Follow your heart.

I spent the weekend at home. First time in a long time. First time I got to talk to my mom and step-dad one on one about a lot of stuff. Stuff I'm mostly terrified about. School. The future. My job. My relationship. My life. 

I may have shed a few tears, but I really just needed to open up and get all of my feelings and thoughts out on the table. I talk to Devon a lot. He is my best friend and definitely the best friend I've ever had. I'm so lucky.

However, sometimes you just need some other advice. So I went to my other best friend: my mom.

I hadn't had a heart to heart with my mom in a long time. Also had a very nice chat with my step-dad. 

After this weekend, I realized one thing. Something Devon's been telling me all along. 

I can't be afraid. Being afraid makes me weak. I need to be courageous and find the self confidence that I once had. Sometimes to gain that self confidence you just have to do something out of the norm. 

I did that when I transferred to USD. I told a group of 40 strangers that I loved hugs. Prior to me making this statement, I had liked hugs, but only if I knew you well enough. When I told my mom I had told this group that I loved hugs, she was shocked. I had never been one to show affection. When I went to USD. I decided to change and just go for it. I made a lot of great friends with my bold personality and self-confidence. And somehow ended up with an amazing boyfriend. And now I realize that being affectionate is a wonderful thing and I truly do love it. 

I just need to follow my heart and do what feels right at the right time. I may fail. .And failing is okay. I may be rejected. Which is okay too. If it's meant to be, it'll work out in the end. 

I truly believe in fate. Everything happens for a reason. 

I just hope everything works out in my favor. 

It will. If I just believe and go for it. 

Love, Peace, & Taking Chances--

Distracted from sleep

Sometimes I cannot fall asleep.
And by sometimes, I mean most times.
Like tonight.
I just cannot sleep.
Simply because all I do is think about a certain boy.
A boy I love!
:)

Oh look...another test.

*sigh*

I am currently into my fifth year of college. Yeah. I know. What a loser, right? Wrong. It's just taken me longer to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Good thing I think I've found it.

I've been pretty lucky with my schedule, I'd say. I have no classes on Fridays, one class on Mondays at 12:30..which means most of my classes are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. While I like my schedule, I dislike the amount of tests and quizzes I've had to take. In all of my five years of school, I have NEVER had this many. What gives?! Every day I have at least two quizzes. Bah!

It's stressing me out. I'm really hoping next semester is nice to me. It'll be the last (I hope!).

Love, Peace, & Stupid Tests--

Life's short.

This past weekend, I heard devastating news about the passing of an acquaintance of mine. I met Jeremy at Morningside College. We had the same friends. He went to school with my cousin. We played sand volleyball and were at cabin weekend together. When I transferred to USD, I was surprised to run into him and see him sitting at the table next to me! I loved seeing his face in the MUC, getting coffee, doing homework...we always had some sort of connection! I loved it!

After hearing the news, it really opened my eyes to how short life really is. I had never had a friend I knew die before.

I thought a lot about old friends.

Tonight I had not one, but two phone calls from old friends. How random, unexpected, and comforting.

My friend Jeffrey called. We talked about Jeremy and the wake and the funeral and old friends. He told me that he hadn't talked to Jeremy in a long time and regretted not telling him he loved him and how much he meant to him. Jeffrey wanted to let me know he was thinking of me and how much he cared for me. It really made me feel good.

With the transfer two years ago, I have been horrible at staying in touch with old friends. True friends. Friends that only live 30 miles away. I'm hoping to reconnect with them in the next week or two.

Later on in the night, I got another call from my friend Phil. I met him at USD and I would consider him one of my best friends at USD. He transferred to a college in Minnesota. He just called to say hi and catch up! It was so nice to hear from him. I can relate to what he is going through. I'm happy for him! I only want the best for him!!

My best friend, Devon just called me. I am going to spend the rest of my night talking to him.

Rest in Peace, Jeremy.

Love, Peace, & Life.

Perfect Weekend With My Perfect Boyfriend.

It's been almost a week since I've blogged. I'm getting about as bad as my boyfriend. ;) Just kidding, Punky!

As the title states, I just spent the most wonderful weekend with my boyfriend. Our two year anniversary was last week, but it happened to be the same time as DDays. So he was going to be in Vermillion and he insisted that our anniversary was to be spent in Sioux Falls. I had no reason why, because he kept everything a secret. Ok. Here's the thing with me and secrets. I want them! I enjoy them! But only when I don't know in advance.

Example: Devon surprised me this past Valentine's Day by showing up with wine, roses and a song written for me! Perfect!! I loved it. The anticipation and anxiety wasn't there!

This time, I knew there was something up his sleeve... I just didn't know what and it was driving me CRAZY!!

For the weekend, he INSISTED that I wear a dress. So. Katie bought a new, pretty dress and wore it just for her Punky!

We went to supper at A Touch of Europe. I love the atmosphere of that place. It's downtown Sioux Falls and it's in the basement. It's just the coolest place ever!

After supper we started driving and he pulled out a card from his glove compartment and handed it to me. The card was sweet and inside the card were lessons to go ballroom dancing!! They have lessons every Friday night, but what do you know...of ALL nights, they weren't doing it on our date night. But no fear, we will definitely be using them sometime in the future! And I'm very excited about it!

We then went out to the casino! I was excited! Even though I was a loser, it's still always fun and entertaining. Plus, Devon came out ahead, so it was all good. He claimed he had to go to the bathroom. I decided to just sit and still pull some slots. I was getting creeped out by some weird guys staring at me, so I texted Devon to tell hi to hurry up and find me. He came and found me after being in the bathroom a very long time. He said he wanted to walk around the casino and hotel. We did. We went up the elevator and looked out. It was really pretty. We went back down and I told Devon that I needed to go to the bathroom. He said there was probably some in the hotel. I told him he was NUTS and I refused to walk down the hotel. All of a sudden he starts putting his card into random key slots and one magically opens. What s stinker! He didn't go to the bathroom at all. He surprised me with a beautiful, upgraded hotel room. And my bags were there and everything!

The next morning started rough. I found out one of my friends from Morningside and USD had died! It started my day off on a weird note. But my day got better, because I was with my love. We had lunch at the Pickel Barrel (yummy place! Highly recommend). We got back and watched some Arrested Development (which I got Devon hooked on! You're welcome, world). We went for a motorcycle ride. We rode all over Sioux Falls. We were going to get ice cream and ended up at the Sanford Wellness Center. Devon said there was ice cream there better than Peachwave...Gullible me, I believed him. We ended up going to see a Don....a massage therapist! The stinker got us a couple's massage!! Which was JUST what I needed!

We suppered at Carnaval (the Brazilian restaurant) and spent the rest of the evening watching Arrested Development.

The next morning we didn't have anything planned. I decided to stay an extra day. We went shopping and I got a new coat and some new movies. Life is good. We also got pumpkins to carve. We spent the afternoon carving pumpkins. Mine was a ghost and Devon's was a Guinness glass.

We had supper and watched the Vikings play at Texas Roadhouse and snuggled for the rest of the evening just talking about everything.

I am so lucky to be in love with such an amazing man who happens to be very romantic! Thank you Punky for such a perfect weekend. You may think things fell apart, but in my opinion it was JUST right!

I love you! <3

Sicky McSick

I had to break out the Emergen-C and the Theraflu. It's that time of the year, I suppose. I'm not sure if it's a cold or the beginning of the flu or what, but I have a terrible sore throat.

Yesterday I started to feel weird...I thought I had a bad taste in my mouth, I kept trying to eat chips or brush my teeth to get the taste out of my mouth...but it progressively turned into a sore throat. I felt horrible going to sleep, last night. I couldn't sleep. I woke up this morning at 6:30 with my throat screaming for relief. I went out and took some of that warming Theraflu cough syrup. That stuff is the best. It works. Plus it kinda tastes like a Jell-O shot. I drank some water and went back to sleep.

Woke up to my alarm. Took my Emergen-C. Popped in a cough drop. Took a steamy-hot shower. Took some more Theraflu. Got some hot tea. And went to class. And became more miserable as time went on. When I got home from Earth Science, I decided to stay home for the rest of the day. I hate missing class, especially an important one like law, but I seriously barely was able to sit up.

It was then that I thought a hot bubble bath and chicken noodle soup sounded good.
And it was good.

And...here I am. I can't get sick! I don't wanna be sick! I hate being sick. I hate being sick and having nobody to take care of me! :( I just hope I get better before this weekend. Devon has a big anniversary surprise weekend planned. I'm excited, anxious, and a little nervous to see what he has planned!

Love, Peace, & Vitamin C--

Until the end

Maybe I'm weird...but I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish something. Whether it's a book, or an assignment, or a coloring page, or my toothpaste, or my shampoo.

Yesterday I ran out of  hand soap in my bathroom. It's that awesome foamy pump soap from Bath & Body Works. Yeah. It's awesome. And I got such a bittersweet feeling. I mean...I saw that soap every day. It made my hands clean and smell real good!

However, some things must end so new things can begin!

So, you know what that means! I get to start the process all over again! :)

Love, Peace, & Pink Soap!

Two years.

Exactly two years ago today...I had never had a boyfriend. I didn't really date. I never really found someone quite right for me. However, I met this boy and got to know him. I had always thought he was cute ever since the first time I saw him. I even texted my mom the moment I first saw him and told her about this cute boy waiting to see the choir list, too.  We discovered we had a lot in common. Obviously we both liked to sing since we met through the choir...Our very first conversation was at The Roadhouse where we talked about how awesome our Blackberry Pearls were. I discovered he had Twitter...so we followed each other. Through Twitter, I learned that his favorite color was also my favorite color. We got to talking more and more...since we had math right next door to each other at the same time and days. Eventually we went on a lunch date, which led to a real date, which led to a couple of other dates which led to the moment he asked me to be his girlfriend on October 7! I remember it vividly! We were sitting there and he was about to leave my place and we had a little conversation that went like this.

"Katie. I need to ask you something."-Devon
"And that is...?" - Katie
"Will you be my girlfriend?" - Devon
"Well...only if you'll be my boyfriend." -Katie
After a little kiss, bam! It was official!

My first boyfriend.
My first love.
My everything.

Love, Peace, & Love!!

Things I'm thankful for...

So...every single day, I talk to Devon. One way or another. We've been doing this long-distance thing for close to two years now...and let me tell you...it sucks! I hate missing him...but I love having him to miss. If only that kid wasn't so lovable, it would make missing him much easier. But, I'm glad he's as lovable as he is...it's definitely worth it.

So anyway...we communicate in almost every way you can think of. 

Text messages.

Google chat.

Picture messages.

Phone calls.

Twitter.

Facebook.

And my favorite way...Skype! It's the next best thing to actually being with him! I can talk to him face to face! I'm so thankful I live in a time where technology allows me these opportunities! I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to try to do this like 20 years ago, even!

I love that kid. Have I ever mentioned that? :) 

Love, Peace, & Skype--

Something missing...

This school year just doesn't seem right to me for some reason. Maybe it's the fact that I'm living in a new apartment. Or maybe it's the fact that I have a roommate...haven't had one of those in a couple of years. But most likely it's the fact that it's the first time in my life I've not had music as a major part of my life....and I'm not sure I like it. While watching Glee tonight, I realized I really miss singing.

At the beginning of the school year I had made the decision to take a break from music ensembles altogether. I wanted time to focus on my studies and not stress about time commitments. 

Singing in the car is not enough for me. Mostly because half of the time I'm in the car I'm either with my brother or my boyfriend and they make these weird faces like they don't like my singing...I think it's mostly because I'm self conscious about my singing and I end up singing obnoxiously. 

Anyway. I'm just going to finish the semester out and next year join one of the ensembles. Once I graduate, I'll have to find some sort of community choir to join. Music is a huge part of my life and I hope it always will be. 

Hap-py DDays!

Today beings the week of DDays (Dakota Days for those of you who don't know). It's USD's homecoming week! An excuse to get drunk and go to class hungover and all that jazz.

Ok. So that's not exactly how I celebrate DDays..but I do enjoy the events during the week. Thursday, for example, is the Al Neuharth Awards. As a CMJ major, this is a big deal for the department, as well as all of campus!

Tonight the event was Doug Benson and Graham Elwood, two well-known comedians!

Whenever there's a well known person on campus performing, I'll make an effort to try to see them! Last year I saw Bo Burnham...(that was a disappointment that I'd rather not talk about).

Tonight's show wasn't too bad. It's not exactly my taste of comedy, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. They said they'd be doing a meet-and-greet after the show. When the show was over, John and I decided to see if the line was long. When we got there, there wans't a line at all. We walked right up to Graham Elwood and asked to get a photo taken with him! He was very nice and did. We turned around and Doug Benson was there. We snatched an autograph and a photo with him too! Overall, it turned out to be a good night.

Homework is dumb.

I hate that I missed a few days of blogging, but I went home this weekend and wasn't really on my computer much.

Okay. That's a lie.
I was on a lot.
But I wasn't on to blog.

I had a great weekend at home with my family and Devon. I like when he joins because then I am surrounded by everyone most important in my life! My parents, my brother, my puppies and my love. What could be better?

Not homework. That's for sure. I spent a majority of my Saturday working on my law exam. I felt so bad because I was working so much on homework and not enjoying my Saturday evening, but I needed to get it done. Don't worry--we did take a break to watch Hackers and play the card game, Golf!

We got back today and went to the play God of Carnage (kinda weird...mostly because the girl actually threw up and I am not a fan of vomit).

I was dreading going back home after the play because I knew I had so much homework to do! But I wanted to get it done before I went to bed!

I first worked on my pre-lab for Earth Science...easy peasy.
Then worked on my news reflections...usually entertaining. Most exciting news reflection I wrote about was that Arrested Development is coming back with a television show and a movie!! Happy Katie is happy!!
Then I wrote an extra credit paper about the play I saw today.
Then...the dreaded Law exam. I did, however, get done around 8:30!!!

And of course, right when I get caught up...I'm going to feel behind again in two days. Bleh.
Homework is dumb.

Love, Peace, & Papers--