lift up a prayer.

I only have a few days left and a load of exams, but the end is finally coming into sight and I know that it will be here soon. For me, this week won't be too bad, but for my close friend Angela, the week will only become harder as she gets into it. She is hoping to squish all of her exams into Monday and Tuesday so that she can fly home on Wednesday morning. Her brother if fighting a serious illness and her family needs her as soon as possible. I would like to ask that as this last hectic week begins, you would not just think of me and my exams or laugh at all my complaining, but instead to pray for Angela, because she needs your thoughts and prayers so much more than I do. And not only through the last days of the semester but also as she makes her way home on Wednesday and reunites with her family through this hard time.

adjust to improved wake-up calls.

Now I've lived in the mid-west for almost an entire school year and you would think that I wouldn't be suprised by anything. Wrong. This morning I was lying in bed, trying to hold on to the last few minutes of sleep before my alarm clock woke me up, when a strange noise started to invade my dream. No it wasn't tractors trudging down Main st. or even the train whistle that I hear so often. Instead it was cows. Mooing. as in future pieces of steak standing outside my dorm window letting me know how much they hated being moved from their warm barn. At first I thought that I was still dreaming until my roommate came back early from class and laughed at my reaction. There was also a note on my whiteboard: Moo! Good Morning! My friends know about my lack of excitement for all things farmy and seem to enjoy every chance they can find to rub it in. Once I stepped outside into the fabulously rainy day, I not only found half a dozen cows in a little pen covered by straw, but also pigs and countless other items that do not belong in a college parking lot. Apparently AG DAY does not include just a presentation of agricultural reports or observations, but a real live petting zoo complete with tractors the size of small apartments outside the Campus Center. Yay for farms!

Looking forward to my last weekend on campus, even though it will likely consist of mostly studying. Only 7 more days until I finish out my semester and hop on a plane!

ballet in Central Park (Iowa style).

As I attempt to finish out my last few days as a freshman (for the last time), I had to take a few hours just to enjoy being young and spontaneous. So I reconnected with one of my lost childhood loves: horses; and let out stress by dancing on main street. Oh and practicing my hula on a creekside island. Basically, I set myself up for some thoroughly embarrasing slidshows for my fiftieth birthday or something like that. At least my children will know that I wasn't always a busy, dull mom who only has time to scrub floors and pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And when I finally reach the age of being old enough to not care, I can share these pictures with my fellow red-hatters and reminisce of days when I didn't have to worry about a walking with a cane and I could dye my hair whatever color I wanted and it wouldn't grow out in forms of grey.

keep my focus.

Ok so I've definitely been slacking on my blogging. I even had to sit and think for a second before I could remember my blogger password. But everything is heading towards its most chaotic state before begins to slow down to a close. Plane ticket bought for May 5. Knowing my boss (aka dad) work will begin at 6:30 am May 6. At this point in the semester I become immune to all forms of stress, worry, or urgency. Which is why I am blogging instead of furiously writing at this moment. I also just got back from eating a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. In a few minutes I'm going to observe clown fish for biology. Again, instead of beginning my real homework. Only four/five and a half hours of biology class, and then no more bizaare coffee mugs, no more picturing my breakfast being breathed out my nose, no more drawing diagrams of parasites. Fifteen days and way too much homework.

play way too much with photoshop.

I've found yet another way to distract myself and another reason not to read my history books.

love the sunshine!

Its summer! Okay so its probably only summer for a day...but its seventy-six degrees and sunny! I can't believe it. So I really couldn't focus in class at all today. And then all afternoon I spent outside: I went on a walk, I laid on the grass, took a nap in the sun, tried to throw easter candy into the open window on third floor, dreamed of having a balcony with my window boxes full of daffodils (which my dear sister seems to have confiscated), and basically got zero homework done.

Oh well, the real summer is coming soon and then the huge pile of homework that is waiting to be done will all be just a distant memory.

Okay are you ready for another countdown??

Too bad because here it is:

29 days until my last final is over!

get the pigeon to go to bed.

So I went to Barnes and Noble the other night (which is way too far away), and had the most relaxing evening that I've had for a long time. One of my friends and I just spontaneously decided to leave for the evening without telling anyone to get away from it all and have fun. We started out at the bookstore and then went to Chili's and then went back to Barnes and Noble.
We had a very different waiter at Chili's, it seemed like he had been working there for decades and he wanted to make sure that all of our food was "interesting." After trying to convince us that we both "had to get margaritas" and telling me that what I was about to order was much too boring: "I'm Italian, and I can tell that you aren't going to like it," he actually changed both of our orders to a slightly more spicy version of what we had ordered (cajun chicken instead of ranch, and southwestern fajita pita instead of plain). So after that funny ordeal we were definitely ready to get lost in some books.
I not only introduced Amanda to probably my favorite children's books: Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, but I proceeded to make a spectacle out of us both by insiting that we read them aloud in the middle of the children's section. I think we thoroughly confused the poor man in a suit who was likely trying to buy a picture book for his daughter's birthday or something as we sat at the short little round table and just about died laughing at these books. We then spent some time in the cooking, wedding and travel sections (none of which I have any use for, except maybe travel), and then dove into the fiction for the rest of the evening.
The perfect combination: Starbucks and a completely-nothing-like-a-textbook novel.

keep my clock on the right time.

Some people have problems with Day Light Savings time on Sunday...and then there are those who still have trouble with it on Monday. That would be me. Worse yet, I had no problems yesterday, only this morning.

The morning started with sunlight shining on my face way too early and then my printer spitting out paper at about 7:15 or so. My dear roommate had a few problems herself this morning. One started with the fact that her alarm clock decided that it needed a spring vacation and so she had to use mine and then reset it for me after she woke up. The other had something to do with my printer and the crinkled up/ink-covered paper that I found hiding inside my printer this morning.

My problem came when my roommate accidentally changed the time on my alarm clock (at least I'm hoping it was an accident...just kidding) to an hour later than it actually was. So when I finally crawled out of bed, I thought that I had 45 min instead of an hour and 45 min. Basically, that 45 min was very rushed, as I tried to shower, get dressed, edit my paper and run to breakfast. Lets just say that I didn't quite make it to breakfast. I ran downstairs to rummage through my friends' fridge to find at least a poptart at about what I thought was 9:59. I had basically given up hope for either getting to class on time or finding something to eat. But when I ran into one of my friends just climbing out of bed the truth began to dawn on me.

So here I am with an extra hour to my day and so I blog. Lets just say that I am going to be very thankful for my breakfast this morning.