I've Lost That Blogging Feeling

It has been forever since I have blogged and I must say I have not missed it too much. Every once in a while I thought "hmm, I should write a blog" but I never had much to say except school school school. Now all I can say is that I am thankful the semester is over and I am moving on!

I have been at my parents house for much of the Christmas holiday and it has been wonderfully relaxing and refueling. I am thankful for a peaceful, fun home to come to. These are some of the things I have done:

Put up Christmas lights
Watched Northern Exposure that I got for Christmas- so cute
Gone to Yoga with my mom- I love it
Hung out with my grandparents
Put Depends together for my grandparents- doesn't get more fun than that
Cleaned the gutters
Spent a weekend with my mission team
Watched The Abyss- I cannot say I would recommend it
Went to see Invictus
Saw many long time friends at church
Finished reading Three Cups of Tea (awesome) and beginning Watership Down
Baked Peanutbutter balls, fudge, apple pie
Helping my mom with her Spanish and learning some myself
Visited Discovery Green in downtown Houston

Things I am still looking forward to:

Christmas exchange with Lauren
Wedding weekend in Austin with Ruth and Lauren
Seeing The Blind Side
Continuing to watch Northern Exposure
Learning to drive a stick shift
Making kitchen towel hangy things with my mom- hopefully pictures to come
Texans game!!!
Seeing Matthew and Shannon
Trying recipes from my new cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks

I think that is enough for now. I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

Finally Fall

It finally feels like fall around here. November has been such a warm month for us and even though the leaves have still been falling (I think it is just because they are tired of hanging on, not because of cool weather) it has not felt very fall-ish until today. Last night it cooled off and although it is still not cold it is nice a crisp today with the sun shining. I love it! As one of my friends will probably tell me tonight in class, today is one of my kind of days, cool and sunny!

An interesting fact that I must share and then get back to studying. For weather website I use I have Abilene as my homepage but on the side I have a few favorites that I can see their weather as well. These favorites include Conroe, Fort Worth and Oklahoma City- these are probably the 3 cities I visit the most.

I also have on there Concepcion, Chile. For a while now I have been waiting for it to be warmer there than it is here and today it finally happened. If you notice, they are in the Southern Hemisphere and so it is spring time there, heading summer. I know that Conce will never get as warm as Abilene (or as cold) but I need it to warm up some so I have been paying attention and was excited to see that we have switched. It is still a small difference, right now here it is 53 and there it is 59 (it was 61 earlier), but it is still a difference. That makes me happy. :)

College Station Part 2

So I don't have a lot of time to blog because really I should be writing on my research paper. But, I just had to post these pictures from our team's second weekend in College Station with the A&M Church.

Mer and Ellen getting some sun

They were so good to us while we were there. They treated us with Aggie football tickets and T-shirts, I could not go to a game without a shirt. We had a blast at the game watching all the crazy people, trying to understand the traditions, baking in the sun and whooping! The Aggies won the game which was very exciting and like the band nerd that I will always be, I enjoyed the marching band as well.

Aggie band

We spent the evening with the Davidsons, Traci and her mom having yummy food, great conversation and a special time of worship on their back porch. They have a great porch.

Whoop!

Sunday was another great day. I made it late to class and that was nice to meet some other people. My parents came for service and that was real fun for them to be there, see everything and meet some of the people supporting us.

During service the brought the past two teams up on video on the big screen, one team being in Thailand (at midnight) and the other team in Peru. It was fun to see them, see how they are doing and hear how the support we are to receive blessed them during their time of training. I think it was good for the church too, to remember why they are doing this and what it is leading to. These teams are both on the field now and doing great.

I snuck a picture during church of the teams on the screen

After church we had another wonderful meal with a family from church and then headed back to Abilene. It was another super fast weekend but I was super blessed. I cannot wait to continue the relationship with this church that has such a heart for missions and is not afraid to try new things. Thank you church and thank you Traci and family for the nice bed to sleep in!

Conce Team Video

This is the video my good friend Donald made for our team for specifically for the A&M Church but also to be used for the fund raising search and just for general information for anyone interested. My team is so great. I just love the ending. Thanks Donald!

PS- I'm quite proud I even got this online. :)

College Station Part 1

Our team spent our first weekend in College Station this past weekend. If you don't know, we are Team 3 for their church and we are very excited to be a part of what they are doing in missions. They are going to support our team for the year of 2010. We will not be in Chile until 2011 but they are going to support us during our training to give us time to fund raise, train, continue to deepen team relationships and visit family. It will be a much easier year to do all that and not have to have a job on top of it. You can see our info page on their website.

We arrived Saturday afternoon after a nice drive together and a delicious lunch at Storms in Hamilton, TX. It was a beautiful day and we had a relaxing afternoon with the girls driving around the town a bit and having coffee at a local coffee shop. I had my first experience driving with a GPS thingy. When they create one that talks back when I ask questions then I will buy one.

Silly girls all wore the same thing- they said it was not planned

That evening we had a yummy dinner with Kelly and amazing ice cream back at his house with is wife Sara. Who can resist Blue Bell's new flavor! I just love it so much. Kelly and Sara were great hosts and we loved talking with them. They have so much wisdom concerning and missions from personal experience and from their son being on the field now. Our team felt blessed by the time we got to spend with them. It was also an exciting evening because A&M beat Tech in Lubbock that night. I am not a huge fan but being in that town it is hard not to be excited.

Sunday morning we were asked to teach class. They split the 7 of us up between 2 adult classes. We were able to share more about our team with church members and I think it went really well despite my fear of public speaking. It has been a while since I have been involved in all the craziness that happens on a Sunday morning in a large church. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of great people who were very encouraging.

Sad I did not match the other girls

During church service they had Reid get up and talk about us a bit and then showed our video made by Donald. I will have to put that video on here sometime. Donald did a great job but there is just something uncomfortable about seeing your face on 2 huge screens. I don't know how movie people stand it. Then they had us on stage and the elders prayed over us.

Group pic with Kelly and Sara

After church we were treated to a BBQ fund raising lunch with the BBQ smoked by the preacher himself. I got to talk to even more people and I loved it. I love meeting new people and hearing about their lives and sharing with them about my team and I.

The weekend was such a blessing to our team and we are excited to go back next weekend for Missions Sunday. We get to hang out with AFC and go to a football game with t-shirts and everything. I have wanted to go to an A&M football game for a long time, so I am pumped!

Thanks for a great weekend A&M!!

Ride in the Rain

I had a nice bike ride through the rain today. It was not exactly on purpose but it was kind of enjoyable in an unexpected way. I was not aware how hard it was raining when I went out and by the time I got home I was dripping wet. It was a good test for my rain jacket though because everything under it was quite dry.

As I headed home I could not help but laugh at how soaked I was and how ridiculous I probably looked. Typically I would have avoided puddles but I just plowed through them and kept on laughing. Typically I would have hated getting my clothes soaked and having to change but I just embraced it and laughed.

My pants were so wet when I got home that they were having a hard time staying up. Dripping, I ran through the house and got all dried off. There is not much that feels better than getting warm and dry after being cold and wet. Mmmmm!

The one annoying part of the experience was the drivers. I don't know if they were not aware or did not care, both of which are not good options. I was waiting in the pouring rain to cross the street at a crosswalk and probably 10 cars drove by spraying me without letting me cross. Know who stopped for me? A police car. Come on people! I know being a biker is different than being a walker but I was on the side walk crossing to another side walk in the pouring rain.

But its ok. I forgive them because I got to go for a bike ride in the rain and they were stuck dry in their cars not having near as much fun as I was.

School Spirit

It is homecoming around here at ACU and I am reminded that I have very little school spirit. I have had a good education and made some good friends but have no real allegiance to the school. Yet, this morning I found myself at the homecoming parade. Who doesn't like a "good" (or quirky) parade right?

Anxiously waiting for the parade to start

This was my first year to go and I had some good laughs. I mainly went to support some friends that were in it or who had helped with it but I kind of enjoyed it. It was a beautiful morning and I got to sit around with some friends and laugh at people and it was ok. Some floats had funny costumes, some had good dancing, some were unclear what they were, some were a bit racist, and some were uncomfortable just to be there. Oh ACU, you make me proud!

Penny and Lyuda representing China and Ukraine

The "highlight" of the parade was the free candy and a free highlighter that has 5 different colors on it. Some cute old people were throwing them from their float to advertise the local assisted living. The phrase on it says "The highlight of your retirement!" HA! So clever! :) I am excited to read and highlight this week.

Official parade watchers

Despite the parade's quirkyness I had a lovely morning with my friends. Who wants a normal parade with Shiners and twirlers anyways!

Getting Better

If you have been a reader for a while you might remember a post called Not a Fix-it kinda girl . I tried and failed at fixing a few things around the house and had a pretty good laugh while doing it. I also learned some valuable lessons.

Well tonight I tried my hand at plumbing once again (I know, I'm living the high life, plumbing on a Friday night. It's ok to admit it. You wish you were me.)and this time I was successful! Hooray! Our bathroom sink was just not draining and I could not take it any longer. I am too cheap to buy drain-o and too proud to call the landlord so I attempted to clean out the u-shaped pipe. It was quite full and gross.

I tried the water (with a cup under the open pipe, thank you very much) and it was still not draining. Boo. So I got my trusty pliers and started messing around with the drain thingy up top. I got it all cleaned up (as best as you can in an old house lived in by who knows how many people- I try to not think about things like that) and was able to see some progress in how quickly the water went down.

The sink may not be 100% but at least it is draining much better. All in a hard days work. :)

You have to be an amazing person to be a plumber. I think I will stick to baking and reading.

Where the Wild Things Are

This movie looks amazing. I cannot wait to see it!

Overall Good Wedding

If you get the title of the post you should know it is not original. If you do not get it, don't worry about it.

Two of our mission teammates got married this past weekend. Woo Hoo! It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding and I had a lot of fun and am so excited for Reid and Mer. They are just so wonderful and I am blessed by their friendship. I am also quite jealous of their week in Mexico. We thought about joining them. :)

Sadly I did not take many pictures but this is Sara and I in the reception tent before the wedding

The wedding weekend was super fun and also quite chilly. I was very thankful for my long sleeved dress but could have used my heavy pea coat. It was a wonderful celebration with beautiful flowers, a beautiful cake, a very beautiful bride, yummy food, fun music and a sweet ceremony.

I am very thankful for the hospitality of the Brooks letting us stay in their home at eat their food. I also enjoyed the time with my team. We have been so busy that it was nice to have a weekend away together and we have a few more of those coming up so that will be great!

Our team stuff is coming along well. We have had some very intense and important meetings over the past few weeks that have led to some very exciting conversations about Chile and church and our future. As unknown as things are I really feel God guiding us and revealing things not as I want them to be revealed but according to His timing. Hopefully it is this way with fund raising for all of us as well.

In a week and a half we will be spending 2 weekends in a row in College Station with the A&M Church of Christ in preparation for them supporting us for a year of training next year. We are very excited to spend time with the people of that church. They are such a blessing to us and I cannot wait to get to know them better!

That's about all that is going on team-wise. We would appreciate your prayers for us and for Chile. If you know of any churches looking to support some missionaries let me know. Some of us are needing to search harder than others but we are all still in need.

Dee out.

30 ROCK IS BACK!!

Can't wait for Thursday night!

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Ewww but true

This is an anti-obesity advert, showing a soft drink being poured into a glass of human fat that I guess is going around NYC. Kinda funny...kinda gross...very true.

Blessed Day

I needed today. As you can see from Monday I am feeling a bit overwhelmed for the semester but I guess it is a day to day thing, or maybe just a Monday thing, because today has been wonderful. Today I:

• Started out the morning with class and we had such interesting discussion about slavery. I learned some things about American history I did not know and I learned a lot about American slavery I did not know. It really made me think about my views on God and scripture and the role of Christians when faced with overwhelming amounts of oppression (and our role when people are too blind to see it).

• Read scripture in chapel

• Enjoyed some not so healthy but free pizza with other grad students

• Had wonderful conversation with friends

• Made a new cookie recipe
  

• Read some of a very interesting book for class called Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes

• Did a little for curiosity's sake info finding about Greenland and Svalbard- what fascinating (cold) places to live!!!
  

• Had a fun and laughter filled evening with church friends- I become more and more thankful for them and more and more blessed every time we hang out

• Ate my yummy cookies and had some amazing Rwandan tea (the cookie recipe needs some work but nothing that a little experimenting cant help)

• Worked on my knitting
  

Thank you Lord for this encouraging, energizing, uplifting day.

Countdown Needed

I like to think of myself as an optimist. I like to enjoy each day and find the blessings in whatever I am doing, fun or not. Having said that, I also am quite tired and see no end in sight until December 11th, the last day of finals week. My countdown has begun. 66 days!

Yet, despite this tiredness I am still loving my classes and what I am learning. I really am so blessed to get to study what I do and even more to be around the people I am around. They all are so wonderful and have such amazing minds. My favorite part of grad school is definitely class when I get to be social in my studies and learn from my classmates and teachers instead of from books and my own boring thoughts.

If only we could have class outside every day and incorporate it with exercise so we are in class but walking around or swimming or doing yoga or something. Wouldn't that be awesome! Haha, that is a funny sight.

Rio Rio Rio Rio!

I was excited today to find out that the 2016 Olympic games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This will be the first time a South American country has hosted the Olympics. That is a big deal, especially for Brazil. I just love the Olympics AND Brazil is a spicy, lively country that will be great for such a big event.

I am excited because most likely I will be in South America when this happens and that will be super fun. I mean I guess they are held in the US sometimes and it is not "super fun" being in the US when they are held super far away but there is something exciting about them being in SA while I am in SA.

Look how excited they are! Don't you just want to hang out with them.

I have to say though that as excited as I am for Brazil, looking at the faces of the people who lost made me sad. They look so disappointed! I wanted Brazil to win but as usual, even when the team (or whatever) I want to win does I usually feel bad for the losers.

I remember even as a kid, when the Rockets won the NBA Playoffs...I admit, I felt a little sorry the Orlando Magic. They worked really hard! I guess this is usually associated with sports because I always feel sorry for the losers at the Olympics too even if who I wanted to win won!

There are other strange ways this unnecessary compassion plays out in my life like feeling sorry for inanimate objects that get left out. This could come in the form of a plate that never gets used because it sits on the bottom of the stack and does not get to fulfill its destiny as a plate, or a pair of jeans I do not like as much as my others so most of the time they stay in my closet, abandoned. I never know when it is going to happen so watch out, you might be next.

This sounds super weird and I did not mean for this post to head in this direction. I am going to stop now.

Poor Tokyo

Poor Madrid

Thankful Thursday

I don't always blog about Thankful Thursday but today I am feeling it! I am thankful for:

• Thursday nights with good friends, yummy food and funny TV
• My friend's parents in American Samoa that are ok
• People who know a lot about computers that are willing to help computer dummies like me
• Catching up with friends, new and old
  
• Getting my first paycheck in a while
• OCTOBER
• The accomplishment I see from cleaning houses as compared to all the other things I do
  
• Weekends to get caught up and to relax
• Baseball hats for mornings I need to sleep in
• The smell that fills my house when I and my roommates bake
• Laughter
• Poppy seeds
• All the different people in this world. Life would be boring without ya!
• The great resources that accompany being in grad school
• The chance to run, even if just for a little bit
• Sunrises, sunsets and clear nights to see the moon
• Co-ed...I mean..."family" church camping trips
  

I am thankful for today!

Momentous

I feel like today is a momentous occasion. No not because I am ahead on homework and not because I made it through the day with no caffeine. More important than those (and neither of those are possible). I sent off my fund raising packet. Ahhh!

It may not seem like a big deal but it is. I never knew how anxiety provoking fund raising could be. I feel so vulnerable. I mean I am really putting myself out there. I am not just presenting what I plan to do but who I am. This is so much a part of me! What if I am rejected? I was seriously shaking a little bit this afternoon as I hit the send button.

Some days I wish I had thicker skin.

Not only do I feel vulnerable about presenting myself on paper, I also take fund raising and money in missions VERY seriously. I am not flippantly asking for money to go hang out in South America for a few years. I am asking for churches to partner with me in a place that God is already working but that needs the hope of Jesus Christ. This is serious business. I am aware of that daily.

As scary as it is, it is also very exciting and freeing. This packet I sent off was my semester goal and it is done! What a weight lifted off my shoulders. It will still need to be tweaked as time goes on but it is pretty much done and I am quite proud of it. I feel like it looks good and communicates well what I plan to do, why I plan to go, who I am, who my team is etc. Or at least as well as can be presented in 11 pages...I seriously could go on for days. :)

This whole missionary thing is a bigger roller coaster than I ever expected it to be but I am so thankful and excited to be on this journey. Whether churches reject me or not, GOD has affirmed this plan and who I am. That is what is important. I need to keep reminding myself of that.

Thanks to those who contributed, fixed my poor grammar and lack of comma usage, gave me feedback and encouragement. I am blessed.

Intern Video Application

So our mission team has to make a video in the next month or so for the A&M church we will be working with. We have been talking about it some and it reminded me of this HILARIOUS video I made a few years ago.

I was looking for internships in Denver and found this one church (sorry that I cannot delete the name from the video, just pretend that you do not hear it) that wanted a video application from me. I had like 3 days to do it or something crazy like that. I was very concerned because 1) I have no video equipment or skills and 2) I am not creative. I thought and thought and finally came up with the best idea I could.

So with the help of the awesome video and art production skills of my BFF and the aid of Ruthie on sound this is what we created. I think it is sooooo funny! You should know it is poor quality and had to all be done in one shot because it was made with a digital camera. You also should know I am a horrible actress and I am not good at keeping a straight face. Despite those things I think it turned out quite well, especially for an app for a youth intern. I got the job... and ended up not taking it which is another story.

I hope it makes you laugh or at least smile. And don't worry, it's ok to laugh at me. :)

Dee Out.

Memories...or lack there of

My mom was laying on my bed today reading Donald Miller's latest book that I just got when he came to town. He starts out talking about how little of our lives we remember. I realized how true that is and it made me sad. Most people do not remember many details or events, just the big things. I feel like I remember less than normal even because my memory is not exactly the greatest.

I think it makes me sad not because I don't remember the really important, big events in my life but because I don't remember the small things, the good feelings or the random insightful thoughts. Yes, every once in a while I have an insightful thought but I never write them down so I don't remember. I should right them down.

I wish I remembered how I felt when I sang "I'm just a girl who can't say no" as Ado Annie in Oklahoma in the 4th grade. I wish I remembered how I felt when rode my bike for the first time or first experienced a thunderstorm. I don't remember. I wish I remembered the first time I met my best friends, the smell of Yosemite or my detailed thoughts of my trip to Honduras. I really need to write things down. I did when I was in the airport on my way to DC recently and I was glad. Most of them were not worth sharing (although I did anyways), but I am glad I wrote them down. How else will I remember them.

My mom reading this led us to discussing my first childhood memories. It is hard to distinguish sometimes because I have seen pictures from when I was little and think I have memories or there are things we did many times throughout my life that we did when I was little so it is hard to know.

My mom thinks I only remember the bad things. We decided it was because they were so out of the ordinary that they stick out. One of my first memories is there was a hurricane coming for Houston. We were all prepared with water in the tubs and our trees tied down. My mom, brother and I were sitting on our slanted driveway watching it come in. It was that eerie calm before a big storm. My mom and brother went inside and I am sure they did not actually leave me out there but that was how it felt. I was scared. How in the world can I remember so many details of that and yet I cannot remember anything besides the front of our first house and its drive way.

Mom did not like that as my first memory so she reminded me of all the treasure hunts we had and the goldfish/tea parties we had for all our stuffed animals. We decided the stuffed animal party would be my first memory. Although, now I am thinking it might have been our first cat Chris. She belonged to our neighbor but we fed her so she gave her to us. I remember laying on her on our driveway before she was even ours. I think that will be my first memory. :)

Happy!

Hooray! I found it again! Thank you Aqua Poppy. And thank you brain for remembering the word poppy.

The world is at peace again.

(And now I am trying a new one...)

Sad

Sad day. I accidentally deleted my blog layout. I don't know where to find it again. I really liked it.

Blerg!

Change

About every 6 months I start thinking "man I'm ready for it to cool off," or "I am so ready for warm weather." It never fails. Ask me one season and I will tell you it is my favorite but by the time the next season rolls around I have a new favorite. It is not because I cannot make up my mind but because I love the changing of the seasons. They all have something so wonderful about them that I just cannot choose. I might hurt one of their feelings. ;)

Winter:
Winter means hot tea, house shoes, poofy vests and my Patagonia fleece. Winter means fires in the fireplace, holidays, live Texans games and the exciting possibility of snow. Only during winter does it make sense to watch the movie Elf (I do it other times of the year but it just isn't the same). I love snuggling in the winter!

Go Texans!

Spring:
Spring means new life, budding trees, and my birthday. Spring is when we come out of hibernation from the winter months and being to play outside again. Spring means warm sun on my pasty skin and the chance to wear skirts again. I love laying in the grass in the spring.

B-day, skirt, outside and pasty skin!

Summer:
Summer means shorts, t-shirts and chaco tan lines. Summer means homemade ice cream, bright colors and swimming in the river. Summer makes me feel like a kid and even though I still have responsibilities, everything just seems a little bit more fun and I want to stay up a little bit later. I love baseball games on a warm summer night.

Night baseball game with BFF

Fall:
Fall means seeing my breath in the cold air for the first time in a while, cold air that tastes and feels fresh and clean. Fall means changing leaves (in some places anyways), wearing my boots and fleece vests and carving pumpkins. Only when it starts to cool off do soups taste so yummy. I love camping in the fall.

Beautiful trees in Colorado

Ok, so I could go on and on. I love what each season brings and I don't know that I can choose a favorite. What I really love is the change. I am so thankful for changing seasons. They keep things fresh and new. I think if it was always summer or always spring I would not appreciate summer or spring but because I get renewed every few months I get to fall in love with the quirks of each season all over again.

Fall, I welcome you! You came at the perfect time as always.

Dee In

Ok, I'm back. I know that was not a very long break. I am still kinda bored with blogging but I have my reasons for coming back. Maybe it is because of all the comments my readers have made begging me to return...NOT! No one even seemed to notice so I guess this blog is just for me.

Is there a tool or anything to tell me if anyone is visiting my blog or not? I mean I know that I read a lot of people's blogs but never comment and I guess they don't know that I read. I just like to think my blogs are so profound I leave everyone speechless...or maybe they are too intimidated because I am so cool...or maybe...just kidding. :)

So here are some random things going on in my life:

• Had a wonderful, relaxing, yummy night with my team last night. They are so great. I just love spending time with them.

• Ellen and I are both experimenting with veggie soups (without recipes) this week. We will see how it goes. In the process of sharing what we were thinking we would put in them we discovered the difference in chicken stock and chicken broth. Do you know the difference?

• Summit (Lectureship) is this week at ACU. Have I been to any of it yet? Only the iron pouring on Monday night. That was pretty cool. No, I have been holed up in my room reading and reading and reading. I am going to go hear Donald Miller speak this afternoon. Don't let me down Donald!!!

• I am getting serious about this fund raising business. It is so scary and stressful but also humbling. And I have been encouraged by reading my friend's blogs who are new to the mission field. You should check all of them out on the right side.
  

• It got "cool" yesterday here in Abilene. At least cool for Texas standards and it is super nice. This time of year I miss Colorado the most. I loved the fall there. It was so amazing and beautiful!

• My padres are coming to visit this weekend. Yea!

• The Texans had and AWESOME game on Sunday. So that is what it feels like to have a good team. Every time Schaub stepped back to throw the ball my stomach tightened up because I am so used to seeing him get sacked that it makes me nervous. It feels like how I feel when I see an ice skater make a jump.

• I get to go to my first A&M football game in my life in October and I am super excited. I have wanted to go for a long long time! I am really looking forward to my 2 upcoming weekends in College Station.

• Tomorrow night is Office night. I was really impressed with Community last week. Can they keep up the humor though? I am ready for 30 Rock to come back on. I miss you Lemon!

• I love school and what I am studying is just amazing. I feel so blessed by it all and never want to take it for granted. Having said that, I am ready to be done. Not because I am tired of studying necessarily, but because I am just so tired of sitting. All day I sit and read, sit and write, sit and research, sit and listen. It is exhausting and my body is crying out for activity!
  

• At least one of my fantasy football teams is doing good...
  

Ok, I really should get back to my reading, reading, reading (sitting, sitting, sitting) so I don't feel guilty when I go to Donald Miller. Don't let me down Donald!!! :)

Meh...

I'm bored with blogging. I think I will disappear from here for a while. Don't worry, nothing exciting is happening that you will miss. Seems like all I do is read now. See ya sometime...

Dee Out.

I Heart Kelli

This blog is devoted to my wonderful, amazing, brilliant, beautiful roommate Kelli who is no longer my roommate. She moved out a few weeks ago but she moved away this morning. Sad! I had the most AMAZING time living with her and was blessed so much by her friendship. I could go on and on with sappy stories about her but I wont.

The roommates- what a blessed year

We had a surprise party for her last night and it went better than planned because we actually got to hide and then jump out at her and everything (in 2 waves even). Way to go Shannon! We had a great turnout for a last minute party and it was so fun to hang out one last time with Kelli and friends. We laughed, ate delicious Kaylynn made brownies, and told fun stories.

Hiding in Shannon's kitchen

Joanna being sneaky and calling Kelli to see where she was

Silly guys hiding in the closet

Others hiding in Shannon's room- they were the second wave

Most of the party minus a few

Speaking of telling stories, I think I will share a few of my favorite Kelli stories, most of which have probably been previously blogged about so forgive the repeat.

• Our first night in our new house with just the two of us. Kelli is out. I am roach hunting (aka waiting for Kelli to come home) with toothbrush in mouth when Kelli walked in and saved the night.

• Our second night together, wondering what Alley was curious about under the shelf I pulled back the curtain and out ran a mouse. I jumped on a chair and Kelli fell down and the mouse ran over her!

• Camping, the whole trip. But mainly having the tent blow away with us in it and then cramming everything wet into the car and "sleeping" almost sitting up.

• Going to church with her and meeting so many new wonderful people.

• Walks.

• Watching and quoting 30 Rock with all the roomies.

• Annoying Alley the cat together.

• Making nasty cornbread by mixing up baking soda and baking powder. I still don't understand those names.

Basically I love Kelli and all the time we had together even when she was my RA. I hope and pray that your time in Oxford is amazing and I know it will be. Can't wait to see where we all end up. Meeting in Africa right girls?

Airport Thoughts

These are some random thoughts I had while sitting in the airport on my way to and from DC:

--There is something exciting and sneaky about driving around town at 3:30am. It always makes me smile no matter how tired I am.

--I love the smell of pretzels baking...even at 4am.

--As I was blow-drying my hair in the airport bathroom a lady walked in and said "wow, you are prepared. You must do this a lot." I felt proud!

--Airports are the best place to people watch. So many coming and going, doing interesting things, wearing interesting clothes, reading interesting books and saying funny things. And what better time to appreciate this than when you have nothing better to do but take it all in.

--How in the world do planes not crash into each other more than they do with so many flying around, taking off and landing.

--Is is appropriate to ask the girl sitting next to me what country she is from if I can tell she is not from the US? I always like to be asked when I am a visitor but maybe I am strange.

--I am 25 years old and still get motion sickness. Bleh!

--There is a girl crying and I wish I could give her a hug and see if she needs to talk.

--I wish I could go around and ask everyone where they are going and why!

--How do planes work exactly? Sometimes it freaks me out to trust so much in technology that I do not understand....like the internet...

DC Again

So I had the opportunity to visit Washington DC again for the second time this year. This time I had a lot more time to sight-see and that I did. I saw everything I wanted to see and more. Here are some pictures to document my journey.

Hanging out against the Washington Monument

Cooling my feet in the WWII Memorial- this became a common activity whenever I found a fountain because it was super hot!

My brother hanging out with Mr. President at the Obama shop in Union Station- probably not too many of those shops in Texas huh?

Chinese food restaurant I got takeout from in Chinatown. I thought that was really funny!

Touching a moon rock at the Air and Space Museum...I thought the moon was white!

Hanging out behind the Capitol building. I just love this building. I think it is so beautiful!

The White House (if you didn't know). I was excited to see it because the last two times I have been to DC it was covered up. In 3rd grade Clinton was having a reunion on the lawn and had big tents. In January it was the Inauguration and EVERYTHING was closed off!

Inside the Library of Congress. It was huge and beautiful and had awesome ceilings!

Driving a mail truck in the Postal Museum which was my favorite museum out of all that I visited. Strange I know.

Hanging out with Roosevelt at the Nationals vs. Rockies game. These were their mascots and I thought they were hilarious/creepy!

Hello Mr. Lincoln. They also had Washington and Jefferson. So crazy! I could not stop laughing at them. Wouldn't want to run into this guy in a dark alley!

And finally- who do you think this is? They were standing and sitting above the stadium the whole game. At first I thought it might be Obama but zooming in with my camera I don't think so. Maybe Whoopie Goldberg?

It was a super fun trip. Thanks for the invite Matthew. I had a blast! I also really enjoyed getting to spend some time with the Falls Church CoC and some of their members. Thanks for your hospitality!

Waltonia Cont.

I got some more pics from my parents and wanted to tell a few more stories with these pictures. One thing I love about Waltonia is all the fun animals on the property. Some years there is a baby dear and most years there are little pigs and goats and donkeys to play with. I enjoy taking our leftover food scraps and feeding the pigs. They will eat anything!

"That's some pig!"

Remember how I said we went to see the bats fly at night? Well below you can see where we sat to watch them fly out. Their smell only reached us a little at the top of the cave but below smelled so awful. I really do not know if I have ever smelled something so bad so strongly. Bleh!

Cheese!

Nastiest smell ever

Hanging out in the river

Next to swimming at eating, my favorite thing to do is read on the porch

Oh and another favorite is playing games! We took 3 nights to play Mexican Train and this is a rousing game of Pit.

We also love to take adventures when at Waltonia. There are many things to do in the area, like seeing bats, but a must see is the replica of Stonehenge and Easter Island. I know, weird huh? I had been before but Shannon had not so many of us spontaneously piled into our cars and drove about 15 min to this place in the middle of a field. There was a sign explaining it but basically someone just decided to make this for fun after visiting the real thing. It is like 2/3rds size or something but not made out of stone. So hilarious! There are also 2 Easter Island dudes you can walk to.

Stretch!

We are so cute!

Well it was another wonderful year. I had a blast and this blog does not cover even half of the week. I am just tired of blogging.

Classic last pictures of the week by the sign

Up next? My trip to DC!