25 Things

A note has been circulating on facebook called "25 Random Things" in which friends (and myself) have listed (you guessed it) 25 random things. I've discovered I greatly enjoy writing random things about myself...just off the wall, for no good reason, 'facts' that no one actually needs to know. So for you, blogging world, I am writing another 25 random things.

1. I still think "You've Got Mail" has some of the best quotes ever.
   
2. I would buy Girl Scout cookies multiple times a year...please Girl Scouts of America sell your delicious, wonderful cookies more than once a year!
3. I prefer Pepsi products to Coke products but do enjoy both.
4. I HATE dancing movies.
5. I enjoy cooking but don't feel as motivated to cook if Chris isn't in town.
   
6. I really love argyle. I made a flyer for my students with an argyle background to help them learn the Bible verse. I bought Chris three argyle sweaters at Christmas. I own multiple pairs of argyle socks.
   
7. I love knee socks. I wear them as often as possible. I think this is partially from watching "Clueless" countless times and partially because I tend to stay cold.
8. Despite staying cold, I still eat ice. My iron isn't low...I just really like to crunch on ice.
9. I give blood almost every time I'm asked. I love doing this. I love, love, love it.
10. I hate when Disney makes sequels to animated classics.
    
11. My favorite pair of pjs are pink flannel with bunnies wearing boots, scarves, and mittens doing winter sports. They are comfy, warm, and adorable.
    
12. I own a moo-moo thanks to Amanda B's generosity. I wear it on a bi-weekly basis, if not more often. I love it!
    
13. I can always watch "Family Matters" and "The Golden Girls". Always.
14. I don't like to decorate for Christmas...not b/c I'm a scrooge but b/c I tend to be a perfectionist when I do it. I don't like that side of me so much.
15. I'm really excited to own a dog again one day. I plan on going to the pound to pick out a pooch.
16. My hands are very large. Chris enjoys calling them 'mands.'
17. I tried to write a novel in fourth grade. I made my story center around two sisters. The narrator was the younger sister and I based her on me. She, however, didn't have wavy brown hair and brown eyes; she had straight red hair and green eyes. The older sister was based on my sister but I didn't change her appearance.
    
18. I sing and typically dance while driving even when I am not alone.
    
19. When I blogged on xanga, I posted almost daily. Of course, that was when I was in college.
    
20. I honestly don't know what my favorite flower is.
    
21. I can't watch "The Notebook" without audibly sobbing multiple times. Poor Chris didn't know what to do with me when he so graciously watched it with me. Thankfully he held me and passed me the tissues.
22. I love thinking about my Poppy Earl. He was a grizzled, old marine with multiple tattoos (including a scantily clad lady on his forearm). He had a glass eye and loved to cook. He is the reason why I love coffee--he gave it to me when I was three for the first time. I can't have coffee without thinking about him and smiling.
23. I desire to have fraternal twins: a boy and a girl.
24. I have a very deep dimple in each of my cheeks. When I was little, I would puff my cheeks out with air to get rid of them. Now I love them as I realize they aren't craters in my face.
25. I enjoy costumes. I typically think of about 87 different Halloween costumes each year. You have no idea how excited I was to learn that Halloween is Chris' favorite holiday!
    

beard

When Chris came home for Christmas break, he left his razor...so he didn't shave for a month. He has continued this no shave policy. Today he sent me a picture. Now to be fair, he looks a little sleepy but check out the color of his beard:

Yep, it's copper colored. My boyfriend has a full out beard. This is blowing my mind. I thought the beard was full blown when he was here but oh no friends, the beard has progressed.

I'm trying to grow out my hair...I was feeling pretty good about it until I saw the beard picture. I feel like he's made a lot more progress than I have. My goal is to have beautiful curled hair for Valentine's Day. Tonight I tried it out and it just didn't look right. *sigh*

I still have time...and he still has a beard.

Another Reason Why I LOVE my Jobby-Job

We have an upcoming event for our fourth and fifth graders at Skate Town. Tonight I get to skate around on bright white old school roller skates to help promote it. This is just another one of the many reasons I absolutely LOVE my job!

drama

I have a confession. I really enjoy ridiculous shows on vh1. I could watch New York do anything...that girl is pure entertainment. Charm School is addictive. I could care less about Brett Michael's quest for love but for the most part, if it's on vh1, chances are at some point I will watch it.

Why is that? I can't relate to any of the people on the shows...sometimes we have a similar background but other than that, no tie exists. I know it's a ridiculous show yet still I tune in. Chris has been very patient with this and I reward his patience by not making him watch the shows.

I think part of the reason is human drama is inescapable. I grew up with a lot of drama in my life. I praise God for keeping me safe and showing me ways to get out of drama. If you knew my background, you would be amazed by how gracious God truly is. Since my life is pretty drama free now, is that why I tune into drama filled vh1 shows?

Seriously, is that my deal? Is this how I remind myself of how my life could have been? Or is it because secretly I like the drama...and even love the drama when it isn't happening to me? I'm not sure...really some rational explanation must exist.

Recently a girl I hardly know has been trying to cause drama in my life. I've been praying for her. I've not responded to the drama attempts in an effort to quiet her efforts. I'm left totally perplexed. Drama on tv = good. Trying to causing drama in an almost stranger's life = not good. Why do people do this? What is the reward for causing drama in someone's life? Is there a reward? How long will she keep at this until she finally lets go and moves on?

Thankfully God works all things together for good. Maybe this will cause me to give up the upcoming season of "I Love Money" on vh1...maybe this will enable me to say goodbye to the teen idols and New York. Maybe, just maybe, I will let go of my vh1 habit and replace it with something worthwhile like gardening or a bedazzling business.

FACEinHOLE

Create your own FACEinHOLE

FACEinHOLE

Create your own FACEinHOLE

FACEinHOLE

Create your own FACEinHOLE

long distance

My wonderful boyfriend lives about five hours away (or a short hour flight) until May 9. All but about two months of our relationship have been long distance. This has been such a blessing. It's caused us to really focus on our communication. Every night we have a phone date & talk for typically an hour and a half. It's so great to hear about his day, share about mine, and just talk about random things.

Lately our conversations have been much more random. We share about our days and then just go off the deep end. We talk about ridiculous things and I love it. On Monday he made me take a 'true colors' personality test. We scored the same: we have the same order of color. (on the test you are all four colors with some being more dominant than others) Perhaps we have these ridiculous conversations because we are the boy and girl versions of each other.

What's nice is that we do have some differences. He doesn't freak out whenever the rat repellent commercial comes on. That's very good as any time it plays I am PARALYZED with fear. He doesn't like to read and I do. We have enough differences to keep things interesting.

It's always fun to find one of those differences in our conversations. It's also really fun to have so much in common. Mainly, it's just fun to be his girlfriend.

In a couple of weeks, he'll fly home for an entire weekend. I love when this happens. We always have our special day on Friday. Saturday after church we typically have family time with his fantastic family. Sundays we play it by ear but last fall was primarily football watching/me napping afternoons and wii nights with his family.

I can't wait to see what else God is going to do in our relationship. :-)

provision

This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else but God provided for me in a huge way.

Starting next week I'll teach a weeknight class on Wednesdays & Thursdays, show my weekend lesson plans on our Tuesday meetings, and continue to prep for the weekend like usual. Last night I was feeling overwhelmed...to be prepared for staff meetings, I will have to get at least one week ahead this week. Writing my lessons each week takes anywhere between two and five days. I go research crazy, find out everything I possibly can about the subject, then try to write up three to five different small group activities as well as the main lesson.

Today thanks to God's provision, I was able to get ahead a week! This means tomorrow I can focus on possibly getting two weeks ahead which would be such a huge deal. It's almost as if God had multiplied my time today. I was able to still go to Aliya's birthday lunch, enjoy birthday cake, and make a lovely to-do list. I am so grateful! God is incredibly gracious.

back to work

I did spend most of yesterday sleeping.

Today has been very interesting for me at work. It's not that the work has been crazy, or even out of the ordinary for that matter; I am having difficulty focusing. My head gets fuzzy and the next thing I know I'm saying something totally unconnected. Some of you, who have actually had conversations with me, might be thinking, 'oh sb, you do that anyway...' but I can always connect the dots. Today I'm not connecting any dots.

On the plus side, I haven't passed out. I have successfully breathed through my nose all day. I haven't had to lie down any.

So really today is what we call a win...take that sickness.

I'm half way finished with my antibiotics...so, Lord willing, I should be back to normal soon. Thank You Jesus!

comfort

Being able to watch a marathon of Project Runway season 1, drink a cold mountain dew, and eat some lasagna is what I'm calling comfort right now.

why so sleepy?

I slept for about twelve hours last night. It's very odd to me that on Monday after going to the doctor, I felt like I could conquer the world. I felt full of energy & ready to head back to work. Yesterday I slept most of the day. I felt exhausted. Today's my last day before returning to work. I am curious if I will spend today sleeping too...

amoxicillin, sudafed, and four spray

I've now taken my daily doses of medicine and can not believe how much better I already feel. It no longer hurts to swallow! My throat isn't burning when I blow my nose. :-) I was able to take a nap this afternoon! I am so thankful!

crazy times...

I'm extremely blessed. God has been more gracious to me than I could have even imagined or dreamed (Ephesians 3:20-21). I am so grateful for His provision. God's timing is perfect and He works all things together for good (Romans 8:28).

The last month of my life has been a bit crazy. We had nine Christmas services. My boyfriend came into town for the entire time so I got to try out the whole balance thing. I went to Oklahoma and Washington. In all of the busy-ness, I got sick.

The last two weeks I've been feeling like I was on my b or c game. I really missed A game sb. Chris was sick too. On Tuesday we were both feeling up to it and were able to go to Washington to visit his aunt and grandparents. The short travel arrangements were possible since his mom works for an airline. We're crazy blessed.

While in Washington, I was able to go to Seattle and Tacoma. Dear goodness this is a beautiful place! Seattle is such an interesting city. I could visit it again and again. While in Tacoma, we did a self-made '10 Things I Hate About You' tour. It was such a blessing to meet the other side of his family...and to see some amazing things.

On Wednesday night I had difficulty sleeping so on Thursday I took some benedryl. No big whoop. My body is probably not use to all of the gorgeous greenery. Right? Thursday night I had an even worse time sleeping. Friday when we were flying home, I had a big problem popping my ears.

My roommies were out of town this weekend, so Friday night after Chris dropped me off at my house, I tried to pop my ears in all of the embarrassing looking ways. It didn't work. I googled to find a relief and did everything it said. Nothing worked. I kept praying and went to sleep. I woke up at 3 am with one ear popped and one not. I took a crazy hot shower, put a hot compress on my swollen glands, and kept praying. I was able to drift in and out of sleep for a bit.

Saturday I got ready for Chris' birthday party. One ear was still not popped. I felt so bad...and couldn't get over the pain in my ears. I thought I was being a horrible girlfriend. While at the party, my ear finally popped. You have no idea how thankful I was! That night I took some more medicine before services but still didn't feel great.

Saturday night after church, I went with Chris' family to dinner. I apologized for being on my c game. They were so sweet. That night I woke up at 4...and felt awful. I finally went back to sleep around 5.

Sunday morning I came into church early. I was doing everything incredibly slowly. It was hard to focus. Alisha took one look at me and told me she would find a way to cover my services. I started crying and couldn't stop. I went home, rested, and waited for Chris to come over for his last night in town.

That night I was even worse. I couldn't stop crying. I thought I was overreacting. I thought I was being emotional since he was leaving for another month or so. That night i woke up every two hours.

This morning Erin picked me up and we went to the doctor. It turns out I have pus on my throat and a 'raging' bi-lateral ear infection. I have three medications I will take multiple times for the next week.

God was so gracious through all of this. I was able to get into the doctor at 9:30 this mornign. I was able to get a shot in the office. I was able to get my prescriptions filled. I had a wonderful friend to be my listening ears at the office. I was able to not rupture my ear drum. I would have blown everything off had I not promised Chris I would go to the doctor.

Now I have the next three days to rest. I can read. I can pray. I can write. I am so thankful.

leaving on a jet plane

Tomorrow around noon I'll board a plane so I can go the furthest west I've ever been. I'll stop off in Las Vegas (which i hear is an interesting city) for a slight lay over on my way to the home of Dr. Frasier Crane. Yes friends, Chris & I are going to Seattle tomorrow!

I can't wait. I never thought of visiting Seattle...ever. Chris' aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents live there. We'll stay with his aunt. I have heard such wonderful things about her. I am not nervous yet...but have a feeling the nerves will hit right around the lay over. It's really important to me to make a good impression.

I have very limited knowledge of Seattle. '10 Things I Hate About You', 'Frasier', and a season of 'The Real World' were filmed there. I know Starbucks originated there. I know they have a fish market where you catch the fish you buy. I know it rains quite a bit there and is cold. That's about the extent of my knowledge.

I can't wait to share what I've learned and some silly pictures....YAYA!!