I only have two weeks of work left (not including this one) before I am finished for the summer. I actually have about 4 weeks before I leave for mexico, but I figured I could use a week off to go and visit people that I haven't had time to do since I was working, and maybe pack some things. Now, if I were Summer I would probably start packing now for the trip in 4 weeks. But alas, I am not and in all reality I most likely won't start pack until a day or two before I leave. I'm just a last minute person on those things.
I am beginning to get more and more excited about my trip, and at the same time realizing more and more how much I need to keep my spanish up. These days I just freeze up when the opportunity comes for me to use what I have been working so hard on for the past year. I won't have time for that in Merida. Yesterday at work a woman came in who couldn't speak english. luckily she was with her daughter who could. she asked at one point how much her total came to and her daughter didn't hear her so I wanted to tell her. once again I froze up and her daughter ended up answering. (doscientos cuarenta y uno y setenta y uno céntimo...or something very close to that). When I got home I pulled out my Spanish text book from the past year and started reviewing some vocabulary. It's amazing how quickly I forgot so many things, and then how quickly things came back after I looked over them.
I have already started dreaming about the day I come back, even though that is 2 months away. I know I will have so many great stories, and so many other things to give and tell people. I just can't wait.
But, until then, I am stuck in a store with a cd that plays on repeat all day and that smells like a medicine that should make you throw up. Since being back at The Limited I have picked up on some lingo that I had forgotten. some of which are things like:
"I'm running to the back"- meaning, "I'm going to go text someone really quick, I'll be back in a second."
"I'm going to the bathroom"- meaning "I'm really going to the bathroom, but I'm taking my phone to text or make a phone call, it may be a while"
"Can I take the trash out for you?"- meaning " I can't stand being in this store any longer and I have to get out now or I'm going to go insane"
"I'll check the dressing rooms" -meaning "I'm going to go look for clothes that need to go back while checking myself out in the mirror"
"I need to copy my schedule"- meaning " I am tired of working the floor and I'm going to take a break and take my time writing down my schedule".
That is just to name a few. and on that note I'm finished.

I'm leaving the 9th of Mexico.
and I don't think you understand.

update-

1. 42 days (7 weeks or 6 weekends) until I leave for Mérida México.
2. I bought my first pair of Chacos and am now the proud owner of 4 leather bound journals.
3. I hate working at the Limited. period.
4. I have another shoot lined up (for free as a gift), it will be good for practice.
5. All of my family will be in the same place at once this weekend and I am so extremely excited.
6. the chili mom made is burning my mouth right now, but it is so tasty.
7. I haven't talked to Al Jones in a long time. that needs to change.
8. I also bought my last book for summer classes.
9. I haven't written one page for my class. yikes.
10. or something (joe)

vent.

I think I'm going to start hiding my pictures that I take of people so no one can steal what I do. I pay a lot of money in school to learn how to think creatively and I'm not interested in someone taking EVERY SINGLE thing I do and doing it themselves. that is cheap, and it makes me mad.

I'm back home!!!

I am so relieved that the spring 2008 semester is over. I am excited to report that I made all A's once again, and I only have two semesters left. technically I could only have one. but instead of killing myself with so many hours. I am going to take it slow and spread the class load out over two semesters. Now that I am back home I am working at "The Limited" again. Really this is not something I want to be doing. As I walked into the mall on my first day back all I could think was "Am I really doing this again?". I walked into work with a smile on my face despite the fact it was the last place I wanted to be. I'm only working about 25 hours a week or so, so it's really not that bad. it's just not fun to stand up all day.
Anyway, enough about that. I am enjoying my break from school for now, and I'm hoping I have more time off in the near future to hang out with my family, boyfriend, and some of the girls here.
with my schedule the way that it is, I have decided that I need to really make a point to do certain things before the summer is out. Things I need to do before July 7th, (these are in no particular order):
1. go to the beach at least 4 times.
2. TP the fleming's house.
3. Hang out with Joe
4. Hang out with Brandi, Brittany, Jillian, Kathy, Andi, Ms. Hunter
5. draw something
6. wash my car
7. wash my dog
8. buy clothes for México
9. be able to run 4 miles without stopping.
10. see Catherine
11. practice piano
12. record some songs
13. clean my room
14. blow bubbles in chocolate milk.
15. eat hot dogs with dad.

company

After much thought I have decided that I would like a turtle to accompany me back to school next semester. Catherine and I have talked a lot about getting a fish and sharing it. As we have had those conversations in the past I had terrible flashbacks to when summer and I would catch little tadpole things down at the pond and be so excited, only to find them all dead the next morning. As I grew older and much wiser I upgraded to buying goldfish. And again I would find myself sorely disappointed when I would walk in the bathroom in the morning and find my sweet little friend floating belly side up. I remember the stench they would put out when I failed to clean the tank for a while. So, that is why I have abandoned the fish idea. I am getting a turtle.
As of right now, I am neglecting to study art history or health and wellness in order to search for where to get a turtle and how to take care of it.

Rest is soon to come.

I lay on my bed staring out the window. I'm supposed to be studying Spanish or Art history but my mind is wandering around somewhere in the near future. I turn two pages over and look out the window again. This isn't working, so I grab my Art History notes. I look at two trying my best to remember the facts I have written the day before. I stare out the window again and muse.
I love how finals cause me to stop a moment in the midst of chaos to think about deep theological issues, or just what I am doing with my life. In an attempt to escape my studies, the only place my mind finds refuge is a place swamped with thoughts all trying to get out at once. Maybe this isn't a place of refuge, but at least I am not buried in the "Aesthetic Attitude in Romanesque Art".
I read in a book a few days ago about enduring through times of dryness with the Lord. A place I feel I am in the middle of. The writer states "Seasons not only break the monotony of sameness, they are necessary to productivity. Nothing can live in unbroken sunshine...Night is as important as day; the sun must be followed by clouds and rain. Nonstop sunshine only creates a desert". How right he is. I must be in a season of some clouds. I'm not saying that days are bad and I am struggling horrible, but more that I am being challenged to pursue God more than I ever have before, and challenged in every aspect of my life (at least it feels that way). In times of feeling deserted I know is when I should press in even more so to the Love and Faithfulness of Jesus. In every second I spend with the Lord I am being moved more so into a state of desperation for Him. The days that go absent of our time together is felt in the very core of my being. I settle into a place of quietness to seek Him and hear or feel nothing. I am learning to press in and endure. The shadows prove the sunshine.