Nature

I love being at school. I love how productive I feel and all of the people I am around every single day. I love how I am so close to everything and can walk everywhere I need to go. I am truly grateful for the life I have here.

However, there are some things about being in college that are not my favorite. It is extremely difficult to find a place of complete solitude. A place where I am able to be alone and look around without seeing any man made structures. I miss that. I am also dissatisfied with not being able to live a natural life. There are many days where I am so busy that i am not able to take a few minutes to enjoy the beauties of nature or amazing weather. I am constantly seeking out many little ways to satisfy this, such as growing plants in my room, picking fresh flowers, and constantly admiring the many beauties that are outdoors. All of these things help, a lot, but they are not the same as living with constant opportunity to plant, water, grow, harvest, and eat things. I love being on the farm and working with animals, fruits, vegetables, and flowers. When I am in that environment I soak it up as much as possible to ensure that even when I am removed from it, I will be able to carry with me the joy that it gives me. 

Spring break this year was really nice because I was able to spend some time hiking. Honestly, of all the fun things I did over break I think that the day I spend the entire afternoon in the woods was a highlight. Opportunities like this bring me joy that I can carry through when I am cooped up in buildings all day.

Andrew and I packed a picnic lunch and found a really cool rock to eat it on. The rock was sticking out into the creek so the water was rushing all around. So fun!

Along the trail these trees had fallen over creating a perfect archway! It was so pretty.

One of the last (or the last) in the county. Makes me think that we are still somewhat connected to our old-fashioned ways.

A Fun Breakfast

I saw this idea and I've been wanting to give it a shot. All you do is slice a pepper so that it's in a circle, place it in the pan, and crack the egg into the pepper. These are the ones I made: 

 I was afraid that the eggs would be too runny but i put some water in the pan with a lid on it which makes a lot of steam and helps them to cook all the way through. They were perfect! You can see that I cut through the yolk and its only running out a little but which is just how I like it! 

The pepper with it was really good too. It was only in the pan for the amount of time that the eggs were cooking so they were still fresh and slightly crisp. 

I also had some greek yogurt with honey and bananas. 

Delicious :)

Headband

So I've been wanting to make another headband that I can use to keep my ears warm against the harsh Blacksburg winds (and MD farm winds too). I found this pattern and started making it with some scrap yarn I had in my dorm room.

It was super quick to make! I made almost the whole thing while sitting in SERVE planning meetings and reflections. My fellow CA's (Community Advisers) can attest to this. 

 I finished it today and am really excited for a little bit more cold weather to test it out. It feels so warm!

I chose a plain black button. It's nice because I can wear this headband whichever direction I want and it looks cute. I also really like how you don't have to make a specific button hole and that you can just put the button through any of the yarn over holes.

This was super fun and easy. I definitely would make more!

Bold

Today started out just like any other day. I went to community event with my roommate to get a nice breakfast and was planning on spending the rest of the day preparing for exams. Shortly after I arrived back to my dorm room, I started hearing unwelcome sounds out my window and receiving text messages from Virginia Tech and my friends on campus. A day that I had planned out went horribly astray from what it should have been. One minute, it was just another day on campus, and the next minute it turned into a day that many Hokies will never forget. December 8th, 2011.

This concept of everything suddenly changing shouldn't be anything new to us. Sadly, it happens quite frequently. National tragedies, natural disasters, loved ones passing away, unexplainable deaths, and changes in plans. They are all unforeseeable events that have a tendency to change everything in our lives. The thing is that we can't usually see these things coming and they come at us like a punch in the face. 

Through the course of events yesterday, I felt a community pull together. There were no gaps, but instead we were a united community. It is powerful when you are receiving so many texts messages that your phone doesn't even have a chance to send another one. It is powerful when people who you seldom speak to sincerely ask if you are okay and tell you they care. It is powerful when you finally hear from those that you have been trying to check up on to make sure that they are okay. 

I realized how much I value the relationships I have with people in my life. I feel like it is impossible to return the amount of love i was given from everyone yesterday, but I want to try. I want to show people that I care about them too. I want to be there for them in their moment of weakness, sadness, strength, and joy. I want to be proactive is showing people that I care about them.

We shouldn't let things in our life cause us to live in fear. Instead, they should encourage us to be bold. We should be bold with our loved ones and tell them how much they mean to us. We should be bold with those who are strangers because you never know how bad of a day they might be having. Our world needs more people who aren't afraid to stand up for what they know is right, even if it comes at a price. I want to try to be one of those people and I invite you to join me.

I couldn't help but think of Beautiful Things by Gungor. Below are some of the lyrics:

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us