College Reflection - 1 month in

Good day to all of you lovely internet people! I hope that you are having a fantastic weekend so far! If you want some advice (granted, this is coming from an 18 year old, so take it as you will), enjoy these moments; enjoy the moments when life stands still, when you laugh until your belly hurts, when you are really LIVING in the moment.

So, that's my Sunday suggestion to all of you! (Maybe that'll be a future blog post! Oooooo! Wouldn't that be fun?!?!)

However, my main goal was not to give you some valuable life advice (Ya know what's really funny about that? (Okay, I think it's funny.) Here I am, an 18 year old who has been sheltered for a majority of her life giving life advice to her blog followers. Doesn't it make you chuckle? No? All right, that's just me then...) I wanted to let you know about how to college life is treating me.

As I led to tell you earlier, it was off to a rough start. I thought that I could handle being in a new school, new city, new state, new life on my own. I didn't realize how desperately I wanted to have a friend from home with me. And it was hard. I thought I was strong enough, but I don't even know how many times I just kind of lost it and would break down crying. (By the way, I'm a crier if you didn't know. I cry at anything and everything. Weddings, movies, books, puppies, you name it and I cry.) I would call my parents and hearing their voices would make me tear up, or I'd get a text from a close friend, or I'd see Facebook pictures...Yea...Long story short: I cried often.

But, honestly, it was hard. And it kinda still is.

Eventually I had had enough and I decided to do something with my life. So I did. I met some super nice girls on my floor who I do enjoy popping my head in and saying hi. I started to be more social and accessed my inner-extrovert. I joined clubs. I met random kids. I invited people to sit with me at meals. I started making connections with people who I sort of knew and developed the relationships into real friendships. (I also met another girl who is also the only one from a large high school that came here. And she's from Minnesota. We get along swimmingly and she's probably my closest friend here!)

(Plus, my Welcome Week guides and my peer advisor are totally awesome and I so owe them for everything they did for me!)

And although I made progress, it's still challenging and I still get homesick. I talk to my siblings on the phone and they already sound so much older than they were a month ago. My grandparents call me and it hurts knowing they're so far away. And my dog...Oh man, do I miss my dog. (Funny  side-note: I make my family hold the phone to his ear when I'm talking to them. I don't know if it does anything, but I hope it lets him know that I miss him.)

I text one of my best friends everyday and we always are texting or sharing funny stories. We video-chat not nearly as often as we should and talk on the phone every once in a while. It just kinda reminds you how different your life is now.

Moving on to the academic aspect of college...It's hard. Not like I thought, though. I'm taking 1-2 more credits than recommended (ooppps) and a couple of my classes are more challenging than I originally thought. It's good, though. I turned in a big paper on Friday and took two exams as well, so I'm really, REALLY hoping that I did well on them.

And as much as I love this school...I'm filled with doubts, too. (Not about this school, but more about me.) Being undecided (undeclared, multi-interested, exploring, whatever you wanna call it) sucks. A lot. I hate being uncertain. It's such a bummer listening to your peers talk about their major: "I'm going into business." "I'm going into education." "I'm going into nursing!" "I'm undecided." (Yup...Kinda sucks.)

(Jeez, sorry. This post took a total down-turn...) I'm trying to process all of it and decide what I want to do with my future and part of it includes questioning if I even belong here. Like, should I even be in college? I worked my butt off to get here, but should I be here in the first place? So, yea. Still a complete bummer and it just kinda puts a sour taste in your mouth.

So, moving onto a happier topic, this weekend was Parents' Weekend. Yay! My parents made the 4 hour trek to come see their favorite child. They came in Friday evening and we went out to breakfast Saturday, went to the football game, went shopping for a little, ate dinner together, went back to the hotel and hung out, and spent the morning/early afternoon together as well. It was so nice just being with my parents and I realized how much that I really missed them. (It totally sucked saying goodbye and I teared up (shocker).) But! I get to go home for Fall Break in a little under a month and I'm very excited.

All in all...This isn't bad. I do love it. I've met some great friends here and am enjoying myself. I gotta keep up my positive attitude and work my butt off. I'll figure out what to do with my life...eventually.

Love,

Katie

P.S. And because this post was so heavy, here's a nice picture to give you some inspiration. :)

Inspiration

Hi guys!

I apologize for not taking the time to post and let you know what is going on in the exciting world of Katie. A few of my friends found my blog, so I'm a little curious to see if they actually read it or if they're gonna mock me for having a blog. (They're all just jealous that I have some pretty awesome followers.)

Anyway, I don't have much to report about what's going on in my life-Okay, that's a total lie; I do have much to say, but it's kind of a lot right now so I'm sort of shutting down to allow myself to take it all in. (Unfortunately, having me "shut down" happens more than I'd like to admit and at the worst times possible. It happens when I get really overwhelmed with something and just need some time to absorb what is happening around me.) BUT I am getting better at it and it's happening less frequently, so yay!

So in order for this post to continue to be upbeat and quirky, I'm not gonna talk about college. (I will in the future, though. I have lots of things to share, but I just need time right now to adjust to everything.) Instead I'm gonna give you some inspiration in order to start your week off right! Enjoy!

Love,

Katie

Day 2 Done

Hey guys!

How's it going for all of you in the internet world? (Happy Labor Day, by the way!) Are you guys enjoying the final day of summer? (Sad to think, right?) But I do hope that all of you will look back at the summer of 2014 with nothing but happy memories.

So college is interesting. I've been pretty jammed packed with the stuff the past few days. It wasn't what I thought it would be, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, it is fun; but I'm really tired and not having a good friend here sucks. I'm between wanting to hide out and not be bothered (my inner introvert coming out) to wanting to be social and meet new people (inner extrovert).

BUT! I refuse to be negative about this and will not allow any bad thoughts to enter my mind. It's just challenging and I won't let myself get pissy about it. It's a new obstacle in my life and I will overcome it. :)

It's a beautiful school. I love it. I'm really excited for my classes to start. (Minus the fact that I don't know where they are...But that's another headache.) It'll be another way for me to meet more people. Yay! And the food here is actually pretty good.

My dorm room is cute...ish. It looks really temporary, but I've only been here 2 days, so that's to be expected. I'm gonna spice it up more later.

Anyway, it's been crazy busy the last 2 days! If the goal is keep us busy in order to make us tired and crash hard in the morning, then they are doing a great job. We've been touring the campus, looking for classes, took a Sex Ed and Bystander class...(Don't ask). It's sort of like a summer camp. Lots of students who don't know each other with leaders who treat us like lost puppies. It's not bad, though.

So funny story for today: I saw one of my speech friends who I haven't seen in 2 years. He was in the dorm hall and was talking with another girl on my floor and I walked by and just waited for him to notice me. He waved awkwardly and then his eyes lit up and he gave me this huge hug and then we talked for a little. It was really nice to get that kind of response. :)

I'm crazy tired so I think I'm gonna go to sleep. Have a great Tuesday!

Love,

Katie

Off I go!

Hey guys!

Happy weekend to all of you! I hope you guys are enjoying the last weekend before school starts. Summer just flew by! I know I say that every summer, but this summer went by way, WAY too fast.

Anyway, I have about a million and nine things to do before I leave in 2 hours and only got a few hours of sleep, but I thought that all of you lovely followers deserve a post. :)

It doesn't feel real that I'm actually leaving. It feels like I'm going on a trip for a week or so and will be back soon. I feel like I'm a senior again at my high school. I feel like this is all a dream. But it's not. I'm going to be a freshman in college, in another state, 4 hours away, and know no one. I'm really on my own. (I don't want that to sound like a pity-party, because that's the opposite (and trust me, I know how to throw a proper pity-party); it's a realization that this is actually happening.)

It hasn't really set in that I'm leaving and won't be back home for a few months. After a really great year (the full 12 months), I'm not ready for it to end. As much as I hate change, I need it. We all need it. It's healthy for us to do something new. It allows us to try different stuff and see how far we can really push ourselves. The truth is that if I stay here, then I'm holding myself back. (Oh my goodness, I sound like the girl from the If I Stay movie/book. Which, by the way, DON'T READ OR SEE THE MOVIE.)

I am excited, scared out of my mind, but excited nonetheless. :)

So I have so much to do and I know that this post is really short and really scrappy, but what I really wanted to tell all of you is that I'm leaving my home, my friends, my comfort zone to begin a new chapter in my life.

Send me good vibes please! I'm gonna need it.

Love,

Katie

P.S. I just saw my Welcome Week schedule...Oh, Lordy. That's gonna be the death of me.

Snickerdoodle Bars

Hello (imaginary) friends!

Happy Monday to all of you lovely people. I hope that your weekend was fantastic! :)

Anyway, I have a new recipe for you. Yay! They're called Snickerdoodle Bars! (Now, for those of you who are not Minnesotan, you may be wondering what a "bar" is. A bar is a traditional dessert and there are a variety of recipes. You have lemon bars, raspberry bars, cookie bars, etc. It's a lot easier than making cookies or something that has to be made individually. So, long story short, a bar is a dessert that is put in a large pan to cook and then cut into squares to be served. They're delicious.)

I found this recipe and it's really yummy, but way, WAY too sweet for my taste (and I have a huge sweet-tooth). So I had to do some adjusting to it. I'm hoping that this works for ya, so keep me posted about how it goes and any suggestions you would make to it.

Ingredients
Bar 

• 1 1/2 cups of butter (softened) 
• 1 cup of brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup of white sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt 
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder 
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional) 
• 2 2/3 cups of flour 

Topping

• 1/8 cup of white sugar 
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon 

Directions
Bar

1. Cream butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. 
2. Add eggs, salt, vanilla, and nutmeg into the bowl and mix well. 
3. Add in the baking powder and mix.
4. Gently add in the flour, a little at a time and continue to mix well. 
5. Put dough in a 9x13 greased pan. (You may have to spread it out with your spoon and/or hands to make sure that it covers the entire pan. Don't be afraid to press it down as well if that means that it'll be even.) 
6. Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the bars. 
7. Put them into the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 
8. Le them cool before cutting them. 

Topping

1. Put both sugar and cinnamon into a Tupperware container (with a lid) and shake it. This makes combining the two together a whole lot easier.  
2. Sprinkle over the bars before they go into the oven. (You may have to shake the pan in order to get a nice, even coating, too.) 

Notes

• If you do enjoy the subtle nutmeg flavor in your snickerdoodle cookies, feel free to add it to the bars. I didn't put any in the bars I made because I forgot...Ooooppps.
• I accidentally used baking SODA instead of baking POWDER. My bars ended up raising in the oven and I had a slight panic attack, but then they fell when cooled down. The result was that it was a little more fluffy than the bar I was expecting and had more of a cake texture to it rather than a cookie. 
• One thing I want to try to do is put some of the topping mixture onto the bottom of greased pan. It would make it more like a traditional snickerdoodle. 

That's all I got for you, friends! Lemme know what you think! Enjoy! 

Love, 

Katie 

Fear

Guys!

Guess what?!?!?! I got my new laptop! Her name is Loretta 2.0 and she is amazing! (Granted, I don't really know how to use her much and I still need to customize her to make her look pretty, but other than that, she's great!) Sometimes I press something and a totally new screen or something will come up or a new function will happen and I'll have to figure what I did exactly...And, as you know, I'm not really good at technology at all, but I am determined to understand her without any help (Yes, I don't think that I'll last very long either...). There are so many features on her and I'm so excited to goof around and see everything she does, but I wanna keep her looking nice and pretty, too.

Now that I'm done bragging about Loretta, let's talk about something we all have: fear. Now, c'mon, be honest here; we all have fears. It could be fear of needles, sharks, feet, you name it. It's natural for us to have them. Why? I believe it's to remind us that we are not invincible.

Anyway, I believe that there are 2 (okay, technically 3) kinds of fears. The one that causes curl-up in a ball, punches us in the gut, and forces us to scream, cry, yell, puke, etc. when we even think about facing it.Then there's the one that's not really a fear, more of a strong dislike of something...And then there's the fear that really limits us. We're not scared of it necessarily, we're scared of the outcomes it may bring; scared of the unknown.

Fear limits us. When we're scared, we don't allow ourselves to do the things we want to because we're afraid of the obstacles ahead of us. I can't tell you how many opportunities I've missed or ducked out on because I'm scared of what could happen. I create all of these insane scenarios that aren't accurate in the slightest. And ya know what happens when we do stuff like that? We miss out.

For me, I'm super afraid of needles. Like, DEATHLY afraid of them. If I see a needle, hear stories about needles, or anything that involves needles, I get really freaked out. And going to the doctor to get shots...SUCKS! When I know I'm about to get a shot, I start hyper-ventilating, usually end up sobbing, and blurt out anything and everything that comes to mind to try to get me out of getting a shot. It's bad.

And you're probably thinking, "But, Katie? How does your fear of needles limit you? (Minus the obvious.)" Well, you see, trusty reader, I want a tattoo. (It's crazy, I know.) But-one day-I would like to get a white ichthus on my ankle. (And maybe get "Happy" on the back of my shoulder. But that's a different story.) But besides the tattoo(s), I'd also like to give blood. I've been told on more than one occasion that I have good veins to give blood (uhhhh...thank you...?). But because I turn into a blob of jello every time I see a needle, this dream crashes and burns very quickly.

I'm working on eliminating my fears, but it's easier said than done. When I was trying to make up my mind for college, I kept letting my fear get the better of me. I had two options for school. I had my dream school in South Dakota and my other dream school close to home. I could go to South Dakota and know absolutely no one, or I could stay close to everyone I knew. I was scared of not knowing anyone and being so far away; I nearly let my fear win. But, by some miracle, I looked at my fear rationally (because, believe it or not, I have a tendency to be a tad over dramatic when I get scared, stressed out, anxious, etc. (I know, this shocked me, too)), accepted it, and decided to take this leap of faith and go to South Dakota for college.

(Jeez, I apologize for that rant. Where on earth did that come from anyway?) But, long story short: fear limits us. It limits our possibilities, opportunities, dreams. It forces us to stay in our comfort zone. Fear isn't all bad, either. It allows us to see how far we can push ourselves; it makes us see how strong we truly are.

So, my beloved readers, if there is one thing I want you to take away from this ranty post, it's this: don't let fear control your life. Do one thing that scares you and see what happens.

Love,

Katie

Book Review - The Selection series

Hello all!

Currently, I am an emotional wreck. Why? Because I just finished another incredible series and am now going through withdrawal after experiencing an emotional, plot twisted, heart shattering, cruel roller coaster ride within the last 9 hours.

As I mentioned earlier this month, I began reading The Selection by Kiera Cass. I read it in 2 days. I got the sequel, The Elite. Read it in 2 days. Got the final book, The One. Read in 9 hours. As you can tell, this series captivated my interest quite well.

Now, lemme give you a run-down of the plot: This takes place many years in the future (after the fourth World War). The United States no longer exists; however, there is a new country instead. This new country is built around the idea of castes. Each caste is assigned a different type of job, the lower the caste, the worse the job and the poorer they are. The Royal Family is a One. (They're the best of the best. The highest in the social class. They're the top-dogs.)

When the prince is of age, forms are sent out to every girl who is between the age of 16 and 20 with the hope that one will be the future princess. However, only 1 girl from each province is selected (there are 35 provinces total). Each girl is competing against each other in order to win the love of the prince and also the crown. The protagonist, America, is a Five. She is strongly encourage to apply for The Selection with the hope of being the next princess. (That's all I'm gonna tell you now. Don't wanna give too much away.)

So, basically, this is another love story set in a dystopian society. But it's so worth it!

The thing to me that really stood out was the writing. It was incredible! I could imagine what was going on perfectly and I could really feel the emotions that were going on. And the plot. Oh man, this plot rocked! I had numerous moments where my jaw fell to the ground and I couldn't believe it. (There was actually one point today where I got so upset that I slammed the book shut, stormed into my house (I was outside in the sun reading, obviously), did an angry lap around the dining room table, fell to the floor, sobbed, got back up, marched back outside, mentally cursed numerous characters and the author, and continued reading. All within about a minute.)

I'm hoping now that you will understand why I'm an emotional wreck. I was smiling, I was laughing, I was shocked, I was angry, I was crying, you name it, I felt it. (Granted, this was the third book, so there was a lot going on, too...) I had to take a moment to myself when I finished it just to process what had happened within the last 60 pages or so.

I'm really hoping that you're curious now and want to read it. (The series is now one of my favorites.) The book basically was glued to my hand or face all day and I couldn't put. It. Down. EVER. Fingers crossed that any of my invisible viewers will pick up and copy and devour it as well. (I also love a good book discussion, so hit me up if you wanna talk about it.)

Happy reading. :)

Love,

Katie