So long sweet summer..

Ahh, I suck at this blog thing. I only have one follower though so it's like i'm talking to myself anyway. Summer is almost over and next week it's back to school. I'm really not looking forward to moving back, or the work load. However, I am a little excited to decorate. I'm not sure where the summer went. I feel like it was gone in literally the blink of an eye. My summer consisted of total relaxation. I went to the beach, swam in our pool, visited family in Tennessee, and celebrated a milestone birthday for my mom. I decided to not work this summer because, let's face it, i'll have the rest of my life to work, and ironically enough i'm ready for that. They say college should be one of the best chapters of your life; I disagree. College has been a struggle for me, no doubt. I haven't made tons of life long friends, I haven't gone out on weekdays to get hammered, I haven't gotten involved with anything on campus. College isn't what I thought it would be. To me, it's just a lot of hard work and dedication. I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life. I'm ready to graduate, find a job, and start making money. And as much as I love both of my parents, i'm ready to get my first place as well (I cannot wait to decorate!). I'm also ready to start talking about marriage. I've been with my boyfriend for 4 years in November. I know he is the one and i've known about 3 years ago. I want nothing more than to start a future with him. Although I need an education, I can't wait to get it over with and move on already! Can someone just hand me my degree? I'll be a Junior this year at school. If I figured it out correctly, I should be able to graduate in December of 2013, which is technically just a semester early. I wish this was my last year, but I have to just keep pushing through. Once I graduate, i'm not sure what my plans will consists of. Before I get a job I sort of want to travel, since they say that's really the best time to do so is right out of school.  I haven't really decided though where i'd want to travel. Anywhere beautiful sounds good to me. Well as summer is sadly ending, it's making me excited for the holidays already, which reminds me that I have a whole semester to get through before I can enjoy Christmas; how sucky. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable summer off, and if you weren't off, I hope you enjoyed the summer weather!

Take Care,

Maria

I MUST share. I'm sorry for those of you who aren't religious and follow my blog, but i'm a Christian and I just need to share my experiences with someone. As you know from before, I'm struggling with one of my major classes. I needed a C in my stats class to take the next level. Well, the last take home test that was only worth 15 points I did not complete, because I seriously had no idea how to do it. I put my faith and trust in God to pass me with a C. Him and I both know how hard I worked in this class, and he's never let me down before. Well I just got an email for my stats professor saying how she doesn't have my take home test and without it I would get a D in the course. My heart sank. I knew I didn't turn in the assignment, and I am already home for the summer; too late now. Part of me thought of emailing her back and telling her, "Of course I turned it in, i'm not sure why you haven't come across it." But that's not me. After realizing that I screwed myself over, I decided to not email her at all. It wasn't like me to lie so instead I sat and reflected for a bit. It then hit me that I was indeed being tested. My faith was being tested. It's almost like that email from my professor was the devil in disguise trying to get me to crack and lose faith. Well let me tell you, my God is good, and I knew right away that email wasn't of God. I know my God, and my God has never ever let me down. I felt very at peace after I read the email a second time to my parents almost like I didn't believe it, or that I knew I had nothing to worry about. As I was telling my boyfriend about the email we both began looking online to see if a D was acceptable. Of course, grad schools aren't going to be happy with a D, but I wanted to see if I absolutely needed to retake this class before I moved on to the next level. Indeed, a minimum of a D is needed to move on to the next course. I just figured since it was for my major that I needed a C or better. However, my boyfriend told me that he's pretty sure I only need a D, because for his major classes, some say a C or better. Even if I do have to retake this class, the final grades are not up yet. I've always been taught that God works in mysterious ways and that I was not to question him. Maybe God will work his ways and i'll end up getting that C. Maybe only needing a D was his way of making sure I pass. Regardless, I'm keeping my faith in my God. I decided to look up some bible verses for tough times and keeping faith. I came across a blog that had this verse from James 1:2-3, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."That verse couldn't of come at a more perfect time. The devil is under my feet and I will continue to keep my faith in God, no matter what gets thrown at me. Tonight i've learned that it is so important to realize when your faith is being tested, and to always keep your faith strong. The enemy wants you to curl up and give up. DON'T GIVE UP. DON'T BE DISCOURAGED! God is good!

Maria

Now playing: Walk By Faith-Jeremy Camp

Whew! Just got done taking my last final. I'm officially a junior in college! Although i'm pretty sure I failed my stats final i'm so happy that this semester is finally over with! All of my test are out of my hands and into God's, and i'm so thankful for that. For now, i'll try to relax and hopefully get some packing done. I move back home tomorrow evening and I couldn't be more excited. Ever since I moved away from home I've become extremely close with my parents. I couldn't love them more even if I tried. I'm excited to mainly sleep in my own bed with my dogs and have home cooked meals(i'm currnently living off rice packets til tomorrow!) If college has taught me anything it's that there really is no place like home. College has also taught me that sometimes running on only 3 hours of sleep could give you the most energy. Last semester I stayed up late to study for a final. I had a total of about 3 hours of sleep, maybe 3 and a half. I figured after class I would pass out, however, I did the exact opposite. I cleaned my whole apartment and packed for Christmas vacation until late when my parents picked me up. I had more energy on 3 hours of sleep than I ever have on 8. Maybe this doesn't work for everyone, but it sure did work for me. I think napping would of messed up my sleep schedule anyway, because when I nap I nap for hourssss. Overall, I'm so thankful for this past academic year. My grades might not of been so great, but my fall semester I became close with my parents, and my spring semester I met some awesome friends. I wouldn't trade how things worked out, because i've learned and i've grown. I hope all you college kids out there are having luck with your finals and are trying to take it easy. For now, I'm going to relax and maybe play some Sims3 to unleash my inner nerd! Take care!

Maria

Good Afternoon!
Look at me, keeping up with my blog and all! I just wanted to write to get some stress off of my chest. My stats final is tomorrow and i've been stressing out pretty good over it. When I say stress I mean everytime I woke up last night I felt sick about my final. We have a take home test that is due right before the test, and I have no clue how to do it. I've never been good at math, ever, so it's easy for me to become discouraged. The take home test is only worth 15 points, so I decided to set it aside and try to collect my thoughts. This semester of college has been tough for me. In the majority of my classes I've studied really hard for about 6 or 7 hours and ended up with bad test grades. Talk about being discouraged. One day I decided to not study for a test, because the previous 2 exams I studied hard for, and thought I did well and ended up getting a D. So at that time I went about my night watching Ghost Hunters instead of studying; at this point I was over the class. Get this, I ended up getting a C on that test! And in another class I kept getting a C on exams, so I stopped studying for the last test and got a B! It's crazy but I guess all along i've been trying too hard. So as finals apporach rather quickly(tomorrow!)I've decided to stop stressing and start living. There's so much more to life than stressing over things that you can't control. I stood looking out my front door this morning pondering about life. If I don't get a C as a final grade in my stats class, I'll have to retake the class because it's for my major. However, I decided to not let it stress me out. So this morning I came to terms that everything really does happen for a reason. It's so important to me that I put all of my trust in that and into God. I thought to myself, Ya know, if I have to retake this class maybe it's for a reason, maybe i'm not ready for the next level of this class. It's out of my hands now. I took the stress out of my heart and mind and gave it to Christ this morning, and I felt a wave of peace after I did so. I'm always someone who tends to stress and worry about things I can't control. However, as a Christian, I'm learning to let go of that because it's no way to live life. You must stop dwelling on the past, and you must stop stressing over things you cannot control. Give your trust to God. Let him fight it for you. Letting go of things gives you a kind of freedom no one can take away from you; inner peace. Here's a favorite quote of mine from Robert Frost about life:

Maria

Hello anyone and everyone!
I know I said that I was going to keep up with this blog and I'm already slacking! Go figure. However, I promise, promise, promise to try and keep up with it. It's finals week so between getting last minute assignments done, and trying to pack up my apartment I've been rather busy. I wanted to get on here mainly to share a new cookie I stumbled upon. So as I was finishing up a paper this morning I realized that our house contains no sweets. This is a huge issue because my dad and I have the biggest sweet tooth. I knew we didn't have any kind of chocolate(or so I thought)so chocolate chip cookies were out of the question. I started to think of the household items I already have and that's when it sparked my mind. Sixlets Cookies! My family and I had some leftover Sixlets from Easter that no one was touching. I thought, why not make Sixlets cookies? So I quickly looked up a chocolate chip cookie recipe and replaced the chips with Sixlets. For those of you who aren't familiar with Sixlets (and boy I hope you are!) they are little candy coated chocolate balls; they're delicious! So as I started making my cookies I realized I didn't have any brown sugar. Sigh. So I began looking up recipes for cookies without brown sugar. Unfortunately the only alternative was molasses, which I also didn't have. So I decided to take a risk and just not use brown sugar. Ready for this? They turned out great! At least my family and I think so. Who would of thought? The cookies did come out a bit on the soft/doughy side, but who doesn't like soft cookies? Once they cooled they became firmer and delicious. I'll post the recipe below with a picture of my Sixlets cookies. Give them a try, they're rather tasty!

Maria

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup of white sugar

2 eggs 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup of Sixlets candy

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and bake for 10-11 minutes

Feel free to add chocolate chips to make for a chunkier cookie! Also, if your dough seems rather sticky and thin, add more flour to thicken the consistency.

Enjoy!

So here it is! My first post on my first ever blog. I'm not sure how these things really work, but an old friend of mine suggested it. I've tried a live journal before but had no followers; it was like talking to myself. For anyone out there reading this, I hope you'll continue to follow my blog, as I hope to keep up with it myself. I'm into photography so keep an eye out for some pictures in the future! Also, i'm big into crafts and DIY projects, so keep an eye out for some fun, creative things as well! Other than photos and crafts, i'll be blogging about, well, whatever comes to my mind I guess! Is that how these things work? 


I figured this would be the perfect time to start my blog considering I'm almost done with my second year of college. I can't even believe i'm saying that; my second year of college is over with. Feels like just yesterday I was starting my long, educational journey. Finals are next week and then i'm free at last! I'm a psychology major, so be expecting some words of wisdom every so often. I promise not to bore you! I'll try not to at least...Anyway, I hope whoever is out there reading this will continue to follow my blog and be inspired. And since this is my first blog ever bare with me! Advice in the comment section is welcome to help me get moving with my blog. So long for now!

                                                                             Maria