Someone plzzz save us, us college kids!

[Relient K, so good]

I can't make any promises, but due to popular demand I am seriously gonna crack down and blog regularly. Once a week. we'll see how this goes.

I have homework to do before making bread dough and going to class, so this bloggie's coming from something I've already wrote.

The following is a list I compiled over the weekend of things I want to do before graduating...

(in no particular order):

1. take a picture with the Sinclair gas station dinosaur

2. visit the Museum of Northern Az

3. make ice cream from snow

4. have a picnic on the lawn of the Flagstaff courthouse

5. one last Friday invasion of E. Hart's with Jade (which was a weekly occurence our sophmore year)

6. go to Bearizona

7. build a fort city like on Community

8. go to Bedrock, Az and eat gravelberry pie

9. go to Prom (the movie) with Aziel as my "date".

only "couples" can go.

dress up in semi-formal attire... or ballgowns.

10. have a slumber party at a hotel

11. find out if the Monte Vista Hotel serves monte cristo sandwhiches. if they don't, find a place in Flg that does

12. play the best April fools' joke evahhhh

13. visit Locket Meadow- bring glitter lotion, pretend to be a vampire)

14. take a photo of every significant place in Flg/ at NAU for nostalgia's sake

15. play at the park by juvie

16. visit the dove chapel place on the way to the Grand Canyon

17. visit the cemetary by Target

18. have a great birthday bash with my birthday twin, ash b.

Hopefully finances will not be a killer hinderance for these things.

Do you have any suggestions to add to my list? Wanna help me complete some of these? Comment & let me know! :}

Enjoying Today with a little "some day"s

one of my fav past times with friends is to talk about what our future kiddos, spouses, jobs, marriages, and lives in general might be like.

the convos sound something like this:

AG: my kids will say 'i can't play with youuuu today, i have sailing practice', and they will only wear things from J.crew.
JR: my kids will longboard or rollerblade while wearing bows& mary janes and tiny sweaters over tiny oxford shirts. also, they will love hymns.
CS: my kids will be best friends with each other because they will be weird but i'll tell them they're special everyday.
JF: my kids will ask to read in their prayer languages. or refuse to go to church.
AK: my kids will play in dirt all day and hit all yo' kids.

Perhaps this is what watching parenthood leads to or at least encourages.

Sorry I haven't posted in forevah, I'm sure reading my blog is enjoyable procrastination time for someone out there.

Tonight I got called a catfish by one of my close friends. It's cooler than it sounds- there's some deep meaning to it where being called a catfish is a sweet compliment. It has to do with that thriller movie that came out this past fall.
The one about a man & facebook; not The SocialNetwork, but the other one- Catfish. You know, the one I wanted to see and then forgot about.

Some people won't read blogs unless they have pictures, so here's one from my week:





22 strawberries, 1 1/3 bananas & 1 3/4 apples???
HOW DiD they fit all that fruit into one medium-sized bottle?!

tomorrow I get to go post-Valentine's Day shopping at Targie with Adriane in btwn my lame-o classes. and maybe I'll find the perfect fitting sweatpants with elastic @ the ankles to be cool like my friend Jade. and perfect fitting tshirts like my friend steph b.

Fungi, a Man, and Reclusive Women

This past weekend I spent an above average amount of time (for myself, probably a below average amount of time for most college students,) working on homework.

While working on online anthropolgy homework, I learned about astounding fungi.
*Disclaimer: this is super sick, so avoid reading the following while eating.

A fungus in the Amazonian forest lays on plants and the forest floor, in waiting.
Once an insect or spider crawls by, the fungus attatches itself to the unfortunate creature.
The fungus sticks to the bug's exoskeleton & dissolves a part of it.
Through this opening, the fungus reaches the insect's insides and eats the non-vital organs.
The spider or whatever remains alive and functioning.
After the non-vital organs have been devoured, the fungus eats a part of the bug's BRAIN.
At this point, the fungus has basically created a SPIDER ZOMBIE (!!!); with the brain piece gone, the bug climbs to a high leaf in the forest canopy.
The fungus eats the rest of the insect and then causes it to explode(!!!), sending the fungus spore things to be dispersed throughout the rainforest to lay in waiting again!

...this same fungus has some sort of chemical in it that supresses the human immune system & therefore makes it a great med for transplant patients (of which my daddy was one,) so that their body does not reject the foriegn organ placed in them.
neat, huh???

During my laborious weekend, I also researched other things on the internet:
-C.S. Lewis. I concluded I do indeed want to read all he ever wrote, or most of his works anyways. [Chronicles of Narn, check-dunzo!]
- the Edies Bealeses, of whom Grey Gardens Documentary was of, as well as the 2009 'Grey Gardens' was based on.

Christmas Without Claymation??!

A few days ago, my friend Steph B ( http://stephbarber.com )

posted about her home's recently added christmas decor. Now here's my apt's Christmas-itizing...

Yeppers, a tree! Last year my parents finally listened to reason and got this atrificial beauty.

To accompany our dorm tree, my mommy bought a pack of super cute ornaments. But no topper was included in the box!

So...I colored and cut this star and added some ribbon.

Our tree may look massive from this perspective, but it's really a disputable 6 footer

And more handmade decorations! These oragami cranes were created and strung by the lovely Adriane (http://arianecarol.blogspot.com)

TADA! Our cozy tree and crane garland!

P.S.- I'm so glad Adriane and I both have a thing about Christmas trees being in corners

Oh, and sorry about the lame formatting of this blog postie. Hope you are having a very merry Christmas season!

Post-Post Script: For ten pretty good (there are really like 14, but only 10 are worth keeping) free Christmas songs to download, go to target.com /christmas

Sabbath

sorry about my hiatus from blogging the last few months.

that was super lame of me.

so, sorry 'bout that.

i've been regularly reading your bolgs still, so that's cool, right?

great- we've reconciled :)

moving on...

this is a post i started writing...uhhhh...a month or so ago :(

i wrote it after my second sabbath this school year, about my amazing time i had as God reminded me that He loves me for me, not for what i do.

on my sabbath, i painted with my roommate, sbpj.

sbpj and i kinda just became friends this year while living together so it was cool to get some one-on-one time with her. the following is a terrible photo off my phone of my not so terrible, not so great painting:

the text reads: "the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the shadow death a light has dawned"

"Matthew 4:16"

Unfortunately I did a not so fun thing on my Sabbath; I spent over half an hour researching how to disinfect wild bird feathers. My fake grandma had a peacock stay in her back yard for a few months and she gave me some feathers for craft things. I do not want to catch bird flu from my hair accessories! So I tried steam cleaning the feathers with a pan of boiling water. Being as paranoid as I am, I ended up submerging the feathers in the boiling water too (a big NoNo according to my online sources,) but whatever.

Also on my Sabbath, I crafted these hair thingies:

Sorry for the sideways photo- I am too lazy. At least I wrote a new post, huh?

what to do...

My heart is breaking and I've been on the verge of tears all day today.
Sorry to be a downer, but I have to let you all know.
...at least this isn't over a boy.

It's a broken heart over freshmen, and over my small group.
Last week Jono and I reached out to McConnell with free cupcakes, cookies, frisbees and info about InterVarsity and our Bible study. We met some cool kids, and one girl was seriously excited to hear about our small group!
Last week was also the first large group for IV this year, and eight upperclassmen signed up for the Bible study I'm getting to co-lead this semester. I personally know seven, and they are each incredible; three are girls from my small group last year.
Tonight was the second large group, and one upperclassman signed up.

...no freshmen have actually signed up for our small group.

God rekindled my love for freshmen last semester.
And in the last week I realized how mixed class small groups can provide an incredible and unique communtiy for each member.

I'm still excited for my small group, I just feel with all my heart that God is going to do wonderful things in and through it this year that will change lives.
And I can't believe the amazing group of upperclassmen God is filling the small group up with.

BUT
I'm longing for freshmen to come into the group who may come to know and fall in love with Jesus this year.
...who may grow as missional/active Christians.
...who may become leaders in the global church.
...who may find a community to be a part of for the rest of their college careers.

The more I reflect on it, I somehow get the feeling this is intercessing...?hmmm.
or maybe this is a time of "sticking in the mud" for me?

God loves Las Vegas

During my first trip to Las Vegas, Nevada I learned a few things:
- how to walk with my chin up (literally, since glancing at the ground meant views of naked women on fliers)
- Michael Buble is a fantastic performer
- Naturally Seven is a cool band
- (most importantly) People are people loved by God no matter what the world labels them.
a list actually formed in my head in the style of 'Horton Hears a Who'
A person's a person...
no matter how poor,
no matter how wealthy,
no matter how dumb,
no matter how smart,
no matter how crazy,
no matter how sane,
no matter how rude,
no matter how polite.
And no matter how broken; ALL people are broken.