going to give y'all some insight into what's been going on in my life for the past month. The big things, some small joys, and maybe some stuff in between :)

On Monday, October 1st, I went to Washington D.C. with my social policy class.

I had to sit down and talk with (and kind of interview) the Congressional staff for Mark Warner and Eric Cantor. Since I my focus for my federal bill assignment was on the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2011, I asked the staff persons questions pertaining to their Congressmen's position on the bill. It was actually really cool to be able to walk into those offices and be taken seriously. No one talked down to me because I was a college student. I guess that means I really am looked at as an adult? What kind of craziness is this?!

On Friday, October 12th, the Chinese Student Association was selling boba on the commons! They had Thai Tea boba y'all..... Kelly and I each bought two cups. Haha! Whilst drinking our lovely beverages, we ran into our dear friend Lydia! That was a good time :) I always love running into friends!

On Friday, October 19th, my housemates and I went to Halloween Haunt at Kings Dominion! For those who don't know, I am down for any sort of haunted house/frightening endeavor. I find it super amusing and quite entertaining :) However, I am not a roller coaster buff; I'm actually quite the wimp when it comes to them. Thus, I hadn't really intended on riding any of the coasters, just soaking up the spooky atmosphere. Well, after some convincing, the fishies (aka my housemates) got my on the Volcano.

Yes, Steph held my hand almost the entire way through the initial launch. And yes, I screamed the whole way through. But I did actually enjoy it :) So much so that I willingly rode it again! The learned lesson? I can handle coasters that don't have big hills. Boom!

On Saturday, October 20th, my dear sister Lauren had her bridal shower! It was a Sound of Music themed tea party, and it was absolutely delightful! Lauren is so happy, and I know that she is going to be a beautiful bride and a wonderful wife to Josh :)

Now, I need to address my last post.... My computer was indeed NOT fixed. I actually had to take it BACK to the Apple store just a week after getting it back, and then it experience ANOTHER kernel panic after being "repaired" a second time. Thus, I took it to the help desk here at school. They've had my Mac for over 2 weeks now. Thus, I a m typing this post on a loaner Dell computer that is probably more ancient than the one I had in high school..... Hopefully, my dear laptop will be back in my possession next week! I sure hope so.....

I might post a random post or two following this one just for funsies :) I'm not sure.... LOVE YOU ALL!