Finals Week

I love finals week. I was so stressed about all of the stuff I had to do for this week last weekend, but now it is all done and I am just relaxing with my friends and getting to spend a lot of time with my friends and Scott before we all go our separate ways for a nice three week break.

Monday of this week I went to a Christmas party with all of the other hall directors at our director of residence life’s house and we had dinner and a gift exchange. It was so much fun to just take a break and laugh with some wonderful people. Monday night and I worked a lot on all of my papers and my radio documentary that was due this week.

Tuesday was a lot of fun – Scott and I had a date day where we went to lunch, then on a long walk and went to the park and the movie store. Then we watched a movie and just hung out until dinner. It was such a nice and relaxing day right in the middle of all of the homework that had to get done. Tuesday night I went to another one of my professor’s houses for a Trinidad reunion party. It was so great to get the cross cultural group back together and laugh about all the good times we had this summer on our trip to Trinidad. I love getting together with this group – we always have a lot of fun. Tuesday night was also the finals breakfast. At the end of each semester there is a finals breakfast where faculty and staff come and serve the students breakfast at 10pm… it is so much fun and a great way to see a lot of people and take a break from the exams and stuff due during finals week. Yesterday I just finished my last paper (woohoo!) and just hung out most of the day. I had a final in the morning, but all I had to do was listen to radio documentaries, which was no big deal. Scott and I hung out a bit in the afternoon, then I spent the whole evening just hanging out with the girls. We laughed a lot and had a great time bonding. I also had the MCB Christmas party last night (most of my friends are on MCB too!) and that was a great time. We had a fun gift exchange and played games for a couple of hours. After that me and some friends went and looked at Christmas lights and came back here to just chat for awhile. Today is another lazy day just like yesterday. I literally have nothing to do today except go and hand in my paper. So, basically I’m just hanging out all day, which is so great. I love finals week because there is just so much time to catch up with people. It seems like it would be stressful, but it is really such a great week.
Anyways, I think that’s about it for now. I’m really excited for Christmas break… lots of family time with my family and Scott’s family and lots of traveling, but it will be an awesome break. I will try and post a couple of times to keep you updated!
Here’s to hanging out and loving finals week,
Mary
Pic: me and Scott at the park during finals week

Serving

So, last weekend was a little stressful, but good overall. There's always a lot to do when it's the last weekend before finals and this was no different than in previous years. On Friday I had a bit of a freak out session as I realized that I had 4 take home finals (three papers and a radio documentary) to do in less than a week! Scott and I had the chance to hang out quite a bit this weekend, though, and he helped me to realize that everything always gets done, and all of this stuff will get done too. (As I'm writing this, I actually have three out of those four things done and am working on the fourth!) Despite having a lot to do, me and the girls I live with had the chance to do some great service this weekend.
Me and the girls got up early Saturday morning to head down to Cincinnati to work at a food pantry/homeless shelter. We drove down there bright and early at 6:30 in the morning and met some of the other girls that went down Friday night to spend the night at Carol's house. We left from Carol's house and worked at the shelter for about 3 hours and it was a really great experience. We had such a good time chatting with the people coming to the pantry and working to help keep it running smoothly. We took the shoppers around and helped them to pick out items because not all of them could read or speak English and weren't sure how much food they were able to receive from the shelter. Some of the girls are social work majors and even got to go around with the shelter's social worker and learn about their processes. We also sorted clothing and books, got a tour of the homeless shelter and talked with a lot of the regular volunteers. It was so neat to have the opportunity to do that and we were blessed by the people there. We took a lot of food down to donate to the shelter and we were so happy to be able to do that. It is amazing how doing something like that can really change my perspective on things. I get frustrated with myself when I complain about little things, then realize that having food and shelter are basic needs that not everyone has and I should be thankful for that. I feel as though we were helped by being there more than we could be of help to the shelter.

After we left there we had lunch at Carol's house and headed back here in the evening. The rest of the weekend most of us just hung out or worked on homework, but we were definitely touched by Satuday and the people we met that day.
At Bluffton there is always a lot of service opportunities and it's a great chance to grow and definitely learn a lot. I am so thankful for those opportunities and was blessed this weekend with the chance to learn and grow so much from our time in Cincinnati.

Here's to serving, and almost being done with the semester,
Mary

pic: all of us at the pantry/shelter

stress!!

Sorry about the major delay in this posting... it was supposed to be up last Thursday and I am just getting around to it. Don't worry though, I'm going to write one both today and tomorrow to catch you up on life at Bluffton!

Last week was pretty stressful. This coming week is finals week, which is awesome. It may sound like it would be stressful, but it really isn't - all that is going on is finals and Christmas parties - there are no classes, no meetings, etc., so it's actually a really awesome week full of time hanging out with friends and just being lazy (and maybe a little bit of studying too!). So, since this week is finals week, that means last week was the last week of classes, which is always a really stressful time. All of the papers and projects are due so everyone is always scrambling around trying to get stuff done. I have no tests during finals week, which is really nice, but I have a lot of papers due. I freaked out at the end of the week last week realizing how much I had to do and wondering how it was all going to get done. Everyone was kind of in that same boat at the end of last week, but luckily this weekend has been nice and productive (I will write more about this weekend in my next post!). It's weird being a senior because there are so many more projects and papers, but very few actual tests (at least in my major) so it's kind of a crazy feeling to feel this switch in things to do. It's nice to feel things winding down, even though I still have a paper and major project to do - I should have plenty of time to do that this week.
One of my close friends has three tests tomorrow, which is just crazy. They are her three hardest classes too, so she's going to be studing like crazy tonight. Most people are on study/homework lockdowns in their room today just to get caught up.
As stressful as it is, I love this time of year on campus because everyone is just getting so pumped for Christmas break. There are Christmas lights and little trees up all over campus as everyone is ready to head home on Friday for a three week break.

Well, on that note, I feel like I should get back to homework.

Here's to stressful weeks and homework (and finals week - the best week ever - being here!!),
Mary

Christmasy Weekend

Well, only about a week and a half left until Christmas break – man, this semester has flown by. I just can’t get over the fact that I am almost in my last semester of college… it’s just crazy.

This weekend was another really great one. Friday night me and my four best friends went to Jill’s house for our annual Christmas gathering. We have done this since freshman year and have a blast every year. We go to Jill’s house, her mom cooks us an awesome dinner, we decorate their tree, have a little gift exchange, then just sit around and laugh all night long. This year was no different in that we had an amazing time. I love these girls so much and we have been through a lot together the past four years – it’s so awesome to be a senior and have great friends that have been there through it all. We had a great time talking about memories and good times over the past four years and were all up late laughing together. I came back to my room on campus to sleep because I am the Hall Director on duty this week, so I couldn’t sleep off campus, but I went back in the morning. We just hung out some more all morning, had lunch at Jill’s, then came back here to get cleaned up for a fun evening.

Saturday night we went to the Dayton Bombers (minor league hockey) game with MCB. There was about 23 people that went and we had such a good time cheering on the team. We were even on the giant screen in the middle of the rink… being on a jumbotron has always been a goal of mine, so that was really great. After we got back Scott and I just hung out for a little bit and relaxed.
Sunday we went to Sunday Morning Worship, then Scott had a Christmas date day all planned out for me. It was such a great time – we made Christmas cookies, delivered them to random people, ate and had great conversation at Common Grounds (the local coffeehouse) and watched “Elf”… one of my favorite Christmas movies. It was a wonderful day of Christmasy things, and getting to spend the day with Scott was great. We’re so busy right now that it was really nice to just get to hang out for a day.

So yeah, needless to say, it was another “best weekend ever.” I’ve had so many of those this entire semester… I love it! Life is really great, and even though it’s busy with finals and end of semester projects, I am surrounded by amazing people at Bluffton and feel so blessed to be here.
Here’s to wonderful weekends and wonderful people,

Mary

Picture: a few of me and the girls at Jill’s house for our Christmas gathering!

Stress!

Well, it is a stressful time of year around here. With only a little over a week left of classes, all of the papers and projects are coming due and everyone is feeling like it's crunch time. I have tons of stuff to do and my to-do list seems to be getting longer. With my PR internship I am writing a newsletter so I've been doing interviews and writing stories like crazy all week - it's definitely made for some late nights, but I am turning a draft in tomorrow, so that's exciting! For homework I have three papers, a documentary, and presentation to do in the next couple of weeks, then it'll be time for Christmas break and I think I will definitely be ready to relax. In the midst of all of the stuff to do, there is still time for fun, though... Me and my roomate have spent a lot of time with our computers together on the futon this week both just writing away - it's always more bearable to do homework with someone else! I'm excited about this weekend, too, because Friday night is Christmas at my friend's house with all my best friends, Saturday we're going to a Dayton Bombers Hockey Game with MCB, then Sunday Scott and I are having a date day, which will be a great time to relax and hang out. It will definitely be a great weekend and a nice break from all the work being done this week.

I've also been working on advertising for MCB because we have a big "Winter Wonderland Weekend" coming up next weekend and it's a weekend full of fun MCB events. We have a trip to Toledo to see the zoo lights, a trip to Fort Wayne to go shopping and a night where we watch "A Christmas Story" and do crafts and eat cookies - making the advertisements for it makes me even more excited! There are lots of fun things to look forward to in the next couple weeks before we go on Christmas break!
Here's to stress and excitement,

Mary
picture:me and my friends from last year's Christmas gathering at my friend's house (wow, my hair has gotten a lot longer since then!)

Thankful for... Thanksgiving

My nephew enjoying a birthday cupcake...

Thanksgiving Break was wonderful. That pretty much sums it up! I guess I didn’t realize how badly I needed a break until I was sitting at home relaxing. It all started Tuesday evening… I was the last one out of our residence hall – I checked everyone’s rooms and locked everything up for a few days. I went over and hung out with Scott for a little bit and we had dinner together, then I headed home. Tuesday night I just hung out with my parents. Wednesday me and my Mom shopped most of the day – we had a great time looking for some new clothes, eating at my favorite restaurant for lunch, etc. Me and my mom are pretty close and she doesn’t get to shop much when I’m not home because my Dad generally isn’t up for it, so it was a great day hanging out with her. After that we went home and me and my parents just hung out and watched t.v. I got up Thursday and had quite a happy thanksgiving. I went to Scott’s house in the morning and had Thanksgiving with his family. It was great to meet the extended family and get in some good chats with his cousins. After we had some quality time there, we headed to my sister’s house for Thanksgiving with my family. When we got there my whole family was there and the rest of the night we celebrated Thanksgiving and my niece’s 1st birthday.

My niece and nephew playing with some new toys

It was so much fun to just hang out and relax with my family and Scott. Friday morning I woke up and went shopping with my sisters and mom. We hit some good early bird specials and definitely got in some good laughs. After that we surprised my sister with a birthday lunch out with our entire family and a couple of her friends. It was really fun to surprise her and again, we laughed a lot at that meal!

My brother and Scott getting in an arm wrestling match after lunch

After we had lunch and hung out with my dad and brother for a little bit, Scott and I headed back to his house. We helped his mom and sister decorate the Christmas tree and it was really neat to be a part of that with his family. After we hung out with his family for a little bit we went to Slurp’s (one of Scott's best friends) house and met up with a bunch of Scott’s friends for a night of fun. We played Euchre, picture telephone, a game called “who,what,where,when,why” that we play pretty often, and just hung out and laughed a lot. It has been so much fun getting to know his friends and they are some awesome people to hang out with, so that was a blast. We just got up Saturday morning and had lunch with Scott’s family then I headed home. Saturday I just helped my parents with some yard work then me and my mom went to a movie. Sunday I just got up and went to church, then helped put up our Christmas lights (my family goes crazy with those!) and then headed back here to Bluffton. When I got back Scott and I went to dinner and WalMart, which was fun and tonight I’ve just been catching up with the girls and getting ready for the next three weeks to finish out the semester before Christmas break!
It was such a wonderful and relaxing break. I got to spend a lot of time with amazing people and am so thankful for everything in my life! I hope your Thanksgiving was great! Aren’t you excited to be in the Christmas season? It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
Here’s to great family, great friends, and great breaks,
Mary

yep, another one...

Me, Anna, and Hannah at the LDP dinner

Well, another fantastic weekend has come and gone. On Friday night me and Melisa (the other RA in our hall) made Thanksgiving dinner for everyone. I did that last year on my floor too and it always goes over really well. We made a big turkey and all the side dishes to go with it… it was a huge success! We had a lot of people eating and had a great time just enjoying good food and chatting away. After dinner I went and helped organize Marbeck After Dark… we had a euchre tournament this Friday and that was a lot of fun! We had over 35 people participating, so it was definitely a good time. After that I just hung out with Scott and we just relaxed… Friday = super good.

Me and some of my senior friends at the LDP dinner

Saturday was a pretty lazy day. On Friday night me and my best friends decided we were going to have a “nasty college student day” on Saturday, so we got up and went and got fast food for lunch and just laid around all afternoon watching a football game (sleeping in, getting gross fast food, and laying on the couch is what constitutes a “nasty college student day”). We had a great time just hanging out and catching up on life. After the game was over we all did our hair and nails and put dresses on to go out to dinner. 5 of us girls went out together and we had an awesome time. We went to Findlay and enjoyed some delicious food while being all dressed up and having some serious girls talk – always a good time. We love having “girls day” where we can just have fun doing random things. After we got back I went over to Scott’s and we watched a movie and just hung out all evening. Saturday = excellent good times.

Me and the Hamburgler doing the soulja boy dance off at Midnight Madness

Sunday was yet another good day. We got up and went to Sunday Morning Worship, then had lunch with a friend who graduated last year – it was good to catch up with him. After that me and the other Hall Directors decorated for the evening’s festivities (to be explained in a couple of sentences…). Then I just hung around all afternoon with my roommate working on homework and other random stuff. Sunday evening was the LDP dinner. LDP is the leadership development program and all of the leaders on campus get together every once and awhile and do things together… it’s always a great time. Sunday night was the annual holiday dinner where we all get dressed up and enjoy a nice dinner together. It was awesome to hang out with some of my favorite people on campus. Sunday night was midnight madness, which is basically a big pep rally for our basketball teams – I got to be Bucky the Beaver at midnight madness, which was a lot of fun! (Check out Scott’s blog for more info on that…). So yeah, Sunday = super great.

Me and Hamburgler with one of my best friends, Carol

Obviously it was another great weekend. And to top it all off, we leave for Thanksgiving Break today, which will be a great chance to relax!

Me and Scott at Midnight Madness

Here’s to random fun times on campus,
Mary

by the way: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Another Best Weekend Ever, and Growing Up...

Seriously, these weekends have been out of control. This weekend was amazing. Scott and I spent time at my house and went to the Notre Dame game on Saturday. We, needless to say, had a blast. I am not going into too many details because Scott covers that in his blog and since I'm sure you all read both of our blogs, I won't go over that again. Dinner and a movie at my house Friday, tailgating, game, and relaxing Saturday, and hanging out, friends, and more good conversation Sunday... you've got yourself one awesome weekend. I'm just so thankful for so many good times!

Scott and I have been talking a lot recently about the future... where will we be in a year? Graduation, leaving here, going where?, jobs, resumes, relationships, etc. So much to think about and it's just so crazy to think that we're at that place in our lives. Me and my friends have been talking a lot about it too as me and one of my best friends, Carol, have the same major and are looking into doing similar things in the future. I just can't believe that it's a reality to be polishing the resume and handing them out at job fairs. We are going to a conference dealing with public relations (the field I would like to go into) on Friday and our professor told us to take resumes to hand out... what? It's so exciting to be at this stage, but it's a little scary at the same time. It's going to be so hard to leave Bluffton, but the thought of having a "real job" and living in an apartment or house and making it outside of the Bluffton world makes me super anxious. So many things to think about, and so many things to look forward to. Life is so good.

Here's to more good weekends and lots to look forward to,
Mary

pics: me and scott at the game and me and my brother tailgating

Crazy

It’s been a pretty crazy week and I’m ready for an amazing weekend. You ever have one of those weeks where you feel like no matter what you do, you just can’t catch up? I had one of those weeks. It wasn’t homework (though I did have a paper due), rather it was just a ton of random things to do, Hall Director tasks to finish, etc. It’s Friday afternoon, though, and everything is done and I’m ready to head home in a couple of hours and kick off what I’m sure will prove to be a great weekend. Weeks like this make the weekends so much sweeter! The great thing, though, is that even when I have a really stressful week, I am surrounded by people that help me through it. I live with my best friends and they are always there to give a hug and listen to a rant about how much I have to do. The beautiful thing is that we are all so busy that we understand each other and are able to relate completely. One of my favorite things about college life is how everyone is always around – whether it be in the halls, around the table at lunch, or just a random hug on the sidewalk, it is hard to get too down because so many people are right there to pick you right up.

Scott had a pretty crazy week, too, so it'll be nice that we can just relax and have a good time together this weekend. We're going to my house tonight, to the Notre Dame game tomorrow to tailgate and watch the game, and back home to my house to relax Saturday night and Sunday. We might not have voices after the game on Saturday, but that'll be a good problem to have. It’s going to be so much fun – I will definitely have lots to tell in the next post!
Here’s to people who pick you right up,

Mary

pics: I wasn't sure I showed you my new car yet :)

Best Weekend Ever (yep, another one...)

This was our view of the field... woo hoo!!!

So, I keep writing about my weekends and I want to label every single one of them “best weekend ever.” Basically, things have been totally rockin’ and will continue to be for a while.
This weekend started off in a great way on Friday. Scott and I hung out and watched a movie. It was nice to unwind after a long week of school stuff. Then we went out to dinner with some people and that was nice. 7 people went total, but me, Scott, Slurp, and Hannah went in my car. It was really fun – we ate at Chipotle in Findlay and boy, do I love that place. Good stuff. On our way home we stopped at Cold Stone for some dessert. Friday night was Marbeck After Dark so I just hung out and played games and stuff. I love being on MCB (our activity planning board)… sometimes I just sit back and watch people having a good time at events and it’s just so awesome. Yay MCB.

Anna, Hannah, and Becca are all bundled up... it actually snowed a little bit at the game!

Saturday my parents came with their RV and we tailgated along with Becca and Jill’s families. It was so much fun to sit around and chat, have some great food, watch the football game, and just hang out. They stayed for quite awhile, and we ended up watching the Notre Dame game in the RV on Saturday evening (you can read Scott’s blog for more info on the Irish). After that Scott and I had a late dinner together then we just hung out a little bit until I went back and did the Marbeck After Dark thing again for Family Day. Quite a few families came to play games, so that was cool. Me, Scott, and Dan (the MCB advisor) just talked most of the night and it was fun to just chat it up. Scott and I went to WalMart after that and he changed his bulletin board while I just sat there and kept him company. Wow, it seems really weird that Saturday was just this past weekend… it seems like so long ago. Probably because Sunday was so awesome…

Here is a shot of the guys playing football in Hannah's backyard... so much fun!

We got up Sunday morning and 32 of us all headed to Cleveland together to go to the Browns game. First we went to Hannah’s house and had lunch there – her parents are so awesome and it was so much fun to just eat some home-cooked food and enjoy some home time. After lunch the guys played football in the yard and we just sat around for a little bit. Definitely a perfect Sunday afternoon activity. After Hannah’s house we all went to the Browns game together. It was an awesome game (the Browns won in overtime!) and so much fun to be there with my best friends! We had such a good time cheering on the Browns, dancing in the stands, and laughing a lot. We got back late Sunday night just in time to get ready for another week. This weekend was completely amazing. It was so much fun to get to hang out with my family, Scott, and my friends so much. We had such a good time and I am just trying to soak up every minute of these awesome times.

Scott and I having fun at the game!

This week is a little crazy, but not bad… I just have lots of random stuff to do. I am so pumped for this coming weekend though because me and Scott are going to the Notre Dame game! Woo hoo! Cheer on the Irish for us on Saturday, and watch for us on t.v.

Wow, this blog is getting long – so much greatness takes awhile to talk about!
Here’s to really really wonderful weekends,
Mary

More Than Just Watching The Show

Grey’s Anatomy is quite the phenomenon on this campus. The show has obviously taken the nation by storm as the past three seasons have been enormously successful, and the Grey’s craze is no different here on campus. Every Thursday night people (mostly the ladies on campus) gather to settle in with their blankets and best friends for an hour of drama. For most, though, the Thursday night rituals are less about the show and more about time to hang out with the girls. Me and my friends love the show, there is no doubt about that, but while meetings, homework, and other commitments take us from our rooms all during the week, Grey’s is the one time where we know we will all be together for a precious hour of time together. We have cried together, laughed together, and been in shock together at the show and in a weird way, I feel like it has brought us closer as a group of friends. It’s just something that we all use to take our minds off the stresses of daily life and I truly cherish Thursday nights with Grey’s and the girls. College is so awesome for things like that – we all could watch Grey’s by ourselves in our rooms at home, but when we all live steps away it is so much more fun to watch it together. Oh college life…

Here’s to Grey’s night,
Mary
picture: I didn't have one of grey's, so just a thumbs up for grey's night

Blessed

This weekend I went to St.Louis to visit some family and go to a cousin’s wedding and another cousin’s baby shower. It was a great weekend with my family and I had a good time hanging out with them. On Friday I headed home, then we went all the way to St.Louis and got there pretty late – just in time to visit for a little bit and go to bed. On Saturday we got up and went to my cousin’s wedding which was early for a wedding, so we had the rest of the day to visit with lots of family members and had a good time catching up. With them being in St.Louis we don’t get to spend much time with them, so that was nice. We had the baby shower on Sunday morning and headed out in the afternoon. Since we left so late we didn’t get home until about 9:30, so I ended up just staying at home on Sunday night. I came back here to Bluffton Monday and am working on getting into the swing of things again for another week.

While I was making the long drive to St.Louis I had a lot of time to think and just realize how blessed I am. Sometimes I feel like I get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life and forget to thank God for all of the wonderfulness in my life. Sometimes I can’t believe how amazing my life is and am just so thankful for everything. I have people to love, people who love me, strength to get through the long days, activities to keep me busy, and countless other blessings in my life… I’m just amazed sometimes at how cool life is when you sit back and realize it. I’m going to work on realizing it more often. I would recommend taking a little while and realizing your blessings – it’s a feel good thing.
Here’s to blessings,
Mary

Pictures: some blessings in my life… scott, my best friends, and family (this particular picture is my niece and nephew playing in a toy box)

I love Chapel at Bluffton. Every Thursday at 11am we get to take a break from classes, meetings, and stress and enjoy a time of worship with friends. I love Chapel services from the worship music to the speakers to the fellowship. Today we had a different kind of service – we had it in Bob’s Place (a place to hang out in our student union) instead of in our recital hall, Yoder, which is where it usually is. It was a great change of scenery and nice to see Chapel from a different perspective. The Chapel Planning Committee even had lunches for everyone after the service so we could all hang out and enjoy some time just hanging out together.
At Bluffton, Chapel isn’t mandatory at all, which I think is a good thing. The people that attend Chapel and other religious life activities on campus are doing so because they WANT to, not because they are required to. I have grown a lot in my faith during my time at Bluffton and I know that it is because I have made the decision to do so, not because I have been forced to. I’m so thankful for that on Bluffton’s campus and glad that I have the chance to talk with so many different people about their faith and really learn from them.
Religious life on Bluffton’s campus takes on a lot of different forms. We have Chapel every Thursday and Sunday Morning Worship every other Sunday (this is to encourage students to get out into the local community and attend local churches), spiritual life week each semester, BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ – these are small groups that meet approx. once a week and take on lots of different forms.. some are set up like a Bible Study, while others are more discussion based. These are led by faculty or staff members) several different ministry teams and various other activities and events to go to. The religious life on Bluffton’s campus is strong and something that I feel like has enhanced my time at Bluffton in a major way. I would recommend considering what type of religious life you want to look for on a campus, as it can be a big factor in your college experience.
Here’s to growth,
Mary
Picture: some of the people on the Spiritual Life Week committee from last Spring.

Best Weekend Ever (another one...)

Hi!

Wow, I am writing to you after an absolutely amazing weekend. It was one of the best weekends of my 22 years of existence... weekends like this past one don't come around too often.

Scott and I did just about the same thing this weekend, so him and I tag-teamed what we're talking about in our blogs, so make sure to read his blog for more details on different things...

On Friday there was the Homecoming parade, which was a lot of fun. Most of my friends were in the parade for one reason or another, so it was fun to have so many people getting ready for it at the same time. Scott and I were in it because we were on Homecoming court and after a mix up with the cars and the weather, we eventually got to go through the parade and it was a lot of fun to see so many parents, professors and friends along the route.

Friday night my parents were camping with our RV at a nearby campground, so me, Scott, and about 20 friends went there for a campfire. It was so much fun to hang out and laugh while making s'mores and sitting around a fire. I love hanging out with my family, and I love hanging out with my friends, so this was the best - everyone at once! It was a really relaxing night and a great way to spend Friday night of Homecoming weekend.

Saturday was a very exciting day. My parents, brother, sister in law, sister, brother in law, and niece and nephew came to Bluffton for Homecoming coronation (this is the ceremony where they crown the Homecoming King and Queen) and the game and it was so great to have them there. As you read in Scott's blog, I was crowned Homecoming Queen, which was definitely a surprise to me and so much fun. We had a great time hanging out at the game and it was such an awesome afternoon. (sorry, I'm realizing that I'm overlapping more with Scott than I am intending too... I just get so excited to talk about such a great weekend!)

After the game and afternoon festivities we all went back to our halls and got ready for the TOGA themed Homecoming dance. I absolutely love the dance every year because it's a great way to get everyone together to laugh and dance the night away. Me and my friends got all decked out in our togas and were ready to hit the wonderfully decorated Commons (the Commons is our dining area, but with the decor you could hardly tell it was a cafeteria!) to dance like crazy. I had so much fun with Scott and my best friends just laughing and enjoying our last Bluffton Homecoming dance.

After a crazy Saturday we slept in on Sunday and did a little bit of homework and then I got ready to go out with Scott for my birthday dinner. It was so nice to go out to dinner and to the coffee shop and chat with him. It was definitely a great birthday date. Then to my complete and total surprise, when we were going to my room to get a movie to watch, I walked into my lobby to about 20-25 people yelling "SURPRISE!" Scott and one of our friends, Sara, threw me an amazing surprise birthday party. I had NO idea they were planning it and it meant so much to me to have so many people there celebrate with me. It was an incredible way to end an incredible weekend.

I am definitely still on cloud 9 after such a great weekend. Parade, campfire with my friends and family, lunch with my family and scott's family, coronation, game, dance, date, surprise party... I don't really think a weekend can get much better than that!

Life is really great :)

Here's to memories and weekends that will last a lifetime,

Mary

lots of pictures this time... here they are, from the top: me and scott at the campfire, my friend Becca roasting marshmallows at the campfire, me and Thea (the sophomore attendent) at the homecoming game, me and Scott before coronation, me and my friend Carol after coronation, my friends LeeAnne, Carol, Jill, and I at the TOGA dance, and finally my friends Carol, Anna,Hannah, Ashley, and Hope at the surprise party!

Homecoming Week!

It has been a fantastic week at Bluffton. It's Homecoming Week and there have been so many great activities going on.
Monday we had the block party and that was tons of fun. We all just hung out and had dinner outside, cookout style. It was awesome to see everyone out of their rooms and playing games, listening to music and just hanging out together. Tuesday we had "Are You Smarter Than a First Year?" which was good times. Scott hosted the game show and they had four people be the contestants. The Homecoming committee had also chosen some first years to be the "students" and it was played just like the game show on tv "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" Then on Wednesday they had a pep rally that including painting posters for the athletic teams at dinner. I wasn't able to be there, but it seemed like it would be really cool because at the pep rally they introduced the fall sports teams. Thursday we brought in Chris Carter, an illlusionist/mind reader to perform and he was SO AWESOME! He performed for about an hour and half and totally wowed the crowd. It was so great because Yoder was packed with students and everyone really had a great time watching him.
We're all really looking forward to the weekend. I won't divulge too much information about that yet, but come Sunday, I will have tons to write about, including stories about the parade, game, and dance! woo hoo!
Here's to a super fun Homecoming Week,
mary
pic: me and my friend, Carol, before the dance last year. This year's dance theme is "TOGA!" I will be sure to have lots of pictures of that for you in the next post...

MCB

Well, this weekend was the annual MCB retreat. I've been on MCB (our activity planning board) on campus since my freshman year and it's been such a great thing for me. I love seeing people have fun, and MCB is the perfect group to be in for that. We plan activities for the campus and we have around 3 activities every week. They range from bingo, to dodgeball, to giant dutch blitz, to drive-in movies. It has been such a great way for me to meet so many wonderful people and have a blast. It's kind of weird that it's my last year on MCB, it's definitely something that I'm going to miss a lot when I leave Bluffton.

Every year we go on a retreat to bond as a board and also to work on planning some events for the coming months. This year we went to Ashland (Northeast), Ohio and had some rockin' good times. We worked on planning some events for Spring semester, ate out a couple of times, took a 7 mile canoe trip, hung out at our chairperson's (and one of my closest friends) house, did some fun mixers and energizers and definitely laughed a LOT! We're a smaller board this year, there are only 10 of us, so it was so neat to bond and get closer. Some of my best friends are on the board too, so it was great to spend a weekend off campus with them. I laughed so hard that I had tears running down my face multiple times, which is my favorite! I had never gone canoeing for a long trip before, so that was fun and a new experience... we only almost tipped over 3 times, but never did (thank goodness - the water was freezing...).
We came back today and all settled back into the school routine. Lots of people worked on homework, but I was lucky because I had so much last week that I don't have much this week, which is great. So, I went over to Scott's and just hung out and watched football (actually, he watched football... I slept) then just hung out with the girls tonight. I'm really excited about this week because it's Homecoming week, so there are tons of great events going on before the game on Saturday - I will definitely have lots to write about next time.
Here's to fun retreats and homecoming week,
Mary
picture: people having fun playing dutch blitz at an MCB event.

Stress!

Hi Readers :)

Well, the past couple of days have been quite stressful. Everyone came back from Fall Break on Tuesday, which was great - it was good to see everyone again. I knew that I had a lot of stuff due at the end of this week, but didn't think about the fact that we had Monday and Tuesday off, so I put homework off, thinking I had a whole week to do it when in reality I had a couple of days. Needless to say I've been up late the last couple of nights, but writing this blog is the last thing on my agenda for the day and I am pumped about that. I just finished a paper and I'm feelin' good.

Stress about homework, activities and other random things in college seems to come and go. Sometimes it gets really intense and sometimes it feels like I'm just chuggin' along without any stress at all. I feel like my stress level this week was pretty self-induced. I mean, several of the things I had to do I've known about for a long time, so I should have been working on them for awhile, but I've just been procrastinating a lot recently. oh well, the life of a college student :).

I'm pretty excited about this weekend. Our activity planning board, MCB, is having our annual retreat. It's a mystery trip, so I'm not sure where we're going to end up, but I'm sure we'll have a good time no matter what. I have had the opportunity to be on MCB all four years of my college experience and I've loved it. It's great to be able to plan events for the whole campus and watch people have fun.

Next week is Homecoming Week! woo hoo! I am so excited about that and we have some great things happenning on campus. I will surely have lots to write about next week :) In the meantime, try not to be stressed, life is too short for that :)

Here's to no more stress,

Mary

picture: this is a random one, but when we get stressed, me and my friends tend to do weird things like dress up and take pictures... here's the outcome.

Fall Break

Well, it’s Fall Break here at Bluffton and it’s been a good one for me (so far... there’s still another day left!) Being the residence life staff member on duty for this break, I’ve had to stick around on campus, but it’s been solid. On Friday Scott and I took a random trip home to my house to surprise my parents, sister, niece and nephew. It was a lot of fun to just hang out with them, especially since I don’t get to see my sister very often and she happened to be visiting on Friday. After that we went out to dinner, the pet store, and back to Bluffton. After that I watched some tv with Katie here in our hall, then visited some girls across campus and ended up hanging out a little bit more with Scott. Saturday was a really lazy day. I got up and went to lunch with Scott, then we spent the day just hanging out. It was good because we had some really good conversation and the day went fast as we just talked away. I went out to dinner with one of my best friends, ran some errands, then headed back over to hang out with Scott and listen to Notre Dame beat UCLA :). Woot! On Sunday Scott and I headed to his house for a family reunion, which was fun. It was good to meet more of his family and spend a day off campus (it is Fall Break, after all :) ). When I got back here I just hung out with the girls a little bit and went to bed early. Today I went back home for the day and shopped all day with my mom. I am on Homecoming Court this year, so I had to get some new clothes, which is always fun. It was good to spend the day at home and get in some quality time with my parents. The big excitement of the day was that I had to take my car in to be fixed and found out that it is pretty much dead. The repairs would cost more than what the car is worth, so I have to buy a new car in the next couple of weeks. I brought my Mom’s car back here to drive for a little while, but I can’t keep it for long because she will need it back. So, now I’m on the hunt for a car. I was planning to buy a car about this time next year after I have a job and steady income, but due to my car’s death I have to figure things out to do it now. It’s a little stressful figuring out the money, but I’m excited to get a new car. Since my parents bought my first car, I’m kind of excited to actually buy one myself… I feel like a grown up :). To finish out Fall Break tomorrow I think I’m going to sleep in and then work on homework so I’m not too behind when we go back to classes on Wednesday. I think that’s about it from here, but I hope you’re doing great, readers :).
Here’s to Fall Breaks and new cars,
Mary
picture: this might seem like a random picture, but it makes complete sense... as I'm writing this I'm watching the Indians game, and this is me and Scott at the Indians game last April... holla!

Excited

So, I am excited. At the beginning of this week I was pretty bummed beause I had another cold and was just feeling really overwhelmed (it probably didn't help that I was up until 5:30 in the morning on Sunday night :) ). But then I stopped and thought about it, and I have no time to be feeling down - I have way too many things to look forward to in the next few weeks. Let me share :)
This weekend and Monday and Tuesday are Fall Break - so, no classes! Since I am on duty this weekend for my hall I won't be able to go home overnight at all, but it's alright because some fun people will still be here, so I will have a lot of people to hang out with. It will just be nice to not have classes on Monday or Tuesday. So that's awesome. Then, next weekend I go on a retreat all weekend with MCB (the activity planning board on campus) and that's always a good time, so I'm pumped about that. Some of my really close friends are on MCB too, so it'll be nice to hang out with them. The next weekend is Homecoming which will be amazing. My parents and brother are coming over for the parade on Friday night, then we're having a little bonfire with my friends. On Saturday there is all sort of excitment. My sister and her family are coming so my whole family will be here as well, which is always so much fun. Saturday we will all eat lunch together, then coronation (where they crown the Homecoming queen and king), then the football game and the dance. I'm so pumped about Homecoming weekend!!! It's going to be blast. The Monday after Homecoming is my birthday, which is always exciting, and the weekend after that I am going to my cousin's wedding in St.Louis, the next weekend my family is coming for family day and we're going to the Browns game, then the next weekend me and Scott are going to tailgate at a Notre Dame game! PHEW! wow, from now until Nov.10 it's basically going to be nonstop fun. I am so excited. If you have made it to this point in my blog, thank you. I mean, it's probably not really fun to read about everything going on the next few weekends in my life, but you, devoted reader, are amazing :) I don't have great pictures from this week, so the picture is just one of my roommate packing to go home :). This is a scene common around campus today as everyone is heading home for Break!! Have an amazing weekend, and I hope you have lots to look forward too :)
Here's to excitement,
Mary

Only In College...

So, the past few days I've done a lot of fun things - all things that, as they were happenning, I thought "this kind of stuff only happens in college." Let me explain.

This weekend was great. I had a really stressful week last week, so it was so nice to have a relaxing weekend. Scott and I spent Friday together just hanging out. We took an adventure to Van Wert (about 45 mintes away) so he could go to his bank, which was fun, then we just kind of hung around and relaxed - perfect Friday afternoon activities. Then Friday night was the Root Beer Keg Party! PALS (peer awareness leaders), a really great organization on campus, has this event every year and it is so much fun - basically it's like a big dance party and they have kegs of root beer there. It was so much fun to dance all night with my friends and Scott - we definitely laughed a lot and Scott even won a brand new iPod to top the evening off. After the party me and the girls just hung out and laughed a lot. Root beer keg party, laughing until the wee hours of the morning with friends... only in college :)

Saturday was a totally wonderful day. I slept in and then went out for lunch with two of my friends here, Hannah and Anna (hannah is my roomie :) ) and we had a good time riding with the top down in Hannah's jeep. After that I was just kind of lazy and didn't do much...caught up on facebook, watched a little bit of the Notre Dame game, read a little bit, etc. Then in the evening I got ready and Scott took me out for a great date - we went out to dinner and a movie. yay! It was so great to just hang out with him. We discovered a great new restaurant, saw a great new movie, and had super great conversation - yay for great dates :).

On Sunday we got up and went to Sunday Morning Worship, then it was homework day. Reading, reading, reading all day long. Luckily there was "fall fest" in the middle there where student organizations set up booths and we go and have fun - I made cards and had my face painted! This was the kickoff to Spiritual Life Week. But anyways, back to the homework... It was my fault, really... I have had a PR project that I have known about for about 5-6 weeks now, and just decided to start on it yesterday. It was a long book review, along with a presentation and handout. Not too bad, if I would've started on it earlier. Luckily both Scott and one of my best friends, Carol, also hadn't started on their projects, so we were all up late. We were chatting as we were doing our projects and wondering why we had waited this long. We all went on a McDonald's run around 2 in the morning, and Carol and I locked ourselves out, so we had to call one of our friends to come and let us in... sigh... it was a long night :). We finally turned in around 5:30ish in the morning. dang. that's so late to be up! Oh well :). About an hour later I got up and went to a breakfast to thank the building and grounds staff here - needless to say, that's kind of a blur rom being so tired. Then I went back to bed for about another hour and half before I got ready and tackled a long Monday. Only in college would we stay up until 5:30 in the morning doing a project, then go through the whole day on 2.5ish hours of sleep. I love it :).

Tonight was one of my favorite events of the year, "Battle of the Airbands." It's a competition that is held every year during Spiritual Life Week (a week devoted to spiritual life activities - it is such a great week and I look forward to it every fall and spring!). My first year here me and my friends won the competition and then sophomore year we just sat back and watched. Junior year and this year me and one of my best friends MCed the competition. It is so much fun to have a part in that and make people laugh. Only in college is there a competition based solely on airbands, and how well they dance and act like they're really in a band :).

So, overall it's been a crazy but amazing couple of days. This feels like the longest day ever, having not slept much and had a full day, but hey, I'd by lying if I said I didn't love living the college life.

Here's to late nights, root beer keg parties, and airbands,

Mary

picture: me and scott at the rb keg party, me and my friend Jill at the rb keg party, and three of my friends competing in the airband competition.

Cross Cultural is Cool

This week has been a crazy one, that's for sure. With an unusually high number of meetings, papers, and random things that popped up in my planner, I am downright tired. But, it's almost the weekend!
One unusual thing that we had on campus this week was the cross cultural forum. Every year the people that went on cross cultural trips in May present to the rest of the student body in two forums. Forum is an event that we have every Tuesday where we have different speakers (usually from off campus) come and speak on a range of different topics. I was one of the presenters from our trip, and it was so much fun to take a look back at my incredible experience to Trinidad and Tobago and talk about it with my peers. It's great to hear about the other experiences too and see what my classmates did in May. I love the cross cultural aspect of our general education requirement. Here at Bluffton, you have to either take a foreign language or go on a cross cultural trip. Most students opt for the trip and in May we have students, along with a faculty advisor or two, depart on trips all over the world. This past May we had groups in China, Chicago, Germany, San Antonio, France, Mississippi, etc. They are all different in their focuses, but they all share a common theme - they are amazing! Most people absolutely love their 3ish week trips and come back to Bluffton with a changed view of themselves and the world. There are also a couple of semester programs - one to Northern Ireland and a new one to Pittsburgh. The people I've talked to that went on these semester study programs had wonderful times too. It's great to have these experiences and opportunities to do these things at Bluffton. I had an amazing time in Trinidad and it certainly helped me learn a lot about myself and the world we live in. I would go back there in a heartbeat and am so thankful to have had that opportunity. One of the most amazing things about my trip was the relationships that we built. We became great friends with several people in Trinidad and it's so awesome to see how God worked through us and through them during our time there. We also, as a group of 11, became very close and I would consider all of the people on my trip close friends. It's so awesome because I did not know any of them very well before we left and I'm so thankful for these new relationships.
Well, now that my cross cultural tangent is coming to an end, and it's 2:40 in the morning, I think I'm going to leave you now.
Here's to trips around the world,
Mary
pictures: a picture of our group in Trinidad, and one of my and my friends, Sara, with one of our friends from Trinidad

Relaxed

So, it's Sunday night at 12:43 in the morning and although being up this late is not at all abnormal for me, I'm staying up mostly just because I don't want this weekend to end. I am writing this blog, talking on the phone to Scott for a bit, and then I have to go to bed and be done with one of the best weekends I've had. Let me share...

This past week was nice because, as mentioned in my last post, it was quite a bit less busy than normal...excellent. Even though it wasn't quite as crazy as most weeks, I was still ready for a relaxing weekend when Friday came around. Friday afternoon Scott and I watched "Mr.Holland's Opus"... good movie, invest some time in that if you haven't already. Then one of the girls upstairs cooked all of us dinner - delicious! It was really nice to just hang out and enjoy some great food and wonderful conversation. We just hung around for awhile... some of the girls starting crafting and watching a movie, others worked on a little bit of homework... Friday night was well underway. I headed to Marbeck (our student union) to set up for Marbeck After Dark. This week we had a PlayStation night where we played DDR, Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution - needless to say, good times were had. I didn't stay the whole time because I wasn't needed to help cleanup, so around 11:30ish I went over to spend some time with Scott. It was so nice, we went on a long walk and had an amazing conversation. It is so nice to unwind after a long week with a beautiful walk around Bluffton at night with wonderful conversation. It's one of my favorite things to do - walk along holding Scott's hand and talk for hours. Sorry, that was more information than you probably care to know. Anywho, I eventually went back to my room and headed to bed... Friday = super great.

Saturday I got up and got ready for a date day with Scott. I made one of his favorite meals and even some "go ND" brownies (unfortunately the Irish still did not win, but hey, they played better in the first half, right?). After lunch we played games and enjoyed some time just laughing together. After that we watched the first half of the Notre Dame game together...it was really fun - being with Scott has helped me learn quite a bit about football :).

After the first half of the game Scott left and I headed to Findlay with one of my best friends to go out to dinner and just catch up. We had a much needed and great conversation about how we're doing and what's going on in our lives and it was just so awesome to catch up. We were roommates for the first two years we were here at Bluffton, so the past two years we've had to make more time to keep in touch and it was awesome to have dinner with her and reconnect.

When I came back home I just hung out here for awhile with two of my friends and we just talked a little bit and hung out together in the lobby. We then all parted ways and I headed back over to keep Scott company while he was on duty. We rearranged his room, played some Notre Dame football trivia and just hung out and watched tv.

Saturday = absolutely wonderful

Today (Sunday) I just got up and me, Scott, and Jill went to church and then came back for lunch and homework. I worked on getting some advertisements done for MCB and then Scott and I hung out and just talked for a bit this afternoon. Then me and Melisa had a floor activity for all of the girls here in our hall and we made an organic/vegetarian dinner for everyone. It was really good and helped promote our campus-wide theme of environmental awareness. After dinner we all hung out and watched tv and definitely laughed a lot. After that I just got some random things done like laundry and homework and also spent a lot of time laughing with the girls :). Unfortunately the gallon challenge didn't work out again tonight - It looks like nobody wants to compete against Scott...but I'm sure he'll talk more about that in his post. Sunday = really great.

I'm feeling really relaxed and ready to get through another week of amazing life at Bluffton. I love this place so much and love the people that it has brought into my life. I love my friends, I love Scott and I love who I am when I'm in this place. I really love Bluffton, and hope you check it out and learn to love it too. I feel like everyone deserves to have this place in their life.

Here's to wonderful weekends and love,
Mary

pictures: me and Scott with the brownies, me and Anna having fun, and Ashley enjoying her organic dinner :)

Answered Prayers

God answers prayers, that's for sure. The last three weeks of school have been busier than I could have imagined. With my internships, activities, classes, etc. I often felt like I hardly had time to breathe. I was not ready to start this week, feeling exhausted already when it was just Monday. Then, God came through like He always does :). I had my internship cancelled one day this week, two classes cancelled, AND a long meeting cancelled! woo hoo! I was finally able to catch up on homework and other random things I've been putting off. It felt so good to get a paper done days early, get an internship project that's been lingering on finished, and most importantly, have more time to sit on the futon in my room and laugh until my stomach hurt with my friends. Needless to say, it's been a good week. It should be a nice and relaxing weekend, too. Friday afternoon I'm hanging out with Scott (it's a tradition :) ), then dinner with the girls and Marbeck After Dark. Saturday I've got a little date day planned for Scott, then the Notre Dame game is on - the verdict is still out as to whether or not I'll watch that with him ;), then dinner with one of my best friends. Sunday, church and chill, I would assume. Sounds like a wonderful weekend to me!! I hope you're feelin' good, readers. Remember to breathe, and if it feels impossible, make sure to pray about it - God will find you some time in your busy schedule :)
Here's to answered prayers,
Mary
picture: random one of me at Marbeck After Dark last week. good times.