Here's to You Mom

To the best mom in the world:

I hope that wherever you are, you are showering your mom with love today! I know Lee and I will be :)

Love you Maw-meh!

Halfway?!!

Today marks the end of my sophomore year of college!! WHAT?! I'm really halfway done? It only seems like yesterday that I was driving my little Nissan Altima down I-35 packed literally to the ceiling to move into my dorm room. Now I'm in my own apartment with the 3 best roommates anyone could ask for!!

I had my last final this morning, and it was definitely my hardest! I studied as hard as I could for it...so I'm hoping for good results :)

We had our first meeting with A Cappella today and we got all of our repertoire for the fall!! It's so incredible...I'm seriously so blessed to be a part of this choir this coming year! It's going to be a ton of work and I can't wait to work my butt off for it!

The rest of the day's happenings you ask?

I bought these awesome new hair ties!! Two sisters who go to Baylor started this company and sell these lovely little ties. No creases, super cute colors, good price, great cause...what more do I need to say? Go check them out! www.sisterlyties.com

Solange and Emily and I made homemade ice cream sandwiches to celebrate a successful year :)

Homemade chocolate chip cookies a la Solange + Blue Bell + friends= one happy Amy!

and then we painted our nails....it's how we always end our girls nights :)

Oh yeah...and I also made a major impulse buy...I'll be sharing that tomorrow!! Ha, get ready for it! :)

-night! Amy

Alternative Exercise

I can honestly say that I've come to a point in my life where I've just accepted the fact that I HAVE to exercise to stay healthy! I've never been a huge sports person. I love watching sports and going to games to cheer on the players, but I've never been one to join in a game and I didn't really play many sports as a kid. I'm sure most of that came from my lack of self confidence when it came to being active. I was always worried about what other people thought of me while I was running or if I didn't catch the ball, etc. I like to think I've gotten past that point. Of course I'm still not 100% confident in everything I do athletically, but I can honestly say I enjoy being active now :)

I feel like a different person when I exercise, and I definitely notice a difference in my attitude, energy, and outlook on the days that I don't exercise. Well enough about that! All I really wanted to share was pictures from an awesome hike I had yesterday with two of my friends!

Me, Zane, and Erin

My morning was filled with a ton of studying yesterday, so I didn't have the chance to go running or make it to the gym before my 2 o'clock final. (which by the way, I kicked butt on!) I finished my final and was dying to being outside! It was super sunny and gorgeous so I knew I wanted to either go for a walk or run....but to be honest, I wasn't in a running mood. So.....I called up Zane and Erin and we headed to Cameron Park! I've been several times to study outside here, but have never gotten the chance to check out any of the trails. Zane and I printed out a map of the trails, picked one out, and met Erin at Lover's Leap.

We headed out on the Powder Monkey Trail and just kinda winged it from there!

The overhang of the trees made the trails pretty pleasant, considering it was probably somewhere in the 90's. Regardless, we still got our sweat on!

The hike was so fun, and such a nice change from my typical run around the bear trail or neighborhood, or a trip to the gym. It almost didn't even feel like we were in Waco! I will definitely be hitting up some of the other trails soon!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

-Amy

What alternative workouts do you enjoy?


Do you have a favorite place to trail walk/hike? Out of state is fine! Share away!

Life of a College Student

So I have results!!! I made an A on my piano jury and I PASSED my vocal jury/level with flying colors! I had good comments from all the faculty and will continue working on my weaknesses. That's all I can do!

Just stopping in to say a quick hello, and mainly to take a little study break! That's all I've been up to lately. What studying consists of for a music major: caffeine, piano practicing and warmups, lots of notecards, and more caffeine!!

I've been lucky and all my finals have been pretty spread out this year :) I've got theory at 2 today and my last final, Spanish (probably going to be my hardest), is Monday at 9am!! 

Alright, it's back to the books! I'm hanging out at a new shop in Waco that just recently opened, Outdoor Waco. They have a great little study nook and not to mention, BUBBLE TEA!!

-Amy

Where do you prefer to study?

Fav caffeine fix?

Dinner Party!

Good news: I actually got up this morning to go run! The bestie and I had another great start to the day, and ran the Bear Trail (approx. 2.3 miles). We ran it in 22ish minutes (not our best, but not bad for a run I initially went into thinking it was going to be rough)! I never like getting up for a run, but I can never beat the amazing feeling I have right after I finish, let alone how great I feel the rest of the day! It's always worth it :)

Bad news: I'm still in the midst of all my finals. However I was super productive this morning and kicked some major Physics studying butt! I literally spent the rest of my morning and afternoon studying...

Despite all the studying nonsense, I had time for lunch and even got to enjoy it outside this afternoon. The weather has been exceptionally wonderful lately!

I had my piano jury today...we'll just say I got through it. Neh, it wasn't that bad, but I'm just hard on myself and a super perfectionist when it comes to performing piano for other people.

By the time I finished everything at the music school I came home with just enough time to cook for a couple friends! I have been planning all week to make one of my favorite dishes that my mom makes at home: Poppyseed Chicken Casserole! I wanted to share the goodness with friends, so that's just what I did. 

There's the final product! It was just what I needed to get me through these last couple days of studying nonstop! Comfort food at it's finest! It wasn't as good as when mama makes it, but what is??!

ps. Zane makes the best homemade sweet tea with lemon!! Note our extra large glasses ;)

Oh yeah...and this:

My main squeeze wasn't having such a great day, so I sent him this to try and cheer him up while he was at work!! 

So, I hope you've had a good one and if not, then I hope this at least makes you smile!!!

goodnight zzz

-Amy

Happy Wednesday!

Final product from last night's baking study break??

Banana Oatmeal and Chia Seed Muffins

They made the best breakfast this morning :)

I had my voice jury/level this morning at 11:44!! It went AWESOME!!! I went into it feeling way more calm and collected than I normally do right before my juries. For a level, you have to have 8 songs prepared, one of which is self-prepared with no help from your voice teacher. You sing for the whole voice faculty and are passed or failed based on your performance. I nailed my first piece, Le Colibri, my french song. I then had to sing my self-prepared, Dolce, Scherza, and it went great too....and then for the dreaded 3rd piece. The faculty picks the last song I sing...so it could have been any of the 6 remaining songs that I had prepared. They chose, Must the Winter Come So Soon by Barber. Needless to say it was my only ENGLISH piece and boy was I relieved when they told me to perform that as my last song. It's definitely not an easy song to sing (the breath support needed is killer) but I breezed through it too! I came out of my jury feeling great!! No matter what the faculty says, I at least know that I performed my best, and whatever critiques I receive will only help me in the long run! Don't worry, I'll let you know the results when I find them out!

On another topic, I've been having a really hard time getting up in the mornings, so unfortunately my mornings have not been starting with  my regular workout routine or a run :-/ Although, I've managed to squeeze in a workout during the day! Can't go without one! Zane and I killed it in a Zumba class this afternoon! Here we are after we worked up a nice sweat!

Squinty eyes hehe it was kind of bright out!

I spent the rest of my afternoon getting a head start on studying for my Theory Final that is this Saturday! What a better way to study than with a big cup of iced coffee right?!

Hope your day is going fabulous! I'm about to head out to a cook out! Happy evening and eats!

-Amy

Study Breaks

Okay, let's be honest...am I even studying?? Well, you see my first of 3 finals is on Friday and honestly I can make a 55 on that final and still end up with an A in the class, so as you can see I have no motivation to start studying for it :-/ It's my physics final. I will study and look over old tests to jog my memory but that will be the extent of my studying for that one. I have my second final on Saturday afternoon, my music theory final and my last one, Spanish, will be Monday. So for now I have been filling my day with long walks with friends...no really, Zane and I went on a 5 mile walk!! It was amazing! I've also been finishing up knitting projects and baking :)

 I had leftover yarn from a headband I made in the fall, and have been dying to make something out of the "scraps" left over! So here they are! Presenting: my very first pair of gloves/mittens! Fingerless mitts! Ravelry is awesome! Check out the pattern here: Malabrigo Fingerless Mitts. Aren't they cute?!!

Study Break: Baking! Had some overly ripe bananas that I didn't want to waste, so what else do you do but make banana bread?!! I didn't wanna make a whole loaf, so instead I made muffins! They'll be perfect for mini study break snacks and breakfast :) I added oats and chia seeds of course!

I have my voice jury/level tomorrow around 11:44 so be thinking good thoughts about me then :)

Later,
Amy