Praise the Lord!

Hah, Scott and I just spent the night listening to the christian music i have on my comp. and downloading christian songs that he likes onto my comp. Sometimes you just need some good clean fun to light up a day full of studying. So, now i can officially say that instead of going out for halloween i stayed home studying and listening to christian music. WOW that sounds sad. But really it was fun, and i didn't miss halloween at all.

Alright moving on... "You're 19 now Colleen, do you feel any different?".. Why YES, yes i do. If you had asked me that when i turned 18 i'd say no, not really, but i can't wait to go to the bar! But now that you ask me a whole year later this is what i have to say.

I feel:

• older
• wiser
• stronger
• less naive
  
• less cocky, yet..
• more confident
• more respect for myself
  
• more respect for my family
• more respect for my dear friends
• more faithful

I've learned not to be so trusting so quickly. Usually i meet someone and feel a connection and i just go with it because i think that connection is beatiful and means something. Well, turns out not everyone feels that way, and i just can't have myself fall into that trap again. I spose that's something we all learn as we grow up, which may or may not be good, maybe that's why grown ups tend to be harder on the outside. Do i want to be like that? Well, no matter, i am now.

I've also come to realize that above all i have to look out for myself because nobody else is going to. I have great friends and great families but in the end they'll go away and it'll just be me.

(Warning.. TANGENT) Imagine me getting married.. some guy i haven't known all that long compared to how long i've been living, his family who i know even less.. then starting a new family built on top of that. There is SO much trust that has to go into that, where on earth is that going to come from? That scares me. And then those things can fall apart. Heather and I keep talking about finding amazing guys and settling down and having kids and cooking and knitting and going to yoga and taking care of the family. It would be amazing, i really think so. But what happens if that perfect picture doesn't happen quite as i wanted it to.. what if i have to fend for myself? Well that is precisely why i am in school right now and i have to make a career for myself because no matter how much love and trust goes into a relationship.. that may not be what i come out with. Now, just remind me of that when i don't feel like studying for a test or doing a project!! (Tangent END)

Anyhow yeah, for my birthday a few of us went to Moxie's. It was sposed to be a big fun deal, but i wasn't feeling good because of this weeks events, so we just went for a nice dinner and then came back here and i was in bed by 12 if you can believe it. Anyhow, stupid moxie's who i am STILL mad at, just somehow GAVE AWAY my reservation for the Velvet room, and then DIDNT have another table for us, so we had to wait forever just to end up sharing this long table in the bar with some random middle agers we didn't know. GREAT. So my little group of friends kinda got divided into two halfs for the whole night cause one side couldn't even hear the other side over the loud noise of the bar (hence why i wanted the private room and why i BOOKED IT a month in advance). Halfway through the night i suggested we all switch spots so we could talk to other people and get to know them too.. but that didn't go over so well. I spose i seemed to much like the elementary school teacher trying to get all the students to meet each other.

At any rate it was a nice low-key dinner and i was grateful to get out of the house and have some fun. I got the cutest present from the Germans and my roommates put together: A martini set, a bottle of mango malibu, a real live mango, and some mango pineapple juice. PERFECT! Who knew i liked malibu?? Heheh. And Carlee stopped by and brought me a precious pink sparkly star spangled chain-type purse accessory deal. I clipped it onto my zipper and it definitely adds a little 'zing' to my black leather purse. Awww and SURPRISE .. LANA showed up!! Kelly was sposed to come too but we couldn't locate her.










Some of the group --- Lana and I!










The obligatory shot ---- Look how excited i am!! That was when Frank presented me with the gift the Germans got me, he made a whole speech and everything, it was priceless.

Well, this is turning into quite the long entry so i'll end it here. Stay tuned for the 2nd half of my birthday weekend, which consisted of 99% studying, 0% halloween, and 1% birthday festivities with roommates on sunday.

Love!
Colleen

May i take this moment to complain please,

i am sick

really sick

i spent 12 hours at the hospital (ER) yesterday

turns out i was dehydrated and my tonsils were and still are huge, i hadn't eaten anything, so they put me on an IV (ask to see my bruise, it's pretty sweet), they took a bunch of my blood, from 4 different spots on my arms, two of which were SO painful i was bawling my eyes out and the nurse had the nerve to tell me that "you're going to have to be a brave girl", SHUTTUP, you're not the one who just got stuck in the wrong spot on her arm puncturing a vein and giving her a huge freaking bruise.

In the end, the doc. gave me morphine, gravol, and tylenol.. i was so drugged up that i was pretty much in love with the purple popsicle my mom brought me

i missed my midterm today because of being on bedrest all day, the midterm i was least dreading too. what luck

i have now missed 2 days of school and will miss more tomorrow because of an appointment with a specialist which will PROBABLY still not fix me :(

i will probably suck at my other midterms if i keep missing school

the doctor said i have to stay home for a week

i can't stay home for a week are you kidding?

MY STUPID BIRTHDAY will no doubt be cancelled

Even if i get better by friday, which i won't, my mom still wouldn't let me go out, and if i'm at all conscious i'll probably be studying like a madwoman, on my BIRTHDAY

The drugs the doctor prescribed me are narcotics.. great.. so i might not be in so much pain but i'll be SLEEPING all the time

I slept at my parents house last night, but tonight i'm back in rez. and NOBODY is here. Woulda been nice to see my roommates, but maybe it's better. i should just go to sleep, considering i sleep for like 20 hours a day now.

OHHH well,
could be worse
Love you all,
Colleen

PS: I'll update you on the tonsil/specialist situation.

UPDATED - The evolution of colleen's toques

**UPDATED to add: I just found a couple more pictures of other people actually wearing the things i made for them, so i put them in. Take a look, they're precious.**

Alright, i was just putting the pictures of my new toque into my 'knitting projects' picture folder on my computer (YES i have a knitting projects folder), and i found the pictures of my previous toques so i thought i would enlighten you.

First of all let me introduce you to my new baby, my first attempt at the fair-isle knitting technique (that's the pattern technique that makes it all stripey and dotted for you non-knitters):










It's a bit small, i should have learned my lesson this time, and i did cast on more stitches to start out but i guess fair-isle takes up more space therefore making it thicker and warmer but .. hurts my head a tad. Oh well.. it matches my glasses! What more could i a girl ask for. Plus it was super fun to make, fair-isle is my new favorite thing now! I will definitely be making more, with fun patterns, and i might even try making some sort of a cardigan/shrug/somethingelse with the same kind of patterning.

Now let go backwards time to Colleen's first toque knit in the round, the london beanie:

Cute, simple, fun to make.. but too small! what is WITH that. I guess i just underestimate the size of my own brain. But look how well it matched my roots scarf, and look at my cute black short pigtails!

This is the evolution i'm talking about.. my hair has been so many different ways over the past few years, and every time i look at another picture i get nostalgic and remember the times i had with that hair and want it back!! This toque and this hair remind me of last fall when i first started university and i didn't know anyone, and then i met Katrina and Ryan and hung out with Josh Chow all the time. THAT'S back when i kicked ass at school.. because i was 17 and wasn't going out to the bars all the time like everyone else.

Fast forward a few months...
This is my chrocheted toque with the flaps and the strings and the pom-pom! Love it!! It wasn't too small, it was perfect. In fact i'd wear it all the time, except i gave it to Lindsay :) Then i made a blue one and a matching scarf for Robyn:

I think these are my favorite things i've ever made, they were so cute and cuddly and it took me a long time to make that scarf too. I gave them to Robface for christmas, and now i have no idea if she wears them at all. So after that i started to make a light purple one to go with one of my winter coats, and i was gonna keep it for myself. However, i forgot the # of stitches i had used for the previous hats and since i didn't have the other 2 anymore i couldn't count them, so it ended up way too big half way through so i gave up. I brought that yarn with me to Rez though so perhaps i'll get the courage to try again so that i can have a comfy hat for winter too. MAN seriously, most comfy hat ever cause it's made out of doubled up BABY YARN! mmm

Oooh while we're on the subject of winter wear i'll remind you of my fabulous mittens on a string.. which i definitely plan on making more of this winter:










On the left is the pair i made for Heather for christmas (and the flappy toque i made for her as well) and on the right is the pair i made for Janine for the summerstock christmas gift exchange (i was really busy knitting/crocheting last christmas come to think of it!).

And back to talking about my hair, thought i'd remind you of the hot pink phase i went through.. totally loved that, there were pink streaks in the front and the whole back was feathered with hot pink at the bottom.











Alright that is quite possibly enough of my hair for one post. I can't believe i never posted THESE glorious pics from Pam's 80s party!!











I love this pic of Jane & I, it's artsy yet whimsicle. :)

Okay thats enough for one night, i have to go to bed. Really i'm going to either start blogging more or stop taking so many pictures cause i just CANT KEEP UP!! I already have pics to show you from last night and the night before but this post is too long anyhow.

I can't wait for my bday, i hope all my friends can make it out cause i miss them all. But this week leading up to my bday is going to be hell because i have 2 midterms and 2 doctors appointments. I just don't have TIME for this!!

Love,
Colleen

Someone is 19 today! I'll give you one clue...

Now THAT is art!

This says "FRIENDS" ... you just have to look real hard. Heather, Stef and I are SO talented (okay, i'll admit, i took the easy letters).

Pictures Galore!!

I'M SO ANGERED. Just as i was about to save this post incase my computer craps out -- MY COMPUTER CRAPPED OUT. AAAAAAAH. firefox just died on me so i am starting again from scratch. That being said.. this post will not be as funny, original, or witty as originally planned. [-- EDITED TO ADD -- it is now 5 days after i was originally going to post this and blogger is still going CRAZY on me so this is REALLY hard. But i'm doing it anyways just for you guys.]

Basically what i had SAID was that we go out way too much here on 4 Cascade. Everyone else has spend 3 straight nights at the Den with afterparties following at someone's apartment. Now since i'm a good girl i stayed home on tuesday night -- but i ended up watching sin city and staying up until everyone got home anyways! So, with no further ado here are some pictures from this week:










Colleen is ready to GO! - - - Nothing better than mixing your own drinks at the bar (cheaper AND tastier, muahaha!!)













Frank builds a tower - - - tower falls down and goes boom!

Colleen's Photo awards:













Best dancing action-shot: Frank - - - Best Hugh Hefner impression: John

Now when you get too drunk and spill ice cubes on the floor there's bound to be some consequences:









Danielle cuts her foot on a piece of ice but NEVER FEAR.. John to the rescue!!











Satanic Ben ruins an other wise nice picture -- Right: QUICK! Pouty face!

I call this picture "All for one", i think it's very artsy and i'm proud of myself.
10 points for the first person to comment and tell me which foot is MINE! (ooooh)

The following are a few pics from the lovely Brandi & Caitlin's party last weekend:

Danielle, Me --- Me, Scott (what's with the kissy face Colleen?)










I said "Do charlie's angels" and THAT is what they came up with... Lame-O!! Maybe it's cause they were drinking THAT... and no it's not water, can't you tell by his face??











Brandi and Me --- Jeremy and me with somewhat of a double chin going on (Freshman 15 anyone?? haha jk, i think i'm losing weight cause it's too much trouble to do dishes after making food so its easier not to have any food! oh boy)












The Karen and Justin series:




























Yes there WAS a piggy back race back to Cascade (ahem i believe Jeremy and I won thank you very much).

Alright that's about all the pictures i got for now (that's a lie i have So many more but it would take me forever to post them at the rate blogger is going). Now that it is past 6am i think i will go to bed... after i finish looking at Rielle's online photos and talking to the darling girl.

Love & miss you all!
Colleen