I'm A Big Girl Now

Monday:

drove to H-burg with Gracie

-schools are dumb sometimes

-met her awesome friend.... who i swear is the black version of me

-lovely talks on the drive

supper with the fam

movie watching with J.L.

-Cary Grant is still slick at sixty

Tuesday:

slept late

-yayayay!

did some more packing

-which seems useless because i just end up wanting to wear what i've just packed

-also, dad put a t-rex in my suitcase. lol

eye doctor visit

-i'm far-sighted

-but just barely, so no worries.

stopped by my previous home which we will now call "G.C.'s place"

-chocolate cake...!

Wednesday:

rise and shine before 7am

drove to campus to get shots

-let it be known that the MSU campus is one of like 4 clinics in the whole state that carry the typhoid vaccine.

-which is weird

-got three vaccines and 90 malaria pills

went to my favorite spot in town, city bagel, to get coffee and brunch

-eating alone is fabulous sometimes

-wrote ty notes and read books

supper with the parents

prayer night at P&D's

-last one for many moons

late night grocery shopping

also late night cooking

Thursday:

packed picnic lunch

picked up Gracie's birthday present

-it was ready just in time

-also, my bargaining skills are insane

took Gracie to the refuge

-we picnicked, we trail walked, we deer and bird watched

-we also drove

-and we got lost....ending up in a town 35 minutes from original location

-positive side of getting lost = poppy seed bread from the local bakery

-WIN

library visits and chats

-they are generally fun and often amusing

Life class at P&D's

-also the last one for many moons

-*tear

Friday:

helped a friend pack up her house with mother dearest

-nice chats

spectacle shopping

-i got glasses, i got glasses, i got glasses hey hey hey hey!

-they're purple....again. don't judge me

grocery shopped with mother dearest

-felt like i was 12yro again on a saturday

cleaned house for farewell dinner tomorrow evening

-i have 6 days left

I think i'm so lost and confused as to what emotion i should be feeling that i have depleted my emotion department of reasoning skills. If that sentence made a lick of sense to you i will give you a star. God has been doing so much in me in the past three months, and even more so in the past three weeks because I know HE's preparing me for something and that it'll be grand, it's just the molding and waiting period that is so difficult. These past few weeks have been bitter-sweet as I am beginning to realize how much I love and will miss everyone. It's usually, and most recently, been the other way around where people depart from me, which is making this "move" weird and slightly hard since I'm doing the leaving. Is it this hard for extroverts?

Anyway, the weather here has been MARVELOUS the past day or so. It feels crisp and cheery, just like September should feel. Also, did you know a crisp in Scotland is a potato chip? Because chips in Scotland are actually french fries. Random fact of the day! I'm hungry now with all this talk of food. . . .eckhmm. Yea. The anemic child has got to eat!

~J.K.

Spinach Knowledge Absorption

OK guys and girls, i just wanted to let you in on this new mystery that I've just came across which is that cooked spinach has more iron than raw spinach. Weird, i know? I always thought that when you cooked a vegetable that it sucked every last nutrient from its soul. Apparently this is not so with spinach. However, spinach, while being a super good source of iron, is only so if it's eaten with an "iron absorption enhancer" aka red meat, white wine, beans, etc. Meanwhile milk, along with coffee or tea, is not and "iron absorption enhancer." In fact coffee is basically a thief and hoarder when it come to iron intake. Coffee is that child who takes all the legos and builds his castle and lives alone with no friends. Sad isn't it...especially since I just so happen to be a coffee addict. Oh joy.

I researched more foods that had iron and which ones were more enriched than others, which is how I came across this news of the "iron absorption enhancer." I made a fabulous list and sent it to my dear mother so that maybe we can cook up some iron-happy goodness when I return home. Also, there is this fabulous website I found that gives you the nutrition facts of absolutely everything. It's quite handy and I approve.

The packing continues, slowly but surely as I prepare to move back to my parent's house. Who knew I had so many books? Many much boxes of books and one box of just wine bottles. Oh yes. Find me odd all you wish, but I really love to declutter and pack. It's just kind of fun. (Also, "declutter" is not a word according to my computer... weird.) So moving back home will definitely be a change of pace and atmosphere, but I think I'm going to be okay with that. It's more or less temporary anyhow. Yay for free and healthy meals for the next 4 weeks! ;)

~me a.k.a the anemic child

Oh The Awkwardness That Is I. . .

So, progress of getting letters and applications mailed is going rather slowly. I had planned to have my application mailed in last Friday to YWAM, but my doctor was on vacation. That's the last thing i needed to submit my application. OHH the frustrations! Ok, so maybe I'm a wee bit dramatic? Nah. Who knew that a medical release form would take three weeks to complete? Like woah, i know. I'm going to not stress because i really have no control over it and stressing only causes my head to swirl. I'll hopefully be sending out my newsletter before i head off to camp. whoop!

I have mixed feelings about camp of champions this year. Reason number one being that they have moved the forever loved and treasured location from PBJ State Park to some camp ground in Alabama. The new place looks lovely, so that's not it, it's the fact that i am a major introvert and my 'safety blanket' and any form of familiarity has been snatched. Yay. It will be good for me, i know it will. Reason number two is that this year i am going as a staffer/counselor. This part makes me super excited and slightly nervous. I love working with teenagers and am looking forward to what the week will bring, i guess i'm just kind of anxious? You never know who is going to come or what HE is going to do or say, but that is exciting. Expectation is good. Also, prayers would be nice. :)

I got my "big girl" license today. YAY ME! I have been waiting for four long and picture-ugly years to redeem that horrid monstrosity called a license photo. Every time that i had to pull it out to show to a cop or bank teller or waitress i would cringe. If you were to see it then i am pretty sure you would understand and sympathize with me. Seventeen, bad hair cut, awkward, ghostly pale, cheese-tastic smile. Need i say much more? Goodbye vertical monster, hello horizontal awkwardness. .....What? Awkwardness never leaves, silly.

I'm moving to Colorado in three months. Three months, guys! Can i be happy and sad about this? Ok, good. The weather will be great and the fact that my fingers are always so cold won't be completely bizarre. Bonus points! But madam shy pants will most likely get homesick. Let's hope not, but it is likely. I am SO excited though. My newsletter is almost ready. All i have to do is one last revision and then print and stuff 70+ envelopes. I must be a dork because that part makes me so happy. I love snail mail.

Revelation of the day: coffee tastes good with just about everything but it tastes tremendously delicious when paired with banana nut muffins. Om nom nom!

~me

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

There are some words that i really love, ones that i only use in certain situations and some that i cherish so much i only use once in a blue moon. Words, big or small, weird or not, have so much more significance and value than i think we credit them for. It's funny how words that get continuously used slowly lose their meaning, depth or worth and fade into the over-used pile. This is always a shame, but they always seem to make a comeback sooner or later. However, along with these words that i completely adore there are words that i absolutely despise. Some are just picky like "get", i don't know why but i just cannot stand that word. And yes i know i already used it once in this post, i tried to bypass it with no success. However, there is a word that i wish would completely fade out of existence and never make it's way back around. "Fail." It has no grace, no glory, no beauty, no strength, no encouragement and no peaceful sound. If you can imagine nails running down on a chalkboard or the noise of a violent crash of objects, this is what i hear when that word is spoken; painful noise. The weight that this word carries is so much more heavy and deteriorating than many people believe it to be and i honestly wish it would just die. What makes anything a fail? By whose standards is one judging this or that or him or her and with right, to the point where the word "fail" is used as a descriptor? Perhaps it has become more culturally hip and therefore roles more freely off the tongue. Still....it can be saved, it can be spared for those times when you didn't work your butt off as much in chemistry class as you should have and therefore deserve that horrid F. Just the same though, i am not in favor of this word, may it rest in pieces. HE does not create anything that is defined as a failure. I would however like to leave you with my favorite word of all time. It is simple and eloquent and i feel that it sums up more than most of its competitors. I am a fan.

Beautiful.

~me

Show Me Your Dance Moves

I AM JUST SO EXCITED ABOUT LIFE RIGHT NOW!! DON'T ASK ME WHY, I MIGHT TELL YOU LATER BUT IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER!! I'M JUST SO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O SUPER STOKED!! WAHOOOO!
also, i do not have an enthusiastic personality... eckhmm. :D

yes. . . . that excited!

~me

Pie

I had pie. i've been wanting pie for a few days and if you look at my notes from school today you will see that that was quite evident. also, my psychology teacher was talking in class today about how when you study for class that memorization does not cut it. she strongly believes in semantic coding; M-E-A-N-I-N-G. i totally agree, so then she expounded upon this and how your environment is a factor in this, when you're studying and testing. I knew this from long ago, but then she said that if you study with caffeine then you should test highly caffeinated. it's actually proven to improve your test scores. sweet! not that i needed permission or whatnot, but being told to drink more coffee is *fine* by me! wheee! i absolutely love psychology class.

Spring break is quickly approaching. i always want to spell spring break with a capital "S" and "B". . .like it's some kind of important holiday i guess? anyway, it's coming up and i am mad'am planner. yikes! 4-5 girls, one car, camping, hiking, and lots of F-U-N. i'm hoping everything gets worked out in time and that i don't loose my head mean while. my government teacher decided to give us a test the thursday *after* we come back instead of before. i'm not sure i'm in total favor of this idea. also, i'd like a personal masseuse, please and thank you. tense shoulders. they need some love, mhmmm.

i currently smell like cigar smoke. no, i wasn't smoking. hullo, former asthmatic. time to wash clothes? i had fruit and coffee for breakfast. i had fruit and coffee for lunch. it was marvelous. the daffodils have come out. listening to mumford and sons by request of Rose. was in a Stars mood all day. accidentally yelled at a class mate while walking with him across campus. lesson: leaving one earbud in is still one too many when trying to talk to someone. my pie was delicious. lemon meringue. yes, you're allowed to be a wee jealous. <3

~Me

Compact

This is me and studying in a nutshell. Sadly.
:)

Discovery Chanel

I currently feel like an old woman. Heat packs, ice packs, pain pills, and naps. What has happened to my body? I think i have begun to fall apart prematurely which does not leave me with a good feeling about what another 20 years will bring. AH! Perhaps my body needs a dose of adventure to cure its aches and pains. Rock climbing? Water rafting? Or would this make it worse? A greater part of me just says "who cares!" My bones can take it; i've never broken one so they have nothing against me and aren't likely to snap on me. So there.

Sometimes school can be dumb. But a lot of the time school can be cool. I guess that would make my relationship with school a love-hate one? Makes sense. I just want to graduate. As a nurse. Is that so much to ask? I didn't think so. Applications are in the process of being filled out and mailed. I know that in this day and age it is respectful and critical that one have a job with a steady income. Totally understandable. Money doesn't grow on trees, etc. BUT SCHOOL?!! Why? Why is it frowned upon if you put off your education or travel amidst the learning for awhile? Why do we feel we must live up to society's expectations and the worlds demands of how we should act, learn, love, behave, or just LIVE? Since when do 'they' get to have a say or thought in what i do.


I want to take a semester off again and travel, go on mission trips, and just explore the world with my own two hands and eyes instead of through someone else's interpretation through a textbook or whatever. Yes, trip[S], as in multiple ones. I want a door to just swing wide and loudly open before me so i can wildly go running through it. Call me crazy, call me dumb, call me ridiculous and naive, i don't care. There are almost SEVEN BILLION people in this world. There are ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-FIVE countries. There are too many mountains to hike and rivers to ride and roads to explore. I have to go. I have to discover. I want to. I need to.

~Me

Cranberries!

Banana bread and coffee are being consumed. Delicious. Listening to the Cranberries and Jimmy Eat World. oh yea, happy new year! And i had just gotten used to writing "2010" and saying "twenty-ten" not "oh-ten". Now i have to start all over? le sigh.

Favorite lesson learned in 2010: Yielding to HIM brings both peace and joy. It is most rewarding in every regard. I could name off a handful of examples, but the point here is HE is good in all HE does. I am such a control freak, so when i don't know what's going on or if i can't see what's up ahead i get antsy and frustrated. HE knows that. HE wants that. If i profess to love HIM then my response to "go" or "say" or "do" this or that should be "yes!" without hesitation or a second look back. To love HIM means to heed to HIS voice, however quiet a whisper it may be. I always start off thinking that my plans are great and they will work out just right and things will be smooth and lovely because i am HIS. But that is only true if i am listening and obeying HIM. There is this great quote from Elisabeth Elliot that says, "I know no prayer other than 'Thy will be done'." How awesome would it be if we could live out that prayer...second by second, in the big things and the little things. Yielding my will to HIS will was probably one of the more painful yet rewarding experiences i have gone through. EMBRACE THE RELEASE.

I still have my Christmas lights up. Are there Christmas decoration fairies who will come and haunt me since it's now January? I put up a tapestry in my living room. It's big -- maybe 9'x4'? My mom had it in her apartment when she was in college. She used as a room divider, i use it as wall art. It's lovely. I like people. They're fun and different and come in so many varieties; kind of like jelly beans. I have this habit of inserting random CD's of my roommates into the stereo. Currently Playing: Broken Social Scene. I like it.

~Me

Who Knows. . . .

Christmas lights on the highway at night are amazing. For instance, this one house was semi-decked out, just the usual icicle lights and such. BUT they had pine trees next to there house and put santa in his sleigh and four reindeer 50 feet up. It was huge and it was amazing. probably also one of those 'you had to have been there' sights. Also, it is quite dangerous to put out amazing, bright and shiny christmas lights along the highway. Because you want to look and go 'ooooh pretty!' and then you remember that you're on the highway. Dilemma.

My exciting life on tuesday consisted of taking my last final exam. whoop! It was short essay kind of deal...i think i did alright. Then i went to go get my hair trimmed. Finally! I'm trying to grow it out and i knew if i went back too soon that i'd be like 'what the heck, just chop it short!' And so i waited.....FIVE months. That, my friends, is a long time. woah. My hair is happier now. Then i went home, cleaned dishes, washed clothes and then my mother called to ask if i had gone to the doctor.
Uhhh whoops? I forgot that i had been coughing up a lung ALL day....! Yes, i went. I have bronchitis. Again. My lungs have had a hard life. So then i headed to the pharmacy to get my drugs. The pharmacist called me over, he's an old family friend, to inform that this one drug might make me a bit shaky. I said ok. He asked how i was, being sick and all. I replied, 'yea it's just bronchitis.' l-o-l.
Then i did work stuffs, went home and watched the sound of music. love. that. movie.

Also, i had my first cup of coffee tonight since sunday. SUNDAY! I figured i didn't need to mega dehydrate myself while being sickly and all. But now my body is like "caffeine!!" Which is probably the reason this is the most is utterly ridiculous post in every regard. Is there a point, you ask? That would be nice, but alas the answer is a resounding no.

Bible study ended. yes, i'm repeating myself, but don't worry, i'm going places. So, it ended and i'm left with the constant hovering question 'what do i teach on next semester??!' And i panic. But only briefly. And then HE is like 'hey, do this!' I rejoiced. HE knows what's good. So, in the process of studying and preparing for next semester i'm reading like nine kajillion books. Deep thinking books at that. It's fun. I am excited. You should be too.



You can blame the caffeine.






~ME