The unfair roads to my life.

Lately I have been spending TOO much time on trying to make sense out of my future. Being stressed is obviously a common notion for one that is in college. But I feel like, at some point, I need to think about my future and ask myself if this is what I REALLY want to do. How will we ever know if one asks us this question? I would not know how to respond. It requires a step-by-step instruction booklet. I can't find one that would fit me!
Going to a different subject, I haven't come around here in a while! I have been TOO busy=/ But thankfully, the semester is over in about two weeks:)
One amazing thing that happened to me last week...
Alpha Phi's semi formal was just around the corner and I knew that Mike wasn't going to be able to come down to San Antonio because he has visited me various times throughout the semester and  his money was slowly vanishing. He felt so guilty that he could not come (of course, such a Mike thing to feel bad when it's not his fault at all) but I soon got over it and decided to go date-less. Who cares!
I, not having much money myself, had to resort to wearing one of my high school homecoming dresses. The good part was that it fit me (hooray!!). Friday, the day before semi, came around, and one of my best friends, Bernadette, and I decided to take over the main lounge in our residence hall and cuddle with some blankets and snacks while we watch a movie. Mike had been texting me on and off about how much he missed me and blah blah....I'm not saying that I wasn't caring at the moment; I was just caught up in the movie. So then he calls. Another Mike thing to do. I love hopeless romantics:)
"Hey, so what are you doing?"
"I'm watching a movie with Bernadette and Patrick, what about you?"
"Oh, just got out of the movies with Brian. That movie...it reminded me so much of you....I miss you so much..."
"I miss you too, Mike" (crunch crunch crunch, loving these chocolate-covered raisins!)
"Well you know your Christmas present we've been talking about?"
"Yeah?"
"I decided to give it to you early."
Click.
"Are you serious?? Bernadette, he just hung up on me on the verge of knowing what my Christmas present was!"
Bernadette - "Brissa..."
"What?"
A gentle voice whispers into my ear..."Merry Christmas."
I turn around...only to find Mike above from where I was sitting.
What?! He surprised me?! NO way!!
My instant reaction was to cry. So I did. A lot. He held me so tight and I could hear his heart beating fast. Yup, he had definitely been nervous. Oh gosh, could this be true?? Yes, he surprised me!
Vivian apparently had gone to go pick him up from the airport while Bernadette brought me out to the lounge to watch a movie. Patrick was in on it too. This was just amazing.

Now knowing that I had a date for semi, I was overwhelmed with emotions. First off, I knew I was truly blessed for him spending so much money on coming to see me AND paying for his semi ticket behind my back. It was something I could not explain!
Semi came about, and it was so much fun! My sisters and my boyfriend all had a good time and everyone was in awe of how sweet Mike had been to have done what he did. What can I say, I have been blessed. ♥

Brissa

Who's to say who's NoRmAl? Part 1

I woke up this morning at seven in the morning...What in the world?! But it's ok, I slept super early last night, therefore resulting in the exact nine hours of sleep that I should be getting...great:) But anyways, I am here sitting on my bed with my laptop, listening to MIX 96.1, hoping to win some NOT SO SILENT NIGHT concert tickets. The Fray is going to be playing!!! I HAVE to go to that concert!! It's ok, I still have this whole week to get more chances to try to win...
Ok, back to the REAL subject...
I had an interesting conversation with Mike yesterday, and we've had the same one a few times. It was in regard to his younger sister, Kelsey. Very normal to me, fifteen, blonde beauty, pearly whites for a smile, laughs at everything that is down-right funny, bothers her older brothers, loves attention since she's the youngest, gets her way. You know, typical. I have been inspired to write a series of this young lady, since she is a great motivator to many. She has changed many lives and does it with such ease. Heck, she most likely doesn't even know that she's doing so!
Dangling on a mere string, she follows, down to the core of a deep imagination, and so her journey begins, Athena.
Kelsey loves Disney Channel stars. Which teenage girl doesn't? Especially Hannah Montana. I have her enthusiasm when I watch shows too. I get into it. And I mean, I really get into it. Kelsey uses her imagination with those shows, just as any other person would. Except that she doesn't complain about the real world issues when she is brought back from that imaginative world. She lives it.
She might be calling for help, but no one may notice, for each object that she touches is miraculously transformed into seductive beauty, attracting those even whom are far.
Kelsey lives with her mom and dad, away from her two older brothers. Away is probably a small understatement. She lives in Florida while they live in Texas. Guessing about a three day drive? Mike always mentions how much he misses her and how he doesn't like the fact that she is alone, only has friends at school, and had nobody to 'hang out with' at home. True. But hey, I don't hang out with anybody all day when I'm stuck in my room watching tv. People should feel sorry for me then! Ha!, I kid. Kelsey loves to point at objects and for us to sound them out. When I point things out without saying what the object is, like a child, Mike laughs and tells me to stop being a little girl. Hmmm, is there something wrong with this picture? Kelsey baby, please lend me some of your all-wanted attention:) .
She glides across the meadows, the grass brushing up against her legs, giving the senses something to giggle about. The light shines down on her fair skin, making it shimmer with all-around luminance.
I want to live the life that Kelsey lives. Not for the attention. But so that I am disciplined. Disciplined enough to know that my laughter would be everybody's remedy. To know that I am not confined, rather, free. Free to imagine, to love, to make decisions for myself. Although I would realize that people would have to take care of me, I know that I can grab His hand in comfort.
Darkness falls and slumber falls over her, she glides back to where she knows she belongs, sits down in a life-long seating arrangement with four small wheels below her, grabs on to the rigid handles, and closes her eyes in passivity, as she rests from a full-day of endeavors.
It doesn't seem that Kelsey dislikes the wheelchair. She has to spend 90% of her day in it, so why not try to embrace it instead? Just like she does all other things. I know that she is a happy girl. What we don't know is if she even realizes that she has cerebral palsy. But who needs to know that? We are the unfortunate ones, since we have knowledge of that. Is that not why God condemned Adam and Eve, because they ate from the tree of KNOWLEDGE? We, 'normal' people, are awfully unlucky. We have set a standard for everyone to view as normal, just because the larger population carries this image. Those who cannot talk, cannot walk, are few and spread throughout, that when we actually see a person with disabilities, we are scared. We don't know how to respond to them. We are always unsatisfied in today's world  because we're spoiled. Her? She's living the Jesus life. Just because she can't do other things doesn't mean she has to. Man set that standard, not God.
Well, that was my awfully long response to Mike's, "I wish she could do normal things." It must hurt him so much to think of that. So why do we try to hurt ourselves by thinking things that can hurt us? It's a life-led suicide. You can't fully live your life if you  have set limits on yourselves. That's why Kelsey is lucky. She lives her life the way she is supposed to. We should learn from her.

God Bless,
Brissa

Restless Slumber.

You know, I never really thought I would enjoy sleeping as much as I do now. It recently dawned on me that I am sleep-deprived. Not that I mean for that to happen of course. It just does.
On a sidenote, I have to say, I am very, very proud of my brother. Right before the initiation ceremony for the new Alpha Phi members, my father calls me in an overly-excited tone.
"Hey! What are you up to?"
Me, trying to sneak my phone into a corner so as not to call attention to myself: (Cell phones are prohibited during ritual ceremonies): "Um, I am about to go to initiation for the babies. Can I call you later?"
"Oh yeah, sure! But make sure to check your email! I sent you a REALLY awesome youtube video, ok?!"
"Um, yeah, sure, I'll call you later. Love you, bye."
Youtube? C'mon. Seriously? My father, on youtube? Ok, I'd definitely have to see what he was so excited about when I got back at night.
Man was that a cool video! My dad actually took the time to create an account (I know, I thought he was not technology-savvy at all, but I was wrong) and filmed my brother on various occassions playing his guitar. I had already known that my brother was an extremely good musician; he's so passionate about what he does that his guitar-world is everything to him. Sometimes I wish he wasn't so "closed-off" though. He spends all of his time in his room by himself; I know that is something he enjoys, but his family wants to see him come out of that knit-tight space too! Maybe with this guitar thing he will learn to open up a bit.
Here's the video, he's the one with the glasses on the right. :))))


Continuing on to my second note of the weekend...this whole week STILL was hectic. You probably are all tired of hearing me say the same thing over again, but I don't know how it all seems to bunch up all of the sudden! That caused more problems with Mike as well...
This whole long-distance thing is not helping anything. It has been over a year and a half and I feel that we are both suffering from it. Sometimes I wonder how the future will be like; his dream-career requires for him to be away still. Our whole lives will be surrounded by not seeing each other. Tough, ain't it? I'm still young to think about that, but it doesn't mean that I don't often do. I will pray tonight that we make it. Not too sound too cliche, but sometimes when you find a person that has touched you in your life for the better, why would you want to let that go? In other words....I will fight for our love!!!! lol, ok, I know, stop.
I know that I had mentioned before that this was a very long week filled with crazy events for the new members, but I also got to bond a little bit with my pledge class (Alpha Theta!!!:]). Two of my closest friends in my pledge class would be Bernadette and Ursula, and man do we have crazy adventures! Just going to HEB to get flowers for our flower ceremony has an ultimate outcome of hilarious moments.

I wish I could say more, but this week consisted of numerous things, all with the same result:brissaistired.

God Bless

Brissa

Sort-of-a rough week.

I have to admit that I have not been spending enough time with God. I really think that is the predicament of the whole stressful-week situation.

First off, I had studied SO much for my final test in Theology, only to get a B+ on it, as well as my portfolio. So my final grade was a B+. I was SO bummed out. I really wanted to bump my GPA up! Even if it was by a point or two...Ugh, whatever.

I also have been slacking it in English...that class is so easy that I didn't study for my midterm at all and still got a B+. But that upset me. I don't want a B in that class! I deserved that anyways. Sigh. When I got my Theo final I realized that I couldn't get a dumb grade like that in one of my strongest classes. So I think that kicked me in the butt and now I know that I must move on and push myself because nobody else will.
Bum. Er.

Good news, yes? One cool thing that happened last Wednesday was the arrival of Blake Mycoskie (TOMS Shoes!) at our university for the Lin Great Speaker Series! How cool is that?! I adore the man and I took a few pictures of him giving us the lecture. For those of you who don't know, here's the TOMS shoes regular commercial:




My lame attempt to take a picture of him. Just a tad blurry. =/

Ok, continuing on to another subject...Thursday was my roomate's birthday, so we went out with a few friends to Cheddars. It was alot of fun, just socializing and relaxing after the a long and dragging week. Then came Big Sis Discovery on Friday night. It's a night with Alpha Phi in which the new baby phis get to see who their big sister is, whom in turn buys them hundreds of dollars worth of stuff and goodies for them!
This is my roommate's Christian's stuff with Megan, her big, when Christian had no clue that she was her Big yet!

I went through that last semester, and I remember how exciting the whole moment was for me! I was so happy for our babies. Who won't be babies anymore by the end of this week. Initiation time!:)

Oh and this is my family H.P. (below Christian and I), on Big Sis night; we're the biggest family now in Alpha Phi! Yay!


 

The roomie, and also baby phi, and I were taking pictures in the bathroom (I know, typical) under the new light that our suit-mates put up. It's super bright!

Just a random thought, if any of you cared. :)

 

 

My Big and I didn't miss an opportunity to take silly pictures like ALWAYS:

I have been so busy that I have not been able to post new things on etsy =(. But not to worry, I will soon, promise! But here is one of my most recent items, what do you all think?

 

  Today I finally got to talk to Mike on the phone. Very happy about that. We both let out some frustrations on future choices like colleges, financial things, and blah blah. We needed to talk about that though, it has been a struggling topic for both of us. Other than that, I must know that God is taking care of us and that we need to keep Him in our lives. Or else crap like this happens and I let it bug me. But it shouldn't!:)

Another great thing....My best friend Flor had her baby this week!! Ah! I am a GODMOTHER!!:)) God Bless that beautiful creation! Anyways...:)

Visit my shop at etsy! Any suggestions? Just convo me through here! Have a great day!:)

Brissa

Yesterday was beyond hectic.

I was SO upset yesterday. Beyond upset.
I was stuck at the Denver airport for four and a half hours. I was supposed to be home already!=/
Well, it actually all started as soon as I woke up. I worked out for exactly, and only, twenty minutes. I knew that if I were to workout for a longer amount of time I would have been stressed out with getting ready. Oh and did I mention that I kinda forgot to pack?...O_o
I know, how can anyone forget to pack?! But that's me.
I woke up, worked out, took a shower, noticed that it was eleven ten (I go into work at twelve), and then packed. Oh wait, and then blow-dried my hair, straightened it (I never really straighten it since my hair is already naturally straight but San Antonio weather makes my hair impossible to deal with) and then off I went! Gosh, I even didn't have time to make my bed!
My friend picked me up, dropped me off at work, I worked, then I rushed out the door at three (did I mention that the ONLY flight available to go back home that did not interfere with my work hours was one that left at four fifteen?=/). Right before I left, my manager stopped me and said in a very sweet and non-hurried voice,
"Have you been able to pick up your free products yet?"
Free products?! At any other opportunity I would not have hesitated to go around the store and pick out some stuff! But how can someone tempt me with some amazing FREE items from a place that smells SO delicious??
Well, it happened.
So there I go, making my way through the stationed piles of lotions, and picked out not one, not two, but I was told to pick THREE items, FREE! I chose our new product, creamy shower gel, the body cream, and a 4 oz. candle. Hooray for free stuff!
Well, that set me back about fifteen minutes since I had to do a long process of checking out since I am an associate.
My friend did great, she drove me to the airport in only ten minutes (never again will I have someone speeding like that!), and five minutes before boarding time. Crazy!
My stop was at Denver Airport. I was only supposed to wait there for an hour, which turned out to be a four hour delay!=/ I was upset that I had paid so much money for this. I will never fly United Airlines again =( we even had to switch air crafts because maintenance had to do something to it. How frustrating! I was also freezing since it was snowing. I did not know it was going to be freezing...I came from San Antonio where it was eighty degrees.
But I am finally home. Happy to be home. :)
Mike and I will probably go back to his place to meet up with some friends and watch a movie and play card games. My poor mother feels ill right now and wishes to be left alone sleeping.
My brother, sister, Mike, and I just came back from the movies; we watched Paranormal Activity. It was super scary!! But we came down to the conclusion that it was not a true story. But definitely scary.
I should probably leave now. Hope you guys have a great day!:)
Brissa

P.S. This is Mike and I being dorks

Restless sleep.

I tried to take a nap due to my extensive ludicrous day (which consisted of going to one class and logging on to the internet. lol), but it has not worked so far! I don't really have plans for today.
It was pouring today. And I really do mean pouring. What is up with this San Antonio weather??
If it wasn't for my room mate, I would have probably walked out with a tank top. But no, I decided to walk out of the room with a sweater!...Andshortsandflipflops....:)!
=P   (stop making fun of me! I have not done laundry since ALL of the washers in my hall are broken, so I had to resort to this!)

Nonetheless, it was freezing today. 
I came back from my class and had a sudden urge to rearrange the room. So I did, without my roommate's permission. But hey! She's gone for the weekend anyways, so I hope that it is a nice surprise for her. :)
OMG! So in a past entry, I had mentioned that I was with my family and we went to Six Flags and I found THIS PICTURE!

AH! CREEPY!

Ok anyways, I am very excited that I am going home this weekend because I probably will be working throughout Thanksgiving season and won't be able to go home then. Sigh. ="(

I have nothing much to do today, other than lay around, TRY to do homework, I said TRY, then do laundry, and pack. Yay:)

I had forgotten to mention this earlier but I would recommend you guys check out Etsy. Not necessarily my shop (although I would really love that:]), but there are many talented designers out there who need to have their name stand out! I recommend:

helenesdreams.etsy.com

elizabethdaviddesign.etsy.com (I will take pictures of two of her products I have purchased from her later!)

blsoaps.etsy.com

Yeah!

Thanks for reading, guys!

Brissa

 

Totally free day.

So today I only had one mid-term, which was in the morning. That would mean that I have been sitting in this chair for approximately...I would say the past four hours. I can no longer feel my rear end anymore. But I guess it happens to us once in a while.
I stopped texting Mike. Small argument.
For some reason, if you were to have seen my here in my room all day you would've have thought I was being useless; however, I was extremely productive! I listed five new things on etsy, so check it out!

I also purchased a facial cold-processed soap from Body Language soaps on etsy, you should go see their page as well!

I am very excited to be going home this weekend to see Mike and my family. But I am VERY angry that I am broke due to that. I just started working at Bath & Body Works last week, so it's not like I have gotten my first paycheck yet. So I was very hesitant in buying a plane ticket (I would totally drive but eight hours? Ha! Hate doing that). So, I spent almost three hundred dollars on one...sigh. So, help me out on my sales, *wink*, and help a college student get back on her feet!

Other than that, I have to thank The Lord for giving me this breath of life of today, and I will pray for one tomorrow and every day after that. I have to be thankful that I have everybody in my life right now. Including the new people I meet every day!

God Bless

Brissa

Who knew that writing about GOD for an hour and a half would cramp my hand...

Today was a hectic day. I went about, studying all last night and all day today before my 5:30 Theology night class.
I know, I know. Typical college.
I should be studying for my next midterm tomorrow but....
I am very excited to let everybody know about my new jewelry site on etsy!
wonderbybri.etsy.com
My family came down from El Paso for the first time to come visit me this past weekend. It was amazing! I had so much fun! And no, I have never been to Six Flags. I know, I know. What a lame chick.
But I finally experienced it with my family:)!
Oh, and Lambda Chi Alpha also had a Watermelon Bash Event. It was a series of obstacle courses in which different organizations on campus compete for a first place trophey. It was sooo much fun but......well I ended up getting tons of bruises=/

Maybe I should study now...