chickens, chickens, and more chickens...

After waiting and waiting for months, the weekend was finally here! My high school Young Life leader was getting married.

She called all of us girls her "chickens" and we called her "mama hen."

She helped shape many of the experiences I had my junior and senior year. She showed up. She loved me for where I was at and what was going on in my life. And we always had the best time ever.

And, then, with the most perfect timing, all of the chickens moved across the country to start college and she moved off the Arizona to live with her boyfriend.

Who, as of this weekend, is now her husband!

Six of the chickens assembled, stayed in one hotel room, and took over Phoenix, AZ. Things were gonna get crazy.

It took a lot of planning and logistics to get to this place. Throw six 20-year-old girls in a random city. Some of us rode a cab for the first time. There may or may not have been a moment where some of us didn't know what city we were in. But, after a week of stressful finals, all of us were just ready to be. We didn't have any agenda. We didn't even know what was going on half of the time. And it was great.

We made it to the wedding ceremony. Which was the definition of hipster. Danielle did a beautiful job; it was very her. She bought a lot of things at thrift stores, made the benches and tables out of old doors. There were empty frames decorating the walls. It was straight out of Pinterest.

And of course, the best part was getting to see Mama Hen. And watching the beautiful love that her and Josh share.

What a beautiful ceremony and weekend! I love weddings. I love Danielle. And I love all of my fellow chickens.

oh, the english language

One of my favorite parts of this weekend was spending some time hanging out with Avery, Mary Ellen, and Courtney. We had big plans to bake some Christmas cookies or make an awesome craft. But after a long week, we were ready to just relax.

Which involved talking about Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. And our YL girls. And, the best topic of them all: what Mary Ellen wish she could tell her kindergarten class parents. Hilarious.

1. Do NOT put apostrophes in your child's name.
2. Do NOT put unnecessary letters in your child's name.
3. Only flat shoelaces; the round ones come again too easily!
4. Every once and awhile look at your child's backpack and empty it.
5. Do NOT ask for homework for your five-year-old.
6. Do NOT say too much at home because your child WILL repeat it.

Do you want to know why she has all of these rules? Because she has kids who have names like this...

Try pronoucing them...I dare you. I guarantee some of it will be wrong. When you think it should be "ay", it's actually just "ia." I don't understand.


Also, drew these beauties yesterday instead of studying for finals. I'm sick of studying.

a very "butler" christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in the Butler University Admissions office.

Butler comes in with the win for "its the little touches that count."

The tree is up. Our work Pandora station is set to repeat on Mariah Carey. And it's Admit Packet Time.

For those select few out there who don't work in a university admissions office, this is the time of year when all of the students who applied for the Early Action deadline will receive (or not receive...guess I never thought about that side) that beautiful envelope in the mail telling them they can be a future Bulldog.

This is a serious process. Not taken lightly at all. This week we are in the first stage of the process: filling the folders with all of the goodies. We have to fill 6000 folders. I repeat, 6000. It's not a small number by any means. So, to help my coworkers along with their lofty pursuits, I made this wonderful addition to the office:

We can track our progress now! We were halfway done when I was in on Friday afternoon...it's a long way to the finish line.

And yes, I made this pointless piece of paper instead of actually helping with the packets...maybe that's why it takes so long to finish...


This upcoming week, we start to put all of the folders into their envelopes. And more importantly, we start the "Wax Seal Process." It's kind of a big deal. You have to try out. I have mine tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!

I'll keep you updated, because I know that the behind the scenes work at Butler is just riveting. You're welcome for the knowledge.

so much...

Sometimes I really just like college. There are some things that I don't like. There are some things that I feel very "eh" about. But, every so often, I feel this overwhelming need to just yell to all of the world, "COLLEGE IS AWESOME! GO COLLEGE!"

There are just so many different opportunities that happen when you're in college. That you won't get any other time.

Prime example: Going to the Board of Trustees dinner last week. I got the chance to sit with our new president and his wife. He is hilarious; a very dry sense of humor. And she is just the most precious person ever. We chatted for a long time about her dog, Zoe. So cute! When else am I going to have the opportunity to do that!?

We talked about what's working at Butler, but also what we want to see changed. The night was so full of potential. Potential for what the new president is going to do. Potential for all of the changes that can happen. Just straight up potential. Which is probably one of my favorite things in the world.

Tonight is another night of potential. North Central Young Life's CAMP SIGN UP PARTY! Woo!

I can feel it. It's going to be another great week with another wonderful group of girls. And I just love all of the excitement of who can go and who we are trying to get to sign up.

All of these girls. Plus more. I can't wait.

So much potential.

hey bests...

ONLY TEN DAYS.

Until we will all be reunited in the warm weather of AZ for what promises to be one of the cutest weddings ever.

Once a chicken, always a chicken.

Just some gems I have been saving from Thanksgiving break.