A graduate of the undergraduate sort...

Well, the time is almost here - 7 days to be exact! I, along with many others I'm sure, are wondering just how this time has come so stinking fast. My friends and I have been reminiscing recently of the good 'ol days of the previous 4 years here at Trinity and we have had some gooood laughs. Its weird how time has gone so fast, and yet cool to see how much we have changed in such a short time. I am grateful for the amazing times we have had together and am so incredibly glad that we have grown to be such good friends. I'm pretty sure this blog would be much more difficult to write if I didn't know when I was going to see most of them again. Luckily I will see most of them again when I'm back east come this fall - more on that later. Anyhoo, grad is this coming Saturday (May 1) and I'm pretty sure the fact that I have to pack up my entire Canadian life combined with whole weekend of events is going to be a whirlwind... should be a hoot!

As for plans after grad... I am headed back to the town of "P" to work for HomeGrown for the summer. The fall is looking to bring many new adventures as I head to Ottawa to participate in a more politically geared program through TWU. I'm excited for the experience that is awaiting me and am secretly glad that I don't have to head out to "the real world" just yet... shhhhh, don't tell the pa-rentals!!
Well, I should probably get back to studying for exams... if anyone was wondering, blogging is a great way of procrastinating! :) Oh, the univeristy life - I will miss thee!!

love love love

PS. The photo is from TWU's grad banquet... probably one of the best times... ever!

Good times in Hawaii... I think...

So, if any of you were wondering, I am safe and sound in Hawaii after one crazy tsunami day! We woke up to a hotel announcement of the tsunami warning telling us of the situation and advising guests to either stay in the hotel (3rd floor or above) or head for higher ground. Being that we had a group of 24 in two different hotels we decided to head to higher ground together. We were on the road by 8am and headed to Costco to get gas (and I have never seen such a ginormous line for gas at Costco) but beyond that we didn't know where to go. Side note: Our camp that has been our long-term home on the island is on the north shore so we couldn't head back there either... Anyhoo, we ended up staying at Costco (as that was one of the highest points on the island) and made camp there in the parking lot for 6 hours until the tsunami warning was cancelled around 2pm. We ironically ended up going to Waimea Bay on the North Shore right after that to chill on the beach after the stressful morning!! I have to admit that I was just a tad freaked out by the whole thing haveing never have experienced a tsunami before and all... I am glad it turned out well and no one (at least in Hawaii) was injured... thanks for all your thoughts and prayers throughout the day! It was much appreciated by everyone!
love love love

Pre-departure #1 and life...

As many of you know I have been given the great opportunity to travel with 26 TWU students, staff, and alumni to Hawaii to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity over spring break. We are now only 19 short days away from leaving and I could not be more excited! We have been having weekly group meetings since we retuned from Christmas break and at last weeks meeting it finally felt like we were a team. Overall, the preparation for the trip is going well and I am excited for the things to come!

On to another topic - life. Ahhhhhh, life is good! I will be graduating from TWU in April (with a degree in business and a minor in political science) and I seriously canNOT believe it! As far as plans after grad... I am still waiting to hear back on some jobs and on a possible political internship for the fall so we shall see! I am super excited about these possibilities and can't wait to see what God has in store for me.

Anyhoo, I think I have used my blogging procrastination tool long enough and should actually start on the lovely work that is due tomorrow!

love love love

Where has the time gone...

Who would have thunk it... its already been two years since I embarked on the journey of a lifetime with Semester at Sea. I feel so blessed to have had this amazing experience and my life has changed for the better since SAS and I could not be happier for it. Semester at Sea, Spring 2008 - there will never be another voyage like ours!! :)

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!!