Sewell and Boko's

With the weather being absolutely amazing, we've been spending a good amount of time at the park lately. Last tuesday afternoon Heather, Kathryn and I met up between classes and chilled on my beach towel for awhile. Wednesday night I pulled an all-nighter Skyping with my old friend Cameron who I hadn't really seen or spoken to in 3 years. I love reconnecting and I am so blessed to have his friendship back after so long :)

Cool fountain on campus and that's the awesome theatre in the background!

Thankfully on Thursday I have a good solid 3 hour break between classes. Boko's Living Room is one of the most brilliant things about Texas State. First of all Boko is the bobcat mascot, and they have this amazing room in the LBJ student center with a bunch of couches and then a few tv rooms off of that with more couches. With your student ID you can rent out blankets and pillows to take a nap! It's this amazing dimly lit quiet place with a few study desks and there are always at least 5 or 6 people in there just passed out. I have taken quite a few afternoon naps in there myself and it has become one of my favorite places on campus. However now with the weather getting so delicious, taking a nap out on a blanket at the park is much more appealing. On friday afternoon a bunch of us went out to Sewell by the river and chilled for a few hours. There were tons of people out and it really was a gorgeous day. I brought my laptop out there to write a paper, and I actually could pick up a strong signal from the campus WiFi, which was awesome! The most amazing part of the day was when I finally decided to call the Dallas Performing Arts Center about Spring Awakening tickets. It opened there last Tuesday and is running through Easter Sunday. I was going to try to get onstage seats but called with the expectation that by now they would have already all been sold out. Earlier in the week I had been trying to figure out how in the world we would get there considering Dallas is four hours away and we don't have a car. I called an found out that they had quite a few for this next Saturday left! $25 for ONSTAGE seats to one of the most AMAZING musicals of all time! I was shaking with excitement. After exploring all the options, and talking to some of our friends, Abel graciously offered to drive us :D

As soon as Kathryn arrived at the park I asked her if she wanted to go, and got on the phone with the theatre again and purchased three onstage tickets...that's right. I ALMOST PEED MYSELF WHEN I GOT OFF THE PHONE! Ok not really but I was THAT ecstatic. Plus we basically got the three BEST possible onstage seats you can get! We'll be right at the edge of the stage so the actors will be mostly in profile and we won't have to worry about seeing too many backs or butts :P

Soaking up the Sun!
This place reminds me of one mile :)

Pretty! Maybe inspiration for my next painting!?!

I wasn't sure what I was going to do this past weekend because Heather was going to be in Austin at the ultimate frisbee tournament. Her team from Wisconsin came all the way down here to play which is super awesome because Heather got to see them all and play with them! So she left Friday night, and I ended up having a little Disney movie marathon in my room, while I Skyped again. It was awesome, I watched Mulan, Hercules, and Jungle Book. Saturday I ended up sleeping most of the day from pulling another all-nighter haha. But then Saturday night I met up with Kathryn for some quality girl time and we went to the budget movie theatre and saw When in Rome. It was hilarious and adorable. The perfect chick flick with substance, and boy oh boy was the leading man in it good looking. WHEW!

Anyway, Sunday Abel and I drove to Austin to hang out at the ultimate frisbee tournament and watch Heathers team play! It was out at this huge field and it was quite the event. There were 32 teams from all across the country. Over the course of the weekend Heather's team played UCSB and UCLA and beat both of them! Haha. They placed 12 in the tournament! I had only heard about ultimate frisbee before and had only learned a little about it from Heather when I met her. It was really cool to watch and figure out how it's done. I also got another chance to just chill outside in the beautiful weather and relax which is amazing, and making me very excited for the summer to get here!

When we got back I went to my Theology of the Body session which was awesome as usual. Then it was time for mass. This Sunday was the start of holy week. I think Palm Sunday is one of my favorite masses of the year. It was a good weekend. And I'm sure I will be blogging with great VIGOR when Saturday is over.

♥Chantal

Happy Spring!

I love Spring! This bipolar Texas weather is such a tease though. I was so spoiled over Spring Break because of the beach and it was a beautiful 70+ nearly the whole time. This weekend was the first day of spring. Unfortunately it was freezing cold and in Austin where I was for the GEA Gospel Fest it was raining most of the day. Luckily I had a good reason to be inside for most of it I didn't have to deal with the ickiness. However, today it is beautiful again, and it is supposed to be in the mid to upper 70's all week. Hallelujah! Tomorrow both Heather and I have the afternoon off and she has canoeing class out on the river so we're going to meet and lay out and maybe swim! I need some more sun, my tan seems to be fading already! haha.

Last week was rough, being the first week back at school. I've decided that I have not been applying myself as much as I could and should this semester. My study habits have been sliding, which I suppose is understandable in my situation. Being in a new place, surrounded by new friends and possibility for adventure! It's hard to pass up those opportunities to study. I am realizing how far into the semester we are now that spring break is over. I have about 7 weeks left here in Texas, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. In a way it seems like I've been here for quite a long time. I am comfortable, have established an awesome group of friends and this place quickly became home. On the other hand, when I think about how soon I am going back to Chico, I realize how fast the past 2 1/2 months have flown by! My mom actually booked my flight last night. May 12th. I have till then to do as much as possible, and there are still so many things I want to do!

I am having such a great time here, but I am also really looking forward to being back home this summer and having a blast. I'm coming up on what should be my senior year, and I can't believe how quickly college has gone by so far. But I am really excited about the future and what's next. This adventure has made me realize how much I love NEW things. The anticipation, the shock and the assimilation.

Gospel Fest was amazing this past Saturday. I have really come to love these people and I am so glad Heather and I decided to join GEA together. I really look forward to every Tuesday night, at 8pm belting my heart out, and then walking back across campus with Heather practicing our harmonies, with not a care in the world of who can hear or see us. We have so much fun. :)

Sundays are becoming a favorite day of mine as well. At 5pm I have Theology of the Body sessions with a lovely group of people including the majority of my BA family. Then we have about an hour until mass, so we had dinner together. Love them. I get to see them every Monday night too for 4th Day, which is like a weekly extension of BA, and I love seeing everyone. Even though I don't have a lot of time left here, I'm going to make the best of it. And hopefully there will be many more postings for you to read about my exciting adventures as I go. Actually, I can guarantee that there will...

♥

Chantal

Let Go, Let God

New opportunities always present an interesting dilemma. I find myself asking questions like, is this something that found me for a reason? Is this the best decision for me? Did God put this before me because it's something that I'm meant to do or is he providing me with the opportunity to simply learn and grow from making the actually decision itself. I've always struggled with making decisions, whether it's something as what to eat for lunch, or deciding on where to go next in life. Over the past few days I have been conflicted with this, but last night at GEA rehearsal, someone said something during closing prayer that spoke to me. Let go, and let God.

Being the virgo that I am, I will admit I like control. I feel at ease knowing what is coming next and what I can do to keep things running smoothy and as expected. As I've gotten older, and through meeting people and experiencing new things I have learned to let go more and let life just happen. Sometimes that's all you can do because in reality we have little control over life. Last night when I heard that, and again today after talking things out with Heather, I realized with certain things, including this new possible opportunity, I need to let go. Instead of stressing over the fact that there are so many unknowns, I need to trust in God that if it's meant to be for me in my life right now, it will work out.

As for spring break goes, I know I havn't blogged in forever and I honestly have more to say about the past week than I could possible type on here in a reasonable amount of time. Basically we arrived in Port Aransas on tuesday evening. From then through Sunday morning my life consisted of hanging out with 11 of the coolest people that I've met here at Texas State. Lots of time on the beach, laying in the sand, and swimming in the ocean. The weather was just right for the most part, despite the waves of weird haze that came in and made it impossible to see more than 40 feet away. Playing and laying in the sand during the day, and meeting lots of awesome people around bon fires on the beach at night, it really was the perfect college spring break. Beer pong, and maybe one too many shots of rum were among the activities...Over all it was a great week, and a trip that I will never forget. Living in a tiny two bedroom condo with 11 people is something that a bunch of 18-21 year olds are good at embracing. I have a million pictures but here are a few to highlight my spring break 2o10. See my facebook for more!

♥ Chantal

Airport Anarchy

I am praying that my flight experience back to Texas will be less insane than it was getting here. But I've already run into a few things that have been proving otherwise. Getting through security and onto the plane on Friday was fine, however soon after we boarded the captain came on the speaker and said that he had noticed one of the 'pins' holding the Co2 tank for one of the emergency slides had been pulled. He wanted to make sure it was still safe, and that the slide would not deploy spontaneously in flight so the passengers who were seating in the rows near the slides had to de-board the plane while it was being looked at. At first everyone was fine feeling assured that our captain had only our safety in mind. After about a half hour later he came back on to announce that we were waiting for the mechanics to come up with a diagnosis for what was going on. He said that at some point one of the catering staff probably tripped the pin while supplying the plane, and that if the slide deployed unintentionally it could seriously hurt passengers.

The flight was supposed to leave at 1:35pm, and by the time 3:00 rolled around and we were all still sitting there on the plane, people started getting anxious. Some said that they were already going to miss their connecting flight and were looking at their iphones and blackberries to see if any other flights were available. People were generally friendly with each other, but also frustrated with the situation. One boisterous woman began to joke that the airline should turn "lemons to lemonade by serving us free cocktails!" hahahah.

The captain kept saying that it was better to be safe than to end up in the air in a situation where we could be in serious trouble, and everyone could understand. They finally announced that they were going to have a whole new slide shipped from Atlanta for it to be replaced and the flight was delayed to leave at 8:30pm. I was scheduled to arrive in Charlotte at 8pm! If I would have stayed with that flight I wouldn't have arrived in Atlanta until 11pm and they were giving out hotel vouchers because there wouldn't be anymore flights to Charlotte until the morning. As it is I was only going to have barely 2 days to hang out with Amy J, and I wasn't ok with having to sleep in Atlanta and miss out on that time. It was ridiculous how they were helping people figure out alternatives. They had one, under-qualified woman helping a huge line of people and it took almost an hour to get to the front of the line when there were only about 7 people ahead of me. Even better was that once I got to the front she was no help at all. I had just missed a flight 10 minutes before that was going to Atlanta!

I prayed for patience and strength as I tried my hardest not to break down crying. I turned my

survival mode on and walked up and down the terminals, and asked one of the delta ladies at the terminal of the flight I barely missed and she told me about a flight that was also headed toward Atlanta. I met her a little while later at the other terminal and got a stand-by ticket, and noticed another guy from my original flight doing the same. We had no problem getting on, and there was a connecting flight right to Charlotte that same night! What was with that lady? She didn't even offer stand-by! Anyway...I ended up getting here around midnight and Amy

picked me up.

Oh, except...because I changed flights so last

minute, my bag was not able to be transfered to my plane. So guess where my bag was? Yep, on that original flight not scheduled to arrive in Charlotte until 10:30am the next morning. Luckily I was staying with a girlfriend is just about the same size as me hah. The weekend went very well, I explored the city while Amy was at work on Saturday and then we went out to a really yummy dinner.

She rented a car for the weekend so we could get around more easily, and she had a bunch of

things she really needed at the mall, so we spent

the whole day shopping! It was awesome :)

Plus we went and saw Alice in Wonderland

in 3D!

Last night we watched the Oscars and made cookies :) And had some fun with the self-timer on my camera :P

I've been praying since I woke up that my travels back to Texas today will be much more seamless. However, after I checked my bag and waited in the enormous security line, they stopped me and found my Klean Kanteen in my bag, which I forgot to empty. GAH! They made me go back out and empty it and come back through the scanners lol. A minor bump in the road really. Then I arrived at my terminal to find that my flight was on time and everything looks good. Right? Wrong. As soon as I sat down, this middle aged man walked up to me and told me that he was just about to leave on his flight, but noticed me when I walked by and wanted to tell me that he thought I was really beautiful. At first I was flattered and he seemed harmless so I smiled and said thanks. He asked a couple harmless questions about what I was doing in Charlotte, but when he found out I wasn't from here, he appeared disappointed and proceeded to tell me that he was hoping I was from around here so he could take me out to dinner. AHHHHHHH!!!!! LOL He left and I shook it off. Ew. Then about 10 minutes ago, as I was beginning to write this posting, I hear that the flight is delayed because of possible thunderstorms? So I went to the desk and got a backup flight that will get me into San Antonio only an hour or so behind schedule. Continental Airlines has already proved to me MUCH more helpful and customer service friendly than Delta.

♥ Chantal

Sleepless In San Marcos

Sometimes no matter how much I try to leave enough time for things, it just doesn't happen. I was planning on doing all my laundry earlier today and packing, so when I got back from Midnight Rodeo tonight I could hit the hey, and be all ready to leave in the morning. Somehow one thing lead to another and here I am at 4am, waiting for my laundry, with hardly anything packed...I'm getting picked up in about 5 hours...Oh dear. I guess the guys have been training me well, with the whole getting no sleep thing, cause I think I'm gonna make it through just fine. I will be very glad to take advantage of sleeping on the plane and during my layover in Atlanta. I will arrive in North Carolina around 8pm tomorrow, and will be taking a taxi to Amy's apartment. I am SO excited to see her! We're going to spend the weekend exploring the city and she's gonna show me around the children's theatre where she's working :) As soon as I fly back to texas, Heather, Juan, Abel, Michael, Joey, Bryson, Brent, Kathryn, Me, and I think two others will be heading to our beach condo in Port Aransas for the week! I am stoked. It's going to be the craziest, best spring break trip ever!...I hope :)

Even though I'm going to be exhausted from sleep deprivation tomorrow, I had a blast with my BA family tonight! A bunch of us went to a Julliard performance on campus, which was awesome! Then we headed over to Jones dining hall for some people to get a quick dinner. I had already eaten so it was apple slices for me. Then we headed to Austin for Midnight Rodeo! I hadn't been out country dancing since last time we went, which was my first time! I cant believe I waited that long! It's sooo much fun! We tried to get there before 11pm because ladies are free, but we hit a horrible accident on the highway, which set us back a little bit. We also took a couple wrong turns because of Michelle, my BA mom and her epic fail at giving directions! haha It was a good time though. Once we finally got there, it was past 11, so we had to pay $5 but still not bad :) I didn't realize that so many people from the CSC and BA were going to be there! I guess a lot of them go all the time! It was awesome, I danced almost the whole 3 hours, with all my family, and also some strangers but they're always so nice.

I didn't bring my camera, because it's so bulky! It's sorta out of date I guess. It still works great but its just too hard to carry around especially when I'm on the dance floor. I need something more pocket sized. I realized that during that 2 week gap in my blog I forgot to post about our "snow day" here! So here are some pictures from that experience. Basically, we all ditched class and watched movies, and it was amazing :) I was so excited that it was snowing I made Heather come outside and take pictures of me...but she wasn't the least bit excited that the snow had followed her here to Texas :P

Dunno if I'm going to have internet in Port A, so my next posting could be more than a week away, unless I feel so inclined while I'm at Amy's :)

♥

Chantal