I'm sorry.

Hello to my favorite blog readers.

I just wanted to apologize for being MIA once again.
I seem to do this often and I'm going to try to make sure that doesn't happen anymore.
I'm going to try to create a purpose for my blog, because until now, it's been about literally everything. It's crazy.
I'm going to try to be more organized and focused. My priorities as of this second are: my boyfriend who is recovering from having surgery to remove his gallbladder, my apartment & job, my fur babies (I'll post about them soon), my weight & health, and my blog. I'm going to get focused and work on these things!

Thank you for sticking around through the many gaps in my blog!

Guess what!

My blog is going to be going through some renovations!

I haven't been using my blog much in the past few months, so I figured that a re-launch, if you will, of my blog was in order, along with a change in scenery (at least on my blog).

Lots of things will be changing soon! Some things might include a new name, new look, and a weekly newsletter!

Get ready for this blog to look a lot different soon, and not just in appearance.


Here's a sneak peek of one change....

It's been awhile.

Just today, I realized it has been nearly a year since my last post, and that makes me very sad.

I'm really going to try to get back into blogging.

Just to catch everyone up on my life, have some updates on the life of Brooke!

1. Here's the newest picture of me. I feel like I look really different now.
   
2. I've been dating this wonderful guy for three months (as of today). His name is Dom and we've been friends for about five years. He's wonderful.
   
   
   
3. My birthday is on Valentines Day, and this year, my birthday present was getting my first apartment with my lovely boyfriend and a friend of ours (those who have been following me for a while may also know him as Steven, my ex. Long story, but no, it's not weird for me.)

   

   This was our first apartment selfie and we were super excited.

4. I don't know if I had announced this on here last year or not, but I decided to not return to college after last year and I am now in the process of trying to find a job (it's really not fun, it's difficult). 

So yeah, yay, life updates. 

Hopefully I'll be blogging more soon!

Blogging deprivation.

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been blogging lately. I've been really stressed and I've had to make a lot of big decisions lately, so I have sort of put blogging on the back burner.

I just wanted to share some info with you all!

First of all, as much as I love the memories I have at Spring Arbor, I will not be coming back next year. A lot went into this decision and it's just best for me at this point.

Which brings me to my next thing: I will be doing online schooling through SNHU next year, going into social media marketing rather than youth ministry like I was at Spring Arbor.

And lastly, I will be moving back home!! This is my favorite one. Anyways, I'll be moving back in with my mom when school ends in May. I'll be living with her at least for the summer and possibly the first half of next year, and then I'll be getting an apartment with one of my best friends.

I'm really excited to start this new adventure for my life. I can't wait to share all of this with you when it gets closer!

Opportunities in life are rare.

Opportunities in life aren't rare per say, but good ones are.

I just so happen to be super lucky, because I have recently gotten two wonderful opportunities.
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Have you heard of Studentrate? If not, you totally should have!
Studentrate is a great website that provides deals to college students!
They also have a website called Studentrate Trends, which is really cool opportunities, stories, etc. from Studentrate. Currently, they have an opportunity for girls that love fashion! Go check out the article over at this link!

My second opportunity is that I am now a Her Campus Blogger Network blogger!
Her Campus is an awesome website with tons of articles for college girls and it's super cool. They have "chapters" at tons of different universities (see if your school has one!) and each chapter puts out stories every week. It's super cool! But they also have a Blogger network, where any girls with a blog can join & become part of an awesome, supportive community of bloggers!

I'm already loving these opportunities (and the perks that come along with them!) and I can't wait to see what more happens with them!

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 seventh}: academic probation.

Well everyone, it's the end of my first full week of second semester!
Today, I thought I'd share some insight into academic probation and whatnot {yes, I am indeed on academic probation- to find out why read this one for sure, this, & maybe this one}.

Academic Probation

First: what is academic probation?

Basically, if you don't know, academic probation is when your school requires you to maintain a certain set GPA or set credit limit and a student fails to meet that requirement. Most schools will have your safety net: academic probation. This is literally your only get-out-of-jail-free card.
Academic probation is pretty much your semester to save yourself. You must raise your GPA up high enough to get off of academic probation {normally a little higher than the required GPA} and pass a certain amount of classes/percentage of your classes.

How does this help you?

By giving you this opportunity, if you're serious about wanting to stay at your university, you get a second chance to prove that. They give you a little push saying "This is your last chance. We want you {and your money} to stay here. Get your act together."

Anything else?

Some schools may add in another detail or two- it varies from school to school. At my college {see this post}, they have us take an extra class called Power Learning to help us figure out what we did wrong, make a plan to change that, give us tips on time management, etc. Is it a blow-off class basically? Yes. Is it helpful nonetheless? Yes. Other people in my class don't seem as willing to work on their problems but as much as I would just love to get kicked out, no.

Do you have anything you want to add to this?

Tips to survive college.

So I realized in quite a few posts, I've talked about last semester and how badly I did.
I just wanted to share with you guys a few reasons why this happened, so that maybe, possibly, you can avoid it.

First of all, go. to. class. Trust me, I thought every morning that I deserved a day off of classes. That way the biggest reasons for the three failing grades, as well as why I had a C and not higher than that. I skipped so many times and it really, seriously screwed up my entire semester, along with my GPA. I've seen one a few websites say "If you attend every class, it's almost impossible to fail." So take that into account when you think "Hm... Another two hours of sleep or class?"

Second, if there's small assignments, don't think that you can get away with not doing them because the assignment is only x amount of points. After 12 assignments that are only worth 5 points, that's 60 points you miss out on. Do the short assignments. Because really, they're short. They're easy and quick. It's an almost painless twenty minutes of your time. Trust me on this, I thought I'd be smart in one class and not do the things that were only two points because "they didn't really matter." If someone tells you this, please for the love of God, slap them and tell them to do their work.

Third, if you're having trouble in a class, don't wait until the end of the semester to talk to your professor. It doesn't end well. At that point, there isn't much the professor can do for you, so it's in your best interest to talk to them when you start having problems. If you don't understand something, most professors have office hours. Talk to the TA. Do something about it though. It's not fun when you contact a teacher at the end of the semester and they say "Well, as of now, I can't do anything to help you but say: study hard for the final." Is it possible to change your grade much with just your final? Maybe. Likely? No.

Lastly, college is a big transition. High school, no matter what anyone tells you, will not prepare you for college. It's a big change, but it's manageable. I just kept looking at it like, "well, it's a big change, so it's understandable if I don't do so good right now." That's not the right way to go about it though. Saying, "Yeah, this is a big adjustment, but if I try and do good now, it'll be a bigger accomplishment and if I fail, then that's okay."

College is difficult. But it's not impossible.

You got this.

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.

Blog design!

As much I really love my blog, I need a new design for it!

Does anyone happen to know of someone that does free blog designs?
My blog is really small right now and I don't have much any money!

I really want at least a header, background, social media buttons, blog buttons {2 in particular}, and some page buttons.

Please & thank you!

The college diaries {the fourth}

Well the first week of J-term {if you have no idea what I'm talking about, see this post} is officially done.

Aside from the super early class, it's nice. I can go to class for a few hours and then I'm done for the entire day and I'll get three credits from three weeks.

I really believe more schools should do something like j-term.

On another note, in the past week, I've spent one night in my room, so I broke my week-long plan {see this post}, but at least I've tried to be out and social rather than in my room all the time.

I've been making a lot of new memories this week along with some things that I will never forget, and I'm loving it.

I think that's all for my college diaries this week!

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!

The college diaries {the third}.

At my college, we do something called interim classes {also referred to as J-term most of the time!} and that's what we've just started today.

Basically, instead of taking however many classes to get to credit limit, we take one class that happens every day for three hours a day for three weeks and then receive credit for that class after just three weeks. It's a great idea, really.

Today was our first class and I have our base-level computer class as my J-term class. Luckily for me, one of my best friends is in it!

I'm not thrilled about having a three hour class every day {did I mention it begins at 8:30am and we don't really get a "break" with my class?} but at least it's a computer class that I can understand rather than a science or history class, right? :)

This week is also just fun because last night & tonight my friend Liz & I have stayed in our friend Hannah's room! Sleepovers are still fun no matter how old you are. I'm also working on completing one item from my college years bucket list: spend 7 days in any room but my own. Tonight is night #2. The next two nights I'll be staying with a different friend, then one night with a third friend, then back here for the last two nights!

I surprisingly am enjoying this J-term idea. Hopefully this semester, now that I have decided to start using Wunderlist, I will actually do my work and pass my class, unlike first semester. I'm still working through a lot of the issues I was having last semester but let's hope this goes better!

Friends.

Basically, in my life, my friends are the best thing I have.
I truly don't have many friends anymore.
I have very few compared to the amount I used to have.
However, the few that I have, I'd probably be a horrible person without them.
Granted, in the past three or so years, I went from being friends with all girls and all of my friends being relatively quiet.
Now, my friends are about half and half guys and girls.
I don't agree with a lot of my friends' choices but I know one thing I agree with.
Their sense of humor, their love for each other, the constant laughs, the most random times of hanging out, and their general love for just being together.
I have the greatest friends in the world in my opinion and recently, I've been more concerned with the amount of friends than the quality.
I've been like that for a few years actually.
But now, I think I'm finally realizing that though I don't have many friends, I have the best ones for me.
Friends are the biggest blessing in our lives and I am forever thankful for all of them.

The lyrics.

I've been in a weird mood today. I don't know why or whether this mood is good or bad.
The only thing that I know today is: lyrics are different to me today.
I don't know why. It sounds strange, but music just sounds different today.
I have really weird feelings right now, so many contradicting feelings.
Listening to music has been my entire day today, but the lyrics just feel different today.
I can't explain what's happening to me and I don't know if I like it.
One thing I do know: you hear the music when you're happy, you understand the lyrics when you're not, you love both when you don't know how to feel.

I know this was short and a weird post, but it's just my feelings today.

Out of my comfort zone.

I've been thinking a lot, considering a lot.
I've been trying to decide a few things. These are big decisions. Life-changing decisions really.
I don't have any clarity for the two biggest things. I like knowing what to do. I don't though.
I've been praying about it lately. I still have no idea what to do though.
Decisions and I do not mix well. I'm a very indecisive person and things like this are not good.
God is trying to get me out of my comfort zone with a lot of things lately.
College is a difficult time for me. I don't like being away from home,
From family,
From my friends,
From my cats,
From comfort.
I'm not in my comfort zone anymore, and it's hard.
Maybe I'm just freaking out over simple things, but those simple things mean everything to me and I don't like this.
I'm not saying I don't love college because I totally do. I just wish college was an hour an a half away, at home.
Life is just so different lately and I'm trying to adjust. Then it changes again.
I just can't seem to get adjusted to anything lately.
But I have God. I will continue to pray about these things, and I know that this is all in his plan, so I guess I'll see where all of this goes.

The College Bucket List.

My bucket list for the next four years of freedom, also known as college.

1. Go to twenty concerts. (5/20) {Skillet:: Sept. '13, Darius Rucker:: Jan. '14, Roadshow:: Feb. 14, WJ:: Feb. '14, Skillet:: Feb '14}
2. Get front-row {or at least close} for a concert- any concert. {Skillet: Feb. '14}
3. Take a picture with a different person every day for a month.
4. Visit at least four different clubs to try different things out. (2/4) {Action Jackson, Students for Life}
5. Get a tattoo.
6. Get my belly button pierced.
7. Bring home at least 20 different friends. (3/20) {AB, CF, LM}
8. Have a picnic on campus with friends.
9. Roadtrip.
10. Meet a (new) celebrity.
11. Make a photo collage on my dorm room wall.
12. Spend a week in different rooms- any but my own.
13. Have an 80's movie marathon.
14. Pull an all-nighter.
15. Make a memory jar.
16. Spend the night outside.
17. Bring 9 friends home with me (at once) for a weekend.
18. Take a trip to a zoo.
19. Get a job!
20. Have a Harry Potter movie marathon.
21. Good RAK.
22. Get a random color put in my hair.
23. Keep a diary/journal, or even just blog regularly.
24. Make a CD for friends as memories of times we've had. (1/10)
25. Throw someone a surprise party.
26. Get a matching tattoo with a friend.
27. Go 24 hours without a phone or laptop- no electronics.

To be added to...

Well, hi.

So it's kind of been forever since I posted.
But hey, I graduated and that's what's important, right? :)

Basically, my summer has been spent spending crazy amounts of time with my friends before we all leave each other in August/September, and being lazy. Nothing more, really.

It's a nice thing, but I'm looking forward to life changes and moving to college.
I'm ready for new experiences.

Senior.

Senior year.
Taking college classes.
Getting accepted to college.
Making graduation plans.
Planning college visits.
Senior. year.

Holy freaking crap.

This is too fast.

But I love senior year.

The only thing I need now is less drama.
Solution: delete Facebook.
Done.
Yes, I am now a non-Facebooker.
It's weird.
But I like it.
..and I still have Twitter. :)

Brooke, Banana, BUTT, etc.,
I freaking love you and you need to fail your senior yeasr so you can stay with me forever because we are Brabby, and and we cannot be seerated even if we fight a lot
i love you! -Abby

p.s. Stop being stupid fat and ugly<3 p="p">