Oh, Another One.

I have decided to take up blogging again. I should probably stop taking these unannounced hiatuses, but life ( and laziness) does have a way of getting IN the way. But this time, I'm going to go at it. I even have a list.

A lot has happened in the 11 odd months since I posted. 

Mistakes. Decisions. Stress. Excitement.

In December, we took a lovely vacation to California. We drove. Texas to Arizona to California, it was kind of an epic Southwest road trip. We even took the Yorkie. I do love to travel--could literally do it all day.

We did a lot, saw a lot. But this picture typifies the drive to Cali,  I think the view is gorgeous and I'm too lazy to upload more pics. Sorry. 

In February, I earned my Suzuki Violin Book 1 registration. Officially registered as a violin teacher! I currently have a pretty active private violin studio--17 students, give or take...but I'm always looking for more (hint hint, San Antonio friends). I even have a fancy dandy (free, wordpress) website! (Violin Studio of Olivia Morales)

  

Last year, I made mistakes in the college planning process--missed deadlines, procrastinated checklists, "OK" SAT scores-these things were not deciding factors, but they were instrumental in the decision to stay at home and take a "gap year." This decision is one I'm glad I made, but the end of the last year did teach me a lot about the problems of procrastination.

I spent the better part of the Fall semester boot-camp studying to raise my SAT Scores. Through an awesome tutor and very nice software setup, I raised them 290 points, enough to get me into all of the schools to which I applied.

I say all--in a zealous effort to compensate for my deadline-missing streak of last school year, I applied to not 4, not 5, but 7 colleges around the country. I really, really wanted to move away from San Antonio--not from disloyalty or a hatred of my native city, but from a desire to see the rest of the country, to what the world outside this unique bubble is like. 

However, the Lord did not have that in his blueprint of my life. Overshadowing my immediate sense of restlessness is a head knowledge that I should really, really avoid the pit of $80,000 debt for an undergraduate degree, and I decided to attend a school in my town. I am blessed to have been accepted to the Honors College and to live just 20 minutes away, making commuting easy--I will remain at home, work and learn, and (Lord willing) finish my Bachelor's degree unhampered by crippling debt. UIW is also an historic school, founded by nuns in 1881--a few original buildings and lots of history, a pretty campus...I'm certainly not complaining. I plan on majoring in History, and then going on to either law or graduate school in a related field--we shall see how I feel in four years.

Over this coming summer, I am trying to build my studio, earn (and save) my money, and stay cool(ish), like any San Antonian. I also want to make it my summer project to blog more actively, hence this catch up/promise/hopeful post.

How does your summer/recent life look, dear reader? Comment below!