B-Day Celebrations

I had a really great birthday this year. It was stretched out over a few days and it was full of fun. My parents came in for the weekend and that is always a good thing. We just hung out, ate yummy food, opened gifts and got ready for my party. One of the best gifts I got was a harmonica. Isn't that cool! I had talked to my mom about wanting an instrument to learn when I move and that a piano would be cool but it expensive and that I thought a harmonica would be fun. To my surprise, she remembered and got me one. Look out! I may have found my calling. :)

Already jammin'

The party was supposed to be outside at the park but since it was raining we crammed everyone into my tiny house and had a cozy, good time. We grilled burgers, ate a ton of yummy food, played games, did the hula hoop and laughed a lot. Thanks to everyone who came and made it a great time.

Fiesta!

Who doesn't love a good game of Jenga

I think the highlight of the party for me and my guests was swingball. If you have never heard of or played swingball you need to look it up. My family has been playing for quite a while and my parents brought it with them so we could play. Everyone liked it so much they even played in the sprinkling rain!

The famous cookie cake

So that was the weekend before my birthday. My actual birthday was on Tuesday so we got to weave celebrating in and out of everything we did for Team Tuesday. There was a special message written to me in our breakfast casserole and an amazing dinner followed by LOST. The dinner included homemade ice cream and cobbler. Yum! Thanks team!

On Wednesday, I had moved on and was not even thinking about my birthday anymore. I was going about my day and was not able to go to my mentoring group because of a little passport emergency for some of the interns I work with in my job. I was running around campus getting things taken care of and I just happened to have a moment to check my email. This is what I saw:

They had brought a cake for me and I did not show up!! Have you ever seen such sad faces! As soon as I got this I jumped on my bike and sped over to Chris' house. They had already eaten half the cake but they re-lit the candles for me. It was so sweet and funny. They are the best.

Thanks to everyone for celebrating with me!!

Old Fart

Sometimes I feel like an old fart when it comes to technology and how fast it changes and the effects it has on our society. Don't get me wrong, I love having a laptop and a cell phone and connecting with friends on Facebook, but I think all of that can be taken to an unhealthy level. I am honestly concerned about the implications our addiction to instant internet gratification might have. When I say this though people think I am an old fart who is not willing to change with the times. Maybe I am but maybe there is also some truth to my concern. Check out Donald Miller's blog post today about cell phones. Not that what DM says = truth, but he just always says things better than I do.

More Random Thougths- It's all I have right now

How ironic that in my last blog I said it needs to rain and now that it is I want it to stop because it is going to rain out my birthday party! Boo!

I admit I know very little about NASA or politics but going to Mars sounds like a great idea to me. My friends and I were just talking about how they need to start working a little harder towards that goal. I bet Obama over heard us and that is where he got the idea. :) But really, I think NASA is great. Not that I want to go in space myself but who can blame them for wanting to explore and experiment.


The earth seems to be on the move. There are just earthquakes after earthquakes and now with the volcanoes. I do not know how it all works, but they seem to be connected. Maybe when one large plate moves it triggers others to move also.


Speaking of volcanoes, I do not mean to make light of the situation but I have always wanted to see lava up close. It just seems so impressive. Anyone want to go to Iceland...oh wait, you can't get there. Maybe next time.


I am having to take a little break and reevaluate my running and I am quite bummed about it. My knee has been hurting and I have an idea of why but nothing is ever a quick fix. I am taking 3-4 days off and just walking and then we will see how it goes. I may have to become a grass runner.

I love my rain jacket. It is so pretty and green.


When I turn 26 next week I will be moving up an age bracket. You know how on forms you say 21-25, and then the next one is like 26-40, I will be in that one. Life is a constant cycle of moving up in the age range and then back down to the bottom, just like when I was in 8th grade I was a the top of the school and then moved to the bottom when starting high school.

The show Flashforward is great. I hope Demitri does not die and Mark and Olivia better work things out or I am going to be annoyed. How did Janice get pregnant?


Boston.com's The Big Picture is probably my favorite website to look at right now. They have amazing pictures of the amazing things happening around the world. I love it.

I think...

-It needs to rain, soon.

-I love spring time so much. Everything is so green and beautiful. My favorite is to drive past the green fields sprinkled with the black cows. I sound like a country girl....

-Birthday season is fun. I love thinking back over all my fun birthdays. Many of you readers have been a part of them at one time or another.


-Desmond hit Locke not because Locked pushed him down the well but so that Locke and Jack will meet in the hospital, touch, and remember. Desmond is not that mean.

-Ilana was just asking to get blown up so I don't feel too sorry for her.


-I am going to think long and hard about how to use my REI dividend. There is nothing that jumps out to me right now that I want so I am going to save it.

-Colorful shoes are the best.


-I am excited for summer for many reasons, one being all the fun movies that are coming out. Summer movies are the best!


-I am considering cutting my hair short again. I have been growing it out and I like it long but when I see pictures of it short I want to cut it. I have polled before, but tell me which you like more.

My Lowly Opinion on Twilight

Oh Vampires, you sure do provide us with entertainment, but entertainment and a skewed outlook on love is about all that you provide. I have not read the Twilight books so my whole opinion is based on watching the first and second movies but gag me please, could they be setting a worse example on love and relationships.

I guess we should not be going to vampire books and movies for advise on relationships (not saying you should come to me either because what do I know) but I am a firm believer that the media effects people and this cannot be having a good effect.

I felt this way about Edward in the first movie but I wanted to give him a chance so I rented the second one and I still feel the same. He is wimpy and whiny and selfish and very naive for being 100 years old. He and Bella do not have a healthy relationship. They are way too enmeshed and seem to bring out the worst in each other. They are so dependent on each other that it just drives me crazy and just when Bella seems to be moving on and becoming a normal person again Edward draws her back in.

The message of this story is that a girl needs a guy to survive and and they need to be so in love that they cannot spend a moment apart. When Edward says "you give me everything by just breathing Bella" I wanted to scream CREEPER!!! Their love is so unrealistic and not in a fun way like some chick-flick movies are but in a depressing way.

I think it is good for couples to need each other but they also need to still keep their own identity. Bella wants to take on Edward's identity so much that she is willing to die for it. She looses her friends and only begins to find herself again in the arms of another guy. This is not good either Bella but at least he is a nicer guy.

So I don't know the point of this post except that I needed to vent a little about this story that is so popular and wonder what example it is setting for young people about the realities of love. I hope they can see it as just a story and not something we should desire for our own lives.

Happy Happy Easter

I could not stand to have another Easter where because I am not close to my family I do not celebrate and eat yummy food so I had my own Easter lunch. I invited my church family over and we had a wonderful time.


It was a beautiful spring day and I cooked an awesome ham. I was a little nervous about cooking a ham because it seems like a big task that could go wrong and spoil the whole event but I was brave and went for it. I made a yummy glaze and set that baby to cooking. To my surprise it turned out really well, everyone loved it and now I have an awesome ham bone to cook soup with (any recipe suggestions?).


Along with my ham my wonderful friends all brought some scrumptious sides. We had everything you could want and more plus yummy desserts. We are getting really good at this potluck thing and I am loving it.


We also had to participate in a silly Easter tradition that I do not know where it came from: dying Easter eggs. We had the hard boiled eggs, the food coloring, the crayons and even glitter! I think our egg dying skills could use a little work but they turned out very cute and even more important we had a lot of fun. I felt like a little kid and really enjoyed myself.



Thanks to everyone who came over. I had a great time and loved spending Easter and celebrating the resurrection of Christ with each of you.

Super Awesome Wonderful Fun Trip

The BFF and I took a trip. We decided we wanted to do something really fun together before I move really really far away. We planned for a long time to go to the Grand Canyon but changed our minds because we did not feel like planning it or sleeping on the ground. "Where can we go that is fun, relaxing and within driving distance" we asked ourselves. Florida, that's where!!!

Beautiful beach, beautiful sunset, beautiful friends

So for our trip we drove ourselves to Destin, FL. We stayed in a condo, played on the beach, ate yummy food and had a great time just being outside and hanging out with each other for 6 days straight. The weather was not hot but it was actually great for being outside and not melting. The water was too cold to swim in but that just gave us a good excuse to not swim in the ocean which neither of us are huge fans of. Most of our time was spent laying around on the beach, laughing, reading and people watching. It was awesome!

Yes we are covered up while laying out- it got a little chilly sometimes

I cannot resist playing in the sand like a little kid

We also got to eat some really great seafood while we were there including these awesome jumbo shrimp stuffed with crab and wrapped in bacon. Mmmm! Also, we found this fun little bakery and ate pastries from there 3 times including some of the best donuts ever.


Other than the things mentioned we really did a lot of nothing. We had no plans while we were there so we just made up our day as it went along and did whatever we wanted. Our goals were to relax together, be outside together and eat yummy food. Mission accomplished! I had a great time with you BFF!!!

Thanks for a beautiful week Destin