this weekend wraps up that time of year where vitamin c gets some air time on the radio and students discover accounting abilities they never knew they had when it comes to counting graduation money and gifts.

well i've done it. graduated college. surprisingly enough that's not what makes me feel old right now: moreso it's that everyone seems to be in a rush to get married. MARRIED. WE ARE ONLY 22 AND HAVE THE REST OF OUR LIVES FOR MARRIAGE. it's such a southern christian thing to get married right out of college...the ol' Liberty University "ring before spring" mentality rings true all over. my thought process is that we have spent out entire lives that we can remember on a school schedule. now we have the chance to go out and experience some things and live a little. not downing marriage and being able to do those things with your spouse, but what about the freedom of singleness that allows you to just go. right now i have a goal to befriend someone who lives in another country. then i can go visit them and they can visit me. it's fun to introduce your friend visiting from Europe, right?

but i'll tell you what it is that causes so many people (i'm talking mostly about Christ-followers right now) to want to get married asap--sex. one of my engaged roommates (that's right, there's more than one) will be cuddling or whatever on our sofa and you can tell they are just waiting to have sex. then on the next sofa is my other (newly) engaged roommate and her fiance and all cozy talking about wedding stuff then there's the third sofa which sits me. and my laptop. i realize how lame i look and go find my other single roommate.

it's not good for me to dwell on these things. this thing is silly but i guess it satisfies my subconcious desire to just put something out there that my friends dont' know about yet random people may stumble upon. i feel like i just opened myself up for stalking--this is not an invitation. i'm changing my picture now.

hola. (it's spanish...i now like to translate what i can since my pretty roomie started dating emilio the mexican (he's really colombian, but ya know--tomato/tomatoes)) boy have the past months been eventful!

let's see. november: okay....i'm trying to think and probably the most exciting thing about november was thanksgiving break! got to go home, see family, some extended family, spent black friday shopping w/ my favorite korean, worked a few days to reimburse myself for the previously mentioned shopping...

december: exam week! i am proud to announce that by the grace of God i managed to do about a grade and a half better than i predicted in every class! (except speech, i dominated that class from the beginning--and my fellow classmates realized that one can give entertaining speeches that don't involve praising alcohol or campaigning to lower the drinking age--so double success!) then i went home for 2.5 weeks where i worked 14 days in a row! but i was more than glad to do it b/c it meant i could put more thought into my gift-giving, rather than working off a jobless college student bank account. my other pretty roomie whom i most-affectionately call lice-face was a debutante, and we had a blast bustin our moves on the dance floor (the classics: raising the roof, the electric slide, the sprinkler, ryan reedy even busted out the funky chicken!);

this was my first new years celebration outside of lynchburg, va! it was fantastic just hanging out w/ some fellow gamecocks in cola-town.

then i started off 2006 the best way possible: Praising the LORD!
church on the 1st, then on the 2nd i headed to Nashvegas, TN for Passion 06, where 18,000 college students completely sold out the Gaylord Arena for 4 days just worshiping God and praising His holy and great name! the day after i came home, i went to Windy Gap, a young life camp in NC for leader weekend, hanging out w/ friends, learning new things, getting to know the new leaders--a great time full of great fellowship with great people!

january continued w/ the start of classes, which are alright--altho i still don't see the point of having to take 2 semesters of econ! micro was confusing enough, and now i have to try and learn macro?! i have a feeling that come summer break i will be just as clueless about economics as i was when i was 5.

lice-face's friends from home started a new church here, Midtown, i went to their monthly service last weekend, and can't wait to get involved in one of their weekly "life groups"

okay, mr. xanga--that about catches you up in a nutshell. the screen is now hard to read b/c i took off my glasses and they are on the other side of the room and i am too lazy to go over there and get them. the bluriness is giving me a headache! goodnight :)

tonight i discovered something new about myself--i love it when this happens!

okay...ready for the big news?!

I am fully capable of cooking a real meal! don't worry, i will not be abandoning my velveeta mac-n-cheese (NOT from the box!) but i now am more confident in my abilities to explore beyond this and cake-building. (i'm very good at building cakes!)

here's how it went down: yesterday during accounting i was very excited about tonight. i didn't have ANY committments to tend to. AND, i was going to spend it hanging out w/ some awesome girlfriends whom unfortunately i have not seen nearly enough of this year! i didn't know what we were going to do, and i didn't care either, at least i'd be in their splendid company.
then it hit me.
i wanted to cook.
now, i've never cooked anything before in my life (besides the above mentioned mac-n-cheese and cakes and slice-n-bake cookies, you get the idea). i suddenly decided i wanted to try my hand at a real home cooked meal. so i went to good ol' publix and got me a london broil (roast) and other stuff. it marinated for a good 24 hours and today i slaved away at our meal:

-london broil
-corn
-snaps
-mac-n-cheese (of course!)
-jello/coolwhip dessert i had never made before but turned out splendidly and looked great in our fun martini glasses!

but the best part was hanging out w/ the girls, getting boy updates, and watching the Goonies b/c KC had never seen it! i am priviledged to have been able to be a part of that "right of passage" so to speak.

i love cooking for people. i'm gonna do it more often. you are most definitely invited!