hi wonderful friends,

i love and miss you all so much however the exciting amount of blogging this week has been so refreshing. it is so wonderful to hear how God has been working and changing in each of your lives. i am so proud of all of you and am so blessed to be called your friends.

karissa-way to makes us all proud and not be a pansy. i guess its a lot harder to chicken out when you don't have the Jack's Deli option. i'm sad i can't be with you this weekend. :( stupid security deposits, speeding tickets and rent. BUT i will be there on September 5th, October 3rd and November 11 (for Cal games but still!) also you must be so happy that Ed came back last night, i was devastated at the loss of jesse. while my heart truly lies with kiptyn (and reid in a weird way), i loved jesse as well. there was some anger down at nicole's last night. had you been at ralph and barbs, you probably could have hears the screams.

katiecraig-i suck and haven't sent your pants yet...i swear once this stupid move is done they will be sent to you i promise. but on a happier note, you have no idea how happy i am to hear all the cool spiritual stuff that's happening with you. it has been amazing to watch you grow these past 2 years, and i am so glad you are finding satisfaction in the Lord's presence. honestly, nothing has brought more joy to my heart this week than to hear you say that. i am excited for when you live closer to me! i know santa monica is far, but i can feed you. healthy food which i am so proud you are eating.

becs-first off, call me back. secondly, i'm so excited for you and all of your exciting adventures! i am glad the internship has been rewarding and fun! it is excellent to actually be doing real work as hard and as long as the days seem to be sometimes. and Tanzania! so much fun! i know that God is going to use you. i love how you are so willing to go to far off lands to use your gifts. God has blessed you with such a fearlessness. know that i am praying a lot for the whole Paris situation and i firmly believe that He will work it all out. waiiiit, also jesse? as in jesse steele? as in what is happening there? CALL ME BACK!

jules-rooms, post one of these days. also, nicole and i want to come visit you soon!

as for me, honestly, i have had a pretty rough week. In between work (which i still love so much despite the fact that my boss is completely nuts), packing and life, one of my friends from high school who i went through a whole lot with committed suicide last monday. i hadn't seen her in a few years, and it just makes it all the harder. but i have already seen such good come of it in terms of repairing some broken relationships and watching how amazing the Body of Christ is during a tragedy. Watching the way that this family has been cared for and loved by their friends was so inspiring and it made me so thankful to have a community of girls that i love and who i know love me.

but on to happier things, i am moving!!! we have the most perfect apartment in Santa Monica. its in a little neighborhood area AND because the previous tenants had lived there for 35 years, we get all new EVERYTHING. paint, granite counters, light fixtures, sinks, toilets and for a really unreal price. i am so excited to be settled there as of saturday and just really start investing in friends, church and of course, work.

something i have really been pondering recently in my quiet times is the idea of a Sabbath. it's the 4th commandment, but yet it seems to be the most ignored. i have decided to commit my Sundays completely to the Lord and to rest. i think being in the working world has finally made me see how important that Sabbath is for our wellness and to just reconnect with the Lord. i remembering reading that commandment and the notes in my study about it and wondering when was the last time i took an entire day and did nothing but enjoy God's presence. no errands, no obsessive cleaning, nothing. i was really convicted to make it a priority and i am really going to try hard. pray that i keep following God's will in that situation.

i love you guys so much and this week has really made me praise the Lord that I have such amazing, grounded, loving friends like all of you. i hope we can all have playtime soon.

Another late night...

First of all, I can't believe I started this thing and haven't written anything in it yet. Second, it's exactly 3:33am in Texas and I still can't sleep...this has been quite a pattern lately.

Wow. We're so grown up. Karissa, I hope the new jobs, but especially the fellowship, are going well. Just don't run yourself in to the ground. I'll pray that God provides the money for rent/life, He always does, but trust me, I understand. Part of the reason I can't sleep. And I'm SO proud that you gave blood! I thought of you a few weeks ago, long story short, I was sitting next to my cousin on a boat and a rope sliced through both hands down to the bone. Blood EVERYWHERE. When I was sitting in the emergency room with her, I thought, wow Karissa would be dying right now. And it made me miss you, lots. But seriously, I'm so proud of you!

Jenna. Big girl job. Almost new apartment (I actually don't know that for sure, but I've done some facebook stalking and it looks that way!) New church. I'm so excited for you! I do miss your baking/cooking LOTS. My mom and Robert are on a diet where they have cereal for dinner to help them lose weight. downside for me? I get to cook my own meals. Which are never as good as yours, no matter how much sweat and blood I pour in to them. argh.

Katie Craig. We suck at keeping in touch, but one of these days it'll happen and I'll get to hear your voice. Umm, like I said major facebook stalking (I can't sleep, what do you expect?!) and patrick freaking o'connor....what is he doing? are y'all talking? what? ANYWAY. I am so proud of your growth this summer (with God AND your boobs! whooo hoo!!) And of course you're blowing all those merced students out of the water, they're competing with the champion of creativity. keep making me proud.

Julie: WRITE SOMETHING. i miss you. joge.

So. Life for me lately consists of my job and working out. that's all I do during the week. I work 50 hours a week and then I workout for an hour and a half every day. mostly because I just want to see how in shape I can get, just for kicks. I like the internship, I'm learning a lot, and I actually get to do real work (like create an ad campaign, for example. pretty sweet) BUT I know for sure I won't ever work for a big national company some day...I prefer small companies.

I dyed my hair. It's now a darkish/reddish brown. I think I like it. But you know me and hair color...still trying to find the right one haah. 

The au pair agency now has all my paperwork and is working to find me a family. This process has been expensive, but if it works out, it'll be SO worth it...PLEASE pray that I get placed with a family. It's hard waiting and trusting that God has something out there for me. I'm just trying to take the first step and take that risk of doing something out of the ordinary, which right now looks stupid to everyone else (for example, my father. He and Steve would be besties. Super conservative. Hates France. yadda yadda). So yeah...prayers are great. God is good.

I bought my plane ticket to Tanzania last week. 42 days! I leave August 10th, get back the 29th and could possibly be leaving for Paris as soon as September 5th. AAAAH. Crazy. Anyway, I'm so excited for Tanzania...spending a few days in Kenya to see the little girls that I stayed with last time....and to pick up Jesse. Who will then spend a little time with me in Tanzania. And then we're spending about a week on Zanzibar, an island about an hour and a half off the coast. Staying in a hut. With no door. On the beach. Same room. WHAT? it could either be really great. or really awkward. we'll see. I'll chat with y'all about that when we talk via the phone. I'll leave it at that for now....OH. and it's 2 flights. each about 11 hours long. I HATE flying, especially by myself. and one of them is on the same kind of plane that the air france one was...so pray that I'm safe. both in the air and from somali pirates/malaria and other diseases/etc AND that the orphanage will be a blessing to the kids there.

So yeah...that's basically it. I really look forward to the weekends now, which I'm sure you can all relate to...I haven't had a dull one yet. Ashley Cheda came a few weeks ago, which was great, otherwise I hang out with the girls I grew up with or my family. Dallas is actually a great city, I'd move here someday. but that's a big maybe. who knows. Can't guarantee it, but I'm gonna try to fly with the other girls to Paris from LA, so hopefully I'll be there for a few days in early Sept and get to see y'all. Karissa, get your butt down there if I'm there. I promise I'll come to san fran someday!

OK, i'm gonna try to get some shut eye so I'm not a total waste tomorrow. I love you girls so much and wish I could just pop over to 263 and eat some cracker/caramel goodness, drink some vino, and see your beautiful faces.

love love love,

Becs

THE LAST POST WAS KATIECRAIG (I'M STILL COMPUTER CHALLENGED)

New lifestyle

its kinda crazy. but with time and dedication i have been able to effectively change a few aspects of my life...

1. i wake up before 7 am every day (its actually wonderful and the only time in merced that it is not freaking 104 degrees out)

2. i eat like a jenna & karissa now, really healthy..i'm not sure what has happened to me.

3. i have not drank in forever (besides when i saw julie...haha we had a date and got a lil tips together)

4. i've had a lot of time to reflect on my life and the past year.  I have found so much peace in comparison with the end of the semester (guy wise), i was all over the place...God has really allowed me to be content with not having a guy to depend on or constantly contact in my life!!  and i'm reading Captivating again!

so 4 things..not that many..but big for me. oh also, i'm a small C now. yessssssssssssss

I love you all and miss your faces dearly...becs, i miss your hair as well...i love looking at it..so mesmerizing.  

I'm really bad at structuring these blogs. i'll work on that!

oh classes are going well. i'm blowing the drawing 1 students out of the water...not to brag or anything =)

talk to you soonnnn my little ladies

I am the champion my friends...

I did it.

I got blood drawn. I caused a scene at the lab due to blacking out and nearly vommiting....panic attacking...sweating off 3 pounds of water weight. Dear me....a SCENE. I had to be taken to a private room with a table...they gave me juice.... my friend is a nurse for pediatric ER and she took me and helped me, but when I was done and recovered laughed for an hour straight and said her 7 year olds are far braver than me. Whatever.

But, I did it. Thought you all would be proud.

Love and miss you...I start my 70 hour work week on wednesday! Can't wait.

SURPRISEEEEEEEEE

I am officially employeddddddddd!! WOOO God is so good! It is exactly what I want to be doing and it will open doors to any career I could possibly want!!

So here is the deal:

I got a 6 month fellowship at a non profit called Net Impact (read more about it at netimpact.org)...it merges my love for non profits, business, and economics in ways I could never have dreamed. I will be working with all the keynote speakers at the annual conference...this years is teh CEO of GE, which is HUGE. Apparently everyone who has had this job has gone on into incredible jobs after, so that is really exciting!! The office is this cute trendy loft in SOMA, with a bunch of cute (and educated) hipsters that work there! Right up my alley!

The downside? It only pays a stipend of $600/month which isnt even enough to cover my rent. The job is 40-50 hours per week and I will be working at my old job 20 hours a week doing freelance grant writing to make extra money. ALSO, I picked up a consulting job for about 10 ours a week...ergo....I will be working 80 hours a week for the next 6 months just so I can pay rent. Sweet. Please pray that God provides because I literally am SO stressed about money, but truly feel that this is the job that God has for me right now.

Anyways, just wanted to fill you guys in!! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement over the last month! Love you all!!

xoxo,
Karissa

I just thought you all should know...

that I peed at the Other Room without getting locked in the bathroom. great success.

KATIE

i still don't know how to make an account for myself...so i'm using becs.

anyways. Jenna! i'm so excited that you are loving your job..that is awesome.  Karissa, i just gave blood the other day..you will do awesome and you won't DIE..promise. I'm expecting a call from becca tonight and i'm sooo excited. 

with me:  i've been hanging around..with the grandparents (both sets) and cleaning..making lists etc.  I've been going to the gym everyday with my dad and i'm doing the stair climber for 15-20 minutes...talk about killer..that ish is HARD! It's real fun to see people from highschool while you're sweating gallons and smell...NOT.  (i just realized that i type how i speak..all slangy and whatnot) i should fix that.  

i still have not found my lululemon pants..i'm bummed. i must have left them at school =( so if anyone sees them around.

oh i officially have no money. thats fun. and my mom is going to pitch a fit about me going down to malibu this week..boo her. oh well. 

if anyone is in the mood for movies..i've watched these this summer and approve for your viewing:  wolverine, bedtime stories, hotel for dogs & taken. 

i'm going to yosemite on tuesday with my dad..which i'm uber excited about,, yah! i'll take pics and post them up here somehow. 

ps. my parents have been impressed with my "cooking" skills..which are pretty slim to non in comparison to you guys..but still..i learned from the best..i have to say i miss jenna's cooking =)

FUNNY: i saw this car that looked like a dinosaur..no joke..so i said that aloud and my sister thought i said it was Diane Sawyers car and was all "where..where?..dave and i got a good laugh out of that. 

love you and miss you all!

Katherine Anne

I am actually awake after 11 p.m. so therefore I will blog

Hello my beautiful friends,

I miss you all you so very much (and am excited that I get to see little Rissy Roo tomorrow)! This week has been a complete whirlwind for me. I started at the Dole Nutrition Institute on Monday and have completely fallen in love with my work. It is so exciting to be doing something I am passionate about and getting to read and research articles about food all day long. My department runs free fitnesses classes after work that I have started attended and let me tell you they are pretty much kicking my butt.

And get this, it's actually the non-profit sector of Dole. Who would have ever thought I'd be working at a non-profit? Tis funny the way God works sometimes...

However my boss terrifies me. In a cool, I respect you so much that I can't help but fear you. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Harvard, was a former speechwriter for George H W Bush and might be the smartest, toughest person I have ever worked for.

My sister "graduated" from 8th grade this week so that is probably the biggest news in my personal life. it's a very weird feeling to have her in high school. My cute little baby is growing up. :(

Other than that, I have just been settling into work, hanging out with Dana and trying to figure out what church I want to start investing in.

Hope you all are well. Other people need to blog besides Karissa cause I want to know what is going on with you all.

love,

Jenna

death.

well this is 3 posts in a row for me, but hey i'm unemployed it makes sense. Here is the reason for the post: I am having blood drawn 3 weeks from today. FML. Its finally happening. I am prepared though, my friend who is a nurse is stealing tourniquets, etc from her hospital so we can do run throughs minus the needle so that I am ready for the big day....I am so pathetic, but at least im stepping up to the plate this time....which is more than I can say for Becca....cough....stretching...cough. JK, love you girl!