Pssst. Have you heard of Psssst?

Hello, dear friends in the blog world. This past week has been an extremely busy one, so I am just going to highlight some of the ups and downs:

• WE GOT A DOG! And then the next day had to put him to sleep. It was one of the saddest things ever! He was a 3 month old border collie mix we adopted from the animal shelter, but the day after we brought him home he wasn't able to get up and he wouldn't eat or drink so my roommates took him to the vet and apparently he had caught some sort of virus from the shelter and there was nothing else they could do for him. Hopefully we will get another dog soon, but it shook Kristen up pretty badly because he was technically her dog and we had been waiting almost a week to get him.
• I cooked dinner for a group of friends from Cru that all lived on my floor in my dorm last year. I have never personally made such a large quantity of food, so it felt like another step in being a grown up. I made a chicken spaghetti recipe that bakes in a 3-qt container; it feeds like 12 people! But it turned out really well, so that was exciting.
• I had a poetry assignment due on Thursday and as of Wednesday night at 11:30 when I gave up I had a blank page. The next day I scribbled a couple of line ideas down, but couldn't get anything else that would work with the particulars of the assignment, so I turned in the couple things that I had... I have never been so frustrated with a writing assignment. My teacher liked the lines I did have, though, so that's good. I am dreading the workshopping process next week though because I don't have a complete poem and I have no idea what my classmates will say...
• This weekend is the Cru Fall Retreat! Please be in prayer for it - we are taking more students than we ever have, and there are a ton of girls going (which is, obviously, my main focus for ministry), so I am really excited about what God is going to do! I am looking forward to building new relationships and growing deeper in some of the ones that I already have. Plus we have a barn dance, which is always a fun thing. My boots have been in the closet for far too long!
• When I was packing for the retreat, I realized I was almost out of Psssst so I ran to Walgreens to buy more, considering it is an essential for weekends like this. What, may you ask, is Psssst? It is a spray shampoo that is basically an upgrade from the baby powder trick one uses when she has greasy hair. Baby powder is very risky for this brunette, so freshman year I was introduced to this wonderful invention. If your hair a little greasy or a little flat, just spray some Psssst onto your scalp, fluff and wait a couple minutes, then brush it out. Not only does it make your hair look like it was recently washed, but it adds a little bit of a lift as well! I wish I had known about this in high school to use after basketball games and such! You can find it at Walgreens in the shampoo section, normally near the bottom shelf near specialty shampoos (like lice and dandruff). Boys don't really understand Pssst, though - they think it's gross. Which is surprising considering how gross college boys can be in general, especially if it's time to do laundry...
• Lastly, it's officially fall! My friends know that I am obsessed with this season, and every year I do my best to make the most of it, doing things ranging from drinking and eating pumpkin-flavored things to taking pictures of fall colors to spending time outside... this year, I got to buy a little scarecrow for our front porch! And since we live in a family neighborhood, we are hoping to have trick-or-treaters!