My First 10 on 10!

So, a few of y'all might have found your way over to my lovely blogger-friend and sister in Christ, Katy. I've mentioned her and linked up with her a few times before. And she is way more blog savvy than I am, just sayin' - so love you, Katy! Anywho, she's does all these fun bloggery things and then I jump on her bandwagons...mmhmm, I am that person. Maybe someday I'll have enough time to be as awesome of a blogger as Katy is :)

So, Katy is a big participant in this neat little thing called "10 on 10" where you take a picture every hour for 10hrs on the 10th of each month. FUN? I. THINK. YES!! So, here goes my first 10 on 10! (I'll be honest, I missed a few hours here and there, so there's a touch of a gap in some of my pictures...TIGS, need I say more?)

So, here's my first 10 on 10 - December!

9 AM

This is what I wake up to every morning - MOM! FEEEEED MEEEEE!

10 AM

Coffee + Gihrardelli Peppermint Bark in 

Christmas mug = most legit homemade peppermint mocha EVER!

11 AM

Decided to wear earrings for the first time in about 2 months.

12 AM

Walkin' into Hodson...sorry for the mitten in the picture...they're kind of fluffy.

1 PM

Worked on my cerambycid illustration for a bit

2 PM

Took a break from the bug and worked on some manuscript stuff for the Wharton.

3 PM

ENTO vs EEB dodge ball - pretty epic.

6 PM

Went home to take Jakers out before heading back out

7 PM

Decided to lite the tree for Jakers before I left.

1 AM

Called it a night after hangin' with the bugdorks in celebration of 

being done with Insect Ecology!!!!

***Sorry for the major lags: dodge ball lasted forever and then my phone memory filled up after I left the house for the evening...


I'm going to try and remember to do it again next month - anyone care to join in??

Shalom!
~MW

Avoiding finishing an assignment?

I invite you to enter the wonderful world of Blogger :)

Yes...I am indeed procrastinating. It's so hard to be motivated when something isn't due until 3:30pm and the actual class is no longer meeting...yuuuup, I am there. Is it possible to have "senioritis" in grad school? Maybe it's just a case of "holidayitis" or "homesickitis." Stay tuned for the diagnosis.

But, for now I am going to prove to all y'all that I am indeed still alive and that I am still a contributing part of the blogverse...even if 90% of my contribution of late has merely been in the way of comments...MY APOLOGIES. As my lovelies in Africa say TIA (This Is Africa), so I shall say TIGS - This. IS. Grad. School!! I have come to accept the sad but unavoidable truth that grad school will indeed keep me from gracing your monitors and screens from time to time.

So, how goes life in the FT of late?

snow...Snow...SNOOOW!!! (<-- White Christmas style, Daddy!) We've had quite a bit of snow here, along with single digit and negative degree days, daylight that disappears circa 4:30pm, and...wind. So, the snow I love, the single digit and negative degree days I really don't mind...like my property manager said the other day, "It's so cold it's like it actually makes you warm." I know y'all probably can't understand that, but it's true! It's so cold that it's like our endothermic capabilities actually finally kick into action and boom! - you're warm and toasty...well, if you have a decent coat...and some good socks...aaand a hat...and maybe some long underwear...yup, that aught to do it :)

The ever so essential base layer....does this not remind you of Peter Pan's shadow??
Right about the time he gets ready to stitch it back on..?


Definitely one of my best investments since the move up here.

Oh...do NOT forget your gloves or a scarf - those are key as well, especially the glovies. Man. My finger tips get SOOO cold!! I need to invest in a legit set of glovies, I think. My layered knit gloves just don't seem to be cutting it anymore *sad*

BUT! All that to say, it's really not so bad until the wind gets to blowing. Even a little breeze can feel like a million little ice daggers slicing right through you...yuh, it's pretty brutal. Sometimes I'm convinced that by the time I make my trek through the snow to/from my car that the wind will have successfully taken thousands of little nicks out of my face - the only part of my body that is not layerfully covered as I brave the winter weather. So far the wind has not won, although I can't seem to get enough fluids into my body to keep my lips from cracking/peeling (gross, I know...welcome to my life.). Ah well, hopefully I can recover for a spell in my beloved TX before making my return to brave another 3-4 months of winter...neat.

Now that you have some sort of an idea what winter is like here allow me to share some of my favorite things with you.
* The snow. I've already mentioned it, but my goodness is it gorgeous! There are a number of fields around the "Cow Campus" (Ags, it's somewhat equivalent to West Campus) and they are all currently blanketed in a beautiful white, glistening, sparkly layer of powdery snow. Every time I walk past one of the fields all I want to do is get a running start and leap into the middle of the field (what? It's totally humanly possible to do...) and just land in the foot or so of snow that is resting around town right now...I think I'll wait until there's another foot or two, though.
* The sound my boots make walking on packed snow. It's this fun little squeaking, compressing sound...I don't know, it's weird, but I just like it. Probably because it's still novel...but hey, I'll take it for now.
* Footprints in the snow. I love seeing all of the animal tracks that have started turning the fields into puzzle pieces. I have to admit that they are starting to tease my imagination...I want to know where they lead and who they belong to!!! I totally have Beatrix Potter scenes running through my head...hmmm...maybe I can work on finishing that little story of mine over the holidays! Hey J-Hump, shall we play around with some illustrations over the break? Yes? Mmmk, great :)
* Wintery Christmas spirit. It's been super fun to ring in the season with snow on the ground...seriously fun. Ups the awesome by a good 50%.
* Driving in the snow. I know it terrifies some of y'all, but I seriously love it! Especially when it's actually snowing while I drive. Mmmmmhmm. Perrrrrfection. Ice, however, is a different story - I don't really want to talk about it.

Ok...so pretty much everything I love revolves around snow right now...it's just that awesome.

Last week was pretty insane...I really don't remember all that much of it. A number of us attempted our first preliminary exam (one of the requirements of our program) - we'll find out how we did in about 2 weeks. We also had a number of final projects, papers, etc. due...TIGS. There were a few nights I definitely did not sleep. We hardly saw each other...I think that was the weirdest and most difficult part of last week...being pretty much cut off from everyone, even here. But we survived it!

Well, I've also been a little busy around my little apartment! With...what? If any of you know even a little about me I'm sure you could guess this one pretty easily...CHRISTMAS!

Me Mum sent quite the goody-filled box of love last week...complete with ornaments to fill my tree which, at the time, only had 4 sad, lonely ornaments...It is now pleasantly full :)

Only a small number of fatalities.

Jakers helped me decorate the tree...looks rather enthused, doesn't he? ;)


Haha, I could NOT resist giving this one to y'all...doesn't he look like he's
singing Christmas songs??


Nonna sent this to me via Aunt June earlier in the year...I love these things!

Snowman nutcracker, mini nativity, and seasonal candles...perfection :)

Hope chest Christmas style. A Christmasy runner, Christmas
traditions calendar, nativity, snowman plate...sparkly garland...I'll take it.

I tried to get a little creative with some Christmas "orbs" and spiralling the garland in the
tree dish I would have filled it with candies, but Jake would clean it out...meh, it'll do.

Stockings! Had to hang them somewhere! My very empty wall seemed like as good a
place as any...One for me and one for the kids...Jake and BigBoy can totally share.

NUTCRACKERS!!! I miss our big collection back home :(

I've had this little tree since my junior year of high school...I felt it fit in nicely
in my whimsy corner.

My very own Advent wreath!!! Thanks parentals :)

And finally......


THE TREE!!!

I'm pretty proud of it :) I won't lie. A HUGE thanks to Momma for sending me all the little balls and the extra ornaments...especially the Aggie and Texas ones :) I think my favorite part is my Aggie Santa hat...I've had that thing since freshman year at A&M and it has made it's appearance ever Christmas since. Gotta love it.

Well, kiddies, I'm signing off for the night. Hope all is well with each of you. Praying blessings on you, my sweet readers. Love to you all!

This is what happens when you don't sleep for a good 2-3days...at least BigBoy
and Philly were there to keep me company =]

Sleepily Yours,
~MW

Whew!

My goodness what a day.

Today I woke up and studied my brains out, well almost, for my LAST FINAL EXAM OF MY UNDERGRADUATE CAREER! I also contacted my bank about a weird transaction that showed up on my statement - it should all clear up in a few weeks - I love Wellsfargo. I then proceeded to Blinn College where I took that LAST FINAL EXAM OF MY UNDERGRADUATE CAREER after standing in line at the Learning Center for almost an hour...yeah, I stood in line longer than it took me to complete the exam. I took the supposedly cumulative exam (except that it wasn't...weird.) and scurried home to pack for Indy! Lu and I then had our little roommie Christmas time and it was awesome - I love giving gifts!!

After saying our goodbyes for a week of being apart, I hit the road to good ol' Cypress to see my dear, dear Kacydilla and JJ. They are amazing and will be rising with the sun (and myself) to take me to the airport. We will be leaving their lovely home circa 6am, which means I'll be waking up around 5am...lovely :) We will be stopping to get some Shipley's or sooomething, I do believe. I always love coming to visit them - they make me feel so much like family, which is awesome, because they are family to me. Yeah, pretty much they are just awesome. We had a lovely dinner (Kacydilla made baked ziti!) and closed the evening with a movie rental - thank you AT&T Uverse - in front of a lovely crackling fire - thank you JJ :) We rented Sunshine Cleaners. It was very different, but good, overall - definitely not kid friendly, though. Kacy and I decided that it leaves you with the same sort of feeling as Little Miss Sunshine does - you're not overjoyed, but you are sort of content, while slightly saddened...you know, just one of those odd ones. We liked it, though.

Well, the two love birds hit the hay about an hour and a half ago...since I've been staying up 'til the wee hours lately, I am still awake...yay! I'm charging/syncing my ipod to help pass the time...and caught up on some email. I think I'm about ready to hit the hay myself. Eyes are finally getting a little heavy and have the beginnings of that sleep-deprived burn, yuuum.

I'm sort of lost in this weird limbo between the termination of my finals and the moment I walk that stage... Being completely done with my classes/exams and graduation being a week away makes graduation seem like just a dream that I'm not so close to attaining. It's so weird. It's like I'm about to drop out of reality for a moment by attending the ESA meeting while everyone else is still trucking along. Don't get me wrong, I put in my fair share of work by crunching to get all of my exams taken by today, but it still feels strange. I dunno...in a way, I'm kind of sad to not be around for that last week of hell. Finals are always such awful yet fun times in the insanity that ensues due to intense sleep deprivation and overdosing on caffeine. Oh, memories. I will never forget finals my first semester, freshman year: Rach and I were pulling an all-nighter while Harpi slept soundly on the bottom bunk of their bed. Rach and I were SO ridiculously hyped up on Surge (please tell me that some of you share the sick love of this bottled potion of awesome that she and I do...) that we couldn't even sit still in our chairs! We were continuously shifting and jumping up, only to force ourselves to sit back down; there was, of course, the constant occasional glance-and-giggle profusely. **sigh** Those were the days. I miss being that young and carefree, sometimes. But, only sometimes. I am truly happy with where I am today. While I am not entirely thrilled to move into my parents' study - Mom & Dad, if you read this, I love you, it's just the moving into the study part - I am quite excited to have some free time again to read and visit with people and just enjoy existing. I am rather tired of the continuous go-go-go that has been my life the last 4yrs. The change of pace is much needed and will most certainly be enjoyed. I can't wait to start my reading list...I still need to actually compile the list that has been building in my head and put it on paper, but still...I'll have time to read again!!! This will be bliss.

Ok, I now have to face the day in about 4.5hrs, so I HAVE to close for now. I'll be updating throughout the conference, so get excited.

Indy, here I come!!

Blessings and Peace to you all!
~MW

P.S. - If it's not too much to ask, my family and I would greatly appreciate it if you could keep my Grandma and Grandpa in your prayers. Grandma just got home from being hospitalized and still has a lot of swelling and seeping in her legs; Grandpa just had surgery to have a catheter placed permanently. Also, my Aunt Deb went to the hospital today because she had a seizure (that might not be entirely correct, but it was something to that effect) and after a bunch of scans, cat-scans, etc. they found a mass behind her sinuses and sent her immediately to surgery. I haven't heard anything yet on how it all went, but I'm hoping that no news is good news... Thanks all!

....Weird....

Today I took my last final exam as an undergraduate at Texas A&M University....W.O.W

Weird feeling - really, really weird feeling.

I'M DONE!!!!! :)

Off to Indy I go - I'll try to blog while I'm there to keep you cool cats updated on the happenings in the land of ice (..and snow??? I can only hope!).

Ciao, bellas!
~MW

Hmmm...

Hello, all.

So, this weekend has been a strange one...really good great, but strange...

Friday I dropped off Cornelius at Aggieland Automotive to see if maybe they can figure out what's wrong with my little dude and get him back in tip-top shape for a fairly reasonable price... *gulp* After that I got to talk with my dear friend Sam for quite a while, it was a good catch-up chat, and found out that he might be able to swing down to Indianapolis for a quick visit while I'm there in December - it would be really fun to get to visit with him in person for the first time in almost 2yrs...wow, we've kept up with each other for nearly 2 years after spending a mere 5 days together...blows my mind when I think about that. But that was great and then I went to the movies with B, Tara, and their friends Nate and Becca (we saw Men Who Stare at Goats...it was dumb...nuff said), and grabbed some Spoons following a quick jaunt around the Sam's Club parking lot in a cart...yes, that's right it happened, and it was glorious :)

Saturday I did some stuffs around the apartment and went to MugWalls with Alyssa to work on grad school apps (WAY more difficult than one might expect...oh essays...) for a few hours. After that I ran to campus in Dave (Ricci's sweet Explorer; we've developed quite the little bond over the last week and a half or so), grabbed my bike and went to Jimmy's for our bi-weekly bike cleaning session - always good times. Once we were satisfied with out work we ran my bike back to campus and went over to a fellow mountain biking buddy's house. Tyler (our buddy) had been smoking a brisket all day and wanted to share the wealth - it was DELICIOUS!!! And it was his first one!! I was impressed, like for serious. We had a good time hanging out with him, met some of his friends and the girlfriend. After we were all done chowin' down we were chillin' in the living room and in bursts Jeff Marshall...what?! Yes, Jeff just so happens to be one of Tyler's roommates!! What are the odds?? So I went and had a little chat with him - he was all bummed 'cause he had a poor day at the deer lease...seeing as how it was opening day of deer season he was pretty upset he didn't get anything, especially that 8-pointer who's antlers were inside his ears...poor Jeff. Dropped Jimmy off and headed back to the apartment where I watched Management with Lindsey, David, and Lindsey's sister Kelly and their cousin Tiffany. It was a good little flick.

Today (Sunday) has been a good day, as well. Church was really great - worship was off the chain today...total and complete sincerity and humility in that building, for sure. Butch's message was a good one, too. We've been working our way through Matthew 5, and when I say working our way through, I mean really digging into it...like, taking 3-5 verses a week. Yeah, it's amazing. Today we talked about integrity (Matt 5:31-37) - ranging from marital integrity to oaths. Basically it was addressing how in today's world a person's word really doesn't mean anything anymore because we have all found ways to wiggle our way out of doing something we say we are going to do, or on the flip side do something we say we won't... It was good to be reminded, like it says in those verses, that we are to let our yes simply be yes, and our no be a simple no...none of this finger's crossed, or "cross my heart, hope to die" business... I then made my way over to the Humphrey home and took a gander at their newly put-together guest room - it is truly lovely. They did a fantastic job at making it welcoming and giving it a warm, safe feeling. (I'll be visiting after graduation, for sure!) We had lunch, and had a really wonderful visit talking about, as Josh puts it, "real things" :) I just love them, they are truly a blessing in my life...not only are they wonderful company, but they are an amazing example of what it means to walk in the Lord in everything, and they are so willing to give, whether it's simply inviting me for lunch or dinner or, on a larger scale, lending me Dave until Cornelius is up and running again... I definitely thank God for them all the time.

Post-Humphrey time is where things got really weird for me today. I've been very tense all afternoon about something and I'm not quite sure what it is...I have an inkling, but that can't be the only thing that is putting me in this funk. Lately I've really been struggling with the pain of the events surrounding me and Marcos, as it is November again and the 2nd (two years ago...wow) is when we re-committed to try and make things work, and then everything after that just got worse and worse....leading into my spell with depression...yeah, that was a fun Christmas...not! It's not that I want him back - yes, I miss what we had, I won't lie - but more that it still just plain hurts. I gave him my whole heart and he broke it, so badly that I wasn't sure those little shards would ever fit back together again. I've been doing a lot of evaluating of everything that has happened throughout my time in college over the course of this semester, and how different things have turned out from what I had planned/imagined. Once sophomore year rolled around I always imagined having Marcos and rest of the Ybarra family at my graduation and just still having them all playing the roles they were playing in my life over two years ago...I imagined graduating with everyone from my class, instead of walking after the majority of them all...I imagined that I would be getting ready to go, or starting vet school right now...I certainly never imagined not really having a post-graduation plan - I mean I have ideas about grad school working out, but otherwise, I got nothin'...I imagined I would be engaged and planning a wedding or at least nearing that point (this really isn't something I'm struggling with, just something I thought would have happened the way things were sophomore year)...I imagined I would have more of an idea of who I am... It's all just very humbling to think about, ya know? Recognizing that no matter how much we all plan for things to happen a certain way in our lives, we never have any true control - it's always, always God who has the final say. That's something Ben talked about at Breakaway on Tuesday: how James reminds us that it is literally walking in sin to have the audacity to say that "I will be doing this or that tomorrow...in a month...in two years..." Yeah, that is definitely something I do all the time. I'm a planner - I'm a sinner. I don't leave everything in the hands of God, I don't consult Him in everything I do. Everything. Hmm, that was a slight digression, but a good one...back to this afternoon. I've been on the verge of tears since about 4, and I can't figure out if it's the Marcos thing or something else or a combination of things. It's very weird. I have the worst tension headache, I can't hold my attention on anything to save my life, I'm just a mess - and I have no idea why or about what. Talk about frustrating. I've been feeling very alone this afternoon, too...it's all so WEIRD!! I've had a pretty flawless weekend, and so I just don't understand what the deal is... I think I'm going to finish reviewing my trees for tomorrow and go spend some one-on-one time with my Heavenly Daddy. I need His clarity and comfort today. I need to be reminded that I am dearly loved by Him who watches every moment of my life and knows every hair on my head, every hurt and joy in my heart, every fear, everything. Yeah, I'm off to do that.

Love you all dearly.
Shalom,
~MW

**Deep Sigh**

******~~~Warning: This WILL be a LONG post~~~******


Hello, my loves.

I know I've left you all hanging quite a bit over the last month - but the trying month of October has now come to a close (well, in about 8 hours...).

I don't know that I have ever had a semester that has been as full and time consuming as this one is, when it comes to class work. Ok, so yes, the OChems and BICH and the calculuses (calculi??) were awful, but this semester every class has TONS of outside projects and assignments - I mean, come on! But this month was definitely the worst...so far. Most projects and things are finished up, just some polishing is left to be done on a few and greatest of all: I don't have to stress about the GRE anymore - Whoop. I do want to thank all of you for your prayers - I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate them. How did I do? Well, I passed the thing. That's good, right? Well, it's a good start, at least. I pretty much rocked the verbal section, but the quantitative portion ate my lunch and stole my money for tomorrow's lunch, too. It was so mean! I don't understand why it hates me so much...what did I ever do to it - or any other standardized test, for that matter?? Well, after talking with Dr. Wharton and some other graduate students I'm not as concerned about my score as I was initially - 1000 is the minimum score grad schools accept (I'm not sure if that is true for all grad programs, but I know it is for Ento stuff) and I surpassed that, so I'm good there. He also said that even if schools have a range they prefer that doesn't mean that they won't look at you if you don't fall into that range. Thankfully, U of M doesn't require you to score in the 70th percentile, they just prefer it :) Also, because I have been corresponding with my desired advisor and the director of grad studies for the Ento department at Minnesota I have another leg-up. He didn't give me a "get out of jail free" card, but he did provide me with at least the chance to post bail :) So that's something, for sure. Now I just need to talk with Susan about my scores and see if she still wants me for her lab...Prayers, please!! So, now that that horrendous ordeal is finished I can sit back and "relax" - except not really...haha, but it will be a different kind of stress from here on out, and not all entirely bad stress. Holla!

This weekend is turning out to be just the hiatus I needed - I am currently chilling on the couch of my lovely Justin and Kacy Bunte's home in Cypress. I just love them. Kacy's friendship over the last 4+ years has been such a blessing and to be such great friends with her hubby is just as much a blessing - they always take care of me and let me rest and recoup with I come to visit. Tonight we are all heading to CFF for their fall festival dealio, where Kacy and I get to man the "Leap-frog Booth"....what that means, exactly, we have no clue, as of yet - we'll know circa 6pm! Oh, which reminds me!!! We FALL BACK tonight!!! Whoop for an extra hour of sleeeeeeep :)

In other news I am writing to you all on my new, shiny laptop! It's a Toshiba!! The Dell finally bit the dust last weekend. The computer itself still runs (well, and I use that word figuratively, as most of you know the ridiculous state my computer has been in for the last year or so), but the lamp in the screen finally went out...sad. But Toshiba/BestBuy is awesome and was having a stellar deal on their Satellite laptops last weekend so I picked up one of those and I LOVE it! It runs Windows7, too! It's a little bit of an adjustment, but nothing like Vista, i.e. it rocks! So, while it was an undesired and unexpected expense it was a fun one, at least. Now if my poor Cornelius would just get better without breaking the other half of my bank that would be miraculous! He's been doing the whole come to a stop sign and die/"I don't want to start right now" thing again this month which has not been fun...but the Humphreys are amazing and are letting me borrow the Ford so I don't have to worry about my poor Cornelius not starting or dying in the middle of the road until he gets better. I will no longer be taking him to Firestone, either...they have been good to me other the last few years, but they have never been able to figure out why he does this and so I think the winds of change are a blowin'. I'm trying a mobile mechanic from church this time around so we'll see if he can discern the problem - either way at least I know he won't rip me off. I'm hoping he can come take a gander on Wednesday of this week.

Tomorrow is NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!!!! This IS exciting, to say the least. Maybe it will bring true Fall weather with it...I'm tired of it being 84 degrees in late October! And people say global warming is a hoax... ;) But back to November! I cannot wait to start preparing for all of the holidays up and coming. My Thanksgiving Feast is going to rock this year - I'm going to bring in some new deserts and try some new recipes for some side dishes, it will be awesome. I'm still going to do my classic turkey, because I think I have discovered perfection in that (I'm just sayin'...), but I'm going to try and spice up the other angles of the meal this year. Yay! Not to mention that come Thanksgiving Day I can finally watch Elf again!!! Mika and I have this rule that we have to at least wait 'til Thanksgiving to watch our movie so we can preserve some of it's preciousness :) And it will be really nice to spend time with the family - I miss them. It has truly been too long since I have really seen them all. I'm looking forward to Joshua's play in a few weeks, too - he's such a talented little thespian. :) I'm also excited about Operation Christmas Child - I haven't done a box since I was in high school, but I can't wait to bless a little child's life with a box o'fun and toothbrushes and things. And THEN!, after Thanksgiving it's ALMOST CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for Christmas this year! Many reasons: 1) it's Jesus bday! 2) I will be graduated! 3) Sean & Shyla will be with us!!!!!!!!!!!! 4) I WILL BE GRADUATED!!!!!!!! Plan-less, maybe, but graduated none-the-less. I'm excited to get to cook with Mom and Shyla - I'm sure Sean will jump in the kitchen some, too. I'm excited to get to visit with my big sister - I truly, truly love and adore that girl, and I cannot wait to spend one-on-one time with her, because we haven't really had any of that yet...me, jealous??? Never... ;) I'm also very excited to get my Seaner all to my self on occasion as well - I love him so, so, SO, so much. I always love the holidays too, because I get to take my little brothers out for teas and hot cocoas and the like - so fun. I'm just looking forward general family time and relaxation with the peoples I love. I'll also get to seem some of my A-towners who I don't get to see very often, that will be delightful, as well.

In other news I have acquired a little Schwinn road bike recently. I'm planning on converting the thing into a little fixed gear, but that will have to wait until I save up some more mula and get Cornelius up and running again...*sigh* This whole being a grown-up thing is tricky at times... :) But, I'm super excited about undertaking the task of fixing up my new bike - I'm kind of getting obsessed with this whole bike-riding world. I totally want to invest in a legit mountain bike someday when I'm all rich and living in my dream place :) I looooove that sport. It's so fun and invigorating.

Wow..MI3 is on at Kacy and Justin's and I am uber distracted right now...so I think I'm going to close for now, plus I need to get ready to head to the Fall Festival. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Shalom,
~MW

Wooosh!

The last week or so has been quite the whirlwind! So, I apologize for not updating as much as I should have....and this is going to be a wimpy attempt. Really, just letting you know I'm still alive, I still love you all, and yes, I am still updating this thing called a blog :)

Big events: Josh and Elaine are now the happy newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Lee Ponder!!!! So exciting. The wedding was gorgeous. I had my hands full most of the time so I don't have too many pictures, but I'll throw some up when I get the chance.

Now it's off to class, then a lovely blessing in the absence of my tree lab this afternoon - I can actually get stuff done! Like study for my exams this week, register for the GRE (i.e. break my bank account...), make my waffle batter for Hope Group Brinner!!! And so much more....fingers crossed!

Love to all!
Blessings,
MW

One week closes and yet another opens...

So here we are ending the 3rd week of the semester and beginning the 4th. W.o.W. Can you believe how quickly this semester is going already?? I mean granted, we aren't even half-way through the semester yet, but still: Week 4!!!

I'm getting more and more excited and yet more and more terrified of graduation. Everyone told me I would feel this way; but, me having MY plan in hand was certian as to how my life was going to play out this semester, so I had nothing to fear! WRONG! MY plans did NOT pan out and now I have EVERYTHING to fear!! Oh the irony... It would be real nice if God could just drop me a post and reveal to me the plan He has for me...even just for the next 2-3yrs. Somethin'. How awesome would it be if God really did work that way...life would be a cake walk! You would get little posts dropped on your doorstep or flying out at you from your fireplace (that's for you my Harry Potter nerds) that would say little things like: Today you are going to be tempted to go party it up with your friends and not study - don't do it. Or: Go fill out this application, have these 3 people write you letters of recommendation, and turn itall in by such and such date and you are set for your immediate future following graduation. On second though: How boreing would that be?!?!

Well, all-in-all this week was pretty grand. Busy, but good. Had my first Hope Group on Monday with the amazing Freemans and it was truly a blessing - I'm excited to see the Lord work in all of us and bring revival to our hearts this semester...makes me wish I could stick around for a bit longer :( First round of exmas seems to have been fairly successful...at least don't think I failed anything; always a plus. Breakaway, as usual, was fantastic. Second UESO meeting of the semester was, ehh, alright - the speaker kinda killed it, but we had a ton of new peeps, so that was awesome!! Mountain biking was fun, even though we didn't get to hit up the trails: we worked on bunny hops and roll-overs. The roll-overs I have pretty well, but the bunny hops, not so much - it's pretty sad, really. I just don't have the upper body strength for it. I'm working on it, OK?!?! :) Friday I got to visit with the cousing and his lovely family in Austin/Round Rock area, which was amazing; it had been too long since I had gone to visit them. Saturday I had lunch with my bestie, Miss Elaine soon-to-be Ponder, on my way back to CS which was fabulous! I do miss her terribly. Today had an awesome church time, had lunch with my fellow [graduated] bug-dork, Stephanie, and CLEANED MY BIKE!!! Lunch with Stephanie was great since I never get to see her - being that she is in San Antonio. And cleaning my bike was surprisingly fun! I did it with my new friend Jimmy (from mountain biking) - it took us forever since we hadn't really cleaned our bikes before, though his is newer than mine so it didn't take him as long; either way it was good times.

Now, my loves I am off to study for this new week. Blek. I'm so over studying: worst case of senioritis EvEr.

Blessings!
MW

P.S. - BigBoy just decided it would be a good idea to lick up some of my chicken spaghetti (which I made with HOT Rotel this time...) and now he can't stop licking his lips. Poor kitty; I told him not to do it...I turn my back for ONE minute and disaster strikes!

Angela is demanding.

Hello my loves!

First things first: I do realized that I have been neglectful in my blogging activities since the first day of class. I am sorry. I am busy. I am tired. I am sorry, again. And Angela, I apologize most profusely to you because I "forced" you to make a blog and then I've left you hanging for almost two weeks...

Well, now that that's done: Let's have an update, shall we?? {I just have to tell you that I typed that last sentence while bending over backwards....no lie. I'm awesome.}

So, what is it that I have been up to of late that has been keeping my nimble fingers from gracing your eyes with a feast of letters and symbols?? Two words: School, Work...oh, and some driving, so I guess more like 3 words...

Well, I was going to update, but I didn't realize how late it was...I must now make the trek across Raymond Stotzer and help out with the UESO icebreaker of awesome. I will finish this later...after I go to the Humphrey's to the the ld on taking care of Mr. Grimm.

And.........I'm finishing my post starting now :)

So, let's see, what do you need to know...?

Last weekend was Elaine's bachelorette party - it went well, I wish more girls had shown up, but the little group worked out nicely, too. After the bachelorette party in RR, I drove up to Arl for Christopher's birthday celebration - he turned 16!!!!! Insane. We took him to Medieval Times where I was blatantly hit on by one of the executioners...he wove his way through the crowds from all the way across the waiting hall to come screw with me...it was funny, though, i enjoyed the ridiculousness of the situation.

Week two of classes has gone pretty well...nothing too exciting. We got our "awesome" plant presses for taxonomy of flowering plants on Tuesday...that was fun to lug around - I'll post a pic later.

Hmm, I do believe that's about it. Oh!! Angela came to visit on Tues., that was fabulous. I love it when my roommies of old come to visit, but it always makes me miss them even more...it makes me appreciate the love and relationships that have grown between us over the past few years even more...even if I'm nearly falling asleep the whole time they are here ;) But it was wonderful to see her. I was sad it had to be so short, but short is better than nothing.

I think I'm applying to grad school at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul....WHAT?! And I think my graduate advisor will be Susan Weller...director of the Bell Museum of Natural History and outreach programs at U of M....WHAT?!?! And I'll have all of my tuition and fees covered, full benefits, and a living stipend....WHAT?!?!?! Is this real life?!?!? Granted, I still need to actually apply and pass the GRE, but still - this could really happen. I could really be working towards a master of science degree in entomology at the University of Minnesota, Golden Gophers (yikes...), come fall of 2010. This is almost too much awesome potential to handle.

Well, my dear ones, it has been a looong week...so I'm calling it a night. I'll try to get back on top of my blogging duties from here on out - sorry for the neglect, nothing personal :)

Blessings!
~MW

P.S. - I think I have a new-found addiction: Mountain Biking...even though I'm crazy sore, all I have wanted to do all week was hit the trails again!!! I might have to find some way to get myself and my bike out to the lake this weekend...I want to ride, yo!!

The Last 1st Day...

I SURVIVED!!! I survived the last first day of my undergraduate career...this is a good thing, and I didn't even really hate my classes all that much. And, to top it all off, the Lord decided to smile down upon me (well, and the other 60,000 students roaming the campus today) and grant me a beautiful day of "cool" weather, complete with lovely breeze.

Oh the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, like the sun and the rain and apple seed. The Lord is good to me!

So, I haven't sang that little ditty in ages...but it really is a good one!

Well, kids, that's all for tonight. I'm too tired and it's too late to do any more.
Blessings!
~MW

...Summer: The End...

And, summer is officially over (well, in about 2.5hrs, give or take). This is deeeeeepressing, to say the least. I am seriously dreading this semester, and it isn't even laid out to be all that of a difficult one - I'm just totally and completely over my life as a student is all. Well, enough of that on to updates!

The creme brulee...oh the creme brulee... Well, it didn't really work. *sad and depressed face* I don't really know what went wrong, the recipe is really only two things: heavy cream and egg yolks. You boil the cream for 30sec (without scalding it, of course), mix it into the beaten yolks, pour that mixture back into the pot on the stove and heat the mixture until it becomes thick and coats the spoon. I did ALL of that! Then you pour it into shallow baking dishes/pans and chill it in the fridge over-night. The next day you sprinkle a light coating of sugar over the top of the cream mixture and throw it in the broiler to caramelize the sugar. Sounds simple enough, right?!?! Well, apparently not. My cream did not set-up over-night, no idea why, and then my sugar would not caramelize! Ugh, I was not happy. Taste was fine, it just wasn't right. But, don't you worry, I'll be tackling that creme brulee yet again and I will keep tackling it until I boil/chill/broil it into submission! I'm determined. {the Pavlova will have to wait until I invest in an electric mixer of sorts...} But, anyways, that's the summation of my most recent adventure in the kitchen.

Now on to life news. My goal and dream for the last 2yrs or so has been to be a Teach For America corps member and teach the kiddos about science and get them excited about learning and chasing after knowledge. So, I filled out my application and submitted it with confidence on Friday the 21st. Well, this Thursday rolls around and I get an email telling me that I haven't been selected to advance to the next level of the application process. I was dumbfounded. I thought that surely, with two science degrees and the research I have been doing that I would be qualified enough to enter the program as an elementary science teacher. But, alas, I was apparently mistaken. I was definitely (and kind of still am) heartbroken. I'm really just kind of at a loss, I suppose, as to what I am supposed to pursue now. TFA would have given me direction for 2yrs allowing me to get grad school in order for after my time teaching for TFA. I still want to teach, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do right now. Do I enroll in an alternative certification program to become a science teacher now? Do I go to grad school next fall first, finish that and then try teaching? If I decide to go the grad school route, do I pursue U of M, Minneapolis or U of I Champaign-Urbana, or look for some place totally different? If I do teaching where do I pursue that route: Illinois, Minnesota, California, Colorado, north east?? Then there's the whole option of going to Dominica with Brendan next summer-fall and doing science outreach with the kids there teaching them about bugs. Or I could get a job working with the US Forest Service... I dunno...growing up is hard :( But, as disappointed as I am about TFA, I'm trying to keep my chin up and my heart and mind open to the next bit of direction the Lord will throw at me (if He could do it sooner rather than later that would be awesome....).

Well, as mentioned earlier, school starts tomorrow...yay school.

Mmmk...I'm outty.
~MW

PUSH....and I'm applying for TFA!!

Tomorrow is Friday! Tomorrow is Friday!!! This is exciting, because then I can play and maybe get a few more things done around the apartment/my room. I have a few canvases I've been meaning to paint and we need a clean/dirty dishwasher sign...so I have lots to work on. Plus I REALLY want to get some reading annnnd....I need to work on poli sci, awesome. But it will be the weekend none-the-less!

Work went pretty well today, had a little hear-to-heart with the boss about Teach For America, grad school opps, and possibly going to Dominica with Brendan to teach the kiddos about bugs for 6mo *yikes!!*, and he helped me kind of reason out why it would still be best to do TFA now - or at least try for it. I'm young, TFA will help take care of loans and I will be getting paid (minor, but important details), if I get stationed in CHI then I will be able to go to Champaigne-Urbana all the time (it's only about 2.5-3hrs away from Chi) and get to know the people at the labs there, plus Therese and Brendan will be getting established and maybe get me a better in with those peeps. The U of I people I'm interested in working with always have $$ floating around because they write killer grants, so there should, theoretically, always be a spot open for me somewhere there. I haven't heard back from Heimpel about Minneapolis. There are plenty of other places just as amazing as Dominica that I could do science/ento outreach with kids, plus I could maybe just go for a few months, instead of the whole 6... And I need to be able to go do and see things right now, in his opinion, and TFA would give more of an opportunity to do that than would grad school. Granted, putting everything towards TFA means I probably won't be able to swing going to the Entomophagous conference in France in 2011, but I guess I'll survive...

That said, TFA apps are due TOMORROW!!! I pretty much have it all done, I just need to clean up my resume a little and polish off my letter of intent, then I'm set! Crazy.

Well, other than that I had a little girls night with Lindsey and LeeAnne. LeeAnne made us some delish pasta and we watched PUSH - it was actually really good, except the ending sucked!!! They totally leave you with a million questions, but rumor has it that they are making a second one, so we shall see.

Well kids, I'm off to work on the resume for a little bit before calling it a night.

Cheers!
~MW

Ah, the blogger world

...how I have missed you!

It's probably been about 4yrs since I officially had a blog I kept up with (micro-blogging doesn't count). I figure now is a good time to start back up again, seeing as how I am entering a new stage in my life: my victory half-lap! Yes, yes, I am about to start my final semester at Texas A&M University, home of the Fightin' Texas Aggies. A-Whoop! This semester will be like none other, I guarantee you that much. 90% of my community base of the last 4 years has graduated and moved on...that means that 10% that is left is about to become very important and that 90% that is gone is already sorely missed. While my "family" seems to have diminished here in Aggieland over the past 2-3 months of the summer, the doors are wide open to add in new members and become even closer with the remaining original members. Those that are gone are no less important to me than they were while here, but now we must suffer the remainder of our lives with indirect communication... Has anyone noticed that it almost seems more difficult to keep in touch with people with these seemingly endless forms of communication? I mean, there is the "classic" facebook, email/gmail, facebook chat, google chat, blackberry messenger, aim is still around, skype/skype chat, twitter, various blogging communities, and of course texting, phone calls, and the beautiful yet increasingly more expensive snail-mail........and that isn't even a fully exhaustive list, it is however quite exhausting to review! It almost seems that the more methods of communication we have the longer we contemplate the HOW to communicate with one another, as opposed to contemplating the WHO to communicate with. Very odd, this plugged-in world we live in - very odd, indeed. (Don't get me wrong, I'm, sadly, completely plugged-in, but when you stop and really think about how extensively we are all hooked up to electronics, it really is exhaustingly terrifying!)

Anyways, as I was saying, this will be a semester like none-other. I've decided that this semester I am going to be much more involved with my newly found church family. After 2 1/2 years of attending a lovely church here with my lovely college roommates I made the decision to search for a smaller congregation made up of members who hold one another accountable and are not afraid to call out a fellow brother/sister out of love and concern for their spiritual health. I found that at Living Hope last semester. While I have maintained a fairly low profile for about a semester I am now convinced that this congregation is the place the Lord wants to grow me in my final semester at A&M. I have already gleaned immense knowledge and understanding over the course of the last semester and this summer, and I am excited to finish out the "Genuine" series and to see what Butch has in store for us as the year progresses. The emphasis on family and oneness at Living Hope is an absolutely beautiful image at what Christ described the Church to be. The sense of true brotherhood I see and feel at LH reminds me so much of the descriptions you see in the New Testament from Peter and Paul, etc. People taking care of people in earthly and spiritual ways. I am truly blessed to have found this home.

School will be different as well. My main classes focus on the plant kingdom, as opposed to the animal kingdom...a little bit of a change for me, but an exciting one, none-the-less. I love plants!!! I mean, I only have about 5 or 6 in my apartment right now, but I love them! And, one of them I have had for over 6years - oh how I love my little money tree. Talking about my plants reminds me of the common phrase "stop and smell the roses." When you really do stop, even just for a moment or two, and look at the greens and reds and blues and yellows and purples, etc. all around us on this marvelous planet, it truly is amazing! I'm fairly certain that the majority of us take the plant world for granted, as something that will always be there, and we never have to worry about losing...even in droughts, it seems that plants are just expected to be around. Funny how we get used to having things and forget about how important and precious they really are. But I was talking about school!! Hmmm...yeah, it's gonna be a lot of plants! I'm excited.

Welp, it is late. I am tired. Work will be here before I know it (yay...). I'm off to bed!

Cheers!
~H.