My First Blog: Sleepless Nights/Introduction

I remember a couple of years ago when my sister Jen still lived at home, I used to harshly criticize her for always staying up so late and being so tired during the day. She wouldn't go to bed until probably 2 AM and she would always be late to wake up in the morning and therefore late to school. I always went to bed around 10 or 11 and woke up when I was supposed to. Jen moved away go England and I took over her bedroom. I started college and slowly got less and less sleep. Working two jobs and going to college full time while only 16 is pretty difficult, I must say. I remember there was one particularly difficult week where I would start my first class of the day at 8:30 by drinking a Red Bull and a Starbucks Doubleshot can one after the other. Despite how it seemed, though, I really only stayed up until maybe midnight most of the time. It was more my business that wore me out.

I finished up my degree early and have basically had the last 5 months off of school. I have spent the last 5 months slowly teaching myself to go to bed later and later. I usually don't go to bed until about 2:30. I think my record was 5:30 because I decided to clean my room. That next day was fun since I had to wake up at about 9:00. So my mom has definitely noticed this change in my sleeping patterns and has so kindly reminded me of how I used to criticize Jen for staying up so late. I think it has something to do with this bedroom...

So all of this to say that I have spent a lot of my sleepless nights reading blogs as well as writing stuff of my own. Nothing has been posted online before, but I guess maybe it will be now since I have started this! I have a lot of thoughts swirling around in my mind, a lot of things I have been learning, and some of them will make it onto this blog.

A little bit about me:

My name is Katie. I am 18 years old. I have an AA degree and will be starting school next month to get a certificate in Dental Assisting. I've wanted to do this for at least a decade. Pretty crazy. I play electric, acoustic and bass guitar, but really only in my bedroom. Hopefully that will be changing soon. I name pretty much everthing I own. My car ('94 Honda Civic) is named Adelaide after the song by Anberlin. My laptop is Sean-the-Laptop because of an inside joke. And my Blackberry is Lucille, or Lucy for short. I named her after Lucille Ball because she is red with a pink cover.

I work two jobs. I have worked at Papa Murphys since April 21st, 2007. I know its wierd that I know that date, but that job seriously changed my life. More on that later. I also work at a dentist office. I started volunteering there in January of 2008 and got hired as an office assistant in June of 2008. I'm hoping to go full time in the near future.

I got a tattoo as an 18th birthday present to myself. I wasted no time and got it only three days after my birthday. But its okay because I had wanted this specific tattoo for over a year. My family still is not too pleased that I got it because none of them like tattoos, but oh well. I prayed about it and felt complete peace about getting it! I got it on my foot and it says 'agape' which is a Greek word for 'love.' I got it from the New Testement of the Bible. It means everlasting love, or more specifically, God's love for us. I got this tattoo on my foot for two reasons. First of all, it is practical because it can be covered up quite easily. But secondly, I got it there because it is one of the locations that Jesus was pierced with a nail, one of the locations that so greatly represents God's love for us.

Random facts:
My favorite Starbucks drink: A grande iced coffee with milk, breve, add shot, substitute either caramel, hazelnut or vanilla syrup.
My favorite bands: Flyleaf followed by Barlowgirl.
My dream Car: A yellow convertible Mini Cooper, which I will be buying on my 24th birthday.
My dream job: A merchandise girl/tour manager for a moderately succesful band.
My favorite song/music video: The Way She Feels by Between the Trees
My favorite place: The hillside at the Gorge during Creation.
My biggest accomplishment: Graduating from Skagit Valley College back in June.
My favorite brand of jeans: American Rag