Don't Scratch, Don't Scratch, Don't Scratch.........

Thank goodness it is Friday! It has been a very stressful week for me, and the days seemed to just crawl by. Tomorrow is formal and I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. Unfortunately, my rash is still sticking around and I'm itchy, itchy, itchy. Yesterday morning, most of the redness was gone and it wasn't nearly so itchy. I think it might actually be stress related; last night was a little stressful for me...kinda had a meltdown about my homework because I didn't understand what we were doing. Well, go to hop in the shower about an hour later, and I notice the redness is back in full force and has spread to my stomach and back. NOT GOOD.....VERY ITCHY.

Well, I took my nice, long, realxing shower and hit the books again, trying to keep a calm mindset. I finished my homework about 11 and headed to bed. It took me a while to fall asleep cuz I had to keep chanting, "don't scratch, don't scratch, DON'T SCRATCH." When I woke up this morning, the redness was all gone and has stayed that way, but my skin is still horribly itchy. Hopefully, nothing stresses me out between now and tomorrow night for formal.....may have to lock myself in my room, pop a couple Benadryl and zone out to movies. Yup, sounds like a good plan.

"Don't scratch, don't scratch, don't scratch........."

Itchy, Itchy, ITCHY!

OOOO....I'M ITCHY!!! And it's my own dang fault too.

A couple of days ago, I rubbed some B and B Works shimmer lotion on my arms and a little on my upper chest/neck. My arms started to itch, but the feeling went away in about 25 minutes and no rash appeared, so I forgot about it. Well, yesterday, I went to the tanner in the morning, around 10ish. I was fine all day yesterday, but this morning I woke up around 1:30am and my neck was itching sooooooo bad. I put Benadryl cream and cortisone cream on it, took Benadryl pills and nothing was helping. The itching was driving me bonkers.

Around 3 today, I couldn't take it any longer and knew I wouldn't be able to sit through class.
I skipped my anatomy class and headed over to the heath center. It was an hour wait, but I got a lot of studying done, so I don't feel too horrible about missing class. Anyway, the doc looked at it and thought that the rash is probably from that lotion still being in my skin and reacting with the UV light. They gave me some cream, pretty much triple strength Benadryl, and said it should go away in a couple days. I hope so, formal is on Saturday and nobody wants an itchy, rash covered date....plus that would suck a lot of fun outta the experience for me too.

Mom always says I shouldn't go to the tanner....I guess my skin is taking her side.

Big Changes

Oi! Big changes!...Let's start at the beggining....

Last week, I went to see a doctor in the school of optometry to talk about my chances of getting into the Michigan School of Optometry. I had been toying with the idea of not continuing the optometry program since the middle of first semester this year. Anyway, he went over all of my information with me and told me I was competitive for admission in most areas, but my math and science GPA was way too low to be considered. Basically this would mean that I would need to retake all of my math and science classes and do really well in the rest I have to take. I could understand this if I had done poorly in them, but the thing is, I got all B's a one C....that means an extra two years to bring up all of those grades. Going out of state for school just really isn't an option for me and I thought about things some more after that meeting and realized that I just didn't want to be an optometrist that bad.

I talked to Mom about it, and she suggesting looking into a physician's assistant program. I did, and found that several colleges near our house offer the program and that the classes I have already taken will transfer with no problem. The job description completely fits what I am looking for and the job outlook is fantastic. I went home this last Friday and talked everything over with Mom and Dad, and they agreed this would be a good change for me.

Today, I went to talk to an advisor in the biology department, and he helped me make sure that my credits will transfer and my degree will apply after graduation. I was officially switched to an Applied Biology, Pre-Medicine major, with concentration for PA. I am so excited!!! It is like having a huge weight removed. I feel like I am going to be so much happier.

The PA program is going to be a tough program to get into, but not as bad as optometry. I called the main college I am interested in attending for grad school, and they were so helpful. I was really impressed. The information I received shows that my credits will transfer and that my GPA is higher than the average for accepted students.

The only concern for me was that 100 hours of patient care are required to even be eligible for acceptance. I asked if the year I worked with patients in the optometry clinic would count, but she said no because it wasn't FULL patient care; however, she said the experience would look GREAT on my application because most people won't have that. The woman then suggested I get my CNA certification. CNA stands for Certified Nursing Assistant, and this certification would allow me to work with patients in hospitals and nursing homes....perfect for a summer job, work during next school year and a way to get my required hours! I checked around, and one of the hospitals I checked said they accept CNAs from a local college where the class is 6 weeks and $1100....yikes. The second hospital I checked with said they offer a program through the actual hospital. This class is only 2 weeks and is $800!

Next week, I have Thursday and Friday off for Easter and Mom is going with me on Thursday to register for that class and go to get more information from the college offering the PA program. On Friday, I am job shadowing with a PA for the day. I can't wait to get all these things taken care of. I will feel so much better when everything is all squared away, but I am on my way and feel so much lighter already. Wahoo for change!

Bit O' Boots

Flooded Wonderland

Mullens and Mosses

Golden Grasses

Peek-A-Boo Pup

Oh Yeah, It's a Pink Cookie

Wahoo for a Girl's Weekend! Joyce, Megan, Trish and Diana came to stay with me last night. We went to Walmart to get snacks and then hung around all afternoon eating chips and dip, cookies and other foods equally bad for us. We bought some of those frosted sugar cookies that you can get at most supermarkets. They were covered in pink frosting, and I'm not sure how it started, but we made the rule that if you were going to eat a cookie, you had to first say, suggestively of course, "oh yeah, it's a pink cookie." Strange, I know, but it cracked us up and became the theme for the evening.

Let the fun begin! Oh gotta love the hat section in walmart.....classy, girls.

Apparently Diana finds that Velveta helps the mourning process.....

Later in the evening we got all dolled up to go out. Joyce turned 18 in November, so we were able to take her out to the bar for her first time going dancing. It was so much fun! We got there at 11 and it was sooooo empty. Finally around 12, people started showing up. We hit the dance floor and were having a riot. Apparently, we missed the memo that it was "Creeper Night" because there were some seriously creepy guys on the PROWL. I have no idea how many times we had to rescue each other from weird drunk guys.....and tell them to go away...again. We had to dance in a tight, little circle, but it was so much fun to get out and spend some time with the girls that we didn't care that much. We left around 1:30 and came back to the room.

Awww! Cousins!!!!

Being our lovely, goofy selves...

Love these girls!

Doesn't get much cuter than this! ;)

We played cards and hung around until 4 when we finally all crashed. My suitemate was gone for the weekend, and she left her room open for us. Meg, Trish and Di slept on the futon and bed in her room, and Joyce took the futon in my room. We woke up around 1:30 this afternoon and showered and what-not. They left around 3 and I just finished my accounting...finally. Five girls in a small dorm room sure make a lot of noise and the quiet is now kind of driving me batty.....I miss my girls already...."Oh yeah, it's a pink cookie."

Number Crunching

Number of exams I have this week: 2

Number of exams I forgot I had this week: 2

Number of chapters to study for exams (combined): 14

Number of meetings I have this week: 5

Number of credits I am taking next semester: 17

Number of times I have gotten up to do something and can't remember what: 6

Number of quizes I have this week: 2

Number of times I rearranged my classes for next semester before registration yesterday: 5

Number of hoops I had to jump through to be cleared to register for classes: 25 (rounded)




Add them all up and you find me...... 78 miles past crazy....

Only if You Have 2 Cans of Hairspray, Scrub Brushes, Good Friends and Arnold-like Strength....

This last week, I had an anatomy test on Thursday. I had been studying all week and in the past, I have found rewriting my notes was very helpful. I have a huge white, painted brick wall that I thought would be perfect to use as a writing surface. I used dry erase markers to write my study guides on the wall. I checked to make sure the markers came off before I went to town, and they came off just fine....well, for a while. About 8 hours later, I checked again and found that the ink wasn't coming off....CRAP. I tried all kinds of wipes and cleaners and nothing was working. finally, Mike suggested hairspray and that took a lot of it off, but the bricks are full of little holes that got filled with ink. I scrubbed for two hours and went through a whole can of hairspray, but still couldn't get all the ink off.

The next day, Kaitlyn and I went to Walmart and bought out the cleaning section. We cam back and changed into our cleaning gear.....old shirts, shorts and our chemistry goggles...hot, all I can say. Anyway, we found that Mr. Clean magic erasers removed most of the ink left outside of the holes. After that, we both grabbed srub brushes and cans of hairspray. We had to soak a small section of the wall in hairspray, scrub in small circles and then move to a new section. The hairspray reacted with the paint to remove some of the pigment and create a gluey, white covering. I'm not really sure if we removed the ink or covered it in sticky paint, but I'm not sure I really care. The brushes we were using flung hairspray/paint like crazy so we were covered in sticky white spots. We finished in about in hour and let the wall dry. We washed it down several times, but it still smells like a prom queen's hairdo....and just as sticky. The good news is, you can't even tell how big of an idiot I was....and I got an 85% on my test.

Winter Views

(Sort of) Spring Break

This last week I was home for spring break...haha. Kind of a cruel joke...give us a week off for "spring break" and we end up with more snow than we got on winter break. Lovely. (Can you tell I'm sick of winter?) Anyway, the week went by very fast, and was really relaxing. Early in the week, I went to my cousin, Sammy's, middle school play. He didn't have very many lines, but he sure looked like a stud up there on the stage! Nicely done, Sam!

(Sam...The tall, silent type....well in the play at least ;) )

After the play, Aunt Julie, Uncle Kevin, Sam, Mom, Dad and I went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner. I laughed so much...what a blast! It was kinda like a triple date and Sam and I were dubbed "cutest couple." :D

On Thursday, I made the trip to Traverse City to go visit Mike and his family. We went downtown for the afternoon to have lunch and check out the little shops. We also went and walked around by the water's edge and walked out on the floating dock. It was a gorgeous day and wasn't too cold to be out and about. However, there was still enough snow to make it a work out....DEEP snow. We were walking along and all of a sudden one of my legs is burried to my thigh in snow. The wind had built snow up along a wall, making the unlevel ground look even. so there I was, one leg stuck in the snow and the other poised for my next step.....to stay the least, I was very surprised. Mike stood there laughing, until he realized I was stuck. He hauled me out....I was very glad he was there....I would have been there until I thawed out if I had been on my own! Out at the end of the dock, the view was awesome! The top layer of the water was a sheet of ice and you could follow cracks out as far as you could see. Open holes in the ices showed dark, bottomless water. GORGEOUS! (Mike and I....hard to get both of us in....he is yeti-tall)


(There we go! This one is much better...and we are giggling cuz it took about 6 pictures to get this good one :D )

Later that night, his parents took us out to dinner at The Bowery on the peninsula. It is an old mansion that has been turned into a fancy restaurant in the front (Bower's Harbor Inn), a family restaurant in the back (The Bowery) and rooms for rent upstairs. The Bowery is really cool and rustic (think moose heads and big fire place). The coolest part of the building though, is that fact that it is famous for being haunted. A woman hung herself in the elevator shaft years and years ago and it is rumored that her ghost still resides in the building. There are several accounts of ghost activity documented in the building.....Very cool. Anywho, because it is winter, many people forget about traveling out on the peninsula to the restaurant. We had the entire place to ourselves so we were seated directly in front of the HUUUUUGE fireplace. Awesome atmosphere and really good food too.
On Friday, Mike followed me back home and spent the rest of the weekend at my house. We went to see Michael perform for forensics on Saturday and let me tell you...WOW. He did soooo well. I was really impressed and so was Mike. Michael was so professional...blew everybody else outta the water. Good job, Mikey!!

Mike and I headed back to school late afternoon on Sunday. I got back here and unpacked and then did all the homework I should have done over break. Today was the first day of classes and I am already ready for summer break...sad, I know.

Whew.... And we're all caught up! Barring any problems, posts will be more frequent now, I promise ;) TTFN

Licking and Laughing....Our Little Lady

Picking Up Where We Left Off.....

Hmm, when I last left you, I was getting ready to go to a Josh Groban concert in Grand Rapids. Well, let's chat about that, shall we?

That evening, Mike's parents came down to Ferris and picked us up. They drove us down to Grand Rapids and we all went to dinner at The Olive Garden..mmmmm. From there, we made our way to the Van Andel Arena. They also had tickets for the concert, but in the nosebleed section. Our seats were AMAZING. We were on the floor, center and about 20 rows back.

(No, I didn't take this picture...cameras weren't allowed in the arena.)

The concert itself was so incredible. Josh Groban sounds even better in person and I had goosebumps all night long. He seemed so down to earth too! He chatted with the audience between songs and even sat on the edge of the stage during one of his songs to sign autographs. He sang for about two hours, had a couple encores and then finally had to go. We met up with Mike's parents after and headed back to the car. After fighting traffic for quite a while, we were finally on our way back to school. We got back very late and both had class in the morning. We were both pretty tired the next day, but it was completely worth it....what an amazing Valentine's Day gift!!!

Return of Chelle

Oh goodness, where to begin? I am back...FINALLY! My computer had its last seizure a few weeks ago; the light in the screen burned out for a third time. I was able to get a new laptop and it is AMAZING!! It is an HP notebook, like I had before, but so much better. It is a special edition so it is white with chrome keys, has a built in webcam, wide screen and is super fast. This computer runs on Vista and I'm not sure if I like it yet.....It runs well, but I am still figuring out all the built in perks and such. Mike helped me load all my programs and my friend, Derek, is going to load all my old pictures, music and documents. I'm glad I had help because I am not very adept when it comes to that stuff. Hopefully this computer is better than the last...so far so good!

Instead of making one long, epic blog post, I think I will fill you in with a bunch of shorter ones....grab a snack, this could take a while ;)