Traveling Back Home

 So Emily and I finally went home to see our family this past weekend, It was great, as always. These are a few pictures from the weekend. Please stop right here and go to the picture above this writing. Make sure to look at it nice and close. Please read my fathers shirt. Please also note that his daughters did not buy it for him (not that he doesn't deserve it) but we're pretty sure mom bought it and thought it was hilarious.

Anyways, this weekend was fun. Em and I met Katie and Celena for lunch at Panara and it was delicious.  Celena and I then went to paint pottery at Fired Up in Peoria Heights. If you've never painted pottery before, I highly suggest that you go. Its really fun and relaxing. If you ever have a few free hours in Peoria and a little extra cash for the day, GO! They have a decent sized selection of raw pottery, you pick it out, paint whatever the hell you want on it, the fire it, and its yours forever!  Its really fun!

 This is dad fake loving Emily, as usual. Everyone knows I'm the only one he really likes, except for Katie, but everyone loves Katie.

 Gypsy bonding time.

Emily and my pup Roxy playing on the kitchen floor.


 This is what happens when I start digging through old clothes in the laundry room, Emily made me promise not to post them on facebook.... she never said anything about my blog.

I told her she would be the coolest kid on campus if she wore that and that she would make new friends. She almost believed me.


All in all, it was a good weekend visit at home :)

Night Lights

So, we had a small gathering last weekend. It was fun to relax after work and actually get to see my friends and roommates... I don't see them much anymore thanks to work, homework, reading, well grad school in general.

As the night started to wind down, most everyone went across the road to sit on big straw bales and look at the stars, it was gorgeous out. Steven and I attempted to take some night pictures. We're both still learning how to use my camera, I don't get to break it out much anymore.

Here's some of what we took...

 I just thought that they turned out kinda interesting.  :)

Harvest!

So, last night I avoided homework and I decided to hop in a tractor with Steven instead. Good decision. :)
I thoroughly enjoy harvest time because of the smells, the chill air, the beauty, and Steven entertaining me while we're sitting in a tractor. 

 Steven enjoys harvest too... it gives him a sense of power if you will.

 Steve's cousin Matt was checking the bin, I think he was up there just to get away  from Steve... he can be a lot to handle sometimes. Matt always seems to be either laughing at Steve or just simply shaking his head at him for good reason.

 John Deere advertisement?

 Steve was getting antsy and started throwing corn at Matt, but the great thing was that Matt was safely behind glass in a tractor just laughing and again shaking his head.

 The view from the auger wagon as we ended the night.

That evening was well worth skipping out on homework, study sessions, laundry, dishes, and whatever else I needed to do.  Well, well worth it.

Stress

We all have experienced this lovely, unwanted little thing called stress at one point (or several points) or another in our day, week, month, etc. I always have the undying need to get everything done when I clearly don't have enough time or energy.  And to my downfall, I get easily distracted, moving from one project to another, therefore I get a little of a lot of things done, without actually accomplishing much. I really need to work on that...

Today, as I was taking a few minute break from reading what feels like a million journal articles for my classes and was checking my Facebook. I know, this is wasted time, but its nice to take a break and be mindless for a few minutes every now and then. I saw a post on the newsfeed, it was from an app called "On this day, God wants you to know:.."  It was from my friend Sara.  It was short and sweet, but it made a great deal of sense to me, especially relating to grad school, working two jobs, the never-ending pile of homework, projects, just getting the dishes and laundry done, and well, just life.

       ".. that it's time you let go. Yes, of course, you want to control so everything happens in just the way you want it. But at the end of the day, we control nothing, - it's all in God's hands, - has always been, and will always be. So, do what you can, and then let go, and let God handle the rest."

Easier said than done, but it was just a friendly reminder to me that I need to apply this to my life. So, I've been working on this, but obviously not hard enough.

 

I think that someone might be trying to tell me something...  Again, looking at Facebook's newfeed, another friend wrote a note about an email she recieves daily. Here is a quote from that:

"Strive to live content in the midst of those things that cause your discontent. Free your mind from all that troubles you, God will take care of things. You will be unable to make haste in this [choice] without, so to speak, grieving the heart of God, because he sees that you do not honor him sufficiently with holy trust. Trust in him, I beg you, and you will have the fulfillment of what your heart desires" (St. Vincent de Paul, Letters)."

Let's see what else this day brings...

Fall is here... and its chilly

So things here aren't so bad right now. Fall weather is finally here, which I love and hate at the same time. I love it because of harvest, it being a little cooler and I love the colors. I hate it because it is getting colder and winter will be here soon. I miss the beach more and more... I didn't think that I would miss it this much :(

Day 1

First day in, I'm hoping that I set this thing up correctly. We'll see how this blog goes, no promises of posting my life up here everyday, but I would like to get the hang of this to keep in touch with people.
I'm currently in my 5th week of grad school... slowly wanting curl up in the fetal position in a dark hole to avoid everything.  I often find myself wondering what the hell I'm doing here... but I believe that everything happens for a reason and that there is a greater purpose for all of this. Everything just seemed to work out too well. I got the assistantship that I wanted (and now love!), therefore my grad courses were paid for, I finally got a house in the country/timber area living with two of my close friends and my little sister, and I get to stay close to Steven while he finishes school too. Other things are going well too.  I can't complain, but sometimes I still do, which I need to work on.