we have a honeymoon!

Wednesday was a good day. Paul and I got a honeymoon and a place to live for next year, all in the same day!

The honeymoon spot is going to be Waldport, Oregon. Paul's mom's aunt has a vacation house right on the beach there, and she said we could stay there for free! I guess Paul's mom's cousins (is that confusing?) all have families in Portland, and don't have time to stay at the house, so it rarely gets used. I think we can pretty much stay there as long as we want. So, yay! She said every room in the house was built to have a view of the beach, haha! Anyway, it's awesome, and just what we wanted. We were going to go to Barbados, since his parents have a time share there, but the flights there would have been pretty expensive, and long, and we hate flying anyway...and we will have other chances to go there in the future. I love Oregon, it's so beautiful and green there! I could really see myself living there someday. I love all the outdoorsy/hippie/earthy people. It will be nice to have a car to drive around with there and check places out.

The first night we're gonna stay at this really nice resort hotel in Snoqualmie, with a waterfall! It worked out perfect, because that place is right on the way to start the drive to Oregon. After the honeymoon, we'll probably drive back, open all the gifts, and finish packing for school... and then go on honeymoon #2! Driving across the country! Yay! I love road trips. I don't know what route we'll take yet, but maybe we'll stop by Colorado and conquer those Rocky Mountains. :)

The other thing we found out is that we're living in Fairlane next year! It was our first choice because it was the best deal, and it comes mostly furnished. Furnished=necessity for us, since we don't really want to lug a bunch of furniture around, or buy a bunch of it for only one semester and J-term (and then have to lug it somewhere else). So, yippee! Things are working out, and God is providing for us. :)

I'm so excited for the summer. I'm so excited to get married, and for the honeymoon, and just to BE married to Paul. I haven't done hardly any wedding planning in the last two months--I'm just not that into it anymore. All the details of the wedding... I find myself saying, "Yeah, sure whatever! That looks good!" and making decisions really fast. Usually, I can never make decisions! So this change is good, I think. It certainly makes planning a lot less stressful. I just know that it will all work out in the end, and all these little details people freak out about don't really matter. It's a very freeing feeling. :)

¡uʍop ǝpısdn pןɹoʍ ʎɯ uɹnʇ noʎ

japenese acrobats from 1904

chic week

This past week has been what Sammy calls "dude week," where all the guys in Sammy give up something for the week. Since Paul was participating in this by giving up video games, all TV, all junk food, all meat, all dairy, as well as fasting on Tuesday and Thursday (and probably something else I'm forgetting), I felt inspired to have my own little version--"chic week." I choose to give up meat and internet--the internet being the much more difficult one! The one exception to the rule would be that I could check my email once a day...since you never know when a prof is going to throw an extra assignment on ya!

The results of this week were that I got to bed A LOT earlier. Also, I felt much more focused. I think being on the internet a lot makes me start to think in terms of clicking, and having multiple tabs open at the same time, and my brain starts getting jittery... It's hard to explain. I'll have these little pop-up thoughts throughout the day, but then they'll be gone the next second, because I'm on a different page, or something else has popped up. I also felt less rushed. I had more time to do everything--getting ready in the morning, doing chores... I had more time for people. I called my friends more than usual; I wanted to do things. I was less forgetful too. I even worked out twice during the week! This is unusual.

I also got to read a lot more. This may horrify you literary, reader-type people, but I haven't read a book for fun, entirely, all the way through, for years. I've started many different books, but then I loose interest, or am annoyed by something about the way it is written, and abandon the book. The closest I've got to finishing a for fun book is Jane Eye, which I probably would have finished if I didn't keep leaving it at home.

Anyways, last week I ordered a book on Amazon called Silence in October by Jens Christian Grondahl. I heard about this book through reading By Cunning and Craft last year in Fiction class. It quoted Silence in October, and I remember being so drawn by those couple paragraphs. And now I am so glad I bought the book! I love the way it is written. I don't think I have seen one quotation mark of dialogue in the whole book yet. I didn't have anything against quoted dialogue before, but I can't say I miss it now. I can't really describe why I am loving this book so much, other than that the characters are so rich, and just the way it is written...which I can't describe. I will link an excerpt here if you are interested. I don't want to talk it up too much though, because maybe it's just me. I haven't finished the book yet, but I don't think I'll be abandoning this one.

i want a puppy!

This is so cute!

rain, rain, go away...

So, I just don't understand people who say they love the smell of rain. I hate the smell of rain! I think it's gross. It smells like the word "moist" sounds. Moooiiiiist. Yuck. The air feels sticky to breathe. And it almost smells salty to me, but not a warm beach salty...it's mooooiiist. And it feels like it's getting all over you, and doesn't go away... I just want it to go away.

what do you do?

Today, I got a package in the mail from my brother, Caleb...it was a birthday gift, a new webcam with a microphone attached. :) I forget if I mentioned before, but Caleb came to Taylor the same time I did, but left after fall of this year, and is now working with my dad and then plans to transfer to a different college in the fall. Anyway, after quite a struggle we figured out how to get the voice working on the webcam, and he has one too, so we just talked for a while. He told me about how he went to Applebees this weekend and ordered (and ate) three full meals, plus a disappointingly small ice cream sundae...and the reaction of the 100 lb. waitress. :) That in itself was probably worth the $30 something bill.

Anyways, he told me about this guy my dad and him met at a Calvary Chapel conference somewhere... The guy was sitting next to them and my dad and him start talking. He seemed normal but once they start talking, you could tell the guy's not completely "there," so to speak. My dad asks the generic smalltalk question, "So what do you do?" The guy replies, "I just do what I can." He just does what he can. What a profound statement! Then later, the guy says, "I'm a top ringer!" My dad asks, "a top ringer?" I guess the guy worked for the Salvation Army, and brought in the most money--$5,000. He said, "Yeah, the trick is when the shift is over and it was time to go home...I just stayed!"

I dunno, that little story just struck me... He just does what he can. I'm sure God is using him in the things he does. It seems he has the willing, and cheerful heart to do what he can, and he does! I just think that is very admirable.

hahaha

Okay, so I just learned a new word. It's really amazing.

...the word is.....

frigorific.

In fact, it's such a new word that my computer doesn't even know it and has underlined it in red.

This fabulous adjective means "causing cold" or "chilling." Merriam-Webster's Dictionary gives the example sentence, "Jamie shivered as she faced the frigorific blast of wind blowing off the lake." Or you could say, "Ugh! This friggin' frigorific wind!"

How delightful!

goodbye milk

Well, I'm kind of sad. My mom called me last night, and said that she just got back from a nutrition meeting that she just started going to. Tonight's topic was about diabetes. If you didn't know already, my mom has type 1 diabetes, which means that her body doesn't produce any insulin at all. A type 2 diabetic produces some insulin, but not enough. My mom has had type 1 diabetes ever since I was born.

Anyways, she comes back from this nutrition meeting, and I guess they said there have been studies showing that cow's milk could cause type 1 diabetes. She also said that when I was a baby and getting weened off of breast milk and onto cow's milk, I developed a rash. I had to go on goat's milk, and then the rash slowly went away. So she thinks because of that, and this new study, and the fact that I'm more susceptible to it because of genes, that I should stop drinking milk.

Here is an article by Time Magazine about the milk-diabetes connection.

This news probably came at a good time, since I've just become more interested in soy milk and almond milk. But I really like milk. Especially in the mornings. So it'll be hard to give up, but this study is scaring me enough to do it. I just hope I don't have to give up cheese and ice cream too (heck, if that happens, I might as well go vegan)! My mom said she will find out next week... I don't know if I could though--that would be rough. If it turns out we shouldn't eat ice cream too, I think Caleb (my brother) would die... When he was at Taylor he would eat an ice cream cone at every meal. Huge ones. He had DQ skills at making the tallest ice cream cone. Anyway, that would be so sad for him. I can't even imagine. Caleb without ice cream...that's just wrong.

Ho hum. Superbowl.

I shamelessly declare that I did not see one minute of it!

Yay :)