Weekend Recap

I really didn't get too crazy this weekend.

My hetero life partner went to Kansas with her boyfriend this weekend, so I was left to hang out at my house or with our friend Emily all weekend long. Initially, Emily and I had made plans to watch the OU football game together, but I flaked out :(

Friday after work, I decided that I was going to go with my grandmother to the high school football game this week. Part of the reason is because I am no longer going to homecoming (it's OU/TX weekend), and part is because I honestly did not have anything better to do. I went and cheered on my high school, and the boys unfortunately lost by one point. It was slightly heartbreaking. I did enjoy getting to chat with a few of my friends though, and it was a fun night hanging out with my grandma and my cousin.

Afterwards, I decided to go to bed early, as I had a funeral to attend Saturday morning. This funeral was the father of another close friend of the family. What makes me sad about this is to realize that the friend is not even 40 and now has neither parents living. But her father's health has been declining recently, and I honestly think that him not suffering anymore will help put her at a little bit of ease.

Saturday afternoon, I went with my aunt Annya to the meat markets to pick up stuff for their dinner(s). I then went up the hill to my aunt Jessica's house, where I began sorting through junk. My junk that has been stored in her attic since they moved into their house. I went through eight 5-gallon totes, and one 20-gallon tote full of crap. Seriously, it was all pretty much junk and clothes I haven't worn or even thought of in years.

I've been wanting to have a t-shirt quilt made, so I cut out logos of all the shirts I would like to have. 2 totes of t-shirts were dwindled down to not even a quarter of the 5 gallon tote. So that tote now has all my shirt logos (and I still have more to go through here) and quite a few of my keepsakes. I have one 5 gallon tote packed and ready to go to the apartment, and I'm working on what to put in my 20 gallon tote because too much stuff makes it too heavy. A total of three 5 gallon totes went back into the attic; one with the keepsakes and t-shirts, one with a bunch of purses, and one with books. Three totes are here with me, waiting to be packed with stuff for the apartment, and one still needs to be rinsed out to get rid of all the dust it's collected. I had a total of 6 (maybe 5) trashbags full of junk.

I did find some interesting stuff though. LIKE A GREEN AND PURPLE WALKMAN! AND MY BEANIE BABIES! I threw the walkman away. I was having a real hard time throwing away the beanie babies (even though they have no resale value whatsoever), and Jessica gave me a good "excuse" to keep them: take them to the apartment with me so my youngest cousin can have something to play with when she comes to visit. I GOT TO KEEP MY BEANIE BABIES! :)
One of them I was going to keep anyways. I apparently have liked squirrels for a while; I had the squirrel beanie baby. As soon as I saw it, I immediately put it into the tote to go to the apartment. I'm going to use it for decoration :)  [for those of you who don't know, my sorority's mascot was a squirrel]

I watched the game with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, and then came home and passed out.


Today was absolutely gorgeous outside, and I got to spend a FANTASTIC 2 hours sitting on a picnic blanket with my good friend Eli from college and APO. I had not seen him since December, so we had a great time just sitting and talking and enjoying the beautiful weather. I had my camera with me, and for some reason didn't take a picture of us. womp womp.

Afterwards, I went to work at the concession stand for a few hours. I had a good time visiting with Sean.

After dinner, I finally got to see Emily and Shawna. The three of us and Shawna's boyfriend Andrew met up for dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, and we spent the couple hours that we were there talking, laughing, eating, and comparing fantasy football teams. Which mine SUCKED this week, in case you were wondering.

Today was an AWESOME day filled with great friends from start to finish!
Now I must get to bed before I have to be at work tomorrow. And I get to continue packing in preparation for my big move that will be occurring in NINE DAYS! I'm super excited!

I'm busy as a bee...

I know that I have been neglecting my blog and all of my blog friends. I do love this outlet and catching up with your lives dearly, but this week is super busy. Super super busy.

You heard of my busy Friday and Saturday. Sunday wasn't so busy, I was in bed most of the day recovering from my Saturday night. Then I went and visited my aunt Annya at her hotel that evening, followed by spending some time with a guy that I like to hang out with. Monday I did the whole class thing, but Monday was kind of crummy as well. I learned we have a nutritionist, and I feel like I'm being put on a diet against my will. I didn't do very well on my piano exam. Then we had formal dinner. I went and hung out with that guy again, and it was nice to get to escape the things that had stressed me out that day. We watched the awful men's national championship game together, a movie, and a couple episodes of Arrested Development. I've never seen Arrested Development before, and it's pretty freakin' funny. I was also introduced to some new music, wish I could remember names of artists...

Tuesday was super busy. I had class all day, and then I went to the OU/OSU bedlam baseball game to hang out with my APO little Nageen. My throat had felt funny all day, but I ignored it and went on with my day. Then yesterday I woke up with THE WORST sore throat ever. As the day progressed, it got worse and worse. Last night was our annual BBQ philanthropy, and I had to leave around 7:15 because I just felt so terrible. I went upstairs to check my temperature and it measured a 100.3. That's pretty high for me, as my internal temp runs a little cool at 97.4-97.6. I called home to tell them I thought I was getting strep throat, and Annya informed me that Emma has strep. I figure if I have it, it's from being at Chuck E Cheese's on Friday night, damn snot-nosed kids.

I tried to go to Urgent Care but seemed to have misplaced my insurance card since my appendix fiasco, and they wouldn't see me unless I paid for everything upfront. A whopping $112. Who has that much cash on hand? So instead of being seen last night, I came back home, drank lots of water, took some tylenol and vitamins, and took my sick butt to bed. I was in bed by 9:30 or so but I didn't fall asleep until almost 11. I slept for a solid 7 hours before I woke up, and my fever had broken in the night. I have an appointment at 2:30 today to be seen for strep, but now my ears are aching really bad.

If this is a bad case of allergies, this is the worst I've ever had. I don't really understand my body. I'm taking better care of it than ever before this semester, and it's not responding well. I usually have a kick ass immune system, but I've been sick THREE TIMES now.

And on top of all this, the week isn't slowing down at all.
I have tickets for Miranda Lambert's show in Norman tonight.
I have a BIG/little date with Nageen tomorrow--dinner and a movie.
Relay for Life is Saturday, 7:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m.
Sunday is Chapter and Initiation, and then one of my good guy friends from high school is coming into town.

Even though I'm sick and busy, this week has been good and fun so far! The BBQ last night was fun and I think it was successful, and I've enjoyed the time I've gotten to spend with Nageen getting to know her better. Our capstone project is also well underway and it's going pretty well so far!

Here's to hoping I get some rest in the next couple of days!

Quick update full of some highlights of the week.

OH. MY. GOODNESS, you guys. Aiukli is getting a lot of attention and a lot of TLC. (Okay, maybe not the TLC part.) But seriously, this little space is growing and I think it's pretty cool! The fact that so many of you have featured me (even if it's sponsor love posts!), asked me to do guest posts for you, commented on my posts, and given me awards makes my little heart happy and makes me do a happy dance in my chair as I write this.

I wish I could give more updates this week, but my schedule is super busy and adding more stuff to it every day. But here are some highlights for the week:

• College Bowl has been a lot of fun to work! And from what I can tell, the teams are enjoying themselves as well. It's pop-culture trivia, and it has an overall theme of I <3 the 90's. We've seen teams dress as WWF All-Stars, Team Pup N' Suds, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, grunge bands, Squirtle, and the Mystery Inc. It's been so much fun to see everyone's creativity!
• I think I did fairly well on my piano exam yesterday.
• I taped an ankle for a midterm in my Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries class! I really liked it a lot!
• I got to know my APO little a bit more last night, and we've planned our BIG/little date for next week :)
• I've gotten to talk to my Alpha Gam big a lot lately, and I miss having her in my life daily.
• My capstone project should get started next week!
• I'm volunteering A LOT this weekend--working Medieval Fair on Friday all day pretty much, Big Event on Saturday morning, NCAA Regional Women's Gymanstics meet on Saturday.
• I get to go home to Tulsa(-ish) and back on Friday night for Hannah's sixth birthday

And that's just the highlights!

What have you done that you're proud of this week?

Sunday was not so Funday.

Here is a timeline of my Sunday-Tuesday:

• 12 NOON: My friend Josalyn and I went and ate lunch at a semi fast food Mexican grill called Chipotle.
• 1:00 p.m.: We headed across the street to campus to go into the gymnasium to the gym.
• 2:00: Wrestling dual began.
• 4:00: Wrestling dual ended, my stomach starting feeling funny. I thought this was because I got too hot in the gym after eating Mexican food.
• 6:15: I had spent the past two hours preparing for my phone interview, and my stomach did not feel much better. I pop in a couple Tums to help ease it to get through my interiew.
• 6:40: My interview began. Stomach still felt funny so I thought maybe I was more nervous than I realized.
• 7:01: Phone interview ended. Decided I probably needed to eat.
• 7:30: I arrived at the apartment where APO was hosting a baked potato dinner, and made myself a baked potato.
• 8:00: Stomach was feeling worse, so I sat for about 5 more minutes before I left.
• 8:15/8:20ish: I got home just in time to get sick. There went my dinner. I took some Pepto Bismal for the nauseated feeling.
• 8:30: saw the PB again.
• 9:15ish: Josalyn and our house mother put me in the guest room in case I have something contagius. Stomach pain is so bad I can barely stand at this point. Stomach hurts worst on my right side now.
• House mother and Josalyn look up the symptoms of appendicitis at this point because they are afraid that I might have it.
• 10:00 I have now called my mother twice, talked with our friend of the family who is a nurse tech, and have had my symptoms googled/webMDed. Friend of the family and Josalyn say I need to go to the hospital and have everything checked out.
• 10:30: Arrive in the ER
• 11:30 Have a blood and urine test to make sure there are no bacterial infections in my intestines. At this point, I can only lay down if I'm curled up in the fetal position, and I had my first-ever IV put in.
• 12:30 a.m. (Monday): Results of blood and urine tests come back okay, am instructed to drink something to prepare for the dye for my CAT scan
• 1:35 a.m: Went back to take my CAT scan
• 3:35 a.m.: My ER nurse comes in to ask how my pain is. I let him know it's coming back. He says "It should be because, well she'll tell you, but you have appendicitis." My response: "yayyyyyy."
• He then left the room and I burst into tears.
• Doc came in and let me know I have appendicitis, it hasn't ruptured, and the surgeon on call will be doing surgery on me on Monday morning.
• I called my mother. She woke up my grandmother. I talked to my grandmother on the phone, she told me she would be leaving Tulsa soon.
• Josalyn tried to call the roommate, but the roommate was conked out. So Josalyn called her roommate and had her wake up mine.
• 3:40: Chris showed up with a blanket and hot chocolate for Josalyn. He stuck around and lightened the mood by making us laugh. Well I giggled because laughing hurt.
• 4:15ish: Roommate arrived.
• 7:30ish: My mimi arrived, just in time for a surgeon to come into my room and inform me that there are no empty beds in the hospital, which is why I am in the ER room still
• I was asked if I minded being transported by ambulance for free to the Moore center for the surgery.
• Katy goes back home to get some sleep.
• 8:45ish: I finally fall asleep
• 9:30: I get woken up and moved to a gurney to be transported to Moore.
• 10:00: I arrive in Moore and am taken straight into OR prep room
• 10:15: I start heading back to the surgery room. I remember being wheeled there, asked to move beds, and to stretch out my arm.
• 11:30 I wake up from surgery and am about to wet myself. I can't go until I wake up. Finally wake up, and going makes me nauseus.
• 12 NOON: I get to my room where my Mimi, her sister, my two aunts, my brother Jared, and my uncle Ryan are waiting for me. They head out to get lunch and let me sleep.
• 2:45: Mimi and her sister get back from lunch. I am told that Jared will be staying the night with me to bring me to Sperry when I am released, since I am not allowed to climb stairs.
• 4:30: everyone starts heading back home
• 5:00: I finally decide to eat something
• 5:30: roommate arrives with Sam, my laptop, and my phone charger.
• I plug in the phone and it goes crazy (Thank you to everyone who called, texted, and wrote on my facebook wall or tweeted at me!)
• I continue to eat while they are here
• The visit until they have to leave around 7:15
• 8:00: I get a little bit of sleep
• 9:00: Mom and brother Jacob arrive
• At some point, the nurse asks me if I want to be taken off my liquid diet. Yes please, as in like 6 hours ago. Jared gets me crackers.
• They visit until they have to leave around 10 (Jake has school and mom has work on Tuesday
• 10:15: I fall asleep
• 10:30: The youth pastor from my church back home and a kid that goes to OU that graduated from my high school stopped by to visit. Jared didn't wake me because I hadn't been sleeping much throughout the day
• 11:00: I wake up to get vitals checked. I am informed of my visitors.
• 12:30 a.m. (Tuesday/today): I finally fall back asleep
• 3:30 a.m.: I am woken up for vitals again
• 4:00 a.m. I get taken off my electrolyte IV
• 7:30 I am woken for vitals.
• I texted my family and friends to let them know about the diet and IV

Now I am just waiting to speak to the surgeon at some point and see when I will be released. I will be going back to Sperry with my brother for the rest of the week while I recover from surgery

See why Sunday was not so Funday??

p.s. here is a silly picture roommate took of me at about 5 in the morning. I said "I'M A MARTIANNNN"

Just Keep Swimming

Today started out awful. My first class of the day begins at 8 a.m., so I set 2 alarms to attempt to wake me up this morning, the first at 6:45 and the second at 7:15. Katy (roommate) woke me up at 8:06. Shit. That's all I could repeat over and over again. So I hurriedly brushed my teeth, got dressed, and began trekking to the Stadium in search for my class. It is in the training facility, and I've never been inside so I had absolutely no clue on where it was. Luckily, on my way over, I saw a couple guys that are in my major and asked if they were in my class. Which means that unluckily, I had missed the first day of this class. GREAAAAAT. I missed the first class. Syllabus day/20 minute class and I missed it. I was completely flustered but vowed not to let it bring down my Wednesday.

Because class got out so early, I was able to return to my house and get some real breakfast, which consisted of my favorite: biscuits and gravy. I'm thinking to myself, Okay, today can get better. But of course, I thought too soon. Returning to my home, I tripped on the sidewalk and bit it. I don't know how I managed it, but somehow I didn't land on my hands, scrape my knees, or throw my phone on the ground. I basically fell on my face (you can laugh because I am laughing about it now)    :-D

After my wonderful breakfast, I began to go to my second class of the day, which I have been looking forward to since I decided I was going to take the class back in the beginning of October: Beginning Piano I for Non-Majors. YESSSSSSSSSSS. I enjoyed the first class, but I also realized that I am so science-brained that I have almost no musical inclinations. I will have to practice, practice, practice to be able to pass the class, but I'm very excited about it (still). AND, AND, I get to cross off "Take piano lessons" off of my bucket list!!      !!!!! I'm not doing it until the semester is complete. I can't believe I'm actually doing things that I wanted to do in my life! It's so weird! But such a cool feeling!

My last class of the day is a spin class, and yes, I get a grade in it (it's a pass/fail class). This semester I think is going to be FANTASTIC, because I am taking a variety of classes! I am taking Care & Prevention of Athletic Injuries, Beginning Piano I for Non-Majors, Spinning, Senior Capstone, Beginning Weight Training, and Freedom in Rome. That's only two classes in my major, and leaves me quite a bit of free time to be able to volunteer more through APO and practice piano. Such an awesome semester is ahead, and I can't wait for all the adventures waiting for me!

Have a fabulous Wednesday folks, and hopefully yours started off better than mine did!

p.s. One of my new favorite reads over at Travel Babbles is having a new feature each week titled Around the World Wednesday! It's a cool way to find new blogs! But you should follow her first.

What a Weekend!

SO. Thursday evening I went out to celebrate being what I thought was the end of testing and papers. But as I explained in my last post, I was mistaken. But still, I went and hung out with our coaches from FIJI after we WON Tug-of-War in FIJI Olympics! I also realized that I may have possibly pulled or strained on of my quads. This is fantastic seeing as how I am in the half marathon next Sunday....awesome. Anyways, after all the fun-ness that was hanging out with our amazing coaches plus FINALLY getting to hang out with PC X, I had to take care of someone who had a bit too much. That was slightly depressing, but she's safe and sound :)

After all the celebrating, I went to class on Friday, which TOTALLY cramped my style. We are no longer being tested over any of the material in the class so it made it COMPLETELY difficult to stay awake (I had gotten about 4 hours of sleep!)

Friday night was probably one of the best times I've ever had! My pledge class through Panhellenic sorority decided to go on a pub crawl on campus corner! It was seriously probably one of the best times we've had as a pledge class, and there was no drama! SO much fun!:


Saturday morning, I got up a little early to help entertain some alumnae members from the '98-'00 pledge classes, and got to meet quite a few of my sisters. Then I realized that I was about to experience my last home game as an undergrad, and it made me kind of sad . . . so to fix this, I sat with my little/roommate and enjoyed the game with her, one of her brothers, and her father. It was a very sentimental moment for me, but I was so glad that my Sooners won my final home game!

Later that night after the game, a group of us sisters went to a pizza joint that is really close to our house. While at the pizza place, we decided that we all wanted ice cream, but none of us could decide on one together. So what did we do? We decided to do an ice cream crawl! The six of us went to three different ice cream places in Norman! It was slightly ridiculous.

Sunday seemed like the longest day ever, but it was such an amazing day! At noon, I went to have a brotherhood event for APO, and we played games that were silly and entertaining. Then I came back home to get all prettied up and ready for APO initiation. We had a fellowship before, where we all ate together while waiting to be initiated. Initiation was like, MAYBE 20 minutes long, I didn't quite know what to do with myself! Afterwards we took pictures together . . . here's one of my pledge class:

I AM OFFICIALLY A BROTHER OF ALPHA PHI OMEGA! It's pretty freakin' excitin'!
After I took care of some elections stuff with Alpha Gam, we had a post-initiation pledge fellowship at our pledgemaster's apartment. EVERYONE was ridiculous. I got home from that at about 2 a.m.

Today, I have been a good student: I went to all my classes, read some of the chapter that I need to use for my paper that is due on Friday, looked up questions for College Bowl, did a group project, WENT to my College Bowl meeting, and I also attended the men's basketball game (for like 20 minutes).

I am ONE BUSY PERSON.

This week/weekend will be too much for me to handle, hopefully it doesn't get too crazy and fly by too fast!

Hope you all had a happy Monday!

Sincerest apologies for my tardiness.

So last night began initiation for Alpha Phi Omega. It began with vote-in, where initiated members vote on each of the pledges on whether or not they would like to see that particular pledge initiated. I'm not gonna lie, I was a tad bit nervous. I missed ONE requirement, and tried to make up for it a little bit with other things, but I wasn't exactly sure how the rest of the chapter would feel about it.

At 8:56 p.m., I get a phone call from my big (Brook) and she says, "Congratulations, you have been voted to become initiated into Alpha Phi Omega! . . . (my heart stops racing) . . . Now what you need to do is meet at the duck pond at 10:15, and you need to be dressed in blue and gold. If you don't have blue, wear all gold, and if you don't have gold, wear all blue. Do not come any earlier than 10:15! I'll see you tonight and good luck! (click)" . . . Now continue my racing heart. I had absolutely no t-shirts that were blue and yellow that did not have Alpha Gamma Delta on it, and I felt that it would be inappropriate to wear my other Greek letters. BAHHHH!!!

I was having a near-panic attack and was about to cry when one of my Alpha Gam sisters saved my night and let me borrow a yellow shirt.

After vote-in is a BIG/little bonding sketchy time (won't go into full details, just know everything was super sketch, but then it also helped me bond more with two of my pledge brothers), and then we ended the night at IHOP.

I got back home around 1 a.m., and because of all the super sketch activities, I had adrenaline pumping through my system for about an hour. Needless to say, it was hard as hell to focus on studying when I got home. I calmed myself down enough to study for about an hour and a half, then got up in bed and CRASHED.

So if you have been reading my posts, you'll know that my stats test this morning was supposed to be the end of 8 straight weeks of testing. I failed and realized at lunch today that my last test is next week. Along with a term paper the following week. The good thing about the term paper is that it is only a rough draft that is due, so hopefully that won't be too difficult to accomplish. HOWEVER, that will make TEN weeks. TEN WEEKS PEOPLE! WHY?! bahhhh! Why can't senior year of college be like senior year of high school. Oh that's right, because everyone goes to high school but not everyone goes to college. The stats test today was by far the hardest test I've taken this semester. I just want a freaking C. I don't even care if I get a B or not anymore, just let me pass and get the eff outta there! (As you can tell, I'm slightly sleep deprived, therefore proper grammar and spelling is going out of the window.)

To all my random readers, read my friend's post here and let me know what you think about her question too! I was slightly appalled by her friend's statement. Are we always supposed to be searching? Or should we let things fall into place?

Before this year, before I ACTUALLY began to love EVERYTHING about myself, I wasn't searching. I thought I had found him. I thought everything that we had been through and everything that we had shared would help us come together again. I knew that I knew that I knew that he loved me as much as I did him. We had dated for 2-ish years, and still remained VERY close for 4.5-5 years after that. What changed? We both did. I grew up, he grew up on a different side of the country, we both experienced things that the other didn't understand because our paths were diverging so differently. When I realized that we actually DIDN'T love each other anymore, I cried. I think they were partly tears of sadness, and partly tears of relief. Sadness because we HAD shared so much, sadness because did we just cause each other to waste FIVE years of each others' lives? Only time will tell. Relief because it WAS a realization. A good realization (for the both of us!)

I do hate that now he thinks poorly of me, and has nothing nice to say to me, but one of these days we'll take every ill thought and comment back and remember that we can be civil. After all, our circles of friends run pretty close, and I still love his family. They are people who saved me, they just don't know it. In a way he saved me too. I'll never be able to thank him properly now, but in the off chance that anyone out there knows who this "he" is, cherish him. He could save you too.

I never would have known self-love without him catapulting a series of events that lead me to where I am today. And for that, Mr. R., I thank you.

That post totally got wayy deeper than I had intended, but reading Sam's blog almost always makes me think!

p.s. Thank a Veteran today America. Special thank you to my Uncle Ed, Jason, Wes, Kendrick, and the rest of C Co of the 489th EN BN that I've known almost my entire life. I love each and every one of you guys, and appreciate the sacrifices you all made in the 18+ months you were deployed!

I'll leave everyone with this, in your name, there is DEFINITELY healing.

"Sorry I'm late. It took me forever to get here."

Today was a pretty uneventful day. I went to almost all my classes, completed some homework, and am now attempting to study for my APO final pledge quiz that I must take tomorrow. I will be an initiated member of Alpha Phi Omega on November 14th! I'm very excited, but I'm also nervous that I will not get my service hours done. It's only 25, but I'm about 10 hours short right now. Hopefully this week I'll be able to get some more done since it is National Service Week :)

This week is all kinds of fun stuff, it is also initiation week for Panhellenic sorority. I'm so excited for Sam to become one of my sisters! I love that my fellow Sperry-ite joined and loved my house as much as I have!

After all my classes, I went on the hunt for some ears. This Saturday night is "Pike Fright," a Halloween-themed date party with Pi Kappa Alpha. I'm excited to be going to my first fraternity date party! I really didn't want to wear my flapper costume for the THIRD time, so last night, me and my g-little were brainstorming ideas for a costume, and I'm going as a panda! I'm very excited! Well, I couldn't find any ears, so I decided to make my own ears. I got crafty and made! my own panda ears! Right now, they look like mouse ears, but I'm hoping that with the entire costume, you'll be able to tell that I'm a panda. You better believe I'll be posting pictures later.

Well, I will get off here and try to continue falling asleep by studying and watching Never Been Kissed.

Good night readers :)