I have an awesome boyfriend. I just want to make that known. I was sitting at my desk, eating lunch at about 2, when I walked out the bedroom door to the living room, and who happened to be standing there with a flower? Why, Andrew! I was SO surprised! I had just taken a bite of my sandwich and I was caught so off guard that I just stood in the doorway, chewing, with a blank face. I didn't know what to think. Yay!!

It's interesting how that all came about. Let me just tell you the story: He called last night after he got back from Canada and we talked for a bit. I told him about my schedule for today, that I was only going to be free from about 2 until 4, so we decided to try to get together on Saturday night. Well, apparently he had talked to Angie the GoatBall earlier and they had planned this whole thing out. Ok, so Janeen and I were walking down the aisle to find seats for chapel. I was in front and when I turned around, I saw Angie talking to Janeen and looking at me suspiciously, so I thought that was weird. Janeen came back here with me after chapel before the wedding, and I told her that I feel like Angie is always conspiring against me. I told her that I felt like she was "up" to something, and that always makes me nervous. But little Janeen just smiled and changed the subject, so I didn't think anything of it. So, I changed clothes, went to the mock wedding (which went really well, by the way), then rushed back here at 1:45, changed out of my sassy little suit, went to wildcat to get lunch, and came back to eat by myself. A few minutes after I got back, Katie walked in, out of the blue. I was surprised by that b/c she never comes up by herself, completely unannounced. I made her sit down and listen to some song, then she said she had to go practice the piano, she was just procrastinating and killing time. So she left, then that's when Angie walked in. I saw her holding a flower and I thought, oh, how nice! She got me a flower! Later, she told me that she had Katie come up to make sure I was in my room b/c apparently GoatBall herself had come up here right after I left for Wildcat, so she was freaking out b/c Andrew was on his way and I was nowhere to be found. I have a history of running off at the worst times. And since the dorms here are strict about guys being on the floor when it's not open house, Angie went the extra mile to get it approved by my RA to make sure it was okay for Andrew to be in my room. Needless to say, my afternoon was great.

At 4, I had to be in the lobby to leave for the RA retreat. Oh my goodness, I absolutely love the girls I will be working with next year. I am so excited about them. Honestly, I find one to be a bit overwhelming, but her energy is contagious and I know I'll be able to be my goofy, quirky self with her, so that's a plus. We went to Ivanhoes (best ice cream in the tri-state area, hands down. No joke.) to eat, then had to be back in the CM building by 6, because of some anal rule... Anyhoo, the RA retreat was a blast. We didn't win the overall competition, but we DID beat Carmin Hall, which was the goal, because they've won the past three years. Go Kem! it was so funny, we were all pumped up and sort of hyper, so we kept huddling and chanting stupid things. We decided that the cry of the night would be "EVELYN KEM!!" because that's who our dorm was named for. All I can say is, next time we get shirts made, my vote goes for "Don't Mess with Evy!"

I should go to bed soon. It's 2:30 and I have to be in Kokomo by 9. Ugh. So, goodnight to all, and thanks to everyone who played a part in making my Friday a little more enjoyable.

My voice has decided to take a leave of absence. Again. I'm not sure why this time, but I hate it when I try to speak up in class and then I hear myself and think I sound like a frog. Ribbit.

So, the Shanes concert on Tuesday was great. It wasn't the typical Shane and Shane that I know and love, but it was still really good. This was a quieter set, but it wasn't all strictly acoustic. Their new album "Upstairs" is full of remixes and new songs that they recorded in 6 days, upstairs in Shane Barnard's house. Hence the title. So, because it is the Upstairs tour, they performed all of the songs the way they are on the album. That makes sense, right? Those men are so talented. Here's a crazy thought: Shaney B has only been playing the guitar for 6 years! Holy mother! And their voices... sigh. Have I mentioned that I find musical ability to be incredibly attractive? :) Also, Shaun Groves was hilarious and offered some killer dating tips. Allow me to relate one. Gentlemen, listen up: To win a girl's heart, all you need is an acoustic guitar and four chords. And Ginny Owens was stellar, as well. She's so cute and...blind. But really, I enjoyed her show.

So now I've been to 5 Shane and Shane concerts. I'm a fan, what can I say? Oh yeah, and I've gotten my picture with them twice. I hope this one turns out as well as the other one did, even though we aren't making The Duck Face.

I am a horrible, horrible student. Yesterday was the final blow that puts me into the category of bad college kid. See, I had this research paper due for my cultural anthropology class due at 6:15, and I've known about it all semester, for the most part. Well... guess who decides to wait until the last possible minute to get it done? Why, me! No really, this is bad. As of 9:30 yesterday morning, I hadn't even started my research yet! Ahh! So, I spent 20 minutes in the library before class, went to my classes and ate lunch, spent another hour and a half in the library, then went back to my room and wrote, edited, corrected, and printed my paper from 1:30 until 5:00. It was supposed to be roughtly 10 pages long; mine was 8 1/2. Sue me. I wasn't feelig to stressed out about it at all, either, I just took my merry little time clicking away on my keyboard as I typed my paper with no real prior organization. It turned out to be pretty good, I think. I mean, yeah, it could have (and SHOULD have) been much better, but I'm a slacker and procrastinate too much. But! It was finished on time and I'm pretty sure it is error-free. Woo!

This weekend is going to be really busy. I have an RA retreat on Friday night. We're eating dinner at 4, then the retreat is from 6 until 12. Well, it's SUPPOSED to end at 12, but I was talking to Kristina the RD today and she told me there is a "surprise" afterward for our hall's RAs and that I shouldn't make plans for Saturday morning. That's all well and good except that I have another retreat that night that lasts until Saturday afternoon at 2 for Youth Staff at my church, so I had planned on driving home at midnight on Friday. Now I'm not sure when I'll be going, even IF I'll be going. I don't know if I have any definite plans for Saturday night yet or not. I'd like to! And on Sunday, I'm going to see The Lion King at the Murat Theatre in Indy with Chris and Vivek. I'm so excited about that. We're meeting in the parking lot at 4:45, then going to dinner somewhere downtown. Yay! I love walking around Indianapolis. Walking around an actual large city would be even better, but Indy is better than the happening metropolis that is Kokomo, so I can't complain.

I've been figuring out my schedule for next semester... man, I think I'm going to have three practicums! That's insane! And talk about the paper work involved! Blah. I'm not very confident in my advisor, though. He is such a nice guy, but sometimes I wonder if he really knows what's going on. I think I might have another advisor look it over and help me out, then have Dr. Springer sign it. That's probably easiest.

Oh, and one last thing. Brittany and Ben are engaged. Congrats, yo! I'm the maid of honor. I saw her ring, finally, on Tuesday. It's cute and little, just like her. This means that my Fellowship of the Ringless has lost a founding mother. And those "NBK" bracelets are slowly becoming less and less popular, I've noticed. ;) Well, maybe not, but I have definitely shed my imaginary "A-NBK" one.

I realized that my blog plays too large of a part of my life when I found myself sitting at Jeremy's basketball game on Saturday morning, thinking of things I was going to write about regarding my weekend. And then I snapped out of that.

Friday was excellent! I was home by 4, so I sat around my house by myself and enjoyed the silence until everybody else got home. Mom had volunteered to watch Jack Bogue during Monica's wedding shower (which I did NOT attend, by the way. I tried to avoid her at church this morning, but to no avail. She found me and, of course, hounded me about my absence.) so Megan and I played with him for a bit. When Andrew came over, Jack started crying and wouldn't go near him. That is, until Andrew enticed him with a ball. It was cute to watch them play. :) We went to the Student Center, which was open for the first time that night. I kicked his butt in ping pong (21-2, 21-4) and taught him how to play pick-up sticks. He won the first game of that, then I was victorious the second time around. We went back to my house and laid in the hammock outside. Dang, that was incredible. Two of my favorite things: star gazing and my boyfriend. So that was fun.

My grandma had come up that night to go to the game with us on Saturday. When Andrew and I walked inside (half-frozen), she was sitting on the couch without her wig on. It was sitting on the couch beside her. I saw and laughed. He, however, thought she was my DAD because she is completely bald. I mean, totally bald. There is no redemption for her baldness. No hope at all. The look on his face when he realized his error was classic. I wish I would have gotten it on film. So funny.

I woke up the earliest I have this entire semester on Saturday morning. 6:00 am. Ugh! It's my personal conviction that God is not awake before 9 in the morning, so this was extra rough. I'm not a fan of early mornings. It was worth it, though, because I got to see my brother play in a regional basketball game. Sadly, the season came to an end as we lost against Garrett High School. They were huge! And they kept pushing each other around, I was reminded of the guys in my high school who always punched each other as a greeting. Brittany and I started doing that, sort of to poke fun at them. I remember one time, we got all "out of control" and she put me in her version of the "figure-4 leg lock" in the middle of the hallway one day after lunch. Anyhoo, the shirts that Megan, Kalee, and I made were a big hit. mine said I-heart-HP, Kalee's said Harry Potter is my Brother, and Meg's read Harry Potter is my allstar. The guys on the team thought they were hilarious.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with the Titan's performance on Saturday. We didn't play to the best of our abilities, that's for sure. Also, Garrett was just a lot bigger than we were, across the board. That's no good. Usually, I'm not one to argue the referee's calls, especially when they were ranked in the top 3 or 4 refereeing teams in the state (which this trio was, by the way, which is why I said that), but when you have 3 men on the court and NOBODY calls anything away from the ball, it makes me question just who is supposed to be doing that. I mean, there were LOTS of 3-second violations on both sides that nobody called, not to mention the numerous over-the-backs that happened. I don't usually voice my opinions of the refs much, but when my dad, who is also an IHSAA ref argues with the calls... enough said. All in all, it was a really fun time, though. I was sad for Brother, but now it's baseball season, which I like even more. Woo!

Stroup and Heather came over last night to finish up stuff for Betsy's shower today. We were all pretty tired, which meant that we were all pretty goofy. I don't really know how it all got started, but somehow, I saw Stroup showing off her perfect tripod stance and Kalee did her thing where she sits on her own shoulder. Sound interesting? It is. Next time you see her, ask her to do it. I've tried, but I've only been able to do it once. Suddenly, we were doing backbends and spotting each other for backwalkovers? Heather is such a stud, dang. She started out doing a headstand, then pushed herself up into just a handstand. I was impressed. She has been a gymnast for most of her life, I guess, but still, that takes a lot of upper-body strength. Way to be, HEB.

I saw Kalee's dress for Monica's wedding. Oh my gosh, she looked beautiful in it!! It made me want to be a bridesmaid. So, dear friends, please hurry up and get yourselves engaged so I can be in your weddings. Wait... isn't there one coming up that I am in? Why yes, yes there is. Okay, I can wait a few more months.

Speaking of, Betsy's shower was today. I had to leave early, but I had already cried by the time I left. We were all supposed to stand and tell everyone else there how we met her and what she means to us, etc. etc. You know, all that fun stuff. It was neat to hear everybody's stories and to hear them tell her how much they love her. Anyhoo, her mom went last, and there was not a dry eye in the place. Everybody was misty-eyed. That could be dangerous, eh? 30 to 40 emotional females in one place? Yikes! (It could be worse, though. Brittany and I went to this Day of Healing Conference last fall, and I joked that things could get really out of hand there, because there was a school building full of hurting people, all seeking answers to why their lives have been so messed up. Imagine the fights that could erupt: my problems are worse than yours!!! Sheesh, no thanks!)

I tried to come up with something witty and clever to end this entry with, but nothing came to me. Maybe next time?