Alternative Spring Break: Conclusion

Our final work day was by far my favorite. We were dropped off in the middle of no where and had to follow a path through the forest. At the end of the path was a bay.

We walked a mile in knee deep water to reach the barge with the bags of fossilized oysters.

We were in charge of building the reef. We unloaded the fossilized oyster bags into small fishing boats and then pushed the boats to the coastline were we built the reef. It took about four hours but was a-m-azing.

Beautiful weather, perfect water temperature and we could see the result of our hard work.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because there was no way I was going to bring my camera and take the possibility of dropping it into the ocean. I stole this one from a friend. It is our group standing on top of the reef we built.

Do you see the yellow barge in the background? That was FULL of the fossilized oyster bags.

That evening we went to Okaloosa Island for dinner.

I love Alternative Spring Break.

Each trip is different and teaches me something new about myself and others. I can't imagine spending my spring break any other way. I would never want to waste a week of time "wasted."

Alternative Spring Break: Day 4 - Wednesday

Paint nearly everything in a park, tear down a bridge, and rake the beach.

Day 4 was rather easy.

Dinner = AJ's Seafood and Oyster Bar in Destin

Later that evening we sat around the campfire, ate s'mores and sang.

The smell of wood burning and the sound of beach waves made for a perfect evening.

Alternative Spring Break: Day 3 - Tuesday

See all those bags?

They are full of fossilized oysters.

Weighing in at around 40-50 lbs. each, they are not as easy as lifting a sack of potatoes.

Instead of explaining to you how we bagged the oysters, why don't you watch the video that the admissions department had me make?

It will give ya all the details.

Check it out.

(If it says 'an error occured' click in the bottom right hand corner to watch on youtube.)

The evening was spent at "The Track" (a family fun place)

We rode go-carts and mini-golfed...and complained about how sore our arms were.

Picture overload, right?

Alternative Spring Break: Day 2 - Monday

Day 2: First day of work.

Task: Take down a forest. Yes, you read that correctly. The land that we cleared was basically donated to Habitat for Humanity.

The ten lots would retail for about $40,000 each, but a sweet old man cut HFH a deal at $2,500 per lot.

Savings of uh...ehh you can do the math.

Bargain.

I wish I had a before and after picture. We seriously took down the forest. Homes will be going up soon.

The director for HFH was highly impressed with us Bearcats.

"What your team did in one DAY would have taken my normal volunteers one MONTH."

Wow. Must be that Midwest work-ethic.

After taking down the forest we headed back to the camp and laid out on the beach for a bit. Then we cleaned up and headed into Destin for some ice cream. Before heading into town our friend Elizabeth took some pictures of Nat, Roz, and me. I love them. Enjoy.

My absolute favorite. Doesn't this look like a professional took it? That girls got talent.

Alternative Spring Break: Day 1 - Sunday

Well...here we are sitting at the bar waiting for our margaritas!

Just kidding! This is ALTERNATIVE Spring Break, folks. We volunteer our spring break. We don't party, but we do play hard.

Sunday was our 'fun' day. We got to pick what we wanted to do for our activity.

The majority of us decided to go parasailing.

It was incredible.

High up in the air, overlooking the big beautiful blue ocean without a care in the world.

I went parasailing with Natalie. In the picture on the right you can see us being dunked into the water.

When I say dunked, I mean it.

I drank ocean water.

My mouth was open because there was a family of jellyfish swimming right where they dunked us. (I was screaming)

No stings. No worries.

After parasailing we had lunch overlooking the ocean. I indulged in some fabulous shrimp with a baked sweet potato. Yummy!

Following lunch we went snorkeling.

I hated it.

It freaked me out that I could breathe underwater. I let my mind play tricks on me.

That's me with my hands on my hips debating whether to get out or not.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the boardwalk, taking photos and of course laying out on the beach.

We headed back to Camp Timpochee pretty early that night. We arrived in Florida about 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Traveling in a charter bus always takes longer than one expects.

We needed our rest to ... ... ... you will find out tomorrow :)

Laughter.

They say a picture says a thousand words.

Laughter.

Happiness.

Delight.

Excitement.

Many more spring break photos to come...

Currently...#2

Currently...still thinking about how redneck the Maryville St. Patrick's Day Parade was.

It is the world's shortest St. Patty's Day Parade (86 ft) with six entries.

#Not winning.

Currently... still amazed at the amount of students who attend this parade.

Currently...you can see my bed because I am done packing.

Currently...stuffed from eating a delicious dessert my friend Ashley made for our grill out we had tonight.

Currently...kicking myself in the bootay because I forgot today is Friday which = no meat.

I had a brat. Whoops.

Currently...still in shock at the fact that I accidentally threw my phone away! Seven calls later, I figured out where it was. The bottom of the trash bag.

Currently...needing a break! Ohhh Wait!!! Alternative Spring Break starts starts in 4 hours. We are helping restore the Gulf Coast in the Pensacola, Florida area.

Bye bye blog readers! I'm heading to the sunshine state.

Catch ya in a week!

Meghan McCain

Daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain, blogger, columnist, and author of "Dirty Sexy Politics"

Can I just say that I love her.

She spoke tonight on our campus.

Love listening to her opinions.

I am the social media intern for NW, so yesterday I tweeted about her upcoming appearance at NW. She retweeted it. Then she tweeted that she would be at NW, so I retweeted her.

Twitter is amazing.

Night.

Fighting Malaria

Check out my cute new bracelets I bought today! An organization is selling them on campus for $5 each.

The big beads are hand made by women in Uganda. The organization here on campus assembles the bracelets, sells them and then ALL proceeds go directly back to the women in Uganda to help pay for vaccinations/medicines to fight off malaria.

I love fun things like this that benefit someone in need. I seriously wanted to buy all of the bracelets they made and then pass them out to people as gifts.

Kudos to the wonderful girls who are assembling all of these bracelets!

Ohhh and an update on my flowers. I check them daily and they are doing fantastic!
P.S. I don't think they are tulips. Any idea as to what they might be?

LIFE

Wouldn't it be nice if the money you won in the board game LIFE was real?
and...In real life, you could spin again if you were not in the lead?

Just some thoughts that crossed through my head while playing LIFE with the sisters, my momma, and Aubrey this past weekend.

Jessica, you look oh so pleasant in this photo :)

Feels Like Home To Me

When I first started college, I was nervous to be moving from "The Hawkeye State" to the "Show-Me-State"

It was a hard decision to not attend college in the state of Iowa. I was the ONLY one going to Northwest from my high school. I had spent the past 18 years of my life in Iowa, the place I called home. To change this lifestyle was scary.

The day I moved to college, I was sick to my stomach. I cried on my bed and told my mom I thought I was making a mistake.

My mom convinced me that "no matter where you go, there will always be great people."

Gosh, she is so right.

Today, as I was driving back from Iowa I realized that Northwest is my current 'home.' In my three years at Northwest I have made so many friends and had many wonderful experiences. I smile from ear to ear when I think about the memories I have made with my friends. I am so thankful for having professors that I can talk to about my homework and my personal life.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you. I was hardcore homesick my freshman year of college. There would be nights I would cry myself to sleep and days I thought about transferring.

With the help of friends and a willing attitude, I made Northwest my home. I made it a place where I belonged and where I felt needed.

Tomorrow night, is the last time I sign up for classes. Crazy, huh?

One more semester left and then life is about to change once again. I am going to move to a different location and once again meet great people. (Because they truly are everywhere!)

Stay tuned to see what "Welcome Sign" I will be standing in front of next.

Blueberry Muffins

Instead of doing my homework, I made homemade blueberry muffins.

Q. Why did I have blueberries on hand you might ask?

A. Because I was planning on making blueberry pancakes, but never got around to it.

I have three dozen muffins. Come and get some if you want some :)

Big news for ya'll: tomorrow is FINALLY Friday and I'm heading to Home Sweet I-O-W-A!

...with some muffins of course for my dad!

my busy wednesday

Whew....this is seriously this first time I have sat down alone today.

Today was busy. I was all over the place.

I had to wake up a tad bit normal than usual this morning because I was asked to be a guest on a St. Joesph radio talk show.

The first half hour of the show was President Dr. John Jasinski and athletic director Wren Baker. The second half hour was Amy Nally (director of volunteer and service learning) and myself.

We discussed the various volunteer opportunities on the Northwest campus/community and our upcoming Alternative Spring Break trip to Pensacola, Florida.

Here are a few pictures from the radio station.


This afternoon, the Newman Catholic Center offered Ash Wednesday Mass and I distributed the ashes.

Then I spent the rest of the day in class, appointments, all that good stuff.

Tonight we had a SAC Entertainment Event: David Garibaldi. This guy is unbelievable. He creates 6-foot portraits of famous people, set to music, in just a few short minutes.

My favorite: President Obama.

While painting, he had fun upbeat music playing and phrases of Obama's speeches from the 2008 presidential election.

I should remind myself of Obama's famous quote when I am feeling completely exhausted (right now)

"Yes, we can!" only I will change it to..."Yes, I can!"

Yes, I can...make it through this week, school year, and college! :)

Is that a tulip?

Correct me if I'm wrong...but isn't this a baby tulip growing in my garden?

I have such fond memories of my Auntie Violet when I see tulips. They are my absolute favorite flower.

Auntie used to let me cut one tulip of each color to bring to my teacher in elementary school. I would proudly walk into the classroom, tulips in hand and give them to my teacher who would always place them next to the statue of Mary.

Good ole' Catholic schools days.

Currently...

Currently...we have an Easter/Spring wreath hanging on our door made by yours truly.

Currently...trying to decide what to give up for Lent.

I thought about Facebook, but I use it to talk to so many people who live far away.

I've done sweets in the past.

I did cheese one year. That was hard.

Any suggestions?

Currently...planning on going to South Africa in five years.

Last night, Danielle and I made a pact. (Well, I kind of forced her to agree) In five years, if we are still single (not married) we are traveling to South Africa together. I told her we had to document our pact, so we wrote it on the back of my Michael's receipt. Pretty sure I won't be married in five years and she doesn't want to ever get married, so it looks like I could start planning :)

Currently...I am super excited because I found out last night that Straight No Chaser is coming to Kansas City on October 23rd.

I have to go. It is a dream of mine to see them in concert. Tickets are $90. Birthday present perhaps, mom?

Currently...enjoying the birds chirping outside my window and wanting to go on a walk in this weather.

Currently...remembering that God has a plan for me. I can try to manipulate His plans, but what is meant to be will find a way.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Can we all please pause for a moment to admire these lil' beauties?

Ahhh...aren't they lovely?

They are TOMS. Maybe you've heard of them. Maybe you haven't.

If you haven't, I am going to give you the 411. These shoes are worth knowing about.

TOMS shoes is a One for One Movement.

For every pair of shoes you purchase, a pair of shoes is donated to a child in need.

Can it get much better than that?

Yes, it can. How about having the founder of TOMS shoes, Blake Mycoskie, come to your campus to speak as a distinguished lecture?

Yep, that's right folks. Blake Mycoskie is the fourth SAC lecture. He originally was supposed to come in December, but he got called to do a shoe drop in another country and unfortunately, he had to cancel.

I was heartbroken when his lecture was cancelled, but filled with twice the excitement when we were able to reschedule. Blake Mycoskie will be speaking at Northwest on Monday, April 18th, 2011.

I am soo soo sooooo excited for him to be coming to our campus. I am passionate about the movement that is taking place with TOMS shoes. I firmly believe in the mission of the organization.

I have been in contact with the TOMS Speaking Tour Coordinator, Elise, to help with promotional ideas. It is my goal to have our performing arts theatre sold out. I do not want an empty seat in the house. This movement is too inspirational for people to not hear about. I will reach my goal. I am determined.

Watch this video to get a better understanding of TOMS.


40% of the world's people don't have shoes. I bet that a lot of people in America have over 40 pairs of shoes.

Next time you're thinking about buying a pair of shoes, consider TOMS.

My first pair of TOMS. Just chillin on the bus. Washington, D.C.