Caroline, why are you driving an orange box?

My dearest darling-est 4runner, Simon, is back in the shop. Something's wrong with the transmission...again.




So since they had to keep him in the shop overnight, my dad took me to pick up my "loaner" car for the next few days from the dealership. Guess what they gave me? Scroll down a bit if you're prepared to see the hideousness.

Are you kidding me!?

So I'm zipping around town in this little piece of work. Yikes! It's like someone at the dealership wanted to pull a joke on me! So if you see me driving around in it (and trust me, it's not that hard to miss) honk or something. :)

P.S. Okay, it is a Scion and it's really fun to drive. But still...hideous!! I can't wait to get my baby 4runner back!

**UPDATE**

Just a few minutes ago, a man walked into the store (where I work) and announced, "That little orange car out front is just about the ugliest looking thing I've ever seen!"

Haha, yes...thank you. I'm aware of that.

Who doesn't love Anthropologie?

...And it's cold here again. Man, I was loving that little taste of springtime weather we were enjoying. I confess, I've fallen prey to the marketer's schemes of "promote the next season 4 months before it actually starts." Swimsuits, sandals, and airy decor already? Bring it. I'm excited about Spring! I love the colors, the warmth, the life. Getting outside on that first day when you can smell that it's really Spring...nothing beats it!

I think I'm also super excited about the season's change because so many good things will be happening this summer: Emily&Josh's wedding, Amanda&Kyle's wedding, Trips and such with friends and family, Photography second shoots and jobs, and Pine Cove just to name a few. Usually summers come and I "relax." No more of that! I'm ready to go. :)

Oh! And I have found my new favorite musician (until next week, when I find another ha!). It's One Cell in the Sea by A Fine Frenzy. This girl is delightful! Self taught pianist, sweet soprano vocals, and extremely chill/beautiful/artistic songs.

And here are the "Of-the-day"-s. :)

Quote of the Day: (by my dad) "It's as easy as falling off a log." :) gotta love it!

Funny Thing of the Day: I looked and looked and couldn't find a picture, but Chick-fil-a's new breakfast advertising cracks me up! As a self-proclaimed cereal addict, I just couldn't stop laughing at their fake cereals like "Frosted Monotony" and "Stale O's." Phrases like, "Free block of wood inside!" and "Mmm...Cardboard." and "Now with HALF the flavor!" and "Explosion of Tastelessness!" made me almost fall out of my chair laughing.

Pretty Picture of the Day: Some Pottery Barn green to happify your wintry house, perhaps?

Hope you all have a lovely day!

Word Nonsense

Get ready for exciting news! I ran five miles today and got to go to Starbucks to read and journal for a couple of hours!! Ahh...the joys of Christmas break. I'd like to shake the hand of the man who advocated a month long vacation from college because of Christmas. Genius guy, really.

So, on the topic of geniuses, I feel that I must admit something. I was trying to come up with the word "advocated" to use in that last paragraph, but couldn't think of it, and the word "propagated" hit my brain first. I figured it meant what I wanted it to mean, but decided to look it up on Merriam-Webster just in case. Good thing, haha. If you don't know what propagated means, you should look it up before you ever try to use it as a synonym for "advocated." :)

Today at Starbucks, I got to read my Donald Miller book Searching for God knows What and he apparently likes to throw in big words sometimes. I've dedicated a page of my journal to the big words Don uses (Yes, in case you were wondering, we are on first name basis here), and it's been so much fun to learn new words like pariah and anonymity. I always feel so much smarter when I'm learning new words or reading poetry or classic literature. 

Wedding photos to come...

Song of the day: 1963 by Rachel Yamagata

Humor Me

Hello friends. You probably won't find this blog post even remotely interesting or funny, but I still just wanted to post it. If nothing else, I can look back and have a good laugh at myself. I love laughing at myself. You should too.

First of all, today while I was standing outside talking to Jen Jackson (it's a BEAUTIFUL day outside!), about 13 ladybugs landed all over me. It was a very strange feeling to have so many bugs on me. Thirteen really is a lot of ladybugs. They were climbing around on my sweatshirt, getting in my shoes, and flying into my hair...very strange. Assault by ladybugs. Good thing those little guys are friendly!

Next up, my equilibrium must be confused. I've been running into walls and doors all freaking day long. But it's hilarious because I can just imagine how stupid I look. And these are hardcore run-ins; not like I almost ran into a wall, no, but like I plowed into a wall. Several times. Awesome.

I had lots of coffee yesterday which is always fun. New fav at Tuscany's: Irish Dream Frappe. Mmmm. I think I'm going to get another one today. During this crazy time of the semester, I need to pick up an extra job to support my coffee habits. Yes, it's that bad.

To finish out this pointless post: a corny joke. What do you call an illegally parked frog?
Toad.

Yesterday since the band and I never took real pictures, we played around instead...and here's a few of the results.

I think Tino was trying to make Jordan feel awkward. Play, Tino, play. And watch out for trains.Somebody stole my camera at one point and got a shot of me half playing the djimbe, half looking at something on Russell's computer. Hello Andy! Jordan hung himself...on a coat hook. How desperately sad. They all have such a "band" look about them...I think it's the hair.

Anybody want to take a guess as to what's going on here? I didn't think so...

Yay for friends who are okay with taking silly pictures all afternoon! :)

Much love,

Caroline

P.S. I got to go to the Shane and Shane concert on Wednesday and it was beyond wonderful! Afterwards was great too because Megan, Davey, and I went to eat at Bueno which turned into sitting there for two hours talking and laughing. YAY!

Oh, the situations we get into :)

Soooo yesterday was a very interesting day. I'll start off with Thursday night: I decided after much back-and-forth-ness NOT to go to the photography seminar. It was just too much of a sacrifice monetarily, time wise (for massive amounts of extra hours put in at work to finance this thing), and school-wise (I'd have to skip a whole week! haha). Sad, sad, sad. But I was ok. I'm hardcore planning and saving to go NEXT year! The whole situation was almost kind of humorous. :) But then Friday, 10:00 came and registration went live. I couldn't help myself! I was sure they would sell out oober fast (they did, the seminar was booked within the first 3 MINUTES of going live...crazy), but I just had to register so I could get that email saying, "Sorry, but you didn't get in the top 40" and close the door knowing I had "tried." So I registered at 10:40. Ha. And then went about my day, finished work, got into my car to go home...

And then the phone rang.

"Hi Caroline, this is Kelly Clark. (AH!!! World famous photographer on the phone with me!!!!! :))Well, you didn't get in the top 40, but all the photographers decided we'd stay an extra week and have the same seminar over again with a different group of 40. You made it into that group! Do you want to come?"

Oh, the irony. What a situation. I'm pretty sure I'll never forget this haha.

Love, Caroline





P.S. No, I'm not going to the workshop. I just can't right now, but all in all it's a hilarious situation. I hope whoever gets my spot is blessed by it. I also hope you all know that I am thoroughly enjoying this funny situation...and am looking forward to next year like nothing else!

P.S.S. And Thursday night I got to just sit and play guitar for a while, figure out some new worship songs for the coming semester, and worship my amazing, loving, God...who does indeed have an awesome sense of humor :)

P.P.S.S "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. Many, O Lord, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare!" Psalm 40:3-5. That pretty much sums up my heart right now. So joyful :) Thank you Lord!

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.