Change is Good.

In less than a week, Christmas will be here! I've recently been reflecting on my memories of last Christmas... and even last year. So much has changed, and things just keep changing! Some of it is sad, but a lot of it is exciting! For the sake of nostalgia, I figured I should mention just a few of this year's biggest changes...

School- One year ago I was still in High School! High School was such bliss. In High School you have time for friends, you have time for your family (though too many high school kids take this for granted... I know I did.), you have time for a job, you have time for your FEELINGS. College is just a big old busy-fest. To any of those High School kids out there, bored enough to actually read my blog... ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS! I can honestly say that High School has been the best experience of my life so far. Take advantage of it! Be too busy. Be involved! Do everything that you want to do now, because I guarantee that you won't have any time for it in College.

Friends- Even though I'm still friends with many of the people that I was friends with last year, I've gained quite a few! If I can say one good thing about college, it's the fact that it potentially might help you to become closer and better friends with some people that you might not have really even known well in High School.

Family - A year ago... I completely took my family for granted. I'm going to be quite honest with you... I dreaded spending time with them! I had so much time on my hands, and a lot of it was spent at home, but I hated it. Now that I'm so busy, and I hardly get to see them, I cherish EVERY moment that I have with my family. My relationship with my sister has grown SO much over the past year. I even let her hang out with my friends and I. That's something that I would NEVER allow a year ago. I also used to hate helping my dad work on cars, and now it's one of my favorite things! I love spending time with my dad. I love learning things from him, and I truly enjoy all of the time that I get to spend with him! I've also been able to become a lot closer to my mom and grandma over the past year.

These are just three of the MANY things that have changed over the past year. Though I've lost a lot, and I miss the fun things that I used to be able to do, everything that's happened over the past year has made me a better, and more mature person. I really believe that. I'm so happy that I've been able to have the opportunity to go to college, not only because I know that I'm getting a great education, but because it's given me the opportunity to reassess the important things in my life. I've definitely rearranged my priorities over the past year, and that's without a doubt the best thing that's come out of all of this change.

Even though you might not think they're real, rainy days happen. No I'm not talking about days where it's actually raining outside, I'm talking about days that bad things happen unexpectedly.

So for Christmas I've convinced my dad to help me restore an old Yamaha Big Wheel that has been sitting in our back yard for the past ten years. He was going to pay for half of it, as my Christmas present, and I was going to pay for the other half, because it's going to be a spendy craft. Well... my plans kind of went down the drain the other day when BOTH of the front tires on my car went flat. I guess I never really realized it, but you have to replace them about every three years, and it came up quick! I mean, let's get real! Spend money on a car? Besides gas, I've never really had to buy anything, because my dad just has it all! I ended up spending $254 the other day, that was supposed to go into fixing my bike.

Now, I'm not broke... but right now I have a lot less money in my savings account than I'm used to having, and it's KILLING ME! All of those pairs of shoes, and swigs, and lunch dates with my friends are coming back to haunt me. I wish that I would have taken my dad's advice, and saved a lot more money than I have. I'm lucky that my "a-ha" moment wasn't completely financially devastating, because I know that it could have been, but trust me... I'll be saving a lot more than I spend from now on, because rainy days sneak up on you, and more often than not, they don't come with a forecast.