Oh Man!!

Okay so I know that we share this obsession with Channing Tatum, and I had to tell you all about this! : )

So they are filming a new movie in Charleston, SC, and Channing is in it. Well, my sisters friends were there for the day. And guess who they met?!

Yeah. They met CHANNING TATUM!! And to top it all off, he was shirtless on the beach. Yeah. Oh my goodness. I am so frustrated. And last week I was at Pawleys Island....1.5 hours away. Geez.

Here is a picture to make you all even more annoyed. Stupid freshman girls.

Well, anyways....I miss and love you girls! Hope to see you all sometime soon!! : )

H

So I am really missing all you crazy girls!! I am trying to do some studying for a midterm tomorrow, but I cannot stop thinking about fall break!! I want to know how everyone is doing....how classes are, how work is, any updates, just how life in general is going for you girls.

I am missing and praying for everyone. I love you girls so much. I am coming home for fall break this weekend and would love to see anyone who is Knoxville then! I will be in Greenville Friday and Saturday, but after that I would LOVE to hang out. Give some updates!

Treatment Day

Hey bébés, just wanted to ask for prayer and happy thoughts today... it's stupid chemo day. I really don't want to be sick for Alex's wedding, so be praying for me if you think of it.

Love you (and can't wait to see you all!)
AliO

Crazy Weird Meeting

Mon bébés....
So, very weird meeting with the head of my department on Tuesday. I was meeting with her initially to discuss the honors thesis I'm doing this year on breakups and relationships that are specific to our generation (like friends with benefits), right? But it turned into a 2 hour long conversation about me, my time at FSU, my experience in Spain, possibilities for research studies, and my future at FSU.

Like I said, we talked for a long time so I'll just give you the big news and skip all the boring stuff. Basically she was impressed with my dedication and "commitment to academic excellence" (what, please?) and she invited me to take graduate courses as an undergrad to see how I like the feel of them and to give me more of a challenge then I've been getting in my regular courses (these are her words... I personally think she's a little off center, but still...). I was excited and told her that I've been considering grad school for a while now because I enjoy research and I've found some subject matter I'm passionate about blah blah blah.

She took that and ran with it. She said, "I was hoping you would say you've been wanting to do grad school. I want to invite you to apply directly for our doctorate program after graduation in April. I will allow you to skip the master's coursework if you take a couple graduate courses this year and start work directly toward a phD. If you decide after 2 years that this isn't what you're wanting anymore I will give you the masters for your work and time and call it even. And just so you know, we take care of our phD students. We will waive your tuition and pay you a salary as a teaching assistant and research assistant."

Um. Excuse me??? So basically I'm graduating in April and possibly becoming Dr. Ali 4 years after that. Now, I don't know that I'm going to do it. I hate it here and don't like the limited scope for certain studies. However, I'm going to pray about it and see how I feel by graduation. Can you believe it??

Ok, love you girls. That's my little update. : )

ThReE tHiNgS

I think that if I had to choose three things it would be very hard, seeing as how this year has been full of crazy/fun/amuzing/lovable/not-so-good/hard/happy times. So we will go with today since that seems to be everyone else's approach.

1. I'm at the beach.. it doesn't get any better than that. Eye candy isn't too bad either ;)

2. I haven't gotten to spend much time with my family this year, because I'm living in the Boro now, but this week has been so good just to spend time with them. It's always the little things you take for granted and don't know how much you miss until you're reminded. This also applies to all of you... i miss you girls alot. Summer just isn't the same and I don't like it... this whole growing up things needs to chill out. I mean seriously... Alex is getting married, Hannah will be 21.... anyone wanna go to Neverland? :)

3. This week I think I've decided that I might minor in Spanish... or maybe just take a few classes. Kinda late in the game to be deciding it, but oh well! :)

I can't wait to see you girls again. I'll be in Knoxville Saturday to Tuesday night... can we please play? like all of us?

three goodies!

happy july 4th friends! Here are my three goodies ALREADY for this morning!

1. i love love love getting up early. this morning i was planning on sleeping in because i had gone to bed late and just thought hey its a holiday ill sleep in til like 8.. ha! anyways i woke up at 5:58 and was totally stoked! i pondered going back to sleep but then my number 2 came in....

2. after arguing with myself about actually getting up or going back to sleep the good side finally won and i decided to get up and go for a walk. i woke the little bogsters up and he was delighted to come with me. i went for a really long, good, fast-paced walk. gave me time to think and pray alot. it was really sweet. i prayed and thanked the lord for my friendships with you all!

3. lucky number tres! after guzzling some water the bogsters and i cozied up in the living room. i got out a devotional book i've been doing called Voices of the Faithful. it's a devotional book for every day of the year from missionaries all over the world... very neato! anyways i just had a really sweet time of reading my bible and praying and listening to God. He taught me some neat things about growth and gave me a metaphor as Himself being a gardener and turning over soil and clearing out the old and the planting of new seeds in our hearts and spirits. i prayed this over zimbabwe too!

LOVE YOU ALL! have a lovely holiday with your familias and hopefully i may see some of you tonight!

my good things

1. so i sing at church here in tallahassee and this morning we had a really cool moment... we were all on the same brainwave or something... it was way cool... a very god-centric moment.

2. at work i taught this little old grandmother how to belay for her grandson and his friend. she was adorable and so scared, but it was really fun getting to see the look on her face when she got it right... she was so proud of herself. sometimes i forget that old people are people, too... the brightness behind her eyes was so sweet and pure... like a little kid excited to show his mom the drawing he did at school.

3. i wore a pretty, new blue dress that made me feel pretty and girlie and wonderful. super good self-esteem day!

miss you girls. i'm so sad i didn't get to hang with all of you while i was home... don't write me out of your lives, ok?

love you to the moon.

3 Good Things

i found a blog online called 3 for 365 in which the author posts 3 good things that happened to her each day for 365 days, and i thought it was a pretty interesting concept.

sooooo, i think it would be fun for us to try it. whenever you all read this, i want you to think of 3 good things that have happened to you thus far today and write them out in a new post.

if nothing else, it will help us forget about our daily stresses for a minute and reflect on the good things in life.

i will start:
1. i finished a painting that i had been working on for a few days.
2. i had chips & salsa from salsarita's...which is my favorite!
3. at 11:25 tonight i realized that mary-kate was going to be on the david letterman show, and turned my tv on just in time to see her interview :) lol

ok now your all's turn!

I'm coming HoMe this weekend!!! PlAy TiMe!!!

Love you girls!!!

-Monet

inspiration

hello friends!
i am feeling very inspired this weekend to paint, and i wanted to share some of my inspiration with ya'll. if you haven't seen it yet, check out www.etsy.com. i spend hours at a time on this site searching through all of the neat handmade artwork and other goodies that people have to offer. i have also recently decided that i'm going to make my own shop on there to make a little extra money, so i'll keep ya'll updated with that. another current obsession of mine is robots. i dunno why, but i have been obsessed with anything relating to robots all of the sudden. here are some prints from some of my favorite artists on etsy that i'm currently craving...enjoy!


John W. Golden Art

volume 25 art

John Taylor Art