And so it was Christmas in the world of Allyson...

Christmas went off without a hitch. Other than being up all Christmas Eve with the phantom sickness that keeps reaking...wreaking...reeking (don't know how to spell it) throughout my body. I'll blog about that later since I dont actually know what it is and I refuse to diagnose myself, lets keep it at that I was sick and awake which equals a very unrested Christmas morning. So as I dragged myself from my mom's house across town to our house, I made up my mind this was the one year I wouldn't make it to Grannie Gilbert's house. I just couldn't, too much action, too much talking, too much required conciousness.

My presents from my parents and my brother and sister-in-law were very nice and functional, which I love. I hate when people get you "filler gifts", the stuff you that make you say "Oh thats cute!" and then stick on a shelf somewhere. I need functional in my life and most importantly for my living space.

So as I was putting on my coat for the expedition to Grannie Gilbert's house (yeah, I'm a trooper...or I hate how my dad can do the guilt face at the drop of a hat), I thought 1) I'm crazy tired and b) I really do love Christmas now that I'm an adult. I really thought when I was younger that I would hate it because when you're the big person, you have to buy for everyone else. And yeah...you do, but you also get to show people how much you know about one another. When they open something that was not on their wish list (which by the way I think is weird for an adult, I'm just sayin..) they look at you and say "How did you know?". It lets you know that you did something right.

So after the crazy 3 hours at my grandmother's house, I went home and crashed. Literally. Until 8 p.m. It felt great let me tell you. So the day after Christmas I got up early to start my expedition down to Fayetteville, Georgia to see the beloved boyfriend and his awesome family. By the way, Alex got me a very nice tea-length party dress for Christmas with a necklace and earring combo to go with. I will have to post pictures later after I wear it on New Years!

As far as I know thats it. No clawing, no bad feelings, no stories of bad behavior from the holiday. If I find anything else happened, I will let you know.

Happy New Years!

Oh Questionnaire, oh questionnaire

As posted on both Karabeth and Karen's blog:

50 random things about you! If you opened this, FILL IT OUT! Learn 50 things about your friends, and let them learn 50 things about you!

1. Do you like cheese? Very much so

2. Have you ever smoked? Yes

3. Do you own a gun? No, but I am considering

4. Do you like listening to Christmas music? When its appropriate, radio stations who play it 24/7 are a little ridiculous

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? No

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Best in Chicago

7. Favorite Christmas song for all time? O Holy Night, especially when my dad sings it.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Green tea

9. Can you do push ups? I think so

10. Who is your favorite Grey's Anatomy Character? I do not watch it and rebel against it

11. What are your favorite pieces of jewelry? My sapphire jewelry

12. Favorite hobby? Crocheting

13. Do you eat "exotic" foods? depends on how experimental it is

14. Do you have A.D.D.? No

15. What one trait do you hate about yourself? I get too involved with other's problems

16. Middle Name? Kaye

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? 1) When is mom going to get here 2) Will the Gilbert ladies like my dirty santa gift 3) What exactly is Alex getting me that he is so worked up about

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Food, gas, and more food

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Green tea, sprite, and tea

20. Current worry right now? Bills

21. Current hate? traffic

22. Favorite place to be? the Chapman house in Georgia :) The love that family has for each other cannot be matched by many families

23. How will you bring in the New Year? Downtown Nashville with Alex and the rest of Middle Tennessee probably

24. Where would you like to go? Austria

25. Name three people who will complete this? No one, the readers of my blog already have

26. Do you own flip flops? Yes, many pairs

27. What shirt are you wearing? a shirt that says something about myspace

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? no, too slippery

29. Can you whistle? Barely

30. Favorite color? Blue, sometimes green

31. Would you be a pirate? No way, I'm a ninja all the way

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? Nothing, not in there long enough

33. Favorite girl's name? Ava

34. Favorite boy's name? Russell

35. What's in your pocket right now? Nothing

36. Last thing that made you laugh? My friend Renee and her crazy life stories

37. Best bed sheets as a child? My barbie sheets

38. Worst injury you've ever had? A certain "bike wreck" when i was 9

39. Do you love where you live? Very much so, the weather suits me

40. How many TVs do you have in your house? one, only need one, its just me. a bedroom is for sleeping by the way

41. Who is your loudest friend? Lindsay

42. How many dogs do you have? One, my Reese the foot-long weiner dog

43. Does someone have a crush on you? Not that i know of

44. Do you get embarrassed easily? Not really

45. What is your favorite book? Angels and Demons

46. What is your favorite candy? Snickers

47. Do you know all the words to the Fresh Prince theme song? if held to it, yes

48. What song do you want played at your funeral? I have no idea

49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? fiercly crocheting Alex's moms scarf

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? What day is it?

A Christmas Miracle came 2 weeks early!

IT SNOWED! Here are some pictures from my night spent over at my friend Lindsay's house being I was stuck there. Hope you like!


SNOW WARS!


I am Snowtacus!


A Winter Wonderland


Me and Lindsay, snow buddies!

Its the end of the semester as we know it...

Today is my last day of classes for the semester! From here on out, the rest of this calendar year will be filled with hanging out with friends I have deserted during my hard studying, celebrating holidays with family, and much much crocheting. Also, up until about next Tuesday I will be checking my student account to check on grades that teachers will refuse to post until the last moment possible. If only they knew that I actually care about what I'm making in my classes!

Some things I hope to also do on my Christmas vacation:
- Ice skating- I consider this a must for the Christmas vacation in lieu of actually living somewhere where it snows regularly in the winter.
- Read- This semester has taken a great toll on my reading. I need to finish some books I have borrowed from my dear friend Sara, and I wouldn't mind reading some Dean Koontz books.
- Spend some quality time in Georgia with Alex's family, and then bring him back here for New Years
- Get some extra work on the side- Yeah I know, this is supposed to be my down time, but I really need the money.
- Start big crochet projects- Like afghans for certain boyfriend's mother's birthday.

I'm hoping all that will keep me busy for the month I will be on vacation. If not, be sure that I will be blogging, so give me some fun ideas to take up my time!

Activism at its finest

Let me start by saying that I'm usually a pretty peaceful person. Currently in the state of Tennessee, namely the Board of Regents system which runs many state universities including my own MTSU, we are going through a huge budget crisis. To make a long story very short, the Chancellor of the Board of Regents has written a memo to the state of Tennessee to "suggest" a few changes that could take place to reduce this budget crisis.

If you want to read the whole shebang, visit this link.

I will simplify the high points that the group I am joining are rallying against.

Some of Chancellor Mannings "ideas":

"Specifying in the curriculum that students must take a defined number of on-line courses in order to graduate at the baccalaureate and associate levels."

"Designing master's level degrees and work to be taken exclusively on-line."

"Establishing tuition differentials for lower division and upper division courses."

"Establishing tuition differentials for different majors."

"Eliminating or consolidating more programs."

"Reconceptualize faculty workload, moving away from defining it in terms of number of courses taught and toward defining it in terms of the number of students taught."

"Reduce academic work scholarship amounts so available funds can be distributed to more students."


If you didn't pick it out from reading any of these ideas, what Chancellor Manning is proposing is discrimination. Tuition differentials for lower/upper division courses means that those students who are struggling to make ends meet while in in lower division classes such as pre-requisite courses are going to find it that much harder to pay for school when their junior and senior years roll around. If students need a great reason to quit school, there it is laid out for them.
Tuition differentials for different academic majors is definitely discriminatory because it means that a Pre-Med student might have to pay more for school than an English major. If they choose to do this they wont have to worry about eliminating programs, because there will be no more students to participate in these programs. They will be choosing either other schools who do offer those programs for cheaper, or they will just choose an alternate career goal. Does this seem like a life-changing decision to anyone else other than me? Does it seem like we're forcing people to choose between their dreams and their pocketbooks?

I could rant on and on about this subject, which I fully intend to do in a more public manner in the upcoming days. I will be joining SOS (Save Our School), a non-partisan, pan-campus organization of people who would like the Board of Regents to know our stance on the issues. This does affect more than one school, so I hope to be able to spread the word to other Board of Regents schools also.

Have a wonderful activist weekend!

I'm pattern crazy!

I'm working towards a goal: to collect as many cool, easy crochet patterns as possible to make myself some pretty awesome clothing accessories. I just now printed off a rasta hat pattern (I know, my hair is the farthest thing from having dreadlocks, but its kind of a rage on campus at the moment so I'm drinking the kool-aid).

By the way, I had a wonderful weekend. The boyfriend came in just in time for us to whisk away to Opryland. Here's a picture of the four of us: From the left, Tommy, Lindsay, me, and Alex.



And MTSU did pull through for me with a win, I think 52-14 was the final score. It was a pretty nasty game for North Texas, so Alex and I left at the start of the fourth quarter to go get our promised free wings at Toot's since MTSU scored over 40 points.

So thats my weekend and my current obsession. Got any good simple crochet patterns?

Ready for the cold busy weekend!

First off I would like to mention I saw snow in Tennessee...in November. Karabeth might know a little something about how rare that is from her experience living in this area. I cant lie, I was wondering if we were going to get a snow day today, not like it would have mattered since I am no longer in public school. MTSU only closes for massive threats to campus made by freshmen who dont want to take midterms. How sad considering if we closed for snow, we would all be happy and youthful, instead of scared.

Second, I would like to say that I have officially lost a disconnected older brother and gained a friend. Brent (or Ed, whatever he goes by these days) stopped by Murfreesboro midway through his trip home from a college around Memphis. He knew that I had been stressed by some things lately that only he could understand, so he arrived very late last night and we stayed up into the wee hours talking about everything going on in our lives. Such a good guy he even treated me to breakfast before he had to head out on the road to home. Im excited that I no longer have to be jealous of all my friends who have relationships with their siblings which is something I struggled with for a loooonnnggg time.

Third, I have a boyfriend arriving today! Alex is coming in for the weekend and I have chocked it full of events. This evening, after I get off work, I will swing by to pick him up and we are rushing up to Opryland Hotel to see the ICE exhibit with my good friend Lindsay and her husband Tommy. Heres a link to the website since I cannot possibly describe how cool this looks . After this escapade, we will then continue to ramble around the Opryland Hotel which is so beautiful this time of year and maybe eat dinner at either the Hotel or Opry Mills mall which has really cool themed restaurants like the Aquarium restaurant. Cant wait!!

Tomorrow we have the MTSU football game versus North Texas which we should win (otherwise I will feel abused from what the temperature says its going to be tomorrow.) I must be vindicated by a win! Tommorow night I am hosting a bonfire to hopefully celebrate the win and get rid of wood that would otherwise just rot beside my house.

So overall, its been a pretty okay start to the weekend and I hope that it continues to go up from here!

Whoohoo for Spring semester

I wont have a life!

Two Night classes, a distance learning class, and a regular class on monday's and wednesday's, and I am waiting on spots to open up for another management class. All just so I can graduate on time....in May 2010!

If you didnt know already, my major is Business Education, which means I'm going to teach high school business classes. I'm so ready to get out of college and back to high school. It really was one of the best times of my life. I intended to make the most out of high school, and even though I think I could have done some things better, I wouldn't take anything back.

It really bothers me when people say they hated high school, especially those people I went to school with. They didn't to seem to have such a bad time, and really its not that hard to get through high school. I might just be the little positivist, but I really wish some people would get off their high horse and just admit that they had fun. Isn't it amazing how people would rather give you the negative version of things?

I think thats going to be one thing I am going to drill into my students when I'm teaching. Lecture name: HAVE FUN, because the next few years of your life will be spent in the library studying things like Statistics.

That will be the one class that I will have a pop quiz at the end of.

Have a great weekend!

I'm back from Chicago

It was a really great trip. Here's a pic of me amongst the crowds of people on Michigan Avenue.


So it was a weekend chocked full of sessions on successful entrepreneurship and then going out at night to experience Chicago. I was able to experience all forms of transportation, including the L train, and definitely felt like I was in an ER episode at times. I think we did about everything you could fit into 3 nights.

Im tired, even though I slept all afternoon after getting home. Hopefully I'll get back to normal soon.

What did I do last night?

I danced. Yeah, thats right I danced. I heard what you said Miss Karabeth and I thought of better things to do than watch tv. I knew how it was going to turn out and I was not about to stew on it in my recliner (which I eventually passed out in from exhaustion).

So I put on my work out shorts, pulled on my comfy socks and put in some old mix cd's I made when I was 13. I turned all the lights off and lit all my candles. I danced til I was out of breath, sat for a minute, then got back up and danced some more.

I think I had a positive election night. Obviously I had tired myself out so much that I woke up at 1:30 am in my recliner, a victim of sleep after sitting down to rest and check in to see the news for a minute.

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Tonight I get to pack and get ready for my voyage to Chicago. Maybe I'll need another dance party before I go to sleep tonight.

Chicago here I come!

An Email I received...

*Note- This was an email I received from a very good friend who has of late turned to the Democratic party. I do not hold it against her because she has her reasons, and she is not as liberal as this email. I just thought I would comment on some things because some people do actually believe in all this. Scary.*

Dear Red States:
>
> If you manage to steal this election too we've decided
> we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and
> we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you
> aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon,
> Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and
> all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial
> to the nation, and especially to the people of the new
> country of New California.
>
>
> To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the
> slave states. We get stem cell research and the best
> beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.
>
>
> We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
>
>
> We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.
>
> We get 85% of America's venture capital and
> entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.
>
>
> We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the
> red states pay their fair share.
>
>
> Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the
> Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy
> families.
> You get a bunch of single moms.
>
>
>
> Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice
> and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens
> back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask
> your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently
> willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they
> don't care if you don't show pictures of their
> children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success
> in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not
> willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.
>
>
>
> With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of
> 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the
> pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit,
> 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90%
> of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans
> (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all
> living
> redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven
> Sister
> schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.
>
>
>
> With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to
> cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected
> health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100%
> of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all
> Southern
> Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush
> Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University
> of Georgia.
>
>
> We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
>
> Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah
> was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is
> sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death
> penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a
> theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you
> crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals
> then we lefties.
>
>
>
> Peace out,
>
> --Blue States
>


1) We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood- I have a pro-life stance on abortion as long as they can assure me that there will not be "back alley abortions" happening and thus ruining the lives of those mothers even further. Stem cells don't only come from aborted babies and they can't argue with me on that, I've taken a human anatomy class.
- They get a landmark that people can't even fully utilize anymore. And by the way, I enjoy Dollywood.

2)Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah
> was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is
> sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death
> penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a
> theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you
> crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals
> then we lefties.

- Life is sacred, and we don't believe soldiers lives arent sacred. It is their choice whether or not to join the armed forces, they know their sacrifice. This is making it seem like being in the armed forces is suicide.

- Gun laws are in place because of the 2nd amendment. I agree in that maybe normal households shouldnt be able to own an AK-47, but I have a right to defend my home when armed robbers break in. And by the way, if someone is crazy enough to break into a home to take things, I should be "crazy" enough to believe that they're armed and dangerous.

-Based on the fact that this person writing this message called people "crazy bastards" I do believe I have higher morals than that "leftie". I don't think that I have ever accused someone of having lower morals, but when you know something is wrong, you should fight against it, not make an excuse for it.


Just thought you would like to know my stance on this email. I may not have something to say for everything, but I did put my thoughts on those issues that hit me wrong.

Happy Voting Day!

Yay for the short week!

I am very excited for my Chicago trip on Thursday. Other than Atlanta, this is my first adventure in to a large city, and I'm ready to experience things.

I'm ready to:
Ride in a cab (except I hope its not that expensive)
ride the train
eat a true Chicago pizza
walk down Michigan Ave, and try not to buy anything
try to get to the top of the Sears tower
maybe take in a Blues club
Have a great time

So thats my to-do list. Any suggestions?

Tagged by Karabeth

I'm tagged, but I dont know who else to tag so I'll play along starting with number 3

The rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog (copy and paste 1-6).
3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below).
4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6) Let the tagger (who tagged you) know when your post is up.

And here are my 6 random things about myself as per #3 above:

A. I'm a Black Belt in Taekwondo, but I dont remember any of it. Maybe if I ever get attacked it will rear its defending head. Lets pray it never comes to that.

B. I'm the youngest granddaugter on my mom's side of the family, and the oldest on my dad's side.

C. I'm President of the Collegiate Entrepreneur's Organization at MTSU

D. I have never been west of Tennesse. Been North, South, and East, never west.

E. My brother and I are 7 years apart, and we only lived under the same roof for 9 years. We have just now starting communicating on a more regular basis.

F. I can wiggle my ears without touching them, like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals.

Matthew discovers the Great Pumpkin

Just thought I would post a couple pictures of my ever growing nephew Matthew. He is our definition of a miracle baby. If you dont know his story, here's his Caring Bridge site He's the reason I believe in miracles.

These pictures are of him at the pumpkin patch. I wish I could have gone with him, looks like so much fun!



My brother Brent (he goes by Ed in Knoxville) and his son, who will soon be as tall as he is!



Hope you enjoy a Happy Halloween!

Im in the spirit, for now...

My brain is stuck in fast-forward mode right now, and hopefully it will save me money.

This exact time every year (since about the age of 15 when I became an aunt) I get the huge urge to start buying Christmas presents. Usually I don't have the money, and I'm not exactly sure I will have the money with the impending Chicago trip (9 days and counting), but I'm definitely making lists of what to get people. Since these people don't have blogs, I feel very sure that I can type freely on here and it not matter.

For Matthew, the ever growing 5 year old, I will do my Aunt thing and get him clothes. Big clothes, because he's huge. I will also get him materials to encourage speech, since he's still having trouble getting out the consonants to make real words. Basically anything that could possibly make him want to talk, I'll be buying. Books are a must, because the kid is addicted to them and its the only addiction that I can ever encourage.

For my darling brother, I will most likely get him luggage. Yep, luggage. He travels every week, and if he's anything like the guy I grew up with, he's still using the duffel bag he used to go on a 9th grade field trip. He might need a nice piece of luggage to carry his "Big Boy" clothes.

For mom and dad, I don't know yet. They have yet to drop the big hints on what they want. But I'm waiting, and intently listening.

For Alex, I'll probably make him something with my crocheting skills like a nice skull cap, or maybe even an afghan. I definitely need to figure out some new stitches before attempting to make him something.

Okay, enough Christmas thoughts for now. It's still October...

Happy Early Holidays!

Are we really there yet?

This weekend was the wedding of my good friend Lindsay to the love of her life, Marco. It was in the beautiful Bell Buckle First Methodists Church in Bell Buckle, TN, which is where I went to the Webb School for 2 years. Talk about a walk down memory lane!

Heres a picture of me and the beautiful bride!



Also, a picture of the groom's cake which had a strange attraction to the floor.



Aside from the bi-lingual ceremony (the groom is from Mexico) and a multi-tiered grooms cake (arent they supposed to be sheet cakes), all I could wonder is: Am I seriously at that point in my life where all my friends are getting married?

My best friend got married at 19, but they opted for just the courthouse and not the big wedding hooplah and now own their own house. Other friends have opted the same, and regretfully some of them have already been through a divorce court. Many of my friends are newly engaged, and I am really excited for them. I myself have been engaged once upon a time, but everyone who knew that relationship knew that I did the right thing by ending it.

But truly, are we ready for life at that capacity? Are we ever ready for married life? I can clean a house, cook a few mean dishes, and probably even draw up a budget if held to a fire, but do we know what it takes to make a marriage anymore?

I know that it consists of much love, understanding, and knowing when to back down or stand up. It also consists of a relationship with the higher power and knowing that to truly be a success at anything, you must be able to trust that He will lead you down the right path. Maybe He's been leading me to Alex, maybe He's letting me learn what a healthy relationship is before leading me on to the one who will be my husband. Maybe we need to start waiting for God to lead us to our future rather than take it in our own hands and end up making a huge mistake.

Maybe I have been doing it right all along.

Long Time, No Blog

I haven't blogged in so long due to reasons including:

1) I'm in school taking 15 hours, including a rediculous Statistics course.
2) I've become much of a traveler, including an impending trip to Chicago
3) I am now involved in a long-distance relationship, thus causing number 2.
4) My dad keeps wavering on whether or not to sell the house, thus I try to keep my place clean just in case I have to pack up anytime soon.
5) I don't really have that much to say, but I will try to work on it.

So here we go. Starting regular blogging now.

To expand on number 3 reason for not blogging, Alex and I are doing great with the 5 hours between us. We have been able to see each other pretty regularly, with weddings, birthdays, and the most important UGA tailgating. We're on the homestretch of our first semester of long-distance relationship, and I would say its been much of a success. I'm still eager for Christmas break when we will be able to visit each other for longer periods of time.

By the way: Isn't it amazing that two people can basically be joined at the hip for around 7 months, then all of a sudden be miles apart and be okay with it. I guess it takes much emotional preparation. I still have moments where I wish he was just a five minute drive, instead of a five hour drive.

To expand on number 4: Dad really doesn't have a reason to move. He can still function in the house fine (his arthritis isn't that bad), and even though the divorce papers say they have to sell the house, Mom really wants him to still live there, at least til I move out of the cabin (which is also on the property). If only my aunt would quit pushing him to restart his life. If only she could realize thats the only home I've ever known and that the divorce was basically just a legal document showing what had been happening for a long time.

I guess I have more to talk about than I thought. Maybe I'll continue this next time I am at a computer for more than 2 minutes.

My Bucket List

Here is my bucket list of things I want to do before I graduate college:

1) Go to an MTSU football road trip.
2) Go somewhere on Spring or Fall Break, preferably to a beach.
3) Roadtrip (this can go with either of the previous two entries or be a separate occasion).
4) Make all A's in a semester
5) Work on a Habitat for Humanity house
6) Attend an SEC game, preferably a UGA game.
7) Join another organization on campus
8) Take my Dad to New York at Christmas time
9) Take my Mom to San Francisco
10) Take my Grandmother to see her sister in Missouri

Thats about it. That should keep me busy for the next 2 years.

Long time...no blog

I haven't blogged in while due to life. Work, taking a summer class, and staying close to my love who will soon leave me here in Murfreesboro have all been high priority.
I only work afternoons at the Career Center, but I have learned so much this summer. I am now critiquing all resumes that are posted on our job database, so that keeps me busy for most of the time I am in the office. I am still helping the Mass Comm career coordinator for a few hours every week, and I love my office over there also.
There's something I enjoy about knowing that what I'm doing is helping someone else, especially when it comes to their career. If I end up not wanting to teach after I get done with my student teaching semester, I will most likely end up persuing a career in human resources.
I am now officially a junior so that means I only have two more years of college! Sure, this was supposed to be my senior year, but it takes a little bit longer for me to pick up on stuff, so I think I'm doing just fine.
As far as Alex, what can I say? He's graduated, I'm not. His family lives in Georgia, mine is all right here. We are a couple that is being torn apart by money, and that just sucks. But I will have to write about all this later.

What did I do on Spring Break?

I cut all my hair off



So I got up Monday morning wanting a change. And I sure did get one that day when I went to the salon. I went through the books, picked out a pixie cut, and you see the results.

Hope you like!

Allyson

Spring Break, aka just another week in the Boro

I'm one of those boring people who never go anywhere exotic on any kind of break from school. Alot of that is due to finances, but also its due to me working on these breaks. Granted, with Alex's family living in GA, I have been able to escape there over Christmas break, and hope to do it again at the end of this week. My big news is that I've been accepted into a program that places people my age with camps around the nation, and I am almost guaranteed to be going out West. I'm also guaranteed to be gone at least 8 weeks, which will be just enough time for things to change here in the Boro so I will feel refreshed getting back.

I thought I was really going to miss Alex badly, but I feel like I have too much to do this week to sit around and think about missing him. Provided I get to talk to him once a day, I should be satisfied. I would really love to get down there just to get away from Tennessee.

Anyways, I will write in sooner next time.

It's all about a house.

I haven't blogged in a while and its mostly because I haven't felt the need to. My life, as in, me myself and I, has been great. Except for as of late things have started to kind of fall apart. Ive known for a while now that my parents were eventually getting a divorce. What I didn't expect was they were deciding to sell the only house I have ever really lived at. It's not much of a house, but for my whole life it has been my home. I have moved alot of my stuff out of it, but I knew if I ever really needed to, I could always move home. I knew this house, I painted most of the rooms in this house, I built the back porch with my dad when I was 14. I broke my leg when my dad dropped me in the kitchen when I was 14 months old. I now have to start the process of cleaning out closets, calling my brother to tell him to come get the stuff he left when he moved out 10 years ago, crying when I find things that meant so much to me as a child. I have to make sure my dad gets his things, and mom gets her things. I need to find things to save for my nephew and my future children. I have to make sure my heart doesn't get left with the house when I lock the door behind me for the last time.
I will be found for the next few months wondering around my yard, reminiscing of days when I would dig mud pits, climb trees, chase birds, and fall down to stare at the sky. I will spend my nights in the garage, going through storage bins holding items from my childhood that didn't make it back into my room after I "remodeled" it when I was 13. I will sit on my front porch and read a book for the last time, much like I did the last 15 summers of my life. I will sit on my back porch and cry like I did the times I had a dog run away, or my heart broken by a boy, and think how easy those things were to get over, and how this might take a few more days.
This home has meant alot for me. I honestly can't tell you how I'm going to get over this. 614 Flat Rock Road will be my home until I buy one of my own for me and my family. Then I will pass the love of a home onto my children, so they will some day appreciate the place they live.

What does your home mean to you?