A Workin' Woman

Hey Everyone!

So, I am finally here. I am living in Mooresville in my own apartment!  Mom, Looie, and I moved all my stuff in on Friday, and it still didn't sink in that I was actually going to be living there.  I have been telling people about moving to Mooresville for the summer since Christmas, but I don't think I ever really thought it would happen haha.  

Mom and I came down last Monday to check everything out in the apartment, and to explore the town, and thats when we realized we had a LOT of work cut out for us.  When we first walked in the apartment, it smelled so terrible, like I was holding my breath it was so bad.  We got a furnished apartment so we wouldn't have to move furniture, and the furniture consisted of not one, but two recliners, a coffee table, two lamps, a tv, a toaster, and a bed.  Seriously minimal stuff here.  However, I was still excited because that meant that we could really do whatever we wanted!  

Here are the before pictures:

With a little bit a creativity, and some paint and nails, we spruced this place up! So here are the after pictures:

 

The Wardrobe Room

The Relaxation Station

La Cocina

Sleepin Space

My first night sleeping there was last night, and it was nothing short of weird.  I have been going non-stop since I have gotten home from school, constantly surrounded by people and things to do.  But last night I got home from Callen's state track meet, and I literally had nothing to do.  I was just alone.  I immediately had to turn on the radio just to get rid of the silence, and after dancing around I felt better.  I spend like three hours unpacking, and organizing, because I just needed something to do.  So, once everything was perfectly organized, I finally had to just sit down and chill.  I thought I could make some dinner, but I really wasn't hungry.  I actually haven't really had an appetite at all since I got here, but I think its just the nerves about my first day tomorrow.

The internship I am starting tomorrow is with Penske Racing, and I am going to be working with their PR, Advertising, and Business departments.  At this point, I really have no idea what I am going to be doing, and I think thats the part that scares me the most. Since I'm not a die-hard race fan, I am kinda scared that I will just look dumb because everyone else will know so much about racing.  Thats why today I have been studying up a storm on everything NASCAR and racing haha.  If you guys have any input help a girl out!

On a separate note, I mentioned that Callen went to the State Track Meet yesterday.  She made it all the way to State in TWO EVENTS! (thats really good by the way)  She competed in the Triple Jump, and the Pole Vault (she was the first place conference champ in both, the third place regional champ in the triple, and the first place regional champ in pole vault--pretty much she is a beast).  Anyhoo, after the move in on Friday, Mom, Looie, and I all went to Greensburo to meet up with Callen and Dad for the State Meet.  Because we were so proud, Looie, Mom and Dad, and I all made posters for our little champion!  

Callen ended up not doing as well as she wanted, but in the end it was a win because she met the guy who tweets #polevaulterprobs!! I am so proud of Callen, and I just can't believe there was a Burril who even made it to State!  That is an accomplishment in itself.

All in all, it has definitely been an exciting weekend! I am going to try to blog as much as I can about my life this summer, so stay tuned!

I'm not quite sure what my mailing address is yet, but I will be sure to let you guys know as soon as I find out!  I love you all, and please keep me in your prayers!

Peace and Adventures,

Mason :)

Ready, Set, Don't Go

Hey Guys!

I am in shock right now.  I only have 6 more days of class as a college freshman. How did this even happen?  It seems like I was just lofting my bed with Areshia yesterday.  But now, I almost have an entire year of college under my belt!  It has been so cool to be on this crazy adventure.  Being a college freshman is such a unique experience, and I'm getting really sad that it's going to be over in 6 school days!

There are a few things that I just want to reminisce on about my Freshman Year:

-Going to the first UGA home game as a student, and feeling totally out of the loop
-Knocking on all the girls doors on my hall with cookies, and getting denied
-Having to scan my hand to eat in the dining hall, get in the dorm, and go to the gym
-Being able to walk around the dorm and seeing a zillion familiar faces because we all live 5 minutes from each other
-Going to the bathroom with Ke$ha blasting in the background
-Going to my Econ test and forgetting my calculator and Student ID
-Having to introduce myself to every single person down here, because no one knew me beforehand
-Gaining 5 lbs in the first couple months because of the delicious dining hall cookies
-Having to learn to turn in all my assignments online, and realizing how your have to make sure there isn't an error before you go out so you don't get a major point deduction
-Learning that coffee is it's own food group
-Watching all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls in one semester is completely possible
-Learning that there are amazing, friendly people everywhere
-Always trusting in the Lord that he will provide

Ahhh I could just go on forever haha

But I want to make sure I tell you all about some of the exciting things going on right now!

1. I signed up to be on leadership with the Wesley Foundation (aka Freshley, the group I went to Jamaica with), and I got my first choice of doing Freshley Fellowship Events!!  We had to interview and go through a whole application process, so I am realllllllyyyyy excited!  As a part of Freshley Fellowship Events, I get to throw all the really fun parties and activities for freshman next year.  This year I went to almost all of the Freshley Events, and they are always so fun, and my team members are all really great people!

2.  Yesterday, I went to go hear the editor of Glamour Magazine, Cynthia Leive, speak about her job, and the impact that social media has had on it.   She was so inspirational, and you can tell she is a woman that means business.  She started early with her career, and so it was really cool hearing her tips for us as future journalists.  I have to also mention that she had on the cutest outfit.  It was a black and white flowy dress, paired with charcoal platform pumps. So cute. This lady had it going on. I just hope someday I will be able to be as happy as she is with her job!

3. Last night I went to my first rodeo ever!! Oh my gosh.  It was so hilarious. I don't think I have ever seen that many rhinestone belt buckles in one place.  I felt like I was back at home with the good ole' country folk.  But second to the entertaining people, the rodeo action was so intense! There were bucking broncos, barrel racers, rodeo clowns (those guys run around and try and distract the bucking horses from running over the cowboys, they are crazy), bull riders, and there was even a miniature horse!! Personally, I think the miniature horse stole the show haha.  But while we were there, we did what any rowdy cowgirls would do. We bought cowboy hats and funnel cakes, and yelled GIT-ER-DONE all night!

 

4. A bunch of my friends wanted to go on a road trip next weekend before we get down and dirty with our textbooks for finals, and they all decided they wanted to come to Asheville!! So, next weekend I am going to have around 10 girls come back home and stay with me! We are probably just going to do the whole touristy thing, but if you are in town you guys should drop by the house one night and meet everyone.  I think we are going to be coming on Friday afternoon and leaving on Sunday sometime. So just let me know!

There are so many things going on down here, and I just wish I could write about every single one! But if I did that I think I might fail my classes haha. I think it is safe to say that life down here is pretty great right now, but with finals coming up it's about to get real intense.  I hope that all is well with you guys, please keep me updated about life back at home!

I love you all, and I hope each and every one of you have a fantabulous day!

Cowboys and Comfort,

Mason :)

Egg-citing Stuff!

Hey Everyone!

So, there is less than a month of class left, and I am just shocked how fast this year has gone by.  It seems like yesterday that I wrote my first email to you guys.  This year I have learned so much about myself.  It really is cool to look back on those beginning weeks of school and see how I have changed.

I have settled in nicely with an awesome group of friends down here who love and support me, and I finally think I am figuring out the whole classes thing.  I am taking an Intro to Public Relations class, and I just turned in my huge project for the semester! I seriously cannot even remember how many hours I spent on that thing, but it actually turned out pretty cool.  I'll put a link on here so you guys can look at it if you want, its a press kit for a "Streetside Starbucks"(super snazzy name, I know haha).  But just like turning in this project, a lot of my classes are starting to wrap up, so I have a lot of final projects and papers I'm working on.

Along with finishing up these classes, I have to register for classes for next semester! I only have like 3 prerequisites I have left to fulfill to apply for Public Relations in Grady, so I have to decide what I want as a minor.  This process is kind of stressful because I really have no idea what I want to do with this, and I am also working on my study abroad classes for Spring semester, so I just need to make up my mind.  If you guys have any advice about this, I'd appreciate it, cause I am just so lost here haha.

In other news, tonight there is PRSSA elections for next year, and tonight at the meeting we are going to get to watch the candidate's videos. I am excited to hear all about these peeps because I want to become more involved with PRSSA next year.  I also sent in my application for Wesley Leadership for next year! I signed up to work with Freshley Fellowship, and they are the ones who do the events, and greet people at the door and I am totes all about that :)

Speaking of big events, IT"S EASTER THIS WEEKEND!!  I am seriously so pumped for Easter.
Reasons Why:
1. I get to spend my first 2 nights with Sir Mateo Burril
2. I get to come home and sleep in my comfy bed and take a shower without shower shoes.
3. I am skipping english class on Friday...Holla!
4. I am going to see the Titanic in 3D...can it get any better?
5. I finally get to see my friends! (missed out on spring break)
6. Easter Sunday is just one of my fav days of the year! -Its going to be egg-citing!!!

Please keep all of us college students in your prayers as we wrap up the school year :)

I love all you guys, and I can't wait to see everyone this weekend!

Hops and Kissses,

Mason :)

Jamaican Me Crazy!

Hello Everyone!!

So I have just gotten back from my mission trip in Jamaica, and it was completely amazing! I seriously am so bless to have spent my spring break with this awesome group of people doing such great things.  While on this trip I learned so much about myself, and how much the Lord loves me! So I am going to share a little bit about trip so you guys can see all that happened!

Saturday, Day 1: So I spent Friday night at my friend Katie Fosse's house, and her family was so nice! Her mom made us dinner and some really tasty juice, but we actually went to bed kinda early because we had to wake up super early to drive to the airport in the morning.  I woke up around 3:30 and Katie's dad drove us to the airport to meet our group at 5:00.  We were all kind of groggy but I mean we were so excited too! Going into this trip I was really only friends with one girl on my trip, Danielle, and she wasn't on my flight so I was kinda going into an unfamiliar group of people. We had meetings before every sunday night, so I got to meet most of the people on my trip there, but it was still kinda scary! This is a picture of Courtney, Kaleb, and I on the plane (Courtney was in my small group and we became really good friends, and Kaleb is Katie Fosse's Cousin and he went on another Jamaica trip with Freshly)!

So this is a picture of the hotel we stayed at; it was really small and we were pretty much the only guests all week. The people at Hunny Bay cooked all of our meals and they were so good to us!

Sunday, Day 2: We got up and ate breakfast, and then we went to a local church! The one I went to was called Family Church on the Rock, and it was a 3 hour long service! The people there were so happy to see us, and the preacher actually came later on in the week to speak to us at worship one night. On the left side are my roommates and I! The one on the left is Olivia, and the one in the middle is Morgan (awesome girls fo sho)!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Day 3, 4, 5: So on Monday we started our mission work! I went to The Golden Grove All Age School which had kids from Grade 1-Grade 6, and it was definitely one of the higher class schools in Jamaica. We got there and we could hear all the Jamaican kids talking, and it was so much louder than an American school!  My team painted the outside of the school and built a cement foundation for a new wall.  We worked on these projects all of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. However, Monday was probably the hardest day because it was raining while we worked, and all the kids had tests so there were kids in and out of class all day, so it was really hard to focus while they were talking to us the whole time!

This is my girl Whitney! I met her the first day and she gave me flowers and wrote me little notes all week! 

This is the outside of the school that we painted, it was just three walls with a courtyard, and we were helping them build the fourth  wall. You can tell its about to storm on us here! 

These are some of the school kids! The girl in the middle was super sassy haha. She always wanted to play "beauty shop", which consisted of braiding and pulling my hair until I had none left.

So after we finished up at our worksites for the day we would hop back in the coaster and go back to Hunny Bay.  The drive home was about  an hour so there was some really good sight seeing!

 

After we got back we would have some time to chill out before dinner (most of us would shower all the nasty off of us, but the showers were always really cold!). Then following dinner we would have small group which was my favorite time of the day! In small group I met with Kasey, Christin, Callie, Courtney, Katie Fosse, and Katie Nipp (try remembering all those names...mmhmm). But at this time we would just talk about our day, and we would talk about pretty much just anything on our minds. These girls became my best friends on the trip! Left to right: Katie Nipp, Courtney, Me!, Christen, Kasey, Callie, and Kaite Fosse!

 

So after small group we would have worship, and this was always just a great time to be close with God. Every night I would look up at the stars and it truly was magical. This time was always really special because each night we would grow closer to each other, and it was so awesome to experience worship together by the end of the week. After worship we would ALWAYS have snack, and most of the time it was some seriously good junk food that I simply could not deny.  I am sure I gained like 10 pounds from all those late night snacks haha. But it was soooooo worth it my friends.

Thursday, Day 6: So by Thursday we finished all of our mission projects, and instead of going to our mission site we went to a place for mentally handicapped adults.  This place was mind-blowing.  After mentally handicapped people turn 18 the government no longer provides provision for them, so this place was formed by a very special lady (who I sadly cannot remember the name of!). She has made it so this facility is self-sustaining with animals, and gardens, and solar power energy. It was so incredible, and their church was so beautiful! But the thing that blew my mind was that it was all done by missionaries! While we were there all we did was sing songs with them, and just kinda hang out, but they were so grateful still.

 The whole week we were singing Whitney Houston, and one of the patients said that she was his favorite, so that is why we chose to sing this song with them haha!

Friday, Day 7: This was one of the most tiring days of the week! Since this was our last day in Jamaica we went to the markets and did some serious haggling, and then we went to Dunns River Falls and climbed up the water falls! This day was pretty much filled with all of the touristy things in Jamaica, and it was really weird seeing white people again! There were a bunch of cruise ships docked here, and it was like being in America again.  This was just so different than what we had been exposed to all week that it was weird seeing people come to Jamaica but not even see what really goes on behind the shoreline.

 Yes, we did rock the mission trip one pieces with style.

 

Saturday, Day 8: We got up bright and early to head to the airport, and of course it was hectic, but we eventually made it home around 7:00 pm.  We had some good American Atlanta Bread Co. in the airport and then headed back to Katie's house.  By this time Katie and I were extremely pooped, and we pretty much went straight to bed. 

      All in all, this trip was so amazing, and it has greatly affected my college experience already because I have people who I can really trust.  Each and every person I went on this trip has such special qualities, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my semester with these awesome people to support me!  

      I also want to thank all of you that gave me money and prayers for this trip. This whole process turned out to be so rewarding, and I am just floored to see how much you all care.  I hope this little synopsis gives you a just a peak at how life altering this trip was for me! I love each of you so much!

Peace and Pineapples,

Mason :)

PS: I am just going to throw on these pictures too!

Flowers and Superpowers

Greetings Wonderful People,

So this has been a really tough week for the Burril family. We lost our dog Tulip this past Friday. She went outside around 4 in the morning, as she always does, and she got into it with some kind of animal. Dad said he heard Gadget barking differently than usual, so he went outside to see what was going on. When he got outside he found her about 30 feet from the house, with all of her ribs broken and her lungs filled with blood. Dad said when he picked her up it took all the strength she had to slightly give into his arms. She died in his arms shortly after.

In order to tell me the news my Dad flew through the rain on Friday morning down to Athens. Mom and Callen came shortly after because we were all so torn up. We spend the weekend reminiscing on all of our sweet memories and comforting one another. I cannot believe how much we were all affected by this. It is honestly like losing a member of your family, and this is the first death I have really experienced where I am mature enough to understand it all.

Tulip Burril was a very important part of my growing up, we got her when I was 9 years old. I was the happiest kid in the world when we picked her up from Wilson, NC on Febuary 12, 2003. Ever since then she has always been involved in our lives. She put us on the school bus in elementary school, went on our RV trips, flew with Dad almost every time he went, and she was always there to remind us how loved we all are. God blessed our family with a loving companion, and lifelong reminder of compassion.

We will all miss her dearly. She was our baby. We will never forget you Tulip.

Love,

Mason

This is the last picture of Tulip,
she was stowed away in my suitcase when I was packing :(

Chocolate and Chapstick!

So I'm Jamaica we all get "warm and fuzzies", and it's where we give a gift to someone's name that we have randomly drawn on our trip! I told everyone I liked chocolate and Chapstick, and someone left me a little treatie tonight!

All over the place.

Greetings All!

So how is everyone doing on this glorious day? I have to say that I am doing quite swell!  Last week was crazy stressful from all my tests, but this week is free and easy.  So...lets see, where should I start? I assume that you all might be getting bored hearing about classes, so lets shoot for some exciting stuff!

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this yet, but next year I am going to be studying abroad in Europe!!! I cannot tell you how pumped I am to live in another county, absorbing another culture, all while getting college credit.  How much better does it get? I went to a study abroad meeting, and I can basically go wherever I want to, I just have to choose what I want to study and where I want to go.  I have a couple cities in mind: Rome, Italy; Madrid, Spain; London, England; and Paris, France.  I know I want to go to a big city, so I just have to find the place that has some classes I want to take.  If you guys have any advice lemme hear it!

By studying abroad, I have set myself up for a lot of preparation.  I have to completely rethink my housing situation next year because I am only going to be here for four months.  So, instead of getting an apartment with my friends, I am going to have to live on campus with some rando people.  But I mean I am not going to give up studying abroad to live with my friends, so it's all good.

So you know how I am going to Jamaica for Spring Break?! Well the countdown has officially begun, and it is a mere 26 days away! I had no idea it was so close, and now I am kinda freaking out about how I am going to pay for it! So, you guys might be getting a little treat in the mail in the next couple of days :)  Going on this trip will honestly be so amazing, and I feel like I am truly being called to join these people to change some lives in Jamaica.  We have set up some awesome mission projects, and I promise to journal everyday so I can tell you guys all about it when I get back!

In other exciting news, this summer I am officially going to be interning with Penske Racing!  I have been chatting it up with Jonathan Gibson who is a VP for Penske (big stuff I know), and he is getting me all set up for this coming summer!  I think I told you guys a while ago that I was also applying for an internship with Seventeen Magazine. Well anyway, I ended up getting the internship there too, which was super exciting for me! Interning for Seventeen is a huge deal, but sadly I had to turn it down because of my Penske gig.  But the good thing is I have started a relationship with them, and hopefully they will keep me in mind for next year!  I just feel so blessed to be pursued by two awesome organizations. As my Public Relations professor says, "any experience is good experience".

Life down here is going pretty well, but I am going to be coming home this weekend and I am so excited!! I have missed the ole fam so much.  Shout out to Callen for going to state for pole vault!! My sister is a total pole vaulting champ.  Also, I want you guys to keep praying for all my friends in school because college is pretty tough on peeps, and also pray for Lily who is in Thailand (keep up with her blog on http://lilymcclureclarke.blogspot.com/)!!

I hope all of you have an out of this world Valentine's Day tomorrow! I will be going to see "The Vow" with a bunch of girls, then going swing dancing!

Holla at yo girl,

Mason :)