The First Day of Fall :)

September 22 is one of my favorite days because it marks the beginning of my favorite season:):):) Yesterday was a great day! I even wore an orange shirt to celebrate the new season! I woke up early (a tad earlier than I would have liked but it was good to get up and get going) for football practice. This semester I am on an intramural flag football team and I am so excited! Then I went to the gym with a friend who is on the team and we worked out for a bit then went to the caf and had a lovely lunch together. My friend Courtney is also an RA this year and it was great to get a spontaneous meal with her. We shared about our experiences so far and had great conversation. When I got back to my room, my roommate was cleaning and so cheerful! After a lovely shower I did some homework and talked about music with Janine as we both buzzed about room. For dinner, my beautiful friend Reylena and I went to Chipotle and split a burrito bowl. One of my favorite things! Reylena was my first friend at Biola and it has been such a joy to walk through this season in life with her sharing in the joys, trials, and experiences of Biola. Reylena is also an RA and it was great to connect with her. Her and I have not been able to catch up in awhile and it was just wonderful to talk to her:) Although we do not see each other as much as I would like, every time we come together we are able to catch up, meet each other where we are, and just love. Love each other and to be loved by one another. Earlier this week when I was thinking about fall coming and how excited I was and that I wanted to celebrate in some way, I thought of who I would want to share it with. Reylena I knew would appreciate my love of the season and be a complete joy to bake with, plus I missed her so much! So we made plans for dinner and a little baking! After dinner at Chipotle we went to Walmart to buy the ingredients for pumpkin muffins! Gluten free of course:) When we got back to her room, we put on aprons and started mixing all the stuff together. Fun fact: Rey likes aprons so we had great fun wearing them! We made the muffins in my cupcake maker which was great fun! After our first batch, we decided peanut butter makes everything better so we mixed some peanut butter in the batter. That made them so good! And we added honey and lots of cinnamon! They were delicious! Every batch we made was a little different but they were all so good! It was the perfect way to ring in the season and so delightful to get to spend time with Reylena. Both our lives are so busy we only get to see each other every couple weeks and only if we pencil each other in a week ahead of time! I am so blessed by Reylena and so very excited for fall to finally be here. Although it is still in the 90s, I will pretend it is really the fall season here in So. Cal. I'm looking forward to going home soon and celebrating fall with mom:)
Lovin fall and all things pumpkin,
Amanda

Here's some pics from our adventures last night!

I just LOVE this girl:)

Mixing it all together!

The first batch with no pb.

Rey wanted to add some peanut butter.
(The flash was a little bright for the mood lighting we had)

Some of the finished product!

One Month In!

I've been at school for just over a month and I feel like it's been so much longer than that! With RA training, decorating the floor, students moving in, planning events, classes, and TONS of homework already, it has been crazy! But crazy seems to be the word that best describes the college years for me. Always on the go! But oh so blessed by the friendships, late night conversations, classes, chapels, and opportunities that I have had. Classes are super busy already (what happened to that nice little easy transition into school with no tests for the first month?) and there is always something going on! We've had an All-Hall, which is an a whole dorm event, a floor meeting with the girls on my floor, a floor event where we woke up the girls at 6:30am for worship and pancakes, I got a new bike (that I LOVE to ride), Nationball is tomorrow night (the CRAZIEST and sweatiest dorm event of the year), I start observations for my teaching classes next week, and I'm going to Spanish church for a class tonight to list a few! One thing I am so thankful for this semester is to have no classes on Mondays and Wednesdays:) It is nice to have two days a week to schedule meetings, appointments, and observations. I am loving getting to know the girls on my floor and love living with my amazing roommate! I am so lucky to have incredible friends to share in life with. I love going to chapel, my classes are great, and the weather is a little toasty but I can't wait for when it cools down and is absolutely beautiful. It's great to be on campus and in this place I love. I am so thankful that the Lord has provided a way for me to be here again for another year. I'm learning a lot and can't believe I'm a junior! When did that happen? The Lord has been teaching me a lot in the last month. Again I can't believe it's just been a month! I miss my family and can't wait to see them soon! Grandma Sue is coming to visit next week and I am very excited to see her! FALL is also coming soooooon! That I am so excited about:):):) Fall is my favorite season and I love all things pumpkin so I can't wait to smell and taste the season of fall! Well I must get back to writing my paper that is due tomorrow night! Sorry this post is a bit scattered;)

Happy in this place,
Amanda

Just a little bit of what I've been up to:)

Sigma Staff at Community Commissioning :)

Lindsay and Aubrey at our Toga All-Hall

I found a new path to run that is BEAUTIFUL!

Lovin my new bike:):):)

Matt and Sarah got engaged on Labor Day!!!!!!

I love sitting by the fountain to study!

Grace's roommate Jess, Grace, and my roommate Janine got up at 6:20am to wake all the residents up and Jess and Janine made pancakes for everyone! Best roommates ever:)

Last weekend I was REALLY wanting to bake something so I went to Julia's apartment to make gfree peanut butter cookies! 

My roommate Janine and I moved our couch and hosted the first Chip Chat for our floor. Complete with chips and salsa of course:)

Sigma Staff

I am very blessed to work with an amazing staff in Sigma as an RA this year. The people I work with are so fun to be around! Last month we went to the park and took some staff photos. Here are some pictures of our beautiful staff :)

This is our favorite picture of our staff:) It is so fun to work with these people!

The girlies!

                                                                            Da boys

The night before all the girls pulled out their dresses and coordinated and then picked outfits out for the boys. It was so fun!

This is me and my floor partner Grace. This is my favorite picture of us!

Blessed by this beautiful group of people,

Amanda

The Vine

Today was move-in day for new students! It was so fun to check in our residents and meet some girls that are living on my floor! The last three weeks of training were so much fun and I am truly blessed to be a part of Res Life this year. What a privilege it is to be called to a ministry that allows me to decorate a floor, plan events, and love people! I am so looking forward to getting to know the beautiful ladies of The Vine! My roommate Janine has also moved in (although she is gone on vacation with her family for the weekend), and I AM SO EXCITED SHE IS HEEEEEEERE! She spent one night here this week and we stayed up late into the night chatting, catching up, and sharing in life. She is such a blessing and I'm so glad that God has allowed us to live together this year:) Here are some pictures of our room and our floor:

My bed with the bear my sister made me for my birthday:)

My little craft corner!

The view of our of room from the door. I love my room!

Our desks..where the studying should take place (note: SHOULD!..no promises)

The bathroom sink and little lights that create a great ambiance in the room!

The couch and table which make an excellent little living room area...I LOVE sitting on my couch:)

Our names tags and some flowers to accent

This is the name of our floor at the beginning of our hall and it has John 15:5 underneath it.

This is the wall at the end of the hall. It says Abide in Me, from the passage in John 15.

This is a little girly for Grace's taste but it's all the way down by my room so she doesn't have to see it too often. Thanks for your help with this project Jen!

Grace made the mosaic in the middle and we printed our dictionary definitions of key words from the passage in John 15 with some buttons and flowers to accent!

Here we put the verse from Ecclesiastes 3:1 that says there is a season and time for every activity under heaven and put a picture of a vineyard in each season.

This is where we will be putting pictures of all the girls who live on the floor.

This is a vine that Grace and I made. Mom cut out the leaves from the District Office at home and Grace hand folded 75 little (and oh so adorable!) flowers!

close up of the flowers

These are some cork boards we altered to go with the theme of our floor. Again, the bow was a little girly for Grace but she was a fan of it after all:)

Our calendar even has colors to match the floor decor. Grace has gotten used to my love of coordinating and themes!

We printed out all the hours of different places on campus for our residents to reference. Jen helped with this project too.

This is a little thing we made for all our residents for when they moved it. They have M&Ms in them so they had a little sweet treat when they moved in:)

We wrote all the girls on our floor a letter to welcome them to the floor and tell them who we are. We also made them bookmarks with our theme verse.

This is a picture of the staff picture board we have outside the duty office. There are also individual pictures and a short bio of each person.

These were the first people to check in this morning!

This is our staff at check in for 12 hours today! We had so much fun but we are exhausted!

So excited to see what this year holds,

Amanda

Moving Into My New Home

I have been at school for a week now(well...kinda). I was gone from Friday-Tuesday. I guess I should say I've been moved in for a week. This year I am living in Sigma, a new dorm for me. I am so excited to be an RA here this year! Last week when I was moving in, I was a tad worried because the rooms are smaller than I thought and mentally prepared for but after lots of furniture arrangements, I think I made it work! Sigma is suite-style so every room shares a bathroom with the room next door and each room has their own sink. So no more community bathrooms for me! It is very different from Alpha but I like it. I am on the third floor this year and have a nice view of the parking lot and creek behind our dorm. I like being in my room and enjoy being able to get ready in my own room! I can't wait for my roommate to get here! Janine will be here in about a week and a half!! Mom is coming on Sunday to see my room and take some things home that didn't fit! ;)

Enjoying this new place,
Amanda