Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

We had a great couple of days celebrating Christ's birth and spending time together as a family. I'm loving being home and relaxing... it's such a nice change from the constant busyness of school.

I haven't done much since I've been home. I've seen a couple of friends, watched a lot of movies with mom, baked christmas cookies with spencer and his girlfriend, cooking, and playing with my new iPad :D (thanks family!!!!!). I'm going to enjoy one more week here and then it's off to Florida for a fantastic week with my team!

I'll have much more to post after Florida and there will be plenty of pictures and updates on classes and everything back at school. But for now, here's some pictures from the last month or so...

The ladies at thanksgiving :D

Thanksgiving table

Everyone!

Christmas decorations in our suite... (I made the banner - thank you very much!)

Enjoying the local coffee shop in STL (yes we were sitting outside in December! crazy!)

Libby and I at a Christmas party

Wicked!!! 

 I won a contest in our dorm and so the RCD (director of our res college) hosted us for a gingerbread house making party! this is my "lovely" duplex :D

This was a great moment. 

Love, Mackenzie

How can the fall semester be almost over????!!!!

It's been forever since I've posted and I'm so sorry! Honestly, I kinda forgot about this and so I needed a little reminder to update you all on my life - so say thanks to Suzy!

Let's see.... so much to say!

Well, first off - I have four more classes left in this fall semester! Three tomorrow and one on Friday and then I'm DONE! (minus the massive amount of work between then and the end of finals) But no more classes will be so nice! Can't wait to have all day to go study at Kaldi's with Libby and to sleep in later, or stay up later... it's going to be lovely! (minus the fact that I have so much studying to do). I am honestly sooooooo ready to have this semester behind me. It's been a tough semester with classes that are very challenging and that I am not really interested in (cough cough Calc II and microecon). But I know that these two weeks are going to fly by and somehow I'll get everything done and then two weeks from today I'll be home with my family! Yeah!

Let's see... when I got back from break I had 12 big "things" ahead of me... 5 big assignments/projects, 3 papers and 4 finals = 12. Now I've just got 3 assignments/projects, 1 paper and 4 finals = just 8 things left! Mon-Wed of next week is reading week and so we don't have class and just have time to study. Then finals start on thursday and I've got one on every day... Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday. Then a 7:55am flight outta here on Wednesday! Whew! Gonna be crazy!

So there's a catch up on what is still ahead of me... now for a recap of the last month or so...

Thanksgiving was SO SO SO SO GREAT! I was so happy to be able to go home and spend 6 days with my family and cook and eat and hang out and cook and eat somemore! Since most of you reading this were actually there, I'm not going to say much more about it...

OH. Forgot a MAJOR thing ahead of me. Imagine this... it's the Monday after Thanksgiving and you are sitting in Present Moral Problems class and taking notes and wishing it was lunchtime. Then... you check your phone (under the table of course) and see a new email from the golf captain. Cool! Probably about offseason practices for the week... You read about how she is going to sweat all the Thanksgiving food out of our bodies in the team workouts that week and then... you see the word "Disneyworld". What! Completely forgeting to continue taking notes, you skim the rest of the email and learn that the golf team is going to DISNEYWORLD for 5 days over CHRISTMAS BREAK. Say what?!

Now you can stop imagining... because that was what happened to me on the monday after thanksgiving! How fun is that going to be?! Andi's parents have a timeshare through Disney and are giving us the "points" so we are staying at Animal Kingdom (look it up it's INCREDIBLE - like giraffes grazing on the lawn outside our window kind of awesome) and spending a wonderful 5 days together at disney! So I'm going home for two weeks and then leaving will be in disneyworld from jan 5th-9th and then headed back to chicago with some of the girls to stay with them until we have to be back at school on the 12th.

So aside from that exciting news...

Um, I can't think of too much other stuff to say except that Libby and I have been cooking and baking a lot and are getting quite creative with the toaster oven and the stove top. We can make pretty much anything in our room now and so the best part of my week is definitely the nights we cook/bake together :D

And... I had to make a new cooking blog. The other one wouldn't let me upload more pictures, and what fun is a cooking blog without the pictures?! So I was able to easily import the old blog into a new hosting site and am working off of this new one. Check it out here: http://neverskipdessertbymackenzie.wordpress.com/
I plan on doing more with it soon but for now, I've got quite a bit of other stuff on my plate! It has made for a nice study break to go tweak things here and there :)

That's it for now!
Love, Mackenzie

Parents Weekend and Halloween

Last weekend was parents weekend and I had such a blast with mom and Tom! I was so happy they were able to come and visit and to see my life out here!

Friday I took them over to the Loop and we walked around and had dinner at a great restaurant that I hadn't been to yet. Then we came back and got ice cream at one of the cafes on campus and just had a great evening of catching up!

Saturday, Libby and I had both of our families over for breakfast :) It was so great to host a little party and to show them the hoops we jump through to cook/bake/clean-up everyday!

 Libby made the muffins the night before (they were so good and I'll be posting the recipe on my cooking blog for sure!) and then we made eggs and coffee and had a great time!

Waiting for them to come :)

Then, mom, Tom and I took a big walk around campus and I showed them where my classes are and the library and the bookstore and... everything! It was a beautiful day for it too!

Then I took them over to my favorite restaurant/cafe for lunch. If any of you come visit, we're going there... it's so cute and so delicious! And just a little bit too far to get to without a car so I don't get to go very often!

Saturday afternoon we did some shopping for all sorts of random things I needed. Tom was dismayed by our pitiful 16'' tv that we had to squint at to see anything... so he made a little investment :D. THANK YOU!!!!!!! WE LOVE IT!!!

Then Saturday night, we took my friend Shannon with us to another of my favorite restaurants downtown - Bailey's Range. They have the BEST and most creative burgers I have ever seen or tasted! Then we all went and saw the movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I highly recommend it!

Sunday morning we went to church and then to the Boathouse in Forest Park for brunch. Then got some groceries and then had to say goodbye!!

We had so much fun though and I am so glad they were able to come out and visit! Can't wait till I'm home in less than three weeks to see all the family again!

Here are some more picutres of our beautiful fall...

Then we had a little Halloween Party on Tuesday! Libby and I made pumpkin dip and homemade applesauce and sugar cookies, all of which will be going on my food blog soon! We carved pumpkins and decorated cookies and had a great time!

The finished pumpkins :)

The finished cookies

 Busted out the socks to be festive! Thanks gramma!

And that's my update! I also start working tonight! I got hired by Bon Appetit (our dining company) and will be working as a cashier (for now, hoping to move to the kitchen soon!) at the cafe in the library every Tuesday night! I have my training tonight and am really excited!

My classes are picking up as well. I had a crazy week or two a couple of weeks ago, then some down time and now next week and the week after are going to be busy with exams and stuff.... yuck. But I'm hoping that with all the cooking Libby and I are planning on doing, I'll be able to take some good study breaks and enjoy the ability to cook things with our new induction burner! Ha! Isn't that great! Libby got it this weekend and now we can cook all sorts of things!

Happy November! Can't wait until Thanksgiving!!!!!!

Light

I changed up the template of my blog again. The other one was too plain - too cookie-cutter and I didn't want to just fit a mold.

Instead, I've chosen to have a lantern as the background to my page. I've felt such a purpose in the last week as everything with the Half the Sky screening came together so well and things are moving forward with building involvement with the movement here on campus. I've felt a deep joy all week and I've realized that it's because my passion has been stirred. I'm anxious to gather people together, to brainstorm ways to get invovled, to lead other students and to devote my time and energy to this - because this is where my pasion lies. I care deeply for the women and girls around the world who lie awake at night dreaming of an education or wishing for an end to the violence they will face in the morning or fearing the next man to enter their room and abuse their young bodies. Knowing this has changed my attitude when in the past I would have gone to bed stressed about my exam the next day, tired because it's late, sore from working out or grumpy because I've been studying for the last 8 hours. Although some of these things are still important, in the grand scheme of things, I fall asleep every night knowing I am safe, that I will be safe and that I am attending one of the top ranked schools in the nation. And the stress I nevertheless fall asleep with, is in an effort to prepare for my future. With the degree I will graduate with I can devote my life to my passion - to turn oppression into opportunity for women and girls around the globe.  

To that end, the lantern represents the hope and the joy that has been radiating from my heart all week and I wanted to share it with you all too!

Fall Has Arrived

Hello everyone!

You may have noticed the new look of my blog - I thought it was time to switch things up and I think this one is easy to read and easy to go back and find recent posts if you've missed them.

Well, it's about the middle of October and that means several things here at Wash U: the leaves are changing and the campus is beautiful, the warm weather has left for good, and midterms are upon us.

I somehow got lucky with my schedule and don't have a crazy set of midterms. I had two big exams a few weeks ago, a paper due today and then two exams next week. That is nothing compared to most of my friends who have 4-5 exams in roughly a two week period. Besides the stress of exams, my classes are going well and although I was a bit doubtful at first, I'm enjoying my schedule.
- Micro is a pain - it's difficult and impossible to do well. It is curved though so I know that it's not as bad as it seems... but it's hard not knowing what kind of a curve he'll give so I have no clue what kind of a grade I might end up with.
- Children's Studies is a bit boring as an actual class (straight 1.5 hour lecture right after lunch - I have to try so hard to stay awake!) but the subject material is interesting and I'm enjoying what we are learning.
- Present Moral Problems is a fascinating class and I love the discussions we have every day. I am slowly beginning to speak up more in that class (it's a lot of very strong-opinioned people - of whom I am not one!) but I'm liking it a lot!
- Calc is just calc. Gross.
- Swahili is so fun! Ninapenda kusoma kiswahili sana sana sana! (I like learning swahili very much!) :D

My suitemates are still a delight :) I am so blessed to have 6 fun girls to live with! I know I keep saying it, but it is such a different atmosphere than last year and I truely am having a much better year because of it!

Golf has been going well and the fall season is almost over! I only played in one tournament, which was disappointing but I have not been playing well (especially in the qualifiers) so I haven't really deserved to go. But that's alright! The mid-season rankings came out last week and we are ranked the #2 Division III team in the country. Pretty outstanding isn't it! I know that just being on a golf team, let alone such a highly ranked and respected team is something I should be proud of and thankful for no matter how much I play - so proud and thankful I am! I'm looking forward to "turning up the heat" in the spring and playing in more tournaments!

Another exciting thing that has been happening recently is my involvement with an organization called Half the Sky. It is a national movement based off the book Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, which focuses on ending oppression of women and giving them opportunity. This national movement has reached out to college campuses and found students who are willing to work to bring the Half the Sky documentary to their campuses. I am one of these Campus Ambassadors and have worked hard over the last month and a half to organize our screening, which was last night! And it was such a success! We had roughly 90 people come and the documentary was overwhelmingly powerful. Everyone was emotionally touched and 90% of the people wrote on the feedback cards that they want to get involved with the movement! I couldn't have been happier! We are excited to work together and see what kind of change we can implement for our campus! If you get the chance - I would HIGHLY recommend you watch the film. Here's a link to places where you can buy/rent/stream/watch somehow.

Libby and I have kept up our cooking/baking habits. On Sunday we made a full meal for ourselves after we got inspired during our trip to Trader Joes :) Spaghetti Squash with homemade arugula pesto and Sweet Potato Biscuits! I also made a delicious pumpkin coffee cake for the golf team last week, which they quickly devoured!

Here's some other pictures from out latest adventures!

Libby and I at the Taste of St. Louis

Perfect photo op :)

At the golf tournament watching Olivia tee off in a playoff for individual medalist (first place), which she won!

Our Half the Sky Screening last night! That's me in front of the screen :)

Another shot from the Taste of St. Louis - Shannon, Me, Libby, and Robin

At balloon glow...
Amy, Libby, Shannon, Me and Helen

We took 1st place in the tournament! Yeah Bears!

In the swing of things

Well, it's Monday morning of week 4 (How did that happen?!) and I'm just getting ready for the day. I apologize for not posting for the last couple weeks - things are just very busy! As I have a habit of doing, I'll explain the last couple weeks through pictures :)

The first weekend (after classes had started) the golf team was off at a tournament and so I had the weekend off of golf and was able to relax and have fun with my suite! The weather was AWFUL (courtesy of Hurricane Issac that was hitting New Orleans) so we did a lot of movie watching and baking :) This was our snickerdoodle cake - amazing! check out my cooking blog for the recipe!

Christy and I with matching shorts :) (she's my roommate)

Our suitemate Marli matched us too :)

All the golf stuff that I got!

Libby made bread!

I made a pumpking pie dip - it was delicious!

Libby made a zucchini ricotta galette - oh my gosh it was like heaven

Some of the crazy weather we had

The next weekend we made pizza in our suite! We have a toaster oven (totally not allowed) and so libby made homemade pizza dough while we were all in class and then we bake mini pizzas in our toaster oven!

Last weekend I made these brown butter cookies with salted caramel buttercream  for the golf team - they were definitely a hit!

This weekend we went to balloon glow - which is this giant balloon lighting festival in forest park. it was SO MUCH FUN! and absolutely beautiful!!!

me and libby :)

What else? Golf has been very busy but fun. I haven't been playing super well and I haven't gone to any of the tournaments but I am going to the one this weekend! I'll keep you posted as to how it goes!
Classes are going well - I have my first exam this week (calculus yuck!). Not looking forward to that! Alright, well I'm off to class!
have a great week!