Transitions

Transition: movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another;

     I was born in Colorado twenty years ago and have lived in Colorado ever since. When I was younger, I was certain that there would never be anywhere else that I could call home. This colorful state was my home. It was where all of my friends and family were. 

     Around 2006 I started blogging on xanga. I made some really great friends through the groups (or whatever they were called) on the website. Suddenly I found that not ALL of my friends were Coloradans  and I knew that I was going to have to do some traveling at some point to get to meet them.

     Fast forward to summer 2010. I took a trip to Arizona to meet my blogging friend Naomi. I spent around a month out there - it was my first experience with being away from home for an extended time and pretty much my first time traveling alone. And? I *loved* it.

      Last summer I went to work at Grand View Camp in Arizona, spending yet more time away from home. That's sort of when I started to realize that "home" wasn't really where I lived anymore. It was more of a stopping place to come back to when there was nowhere else to be. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and friends in Colorado and I always miss them when I'm gone. I just began to feel that there was something more waiting for me somewhere - I just couldn't find it.

     A month after returning home from camp, I left yet again. This time I went to Wisconsin to meet another blog friend: Lydia. I spent three wonderful (and way too short!) weeks with Lydia and her husband Doug. I was so sad to leave and started to make plans to return as soon as possible. We even discussed the option of my moving to Kentucky with Doug and Lydia.

     Back home in October, I spent lots of time with various friends and applied for multiple jobs. Nothing came together, though. I began to think that all I needed was to get a very temporary job to make enough money to get back to Wisconsin. Viola! A job opened up for me to house-sit for three weeks. I stayed home for a month after the job so that my mom could go on vacation, then high-tailed it back to Wisconsin. Where I fell even more deeply in love with life. haha It was so good to be away from the city! Not to mention that the more I got to know people, the more I liked them. =) So I decided that I wanted to stay.

     Unfortunately, I had already signed a contract to work at Grand View again this summer. I tossed around the idea of backing out, but decided that I could wait a few months to make my Wisconsin residency official. Not to mention that I really like camp!

     Yesterday I arrived in Virginia to meet my friend JoAnna in person. I will be here for a few weeks until her wedding. After that, I'll trot back to Colorado for a few days before it's time for camp. Lord willing, I'll be back in Wisconsin in August! My friend Joyce and I have already picked out a cute little apartment to rent together. 

     I am so excited about my life right now! And I am so thankful that God has worked everything out so smoothly! I never would have thought when I started talking to people online all that time ago that it would eventually lead to an open door for me to start out on my own. I am also glad that I could take so many trips to get used to being away from my family before I actually move out.

     So... That's the latest in my life! I hope that I'll get to meet a few more blog friends in the future!
 

The Ring

[[Special thanks to my dear friend Sarah who helped me to realize that I'm okay in real life and not "so much better as a blog"]]

There are moments in life that we all look forward to. As kids we itch with anticipation if we have just a little money to spend or we count days until our birthday or Christmas. Then we get older and get excited about driving or getting a job or graduating. For a girl, though, there's one dream that she hangs on to from the time she's very small. Every girl, at some point in her life, thinks of her Prince Charming.

Unfortunately, a lot of girls think that once she finally has her man, life will be perfect. But there's enough people out there talking about that problem. I, for one, have seen a slightly different problem. Even girls who are completely aware that life will still have ups AND downs seem to want a lover too desperately.

Why?

I think I figured it out because I started feeling the same way. My thoughts one day were along these lines: "I know that life won't be perfect when I'm married. It might even be more difficult. But I Must. Get. Married!" As soon as I had the thought, I wondered why I felt that way. I have the most incredible life ever! I have been blessed with so many friends around the country, so many opportunities to do things that I might not be able to do if I had a husband.

As happy as I am with my life, why did I feel like I needed to change it?

Change. That's the key word. See, so many people that I know (including myself) are constantly trying to change themselves to fit in better with their friends, family, church, and/or coworkers. We have so many people that love us, but we second guess ourselves and think, "They only tolerate me. I need to ________ if I want to keep their friendship." We're haunted by the fact that people can just walk away without thinking about it when it would leave us devastated. Especially when it has happened before, the fear that it could happen again makes us sick.

That's why, in my mind, I needed a guy to marry me. Because some day he would get down on one knee and tell me that I was good enough just the way I was. Because he would put a ring on my finger that said to the world, "flaws and all, I want to share the rest of my existence with this woman."

I don't need that, though! I'm not saying that I don't ever want to get married. I'm just saying that I don't have to have a ring on my finger to prove anything to myself or to anyone else. I don't choose to spend a lot of time with people I don't like, so why would anyone else do that? If the people who spend time with me are at all like me, then the very fact that they choose to put up with me means that they care about me.

So the ring? Yeah, it'll be cool to have one some day. And it'll be nice to show the world that some guy loves me enough to claim me as his own. But until then? I'm just me, and even if I have room to grow, I'm blessed with many friends who think that I'm "good enough" the way I am.

More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

I am by no means a world traveler, yet in the past few years I have seen a few different cultures in my treks across these United States. Even though I have spent the majority of my time with other "normal" Americans, I always find it fascinating how differently people live.

There are certain things that we all do all of the time. Basic things, but there are so many ways to accomplish one goal. I love to study how people live and how they make their lives work out. I like to see if one way of doing something is any better than another. If you are not like that, this post will probably be rather boring to you!

Dirty dishes. They are a part of life for every person I know. But there are so many ways to deal with them! (Other than letting them sit for an age and a day) Here are a few of the methods I have seen:

1: "They were never dirty" method. As soon as you have a stack of dishes, dump them in a sink, wash them, dry them, and put them away as quickly as possible. This will leave your kitchen counters clean and make it look like you never used the dishes to start with!

2: "Kill 'it' before 'it' kills you" method. Wash every fleck of food off of your dishes, then let them soak in a sanitizing sink for a minute or two. After this, place them in a sanitized rack to dry. NO TOWELS. TOWELS HAVE CONTAMINATION!

3: "All about the bubbles" method: No sink full of water here! Squirt a little dish soap into your rag, wash a dish. Rinse the dish. Repeat. Again. And again. And again. Because you have nothing better to spend your money on than dish soap.

4: "Pre-Caveman" method: The nice thing about this method is that you don't really need any tools. These people just need soap and water in their sink. They use their fingers and fingernails to get the dishes clean, then stack them in the other sink to dry. (No drying rack) This, my friends, will totally creep out the "kill it before it kills you" type because 'no sink is ever clean even if it looks clean'... =P

5: "It's all food anyhow" method: If you used that pot for gravy and let it sit all night, that's fine. Gravy is edible. Go ahead and make your oatmeal in the same pot in the morning. You'll eventually wash the pot when it's actually necessary.

Which method do you use? I think that my method is sort of a combination of the above. =) 

Now aren't you looking forward to my post on ways to brush teeth? 

P. S. A couple of these are slightly exaggerated for affect. I'm not picking on anybody! =D

Yumminess =D

Last Saturday I had a lot of fun helping prepare food for a baby shower. We made some pretty delicious food, in my opinion!

Wafers with cream cheese and fruit Yummo!

Pickle Pinwheels =D

Mini tacos - made in those scoop chips

Fruit kabobs 

Veggie kabobs and dip (am I spelling kabob right? lol)

Cupcakes!

Pigs in blankets

Punch

Bacon and cheese... with the cheese on the extra-melty side =P

I love making food! It can be every bit as much fun as eating the food later! =D I am definitely going to save a few of these ideas and use them again later.  :-)

71

Wow... It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, but here is one of the blog posts that was supposed to come right after my wonderful birthday! =)

I'm sure that you all are familiar with my bucket list since I've mentioned it several times, so may I now direct you to #71 on said list? Because I can cross it off now! =)

A very cool person not only got me goldfish... but a snail, too! I never even thought about having a pet snail, but I *love* my snail. I call him Secretariat. My sister suggested the name and I think that it's "epic" to use today's vernacular. lol

Unfortunately, the goldfish part of this story is not as epic as my snail's name. You see, I do not at present have a living goldfish. Five goldfish have died in my fishbowl. *sniffle* I think that there must be something wrong with the water - my fish must be drowning! Actually, I have no idea what is wrong. I feel horrible for the poor fish! I read online that most of Walmart's goldfish are sold as food for bigger fish, so I'm trying to comfort myself with the thought that these fish were most likely going to die anyhow. It still makes me sad, though.

So... I have owned a goldfish and can cross that off of my list, even though it was a brief experience. And I happen to think that Secretariat is the coolest snail ever, so I'm very happy in spite of the fishy circumstances. =D

 Secretariat speeding across the bridge

 The big goldfish whom I was thinking of calling Dodger

Bus Stories

6:15 Monday morning... Alan Menken's Enchanted Suite woke me up to quite an array of thoughts.

1. I still want to be asleep
2. I love this song!
3. I need to be ready to go in 45 minutes... no snooze button!

I took a quick shower, threw a few last-minute things into my suitcase, said goodbye to the fam, and headed out the door! Dad and I arrived at the greyhound station at 8 something. My bus was supposed to leave at 9, but there were mechanical issues and we didn't pull out until 9:45.

I have very little good to say about the first part of my trip, so I probably shouldn't say much at all. Let me just say that the bus was crowded, people kept ignoring the "No Smoking" and "No Foul Language" rules, and the atmosphere was just generally not cool. I was able to talk to an older lady and help her out at a couple of stops as well as sleep a bit, so it wasn't ALL bad. But I was quite relieved when we got to Kansas City and lost the majority of the smokers and all of the ex-cons. (One of whom I'm under the impression wasn't supposed to be leaving Colorado.........)

In Kansas City I went to claim my bags and found that only one of the two had been taken off of the bus. I asked a guy to help me, but he brushed me off. What's with that? I decided that if he was going to be an ornery jerk about it, I wasn't going to be pushy. But neither was I going to walk off without my bag. I stood there as everyone else took their luggage and left. Another guy saw me standing there and asked if I was waiting for something. I explained that one of my bags was still on the bus, so he went digging through the rest of the luggage until he found it. Now that is the type of person that greyhound should be hiring all of the time!

My layover in Kansas City was supposed to be 4 hours, but since we were running so far behind it was only three. I was very thankful for that because my past experiences with long layovers hasn't been so great... My time in Kansas City was actually pretty good, though! I talked to this one guy for awhile... I have no clue what his name is, but we had a pleasant conversation about a wide variety of things. =) It definitely helped to pass the time! I also read books and played games on my kindle.

The Story of the Sleepy Girl and the Indian Man

Once I boarded my next bus and it didn't look like it would be too crowded, I stretched out over two seats and went to sleep. I was sleeping pretty peacefully when someone nudged my foot. I opened my eyes to see this old Indian man leaning over me.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah." I answered groggily. Did I look dead to him or something?
He left and I went back to sleep. A bit later *nudge* there he was again.
"We're stopped. Aren't you going to get off?"
"No, but thanks for checking." I went back to sleep.
*NUDGE*
"You should eat something. You should get something to eat. Or I can get you something."
WHAT IS WITH THIS GUY?!
"No, thank you! I'm fine." I said. I was starting to wonder when he was getting off. Oh, and for the record, all of this was happening at 2:30, 3:00, and so on. Not exactly normal eating hours on my schedule!
We continued down the road and I was still asleep when I suddenly jerked awake because someone's hand was in my hair. By the time I sat up and turned around, I couldn't tell who had been there. I don't know if it was someone who was feeling their way to the bathroom or if it was the Indian guy... but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the Amish kid behind me. lol

My last transfer was in Minneapolis. I got off of my bus and walked into the terminal. I had just found my next bus, which was already loading, when this guy came and tapped me on the shoulder. I was quite afraid that my Indian friend was back, but it was a young man this time. "Hey," he said, handing me his ticket, "Are we on the same bus?"
I glanced at his ticket and handed it back. "Um, yes."
"Thanks! I can't figure this stuff out."
Illiterate, much? hahaha Anyhow, he got on the bus and sat behind me, but he didn't talk to me any more. I was a little relieved... I'd dealt with enough strange guys on the rest of the trip.

Nothing else exciting happened until the excitement of arriving safely at my destination. =D So here I am, safe and happy! <3

Happy Inside Out

     I am so excited about how the next few months of my life are looking! In case I don't have opportunity to post much, here's the plan...

     On Monday I am boarding the bus for Wisconsin. I will be there in WI until mid-April and then... TATADA!!! I get to cross something off of my bucket list by taking the train to Virginia! I will be there for a few weeks to help a dear friend of mine prepare for her wedding. :) I plan to return to Colorado the second week of May. I won't be back for long, though! My travels will take me (almost immediately) to Arizona for another summer at Grand View Camp!

     So yeah... *very* exciting!

     By the way, I watched Dolphin Tale this weekend. It was a pretty good movie!

     There is something so magical about sea creatures. It must have been great for the actors to get to be with the dolphins! I quite envy them. Ish. =P

     Anyhow... I should get to bed. I hope to be able to post while I'm gone, but I really don't know what to expect. We'll see!

Happy and Busy

Last weekend was SO much fun! On Friday I got an early birthday present... A Kindle Fire! Boy oh boy am I excited to have it! I have loaded fifty or so books on it so far. Lots of classics - Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott, etc. Right now I'm trying to decide whether or not I can afford to buy any books. I SO want The Count of Monte Cristo. I also think I'm going to buy a KJV Bible. I have the ESV on there already, but I want to have both.

Anyhow... I love the Kindle Fire! =)

On Friday night my friend Sarah came over and we watched Jane Eyre. The long version with Timothy Dalton in it. Sarah wasn't too keen on it, but I still love it. Sarah spent the night and then on Saturday we went ice skating with church friends! I am no pro... I feel like I'm living life on the edge if I move. hahaha! But I had a great time and I didn't hug the wall too much. I just wish I could go more often and maybe actually get comfortable on the ice. I used to dream of being an olympic skater. =P

Sunday was a good day, too. I went out to Panda Express with my best friend Erin and then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing word games at Starbucks. Erin got coffee and I got chocolate. Coffee is gross. Jus' sayin'!

Early Monday morning my mom and sister left for Hawaii. Erica is helping the Bible quiz team there prepare for our tournament here in CO. They get to travel and see historic and exotic things while I'm stuck at home playing mom. hahaha I'm really glad that my mom gets a break, though! I mean... how often do homeschooling mothers get to get away from life? She totally deserves it! And my turn will come eventually. I've determined that I'm going to become a renowned (and therefore wealthy) author so that I can travel all over creation and get more and better writing ideas. lol

Things have gone pretty smoothly here. Seth the Picky has actually eaten (and liked!) everything I've made so far. We'll see how long that keeps up! There have been a few complaints over schoolwork, but he's getting it done, so hurrah for that! =)

I need to go get lunch going for Mr. Picky. I'll try to post tomorrow with another project I just did. The project didn't turn out perfectly, but considering that I was 100% winging it? I'm happy with the results.

Tata for now, my friends!

Wrap-up

Well, here I am to wrap a couple of things up. I forgot to post the movie quote answers (nobody guessed on them anyhow...), I forgot to answer that last question in the literary character quiz, and I promised to tell you what I did with my book vase. 

First up: The movie quotes

1. "Why can't they just say, 'go to this place, and here is the treasure; spend it wisely'?"

Riley Poole in National Treasure

2. "She batted them pretty little eyes at you, and you fell for it like an egg from a tall chicken!"

Tex in Charade

3. "I don't believe that intelligence can be accurately quantified, but I do have an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, can read 20,000 words per minute.

[beat]

Yes, I am a genius."

Dr. Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds

4. "Just stop calling it a mushroom."

Victor in Letters to Juliet

5. Character one: "Look at that demure little head. And all of us wondering what's inside it."
 Character two: We'll find out soon enough. 

Duchess of Sutherland and Lord Melbourne in Young Victoria

~*~*~

Next: I forgot about number twenty-one in the quiz I did the other day. Oops!

21. Margaret Hale and Beth March reluctantly team up to save the world from the threat posed by Inigo Montoya's sinister secret organization. Lady Catherine volunteers to help them,but it is later discovered that she is actually a spy for Inigo. Meanwhile, Inigo has kidnapped Edmond Dantes in an attempt to force their surrender. Following the wise advice of Molly Gibson, they seek out Jane Eyre, who gives them what they need to complete their quest. What title would you give this fiction?

The Wayward Spaniard 

~*~*~

Last: I found something to put in my vase! A collection of feathers that I found at Michaels. There were so many great things that were small enough to fit in the vase, but this is what felt right to me. =)

Road Trippin' Again!

In three weeks I'll be in Wisconsin again! [insert *much* happiness here] I'm so excited to go and see little Jubilee (who finally graced us with her presence on Sunday) and, of course, her mommy and daddy!!! I leave on the greyhound bus on Monday and get into Wausau on Tuesday.

My first trip with greyhound was this September, and boy oh boy was it an adventure! I saw people from nearly every walk of life and spent time in the company of the amish, crass and flirtatious women, a weak and diabetic woman whom I was able to assist with different things, an old man who smelled horrible and had no teeth, some really friendly and outgoing people who shared (sometimes maybe too much of ;)) their life stories with me, a really quiet computer-geeky type of guy, a couple who were making out for most of the trip, etc etc etc

Okay... when I first got off of my final bus, I didn't know if I wanted to go on a bus trip again. But I had a lot of great experiences mixed in with the not-so-great parts. And as a writer, I LOVED it! Getting to know people or even being forced to listen in on loud conversations is a great way to get character ideas or even plots. Broken hearts, sea monster sightings, mystic religions, and every other topic under the sun... it's all available on the bus or in the terminal. 

So... I'm taking off again! And I'm excited about it! If I can figure a way to update twitter from my phone, I'll be doing that throughout my trip. =) Otherwise, I'll just try to get a post up here soon after!

Playing with Fire

"If you play with fire, you're gonna get burned." I don't even know where all I've heard that, but I know that I've heard it many times. Aaaaaand I am here today to tell you that it's true. 

The fire that I recently got burned by is swagbucks. I love swagbucks! The more the better, right? That's why I have been trying out more and more special offers. Especially the free trial offers. I had a few scares... the time that freeshipping.com charged me before they were supposed to (they gave me a refund)... the time that I spent money on bigfishgames.com and my swagbucks didn't come through (the swagbucks were eventually credited)... and few others. 

Through these issues I kept reminding myself to be careful and pay attention to what I was doing so that I'd never get charged actual money in my pursuit of online money. Enter stamps.com. I think that their offer was for 450 swagbucks for signing up. What could I lose, right? 

Try THIRTY-TWO UNITED STATES DOLLARS.

Yup. It's like the new version of The Biggest Loser. When I first created my stamps.com account everything seemed well and good. But when I went back later to log in, nothing would work. I tried the old, "Forgot your username/password?" thing. They tried verifying my identity by asking security questions that I had never answered! I tried customer support. They told me that they needed my full name email address before they could help me. I sent that information and they sent me on a roundabout with all of their rigamarole on how they were saving me money and blahblahblah. 

All of this was taking precious time and before I knew it, I was charged the monthly fee of $16. Based on what I have learned from different customer support members, I knew that I had never actually signed up for a "free trial" and had reconciled myself to the fact that the $16 was gone. 

This afternoon I contacted customer support yet again (this round by phone) and barely managed to keep my cool while on the phone. After telling the woman on the other end of the line seven times that I wanted to close my account, she finally agreed to do it. But she said that at this point I have to keep the account at least until February 9th and receive another $16 charge. 

In a nutshell: My desire for free money finally caught up to me and cost me big time. I will never again use stamps.com and do not recommend it to anybody unless they are looking for a long-time account with no need to contact customer support. 

As for the playing with fire? Getting burned again is as likely as getting struck by lightning..... riiiiiiiight? ;) I'll keep doing what I can to rack up those swagbucks and continue getting free stuff. =)

One Month...

Not so long ago, I felt like I was waaaaay too mature to be only 12 years old. (I was wrong) In any case, thirteen seemed like a good point to reach. There was something old (in a good way) about those numbers that ended in "teen".

Now I am faced with quite the opposite problem. Here I am, one month before my 20th birthday, and I feel much too immature to be leaving the teen years. The young years.

At the same time, though, I'm excited! I don't know what all my 20th year will hold for me, but I know that it will be amazing! I hope to reach a higher level of that elusive maturity, but regardless of where I am, I know that God will be with me and that He has a perfect plan for me. I just have to remember to ask for directions instead of heading off on my own all of the time!

Keep Swimming

Dory isn't always the smartest fish. Actually, she would drive me insane if I had to spend too much time with her. But I have to admit that she does have one good piece of advice: "Keep swimming!" I find myself singing her little ditty every once in awhile... sometimes just for fun and other times because it's a good way to lighten up a little when there's a crisis.

I think that another way of saying this is: "Be flexible!" Life has a way of taking unexpected turns, so it's best just to go with the flow. People will appreciate it and you'll feel a lot less beat up when everything is said and done! Sometimes flexibility is *very* easy for me. I don't get it when people are ticked off in slow traffic. I'm cool with last-minute plan changes. Annoying people do still annoy me, but usually I can shrug it off and not lose my temper. And if someone doesn't get what I'm saying? Hey... no need to get hot under the collar! I can explain it again a little differently!

Some things are harder to swim through, though. Worry for other people. Loss of any variety. Getting weighed down by the future. I think it's okay to take a moment to just sit still for a bit, but the important thing is that you pick up and get swimming again.

Sometimes we have to have help. Praying and/or talking to friends are good ways to get back in the right current. Knowing that you're not alone is SUCH a help when you're trying to swim through difficult circumstances.

Don't just sink to the bottom of the ocean and get bogged down in the sand. Keep swimming!

You know what you gotta do when life gets you down? 
Just keep swimming 
Just keep swimming
 Just keep swimming swimming swimming 
What do we do? We swim, swim, swim

It's a Good Life

I am SO blessed! Sometimes I forget... but I get reminded a lot, so hopefully things balance out somewhere along the way. =P

Anyhow, my wonderful friend Sarah came over for awhile to keep me company while Erica is visiting our grandparents in Florida. It was a blast!

After AWANA on Wednesday night, Sarah came home with me. That actually almost didn't happen because (thanks to me) we missed our exit and were headed towards Kansas for awhile before we could turn around! Yipes! We finally made it to my house, though... and the fun really began!

Brownies and ice cream and a movie. Great trio, if you ask me! We watched The Inheritance and then Enchanted.

When the movies were over, we talked for awhile and watched some youtube videos. A silly llama song, David After Dentist, etc etc etc. Around 4:45 we finally crawled into bed, planning to sleep in for  (quite) awhile in the morning.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUT... My mom woke me up at 8 and told me that she had free tickets to the Colorado Symphony. If Sarah and I wanted to go, we had to leave in 45 minutes. So we scrambled to get dressed and get some breakfast before going to the symphony. It was great! I love music!!!!! It was SO worth getting up in spite of lack of sleep. Sarah and I went back to bed as soon as we got home, though. =)

We woke up in time for supper (chicken chili... one of my favorites!!!!!) and after supper we left to go downtown to pass out tracts to people along the 16th Street Mall. It was great! I've never done something like that - just handing tracts out along the sidewalk. I have gone door-to-door, though. It was quite a bit different. Sarah said she thinks that doing it on the street is nicer, but I think (from my limited experience) that I like door-to-door better. Maybe that will change after going to the mall a few more times. =D 

Once we got home we watched the first episode of Sherlock. Sarah hadn't seen it before, so she was slightly (or should I say enormously?) creeped out at various points. In the end, she fell every bit as much in love with this show as I am. [NOT that I condone everything in Sherlock!!! The gay stuff makes me sick.] 

Anyhow... I've had a great couple of days! Thanks, Sarah!

Number 95

One week ago I checked something off of The List. I went with my friend Erin and we got our nails done before her wedding. I wouldn't mind checking that off of my list again! =)

Something I thought was on my list and wasn't? A limo ride. So I checked that off of the list, too... even though it wasn't on the list. lol 

The wedding was absolutely wonderful, though I was a bit tired by the end of the weekend. Congrats to Erin!

Busy Weekend

My dear friend Erin changed her last name today! =) I've been pretty busy since Thursday... thus the lack of posting on here. Right now I'll just say a bit about Thursday night and save the rest for later.

My mom drove me to the mall on Thursday so I could meet Erin there. We ran a couple of errands and then went to our girl party. =) We made muffins, apple dip, homemade ice cream, and chicken chili. Let me tell ya folks... Friends and food are two of my favorite things, so I was quite happy!

One thing did dampen my mood for a moment or three. I almost chopped off my thumb! The wound looks very small right now. In fact, when I look at it, I feel like I was being dumb to think it was bad. But then I remember bleeding for three or four minutes over the sink. And having to change my bandage when the first one soaked through. hahaha Why is it that the simple stuff is more dangerous to me than things that *look* more threatening?

We stayed up until two in the morning making boutonnieres and bouquets and watching Enchanted. Then we got up at seven the next morning to start all of the "Day Before" tasks. =)

I need to go get in bed so I don't sleep through church tomorrow! More of the story to come, though! Aaaaaaaand... 1,000 Smartness Points to anyone who correctly guesses what I checked off of my "100 Things" list!

[[P.S. 15,000 Smartness Points to whoever guesses what I accidentally left off of my list and got to do!]]

A Time for Change

Generally speaking, I like change. Something new and different always excites me. Yet sometimes, in the midst of the excitement, a little niggling of apprehension worms it's way in.

Is this really a good thing?


This week will bring a change around that, to be honest, I'm not sure that I'm ready for. Even though I'm thrilled about it. This change is probably one of the most drastic changes I've experienced in my nearly 20 years.

A wedding.


Not just any wedding. The wedding of one of my closest friends. Of course I've known for a loooooong time that this change was coming. But for some reason the reality of it is just now hitting me. Maybe her marriage won't bring as many changes as I think, but things will definitely be different.

Look at literature. When a girl's best friend gets married, the girl usually ends up leaving. hahaha Just think about it!

Diana gets married.

Anne runs off to Kingsport.

Meg gets married.

Jo runs off to New York.

Cynthia gets married.

Molly runs off to Africa.

Okay, okay. That last one is stretching it a little. But you get the picture. =D

Anyhow... I'm so thrilled for Erin! And I know that I'm worrying too much about the changes that may or may not really affect our friendship. I'm really more excited and happy than I am fearful.

But at least you all have a heads-up now.

I just might run away.

100 Things To Do Before I Die

I just found this saved as a draft among my many blog posts and I thought I'd share it!

I have seen several people do this on their blogs and I love the idea! It's a fun list because it's cool to come back later and repost it with things crossed out. =D Let's see how long it takes me to get 25 things crossed off of my list....

1. Have Refuge in the Storm published
2. Write a song - both the lyrics and the melody
3. See a humpback whale in person... and take a picture!
4. Take a picture of lightning 
5. Get a picture of a leaf as it's falling off of a tree
6. Learn how to take a good picture
7. See Phantom of the Opera performed on stage
8. See Beauty and the Beast on Broadway
9. Own all of Dee Henderson's books
10. Read all of Terri Blackstock's books
11. Read Lord of the Rings
12. Read The Scarlet Pimpernel
13. Read Les Miserables
14. Read the Lark Rise to Candleford books
15. Read 150 biographies
16. Read through the Bible 3 times in 3 years
17. Memorize 50 chapters of the Bible
18. Make $500 on eBay
19. Fly in a small plane ... maybe even fly a small plane!
20. Take a trip by train
21. Take a trip by bus
22. Take a trip by boat
23. Spend an afternoon on a sailboat
24. Visit all 50 states
25. See Old Faithful
26. Go to Prince Edward Island
27. Go to England
28. See Venice in person
29. Go to New York City
30. Take a trip to Israel
31. See the giant redwoods in California
32. Go spelunking 
33. Go snorkeling 
34. Go to the Grand Canyon with Erica
35. See Niagra Falls
36. Spend a whole week "roughing it" outside
37. Go on a missions trip on another continent
38. Go on three missions trips
39. Take 25 trips by plane
40. Own a dog
41. Work as a waitress at a restaurant
42. Get married
43. Have kids
44. Make a quilt start to finish
45. Try chocolate avacado pudding
46. (I kinda can't believe I'm saying this) Try sushi
47. Lead 100 souls to Christ
48. Own an iPod Touch or an iPhone
49. Have my very own laptop
50. Learn to sing "Time to Say Goodbye"
51. Learn to play "Music Box Dancer" on the piano
52. Learn to play "The Entertainer" on the piano
53. Learn sign language
54. Learn ventriloquism
55. Learn to waltz
56. Learn to swing dance (the Charleston!)
57. Learn how to cut hair and have it look good
58. Learn to knit or crochet
59. Learn how to blow bubblegum. It stinks that I can't figure it out!
60. Learn how to spit a watermelon seed really far (lol)
61. Go to a Rockies baseball game
62. Have a bedroom where the furniture and everything matches
63. Live on a farm
64. Write an autobiography
65. Finish writing a book with Bailey
66. Write a suspense novel
67. Collect 50 elephants... just for the fun of it
68. Eat part of an ostrich egg
69. See an exhibit of artifacts from the Titanic
70. Take at least one college class
71. Go to a Civil War ball
72. Have a goldfish or some other little fish
73. Visit the set of a movie during filming
74. Meet someone famous
75. Watch all of Pixar's movies (assuming that they keep making good movies!)
76. Watch all of the episodes of Adam 12 that are on hulu
77. Watch Lord of the Rings
78. Watch Our Mutual Friend
79. Be a contestant (or in the audience) of Wheel of Fortune
80. Spend three summers at camp
81. Make turnovers
82. Make tortillas
83. Make an elaborate cake
84. Make a chocolate raspberry cheesecake 
85. Catch a big fish (big being a relative term ;))
86. Ride an elephant
87. Own a car that I love
88. Get comfortable on ice skates
89. (Totally random and I know I'll get laughed at...) Get kissed while I'm on an amusement park ride =P In a dark tunnel, perhaps. HA I can't believe I said that!
90. Volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center or something of the kind
91. Ride a horse that's running... enough of the slowpoke trail ride stuff already! ;)
92. Solve a real life mystery
93. Pet a lion cub
94. Illustrate my poem "Country Summer" so it's like a children's book
95. Get a manicure
96. Try cotton candy - just for the experience
97. Do something with the hundreds of old postage stamps that I have
98. Listen to all available episodes of I Was a Communist for the FBI
99. Visit The WILDS
100. Have something I've written published in a magazine or newspaper

There you have it! Hope that this little window into my soul isn't too frightening! And I can cross one of these out already, thanks to my trip to Wisconsin! Can anyone remember/guess which one? =D

One Warm Snowy Day

Today was supposed to be really warm. It got warm enough to go without a jacket, but it wasn't hot or anything. Now it's chilly. And it's supposed to snow! I'm uber thrilled for the snow to come! =) Fall is probably my favorite season, but I look forward to winter and the holidays all the same.

Here was my day:

• Read a little (I really need to go write a few more reviews on amazon)
• Help clean up the kitchen
• Watch Hogan's Heroes
• Go shopping for wedding gifts
• Get totally let down at Walmart

Okay, I'll elaborate a little on that last part. Walmart is supposed to be there for people, ya know? Well, I went there today to get some things for doing my hair for the wedding and to get some other things for someone very special who has a birthday coming up...... My list for the hairstyle? 

1. A nice headband
2. Bobby pins (These essential hair helpers tend to evaporate after a month or so at my house. Anyone else have that problem?)
3. Styling gel

Okay, so I wasn't totally surprised at the lack of nice headbands. Target seems like a better place to go for that. Still, it's disappointing when you can't get what you need at Wally World. 

Moving on to bobby pins? The rack was empty! How can they be out of BOBBY PINS?! I finally found a pack of 48 pins for 4 dollars. You do the math. 

Yeah, four dollars divided by 48 bobby pins equals: totally dumb purchase IMO

Three strikes and you're out, eh? Not too hopeful about the styling gel. But I actually had the opposite problem here. They have about 50 or so types of styling gel. And as I said before, hair products are pretty foreign to me. So I have no clue if what I got will work or not. But at least I got something!

So that was the less productive part of my productive day. Oh, well. 

Time to go make some guacamole - if the avacados are still good! Hope you all have a fantastic evening!

Anyone Out There?

Hey, everybody! Or... nobody. LOL I don't even know if anyone follows me anymore. I've been absent quite a lot lately. I was talking to one of my friends the other day, though, and I decided to start blogging again. I'm hoping to finish blogging about my summer and I have several other posts that I'm kinda wanting to do, too. We shall see!

Right now I'm needing to go shopping for some bobby pins and such. I'm going to be in one of my bestest friends' wedding in less than two weeks and I need to figure out how to do my hair. I think I'm going to try this. I hope I can do something at least a little bit cute-ish! I never do anything with my hair. I basically shampoo and brush it. Curling irons, straightening irons, blow dryers, hairspray, and any other hair products are pretty foreign to me. lol So... I need to practice a little this week and/or next week so that I won't totally botch the whole thing. =D

Anyhow... I'm going to go get some laundry in the dryer. But I'll be back! Maybe even by tomorrow! =)