Friends Forever, Homework Whatever!

Horrible picture, but a favorite memory. Last year on daylight savings, we (unintentionally) stayed up talking through the night and were very thrown off when it went from 1:55am to 3am in a matter of minutes lol. 

I should really be studying for my stats exam right now. But instead, I'm here on Blogger. I've noticed lately there has been a lot of "I should be studying for ____, I should be doing ____ assignment" in my life, but instead I've been doing things that are more worthy of my time. Like last night.

This weekend was packed full of WL club, a high school basketball state championship, hanging out with my parents, a sleepover (and lots of Yahtzee and dominos) at Grammy and PopPop's, brunch and church with Gram, a mentor tea for a YL friend, and then dinner at the Walnut house (aka some friends house). I was able to sneak in some homework and studying here and there, but the majority of my time was spent with people that I love. 

Last night, Emma offered to make Mackenzie and I dinner, so we went over to her house and ate delicious lemon rosemary pasta and salad. Courtney and Melissa joined us, and the five of us spent the next six hours talking and talking and talking. There's a piece of me that misses living in the dorms because we all lived on the same floor and went to dinner together every night and were just with each other more! However, I think we can all agree we like having our own space and not wearing shower shoes more. In six hours, we discussed politics and the upcoming election. We talked about the Middle East and America's involvement overseas. We got deep and heavy and talked about the Holocaust, 9/11, and Columbine. We talked about genetics and the chances of blue eyed babies. We laughed about boys. We recalled our favorite old books, movies, and songs, and the weird ones too (The Neverending Story and Bunicula anyone??). We got giddy over the dreams of future engagements and weddings. We freaked out over government secrets and conspiracies. We sipped tea and ate the most divine brownies. We talked about waxing and the joys of being a woman. We dreamt of baby names and freaked out over the concept of motherhood. We face-swapped on Snapchat.  It was six, sweet hours of honest friendship. 

When Mackenzie and I finally got home, it was after 1am. We were beyond exhausted (thank you daylight savings) and mumbled about how we should have come home earlier and studied. But my cup was filled with happiness of being with my people. Last year, I was big into "the homework can wait, you don't get to live across the hall from your best friends forever!" and this year has really showed me what a gift that was. All of our lives have really picked up as sophomores and it's been so much more difficult to find those pockets of time to just be together, like we used to do at dinner in the C4C or brushing our teeth in the bathroom listening to Taylor Swift.  Friends forever, homework whatever! I'm not going to remember that on Sunday March 13, 2016, I should have come home earlier and studied statistics. I'm going to remember the conversations and laughs with my friends about the ins and outs of the world and life. 

So now, I should study. Four more days until spring break!

xo

Hannah

3/8

All hail, my third semester of college is over. Boom roasted

I. am. home!!!! Today has been quite the day. Snow was in the forecast, and when I woke up to my clock blinking, I knew the power had been knocked out at one point and that it had clearly snowed a lot. It was 8:30, and I began to scroll through my Facebook feed (probably not so great that the first thing I do in the morning is scroll through social media. So sue me.) and I saw a girl who lived on my floor last year posting something about a final being cancelled? I checked my email and lo and behold, campus was closed until 1, so 7:30 and 10:30am finals were cancelled. I wasn't quite sure what that meant but all I could think about was how in the world they were going to try to reschedule so many finals. The email read they would reevaluate opening campus around 11am. I was nervous that if they closed campus all day, the final I was scheduled to take at 1:30 would get moved to a later date and I wouldn't be able to go home. I was completely packed and was absolutely counting on going home today so panic was truly setting in. 11am rolls around, campus is closed for the rest of the day. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?! It means that grades are frozen, finals will not be made up, and Hannah is a happy freaking camper! I was scheduled to take my Social Problems exam and also give a presentation and was just dreading it, honestly. It would be easy I just didn't want to do it haha. So instead of taking a test, I renewed my apartment lease, dug Sara's car out, and had brunch with Emma and Mack. Guys, I didn't have to take a final. Do you know how amazing that is?! It was a once in a lifetime experience. Read about it here

I drove back around 3 and the roads weren't atrocious. Slow, but not horrible. It only took me about 15 minutes than normal to get home. Right at my exit, "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays" came on and I basically just screamed the final 5 minutes of my drive because I was so dang excited to be home. The cherry on top was when one of my all time favorite holiday songs, "Celebrate Me Home" came on as I was pulling into my neighborhood. Yep, I was almost in tears. It feels better than ever to be home.


This semester left me more tired and stressed than any other semester. Going into it, I knew I was about to go through hell, but I just had to do it. There was no going around it so I just had to go into it with as much positivity, enthusiasm, and optimism that I could conjure.

And I did.

This semester, I was more very involved with extracurriculars, spent more time with friends, and took on new adult roles. I grocery shopped, mentored freshman, cooked dinner multiple nights a week, learned all the bones, muscles, organs, nerves, arteries, and veins of the body, was part of an awesome Bible study, didn't die in chemistry, and have made lots of new, wonderful friendships. I also questioned my sanity about five times a day, but I was really able to find happiness amidst the madness.

There was lots of love, and there was pain.

I learned that I can do hard things. I mean, I might cry a ton because of how hard it all is, but hey, I can do it!  And while I do hard things, I can have a freaking amazing time.

Here's a quickish semester recap

1. Best roommate ever. I don't know how people go through life without their own Mackenzie.

Life's just better when you have someone to eat dessert with 

What a studious little bird

I sure do miss our dinners al fresco 

Lots of eating food selfies. This was when we watched The Jinx, a incredible documentary 

Naptime

Aint she a gem?

Ugh Vegas, what a trip

2. Gal Pals. Love em so much. Gal pals>boyfriends, ovaries before brovaries, uteruses before duderuses.

Beau Jos loving

Grizzly Rose dancing

Birthday celebrating

Dancing the nights away

Singing along to Ben Howard

Loving all the whipped cream and coffee

Crashing Gram's house for girls night

Halloween

Big fans of breakfast

Getting lost downtown

Eternal love

 3. YoungLife

WORKCREW WEEKEND 2015

A stellar group of stellar people

T God for this great bible study

Hiking the star on Flagstaff Mountain 

 4. School blew chunks 

Look at that fine vertebrae and cute pup

Seriously my least favorite material 

Chem lab sux

Constantly cramming information in my brain

The infamous Yu Gong, a truly memorable chem lab TA 

5. 5eva <3

World's best soccer player 

6. Fam

 Ok that wasn't that quick but I always have far too many pictures. But let's all just exhale because the semester is over. I made it out alive!! Now it's time to get in the freaking holiday mood and get ready for Christmas and all the festivities that come with it.

Peace and holiday blessings.
xo
Hannah

Lyfe Updates

Ok wow has this blog become my emotion commotion journal this past month. Love that I get it all out, but also want you all to know I am truly not that dense of a person all the time. So time for a fun, life update post.

First and foremost, an ode to summer. Man do I miss it.

We had a very fun Girls Night (at my grandparents house lol) where we talked, ate lots of dessert, and played Cards Against Humanity (which I proudly won).

My family had fall break so they came to a pumpkin patch near Boulder, so I was able to meet them and escape school responsibilities for the afternoon.

We had a lot of fun at the petting zoo area  

I went home last weekend and it was absolute heaven. It felt so good to just be home and hanging out with my family. The first thing I did was drive straight to my nanny fam's house so I could see the kiddos. I got to spend some quality time with Josie and Luke while we waited for Syd to come home from school. I just love those kiddos. Later that night, we went to Olivia's last football game of the season. My mom and I spent Saturday redecorating the basement to make it more warm and homey. Sunday, we had some great family pics taken. 

He is getting SO big!

Love my little Jo

Then came "Halloweek". Wednesday night, I went to a YoungLife party and had a rocking good time tearing up the dance floor. YL parties are basically insane dance parties and I love them so much! Thursday night, Mack and I went with Jordan and Christine to their friend's house in Golden for a small party, where we danced and sucked at water pong (turnt college students, am I right?). Christine and Jordan dressed up as The Blue Man Group and were hilariously terrifying. Then Christine put on a Batman mask and it was just too good.

On Saturday night, we went to another YL party to again, tear up the dance floor.

Emma, Mackenz, and I were Phoebe, Monica, and Rachel from Friends. Not the most obvious of costumes, but easy and fun. Gotta love 90s style.

Fitbits for lyfe

Nailed it

Sophomore year has kept me busy and contemplative for sure. But I'm loving it! and even more, I'm loving that today is the start of THE CHRISTMAS SEASON!!!! You best believe I've been listening to holiday music all morning and planning how I'm going to decorate my room! Oh man, I am loving life.

xo
Hannah

Week One Done

With each ending, there is a new beginning. Summer has slipped away, the school year has kicked up again, and a familiar routine has become embedded in my system. My heart still aches for summer and home at times, but I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion is playing through my head, as I get back into the swing of school life again, slowly but surely, like muscle memory.

Life has felt more adult than ever lately and it's really taking some getting used to.

S O P H O M O R E  Y E A R.

I'm moved into my new apartment that I share with Mackenzie and 2 other girls.
1. How the heck am I old enough to be living in an apartment?!
2. How freaking awesome is it that I live with Mack? Who would have guessed that five years ago, when Mack and I met as locker buddies, we would one day be living together? The way that life works and puts people into our lives sure is something crazy.

Throughout this week, Mackenzie and I have discovered that we are truly just an old married couple. We eat our meals quietly on our porch everyday, tag team chores and cooking, and do our best not to accidentally match. Apartment/adult life is wonderful. Tour to come soon!

I survived all of my classes and am so excited for this semester. Nervous too because chemistry and upper division anatomy but as Gloria Gaynor would say, "I will survive". I'm in Chem 1 and lab, Anatomy and lab, and Social Problems. Science with a side of sociology.

This first week has been nothing short of amazing:

Sunday we watched Riley tear up the soccer field #proudmamas

We sufficiently managed to take an awkward first day of school picture.

We ate 9pm ice cream and watched Taylor Swift music videos.

We danced the night away at the Grizzly Rose.

 We had back to school Beau Jo's.

And took our babies took Sonic. 

We saw Sierra's awesome apartment and had a tiki party

Yes, I do look like a dad on vacay 

Had to add this because I love it so much

And now I'm laughing out loud because every picture description began with "We", referring to me and Mack because we are essentially one person. Oh man.

So here's to sophomore year, best friends, adult life, unorganized short blog posts, and dance parties. Because dance parties should always be mentioned.

xo
Hannah