cute fun free indie artwork

Just found this cute site off of indiefixx.com called Feed Your Soul: the free art project. It's a site where you can download PDFs of indie artwork for free! They are doing it to promote artists in a bad economy, as well as make art available to us poor people for free! Pretty sweet idea. Anyway, here is the link to the art, and they add more art every month. Here are some of my favs so far:

creepy message girl

On my Etsy profile, it says that I'm a student at Taylor. Yesterday, I got the following creepy message, from some random girl:

"Oh, you have my sincerest sympathies for not knowing ANY BETTER than to spend any time at TAYLOR UNIVERSITY. It is undoubtedly the WORST school in the nation. It is so very unfortunate for you that you were relegated to their cult like atmosphere and brainwashing techniques.

PLEASE GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN and while you STILL HAVE HALF A MIND, PLEASE. It is in YOUR best interest to GET OUT NOW.

OH,and there is NO NEED to reply, as I have added you on my prayer list. I will do a prayer intervention to get your heart in the right place and get you OUT FROM UNDER THE SPELL OF TAYLOR UNIVERSITY......GOD HELP YOU if you don't get out and get out now."

Paul and I puzzled over this message. Cult-like atmosphere? Brainwashing? Maybe to a non-Christian...but then she says that she's going to do a "prayer intervention" for me. So maybe she's a super conservative Christian, and thinks Taylor is too liberal? I have no idea. I haven't messaged her back, and I don't think I want to.

Who do you think this person is????

Just got featured in a blog!

Hey, I just found out, my tea set on my Etsy shop has been featured in someone's blog!

Check it out here :D

almost done with college

A few days ago, I posted on my facebook something about almost being done with college, and after I posted, I had the sinking feeling that I might have spelled the word college wrong. I immediately typed it into Google, and was relieved to know that I did indeed spell it right. Whew! But seriously, I was worried. Almost graduating college without knowing how to spell it? That would be bad, not to mention embarrassing. But, my good old brain got it right. (Go it!). I don't know why it doubted itself.

Since Paul and I are so close to graduating, we are anticipating all the changes/challenges that are coming. Over Christmas break in Washington (we did get to go back, and it was great!), we found a duplex to rent in Wenatchee, and it's so nice to have that done and ready for us when we get back. We found it through a guy that goes to our church. We met with the Landlord, who is a really nice older guy, and we met our neighbor, Terry, who is really nice too. I just have a really good feeling about it, and I'm so excited to actually be able to use all the stuff we got from the wedding when we move in! Paul and I have really been bare-bones-ing it here--we have a total of three bowls, five plates, etc....it's been interesting!

But before we move in, we need to drive across the country to get there. I am SO excited for this. Paul, not so much, but I think it will be such a fun adventure! We got snow tires on the car yesterday, and it makes such a difference. I think the first challenge we are going to run into is seeing if we can get everything into our car. We don't want to put anything on top of it or drag anything behind it, since it will kill our gas mileage and be more difficult in the snow. So, we've been trying to get rid of stuff. It doesn't feel like we have that much, but I think we have more than will fit in our car. The big thing is selling our mattress, and then getting rid of our desk chairs and little Taylor dresser. Any takers? :)

The next step will be finding jobs once we get there, which is probably the biggest and most important challenge. I've been applying places that I can online, but it's really not as effective as in-person. Pray that God will provide good jobs for us!

Right now, we are focused on graduating. I'm a little surprised at the workload for English Capstone. We have 30+ pages of reading every day, and have to do annotations on 5 of the readings, plus lead group discussion, and meanwhile revise our papers, and prepare for our final presentations. Basically, I have tons to do this next week, since I am presenting next Monday. But after that, I'm pretty much home free. Also, I signed up for a Directed Research to finish up my Psych minor, so that will be more work, but hopefully I can handle it!

Oh, on the Senior Project...I got paired with Steve for peer review, and I was amazed to hear so many of his comments be the exact opposite of what my adviser's were! Like several major things that my adviser thought were bad, Steve thought were really good. So it was very encouraging, to say the least. Oh, and I'm a little bit put off that for the professor reviews at the end of the year, they don't do them for senior project advisers. I don't get it.

I think I learned a lot last semester that it's not my responsibility to please everyone. It is a good and freeing lesson to learn. I'm sure I'll have to relearn it throughout my life, but, like Paul always says, "that's life!"

10 sales on Etsy!

I've reached a milestone today, you guys. Today, I made my tenth sale on Etsy! It's a small milestone, yes, but still a milestone--dangit! My mom has been thinking about opening up an Etsy, because she makes jewelry at her job, and she could easily sell it online. She's still thinking about it, but I hope she does, because that would such a fun thing to do together!

We are thinking about flying home for Christmas. Paul's parents have some airmiles, and so we could get pretty cheap tickets if we wanted to. Still haven't decided yet. It would be fun, but it is kind of silly since we'll be back in WA about four weeks after Christmas anyway. We'll see. The way it works with the free air miles is that we would have to fly out from Chicago, so we'd have to take a bus, or get someone to let us park our car somewhere for break. So anyways, that may or may not happen!

Parnassus this year is coming along nicely, but I'm sad I won't be there for the release party in February. Oh well, they better mail me a copy though! I've been working on the layout along with the other girl, and it is very time consuming but fun. I realized I know nothing about Macs or InDesign. I'm learning a little though.

Raquel, I got your Christmas card in the mail today! So cute! I'm waiting to open it till Christmas though. :)

updates! thanksgiving...etsy...life

Jeez! I haven't posted for almost a month! I almost don't know where to start.

Well, to follow up with my last post, the senior project is done until January! I turned in my critical paper on Friday, and my revised second story on Monday. I haven't heard back about my critical paper yet, but if I don't need to revise that before January, I'm done! I am meeting with my advisor on Wednesday to go over things. We will see how that goes. But I am generally feeling much much better about the senior project.

Macy's has been going really well, too. It was really busy for a while because they were getting in all the stock for the Christmas season, but now it has lightened up a bit. Also, they are giving me a new job since there won't be many hours left on the Merchandising Team now. I'm going to be doing Recovery, which is basically just cleaning up after customers during the Christmas season. I'll be straightening things and refolding, and stuff like that. I'm really looking forward to it, because that means I don't have to be getting up at 3:30am anymore! YAY!

The other news update is that my brother, Caleb, came to visit us for Thanksgiving!!! It was so fun! He just decided to fly out on a whim and stayed with us for a week. He got to see a lot of his friends in Bergwall too, so that was cool for him. We were kind of at a loss on what to make for Thanksgiving since Paul and I are vegetarians. We decided on vegetarian chili! So we made the recipe for The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World, and we also had potatoes, corn on the cob, rolls, strawberry rhubarb pie, and brownies. It was great! On Thanksgiving, we also played TWELVE games of Settlers. I don't think I could have done that with anybody else and had as much fun. :)

You've probably noticed, if you've looked in the sidebar, that I started a vintage shop! A few weeks ago, I just got the idea in my head that I really wanted to start a boutique of some kind. I don't know if something got into me while working at Macy's and learning how to merchandise or what. I just couldn't get the idea out of my mind; I couldn't even sleep some nights!

I didn't think I'd be able to start it until we got back to Washington. There is an Antique Mall I was thinking of renting a booth at, but I found out the prices for it, and it was like $150 a month. That was a little to big of an investment for me. Then Valerie suggested Etsy! Etsy is an online place you can sell anything handmade, anything craft supplies, or anything vintage. It is $0.20 to list each item, and then they take 3.5% of your sales minus shipping. So I decided to make an Etsy shop. I named it Trillity and you can look at it here.

I didn't have any items to sell when I first started, so when I was driving home from work, I prayed God would show me a garage sale or something, if this is something I should even try to start. I didn't think there would be any since it was November, and cold. Sure enough, I found one sign for a rummage sale, and got three items for my shop! I sold one of the items within the week and it was so exciting, I think I screamed. I have sold a total of five things so far. It's so fun when people buy things! It makes me so happy just to know that someone wants it enough to buy it. I have so much fun with it.

I really enjoy writing the descriptions too. I would love to do that for a job someday. I would love to do Etsy for my full time job actually, but I'm no where near that point now, hehe. I just have so much fun going to thrift stores, rummage sales, and on Saturday we went to a flea market in Indy after we dropped Caleb off. It's just so fun to find these special items that are unappreciated, and rescue them and find better owners for them, lol. And make a little money in the process, of course! Hehe. I think the key to selling things is taking good pictures, so I've been trying hard to get better at that.

We put up our Christmas tree yesterday, and it looks so cute! It's about 2.5 feet tall. The ornaments look enormous on it, but it's still adorable. :D

We've been looking at places to live in Washington. My parents are going to check out a few places today after church for us, and send us some pictures.

Thanksgiving break was such a relaxing break for us. I wish it could be like this all the time! That would probably make me spoiled though. :P

life lately

Wow, it's been a busy time lately. Paul and I have both been pretty stressed out the last few weeks, but now, it finally seems to be letting up again for both of us. Paul's been balancing school work, grad school essays, and his senior research project...and I've been balancing my senior project, work, and classes. All the other semesters seem so easy compared to this one for some reason!

Anyway, things are letting up to a more reasonable level of stress, I think. Yesterday, we were able to have a really relaxing day for the first time in a long time! We started watching these Planet Earth videos, that we rented from the library...and I've gotta say, God's Creation is freakin' awesome, beautiful, and sometimes downright creepy!!! There were like six DVD's total, and we kind of got addicted to them. We've watched every episode now, except for "the future," which I'm not sure what that alludes to. Mars, maybe? We will see. I highly recommend the movie to you though! We couldn't stop saying, "OMG. WHOA! WHAT THE HECK?! WOW. or, WEIRD, NASTY, DISGUSTING!!!!

Right now, I'm in the library, stuck on one of my stories for my senior project. :( I have to have it done by Monday, and at least 10 pages long....right now I have about 2! I had a good day on it the other day, but now today, it's just not flowing. argh. I'm looking forward to just having this story done, because then I'll have all my rough drafts done, and I can just focus on editing. I wish I could get a clearer look at my stories though. I'm really disappointed in my experience with my advisor. It's just very sad. It just feel like he's not a real reader when I get his comments. He doesn't tell me what he likes or dislikes about anything...all his comments are so objective, I can't even tell what he means by them. I don't know what it is. I don't remember having this experience with him when I had Poetry class with him. So, I guess I'm just confused. Has he changed, or have I changed...why is it different? It's really terrible, because I find myself getting really discouraged when I write, because I think about what my advisor will think....(even though he doesn't really tell me directly, it seems)...so it's very unmotivating because I have doubts that he will like anything I write. I was so doubtful, I had to email him asking him how he thinks I'm doing in the class...for fear he was going to fail me. He said I'm doing fine....but even that, I'm not sure what he means. Am I doing fine, like I don't need to worry, or am I doing fine, like I'm not doing great, but I'll probably pass. I don't know why I find him so confusing. And it's weird because I've never really had a fear of failing a class before, and this is like the most important one! I haven't said this before, but we stopped meeting in person, and are just going to do email sessions now...the reason being, I broke down balling in his office last time we met! I was so embarrassed to be crying there, because I've never in my life cried in front of a teacher before...but I couldn't stop, even though I wanted to so bad. I guess I just couldn't hold it in anymore. So then, he suggested we just do email sessions. I just wanted to get out there ASAP, so I agreed. But I'm glad we did it, so I don't have to see him as much anymore. I guess the thing that just really gets to me about him is that he seems to take his viewpoint as the ultimate authority. He told me at our first meeting that I am the author and to make decisions myself, but I don't think he actually believes what he says. Sometimes he would say things about my story, and I would disagree, and he would just get more and more offensive, no matter how much I tried to defend my stance. It's very irritating, and also very discouraging, because now I feel like I will only graduate Taylor if I write my senior project to please my advisor, to his standards. I would be totally happy and free, if I could just write it on my own and not have to worry about him, but to know that he's the one basically handing me my diploma, I'm afraid if I don't obey his every word, he won't be obliged to pass me. It's very trapping, mentally and creatively. I feel like he is looming over me, when I try to write. I think this has lessened a lot, now that we are not meeting face-to-face, but it's still there. I don't feel like I can talk to him about it, because even when I was balling in his office, he hardly did anything more than try to offer me a tissue (which he didn't have).

It feels good to vent these things, but I know I can't dwell on them too much. Ultimately, I will graduate, even if he tries to fail me--I know I can fight it. I've earned A's in all my writing classes--that would look too weird for me to fail. This is just a trial I've got to face, and get through. It's not fun, but I guess that means it's good for me. :)

play a game and give people water!

airband, macy's, and mawidge

Valerie and I had our airband tryout tonight. I'm not sure what to think of how it went. Everyone else seemed really happy about it, but I feel kind of neutral about it. The judges didn't really seem to go WILD about it when we finished, so I think it will be a close call. I think we do have an advantage against the other Jai Ho (We are doing Jai Ho, the song at the end of Slum Dog Millionaire) team, but I'm more nervous that neither of us will get in. I'm not sure how many people have tried out either...I just hope we get in! It would be so special!!! We should find out in about two hours, so I'm excited and nervous for it. I want to know, but I'm scared to know! Anyway, it has been really fun this year doing airband, and there has been much less (or zero) drama compared to other years I've participated, so that's a major bonus.

In other news, I started my first "real" day at Macy's today! The past two days have just been watching DVD's, and going through computer CD's about Macy's, so it was fun to actually work. It's nice to work, even if it is just a simple task, and feel useful! I started at 7 am (which means I got up 5:30 am) and worked til noon. Basically, they had me tearing down displays and setting them up in other areas of the store and in different ways. I worked in the accessories department, so I was setting up displays of ear muffs, tons of scarves, umbrellas, hats, gloves, etc. Most of this I was doing while the store hadn't even opened yet, so it was nice to just be able to talk to my coworkers. It wasn't stressful, and I really enjoyed it! So far, things are looking up!

In other, other news, today Paul and I have been married for exactly two months! So I thought I'd do a little reflection on marriage so far. "Mawidge...mawidge is what brings us together." Yes, I think the priest in Princess Bride is correct. Marriage does bring us together. We're together almost all the time, when we wake up, through part of the day, the evenings, during meals, and then yes, we sleep together. We're married. Even if we aren't together for most of a day, we are together because we always talk about our day, so it's like we were together even though we weren't! I'm so glad I married a man I never get sick of! Yes, there are some rare times when I can get annoyed with him, but sick of? That doesn't happen, and I'm gonna try for it to stay that way!

The other thing I wanted to say about marriage is just how wonderful it is to have that one person that knows you so well, and is always there, supporting you, and encouraging you through things--there through the fun times and the sad times...through all my emotions! Just being loved unconditionally, for who you really are--successes and failings. Everything. There is just an immense freedom, knowing you can be a complete dork, say whatever you feel, completely and truely just BE YOURSELF, without thinking about any expectations or what others think. In a way, it's safety. There's no shame.

I think one of the most important things in marriage is mutual respect. It's respect that makes you consider the other person before you do something. It's respect that makes you apologize. Respect brings you to help the other person. Respect, I think is even what motivates interest in the other person. It's not like the other person has to do something amazing to get respect, but I think respect should first just generally be given because we are human beings. We have feelings, we have minds, we have dreams. I think just respecting each other in their own uniqueness--the way they think, they way they communicate, the heart they have--respecting everything about them...it brings so much goodness into marriage!

So, those are some of my reflections on marriage so far. I love Paul so much! We are on a journey...

struggling

Feeling totally stressed, and stuck with my senior project. I'm blocked, and everything I manage to write I hate. It's very depressing and frustrating and generally horrible. I just feel so much pressure, and feel like I'm already failing. It's all so terrible. It's torture looking ahead to my meetings with Satterlee, because I'm too sensitive to my work, because I already hate it. And I don't know how to produce something that I'll like. I have to just wait for it to come...that's what I always do, but I think I'm pushing for it too much. It's just this terrible internal struggle. And I'm just scared that nothing's going to change, and what am I going to do? It's just so crappy. I don't know how to turn my mind off when I'm trying to write. It's messing everything up, and it all just sucks.

I started rereading this book that I love today. It's called "From Where You Dream," and I never reread books so this is a big deal. I think it's helping me. It understands my problems! Basically, I can't get into my unconscious because I keep thinking about all the pressure, so I can't turn off my critiquing self. So it prevents me from making anything "organic." I keep turning to literal memories, which limits my creativity, and keeps me from getting in the "zone." Anyway, I understand my problem, but I'm just not sure how to get myself to stop doing this to myself. I just don't know what to do. Also, it's very unmotivating to write when you feel like everything you write is crap. I mean, I guess the first draft isn't supposed to be an amazing piece of literature, but I can't stand just a mediocre response--it feels like a failure to me. Paul says I'm putting too much pressure on myself. But I have to have some sort of standards...I don't think I can help it. I have to at least satisfy myself. I just feel so down. :(

GRE's

Paul took the GRE's today, and I'm so proud of him!!! He got a 1290 (out of 1600)!!! He got well above the minimum requirement for all the grad schools he wanted to apply to. I'm so proud of him! :D

He sent his scores to Seattle Pacific, George Fox, Rosemead, & Azusa Pacific. So now the rest of the application process to go!

The Singing Microwave and His Lover, The Wailing Elephant (Part 1)

[This is how I destress from the pressure of actually writing something serious for my senior project.]

Yes, it may be hard to believe. A microwave falling in love with an elephant. A relationship destined for trouble, perhaps? Particular trouble, perhaps? Don't tell the microwave that—you'll break his heart! Just listen to the story, and believe that love is stronger, no matter the circumstances.

It all started in Burger Land, at the We Love Animals Zoo. Sammy, the zookeeper, was whistling his favorite tune as he shoveled elephant dung into a wheelbarrow, all the while thinking of his small baby at home whose bodily wastes are quite—well! He didn't even have a chance to finish that thought because a quite atrocious noise entered his ears. An elephant was throwing her tusk into the air and making the saddest, loudest, most peculiar noise an elephant could make. The sound reminded Sammy of the sound his baby makes when he wants his mommy and milk. Except worse. Way worse. Like perhaps the sound of his baby turning into a demon child who demands milk like a miniature Hitler. Except sad. And mournful.

Anyway, it is hard to describe. We will call it a wail. The Wailing Elephant continued to wail and wail and wail. Was this a tantrum, for more food? Was the Wailing Elephant depressed? Or did she just like the sound of her own noises? The zookeepers were quite confused. They tried giving her more food. She wailed. They tried special treats. Just wailing. She continued in her wailing for what seemed like a decade. By now there was an enormous crowd watching the Wailing Elephant. No one could figure it out. Well, the zookeepers just gave up, and went to their break room. They had tried everything. Finally, the Wailing Elephant ceases her wailing, and took a drink of water.

In the break room, the zookeepers sighed with relief that the terrible noise had finally stopped. Sammy was hungry and decided to put some Mac N Cheese in the microwave, for lunch. The microwave seemed dead. No lights no nothing. Stunned, you could say. You see, this microwave heard the Wailing Elephant's music. And that's exactly what it was to him. The most beautiful music he'd ever heard. He was dumbstruck from the lovely song the Wailing Elephant sang. Downright speechless. Yes, you could say the microwave fell in love at first hearing. He had never laid eyes on the Wailing Elephant. Didn't even know what an elephant looked like, in fact. He had entered the zoo in a box, remember now. But he didn't care. He was so deep in love, that not even the CEO of General Electric could have pulled him out of it. He knew he had to meet his love. This was the microwave's firmest conviction.

Once he had settled this in his mind, all this lights flickered on, and the letters L-O-V-E scrolled across his screen. Sammy blinked his eyes a few times, thinking he must be seeing things! Then he stuck his Mac N Cheese to get heated up. Remember now, that the microwave's firmest conviction now is to find his love, and win her. He turns on, and the Mac N Cheese spins. The microwave gets an idea. He pushes some of the wheels on the plate a little off the track as it spins. The result: a squeaking, moaning, horrifying noise. He twists the wheels more, and the noise is now almost equivalent to the wailing of the Wailing Elephant. “Perhaps, the Wailing Elephant will hear the Singing Microwave calling to her. Perhaps she will know that I love her,” thought the Singing Microwave.

The Wailing Elephant heard his cry, and curvaciously raised her trunk answer him.

“What is going on here!” The boss flew into the break room. “The microwave is singing, and the elephant is wailing!”

The noises were quite horrendous to all the zookeepers, and as a result, they were becoming quite irritable. Sammy stopped the microwave and decided to just eat his Mac N Cheese half cold.

Our humble home :)

Our bed, with the beautiful quilt that our friends made for us!

Bathroom!

Kitchen/Hallway/Pantry

Pantry/Extra Shelves

Kitchen Area

Dinner Table!

Part of Living Room

Couch!

Here are your requested pics, Ivory! <3>

jobbing

So far, I've applied at.....

1. Tree of Life Bookstore

2. Starbucks

3. Noah's

4. Macy's

5. Kmart

6. Payne's

I got an interview at Noah's, but didn't get it. Today I just got an email from Macy's, and set up an interview. I applied online, and they sent me an email saying to schedule my own interview today, so I did. So I have an interview on Thursday! Muncie is a bit of a drive, but it would be a job! And that would be nice. It would also be nice if I got hired there, because there are Macy's all over the country, so wherever we end up after college, I at least would have a foot in the door there, if I can't get hired other places. So, hopefully, this will work out. We will see!

Snow White

Introducing my new lappy! It is an Acer Netbook. It's 11.6" and less than 3 pounds! I love it! My old computer died a while ago, so we decided to buy this with some of our wedding money. Only $349.99 and way better than my old huge laptop was. I love this because it is so portable, but it still has a full size keyboard. It is actually on the big side for a netbook since it has a full size keyboard, but I think it's perfect this way...not to big, but not to small. It's pretty exciting. :D

In other news, I confessed to Satterlee that I only read two of the twelve books...and I was relieved to hear his response: "Two books is better than none." Yay! So I don't think it's a big deal, which is such a relief. Sigh. :)

I've filled out applications for Tree of Life, and Starbucks so far. I'll probably turn them in tomorrow, if their managers are in. I like having the manager actually see my face when I apply places, so I'm not just a piece of paper when they consider me. :)

It's been so fun setting up the apartment with Paul! I put new shelf liner on in the kitchen and put some cute wallpaper up. It's a lot of work though! I don't have it all done, but getting closer. Our kitchen sink has a little leak that maintenance hasn't fixed yet...other than that, it's been pretty nice! I love having our own place! And I love my "roommate"!!! :D

Taylor Bound

Paul and I leave Leavenworth the day after tomorrow! Can't wait to get to Taylor, and set up our apartment. I'm excited for our last five months at Taylor. I'm taking Shakespeare! It's pretty much my only real class. I have my senior project, Parnassus, and Senior Seminar--they are all just one credit. And I need to find a job! I think I will apply at Paynes, Starbucks, and Tree of Life for starters. We will see.

Wow, I just realized that we won't be getting to Taylor as late in the night as I thought! Yay! We will be arriving around 2 or 3am, but I thought the time change would be working against us, when really it will be working for us! It will only feel like 11 or 12 at night. Cool beans. (Or hot beans! As Rachel would say!)

I didn't read everything I was supposed to this summer for my senior project. I think I only finished like two books! I'm scared to tell Satterlee! And I still don't know what I'm doing exactly for my project...yikes. I need to return all my unread and overdue library books to the Leavenworth library. They are sending me a new notice like every day, it seems like! I know it will all come together...it's just kind of nerve racking not having anything together right now...... I'm wondering...do all the senior project advisors require 12 books to be read over the summer??? (Housholder?) I'm I screwed for not doing it?!?

Well, this very eventful summer is basically over now. Farwell, summer of 2009! You were wonderful.

Life is changing!

Last time I posted, Paul wasn't even here yet--wow! SO much has happened!

Paul got baptized on July 30th in the river with his mom and dad, and a friend named

Andy. They each shared their testimony beforehand, and it was a

really awesome time since there were many people there for the wedding that hadn't heard them before. Many people were moved by Paul's testimony, one of which was my grandpa who

isn't saved yet. I love my grandpa very much; please pray that he will become a Christian before he dies!

The next day was our wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner! The rehearsal dinner was in

the park, and we had a Contra dance! We weren't able to have dancing at the wedding, so this was kind of our reception except the day before. We decided to do a Contra dance instead

of having a DJ, so that everyone could be included in the dancing!

Then, August 1st was our wedding day. :) We LOVED it! We decided to do the pictures beforehand and have a "first vision," which I'm really glad we did. I started out pretty against it, thinking that it would make the ceremony less exciting. But it didn't make it any less exciting, and it made the day a lot less stressful. I wasn't really very stressed at all, which was awesome! During the ceremony, we washed each other's feet as a symbol of Eph. 5:21 "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." And also, we decided to do it to show each other that we want to love each other the way Christ loves us--unconditionally! I didn't think I was going to cry, but just as we were all lining up to walk down the aisle, I just couldn't stop the tears from flowing! I wasn't even sad, I guess just emotional. Happy tears are good. The wedding was so wonderful!

Yesterday, Rachel and I hiked Mount Stuart! It was beautiful! It's a nine mile hike round trip, but definitely worth it. I love this hike because it's not all straight uphill all the time, and it's pretty shady. There is a meadow area just before you get to the lake, and the mountain is like right there. So cool! It's so pretty especially with the snow still on the mountains. We had to used about a half a bottle of bug spray, and I still have tons of bites! And my ankle is all swollen from one too, which has never happened before. And I have bites on my head! But nature is so amazing...God's creation is amazing! And I haven't even seen that much of it!

This hike was a really nice break. A good break from work, and wedding planning, and a relationship issue I've been having with someone. Lately, I've really been learning a lot about how to deal with manipulation, and it's just not very fun. But I think it's good for me...and I think this year God has been trying to teach me to be a stronger person. I think part of becoming a stronger person is learning to stand up for yourself and for what is right (not that I'm always right!), and learning to confront issues and people honestly but in love, and for the purpose of reconciliation. Confrontation is definitely not my favorite thing to do, and sometimes things get worse before they get better. But if you never try, then they're guarenteed not to get better! So, it's definitely worth it in the long run. It's like cleaning the toilet...it's just something that has to be done. And the end result, after the long dreary process, is a great communion with the shiny clean toilet seat! So worth it, right?

Anyway! Paul will be home in exactly two weeks!!! It's about time, really. I just can't wait to pick him up at the airport, and for him to just be here. Can't wait.................................

Tomorrow is 4th of July, and my dad got the idea of going to a "tea party" in Seattle. I guess it's basically a taxes protest...which, I must say, it's justified. I don't want me or anyone else having to pay money for "global warming," and even more disturbing, I don't want my money going to the new homosexual education system that's being put in schools, to teach kindergartener's about homosexuality. That's just not fair. So I will "protest" since, at least for now, this is a free country! :)

moments that keep popping up in my mind

My dad: "I wish you could un-relative someone."

An image: An old Harley guy with a gray braid down to his butt, but only made with hair from the sides of his head, because of the large burnt circle of his bald spot.

When my coworker found out that Paul and I hadn't been living together last year (or ever): "Wow! That sure is rare nowadays, isn't it!"

...Yes, I guess it is. And lately, it seems like everyday I find out that someone else I know is getting a divorce, or has already gotten one, or has had an affair...It's just very depressing, how commonplace it is now. I think the statistic is over 50% now...I just hate it. It really is terrible. The other day I found out that at my brother's friend's wedding, his best man cancelled on him the day of. I just think people can't believe in marriage anymore. It's so sad. But I love seeing these REALLY old couples who come into Prey's Fruit Barn, still calling each other "honey dear" and being cute. I wanna be like them someday! We need those good examples, we really do.

And now I will leave you with a favorite verse of Paul and mine's. Ha! And of course the internet kicks off just when I'm about to write God's Word! I had to change computers. It can't stop me!

Proverbs 10:17 "He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray."

This summer has been, is, and will be so busy! But it's a good busy.

I am in a fantastic mood right now. Today Paul bought a new plane ticket...one that's coming a week earlier than before! (His class ended early, that why this is possible.) YAY! So he'll be here the 17th instead of the 24th. Wow, that means he'll be here in 3 weeks and 2 days! So exciting..............................!!!

On Friday, my mom and I went over to the other side of the mountains and picked up my wedding dress. We decided to wait and get lunch after trying on the dress...in other words, we needed to make sure I could fit in it first. And I did! I'm glad, because I was hungry!

Later that night, we were going over to Lynn's (my future mother-in-law) neighbor's house for dinner. But, that turned out to be a surprise bridal shower! I guess I should have seen it coming, but I completely did not, even after I saw all the cars in the driveway, and even when they were yelling surprise! I was just plain confused. It took about ten minutes for it to all sink in that it was actually happening. It was my first shower, and it was such a wonderful surprise! They made me answer questions about Paul, and then chew a peice of Bubbliscious for every one I got wrong. The wad wasn't too big, but it was pretty hard to blow a bubble!

The next day was a triple shower--for my two cousins and I. Long story short, I've got a lot of "loot," as my dad calls it.

I'm getting too tired to finish this! I'm working at Prey's Fruit Barn tomorrow. I'm working there three days a week, and then at Der Tier for two. It's nice to have a change of scenery in the workplace.

Well, this wasn't much of a blog entry! Sleep is more important. :) I'm learning how nice it is to go to bed early. Love to all, and hope you all have adventurous-and-exciting,-but-happy dreams!

Peace.