Hello First Day Of School

In honor of the first day of school, we took first-day-of-school pictures. What first day would be complete without them?? I mean really, how many first days of Junior year of college at OBU does a girl get? Just one. Might as well photograph it! :) It was really fun to stop in the rush off to class and get a few pictures. I'm sure our parents appreciated them. It's not quite the same as with a large bush in front of the same window every year with two little brothers, but close. :)

Here's To First Days Of School Everywhere!

Last Day Of Summer....

We start school tomorrow here at Ouachita, and with that comes a last day of summer. Every summer has to have one. Therefore, today was dubbed that day. Excitement hung in the air as I had a lovely breakfast with friends and then planned out the rest of my day, including registration, unpacking, and staff lunch. This was all quickly interrupted by the loud, annoying beep of the intercom that OBU has put in all the dorms (which I just happened to be standing right under at the moment), telling us to "Stay put. This is not a test. We are in an emergency situation. Police searching for possible armed robbery suspect in area behind OCB/Anthony [two guys dorms]."  Nothing like this ever happens in Arkadelphia! (Well, not usually. It has been quite a bit more exciting around here lately, but not in a good excited way...) We got the OENS text messages and emails telling us that an armed robber was being chased on campus, but that the cops had it under control. What happened was this guy robbed U.S. Bank and took off running, towards campus and the river which runs behind us. Police and FBI (and our campus security) hunted him down, but in the mean time he lost a shoe, the money, and ended up on our soccer fields by a neighborhood and was taken into custody. Everyone is safe, and the day proceeded with normal activity by 12:30. It was a huge event! The entire campus is abuzz with talk of the chase. It's a little nuts! Facebook and Twitter blew up with info about the robbery. We knew what went on before it was on the news! Here are a few tweets/statuses from the excitement: [the names are abbreviated so that I could keep privacy as well as give credit.]

• Apparently the bank I was at 45mins ago got robbed minutes later. They're chasing the bandits all over town. Wild.-CM
• Cop chase on cherry street!!! Police screamed at me to get in the house as they drew their hand guns and shot guns and ran down my road!-JD
• No bank robber apprehended yet. My dog Kahlua however, would love a go at the cops. University security just showed up: what they gonna do?-JD
• Hey OBU, hide ya kids. Hide ya wife. And hide ya Tiger cause they chasin' everybody out here.-CM
• "Go into the nearest building until further notice!" Craziness in Arky involving a robber and guns!-AE
• Even better police quote: "Is anyone at the bank? No. Well, crap, someone needs to be at the bank!"-JD
• They found the money and one shoe: but they are not sure what side of the river he's on now. #Kindalikeprisonbreak-JD
• I've gained like 20 new twitter friends since this bank robbery went down, LOL!-JD
• RT @TwainIAint: Armed robbery + bored campus on lockdown = best OBU Facebook day EVAH!!-JD
• They got him: fun's over.-JD
• Welcome to Ouachita's World! Who ever said it isn't exciting? #thisishome-OBU Campus Activities
• News: Bank Robber dropped enough money near OBU that E. Village dorms will now be renamed in his honor.-DS
• ready to get my airsoft gun-that I don't have on campus ;)- and help the safety, cops, and state troopers catch the thief!!!-NP
• TO ALL FRESHMEN: Except for today, OBU is a safe place. This whole armed robbery things does not happen all the time. Stay inside though until it's over :)  -NP
• BREAKING NEWS: SNIPERS ON BRIDGE OVER CADDO RIVER (according to horrible facebook sources, so it take it with a grain of salt)  -NP
• registration day is normally pretty exciting, but this is just crazy!!! I guess we should all be thankful we weren't stuck in class!-RB "Be thankful we weren't all stuck in Christian Counseling Class"-AG 
• Hopes that this morning's craziness is not indicative of how this semester's going to go!-RB
• I just had lunch w/ the woman who saw the bank robber get captured on campus by FBI agents! AT is a living legend. Best staff lunch ever!-JB

Everyone is safe now, so no worries. Our dorm was on lock-down. We couldn't even get in with our keys if we had wanted to. Also, our suite doors lock and you have to use a card to get in, so we were completely safe. I was stuck in my dorm room with my roommates and good friends. We enjoyed our time visiting and speculating what was happening. At some point, we were all telling our parents about what was going on, and Aubrey's dad texted her back with some excellent safety advice: "You should all hide under your bed." He was probably completely joking, but I decided it would be a great idea to take his advice and use it as a photo opportunity!  Becca, Angela, Aubrey, and I had alot of fun getting these:

Classes start tomorrow, and while I'm not particularly excited about the busyness that comes with school, I can proudly say that I'm ready for classes and excited about the new semester. It took me a bit longer than usual, but I'm excited for marching band, and football games, and new classes, and tons of exciting new youth opportunities-like new leaders and schedules. I'm excited for a great semester! It's already been great, and we've only been here four days. 

I can't wait to see what all is in store! :)

Stuff Ouachitonians Like

One of my friends from church, Jessica, who also happens to attend OBU, has started this blog, and it's too hilarious not to share! I find myself laughing a bit too loudly at her cute wit and sarcasm about our beloved school. Turns out, though, that most of what she says is completely accurate-although cliche-about how things happen around here.
Check it: Stuff Ouachitonians Like. Enjoy! 

Jessica's latest post, #9, has hit home lately-as the kids in our youth group did the exact thing to me the other night. We had a city-wide youth party at the water park here in Arkadoo and I saw one of my friends there (who is dating my suitemate from last year). He has been helping with the youth at Fellowship Church this summer. We had both been in Arkadoo all summer, but hadn't seen each other but once this summer, so we chatted for a while while all my youth kids sat at tables due to lightening. I walked back to the table and half of them had already had me married off to Adam. Wow. The things that go on in this town... 

Happy weekend everyone! It's move in weekend around here, and the parents are coming up with all my stuff tomorrow, so the craziness will commence around lunchtime as dolley's are pulled out, stairs are climbed, carpet is laid, boxes are unpacked, decorations are hung, fridges are refilled, school supplies are found, friends are back, new faces are met, and Fall is in the air, and Summer comes to a close. :) Excitement!!
[Clarification: I'm not excited about summer ending. Just about everyone being back...]
I hope your weekend is a bit less busy than mine will be. :)

Love Always, Brittany

Life As A Nomad

The past few weeks have been insane! Wonderful, but a bit crazy. With moving from the Bean's to the Burgess's to home back to the Burgess's and then to my dorm room/apartment in a few weeks! Nuts. So much has happened in just a few short weeks...or even in just one!

 

I couldn't put all my pictures up, so I picked my favorites. The rest can be found on facebook or on the Picassa Web Album. :) enjoy

Time spent with the family around Arkadelphia and Hot Springs. :)

Family picture time!!

Tubing on Lake Ouachita was a blast!!!

The bath houses in Hot Springs

 

 

 

 

 

Do you need a biscuit?? You can get one there apparently :)

Welcome to Colfax, Texas! One of my favorite places on earth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bee robbing...so early! But awesome :)

 

 

 

 

 

Inter Milan!! They are a pro team from Italy.
Mom and Dad got tickets (which were originally a ridiculous $65)
for about a 4th of the price!
We went with Nate and Robbie Peace and had a blast!

 

 

 

My pretty dog! She got super scared from a thunder storm
and ended up hiding in our parent's bathroom closet. priceless!

I painted a lot this week! It started with little tables and moved to
this mirror and then a canvas. Brandon and I decided to
attempt to be creative with the mirror and sky
and camera...these are the results. :)

 

 

 

 

shocking!

This is going to go in my dorm room later. :)

 

Mom and I got pedicures! It was amazing :)

:)

Brady's in the band!! He got his french horn this
week and was SO excited about it! He wanted to take it
everywhere with him. He got a few notes
out, and I'm sure will sound great in no time! :)

 

I tried and didn't do too bad either... not that I'm
going to be a pro anytime soon, but it was fun to try.

Mom's new Middle School! It's absolutely gorgeous!
And the sky was so beautiful this day.
I couldn't resist lots of pictures :)

 

So lovely! (I wish OBU's library looked half this good!)

What an awesome past week! It was wonderful to be home and spend time with my family and see friends! I was quite sad to leave, but at the same time I was glad to finally get to Arkadoo. We've hit the ground running since being back. This is the first time I've really gotten to sit down and not be about to fall asleep :) So much fun!