What a year.

My goodness, it's been quite a year. Almost exactly a year ago was prom, but so much has happened since then. Let's recap, shall we?

• I graduated (and went to the subsequent parties). That was a biggie.
• I taught VBS to 3-year-olds. Happening again this year? Uh, duh.
• I partied it up on a houseboat at the Texas-Oklahoma border with the Tallowood seniors.
• I led my tribe to victory at Camp Tallowood.
• I traipsed up I-45 all the way to Colorado Springs with my motley crew of a team for a mission trip.
• I baked up a storm, then met my dad in the kitchen each night to see how much of it we could put away (if only so I could make something else). I'm telling you, summer: nothing quite like it.
• I was roped into a last minute pit-playing job for everyone's favorite student-produced musical, Floyd Collins. Best decision ever (and I'm doing it again this summer).
• I said goodbye. A lot.
• I did perhaps my least favorite thing for a whole month: endured oodles upon oodles of small talk through the death they call orientation and adjusting to life in a new place.
• I became part of the Symphony Orchestra and the Women's Chorale (never thought I'd see that day).
• I ate at Alinea, an insanely expensive but equally innovative and delicious restaurant in Chicago.
• I invented a new method for outlining papers, designed especially for all you visual learners out there.
• I met up with some friends from high school in Chicago and almost missed the train back to Wheaton...oops.
• I blogged every day for a month!
• I went a little nuts with the door decorations.
• I made it through my first Christmas Festival! And finals!
• I popped into Philadelphia for a little stay with my sister. Except for all the fun vomiting that went on there, I've been missing that a lot lately. There was a puppy. There was a fuzzy blanket. There was a comfy bed. And there was delicious food. And there was no need to set an alarm for the mornings.
• Christmas happened! (Brilliant, Margaret. Christmas in December, who would've thunk it?)
• I switched from the College of Arts and Sciences to the Conservatory of Music. That really was brilliant. No, really.
• I finally got some classes I cared about. I also made a decision only a crazy person would make in voluntarily taking Inorganic Chemistry. Who am I?
• I flew home to surprise my friend for her senior recital! Not only was it the biggest surprise I've pulled off to date, but it was the focal point of the first two weeks of my spring semester.
• I set off to make a recipe for some copycat buffalo chip cookies. Almost there, but that's another post.
• I shadowed two pit conductors in the big city of Chicago. Fun times, fo realz.
• I secretly trained to "run" a 10K on April 1. And by "run," I mean "get myself from point A to point B on foot at whatever speed I can muster." And by "secretly," I mean "everyone outside of my family knew."
• I showed a whole orchestra the wonders of Texas on our orchestra spring break tour to Texas! Made me love my state so much more.
• I made a couple more doors.
• I learned to play the flute.
• I applied for a bunch of things and didn't get them.
• I applied to be the sophomore class's Conservatory representative and the orchestra's Assistant Business Manager and got them!
• I baked a million things, and made a list of a million more to make this summer.
• And I missed all of you. 

Now listen. I'm coming home. But first, a stop in London to become a cultured person, sort of. B&Bs! Buggy rides through the countryside! Eating in pubs! Seeing musicals! Picnics on gingham cloths! By the time you see me again, I'll be interested solely in eating scones and drinking tea with my pinky out. Looks like you'll have some catching up to do. Better hop to it.