some recipes to share from the week

So I have been home with just me and my mom this week!  I have been able to cook all week and make the meal plans so I am going to tell you about them.

Monday: Frozen Mahi Mahi.
I wanted to cook it on the grill but my dad had not hooked up the gas before he left so I had to improvise on Chris' george foreman grill.  Let me tell you though about my new favorite sauce for fish or chicken!  Lemon Pepper and Soy sauce.  I put the lemon pepper all over the fish and the plate then pour some soy sauce over it.  Then I heated up two sweet potatoes in the microwave.  On my sweet potato I like to make it  taste good but also keep it healthy.  I add a bit of brown sugar with coconut!  Then I made some fresh green beans with lemon pepper (my favorite vegetable) My mom had about 5 and I ate allll the rest!

Tuesday: Grilled chicken salad with tomato and boiled egg.  I had it with Panera's lemon poppy seed dressing.  I also had a small bowl of cereal! I couldnt resist.  With my diet of oatmeal for breakfast every morning I had been missing out on cereal

Wednesday: Pita Bread Pizza
So I wasn't the biggest fan but my mom loved it.  I just didnt cook it long enough for the crust to harden.  But I had sauteed green bell peppers and mushrooms with garlic to put on the pizza and that along with pizza seasonings and crushed red pepper flakes made the pizza a great taste.  Like I said my mom was a big fan.

Thursday:  I took my mom to a doctors appointment so while I was waiting I ran to whole foods.  I love to just go to whole foods and walk around and find interesting stuff.  This trip I got some fruit, chips, and dinner for the night.  I had grilled chicken with my soy sauce and lemon pepper mixture.  I also had some bread and pasta with spinach.  My mom had spaghetti and meatballs.

Friday: Breakfast for dinner! yum!
I had an omelet on english muffin with turkey sausage and some fruit and carrots!

I just love having a kitchen again.  To be honest I'm really going to miss not having it next year for college.  Cant wait to get an apartment!

Summer Cooking with Stephanie!

So I love to cook! Especially cooking healthy food.  This week I am going to cook for myself this week!  I am going to share with you what I am cooking!

First I would like to start with the fact that this week we went to costco so the fruit supply at the wright house is amazing!  I got a watermelon.  5 apples.  5 bananas. and the huge costco boxes of strawberries, cherries, and grapes!  Looks like stephanie has some work to do, but no worries I will totally finish this fruit!

Last night I had a turkey burger, grilled vegetables, and avocado dip (includes avocado, fiesta corn, black beans, and italian dressing seasoning!) YUM!

Every morning for breakfast I have 1/2 a cup of oatmeal with a half of a banana, cinnamon, and some skim milk.

This week I want to upload pictures of the dinners I make and share the recipes so keep looking for new updates!

Oh and Happy Fathers day to the best dad a girl could ask for.  You are always there for me and backing me in anything I do.  You are the best dad ever words cant even explain.  You always made me embrace the day and you had a big part of shaping who I am today!  I love to make you proud so that you see the hard work and effort you put into me as my father payed off.  I love you and wish I marry a man who is a father just like you because then I will know my kids will turn out just fine.

Summer 2011

Well besides the extreme Dallas heat the summer is not as relaxing as many would think summer should be.  Each day I get up at 7am and run then go to work from 9:30-6:00.  I come home, eat dinner, do abs or weights, then by that time I'm so exhausted from the day that I am ready for bed.   Unfortunately this does not leave much time for a social life which is not so fun, but not too many friends in Dallas so it would be hard anyways.  Most of my friends are either away at camp, college, or home from college.  Weekends give me time to hang with friends and family so I love the weekends that is forsure! So that is an update on my life everyday looks the same during the week and I get to relax on the weekend.  Pretty boring I must say but I am making good money and this will be my last summer working at the day care next summer will be much more exciting I will make sure of it.  Hopefully the family goes on some vacation this summer we are in the process of planning something so hopefully that will be a much needed break!  So right now I am just trying to make it through this dallas heat.  Tuesday is a high of 101! In JUNE!

Haha Ever seen a dog brain freeze? 

Dont forget to stop and smell the roses!

there is a lot of update in my life

I am officially done with my freshman year of college.  Saturday was my last 2 finals and they went good.  I ended up getting an A in 4 out of my 5 classes and a A- in English.  Unfortunately to get an A at SMU you have to make above a 93.  An A- is a 90-92 range.  So it was bound to happen.  But hey I can still say I got all A's.  But it brought my GPA down from a 4.0 to a 3.97 :).  But im still satisfied with that! I am done with English for the rest of my life and done with taking any science classes for the rest of my life.  All I have left now are a few cultural classes and the rest is my major!  After my finals on saturday it was move out time.  It didnt take much time at all.  Mom was packing stuff away in the room and Dad and I were carrying it to the cars.  Only on issue when we lost my ID card which got us into the building but it was solved in the end!  Then I came home and we went to Carrabas for dinner to celebrate mothers day.  I found a new favorite dish there.  The crusted trout. yum!  Then I went to bed super early because I was exhausted from late nights up in the library an an exausting saturday with two finals and moving out.

Sunday came bright and early as I got up at 6:45 to drive to my last practice with my team.  It was a 75 minute run at white rock late (where it all began in august last year :) Then I said goodbye to my big, jennie.

Then it was mother daughter Spa day.  We both got massages.  Then she got a facial and I got a MUCH needed peticure.  I felt bad for the lady doing my toes because they have many lovely blisters and calluses.  Then we did some shopping and mom got a new silverware set.  I had no Idea how much kitchen supplies cost!  Lets just hope I get that present for a wedding gift and dont have to worry about that.  Then after our shopping I made dinner for the family.  I learned how to make stuffed shells and made homemade brushetta for the first time and it turned out pretty good!

Then on Monday I went back up to SMU to run with Klara, go see the Dahli Lama speak at SMU, and go to a doctors appointment.  The Dahli Lama was sometimes hard to understand but still such a great opportunity to go see him, thats something most people cant say they have done!  Then Klara, Lovisa, and I went to Whole Foods.  I could spend days and a lot of money in that place just looking around and trying new things!  Then I had a doctors appointment and came home.  

Now on the Agenda for this week.  before I leave for Arkansas on Friday I need to finish unpacking and organizing my stuff from college.  My room and the gameroom is a disaster zone and it is stressing me out! So I will lock myself in my room for the next few hours and attempt to make a dent in the cleaning process.  Wish me luck :)

One down, 2 to go

I got my hardest final over with finally.  I have literally been studying non stop since last weekend!  Now I only have biology and Statistics left.  Statistics wont be too hard to study for and I have been preparing for Biology for weeks not so hopefully tonights studying will not be too bad.  But still stinks because I cant go have fun with friends because I have two finals tomorrow!

BUT then at about 1:00 tomorrow I will be completely done with my freshmen year of college!  After my last final I will start to pack up the dorm room and check out is at 4:00.  I will still stay one more night at SMU to hang out with friends before going home but I will stay in a friends room tomorrow night.

Then on sunday I will come home and enjoy a lovely spa day with my mom!
CANT WAIT! literally

I wish...I could use a nap right now.  Went to bed late and woke up early because I couldn't sleep.  

study.practice.sleep.eat

That is all I will be doing this week.
Today I had my last day of classes as a freshman ever!!! Started with a review in macroeconomics then we got out early so I had breakfast with some of my classmates.  They had oatmeal in the dining hall today! that when you know its a good day!  Then I had a final english party type thing.  Then biology review.  Then went to sell my books (made 134 dollars!) Then went to my last pointless electrical engineering class ever but ended that class with an A+ so I guess not too pointless helps the GPA.  Now i am in the library studying before dinner with my small group at ZOES KITCHEN

This is probably what I will order - the chicken Kabobs - usually I get the spinich rollups but I have always wanted to try this so tonight is the night for it.

Now let me update you on my training.  Saturday I ran a 5k in a track meet.  Sunday was a long run (90 minutes about 11.5-12 miles on average)  This run was quite hard.  It was at 8:15 in the morning after gettting back from the track meet at about midnight.  It was rainy a bit but I survived.  Then on Monday - dont even remind me.  So it had been raining all day, literally all day and then we get to practice and its just a light rain but still...its raining.  Monday is usually a cross train day sometimes so I planned on the fact that coach would tell me to eliptical.  BUT I was wrong.  45 minute run.  It started off cold and just a  light mist.  Then after about 20 minutes it started to POURRR!  After we got back I looked at myself in the mirror and the whole front of my sweatshirt was SOAKING wet, but the back was completely dry.  You would think we would have realized we ran into the rain the whole time but we were too miserable to realize.  Then after we had strides.  Let me tell you a bit about strides.  I love track but BOY do I hateeee strides with a passion.  I dont know why but they are so hard for me.  I can run miles and miles but I cant a 100 meter buildup without dying! doesnt make sense! but anyways then today I had to get up at 6:30am to run and do weights to make it back for class at 8am.  Thank goodness Kristine (my teammate) got up early with me to run! Its going to SUCK not having my teammates to run with, motivate me, push me, etc all summer!  Then for our second practice I was just not in the mood to run.  Its finals week and my body and mind are shot.  So we she told me I was doing 7 800's I wasnt too upset because thats not the hardest workout option she could have given me...but thats one of the toughest.  But I ran the first one and I thought I was just going kinda slow just relaxing but I ended up running 4 seconds faster on average than the last time I did 800's!! guess Im just in shape because I seriously didnt feel like I was working hard at all!

OHH and another thing guess who is now practicing on our track...JEREMY WARNER!

He is the gold medalist in the last olympics for the 400m.  He was at our practice today.  He ran 450's and he came around his 400m in 51 seconds...during practice...when he still had more to go...thats RIDICULOUSLY FAST!  And it looked like he was literally jogging the whole time.  Wow so cool to watch.  Hopefully next time I get up the courage to talk to him, and remember to bring my camera!!! 

Okay back to studying I have one more biology lecture to listen to online.  My professor puts all his lectures online.  super nice!

Back to studying

No, I did not fall off the face of the planet

I actually forgot I had a blog until my friend melissa reminded me on facebook! So this is for you melissa and all my other blogg fans!

Hmm so much has happened since the last time I was here.  I am still super busy with school, Chi O stuff, and track.  Basically that is my life as a college student.  Wake up go to school, then practice, then eat, then chi o stuff or study one of the two and thats basically all I do!

So last month I had formal which was fun and it was at the W hotel in Dallas
I had many track meets and races
I had my car break down twice - that was fun thank goodness I have a cousin that lives 1 minute from SMU

This past weekend on thursday Ke$ha came to SMU so I went to that then out after, then on friday I went to a carnival at SMU, then home to spend time with my mom while my roommate had friends staying in our room, then saturday had a track meet, sunday had two banquets one for my honors program thing and the other for athletes.  The athletes banquet was super nice and there was a standing ovation for my teammate Monika.  If you have not read or heard her story you should she is such an strong girl and such an inspiration!

This leads me to the fact that the school year is closing and I am going to miss all my friends!  My teammates especially because two of them are not coming back to SMU next year and are moving back to sweden

 Klara - the one in the middle will be going home and in the bottom picture lovisa will be going home.  How can you not get close to girls you run every day 6 days a week with, run 90 minutes with every sunday!  I have spent so much time with them and learned so much from them that I am going to miss them so much! Butttt this only gives me an excuse to visit SWEDEN!

On a more positive note those are my only two friends at SMU that I wont see next year the rest will be here!  On and after school gets out my teammates will still be in Dallas till like the middle of june (when our season ends) so I will get plenty of time to see them before they leave yayyy!

So I will probably blog again on sunday after finals!
Tomorrow I have my LAST DAY  OF CLASSES and two practices
Wednesday - nothing but studying of course
Thursday - two practices and studying of course
Friday - Macroeconomics final at 3:00
Saturday: Biology final at 9:00 and Statistics final at 11:30
then....MOVE OUT AT 5pm! cant wait to never again live in a dorm!
Chi O house here I come.

Oh the places you'll go...

I am sitting quietly in the library pondering my next essay.  This essay has me thinking a lot about why am i doing the things I am doing in life.  Is it because I WANT to or because society tells me that is what I should be doing.  Society tells me to go to college, get a vocational degree to get a good job and make money.  I still want to do that but I also want to do much much more.  I want to teach.  I dont want to let that dream slip away from me, I cant, I wont.  I want to travel. Here are places on my bucket list to travel to...

Africa: I want to do mission work there and in Russia

 London, England and other European countries including...

Sweden, Greece, Italy, Paris (even though that is not a country)

And this one MUSTT happen.  NEW YORK! Ive never been there and so want to go!

Hmm interesting to see how life plans out to see when I will travel to these places.

This week is another crazy week for me.  I have a test and quiz due Monday, Test Wednesday and paper rough draft due Wednesday, then a final draft paper due the next monday!  BUT after this wednesday I will not have class again until Monday because of Easter Break so Thank goodness for that!

Okay back to the paper...then to starbucks to work on a quiz with Meredith and get some coffee before a long night ahead of dinner, party, and dancing!!!! Chi O Spring Formal 2011! No worries mom and grandma (my known dedicated blog readers) I will be safe.  

Oh and prayers for my knee, it has been really bothering me all week after I run but today there has been SIGNIFICANTLY LESS pain! so prayers please that it stays that way.  Tomorrow is cross training in the pool and eliptical to keep it happy so I can start to work hard again starting monday! 

Waiting to go out on the town tonight...

So I will discuss my day!
Got up at 6:40 for weight training and 25 minute shake out run.
Then signed up for my classes for next semester.  Its crazy that I am signing up for classes for my sophmore year of college, boy time really did fly!
Here is what my schedule looks like
Monday:
wake up at 6:30 to go to practice for just 30 minutes
Then at 7:00 must leave for Garland High school to do a field experience for two hours at a school.  I am super excited for this class, this stuff I know I am good at and it will be a great experience.  Me and 4 other students will go to the school with a teacher once a week to do a different experience in a school each week!
Then I will drive back to school and do the rest of my practice which is just a 45 minute run and strides.  Then at 11:00 I have Itom which is Information technology (my computer credit and business credit)
Then at 1:00 I have Educational Psychology which is the first education class required before I enter into the school of education.
Then at 3:00 I have a CF class (cultural formations) class called sustainable living.  CF's are required since SMU is a liberal arts college
Tuesday and Thursday:
I will have practice at 6:30 and again at 3:30
I have one class at 11 called social class and democracy another CF required to graduate.
Wednesday:
I have accounting at 9:30.  I am excited for this class because it is an option for a major!  It will be either accounting or finance I am guessing. Then at 11 I will have Itom again and at 1:00 Educational Psychology
Friday:
Two classes - accounting and educational psychology!
It will be a good schedule!
Then after that I had another practice - We did 20 minute tempo run with 5 200m sprints after.  It was a rough day I wasnt feeling too great running unfortunatly :(

Then after practice I met my mom to get a basket together for silent auction and dinner.
After a coffee I am ready to go and hang out with friends tonight :)
Tomorrow is friday YAYYYYYYYYY :)

TGIW

Thank God its Wednesday.  Well actually tuesday night but still Tuesday at about 4:00pm means no practice again until THURSDAY!  Wednesday of every week we get the day off to rest our legs since we practice 6 days a week one day off is a necessity!  Today was a great/encouraging day for training though. This morning at morning practice my body felt horrible.  My stomach hurt, my shin splints were bothering me, and now I am having issues with my IT Band!  But then after a power nap and relaxing day for afternoon practice for some reason I just did super well.  I had to do 12 400's with one minute rest in between.  I averaged about 1 minute 22 seconds each lap.  Last time I did this workout my average was like 1 minute 86 seconds, and the time before that was one minute and 89 seconds so BIG improvement.  But after the workout was done I laid on the track in a lot of pain so that is why I am so happy tomorrow is wednesday!  I could really use a nice long relaxing bath with bubbles, and a magazine...that sounds just perfect right about now!

Tonight I will be going to Bible study then some quality time with the roommate for next year!  This week is a very easy week in school.  I don't have a test until next wednesday so I am just soaking up the little time I have left before school gets crazy for the last few weeks I have left of being a freshman which is weird to say!

Tonight for dinner I was craving my mom's omelet on english muffin! My favorite breakfast in the whole wide world! I had to makeshift one with scrambled eggs, cheese, on toast!  It wasnt the same but it was still good I cant complain! then I had a piece of grilled chicken to get some protein in me!  My coach said she can really tell I have been eating protein because she can see my muscles! woohoo so Im going to keep it up! But not too much, dont want to look like a man if you know what I mean!

The Truth about College

So let me just tell you some truths about college I know I did not think about before going to college...
1 - As I lay in bed the first thing comes to mind is the fact that I have to go to the restroom.  I am laying in bed about a meter below the ceiling and I would have to get out of bed, climb down 6 steps (without falling), realize I am not wearing a bra and don't have my contacts in, must put shoes on, then must walk halfway down the hall to go to the restroom understanding the fact that I could see boys and girls walking around the hall as I look a mess going to the restroom, then have to go, walk back, climb back up the stairs, and snuggle back into my bed.  ALL because I have to go to the restroom I have to go through that process.  This is the number one most inconvenient thing in college so far.
2.  You dont realize you have to WALK to your classes.  If its raining, cold, snowing, anything you must walk to class!  Be prepared for all weather conditions!
3.  Also you have to walk to eat that is another inconvenience!  Usually you have cereal in your room but the milk has expired! what to do now? Now you must walk all the way to the dining hall to eat...sad day.

Things just are not as easy and convenient as they were when you lived at home!  If I want cold ice water I can't just get it downstairs in the fridge I have to walk a long ways for it in the dining hall and once I get there I am not allowed to take it back with me, If I need to change I cannot just do it as I please I have to either close all the blinds or go to the bathroom if my roommate is there, If I want to watch TV I can't just turn it on because we don't have a TV in our dorm!  Ahh sitting here thinking about how much I have to go to the restroom but dont want to get out of bed makes me excited to go home this summer in about 4 weeks and SUPER DUPER excited that after 4 weeks I will NEVER live in a community style dorm ever again in my whole life! GOODBYE PERKINS HALL I will not miss you! I will miss all the people I met from you but NOT YOU :)

Okay so on a different note today was a lovely afternoon/ evening celebrating my moms birthday with a girls day!  First we went to see a dance performance at SMU.  Then it was off to the mall for some shopping!  I got a much needed backpack and underwear, then got spoiled with two new pair of shorts that fit super well and a new summer floral blouse.  Me and my mom got matching sunglasses also.  Then we had P.F. changs for dinner!  I love asian food, Pei wei is still better but PF Changs is good too! I got cashew chicken which was yummy!  Then we went to Paguchio for some Italian Ice cream for dessert.  Happy Birthday mom, love you :) I know your reading this... ;)

85 minutes distance

Today we had a long run and I got a personal record for how fast I ran around the lake today.  I ran it in 68 minutes, which is 9 miles.  Then I finished 2.1 more miles to equal 85 minutes. Legs felt good, it was a beautiful day outside, and for some reason I just was in the mood to run!  Can't let these beautiful running days slip away when they happen!  But after my ran legs felt horrible especially my IT band so tomorrow I get to aqua jog in the pool which I have never done before and go to ART for my IT band! Time to make the body happy :)

Run Fast, Turn Left

If only it was that simple...
This week has been a crazy week but it was good altogether!
Wednesday night I went home to sign the taxes, then cooked a lovely spaghetti dinner, then hung out with the family for the night.  My grandparents and cousins came in town for the week so it was nice to see them.

Then thursday was a nice day with two training workouts and then the family came out to SMU for a tour and a little shopping.  Friday was a long day and I just wanted it to end faster than it did.  But then it did end after practice and I was able to go to the store for some last minute groceries for my track meet, then it was off the dinner, mall, and movie with my future roommate meredith! I am super excited to live with her we get along great and work off each other so it works out! Plus she is from Fort Worth so this summer we can plan our room for next year together woohoo :) 

Saturday I woke up at 10am which is SUPER late for me! But then i was rushed to get ready for the meet! I had to do a 10 minute shake out run, shower, and make all three meals for the day.  For breakfast I had oatmeal with banana and toast, for lunch i packed a turkey and cheese sandwich with a granola bar and an apple, then for dinner I had noodles, grilled chicken and carrots! YUM so since I ate so well today I topped off the night with some classic frozen yogurt :)  

So today it was race day and I ran the 1500m.  

The race was supposed to be at 2:05 so we started to warm up at 1:15 then at about 1:35 I saw the race right before the 1500m was going on so I went and asked if it was a rolling schedule and they said it was and that we were up next! EKKK we had not even finished warming up so I had to quickly round up everyone from SMU running it who were still warming up and we had to go to the starting line.  Then we were about to get on the starting line and they said nevermind we will run on time now! Super annoying! Butttt I ran a good race, ran a personal best so I was happy. I got to see Jessica at the meet, my  best friend from high school so that was fun and then my mom came to see me run on her birthday!  YAY!

Tommorrow the plan is practice at 7:30, do a bit of homework, then go see the dance show at 2 with my mom, some shopping, and dinner yay! fun day! :)

What a strange day!!

Today was filled with a lot of problems that then were solved right away! it was super weird because it stunk that so much went wrong but then i was super happy because it all seemed to fix itself
Okay so today I woke up and went to practice, then I came back to my dorm and ate breakfast.  Then I went up into my bed to work on my paper and fell asleep for 2 solid hours! Then I had to go take a shower so i left my dorm room and grabbed my key and when I got into the shower i realized I grabbed my house key not my room key! So i knew i had to walk across campus to get a key since my roommate was in class.  So i get ready to walk across campus in the cold with not many clothes on because i was just going to the shower and i walk by my room and realize I accidentally left the door open! AHH YESS! then I went to my lab and after my lab I was able to completely finish writing my paper.  Then I went to practice and it was a super hard workout.  4 1200's then 2 400's.  I actually did a super good job today and ran good 400's after being tired which is a super good sign for my upcoming meet saturday I just hope I can perform like I did today! Thennnn after practice I showered and went to dinner.  Then I went to bible study and my bible study leaders husband came and told us how he proposed to his wife! It was literally the best story I have ever heard in my entire life then he said "I learned how to love like that only because I learned love from God first" This gave me hope to find a guy like him and never settle for less because they are out there.  I just need to not be discouraged and need to be patient to wait for God's timing! but still gosh that was the cutest story ever

Then after Bible Study I went back to my room to finish my paper and realized I left it in the bible study room! then Meredith to the rescue she was in there and brought it to me! Then I spilled pen on my laptop and after 20 minutes of scrubbing it I tried nail polish remover and it came right off!

So that was my crazy day! Following a crazy monday which included a test, full day of classes, practice, then picked my room for Chi O (we got a really good room), then went to first real chapter, then went to the library! BUSY DAY! now its time to sleep :)

This just in!

I will be living in the Chi O house next year with Meredith!

This is the form where we wrote down who we were living with!  Quick decision change but I am super excited to see what comes from it!!

My weekend plans

I dont think I fully understood how crazy this weekend will be.  I am trying to balance fun with work with track.  Its hard to do this weekend.
Today after class I have to do a 30 minute run and abs and stretch.  Then I have to study for my macro test on monday.
All weekend I need to be studying for my macro test on monday and English paper draft due wednesday.  I will be happy when I dont have those hanging over my head any longer.
Tonight I am going to dinner with Meredith and maybe my brother will come because there will be a flash mob at mockingbird station tonight.  After that I have Chi O Initiation myth night? whatever that might entail.  After that I have to study some more and go to bed early to get sleep for my meet the next day.
Saturday I have initiation at 7:45 in the morning.  Then I have a track meet that whole day.  I run the 1500m and the 5k.  That will be a long day.  After that I will hopefully go to dinner with the family that is in town from Illinois. Sunday I have a brunch with Chi O for a birthday at breadwinners.  Have to do a 90 minute run sometime on sunday and have to do homework allll day!  Exciting weekend with tons of fun stuff to do, but busy.  One weekend I wish i just had absolutely NOTHING TO DO!

SPRING BREAK!!

I know I have been MIA for a while but I am back!  I went MIA so that I could study for my Biology exam which ended up paying off in the end!  So spring break went well it was way too short though.  I hung out with old friends from high school, my teammates who were still stuck on campus because we had practice everyday over spring break, trained everyday, went to a track meet, and spend some time with family.
At my track meet I competed against my old teammate Jessica shadley.  She runs for Baylor.  It was super cool to be at the same meet again because we are used to always cheering for one another at meets all throughout middle and high school!

The track meet did not go very well for me.  I had been recovering from terrible shin splints the last few weeks, but that was not the biggest problem.  I guess I underestimated the heat outside that day because after I got off the finish line all the sudden my whole body began to feel like there were pins and needles all over my body.  I couldnt walk because my feet felt like they were on fire!  I couldnt swallow water or breathe well because I felt like there was needles on my tongue, it was the wierdest feeling.  I immediately jumped in the ice bath and drank this nasty drink that tasted like sweat.  After that i just felt light headed but felt much better.  I learned my lesson to not get overheated ever again!  

Saturday was a great day because I got to go shopping with my mom, a lovely dinner at Pappadeaux with mom and dad, and then Josh Turner concert with dad that night! It was a tiring but good end to spring break.  Now i sit back in my dorm room watching greys anatomy awaiting the crazy week/ weeks I know I have ahead of me! 

5 more days of work...then PLAY!

5 more days until Spring Break.  Yesterday I wrote out my week plan so here it is.

Sunday: Practice (80 minute run) check

              Library to study for Biology

              LEC to go to an English tutor for my paper

              Finish and Print my English paper (due monday)

              Clean my room and paint my toe nails!

Monday: BUSY day full of 5 classes, practice at 2, team meeting at 5:15, dinner at the house then chapter!

Tuesday: Study all day for my Biology Lab Practical! Then have a lab to go to.  Practice at 7am then practice again at 2 (probably going to be a very hard practice! :/ already somewhat dreading it!)

Wednesday: FULL day of 5 classes then a Biology Lab Practical Exam! Then after that I have a meeting on the Education program to get more information about possibly minoring in education and what requirements I would need to have to do that.  Sometime this week I need to figure out my schedule though.  Here is what I am thinking...

I am taking Accounting I forsure on Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 to 11.  Then I think I will take ITOM which is a computer credit I need for business. I will take a CF but need to find out which one I should take I am either thinking Sustainable Living or human sexuality (I know they sound wierd but i heard they are the easiest!) Then I need to decide if I am doing a math minor or an education minor (which ever will help me be a teacher I am leaning towards education minor) so in that case I will be taking educational psychology which I am super excited about! I was going to take that this semester but it did not fit into my schedule.

Thursday:  Study all day for my biology test!  Practice at 7am then hard practice again at 2 

Friday: Take my biology test and have a full day of classes.  Practice at 2 then home! until my next practice at least.  

Boring week with studying but once it is over it will be super nice!

Weekend!

My weekend started Thursday night at the Roller Blading mixer!  It was probably one of the best nights of my college thus far! It was so much fun, but the next morning I was extremely sore from falling and roller blading for a good 2 hours straight!  

Friday was another full day of classes then practice to end the day.  Then at night me, Lovisa, Klara, Mary, and Jennie were off to Northpark! I did not buy anything but definitely found a shirt I really want to get next time.  I am thinking I will go shopping for spring clothes over spring break so I did not want to buy the shirt until then, plus it was a little pricy but I LOVED it on and its different than most shirts I have. 

This is the shirt I liked, I of course would be wearing an undershirt beneath it unlike this girl! but it is super cute and unique! Cannot wait to buy it!

Friday night was a terrible restless night.  At 3:30 the pipes began to make a LOUD beating noise right above my room!  This happened the night before too! I dont know why this keeps happening but it is super annoying.  Then at 4:30 my shoulder hurt extremely bad and I do not know why so I had to get up and get an ice pack for it.  Then I continued to wake up every hour until I had to be up for practice at 8:15.  Practice was super hard this morning.  First it was cold! I had to do 8 600's with 2 minutes rest in between. It was hard because im used to just running 400 meter intervals or 1200 meter intervals, 600 meter intervals was new to me.  Plus it was also hard because the rest of the team had a different work out that was a lot shorter so when they were done we were still running :/  But now it is over and I am off to starbucks to study.  I do not know yet what else I am going to do tonight!

This is just a random cute picture for my viewers pleasure so enjoy.  We could all use a helping hand :) So give a helping hand today because someone out there feels super small in this world and could just use a little help! 

I guess I am in a blogging mood today...and taking pictures on my computer!

Countdown to SPRING BREAK! I am 8 days, 1 paper, and 2 tests away from spring break (all due next week)

I am going to put my Ipod on shuffle and put the next 5 songs then say something about them...

I guess I am bored Its hard to study for a text when it is not until next wednesday!

1 - King of Anything by Sara Barellis - good new song by her I am a fan its upbeat and fun!

2 - He Loves Us - I dont know who sings this, it was on a CD someone burned me but its a good Christian song all about how He loves us!  Ashley Reed sang it in church a lot and it was good!

3 - Havn't met you yet by Michael Buble - I love Michael Buble he is such an amazing singer would love to see him in concert!

4 - You and I both by Jason Mraz - Ahh he is even better than Michael Buble in my opinion I would REALLY want to see him in concert! I have his whole CD and can listen to it all the time!

5 - On the Radio by Regina Spektor  - I just bought this song a couple days ago after Lovisa introduced me to it! It is so amazing I constantly listen to it on repeat!

Favorite lyrics from this song...

"You love until you dont

You try until you cant

You laugh until you cry

You cry until you laugh"

I suggest you listen to it if you like that type of music! Because this song is amazing!

New Shoes!

Its that time again to get a new pair of running shoes.  These are my third out of 4 pairs I receive from the school. These are a bit different style than my other two pairs, not sure why.  I will see today if I like this style or not.  I like the color a bit better, I am pretty sick of red!  Red striped on my old running shoes, red uniform and shirts, and now CHI O is all REDDDD! I am ready for a new change.  Plus looking at my picture my face has a naturally red pigment so wearing red just brings out the red pigment to the extreme!  Today has already been a good day and now throw in new shoes ahh I dont know what to do with myself! Oh and tonight I am going to a frat/ Chi O mixer and we are going roller skating! Exciting! And Tomorrow is FRIDAY woohoo!

I love Thursdays!

Today has been a great morning!  A good weight practice and 30 minute run then went to go get  some milk and had a big bowl of banana nut cheerios with milk and real banana sliced in it! YUM!  Then did some studying and am now going to a writing conference real quick then a lunch before going to watch brown bag (a dance show during lunch) a lot of my friends are in it so its cool to watch them!  And then off to practice number two for the day.

This is why I love thursdays I get to sit in my room, listen to music and drink diet snapple peach tea! My new love! It really puts a pep in my step :)

Adjective to describe the day: Interesting

Today I had early morning practice where coach had me doing some new weights to build muscle in my legs (guess that means I dont have any but hopefully that will make me a lot faster!)  Then I had a lab to go to but after that I was extremely productive and did two loads of laundry and wrote my whole paper!  Then we had our second practice which was fartlek.  I learned today that fartlek is a swedish word that means speed play.  It includes intervals of speed, longer speed, and jogging/walking.  Today we did 12' warm up, 5'-4'-3'-5'-4'-3' with one minute rest in between.  This morning I ran in tights and a long sleeve T shirt but this afternoon I ran in a sports bra and spandex.  What a dramatic change in the weather today.  Then after practice we had to go to a mandatory meeting for NCAA compliance about alcohol and drugs and such.  The first half of the meeting was extremely boring with a speaker just bringing up stories of student athletes who got in trouble for drinking and other things and went to jail. Blah, Blah, Blah.  But then tables turned when the speaker showed a clip of HIMSELF on the news.  His name was Adam Ritz and he was a famous radio talk show host and used to be a student athlete who went to jail for raping his kids babysitter (who was his age though)!  He had to go to jain, is a conficted felon, and is a registered sex offender.  He spent the rest of the time talking about how it ruined his life.  Not sure the pertinance it had towards student athletes but still had an interesting story to tell.  Jennie and I kept looking at each other with our jaws dropped for the last 45 minutes of the lecture.  He went into detail about a class he has to go to with other registered sex offenders and he sat next to a guy who raped his 9 year old daughter and another guy who raped his nephew...wierd stuff.  Definantly thought this lecture was going to be a boring old lecture but I guess I was mistaken.  The first half of the speech everyone was talking and not listening then after he told his story you could hear a pin drop.  Crazy stuff!

Next we had Bible study that discussed the need for rest and busyness in our lives.  I believe the number one tactic the devil has for tempting us is busyness.  Its easy for him to temp us with and it easily distracts us from God.  I think I struggle a lot with this because I always have to have stuff going on, have things planned out and controlled instead of just enjoying every moment and sometimes taking the time to just do nothing and enjoy others company.  Something I need to work on.

Now its time to do a short study for a quiz in English tomorrow then off to bed.
Tomorrow is a full schedule of 5 classes plus a 2 hour lab.  But for my lunch I am going to see Brown bag which is a dance show so I am excited about that!  Then off with the sweds for some grocery shopping.  Will probably get in the pool tomorrow also to rest my legs If i find time before it gets too late.

Hmm I dont have a cool picture for this blog so I will tell you 5 interesting facts about my week...
1 - I have a new appreciation for cereal.  I am obsessed with Banana nut cheerios and Golden Grahams.  They are my weakness.
2 - I cannot wait until spring break when I can go to blockbuster and rent season 3 of greys anatomy...I am going through withdrawl and am kinda pondering getting netflix so I can have them all the time.  If I get desperate that just might have to happen.
3 - I really want to take a trip somewhere.  With all this spring break talk I want to take a trip somewhere that I have never been before I am getting sick of staying in Dallas! I really want to go to Europe (Sweden now especially and all the other places over there) or New York.  Those are top 2 on my list.
4 - My favorite part of the week are the days where I get to lay in my bed and watch a movie or a TV show on Hulu in my bed without worrying about waking up early the next morning.  These days do not come often but when they do I thoroughly enjoy them.  I wish there were more of them though!
5 - I kinda miss reading.  My english class this semester does not involve much reading at all.  I kinda wish I was required to read a really good novel.  I secretly enjoy it but only if im forced to do it.  If it is not required I will just see it as a waste of my time.

Monday.Monday.Monday.

After a full day of classes it was off to practice.  Practice was good we just had abs and then a 45 minute run but I went on the eliptical to recover from my race this weekend.  The only good thing about the eliptical is at the workout center there are TV's and I watched Kourtney and Kim take New York!  Then I had to go to the training room to get my calfs worked on.  It was soooo painful.  One of the football players was shocked that I was in so much pain just from running.  He had a lot more respect for runners after that episode im sure.  After mindy (our trainer) demolished my calfs though they feel much better now!  This week in training we are doing some cross easy training to get our bodies well rested for a LONG outdoor season (all the way until midway through may!) It will be nice to have a week to do relaxing runs instead of intense track workouts!

Then it was time to do a date night with my roommate, Hilary.  We both love sushi so we were going to have a sushi date night! We also wanted to try this green tea ice cream cake from green mint asian restaurant so we got one of those!  The cake was super good I would definantly recommend it!
For sushi I got california rolls and tuna rolls (my two favorite)!  Then after our date night I had to go to chapter.  Because I had chapter I had to turn down a date dash with a fraternity BYX :( but I set the guy who asked me up with one of my friends hopefully they are having fun!

OH yes last night me and three of my teammates from Sweden went to see Cirque Du Soleil with my family!  It was a super fun night filled with appetizers before at my house, a great show, and dinner at Pei Wei after.  Even though I was exhausted, it was well worth it.

Now time for some well needed sleep.  Tomorrow I have two practices, a paper to write and a quiz to study for, but I will save that for tomorrow because really why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? In my opinion sometimes your brain just needs a break :) Tonight I will sleep!

I feel just like this right about now.  Could use a nap or a Diet Snapple Peach Tea.  If someone brought me an Ice Cold Diet Snapple Peach Tea right now I dont know what I would do.  Jump for Joy probably. Its the little things... :D

You just have to roll with the punches

Yesterday at the track SMU did really good.  Mary got third in the mile, Lovisa won the 800 and got Freshman of the Year award.  Klara got 6th in the mile.  Results of the entire meet are online at Conference USA website.  Its fun to watch intense races and cheer on my team again! its hard to do that in cross country because you are running the race also.  I am so appreciative of the opportunity to be on the team, go and compete at the college conference championship level, and be a part of such an amazing team and an amazing group of girls.  I never thought in a MILLION years this is where I would be.  I know this is probably like the 5th time ive said that in my blog but i really am so proud, appreciative, and happy to be where I am.  I just want to get better and better and train harder and harder to continue to compete on this level more competitively.

Yesterday also Me and Monika had a 60 minute run (25 I had already done at the hotel)  So we get going and know we cannot run off campus because it is too dangerous.  We were about 50 minutes away from watching mary and siljie's race in the mile so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get back.  LITTLE DID WE KNOW we would get so incredibly lost! we ran for about 55 minutes (the last 20 minutes being a sprint to get back for the race) right when we got back to the track the gun went off for the mile race (perfect timing!).  After that intense workout we did some abs outside since the weather was beautiful.  Then we finished the meet, packed up, and headed back on the road.  We got back to SMU at about midnight.

Then started my crazy day.  I woke up and realized I left my phone charger at the hotel :/.  So then I went to run 90minutes with Mary, Klara, and Lovisa.  My legs were so dead the first 30 minutes and the last 30 minutes!  It was a super hard run on the legs, body, and mind.  One good thing though is coach said we would have a somewhat easy week to get our bodies happy for our first outdoor meet of the season in three weekends from now! Then after that I had to quickly shower to get ready for sorority pictures.  I was on my way to pictures then was going to go to target to get a charger and it was then that I realized that my car battery is dead! So now im trying to get my car jumped so that I can drive home to go to cirque du soleil with my family and some of my teammates tonight.

Many things seem to be going wrong today, but you just gatta roll with the punches... things could be way worse right now so count your blessings even when everything is not going according to plan.  Because if you truely think about it you have it way better than MANY other people around the world.  Even though my car wont start, at least I have a car.  Even though I lost my phone charger, at least I have a phone.  Even though I had a hard run today, at least God gave me a body healthy and able to run.  Even though im having a bad day, at least its another day god gave me to live.  Some people wont get today.  Just put in in perspective.

I must say I am not a fan of Houston!

We arrived Thursday night and I am rooming with Lovisa again such an amazing swedish roommate!  We arrived during the craziness of downtown Houston! Many people leaving to go home from work, reminded me of downtown Chicago just  a lot warmer and more ethnically diverse.  Then we went to the track as the sprinters did a workout (us distance girls did our workout early thursday morning).  After that we ordered Olive Garden to go and ate back at the hotel.  I got capaleni pomodoro (a new favorite at olive garden since we seem to always go there for track meets).  After dinner me Klara and Lovisa watched Hes Just Not That Into you before bed!

Friday morning it was time to wake up.  The conference is paying for our hotel but not paying for our breakfast! ugh.  So i had to go walk around to find some warm water for oatmeal! so annoying.  Then I did a little shake out run.  Next it was time to walk two blocks to go to Forever 21!  It was such an amazing and huge forever 21!  I got a pair of running shorts and headbands!  So much more amazing stuff there I just didnt want to spend money on it yet im waiting for spring break to shop for summer clothes.  After that it was time for lunch we went to Jason's Deli.  I got a turkey sandwich on a super good bread!  Me mary and Klara went and sat outside the pool at the hotel and ate lunch!  Super nice!  Unfortunantly the whole town shuts down at about 3 and on the weekends so tomorrow who knows where we will find breakfast and lunch! good thing we get to go to Kroger (kinda sketchy kroger) and grab some food for the next day.

Then it was time for the race.  It was kinda an annoying race because the girls I was competing against were SUPER good.  The first place girl ran 16:15 breaking the meet record.  she was of course from Kenya.  So it wasnt a very encouraging race.  My time was okay faster than the Iowa meet but still not a Personal best.  Then it was time to cool down, eat dinner, and wait for the distance medley relay.  Our team was stacked with mary, lovisa, gigi, and siljie. The race is a 1200m run, 400m run, 800m run, then mile run.  We won the race by the 20 seconds ahead of everyone else! They did so amazing less than a second off of the meet record!

Finally it was time to go home.  I didnt get to bed last night until like 1am!  Woke up this morning to a LOUD PARADE outside our hotel! its still going on...super annoying and loud!

Now have to get ready for another long day at the track then long trip home!

Stephanie on the road again.

Well after this crazy weekend I spend the last two days RELAXING! On saturday I had formal which was a lot of fun! I cant wait until our next one which is later this semester.  I got to meet new people and have fun with all my CHI OMEGA LADIES!

After getting in at 2 in the morning and getting about 4 hours of sleep, before I knew it it was time to wake up for practice at 7am.  Then I couldnt even take a nap I had to go straight from practice to sing song practice then to a track charity event where I got to meet NASTIA LUIKIN!  AKA Olympic All Around Gold medalist in Gymnastics!  She went to SMU for a semester that is why she came to the charity event!  

After that I knew it was time for some coffee and spent the rest of the night at starbucks studying.  But got a small study break for some frozen yogurt with Meredith.  I had two tests on Monday but after that I was able to enjoy my night by going to the mall and catching up on my shows.  Tuesday we had a recruit in town from sweden and had a big dinner planned for her with the entire team at my house, but she got extremely sick (we think she has mono) and so now she had to go stay in a hotel and cannot fly home until she feels a bit better! Poor thing she is over here in America all by herself on a recruit trip and now she cannot even get home!  Well so she couldnt come to the dinner so we had a pre conference championship dinner instead.  My parents (like always) did a WONDERFUL job of cooking amazing food! I am so thankful I have parents that will do that for me and my friends!  Now I am extremely tired and am thinking about getting into my bed before 9.  I need it I have had minimal sleep in the last few days.  Yesterday when I got back from my house I was sitting on the floor in my dorm room with my head on my desk chair and I fell asleep in that position.  I think thats a sign I need more sleep! So goodnight world!

Tomorrow Stephanie is on the road again to Houston.  I will be competing in the Conference USA championships running the 5k.  I have has some good training the last few weeks so hopefully it will pay off.  I will update you how the race goes after it happens.  I run at 5:30 on Friday night.  Wish me luck.  I will be running 25 laps around a 200m track.  This should be interesting.  But I am also excited! so we will see what happens...

Along with Chi O, School, and everything else I have track updates!

So last weekend I competed at IOWA and did not find out until today that I actually qualified for conference! So this next weekend I will be going down to Houston to run the 5k for the Conference USA Championships!

After finding that out I had to put my mind back in track competition mode.  This means hard training and getting my body ready for a meet.
Tuesday we had a hard workout of repeat 1200's on the track.  I didn't do as well as I thought I would but still did better than cross country season which was good.
Thursday we had a tempo 20 minute run then 5 200's after.  My body was so tired I felt like I was running through sand.
Today we had another repeat 400 workout.  I thought they were going to be so hard because my body was sore and I had a late night the night before BUTTT... I actually did super good.
Last time I ran these I averaged 88 seconds for each lap but this time here was my times
83", 90" (oops), 87", 86", 86", 86", 86", 86", 87", 85", 83", 81"!!!! Super good and super encouraging for conference track meet!.  If I ran these split times in my 5k without breaks I would be UNDER 18 minutes for my 5k time. Woah! So this was encouraging and our last hard practice until Conference
Sunday we have a long run, monday abs and a short run, tuesday weights and a medium practice on the track, wednesday break, and thursday short run! We leave Thursday for Houston!

AH I could use a little time to just BREATHEEEEE!

Okay so this week has been super fun and CRAZY!
Okay so first I will talk about big little.  First Night was a candy gram here is mine and I must admit my Big did a WONDERFUL job not using chocolate!

Second Night was food.  My big got me candy, gum, MUFFINS, BAGELS, GRANOLA, magazines, a shirt, sweatshirt.  This was my favorite night.  It felt like Christmas! I must say my big did sooo good on this night I am so thankful for everything she did for me this week! I know she had a crazy week and she put so much time and effort just for me! I love her and I feel so loved!

Then it was bin night where a bin was delivered with lots of shirts and other Chi O goodies in it!

My room is now DECKED out in Chi O! 

Then last night was Big/ Little Reveal.  At this point I has a small clue as to who my big was but not really.  Then when I opened my present It was a picture of me and my amazing teammate Jennie who I love!!!!! Im so happy she is my big! she is such an amazing person! YAY!!! soo happy :)

Then after reveal we ate dinner and went bowling!!!! LOVE MY PLEDGE CLASS, BIG, FAMILY, and everything CHI O :)

Busiest week ahead!

Want to hear my schedule?!?!

Tuesday -
7am - practice
12 - lab
(spend alll day studying for big biology test tomorrow)
2 - VERY hard practice from what coach hinted at
8 - First Big/ Little surprise must be at chi o house

Wednesday
Full day of classes from 8 - 4 including a biology test and a biology lab :/
9:30 pm - Chi O house for second big little surprise

I also have one test on friday, two next monday and a paper due monday.

Thursday
Double practices
Roommates birthday dinner
Third Big little surprise at 9:30

Friday:
Full day of classes including a test in EE.  Practice at 2.  Big little reveal starts at 7:30.

Saturday:
Practice in the AM after a long night of being out doing big little stuff!  Then sing song at 3.  Then formal at night.

Sunday: practice - STUDYYY for my two tests on monday!

Monday - full day of classes, practice, then dinner with a recruit coming in from sweden at my house!

So that is my incredibly busy week!  Theres lots of fun to be had but also lots of hard work studying and at practice :/

Time to Fly home!

Back to Dallas we come!  Our flight is at around 3 and we will probably get back to dallas at like 5.  This morning we had a 90 minute long run (about 11 miles) we ran for so long on the longest boring road with about 5 houses and about 10 cars.  There was just road and it went on FOREVERRR! But after that we got another amazing hotel breakfast filled with fruit, muffins, eggs, bacon! yum! Now for the airport.

Hopefully this is not our pilots... look in their window if you dont see it.

Oh and the track meet went super well overall lots of Personal Records set, school records set, and even a meet record set! Yay! Track is so fun when your team or yourself does well!!

Competition is done!

This morning I woke up and had a WONDERFUL breakfast filled with loads of fresh fruit including raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, grapes then had to keep it healthy with some oatmeal and toast.  BUTT the good thing is that I get to have that wonderful breakfast array for two more days!

Then after some much needed rest in the hotel it was off the the meet.  The track was so cool Wish I had my camera so I could take pictures of it but I forgot.  The track has a lower section which is a full 300meter track with a warm up area on the inside.  Then on the upper level theres another 300 meter track and lots of bikes, weights, tredmills, etc!  Such a cool facility!  After warm ups it was time for the race...there were two heats and I was in the second heat.  Before our race I had to get rid of my nerves...so of course I made friends with the gun shooting the gun and two girls from arkansas (one which I competed hard with the whole race but she beat me in the end :/).  Then the gun was off.  My goal was to average 67 - 68 seconds every 300.  The first 7 or so laps (I lost count - thank goodness they have signs)  I kept pace at like 65-67 but then after that my pace started to hit 70 - 71 ending me with a 19:20 time.  I dont think that time will qualify me for conference unfortunatly but I wasnt too upset about it.  My fastest was a 19:04 and I know im not in that good of shape since when I ran the 19:04.  Plus my week being off with the flu then a week of wierd training ability with the snow I wasnt in the best racing shape.  Coach was not too upset I competed hard It was a constant race between me and two other girls where they would be in front of me, I would get in front of them, they would get in front of me, and so on.  It felt like playing cat and mouse the whole time so Im sure that wore me out since it wasnt a constant pace the whole time.  So im not super happy with my time but not super upset either.  Just makes me want to train and compete again so that I can get sub 19 soon!

Then after the race it was time to eat dinner.  We took take out at Olive Garden and ate it back at the hotel it was super yummy! I love PASTA!

Then after I took a nice warm shower because the weather here is cold :( Then an ice bath unfortunatly)  And now Im sitting in the lobby with my teammate chillin and doing homework (well she is at least im blogging) and we are sitting by the
fire!

On the agenda for tomorrow:  Wake up eat the lovely breakfast.  Go to the track at about noon to watch mary and klara run the mile.  I will have some type of workout to do to recover from today.  Then watch the rest of the team compete and cheer them on.  Plus will do a bit of homework during long breaks also.   Hopefully something exciting happens in this boring town of Ames, Iowa tomorrow....but i have my doubts.

Oh and FYI I have discovering this wonderful thing called stubleupon.com and that is where all these cool pics are coming from!

Now time for bed. Goodnight :)

Race today at 3:30!

I can't wait until it is over and I can just chill and watch everyone else compete...and get some homework done. But for the next couple hours i must concentrate on the race...If the elephant can do it so can I!

Off to Iowa

I feel like this picture epitomizes all that will be in Ames, Iowa.  Nothing!  But we will have fun with it and run through random fields!  Im nervous and excited all at the same time!  My ankle has been bothering me also which is not good so im going to the trainer today before we leave.  Hope that is alll better for the race tomorrow!

Miss me?!?!

So its been a while since I have been on this thing I took a short winter break.  It was kinda nice not to do this everyday so I probably wont do it everyday anymore but I will defiantly update when interesting things happen in my life.
Lets have a short update on my life shall we?
Lets see winter break was amazing!  It was lovely to just be home with the family, train, hang out, and relax.
I came back to school and went right into rush and track.  Rush went well after a horrible 6 day process of standing out in the cold, (WITHOUT JACKETS FOR PART OF THE TIME) our schedules for the day revolving compeletely around rush parties, and being around a lot of stress with girls upset or anxious about their choices.  But after all that is said and done I got the house I wanted from like the beginning of the year and I am proud to say I am a Chi Omega!  This semester has been wonderful so far I have a new group of hundreds of new friends from my sorority some that I am becoming very close to and I love it!  It also has kept me very busy with meetings, dinners, parties, sing song practice, etc. but I wouldnt change it! Next week is Big/ Little where we will get swamped with presesnts all week!  Then next saturday is Victory which is our first formal.   I still do not have a date but I have some ideas just have to go ask.  Might get set up on a blind ish date for it so that would be interesting but if not Ill just take a guy free so you should soon hear about that situation.

Despite all the sorority fun to be had this semester has been crazy.  My class schedule is ridiculous.  I have 5 classes in a row on monday wednesday friday and NONE on tuesday thursday.  I am taking Macroeconomics, Statistics, English, Biology, and Electrical Engineering.  I actually am enjoying all my classes.  Macro is with one of the BEST teachers I think SMU has I had her last semester, she actually makes me interested in economics.  Statistics is math so of course I love it!  But my teacher speaks little english which could be funny and frustrating at the same time.  English is English and I HATE writing papers but it wont be too bad my teacher is preety cool we are studying the importance of humanities courses in higher education.  Biology is biology for non majors so its not terribly hard but obviously the content is difficult but my teacher seems to dumb it down for us pretty well.  Electrical Engineering - now that may sound hard but it is known for being one of the easiest classes at SMU.  I somewhat enjoy it too because its more math YAYY!  Still trying to figure out my minor.  Im sure my major will be something in the Business field like either finance or accounting but I am going to either minor in education or math.  Whichever one I want to be able to get my teaching certificate sometime and be able to have the option of teaching one day I just need to find which minor would best support that dream!

I also feel like I have not been in school much.  For a whole week I had the flu and went home IT WAS MISERABLE.  Im not sure if I had the regular flu or stomach flu to begin with but either way that was terrible.  I also feel like I havnt been in school much because SMU took 4 days off school for snow/ice days.  It was the worst weather Dallas has ever gotten in my lifetime.  It was so cold outside and you could not walk you had to slide.

And the last update is track.  I have started indoor track I competed earlier in the year at Oklahoma University running the 3k but then I got sick but now tomorrow I leave for Iowa for another track meet.  This will be my first track/cross country meet to travel by plane!  I run the 5k on a 300m course which means I will have to run a little less than 17 laps around the track!  Lets hope it goes like clockwork.  My last couple of practices have gone extremely well so hopefully it pays off.  This meet will determine if I qualify for the next meet which is conference USA championships.  My best 5k time is a 19:04 (on cross country terrain)  and my coach told me if I got my time under 19:00 then I have a chance of qualifying.  Im nervous but also determined I hope I can do it!

My smile after my 19:04 PR now lets do it again but since im on a track this time hopefully it will be sub 19!

Now I am off to bed well to watch one episode of greys anatomy (I have a mission to watch all 140 episodes and I have completed about 15 - this is what I did with my snow days).  Tomorrow I have to do a 30 minute run and strides at 7am.  Then come back and shower.  Then have a conference with my english professor at 10 - 11.  Then get on the bus to the airport to go to Iowa at 11.  Crazy busy morning.  

Goodnight, Its good to be back.