October Break

Ever since freshman year, I've had an October Break - Monday and Tuesday off around Columbus Day. This picture is from driving home 2 years ago. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the colorful leaves as I anticipated a relaxing weekend at home!

My October Break starts next week! This year, I am planning to skip my class and work on Friday so I can come home Thursday night (after hopefully winning the intramural soccer championship!). I have lunch plans with 3 friends on Friday, and I'm hoping to stop in and visit at Fashion Bug, where I used to work. I might go down to Philly to visit my sister, Amy, for part of the weekend - we'll see if that works out. I'm trying not to over-schedule myself so that I have time to truly relax and enjoy my time off. It will be a much needed break after the first 6 weeks of school!

What Type Are You?

In two of my classes lately we have been taking personality tests. I recently took two versions of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. I strongly scored the same on both - I am an ESFJ. Let me explain the letters:

Extrovert/Introvert - I tend to focus my attention on things and people around me.

Sensing/Intuition - I tend to take in information through all 5 senses, focusing on the here and now.

Thinking/Feeling - I tend to make decisions based on values and how it will affect the members of a group.

Judging/Perceiving - I tend to like having a plan and a schedule. I was a 30 out of 30 on this one!

Overall, an ESFJ is warm, sympathetic, and helpful. They are socialable, enthusiastic, energetic, and organized. They are focused on the present and make decisions based on experience and facts. They do not like conflict and work to make sure it does not occur. They are loyal and focus on the needs of others.

I'd say this evaluation was accurate for me!

Whose Goals?

Tonight at Bible study we wrapped up our study on success. The last chapter was on persistence and why that is required for completing goals. One section talked about coming up against discouragement, failures, mistakes, and weariness. Then the study posed the following question: "What did you do to renew your motivation to pursue your goals in life?" That got me thinking back to the end of sophomore year.

At the end of sophomore year I was offered a lot of leadership positions on campus. Being the people pleaser that I was, I didn't want to say no to any of them - that would be letting someone down. However, I knew I couldn't do everything, so I tried to decide what I wanted to do, or rather what everyone else would want me to do. In the end, I said no to everything and left campus that semester not even knowing if I wanted to come back for junior year in the fall. I was discouraged, worn out from trying to please everybody, confused, and feeling life a failure since I let everyone down. That was not the greatest summer of my life.

I did decide to come back to Roberts, and slowly I have become thankful I made that decision. Looking back, I have learned a lot from the situation. Go back to the question and notice the part where is says, "...pursue your goals in life?" That was the key part I had been missing out on! I was too busy running around doing what everyone else thought I should be doing with my life - I hadn't taken the time to think about what I wanted to pursue.

At the end of last year, I made a list of MY goals. I have learned how to carefully say yes to responsibilities and projects. I have renewed my focus and have a better understanding of where to place my efforts. I spent a lot of time in prayer, discerning what the Lord would have me focus on. I also look at the motives behind doing what I do. What a difference it has made to think about my goals and desires, not in a selfish way, but in a way that brings more genuineness to what I am involved in.

I challenge you to think about what you are involved in and really examine why you place you efforts into the activities you do. Make sure you are doing what you want for you and not just doing what others have said you should be doing.

SIFE Projects

The semester is well under way and SIFE is keeping me busy! I am involved in a number of different ways this year:

1) Financial Freedom Workshops - We provide workshops on money management for freshman classes. I headed this up my sophomore year and enjoyed the interaction with professors and students. This year, we updated the curriculum to use some videos our team created last year showing the dangers of credit cards, the importance of emergency money, and why budgets are good to follow. I was able to recruit a good team to present to the 10 classes that have signed up for workshops. Our first one is this week!

2) Rotaract President - The local Rotary Club meets on our campus on Wednesday mornings. They are like a SIFE team for adults, so have partnered with us on various projects. I am the Rotaract President, acting as the liason between their group and our SIFE team. I wake up at 6:15am on Wednesday to have breakfast with the group. I have had another SIFE student join me each week, so it's been nice to get others involved.

3) Grant Writing - I am interested in learning more about grant writing, so I offered to help write some grants for SIFE this year. I have completed a grant that is ready to be reviewed. I hope to find 2 more to write up this semester.

I have been involved in SIFE since freshman year. It has given me real-world experiences, built my leadership skills, and allowed me to travel and form great friendships. I am looking forward to another great year in SIFE!

Homecoming

It was Homecoming Weekend here at Roberts! Every year there is a big tent with items for sale. Clubs and sports teams sell food and such to fundraise. This year SIFE sold chicken sandwhiches. The new SIFE t-shirts came just in time - this picture is of me, Honna, and Lindsey showing off some on the new colors!

Saturday afternoon there were soccer games. The girls won in overtime, but the boys did not pull off the victory. It was a nice day for a game though and fun to cheer them on.

One of the main events for Homecoming every year is LIVE - a variety show put on by students. However, I must say, this year I was less impressed. There were some technical prolems, so Miner - the guys' dorm - was unable to show their piece. There part is always the favorite, so that was disappointing.

My friend, Jillian, turned 21 yesterday! A group of us went out to celebrate and had a good time. Above are Jillian's roommates, Jillian, myself, Honna, and Rachel.

The final event for Homecoming was the Pancake Breakfast Sunday morning put on by the girls' basketball team. My roommate, Katie, is on the team, so Honna and I went to support her. We were full afterwards and enjoyed our meal.

I guess if I attend Homecoming next year it will be as an alumni!

Toy Story

It's Homecoming weekend here at Roberts, and tonight they played Toy Story 3! My friends and I have watched the other 2 in order to prepare for the third one.

I was warned that I would need tissues for the end, but I didn't shed a tear. I have still never cried during a movie - maybe someday the right movie will come along.

RMW

Back before school started, some friends from church, Audrey and Jayce, and I started getting together on Wednesday nights at Jitter's. The first week we did it, Jayce told me to do something ridiculous during the day and we would compare stories later. We had a great time at Jitter's sharing about our day and other ridiculous moments of our lives. We did the same thing the following week and decided we needed a name for ourselves! We came up with Ridiculous Moment Wednesday or RMW. Since then, we have not gotten together on a Wednesday, but have regularly met for dinner every other Thursday. It's fun to get to know each other better and share ridiculousness.

Tonight we went to Nick Tahou's for Audrey's very first garbage plate! She liked it and was able to eat most of it. She feels like a true Rochestarian now, but her stomach is not so happy!

I am looking forward to more memorable times with RMW!

First Day of Fall

Today is the first day of Fall! That means the wonderful days of Summer are in the past. I already jumped the gun and put up some fall decorations earlier this week. Here is what comes to mind when I think of Fall:

-colorful leaves
-apple cider
-classic donuts
-soccer
-crisp air
-pumkin pie
-apple picking
-rich colors
-pumkin bread
-new school year
-hayrides
-scarecrows
-pumpkin carving
-leaf piles

Let's enjoy what this new season has to offer!

Grandkids?

A guy in my small group shared an interesting thought at Bible study tonight. His dad used to say, "God doesn't have any spiritual grandkids."

Many times in Christian bubbles you hear that people had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home. However, just because your parents were Christians does not make you a Christian. It's important to make that decision for yourself and truly understand what it means to follow Christ.

I am thankful for my parents and the spiritual influance they had on me at a young age, but I am thankful I am a Child of God and not just one of His grandkids!

Intramurals - Soccer

Ever since freshman year I have played on an intramural team at Roberts. Right now it's soccer season, and I'm playing with the team I played with last year. Our team is pretty good, and talk around campus has us winning the coveted championship t-shirts! We have won 2 games and tied one tonight. Let's hope we can get a few more wins and come out on top - I could use a new t-shirt!

Dealing with Change

Earlier this week I posted about finding the new normal. Before the semester started, I knew change was coming, and I began to prepare for it. Some of my friends knew changes were coming for me and that dealing with change has been a struggle for me in the past. All that to say, a friend of mine gave me a book this week. It was on a table of stuff to get rid of at his work, and he thought of me when he realized it was about dealing with change. It has less than 100 pages, so this weekend I was able to finish Who Moved My Cheese? written by Spencer Johnson.

Basically, the book is this story about 2 mice and 2 little people that live in a maze. Everday they get their running shoes on to go find cheese. Eventually, they came across a big block of cheese and went back to it day after day. The little people even moved their houses closer to the block of cheese and began building their lives around it. One day, the block of cheese was no longer there! The 2 mice quickly got on their running shows and went off to find another block of cheese, Sniff looking for new areas to explore and Scurry running ahead in those directions. The little people, Hem and Haw, however, still could not believe that the cheese was gone. They came back day after day hoping it would reappear. Eventually Haw realized he had to change and start looking in other areas for new cheese. He tried to encourage Hem to come with him, but Hem would not move. Haw eventually found the new cheese that Sniff and Scurry had already been enjoying. This cheese was even better than the old cheese!

In the story, Sniff and Scurry had been preparing for change. Sniff had been noticing the cheese supply getting older and becoming smaller. They kept their running shoes close and wasted no time looking for new cheese. Hem and Haw, however, were so disappointed and did not want to believe that their cheese was gone. It took Haw longer to begin to move onto a new way of life. The story does not say what eventually happened to Hem, but my guess is that he never found new cheese and suffered the consequences.

I think that I can relate to Sniff in my most recent dealings with change. I knew change was coming and began to prepare for it, thinking through how things in my life would change with the new semester. Let me share a paragraph from the book (pg. 51). Haw is deciding he wants to be more like Sniff and Scurry in the future:

He decided he would stay more alert from now on. He would expect change to happen and look for it. He would trust his basic instincts to sense when change was going to occur and be ready to adapt to it.

Another quote I like can help in times of change (pg. 60): The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.

The same friend that picked up this book for me encouraged me to think of changes as new adventures. This semester has definitely been a set of adventures so far! I'm pleased with how I have decided to deal with change, and I hope to continue to properly prepare for change in the future.

Pumpkins and Apples and Leaves

I went shopping for Fall decorations last night! I found these wall decals and had a fun time putting them up in our townhouse! I also got a little scarecrow that is in our dining room, along with some colorful leaves.

The first day of Fall is on Wednesday. I've already started to notice the leaves changing and the temperature dropping. Soccer is in full swing, and everyone has gone back to school. Pumpkins are out, and apples are ready to be picked! I bought stuff to make pumpkin bread, and my roommate is attempting an apple pie - isn't Fall wonderful? Now I just need to have my first taste of apple cider, then it will truly be Fall!

I'm a Planner

For some of my classes this semester I've had to take some personal assessment surveys. One I took yesterday had all these questions about being a planner, following a schedule, and liking order. Those were easy to answer because I am such a planner! People have picked on me for it recently, but I don't see it as such a bad thing.

I have used a calendar planner every year since starting college, and I don't know what I would do without it! I keep track of homework assignments, birthdays, school breaks, workout days, laundry days, social events, addresses, meetings, grocery shopping, and more! It's fun to look back on it sometimes to see what all I was up to in the past year.

I definitely think organization is one of my strengths, and a friend of mine just wrote me a note explaining how she appreciated the fact that I make a plan and follow through with it - she was using this example in referance to my half marathon as well as other areas of my life.

As much as I love having a plan and knowing what is next, I have no clue what will be happening after graduation in May. I have dreams and desires, but no set plan at this point. It will be an adventure, and perhaps a test of my ability to wait on the Lord as He reveals His plan for this planner.

Friendship Expectations

I had high expectations coming into college, and I was greatly disappointed freshman year. I was ready to makes lots of new, close, lifelong friends and make memories throughout my years of college. I expected to find a close group of girl friends who would be spiritually encouraging. Instead, my roommate made very different lifestyle choices than me, but I was under the impression that you should be best friends with your roommate, so I put a lot of effort into a relationship that did not go both ways. She has since defriended me on Facebook.

Second semester I realized there were other girls on campus to be friends with! I spent a lot of time with 2 girls down the hall. We took a roadtrip in the middle of a snowstorm to be there as one of the girl's moms had a baby - those were the memories I was looking for! We became quite the three-some, and I was happy with my new friends who's standards were closer to mine. We were neighbors in the dorms the following year. However, a series of events lead to a slow drifting of the friendship at the end of Sophomore year, and we did not talk much Junior year. My desire for close, lifelong friends was still not a reality.

All that to say, college friendships were not what I was expecting, and I struggled to understand why it was so hard to develop close, meaningful relationships. As I begin my senior year and reflect on the friendships I do have, I am thankful for the ways God has provided. I have some close friends through SIFE and the business department, I am roomming with my roommate for the second year in a row, and I have formed relationships with young adults at church. My calendar is full of social activities, and I am encouraged by those around me on a daily basis. Friends have come and gone over the years, but I am learning to be thankful for the friendships the Lord has blessed me with.

Finding the New Normal

Three weeks ago I was preparing for change. I knew a new semester was about to start, and that meant many changes ahead - a new job, new schedule, new social activities, new roommates, and more. I don't like change, so I was hoping I would be able to find a new normal quickly. Well, 3 weeks later, I am starting to find my new normal. This has been the first week of school with all of my classes and all of my work hours. I am getting into a routine and finding out where I can fit social activites. I have picked what day will be my laundry day and have made some pretty regular weekly plans with friends.

I loved my summer, and was happy with my work hours, training schedule, and evenings of activities. However, that has all been mixed up, and I have had to rethink priorities. It has been a pretty smooth transition into the semester, and the new normal is not so bad.

Yogen Fruz

Even though we aren't doing summer lunches anymore, my friend, Honna, and I have been going out once a week this semester. This week we went to a new place called Yogen Fruz! It's a frozen yogurt place that reminds me of a place called Yogurt Mama's that I went to in Hawaii. At Yogen Fruz you pick your frozen yogurt then add toppings. I topped my vanilla with lots of fruit - blueberries, blackberries, kiwis, strawberries, pineapples, and granola. It was pretty delicious, and a place I might just have to go back to!

Raquetball

One of my goals was to play raquetball this year. I played a lot with two friends during my freshman year - almost weekly! There is a way you can play with three people, and that is what we mostly did. I played here and there sophomore year, but haven't played since that February, so it's been a while.

I played today with my friend, Sean, who I played with freshman year. He hadn't played in a while either, so it was good for us to both get back into it. We played two games - he won both, but I atleast got into the double digits and had some nice shots! We siged up for the courts again next week. Now that I don't have a running training schedule to follow, I can workout in other ways.

Race Day - Half Marathon!

Today was the day! After thinking about is since March, and seriously running over 235 miles since May, today was the day my friends and I ran 13.1 miles in the Rochester Half Marathon. Above, Hannah is a friend from high school, Audrey is a friend from church who is a grad student at Roberts, and Meagan is my RA this year. We had a great day for a race - about 60 degrees with a cool breeze. Over 2000 runners participated this year!

Here is me at mile 5! My parents and older sister, Amy, came to cheer me on - these pictures are from them. The first 5 miles went by pretty fast!

I'm in the maroon about to cross the finish line. I started cheering because they had just announced my name!

Crossing the finish line! Note the time to the left - 2:31:32, just a minute and a half over my goal! The last mile was the hardest!

Hannah and I at the end - what an accomplishment!

Roberts Ladies celebrating our 13.1 miles! What a fun experience and a great way to build relationships throughout all of our training!

Saturdays are for Sleeping

Every once in a while I have a Saturday morning where I don't even have to set my alarm. I can just sleep until my body naturally wakes up - love those days! Today was one of those, and it was wonderful. I don't even know what time I eventually woke up, and it didn't matter because I had no set morning plans!

I got up somewhere between 9 and 10. Then I made a good breakfast of eggs and toast - got to get my protein in for the race! I showered, and headed down the road to the farmer's market to get a cucumber for tonight's salad. Then I went to Family Video to get Toy Story 2. They are playing Toy Story 3 on campus during Homecoming, so my friends and I are watching 1 and 2 to prepare. Then I ran another errand before coming back to the townhouse. My roommates are all gone for the day, and my family isn't coming until around 3, so I have the afternoon to myself.

What a relaxing day! It's always nice to not have to start the day with a beeping alarm clock.

Roberts' Soccer

Tonight was the kickoff game for the soccer season at Roberts! Our guys played Messiah College and there was quite a crowd. There was free popcorn, cheering fans, and fireworks after the game. The guys lost 0-3, but it was fun to see them playing again.

Three years ago, the kickoff game was my freshman floor activity. New friendships formed over the free popcorn and facepaint.

Hopefully I will be able to make it to a couple more games this season. Let's go Raiders!

Disciplined

This morning was the last day of my training. I have successfully ran over 235 miles in preparation for the half marathon on Sunday! In addition to running, I have biked, rollerbladed, lifted weights, and swam. I started thinking about this half marathon back in the middle of March, and began running 2-3 miles a few days a week. In the middle of May I began working out 6 days a week and have been faithful throughout the summer, increasing my miles.

The one word that comes to my mind as I run is discipline. I have become very disciplined over the past 6 months, following my training schedule, getting up early at times, and making time to run. It has been quite the commitment, but something I made a priority and took the time to do. It definitely helped knowing others were training too - I had running buddies and friends to keep me accountable. Having the training schedule was also another help. It allowed me to make my workouts part of my daily routine.

How similar is this to the Christian life? We must become disciplined in order to grow in Him. We need to make spending time with Him part of our regular routine. It's good to have other believers come along beside us to keep us accountable and celebrate our successes. There are 1550 people running in the half marathon on Sunday - I am going to be part of something huge! We have all trained in different ways, but we all have the same end goal. In the Christian life, we all learn and grow differently, but we have the same end goal - living a life for Christ and spending eternity with Him.

Although you may not be joining me for those 13.1 miles on Sunday, I challenge you to become disciplined with your time with the Lord!

Back to Work

It was back to work today. I am working 2 jobs this year - one old and one new. I am working in the Human Resources Department on campus as an office assistant just like I did last year. I process applications, file paperwork, and create the Bulletin. The Bulletin is an online newsletter that goes out to faculty and staff each week. It's a creative way to send announcements, updates, and news. I enjoy creating that each week. I also enjoy the ladies that I work with in the HR department, and I'm looking forward to this year with them.

My second job is something I have not done before - grant writing. I will be working with a professor in the business department to write maybe 2 grants. I am interested in grant writing after college, and it's part of what I am doing for my internship in the spring. Additionally, I will be getting class credit for the work I do. For one of my classes we get to pick a topic we want to learn more about and complete tasks to accomplish that goal. I am going to learn more about grant writing by shadowing people, reading about it, and having hands-on experience through my job. It will be a semester of learning and possibly getting some money for a not-for-profit venture!

I will be working 10 hours a week, which is more than I have done in past semesters. It will keep me busy, but I'm looking forward to what I will experience and learn.

A Garden of Friends

I just re-read another book - The Friendship of Women by Dee Brestin. I received this book 2 years ago for Christmas, and loved it when I read it then and apprecited reading it the second time around!

The point I related to most in the book was introduced in the first chapter. The author compares friendships to flowers, pointing out that some are annual and some are perennial. Annual flowers bloom for a year then don't come back, whereas perennials come back year after year. There are friends in life who are only part of your life for a season, and some who come back year after year.

Coming to college, I have definitely seen that be the case. Sometimes you are only friends with someone for the time you are in class together. I was friends with girls freshman year who I don't talk to any more, but they were the ones I made memories with for that part of my life. Since I went to a small school 1-12 grade, I was used to always having the same friends. The concept of annual friends was new to me, and it was hard to see friendships die. However, I have realized that is part of life, and they are still healthy friendships.

I am thankful for my garden of friends - the handful of perennials that the Lord has blessed me with year after year, and the annuals who have come and gone, sharing in my life for just a moment.

Another New Friend

Back in July, I posted about meeting 3 New People and shared about my new friend, Rachel. Later in July I met Audrey. She was at church and had asked about activities for young adults. My friend, Jayce, was talking to her and found out she went to Roberts and decided she had to meet me! He introduced us and we started talking, hitting it off right away. She is a grad student studying social work at Roberts and lives not too far from campus. Eventually, the fact that I had to run 6 miles that afternoon came up, and Audrey was like, "I'll run it with you!" I was shocked because not just anyone will run 6 miles with you. We swapped contact information and decided we would make plans to run later that evening. It ended up she had dinner plans that night she forgot about, so I ran by myself. Well, before I even saw Audrey a second time she had signed up for the half marathon!

Since then, we have run many miles together before church, gone out to lunch, shared ridiculous moments of our lives while enjoying Jitter's, and even dominated at Kan Jam at a friend's BBQ. Audrey is a fun new friend, and I am looking forward to getting to know her more throughout the year. We are thankful that Jayce introduced us that one Sunday!

Baseball Game

I can cross another activity off my list - I went to a baseball game last night! Roberts organized a trip to the Rochester Red Wings game. However, it had been raining that afternoon, so our seats were all wet, and the game was delayed by almost an hour! It did stop raining, and we moved to sit higher up under an overhang where it was dry. The Red Wings lost 1-4, but there where some pretty great catches.

After the game there were some fireworks! I was not too impressed with them though - they were basically big firecrackers, but it was still a fun way to end the game.

Now I only have 8 items left on my list to accomplish before the end of 2010!

Friends in Buffalo

Yesterday I went to visit 2 friends from high school over in Buffalo. Above is Hannah, Danielle, and myself. Hannah goes to Houghton College, but is student teaching in Buffalo this semester. Danielle goes to Canisius College and will graduate in December.

I headed out after class, and Hannah and I ran our 5 miles at a park by her - it was such a hot day! We made our time by 9 seconds - we are definitely ready for this half marathon! Then we grabbed dinner before heading over to Canisius to see Danielle. It was fun to be able to see where they will be living this semester and to spend time with them before we all get busy with school work!

5 Meal Plan

In most dorms on campus, students are required to get the 20 meal plan - a meal in Garlock everytime it's open. However, in the townhouses, you have the option of getting a 5 meal plan - only eating 5 meals a week in the dining hall. That is what I am doing this year. I went grocery shopping and made food for myself all summer, so I decided to continue that for the school year.

Yesterday was the first day that I ate in Garlock - and I'm glad I won't be making a habbit of it this year. I had a terrible stomach ache while I was trying to sleep last night, and I think it resulted from eating 2 meals in Garlock.

I have other friends who do not have the full meal plan, so it will be fun to make meals with them or go out to eat on occasion.

A Procrastinating Perfectionist

Last night at Bible Study, we talked about roadblocks that get in the way of success. One section mentioned that perfectionists tend to procrastinate. I usually consider myself a perfection, but I am in no way a procrastinator! I had to think about the idea for a minute before I could relate to it. Our book says, "The perfectionist often procrastinates from undertaking projects because he anticipates the possibility of failure or the inevitability of falling short of perfection."

Two years ago at a leaders meeting for SIFE, we were discussing our projects and goals we had made for them. The project I had worked on exceeded our goal, and we celebrated that fact. However, it got me thinking about my own life - I was not in the habbit of creating goals. I realized it was because I was scared of not accomplishing what I set out to do. It was either meet the goal or fail. However, I failed to realize there is a middle ground that must be considered. Even if the goal is not accomplished, the steps made to attempt the goal were productive - it's not a complete failure because if you gave it a try you accomplished something.

I now have a list of over 50 goals. I no longer want to be a procrastinator just thinking about activities I want to accomplish - it's time to start thinking about doing them! The perfectionist in me wants to accomplish every single one of the items on my list. However, I must realize, I am not a failure if I am not able to complete the list, but I should be thankful for the incentive it gave me to get out there and try new things, meet new people, and create new memories.