Break

So what did I do during the rest of break? Most of it came after Christmas (Edinboro now has a "winter" semester in between semesters, so they've now pushed most of break to be after Christmas).

I had YW on Wednesday nights.

I stayed up late and slept in.

I tried to clean my room (nice try). It's back to being disastrous. Back to the drawing board.

I did succeed in purging/organizing the clothes in my closet.

And I think this new closet system just might work (miracle of miracles!).

I was a hermit and stayed home a lot (I wasn't too bummed about that).

I took naps. Heaven.

I watched movies. And The Office.

I had a recurrence of my nasty itchy rash from woodshop from my contaminated coats- once I got them cleaned/washed I was much better after a couple of GoldBond Medicated weeks.

I did some crafty things too, I'll show those another time.

I did get to have a few social outings. I went to Cleveland with my sister right after Christmas to an Institute New Year's activity (even though New Year's was days later). We tried out the GPS for the first time (it's amazing!) and I had fun seeing my friends.

Me and Anne:

{Sidenote: Anne just got married this month to a really nice guy the temple and she's my age! Way to go Anne! It gives me hope.}

Things were fun until I sat next to a girl and she asked if I was a chaperon. Thanks, thanks a lot!

Um no honey, but now I'm going to make sure that no one asks you to dance!

Adding insult to injury was the fact that all the "adults" there were senior couple missionaries!

Laura and I stayed in a hotel so I didn't have to drive and get us home way late. We went out to Ihop the next morning, it's been years since I went to one. It was good to have some bonding time with my sister.

It was fun to see people who were home for Christmas, like the two couples I helped do the pre-reception for, aka The Four. I was counting the days til I go to see my girls Rene and Ame!

It was really nice to see Dennis & Ame and Rene & Mike. When it was time to leave I was sad and they were all "You get lonely out here, don't you?" and the answer to that is Yes. Most of my friends out here live far away and I only see them at conferences. Or they leave and go to school out West.

Ame, me and Rene:

{Sidenote: Why do I have a sword in my head?}

My last hurrah before starting school again was to attend the YSA conference in Pittsburgh. Normally my stake does the conference in January but we've now been reassigned to do a conference this July in Palmyra in conjunction with Pageant. I think it will turn out ok, but it's a tough assignment to plan something that's not even in our stake! And it involves camping in tents! Lots of logistics to figure out.

I was a bit apprehensive about my choice to go since there weren't many people Friday evening and once again it was the dreaded GTKYG. Those are against my religion! But thankfully things got better and it turned out to be way fun.

The theme was about cultivating our talents. Saturday was breakfast and classes. I attended one on the gifts of the Spirit, it was good. Also attended one on budgeting/finance that didn't tell me anything new, but was a good reminder. Sigh!

And then I had a rare Bad Girl Moment and I ditched the conference with some friends. We went out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory (yum!) and I also found myself at Goodwill helping my friend Mitch find a tie (he'd forgotten one.) We didn't feel like going back right away and drove around Pitt. We went to the zoo...just not inside since it was closed. After driving around a bunch more (thank heavens for GPS to get us back!) and exploring this big tower called the Cathedral of Learning, we got back in time to watch a talent show. Fun to watch, though I'm not sure if naughty dancing was really appropriate.

We had dinner and a couple of speakers about talents and then a pretty good dance, and by far the best one that Pittsburgh has ever had at a conference. They're cursed, I swear!

Sunday was breakfast and Sacrament meeting and saying goodbyes in the parking lot. It was a great weekend.

Bad Girls at the Cheesecake Factory:

The Cathedral of Learning:

 Inside it looked like Harry Potter!

 Scary elevator ride- the view from the top:

 Dinner looked like a wedding reception- was that a subliminal message?

 With Ivan and Jason, my York Boyz:

Very fun conference. Pleasantly surprised, cause at first it looked like it was gonna stink!

In other news, I went sledding on Martin Luther King Day, it was awesome. I also happened to read the "I Have A Dream" speech in it's entirety for the first time that weekend, it's an amazing and inspiring work. Read it if you haven't for a while.

And then the ax fell and I started school. More on that later.

Stay tuned!