So it has officially been forever since I wrote a blog.  There has just been so much happening that its outrageous....so I will try to recap everything the best that I can.  :)

Two weekends ago I just had a really nice & relaxing weekend....my boyfriend Scott came to visit, and we were relatively boring.  We watched the 5th Harry Potter movie, ate @ Steak n Shake, and babysat for my cousin Audrey.  Or actually, I babysat for Audrey while Scott attempted to write a paper, but probably slept more than he actually wrote.  Then the final week before break began, and I was busy studying for tests, since I had three that week.  We danced at the basketball game against Ball State, which was so exciting as always!!  Then it felt like the week just went on and on and on.....but once I got done with my Music test on Thursday, everything was much better.  Then I got to just go to meetings, and kind of make sure everything was at a good stopping point before I left for a whole week.  :)  I met with my business group, and......get ready for it......we're almost done with our whole project!!!  We had to come up with a product/business, and then write a business plan for it.  Now, I'm not gonna lie, I remember coming to Butler Business Scholars weekend last year, and when they talked about this class, I was terrified.  The thought of writing an entire business plan and coming up with the product/service was pretty daunting.  Almost as daunting as the thought of climbing the high ropes course during the Get Real Weekend!  (please refer back to a previous blog) But I just kept thinking, I can't do that, so I had better get in a really good group!  And I definitely did...we have a great time at our meetings, and we somehow still get work done....which is how we have almost gotten this huge project done and over with.  :)  whoohoo!  But anyway, I also got to go see Twilight at midnight on Thursday with my unit....which was...interesting.  I love the books, but the movie was..eh.  They actually did a pretty good job with it, but there were just too many awkward moments in it for me.  Edward's lips were also just awkwardly red as well.  But the trip to the movie and being there with all the girls was fun at least.  :)

On my last day at school, I only had one class, since my ballroom dancing class was cancelled...so I woke up and went to workout early that morning....and I decided thats how I would like every morning to be.  Sleeping in, then leisurely walking to the HRC....and then getting ready and going to class around 11 or 12.  And it didn't hurt anything that day when it was absolutely beautiful outside....the sun was shining for the first time in awhile...which made my drive home that day much more enjoyable.  I was so ready for a break....even though I knew I would miss all my friends at school....I wasn't going to miss studying at all, and I was ready to just sleep on the couch all day again.  :)  

Over break I have had a wonderful time just chilling out....watching tv...going out to eat with friends and family....going out with my boyfriend...ive just been doing all kinds of fun stuff.  :)  I went to my old high school to visit teachers and friends and everyone...oh yeah Sims, you weren't there...I hope that you're feeling better, and I missed not seeing  you there!  I also have really enjoyed eating Totino's pizzas and popsickles again....those are my favorite things to eat when I'm just hanging out by myself at home.  :)  And of course, you can't have Thanksgiving without family get-togethers and tons of delicious food....so on Thanksgiving I went to my cousin Adrienne's with all of my mom's family....and last night we had all of my dad's family over here.  My favorite part of family things besides the food is probably just sitting around and talking....because my family is so much fun just to talk to!  It's also rather scary when we're all together...like with my mom's family, we all have the same mannerisms.  We all start talking at the same time...while we are moving our hands the same way....which gets kind of funny.  lol.  Then with my dad's family, we get really loud.  Like...really loud.  But for good reasons..  :)  lol.  This year for some reason all the guys were sitting around one table, and all the women around another....and we were much louder than the men!  Its mostly us laughing though I think is what is so loud.....which is my favorite....I love laughing really loudly...which is something that all my friends would agree with me about.  So I had delicious food on Thursday, last night, and tonight my friends are all coming over for our Friend's Thanksgiving.  Actually, its Friend's Classy Thanksgiving.  So we make ourselves look really classy too.  It will be wonderful...and it lets us continue the Thanksgiving festivities for as long as we can.  :

Yesterday my sister and I also went shopping at 5 am.  :)  We got up at 4....and were on the road a little before 5...so we got down to Evansville Wal-Mart by a little before 5 their time (we're in different time zones)...We hit up Wal-Mart, then ***'s, then Target, then Linens n Things, then finaly the mall.  The lines actually didn't take too long or anything...which was wonderful.  :)  And people were much nicer this year than they were last year.  I was pretty proud of our bargains that we got....and how much Christmas shopping we got done in such a small amount of time.  But when you think about it, we were actually shopping for about 7-8 hours...so we were shopping for a really long time....it just doesn't really seem like it since we were done by 12.  hahaha....if you haven't ever done the Black Friday thing then you probably should get on that.  It is definitely one of my favorite things about the Christmas season.  As soon as Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas happiness begins!  :)  Also, this year my family bought a fake tree....which I've never had.  So even though our presents won't have sap all over them this year (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation anyone??  hehe....)  it just won't be the same.   So we will see how this transition goes.  I have always been very attached to our real trees....  but it is fun to watch my mom and sister try to put it up for the first time....hahahahahahaha.

Well Happy Late Thanksgiving everyone.....I'm off to go get Christmas decorations for my dorm room.  :)

 This week I finally got to sign up for classes...which hasn't turned out too well for me because the majority of everything I wanted to take is full.  Yay for being a freshman and being sort of behind in credits.  Bah!!!  So even though my registration time was over a day ago, I only have three classes right now.  But, I'll fix it all soon, hopefully Monday...so I dont have to worry about it forever.  Then maybe I can chill and enjoy my Thanksgiving break a little bit.  :)  Which, excitingly starts next Friday as soon as I'm done with my Calc class @ 12.  I don't have my Ballroom class that day @ 9, which is pretty wonderful since a bunch of girls from my unit are going to see Twilight when it comes out at midnight!!!!!!   YES!  I have been waiting for this forever...well not really forever, but since July when I read the first book and fell in love with it.  So yeah, get excited.  This week has a potential of being great.  So classes, please just work out for me because if you don't, thats going to suck.  Yeah I said it.  But all that matters is that I get a full week off in about 7 days.  Thank you pilgrims and native americans.  :)

 Today we had a business lab to get back our results for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.  First we went over each part of the test, and we had to guess which type we were for each part, and I was right every time.  I guess I just know myself really well.  :)  According to me and the test, I am an Extrovert, a Sensing person, a Feeling person, and a Judging person.  Those last three sound kind of weird I know, but they mean that I am detail-oriented, I think about how decisions will affect other people, and I like to plan things ahead.  They dont necessarily mean that I like to judge people or anything...haha.  It was interesting to see though what they said that our type means about us.  I was pretty scared though that it would say something like, don't be a marketing major, you will suck at it.  But it didn't say that so I think thats a good sign.  :)  

 So the past week has been absolutely crazy for me.  In between practices, homework, and tests I feel like I haven't been able to breathe for awhile.  Other than being crazy busy, it has been a wonderful week full of really cool stuff.  :)  For instance, the election...and of course the election results!  :)  I'm so excited that Indiana voted Democrat...and of course that Obama is our new President!  I went to the Election Night Gala in the Reilly Room, and I was there when they announced the results, but all of my friends that were there had voted for McCain, so even though there were tons of people screaming and cheering and stuff, I didn't really have anyone to cheer with.  :(  But then I went back to my room and watched both of the canidate's speeches from my room where I could do anything as long as I didn't wake my sleeping roommate.  Ah, such a wonderful night......  :)

As you might have read in Blue II's blog, Ryan from The Office, or BJ Novak, was here last week to do standup.  Sadly, I had dance practice that I couldn't miss, so I didn't get to go, even though I am completely obsessed with The Office.  I really wanted to meet him, because sometimes when I'm bored I watch episodes of it with the commentary on, which might sound weird, but I like it because it makes me feel like they're my friends......which I really enjoy.  :)  But at dance that night, we were finishing up our routine that we did at Geneva Stunts, which was so much fun!!  I really enjoyed it, especially because I am also completely obsessed with SNL, and that was the theme.  I have most of the Best of DVDs...and I love watching them with people who have never been big fans of SNL, because then they get hooked pretty quickly....and then they finally understand my obsession with it, and we get to be obsessed together.  But yeah, it was a good time...  :)

This past weekend was family weekend, so my mom and my sister came up to visit.  My dad couldn't come because he is a farmer and he is still in the fields....so he will have to come here later.  But with dad not coming, that allowed mom, Natalie, and I to go shopping all day on Saturday.  :)  If we would have had my dad with us, the shopping would have lasted for maybe one hour.  Then dad gets restless, or he runs out of stuff to read.  Whenever he does go shopping with us, which happens maybe once a year for just a really quick trip, he brings a newspaper or finds one to read while he waits in one of those little lounge areas in the middle of the mall.  So we just figure that it is best to leave him at home.  The 3 of us had a lot of fun though, when we weren't getting annoyed by each other.  But if we would have gotten along the entire time, I would have thought that something was wrong.  We had a little too much fun with the mop that mom bought to clean my carpet with as we were walking out of Walmart and driving to their hotel...I think that she thought that she had 5 year olds in the car rather than a 19 year old and a 23 year old...  hhehe... Natalie and I are cool like that  :)

Well, I am going to go chill and enjoy not having much homework left to do....because I gave my final speech in Public Speaking on Monday....which was wonderful!!!  It was about Health Care Reform....and I practiced it so much that I think it is now permanently etched into my brain.  But giving it was so much fun...  :)  and then yesterday I had a Psych test, so now that those are over, I can rest a little bit before I have to study more.... so yeah....have a great day!

• So the day that I have been waiting for for at least the past 8 years is finally here! The first election day that I get to vote.....whoohoo! The polls will open in about 5 hours or so on the east coast....and hopefully in 24 hours we will know who our next president will be. :) For some of us, this is our first election, and some of you can't even vote yet. Regardless of your age, please please please try to pay attention to what happens on election day and for the four years following it. Soon you will have the right to vote if you don't already, and when you do, don't be apathetic and think that you just don't understand politics, so you shouldn't even try. Educate yourself on the issues, or ask someone who you trust to explain everything to you. It does take some effort, but once you are 18, there is no reason for you to not care about the issues that are important to our country anymore. Your vote counts as much as your grandmother's, your town mayor's, or any random person on the street. I have been really excited this year to see how many young people are coming out to vote and who are voicing their opinions, that is exactly what we should be doing! I haven't been hearing the regular, "Oh I'm voting for whatshisface because my parents are" line nearly as much this year, which is great because it means that we are starting to take charge of our own decisions. Don't think that just because we are young it we don't need to worry about it yet. Before we know it, we will be out on our own and we will be facing the same struggles as many Americans are right now. So if you're curious, go online and find websites that talk about the issues. dividedwefail.org is a great place to learn about a few issues....and there are tons of other sites that make some of these complicated topics easy for us to understand. So I hope that you have voted or will vote if you can, and if you can't....take this time to just sit back and watch what happens, and start learning about our country's political process in advance! :)

• So last week we had our first Blogger Chat....which was so much fun! We had a live video feed, and we got to answer everyone's questions right then. I found out then that I love talking about stuff that I love.....aka Butler. :) So make sure you come back for the next one....we pretty much have a blast anyway. :)

• Now I'm going to backtrack a bit and go back to Homecoming....which was awhile ago....But I have two videos from Yell Like Hell for you to check out....one of the dance team and one of Schwitzer, Tri Delt, and TKE..... :) This is part of our Batman Themed routine for Schwitzer, Tri Delt, and TKE And here is the dance team... :)

• This past weekend was Halloween, which is one of my favorite holidays....but sadly, it wasn't as exciting this year. Basically because for the first time in my life possibly, I didn't get to go trick-or-treating. That is seriously always my favorite night/nights because my friends and I always piled into a car and drove around to our other friend's houses or our teacher's houses and got tons of candy. :) It was always so much fun.....especially when you got a huge group of people to all go together. This halloween was pretty fun too though, I went to VooDoo at Snu, and waited in line for about 45 minutes, and inside it was like wall to wall people.....but on the plus side my boyfriend Scott got to come too, and he was Michael Phelps. So that was fun hearing everyone's reactions to his costume. haha :) And on actual Halloween, I played Monopoly. Yeah, I'm cool. I know. I hadn't played that in ages....and now I remember why. I have the shortest attention span ever.....so Monopoly and I don't really get along well. Saturday Night was also our first basketball game.... :) It was great getting to dance again like that, even though I have to admit I didn't know everything as well as I should have.....which I'm sure I will take care of before the next game. This winter is going to be so much fun with all the games... :)

• Well.....I'm off to study more so I can go to bed eventually...and then be excited for the election!!! :)

 So it feels wonderful to somewhat be able to breathe again!  Last week I was so busy that I didn't do much homework, or much of anything besides meetings or practices.  So now I'm trying to catch up on everything that I didn't do last week.  But I have somewhat gotten that all done, and now I need to start studying for all the tests I have in the next few weeks....but I'm just not motivated enough.  Hence why I'm writing this right now.  So here goes my recap of the past week.....

Yell Like Hell-  Holy cow.  It was so much fun.  You have no idea.  If you didn't know, Yell Like Hell is a campus wide cheerleading competition where sororities and fraternities and residence halls are paired together... and Schwitzer was paired with TKE and Tri Delt.  Since the theme of homecoming was superheroes, our superhero was Batman, so the whole thing was Batman-themed.  And I think ours was pretty sweet.  Of course, everyone would think theirs was awesome...but oh well.  The Dance Team also danced at Yell Like Hell, so I felt like I was in high school all over again when my friend Michelle and I had to be dancers, then quickly change and be cheerleaders.  (I was a cheerleader and dancer in high school....it made home basketball games pretty darn busy)  But it was a blast for both of them.....two of the things I love doing in one night!  Doing all the builds and such made me realize how much I miss cheering now....but I don't get to miss dance because I dance just as much now as I used to.  But after its over, I do believe that all the practice time was totally worth it at Yell Like Hell....it was just too much fun.  :)

Homecoming-  So the day of Homecoming began with the parade, and it was FREEZING!  Sooo  cold.  We lived.....but then we had to wait until halftime to dance...and it was still really cold.  It was a new experience...dancing with a halter top on when you should have a winter coat on....but on the bright side it made me really appreciate my sweatshirts when we were done.  :)  lol.  And we won the game, which is awesome!  I just know it was from our amazing dancing.  We are just that great.   hehe. 

So my other activities for the weekend included shopping downtown with my friend Em, and going to Walmart, and eating at the always delicious Texas Roadhouse.  Im really proud of myself because even though I now live close to numerous wonderful shopping areas, I have somehow restrained myself from buying things left and right.  :)  Which I know that for those of you who know me very well that is probably impossible to believe, but I'm not lying!!  :)  I am starting to become a loser I think though.  I get really excited when we go to Walmart??  And I get excited about buying things like shampoo?  I don't know why.  It freaks me out.....but I spent about 5 minutes deciding on what kind of shampoo to get.   Maybe its because I finally get to decide for myself what to clean my hair with??  But that still makes no sense.  All the small things excite me now...which is why I enjoyed Texas Roadhouse so much.  But my family and I always enjoy it, hence why we ate there 4 nights in a row for State Fair.  And somehow, I got the same waiter that we had for 2 of our visits in August.  Yeah I'm a creeper who remembers things like that. 

Have a wonderful week....and I will have videos up from the homecoming game and from yell like hell soon!!  :)

 So here we are back at Butler after a wonderfully relaxing Fall Break.  I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't ready to come back after break...I needed like one more day.  Then I would have been completely ready to come back.  :)  I think that's because I was just so busy doing things the whole time that I was home, and I never totally got to relax.  I was such a good student that I even wrote a paper and worked on a speech while I was at home.  Yeah, I'm that dedicated.  But I didn't do homework the entire time that I was at home of course.  I went to a wedding (my friend Taryn's older brother married my friend Casey's older sister) which was so much fun!  It was kind of like a reunion of a bunch of my really good friends from high school, and we haven't all had the chance to hang out together for a long time...like a truly long time.  I love going places and seeing people who I haven't seen for awhile, and who I really enjoy....it's one of my favorite things I believe.  This past weekend I also did something I have been wanting to do for years.  My sister and I made homemade noodles.  Now, to understand why this was such a big deal for me, you would have to understand how delicious my Aunt Cheryl's noodles are.  They are basically the highlight of every Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, and any other random family gathering during the year for me and everyone else in my family.  So two Christmases ago, Aunt Cheryl hosted a "Noodle Night" where most of the women of my family all went and learned how to make the famous noodles.  Natalie and I were too scared to make them for awhile, but then we decided that it was finally time to take the step and finally make them, and they weren't too bad!  They weren't as good as Aunt Cheryl's.....they were a little salty and a little bit too big....but hey, it was our first time, and they didn't kill us.  That's an accomplishment!  I'm ready to make them again, and then again, and again.....so I can discover all the tricks and secrets and everything that comes with making them 10 thousand times. 

So as you all might know, exactly two weeks from today, we will hopefully know who our next president is.  :)  YAY!  I'm so ready for election day......but I'm actually sad that I'm voting absentee so I can't go through the line of people who give you cards or pens, and then go in and vote and get the sticker that says "I voted".  I've always wanted one of those on election day...and I got one during the primary election in May, but I don't get one this time.  :(  But here is something that I enjoy as well.... when I went home, I noticed something different about our election signs in our yard.  We have a rather large yard, and part of it is a hill and another part is flat, so we always put our signs on the flat part of the yard that runs alongside the highway.  This year is different though.  My Dad is a republican, and my Mom is a democrat, and they each have their own set of signs, on opposite sides of the yard.  Dad's are on the hill, and Mom's are on the flat part.  I find it rather humorous though...and random?  I guess this is what happens when they have an empty nest.  I just wonder what will be next....haha.  Oh and the other day I got my first call for a poll...it was pretty exciting.  Not really, but now I guess I'm a part of the numbers they talk about all the time....that's pretty sweet.  But yeah....make sure you get out there and vote!!!  Remember, vote early and vote often!  :) 

So this week at Butler it's homecoming!!!  Whoohoo!!!  But I'm kind of ready for it to be over.....there is just so much to do!  I wanted a nice, peaceful week to get back into the swing of things....but no.  That's not possible.  I'm really excited for Yell Like Hell on Thursday Night though...I will be dancing with the dance team and performing with Tri Delt and TKE...which will be exciting I'm sure.  And we are dancing again on Saturday at the game....so come out and watch us!!  :)  And maybe I'll post some videos from Yell Like Hell....and/or the game....so yeah, prepare yourself.  Butler Homecoming is intense though.  I think that's the only way for me to describe it.  I'm enjoying just taking it all in and seeing how everything goes down basically.  :)

Well, I must go to sleep....I have yet another big day ahead of me tomorrow.  Yay for college.  :)

So finally, fall break is here!  :)  I have been so ready for a break...so this feels wonderful!  The only problem is that while I'm here I have to write a paper and work on a speech....but I can fall asleep on my couch watching tv with my family again, which I love.  Something else that I really appreciate is how there are hills down here...:)  Central Indiana is honking flat, but once you get south of Cloverdale....and close to Spencer....it gets wonderfully hilly.  Thats one of the random things that I didn't think about missing, just like the cornfields that I never see in Indy, and not being able to drive down the street and see five people that you know.  That's my favorite thing about coming home...realizing how much you love all the things that you always took for granted about your town and all.  It's always nice to come home to relax and see everyone, but its also nice to go back to school to see everyone there too...especially when my family starts getting crazy....haha...no i'm just kidding, I love my family.  :)  I came home last weekend too, because it was a friend of mine's birthday, and all of my best friends from high school were going to be home.  It was so much fun to see all of them....it's been so long since we had all hung out together, and they've all grown up so much!!  haha...  My boyfriend, Scott, was on fall break too, so it was like the summer all over again!  Having all of my favorite people at home was amazing though...I hadnt realized how much I really missed just going over to Scott's house and hanging out with his family, or having random fun with my friends...I just wish that I had been at home for longer...:( 

So normally in my blogs, I talk about things that I've done lately.  But sadly, I have been really boring lately, because I have been so busy with studying and practice and meetings...I had three tests in two days, and then a bunch of meetings and practices.  On Tuesday I had a Psych test, and I studied more than I have ever studied in my life, which was sorta hard because I was crazy tired, so my roommate Hannah would probably tell you that she saw me sleeping more than I was studying....what can I say?  I can't help it if I just conk out while I'm reading on my bed......haha.  But somehow, when I wasn't studying for Psych, or sleeping with my notecards and book and computer all around me....I found time to study for my other two tests.....and go to dance practice, and meetings, and yell like hell practice (its a cheerleading competition between the sororities, frats, and residence halls for homecoming...I'll talk more about it later!)  So now that all of this is over...I can breathe again....but since homecoming is next week, I have a feeling things will be crazy then too!!!  Although for right now, I love looking at my iCal and seeing nothing to do for the next three days.  Wow.  I love it.  :)  Somehow, I can handle having nothing to do when I'm at home, but when I'm at school I always have to be busy with ten thousand things to do. 

 When I was in Elementary school, I was obsessed with reading.  So obsessed that I would stay up way later at night than all of my family, just to read.  Back then, I was a big fan of Nancy Drew.  Then I read a few of the Harry Potter books....and after the third one, I discovered how cool our computer was, especially with ICQ, Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger, and the always exciting Expage.  So I stopped reading for a few years.... except for every once in awhile during ISTEP or when we went to the library with our class and we had to get a book....until this summer, when I heard about the Twilight books from my boyfriend's sister Susan...and since then, I have been obsessed!  I've read the first two...and now I'm basically obsessed with reading again.  Whenever I get sucked up into a book I get into my own little world....and i loose all track of time, unless my computer tells me.  (My computer tells me the time every hour on the hour....its like a high tech personal bell tower.)  I decided to go back and pick back up on the Harry Potter books where I left off, because I felt kinda bad that I just totally deserted them...so I think I will just alternate Harry and Twilight until I have finished them all.  :)  But if you havent read them....you should.  :)  And if you have read all of them....DONT TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS!!!  My roommate is probably dying to talk to me about Twilight....but shes doing a great job keeping quiet. 

 So I'm off to try to be productive....as always...:) 

 So as always, it has been a very busy & exciting week in the life of Stephanie.  This past weekend I got to do almost all of my favorite things....shop, watch movies,dance, drive, and visit cool people.  :)  (Thats a lot of favorite things isn't it??)  I went shopping at Castleton with my best friend from high school who is here at Butler too, Taryn...and we had a great time as always.  (She understands how I shop....which is a very complex concept)  Then we came back just in time to see SGA's showing of Wanted....which is an AMAZING movie that I highly recommend.  I'm not going to lie, after I watch it I want to go to a shooting range so I can try to curve a bullet like they do....they just act so cool in that movie...it makes me want to be as cool as them.  Haha.  Then on Saturday I got to dance at my first football game...YAY!!  it was so much fun.  I really hadn't realized how much I have missed performing, but it was nice to get to be in front of a big crowd again.  We will be dancing at Homecoming in a few weeks....so you should come out and watch if you can!  After I was done at the game, I decided to go visit my boyfriend at his school...which was fun because as you may have read in previous blogs, I love to drive, and I guess he's pretty cool too.  I really like just singing like I'm a crazy person, and not even stopping when someone passes me...even though they probably think I'm a freak.  I used to have a serious lead foot...and I still somewhat do, but since I got my first speeding ticket EVER a few weeks ago....I have been obeying traffic laws.  Overall, I had a wonderful weekend filled with very festive activities...and here is a video of the dance team dancing pregame...:) You probably won't see us...but the other freshman blogger Liz and I are both in it! :)

 So right now in a town close to my hometown they are having the Fall Festival...:)  Which is this huge street festival where they block of a whole bunch of downtown Evansville and every club or organization you can think of has a booth, and every one sells different kinds of food.  If you even enjoy food in the slightest bit, it would be heaven for you.  Last year was my maiden voyage to the Fall Festival....and my favorite thing that I bought was actually on my way out....there was a church selling Apple Kuchen (Apple Cake in German) and I thought that I would be nice and buy one for my mom and dad.  But I got it....and I ended up eating like 75% of it because it was so delicious.  I have been dreaming of that Apple Kuchen ever since that fateful day one year ago....and I just might get to go there this weekend.  :)

So yesterday I had the privilege of not having any afternoon classes....so I got to go to the Obama rally at the State Fairgrounds!  :)  I had seen Obama once before during the primaries....but I just can't get enough of political rallies...they rank up there with that Apple Kuchen.  haha.  Obama was great as always I thought, but what I enjoyed even more was just all of the people there.  I did go with a pretty fun group of girls...:)  But it was so amazing just to be in one place with so many people who believe in something just like you do.  I've had a rough week or so dealing with my beliefs and just trying to remember that it's ok if we don't always agree...our differences are what make us each so unique and amazing.  But like I said, being able to see thousands and thousands of people who care about a cause...or who believe in a person just like I do was the most comforting feeling I've had in a long time.  And it was just sweet to see everyone saying to complete strangers, "Can you see him?  Here, this is where you should look."  And then they would give up their spot to let that person see.  It's small actions like this that I think mean the absolute most to people.  So there are now only 25 days until the election....and I am ecstatic because for the first time in my lifetime, and in even some of our parent's lifetimes....Indiana is a swing state!  Indiana hasn't been won by a democrat since 1964....which is a really long time.  Haha.  But I've been so ready and psyched to vote for so long, that this is the perfect situation for me to be casting my first vote for president in.  And I love that people can't say, "Oh my vote doesn't matter, I don't need to vote"....because this year, it obviously does.  Something else that I keep thinking about is how this year's elections are making history in every way.  No matter what, when we have grandkids, we are going to be able to tell them about how we voted in this election...and how intense everything was.  :)  I love that I will be able to tell them that I got to see Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton all speak...which ony happened because Indiana is such a battleground this year!  Yeah I know...I am a major dork.  I love this stuff though! 

 Once again, I have lost track of time.  This seems to be a common theme of mine.  The past week has been pretty intense with classes, and my first few tests, and most importantly, the return of all of my favorite primetime shows!  :)  The Office and Greys Anatomy started on Thursday, and I'm currently watching Brothers and Sisters, but I missed the beginning of Desperate Housewives, so don't tell me about what happened until I get the chance to see it online tomorrow! 

 This weekend I was busy with things for my Freshman Business Experience class... on Friday we went to a Forum with recent Butler grads, and they told us about what they do now, about their internships, and about their experiences here at Butler.  That was really cool, especially to hear what advice they had for us...for instance, what they wished that they had done while they were here and things of that sort.  Then on Saturday we finished our Get Real Weekend that we started two weeks ago, so we got to go out to the high and low ropes courses all day.  :)  It was an awesome day...and a great opportunity for our groups to form a bond and learn more about each other.  My personal favorite activity was the "Mine Field" where we had to guide a blindfolded person through a "Mine Field" (which was an area with a bunch of random toys scattered everywhere....my favorite was a stuffed penguin, closely followed by the rubber pig)  it was challenging, yet still fun because watching a blindfolded person tiptoe and shuffle through a mass of toys is always pretty funny.  :)  Then later that day we went on the high ropes course, which I wasn't looking forward to because I am a HUGE wimp when it comes to heights, and after standing there with the harness and the helmet on for like thirty minutes, I decided that it just wasn't going to happen.  I had tried something similar to it before, and it wasn't the best experience.....mainly because of how much of a wimp I am.  But, all in all, it was an awesome day....and we learned so much.  :)  I have a video of the high ropes course that my friend Josh helped me out with (since I was a wimp)  that will be up sometime....:)  I might fill you in on more things that we did this weekend sometime....because there were so many activities that we did that I loved...it was basically a fun-filled day/weekend!

So this past week I realized that I am back to my usual "too-busy" self.  I interviewed for Alpha Kappa Psi (a business fraternity), and I am now a pledge, which is really exciting!!  But now that adds yet another activity to my list.  I love it being that way though.  :)  Having downtime makes me nervous....so I just make sure that I don't have any.  lol.....for instance, on Wednesday night I didn't have any meetings or anything, and I felt a massive cold/sinus thing coming on so I didn't think I should go to the HRC, so I sat in my room and watched TV for the first time all year.  It was crazy.  So I pulled out a book and did some homework while I was watching TV.  That made me feel a little bit better....lol. 

Last night my boyfriend Scott came to visit, and we went with some of my friends to the Old Spaghetti Factory....which I highly recommend.  It was pretty delicious.  :)  Except that they gave me a chinese food box to put my leftovers in??  I don't understand what that was all about.  I kept thinking that the waiter would bring out the real box....but he didnt....so I just put my lasanga in that.  haha....

Well thats all I've got for now....now it's back to homework....whoohoo!  Hopefully this week won't go as fast as this past one did...........

So on Thursdays I usually like to reflect on my week, since on Friday and Saturday I don't think to do it....and I just realized that the past week has completely flown by.  I got to babysit for one of my cousins over the weekend, and that seems like it was just yesterday!  Oh and a tip that you all might enjoy, if you need to just relax for a little while, play Play-Doh with a small child for a few hours.  It's amazing, and it lets you totally just zone out all the craziness of life for a little bit!  :) 

In my last blog I talked about the Get Real Business Weekend a bit...but I didn't mention the best part of the first day....my team won the building design competition thing!  WOOT WOOT!  :)  I do have the best group, and then they paired us with another group to come up with a design for a new CBA building....and we were amazing.  That's all there is to it.  At the beginning we sat down and sorted out all of the pieces we had to work with, and decided what we were going to do with all of it, and from there things just flowed the way that they always should.  Everybody worked together, and everyone contributed....which is why ours was the best....and why it stayed standing....and why we rock.  :)  Here is a photo of my group and I...and of course our masterpiece!!  :)

This week I also realized that I love cheesecake.  My roommate and I had to get some things at the mall, so we went to Keystone, and very conveniently stopped by the Cheesecake Factory for some "dinner".  :)  Not that Atherton isn't wonderful....but we really enjoyed replacing the usual dinner with just dessert.  I highly recommend the Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake....or basically anything there.  It took me seriously about 10 minutes to decide which one to get.  But, it was sooo worth it.  :) 

So something else I am getting really excited about is rushing....I got to go to Sorority Open Houses on Sunday and I had a blast!  It was really cool to get to finally see the inside of the houses that we have just got to look at from the outside ever since we got here.  :)  I didn't have time to go to all of them because of the remnants of the hurricane and all, (It was rather scary here for a little bit!!)  but there is another day when we can go to them in a month or so.  I'm pretty excited!!  :)  Learning about the whole process has been pretty interesting and I always love meeting new people so it has been fun for me!!

Well I believe that is all of the exciting stuff that I have been up to lately....Thanks in large part to the massive quantity of homework that I have to do.  So on that note, I should probably go tackle some of that....:)

So in the past day, I have decided that I really like last minute plans. I was supposed to be at the Get Real Weekend for my Freshman Business Experience Class, but the weather today was supposed to be horrible with thunderstorms and rain all day, so they postponed today's activities. So once we found that out, my boyfriend decided to come to visit me! :) And then this morning I looked out the window and it was absolutely beautiful outside. Its hot, but there is a breeze, and the sun has been out all day. So it probably would have been a great day to be on the high ropes course and doing all of the other activities outside, but that's ok. I'm sure we will have a great day anyway in a few weeks! :) I'm really excited to get to work with my group....they just keep getting cooler and cooler!!

So I really like college now. Not that I didn't like it before...but before I came, I was just so scared that I wasn't going to be able to be myself I guess. I just realized this this week. When I came to Butler, I felt like I was leaving everything behind, my home, my friends, my family, and that I was going to basically become a new person. But now I know that that is totally not the case, I'm still me, I'm still Stephanie, just in a different setting. I love that. I know that all sounds pretty crazy, but that's what I felt like. It was just such a foreign step to me that I didn't know what to expect, so I felt like I was going to be starting from scratch. But now I'm here and I feel like I've found my niche, and its the same kind of niche that I had back home. That's probably my favorite realization that I have had thus far. :) It's comforting to me, which is very helpful in this crazy time of lots of big changes in a short period of time.

Oh btw, I forgot that Thursday was my sister's birthday, so HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY NATALIE!!! :) shes getting pretty old you know......haha just kidding sis! :) and also HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON!! and HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN!!! Its just been a crazy fun week of everyone's birthdays this week.... That's all I've got for now, so have a wonderful day!!!

Wow, the past week has completely flown by!! I really hope that the entire year doesn't go by this fast. My classes have been alright, they would be much better though if I was in the doing stuff for classes mode already. It takes me a little while to get into that mindset, and by then I am already behind, so that stinks. But in my Freshman Business Experience class we are getting ready to start working on our project that is our main grade, so tomorrow morning we find out what group we are in, which is what we have all been waiting for for the past two weeks! The suspense is killing me, especially since we are put into the groups according to our personality styles, so I really want to know what kind of personality the computer says that I have. :)

Last week I ventured out to the HRC for the first time, once to go to a Hip Hop class, and once just to work out. I was pumped for the Hip Hop class, and it was completely amazing. It was an intense hour-long workout, but so much fun at the same time. Then the next day I just did the bicycle thing...which wasn't as fun, even though there was a TV in front of it. (I'm obsessed with watching TV, my roommate always makes fun of how I turn it on every time I just walk into the room.) I didn't like that as much as the class, because I've never been that dedicated to working out to just do the same thing for a prolonged period of time. Maybe for 10 minutes, but that's pushing it.

So I have always prided myself on my exceptional sense of direction, but last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I didn't do too well driving places around town. :( First I got lost on my way to my cousin's house for dinner, because apparently 56th street ends and then picks up somewhere else in Indy. Good to know, good to know. The other days I think I was just not confident with myself like I usually am, so I basically cursed myself. But in my defense, one of those times the directions from Google Maps were partially not on the paper, because it printed out kinda strangely, so we just guessed where to go, and I think that we did pretty well!!!

On Saturday I tried out for the Butler Dance Team, and I made it!! :) It was an intense day of learning stuff and trying to get it all down and do it well. I haven't danced in awhile though, so I was really nervous and on Sunday morning I was REALLY sore. It hurt to walk, to sit, to stand, everything. But I think it will all be worth it, because I haven't danced all summer, and I really missed it. So if you come to a basketball game or anything, be sure to check us out!! :)

On Friday I was just walking around campus with my friend Chris, and I took a bunch of photos of some really pretty places on campus (which is pretty much everywhere right now!!). I love just walking around right now though...it is absolutely beautiful! Sometimes when I am walking into Schwitzer, I just have to like remind myself that I get to live here for the rest of the year. It's pretty sweet. All the pictures are in my photo album, but I think that this is my favorite one....

If you have read my past blogs, you probably know that I really like my room...so i decided to make a video of it, and show all of you where I live... :) And Hannah and I had to clean my room for it, so you had better enjoy it! Just kidding....but really....I hope you like it. I do...:)

Happy belated labor day everyone! Since we had a long weekend, I made sure to make it count. :) I went to dinner with a friend of mine from home on Friday Night, then on Saturday I went to visit my boyfriend at Eastern Illinois University, so it was a pretty awesome weekend. On this trip, I realized that I absolutely love driving. But of course, something always has to go wrong, so when I got in my car to leave, my FM transmitter for my ipod wouldn't work, which I realized that it was because my cigarette lighters are broken, and the part of my dash that says what time it is or what radio station I'm listening to wouldn't work either. But, I found some pretty sweet radio stations along 70, so all was well. :) But, these good radio stations got me in the mood to drive like a madwoman. Which isn't safe, so don't do that, but it was fun while it lasted. My favorite part of the drive though was that when I drive by myself, I can sing as loud and crazy as I want to, since nobody can hear me, (nobody would want to) and I kinda feel like I can actually sing for a little bit. :) It's like I'm a star on Broadway when I'm in the privacy of my own car, complete with the facial expressions and everything. Yeah, I'm that cool.

So I got back from EIU last night, and I thought, "Oh I can put away my stuff and then do homework". Great idea, right? Well, it didn't really turn out that way. First I had my stuff that I took with me to put away, then I had some stuff that my friend Taryn brought me back from home to put away, and then my roommate had taken my laundry with her so her mom could do it. So it took me about 3 hours to finally get everything back in this little room of mine....but still, I can't believe that so much stuff fits in here!!! As a good friend of mine said, I must be really good at puzzles! :) But today we are back to work with the whole having class thing....which is kinda hard to get used to, but it's not too bad at all! I just have Psychology 101 in about a half hour, and then I'm done for the day! Well, done with classes that is. I do need to do some Calc, and some reading, and some organizing, and some sleeping, and practicing for dance tryouts....you know, not too much at all. :) I like it being that way though, I don't know how to deal with downtime!

So I will leave you with this, since I should probably get to work on some stuff. I know that everyone always says don't take anything for granted, and we never really listen. But this time you should really listen. Don't ever take anyone or anything for granted. Tell people who you love that you love them, and never give up a chance to give someone a compliment or to just say a kind word to them. That might be the only nice thing they hear all day, and it could make all the difference. On that note, have a wonderful day, enjoy the beautifulness outside, and be happy!!! :)

So the past week has pretty much flown by! Of course, I waited until the last minute to do all of my packing, which should take way more than two days I believe. Then once I got here, my days have been jam packed with things to do and new people to meet. :) I thought that I had brought way too much stuff, but it turned out to be perfect since #1-everything fit into my parents car and mine, and #2-I only had to send a few things home with them. That is a major feat for me that makes this whole crazy process totally worth it to me. Now my room is all done, and I finally feel settled! I love it, its cozy, cute, and most importantly, there was enough room for all of my shoes and clothes in my closet somehow. And my favorite part of the room is my coffee table that I found at a yard sale for $1 this summer with my friends, it was just missing a glass top, so I ended up painting it brown and then buying the plexiglass for the top. I truly enjoy being crafty for cheap. :)

So so far everything here has been pretty overwhelming, but somehow still amazing! The other day I was at my unit meeting doing an ice breaker, and that made me realize how cool everyone here really is. Being surrounded by so many talented and remarkable people with such diverse interests is really awesome. The only bad thing that has happened so far is that it is probably two hundred degrees outside during the day. And we have no a/c. Yeah its rough, but we still have fun!

Since I have been here I have had the opportunity to do community service twice, all in less than a week! One of these days was with BITS (Bulldogs into the Streets), which was an awesome experience that I highly recommend. :) Yesterday was our first day of classes, which I was very nervous about, but it turned about to be great because when you get to a class with teachers who are so passionate about a subject, you just know that it will be a good semester. So the whole class thing has been pretty painless so far! But since I got here, every day has been filled with fun things to do, from Block Party to Casino Night to just meeting all kinds of new people! I'm basically loving it so far. :) Have a wonderful day and check back later for more blogs!