Thursday, May 3, 2012

Reasons why I will not be blogging

Today: group meeting, Herald (I've officially been hired as the Managing Editor for the fall. That means I'm second in command and get to do lots of cool stuff like story budgets, design, yell at people, make the popcorn and have my own desk) then work at the Herald, hiding in the library, going to bunco with my HFC ladies, then back to the library Tomorrow: two papers due (one is done. I should probably go ahead and submit that before I forget) then meeting Momma, Daddy, Clark and Amy in Nashville for Bub's belated birthday dinner Saturday: shooting a wedding with B. It's gonna be HOT. Sunday: studying like a crazy person, and trying to pack for NC Monday: work and then my Basic Video Production final Tuesday: 8 am State and Local Government Final (bluh.) and my group project is due at 10, I'm doing the layout for that. oops. But I'm also going shopping with my friend Beth who is getting married in less than a month. She needs table numbers, so we're going on an adventure. Wednesday: work and then my Feature Writing final (another layout project, the writing has all been done) Thursday: Nothing. Until work at 3. So I'll probably try to clean my room and sort piles in stuff into NC/Gulf Shores/Nashville Friday: History final at 10:30, Dance Appreciation final at 2:30 AND THEN IT'S ALL OVER. I'm very excited for this semester to be finished, but kind of dreading it at the same time. Because then there's only one more left. But I officially officially have a place to live for the fall, and finally heard back from my internship supervisor, so that's officially official also. So much to look forward to :) That's all for meow. See you when I only have one semester left in college.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

It's almost time for Pilgrims!

I just realize that my blogs never have logical titles, so if I ever need to look something up, I'll have to dig through my entire archived history. I realize it has been over a month since I last posted, and that's because I was waiting to hear back from LifeWay about the internship position I interviewed for back on March 27. On Friday, I got an email notifying my that another student had been selected. I was at work answering the phones during work, so I didn't have much time to get upset until after I got off. And then I went home and pouted with my cat. He understands. Though I was crushed, I had a back=up plan! I'll still be spending my summer in Nashville, but my internship will be (unpaid!) at the Gannett Design Studio. It's actually 2 blocks from LW; I can see their building from the DS offices. So, ya know, in case they change their minds, I'll be right down the street. Once I got over the depression (I was REALLY hoping for that spot!) and my plans, I shifted my gears and started the prep work for the credit part of this internship. 240 hours, a weekly journal, other fun things. Yay school! I'll be doing a little bit of copy editing and designing, so I'm super excited. The end of the spring semester is right around the corner! Only 1.5 weeks before finals, and most of my classes have final projects, so the majority of the work is here in the next few days. It's almost crunch time! Fiji formal and pig dinner is this weekend. The food will be awesome (and free! That's what happens when you have a big camera, apparently.) and B's mom and sister are coming down, so it'll be a good time all around. B and I have a wedding on May 5 right before finals, May 13 we're shooting some engagement pictures, and May 16-22 I'll be visiting Claire in NC (and John, but mostly Claire, and really only the 17-21, my flights are way late and way early) returning home to BG for a few days, packing up my apartment, then going to Murray to drop Clawsy (and some of my junk) off with Momma and Daddy. On May 25 I'm going to be a guest speaker" at the University Coc youth group girl's retreat, then heading back that night and staying with the Ayers, for at 3:00 on the 26, I'll be on my way to the beach. It's wild that I'm old enough to be someone that these girls will look up to and listen to, but I got the invitation the day I didn't get the LW spot. God is so hilarious sometimes. I'll be back from babysitting (at the beach) on May 31. Brian leaves for Haiti on the first, I have a wedding to go to here in BG on June 2, and then (tentatively) my internship will start June 4. Holy moly! So many exciting things coming up in the next month! Know what else is exciting?
Setting your kitchen on fire. Emily had spilled a little oil on the eye and it was sitting in a nice little puddle when I went to boil water last night. Just for the record, flour is not the way to put out a fire. It just makes little sparkle flames float up in the air. So I learned how to use a fire extinguisher and clean up the stuff that comes OUT of a fire extinguisher. One is more fun than the other, obviously. Other points of interest since the last blog: I *might* have an apartment situation set up for the fall. B and I picked up another July wedding. I saved 51% at Kroger with all my coupons! Not as good as Claire, but still. I crafted this awesome thing.
My final video project will be 3 minutes of my cat. No, I'm not kidding. That is the newewst summary of my life. Until next time! Cat

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

I need clean money.

I meant to post this a long time ago, but I didn't.
The good news is, it's still funny!

I finally dumped my piggy bank out the other day (um, try three weeks ago?) and counted out the stash I'd been creating since school started back in August. It amounted to a rather large sum. I didn't believe I was capable of saving that much money, so I recounted it twice, and all I could think of was how gross the dollar bills are. People probably stored them in their shoes, gum-filled purses, sticky wallets and pulled them out to buy medicine when they had the flu.
I wanted to wash my money. And take a bath in hand sanitizer.
Hand washing wouldn't be effective, (It was a lot of money for a college kid!) so I giggled at the thought of washing it in the washing machine.
Isn't that called money laundering?
I really wanted to launder my money.
I still have no idea what money laundering really is, but I'm convinced it involves the sanitation of dollar bills.

Here are some pictures.
-Cat



I PLANTED A PLANT AND IT HASN'T DIED! Also, I planted five and only have one. But it's better than nothing? The pot is self-watering and matches my new accent color. And was $4 at TJ Maxx. Thrifty and allows me to not pay as much attention to the little guy.


Glass sale at Hob Lob! Just little splashes of the new turquiosey color.


Got this for $5 at the Hob Lob. The true inspiration for my new room, and I just love what it says. (When FB had that awkward white box under the profile picture, Brian's blurb had something very similar to this. Neato.)

This is Claws sitting on the bed I made him. On the bottom of the book shelf. The fabric matches the stuff behind the TV, the foam is from my hope chest bench project, and it's stapled onto the box from my new night stand. Thrifty, I know.

I'm adding the new turquoise color in little places — got this fabric from Hancock's and replaced the old red/black combo. It matches my hope chest cushion!

Yeah, there are 80 bajillion things on top of my hope chest and I said there wouldn't be, but the point is that I'm making the top into a bench! (I'm also switching out my winter/summer clothes since we skipped spring this year.)

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Not a minute too soon

At exactly midnight, I ripped the month of February off my calendar to reveal what lies ahead in March — spring break, Saturday tours, college fairs, birthdays and assignments are waiting to be transferred from my daily planner to my monthly calendar. Instead of writing down these tasks in their color coded beauty, I decided to blog about it when I realized I was throwing away February at exactly midnight — completely unintentional, I might add.
I hadn't written a single thing down on my monthly calendar for February. It was blank when I wadded it into a ball and tossed it in the can. (No worries, Mom. My daily planner has a monthly feature that looks like this: )
Throwing away a blank calendar is a very physical reminder of the passed time that might have gone to waste or been left blank. I rather enjoyed February, what with its summertime temperatures and Nashville adventures. But it's officially March.
There are now only nine months until I graduate — 20 minutes ago it was still 10. I'm down to single digits. Whoa.
After doing some homework tonight I decided to try to simplify my room. Reorganize. Rearrange. Declutter. Feng Shui, if you will. This is partially due to the fact that Emily just rearranged her furniture, so now I've got the itch, but good GRACIOUS at all the stuff I have. A box of fall decor. A box of spring decor. Two plastic drawers of spring/summer clothes. A box of clothes to donate to Goodwill. A milk crate filled with craft supplies. A basket of blankets.
Oh my, my at the stuff. And all of this is under my bed! They aren't kidding when they say "out of sight, out of mind" one bit! I'm officially untempted to move my bed...tonight.
But that didn't stop me from trying to declutter. I stripped 30+ photos off my walls, mirrors and closet doors. I took down the paintings that lined the ceiling above my bed. I pulled the red towels off my bulletin boards.
Wait, WHAT?
Last weekend, after I got the email notifying me that the study abroad trip to Italy had been cancelled, I went shopping.
At Hobby Lobby.
And Hancock Fabrics.
I bought a blue ceramic bird. And gray ribbon. And fabric. And buttons to fix the curtains in the laundry room. I felt the need to add something other than red to my room, and I happily landed on turquoise. There are so many bold colors in my room, so I think I needed one to soften it up a bit, so here goes nothin'. I'm beginning to think about my next apartment and how the things I buy for it will go into my post-grad apartment. My post-WKU apartment. My post-everything-is-red-all-the-time apartment. Crazy. I'm starting to see in the very near future the Caitlin that is not in college, and it's a little intimidating. Especially that "very near future" part.
So where did February go? No idea. But I do know that I've learned a lot in the past month, both in my classes and jobs, but also away from campus. My education is wonderful and intriguing, but the closer I get to graduation, the more value I see in friendships. February was spent partitioning my time between the people I care about. I spend more time with the girls from HFC. I make efforts to hang out with my Thursday night group. I call my family and far away friends just to see what's happening. Sure, I get homework done (sometimes at work) and wind up staying awake past my 11:00 bedtime to cram for tests [actually, I've only had one test, sooo...that's kind of a joke. Pretend I said assignments!] but it's so worth it.
The most important thing I think I learned in February that life is going to happen no matter how I try to plan it. My plans are nothing compared to the Lord's, which is a fact I've known for the majority of my life, but one that I needed to be reminded of.
I've only got nine months left here on the Hill, and I have no clue what God's going to do in that time-frame, more or less after, so I've stopped freaking out and writing everything down in quadruplicate. (Seriously. Daily planner+monthly calendar+weekly dry erase board + daily dry erase board. It was bad, y'all. Real bad.) I'll write down the dinner dates and Bible studies and let the Lord fill in the blanks, because right now, we're 35 minutes into March and I don't have a single thing planned past bed time.

Goodnight/good morning/may God bless whatever time of day you read this,
Cat.

//Edit:
Just remembered that even my blog is red. Expect that to change soon, too.//

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Just made it!

And I thought it had been over a month since I last updated this thing! Ah, it is not so! Tomorrow, yes, but not today. Yay me! =)
Classes have already begun to eat my life, as has work(s?) and homework and trying to remember to sleep. And occasionally shower. But let's be real, I'm in college.
JUST KIDDING.
I shower.

So classes and work and what not are taking over, but Emily and I have managed to bake lots of wonderful things. Mini-pizzas and cookie sandwiches for the Super Bowl and other things that I have forgotten. We get plenty of time to bake and cook and experiment! Today I got home from class and Emily had made mini carrot cake cookies with cream cheese icing. Whaddup. So good.

In other Super Bowl-ish news, Monday night Brian was getting ready to take me home from the Fiji house and we realized his glove box was open. Odd, but I just closed it and put my backpack in the passenger seat. He got suspicious and looked in the back seat — his camera bag was gone. His memory cards, body, quite a few lenses...all that stuff. He called BGPD and filed a report. Luckily he had written down some of his serial numbers last year and was able to give those to the cop as well as an estimate of almost $1800. Yowza.
Yesterday, a detective called to say someone had called because they had somebody come in with some Nikon gear because they had gotten a really good deal on it and suspected it might be stolen.
It was.
It was Carlos! Short of the bag and the rechargeable batteries we use in our strobes, he got everything back! God is good!

The newest thing in my life has been this crazy notion that I want to study abroad in Italy. And get an internship at LifeWay. The Italy trip is only 3 weeks, and it's right after classes end, so maybe I could do both! I sent an email today asking about my application and got a semi-generic response indicating that they'll be in touch in the next few weeks. Blah.

Also! ALSO: Chili's got rid of their white chocolate molten cake with strawberry sauce. My life will never be the same, especially because word on the street is that BG is supposed to get a Chili's soon. At least I got the recipe from Amanda of winter break! So really I can make them at any time...I just like an excuse to go to Nashville =)
I'm going to try to post pictures, but that didn't work so well the last time.
I also have 30 minutes left on my shift at the Herald, so this may not be the end of this post.

Meow.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Happy 2012!

Happy new year! Though we're only 10 days into it, I think it's already holding lots of good things =)
WKU announced yesterday that the campus is switching from Pepsi to Coke! I'm an avid believer in Coca-Cola. I happily welcome this transition in my last year on the Hill.
WKU also fired their basketball coach. I'll go to my first basketball game of the season very soon, I'm sure. Looking forward to the watching the players I read so much copy about last semester at the Herald.

Resolution-wise, I cleaned my room. Er, cleaning. Well, I cleaned it, I just need to do some organizational-type things. I'm finally content with my furniture arrangement after living here five months. Go figure. I need to clear my desk off and unpack that pesky catch-all box in the corner.
Brian and I have also been going to the gym more (read, at all) this semester. He gained weight last semester that he's determined to get off. I gained weight during Christmas break freshman year and have been working to get that off ever since. Guess who's already down five pounds? Brian, of course. At least I'll have access to Coke Zero this semester...
That's about it for the new year; just working, cleaning, working out and baking cake nuts with my wonderful roommate!

The Holidays:
Christmas seems like a blur. We had so much food, so many people, so many presents and so much fun that I don't think it really sank in.
Oh, yeah, and my best friend got married on the 17th. My trip to Virginia was pleasant and short, the flights weren't too obnoxious (minus the one guy who felt the need to tell me how rough the past week had been due to his excessive partying. Unfortunate.) The wedding was cute and simple and I loved hanging out with Megan's new step-son, Hayden, who just turned five.
Anyway. Christmas. Racked up on houndstooth stuff for REAL. If only I were an Alabama fan...oh well. I got lots of cookbooks and baking things, including Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible. I'm one recipe into it and in love.
I got to meet my newest cousin Jordyn (there will be photos of her for sure!) and hang out with Blake and Bo. After Herrington Christmas, I headed north for New Year's in Louisville. I got more cooking things and a monkey hat and scarf. I wore it on a tour last week and kept my hands in the built in monkey mittens on the end of the scarf.
NYE was spent at one of B's friend's house (actually, 2 close friends live there) and we had a pretty relaxed night of video games, queso and shenanigans. At midnight someone down the hill from us was releasing Chinese lanterns and it absolutely BLEW my mind. I watched them for a solid 30 minutes before Brian reminded me I should put on shoes if I'm going to stay out that long. Oops?
I crashed shortly after midnight, we went to Bob Evans for breakfast and then spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing with B's dog.
Back to BG for work, fast forward a bit, and here we are! I'm the most excited about this weekend — we'll be in Pigeon Forge with some of the same people from NYE. It's four couples, and the guys get a long really well, and I'm sure we ladies will have some wonderful bonding time in the hot tub =) I've been planning car pools and meals and picked the cabin myself! I think it's pretty nifty! Might be a little cramped, but oh well. A fun weekend shall be had nonetheless!

On the downside, we found out tonight that one of the guys in HFC has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Our minister reported it as being "very treatable," but Matt will need six rounds of chemo at least, so be praying for him and his family.
Now, to end the post with some pictures!

Jordyn at 9 days old:


Christmas Eve breakfast: the cinni-mini tree!

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