Blood Donor

{This is my left and right arm. . . battle wounds!}

Today, the American Red Cross was at Olivet taking blood donations. I, the blood donor that I am, signed up to go in the middle of my busy day! I woke up at 6 this morning (which you read ALL about!), then went to chapel, then Children's Lit, Calculus, and Latin America. Right after, I had a group meeting to meet with my Latin America presentation group. As soon as that got out, I went to give my rare B- blood. I learned in my bio class that only 1.4% of Americans are B-! I get in there at 1:45 and get 'to the table' at 2. The nurse examines my left arm first (for 15 minutes), then my right arm (for 15 minutes), then she puts the needle in her other patient. She comes back to me and decides to do my left arms. I have small veins, so it is hard to get the needle in there correctly so the blood all comes out! The she gets the needle in there and I am watching her twist and turn the needle in my arm! All of a sudden, the blood starts flowing through the tubes... also, all down my arm! She quickly covers it up, but I tell her its okay! She took the needle out and wanted to try my right arm, so around I go. She re-examines my right arm and finds a vein! As soon as she is going to poke it, she finds a 'better' vein. She cleans and marks it and gets ready to go at it again. This time, my vein doesn't get hit, so she goes twisting it around in there. The spot she found was in, what I thought, was an unusual location. It was on the forearm between my elbow and where blood is normally drawn (side of my thumb). It was a bit more painful because the skin is thicker because it is on my arm, not the bendy part! Well, finally it got to flowing and shortly after, I was free to leave. I got a cool shirt out of the deal anyways! After blood donating, I went to sell T-Shirts for SEA. After that, it was definitely time for dinner! Church right after dinner, then back to my apartment for Private Practice and homework! It is now nearing the end of my day, and I must say that I am POOPED!

Endophins!

Yesterday, I was lying in bed thinking... trying to sleep. That is when I got to thinking about the nice workout facility we have here at Olivet. Well, those were not the best thoughts to cross my mind! I asked Jen if she wanted to work out at 6am everyday to get in shape. Secretly hoping she said "No!". . . but all to my surprise, she said "Yeah, that sounds like a great plan!!" Oh no - - - what have I done? I set my alarm and up I got this morning to go work out. Jen said, "At least we have ENDORPHINS!" I really dont even like endorphins!! HAHA

P.S. I was so excited because Rascal Flatts came out with their new album yesterday and I got it!!!!!

SEA Weekend

Oh my word, did I have a FANTASTIC weekend or what!? On Friday, the Student Education Association (SEA) council left to go up to Indian Lake for the weekend. Dr. Oswalt (our supervisor) has two cabins side by side 10 feet from the lake, so we went to his cabins for a nice, relaxing weekend! It was such a blast! Friday, when we got up there, we unpacked and hung out. When it got dark outside, Dr. Oswalt took us out on his pontoon for a little ride. We went for a polar bear swim and it was FREEZING!! Then, we came back and hung out, again. Saturday we woke up and Adrianna and I went for a morning swim across the lake which was about 2 miles. Then, ate breakfast. . . wonderful pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Then, we all hopped into kayak's and went for the ride of our lives! Justina and I were in the two person one and almost died... more than once! We had never done it and we just could not keep those trees from jumping out in front of us! :-) We ran into... correction.... everything ran into us from branches, branches with pokers on them, lily pads, and even trees 2 feet in diameter! It was QUITE the ride! When we got back, we played in the water and then watched a movie. After that, we watched another movie! Then, we went over and ate dinner . . . wonderful hamburgers and veggies then we sat around the campfire. All weekend the campfire was going, so we were there often! Then we went over to the house we were sleeping and played Pit. That got pretty crazy in there! We ate two whole rolls of cookie dough (delicious!) After the game, we put in a movie and we all fell fast asleep. We moved our way upstairs and slept like babies! Today, we woke up and showered and got ready to go :-( We cleaned everything up, packed, had a little devotion, then headed out. It was such a great time, bonding and hanging out!

Swinging Time

How fun?! Another gorgeous night, so Jen and I decided to take full advantage of it! We drove through McDonald's and got ice cream sundaes and then went to our park! We had such a good time on the swings and the bouncy tarp relaxing, watching the stars, swinging, and talking. After we got tired of that park, off we went to the next park right by Olivet at Maternity Catholic Elementary school. There, we played on the children's play set and just enjoyed ourselves! We had such a great time and it was such a great study break!

Intramural Softball Game

Yesterday, Tuesday, Jen and I went over to watch Tyler play in his Intramural Softball Game. He was so serious about it, so we decided to take a few shots of him! He did so well, batted a .650 and made a few good plays out there in right field! It was fun enjoying the beautiful day and watching softball!

The Fun Day!

Today, Jen and I went to lunch in the cafeteria, then went back to my apartment to get ready for our fun-filled day! After we were all ready, we headed to Caitie's (my roommate) soccer game! We were so proud of her, we took so many pictures! She is number 11, so whenever she came close enough, we would snap a few shots!! We left about 3/4 the way through the game, but they were down 0-1, so hopefully they let Caitie shoot because we KNOW she would score!! After we left the game, we got gas and Sarah and headed out for our fun night!

The Night Fun!

After a fun filled day, we, Jen, Sarah, and I headed to Orland Park for a fun day of shopping and hanging out! Jen and I ate at Chipotle, while Sarah had Panda King. It was SO good!!! Then, after 8, we met up with some of Jen's friends and headed up to the City. We went to Dick's Last Resort for dinner, so it was fun... but mean! The waitress was funny, she was throwing chairs and getting attitude with our group, so we laughed a lot! After dinner, we all drove home and got back to campus around 1:30. It was a great day!

Lifes Simple Pleasure

Tonight, I was sitting in my room, doing homework and chatting online. . . actually talking about swinging, when two of my friends asked me if I wanted to go to the park and go swing for a bit. Of course I said yes, so off we went to a little park and swung for hours! It was SO much fun! We had such a good time just goofing around and enjoying the September weekends!

Grandparents Day

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Grandpa,
You are the BEST! I don't know what I would do without you! I love all of the amazing memories we have had, and I am looking forward to making many more with you! You are my pal and are always there for me. Basically, thank you for being you and always being there for me!! I LOVE YOU!!

MORE MAIL!

Also, I had a letter from my wonderful mother!! She sent me a very sweet daughter card along with about 15 pictures to place in my picture board thing! I put those all in there to make it fulfill its purpose!! It is so cute!! Thanks mom!! :-)

Mail time, mail time, MAIL TIME!

Today, I had a little spare time between my Math/Science methods course and Calculus, so I decided to check my mail. I got down there and was expecting a letter from mom, but I had a package slip in my box as well! I was really excited, but when I got the box, it was HUGE!! I got EVEN MORE EXCITED!! As I further examined it, I realized it was from my dear cousin Gay! I carried it to Calculus... then to Bible I... then back to my apartment where I eagerly opened it! It was like Christmas in a box... in September! There was a little bit of everything- - - from pens, to a clipboard, brownie mix, Snow Caps, and Kool Aid to a Target gift card!! I was so excited!! Thanks Gay, you are the best!!

Babysitting :-)

On Saturday, I went over to this families house to meet them because they were interested in me babysitting their two children. I got over there and Carsten, who is 6 years old is mowing the front lawn and Anna, who is 4 years old is climbing a tree in her little jean dress! They were very cute. On Sunday, I got an email asking if I could babysit on Tuesday (today) while they went to the schools parent meeting. So, today, I went over there and watched the kids for about 2 hours. They were so fun!! Carsten and Anna have a bounce house in their basement so we played in that FOREVER!! They would tackle me and each other and just have a ball of a time! Finally, I got Anna to be on my "side" and go turn the machine off for a break!! Then, we played Rapunzel, colored, we buried each other, and the whole works! It was a lot of fun and the kids were so cute!!

Oh, Workouts!

This is CLEARLY one of the most attractive pictures of me!! Well, here is the story! My roommate Andrea wanted to go on a bike ride, so of course I jump to the opportunity! We rode our bikes around the track for 2 1/2 miles. I was feeling good about exercising for the first time this year! I came back, ate a granola bar and before that was gone my friend Danielle asked me if I wanted to go for a run. Well, I just couldn't say no, so off I went again! We ran 1 1/2 miles and walked 1 mile to cool down! I was still SOOO hot (as you can tell) that as soon as I got back to my apartment, I started drinking my Nalgene. . . But. . . I must have been drinking more than my mouth could hold because it spilled ALL down my shirt! Nice, huh!

A little on the life of Julia

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Storytime with Julia

Today, my friend Liz and I were getting together to look over ALL the work we have for our Childrens Lit class. Soon after, we decided we should get a head start (being the over achievers that we are) and go to the library and start checking out the books we need! We get there, start looking, and two hours later, we leave with each 13 books in hand! I went over to my friends apartment and read to them for about an hour! It is so exciting reading all these childrens books and starting my Literature Response Journal!! If you have any suggestions of great books, LET ME KNOW!!!