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.