Killer Bees?

I never believed that killer bees existed...That is until last night. I arrived at my friend Meredith Silver's house last night to find the house infested with "killer" bees. I was greeted by a bee that was, no joking, about an inch long and half an inch wide. I just about ran back out the door, until I saw it was dead. Ten minutes later when I ran upstairs I found 3 more just laying on the ground. I seriously felt like I was in a creepy sci-fi movie. The stingers looked like small daggers and the eyes on these things pop out so far you can see yourself in them. I am not scared of much but I have to say, I got a little concerned. All I could think about was waking up in the middle of the night to a loud buzzing sound followed by a highly painful jab in the face by one or more of these daggers.  Meredith actually experienced all of these things minus being stabbed in the face, thankfully. The whole night we really thought we were being filmed and kept running around the house looking for video cameras of some sort. Another thing about these killer bees, they are almost impossible to kill. Once you are successful in knocking it to the ground, the next step is to pounce on the creature and try to beat it to death. Since sounds like a fairly simple procedure but it is not. These bees are made of steel and titanium. You must swat and stomp, swat and stomp, and yell until they die. And that is just for one. Try trying to kill 20 of them. I tell no lies. 

Here is a not so great picture of the "killer bee." Even though it is not such a great shot, I risked my life to get a quick picture of it.

This is the ring leader, we are quite sure. 

Tonight we locked ourselves in the house hoping the bees wouldn't know we are here. While cruising the web tonight we happened to find out that these "bees" were actually hornets. I don't care. They are still bee like bugs and they look like they could straight up murder me. So far we have been successful. Who knows, maybe the "bees" are regrouping and forming a late night surprise attack. We shall take turns dutifully sitting watch with our killer bee swatter.

Something You Should Know About Me If You Already Don't

So it has pretty much been what I have deemed "Birthday Week" this week for me. Even though my actual birthday is not until Saturday the 19th (also the same day as Talk Like a Pirate day this year) I have been receiving cards/money/gifts in the mail everyday this week. It has been fantastic!! But the reason for this post is to talk about a special item that I purchased with a Target gift card from my amazing parents. I had mentioned to my mom that I would love to buy a toaster oven and one week later I got my birthday card and a Target gift card with a note saying "For a toaster oven" on it. And here it is....

The foil inside was from a Bagel Bite lunch that I had just finished

Yes. I bought a toaster oven for myself for my birthday. I LOVE to toast things. I toast:
-sandwiches
-english muffins
-actual toast
-eggo waffles
-bagel bites
-bagels
-pretty much anything i want

It is the first of what will most certainly be many kitchen appliances that I will purchase in my lifetime. As I went into Target to buy it, I realized that a sign of growing up is when appliances actually look appealing and things like toaster ovens, washing machines, Kitchen-Aid mixers, and blenders are actually exciting to purchase. I'm only turning 20 this year but for some reason I feel much older than that. So yes, now you know that I have an obsession with toasted items. I love, love getting my sandwiches at Subway. Pretty much anytime there is a toastable option for an item, I get it. Pretty ridiculous I know. Its kind of funny to me because I feel as though I am easy going, and thanks to my parents I can eat just about anything cooked anyway (to be polite of course) but if there is a toaster available, I'm going to use it. Growing up, I was that kid who waited in line at a continental breakfast during vacation just so I could toast my bagel even when the entire family had finished breakfast by the time I had toasted it.

I am in love with my toaster oven.
The End

Can we say "Obsessive?"

I want to first off apologize for being so slack on my blog posts. It has been a crazy first few weeks starting back to school. During these weeks I have had to answer, once again, how the heck I ended up here in gorgeous Asheville, NC from Boerne, TX. Well the simple answer is Jesus, but the much longer answer includes Young Life and the Sloan Family who have loved on me way too much in my transition from Texas Culture to Western North Carolina.

Because of having to tell my story so many times these past few weeks I have thought about all the things that I miss from Texas. After compiling a list, I realized that the one single thing that has been the hardest is not eating Tex-Mex every single day of my life. Yes, this is a sad fact. While I do miss all the other important aspects (such as landscape, people, big blue skies, afternoon thunderstorms, scorching heat, and of course my family) the food keeps popping into my mind. I'm not going to even try to explain the deliciousness but for all of you who have not had a chance eat good Tex-Mex, think about the best Mexican food you've ever had and triple the deliciousness. Yes, it is that incredible. One place in particular comes to mind when I think of eating Mexican food. It's this fast-food type place called Taco Cabana. I used to live and breathe this place. I went there for lunch at least twice a week during High School. Three dollar lunch= awesomeness.

Here is me and my sister Mary in front of a Taco Cabana during one of my visits home last year.

Ever time I get off a plane in San Antonio, TX the first place I go is Taco Cabana. If I was given one last meal before I die it would 3 bean and cheese tacos with a personal chips and queso with a Dr. Pepper from Taco Cabana. A little obsessive I know but so worth it. This being said, the bottom line is I love Mexican food.

Where The Sidewalk Ends...

When I was in 6th and 7th grade I participated in UIL, which was this competition where kids who really like to do school work would compete in all types of school-y (yes this is a word..err) events and earn medals for doing amazing and basically being nerds. In 6th grade everyone did it because you got to spend a whole Saturday with all of your friends sitting at round tables playing cards, doing Mad Libs and eating junk food while waiting nervously for your event to be called. Basically, it was a big deal and you better believe that I had a blast. A list of some of the events you could participate in included:

Creative Writing
Prose/Poetry
Listening
Maps, Graphs, and Charts
Science
Math something or another
and a few other nerdy sounding things

My specialty was listening and Prose/Poetry with the occasional Maps, Graphs, and Charts thrown in. Then there was that one time they tried to get me to do Math and that did not go so well. For Prose and Poetry a person had to memorize an excerpt from a story or a poem. I was all about the poems. My absolute favorite poet in 6th grade was Shel Silverstein. He had the wackiest, funniest, and craziest poems. They also had catchy rhymes so it was fairly easy to memorize them. I thought I would share with you a poem from his book Where the Sidewalk Ends that I memorized for one of the UIL competitions in 6th grade.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too By: Shel Silverstein

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too
Went for a ride in a flying shoe.
"Hooray!"
"What fun!"
"It's time we flew!"
Said Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle was captain, and Pickle was crew
And Tickle served coffee and mulligan stew
As higher
And higher
And higher they flew,
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too,
Over the sun and beyond the blue.
"Hold on!"
"Stay in!"
"I hope we do!"
Cried Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle too
Never returned to the world they knew,
And nobody
Knows what's
Happened to
Dear Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.


So there you go. I spent weeks on end memorizing poems like this so that I could go to a nerdy competition and win medals so I could parade them around showing off how good I was at really liking school. And yes, I can still recite many of these poems by heart today 8 years later.

Back To School

So it has been about a week since I last posted and I have very good reason for this. Last Saturday I drove the 8 or so hour drive back to Asheville. I moved into my dorm Sunday afternoon. I am staying in the same building and floor as last year but I have a different room number. My address here at school this year is:

Amy Noll
Southridge 317A
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804

Classes started this past Monday the 17th. I had little time to get settled in before the waves of homework hit. This semester I am taking Spanish 210/220, Humanities, Physics, and Sociology. Spanish is every morning for an hour and a half so by the end of the semester I should be dreaming in Spanish. So far my classes seem like they will be relatively enjoyable.
This week I have pretty much only been in my room to sleep. I have been busily hanging out with old friends and making new ones. It has definitely been a strange feeling to be back here at school. I feel like summer completely flew by. But I am excited to see what this new year brings.

Blast From The Past

I went to Boerne, TX for a quick family visit last week. While I was there, my Dad pulled out a picture from when I was 6 years old and we went rafting down the Arkansas River outside of Buena Vista, CO. It was during one of the two summers that we were at Trail West a Young Life Family Camp. I remember everything from that rafting trip. From having to squeeze into a wet suit to the famous rock with the perfect hole right through the center of it that the rafting guides always point out. The picture was just too good so I thought that I would post it:

Yep. Right there in the front row is my older brother Ryan (now 22), my dad, and me at age 6. I had not seen this picture in 14 years. I LOVED this trip.
So there you have it. A little blast from the past that I thought I'd share.

If You Can't Stand the Heat....

This clip is from the BBC World News. My aunt Lisa showed it to me and I thought it was absolutely hilarious so I thought I would pass it on.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the sauna!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8192499.stm