"Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown." George Shinn

I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone, but I have come to realize that time surely does fly by! I would have never guessed myself to be in this position two years ago, being in college and such. It is amazing to think about that bad place I was in at the time, and the wonderful place I am in now, all due to CHANGE! It was definitely intimidating coming into college as an adult with a bunch of kids, but most of the kids, have somehow become friends and I have actually learned a lot from many of them. For that I am so thankful. The professor's in this school are phenomenal! They take the time to get to know you and it is more personal based then you feeling like you are just a number. Coming into this institution I truly did not realize how much I would learn, and I am happy to report in just a few months just how much I have learned, and have grown myself. We are ever changing. There is always room to grow no matter how old you are. I had a great first semester. I can not wait to see what the Spring will bring. Another change I am so looking forward to. It has been a pleasant surprise so far for me. I have enjoyed expressing myself here on blogger as well and intend to keep it up, I can't let my followers down! :) To all my new friends, thank you for accepting me for who I am and the best of luck to you all! Ms. G, I thoroughly enjoyed your class, you have a wonderful and patient teaching style which has made it so interesting and has kept my attention. Keep up the good work! :)

"We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance." Harrison Ford

The Thanksgiving holiday is coming to a close. I had a wonderful time with family and friends this season. I talked about my experiences I've had here at Eastern thus far with them. Everyone of them could not have been prouder of me for taking such a big step such as this and were so supportive of my decision. Their support has just reassured me that I have made a huge change to better myself and my future. It was a scary thing for me when I first decided to take the plunge and go back to school full time but I am so glad I did. I am learning so much already and it is only the end of the first semester. I realize I will finally be a graduate before I know it and cannot wait to start a new career.

"Christians are supposed not merely to endure change, nor even to profit by it, but to cause it." Harry Emerson Fosdick

Since attending college here at Eastern, I have become more spiritual a person. I grew up in a Catholic home, attended Catholic high school for 12 years, but somehow got away from religion as I got older. I have always believed in God, that will never change. I just got away from the church once I got on my own. I see the good in all these kids that I am attending school with and how passionate they are about God and their Christianity and to me it is quite amazing. I have talks with my family about how I see these kids today and how I admire them and look up to them because of it. I find myself praying more now and even attended mass with my parents last week. They couldn't have been happier. I admire Nathan's blog so much because like mine, its about change but about a different change. As much as I have come to embrace the change that has happened to me in my life and has gotten me on a better path, there is still room for improvement in being a good Christian. I hope to learn to embrace this change as well too. Thanks for your inspiring words Nathan!

We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing." R. D. Laing

My titles within this blog will always have to do with change. I believe a good or catchy title is going to grab your readers attention. I found a perfect quote for my title this week because I want to talk about a great experience I had in my Western Civilization class last week. We talked about the changes that came about in West and East Germany. I never liked history in high school. I find it very interesting now. Maybe it was because my teachers back then never interested me. Or maybe I am old enough now to appreciate what has taken place in history, and how we as American's have come about because of history. We learned about the Berlin wall, when it went up in 1961, something I thought went up much earlier in time then that. It went down in 1989, I was 14 then and I remember watching it on TV and was in awe about it. Time really does seem to fly by. It didn't seem that long ago when it was knocked down. The kids in my class were not even born yet when that happened. It was a class I will not forget. I remember stories my mom used to tell me about things in history such as John F. Kennedy being assassinated and how it affected her with being a huge supporter to him at the time. To me hearing those stories when I was younger didn't affect me at all, well because if I didn't live through it I could not relate. I have a much more deeper respect now for history and those who lived through huge historic events. I have lived through many myself and hope one day when I have a family that the stories I pass down will be appreciated. It took me a while to learn this. As we get older we learn more things not only about the world, but about ourselves.

Like the four seasons, we too must embrace change.

It's that time of year. When we fall back and gain that hour. I love that we gain an hour but I hate that it becomes so dark at about 5pm. You have to take the good with the bad and I have learned to do that in the past couple of years. With the good things that have come about in my life with recent changes, the things that I always dreaded I now just look differently at in a good way and why those things are needed in life. Although I am a summer girl, I do love the fall as well. The changing leaves on the trees are so beautiful right now. I love driving into campus each day and seeing a new and vibrant color. It makes me happy and a sort of calm and peacefulness comes over me when I gaze at them. It was a good week. I had a bad week last week but like I said, I have gotten past it. The weekend was fun with Halloween parties, and the cutest trick or treaters in my neighborhood came out tonight. I hope to have an even better week coming up and I am going to try my best to make that happen! Until next week, stay tuned...

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." Arnold Bennett

It has been a tough week for me. I had a heavy school and work load this week, and it has taken a toll on me physically and mentally. I caught a cold and am finally getting over it. I find myself eating more than usual, especially at night at the restaurant I work in which should be avoided in my case because of my history with emotional eating. I know I will get back on track with my exercise routine and with eating regularly instead of emotionally like I had done this past week. It is a never ending battle for me, but I remain positive no matter what kind of week I have had. I know there are going to be days in life where at times I will feel down, overwhelmed and aggravated with what may be going on at the time. I also know that I am strong enough to overcome these feelings with my optimistic side. Like my title states, even though I have changed for the better, it was a long road to get me here and at times there will always be some drawbacks and discomforts, but it is a new day, a new week, and I am feeling better already.

“Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine.” Robert C. Gallagher

I found this quote and it made me chuckle. It reminded me of something funny that happened to me this week too. I went to one of the vending machines on campus to get a snack. I usually bring my lunch and snacks with me on my longer days in classes. Since I have learned how to eat properly now and the best way for me to maintain it is to eat many small meals a day. Well I was running late the one morning so I forgot to bring food with me. I ate breakfast as I always do (very important meal of the day) but when I realized I had forgot my lunch all I could do was get a snack. Of course what are in the vending machines are not a wide selection of healthy stuff. I have just enough money for Twizzlers, which at least it is a low fat choice. I think to myself the very thing that happened. Please don't get stuck, please don't get stuck as I am really hungry at this point. Go figure, it gets stuck! And it was the only change I had on me at the time. I wanted to shake that machine so bad! I luckily had some money in my car, but I had to wait til after my next class because at this point, I didn't have time. Food is your energy source. That next class I was in I felt as though I could not concentrate because of the little energy I had that day. Morale of my story is please do not go to classes on an empty stomach. It is what will keep you focused all day, especially if you eat breakfast, that is a biggie. Start now if you are not! I can promise you what a difference you will see by doing so. Bon Appetite!