Strawberry-Kiwi Obsession

Oh, chapstick. I apply chapstick several times a day and it's always Lip Smacker's sparkly strawberry-kiwi chapstick. I have used this very same chapstick since 6th grade. That's 12+ years of the same chapstick so you can tell I'm a fan. I am immune to the scent and taste of it. Why is that a good thing? Well, I'm not tempted to lick it off and I don't constantly smell fruit. It's funny when someone asks why it smells fruity and I can't smell it and then remember that I just put on chapstick. Anyway, last week, a superficial tragedy occurred when I went to Walgreen's and looked for some chapsticks as I always do on a routine trip to Walgreen's. However, the row with my favorite variety was empty...and there was a sign noting a price reduction for last stock! Oh...no! I thought maybe Walgreen's just decided to be bogus and stop carrying my favorite lip balm. But, further investigation of the Bonnie Bell website confirmed the secret fear I've had for years: that they would one day cease to produce this chapstick. That day has come. However, Bonnie Bell Co. left some room for hope because you can order some discontinued products online. Super Mom told me to order a bunch and today, 30 chapsticks arrived. I must now be super cautious of where my chapsticks are and careful not to lose them. One day, this supply will run out and I will be extremely sad. However, this day is 30 chapstick tubes away.

If you wish to contribute to my addiction, please visit http://www.colorandflavorshop.com/product.php?productid=53615&cat=47&bestseller=Y

PS when I went to look up this link, I saw that my chapstick is now the #1 bestseller. I'm 98% sure that was because of my order.

I Really Like My...ESV Study Bible

A couple months ago, my friend, Anne, and I decided to do a Bible study together on the book of Romans. I told her that my best Bible was a study Bible from high school so Anne decided I needed a new one. A few weeks later, Anne gifted me the ESV study Bible and it is nothing short of amazing. A bunch of Bible-smart people got together to write all the notes, there's very useful intros to each book, and good maps. I feel like I learn so much more when I read it because it makes me take more time to think about what I'm reading and the plentiful notes (seriously, they exist for almost every verse) make sense which, in turn, makes the Bible make more sense. It's a win-win situation. This Bible can also be accessed online which means that I can read it anywhere and I can take notes online, too. So once I set up my account with my access code, I'll be rockin' out to the Bible wherever I please. Thanks, Anne, you're awesome!

My Toss My Cap List

Towards the end of last semester, I started thinking, hey, I only have 1 semester left at U of I and there are some things I've always wanted to do but never have. So, I started brainstorming some ideas of things I want to do before I toss my cap at graduation in May (I probably won't actually toss my cap but I liked the phrase as a title for my list). Here's my list (in no particular order) which may be added to at a later date. If any of my fellow classmates want to join me, the more the merrier, and you can add some of your own things to the list. Katherine is already on board.

• Go to Krannert Uncorked.
• Ring the bells at Altgeld Hall.
• Leave my name somewhere.
• Go to a U of I gymnastics meet.
• Go to a U of I hockey game.
• Hang out at the Arboretum.
• Go to the Japan house.
• See underneath the Assembly Hall.
• Climb the rock wall at the ARC.
  

Birthday #24

My birthday (December 21st) was celebrated in a few ways this year. The first was an outing with the SLP girls to celebrate both Maxine's and my birthdays. Even though it was about a week early, it was great to go out with school friends because usually they're all gone by the time my birthday rolls around. Maxine and I decided on Radio Maria for drinks and tapas. I had some delicious sangria and Katherine and I shared some yummy taps (marinated feta and grilled plantains).

Me, Katherine, and Katie. The birthday girls: me and Maxine.

On my birthday, Katherine and I planned to go to Alto Vineyards for some wine tasting but found out they were closed on Mondays. Bummer. So we went to Sunsinger for wine and lunch instead. We had a very good Riesling, a goat cheese dip with pita chips, and cheese fondue. It was all so good and I would definitely go back!

That evening, my fam went to Monical's for my birthday dinner and then back to my parents' house for presents. My sister made some scrumptious minty cupcakes for dessert.

Lucas and me. Warren, Caden, and me.

SLPs in the City

On Tuesday, I drove up to the suburbs for a night out in Chicago with some of the girls. I met up with Sarah at Lacey's to get ready and take the train. We found Elena on the train and then Natalie at the train station to take a cab to Grand Lux Cafe for dinner. We had a bit of a wait so we headed to the bar for some drinks where Katherine found us. We had a delicious dinner and it was great being able to see the lights on Michigan Avenue from our table. Our dessert was equally delicious!

Training into the city and hanging out at the bar.


Grand Lux Cafe and some pre-dinner vino.


Pretty lights seen from our table and the whole group at dinner.


Molten chocolate cake, mmm!

Next up was a walk to Howl at the Moon. I had heard about this piano bar and it was really fun! We got a bucket of howlin' punch to share and listened to all kinds of music from Miley Cyrus to YMCA to Oasis. There were 5 musicians who switched off from piano, singing, drums, and guitar and they were all amazing. We had fun with our drinks and singing along to the songs. Then it was time to get a cab back to the train station to catch our train. I stayed at Lacey's with Sarah and she made us a delicious breakfast in the morning. Before heading back to Champaign, I met up with a study abroad friend for lunch. It was a jam packed 24 hours!

With Natalie and dresses picture with Elena and Katherine.


Enjoying our bucket o' punch.
(Elena, Katherine, Natalie, me, Sarah, Lacey)

(Thanks to Natalie and Elena because I stole all these photos from them!)

Fancy Dress Up Party III

On the last day of finals at 312, we hosted our semesterly fancy dress up party. This was the 3rd ever fancy dress up party held to honor birthdays, Christmas, the end of finals, and to have a good reason to wear fancy dresses. I feel that the fancy dress up party is best described with visuals...

Traditional picture of all 312 girls in attendance in front of the fire place.
Colleen, Lindsay, Kaylan, Sarah, me

Triple Threat

My good buddy Max and me. We had no idea that we would match - it was a pure coincidence but it looked pretty sweet.


After food and pictures, Club 312 was created (blue Christmas lights, speakers, and my iTunes). Here's Colleen and Bradley bustin' a move.

And, lastly, Club 312 really got going when Bradley and Max brought back the "crab" move from last year. See below.

2009 and 2008. What weirdos.

Finals Week

Finals week is always super stressful but I did some fun things to help the week along. First up on Monday was the "Good Bye Lyndi Luau" held for one of the girls in our program from Hawaii. She was leaving to go back to Hawaii for good so we had to give her a proper send-off.

Me and Katherine and I at the luau. EVERYONE in my class (minus 1 plus like 4 extra)

Tuesday night was a birthday celebration for Maxine and me at Radio Maria. More about that in the birthday post (coming soon).

Colleen, Natalie, me, Elena, and Katherine

Wednesday included much studying as I had a test at 8am Thursday morning. Wednesday afternoon/evening I studied at 3 places: First, at Espresso with Max, then at Panera with Katherine (so we could eat, too) until they closed, so we moved to Granger. Studying didn't really lend to picture-taking, but you can image it, I'm sure.

After Thursday's final, I went to Legends with Katherine, Elena, Sarah, and Ashley for some delicious food and a celebratory beer to cap off our last official finals week ever!

Later on Thursday, Sarah, Lindsay, Colleen, and I got dressed up and went to Biaggi's for a fancy celebratory dinner and a bottle of wine. Delicious! After some digestion time, we put on PJ's and had some chocolate fondue to top off our celebration.
Lindsay and I in the car and our four-some at Biaggi's