[This shall be no longer...]

I've decided to say goodbye to the Blogspot world, & start using wordpress. I have a friend from school who uses it & when I checked it out, I decided I liked it better. :) My new blog is www.chelswords.wordpress.com Enjoy, & goodbye!! :)

[my summer]

I have just finish my first year of college. PTL!!! Although summer hasn't official started yet & we are only about half way through spring, my summer break has DEFINITELY started. :)

It feels SO good to be home with everyone. I love being in my own room, being with my family, & am looking forward to attending my own church. I love eating home cooked meals & watching my favorite shows again. :) I love just being able to relax & not have to dread going back to school after a few days at home. AAhh.. life is good. :)

For right now I am watching Evan during the day while everyone else heads off to work & school. We have fun & I enjoy taking him off Grandma's hands for awhile. Soon though, I will have to start working again. I am actually really looking forward to it. I miss making money & being able to take care of myself instead of really pinching pennies & relying so much on my parents for my financial needs. I will still be working with the young boy I did this past summer which will take care of my mornings for work. Finding another job for the evenings is also a part of the plan, & hopefully I will still be able to fit working at the YMCA in there somwhere.

Aside from working, I am very much looking forward to all of the things I just haven't had time and/or the motivaion for to do. I am looking forward to reading, relaxing, journaling, traveling, taking pictures, enjoying the sunshine, & just having fun!! I am looking forward to really getting into God's word & sticking to a plan. Song writing & brushing up on some piano skills are definitely on my list of things to do. Spring is such a wonderful time to watch everything grow. Summer is just when we get to enjoy it all. :)

[DUN DUN DUN]

It's finals week. YUCK.

The end is finally here. I've waited long & hard for this, yet it is almost unreal that I will only be spending two more nights in my little dorm room bunk bed, being sure to check in by curfew. I can't believe this school year has gone by so fast!! It seems like just yesterday I was walking into IWU as a measley little freshman-- (really..measley..about 15 pounds lighter)--& in just a few short days I will be walking out ready to take on summer as I work a lot & relax a little before I head back to a new room in which I try to cram in half of my personal belongings. I've never realized how much "stuff" I actually have until I've had to pack it all up & move it. I learned this from moving to our new house this past summer.

Although I am excited to leave campus for awhile, it will be said to leave the friends I've made & I still have a few obstacles to jump over before I get there; finals, scheduling, cleaning..etc. We will all be going our seperate ways, some leaving the country, some working near home; but all along getting away from the daily meals at Baldwin & Wildcat. :) Although I have only 3 finals & 2 juries, they are all tomorrow, & all right in a row. This means I've had to get all of my studying done at once & will have a completely fried brain by the end of tomorrow afternoon. I had my flute jury today which went pretty well, & I am SO glad to be done with that. I have my 3 finals tomorrow, 2 of which I'm not extremely worried about, & I have my voice jury on Wednesday. That one is definitely my favorite, & I am looking forward to ending on a good note. ;)

I am looking forward to this summer as getting a new start on life, work, & relationships. I want to try to put my life back in order & get away from the craziness of life in a bubbled campus. I want to read for fun again, knit, crochet, sing, dance, play, run, swing, have picnics. I want to see old friends & attend my own church. Fun in the sun shall be my motto & being sun kissed shall be an everyday accessory. Summer is a time for bringing out the old & making it new again. Then when I head back to school in the fall, I will be me, & ready to learn from past experiences. I'll be able to recall the knowledge I've already learned & apply it to make that knowledge grow. Summer is coming, & I am SO ready to be on it. :)

[Christ is Risen!!!!!] :)

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Though the day is coming to an end, it is never too late to celbrate our risen Lord. :) I have always loved Easter. I love the pastel colors, the Spring weather, and of course the jellybeans. ;) I always knew what Easter is really about but I never really treated it like it was a big deal. I preferred waking up to evidence of a visit from the Easter Bunny & eating chocolate til I was sick. (Although I have figured out the whole Easter Bunny thing, I do still enjoy the chocolate.) ;)

Going to a Christian school, :) we especially like to celbrate Easter by having a small break. :) I have been fortunate to have this past Friday off as well as tomorrow for a 4-day Easter weekend break. :) It has been so great to be home & relax a little bit before the last week of classes, (this week), & finals, (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week). I have spent my time taking pictures, singing songs stuck in my head fromt the University Singers Spring Concert this past week, & playing rousing games of Bubble Spinner on facebook. :) Tomorrow I will be watching Evan while everyone else heads to work & school & then I will be heading back to school myself later in the evening.

Today, of course, is the reason for writing this post. EASTER!!!!! :) :) At church we kept tradition by having an early breakfast & the Easter Cantat for the service. I skipped the breakfast & Sunday school for sleep, but I did of course go to the big cantata put on by the choir. Being away at school I haven't really been as involved in church as I normally am, & I did not participate in this big event. Last Christmas, I was so blessed & fortunate enough to have been asked to play my flute with them for the Christmas cantata. I was more than welcome to sing, but I was just as excited to play my flute, & that is what I did. :) It is SO weird being on "the other side." As much as I have always complained about it, (being one of the youngest people there), I do miss it a lot & feel a bit left out. :/ :p I just feel so disconnected sometimes being away, & I can't wait for things to get back to being at least semi-normal. I think next year I am going to ask if I can be a part of the group again. I feel a bit werid "requesting" to join, but I just don't like dropping my life & what I love.

All in all it was a great cantata. The choir sang everything from the sucker punch to the gut, to pretending to be a black gospel choir. :) (Really though..we are just plain 'ol white cracker Baptists & that will never change.) ;) It was fun to watch though & once again they did a wonderful job. :)

There are still a few hours left in the day. Take time to rejoice in our risen Lord!!!! CHRIST THE LORD IS RISEN TODAY!!!! ALLELUIA!!!!! :) :)

[wonderings]

The end of my freshman year of college is coming to an end very quickly. We do not have anymore full weeks of classes. These week is a four day week, Easter Break, another four day week, then a 3 day week for finals. Crazy. These past two semesters have flown by so fast. And although they've had their rough spots, I have enjoyed every minute of them. I am so excited to be moving on and getting closer and closer to the "real world."

That's so weird to think about. "The real world." What is that anyway?? What is this world I am living in now?? Is this all just a play, a musical?? Is this just a filler until I am out on my own?? I wonder what it will be like. I have often thought about where I might live, where I'll be working; just what I'll be doing in general. Where will I be going to church?? Will there be a "significant other??" All of these questions come to mind, but I can only come up with so many possibilities for answers. Sometimes I think about God's answers; His plans for me. I think it's so bizarre how He already knows what is going to happen while I'm still stiting here trying to figure everything out for myself. This is hard to put into words, but just to think about how God can see the future, (afterall, He did sorta create it), & yet I have no idea what my life is going to be like. Strange, huh??

So now I sit here, pondering the next few weeks. I wonder how I'll do on my metacognitive paper, how hard the Old Testament final will be, and what song the professors will pick for my second jury piece when I perform for them. I wonder how many people will show up for the University Singers concert this Wednesday, and I wonder how many of the seniors will be be more sad or happy that this is their last concert. I wonder about the lives of all the happy couples getting married this spring & summer, and I think about my own life and when I will get married, if that's in God's plan. I just...wonder. :)

[R.I.P Gracie]

I guess this never got posted. I just found it as a draft in my compilation of blogs.

Gracie was a dog, like most of our dogs, who came from Uncle Andy. I can kind of remember getting her, but I don't really remember how old I was, or "the moment" or anything. I know we've had her for a long time. I remember not having her, but for the most part she was always in my life. There is a picture of her and myself that is one of my favorite pictures. She is laying in the yard, and someone, (I'm only assuming my mother), took a picture of us together. Gracie was a beautiful collie who was loyal, protective, and loving. It was hard to watch Gracie get older & know that she would not be around forever. When I got the news last week, (via my mom on facebook because I missed the call from my dad at home), I was so sad. It was kind of a random thing. I knew from the voicemail that good news was not coming my way & I was a little scared. Although I was relieved that it was one of my dogs, & not a human family member, I was still very sad. I was in a way waiting for the day it would happen as she got older and older, but even when you are expecting something, it still comes unexpectedly.

So I think you should all read Bethany's blog. It is located on the right of this page. :) She said she had been thinking about getting one, and so I helped her make one. I'm converting my friends!! ;) Hahaha..Katie said she would like to have one too, so I'll have to work on that with her. ;)

Tonight my roommate when out with her boyfriend and sister to see a movie. I objected not to go because I really didn't feel like spending roughly $10 to sit in the dark with a bunch of strangers & get fat. I DID though go see "Bolt", a $2 movie here at school. :) I went with a few other friends & I really enjoyed it. It wasw a really cute & funny movie. :)

I guess that's it for now.
9 DAYS TIL SPRING BREAK!!!! :) :) :)

[Do This in Rememberance of Me] :)