Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Have a blessed holiday wherever you are!

another long list.

Things I’ve Done. To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (You can’t anymore)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen an eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (as far as you can go)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square on news years
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London7
7. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

No, I don't hate you...but right now I just don't like you

one of my favorite real bloggers, vlachster, posted this the other night. She's a fun coworker and I wish that we worked in the same office...and she's got quite the eclectic music taste, too! So, here's what I've got...if you need to warm yourself up, fill in some time while you're snowed in, or just want to have some fun...

1. Put your iPod (or media player) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN, NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag you're it-- if you want a musical mental break.

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
I do Believe ~ Steven Curtis Chapman

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Lo Que Paso Paso ~ Daddy Yankee

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
If Only ~ Hanson (hmm...if only what?)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
It All Goes Wrong ~ Everclear (so true, it was a day like that!)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Name ~ Goo Goo Dolls (what, everyone will know my name?)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Rooftop (Instrumental) ~ Newies Soundtrack

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Closing Time ~ Semisonic (hmm....)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Corazon Espinado ~ Mana/Carlos Santana

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Seize the Day ~ Carolyn Arends (now the secret is out!)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
The Midnight Cry ~ Dordt College Music Department (hmm, is the title or the artist the worst thing that could happen??)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
My Worst Fear ~ Rascal Flatts (interesting...)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Yakko's Universe ~ Yakko Warner (true, some might say I regret having this song on my iTunes...)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Big Girls don't Cry ~ Four Seasons

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Everything ~ Michael Buble (gosh, I hope not!)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
8 ~ Everybody Duck

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
The Ballad of the Green Berets ~ Sgt Barry Sadler

WHAT IS 2+2?
Falling Slowly ~ Once Soundtrack (yes, it is falling slowly out of my brain...)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Es Mentira ~ Pimpinela

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Hate this Place ~ Goo Goo Dolls (there is some truth to that currently...)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
God's Been Good to Me ~ Keith Urban (true that!)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Hairbrush Song ~ Veggie Tales (take that for what you will...)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Happy Days Theme ~ Happy Days (true, their days were happier...)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
It's Not Just Me ~ Rascal Flatts (I know it's not just me...)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Somewhere In Between ~ Lifehouse (I think this may be true...)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
If Only She Knew ~ O.A.R

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Which to Bury, Us or the Hatchet - Relient K

microsoft word speech recognition

When a man put the theme song to "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" on and had Microsoft Word transcribe it, here is what follows (this will make any true child of the 80's/90's laugh!)

Subject: My first experience with Microsoft Speech Recognition
Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2008

This is a story all about how
My left at floods turned upside down
And like to commend it just sitting right there
To tell you how the team approves the time called dollar.

In West Philadelphia born and raised on the playgrounds were spent most of my days,
Chillum out Maxson relax and all cool
to shoot some people outside of the school.
When a couple of guys were up to no good
started making trouble in the neighborhood

I get in one little fight and the mom got scared,
She said you move in with your aunt and uncle in dollar

I wasn’t for a cab and one each in your
The license plates of fresh and it had base in the mirror
If anything, I can say that this cab was rare,
But I thought, now a forgets, you know home to Bel air

I pulled up to the house around seven or eight
And I yield to the cabbie your Halsey Smalley later
Look at my kingdom I was finally there
Consider my thrown as the prince of Bel air.

Christmas Songs

Very important question here for you. What are your favorite Christmas songs? Specifically, I want one "fun" one and one "Christmassy" one (i.e. you sing it in church or whatever).

I'll start us off...

My favorite Christmassy song is "Joy to the World." I love singing harmony on that song.

My favorite fun song is "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". Check out the YouTube video...it is classic!

chow, wine, chill, gifts, sleep, work.

I am going to give you more posts more often. Because I think that's exciting.

I had a few thoughts that I wanted to share with you from the past few days...

1. Puppy chow is addicting. I never like the sound or look of it, but once I start eating it, I can't stop.

2. Wine bottles with corks are hard to open when you don't own a cork screw. I guess that's proof that I only buy Arbor Mist for myself, which has a screw cap for a lid...

3. It's cold in Minnesota in the winter. Especially when you are attempting to be dazzled by the Holidazzle parade.

4. No matter how often I say that I am going to buy less gifts this year, somehow I still have a massive list of people to buy for and I'm never sure what to get...

5. I still sleep during movies. Ones I've seen, ones I haven't seen...in my house, in the theater, at someone else's house...I have no control over my sleeping habits.

6. It's hard to work until 8pm and then have to be to work at 8am the next day.

Those are my thoughts. If you are reading this and expecting a Christmas gift from me, you might be disappointed. My words are my gift to you. Unless you get a gift from me. Then you're lucky!

bits and pieces, odds and ends

It's been a really long time since I've posted.

First, I want to share that I went to Chicago over Thanksgiving and it was FANTASTIC! I got to see my chicas from my semester abroad once more and we hung out in Allison's studio apartment, went salsa dancing, went to see Wicked, checked out the city, ate deep dish stuffed pizza, and more. It was a great weekend. Check out some of the pictures from the weekend here.

Secondly, well, I guess it's time to drop the ball. About 2 months ago I met a boy. We dated. This week we stopped dating. For the most part, I am coming around and saying that it was for the best. It was definitely a difficult decision to make (his to make), but in the end, I think I would have made the same decision. It's been interesting going through all the stages...angry, sad, regretful, questioning, angry again.

Now that it's done, I'm still glad that it happened. I'm glad because now I've had my first relationship. Now I know some more about things that I am and am not looking for in a guy. And the truth is, I think we will still be able to be friends in the end of all of this. I am hopeful for that.

These flowers that my parents sent to give me a "boost" yesterday, are also getting me into the holiday spirit:

Thanks, Mom and Dad! They are now the replacement for my Christmas tree in my apartment :)

all eyes are on...

Your time has come my friends...
Raise your voice, be heard, and vote - TODAY!

On an awesome note: The lady who lives down the street from me was standing in line in front of me to vote. The line at our polling place was out the room, out the front doors, and past the gate. She turned and said to me, "I've been voting here at the same place for over 30 years, and I've never seen this many people in line to vote!"

Whoa.

It's been a while, I'll be the first to admit. Sorry about that.

Life has been good - my weekends have been busy filled with plenty to do. One weekend I had a retreat with the middle schoolers from church. That was a blast minus the part where I fell off a merry-go-round. Ouch. Last weekend I went home to Iowa for an extended visit, which was nice and relaxing. I got to sleep a lot, which I needed because I'd had a crazy week. Here are a few pictures of my mom and me attempting to get good pictures together...

This is the part where I'm pretty sure I told her something funny right before I took the picture....

And here we were just being plain ridiculous...

But here, we took a good picture!

'Twas a lovely visit home and it was nice to be there during the fall time. Hope you're all doing well.

just when I said I wouldn't go back....

I know we all say we won't go back to school...

But I'm thinking of going back to school. The University of Minnesota has a program in translation and interpretation that I'm thinking about getting involved in. It's a 2-year program where you take one night class a week. I won't be able to start until next summer or next fall (either would work - if I start in the summer I would have one semester off in the middle), but it's an exciting prospect to think about possibly going back to school and adding to my experience. And it would probably make me more marketable to the area that I'm interested in...

So anyway, that's what's new with me this week. I've been thinking about it for a while, but now I'm finally thinking in a pretty certain way that this is what I'll do. Now it's time to start saving up!

mice?!

tried to post this directly from YouTube but something wouldn't work...

Check out this YouTube video of Brad and Colin from Whose Line is it Anyway? This video puts my mouse conundrum into perspective...

pictures...por fin!

Good news for you and for me...pictures have finally arrived, with a bit of patience and a good night of internet connections. Here for your enjoyment! (Oh, and forgive the small size, but that's all I could do to get them uploaded...)My bedroom (and bed frame, huzzah!) plus my desk from a desk swap...
New dresser from Ikea, plus Puerto Rican lamp and Panamanian painting...
Living room - hand-me-down couch plus Panama molas
Kitchen - stove, sink, fridge...now you've seen the kitchen!!
Dining room (which is in th esame area as the kitchen and living room) with spectacular curtains courtesy of my mom
Family visit...I promise, my mom wasn't trying to take out my dad...but, that's the kind of pictures you get when you set the camera on timer!

pictures and more

Hello Friends,

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy with moving, getting settled, etc. It was a good move, although long and arduous and full of muscle soreness and bruises. Reminds me that I don't want to move again any time in the near future!

Things are going well at the new apartment. I've officially been sleeping here for about a week and a half, and have been here all by myself, except for a newly discovered roommate with four legs, whiskers, and goes by the name of Mickey the Mouse. We're working on getting rid of him... ;)

I was going to post pictures, but my internet connection is horribly slow right now at home. I'm working on fixing that, or at the very least trying to find out if I can change that! Anyway, pictures will come soon...maybe this weekend or in the coming week once I can get to a better internet connection...until then you'll just have to visualize Mickey and me hanging out in my apartment, drinking tea, reading a book, and watching the slow, slow internet :)

where do I begin? it's been a crazy little while lately, but all in all, a good crazy.

my lease began at my new apartment on the 15th, so I'm slowly/quickly moving things into the apartment. I'm waiting for paint to be put on the walls, since my landlord prefers that I not do the painting myself.

last night we had our "final" roommate time together before we're all moved out. it was a great time filled with laughter, food, self-taken photos, good drinks, fun games, awesome dessert, and all 5 of us sleeping in the living room together.

you can check out all sorts of pictures here

on tuesday, i will be moving the rest of my things, hopefully, and will start sleeping at my new apartment! huzzah!

that's all for now. hope you're doing well!

this week

it becomes official. i'll have a new apartment which i'll slowly move into for the rest of the month. because i chose to be crazy like that?

It's our last few days/weeks together as a house, something that I'm becoming sad about. Here we are on a city tour, picture courtesy of Christy's iPhone.

I love Minneapolis and my roommates.

Hope you're well.

one of those days

we've all had them. one of those days where it seems like nothing can go right. you get a headache because you're frustrated, you're either way too busy or not busy at all, and no one seems to do anything the way they're supposed to.

i'm having one of those days. where a fun paint project at work turned into a nightmare. where no one did their jobs and informed us of important information, making us look completely incompetent. where multiple people accused me of not doing my job, which just so happens to be 5% of my entire job duties and i'm doing the best that I can.

it makes me head hurt. it makes my coworker's stomach feel sick. and it makes me want to leave this office, go to the park, sit under a try, and have nothing to do with the world. why can't adults be competent at doing their jobs, when it's the easiest job in the world to do?

random thoughts

it's been a while since I posted. here are some things that happened since then:

- volunteered at camp for a week. Not quite sure yet if I worked more or had more fun, but it was a good experience
- hung out with some good friends. craziness. check out Facebook to see the photos of camp and craziness, combined into one.
- Mom is still up and down - we're waiting to hear on a second opinion from Mayo
- Found a new apartment! I'll be moving in between August 15th and 30th, so I'll have a nice chunk of transition time

Do you want my future address? Do you want to tell me something? Let me know and I'll hook you up with whatever you need :)

mi mama

Most of you know...but if you don't, please pray for my mom, and here's the story:

My mom has been having headaches for over 9 weeks now. At first we thought they were just the result of jet lag and having returned from Taiwan. Soon, we realized it must be something more, since they weren't going away. After lots of tests, they finally determined she's been leaking spinal fluid from somewhere - the question is, where?

While they attempt to find out where the leak is, my mom continues on with headaches, at least one a day, and lives on pain killers. As you can imagine, it's frustrating to not be able to work or get around as easily as she would like.

Her next test is this coming Tuesday, unfortunately postponed from this week, which means even more waiting.

Please pray for her - I believe in the power of prayer and the strength in numbers. She and I will both appreciate your prayers.

a list of thoughts

1. Lawn games are a blast, especially ones easily learned

2. Trying out some soft contacts this weekend. Not so bad...yet.

3. Mosquitoes are out in full form this summer. Bug bites already in the double digits

4. Iowa should try out having more lakes, like Minnesota does.

5. Movies in the park are fun, free, and great to hang out with friends

6. Headaches are not fun, especially when had for 8+ weeks....pray for my mom

7. It's okay to be at home 3 weekends in a row.

8. I'm going to miss my roommates

9. Work slows down in the summer

10. Even after college, I still know how to procrastinate

11. Apartment hunting is a lot of work, especially when you know what you want.

12. Puppies are adorable and love to give kisses.

13. Unexpected e-mails from old friends are wonderful.

'twas the day before last

'twas my birthday on Sunday. It was a great day, filled with wonderful things:
- went to lunch with a good friend, followed by some shopping and then seeing her new place
- got a surprise visit from a family friend, including flowers ordered by my parents, delivered straight to me! They smell even better than they look :)
- went for a great walk with roommate, stopped for some wonderful ice cream, and walked back home

I also received lots of great phone calls, birthday wishes, facebook messages and notes on my wall - thank you! It was a good birthday!