My life [annotated]

Done! Goodbye Duke! Forever! (No, really I promise) #DoubleDukie

Sun, 12 May 2013 13:01:43 -0400

Done! Goodbye Duke! Forever! (No, really I promise) #DoubleDukie

Sooo grateful @jankoing and @glh715 sent me an Arrested...

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:47:29 -0400

Sooo grateful @jankoing and @glh715 sent me an Arrested Development care package. Really put a smile on my face!

A Real Life Miracle

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:01:29 -0400

I had a miracle happen to me and I want to publicly testify to the goodness of God so here I go:

On Saturday I was driving up to Charlottesville when I suddenly lost control of my car (don’t remember what happened). My car flew off the road and was apparently 50 ft in the air at one point. Then it proceeded to land and flip over 4 times in the median as it rolled down the hill. I don’t remember much, but I do remember being upside down. Apparently as all of this was happening a truck driver driving an 18-wheeler was headed my way and my car was heading towards the opposing traffic. She stopped her truck in time, and used her truck to block cars from hitting mine. When I came to, this truck driver was the first person I saw. She was a registered nurse who took up driving tractor trailers in her spare time and she happened to be in town just for the weekend from Arizona. What are the chances? Lovely coincidence? No, it was God’s grace.

She stayed with me, taking care of my bloody nose and called my mom to tell her what happened. Then along came another man who was a medic but was on his day off when he saw the accident. He was able to stabilize my head and neck while we waited for the ambulance. Another coincidence? No, again, God’s grace. They told me not to move my head which it would have been impossible to do anyways because the roof was caved in, right next to my head. A few more inches and it would have been right where my head was. Another evidence of God’s grace. When the ambulance came and they pulled me out of the car and put me on the backboard, I saw my car for the first time and started crying. The whole top was smashed in, there was glass everywhere, the windshield was completely obliterated and yet I was still alive, and could feel all of my fingers and toes.

The ambulance took me to UVA hospital and during the ride I got scared because I felt really out of it. My thoughts were foggy and my head and neck were in excruciating pain. And yet, I still knew that I could feel all of my fingers and toes. Once at the hospital (after cutting off all of my clothes, including my second favorite pair of jeans and a jacket that I loved), the ran several tests including some CT scans and they all came back normal. Another evidence of grace: I was originally on my way to meet my friends Gillet and Kristian and they met me at the hospital and hung out with my for a couple of hours while we waited for my parents to come. I don’t know if I could ever put into words what you two being there meant to me. You two are amazing. Every doctor and nurse told me how “lucky” I was to even be alive, let alone uninjured for the most part. I escaped only with a minor traumatic brain injury (severe concussion) so if I’m slow to respond to email, it’s because I’m resting my brain :)

But let me tell you, I’m not lucky and I didn’t survive this because I’m a “good person”. Quite the opposite, I’m a sinner, saved by grace and the Lord who had saved my soul previously, chose Saturday to save my physical life as well. If Saturday had turned out completely differently and I had tragically died, I know for a fact that I would have been standing face to face with Jesus in heaven. I’m writing this to remind all of us that yes bad things happen all of the time to people we love and it’s extremely hard to understand, sometimes, more often than not, good things happen to people too. The same good God who could have in His goodness chosen to end my life that day, is the same God who for some reason, unbeknownst to me, chose to spare it.

So I want to shout it from the mountaintops. On Saturday, I could have died, but by God’s mercy, He protected me and I didn’t. This is a straight up miracle, there’s no other way to paint it. Too many things went “right” for this to be “by chance”. I don’t know why this happened but I definitely want to use this incident as an opportunity to tell people about the God I love and His mercies that are new every morning. Most people will go through life without ever having a near-death experience (which is good!) but God loves you just as much and is fighting for you just as much as he did for me on Saturday.

On a final note, I have been completely overwhelmed and humbled by the love my friends have shown me through this ordeal and I will be forever grateful to you all :)

Hahaha! Post one image of Justin Timberlake and everyone goes crazy. Love it. Have you listened to the new song?

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 13:07:35 -0500

Sorry for the late reply. I have :) I think it’s growing on me…

Boathouse on the Georgetown waterfront (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 28 May 2012 11:11:13 -0400

Boathouse on the Georgetown waterfront (Taken with instagram)

"You need that boy like a bowling ball dropped on you head, which means not at all. You’ve got..."

Thu, 03 May 2012 21:18:00 -0400

“You need that boy like a bowling ball dropped on you head, which means not at all. You’ve got too much to give, to live, to waste your time on him.”

- Superchic[k], “Bowling Ball”

Great advice on this lovely Thursday night.

I just sat and watched all 4 episodes of "Scandal"

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:01:31 -0400

sophiefatale:

And Olivia Pope is just…

It’s true. One of the best shows on TV right now. I know I have finals to study for but I just couldn’t help myself. #TeamFitzlivia

25 things to do in New England this summer under $25

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:01:09 -0400

25 things to do in New England this summer under $25:

Looks like I’m going to need to work my way through this list because I found out I’m going to be working in New England this summer! #InternshipSwag

theclearlydope: Soon… Tomorrow officially begins my birthday...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:59:41 -0400

theclearlydope:

Soon…

Tomorrow officially begins my birthday month!

GPOY: Last night we had a birthday party for everyone whose...

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:24:00 -0400

GPOY: Last night we had a birthday party for everyone whose birthday was in the summer at the rollerskating rink. This time I only fell once [hooray!]. It was a costume party I went dressed as a pre-teen at a sleepover. You can’t see it, but I even wore my retainer for the occasion.

Highlights from Last Day of Classes (LDOC) click on pictures to...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:30:28 -0400

Highlights from Last Day of Classes (LDOC) click on pictures to zoom

From top left:

Free cotton candy
Free massages
Silent disco dance party (sooooo fun! best part by far. I’ll post a video later.)
Bouncy slide!
Make-your-own tie-dye Duke shirt
Free sand art
FREE CHIPOTLE!!! (I was first in line… of course)
The random saxophonist who serenaded us on the Plaza
Wristbands
Fun on the moon bounce

I would have to say this was the best LDOC yet. I’ve been to 5 so I’m no novice. There was so much stuff to do and the dance party was beyond fun! I missed my friends hard core, but instead of longing for the old days, I wished that they could have experienced LDOC the way it was today, because it was that good. And I didn’t even make it to the concert.

During my Latin Dance final, one of the couples did a rumba to...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:31:05 -0400

During my Latin Dance final, one of the couples did a rumba to this song and I almost started crying. I’m not quite sure why, other than I really really love this song and its so sad. Reading week/ finals is making me emotional.

Last day of Latin Dance class (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:05:07 -0400

Last day of Latin Dance class (Taken with instagram)

You are now standing in the presence of royalty. Last weekend,...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:49:33 -0400

You are now standing in the presence of royalty.

Last weekend, we had grad student prom for our program and I won freshman queen! I’m posting this here for a few reasons:

For posterity; one day I want my kids to read this blog and be impressed by how cool their mom is and how they must bow down and listen to all I say because I’m way cooler than them. [I’ve already planned to have this conversation with them as soon as my oldest turns 2. No use in letting her go through life thinking I’m uncool.]
To remind myself how much fun I had a few days ago even though now I am wallowing in mountains of work and drowning in my own tears.
To further demonstrate my vanity.
To make it impossible to win next year since no one would want to vote for that jerk that blogged about her win of a joke award.
To stick it to Jamie, the girl I was runner-up to in high school in more than one beauty/ popularity contest. Look at me now, Jamie!
To have photographic evidence that the next time I say: I never win anything! I’m lying.

Did I mention, I never win anything?

I needed a hair tie to put my hair up and I found a stick on the...

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:26:45 -0400

I needed a hair tie to put my hair up and I found a stick on the ground and it works perfectly! My organic, biodegradable hair accessory definitely makes up for that fact that I drove to school today instead of taking the bus… right?

Something Truly Amazing

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:00:05 -0400

My friend Julie is pregnant, but that’s not even the most amazing part. On Saturday, due to a great idea by one of my friends, we had a virtual baby shower for her! With the help of Google hangouts we had a surprise 10-way video chat with Julie [it was a surprise to her, not us]. Two of our friends who were in on the surprise happened to be visiting Julie for the weekend which was helpful in setting up the surprise and getting Julie online. Overall we had “attendees” from San Francisco, CA [she had to get up super early because of her time zone… what a saint :)], Texas, New York City, Washington DC, North Carolina, Boston, MA and someone even video-chatted from her car driving on the road in Florida [she wasn’t the one driving though. We’re a safe bunch. The group would never allow ourselves to chat with someone who was videochatting while driving]!

It was great seeing technology bring us all together to share our joy and excitement for the impending birth of Julie’s baby. Just like any baby shower we had games and presents, but unfortunately, no food. Next time we do a virtual baby shower we should all cook the same food and eat it at the same time. We also had a website where we wrote well wishes for Julie and even suggested names for her baby. My personal favorite name was Meryl because then the baby would be Meryl Farrell! Pretty nice huh? It rhymes and she’d be named after the GREATEST ACTRESS ALIVE [said in your best Lil’ Wayne voice].

We gave Julie two presents, one was a book of prayers we had all written for baby Meryl* and the other was a framed alphabet collage where each of us decorated two letters and mailed them to one of our friends who assembled them all into a beautiful framed piece of art. Even still days later, I’m still talking about how awesome it was to see some of my best friends from college all together “in one place”. Oh technology, sometimes you can be pretty helpful [ok just kidding, it’s always helpful].

Here’s all of us posing for the camera!

*her name will most likely [unfortunately] not be this

Photos courtesy of Davina and Ashleigh

My Inner Hipster

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:00:06 -0400

I wouldn’t consider myself a hipster by any means but I’ve lately realized just a few instances in which I prided myself in liking things other people didn’t and now that it’s popular I am no longer fan.

1. I used to be OBSESSSED with Adele my senior year of college which was the year she won Best New Artist at the Grammys. I downloaded her album 19 immediately and listened to it on a continuous loop for 4 months [which is usually when my music ADD makes me switch to another artist/ song]. When her album, 21 came out and everyone loved it, I refused to download it because everyone had discovered her. Still to this day, even though Adele is just as talented, if not more now than she was 3 years ago, I do not have her album and refuse to gush about her with everyone else [because true inner hipsters leave the room when mainstream topics come up].

2. I also used to really love Zooey Deschanel. I even declared my love here on my blog because she was hilarious in Failure to Launch back in 2006. Every time she came on the screen of whatever tv show or movie I was watching, I would screech, I LOVE HER! Well guess what, now that everyone else loves her because of her new show, New Girl, I refuse to join in on the chorus of I LOVE HER’s. In fact, I even refuse to watch her show.

3. And finally, I fear that soon my love of Arrested Development might go the way of my previous two examples. Though the chances are low because my love is so strong. But I definitely get upset when people rave about how much they love the show that they didn’t start watching until it was on Hulu. Where were you all when the ratings were struggling and my favorite show of all time was canceled after only 2 1/2 seasons? WHERE WERE YOU THEN???? I’m happy to welcome new people to the fandom, but it’s definitely bittersweet. I’m happy you like it now, but you’re 6 years too late. So maybe this situation is actually the opposite of the first two. If everyone had like AD at the same time as me, maybe it wouldn’t even be on this list and it would still be on tv.

This inner ~~hipstertude~~ selfishness is probably all just because I am first-born child who can’t share.

Free weekends, where did you go? :(

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:29:22 -0400

GPOY After rollerskating last night, I woke up this morning with...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 10:32:00 -0400

GPOY

After rollerskating last night, I woke up this morning with a banging headache and an aching body. If I had amnesia, I would have thought that I drank and raged pretty hard last night. But no, I was completely sober. I guess falling down 9 1/2 times has the same effects on my body as a night of hard drinking.

I just got back from a rollerskating party [so fun!] and while...

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:54:48 -0400

I just got back from a rollerskating party [so fun!] and while there I learned a few things about life and myself [the first being that I’m definitely going back there for my birthday]:

Though I would usually consider myself risk-averse, I took a lot of risks tonight. I was determined to master the basic skating skills I used to know. This caused me to fall down 9 1/2 times. The 1/2 time was when I ran into a wall but didn’t fall down.
I like setting goals for myself and achieving them. Tonight’s goals: ~~don’t fall down~~, do a forward cross-over turn, be able to skate while squatting and skate backwards
I LOVE encouraging and teaching people. My friend, Nicole, had never skated before but with a little encouragement, she was flying around that rink. She never fell. Her teacher did, but you can’t get a refund for a free lesson!
I love being black but the fact that there will be no physical evidence of the bruises I KNOW are developing, is sad. No battle scars to show off. And I’m pretty sure I bruised my tailbone. [OMG I am so sore!!! :( ]

*I know my clothes look crazy but I promise other people were also dressed wacky too. I just happen to be standing with the normally dressed people.