Homecoming...

Well, I'm back. Oh, and I'm a college graduate.

......

I still don't know what I think about this end of a chapter in my life. On one hand, I feel like it couldn't have come too soon, yet, on the other...I feel like it ended before it even began. I've been in school since I was five and now it's all over (unless I choose to pursue a Masters) and I'm really not sure what to do with myself.

I know I'll be writing and working, (and gaming) of course, but for some reason I feel like I should have more of a plan than that. I still don't even know if I'll get a job right away, but I do know that I need the money. (wedding, anyone?) But still...I feel like there should be even more than that.

Perhaps I'm seeking to fill a hole that lack of school will leave behind. Maybe I just don't know what to do with all my free time. I'm still not sure. However, I look forward--as always--to the lessons God has for me.

I'm always up for a journey.

Answers to Prayer

Well, first, I got to Florida safely, though it felt at times that the airport was doing its best to keep me in Maryland. After about 6 hours in airports/airplanes, I arrived in Pensacola and after a short taxi drive, I came to college for my last semester. I discovered during the drive that taci drivers are crooks and I am so thankful for my own car to go into town while I'm at college.

Second, I got to hang out with some of my friends while I waited for my wonderful Jeremy to get off work, and take a nap. But even better; one of my friends helped me find my room and I discovered that the LORD answered Laura's and my prayers about our room.

1. We are together!
2. We will both hopefully have bottom bunks!
3. We got an end room!

God is so good.

Third, I fully enjoyed my weekend with the Brewer family, and I was so excited to be able to cook a meal for them this time around. My spaghetti was accepted with much compliments. We watched a few good movies and Jeremy and I got to relax together for the first time in three months; it was wonderful.

To all of you out there who followed me this summer, thanks, it's been fun! I won't be blogging again until December, but you will all be in my thoughts and prayers. God bless and happy school years for those of you whom that affects!

Oh the Deviousness of Me!

So, tonight is my last night in Maryland and I had a secret. A secret I managed to hide from my mother all week up until the moment it was sprung. She will be celebrating her birthday on Saturday, and since I would not be here, my dad and I decided we would celebrate before I left. All day today, she thought I was preparing some food for a going-away party for myself tonight after church...little did she know that the party was for her.

We left our house early to pick up some random things, and along the way, I convinced her that my dad had talked me into a going-away party, and together we bought some cake and ice cream and sherbet for punch. When we got to church, I made her sit with the other ladies and quickly put the cake and ice cream out on the tables, quickly writing her name on the cake with some icing and food coloring I had snuck into my bag.

Well, she was surprised, and teased me about being a brat, but I know she was happy. This was the first birthday I was able to celebrate with her since I started college and I'm so glad we could do it together this September. I love you, Mom!

A Letter

To Whom it May Concern,

My upcoming departure for college is steadily growing closer, and I find that my feelings are bittersweet. I want to be with my fiance and all my friends, and yet I know already I will miss the freedoms I get to enjoy at home. But...it is my last semester, and I am ready to be done with college. The next fifteen weeks will be good, I can feel it, and God is always good.

Tonight, I said good-bye to most of the people at my church and got to spend some time with Neicy. I'm going to miss her a lot; I wish we could have talked some more. But I plan on keeping in touch, as well as with my otherfriends I'll be away from.

Sometimes, I wish that good-byes weren't necessary; that everyone could be together all the time. But then...well, I guess we would start getting tired of each other. You have to be apart from the ones you love to truly appreciate them, and fall in love with them all over again. So in the end, I guess this time apart can be a good thing, as long as I look at it that way.

Well, I'm not sure if I'll be back on here before I go back to school, but to all my friends and loved ones, I'll see you soon!

Love
~Nichole

Two More Weeks...

Well, in two short weeks, I will be returning to college to finish my last undergraduate semester, and I am pretty excited. I am so ready to see my wonderful fiance and spend what time I can with him! And I cannot wait to see all my friends! I also cannot wait to be back on schedule again; I get so much more done that way.

Last week, I went on vacation with my family and my mother's parents to Myrtle Beach, SC. It was a bit of a trial once in a while, but we managed to have fun. One of my cousin's got married, and we thoroughly enjoyed celebrating with the whole family.

The pictures below are of the beach where we stayed.

This last picture also includes a poem I wrote while watching the sunrise.

With the wind barely kissed by the dawn

a pale light blushes in the eastern sky;

it turns the gray a blooming rose

as the neverending waves break the shore.

It seems such a simple thing:

the reoccuring rising of the sun,

and yet it is unlike any other,

for this one I deemed to watch.

I watched as the sky was painted,

gilded gold with unseen Holy fingers:

as the water tinged a soft blue-gray

by the sweeping of the gentlest hands.

As the clouds were stained a golden pink

while their backs still cling to nighttime's shadow.

Never before was this landscape fashioned

in a portrait such as this.

This, this is the one and only sunset of its kind.

there will never be another like it in the world.

Family Fun

I just had the privilege of spending the last 9 days with my future sister-in-law, Dakota. We had a very busy, very fun week! Dakota is younger than me by a little over 6 years, but we have quite a few things in common. Other than running around doing errands for both my parents, I got to take Dakota to several of my favorite restaurants around town, such as: Chick-fil-A, Red Hot and Blue, and Hibachi.

We also got to go to King's Dominion, though we had a bit of a wild goose chase. I completely forgot to print off the tickets until we were 5 minutes away from the park. I quickly asked my brother to use his Droid to find the closest public library and we drove the small town of Ladysmith until we found the library. 40 cents later, we were headed back to the park, this time with tickets in hand.

Other than that, Dakota and I decided to just relax. We watched several movies, including Miyazaki's newest amazing movie: Ponyo. We also played some video games and did some writing. All in all, I had a really fun time with my new little sister.

I hope you have a good school year, Dakota, and I can't wait until we get to hang out again!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

So, after watching many cooking shows, I felt the urge to do some baking myself. I love red velvet cake and I love cupcakes, so I decided to make red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing, all from scratch.

The cupcakes did not turn out as good as I wanted. I ended up cooking them a little too long, so they're a bit dry, but the icing is absolutely delicious! I added my own variations to a recipe I found online, and I love the results that I got.

Here are a few pics of my first attempt at "gourmet cupcakes".

My cream cheese icing is as follows:

1/2 Cup of butter (softened)
2 8oz. package of cream cheese (softened)
2 1/4 Cup of confectioner's sugar
2 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon Almond extract
3 dash of cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
Add confectioner's sugar gradually.
Add extract and cinnamon and nutmeg.
Place in refridgerator until ready to use.

Now I found that the icing tasted a little too much like cream cheese, but if you like cream cheese, then that is fine. The next time I make this icing, I will try it with 1 8oz. package and go from there.

Well, I hope you all enjoy the cupcakes as much as my family and I did!

Roanoke Road Trip Last Day

Well, my brother's and my vacation is finally over, but we did have lots of fun.

We left the Feazelle's a little after 1 o'clock, and quickly realized that the trip home would be far from fun. I hit traffic almost 20 minutes onto I-81 that lasted for another 20 minutes. Josh and I both hoped that would be the last of the traffic, but an hour and a hald later, after we paused in Strausburg for an early dinner at Burger King and to fill up on gas, we hit another round of traffic. This time we inched forward 8 miles in 30 minutes.

Frustrated and growing more and more stiff, I had Josh look for an alternative route--which proved to be just as frustrating. But after another 2 hours of driving around Alexandria dn Baltimore, I made it to Waldorf in time to drop Josh off at music practice for church. Then, I finally made it home around 7:30 where I promptly fell asleep on the couch which is where Mom and Dad found me.

Now, I'm watchin TV with my mom and waiting for her to go to bed so I can play some vidoe games. All in all, I'm completely drained, but Josh's and my first road-trip vacation was a sucess! May the next one go just as well.

Here are some pictures from the cookout yesterday.

Roanoke Road Trip Day 3

So, I'm sitting on the couch with the Feazelle's as they look through old yearbooks and my brother rocks out to Guitar Hero. I've got my mug of chocolate milk and I am ready to update.

I got another late start today...but what else is vacation for? After my pick-me-up mug of chocolate milk, I went donwstairs to see what everone else was up to. They were watching TV, and I did not have a problem sitting on my butt and doing nothing, so I joined them. We watched soem animal saving show...then a show called DC Cupcakes which just so happens to be near my brother and I back at home, so it was really cool to see that.

When T.R. showed up at 3 o'clock after work, we all started getting ready for a cookout at his aunt and uncles. We ledt the house at 4:15 and drove for half an hour, getting there in time for prayer and jumping in line. And today, for the first time ever, I ate turtle. Snapping turtle to be exact. And even more surprising, I liked it. It tasted like a cross between chicken and turkey.

See video below:

We left after tackling....well, I'll let you see that one for yourself too.

We got home around 8:30. Now, I'm still watching Josh play Guitar hero, and I am planning on going to bed way earlier than 2 o'clock. Tomorrow is the last day of our vacation, but I had a really good time, even if it was short. Church tomorrow, then headed home around 1:30.

But that isn't until tomorrow, so until then...I'm gonna rock!

Roanoke Road Trip Day 2

Well, I didn't have time to blog last night, so we'll just pretend I did, shall we?

After waking up late (what else would I do on vacation?) we had a cup of coffee and headed out to the Wenie Stand for hot dogs, fries, and soda. After a quick tour around the square's bazaar, we went back home and hung around the house until around 4 o'clock. Whem T.R. had to go to work, Erica, my brother, and I went out to David's Bridal to pock up Erica's bridesmaid dress for the wedding she will be in September. Then we headed to the mall.

We stopped in several stores, including my all-time favorite, Barnes&Noble. While my brother and I looked at some manga and other books. Erica found a recipe book for easy rice dinners. We then went to American Eagle (Josh's favorite store) and he bought some clothes. He even bought me a very cute dress and cardigan which I plan to wear to church very soon. I picked up a cami and a white skirt at Charlotte Ruse, then we headed to the grocery store.

While at the grocery store, Josh and Erica and I to crack up several times with his normal weird antics. He even chased me down a couple of aisles! When we finally picked up all the ingredients we needed, plus the ingredients I need for omelets for Sunday, we went back home to start dinner for T.R. and us.

Dinner was an exciting affair, because Erica and I used her brand-new cookbook to make Chicken Carbonara Risotto. To find out more about our attempt, check out Erica's new blog: efeazelle.blogspot.com

Then, we stayed up until a little after midnight watching random TV shows. Josh and I stayed up until 2 watching Criminal Minds, but after the second episode, I did not want to watch anmore, so I headed up to bed.

One more full day! Night, everyone!

Roanoke Road Trip Day 1 Part 2

Well, we made it to Roanoke safely after a 5 hour drive, putting us in at the Feazelles a little after 3 o'clock. Josh and I enjoyed the drive; I did all the driving; Josh slept for about an hour. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch, then quickly hit the road again.

Once we reached the Feazelles, we took a quick tour of the house for Josh's sake, then sat around the kitchen table and chilled for a while. Their 7 pets all welcomed us with welcome paws.

Around 4:30, we headed out into town and Erica took us to Bubblecake for some cupcakes. Not only were they very tasty, the store was cute! Hopefully I can upload the pictures from my phone. With supcakes in store, we then headed up to the Roanoke Star--a 10,000 pound steel star fixture that is over 80 feet tall. YOu can see it at the top of Mill Mountain, and at night, it is lit up and you can see it throughout the entire town. After some pictures, we headed back to the house for some more down time.

At 6:30, we headed back into town and stopped for dinner at the "Texas Tavern" --a tiny hole-in-the-wall burger joint that seats a grand total of 10. But the food is good and the service is friendly. After that, we took a short detour through the city to find a Gamestop, because unfortunately, I forgot Rockband 2 at the house. After hitting 4 different Gametops, we finally found a store that carried the game and we headed home to play.

Right now, we are playing Raving Rabbids for the Wii, a somewhat hilarious games that all of us can play at once. But I can hear my guest bed calling my name, and I will probably answer the call soon. Hope everyone's day was just as fun and eventful as mine!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's events as well, and hopefully, more pictures!

Roanoke Road Trip Day 1 Part 1

Well, it is almost 9 o'clock, and my brother is still abed.

I want to be on the road in the next half hour, so I'm going to have go and "persuade" him out of bed. We are heading to Roanoke today to visit some friends. It is about a 5 hour drive, so that puts us in Roanoke at about 1:30-2. I will post later about the trip and maybe have some pictures up of this mini-vacation.

Look out Roanoke, here we come!

Randomness!

So, I had another blog, which you can visit at landofesrail.blogspot.com
but I want to keep that site for my writing. Thus, I have decided to make this blog for all the other random things I do.

Enjoy!