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

Time to Give

Happy Monday!

In my August 24th blog post, I asked for your ideas.  One idea, suggested by Carmen, was "Adopt a family for Christmas from one of the 'Dear Santa' letters at the post office."  I decided this would be a great idea to get my college group involved in.  November marked the beginning of our raising funds for this project.  We received donations from Carmen, First Baptist Church of Elverta, Christina, Cynthia, and my supervisor, as well as adding on our own money.  Last week, I went to pick up the letters we would be working with.  I chose 3:

Letter 1:  An 11 year old boy wrote the sweetest letter, not for himself, but for his grandma.  He noted that she always tells him about Jesus and how he made sacrifices "for everyone in the world."  He said his grams makes a lot of sacrifices too, and requested that Santa bring his grandma a nice Bible, with her name on it.

Letter 2:  A mother wrote in and requested presents for her 15 year old twins.  She said she can never afford a Christmas for them, and expressed how sad it made her feel that she was unable to offer them anything.  For her daughter, she asked for sweats, boots, vanilla body spray, and socks.  For her son, she requested sweats, boots, socks, and a sleeping bag.

Letter 3:  This letter was written by a mother who has 6 kids!  Her husband had been injured and unable to work, so they did not think they would have much of a Christmas.  Her kids range from the age of 3 months-8 years old.  She mentioned a few big items which include 2 mattress and a crib, as her 3 month old did not have one.  For the other kids, she mentioned what they like.

This weekend, I was overwhelmed with the response from others.  In discussing the letters, especially the third one, people jumped at the opportunity to help.  Cynthia went out and purchased a brand new crib, mattress, sheets, and blankets.  We were also able to find an inexpensive place to purchase mattresses, which we were able to fund thanks to church donations as well as the donation from Carmen.  Our church was also donated a large amount of new toys.  This family will be having a great Christmas.

The rest of our donations will be able to fund letters 1 and 2.

The most exciting part about this, aside from the fact that we are helping out families in need, is that we will be able to deliver the gifts to the families!  I love the feeling of giving, so to be able to see the happiness on their faces will be a memory I will cherish forever.

Thank you, Carmen, for the amazing idea!

Just a few weeks until we can deliver the presents!

Day Zero Project progress: I am currently looking for a 10 mile run to participate in.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

Finally, what is a Monday without a Lifetime movie?!

Lifetime Movie:  "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger"

My guess:  A teenager is getting involved with someone older, who she meets online. He ends up getting her involved with drugs and drinking.  She is spiraling out of control.  She hits rock bottom, mom is there for her.  They get her the help she needs.  She ends up in rehab.  It is a sad story about a teen trying to grow up to fast and being taken advantage by an older man.  Lifetime.

Based off of the title, what do you thing this movie is about?

Answer: Laurel has the boyfriend of her dreams, Kevin. He can and will do anything for her. He is totally devoted to her but the downside is that he never leave her alone. When she tries to get some distance he responds with aggressiveness. It finally dawns on Laurel that he is not good for her. Laurel's mother Jessica has already started to suspect that something is wrong with his background.

I was way off on this one!

In other news, "If you search 'Who's the cutest' using Google's 'I'm Feeling Lucky,' it will say 'YOU ARE.'"
(Follow UberFacts on Twitter)

-jennilea

Birthday Weekend!

Hello!

This has been an exciting week!  To begin, I was lucky enough to be able to participate in the Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving morning (11.22.12).  This is a 10k (6.2 miles) run, and the furthest I have gone, so far.  I ran with my awesome running buddy, Adam, who has been training with me for all of my runs, so far.  Our ultimate goal is to run a marathon.  It seems so far out and impossible, but I know we can get there.  We are almost at the half way point!  The run was able to raise more than $800,000 for the hungry.  It is amazing to be part of such a huge thing.

After the run,  I went over to my mom's house to spend the afternoon with her.  Then,  I had the pleasure of joining Yessica at her house for Thanksgiving dinner.  The food her mom prepared was delicious, as always.  I am extremely grateful that I was able to join in.

Later that evening, we prepared for Black Friday.  Boots were my goal! I headed out with Yessica and my mom to the Galleria.  It was packed, fights broke out, madness ensued.  We made it to Macy's, and I found two pair or gorgeous boots which my mother was nice enough to purchase for me, as a birthday present.  Yessica and I continued to walk around and found some bright red pants!  I had been searching for them for quite some time, and Wet Seal had them on discount!  Yessica bought me these amazing pants, as well as a really nice black shirt with lace on the sleeves.  Pretty sure I look adorable.  

Friday, 11.23.12, I decided to begin one of my Day Zero Project challenges:  Base all of my decisions off of a magic 8 ball.  The magic 8 ball decided everything from what to wear, eat, where to go (if anywhere), when to leave, how to do my makeup.  It was pretty fun to not have to make any decisions on my own.  Probably the point that had me laughing the most was when I was at my friend, Christina's house, for her birthday hang out times.  It was getting late, and I started getting tired.  I had to ask the magic 8 ball five separate times (in an hour) before it would let me leave!  It kept saying no, or ask again later.  Sarah mentioned that perhaps it was not letting me leave because I was not asking it out loud.  Sure enough, after asking out loud, it let me leave.  It was a fun evening, and an awesome day.

Also on Friday, I went to a friend's house to have a jam session.  I am pretty new at guitar, so this was the first time either I had done such a thing and I was pretty stoked to be part of it.  My friend, Rawge, from Reborn Guitars, showed up too!  He wanted to show us a new guitar he had been working on.  He removed it from the bag, and said, "oh man, it's left handed!" and handed me my new guitar!  It is beautiful! There is a built in tuner, and it has the ability to plug in to an amp!  I was able to plug in during the jam session, and learned how to play "Free Falling."  This was definitely an amazing night!

Saturday, I decided I would work to complete my puzzle, as this 1000 piece beast is on my Day Zero Project.  My cats have been tackling this puzzle on and off, but I was pretty certain that I had found and picked up all pieces.  Unfortunately, at the very end, it turns out that there are 2 pieces still missing.  I practically tore the house apart, flipping over couches, pulling out the refrigerator and stove, all to find these missing pieces, but never found them. :[  So, I will have to start over.  I feel like I would be cheating my Day Zero Project if I did not really complete the puzzle.  Luckily, for my birthday, I received two 1000 piece puzzles!  I will be getting started this week!  I have also decided that, this time, I am going to put the puzzle on a box so that I can move it in and out of the closet, avoiding any destruction from the cats.  

Speaking of cats, Belle is using the toilet now!  Both of my cats have successfully began using the toilet.  I am thinking that, by mid December, we will try to punch out the first hole and see how they do!

November 25th, was my 23rd birthday.  I was a little sad, because 22 was so awesome!  What is it that made 22 so great?  Experiences.  This Day Zero Project has inspired me to conquer fears, have goals, better myself, and to have fun!  In year twenty-three, I plan to continue these same things. This year definitely started with a bang!  My entire day was full or surprises.  Katie and Nic took me for a surprise trip to go snowboarding!  We went to Sugar Bowl, where I had a 2 hour lesson.  This lesson included a lot of falling down and getting back up.  Each time I was  able to make it, even part of the way, I felt super accomplished!  This was such a fun experience, and I plan on doing it again.  Hopefully I can become a master at this.  

After snowboarding, I got dressed to go for dinner.  When we arrived at Olive Garden, all of my amazing friends we there, which made me super happy.  Being able to hang out with all of them was definitely the icing on top of the cake of awesome, that is my life.  Celebrating with all of them meant the world to me. :]

I don't know what this next year will bring, but I am excited and hopeful for new adventures, and a lot of fun!

In other news:  "If all the stars in the universe were divided amongst everyone on earth, we would each own about 44.2 trillion stars."

(Follow Uber Facts on Twitter)

-jennilea

I Stopped Breathing...

This week has been busy, exciting!  I have been training for this Zombie 5k and Obstacle course for 9 weeks, and this was the weekend of participation.  I was totally jazzed for it,

Up early to run from zombies!

After the run

I was up, bright and early, to participate in the Zombie Run in Temecula!  I had been preparing by running on a trail in Rio Linda, however, this run was more uphill than anything.  I learned very quickly that I would be unable to run the entire thing - but I did sprint at all areas containing zombies, and successfully made it through all obstacles.  There were 12 obstacles set up, including hills, mud, electric wires, crawling, jumping, climbing, and zombies.  When my first flag was pulled,  I had just gotten out of a huge group of zombies, and ran right into another one.  I was lucky enough to dodge all other zombies, especially before entering a maze, where there were 5 zombies chasing me! At the last quarter mile, when one zombie, who grabbed onto my shorts, took my second flag.  The final obstacle was to crawl under and electric fence.  I got a wee shock on my shoulder blade, and came out strong!  I ran through the gate marked "alive."  And let out a huge sigh of relief!  Clothes covered in mud, we ran into the lake to rinse off, then donated out shoes, found out our time (1 hr 22 mins), and headed back to San Diego.  This was such a great experience, and worth every single moment!

Now, it is time to train for the "Run to Feed the Hungry" 10k!  No rest!  I am really starting to love running.  These events make all the training worth it.  iLoves <3

The next goal I completed was to go to Venice Beach.  It was the nicest beach I have even been to. I would love to live that close to the ocean...It was amazing.  The water felt perfect and the sand was soft and clean!    The waves were not too intense.  It made me think on my surfing goal.  I can't wait to get there!

While in Southern California, we stayed with my sister, Tara.  She is definitely someone who I look up to, and it was great being able to spend some time with her. This time, it was wedgie free!  We went to La Jolla, which is one of my favorite places to go!  We saw lots of seals, including one little guy who kept making a sexy pose.  Haha.

I really enjoyed all of the time with my family, and can't wait for our next wee trip. 

So far, I have completed 47 out of 99 goals on my list.  I have 2 more to add until it is complete!

By request, I have also added to hike Half Dome at Yosemite (Nick), and take a belly dancing class (Ashley).  Thank you for your suggestions.  I am happy to add them!  I also decided to add on going swing dancing, just because it looks fun!

Finally, because it is Monday:  LIFETIME MOVIE MONDAY!

Title:  Making Mr. Right

My guess:  This movie has to be the classic girls betting against one another to make the nerd kid popular.  Of course the girl falls in love with him, the friend spoils the relationship by telling of the bet.  Drama happens.  They both love each other and end up together.  OR Lifetime can get super crazy, and once the boy finds out he was just a bet, he goes on a psycho rampage.  

Real story:   "Uptight female magazine editor, Hallie Galloway, is the very definition of a successful woman. Ambitious, sharp, and focused, Hallie is close to the promotion that she s worked so hard to achieve. Everything is coming together for her professionally, but she s about to get a curve ball she didn't expect.

In a modern-day reversal of My Fair Lady, Hallie makes a bet with her best friend that she can transform a scruffy con man into her magazine's 'Bachelor of the Year.' A shave and a haircut later, he's revealed as a handsomely charming rogue. Hallie teaches him manners and etiquette, while he teaches her to live in the moment. As sparks fly, love sets out to conquers the class divide."

I was pretty close.

In other news:  "MC Hammer once challenged Michael Jackson to a dance-off."
(Follow Uber Facts on Twitter)

-jennilea

Lifetime Guitar. Puzzling Zip-Line 5K...

On 10.7.12, I completed my goal to go zip lining.  It was a mini one, but I still did it.  I was definitely scared at first - even at only 25 feet.  However, when it came to the point of jumping, there was no hesitation.  I just went for it!  I had a blast and definitely want to do some other zip line courses that are higher up.  My research shows that it should not be too expensive.  I would like to get a group together for these fun times.

Random thought in writing this:  I saw an airplane on the way to work this morning and couldn't wait to fly again. <3  This is the first time I have longed to fly away since I was a kid. My willingness to complete these goals and conquer my fear of heights has really grown! Fearless.
Words cannot describe my excitement!

A few other goals currently in progress:

Learn to play guitar:  
I have been learning to play guitar at my church, First Baptist Church of Elverta, through Rawge Jones.  Rawge gave me a guitar that he both fixed and converted to left-handed so that I could play easier.  Please check out Reborn Guitars to see the amazing things this ministry is doing!  You can also check it out on Facebook!
In the photo to the right, Yessica and I are having a little guitar practice after-party.  Currently, we are learning to play "As the Deer."  I am proud to say that I can now sing this song while playing!  Progress. :]]

Complete a 1000 piece puzzle:
I am working on this lovely Sleeping Beauty Puzzle.  This thing has really been through it.  My cats have decided that they enjoy sliding across my dining room table, then they play with the pieces that fall off.  The worst damage they have done left only 75% of the princess and the rest completely demolished.  Steven and I actually had to hunt for pieces in order to put it all back together.  This included flipping couches and pulling out the refrigerator and stove.  Hardcore, I know.  Hopefully we have found all of the pieces.  This is how far I am at the moment.  Little by little, it is coming together.

Run a 5k:
I have been talking about the Run For Your Lives Zombie 5k Obstacle Course for the last few posts.  We are finally less than 2 weeks until this 5k and I am stoked!  Yesterday, I did my first 2.75 mile run, and it felt great!  35 minutes was the total time, which is not quite where I want to be, but pshhhh,  I ran 2.75 miles!  I never thought I would be doing something like this.

The San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 2, 2013, is my ultimate goal in running.  In order to keep myself motivated, I need to keep finding runs that I can participate in.  This brought me to the 19th annual Run to Feed the Hungry, this year, on Thanksgiving.  This is a 10k run, which means that I will have 5 weeks to increase my distance from 3 to 6 miles.  No big deal.  I got this.

After the 10k, I will be looking for a half marathon run, so if you know of any, let me know!

Day Zero Project goal update:  49 goals to do, 4 goals in progress, and 42 goals achieved. 727 days left!

Avoid Facebook For 1 Week:
Starting today, I will be avoiding all forms of social media.  See you next Monday.

Let's move into...

Lifetime Move Monday!!!

Lifetime Movie: "Stranger with My Face"

My guess:  A girl was originally born a twin.  The other twin was kidnapped shortly after birth, by someone who had it out for the entire family.  The parents never told their daughter that she was a twin or of the issues with the other party in order to keep her life as normal as possible. The other twin was raised to be a replacement.  The plan is to kill her twin and take over her life, as she then plots to kill her parents.

Comment with your guesses.

The answer:

Afer the shocking and untimely death of her husband, Shelley Stratton (Catherine Hicks) moves her daughter Alexis (Emily Hurst) and her adopted daughter, Laurie (Alexz Johnson), to their remote summer house in hopes of giving her family a fresh start. As Laurie begins to settle in and put her life back together, she gets the eerie feeling that she is constantly being watched. Laurie's uneasiness grows when people start claiming to see her in places that she has never been. The family's delicate state begins to unravel when Laurie unearths the dark past, discovering a twin sister that she never knew she had. Laurie is forced to delve deeper into her twin's secrets, for as it turns out her twin has been locked up for years! Laurie must now understand their strange connection in order to prevent her sister from taking over her life and harming her loved ones.

Lifetime, you have done it again!

"In other news, a duck's quack doesn't echo."
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-jennilea