Brrr...

Today was freezing AND we had a teensy bit of "precipitation." You know what that means! The whole town shut down! I love living in a town that freaks out about a little cold weather and uses any excuse to pull out fancy titles such as "Ice Storm 2004." So, today I reaped the wonderful benefits of that--school was closed! Which meant I got to sleep in, spend a wonderful morning sitting around in my PJs, and then finally got to catch up on some of my lesson plans in the afternoon. Throw in a little fun with friends at the end of the day and YAY! I needed this oh-so-lovely day! It was like a mini vacation.

Well speaking of mini vacations, sorry I haven't been on the blog-o-sphere for a few weeks! Lots of things have been going on though! The biggest thing is that I started Student Teaching! It's wonderful! My mentor teacher is simply amazing and her teaching style is similar to mine/what I aspire to, so it's very easy to mesh in and work with her class. My only complaint about student teaching is that I hate having to go to bed so early! :) I miss being a night owl.

Weddings on the weekends have been a little draining, and my last one until May is this coming weekend! I'm so glad I made the wise decision of not taking any more weddings until I graduated. I'm not sure if I could have handled it all! But come May, I'm booked with weddings for almost every weekend until the end of August! I'm so thrilled and blessed. It's going to be busy, and I just can't wait!

Let's see what else is new? Well I don't want to bore you to death with in-depth musings. Life is good. I've been re-reading the Christy Miller college series (Cherith, that's for you!) and they are like my little escape after a day full of crazy kiddos. Want some good music? My new favs are Brooke Fraser's album Albertine, Taylor Swift's new CD Fearless, Sufjan Steven's Michigan album, and Coldplay's Viva la Vida!

Well it's bed time for me! G'night!

I've gotten so into this...

I can't get enough! Yay family! :)

I wrote something about politics. Cool.

So the election is over. :) The past 2 days I've been trying to be a nice, supportive American, NOT making slanderous comments about Obama or making empty threats to move out of the country. Maybe it's because I've been watching too many movies about buying war bonds in the 50's (?) or something, but I just want to support my country...even though I know there is plenty wrong with it. It's frustrating though that other people haven't wanted to offer the same support to Prez Bush. I know he's made his mistakes, but so has everyone. I suppose the main reason Bush gets the heat for everything is that America is just looking for a scapegoat...someone to blame. We are a society of blame-shifters.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about this article on Fox News. It's not about politics, but it's about character and simply having class. What's more, it was written by a guy who worked with John Kerry on his 2004 presidential campaign. It's short, I promise! Read it!

Okay, so I don't really agree with all of Obama's politics, but I'm going to stay classy nonetheless. 

:)

Update: A Special Election Day Edition!

So it's not an update on the election, but it is an update on election day. :) In case you were wondering, I am...

Wearing: The same thing I wore yesterday. I woke up 14 minutes before I was supposed to be in class today, but I threw on yesterday's outfit and totally made it in time!
Watching: Fox News Election Coverage

Voting For: McCain/Palin. 
Eating: Just finished lunch! Cheeto Puffs are delicious :)

Drinking: Free Starbucks coffee! If you show that you voted, you get a free cup of coffee!
Photoshopping: NOTHING! I've finished all my recent sessions. Now I'm all ready to tackle my 2 sessions this weekend.
Loving: You.
Excited About: Seeing my best friend this weekend!
Laughing at: Myself.
Feeling thankful for: Getting a good grade on my Lesson Plans! And actually making it to class this morning!

Go vote! What an exciting day!

A Brownwood Weekend

Cheers to another great weekend! :) This time, Megan, Scott, and I drove down to Brownwood to visit Matt, Megan's boyfriend, for a day. We had a great time! We explored Matt's house (it's like a fun treehouse), went out to eat, drove all around brownwood, and went to this sweet abandoned hot spring! It was so cool! 

Here are a few photos: (1) Me standing on the old pipe supports that brought the water to the hot springs. I fearlessly jumped up there and then was terrified to get down! I was like a scared cat up a tree. Both boys had to help me and it took forever! (2) Megan getting a little help from Matt hopping the fence to get into the old hot springs. (3) Meg and I are friends! (4) A snapshot of all of us.

Great trip you guys! :)

P.S. Don't forget to vote tomorrow!

Olympics, Photography, Yoga, and Grandpa's Birthday (All rolled into one post!)

Who's in love with the Olympics?! I AM!! I'm watching them every chance I get! If you ever want to come over some night and watch with me, I'll cook for you!! :) When I watch the Olympics, I'm always reminded of the '96 Olympics when Kerri Strug took the U S of A to gold! Man, good times! I was so freaking out when that happened.

Anyway, it's always been a big dream of mine to go to the Olympics...just to watch, you know. :) Now that I have my cameras, I REALLY wish I could go. Just look at some of the cool photos (remember, I did NOT take these):

And also, on the note of photography, you might want to zip over to my photography blog. I posted a few sessions that I'm proud of :)

Next, you might wonder how my yoga class is going since I made such a big to-do about it...it's going GREAT! I adore it while I'm there and miss it when I don't get to go! I've been going three times a week which has been incredible. I can already tell a difference in my overall health and feel-good-ness. If you ever wanna come with me, I can bring guests. ALSO, I just bought a new yoga mat while my mom and I were in San Antonio. Isn't that fun?! I got a little too excited about it :) It's purple with a sweet damask design on it.

Important Side Note: I've always wanted to know the name for this design, because it's so popular, and I found out: it's called damask. I know you've seen it before. Just type "damask" into Google Images, and you'll soon be saying, "Ohhh, THAT'S what that is called!" (Unless of course you already knew it...then you would just be cool).

Finally, my grandpa's birthday was this past weekend! The whole family got together to celebrate, and it was wonderful. Here's a photo of him opening his birthday present from all of us...an Ice Cream Maker. He loved it! My grandparents are so inspiring...they are just as active, spry, God-loving, and sharp as can be...at 80+ years! I want to be like that!

Free Rice

Short post, I know, but you need to check out this website! FreeRice.com is a place where you can learn new vocabulary words (which I am always up for) and play their little vocab game. Here's the deal: for each game round you win, they donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger! How sweet a deal is that? Play free games AND get smarter AND help end world hunger! I love it. The grains of rice really add up. Go play!!

Finding Encouragement in Strange Places

Confession: I read InStyle magazine.

Now, this is a big deal because I was that girl growing up that was highly opposed to fashion magazines because of the whole body image thing. I think it was a good choice for me while I was struggling through all those teenage girl insecurity issues. It also made it easier for me to keep my mind on things of God. Nowadays I like to flip through the pages of a magazine every once in a while to get some inspirations for photography and things. But I think it's crazy the way I've been encouraged spiritually by reading the occasional InStyle magazine.

If your any bit like me, you probably get kinda frustrated and disgusted with the whole celebrity/Hollywood scene. The extravagance, the selfish attitudes, the stupid scandal things, the focus on one-upping everyone else, the obsession with external things, I could go on. BUT I suppose it's not fair to completely overgeneralize all celebrities. Recently, I've found a couple of things that have encouraged me: people (and I'm talking about non-Christians here) really do love and serve others.

So here's my two favorite encouraging things I've found in InStyle magazine:

(1) In the December 2007 issue, Natalie Portman was interviewed for the cover story. She's apparently "living green" and one of her favorite ways to show it was by donating her old shoes to people in Kenya through a website called Shoe 4 Africa. She says, "Each pair that's worn [in Africa] will cut down the spread of disease...If you're going to buy $200 Nikes, then spend $7 to send your old shoes to Africa." I freakin' LOVE IT!! And I'm definitely donating my shoes! Check out the website!!

(2) You know how InStyle always has the "Parties!" section all about who came to so-and-so's party and what they wore? I guess so that we can feel like we were invited? Yeah, it makes me laugh too :) But something caught my eye in the October 2007 issue: a photo of an actress showing off her Invisible Children bracelet! I got excited and read about how Kristen Bell had a little party in honor of Invisible Children! How cool is that? The little caption read, "'Action' took on a whole new meaning for this crowd." I like it.

And as cynical as people can get about Hollywood and all, I'm okay with getting excited about these two things. Even if it is just for publicity or whatever. In Philippians, Paul writes that some preach Christ out of selfish ambition, just trying to stir up trouble, "...but what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice." (Phil 1:17-18) Well said, Paul!

And go donate your shoes to Africa!

Another post for November 7th!

Ok, yes, I do have another post today! (I'm really procrastinating the homework.) But I just had to share a couple of things with you!

First of all: If you need a little "Life is beautiful" moment, I've found one for you! Head over to the Lyon's photography blog and check out their brand new baby boy! You'll have to scroll down a couple of posts I think, but man...you need to go look. You'll laugh, you'll smile, you'll feel better about your life. :) Here's a picture to entice you. I'll say no more :)

Second up, real quick (and then I've got to get on the homework!): Everybody who is a bottled water drinker should start drinking Ethos water. Why? Because it is their mission to get clean water to children around the world and to raise awareness about the world water crisis (which my roommate Megan has been telling me all about recently too). 4,500 kids die every day because of a lack of clean water. Only 8 billion US dollars would make this problem non-existent (to put this in perspective, about 17 billion dollars are spent annually on overdraft charges from the bank in America). But not much seems to be happening. So support those who are making things happen!

What time is it?!

Yay, High School Musical 2! I just loved it and wanted to show my 21 year old enthusiasm towards this movie made for 9 year olds. :) It makes me want to get up and dance. Bill O'Reilly even had a little segment of it on "The O'Reilly Factor." I was so proud. He had a great thought though-- 17 MILLION households watched it Friday night on the Disney channel. Does that mean clean entertainment is making a comeback with kiddos? We'll see... :)

Meg gets back tonight!! So does Erin!! I'm so very excited! This morning, I drove past HSU and saw all the new lil freshmen running around playing "Campus Tag." I remember that like it was yesterday! It's wild that so many people will be graduating this year. But still, I'm really excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this year. Father we trust you.

Hope you all have a good day!

I think there's a opossum under my desk...

Something is occasionally clanking around under my desk today and that makes me nervous. Maybe it's a rat...or a snake...or a opossum! I do not know...but when I find out I'll let you know :) Maybe it's an Australian Shepherd puppy! Wow, that would make this day the best day of my life!

It would be so wonderful if we had snow days in Summer. Not with snow, of course, but with work and school being canceled. Why is it that extreme cold can shut everything down, but extreme heat cannot? I'm ready for a Summer snow day...I'm tired of waking up early and not having time to dance. :) But I do get to go on a fun weekend trip with my mom in a few hours! That will be so fun. Expect a post with lots of pictures when we get back. I've had it with not taking pictures. Yesterday, I got to take some and it got me all pumped!

Did you hear about that warehouse fire yesterday? Apparently, there was alot of marijuana in it and all the fire fighters got a little stoned trying to fight the fire. I'm smiling...that's just funny! Once again, this story courtosy of my co-worker who keeps up with our crazy world.

I'm really curious about what's making this clatter under my desk. It's only every few minutes and it sounds like someone is shaking a tin can with a button in it. Where did that analogy come from? The 1800's?

I keep finding these dry, cynical, but really funny cartoons...

I like them.

I like you. Let's be friends!

Highly Amused

I'm pretty much cracking up right now. One of my co-workers has been hardcore keeping up with the whole Paris Hilton thing, and he just thinks it's hysterical. He was watching the foxnews.com live stream about her going back to jail and the camera man on the video kept making fun of Miss Hilton. He kept saying things like, "There is interesting weather going on in parts of the country, couldn't I cover that instead? It's more like real news. I hope the pinnacle of my career isn't chasing Paris Hilton. This is ridiculous." I really laughed then. And then someone, an actual person, had a plane fly over her house with a banner that read "We love Paris -The Darling Family." That's just 10 times more funny. THEN on top of all this hilarious-ness, my co-worker goes, "If I had as much money as the Hiltons, I'd go out and buy myself a big ranch and then buy one of every kind of construction machinery. Then I'd dig a big hole in my yard. The next day I'd fill it up, and I'd do that every couple of days. Everyone would think I was nuts." I pretty much died laughing at that point. :)

It would suck to be famous. Think about the neighbors that live across the street from the Hiltons and can't go outside because of all the helicopter TV cameras stationed outside for 15 hours just waiting for the 3 seconds when something happens. What if they just want to play some ultimate Frisbee? Besides who wants to watch the outside of someone's house for 15 hours? What a party.