Headdress of WAR!

For Halloween, I was an Indian warrior! I made my headdress of war. I made ALL of it. It took me hours and hours to finish. I worked way too hard on it.

I tried to get all of it in the same picture. The sides trail down almost all the way to the ground.

This is the front of it. Man. I probably kept the hot glue sticks company in business for the next five years. It took forever to braid all of that.

This is my war paint on my leg, and my tomahawk. Tied to my leg in case I needed it. You never know when you might need your tomahawk.

Caitlin was a robber! Yes, that is a crowbar. This is the full costume. As usual, I am making a weird face...but yeah.

Some more war paint. I understand why they loved war paint so much. It gets me pumped. I should start putting on war paint when I need to do something serious. Hahaha.

All in all, a great Halloween.

All kinds of things.

Um...okay, okay. I have been slack. I admit it!

Honestly, I am fabulous. I took some random pictures to share. They're probably better at explaining what I've been up to anyway.

These are my new glasses. They are pretty fly. (;

These are my Halloween socks. I didn't realize they had cats on them 'til I put them on today. All I saw was the candy corn. It's all right though, because the cat looks dumb all stretched out like that.

I started classes again this fall semester. I was actually really nervous about it. My grades are really good. Kind of hard to believe it's real sometimes. My fast forward class is finished. I made a 94 in the class. I took a picture of me with my midterm from my Case Management class. Haha, as you can tell from my facial expression, I'm really excited about it. I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but I got a 100 (on a curve)!

These last few months have been I've been working really hard on putting myself back together. It's taken me a long time, but I feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be. I am going to the temple next month with the single's ward. I am so excited it isn't even funny. I circled the date on my calendar. I never really thought I'd be proud of who I was again. I won't go into details because it's personal, but it's not my place to not share, especially if it might help someone else. Through the gift and very real power of the Atonement, I have been able to forgive myself and let things from my past go. It's crazy how putting your whole heart into living the gospel can heal you in a way nothing else can. I've been working on reading my scriptures. It's funny because when I read books, I sort of start thinking the way characters in the story talk. I catch myself thinking about how Nephi would word something, or maybe how he would react to a situation. Then I start laughing; people are probably thinking, "What the heck is she doing?" Hahaha. Anyway, my point is that if there is anything you feel like you need to change to get yourself back on track, do it. Don't wait. Do it now...and please don't let anything stop you. I promise it's not worth the weight you carry around. I am not a perfect person, but I am proof you can change. Heavenly Father loves you, and wants you to be happy. (:

All right. It's almost 2:30 in the morning. I should probably go to bed. Here's a Halloween picture for everyone to enjoy!

crawling deer.

i went in to give blood today. i'd made an appointment beforehand, so in my head i was like, "ALL RIGHT!" when i got to skip the people in front of me. i got dirty looks, but hey. i made an appointment, and they didn't.

anyway, i went into the first booth and waited for about fifteen minutes. you know, the one where they ask you all those questions, check your blood pressure, and test your iron...or whatever it is they're testing. the older lady in one of those white coats comes around the corner. she sits down. she seems normal, a little old-lady like, but you know, whatev. i love old people. she starts talking to me, and i can't understand anything she's saying. her words are sort of slurring, and she keeps winking at me. there's this 70's music blaring from beneath my chair, where a boombox from 1992 just so happens to be placed. granted i knew what i was getting myself into. i do live in south carolina, afterall. people are nuts, and that's okay. we're all a little nuts.

but then i thought i heard her say something about deer. at first i thought she was telling me she hunted deer, so i just kept smiling and nodding whenever i guessed she wanted a response. i scooted forward a little so i could understand what she was saying. turns out, she saw a deer crawling in her front yard.

now i can go with the flow on just about anything. but i stopped her and asked, "excuse me, did you say a deer was crawling in your front yard?" she said she thought so, but on closer inspection it turned out to be one of her huge black twin dogs she hadn't seen in a couple of months. she told me it had killed the deer and was carrying its head around to mark his territory. antlers and all. at this point, i was still stuck on how she thought she knew her dogs were twins. brothers, certainly, but why did she think they were twins? and then the last half of her story clicked into place.

...WHAT?! what was she talking about? i looked around and nobody else heard anything she was saying. i kind of sat there stunned for a few seconds. then i asked her if she took any pictures. she said, "no, i didn't. i will next time. this sort of thing happens to me all the time."

seriously? that "sort of thing?" how could anything like that happen all the time?

...i love charleston.

school time.

summer is close to being over. crazy! classes start on the 24th of august, which is next week. i am mostly excited, but also a little nervous. i haven't been in classes for the past two semesters. i just want to do well. my schedule is as follows, in case anyone's curious:

HUS 209: case management
M 6-8:51

CPT 101: introduction to computers (boring)
TTH 4:30-5:51

HUS 217: addictions counseling 1
TTH 6-8:51

HUS 218: addictions counseling 2
TTH 6-8:51

side note: addictions counseling 1 and addictions counseling 2 are fast foward classes, so the first one starts next week and ends sometime in october. then the second one goes til december. so it's like jumbo-packed classes for 6 credit hours instead of 3. which makes a total of 12 credit hours for the semester.

i took a picture of my new backpack (: it reminds me of a pattern from animal crossing, which is pretty lame of me to admit, but there you have it. haha. i also put an elvis presley pin on it. makes it pretty much perfect.

i also took a picture of my books because...well, just because. it's always fun for me to see new notebooks and school supplies. i know that within a week i will be like, "WHY did i get myself into this?" but for now, i am excited.

speedy summer.

it's already july. oh man.

this past few weeks have been very full. it sounds strange to word it that way, but that's the best word i can pick. i am hardly going to be able to mention everything. we have been on the road for the past two days, so i am a pretty tired jilli. anything i miss, i will try to add to a future blog. this is the condensed version.

a couple weeks ago, mom, cheryl, caitlin, colton, and i went to disney world. we stayed at a hotel and spent the whole day at the theme park. it was so hot, but i really loved it. i'm glad there was enough time to heal a little after that surgery.

my uncle, john allen, passed away two weeks ago. mom, tori, and i went up to maine for the funeral. the service really was wonderful. i only remember seeing john last summer when we all travelled to gram's funeral. although i didn't know him very well, i am deeply at a loss. he gave everyone around him a sense of peace, and at the same time always had a joke handy. he loved his family, was a devoted friend, and was an all around good person. i know we will see him again someday.

it was a great opportunity to spend time with mom's side of the family. we stayed at cheryl's house and took little trips to sue's for cookies occassionally. barbara stayed for a few days with us, too. we had a cookout at jim and rhonda's house, and then another one at ryan and rachel's house. we shopped around with alice, which is always fun. i got to see all of the little kids and the new babies. i really wish maine wasn't so far away, but every moment is precious. i am grateful for the happy memories we made.