Frasier's transitional labels are like fb photo album names

-well executed pranks
~texting 2 friends last night to tell them classes were cancelled due to snow. one began planning a movie marathon & the other supposedly just skipped classes. but is it really my fault if peeps don't check their email to confirm such things?? (...but if you know me, you could guess that i still do feel a bit bad)
~making 5 of my friends, and then all those present at the small group leaders' mtng who notice my presence, think i got a nose ring.
~convincing a friend i got "HUSTLA" tattooed across my bicept (or the area in which my bicept would be if i had real muscles)
~taking an in-shell-walnut out of my friend's cupboard, cracking it open & then placing all pieces back onto his shelf. then, i drew small animal-like footprints next to the nut reminants and smudging them slightly to look more real. later he told me he didn't fall for it for a second, but i suspect otherwise.
~changing my roomie's fb status...though that prank was actually terribly executed, but whatevs
~writing a fake grocery list at a friend's house...lame, but i got a laugh out of it

"I used to like to play with my Ken and Barbie dolls. Ken was my favorite. Then one Christmas I got them a camper and all they wanted to do was hang out in it by themselves. So I wasn't too upset when they took that wrong turn and went over the cliff."
_Vada Sultenfus, My Girl

I got to watch possibly my all-time favorite movie, My Girl on my lazy afternoon this week and rekindled my love for it. Ever since I can remember I've loved pretty much everything about the movie, and at the age of 10 I planned naming my possible future daughter 'Vada' after the main character....it's pretty sick I know, but isn't it the slightest bit cool?

So, I want to hear from YOU: Am I setting my possible future child up for failure if I name her Vada Jane -----?
seriously, leave a comment & let me know :}

I don't make New Year's resolutions but...

I have just never understood the hype about New Year's resolutions. I'm all for them since they are usually made because people become inspired to change their life for the better.
a fresh start.
okay, I get it, I do. BUT why limit one's self to January 1st each year?? if you wanna change, do it NOW; whenever that might be!
and this January 1st as I laid on my grandparent's orange and brown 70s couch I realized something. I don't understand why people are obsessed with the fresh start a New Year gives them when there's a better one out there. Jesus. Yes, I said it. So I sound like a crazy, judgemental-of-others, know-it-all Christian but I don't mean to be like that. Maybe I'll elaborate more on this idea of mine in a future bloggie...

All that being said I've done some reflecting, watched some movies, and read some books in the last month and so- for the first time in my life- I'm making some New Year resolutions. Hypocrite? perhaps, but at least I'll admit it, right?

~eat healthier, and eat much less meat: i don't think i can handle becoming a vegetarian, but after watching Food, Inc I just need to do something about my awful dietary habbits!

~be a better friend: there are people in my life I absolutely love but- for some reason or another, mostly pure laziness- either don't keep in contact with or don't make the effort to hang out with nearly enough. this is going to change; I already have a list of names of such peeps.

~be more involved in mentoring my Bible study girls& try to help them extract their missional side a bit more: I absolutely love the girls in my small group and need to work much harder at working out schedules to see them on a regular basis outsida the Bible study. Also, to encourage and work with them more to be more missional- like working to add new ppl to our small group's 'core group'.

~don't slack off in classes like I have for the last year and a half: freshman year I was on the dean's list, now I'm just scraping through. I need to remember going to college is an opportunity and gift. I want Colossians 3:23-24 ("Whatever you do, do with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men...It is the Lord Christ you are serving.") to inspire me with this task.

~update my bloggie more often: I love reading others blogs... I've had plenty of complaints from friends frustrated with my lack of blogging.

feel free to help keep me accountable : )

would you rather...?

I would rather wash 100 plates and bowls than 30 forks, spoons, knives or utensil.
but I have lots of styrofoam plates and only metal silverware.

I would rather take 7 100-question multiple choice tests than write a 4 page essay.
but I am majoring in history and not geography.

I would rather bake, cook, clean, and make gifts for people all day than go to school.
but I am a college student and not Mrs. Clause.

I would rather be sleeping right now than writing this bloggie.
but I can't get to sleep and just now realized I should go read my Bible.

Nightie-night

sh-sugar town

I've become pretty much obsessed with my sock monkey Christmas pj's from Target that my mama gave me last December, wearing them almost every night. They are flannel with a button up top complete with pockets and also have Christmas trees around them...totally dorky, but i love 'em!

So, when I went into Target last week and saw their flannel pajama sets on display, I was ecstatic! I can't decide the ones I would like the most this Christmas: eskimo girls that look straight outta It's a Small World, owl covered, or puppies with presents and bows...

:) well, now I know what to put on my Christmas list along with a new phone

Papa

Last week, I had a really awesome dream. Like maybe even the second best dream of my life!

I was wading around in the ocean.
I look around, and some of my family is there- my mom, brother, and two grandpas...others like maybe my dad but I can't remember.
Suddenly I realize that my Grandpa Buster has gone too far out and is about to drown.
I'm the closest one to him, so I swam over and got him to shore.
As we stood on the beach he said "Thank you so much, Jenn-ay" (no lie, my Papa Buster's Arkansas accent has always sounded a bit like Forest Gump.)
I was overwhelmed by happiness- my Grandpa Buster started developing alzheimer's about 10 years ago; it's been at least 5 years since he's called me by my name without having to be told who I am.
So, the rest of the dream I just sobbed with joy while my Grandpa hugged me. [good thing my roommates are gone, cause I've started crying as I'm retelling this]

I've never really known my grandpa that well at all; my grandma (his wife) died about 15 years ago, he always had a big sense of humor but I remember him being more quiet. I feel like this man I know now who doesn't know me isn't really my grandfather, but more like a shadow sometimes mimicking my Grandpa Buster's kindness and humor. His wife was 'Catholic' (but I don't ever remember her going to church) and I don't think he knew/ knows Jesus.

It is something with I struggle with- these last years of his life seem like he's being cheated out of the chance to love the God Who made and loves him, Jesus Who died for him, and being with the Holy Spirit...but I know that he had also been given 70ish years to accept salvation. I'm left wondering why this happens, where my Papa really is, and where he is going once he dies. Through this though, I know I have to place more faith in my God that is so much bigger than me.

photography? photography.

Ever since high school, I've wanted to try photography. I can't get over how pictures can display beauty through someone's unique perspective-I always wanted to show others a new way to look at something through photographs I had taken. I just assumed that photography was easy- just view and snap. Not much thought, more feeling out what you want to take a picture of. In the last couple of years, I've realized how wrong I was.

Two weeks ago my amazing friend Ashley offered herself as a professor for a sorta Photgraphy101 class for Jessie, Christie, Andrew, and I!

Our first week, we learned about composition, and we were given our first assignment: focus on compostion while taking pictures of red subjects. In true Flagstaff style our class+Adriane met beneath the shade of some trees on north campus to share and critique our photographs. I LOVED everyone's photos- it was so neat to see what subjects they chose and how they captured them! Overall, I was pretty proud of my final products...so here they are:

Obviously I had the honor of 'working with' my incredible and beautiful roomie, Adriane. As of our last class meeting, Adriane has joined as a student and I can't wait to see what her photos will look like!

*warning: when getting your pics printed, the store you go to may cut off the edges of your photos. I had to learn this the hard way :[ and haven't yet found out how to prevent this unfortunate occurance

beddie-time blog

Yep, it's 11:05 Sunday night and I am sick- not just sick as in coo', but cold virus kind too. I should be resting but I don't wanna. I wanna write, right now.
*****Halfway thru writing this, I realize it's pretty much a journaling of my wkend. If nothing else, read the parts proceeding the astriks, they're the realll important stuff! *note: pictures hopefully up tomorrow

So today's bloggie will be about my weekend, which started Thursday at 5:15 after my last class for the week. I came home and waited around for one of my freshman year besties to arrive for birthday celebrations to commence for her in our room. What I thought would be a pleasant evening hanging out and watching a movie ended up being a 20ish minute visit before her and my roomate drove off into the sunset to get Taco Bell...I was a little confused but figured whatever-- it's her birthday and if that's what she wants to do, ain't no whipped cream off my sundae.

So once 7:30 rolled around Adriane and I headed off to IV large group.

*****One of my bffs/mentor, Ashley, spoke and it was great- her humor & heart for God and NAU students shone through as she talked about listening for and recognizing God's voice by discussing what Jesus talks about in John 10:1-21. She spoke truth and explained how it should be applied to our lives specifically. I really can't believe I get to be friends with such a cool kid!
From large group I got to longboard on over to Starbucks, the post-large group hang out. This week I got to hang out with some favs while sitting on the newly added patio around an extended table as my newest bff, Jon Watson, smoked his cancer-loving pipe (that I love and despise at the same time.)

Thursday night was also a planned sleepover at my amazing friend Jessie's apt, where 10 girls slept over after 'the boy' left. There was fun girl talk and I even got the privilege of being J.Fo's bed-buddy. After 5& 1/2 hrs of sleep I awoke to "I woke up wishing I was dead" coming from Jessie's phone but loved it. Slowly everyone ended up in the bedroom, beginning with Ashley-the-early-riser. She tried convincing me to cancel all my wkend plans to head down to Tuscon with her and half my other close friends but I just felt like I couldn't.

*****That morning I had choco-chip pancakes and eggs with some of the most beautiful women you could ever hope to meet :}

Friday was a lunch date with the roomies at the OG, followed by shopping at Old Navy. Friday night was another girls' night with Adriane and 2 of my favorite sophmores, complete with a viewing of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". Loved it!

Saturday my roomates shunned me, I had to watch a ridiculous movie for my Rel. class, but Saturday night was truly wonderful! *****Homemade spaghetti sauce, bread, and spaghetti with some amazing "Flagstaff family"...Aziel said the Tuscon ppl were really missing out and I realized I really did need this Flagstaff weekend. After dinner we went to my 1st NAU hockey game and I loved it. Then back to our room for pazookie and "Hitch". Jon Watson and Jessica S. (who I haven't seen all yr!) both came :)

Today: After 5ish hours of sleep, went to my NorthPoint, had lunch with a ton of random NP peeps and then got to have TCBY with the other members of the trio from last yr+ Adriane.

***********May your next weekend be as magical as this one has been for me**************

*bloggies to watch out for next (and by next I mean actually soon): my Illinois Roadtrip, the Movement, my first Bible studies of this year