Happy New Year!

Another year has come and gone, and Christmas break with it. Since I'm not one for resolutions I didn't actually make any, except to find a job and have my own apartment. Anyway, since I last posted finals ended and I went home for Christmas break.
Highlights of my break:
-Work: I went back to Studio for the last time this break. Although I love the people I work with, and It's been a fun job I'm glad to be done working there, and ready for a real job!
-Zoo: This break I had multiple zoo days! The second one I'll get to later. Traditional zoo day with Kevin and Jason was awesome. I made friends with an otter, saw Toby, and visited the new African forest! It was awesome, we got stuffed otters and red pandas as souvenirs and ended the day with Chilis.
- Movies: As usual I saw quite a few. Tron, How do you Know, Black Swan, True Grit, Tangled. I think that's it.
- Ryan's visit: Ryan came down from Austin for the Texas Bowl and for New Years.
- Texas Bowl: Was fun, despite the rain and the loss.
- Howl: Ryan and I met Jason and Matt there after the game, and as always it was a good time. We also went to Howl for New Years Eve which was a blast!
 - Feeding Giraffes: On zoo day number two Ryan and I got to feed the giraffes! For $5 you can have three big pieces of lettuce and feed the giraffes in the new African forest. It was really cool to get that close to the animals.

So it's been a pretty good break. Tomorrow is my last day in Houston and then I'm headed back to Waco for recruitment and classes start back the 10th!

 For Christmas Ribbon got a box

 And Jasper played with all the wrappings

 Zoo Day 1

 Pygmy huts in the African Forest

 Funny Masks

 Jumping pictures on my new camera!

 Texas Bowl!

 Matt's first trip to Howl, yay 21st Birthdays!

 Ryan's first time at Howl!

 Zoo day 2

 Feeding giraffes!

 Baylor the elephant

 Happy New Year!

It's That Time of Year Again

Finals time.

This year finals week started out promising. Everyone knows that pesky last day of class on Monday is really pointless so school is basically over the Friday (or Thursday) before. So in celebration of the end of the semester, and Jasper's half birthday (his real birthday is in the summer so we can't celebrate that, and besides who would argue with celebrating for a pet?) I threw a party. I'd say is was pretty successful. Jasper enjoyed a kitty sized White Russian and everyone else enjoyed Pimms, punch and beer pong. So the end of the semester was looking up. Saturday night Ryan and I saw Morning Glory, which is refreshingly funny. Harrison Ford, Rachael McAdams, and Diane Keaton are great together and it's a really funny story about a tv show producer trying to save a dying morning show.
Monday I had my last real test, went to an end of the semester party and started feeling like I was getting a cold. Tuesday morning my throat was sore and I felt awful so I spent most of the day in bed sleeping and downing medicine. Tuesday evening I was feeling good, Ryan and I went to see Megamind at the drive in, which was a lot of fun. But by the end of the night I was pretty much dying. Luckily I have an awesome boyfriend who took care of me, got me medicine and vitamin c and put me to bed promising to return the next morning at 6:50 so we could go camp out in the SUB for bowl game tickets. The next morning I could barely swallow my throat was so swollen, but I got my Texas Bowl ticket and made a doctors appointment at the ever so helpful (useless) Baylor Health Clinic. Where the first thing I was told was that I had tonsillitis (really? shocker) and probably mono (because the nurse practitioner is "never wrong"). So I was then put through 3 attempts to draw blood from my tiny veins, all of which failed and left me looking like a heroin addict. It was then suggested that we draw blood from my hands, but I stopped that from happening. There is something about a sick, crying, half not breathing person that makes old ladies feel bad. So it was decided that we would do a finger prick, forgo the CBC and just do a mono test. Well after two attempts at pricking we finally had enough blood and big shock the test was negative. But since the nurse practitioner who was seeing me is never wrong, it was decided that I could go visit the lab the next day to get a full blood and mono test done. In the mean time I was given two different drugs which I took and went back to sleep. So the next day, although I was feeling much better I went to get blood drawn. Luckily we got it out on the first try, two whole vials and big surprise I didn't have mono.
So all in all, it's been an interesting week. I'm not dying, I don't have mono but it does look like I've been shooting up Heroin. One final left on Monday and my senior year is half way over!

It's like Christmas in a Bottle!

 With Kenn Starr, the president of Baylor!

So many things are coming to an end! This weekend was Fall Ball and my very last football game as a Baylor student. Crazy, I know. Graduation is like 173 days away!

Fall Ball was Friday night. It was downtown at the Phoenix Ballroom and it was a lot of fun. Emily, James, Ryan (my boyfriend/date) and I went to Elite for dinner before Fall Ball. We were the cool kids who all got the exact same meal at dinner, chicken tender salad. Haha. Then we headed downtown. Fall Ball, with its fall theme, was decorated in fall colors, like oranges, cream and brown. It was really pretty, there was even a fire place with a nice warm fire. We had pumpkin spice cake balls, apple cheesecake, cinnamon spice brownies with fudge on top, and a hot chocolate and coffee bar. The leftovers of which are currently in my fridge! We spent the night dancing and hanging out, enjoying my last semi formal with ADPi. After Fall Ball Ryan and I took a bottle of wine to the hottub at Rivercrest and relaxed there for awhile. 

Saturday was the Baylor v OU game. Ryan and I went to the Delta Sig (His frat) tailgate before the game. At which I tried Shiner Holiday Cheer, which basically tastes like Christmas in a bottle and is my new favorite beer. We hung out, ate, and I met a lot of his friends. It was a lot of fun. A little before the game a bunch of us met up to run the Baylor line for the last time (the line is all the freshman and at the last home game, seniors too who run the field and cheer for the team as they come out of the locker room). It was really cool to do that one last time and to be on the field when the football team came out. Even though OU killed us it was a fun game, and not too cold which was awesome. After the first quarter we left the stadium and watched the game back at the tailgate on tv for awhile and then at halftime went to dinner and watched the rest of the game at home. It's really strange to think that the next time I go to a Baylor game in Waco I'll be a visiting alumnae. 
So basically it was an awesome weekend. Now I just have two days standing between me and thanksgiving break!

 Roomies before Fall Ball

 Me and Ryan 

 Maddie, James, James, Emily, Jenny, Reagan, David, Me, and Ryan

At Fall Ball by the fireplace

 Me and Ashleigh and our dates

 Meggan and Me!

 Graham, Susie, James, Emily, Me and Ryan

 Reagan, Jenny, Me and Katie!

 President Starr stirring chili at the tailgate! He is so nice!

 Getting ready to run the line!

 Senior ADPis at the line

 Ryan, Me, Emily and James

Ryan and his friends.

Here comes the team! 

 Running the Baylor Line

Halfway done?

So, Fall semester of senior year is almost over. Like literally almost over, I think there are approximately three weeks left. Thanksgiving break is coming up fast, so is Fall Ball, and the dreaded finals. Unfortunately I have three tests, and two major research papers before we even hit dead days. All of which I am putting off, senioritis has indeed set in.
In other news Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows comes out next week! So excited about that. I already have midnight tickets and am slightly tempted to dress up. Fall Ball is also next week, on Friday. Reagan is planning it so it should be fantastic and I know we are having pumpkin spice cake balls which promise to be delicious. I got my dress in the mail today, so now I just need some shoes and jewelry. 

Now, onto today's awesome news. This morning I registered for my last semester at Baylor! I'm taking 12 hours, and will have no classes on Friday so the spring is looking up. It was really cool to run my degree audit and see the all requirements met message. Now I just need to find a job, and fill out some grad school applications and next semester can be all about having fun. It's really strange to be almost done with college.  

Degree Audit :)

ADPi and ATO pumpkin carving mixer

Reagan, Michael and My pumpkin

 Final score of the homecoming game

 Me and Emily at the bonfire

 Me and My Parents

 Pat Neff

 Me and Emily in the BEARS

 On the Judge Baylor Statue

First down! and a cool sunset

 

Halloween! 

 Chris got married!

 The cool kids at the wedding

Justin and Annie

Also, if you haven't seen due date it's hilarious so see it!

Bowlcoming and Other Things

Things have been busy lately!
Lets see... I had my first job interview, finally got to go to Houston for a weekend, we built a float, homecoming was this weekend, and oh yeah Baylor beat K-State and is now bowl game eligible for the first time since 1995. We are also now ranked, 25th in the BCS, 24th in the coaches poll, and 25th in the AP poll. So it's been a pretty exciting weekend here in Waco.
Job Interview. Went well, it was with Target and it was good practice for all the future interviews I'm sure I'll have.
Homecoming weekend was awesome, an amazing last homecoming here at Baylor and probably one of the most fun football games I've been to (besides beating A&M sophomore year). As usual the weekend involved little sleep but it was really fun none the less. My parents were here for the weekend so they got to enjoy all the festivities too. Friday night was the bonfire and pep rally and Saturday was the parade and football game. The parade was an early morning as usual (5:30). This year however, I was riding in a 350Z with Emily who was a homecoming nominee for panhellinic. We had a lot of fun throwing candy at kids and our float looked amazing. The football game started with a lightning delay and a huge storm. So we hid out under the stands until the rain stopped and then everyone went back to their seats and the game started 2 hours late. It was an awesome game that ended close at 47-42 and gave us 6 wins for the season! Of course the Baylor students rushed the field and all did a huge sic'em and singing of "That Good Ole Baylor Line" with Ken Starr, David Crowder and the football team. So fun!
It's crazy how fast this semester has passed, we sign up for classes November 10th and I can't wait to see the "all requirements complete for graduation" message. So only a few weeks stand between Thanksgiving and then a few more between finals and Christmas and the end of fall of senior year!

Oh yeah, and the Rangers are going to the world series, but really who cares? They're not the Astros. 

 Row Row Row your boat

 Making flowers at the float site

 Homecoming week!

 Me and Emily and the court announcements

 Willie the Wildcat dead

 All our wonderful characters on the float!

 Parade morning

Bowl game bound!!

The Bucket List

Every senior has a bucket list, it's that list of things to do before graduation. My friends and I have been slowly coming up with ours and before I forget all these things I'm going to put it in writing.

Kyaking on the Brazos
Visit the mammoth site
Visit the Tx Rangers museum
Eat at Food for Thought
Find the Gorilla
Jump off the cliffs at Lake Whitney
Drink a Big O
Run through the fountains at the BSB
Pet the Bears (this is my personal goal, doubt it will happen)
Judge Baylor/ Waco themed pictures

That's all I can think of for now, lame I know.

In other news...

Baylor whooped up on Kansas in football this week (55 to 7). Yeah, take that jay hawk fans.

Also, in an exciting moment of app shopping with Reagan this weekend I aquired a police scanner app (we listened to the Waco channel for a bit), a nifty medical app and my personal favorite, the sex offender app. This is what Waco looks like

This only shows the offenders closest, so I'm sure there are more out there. It's when I see things like this that I think of this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw