Happy New Year!

I am getting married THIS YEAR! Yay!

I think the Christmas season should last until New Year's Day. It seems so sad to have all the build-up just for one day. I'm doing my part to fight this by continuing to wear Christmas socks and not taking down my Christmas decorations. (Okay, really, I can't take them down because I'm not in Abilene right now. But even if I were in Abilene, I wouldn't take them down). So for me, today is the last day of Christmas, which is sad. But I'm happy because I let it slowly die out rather than having it all be over on the 26th.

Last night, Darby and I went over to Jessica's house with some other people from church. We learned how to play 42, which is really fun. If anyone knows how to play, please play with me and Darby sometime in Abilene!

The Perks

Here's what I have gotten for free since I started working for Campus Life:

- a coffee thermos filled with purple and white M&Ms
- an ACU coffee mug
- an ACU candy jar filled with peppermints
- an ACU decal
- an ACU sticky pad
- two free movie tickets
- tons of desserts at the Christmas party

I love this job :)

I went to see The Holiday with some friends last night. It was soo cute! The perfect chick flick - two gorgeous leading ladies, adorable little girls, and a cute old man. The leading men I don't care about so much. Surprisingly, I found Jack Black believable as a love interest. He was so sweet and funny without being too over-the-top. I actually like him better than Jude Law. Jude looks like an elf: those pointy ears, effeminate features, and diminuitive stature are just too much. Elf-boy excepted, it was a great movie. And even I'll admit Jude's character was pretty endearing.

I'm finished!

No more homework! (At least for a year and a half). Graduation was on Friday. A bunch of my family came out. We had a yummy dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse, and afterwards everyone came over to my house for dessert. It was so fun. Here are some pictures:


Darby and me at Spaghetti Warehouse before the ceremony.


Mom, Dad, and Me. Dad hooded me, which was really fun.


Me - happy to be a graduate! (That folder doesn't really have my diploma in it, though)


Hannah, Matt, and Me at the Graduation party Darby's mom threw for me.

A Long, Somewhat Sappy Reflection

Okay, in my last post, I said I wasn't sad about graduating at all. I think I am now. Thursday night, I was driving by Morris Hall (where Brittany, Kalyn, and I lived sophomore year), and I started crying. It really surprised me because I hadn't been feeling sad at all. I just thought about how much fun we had there and how it really seems like that was just yesterday. I can't believe it was two years ago. College went by so fast! I know I still have a lot to look forward to in life, but I get sad thinking about how quickly it all goes by. Each year in college has been so different, but there have been great things about each year.

Freshman year was probably the most purely fun year. Classes were easy, and it was incredible living in Gardner and getting to know Brittany, Kalyn, Em, Carolyn, John, and Will. We were a really weird group, but I loved it: learning how to two-step, throwing Valentine's Day parties, playing Taboo, midnight Starbucks runs, and eating, eating, eating. I had been so sad when I left all my girlfriends from church in Waco. I didn't think I would ever find a group of friends like that again. But God blessed me with great friends in Abilene. We could talk about anything (and did!)

Sophomore year Kalyn, Britt, and I lived together in Morris. It was, at times, stressful. Good friends do not always make the best roommates, and I was as much to blame as anyone. But there were a lot of good times, too. Dancing around in Kalyn's old hats, my sleeptalking, practically knocking Em over when she got off the plane from Oxford. And, of course, Darby had come to ACU, and we were awkwardly navigating the rebuilding of our relationship. We both finally realized what our relationship could be, and it was wonderful and exciting and scary all at once.

Junior year Brittany I moved into a little house together. Although our first night was horrible (no air conditioning, an extremely dirty house, and slashed tires), we turned that tiny house into an amazing home. We came to embrace its quirks. Who else has an upside-down house with three front doors? And of course, junior year was the beginning of Fat Tuesdays, which has been the highlight of my week for the past year and a half. I discovered my love for cooking and entertaining and even cleaning, but don't worry, I'm still a feminist. I cook because I want to! : ) Our plan sophomore year had been for me, Kalyn, Brittany, and Em to all live in a house together. That didn't work out, and I'm so glad it didn't. It probably would have killed our friendship. We don't see each other as much, but the time we do spend together is relaxed, not strained.

This year (well, just one semester, actually) has been a transition period. I only took 11 hours, so I spent more time working. All of my friends stayed here for the summer, so I've really started to see Abilene as my home (which is good since I'll be here another year and a half). Darby and I have really gotten plugged in with the college group at Westgate. I actually feel like the people there are my friends, not just people I see at church. I'm glad that, because I am graduating in December, I can sort of ease out of the college experience. All my friends will still be around at least another semester. I get to enjoy five more months of living with Brittany and hanging out with the Fat Tuesday girls! Plus, I'll still go to campus every day for work.

Freshman year, I thought, "This is as good as it gets." And I think that probably was the most fun year of my life. But I wouldn't say it was the best. Since then, I have been challenged intellectually, relationally, and spiritually. There have been tough times, but I don't think I'd change any of them. (Well, except maybe the journalism classes).

I am overwhelmed by what God has blessed me with in college. I really do feel like I grew up in my three and a half years here. When I look back on freshman and sophomore year, I can't believe some of the things I said and did. Fortunately, God blessed me with understanding, forgiving friends. I know I still have more maturing to do, but I feel more confident and secure about who I am than ever. I learned a lot about language and literature in college, but I think the relationships I developed at ACU taught me much more important lessons.

Procrastinating

Today I will have my first last class. At 4:20, I will be done with American Lit! (Well, I still have the final, but you know...) Right now, I am supposed to be finishing my paper for that class, but how can I when Blogger is calling my name? How did people procrastinate before the Internet? Seriously, I don't think I would waste so much time if I didn't have the Internet. But when you're at the computer, and you have your paper pulled up on Word, suddenly you just think of all the people's blogs you should read and all the e-mails you should send. I guess I would probably still find other stuff to do, like reading or cleaning. But it is a lot easier when you don't even have to move to procrastinate. You just have to click.

I'm graduating in 9 days! Woo-hoo! After I finish this paper, I just have one more paper and two finals. Then, my undergraduate career will be done. I'm sure I'll be a little bit sad about it later, but right now I'm just ready to be done.

Snow Day!

School was cancelled today! We heard that it was supposed to snow last night. I was doubtful, though, since there have been so many fake-outs before. When I woke up this morning, I didn't want to look outside because I was afraid it wouldn't have snowed at all, and my hopes would be dashed. But when I looked out the window, the ground was covered with snow, and it was still coming down!!! At first only 8:00 classes were canceled. I don't have an 8:00, so I wasn't that excited. Pretty soon we heard that AISD had closed, so we figured ACU would close, but they never did. So at 9:20, we headed to school. When we got there, no one was there. Evidently, they had sent out an e-mail at 9:30, saying school was canceled. I was mad that they waited so long. But at least we got to go home! Here's some pictures:


Don't worry. This isn't mine and Brittany's slide. It belongs to our landlords.


Me and Brittany enjoying the snow!

I bought a Christmas tree for Brittany and me. We put it up on Sunday. Here it is:



Our house looks so festive now! I took a picture of the front of our house today with all the snow on the roof. I decided not to post it, though. I didn't want random people who might stumble on this blog to know where I live. So, take my word for it, our house looked very Christmasy with snow on the roof.

I got a job!!! I will be the Administrative Coordinator for Campus Life at ACU. Woo-hoo! I am so happy that I can relax over the break knowing that I have a job. A lot of people were praying about this for me, and I appreciate that so much. I think it will be a very fun office environment, and I still get to be on campus every day! I am so excited to start!

The end is in sight!

This weekend was awesome! I did absolutely no homework. I did take the GRE on Saturday, but after that, I did not use my brain at all. On Saturday afternoon, Brittany, Darby, and I spent 4 hours watching the ACU football game on T.V. We lost in overtime : ( But it was still fun making fun of the low-budget camerawork and commentary.

Saturday night, Darby and I went on a "real" date for the first time in I don't know how long. Our definition of a real date is just the two of us going out somewhere and not working on homework. We saw The Prestige, which was really good. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks and sat and talked. Usually, we go to Starbucks to study, so it was wonderful to just get to talk to each other. I am so blessed to have him in my life, and it's wonderful to be reminded of that in little ways every day.

On Sunday, I took a three-hour nap. I probably could have slept several more hours, but I made myself get up. It felt so good. This weekend was a little taste of my post-college life, and I'm liking it a lot!

I Love Books!

I found this little blog activity on my friend Kalyn's wedding photographer's blog. Random, huh? But I love thinking about books almost as much as I love reading them, so it looked like fun.

A book that didn't change my life: Moby Dick; I know it's supposed to be some masterpiece of American literature, but I just couldn't get into it. All the technical descriptions of ships and whaling...aahhh! I guess if I liked blood and guts parts of it would have been cool. I think a whale spontaneously combusted or something...obviously I wasn't paying that much attention.

A book I’ve read more than once: I try not to re-read books because I can't feel okay about reading a book again while I still own books I haven't read once. But occasionally for school I re-read. I read The Scarlet Letter twice. I read it for the first time in high school. I definitely got more out of it in college. I really want to re-read Possession by A.S. Byatt. I hated it the first time, but everyone says it's wonderful. I think I just wasn't in the right frame of mind.

A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island: Hmmm...this is a difficult one. I'd probably take the dictionary or an encyclopedia. (Can you take more than one volume?) At least, those would keep me busy for a while.

A book that made me laugh: A Series of Unfortunate Events; they're kids' books, but they are so clever. I read a few of them over Christmas break freshman year, and I kept reading the funny parts out loud to my mom. She wasn't as amused as I was.

A book that made me cry: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. This is one of my favorite books ever. It has a weird premise, but if you get past the first few chapters, it is an amazing love story. And it avoids being cheesy by its sheer weirdness. The male protagonist has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel spontaneously, so he's always a different age when he sees the woman he knows he will eventually marry. I can't really even explain it, but it's awesome. Plus, he's a librarian, which means that he's nerdy hot :) I cried several times throughout the book. It talks very candidly about the experience of a miscarriage, which was difficult. But I also cried happy tears because of the strength of the characters' love for each other, in spite of the strange circumstances. I feel like it's kind of an intellectual response to Nicholas Sparks. It still makes you feel mushy inside, but you don't feel dumber after reading it.

A book that I wish I had written: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Although the story itself is wonderful, it is really her language I wish I could imitate. She writes from a child's perspective, without making the book childish. She also feeds you just enough hints about what is going to happen to make you keep reading. I finished the second half of the book in one sitting because I just could not stop. I knew I was being propelled towards catastrophe, but I couldn't slow myself down. When I finished, I felt like I had to lie down for a while and process everything. But I recovered quickly. It wasn't one of those books that makes you feel horrible for days; I don't like those that much.

A book that I wish had never been written: This is tough. I've never really read a book I didn't like or couldn't at least somehow appreciate the value of. Probably I wish Ann Coulter's books had never been written. I've never read them, but on talk shows she makes me so angry. She is so judgmental and divisive. I'm sure there are others like her, but she's the first one who pops into my mind.

A book I’ve been meaning to read: Oh, gosh. I could go on forever. Here's the ones that are on my shelf in Abilene that I haven't read yet: Memoirs of a Geisha, Daughter of Fortune, Everything is Illuminated, Gilead. There are about 5o more in Waco that I own but haven't read yet. I make myself limit my Amazon wish list to 20 at any one time. Otherwise it's too depressing. Hopefully, I'll knock a few out over Thanksgiving and Christmas. And now that I'm about to be a college graduate, I imagine I'll have a lot more pleasure reading time.

I’m currently reading: The Kite Runner, barely. I'm on page 5.

Lauren Winner...

is coming to ACU tomorrow! Woo-hoo! I have loved her ever since I read Girl Meets God freshman year. I threw out the idea of having her come speak to the W-Club last year, and it actually all came together! If you have not read her books, Girl Meets God and Real Sex, you should. Especially Real Sex. It sounds like some kind of sex manual, but it's really about chastity, and it's one of the most honest Christian perspectives on sex and chastity I've ever read. She addresses the lies that both our culture and the church tell us about sex, and urges Christians to view sex in a new way. It's a rare book about relationships that's actually helpful to married, single, and dating people of either gender. I would try to explain it more, but I probably wouldn't be able to do it justice. Just read it. And then come to the Chapel forum tomorrow in Moody at 7. I think it'll be really good.

Here's a belated Halloween picture. Darby and I dressed up as the King and Queen of Hearts for Westgate's Trunk or Treat on Sunday. I made the costumes for us last year; they took a lot of time, so we had to get some more use out of them. Aren't we cute?

Happy Halloween!

I really like Halloween! The candy corn, the happy ghosts, the pumpkins. I do miss trick-or-treating, though. It's just not as fun to go to the store, buy the candy yourself, then eat it. "Oh, wow! Another box of DOTS! I'm so surprised!"

I got into the spirit today by wearing my orange sweater and Halloween socks today. I really should be an elementary school teacher. I'd be the one who wore all the crazy vests that the kids make fun of.

I just saw a guy getting arrested! For real! It was at Abilene Muffler Shop on North 1st. (I was driving by). I saw the cop put the handcuffs on him, spread his legs apart and pat him down, and put him in the cop car. It was awesome! I've only seen that on T.V. I wonder what he was getting arrested for?

The Real World

Well, I had my first "real" job interview, and my first "real" rejection : ( I interviewed to be an administrative assitant at ACU. I would have been working for the guy in charge of the Campus Store, University Purchasing, and Dining Services. My interview went really well, but they needed someone who could start right away. It was pretty disappointing. I had tried not to get my hopes up, but it's really hard not to start thinking about what it would be like if you got the job. But at least I got some real interview experience. My interviewer told me I did really well and that I definitely would have moved to the next stage had I been able to start right away, so that made me feel good.

I just saw that the Abilene Reporter-News is hiring a full-time copy editor. I e-mailed my resume to the managing editor, so hopefully I'll hear from him soon. I think I would really enjoy doing that. Plus, it's actually relevant to the field I want to eventually go into (publishing).

Anyway, it's pretty exciting thinking about having a real job and NO HOMEWORK! Plus, I got to buy a business suit for my interview. I look so professional : )

Wedding Cakes

Darby and I picked out our wedding cakes this weekend! Mine is a combination of these two:






It's going to be a hexagonal cake, like the top one, with four layers. The first and third layer are going to have little icing pearls, like the top cake. The second and fourth layer are going to have icing bows, like the second cake. The pearls and bows are all going to be aqua, the color of my bridesmaid dresses.

Darby's cake looks somewhat like this, except it's also going to be hexagonal, and it's going to have a few tuxedo strawberries on the top:

Picking out cakes has probably been the most fun part of our wedding planning so far. There are so many choices. Plus, it's something that Darby can be involved in also. And we got free cupcakes, which is always a good thing : )

Busy Weekend!

My parents and brother came up for Homecoming this weekend. It was so fun! I haven't stayed in Abilene for the whole weekend for about a month. Friday afternoon I cleaned house and made little pretzel/Hershey Hugs/M&M's dessert things. Then Darby and I ate at Rosa's and went to the art show and JamFest. My parents got in around 9:00. My aunt, uncle, and cousins from Seattle were also in town for Homecoming, so they came over to my house and we talked for a while. Then, Brittany's mom took me, Britt, and Carolyn to 3rd Rock. Yum! On Saturday, Brittany and I got up early and went to the W-Club breakfast. Then I met my whole family at the parade. We watched Hannah and the rest of the Squigs, who were really cute. We went to the game that afternoon (ACU won!), and afterwards ate dinner at Cracker Barrel. They left right after dinner. It was kind of a crazy weekend, but it was so nice to spend time with my family, especially my cousins.

Last night, I applied for 3 full-time jobs at ACU. Aaaaaaahhh! It's so weird to actually be applying for real jobs. I don't know if I'll hear anything about them. I think I have a pretty strong application, though. I have had jobs at 3 different departments at ACU, and I have 3 ACU references. None of them pays very much, but I don't really have any hope of finding a well-paying job in Abilene (or ever, for that matter; English majors just don't make that much). I hope I at least get an interview, so I can get some practice.

Tonight, my friend Em is getting married. (On a Monday...weird, huh?) I'm the "wedding-day coordinator." I have to make sure everyone is in the right spot at the right time and that all the food gets served at the reception. I get to boss people around...yay! Last night was the rehearsal dinner at Cypress Street Station. I had risotto for the first time. It's some kind of deep-fried rice mixture. It tasted like a hush puppy to me. Yummy! And tonight, we get to eat Kalyn's dad's barbeque at the reception! Brittany and I have to defend our titles we won at Kalyn's rehearsal dinner as the only girls to go back for seconds. It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it : )

Yay, Westgate!

I love my church! Especially the college group. This weekend, a bunch of us got together at Korbin's house. He grilled steaks for us, which were excellent, and the rest of us helped make the rest of the dinner. It was delicious. We had so much fun just sitting around talking (and watching Vince almost molest Eric, but that's another story). The boys watched sports on TV, while the girls went outside to "play Frisbee." We threw it around for a little while, but then we ended up just talking. It was some pretty meaningful girl talk, though. God really encouraged me through those girls. On Sunday, the college group was invited over to a couple's house for lunch. More free food! Woo-hoo! Then a bunch of us girls went to the bridal show. I was the only engaged one of the group; 2 were already married, and 2 others are soon to be engaged. The ones who weren't officially engaged were embarrassed, but I don't think it's ever too early to start getting ideas. (I've had my wedding planned for at least five years : ) They didn't have cake-testing at the show, which was disappointing, but it was still pretty fun looking at all the pictures of weddings. It's only been recently that we've really started doing things as a college group outside of church. I love it. And it's nice to know that after all my other friends leave in May I'll still have some good relationships in Abilene.

Celebrity Look-Alikes?

According to myheritage.com, these are my celebrity look-alikes. In the words of Carolyn, "I am soooo pretty!" : )



I do think it's a little scary that my best match is a member of the Spears family. That means one day I could end up looking like this:




But, hey, Petra Nemcova is a supermodel, so I think I'm all right.

Well, I have three papers due in the next nine days. So, what should I do? Actually work on them? Nah. Waste time on the Internet!

Here are my top 5 favorite things about the fall:

1. Candy corn! I love this stuff (especially the big pumpkins), and since I only eat it one month out of the year, it always feels like such a treat.
2. Sweatshirts. I have only worn one once this season, but I think the fact that I've needed to wear a sweatshirt one time before Halloween is pretty good for Texas.
3. ACU football (this year, at least.) We are 4-0 for the first time in like 20 years or something. It's so weird to actually see school spirit at ACU. (Well, school spirit that is unrelated to the Centennial).
4. The new T.V. season. I only watch two shows: The Office and Desperate Housewives, but I enjoy them so much! Darby and I watch The Office together; we just got season two on DVD, so we've been going crazy. And Britt and I watch Desperate together. It's so nice to have a scheduled time every week to spend together. I don't care what people say about T.V.; it's good bonding.
5. Fall back. It's so cool to get a whole extra hour. I know it technically all evens out with the whole spring forward thing, but it's nice to pretend.

Engagement Photos!

Sunday, my friend Emerald took engagement pictures for Darby and me at Hardin-Simmons. She is an amazing photographer. There were so many great pictures! Here's one of my favorites:
You can see the rest on Emerald's blog. Thank you so much, Em!

Another Shower

Well, my dad told me I should update, since I haven't in a while. Things have been going well lately. Last week, Brittany and I hosted Emerald's lingerie shower. It was "tastefully scandalous." We had a romance novel theme because Em likes to read them. Brittany and I think we are the only ones to ever use books for decorations at a lingerie shower. What can we say? Here's a couple pictures from the shower:

The hostesses (Me, Britt, Olivia) and Em

The lingerie cake. We didn't make it: McKay's did. Isn't it awesome?

I think the shower was a success. And it was very stress-free. Brittany and I delegated a lot of the jobs out, so all we had to do the day of was clean and finish up decorating. Em's wedding is in three weeks, which is crazy. This semester is flying by, as usual.

0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16

Monday night Darby got initiated into the strange world of women's sizes. Here was the conversation, more or less.

Me: I bought a new pair of jeans today. I gave in and bought a size 6 because the 4 didn't fit.
Darby: How did you go from a 4 to a 6?
Me: 6 is the next size above 4.
Darby: What about 5?
Me: They don't make 5's. Well, sometimes they do. Brands either have even or odd sizes. So, a 1 corresponds to a 2, a 3 to a 4, a 5 to a 6, etc.
Darby: That's crazy. What does that number stand for? The waist measurement?
Me: Nope...it's just the size. It includes waist, hips, and inseam.
Darby: That's ridiculous.
Me: Yep.

Now he knows why it's so hard for girls to find jeans that fit them. Who knows what the numbers mean? Things would be so much easier if they sized them like guys' jeans. But I guess most women might have a problem actually seeing their waist size in inches on the sticker. At least they should have some sort of standard, so that a 6 is the same in all brands. I doubt that'll ever happen. I'm just happy they started carrying curvy jeans at GAP and Old Navy. Try them; they'll change your life.

10 months...

from this minute, Darby and I will probably be leaving our wedding reception on our way to Dallas, then Niagara Falls, Canada for our honeymoon! Yay! (I say probably because I don't know exactly what time we will leave the reception, not because I don't know if we will get married : )

So, classes are going pretty well. I'm only taking 11 hours. I'm working about 18 hours a week at Camps and Alpha Academic Services, so it's still a pretty light load. The two English classes I'm in, Shakespeare and American Lit before 1860, are pretty interesting. They're a nice change of pace from last semester, when I had to read 20 novels, plus hundreds of pages of poetry in fifteen weeks. They are more lecture-based, rather than class discussion, which I actually enjoy. I'm paying thousands of dollars for these classes. I don't want to hear what my fellow students think. I want to hear the experts. Other than that, I'm just taking Bible (which is kind of weird...Bible majors, ugh!), Cross Training, and an honors colloquium on women's movements in third world countries. I think the colloquium will be really interesting, but a ton of work! It's only one hour credit, but we have two big papers and a 30-minute presentation, plus all the readings. Aaahh! At least it's a subject I'm interested in.

A Very Close Call

So, Darby and I had an interesting trip to Wal-Mart last night. We got run over by a gas tanker. Yes, seriously. But, thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it sounds. He and I were getting gas at the little gas station beside Wal-Mart. That place is always super crowded, and last night was no exception. There was a tanker parked along the curb almost directly in front of us, but a little to the left, and another car at the pump to the left of us. I was just going to turn right to avoid all the congestion, but the driver of the truck waved me to come on. So I turned out. When I got about halfway of the length of the truck, he started moving! The tank just kept getting closer and closer to us. I tried to honk, but he couldn't hear me because of his engine. He hit the passenger side and dragged us just a little bit before he stopped. It was so surreal; I was eerily calm the whole time. I was just thinking, "This guy is going to hit us. Yep, he hit us." I turned off the car and Darby crawled out my side. We were both totally fine. And there was surprisingly little damage; I guess because we were both going so slow. I'll probably have to get a new hood, front passenger door, bumper, and antenna, but there doesn't appear to be any internal damage. It's still driveable, which is good. I'm just so glad Darby is okay. It's so weird to see a huge gas truck inches away from your fiance. The truck driver was really nice and apologetic. He admitted that it was his fault; he just thought we were already past him. I felt sorry for him because before this he had a perfect driving record. The Abilene police department was not so nice. They took FOREVER to get there; then, the officer didn't even introduce himself. He was really rude. I think he was probably ticked that he had to take care of filing the report; evidently if a commercial vehicle is involved, it's a lot longer process. Still, I think he could have shown a little bit of compassion for us. We weren't hurt, but it was still scary. Anyway, that was my first wreck, and I have been thanking God that it wasn't worse than it was. And I'm so glad Darby was there with me; otherwise, I probably would have freaked out. As it was, we just drove over to Wal-Mart and got our groceries like any other night.

My Dad and I repainted my room this weekend. It looks so good! We just painted it white, but it was gray before, so it's a big improvement. Plus, I rearranged all my furniture, and I love it!

I just realized that I might have made a bad choice on my blog's address. I'm only going to be kjanderson for 10 more months. I don't know whether I should change it after I get married (kjhewitt?!) Maybe I'll just keep it, so I can still have something with my old name. I'll miss being Kayla Anderson, but I don't want to do the whole hyphen thing, and I don't want to drop my middle name because it's my grandma's name. Oh, well! I guess I'll figure it out when I get there.

Should have gone to 3rd Rock

The other night Brittany and I went to Cold Stone because I had a coupon for a free Like It. Well, I kind of already have a beef against that place because the line is always extremely long, yet they still constantly stop working to sing their stupid songs. The absolute worst is when anyone orders something with bananas. "Peel bananas! Peel, peel bananas! Slice bananas, slice, slice bananas!" And so on. Anyway, this time we made it to the counter without hearing the banana song. I ordered my usual, Founder's Favorite. I can tell the girl must be new because she has to keep consulting the menu to see what mix-ins to add. Anyway, she adds a ton of chocolate syrup and caramel to my ice cream until it's a big gooey mess. Then she scoops it into the tiny cup. It's dripping everywhere, so she uses the scoop to pile it back on the cup. There are still big globs of ice cream running down the side. I'm thinking, "I wonder how she's gonna handle this." I assumed she would put it in a bigger cup. Nope. She hands it across the counter and says, "Uh...you're probably gonna need some napkins." At this moment, a huge glob falls off the cup and slides down the outside of the ice cream freezer. I couldn't believe it! These were not just little drips running down the cup. Seriously, half the ice cream was falling out. It would have taken a thousand of those whimpy napkins they give you to clean it up. I asked her if she could put it in a bigger cup, which she did. Brittany and I just looked at each other in disbelief. I think maybe Cold Stone should spend less time teaching their employees the dumb songs and more time teaching them how to scoop ice cream. But, at least Brittany and I got some laughs out of the whole thing.

Honeymoon Plans!

Darby and I booked our honeymoon hotel this weekend! (Well, one of the three hotels we'll be staying in). We went ahead and got the one for Niagara Falls because a lot of them have already filled up for next summer. We're staying at the Doubletree Resort Lodge and Spa Hotel Fallsview. You can see pictures of it here. It looks really nice! We're super-excited. It was a tough decision, though. It took us forever to read all the reviews and look at all the photos of different hotels online, but we really wanted to make sure we picked a good one. Now, we just have to go through the whole process again for Dallas and Toronto!

End of Summer

I can't believe it's almost the end of the summer! It went by so fast. But I am ready to go back to school. I'm a nerd; I like school. It was a good summer, though. Very busy! Here were the highlights:

- Getting engaged! (of course)
- My DDR/Karaoke Revolution b-day slumber party
- Being a bridesmaid twice and all the time I got to spend with my girlfriends because of that
- Buying my wedding dress
- Eating free lunch every day at work (Okay, so it was the Bean, but it was still FREE!)
- Getting to see my adorable cousins when they came to camp
- Learning how to light a match (sad, but true)
- Holding Amanda's baby, Sidney, when she was only 4 hours old!
- Going to the DCI show in San Antonio with Darby

There were, of course, some not-so-great things about this summer, like how unbelievably hot our upstairs is, but overall it was really fun.

I find myself at the end of every summer getting depressed about all the things I had planned to do that I didn't. But I decided I should stop thinking that way and just think about the things I did do. So I didn't make our curtains upstairs. Would I want to give up any of the time I spent with my friends, family, and Darby in order to do that? No. I'm happy with how this summer turned out.

I'm so brave!

Today, I faced one of my greatest fears; I caught a gecko! Okay, it was with a cup, not with my hands, but that's good for me. I hate those things! I saw him last night in the bathroom. Darby was over, so he tried to catch him, but he went into a crack behind the sink. My mom said, "Oh, well; he's probably gone for good." Hannah, just trying to scare me said, "No, he'll probably show up in the shower tomorrow." Well, I forgot about it, but sure enough when I went to take my shower this morning, he was in the bathtub. It took me a while to get up my nerve, but I finally went to get a cup to trap him. I didn't think that was going to work, though, because of the sloped bathtub, so I went to get a big wad of paper towels. I was going to try to just pick him up with that, but I chickened out. Finally I talked myself into slamming the cup down on top of him. It took me about 7 tries, but I got him. Then I slid a folder underneath him and carried him outside and threw him out as far away from the house as I could get. He was actually kind of cute. He kept trying to climb up the side of the bathtub, but he would just slowly slide back down. Then he'd double-time it, and run up really fast, but he still fell down. That made me a little less scared of him, although my legs were still shaking. The whole process took about 20 minutes, but I did it all by myself. I was pretty proud!

On a totally unrelated note, Whitney's wedding was this weekend. It was beautiful. We had a fun time decorating, even though we were up to our elbows in real ivy. I'm going to attempt to post a few pictures from the weekend:

All the bridesmaids. Aren't we pretty?

Me and my handsome man! Won't be long till we're the bride and groom. Yay!

This is all of us gals from church. We all were in the same grade and have been really good friends since middle school. We've had some crazy fun times together! I hope they can continue, even though Whitney's an old married woman.

Here's me and the beautiful bride, Whitney. We've been friends since we were 6! I can't believe she's all grown up!

I don't know why the beginning of this post is underlined. Oh, well!

The worst job ever

I feel so sorry for the weathermen in Abilene. They have such boring jobs, especially in the summer. Every day it's hot, sunny, and windy. Brittany said they might as well just make a tape of one day's weather and replay it for the whole summer. They try to come up with cute little sayings to distinguish the days. When the high is 99, they say "Under 100!" Like 99 is so cool. Like you can really tell the difference between 99 and 101.

Sunday night there was a story on the news about how the Abilene mayor had asked all of the local churches to pray for rain. That story was followed by the weather. Poor Pete the weatherman! He looked so sad. He said, "Well folks, I have some bad news. Tomorrow's going to be another hot, dry day." It just broke his heart to have to tell everyone that their prayers weren't answered and no rain was in the forecast for at least seven days. I'm not saying that God can't make it rain, but I just thought it was poor placement to have the dry weather forecast right after the story of everyone praying for rain. It puts a lot of pressure on the weatherman to deliver some good news. But Pete usually doesn't let it get to him; he keeps smiling through it all. I love that guy.

A Colorful Lunch

I just had a very surreal dining experience. My boss, co-worker, and I went to Cypress Street Station, a nice restaurant in downtown Abilene, for lunch. It's a pretty fancy place, especially for Abilene. Well, we were enjoying our food, when one of the workers in the back started screaming at the manager. He was cussing him out, saying things like, "You don't (mess) with my daughter," etc. He must have said at least 15 cuss words before they pushed him out the back. This is a small restaurant, so EVERYONE heard. Afterwards, everyone was just silent for a few minutes. It was like being in a movie. Then, the manager came out and apologized to everyone. Our waiter kept apologizing over and over. I didn't think they had to apologize so much; it wasn't their fault. I just wonder what happened. Had the manager really slept with that guy's daughter, or was he just saying a bunch of stuff because he was angry? Anyway, it really was like something that would happen on a movie or T.V. show. And, hey, the food was still good, so who cares?

Marching Bands, Distant Relatives, and a Talking Bird

Well, guess what I did this weekend?

If you said, "watched 8 hours of a marching band competition," you are correct! And the scary part...I actually enjoyed it! For Darby's birthday (July 2), I got him tickets to the Drum Corps International (DCI) competition in San Antonio. So we saw 22 bands (just percussion, brass, and flags) made up of kids between the ages of 15-21. They practice all summer, and they are really, really good. They do a lot of cool visual stuff in their shows, so they're fun to watch. Mine and Darby's favorite band won, so we were happy. They were an all-guy corps, which I should be against, but I have to say, the all-guy corps were better. Mainly because every corps has flags, and the corps that have mixed guys-and-girls flags are scary. The guys have to wear really tight-fitting costumes and prance around. But the all-guy flag corps get to wear pretty manly costumes (as manly as flag costumes get) and do sharp-looking routines. I know I'm all about equality, but it is scary to see a guy wiggle his hips. Guys' bodies were just not made to move in certain ways.

Darby and I stayed with his great-aunt and uncle. They were so fun! They are 80 years old and have been married for 62 years. They argued constantly! If he said something happened three years ago, she said it was four. If she said we should take Highway 37, he said we should take Old Sulphur Springs Rd. But, right before she went to bed, he turned on the karaoke machine and sang "If Tomorrow Never Comes," by Garth Brooks to her. He has sung that song to her every night for two years! It was so sweet. And they were thrilled to have us stay with them. I got to sleep in the spare bedroom, but Darby had to sleep on the couch in the living room, and their bird woke him up with its squawking. Supposedly, the bird talks, but it was unintelligible to me. I couldn't tell the difference between, "I love you," and "Good morning," but evidently they could.

Anyway, it was a really fun weekend. It was the first time that Darby and I have taken an overnight trip together, just the two of us. We've been on church trips, and we've been on day trips to Schlitterbahn and Six Flags, but we've never planned a whole weekend trip together. Since we're both from Waco, we never stay in the same house overnight. I don't think we fought once. They say you shouldn't marry someone until you've traveled with them, so we can check that off our list.

One Wedding Down, One to Go

I survived my first stint as a bridesmaid. Actually, it was pretty fun. I'd do it again (which is a good thing considering I have to in just three short weeks). Kalyn and BJ's wedding was so beautiful and went off without a hitch. I had my doubts when Kalyn was still figuring out the music on Thursday night, but, like most things Kalyn does, it all came together in the end. Brittany and I defended our titles of world's biggest eaters by being the first ones (and the only girls) to go back for seconds at the rehearsal dinner barbecue. What can we say? We're growing girls!

Being a part of the whole wedding thing really made me impatient for mine to get here. Only 354 days to go : )

My scheming roommate

I have overslept the past three days in a row!! I have always been a morning person, so I almost never oversleep. It is so frustrating. Monday, my roommate came in at 7:30 to wake me up. (I usually get up at 6:45). I'm not sure what happened that day. Either my alarm went off and I turned it off without realizing it, or I had forgotten to turn it on. Tuesday, my alarm went off, and I pressed off instead of snooze. I woke myself up at 7:17. Last night, I told my roommate to check on me this morning and make sure I was awake because I didn't trust myself anymore. And sure enough, at 7:20, I hear, "Kayla, it's 7:20." Arrrggh! I know my alarm did not go off this morning because, if it had, I would have gotten up or at least thought very seriously about it. I did NOT want to oversleep again! The only solution I can think of is that Brittany is sneaking into my room at night and turning off my alarm clock, so she can laugh at me in the morning. Yep, that's it. I'll get her : ) I hate being rushed in the mornings! It just makes my whole day seem rushed. But, I have been enjoying the extra sleep, and I've still beaten my boss to work all three days, so I guess it's not all bad. Tonight, though, I am setting my cell phone alarm AND my regular alarm and hiding them so Britt can't get to them : )

New Blog!

Well, I decided since I just turned the big 2-1 and will be graduating in December, I should start a grown-up blog. No more Xanga for me : ) Really, I've just been envying my friends who host their blog on blogger. And I haven't been very inspired lately, so I thought a change of scenery might encourage me to write more. We'll see.

Yesterday, Darby, Brittany, and I went swimming at the Hardin-Simmons pool. Who knew they had an outdoor pool? And it's free for college students! That was the first time I had been swimming all summer, which made me sad since summer is already half-over. To me, summer is swimming. There's nothing like the feeling when you get out of the pool totally waterlogged and a little bit sunburned and go inside your nice, air-conditioned house and drink a Coke and eat a snack. (Swimming makes me really hungry.) And the water in the shower feels so good after you've peeled off your swimsuit. I feel cleaner after my post-swimming showers than at any other time. That's one thing I definitely miss about being a kid - going swimming more than once or twice a summer.

Another thing that reminds me of summer is Pop-Ices. I hadn't had one of those in years, but Darby and his roommate Ben bought a bunch of them to keep in their freezer, so I've had a couple this summer. I almost was poisoned by one, though. Darby gave me one from the freezer; I stuck it in my mouth and instead of tasting blue raspberry or whatever, I tasted some kind of chemical. I panicked and was like, "Darby, my tongue is burning." He remembered that Ben had cleaned out their freezer with Comet, of all things, and some of it must have gotten on the Pop Ices. So, there's a valuable lesson for you: Never clean your freezer with Comet (although who would really do that?)

What about everyone else; what is summer incomplete without?