Baby Part One

Hey guys

Don't worry, the title is just to scare you. "Baby" is my car's name.

So I know I haven't posted in a really long time, and I apologize.

There hasn't been a whole lot going on lately, so I figured I would just tell two stories that make my life seem incredibly interesting even though it is anything but.

Part One: Chi Town

So a few of my friends and I had this amazing idea to go down to Chicago one day after our classes were out. Actually, it was Nicole's idea to go to Chicago. I wanted to go to Gurnee Mills, but seeing as how I am one for adventure and never one to disappoint my friends I decided to go along with it. What harm could a little trip to Chi-Town do?

A lot.

It isn't that far from Gurnee, right?

Wrong.

About 3 hours later, we found ourselves in the midst of Chicago rush hour traffic. While I do enjoy the crazy convos my friends and I have when there's nothing else to do but make weird noises and tell each other secrets, the constant stop and go traffic got on my nerves quite a bit.

Eventually we arrived at our destination, The Rainforest Cafe. The mechanical animals and thunder storm simulation would be calming after a long car ride. But where to park in the hectic city of Chicago? My friends assured me that parking in one Walgreens parking lot would be fine for awhile reguardless of the signs informing wrong-doers the consequences of being there without the intentions of going to Walgreens.

So we went to the Rainforest Cafe and had an amazing lunch/dinner. The Rainforest Cafe is really a wonderful place. If you've never been there I highly reccommend going with your family or just a couple good friends (: the food is amazing and the atmosphere is enchanting.

But I'm getting off track...

We were all laughing and having fun on the way out of the restaurant, enjoying the city and each others company. We made the long trip across the street and past the same homeless man that made us all feel the same nervousness we had felt just an hour before on the way to the restaurant. My smile faded as we came closer to the parking lot of Walgreens. As we nearly reached the entrance I stopped in my tracks and stared. The only words that could leave my lips were the ones I never thought I would say, especially in an entirely different state than that of my home.

There was no ticket mockingly placed upon my windshield as there had been at school that one time I decided to park in a different spot

I have never been so disappointed to not see a parking ticket in my life.

There was a car in the parking lot. Shining and glistening in the sun. At first, there was a feeling of relief seeing a car in that space in the parking lot. A small shimmer of hope surged through me. The day had been nearly perfect. Great friends, great food, and a great city. There was just one thing wrong with this day...



This car was grey...



My car is black...



Four words escaped my lips:




"That's not my car..."



Silence.



Looks of worry and regret crossed all of our faces. Moments passed of us frantically wondering what to do and pacing the parking lot. I continued to look back at the space my car had once been in, hoping it would magically appear back in its place. No such luck. The sign just above the space that had forewarned me about the sure possibility that my car would be towed had I parked there displayed a phone number. I called the number and asked them where I would be able to pick up my car. The woman on the other end relayed me an address to go to and pick up my car. Right, like I knew where that was. My gps would be helpful, but that was in my car. So what was I to do?

The four of us (Nicole, Stephanie, Kyle, and I) walked over to a nearby restaurant and asked them if they knew where the place was. A hostess, after very helpfully informing us that they are serious about the signs, told us to ask the man in the parking lot who was in charge of calling the tow truck to come get the cars.

He seemed nice enough, besides the fact that he was the reason my car was gone and was able to give us a vague description of where the impound lot was.

"3 or so miles that way" he said, pointing in the direction we had just come from. I stared at him blankly. That sure is helpful. I thought.

My friends and I decided we would walk awhile and then try to catch a cab. Sure cabs are expensive, but it shouldn't be too far, right?


Wrong. Again.


We hailed a cab and I slid in the front passenger seat beside the foreign driver. I felt like I was in some sort of reality show or movie about the city. Except that I wasn't taking a cab out of efficiency or greenness, I was taking it because my car had been - for lack of a better word - car-napped. We told the driver the address of the impound lot, but it took him awhile to figure out exactly where we were talking about. Once he figured it out, the cab driver casually made a U-turn in the opposite direction we had been walking. We were all pretty confused, but we figured he knew where he was going.

He did know where he was going, and about 30 minutes later we were at the impound lot in a not-so-nice neighborhood. We all stared at each other...

Alright. I thought. Let's just get the hell out of here.

So we paid the driver and off he went. A couple 100 bucks later we had my car out of the lot and were on the way home. Finally.

Explaining this whole situation was the easy part. Paying to get that thing out of the lot was the difficult part. A million thoughts ran through my mind as we drove home.

What if the lot had been closed for the night when we go there?

What if they didn't take debit?

What if the cab driver had dropped us off at the wrong place? After all, he barely understood us.

What would happen if we were approached by some sketchy person?


I guess you could say, no matter what we're doing, when it comes to my friends and I it's always an adventure. And we always have times to remember.

I'll look back on this when I'm 40....and probably have a heart attack when my kids learn to drive. But it's always gonna be there in my mind, and I'm always going to remember my wonderful friends(:

Appreciate what you have, through the good times and the bad. <3
XOXO
Jessie

The First Week

Sunday:
Today was move in day and my first day sleeping in my dorm with my roomie, Paige. Saying goodbye to my family was probably the hardest part about today. Especially considering as soon as my mom left, so did my suitemates haha. So I hung out in my room for an hour before I realized how lame I was being. I called up my friend who lives in Cambridge & I went over there to watch the VMAs with him. At least I had somewhere to be and someone to talk to haha. After the VMAs I headed back to Sandburg on one of the shuttles that goes to all the dorms. I literally feel like I'm the only sober person on this campus tonight....that shuttle was insane, full of people yelling and falling on the floor drunk. Thankfully I found it more hilarious than scary when it probably should have been the other way. So I get back to the room and Paige is back from hanging out with her friends - thank God I'm not alone again. So we hang out for a minute and decide we're being lame again so we decided to go explore Sandburg. We got as far as the main lobby and realized that everyone was either coming back, leaving, or coming to a party from their dorm, so we just sat on the couch and talked. That lasted a few hours and then we rode the elevator a little (; We just hit the button for every floor and stayed in the elevator trying to meet people on every floor. Apparantly, nobody was using the elevator and everyone was in their rooms. Who stays in their room at midnight? Crackheads. So we came back to our room and decided to watch a movie. Unfortunately for me that movie turned out to be Paranormal Activity...I just about peed myself. Just kidding. In all honesty, the majority of that movie is pretty boring. It's just them doing random stuff all day. I started forgetting that it was a scary movie until they showed the nighttime scenes when the scary stuff happened. So I decided it wasn't that scary and watched the whole thing even after Paige fell asleep (she had seen the movie before). Apparantly it gets scarier as it goes on. And then the ending....well, you just watch it yourself. Honestly, I do reccommend the movie if you like to be scared a little. As for me, I don't like to be s cared and I didn't sleep much after watching it. But it's college....who sleeps?!

Monday:
Today not much went on. I didn't get much sleep last night so I've had a headache all day. I went to lunch in the union with Paige and her friend Ally and had a veggie pizza from Palermos that left me feeling bloated and gross. I've realized that eating in the union is what makes people gain that freshman 15, so I'll be eating out of my room for awhile. Not much else has happened today though.

Tuesday:
I just got the most amount of sleep I think I'll ever get in college. I went to bed early last night and didn't get up until like noon. We stayed in the room most of the day until around 5:00 when I got on the bus to go down to Marquette University to visit my wonderful cousin(: We basically just hung out all night with her and her roommate Cassandra. They are pretty freakin' sweet. I definitely have to visit them most often! We went to bed way too early this night though so that has to change! Well goodnight for now!

Wednesdsay:
So I attempted to take the bus back to UWM from MU this morning. However, my lovely cousin Alicia decided to put me on the wrong bus and I was taken around Wisconsin a couple of times. Just kidding it wasn't entirely around Wisconsin buuut Fon Du Lac, the ghetto of Milwaukee and then back through the MU campus again, through downtown Milwaukee and then finally to my building, Sandburg, which was the last stop that bus was making this morning apparantly. So I'm officially traumatized by the bus and will never take it again. Just kidding I lied. Because I'll probably want to visit Alley again even though she traumatized me. Whaaatever. After that I came back to the room and chilled with everyone. We literally didn't leave the room until our house meeting and to eat. We watched Eclipse in Paige's friend's room and now we're back here watching Dexter yet again. Not to mention the two boys who just knocked on our door at 1am to "make sure everyone was okay" Paige asked if they were drunk an they said they couldn't tell us that hahahaha the song I Love College wont stop playing over and over again in my minddd. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of meeting with my mentor and picking up all of my books! So I'd better get some extra sleep! Hahahahahaha....

Thursday:
Panther Welcome Day and my meeting with my mentor went pretty well today. It wasn't a one-on-one meeting like I thought it would be, it was a group of people (all architecture majors - I'm an education major) and my mentor, Joe. We took a small tour around to the different buildings and he answered any questions we had about the campus and stuff going on. It was actually pretty fun. At lunch we got free hotdogs and burgers and I was pleased to find that the raggae band that I went to see at Summerfest was playing right outside of the library. So that was pretty swagggg. The rest of the night/day was spent in my room with Paige and her friend watching Dexter and Jersey Shore. Oh P.S. WE FINALLY HAVE CABLE. I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!

Friday:
Basically I woke up, and went home.

Saturday/Sunday:
Most boring days ever because everyone in Wauwatosa hates me and doesn't want to hang out ): YEAH WELL I HATE YOU TOO TOSA!!!! D: WAAAAHHHHH.

Work work work

Hey guys!
So yesterday was my last night of work for awhile and I'm kind of bummed. If it was up to me I would have stayed working throughout college, but mother insists that I take a small break to get into the swing of things and then go back in about a month or so. But work has been such a big part of my life lately that I've found myself on a new sleep/wake schedule. I wake up at around 10am and stay in bed/in my room until lunch time unless someone calls and wants to hang out or something. Then I'll usually have work at 3 or 4pm. Lately, I've been hanging out with people after work although my curfew (yes, I'm 18 and have a curfew. It's one of those "you live in my house, you live by my rules" things that don't change even when you're of age) is midnight. So I'm used to not getting to bed until 1 or 2am. Basically, I've been doing this routine for so long that I'm no longer tired after work. My body is preparing to be up for another couple hours after work closes so I have this adrenaline rush. One night, when I didn't do anything after work and tried to go to bed at about 10:30pm, I couldn't. I literally laid there for hours until about 12:30am and then finally fell asleep. It was then that I realized that my body was completely messed up. My internal clock was confused to say the least.
There were also a couple of weeks where I worked almost every night except one or two nights, so this was happening for awhile.

Anyways, after work last night I decided I wouldn't do anything so that I could start out this week of no work with getting some extra sleep. So I came home, watched a show with my lovely mother and went to bed. Turns out my body agreed with me about the extra sleep. I ended up falling asleep by 11 or 11:30 - I'm not sure exactly when it was but all I know is I never saw midnight. I didn't wake up until approx. 11am which, if I did my math right this morning when I was half asleep, is 12 hours of sleep. I was pretty damn proud of myself to say the least. I feel refreshed and am looking forward to getting lots of extra sleep this week before Sunday when I have to move in. Because after that I don't think I'll be getting much sleep for awhile.

Even though I'm glad to have the extra sleep, I'm still sad that I don't get to work for awhile. I'm gonna miss the people, the food, and even the customers sometimes. But mostly the people and food haha. But in a month I'll be back, if only for a couple days a week. That's all I really need though, especially with college starting up so soon. Until then, don't miss me too much Piccola! ;)

xoxo
Jessie

Camp Castaway

With this being my first blog post ever, I thought I would start out with one of my most recent and favorite memories; Camp Castaway. Castaway is nothing like anywhere that you have ever been. The energy of everyone is so incredible that you can't help but notice God's presence.

Castaway is a camp that I was introduced to after attending Young Life here in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin this past year. Young Life is a Christian organization that would meet Monday nights at around 7pm. We would all hang out for awhile and then the leaders (usually really fun, young, cool people) would put on a funny little skit for us. Then we would sing all sorts of songs. The songs included popular ones that you would hear on the radio as well as religious songs about the love of God. At the end of "Club" (as they call it) one of the leaders would tell a story from the bible and pray with us. Afterwards we would all hang out and talk. I was usually one of the few who stayed until only us and the leaders were left, which usually ended in us having to help clean everything up. But, we didn't mind as long as it gave us a few extra minutes with those people.

Now that you've pictured what a typical Young Life Club is, picture it on CRACK. That's when you've got Young Life Castaway Club. People from Young Lifes all over the world come to this camp and join together to praise and worship God and just to have a good time. There is not a dull moment at Castaway because there is never a moment when you're not doing something. Whether it's singing or dancing or having deep discussions with your leaders, you're always on the move.

The first day of camp was kind of intimidating for me. I had gone to fall camp earlier in the year, but that was only 3 days long and could not prepare me for the upcoming events of the next week. Arriving on the coach bus to probably 30 summer staff members making a line for you to run through from the exit of the bus was awakening enough. We were each assigned a summerstaff memeber right there to carry our luggage to our cabins for us! It was the sweetest thing to have someone else carry your bags there for you. Castaway isn't a camp where you're expected to rough it out in the wild. It's more of a resort type of camp.

The first club was even more epic than the arrival. They played songs that everyone knew and songs that were unique to young life. We all had such an amazing time and I remember thinking life couldn't get much better than that. But boy was I wrong. The next day we went one something that others are familiar with only from the movie Jaws.........the Banana Boat. Us brave souls were dragged out onto on a giant banana by a boat we were attached to. The driver seemed nice enough, but we soon found out that her one and only goal of the day was to knock us off of that banana and into the freezing cold lake as many times as possible.



We spent most of our morning in that freezing cold lake shivering and laughing at each other. I have to say that after that first plunge I felt I had conquered my fear of lakes. I've always had a fear that some kind of fish (usually a shark) would come out of nowhere and attack me. Sharks are probably one of my biggest fears in life, next to drowning. But, after realizing that most things in that lake were probably more afraid of me jumping in the water than I was of them attacking me, my mind was cleared of all those scary thoughts. It was a very freeing feeling to be out there on that lake and not be scared.

My next favorite part about camp is the food. The food is absolutely amazing. Every meal was made to perfection and there was always enough for everyone. Callie, our waitress for the week, was quite the rage amoungst the boys in our group. About to be a senior in high school, and with a charming southern accent and blonde hair, the boys fell pretty hard. You would think it would be annoying to hear them constantly talk about her, but it was actually adorable. Us girls approved of Callie and we even had the chance to hear her amazing life story when she visited us on one of the last days in our cabin bearing cookies. She brightened up everyones mealtime and made the amazing food even better.

Zach and I eating a fabulous meal at Castaway. Somehow at every younglife camp there ends up being a picture of me stuffing food in my face (:

The beach was amazing at Castaway and we spent a few of our days just hanging out there. Although it ended up with my entire body being covered in red, it was completely worth it. However, if I had to give one word of advice for the beach it would be to always remember sunscreen. Also, beware of evil boys from your group trying to throw you into the lake fully-clothed. THANKS GUYS.

Left to right: Thomas, me, Jordan, Averi, Leah



While meeting new people is always fun, it is even more exciting getting to know people from your regular group. Our cabin had a lot of time to get to know each other better than we did before as well as our whole group (guys and girls).

Jordan and I on the second to last day. This kid is like my brother. Also, there's Ben lookin' swag in the backround walking away. He's probably still wearing his fake mustache (:

All of us girls outside of our cabin. Left to right: Erin (Carin' Erin), Averi, Mariella, Rosalie, Katrina, Jenny, Laurel, Kyleigh, me, Leah, and Andrea (Baby Mama)

But about those new people who we met(: it's always good to better yourself by meeting and developing relationships with new people. It's very encouraging to be introduced to someone who actually seems to have an interest in you and where you're at in life. Everyone at Castaway is so friendly, it's like we've always known each other. I love all of my friends at this camp, new and old, and whether I even met them or not, I wish them all the best in their lives. They don't deserve anything less.

Ellis and I on the second to last day of camp

Leaders: Erin and Andrea(and baby)

Girls: Leah, Katrina, Averi, Jenny, Laurel, Rosalie, Mariella, and Kyleigh

I hope that you all always remember Philippians 4:13, and that I as well as your heavenly Father will always love and cherish you. (: xoxo

-Jessie