Borrowed Hat from a Citadel Boy:)

Joe Poore from BJU

Mini Golf with the delegation and all the other colleges

At the awards banquet where I was voted Vice Chair of the Education Committee!

More events…

This past weekend I went over to Wofford college for their Spring weekend with a group of friends and had a great time. We listened to a great band and hung out with friends at the various fraternity houses. It was a blast! I even took my chess partner Lawrence with me because I refused to let him graduate with a masters degree from Converse and never have gone to a college party in his life.

Fun with the ladies!

Lawrence and the ladies!

Friends from the Wofford basketball team!

The reunion is finally here!!! I’m so excited about meeting all the alumnae that I have talked to over the phone this past semester. With all the events I will have plenty of chances to take pictures this weekend. So be ready for those photos.

This week is also Conniestock (a Spring celebration consisting of guys, bands, dances, and more fun) !!!!!! Corey Smith is coming to Converse to perform live in our quad. That’ll be exciting, especially because I’m on the event staff!!

Also because it is the end of the year Crescent, the sophomore service organization I am president of, has reached its expiration. I’m so excited about becoming a junior but am partially sad I must leave this wonderful organization behind. I went from not knowing half the girls to forming life long friendships and I am so grateful. I definitely almost started to cry when I was passing over our talking stick to the new president. Here are a few pictures of the a few of the cherished moments of Crescent 2007-2008.

Our first group retreat

Service at Hospice

Sophisticated ladies

Yes we are eating at Zaxby's with Chik-fil-a cups! haha

Also I finally got my Converse class ring. When you are a sophomore you are officially a Converse Alum! My parents came down and we had an amazing time. I'm so glad I went to college!!! The great thing about class rings is we have a wonerful ceremony and have brunch at the presidents house. Most colleges just mail you your ring and send you on your way. It was also my birthday so we went out to eat at a restaurant called City Range. It was delicious. It was my Dads birthday too (yes the exact same day...stealing my thunder haha). My mom got me a barbie watch for my birthday while I waited for the one she ordered. haha

Ms. Besty Fleming and my famileezy:)

Shearsmith, Janette, Me, Anna

'

Barbie Watch

My bestest friend in the whole world

My room mate Kasie for next year!

My mom is the bomb dot com!

Finally I'm not a teen anymore...yay for 20!

Recently I went on Spring break to Holden beach with a handful of my girlfriends. We stayed at my friend Kasie's house and had a ball. Most days it was raining but that did't stop us from having a great time! It was such a relaing trip and I'm glad I went. Maybe a few of my pictures will give you an idea of what we did:)

Me, Anna, Kasie, Janette

Sunrise

Hard Rock Cafe

Ice cream parlor

My first Jelly Fish

Hats we cannot afford, lol

(Shekeyse getting ready to go to sleep on the bus)

When we got there the cabin we stayed at was beautiful, and like the spelunking trip I went on earlier in the year I ended up with the room with the Jacuzzi tub! The view from our kitchen Window was amazing!

  
(My Room!)

Later after we settled in we hit the slopes. I have been skiing since I was old enough to take a ski lesson (maybe 4 or 5) so I volunteered to help the girls who hadn’t skied before. Well didn’t that turn out to be an adventure? I was tugged and tired by the end of that, but I really enjoyed the bonding time with the girls since I had to help a few of them out of the snow, LOL. After that long day I went out for pizza with Dean Molly, Kasey Buie, and Rhonda Mingo. We chatted and had a great time and I never thought I would be laughing that much with the Dean of my college.

 
(Part of the Group)

(Dean Molly and I)

(Ski School with Instructor Tiana)

 
(Camrey and I)

The next day was my day to play! Dean Molly and I skied all day, hitting every black diamond and double black diamond Snowshoe, WV had to offer. One event which is a little sad was we had to ski down and call help for a man who definitely broke his leg and was laying in a gully full of mud. Later on we saw him being taken away via stretcher onto the ski lift. After a beautiful morning of skiing, search and rescue, Dean Molly and I had lunch at the top of the mountain at a ski in ski out restaurant. The views were gorgeous!

 
(I love the ski lift) (This was only the beginning)

 
(We had no choice, LOL) (This is where we want to stay next year)

(We understood why it said Caution when we got to the bottom)

Later that night the entire group went tubing! It was exciting, other than the woman who felt like it was ok to smoke in the line of 100 people. But I kindly asked her to stop blowing cigarette smoke in my face because I felt it was a little rude. She complied.

 
(The Gang) (Don’t laugh, that thing was scary)

 
(Dean Molly and Assistant Dean Rhonda Mingo)

After, we all went to dinner where there was a parade of drunken people and one man who thought we were his best friend, LOL. I had delicious Silver Trout for dinner, and enjoyed the company of my peers.

 
(Random Drunk Man named Fred, haha)

(More Random Drunk men, “Hey ya’ll this is red stripe beer”)

(MMMM…..Trout)

(Black Diamond Divas)

(Oh, Anna Kate… yes we are in the middle of the restaurant, LOL)

(The final night out)

Sad to say but the next morning the trip had to end. I had such an amazing time! I only hope they do this again next year, because this was the best Winter Break I ever had.

Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Crescent, the service organization I'm president of, decided to do a fundraiser at the opera this past weekend: Suor Angelica and Little Red Riding Hood. We ended up selling delicious brownies, cookies, chips, and soda. I had such a great time with the girls. We definately made some memories! From our fingers freezing in the coolers from digging for ice, to trying to figure out how to refrain from eating the food we had a great time. We ended up raising 150+ dollars to put toward the fund for the new Crescent members we plan on initiating in March.

So onto more exciting things...I had dinner with the President of Converse and the Dean. President Fleming has these fireside chats every so often at her house where she intvites students to come and discuss real world issues. This may have been my third time going, and I really enjoy them. It was interesting to hear what everyone had to say. At this chat we discussed the struggle women seem to have to face in climbing the corporate ladder and balancing a career and family. There was some heated discussion about "the bottome line" but it was a pleasant argument, that had a lot of great points. Dean Molly also had some great points about men being stay at home dads in some instances when the wife has a chance to excel her career.  Overall it was a lovely evening. Betsy Fleming is amazing so the night couldn't have been anything but fun.

More exciting news! This past Sunday was mine and Tim's 1 year anniversary! Yay! Unfortunately he had a basketball game the night before and the day after and practice twice on the day of. We really didn't get to celebrate it the way most couple's would like but I enjoyed it. We went to McDonald's at 11pm and had frosty's and danced like no one was watching. It was really cute! I'm sure when the season is over he'll try to plan something but I think that was enough for two broke college students, lol. I made him a scrap book for a gift and baked him his favorite cookies. Which all got stuck together in the container because I put them in there and they were still warm so he really got a ball of 12 macadamian nut white chocolate chip cookies. haha But I know he'll eat them because I made them.:)

And now for the best part.....I am almost finished with my statistics class. I'm taking the final exam tomorrow and I'm so excited!!!  Even more excited because this weekend is Winter break and I'm going skiing in West Virginia with a whole bunch of Converse girls!!! I can't wait to get back here and tell you all about it. I will take lots of pictures so be ready to laugh when I get back.

I seem to have neglected you all lately seeing as though I haven't posted a blog in quite sometime. I have just been so busy these past few months. We all know how procrastination can sneak up on you! Well enough of all this apologizing...let me tell you what I have been up to. Well if you know anything about me you know I was previously biology major. I have always wanted to be an oral surgeon and do free dental care for those less fortunate than I. Like most people I came to college with my life plan written out. Little did I know the curve balls came quick. I realized soon that my passion wasn't in science like I thought it was. Yes I love to know why I break out in hives when I get into cold water but I don't think another 6 years is what my calling is. While struggling through final exams I was taking a break one night and decided to watch a little television.

Now I don't know if you all have heard of Joel O'Steen but he is a speaker of the Lord. Well he was on television that night talking about career choices and Gods plan for us. Well he said we are all wired to do something. He continued to talk about how most people are usually a 3,4, or maybe a 5 at most things but we all have that something we may be a 7,8, or 9 at whether it be singing, working on a car, or working with computers.  He continued to say stay true to the gifts God has given you!  I thought to my self about how I'm really only about a 5 in sciences and even after all this I've been through in the end I will probably end up a 7 at it. So then I sat and thought and thought and thought some more. What the heck am I good at? Then it hit me like a bolt of lightning...talking to people. I'm always getting compliments on how easily I can walk into a room and talk to everyone whether it is the president of my college, mayor of the city, or a young child I have the gift of communicating with others! I'm definitely an 8 at that so with the right training I could be a 10 and change the world somehow! I guess I never really thought about it because it always came so easy to me. So quickly I thanked the Lord for the sign and went to sleep excited about my next move. It's time to switch my major and use the gifts God has given me. The next day I went and switched my major immediately!

Unfortunately Converse doesn't have a communications major. Fortunately that wasn't the end; I put together a proposal and started creating an individualized major. Because I am the first student to actually be seriously committed with a plan for my major there are a lot of kinks being worked out. I'm confident that it'll turn out well in the end because I'm doing what I made to do. It's funny when things hit you. You get this sudden urge and passion for doing something you have always done or at least enjoyed and it feels good. When started taking the courses toward my new intended major it felt as though a million moons had been lifted off my shoulders and I was finally heading in the right direction. So now I'm planning a life in something I'm passionate about! My new career plans consist of becoming a director of a major non profit organization and motivational speaker. What a change from dissecting deer livers and doing 3 page chemistry equations. I know the decision was made on a whim but aren't most of life’s decisions done that way?

I really enjoy non profit work so much and as the president of the sophomore service organization I have had first hand experience with working with these types of organizations. Feel free to check out the latest news of our group donating over $4,000 to a Haven here in Spartanburg. http://www.converse.edu/news/headlines.asp?ID=1131

Now I don't know where I left off in my pageant life but I was 2nd runner up at the Miss Greenville pageant last November!! I plan on doing Miss Upstate/ Travelers Rest next Friday so wish me luck and say a prayer. Contact me if you are interested in going to watch the pageant to show support! I hope you all enjoyed the up date in a day and a life with Tiana and there is much, much more to come.

Before I forget my advice to you all is follow your heart not what you think sounds good:)

Here are a few recent photos:

It was a good time. We ended up going to the mall and I found the best pair of skinny jeans that I've waited my whole life for. lol I have to wait till Friday to buy them because I have to wait for my work-study check but I'm not complaining! After the mall we went to Sneakers (our on campus hang out place) and the girls tore me up in a game of pool. I didn't realize how bad I was until I totally lost (don't ever underestimate a high school junior).  We then had a live acoustic guitarist named Nadine Zahr play for us and she was absolutely amazing! I'm pretty sure she is going to hold the spot of my myspace song for the next month. 

After the fun with doughnuts and music we went back to my room and the girls cracked up when we watched "The Diary of a Mad Black Women".  I  explained to them about my family and how Madea is so my grandmother. lol  The night concluded with bags of cotton candy, caramelized popcorn, and  loud air mattresses. Overall it was a fabulous weekend and I hope both of the girls come to Converse. I wish when they came they were in my lil' sister class but its ok as along as they come I'll be excited! Now I have to prepare for this organic chemistry test on Wednesday that seems like I can't study enough for. Thanks for reading and you better be back:)

I'm really just looking forward to the weekend in general. Saturday I think I may go to a wedding with Tim, and Sunday I get to host an overnight visit with a perspective student. I really love hosting over nights because I love sleepovers! One girl I hosted an overnight for now goes to Converse and she told me I was part of her final decision because she had such a good time. That's always nice to hear. (So if you ever want to sleep over holla at me ladies).

I probably need to make some time for the gym but I guess we'll see about that one, I've been hitting the dessert line and LOVIN' IT! Gee's food has been pretty good lately, and Byrd (one of the dining hall workers) can make a mean cake. Wait it's Friday so that means we're having "out to eat night" or something of the sort. Last Friday we had the most amazing Chinese food and the noodle consistency was amazing for Gee (Only reason why I care about consistency is because I like to cook) chopsticks and all.

Well I must be off so I can look AMAZING for later on!

P.S. Come back and read some more so you can find out what I did:) I guess I need to have some schnazzy pics!

Alot has been going on in life lately. My mother recently got married to my dad after being together for 19 years! I wondered what they were waiting for but oh well the wedding was nice! There were two maids of honor, my sister Jasmin and me.

It was such a nice time to see my parents oh so happy. I was also so excited to see my sister. She lives in Massachusetts where I am originally from and I don't get to see her a lot. It's hard to be away from family sometimes. I think for my sister and I it has taken our relationship to a place where we appreciate eachother more. So I am thankful.

After all the fun it was time to get back to school, so I have been a slave to the biology department (not literally but I want to be successful, so I embark in long nights of studying).  I never realized how passionate I was about my dream to be an oral surgeon until I was placed in organic chemistry. It  can really test you, but it'll all be worth it when I am handed my degree. I am so excited about fall break next weekend! Finally a break! I signed up to go on the Citadel football excursion during fall break with Converse and I'm trying to convince my boyfriend Tim to come with me. It's hard to get him to plan ahead even if it's a week because he never knows when his basketball team will be practicing. So hopefully he can come because I know I didn't spend 20 dollars for nothing. haha We shall see. Well I must be off to go write a proposal for an english paper so thanks for coming to my blog. Oh! and before I forget,  my quote of the day is by David Copperfield:

I thought that I would come to this blog ready to write an essay about myself but that’s not the case here at all. This has not been a good week for me. With all of my organizational meetings, tests, papers, quizzes, concerts, pageants, gambling play money at Casino Night and Tim (my boyfriend) I haven’t had time to turn around.

I think I need to just take a step back and breath, because “life’s a cinch when you take it inch by inch”, and also “haste makes waste”. These are two things my girlfriend Kish says too me when I get in shambles. Well, regardless of what kind of week I’m having, thank you for coming to visit my blog and when I can get my mind together be ready for an “exciting adventure” into my crazy life.

P.S. Don’t worry there’ll be plenty of pictures!