More Peace

Well I'm pleased to announce that school and life are going much better! I was a bit worried for a while about my physiology teacher. She was pretty scary and mean at times. I got snapped at for being a grand total of 1 minute late. I thought that didn't matter in college-pshh. But I've discovered that she is an absolutely amazing lecturer. Her lectures are more like discussions and she is very animated when she speaks. I actually look forward to going to class now. Physiology is quite interesting! I love learning about WHY and HOW things happen. Yesterday we learned the difference between saturated and unsaturated fat. Beware of so called healthy things like fake butter--it's really just un-saturated fat bombarded with hydrogen ions in a chemistry lab. They turn it into trans fat which is worse for you than saturated fat! Ok I'll stop boring you.

I have definitely been depressed lately about my friends leaving for college and the lack of change in my life. I have been at Cuesta for lets see....8 semesters so far. It starts to get old after a while. Most people are experiencing Cuesta for the first time-realizing how much better it is than high school. But for me Cuesta IS high school. I've been praying for peace and contentment with where I'm at. God has come through for sure. I'm feeling much happier and have been focusing more on the positive things instead of the negative. There are so many fun things coming up that I have to look forward too. The Family Campout and hiking Half-dome are going to be awesome! Thanks for reading my ramblings, hope you all are doing well.

xoxoxo Evelyn

Dear Mom & Dad

....It's Wednesday night and I ought to be reading for Sociology or sleeping but here I am writing. You are off in the wilderness hopefully having a blast, out of reach. It's pathetic how much I miss you. It's pathetic that tears are welling up in my eyes as I type this. Maybe it's just the stress of starting school and having to say goodbye to friends that has made this week especially emotional so far. I thought having you gone would help me feel more college-y but it has just made me realize I am going to have a tough time going away to college in the not-so-distant future. Most of my friends are excited to leave for school, to finally have some freedom and be on their own. I'm so happy at home. You guys are the BEST parents ever. Period. Thank you for being so wonderful, but I'm afraid you're gonna have to start doing something to annoy me so I will someday want to leave!

While I was in Tahoe I felt so at peace with life and so happy. But after being thrust back into the real world, life isn't so blissful. I've been looking through photo albums and wishing I was a carefree little kid again. I hate having to think about the future and big decisions. Dad-I know I am supposed to look at college/finding a career as an adventure but it is so hard for me sometimes. I am such a worrywart!

School started on Monday. I was signed up for a softball class but arrived to find it wasn't what I expected. The class is preparation for the season and I would have had to join a weight training class as well. I struggled with the decision of whether to drop the class. I wanted to ask you guys for advice but felt lame that I couldn't just make the decision on my own. I did in the end. I dropped it so I could have more free time, more time to study, to sew, to paint, and to visit friends on the weekends. Hopefully it was the right choice.

I know I will get back into the swing of school eventually. It has been amazing having Gretchen around, she is such a blessing in my life. Thanks for letting her live with us! Grandma is doing well, she told me she loved me tonight :) Well I'll just keep plugging away for now. Hopefully I'll get to the pile of laundry on the back porch soon. Can't wait till Sunday when you get home.

Love,

Evie Lou

p.s Wesley I miss you too!

Bittersweet feelings

Cuesta starts in 16 days. :( :( No me gusta. I really shouldn't complain since I got out in May but this summer has flown by like it does every year. I'm definitely in denial over school starting and a lot of my friends going away to college. I've just been so caught up in trying to hang out with them as much as possible that I don't know if I've had time to process that they're leaving. It will probably hit me hard this fall. That's not going to be fun. God is saving me from total depression by keeping Sarah Phillips and Lauren Page around this year. I'm so thankful for them. There are actually a lot of people from Slo High going to Cuesta so I have a feeling this should be the best semester yet. I will just miss my friends so dearly.

I've had such a great summer so far. Two trips to Mexico, one to L.A, a graduation party, and ample hang out time with friends. But I'm greedy and want more time. This year I have really connected and built some great friendships. Now, as many of them are going off to college I find myself wishing I had met those people sooner. But one year is better than nothing!

I still have one last hurrah before school starts....a senior trip to Lake Tahoe! I'm hoping it will be a great time to relax, recharge, and savor time with friends before school starts. xoxox Evelyn

An Eventful Weekend

My mom and I spent the weekend down in LA with our good friends the Bredbergs. We got to go to Burke Williams spa in Pasadena on Saturday. That was such a treat! It was like entering a whole new world. I felt a little out of place as I imagined what it would be like to float in indoor spas, get massages, and take endless showers on a regular basis. I'm sure it would loose its awe factor after a while though. We followed up our spa adventure with a trip to "21 Choices" which is the best frozen yogurt place on the planet. It's Yogurt Creations meets Coldstone. You choose from custom flavors and then they mix in whatever you want! I got strawberry shortcake flavor with pound cake and rainbow sprinkles mixed in-mmmmm.

The rest of the weekend we spent working and playing. There is always something exciting going on at the Bredberg house. For my mom and Kim working meant editing the book they are co-authoring about education and homeschooling and also working on marketing their website Collective Banter. It's basically facebook combined with the scholastic art and writing competition for artists, writers, and musicians. You can win money! They are all about advertising at the moment so here you go mom and Kim..... This is the link : http://collectivebanter.com/ Go check it out!

Working for me meant running lots of errands and talking to Kim about the book of my high school writing that she is going to publish. Woooohoo, I can't believe I am going to be a published writer. Pretty cool. Kim is always coming up with awesome ideas for me, but I never thought I would have my own book! She's going to use it to teach other high schoolers about the writing process. Now I have to write something for the forward and a blurb for each of the pieces. It's a little nerve racking to sit down and try to write something you know is going to be published!

Hannah and I had a great time hanging out, being totally dorky Twilight fans, and seeing the movie "Grown Ups" together. It was hysterical. I would highly recommend it along with Inception which was AMAZING.

Wow I have been promoting a lot in this post. Better give you a break. Tata for now

xoxox Evie

A monumental discovery

I just found the coolest website! It has all these amazingly cute blog backgrounds that you can download for free. It's so easy-and coming from me you know that's the truth. There's a link to it under my favorite sites. Flowers make me so happy!

All my wisdom has been robbed

I'm sitting in bed with lots of gauze in my mouth and feeling pretty darn good. I just got three wisdom teeth pulled. I used to be scared to have them taken out but after my trip to Mexico I became very enthralled with the idea of anesthesia. They started an IV in my arm which I've never had but it was very similar to having blood drawn (I've offered my arm to my fellow phlebotomy students many a time!). Then they put something over my nose and said it was oxygen. They asked me to do something but I honestly can't remember anything past that point. When I woke up I felt sooooo weird. They helped me walk to the recovery room to lay down in for a few minutes. It was all very funny to me. I'v decided my mind is too impenetrable for drugs to make me loopy. Hypnotists don't have a chance either. Heheh. However, this experience has given me a lot of compassion for those people in the world who are all there mentally but can't talk or express their thoughts and emotions. That would be so incredibly frustrating. It makes me see people like that in a new light. Anyways--wonderful Caitlin is coming over later to watch Lord of the Rings with me. I should probably get some sleep. But first I want to talk about my graduation party....

It went so well. I was a little nervous about the speeches and the ceremony part. But it was really nice. My parents had the most heartfelt things to say and of course they made me cry. My speech went well until I started thanking Kim--I lost it royally at that point. Tears aside it was a very special ceremony and party. Everyone came down off the deck and prayed for me. That was really sweet. I'm incredibly blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life that care so much about me. The food was AMAZING and I received so many encouraging cards and wonderful gifts. Thank you to everyone who came, and I missed all of you who couldn't make it. I'm off to go hibernate. Tata for now! xoxox Evelyn

Last night was such a great night. I have been wanting to have a dance party in our old house ever since our renters moved out. I really wanted to do it before a lot of my friends left on vacation for most of July. At the beginning of the day it wasn't looking like very many people could make it. Low and behold every single person I invited ended up at my house later that night. That's record breaking. We had such an awesome time dancing and we had two mock rocks. That was definitely the highlight of the evening. Fond fond memories. Thank you Jesus for all of my amazing friends and for providing the opportunity to hang out with them all before their vacations!