It's a new year.

Well, it's officially 2014 and I still can't decide if I'm excited or in denial. I think more the former.

***

At the start of each year, we tend to make resolutions and lists. January 1st marks the beginning, and for many, the chance to start over, hit the refresh button, and be the person we wish we had been during the last year. This time it's for real. I'm serious this time. All things I have said before and honestly, I have been finding myself saying it again this year. 

Why do we say these things? 

Something about those words just doesn't sit right with me.

***

In light of the New Year, I have chosen to not only make a list of goals, but I am choosing to also celebrate 2013. It certainly was a BIG and exciting year, and rather than thinking about all I wish I had done, I want to remember it as a time of fullness and blessing. 

My life in 2013:

+ I landed a grown-up job!

+ I spent time with 3 kiddos who are more family than just another baby-sitting job.

+ I enjoyed spring break with my closest friends.

+ I ran a half-marathon.

+ I graduated from college.

+ I bought a car.

+ I moved to a new city.

+ I made new friends.

+ I visited 3 new cities (Tulsa, St. Louis, Indianapolis).
+ I started graduate school.

+ I taught high schoolers for a whole semester. (Whew!)

More importantly:

+ I learned to really value friends & family.

+ I learned how to say goodbye. 

+ I learned to understand the importance of keeping in touch.

+ I started learning how to ask questions and how important it is to really understand/value grace.

+ I learned more and more about relying on God's purpose and plans: "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Proverbs 19:21

+ I realized (for the 100th time) that I am not perfect - but my God is perfect.

2013, you were too good to me.

Carolina "Musts"

Life as a second-semester Senior is absolutely wonderful. Yes, it has already been a mix of weird emotions that I can't really put into words, but it's great nonetheless.

I have been asked a question a few times now that freaks me out even more than the "what do you want to do with your life?" question.
"Have you made your Carolina bucket list?"
This is a constant reminder that I only have a little more than THREE MONTHS LEFT at what is arguably the best place in the world.


Kristen Vasgaard Designs

As a self-proclaimed lover of lists, I am shocked that I have not yet organized and written down the list of Carolina-y things (read: jumble of ideas and goals) that I have floating around in my head. I think it is about time to concretely document what I hope to experience while I'm still a UNC undergrad.

***

Here it goes.
(I've even included a few things I've already done to jump-start the checking-off process.)

My List of Carolina "Musts"
+ climb the Bell Tower
+ eat a pint of Yopo ice cream in one sitting
+ run (& finish) a half-marathon
+ buy a UNC sweatshirt (how have I made it this long without one?)
+ run a 5k
+ participate in the Holi festival/paint-throwing extravaganza
+ watch the UNC vs. dook basketball game in the Dean Dome
+ rush Franklin Street
+ hammock in the Arboretum (have done once but it needs to happen again)
+ play in the Bynum Circle fountain
+ eat at Time Out
+ play golf at Finley
+ get a Kvetch published
+ see the sunrise on campus
+ take a random weekend mountain trip
+ take a random weekend beach trip
+ explore Carrboro (more than I have)
+ explore Durham
+ go tunneling
+ pull an all-nighter with friends & without studying
+ go Snipe hunting (apparently I've been missing out my whole life)
+ take a trip - maybe fly somewhere exciting?
+ get a job (Praise the Lord I can cross this one off!)
+ take graduation pictures with friends
+ GRADUATE

Looking forward to adding more & simultaneously crossing-off!

***

The "Mem Jar"

In my previous post, I included a picture with the caption "The Trip ate lots of Yopo and cracked open the Mem Jar." If you are not one of the people who were specifically involved in this occasion, the chances that you know what the heck I am talking about are slim to none. I have wanted to explain this for a while (because it's so awesome), so now's my chance!

The Trip

"The Trip" is the name that my roommates from junior year (Amy and Dana) and I gave to the room where we lived. It was a triple - made for 3 people - in Old West, right next to the Old Well, and is arguably the BEST place to live if you choose to remain on campus. Over the course of the year, "the Trip" came to mean much more than just the physical location in which we lived, but it essentially became a label for the 3 of us. Our friends would invite "the Trip" to go watch a movie or to go get ice cream, etc. and we still tend to refer of our outings together as "Trip dates."

A perk of living in Old West was that we were SO CLOSE to Franklin St. And what better way to take advantage of this closeness than to visit Yopo a lot. And by "a lot" I mean all the time. We pretty much became regulars. (It's yogurt so it's healthy, right?) I have no regrets of the fact that my junior year was defined by lots of Yopo outings.

Our view from Old West

So now for the "Mem Jar." Over the summer before junior year began, I came across this on Pinterest. Thinking it was a neat (and yes, cheesy) idea, I decided that my roommates and I should do it throughout the school year. I had no idea whether or not it would really catch on and happen, but it did! We deemed it the "Mem Jar" and throughout the year we filled it with fun things that happened, sweet things that friends did for us, notes to each other, exciting occasions, hilarious quotes, pictures, newspaper articles, and even a few embarrassing things that the public will (hopefully) never see. Everything in the jar related to one or all three of us. We promised to open the Mem Jar together one day at the end of the year and celebrate with Yopo (obviously).

The Mem Jar explosion

Unfortunately, the Mem Jar Date day had to wait until we returned to school as seniors, but it did eventually happen and we were able to go purchase the long-awaited pints of Yopo. (We also played Friends in the background while we were opening the jar, because that also was a staple of our junior year.) That night was so fun and full of many, many laughs (and maybe a few happy tears?) as we reminisced about our time together in Old West - when we grew so close through the happy, fun, memorable times, as well as the hard and stressful times. I am forever grateful for the time Amy, Dana, and I spent living together in the Trip, and love that "the Trip" has lived on, even past our time when we were crammed together in a dorm room.

Mem Jar + Yopo pints

Here's to a senior year full of as many memories as junior year - maybe even more than the Mem Jar can contain :)

Love, Kayla

Snapshots of Senior Year

Senior year is well underway. In fact, there are only 7ish weeks left until the fall semester is OVER. What?!?? My last year as a Tar Heel undergrad is proving to be much busier than anticipated, but of course, I'm still loving it! (Minus the actual school work - senioritis? I refuse.)

Here are some snippits of senior year at the Hill so far:

Cornerstone Hoedown (freshmen year friends!)

dear friends celebrating a 21st bday!

Senior ladies at Fall Retreat

Memphis reunion

football season!

Roommates of The Slant!

The Trip ate lots of Yopo and cracked open the Mem Jar!

Bible Study sleepover & Pizooki night

I played "mom" for a weekend with this cutie and 2 others

we went to the State Fair...and covered ourselves in obnoxious stickers

Fall Break in DC!!

Private tour of the Capitol :)

And then we beat State. Happy happy day!

do you remember all the fun times we had?

Picking favorite moments of the summer is proving to be quite the challenge. My mind has been racing ever since I've been home as I have been reflecting on the summer, what I have learned, and the exciting, fun things that have happened. I've even been jotting down little things that I remember so I don't ever forget them again!

I'm going to divide this post into a few different lists: Camp, Weekend & Random Fun, and Things I've Learned from my Mid-Western Friends :)

Okiedokie....here it goes.

Top 10 Favorite Memories from Camp:

1. Princess Party!!! The girls got together one night every week and camped out with their little

ones in the Princess Tent (complete with pink lights, duh). The purpose was to share with them how they are Princesses, beautiful daughters of the Great High King of the universe! Princess Party comes complete with a campfire and s'mores, storytime featuring Gigi: God's Little Princess (I'm planning on adding this to my library ASAP), and Veggie Tales: Snoodlerella. Check out "Pants".....we had some fun with this one :)

2. Singing the little girls to bed/comforting homesick campers - one of the most challenging but rewarding things of the summer

3. Herman the Worm! [and the other camp songs] I would love to share these wonderfully NOT annoying songs with you, so feel free to ask! :)

4. Playing Gaga

5. Speaking and dancing like Star (one of the judges each week)

6. Hydrate: every Thursday night I met with two other girls, Emily and Chelsey, with our hydrate leader/super-mom Kelli to refresh, take a break from the kids, and encourage one another in the midst of a hectic and busy week :)

7. Domainia: the nightly program including singing, dancing, Mail Call, and the 3-part skit to bring home the theme of "Shine"

8. FOB (flat on bunk) aka nap time, which often times turned into hilarious bonding time for my cabin. I feel like I got to really connect with my girls during this time and just have fun, free from lots of extra people and distractions. It was so relaxing to just hang out, even if we weren't really sleeping :)

9. Meal time and all of the funny skits and dances that came along with it [Cha Cha Slide, Cotten-eyed Joe, Domainia Dues (the hilarious rules skit) and "Cheesy Eggs", just to name a few]

10. Pancakes and ICECREAM every Friday morning for breakfast!

Top 10 Favorite Memories from the Weekends/Random Fun Adventures:

1. Russian accents - the female counselors came back from Princess Party one morning and were magically able to "speak Russian"...I think some campers' minds were blown.

2. Euchre - Andrea/Jenn vs. Bryan/Kayla...Final Score? 3-6. Champs.

3. Smelly Cat: sweet Lauren Miller, in honor of her obsession with cats, was serenaded multiple times with this song, complete with 4 ladies circling, clawing, and licking her like cats. You probably just had to be there...

4. Car ride jam seshes (especially Kellie Voss and her killer dance moves)

5. Graeter's icecream. Black Raspberry Chip is my new favorite, hands down.

6. 4-hour-long Starbs (Starbucks) dates with Andrea and Jenn :)

7. Climbing/standing on/jumping off the

Power Pole

8. Hanging out with the sweet Rieske and Steele children

9. Dressing up like cows for Chick-fil-a's cow appreciation day!!

10. The "True Colors" personality test! and analyzing everyone's personality for weeks after that....more to come about that :)

11. (I'm adding an extra item to the list...sorry they won't all be only 10 in length now.) Snuggling/hugging/sitting on laps/etc....yep. I've become a "feeler" [Powerhaus, you would be proud :)] Physical Touch may now be one of my top "love languages." Apparently King's Domain has a way of doing this to people.

12. Oh shoot, I have to add another one. Crud Wards/Slip-in-Slide counselor style! We had an epic boys vs. girls Crud Wars when there were no campers.....so fun! and I still probably have bruises form the slip-in-slide :)

Things I've Learned from my Mid-Western Friends:

1. "Pop" is the preferred term over "soda" (usually)

2. Drawn out vowels indicate being from the south (for example: Biiiible Study) and if you say "y'all" it's a dead giveaway.

3. Jank (adj.): broken, "messed up," not up to par, etc... "This bus (with it's engine that won't start and door that doesn't open properly) is so jank."

4. Euchre brings people together..a little friendly competition didn't hurt anyone

5. To go along with Euchre..."in the barn": When a team is one point away from winning and flip both point cards down to show 9 points, often accompanied by using a hand gesture to milk the

cows (courtesy of the ever-reliable Wikipedia). Sounds super-weird, but it's really not, and if I could demonstrate I would, but you're just gonna have to take my word for it :)

6. Mid-Westerners are loyal to their professional sports teams (mostly football and baseball) and from my experience, the most loyal fans either cheer on Chicago or Indianapolis teams. I have recently decided/been persuaded to be a Colts fan....thoughts?

7. Speedway and it's $.89 slushies/drinks cannot be beat. Everyone has a Speedway points card which earns them rewards such as a free tank of gas when you reach a certain number of points. I have some friends who are well on their way to some big

prizes.

8. It is illegal to make U-turns in Ohio. Not very efficient if you ask me, but just one more thing that made my summer a unique experience! :)

9. Ohio State University is really THE Ohio State University....don't mess. [I really love this and kind of wish UNC was like that.....THE University of North Carolina :)]

10. Michigan State basketball plays UNC on 11.11.11.....the countdown begins.

As you can tell, I have lots of favorite memories from the time I spent at King's Domain.....I'm sure I could've made these lists much longer (but that would've been slightly obnoxious haha) so whenever you see me PLEASE ask me to share some funny stories from the summer. I would love to share them with you (and sing/dance to any camp songs if you would like to experience them for yourself)!

Love y'all tons!

- Kayla