It's all gonna be okay!

To say that this has been a tough week is an extreme understatement.  I honestly can't remember feeling anymore overwhelmed and just clueless as to why things were happening.  If you have read my blogs in the past, I've said that I'm not one to really talk about my personal life.  So, I'm not going to sit here and type out exactly why I had a tough week.. although, throughout this post it will probably become obvious. 

I am going to come out and say one of my struggles though.  Simply because people are starting to find out and immediately assume the worst.  So, I'm gonna clear that up and set some things straight. ;) Alex and I will be living in separate apartments.  But before you freak out, WE ARE STILL BEST FRIENDS!!! I hate that people seem to think this means we have had some sort of falling out. No, not at all.  I actually think this shows we are not in any way selfish friends.  Through apartment hunting we saw that we both had not only different things we wanted, but we needed different things in an apartment.  It wouldn't have been right for either one of us to settle on a place that wasn't perfect for both of us.  In no way has this come between our friendship and it won't!  Us not living together hasn't really been my struggle though, it has just been personally finding somewhere that is what I need and fast because apartments are starting to fill up.  At the beginning of this week, I'll be perfectly honest, I was FREAKING out! Really, I was. Thankfully, through much prayer and help from my Dad and stepmom Tina, I have found a place and I put a down payment on it yesterday!  I will move in either May 1 or May 18! Now I'm freaking out for all new reasons!  It's more of an excited freak out now though.  At first I was worried about the financial part of it all, but I think I have figured all that out.. now I'm worried about things like, I CAN'T cook. I mean I'm that person that burns Ramen noodles.  I can't afford to eat out all the time, and I don't want pizza rolls every meal so I'm gonna have to figure that out.  Thankfully Alex is an awesome cook so she can teach me, and I'm going to get some of my favorite recipes from my family.  If you know any really easy meals to fix, please send them to me! :) Something I'm really looking forward to about this apartment is that it is on a golf course, so I can golf for free whenever I want!  I say that like I'm an avid golfer! Ha!  I've actually never been.. but I'm going to have to learn because I can't let myself live there where I can play for free and not learn!  There's also a pool and tanning beds that you can use anytime for free.. so, needless to say, between those two things I am going to have an awesome tan! :)

The other struggle I had was huge.. it was more of a personal loss I guess you could say.  I just couldn't wrap my mind around why I was being put through the pain, especially when I already needed a support system more than usual with the apartment stress.  Wednesday night I really just hit my breaking point.  This is something that hasn't ever happened to me before.  I'm a very happy and positive person, and it really takes a lot for me to get so down about something that it just completely overwhelms me.  I realized that I had to do something because it was physically making me sick to be this defeated by what was going on.  I surrounded myself with my amazing friends and with their help I was able to get through the week and things started to look up. 

A few weeks ago I signed up for a college girls retreat at my church called Unveiled.  It was aimed to strengthen our worth in the Lord.  The retreat was last night and lasted until this morning.  I really couldn't have asked for it to be at any better time.  Spending that time in the word and with God was EXACTLY what I needed.  We start off the weekend a little differently than I expected, but oh my goodness, what I first thought was really strange turned out to be the most powerful exercise.  We walked into the room and before we sat down we had to walk around the entire room and there were signs posted all over the walls with lies that Satan tells us.  Things like "She's prettier than you" "You're fat" "Nobody cares about you"  "You are damaged".. things that hurt to read and hurt even more to realize that unfortunately we all think these things.  The speaker was amazing!  At the end of her sermon she had us chose the the lie that really hit home the most with us and write the truth to it on a piece of paper and go and tape it over the lie.  I won't tell you what mine was, but I will tell you that this was a powerful exercise and I feel like I have defeated that lie, and I have full confidence that the truth I taped on top is the real truth and God gave me comfort with that.  Seeing girls walk all around the room and conquer these lies was emotional and uplifting.  I think we often forget that everyone, even those who seem to have everything together, have struggles.  And no matter what those struggles are, small or completely life changing, God wouldn't make us face those things if he didn't have an ultimate plan for us to grow or to help someone else grow through that.  I'm sitting here writing this thinking how weird it is that I'm sharing things that are pretty personal, because really that's unlike me.  If you have read any of my blogs you know that my intention is just to tell random stories that happen.  But I really felt led to share this.  My hope is that someone will read this that maybe is going through this same thing, and maybe I will say something that plants a seed for someone to seek God for peace.  

How I feel now is a complete turn around from how a felt a few days ago, and as far as the worldly problems that were causing me so much anxiety, nothing has changed.  The only difference is that I have found peace through God's word and know that He wouldn't bring me to this if I couldn't get through it.  

Romans 5: 1-4 "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have a peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

This verse couldn't be any more perfect for me right now.  I'm gonna be okay!  Yeah, I'm stressed about things and worried and I don't completely understand it all.  But I will continue to thank God every day for the wonderful life I have been given and I have complete trust in Him that this will pass and I will be that much stronger than I was before.  

I hope that this post has spoken to you in some way.  I am so thankful for this weekend and am so happy with where I'm at right now.  I wouldn't change a thing.  Have a great rest of the weekend and a great week!

Madison :)

Break out the camo!

Happy Spring Break!  Unlike many college students, I am not on the beach or cruising in the ocean this week!  I am having a relaxing, 'go with the flow' week!  Which I must say, is quite fantastic!

I just got back today from Cloud 9 Ranch in Missouri!  It is an AWESOME 4 wheeler ranch!  There are miles and miles and miles of trails.  I think it's something like 6000 acres of land!  Some trails are just dirt and gravel and some are straight up, straight down, with boulders! Ha! Alan took me up one hill called Honda.. going up was scary (I thought).. then we got to the top and had to turn around and go back down.  Mom was waiting at the bottom. :)  All the way up I kept telling Alan I was sweating and feeling a little worried.. then once we were at the top he said "Okay, all jokes aside.. hang on to this bar and do NOT let go, no matter if we are upside down or sideways or rolling down the hill." Uhhhh... okay!  I think death grip is a good term.  I might also add that the razr (google it, it's way better than a 4 wheeler) has seatbelts that are very seldom used... mine was cinched!! We did make it to the bottom without any disasters! Hooray! There were some trails that go through the river.. one in particular that was deeper than expected and caused wet shorts.  Burrrr, the river was COLD!  Sleeping the camper with the windows open was fabulous!  I slept like a baby!  Unfortunately it was too windy to make a campfire, but we did roast marshmellows over the stove and made s'mores! :))

This was the bottom half of Honda Hill!  This picture does no justice of how steep this was.

What a view!

This was not a glamorous past few days by any means, but I do have a funny story.  Before I left Fayetteville I went to a thrift store to try to find some cheap pants that I could get dirty and messed up.. when I got there, they had some awesome military camo pants that I had to have for this trip! Haha.. I knew mom would be jealous because she has always wanted a pair, so I bought her some too.. then I found a camo shirt that was perfect to wear riding when it wasn't cold but the breeze was chilly.. and I bought jeans which is what I actually went for.  I went to pay and the guy gave me an extra discount! Hahaha! Discounts and a thrift store is a major win in my book! :)

I don't have plans for the rest of the week which is nice!  At some point I plan to spend time with my best friend, Trevor!  If you knew us in high school, we were pretty much inseparable!  He goes to UCA and I never see him anymore, so we have a lot of catching up to do!  I think we're gonna go eat thai food and get tattoos!  Well, HE'S getting a tattoo, I'll watch and take pictures... like last time. Yes, we have had a thai food and tattoo outing before! Haha.

Story time (again)! So, since Alex and I were gonna be away from the dorm for a while, we couldn't leave Bitsy!  Alex is with her family in Washington D.C. this week so taking Bitsy wasn't an option for her.  So before I left, I packed her up and brought her to Highland!  The road between Fayetteville and Highland is very hilly and curvy, so that drive alone is probably pretty traumatizing to a small fish.  She made it though and had one calm day at home!  When we started to leave to go camping I realized I had to take her with us because we didn't know how long we would be gone.  We were in mom's jeep and my seat was scooted really far up because we had a lot in the back and I couldn't fit her box (she's in her bowl and her bowl is wrapped in a towel in a box) in the floor board so I just set the box on my lap.. well, we have a bumpy gravel driveway and she was sloshing everywhere on the way down... and I was eating a cookie.. one of those thick, soft sugar cookies with all the icing from WalMart that they make for every holiday.. anyways.. she was sloshing everywhere and it was bumpy and I'm trying to eat my cookie....... and oooooops! ..my cookie broke in half and fell in her water!!! OH MY GOODNESS!! Mom slammed on the breaks and started yelling at me to get it!  I didn't want to stick my hand in there!  I'm always so careful to put water cleaner in Bitsy's bowl and make sure nothing bad happens... and now there's a cookie in her bowl! Oh dear.. we were laughing so hard that I couldn't grab the cookie! I finally did though!  And I found a way to get Bitsy in the floor board so we wouldn't have another catastrophe!  Poor fish.. The good news is that she made it through the weekend and staying in the camper so she will get to sit still in her bowl for several days.  She's a trooper!

Random Fact:  This is going to pertain slightly to this blog.. I have realized that there is nothing wrong with having fears.. but there is something wrong with a fear of conquering your fears.  Make sense?  If I'm scared to do something, I want to do it at least once to know if it's actually even worth being afraid of.  Most of the time, I find that whatever it is is actually really fun!

Well, that's all I have for now.  I hope the rest of your week is amazing!

Madison :)

Road trip weekend!

I hope you had half as good of a weekend as I did, because mine was FANTASTIC! :)

It started on Friday!  That night I went with Michael to Van Buren High School for his RVI rehearsal.  This stands for River Valley Independent which is his weekend percussion thing... (sorry Michael, I know you won't approve of this description).  This practice was several hours long so I managed to get some homework, iPad games, and tweeting done.  My friend Jamey was there because her boyfriend is also in RVI so we ended up going to eat at Waffle House.. that was an experience itself.  While we were eating, Elvis came in, and our 70ish year old waitress, Betty, had a nose ring.  Interesting.  Anyways.. that night we stayed in Van Buren at one of the guy's house which was fun! 

Saturday morning they had another rehearsal.  Jamey and I did our hair and makeup in the high school bathroom--there's a first time for everything.  After they finished we were finally off to Tulsa!  They had a performance that night (I forgot to mention that, which was the whole purpose of this trip).. but it wasn't until late-ish so we went to Michael's house first!  I met his mom, brother, and sister!  They were super nice and very inviting!  To be honest, I was nervous to meet them, but it turned out to be great! :)  We left from there and went to Michael's high school which was where they performed.  I was not in Sharp County anymore.. I'm pretty sure the school was bigger than the town of Highland itself.  Not to mention, that it's one of several schools in Tulsa.  Blows my mind.  So, we went to the competition and THEY WON!  Their show is very entertaining and I had no doubt they were going to win!  Jamey and I had a fun time cheering and being RVI 'groupies'. 

Jamey and I! :) 

Michael and I after the competition! :)

Sunday morning we woke up early and had breakfast and went to church.  If you know me at all, you know that I am NOT a morning person at all.  And I'm very concerned with making good first impressions.  Well, Michael's dad is a firefighter and didn't get off work until early that morning so I hadn't met him with everyone else the night before.  So, I'm getting ready.. no makeup, hair halfway straightened, half awake, in my pjs.. and his mom tells us it's time for breakfast.. So not really awake enough to fully realize how pretty I looked, I just walk down stairs to eat.. and meet his dad.. I'm sure he didn't mind at all, but that's probably the one thing about this weekend I would've liked to be different. Haha!  After breakfast we finished getting ready and went to church.  Everyone was really sweet and it was a great service.  This was my first experience with a Church of Christ, it was much different than what I'm used to, but I enjoyed seeing a different approach to worship. :)  After church we ate and went shopping for the cruise Michael and his family are going on during Spring Break. To say that they are excited is an understatement.  I thought Michael was probably the only one that stalked cruise ship pictures and webcams, but no.  They all do! Haha!  I don't blame them for being excited and I hope they all have a great time!  I can't wait to see pictures and hear all the fun stories! :)

We drove back to Fayetteville in dreary weather but kept ourselves entertained with Micheal's 'roadtrip' music and the "Hey Madison, pronounce the name of that city!" game.  I think the game was more for his entertainment than mine. ;)  I was extremely tired when we made it back, but it was well worth it!  It was a great weekend!  I'm really happy God has put Michael in my life and I look forward to more weekends like this one! :)

I sure do love Fayetteville, but I hate that coming back means back to reality.  I have 4 tests this week, one of which is a Cal 2 test which is going to be horrendous.  I will be up all night for the next 2 nights studying for that.  Oh well, it will pay off in 5 or so years when I have a good job. Ha! That's what I keep telling myself.

Oh! I almost forgot!  I accomplished 2 extremely important tasks today!  I drove my scooter across the road and filled it up with gas WITHOUT MAKING IT OVERFLOW! Yessss!  I filled it up with premium gas for $1.94.. and it goes almost 100 miles on a full tank.  How awesome is that?!  Anddd! I transported my first passenger without injuring either one of us!  Chris and I rode down to the dorm and back up the hill again!  We were laughing the whole time which made for a slightly wobbly ride at first but it was overall a successful ride! Woohoo! :)

This blog's random fact:

I think one of the things I'm looking most forward to when Alex and I get our apartment is burning candles!  Our dorm room always smells so weird and sometimes the candle warmer we aren't supposed to have either just doesn't cut it!  I want to buy a red Woodwick candle and have it burn in my room. Mmmm :)

I will try to blog again this week but I'm not sure how that will go with all that I have going.  Have an amazing week!  :)

Madison!

Crazy few days!

Woosh! Things have been nuts lately! Let's see.. I last blogged on Friday, geeez, a lot has happened since then.

Let's start with Saturday.. I didn't actually go out and do anything on Saturday because I wanted to get ahead on homework since my mom was coming on Sunday.. Alex and I also decided we needed to deep clean our room.  That is always a task!  You would think cleaning would take 5 minutes because there is no space, but finding a place for all our crap--yes, I AM admitting our room is filled with unnecessary things--well, finding a place for all that is an issue!  I was putting my clothes away after doing laundry and realized I was missing my favorite pair of Nike shorts.  I looked everywhere for those things!  I mean they can only be so many places.. then it hit me!  My drawers always get stuck because they are full, so I had the idea to pull my drawers out.. well, the good news is, I found my shorts! Along with several other articles of  clothing I didn't know I was missing!  The bad news is Alex's side.. she pulled out her drawer and didn't find any of her clothes, but found lots of clothes that weren't hers that by the amount of dust and style of the clothes had probably been there for a while.  I really don't think I can adequately express how gross this was.. after we stopped gagging and sneezing from all the dust, we decided to just get a trash bag and throw it all away.. well.... once we started picking it up we realized the girl the clothes belonged to was a 'champ'.  Want to know how I know this? I'll tell you.. there was a g-string thong that told us so.  BARFFFF!!!!  I DIDN'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THAT!  The worst part.... we had to touch it to throw it away! And of course it was the one thing that fell out of the bag 5 times before we made it to the trash can.  So gross.. that was probably too much information, but I just thought I'd tell you because you will see it in the picture I took of our findings! ;)

If only you could see the layer of dirt and dust. Gag.

On a less gross note, Mom came Sunday!  She was waiting for me after my dress rehearsal and we went shopping and out to eat!  She took Alex and I to Red Lobster, which was delicious!  If you haven't ever eaten with me then you don't know this, but I like to eat... a lot!  I thoroughly enjoyed myself this night. 

Before...

After! :) So good!

Monday was a BUSY day!  I had 2 tests--one that was easy, and one that I'm pretty sure came from the test bank from heck.  That night I had my first Symphonic Band concert!  It was a great concert!  Both my Mom and Dad got to be there and several other people from my family and friends from home watched online.  After the concert my mom took me and Michael to ihop (one of my favorites!) where, once again, I enjoyed lots of food!  I stayed with Mom in her hotel that night which I will say was an excellent nights sleep!  I didn't realize how noisy campus was until I slept somewhere else!  

Oh! And of course, I have my scooter now!  People are a nervous wreck I'm going to crash! I really am getting much better!  I'm learning to use my mirrors and I finally have the whole blinker thing all figured out!  I'm also getting really good at turning!  I don't feel like I'm going to tip over anymore!  I really haven't ridden it very much at all though--it's been SOOO windy and I'm afraid I'll get blown over!  I'm taking baby steps to being a hardcore scooter-er. ;)

Today was my mock interview for engineering.  It went really well!  Get this.. the first thing the guy said to me was "tell me about yourself, where you're from, what engineering you want to do, etc." So I start out, "I am Madison Fuller and I'm from Highland, a really small town in northeast Arkansas"  And he stops me and says, "I'm from Pocahontas!" which if you don't know, is close to Highland!  How crazy! Someone FINALLY knows where I'm from! I bet I was the only one whose interview was partly about what I like to do at the river! Ha!

So many things have happened these past few days but this is already getting kinda lengthy so I should stop! :)  

One last thing though. My random fact for this post:

Last spring break when we were in Greece we went to the Corinth Canal.. It's a little bridge over a canal just barely big enough for a boat to get through.  You can bungee jump off of it, but the weather wasn't great the day we went and they weren't doing it.. but before I die, I would LOVE to bungee jump off of it! :)

Please have a fantastic week!

Madison! :)

I'm going to explode with excitement!

It is just one of those times right now where everything seems to be going right!  I for real feel like I have a million things to be excited and happy about right now!  So guess what!  You are about to hear about them! :)

HAPPY DECISION DAY! It's official! I am no longer and engineering major, I am an INDUSTRIAL engineering major! This morning when I went to engineering, the room was separated into each engineering field with a sign and balloons and staff from the department.  I marched proudly to industrial!  They gave us hats and candy and were so excited for us!  They loved that I was a girl! ;)  I am happy to say that there were 2 other girls going industrial in my class so that means there are probably a few more from the other classes! Girl engineer power! :)  After we all went around and said our names with our new major we had a competition between departments; we had 5ish marshmallows, a few spaghetti noodles, and a few toothpicks and had to make the highest tower!  I am proud to say that us 7 or 8 industrial engineers came in 2nd place behind the mechanical engineers that had way more people.  I feel quite accomplished for beating the civil engineers, because isn't building structures one of their main purposes?! ;) 

Official industrial engineering hat! :)

 Hooray!  I found where I belong! :) 

Our awesome tower! 24 inches!

So, I know in my last post I talked about my scooter.. well, today I went and got the parking permit for it! I am willing to bet I will easily get my money's worth out of the $7.07 I paid for the sticker!  I can't wait to drive it around!  I am crossing my fingers the weather stays like it has been so it will be perfect to ride to class!  Then when I got back to my room I was relieved to see that Alex had checked the mail and my dress for the band concert came in!  The concert is Monday and I was beginning to get worried it wasn't going to get here.  The best part is, it fits! Hooray!  These two things may not seem like much to be excited about, but it's two things I have been worried about getting done! Oh, and also.. as I sat down at my computer I had the most amazing instant mashed potatoes.  I know that sounds gross, but really they were delicious!  I mean of course they were, nothing is going to mess up this day! :)

So many things to be excited about!

Oh, speaking of band concert, it's Monday!  If you are in Fayetteville you should come to the Walton Arts Center and watch!  7:30!  But, if you aren't around they are going to have a live webcast where you can watch it online!  Awesome, right?! You can go to bands.uark.edu and there will be a link that says something about UA Bands Broadcast that will take you to it! :)

Oh my gooooodness!  I almost forgot about what happened yesterday!  I got a PERFECT 30 out of 30 on my calculus homework!  I know it's just a homework and only 30 points, but I NEVER get perfect grades in calculus!   I was a little disappointed though.. my teacher uses stars when she grades, I guess as a confidence boost. Usually if you get a perfect score then you get a gold star.  She ALWAYS does this on papers and for some reason she didn't with this assignment.  I was a little upset.  But it's okay, because I'm over it and I got the grade which is what actually matters! :)

Here's proof.  It REALLY happened! :) 

Tonight I am going to dinner and to the gymnastics meet with my friend, Maegan!  I absolutely love watching gymnastics.  I just have to remind myself that I have way too many back and neck issues to come back to room and try to do what they are doing. Ha.. Those girls are fantastic inspiration for my future thigh muscles! ;)

I really hope your past few days have gone at least half as well as mine have!  Have a fabulous weekend!

Madison:)

Warning!

As I'm sure you know, last night was a night of tornado warnings!  My first real storm away from my mom! Yikes!  I actually stayed in bed the entire time, no hiding under beds, closets, bathtubs.. nope.. I was a big girl! :)  But, the real threat for a tornado was today.. and I regret to inform you that a tragic, devastating twister hit the 8th floor of Pomfret.  

Horrific Destruction! 

Ooookay, so actually I just really need to do laundry!  But let me tell you, laundry is an ordeal when you live with 800 people and share 10 washers (you're lucky if 8 of them are working at a time).  I don't have to be in a high math class to figure out that's 1 washer for every 100 people.  I sure do hate dealing with the laundry crowd so I always seem to let it get this way.  But hey! It's only spread out like this because I have organized it by loads and first thing in the morning I will be washing clothes!  

Since moving to Fayetteville, I have found an awesome church--Cross Church Fayetteville!  Tonight we had an AWESOME lesson on our marriage study.  But I think my favorite part of the service was a song we sang before closing.  God really spoke to me through this song and I would like to share it with you!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT1LWYVnBVw I hope you love it as much as I do!  

"There will be no one like You, and no one beside You.  

You alone are worthy of ALL praise!"

My mom called today and told me we are officially registered to go to Europe next spring break! Woo! Last spring break I went all over Greece and to Rome and had the absolute best time!  I fell in love with Europe and probably wouldn't have gotten on the plane to come home if that would've been an option, so needless to say I am ECSTATIC to go back!  This trip we are going to Vienna, Venice, and Paris!  AHHH!!! I am just too excited! I really don't want to wait a whole year!  In the mean time, I'm going to look forward to this spring break which is in 3 WEEKS!  Yessss!!!!!  I'm going camping at Cloud 9 four wheeler ranch!  I haven't ever been, but my mom always tells me how much fun it is!

Speaking of mom, she's coming this weekend! Yay! I haven't seen here since Christmas break so it is time!  And with mom's arrival is the arrival of my scooter! Alan bought me a scooter for Christmas so I wouldn't have to hike up the hill; I didn't bring it because it's winter, and I was expecting winter to be too cold to ride.  Well, I was wrong and I can't wait to have it!  When I tell people I have a scooter, most of them say, "Can you drive it?!" Haha, good question.  I will say that I am much better than I was the first night I got it, but I should probably drive it around the parking lot a few times before I go scooting through campus traffic!    

I know there are some people who just click on the link to my blog from Facebook or Twitter and maybe don't know me that well. So, I'm going to start telling you one random thing about myself on each blog.  I thought of this first one as I was talking about my scooter. I love motorcycles! My Dad used to have one and I loved to ride!! I think my favorite part is riding on a nice day and doing the motorcycle 'wave' to all the other bikes you pass.. it makes me feel real cool! ;)

I think that's about it!  Tomorrow is Thursday which means I don't have class until 1:30, but I'm gonna set my alarm for earlier than normal so I can do laundry! Blah!

Oh!! One more thing! Be sure to check out Alex's blog, too! arisaacs.blogspot.com

She's awesome and her blog is too! :)

Hope you are having a fabulous week!

Madison:)

I have a plan!

Aw rats, I already skipped a day.  I can tell that an every day blog is going to be an impossible task.  I will tell you that the majority of my day yesterday was spent sleeping so nothing real exciting happened.

Today was GREAT!  The weather was fantastic, my calculus class was cancelled, and I was just in a happy mood!  I also was reassured about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life; kinda a big deal. Ha! As a freshman engineer, we have been working all year toward Decision Day.. which is THIS FRIDAY!  This is a day where you stand in front of all the freshman engineers at a big celebration and proclaim the engineering field you are choosing.  First semester we had a different department come and speak to us every Friday.  Since deciding on engineering I thought I would be industrial, but then after hearing departmental info sessions I started to become torn between industrial, civil, and computer.  Maybe I should mention that I skipped class the day of the industrial session so I missed the reassurance I needed that industrial was where I wanted to be.  This semester we had to attend longer information sessions in the evenings that included tours and hands on experience with the department.  Tonight was my last session, and it was industrial.  We saw demonstrations in the robotics lab, got to work with a computer program to solve a real world problem, and spoke with industrial engineering graduates and grad students.  Oh! And we ate and they had industrial engineering cookies! :)  I can honestly say after tonight my decision has never been more clear.  This Friday at approximately 10:30am, I will stand up in front of my peers and confidently say,
"MY NAME IS MADISON FULLER AND I AM GOING TO BE AN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER!"
I'm so excited.  I know it's going to be a long road, that I will not be doing in the 4 years of the ideal plan, but I know that it will all be worth it and I will love what I am doing!

This was my industrial engineering cookie! It made my happy! :)

You know what I love? Google. Really. I swear you can google anything these days! Sometimes there are just little things that drive me absolutely nuts until I know the answer! For example, I sneezed the other day and Alex said "Bless You".  A normal response.. I got to thinking about that and wondered why in the world is that what you say when someone sneezes.  When I think of someone saying "Bless You" I think of that as the response to someone who does something very thoughtful and Godly for others.  Uhmm, I don't know about you but there isn't much Godly about a sneeze to me; I'm not saying I think it's a sacrilegious thing, but it's certainly not what I do to praise Jesus.  Anyways, I googled it!  There is an urban legend that your soul might escape through your nose when you sneeze so people would say "God Bless You" to ward off the devil.  Interesting.  I have pretty bad pollen and dust allergies and have sneezed many times in my life... pretty sure I still have my soul.  I also read that sneezing was a big symptom of the plague and many would say "Bless You" as sympathy toward someone who had the awful disease.  I think I prefer to believe that is where the phrase comes from, rather than thinking it comes from the fact I may lose my soul with a simple sneeze.  Hmm.

Well, that's all I have for now.  I'm off to study for an economics test! Well, I probably won't because it's not actually for another week but I'm trying to motivate myself to do a little at a time so I don't have to cram like usual.  I'll actually probably end up sitting here, eating, and watching tv.

Have a great week!

Madison :)