Don't you dare look out your window. Darling, everything's on fire.

End of the year: It's that time of the year again! Exam time! We finished classes on Friday! I cannot believe it. This year has flown by! I finish exams on May 9, so just a few days separate me and my senior year. That is so crazy to me! I cannot believe it! Please keep all of the college students in your prayers as they get through their end of the semester exams! As you know, they are stressful for everyone! On an exciting note, tomorrow I will receive my class ring. There will be a nice ceremony that will explain the traditions of the ring and everything else. I'm really looking forward to it. My whole family gets to attend. Somewhere over the ocean... Somewhere over the ocean and through a few countries there is a Marine. There are thousands of Marines. Somewhere over the ocean there is a husband, a brother, a father, a son, a boyfriend, a uncle, a best friend. All of whom are fighting. Fighting to come home. Fighting for the United States. Fighting for the freedom of Afghanistan. Somewhere over the ocean is a man who is stronger and braver than no other. Since the beginning of February I have started talking to a boy I went to pre-school through elementary school with. However, he is no longer a little boy. He is a United States Marine on his second tour in Afghanistan. Talking to him has opened my eyes to a lot. I realize how much I take advantage of the most simply things in life. Such as laying here on my bed typing this blog post. I know that I will wake up tomorrow; he doesn't. However, he knows that he is risking his life to save millions of others. It is inevitable that these men and women are taking for granted each day. That risk their life for you. Let me ask you, what do you do for them? A thank you, a simple thank you means the world to these people. Next time you see someone in the military, I ask that you thank them. As they are doing so much more than we realize! Safe and Sound- Taylor Swift

"How two souls could be miles from one another, but still you and me have somehow found each other."

I'm terribly sorry it's been so long since I've written. I really thought I would keep up with this much better than I have.

Updates:
A lot has changed since December. We're well into 2012 now & I just recently took another step in my journey. On March 30 I registered for my last fall semester as an undergraduate. This is a little step, but it's a step none the less. I'm very anxious and nervous about next year. A lot will be happening. I will take the GRE and apply to numerous graduate programs across the state, hopefully one will let me in. Along with applying to graduate school, I will also be looking for a job...a big girl job. When did this happen?

Kappa Delta:
I have been working closely with my best friend planning Kappa Delta's Annual Nautilus Ball. Formal is only a week away! Gianna has worked very hard as the formal chair and I'm very proud of her. It has been a challenge for her as she has been student teaching. However, with some assistance she has gotten it all done! I'm hoping everything will run smoothly and it will be everything she wants it to be considering she is graduating on May 12! Tonight, we met five girls who accepted bids into our chapter yesterday! We are all very excited about them as they are all wonderful, beautiful women. They, too, will be attending formal! :)So excited to share that with them!

Darling, don't be afraid:
Well, back in November, my relationship with a boy came to an end. We were together over a year and that was one of the most challenging events I've experienced. I truly believe that was my first glimpse of real love. There is no doubt in my mind that we were in love. He would have (and still would) do anything for me and I would have (and will) do the same for me. However, we were just two very different people. I like to say we were right in all of the wrong ways and wrong in all of the right ways, if that makes sense. Although this has been very challenging for the both of us, we have remained friends. I'm very thankful that I have had the opportunity to know someone like him. He is an amazing man and I know there is someone very special out there who will make him feel like he is the luckiest man in the world. I, too, know that God has someone special for me and when the time is right, I'll find him.

Carolina Cup:
Carolina Cup 2012! What a blast. For those of you who do not know, Carolina Cup is the equivalent of the Kentucky Derby. A lot of the fraternities from North and South Carolina go and set up a huge tail gate! It was absolutely amazing seeing so many chapters of the same fraternities! Of course, they were accompanied by their beautiful sorority girl dates. Yes, I did meet another Kappa Delta! :) I went with a boy in Theta Chi! It was such a great time! I was able to spend it with some wonderful people! I even got to wear a Lilly dress and a big floppy hat. :) I'm already planning for next year! Watch out Camden, South Carolina! This Kappa Delta will be back for round two!


I suppose that's all for now. I'm going to try to be better about updating this!
As my journey continues I am excited about all of the new adventures and opportunities that await, but in the mean time "if I die in Raleigh, at least I'll die free."

Wagon Wheel- Old Crow Medicine Show

Christmas:
Thankfully, exams are over! I am on Christmas break and I can now get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy the holiday with my family and friends! :) My Christmas shopping has been done and I am excited for my family and friends to see what they received! I really hope they like everything I bought! I'm also verrryy excited about getting to go back to my home church! Unfortunately, I have not found a church in Raleigh- this happens to be my new year's resolution- thus, I am excited to get back to the church I grew up in and see some familiar faces! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

School:
As I previously stated, THANKFULLY EXAMS ARE OVER! So, far I have done all right! I have all of my grades back except for one. I took five classes this semester and I've made two A's and two B's so far, so I'm nervous about what the final grade is going to be. This has not been the easiest semester, but I have made it out alive. My GPA hasn't been this low since my first semester freshmen year, honestly it makes me sick. My parents tell me I'm too hard on myself that I'm doing wonderful. Whelp, I KNOW I'm too hard on myself. I guess it has it's pros and cons. From the time I entered college it has never been about graduating, it has been about getting into graduate school. Graduate school is just around the corner and I am getting incredibly nervous about taking the GRE and applying to different schools. Ideally, I would love to be accepted into my university's graduate program for public administration. However, I attend a very competitive university at the undergraduate and graduate level. I'm terrified that they will not let me in again! However, if I can just get into grad school, I will consider myself privileged.

My journey:
Aside from school and what not, I have experienced different challenges recently that has taken my journey down a winding road. Recently, my relationship of over a year with my boyfriend ended. Needless to say, it has been a rough two weeks. I'm having to completely readjust my everyday lifestyle. It's crazy how much you come to depend on certain people in your life. Yet, it's wonderful to find all of the true friends you do have. Overall, I have taken away a lot from my relationship with him. After all, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have met my best friend. I never had a best friend in high school and now I understand why. If I did, I don't think I would appreciate this friendship as much as I do. I realize that most find a few people in college that they stay life long friends with. I am positive that Gianna will be this friend. Who else would bring me ice cream, a box of tissues and a bottle of wine because I've had a horrible night? No one- only a best friend knows just the right things to say and do! Don't know what I would do without her! As for the new year, I have several resolutions planned and ready to implement. I have a feeling 2012 is going to be a great year!


Merry Christmas everyone!
Dancing with an Ipod in Public- Christmas Edition

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Most wonderful time of the year? Yeah, right! Although Christmas is a wonderful holiday as Christians celebrate Jesus's birth and spend time with their family, this time of the year isn't the best for college students!

Exams
It's official "dead week" and as my friend, Grace, said it should be called "death week." I've been in college for three years and I have never experienced a real dead week. This is the last week of the classes and supposedly, professors are not allowed to assign gobs of homework and tests, so students can start preparing for exams. However, EVERY professor tends to assign final papers and assignments all due during dead week, so we get death week. This week I have a journal, two presentations, a homework assignment, one ten page final paper, and another fifteen page final paper. So far, I have tackled one presentation, the journal, and I just have to review the first final paper, and I am about to do my second presentation at 1:30. IT'S ONLY TUESDAY! Needless to say, I'm ready for this week to be over. I would rather take exams. Hahah So, to all of my fellow college students- GOOD LUCK!

Thanksgiving
I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! I traveled to my grandparents and it was a good time; however, it isn't home. Because of work and going to my nana's and papa's house, I wasn't able to go home! I love my family, but it just isn't the same. All the grandkids, all three of us (haha), finally took updated pictures together. The last ones we took were when I was 15. They really needed to be updated. All of the pictures turned out great. I must say, I have a good looking family. :)

My journey
It's incredibly hard to believe that I am about to finish up my first semester of my junior year. WHERE HAS TIME GONE? Next year, I will GRADUATE! Again, WHERE HAS TIME GONE? I've been talking to my parents about this, as I am starting to get nervous. I feel as if every day goes by a little faster. Although, I am excited about my future, I am incredibly nervous. I must admit that I'm scared of failure. My goal has never been to graduate from college, but to get into graduate school. The last 2.5 years everything I have done school wise is not so I can graduate, but so I can get into graduate school and obtain my masters in public administration. What if I can't get in? I'm nervous. However, I know God has a plan for me. I'm looking forward to the new year, I feel as if every year brings a new start. I already have some resolutions brewing! :)

Domino by Jesse J

I can't keep up with your turning tables...

I apologize for the lack of blogging! School has picked up and is in full swing, Kappa Delta has taken over my life, and on top of that I'm still working and attempting to maintain some sort of social life! My apologies!

Updates:
So, I reckon college couldn't be easy all four years. I've always found college challenging, however it wasn't impossible. Well this year has been my wake up call. Classes are HARD. They have surpassed challenging and are straight up kicking my butt. However, I WILL accomplish them. I've just got to keep my eye on the goal- graduate school. I would love to continue my education here and obtain my master's in public administration. Thus, I must continue to do well in my classes and receive high scores on my GRE. Ugh, GRE...the college SAT. I didn't do well on the high school SAT, how will I manage the GRE? Aside from school, Kappa Delta has been the other thing taken up my time! Rush has FINALLY ended and we have 49 beautiful new members. Rush went very well; however, it was very exhausting. Frankly, I'm glad it's over. I'm just ready to get into a routine. Work has been placed on the back burner. Thankfully, my boss is very understanding when it comes to her employees who are in college. I hope to have my hours pick back up here in a few weeks, since everything is starting to calm down.

Home:
Well not only did NC experience a earthquake, but also a hurricane. Both were in one week! That's crazy. The earthquake did not leave any damage behind, however Hurricane Irene did. Home got it worse than here... a lot worse. My family lost a tree and it took out our fence and fell into the road! We are so thankful it did not fall on our house. Many people were not as fortunate as us. We live three hours away from the coast, yet we had 24,000 of 25,000 people without power. My family did not have power for over a week. Thankfully, here at school we did not lose power but for a few hours and were able to continue with our classes!


I'm sorry this post has been so short, but I must run off to the library and get some economics (yuck!) homework done!

I hope everyone is doing well and are finding their journey taking them to new and exciting places every day!

Can't read my poker face...

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry I haven't written in over two months! I cannot believe the summer has come to an end and I have finished my first day of school! Let me catch you up a little bit as to what has been going on throughout my journey!

Summer:
Summer has finally come to an end, unfortunately. It went by so quickly! It's hard for me to fathom the month of August is half way over! My summer wasn't that spectacular. I did a lot of working! What can I say? Gotta make that money. Aside from working, I spent my off days relaxing by the pool. I went on vacation with my parents to the mountains. We went to our usual spot, it was a good time. We took both of our dogs. Kensie loved it. She has gotten so big and is very adventurous. While on vacation, we were able to see my aunt, uncle and two cousins. They live out of state, so we don't get to see them often! It was soooo great seeing them. Both of my cousins are younger than me, but one just graduated from high school and is now attending at college in South Carolina where he is playing soccer! :) I'm so proud of him! I admire him for all of his accomplishments and I cannot wait to see where life takes him. I really wish I was able to see them all more often. Family is very important to me, if you cannot tell.

Another year:
Well, today was the first day of school. I cannot believe I've come this far and I've gotten this old! Where has my life gone? It's been such a ride so far! I had three classes today, all of them were great. I think I am going to really enjoy my political science non-profit organizations class. Supposedly, we will have to do eight to ten hours of community service with a non-profit organization. I'm actually really looking forward to it! I'm so blessed and I think it will be a great way to give back. Who knows, maybe I'll end up working for a non-profit organization when I'm older. Tomorrow, I will go to two more classes. I'm really nervous about one. Supposedly, it is the one class every political science major dreads! :( However, my hopes are high and I am going to maintain a positive and optimistic attitude!

Kappa Delta
As the school year kicks off, so does Kappa Delta! Last week, we had our annual work week! Every sorority gets together and prepares for fall rush! It was a longggg and exhausting week, but it was a lot fun! As sisters, we were able to spend time with each other and get to know one another better! I really feel as if our chapter is uniting and that we are going to have a great year! I'm a little nervous about rush because I never went through formal recruitment, so I don't know what to expect. However, I have 86 sisters to stand by my side! :)

Anyways, that's all for now! I hope everyone has a great school year!

We watched this video today in my English class. It's remake of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." I think it's hilarious.

"I sure do love these crazy summer nights when we all get together."

Ramblings:

Whelp, summer is in full swing. The job is awesome, summer is awesome, the friends are great and I'm living life! For the most part I've been working a lot and if I'm not working then I'm relaxing by the pool with my boyfriend and great friends. I simply couldn't ask for much more. This past weekend, I went home. It was great seeing my family. My birthday is a week from today, so I was able to snag a few early birthday presents! I got some really nice sandals called Jack Rogers. I'm pretty much ecstatic about those. Also got a new bathing suit, beach bag and towel. :) My granny gave me some money for some shoes I've been wanting. If you can't tell, I've got a shoe fetish! Haha This weekend, I'm going to the beach with my parents. I'm looking forward to it!

Prayer Requests:

As you know, one of my best friends Chelsea is studying abroad. She is still having a wonderful time. Please continue to pray for her and her safe travel. I'm SUPER excited for her to come home (9 days left). That's right...I'm counting. Also, my friend Matt is still overseas on his mission trip. I've been following his blog pretty closely and it seems he has made a lot of progress. From what I can tell he has befriended several people and has been walking beside them through their journey with Christ! Please pray for his safety and that he has the wisdom to do God's work! :) P.S. Chels & Matt if you see this- love y'all! Miss you too! Stay safe.


Crazy Summer Nights- Hope Partlow