miles stones and celebrations.

this past saturday zach graduated from arkansas tech with his bachelors degree. although he's been off doing an internship this semester and it feels like he's already done with college, it was still nice to see him officially graduate and pass such an important life mile stone.

today we celebrated christmas with food, fellowship, and watching old home videos with family. contrary to the past few days, old man winter has finally decided to pay northwest arkansas a visit. what would christmas be without a little wintery weather?! the weathermen are all excited and calling for 8-10 inches for tomorrow. my past experiences with weathermen tell me that they might be exaggerating...but we can always hope!

christmas cheer.

the christmas season is officially upon us! i have been so excited for christmas to come around this year and soak in all the fun that comes with this time of year. 3 finals stand between me and a much needed month-long break. we're almost there!

during finals week you have lots of free time to either a) study or b) work on lots and lots of crafty projects. thankfully my finals aren't anything you need to study for so i'm spending this week working on projects! i've recently been on this kick where i want to cover everything or make everything out of felt. it's so easy to work with and you can do nearly anything with it! how fun is this iphone cover? if i had an iphone, i would definitely be making this!

the happy season.

thanksgiving is upon us and i am beyond excited for this holiday season! yesterday we spent the afternoon with zach's family for their thanksgiving meal and festivities. even though i don't know everyone that they're talking about, or all of the stories they re-tell, i just really love the feel of family. whether it's your own or someone elses family, there's something comforting about being surrounded by people who undenyably love each other.

i'm one project away from being able to breath easy and begin enjoying a little break...yay!

bring on the family, fun, and food!

first graders.

Throughout this semester i have been observing in a first grade classroom as a part of an assignment for one of my education classes. i have come to a very important conclussion...i LOVE first graders! teaching them to read and sound out words, seeing how excited they get when they realize that 4+7=11...everything is a learning experience to a first grader.

i have been so blessed to be placed with great teachers during my observation hours over the past years that really work with me and help me plan for my future as a teacher.

thursday is my last day that i get to spend with my little first graders. i decided to make each of them a special card so that they know how much i really enjoyed being with them this semester.

project time.

projects, projects, projects. that seems to be the key word for the week. one project that i have due coming up is to develop a learning center for first graders in an appropriate subject. kate, my partner/friend/roommate/co-teacher, and i decided to call it craft night last night and get this project under way.
kate is an A+ cutter, so she got to be in charge of cutting out letters.

we decided to go with math as our subject and call our center "math masters". what a fun project!

my job was to come up with some sort of pocket for students to pull word problem sentences out of. i decided to go with the owl theme and sew this little pocket together.

i don't know if children will learn from this center, but two college students sure have had fun making it!

headbands.

living in a dorm seems to make me anxious to get home and get started on a craft project. maybe it's because i don't have the time to do projects or maybe it's because i don't have the room here, but i can't wait to have space to throw all of my craft supplies out and start working on something.

i've been searching the internet lately and i stumbled on these cute handmade headbands. i can't wait to get started on some over christmas break! you can find these and other crafty creations at one of my favorite websites: http://www.lushlee.com/

simple as it should be.

what a fun weekend!
this weekend consisted of seeing old friends, meeting jenny&tyler and listening to them in a mini-house type concert that was so cute and fun (which unfortunately i don't have pictures of...i'm getting bad about remembering to take pictures...opps!), a razorback victory, eating chips and salsa...mmmmm, sonic happy hour, the "traditional" cici's on saturday evening trip, and watching season four of how i met your mother. it was such a relaxing, fun weekend...too bad it's monday again.

the busy part of the semester is here and i can not wait to kiss the fall semester of my junior year goodbye! today i registered for spring classes and i'm already ready to start in on those and get them out of the way.

golden.

fall. ahhh, what a beautiful time of year! the trees have been exceptionally pretty the past couple of weeks and i wish they could stay that way much longer. but i guess that's why we can appreciate it so much, because it's only here for a short while.

we are fastly approaching my favorite time of year! i love this time between halloween and thanksgiving. everyone is gearing up for the holidays but we haven't yet hit that hectic season of deciding who does what and who goes where for the festivities. and the extreme cold hasn't arrived yet either. it's just a really really great time of the year!

the semester is wrapping up which means projects, projects, projects! one week from today i have to stand in front of a group of 3rd graders and teach them a science lesson on pumpkins. i know it sounds silly, but getting up in front of a group of 8 and 9 year olds can be pretty intimidating! getting out and actually teaching will be fun though.

and last, but not least, i started this book last night:

forgotten god by francis chan. zach and i are going to read it together and hopefully learn a lot. i'll let you know how it goes!

jenny&tyler

if you have a little bit of time, i think you should watch this video. it will definitely make your heart happy. it made mine happy at least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE6QVe2ZMao

if you like this you should visit their myspace and tell them that you love them.

ps- they'll be in conway, ar on november 7!

weekend:

this weekend consisted of:

1. backscratches
2. no homework
3. football
4. me winning taylor swift tickets on twitter (crazy, huh?)
5. seeing gloriana, kelly pickler, and taylor swift in little rock
6. meeting and greeting with gloriana
7. waiting in a parking lot to leave the concert for an hour
8. flag football game
9. sunday rests
10. dinner with friends
11. wishing the next weekend would come soon and we could just skip the week.

cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

rain on monday. check.
rain on tuesday. check.
rain, rain, go away!

if you haven't discovered the elizabethtown soundtrack...do it now.

it's perfect for rainy days...or any other day of the week.

one.

little zach and i celebrated being together for one year this weekend.

we've come a long way from this...

...to this.

i think we both look quite a bit different too.

but the most exciting thing about us celebrating our one year is that fact that while we were eating dinner saturday night, we spotted jim-bob duggar from 18 kids and counting! (soon to be 19 kids and counting...that poor woman!) he was outside talking on his cellphone as we drove pass and he gave us a little wave. what a nice man, that jim bob.

hogs,crafts, and mayors.

razorback tailgating with friends? um, yes please!!

i have finally managed to obtain a job! i am now the art teacher at the boys & girls club. you can find me gluing popsicle sticks together, twisting pipe cleaners, and making tissue paper flowers everyday from 3-5:30.

last night my little friend gentry and i decided to get some studying done and headed over to hastings. there we met the mayor of dover, a policeman, and a minister. no, not 3 different people, we met a man who just happened to be the mayor, a policeman, and a minister. i got tickled at this and tryed not to giggle everytime the man told us another one of his titles. kind of funny...but real impressive!

hot hot heat.

welp, it's that time again. i once again find myself in russellville arkansas, the city that seems to constantly rain, has more humidity than i ever thought possible, and is perfectly situated between the "big" cities of little rock and fort smith so that you can't pick up radio stations from either. okay okay, russellville's not that bad, but this year will most definitely be different. adjusting to the dorm life again is something that i'm not looking forward to, but my roommate, kate, and i are beginning to get things settled.

seeing people that i haven't seen in months has been nice, but i miss home already. i think i'm ready to start classes to get my mind off of it. my first two years i was so ready to come back and this year i felt the opposite.

it'll be a challenge, but challenges make you stronger.

forget your troubles, come on get happy.

the other night i could not sleep for the life of me. i flipped through the channels and ran across a judy garland movie marathon on tcm. i'm a big judy garland fan as well as a fan of nearly any old movie. the movie playing was called "the clock" and it turned out to be another typical, yet wonderful old movie.

the plot line is some what cheesy: a young girl meets a young military man aboard and train, they spend one magical evening together only to find out that the next day he is to head over seas. their love just cannot wait so he proposes, she says yes, and they are in a race against the clock to get married before he ships out. and at the end of the movie he does just that, he ships out. and that's it. you never know how the couples lives go. does he die in war? do they get divorced? does she meet another man on her next train ride? we just don't know. i think that's why i like old movies so much. they always leave you hanging and you can imagine in the ending however you want it to be. the writer doesn't make your mind up for you.

okay, now back to the 21st century.

summer 2009...check.
what a fast summer! i can only hope the school year decides to fly by as fast!

summer sun.

today i...
1.woke up to donuts that were delivered by my grandma. it was a nice surprise.
2.visited with my grandma and great aunt who are incredibly wise.
3. ate a b-l-t. yummm.
4. spent some quality time in the siloam springs library.
5. took advantage of sonic happy hour.
6. emailed all of my professors, only to have each of them respond with "yes, you will need the textbook for my course." i have 6 classes and each book is around 100 dollars. ewww.
7. finished making a picture frame to place in my bathroom at school.

summer sun...nothing but time to waste.

summer.

goodness gracious, it's been nearly forever and a day since i've updated. i think sometimes you have so much to update about that you can't find the words to use. that's why i'm going to try and do this through pictures.

1. this summer i've worked with the city doing camps for kids. i can't believe that this is the last week of camps! it's been so fun working with the kids and watching them learn new activities. here are a few of my little campers during horse camp a few weeks ago.

2. this is my new family:this is amber, my sister lindsey, kyle and i out at my great aunts house. kyle and amber are our cousins and after their mom passed away a few weeks ago, they are now living with us.

3. my great grandmother (mamaw) passed away last week. it was a beautiful service and it was so amazing to see how one person could bring so many people together. my favorite part of the service was when anyone who wanted to say something about her could get up and speak. my aunt got up and told about how, even after her husband had been passed away for 20 plus years and she was over 80 years old, she would still get out the old love letters he had written her and she would giggle and tell you the story of how she made papaw fall in love with her. i just really loved that. now she's with him again, reliving those love letters and giggling.

sister lindsey and i at my aunts house over the weekend while we all celebrated mamaw's life.

4. this has been my summer project:

this was my grandmas bike and earlier this summer my grandpa gave it to me to restore and use. it was covered in dirt and rust and with some help from a pretty darn good boyfriend, a new coat of paint, and a lot of elbow grease, i now have this little bike to cruise around on.

recipe for cuteness.

golf clubs + 11 boys ages 6-10 = pure cuteness. 

some were so tired today that they passed out right on the course.

these 3 are my favorites. today they each gave me a flower (aka dandelions). 

here comes the bride.

my beautiful friend bentley got married this past saturday. i have known bentley since i was 3 and i can't believe that she's off and married. i'm so glad that we stayed in touch throughout the years and i was able to be apart of her wedding. 

this is us a few weeks ago at her wedding shower. but in this picture she was bentley seal. now she's bentley kirkland. i like it. 

jive talkin.

this evening was one of those evenings that lets you know that you're doing something right with your life.

as i was heading home from bentonville tonight, i decided to stop at the piolet gas station to get a drink before conquering the drive home. first off, i walked into the gas station and was greeted by a large frozen cappucino machine. side note: my dear friend danielle and i always use to get frozen coffee while we were in russellville at school at a local gas station...it was kind of our special little thing. last weekend we went to get one and the machine had been removed!! we were devastated, so you can imagine my excitement to see the frozen coffee machine at this gas station tonight. so i got my coffee, paid the cashier, and walked out to my car. as i got back in my car, i looked back into the gas station window and saw a small set of eyes looking at me. a little freaked out at first, i looked again and saw a little head pop up in the window. the little girl looked familiar and finally it clicked in my head...i had the girl in my cabinet at camp war eagle exactly one year ago. i went back in and talked to the girl (named marissa) for a little bit. i asked her about camp, school, and other little small talk. i felt bad telling marissa that i wouldn't be returning this year. we said our goodbyes and as i walked out the door, i heard the little girl yell " hey miss chelsea...i really wish you were going to be at camp this year. you were my favorite counselor."

and that's what it's all about.

last year when i was at camp there were so many times that i just wanted to go home, but had i gone home, i wouldn't have met so many great campers like marissa. i realized that last summer was about nothing other than touching kids lives. it wasn't about checking my mailbox 75 times a day to see if i had gotten a letter, racing to the craft room to finish my pottery projects, or thinking of different ways to get to go home for the summer. if only it hadn't taken a year to realize all of that...

but tonight made me realize how excited i am to be a teacher full of little kids just like marissa. i can't wait!

so, i got back into my car with my 22oz of frozen cappucino, turned on my radio on headed home. "jive talkin" by the beegees came on and it put me into an exceptionally good mood. i think it's because it reminded me of an episode of gilmore girls where lorelai is in her jeep dancing to the song (uh, yeah...i'm a pretty big fan). so i turned up the beegees, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed to good ole siloam.

it's funny how in five short minutes you can realize so much.

side A complete. insert other side of cassette.

summer is here which means that i have successfully completed half of my college career. the past two years have been so different from each other that it makes me wonder how different next year will be. but i'm ready. i'm excited for new adventures, relationships, and obstacles.

now i have plotted myself in siloam springs for the summer. i didn't realize how much i love this little town. my summer days have been filled with unpacking, trips to the jbu gym, driving to centerton to see zach, cheering on kris allen in american idol, razorback baseball, celebrating the graduation of friends and family, experiencing "dover lights" for the first time, happy hour at the siloam sonic, getting to watch the 10am episodes of gilmore girls, and catching up with my family. this summer feels like it's going to be a relaxing one.

oh, and i got a job! thank goodness! i'll be working with siloam springs parks and recreation doing day camps for kids. i start the first of june so it's nice to have a little break before starting to work the rest of the summer.

swing batter batter...

every year (or at least the past two years) i always say that i'm not going to play intramural softball. but then i do. and i don't enjoy it...the participation part at least. i like my team and i really enjoy watching...but the whole playing thing just doesn't fit me. 

the bandits are real intense. 

we rep the bandits.

i don't have any sweet pics of the rookies cause i'm usually in the field diving for fly balls. (aka the dugout). 

in other news...

this weekend was filled with lots of traveling. first, zach and i made the trek home to northwest arkansas on friday morning because zach had a job interview that afternoon (which he got!! yay!) we came back friday evening and fell asleep to how i met your mother. 

saturday danielle and i decided to make a run to conway. little zach's art show was saturday night and, regrettably, i have no pictures of the show.

danielle and i then decided to betty crocker it up and make some cookies. unfortunately, we forgot that they were in the oven and they came out looking like this:

oops.

tuesdays.

today i learned that chik-fil-a is the healthiest food that you can eat when you go out somewhere. and tgi-friday and ihop are the worst. thank you msn health.

it's tuesday and it's not raining...this is a rarity in little russellville.

today i found this quote written on a small piece of paper in my desk drawer:

"happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product."- eleanor roosevelt

i don't remember writing it, but it definitely turned my not-so-great day around.

ps- as much as i have tried, i just can't get into twilight. i feel like maybe i'm not truly human considering everyone around me is obsessed. 

you are my sunshine.

today i'm thankful for:

1. the wonderful weather.

2. vanilla dr. pepper from sonic.

3. getting to talk to my jbu friends, alison and ally.

4. david crowder.

5. getting to wear open shoes that don't make my feet stink.

6. zach.

7. my advisor, dr.paxton, who is wonderful and makes me feel calm even when i come into his office stressed.

8. only having 3 classes tomorrow instead of 4.

9. getting an ipod that holds more than 800 songs.

10. the hopeful return of wednesday fun days.

ps- rip charolette.

i'm walking into spider webs.

yesterday was quite an eventful day:

-spring break planning (...or trying to)

-blog looking

-facebook researching

-book reading

-tv watching

-nap taking

okay, so maybe it wasn't all that eventful.

but this is what i did accomplish:

(click on their drawings to read each of their blogs)

in other news, there's a spider currently camped out of my window by my bed. she's been there for about 2 weeks. i know that it's a she because i named her charolette, creative right? i use to cry everytime i watched charolette's web when i was little. and maybe when i was big too. yesterday i watched charolette eat a fly. if i could have named the fly, i would have named him babe because i use to hate that movie when i was little. and maybe when i was big too.

rain, rain, go away...

it has rained for the past 3 days here in little russellville. this means that the rain boots got busted out and the most convenient way to get to class would be by way of canoe. but it's finally friday and the end of this rainy week.

and since this one is gone for the weekend...

                  

kelsea and i decided to make the most of the weekend so i don't get bored and have some fun. so far, this has included a quick trip to starbucks, making mix cds, and long drives around russellville. while driving, i almost rear ended someone, didn't realize that i was driving on the wrong side of the road until a car started coming towards me, and getting lost by a creepy grave yard on friday the 13th. 

next up, movie marathon night with our dear friend little derek:

             

movie number 1: "purple violets"

movie number 2: "keith" (starring jesse mccartney.....holla!)