I love a vacation

So I realize I have been absent from the blogging world, but our fabulous cabin high atop a mountain is without internet. Thus I am currently in one of my most favorite places in the world…STARBUCKS enjoying the free wifi, a free cup of coffee (I have no idea why the nice barista decided to do that but no complaints here) and the wonderful music that is always found at all Starbucks locations. We have had a great week so far complete with a few days of bonding with my BFF Nicole Watson, hiking in Cade’s Cove and seeing some really crazy things at the Gatlinburg aquarium. The picture above is a shot I took in Cade’s Cove, if anyone has any doubts about who created the world, they should definitely take a trip here. I don’t see how anyone can see the beauty displayed in the mountains and still think that all this happened by mere chance. The scenery is nothing short of amazing, and for anyone taking a trip up to Gatlinburg, Cade’s Cove is a must.

This week I have also been blessed to have my friend Nicole spend a few days with us. Nicole and I have been friends since we were babies, literally I was 1 and she was 2. Nicole lives in Auburn so we don’t get to spend as much time as we would like to with one another, and these past few days have been great.Unfortunately Nicole had to head home this morning to join her family for Thanksgiving, but I am looking forward to Christmas, when we will get to hang out again.

I suppose since this will probably be my only post this week, I will add in my Thanksgiving post with my vacation post. Drew is heading up today, and these past few days without him have solidified the fact that I am completely in love with and thankful for him in my life. Also I am thankful for my family. I have had an amazing time with my parents and sister. I am also thankful for my extended family including Drew’s family. I think about people who don’t have any family at all, and I feel truly blessed that although some of my family has gone on to be with the Lord, I have an amazing group of people still here with me. I am also thankful that this year Drew and I are in a house. I never realized how much of a blessing this is. Apartment living is not for this girl. I am also thankful for friends. Growing up I was always concerned about not having a ton of friends, but now that I am a “grown-up” I realize that having a small group of very close friends is so much better.

I have so much to be thankful for, and I am sure that by the time we get home I will have much more to share as well as some great pictures to show you all too. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Psalm 107:1 

Ready for Thanksgiving

Today this baby is an accurate portrayal of how I feel. I have a history test in about 2 hours and although I have studied, I feel like all the facts are just jumbling up in my head and when the moment comes I might just forget anything pertaining to WWII.  All of this anxiety is compounded by the fact that I have a splitting headache, and I would really just love to curl up on the very unsanitary booth seat I am sitting in and take a nap. I will however not do that, because seeing people laying around napping and drooling at school  happens to be a thing I loathe, and I fear that my previous acts of posting pictures of unsuspecting sleepers on FB might come back to haunt me. Thus I will endure the pain, study up on the Japanese and pray that Thanksgiving break will come posthaste.

80th post

So for this my 80th post, I feel it is only fitting to tell you about my new venture in life.
My boss Marla is all about working out, this can be very motivating. Marla decided she is going to start running 5k's...long story short Michelle and I have also started to train for this.
Let me begin by explaining to you that not only am I flat-footed, but when I run it resembles something like a wounded elephant. I have never liked to run, and quite frankly I have never had the inclination to do so, until now.
I realize that I am getting older...22 hit me hard...and I need to start making exercise a priority now, so when I AM older it will be a habit, and not something I do hit and miss.
Thus my adventures in running have begun. I am doing better than I anticipated, but the progress is still slow going (literally). I need to explain that I am not doing this to win, I have no dreams of winning trophies and such, the main thing is that I am doing something I never thought I would do.
In high school when we ran laps, I always ran really slow, people would pass me and then as everyone else finished their final lap I would sprint with them, like I too had been running the entire time and had run the alloted amount of laps. (See pictures of me circa 8th or 9th grade and you will see a)why I ran slow and b)the result of not running all my laps).
Like I said for me this whole experience has absolutely nothing to do with winning, and everything to do with physical fitness and accomplishing something that I never dreamed of.
For those of you who don't know a 5K is 3 miles, so far I have worked myself up to 1.5 miles. I am sure this venture will lead to several more posts...the first 5K I plan to run in is in December. I will be sure to let you know how that goes and will definitely post pictures as this is something I want to remember and some of you will need documentation to believe.

A Glimpse of the Future

So on Tuesday's and Thursdays I have a 3 hour break between my classes. This gives me alot of time to do different things... today I spent time on Youtube. For anyone who knows me really well you know that Steel Magnolias is my absolute favorite movie, for a number of reasons. One such reason is that Ouiser and Claree provide a picture of what mine and Jenna's relationship will be in 50 years. Watch, laugh and enjoy.

Say What?

 

So it seems after what seems like hundreds of years, that I will be graduating in December 2011. That’s right folks, Kimberly Hunt has an actual goal for graduation! Shocking I know. For months now I have been estimating and trying to figure it out for myself, but I met with my advisor today and it has been confirmed. I will take 4 classes and a lab in the spring, (hopefully) 4 classes in the summer, and then after 4 more in the fall I will have my undergrad in Communications and Dramatic Arts. Even as I type it now, it is hard for me to believe that I am finally at this point with a set goal.

So what’s next…in the immediate future I will be studying myself to death just to get to the point of graduation, after that I plan on taking the Spring and Summer semesters off, then in Fall 2012 I will hopefully try to get my Masters in Secondary Language Arts (ie. I want to teach public speaking, newspaper, etc. in high school). Ideally I would love to one day teach at my Alma Mater, EMCA, but time will tell. There is just something about giving back to the place that gave me my roots, something about offering something more than what I got. This is not to bash the EMCA of my day, but rather to say that in the beginning stages of the school there were some areas that left something to be desired…the area of speech being one of them. I want to change that.

I left high school with virtually no public speaking experience at all. This is simply not acceptable in today’s world. Besides the fact that every person should know how to communicate in an understandable way with other people, at some point either in college or the professional world almost everyone will be called upon to get up in front of a crowd to speak or to answer a question in a public setting…this should not be a problem, unless you don’t have that foundation. This is what I want to provide, a foundation, so that if any of my students are called upon to speak in a group, they will know how to react in an educated and professional manner.

Beyond the area of speech, I also want to instill in my future students a basic knowledge of all types of writing, and maybe even a love of it. While I don’t plan on being an English teacher, there are many elements to high school journalism and speech that require a basic knowledge of writing. And not all types of writing require formality,( ie. this blog, which in many circles is considered a form of journalism).

All of this is very exciting for me to think about, and now beyond just dreaming about…I can see the light at the end of my undergraduate tunnel.