Honey, I'm home!

So… I want to apologize in advance if this is really, really long. I figure I’ve been gone long enough that I probably owe you guys something near a novella, but I don’t know that I can write that much…

I’m back! I want to apologize for disappearing for… Well, for part of July and the entire month of August. Here’s my explanation. On July 27, the first post I missed in this obnoxiously long streak, I was working a show, packing up my entire life (moving out of the residence hall) and packing for my first ever international trip/flight. I began when I woke up and didn’t even sleep with the exception of two hours once I got on the plane on Saturday. The next Friday, I was in Honduras with absolutely no internet connection. I kind of warned you guys about that ahead of time. The next, I had just flown home and was retrieving my friend from the airport, visiting with my family (without ever actually going home; we stayed in a hotel), and getting ready to return to school, which I did the next morning. The next Friday, the 17^th, I was in the middle of RA training, where we were lucky to have time to breathe, let alone write. And finally, the 24^th, I was working to get to know my residents and have everything set up for the new semester and, to be honest, I was beyond stressed and forgot. So… That’s kind of my rundown.

Now for something a bit more fun. J I’ve been dying to post more about Honduras; I just haven’t been able to do so, so I’m going to now. I hope that’s okay.  If not, you can skip past it. This trip was probably one of the most enlightening and amazing experiences of my life, and I have already (literally) dreamt of going back. It’s absolutely beautiful, and the culture amazed me. I made a decision before I arrived that I was not going to post a single Facebook status while I was on Honduran soil, and I kept it. But I did keep a list of statuses. If you want to see them, they’re in my personal blog (link in the left side doobly-doo). I won’t make you hear that now. Below are a small sampling of the photos I took while I was there.

This is La Esperanza, Intibuca, Honduras. It’s where I lived for the two weeks I was there. Isn’t it beautiful?

And these are the absolutely beautiful people I spent my time with. I’m in the back in the green shirt. Javier (the one I went to visit) is in tan stripes in the back right.

La Esperanza is in the mountains. I had never seen mountains before, so my mind was completely blown.

Overall, I could spend an entire post just telling stories, and if you guys want to hear more about it, I definitely will, but that’s really up to you. In modern life, I’m beyond stressed. I’m taking more credit hours than I ever have before, I’m working two new jobs, and I never see my friends. But on a MASSIVE positive, the director asked me during our last show if I wanted to design costumes for the first show of the fall, so I’m doing that, and I love it! I need to cave and just declare myself a theatre major because that’s where I’m happiest. Yesterday, I went to take measurements, and it was literally the happiest I’ve been all week.

Anyway, I’m going to call it quits for now because I am going to go play my favorite board game. I look forward to getting caught up on what’s happening with you guys! Bye!

Excuse my lameness

Happy almost end of the week everyone! I hope all of your week has gone well. I'm currently writing this from the front desk of my residence hall, because I got the job, and I kind of really like it. I mean, I get to work on homework, people watch and get paid. If that's not a score of a job for a college student than I don't know what is.

So far this week I've started my classes, and love them. Especially my MWF classes, not just because of what the cover: Oral Communication & Reporting for the Media, but because of how the professor's conduct the classes and how their teaching styles are already making themselves apparent and it's a very good thing.

Another good thing is that my personal life isn't too shabby, but I've jokingly told my friend's that my APA handbook, MLA handbook and another form of academia is going to be my boyfriend this year. I tried and failed at making that a reality last year because I actually found a real boyfriend, but I digress. Success is in the cards for this girl this year!

I think that that's about all for now guys. I hope everyone's week/end goes well. DFTBA, and may your endeavor's be fruitful!

Nicole

P.S Maybe Linnea will grace us with her presence this week. I'll bug her til she does.

:D

College Student with an Empty Semester

Hey guys! I almost forgot to post today! 

Really, there's not much to report on. As a college student with an empty semester, my days are horribly boring. I plan on brushing up on some math during this free semester, as well as transferring to another school (yay!). So far, the only things that have filled my days have been drawing, reading and playing video games. Oh, and my fiance and I began watching Breaking Bad. And I am now totally obsessed with the show. *sigh*

With all this free time, my drawing has become a sort of obsession. I'm currently working on a Doctor Who fan art in honor of this week's season seven premiere (I AM SO EXCITED!). It looks pretty awesome so far! 

I hope all of your semesters are great. Don't stress too much! Enjoy learning more! And for those of you not in school, I hope the rest of your year is just as great and stress-free! And to all of you: Don't forget to have fun no matter what you're doing!

See y'all next Tuesday! 

DFTBA

Shelby W.

I almost forgot...

Hello lovelies,

So school for Linnea and I starts next week. I'm actually quite excited, especially since my mile long to-do list has just downsized to something more of a book. So that has been great for my anxiety levels, and I've spoken to two of my professors for the semester and they have assured me that the three classes that I'm in with them are going to be great. So, by default this year shall be great too. That, ladies and Craig, is how teaching is done right.

I'm so happy that this summer is ending. I'm not even going to lie you guys. Not to be dramatic or anything, but it was probably one of the longest summers of my life. Don't get me wrong, it had it's ups and downs but the fact that the halls are filling up and friend's are returning from far away places and the Back to School aisles are returning in shops every where, makes me a very happy Nicole.
On that note, it's almost midnight here, and I need to go to bed so that I can get my sleep schedule set for next week.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and DFTBA

Nicole

Stormy Weather

Hey everyone! It's Tuesday again! 

Lately, Las Vegas has been home to loads of storm clouds and rain. While I love rain, I wish it would travel east to all the central-American states that are in desperate need of precipitation. However, I can't say that I'm not enjoying the rain and clouds (despite the horrid amount of humidity). My Instagram is full of cloud photos (both storm clouds and white, puffy clouds) such as this one:

But I'm not complaining at all. It's nice to have some rain in the desert...

Other than the storm clouds moving in, I have an update regarding my fiance's job. He, officially, began working last week and is really enjoying it. I'm very proud of him! <3

I'm longing to push out of this terrible rut I've been in with regards to writing. My brainstorming is coming along nicely, but I always seem to hit a snag in certain areas of the story. Quite frustrating... 

Well, that's all I feel like sharing today... 

See ya next Tuesday!

DFTBA!

Shelby W. 

 

           Has le Magic on the brain

  So I have had a fun couple of days. My mom came over yesterday and today and we chilled for a bit which is always awesome! And this is where the title comes in by the way. She was hanging out on my couch playing some Super Mario Bros Wii while I sorted my Magic the Gathering cards XD Magic has been all I have been able to think about for a while now. I am trying to get my little cousin into it and she likes it but it's not the first thing she thinks about doing. Which sucks sometimes because she is the only person I can play with save for my brother. He said he was down to play but we haven't got around to it yet haha. Thats pretty much all life has been thus far not including stressful stuff I don't really wish to go into. So I will sign off here.

Have fun, be safe, be happy, and DFTBA,
Craig

 

Happiness is a slow progression, but it's not an impossible goal.

Hey guys,
It's been a very long week, and I'm SO glad that it's almost over. How about you guys? I hope everyone is doing well.
Yesterday, I went with the yearbook staff at my school to the book publisher's that are doing are book and I got to see my name in several bylines and on beautifully printed paper about to be bound. It was beautiful, and I can't wait to have my own copy. :)
Last night I also finally got my new car, and my mom, being the amazing woman that she is gave me a full tank of gas because I'm currently too poor to get some on my own until next week. All I need is to get my car legal before school starts, buy a few more things for school and I'm good to go.

I'm so excited for what the next few weeks are going to hold.

Have a great week everyone, that's all I've got for now.

DFTBA

Bandit and Teddy: The Ultimate Bromance

Hey everyone! It's Tuesday! And have I got a story for you.

We have two dogs... Teddy, who is about 5 or 6. He's an adorably timid, brown Border Collie. Next up is the overprotective, 4 year old Rottweiler/Australian Shepherd mix Bandit (I posted a picture of him during our photo week). 

They're inseparable. Ever since we got Bandit, they've been buddies. It's basically a bromance. They fight like brothers. They take care of one another. It's cute.

So this morning, my mom was awoken by Bandit at 5am. He was freaking out, trying to get her attention about something. He led her to the back door and out into the backyard. Not understanding what he wanted her to see, my mom just stood out there for a while. He kept running over to the side of the yard toward one of our side gates. When she went over, she didn't see anything... All this time, Teddy isn't around. So Bandit leads my mom back into the house to the front door. Teddy normally sleeps against the front door on the rug, but he wasn't there. My mom opens the door to find nothing, but Bandit's still going nuts. He leads her back outside and to the gate. This time, she sees Teddy out in our driveway, begging to be let inside. 

We have no clue how he got out, or how long he was out there, but Bandit saved the day, proving the seriousness of his bromance with Teddy. Teddy's fine, if you were wondering... he's acting like his normal self. Now I guess we're gonna have to figure out how he got out and fix that problem. 

We're lucky that Bandit is as overprotective of his family as he is, otherwise he might not have known that Teddy was gone. 

 Bandit and Teddy

Have a great week everyone! 

DFTBA!

Shelby W.

Hahaha We where not really good at this last week.


Still trying to sort my problems out. I am gaining ground but it still has a hopeless feeling attached to it, Ya'know? I have pretty much been listening to music and playing games. Trying to have anyway I can really XD. I have been hanging out with my little cousin of course. She is really fun and thats why I forgot my blog last monday. We just had so much fun all thought left me. I will TRY to not let it happen again.

With that i bid you farewell!

Best wishes and DFTBA,
Craig.

*crickets*

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all having a great week. Mine has been pretty good, and today I officially moved in to my housing for the school year. Linnea is still in Honduras, having a great time I'm sure. I really miss her, but as long as she comes back in one piece than I'll be okay.

I don't really have very much to report this week guys. I'm sorry.

Next week there should be more to say.

I hope everyone has a great week and weekend.

DFTBA

Nicole

I missed my day!!!

Nooo! Im super sorry guys, life just got in the way and i totally spaced!

Life hasnt been treating me too well lately, but im pulling through.

I didnt even do my own short story challenge!!! Gah

I need more time, well, more productive time.

Promising next week will be sooo amazing haha

Ps im changing the date on this so it goes on wednesday, only because im OCD lol

The story kept going...

So this week I decided to try writing a story according to Rachel's specifications in one of her posts. In the comments, we came up with the following story elements: A beach, fate and something hidden. 

In the end, I never got around to writing it over the weekend, so I wrote it today... And let's just say the story went in a direction that calls for more...well...more story. I wanted to put it into the body of this post, but I kind of feel it's too long to post on our little blog. So, I'm gonna give the link to a Google Doc with the beginning of the story (I haven't went any further than the two pages that I wrote today). 

While the story is pretty cliché, I still enjoyed writing it. Along with the main character, I wrote about her dog as well. Ever since my last writing class, I've found that I write animals quite well (I even got compliments from my professor and classmates about the Husky I wrote in one of my stories for class). 

So, here's the link to my story "Beach Discovery."

Well, hope you enjoy my story... and if you dislike it, that's fine too. Any helpful critique is welcome, and I am usually quite good at not being a diva when it comes to my writing. :P 

See you next Tuesday! 

DFTBA!

OH! 

P.S. Hopefully in a few weeks my fiance and I will be exploring a ghost town with my aunt and 6 year old cousin. In Nevada, we have a lot of ghost towns, and I love photographing them. If we do end up going, I'll be sure and write a blog post about the experience and post some photographs as well!

Auuuguuuussstttt!

It's finally August!  The Back to School aisle's are popping up in stores every where, the smell of new pencils and fresh erasers is thick in the air and my excitement is through the flipping roof.This whole summer has felt like a ridiculously long session of drawing and quartering and I'm so happy that the pain is finally drawing to a close.
I've got my text books, my notebooks, my pens and almost everything else necessary for school to start, but everything else will be taken care of after payday this month. The only difficult thing about this next year is the fact that I have to see my ex and his new girlfriend. While I'm happy for them and stuff I really hope that they don't start flaunting their happiness in my face or whatever. But I think that as long as I keep myself distracted and focused on school work then everything will be just fine.
Sorry for that, I needed to rant about that, but I'm bound and determined for this year to go off without a hitch.

My end of the summer song, enjoy.
Happy August to you all, also happy belated Esther Earl day!

DFTBA

Nicole

What is the meaning to life?

I'm pretty sure this post might be late, it's definitely late for Australia anyway. So I'm sorry if it is but to be honest, I really don't know what to write about. I've been trying to figure out a lot of things lately.

I work for my dad, which is awesome, but I want more. I have this whole degree I am not using as much as I want to be. I have this head filled with creative ideas of novels I want to write or poems and short stories I want to get out there. I have plans for my future, dreams and pictures of just how I want it to be. And yet I feel so stagnant. There's so much more to life than what I am doing right now, so many bigger things that I could be tackling.

Is it weird of me to say all of this when I have practically no spare time. Between my full time job, my freelance jobs, my two sports, my gf, and my family... I really don't have time for anything else... or do I? I know this probably isn't the place for me to ponder the meaning to life, and yet here I am. By the looks of it we are all having a slightly off week. I promise a better post next week guys.

Also, I noticed no one really got into the writing idea, but I'm still going to push ahead for next week, so if anyone's still keen on it, check out my post from last week for the info :)