Feeling Blue

If you're looking for a peppy, upbeat post this isn't going to be one. This is my stinkin' blog and I'll whine if I want to!

Today started pretty good. I got up and made some yummy potato bite things for my English class which were a major hit, even though I didn't think they were that good. I got dressed and felt pretty good about my outfit, hair and make-up, which is rare for me. Then, my super amazing visiting teachers came over with their adorable baby girls and we had a nice chat. THEN! I checked my grades and it all went downhill from there. I got C's in both of my science classes. I was kind of expecting that with the one, but the other caught me completely off guard. I cried a lot. I really don't think I will be able to get into any of the Dental Hygiene programs I was looking at with two C's out of four required science classes and a couple of the programs don't accept do-over grades. It broke my heart. I worked so hard this semester for nothing. Then, Steven and I had reserved the theater out our apartments and invited some people to come over to watch a movie with us. I wasn't really feeling up to it anymore after learning about my grades, but figured it might be nice to have some friends over, watch a fun movie and take my mind off of things. No one came. I had a lot of fun still with Steven, but I was really sad that no one wanted to come. I don't make fiends very well, but I keep putting myself out there hoping with practice I'll get better at the friend making thing, but then I just end up feeling bummed and wish I hadn't tried.

I don't care if you think I'm throwing a pity party because I KNOW I am and I warned you not to read it if you were looking for something uplifting and happy.

I'm about to start crying again now, so I'm just going to go to bed and end this stupid day. Even venting didn't help. ARGH!

New Haircut

So I went to get my hair cut today. I was nervous...like I always am, but excited too. I had decided I wanted to try bangs. I looked like a big dork with bangs when I was younger, but I feel like my looks have improved somewhat with age and bangs are in right now, so what the heck? Let's do it. I also wanted all over layers so I could attempt to pull off more volume. It doesn't really look at all like what I was hoping for, but it's not really a bad haircut. I kind of like it. Here it is down...

Not too much volume going on. Blake, my hair stylist was like, "I'll show you a trick to give you more volume"...He did the trick and this is how it turned out. I was like, "oh yeah! That looks great!" trying to be nice and he just had a confused frown. Then, he did something in the back with scissors that was supposed to add volume, I guess and that also did nothing. He's like, "I think your best bet is going to be products." THEN, he decided to use texture cream to add a little definition...HAHAHA! I've given up on having super cute hair. It's just not in my genes. Here it is up...I like it best up.

And, I can even still pull off my Keeley signature do!

I think I'll let the bangs grow out, but I'm glad I tried them. You have to experiment and see what works best for you!

In My Head

Here's a glimpse at how my mind operates....

My drive home from school is a long one and sometimes I get bored with the same music on the radio, so I'll just turn it down and let my thoughts entertain me. Take it away thoughts!

I'm not sure where it came from, probably a bad driver triggered the thought, but I developed a fun new anti-swear word. Bucket sucker. Go on try it. Say it with feeling. Imagine you're really ticked off. Ugh! Son of a bucket sucker. Then, when I added the "son of a" part it triggered a new train of thought....

Why is it when someone gets really mad at a person they start taking it out on that persons parents? Exhibit A- Son of a bleep. Their parents have nothing to do with it. The person they're yelling at probably doesn't even care because they're not the "bleep" they are just the son of the "bleep" and if they're yelling at a female it doesn't apply at all....

Then, a good song came on in the background so I turned it up and started singing and doing a one armed robot.

It was a fun ride home.

Our Apartment & Giant Gummy Bears

So, I promised family and a couple friends from afar that I would show off our new apartment when we got here.... Better late than never! Come on, it's only been two months. It's small, but we love it! It was brand spankin new when we moved in so that's nice. We had to take the packing material out of the dish washer. You would think they would take that out for us, but hey, I was happy because I knew for sure it had never been used. NICE! Here is our apartment sign...

And, here is the driveway...yes, the driveway. I like the ranch style fence. I love pulling into our apartment complex.

Our lovely, little living-room.

This is our dining room that leads to our patio and storage room.

And the patio mentioned above.

This is our fantastic kitchen. There's a big ol' closet to the left that serves as our pantry and LAUNDRY ROOM!!! I'm SO happy to have an in unit washer and dryer again.

And this is our bathroom. It's actually really big. I had to take two pictures to get the whole view.

I didn't take pictures of our bedroom or the walk in closet, because it's very cluttered and our bedding is disgraceful. But, it's a good sized room. We're happy with it.

As for the giant gummy bears! We drove to Raleigh with some friends (Jeremy and Emily) to witness a 5lb gummy bear live and in person. When we got to the candy store we saw what we thought was the 5lb wonder and it was really not very big and to be honest we were a little disappointed at how underwhelming it was. It was still bigger than the average bear, but I didn't even take a picture because it wouldn't have been something to blog about. I mean, this thing was featured on the travel channel. It should WOW us, right? Well, we were still in a candy store and each of us a kid at heart, so it wasn't a total let down. We grabbed our little bags and started collecting goodies...then we spotted these guys!

Now THAT is a 5lb gummy bear! And this is some of the other things that caught our eye. We ate most of it before I took this picture though.... I LOVE CANDY!

Oh! And look at this cool Lego candy! Pshaw!

Durham So Far

So, I figure I should blog something, anything, since it's been so long since the last and because school has started and I don't want things to get too crazy before I can get this done. No pics this time. Those will come later. Pictures are really what keeps me from blogging. Sad, but true. I just hate how you have to upload them one at a time. It really bothers me. Then, heaven forbid I work on this for any length of time only to have something go wrong before I can post it. The idea of doing the same thing more than once really gets to me for some reason. I even have a hard time eating left overs. Call me weird, but that's just how I'm wired. If I JUST did something or ate something, I don't want to revisit it again right away. I've started quite a few that have been left undone for that very reason. Anywho, about Durham. It's a lot different than I expected. There's 3 major universities right here, so locals are few and far between. Steven and I went for a walk around our apartment complex and saw a license plate for all but I think 11 states, including Alaska and Hawaii. There's not much of a chance Steven or I will be developing a southern drawl anytime soon. The bugs here are HUGE and weird. Some I've never seen before and they love me. I get at least one new bite a day. On the upside, I have seen lightning bugs on several occasions and that just thrills me to no end. I love them! There are so many trees and they are huge and dense. There are so many shopping areas here, but you have to be here a while to realize. You can't see them until you're right up on them because everything disappears in the trees. Driving is different too. People hall tale around here. You'll get run over if your not going about 10 MPH over the limit. Even in neighborhoods the limits are high anyway and people just fly. That really freaks me out, because you never know what's going to be around the bend. A kid, an animal, a jogger... speaking of animals. I hit my very first roadkill on our drive here. I hit a raccoon. I'm not going to lie, I cried. Steven was in front of me in the moving truck hauling a dolly with my car on it and somehow the little guy escaped being whacked by him and then here I come in the Jeep and POW! I saw him rolling across the street in the rear view mirror. :0( People are really tan here too. It's weird. I think I've seen more tan people here then in California. The weather was absolutely terrible when we first got here. I would change my clothes about 3 times a day because I always felt sweaty. My temper kicked in for a while. It would make me angry how uncomfortable I always felt. Especially, with my long hair. I felt like it was closing in on me trying to take over my neck. It's better now. I'm getting used to it. Steven actually LIKES it...weirdo. The radio is different here too. The dj was saying how he went through his daughters facebook account and made her delete people that he thought seemed like inappropriate people to be friending his little girl. He opened it up to the listeners to call and tell him if they thought what he did was right or wrong. I can guarantee most people in California would have been livid telling him how he needs to trust her and not invade her privacy. Here, EVERY caller said he was right to do it. I agree, but it was nice to here some people still feel like there's a place for parenting. Then, on the same station they have a segment called "Chaps My Crack". People call in and say what's eating them or chapping their crack. Well, every once in a while they'll have someone call in and Crack Attack them...That means that someone calls in pretending to rant about something that chaps their crack, then you hear static and they yell "CRACK ATTACK!" The static is supposed to be the person rubbing the phone on their bum. Only in a hick town. Let's see...what else is there to tell?...Oh, apparently, we are in a good part of town, because thankfully, we have not witnessed the crime that Durham is notorious for, but sadly, our missionaries have seen it first hand. We had them over for dinner last week and the one elder was telling us about how he has had a gone pulled on him 3 times! And how his old companion got a full Big Gulp thrown at his head and another time someone drove by and opened their car door into him sending him flying off his bike. They aren't allowed to carry wallets or backpacks to avoid being mugged. The one elder is huge. I don't know who would want to mess with him, but he had a smaller companion before we were here who I guess was being surrounded by a gang with knives until the bigger guy came running at them and they took off. I guess there are Spanish missionaries who are protected from the black gangs by the Mexican gangs. They don't want to here the gospel message, but they watch out for them because their parents/grandparents like them, haha. There's certain places their not allowed to go period, because they'll get shot by the locals. I feel so bad for those poor guys. That's all I can remember for now. So far, things are going well. I definitely do not have any desire to stay and I don't think Steven does either, but we will make the best of it while we're here...You never know what the future will bring.

On the road again!

Well, at least we don't have to worry about catching moss!...Rolling stone catches no moss...Ahem. So anyway. For those of you who haven't heard yet. Steven has been accepted to the 2nd year residency program at Duke University in North Carolina! We are actually very excited about it. I think we were more nervous and unsure of moving to California. Sure, we are nervous about picking up and hauling ourselves across the country away from everything we know and love. But, we are so very excited about the adventure ahead of us, the new things we get to experience and the endless opportunities that will come from Steven working so hard to further his knowledge. We're even a little excited about possibly picking up a slight twang while we're there. Wouldn't Steven sound so stinkin cute?!?! I keep trying to explain to everyone the way I feel about this, but it's hard to fully express it without knowing the feeling yourself. To be completely honest, I have known in my heart that we were going to North Carolina since Steven first mentioned the program. It was the weirdest thing. He hadn't even decided on applying yet, we didn't even know whether he would even get an interview and I just felt it and it felt right. I'm sure when the time draws closer and the realization that we are moving SO far sinks in I won't be as excited, but so far this has just felt right and I'm ready for our next step towards forever together. California has been AMAZING and we will miss it and the wonderful friends we've made.

3rd Anniversary!!!

Can you believe it? 3 years!!! I will post more tomorrow maybe, but I wanted to let you all know I posted our Anniversary pictures on facebook. I'll try to get them up here tomorrow too for those of you who don't use facebook. :0D