Rainy Days = Red Rain Boots

So it's been raining here for two days...which means my Hunters came out to play!

Puddles are fun :)

Week 4: What I Wore

The good Lord must have heard my grumbling last week because He sent us some cooler weather! Here's what I did with it:

Little background into my outfits for school: I have already told y'all that I went to high school at the Academy. But I don't think I have mentioned that they had uniforms. Oh and so did my middle school... and elementary school. So this is the first time in my entire life that I am picking out what I actually want to wear to school. I am having so much fun!

The Lovely Little Things

I have a love/hate relationship with Spanish. I think it is such a gorgeous language to know and yet it is so difficult to learn! 

Yesterday I was having a particularly annoying time with my homework. 

I am currently in accelerated Spanish 1. Basically it is 2 semesters of Spanish in one. It's nice because we get to skip the annoying gender/number/color situation, but a whole lot of extra work. We go through a chapter every 3 days, which means that I have a whole lot of work to do on my own. 

So after our first test, Dr. L updated the syllabus! We ended up having twice the ammount of hw that we were supposed to have. Last night at 1130, I was NOT amused. 

Today in class, Dr. L came in and said "Everyone ready for the weekend?" After hearing our very sleepy replies of "yessir!" He said, "Good, me too! Let's go get coffee."

 So my entire class went to the Starbucks in Moody and then got out of class early. 

Sometimes my teachers are awesome.

Fall!!

Okay so it has been 5 days of cool weather here... as in 5 days where we actually WANT to be outside.

The long walks to class are lovely, studying doesn't seem so bad from the tables by the CUB, and the Bear Trail calls my name.

It is incredibly early for Texas, considering we usually have 90 degree weather into October, but it is beginning to feel like fall!

I have been thinking about my favorite fall things:

1) Fall Fashion- My riding boots, sweaters, jeans, scarves.... ah its just too cozy for words.

2) The Pumpkin Spice Latte- (please forgive the reuse of this photo.... its the only one I have!!) I have posted twice, tweeted, and instagramed this bad boy. It is seriously the most delicious drink ever. Seriously.

3) The GORGEOUS weather. The changing leaves are magnificent.

4) Candy Corn- (And I know this isn't a picture of real candy corn but ohmygosh how cute is this little nugget?? He has been repinned 9 ways to Sunday :P) Growing up, fall was signified by my mother bringing home candy corn. It let us know it was time to start planning our Halloween costumes!

Those are just my top four! Stay tuned for part 2!

What are your favorite parts of fall?

We Remember...

On the 11th anniversary of the terrorists attacks against our great country on September 11th, 2001, I ask that you say this prayer with me. 

"Almighty God, [September 11th, 2001] will be indelibly inscribed in our memories.
We looked with horror on the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
But we looked with honor on acts of courage by ordinary people
who sacrificed themselves to prevent further death and destruction.
We shed our tears in a common bond of grief for those we loved and lost.
We journeyed through a dark valley, but your light has led us to a place of hope.
You have turned our grief into determination.
We are resolved to do what is good, and right, and just.
Help us to remember what it means to be Americans—
a people endowed with abundant blessings.
Help us to cherish the freedoms we enjoy and inspire us to stand
with courage, united as one Nation in the midst of any adversity.
Lord, hear this prayer for our Nation. Amen."

-Compiled by a Navy Chaplain 

My Goal

One of the great things about my school is Chapel. Chapel is a required 50 minute "class" 2 days a week. The subject?

God.

Speakers come and speak, preachers come and preach, singers come and sing, and the whole thing is about glorifying the One who gave glory it's name. It is for sure one of the best parts of my week.

Today's speaker was Chris Seay, the pastor of a church called Ecclesia in Houston, and translator of the Voice version of the bible.

Chris read us this poem in one part of his talk that I have been thinking about it all day long.

It's called "Totally Like Whatever" by Taylor Mali

In case you hadn’t realised,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you’re talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you’re, like, saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical you know’s and you know what I’m sayings
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren’t, like, questions?

Declarative sentences – so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true, ok
as opposed to other things that are, like, totally, you know, not -
they’ve been infected by a this tragically cool
and totally hip interrogative tone?
As if I’m saying,
 don’t think I’m a nerd just because I’ve, like,  noticed this; ok
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions,
I’m just, like, inviting you to join me on the band wagon of my own uncertainty
What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest? you know?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society just become so filled with these conflicting feelings of ‘nugh’ . . .
That we’ve just gotten to the point where we’re the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long time ago!

So I implore you, I entreat you and I challenge you
To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You’ve got to speak with it, too.

First off, it is one of the most interesting poems that I have ever heard.

Secondly, it made me think about what I am doing here in college. The simple answer is: to receive a higher education to prepare me for an occupation.

But I want to go a little bit deeper.

Did you know that only 10% of the world's population gets to go to college?

I am one of 10% that has been given the incredible luxury of four years with which to think, to learn, to challenge, to dream, to grow. I have been given four years set apart from the rest of the world to discover who I am and who I am made to be. 

My prayer is that at the end of these four years I speak with conviction and the determination to change the world around me. I pray that at the end of four years I care less about looking cool and more about doing what is right. And I pray that at the end of these four years I am a better version of the girl who began.

Weekend in Review

This weekend went by so quickly!

That might have something to do with the fact that I slept about 24 hours of it...... whoops!

Here are some of my favorite moments in pictures:

1. The pumpkin spice latte is BACK!!! One of my favorite parts of fall :) 

2. (Please excuse the awful quality of this picture. I don't like the Iphone flash at all.) Andrea and I drove to college station to have dinner with Kevin and Dillion. It was super fun! Wanna hear a secret? I like Waco better :P

3. I got this awesome app on my phone called the 40 day spiritual workout. It sends me reminders everyday and they always make me chuckle. 

4. I am so incredibly obsessed with the Baylor Bears. I visit them everyday. Is that too much? 

5. There is a group here called the Guerrilla Troupe... think "Whose Line is it Anyways?" They are hysterical! I saw both of their shows on Saturday

6. I got a 2nd floor parking spot right next to the stairs in the parking garage! #neverhappens

7. The weather got AMAZING. Perfect temperatures, beautiful skies, the kind of days that make you never want to go inside. 

8. I made a new friend! But the cool part about it is that she is the cousin of a girl I went to high school with! Small world much?

9. The perfect way to end a weekend? Ice cream and reece's puffs. Mackenzie named it The Rachel. I am definitely okay with that :)

That's basically it. It was a very chill weekend for me. Now I am busy studying for the TWO tests I have coming up this week, plus finishing up a project due Tuesday. #bringiton

How was your weekend?