Senior Year

Hello everyone! 

I know it has been a very long time since I have posted anything. I have been very busy with school. Just as an update I am now a senior at Central Michigan University. I currently have an internship at Addiction Solutions which is in Mount Pleasant. I am working there about 17 hours a week. I am also taking 16 credits this semester. This semester is going to be a little crazy. On top of all of this I am preparing to apply to graduate school. I will attempt to keep in touch and let everyone know what is going on. Have a great weekend!

I'm back!

Hello everyone, 

I know that I haven't been on for a while. Like a year. Sorry about that. I will start to update my blog on a weekly basis. Have a great day and I will talk to you soon! Bye! <3 font="">

Week 5 of Classes

Hello everybody, 


Since I have been back to school I have been sick. Yep, I'm sick. Again. When I am not? Lol. Anyways, I hope that I will be feeling better someday soon. So instead of complaining of being sick I am going to enjoy the fact that I can catch up on sleep and just relax. I hate missing classes (because I am a dork) so I don't like that part. But I love sleep. 


I have lately been struggling with what I want to do with my life. And every time I question my major I go and watch an episode of Invention and then I remember what I want to do with my life. So now I have been wanting to watching Intervention forever now. I need to find the newest episodes. 

Christmas and Cookies

So... here I am and it is the middle of December and I have yet to blog about anything that happened last 

semester. Classes went better than I had planned for, so that's good. However, I do have to take stats over again. *yuck* 

Anyway, I have been home for Christmas since December 8th and it has been going well. Today me, my mom and my Aunt Roseanne made cookies.  They turned out goodish, besides the whole sticking to the paper mess. So here is the recipe with tons of pictures. I got this recipe from a bag of Hersey's Kisses filled with Cherry Cordial Creme. 

Cherry Cordial Creme Cookies 

48 Hersey's Kisses Brand Milk Chocolate filled with Cherry Cordial Creme 

1 Package original supreme brownie mix with Hersey's Syrup pouch 

1/4 cup Hersey's Cocoa 

1/4 cup water 

1/4 cup vegetable oil 

1 egg  

Powered Sugar 

Directions: 

1. Remove wrappers from chocolate. Place in freezer several hours or overnight. 

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or grease and flour. 

3. Stir brownie mix, syrup pouch, cocoa, water, oil and egg in medium bowl until well blended. Drop  by scant, teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheets. 

4. Bake 8 minutes or until set. Cool 3 to 4 minutes; sprinkle with powdered sugar. Immediately press frozen chocolate into center of each cookie. Remove cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies. 

I would recommend that you grease the cookie sheet and add flour. We used parchment paper and it was extremely difficult to get them off. 

Here is the finished product! They are super sweet. But that is the way cookies need to be. So sweet you get a cavity just looking at them. 

Thanksgiving Break

So I know that I haven't been on in forever, but I do have a good reason. This semester I has been crazy busy with classes. With both Chemistry and Stats this semester I have been swamped. Along with that I have exploring different RSO's at school. I had to come early for Thanksgiving (and I am perfectly ok with that). I will be posting pictures of my Thanksgiving soon. I hope that everyone is doing good and that you all have a safe, fun Thanksgiving.

I haven't forgotten you

It has been almost three weeks since I have last posted anything. My summer has been pretty lazy, but at the same time kind of busy. I am still trying to find a place to volunteer at and maybe get some cash somehow. My summer is half way over with, I can't believe it. I need to something constructive (or destructive). 
This weekend was Paws on the Pier and I took Zoey. It was crazy, fun and I absolutely loved it. There were about a dozen booths with food, treats and dogs for adoption. Zoey made a couple of friends and it was really cute! She is still tired today from her big adventure yesterday. This weekend is the 4th of July and I will make sure to take lots of pictures and tell you about it. 

I Am Me

I am me.
In all the world, there is no one else like me.There are persons who have some parts of me,
but no one adds up exactly like me.
Therefore, everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone chose it.
I own everything about me
my body, including everything it does;
my mind, including all its thoughts and ideas;
my eyes, including the images of all they behold; 
my feelings, whatever they may be anger, joy, frustration, love, disappointment, excitement
my mouth, and all the words that come out of it, polite, sweet or rough, correct or incorrect;
my voice, loud or soft; 
and all of my actions, whether they be to others or to myself,
I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears,
I own all my triumphs and successes, all of my failures and mistakes.
Because I own all of me, 
I can become intimately acquainted with me.
By so doing I can love me and be friendly with me in all my parts
I can then make it possible for all of me to work in my best interests.
I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle, and other aspects that I do not know.
But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself,
I can courageously and hopefully look for the solutions to the puzzles, and for ways to find out more about me.
However I look or sound, whatever I say and do,
and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is me. 
This is authentic and represents where I am at that moment in time.
When I review later how I looked and sounded, what I said and did, and how I thought and felt, some parts may turn out to be unfitting.
I can discard that which is unfitting, and keep which is proven fitting,
and invent something new for that which I discard.
I can see, hear, feel, think, say and do.
I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. 
I am me, and therefore I can engineer me
I am me, and I am ok 


-Virginia Satir 

3rd Week of Summer

I can't believe that this is already the 3rd week of summer. I have been working out like crazy but it really hasn't been to benefical yet. On Thursday I went to go watch my best friends Carmen and Rebecca graduate from high school. On Saturday Rebecca had her party and on Sunday Carmen had hers. They were both a lot of fun and had good food. It also happened to be Memorial day weekend this weekend but we didn't do anything; which is really strange for my family. No cookout, no family time, nothing. I was really disappointed but what can you do. Hopefully the 4th of July will be better. 

2nd Week of Summer

Hello everybody!


I hope your May is going well and you are staying warm (or keeping cool!). The second week of summer for me has been too exciting, in fact I haven't done much of anything. I am waiting to hear when I can volunteer and if I need to find a part time job. The weather in Michigan hasn't been very nice so I haven't been walking Zoey but I really need to start up again. No new pictures for the week and I hopefully next week will be more exciting. See you on the flip side!

1st Week of Summer

Well the first week of summer has come and gone already. My week was filled with lots of appointments, walking Zoey and unpacking everything. On Wednesday I went to Tulip Time in Holland with my friends Carmen and Sydney. It was an amazing time of carnival rides, a parade and crafts. Besides riding the freak out and injuring myself I had an amazing time. 
On Friday me and the family went to the 50's drive in to eat dinner and it was really good. On Saturday me and my mom went to go see Bridesmaids with my bff Becca and her mom Linda. THe movie was so funny! I can't wait to go see it again. 
Next week should be filled with lots of volunteering, more appointments, a hair cut and other random stuff. Here are some pictures of Tulip Time 2011. 

Home

Hello everybody,

So after hours of packing and cleaning I am finally home for the summer. I will be posting either weekly or biweekly to let you know about my summer adventures.

21 Guns

I have been listening to a lot of Green Day lately.  So I thought I would share one of my favorite Green Day videos with you. I hope that everyone is doing well and I will definatly be blogging more now that I have a brand new MAC book.  See you all soon!

<3 Kayla

30 days of truth prompt

So I found this little propt on another blog and thought I would try it. I know that this is going to be super hard for me both emotionally and time wise. Being super busy in school it's hard to blog daily. But I will try. You have my word. :)




Day 01 → Something you hate about yourself.


Day 02 → Something you love about yourself.

Day 03 → Something you have to forgive yourself for.

Day 04 → Something you have to forgive someone for.

Day 05 → Something you hope to do in your life.

Day 06 → Something you hope you never have to do.

Day 07 → Someone who has made your life worth living for.

Day 08 → Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.

Day 09 → Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.

Day 10 → Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.

Day 11 → Something people seem to compliment you the most on.

Day 12 → Something you never get compliments on.

Day 13 → A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)

Day 14 → A hero that has let you down. (letter)

Day 15 → Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.

Day 16 → Someone or something you definitely could live without.

Day 17 → A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

Day 18 → Your views on gay marriage.

Day 19 → What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?

Day 20 → Your views on drugs and alcohol.

Day 21 → (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?

Day 22 → Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.

Day 23 → Something you wish you had done in your life.

Day 24 → Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)

Day 25 → The reason you believe you’re still alive today.

Day 26 → Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?

Day 27 → What’s the best thing going for you right now?

Day 28 → What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?

Day 29 → Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.

Day 30 → A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself

Almost Ready for Christmas

This seems to be my last weeks of classes and exams for this year. The semester has been insane to say the least, and I never thought it would end. I am so ready to go home and decorate the house for Christmas. This is my dog Zoey's first Christmas. I am super excited! She has no idea what to expect and that is totally OK.

Sexual Violence Against Women in Sudan

This semester, I am taking a class called Social Justice in a Global Society. For this class we had to research a global topic as part of our praxis project. The topic that I picked was Sexual Violence against women in Sudan. We (the students) had to come up with a creative way to 'solve' the world issue that we picked out. Blogging seemed like an interesting idea and I have never blogged about such a serious topic before.
Before I talk about sexual violence of women I first want to talk about Sudan. Sudan is the largest country in Africa, and has  41,087,825 people in Sudan. It is extremely important to know about Sudan's history. According to the CIA World fact book, 

  Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century. These conflicts were rooted in northern economic, political, and social domination of largely non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese. The first civil war ended in 1972 but broke out again in 1983. The second war and famine-related effects resulted in more than four million people displaced and, according to rebel estimates, more than two million deaths over a period of two decades. Peace talks gained momentum in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords. The final North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005, granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years. After which, a referendum for independence is scheduled to be held. A separate conflict, which broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003, has displaced nearly two million people and caused an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 deaths. The UN took command of the Darfur peacekeeping operation from the African Union on 31 December 2007. As of early 2009, peacekeeping troops were struggling to stabilize the situation, which has become increasingly regional in scope and has brought instability to eastern Chad. Sudan also has faced large refugee influxes from neighboring countries primarily Ethiopia and Chad. Armed conflict, poor transport infrastructure, and lack of government support have chronically obstructed the provision of humanitarian assistance to affected populations.

So now that you know more about Sudan and their long and violent history, It is time to talk about sexual violence. This is something that many people feel very uncomfortable talking about but many of the world's problems can be difficult to talk about. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services,  Sexual violence in Sudan is used for several different reasons by one main group of people. From what research that has been done the Janjaweed have committed the most crimes against women and girls. Unfortunately, there are no numbers on how many women have been effected by sexual violence. There are somethings that we do know about sexual violence of women in Sudan. One thing that we do know is that the majority of violence is related to ethnic and racial problems within the country. There are two main ethnic groups that fight the most.

"Sexual violence is divided into three categories: 1) use of physical force to compel a person to engage in a sexual act against his or her will, whether or not the act is completed; 2) attempted or completed sex act involving a person who is unable to understand the nature or condition of the act, to decline participation, or to communicate unwillingness to engage in the sexual act, e.g., because of illness, disability, or the influence of alcohol or other drugs, or because of intimidation or pressure; and 3) abusive sexual contact” (CDC, 2007).

The Nubas are a Sudanese ethnic group from the Nuba Mountains in central Sudan, who were virtually cut off from the rest of the country during the conflict between north and south Sudan. They have been victims of grave human rights violations by Sudanese government troops and allied militias. This reference to the Nubas is apparently used as a racial insult.

"The term Arabs is used here to indicate people predominantly from nomadic groups, who identify themselves as Arabs and speak Arabic as first language. The term Africans is used here to indicate people from sedentary, mainly agricultural groups,  such as the Fur, the Masalit and to some extent the Zaghawa. The distinction between Arabs and Africans is not always as clear cut. Moreover the conflict cannot be characterised simply in terms of Arabs against Africans."

Another thing that Amnesty International learned was that the majority of attacks against women were committed by the government or that the government stood by and watch as these brutal attacks took place. It is important to know that the majority of people who work in the government are of Arab descent. The Arabs and Africans have been the two major fighters of Sudan's civil wars. This means that the Janjaweeds are more likely to commit sexual violence against Africans because of their anger towards them.

There are hundreds of stories available on the Internet of what the women of Sudan have gone through. The majority of the stories that I have read have a couple of things in common. The first thing in common is that most of the women and girls who were raped were either captured by the soldiers or they were raped for not running away from the villages fast enough. The second thing that these stories have in common is that the women and girls are usually raped by more than one man and sometimes they were raped in front others, sometimes total strangers. A third thing in common was that several women became pregnant after their rapes, which is extremely difficult for the women because they often do not know who the father is and some cultures believe that you can't get pregnant by unwanted sex. Pregnant women were also rapped and sometimes the women and her child would be killed.

I hope that you have learned some information about sexual violence against Sudanese women. Although their past is an extremely difficult subject to talk about, sexual violence still occurs today in Sudan. Below is a list of links if you would like to learn more information about this topic and what you can do to help.

School and volunteering

Hello everybody,

Well, here I am, the third week of school already. The weather is getting cooler, leaves are starting to change colors just a little bit. And...I all ready have two exams next week. (All on the same day too!) Calkins hall council has been going great and we just had the offensive line for the Chips come to our meeting next week. Then in October, the president of the school is stopping by, ( With food!)

So tomorrow might be my first volunteer oppurtunity this sememster. That is if I manage to get up in time. I am going to CCN church and working the mobile food pantry. We have to be there at 7:30 AM, to be registered. I really want to go but I am not sure that I can physically get up that early. We will see.

Talk to you all soon! Here is a quote from alpencc.edu

" Never before has man had such a great capacity to control his own environment, to end hunger, poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and human misery. We have the power to make the best generation of mankind in the history of the world."



President John F. Kennedy

Class schedule and roommates

So here we are, a week before classes start and I'm not sure I'm ready for this. My roommates Dana, Abby and Katie are all moving in later on this week. I am super excited to see Dana and Abby again. But I am very nervous to meet my new roommate Katie for the first time. I want to make a good first impression on her and her family. So here is my class schedule for anyone who wants to see what classes I am in this semester.

Human Growth and Development:Lifespan
Monday. Wednesday 2:00-3:15 pm

Intro to Physical Science
Tuesday, Thursday 10:00-11:50 am

Cultures of the world
Tuesday, Thursday 12:30-1:45 pm

Social Justice in a Global Society
5:00-6:15 pm

Intro to Sociology
Wednesday 6:30-9:20pm

Freshman year of college is almost over

Hey everybody! As I am writing this I officially have 2 weeks until school is over for the Spring semester. I can't believe that the school year is almost done. At times it felt like it was going so slow and that it would  never end, then I felt like I had so much to do still before school was to end. And now I am just ready for it to be over with. It is kind of a bitter sweet feeling. While I am super excited to go home, I am going to miss living in Barnes Hall and see all of the R.A.'s that I have grown to know and love. It is so weird to think that I will not be coming back to Barnes, although I am excited to see what Calkins hall has to offer me.
Freshman year has been so crazy! A lot of things have happened at campus, and I have definatly grown a lot since last August when I first moved to Mount Pleasant. I have met some amazing people and found some of the best friends a girl could ask for. I got to volunteer a  ton and had so much fun doing it. This year was a year of many firsts. And that is so awesome, because in high school I would have never done any of this stuff. And I would definatly not have been talking to random strangers at football games or around campus. And that is a good thing!