• Ms. Gillespie (1st grade) : I was the "slow" kid when it came to learning how to read, & she spent so much extra time w/ me outside of school tutoring me. She even came to my birthday party.
• Mrs. Moses (5th grade) : She was 22 years old & the most beautiful teacher inside and out. She had a way of explaining things to me & making every subject fun. I used to daydream about her adopting me.
• Mr. Pantalion (6th grade, math) : He made math so fun. He also always made me feel special & never made me feel dumb. He boosted my confidence & would always ask me to smile when I was hard on myself.
• Mrs. Ziegler (7th grade, reading) : She had terrible breath, was grouchy, but she saw the good in me & encouraged me in a tough-love way. She died the next year from brain cancer.
• Ms. Oke (art teacher) : She was a free butterfly. Beautiful olive skin w/ green eyes. One day she opene...

• You're only in your twenties for 10 years, don't rush it. And try not to get pregnant either.
• You most likely won't find your husband in college, so quit acting like every guy you meet in class is "the one".
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up... ESPECIALLY if there's free food.
• The ways that you are imperfect allow people to connect to you and love you even more. I found my life best friends in college this way.
• Even if you forget to turn in an assignment, turn it in a day late anyways and ask the teacher to at least "make sure you did it right" or for "SOME credit rather than none". Every time I did this, I received full credit even though it was late.
• Get your nose pierced, dye your hair funky, get all that out of your system bc you...

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
• Museum of Modern Art MoMA (New York)
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York)
• JFK Museum (Texas)
• Holocaust Museum (Texas)
• Ansel Adams Museum (California)
• Whitney Museum of American Art (New York)
• Museum of the City of New York (New York)
• Dallas Museum of Art (Texas)
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Arkansas)
• William J. Clinton Presidential Library (Arkansas)
• Historic Arkansas Museum of Art (Arkansas)
• The Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois)

• Sky dive.
• Graduate college.
• Run 5k or half-marathon.
• Take an adult ballet class.
• Learn how to knit.
• Go up on a hot air balloon.
• Spend an entire day cuddling.
• Attend my high school reunion.
• Go to a bowl game.
• Make homemade fortune cookies with my own profound, personal "wisdom/fortune" messages inside them.
• Go one day completely without talking.
• Visit the Grand Canyon.
• Climb a mountain.
• Be in a situation where I give out a test (teacher of some sort). Make the test where every answer is "C" & enjoy the show.
• See the Statue of Liberty.
• Invest in understanding myself by getting...

• 1. Rode on the Missouri/Arkansas train (Sept.29)
• 2. Wrote to a couple doing missions in Jordan (Sept.30)
• 3. Went through "suicide risk assessment training class" (Oct.1)
• 4. Met Bob Goff, the author of "Love Does" (Oct.2)
• 5. Ate pizza w/ my younglife leader who drove 5 hrs to visit (Oct.3)
• 6. House-sat w/ a new friend, Kayla Milner, & read pop-up books for bedtime stories. (Oct.4)
• 7. Went to a poetry slam -- an adventure getting there it was. (Oct.5)
• 8. Went to an antique store on the outskirts of town. (Oct.6)
• 9. Missed my first yl leader meeting. (Oct.7)
• 10. Watched "Patch Adams" for the first time. (Oct.8)

• ✔ Wicked
• ✔ Wizard of Oz
• The Lion King
• ✔ Mamma Mia
• ✔ Les Miserables
• ✔ Chicago
• ✔ Hairspray
• ✔ Swan Lake
• ✔ Rent
• Dream Girls
• ✔ Waitress
• ✔ Once On This Island
• ✔ Cats
• A Chorus Line
• Miss Saigon
• Annie
• ✔ Rent
• ✔ Side by side
• ✔ Shrek
• ✔ Xanadu
• My Fair Lady

Some of the best decisions I've made:_

• going to counseling.
• doing Leadership Master's Commission first year out of high school instead of the traditional college thing.
• choosing younglife over lifeteen.
• picking the university of arkansas.
• the friends I chose in college.
• summer staff.
• leaving the catholic church.
• breaking up with C (bc I found my own faith apart from his).
• dropping all my summer classes to go to camp.
• living alone in an apartment.
• doing an internship at NWMC psych unit.
• dating Jesus.

Some decisions that seem right but the jury's still out:

• getting a dog.

• Playing fax machine w/ Julie Nelson, Alyssa Walden, Megan V, &other peeps just after I moved to Fayetteville.
• Making britney spears videos w/ yocum girls.
• Eating w/yocum girls every night as a "family".
• Thirsty Thursday's with Gregg Stutts.
• Starting Younglives & being part of this ministry.
• Shopping day w/Cameron and Mari at the Pennacle when we lost track of how much we spent.
• Getting library cards with Katherine, Mari & Cam and literally checking out the entire Fayetteville Public Library.
• Meeting Sarah Ann for the first time.
• Juno halloween costume & Catdog costume.
• Having a ton of quiet time with Jesus in the dorm.
• Playing football in the pouring rain soph...

• You grew up scared by something called "El Cucuy."
• Others tell you to stop screaming when you are really just talking.
• You or your family lights a candle for everything.
• Your mother yells at the top of her lungs to call you to dinner even if it's a one bedroom apartment.
• You can dance ranchera, cumbia or salsa without music.
• You have at least thirty cousins. (or 100 if you're me)
• You call your sneakers "tenees".
• You can't imagine anyone not liking spicy food.
• Whenever you feel under the weather, you compulsively dab on some "Vics" vapor rub all over your chest and inside your nostrils.
• Tamales, champurrado, posole and menudo a...

• "The Creep"
• "Threw it on the Ground"
• "Like a Boss"
• "The Tizzle Wizzle Show"
• "Buying a Christmas tree"
• "Great Day"
• "Lawrance Welk"

• A beautiful mind.
• Breakfast at Tiffany's.
• Up.
• Walle.
• Pride & Prejudice.
• Doctor Zhivago
• High Noon.
• Rope.
• West Side Story.
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
• Gandhi
• Moonstruck.
• My Cousin Vinny.
• Life is Beautiful.
• The Miracle Worker.
• South Pacific.
• Mask.
• Saint Bernedette.
• To Sir, With Love.
• Midnight in Paris.
• Sisterhood of the traveling pants.

• Live in another country
• ✔ Travel on the cheap (sopchoppy spring break 2011)
• ✔ Confront a fear (my past-- during college)
• ✔ Move out of your parents' place (2008)
• ✔ Live alone (summer/fall 2012)
• ✔ Live with roommates (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
• ✔ Get in great shape (easier now than later)
• Splurge on a great pair of jeans
• ✔ Apologize to someone you were mean to in school (Heather, 2010)
• ✔ Have a guy friend who really is just a friend (Josh Cox)
• ✔ Work in retail or restaurants (Sonic, Once Upon a Child)
• ✔ Figure out what kind of wine you like (white wine)
• ✔ Try an exotic food you can't pronounce (a...

• What was my dog's past prior to getting her? (I got her off craigslist)
• Do you ever wish you had parents?
• Can you show me all the people who stole from me and what they ended up doing with all of the stuff? (just for laughs & curiosity)
• Do you have a DVD of my life from beginning to end? And if so, could we watch it together & have a movie night?
• Do you have dance moves? May we have a Father-daughter dance?
• Can you show me my genealogy from the beginning up until me? Even better, could I meet them?
• I know you're always watching us.. but do you ever feel weird watching your children have sex with each other?
• Can I hear your laugh?
• What language do you prefer speaking?
• Did Jesus ever have to hold back from fal...

click title to watch youtube videos

• "Gravity" by Kayla & Kupono. this dance is about addiction.. the girl being the addict and the guy being whatever it is she is addicted to.
• "My Chick Bad" by Lauren and Twitch. Best hip-hop dance I've ever seen!
• "Misty Blue" by Sasha & Twitch. A dance about a married couple losing the "fire" and trying to get the fire and steam back.
• "Turn to Stone" by Melanie & Marko. A dance about being statues, and in the middle of the night, they come to life.
• "I Got You" by Melanie and Marko. This is about a girl and boy who are best friends. His fiance breaks up with him at the alter of their wedding. His best friend comes to support him, and they both realize they are in love.
• "If it Kills Me" by Jeanine and Jason. This is about just love in general.
• "The Garden" by Courtney and Marco. About a guy not wanting his girlfriend anymore
• "Fix You" This dance is about a son who is trying to help his mother who is fighting cancer.

• Don't buy any of your books. Waste of money. Instead, wait until the first day of class to see if you really need it, and if so, rent them from chegg.com
• Go to as many tacky Christmas sweater parties as you can on the weekends before finals.
• Buy a calendar where you can manage your time by the hour for the entire week. You'll most likely be more productive.
• Make sure if you sign up for a hard course, you have an easier course to balance it. You'll be thankful come exam time.
• Avoid bringing your car to school the first year of college, it will force you to get to know more people & get involved.
• Get organized before school starts rather than after; because once it starts, it's all fast pace from there.
• Find a mentor (preferable an older adult)-- they will be your best and most wise f...

• The "ping, ping, ping" Air Force Story.
• His pencil story & his teacher not believing him that he was too poor to buy school supplies.
• Every time we go to Nuevo Progresso, Mexico, he says "What do you want; they have it all!"
• "Chiquis is Chiquis"
• He always makes it a point to say which states in the U.S. were originally from a "Spanish root word".
• Always starts saying phrases in French.
• "Remember when we used to go to Jorge's track practice after school? Gah, it was like it was just yesterday. That's how fast life passes you by."
• Takes the subway bag and blows it with air and then pops it on his head and shows my dog.
• "If I 'twas the king of RRRrrroooof, of RRRRrrroooof" to my dog.

Movies that make me feel like I can conquer the world after watching them:

• Mulan
• Rudy
• Legally Blonde
• October Sky
• Rocky

Movies that instantly turn my mood from bad to good:

• Father of the Bride I & II
• Back to the Future
• Lizzie McGuire movie
• Anchorman
• Zoolander
• Tangled
• Dumb and Dumber
• Joe Dirt

Movies every woman should watch during their lifetime: