i'm home for christmas!!!!

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so im sitting on my momma's bed thinking that it has been a very very good christmas...i got home yesterday around 6 o'clock at my dad's...he didnt think i was coming home till 3:30 am, it was a good surprise...and today i came home to momma's around 4 o'clock...santa was very good to me this year, i got a pretty new pocket pc for pharmacy school and a wonderful new vacuum cleaner (hey if you have been to my house you know that it is something i need, and badly)...but as i look back on the day i would have to say that the best gift i got was the chance to spend time with my family, especially my sisters...we are so seldomly together, it has been nice to spend time just us (even if we did not sleep much last night)...so now as the christmas day draws to an end i thank God for a wonderful christmas and a wonderful family, the only thing that i wish i had was time with charles (i know im pathetic, but i am a girl)...goodnight all...

attitude is everything...

since i have been out of school i have worked all but one day...that is about 80 hours in seven days...yes i know i am crazy, but someone has to pay the bills...last friday was the first day of my crazy work week and i told myself that i could and would get through this one week of my life...i decided that no matter how tired i was that i would put a smile on my face and a skip in my step and i would make the best of my week...and now, the last in my long line of crazy work days (which average about 12 hours) i am so happy, it has gone by so quickly and it really has not been that bad...i even, at times, have found myself laughing and enjoying myself (mostly because of norman)...so i just want to repeat something that we all have heard, to make the best of a not so great situation, just put yourself in a good mood, you would be surprised how well it actually works....

Happy Holidays from Dixie and Belle

A Cat's Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmasand all through the house

Not a creature was stirring,not even a mouse.

'Cuz the cat had pounced on himand tore him apart-

Ate his mousey intestines

And chewed up his heart.

Kitty thought he heard sleighbells,which made him take pause-

He stopped daintily lickingthe blood from his claws.

"Must be Santa" thought Kitty(that quite clever cat)

'Cuz nobody else climbs downthe chimney like that.

Indeed it was ol' Santa, so jolly and fat

With a load of presents and all for the cat!

"Wow, the best Christmas ever!" Kitty thought with a purr,

Then he coughed up a hairball and shed some more fur.

six wonderful months!!!

so this is charles and me

we just had our six months!!!

(i know i am being sappy)

oh, and those lights behind us, that is birmingham...

isn't it beautiful

LET'S EAT!!!!

so all of your exams are over, what is the first thing in the mind of most college students, "time to go home," but for myself and 21 of my closest friends what do we think..."time to dress up in funny costumes, prance around in tights, and sing for people who have the money that we can only dream about, oh and watch them eat a delicious three course meal, while we snack on bread and a few pieces of cheese" now you are thinking, what is she talking about...well it is the UAB Music Departments Ye Olde Madrigal Feaste...i participated in my first madrigal feaste my first semster at UAB and loved it, then it was an annual event held in the Alys Stephens Center, with a year off in 2003, this year the feaste was reborn and The Club overlooking beautiful Birmingham...we opened wednesday night, after my last exam, and the night went well...the guest were a compilation of our friends, family, and many long time feasters...then thursday night, was President Garrison's private party (Presdient of UAB)...the night went even better than the previous preformance, our crowd was energetic, happy, and very talkative (this could partly be attributed to the massive open bar, wine, and wassail)...they were great, and i believe that they truly added to our high spirits...the music was great, no doubt one of our best performances, and it was just plain fun...after the candles were out and we were in our "normal" clothes again, we got to eat the leftovers...now this may not seem like a big deal to you but, for a bunch of poor, starving college students, free filet and all the left over wine we could grab (and i do mean grab, we were all consolidating half drunken bottles of wine, well those of us that were 21, of course) i must take a moment to talk about the wine, it was the best red wine i have ever had, and im willing to stake my life that it was the most expensive thing that i have ever drank, and will continue to drink, for i have two bottles of our wonderful parting gift here with me at my home, hehe!
so after we finally finished eating, wasing our dishes (the wassail goblets), and packing it all up, i snuck away for a brief second to take some pitcures of the absolutely breathtaking view that we had over Birmingham...and then it was time to leave, i dont know if i will ever get the chance to experience such a wonderful event, in such a wonderful place, with my best friends ever again, but i will always remember the 2004 Madrigal Feaste!

the road to pharmacy school...update

so i get home monday night, and have this weird gut feeling to go downstairs and check my mail, and when i opened my little mail 'flap' i saw it!!! it was small, which kinda threw me because as most of you know, when you are waiting for something important, good things usually come in larger envelopes...example: during all of those months my senior of highschool it was always my fear to get a regular sized envelope from a school, because 90% of the time small meant "thanks but no thanks"...i had the same feeling when i took my national pharmacy tech. test, little envelope means, sorry you failed, but you can pay us again and we will let you have another shot...
so you can imagine when i saw that tiny envelope monday night i was scared out of my mind, now i know that you can not fail the PCAT (pharmacy college admissions test) but i was still scared...i was holding in my hand, my future, the rest of my life...the next few moments seemed to last forever, as i stood in my den with my mom on speaker phone and charles's hand on my shoulder for support i franticly opened the little envelope then stared at it's contents trying to decipher all the numbers i saw on the page...finally, i found my way down to the coposite score, some number that i had no idea what it meant, then...next to that number was my percentile ranking...83%...i thought, wait is that bottom or top, then i realized....yeahhhh i did well!!!!!
i continued to read on that this score meant that i did as well, if not better than 83% of all the people that took this test on that saturday in november...i was so happy
because this semester was so busy i did not have too much time to study, so i told myself that if i could just match the average admission score then i would be happy, well i exceeded it!!! and thus, am one step closer to entering pharmacy school, the next big step, getting my acceptance letter from the University of MS School of Pharmacy, hopefully that will come soon...ill keep you all posted...

the heavens open and the angels rejoice...

i can not explain to you the extreme joy that i felt at 5:30 wednesday night...turning in my final exam and, well frankly, just being through...it is the best feeling that i have had in a good while...but for you, i will recap the wonderful week that was exams:
so classes were out and i was getting sick...i finally broke down and went to the doctor, who was not able to tell me anything i didnt already know, but i did get some steriods that proved to be a great asset when studying for my exams (they kept me awake most of the day)...so all weekend, monday, and tuesday i studied...all day (well in between chamber rehearsals, ill explain soon), and finally the big day was here, WEDNESDAY...calculus exam at 8am and an organic chemistry test at 3pm...and because my calculus test determined so much of this semester, i studied mostly for it, and in turn the test felt very easy, now this does not mean anything for me because in a math test i can feel like i made a 100 but failed (im just no good at math)...studying so much for calculus did not give me much time for oraganic...thus, i dont think i did my best on my chemistry test, but at that point i was just glad it was over...
so now, today (friday), i am relaxing, well until about 2, then off to work...and that is where i will be until, well, until i go home, which will be sometime late christmas eve, so if you dont hear from me, you know why...
i hope you all enjoy our holiday break, whatever kind you get...

delirium

so explain to me one thing...throughout the semester i ran around like a crazy person, trying to juggle classes, rehearsals, church, and work...and now this week, when i actually do not have much to do, i get sick...whats up with that...all i wanted to do is relax, and all i have done is feel like crap, i mean, i guess thats my luck...yet at the same time i guess i would rather feel like death warmed over when i did not have much to do, rather than when i did, like next week, its going to be a buger...
anyway, enough dwelling...today was my jury, and well i was able to get through it, it was by far not my best, but with the help of my good friend jack daniels i was able to get through it...no i was not drunk...i just had a little shot to clear-out/numb my throat before i sang, it really helps, no lie...maybe i should try it next week before madrigal, hehe, i am just kidding, we will have wassail...to drink, oh and i hope that there is cheese, there was two years ago, yummy...i love cheese, anyway, i digress...

the calm before the storm

so classes are now officially over, ahhhh......
this weekend was busy and today, well not fun to say the least...saturday night we had rehearsal for Christmas at the Alys and that concert was yesterday (not the best concert in my college career, but still a concert)..today i had an extremely difficult calculus test, to me it is completely assanine foolishness to give a test on the last day of classes, in fact it is down right mean...well i also had my philosophy final tonight, which i was just glad to get behind me...and now i sit in my house watching the cowboys beat the sea hawks with charles, as my brain deflates into its idle state (which it does not experience it often) unfortunately this relaxed state will not last for long...thursday i will start studying for my calculus and organic finals, oh and my jury (fun,fun)...but now rest, recharge, relax, so that i can give one final burst of greatness (haha) well ill settle for mediocrity...

the big 22..(goodness im getting old)...

another year older, many times wiser

so its your birthday and after telling you "happy birthday" what does every mother do but regale you with the story of your birth...so tonight, keeping with the motherly tradition, my momma calls me and continues to retell what she did the night before i was born, but here is the catch: the events of my birth strangely coincide with the events that are happening right now...it was a wednesday night (december 1) and my mother was in labor watching the claymation movie "Rudolph the red nosed reindeer", and guess what was on tv tonight...yes that familiar movie...i was born on december 2 a thursday and this year december 2, obviously on a thursday...kinda funny, don't you think, well my mom and i thought so...

so now as i sit here in my den/living room/dining room, watching my windows begin to cover with frost, i can't help but to think about what all i have learned this past year of my life...
i remember my birthday last year...a monday night, i believe, and a bunch of us went out to dinner at our then favorite restaurant at the time, Calypso Joes, and i turning 21 and all, ordered my first drink, it really did not seem like the big deal that i had thought it would be for so long...little did i know that this new privilege was probably the least life altering thing that would happen all year...
i learned so much about myself in the 21st year of my life, i had thought that i had everything figured out, i knew exactly what i wanted in my life, when it would happen, and where it would happen, and even how it would happen...
if i had to pick the most important lesson i learned this year it would be that no matter how much planning and talking about the future you do, you will never know what the next day of your life holds...
other lessons:

• i learned to listen to myself and do that, not what i thought others wanted from me (a concept that i still struggle with today)...
• i learned that you cannot get through your life without the help of your friends...(i have some of the best friends around, both here in b-ham and others that i grew up with that i have been separated from, there is no way that i could have made it through my trials of this past year with out my friends...i love you all...)
• i learned that your family is always there, no matter how far away you actually are, and they will listen to you laugh, complain, and cry, and when you cry they help you pick yourself up and put yourself back together again...i love my family
• i learned that no matter how alone you feel (despite all the loving people around you) God is always there, all you have to do is be silent just long enough to hear His voice, and if you are listening you will hear it, and it will calm you, and instruct you...i spent so long trying to figure out my problems on my on, until i finally realized that i can't fix my problems, but once i asked for help, it is amazing how quickly they began to resolve, maybe not becoming easier, but resolving none the less

and now as i sit hear listening to Rod Stewart sing "what a wonderful world" on the Tonight Show, the one thing that i am thinking about (well besides, twinkle twinkle little star) is how lucky i am, even when things get tight, my life is still really good, i have a roof over my head, food in my kitchen (however random it may be), and a whole bunch of people in my life that love me...so here is to another year...i hope i learn more this year than i did this past...