Life is Random.

I haven't updated in forever. That is because I have been busy slash awkward.

In the past month my family has 1) Found out my grandpa had cancer. 2) Moved him out of a nursing home and into my parents' home. 3) Tried to celebrate Thanksgiving while my grandpa was too sick to even notice. 4) Watched my grandpa die. 5) Had a funeral. 6) Dealt with awkward family drama. 7) I went back to Tulsa. (sad) 8) Basically got laid off....well, I found out on Friday that I was going to be at the end of this month. I didn't want to wait, so on Sunday I moved back to live with my parents for a while. Lol. That's crazy fast for a move, trust me. But I was going to move back home anyway, so the process just got sped up a little. :)

Yeah.

My life is basically insane. But with all of that I have learned a lot. 1) Life is too precious to spend it away from the people you love the most. 2) I don't know what I want to do with my life. 3) I need a break. 4) I like home.

I have also been given the rare opportunity to take some time off. I don't know how long, maybe short, maybe long. And what's even greater is that I get to prepare for the holidays with my family.

Sometimes, life looks like it kinda sucks, but everything about it feels oddly "right". I'm praying that in this time I can continue to grow and who knows where this path will lead me. :)

Oh, and if you live close to me now and you didn't before: we definitely need to hang out sometime. I miss you.

New Room!!!

So...Mom called me tonight with a surprise.

Yay! My new (really old) bed! So...basically my mom has wanted me to get to have this furniture all of my life (as did my Granny), but it never happened. I never really thought it was that big of a deal, I had okay furniture, no harm, no foul as far as I was concerned. But yeah, I am SO excited to go home and get to use this stuff finally!!! :) Plus, Mom painted my room (it used to be yellow) so it would all match better.

....and the trunk (I LOVE OLD TRUNKS!!!!!)

and the dresser.

:)

2 weeks. Ten Days.

Yeah, that's right...five days again this week. More time, plus slightly increased intensity workouts when I was in the mood. Yay!!!

Muscles I didn't even know existed!

I got a stability ball this week. I figure it's a $25 investment, and I'm pretty sure I'm right! After just two days of just using it to practice posture and balance, I am sore places I can't really say I've ever worked out before, and I love it! Add that to the 20-40 minutes of cardio I did five days last week, and I have to say I'm feeling great! :) So, yeah...mostly this is just a bragging post, sorry, I'm just really excited. Next week my goal is to keep it up! :)

In other news--Fall rocks my socks off! (well, not literally, I usually wear socks this time of year.) lol

It's been a long time...

So. Amber had her baby. He's BEAUTIFUL and wonderful and so much fun to hold. Oo, and he smells like baby lol which is always an added bonus.

Since I last wrote, my car has had to go to the mechanic TWICE but I think we've got it fixed now. Yay! Between the mechanic and me praying over it all the time, that car should be good to go. :)

My mom's dad went into a nursing home. My dad's dad has been sick.

I'm going to be an aunt soon, and I'm SUPER excited! :)

Nothing of much substance is going on in my brain right now, so I guess that's all.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!!!

The time is near upon us for one of my favorite Chinese holidays. The Mid-Autumn Festival, a.k.a. the Chinese Moon Festival. (which is on Sunday, btw) Basically the way it was explained to me was that it's kinda the Chinese equivalent to Thanksgiving--friends and family all get together to celebrate and eat. hahaha.

The first year our family celebrated this festival was the year that Rosy was living with us as an exchange student. We went to eat Chinese food at our favorite restaurant and the man who owned it made special "real" Chinese food and we had moon cakes. OOOHHH the stories. Basically, moon cakes are like a mm of breading surrounding a solid paste in the middle made of various fruits or beans or something. Honestly, I have no clue what they are made out of, but I do know that they usually taste pretty much disgusting. But still, every year we have moon cakes, it's a happy occasion because it is a wonderful time to hang out with your family and you know--laugh at how awkward the cakes taste.

This will be the first year since we began celebrating this festival that I won't be with my family to join in the fun. I'm kinda sad about this, but I guess that's just a part of growing up. Sigh.

So anywho...Happy Mid-Autumn festival everyone!

Crazy?

So...I wonder. If the opportunity to do something you didn't think would happen for a really long time (if it ever happeed at all) suddenly presented itself...does that mean it's the right thing?



It sounds crazy...........






and yet so very PERFECTLY WONDERFULLY SANE

More Pictures.

So, I have some more pictures from Panama--mostly from the San Blas Islands. It seriously was pretty much amazing.

Some of the Kuna children. :) They were way fun, and I invited them to a children's service at the church the next day--good times.

I wonder--is this boat Coast Guard Certified? lol. This is like my favorite boat ever, idk why--just because it's randomly beautiful when you look at it like this, I guess.

Okay, so this is the look of the ocean about an hour before....

Okay, so this picture really doesn't do this storm justice. Basically, to get out to take this picture, I had to run through driving rain--I was dripping wet within the 30 seconds it took me to run from my hut to the beach. The water was going up as high (and sometimes a little over) the dock thing, and there was tons of lightning. We actually had to cancel our church service that night because it was so bad and lasted so long. . . .And yet, you will notice that there are still several little kids out playing in the water. SO dangerous, but it didn't seem to bother them at all.

So...I have more pictures, but most of them aren't really great. I was really awful at the whole picture-taking game this year, apparently.

Pictures! (Finally)

So..Here are a few pics from missions this summer. Basically, they are all from Panama because I kinda couldn't find my camera in my suitcase while we were in Peru. Sorry. :)

It's the "Airport" ont the San Blas Islands. ha. That's the control tower. Checking in for our flight involved walking in a hut and telling them our names. Seriously, it's like the most fun thing ever.

Quico, our amazing Panamanian contact, and I after our weekend at the San Blas Islands. Basically--I was sick and we all smelled like fish--ew. haha.

Good times.

Some Kuna Indians rowing a canoe in the ocean. Not more than 20 minutes later, a HUGE storm came up and the ocean was crazy fierce.

LaSharyn and I at the church on the San Blas Islands. It was AWESOME to get to spend a few days with them and worship with them as well! The bumper stickers say "Jesus is Lord of Kuna Yala" and the other is from Victory Christian Center. :)

More to come later.

Shipping Container Houses.

Now, call me crazy--but I am wildly fascinated by the idea of houses made out of old shipping containers. Although I'm interested in doing my part to help save the planet--I have to admit, this romance is purely one of simplistic/modern aesthetics and my seemingly neverending love of things that are "different" (a.k.a. weird-ish).

I first heard of the concept of people building homes out of old shipping containers such as these a few months ago when I was reading a blog somewhere (okay, okay--it was on treehugger.com). Needless to say, I was initially intrigued, but reserved about the idea.

Then, for some reason today I caught glimpse of an article on MSN about it and was reminded...seriously. How fun would it be to build yourself a beautiful house using the most unlikely of materials? SWEET

.

I love the idea of taking something that is seemingly mundane and purely practical, and using it to make something beautiful and inviting.

Just look at the inside of this house....

It's totally beautiful. It's like living inside of pure art and I have to say I LOVE it!

This one is GORGEOUS too.

So...I guess the moral of the story is-I like these houses. I maybe wanna build one someday. . . . . . Just sayin. :)

The Lord your god is present among you,

A Strong Warrior there to save you.

Happy to have you back,

He'll calm you with His love,

and delight you with his songs.

Zeph 3:16-17

Everything.

So, the skit in this drama is basically amazing. I love it's presentation of the love of Christ. The song, is also quite wonderful, so for your enjoyment I will share both.

The video of the skit is to the right. I have made it a part of my page, and will probably keep it there for a while.


Everything
by-Lifehouse.

Find me here.
And speak to me.
I want to feel you.
I need to hear you.
You are the light,
that's leading me
To the place
Where I find peace, again.

You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light, to my soul.
You are my purpose. You're everything.

How can I stand here with you,
And not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how can it be,
any better than this?

You calmed the storms,
And you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands,
You won't let me fall.
You stilled my heart,
And you take my breath away.
Would you take me in?
Take me deeper now?

How can I stand here with You,
And not be moved by you?
Could you tell me how could it be,
Any better than this?


Cuz You're all I want,
You're all I need,
You're Everything, everything
You're all I want,
You're all I need,
You're everything, everything!

And how can I stand here with You,
And not be moved by You?
Would you tell me how could it be,
Any better than this?







Love it.

Home.

Sorry for the lack of update. Basically, I'm home. Back in Tulsa even. It's kinda nice. :)

I will work on getting pictures posted soon. Basically, I'm not positive where the cord to hook my camera up to my computer is at. I'm sure it's somewhere in a box I haven't unpacked yet. lol


So, today is the beginning of the Olympics. I am so stinking exticed! A--I love the Olympics. B--I love China. So for me it's really a win-win sitation. :)


For now, I'm going. Be back soon. :)

Baba Bendaje.

Is my new favorite phrase. It means :God bless you: in Kuna. (I don't actually know how to spell it though. lol).

This weekened we went out the San Blas Islands to spend a few days working with a church out there and hanging out with the locals. It was a blast. Basically we slept in huts (most of which had sand floors) and walked around the island barefoot. It was really pretty much the most fabulous thing I think I have ever been able to do. I loved it!

It was also awesome to get to hang out on the beach, and enjoy the beautiful Caribbean. Joy. :)


I have tons of other things to write about, but for now I must bid you adieu. I will do my best to upload pictures and post stories after I get home.


Thank you for all of your prayers these past few weeks friends. I love you, God bless!

San Blas

Leaving for the San Blas Islands today. Be back Monday. Please be praying for effective ministry, and safety. Thanks!

Sorry.

Sorry about the lack of updates. Turns out, the computers that were so wonderful the first few da ys of my stay here have died, and now we must use the world's slowest working computers. Sigh. I'll post about the trip as soon as I can.

Waiting...

I got my glasses all fixed. Well, sorta--They are Krazy-glued back together and haven´t fallen apart since I did it, so I assume they are fine. haha.

We are about to head out to pick up the team from the airport. I´m pretty much excited, because now I will actually have something to do. haha. With that being said, I am super grateful I have had the past two days to rest and catch up on some much needed sleep.

:)

Tomorrow is our first day of ministry. The team will be doing the drama in some schools. I can´t wait!!!

Like the Rain in Panama

I arrived in Panama last night! This place is so beautiful, I love it. :)

It was really stormy in Miami yesterday afternoon, but my flight was on time, which was a huge blessing! Seriously, all of yesterday was a blessing, I got to hang out with the Davids at the hotel, then Caleb came and helped me get my stuff to the airport (thanks, friend) and I basically waited all of 2 minutes to get checked in, it was fantastic. When I went through customs a little while later, once again--it only took like 5 minutes to get all the way through, it was awesome. I got through customs here in Panama really fast as well, so that was fun.


Now I´m just chilling out making sure some of the last minute details are ready before the team comes in late tomorrow night. It´s pouring rain right now, and I´m sitting here trying to watch it. I love rain, it´s so much fun. =)

In other news, apparently somehow my glasses got moved in the middle of the night from my bedside table to my bed, and i rolled over on them and they are broken. Sad. Luckily though it´s just at the nosepiece, so I can hopefully superglue them back together until I get home. Thanks Mom for insisting on getting the insurance for my glasses so I can get a replacement pair! haha

I guess that´s about all for now, I´ll write again soon!

To sleep or not to sleep....

That is the real question today.





Only a few short hours ago we went out our first two (of seven) flights leaving Peru. We are all praying and believing for smooth, safe, uneventful travel--not only on our international flights, but also getting all 500+ kids to their connections once we get to Miami. God has definitely blessed us with a very smooth, wonderful trip, and I totally believe He is going to see us all the way through until every last Brio missionary is safely back home in the loving arms of their families.





This trip has been awesome, and we couldn't be more grateful for all of your prayers. Sickness has been at a bare minimum. Teams have worked very well together. Really, everything has gone wonderfully. That in and of itself is a blessing, on top of all of the great opportunities God blessed the teams with. :)







Well, that's all from me, I'll see you state-side! :)

Wrapping up..

Tomorrow is our last day in Peru for the Brio Mission trip. Over 7,131 people made decisions to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour over the past several days. PRAISE GOD for putting those people in the path of just the right person from just the right team who could connect and help share their passion for Jesus. Please keep these people in your prayers as local churches begin follow-up with new believers. Pray that they will get plugged in with a great church family, who can help disciple them and help them grow in their faith.


Now we face the task of returning home. Logistically--it's a BIG deal, so please be praying for smooth travels, and that the kids make their connections with out a single problem (and with as few tears as possible).




So, all of my bags are packed, I think I'm ready for this. :) If I don't write tomorrow, happy trails, talk to you soon.

I'm giving it all to you,

A few nights ago, I had the opportunity to share in a wonderfully intense moment with God, along with the 500+ teens, and adult leaders here in Lima, Peru. There is something miraculous to me about such a large number of so many young people who truly love God. It reminds me of how blessed I am to have the opportunity to be a part of it all. I know that what we are doing here is ministry, it is the work of God. Sometimes it's tiring, sometimes it seems nearly back breaking, and yet all the while, I'm just happy to be here. To me, this isn't about a call or a command that we were given in the Bible, it's about doing what I love, and I thank God for the opportunity to do it.


Anyway, so one of the songs that particular night is called "Visions." It is a beautiful song, you should listen to it sometime here. (the sound is kinda not great, but who cares, the song is good). The lyrics are wonderful--inspiring, challenging, and encouraging. Particularly the chorus, which I will share first. :)

"Visions"

So take my life, I'm giving it all to you
Whatever you want me to do, I'm going to follow you
My mind's made up, I'm gonna pay the cost
Just to see salvation of the lost.

I see a vision, of a generation, coming back to You
I see a vision, of a generation, getting lost with You
With hands raised high, with one voice they cry to a Holy God:
"I once was blind, but now I see Your love for me."

I see a vision, of a generation, crying out to You
I see a vision, of a generation, bowed down before You
On our knees, Lord have mercy for we have sinned
Come wash us clean, we long to see your Glory.

So take my life, I'm giving it all to You
Whatever you want me to do, I'm gonna follow You
My mind's made up, I'm gonna pay the cost
Just to see salvation of the lost

I see a vision of a generation sold out for You
I see a vision of a generation that would die for You
Refiners fire is our hearts desire to be like You
So as we decrease Lord You will increase, Hallelujah

So take my life, I'm giving it all to You
Whatever Your want me to do, i'm gonna follow You
My mind's made up, I"m gonna pay the cost,
Just to see slavation of the lost.


I feel like I"m just beginning to learn what that really means--to give whatever it takes to share the Love of Jesus with the whole world.

In Peru!

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I have arrived safely in Peru (yesterday) and now we're just getting all the stuff rolling for our 13 teams to do the ministry that they came here to do! I'm so excited to see how God is going to work during the next 9 days. :)


Love you.

More soon. (hopefully)

Thank you.

I almost skipped church this morning. I'm SO glad I didn't. It was so great to be reminded of God's promises and blessings, even in the midst of adversity.



God is good, and I trust in Him alone.

Packed and ready to hit the road.

So. Here's a quick update on my life in the past few weeks. I found a place to live, moved in. My car got backed into by a pickup a few days after I moved into the neighborhood. Joy. Luckily, my car still runs fine, but it looks really sad. I'm just praying that the guy's insurance company calls me Monday or Tuesday, because I'm leaving on Wednesday and I really kinda need to get this settled before I leave.

Anywho....this past week has been stressful between the car thing, and other stuff, but it's all good. God knows what He's doing. :) Even though I know that God is in control, I can't help but be a little bit worried because I just found out that I am not going to have enough money to pay the rent for the month of August when I get back. :( I know I need to put it all in God's hands and just trust Him, but I'm concerned. I don't want to have to live my life like this and yet--at least for right now, I'm completely helpless to change the situation.


So...Wednesday, I'm leavin Tulsa for home. Thursday we're driving to Dallas, and Friday I'm flying to Miami for my month of missions. I'm pretty excited. :D I'm going to try to blog a little, but no lie--it probably won't be very much, sorry. At least I'm being honest about it this year though. :)

Sweet.

God is so good. It's pretty much fabulous. :)

So...Amber's wedding was fantastic, if I may say so myself. Being at home for a week after was also great, I loved it.

Yesterday, I came back to Tulsa. I'm happy to be back, it feels kinda weird because we're in the middle of missions craziness, but I'll get back into the swing of things soon, (hopefully).


I am so excited about where things are in my life right now. For example, my $$ for Peru is all paid, so I'm good to go there. PLUSSS, I just found out today that I have a place to live! I'll be renting a bedroom from a friend of a friend, which is going to be basically fabulous, I think. I'll have my own bathroom, plus there is cable, internet, and all the bills are included in rent. It totally feels right, so that makes it even better! Oh and I have a lead on a maybe job, we'll see how that works out. :) With the way everything else just seems to have fallen into place, I'm not worried about it at all. God will totally provide the right job at the right time.

YAY!

My birthday is this Thursday, that's exciting too I guess.

Praying

Life is a whirlwind right now. I've been in Tulsa for about a week and a half, working at Big World...Quite possibly loving it twice as much as I ever have before. Seriously--it's amazing. Turns out, I'm going to Panama in July, like 2 days after I get back to the country from Peru. I'm totally stoked, and kinda nervous. lol. It's complicated.

My best friend is getting married next weekend. I'm SOOO excited. I'm sitting here, planning the bachelorette party. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be way fun. :) (hopefully) I can't wait. :) Amber's going to be a great bride and I'm sure their wedding is going to be beautiful! awww.


Oh and ALSO...I kinda found out about this place to live. And before I went to see it, I was totally conviced it wasn't what I wanted. Then I saw it, and I was totally sure I wanted to move in ASAP. Then I started crunching numbers, and realized I couldn't afford the rent for the next two months with no income. So....I had to call her today and (sadly) tell her, I just couldn't make it work, ut that if there was another opening in August or so, to give me a call. THEN she told me that she'd call me back on Monday and see if we could work it out. So now, I'm kinda back at square one, because there are a lot of good things about this place and then a few drawbacks as well. I'm so horrible at making decisions! lol


I also have some other news of the more serious/spiritual sort to post again soon. I'll try to do it early next week.

I'm so sad.

Today is one of those melancholy sort of days where the whole world just seems like it vomited all over you. Tragedies are all around. Things don't work out the way you planned...I just can't seem to handle it today.

and even though I know I really have so much....it feels like all I have is Jesus.




All I need is You, Lord
Is You, Lord.
All I need is You...

You hold the universe
You hold everyone on earth
You hold the universe
You hold
You hold

All I need is You, Lord
Is You, Lord.
All I need is you.

Words

I have so much to say. . .


and yet I don't quite know what to say....






This is all I know--God is Good.

Well...this is new.

Um.

I'm heading to Tulsa tomorrow. I feel really sad.

I would have to say that today is the first time that I've followed my dream, and my calling anywhere and absolutely dreaded it.

I mean, always when I've left home it's just been for the summer, just for a few weeks, just for a month, but this time it seems more permanent. More official.

Maybe my mom's emotional state since graduation has affected me more than I realize. But seriously--I'm only going to be gone for a week and a half, then I'll be back for like a whole week or two. It's not that big of a deal.

I guess really what is bugging me is the sense of unpreparedness.

I mean, I'm heading to Tulsa and I won't have a paying job until September.

Which means I need to start looking for a job.

I am living with friends for a bit--but I need an apartment.

Which is a little added stress because if I'm going to be gone for a month or even just 2 weeks in July, I will be unable to afford rent for that month

...so do I just wait until August to get an apartment?

Where will I live until then? Will I find a job soon? Will my car start giving me trouble again or will it be okay? Will I be able to find a nice-ish apartment in my budget? Will my projected budget be enough to live off of?


Ugh. The "real world" is a scary place. :-/

Life.

Yesterday I attended my last college lecture. Wow. It's totally surreal and well--crazy.

Finals started today--I don't have any until tomorrow though so I'm doing homework and packing and stuff. It's really nice, I got to sleep in this morning and I worked for a while, now it's time to get cracking on other things though. I have figured my grades for classes and stuff...and I could fail every single one of my finals and still pass all of my classes (with Bs and Cs no less). That makes it really tempting to not study at all, but I probably still will. But it's just nice to know. Takes a lot of stress off and now I can just enjoy this, my last week of college.

This week, my advisor and her husband (who is the dean of our college here at the University) hosted a little get together because one of our Spanish professors is leaving and the first class of Spanish majors is graduating. It was really fun to just hang out with my friends and stuff. :) Oh and at the party, they gave me my honors medal that I'm supposed to wear at gradation. YAY! I'm so happy.

I have been really introspective lately, about how much good (and bad) college has done for me. And it seems like even the bad things that have come from college have ultimately brought about good in my life--growing up, learning to stand up for myself, learning to cherish my friends and relationships more, learning how to rely on God more fully, and learning to fight my battles; not alone but with His help....College has been great. I'm honestly kind of not really sad to be leaving though, because I know that I have a whole new set of adventures waiting for me when I get to Tulsa. I can't wait to see all the places that God takes me.

Also--my leg is getting better, which is way exciting. Apparently the meds I'm on though can thin your skin really bad, so I'll only be taking them for another week at which point I have to stop for at least a month. I hope things continue to improve with that though. :)


Yay. Life is good.

I <3 Pathologists

I got the call yesterday back from the biopsy of my leg. Turns out have some sort of granuloma dermatitis? Idk what it is actually--something that sounds complicated.

Basically, it's just some form of rare something that probably originated with a bug bite. Haha. In case you can't tell, I know nothing of medical issues.

Anyway, basically, they are pretty sure that it can be cleared up pretty easily with some steriod cream stuff. Hydrocortisone on crack basically.

Wal-mart was out of the stuff yesterday, but it should be here today and I can get started on it. Joy.


In other news. I love Jesus. :)

Caring for Creation....Is it really about your politics?

I know a lot of great people. I know a lot of great Christian people. I know a lot of great Christian people who tend to be conservative.

I like a lot of these people a lot. They are good people really. But I have recently come to disagree with some (/many) of these people on certain things.


Yesterday--I celebrated my first Earth Day by turning off my AC for the day. It really wasn't hot enough to need it and so I figured why waste the electricity to leave it on. It was actually kinda pleasant in my room, so I plan on continuing this and only turn it on when I'm truly uncomfortably hot.

Anyway, I know a lot of people who think that Earth day and trying to protect the environment is just for hippies and crazy liberals.


But is protecting our Earth really an issue of politics?




I think not. I think that protecting the resources of this beautiful planet that God has given us is just another form of worship and respect for the Creator who made it all. I'm not saying that you have to go all crazy and attempt a "no impact" lifestyle. But what about cutting down that impact? It's not very hard.

Turn off the water while you're brushing your teeth--that wastes GALLONS of water every single day. Turn off the lights in your house when you aren't there. Lower (or raise in the summer, I guess) your thermostat--just a degree or two, chances are, you won't even notice the difference. Start using reuseable shopping bags.

You know, these things aren't even a big deal--but if hundreds or even millions more people did this every year, our negative impact on planet Earth would be significantly less. Not to mention that, but most of those changes are also going to save you money. So you're protecting the planet and protecting your bank account all at the same t ime. It's a win/win if you ask me.


Just consider it...forget about the "crazy liberals" and make the decision based on what you feel is right.

I want to leave you with this last thought--it comes from pastor Rob Bell:

"How we treat the creation reveals how we feel about the creator."

New.

I trust Him.



Creator of the Universe. Savior. Beginning and End. Jehova Nissi. Yaweh. Adonai. Almighty.


Why would I trust anyone else?

I'm holy.

Really, I am. Well, Hole-y at least.


So, I've had this thing on my leg, at first we thought it might be stagph, then we thought a spider bite, now--9 months later, this thing is still on my leg. It's better than it used to be, but still not gone, and I'm not gonna lie, that kinda worries me.

SOOOoo, I finally decided to give up on our family doc and go for a second opinion. Instead of spending tons of money on going to a new doc, I decided to just go to the school nurse. She had no clue, so she took pictures and took them to the doc she practices under.


He said--you need to do a biopsy. So....today I went in.

For the record when they take a biopsy, they have this hole punch thing that the make this big hole (like 5mm) in your leg and then cut out some tissue to be studied. The shots for the anesthetic stuff hurt, but then (obviously) I couldn't really feel the rest of the procedure, so aside from the horrible sight and the creepy crawlies, it wasn't all that bad.

But now it hurts. Kinda bad actually. Ow.

Anyway, so I should know sometime next week (hopefully) what is actually going on. Please pray that the pathologists figure it out soon, cause I'm not good at waiting. And also pray that these holes in my leg heal well without any problems .

:)


Hopefully we'll know something more soon.

I love spring

I love spring, it's great...almost as great as fall. I love all of the typical cliche things about this time of year--the rain, thunderstorms, fresh green grass, trees waking up from a long winter sleep, new flowers....ahhh, it's pure joy.

So, I have something kind of huge. I have been told that, as a girl, I am supposed to have a favorite flower. Usually if somone inquires as to my favorite flower, my response is "Oh, whatever is pretty"...which remains true. I have carefully chosen to not pick a "favorite" flower and make it well known on a whim. This is because I don't want to tell someone that something is my favorite, then get it as a gift and end up hating it. Yes, I am perfectly well aware that this is absurd, but these are the things that go on in my brain. So, I have postponed defining my favorite.

However, I think I now have chosen something:

Daisies.

Especially Gerber daisies.

When I look at them, they just make me smile. It's not becasue they are supposedly "happy flowers" or anything, I just think they are pretty. I like their vibrant color and their "typical" flowery appearance.

I also particularly like their thick stems, and how they look in a vase with just one or a few stems. So pretty! :)

Other flowers I TOTALLY dig include:

Orchids: Once again in the single-stem (or few stem) arrangements.

Simple is better.

And basically anything else that is absolutely, and simply beautiful. Clean, pretty colors, and flowers that look gorgeous in sparse arrangements (and pretty vases). :)

I love...

life. I really do.

Things have been going great lately, so that's pretty exciting.

I think I have finally found a topic I can run with for my senior research project, which is GOOD considering it kinda has to be finished in a week or two. School is kinda stressful right now, I kind of wish I felt like I was getting more things accomplished than I am. Seriously, if I never wasted any time, I would be basically caught up on things...but I can't seem to quit wasting my time talkign to friends, going out, etc, etc. I have been getting better about it though, so I'm proud of that.

I'm also kind of stuggling with this whole wedding planning game. It seems like my best friend is not really working at making her wedding plans at all, and the wedding is in 2 months. We've gotten all the dresses, so that's a good start, but she still doesn't have a location or anything. I don't want to be like overly pushy and make her angry with me, but I also want to help out and help her get some decisions made so that she won't have to spend the last month before the wedding FREAKING out and stressing out because she's not even remotely prepared.

I am also doing her wedding cake. I know that my cake decorating experience is...well, not very much at all. But I am really excited about the opportunity. I would really love to learn more about cake decorating and maybe even some day do it as a side job (slash hobby) for people. If I'm good, that is. Hopefully I will be, because just thinking about getting to work with cakes again makes me really excited. I love getting to do creative things, and unlike some of the other creative things I have tried in the past, this is something I really think I might have talent for.

I guess only time will tell. :) We're doing our "trial run" today. I'll try to take some pictures.

In other news, I have a homework assignment due in my biology class at 12:30 and I have kinda only done one or two of the questions for it. lol. Guess I better get to work!

Refreshed.

There is nothing like a good 4 days of intense work to get ya all rested up over spring break. hahaha.

No really, the last four days have been fantastic. Tuesday, I drove (in the pouring rain the whole way, lol...fun) to Tulsa to volunteer at Big World Ventures for a few days over the break. Tuesday, I made phone calls then spent the night in a hotel. Wednesday we went through EVERYone's file for the Brio trip to check them and I spent the night with Alisha and Jorge. Thursday we filed, and entered info into the computer, then I spent the night with Caleb and Becca. Then today we....didn't do a whole bunch...got the mail, made some copies and the MOSt fun ever--arranged my soon-to-be hall slash office so it looks more like an office than a hallway. yay! So...by all accounts, it doens't particularly sound like a restful week, but trust me it totally was.

Something about, being somewhere I love, doing something I love, and hanging out with people I love...it's great. It makes practically anything fun, and can brighten the most dreary of days. I love it. Turns out I was right that this week was exactly what I needed. I feel rested and ready to head back to school for a few months. I can't believe I'm graduating....it's going to be great! :)

It's not late or anything, but everyone else is asleep....so maybe it's time to turn off this computadora and catch some zzz's. I'm sure everyone will be up by like 7 in the morning anyway, yay for hotels. :-) lol.

Craziness has officially set in...

Man...I'm feeling it right now. You know, that thing where everyone freaks out if you are taking any more than 17 hours in a single semester? Yeah...I've got 25. Seriously, it's nuts...I have good days, then I have days when I wonder if I will ever survive until May 10th. But it will be great, really...What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I am learning how to be more disciplined, what's really ironic to me is that--along with the more discipline--has come a greater appreciation and enjoyment of my free time. Lunches spent with good friends, will be precious moments I cherish for long after graduation day.

This Wednesday two good friends and myself traveled the three hour drive to Tulsa to see Rent, the Broadway show, in real life--not just the movie. Seriously, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time...I knew basically every song, I knew the whole plot, there were no major surprises...I was just so excited I couldn't sit still.

Also on Wednesday my best friend asked me to be the maid of honor in her wedding on May 31st. I am so excited. I'm kind of nervous...I really have no clue what a maid of honor is supposed to do. Plus her 2 roommates, the other bridesmaids are like totally prepared, they are making plans, arranging our shopping trips, contributing all of their amazing ideas and skills to make this wedding a success for our friends. Makes me kinda feel like a bad friend because I'm kind of on the outside looking in so far....I hope to get more involved now. They've been "in the loop ever since they got engaged a week ago...I've been kind out of it....but I want to help out as much as I can. We're going dress shopping on Monday. It's gonna be way fun....I hope....I'm nervous about that too....I've never had much luck finding dresses that I like. I'm praying the search goes well...both for me, but more importantly for my fave bride evah...ambam.

Well...it's spring break. which i like to (slightly) lovingly refer to as "homework week". Yeah, that's right...I'll be doing work most if not all of the break. I'm excited though, because I'm going to Tulsa to work at the office for a few days, so that'll be WAY fun.


I guess that's all for now. If you think about it, please be praying that the craziness of life right now doesn't get to me too much. That'd be fabulous, thanks.

Life...

Okay, I know this is the stress talking, but life kinda sucks.

Really, life is fantastic, I've been growing a lot lately, which I love.

But I have too much school and too much drama going on in my life right now. It's not really very fun. Sad face.

I have decided though, that a trip to Tulsa to see Rent tomorrow...AND a trip to Tulsa to volunteer slash hang out at the best office in the whole world, with some of my favorite people is probably just the right medicine to help cure my current ails. Thank you Jesus for giving me sweet opportunities for rest....or at least relaxation.


I think that everything will start looking up after today anyway, because today is my super stressful day. And I heard some things last night that have hurt my feelings and made me really sad...but maybe I can handle it better after all of this school crap is over with. Hopefully.


Well...I guess that is all, I'm done ranting now.

A little tale for ya...

Let me tell you a little tale…Yesterday, it was pretty warm. Then, this cold front was coming in, and it made some pretty nasty storms. Because that’s what warm/cold fronts do to each other, and voila—we have tornados. Joy.

While I was at my parents house, it rained and hailed…Then things suddenly seemed to clear up so, I decided to go ahead and go back to school.

I start driving, it’s a little rainy, but nothing major. Then, I turn back onto 54 about 18 miles or so from town and it stops raining entirely for a few minutes. Weird. Then all of a sudden it starts POURING and hailing. Having never driven in hail, I kinda freak out…I pull of on a country road and call my mom. She says that if it’s not terrible, then I should just keep driving because there is a wall cloud, but she thinks I’m on the tail end of it, so it won’t be a big deal.

SOOO…I have to turn around on this tiny country road, trying to be really careful to not get stuck in mud, and get back out on the highway. Then it starts hailing more….and more….and then the hail gets bigger….and within a few minutes, the road is so covered in hail that my car can’t get traction very well anymore and I’m kinda swerving around, so I let off the gas….and yet my car doesn’t slow down. I’m freaking out, but finally things even out, and I’m a little less scared. So here I am driving in this crazy hail storm, clutching the steering wheel, praying that God will protect me. But seriously, maybe I don’t have enough faith, but I could hardly imagine that I would make it out alive…

After about 5 minutes or so of this, I finally get out of the hail, and it’s just pouring down rain. Shoot, I can do rain, no big deal, so I chill out a little. I speed up a little, trying to get to town because my parents said there was wall cloud that I needed to get home ASAP. Well, it turns out 60 was too fast and I started to slide on the road, and lose control. So I let off the gas and try to keep my wheel under control as I’m sliding and swerving down this hill, all the while I’m about to meet a one ton truck. Once again, I could hardly see how I was going to make it out of this alive. Then just in time, I get back control of my car and things are good again.

As it turned out, my parents misjudged where I was at in relationship to the wall cloud and I more or less drove straight into the bad stuff. Eek. THEN my dad tells me later that there was a tornado that touched down just a mile or two from where I was at within like 5 or 10 minutes of me being in that area…wow.


Basically, I now consider yesterday to be pretty much the scariest experience ever in my memory. I was so scared, and I was driving alone, and I am convinced that God’s protection is the only reason I didn’t have a wreck or get hurt…it was seriously that bad. So yeah, thanks God—you rock.

Sad...

It hurts my heart when I see my friends doing things that are bad for them. It feels seems lately that I have done an excellent job of picking "best friends" who do just that. This week, I finally cracked and instead of it making me sad, I just got angry. I probably said some things while I was angry that I shouldn't have. . .oops. But ultimately I stand by everything I said, I just should have let them stay thoughts in my head instead of words coming out of my mouth.


I don't like friends that are stupid. Dang it--You know better! You do, I know you do...because when we were closer you never hesitated to criticize people for doing the exact same things that you are doing now.


So...I have come to a conclusion. I hate the things some of my friends do...I hate that they are kind of ruining their lives and they are too close to their own situations to see it....but I guess it's their choice. After all, God gave them free will, just like He did me, all I can do it voice my concerns, and let them make their own decisions. But no matter how much I can't stand what they are doing in their lives--until their bad decisions start to creep into my own life, or until they no longer want to be my friend, only then will I stop being their friend.

I think that disposable friends is a huge problem in our society today. So what if someone doesn't agree with you political views...so what if they do stupid things to themselves? If you really care about your friends, you don't just give up on them. You stick by them, because maybe eventually they will hit rock bottom, and they need someone just like you to bring them back to what is good and right. Or maybe they won't even have to hit rock bottom before they see--hey, my friend...she is living the life I used to...I miss that life, I want to go back.

So I guess all I'm saying is this--Stick with your friends, they may need you and your good influence in your life later.

(This is different than when, say, someone is a jerk and a liar and they hurt you and your other friends and family and yet they blame everyone else for the problems and act like they've never done anything wrong...that's a justifiable reason, in my opinion)

Money money money.

As of late, thoughts of the green have been invading my mind constantly. I hate money in a lot of ways. Money…is valueless…except that societies all around the world have decided it is necessary and they have therefore given it value. Whatever. That’s fine, I mean there has to be some form of commerce in the world, so it’s all good. But ultimately what I hate about money is how people tell you that you have to have it (or at least spend it like you have it) to be worth anything as a person. Now of course, all of you—my logical wonderful friends know better than this, but many people around us do not.

In an effort to develop a healthy working relationship with money, I have started to study it. For example, up until about 4 months ago, I had never considered saving in pretty much my whole life. Not because I have any problems with saving, but I would rather just spend my money. But then, I started to realize that it was definitely a good idea to save—to save money in an emergency fund because emergencies can and do happen; to save to buy a new car or house or other big ticket item, so that the amounts of debt I have in the future can be greatly reduced; to save for retirement, because having a million dollars to retire on is probably going to be an absolute NECESSITY in the future.

But then as I started reading more and more about money…I realized that not only do I want to start saving more or less immediately after college, but I eventually want to invest as well.

But alas, I have all of these aspirations when I have 2 obstacles to consider. Numero Uno…I’m not going to have all that much money at first. PLUS number two—I have ABSOLUTELY no desire to be rich because as I said earlier, I kinda hate money. So I’ve been trying to find the happy medium and I have stumbled upon my new favorite word.


Frugality.

Apparently, there are thousands of people in this country who are doing the very things I want to do, but not by landing the $100k/year “American Dream” job, but rather by reducing or eliminating their debt and living a common-sense life when it comes to spending money. Cool. And living frugally doesn’t mean that you give up all of the finer things in life. If you really want a 50-inch plasma TV or something, then buy it…when you have the money to do so. If you want a new car, get a new car—but make sure you can afford the monthly payments on it without stretching your budget so thin that you give up on your savings plans.

I really like the things I’m learning, it’s quite interesting. If you are even remotely interested, I highly recommend that you check out Smart Spending Blog. It’s a part of msn.com but it has new blogs every day with tips and thoughts about spending your money wisely, and when it’s wisest to be really frugal or when it’s best to really not worry about it so much.

This leads me to my new quote for the week: "Frugality is more than saving a few pennies and becoming debt-free; it's about pursuing your dreams and not someone else's idea of success."

Don’t spend more than you should just because people expect you to. Follow your goals and dreams and find you own, personal brand of success in life…and that doesn’t just apply to your finances.

I have opinion and you should listen to it.

I hate stupid people. And I use the term hate very broadly, mostly they annoy the bejeezos out of me. Here's the dealio. Lately I have noticed with increasing frequency that people use excuses such as stupidity and/or ignorance as a way to get by with being rude.

For example...let's say you make a racist (or racist-ish) remark. Not even something really bad...and the person you say this to happens to be a really nice person and doesn't blow up in your face for your racial stereotyping. Good for them, for being so nice...but you just got away with something that is COMPLETELY unacceptable...on a plea of ignorance. Well, I've got news for you buddy. It is the freaking 21st century. The civil rights movement happened 40 something years ago...that means that discrimination isn't right according to the GOVERNMENT so as far as I'm concerned ignorance is no longer a valid excuse. It's flat out stupidity and you need to get with the times.

This doesn't just apply to racial predjudice either. It words on all levels--sex, gender, religion, sexual orientation (yeah that's right, you need to be nice to homosexuals too), and more. Come on people. Is is really THAT much to ask for you to treat people kindly and with respect? I don't think so.


Seriously, this really bothers me. I mean, I have my own mistakes that I have made in the past and I am learning from them...it happens. But when people repeatedly make stereotypes and sweeping generalizations about any group of people, by they lesbians or Chinese-Americans or whatever, that's just not right dang it.


*** end rant ***

Dreams becoming reality.

For as long as I can remember, it has been one of my dreams in life to graduate from college. When I started on my journey here at SWOSU, I was expecting an experience completely different that what it has been so far. It has been astoundingly better at times, and at other times more difficult than I had ever imagined.

But alas, my dream is quickly becoming a reality...Yesterday I went over to the Bookstore and picked up my cap and gown. Like any other normal-blooded college senior, I HAD to try it on. I sat there, standing in fron of my mirror amazed. I'm really graduating. Wow.

I can't believe how fastly the time has gone by. Freshman year I thought I would be here until May of 2009, then that summer I decided December of 2008, and somewhere along the way everything changed and it is actually happening. I'm graduating this May. It's kind of crazy to me really. I don't think it will really feel real until May 10th has come and gone.

This semester is definitely nuts, so I'm keeping plenty busy to keep my mind off of the imminent ending of my educational career (at least for now, that is). I also found out last week that I am one credit hour short from graduation, so I will have to add another one hour class. haha. I have chosen "Basic Microsoft Word"...it is going to be SO easy. haha.



I have a new quote of the week. Sorry I've been so negligent about those... "If 1000 people tellyou no and you get one yes from God then that's all you need to make it" --Tyler Perry.

The PERFECT Valentine's Day!

This year, I had the most perfect Valentine's day!

Honestly, I'm so lucky and blessed...I have had great Valentine's days for all of my college career.

Freshman year, Jason and I drove to Tulsa for a Casting Crowns concert--which we missed more than half of. hahaha. Then we got lost in Jenks and it was a really great night with one of my best friends.

Last year, Amber and I made cookies and dirty VD cards at the dorm party, then had a fantabulous dinner at Casa Soto. I think that was actually the night before the actual day, but it was still great fun.

This year, I once again was given the most perfect heart day I could have possibly asked for. :) I got to have a really delicious carne asada dinner with my parents, sisters, grandmas, and my aunt Sheila before we headed back to campus to see the Peking Acrobats. My aunt's husband and sons came too, and so I got to hang out with my super funny cousin Brandon and watch the MOST AMAZING show on earth. I freaking LOVE Peking acrobats...This was at least the 4th show I've seen and every single time, I am sitting on the edge of my seat freaking out and like squealing every time they do something dangerous. Seriously--it's amazing. Anyway, I got some funny pictures on my phone, I'll try to upload them sometime. Plus--the last half of the show the Natti Natster was getting tired (it was 2+ hours past her bed time lol) So she sat on my lap and rested on my shoulder. It was sweet. And she's super excited about me going home this weekend which always makes my heart happy. So all in all, I loved today...especially since it's my last Valentine's day around home, so what better way to spend it than with my family. :D Yay.

I hope the rest of you had a wonderful V-day, no matter whether you're single or with someone!

Love ya.

Worries:

I am worried I will be alone forever, but even if I am, that is okay because I am still a great worthwile, important human being.
I am worried about moving to a new city all by myself.
I am worried about how life will be when school is no longer a part of it. Will I get terribly lazy? Will I find peace and contentment, in the working world? What will happen?
I am worried that I will always be ugly, no matter my size.
I am worried that I cannot do it....life that is. What if I screw it all up?
I am worried that I will never be the woman I want to be.

So I found this blog from November on my xanga today….I was reading and kinda smiled to myself because how much my attitudes have changed since then...I've been through a lot these past few months...a lot of things that have made me stronger, and I'm pretty happy about it.

I’m not worried about being alone forever…even if I don’t get married, I have great friends and I will make even more new friends when I move this year, so really I’ll never be totally alone, ya know?

I’m still slightly worried about moving across the state all by myself…but in the past few weeks this peace has just come over me, and I’m actually more excited about it than anything.

I’m not worried about being out of school…I’m going to have so much to do. I’m pretty sure I’m going to try to get a little part time job at night to help me out financially, so I’m going to be totally busy.

I’m not ugly. I’m beautiful. Right now. I don’t have to lose any weight to be beautiful. (although I still want to for other reasons. lol)

Seriously…It’s life...I’ve been living for twenty years…I can do it. Sure, I’ll make some mistakes along the way, but nothing that can’t be overcome.

In a lot of ways…I already am the woman I want to be. I’m not perfect, and I still have a long way to go but growing is a process and although I don’t ever want to stop growing and maturing, I choose to be content with who I am right at this very second.

Stimulating the Economy....

So the President is supposed to sign the economic stimulus plan into law this week. I, personally am pretty dang excited. What kinda sucks for college students is that the money may never make it to your pocket because they will re-route it to pay for any government debt that you may have (i.e.—student loans).

So here’s the dealio. If I get the money….I’m not spending it. Not on stuff anyway. I will put it toward this summer’s missions efforts. Or I will save it to help me get an apartment when it’s time. Or I will use it to pay off extra principle on my car, so I can finish my loan on time (I’m about 3 months behind and $600 would put me right on time…how convenient). My point is, I want to spend mine responsibly…instead of stimulating the economy, I would like to stimulate my economy, as selfish as that may sound.

All I’m saying is that America as a whole is a society FULL of debt. I use plastic to buy stuff we KNOW we can’t pay off anytime soon. So instead of paying $200 for a new…table and chairs [sorry, it's the only example i could think of] for our kitchen, we end up paying like $100 extra, or more. When if we would just be smart with our money we could have waited a little while, bought the table and chairs later, and then in the long run had a hundred extra dollars to spend on something else. If you want to stimulate the economy in the long run, stop charging all the time, unless you can pay it off right away. (unless it’s a super-emergency…which can and does happen on occasion).

Of course huge-ticket purchases, like cars and houses don’t really apply to this…I mean after all I have a car loan myself. But even at that, if those were the only debt every person had—we’d all be in good shape. Credit card companies? Mabye not so much, but whatever, it’s all good.

That’s kind of the same way I’m looking at this whole economic stimulus thing. I want to spend $600 extra dollars on paying of extra on my car loan, so my car will be paid off sooner. THEN I’m going to start saving money so that the next car I buy will be a NEW, foreign something or other that has incredible gas mileage and will last me like forever. See? Great plan, I know. I’m excited. And in 12 months, of saving the money I would normally have spent on my car payment, I’d have $1200. If I could get my old car to last 4 more years (which is probably possible) I would have a $5000 down payment for a new car. That would be like…25-30% down payment instead of the traditional 10-ish. SWEET. Can you say, low monthly payments? heck yeah.

Anyway, while your pockets are temporarily bulging from fun new money this May (which is even more fun because you won’t have to pay taxes on it), use your brain and spend it wisely. Have fun with it if you want, but don’t spend a $1000 because you have $600. Spend what you have and be thankful you have as much as you do.

haha. Yeah, that wasn't very smart.

So, Monday night I went to my prayer group as normal, it was a good time and we even got out like way early. So it's like 9 o'clock and Bre, and Beccah and I are heading out of the House and we stop and start talking in the parking lot....about an hour later I'm like shivering and we decide it's time to go. It was really warm that day and everythings, so I had worn flipflops which probably didn't help a whole bunch, but it's whatever....So anway, Tuesday I wake up and I feel like POO. I'm achy all over and my throat is sore and I'm starting to get a runny nose.


Dang.


Yeah, so I've been sick all week now, and I have decided it's probably because I stood out in the cold for like an hour with no jacket or real shoes to speak of on. haha. I'm dumb sometimes.


The good news is, however that now that it's the weekend and I don't have to go to work or class, I can actually breathe again. haha. Just my luck, eh?


Anyway....that is all I have to say for now.

Wow.

So last weekend, my mom, grandmas, and I went shopping. It was pretty fun. While my grandmas shopped at the mall, my mom and I went all around town doing different things. We went to Mardel, and I found Hillsong United--All of the Above. I was wanting a new CD and I figured what better. So I bought it....Let me say first of all that the whole CD is AMAZING. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I was driving home to my parents' house from school yesterday and this song called Hosanna came on.


It is such a great song, I wanted to share the lyrics with you.




I see the king of glory
Coming down the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes

I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing, the people sing

Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation
Rising up to take the place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith

I see a new revival
Staring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees, we're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what is yours
Everything I am for your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

Hosanna





You know, a lot of people tell us that our generations are the most selfish, undriven generation ever...Although that may be true of some of us, I really think that this generation has a lot of great revolutionaries, and if we will just keep on following God and following what He tells us, great things are going to happen. Our parents, grandparents, and other onlookers may have already given up on our generation, but I truly believe God is not going to do that. Today my prayer is that God will " Heal my heart and make it clean, Open up my eyes to the things unseen, Show me how to love like you have loved me, Break my heart for what is yours, Everything I am for your kingdom's cause."

What a week this has (already) been!

Wow. This week has already been pretty much insane. Monday I called and scheduled an appointment with the school nurse for this problem I've been having for several months. I worried about it ALL day on Monday. So much in fact that I couldn't focus on hardly anything.

So Tuesday rolls around, and I go to my appointment. I'm there for almost an hour because she had to draw boold to do all of these tests on to check out some stuff. Basically a lot of scary words were used by the nurse which totally freaked me out because the most sick I have ever been was the occasional flu bug, and my spiderbite...so basically anything is worse than that really. lol. So I was on the verge of tears most of the morning worried about it. But I decided that I'm strong and I will do whatever I have to in order to be healthy.

Then I had to go back today to get the results. I am happy to report that I don't have PCOS, or other hormone problems. Yay. So now I've got to take this medice for like a week to test and see if I have a different cause of this problem. Yeah, joy. lol But still, I think that's a kinda good sign that I don't have PCOS or whatever.

Anyway, so yeah that's my week. I'm pretty sure that I stressed out about nothing, but I think that makes me all the more grateful today to have found out that it is nothing. :)

Anyway. Phase 3 of my New Year's Resolution begins today: journaling every single bite of food (or drink) that passes through my mouth for at least 90 days.

Here is why this particular thing is so lucky as to be number three. Studies have shown that basically everyone (even nutritionists were included in this) under estimate how much they actually eat by as much as 10%, and even more. WOW. So let's say you think you eat about 2,000 calories a day....chances are you more realistically eat 2,200. That's not a huge difference really...but when you are trying to lose weight and stuff, man 200 calories a day can totally add up. Anyway, so that's my goal. I hope to use my journal as a foundation to refine and rehealthyfy (haha) my eating habits even further in the future.

Yay for the year of the better me!



(not just year though, I'm thinking LIFETIME) word up.

Are you freaking kidding me? (aka The dumbest rant ever)

So...Before school started this semester, I drove my little self down to Walmart to buy some pens and pencils. I wanted some mechanical pencils, a few normal ones, and some good pens. I had decided that for once, I would splurge a little bit and buy nicer, more expensive ones because in my humble opinion few things are better than a great writing utensil. This is especially true considering I am a freak about penmanship and I write things rather than type them as often as possible.

So anyway. I got these pens. Zebra Orbitz. I've had them before and loved the way the wrote. So it's like $3-4 for a package. No big deal. There were 6 pens and 3 ink refills in the package. We are starting the 3rd week of school and I have ran 4 of the pens out of ink AND used 2 of the refills. WHAT? Are you FREAKING kidding me? Ugh. So now, I guess I'm going to have to guy buy new pens again soon because these will be gone within a week. On average, I use a tube of ink every 2 or 3 days. I don't remember having this problem last time I bought them, but I didn't use them as consistently either...but seriously--that's not much writing before the pen wears out, so it's kinda frustrating.

I also paid almost $5 for some freaking mechanical pencils. They are like bic something or other, they looked really nice so, no big deal--right? Wrong. The pencils won't hold the lead that they came with...I dont' know what's wrong with them, but I can't use them because no matter what the lead always falls out. Once again. Are you freaking kidding me?

Then on to the normal pencils. You would think that there is very little room for error in a graphite pencil (or whatever they are made of). But once again, I decided to go for the slightly more expensive brand--a) because they were pretty [solid black] and b) because they claimed to be smooth writing [I can't stand a pencil that scratches against the paper, it's almost as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard]. I paid like $2 for 6 pencils, thinking that they would be all around high quality. Heck no. Their erasers don't erase AT ALL, they smear it around and make a big ole mess and the lead breaks pretty much every time I try to sharpen a pencil. AAAANNNDD the pencil is really scratchy against the paper, so once I finally get the dang thing sharpened I can hardly use it because it sends chills up and down my spine. Dang it. I'm so mad.

I mean, I know it's only ten dollars...but it's ten dollars freaking wasted and I am really mad about it because I could have just bought the crappy brands that I normally use and had a higher quantity of stuff, not to mention the fact that I've never had any trouble with it. UGH.

See, people laugh becuase I'm such a cheap skate...but apprarently NOT being a cheapskate doesn't work out for me, so just shush your mouth and leave me be. GRR.


Stupid pen and pencil companies.


Post script: Yes, I do realize how stupid and petty this rant sounds. After all, why the heck would someone get upset about stupid office supplies? Yeah, well the answer to that question is simple: me. It's one of my things, call it an idiosyncrasy, call me weird, whatever you prefer...but that's just how I am.

Did you know?

So, I've been trying to cut down on eating junk food, and watch the food labels on my food more closely. Basically, a month is too long to wait between starting one goal and beginning another, because I have grown a little bored with only changing what I drink. lol. But I'm pretty sure I'm over soda. Man, I see people drink tons of soda and the thought of it just makes me sick to my stomach. So much sugar, dehydrating carbonation...ew. Water is SO much better, and I feel better now too. It's pretty much great, and I've realized that the whole thing where they say that most people mistake thirst for hunger--yeah, that's totally true. Anyway, good times, and as of week three I had lost 5 pounds, which is more or less right on track with what I was hoping for. yay. :D

Anyway, so here's my did you know question. You know those little cans of Pringle's chips you can buy that are like the tube thing, but only a "single serving" or whatever....Right, anyway. Did you know that one of those little tubes had EIGHTEEN grams of fat in it, five of which are saturated fat??? WOW. I bought a can yesterday cuz Pringles sounded good, and then bought another today and just so happened to look at the label as I was opening them...man, it really makes me not want pringles anymore. I had kinda figured that since there was only one serving in the container, I would be better off buying that than a bag of chips. Which I sorta was, it's less fat, but it's still way more than that little can of salty chips is worth. Holy cow. I'm amazed at how many things have so much fat and then you look down on the label and they have virtually no positive nutritional value. No wonder Americans have so much trouble with weight....I'm stunned, I never really realized this. (Well, I've been told, but never really put two and two together so much).

Anyway, today marks the day I move on to contract number 2, of my year to a better me. I hereby commit to exercising 5 days a week, for no less than 10 minutes each day, but preferably 15-30...for the next 90 days.

Wow.

School is officially insane.

Every morning I go to work at 8, then work until 10 or so, and then go to class. I average about 3 or 4 hours of class every day, then go to work after class until 3. Then I proceed to go home and work slash study. Some days, I go to the library to work on research trying to solidify my choice for a topic for my Capstone.

So far, I have been unsuccessful, but I have narrowed it down I think to either A) Modern Hispanic Women's Writers or B) Religion, Mythology, and Legend in the Inca culture or C) Latino and Latinas Represented in Hollywood. The problem with A is that I'm not really feminist, and that topic is virtually entirely about feminism, and so I don't know if I want to do that. The problem with C is that I haven't found much information yet. The problem with B is that....well, I dont' really know...haha. Oooo...I just had a good idea! Option D) Mysteries of the Pre-Colombian Latino Cultures....Nazca lines, Machu Picchu, I'm sure there are some from the Maya and Aztec as well......


But I digress, last night marked the beginning of the Perspectives course. The class was MINDBLOWING. I can't wait to dive into my homework for this week. I'm pretty sure that anyone who loves Jesus should take that class, it will revolutionize the way you think...




Also....We are ONE week into school, and my 1" binder is already full. WHAT?!? I only used that much binder in ALL of last semester....I need to buy a bigger one I guess.

Wow. This semester is going to be really hard, but yet I am super excited about it. haha. What's up with that?

Numbers of my life.

1 pen that ran out of ink today while I was taking notes in class.
2 articles that I have to write for work this week.
3 number of butterflies I made to decorate my mom's birthday cake with.
4 fingernails that I have left...
5 pounds that I have lost after my break up with soda.
6 fingernails (fake ones) that have fallen off since Monday night.
7 hours of sleep that I try to get nightly.
8 mission trips that I have been on. (7 international, 1 in Wyoming)
9 pieces of clothing that I don't have room for in my drawers or my closet.
10 times that I yawned in my astronomy class today. (It was entirely accidental, that class is interesting)
11 most times I have listened to the song "To Zanarkland" in a row.(it's a great, relaxing piano song)
12 pages of notes that I need to type sometime today.
13 reasons why I LOVE my new backpack.
14 things that I need to get completed within the next week. (school and otherwise)
15 number of minutes I have to give a speech for my Spanish capstone.
16 (ish) weeks until I graduate from college.
17 hours I spend in class each week.
20 ounces of water that I drink with every meal (except for breakfast, sometimes).
32 Glittery CDs that surround my bulliten board.


:) hehe.

Paper trails...

Let me tell you. The amount of paper work it takes to be one of the first people to graduate from your university with a BA in Spanish is astounding. I just spent the past hour and a half, looking for professors, and advisors, and depatment chairs, and deans, and the Provost, to sign no less than 5 different sets of paperwork I had to fill out. Basically, it was kind of crazy.

The Dean of my college didn't realize that there were going to be new Spanish majors graduating, and he kept saying "that's astounding", which is particularly fun for me because he has an amazing Middle Easter accent. Good times. It's funny because everyone is "so proud" that our first class of Spanish folks are graduating...and it is pretty cool, I must admit. :)

Of course what is even more exciting is that I am finishing college and in September I will be starting the job of my dreams, AND working with some of my best friends! Yay for how things work out! Yay God. :)




"It's gonna be alright, cuz I know my God saved the day and I know his word never fails and I know my God made a way for me!" -Hillsong.

Last semester of school.

Well, it's official. I have begun my last semester of college. Yikes.

Today was great though. I have friends in all of my classes but one, which is nice. I am also super excited because I bought my textbooks tonight all for like $75. Yeah, it's basically amazing. The only ones I didn't buy were my $40 lab book and a few other little ones that I am just going to borrow from a friend. Seeint as how I saved so much money and all, I bought myself the new Ogio backpack I have been wanting for basically forever. I got it for fifty dollars on Amazon with free shipping, so I basically got a great deal. :) I'm excited.

There is a new quote up. Check it out. :)



Dance, let them think you're crazy....

Hooray for Post-Christmas sales.

Part of the joy of being at least semi-grownup is the ability to put up and decorate my very own Christmas tree every year. I must admit, it's a BLAST. This week, my family had to make several different trips to a town about 30 minutes away from home and this town has a Kmart. Usually...I hate Kmart. But they had some Christmas decorations that I absolutely LOVED...but being the cheapskate that I am, I passed them up because I decided 50% off was just not cheap enough.

Tonight we happened to go back just to hang out, and I noticed that the Christmas stuff was all 75% off and now, I was ready to buy! I got some amazing ornaments for my tree next year, a bunch of them...for like $15. I also think that I am going shopping again tomorrow, and I will probably buy even more. lol. I can't wait for Christmas next year when I'm in my own apartment and I get to decorate my tree!!!

:)

In other news, I haven't drank anything other than water and juice since Monday, and I'm pretty proud of myself. heheh.

On Resolutions.

This year I have a few resolutions. There are about...five actually. But the first one, is the only one with a clear cut plan. I'm not gonna say that it's foolproof, it's going to take a lot of work...but I think it's one of the best ideas I've ever come up with.

For the sake of ease, I'll share resolutions 2-5 first....

2. Finish college strong, really dedicated myself to my courses for the spring semester and graduate on a good note.

3. Read. I want to read more books, not only fiction or Ted Dekker, but books that increase my knowledge of the world and stuff.

4. Develop and encourage my talents. I can do lots of stuff, and I want to learn more and become even better at various things such as drawing, singing, computer stuff (like Photoshop and HTML codes) whatever.

5. Live my time to the fullest, and make the most of every day! :) (I tend to get rather negative sometimes, but there are so many great blessings in my life, that I really want to focus on those)


Now back to my first resolution. I'm making contracts with myself. On the first of every month. Today I signed a 90-day contract to not drink ANY soda. Along with this, I hope to increase my water intake, which I think is step number one to a happier, healthier me. :D

Anyway. I'm glad it's a new year...New things are always fun. :) 2007 was pretty great to me, and I hope that 2008 is even better.


Yeah...I'm super behind on my weekly quote...but here's a great one for the new year and all of your resolution making and stuff:

“Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life.”