Kansas City thoughts?

Why are my Kansas City friends leaving me?!?
Abby, you had an excuse...i guess i had to allow you to graduate. still sucked though. (and currently sucks). Allyson, YOU HAVE NO EXCUSES! you can't just leave. if you leave i will have no friends here left from freshman small group! What is so great about Kansas City? pfft. Fine. just leave, just LEAVE!

alright...needed to get that out.

Speaking of what is so great about Kansas City...guess who will find out in 2 weeks!!!!! MEEEEE!! and guess who I will be visiting there?! ANNE FREAKIN SHELLUM! KHRKHGKA;LHDFGKJDHAFKH *peeing my pants/crying tears in happiness!!!!* The details are still in the works, but I will be getting the "disney experience" while skipping about 3 days of school oops! at the end of March. And she might be able to come here for 2 days to see mizzou and come to class with me! i wanna cry just thinking about it..haha. I painted my nails purple tonight with glitter--made me think of you anne (horrible color choices for funsies). Okay so i just burst in anger and then happiness...am i bipolar? bye! :) Katie

Plato's Closet

It is 3:03am i realize, but i napped allll day because it was raining allll day which everyone knows makes for great naps! So I'm pretty awake right now and haven't blogged in awhile. I thought I'd share this writing assignment I had to do for my News Writing class. We had to go somewhere we've never been before and write a description of it--to practice our "description writing." I had always seen cute styles sported from this place called Plato's Closet. It's a clothing exchange store here. Carla and I decided to go there on Valentine's day...nothin' else to do!! So here is the end product: p.s. I got an A+ :)

Walking into Plato’s closet for the first time is like walking into a girl’s closet, but not just any girl—a girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder. There are racks of used clothes everywhere, perfectly organized by color so the store is essentially one giant rainbow. The red clothes fade into the orange clothes, the orange clothes fade into the yellow clothes. Bits of other colors peek out and break up the solidarity of each section. The smell of fresh cigarette smoke hits me as I walk up and down the rows of clothes. It’s coming from the woman browsing the jeans selection next to me. Many women search for the ideal bargain with their small children running freely throughout the store. I take a minute and ponder how the sections are set up. Simple “S”, “M” and “L” tags are sparsely scattered throughout the racks. I want to grab everything because it’s all so cheap, yet I don’t want to touch anything because I don’t know where it’s been—used clothing can be a bit of a surprising adventure. Finding jaw dropping outdated styles, scratchy fabrics, and unidentified stains are all among the discoveries waiting to be uncovered in a store like Plato’s closet. I begin in the jeans section. The hangers screech as I push the crowded bundle of jeans back along the rack to allow space to sort through them. There are so many outdated styles that I quickly flip through them earning me an intense workout. My right bicep is burning as I make it halfway down the long rack. A little girl runs past me and stops to stare in awe at my arm full of jeans. The heavy denim is weighing my arm down so much that I feel like it’s going to snap off. After trying on my clothes in the dressing room I discover that overwhelmingly cheap stores with extreme variety in their selection are too good to be true. Out of all of the clothes I tried on, I only decided to purchase a loose-fit “Grandpa sweater.” The navy blue, Lacoste brand sweater would normally sell for over a hundred dollars, but Plato’s closet sold it to me for a mere $12. The unique thing about this clothing exchange store is that upon entering, you get the sense that it is highly organized and clean. “Wow, this must be an upscale used clothing store! Not like those dirty ones I’ve been to in the past!” I think to myself. It even has comfy leather chairs by the dressing rooms. Quickly enough though, I realize used clothing is used clothing and whether it’s organized in a beautiful rainbow or a sprawled out in a sloppy mess, it all offers the same experience—high hopes for a bargain in the beginning, a little disgust and disappointment in the middle and a unique find for a steal price in the end.

My "unique find for a steal price"! :)

I GOT A JOB!!!

You are reading the blog of an official "Evening Exam Proctor for the Disability Services Office at the University of Missouri" :) :) :) Yay! okay, this normally is not a big deal except 1. I've been looking for a job for 2 months and have applied everywhere.. and 2. this is like the most perfect job for me ever! I will be giving mostly ADD students their tests at night in the Disability Services office. I will just set them up with their test and then I monitor them in an office on a screen to see if they're cheating. But while i'm in the office I can study or go on the computer or eat! So great :) I work alone in the office too...the entire disability services office will be run by me at night...haha oh geez! responsibility! I'm soo excited though. On top of the job seeming totally awesome and chill, it pays really well!! all i gotta say is praise jesus because i went from applying at DOMINOES pizza hahah to better than i could imagine job--and i haven't even started yet. I will work between 5 and 10 Monday through Thursday (When evening exams are offered). So no weekends or late nights or early mornings...I could go on forever, but I won't. so praise jesus for this job yeah!? Actually, I WILL praise jesus for this job because i've got Gospel Choir tonight 8) yessss. :D

Katie

gifts from a creative genius

Who might this creative genius be?? Her name is Abby Thomason and you could call her Martha Stewart--but better cuz she wouldn't go to jail. Abby was my bible study leader freshman year of college and we've been bff's ever since! :) Sadly, Abby graduated this past December and I miss her so0o0o much! She has always been such a great role model and friend to me so it's really sad that I can't call her up anymore to hang out and have long conversations about the women we want to be! :( <3 love that. Anyway, last year, Abby made me a beautiful Christmas present...a knitted hat! yeah, who knows how to knit?! Abby. I was reading her blog last week and she wrote about these super cute flower hair pins she was making! So crafty!! (cough like joanna cuamba crafty cough). In her blog Abby was like "who wants one!?" so greedy little me is all like "UMM I DO!" so0o0o she made me two white ones! :D The best part is, she's coming to Columbia this week so I will get the special delivery in person!! YAY! Did I mention Abby loves to bake and wants to go to pastry school so she can open her own bakery!?!?! like I said, creative genius. Here are some pics of the handmade hat and the flowers she's going to give me! :) i'm so lucky.

Cute little hair flowers! I can't wait to wear them...She's already proving they can be rocked in curly hair :)





knitted hat! I try...

Katie goes to the hospital...

So two nights ago at 3 in the morning i was having pressure all of a sudden in my chest. I had to put in effort to take in big breaths. It felt like someone was pressing on my chest and when I would breathe out, it felt like my chest would keep exhaling until in caved in. It was really scared and at 3 in the morning you get kind of paranoid that you're gonna die! So I called the mayo clinic 24 hour nurse line to talk to someone:) haha I didn't want to wake anyone in case it was, in fact, nothing. Then I called my mom after the nurse told me she would suggest I go to the E.R. She said that'd be safest so we could rule out "heart problems" (scary!). So I called my mom and she calmed me to sleep. The next day the pressure was on and off all day...I was planning on ignoring it until I went to gospel choir practice and singing like HURT my chest. I got worried and it was only 8pm so I figured I should just get it checked out. My wonderful roommate and bff4lyfe Bianca walked with me a block to the University Hospital. (How convenient right?). At the E.R. they immediately hooked me up to an EKG machine which has lots of wires and stickers on your body and tracks your heart rate. I felt like a science experiment...especially when i have a grad student running this on me...a GUY grad student that put stickers all over my CHEST! soo awkward anddd funny because Bianca witnessed it all. "hey aren't cha gonna buy her dinner first?" was what bianca was thinking...she told me. anywho, after that, they drew blood! UMM i don't do needles...I don't donate blood during mizzou blood drives on account of alllll the pale white weakling sorority girls i see collapse in dining halls during blood drive week. no thank you. but with Bianca's hand in mine...(sorry i sweated all over you girl) i did it and it was only a pinch! :) After that they decided to give me an X-Ray. Oh did I mention she inserted an IV into my arm!? like whaaaa? i'm only here for chest pain! I did not realize the E.R. ran soo differently/more serious than normal doctor. After all this, Bianca and I waited for like an hour in the room just cracking jokes to pass the time.(We might have sang a couple choir songs softly..) She even got on some blue rubber gloves and blew into a white rubber glove to turn it into a balloon...so mature. Then after the wait, my man doctor comes in and says "I have no idea what's wrong with you, but it's nothing terrible. Your tests turned out fine." YAY! I asked him if he would think it was anxiety and he said he didn't think so...he thinks I just injured myself somehow...I blame big laundry baskets. This did not feel like pain though, but pressure soo strained muscles must be different in your chest. We got to go home and now I still have the pressure in my chest as I write this but at least I can take comfort in knowing it's not something horrible! And hey, got a mini adventure out of it right?! Here's a couple pics Bianca snagged on her phone...

Me as a human science experiment... wires everywhere!


Admiring the heart monitor...so grey's anatomy..

Changes

Just a quick post before bed! I have decided to leave Young Life leadership. I have many reasons for this but the bottom line is--I gotta figure myself out apart from that ministry and I'm totally confident that is what God wants me to do right now! :) I'm very peaceful about my decision and have learned sooo much in the past year and a half doing YL in college. I've learned so much about MYSELF! Oh my goodness. I see purpose in e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. This is one of those things that I needed to let go of to go down a new and exciting path with God leading the way! I am so grateful for all of the people that allowed me to talk through this decision with them over the past two months. You are all amaaazing and I love how supportive of me you all are. God's going to grow me big time this upcoming year. I just had my first official bible study of the semester tonight and I'm excited a few new girls are joining including Emily Spain :) We are looking at the book "Counterfeit Gods" by Tim Keller. I am excited to go through this book because it's soo relatable to everyday life and I think this group of girls is truly seeking to learn what this book has to offer.

Don't ever get comfortable. Don't ever be too comfortable to move to the next place God wants you. A guest pastor yesterday at church spoke about God's timing (perfect right?) and said, "God says 'Don't be afraid' right before he makes big changes in your life." What peace he provides!

Katie