this city's made us crazy and we must get out

katie and i got back today from our weekend in charlotte, which was quite wonderful if you ask me.



we had a late-night dinner at hickory tavern with our good 'ol CU alumni crystal, katie p, and adrienne which was SUCH a good time. crystal is engaged, so they were all spending the weekend finding her a dress. FUN TIMES...i miss the "older" people around here b/c, well, that's me now.

saturday was spent at south park mall after we finally decided to get out of bed. then we came home and had a wonderful dinner with the fam, then headed back out to surprise out long-lost costa rican melinda at the airport! i was seriously SO happy to see her....and i think she was happy to see us too. ;)

then i went the wrong way on the interstate (surprising) and we ended up getting back to the house really late and holding up

LISA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

where we went downtown and had a grand 'ol time. it was so much fun and i got to see so many friends that i don't normally get to see very often. it definitely made me want to go back to charlotte more often. it was nice to be downtown...pretty city with good friends.

yesterday we slept until about 2:00pm (since we were out until 4am thanks to tommy's fuel pizza craving) and then headed out to buy apartment things. then we had dinner at macaroni grill/starbucks with claire, bracken, and matty oak. i love, love, love them.

i was especially glad to see claire -- she just came home from africa on wednesday so i was SO thankful to be able to see her while i was home. i got a chance to hear some about her time there and what's going on in her life. i am really lucky to have a really close friend like her at home.

then we packed up katie's car with my stuff, slept for a few hours, and headed to the elbow doctor for my check-up this morning. we stopped by the mall again for a last-minute kt purchase, ate lunch, then headed back here.

the car ride was absolutely hilarious. we were tired in the beginning, but then i requested a little maroon 5. we listened to the whole cd, followed by daniel beddingfield, john mayer, and then the bff's "random hotness" cd. i honestly think tears were coming out of my eyes.

katie is quite the motor mouth. together we were unstoppable.

and this afternoon i moved into reardon with makayla. now we're just waiting on lindsay, who i miss SO much. i cannot wait to have her here again. :)
_____

three cheers for our weekend excursion! and four cheers for the fact that we're going to kentucky on saturday for 4 days for kt's 22nd. hip-hip-hip-hip HOORAY!
_____

here's your chance, do your dance, at the space jam, alright...

forced to relax

as i sat in goodyear for the third afternoon in a row, reading the new book that my roommate surprised me with in the mail yesterday, i thought to myself

"it's kind of nice having no other choice but just to sit here for an hour and chill out."

and even though it may be stressful to have to drive back and forth everyday b/c my car is still not fixed (by the way, it's STILL not fixed now), it is not a bad thing to just sit and read.

or talk. that's another thing.

i ran into my good 'ol friend ryan "beautiful hair" jernigan when i came into goodyear today. he toured with a band called last tuesday this semester around the US, so I hadn't seen him since before Christmas last year. so that was really random/awesome too b/c i got to hear what's going on in his life and how he's doing....good stuff. i'm glad to hear about someone else who's really trying to figure out what they want to do with their life. i guess that's comforting to those of us who are doing the same.
_____

let the noise and clamor cease, be still and know

if anyone ever needs to know what a possum looks like,

ask me.

i stared one down for about 20 minutes last night until public safety came to free me.

(and i was going to put a picture on here, but i'm too freaked out even looking at them online)

i would MUCH rather have this car

(my most recent car crush)

it would run better than the accord! c'mon!!!!

beauty in the breakdown

well, i finally got the air conditioning fixed in my car today.

and i was sitting there thinking to myself "how many times have i been to this goodyear since i started at campbell?" too many times to count.

but i was happy leaving that goodyear today was cold air blowing on my face.
____

that is, until i got to the first stop light, when my poor, poor car started shaking and wailing like it was about to turn off. and it did this the whole way back to school every time i put my foot on the break.


i know what you might be saying to yourself.
"but michelle's car has a dent in the front from when she hit a deer!?!"
no, this is not my car, but it does have flip lights.

good times in the trusty '88 honda accord.
another afternoon at goodyear might be in the near future for this girl!

the things you say...

about yourself,
about your family,
about your job,
about your school,
and most importantly, about other people

...tell other people what's important to you, what's in your heart.

think before you speak? might be better advice than i ever thought it was.




________

"for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

i feel better already!

i haven't posted anything in awhile

today was good. i got a lot done at work, then i helped give out the keys for the camp i'm working with this week, so i felt productive there.

i have treatment tomorrow. FINALLY after about 12 weeks....i can't begin to tell you how much better i'll feel. so if you want to hang out with me in the next few days, it's pretty much a guaranteed good mood.

i've been thinking about my arthritis a lot lately, since every time i go down the stairs in this apt, my left heel seems to give out. there are so many things i know i COULD try to help my arthritis....wear supportive tennis shoes everyday, start eating only really healthy foods, give up my extracurricular activities since they sometimes seem to add stress when i already have enough just walking everyday.

but i just can't see myself giving up all these things -- flip-flops, chick-fil-a sandwiches, sga, activities, etc. -- when i only really have a year left for some of them and they make me happy. it just doesn't seem worth it to me. maybe that's stupid, but i just can't decide.

honestly, i get used to it. i mean, right now my hand is hurting from typing this already. so should i just never type again? no, b/c that equals unemployment. plus, this is what i like to do.

so sue me.

i really think i'll feel a LOT better tomorrow night though. so we'll see.

___________
p.s.
this is not at all meant to be a "feel sorry for michelle" blog. it's just what i've had on my mind. there are things in life like this for everyone. do you give up something you really love for the betterment of something else in your life? i'm sure everyone deals with these questions everyday.
___________

in other news, i get to go to kentucky with kt for her birthday at the beginning of august, which i'm really excited about. also, she's coming home with me the last weekend in july for lisa's 21st birthday extravaganza. i'm excited to see all my friends at home again!

and i'm a dorm dean this week and next for crosspoint camp. i'll be living in murray, which ought to be very interesting. and actually, i'm going to eat in shouse with tricia now since we get free meals. how about that rotisserie chicken?? ;)

most romantic quotes i've ever heard

"if he never would've gotten hit, i never would have gotten to know danny on such a deep, personal level"

"when i'm with her, it's like i forget i have a broken face..."

melinda and danny on the real world



= love. haha.

you should think about it, take a second

IF YOU READ THIS, even if we DO SPEAK OR DON'T SPEAK OFTEN,
comment with one memory of me and you.

it can be anything you want. GOOD OR BAD.
just as long as it HAPPENED.

THEN, post this on your blog.
see what other people remember about YOU.

lady liberty

here's what i did at the beach...





ok, so it was my dad. but i did write that "JULY IV" on there with a shell and it was hard work, let me tell you.

you think you know, but you have no idea.

(i never thought i'd title a post with this stupid, cliche phrase)

i've been thinking a lot lately about why we are so quick to criticize others and extremely slow to take a few seconds and actually put ourselves in their shoes.

actually, scratch that...most of the time, i'm pretty sure we can't even begin to put ourselves in anyone else's shoes. it just seems humanly impossible to me that anyone could actually know what it feels like to be someone else, and therefore know what's best for them in their lives.

i used to think that i had all the answers for everyone else's lives. i knew that they were in a bad relationship, that they weren't working hard enough in school, that their friends were no good, etc. i also thought that it was my place to tell them those things, or at least make them feel stupid enough that they would be embarassed to keep living their lives that way. and i'm not just talking close friends...i'm talking everyone around me. maybe it was just me, but it seems like a lot of people "know what's best" for everyone else.

then i had a reality check and realized that NO ONE CARES. and again, i'm not talking about close friends. i do think that a lot of times, your friends can see things that you can't...and it's nice to have those people in your life that you trust to let you know when they see concerns. but passing judgment on people from the moment i laid eyes on them just wasn't working for me and neither was continuing to do it to people who i never really took the time to get to know.

i think the main reason for this is that people don't bother to get past the surface with others who are different from them. they just write them off from the start because they can't understand where they're coming from.

it is my conclusion that you should always give people the benefit of the doubt....that somehow, they are doing what's right in their minds.

b/c hey, even if they aren't, what am i going to do about it? is it my job to call them out? probably not.

and just like i don't want outsiders looking in, judging me, and telling me what i'm doing wrong, neither does anybody else.

no one knows what my life is like on a daily basis, no matter what people who make bright orange fliers may claim. and on that same token, i don't know what it's really like to be anyone else. all i can do is try my best to be understanding and give advice when asked.

p.s.
i don't even know if this makes sense, but i needed to get it out of my head.

i love holidays.

** happy 4th of july! **




i even like excuses for holidays, so please let me know if there is anything i should be celebrating that i'm not aware of throughout the year.

say what you will

but these people sure know how to manipulate your pride.




and some of those are pretty awesome rings.

ladies is pimps too, go and brush your shoulders off.

i am teaching katietibbitts to post pictures.

(therefore, disregard this post. or not.)



explora like dora, these swipers can't swipe me. (thanks bff)



pretty self-explanatory

GOOD JOB KATIETIBBITTS!!

oh yeah

mr. and mrs. smith = AWESOME.

(sigh)

this weekend was freshman orientation here in buies creek...

it was pretty surreal b/c i don't at all feel like a senior. i feel like it wasn't long ago at all when i came to orientation...bernie was in one of my sessions pretending to be a freshman, chad was my UFO leader, i met tommy burns in the reception line, and tim jenkins at the mass comm department stop.

it was just plain weird to be the old one....i don't know what to say about it, except that i was very jealous that these people are just starting college and i have to leave soon.

the speech went surprisingly very well...BIG thanks to tim jenkins for his inspiration. the sessions went well, as did the reception. i met some really cool freshmen, had some really good ice cream, and saw really good friends.

and we'll do this again in 2 weeks...

i think this calls for some freshman year pictures:


me, linds, and katie at spring fling


jodi and i at chili's - the infamous "singing sensations" picture


rebekah, linds, katie, and i when people used to dress up for games


valentine's dance, put on by the freshman class :)


jeff and i at the sister hazel show


me and the future roomie!


at the game before an SGA meeting...when I used to wear girl ties (and look! it's dave behind us!)

GOOD times.

behind the melody the words don't mean a thing

i've been trying to write my speech for freshman orientation since last thursday and each time i really try to sit down and write it, i got nothin'.

and i definitely should be done with it by now.

so i need a little inspiration, if anyone inspiring reads this.

thanks in advance.




"ain't that what you want them to know?
all they get of you is what they get out of the show.
the rest is mine, i guess, the beauty and the mess, to hide."

tim jenkins, HERE'S what's going on in the creek...

we got bored one night (imagine that).

so we put on everything katie owns and went out for some university photo fun.

and that is what happened in the creek this week.








soooooo, basically nothing. haha.

f.y.i.

if you ever wondered which 80s movie icon i am, well, you're in luck:


Who's Your 80s Movie Icon Alter-Ego? Find out @ She's Crafty

haha.

sick cycle carousel

i know i say this over and over, but i am so thankful for all my friends.

each one of them have such different personalities, interests, appearances, etc. but we can all still manage to overlap.

right now i am reading mitch albom's "the five people you meet in heaven." it's so interesting how each of our lives connect. i started thinking about it more today after reading clayton's blog regarding the same book. i even thought about that when i was checking my facebook messages yesterday. obviously, i don't know everyone here at campbell, but i'm sure that eventually on facebook, i could eventually connect to everyone through a friend, an interest, a favorite movie, a "group," and so on. that's a really small example, but it really represents my life here at campbell. it makes me wonder why exactly we choose the certain friends we do have and not some others. i know it's a combination of things like characteristics and beliefs, but i think that we could potentially all relate somehow.

...but maybe i'm just idealistic. is that naive?

for example, we met a girl at the brewery last night who will be a senior at campbell in the fall living in reardon. she hasn't lived on campus, so that explains why we wouldn't really have crossed paths yet, but i was very interested to find out more about her since i had never run into her. turns out her name is michelle and she is an art major. it was really nice to meet someone who doesn't already have an idea of who they think you are due to opinions they have heard from others. that's the one thing about campbell -- the grapevine.

and i'm certainly not accusing anyone else, b/c we all do it. i know i have pre-conceived notions about people here that i don't even know and that sucks. all i can do is conciously pay attention when i'm doing that and try my best to overcome those. i think the best way to do that is probably to put yourself in situations with those people so you can get a taste for yourself, even if it's uncomfortable.

over and over, i've found that all of my growth comes when i'm out of my comfort zone, so i find myself aching not to be comfortable.

i think that's it.

pretty proud of myself

i just made a full brochure for sga for freshman orientation AND wrote the welcome letter for the handbook, ALL since i got home from work.

all b/c i sent myself an email at work today telling me what i HAD to do tonight b/c i had been putting it off for so long.

i couldn't let myself down.

"young adults" are so cynical

i wonder when that stops.

everybody wang chung tonight

kt, clayton, and i saw the breakfast club last night at lincoln theater.

and we had a pretty awesome time, if i do say so myself.



yes, here they are folks. and they're returning to raleigh the first saturday after we get back to school this fall. mark your calendars.

a repeat picture, since it makes me happy

katie and i are back in the creek tomorrow.

come visit us. :)

or am i part of the disease?

i actually have a lot on my mind today for some reason. so much that i can't even begin to write it all, but there are just a few things i wanted to put on here.

on friday when i was at the beach, i decided to start writing in a journal each day at least one thing that i learned, in hopes of publishing it (as long as i actually learn some cool things)...haha.

this was inspired because on the way back from myrtle beach to ocean isle, i was in the car doing my elbow exercises and trying to bend it, all while feeling pretty sorry for myself since i was the only one in the car who had an ailment that i had to tend to & because i still can't even pull my own hair back and simple things like that which are driving me insane. a few minutes later, we pulled into a gas station to buy lottery tickets and while we were waiting in the car, i saw a little girl get out of the car next to me and throw something out in the trash. when she turned around, i saw that she had no arm past her elbow...she had lost it somehow or another and looked like she had it amputated. i began to feel very lucky about having an arm to rehabilitate and was thankful to be reminded in the parking lot of a gas station. i don't even think anyone else in the car saw her.

the other thing i wanted to put on here are a few excerpts from a video we saw at a church my bro and i went to this morning. it was interesting...called "the paradox of our time"...here are a few lines from it:

we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals; we have more food, but less appeasement; we build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

this video could definitely be considered a cliche churchy thing to show, but i do think it's interesting. definitely something for me to think about when i'm feeling unsatisfied. nothing here will ever satisfy me, so i'm obviously looking to the wrong places when i feel that way.

guess who's back

yeah, so i had my elbow replaced.

i'm doing pretty well. it's semi-hard to type still and my arm becomes pretty much deadweight after about 15 minutes on the computer, but i'm getting stronger and stronger everyday. haha.

that is pretty much my summer thus far. i was in the hospital from friday-monday, then proceeded to sit in my house all day for the next 5 days where basically all i could do was watch tv. i went to my post-op yesterday and they told me i could drive, so i've been on the road since then and i'm feeling better already. :) they said my arm looks really good, but i'm not pleased because i still cannot even reach to put my own hair up and until then, i will continue to push myself...

i'm going up to va to see my roommate this weekend and go to the lifehouse show up there, so i'm pretty excited about that. oh, how i miss my roommate!

and i will be moving back to campbell soon...probably on memorial day and i cannot WAIT! it will be wonderful. :)

so, that's the update on the new bionic joint. thank you SO much to everyone for your prayers, cards, messages, phone calls, visits, etc. i love you, i love you, i love you!

gimme whatcha got

let's try this comments thing again.

be nice or i'll have to take them off again. kids these days.

it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife

once again i am reminded that i am not in control of my life.

all semester i have been trying to figure out whether or not to have my elbow replaced, and if so, when and how, etc, etc. we finally decided to have it this friday and found out recovery would be about a month, so i secured a job in buies creek starting june 1 to stay there for the rest of the summer to do marketing work and to work on sga stuff for the fall.

i got home last night because my pre-op appointment was this morning. on the way downtown, my mom turned on her phone only to receive a message from my UNC doctor saying that she did not think i should have surgery on friday. she says my last remacaid treatment was 4 weeks ago, and that i should allow at least 8 weeks before surgery b/c it increases the risk of infection in the joint.

i've tried to call the woman at least 3-4 times a week since my last treatment and have never received a call back. my mom called last week and found out she was on vacation for the week. so, on our way to pre-op today, we were told that i might not have surgery on friday.

basically, that leaves me a standstill. my doctor and the surgeon are now going to talk and decide what they think is best and let me know. if they decide i have to wait at least another month, i honestly don't think i can do it this summer. i have a job to start and i can't afford to sit around all summer. so, that pushes the left elbow to Christmas and the right one to....well, when i graduate and don't have my parents insurance anymore.

it's just interesting to me, because i finally thought i had everything worked out. surprise, surprise.

even if they decide to go through with it this week, at least i'm learning to sit back and laugh at my ironic life. i am trying to learn something from everything that happens to me, and so far, it hasn't been too hard.

"well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you when you think everything's okay and everything's going right.
and life has a funny way of helping you out when you think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up in your face"



(shout-out to katherine ruth tibbitts, who sang a "katie version" of ironic when she opened shannon's silverware drawer the other night)

well, let's see...

the past week...hmmm....

i actually had a pretty good week. after all, it was the last week of classes. highlights?

friday i went to the beach with shannon and came back with melinda, along with some others who were there. the best part was when melinda and i realized we were about 35 minutes past our exit on 95...it took us about 3 hours to get back to campbell from wrightsville beach...

(cough, cough)

we definitely got lots of time to catch up, so i'm not complaining.

the weekend has been pretty good. i didn't really start studying until today. i saw the interpreter last night & i would highly recommend it. and tonight, the bff and i went to bojangles for dinner, where we sat and talked for quite some time.

during that time, we saw an elderly couple come in and sit down with their food. the old lady had a cane, and the old man was bent over when he walked. they sat down and he proceeded to bless the food. this made katie cry. then, later when they left, she watched them leave and the fact that the old man was holding onto the old woman's arm made her cry again.

i think the bff is having an emotional weekend. but, hey, i knew i was going to get mine when i came home to watch extreme makeover: home edition with the roommate.

it's actually pretty entertaining: we just sit here and look at each other crying each week. if you're ever bored on sunday night, come on over and watch us cry at that darn show.

oh wait, school's OUT this week, so nevermind. :)

and the countdown begins: 12 days until my elbow is made of steel. say your goodbyes while you still can.

a few more pictures of lifehouse

because i can.


self-explanatory



the all-important shot of the band rockin' out



one of my favorite pics on ben, the austrailian ex-pro-baller



the all-important "michelle's work pays off" shot....haha....

(thanks to will, the infamous campbell photographer, for sharing with me)

the new campbell sensation....

the facebook. facebook me here.

tonight was the sga banquet where i was sworn into office. a few pics to remember the occasion by:


what a good-looking executive cabinet


me and my wonderful vp brent with our gavels and the dead flowers....haha....

so that's that. it's been a pretty exciting week so far, and it's only monday. happy second-to-last week of school everyone!

(p.s. - thanks for the pics, brent!)

so, i pretty much love lifehouse.

seriously, what awesome guys. who else would think it was cool to eat at rock-ola or play basketball with some camels in carter gym?

a wonderful last event for me in campbell entertainment.



(me and the roomie...going on the apt wall next year...)

and then there was rest.

"charlotte, are you in da house?"

mariah carey was on good morning america this morning.

reminds me of my first full-length cd:



always be my baby...the first song i ever "slow danced" to....sigh....

and then came the fantasy remix:

"me and mariah, go back like babies with pacifiers, ol' dirty dog no liar, kickin' fantasy hot like fire."

looooong week

but a pretty darn good one.

spring fling went well - the turnout was really good and the suv contest was great. congrats to jenny and chase...

mr. campbell was also great. i always really enjoy mr. campbell and since i got to host this year, it was very exciting, since i got to play dress-up. it was halloween for me, and we all know how much i looove halloween...

so it's back to semi-normal life for me now. :)

i want to go to the beach tomorrow and relax...it's been a stressful week in more ways than one and i could definitely use a break.

fun with katie...

after mr. campbell last night, we hung out at reardon for awhile. katie and i decided to take a few pictures of ourselves, so here they are for your viewing pleasure:







and we didn't even plan these faces. gorgeous, i know.
here in the lbc, the fun never ends.

picture time!

well, spring formal was great. and here are the pictures to prove it:


we are dorks. :)



linds and me with our masquerade masks!


jeanna and me = Christmas


me and the bff


me and paul with his "scary" donnie darko/nike commercial mask


my escort will and me for spring court


me and my princess shannon! (i did the princesses HAIR!!) :)


krispy kreme anyone?

so, yes, it was fun. now for the SUV contest....yippee!