Just blowing through...

I know its been awhile since I've blogged. College sucks every last minute out of your day. I would say that I will be coming back, blogging more often but I would more than likely be wrong. I of course hope that's the case and will at least try to swing by more often but I'm already giving up sleep time to do homework, I'm not sure I can pull time from anywhere else. If only the days were longer...but I bet if they were, they would make school longer to and I wouldn't win in that scenario either. Well anyways, I want to enter a photo into this weeks IheartFaces contest. The theme is wind: the photo must convey wind in some way. Here is my entry:

I did a photoshoot for Whittney on a pretty windy day. I got lots of good shots of her but this candid one is certainly one of my favorites.

Well I hope you enjoy my entry: I'm now going to procrastinate a little bit more by looking though some of the other entries (which you can see by clicking on the IheartFaces button at the beginning of this post!) and catching up a little bit on my blogger friends. Then, well, homework beckons.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Love, Dea

I'm not even sure how to start this post off, I'm so far behind on my blogging I don't even know where to start.

But lets start here. I'm home! I've actually been home since the 10Th and I couldn't be happier about that. I'm already dreading going back. I'm fine once I'm there but leaving is always so hard. It's so nice to have real food, to get sleep, and to not always have some kind of homework assignment haunting me.

There is a lot I hadn't had the time to blog about so here is a recap for you:

Well, my apartment mate and I put together a team for intramural flag football. It only consisted of 4 games (given there was only 2 other girls teams) and we didn't end up doing very well, but it was fun. I ended up getting quite the beating when I ripped my fingernail off, landed on my head and possibly got a concussion, and pulled a muscle in my leg that hurt so bad I couldn't run the entire game and it hurt for days afterward. I was quite the hobbler for a few days after that one.

I started working at a local elementary school during the hours my classes allow. I work in a first grade classroom and I love the kids I work with. They are all so sweet! This job has really made me look forward to my career in teaching because I really do just love spending time with those kids and helping them out. When I go through my "I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing with my life" thoughts, I just try to think of how much I love them kids. Sometimes it helps and sometimes I don't feel much better about things, but one day I'll realize if what I'm doing is right.

When I went to the eye doctor for an eye exam to get more contacts I got news I was expecting. Apparently I had spots on my right eye. I was told to cut back on contact wear so he could see if that was the problem. So, I did and when I went back I was told that they had gotten worse. I was then not allowed to wear contacts at all. Apparently my eye had gotten a virus. It wasn't contagious or anything but it couldn't heal with contacts and if it didn't heal it could get way worse. Last time I went to see how it was he said he could barely see it and I would be allowed to go back to contacts in January.

That's really all I got as far as the big things. For the little ones, well I really struggled with biology class but some how I managed to pass it. My little sister turned 13 and I surprised her by being home for her birthday. Whittneys little brother turned 7 and had a party at the zoo which was a lot of fun even for us older folk. Working on the yearbook staff has been harder to manage then I thought it would be but overall it still has been pretty fun.

Oh! Another kinda big thing that I just thought of would be that I volunteered to take pictures of sporting events for the college and now my photos have been used for the recap articles and one even got used on a bigger athletic website.

Well, now Christmas is over, which saddens me. I love giving gifts and shopping is way more fun for me when I have a reason to just go out and buy things for people. Despite the fact that I'm a poor college student who hates spending money, I love buying things for family and friends and seeing them open the gifts I give them. I also love the spirit people have around Christmas, the happiness and extra kindness that people carry around with them. It should last all year but it fades with the season. I wish it would stay.

A new year is not very far away and as excited as I am I can also say honestly that I'm a little scared. I'll be turning 20 here soon and that's a little scary for me. They really are right when they tell you that when your younger you really don't wanna grow up. I didn't really believe it but I do now. I don't want to get any older!

I also don't want to go back to school- but it's something I have to do and it's really not as bad when I get there, it's just the leaving part that's I hate so much.

Speaking of leaving, I'll have to end this post here. I really don't have much else to say and I need to go to bed here soon to- I'm getting up early to go to the sportsmens den with Whittney! I'm excited, I've been wanting to go there and it has been awhile since Whittney and I have hung out. So it will be a good day.

Hope you all are doing well!!!

Love,

Excuse me sir, but you smell wonderful!

Not to long ago I wrote a post about my excitement over my first concert. (to visit it, click here) If you read the post you would know how totally excited I was over getting to go to my first concert and having my first celebrity encounter. If you didn't read that post, let me tell you- I was pumped, like super excited. And that's an understatement!

Who knew it would get even better not even two weeks later.

I went to another concert.

A Chuck Wicks concert to be exact. (He is extremely hott. Just sayin')

At a seemly forgotten fair, where we paid only 5 bucks to watch and could get right up to the stage, if we so had chose.

With only about 40 other people in attendance, it was laid back and well worth the two hour trip.

I didn't think it could get better.
But then it did. Check this out:

An amazingly sexy picture of him? Yes, it is. But look a little closer:

He signed it. Personally.

Then it got even better:

We got to get pictures with him.

I may have been trying not to drool in this picture.

He got close. I touched the man, he had his arm on me, and mine was on him.

I was in heaven. I just got to see Craig Morgan and attend my first concert. Now I was at another one, where I actually got to meet a famous man, get his autograph, and get a picture with him.

I was in heaven. He is such a good looking man.

And let me tell you- not only did he look good but he smelled good to!!

Love,

Hogging up the road with my PPPPP-Plower!

One week ago, I got to go to my first concert. I was so dang excited, I was like a kid in a candy store. All day I waited impatiently to go, then when I got there I couldn't sit still. I was being so silly..pointing to his semi and saying "I wonder if he is in there, right now" and "do you think that is his camper?" I couldn't contain my excitement. Whittney kept on making fun of me for being so excited. I'm nineteen years old and this was my first concert- I couldn't help but be excited even if it was just a county fair concert. I had never been to one or laid eyes on anyone more famous than the local weather people. To say I was pumped was an understatement.

One week ago I got to see Craig Morgan in concert. I was only nine rows away. I wasn't behind any super tall people who blocked my view the whole time (just some of the time). It was loud enough that I could sing and not be heard. He sang the songs I knew and I managed to make it seem like I knew the words to the few songs I really didn't know. He did a few very uhm amazing dance moves that made the concert way more than worth it. I got to experience my first concert with my closest friend. And I got a T-shirt from my first concert. (granted, it was over-priced and not the one I really wanted but hey, it was my first concert,okay. lol.)

And now, for the pictures:

His semi! It looks so cool.
Me and Whittney in our seats waiting (me, not so patiently) for the show to start.

And there he is! He really put on a good show. He was lots of fun. In the middle of one song he started laughing a little. Turns out all he could see was a sign for elephant ears and it reminded him of one of his crew members! lol.

Him again.

The front of my shirt!

The back of my shirt!

Overall, I could say my first concert was way past amazing. It was perfect. I loved it and wouldn't trade it for the world. I had a blast and will remember it for the rest of my life. What a perfect first concert: I am excited to go to more in my lifetime but no matter how awesome the rest of them are none could be as special as this.

Thank you Whittney for buying me the ticket, allowing me to go, and giving me the gift of my first concert: definitely a life moment here. Thank you so much.

Love,

I walked for Dave.

The clock hit 2:30 am and Whittney and I were still working. This was the second or third night in a row of late night working, although we hadn't surpassed 12:30 the other nights. We were both tired, the sounds of our work were the only sounds filling the room, our conversation swallowed up by the tiredness and the determination to get as much done as we could. Around 3 we made it to bed, vowing to make it up early to finish the rest.

Later that morning we made it out of bed and packed all our hard work into the car. We got it to the track and returned back to my house to finish the last details on the banner. Banner complete we walked back to the track- grumpy from lack of sleep and hot and muggy from the nasty hot weather we had. The tent was set up and in mid-decoration when the rain hit. Everything got shoved in the tent to wait it out, except someone left our banner on the grass and most of our hard work got taken with the rain. Once the rain quit it was another hour or so of redecorating and setting things up. It turned out wonderful. Then a couple laps around the track, rain pouring again but helping very little with the heat and humidity.

The storms came back later and all the hard work we had put into this was pretty much wasted since the event was canceled.

But it wasn't wasted at all. We did it all for him. We worked hard for him. We walked for him.

And thats all that mattered.

I was able to participate in the Relay for Life this year. It was so nice to feel that maybe I could help make a difference to people fighting cancer. It was so touching to see all these people out there working towards helping.

The most touching thing were the people with purple shirts. The ones with SURVIVOR written on the back. The people who fought it, or may still be fighting it. The ones we were doing this for.

I walked for Dave. His purple shirt was missing from the crowd of survivors on Saturday because he was in the hospital due to problems related to his cancer. But he is at home now, and doing much better.

I expect to see his purple survivor shirt at the relay next year where I hope the rain doesn't cancel it and where our decorated tent will be even better than this year. And where I will walk for him again.

I want a world with more birthdays. And if participating in the relay is one way I can help, I will. For Dave as well as anyone else who is battling or has battled cancer. I'll do this for you.

Love,

This is my 100th post

and I'm celebrating teens with i♥faces!

This week is teen week and I happen to be very happy with that- since I'm a teen myself. So you can say I can easily relate to these exciting three weeks celebrating teens. Picking a picture though..not so easy. Given I am a teen and so are all my friends I happen to have a good amount of pictures featuring teens. But I only had a few that I thought considerable. All in all I chose this one even though Whittney might not be too happy with my selection because she hates this picture but I like it: I think it shows what being a teen is all about. Having fun, being crazy, living for the weekends- enjoying the moment and putting homework worries behind you.

Whittney thinks this picture makes her look silly but I think it shows her fun personality and the way she just enjoys life. This would be a way I would want to be thought of and I love how this picture captures that live out loud side of her.

What do you think? Comments are always appreciated and I will even try to return the favor! Oh and don't forget to go over to i♥faces and check out the other entries! To do so click on the i♥faces logo at the top!

Love,

Good Friends, Sunshine & Summertime ♥

So, about a week and half ago, right after I finished up that 8am math final, summer officially started for me. Boy was I ready, this year was great, but it was pretty rough and I was certainly ready for summer.

And so far it has proven to be a great one. The weather has been wonderfully warm just as it should be in the summer months. I have kept busy mostly with fun things to do which is a must have for summer. The only problem I have had is the whole job situation- I just found out that the job I was planning to have isn't going to really exist anymore because of economic decline..ohhh great. So, I need to find another one but for now I'll enjoy the freedom and keep working on finding one.

Like I said, a lot has been going on so far. Less than two weeks in and I'm thinking picture highlights are in order: how bout it? =]
The start of my summer was on fire.. well with a van fire anyway, it went up in flames right down the road. It was the biggest event my county has had in awhile! lol. The guy was talking on his cell phone and didn't realize the back end was on fire. My neighbors saw him driving by and yelled at him to stop and they also called it in. He stopped and got a gas can he had in there out and then we all settled in to watch. No one got hurt, luckily. Unfortunately though, my Nikon was in for cleaning! That's when the good picture opportunities come of course, when your good camera is gone. But I did have my trusty rusty Kodak and I think it did pretty well.

Next was my cookout/bonfire. I had it for my college friends and the best friends to celebrate the wrapping up of school. It wasn't as big as expected and only a few college buddies showed up but it was still a good time. Kelley and Whittney came and stayed well into the night and we had good conversations. Best friends and a bonfire is all I need.

After two weeks, I finally got my Nikon back- nice and clean! I was so excited, I had missed it so very much! It stayed with me and I took so many pictures! Including one of this little guy who decided to chill on our back patio thing.

Remember these little ladies? It has been a long time since they have been on my blog- maybe because its been so long since I have seen them myself. I got to spend a little bit of time visiting with each one of them during the other ones softball games. I am hoping I'll be seeing them much for often over the summer, I have missed them so very much.

Whittney and I have pretty much been attached at the hip so far this summer. We have gone and done so much and it's been a complete and utter blast. I think we can make almost anything fun and even the boring stuff is so much better when you got your best friend by your side.

Okay, we can make almost everything fun. Except sunburn (which we are showing off in this picture although you can not really see it lol). That's not fun. Even if we were the stupid idiots who decided to lay out for like an hour an a half..twice..in oh, almost ninety degree weather because when we looked it did not look like it did any good the first time. But we were wrong and three days later we can still feel how stupid we are with every movement. But its okay, at least we weren't stupid alone I guess. lol.

Well that's all I have for now but I'm sure I will get more to post up here really soon. In the meantime- How is your summer going?

I know mine has been great- after all - all I need to be happy is Good Friends, Sunshine, & Summertime =]

Love,

PS:

I'm going- are you? ;)

And I still have dirt in my sunglasses.

Like I've told you, I'm a little behind in blogging. Now that it's summer, I was hoping to get caught up and stay caught up. And then I realized that the chances of that are still pretty slim. Nice weather, no schoolwork, friends, and the ever going list of fun activities that I could be doing has kept me away from the chunk of cyberspace that is my blog. And despite the fact that I now own a laptop (yay!) my blog has remained silent- mobility didn't necessarily bring time.

But anyways back to being behind. Last month I got the chance to go with Whittney and her family on a road trip. They planned to leave Friday morning and come back late Sunday. They were going to spend all day Saturday riding quads in the mountains. It was hard for me to decide - skipping school, the cost, the homework- I even made a should and shouldn't list- (sorry, its a cell phone picture)

writing it all out made the choice obvious. (not really, but for this stories sake, that's what we will go with) and so I packed my bags and headed off to the mountains. It was a long drive, but after about oh, 7 hours (and a detour) we finally made it.

Whittney and I got a picture together at the firework store we stopped at before going to the cabin. We matched, haha.
The next day was the special day. We got up really early. You could say we were excited, because we were, but Jeff's snoring was mostly the reason we were up so early. About nine we went down to get the quads- we rented every one they had- and to head off.

We loved the oh so stylish helmets they had- okay we didn't because we are bad kids and usually don't wear them but they were pretty cool and a very good idea when your riding in the mountains.

After getting our helmets we hopped on the quads and spent all day- or about eight hours- riding them in the mountains. I wish I could have gotten more pictures but I wasn't going to risk my cameras life or mine trying to take care of it while I was riding, but believe me, it was awesome and so beautiful.

It had also rained that morning so it was muddy! And we were pretty excited about that! What makes quad riding better? Mud!! There were mud holes everywhere and it did not take us long to hunt them out and ride on through them.

Here is a picture of our lovely muddy quads:

One lesson I learned though was to not wear your good jeans...dust and mud do not come out and it isn't quite the fashion staple either. But I wear them anyways and if anyone asks why my jeans look muddy, I have a good story all ready for them!

Here is a picture of Whittney and I after our epic day of quad riding. And no, we aren't that tan, its dry mud. We had a bit of a mud fight in addition to the mud flying from riding through puddles.

I had an absolute blast on this trip- it was a trip I'll never forget and memories I'll always hold dear. It's so nice to be able to do these sorts of things with people who have turned into family. That's a wonderful feeling to have and I am so glad they think of me well enough to allow me to join them on things like this.

Oh and by the way, I really do still have dirt in my sunglasses, but a little dirt never hurt so it can just stay there and remind me of the awesome time I had.

Love,

Spring Break 2010!

I know I am a little behind with this post but I still want to post about my spring break! It was amazing. Let me show you how amazing it was: Brittanys spring break happened to be at the same time! So she was back for that week and getting to see her after this long was wonderful! She had a get together so that everyone could come to see her as well as to celebrate her birthday.

Another day, Whittney and I went shopping. We have a tendency to try on weird sunglasses then take pictures. It makes for a good time.

The next day we went to the st. park. I got to take pictures which of course was wonderful. I took this shot of Whittney and I just really like it! When we were there we thought we saw a dead guy across the lake. He was really close to the water and not moving. We yelled but he still didn't move. We were not sure what do but then luckily he did move.

While we were at the park, we sat down to talk and decided we wanted to go on a road trip. We debated many places but finally decided that going to stay with my aunt and uncle would be the best (and most affordable) option. I was very excited, not only because I would get to see them but because Whittney was going and she hasn't ever gone up there with us. Plus, I'd never gone with just a friend either.

So the next day we got up and drove three hours straight. We made good time and had to wait for my cousins to come home from school. While we waited we played an intense game of Mario Kart on the Wii which was crazy! Then they finally got home and we got to spend time with them-

Brooke had to leave to take the dog to the vet and while she was gone we took pictures with Jessica. Peace out dudes!

Haha. Elephant faces with Jessica in the middle!

The next day my cousins had school again, so we settled for some shopping. We went into abercrombie for the first time. The mall there was so big we spend a good few hours in there!

After we went to the mall, we found our way to the lake. It was too cold to swim. There were still ice chunks in the water but we told people we did swim and they believed us! crazy! But we did take our shoes off and enjoy the sand beneath our toes. And we did dip our feet in but it was so cold!

It was Whittneys first time at the lake! So she wrote her name in the sand and got the traditional vacation memorabilia picture.

Of course I got to practice my photography skills, my camera did not leave my side! Here is my beautiful cousin Brooke.

And the beautiful cousin Jessica!

Whittney took over the camera for a little while- so I got a picture with Brooke!

The next day we woke up and had to head home so that we could make it back for Whittneys dads surprise party. We took a group picture before we left which included my cousins new puppy Bandit! He is one crazy dog!

I really did have the most awesome spring break. It was certainly better than I thought it was going to be. I just had such a great time, I am hoping that Whittney did too and that we will get to take a trip like this again- when its warmer and we can swim!!

Love,