I got the magic in me

(I have that song stuck in my head. ^^^^) So apparently I haven't posted a REAL blog since June 19th! =O That might tell you how busy and crazy my summer has been!
I went to Wichita for 4th of July weekend and Drew's family reunion... it was a fun time! We were going to go ice skating as a last minute thing but I didn't bring jeans and I've never been ice skating before soooo I wasn't really into falling on the ice with no pants on, lol. AND I everyone was wearing jackets or coats and I didn't bring one of those either. Booo. Recently, we just went to Colorado for vacation and my family reunion. We spent a day in Denver on the 31st and then went up to Grand Lake the 1st- 4th. I had a complete blast! I love being outside and doing things of that nature. In Denver we ate real sushi (the fancy REAL kind... not that nasty kind at super buffets lol) It was quite a treat! Ellen and drew didn't like it so much I don't believe but I loved it. I was pretty proud of Drew however because he ate about 5 pieces and he never even threw up! I went white water rafting for the first time. The really scary courses are closed this time of year so we took a two person 'duckie' out and that was pretty fun! Since I have never been and didn't know what to expect, it was a good experience. Drew and I got freakin soaked to say the least and we hit a rock and about got dumped in the water. But luckily I am awesome and saved us, hehe.
We finished summer school on the 30th. That was such a relief. I got four credit hours... one from a field trip and 3 from world geography. I hate how some gen eds are so freakin hard and have so much information. Really? They're gen eds! But it definitely paid off because I ended up with a 78% and my teacher bumped me up to a B... very pleased! Of course we went to Russell and Kensington a few times, went to the lake, hung out with friends.. the norm. Besides all of that, I have been working like it's going out of style and so has Drew. He loves his new(ish) job and I love being a CSL, even though I am getting slightly burnt out. Drew has a truck now instead of a car and bought an 82 or 83 (can't remember) Camaro and is working on refinishing it. He is also doing some furniture refinishing as well. It's been hella hot outside and just cooled off yesterday so he definitely hasn't been working outside as much, especially when he works in the shop all day instead of the office.
School starts next week and I'm pretty excited. I'm sure that will wear off soon though. I'm taking 18 hours and the first week of school I work 32+ hours so we will see how that pans out... I'll TRY to keep everyone posted. (AND yesterday was my gpa's bday! we went out to eat)
I have an interview tomorrow to be a recovery worker at the Schwaller Center and Westside but I'm not exactly sure if I'll take that job if it's offered to me. It really depends on a lot of different factors.
Well, I must be getting off of here to finish up dinner. I hope everyone is winding down their summers appropriately and you will hear from me soon!

☮gretchen elizabeth

p.s. here is the link to my colorado pictures! enjoy

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197044&id=500894426&l=9890930ca3

sushi in denver!

it's been awhile

Holy crap.... It's been almost a month since I've been on this. I've been sooo busy... and a lot of crap has happened! I don't really have time to blog right now but I will try to tomorrow or tonight! loves!

R-E-L-A-X

Today was a GLORIOUS DAY! Yesterday was my first day off in about 3 weeks. Seriously, I thought I was going to go insane. I did some father's day shopping with my sister, ran errands, take a nap and then did homework with Drew. (<---yesterday) We went out to dinner at Napoli's Friday night and then had a spectacular evening with friends, got home at 1:30 or so, and didn't go to bed 'til about 3 am haha. So that was sort of off track since I said TODAY was a glorious day.
I woke up fairly early and then went back to bed til about 12:15 (don't judge me, I deserve a sleep in day). Drew and I decided to spend a lovely day shopping and then going to dinner. We went to Salina and kinda got turned around a little bit but it wasn't long before we found our way! ;) We went to Hobby Lobby first... I could have bought so much stuff in there! But we just got a cute little sign to hang in the kitchen that says "I kiss better than I cook". Apparently, Drew thinks that describes me perfectly. *rolls eyes* I don't think either of us were in much of a shopping mood but we got a few things at the mall. We both got some things at Old Navy... I totally forgot there was an ON there! And Drew got a polo at RUE and I got a bra at Victoria's Secret. Semi Annual Sale, baby! hehe
My favorite part of the day was probably going to dinner. We ate at Red Lobster... oh my lanta. It was sooooo delicious. Seafood is my favorite food so I was in heaven! We ate sooo much. We got lobster nachos, cheesy biscuits (of course!), and he got the ultimate something (I forget haha... that had lobster tail, crab legs, shrimp something) and I got some shrimp skewer thing. Not to mention our meals came with salads and a side. Definitely didn't get to those though, haha.
We were going to go roller skating but the weather was looking pretty iffy so we just decided to trek home. So now we're at home, watching Man vs. Wild, just chilling. I totally need a fun but relaxing weekend and tomorrow I will probably just lay around and MAYBE do some laundry and probably do some homework! Well, I'm getting pretty tired so I think I'm going to lay down with my babe! =)

☮gretchen elizabeth

Crazy little woman

Long time no see. Perfect time for some late night blogging, I suppose! haha.. ummm so this weekend I didn't really do any homework so I'm slightly behind BUT I will do a bunch tomorrow. I can't believe classes have already started. But they will be over before we know it... July 30th is the last day for classes but I should finish before that. So I was thinking I'd like this philosophy class but so far it is STUPID. I hate to say that, because I loved Bioethics and I generally like things like that but OMG it's so boring and the reading is fairly difficult because it is SO boring. Our teacher said that we may have to read chapters more than once to understand them and I'm thinking... hell to the no, I will not!
I was looking at stuff for the Water Issues field trip I'm going on actually in a week and I thought we were going to Cedar Bluff or something... nope. Going to the water treatment plant here in Hays. I was looking at pictures... let's just say GROSS. hahaha I'm not weak stomached but that shit smells nasty too (no pun intended lol). But hey, it shouldn't be TOO terrible.
And really one last thing that has been on my mind lately. I can't figure out if something is wrong with me. I feel like an old person because all I really do is work, do homework, clean, do laundry etc. and I usually have no energy to do anything besides that. I guess sometimes we do fun stuff, but not that much. And I fee like I have lost connection with a lot of my friends. I love all my friends to death but there are a select few that drive me NUTS. Okay, I know in high school people can be pretty wild/hyper/loud/stupid whatever but I'm not that way really at all anymore. Yeah I can be goofy but I'm not as immature as I was in high school. I suppose I just feel like I can't stand being around some people because they act like they are still in high school and/or need to grow the fuck up!! There is a time and a place for retardedness I understand... but ALL THE DAMN TIME is just a little ridiculous. I sound like a bitchy old lady, lol... But I've always had a short temper and I get easily annoyed. So, when I feel like someone is being really immature for their age it just drives me crazy!
And I think it's funny when people get mad at me because I don't go out or hang out with them... but I pretty much NEVER get a phone call or a text. If you really wanna hang out with me don't write on my fucking facebook wall because I don't even get on it everyday. Not only that, but my friends hang out with my sister more than me. Not that I care that they hang out with her but some of those people... are not the best influences on my little sister. And honestly when it comes down to it, I'll pick my sister over anyone ANY DAY.
Well, I get the eff off my soap box. That is enough venting for one time haha. I'll keep you updated!

☮gretchen elizabeth

pretty girl swag

It is... already June 1st! That just seems crazy to me! I feel like last summer was just yesterday. Sheesh. I have been super busy with work and various other tasks, so for that I am grateful. Yesterday I finally had a day off however... after 13 straight days of workin! hehe, but I love it and I need hours so I can't say much.
I had an amazing memorial day weekend and a SPLENDID day off with my man yesterday. I don't know if it could have been any more perfect!
So classes start in 6 days and I'm pretty excited. I don't know if that's just kinda creepy that I'm excited for SCHOOL but it will be two more classes to get out of the way. I hope they aren't super hard and time consuming like the last online class I took but it was a really hard web programming class sooooo these two gen. eds. shouldn't take too much of my soul, lol. The last day of classes is the day before we leave to go to Grand Lakes, Colorado for four days! Err, 3.5... whoo hoo!
So nothing crazy crazy around here. Some funny stuff happened at work but I feel it might be slightly inappropriate to put on here, haha. I got my last book in the mail today for classes now all I need to do is go get the discs from the bookstore. Can't do that until I get paid on Friday though because I'm literally broke. Uggh... and our ZVP was supposed to change my pay rate over a month ago and still hasn't... so let's just say work owes me a good chunk of money and I'm crossing my fingers that on Friday it will be fixed AND I will have my moolah by then! 'Cause I am in dire need.
Being broke pretty much sucks but I have it better than at least 80% of the world's population so how much can I really complain?
And I don't know why this just reminded me of this... but that damn oil spill. It literally is making me sick thinking about what damage it is causing and has already caused. I was looking at pictures from the oil spill the other day and I was teary-eyed. Those poor animals and ecosystems that have been killed and destroyed. It really is such a shame. I hope the U.S. can get their shit together and get this mess cleaned up STAT.
Well I better hop off my soap box and finish getting ready for work. See ya soon, friends!

☮gretchen elizabeth
my awesome catch on sunday haha

Summa time! ☼

Well I don't know how appropriate the title is since it just got done storming like a mutha and it's about 60 some degrees, lol. BUT we did get a sweet rainbow. I tried to take pictures of it with my phone... check out my FB for the pics =) I'm sure most of ya'll that read my blog have me on FB, lol. (p.s. does anyone know how to post pictures on here?!)
So, funny story. The other day my friend Bobbi sent me a picture of my grandparents riding their bikes and I literally laughed out loud because of their safety vests and blinking lights that they wear. No matter how many times I see it, I still can't help but giggle. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're being safe but it is unusual to see people wear such attire. =P
Only two more weeks until summer classes start up. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm glad I got somewhat of a break from school but I guess I'm one of those weirdos that's not complete unless I'm busy, busy, busy! I ordered our books today and we still have to get the DVDs for World Geo at the bookstore. The cool thing about that is that they're $30 and at the end of the summer if you return them you get $25 dollars back. Can't beat that. And not to mention I got our books off of Amazon for super cheap!
This summer Drew and I have his and my family reunions to attend. I'm pretty excited for them! His is in Wichita so it's nice that we won't have to travel so far and it's July 4th weekend... fun times! Mine is at the beginning of August and we're going to Grand Lakes, Colorado, a little resort town up in the mountains 90 miles from Denver. The drive will be long but it will be totally worth it to be in such a scenic place with a lot of kick ass outdoor stuff to do!
So today was Drew's last day working at Paul Wertenberger Construction. He's been working there for over two years now. He starts his new job tomorrow. He will be working in a shop AND in the office doing drafting, so this is an amazing opportunity for him to get experience and get his foot in the door. I am kinda sad that he is leaving PW though... they're like a family! But nonetheless, I am sooo proud of my babe and all the things he has accomplished and will accomplish!
I hope everyone is having a good start to the summer. Lovelovelove!

☮gretchen elizabeth

And they're off!

So school is out now... how about that?! I ended up really good... three A's and two B's. However, I'm fairly displeased that my teachers didn't bump me up to A's since I had an 89 in both of those classes AND worked my ass off... grrrrr. >.< But hey... a 3.5 this semester is pretty dang good! I've been trying to pull myself out of the hole I dug for myself in previous years of school. I just partied WAY too much and was so depressed I just had no energy for school, not to mention didn't know what I wanted to do. BUT this year has been amazing.
So this summer I don't have anything too wild planned... Drew and I are taking two online summer classes together that start on June 7th so we have a little bit of a break. And then I'm taking a geology field trip for one credit hour in June, whoo hoo! It's weird to think that I'm a junior now. What craziness. I should be able to get my school done in three semesters and then in the fourth one do an internship. Time really flies as you get older, never doubt that for a second. (Oh yes, and don't forget our family reunions this summer too.)
I was just reminiscing the other day about Drew and me... about this time last year is when we started hanging out =) I feel like I've known him forever because we are sooo close but I also feel like it was just yesterday when we were going on our first date! Hehe. July 7th is our one year anniversary and that date is coming up fast!
Work is going well. Our DM came today. I thought she was coming to watch me but she really didn't. I did have an amazing 10-12 segment however! =) I'm really liking my CSL position. It feels good to move up and have more responsibility and have the chance to make a positive impact on the brand!
I must be going now. I need to run to the post office and what not. I will try to blog more... I know it has been almost two weeks since my last post! Toodles!
☮gretchen elizabeth

Keep it fresh

I wish I had more time to blog! I'm like a crazy chicken running around with my head cut off... or so it feels like it! So for all my devoted fans out there (bahaha) I am sorry that I haven't had much time. Let me recap these past two weeks or so.
Today happened to be the first night I closed by myself with miss Larissa. I was kinda nervous and hectic in my brain because I wanted to make sure everything went swimmingly... which I'm pretty sure it did! If you read my last blog it mentioned me getting promoted. The last two weeks I spent a lot of time at work training, but it definitely paid off! Literally... hehe.
School is coming to an end and yes, most of my teachers are being evil. I took my stats lab final today and I think I did quite well. Lab grade is added to the class grade so it should bring my overall up, as long as I don't bomb the class final, haha. I have a 91% in psych stats... pretty proud of myself! Tomorrow is my last test in international relations. Thank god. We already did our 'final' which was a seven page paper. And she is STILL making us come to class on Thursday and Tuesday. Grrr, that does not make me happy. Hopefully I get a good grade on tomorrow's test and my final paper because I think I have something like an 89.9 in there.
Hmmmm.... our portolios for advanced general psychology are due on Thursday. I finished my resume today but I still need to do my cover letter for it and my personal statement for grad. school. Wednesday is our biology lab final... it's about 50 multiple choice questions over the entire semester of lab so hopefully I do good in it! I shouldddddd have all A's this semester out of my four class and two labs.
So that only means that next week is finals week! Whoo hoo! I believe my last final is on Thursday. I'm so excited because my uncle and Raef are coming back for about four days! =) Soooo jacked. They are coming back for Ellen's graduation. I cannot believe my sister is graduating already. Crazy stuff! I guess I always feel so much older than her when I'm really not, haha. I'm so proud of the woman she is becoming and how far she has come in life and improving on her attitude. I KNOW she is going to kick college's ass!
Hope I didn't bore everyone too much with my academia shtuff. Have a good night, all!

☮gretchen elizabeth

p.s. check out this craziness! Martha Stewart as a model?! Who knew!

http://www.toryburch.com/toryburch/company/spotlightOnMarthaStewart.jsp?icCategory=cat180010&icSort=?icCategory=cat200012?icCategory=cat210046

Some exciting news!

Well, I only have 15 minutes or so before I have to leave so I'm going to keep this short and sweet! I know some of you have been anxiously awaiting my blog (hehe) but last night I could barely function after I got home, did what I needed to do, and took a shower. Okay.... first things first. I wanted to wait a bit to tell people this. I just got promoted at my job at Bath and Body Works to Customer Sales Lead (part of the sales leader team). I am soooo excited you don't even know! I'm going to get way more hours and get paid a lot more! I love that job and I could definitely use good money this summer since all my financial aid went to my summer classes! I put in my two weeks (well, 10 days) at my campus job yesterday but I don't feel like spending too much time talking about that, haha.
Lastly, I am now a PSYCHOLOGY CLUB OFFICER! Yay! I ran for president, not knowing that you have to be in PSYCHI to be a prez or vp so I couldn't run for it, lol. But however, the girls that got it seem like they'd do an awesome job. So it was pretty much between public relations or jr. office. Jr. officer is new this year, they take on a lot of responsibilities of the prez and vice so it's pretty much a precursor to that. Sooo I'm hoping next year, as long as I'm in psychi.... EL PRESIDENTE!
Okay, well that is really what I wanted to share with everyone. This year has been quite an exciting ride with many things going well for me. I am so happy that I am where I am and so blessed to have the people in my life that support me. Couldn't ask for more! =)

☮gretchen elizabeth

All I'm tryin' to say is you should know me like that

So I'm not really doing this as much as I would have hoped but I've been vuuurrry busy as of late. Today was a pretty easy-going day. I had an interview (that lasted forever... over 1 1/2 hours!), in psych. stats we just took research surveys for extra credit since Dr. Naylor is in Denver with the other psych professors, ANNND then I got to go to work for my call in way early, which is nice because I'd much rather work earlier than later. Right now I'm just killing a little bit of time, waiting on Drew pretty much. HE IS WORKING IN THE FREAKING GARAGE WITH ALEX AGAIN!! I capitalized it to express my discontent, haha. We don't get to spend a ton of time together because we are both pretty busy, especially me, and he told me we'd hang out tonight and look what he's doing... bahh.
Anyway, on a happier note I am running for Psychology Club President! (MAKE SURE YOU GO TO MARTIN ALLEN IN THE MAIN OFFICE AND VOTE FOR ME MONDAY AND TUESDAY! Every vote counts and I need as many as possible, I know I have contenders!) I'm pretty excited about it. I haven't been involved with things as much as I'd like to and I'd really like to get super-involved with psychology club. I also want to join UAB and do more work with Up 'Til Dawn. Speaking of UTD I got some pretty address labels in the mail from St. Jude's recently, hehe... which is awesome because I really needed some!
I'm fairly excited to be done with this semester. Most of my teachers decided to give more papers, projects, and homework. Yayyy. =/ Actually, I take that back. ALL of my teachers are torturing my poor soul. I will only have a couple weeks of a break since I'm taking two summer classes and either one or two geoscience field trips. It will keep me pretty busy along with work, that is for sure! And in the fall I am taking quite an array of classes but I will discuss those at a later time. Well, I might be having some good news to share (about more than one thing, too!) here pretty soon... let's keep our fingers crossed. I think this is a good note to end on. You will be hearing from me soon. =)

☮gretchen elizabeth

The Media.

When someone looks at the title itself they probably think, "How can you even BEGIN to cover a topic such as that?" Obviously I'm not going to drone on for days talking about the media BUT I am going to share some of my recent thoughts lately.

Tiger Woods
Gotta start off with him. As most of you know he is (or now, maybe WAS... I don't know) the highest paid athlete ever, including endorsements and what not. You have to wonder how someone who is SO famous can stay out of the negative light for virtually their whole career. I'm pretty sure I never once saw him on the front a tabloid... until that past few months, that is. Anywho, I'm almost not shocked by his behavior and 'transgressions' against his wife, Elin. <--- Is that how you spell her name?
Someone who is pretty much perceived as perfect all of a sudden gets dumped into the spotlight for a seemingly not important car crash and his life just unravels from there. Now, I don't particularly feel sorry for him for all the horrible things the media is doing to him and his relationships, I am strongly opposed to being unfaithful, but OMG ENOUGH ALREADY. I have to admit, I do read the headlines and if something catches my eye I might click on a link and indulge in the entertainment but I never believe any of that crap. And I think to myself "yayzus, leave these people alone already!" It would be nice for ONCE to hear something positive about a celebrity. But Americans are all about the smut, I suppose!

I laugh when I read US Weekly and I see the "Celebrities are just like us!" page... Look, it's [so-and-so] walking their dog, going shopping, playing with their kids, etc. Am I supposed to be impressed by that? Do something COOL like tight rope walk between sky scrapers... THEN I will be impressed.

Lindsay Lohan
She has been getting SLAMMED by the media for quite some time now. I feel bad for her. She was someone who got famous at a young age and her lifestyle just spiraled out of control. Now, she is suing e-trade for how many ever millions for their baby "milkaholic" commercial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEXZ2hfD3bU They proclaim Lindsay is a common name and it was just a coincidence that they used it. I think not. What really made me want to write something about the media was something I saw on TV about her a few days ago or so. Paparazzi was following her (as always) and she tripped in her heels. And it was made into a HUGE deal. Wow, she fell. She is a normal person, we all bif it sometimes. And even if she was drunk, who cares? Famous people get wasted too. And if you could see some of the stupid drunken shenanigans my friends and I did in high school and even now in college... you would say, "LL ain't got shit on them." I know she is supposed to be recovering from drugs and alcohol, so hopefully for her sake she keeps her nose clean (haha pun intended?). But really guys, let's pick on someone else now.

Lastly... Teen pregnancy.
QUIT OVER-GLORIFYING BEING A PREGNANT TEENAGER. My god. It has become SUCH a trend from what I can tell, not only because the media just portrays it that way but also because I swear every time I get on facebook or talk to someone, I find out someone is pregnant. People just think "Oh, the government will pay for it" or "Oh, my parents will help me." What a good environment to raise your kid in! I'm not slamming people who get pregnant, I know shit happens. But the media is not helping the situation at all. They barely even show what unwed mothers have to go through, especially at such a young age. And then most of them live with their parents and mooch off of them... so it's not really painting the most realistic picture about what it's like to raise your kid, with NO help, except from your boyfriend/husband. Call me old fashioned, but I'd like to be financially sound and married (I know marriage isn't for everyone, btw) before I have kids. But on the other hand, I don't believe people should get married just because they are having a kid. Because if you don't love each other or aren't really ready for marriage, you will really just make the situation worse and cause a lot of problems for your child.


Okay, well I think that's enough rambling for now. But one last thing... No wonder why Middle Eastern countries think we are a disgustingly unmoral country! (but not to worry, you countries over there... we think you're pretty disgusting with how you treat women and your sadly corrupt government). That is all for tonight. Love ya'll and thanks for reading! =)

☮gretchen elizabeth

Blog Virgin

So this is my first time... please be gentle! Haha. Okay, so I never thought I'd hop on the blog bandwagon BUT I think it would be a good outlet for my thoughts and writing. I'm forever thinking up something (clever? or I think it is, lol) and I'm like, "Wow, I want to share this with people." So, I'm going to start blogging thoughts about different issues, my random thoughts, my poems/songs, and pretty much whatever else feel like doing. Enjoy!

☮gretchen elizabeth