Meeting Baby Poole

After months of anticipation Amy and Jeff welcomed their baby boy Ezra into the world early last week! I won't steal their thunder by giving away any specifics, but all anyone really needs to know is that he is perfect. I've been really excited for his arrival. I've spent many days with Amy talking about him, wondering about him, anticipating his birth, not to mention eating lots of sweet treats because he obviously wanted them (ha!).

When I first found out Amy was pregnant I cried. Not because I was sad (obviously) but I was just so overcome with so many happy emotions! I don't think words can describe how happy I was for her and Jeff. I was even happier when I found out that they would be moving back to Indiana and that they would be living here when Ezra was due. I've never had someone as close to me as Amy is have a baby, so it was almost something entirely new to me. We had candid conversations all about baby and I was always happy to talk about him! I wanted to meet him! Finally little Ezra finally came and getting the first picture of the tiny human my best friend had been growing inside her belly made me want to jump up and down!

Meeting Ezra for the first time was so amazing. Seeing Amy hold him and talk to him is the cutest thing. Seeing her hold that tiny baby made me so happy for her and feel so much love for their whole family. I was thrilled to hold Ezra and meet him. He has the cutest cheeks and and pretty much has made napping his hobby. I know Amy will be an amazing mother and that Jeff will be a great father. They are two of the best people I know and I know their son will follow in their footsteps!

I can't believe my best friend is a mother now! Just a few years ago we were awkward high school girls trying to fit in with the "cool" kids, passing "secret" journals back and forth and running around with questionable boys. Now we're all grown up, her more than me, with a husband and child, and I couldn't be happier for her!

The most exciting news of my life

My bestie best and her husband are moving home to Indiana to LIVE! Words cannot fully explain my excitement over this fact. I have squeeled and smiled and cried many times since finding out and all I can say is that I am SO EXCITED!

Amy and Jeff are probably my favorite couple. Jeff is just awesome and has always been super nice to me.  Amy is just simply one of the greatest friends anyone could ask for!She understands me and I have just as much fun going out and about with her as I do sitting in her dad's living room watching HGTV all night. She is wonderful and funny and understanding. She's always been there for me and while we may not talk to eachother every day or even every week, we've always been there for one another. We tell eachother when we have exciting news or when we need a shoulder to cry on. She has shown me what true friendship is and that even when everyone else let's you down and walks away there will always be at least one person who feels the same way you do.

I can't wait for Amy and Jeff to be in Fort Wayne!

Day 22

Someone you would give your life up for without question.

These people right here...

Not to mention my momma, padre, grandmama, papa, and brothers.

Day 11

Favorite picture ever taken of yourself.

Want to know a little secret? I never walked accross the stage and got my high school diploma, however I AM a high school graduate. How is that possible you may ask? Well it's a very long, upsetting story, but I'll give you the short version. Me, Meredith, and our good friend at the time Alyssa decided to go to prom together. Al and her boyfriend decide to set Mere and I up with guys. My guy bales the week of prom and I meet my new date on prom night, despite my objections to even taking a date. After we have dinner we have time to kill and go to a park downtown to kill some time, take some pictures, etc... Our dates decide to drink. Mine gets exceptionally drunk. We try to get him to chill or to decide to go home to no avail. I avoid my date like the plague all night. He gets caught reaking of alcohol. The other five of us are breathalyzed and questioned. Two of the boys are arrested, one is let go, and the three of us girls are cleared of any drinking but forced to give written statements despite our parents or any other representation not being there. We are suspended for the rest of the school year and told we can't walk at graduation. We spend the next two weeks going through a series of emotions and mistreatments by Carroll High School, despite having NEVER been in trouble in all four years and having not taken part in the boys drinking. Guilty by association apparently. At the boys school, South Side, they are barely given slaps on the wrist, are allowed to participate in all end of the year activities, and are allowed to walk at graduation. We never have recieved an apology to this day.

Since we were not allowed to walk at Carroll's graduation our parents put together a wonderful ceremony just for us that was ten times better than the real thing would have been. We were surrounded by our close family and friends and eachother and took part in something really special. This is my favorite picture of myself because it is actually from that day. We had just recieved our fake "diplomas" (we had to wait until after Carroll's graduation to go to the school and get our real ones) and knew we wanted to jump in our caps and gowns on Al's trampoline, which was our favorite thing to do. This picture not only captures our friendship, but also the relief we felt to have the whole ordeal finally given some closure.

Day 5

A thank you letter to someone who has changed your life.

Dear Meredith Grace,
I hope you know how much I value and appreciate your friendship. You're my best friend and I love you so much! You've shown me what it really means to be a true best friend and that means so much to me. I know I can talk to you about anything that's going on in my life and you'll be understanding while also giving me that blunt, to the point, advice that I love so much. I hope you know you can talk to me about anything too! We've been through so much together and I can't imagine having a stronger bond. We've gotten through high school drama, lying boys, dumb decisions, senior prom, no graduation, disolving friendships, stupid girls, and so much more together. You've seen me at my highest and my lowest and I know I can always count on you no matter what. Without you I wouldn't know what it's like to have someone close around who looks out for you and not just themselves, I'll always be so grateful for that.

Love,
Catherine Christine

Welcome back Monday

This weekend went way too fast and it was quite the interesting one! Friday I hung out with Meredith and got dinner with her parents at Cebolla's. It was delicious. Then I went and met up with boyfriend to hang out with a few friends.

Saturday I had to take my car in to the dealer for an oil change at 9am, aka way too early on a Saturday for me to be out and about.  When I got home I was surprised to see my rommate packing nearly everything in our kitchen up to move. She had previously told me she was moving in with another girl who wanted to start her lease in May rather than wait until our lease is up in July, but she never told me when exactly she was moving or what she was taking. So, after she left I found that I no longer have a toaster, pots/pans, cookie sheets, dishes, or a tv, plus a few other things. I was livid. I wouldn't have been mad had she told me what she was taking with her, especially since before she had said she was leaving some things at our place. So now I have to spend money I don't have on things I didn't think I would have to worry about buying until I move to Muncie. Luckily I already had a tv and some dishes waiting at my mom's so I went ahead and got those. This is one of the exact reasons I don'twant a rommate for next year. My overall experience with my current roommate has been AWFUL and Saturday just put me over the top and ruined a good portion of my day. Boyfriend took me out to lunch because he knew I was having a bad day and we went to a comic book store so he could browse around. When we got back to my place I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and thankfully woke up feeling much better. That night Meredith came over and we did some browsing at a few stores before deciding to pick Joe up and go to Casa's for dinner. Then we went back to my place and  watched tv and after Mere left the boy and I cuddled and watched a movie.

Sunday I layed in bed most of the day catching up on Glee and doing homework. Then Joe came over and we went to my cousins 11th birthday party and then his mom's for dinner. I spent the rest of the night studying for my finals this week.

I'm so excited that this is my last week of school for the year and my last week of school at IPFW. I have finals that I have to go to campus for today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, and my other two finals have to be taken online by Sunday night. It's been a long, crazy, semester so I'm glad to see it end.

A bit of a favor please

My bestie Amy Marie wants to start a new photo series on daydreaming. As a little bit of field research before she starts the project she has come up with a few questions she would like people to answer. If you could take a minute or so to help her out that would be great!

{daydreams}

Where do you daydream?
What do you daydream about?
When I say "daydream" what do you think about?
Do you know of any songs/books/poems/websites that are daydreamy that I could use for inspiration?
Any other thoughts of daydreams?

Also, check out her photo blog, she is an amazing photographer!

A little happy ramble

I'm in the best mood I've been in in such a long time. It feels really great. Nothing imparticular has happened to lift my spirits, I think it's just been a collection of this week and it's been a good one thus far. I have an amazing boyfriend who is supportive of me and that I love very much. Not to mention he is super sweet and is taking me to the circus tomorrow night just because I begged and pleaded with him to go with me. Yesterday I got the most loveable dog who is a complete sweetheart and that I can't wait to love on more and more. Tuesday I saw miss Amy Marie and even though we didn't do anything super exciting I was so thrilled to see my bestie. I have one of the best friends I could ask for in Meredith. I'm feeling completely motivated this semester no matter how tough my classes already are. This week I've been kicking butt at work and blowing through piles of paperwork I've had for months. There are also many other good things going on right now but those are just a few from the top of my head. Basically I'm just feeling very happy and blessed at the moment. The end.

O hai

This is my bestie Amy Doll Marie Benkenstein. You may know her. She's pretty awesome and kind of a really good friend and sort of neat. Rexburg has had her for the past sevenish months and I think it's time for her to come home so we can go on random drives to different towns, and miss our favorite bands, and take trips to Chicago, and get Circle K slushies, and spend too much money at the mall, and have sleepovers, and "haha lose!" to our hearts content. Good thing she comes home in about 38 days (depending on how you count them). You could say I'm pretty excited about it, I've kind of sort of missed her a lot.

b b b bored

I really don't know how to relax like a normal person. I hate just sitting around doing nothing, I contantly feel the need to be on the go.

Adobe Reader will not install on my computer. This would normally not bother me except for the fact that every website now uses the new version. It is very annoying, but I'm giving up on it for now. I guess I can wait to watch my shows on hulu.

Today Liz and I decided to have a day we have deemed Random Location Day. On these days we pick a random lacation and go there and scope it out. We obviously were not feeling very creative when selecting this name. Our destination today was Bryan, Ohio which ended up being a really cute town! We ate at this 50's style diner called Lesters and walked around the downtown area. Only a few places were open because apparently Bryan shuts down for the most part on Sunday's, even though there are signs hanging up that say "Eat. Shop. Play. Everyday.". Thanks for lying Bryan, Ohio. Oh, and I fell in this store called Peebles. My ankle probably hates me and there was blood shed. The picture downplays the brutalness.

Dear Amy Marie

I'm going to miss you so much, I already do. I love you and I can't wait to come to Idaho. You're an amazing person and friend. I hope summer 2k9 is what dreams are made of and that you fine a boy just like Macbeth! Indiana will miss you greatly.

Love, Katie.