Surprises, Surprises

This past weekend I was in Dallas for Jocelyn's "surprise" birthday party. Although she planned the party, she had no idea that mom and Cassaundra were coming out for a visit. Unfortunately, I wasn't there when Jocelyn arrived at my aunt and uncle's house...on the video, her face was pretty priceless. :)

On the way up to Dallas, I discovered the glory of frontage roads. Ironically enough, the worst traffic we encountered was between Waco and Hillsboro (not in Dallas, as I had anticipated). However, the highway officials were very thoughtful in their planning, and built frontage roads right next to the freeway. I got a little too much pleasure at laughing at all the people were passing by taking the frontage road. :)

We didn't do anything terribly exciting or newsworthy over the weekend. It was so wonderful to be able to just hang out with family and friends. My aunt and uncle were so gracious - there were 14 of us in their little house! (Thankfully, mom had booked a hotel for us!) My 15-month-old cousin was a little overwhelmed, but  he adjusted pretty quickly, and I am sure he enjoyed the attention he got from all of us girls.

Saturday was the Baylor/Texas Tech football game. We lost, though only by one touchdown, which I thought was pretty decent, considering our track record.

On Saturday evening, my aunt came back from a small group meeting toting a wooden rocking horse that she had picked up off the curb on her way home. One of her neighbors had had a garage sale that day, and was throwing out the leftovers. I jokingly suggested that we get a flashlight and go look at what else they had. She completely agreed, so we drove down the street and started digging through the bins. I kept expecting someone to come out and yell at us, but they never did. :) There wasn't much stuff that I was interested in, but across the street someone was throwing out a coffee table. I didn't have room in my car this trip, but my aunt and uncle agreed to hold it until I go back for Thanksgiving. I love finding stuff for free!!

Ross on his salvaged rocking horse.

And now, alas, I am back in Waco facing another week of school. Today marks three weeks until exams, and I find myself shockingly calm. Whenever anyone mentions exams, people's faces scrunch up. However, I am determined not to let myself succumb to panic - we will see how well that resolve holds up! Unfortunately, I think this past weekend was my last roadtrip until after finals...I am now officially stuck in Waco for the next five weeks!

And with that, I am off to work on my Torts flowchart...goodnight!

Decorating

I am getting severely behind in this whole blogging thing. Unfortunately, most of my life is school, so I kind of forget about the blog, even when something exciting does happen. :)

Last weekend, MaryLou and I put up some decorations in our living room. I won a $50 gift card from Kaplan, which funded our little decorating party. MaryLou got the short end of the stick...somehow she ended up being the one to screw all the little plastic anchors and the screws into the wall. Meanwhile, I ran around the apartment pulling decorations out of the last unpacked box, and asking, "How does this look?" I'm lucky  she didn't hit me with the screwdriver. :)

And here is the final product: TA-DA! 

Please also note the "music corner," complete with Ol' Blue Eyes (who I proudly hung myself).

And thus completes our unpacking, and all of our decorating for the moment. The two blank walls left will have to wait until one of us wins another gift card. :)

Symphony Update

I received a pleasant surprise today, along with a reminder that people do actually read my blog. I called the Waco Symphony box office to see about getting a student season pass. Despite almost missing the last concert, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and still planned to get my hands on a season pass. My goal was to see if I could count the ticket price for last week's concert towards the student season pass. However, when I explained that I had been to the concert and I wanted a pass, the man on the other end of the phone asked, "Are you Katelyn?" Now, when you move 1000 miles across the country, you do not expect people in your new location to know who you are. However, I responded that I was. It turns out that I was speaking to the Marketing Director for the Waco Symphony. He had seen my blog post, and apologized for the difficulties I had at the box office last week. Then, he offered me a student season pass free of charge! My ticket should arrive in the mail early next week, and you can be assured I will be in my seat for every concert this season.
On that note, the next concert looks especially interesting. It is entitled, "Cirque de la Symphonie," and combines acrobatics with classical music. It looks quite entertaining, and I am curious to see how it turns out (I wonder what music they will pick??).