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!

Scraps in my Workbasket Blog Party

I saw this quiz and decided to do it as part of my getting back into blogging. I don't mean for my blog to become just a bunch of quizzes and giveaways, but I figure it's a good way to get back into things. =)

{1} when you think of "old movies",  what immediately comes to mind? 

Jimmy Stewart. =D And a lot of movies - my favorite probably being It's a Wonderful Life.

{2} who is one of your favorite film or literary heroes (or heroines) and why?

Heroes... Colonel Brandon. Because he's gentle and kind and a man of action, not just a man of talk and intentions.

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Heroines... Wow, I have a lot of favorites. I guess I'll just say Jo March for now. I love how honest she is and the fact that she's not afraid to be herself.

{3} if you could live in a movie, which one would it be and why?

Boy oh boy is this one tough! I guess Emma. I like the dresses and the characters. The dances and the estates. In the end, I'd prolly wanna come out of the movie and live my own life, though. =)

{4} music has changed a lot since 1900 - which "modern" type of music is your favorite?

Not really sure about this one...

{5} any songs you'd like to share with us? (lyrics, video, etc.)

 I could share the Duck Song because it makes me laugh... But I guess I'll share the song I have in my head right now instead:

{6} if your life had soundtrack, what would it sound like?

Depends what I'm doing! Adventurous sometimes, calm at other times. A mix of Dear Frankie and Pirates of the Caribbean, I guess. hahaha

{7} when do you start counting down till your birthday?

I guess I just count down each month from August until my birthday. I don't think about it a lot or anything... just on the 14th of each month. =D

{8} what makes your birthday special?

It's Valentines Day. =D And I have simply incredible friends and family!

{9} do you ever wish you were born in a different month?

Meh... Not really

and finally...

{10} pick and post five words to describe your personality - you can add a description under each if you like.

Reliable - Maybe not 100% of the time, but most of the time. If I make a commitment to someone, I do my best to fulfill it.


Imaginative - This is probably one of my best qualities, even though it's my worst character trait. It helps me relate to other people, but I also tend to get lost in my own little world.

Changeable - I like to blend in. Sometimes I am consciously making decisions to act in a manner that will (in my mind) make myself more agreeable to those around me... other times I realize that I'm acting/talking like other people without thinking about it.

Observant - Another good/bad thing. Sometimes I notice stuff that is useful (where someone leaves their iPod, where a store is off of the highway) and other times I notice stuff that I shouldn't. =P

Confusing - I guess I don't really even need to go into detail here. Just look at the first and third words that I used to describe myself! =P

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! =)