Like most people around the world, I have been glued to the Olympics these past couple of weeks. I love supporting our country and watching records be continuously broken. My favorite sport so far has definitely been curling. I’ve seen it in other Olympics’, but for some reason I’m just now getting into it.

I was doing some research online and found a curling club in Charlotte! They’re relatively new and constantly looking for interested potential curlers. They host these events every now and again called LTC – Learning to Curl. The next one close to me is at the end of March. I’m so excited! I really hope I can find some friends to go with me!

Here’s a link to their website if you want to find out more!

www.charlottecurling.com

Today was an absolutely breath taking beautiful day at Gardner-Webb. I didn’t have much homework this weekend, so I took one of my favorite books written by Francine Rivers down to Lake Hollifield and hung my Eno hammock between two trees.

Except for the annoying geese making loud obnoxious noises every so often, today was magical. Spending hours by a beautiful lake on a beautiful college campus is just alright with me

Meals at Gardner-Webb can get pretty dull after awhile. Don’t get me wrong – the Caf does a great job of trying to provide a variety of food for the students, but sometimes it just gets too old.

My roommate had some pork chops she didn’t want and asked me if I would want them. Well, being a college student, I’m not used to cooking meals for myself. Naturally, the first thing I did was call my mom and ask her how to cook the pork chops. She asked what kind of ingredients I had in the apartment, and I gave her the very short list.

A few weeks ago, I went on this health food kick and bought only non-fat food. I got this Italian dressing from Wal-Mart which I thought was going to be delicious! Wrong. I put it on one salad and couldn’t even eat it. Mom recommended I use it on the pork chops. So I did! I put some salt and pepper on both sides, then doused it in fat free Italian dressing.

They turned out delicious! I know pork chops aren’t the common college food to by lying around, but at least you have a great inexpensive recipe now!

Pre-cooked pork chops.

Friday (Feb. 12), I had some friends over to hang out and watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. While we were waiting, we decided to play a few rounds of my favorite card game, Spoons.

I’m horrible at explaining things, so here’s a link with directions:

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Spoons-%28Card-Game%29

Here’s a few pictures from our game battle of Spoons. It got pretty violent! Nonetheless, it was so much fun and a great Friday night at the Webb!

Grabbing for the spoons!

Getting intense!

For some reason, I have been absolutely obsessed with YouTube this week. After classes, I usually walk back up to my apartment, grab a snack, change into my sweats, and log onto YouTube. Here are a few of my favorite videos:

Beyonce Clown

Kids Telling Jokes

For whatever reason, I can watch both of these videos numerous times and laugh hysterically each time. Enjoy!

Every two years a miracle occurs and every country from every corner of the earth merges together under the roof of athletics. The best of the best compete and pour their hearts and souls into winning that beloved gold medal. It’s really remarkable to watch all kinds of people with different dialects come together for the sake of bettering each athletic field.

I’m excited about this year because the Olympics happen to be right above our fair country in Canada. I’m really hoping to see some tough competition and possibly some huge upsets. Although I’m usually a bigger fan of the Summer games, I’m beginning to enjoy to Winter Olympics just the same.

For the opening games tonight, a bunch of my friends and I gathered in my apartment to watch the festivities. As our eyes were fixed on the television screen, rumors began circling about snow falling outside. We all got super excited and ran outside. It’s like the Winter Olympics came to Gardner-Webb!! Now we can have our own bobsledding races and I might even pick up cross-country snow skiing.

…But probably not. We only got like an inch of snow. Nevertheless, it’s always nice to have a beautiful dusting of snow fresh on Gardner-Webb’s beautiful campus. Hopefully it’ll still be around tomorrow so we can go sledding!

One major downer on being away at college is the fact that I feel like I’m missing my little brother and sister grow up. My little sister, Sophie, is 13 going on 18 and my little brother, Jonathan is 12.

They’re both in middle school which are tough times in it of itself, but not being able to talk to them everyday always makes me feel like I’m not involved. Neither of them have cell phones yet, so really the only way I get to talk to them is through Facebook.

Yesterday, my dad took Jon to go get a hair cut. Since I can remember, he has always had beautiful shaggy blond hair. Apparently, when the barber asked Jon how much to trim, Jon responded with, “take it short.” This response floored my dad, and he immediately texted me.

I must say, the new haircut definitely makes him seem more mature and it’s kind of sad to see him growing up so fast. Cherish every moment you have with the family that loves you.

Jonathan before the big cut.

Jonathan after the big cut looking ravishing!

I just wanted you guys to know how much I’m sacrificing in an effort to obtain a 4.0 GPA this semester.

I gave up FREE tickets to meet the Situation from Jersey Shore last night.

That’s huge for me. I love Jersey Shore!!! And I love the Situation!!! However, I have my first Global Understanding exam today, so I opted to stay in and study. Granted, I didn’t get much studying done last night, but I was able to wake up 3 hours early this morning to hit the books.

Hopefully this sacrifice is going to pay off… It usually does, and I think that’s the part I hate sometimes. If sacrifice didn’t pay off then we’d have an excuse to keep living selfishly. What are you going to do today that’s selfless?

I know it sounds disgusting, but it tastes delicious! Being in college, junk food is an unavoidable obstacle. Sometimes we can’t have fresh apples or strawberries around when we’re hungry for snacking, so naturally we tend to go for the potato chips or break -n- bake cookies.

Talking to a friend the other day, she suggested I try a healthier alternative to brownies. Instead of using the vegetable oil, eggs, and water, you puree one can of black beans and mix it with the dry brownie mix. You then just put the batter into a lightly greased brownie pan, and cook according to the back of the brownie box.

These brownies are high in fiber and protein and low in saturated fats. I promise they taste really good. I had one of my roommates taste test them (I didn’t tell her they were any different, and she said they tasted great!) So if you’re anything like me and can’t live without junk food, try these healthier chocolate delights!

Make sure you use a good brownie mix!

Blending the black beans into a paste-like consistency.

Mixing the black beans and brownie mix.

Delicious AND healthy brownies!

Or should I say Facebook, Facebook, Facebook. I’m sure most of us can admit to using some website, whether it be Facebook, MySpace, ESPN, etc., as a procrastinating tool. For my friends and I, starting homework is one thing, but turning of the computer is another. Just the other day, my friends Annalisa and Kayla sat down on either side of me and before we knew it we all had our laptops open on Facebook. Another one of friends, Bailey, thought this made for a perfect picture moment.

So for all of you guys wondering what us college kids do on a cold afternoon – we do the same thing you do The only difference is that we don’t have our mom’s to make us hot chocolate and throw our wet snow clothes in the dryer, we have to do it ourselves.

Dell + Sony + Apple = one relaxing afternoon