Internet, TV and Wiley; first apartment post!

Kelly: And at last, this small space is starting to feel like home. The three of us are on the newly installed internet, the TV is on and Wiley is running around playing. In case you don't know who Wiley is, he's our cat. And we all love him dearly. He loves to play...and wake me or Holly up at 2 in the morning to do so. He loves to cuddle too; there's nothing like coming home from a long day and seeing that furry gray face purring. It's as if he's saying "hello. I'm happy to see you. I hope you had a good day."

Yes, that picture is him. I love him. It's like having a child. Ok, enough about him for now. The remainder of this blog will most likely include something he did. You all have been warned. Anyway, I am really starting to get into the swing of being on our own. I'm actually enjoying it. I won't enjoy paying the bills that will soon be coming, but for now I'm choosing to enjoy it and focus on my summer class. Ew. Since the subject of my class is about humor, I'm thinking about doing my project about Whose Line is it Anyway. Thoughts? Let me know! :] Ok, now I've got to do some more homework. Life never ends for a student, doesn't it? And sis just popped me on google talk. Ahh, there's never a dull moment.

Holly: I just posted an album of pictures on Facebook titled "Post-Berea".  I provided the disclaimer that the contents will include mostly Wiley and our second cat Yoda, who has not entered our home yet, but will perhaps by the end of the week (trying to settle into a routine still...).  

As it stands life is pretty stagnant for me right now.  I am still not employed, but I have my third interview for a job on Thursday.  This involves a commute to Lexington, upon which I have never driven before but have been several times.  Prayers/good vibes would be greatly appreciated as I would REALLY like to have this job.  I'll post more about it later.  Until I become employed I'm just trying to relax and rest and keep the apartment clean.  

It's sort of strange being a Berea alumni.  I graduated almost two weeks ago and it's so weird being in Berea and not having the student mindset.  I don't have to worry about homework or tests or papers or any of that stuff, and I find myself growing bored and restless at times.  Yesterday I was on campus trying to find a printer for Kelly and I was just walking around thinking "Wow, I'm done.  I'm going to miss this place." Hopefully the internet and more campus visits will help.  I need to visit people.  I miss so many Berea College people, it's ridiculous.  

I'm getting loved on by a fluffy gray purring mass.  I hope all are well.  <3

The beginning of the end (aka Holly graduates from college)...IN PICTURES!

A truly perfect, amazing, wonderful day full of happiness, laughter, hugs, and memories.  :)

I found my sign! lol

Me and my lovely friend Grace :)

sisters <3

4 years of stress, sweat, prayers, tears, and memories= totally worth it for this!

Roommates!

We did it!!!! :D

My hat!

My awesome friend Tim!!! We met freshman year at Berea.  He drove six hours to see me graduate!

My parents and two of my wonderful Biology professors

My lovely friend Ashley, a 2011 Berea grad

My crazy friend Priscilla, another 2011 Berea grad

The BEST academic adviser, Biology professor, labor supervisor, and go-to person anyone could have ever asked for!

YAY!

My unofficial cheering squad.  Friend Ray caught all of them in a candid moment.  I crack up every time! :D

Today our life began...

Kelly: I will let Holly add to this once she gets out of the shower. Anyway, today was a super exciting day. We signed the first lease to our very own first apartment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just realized...this is incredibly hard to type after having nails done. Yeah...sis and I got some fancy acrylics today just because we could! But stay tuned; move in day is on the 12th! In the meantime, heading back home to get the rest of our stuff! Enjoy the pics :D

Holly: Yay, we're big kids now!!! Sort of.  Is it too late to say "I don't want to grow up."  lol.  While we ran around and did big kid apartment stuff, this morning I worked my last hour as a Berea student.  Sort of surreal to realize that I'll never have a job this easy again.  Actually...I won't have a job this easy again.  Sad but true.  Life goes on.  I have grown close to the biology department this year, and I will miss the people terribly.  They're my second family, basically.  Anyway...two more days until the big show!  EEK!  Folks coming down tomorrow afternoon.  Meanwhile, I have to have rehearsal...apparently 235 graduates-to-be need practice in walking in lines of two.  We shall see.  o__O

Yes! It's real!!!

She couldn't resist! :D

 

I think it's time we've rediscovered all the ground we have covered

Kelly: Oh my goodness, it has been far too long! The month of April is wrapping up tonight!!! Anyway, a LOT has happened since our last post. For starters, we are signing our lease on Thursday!!!!!! Good well wishes/prayers/voodoo that it all goes well! We are also in the beginning of FINALS week! I only have one more to go; and today's went great! Walked out of class feeling good and I passed! The hardest class of my major, which PROVES that it isn't impossible! Because with God, all things are possible!

Anyway, I am going to share a story about something that just happened very shortly. Holly, a dear friend of ours and myself ventured to go furniture shopping. The store was closed, so we went to get some food. At this restaurant (this is for our non-American readers) some of the waiters bring your food on roller skates. I happened to notice this one guy was very skilled on his set of wheels. However, as we were about to leave, I saw him skate very fast around a corner and take quite a seemingly nasty spill! Me and another lady who was there got up and made sure he was ok. But he got up without missing a beat and rolled off, probably humiliated. A few minutes later, he came back and picked up something on the concrete; a piece of his tooth! Without even missing a beat, I told him to put it in cold milk (it helps preserve the tooth and the enamel). And I was like...OH MY GAWD I LEARNED THAT IN ONE OF MY NURSING CLASSES!!!! He was very appreciative and the manager made a phone call to the college dentist. I walked away and was like...yep. That's why I'm in nursing. :]

Holly: Ok...first off, I don't like this new Blogger set up.  Anyway....

BUSY BUSY BUSY BUSY week! I had a job interview today, yay!  It went well (I had a phone interview for this same job last week so today was the in-person interview).  My stuff is now being sent on to the actual JOB and I should hear something next week! Yay! So I haven't been hired yet....but they still like me! :)

The Sonic spill was quite tragic, props to my sis for knowing what to do!  P.S. The lady we ended up chatting with was actually an alumni of Berea.  I love talking to random Berea alumni! Made me happy! :)

This is my last week as a Berea College student.  It's kind of bittersweet.  I still feel like I just got here but at the same time I feel like I've been here forever.  It's going to be really hard talking to students and working for what might be the last time.  Anyway...trying not to think about that!  No tears until graduation, WHICH IS SUNDAY! AAHH!!  Final tomorrow...it's my biggest one and I need this class to graduate, but I have faith that God will see me through. 

So yeah...life.  Changing.  Kind of scary.  Will blog again soon (we promise, and apologize for our long delay).  Please charge it to our heads and not our hearts.  <3

Sort of how we feel right now...lol! ^^

The power of words

Holly: It's not much of a surprise that many of our blog posts stem from conversations between Kelly and I.  This one is no exception.  Earlier this evening, while out and about taking a stroll through campus, we came across the subject of bullying.  Not just bullying, but words in general, and how they affect us.  Or don't, in the case of some people.  But that makes me wonder. 

I'll start this out by saying that Kelly and I were bullied in middle and high school.  Nothing horrible or anything, but yes, we were.  Obviously being in marching band and not giving in to the power highs of the queen bees of Fed Hock definitely made us prime targets.  But it wasn't what they said about us that bothered us, it's why they were saying these things about us.  Why had their perspectives of us changed?  Did one of us do something negatively to change their thinking?  I don't know how many times I've heard "Oh, I don't care what people say about me."  I think, to some degree, we do. 

Earlier in the semester I had a conversation with a friend about bullying, and I was expressing to her that I didn't understand why bullies bullied.  I learned from this (and I find this to be rather true, now that I think about it) that bullies usually attack because it's an outward expression of stuff that's going on on the inside.  The prime queen bee that bullied Kelly and I in high school, let's be frank, did not really have the greatest of home lives.  But something that got to me is that people react and deal with things differently.  Like Kelly and I, for example.  Our queen bee bully had a terrible home life and probably had some horrible things said/done to her, so she, in turn, took all that #$%^&*&^ going on at home out on Kelly and I.  But Kelly and I had a wonderful, loving, and supportive home life.  How were we supposed to react to that?

Then I think about children who have crappy home lives, and then go to school and deal with more crap from bullies.  How are they supposed to react to that?  I think that this is what is driving 11, 12, and 13-year-old to suicide! All because of what other people say about them!  That, in my eyes, is totally unacceptable. 

I know I digressed quite a bit, and I apologize.  But from what I've been through and from what others have been through, it has definitely made me more aware of what I say.  There are so many young people out there who go through each day thinking something to the degree of "If no one smiles at me today, then tonight I'm ending it all", or "If no one says hi to me, then that's it.  I'm done."  What if something we say drives someone over the edge.....or pulls them back from it?

Kelly: I couldn't have said this better than myself. Being on the outside looking in has helped me to try to be more kind to people in general. The truth is at any given day or time we don't know what someone is going through. All it takes is one thing that we say wrong or one wrong action. And that's it. Kind of makes you wonder; do the bullies feel sorry for what they do/did? Do they feel remorse? Or do the viscous cycles continue? One thing is for sure, something that Holly mentioned. She mentioned that our top bully probably had a bad home life and such. But some bullies DON'T; some of them are raised by wonderful parents and have a wonderful home life. Yet something in them flips a switch. I don't understand it. And as long as I am a living, breathing individual I don't think I will. And sometimes it doesn't end. Even here in college I have witnessed bullying through gossip. One time it was my peers bullying a friend of mine. I put a stop to it!

So what do we do? Here's a thought; what if it were you? What if it were a friend? What if it was your son/daughter/grandchild/niece/nephew etc? My answer; just depends on the situation. But I close with this; let's all just THINK before we SPEAK. Words really can hurt, but they can also encourage and uplift. Pick flowers, not fights. Make love, not war. James 1:19, be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

22 years young and hoping for 22 more!

Kelly: Each day is a gift from God. That's why it's called the present. Anyway, sis and I celebrated our 22nd birthday today. I don't...feel any older, but I reached a sobering thought while at work this morning. Each year we get older we are hurdling towards our own death. Sure is sad, but it is ever so true. When I woke up this morning, I was just anticipating another typical day of classes, work and the occasional "oh it's your birthday today? Well have a good one."

No, I didn't get any flashy new presents. Or a car (there's always next year for that *wink wink*). I didn't have a birthday cake where I was surrounded by a zillion of my friends singing "Happy Birthday" to me. It was just...another day to be grateful for life! However, I did get sung to by two friends in my morning class and my ENTIRE Med/Surg class. That was awkward. What do you really do or say when you're standing in front of your peers and professor/academic adviser, not to MENTION the division chair who happened to be sitting in during the first part of our class? I just stood there praying "Dear God, just make them stop." Hahaha. I tease. It was quite amusing; let's just say there's a reason we are nursing majors. Last night, I made rice krispy treats to share with my class; they were good. I'm still here!

Yes, there is actually a point to all of this. I just want to close with this. I am just very thankful and happy that I have lived to 22 years. Looking back on all God has brought me through is just astounding. I am happy and praying for 22 more blessed years and many many more!

Holly: 22 is kind of an odd number.  No longer a "legal" adult, way past the teenage hump, close to 30 and even closer to 25 (our brother is turning 25 this year).  Shew. 

Like Kelly, today was just another day for me: class from 8 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon.  I guess that's what happens when you grow up.  Adult obligations don't stop for days like today.  haha.  But today I was reminded just how many people I have that support me and love me.  Between the countless Facebook posts, texts, and passing-by "Happy birthdays", I was...overwhelmed, at best.  This year, my 22nd year, I'm going to try to let those I care about let them know that I care about them too! 

The fact that I'm also graduating from college in 27 days is pretty snazzy too!  And during our field adventure today we almost talked our professor into stopping for ice cream! ^__^

Looking back on where I was this time last year, it's almost sobering to think: my life was about to change...I was preparing to study abroad in another country!!! Now I'm preparing to start my LIFE! Life I've known for the past four years is almost over....anyway...

Whoever is reading this, thank you.  That's all we can really say for now.  :)

Movin' on up...to a deluxe apartment in the SKY-YY-YYYY!!!!!!!

Holly: Ok..."deluxe" might be a bit of an exaggeration! But if you can't figure it out from the title, then I'll just share it now:

Kelly and I have a place to live now!!! w00000t!

It's nothing spectacular...well, ok, again, sort of a lie...the current tenant is a current student who happens to be graduating with yours truly and, in essence, she's leaving us the majority of the furniture and STUFF and the timing could not have been more perfect!!! Anyway....

Nothing spectacular, I mean...it's not huge or anything, but it's perfect for us and it meets our basic needs.  It's clean, it's not far from campus, it's in a pretty quiet spot, it has a (teeny tiny :]) porch, two floors, and, from what we know, a reasonable, nice, not-psycho landlady.  And it will do just fine for our sweet Yoda as well; Yoda is our heartbreakingly sweet, cute, and petite black-and-white feline who currently resides with my Genetics professor in her office with three other kitties, a fish, and a guinea pig.  Post May 6th festivities, though, and she's as good as ours!  Tomorrow, if I can sneak out of my class for a few minutes, I will be calling this (from what we know) reasonable, nice, not-psycho landlady just to sort of introduce ourselves and ask a few more questions.  But yeah...it's a done deal. 

Now if I could just get a job..............

Kelly: Yesterday, sis and I also had the lovely opportunity to help a friend find a roof over her head. She's moving to the big city of Lexington to pursue her Master's in Sociology (dear Lord I hope I didn't butcher that). We all had a blast locating, rating and viewing, minus the sketchy guy and the three-legged dog. Yeah. Super sketch. ANYWAY, it gave us good findings too. In a year from now I will be almost done with my degree and will be most likely seeking employment in the city; hey, it's better money and oodles more opportunities. I will MAKE the 45 minute drive once a week to church!!!!!!

Just looking and seeking got us all excited to be on our own! Having a place to call our own is something we all have longed for just for the sole experience! So yeah! Starting May 4 (hopefully), sis and I will be starting to move some of our stuff in. Our goal is to have all of our stuff in by May 12 since summer classes start on the 14th. Unpacked or not, well that's a different story.