old news (another best friend is engaged!)

meet Constance Brittany Wood, my Auburn best friend.

she has GORGEOUS red hair, an extremely sassy attitude, and one of the quirkiest senses of humor I've ever witnessed. She's won pageants, eaten outrageous quantities of chicken fingers, and has an incredible amount of love for the people she's closest to. I honestly think she'd get in a throw down with anyone who even considered hurting her sister or her fiance in any way.

I remember being introduced to her at freshman girls Bible study, noticing how she rocked her short red hair and her zebra print cardigan, and thinking "she looks nice. I bet she'd be a good friend." oh, dear blog readers, how little did I know at the time that CBW and I would never leave each other's sides only weeks after first meeting. This is the first picture we ever took together:

that night, we bonded at Niffer's over corn nuggets and having the same car and having so much in common. Now we realize that we couldn't be more different, but when you're a freshman and desperate for friends, you'll grasp at anything to find common ground. (ex: both of our younger siblings called us "sissy" at young ages, we both consume peanut butter by the spoonfuls, and we both have an avid love for skinny jeans). Halloween is when we officially decided to stick together, when we discovered that we had crushes on two boys who happened to be best friends. That sounds so immature and naive and embarrassing now, but oh did we bond over trying to figure out how to work our schedules around hanging out and studying with those boys together.

eventually the boys moved on, and we found other things to keep our interest, such as stalking A Bryan Photo, watching gossip girl, spending absurd amounts of time at each other's apartments, laying out at the pool, eating cookie dough... the list goes on. people called us "Jance". yes, we had a moniker. we didn't go anywhere without each other.

sophomore year, we reached some disagreements and our friendship dwindled for several months, but was soon rekindled with hardly any effort. We're back to the way things used to be. She started dating Andrew, and to make a long story short, they are now ENGAGED!!!!

It happened MLK weekend, and I am SO excited for both of them. I'm going to be a bridesmaid and take their engagement pictures, and I'm so excited for every single second of it.

I am incredibly thankful for our friendship, the countless memories we've made together, the hilarious inside jokes we have... I can't even imagine what my life in Auburn would be like without her.

in which Jana talks about her behavioral neuroscience class

this semester, I'm taking behavioral neuroscience. why I added this class, I have no idea... I could've taken theories of personality, or social psychology, or some other fun psych class, but I. chose. behavioral. neuroscience.

due to this decision, at 8:00 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, I get to listen to Dr. Barker, my nearing retirement age and brilliant professor, ramble on about the brain and comparative psychological studies, and listen to him say things such as:

"there used to be this GREAT albino on campus! I used to follow him around everywhere, and in the day time, he wore thick glasses... but I have no idea what he wore at night, because I never followed him at night"

"can you imagine having the visual capacity of a cat? ...(makes random head movements like a cat would)... you'd go INSANE!"

"A librarian once told me that the term paper for this class is the most difficult assignment on Auburn's campus!" great.

Today, I withstood a graphic description of split-brain surgery, complete with EXTREMELY detailed drawings. I've never been one to pass out over medical procedures, but goodness gracious. PTL I'm not aspiring to be a brain surgeon.

It goes without saying that going to this class is definitely an adventure.

btw.. here is an adorable cover of my favorite song. It will make your heart melt.

it is SO great to be an Auburn tiger

we're national champions, and Monday night has joined the ranks of favorite life moments. I believe in Auburn and LOVE it.

this is what turning 21 looks like:

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

tuscan pasta and homemade red velvet cake with the fam jam on friday. amsterdam, my first cocktail and a bottle of wine with my auburn besties on saturday. and today, being back at Lakeview for a wonderful morning of worship, followed by a delicious lunch and fellowship with friends, a lingerie shower, and waiting for the ice storm (or as some have named it - "snowpocalypse 2011").

my roommate and I are determined to make this semester so much more fun than our last one.

I'd say we're off to a good start.

a late, but no less important "year in review"

As much as 2010 brings memories of stress and discontent, the more I look through pictures and remember what happened other than those months of uncertainty, the more I realize how exciting the year really was.

it began with worshipping and serving and glorifying my maker with 20,000+ college students at Passion 2010.

I fulfilled my quota of fantastic concerts - in 2010 I saw John Mayer, The Temper Trap, She & Him and Sufjan Stevens. woah baby.

my lifelong best friend Katherine became the first one of my friends to get engaged!

I had my first real summer job - something other than working retail.

I shot my first roll of 35mm film

Auburn's football team had an undefeated season, won the SEC Championship, had a Heisman winning quarterback, and is going to the National Championship! War Eagle!

I worked through my stubbornness and fear and, only by the grace of God, finally narrowed down what I want to do with my life.

and I celebrated the beginning of 2011 with these gorgeous friends, who are beautiful even when they are frustrated with the photographer and not smiling:

Here's to 2011 being even better than 2010.

happy birthday, blog!

one year down. hopefully many more to come.