reflections on life.

My "Little" for CSA (Catholic Student Association) is also one of my friends who lived on my floor last year. She was talking to me on Monday when I was at Primo about how one of her close friends committed suicide a few days before. I didn't know what to say, but I wrote down some stuff after we talked briefly and I showed it to her. She said this was exactly what she needed, so I thought I'd share it! Let me know what you think!


Life is a beautiful, beautiful gift. Sometimes people take full advantage of it, sometimes people throw it away. In my opinion, a lot of people who appear to throw away this precious gift were simply led astray and had blinders on that prevented them from seeing the wonderful blessings surrounding them. These people, no matter how far they have strayed, they are loved. Loved immensely. Love is stronger than anything. The phrase "omnia vincit amor" has been around for quite literally centuries and still stands true--love conquers all. Love conquers sadness. Love conquers weakness. Love conquers anger. Love conquers fear. Love conquers persecution. Love conquers loneliness. LOVE CONQUERS ALL.

visiting the Ville? Louisville, that is!

Bellarmine University, my college, is in the heart of Louisville, Kentucky. say it with me: LOO-UH-VUL. now speed it up and slur it together a bit. Yes, I immediately thought, "Oh my gosh I can't believe I'm going to school in Kentucky. Kentucky is for hicks!" But here I am and I LOVE IT. Louisville isn't where the hicks are--I'm not gonna lie, there are some hicks who go here and I do know the areas of Kentucky where Kentucky gets it's redneck reputation from. Regardless, Louisville is a great, redneck-less city!

food:
-Impellizzeri's Pizza. GET THE MARGHERITA PIZZA AND BREADSTIX. so good. oh yeah and they sponsor Bellarmine basketball  :)
-Mulligan's Pub and Grille. awesome pub-style food, alcohol, and music--my friends' band plays there fairly often!
-Marketplace Restaurant. I think it's inexpensive for how decadent the food is and the inside is absolutely gorgeous.
-Twig and Leaf. really cheap (perfect for the college student!) and really yummy. huge portions.
-Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen. so so so so delicious. they serve meals, too, in addition to pie and ice cream!

you should check out:
-The Waterfront. gorgeous and they host WorldFest there in the fall!  :)
-BU! there's always something going on and it's a gorgeous campus, too!
-sports games. U of L, BU, any. all equally fun!
-BU's India Day in the fall! tons of entertainment and yummy free food!
-Louisville Zoo. literally down the street from BU. it rocks!
-Muhammad Ali Museum. we went there during orientation (Knight Life) and it was actually really neat!
-Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts. I saw "Avenue Q" with my Music in Louisville class last fall. really gorgeous. can be pricey depending on what you see!
-Expo Five. cheap concerts. used to be an airplane hangar. majorly sketchy though. I saw Owl City (with Days Difference, who I'd seen before, as the opening band) last year for only $15!
-Alpine Ice Arena. CSA went there last year and it was ton of fun! we saw a U of L hockey game too!

ice skating at Alpine Ice Arena with CSA!

Louie playing keyboard at Mulligan's Pub and Grille

spaghetti at Marketplace Restaurant

Abe Lincoln and the Pennies performing at Mulligan's Pub and Grille

Liz and I at a Cards game

Regina, Karen (chapel choir director), me, and Becca in our saris for India Day

Bellarmine's Horrigan Hall at night!

KDF internship!

Hey y'all! Sorry it's been SO INSANELY LONG since I've posted!!!! Anyways......I'm at my internship right now (don't worry I won't get in trouble for this--my job is social media and I can basically do anything that helps get the name out there). My internship is with the communications department for the Kentucky Derby Festival, which is essentially the organization that puts together all of the Kentucky Derby events except for, well, the Derby race itself. But we put on the Steamboat Race, Derby Chili Challenge (it's the first year of it!), Thunder Over Louisville, Bed Races, BalloonFest, Celebrity Day at the Downs, the Pegasus Parade, etc! So yeah   :)  Anyways, here are some pics to catch you up!

all ready for my first day! Starbucks PSL, Starbucks lemon loaf, beef pot roast microwaveable lunch,  planner, fully organized binder, tons of pens/pencils/highlighters, and my Derby hat wallet from Cha   :)

the "view" from my window...at least I have a window, unlike all my other nonexistent fellow interns

my office, er, cubicle!

here's hoping they get in touch and we can work it out!

inundated with Derby Chili Challenge recipe submissions! gah!

freshman.

so i'm officially done with freshman year of college! YAYYYY!!! woo-hoo! it was a bittersweet goodbye. it'll be weird not seeing my hallmates and classmates everyday. i already miss my Quarto study buddies. i already miss CSA. i already miss my freakin psycho roomie. i already miss my friends. i already miss Bellarmine. it's just weird thinking that the next time i go there will be in august. august as in like four-months-away-from-now august.

anyways. here's a photo summary of freshman year! woo-hoo!

 

homecoming!

in free time: come to the terms with the fact that "free time" is completely and entirely nonexistent. the sad truth.

spinach-mozzarella-salami paninis made with a previously-unused clothing iron! seriously amazingly delicious!

ALLLL of my stuff that i had to have packed up at the end of the year!

henna for india day

abe lincoln and the pennies (a band that two of my friends are in--louie sings, plays keyboard, and plays harmonica; jb who you can't really see in this pic plays drums and sings) performing at mulligan's irish pub on a weekend

a seriously beautiful plant at joe creason park right across from bellarmine

becky, aaron, megan, becca, and i volunteered to sing and play instruments at a walk to cure leukemia

just part of my ridiculously stuffed (inside and outside) wardrobe

me, katie, aaron, and father john at the fall late knight breakfast (knight, get it?! GET IT?!)

me and kaylyn with jeremy, the lead singer of the band days difference...they opened for owl city!

india day

the chicks of cabin 24 at the fall kcsc retreat

becky, regina, liz, and me at a bu vs. nku bball game

me, liz, and amanda at a choir event thingie...we sang at late knight breakfast!

agape. eros. philia.

congrats! you've just learned three ways to say "love" in Greek! while they all translate to "love," they are all different kinds of love.

agape is the love of the spirit. it's the love from God to us and vice verse. it's also the true lasting love. essentially it's the kind that we all want to say we have. so one might say "I want to agape God."

eros is passionate love. not just sexually, either. although you will notice that eros sounds like erotic, so voila. sometimes people think this is what they feel when they first meet someone they like, but personally i think that's just desire. it's a tricky difference between the two.

philia is the basic form of love. it's what we use when saying we love our parents, siblings, friends, and pets. it's also what we use when we say "I LOVE this song!" or "I LOVE Jeep Wranglers" (which are undoubtably my favorite models of cars--Wranglers for the win!). it's kinda just tossed around. i'm guilty of it. i don't really want to be. i've tried to stop saying things like i mentioned above, and instead change them to "this song rocks!" or "Jeep Wranglers are the best!" but i suppose it's kinda just part of our culture to throw it around like it means nothing. when in reality, love is HUGE.

now that you've learned the three primary forms of "love," it's time for my reflection. woo-hoo! bear with me--it gets interesting, i promise!

i've realized a trend in my life thus far: a bunch of the people i've gotten really close to have ended up walking a different path than the one i'm on. it's a tough reality. my best friend (who i don't even think i can call my best friend or even a good friend anymore) started completely ignoring me after i left for college. some of my exs have crushed me. it hurts. but to quote kelly clarkson, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" love that song! it's my bestie MC's and my song! unofficially? officially? idk anymore haha

anyways. i'm nervous. i've probably vented on here about how i've been struggling with purity in college. and because of these struggles, i'm terrified of having my purity destroyed and my heart tossed away again. i can't deal with that. i've had that happen too many times, and my heart can only go through that so many times.

but i'm also a huge flirt. so part of me blames myself for leading guys on perhaps? or like making them think i'm sexually active when i'm definitely not? idk how to describe it. maybe you get it. whatevs. anyways. i also want to stay a virgin til marriage. i'm almost certain that's a rare phenomenon nowadays because premarital sex is so rampant in our society. but i want to stay a virgin til marriage because i want to give my husband the ultimate gift of that. i want to give my full self to my future husband inside the beautiful sacrament of marriage. but i also don't wanna come right out and be like "so yeah i hope you're not expecting sex cuz that's not happening til marriage." cuz that MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT scare him and every other guy off haha so tips, ladies? and gents? thank you  :)

update-schmupdate.

so. it's been a while since I've blogged*. well, for me at least.  so it's updates time!!! and then it's blog-spree time! woo! prep up, chicks, prep up.

1. I. AM. FREAKING. DONE. WITH. FRESHMAN. YEAR. OF COLLEGE. WAIT WHAAAAAAAAT!? fo realzie though. I AM DONE.
2. see #1, above. HELLO, SOPHOMORE YEAR.

*written to myself since I'm basically positive that no one ever reads these things*

**letter to myself

so close yet so far.

I HAVE THREE CLASSES STANDING BETWEEN ME AND FINALS. AND THEN THREE (TECHNICALLY FOUR*) FINALS TIL SUMMAAAAAA!!!!! I leave at noon! woo! and ya know what I'm looking forward to most? possibly even more than summer? BEING DONE WITH MUSIC THEORY! YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! GOODBYE, DANIEL FREAKIN LIGHT!!! WOO-HOO! ONE LAST CLASS WITH HIM (TOMORROW/TECHNICALLY TODAY IS MY LAST!)!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!

*my fourth final is expository writing, but all we have to do is say bye, so I kinda sorta don't count it as a final haha

mkay. the Full Throttle-induced hyperness of this blog post is done. happy day  :)