Surprises are my favourite...

It all started about 3 weeks ago when my Angels obsessed cousin called me with a plan... a plan to go to game 5 of the ALCS! That's right, Angels vs. Yankees wonderful-ness!!! Ahhh yes... the only catch, you ask?! Its a SURPRISE! :) While many would think this would be an easy feat being that I live 1,500 miles away, it really wasn't! There were numerous times that I had to, ahem, shall I say, stretch the truth to the parentals. My mom even saw my flight purchase on my credit card statement and thought it was merely my flight to come home for Christmas! Pfft... everyone knows I don't think THAT far ahead! Buuut, its OK mom, I'm glad you were oblivious to the obvious! :) Anyhoo, on to the surprise... Operation Halo began at 7am on October 22. I arrived in Fresno 2 short and sleepy hours later and was greeted by Alex (Angels obsessed cousin) who was wearing more red than there was on Parliament Hill for Canada Day!! Needless to say I had no trouble finding him. As we were waiting to collect my bag I mentioned in passing that my mom (who still knows nothing) was in Fresno for the day. Alex of course immediately called her and tells her he is in the area and needs to kill an hour so he would bring her some coffee. She of course, did not pass up the opportunity to down a free coffee so we were on our way! We pulled up to the office where she was waiting and summoned her to come outside. As the window rolled down, I held out the coffee to her and you could see the confusion/surprise/WHAT!?!? on her face and I believe her first words to me were 'You stinker!!' Now, I have never done this before but I hope that's normal! :) We had the chance to chat for a bit and then Alex and I (along with Lisa - the Yankee fan) were on our way to to complete the next surprise for my dad... but not without making sure my mother was sworn to secrecy for the next 2 hours before my dad saw me! (Sidenote - Although I did find out after the fact that she was THIS close to spoiling it... buuuut, she held back and blamed it on a senior moment instead!! HA!) The plan was for Alex, Lisa, my dad, and a 'friend' (aka me) to meet in Bakersfield and head down to Anaheim together. About 2 minutes before we pulled into Hodel's (the meeting point) I decided to call my dad and ask him about the game since 'I'm SO bummed that I can't go to the game with them'... He ironically answers the phone 'Hey Canada girl' (as I think, "Oh, if you only knew")... we continue our conversation as he was giving me a play-by-play of Alex and Lisa's arrival in the parking lot. He eventually opens the door to their car only to see me!! His reaction - Priceless! I don't recall any words being spoken but a step back and a cocked head (which, if you know my pops, any reaction whatsoever from him is quite the feat) said it all!! We spent the next little bit explaining how it all went down which in turn explained my mother's earlier phone call/senior moment to him! HA! It was great! The game was amazing too! We had awesome seats where me and John Lackey (and possibly Johnny Damon) became BFF! The game turned out to be quite intense and was glad I was able to experience it in person! A big thanks to Alex and Lisa for a successful/surpriseful trip home! I had a blast!

The rest of the weekend was full of sleep and the annual HGOF harvest dinner! It was a grand time with some amazing food thrown in!! All in all, a great weekend at home!

These are a few pics from the weekend! Enjoy!

love love love

The Beginning of the End

Well, here I am again, saying hello to a new semester and year... but this time, for the last time. It is uber weird for me to think of myself as a fourth year when it feels like just yesterday my parents left me crying in the parking lot of TWU (where by they way, I was already thinking of where and when I could transfer out of this place)... Oh my how things change! :)

I have been in Langley now for a little over two weeks now and am finally beginning to feel like I'm at home again! I am living with 2 other amazing girls in an on campus apartment this year and am so excited to see what fun adventures the year will bring for us!

Classes started on Thursday and I am really excited for them! This semester will be quite busy considering that my new political science practicum and student leadership position will take up any spare time. I am super excited to 'get my toes wet' and get a sense of the political world from my practicum. I have a meeting with my practicum coordinator on Monday to hear my placement - should be exciting!

Other than that, nothing much is new in my life... I am still struggling to accept the fact that this is my last year at Trinity... and pretty soon I am going to be in the 'real world'... eek!

I hope all is well with everyone! And don't forget, if you are ever in the pacific northwest don't forget your lovely friend/niece/cousin/sister/daughter in Canada!! :) love love love

PS. Here are some photos from the past 2 weeks on campus! Enjoy!

Team McMillan at the Banana Challenge 2009

Jestina, Julia, and I at the Banana Challenge - its ok to be jealous! :)

Andrea and Josh's wedding in Wenatchee, WA!

TEJAS!!!

Wow! So disclaimer, I always somehow end up uploading the photos in reverse order... oops! I'm sure y'all will still get it!!

Anyhoo, I went on my much anticipated trip to Texas last weekend and had a blast! I went to visit one of my best friends from Semester at Sea, Anna. We mainly stayed around Waco and Austin for the weekend but there was plenty to do there. On Friday I went shopping and got the AMAZING panda (WWF) shirt that you see in some of the pics below... WHOOHOO! Saturday was our big day!! We started off in Crawford to stalk Georgie and Laura's ranch... which apparently you aren't supposed to stop, stand, or park around so we just looked while driving! And just so you know, Crawford is THE smallest town I have ever seen... 751 to be exact! WHHHAAT??!! From there we drove on to Austin to check out the Whole Foods head quarters... I know, I know... I'm my father's daughter! We had an amazing lunch there before heading over to Lockhart to visit another friend from SAS, Wes. Wes lives on a cattle ranch and we had a BLAST playing with the cows!!! We went waaaay out on his property to find a bunch of cows so we could feed them! Once we stopped they began surrounding the truck and, I'm not gunna lie, I was a tad frightened! BUUUUUUT, all was well once we shared the food! They are soo cute, especially the babies! The next day it was time for me to leave... but not before we went to Austin's one and only Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where I took the wrong drink... woopsie!!! Whatever it was, was uber good! Before heading to the airport we also stopped by Swirl, an amazing self-serve (that was my favourite part) frozen yogurt place! Yummmm! Overall though the trip was really good! It was great to see Anna and Wes and the memories are endless! I always feel so at home when I'm around SAS friends and I can't wait for our next reunion! :)
Enjoy the pics!
love love love

Anna and I saying goodbye at the airport

The SASers - Anna, me, Wes

Cute cow!!

'No standing, stopping, parking' ... Oh Georgie

Oh yes... its real!!

Gehetto HEB!! HA!

SWIRL!!

Summer Time

So I have now been home for almost 6 weeks and I thought it was about time for a little update on life...
Although Porterville was not the ideal place to spend my summer it is working out just fine. I have been quite busy working for the marketing company and taking 2 online summer courses through Trinity. No world travelling plans for the summer but here are some exciting highlights of the past few weeks.
Another SAS milestone came a while back... May 9th was the anniversary of our disembarkation of the MV Explorer. It is so strange to think about... I can no longer say "a year ago today I was (insert exotic country here)." I am so thankful for my friends from the ship though - the memories always seem like yesterday when I talk to them! Later this month (actually in 19 days - but who's counting) I will be going to Texas to visit one of my best friends from the ship! Its going to be pretty much amazing!!!
I also celebrated my 21st birthday on May 4. My dad arranged for us to go to the coast for the weekend and celebrate my legality by going wine tasting (that was my idea though). Come to find out, I'm not the biggest fan of wine but hey, it was fun! My favewit cousin Etweeeee surprised me by spending the weekend with us as well. :) THANKS ETWEEEEE!
Anyhoo, I'm off!
love love love

Reading Week in Ottawa!

Here is a little glimps into my adventures in Ottawa this past week. We had a ton of fun and actually learned a few things about the Canadian government. I was actually able to sit in on questioning period of the House of Commons... it is basically a time for each party to tear apart the other. I found it quite interesting to say the least and who knows, maybe I will end up there with my internship!! HA! Another big experience for me was the bitter cold that I have experienced this past week. Today it got down to -20 but with the windchill it turned out to be -30. If you know ANYTHING about me, you know I do NOT do cold... so that is probably my one and only complaint! Anyhoo, we fly back to the west coast tomorrow morning and head back to hit the books... oh joy! These are a few pictures from the week... enjoy!!

We are Sparta(ns)!

This past weekend TWU was able to host both the mens volleyball and mens basketball playoffs and boy was it a weekend to remember. It was a triple-header (best 2 out of 3) weekend for both teams and a 3rd game was necessary in both cases. TWUSA (TWU's student association) organized a "Spartan 300" night on Friday and it was a complete success. Instead of me trying to descirbe the amazing-ness of that night I have uploaded a video for you to check out how it all went down! All in all it was a pretty good weekend. The mens basketball won and I believe they have now secured a spot at nationals... however, the mens volleyball took a heartbreaking loss in the 5th set of the last game... Don't worry though, we will be back bigger and better next year!!

PS. You will have to excuse the commentary and screaming in the video... I was just oh, so excited! :) Enjoy!

A year ago today...

A year ago today I embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Looking back, it seems like it was just yesterday I said hello to my new home in cabin 3066 aboard the MV Explorer. Little did I know how life as I knew it would change from then on. I still have yet to grasp the entire experience and I don't know if I ever will. I do miss Semester at Sea and my friends from all over the world... my life has forever been changed and I could not be happier for it! Happy 1 year anniversary, Semester at Sea, Spring 2008!!! There will never be another voyage like ours! :)

"One of the greatest lessons I have learned however, was not from any classroom, or any country specifically. I have simply learned to live. LIVE. Second by second, century by century. One world, a world apart, just live."