He's Here!

And this time, for good.

I am so beyond thankful that Daniel was finally able to move to California this past Tuesday. It doesn't even seem real that our days of Skype and FaceTime are over.  No more calling each other back every two minutes because the connection was terrible.  Yay!  We are now a real, in-person couple (:

Another Semester

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Ick! It's almost that time of year again... when school starts and the glorious summer comes to an end. I am starting grad school on September 2nd and I must admit that I am not looking forward to it.  As you might remember, I graduated with my BS in December, so I have had a wonderfully long break from school. But, as always, reality kicks in (;

Because I am a bit nervous to start my new classes, I actually am buying my books ahead of time this semester. We'll see how long that lasts. This year, try ordering your books from Campus Book Rentals. I rented a few books there and was really impressed with the service. The shipping is free, the books are shipped immediately, and when it's time to send them back, all you have to do is print their label to get free shipping! Oh, and if you have textbooks from past semesters, you can rent them out with their RentBack program.  If you want to read more about them or the awesome charity they support, Operation Smile, go here and here. Now go rent some textbooks!

Home

My little brother gave me a book of writing prompts and one of them asks, "What does home mean to you?"

What does home mean to me? Good question.

It's a safe haven. It's a place to find comfort. It's a place to laugh. It's a place to rest when you are down. It's a place where people support you no matter how stupid you have been or are being. It's a place where God is at the center. It's a place where you can be yourself. 

A place of love. A place of inside jokes. A place of delicious food and lunches packed for your school day. A place to cheer for your sports teams. A place to play music and sing hymns. A place of spontaneity. A place where your family makes you play board games even when you don't want to. 

Home is a place of midnight snacks and Halloween parties in the garage and New Year's buffets. Home is going to all three of your brother's basketball games on Saturdays and your sister's dance performances.  Home is being there for each other no matter what.  Home is family.

I'm so thankful for the home that my family provided for me. I hope that one day I can have that kind of home. What does home mean to you?

Trust Him

A reminder for myself:

Trust in the Lord.

It can be difficult.

It can be scary.

When you have no control,

When you have no back up plan,

Trust in Him.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. Prov. 3:5

Stuff I Don't Get

 A couple weeks ago I read a "stuff I don't get" blog post and I thought it was pretty funny so I thought I'd make my own. Hope some of these resonate with you...

Things I Just Don't Get:

Stiletto nails. I'm sorry, but if your nails look like claws, that's just plain creepy.

And on that note, midi rings. I feel like they always look like they're going to fall off. Also, I think only a few people could pull them off.

The term "play date." I don't know if this is a new thing or just a California thing, but I have never heard anyone from my generation's parents call it that. Thank you, Mom!

People who just throw all their dishes into the dishwasher. There is a right way and a wrong way to load the dishwasher, and you are doing it wrong. If you need help, go ask your mom.  

Swiffers. A Swiffer is not, I repeat, NOT a mop. It doesn't replace mopping and it doesn't do a good job cleaning your floor. I understand that is an easy way to get rid of a spill, but it doesn't replace mopping with a real mop and bucket.

Bump dates/over the top pregnancy announcements/weekly updates/etc: I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings but doesn't it just go a little over the top sometimes? I am so happy you love your children, but we don't need to know what food you are craving and what color their poop is.  

Along those lines: gender reveal parties. I think is something pretty new and I hope this trend goes away quickly!

Beauty pageants: Ok, I know that beauty pageant-ees or whatever the heck you call them say that it's about more than looks, but come on.  Looks are what get you there and throwing in a talent doesn't change it.  I thought our society had come farther than this.

Lastly, leggings. I know these have been around awhile but let's stop pretending they're pants.

So here is a little list of things that I think are pretty weird. If you like these things, that's okay too! What things do you agree with? What stuff do you just NOT get?? (-:

The internet changes everything

It really does, doesn't it?  If we didn't have it, I wouldn't have this blog. I wouldn't be able to talk to my fiance in Canada on Skype. I wouldn't have a Pinterest board with five hundred "funny pins" (which would be a good thing).  Those things aren't necessary though.  But one thing I think the internet has really improved is our approach to education.

Think about it. The internet really has changed the game when it comes to education. Sure, it might be detrimental in some ways, but the internet has so much to offer when it comes to education. It really levels the playing field and allows everyone the same opportunities to learn.  

I know for myself, I would have really struggled if the internet were taken away from me during my college career. I use the internet to look up sources. My college professors have "blackboard," an online source to put all our class information.  They put links to relevant articles and sites that students may what to look at (I rarely do, but still). I've taken online classes and online exams. When I was studying for the GRE, I took practice exams online to get familiar with the format and questions.  I can use my school's databases to look through the hundreds of thousands of articles online. Rather than searching through books for relevant information, I can type in a few key words and immediately have articles on a specific topic at my fingertips.  I love these databases because it allows me to pursue whatever interests me without a whole lot of effort. 

It might sound lazy, but if we had to work hard to find out information on different subjects, it's likely that we would all just know a whole lot less. Is that good or bad? It's hard to say. Anything we want to know, we can find out with no effort. Does that make us smarter or dumber? (I just now got on Google and searched "Is dumber a word?" Turns out it is. Proceed...) I don't know, but I do know that it has changed the way we learn.  If I am interested in how the nucleus deals with proteotoxic stress, I can look it up and find out all kinds of information that I would never know otherwise (what? You have never wondered how the nucleus deals with proteotoxic stress? Weirdo.)  If I am writing a paper on eating disorder, I can find many different sites that have information online. I can also look at sites written by people who have had eating disorders to get a firsthand perspective. Then, I can take that information and write a paper about it and share it online so that information on eating disorders is even more readily available. It truly is amazing.

The internet has taken what we as humans have learned collectively, and shared it so that everyone can have access to it. Without it, I would never know what scientists in Timbuktu discovered last week, but now I do.  Thanks, guys.

All being said, I can't imagine my education without having my handy friend, Mr. Internet.  It doesn't make us smarter than previous generations, but it does make it so that we have a lot more information available to us.  It's mind boggling to me to think how much things have changed since my grandparent's generation. And even my parent's generation.  I don't even want to think about what things will be like for my kid's education.  It's always changing, that's for sure.