Finals week, fall 2010: Success!

Listening To: "If It's Love" by Train

I think it's safe to say that this finals week was the best yet. The exams weren't exactly my favorite, but I think all the fun stuff in between more than made up for it!

On the 3rd, after a much-needed roomie date to Rembrandt's...

Roommate, coffee, good conversation... Yes.

...I went to see Conrad Anker speak in Chatt. He's led several climbing expeditions, including some to Everest and Antarctica. Pretty sweet. I was originally supposed to go with Mike, but since he had to work, Kristi came along instead. I'm really glad--I've been needing some time with her anyway! After that was over, we walked around downtown a little. We ended up going into this organic grocery store called Greenlife and discovered they had a little café-type thing inside where they sold GELATO. Best. Discovery. Ever. Who cares if it was below freezing outside? Gelato is worth it.

Mango-pineapple gelato. Sooo good.

We always manage to have a good adventure!

The next night, I went with Mike to DJ a middle school dance. That was pretty fun--boyfriend, music, and getting to watch a bunch of kids act ridiculous. Sounds good to me! After we finished there, we went back to his place where a bunch of our friends were finishing up a Christmas/Hanukkah party, so it was fun to hang out with them for awhile.

Next up: Gingerbread houses! Kristi & Jaynese invited Mike, Jon, Will, Chris, and me over for dinner, followed by building and decorating gingerbread houses. I haven't done that in forever, so that was definitely a lot of fun!

This picture is my life.

Our house collapsed :(

The finished product!

After cleaning up, we went to Jon's place to hang out. We had already made plans to stay up all night and go watch the sunrise. We were all pretty exhausted though, so around 3:30am, we all crashed in Jon's living room for an hour. Around 4:45am, Mike, Kristi, Chris, and I headed up to Chilhowee. It was freezing (19 degrees, plus lots of wind), but this made it all worth it:

Good morning, world!

Seriously, most gorgeous sunrise ever. Check out more pictures here, here, and here. I wish I had the motivation to go see more sunrises because I like them just as much as sunsets. I just hate the early morning factor!

After sleeping for a few hours, a group of us went to Chatt for dinner and a movie. We went to Chili's to eat, and then ended up going to see The Town at the dollar theater (I love $1 Wednesdays!). This wasn't really my choice, as I'm not a fan of going to see movies like that without knowing what the heck to expect, but I survived it. It was pretty intense, but a good movie as far as storyline goes.

Friday, I spent the day running errands with Mike, going with him to DJ the Taekwondo awards ceremony/Christmas party (side note: I skipped rank!! I'm officially a level 2 green belt, which is pretty exciting for me. Totally wasn't expecting that), and then going out to Applebee's, courtesy of my parents (they gave him a gift card for his birthday). All in all, definitely a good day.

Saturday was Jaynese's graduation (I'll try to add pictures later, when I get them). So crazy--I can't believe that'll be me in just 3 semesters! Scary thought! After that, going out to eat (again), taking a short nap, and packing, Darren and I headed back to Georgia for break, which is where I am now. 4 weeks of being at home... We'll see how that goes!