Thanksgiving

Today is good! Not one of those "I found the surprise in my cereal box!" kind of good, but a "I'm going home for Thanksgiving today!" kind of good. If you've spoken to me in the past 2 weeks, or maybe just passed me on the sidewalk (sorry y'all), you will know how excited I am for this holiday. I can't stop talking about it. I've been dreaming about turkey, thinking about what bribes I can give Easton to make him like me more, looking up recipes for cheesecake (yes, mom I'll make a plain one), and fantasizing about my oh so comfy bed.

There is so much to be thankful for! My rockin' body, winning personality, stunning good looks, brain of a genius, etc, etc. On top of all of that, I am so thankful for the people that surround me. I have the BEST family and friends a girl could ask for. I feel lucky, not pathetic, when I say that a lot of my closest friends are family members. My sistercuz, Raeger, and I say all the time how glad we are that our family has such a bada$$ relationship (it's ok to use that word if I put the dollar signs, right?) Most of my friends just don't get it. "What? You WANT to drive 3 hours there and 3 hours back just to watch your cousin get engaged??" Heck YES I do! And yes, I will miss your birthday party just to go hang out with Easton, yes I will skip a trip to New Orleans for my family's Christmas, yes I will wake up at the crack of dawn to meet my family peeps in Austin for the day. None of that sounds crazy to me, but I guess to some it might. Losers.

Not only are we celebrating Thanksgiving while I'm home this week, we are also celebrating this girl's birthday! The big 2-2. Not so exciting. I can already vote, buy lotto tickets, buy alcohol...what else is there? What do 22 year olds do? They graduate, that's what. I graduate in May. What?! I feel like I just got here! Well, I guess I got here for 2 days, left for a year, then got here again, but those are just technicalities. I'm not ready to graduate! Correction..I'm ready to be done with school, but not so ready to have a full-time job. Oh the joys of growing up.

This Thanksgiving break is going to be one for the books. I'm going to try and not let the food and my obsession with Easton get in the way of giving thanks for everything that I have been blessed with. The Lord is good, y'all! Give him thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving and happy birthday to me!

-Stars out!

Ms. Gills? Ms. Gilly??

Gillis. Doesn't seem like such a hard last name to pronounce. It sounds exactly like it looks. But apparently for some fifth graders, Gillis is the most challenging last name in history. You see, I just started observing in a fifth grade math class, and so far the biggest obstacle I have had to overcome is getting my students to say my name correctly. This is something I wasn't prepared for. I might make a suggestion to my professors to include a lesson over this in the future. Just trying to help my fellow teacher peeps in training out.

So far, I have really enjoyed my experience at Sul Ross Elementary. I'm not going to lie, when I found out I was assigned to a fifth grade math class I freaked a little. For some reason, I swore I would never want a grade higher than third, so fifth grade was obviously a problem. Also, I am a reading/language arts emphasis which, in case you didn't know, has nothing to do with math! Knowing how to help kids learn phonemes isn't exactly useful for a math teacher. I was convinced that my mentor teacher would think I was a total dummy when I got to her class Wednesday morning. Luckily, my teacher is a saint. She told me not to worry, and that I would be able to pick up on things very quickly. Little did she know that when she was teaching her lesson over dividing, I was sitting in the back going "Oh crap, the answer to a division problem is called the quotient?" and "You do WHAT with the remainder?" Should be real interesting when I get up there for the first time to teach them a lesson.

Other than having to re-learn pretty much everything that they are learning, I really enjoy my class! The kids are great (with the exception of a few). There is never a dull moment when you are surrounded by hormonal children. My days are filled with laughter, tears, anger, and the occasional compliment when one of the kids forgets that its not cool to like your teachers anymore. That's why I like the little ones best. They still love you and are excited about showing you what they've learned or accomplished in class. Most of my fifth graders only care about who's going to be on their basketball team at recess or where Justin Bieber was last seen. Oh well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Bieber for life!

-Stass out!

Back at Work - So Obviously I'll Blog

Hello all! It has been a while and I'm sure all you faithful readers have been dying to know what has been going on in the life of Stacey. Well, let me just tell you that it has been wild. Now I know you are thinking "Please Stacey, tell us everything!" but there is just too much to tell. So I have decided to choose some of my favorite moments to share with you. Here we go...

- Easton's birthday party! Or pretty much any time that I have spent with my little guy. He is walking now, which is crazy! His party was a huge success. There were cookies EVERYWHERE and tons and tons of presents, which is good because poor Easton had absolutely no toys before his party. He is a major mommy's boy and doesn't exactly ever want to come to me, BUT I know that one day he will learn to like me the most.

- Me and 5 of my good girlfriends went on our 2nd annual girl's trip to San Antonio this year. We stayed at a hotel pretty close to the river walk and had an awesome time. We went to the Mexican market, ate tons of food, hit up ladies night at Coyote Ugly, and had the funnest dinner at the worst restaraunt ever (Zunis..not a fan). We are definitely an interesting group when we all get together, but I love it. - Whitley and Ryan got married! It seems like the wedding was forever ago! Everything was absolutely beautiful and I was an amazing bridesmaid. I've had the chance to hang with the newly weds in Houston, their new hometown, and am happy to report that everything seems to be going great with them and their marriage. And in case you didn't know, Ryan has some sweet dance moves that I'm sure he would love to share if you just ask.
- Swim lessons were a success this summer. We taught about 70 kids over 8 days and are still alive to talk about it. We had lessons from 8-5 this year instead of just 8-1 and I honestly thought I wouldn't make it, but it turned out to not be so bad after all. It was our 7th summer to teach lessons and I have to say Emily and I have made quite a little business for ourselves. We are looking into naming our operation ESP Swimming (Emily, Stacey, Peyton) because when you are as good as we are, you need a business name.
I borrowed this picture from swim lessons this year-hope that's cool Jenna!


- This summer I have really enjoyed hanging out and meeting up with a lot of my friends that I never see during the school year. Being in El Campo for a month was really relaxing and fun (shocking I know). As much as I make fun of being from a small, somewhat country town, I have to admit that I really do enjoy my summers there. We always find something to do, even if it is the most random thing in the world like riding around in the back of a truck looking for hogs with a spotlight. Wow, I can't believe I just admitted to doing that! Don't judge me.

This summer has been great, one for the books, epic, unbeatable, so on and so forth. I can't believe I'm already back at work in College Station, though! Didn't I just get done with my spring semester of classes?? In two weeks I will be starting my senior year of college. It feels weird thinking about being a senior. Can I REALLY only have one year of school left? And don't even bother asking me what my plans are after I graduate because I legitimately have zero. I like to say I'll just go with the flow, but my dad doesn't really like that plan. Eventually I'll figure something out, but for now I think I'll just continue to read my US Weekly magazine and fantasize about marrying Ryan Reynolds.

-Stassy out!

Brownie Batter

Why does the batter always taste so much better than the actual brownie?

Whitley's wedding is in a week! This week will be spent in preparation for the big day. I will be getting mani's and pedi's everyday as well as dying and cutting my hair. Also, spray tans and teeth whitening procedures are scheduled. I am taking my bridesmaid duties very seriously.

Summer school has started. June is going to be very stressful because I am taking speech. Just the thought of getting in front of people and talking about anything for 7 minutes makes me want to run to my mommy, curl up in a ball, and cry on her shoulder. You may be thinking I'm overreacting and 7 minutes isn't even a long time. People, I know this, but public speaking is my WORST FEAR. So please pray for me.

I'm almost at the end of my OC series craze. I'm halfway through season four, the final season, and I'm just not ready for it to be over with. It is SO good. Maybe in a couple of years they will surprise everyone and bring the show back. That would make my life.

Campus is pretty dead today. I'm sitting in my 50 degree office, staring outside, dreaming of the warm sun and fun summer activities I could be doing instead of working. I wonder how bizarre I look to people when they come in wearing shorts and tank tops and I'm bundled up in jeans, closed toed shoes, and a jacket.

Well, I hope everyone is having a lovely day. Remember, pray for me to make it through this speech class without having an emotional breakdown. Party on.

-Starsy out!

Summer?

So it's summer time. Sort of. Not really. Five days after my spring semester ended, I began my grueling and oh so dumb minimester. It's an entire semester's worth of course work jam packed into two fun filled weeks of quizzes, papers, tests, and discussions. Today I had two quizzes and an assignment due. Tomorrow, three quizzes and a paper. Joy. After my minimester ends next Sunday, because yes I do have things due on the weekends, I will get to relax for three days before my next summer class begins - speech. I hate public speaking with a passion. I get all nervous, and sweaty, and start to hyperventilate, which doesn't make sense when you think about it because I KNOW that people love listening to me speak. After speech, its yet another summer class in July. So yes, while we may now be in the summer months, I do not have much of a summer.

On a much, much happier note, I do have several fun things to look forward to that will make my summer school classes slightly more bearable. Next weekend is Whitley's bachelorette party! It's gunna get crazy. Then her wedding, babysitting Easton, the Backstreet Boys concert, trips to the river, Easton's birthday party, watching The OC, and I'm sure other things that I'm not remembering. So I guess really I shouldn't complaing because it still sounds like my summer will be fabulous.

A random thought - if you are bored with your life, watch The OC. It is so good. I wake up in the morning wondering what will happen next in Newport. Will Julie Cooper-Nichols start another scandal? Will Ryan and Marissa EVER get back together? Is Kirsten going to cheat on Sandy with Carter? Does Ryan's brother Trey really want to change? Will Summer and Seth last forever (I hope)? Will Lindsey ever come back from Chicago? What ever happened to Hailey? The list goes on and on. Just thinking about it makes me want to leave work, grab some pad thai, and watch another episode.
Have a great summer peeps!

-Stars out!

Bling Bling

Less than two days until I get my Aggie ring!! I am beyond excited. This is the one A&M tradition that I fully, completely, 100% support. In case you didn't know, I am not one of those Aggies that bleeds maroon. Even typing that phrase made me cringe. I'm what the "Red-Ass" Aggies call a two percenter. I sit at football games, I don't do the yells, I refuse to say Howdy, and I don't think the corp is cool.

Now don't get me wrong, I love A&M and going to school here, but I'm just not into the traditions.

The Aggie Ring is a completely different story. Maybe because it's jewelry, I don't know, but I love this tradition. Friday at 2 is the big day! My parents and sister will be here to celebrate with me. The brother apparently has better things to do than to share this moment with me, but hey its cool. After the ring is on my finger and lots and lots of pictures have been taken, we will be heading to a park to take part in another, scarier tradition - The Ring Dunk. If you don't know what this entails, allow me to explain. Seven other girls and I will be dropping our rings into HUGE pitchers full of beer. Not just regular beer but flat, room temperature, nasty beer. Then at 9:12 (because we graduate in 2012) we will begin to chug the entire pitcher until we get to the bottom and can get our ring out.

I hate beer. I never drink it. So why am I partaking in this event? Because its tradition. Some people argue and say that it isn't one of the original traditions so it doesn't even count, but ever since I've heard about A&M, I've heard about ring dunks. And I figure since I don't care about any other traditions, I am going to participate in this one 100%. I'm just hoping I don't get sick. I'm planning on wearing a trashbag and pouring the majority of the beer on myself. I'm real nervous and scared.

So if you have nothing to do on Friday at 2, head on up to campus and get a pic with me and my new, shiny ring! I'm willing to take pictures with anybody as long as I get to show off my ring. Unfortuantely this means that I will have to do the thumbs up "gig 'em" sign, but hey, its the price I have to pay.

Whoop for Ring Day!

-Stackey out!

Work = Great Place to Blog

I've decided that blogging just isn't going to happen for me unless I do it at work. When I am at home, I am doing too many other things to sit still long enough to write up a masterpiece for all my readers. How am I supposed to write about me and my life when I am watching reruns of Full House? Anyways, work is the perfect place to blog, so here we go. I feel like my life has been CRAZY the past few weeks, and it's not going to slow down anytime soon. All of my professors conveniently decided to have their major projects due all at the same time, jerks. My weeks have been filled with group meetings, PowerPoint making, paper writing, and complaining about how dumb it all is. Oh well, only 6 more weeks! Then I'll be a senior...scary. My weekends have been just as busy as my weeks. I have been travelling to Austin to see my favorite boy Easton, who is almost 8 months old now. He is such a big boy! I've made a few (not enough) trips to EC, sorry Mom! And most recently I made an appearance in San Marcos. My good friend Matt turned 21 this past weekend, so me and some other College Station peeps decided to go and celebrate with him. It was a totally new experience for me. We took a party bus (woah) to 6th street (WOAH) and celebrated all night long! I have never been to 6th street before and it was everything I've heard it was and more. There were people EVERYWHERE, girls throwing up in the streets (sick), old men creeping on way too young girls (sicker). The only thing missing were the homeless people. I'm sure they were there, I just didn't see them. Minus the fact that my feet hurt beyond words, I had an awesome time! Here are some pics from my very first night as a big city Austin girl. My traveling partner for the weekend. Typical me. Wild and crazy 4-life. April is looking like its going to be an epic month. I have something awesome planned every single weekend and I'm getting excited just thinking about it. My ring dunk, Carley's birthday, Easter and Whitley's shower, family time, oh and maybe some homework in there somewhere. April = Awesome.

Have a great week. And to those of you fellow bloggers who haven't blogged lately, get on it! You are letting me down. You know who you are.

-Stass out!

Spring Break - Get Crazy

There are tons of countdowns (2 days left!) and statuses (SB 2011 YEAH!!) on Facebook to get people in the spirit for the best spring break ever. The first question anyone asks you is "Got any fun/crazy plans for spring break?" My immediate response is to say "Heck yeah, I'm gunna get wild!" And after silently giggling to myself about the ridiculouness of that statement, I start thinking about all the awesome, not wild things I plan to do over my week-long break. If you are cool like me, you will do these things too.

TAN! (Gotta get my bridesmaid tan on)

Eat good, homecooked food

Watch movies

Go shopping with my momma

Play with my main man, Easton

Blog a little

Hang with my peeps

Get Sonic happy hour EVERY DAY

Figure out how to make cheesecake that isn't gooey in the middle

As you can see, my list is far from crazy or wild or "party", but it is still pretty amazing. I don't want to do anything over spring break except relax and not think about school at all. Nothing stressful. So no more talk about how I probably won't have a job when I graduate from college. That can wait until March 21. Any bad news? I don't want to hear it. Boy problems? Call someone else. Stacey is off duty. I hope all you blog readers have a relaxing, awesome, stress-free spring break, too!
Oh and I want to find these clothes over spring break, too.

-Stars out!

I have nothing to confess...

but if I did...

- sometimes I watch my old Derby Doll DVDs late at night and wish I was still on the team

- I still believe that Brian Littrell from the Backstreet Boys will realize we are supposed to be together

- I want to see the Justin Bieber movie

- I obsess about my weight (but still eat whatever and whenever I want)

- I can't imagine liking someone long enough to marry them

- I could eat ice cream every day of my life

- I would go to my friend Megan's house instead of having her come to mine because her parents would take us to get fast food for dinner almost everynight and my parents never would

- I have a weird phobia of empty bottles

- Two other cousins* and I told one of my friends that they lived in an 8 story house with an elevator and their brother was killed by a lava lamp

*Other cousins names will not be given because this is my confessional, not theirs

- In middle school, 4 other girls and I would sit at the same lunch table every day, Mean Girls style. Nobody else could sit with us and we thought we were hot stuff.

- I couldn't remember who our current president is in class on Tuesday

I feel so much better.

-Starsy out!

2nd Floor - Evans

That is where I am writing this blog. Right outside the Univeristy Writing Center on the second floor of Evans library. Why am I here, you ask? Because of my lovely sister and brother-in-law. Allow me to explain.This weekend, I got up bright and early Saturday morning to race to Austin to see Cassie, Scotty, and mostly Easton. Little did I know that I was driving to a dark pit filled with sickness, pain, and agony. When I arrived Saturday morning, I was handed the baby, asked to watch him for a little while, and Cassie and Scotty disappeared into their bedroom because they both were feeling a little under the weather. I thought, "Sure, I love my little man. I don't mind watching him." How silly of me. I wasn't aware that the entire time I was there a little evil, mutant bug was taking over my body.

The rest of Saturday was lots of fun, and Sunday morning was even great. We didn't see much of Cass and Scotty, because we didn't want to get whatever sickness they had. Well, so much for that. Around 3:00 Sunday afternoon, I knew everything was not A-Okay. I decided to leave Austin anyways and begin my journey back to College Station. Dumb. About 10 minutes down the road, I had to pull over because I felt so bad, but I decided I would just keep driving anyways. Dumber. I won't give details, but lets just say it was the longest and worst drive I have ever taken. This horrible drive was followed by the worst night of my life, ever. Schlotzksy's - you have lost my business forever. But don't worry folks, I am doing better now and have even managed to eat an entire sandwich AND get out of bed for more than 10 minutes at a time, YAY!

Because of this nasty bug that got passed on to me from Cassie and Scotty, I didn't even think about looking at my planner to see what events Monday held for me. Heck, I didn't even know if I was going to make it through the night (honestly it was that bad). Unfortunately, I completely forgot about an appointment I had with one of my professors about a paper we had to write for class. Being the perfectionist and award winning student that I am, I freaked out. I sent an e-mail to both of her accounts, because I wasn't sure which she would check first. I told her I was sick, but I know that excuse is right up there with "My dog ate my homework" so I'm sure she thinks I'm a big fat liar. If she only knew. Anyways, that brings me back to why I am sitting here in Evans. I am waiting for my make-up meeting with my very gracious professor. Thanks a lot, Cass.

This blog hasn't been very fun, sorry. But my life the past few days hasn't been very fun either so just deal with it. If you need something to cheer you up after this, check out the blog called "Love, Teach". It is written by a 1st year teacher who is teaching in a low-income, inner city school. It is hilarious. For real.

Party on peeps.

-Stass out.

Free Verse

So, for my "Teaching Writing" class we had to write a free verse poem. We could write about whatever we wanted in the whole wide world. I have such a happening life, so as you can imagine it was very hard for me to choose a topic. I settled on writing about our amazing performances we would put on in Nana's living room when we were little baby children. For your enjoyment, here is what I wrote:

No real stage;
No spotlights or orchestra;
Just excited grandchildren waiting to perform.
The furniture is pushed to the side to make room,
Room for the performance,
Room for our adoring fans.

Everyone is seated,
The show begins.
The oldest cousins begin reciting their lines.
They always have the lead roles.
"It's because we wrote the script, don't complain," they say.
I wouldn't complain,
If I had any lines at all.

The show is over;
Our family tells us how great we did.
My mom says that even though I didn't have lines,
I was the cutest one out there.
"I don't want to be cute, I want to be an actress," I say.
She tells me that someday, I will be the star.

Ten years later,
No lead roles,
No billboards with my name on them.
Yet.
But maybe someday,
I will be the star.

Now, if you know me at all, you know that the ending of this poem is false. When I was little I never wanted any attention on me, and I didn't have some huge dream of becoming a star. But sometimes you have to lie to get good grades in college. That's a scientific fact. However, the part about the older cousins always having the lead roles is totally true. I'm not bitter or anything, though. Have a lovely week peeps.

-Poet Starsy out!