she smiles at her handwriting usually

Summing up Life in Unsymmetrical Eyebrows

Staring deeply in to the bathroom sink mirror
A reflection of my life summed up in unsymmetrical eyebrows is all thats available to stare back.

My Life.
One moment I understand
The very next I don't remember
Only to find that I don't care

Later to become faced with burden over being apathetic.

Tinged with guilt. Restlessness. Searching.

Either a short lived epiphany will make itself available
or fear will have fed reluctance and I find myself
fallen back into a pre-packaged and labeled routine.

Where the process inevitably turns itself over to cycle
a modified repeat... again.

Staring deeply in to the bathroom sink mirror
A reflection of my life summed up in unsymmetrical eyebrows is again all thats available to stare back.

And I find all there is left... is to smile back.

she has a few stories

because it has been oh so long

and first i would just like you to know that i passed up the opportunity to stop in not only thrift stores but also a bead shop that is quite frankly NEVER open anymore. well, they are, apparently, but on a whim and conveniently never when i am around. on my way to the local jittery joes coffee shop now known as e-city java. but i think everyone still refers to it as jittery joes. which leads me to my second point, no matter how cool they can make the coffee shop on campus, it doesnt quite beat out the authentic coffee shop feel on a downtown main street. even if that street is awkwardly equipped with fish sculptures i am just now starting to understand.

lets see... so many things have happen i just dont know where to begin. i suppose it began when i dropped physics class. i am pretty certain that this is when my life began again. yeah, definitely. life is so much happier. maybe i will end up taking it in the long run.. but hopefully it will involve a better experience.
in its place i picked up an ACCEL course (adult program consisting of night classes). the course name sounded interesting but i quickly learned that its basically an informative history course on social work to give background for future classes. i was a little disappointed at first.. but you know its just not that bad. because the professor teaching it isnt a professor day in and day out. he has a job outside teaching. and he is a counselor for an agency here in Anderson. this adds an interesting twist to the course. here we have an adult night class that is from the start very relaxed, and we get what i think of as the privelage to hear about a case study every night. hearing from someone about the serious work that they do day in and day out adds a lot of interest. so much so that my interest in social work reestablished itself even after my first professor kicked it to the curb. its also definitely a reality check. hearing such heart wrenching stories makes you wonder if you really are experiencing the reality of life or if you are just caught up in a bubble filled with naivety.

This thought combined with the smell of ground coffee and feel of an old cushion in a scratched chair along with recent conversations with a friend concerning the necessity of life experienced and felt; only make the idea that life needs the smallest moments that touch our senses to be beautiful, and to be real.

this may seem vague. but it makes all the sense in the world to me.

Recently... my birthday happen. I will not get into how this made me feel other than the mix of realizing i was turning 22 with registering for my last semester and Anderson really messed up my attitude. and confused me.

4 things that made my birthday special:
(in no particular order because they are all very equal contributors to my birthday happiness)

* I received a text message from an unfamiliar number... telling me FELIZ CUMPLEANOS! a big hug! and god bless you my friend. ... from peru!!! my lovely friend Fiorella sent me text message. lol, this may seem silly but i had forgotten that we even exchanged phone numbers, perhaps because i never dreamed of talking on the phone to her since we are in different countries.
* Next I received a card from my friend Jo, this made my heart so happy, because it was so unexpected. I love this sneaky sneaky business of asking friends what your address is.
* And, at the care group I have been going to (bible studyish gathering focused on community extension for college ageish individuals branch off the church i have been going to) gave me a card!! this also made my heart oh so excited, once again because it was so unexpected. i love it.
* And, I had to work on my birthday. well, maybe had isnt quite the right way to put it. but i dont get to work much as it is so i couldnt really take the day off especially when i didnt really have plans in place of it anyway. and... my dear friends karrie and rachel surprised me at work.... with a cake! the best part is that we were so slow i got to sit down and eat birthday cake with them. I was so excited. i wasnt expecting to eat birthday cake. you take for granted your mama and grandma that made cakes for you on all your birthdays until you move seven hours away from home.

okay, last (ish) story. a couple of nights ago i left my night class intent on going to the grocery store to purchase items to go along with the chick peas that i was certain i had at home which would make an astonishingly yummy pasta salad. so i stop by the store, spend money on pasta, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, feta cheese, italian dressing... make my way home start up the boiling of the pasta... and look in the cupboard only to see.... NO garbanzo beans!!!! this saddened me greatly. in fact i spoke to the cabinet claiming so. i went ahead with the process of making the salad, and went out to purchase a can of chick peas the very next morning. and yes, the salad was very very good. if i do say so myself. and well, it just so happens that i do.

our time now is drawing to a close.. but i will leave you with some pictures from a fun saturday morning that karrie and i spent mostly going from place to place but having some spectacular time at some waterfalls. it was good to get some karrie time in. i miss her in between those times, and i think i may get a little grumpy too.

For my dear Gillian

This post, and the chipmunk video preceding it (in German?!!!) are dedicated to Gillian. In Peru, unable to keep up with the latest trends in Anderson church 'amazingness'. I do hope you enjoy.



And just so you know... I had some serious issues trying to get your Lutheran photo... the first time.. it was dark and they didnt have it lit (whats up with that... i mean cmon now).. the second time... i almost pulled in until i realized there was a funeral procession coming out the door!!! the third time was a charm.. although there was one car in the parking lot so i was conviced they were going to come chasing after me to ask why on earth i was taking a picture of their church sign. However, I escaped safely with this photo.

The Chipmunk Adventure - Getting Lucky (German)

she hates celery.

dont ask me why i got the bright idea to see if i had outgrown my distaste for celery.
just dont.

she wishes she were speechless more often than not

tomorrow is my second and last day (of two) of fall break. theres a lot that i would like to do. a few things i have to do. a few i should do but probably wont. thats depressing.

If I could I would wake up and drive to the mountains and just spend the day there. Take a journal, take a book, but sometimes even those things get in the way of pure unrefined thinking. The sweet kind you wish you had caught down on paper because it seems immeasurably remarkable. And you come to conclusions and set beautiful goals. The kind that tickles your imagination and ignites a fire of passion for life you know can and was created to be greater. The kind that gets lost amidst the business of dos and donts and appropriateness and necessity of what you superficially refer to as the daily grind of your life. They get lost in the alarm clock, the shower, the toothbrush, the coffee. The coffee with a drop of half and half and two scoops of sugar. And you forget you had something so sweet until you have run yourself thin enough until the only action your senses know to take is to give up the resistance and give in to the sweet unrefined Love that loved you enough to start the process that you and your manipulative sin misdirected and let grow in the first place. The kind that captivates you with speechlessness once you surrender, and loves you without letting go.

she loves fall.

but hates the idea of winter coming and rushing in the necessity of wearing real shoes...
the kind that cover your toes.






random thought for today:

crochet is a beautiful topic to help start conversation with little old ladies. and its quite comical to watch the expressions change on their faces when they come to the realization that you know how when you are a college girl with a tattoo in a generation that doesnt really look fondly on the past time that doesn't involve anything technologically advanced, but some mere yarn and a metal hook.
i started up a conversation about crochet this morning with this lady at my internship. well, due to her stroke she can't talk yet which is very heart breaking to watch. she tries so hard too. since she can't communicate with words, you have to rely very heavily on whether or not she smiles or slightly nods her head. expressions are key. her eyes lit up when i mentioned crochet. so i can only estimate that she was excited, and looked surprised that i told her i knew how.
she is precious. and single handedly encompasses why i want to be an occupational therapist.
i have struggled emotionally with my internship... i am not able to do much more than observe, and the high light of my day is when i get to be an accessory to an exercise.. like being the receptacle for a patient moving cones from point A to point B with their stroke affected hand.
but then there are those small moments when the clouds break and God reminds me of the opportunities that lie waiting if we would only open our eyes.

sometimes it's easy to get caught up in what we can't do or what we have to do, and forget to enjoy what just is.

she misses the girls that graduated and went on with their lives!!... desperately!!!

she recommends no all spice

at least when it comes to coffee.
im not kidding.
and yes i tried it.

last week (or so) i overheard (what i get for eavesdropping... although they were right next to me having open conversation to its not like i was really eavesdropping, thats only when you are listening really hard specifically right? i wasnt specifically listening really hard) these girls discussing ways in which they give their bodies much needed jolts of caffeine. i do recall: "i usually make really strong coffee with allspice" so...statement got logged away and later at an inconvenient time i couldnt get it out of my head. so i bought some allspice. i think you might be anticipating what comes next. maybe i could have looked online for some sources saying that allspice for whatever reason increases your ability to take in caffeine or... something anywhere near relevant on the positive side.. anyway i mixed the allspice with the sugar before i placed it in my steaming coffee cup. despite the gritty taste...and the fact that my tongue went numb... it actually wasnt so bad.
until physics class. (physics just because thats the class i was headed to, not because its physics, because its class at 12:30) and it hit. it completely made me sick. weirdest feeling ever. i think.
well maybe not. there was that one time at the halloween party at school in the first grade that i stuck my hand in the mystery bowl... that was weird.
it eventually went away but... my tongue/throat area are not doing very well at the forgive and forget with me right now.

she officially starts the preparation

the library is an eerie place at night.
but the internet cafe at our apartment place is even eerier.
well, the library is just not fun at night, can't get much done because of other's study techniques including taking frequent laughing fests usually accompanied by physical interpretation. i can usually avoid being distracted by this if i take something to listen to... but that never works out because i think i am part of the whatever% of the population that standard ear phones dont work for. i may be able to keep a scarf on my head for a limited period of time but i sure cant keep tiny speakers spouting comfort music in my ears.

i was trying to get my peru application finished up tonight, which i thought to be a small task. then i got to the personal testimony part. and well, you know how sometimes i have a lot to say even when i don't think i do?...

but nonetheless i am so excited. each small step makes the experience feel that much more real.
and that makes my heart happy.
no matter how much havoc the rest of my life is in.

and im bringing back the lyrics if not for just one night:
(this is what i think is part of All We Know by Austin Crane, whom I was listening to tonight when I was having a mental breakdown over having two tests tomorrow and physics in general. physics makes me feel very broken. anyway, when this part started up it was one of those epiphanyish moments for me, and i put down the physics book [i was mid studying and trying to sift through my utter confusion] and started on the peru application.)

I looked up just to see if you cared

I felt the sunlight illuminating the air

And I knew that we weren’t alone

Its never gonna go

Were saying praise the lamb

Who was dead now risen

And I am alive

Once dead now im forgiven

We’ll be shakin off our shoes

And runnin through the streets

Yellin wake up your windows everywhere we meet

And maybe fire will fall and we wont need legs or feet

Or will the credits just roll

As we admit the defeat of our plans

We’re not as strong as we hoped well

We give to confusion its all we know

consumption by distraction

Completely distracted. This is the fashion I have been about life as of lately.
Im not sure why, or how to nip it.

Scatterbrained. Too many tasks at hand.
Cant focus on one. Cant even get the motivation to start.
Then once the start is just barely brushed and a book has been opened--
more blanks.
Now what was it I was doing?
I dont really have enough time right now, put it off for the morning. Then
sleep in. Then work so no choice. Oh wait theres a test coming.

Comes often enough to effect daily life.

Goes often enough to wonder if it was really happening anyway
and to get confused with are you sure youre not just
living the description of lazy
and ever heard of senioritis?

You just need to focus.

Focus.

On only one subject! And dont worry about the rest. Thats hard.
Actually pretty near impossible, seemingly.

Organization is key. Stop being so tired all the time.
Stop reaching for the planner.
the planner isnt going to get anything done for you.
And neither are the to-do lists.
Yeah the recycling needs taken out.
Yeah you need to call those people.
But isnt this important? Why cant you focus?

You know youve got that thing later.
You know there will be people there, several.
Just suck it up and go, it would be good for you,
you may regret being there.
But you will be glad you made yourself go when its all said and done.
Wont you?
Well, there go your nerves.

Then there are the headaches.
Shiatsu only gives you bruised palm muscles. Acetaminophen only makes your neck feel tense. And caffeine? Dont even go there, youve had the three cups (one before each obligation) for the day.

Out of time now.
Where did it go anyway?

she finds frustration

in the word post office.

if you know me very well you know that i have in the past had issues with the post office. never have i had what i would honestly call a sincerely good encounter with this place of mail distribution. usually due to poor attitudes and the absence of the desire to help the customer in obvious need of i dont know what im doing and why cant you mail a package with duck tape on the box help.

well, today was no such luck for being different. although, i will admit that the fault lies on my own two shoulders. i woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to make sure that i got to the post office at school by 7:30 so i could get some very special small packages into a few unsuspecting mailboxes. i had high hopes of a good experience as the anderson university post officer employees have never let me down in my three and 1/8 years. determined that this experience was going to set the pace of my day i went for the gold, make it there by 7:30? check.

.. and well, they werent open. you can now feel the depressing realization of disappointment in your chest as i did in that moment i imagine. but, it was not their fault at all you see. it was a fault of my own due to my lack of ability to pay attention to detail, well, either that or by very poor memory, both are likely suspects. because right there posted in bold print outside that gray metal 'shield' guarding the post office 'hole'... was a sign with bold print stating the hours of operation... beginning with an 8 and ending with a 30.

i just thought you should know.

shes literate... most days

there have been few and more so on the non creative side of posts lately and for this i am sorry. all i can say is my reasoning is that ive been a little on the stressed out side and i would rather not use this for venting. it probably wouldnt have made any sense but looked more like mere aimless jibber jabber, so ive spared you really. for this you should be thankful.

but for the fact that its the first of september and im making a few goals (i.e. :calling those family members and friends that probably think im dead, (except that mom is probably tired of hearing from me -she was the reciprocal for my frustration the two weeks past) getting a better revamped attitude for my science filled class load this semester, and getting a better record of my expenses) for myself for the start of a new month... i see it only fit to start it off with a post.


guess who took a night off from work last night? yep... and it was splendid. working every weekend each year adds new meaning to a free for whatever you want to do friday night. i had actually planned the day off a month ago, so karrie and i could go to a coffee shop in spartanburg and listen to heart happy music. i wish we could do that once a week. i think it would truly be worth it. theres something about just sitting in an underground coffee house with friends while you listen to live music, thats hard to explain yet unmistakably healing.
we may have gotten a little lost, because apparently there are two church streets in spartanburg. one (that we needed to be on) that is downtown where everything happens and another that is about the length of a football field -and nowhere near where you think your body should occupy. although on this church street you will find cowboys. or at least the attire. so since we got a little sidetracked we missed out on the first segment of music by austin crane which saddened me greatly because i am a big fan. but we definitely got to hear mr mike mewborne and his "manly few"of mikey mew and the lovely few this of course was worth the trip. taking more trips like that would be more beneficial to my health i am sure of it.

ah, back to the literacy notion.
other than the many books demanding scholarly attention from me for my science filled classes this semester which i refuse to list here because i am sure you really have no desire to know what they are anyway...
im scattered across a few books trying to read them. although i really have little time to spare to properly spend with them, i find myself practically running to them because just like being at the coffee shop last night or even going to the gym, the books provide a sort of escape filled with calm, so as often as i can fight a headache off, instead of taking a nap i sit down to read. although im not sure if dipping into a few at a time is really the best approach i can justify it...
1. The Screwtape Letters i cant tell you how long i have had this book and how many times i have picked it up to read it and not gotten through it. its a little hard to read, not because the reading level is too hard but because theres just so much in each little letter. so you see its necessary to take breaks. and i take breaks with...
2. Praise Habit Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi this being by David Crowder, and you know i cant deny that i was drawn to it by the sheer fact that it has sushi in its title. and then there's
3. Captivating i started this book back in the summer and unfortunately was not able to finish it. because i used the library system and as i was in west virginia... had to return it before i was done because i moved back to south carolina. but i got my used copy via amazon (which is a serious addiction for me... buying used books from this site , ingenious) this week so of course ive started on it too.
after agreeing to disagree last night over the fact that we didnt see eye to eye about how significant the book Through Painted Desserts by Donald Miller was to our lives a friend told me that we got out of books what we put into them. that our experiences and needs in our current situation would make the book we bury ourselves in either a good read or a bad one (in not so many or more words) this made a lot of sense to me. and as i feel very scattered over my life right now... im more than okay with experiencing three different books along with it.

she knows classes are back in session when...

there are so many AU students living in our apartment complex. which means... very little parking. at least thats why i think i have to park down the way between the two serious redneck trucks each night after work. because they didnt take into consideration students in their apartments doubling up in rooms. but they didnt ask me about it.

and... the sprinklers ... haha. i mean seriously is it really making the grass any greener when you are watering the sidewalk and smothering a window of the new library with agua? well, they didnt ask me about that either.


my class schedule is going to be rough! including the hours for my internship each week i will be taking a total of the equivalent of 23 hours. yuck. i officially no longer have a life.

the good news is that i found my internship. i will be working with a medical group right down the street in which they have occupational therapy as one of their rehab activities. im pretty excited. i was starting to get a little frustrated because i was having trouble finding a place that would let me come. since im not an OT student yet. but i am pretty excited about this now. except the huge amount of time that it will take out of my week. thats not an added bonus so dont confuse it.

another little tidbit of good news is that RUF got started off this week... and very well i might add. we are studying in the Psalms this semester. "Modern Problems... Ancient Solutions" John did a great job last night and the music.... oh the music. Its one of my favorite parts. Of course we had a lot of people last night because it was free pizza night, but we got a lot of names so hopefully we will be able to encourage them to come back. weve got so much going on this semseter too... besides our weekly meetings, lots of activities and several bible studies.

she starts a new year

this week the countdown begins. it started with devastation at the bookstore..
a psych majors senior year fall term book cost?... : 7.20.00.
yeah, i took them back. amazon.com is my new best friend.

I do have some hope for an internship, the thought of it and the chunk of my time it will consume each week is still a little daunting, but the good news is that doing the interning with an occupational therapist should be no problem. im waiting to get a call back from a rehab center down the street ..just a hop skip and jump or bike ride away. that would be ideal.

Saturday, as hot as it was, freshmen moved into the dorms and being the good loving welcoming college we are, of course they were accepted with open arms (but no dairy free coffee creamer), and plenty of campus ministries to carry in a box or two for them; tag line for their ministry in tow.

We were on a mission: freshmen beware.

sophie was there with RUF in spirit, but labeled as admissions staff

Rachel, Kelly, Sophie, and myself on our way to the RUF leadership get together

We were blessed to stay at this awesome log cabin/house for the night, but word didn't get passed along about the trecherous driveway... i was a little nervous, but we made it.

Kelly and Isaac:

Ryan, Johnathon, and Drew:

Just when Rach thinks she can guess Sophie's next move...

They love each other anyway:

Of course where there is a dead animal hanging on every wall there will also be chaps... and where there are chaps there is a sophie trying them on... i don't think david approved. She won't get into a nunnery in those.

All in all the meeting went well... I think we will get off to a strong start of a fall semester.
And of course there will be singing. It would not be RUF without the hymns.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

1. Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.

2. Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

4. O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

she has an appreciation for mewithoutyou

i only thought that i liked this band before. aaron weiss is the lead vocalist for the band mewithoutyou, most likely my favorite band to date. i just recently read that aaron spent time living at the simple way , which is an community based in pennsylvania. one of the founding people in the simple way is a guy named shane claiborne who wrote the irresistible revolution which is the book that i read last summer that made me fall in love with reading again. its kind of crazy how certain things can be related and one not even realize it. but it all makes sense (of course) now.

a lot of people don't care for mewithoutyou's style of music... which i can somewhat understand as the mere description of 'alternative' doesn't do it justice. i, which i am sure you have gathered by now, love it... and of course am biased and think they should be everyone's top choice. but not only am i a fan of their music, its nice to see a band truly standing behind what they believe and trying to live it out humbly instead of trying to use it as advertisement.

mewithoutYou Aaron Weiss in Amsterdam

she does not deny her inner love for the thrift store

and neither can alex.

its possible that alex and i had too much fun yesterday. we headed to some thrift stores partly in search of a dresser and partly in search of the rest of those frames that i previously mentioned. yes, its true, i admit that i was sucked into the soap opera that i happen to open up in my living room floor just two days ago. and i couldn't ignore it, i had to find out the rest of the story. you see.. i bought these frames, just for the frames. and happen to open up this lady's life. it still baffles me that someone would just toss away such key mementos of their life like that. it also humors me that i would take a trip to clemson just to go to a thrift store, not to buy frames, but to buy (18 more) the frames just for the cards inside, and i thought heck we could use the frames at some point too, they are nice frames. just a piece of glass with a four small metal clasps gripping the glass.. very classy i must say. and the woman at the checkout register decided that since i was buying so many.. she would give them to me for what.... a quarter a piece! ha. we also found out that on wednesdays at goodwill its not just senior discount day! oh no, for only providing a flash of your student i.d. you too can get a college student discount! of 10% what what. but only on wednesdays. and only if you can show you are an academic student committed to a choice institution for higher education.


yes its true. i am a thrift store junkie.

oh yes, and the guitar hero experience....

alex pretty much rocked it out...

and i got booed off the stage.

she reads of disillusionment

Its funny how many times God can bring a passage or word or friend or picture or butterfly into your life just for the specific purpose of showing you His love or helping you into a realization that He has lying right in front of your face.

My Utmost For His Highest July 30:

Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgements in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.
Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens-if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet HE was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God, and in what God's grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.

-------

Also today I opened up some frames that I had bought at a thrift store that appeared to have cards in them. I thought oh well I can use the cards and the frames both, a two for one deal for a measly fifty cents! Well, turns out I opened up someone's life that they disposed of in a thrift store donation bin. Frame after frame I opened to find card after card depicting a different moment in the woman's life. Eliza teaches. She was once in love, and was in some sort of relationship for at least five years. I feel like I opened up someone's diary. It was a little eerie.

And yes I am going back tomorrow to buy the rest of the frames.

shes a fool for sunday afternoon pizzas

especially when they can be remade later that week as quick tasty lunches.

as i may have suggested sometime previously, a few of our friends have been coming over to our apartment on Sunday afternoons after church and we all eat together and just hang out. its really an awesome time. plus we have had anywhere from 7-14 people at a time. thats kind of crazy, but definitely quality fellowship time. plus this past weekend us girls got several pictures hung and random pieces of furniture put together as the majority here were boys. they had a pretty productive day, and we enjoyed the benefits.

while i was at home i watched a lot of the food network... along with a few other things but to suffice this topic, i watched a lot of cooking. well ms ina garten made this fun little get together for a few of her friends where they made their own personal pizzas... and grilled them. sounds pretty cool huh? well i thought it was pretty nifty, plus everyone got to make their own food! so we decided to do that this past weekend. yeah, definitely woke up early to make the dough... knead it out... set it out to rise while we were at church. i get back from church earlier than the other girls so i started on the dough when i got back... yeah, didnt work out so much. and i started freaking out. couldnt get it to agree with me that it was best to stay in a disc shape without being speckled with holes. i tried to make it understand that the pizza sauce wasn't found of holes in a crust and just didnt find that attractive... but alas, it wouldnt listen, and proceeded to instead stick to the wax paper i was using to separate them, no matter how much flour i used. finally accepting defeat, we made the decision to swing over to publix (grocery store) to buy some dough. this was very depressing. up until alex and i had this incredible idea of using.... tortilla wraps! so it was born, grilled pizzas using two tortilla wraps with cheese melted inside as the crust. and it was glorious. you simply must try it. i think you should also try just chilling for a few hours with a few friends after your sunday morning service. its quite medicinal.

i am also very proud to say that i now know how to operate all the machinery in the gym. the most amazing Bailey came over yesterday and gave me a tutorial. man im going to miss that girl when she leaves too soon to pursue life after an AU diploma.

she may seem like a shy girl

but when you get to know her, she won't stop talking.

this week has been so wonderful. all my roommates are here for the week, plus one more. Rachel came down for a visit and Megan, a friend of hers came as well. we had a lot of fun. Jerusha and Karrie are already here so we are living together for the first time for a few days and its been very heart warming. i love these girls so much, its amazing how God brings people together and works things out. Alas though, Rachel will soon be going back to Rock Hill for a while and Jerusha had to go and leave yesterday for Africa... she's going to visit her brother and go camping all over this island for "a couple sundays with a couple more days thrown in". She will be missed.
Yesterday Rachel, Megan, and I took Jerusha to the airport in Charlotte. Of course Karrie was there in spirit.

we rock. you know it.

These are the times, these are the times.

And the times... they are a changin.

Plus, the four of us (sadly minus Rachel because of student teaching) are starting to plan an amazing Spring Break trip. I can't give out any details yet until we ourselves know a little more.. but lets just say it involves a plane ticket and a roughing it backpacking attitude. As you can imagine... I am excited beyond belief at the thought of the possibility.