The college diaries {the eighth}

My birthday was Friday!!

I turned 18 on Friday!

It feels crazy that I'm already 18. 

This is like "the" age. 

In honor of my birthday, I decided to make a list!

The Top 18 Most Impactful Memories of My Life!

 Just to clarify, these are not in order of importance -- they're in chronological order.

1. Dad & Tracie's Wedding: this changed my life dramatically, for obvious reasons.

2. Sims: when I started playing the Sims, I was much younger and it's been one of my favorite things to do since then.

3. My first concert: my first concert was Kelly Clarkson at DTE Music Theatre and that started my deep love for concerts of any type.

4. My sister was born: I was nine and not expecting it at all. I was a happy child. & let's be honest, she's cute.

5. Getting a cell phone: ever since then, I've been glued to my phone(s) because I love talking to my friends and I rarely saw them outside of school.

6. 7th grade drama: I was a very different person in seventh grade and not one that I ever want to be against. I was horrible. Our friend group had daily fights, we were in the counselor's office daily, the counselor and school police officer knew our names; it was bad.

7. First time at youth group: from the moment I met that youth group, my life wasn't the same. I would give any to have that youth group back and those people all in my life again, rather than spread out in several different places.

8. Papa dying: this was world-shattering for me. I had never dealt with death so close before and it happening my freshman year certainly did not help. It was a rough time in my family and I think our family has drifted apart since then.

9. My first party: I have parties all the time now. My house is known for people always being there and Just Dance competitions and we just love having people over.

10. San Diego: this isn't really impactful, but it was my first vacation anywhere and this trip is the reason I'm planning on moving out west after I graduate (not to Cali though-- Phoeniz, AZ area).

11. Family camp: this was the first time I had done any serious volunteering and we fell in love with the kids at VBS that week. I hate when I've had to miss family camp and it's always the highlight of my summer. I love it so much. I might even being working at this campground this summer!

12. Making my Twitter: this sounds dumb, but it's true. I'm always on some kind of social media and Twitter tends to be the most. I have over 24k tweets. I'm addicted.

13. Steven asking me out: January 23, 2011. I came home from church & he had messaged me asking. Three years later (with a few breakups), I love him more than anything. He's my best friend.

14. 16th birthday party: there was a limo, my best friends, and a scavenger hunt throughout my city. It was amazing and I will never forget this.

15. Forming the bestfriendship: Alisha, Abby, Ashleigh and I have always worked well as friends and they've been the most constant people in my life {besides family and Steven} and I would be nowhere without these girls. They're the best.

16. Move-in day: I never would have guessed college would be like this. My life has been a roller coaster since September 2nd. It's crazy.

17. Failing last semester: finding out I was on academic probation really freaked me out and I've just sort of been in shock since then. College is difficult, but I've been working a lot harder this semester on everything college-related.

18. Joining HCBN: truthfully, this is probably the least impactful on this list, but it has helped my blog tremendously and I love HC. The Blogger Network is a great community to be involved in.

Thanks for sharing in these past couple of years of my 18 years with me!

The college diaries {the fifth}

So this week has just been a lot of the same things as last week (class is long, it's quite boring, I still have the same class with basically the same work) so I figured I'd do a recap of my social life this past week!

I love J-term because it gives me so more time for the thing I love most: friends.

Basically, last Friday, I went to class, then afterwards, the boyfriend came up and got me to go home for the weekend! I got to spend a lot of time with friends this weekend and it was a ton of fun!

I had to come back to school for classes again for Monday though {lame!} but it was okay I guess. Steven then had lunch with the girls & I on Monday at my college. Afterwards, he took us to the mall and we all hung out & just had a great time!

But the majority of my days during J-term have looked like this:

• Wake up
• Meet up with Liz
• Liz & I go meet up with Caitlin & Alisha
• We all walk to class together
• Class from 8:30-11:30
• Lunch with Liz, Caitlin & Alisha
• Hang out in Caitlin's room {Facebook, music, talking, homework, etc.}
• Dinner with the girls

Then after all of that, it's normally just whatever. Sometimes, we still hang out after dinner. Sometimes, we leave each other and go do homework alone or whatever. 

& sometimes, Nika and Hannah join us for part (or parts) of that.

It's probably my favorite time of J-term. I love being able to see my girls so much along with hanging out with Steven!

Three years later...

Three years ago today, I was spending the day at church and then with a friend of mine. I didn't have a phone at my mom's house, so I relied on my iPod.

I got home from church & checked my iPod. I had a message from the guy I liked asking me out. I literally would never have guessed that {even though we broke up a few times in between} that this would be the guy I would love still, three years later.

This is the most recent picture of the two of us.
We are quite cute.

Today {coincidentally} is also our one month anniversary for dating this time.

I love him so much. I'm so happy I said yes three years ago.

In honor of these: let's take a look at some suuuuper cute old pictures of us.

Things You May Not Know About Me {as of lately}

I realized that I haven't given many updates about my life lately & new things about myself.

So here's fifteen things {new or old} you may not know about me.

Look, it's me!

1. I'm a little bit addicted to social media. Twitter is by favorite the most addicting. {@brooketriciaa} I use Facebook to keep up on my friends mostly. I also love Pinterest, Tumblr, and Blogger {obvi.}.
2. I am a college freshman at a Christian college in Michigan and I'm majoring in youth ministry.

This is my collage from the first week of school!
Pictures from a concert, McDonald's & piling eight people into our car.

3. Last semester, I had four classes. I failed three and got a C in the fourth. My GPA is a 0.5 right now...
4. A few friends and I are going to be applying to start our own chapter of Her Campus soon!
5. I'm in the process of partnering my blog with the Her Campus blogger network as well as Studentrate {fingers crossed, guys}.
6. When I was a sophomore in high school, I started dating a guy named Steven {he's been mentioned on her quite a bit} and we've broken up a few times, but we are together again and {knock on wood} have been doing so, so, so much better and haven't gotten in any actual arguments this time.

Aren't we adorable? :)

7. My friends are my world, ask anyone & they'll tell you. I will bend over backwards for my close friends because they've all done so much for me.

Between those pictures, those are my best friends!
Abby, Liz, me, Caitlin, Alisha, Ashleigh, Cassie
Antonio, Dom, & Dusty

8. I go to a lot of concerts and it is literally my favorite thing. Seriously. I've seen my favorite band {Skillet} five times so far and in February, I'll be seeing them two more times {including second row tickets for one- wooo!} and couldn't be more excited!
9. If there is Mountain Dew around, I will drink it. All of it.
10. I love, love, love The Sims. I've played it since the original Sims. {I cannot wait until Sims 4 comes out next year!}
11. I am very iffy about my opinions on my college right now. It's not at all a bad school, but I don't know if it's the best option for me.
12. At any moment, you can ask me if I'm listening to Spotify and 90% of the time I'm in my room, it's a yes.
13. I'm undecided about what I want to do this summer. There's an internship I really, really want to take, but it's really far away, along with a job away from home and one at home. Decisions, decisions...
14. I've recently started crocheting {apparently that's the 'thing' to do at my college} and I really like it. I just wish I was better at it!
15. I love movies. At my moms house, we have over 300 movies. Netflix has been a good friend of mine. Megashare is now by BFF though. {I'm not condoning illegal movie websites, just saying it's a good resource ;)}.

So there you go! 15 things you may or may not know about me!

Frivolous Friday!

{link-up to this blog}

How I treat myself?

Well, usually it's a little something like this::

Check recent statuses, post a status, creep on best friends/boyfriend.
Then once that gets boring,

I read a bazillion tweets, and retweet quite a few of them.
Then...

I check up on recent posts, see if I have waiting-to-be-approved comments, enter giveaways...
Most of this will be while listening to music, such as my favorite band...

Which I love oh-so-very-much.
And then, I'd probably sit there and play around with my pictures (:

I <3 Photoshop! :D


{link-up to this blog}

My top ten day makers.

{link-up to this blog and this blog}

My Top Ten Day Makers.

1. Hugs from my best friends every morning.
     Yes, they do make my day. :-)

2. Megan's randomness.
     I kiss Steven. "Delicious." ;-)

3. Music at lunch.
     Well, today, they played a music video for our school store.

4. Good hair days.
     My hair looks quite good today, if I do say so myself. ;-)

5. Seeing my wonderful boyfriend.
  That one speaks for itself. ;-)

6. Lotus Leaf.
     It our school newspaper and I'm in that class, and that's the class I blog from. :-)

7. Listening to music.
     Currently, 'I Don't Want This Night To End' by Luke Bryan.

8. Crazy freshmen.
     Jayme. Saige. Tessa. Megan. ;-)

9. Knee-high socks.
     I'm wearing mix-matched, knee-high socks. They. are. amazing. :-)

10. A shirt from my old youth group leader's sister.
     It's almost my favorite color {bright blue} and I miss my old youth group leader. <3





{link-up to this blog and this blog}

Happy with problems.

Despite all of the drama going on around me, involving almost everyone close to me besides the girls, I've realized how proud I am of me and Steven. We started our relationship good, but after a while, it was filled with drama, people got involved, and everything went crappy. We've learned not to listen, and we're a lot better.
But there's a line you have to make.
When you bend over backwards, and change yourself, for a boyfriend or girlfriend, it's getting to be too much.
There's a couple relationships in particular that are really just pissing me off lately, but that's not the point.
The point is that you do NOT need to change for a relationship. Friendship, or otherwise.
If you're a person I'm talking about and you're reading this, I'm sorry, but it's true. You don't need to change. You don't need to be someone you're not. You need to be YOU, not what they want.
Anyways, all of this going on is really making me realize that I have an amazing relationship, wonderful, real friends, and we don't have to change for anyone. <3 If we have a disagreement, we talk. We don't talk behind each other's backs. We don't yell at them. We talk.
That's why I love my friends.
That's why I love my boyfriend.
That's why I'm happy, despite all of the drama around me. :)

Love you all!
-Brooke

{link-up to this post}

high five for friday.

{link-up to this blog}

woo! high five for friday. :-)

1. Reading the questions on my 43 question long questionnaire from Steven's cousin Megan. They're so great.
Examples::
1. Who is your best friend?
2. Who is your best friend's best friend?
3. Who is your best friend's best friend's cousin?
4. Have you ever been to outer space and seen an alien? If so, please draw a picture below.
5. I am eating Cheez-Its.
6. Why was that not a question?
Yeah, she's a strange girl. But she's pretty cool (:

2. Hanging out with my wonderful boyfriend and Ashleigh yesterday :-)

3. Finishing my exam review for one of my classes 8 days before it's due :D

4. Turning in all of my missing work today! :D

5. Talking non-stop about someone that you know a friend of yours dated, but that friend won't admit it, so you just talk non-stop about them. ;-)

{link-up to this blog}

ah, freshmen.

So normally, I hate freshmen.
HATE them.
with a deep, burning hatred.

butttttt
There's actually quite a few I like now. :-)

My Jayme! She's adorable and I've known her for three years and she's super sweet (:
Alan, my best friend's brother.
Saige and Tessa, two girls from the journalism class that's in our third hour.
Megan and Katie, my boyfriend's cousins.

It's really shocking that I actually like them, because almost all of the other freshmen...
I swear sometimes, they could be Satan's spawn.

So I started this year off as 'I hate freshmen, I hate freshmen, I hate freshmen. They get worse every year.'

And the last part is true.

But I'm finding more and more throughout the year that I like. :-).... Even if Megan did write me a 43 question long questionnaire ;-)

So yes, that is all.

Moral of the story: I no longer hate freshmen, thanks to the people up there ^^^ :-)

ahhh!

I'm sorry, I haven't blogged since like... Wednesday or something.
I miss it.
I'm sorry.
Anyways, I have updates!

-I promise I willl do a 'featured favorite' post THIS THURSDAY.
-Me and Steven have now been together for four months, officially, as of the 10th and over a year, on and off, as of the 23rd.
-I did NOT go to Winterfest , the dance at our school. (Let's not talk about that, though.)
-My birthday...is TOMORROW.
-My birthday party is in 5 days! :D

anyways, that is all.

love you all!

100 from 2011

so I found this on Jessica's blog, Diary of a Beautiful Soul, and I thought it was really cool. it's called 100 from 2011.

the rules::

1. Grab the button below and put it in a post, along with a list of 100 things you were blessed by/with/because of this past year.
2. Add your link at her blog.
3. Read and comment on at least one other person's post :D


here we go!

1. Scotty McCreery (:
2. my family (:
3. my amazing, very much missed old youth group leaders (:
4. my pretty cool new youth group leader (:
5. late summer nights
6. giveaways (:
7. blogging (:
8. this new blog from me and my friend (:
9. iPod (:
10. my amazing boyfriend (:
11. Carlos (my stuffed dog Christmas present) (:
12. Hollister (:
13. my amazing parties (:
14. braids to make curly hair (:
15. Facebook (:
16. my amazing followers (even though there's not many) (:
17. country music (:
18. dances at school (:
19. my school, even if it is very crappy at times (:
20. Ashleigh! (:
21. Abby! (:
22. Alisha! (:
23. my other awesome friends (:
24. getting over depression (:
25. getting old friends back (:
26. seeing old friends that moved away (:
27. Just Dance (:
28. God (:
29. Twitter (:
30. Instagram (:
31. Becoming friends with people you hate (:
32. Getting rid of people in your life that are just bad for you (:
33. Trusting people (:
34. Getting closer with so many friends (:
35. Meeting amazing new people (:
36. Psychology classes (:
37. Lessons learned (:
38. Remembering good times (:
39. A new blog name (:
40. Knowing I matter to people (:
41. Having people who trust me with everything (:
42. Losing friends I can't trust (:
43. New blogging friends (:
44. New Canon camera (:
45. Spending time with family (:
46. Beautiful days (:
47. Sunshine (:
48. New music (:
49. Snuggies (:
50. Presents from an amazing guy (:
51. A beautiful necklace (:
52. Yummy food (:
53. Photography (:
54. Colorful socks (:
55. Christmas presents from best friends (:
56. Being called beautiful every day (:
57. Self confidence (:
58. Family camp (:
59. Dare2Share (:
60. Being picked up, spun around, and kissed (:
61. First kiss (:
62. Real love (:
63. Best friend and boyfriend- same person (:
64. Three Skillet concerts (:
65. New opportunities (:
66. Finding random, cool apps (:
67. Skype (:
68. Carlos (:
69. Amazing teachers (:
70. Good books (:
71. My awesome parties (:
72. My church (:
73. My church family (:
74. My youth group (:
75. Cute boots (:
76. Discovering new things (:
77. Trying new things (:
78. Falling in and out of love (:
79. Big Ticket Festival (:
80. My future family (boyfriends family) (:
81. Being a junior!!! (:
82. My phone (:
83. Finding true best friends (:
84. A warn winter (:
85. Hot summers (:
86. Cute boys (:
87. Random Taco Bell runs with friends, boyfriend and mom (:
88. Flip flops (:
89. Learning to drive (:
90. Vans (the shoes) (:
91. Cute dresses (:
92. Having a date to a dance (:
93. Weekly trips to see friends who live in another city (:
94. Staking drivers ed cars (:
95. Cars (the movie) (:
96. Staying up all night (:
97. Surviving on 3 hours of sleep every day (:
98. Naps (:
99. The Cuddle Room (:
100. This blog (:

realizing things.

so I realized I only posted bad things, but I have a lot of good things to say today.

even with all the rudeness and jerky guys,
I'm having a pretty good day.

I feel pretty today, and I didn't even do anything with my hair or anything. :)
My best friends are AMAZING.
Tomorrow is mine and Steven's two month {the longest we've ever dated will be in two days}.
I might get to go to the movies and dinner with him tomorrow.
My cousin is coming down tomorrow and staying until Sunday.
Steven and David are coming to youth group on Sunday.

I don't know why I only posted bad things, I have a lot of good things to say. <3

my updates.

I feel like it has been forever since I blogged...
though it kind of has.

updates!
-Black Friday shopping was awesome (only me and mom).
-we watched movies from Friday to Sunday, non-stop, including missing church. but it was mother-daughter bonding time. :)
-Abby (one of the best friends) is in Jamaica. (I miss my Gabigail :-( )
-Steven (boyfriend) is leaving for Florida tomorrow. (I feel really abandoned...LOL)
-I love my bestfriendship! (: (AKA- Alisha, Abby, and Ashleigh.)

that is all. :)

Love,
Brooke

missing you/presents.

I miss you soo much... It's been almost two years since you left us. I just wish you were still here with us. I love and miss you Papa<3
R.I.P.

-----

So Steven got me a Sweetest Day present. :) It's a necklace that's really pretty, and it has a heart, and around the outside, it says 'Love forever.' It's so cute :) I love this kid :)

-----

Things have just been going downhill lately and I can't stand it. I'm losing people by the day... I just wish 3 people would still be here with me...</3