Disneyland

If you've never been to Disneyland, particularly if you've never been at Christmas time, I strongly encourage you to go! My roommate Sarah and I went last Saturday for a pre-finals week break :-) It's good to take breaks once in a while and just forget you have a pile of work anxiously waiting for your return. Here are our pics!

California Adventure
Massive turkey leg that Sarah and I dominated :-)
Christmas Parade!!!


Mad Hatter Teacups



Haunted Mansion decorated with Nightmare Before Christmas!!!Sad waiting for the Fireworks show. I don't understand why everyone stands up for the show, it's just stupid because then none of the little kids can see the fireworks. O well... they were pretty nonetheless.
I hope you all enjoy your holidays!!

xoxox
Kelli Renee

Harry Potter Party!!

Hello everyone!
Here are the pictures from the best Harry Potter Party ever thrown!
Enjoy :-)
Dobby (Hannah)Draco Malfoy (Billy) and Cho Chang (Kelvin)






For food, we served chocolate frogs, licorice wands, rock cakes, cauldron cakes, savory pastries (thx to Trader Joe's), Bertie Bott's Every Flavor beans and lemon drops. To drink we had hot tea and Butterbeer.
It was fantastically scrumptious.
I'll post again soon when something else interesting happens in my life at PLNU... other than studying that is :-).

xoxo
Kelli Renee

Finally...

Here is some advice for incoming freshmen. Please know this comes from a place of frustration, as well as joy.
~If you want to study abroad, do so! A lot of times it's cheaper that paying for Loma for a semester anyways. Yes, even science majors can study abroad; please don't let your adviser tell you otherwise. I wish I hadn't.
~Take surfing. It's invigorating and if you go here for four years and never learn to surf, I pity you.
~Being involved in student ministries will change your life.

Our first Healer's Hands trip went well, we've had an overwhelming response from students who want to come on trips with us :-) However, this week we had a slight hiccup when we found out all visitors must now have flu and H1N1 vaccinations. It makes sense considering the weak immune systems of the kids, it's just a bummer we had to cancel our next trip!

Mid-terms next week! Hope everyone's studying goes well :-)
XOXO
Kelli Renee

The Beginning of Junior Year

Greetings!
I am absolutely delighted to announce that classes have commenced :-). Nerdly I know, but nonetheless true. Here are some things I'm looking forward to this semester/year...
~Healer's Hands ministry- we go to Rady Children's Hospital and do arts and crafts with the kids
~Living in an upperclassmen dorm, Goodwin
~Islamic Civilization with my favorite Professor Dr. Wood
~Surfing class for P.E. credit- I'll let you know how it goes
~Bobby B's Birthday Bash is on Friday
I hope you all enjoy reading my blog this year and that you find it informational (for the future SeaLions)
xoxo
Kelli Renee

P.S. Everyone should take a road trip to Canada at some point, I did and I LOVED it!!!

Summer update

Hello Blog World,
I hope you all have had a beautiful summer thus far. I am living at PLNU doing research with the chemistry department. For any future students, I highly recommend taking advantage of this opportunity. I work a 40 hour week and in return, I get to live on campus for free and I get a decent stipend. I love all the people I work with and my supervisor, he is really laid back and extremely helpful for all research needs. Unnecessary info: my work has mainly involved reacting fluoronated alkenes with chlorosulfonyl isocyanate to try and get the beta-lactam product.

Here are some of my favorite things of the moment:
~The Farmer's Market in Hillcrest on Sunday mornings, it's spectacular. I have discovered a new love for cheese as a result (Vanilla Quark is life changing).
~My new dresses from Anthropologie! They are both super comfy.
I can't copy the pictures, but here are the links Tasseography Chemise and Mixed Print Chemise
~Netflix! Best $8 I spend every month.
~Skim boarding, I just learned so I suck, but it's entertaining.
~ Transformer slurpee cups at 7/11 AND Transformers: The Rise of the Fallen!!! If you liked to first movie, then it's essential you see the second. You won't be disappointed.
~ My rice cooker, I get the fluffiest, most perfectly done rice with little effort.
~ My bouquet of peonies and hydrangeas
James and I are planning a trip up the coast of California, Oregon, Washington to Vancouver, Canada. Does anyone have any advice for restaurants, things to do, etc. in San Francisco and/or Vancouver? I would really appreciate any suggestions that would make our time there unforgettable.

XOXO.
Kelli Renee

WCBSUR, Wedding, Wolverine (X-Men)

The WCBSUR was a big hit! I got to see a lot of interesting research being done by undergraduate students all over the United States. I also received some Molecular Biology extra credit for going which made it all the more sweet :-)I also got the go see Peter Grimes while it was at the San Diego Opera. I didn't like it as much as Tosca, but it was still very enjoyable to hang out with my lovely friends Sarah, Megan and Andie and some of those crazy music majors. Extraordinary Desserts followed which was, as always, extraordinary.

If you were wondering I did get all of my classes for next semester. The two I'm most excited for is Beginning Surfing for P.E. and Islamic Civilization. Surfing will be interesting, but I'm REALLY excited to learn to surf while I live here AND Sarah is taking it with me so we can look like complete dorks together.
My sister's wedding was this past weekend! Congrats to Lauren and Josh, I love you both. Here are some pictures I took...
Lauren and Josh got to see one another before the ceremony to take pictures
Josh's family
Wedding Party
My family
Father-daugther dance, my Dad picked the song, "I loved her first" by Blake Shelton (or Heartland... I'm not sure which)James and I at the wedding

Finally, I will conclude this blog of epic proportion with X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Stephen and I saw the midnight showing and I thought it was fantastic! Hugh Jackman is a wolverine after my own heart. I highly recommend it.

Only one week left of school and then finals week!
Until then...

xoxo
Kelli Renee

Has it been two weeks already?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Benefit of going to PLNU... we got Thursday, Friday and Monday off to celebrate Easter.
Direct consequence... spending approximately 11 hours of those three days off driving from San Diego to Phoenix and back.
All in all... it was well worth being home!

The only other PLNU related activity worth speaking of is the weather.
Last Sunday it was beautiful enough to lay out on Coronado island and get burnt to a crisp. Today, I arrived back at campus to find total cloud cover and light rain :-(.
I hope the weather makes up its mind soon.

Look forward to...
WCBSUR Conference through the Biology Department at PLNU (If you live around PLNU and you like biology you should try and come!)
Going to see Peter Grimes at the San Diego Opera this Saturday
I'm going home for Lauren's wedding in two weeks (which means I need to go shoe shopping)
Class registration on Friday

xoxo
Kelli Renee