Leah's wedding

To everyone who's invited: Leah's wedding date is changing from June 9 to June 2, 2007. I can't wait to see the relatives again! Woohoo!

RUF Retreat, etc.

Leigh and me at Botanical Gardens!
phenomenal women at the Retreat :)

I love camp. This weekend I went to Camp Greystone for an RUF retreat. It was amazing! Our speaker talked about how the Word and Christ are inseparable, and other rich truths. Indelible Grace music is so encouraging, too. And the goodtheology.com book vendor? Oh, yeah. I hung out with a lot of underclassmen girls, who were awesome! I can’t believe these people weren’t in my life till this weekend! The retreat last year is where I met Hannah and Biz, by the way. One short year ago!

Free time! Those two words—music to my ears. Leigh and I studied, then took naps in the sun by the lake. I knew I wouldn’t regret it, so I did the blob and went down this huge waterslide three times! Such fun—such invigorating freezing cold water (but nothing compared to Yellowstone)!

By the way: I’ve found myself making quite a few of my decisions based on this question: Would I regret (not) doing this? Ignoring it has hurt me, but asking it has saved me a few times.

Before I left for South Africa, everyone at my going away party wrote advice/notes to me in these tiny books Rebekah bought. I’ll never forget Sid’s message: “If you feel indifferent between socializing and being alone, always be with people,” or something to that effect. I’ve tried to remember his advice. I’ve hardly ever regretted introducing myself to a stranger, or getting to know someone better, but I have regretted not encouraging someone when I felt the Spirit’s leading.

New leaves: change. Fall’s about change. Can people change? I remember times of change—my parents taking me seriously when I talked about a new chapter in life. But I remember thinking I had changed when, maybe, I really hadn’t. Five percent of people change socioeconomic classes in a lifetime. But, in the past year, I’ve changed, especially through wondrous new friends. I can’t believe it’s been less than a year. So much more to say on this, but I have an 8:00 tomorrow morning!

Good weekend

One of my best friends Hannah left for L'Abri in Switzerland yesterday. I am going to miss that girl! But I am so excited to see how she'll have grown once she's done with the program there. Wow--the Schaeffers influenced so many different people. Right now I'm reading "Total Truth" by Nancy Pearcey, who was converted at L'Abri when Francis was still around. Edith is 92 years old now and lives at the L'Abri in Switzerland. Hannah said she still attends lectures, but she's definitely getting up there in years! I wonder if she's still as sharp as ever. So, I spent all day Saturday with Hannah. We went to Art in the Park in Greenville, hung out with her large family (yes--I love big families!), then went contra-dancing with her two little brothers. It was SUCH fun--the entire day. The previous night we went to the UNC-Clemson soccer game. Winning to UNC was pretty exciting! We're rank #2 and they're #5 in the nation. It was the second-largest attended soccer game in Clemson's history. We celebrated Amy's birthday after the game. Amy and I made the "dessert exception" of baklava for her birthday, which was delightful! Even more amazing microwaved--have you ever tried that?

Boston

Ah--I had such a wonderful time visiting my relatives in Boston over the weekend! I arrived there Thursday morning around 11:00, after waking up at 3:00 am to drive to the Charlotte airport (you know those days where the morning seems like SUCH a long time ago? That was one of them!). Some of the members of the group I was with toured Harvard's campus for the day, but my sub-group went to Cheers for lunch then walked around the Boston Commons--a breath of fresh air in the heart of the city. I love the swan boats! I remember riding them when I was little! We also went SHOPPING. I wish upstate SC had an H&M and an Urban Outfitters :)! Friday night the group of us did dinner at Legal Seafoods--a super fancy restaurant with lobster that's to die for! The Barkers dropped in and chatted with us for a little while, so we HAD to get our pictures taken with them. They're so nice, by the way. They definitely don't act like they have a million other obligations that night, which I'm sure they had, being the president and first lady of Clemson and all.
At Legal with the Barkers


Friday morning Uncle Doug picked up Aunt Colleen and me for some kayaking on the Charles River. It was perfect--early fall in Boston, the morning, the lily pads, the incredible company. Ha--a lot more relaxing than whitewater kayaking down Yankee Jim Canyon in Montana! Aunt Colleen took me on a nice long walk in some woods near their house that afternoon. That's one of the nice things about the Boston area--it's a big city, but nature is still pretty accessible. The White Mountains of Vermont are only three hours away, and the beach is close, too. Uncle John thinks that's what makes it a great city, plus the amazing academic opportunities there. There's no city like it--with Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, Wellsley, etc. in the city or surrounding cities, goodness. Did you know the population of the city increases by 1.2 million in the fall because of all the students coming back to school? That's pretty sweet.
Beautiful Aunt Colleen and Irene


Friday night I had a delightful time with Emily from Yellowstone! She's in seminary at BU. She, her twin sister Laura, Laura's boyfriend and I ate dinner at a delectable Indian restaurant then . . . had DESSERT at Mike's pastries--which, I know I'm on a dessert abstinence thing till Thanksgiving, but I considered it heavily and decided this would be an appropriate exception. Ummm... anyway! Aunt Colleen and Uncle John said it was ok, only because it's Mike's pastries. I spent the night at Emily's apartment near Bunker Hill. She and I had a great time catching up. Girl talk ROCKS!
Emily and me at Cashmere's

Saturday Aunt Tricia, Aunt Colleen and I went to get manicures and pedicures in Tricia's sporty yellow VW convertible. We then went to this adorable tea house for lunch. It was de-LIGHT-ful. I sat with the Clemson group at the game while Uncle John and Uncle Doug sat on the 9th row. John has a hookup for awesome seats from a "triple eagle"--a friend of his who went to Boston College high school, Boston College, and Boston College law school. Clemson lost to BC by one point in double overtime. It was heartbreaking :(. Especially since about a fourth of the stadium consisted of Clemson fans! I was a proud tiger. Uncle Doug and Uncle John were good winners, I guess :).

Hannah is back from her organic farm in VA! So last night we had a welcome back / going away party here (she leaves for L'Abri in a week). It was so good to see her and have her spend the night. Again, girl talk rocks!

Hannah's get-together

Happy Clemson Students

(click title)

Now I'm even HAPPIER to be a Clemson student! :) I thought this was a cool article.

Happy Clemson Students! (Bible study girls at a wedding shower)

Oh--and I'm so excited about Boston this weekend. I get to visit Emily at BU, Seth at Harvard, and my awesome relatives again! Yay!

We meet at last

Hanging out downtown with Joy McCarnan, whom I finally met in person. How fun!

September

Storm Brewing over our apartments

My room

Last hoorah with Amy

The first whole week of school was so nice. It was especially wonderful catching up with Amy Etheredge, who was doing an internship all last semester. However, I miss Hannah and Biz (they're both studying abroad--Hannah's still at her organic farm in VA), and am kind of disappointed I'm not studying abroad in Prague or somewhere cool like that this semester. But I'm excited to build on relationships started last year. I'm thinking of graduating a semester late and studying abroad next fall--perhaps in some French-speaking country? French is probably the class I'm the most excited about right now. I'm also SO excited about my US history 1917-1945 class. I had Dr. Saunders for History of Civ. last fall and the man is a genius. History is so fascinating and exciting!

Amy and I decided to abstain from desserts until Thanksgiving, starting yesterday. She challenged me to do it with her last year, from the beginning of November till Thanksgiving, as a reminder of how much we have/should be thankful for. So, of course, Thursday night we had a "Cate and Amy date"--we dressed up and went to Calhoun Corners, a fancy restaurant down the road from me, and enjoyed creme brulee cheesecake and Irish cream cake with coffee. It was a delightful last hoorah :). And I'm already craving the Heath bars that grace the coffee table in the living room! This isn't going to be easy!

Today was the first football game. I didn't go because I felt sick :(. But, I am hoping to go to the Clemson v. Boston College game in Boston next weekend! I'm so excited to see my aunts and uncles and Irene again--and Emily from Yellowstone! woo-hoo!