Sunshine and Sand Volleyball February 22, 2012

    Today was such a fun-filled day! Slept in, went to lunch, went to leadership (where me and my roommates presented our project...relating leadership to the process of photography!), had a team building activity in class where we had to attempt to build the tallest tower built out of marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti...needless to say...my team won! Me, Amanda, Kristyn, and Reed did work! We talked about the importance of having a Christian community as our "foundation" and always supporting us...good stuff! Then...it was so sunny and warm out...(finally!) so we decided to play some sand volleyball! It was a perfect day for this and 4 of us ended up playing for almost 3 hours! Near the end it was just 2 on 2 and it was so much fun! Minus me getting hit in the face super hard by Kristyn's amazing kill! I love playing volleyball...and even though I haven't played in a while...it's like I never stopped! It's so fun playing with other people and girls that played in high school...makes the game that much more competitive! I then watched some Once Upon A Time, went to dinner, went to Classics where we watched the movie "Amazing Grace," (and during it I did my homework that is due tomorrow...I just had to watch this movie last semester for leadership...so half watching it wasn't an issue! :])
    Tomorrow we are heading down to Azusa for a main campus visit until Sunday! I am super pumped to catch up with friends down there! There's also quite possibly a trip to Disneyland and the beach in the works! Wooo! back to civilization and SoCal for the weekend! However...I will miss everyone up here dearly! Even though we will all be on main campus...it's going to be weird not being with them 24/7! I'll probably be swamped with trying to hang out with as many people as I can...so I'll try to update el blog on Sunday night! peace out Bass Lake for the next 4 days!

Divine Romance February 21, 2012

     Bright and early morning learning about Jesus and then having lovely Amy teach us in Plenary! I then got to have a lovely phone chat with Ms. Rachel Joy, had my phone interview for working at Hume Lake this summer, and then went running with Amy and Sara! We got back and we watched...Vampire Diaries! (of course). I then had a fantastic one on one with Burns and then dinner. At staff meeting tonight us student leaders were given a very cryptic message to go layer up, grab a head lamp, and jump into a van and start driving until we saw Burn's car. Once we saw it, we got out to find another note telling us to start hiking the trail singing Justin Bieber. so great...I just love being on student leadership team! We finally met up with Burns and Hake as they waited for us looking out over Bass Lake! so pretty! They brought us hot chocolate and we had our meeting on top of the hill! We got to split up and pray with each other too...me and O'neil were partners and it was just so great catching up. We returned to campus and then we had our girl's hall meeting. Tonight we talked about what it means to be "romanced by the Lord." It spurred some great discussion and then we had a girls worship night led by Kim, Bethany, and Amanda. They are so talented and we ended the evening singing "Divine Romance..." how perfect! Then...it was finally homework time! Got a few things done but I'm calling it a night! :)

President's Day Festivities. February 20, 2012

Slept in. Lunch. Concepts homework. lovely phone chat with ms. morgan, cleaning, Concepts, America themed dinner (we dressed up in American pride and listened to America themed music all of dinner in honor of President's Day hehe), small group...we talked about being woman of Christ and crafted reminders for ourself, Lord of the Rings, sleepy time.

Feet Washing February 19, 2012

     Woke up in the meeting hall. Woke up to find out that the boys had stolen a lot of the girls jeans and tied them all together and they stretched from the dining hall all the way to the slack line (quite a distance) up in the air...funniest thing ever...especially since they didn't take mine! haha Church. lunch. Writing Valentine's for everyone's bags while Ian, Jess, my roomie Taylor, Sara, and Aron all hung out in my room. Dinner. Nap. Community meeting! Tonight we re visited our community charter and were reminded of our commitment to serving each other in love. We then did feet washing...a lot of great things happened tonight! Reconciliation and prayer...and a reminder why we are here and a reminder of how much we all love each other. So beautiful. We then opened up our Valentine's Day bags! So fun and filled with so much encouragement! love love love mine! Homework into the early am, and an episode of Once Upon a Time to top off the evening.

Operation Sleepover: Seven Year Old Style February 18, 2012

    Today was a pretty lazy day! Slept in (due to staying up so late to watch Once Upon a Time!) Spent the rest of the day prepping for our girl's sleepover tonight...aka...Oakhurst run and had a one on one with Burns! Earlier this week I printed out these cute sleeping bag shaped invitations and put them in all the girls mailboxes! We basically had a sleepover blast from the past...7 year old girl style! We colored, painted nails, ate junk food, played games, and watched movies! The funniest/scariest part of the night were when the boys (who were having their own sleepover in direct opposition to us) turned off the power, and came in screaming to scare us! They even put on scary music and were hanging from the rafters...and Ian wore his joker mask...scariest.thing.ever. Then they came in later singing us "My Girl." My goodness...they cannot even go one night without us!

Friday Funday! February 17, 2012

    Such a fun filled day! A bunch of people went skiing today, but a few of us stayed behind and had a blast! Trip to Oakhurst thrifting and such, enjoying the SUNSHINE!, and watching tons of movies! It was so fun and relaxing! Then we had chapel at night and then a few of us girls went over to Rob Simpson's house for game night! So great being in a real house! Came back and we watched Breaking Dawn (why did I like this movie in theaters? haha), and then stayed up really late watching my new show obsession: Once Upon a Time...seriously...this is a show MADE for me! Go look it up and watch it!

24 hours of Silence. February 16, 2012

     Day of silence! It's so funny walking around and eating meals together with no talking! Today was a personal health day for me. We debated in plenary (we're allowed to talk in class) and then I loaded up my crafts and took a trip to the waterfall! I absolutely love this place! There I worked on making Valentine's, working on gifts for my secret sister, journaling, and just enjoying nature! It was so great! I returned, went to dinner (so crazy not being able to talk!), watch Vampire Diaries with Sara, and at 10:30 pm we had a "closing of the 24 hours of silence" worship sesh singing the doxology. We sang the last words we
"spoke/sang" to open up talking again! Hooray! It was a pretty chill night from there!

Work Overload February 15, 2012

    Today was filled with work overload! Had so much to get done...it was exhausting! Other than that...it was a pretty solid day? Confession: I wrote this 3 days light and don't really remember what went down.
    Tonight we started out 24 hour of silence with a night of worship! These next 24 hours could get quite interesting! hehe

February 14, 2012 Happy Valentine's Day!

     Happy love day! Today was pretty chill. We had a picnic style lunch in the dining hall...so fun! I spent most of the day doing werrrrk. Got a lot done! We have Valentine's day bags for each of us set up in the dining hall and all week long we are supposed to fill each other's up...I need to get on writing all of mine! Dinner was grand, and we had lovely Valentine inspired strawberry cake for dessert. More homework. Staff meeting: Burns took us out to coffee and we got to have our meeting at Starbuck's! Such a lovely treat! Hall meeting...we are doing secret sister this week with theme days! Tonight's theme was to write out a prayer for your sister...we are going to have a revealing of our sisters on Saturday at a sleepover! yay! Back to doing homework...and what do ya know...it's 4am...I guess it's time to sleep? coooooollll. so.much.to.do.its.ridiculous.

Packages and Craftiness February 13, 2012

    Happy Monday! Slept in, lunch, epic phone call with Bianca, and devotionals filled the afternoon. Classics time...and on our break...saw I had received a package from 2 of my best friends Rachel and Morgan! I was greeted by lots of socks, PJs, mittens, unmentionables ;), candy bars, and chapstick! They know me too well! Then it was dinner time and since Meagan, our small group leader was sick, the girls in my small group met in my room and we all did crafts! Fun fact: I cannot do crafts if a.) I am not in the right mood and/or b.) do not have a vision of what I want to do. Therefore I got extremely frustrated and it somewhat affected my mood for the rest of the night. Plenty of great conversation, but internally, I was freaking out. Type A personality...heyo. I snuck off to Burn's house, had a quality conversation with Jess, and then attempted to get homework done there...but let's be real between her, Jess, and Ian, I had enough distractions to never get homework done for the rest of the semester.

Productivity For the Win February 12, 2012

     Sunday. Cloudy day. Church!!!!! Today I actually felt inspired to do homework...first time since last semester! So...I got down to business and got a ton accomplished! Such a productive day sitting by the fire place in the dining hall getting in some quality homework time. Hung out with people. laughed and laughed and laughed. more homework. bed. And another weekend here concludes here at good ole High Sierra.

February 11, 2012

     What a fun filled day today! We went adventuring in Mariposa Grove (aka where the giant Sequoia trees live!) We hiked all around in the misty fog, took lots of pictures, and ate lunch there. We then returned to cram in homework before our girl's night in Fresno!
    Girl's night: sketchy drive to DeCicco's...but ended up being a fun restaurant with delicious pizza! Froyo, Target run, loud music, long drive, returning to witness the boy's had gone crazy without us and the pranks they had pulled. Tonight was the first night I have been in city civilization since...forever. I have never gone this long not in the real world! It was so weird! It takes us an hour to drive to Fresno...so we don't go often at all!
     The boy's prank on Burn's house was hilarious! They turned around all her furniture, and took every single lightbulb out...leaving her in complete darkness! It was fun reunited with the boys for a bit...then it was off to homework and bed! I'm sleeping in my roomie, Taylor's bed, while she's away this weekend...it's so comfy and it's so nice not to have to climb on top of my bunk! haha

February 10, 2012

     Happy Friday! Woke up at 7:30am to meet with my small group! Every Friday at breakfast we are sharing life stories with each other. Breakfast was sourdough waffles...have you ever heard of such a thing?! Woody spoke in chapel today! He talked about the uniqueness of each person's story and about "life changing" events. My goal was to do homework all day...but...let's be real...that didn't happen. Ended up hanging out with people, watching Vampire Diaries with Sara, napping, and my personal highlight of the day...a trip by myself to the waterfall! That's right...we have our very own creek and waterfall right here on campus. It's about a five minute walk back into the woods. My goal again was to read for class...but I ended up having over an hour of Jesus time! It was so so so so needed and I returned very refreshed!
    Dinner. Watching Vampire Diaries (me and Sara keep up with the current episodes but we are currently getting more people hooked on the show...so we are starting on season 1!) We ended up watching 3 episodes...whoops! Spent the rest of the night hanging out with people and not getting any work done...story of my life! But...I got one of my assignments back tonight from Concepts (my philosophy class) and I got a 10! This is the highest grade you can get...and from what I've heard...it's not very often that you get them! Hooray! Ironically...it's the assignment I spent the least amount of time on and wrote 2 hours before it was due. I guess over thinking really is a killer...just gotta write what comes to mind and not overanalyze!

February 9, 2012

    Besides class today, the majority of my day was spent on my Life & Teachings paper that was due at 5pm! I met with Rob, the director of this place, for my leadership independent study with him. We are studying the topic of "making decisions" (Lord knows I need to study this) and I even get to "teach" our leadership class one day as an assignment! I look forward to see what I learn from this! I got to fit in a short nap which was MUCH needed (these past few nights have not consisted of much sleep at all) After dinner a few of us watched Psych in the movie room (we all love it here...mom...wanna send me the other 4 seasons? hehe) We then had a spontaneous family game night! I mostly observed these crazy hyper games, and played a few but I guess this is a new tradition here! Thursday night game night! While I was observing, Ian started to teach me how to play guitar! I have always wanted to learn so I could play with my dad! I am proud to announce, under Ian's teaching skills, I have mastered understanding chords. I can't change between them really fast, and I don't have them memorized yet, but I can read them! And strum! We're getting somewhere people!
     At around 12:45am...a car pulled up...in it...Woody (the campus pastor down on main campus whom we all adore!) and his family! He is visiting this weekend to speak at chapel tomorrow and also just to hang out for the weekend! We're going into Yosemite with his family on Saturday for the whole day! yay! We bombarded his car and hung out with him for a little in the dining hall...my day is starting early tomorrow...the plan was to go to bed early...but there is just too much fun around here to miss out on! Especially on the weekend!

February 8, 2012

      What a crazy busy day! Had leadership today where we watched a video on Ernest Shackleton. OK, stop what you are doing...and go look him up. His story of his journey as an explorer and leader BLEW ME AWAY! I highly highly recommend this documentary! His exploration team got lost for over 2 years in the SNOW and he managed to keep all 28 guys alive. (and we complain about Trek haha) This was in the early 1900's mind you, where the technology was not incredible. The coolest thing about it is they had a kodak video camera with them, so there's actual footage of the journey! Seriously...GO LOOK HIM UP!
      Then, it was time to go to Kingdom Krew! aka an after school children's ministry at the church, Sierra Vista, that we attend! About 7 of us volunteered to help out and I got to be with the preschool through first graders! Oh my goodness...so stinking cute! We learned a lesson, played games (where us leaders had to tag all the kids and they had to freeze), ate snacks, and my favorite....ART TIME! We played with playdoh, drew with chalk, made bead bracelets, and watercolored! I think my favorite was water coloring! While painting, this little four year old girl was trying to help me decide what I should be when I grow up. I think the final consensus was an ice cream scooper, because that's what she wanted to be...but she had trouble deciding too because there "are just so many different things!" She had the cutest high pitch voice, and was definitely my favorite! I am going to make this a habit to help out every Wednesday! hooray!
     We got back just in time for dinner and before Classics me, Jess, and Caity took a 15 minute power nap! In Classics...we discussed a BIG question: the validity of free will. DJ pretty much tore us apart in order for us to really think about it. Mind boggling! Final word? Yes, there is free will...if you want a further explanation...ask me! DJ had asked me and Jess to lead a devotional at the end of class...so we did! Then we lit a candle, turned out the lights, and all prayed for each other before class was dismissed! So neat!
     The rest of the night was spent on a big paper I have due tomorrow! nighty night!

February 7, 2012

     Bright and early Life & Teachings started out my day. Onto Plenary where we learned the connection between faith and reason. Went to lunch and then one on one with Burns. We went into Oakhurst and went thrifting/searching for mirrors for our hall event we had tonight! I then took a great nap, worked on some homework, watched Psych with Jess, and time for dinner! After dinner we had a staff meeting where we were reminded of the importance of silence and time spent alone. We also planned some neat events for later this month! Then...I worked on paper due in Life & Teachings with my roomie Taylor!
    Alas, it was time for our girl's hall meeting. We talked about issues with outer beauty that we face and set forth a challenge for this week: no makeup all week and we're covering up all the mirrors. Even though I am leading it, this will definitely be a challenge for me. At the end of this week, on Saturday, we're going to celebrate this challenge week by dressing up and going to Fresno for girl's night out! So stoked! After this, we split up into roommates and I gave each of the roommates 1 mirror and a permanent marker. The instructions were to write lies that the world tells us and that we believe about outer beauty. After writing and discussing, I told them to break their mirror by dropping a rock on it together. The point being: We are told all these lies about beauty and we can try to erase them or cover them up as much as we like (being in permanent marker...that's impossible) but until we break all conceptions of the world's beauty, we can never rebuild or (re)define our perception of beauty based on the Lord's standards. I believe it went really well and it sparked a lot of great conversation...I stayed up to 4am talking to girls as a testament to that! So much for the mounds of homework I have! Sometimes though, you just gotta put people before stuff.

February 6, 2012

     Monday. Woke up, took an awesome shower, went to lunch, worked on Concepts homework. Went to Concepts, dinner, small group time. Watched Psych, did some homework...bed time!
    The funniest thing happened tonight! Caity and I went to pick up some girls from their small group off campus and Drew decided to ride along and hide in the back. Well, we picked these girls up...and for some reason they decided to talk about a prank they were going to pull on DREW. Of all times to talk about this...I have no idea why they chose now...but me and Caity almost lost it. As soon as we pulled into campus he sat up in the back, yelled, and the whole van was set into a frenzy of screaming girls...partly because they were scared out of their minds and partly because they had just spoiled their own prank! Ah it was so funny! I was crying from laughing! Highlight of this semester fo sho.

February 5, 2012 Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

     Woke up today and went to our church, Sierra Vista! It was name tag/Boy Scout Sunday...so precious! Today we learned about anxiety...I absolutely love this church! After every service they provide cookies and drinks! So fun! And starting this Wednesday we get to start helping with the kid's ministry there! Stoked! After we came back for lunch...me, Caity, Jeff, and O'neil went into Oakhurst to pick up wings for the super bowl party (aka streaming the game online w/o the real commercials in the dining hall...life in the mountains at its finest) We came back, and I half watched the game/half read Plato for Concepts tomorrow! I kept getting distracted all day long! We had a giant "cuddle puddle" pile...where we all just 'cuddled' with each other...I don't know why or how...it just happened...more and more people just kept joining...and we sat there for hours just talking, giving back scratches/massages, or playing with each other's hair...I think it's because we all missed each other so much after being pretty much separated this weekend! So sad! I then sat with Matt (one of the Emerald Cove staffers) and a few other people and we just talked for so long! Mostly being sassy with each other...and learning some quality wilderness survival skills (mostly because Matt is an EMT haha) Anywhoo....I was up super late (and still am) reading Plato with Ian...why do we always wait to the last minute?!? Welp...better go to bed so I can write the paper that's due tomorrow...before 3pm! It's just too much fun living here to put schoolwork first...let's be real!
    I have also had a revelation...I think I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. I think that is because I am finally at a place where I feel like I am completely 100% the real me. I'm discovering more new things about myself, am not self conscious, and keep surprising myself with things I wouldn't normally do...aka acting the other night for the murder mystery?! Now, I can act on stage...but normally I would be frightened...but not here! I could go on and on...but if you really want to know...ask! And...I'll probably write a more detailed post about it later...maybe once its become clearer in my mind too. ;)

CUDDLE PUDDLE!

February 4, 2012

     Saturday. Slept in. Attempted to do homework...but was way too distracted by nature! I literally looked at the trees and watched a hawk fly around for an hour. Productivity at its finest. After lunch, a bunch of us (orphans) were abandoned at camp while everyone went adventuring in Yosemite and elsewhere (we were all a tad frustrated and jealous)...we went into Burns house and started watching Psych! Hooray! We ended watching a good 4-5 episodes...it was so relaxing and wonderful! I then had to get ready for our "murder mystery dinner" in which I played a character. We played a real life version of Clue!!!!!! We had each character in a different room, and we were each given different cards...so instead of with the board game, where each person is dealt the cards...the players had to travel to each room, tell us their guess, and if we had a card that proved them wrong (just like the board game) we could show it to them. However...we made it challenging! No way we were just going to give clues away! I made them dance, sing, do a tribal dance, make me lemonade, draw me a picture, tell me jokes, etc! Ah it was so fun! Because there was so many people here, we added 2 characters to the normal Clue list, Dr. Tangerine and Princess Pink! Can you guess who I played?! Princess Pink of course! hehe...it was so fun! Alex played my "Prince Pink" and we talked in British accents and messed with the players! So epic! Pictures soon! (once Burns uploads them!) After the game, we had an ice cream bar for everyone and families were invited to watch the real movie Clue in the dining hall. I mostly wandered around, did some homework, and caught the end of Bridesmaids that some people were watching. Bed time!

February 3, 2012

     It is the first day of family/friends weekend...a tad depressing...because...no one is here for me. It's weird to be an orphan while everyone is off having adventures! Today we had Plenary taught by an alumni, and we had a great discussion of the new youtube video "Why I hate religion and love Jesus." This provided much provoking thought...ask if you wanna know! I then went to lunch, took a lovely nap, and went to dinner. There are so many people here! It's out of control! After dinner, we had chapel where DJ explained to everyone what Trek was all about and what we learn on Trek...and then...Reed debuted the video he's been making all semester long! It was so epic! And...he was on my Trek team...so we were featured a lot! I will post it here as soon as he posts it online! After that I pretty much just hung out with people...and one of the alumni and dear dear friend, Jackie, stayed with me in my bed! fun fun!

February 2, 2012: HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!

    Yay for Groundhog Day! Wore our shirts, everyone enjoyed our posters, and took tons of pictures! Went to class and after lunch, me and Nathan planned an event for everyone who wanted to draw their shadows with chalk in honor of the day! It was the best Groundhog Day I've ever had...it was so celebrated! While everyone was in Great Ideas, I introduced the movie "A Walk to Remember" (MY FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME!) to Jess and Ian...who..have NEVER seen it before! Tragedy!
     At dinner, Lilly made chocolate chip peanut butter bars with Groundhog Day designs on them! So great! After dinner, Lilly took me into town to Starbucks and we got to bond! So fun and I can't wait to get to know her more! We were also on a quest to find the movie "Groundhog Day" b/c me and Nathan had planned for everyone to watch it! No luck though. Got back to campus and us girls blasted music and had a cleaning spree for Family/Friends Weekend that starts tomorrow! Luckily, someone found the movie online...and we were successful in watching it in the meeting hall! Then, Ian, Jess, and I finished A Walk to Remember!
     Happy Groundhog Day!

February 1, 2012

    Happy February! It's crazy to think I've been here a whole month! Today I hung out and worked on my leadership paper! Me, Emma, and Penny then biked to the Pines (underestimated how hard the hills were!) and we got shirts! I got shirts for me and Nathan...because we are making Groundhog Day shirts for tomorrow! We both have family that live in PA and that celebrate the holiday...so we are making High Sierra go all out! Updates will come tomorrow! Tonight we made our shirts with puff paint...the groundhogs on them even glow in the dark! We also made Lilly, who works in the kitchen, one since she let us use her puff paint! So precious! After dinner, for Christian Classics, we watched the movie "Luther." Then, me and Nathan made and hung up Groundhog Day posters for all to see tomorrow! (pictures soon!)

January 31, 2012

     DJ is sick...so cancelled class alllll day! I hope he gets better...but it was very nice to have another day off! Spent the day hanging out with people! I then had a one on one with Katie Burns. We went to Jamba Juice and got to process Trek a little bit (since we were on the same team...it was easy to talk about!) I then got packages! One from home and one with my down booties (that I was supposed to take on Trek...boo) We then had our girl's hall meeting/event! This month we are redefining...BEAUTY! Me and Caity have the whole month planned out...it's going to be so great! Tonight we had everyone write out questions for a panel we are going to have in a few weeks and then we traced each other's silhouettes on black paper to hang up in our hall! We did this because in order to redefine beauty, we wanted to start from scratch, and not let our facial features define us like it so often does today. In Old Testament times, you were defined by your name...so we looked up what all the ladies' names meant, printed them out, and now they are under their silhouette on our hall! I can tell this is going to be an epic month!

January 30, 2012

    Today all four teams met up (after we hiked our last 1.5 miles out at 5am in the dark) at Calvin Crest Camp. We met in their meeting hall...and it was so comforting to see everyone again! It's crazy how much we missed each other...shows how much love fills this place! We performed some awesome skits showing some highlights of our Trek team's experiences and then Dave led a chapel about "Communion" and then we took Communion together! We then drove back to campus, unpacked and helped put all the equipment away, ate lunch (burger bar!) and FINALLY took a shower! Thing I missed most on Trek? BATHROOMS! It was probably the most appreciated shower I have ever taken! (We weren't allowed to wear deodorant on Trek to lesson the smelly stuff for bears and it's really bad for your skin to keep reapplying without washing it off!) So you can imagine what we all smelled like! The rest of the day was spent relaxing around campus and just simply catching up and swapping Trek stories as we reunited withe everyone! We then all dyed our hair...bleach and blue! Hello bleach streak in my hair. Blue soon to be added! While doing this, we all watched the 1st Lord of the Rings in the meeting hall! fun fun! love being back and reunited with everyone here!

January 26-30, 2012...TREK I

This is my Trek post...when I finish processing this 5 days of trekking through the snowy wilderness...I will get back to you.