Freshman Year of College? Check.

Things have been CRAZY and I completely forgot about this blog once I started college. You know how busy college makes you? Well, I had an incredibly busy and AMAZING experience this past year. First semester was awkward, fun, stressful, and a learning-experience. I made so many new friends and really started to grow to be a part of the school.

Second semester was a different story. I overloaded on credits because I thought I could do it if I would just stay on top of my work. In addition, I really disliked all my classes because they were my last GenEds that I really had no interest in. And finally, just three weeks into the semester, I broke my ankle and didn't start walking until just two weeks ago. Needless to say, in one of the longest, coldest, and iciest Minnesota winters ever, crutches for three months did really not make my day. Any day.

Besides that, Freshman year was quite the experience. So many things made my day (there's just too many to write)! I have to say though, the one thing that made my day very memorable happened before finals week. It was my 19th birthday that Wednesday, and on Friday I had a surprise birthday party with all my closest friends. I had just come back from a community Mexican dinner in which I volunteered with a couple of my friends from Spanish class. They then dropped me off at my dorm afterward and 5 minutes later, two of my closest friends came in my room, wrapped a scarf around my eyes and told me to get in my wheelchair. At first I refused. I mean, after all that trauma I went through, why would I want to get back in a wheelchair? In the end, I agreed to, and they wheeled me across campus to the Humanities building where all my friends were waiting with presents, ice cream cake, and smiles. It started at 8:00pm and we played games (don't worry guys, I don't drink, so no alcohol!) and just talked for a good three hours. It was one of my best memories from college and the best way to end freshman year, with all my new friends right before finals week. That definitely made my day.

I'll be starting a job in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area this summer, so internet connection might be sketchy. I'll try to keep you all updated. For now, enjoy your summer and remember to appreciate the little things that make your day. :)

Summer Lovin', Havin' a Blast

It's done. The first week of summer is done, high school is done, my life in the public school system of my district is DONE. Oh, except my education continues at the U of M Morris this fall! On to bigger and better things, right? I sure hope so. I graduated high school last Thursday, June 7th. It already feels like a year ago, and I can't believe it's all gone, just like that. I think the perfect word to describe this time of my life would be none other than bittersweet. Gosh, I can't imagine what I'll be like after I graduate college...

Just to update everyone, I started volunteering at my local library, shelving books and whatnot. It's wonderful. The two women I work with are just the sweetest stereotypical Minnesotans I have ever met. You know the kind of people that just make you feel all warm inside? I just met them for a few hours, and I felt like family. That just makes my day a whole lot better, and I'm excited to see what this summer at the library brings for me.

In other news, I'm completely enjoying my summer before college. The weather here in Minnesota has been gorgeous so far, and I've got a whole stack of books just waiting to be read. I hope you all are enjoying your summer as well. : )

Yes, these are my feet, and no, that is not a tattoo...
I got free henna at the "Senior All-Night Party"!

The End of Something and the Beginning of Something

Oops, sorry about that promise I made in the last post...looks like I owe you guys a bunch of posts this summer! I just thought I'd give you all an update into my life. It's been crazy...literally. Warning: Long Post Ahead.

May 4th: My last violin recital. Thursday lessons from 4:30-5:30pm ended on May 3rd, 2012, with my wonderful violin teacher, Don. He's been such an inspiration in my life. It was sad to end it, but my final recital was one of my best solo performances ever. I played Accolay's Violin Concerto in A minor. Look it up; it's a beautiful piece.

May 18th: Registered for college classes! My schedule consists of Spanish Conversation/Composition/Culture, Chamber Orchestra, Scenic Design (Theatre), War and Terrorism, Physical Geology, and Social Revolutions in 20th Century Latin America. You may be wondering, "what's the plan, Laura?" Great question, readers. To be honest, I've been planning, planning, planning for college like CRAZY since Junior High. Now that it's here, I'm freaking out. So far, the plan is to do a double-major in International Relations (I have to self-design it!) and Spanish and get a minor in Global Business. That, plus studying abroad a few times, clubs, orchestra, working...so hang on guys, you're in for a ride. Things are about to get interesting.

By the way, I took these pictures with
my fabulous new DSLR! I'm officially obsessed.

June 2nd: Brought 200 red velvet cupcakes to a friend's wedding that I baked a couple days earlier. Also attended by best friend's grad party. Senior year is coming to a close...

June 3rd: Final Student Council banquet at a local park. Five years of being in Student Council, working in committees, setting up for dances, countless Blood Drives...all done.

June 4th: Academic Awards Night. I got to see one of my favorite teachers being inducted into the Hall of Fame for my town (Ms. Sten-Rog, you rock!). Also won a $1,000 scholarship for a violin solo recording I sent in, another $1,000 academic scholarship, and a $500 from my town's elementary PTA. My parents were very happy!

June 5th: "Hammies," or informal award ceremony for Theatre students (Tech and Actors alike). The event was held at one of my best friends' houses. Consisted of sunburning while playing volleyball, swimming in a pool, eating like high schoolers eat, and enjoying time with our Theatre directors, one of whom is leaving for Arizona next year for his PhD. I also hand printed the wall in the theatre with paint, a tradition done for decades at my school.

June 6th: Here it is, guys. Last day of high school EVER. First hour, orchestra, consisted of a small group of us practicing the Brandenburg Concerto for the graduation commencement tomorrow. Second hour, CIS Spanish 5, we took a reading assessment exam from the U of MN. My Spanish teacher hugged me and gave me a gift. Too sweet, that woman! Third hour, Independent Study Spanish Lit, I already finished so I went to the library and hung out with a good friend. After that, we were set free to the soccer fields to enjoy Famous Dave's BBQ sandwiches, volleyball, yearbook signing, and picture-taking. From 5pm-10pm, I went to my Orchestra teacher's house for a senior party. More volleyball, sunburning, and yearbook signing ensued.

And tomorrow, back to waking up at 5:50am! I get to arrive at school at 8:00am for graduation rehearsal, then the commencement begins at 5:30pm. After that, I am going to the Senior All Night Party (literally, 10pm-6am), sleeping on Friday, and back to work on Saturday morning. Then, it'll hit me. No more high school. College starts August 19th. All of these moments have made my day. They've made my year a great one. It's strange to feel like it's all ending so abruptly. Everything will change--hopefully for the better. College will be amazing, but it's hard to leave behind so many "made my day" moments and memories. It's been great, Class of 2012...now it all begins.

A (Nice) Surprise

I realize I haven't posted in a while. In all honesty, life has just been stress, stress, stress. It's hard to find the little things of my day that really stand out when I have so many other things to think about. College. Homework. Work. Sleep? No, no sleep. (I'm so tired...)

Even though this week was "finals week" at school, today was a special day. Today was the day I got asked to prom. Even before today, I knew I was going to prom, but I just assumed I would go with some friends. Well, today during lunch, he came over to my table and set a ziploc bag down in front of me. It had the letters PROM? cut out of a pb&j sandwich. Then he said, "Laura, will you be the peanut butter to my jelly? Will you go to prom with me?"

I knew him from doing tech crew for theatre shows. We sometimes talked backstage or at a cast party after a show, but I was still very surprised he asked me to prom. I guess I would consider us to be close acquaintances. We never did things outside of school, like friends would do. But we've spent quite a bit of time building the set for the plays together and working after school on tech stuff.

Anyway, it made my day a whole lot better. And I kind of liked the somewhat "goofy" line he used. Next quarter I have a much easier schedule, so I promise you less posts about stress, and more about things that make my day! Oh, and I recently got a Nikon d3100 a few days ago as an early 18th birthday gift. Life is getting better. : )

ACCEPTED!

Today I received my first acceptance letter for college! I applied about a week ago to the University of Minnesota - Morris, one of the few public liberal arts colleges in the nation. AND on top of that, I got the highest automatic academic scholarship available: $14,000 over four years. Considering the cost is $18,000 per year, I'd say that's pretty nice, huh?

All I have to do is write and essay and interview in the spring and I could get a $20k scholarship with a $2500 stipend to use for studying abroad, or I could get a full ride! This is SO exciting, guys! YEEEEEEEE!!! It completely made my day. Actually, no. It made my year!

7-year-old Me, Part III

So you know I feel bad for not updating the blog in so long, right? Did I say I'm sorry? Well, you know, school just gets me so busy. And now I have a job at an Asian Restaurant (more on that later, guys, so stay tuned!) I wish I could write more. I wish I had more time.

Well, I sure did have time when I was 7.

"I write a lot don't I. I reely like to write I colde wright
three hole pagis. I bet I colde write for a hole day if I were bore."

Oh man, not my best journal entry, guys. Apparently I had such short attention span that I couldn't even write a 'd' on the end of the word 'bored.' And if I could really write three whole pages, why didn't I? It's like I was one of those kids...you know, the kind that brag, then when you ask them to do what they said they can do, it's like, "Oh, well I don't feel like doing it now." Okay, suuuure...

Maggie...IN ACTION!

This is my dog. Her name is Maggie. 

She is the strangest dog you will ever meet. She acts like a human, and tries to talk to us so much! At night when she wants a treat, she will grab her towel and whip it around the room. Sometimes she'll just drag it over to one of us and stare at us. Literally it's like a staring contest. What kind of dog makes long eye contact like that? What a weirdo!

But okay, I love her. She is hilarious. Sometimes my sister and I will dress her up or take funny pictures of her. This just happened to be on my phone from last Christmas. (Notice the bow on her head.) We always try to get strange action shots of Maggie. These are some of our best yet! Wouldn't you agree?

Exhibit B. Just chewin' on her bone. RAWR!

And, oh. I suppose I should show you a picture of what she's actually like. You know, just so you don't think my dog is like a crazy, rabid beast with glowing eyes. That kind of thing can scare some people.

What a cutie! She always makes my day!

Oh the things you hear from a bathroom stall...

While walking in my school's restroom after school the other day, I saw a mom in there talking to her little son who was in a stall.  While I was, you know...doing my business, I heard the little boy say:

"Mom, why do they have these little garbages in here?"
"Oh, it's just for if people need to throw something away. Like gum."
"Well people can just keep their gum. They don't need to throw it away."
"Oh, yeah."

AND THEN!

"UGH! MOM, it's too hard! EEERRRGGGG!"
"Just relax, hun."
"But it's too hard. I can't do it. I give up!"
"It's okay, take your time."
"ERG!"

At this point I was washing my hands, trying to hold back a laugh, and I glanced at the woman. She smiled at me partially like she was embarrassed, but partially because she knew how funny her son sounded. As I was walking away I heard:

"Got it, Mom."

Oh geez, the things you hear in a bathroom stall. That moment completely made my day.

12 Visits Later

As you might know, this coming school year I will be a senior in high school. I've been spending hours a day since last year looking at colleges left and right, considering all options. And finally...FINALLY, I have finished my college search. No, that doesn't mean I've decided on a college. But I'm done getting tours! Here is the list of colleges I have visited:

-Concordia College (Moorhead, MN)
-St. Scholastica
-St Ben's/St. John's
-Macalester
-Bethel
-Gustavus Adolphus
-Bethany Lutheran
-St. Norbert's (WI)
-Beloit (WI)

And I topped it off with U of M Morris on Monday and St. Olaf and Carleton yesterday. I've narrowed it down I think, to Gustavus (where my sister goes!), St. Olaf (Gustavus' rival school...uh-oh!), U of M Morris (my "cheaper" option, only 18k/year!), and Beloit (5 hours away, but BEAUTIFUL campus and academic opportunities).

Yesterday, my day was made, on the ride home from Carleton and St. Olaf. I could finally let out a sigh of relief! Then when I got home, I realized, that wasn't even the hard part. The hard part will be choosing from all those colleges which one is right for me.

Any advice out there from current/past college students? How did you decide on your college? What kind of college experience did you have? I'd love to hear all about it!

You know what they say about Friendship, right?

From 7-year-old me, I would like to present some wise words. In case you didn't know already, Friendship+Friendship= SUPER POWER FRIENDSHIP! So if you have a friendship with someone, and they have a friendship with you, then BEHOLD! You have acquired SUPER POWER FRIENDSHIP! Congratulations.

Journal of 7-year-old Me

Recently I found a notebook of mine from 2001. I remember in elementary school we would be given time to write in our journals about anything. I found quite a few hilarious journal entries, but for now I'll start with one:

Translated, it says: "And my dad cot a fish about the size of my desk and half of a difrend desk. DESK!"

So I guess that's the ever-so-exciting life of a 7-year-old. And don't worry, I can assure you that my grammar, spelling, and hand writing has exponentially gotten better since then! (And I doubt my dad caught a fish that large...just saying.)

Life's Simple Pleasures #2

Relaxing outdoors on a beautiful day. It's 85 and sunny today and I have realized that some of my most relaxing moments are spent reading outside in a swinging chair under some shade, hearing the sound of the waterfalls in my backyard, seeing my dog sleeping in her dirt hole she keeps digging, and drinking some iced tea. What could be better?

7/24/11 - The Day I Lost My Friends

Yesterday was the day I finished watching Friends. I started this little quest of mine to watch all the episodes of Friends about two summers ago. I ordered the seasons on Netflix and would watch practically a disk a day in the summer and a disk a week during the school seasons. But yesterday it all ended when I finished the last episode of season 10. Friends is one of my absolute favorite shows! I was so sad that my journey was over, but every single episode made my day!

Braces for a doll?

I don't know why, but sometimes I will find an American Girl Doll magazine in our mailbox...I'm not going to go into details, but let's just say the wind magically blew the pages open and my eyes were coincidentally looking down at it...

Moving on, I saw a picture of an American Girl Doll with braces...why!? Why would someone want a doll with braces? I don't know...it just made me giggle a little bit, and it made my day for sure!

English Problems

Okay, I know this video looks weird. And it kind of is...but it's very funny! I have no clue where it's from, but I found it pretty amusing. Enjoy!

When something pays off...

I received my AP World History score today...and I got a 4! Finally, some hard work that actually pays off. And if you haven't taken AP World History, let me tell you: I took over 300 pages of notes, both written and typed, built an ancient egyptian boat complete with clay people and the like, built a miniature statue replica of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, spent a minimum of 2 hours a night working on homework and studying, and much more work that would probably bore you if I went on. So let's just say, I am currently feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I have nothing more to worry about this summer. So there you have it. A 4! YES!

THIS Guide Made My Day

June 27, 2011 at 8:26pm, I recieved this text message from my friend Amy: "Laura, your life will not be complete until you view the youtube video How to Put Yourself Inside a Coat...it completely raises the bar as far as guides go. It is pretty inspirational." Now let me explain.

Last summer, I was at a bonfire and I was telling my friends about how to make the perfect S'more. Jokingly, I said I secretly wrote guides in my free time and I was just publishing a guide on S'more-making. So, I decided to further the joke and actually write a "guide." It was called How to Build a Rock Cave. I don't know how to attach a document on blogger, but let's just say it was a pretty hilarious guide. Ever since then, Amy and I have joked around about writing guides and perfect guide topics. So that's how it all began. [/endexplaining]

So when she sent me this video, I knew it would be great. And it is. Amy and I now have plans of creating a blog of guides. I'll keep you all updated if that happens. ; ) But in the mean time, watch the video. It made my day.

Life's Simple Pleasures

Recently my grandmother was diagnosed with liver cancer. But if there's one thing this little blog of mine has taught me, it's that even though sometimes we are given these horrible obstacles that we are forced to face, life is still pretty darn great. All these simple moments I have blogged about are some of the few things that have made my life great. Most of them aren't hugely impactful, but they still count for something.

I like to think that my grandma has had one great life. She has a huge family that loves her so much, and I hope her life was filled with simple moments that made her smile as well. I know she has made my day quite a few times, and I hope she would think the same.

Every once in a while, I'll try to make a blog post about one of life's simple pleasures. Today's simple pleasure: Laughing so hard your face hurts. My grandma Max has made me laugh so hard that my face hurt. Love ya, grandma.

Aw, a cute little baby!

I stumbled upon this website called Fubiz - A Daily Dose of Inspiration. So I checked it out, and found this array of pictures of an adorable little baby sleeping, but in different poses and backgrounds surrounding it. It's very cute, trust me! It made my day! You can click on this link to see the adorable baby!

Above is a sneak peek of what I'm talking about! So CUTE, right!? : )

A little Español to my sábado

Last Saturday my family had a garage sale. Mid-way through the day a short, plump woman in her 50's or 60's came to browse at our sale. My dad overheard her speaking Spanish to her husband, and my dad told her that I spoke some Spanish. Her face completely lit up! She walked right over to me and started speaking Spanish:

"OH! Como estás?"
"Muy bien, gracias! Y Usted?"
"Bien, bien! Estudias el español en la escuela?"
"Si, pero solamente por cuatro años."
"AH! Hablas español muy bien! Oh, que bonita hija! Ahhh, bella, bella!"
"...gracias."

At this point, she was smiling like she couldn't be happier! She kept touching my arm and calling me Bella and Bonita. She told me she was so happy that American teenagers are studying Spanish. She seemed so proud of me! She was such a cute little lady, and it completely made my day!