Saving My Pennies

This weekend when Jonathan and I were doing some chores around the house I turned on the Ella Fitzgerald Pandora station. I have talked about my love for Ella before, but as my home was filled with her beautiful voice I was reminded again just how much I really love her (which of course is further proof I was born into the wrong decade).

Although I have known it has existed for awhile I was reminded how much I would love to have this:

It contains every song that she recorded from 1956-1964 in order of release. If I were to buy the actual box set it would contain 16 CD's! However, I have my eye set on the itunes version - which includes 254 songs and would be much quicker to get on my computer and ipod. Now...all I need to find is an extra $160 to add this to my music collection.

In the meantime I will settle for my Ella Pandora station and Christmas album.

Random Picture Monday

A peek into my life every Monday based on a random sampling of pictures on my computer.

You are welcome!

Headed to Lynchburg

We are headed to Lynchburg on a red eye tonight to visit Jonthan's parents.

I am such a lover of the East Coast, and it has been SO long since I have been there! I can't wait to just take it all in!

We are hoping to sneak a trip to Washington DC in there as well - I love love love love love Washington DC. You can guarantee there will be lots of pictures!

See you in a week!

Random Picture Monday

A peek into my life every Monday based on a random sampling of pictures on my computer.

You are welcome!

Home Sweet Home

Have I mentioned how much I love my cute little home?
True after living in our four bedroom two-story house it did take some getting used to our 900 square foot one-bedroom apartment...but I love it. We have everything hung on the walls and every single box unpacked, and I am pretty sure everything has a home. There is nothing that seems to be missing, and I am not on that constant search for that one last thing to make the house complete. I just love it.

Even when I have the day off and Jonathan is working about 15 feet away from me.
Even when I have to get really creative with counter space while making dinner.
Even when I can hear my neighbor talking (loudly) on the phone in the morning, or smell cigarette smoke lingering up through my window while I am laying in my bed.
Even when I have to carry my groceries up two flights of stairs.
Even when there is someone in our one bathroom and I have to pee.

I especially love it when it only takes me five minutes to dust the whole house.
And when I turn the air conditioning on and within minutes the whole house cools down.
And when birds come and hang out on our balcony.
And when I can see what my neighbors are watching on TV.
And when I DON'T hear any neighbors screaming at their kids.
And when I leaving to go out of town the task of coming home a totally picked up house is not unattainable.
And when I have the day off and Jonathan is working 15 feet away from me.

I just LOVE it.

Saying Thank You

Part of my job is to say Thank You to people. Well really I am supposed to appreciate and encourage people in such a way that they they know I am saying "Thank You!"

Thank You for loving students.
Thank You for taking time off of work to come on this trip with us.
Thank You for giving tirelessly EVERY week to your small group even though your students never acknowledge this.
Thank You for showing up at that freshman baseball game and sitting in the ninety degree weather in your business suit so that one student had a fan.
Thank You for calming that parent down...for praying with that student...for inviting him over for family dinner...for listening to her talk about her break-up with her boyfriend.
Thank You.
Thank You.
Thank You.

Generally these Thank Yous come in the form of handwritten notes or a small token of my affection. I would rather be sending them on all expense paid vacation to Tahiti where they could sleep in a hut over the ocean while basking in the beauty of God's creation...but I can't.

So instead I buy stationary, and $5 Starbucks cards, and little trinkets that remind me of that person and I mail it to them.

How do you say Thank You?

The Land of Enchantment

Last week we were in Shiprock, New Mexico with serving the Navajo people there.
I am so proud of all of my students and adult leaders - they worked hard - slept little - and really gave their all to serve.

Here is MY trip to New Mexico in numbers:
156 students
37 adults
6 kids
4 busses
25 hours in the car
1 stop at Cracker Barrel
500 pages of Harry Potter read
8 trips to Walmart
1440 hot dogs
1440 hot dog buns (every SINGLE hot dog bun in Walmart)
38 boxes of Cheese-its
26 jars of peanut butter
77 loaves of bread
1 trip to Home Depot
4 REALLY heavy buckets of primer
38 pies from The Village Inn
6 times my math failed me
2 times we followed the GPS instead of our instincts
52 times Jonathan and Phil made fun of me
2 dinners at 2:30am
20 total hours of sleep over five days
1 midnight trip to the emergency room

It was non-stop and just when you thought you could sit down to rest (and maybe take a nap) we would be on to the next thing - but it was such a blast to watch our students come back to the hotel each night tired, dirty, and overflowing with God's joy!

Happy Birthday Ange!

My sweet friend Ange is turning 30 today!

Since I can't be with her to celebrate her birthday I wanted everyone to know how great she is and how much she deserves to be celebrated.

Here are 30 things we both love which is why we are the best of friends!

1. We love LOST

2. We love our iPhones

3. We love Sprinkles cupcakes

4. We love tumbleweeds

5. We love 30 Rock

6. We love Bagels and Brew

7. We love traveling to new places

8. We love ministry

9. We love Twilight

10. We love homemade guacamole

11. We love crappy TV

12. We don't really love exercise, but we like to pretend we do

13. We love Starbucks

14. We love to read

15. We love animals (she loves them more than me)

16. We love Christmas decorations

17. We love our families

18. We love blogs

19. We love adventures

20. We love a good commercial

21. We love to laugh

22. We have just the right amount of love for Disneyland (not too much not too little)

23. We love Twitter

24. We love to talk

25. We love trendy pop songs

26. We love to text silly things to each other everyday

27. We love musicals

28. We love to think (maybe over think sometimes)

29. We love to sit really close to each other on the couch

30. We LOVE GNOMES

I love you Ange! You can move back to Orange County now.

Random Picture Monday

A peek into my life every Monday based on a random sampling of pictures on my computer.

You are welcome!

Random Picture Monday

A peek into my life every Monday based on a random sampling of pictures on my computer.

You are welcome!

Random Thoughts

I have always thought of the 5 freeway as more American because Disneyland is off of it. I don't even know what it means for a freeway to be American.

I drive so much differently when I am in the car alone. Especially on the freeway. I am way more aggressive. I am 100% sure it is because I am not talking...to anyone. I feel the need to put "to anyone" at the end of that sentence because there is a good chance I am talking to myself.

On that note...there is no way I could ever be on a reality tv show. I talk to myself so much when I am alone I am sure I would spook the camera man.