Ahhh so much exciting stuff has happened since I last wrote. So let's just jump right in, shall we? The weekend of October 18-20 was Parents Weekend, aka I GOT TO SEE MY PARENTS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN EVER! (Actually, I saw my dad when I went back to Texas for the TAMU game. But I hadn't seen my mom in 2 months.) Mom and I celebrated our reunion the only way we (aka she) knew how: shopping. A lot of shopping. Here are some selfies of us shopping:
Miss Vicki was quite proud of me since I essentially got us everywhere and she just followed. She was a little too excited to ride the subway for the first time: 
Cheesin' hard.
We not only celebrated our reunion but Mom's Birthday!!! It was a tad early as her actual birthday was the following Monday, but we had a super fun get together consisting of the Bass, Fleet, and Williams families (so basically we we're in Fort Worth). Sunday, my parents had to leave again, which was sad, but the day ended on a good note when I got to see Lindsey Stirling at a Church Fireside. To be honest, a few months ago I didn't really know who Miss Stirling was, just that she was my friend Crista's role model. Lindsey Stirling, for those of you who don't know, is a classical-turned-hip-hop violinist who will just rock your socks off. She also happens to be LDS and she served her mission here in NYC, which is why she came to talk and play for us. Lindsey shared with us her journey and played a few of her songs in between. It all lasted for about an hour and it was all super inspirational, so I won't summarize the whole thing, but I do want to share one of the quotes she used: "If you're not enough without it, you won't be enough with it." Though the quote comes from her favorite movie Cool Runnings and, when in context, refers to a gold medal, Lindsey applied it to fame and talked about how important it is to have self-worth and I thought that was really neat. Afterwards I waited in line to get a picture with her:
The next weekend I got to go back home for FWCD's 50th anniversary & homecoming game. It felt pretty weird being back on campus, but it was super good seeing everyone and reuniting with friends. Not only did I get a dose of football but some rodeo as well since the Red Steagall Ranch Rodeo was going on! Typical Texas weekend, but I loved every minute of it. It made coming back to NY a bit harder than the time before.
The best thing about New York though is that there are so many opportunities to do awesome things, and I finally started taking advantage of that. Starting with Ed Sheeran's concert. I went with Addy, who is my favorite person ever, and it was our first time in Madison Square Garden and it was amazing. We got Cotton Candy and it was yummy.
(Please excuse what I'm assuming to be my hand in the left part of that picture)
On Halloween I went to see Wicked with some of the girls on my floor and the floor above. It was the second time I'd seen it, but it was still amazing and I loved every minute of it. The night before we went they had just celebrated their 10th anniversary on Broadway, which is HUGE. 
One of my favorite things I've done though was going to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I essentially went by myself, which was lonely, but I had a BLAST and got to scratch it off my metaphorical bucket list (I haven't sat down to actually write it out yet). It was a gorgeous day too, the sun was shining and it was warm and just absolutely lovely. 
My favorite day to date was last Tuesday when Hunter and I got to see one of my favorite bands, The Head and The Heart. They are absolutely amazing and if you haven't heard of them I demand that you stop reading this and look them up this instant. I had to pull my first all-nighter of college afterwards for a paper, but it was so worth it.
I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
Last weekend I got to do a super cool thing with the missionaries in my ward (Warning: for my non-Mormon friends, this may get confusing). A few weeks ago they decided to do a chalk mural of the Plan of Salvation in Union Square Park, and it was so successful that they wanted to try it again. This time they got a lot more people involved, including yours truly, and we went to Washington Square Park to draw Lehi's Dream. Once again, they gained a lot of attention and I'm pretty sure that Deseret News is doing another piece on them. They had me give a quote, so when the article comes out I'll share it on Facebook or something. Anyways, the experience was super cool and I was happy to have participated. I don't think I really appreciated the efforts of the missionaries before then because I didn't understand how hard it can sometimes be. Don't get me wrong, we all had a blast, but it's not easy to put yourself out there and talk about the church to random strangers, especially in NYC.
Last night my floor-mates Jessica and Nicole and I decided to bake cookies and wear crazy pajamas for no other reason besides "why not?" The three of us are so excited for Christmas, it's kind of insane.
Maybe not the weather though. It was *snowing* on Tuesday morning, no joke. SNOWING. I'm not sure I'm ready for this yet.
I'm not sure you can see it, but I promise you that snow was falling from the sky.
So yeah, life's been pretty crazy lately but I feel like I'm finally starting to take advantage of all that this wonderful place has to offer. Especially Shake Shack. I've been three times in the past week, but let's not talk about that.
OH! Also, Hunter and I have been dating a year and he got me a cactus in honor of that occasion. Her name is Linda Dos and I am terrified that I am going to kill her. If you have any knowledge of cacti care, please let me know.
SAVE LINDA DOS! Really though, *help*.
Much love, Madi