A slow transition into the real world

Greetings, my glorious friends and family! I have not posted anything on this blog since December of 2016. I do not really update my Facebook much either, besides the occasional post about my mother or some special event with my friends. So, it looks like I have a lot of updating to do!

A few days before Christmas, I became very sick. I woke up on Friday, December 23, and did the normal things I do everyday. That night, Tara and Keaton were coming over so we could have our "friendmas". Unfortunately, right when they arrived, I started throwing up a lot. I spent 90% of the next three hours in one or both of our bathrooms. Eventually, I felt my best option was to go to the emergency room. Luckily, Tara and Keaton got me to the hospital in Elkader without me vomiting in the back of my Dad's Jeep (it was snowy and they left their vehicles at the top of our driveway in the event they wouldn't be able to get out). While there, I dry heaved a ton and they tried, unsuccessfully, four times to put an IV in. They gave me some tablet that dissolved under my tongue, and within minutes I had regained some color and stopped doing all the unpleasant things. However, right before I went home at 3 am, I started vomiting again. Tara and Keaton took me home, got me to bed, and stayed overnight in case I needed them. The next morning, they brought me a lot of pedialyte and they went home. I spent the next two days camping out on my bathroom floor and drinking pedialyte and trying to eat crackers (which were so stale that my dog wouldn't even eat them). I ventured out of the house on Christmas Day to my aunts so I wouldn't be alone, and although I spent a good portion of my time there in the bathroom and didn't eat, I'm glad I got out of the house. It took a good week before my immune system was back to normal, but I got four people sick in the process (surprisingly not Keaton, Tara or my Dad). I would never recommend that experience.

The view from my hospital bed.

Luckily, I felt a lot better on New Years Eve and we made a fantastic edition of Keaton's Kitchen, where we made freezer burnt monster cookies that my mom bought three years ago. For those of you who do not know, Keaton's Kitchen is a cooking video series that we make and publish on YouTube every New Years Eve. The first video is on there, but the monster cookie video is rated R so it will not make an internet appearance. But we had a wonderful night 

Laughing with our friend, Mr. Bill (he's a dog toy)

On March 4th, I attended UNI Dance Marathon. This was the second time I had been involved with the event since starting college. I personally raised over $600 for the Children's Miracle Network, which was a very unexpected amount. I cannot thank anyone who donated enough for what they helped us accomplish. During the event, I got to ring a gong for raising over $100 in one day. However, I hit it so lightly that you could barely hear it, so I never posted the video.

In late March, I participated in the UNI Greek Week Lip Sync contest with my sisters in Alpha Delta Pi. The theme was Disney and our chapter represented Cinderella. We did a mash up of different songs and had a very thought-out and well choreographed dance to go along with it. I enjoyed the many practices we had throughout the week. Unfortunately, about 30 seconds before our dance was over, the music cut out and we were forced to sing the rest while dancing. The end of the song was a bunch of "whoa"s so we kind of just laughed through it. Luckily, we finished in the top 3!

The wonderful sisters I got to lip sync with!

At the end of April, I did something I never thought I'd do: I modeled a piece in the UNI Textiles and Apparel Fashion Show. I was part of the Egypt category, and attended a couple sessions where we learned how to walk like a model and also learned the choreography for the show. I didn't trip, so it was a good time. The day of the show was very long, but it was definitely an interesting experience!

"And I'm a model, you know what I mean,
I'm gonna do my little thing on the catwalk"

And then of course, I cannot forget all the wonderful memories I made working at Student Patrol this semester. We gained three newbies during the semester and they are some pretty wild souls. But I definitely became closer to everyone that worked there. Here are some highlights of the semester through the eyes of Student Patrol:

• Avery got to go to Olive Garden for the first time.
• Dan rolled up his pants to match all the girls he had to work with that night.
• Dom finally learned which keys open which doors (I think?)
• Bailey got mad hate for farting constantly
• Ally got asked if she was dating Avery by Jonikka (who is an officer)
• Tommy asked a bunch of people to work for him who were already working that night
• Morgan drank a lot of sweet tea and snarled at people
• Matt got curved one or 40 times but he also gave some good advice
• Nathan did a very nice impression of Dan's "southern accent"
• I coined the term "the one o'clock hour" since that was when everyone was more likely to answer the truth questions of "truth or dare", or any other wild question I asked them

And now for some lovely photos of my favorite people, so you can meet some of them since I mentioned them above!

Ally, Bailey, Matt, and Morgan came to the ADPi spaghetti
dinner and supported a great cause!

Ally, Lt. Lyons (Jonikka) and I had a good time at the photo booth
during Cabapalooza in Maucker Union!

Morgan, Ally and I went to Four Queens and got
snowstorms. We also brought one to Bailey.

Bailey, Ally and I spent some time out on the town
making weird decisions and singing in Spanish.

Tommy(pictured) and Dom brought pizza to our end of the
year party.

Here's Dom attempting to open a door.

Matt had an unfortunate encounter.

Dan getting with the memo.

Nathan eating a huge doughnut

Avery met a very unattentative Hillary Clinton

As for this summer, so far I have worked a few days at Menards. I am taking four summer classes online through UNI, one of which is going to be an internship with the Clayton County Sheriff's Office in June. Last night (May 16th) I was part of the surprise alumni choir for Mrs. Franta as part of her final concert at Central. She taught vocal music for 23 years for us and left a great impact on the students and the community. I have attached a link to the YouTube video underneath this in the event you would like to watch our performance. I only cried a handful of times, and I'm still crying every time I watch the video (video credit to Joleen Jansen).

Central Alumni Choir Honors Mrs. Franta

Well, that's how my year has gone! Right now, I am set to graduate from UNI in December with a Bachelors Degree in Criminology with a minor in Psychology. It is going to be a bittersweet semester as I celebrate the last few months of school before I am off to the real world!