Ohhh Back to School

Well, school has started back. This is our first full week back and I am not looking forward to it. Lauren had a swim meet this past Saturday against UNC. It was so much fun, let me tell you.. not. I actually don't despise watching meets. This time she got done swimming within the first 30 minutes of the meet, so I just sat there and watched some others swim. The Cranston's came down or up, not real sure, for the meet.. which is always fun. Shout out to Doctor C!!!!!!!! This weekend we just hung out around the apartment and relaxed. We went to Target and did a little shopping. Surprisingly, we didn't buy any chocolate while we were there. We then went to Pets Mart to look at all the dogs they had out. Then we were walking around and there was this HUGE dog. Lauren tried to pet it and the dog tried to bite her, I don't blame it. I would have too if she tried to touch me.

Today I have to go to the doctor to get my head looked out. Obviously, we all know that something isn't qute right up there.. but now we will know officially. They think I am going to have to get a CT scan, which I am a little scared about. But, it's better to find out what is wrong than to keep having these bad headaches. Tonight I am going to cook dinner for us. Which isn't weird, because Lauren never cooks. We're going to have chicken, asparagus, bananas, and cheesy potatoes. I am very excited about it, I am not going to lie.

Lauren has a swim meet this weekend in Florida. I am not looking forward to it. I won't be going, unfortunately. But, I might be going to the mountains with my parents. It's really boring up there, but at least I get to go shopping. The most important part about that would be to see Maddog. She is the coolest, everyone knows it.

Christmas Break

There is nothing better than being home for Christmas! Mom had the house decorated so pretty and what's better than waking up to the smell of bacon?? :) I was home for almost 2 weeks and went to New York City. I absolutely love NYC but it snowed, rained, sleeted and was miserably cold. I went with Austin and Meg and besides the weather we had a great time. Here is a picture of us in beautiful Central Park when it was about 10 degrees.

Christmas morning was as good as any other Christmas morning. Ya know how people say that when you get older Christmas morning gets less exciting? Well I don't think thats necessarily true. If my family is there - that's all I need! And thankfully Tiff and Bryan and BEAR :) :) got to join us. However, Christmas night was depressing. We saw Marley and Me and I bawled my eyes out. The only way you should see this movie is if you don't have a heart for dogs, or just a heart in general. This is a picture of the Cranston (and one Coker) girls :)And this is a typical Christmas morning in the Cranston household.


Luckily, after the freezing NYC weather I got to enjoy a week in Boca Raton, FL. I actually don't know if I should go right to the word "enjoy" because we were getting our butts kicked the whole time, but overall I got tan and in shape. Can't complain! We swam twice a day and after each swim we would go for a run. We had a couple hours of free time in the middle of the day when the girls would lay out and catch some sun while they boys would play volleyball. I get to enjoy New Years Eve next year which will be the first time in 4 years. Here is a picture of the Clemson Girls Swimming & Diving Team. Next year will not be the same without all these girls :(

And this is a picture of the beach and the pier from the view on our balcony:


I love 80 degree with in December!!

Christmas

The semester is over and it went by so quickly!!! It's hard to believe that in just 5 months I will be graduating from college! I can remember like it was yesterday, mom and dad driving me to my freshman dorm the first day of college! Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to do in May. Any ideas?

Overall it has been a great first half of senior year but with great things also come disappointment. This was the first time I could officially compete apart of the Clemson Tigers Swimming & Diving Team. I have sat out the past year and a half due to NCAA rules. However, the first two away meets of the season I was not chosen to go. I was getting very frustrated because I was working so hard and wasn't being rewarded for hard work. Thoughts that went through my head included, "I did not sit out a year and a half to watch results come up on a website." I did all I could to keep a positive attitude on deck and I continued to work hard. There are definitely things I learned from these tough times. Your true character and the person you truly are will be portrayed to others during these times. I did my best to persevere and eventually it paid off. Thankfully, I got to go to the second biggest meet of the season: The Georgia Invite that took place in Athens, GA. The team and I had a blast! Here is a picture of me and mandy at the pool:
The team leaves December 26th for training trip in Boca Raton, FL. We will be there until January 2nd, the same date as our meet vs Florida Atlantic University. Once the new year rolls in, I will have one and half months of my swimming career left. This day will be bittersweet!

Almost Fall Break!

So for the first time in my 21 years of life I carved a pumpkin. Thanks to Annelise, I now know how to do that (and my pumpkin ended up looking better than hers as you can see :)


You know what fall break means?? NO CLASS FOR TWO DAYS! I'm pumped. But I have to stay in Clemson for practice. I'm jealous that Annelise gets to go to the mountains with her family. Don't miss me too much Mannelise!