Here we goooo!

First week of school, check. Done. Complete.

I made it through. BOOM!

I thought that going up to school was going to be hard then ever. Leaving home, all the things you're use to, your family and friends, your hometown, isn't something that people really want to do. I was going to a place where I don't know anyone but a handful of people, and I am having to make new friends. At first that wasn't the easiest thing, making new friends. But it got easier as the week went along. Now, at the end of the week, Jordie and I have our "crew" of friends who we hang out with pretty much every day. :)

 (Ellie, Jordie, Justin, Jamie and Collin)

We've had a week full of fun, classes and new experiences. Classes started on Monday. I'm done by noon every day but Tuesdays, which is soooo nice. Monday/Wednesday/Friday I have History, Psychology, and English. My history class is just plain weird. Tuesdays/Thursdays I have Gened and Geology. Both are either extremely boring or just plain weird. Awesome. haha

Wednesday night we had Cougfest, which is a big concert that the school throws for us. Augustana came and played. The only song I know by them is the song called Boston. I love it! ♥ Every other night Jordie and I have hung out with the boys, having movie nights, bus adventures to Wal-Mart, had spaghetti nights, made cakes and brownies. I've taken up pool, and I have a feeling that by the end of the school year (or maybe even next month if I'm lucky) I'm gonna be a pro!The weekend came quicker then I think any of us expected. Homework had to be done, movies were watched and a big storm came around to end the weekend.

So far, I like college and I think I'm gonna like it :)

We want to say hello, but we first have to say goodbye.

I have found nothing "good" about goodbyes. As my friend Josh Alvarez would say, the good should be changed to lame and stupid so it would then be lameandstupidbye. Because in my mind that's what it is. All the goodbyes in the past few days have brought nothing but tears, and sadness.

I was doing totally fine until the last Sunday, the Sunday of the boys journey. I had been going strong all weekend long, thinking about the whole moving thing from time to time but never grasping the concept completely. I was getting to see and hang out with all of my wonderful friends who I have missed dearly over the months. I was excited to see Tim Schmitt and ask him all about his weekend, and I hadn't even thought about the whole saying goodbye part yet. Then Jake Nielsen came up to me and gave me a hug. The look on his face was just so incredibly heartbreaking. I thought to myself that he's going through the exact same thing as me right now, except he's not just moving a few hours hours away but half of the country. The tears started to roll down me cheeks as I handed out hugs to others and they told me how much they were going to miss me and how they will be praying for me.

The next few days after that I spent most of it packing my room up and making my rounds saying goodbye. It's hard to think that it's not just see you later, but that it might not be until Thanksgiving until you see them again. The fact that all your best friends are going to different schools as you, and all of your break schedules are different, making it just that much harder to see them. The tears though didn't start to come again until my dad came in on my last night home, gave me a hug and started crying as he told me how much he loved me and how much he was going to miss me.

Your parents are the worst when it comes to saying goodbye. You know they're going to cry, which you know will only make you cry and so on and so forth. As my parents dropped me off today, they did good, holding the tears until right as they left. And as the goodbyes start coming to an  end, you start to say hello to new things. Your dorm, your roommate, the RA, the people in your hall. But all of these hello's might not be what you expected. My dorm is tiny. Being cramped in a corner is not really what I had in mind. The food is nothing like my mom's cooking. I've only been gone a day and I miss it already. Random people will come up and just start talking to you and NEVER stop. But you start to make new friends and the hello's get easier and easier. 


One day I'll have this hello goodbye thing down, but I know for sure that it's not today. Maybe one day, but not today.

Surprise! :)

As the days in my countdown grow smaller and smaller, I start to realize that my time here at home is running out.
T-Minus 9 days.
So this morning, I had this gut feeling that it was just going to be a horrible day. And I hate it when I wake up to those feelings. It just puts me in a bad mood from the start. It probably didn't help that I had to be up at 5am and be at work by 6am this morning. I have never ever EVER been to work that early. Plus, I didn't get off work till 3pm. It was going to be a long day.
A few hours past, and my dad showed up with a coffee for me, because he knows that I'm no morning person and coffee would help with my attitude. ;) As the hours went on, it only got better and better. Working in the evenings at the gym, you get all the grumpy people just getting off work. Working in the mornings, everyone is still in a really good mood and all happy. The hours ticked by faster then I expected and I was soon off from work, headed home to go get ready to get family pictures taken. The picture people were about an hour behind, causing everyone to be grumpy. I just wanted to be done so I could go home.
Then it happened.....

My brothers tackled me as my dad blindfolded me and led me outside where I was then put inside a car. I had no idea who I was with or where I was going! The car kept driving around, making two stops and picking people up. I thought I had a pretty good idea of where I was but where we were going and what was happening was a different story. The car finally stopped, I was led inside, sat down and the blindfold was taken off. Four of my best friends (Katie, Amanda, Ashley and Erin) had planned a surprise going away dinner for us since Erin was leaving this Thursday and I leave in a week. The Red Robing staff then assumed it was my birthday, sang to me and I got free ice cream. Let's just say our waitress was pretty boss. The activities following dinner included drawing pictures with sidewalk chalk outside some of our friends homes, drawing on their cars, and creeping on them during their bonfire.

So after all, my day turned out being quite good and my gut was wrong. :) I love my friends.

Never, never, NEVER give up

It's amazing how when something like someone passing away can change how you look at life completely. You tend to draw closer to those around you, because you have that fear of them leaving you as well. One single person, and their life can change a whole group of people completely. Yesterday, my family, myself and 350 other people celebrated a young man's life who did just that; he changed us all.

R.I.P. Elijah "Eli" John-Robert Barr ♥ 1989-2011
Never have a met a man with such love and passion for others no matter what like Eli had. He cared deeply for other and was concerned about their lives and well beings, more then his own life. His life was a living miracle. Born with a genetic disease called Hurlers, he was only told to live a few years after born. Eli was a miracle, and lived another 17 years instead, becoming the oldest survivor of this disease. he survived two bone marrow transplants, a stem cell transplant, back surgery and two heart surgeries throughout this time. He never, never, never gave up, and he told all of us to do the same. His love that he showed everyone else is inspiring. Everyone was his friend, and if you weren't you soon would be. He was an angel's soul living here on earth, teaching us important life lessons that we will now live out in our own lives.

Eli was one of those people who loved to talk to you and get to know you. Everyone has talked to him at least once. He wasn't afraid to voice his opinion to people. Ask Sammy Sosa, who Eli once gave batting tips to when he was honorary guest at a Cub's game. We know that once we get to heaven, he'll be there at those pearly gates to great us with conversations ready. His love for animals was as great as his love for people, and he claimed that one day he would own his own zoo. I know that up in heaven right now he's finally got that zoo he's always wanted. He hugged everyone, even if he knew you or not. Personal space was not an issue with him. The love and care he showed to everyone is that perfect example of how we all need to love one another. 
Eli, you have taught us how to love and you showed us how to be a light for other people. We thank you for that. You, my friend, will be greatly missed but this isn't goodbye. So until we meet again, Shalom. 

 Dedicated by the High School Beach Trip 2011 in Seaside, Oregon.


T-Minus 11 Days

And the countdown begins...

The name is Ellie. I'm 18 years old, the oldest kid in my family.  I graduated from high school this past June, completing 4 years of my life that went by so fast, I'm still trying to figure out how it happened. Now as my summer has flown by as well, the real count down begins....
T-Minus 12 Days.
12 days from today, two weeks from Wednesday, I will be leaving for college. 12 days from today I will be living in my new dorm up at Washington State University, home of the Cougars, in good ol' Pullman, Washington. This is a  huge new step in my life that will be taking place, and I'm not quite sure what to think. I know I'm excited, but at the same time I'm scared and a little nervous/anxious. But that's normal right? That's how every incoming freshman feels going into college, or even high school. It's something we haven't experienced before. 
But the real stress of this all is the getting there. You have to buy SOOOOO much. I mean you have books, you have things for your dorm, and the list just goes on and on and on. My mother and I went out the other night to start shopping for my dorm room and the major issue that came up for me was what kind of bed spread do I want. Do I want just a solid colored one, or maybe a patterned one? But then the question of what color comes into play as well. And I'm one of those people who can't buy anything else until that gets picked out because everything has to match and coordinate. You'll be happy to know that I did come up with something. Went with the solid color of dark blue and a nice teal with polka dot sheets. Add some fun and color to the tiny little dorm room I'll be living in. But don't even get me started on books....that's the next thing I'll concur.