oh hiiii....

yes i am still alive.

is the semester over yet?
do i have my degree yet?

no.

BUT by tomorrow i can officially say school will be over "next month"
i can also say, "hellooooo turkey day!"
and, "christmas! you are almost here!"

PLUS,

i mapped out my last 2 semesters of my bachelor degree!
i'm feeling great about it!
the whole "internship" thing is making me nervous though...

have you done one?
what degree were you getting when you were working on your internship?
were you as nervous about it as i am... :/

sometimes

i like to help my husband with school,
take pictures for one of his art classes,
of "his morning"

and then some of them come out like this:

and sometimes our little Hurley photo bombs a picture & looks like a crazy deamon!

my poor little blog

Source: grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com via Andrea on Pinterest

it has been seriously neglected...
school & institute have officially taken over my life.


in a good way.
:)


plus we got a new system at work which adds to everything else.


but i am here to say:
i am happy.
busier than ever.
embracing my andrea-ness.


life. is. good. 
:)

Accounting

is super difficult.
sure, it is just adding and subtracting,
but all the technical stuff that goes into it.


woah.


i walk out of class sometimes thinking,
"i really should be getting a foreign language credit on top of this."
because seriously, it is an entirely different language.


you would think that working at a financial institution would help.


meh.
it doesn't really.


i was familiar with half of chapter1.


yes.
just chapter ONE.






and i thought economics was difficult?
that is going to be easy-peezey-lemon-squeezey this semester!

3 and 3

it is the 3rd week of school.

i have already had 3 tests.

1- health care system.

2- accounting

3- medical terminology

plus i need to catch up on: 

my details of classes.

institute!

and people/friends.

AND...it's already september!

what?!?

I AM SO BLESSED! {part 3}

Tuesday, March 29, 2011, I had my meeting. It went GREAT! Actually it went FANTASTIC!!! I was visiting with the stake president, and had a great conversation. He says to me that they would “like me to get more involved in institute” and if I would like to be on the council.

I said “YES!”

THEN he tells me, “we are actually calling you to be one of the VICE PRESIDENTS!”

 

**Cue {another} jaw drop**

 

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I am so excited, and so nervous…but definitely more excited! 

------


(I definitely do not want to forget the details, so this is for my own documentation. The end of this part of my "I AM SO BLESSED" stops here. There something else I have to share, but that will come separate. So feel free to stop here and I will continue with my details.)

Details:

- Before I even knew what was going on, in P.E.C. (a meeting for my church), my bishop made a point to say how much he appreciates my work and all that I do, etc. I thought that was very nice (but he is always that way, so I didn't think too much of it. Little did I know that he already knew what was coming. You see, the Stake President has to get clearance from the bishop to make sure this kind of a calling can be extended to someone. Bishop D. already knew.

-Bro. Barlow, who is the council advisor, was my subsitute the next day after my interview. He asked if he could talk to me after class. He asked if I had any news to tell him -- I smiled and said that I did and told him what my new position was. (Even though he already knew.) As we were discussing what was to happen next, he also told me that when I left the interview with the board, they all looked at each other and it was "unanimous." They all agreed that I was on the council for next year, and when I walked out they said, "Alright! who's next?!"

- When I met the council president (Andrew) later that week, I was also talking with Brother Barlow, and Andrew had said to me that when he saw my paper, he told Bro. Barlow that "I want her. She needs to be on this council." Bro. Barlow said that they as a board had all felt the same way.

-I am so blessed and so humbled. I owe none of this to myself. None of it. I owe all of it to My Father in Heaven, My Savior and brother Jesus Christ, and to my mother. I don't know what it was on my paper that stuck out to Andrew to pick me out of so many kids. I don't know what it was in my interview that impressed the board to have a unanimous decision to choose me. I don't know why I was nominated out of thousands of kids enrolled at Institute. But I do know that The Lord has prepared me to be in this calling, I can see that he has let me struggle and be in that weird funk for a while...because now I am experiencing the blessings, I do know that all the atributes that I have HE has blessed me with to use to help others. I have not done anything but tried to use the qualitities he has given me to become a better person.

I know this year is not going to be easy. I know this year will be difficult in its own way. And I do know that it will be rewarding in its own way as well.
I know that I am going to be stressed, stretched, and humbled. But I also know that I will be rewarded in so many ways, blessed beyond measure, and that it will prepare me for whatever else is ahead for me on this journey through life and back to Him.


I am so grateful for this opportunity. I hope that I can bless people as I have been blessed countless times.
I am anxious and ready to meet so many people that in turn will help change and impact my life.

I love change.

I love trials.

I love growing.

I love becoming a stronger Andrea.

Thanks to the Lord for allowing it.
It would not be possible if it were not for Him.

I AM SO BLESSED! {part 2}

Where did we leave off...? 

Oh right right right -- Sunday setting up an appointment with the Stake President. 

So, that evening (Sunday), I got to the institute building early so I could find where the Stake President's office is. I found where it was and met the guy I was going to be meeting with Tuesday. Before the fireside they have a meeting for everyone who is participating, and the Stake President, his wife, and I were headed up to that same meeting at the same time. As he introduces me to his wife he says, “Kathy, this is Andrea Kesler. She is our newest council member.”

**Cue jaw drop **

I said, “What?! Really?!” And his wife started chuckling and made mention that it would be best to forget about it until my meeting later that week. (Yeah right! But I will keep my mouth shut!) When we got up to the meeting room the teacher that is over the council approached me and asked if I had “any news to share with him.” I shook my head “yes,” but said the word, “no.” (haha) and told him that I had my meeting on Tuesday.

(Talk about longest couple days. Sheesh!)

But this is not the end of my story!

"But how can it get better Andrea???"

Ohhhh but it can!

I promise! Hang tight...

I AM SO BLESSED!

A few months ago I got a text from the LDS Institute saying that I was nominated to be on the council for the Institute at my college. Well, I set up an interview, filled out the paperwork, and met with the board. And it went really well I thought!

That was back in February, and I hadn't heard anything since then. I didn’t completely give up hope, but I started to wonder if it wasn’t going to work out. I was praying quite often and telling the Lord, "I'm just saying, that if you place me in this calling, I will have no reservations and accept. I'm just sayin'!"

Well I got a phone call a couple Sunday's ago (but since I was in meetings in the morning when it came in, it went to voice mail) and remembered it during one of the hymns in church. I dashed out to listen as soon as one of the hymns ended. I was giving a prayer that night at the fireside and thought I should hurry and listen to the message to make sure it wasn’t information that had changed for that night. Anyway, long story short – I was talking to the executive secretary to one of the stake presidents (who is over the institute council as well as the number of wards in that area by campus) and he wanted to set up an appointment with me to meet with the stake pres. 

So I set up the appointment for Tuesday evening. I had a slight inkling and huge smile on my face for what the meeting could be about…but still I tried not to get my hopes up. After all, it has been 2 months since I even had the interview.

Stay tunned for the next part to this story... 

staying awake

how do people stay awake in morning classes?

seriously.

i struggle in my hour and 15 minute psych class and then my 50 minute economics class.

i have tried eating an orange.

i have tried drinking water.

i have tried constantly moving.

i have tried tickling my arms.

i have tried energy drinks.

ah! it's a struggle. i try and get to bed earlier....and it doesn't do the trick.

what can i say? i do my best at night when everyone else has gone to bed and i am by myself. :)

yesterday, my friend in my biology class tapped me on the arm and said, "hey...you're starting to snore." i got this concerned look on my face and said, "seriously???" he laughed and said "yeah, i wanted to wake you before it got worse so you weren't embarassed." haha thanks!

oh the life of a college student!

p.s. last night for FHE, we played Clue! Live! (not a board game!) but more on that next time... :)

abs & glutes

at school they offer free fitness classes up at the gym.

well...they technically aren't free, since i pay for them with my student fees...

but still.

*ahem

so, up at the gym they offer semi-free fitness classes!

my friend leslie and i have been making the effort to take advantage of them.

last week we went to zumba & it was so much fun!

like seriously, if you have a chance to take a class, DO IT!

such a fun time!

and i really like the music too!

but i swear, latin people can move their hips and bodies in ways that no one else can.

it's effortless for them.

im jealous.

and i really believe it is in their genes.

(no scientific evidence obviously...but they do have skill that i do not have haha!)

this week we went to abs & glutes.

oh. my. gosh.

my legs.

it takes a lot.... aaaa lot of effort to walk.

going up and down stairs is scary and hurts at the same time.
and sitting down is a joke.

it is a good hurt though.

i know i worked my muscles over really well -- success!

how do i give kudos to myself for working out and being sore?

i indulge in a small fry & diet coke.

dangit. haha.

next week we might do zumba again, or maybe we'll try the aqua class.

oh i love working out!

today

has been a GRRRRREAT day!

and i just wanted everyone to know that!

(Image from my morning walk up the hill on campus,

it was actually more pretty than that...but you get the idea.

sunshine, crisp morning air = happy day for andrea.)

WSU incredible win!

for one of my classes we have to go to so many WSU activities for credit.

I thought to myself, "get a big group together & go to a basketball game!"

it was a MARVELOUS idea!

would you like to know why?

it was pretty neck & neck the whole game.

then at the very end of the second half, we got a foul.

poop.

with 2.4 seconds to go,

score tied,

and they get 2 foul shots.

TWO!

poop.

of course they made them and now were up by 2.

nail bitter for sure.

and we had 2.4 seconds to make a 3 to win.

watch the video to see how it turned out.

pretty sure, if you can't see, the crowd went wild.

instant out-of-the-seats-screaming-jumping kind of wild

being on the 7th row, if you can imagine, it was pretty crazy where i was at!

my friend leslie & i were jumping and hugging at the same time (not a good combo) & we ended up falling into the row in front of us.

HA!

it was such a fun game!

it was also great because WSU has kind been in this loosing streak.

kinda like the Jazz.

no bueno.

another reason why this game was fun:

jessie came up!

it was kinda funny cuz my weekend plans were very different at the beginning of the week & i had invited jess to come up to participate in the weekend festivities. well things changed, & she was still able to come up and i am sooooo glad she did. i love that girl.

jess even wore purple!

good job girl!

thanks jessie for taking the time to come up here and hang out with me & meet all my cool friends! (well some of them)

p.s. they were asking where you went & thought you were pretty nifty. :)

what can i say?

i know how to pick FANtastic friends!

today

a lot has happened this weekend.

i am anxious to document it all. 

however, it is 1:45 in the a.m. and I don't the energy to document all the details.

BUT,

i will have you know that i took my first economics test today,

yes...on a saturday...i know right...

and after a rough morning and studying a lot thursday night, again on friday, and 3 hours before taking the test on saturday, i feel very confident and relieved.

it is behind me.

and i feel confident.

which says a lot about me right now.

confidence.

and today i say it with stress relieved, my head held high, and a brighter smile on my face.

today,

the windows in my life opened a little bit and light was able to warm my insides.

it felt wonderful.

i'll tell you about my weekend super soon.

promise!

scouts honor. ;)

new phones

mom & i got new phones

and if you can't tell...

we love them.

:)

oh, and you can think out matching sweatshirts are awesome too.

i pretty much love when they put WSU attire on sale.

love my school!

this post is not (yes not) to be interpreted as a "look at me" or "woe is me" or anything along those lines.

don't even go there.

this post comes from a conversation with one of my friends & my stream of thoughts from our discussion.

we got on the topic of what classes we were taking and how many credit hours etc.

i told him the classes i was taking and that it equaled 12 credit hours.

he kinda chuckled and said, "oh the bare minimum huh?"

me, being the un-confrontational person i am, and one to not take things offensively or read into things, just kinda chuckled with him and replied, "yeah, i know what i can handle and 12 is about it. *chuckle chuckle'"

note: i tried taking 15 my first spring semester of college & i about died. hence, sticking with my usual 12-13 ish.

second note: i know he didn't mean to be derogatory by any means.

however, it kinda bothered me -- that comment of his: "oh the bare minimum huh?"

um....

who is qualified to make a comment such as that about my life and schedule?

not you,

not he,

not the stranger across the street.

me.

that is the only person.

i know the load that i can bare while still staying somewhat sane.

especially where i have a high demanding church calling which requires lots of imagination, creativity, planning, time, project managing, etc. 

with my job i work nearly 30 hours a week, 

volunteer at an assisted living facility for one of  my classes and for personal experience every week, 

am required to attend x-amount of college functions for school credit,

do i even need to document the studying, reading, studying, memorizing, and the (now) restricted social life because of all of the above.

so yes, i proudly say to you Universe, that i PROUDLY am "only enrolled with 12 credit hours."

deal with it.

and if you have the audacity to say such a thing as this to anyone,

think again.

hospital tour

for one of my classes we got to have a tour of the hospital.

it was so cool!

we got to go to the helicopter pad and see inside Life Flight,

we got to see the trauma room in the ER,

checked out the CT Scan & the MRI area's,

didn't go into, but checked out the NICU.

it was just so neat.

really really.

i am excited to pursue my degree in hospital administration.

i wish that i had thicker skin & a tougher stomach to be a nurse,

or smart enough to be a doctor or surgeon.

but i'm not either one.

so the office-y stuff will have to suffice.

but who cares!

cuz all in all, i am way excited to keep going this route. :)

night before school

the night before school, amanda and i decided to watch a movie and just veg out.

and that we did.

"He's Just Not That Into You" -- love this movie.

it's crazy to think we are back in school.

it feels good, but it definitely felt great to just relax one last night. :)

29 Degrees

That is how cold it was yesterday.

I wore long pants, thick socks, layers, big sweater, large coat, and hair down to cover my ears.

But since it was super-duper sunny, your car was super warm.

So I would shed my large coat as soon as I got inside my car.

Yes, it was 29 degrees outside...

and that sun roof was WIDE open.

I'm not just saying "open" as in "letting the sun in.".

(Because that is how it is all the time. Never fully closed.)

I mean open-open! 

Like air coming in my car, "open."

and it was oh so glorious. :)

posts

i have posts that are coming.

with starting the 2011 year with jumping into a new semester...life has been a little crazy.

would you like to hear why???

Ok.

I go to my first class (institute), everything is hunky-dory.

Walk to the next building where my next class is (social gerontology) and i flip on the light because obviously i am the first person there. I am getting ready to find a seat and park myself for the next 50 minutes when i look to the board to see this written on the board:

"Class canceled for the semester due to low enrollment."

hmm...and you don't think anyone could have notified us the week before? heck! even the day before would have been nice. so i hurried and ran down to the computer lab in the basement and scrambled to find another class that i could take, that fit my schedule, and helped with my major. it took a few times because it wouldn't let me register at first...but i finally got the one class dropped and registered for a different one. ready for what it is? 

social science microeconomics. 

wowza. im a titch nervous. and i am one of maybe 5 girls in the class of...30. which makes me intimidated.

it shouldn't.

but it does.

then i am also taking a psychology class -- intimate relationships. which will be fun.

human biology. this class is interesting but it almost makes me nervous to touch my body, and sing, and listen to music for fear of damaging myself! sheesh!

p.s. did you know that 80% of the dust in your house is dead skin?

it is.

health professions is my last class. i think this class will be interesting and informative. at least i surely do hope so. im hoping it helps solidify what i am going into.

here's to spring semester! :)

p.s. i am not even through the first week and i am already exhausted. is that possible??

So far...

(apparently I never posted this one...so let me do so now!)

this semester is fantastic! 

i love my classes.

im making new friends in those classes.

i love my singles branch.

im making new friends there also.

i love my job.

im making new friends there too.

i am so happy with my life right now.
i know that the decisions i have made,
the decisions i am making are the ones He is approving of.

"time of your life"

im trying to live up to that.

my quote for life now?

let me share with you...

"chances are waiting to be taken, 

and I can see, 

chances are the fascination. 

chances won't escape from me. 

chances are only what we make them, 

and all i need."

- five for fighting