Wow, I can not believe that exams are over!!!! I am so ready for my week of relaxing without worrying about papers or test. Yep, one week of relaxation and then back to school it is for me. I not that bummed about my summer courses because a lot of them are really cool. I am taking a lot of marketing classes because I am really interested in how I can apply it to my major. I am also taking a sports management media class because many of my friends told me about the new types of media you get to learn about and I get to learn more about sports, which is a good thing because when I’m watching games with my fiancé I sometimes get really lost. I am also vacationing too, I am going to South Dakota to help my fiancé move all of his stuff home because he is going to South Korea in August for a whole year, which at first upset me but when he gets back we may have the chance to move to Italy!!! I also get to reunite with some of my family in July for a family reunion in Tennessee! The trip I am most excited about is my trip to New York, with my IDS class I am stoked because I have never been there before and I get to learn about the history and the government too! While I will have classes I know my friends are going to kidnap me to go on road trips, so I absolutely cannot wait until SUMMER TIME!!!!

I am so happy it is exam week! I only have one exam which is writing an in depth news story, my story is about sex offenders and the rights that they lose. I love writing news stories, especially when it is just for fun! The thing that I love most about writing news stories is that I can be as controversial as I want, as long as I have good sources I am good to go. Having good sources is really important especially when you have to write for professors and Wikipedia is not going to cut it for most college professors. One thing I can say is, that I have learned so much from my professors and I am so happy that I was able to sharpen my writing skills. I feel that I have grown so much not only as a writer but as a person. Before I came to the Mount I was very unsure of myself and what I wanted to do once I got out of college. Now ,with all the friends I have made, the organizations I have been involved in, the Co-ops I have worked at and the classes I had to attend I feel like I am ready for anything because I truly feel prepaired for whats to come!

This past week was Celebration of Teaching and Learning, which is day where we students and faculty come together to celebrate the many accomplishments that have taken place here at the Mount. I am proud to say that I, now belong to Chi Alpha Sigma which is an honorary college athletic society that recognizes high academic achievement, exemplary character, positive attitude, and sport letter winners at the college level.

At the Celebration of Teaching and Learning I also got to present the Clifford award, which is an award that this given to a faculty member who is chosen by students. This year Diane Kruger, chair of Mathematics, won the award! Her letter of recommendation was very impressive and I loved how she stayed after hours and met with her students on the weekends, she is an exact model of how professors are supposed to be! At the beginning of the day I went to a discussion about "Death and the Catholic Spiritual Tradition," which was lead by Ken Czillinger and he made me really think about life after death.

Since I am so young still and have so many distractions like; school, friends, work and extra curricula’s, I have just not thought about where I will spend eternity but I am really excited to see how my views on life are going to change when I get deeper into my faith and start to develop some type of spiritual self awareness.

Why? Why must I always do this to myself, I wait until the absolute last second to do, of course, my papers. And, what is so crazy procrastination was not involved in any of all of this work that I have to do; I have just had that much homework to do. Now that Capstone is over I feel I can say this… I understand why professors require us to experience Capstone, because they want us to showcase what we have learned while we have been in college but there were so many times that I wanted to rip my hair out! I put so much effort into that one presentation that I don’t think any of my other papers or presentations will ever top my Capstone presentation. But one good thing that came out of Capstone was that I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I am a very strong individual, there were so many obstacles that tried to stand in my way but I persevered. I also learned that when it’s crunch time I can whip up some pretty good class assignments, and most of all I learned that even though there are things that are going on in my life I can be a pretty good friend too, well according to my friends.  Even though I have been stressing about my course work, I know that I will finish this semester like all the others; last minute, busy, and happy!

Besides having pink eye last week, Spring Formal was amazing! It is really crazy that I, some how, get pink eye twice a year at the same time every year since I have been in college. At the beginning of the week I had to deal with the constant sensation to scratch my eyeballs out of my eye sockets and the constant sanitation of my room that didn’t look sanitized at all. With, me completing my capstone I have let a lot go, my tidy room is no longer a tidy room but only to be a place with walls and a clothed constructed work of art. I mean really, there are clothes everywhere just because I never have time to clean anymore.

            But somehow by the weekend my eyes were better and it was time to do some last minute shopping for my spring formal dress! Friday my fiancé and I went to Macy’s and he picked out the perfect dress for Spring Formal, I didn’t even notice it until he looked through the clearance section. My dress was only $30 and surprisingly it didn’t take much time at all to find it!

            Once we got to Formal, at the Paul Brown Stadium, we had a ball, the theme was a little bit Casino Royale so we got to play black jack, Russian roulette, and they even had slot machines too. We took so many pictures and danced the night away. I am so happy that I was able to go to Formal and spend time with my friends because this was my last Formal and I can truly say that it was the best one I have been too since I have been at the Mount!

My Fiance and I<3

 Jesse, Molly, Myself and Greg (My fiance)

 All of the girls

This semester has been so hectic but I am happy that I finally got to enjoy my favorite event of the year, Faculty and Staff Brunch. I am the head chair of SGA’s Academics & Education committee and every year we give the faculty and staff a huge appreciation lunch! Thank goodness I had some help this year, from a good friend, Katie Egbert. This is Katie’s first year as a Senator for SGA and she did a great job, she was in charge of contacting all of the clubs to make posters for their department, which the staff and faculty love, and she helped me set up everything the night before. This year our theme was thank you for filling our cup with inspiration and we gave all of the staff and faculty coffee mugs, and they loved them. We added something new to the tradition of the luncheon, we added the SGA Staff appreciation award, which goes to a staff member of the college who encourages students to do their best in everything they pursue, who is there for students when they need them most and most of all a staff member who has fun with their job. The first recipient of this award was Margie Cuilla, who works in the Residence Life office; she was exactly the person who embodies what SGA was looking for as a first time recipient. I was so happy how the event turned out and I hope next year is even better for the person that takes over the committee!

My Easter break was so much fun! I finally got a chance to take my niece out like I have been promising for the past two semesters. My fiancé, my nine year old niece and my seven year old niece went to the Cincinnati Zoo this past Saturday. I can’t believe I woke up at seven o’ clock in the morning on a Saturday but I did and man was it worth it! Every major section of the zoo had an Egg hunt. Even thought the weather was iffy we still made the best of it, since Easter was near the girls took pictures with the Easter bunny and saw Gorillas go on a real live Easter egg hunt. There was even an egg smash for the Elephants and the girls had a ball watching the Elephants eat the colorful melons and seeing the polar bears dive for watermelon. We even ate pizza at the zoo, well attempted too anyways when the Peacocks strolled in my niece were not in a mood to eat… they were terrified of the Peacocks to say the least. I am really happy that my niece had fun because before I came to college we used to have mini sleepovers, we would go to the park and do all kinds of fun things but since I have been in school I have not been able to do as much as I used to. But since I still live close going to the zoo gave me a chance to reconnect with my niece!

So much fun! My 7 yr old Niece!

    My favorite shot of the day!

My 9 yr. old Niece

Yay warm weather, I am so happy that we are having sunny days now. I loved the many snow days that we got but those cold and dreary days got really old, really quick. Now we can got out in the quad and throw around my soft ball and just lay out and read or do homework. Most important I get to wear my dresses, and skirts and shorts that have crammed away in my closet all winter. Spring is my second favorite season, runner up to summer; because my friends and I go out at night and either play volleyball for hours on end or we will sit in the sand volleyball court and just have girl time! Having these talks really helps me get through the frustrations of classes, papers, family troubles and pretty much life. This also gives us something to do out of the dorms every once in a while! My favorite part about playing volleyball in the spring is the rain, I love playing volleyball in the rain because one, I rarely get sick and two, it’s fun trying not to fall into the wet sand . I cannot wait to jog outside and to have a chance to get out of the dorms more!