It's Christmastime, Charlie Brown!

I love Christmastime. It's a beautiful time physically- all the decorations and lights, I just love it! But it's also a beautiful time spiritually, as we celebrate our savior's birth.

I've been having a wonderful time this season hanging out with friends and family. December 5 was the holiday party for our singles group at Church. We had a blast. Phil was a kind and gracious host in opening his home to us. I arrived a few hours early to help Phil, Kayte, and Jason prep a lot of the food. Jenn Payton arrived a little later to help as well. All went well, with the exception that we accidently clogged Phil's sink. And he has a garbage disposal, which makes things more difficult, so in trying to use a plunger to unclog the drain, we backed up all the water into the dishwasher, which then started leaking all over the floor...... poor Phil! Luckily this happened before the party, so we could adequately clean everything up and put a nice "DO NOT USE" sign on the sink so no further problems were caused. We had a great turnout, and it was a fabulous time of food, fun, and fellowship. My favorite part of the night was when Dave started playing the guitar and we made up our own song... Dave started and then had everyone else "sing" what their worst Christmas present was. It was hilarious. :) We did sing some real Christmas carols as well though.

Earlier that morning was also an important event for me as well- after taking the 10 week membership course at Church, I met with Brian (one of the pastors) and officially became a member of the Church! :) I was very excited, and it was nice how everyone was excited for me. :)

This weekend, I had a lovely day with my mom and Britt as we went Christmas shopping... I'm happy to say that I finished my shopping! We also went out to On the Border for lunch, to celebrate my mom's birthday. Later that evening, we made Christmas cookies (Snickers Surprise and Heath Crunch cookies, yummy!!) and I also finished wrapping all my presents. Because there was an small ice storm on Sunday, I ended up staying at home instead of heading back to Philly like I'd planned, and it was so nice. My dad made us homemade pizza, and we watched Christmas movies and just had a great time. It was a wonderful weekend.

This weekend should be fabulous too, because Becky will be home!!! She's currently on her way here now, she should arrive in Dulles around 6:30 am tomorrow morning. I'm so excited to see her! Even though I saw her a little more than a month ago, I'm still anxious to see her again. So I took a half day on Friday (yay!) to have a little more time with her. Saturday night, we're going to the singles Christmas party at Church, so she'll get to meet all my friends there. I can't wait!

So that's a little bit of what I've been up to lately.... I hope to write more, but I have been incredibly busy with work (I won't get much time off for Christmas, which is a real bummer) and with all the other Christmas events going on, I don't know if I'll have much time to update during December. So if I'm not on again for a bit, Merry Christmas Everyone! :)

Sabrina Ann

I love Sabrina Ann.

No, Sabrina Ann is not a person, Sabrina Ann is in fact a store. A store which is my guilty pleasure. Every morning, coming home from the gym, I face the store before turning onto Ardmore Ave, and as my headlights illuminate the store window, I gaze at the display with what I would imagine could only be described as naked longing in my eyes.

I have to be content to just gazing at the dresses on display from afar for now, because Sabrina Ann is a wedding dress shop. And not just any wedding dress shop- a consignment store! It's a once worn-never worn store, a lot of what they have are actually floor model dresses from other stores. And really, what can be better than thousands of beautiful wedding dresses on display? CHEAP wedding dresses on display! I don't know who is the window dresser for Sabrina Ann, but whomever they are, they should be paid well, because they do a fabulous job. Hence my staring obsession with the window every morning. :P Some of the dresses are just so beautiful.

I'm not even close to being married- I'm single with no prospects in sight, but I really don't fantasize about a wedding day very much. Really, I kind of hate weddings anymore, because I think that the value and meaning has been sucked out of what a wedding should be. Not everyone does this of course, but the world in general has perverted what a wedding is. Really, while the wedding day is a special day of course, it marks the first day of two people's lives joining together to walk as one, and people are there to celebrate that, it's just. ONE. DAY. ONE DAY. That's it. The wedding doesn't matter, it's your life together that matters. The MARRIAGE is what matters. And the world has forgotten this. Now, weddings are just one more excuse to spend tons of money on useless, frivolous things, get drunk, dress up, and one-up other people (men don't do that so much as women. Do you know how many women I've heard gossiping about different weddings, with this being better than that, and she was too cheap on this, and that should have been done differently, blah blah blah... it's disgusting.) It saddens me. It saddens me to go to lavish weddings only to find out that a couple of years later, the couple is divorcing. (Not that people who have cheap weddings last any longer.... after all, vegas weddings are cheap and most of them never last.) I'm not trying to begrudge people a beautiful wedding, or a "special day," I just want people to remember that while it is a special day, they need to remember that it's not the main point. If I ever get married, I want to remember throughout the whole day that in the grand scheme of things that is my life, this is just another day. I pray that all people would work as hard on their marriage and their lives together as they do on making their wedding day "perfect." The world would be a much better place if we did.

Back to my original point... should the day ever come (and I do hope and pray that it does one day come) that I get married, I hope to be able to finally step into Sabrina Ann and try on some of the beautiful dresses that grace the store, and yes, find one that makes me feel like a princess. :) I'm not against everything about weddings!


But don't get me started on engagement rings. :P

Thanksgiving, kitties, and runaway carts

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I had a very busy week leading up to Thanksgiving.... I had so much to get done at work. Thankfully, I got everything done, so late Wednesday evening I headed up to my parents house. Thanksgiving day, we had a lovely time with my maternal grandparents and my mom's brother and his family. We had a lot of laughs and of course, a lot of good food.... I think I ate almost half of an entire pumpkin pie all by myself. :P (It was a smaller, 8 inch pie though, so I don't feel like such a pig).

Friday, I had breakfast with one of my best friends, Katie!! She's been getting her phD in Analytical Chemistry down in South Carolina and I haven't seen her since last Christmas, so it was so nice to get to see her and catch up a bit. We went to the APD, such memories of high school :)

Later in the day, my Dad and Britt and I decorated the house for Christmas, and it looks so pretty! I love the way the house looks at Christmastime. Then once my mom got home and we had dinner, we all watched A Christmas Carol (with Patrick Stewart). Oh! I almost forgot- Friday I found a kitten! I opened up the door in the morning to call our cat Kit inside and saw a tiny calico crying piteously under my mom's car. I went out and coaxed it out, and it wanted some loving cause it practically jumped in my arms. It was SKINNY. So malnurished, poor thing, so we brought her in and gave her some food. She's been on our back porch for now but I think we've convinced my dad to let us keep her. :) She's cute, white with black and brown striping, and very loving. She follows us around everywhere.... if we keep her, we're calling her Piper.

Today, I headed back down to Philly for Tabitha and Jamie's wedding. I was setting up and running the mini-reception (for people were were coming to the wedding but not the main reception). I had a little trouble with the setup at first....when I took a cart out to my car to get all the supplies, the wind was blowing stuff off my cart left and right, so I had to chase things across the parking lot, and then, when I turned around, there's the cart, flying full speed down the parking lot! I screamed and thankfully had enough time to run over and throw myself in front of it to stop it.... just in time to look to my right and see Will sitting in his car with a stupefied look on his face like "what the heck just happened?" Well, I wasn't the only goofball that day, chasing a runaway cart, because Will was actually there not for the wedding, but because he honestly thought it was Sunday and he was there for Church! Wow. :) Between the two of us... :P Anyway, it worked out for me because then Will helped me bring everything into the Church. A few minutes later my helpers Phil, Jason, and Mike showed up to help me set everything up. They were so awesome, I'm so glad I had their help! And everything went so well, praise God! I was a little worried. But the decorations were really pretty, everything went really smoothly... we did have a lot of leftovers, but that worked out too because we're having a big holiday party at Phil's house on Saturday, so I sent a lot of the stuff home with him. The extra food will go to his party Saturday, my workplace on Monday, and my membership class at Church tomorrow.

So now, I'm finally home and can relax a bit...hope everyone had as fun this weekend as I did! :)

NaNoWriMo

So sometimes I hit the "next blog" button at the top of the page and scan other people's blogs. Most don't interest me, however, the first blog that appeared tonight was fascinating. It was titled "Life according to k" and I wish I knew this girl! Her posts were so interesting and she seems like so much fun. I think we could be very good friends, if we met in person.

The second blog I ran into was called "William's Ramblings" and was not interesting to me but for one post halfway down the page. It was titled NaNoWriMo and it immediately caught my eye, because the same thing was mentioned quite frequently in the Life according to K blog.

What is NaNoWriMo, you ask? (Don't worry, I didn't know either!) It stands for National Novel Writing Month (which apparently happens to be the month of November.... check it out here http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/whatisnano). It's just for fun, a contest that encourages people to write a 50,000 word (about 175 page) novel in one month! That's a pretty daunting task. K of Life according to K has taken up this challenge, while William of William's Ramblings, who is apparently an actual published writer, has not. I so wish I had known about this before now! It sounds so interesting. Of course, it's probably better that I'm not doing it this month, seeing as up to this point I've only been on vacation, sick, or working overtime, so I wouldn't have the time for it.... but I'm putting it on my calendar for next year! I have a year then to think of a topic to write about....

I think the easiest way to write a 50,000 word novel is to write a story about my life. Although I would definitely have to embellish things and just outright make stuff up to actually make it an interesting read..... hmm. This could be interesting! :) Luckily, the purpose of NaNoWriMo is that it's all about quantity, not quality.... so even if what you write is a bunch of crap, it doesn't matter! You can still pat yourself on the back for writing a 175 page novel.

I am SO doing this next year! :)

Stupid sinus infection

Boo to sinus infections. :(

This one is really bad, too. It must have happened when I was in Bahrain, and flying home made things that much worse. It's only on my left side, thank God, because if I had this insane pressure and achy-ness in both ears, I think I'd throw myself out a window. Thankfully the pressure isn't constant, it comes and goes, so that's something, and I went to the doctor today and was given antiobiotics, so I hope it clears up soon. This morning when I woke up the pressure in my left ear was horrific. I could barely get ready for the day. Thankfully, after taking a short nap before my doc appt, the pressure had cleared and stayed away for the rest of the day, but it's come back with a vengenance right now. :( I'm praying it goes away soon!

On an upside, I just found out that the random 167.00 deposit in my checking account from Lankenau was NOT a mistake, it was a little bonus to all the employees for doing something good. I don't really know what, to be honest, I had deleted the email that had explained this bonus without even reading it and then was left wondering about this money in my account for the past 4 days. I finally found out when the girls started talking about it at lunch. Which is nice, because I can always use some extra cash, and I wasn't too keen on giving it up if it had been a mistake. So yay for me! :)

Ok. My ear is seriously hurting... I'm going to go lay down and hope it clears like it did this morning. Here's hoping! *crosses fingers* :)

Long overdue update

So, I know it's been almost 2 months since I last updated the blog.... I've been so busy lately and just feeling lazy. And I did actually try to update a month ago- I wrote a big post and then my computer went crazy and I lost the post. It was all I could do to not throw my computer out the window at the time, so re-writing the post was definitely not an option. :P

Since September, here are some things that have happened in my life, just some highlights.

1) I have a new car. Noah didn't actually die, he's still at my parents house, and despite the fact that he's just an old car, he was MY old car and I miss him terribly. I know I sound like a huge weirdo for being so attached to my car, but too bad. I'm now leasing my sister's car, a black Nissan Sentra. My dad repainted it with sweet pink and gray striping on it's side (it used to be red and gray) and I like that a lot better. This car has been dubbed Sweets. For two reasons- one, beck named him Lance, a name I didn't really like. However, on one of my fav TV shows, Bones, one of my favorite characters is called Dr. Lance Sweets. (Everyone calls him Sweets). So it's perfect, my car's name is Lance Sweets. Plus he has a sweet candy pink stripe. :) I love Sweets, but miss my Noah a lot.

2) I've gotten crazy busy at work. My only co-worker lauren went on maternity leave on October 12, so I've been nuts taking over her work as well as carrying my own. I'm managing, thank God I'm a very organized person who's extremely good at multi-tasking, or else I'd be dead by now. My boss has been great though so that's good.

3) I'm getting really involved with my Church- I'm in two community groups, and I'm taking the 10 week Explore class (it's for people who are thinking about becoming members of the Church) plus I'm taking the 10 month Grow class- a class that's designed to help people grow in their faith. I've been loving it. It's been such a blessing to learn and grow with my fellow community group members. Not to mention we have tons of social events- the last weekend of October was the singles retreat (AWESOME experience!!! I had a great time!) this Friday is a game night at Leah and Jackie's house, there's a holiday party the first Sat of December at Phil's, and there's a singles Christmas party December 19. Oh and this coming Sunday is a cookie baking day with my Monday night CG- we're baking cookies for Jamie and Tabitha's mini wedding reception (being held for guests who come to the wedding but weren't invited to the main reception). I'm actually in charge of the mini-reception, I hope it goes well. Yesterday my mom and I were out getting a lot of the decorations and supplies. I had such a good time shopping with my mom!

4) November 4-9 I went to Bahrain to visit Becky!!! Unfortunately due to the travel time, I only had 3 days with her- it went way too fast. I would have loved to have stayed longer, but I was lucky enough to get these couple days off at work (see number 2 above) so I took what I could get. Becky was so wonderful, she bought the ticket for me, since I'm just a poor overworked researcher that no one cares about (no one cares about the research I mean, people care about me. At least I think they do! :P) so that was really nice. I flew British Air, which was awesome. I highly recommend it. The flights went so smoothly. Becky flew me over specifically so I could go to the marine ball with her... it was so much fun! I loved it. I'd put up pics but I'm feeling pretty lazy, plus I have a lot up on facebook so everyone can check them out there. :) I felt like a princess though. It was a nice feeling. :)

So, that's some of the biggest stuff that's happened to me for a while. There should be plenty to update now with the holidays approaching, and it appears I'm over my lazy slump, so stay tuned. I'll try to be better at updating!

It's been a while

I love reading blogs, and I feel bad that I neglected mine for so long, but I just didn't have the heart to write for a while. I was really in a funk. Maybe it was the changing weather, maybe it was turning 26, maybe it was the stress of my rapidly increasing workload at work, maybe it was being so uncertain about my future... maybe it was a combination of these things. I really don't know. But I do have time tonight, as well as some ambition, so I figured I should update this blog before yet another month passes!



A lot has happened in the month or so since I've written. First off, I sadly am not driving Noah anymore. :( After much discussion with my Dad, we decided the wisest thing to do on all counts is for me to essentially lease Becky's car from her. I don't have the money to outright buy it from her, and it's not fair to her or Britt for me to take it for free, so I'm paying her a small amount each month. It works in both our favors because I have a more reliable car to drive, and she gets some money for the car she can't use while overseas that would have just gone to waste sitting here for two years un-driven. So now I'm driving Sweets, a black with pink stripe (paint job compliments of my Dad :) '04 Nissan Sentra. I miss Noah, but I have to say, the CD player and fast heat is super nice. I'll also LOVE the AC in the summertime.



As far as Church, a lot has happened. I started Explore, the 10 week membership class for Covenant, and I also started GROW, a 10 month course to help people deepen their faith and grow more spiritually. I really like both so far, and have learned a LOT about Christian doctrine. In the space of only 4 weeks, I have grown more than I have in years.... I'm so excited for the rest of the time to come!



Two weeks ago, I went apple picking at Linvilla Orchards with my Newtown Square community group. It was crazy!! I don't know if it was a special day, or if it's normally like that, but it felt like being at a county fair, not an orchard/farmers market. We had fun though, and last Friday, I made homemade applesauce with my mom. :) It was a sweet time that I really enjoyed. I so love spending time with my family. I love and appreciate them so much and never want to take them for granted.



This past Tuesday we had a potluck for my Media community group. It was a great time of food and fellowship. I tried out a new recipe that I got from my mom and dad's weight watchers cookbook- orange chicken couscous. It was soooo delicous and so easy to make! Right up my alley as far as cooking goes. :) I got a lot of compliments on it. Besides for that though, there was some pot roast, chili, cornbread, and here is where I got cut off when my computer died!!!! I was so mad and I didn't realize it had saved! So here Katie, is proof that I did have an update in October, but after I (thought) I lost this, in my frustration, I didn't write again till mid November. Whoops!

Rough Sunday, rough week, Fabulous Saturday

This week didn't seem to go so well.

It all started on Sunday, when I was coming back to Ardmore after spending the weekend at my parents for my birthday. My car acted up again- I noticed it on the turnpike, but thank God, I managed to get to a Villanova parking lot before it completely stopped. I was upset because the car was doing the same thing that happened not even three weeks earlier- and I had supposedly gotten everything fixed. So I got my car towed to the same place, just to find out on Monday that the car was apparently acting fine- they couldn't find the problem because they couldn't get the car to "act up again." What? What? The car totally stopped dead at a red light on Rt 30- there is most definitely a problem here. So what happened? Did they not find a problem three weeks ago and just told me it was a vaccum hose when it really wasn't? Why did the car seem fine until 3 weeks later? Did they really find the problem this time or just told me some lie to appease me? The car seems to be ok for now, but I feel like I'm on borrowed time here- the car was fine for almost three weeks after the first incident, so what's to say that in another 2-3 weeks it won't happen again? It's frustrating and worrisome, to say the least.

That started the week off on a bad note for me, and just went downhill from there. I felt very blah this week, totally down and out, not myself. I took a week off from the gym, because I completely lacked motivation to go. I skipped community group on Monday (even though my car was still in the shop, I knew I could have called somebody to take me, but I just didn't feel like going) and I had to literally drag myself out of bed to go to work each morning. Plus, each day seemed like a year.... the time dragged on and on and on.

However, after taking time to just relax last night, I felt very much more myself. Mentally, I hated skipping the gym this week, especially because I wasn't being very nutritionally sound this week either. But physically, I think I really needed the break. I excercised again this morning and felt much better about it. Tomorrow I'm going to put together new workouts- I think I was getting bored with them, which probably accounted for a lot of my unmotivation. Plus, I mapped out some more fitness goals, which always helps!

I slept in this morning which was so lovely. I leisurely checked my email, excercised, ate breakfast, showered and got ready for the day, and then called my mom and made a date for a girls day with her! Yay! And it was just what I needed. She got to my apartment a little after noon, and we made sauteed veggies in tomato basil sauce (one of our new favorite recipes) for lunch. I really needed to go grocery shopping (another thing I neglected to do this week in my un-motivated, lazy state) so we went to Whole Foods and picked up a few things. Then we headed to the KOP mall for some shopping! We hit up NY&Co, one of our favorite stores. They didn't have a great selection today (it can be hit or miss for us) but mom tried on a pair of dress pants that looked AWESOME on her, which also showed off that she's been losing weight, which made her super happy. (Both she and my dad have been on Weight Watchers for about 5-6 weeks or so, and they're both doing so great, I'm so proud of them!) Then we went to Charlotte Russe, one of my favorite stores. We both bought these beautiful accessory scarves, and I also picked up three new shirts, and an AWESOME pair of earrings- big dangly ones that look like the eye on a peacock's feathers. Not so coincidently, they look awesome with every shirt I bought today, plus the one I was already wearing. Nice! :)

We stopped in a few more stores to browse a bit, and then went to Blue Pacific, this awesome sushi/chinese bistro in the mall. It feels like you're underwater, because it has soft blue lighting, lots of fishtanks in the walls, and sea decorations all over. They have such great food, I highly recommend it. Normally I get their sushi, but I tried the chinese today and got pad thai. Mom got a delicious seafood noodle dish that was the special. Yummy! Afterward we treated ourselves to dessert and had some frozen yogurt at TCBY.

Later, we went back to my apartment and watched some Bones episodes. Britt got us watching the show, and it's great. Booth and Brennan, the two main characters, have such great chemistry. Actually, I love all the characters on the show. They're a riot. :)

The perfect day ended when Mom had to head back home. :( But before she left, we made guacamole from the two avacadoes I picked up at Whole Foods. It's the first time I made homemade guacamole and it was DELICIOUS! Thank you Whole Foods, for putting the "RIPE" stickers on the avacadoes.... because I really don't think I'd ever be able to tell a ripe avacado from an un-ripe one without that sticker. They were PERFECT for making guacamole. Plus they were on sale. Yay! Which makes up for the ridiculously expensive goat cheese I bought because I read the wrong sign. That's the one thing I hate about Whole Foods..... they sometimes don't have prices listed at all, and often times, if they do, they're not clearly labeled, or the sign is not posted where it should be, so you read the wrong label. That's happened to me twice now, where I spent way more than I ever would have on a food product because their signs stink. Other than that though I like Whole Foods a lot.

Anyway, after having a slow, not so great week, it surely ended with a fabulous day today. I'm so glad and grateful I have such a wonderful, loving family, and that I can spend so much time with them. I really treasured the day I had with my mom today. It was such a blessing.

On that note, I'm heading to bed cause I have to wake up for Church tomorrow, so I'm praying hard that my car gets me to and from Church without any problems! I appreciate any prayers sent in my direction as well! :)

26 years

Saturday was my 26th birthday. It felt like just another day.... it was just another day. But I felt a little sad as I looked back on my life so far... I don't feel like I've done much with it. I want something more.... I need something more fulfilling. Well, is it that, or do I just need to be more thankful? I am thankful and grateful for my life so far. I've been blessed in so many ways- a loving wonderful family, good friends, good health, an able working body, a place to live, a car to drive, a great education, jobs.... the list goes on. I have so much to be thankful for, and I am extremely thankful for these blessings. God has been so good to me. But I want to get the most out of life that I can. I want to have selfless love and be giving and kind, a true servant to others. I don't want to compare myself to others. I want to help those in need in whatever way I can. I want the light of Jesus Christ in my life to shine through me in everything I do... I want to be a good witness for him. I don't want to be ashamed of Christ, I want people to see him when they look at me, interact with me. I want to be God's hands and feet.

I hope and pray that my 26th year brings me closer to these goals of mine.

Fall is in the air!

Oh, fall is just around the corner, I can feel it.... the shorter days, the cooler nights, the leaves hinting at changing color, kids going back to school, apple cider ready at County Line Orchard...(best fruit ever there, yum!) I love fall. I can't wait till we're fully immersed in it. Bring it on! :)

Upcoming events and God's blessings

So after coming to CFC, my social life has greatly expanded! There are so many fun events coming up that I'm really excited for. And as a member of two community groups (Monday night Newtown Square and Tuesday night Media) I have even more opportunities for fun events! Monday night group is my "home group".... it was the one I first attended. I started going to the Tuesday Media group to get to know more people. It's funny, both groups compliment each other very well. Some days I get more fellowship from the Monday group and more leadership/wisdom/mentorship from the Tuesday group, and other times it's reversed. I love it and I love all the people in both groups! They've been so awesome. :)

Upcoming events that I'm so excited for are as follows: this Saturday, we're going to a conference out in Lancaster called 1 single Day.... it's for singles aged 20 and up, and it's held at the farm of Crossway Church of Lancaster. I've never been there, but lots of my friends from CFC highly recommend it. I'm going to head to Jason's house (the leader of my Monday community group) for breakfast, and then we're carpooling to Lancaster. On Monday, the community group is meeting at Phil's house for pizza, and then going bowling, sweet! :) I haven't been bowling in so long but I love it! I can't wait!

Labor Day weekend will be upon us, and my family is packing it full of fun, since it will be the last hoorah before my grandparents head back to Florida, so I'm really looking forward to that. The weekend after is my birthday (26- don't know how I feel about that :P) and then the next day is the big chicken bbq at CFC. And Sunday Sept 20 is a special zills (finger cymbals) class for bellydance that I'm really looking forward to... oh which reminds me, I bought a sword! Now I can practice bellydancing with a sword on my head, it's so awesome! :)

Anyway, these are some of the fun events coming up for me.... I'll try to remember to keep updating as I go!

Onto the God's blessings part of the blog.... as I said before, I've been really trying to deepen my relationship with God, by reading my Bible and doing my devotions and praying more.... and I feel the changes in me already. It's been awesome. :) But life isn't always rainbows and kittens, and bad things happen too.... and last night, as I was headed to Tuesday night community group, my car sort of broke down. I say sort of because it didn't completely die, it was just really sputtering and lurching... it happened as I was idling at a red light... right at Rt 1. Thankfully, I safely crossed over Rt 1 and pulled my car into a convenience store lot. Thank God for keeping me safe! Breaking down in the middle of Rt 1 would have been a disaster... I don't even want to think about it. After calling triple A for a tow, I found out my membership expired. But they could renew it over the phone, thank God for that! Then the tow guy arrived (and I didn't have to wait too long, either) and was SO nice. He stopped at a Wawa to let me pull out cash to pay him, and then drove me home to my house so I didn't have to walk the 1.5 miles back to my house from the shop we took my car to. Thank God for that! THEN my roommate actually had to work morning shift (9-4) at Borders today, so he could take me to work and pick me up... Thank God for that! And the best part? I got a call at 11:20 am from the shop, saying my car was fixed, it was just a broken vaccum line, and the total was only $100.65. Thank God for that! God was so good to me. When everything first happened, I was so tempted to cry and get angry over my situation, but right away I decided to look at the bright side and blessings of things (I was in a safe location, my car hadn't completely died, that sort of thing) instead of crying the blues about the bad stuff. I also tried to remember that I should just be thankful I have a car- in my devotions I've been doing lately, I've been exposed to how blessed I am, and how little others have. So many are starving, have no place to live, are sick or dying, are forced into slavery either in workhouses or sex trade rings... the list goes on and on. How can I cry about my situation when there are so many others who are suffering so much more? They would love to have a car, broken down or not. They would love to have a broken car be their worst problem! I was put in my place right away, which made it so much easier to see the blessings in the midst of my small troubles. And look- God was so kind to me. I only pray that I would be able to sing of God's blessings had my situation turned out differently and hadn't been so good- that's the mark of a true believer. I pray that I can keep growing, that God keeps refining me, so that when real troubles come, when I'm in the midst of really bad storms, that I can still sing praises during those times, that I can still say "It is well with my soul."

Thank God for Covenant Fellowship Church

So thankful for Covenant Fellowship Church.

Really, words can't describe how thankful I am that I was lead to CFC. The people there are so wonderful and uplifting.... they've challenged me to spiritually grow just by leading by example. They literally shine for Jesus. I looked at them and thought, "I'm a Christian, but I don't have a relationship with God like they do. And I want that. I want what THEY have!"

And the past few weeks have been amazing. I'm loving my deeping relationship with God, I'm loving the fellowship and leadership I've been experiencing at CFC, I'm loving all the fun things I'm involved in now, I'm loving being loved by all the people at CFC. It's ironic... I was always afraid of going to a big Church because I thought I'd be lost and forgotten and left out.... just a nameless face in the crowd, and that at a small Church, I'd be known, loved, accepted.... but it's been the reverse for me. Not always- Lansdale was a much smaller Church than CFC, about 300 total members, but I loved it there... I just didn't get to be a part of it like I wanted to because I was going home so often. But in terms of the Church I grew up in, yeah, with about 250 total members, it's a smaller Church.... and I never felt more isolated, left out, rejected and beaten down than I ever had before or since. And not just me- it happened to my whole family, and I'd seen it happen to others in the Church too. It breaks my heart to see a Church so segregated and in such disarray. Unity has been absent at Grace for a long, long time.

Anyway, that was a long time ago, and I'm just thankful that God has led me to CFC. He has definitely led me here, it's where I am supposed to be... I can trace God's hand leading me all the way from 8th grade... it's amazing! His hand was always upon me, he was always near, through good times and bad, through times when I was close to him and when I rebelled and stepped away from him, even when I was in situations where I couldn't see him and couldn't understand his ways.... looking back, things are so much clearer now. I don't know exactly why God has led me to CFC.... but I'm so thankful he did, and I'm so excited to find out! :)

Wildwood beach day, breakfast, and baby showers

I realized that I forgot to post about my beach day last Saturday. My mom and sister and I did end up going, and we had a great time! Lovely weather for it. My mom and sister came up on Friday night to spend the night, since my house is a lot closer to the beach than either of theirs. We woke at 5:15 am, got ready, had some warm cinnamon buns for breakfast (yum!) and headed out by 6 am. We didn't hit any traffic and made great time, getting to my Aunt's hotel by a little after 8 am. My aunt and cousins were only just getting up, so we didn't get out till the beach till about 9:30 or so. But we got a great spot, the weather was wonderful, the water warm, and we had a great time and stayed out on the beach till 5 pm. Well, I went up at 4 so I could get a head start on showering. Considering it was my Aunt, my mom, my four cousins, Britt and I, two significant others, one friend, and two little kids (13 total) we needed some extra time! :) But we were eventually all ready for dinner. We ended up going to Kelly's Pub, which was only a block or so away from the hotel. It had great food and PHENOMENAL live music. The guy was from Philly but I don't remember his name, darn it! Usually I hate live music cause it's too loud and not that great, but this guy was fabulous. For dinner I ended up getting a taco wrap (basically it was a soft shell taco almost) but it was soooo good. :)

After much persuasion, my mom finally let us leave by around 9 pm. I really wanted to go to Church the next day, so I didn't want to get home too late. Leaving around 9 would have gotten us home around 11, 11:30 at the latest.... or so I thought. Just crossing over the Walt Whitman bridge, we were STOPPED. The phillies game just let out, so there was TONS of traffic, and then to top it all off, thanks to stupid Philly's ridiculous construction (to which I saw nothing happening when we finally drove by!) 5-6 lanes of traffic had to merge into ONE LANE. I was SO not happy, especially since I was driving and everyone else was miserable too. We sat there for over an hour to go not even 2 miles. We finally got home a tiny bit before 1 am. We still may have made it to Church the next day, except that we awoke to a HUGE downpour, and I know the roads around here flash flood pretty easily, and my Church is about 45 min away, so we ended up missing Church and going to breakfast at IHOP instead. Which was delicious, but I hated missing Church, so when we came home, my mom and I (Britt wasn't really paying attention :P) had a Bible study for ourselves. Overall, it was a great weekend and ended up being way too short!

This weekend should be nice too. Tomorrow I'm heading to Media to have breakfast with my community group (aka Bible study) girls, which I'm really looking forward to. Then in the early afternoon I'm going to my friend/co-worker Lauren's baby shower! I had such fun picking out the present. :) Even though I know it's a girl, I ended up getting all yellow stuff. I didn't want her to be overwhelmed with pink, and the yellow was precious. I got a soft yellow fleece blanket with chicks on it (Phoebe will be born at the end of October, so a warm blanket will be nice!) plus I got an adorable hoodie bath towel that's yellow and white with little ducks all over it. I did get a little pink stuff though... I bought pink and white bootie socks for her. They're so tiny and cute! :) I hope Lauren likes them!

Anyway, that's what's on the agenda for tomorrow... if I remember I'll try to check in and write about how everything went!

beach day?

Ooh, just found out my mom and sister and I may do a day at the beach on Saturday! Our Aunt and cousins will be there this weekend so we may head down to Wildwood, NJ for the day. It's supposed to be nice weather and I'd love to get to the beach once more before summer ends... keeping my fingers crossed that this works out! :)

Lancaster Weekend

So Friday night I headed out to Lancaster.... thankfully the thunderstorm had passed and I had good weather while driving. Since Britt had to close at Friendly's, I stopped by to pick up her key and then hung out at her house reading the rest of Friday night. Saturday we both slept in, and then Britty helped me dye my hair... it was getting that weird copper look to it plus my dark roots were showing pretty badly, so I dyed it raspberry truffle. It's darker than I expected, but I like it, and I'm happy that my hair finally matches my eyebrows. Britt and I met Jess at the mall around 2 pm, and I was excited that I managed to refrain from buying everything in sight and just bought things I needed. Well, with the exception of yet another pair of polka dot airwalks from Payless.... but they were only 7 dollars and I wasn't about to pass that up! Especially cause airwalks are my favorite shoes to wear to work... fashionable yet very comfortable and very practical for wearing in a lab.

After shopping for a couple hours, we had dinner at TGI Friday's, and then said our goodbyes to Jess. Britt and I then spent the rest of the night watching Bones episodes (she got me hooked on that show now.... it's pretty awesome. I love it!) and eating snickers ice cream, yum. :)

Sunday morning we slept in instead of going to Church, due to the extremely crappy weather. I missed not going to Church, but I have to admit, sleeping in on rainy days is the best. :) Britt and I hung around some more, watching more Bones episodes, and Britt made apple feta chicken for lunch, a recipe we discovered while rooming together at college. It's delicious! I had to leave for Philly soon after which sucked, but Britt had to work later that evening. I just spent the rest of the evening hanging around my house..... it was really nice to be lazy for once. :) All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend and I really enjoyed myself. It was so nice to see Jess again, and hang out with Britt, cause we don't get to hang out by ourselves very often. I think this weekend my mom and Britt and I may go to Wildwood for the day on Saturday... we'll see how the weather holds I guess. I hope it's nice because I'd love to go to the beach once more before summer ends!

Chicken payback, bakery house

Soon I'll be heading out to Lancaster to visit Britt and Jess! I can't wait! :) Hopefully this thunderstorm rolls on by quickly though, cause I really don't feel like driving all the way to Lancaster in the rain. :p

On another note, if you want a good laugh, google "the chicken payback song" and watch this song/music video... it's crazy but really funny. It definitely brings a smile if you're having a bad day! Or even if you're having a good day, for that matter.... :)

One more note- I just had a delicious cupcake today compliments of our summer intern... she got it at this adorable bakery in Bryn Mawr called the Bakery House.... so good. Not that I need to know anymore places that sell delicious desserts! :D

Not so lonely anymore

Earlier this month I was whining about being lonely. It was true, I was lonely. Sometimes I still am. But to be honest, I haven't been going out of my way to make friends lately, or even catch up with my old friends. I realized I needed to rectify that. So this weekend, I was going to go to a singles picnic at my Church, to meet new people, but my friends Kayte and Jason (from Church) asked me if I could help two girls from the Church move instead. So I did, and I had a lot of fun. It was nicer than the picnic really, because I was in a smaller group and not so overwhelmed. It was basically me, Kayte, Jason, Phil, Josh, Jackie and Leah (the girls moving), Terrence, Susannah, and Celeste. Besides for having a fun day, I was invited to the Tuesday night care group in Media. I currently attend the Monday night Newtown Square group, and while I love it, I decided to check out the Tuesday one to get to know some more people. Plus I wasn't do anything tonight anyway. So that should be fun.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is this weekend- Britt has a rare saturday off (wow!) so I'll be in Lancaster to hang out with her, and on Saturday, we're also meeting up with my former roommate Jess. Double yay! I'm really looking forward to it- Friday can't come soon enough! :)

Saidi stage dance, The Proposal

I really had a great time at my bellydance class Friday night with Sahra Saeeda. The class I took was focusing on Saidi stage dance. The Said (pronounced Sah-eed) is a region of Egypt. Anyway, I loved it. I am better at Saidi stage dance than regular Egyptian style bellydance. This is probably becuase the movements are more masculinized for the stage. Therefore I don't have to focus on these special, intricate movements so much that are more common to Egyptian style bellydance. It kind of felt like Egyptian style line dancing, in a strange way. And since I have country line danced since eighth grade, it was easy for me to catch on and follow the movements. Also, Sahra was an excellent instructor. She explained things very well and was easy to follow. As much as I enjoyed Jehan's class back in April, I liked this class a little better because I got more out of it. If Sahra comes to Ardmore again, I'm DEFINITELY taking more classes! :)

Yesterday I had to drive back to my parents house to pick up my car, which had been getting work done. So my mom and I went to the movies and saw The Proposal. My whole family are huge Sandra Bullock fans, and this was great. It was cute and funny, we really liked it. I recommend it!

Heart Surgery, bellydance with Sahra Saeeda

So I am now officially performing open heart surgery on mice. It's pretty awesome, really. It's amazing to have their chest cracked open a bit and seeing their tiny little hearts beating away. It just cements the miracle of life for me. The life on this earth is put together in such an amazing, perfect way. As a biologist, everywhere I turn I see the fingerprints of God. I just don't understand how people can believe in macroevolution.

I was nervous because yesterday, I performed the surgery in front of the LIMR vet, so we could get full approval for the procedure. My hands were shaking at first, but as soon as I made the first incision, I was good. The surgery went so well! And the mouse patient, I am so happy to say, came out perfectly. I was a little worried late yesterday because when I checked him before I left, he was trembling and shaking really badly because he was so cold. A lot of mice actually die not from the actual surgery, but from hypothermia resulting from the surgery (decreased blood flow, anesthesia, pain reliever drugs, all can lower body temp). I warmed the little guy in my hands for a while, and then put him back in a cage with his other brothers, instead of letting him in a cage by himself. I was a little concerned that they'd run all over him, but since he was awake and alert, just cold, I figured this would be better. Their body heat would keep him warm and that was the important thing. I was ecstatic when I checked the cage this morning- not only was he still alive, but he was doing so well, I couldn't even distinguish him from his cage mates! I had to actually pick them up and look for the suture to find the little guy I performed the surgery on. So that was nice to see him doing well.

In other news, I'm attending a special bellydance class with Sahra Saeeda tonight. She's a world famous bellydancer, and it's a real privlege to be able to take a class from her. I'm excited! More info on how it went later, for now I need to get ready cause it starts in about a half hour! :)

Lonely :(

Now that Beck left for Bahrain (last Friday) I am so lonely. I realized that 50% of my friends left on that plane in Dulles.... and the other 50% is out in Lancaster, super busy with school and work. Even when I'm surrounded by hundreds of other people.... I'm still lonely. The worst kind of lonely there is.

Fun July 4th Weekend

So I had a great time this July 4th weekend, and it went by way too fast! Here's a recap:

Thursday night, Beck drove down and we had dinner at John Henry's, a cute (and very reasonably priced) pub right by my house. We accidently ordered WAY too much food. We took home half of our nacho appetizers, and half of our cheesesteak dinners. Everything was delicious, but we had no idea the portions would be that big. Later we went to blockbuster and ended up buying some movies- I bought Nick and Nora's infinite playlist, New in Town, and Bride Wars. Then we walked to the Coldstone Creamery I just discovered by my house and got some ice cream. Hard to believe, considering our dinner.... we certainly weren't winning any awards for healthy eating that night! Once we got home, we watched New in Town... a romantic comedy starring Rene Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. It was ok. The funniest part of the movie was all the Minnesota accents. Not bad though.

Friday, Beck and I awoke early and went to Saxby's coffeehouse (right on my street) for some breakfast, and then enjoyed walking the nature trail and campus area of Haverford College. Again, may I reiterate how GORGEOUS that campus is? I adore it, I'm so glad I live so close!

My mom and Britt arrived at my house around 11:30, so we all ate the leftovers from John Henry's, and then headed to the Philadelphia Premium Outlets. It was PACKED! We enjoyed walking around, and mostly window shopped. Even though they were outlets, a lot of the stores were a little pricey for us. I did pick up some cute things at Charlotte Russe, though. I love that store. On the way home, we stopped at the KOP mall and headed to our all time fav store, NY&Co. By the time we came home, we were pooped! We lazed around a bit and rested, and then Beck and I headed off to Christina's house while mom and Britt headed back home. We had a great time at Christina's. We just hung out at her and Shane's house with their friend Dana. We shared funny stories over pizza, snacks, and Sangria. It was fun.

Saturday, Beck and I got up bright and early again and headed back home. We were taking a casual family picture that morning, so we needed to be home in time to shower and get ready. All of us wore red T-shirts with jeans and sneakers. We headed over to our friend the Heinselmen's house (they have gorgeous landscaping) and my Dad set up the shots, and then my Aunt actually took the pictures. They came out so great! When I go home this weekend, I'll upload some. They turned out better than we'd hoped.

In the afternoon, my mom and I pitched a tent in our backyard. This was my idea, because 1)my mom loves camping and hasn't been in a while and 2) our house is infested with fleas thanks to our stupid Houdini cat who escapes from every flea collar we put on her. I wasn't going to get all flea-bitten while I slept!

We had a nice cookout and went swimming that day, and I built our family campfire, which we enjoyed till about 10 pm. By that time, we were all beat and decided to hit the sack. Getting to sleep was interesting though.... it's been a while since I slept in a tent, and it's a lot harder than I remembered. And the highway seemed extra loud that night. It also didn't help that the cat came meowing at the tent, and then dive bombed it, claws out, right at MY side of the tent... I almost had a heart attack! Luckily, the night was pretty eventful after that. :)

Sunday we didn't do too much... just breakfast at the Bagel Bar, and then a huge cleaning of the house. Well, mom and I did most the cleaning, Britt and Beck had to pack up all their stuff. Considering they'd been home a whole month, they had a lot to do. Plus we had tons of laundry ( to make sure no one was carrying fleas back to their respective living areas) so that took a while. The worst part of the day was saying goodbye to Beck.... she was only leaving to go to DC for the week to check in with work, but it was sad because we know that after this coming weekend, she'll be leaving for overseas again. :( I'll miss her so much. She's my best friend, and I never realize how truly lonely I am until she comes back. Thank God Britt is still here, or I'd be totally lost. It just sucks cause she's out in Lancaster and is really busy with school and work, so I don't get to see her that much anyway. She may as well be overseas, too.

Well, enough thinking about that. From the recap above, it's clear I had a super fun (yet terribly unhealthy) july 4th weekend. I can't wait for this weekend, it's our annual Pyle-Reid Family Reunion. And it's prob our last weekend with Beck before she goes overseas, so I'm going to enjoy every minute!

Where did June go?

How is it almost July 1st? When did that happen? I feel like it was just Christmas day! This is scary. I know time flies, and the older you get, the faster it goes. If it's going this fast now, what will happen in 10 years? Or 20, or 30? I feel like I'll blink and my life will be over.

This past month has been filled with fun, since my sister Becky has been back in the States on home leave. We've gone to the shore for a week, had cookouts at home, gone to Knoebels for a day, gone out to eat more times than I can count, watched movies, played games.... it's been fun, and it's only going to continue this weekend! This Thursday, Beck and Britt are coming up to Philly and we're going out to dinner, and then Friday Beck and I are going to a bbque at our friend Christina's house. Saturday is our family's 4th of July cookout, and Sunday, my sisters and I are going to the Kutztown Folk Festival. Honestly, though I've lived right outside Kutztown my whole life (well, at least my parents have) I don't think I've ever gone to the festival even once. But it'll be fun to go back to my roots- I'm getting too citified, being so close to Philly. I'm hoping the Main Line snobbery isn't rubbing off on me. Though even if it did, I'm too poor to be much of a snob anyhow. One city aspect that HAS rubbed off on me is my driving though. I'm the classic impatient crazy city driver and my family gives me flak for it CONSTANTLY. :P

Anyway, this should be one busy, fun filled weekend, and then next weekend is our family reunion, which I'm looking forward to. The only sad thing is that Beck will be leaving to go overseas again a day or two after the reunion. :( I don't even want to think about it. I hate saying goodbye to her. It's so hard, and it will be especially harder now since she's been home for a longer time. I'll have to get used to missing her all over again. Used to not being able to call her whenever I want, used to not seeing her at family events, used to not being able to shop or go out to dinner or the movies with her when I'm feeling down. It sucks. :( At least Britty is still here with me, though. That makes it a lot easier. If Beck was my only sibling, I'd REALLY fall apart when she left.

Anyway, I don't want to think about that for now. I'm going to focus on the positive, and that is this coming weekend. Yay! Two more days till fun time!

Brunette again

Oh by the way, I forgot to update from my post in early May.... I'm brunette again. :) I just couldn't stand the contrast between my black eyebrows and blond head. And also the fact that the top of my head was quite blond, but the ends were brown. It didn't look as bad as it sounds, but I definitely didn't like it and couldn't take it anymore, so on May 29, I bought brown hair dye and had my sister dye it for me. It turned out a dark reddish-brown, and looked so much better. So I was only blondish for three weeks... but that was enough for me!

When I asked my dad how he liked the brunette hair better (because he's always very honest) he said, "I like it alot better Jen. The light hair just wasn't you." And quite frankly, I think that summed it up perfectly.

And the best part was, the darker hair made my yellow swimsuit look a lot nicer! :)

Yay for vacation!

The worst thing about vacations is that they always have to come to an end. :( Bummer.

Despite the fact that there was really crappy weather here in PA all week, the weather wasn't so bad in Ocean City and we had a fabulous time at the beach house this week. We managed to get a pretty good amount of time on the beach- Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday- and even got in the water a bit. It was on the colder side, but we got used to it quickly. The beach house was as lovely as we remembered, and Catherine let us stay an extra day, so instead of having to leave by 11 am yesterday, we got to stay till 11 am today. That was a nice blessing since yesterday turned out to be a gorgeous day for the beach. I did burn a bit on Sunday, but was much more diligent with my sunscreen after that and am now pretty tan. :) I am happy to note that I did find two lovely swimsuits for this season, and I only had to look through 4-5 stores, instead of 10-12, like normal. I found them at Kohls this year, a bright yellow bikini (that fits me well so it's modest instead of slutty) and a deep purple one-piece. Both look really nice on me and fit very well, and both were on sale for half off! So I'm quite pleased about that. :)

I had such a great time with my sisters and mom (my dad stayed home because he doesn't really like the beach and had a lot of work this week) and wish it didn't have to end. Throughout the week, we watched movies, played games, went mini-golfing, laid out on the beach, took scenic walks, enjoyed some different places for dinner, and shopped the boardwalk. I am unhappy to note that both Brittany and myself were pooped on by stupid seagulls. :P That's what I get for laughing at Heather when she got pooped on at our guard show at Wildwood back in high school! Thankfully though it was on our sweatshirts, and not our heads. That would have been really disgusting.

Anyway, the prospect of getting back to my routine is a depressing one. It's always hard to get back to work after a nice break like this. The only good thing about going back to my routine is going back to the gym. The week break was nice, and I needed it to refresh my muscles and body, but it's definitely time to go back (especially since I ate waaaaay more than I should have this week, and a lot of it was pure sugar!) so I need to get back on the straight and narrow. :) Can't wait!

I hope everyone else has a great vacation like I did this summer!

headed for vacation!

Finally headed out for vacation!!

My mom and sisters and I are headed out to OC New Jersey today, and I can't wait! I'm just praying that the weather is good though. This is most likely going to be my only real summer vacation, so I want it to go well. Anyway, more updates in a week or so when I get back! :)

Oh crap. I'm Carrie.

So, who here has ever seen 8 simple rules for dating my teenage daughter?

I came to the disturbing conclusion this weekend that Becky and I may have just walked out of that show. She is so Bridget, and I am so Carrie. I don't know if I like that, because Carrie was usually miserable/moody/grumpy the whole time. Is that really who I want to be? Do I really want to be this miserable cranky person all the time?

Nope. And I know I can change... but I also know it will be a long and difficult road. Siiiigh.

More posts ahead. I'm just too tired to write them tonight. :P

Training

A few years ago, I NEVER, and I mean NEVER, would have thought I ever would have run and finished a race. Any race. And here it is, years later, and I've run and finished TWO 5k races, in pretty decent time, too. Amazing! :)

So my next goal for myself is to run and finish a 5 mile race. And I have already signed up and started training for one! The media 5 miler is a 5 mile race through the lovely town of Media. I'm assuming the proceeds of the race (it's 20 dollars to sign up to run) goes to the town in some way, but I'm not sure. I signed up with a lot of people from my new Church, and apparently, it's a pretty good time. The whole town of Media is out running or supporting the runners, and it's a lot of fun I've heard. It's the third friday of June (I think June 19) at 7 pm.

Today happened to be the first day of training for the 5 miler. Everyone was to gather at Christina and Steph's house (they live in Media, and their house happens to be right on the route, at the 1.5 mile mark) and we'd run the first 1.5 miles of the course today. It turned out that only Phil (a frequent and avid runner) and Steph and I showed up to train. Luckily for me, Steph is also more of a slower, 10-11 mile/hr runner like myself, so that was nice to know I wouldn't be left behind! But it was nice to have Phil there, because he pushed us more than we would have otherwise. I didn't know what the course was like, but apparently, it's a 2.5 mile loop run twice through. It's a nice course, but it does have a couple big hills- the worst one being right before Steph and Christina's house. :P The first 1.5 mile is the hardest, so it was nice to run it today and see what it was like. And I surprised myself but keeping up with Phil and not feeling too winded by the end of the 1.5 mile mark! Yay! Of course, that's only about 1/3 of the way for the whole race, but still, that's a good start. I still have a couple weeks to train yet. I'll definitely try to keep running on my own... I'll have to run outside, though... training on a treadmill just isn't the same. Our next training day (together) is two weeks from today, and we're going to run the entire 2.5 mile loop once through. The next week, we'll do 4 miles, and the week after that, the whole course. Then it will be race day! Hopefully I'll be ready by then! :) Keep reading to see how I do!

the endangered swimsuit species

I hate swimsuit shopping. I absolutely hate it. And it's not even because I feel really fat or ugly (although sometimes I do) it's really because it is SO incredibly hard to find a nice, fashionable swimsuit that actually fits properly and looks nice. Why is it that every designer designs swimsuits that make me look either like a whore (because they're these skimpy tiny string things, or the tops never fit so my cups overfloweth, literally :p) or they make me look like a 75 year old grandmother, because they're hideous patterns with skirts and ruffles and tons of extra material. Where's the happy medium? Where are the fashionable swimsuits that would look nice and FIT nice on a relatively fit, yet curvy 25 year old? If anyone knows where these endangered species of suits might be hiding, please let me know.... I'm getting so tired of hunting for them!

And another piece of bad news (for me anyway).... I really don't think I like my blond-ish hair. Which really really sucks because it really was quite expensive to get done. I think because it was so expensive, I've been really trying hard to like it, but I just can't. With my darker features, and black eyebrows, it's just not cutting it for me. I definitely look better with darker hair.

So, I'm not sure really what I'm going to do about the hair situation yet... I guess I'll think on it a little yet before I do anything. I'll keep you posted, though!

Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child book signing!!!!

So, another aspect of my busy weeks has been voraciously reading Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child novels- This dynamic duo writes FABULOUS stories... one of which (The Relic) happens to be one of my favorite novels of all time. All the books I've read of theirs have been terrific so far, but none can surpass the Relic in my eyes. :) Last week I just breezed through a trilogy of books they wrote featuring Special Agent Pendergast- a repeat character who first showed up in The Relic, and who happens to be one of my favorite characters. That's the neat thing about their books, a lot of them have recurring characters, like Pendergast, D'Agosta, Smithback, Margo Green, and more. I feel like I know the characters because they've been in so many books. Anyway, the trilogy (Brimstone, Dance of Death, and Book of the Dead, to be read in that order) was amazing. And to my amazing luck, their newest book, Cemetary Dance, (featuring Pendergast again, yay!) just hit the bookstores Tuesday! And not only THAT, but I discovered that they were doing book signings, and that they'd be in West Chester for a book signing May 14! So yesterday I headed to the bookstore for the signing and actually managed to not get lost. Douglas and Lincoln were introduced and talked a little about their newest book, Cemetary Dance, and how they met, how they write to together, stuff like that. Then there was a question/answer session, and then they signed books for everyone. I didn't say much when I got up there, I was so nervous! Ha, it's not often that I'm speechless so that is saying something about how much I like these guys and their books. :) But I got my old, tattered copy of The Relic signed by them, so I was happy! Even though I have tons of new books of theirs they could have signed, I really wanted my copy of the Relic signed. It's so beat up- it actually belonged to my 8th grade English teacher, Mrs. Imboden, so tons of people handled it, and she ended up giving it to me because I loved it so much. And of course I've read it tons of times, so it's definitely seen better days. But I think it's tattered pages are a testimony to the work of art that it is, so that's why I wanted it signed. :) I think it was worth the trip out to West Chester.

The only thing I'm bummed about is that in this newest book, they kill off one of the main characters, Bill Smithback, which seriously upset me. I love his character and he didn't even have a respectable death. (By the way I'm not really ruining this for anyone who may read the book because if you open the front cover of the book, you immediately see that Bill dies. That's how I found out.) If I hadn't been so nervous yesterday, I would have yelled at them for that. :P I'll still read the book, but I have to say, I'm not as excited to read it now that I know that Bill dies. I can't believe I'm so upset over a make believe person... but I am. Hmm. That can't be good. This is probably a good place to end this blog, I think, before I make myself sound like even more of a loser than I already am. :)

P.S. The signing was taped and will be on youtube, so you could possibly see me very briefly on youtube. Interesting.

Some highlights from the last couple weeks :)

So since it's been quite a while since I've really posted, I'm trying to recall all the cool stuff I've done in that time! Here are some recaps that I remember:

1) Bellydance class with Jehan- FABULOUS. That woman is phenomenal! I had such a great time, the 2 hour class flew by. I picked up some great music from the class, Jehan also does her own CD's (I thought the voice sounded familiar! :) so I picked up a CD of hers to start practicing to. Also from the class I discovered Tarkan- a Turkish singer who besides for being super gorgeous is actually a great singer with terrific songs. I have half a dozen Youtube videos of his songs bookmarked on my computer. My favorite song (and one that Jehan taught us a dance to) is called Shikidim- translated to english it means shake. :) I absolutely love it! I want to get up and dance every time I hear it!

2) Sword and floorwork bellydance class and potluck- last Friday and the Friday before that, I trekked over to Najia's house (my bellydance teacher) for a potluck one night, and the sword and floorwork class the next week. As always, I had a fabulous time, enjoying tons of delicious vegan dishes (I'm getting recipes sent to me soon, yay!) and just enjoying spending time with some of my classmates. I also finally bought a bellydance costume! It was on sale for a phenomenal price, so I gave in. It's gorgeous, covered in sequins and beadwork like you wouldn't believe. All hand-sewn, too. Amazing. The next week, for the sword and floorwork class, I made a vegan chocolate cake for the potluck, and it turned out fantastic! I had rave reviews. Really, you'd never know it was vegan if I didn't tell you it was. And it was so easy to make. The class was really fun, I don't have a sword yet, but Najia had one for me to borrow. It's actually easier to balance on your head than you may think... but it does get heavy after a while. I had a little dent in my head from where I had the sword positioned! It went away after a while, though. :) The floorwork part was fun too, and a GREAT workout. I definitely felt it in my legs the next day!

3) Covenant Fellowship Church- last Sunday, I finally attended Covenant Fellowship Church for Sunday morning worship. I've been regularly attending the Monday night community group since March, and I really liked the people and loved the feeling of connection I had. I really enjoyed the Sunday worship, so I made the decision to continue attending there. It was hard only in that I do love Lansdale Presbyterian Church and all the people there... but I've just felt very disconnected lately because I'm so far away, I can't really be a part of the Church like I want to. Though Covenant Fellowship isn't super close to me either, it's a much bigger Church, so there are many more satellite opportunities to be involved. Lots of people to attend CFC live near me, in Newtown Square, Roxborough, Drexel Hill, Media... I can be connected much easier.

And connected I am! Phil, our "secretary of socialism" according to Brian ;) has quite a list of activities planned throughout the summer! I'm really looking forward to them. Some of the activities planned that I can attend are the Media 5 mile run, a weekend trip to Niagra Falls, a weekend camping trip to some state park (forget where), One S1ngle Day (a single fellowship meeting out in Lancaster), a July 4th bbque... and the list goes on. I'm very exited and will hopefully post things as they come!

4) Becoming Blonde, Mother's Day- So, I'm not actually blonde, but my hair is the lightest it's ever been, that's for sure! Some parts are quite blonde, but I still have brown in it too. Patrick, my mom's stylist, did a very good job blending colors to make it look really pretty, but more natural. It's as light as I can get without looking really stupid, considering I have darker features. The only downside is that it was more expensive than I would have liked, but, since I really like it, I'll let that go. :) The next day was Mother's Day, and I had a great time with my mom. Actually we celebrated early, after my hair appointment on Saturday, we went into Reading and I treated her to dinner at this delicious mexican restaurant, On the Border. Later we met up with Britt at Coldstone Creamery for some delicious ice cream for dessert. Yummy! Late in the evening, when my parents were asleep, I cleaned the house to surprise my mom for Mother's Day. She's quite disorganized and while our house is never really dirty, it always seems to be cluttered. She really enjoyed the surprise when she woke up! Not to mention the expensive perfume she wanted from Victoria's Secret that Britt and I bought her. But we love our mom, so it's all good. :)

Ok, I think that about covers the main highlights of the last couple weeks... and now that summer is almost here, I'll be even busier for a while! I cannot believe it's almost Memorial Day Weekend! I can't wait for it.... not only will I have a four day weekend of fun (YES!) but Becky is coming home!!!! And she'll be home for at least 4-5 weeks, she's on home leave for a bit. Yay! I can't wait to see her! Keep checking in for more updates! :)

It's been a while

Hmm, I realized I've neglected the blog for almost 3 weeks... I'll rectify that shortly. I don't have too much time tonight, I'm going to bed early cause I've felt so tired lately.... but I promise I'll do some catching up tomorrow! A quick teaser.... I've gone blonde! Well, as blonde as a brunette like me is going to get. It's definitely the lightest I've ever been. Stay tuned.....

Sandy Sprint- 5K race for Ovarian Cancer

Last night, my mom and sister Britt came down to my house to spend the night, because today we awoke at 6 am to head over to Fairmount Park for the Sandy Rollman 5K Ovarian Cancer race. I ran it last year in 33 min and had a lot of fun, so I decided to do it again. This year, I ended up walking the first mile with my mom and Britt, but got bored with that so they agreed to let me run ahead. I finished this year in 38 min, which was pretty awesome considering I walked the first mile! I was proud of myself. And I was super proud of my mom and Britt, who basically power-walked the whole thing and came in at 5o minutes. We ran in memory of Mabel Hoover, (my friend Jess's mom) who had passed away from her 12 year fight with Ovarian Cancer this Christmas. It was a gorgeous day for the race, and they had a lot of people come out, so that was uplifting. Hopefully they raised a lot of donations!

Later we went out for a nice lunch, and then finished up with some Maggie Moos ice cream. (yum!) I guess the race and the filling lunch did us in, cause we all came back to my house and crashed for 2 hours. I could barely open my eyes from my nap, I was so tired. Though I didn't sleep well last night, since we didn't get to bed till 11:30 or so, and then I was sleeping on an air mattress with Britt who flops around at night like a fish, and then to make things worse, I awoke at 1 am to incredibly painful spams in my left calf muscle. I tried to shake it out, and then the muscle spasm went up again. It was so painful I actually cried out. My left calf is still really sore from it but it didn't hinder the race at all, so that was good. And hopefully it will be ok when I go to my special bellydance class tonight, with Jehan teaching! The session is "shimmylicous dance and drum solo." I'm excited for it, though I am a little tired from today. Hopefully I can gather enough energy to really get a lot from it and make the most of the lesson. More details on that tomorrow, I guess! For now I'm going to lay down and take another nap before I head out. Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Lovely personal day! :)

I'm so enjoying my personal day today!

I awoke to my Dad having made special apple pancakes and bacon, which was delicious. Then I took a nice hot bubble bath, perfect for a rainy day like today. I've also curled up to read a good book, Carrot Cake Murder. It's part of a series of books called the Hannah Swenson Mysteries. Hannah is the main character who owns a bakery as her business, but is a mystery sleuth on the side. :) I love the books because they are always talking about delicious recipes, mostly baked goods, and so throughout the book, there are actually recipes for some of the confections they talk about. There are a lot of great recipes, too. I can't wait to try some of them! The author of these books is Joanne Fluke, in case anyone looks for them. I've already read Cherry Cheesecake murder, Candy Cane Murder, and Key Lime Pie Murder. See the theme of the titles? :) The only problem is that I always get hungry for baked goods when I'm reading the books. I already have such a sweet tooth, reading about delicious goodies makes it much worse!

I also was enjoying two of my new favorite songs on youtube earlier. One is called "The man who can't be moved" by this Irish band, the Script, and the other is the 1,2,3, 4 song by the Plain White T's. Both have just started playing on the radio fairly recently, and I LOVE them. Here's the links if you'd like to hear the songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw-J8kC5DHo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6pW_q1PvH0

So that's been my day so far. I think later I may curl up for a cat-nap in front of our fireplace, and then read some more. Just relaxing has been great and I'm loving it!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I had such a fun night at the Indian connection dinner last night! There were more people there than at the Asian connection night, so it was a little more overwhelming, trying to meet all the new people, but I still really enjoyed myself, and it was also nice to see the people I already knew. The cuisine was delicious, my compliments to all the chefs! The samosas were my favorites, which Phil, Jason, and Suzanne made. And Phil so generously opened his home to this event, which was awesome of him! My favorite dessert of the night were these daisy cupcakes that Lindsey made. They were so delicious and so cute! I really need the recipe for that! If I heard correctly, I believe Italian Connection night is next on our list. That will be nice for me since I have some Italian roots in my geneologic tree. I can't wait!

Early this morning I headed home, since today is my Dad's birthday (51!) so I came home to celebrate with the fam. We usually have a birthday dinner for the birthday boy or girl, and tonight, we're having tacos! None of us have had them in ages, and we were discussing that a few weeks ago, so we're setting up a taco bar tonight. Should be fun. I'm about to run out and get a cake for him while my parents are at Church. I ended up coming home too late and they left without me. :P I guess I'm on my own for today. Maybe I can listen to a taped sermon later today.

The best part about today is that for once, I don't have to rush home later this evening, I can stay at my parents house all day because I took a personal day for tomorrow! I haven't had a day off in a couple months, and I've really been feeling a bit weary lately, so I thought the day off would do me good. I'm so looking forward to it! I really don't have any plans, other than just relaxing. Should be nice. :)

Hopefully everyone else had a great weekend, more updates next Saturday for the 5k race and bellydancing with Jehan! :)

P.S. I had to laugh, when I got home last night I was talking with Chris, and I was drinking some of the rice milk I had bought at whole foods that morning (it was vanilla flavored rice milk and pretty delicious!) and he told me good-naturedly that I eat like a hippie. I thought it was really funny, and actually took it as a compliment, since I'm trying to eat healthier.... I guess it's working! :)

Indian connection night, Whole Foods

So, last month I attended an Asian Connection party hosted by some members of the new Bible Study I've been attending, and I had a great time. Well, tonight is another party, this time, it's an Indian Connection party! I'm really looking forward to it, I love Indian food. Since I don't have any traditional Indian clothes (too bad though, I think Sari's are sooo beautiful and would love to have one) I'm wearing a red top to match my red sandals that look quite Indian. They're decorated with lots of silver, red, and black beads and sequins. They're quite possibly the most awesome footwear I've ever owned. DEFINITELY the most awesome sandals. And I only bought them for like, 15 bucks at Payless. Anyway, I also decided to wear my capris with sequins on the bottom, and my silver ankle bracelets, and my awesome red sequin earrings. This description makes me sound like something out of Vegas I think, but really, it looks good! :) Indian women love jewelery and the more decorative it is, the better. Hence my decision for what to wear. I wish I knew how to make Indian food, but alas, I was spoiled by Roshani, my dear friend who just made all things delicious for me. I don't see her much anymore unfortunately. :( I really miss her. That was one of the bad things about leaving Fox Chase.

Anyway, instead of bringing Indian food, I'm bringing a cherry cheese coffee cake, curtesy of Whole Foods. :) I really wanted to make individual cherry cheese cakes (so easy to make and delicious too!) but the roommie was slow roasting a roast all day so I couldn't use the oven. So store bought will have to do. Speaking of Whole Foods, what a treat! I could have wandered around all day in there. I normally don't shop there, because it is more expensive, but as I'm really trying to eat healthier, there are some things that I can only buy there (like cold pressed, non-GMO coconut oil, and whole grain sprouted bread, that sort of thing) so I went in for a bit today. It really is an awesome store and makes me wish I didn't have to watch my spending so much. I'd love to do all my shopping there.

Anyway, more details on tonight later! I soon have to leave to make it on time. But also stay posted for new events, next Saturday is the Sandy Rollman 5K walk/run for Ovarian Cancer that my mom and sister and I are participating in, not to mention, I'm bellydancing with Jehan that night! I can't wait for the class- shimmylicious dance and drum solo. Sounds intriguing! :) I can't wait!

My Hero

I love and hate this time of year.

Hate it for the changing weather, and for allergy season. I'm allergic to birch (it developed only about 4-5 years ago) so now I'm stuck in misery for 3-4 weeks when trees are pollenating. I get serious itchy eyes from all the pollen around and it really sucks.

I love it though because I love the lighter days, the beauty of spring, and knowing it's the advent of summertime, woohoo! Plus, I love Easter. It's amazing and really incomprehensible to me to fully understand the nature of Jesus's sacrifice, which is why I and other Christians celebrate Easter. I don't think I'll ever experience and know what Jesus went through, BECAUSE of what he went through, and that's amazing to me! I'm so grateful and thankful for his amazing sacrifice.

Years ago, when I was in college, I discovered Hero! The Rock Opera. It's a modern day musical of Jesus's life and death and it was written, produced, and performed by Christians, so unlike Christian-themed musicals on broadway, this just has more heart to it. I highly recommend it. Many well known Christian artists were a part of the production, including Michael Tait from DC Talk (playing Hero- Jesus), Rebecca St. James as Mary Magdalene, and Mark Stuart (the lead singer from Audio Adrenaline) playing Peter, just to name a few. It is AMAZING. I have both the CD and the DVD of the show. I know almost all the songs by heart and have the CD on my Zune, and I've been playing it constantly at work this week. I love all the songs, but two of my favorites are called "Hero's Agony" and "I Am" (sung back to back), and it's when Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemene. It's so moving to me, and sad. I think the worst part of the whole sacrifice for Jesus wasn't the pain and the humiliation and the betrayal the people, but the separation from God he had to experience. He didn't want to go through any of it, but I think knowing he would have to be separated from God, to have the Father turn away from him, that was the worst part. And although he didn't want to experience that, he did. For me. And for you. For everyone, because he loves us so much. Thank you so much, Jesus! You really are my hero, because you saved me. :)

Asian Connection Party

So last night was the asian connection party that my new Bible study was having. Actually, it was open to all the different Bible studies that are in the Covenant Fellowship Church, so I got to meet a lot of new people last night. It was so much fun! There was a lot of great asian dishes to try, such as wontons, dumplings, sweet rice with mango and kiwi (that was delicious!) kimchi, and other things I don't remember the names of, but were good nonetheless. :) The food was delicious and the fellowship was superb! I really really enjoyed myself. In fact, I'm going to try out their Church service in the next few weeks to see if I like it, and if I do, I might start attending there regularly. Which saddens me in that I love my Church in Lansdale and will miss everyone there, but lately, I've felt very disconnected from it, since I haven't been able to be a real part of it since I left Lansdale. I really only go and see people on Sundays, and since I don't attend every week, (since I go visit my parents a lot) it makes it even harder. Covenant Fellowship Church may be better for me since I'd be much nearer to people who attend, so I could have more fellowship and become more involved in the Church itself. I've really missed that. We'll see though. Either way, I'll update the blog to let everyone know!

Anyway, the night ended with sharing of delicious desserts (none were really asian though) including the brownie-cookie bars I brought, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and DELICIOUS warm chocolate chip banana bread. Thank you, Christina!!! (Maker of the delicious banana bread :) And thanks to Phil, who opened his home to the party. I can't wait until the Indian Connection party next month!

Dances and Parties

So an update on my bellydance class:

When the spring session started last week, I started taking the two hour class, not just the one hour. I love it! In the second half of class, we're learning a full routine, and it's so much fun. Another awesome thing is that two bellydance stars, Jehan Kamal and Sahra Saeeda, are both coming to Ardmore to give workshops and special dance sessions. I'm really excited! I'm saving up my money and cutting out other "extras" so that I can take at least one class with each of them. Jehan is coming at the end of April, and Sahra is coming the end of July. I'll update more once it gets closer to the classes!

Also, I've still been taking the hiphop dance class at my gym, and really liking it, so I was seriously bummed to miss it today. Lankenau only has one way in/out, so if anything happens on Rt 1 or Lancaster Ave (both pretty major roads) it's nearly impossible to get out of Lankenau. Today there happened to be some hold up on Rt 1 so I was stuck at work an extra hour, and by the time I got home, class already started. :( Boo. So I'm going to dance to a new bellydance tape I got instead, starring... Jehan! Whom I will meet in April! It's kind of surreal to dance with people in real life that you've seen dance on DVD (my current instructor Najia has DVDs out too, which she's showed us before). But it's also really cool, too.

Oh another update. Back in the end of January, I attended at Bible study near my house with my friend Jennifer- she's been looking for a new Church and saw that they had this singles Bible study every other Monday so she asked me to go with her. I liked it, and finally made it back this past Monday. Everyone is really friendly and fun, it's nice to meet some Christians in my area. This Saturday I'm going to an "Asian Connection" party they're having (title is because it's centered around Asian cusine.... apparently they already had a middle eastern one, which I'm super sad I missed, and next month is an Indian one.) I'm excited to go and meet some more people, and of course, chow down on asian food! With my upbringing and where I grew up, I don't know how I've managed to develop a palate for all sorts of foods from different countries and cultures, but I'm so glad I did! :)

So those are a few updates, since I haven't written in over a week. Still bummed I missed the free Rita's water ice last Friday.... but I did get a dozen heath bar Hope's Cookies for Britty's bday, so I guess that was a good trade off! Those cookies are practically sinful, they're so good. :) It was nice to spend the weekend with Britty for her bday... Sat night we headed to Lebanon with my mom and our friends Pearl and Rene for a disco dance... yup, a disco dance! I didn't know there was so much different disco music out there! Some people even dressed up in disco attire, guys and girls.... it was hilarious. We dressed normally, for the record. :) We had a good time, though it would have been a little better had I not been feeling a bit sick. :( I've been eating really healthy lately so falling off the wagon on Saturday did NOT make me feel good. :P Luckily I ate better on Sunday, so I was feeling well enough to enjoy a piece of Britty's birthday cake! Ahhh... cake. I just love cake. It can make even the worst day seem better. :)

So that's about it for the updates! Enjoy the weekend, I know I will!

Mercy and Grace

I went home to see my parents this weekend, as I like and often do, and recently they've started attending a new Church in Hamburg, called Bethany United Methodist Church. I really like it, not just the people and the pastor and the teaching, but the Church building itself. I personally don't prefer modern, contemporary Church buildings. Especially ones that don't believe in outward decorations, like images in stained glass windows and pictures of Jesus and things. Personally, I think that sucks. I absolutely love and adore old Churches, they have so much character, and they're just so beautiful. Bethany Methodist is no exception. The architecture of the Church is just amazing. The old wood, the style of the pews, the fact that the Church is round on the inside, the GLORIOUS stained glass windows they have... it's so pretty. On the outside it looks like a castle or fortress sort of. Here's their website so you can see a picture. http://www.gbgm-umc.org/bethanyhamburgpa/

But as much as I love and admire the old Church buildings, I do know that worship is not about the building, which is why I still love my Presbyterian Church in Lansdale- despite the fact that they're remodeling it, I still think it's plain and ugly. But I love it there because I love the people there. They are such fabulous examples of what it means to be the body of Christ. And Bethany United Methodist is great because not only is it a great building ;) the people and the Pastor are great, too.

I attended a Methodist Church while at college, and I loved it. My favorite pastor in the world, Pastor Steve Taylor, preached there while I was at school, and I miss him a lot. He's at a Church in Ephrata now (Methodists move their pastors pretty frequently). Anyway, one cool thing about Methodists is that they're open to not just men preachers, but women as well. If you have a heart for preaching, your gender doesn't matter. And it just so happens that Bethany Methodist has a woman Pastor, Pastor Andrea. She's actually still in seminary, but for being a new Pastor, she's really great. I really enjoyed her sermon today. One of the things she mentioned really struck me. It was about mercy and grace, and how they differ. She said,

"Mercy is God NOT giving us what we actually deserve, and Grace is God GIVING us what we don't deserve."

I really loved that, and it really is true. What we all deserve is pain and suffering and punishment for all our sins, yet God took that on himself so we don't have to- his mercy is so great. And in doing that, he offers us the opportunity to accept that gift so we can freely be and walk with him, pure and blameless- his grace is so abounding.

Thank you Father, for your infinite mercy and grace!

A taste of Heaven.... Hope's Cookies

Just had lunch with my mom and her friends Pearl and Rene, with whom she went to Jamaica with.... they were driving by the Ardmore exit on the way home from the airport so I asked them if they wanted to stop for lunch with me, that way I could hear about the trip. We ate at Kelly's, a cute airy Pub in Bryn Mawr. Right next to it happens to be a Hope's Cookies/ Peace of Pizza store.... so I picked up three Hope's cookies for dessert.... a sugar cookie, a triple chocolate chunk cookie, and a Heath Bar Crunch cookie. They are soooo delicious, and without meaning to, I just ate them all. :P They're addicting! Good thing I didn't buy more than three! (Which was already too much as it is!)

But seriously, if you ever pass a Hope's Cookies store.... go for it. I don't care if you're dieting or what, get yourself a cookie! It's like a little bit of Heaven. And the Peace of Pizza is really good, too. Mmm-mmm! :D

Bellydance in the Middle East

So last night was my special small group bellydance class and traditional middle eastern dinner at my instructors house. I was really looking forward to it. I'd never been to my instructors house before, so I didn't know what to expect. She and her husband have a duplex and they live on the first floor, her studio is on the second floor. And it. is. AMAZING!! I felt like I was actually in a middle eastern house. She had such beautiful things- rugs, tapestries, paintings, scarves, potteries, silver, she had so many of her absolutely GORGEOUS bellydance costumes and veils on display... it was beyond description.

The food was absolutely delicious, as well. Surprisingly, though I come from Pennsylvania Dutch country (notorious for bland, meat and potato type people who eat the same bland foods and do NOT like variety) I love to try new foods, and usually end up really enjoying them. My sisters, especially my older sister, is the same way. Everything was vegan, so no animal products whatsoever.... but we still had a delicious selection. We had various types of hummus (the black bean hummus was my personal fave) these delicous dates with coconuts, pita, tabouli (made by yours truly, with great reviews, yes! ;) kachuri (I'm sure I'm spelling it wrong but it's my FAVORITE type of Indian food ever) peach mango salso with guacamole chips, grapes and other fruits... the list went on. Najia (my instructor) also had a variety of middle eastern teas, some she brewed expressly herself. They were delicious.

Upon arriving, we actually had more of the middle eastern appetizers and teas, while chatting and getting to know each other (Najia has many different classes in different areas and these small private parties are open to everyone from these classes, so I didn't know many of the women there). There were ten of us altogether, including Najia. We all gave personal input on things we'd like to practice and learn more about.... we wanted to go over the chest shimmy (one of the hardest moves for me) various shimmies and figure eights, belly rolls and vibrations (this is so much harder than it looks!!) and veil work. We worked for about two hours, and I'm pleased to say that I had a HUGE breakthrough in my bellyrolls! It takes so much control with not only your breathing but actually isolating and controlling the actual ab muscle you want to move. I think it helped that I was a singer for so many years.... you learn to really use your diaphragm as a singer, which greatly helps for bellyrolls. Bellyrolls are also hard for women because you're doing the exact opposite you normally do in real life- women are also holding their stomachs in to appear thinner! So it's weird to just let it all go. :)

We ended with veil work, which, like everything in bellydance, appears easy, effortless, and graceful, when in reality, it can be pretty hard. We learned veil exchanges, which I really liked. After the veil work, we enjoyed the middle eastern dinner, and Gretchen performed in costume for us (Gretchen is a student of Najia's who's been studying bellydance for 3.5 years.... she's really good! And her yellow sparkly costume looked so gorgeous on her). Then Najia performed for us, using veil and sword as props.... Najia is so talented, she can dance while balancing a sword on her head, keeping it there as she slowly dances down into a split! Wow! I've also seen her do that move while balancing a HUGE serving plate of LIT CANDLES on her head! It is so amazing to see. And then.... I was asked/prodded to try an improv veil dance! So I tried it... it wasn't that fabulous, but it wasn't that bad either! Not bad for never really hearing the music before, and still being pretty new to bellydance. I was glad to do it though. It was great to get feedback from the other women there.

At the very end, we "shopped" through some of Najia's things she has for us to buy, and I bought a gorgeous new hip scarf. I only had one black one that isn't that great, so I could use a new one. This one is a shimmery aqua color with royal blue and gold bangles on it. It's so pretty and makes up my favorite colors, so that's why it caught my eye. :)

Overall, the night lasted four hours which seemed to fly by. I had such a great time and can't wait to do it again. I'm so glad I ended up picking Najia's bellydance class for Main Line School Night.... it's been so great and I'm loving every minute of it! Who knew that what I thought would just be a fun thing to do for four weeks whould end up being my new hobby? :)

Click on this link to see a picture of my instructor, Najia, in one of her beautiful bellydance costumes with the tray of candles on her head! http://s95204971.onlinehome.us/najia/index.htm

Cardinal Hip-hop

Ha, I like all my post titles to match what I talk about... this title sounds interesting, no?

When I came home from the gym this morning, I saw two beautiful cardinals hopping about and chirping at each other in the bushes by my house. I was just stopped for a moment by the beauty of them. I think cardinals are some of my favorite birds.... they're rare to see sometimes, but when you do, they're breathtaking. Such a vivid red. It reminds me of the beauty of the black widow spiders I took care of at college... they're dangerous when provoked, but they are glorious spiders, honestly. They are the deepest, fathomless black you can imagine, and on the abdomen is their trademark, vivid red hourglass. It's amazing how God works. You would think to yourself, "now, if the trademark hourglass is on the abdomen, how does that help me see it? Wouldn't I just see a plain black spider?" NO! Because the black widows hang upside down in their webs... so their vivid warning sign is apparent for all to see. How clever. :)

On to the hip-hop part of my post..... my gym offers many different classes, and when I joined, I noticed one called Hip-hop funk, a dance class offered Thursday nights. I wanted to try it, but always chickened out. This week, I finally bucked up and went for it. And I had a BLAST! It was so much fun, and I actually wasn't that bad! It's like a hip-hop line dance class. And I've been a country line dancer for years and years, so I pick up on line dances super quickly. The music and moves were just different, that's all. It was a lot of fun and a great workout. I'm definitely going to make it a weekly thing, I can't wait till next Thursday! :)

Snow, chocolate chip cookies and llama cacti

Sooo....

I was so excited last weekend for Sunday and Monday, when I'd be shopping and going to the movies and hanging with my cousin and my sister and just having a great time.

However.....

Apparently, my cousin either didn't get the memo about Sunday, or (and it was most likely this) my sister and I were trumped by a boy. Dee had some boy she likes over at her house to celebrate her bday with her, so Britt and I decided to forgo shopping so we could pick Dee up at 6:30 and go to the movies. Well, the boy then decided to stay later, so not only did Britt and I not get to go shopping, we didn't get to the movies, because my Dad came back from dropping my mom off for the airport and told us to stay in due to an incoming snowstorm.

Gaaa!!! I was really annoyed at the change of plans, but yet, we still had a great evening anyway. My dad made his delicious homemade pizza, and we watched Eagle Eye, which was really good. Plus Britt and I had picked up some Ben & Jerry's ice cream (on sale, sweet!) so that made the night a lot better too. We awoke on Monday to lots of snow, so Britt and I stayed in and watched movies and played Disney Scene-It. While it wasn't my original plans, it was a nice relaxing day where I had fun and best of all, got to spend quality time with my sister and Dad. It was nice. I ended up staying over till Tuesday morning and just drove back super early for work. So because of that, yesterday evening was my first official night with my new roomie.

And we had a blast! He's great, and we really do get along super well. We ended up making homemade chocolate chip cookies, yummy! And then we watched the Emperor's New Groove, which we both LOVE and can literally quote almost word for word. Seriously. Plus, Chris pointed out some funny things in the movie that I had never seen before.... for instance, at the dinner were Yzma and Kronk are going to poison Kuzco, and Kronk gives them all "poisoned wine", Yzma throws her wine on the cactus she's standing next to. Of course, it's actually extract of llama, so when Kuzco turns into a llama and the screen goes back to Yzma, you see the cactus is now in the shape of a llama! I loved it! So great and I totally missed it before. :)

So I'm really happy with my roommate decision, and thankful that everything has worked out so well. I need to remember this the next time I start to stress about something!

Oooh, only two more days till my special bellydance class and dinner. I'm excited! I could definitely use the one on one instruction.... I know I've said it before, but if you want to do it right, bellydance is MUCH harder than it looks. And I use lots of muscles I never knew I had.... my back always screams at me whenever I'm done with class. :P

Ok, signing off for now... I'm exhausted and will probably fall asleep super early tonight... it's what I get for staying up late yesterday stuffing myself with cookies and watching the Emperor's New Groove. :)

P.S. Thankfully, the snow didn't cause any problems for my mom and her friends headed to Jamaica. They got there fine with no problems. Whew!