Spring Break 2010

This post feels very silly to write seeing how Spring Break was just about a month ago!! But since I am so behind, it's on my list of posts to write and publish. Is that weird that I have a list of posts to write? Haha, I hope not, but here it goes anyway!

The first weekend of my spring break, I was at the IRHA conference. We got back to ISU on Sunday, and I drove back up to Schaumburg in the rain, after a VERY tiring weekend. Sunday night, I definitely fell asleep watching TV!

I had a friend staying with me over break, so I brought her to Spring Valley to see the Nature Center and farm. The turtles were out sunning themselves!

Nicole just loved the turtles and how active they were!

We went up to the silo to see an scenic view of the property! Haha, I can admit that it looks prettier in summer, but it was still nice!

After spending time at the nature center, we had a BIG project ahead of us: making 200 Passing of the Gavel invitations!!! It took a LONG time, but they looked good. :)

We also went to meet up with our dear friend, Ted, who lives near me!!, to get dinner one night! It was fun to talk about stuff away from school!

We just had activities left and right!! We also met up with Shannon and went to an outlet mall in Aurora. It was AMAZING, and we goofed off with some HUGE glasses

There was also a Converse outlet store, and I am IN LOVE with these Chucks! I took a picture to encourage people if they need any gift ideas ;-) haha

Near the end of the Spring Break, we went to an Orchid House. It. Was. Amazing. Can you even imagine this many orchids in one place? It was BEAUTIFUL!

Here's a close up of a cattleya orchid.. I took about 100000 more pictures of orchids, but I wont post them all here. :) Sooooo pretty!!!

At the VERY end of break, my family took me out to dinner for my birthday. My grandparents joined us for some Italian food and wine. :) I love that they got to join me!!!

Spring break FLEW by!!! I had a bunch of things to get done and do and see, but it was still a fun week!! I can't believe it was probably my last Spring Break for a long time. ;-)

IRHA 2010 - Wonderful World of Leadership

The. Last. Conference.

Eeek! But seriously, it was probably ONE OF THE BEST conferences I have ever been on! Seriously! Right from the get-go, we had a great group who was dedicated and ready to work on all aspects of the conference! See my earlier post for more details. :)

We left for North Central College around 2pm for IRHA.

There were some sleepy heads on the way to Naperville!

You'd think we were traveling the country or something!

Roll Call (the big intro for all the schools) was held in their auditorium and there was a keynote speaker!

After roll call and hanging out, we went back to the hotel and prepped for programs and bid presentations! Oh - and ordered 2 large pizzas cuz we were starving!

Some of the goofy people from ISU after breakfast! Too bad there was like 2 things left to eat at breakfast and we all went to programming STARVING! Thank goodness for packing snacks!

The ISU delegation eating lunch! It was a sweet dining center with Baskin Robbins like ice cream! Get it!! Hopefully you can see how awesome the shirts are that we're wearing haha. I worked so long to get those damn things to look decent!

Heather and I volunteered to do a Question and Answer session for the advisor of the year bid we wrote! We were so nervous, but it was GREAT to do one with her!

Ok, let me explain what's going on here.... There is this phenomenon called "Riding the Pony." That is me in the red. What happens is a big group forms into a circle and a few people are in the middle. Then the group chants:

"Ride, ride, ride that pony.
Ride, ride, ride that pony.
Ride, ride, ride that pony,
This is how we do it.
Front to front to front now baby
Back to back to back now baby
Side to side to side now baby
This is how we do it."

While we are chanting it, the people in the middle pretend that they are riding a horse and go around the circle. When it comes to the "front to front part" you stop and do those moves to the person in front of you. Then you switch and that person is in the middle instead of you. It goes on and on until people either pass out from exhaustion or someone calls us to attention again.

*I just reread that and realized how creepy this tradition sounds. But I love it!!!!*

There was also a scavenger hunt during some downtime before more programming and we decided to do it! One thing was finding 3 used Starbucks cups! Gross!! But Christine (all the way to the left in the pic) totally went thru the garbage to find them!!! Hahah it was so funny!

Me and my good friend, Angel at dinner. They had to split ISU into 2 tables, so me, Angel, and Glenn were floating around at another table! It was so sad, but Glenn and Angel are hilarious!!!

Our delegation with advisors all dressed up for the awards banquet after dinner! We are so pretty! All coordinated in red :)

This picture means a lot to me! Kim has been Glenn and my advisor for the past two years, and she is the greatest person ever!!! This was the last conference we went on together and it was just awesome!!!!

We came home with two awards - for President and Advisor of the Year! Kim and Angel won! We were SO thrilled!!! I happened to have written both of those bids.... ;-)

The next morning, we were all exhausted from a LONG weekend! While waiting to check out, everyone just sat in the hallway, we didn't even know why we ended up doing that, but it was hilarious.

IRHA was a great conference. Some conference newbies got hooked, some conference oldies had a great last conference, and we made ISU proud. I couldn't ask for a more fun experience, even though it was the first weekend of spring break. :) But I hope these memories last forever. :) I love conferences!

Birthday!

My birthday used to fall during spring breaks during elementary and high school, so people never really heard about them unless I had party. However, at ISU, spring break always happens SO early in the month, so I typically have class or something! While it's been weird, its still sorta cool. :)

This year, I sat on the Student Elections Committee which oversaw the student elections for Student Government Association and ARH.... and my birthday happened to fall within the two weeks of heavy campaigning!! There were many a meetings for the committee and I was very overwhelmed with school work, ARH, and the SEC! My birthday seemed to almost sneak up on me, to tell you the truth....

OH but wait, my roommate certainly didn't let it sneak up on her!

She tricked me and got me to help her do one of her art projects in the art building after my meetings and classes.... and while I was helping here, there were devious things going on in my room! When I opened the door when we came back home, here is what I saw:

What in carnation is going on??? Haha I stood dumbfounded for a few minutes and realized that Shannon had given her key to a few of our friends who came into our room and decorated for my birthday! Can you see ANYTHING around all of these streamers?? Haha awesome!

One of the girls bought me the blanket I've been pining for throughout my entire four years at ISU!! Yay!!!!!!

Lucky for me, Kim and Brandon were still in the area, and came up to the room to see my reaction! I am SO lucky to have them as friends!!!

Kim, Brandon, Angel, and Kayla were the four culprits for the room decorating... they all made me cards and left me the most precious video on my computer! I was so touched, and that Shannon - such a devious one!!!! Thank you for a great birthday surprise everyone!!! :)

Doesn't "bunion" sound like something that pusses?

For my entire life, I have had strange feet. Let's face it, I have clown feet. Ever since I was in first grade, I was the girl with HUGE feet. I can legitimately tell you that I have NEVER shared shoes with a girlfriend or cousin. In fact, when I was in sixth grade, my dad's youngest sister used to give me shoes she didn't want - and they fit me! Let's keep in mind the age difference!

In addition to the boats I have for feet, they have been shapped funny - typically calling for me to not only purchase a size ginormous, but also a wide. Talk about a difficult way to shop for shoes!!! I had surgery on my left ankle 2 years ago because I tore a ligament on the outer muscle. The doctor did a great job repairing it and "tightening" everything up. That foot is now, and I'm totally serious here, narrower and smaller. My right foot however, it has been an ISSUE.

I don't know if you heard, but Bloomington Normal had about 139823 feet of snow this year. I searched high and low for snow boots that I could wear, and found a few pairs that I loved! After a few days in the same shoe, my foot would ache really bad! What the heck! I had to keep rotating shoes every other day or my foot would swell and be red.

One day, the swelling was so bad, I just called my doctor from my first surgery and scheduled an appointment. They asked me to come in as soon as possible to get it checked out. Oh yay!!! I called my parents and they weren't even surprised that I had some weird problem. I sent them these pictures.

(Disclaimer: if you just ate or have problems with feet, I would suggest skipping these pictures!)

Check out my right foot. Do you see that bump on the big knuckle?

Here, maybe this will help:

Haha, that's what was really hurting me, swelling, turning red, and making it impossible to walk.

Of course I had theories about my foot growth/bump but I didn't really have time to worry about it. Over spring break, I went to the doctor. The doctor's assistant took a look and my foot and made a face. SHE MADE A FACE. Ok, there's no like... warts on it or anything! She scheduled an x-ray to give the doctor all he needed to make a diagnosis.

Well, here is the x-ray with his pen marks on it:

That's my right foot. Can you see the pen marks? Well, they are a little faint, but the doctor needs to break 2 bones to repair the problem - and then screw them together. Eeek!!

So what's the problem, you ask? I have a bunion. Here was my reaction when he told me that. "...." Yeah, what the heck is a bunion? You say bunion to me, I think a puss filled sac that old women have on their feet. The doctor, seeing my confusion, explain that a bunion is actually a bone deformity. As my feet grew and I had trouble finding shoes, the deformity grew and got worse. He advised that I not wait much longer. He also found a bone spur, arthritis, and other junk floating in there.

Whoa!

Well that sure does explain a lot! No wonder my big toe cracks ALL the time! No wonder it has gotten worse as I've gotten older! Despite all that, what remains is surgery. :\ It's definitely hard to comprehend how breaking 2 bones, screwing them together, and sanding down other bones will make this all better - and why you would want to!!! But really, if it helps and lets me wear shoes, I'm excited!

3 hours the appointment, the scheduling office called and scheduled me for a 10:30am surgery on May 11th.

Just an FYI: I graduate on May 8th! 3 days after I finish college they are breaking my bones! I am to the point where I find this amusing. Does anyone else? I had 3 surgeries in high school, and 3 in college. "Special" I tell you!!!! It'll be an interesting start to my summer. Please, come over and hang out! I'm not sure if you put the pieces together or not - but surgery on my right foot really keeps me from driving.... for a long time!!