The World According to Liz

The final blog post is finally here and honestly I can't say I'm mad about it. While actually writing the blog post wasn't hard, remembering to do it and finding the motivation to write it was. Sometimes it really helped me vent and prevented me from snapping at my roommates or boyfriend so that was a plus. I actually enjoyed writing the posts especially when I've done something fun; I was excited to share. All in all I'm not going to miss writing these posts every week, however it wasn't a bad experience. I might continue to blog, maybe. If I do it definitely won't be like three times a week. It's nice to be able to look back over the semester and see what I wrote but three times a week was a lot! I had never blogged before, so this was all new. It wasn't hard, but being made to write isn't that fun. It was a long semester but still fun, so it's nice to be able to look back over the semester through these blog posts! 

Ya'll I am so excited for Thanksgiving this year. I love it every year but I am especially excited because I'm making like three different things! Last year I made homemade mashed potatoes, corn casserole, and a blueberry crunch, so this year I'm going to try new recipes. My blueberry crunch was a big hit last year. It's now requested at every family gathering, so it's a requirement. This year I'm making a spinach queso dip (I love dips), sangria (to make sure everyone is in a happy place and gets along), and the blueberry crunch. I can't wait to see all of my family! The last time we all got together it was Easter -- which is so long ago now that I think about it! Three of the grandchildren in my family are in college now so I can't wait to hear how everyone's semester is going! And honestly, I really love food so I'm just really excited to eat!! Happy Thanksgiving! We all have so much to be thankful for! 

I cannot wait to go home. I am so over this semester. This has definitely felt like the longest and most tiring semester I've had yet. I feel that it has constantly been test, after paper, after project, etc. I also don't feel like I know enough to take finals in 2 weeks either. It really hasn't dawned on me we basically have one week of class left and i have to turn it all these projects. I feel like December is still several weeks away and it's definitely not. So I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of all the tests/quizzes/papers I have left to turn in, while it feels good to actually see it on paper and now it seems tangible; it still feels enormously overwhelming. I know everyone else is in the same boat. May the odds be ever in our favor. I'm also seeing Catching Fire over break so that makes things a little better. 

Yesterday was my last App State football game. I stayed for the whole thing and yes I was freezing. I thought I dressed warmly when I got to tailgate, however I quickly barricaded myself in the car because I was so cold. So I went to the bookstore in search of a blanket and ended up spending a small fortune on a blanket. But THANK GOODNESS I got that blanket because there was no way I could have stayed with out it. I am so glad we won and that the "old mountain jug" says at Appalachian forever! I had a great time at the game and made a puppy friend at tailgate. His name was Todd and he had a little jacket. It was a really great day! 

The Panthers beat the Patriots and I could not be more ecstatic! I tried studying for Audiology while I was watching the game but I just couldn't do it! It was such a good game; it was close the whole time! My roommate is from Boston and she's a huge Patriots fan but I'm sorry the Panthers really needed this more than the Pats. A six game winning streak is huge for the Panthers! We haven't done that since 2005! At the beginning of the season I was really skeptical about how this season was going to play out but we finally got it in gear! Keep Pounding ya'll! 

I finally got my car back this weekend and it's been glorious. I no longer have to rely on others for rides. I can leave my apartment if I want too. Sweet freedom. I know that I'm being dramatic but on Friday both my boyfriend and roommate were in class and I was stranded and hungry. A bad combo. Thankfully nothing serious was wrong with my car -- just a bad wheel hub (whatever that means). My car doesn't make a grinding sound anymore, that's really all I care about. But I met my mom in Wilksboro to get my car and we had the nicest lunch. Even though I saw her two weeks before, it was nice catching up and getting to spend time with her! 

This past weekend I went to another wedding. I'm really starting to get good at going to weddings after all the weddings I've gone to lately.  Thankfully it will be awhile until the next one. I love weddings, like love them, but if one more person gets married that's my age I might lose it. Haha. Now I don't want to get married anytime soon (me and my boyfriend have been dating for 5 years and I'm not ready for that step yet - I feel that's still a few years away) but it still weirds me out that people our age are starting to get married. It gives me slight anxiety. But this past weekend my best friend's sister got married. We grew up right next door to each other and spent all of our time at each other's houses when we were little. It was just so special to be there to see her get married. It was such a sweet ceremony and their love for each other was so obvious. And it was also the best wedding food I've ever had, and wedding food usually is just kind of average but whoever there caterer was did a fantastic job. But anyway, it was such a fun night and I was so glad I could be a part of it! 

So I'm in Dr. Flippin's structural class and our final project is to transcribe a language sample. I got my language sample from my mom's friend's daughter, who is six and my goodness can that little girl talk. I filmed for twenty-five minutes just to be sure I got 100 utterances. I just started transcribing it last week and it is the biggest pain. I worked on it for about two and a half hours and I only got through eight minutes - I had to watch it in like five second increments over and over. I know I will definitely have 100 utterances but she talks so quickly and seems to never take a breath so I'm having a really hard time deciding where to separate the utterances. I still have a ways to go but I'm at least halfway done getting it all down. I felt the best thing to do was type up my utterances first and then go back and fix the punctuation and symbols. Wish me luck! 

I don't have my car this week and I already feel stranded! I've been needing to get it fixed for like a month and the time had finally come where I couldn't wait any longer. Every time I hit my breaks I could feel this crunchy-like feeling under my floorboard (that's the best way I know how to describe it). Totally safe. But the what's weird is that every time my traction-off light and ABS light were on my car was fine, but the minute those suckers went off I was honestly scared my breaks would fail and I would fly off the mountain. So this weekend I drove my car home so my dad could get it fixed. Luckily those lights stayed on the whole drive so I felt fairly safe. Hopefully it's not anything too serious. So now I'm sitting at my apartment, car-less. It's totes awesome.

Today I am registering for my last semester of undergrad. It's such a weird feeling. I only have four classes left. That's only twelve hours!!! I've never taken less than 15 hours so I'm pretty excited! And I won't have Monday or Wednesday classes next semester! Can you say long weekend? But I have this feeling I'm forgetting something. I feel like there is a class hidden somewhere that I'm forgetting and then I won't graduate on time - even though I've checked like five times. I have no motivation left for this semester but I'm excited for next semester (for now)! Good luck with registration everyone! May the odds be ever in your favor! 

This past weekend was the start of several wedding weekends I get to attend this month. This weekend one of my friends from high school got married! Jordan and Ryan got married at this beautiful place, called The Arbors. It was so pretty with all the leaves! Right before the ceremony, it started raining and it was an outdoor ceremony! But luckily just before Jordan walked down the aisle the rain just stopped! It was a beautiful ceremony. The reception was so much fun! It was like a little high school reunion! One of my favorite things they did at the wedding was having the guests make quilt squares. At the table with the guest book, they had white fabric squares that you could decorate or write a note to the couple and they were going to use the squares to make a quilt. I thought that was such a good idea! Also another one of my favorite parts was making s'mores. There was a fire pit out on the patio and they had all the ingredients in these little bags and you could make s'mores! It's only like one of my favorite desserts. I have another wedding next weekend too!