Monday, November 24, 2008

Weekend at Shane's House


On Thursday, November 20, Shane asks me "So do you want to go to my house tomorrow?" Completely forgetting that Shane lives in Allen residence hall on campus, I assumed that Shane meant that he lived in a house off-campus and was inviting me over for the afternoon the next day, so I said "Okay." Wondering why I had never heard Shane talking about his house before, I asked him "Where is your house?" His reply was "East Texas." It then clicks that he's not talking about a house that he lives in off-campus (at this same point I also remember that Shane lives in Allen), but is rather inviting me to go back with him to his parents' house. "So you're talking about a weekend trip?" "Yes," Shane said. After finding out that Austin and Anna were going too, my answer remained the same, "Okay."

So on Friday Shane, Austin, Anna, Emma, and myself all packed up and headed for Shane's house in East Texas at 4pm. We headed to Tyler first to get dinner at Olive Garden. We arrive at Shane's house around 9:15, if I remember correctly. As soon as we walk inside, I fell in love with the house. It was GORGEOUS. I wish I had taken more pictures of the house because words can't adequately describe it. It was an incredibly spacious, two-story house. Every room was decorated really well. The living room was a peaceful blue...Shane's sister's room was an incredibly beautiful room that felt like it came from a fairy tale...the kitchen was incredibly cozy feeling, even though sometimes things were hard to find because everything either was or looked like wood. Even the refrigerator looked like a wood door. Shane took us on a tour of the house. His parents and younger brother Austin got back around 10. We stayed up a little longer, eating cheesecake and talking. Finally, around 10:45 or so we all went to bed.

The next morning we woke up sometime around 9. When I walked out into the living room, I was told that a chihuahua had wandered to the Tindle's backyard and wouldn't leave. It was an incredibly cute dog, and it didn't have a collar. We decided that either eventually it would make its way back home, or we would go figure out which neighbor it came from.

I decided I wanted to cook breakfast, so I made french toast and scrambled eggs. I hadn't madfrench toast in years, so I was very happy when it turned out well.The stove area became my little haven as I cooked the french toast :)

After breakfast, we went for a walk through the Tindle's property. They own 30 acres, most covered with trees. The property is absolutely gorgeous. As we walked around I kept thinking, "This is what fall is supposed to look like!" The chihuahua decided it wanted to go with us and followed us for the whole walk.

After we got back from the walk, we decided we wanted to make tacos and fajitas for lunch. So we drove to Wal-Mart and bought groceries. We came back, made the tacos and fajitas, and had lunch. It was really, really good. Why does food always taste better when you make it yourself? I honestly can't remember what we did for the rest of the afternoon, probably because, in all honesty, we did mostly nothing. Which was really, really nice. In the evening we decided to go see if we could find the chihuahua's owner, since the dog had stuck around all day. We were unsuccessful, so we took the dog home, gave him a bath (or, more accurately, Shane and some of the others gave him a bath while I made fruit pizza), and the chihuahua became the Tindle's newest pet. We had become accustomed to calling him Taco, but Mr. Tindle got to officially name him and settled on "Jose" after Jeff Dunham's "Jose Jalepeno on a stick".

Me with Taco :)

When dinnertime came we were still full from lunch, so we just ate queso and fruit pizza while playing cranium. Definitely a lot of hilarious moments during that game :) After the game Shane, Anna, Emma and I showed Mrs. Tindle swing dancing moves, because she's never seen Shane dance before.

That night Shane decided to put on "The Prestige" for us to watch. It was definitely a very intense and very confusing movie. Just like every movie that I've watched lately, I teared up during a couple intense parts. At the end, I felt really confused. According to Shane, you have to watch the movie at least two times to catch everything. I guess I'll have to watch it again sometime.

The next morning was, once again, mostly doing nothing...watching Austin jump into the freezing cold pool, eating biscuits for breakfast, playing with Taco, showering, packing up, talking about dating, courting, and kids. Lunch was an AMAZING meal prepared by the Tindle's grandmother, Mrs. Tindle, and Shane. Green bean casserole, ham with brown sugar, home baked bread, potatoes, beans, cheesy ragu macaroni, etc...it was really, REALLY good. Conversation mostly centered around why each of the five of us had chosen to attend Baylor. The Tindle's grandmother was the last student to graduate from the Baylor nursing program before it got transferred to Dallas in the fifties, and she told her story. It was incredibly neat to hear.

After lunch, we finished cleaning and packing, and headed back for the Baylor campus at about 2:30. We got back about 4:45.

Although at first I was wondering if I was making a wise decision taking the weekend of to go to Shane's house, or if I should have stayed behind and used the weekend to study, I am definitely glad I went to Shane's house. I realized that I haven't had a real break this entire semester. The two times I have been home, I've had a lot of things to do while there. This weekend, I had absolutely nothing to do, and it was glorious. I came back feeling incredibly refreshed. I also really enjoyed the "out in the boonies" feel-there was no cell phone reception, and plenty of trees and wildlife. At college, I feel like I am constantly connected thanks to the cell phone and internet, and it was nice to take a weekend to disconnect. It also gave me a chance to invest in relationships-new ones (Mrs. Tindle and Emma) and not so new ones (Shane, Austin, and Anna). It was especially nice to be able to interact and relate with them in a context separate from college. This weekend was definitely a needed and very much appreciated refresher.

L-R: Austin, Anna, Emma, me, Shane

Oh, and Mrs. Tindle is such a strong Christian and inspiring woman. If you haven't gotten a chance to meet her, you're definitely missing out! :)

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Spring 2009 Class Schedule

Biology 2401-01-Anatomy & Physiology 1-MWF 8:00-8:50
Biology 2401-C-Anatomy & Physiology Lab-M 1:25-3:20
Biology 2401-C-Anatomy & Physiology Lab Lecture-Th 3:30-4:20
History 1307-01-World History since 1500-MWF 9:05-9:55
Psychology 1305-04-Introduction to Psychology-TTh 9:30-10:45
Spanish 2310-08-Intermediate Spanish-TTh 11:00-12:15
Chapel 1088-03-Chapel-MW 11:15-12:20