Just making up for lost time...

I'm savoring this internet. If anyone ever wants to go to Disneyland, or more importantly come visit me...please do. If we don't go to Disneyland, we can listen to their fireworks every evening at 9:35pm EVERY night!!!

1st Blog EVER

I don't have internet, so I am at a coffee bean in ghetto Anaslime. Hope I make it through the blog posting.
Jk, BUT today I got my car washed and as I waited for my car, the most wonderful of couples came to the gas station. The lady probably weighed 17 lbs. And the man dropped his bong as he approached the am/pm store. He probably had the munchies.
Michael Jackson died, did you guys hear about that?! Sad. I was outside his hospital room when it happened, ok I was outside the hospital. Close enough. As sad as this sounds, that is probably the highlight of my life after 263. My life is boring. Who goes to Coffee Bean at 3 pm?? Oh ya, people without real jobs (me). But I like my non-real job a lot. Minus the fact that I want to rip my foot off (it hurts), and that I make no money (hear hear Karissa!). I play, I workout, I go to the beach/pool, hang out...I'm dating a Hawaiian boy, that's a new ethnicity for me. A little spice.
I'm going to Denver next weekend for my last SAAC meeting ever. Hooray. Then the weekend after I'm going to Vegas...a SAAC reunion with some oldies from the group. And ours truly, Tyler Kupper will be there. Staying in a 5 bedroom suite, NBD. Oh ya, for free. Then sometime after that going to see Karissa. Anyone want to go for her bday weekend???? I'm going!!!
I'll get a little sappy now...I miss you all dearly. I really do cherish the unique friendships I have made with each of you. It's not easy to find friends like you. I have made some goodies here, some funny peeps. And some lezzys (I'm less of a homophob now).
I'll end on that note. Love and miss you all!!!

the pinnacle of my klutziness

today at work, i was leaving one of my bosses (Ben's) office and i tripped over my chair and proceeded to land knee first on the marble floor. they had to call in the trainer to come check out my knee. i have to wear an ace bandage and i kind of hobble. its unfortunate.

this is katie

so my sister is in DC right now for a leadership conference for the Alexander Graham Bell association.  Its for deaf kids like her. 

on the DO NOT FORGET list.. they put....alarm clock. 

thought you might get a little chuckle out of that like we did. 

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)