Monday, November 24, 2008

Report: Girl's Weekend '08

This past weekend after Kaytee flew in from Utah and Abbey flew in from Idaho, all of us girls spent the weekend at my place. This was the only weekend that worked for all 5 of us to get together, so we made it happen even though I had to be on call. Because I needed to stay close to campus, we spent a lot of time on Queen Anne. It was so wonderful to have a lot of time with my friends.
Thanks to Kaytee, I have a few pictures to share. She is the historian of our crew:

Tourist trip to Kerry Park (like we haven't all lived here before)


At Orapin, our favorite Thai restaurant


In my kitchen after breakfast


Being weird in public... what's new?




Happy Thanksgiving

Thinking about all that I am thankful for this year, I'm overwhelmed. I recently read through my journal and I can't believe how many answered prayers I find there. I'm so thankful to be living in Seattle again. I prayed for this a lot over the past couple of years. I'm thankful to be living closer to my family and I'm thankful I get to see all of them this week. I'm thankful for my friends that live in Seattle and for the easy transition back here. I'm so thankful to be apart of a community that loves me and knows me deeply. I'm thankful for my job and how it challenges me. I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn and grow professionally. I'm thankful for the church I attend and how much I am learning there. I'm thankful for my friends who don't live in Seattle and for all they contribute to my life. I'm thankful for the opportunity to travel this year, both across this country and to see a bit of Europe. I'm thankful for the hard days and for how few they seem. I'm thankful for the opportunity to carry the burdens of those I'm close to. I'm thankful that I'm wearing a smaller size in clothing than last year! :) I'm thankful that I was able to successfully complete a Master's degree. I'm thankful that I got to go to summer camp and that I had 3 months off of work this year. And, maybe most importantly, I am thankful for Ron and how good he is at caring for/about me. I feel like I've known him forever. Being able to be in relationship with him feels like a gift and I'm so grateful. He makes me laugh all the time and he helps me to love other people better. I'm also very thankful for all of the people who are now apart of my life because of him. I'm so thankful for Ron's family, friends and church who have encouraged him to keep dating me! Their support at times has sustained me and I'm sure it has sustained him as well.
A lot has happened in the last year. I am humbled by all of these gifts and I find myself especially grateful right now. God is good! Happy Thanksgiving, my friends.

Friday, November 21, 2008

p.s!

I have the best boyfriend! His latest blog post made me blush a bit...

Girl's Weekend 2008!

This weekend is the 2nd Annual Girl's Weekend, location: Seattle, WA. Every year, Abbey, Lacey, Amy, Kaytee and myself gather together for an entire weekend and celebrate our years and depth of friendship. We eat together, have a giant sleepover, watch romantic comedies (on the agenda this weekend is Love Actually and The Holiday), talk...a lot, and make predictions or plans. We actually have a book that we record our future goals, plans and predictions we make about each other and our friendship.
A lot has changed since Girl's Weekend 2007. Kaytee wasn't married and was living in Seattle. Amy had recently quit her job and was hoping to be hired as an Admissions counselor at SPU. I was living in Beaver Falls, PA. Kaytee and I were both students. I was single and was really content being so...
I'm happy that Girl's Weekend is so close to Thanksgiving this year. I feel really blessed, not only by these women, but by the opportunity to reflect back on how different my life is since April 2007. I'm thankful for Girl's Weekend. I'm thankful for these women who know my heart, who love me and are willing to walk through life with me. Soon I will post a more exhaustive list of what I am thankful for this year. Stay posted for that...and maybe some highlights from Girl's Weekend 2008, Seattle edition!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Christmas is coming...

I had an egg nog latte yesterday! Christmas wreaths are hanging in Peet's Coffee and stores are already marketing Holiday Sales! On November 20th (Thursday) I will begin to listen to Christmas music... I can't wait! Album I'm most loking forward to? Sufjan Stevens, Songs for Christmas. I just love this cozy time of year...

Friday, November 7, 2008

I bake


I've never been much of cook. Occasionally I will get this crazy desire to bake some cookies or banana bread, but this only happens approximately 3 times a year. When this happens, I follow the recipe exactly. Often times recipes list how long the "prep time" is. For me, I always add at least 15 minutes. I take my time to make sure I don't make any mistakes. Usually, my seldom endeavors in baking turn out successful.

Well, tomorrow I am putting all of my skills to the test. I have invited all of the women (300) of Hill and Moyer halls over to my apartment for a study break. I've staggered their arrival times because I'm pretty sure the maximum occupancy of my place is about 30. Being a rule follower, I don't want to be breaking any fire codes. For this little party, I am making many pumpkin cookies. So far I've made about 9 dozen. Seriously. They are small, but still...I've made 9 dozen. 3 dozen are plain pumpkin cookies with icing. 6 dozen are pumpkin pecan cookies with spicing (icing with pumpkin pie spice... spiced icing = spicing) drizzle. I hope to make another 6-9 dozen cookies tomorrow. Maybe I'll make some with chocolate chips. I'm just going crazy! I won't only be serving cookies, but this is the one item I will be serving that is homemade.

I'm just becoming so domestic.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Ron spent the last week with me in Seattle. I had such a wonderful time (and I'm pretty sure he would say the same). We are constantly learning more and more about each other, which is always fun. Ron learned a little more about my feminist views and I learned a lot more about football and the all-consuming "fantasy football".
This trip also allowed us to further establish some traditions. One of these traditions is that whenever I pick him up from the airport, I make and bring him a sandwich. I can tell that he is happy to see me but also very happy to see that turkey and cheddar sandwich. Another tradition we have decided upon is that once a year, in the fall on a particularly dreary day, we will skip out on work and go see a matinee at the local theatre. Only once a year though, we do want to be faithful employees. Most importantly, we have decided to settle most of our disputes in the only truly fair way we know, thumb wrestling. Until recently, I was the reigning champion.
While Ron was here we spent a lot of time with friends, went to a Jubilee concert at The Triple Door, saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, went to the Starbucks on the 40th floor of the Columbia Tower (check out the view), visited a portion of the sculpture park, watched the Steelers beat the Redskins, ate big breakfasts, had a hot fudge sundae at Icon Grill and talked a bit about the future.

Dating long distance can be challenging. Our time together always goes too fast and then we are back to cell phones cutting out, 3 hour time difference, demanding schedules and email. I love our visits and look forward to the next one in 6 weeks. I'll be spending a couple of weeks with Ron and his family in December. 6 weeks... it can't come soon enough.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

My own "Personal Bill of Rights"

I'm sure many of you have heard of a "Personal Bill of Rights". I think it was developed by a Christian Psychologist or it's related to pop-positive psychology of some sort. It's used in counseling situations and we recently gave a copy to some student leaders as sort of a resource as they work with students on their floors. Here are some examples of statements that would commonly be found in a Personal Bill of Rights:
"I have the right to be happy."
"I have the right to be in a non-abusive environment."
"I have the right to grow and change."

I've decided to make up my own Personal Bill of Rights. Here are some examples from my personal version:
"I have the right to emotionally eat pastries."
"I have the right to laugh at my own jokes."
"I have the right to use my time watching youtube videos."
"I have the right to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving."
"I have the right to eat chips and salsa for every dinner."
"I have the right to drink too much coffee."
"I have the right to create my own casual Fridays."

Maybe you can help me add crazy things to this list...