It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Last night around 7:45 when my only friend left here on campus, Hannah, and I were walking back from dinner, I noticed that a nice, light, snow was beginning to fall.  It was so pretty! Unlike San Antonio "snow" (sleet!), the snow kind of twirled and danced to the ground. 2-3 hours later after watching Elf and Mean Girls in my room, I looked outside and saw snow beginning to collect on the curb! But soon after, that had melted away.

First bit of snow

But around 11:30, it began to snow again. This time, harder, and projected by really really strong winds, it's like it was snowing sideways! So I made Hannah sit in a dark room with me, listen to Christmas music, and watch the snow fall for apx. 2 hours. Being from Chicago, she wasn't impressed, but she kept saying, "I'm so happy I'm here to see you like this!" haha, she thought my wonder at the snow was pretty humorous.

Starting to build up!!

Last night, Hannah slept on the futon in my room (both her and my room mate are already home for the break) and I restlessly slept up in my bed, but with my head to the foot of the bed so I could watch the progression of the snowfall. Sure enough this morning, I woke up to a "ski resort" (as Angie once said she wanted to wake up to. Haha, sorry Ange!).  It looked like it had continued to snow through the night and it is still going as I type this entry from the warmth of my room :) So Exciting!!!!!

This morning, outside my window

The Busch Student Center & Grand Ave.

The Quad & Library

Now for things that aren't so exciting:
1. The thought of walking to the library in this gusty storm in about 2 hours.
2.  The thought of walking to the metro in this gusty storm on Tuesday (if it's still going).
3.  The thought of waiting at the metro in this weather.
4.  The thought of my flight being delayed on Tuesday because of this weather.

Wish List!

So instead of studying for finals, today I made my christmas wish list :) under each photo is a link to the store's site!

2008 Toyota 4Runner!! :D

Fleece Crewneck

The Fireside Long Jane Pajama

Apollo 13 on DVD

Raw Edge Crewneck

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Fleece boot liners

Suede Moccasin Slippers, size 7

Ear Warmer

God be with us together and apart, size 7

Pink Camelbak Water Bottle

Anchor of Hope Stack Ring, size 6.5

Sperry Top-Sider Women's Bluefish 2-Eye boat shoe, size 7

Candie's Ivy League Sweater Ankle Boots

Taylor Swift's Speak Now CD

TOMS Pink/Gold Glitters Size 8

Anchor Pendant

TOMS Yellow Portsmouth Cordones Size 8

Ash Canvas Classics

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire

Happy Birthday Weekend to ME!

So my birthday weekend started with our Delta Gamma Halloween Date Dash on October 28th.  It was held outside at the Lemp Mansion which is a hot spot for paranormal activity, we always get the best venues!! I went in my full on Incarnate Word High School uniform...although I get zero points for creativity, I was warm!  Some girls were really creative, we had a bunch of grapes, a hilarious ninja, a beer pong cup, and a Billiken!

Friday night I went out with Alexa Rae and her family to celebrate her 18th birthday.  We went to a favorite club downtown, Club 15, and danced danced danced!

Saturday morning: NINETEEN!! I was awaken by Kolu, a girl on our floor, singing happy birthday to me :) then my neighbor Alex went downstairs to have breakfast with me.  I was so excited for the day to start!! Hannah, Alex, and Angie had been so secretive about my birthday events...I couldn't imagine what they had in store for me that day.  When I walked back into my dorm room after brunch I was surprised by Hannah, Angie, a decorated room, and a birthday cake! They had been hanging streamers and blowing up balloons while Alex and I were downstairs eating.  They all sang happy birthday to me and let me blow out 19 (illegally lit) candles.  Unfortunately they were trick candles, things got a little smokey, we freaked out about setting the fire alarm off, we moved into the hallway, the candles still weren't blowing out, sooo Angie had to pinch them out.

My inappropriate birthday cake :)

I was told "be ready IN YOUR COSTUME at 6:30 sharp!" then was left to lay around and relax the whole day.  I talked to Marissa and my parents, watched a little t.v. on my computer, and tried to imagine where we were going that Halloween attire would be appropriate..right before 6 the girls came back with presents!  I was so surprised!! We're living on a tight budget as is, so for them to have boughten decorations, cake supplies, AND presents meant so much to me.  I got a top and earrings from Alex, a cat calendar and NARS blush from Hannah, and jeggings from Angie, SO COOL!  Then it was finally 6:30!!!

On the way to surprise!

Alex drove us to the Central West End where I found out we were eating at the Drunken Fish! :) I was so excited, I had been wanting to eat there since I moved to St. Louis in August. But there was even more surprises waiting inside...a big group of boys and girls that live on our floor were all waiting inside, dressed in halloween costumes, yelling "surprise!" and "happy birthday!" It was so awesome!!!  

All decked out in birthday gear

The Girls 

Part-ay Guests :)

Over Miso soup and a Superman roll, Hannah, Alex, and Angie spilled all the lies they had fed me over the past few weeks..
"ya, I wasn't at a Zeta event, I was shopping for your gift"
"Ya, I didn't go to an appointment, I went to the mall with them to get you a birthday gift"
"Umm, I didn't visit my family last night, I went to my friend's apartment to bake your cake"
"I wasn't really excited to show you your decorated room, I just needed to get you out of the hallway so none of they boys would ruin your surprise dinner.."
HAHAHAHAHA! Dinner was so much fun!! Also, they sufficiently embarrassed me with crude gag gifts at the restaurant, because "it wouldn't have been as much fun if we gave them to you in private" the night continued with the biggest block party in St. Louis right there in the Central West End.  We watched a costume contest and had gelato.  After that, we came back to the University and hung out.  It was the best birthday, yet!!

Food bouquet from Mom :)

Fall birthday bouquet from Mom :)

Oh my aching back!

Last weekend Hannah, Angie, and I were invited by some boys on our floor to go their frat's party.  Even though we are not quite fond of the members of the frat, their themes are always the best!! I mean come on, Old People Party?! who could resist?? (not us!)  We had so much fun getting ready, powdering our hair and piecing our costumes together...curiously all three of our costumes came from my closet...hmm...  however, when we arrived to the meeting spot to catch the bus to the party, we quickly realized that we were the only girls that dressed in theme. WHAT THE HECK!! After we got over our embarrassment, we went on to have a good night.  Dancing dancing dancing....

so classy

*whistle... look at those WHITE shoes!

convincing hannah to go up...

then somehow she got me up there lol

..phew.

Fall Break

Two weeks ago we had our Fall Break (monday, tuesday no school) and while 99% of the campus takes this long weekend to go back home, Angie and I stayed.  Even though the campus was kind of eerie and dead, not to mention there was absolutely NO food service all weekend, we made the most of all the free time and soaked up St. Louis.  Friday as the rest of the students were fleeing campus, we took the metro down to the arch.  It was such a beautiful day...what was not so pretty was the line to go up in the arch that stretched all the way to Illinois.  Ok, so maybe that is an exaggeration, but there was a good 3 hour wait to catch a tram to the top of the arch.  So instead we took a nap on the grassy hill right under the arch, then headed back to campus.

my favorite picture of us so far :)!

That night we hung out with our neighbors before they departed for home early saturday morning.  Saturday was a 'blah' day, spent mostly on catching up on sleep, but sunday was my first trip to the St. Louis Zoo!!!  Again, we took the metro down to Forest Park and hiked all the way across it to the zoo.  It was so cool! ALL the animals were so active and playful.  I got this awesome video of orangatangs messing around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as27GpYHa2g

But my favorite part was the gorillas.  The eldest one came up the the viewing glass and banged on it two different times! It made me jump both times, but the zoologist was telling us how he does it to get a reaction out of the audience.  She was very knowledgable about all the animals.

Gorilla

Giraffe!

Needless to say, we were exhausted after our zoo trip and slept well that night! Monday afternoon we had a delicious lunch at Pappy's (as seen in the food network's Man vs. Food) and caught up on homework.  Tuesday people finally started slowly returning back to school and we shared a joyful reunion with our neighbors, Hannah and Alex.  We had been so lonely without them!!

mmm, pulled pork sandwich with potato salad and apple sauce!

Later that week we returned to Forest Park for a study session...that ended up being one big relaxing nap on Art Hill.  The trees looked so pretty, some of the leaves are starting to change colors and we had fun stepping on all the fallen leaves and hearing them crunch.

workin' hard...or hardly workin'?

The warmer weather is now gone, replaced with temperatures in the 30's and 40's but boy, when the weather is good here, it's beautiful!