christmas is over, but this was fun, check it

I love "A Charlie Brown Christmas"... and I found this fun little quiz about the show through another blog... I scored 60%... not terrible... atleast better than half. :)

click the picture >><< to take it yourself...

how'd YOU do?

Don't dis the JuJu- episode 21/season two

I admit it, I'm obsessed. consumed. hooked. immersed in. addicted... to Grey's Anatomy. Yes, I confess here and now that I have a problem. Is it that much of a problem? Well, I'm not having dreams about McDreamy yet, but when I rent a disc from Blockbuster I definitely can't stop watching after just two episodes. It has to be atleast three, and it's hard to quit after that.

I'm so glad that I've been able to watch the second season on dvd while we're waiting for new episodes to return in the current season.

Anyone else ready to admit to their obsessions? :) For some it's alcohol, and others cigarette's... me: Grey's Anatomy.

---
In other news.. I never updated about my "final" last friday! :) It went exceptionally well... no big deal, I just didn't give any of my opinion. And, this week I found out that the client wanted to get rid of the current logo that was created by someone else and let me change it. Sometimes if you do what they say, even if you don't like it, they'll see it for themselves and decide that maybe, just maybe you were right. :)

--
One last tid-bit... all this week I thought how great it would be if I could take friday off, but at the same time figured it wouldn't be a hard day and I'd have work to do so why not? Well, this afternoon my boss came into my office and said "I want you to take the day off tomorrow"..
Perfect! If he is telling me I should, who am I to do anything different! :) yay... a day to catch up!
So... the moral of the story is.... "don't dis the juju"
haha

peace- and Happy New Year if I don't get on here again before!

CHristmaS Meme...

Okay Erin... I of course, cannot resist the "meme"
here's the definition for all who are curious... i had to look it up:
meme: an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture

1. Egg nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate! Egg Nog just sounds nasty

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa only brings the stocking stuffers...

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
Currently green and red on tree... none on the house

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Naw... i never got into that... nobody to kiss anyways :)

5. When do you put your decorations up?
very soon after Turkey day

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
hmm... it's always different.. this year it's a ham from the Honey Baked Ham Co.- my dad got a GC for one... i suppose it'll be good, but I'm not a huge ham fan in general

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child.
hmm... i don't now if it's absolutely favorite, but one I remember vividly... I asked for ice skates (i knew we were friends for a reason E! :), but I got new ones... sorry) for christmas one year and the next morning before going to my grandma's house, I was determined to try out my new skates. My parents were so great... they brought me to an ice rink even though it was closed and helped me get my skates on in the car so I could go and try them out. I believe it was close to 0° out, too! So, needless to say the skating didn't last very long!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Santa was "old saint nick", a real person, but a story from long ago, I was told by my parents early on. I was probably one of the oblivious kids who didn't realize my friends REALLY believed in Santa, and broke their little hearts.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas eve?
I open ALL of them on Christmas eve... we used to do christmas with mom's side on the eve and dad's side on day... but you know, family feud and all that, so the eliminated the day celebration.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
being a single gal, i don't have many ornaments... i haven't asked for my christmas ornaments from my parents because I felt like I should wait until I have my own family. Just makes more sense on their tree right now.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
As you may have read... I posted in the middle of my work day today JUST to report the snow that FINALLY fell! It was ABOUT TIME! Yes, I love it... I was actually getting depressed from the brown-ness.

12. Can you ice skate?
I got new Ice Skates two years ago, or maybe even three now.. wow! but I haven't had a chance to use them in a couple years. :(... that is one of my goals for the year.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? (hold on, this one's long)
oh gosh... this is a funny/heartwarming story :)... it's mostly my favorite because of the story..
so, in middle school i was pretty obsessed with Elmo (i know you know where this is going). And, of course when the Tickle Me Elmo came out EVERYONE had to have one, but I really never remember asking for one outright... Everyone remembers the mobs and people stealing them out of customers hands, etc. It was insane and I couldn't imagine why it was SOO important to have it for Christmas. OKAY... so I open most of my gifts and then get to one from my grandma, open it, and yes, it's "Tickle Me Elmo"... I was shocked! She told me that she went to Target and got a RainCheck (because they were obviously out), not thinking it would come before Christmas and would just wrap a picture of it or something. Target called her a few days before Christmas, so she was able to pick it up for me. I remember her saying something like she was a bit frightened that someone would see her carrying one out of the store. I just LOVE my grandma! Not because I got something, but because of the heart behind it... she knew without me asking, and didn't worry about having to give it on Christmas... "it's the thought that counts" is her moto.

14. What is the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Family. (i'll second that!)

15. What is your favorite Holiday dessert?
mmm... Grandma's special creme wafer cookies... they're indescribable!

16. What is your favorite Holiday tradition?
a newer tradition is having Mike and Lois(our "adopted" aunt and uncle) over for gift giving and dessert on christmas day (although this year will be slightly different because of schedules... owell)

17. What tops your tree?
nothing... couldn't find one I liked that lit up

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
i gotta be honest i like both equally... especially receiving a creative gift... it tells you about the person who is giving them... like last year, my sister burned three different compilation cds for me... fun songs, worship songs, and quiet songs.... the fun songs was so awesome... a bunch of oldies that we used to dance around the house to... how fun!


19. What is your favorite Christmas song?
oo, i have a few... The Little Drummer Boy (i loved the rup a pum pum parts as a kid), Carol of the Bells, and that song from ELF that Will Ferrell sings with that girl in the bathroom to... something like... oh yeah, Baby, it's Cold Outside :)

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
i could take 'em or leave 'em... i haven't had one in a long while actually

well... as the definition of "meme" is spreads from person to person, whoever reads this is supposed to do the same thing... so maybe David or Linda could do this, since Erin already did it... i'm pretty sure there are only three of you who frequent my blog anyways! anybody wanna prove me wrong?

winter wonderland!

YAY! It'S SnOWinG!!!!!

i'm sure it is causing problems which is bad... but I'm so happy!! :)

a few more short stories

It has been awhile since my last post (for me atleast)... and since Erin nudged me by asking WHERE I was... well... here's some facts of the month :)

1. i've been using my creative juices on a fun christmas postcard and some other creative endeavors on my computer

2. been christmas shopping and painting... painting things for gifts

3. been having some trouble with pains in my arms, wrists, hands

4. just plain stressed

Because of numeral 3, I am keeping this short, especially since I already blogged one long story today.
I did want to share about a sweet gift I got at our office christmas party..

Every year we do a Secret Santa gift exchange.. Angela(my roomie) laughed because there are only 5 of us... what a nerd, it's still secret even though the quantity of us is low! :) k... anyways... You never quite know what you'll get.. we do just one gift (some do it throughout december... we don't, just a $10-15 gift) anyhoo, why am I explaining all of these details...
My boss's son, Dave had my name and got me the new "U218 VIDEOS" being a big u2 fan- it was perfect. I popped it in while writing my last blog, and I had to stop so many times and watch. This is a DEFINITE must for any u2 fan... well, in my opinion atleast.
I'm sure they've had other DVDs or music video colaborations, so I don't have anything to compare it with, but it's cool because there are videos from '84, and ranges in between until now. I know you'll probably never read this Dave... but thanks again! :)

I think there was more I wanted to write... but I forget and I better stop before I have those pains I was talkin' about.

later blogland..

p.s. man, i was all excited to switch to the new blogger, but I guess you have to be "chosen" to switch... lame.

Wish me luck!

I thought I was done with finals when I finished school...

One of the things I'm working on right now is a presskit for a musician (a promotional tool to send to radio stations, etc.). This particular musician and I are having a creative conundrum(sp?).. I don't know one word to describe it, but basically I keep thinking I understand what she wants, and then somehow I totally miss the mark. This usually doesn't happen very often, and I believe I'm starting to get it now, but the test or "final" so-to-speak is friday at 3pm.
Guy talked to her and decided it would be good if she came in and sat down with me to work on it together. I'm sure it is a good idea too, but it's a designers worst nightmare... having someone sit and watch you create.. i'm getting the jitters just thinking about it... it's like having someone look over your shoulder while reading a good book, or writing a letter. An eagle on a perch, watching its prey. They get to see each and every move you make.. no matter how fast or slow. Talk about pressure...
I decided it would be good to ask Georgia about the subject since she had our "favorite" client for so long perched at her side for hours and days. The advice she gave me was this... You have to ignore the need to please them every second and not worry about how long it takes to get a concept out. That's the paraphrased version. I think it's true and good advice, but it might be easier said than done. I think she has this skill mastered... me on the other hand, these things come up few and far between.
The other small piece to this story is that I feel like I might have offended this person at one point in the process. I was trying to let them know that I just didn't think the concept they were explaining would work well. I may have said, it just wouldn't look good... with a little too much emphasis on the "just" and "good." I can't really remember, but I remember that I heard some slight frustration in reply to my comment. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes my communication skills are lacking, and this was one of those times. How do you recover from that, especially if you don't know for sure if it really affected them or not. Part of me wants to say, "okay, so let's just start over, pretend you've never talked to me before." Or, I could just say... "I'm sorry for all this miscommunication on your design concept.. I believe we can still make this partnership work"- okay, so I'd never be that formal... but you know something along those lines.

I praying it goes well... that I'll be able to relax and be creative. no pressure lisa, no pressure! :)

twenty six

Twenty Six years ago today, at this moment (5:00) my mom had just gotten to the hospital and was in labor with me.
When I was a kid, my dear great grandmother always told me the story of how she rushed my mom to the hospital as she was in labor. (and made it sound like she saved the day, -insert misty eyes- she was the coolest old lady, how i miss her!).

As my mother wrote in my baby book...

"Gr. Grandma Dorothy took mommy down to the hospital at 4:30pm. It was cold and windy out, started snowing later that night. Met Terry (daddy) :) as I got out of the car. Went to admitting, a nurse from OB came and got me. Went to the birthing room, Terry came up shortly. Labor lasted five hours, Lisa came out sideways."
(may that explains my sideways thinking! :)haha)

I was born at 8:00pm.. and the other memory or story I know is that "Little House on the Prairie" was on tv when I was born, as my mother always told me. :)
___

I took the day off today and it was very nice... I'm off to go shopping now and to hang with some friends... but here is another song that I really love the lyrics to... somewhat appropriate to this day as well...

Better Days
(John Rzeznik- goo goo dolls)

And you asked me what I want this year
And I'll try to make this kind and clear
Just a chance that maybe
We'll find better days

'Cause I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
Designer love and empty things
Just a chance that maybe
We'll find better days

So take these words
And sing out loud
'Cause tonight's the night
The world begins again

I need someplace simple where we could live
And something only you could give
And that's faith and trust and peace while we're
Alive

And the one poor child who saved this world
There's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

I wish everyone was loved tonight
And somehow stop this endless fight
Just a chance that maybe we'll
Find better days

twenty four

I've always loved the switchfoot song "twenty four"
here is an artistic expression with an excerpt of the song..

Passion

Tonight's Kare11 Extra touched me... in many ways..

In short, it was about an artist who paints portraits of fallen soldiers, and gives them to the families. She doesn't charge the them, she does it because she is passionate about it.. that's what I heard from her story atleast. This is the blurb that Kare11 wrote up about it:

"The artist, Kaziah Hancock, is not political, she doesn't want anything in return, just the satisfaction of knowing that in some small way, she's helping heal the pain some American families are left to bear after losing a loved one in war."

It hit at my very soul.. not because it's such an amazing thing to do (though it DEFINITELY IS) for free, or because she is so talented and I love art (course, it didn't hurt), it's because of the very passion that exuded from her. If I am able to live long and old, I hope in my older days I get to do what I love with that kind of passion. If you didn't catch the story, click on the link for a preview of what they showed. (It doesn't do it any justice, I though that it was going to be the whole segment, I don't think it will be and there may be a short commercial first)

The Art of Compassion

i voted!

You can all rest assured that I put my annoyances behind me and voted today! I don't think I really would have not voted, but I wish we could vote on a new way of getting the information to people. Whatever happened to the truth? Why can't politics be explained better without having to do so much research to make sure you know what your voting will get you.

Maybe it is laziness on my part. I should make sure I'm more informed, instead of just voting along party lines, but atleast I did my civic duty. No matter how the election turns out, I'm glad I know that ultimately God is the final vote when I leave this place in the dust!

Thus ends my political banter and blogging. I hope you've enjoyed my non-researched views on DECISION 2006! (tee hee)

This was a great show!

Is it Nov. 8th yet???

I am so sick of this political season... I honestly cannot wait until it is over. I am not into politics AT ALL. I'm especially sick of the "unknown" calls I keep getting on my phone from the Republican party who doesn't even let you get a word in edge-wise. I've gotten two calls so far, you'd think I'd learn to not pick those calls up, but calls from the church also show up as "unknown." It's enough to make me just not want to vote... the only thing I'm interested in voting for is the "VOTE YES" License Amendment or whatever you call it. Unless there are some hidden bad things they're not saying about this... I'm all for our tab tax money going to make the roads better or wherever it's coming from. See, I can't even keep all the specifics down.
I'm not even sure where I'm supposed to vote and haven't receieved anything in the mail, maybe I would've if I changed my address on my license already. But, Angela hasn't received anything either, so I don't think that is the ticket. Who knows... all I know is that, as I said before, I'm ready for it to be next wednesday.. then I can watch my favorite shows like Grey's Anatomy in peace, without politcal basher ads.

Well... that's it for now... I think I might actually go to bed early tonight. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

here's a funny picture from a few weeks ago when i went apple picking with the senior girls. there were a couple of llama's and goats in a little pen. How cute! I was thinking of that story book, "are you my mother?" when i wrote the caption. :)
Llama for Govenor!

Birds and Spiders

Two "random" stories for you from today...

Numeral Uno-
As I look out the window by my desk there is an old house directly to my right. It's actually the backyard of a house that used to have two older ladies inhabit it, who were keen on feeding stray cats, various birds, and really any other creature that needed a home. This house was often a bit of entertainment in our computer sucked day.
Recently we've noticed that the ladies are in the process of moving out, but it has been in stages. There are no longer any dog/cat houses or bird baths in the backyard, nor has there been any laundry hung out to dry (as there had been in the past).
However, the birds were definitely present today, and apparently very consumed with the berries on the Juniper tree that stands about 5-10feet from my window. I think they had some halucinigens(sp?) in them, because in the time between about 11:30 until 4:00 7 birds proceeded to fly into our windows. It was quite the entertainment, and EVERY time, caught me by surprise! I was pretty close to losing it after awhile... not to mention my day was pretty hectic to begin with, must have been something in the air. As we say around the office... it was a Thursday.. (if anything ever goes wrong, it's THURSday!). I took a picture for some proof of these wako birds... the last one hit so hard, it left a feather on the window.. excuse the blurriness, I couldn't get the macro focus to work.


Numeral Dos-
Tonight, after watching my Thursday night line up.. I decided to catch up on some emails, etc. As I was minding my own business typing away I looked to my left and in the corner of the wall by my desk were two ugly spiders. They looked like two different types... one was like a mini-daddy long legs and the other just an ugly spider with a large body and not as long of legs as the other. I've developed this fear of spyders... not so much that I'll start freaking out and crying, but freaking out and yelling curses at them. I frantically found the RAID and sprayed them while squirmishly hoping they wouldn't fall off the wall and go crawling into a hole. I was lucky, they stuck to the wall and I promptly grabbed a napkin to squish their ugly little bodies. (iihhllll blech) I was again typing away when Ang yells, "EEWW, there's a BIG spider over here, help".. I came over with the RAID and squirmed and again yelled curses at it... I HATE HATE HATE them! How have I done missions all these years you may ask? I just suck it up and occassionly have to do the same thing... and sometimes loose sleep over wondering if a spyder is going to crawl up my leg and who knows where else... blaaaclkloaklkiosh*&#)_!
Getting back to Angela's incident... so I came with the RAID and couldn't bring myself to spray it because it was big and I didn't want it to jump off the wall after spraying it and touch me. I kept trying and then Ang grabbed the bottle from me and sprayed it... the spider then fell to the floor and Ang sprayed it a few more times and once it was dead in a heap she sprayed it once more for good measure. Ang tried to tease me, but I reminded her who yelled for help 3mins prior to that moment. I went to call our management to tell them AGAIN that we found spiders. Plunkett's came out and sprayed about a month and a half ago.. you'd think that should last, but I guess with the weather and all, they're looking for warm places... I DESPISE SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God help me if I find another spider tonight, I might just break down and start crying... MIGHT... only might.
So, here's a pic of that bigger spider all balled up and grimacing... okay maybe not grimacing... i put a pen cap there so you can tell the size better :).

The Search is OVER! (WARNING: this post may be long!)

I am now the proud owner of a Black '98 Chevy Malibu. Yesterday at this time, if you would've told me that, I would've laughed in your face. You see, for the last week and a half I have been diligently looking for a Honda/Acura/something foriegn car. Why? Well, most people know that Honda's have an impecable reputation in quality and endurance. Or, shall I say, they last forever! So, I knew going into my search I wouldn't find any that were much newer than a 96/97... actually I was surprised to find those years in my price range.
I let a decent Accord slip through my fingers on Tuesday night... 95 with all the features I was looking for plus a couple extras.. my standards were power locks/windows/cruise... not a very hard order to fill. That Accord had leather interior and moon roof... and it was in solid working order, but my dad wasn't back quite soon enough and I didn't feel comfortable buying without him. SHOOT...

Having my dad back yesterday was comforting, but I was still kicking myself about that other car... I was anxious all day yesterday, but trying my hardest to trust that God had something else in mind. It was the first night of youth group last night and before I went, my dad and I looked at a silver 97 Accord, but we found out WHY it was in my price range. Something was making noise whenever we turned the wheels right or left.. we got back to the guy's house and he said, "yeah, it's about a $250 fix"... well, that would've been nice to know BEFORE we test drove it, be honest atleast before someone takes it out. Atleast we could know that and not feel like you're covering it up. anyways... I was not in a good mood when I got to church and on top of that I was really hungry and there was only over-cooked frozen pizza left over. I vented to a few people and then decided I needed to try and stop thinking about it and think about the night. Worship was at the end of the night, and it really helped me to focus on what really matters and truly trust that God has my best in mind.
It was hard falling asleep last night, I almost came and posted, but eventually fell asleep. I couldn't get my mind off the fact that my car was going to be taken away and I had nothing to fill its spot. (hey E- no apostrophe after it, right?! :)) I prayed myself to sleep because I got myself all worked up again and anxious again, it's all I could do to get it off my mind.
The drive to work was surreal, realizing it was the last time driving that car to work, or anywhere for that matter! You can read my previous post for more details on how it felt to give up my car.
Okay, so I'll jump ahead to tonight. My dad had called on a couple more Honda's and a couple VW's (one Golf, one Passat). One of the Honda's was in New Hope, so we swung by there and gave it a wirl, decent good driving car with not bad miles.. just really scaled back no power anything, not even a cd player and no cruise. Good car if all came to worse... so, then it was off to Jim Lupient's Bargain Lot. My parents have bought 3 cars there in the past 15-20 years and they've always been good, so we checked their stock. As we walked through, I noticed a 97 Acura Integra with leather interior and just a bit above my price range, but possibly negotiable. I started getting excited, but when we took her out for a spin noticed again, why it was priced lower. No AC working and a couple other little things that would all add up to atleast 500=1,000, so we passed on that. Next was the car I am driving now, which is funny because I wasn't too interested in it when he first suggested it, but when we looked closer it had everything I was wanting PLUS more. The drive was really nice and I was pleasantly surprised. We got back to Lupient's and asked about the CD plate because it wasn't in the car, so we tested it out and it sounded really good. There was one other Honda that my dad thought we should maybe look at, more for me because he didn't want me to always "wonder" or have a "what if." The only downfall was that it was located in Woodbury/Maplewood(can't remember which)... he was willing if I really wanted to go, so we were on our way and as I kept thinking, the Honda was a 94 with 150k miles and only 2door... it just didn't make sense for us to go all the way out there. I had this peace about just saying, you know I think I should just take that Malibu... so we exited the 394 exits into Downtown Mpls, turned around and headed back. Just for the sake of it, we went to look at the Passat at Westside VW, and I knew that was definitely not for me.. older and really boxy.. no like.

So, there's another whole story as to what happened after we left the VW dealership and buying my car at Lupient, but I'll spare you that tonight. If you're interested in a funny story, ask me another time :). Here's the cool thing about this search. I kept praying about not getting my hopes up, or having high standards about this car that I'm not sure how long I'll keep. Knowing it was going to get me buy for only a year or two, I didn't want to be picky. The thing is, he knew what I really wanted and knew that I would be okay without having those things, but I got all of my requireds and more. Here's the details... cruise- check, power locks- check, power windows- check, cd player- check (nice one, plus a cassette deck?! funny), moon roof- sweet, power mirrors both sides- double sweet, key-less entry- nice, LEATHER- rockin'...
The only possible downer is that it might need new roaters or pads, but my bro-in-law can do those for less than $50!
As I drove my new car home I had this thought as I was praying over my car for it to last me... it was this... My God takes care of me, and why NOT ask for what you really want because he really does care about the little things. This whole journey of finding a car really parrallels with finding the man I want to marry. Don't take this wrong... the whole "trying out" and those details are not what I'm saying... what I'm saying is this: I was worried and anxious about finding the car.. thinking I turned in my old one too soon... nope. He had one waiting for me... it wasn't exactly the "model" I was looking for but it had all I wanted and more. That sounds a little strange to me, but it just resonated.
One more little thing.. I've never named my cars before.. never... and this may be odd especially to post it on the world wide web, but owell... for some strange reason I had the word "prince" pop into my head, so I think I'm going to "dub" my car a male and call him my prince! :) It's cheesy, but then again, I laugh at cheesy jokes... and I can be cheesy.. so there. The End.

over a car!!

Farewell my sweet, Sunfire!
You will be missed...

If you've ever seen the movie "As Good As It Gets" you may remember the part where Jack Nicholson is in his condo playing the piano... saddened because his neighbor just took back his dog that Jack was watching. I'm feeling just a bit like him right now, as the Insurance Salvage people took my car away... sniff, sniff...

Over a CAR... A stupid Car
(just picture Jack Nicholson saying it) :)

I never thought I'd be attached to a car, but as i was lying in my bed trying to fall asleep, i realized that it's because I bought that car and paid it off... it's the one I've had the longest. I actually owned something of significant value. I know I'll own my next car too... but all that dedication to the payments, etc... (sigh) It'll be okay... once I finally get a new (to me) one!

Hail Damages

Both physically and emotionally!

On August 24th, around 1:00pm, the sky opened up and poured forth rain and hail. This is my story.
I was working at my computer and looked out my window to watch the rain for a moment and noticed some hail. I've seen hail before, but I had yet to take a lunch, so I went out to the front doors and watched the hail fall from the sky. While watching it was aparent that this was not your normal 30 second hail burst. It kept getting bigger... and bigger... and bigger... and last, and last, and last. Is it possible to call this phenomenal, without giving the sense that it was good, because it was the opposite of anything positive. Except that I was in awe of the scene and I couldn't move, adrenaline was rushing through me. gluing my eyes to the scene. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and eventually HEARING on the rooftops. Everyone else in the building also eventually came out to the front and we stood together just stunned... watching our cars getting dented.
About 10 or 15mins went by and as we watched the hail grow from ping pong size to tennis ball size, we grew worried about our well being. From time to time we'd hear it hit our office windows, but just when we were worried if our office windows would blow in, we saw the back windows of cars being busted. I was so shocked and nervous, my response was to laugh... it was not a laughing matter, but it was seriously like watching a movie. I couldn't believe it.
It finally finished and we all went out to assess the damage. Three broken windows (only out of 8 cars) and atleast 6/7 cracked windshields (mine included), and too many dents to even count. Large dents, large enough that PDR (paintless dent repair) may not even fix.
My car only suffered a cracked window, but MANY large dents everywhere. I figured it was going to be a hassel to get fixed, but wasn't too worried because my deductible wasn't too high. Well, I brought it to the adjusters last Tuesday and they had another story for me... it's considered a "total loss" because the value of my car is less than it would cost to fix. WHAT? I sat in my car waiting for the adjuster to come back with a copy of the papers and couldn't believe it. I had just finished payments on my car.. it's mine and I'm not ready to get rid of it, even if it never had any special features... power locks/windows, etc. I don't want a car payment! Tears burned my cheeks, LORD, this was NOT my plan, now what? ...pause... no answer... well... maybe i could find a car that has more features.. maybe... but i still like my car with my Belize and Haiti oval stickers on the back...
and the song... "letting go" runs through my head... okay okay... (not to over-spiritualize, tho... those were just rambling thoughts of mine)

anyways..
They said I could keep it, but we figured out it really wouldn't benefit me. Car shopping SUCKS! Especially when you don't haev a lot of options or time. The timing was awful too, because my dad went out of town on business the day after I found out. How convenient... just another reason it'd be nice to have a man around... OWELL.. another learning experience that must be done as a single woman... I guess it makes me more assertive and tough... or just more annoyed that life is just life sometimes and you have no control.


SO... that's the latest... my time lately has been spent on autotrader.com and carsoup.com... i just got the tip to go on Kraig's List, Perfect! another site to waste time on... :)

at some point i may get some pics of my dented car up here...

Blogger beta?!

Just curious if any of you have switched to the new "blogger beta" version... I haven't had time to read much about it, but all I know is that it's annoying because now my "default" username and password picks up my Google mail account info. I didn't have my Blogger account info memorized, it usually came up automatically so I had to search for that info, what a pain. So, now I know what I have to do, but what do you guys think... have you switched to the "beta" version...

just curious... when i have time i guess i'll check up on it myself... always good to have others thoughts though...

well, i haven't updated in awhile... i should do that soon... until then,
asta la vista

photoshop fun

i've decided i need to do my own fun once in awhile with photoshop... instead of always doing what other people want... here's my first fun... i hope Ms. Dyson doesn't mind me using apart of her poem... i just googled "flying poem" and it got me to her. This is the same picture that is below in my "chi-town" post.

Woah, this is truly wild... the original color scheme is a bunch of blue tones and the color behind the text is black. However, when I uploaded it to blogger, the colors changed to what you are seeing. I actually love the colors, except I'm not sold on the green/grey color behind the text. I can't get over the fact that it changed on me... maybe because I didn't convert it to RGB before making it a jpeg, but still I've never seen this happen... okay... i'm done. enjoy

chi-town

another fun excersion to chicago was had this past sun-tues. it was actually rather un-expected. i hadn't planned on going this year. mostly because i didn't really have vacation days and didn't want to borrow them from next year, like i did last year. (that was a mouthful) But, Scott bargained with me, and it was a good offer so I took it and was in! it's always a great trip, aside from sleeping on the floor with an air mattress that looses air during the night. AND this year we had the pleasure of a few girls feeling the need to gab and giggle until 2am... i was the lucky one who couldn't fall asleep! oh, the joys of leading the youth.... tee hee...
seriously though... i LOVE Six Flags... I think I described the two best rides EVER last year in my account of this trip, so if you'd like another explanation here's a link to that post.

A couple fun stories are as follows...

Every year we make an annual stop at Gino's East pizza... it's the pizza with the sauce on the top and cheese on the inside. They have a fun environment for a group of highschoolers... they encourage writing on walls, chairs, table cloths and whatever else you find to write on.
Just after we got our pizza, Dan (another leader) asked for some of that pizza pepper stuff, so I grabbed one off the next table and gave it to him. I was looking for the Parmesean cheese when I heard laughing, I turned around and the WHOLE jar of pepper junk was ALL OVER his plate. It looked like someone had douced it with red/orange/yellow confetti! I laughed so hard as he tried to play it cool and say he'd still eat it... He ended up not eating it, realizing he could probably get really sick with all of that in his stomach. Instead, he dared another kid, Sean, to put a bunch in his mouth for 30seconds... but then spit it out. That was less funny, but still entertaining... those guys will do anything for attention! :)
I so wish I had a picture of that pizza, it still makes me laugh!

The next story comes from our day at Six Flags. It was about mid-day/afternoon and most of the group I was with wanted to go to the waterpark. Diane and I didn't bring our suits in, and had to wait until the bus came back at around 5 to get them, so we went on Superman. It didn't take too long to get through the line, and I had already been on the rides I was really excited for, so we walked leisurely through the park to kill some time. While walking, Diane mentioned that she wondered why we were really needed on the trip in times like these. I agreed that sometimes leaders on this senior high trip seem pointless during the day. Just a few minutes later we found a girl who had "lost" her group or they lost her, unfortunately I'm still not sure which is more true. Let's just say, she's got a lot of energy... and tagged along with us for pretty much the rest of the day. We did end up hooking up with Scott and a few others to mix things up a bit for the evening. It was just so funny the timing of Diane's comment and our little friend joining up with us.

Before we left the Chicago area on Tuesday, we took a jaunt into the city and camped out at Navy Pier. In years past, the tradition has been to walk the shops of Michigan Ave., but we thought it would be fun to shake things up and go to the pier instead. In my opinion, it was a great change and felt more relaxing. (though i'm sure we would've walked just as much, if we had gone to Mich. Ave.) Here are a couple pix from Navy Pier... one is of the Ferris Wheel that I opted not to spend $5 on, and another pic of water jumping fountains in the arboretum.

Excerpt from my journal, one month ago.

Wed. June 21st

Had a better night sleep, work up just before the alarm. Went to breakfast and had a quick pow-wow with Scott, G and Leah. Decided who was going where, then we had a short devo- Scott told us a "story" to put ourselves in- asked us, what burdens we need to let go of, to give to God.
I had a hard time pin-pointing mine - kind of knowing one, but not knowing how to let it go fully. So, it's something I'm sitting in and asking God to reveal how/what etc.
I took a group of kids, Em, Kristen, Blake and Shireen to ARiola's. Talked to Vicky for a short time and then went back with Blake to find Scott. He was going to send a couple of people with me to make visits to a couple of the older people in the village. We got back and Scott was a bit discouraged about not having jobs for everyone to do right away. But eventually Herdie came and they went into Dangriga to buy paint and start painting the church there. Blake, Josh, Sarah, and I chilled ate lunch and waited for Em, Kristen and Shireen to come, but then Josh, Sarah and I decided to walk down to make sure they were coming back or that Vicky hadn't forgotten to wake up from her nap. :) She did, but Shireen(the school teacher, not team member) got there, so that's when they left.
We hung around the beach until about 4:00 beacuse we thought ght kids didn't get out of school till then, but we were wrong. So at 4pm we took all the clay buckets and went to the "shed" which is like a big long hut with no walls. It was a bit chaotic at first, bu tthen we just started having fun and making animals/ cars and planes for them all. It was really a blast! But, dinner came sooner than later and we had to quit a little pre-maturely.
--

(excerpts copied as written at the time... you can see my shortened and not so eloquent way I journal)

Preach it

Okay, so tonight as I was waiting at a stoplight on Elm Creek Blvd. I saw something that made me roll my eyes and laugh. There was a guy holding up a sign that on one side read "The wages of sin is death" and on the other side said "God's free gift is Eternal Life" or something close to that. You know, that verse in Romans... sorry, I've never been very good at scripture memory.
Anyways, if I wasn't a wuss and HAD automatic windows, I really wanted to yell out to him... "yeah, I know, so what's your point... and what do you think you're accomplishing by holding up your banner on a street corner."
This is no new or irregular news... christians do stupid things all the time in the name of Jesus, and it makes me sad. I guess I'm just noticing more how much it bothers me.
Contrast that with last night...
This awesome group of about 12 young people from South Africa came to praise and share with our youth group about their side of the world. Their worship was beautiful and energizing... reminiscent of Heart of the City... joy and soul coming out of their toes and all for Jesus Christ, not at all to put on a show. They shared with us an amazing story of their lives in Capetown, actually the slums of Capetown, I forget what they called it.. something " Estates" but it's nothing like estates at all. It's horrible poverty in the corner of an incredibly wealthy and beautiful city. I can't describe it all, but I was moved to tears as these young people stood up in front of us and talked of their horrific experiences. What made this so impactful to me, besides the stories and incredible worship, was the fact that this video they shared started out saying "we're not doing this to raise money, make you feel guilty, or any of that, it's to share what our life is and to celebrate love, God's love and power and miracles" -my paraphrase. It was a confirmation to my soul about where my spirit and passion for people lies.

Thank you Jesus, for this amazing ministry you have started in CapeTown South Africa, I pray for the pastor, that you would raise him up and give him strength and wisdom and continued support in whatever way he needs it. I thank you for the words you spoke to me, through them, last night.
Amen

adjusting

It has been a little over two weeks now since I've been home from Belize. The days have gone by so quickly sometimes I think to myself, "did it really happen?" I had a few days to rest before getting back to work and once back to work it was "go go go." Work was so busy, and that was really good because I didn't have time to think about where I still really wanted to be.
On the flip side, I feel like I did a lot of reflecting those first few day and off and on last weekend, but this past week has been less reflective. I think it was because outside of work I was really busy too, having house-sat for the Adlers again. I don't like sleeping at their house because it is big and there are lots of noises so I had to juggle time and figure out how long to be with their pets at night. It was busy to say the least.

Now I sit, trying to decide what I want to say about this trip that made an impact on my life. I still don't quite know where to start. In the first blog I wrote about how there are similarities between Belize and Haiti. I don't know how to explain it, but I love Haiti in many ways and Belize in many ways. Some of them intersect... for instance the most important part of each place is the people who have made an imprint on my heart. I love the whole village of Tricote in Haiti because the whole village is a family and for the most part they are working together, but Hopkins Village, Belize there are select places that I love because the feeling that the whole village loves you is not the case. In Hopkins it is more technoligically advanced and people seem to fight for themselves, unless they are involved with Herdie's church. I don't know if I've explained this well, but to say it simply, Belize is another place that I've let into my heart to share with Haiti.
The Ariola's are the family with the Brittle Bone Disease kids, Raheem Cindy and Destiny.. they also have two other siblings, Sarah and Josiah(or Jo Jo). These children have a joy that comes from Christ alone. They are beautiful, all five of them, and have two wonderful parents who love them from their toes. Their mother is Vicky, she is only about 27, only 2 years older than myself. Last year we connected just a little bit at the end of the trip, and I wondered what it would be like this time around. She has been through so much it's sometimes hard for her to accept help and love from others, but clings and trusts God ruthlessly and I had the priveledge of hearing her story on the last day. We took a long walk on the beach and around the village, it was as if I was with a girlfriend from home just exchanging life stories. I wish we had been able to have more of those times because I feel like I made a new friend and now won't see her for a very long time. I thank God for the times I had with her and pray that their might be more in the future.
There were really fun times with the kids on the team as well... and as for my prayer about bringing us together as a team... that happened right away when we got there. If you read the Belize blog: www.teambelize.blogspot.com , you know that we had a slight problem with the bus that first travel day. We were stranded in the jungle on Hummingbird Highway half way to Hopkins Village. The whole team got off the bus and walked up the hill, huddled up and began to pray. Our hearts and minds were unified bringing our situation to Him and trusting that there was a reason for what was happening. It was an awesome adventure from the beginning and made this trip completely different not even able to compare with last trip, they were each great and unique.
The girls in my cabana were hilarious... I really got to know them better and vice versa. While being with people on a daily basis you get to see the many sides. I think it shocked one of them and it helped our dynamics a lot! She now can see me as a normal adult person who goofs around and has fun. It's hard to pick up on all the sides when you only get an hour and a half on a wednesday night. So, one of the nights we stayed up talking(well, 3 out of 4 of us) until 1am and laughed a lot, but also had conversations about life, love and other mysteries. (sorry, for those of you who know of the Point of Grace song... it just flowed. :)) It was a good bonding time! :) I love the senior girls!
We had a lot of rain-out days... one such day we all hung out in the guys' cabana doing various things... talking, making flyers for movie night, writing encouraging notes for each other(we had a wall with little bags with each of our names on 'em to put little notes in). Another rainy day some of the kids went to the "Innies" restaurant where we had our breakfast and dinners and played with their kids. The rainy days made it hard to do our crafts, which was frustrating to me because I planned all this stuff to do and there was no place to do it well in the rain. :( All I know though, is that crafts are not my thing, especially with kids that are hard to control. Each time we would get ready to do them, I'd think of ways to make it less chaotic and none of them worked. It would start out well, but then be crazy at the end!
Another cool thing about the trip is that the leadership was really great... we all had different strengths and I think we all complimented each other well. Especially Leah and myself, and we also got to know each other better which was super cool. I feel like I have another new friend!

So... I think that's about all for now... I still have boxes sitting in my room that are calling out to be unpacked. The sun and pool are also calling out, maybe they will get my attention first... we shall see. Oh, and another note... I bought a bike last week... so if anyone ever wants to go biking give me a ring!! I even have a bike rack(well, a friend is letting me use it since it won't work on his car) so I can take it places... it holds two! :)

Pics! (click on them to view larger)

Because of all the rain, the entrance to our cabana's got flooded. But, not our actual cabana's, this is the main lobby/little restaurant place.









This is the late night in the jungle, would've turned out better if the pic wasn't blurry! :(









Here's the beautiful beach we got to look at each day! :)









The paintings i did from last year... I took another picture just cuz

back from belize

love is all you need.

i'm slowly learning that belize is trying to share the place that Haiti has in my heart. but i do believe it is different in some ways. i will share more on that later.

it's good to sleep in my own bed... but home really isn't home, having moved while being gone. i knew it would be strange, but i didn't know how drastically it would affect my mood this morning. not having familiarity was really hard and brought me to tears many times, not to mention having some culture shock, too.

my cable line isn't going to be hooked up until thursday, so here i stand(because I need to go quickly) at Dunn Bros checkin' up on my e-life, if you will. :) course, not much was missed because everyone knew i was gone. it's all good... and funny to realize how much junk mail you can get in 11-12 days. Especially in the account that seperates the really really crappy stuff. you still get things like "new music tuesdays" from iTunes or Ticketmaster Concerts. Atleast I do, and never realized how much. There are some "random" facts for you.

and now i'm signing off... more processing and pictures to come...
call me or email, or i will(wasn't meant to sound like a threat)... i miss friends! :) hope to see you all soon

Refine Me...

In one week I'll be in Belize, and I'm ready to be there RIGHT NOW. There are so many little things to remember and I have written things down, but I just want the day to be here so I don't have to think about them anymore. We will have a team blog while in Belize, it is www.teambelize.blogspot.com
Really original, eh? Yeah, I know... I would've made it a little more specific, but whatever I wasn't in charge. Not like it's a big deal... just blabbering... okay... now to the more serious or contemplative matter of the title.

I've been really introspective in the last month or so... off and on just really crying out to God from within about many different things. One thing I've been thinking about lately is about that "hole" that christians, including myself, talk about, that only God can fill. My latest wondering or thoughts about this are these:
1. I am human and sin, I will never be perfect in this fleshy skin.
2. If I am human, and can't be perfect... will I ever really feel like that "hole" that God is supposed to fill is always completely filled?

I mean, there are times when I feel that it is completely filled and I couldn't tell you for how long, but then there are many times when I feel really empty. I think that if I only had someone tangible to fill that spot, then, then I'd feel whole and complete with God. I know that's not true, even if I was married and had kids, it doesn't mean I'd have filled that hole. So... what do YOU think? let me know your thoughts..

on another note that is connected, I listened to Jennifer Knapp on the way up to Paynesville last friday... the good 'ol Kansas album. Refine Me really spoke to the place that I'm at right now... here it is...
(oh, and fyi: I don't feel completely empty right now, I re-read this and it sounds more depressing than the state that I'm really in)

I come into this place
Burning to receive your peace
I come with my own chains
From wars I've fought for my own selfish gain

You're my God and my Father
I've accepted your Son
But my soul feels so empty now
What have I become?

Lord, come with your fire,
Burn my desires; refine me
Lord, my will has deceived me
Please come and free me
Refine me

My heart can't see
When I only look at me
My soul can't hear
When I only think of my own fears
They are gone in a moment
You're forever the same
Why did I look away from You
How can I speak Your name?

Lord, come with Your fire,
burn my desires; refine me
Lord, my will has deceived me
Please come and free me
Come rescue this child
For I long to be reconciled to You

It's all I can do
To give my heart and soul to You
And pray, and pray, oh I will pray
Lord, come with Your fire, burn my desires; refine me

Lord, my will has deceived me
Please come and free me
Come rescue this child
For I long to be reconciled to You

Refine me, refine me
Refine me, refine me

Fishing... or lack, thereof...

On Sunday I went up to Paynesville to go "fishing" with the fam. But, like I said in a previous post, it doesn't make sense for me to get a license because I just don't fish much. It was a perfect example of why I don't fish, either... I just don't have patience. It's wierd because I'm a pretty patient person, but when you're set on doing something, and that something doesn't always produce what you are there for, it doesn't make sense to me. (def. used too many commas there, haha) Needless to say we only caught two fish worth even catching and the other two were pretty much bait for real fish! My mom caught this Sunny and my dad caught the baby northern.












I had fun though because the weather was beautiful and I got to play with the niece and nephew. They did really well for being out on the boat for atleast 3-4hours! We hit some rough REALLY rough water which was great fun! I took some video on the cam., but it doesn't look as bad through the camera. It's the worst I've been on... but the most fun! :)
Josh didn't want his pic taken, but I snuck one quick, I like it! :)
Sarah is always smiles, usually they look like a forced "picture" smile, but these turned out pretty well.













I love this pic of us! The best part is, I totally didn't pose her. We were just sitting there and I looked over and saw her with her legs crossed and hands on them. Adorable. simply adorable, so we quick snapped a pic! :)

Now I'm off to the Brummond's for some BBQ'n and possibly more boat fun!

Painting Zone

I wrote on Saturday that I was procrastinating packing, and then went to church. I had planned all along to paint at some point on Saturday and never got to that either.... until... after a power nap which I took after church... I needed some energy to embark on my painting escapade. (I'm flowering this up, way too much) Okay... this is what I did...



I had wanted to paint something for my sister and bro-in-law for christmas and never had the time, so I decided that I was going to finally start. We had talked about what she wanted, so earlier in the day I mapped out a few things on the computer. She told me she's going for a French "country" look, that's contemporary- not country like "mom" country (ie: cows, chickens, blues and pinks). In the picture you can see that her walls are a light greenish color, but what you don't see is that one of her walls is a maroon/brick red. The red and yellow are going to be her accent colors. I tied those in and she also asked for "fleur di li" so thanks to the wonderful world of symbol fonts, I was able to print them out and make stencils. (hey, not all artitsts make everything free-hand:)) You can also see on the wall to the left in the above pic that she has these great candle holders that are "vine" looking, so I added some vines to the pic as well. I'm quite pleased... and especially because it only took me about 3-4 hours to complete. I've never started and finished something at one attempt. I guess I was just in the zone and since I was going to see her the next day I thought it would be super awesome to have it done for her.

I added this one too, for no special reason other than maybe you can see the detail a little better. I couldn't take a non-blurry shot w/o the flash. Shoulda taken one during the day, outside or something. Owell... :)

Moving... stress... belize

I hate the process of moving. I don't know anyone who likes it, unless they like it because you go through things and get rid of junk. Besides that, it just stinks. It doesn't help that I'm leaving for Belize BEFORE the move-in date and will be gone while my dad and bro-in-law move me. I feel awful, but the harder part is packing boxes. I feel that I need to start early because I'll have enough stuff to do trying to get things together for Belize, but I can't really pack up all the boxes until just before I leave, either.
So, that being said, I'm a bit stressed, but I'm in the calm before the storm phase. I'm actually sitting here typing because I'm procrastinating packing. I went and got boxes, and packing tape I just have to get them out of my car. But, really, it doesn't make any sense for me to start now, because I have to leave for church in ten minutes or less. (what was I doing for the last hour since I got home? putsing of course)...
Belize is coming in three short weeks... THREE... ahk... it just doesn't feel like it's coming together. I know it will and it is, but having completely different leadership than I'm used to (Steve/Al) is hard to adjust and feel out. It's strange to think that last year at this point, we were still in Haiti mode. We didn't find out until two weeks before, yet I somehow (though it was HARD to adjust) knew that everything was going to work out. Maybe it's just that Steve has a good way of putting you at ease and letting you know that he's got it under control. So, if anyone feels like praying... that's one thing that I need prayer for... trusting that Scott's really got this together and that we're not forgetting any important parts.

I'm off to church tonite... going up to my sister's in Paynesville to play on the lake... actually I should remember to bring a book because I think they're thinking of fishing mostly. I'm not a HUGE fan of fishing... especially since you have to get a license for like $17 and I won't be doing it very often anyways... owell... I'm sure we'll play in the water too. Anyways... you all have a wonderful Memorial weekend!

"go"

Have you ever gotten a word that resonates, but you don't know exactly what it means?

Last week I was sitting in silence with God just asking questions about what I should do about some certain things. Whenever I do this I try really hard not to have a thought in my head, and if something pops in, I just dismiss it because I know it's just me. Well, that happened again, but this time for some reason it stuck with me and the word was "go." I don't think it means transplanting myself elsewhere... I don't know what it means, i'm still wondering if it was Him... so i'm waiting for Him and trying to quiet myself to listen again...

where you lead me lord, i will follow
where you lead me lord, i will go.
come and lead me lord, i will follow
come and lead me lord, i will go

i will go

A year already...

Last weekend marks a year since last year's wedding bonanza... or "the weddings of '05" that I was asked to stand up in. It was last weekend and this coming weekend that were all a huge amount of fun and at the same time an emotional rollercoaster of sorts.
As I look back on where I was at last year, and where I am now, I see how much those weddings really affected the thoughts that ran through my head. I was constantly thinking about how I'd want my wedding to be and wondering who the person would be accompanying me. The last thought is yet to be determined and I'm learning and coming to know that it won't come in my timing. And that's probably better for all involved :). One thing I've really enjoyed is NOT thinking all about my own wedding and all the other stuff that goes along with them.

Instead, my thoughts have been on wondering what I want to do with my life other than getting married and eventually having a family. Things have been really interesting at work, although being extremely and wildly busy the two weeks before the 3Degrees Band Tourney(which was last week), Guy has been trying to define where his niche is and how to make Vision Van Gogh the most successful. One thing he has realized is that his knowledge of the music industry and how to get bands to maximize their income, is very valuable information. So, he recently recorded the talks he has given at seminars countless times, and will be selling those to generate income in a better way.
Another thing or idea that has been kicked around is the consideration of eliminating the overhead cost of office space. This is what got me thinking a lot about how that would look and what pros and cons it presented. My initial thought honestly was, "sweet, i could wake up at 9 and be to work by 9:30!" :) I know, pathetic... sleeping and waking up in the morning at a consistent time has not been my strong suit lately. Most of you probably would hate me if I told you my schedule, but when there isn't a "time to be at work" it's hard to keep yourself accountable. I did for the first 4yrs or so, and the last couple haven't been so normal... i always put in my time though... but I totally went off on a tangent. Okay...
So, yeah, working from home, an interesting concept that intrigues, yet scares me because keeping a routine is a hard thing for me. And, you'd still really have to keep things organized and professional even though it's at home... yeah, so there are many more pros and cons but I don't feel like sharing all of them since it's not like there has been any decision... mostly just an idea that is fun to think about and ponder for the time being.
This concept opens the door for the possibility of putting more energy into free-lancing. I started thinking about the idea back in dec./jan., but soon found myself feeling overwhelmed with knowing how I'd make time outside of work and then how to get myself out there and like I said... overwhelmed. I didn't think about it again until Guy mentioned this whole working at home and how we'd probably get paid per job instead, etc. I think he even said, "then you guys could do your own stuff too"... The other thing about trying to free lance now is that it would be hard to design at work and then come home and want to do the same thing, I'd get burned out I think.
The other area that I want to explore is painting. Ever since my aunt got me the hook-ups with a huge canvas and painting supplies that her friend of a friend's friend's ex-wife didn't want, I've been loving painting. Even though I don't make enough time for it, whenever I pick up a brush I just love being creative and messing around with different mediums and artistic direction. I've done a few things (besides the big piece of artwork on my living room wall).. a princess castle for my niece, a train for my nephew, a lily for Shannon, and a little set of square paintings for my grandma's bathroom. I've learned though, that it is hard to paint freely when you have a deadline to meet... so when I think of the possibility of maybe trying to start a decorative painting free-lance "company" or whatever you'd call it, I wonder if I would still find the same joy as when I get to just paint whatever I want and do whatever I feel like creating. I guess I just gotta pray about it and figure out what it is He wants me to do with that part of my life.

There you have it, a couple snippets of where my head has been lately. As usual, thanks for bearing with my lack of writing skills. I must depart... but I leave you with a snippet of my weekend:

My niece just turned five a week ago!! We celebrated her "Princess" party saturday afternoon and she looked adorable! My lovely sister sewed her a beautiful Cinderella dress, the blue one with white ruffeled sleeves and white poofy things at the waist! :) She LOVED it, and played the role great! She only cried once the whole day and quickly bouced back after a hug and explanation from mom! (not that she normally cries, but you know the tune, "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to...etc)...

My little Autistic friend

About a month ago I started working on a new cd project for a woman who is in the 3 Degrees Band Tournament. I've only heard her stuff a couple times, and it seems pretty cool. Maybe not my exact taste, but it's decent quality, so that's always a good thing.
The second time she came in to check on things she brought her little boy along. It didn't dawn on me at first, but Guy had told me about this lady before and about her son being autistic. They connected on that point because Guy also has a son who has autism, but is now much older.
This little guy is so fun, I guess he's more on the "savant" side of the autism or however you'd say that. When someone gives him a piano or any instrument he'll just start playing music and he's only about 7 or something.
The first time he came in I gave him this little car/bus that I keep sitting on my desk for times when kids come in. I didn't realize until the next week that he actually accidentally brought it home with him. He walked in the second time and said, "Here's your bus" or something like that.. and "Thanks."
So, yesterday they were in and he keeps saying really fast "Vision Van Gogh, Vision Van Stop" ... LOL... and then the best was "Vision Van Be Careful"... that made me crack up!
Today, they picked up a poster and he kept saying "This is what I'm saying, I'm NOT Going!" Apparently it's from ICE AGE, the first one. His mom was telling him to say something nice if he wanted to talk to me, and whispered something in his ear. He comes over to me and says "You're pretty" and then repeats the Ice Age line again. It was so funny, he's such a cute kid. When he was leaving I said "Good bye, have a good day" and he says "Good bye!! BYE LISA"

okay, I should be working, but I didn't want to forget to post this! It was quick! :)

Bird Flu Hits FL

Tee hee... this was funny to me today! :)
Have a nice weekend everyone..

p.s. for those of you that may have bad eyes, they're PLASTIC flamingos.

(p.s.s. more Cali pics soon to come)

Cali... Easter... Life and Breath

Wow... it's hard to know what all to write... this is random, so I guess I can write whatever... and so here we go... we'll go in order of events..

San Diego, California...
I went to this beautiful place with my roomie Ang, and stayed with her Gr. Aunt and Uncle, which were very "great" but not as in "old"... as in super fun and accomodating and just awesome!
It was so relaxing and wonderful and beautiful and fun... We took the aunt and uncle to Triple Espresso the first day, cuz my really cool friend who's got connections hooked us up with tickets for down there. Thanks man! (though you'll never read this anyways! ha!, but if you happen to, I demand a comment.. tee hee) The second day we went to the beach.. La Jolla (pronounced la hoya)... it was nice, but the temp. was cooler so we didn't even bring out suits. No worries tho, it was nice to be at the beach. This was the day my digi cam got dropped in the sand, DOH! As you can read in my previous posts I was mad, but now it is working again. So, I unfortunately didn't get to take any cool pics at this place down the coast from La Jolla, called Children's Pool. It actually is not for children anymore... it's a little cove and a clan of Seals took it over. It's really cool to see, but the seals are pretty ugly actually... that might sound mean, but they are kinda cute too, if that makes any sense.
Next day, we went to Sea World, saw a Sea Lion show, Dolphin Show, and of course SHAMU or for those of you living under a rug, the Killer Whale (orca) show. The coolest thing (besides Shamu) was this Dolphin interaction site. You could feed and pet the dolphins... it was soo cool. I loved it... i didn't buy fish because we just stood next to a kid who was feeding one and then got to pet it... it was like I said, the coolest thing! I would love to get in a wet suit and have even closer interaction. That was $40 though, and didn't really have the time/cash for that this time around. It would totally be worth it to me though.
The last full day we went back to the beach again, but a different one, Ocean Beach. It was actually (in my opinion) way better.. the openness and ocean feel was awesome. Not to mention that it was finally all bright and sunny... we had the suits on and finally got some good rays to bask in. I also found some cool shells and rocks.
All in all... good times... if we had longer, we might have gone to San Diego Zoo, but walking two days in a row didn't really thrill us, it takes way more out of you than you realize.

Easter and a breath of life felt...
I wanted to take some time to just follow up from the post I made about my sharing in the church service a couple weeks ago. In my post I was really struggling with feeling like I was still in the midst of dying and having a lot of heavy feelings around the whole sharing thing. I had a good day off after that and time to reflect some. After that, I slowly made a transition back into my normal routine and then took off for California. I hadn't thought a lot about it for awhile until someone mentioned it yesterday. Not to mention that Dave reviewed all that we had been going through as a church body in the text, etc. It was a great service, a time to be affirmed that in whatever place I am, it's okay and to remember that ultimately there is hope and LIFE. I am not sure exactly where I am at, but I do feel that life is here and that it has been... but sometimes it's a little blurry and hard to see.
And on that note, my sister just started a blog. (welcome to blogland, sis!) You see, we've both had our own experiences (well, duh), and I find her words so insightful. She's just another one of us who is trying to figure out Life and going through things that are hard, yet seeking with all her might, her God who has loved her from the first day. Why is that concept so hard to grasp and understand?
One more quick thing... on my trip I bought and almost finished reading the book "Blue Like Jazz"... many of my friends are or have read this book... In one of the last chapters it talks about the idea of when you are broght to the point of not understanding and you are at a place of wonder... that is where you can experience the awe and worship of God. I'm not giving this point justice, but if you haven't picked this book up, I'd encourage you to do so.

I think I've rambled on these random things long enough... you know, there not so much random as in that they came out of no-where, but maybe random in being put together in one post. :) okay... later my blogland friends!

I have so much to catch up on, but here are a couple fun pics...


p.s. Yay for my camera... maybe it just needed to be jostled around in traveling and a little warm action in the car yesterday becauase it is working fine now. Woo hoo... (knock on wood)

Home

Well, I'm back, safe and sound... and still on Cali time. It's only 10:48 out there. I'd be just getting ready for bed. Which I just did now here, and should be sleeping because I am going to work tomorrow morning. Silly, I know, but I only have so many vaca. days, and still planning to go to Belize with the youth again this june.
Anyways...
I'm not sure why I'm posting this, other than to procrastinate going to bed and to just let ya'll know I'm back. The unfortunate thing is that it may take a while for me to get pics on here. It was SOOO sad... so the second day, we went to the beach and before we left I had a nice young man take our picture. When I gave him the camera, he DROPPED IT! He was so appologetic, and it was an accident, but DANG! It worked for about 3 or 4 more pictures, but then when I turned it on about twenty minutes later the screen said "Lens Error"... CRAP, that can't be good. I tried to turn it off and the lens shutter wouldn't even close. I was so annoyed the rest of the day. (BIG SIGH) I bought a dumb disposable one for the rest of the time, but it just ain't the same. It was so sweet though, as you'll soon learn more, we stayed with Angela's relatives and her Great Uncle let me use his digital camera one of the days. But, it'll be a little while until he can send them to me. He's retired, but helps out at a church with folk's who need help with their taxes. Needless to say, it's a bit of a busy time. SO.... hopefully I'll be posting back sooner than later, with good news from National Camera Exchange!!! (oh please, God!!!)

Long awaited, much anticipated... vacation

Well, like I said in my story that I shared last week... God always has perfect timing. Little did I know when I planned a trip to San Diego, it would be even more than just a vacation from work. Of course, I'm not running away from my situation, but a vacation from stress never hurt anyone!
It's really nice too, cuz it has been pretty easy going a pace at work, not anything huge I'm leaving for Georgia. She'll thank me later... except I also timed it just right because our favorite client is going to be at the office next week. I think he might not be there as much, I think he's trusting us a bit more lately. If you don't know who that is, or anything about him, well, you've missed out. I deleted the old blogs about him too, just for precautionary reasons. Although, I did save them to my hard drive. :) Anyways...

SAN DIEGO, or bust, baby! I'm ready.... set...
GO!!

(p.s. the title of my blog is the beginning of a line in a John Reuben song... can anyone finish it?? okay, I know... who listens to him anymore? I don't, but i would smile if anyone can humor me. :) )
p.s.s. you can expect to see some pictures of San Diego as well... can't wait to really take advantage of my new or not so new anymore... digital cam!


i just added this for fun. i took it while driving in my car... i know... hazard, but nobody was around... it's in the back roads of champlin/dayton/maple grove

Dying to Live... felt like dying

Breathe peace, Breath your peace on us...
So we might breath you deep...

For those of you who don't know, I shared a part of my story in the service this weekend. If you missed it you can go to Open Door's website and click on This Week's sermon. You can watch it on Quicktime or Window's Media Player, however it may not show up until Mon. or Tues....
Here is the text version of it... if you don't want to wait... (there were four others who shared as well, so I'd encourage you to watch it, they had great things to share as well).

• I love how God works in my life, it's never the same. And it's always in His perfect timing, even when I try and mess it up.
  
  Recently, he has been showing me the places in my life that need cleansing. I didn't know exactly how to start, so I met with the Restoration Through Prayer people here at church. Through that time of prayer and discussion I was able to uncover some feelings of bitterness that I always felt awful about.
  
  The root of those feelings formed in my adolescent years, years when my parents struggled with my sister's rebellion. In those times of battle, I was left alone praying for God to send someone to rescue me or just make the fighting stop. I never recognized the bitterness, because I felt guilty for having those feelings, when my parents and especially my mom didn't mean to neglect my needs. I can't imagine what it would be like to be a parent in that situation.
  
  The Restoration Through Prayer took place just a couple days before the "Dying to Live" sermon. Even though I was able to see and acknowledge the bitterness during that prayer time, I didn't fully know how to let it go, or still didn't know if I wanted to let it go.
  
  During the time of the first sermon I didn't feel I should rush up to bury my seed. I needed time to think about what it was I was actually doing. I wrestled with life that whole week. I knew I needed to share this with my parents, but the winds of resistance blew strong and I didn't put much effort in.
  
  As a result, Sunday morning came and I hadn't met with them, I wondered if I should still go up. As I searched my heart, I realized that it was still something I needed to do, but that in doing so, I still needed to speak to my parents.
  
  So I went up, spent some time at the cross and buried my seed. It wasn't anything magical and I didn't feel an immediate change, but it was the first hard step of death, into becoming more alive.
  
  The next step meant talking to my parents, and this time I planned it right away. Even though I knew they would listen, it was still hard.
  
  But, once I shared those feelings I felt lighter and I knew healing was taking place. It meant for me, that I had fully died to that bitterness and brought light into the dark places of my heart.

Like I said before, this is just the beginning, I know there are more things in my life that need to die, and I am excited for the new life that I believe will grow in me.Being a part of the service this weekend was exhausting, it was very different than I expected. Though I didn't really know what to expect... I didn't realize just how emotinally draining it would be. Part of me, if I'm real honest, feels like the weekend was wasted, though I shouldn't say it like that because it was an incredible time and I know God moved. But, I mean, I didn't get a whole lot done, it's that "I need a vacation from my vacation," feeling, but with the weekend. I guess I need to learn that sometimes it is okay to not get things done. I never pictured myself as a work-a-holic or a task oriented person. Maybe it's just the fact that I didn't get to choose how I spent my time, feels kind of selfish, there were things I wanted to do though. But, I couldn't have done anything different... hmmm... I'm rambling and going off on a tangent... so what else do I want to say?
It was hard.
I honestly thought the hardest part would be the actual speaking, which don't get me wrong it definitely was with fear and trembling that I shared, but the time after second service of knowing it was done was the hardest.
I was just talking to my sister today and I think that it's just that "let-down" feeling. I never knew I'd feel that way... it's not like I was performing and hoping for a good response, honestly it really didn't matter to me. Of course, I did want my friends to support me (which they did), but I wasn't really concerned with how the congregation received it. Al just kept reminding us over and over that it's not about us, it's about God and giving the glory to Him.
(ugh.. side note: I hate my loud and obnoxious neighbors and their LOUD bass... it's giving me a headache... and did last night, too! until i called the cops at 1:30AM-2:30 with time change)
Why is it that it's so hard for me (today) to feel like rejoicing for what He has done in my life, I guess it just still feels like dying. This process is still going on, and I really really just want the life to come.. <> I'm just not feeling it right now...

Dear Jesus,
I know that what you've done in me, this weekend and over the last year has been life changing... and right now I feel the enemy attacking, would you BIND his evil thwarts against me, God!

Blogger Anniversary!

Well, after reading David's blog and reading that it has been a year for him, I realized that I too have marked a year on this blogging journey! Yay, so happy anniversary to me... I'd like to thank a couple of people who inspired me... one is to Glatzel., because I do believe he was the one from whom I received the first notice about this whole "blogworld"... and second to Erin, for cute/funny/absurd(at times) stories that showed me that it doesn't really matter what your blog is about, it's about Just Writing whatever is on your mind.
Looking back it has been an interesting year of posts... a road trip to Chicago... going through the highs and lows of multiple friends getting married, and being in three of them... trying to figure out the whole dating scene and what means what... house-sitting adventures... travels to Belize which were supposed to be Haiti... Gooseberry Falls... My 25th Birthday... and other very random posts true to it's name.
We shall see what this year brings... atleast one thing for sure... I do need a new background for a new year! :)

Have a good night!

Kirby will be missed :(

Wow... I was so surprised at this early death of a childhood baseball hero. I knew he wasn't looking as good, etc, but it's this "immortal hero" mentality I guess. I have so many fond childhood memories of going to a Twins game, sitting in the Cheap Seats and eating Cotton Candy. I bet I went to atleast 3-4 games a year or so as a kid... I bet that's how I learned the Star Spangled banner so well, not to mention "take me out to the ballgame"...
I've never watched a Twins game with the same love since he left, and I probably never will. There was just something about his love of the game and passion on the field, he drew you in and you couldn't not like the guy.
I still have my homer hanky and Kirby Puckett (fake-signed) mini-bat. I loved that thing!

That classic Kirby announcement will live with me forever...



KIIIIRRRRRRRRRBBBEEEEEEEy PU-CKET! (and the crowd goes wild... aaaarrrhhhh aaaawwhhh)

We're gonna Win Twins, We're gonna Score!
We're gonna Win Twins, now watch that baseball sore...
Pound out(?) a HomeRUN shout a HIP HORAY
Cheer for the Minnesota Twins TODAY!

Addiction, Obsession, or just interested in people?

Since the world of computers was opened to me, I was always interested in them. Especially way back when the world wide web was introduced, and AOL... I admit, as a 9th/10th grader I was a HUGE fan of going into "christian" teen chat rooms and meeting people from all over the nation and having random conversations about whether DCTalk's JEsUs FreAk or Newsboy's SHINE was the best "all-time" song thus far... or yelling at some "satan worshipper" who came into the room just to ryle everyone up(and boy did we feed that!)... I sit back and laugh at those times... Well, it took a downward plummet for awhile as more important things (like real friends;)) entered my life, getting a driver's license, and more homework. Although I definitely still kept up with emailing some of these "online friends" I met, and of course other friends as well.

This really does have a point... let me try and get to it before I go off in another direction...
as of late I've realized that I really get hooked to things like this.. blogs, xanga(a more kid type blogger journal thing, I use with my highschoolers), and now myspace. It could be anything... but it's this sort of addiction to see if someone has "commented" me.. or just changing the looks of things all the time... or jumping from person to person to read and see what people are thinking about life and what not. I think it can be a really good thing, but I've noticed that no matter what it is... blogs or myspace or whatever... I get really engrossed and before I know it an hour or so has passed.

So, my question to myself is...
Is the time that I'm spending in front of this screen always the best... even if it is in the name of wanting to hear about other's lives. I think I've begun to answer my question in part... the answer so far is this... there is obviously nothing wrong with wanting to be updated with the lives of others, and wanting to use this technology as a good teaching or relating tool, but if that time is taking over other parts of my life... than I need to stop and change some things.

That is why I haven't been posting as often lately... not to mention the "obsession" of myspace unfortunately took over for awhile. I resisted it for a long time, mostly because it was such a "trendy" thing.. and then I decided to peruze it for a little bit just to see what some of the "so-called" controversy was... and then I was able to get a grasp of it... but then slowly it took over me a little and I realize how people can get "addicted" to it...

So. there you have it. I'm working on getting this all balanced... it's almost as if I've got too many "web" things going. I've decided to spend only a half hour on the internet (at home atleast) per day for Lent... and spend time doing other things that matter... you know like that God thing :) tee hee... jk... but for real. I've definitely waaay exceeded it for today, but I can give myself grace.

Kinda feel silly sharing all this, but that's that.
the end...

(don't worry, i've not gone pyscho and think that this is all evil! :) )