I have decided to make this week awesome...

Last week, I began my last semester at American River College.  I have been here way too long, and am ready to move on to Sac State.
I started off extremely excited, but that excitement died rather quickly.  To say that my speech instructor is insane, would be an understatement.  I don't want to go into much detail, but the things he said were inappropriate and unbelievable.  On top of that, I was unable to get into the class that would replace this one, and there was in issue with my financial aid.  Then, the counselor I spoke with regarding the situation was rude about the whole thing.   My first week of school was bad.

The bad mood I was in seemed to carry into the weekend, along with disappointment after disappointment.  Monday finally came along, and I decided it was time to change my bad attitude.  I decided to make this week awesome.

To start, I had a great morning of classes.  My debate class is great.  We were able to come up with various topics for our first debate.  We voted to see which 4 topics would be discussed.  I suggested Human Trafficking, and it was the most popular subject.  I was also lucky enough to be on the affirmative group for this topic.  I could not have been given a subject closer to my heart.  I cannot wait to research further.

After school, by some miracle, I was able to secure an appointment with an academic counselor so that I could appeal for my financial aid.  The meeting went very quickly, and my counselor seems to be sure that it will all work out.  Finally, because we finished the financial aid portion so quickly, I was able to ask about petitioning for graduation.  I was able to fill out the paperwork right then!  I petitioned to graduate with two degrees:  Commercial Music Business and Liberal Arts.  This May, I will be graduating!  I am so excited!  In just a few months, I can cross this off my list. :]]

To end the evening, I decided to give the speech class another chance.  It actually went pretty well.  It was much better than my first experience. Given how class went today, I am unsure of what to do.  I will go to the other speech class tomorrow to see if anyone dropped, and if not, I guess I can stick it out through the semester...as long as things don't get crazy... :/  Either way, I am looking forward to what God has in store.

Other updates:
On Saturday, I went to a Christian Music Workshop, where I learned a lot more about the guitar.  There is a lot to practice!  This is going to be one of my harder goals to get through, I think.  It will take a lot of practice and dedication, but I will get there.

I have not been working on the puzzle much, but it is getting there.  It is still alive, so that says a lot.

We've moved onto a new step for potty training the cats: we punched out the first hole.  It definitely set Belle back a bit, but Megatron picked it up right away - no surprise there.

In other news: "Your mind spends about 70% of it's time replaying memories and creating scenarios of perfect moments."
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-jennilea

Dear Santa...

The photo to the left will be explained further into the post.  Spoiler alert: it is awesome:

Speaking of awesome, for Christmas this year, I got season 7 of HIMYM!  Marathons will be happening for WEEKS!
In addition,  How I Met Your Mother has been signed for a 9th season with all original cast members.

To top it all off, the Backstreet Boys performed this morning - nailed it.  All my dreams...

My last post discussed the Dear Santa program; we were able to adopt 3 letters!  I headed out to buy presents for the families (with Christina), and we ended up meeting a lady at WalMart who was selling things to raise money to buy presents for her kids.  Our church had received a lot of donated, unopened toys, so we were able to help out this family as well - for a total of 4.

The first family had 6 kids!  The college group and I headed out with their gifts, including a crib and two mattresses, When we arrived, the kids opened their presents with excitement.  Their mother pulled me aside and let me know that this was their very first Christmas they had every had, with presents.  They were very excited over getting presents, coloring books, crayons, jump ropes, cards, tiaras, etc. I am pretty sure the puzzles were their favorite though.  I was happy we were all able to see them open their gifts!

The next family was the one with the letter from the little boy. We bought his grams a Bible and had her name engraved it in.  She was so happy to have her new Bible and couldn't wait to open it up!  They were very grateful, and even gave us a thank you card.   In the photo to the left, the boy in the red sweater is the one who wrote the letter.  It was a very sweet moment to see them interact together.  She was so proud of her grandson for thinking of her and for his heart for God.   This was an absolutely amazing thing to be a part of.

We did not get to stay to see the other two families open their presents, but they really appreciated their gifts.

Four families lives where impacted this Christmas because of Carmen's suggestion to add Dear Santa to my list.  This has been an great experience altogether, and I plan on doing it again next year with the College Group.

On another note, school is out, which is nice.  I was lucky enough to be able to enroll in all the classes I need for the next semester and will have my AA by May 2013!  I have also applied to Sac State and am ready to transfer over.  I will be majoring in Communications, and can't wait to see where this will take me.

In the time off, so far, I have enjoyed spending time with mySteven.  Definitely long overdue, as my night classes took over my life, and he had to work late nights.  I have also began working on my new puzzle.  This one is tough.  A lot of the colors are very similar.  So far, the border is done, and two birds.  Photos will come as I get a wee bit further.  Toilet training my cats is getting better. We will be punching out our first hole this month!

I also attended one amazing Ugly Christmas Sweater White Elephant Gift Potluck Game Night with my awesome friends.  We were all dressed in our best for this wonderful occasion.  I am grateful to have all of these wonderful people in my life.

I am also looking forward to running again!  I have not ran in a month.  Disappointing.  I have found a web site that tells me all of the runs that are coming up, and have found a few that I may consider for my half marathon!  Training really needs to ramp up though, because it will be within the next month and a half.

2013 is going to be crazy, fun, amazing, and full of new and exciting experiencing!  I cannot wait for it!  Next year will be my last opportunity to go to New York for the new year, before my list is up, so that will be happening.  I am looking forward to all of the traveling and adventure that will be had!

In other news:  "The pattern of your heartbeat changes to mimic the type of music you're listening to."
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-jennilea