I left my heart in Sacramento

Seriously, I'm completely enamored. What a wonderful trip to visit with Mary and Luke. Ben is at Calvin teaching a class for a month so they are home alone; I went up to visit and fill time. The weather was quite cold, so we didn't end up doing much- at least as far as outside goes.

Wednesday Morning I arrived (After waking up at 5:30!!!) early, around 8:30. I think we went to the park- where some adorable old men shared their crumbs with Luke and helped him feed the ducks. We ran general errands, and I got to babysit while Mary had some time out of the house. Thursday was a lazy day- we lit a fire and enjoyed that so much. We did go to the train museum where Luke emphatically pointed to every train and shouted "choo, choo!" We made Indian curry (which I have been wanting to do all break!) for dinner- so simple, and so yumm. I again babysat that night so she could go out. Friday morning I dropped Mary off at an appointment and took Luke to a church where there was an organized class full of jungle gym equipment- but for babies. Saturday we again went to the park- this time equipped with our own food for the ducks.

The whole time, Luke was so fun. He decided to try standing on one leg, hiding all his toys and making you ask where ______ was (difficult when you don't know what he hid in the first place), and he was even trying to say my name! Granted it sounded more like Dedus, but it was definitely what his name for me. He introduced me to another kid when we were at the park. :)

"Yo, yo!"

Looks like I'll be sending out 2010 making yo-yos. Actually, I'm quite excited about it. It's my latest project. I doubt I'll have enough to make a quilt, but maybe a pillow cover? :) We shall see.
A yo-yo is one of those individual circles.

Not a bad way to send out the year, considering. I'm not feeling great, so going out was out of the question.

I can't believe how long of a year 2010 was. I feel like the past 4 months of school made up the whole year, but there were 8 months previous to that! It hasn't been the easiest of years, but I've learned a lot. I think the overarching theme of the year would have to be learning to trust in God. I have had bookend experiences at the beginning and end of the year which rounded the year off nicely, giving it a balanced feeling.
I never really have any new goals for the new year. Rather, I always seem to have the same goals that I've never quite reached. Funny how that happens. :P
This year I hope to continue to:
stay true to myself as much as I can,
use the opportunities put infront of me to learn,
be a blessing to people if that is possible,
remain cheerful,
realize the little blessings that go so far to make a day wonderful,
and go out of my box to experience more.

Maybe instead of yo-yos I should stitch these on a pillow to remind me. :P

"Fee, fi, fo, fum!"

Playing "monster" with Luke has to have been one of the best parts of break so far. I'd stomp after him, chanting in a deep voice "fee, fi, fo, fum!" He'd run squealing into the living room, looking over his sholder, until I got to "phum." Then he'd turn around and come straight into my arms, when I'd launch him into the air, and pretend to eat his belly.

Words of Wisdom?

"One of the secrets in life is know how to do everything yourself but not advertise it, so you don't have to do everything yourself." :P
and from my grandpa:
"share 90% of what you know with your friends/coworkers, but keep 10% for yourself."

So. Good advice or is it being selfish?
I guess they can take you far in the business world.

Everything Fall.

It's been a bit, but a while ago, I went up to an apple farm. Technically orchard, yes, but lets not be technical. We were hoping to find an event that was "all things fall." Danielle and I found the apple orchard and everybody else was on board, so we hit the road! It was a perfect day- slightly cloudy- but not raining, and we found apples, pumpkins (rotting by this time), hills, tractors, and a whole lot of fun. Go figure.





Afterwards, we found a cute little place to eat. They had super yummy food- and Amy was brave enough to order (and nice enough to share!) an apple grilled cheese. Pretty yum, actually.

Story of my life

While You Were Sleeping. Funny stuff.

Boo Radley

Just last week I was talking to Dave (an RD) about how much I love To Kill a Mockingbird. It has to be one of my favorite books- and the movie did a great job of capturing parts of the novel. He throws a movie night every once in a while, and he said he'd put To Kill a Mockingbird in for me. Well, I kind of sort of forgot and went down to Hollywood instead. Boy did I hear about it! But he forgave me- eventually. He was gracious enough to lend the movie to me before it had to be returned. So I watched bits and pieces of it Monday/Tuesday. Then, on Tuesday, my school offered the amazing opportunity to go watch the move at the Museum of Tolerance! And Boo, Robert Duvall, would be there! Well, I skipped history and went! I watched the move for the second time in three days, and afterwards there was a Q&A session with Mr. Duvall. We kind of hoped to get a picture with him, but of course he was escorted out of the building pretty quickly afterwards. The line to the elevator was too long, so we took the stairs down to the bottom floor. I looked to my left, down the hall, and there he was! They must have taken a wrong turn- anyways, we got our picture and were able to talk to him for a few minutes before more people gathered around. It was totally an awesome night. He was such a 'real' guy, as far as actors go.

PS- Disregard the cheesy Sea Beggar flag. Some of our "advertiser" people take their job seriously :). They even gave him an electrically orange t-shirt. I have no clue what they expected him to do with it?

Hollywood!!

Beverly Hills- that's where I want to be! Livin' in Beverly Hills. So my title says Hollywood, but this song is totally running through my head, so I decided to include it.
This past weekend a friend, and former student at PCC, came down to visit.
Friday night the Drama team performed A Mid Summer's Night Dream- which was simply incredible. They did a wonderful job.
Saturday, I was settling in for a long day o paper writing. I have quite a few, 2 paged papers due this week, and presentations that go along. Well, THAT didn't happen. A group of the most random people (Karolina, Christine, Ali, Amy, Bryan, and Justin) headed down to the metro. We spent about equal time on the metro and on Hollywood Blvd, but whatev' it's all good :P. It was cool to get off campus, see all the interesting people, and what not. And boy are they interesting. Break dancers on the street, drummers, homeless, and soccer jugglers..... We were so hungry afterwards, on the train home, we decided to go out to eat. Well, the others never showed up, but Bryan, Justin, and I went to TOPS. Wonderful of wonderful, I had a great gyro.

Election Day!

Nothing quite like running into vote with three other people 10 minutes before the polls shut! :)

3:45am?!

It's been a while since we went, but it was just so much fun, that I had to write about it. After mid-terms, everyone was wanting some fun. Stalin had told me about trip to the beach he made with his French during the summer. They'd get up really early, drive to the beach, watch the sunrise, have breakfast, and return to Paris. I know. Sounds like a movie, right? Well we aren't living in Paris, but we decided to do the rest. So on Monday morning- or Sunday night, whichever you prefer- we awoke at 3:45. And did I mention that it was raining?
I won't bore you with too many details, but the drive there was so incredibly funny- probably because we were running on 2.5 hours of sleep, but still. There were 6 of us, so we had to take two cars. Stalin led, and I followed. Following him is the funniest thing ever. We had the whole freeway to ourselves, basically. I mean it was 4! Who's out at 4am? He decided to drive behind the one truck that was on the freeway, though. So there we are going 60mph on an empty road..... We were all questioning his thought process. Then he got cut off by a bread truck. Finally we made it close to the beach. I kid you not, I don't think he ever played the game 'red light, green light' as a kid. 6 out 10 green lights, he would slow down, and I would have to slam on the brakes. Ok not slam, but I'd have to slow down!! At a green light. Occasionally we'd stop completely and just sit there. He is so weird. AND! Parking. There were curbs on either side of us. Long, open, inviting curbs to park at. Apparently they weren't good enough for him? We drove for over 30 minutes, until we finally called them and told them to PARK THE CAR! :)
2 hours later we DID make it to the beach, it had stopped raining, and we were there plenty early to watch the sunrise. After some fun conversation, we made our way back to the car and stopped at Dennys around 9. I managed to keep my lids propped open, but took a long nap through lunch.

Success!

I successfully wore one dress everyday for a month. I questioned my sanity at more than one junction, but it'll be a story to tell the kids, eh?

Dreams fulfilled.....

As a child I used to stand on a corner, waiting. Gazing at the corner diagonal from me, I waited for the light to change, knowing I'd have to wait again, after I crossed the first street. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if all the lights would turn red, and people could just dash any way they chose?" I'd think.
Of course it would! About a week ago I got to use one of those handy dandy cross walks that allows you to walk diagonally. Pretty neat stuff. :)