OTIS

Last night Regent had their annual OTIS Film Festival to celebrate a select number of student films. Any current student could submit theirs but only 10 were chosen to be screened...and mine was one of them!!! I was shocked! Then again, I wasn't because this is God's film and I knew he wanted it to be seen by a lot of people. My film for my recent producing class focuses on a girl's struggle with pornography. It was such an honor to have it screened in the main theatre and hopefully impact people for good.

So this event is basically the Regent version of the Oscars. We dress up super fancy, winners of categories get little golden man statues, and we had an after party with professional photographers making us feel like Hollywood celebs. It was great to get such encouraging feedback from my peers and see their films as well. Such a great night! Didn't want it to end.

Deck the Halls

Our Christmas door.

Christmas Ball

So this year I had a date to Christmas Ball...STEVE! He was able to come for another week to visit me and it happened to work out that it was the week of the ball. It was such a wonderful night. First, Sarah suggested that we do the big reveal for our men (her beau came down for the ball as well) on the elegant stair cases of the main theatre. I didn't tell Steve a thing about my dress so it was a total surprise when I came down the stairs in a floor length, black, strapless, mermaid gown! And he looked so handsome in his suit with a red tie that matched my shoes and wrap. So classy.

After we went out to an Italian dinner with Sarah and Jonathan, we went back to our room for coffee and to kill time. At the ball, we walked around and took pictures with my friends and I enjoyed seeing everyone dressed up. They had a live swing band for a while but I forgot all my swing moves, so we pretty much stuck to slow dancing. Then the dance party started. So fun! I pretty much stuck with Erica and the gang for that and Steve even busted out a few moves. He was such a good sport :) Gotta get in some practice before our wedding dance party!

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving this year, my roommate from last year, Erica, once again invited me home with her. I was so excited when she asked me because I adore her family. We got to spend 4 days in Matthews and it was such so refreshing to be off campus in a real home. The first day, we grabbed Erica's brother and sister and went to see Happy Feet 2. It was so funny and we were totally the obnoxious people in the theatre laughing at everything.

On Thursday, we watched the parade on TV and then got ready for the feast. As usual, her Mom cooked enough food for two Thanksgiving dinners. Just to give you perspective, here are the dishes I remember: baked mac and cheese, green bean casserole, turkey, two kinds of gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, peas, sweet potato pie, chocolate cake, carrot cake, and of course sweet tea. Ya. We couldn't move after dinner.

Not as many people came as last year, but it was still like 15 all together. I got to hear lots of stories from Erica's grandpa too. Their family dynamics crack me up. At one point, a grandma and grandpa greeted each other like this: "Hey pumpkin head." "Hey moosehead!" I don't know...

We watched a few Christmas movies that night, and at 11 PM we left for Walmart to begin black Friday shopping. We were awake for 25 straight hours! We had some pretty funny delusional moments. When Ashely joined us at Target, we were really bored as we waited in line at Target for 1.5 hours. As we were being really loud and Erica was running into stuff, her Mom yells from two aisles down, "Y'all are being loud!" The people around us seemed very entertained...or annoyed. I was pleasantly surprised with the number of nice people we interacted with throughout the day. The only things I bought were Elf (a long overdue purchase) and shampoo. Ha ha! It really struck me this time how obsessed we are with things that don't mean much. We hit Walmart, Target, a mall, Best Buy, and finally IHOP. Got back to Erica's at 8 AM. And slept...

The next day, the Williams family included me into their Christmas traditions. I got to help them decorate their tree, and apparently I added artistic flare to it :) The rest of the visit was filled with an overdose of Christmas movies and much needed rest. It still won't feel like Christmas until I go home. But I'm so grateful for this family that has adopted me and allowed me to have traditions in Virginia for the holidays. I'll miss them next year.

A pre-Thanksgiving sunset just before we left.

Erica's cross-eyed snowman she made as a kid.

Erica has so many Scarlet ornaments!

Their boxer, Bullet, who thinks he's a lap dog.

Erica is such a wonderful friend to me.

Fall Colors

Here's those photos I promised Mom :) I'm so lucky that I have been able to enjoy the fall colors for two seasons. The trees went so fast this year! Seems like they transformed and fell within a week.