Sunday, May 30, 2010

two birds, one post.

ok, this is going to be a multi-functional post.

first i have to say that my beautiful friend kristina is sitting at home, sick, very pregnant, and alone on her birthday, so i just want to give her a little blog love :) Have you ever had a friend who right after you meet her, you feel like you have known her forever? that is how i feel with kristina. it seems strange to me that i have not been friends with her as long as some of my other friends because we just connected so quickly. we relate so easily with each other and we experience so many of the same things. I can't count the number of times i have gone to kristina when i was struggling with something and she had gone through or was currently going through the same thing. and i am so glad that the Lord gives her such great insights because He gives them to me through her. Thank you stine for being faithful to God, and thank you for loving me! Kristina is also a talented photographer. Check it out!

secondly just a few life notes and confessions

-i haven't been on my computer in three days. i kind of like not being on it, but then it is tough when i come back (so much to catch up on!)

-today i ate a candy bar. and really regretted it afterward.

-i have been thinking about the Israelites (i am almost through Exodus in my Chronological Bible) and how they had access to the presence of God but got so distracted by other gods and other things. and i thought, if they can be led through the sea and see the glory of God and still fall away from Him, then i don't feel as bad about my own distractions, but it also means that i have to work that much harder in my pursuit of holiness. Today after i got home from church i moved the tv out of my room. it has been such a distraction to me ever since i moved back home. and now it is gone, and may i say that my room feels so much more peaceful and looks more spacious.

-tomorrow i am working both of my jobs back to back. that means that i will start work at 7am and finish around 6:30 pm. happy memorial day to me. i just got to keep thinking about that paycheck and what that means. (SCHOOL!!!!!!)

-i have some other things on my mind, but they will have to wait for another day because i need to go to bed early and i have a lot of blog reading to catch up on!!

Monday, May 24, 2010

milestones

this was a weekend of memories and milestones.

My baby sister, caitlin, graduated from high school! i just can't believe it. she was always that little girl tagging along behind all of us. now she is practically a grownup.


she is one of my most favorite people in the whole world and i am so glad that we got to celebrate her this weekend. Friday we had a party for all of her friends to come over, saturday was graduation and we had a luncheon with our family, then some party hopping. sunday we drove to Alabama to celebrate caitlin and our cousin ellen who is also graduating. it was so fun to spend time with our crazy extended family. we always have so much fun goofing off together. i tease my uncles that their maturity level drops 10 points when they get together.

i was pretty proud of my sun skills because we were out by the pool all day and i only got burned in a couple little places, AND for the first time in forever, i didn't feel totally self-conscientious in my bathing suit.

now it is back to work. i worked today, and i then i work wednesday through saturday. i won't know if i work on sunday until wednesday. but basically, i am working a lot.

Here is my favorite karenism from this weekend:
when she found out that my brother's friend was applying to MCG (Medical College of Georgia) she asked if that is what they put into chinese food. (that would be MSG)

Monday, May 17, 2010

crazy dream

i woke up at 4:45 this morning with this dream lingering in my head. i thought it was strange and i was wide awake, so i decided to type it out. This is what i wrote, unedited:

i had a dream about a man of reasonable stature, blonde hair in a bowl cut, and round glasses.

when he was young, he received a gift that changed the course of his short life. a rubix cube. The first time he solved it, it took him 2 hours. as he got better and better, he decided to enter a contest. when he entered, he felt sure that he could win, not because he could solve the cube quickly, but because he was the only entry. that is, until the phone rang.

a man named Dr. Erik Johnson was on the line and he had his rubix cube and a timer ready to challenge anyone who was willing. Our friend was willing. he lost. Erik was kind and gracious to him, but this incident spurred him on to pursue excellence in everything that he did, even the rubix cube.

He continued to practice the puzzle, all the while he was excelling academically. He graduated early and went on to attended medical school, inspired to pursue neuroscience and brain surgery by his friend and challenger Dr. Erik Johnson. During this time, they had developed a correspondence and friendly rivalry, and finally one year, with his yellow timer ticking the moments by, he beat Dr. Johnson’s time on the cube. “done.” he said as witnesses watched on in amazement.

the year he graduated from medical school was the same year they noticed the spot in his brain. all his work and studies had made him aware of just what his prognosis was, and he refused treatment.

the day he died, Dr. Johnson was in surgery. Upon completion he received a one word message from his friend. “done.”

The last week of his life he had made a journal entry for each day. a drawing of a different organ, each one in a different color. just like his cube.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

sometimes boring is good

This week has been a really good week. (besides all the working, but working DOES mean paychecks- my favorite!)

i got to spend some time with a couple of my favorite people- one of which just graduated from UGA and is interning at the Wesley Foundation next year (yay!) i think that i should mention that i told him that he would intern when he was a senior in high school and i was in my first year in the internship program. it seems strange to me that so much time has gone by between now and then. but, i am pumped that he is doing it because working at Wesley was probably the best experience of my life so far.

anyways, we went to dinner and he catered to two of my great loves; good conversation and Mexican food! So that was a fun night, and then the following night i hung out with my friend Andrew, which usually means dinner at Publix and a documentary. However, since we were hanging out on the night of The Office, we did not watch a documentary, but we stayed true to our normal routine and ate a Publix dinner.

Yesterday my family and i attended a senior brunch (or "unch" in my mom's case) for my baby sister who is graduating from high school. Strangely enough, it was not a buffet. i don't know why, but i always assume that a brunch is going to be a buffet. is that an abnormal assumption? but they did have the brunch standard quiche, with potatoes, a cheese biscuit, and a yummy croissant with some kind of chicken mixture inside.

i am getting used to working again, which basically means growing accustomed to being tired all the time. i only work four days this week, which will be nice because we have a busy weekend next weekend with my sister's graduation, family coming into town, parties, and i am planning on going to a fundraiser concert at my church featuring Mac Powell. That's right, how many of y'all have Mac Powell doing a fundraiser at your church?

sorry for this boringly detailed post of my life. i didn't realize i would be making a list of boring things when i sat down to write it. i am not feeling very deep these days, so this is what comes out of my head. any suggestions for writing topics? i think i need more direction.

Friday, May 14, 2010

treadmills, brunches, and pedicures

i was going to write a blog. but now i am too tired.

so i will just give you some advice.

when you are running on the treadmill and watching tv, choose your show wisely.

because watching extreme home make-over when they are fixing a house for a family that adopted 6 children from China, some with special needs and the father is in the hospital dying from cancer while you are running is not a good idea.

i am hoping that the people on the treadmills next to me thought the tears running down my face was sweat, and i tried to keep my choking to a minimum.


tomorrow morning at ten we are going to a brunch honoring the graduating seniors at church. my mom doesn't think that she can wait til ten to eat breakfast, so she decided that she will eat her normal breakfast and just go for the "unch" part and not the "br"

so most of us will be going to the brunch, but karen is going to unch.

i'll let you know how that goes.

PS i took my sister to get a pedicure today for her graduation present, and you know that i couldn't let her get a pedicure on her own, so i had to make a sacrifice and join her. But now i am officially on a spending hiatus because, well, lets just say i owe my parents a lot of money. Let the frugality begin! at least my toes look cute.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

irresponsibility.

if there is one quality in myself that i hate, it is irresponsibility.
i try so hard to be responsible in every part of my life, but it just doesn't always happen. this has happened unfortunately with my job at Michaels. Here i am, starting work with a bunch of people that i don't know and i am making a great impression as an irresponsible flake.

and i feel pretty sick about it.

at michaels, you have to ask off 15 days in advance, but i needed to request a couple days within that period from when i began working. i didn't realize that on my first day working that they would have the schedule prepared for the following week and they had scheduled me right in the middle of my friend's wedding, so i had to ask if i could leave early that day.

that was last saturday. last friday, i was supposed to be at work at 5:30, but i went with my parents to take my brother out to lunch for his birthday that day and got stuck in the middle of Atlanta traffic and was 30 minutes late for my shift.

i had to request off next saturday for my sister's high school graduation, then two more saturdays in june for more weddings.

after all of this, i was thinking that i really needed to get my act together and do everything that i can to be a good and responsible worker, someone that they are glad that they hired.

then yesterday, i had gotten off of work at the Pet Resort and was running errands with my mom when i got a call from my boss telling me that i was supposed to be in 45 minutes ago.

crap.

i felt so bad.

luckily, i made a mistake reading the schedule that many others have made before. i didn't realize that there was more than one page that i had to look at.

now i know.

hopefully i won't be making that mistake again.

and hopefully i won't get fired.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

my mom

First, let me say that i just saw a commercial for a device that cracks eggs for you. seriously? if you can't crack an egg, maybe you shouldn't be cooking.

Second, i just wanted to take a little time this mother's day to write a short tribute to my favorite mom.

my mom is known throughout all of Northside Hospital (where she is an RN) and among west cobb for her incredible baking skills.

anything you ask my mom for that is within her power, she will do for you.

she is passionate about her kids and her pets.

and she has taught me so much about how to love and give and serve.

but she is also stinkin hilarious.

just a few examples:

on friday we went to go visit my brother and she noticed that his dog was really skinny. She exclaimed "your dog is emancipated!"

i was riding with my parents somewhere and my dad saw a sign for kickboxing classes and he suggested that my mom enroll. Her response was "who would want to take a class where you sit around and kick boxes?"

you can't make this kind of stuff up folks. these are genuine karen quotes.

one of my favorite karenisms happened when she tried to use my phone which was set to predictive text to send a text message to my sister. She was attempting to type "sucks for you" but could not figure out how to use the T9. The result was unintelligible, but she sent it to my sister anyway. The resulting text was "sprsstaba" so, now, whenever something bad happens to someone, our response is "sprsstaba!"

one of my mom's favorite activities is to say outrageous things to see what kind of a reaction she can get out of people. Once she was pulling into a parking space next to the designated handicapped spot. And she says "i don't like to park next to handicapped spots because i don't want them to get out and scratch my car with their wheel chair" then she turns and looks at me with this grin, like she is waiting to see how i will respond to what she just said.

i try not to encourage this behavior.

i have tons more gems like that, but i don't want to overwhelm you.

basically, i am a lucky girl with an amazing mom.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

a busy weekend

well, my life of leisure has officially come to an end.

today is day five of ten consecutive work days. and i am exhausted.

but then again, it has been a full weekend. i wish that i could take the time and make a posts for each event, but you are just going to have to bear with my tiredness and lack of time and read a condensed version.

yesterday was my most FAVORITE brother's birthday. so to honor said occasion, my parents drove down to milledgeville where he goes to school. never one to turn down a free lunch and a chance to see my brother, i went along for the ride. besides being tired, car sick, and late for work, it was a good day.

today also was a really long and good day. this afternoon my friend and running partner, Rebecca got married! so this morning i woke up early, took a shower, did my hair, put on make-up, and got everything ready to go for the wedding since i would have to leave straight from work. Then my sister and i rode to purchase a present and card for the couple, i dropped her off at work, and i went to work. i got off a little after 3:30, ran to pick up my sister (whom Rebecca had as a camper when she worked at camp horizon), i changed in the garage, and we rode to downtown marietta for the ceremony. when we arrived at the church, we had to park down the street and we were already almost 30 minutes late. then, we couldn't figure out which door to go in, so i just went into the first door i found that was open. we walked into the church, but we didn't see anyone. we walked toward where i thought the sanctuary was and i saw a door that said "quiet please service in progress" so i thought, "this must be it" i went forward to open the door and i cracked it just a little bit. when i peeked in, i saw the back of the bridesmaids. that's right, it was the FRONT of the sanctuary! i quickly shut the door. i didn't know what to do. i saw some stairs and i thought that there might be a balcony over the top so we climbed the stairs, and alaina said "you have got to be kidding me" i saw another set of doors, started to pull on them and heard a LOUD creaking sound. nix that idea. so we went back down and wandered around a bit more. i could see along the side of the sanctuary and see that there weren't any doors, so i thought that we would be sitting outside until the ceremony was over. in one last attempt to make it inside, we walked around outside and i was relieved to see doors in the back of the sanctuary! yay! so we went up to the balcony and saw the last few minutes of the ceremony.

THEN to make the day even better i got COMPLETELY lost driving from the ceremony to the reception. yes, i got lost driving from marietta to kennesaw. my hometown. i am not proud of that fact, but it is, still a fact. i attribute it to being tired and misreading the directions, but feel free to judge me.

finally we made it and had a great time, hanging out with old friends, eating yummy food, and dancing the night away! and i think alaina had a good time too. she was asking me which guys were single, since she made it clear that she was NOT my date. i guess i will have to look elsewhere.

tomorrow, it is the early service and back to work for me. hopefully i will have the strength to workout afterward because i was only able to exercise three times this week.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

confessions

1. last saturday i watched an entire season of america's next top model sans one episode. that's right. a whole season. in one day. of america's next top model. now, i did miss one episode to go to the gym, but i also must confess that i flipped through the channels on the tv to see if i could find it. (i didn't)

2. i have COMPLETELY spoiled my dog.
evidence:


this is jude sleeping with my teddy bear. on my bed.
i took this with my webcam, so that is why the quality is low.

3. i can tell how my body is not used to working. i just finished working three days in a row and i am exhausted! i think that it is the getting up at 6am part that is getting to me. last night i fell asleep at 7:30 for an hour then went to bed again at 10:30. it is going to take me a while to get back in the swing of this

4. someone brought doughnut holes into work this morning. need i say more?

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

the willies

you know that thing that creeps you out? The thing that invades your nightmares? The thing that people tell stories about and you shudder inwardly?

well, i met my thing for the first time this morning. it was more horrific than i imagined.

i was in the bathroom getting ready for work at around 6:20 this morning when all of a sudden i felt a sharp pain in the middle toe of my right foot. My first thought was that i stepped on a tack or something sharp. i looked down at my toe, but didn't see anything. then i started to look around to see if there was anything on the floor that could have caused the pain that was slowly increasing.

then i saw it.

the creepiest creature God ever created.

and i was late for work.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

just a few things.

i am not one who develops crushes on people i do not know. in fact, i am not one who often develops crushes in general. but i have to say, ever since the winter olympics i have a huge crush on Evan Lysacek. He is classy, disciplined, handsome, and quirky. and HELLO have you seen him on Dancing with the Stars? But really, i just like how he handles himself and pressure and does everything with class. and he is seriously cute. forgive me for being shallow, but that's just the way it is. doesn't everyone deserve to be a little shallow sometimes?

earlier today i was sitting on the couch with my mom and i was giving her a hard time about something and she flicked me off! i started to get up, acting offended and she leaned over to grab me and as she did, she got her earring caught in the blanket on the couch. i had a good laugh.

today was my first day back at the Pet Resort. it wasn't bad, i am getting paid well, and i got a tip for the bath that i gave. yay! and i think i only got 3 bruises today.

now i am up too late because i have to get up super early again tomorrow. I went from not working at all to working 6 days this week. crazy.

i think this is the most random post ever. i am paving new ground here.

Monday, May 3, 2010

life.

Yesterday was my second day at Michaels, and you know, i didn't hate it. It actually might be a fun job. The girls that i worked with were pretty fun and i actually feel like i got to know the store a little more.

other than working yesterday, i have been a bum. (But more on that in my next confessions post- boy do i have a doosy for you!)

But here are some productive things that i HAVE done lately:

i have been reading my chronological Bible that my friend Mary gave to me last year. i am almost done with Genesis. which i love. one of my favorite things about the Bible is how everything ties together and circles back around. For example, in Genesis we see the birth of people groups who continue to play a role in the lives of the Israelites for thousands of years. Like Lot's (Abraham's nephew) descendants become Moab and Ammon. Esau's (Jacob's brother) descendants become Edom. We also see in Genesis the creation of Babylon, a city that comes up again throughout the Bible all the way to Revelation. It is all really interesting stuff and the chronological Bible does all the time line work for me (although i like to do it myself anyways because it helps me learn). ok, enough nerdy stuff.

i am still running when my knees allow me and the other day i ran a 5k (on the treadmill) in record time. That is, to clarify, record time FOR ME. i seriously doubt it would be record time for normal people because, as i believe i have mentioned previously; i am a SLOW runner. but i am ok with that.

i am still working on that Bethany Dillon song. i have got it down pretty well except for this one chord change where i have to go from the second fret to like the eighth fret really quickly. it is hard. and so there is like this awkward pause in the song while i reset my fingers.
today i started working on a new song because i have discovered that if i am not learning new songs, i really don't practice my guitar that much. The song that i am working on now is one that we sing at church a lot and i. just. love. it.

have a listen, and be blessed.
 

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