H is for....

the HOLLAND home

anyone who has spent time at my parents home knows how special of a place it is. My mom is THE BEST entertainer and cook in the world...seriously. I am not just saying that because she is my mother; that girl could throw a huge party with 5 minutes notice..and make it look GOOD. I have loved being so near to my parents while being at State, it is definitely the best part of growing up in a college town. From Sunday lunches, to dinners with my roommates out there (because of our lack of anything to eat at our house), and every occasion in between, my parents have taken mine and my brothers' friends in as family over the past 8 or so years that we have collectively been in college. My house is my favorite place in the world (besides the lake...if only there was a lake AT my house, life would be perfect) and I always know that when I go home, I will be coming home to two wonderful parents, a fridge full of diet cokes, some candy in the candy jar, and pretty much any other food I could want in less than an hour. My house has seen so many people in and out of its doors night after night after night for as long as I can remember. I grew up that way, which I am very certain is why me, Bo, and Jack could talk to a brick wall and it be an entertaining conversation.

JUST LAST NIGHT, my mom and dad threw me a SURPRISE graduation/going away party at their house. ALL of my college friends came and we ate (and ate...and ate) and just hung out with each other one last time before we all graduate and move off to all different places. The house was SO cute...maroon and white State stuff everywhere, law books, etc. all over the place. It was definitely a night I will never forget. I posted some pictures below of the night and the house, so you can see for yourself why the Holland Home is so special to me.

the front porch (pre-food)

one of the tablesand the other table after dinner

G-unit. ok, no...just G.

i just didn't feel right about blogging about this one until i could see the finish line....but i am one test away...so here it comes....

G is for GRADUATION!!!

finally! i know, i know...i still have three more years of law school ahead of me..but there is just something about having that degree finally under your belt...it feels wonderful. with only one more final to take (and a ridiculously easy one, at that) i can see the end...and it looks GLORIOUS. can you tell i am glad to be finished??

Looking back over the past four years at Mississippi State, I am truly amazed at what I have learned. Mark Twain once said, "I never let school interfere with my education," and I couldn't agree more. Sure, I have learned a thing or two about empirical research and democratic theories, campaign processes and public policy...but the lessons I have learned in my day-to-day life are far more important than any literature poem or spanish verb (that i couldn't even conjugate now...love that memory of mine)

some important lessons i have learned in college worth sharing:

1. you find out what TRUE FRIENDS are in college. you also learn along the way, often through experiencing those friendships, how to BE a true friend. The ones that build you up (and you build up) are the keepers. I also learned not even to waste my time on people who I would leave feeling worse about myself than I did before I was with them. stear clear.

2. Having a solid and REAL relationship with God makes ALL the difference in your everyday life. I would know..I lived on both sides of the fence during college- most of the time riding the fence between the two- and the past year has been the most joyful and rewarding year of my life, because I have let God have control of my heart, mind, friendships, and lifestyle. Trust me..it is better that way. Once again, I would know.

3. ROAD TRIPS are the best thing that ever happened to the college experience. Whether it was football games, a concert, retreat, visiting friends' hometowns, or random trips to the beach for the weekend...you name it, I did it. and very spontaneously most of the time..which is definitely the way to go, in my opinion. Not only are the conversations in the car usually really good, but I will probably be telling my kids stories of the "good ole' days" in college and reminiscing about each road trip in great detail. they were that good. So if you are still in college...GET ON THE ROAD!

4. You feel a thousand times better about yourself when you EXERCISE. I have gone through stages in college of working out 2 or 3 times a day (that obviously didn't last too long) and not working out at all (and let me tell you, once you stop...it's SO hard to get back into it!) I think I have, over the years, found a healthy medium somewhere in there. I have more energy when I go for a walk or run during the day, and I definitely have begun to use that time alone more wisely...i do ALOT of thinking when I work out.

5. Summers should NOT be spent in school!! Unfortunately, this will be my last summer to not have to spend in the real world. The way I see college is, you have to study most of the year, and you for sure are going to have to work the rest of your post-graduation life, so why not take a few months a year in college and do something FUN? I pride myself in never having to take summer school. Did I have to take alot of classes during the semester? yep. Totally worth it. I have spent the last four summers: living/working at the beach in Florida (a brief stay...but a good one while it lasted), working a whole summer on the lake at a Christian sports camp, interning in Washington, DC (it sounds like a real job....but if you know anything about interns in DC, you know what its really all about), and this summer I will be going BACK to camp to head up the Lake Crew. makes me sad to even think about this being my last summer. so i wont.

6. I could probably go on for way longer with this post than anyone cares to read, so I think I will just end at 5. or maybe i will just give a short last one...

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE MISSISSIPPI STATE.

if State is not your alma mater....I am sorry for you. truly.
(i am aware that this is not a lesson, but a statement. don't judge me for that.)

F

F is for FACEBOOK

duh.




I seriously don't know what I spent all of my time and energy on before this beautiful invention. Discovered in the early spring of my freshman year, I have seen facebook grow in leaps and bounds in what if offers the mindless college student in entertainment and voyeurism. We have gone from the primitive grey walls where you had no idea who wrote what unless they signed their name to their post and anyone could go in and erase your whole wall at once...remember those crazy things we would post to each other, Harris? Messages from "Mr. Belding" and other has-been celebrities appearing on our walls. wow. Moving on over the years to photo albums, personalized walls complete with a mini picture on each post, the stalker-feed, and multiple opportunities to appear cool by listing the number of photos and friends one has posted below their not-so realistic looking profile pic. Man, that facebook team really knows how to lure 'em in. Despite the slight sarcasm in the sentence above, I really do love the fact that I can easily keep up with my friends that do not live near me and also maintain certain friendships with semi-friends...you know, the ones that a phone conversation would be SUPER awkward to have with, but a nice wall post or FB message is just the right amount of communication. Not only do I love FB for the virtual friendships, but how about the new bumper sticker application?! LOVE IT.

I wish I would have kept a log of the amount of time I have spent on "the book" over the years...actually, it would probably just depress me if I actually realized how much of my life has been pointlessly wasted by browsing my recently updated friend list in search of "relationship status" changes and newly posted photo albums. I am actually deliberating getting off facebook for a few weeks...at least until finals are over so that I can actually concentrate on schoolwork whenever my computer is turned on (it is my homepage, after all). But then I think of all the wall posts, messages, photo tags, and POKES I will possibly miss out on...and any notion of self-discipline immediately flies out the window. Maybe Law School will strike the final blow in defeating my facebook addiction...but until then....FACEBOOK ME (and stick me with a bumper sticker, virtual friend!)

E

E is for EASY SEMESTER!
until now.

yes, that is right...i have had the easiest semester of college this spring, and I feel fully justified in that. I spread out my core and political science classes over the years so that i wouldn't have to have ALL political science classes during a single semester...because that would just be torture with all those papers and research. This semester, I am only taking 12 hours (I also only had to take 12 hours last semester because of my summer internship counting during the fall..THANKS BOSS!) and I don't think I have even picked up a book in 2 of them. The other two have required a little bit more effort, but I have enjoyed the work so it makes it not nearly as bad. HOWEVER, because of the seemingly "easiness" of my semester, I have procrastinated WAY longer than usual to get my final projects and papers finished. I have a 15 page paper due on Thursday (have I even started? Of course not.), another 15 pager due next Thursday...once again, haven't started...and a final brief,2 final exams, and a take-home final due the week of finals. YIKES. Thank goodness its all just at the end though, because I sure loved all those days of NOTHING this semester that I used to just hang out.

D

i have several d's. that is what happens when i go for days without blogging and continuously thinking about what i should blog about. the STRANGE thing about all of the D's that i could think of is that they are all actually DC's. You will see what I mean at the end.

1. DIET COKE.

If you have been reading my blog for the past few months, you know that I LOVE diet coke and that I gave it up for Lent. Not gonna lie...it made me feel ALOT better not drinking it. In knowing that, WHHYYY do I still love and crave a diet coke every morning, noon, and night? I really think it is all pyschological. I must have had some really good memories with Diet Coke over the years and I just cant bring myself to say good-bye. Although I went on a DC rampage immediately following Lent, I have actually not been drinking as many as I was pre-lent era. I try to only drink one a day, and I make sure to savor every drop.

2. DC (literally)

I lived in Washington, DC, all last summer, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I lived with two amazing girls at Georgetown Law (in the dorms on the Hill) along with the rest of the 30 or so Mississippi State and Ole Miss interns. GOOD times. I spent my weekdays in Dirksen Senate Office building from 9-6, with extended lunch breaks almost every day on the Hill. The weekends consisted of lots of sleeping, sight-seeing (with friends that came to visit throughout the summer), and eating HUGE brunches and dinners before going out in Georgetown or Adams Morgan (my personal favorite...PEYOTE kareoke, what what) I don't have the time or energy to even begin to talk about the number and quality of restaurants in DC, both on the Hill and off, but I am certain that I would have gained about 20 pounds that summer had I not had to walk to work and all around the Capitol everyday. I am the most obsessed with the fast-paced atmosphere around the Hill (where the Capitol is and all of the Senate and House offices are located) and I would LOVE to move back to DC after I finish Law School to work. If you plan on taking a trip to the nation's capitol city anytime soon, let me make your itinerary. I want you to love it as much as I do.

3. DC Talk!I know, this is random...but this weekend on our way home from Arkansas, me and the girls I rode there with broke out some old DC Talk songs...What if I stumble, In the Light, Jesus Freak...you know the songs...classics. I had forgotten all about the boys until last fall, when one of the members of the band (Kevin, I think?) came to State for a gospel service with Johnny Cash's sister during the Johnny Cash "Flower Pickin' Festival" in Starkville. He sang "In the Light" by himself, which was good, but it made me miss the rest of the band. Man, I LOVED them. I acutally saw them two years in a row when I was in junior high. Those were the good ole' days. (no, not really). I plan to rummage through my closet at home next time I go there and dig out some of my old CD's. Get ready for a Jam Session.

Delayed...

no, my D is NOT for "delayed"...I have a much better D than that. BUT...due to the fact that I was supposed to be on the road OVER an hour ago headed to Camp for Top Staff Orientation this weekend, I cannot give my D what it deserves today....I will be back Sunday...with plenty of stories and a fabulous D word. In the words of Lee Thorne, a once faithful blog reader..."Y'all be good."

The 3 C's

this game is taking over my life...i spent the whole day yesterday trying to decide what my C's would be. I have three, and I love them all equally. So I'm putting all three. deal with it.

C is for...CAMP OZARK

I think everyone is well aware of my LOVE for this place. I have worked as a counselor at Camp Ozark for the past two summers, and I will be going back in May for one last summer before I move to VA. Not only do I get paid to hang out with some amazing kids everyday, but I also have THE BEST possible job at camp....LAKE CREW. That's right...me and 12 other RIDICULOUSLY awesome counselors are in charge of the Lake Program at Camp Ozark, which is on Lake Ouachita (about a 20 min. drive from the actual camp). I spend most of my summer days driving boats and teaching skiing and wakeboarding, and occasionally we will all switch up duties and I will take kids out on the lake sailing. Ahhh...life is SO good there!! I can honestly say that my FAVORITE memories in the entire world come from camp and being on the Lake. The best part of Lake Crew is definitely the Lake Crew...we are all super close because we spend so much time together away from camp, and we spend almost as many nights at the Lake with each other that we do at camp with our cabins. I am going back this summer as Top Staff, so I will basically be responsible for the Lake Program and for all of the new Lake Crew members. Some of my BEST LC friends are coming back this summer, and it is taking everything in me to not think about it all the time and actually focus on school and trying to graduate!

C is also for CRUSADE

I have become really involved in Campus Crusade this year...I was pretty active my freshman year, but everyone I went with either graduated or just stopped going, and of course I don't normally do things by myself...so I faded out too. Then last semester, I started going again with Peyton Hill and Rachael Kirk (both BALLERS) and found out about a conference over New Years in Atlanta that Crusade sponsors. I was looking for something a little less rowdy to do for New Years this year, so I ended up going with some friends. I talked about it in one of my first blog posts, actually...It was amazing. But that is not the point. The point is, because I went to Atlanta and met Kevin and Missy (the Directors) and some other people involved in Crusade at State, I began to get really involved too. Me, my friends Peyton, Matthew Kimbrough, and Lindsay Bean all started a Crusade co-ed Bible Study called "The Way" this semester, and I LOVE our big group!! Crusade has meant and done more for me spiritually in this one year than anything else in my life to this day. and THAT is why Cru is worthy of recognition in the Alphabet game.

the last C....CHIPOTLE!!

Ahh...Chipotle. I can't even find words to describe my OBSESSION with this restaurant. I first found Chipotle in DC when I lived there last summer, and me and my friend Anne would eat there every week, sometimes more than once a week. If you live near a Chipotle and don't eat there on a regular basis...well, shame on you. I cannot stand it when people try to compare it to Moe's either. WAY BETTER. I mean, I guess it is the same concept of Moe's, but the free-range meat, fresh toppings and various flavors of salsa make Chipotle everything that Moe's wishes it was. To try to describe my love for this place, I will tell you that I drive at least once a month to Tuscaloosa just to eat at the nearest restaurant...I am actually planning a trip for next week. Mesquite grilled chicken, spicy corn, lettuce, sour cream, steamed rice, mozerella cheese all wrapped in a warm steamed wrap...mmmmmm. (i won't mention how many calories are in each burritto..it hurts too much to think about it)