A bit precarious if I do say so myself!

So tonight is the last night of winter break. The last night that I will not have ANY school things to do before May 13th! I just don't want to go to bed, because then the morning will come. Which will bring my 8am class, more classes, a slew of phone calls, appointments made, assignments given, life time taken up... However tomorrow also brings new people to meet, reunions with old classmates, smiles all around, frozen eyelashes from walking to class, talks that need to happen, reunios with friends, CRU, the infamous after CRU at the AO, love, joy, and grace. Last semester was hard; and I mean HARD!!! I cried, laughed, screamed, threw keys, punched my pillow, prayed, loved, CRIED... People asked me how I was even standing after running around so much. I failed a class, but saw God's grace. I struggled with girls on my floor, but met some amazing women striving hard after God. I'm afraid to open this can of tomorrow, and the more I type the closer I come to the day. So yeah... I'm a bit precarious. Good word that a wonderful friend taught me this summer. I seem to be it a lot :)

Time Off

Huge bummer: couldn't go to Florida. For some reason Florida just wasn't in God's plan for me this break. Upsetting for sure, and I feel so bad for Rachel and the rest of us that were going to go visit her. Because of not going to Florida, I have an entire week off from working at Target. And because of taking vacation, I am not technically able to work during that time. So what to do...

Day one: (Wednesday)
After getting up at 4am and checking the weather, making many phone calls, going back to bed, more phone calls, and finally calling the trip off at 10:30am I was left with 7 full days of open time. There are many things that I have wanted to do this break, and because of working each and everyday I've been home I have not had any time to do any of those things. I made a few birthday cards for friends who have ones coming up soon, washed up the huge pile of dirty dishes, and got to talk a long time with friends on the phone. After dinner, I made curtains for my dorm room with the material I have had in my possession since November 13th.

Day two: (Thursday)
The day started with a visit to my mom's work were I attempted to order books for school: man they cost so much money! Then I head to Minneapolis for a dermatolagy apointment. What a joke that was. The doctor looked at my face for a whole 5 seconds at a distance of atleast two feet. He then gave me a perscription and sent me on my merry way. Then realizing I had forgotten my wallet at home, I went to my mom's friend's office in the clinic to get a free parking pass to get out of the parking ramp. On the way home, I chatted with Rachel (love those free sprint to sprint mins.) and found out that she was going to live with me for two nights next week. Yea! After getting the sewing bug back in me, I worked on a cover for my feather bed pillow that has been in the works since last Christmas break. I got ready for the night and then headed down to Alex's house, a friends of Sarah, in Minneapolis. Given very round about directions, I ended up getting into som heavy traffic and arrived late. I met Kate and Alex first, then it was on to Niko's house where I met his mother and cousin Jen who was visiting from New York. We then all rode together to the Tapestry Folk Dance Studio for swing dance lessons!!! We learned East Coast Swing and the Liddy-Hop. Both were super fun, and I only knew the basic step to the East Coast before last night. It was weird at first dancing with guys I had never met before, but they made it all very fun. Learning how to follow was tough cause I had NEVER learned how to dance before. Towards the end of the East Coast lesson, Aaron Wishert and Joanna walked in with a group from Mankato. Way weird to see him there. I know he loves to dance, but it was funny to see him. After the lessons there was a dance where we could use all the moves that we learned earlier. One of the men couldn't believe it was my first time, and he kept saying how I follow so well. I just kept laughing knowing that if he wasn't a good lead, there is now way I would have done as well. Man there is so much to write about on this, but I guess you will just have to ask me about it when I see you cause I don't think you want to read a whole novel right now. Danced a ton and would have loved to keep going, but we all were getting rather tired. After a quick stop at Perkins, we headed to Alex's house, where we preceded to talk until after 3am.

Day three: (Friday)
Woke up at 11:10am today. Mmmmmm it was SO good to sleep in and not wake to an alarm. I neglected to tell you that in the course of last night I had also met many more of Sarah's friends form school in Marshall(9 total). Seven of us slept at Alex's house and spent the entire day together, or what was left of it after waking up at 11. We played Apples to Apples (very fun game!)and ate some tasty pizza for lunch/dinner. 7pm rolled around, and it was time for me to hit the road and go home. After saying a long good bye to Sarah, and an even long hug, I drove back to good ol' Franny town. And now here I am. Sitting a bit precarious if I do say so. Teetering between going to bed and staying up working on summer stuff. Congrats for getting through this super long blog, and if you still have the energy read the one previous this one because I wrote two blogs tonight: lots to talk about and not many to talk to. Love you all and can't wait for an extra one in my house Tuesday!

The Florida that Wasn't

Thanks Iowa! Well I know it is not your fault, or anyone elses for that matter, but it is always easy to place blame on Iowa. So I was planning on being in Orlando, Florida right now, haning out with a great friend of mine and her family. but plans changed, the weather shifted, and we ended up canceling the trip. To begin with, the planning for this trip was full of phone calls and unsure people. It went from 12 people wanting to go this fall and two vans, to six people and one van. Then from six people it went to four people and the loss to a van, then to three people in a one little Tender Foot. After about a billion phone calls in two days, we tried desperately to figure out how everything was going to work out. Then came the winter storm that hit Iowa and Illinois HARD! It started Tuesday night and continued well into the night on Wednesday. I have never checked the weather so many times or called transpertation departments as much as I did Monday through Wednesday. Iowa had gotten a foot of snow and the highways were completely covered with the white powdery stuff. On top of the snow, the wind was racing across the state, decreasing visibility to what you could see at an arms distance infront of your face. The decision was made Wednesday not to push it and to stay safe by not going to Florida.
I really wish we would had been able to go. I miss Rachel and it is always fun getting to hang out with friends' family and friends. I also feel bad for Ben. His surprise was extinguished (sorry Ben, my sources told me that she pretty much knew anyways) and he wasn't able to meet Rachel's family. I have learned how important this is for him, which made it even harder for me to tell him that I didn't think it was safe for us to go. On top of that, his boss graciously had given him an entire week off from driving bus and also had found a replacement for him. Now what was he going to do. I also feel sorry for Dan. His personality has really opened at TCX and I know this time would have been good for him. Also, he graduates in May and I don't know if he will have the oppurtunity to go to Rachel's in the future.
Rachel, I am so sorry about not being able to make it down there. I really felt bad that we kept flopping back and forth and back and forth on what was happening. I know the emotions were just flying up and down like a roller coaster. You had to prepare yourself and family for a huge group, then a smaller group, and even smaller group, no group, the small group, no group, the small group... I just feel horrible that none of the plans worked. I just wish that there would have been some way for us to get down there.