Better late than never...?

Sorry to those of you that go out of your way to check this thing expecting to see updates more than once a month. I added this to the long list of things I need to and want to be more disciplined about. 

But anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed November so far! First off, my birthday was great! The only way it could have been better is if my family could have snapped their fingers and been here for the day! The Saturday before my birthday (Nov. 6), UNC played FSU here in Tallahassee. We lost in a really close game, which was sad, but it was still a lot of fun and the weather was perfect!

Me and a couple of gal pals before the game

That night, a group of my guy friends had a big bonfire at their house. I LOVE bonfires, especially since it was 43 degrees out! A few guys had their guitars and lead us in some classic country songs...good stuff. I turned 20 at midnight and my friends cracked me up because they kept checking the time on their phones and pushed each other out of the way jockeying for a position to wish me happy birthday first. One of the guys with a guitar heard it was my birthday and of course made the entire group sing to me, in English, then Spanish. I felt so loved! Until...
                              
Yes. My (loving?) friends threw me into the Westcott Fountain at 1:30 AM with a temperature of 43 degrees. At Florida State, it is tradition to get thrown into the fountain on your birthday. I should have seen it coming, but I really didn't. We were standing around the fire, and the party was wearing down, and all of the sudden two of my guy friends picked me up (like the way in the picture above) and my first conscious thought was "Oh my gosh they are going to throw me in the fire!!! HELP!". I entertained that thought for about 2.3 seconds and then realized what they were up to.  I drove my friends and I there, but one of them sneakily hijacked my keys and had the car waiting in front of the house and then threw me in the back of my own car.

This was probably taken when Shea looked at her weather- app on her cool iPhone and confirmed that it was near freezing. 

We got there, and to my surprise, a decent group of people followed us there from the bonfire. As much as I REALLY didn't want to get thrown into the water, I figured putting up a fight would just make it more difficult for everyone, and getting hypothermia might make for a cool birthday story.
So they threw me in, and I did half of a victory lap.

(Side-note - Sara was thoughtful enough to bring me a T-shirt so I didn't have to get my sweater all chlorinated and gross!  Otherwise, I wouldn't wear a t-shirt in that weather. Boone didn't make me that crazy.)

I briefly lost feeling in my toes, but they at least loved me enough to try to keep me warm!

The next day was my actual birthday and God blessed us with the MOST beautiful day!  I didn't want to do much for my birthday (still not thrilled about being in my "early twenties"), but I did want to enjoy the weather and have a picnic. About 10 of us bought lunch at Publix and went to a park nearby. It was basically a big wide open field and it was gorgeous, even furthering my appreciation for Tallahassee. I didn't think to get a group picture, but I did get these...

Tatiana (on the far left) is a new friend from Miami! We have "cultural diffusion sessions" (hahah) were she teaches me something unique to Miami/Cubans and I teach her something American/Southern. It gets pretty hilarious.

Excited.

Twenty years old and I still can't do a dang cartwheel. 

Happy and loved :)

Next up, Thanksgiving! Can't wait to spend a few days with family in Dothan, Alabama. Family, food, fun, fried turkey, four wheeling, football...YES!

Love you all :)

Hello November!

Hello! November has begun and I am so excited...I love November!

Here are my reasons:
1. Sweater season!
2. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday
3. I can walk to class without sweating
3. Great college football games (FSU vs UF, and Auburn vs Alabama in the same weekend!)
4. Everyone and their mother has a birthday this month
5. No more Halloween hype


I feel like I should have lots to catch you up on since I haven't posted in so long! I am still loving it here, I am still pretty involved in stuff and meeting new people all the time. My roommates are great, and I still love the apartment (I will post pictures soon...but I want to finish my fall decorations first!) My classes are going great... I hope they stay this easy the rest of my college years.


Halloween is my least favorite holidy. I really just don't like it. I love dressing up for theme parties, but Halloween itself is just so hyped up and crazy and out of control. And the whole idea of getting candy from strangers seems wierd, but I guess I survived without ever being poisened. But anyway, I managed to be a little festive this weekend and participate in the Halloween madness. Saturday was a beautiful day and I spent it watching football and carving pumpkins with Shea and Sara! Shea went the traditional route, I tried to do my monogram, and Sara blew us both out of the water by carving Sirius Black (a Harry Potter character) into her pumpkin.

Sirius Black...or an angry Jesus?

Our finished products! 

Saturday night, I went to two different costume parties put on by people involved in CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ). I was able to put my costume together for $1.50 (thank you Goodwill!). I didn't really take too many pictures, but there were some great costumes and I had a lot of fun...despite my feelings toward Halloween! Here are some pictures...

My friend Paige (Ninja Turtle) and I! Take a good look at that shirt...how could I resist? I borrowed the hat from a friend and already owned the boots.

My friend/ bible-study leader Mary Kate! Can you guess what she is?...so creative! 

Now for some random happenings. I went to a "Hoedown Throwdown" party a couple weeks ago. I'm not even really sure what a "Hoedown Throwdown" is, but everyone had to wear some type of flannel. There was a campfire, guitar playing, and cornhole...lots of fun!

Like most of my favorite fashion pieces, that shirt came from Goodwill. I feel like this picture acurrately represents our friendship...me being silly and rediculous, and Shea being borderline embarrassed. Sorry Shea! Thank you for putting up with me all these years!

Intramural volleyball season ended a couple of weeks ago. The womens team I was on lost in the first round of the playoffs to a team of superstars, and the CSU co-rec team made it to the semi-finals, which was somewhat unexpected! Unfortunately, we didn't take a team picture, but someone was taking action shots and tagged me on Facebook. 

This is the gym that the FSU volleyball team plays in...notice the conference banners in the background

I am now on a co-rec basketball team and a co-rec softball team. We won our first basketball game...but unfortunately I am still just as terrible as I was in 8th grade! The first softball game is tonight and I haven't played since freshman year of high school...hopefully I won't make a fool out of myself! 

Thank you to my family for the extremely generous sewing machine birthday present...I was seriously SO surprised and I can't wait to use it! First, I want to hem my curtains, and then make some fall placemats and other simple decorations. I will be sure to post some pictures!

Shout out to one of my best friends, Constanza. She turned 20 today and I can officially call her old until I turn 20 on Sunday! Love and miss you Stan! 

CRU Fall Getaway

Hello everyone! I haven't posted in way too long! I really am going to try to better about updating more often I promise!

The CRU Fall Getaway retreat was amazing. I drove my car over with one of my friends and 3 other girls that I had never met. The two hour car ride was a great way to meet them and they were so sweet and adorable and I had a great time. Two of the girls are in FSUs music program for singing and have beautiful voices, so I really enjoyed listening to them sing along to my music in the car (it was nice to not have to listen to my tone-deaf self for once!) We stopped for dinner at this place:

And with advertising like that, how could we not stop?! I had fried green tomatoes, mac and cheese, and about 12 glasses of sweet tea...and it was SO good. There are several locations throughout the panhandle/Alabama...including one right outside of Dothan. You know where I'll be next time I visit Tracy and the boys!!

We arrived at our location a little after sunset, so we got to enjoy a nice drive along the beach (along with about 6,000 motorcyclists!) during a beautiful time of day. We stayed at this place:

This place is specifically for Christian retreats and was right across the street from the beach. It was pretty much just a bunch of big rooms stock piled with bunk beds and dorm style bathrooms, which was good because I got to meet a lot of girls that way! I would say there were between 100 and 150 people at the retreat, and probably an even mix of guys and girls. Most of the weekend consisted of worship services, small group breakout sessions, and "The Pool Olympics". The weather was perfect (a little on the cool side) and it felt so good to be back at the beach. I felt like I met/became friends with a lot of people, learned a lot about myself, and left feeling SO refreshed and renewed in the Lord. 

These girls are actually all from Stuart and went to Martin County HS...I didn't really know them that well before this weekend, so it was awesome to become friends with people from Stuart!

We left Sunday around lunch time. If you know me well, you probably know that I LOVE road trips, and I LOVE Waffle House...when I get to combine them, it is close to a perfect day :)

There was no one else in the parking lot except a sweet old man...he had some troubles with my camera.

I loved this weekend, and I am really looking forward to becoming better friends with all the people I met! God is so great and His love for all of us becomes more and more apparent to me everyday!

I love you all, more posts to come! :)

Missing my camp kids!

I don't know why, but I have been missing these little squirrels lately! They drove me CRAZY all summer and the weekends couldn't come soon enough...but I definitely got attached. Every now and then I just want to go back to camp, goof off with my counselor friends, steal snacks from the camp kitchen, trade Silly Bandz, make fun of Justin Beiber, and just hug all the kids and see how their school years are going so far! 

 People that didn't know us were convinced she was my little sister. 

Garnet and Gold!

How 'bout them seminoles?! After yesterdays game, we are now 3-1. We crushed Samford in the season opener, got crushed at Oklahoma, won against Brigham Young, and shut out Wake Forest. I have gone to every home game and they are soooo much fun! Its awesome to go to a school with so much football tradition! Tallahassee pretty much shuts down and campus turns into one big tailgate on gamedays...awesome.


You probably remember hearing about my dear friend Shea. We have been friends since as long as I can remember and some of my fondest high school memories are the road trips with our moms to volleyball tournaments multiple times a month. She also goes to FSU and I have really enjoyed rekindling our friendship and meeting all of her friends. She loves seminole football and is so much fun to go to the games with! I feel so blessed to be able to have friends like her as I am  figuring out this place and making new friends of my own. Shea- if you ever read this thing, I love you and I love our friendship and I am so happy we ended up at school together :)


Here are some pictures from the last few games!

Sara (my roommate), Me,  Frances (a new friend) and Shea with Jimbo Fisher! 

His headshot didn't come out in the picture for some reason...but his name really is Mister Alexander...it cracks me up every time the announcer says it! 

Shea and I! 

The past three home games they have had fly overs from nearby military bases immediately following the singing of the National Anthem ...really awesome.

Chief Osceola and Renegade! Definitely one of the coolest mascots in college football (not that I'm biased or anything...) They stay out for the entire game and ride onto the field after FSU scores.
(photo credit: Shea)

Christian Ponder! There was a lot of Heisman hype at the beginning of the season...but I think that is kind of dying down unfortunately.  He goes to the Catholic church around here and Shea sat hear him once...pretty cool. I still haven't seen him around campus, but my friends always text me when they do...he is a pretty big deal!

I took this video right before kickoff as the team was making their entrance. It is amazing to look around and see the whole stadium doing the war-chant in sync! The Marching Chiefs (our marching band) are really great...I actually look forward to the half time shows! (And because I get to sit down after standing with the entire student section for 2 hours!)

I can't wait for these folks to come enjoy a game with me!

I whipped this up before the game yesterday! I took a XXL tshirt that I got at Goodwill over the summer for $1, cut the neck off, then cut the sleeves into strips, and tightly knotted the strips! Its not high quality, but you can't beat it for $1 and 10 minutes!

Well, thats all I got for now! I have been enjoying this rainy Sunday by going to church, cleaning the apartment, and getting ready for the week ahead. I love yall so much and can't wait till the next time I see you! Go Noles! 

Apartment Pictures (part 1)

Welcome to my room!

Full sized bed...definitely an upgrade from the teeny tiny bed in the teeny tiny room I lived in last year!

Not crazy about this corner of my room...it needs a lot of work. And the only reason that the (stolen) 15 m.p.h sign is hanging on my wall is the funny story behind it!

My closet! Again, definitely an upgrade from last year. And I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but my rainboots still have the newspaper stuffed in them from when I moved up here...Praise the Lord for sunny skies!

Please notice two things:
1. My beautiful view. Its a pretty thick little forest and I just love it.  My apartment is off of the busiest street in Tallahassee so it is pretty rare to have a view that is not a) fast food restaurant, or b) another apartment complex. I really couldn't be happier with my room/apartment!
2. Please notice my curtains. Want to take a wild guess where I got them? If you guessed "Goodwill, for $7" than you would be correct. I LOVE the pattern and they are in perfect condition. I have never been above shopping at Goodwill and I never will be!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures! I have a lot of craft ideas that I want to get going, so I'll be sure to update you on those. Oh and I'll get some pictures of the rest of the apartment up soon! Love you all!

Roommates!

My lovely roommates! Heather (white tank top) is from Miami, Stefanie ( sitting down) recently moved to Boca from Maryland, and Sara (striped shirt) is from Stuart and got me the apartment hookup. They are all so sweet and we get along great!
(Please pay no attention to our lame, dreary living room...this picture was taken a few days after we moved in. We have made a couple improvements since then, but not as many I would like to...decorating gets expensive!)

Sunrise at Stuart Beach

On my last morning in Stuart I decided to go sit at the beach and watch the sunrise. Even with all the anxiety and stress of moving that I was feeling, God allowed me to just peacefully sit and enjoy something that I take for granted everyday. 

...20?!?

Soooo I’m turning 20 in about two months. For me, that feels like a way bigger milestone than 18 or 21. It’s an entirely new decade.  In my mind, you get a job, a house, a husband, and babies in your twenties… how in the world am I almost 20?!

I have been intrigued by blogging for a while, and I am just now getting around to trying it out.  I guess for my generation its kind of like a journal…something I’de like to look back on years down the road and smile at my younger self. A handwritten journal would probably be more nostalgic and sincere, but realistically, grocery lists and birthday cards are about the only things I handwrite anymore. 

The main reason I thought I’de get this thing going is my amazing family that I love with all my heart. Just about all of my immediate and extended family (except for an awesome aunt and precious cousins in Dothan, Alabama!) live within a 50 mile radius of my hometown. That being said, I get to see them a lot and I am so grateful for it. I can’t imagine having cousins I’ve never met or grandparents I see a couple times a year. I am so thankful for the close, loving relationships I have with my extended family and I can attribute a lot of who I am today to them. 

I don’t really expect people besides my family and close friends to read this thing and I don’t understand why people put deep, emotional, personal stuff on the Internet for the world to see…so there will be none of that here. There’s just going to be some thoughts, highlights, and pictures from my simple little life of loving family, friends, and God!

with love, 

Amanda