Home Alone

So, Elizabeth took off a few days for Virginia, and my other roommate Becky, just took off tonight for Europe. Which means... I have the house all to myself. Normally I would be scared, because I hate staying by myself... I get freaked out really, really easily. Wind at night, totally scary. People talking outside, creepy. And, if you knew my neighbors... you would be very afraid, I have some major weirdo's that live around me. But, not this time! This time I am going to be brave and over come my fears. And, I am very excited that I'm home alone. I'm not excited that Becky and Elizabeth are gone, I love living with them... but I feel like being all by myself will finally give me some time to get some things done that I normally wouldn't have time for. When Becky and Elizabeth are here I don't want to be responsible and do certain things; I would rather be hanging out with them watching a movie or talking... not doing chores. Because really, who likes chores anyway? NOT ME. But, what I hate even more is an unorganized house, so while they are gone I am planning to do lots of organizing and also some fun things, like:
...
- Read a magazine that I have been so excited to look through (The new Blueprint one)
- Do all of my laundry at one time and put it all away at the same time. I have a bad habit of doing one load at a time and never finishing all of my laundry at once, so I always have a pile that needs to get washed. But, not this time... I will have no dirty clothes sitting in my basket by the end of Monday!
- Wash and bleach our couch covers
- Paint the bench in our backyard, and my dresser (it's green now, but I really want to paint it pink-of course)
- Organize our bookshelves
- Clean out our pantry and fridge
- Hang some picture frames and find the perfect pictures to put in them
- Re-line shelves in the kitchen with crisp white paper

I have about 10 days to do all this.... i really hope that I can get it all done. I would feel SO accomplished!

The Mystery Spots...

The past two days my roommate becky and I have been finidng these mystery spots all over the sleves of our clothes, and other things. It didn't make much sence to us becasue we have nothing sitting out in our house that would leave little black marks on our clothing, but the marks looked like we had wipped our clothes on an ink pad or something (which, obvisouly, we did not).

Anyways... tonight on our way home from seeing Ratatouille, we got inside of our house and Becky realized that I have this black stuff on my fore heard between my eyes.... What? So, we played detective and back tracked from my car to the front door looking at everything and touching everything to see if it would leave black stuff on our fingers... and, we figured it out. There are two giant bushes that sit along side of the path to our front door that have this gross gross stuff on it... ew. Since when did bushes start bleeding black grossness?

Well, mystery solved... thank goodness for Clorox Bleach! And, watch out for those weirdo bushes... I'm not sure if they stain yet, but if they do, it's a sad day.


... now if you'll excuse me, I have a couple things to go wash.

Worst song ever

Tonight on my way home from the mall with Becky, I heard the WORST song I have ever heard. This is a huge statement, considering that I have been alive for 21 years and have heard my fair share of horrible songs. This tops all....

- The bum bum song by Tom Green... Stupid.
- What's up by 4 Non Blonde's... Irrelevant.

- I Would Do Anything for Love by Meatloaf... Disturbing.

- Sussudio by Phil Collins... Lame.

- Butterfly by Crazytown... Not Impressed.
- Lipgloss- Lil Mama... WORST SONG EVER.

learn about it.

Dear Lil Mama,

I think that you have some problems if the only thing that you can think to sing about is your lipgloss. You're song is dumb. I don't care about your lipgloss. I don't think that it is "cool" or "poppin'" nor do I believe you that "the boys chase you at schoo". It's lip gloss. Not love potion number 9. In your song you say, "What you know 'bout me" well, this is what I know about you...

1. you buy "Mac and L'Oreal, yup 'cause you're worf it", you also "put's it on so purfet"

..

2. You need to go back to school. I am not an English major but, your words are definitely not grammatically correct... nor are they even words... (purfet?... not a word)

..

3. I don't know of any lipgloss that can "make the boys keep stoppin'"

..

4. No matter how many L'Oreal watermelon crushes, that is not the reason that "all these boys got crushes"

..

5.Your song is not great... and neither is your lip gloss.

..

6. You wasted 3 minutes of my life tonight because your song is on the radio.

..

7. I will NOT be buying your CD.

...

I can think of better lyrics than you,

Annie Summers

This might sound crazy, but...

I have been going to the same hair place and having the same lady do my hair since my sophomore year of High School. Except, the past 2 times I have gotten my hair done, I have gone to another lady...

I kind of feel like I am cheating on my old hair girl... am I crazy? Do I have a loyalty to her? Or would it be OK for me to continue to keep going to the girl that I am going to now... I just feel a little bit bad. Like I abandoned her...

thoughts...?

Feelin' hot, Hot, HOT!!

Palm Springs was a blast. Sleeping in every day, laying out by the pool, hanging out with fun people, and, getting to know new people!

To make a long story short, staff retreat was amazing! And, I am VERY thankful that the hotel we stayed in had a swimming pool. It was SO hot a of couple days that the thermometer in the car that we drove to grab lunch one day read 113 degrees. Now, I could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure that even spa's don't get that hot...

Here are some fun pics from the trip...

Stacey, me, Bethany, and Allison. We didn't share a hotel room, but we were pretty much connected at the hip the whole trip...

The best bowling crew around. I love that Stacey is showing off the awesome shoes we all got to wear.

The car ride to the most delicious Mexican food place ever. We got in spirit and gave ourselves some bigote's (mustache's in Spanish).

As Stacy and I were on our way out to lay on our rafts and talk our last night at the hotel- we realized that our tank tops matched the colors of our rafts and had to take a picture! We had so much fun because we had the pool all to ourselves. All we did was lay on our rafts, talk and look up at the stars... it was great! I love the desert because the stars are so much easier to see!

Catching up...

These are the first 15 songs that popped up on my ipod when I pushed shuffle...

1. Bend and Break- Keane
2. Back to you- John Mayer
3. Walking Man- James Taylor
4. I Can't Wait- White Stripes
5. Creepin' In- Norah Jones
6. Winding Road- Bonnie Somerville
7. Drive Away- All American Rejects
8. Grace- Phil Wickham
9. Come Back Down- Lifehouse
10. Stay With You- Goo Goo Dolls
11. Meet Me, Midnight- Renee Olstead
12. Undignified- David Crowder
13. Take On Me- Ha
14. Welcome to Paradise- Green Day
15. I've Got You Under My Skin- Michael Buble

I tag E-Money and Brian

And, THIS is a picture of my workspace. I made it a little fancy to show off how much pink I have:

I have been gone...

I have been gone for a few days and I know that I have a few things to catch up on... like blogging "pictures of my workspace" (thanks for tagging me Brian) and what "the first 15 songs are on my ipod when I push shuffle" are (thanks for tagging me Brent)...

I also have some fun pictures that I took in Palm Springs-which is where I have been the past couple days…

I know that I have some catch up to do... so, I will blog tonight! Right now I am about to take off to one of my c-group girls dance performances... I'm so proud of her!

Time Flies...

It's crazy how fast two years just flies by. Before I knew it (or was even prepared for it) the little seventh graders that were in my C-Group two years ago are now graduated and going into High School. I'm sure that they would say that they are totally excited and have been ready for a while now- like they have told me so many times before... but I am not ready for them to go just yet.

In ministry, so far I have learned that it is the little things that make a big impact on my girl’s lives and the lives of other students in our ministry. It's the postcard that they get in the middle of the week saying that I'm thinking about them that makes their week and not the huge production that we put on during the weekends (even though those are awesome and totally fun). I think that the more personal ministry can be made, the more of a real ministry it really is and the more lives you touch that way. Like, remembering names of students and asking them about their pet that had to get shots that week, that kind of thing...

It's crazy to me because I felt like 2 years was not nearly enough time to make an impact in these girls lives and help prepare them for the next 4 years of their life, that is bound to be full of drama and lots of messy situations. Yet, as hard as it is for me to come to terms with it, I think that they really are ready. What's wild about them being so prepared is that I felt like half of the time (maybe more than that) I felt like they didn't want to even be at c-group because I constantly felt like I was saying things like, "stop texting your boyfriend", "put your phone away", "stop talking", "come back in the room, we're not finished yet" and, "How many of you does it take to go to the bathroom?"....

BUT....

It made me rethink all of that when I got to be in the baptism with one of my girls when she decided to make a public decision to follow Christ. And when I saw them get their diplomas, and when they told me that they love me and that they don't know what they are going to do without me since I am not moving up to High School with them.

Those are the moments that make everything worth it. Those are the times that make me stand in awe of God and see how he can transform anyone from any situation using the most unlikely person (be it a friend for life made in c-group or another girl's mom who became everyone’s mom... or me- I never thought I would end up in ministry). And those are the times when I feel so small compared to Him because I know that he is capable of doing anything. I am so blessed to be where I am.

People say that working in Jr. High is hard because you get attached to the students and then they are gone in 2 years. And, I'm not going to lie there were definitely some tears at our last c-group meeting and at their graduations. But, I think that working in Jr. High we are the lucky ones. We get to form relationships with the students and make them solid over two years, and then we get them for four more years. Maybe they aren't in the same ministry, but that doesn't matter. The fact is they still come to us and share what is going on in their lives... and that is why I am lucky to be working with Jr. High.

Pet names that make me sick...

I hate the term "pet name", it is annoying all by itself. But, the actual pet names that people come up with are MUCH worse...

Disclaimer: If you are offended by reading this blog because you call your significant other by any of these pet names... I'm sorry. I'm not sorry that I offended you, I'm sorry that it is impossible for you to think of a less cheesy, unoriginal, and lame nickname. - Boo

- Pookie (or any form of Pookie: Pooks, Pookums, etc.)

- Mr. Kitty Pants (good one Elizabeth... that’s in my top 3 worst nickname’s.)

- Sugar Bear

- Lovey or Lovey Dovey

- Shmookie

- Baby doll, or baby face, or baby cakes, or baby girl, or baby boy…or baby.

- Princess

- Lover or Lova (SICK.)

- Pooh Bear

- Angel

- Sugar Momma or Sugar Daddy

- Hottie or Hot Stuff

- Sweet cheeks

- Cuddle bug

- Girl

- Muffin

- Teddy Bear

- Sweet Thang

- Sugar Lips

- Puddin'

- Snuggles

- Smoochie

- Stud muffin

- Cutie Patootie

- Honeybunch, or Honey buns, or honey bunny. Honey by itself is acceptable, but not when paired with another ridiculous word.

- Chicka

- My lil Dumplin’

- Toots

- Main Squeeze

Did I miss any?

I think it's very fun that...

There is someone in India that reads my blog,

HELLO PERSON IN INDIA!!

There is someone in Finland that reads my blog,

HELLO PERSON IN FINLAND!!

There is someone in Germnay that reads my blog,

HELLO PERSON IN GERMANY!!

There is someone in France that reads my blog,

HELLO PERSON IN FRANCE!!

I would love for you to comment on my blog so that I can check out your blog!

2 days late...

Daddy, I know that you don't blog, but I know that you read my blog. Soo...

Happy Fathers day! I love you so much and I am so glad that you are my daddy!

Why I love going to baseball games...

I LOVE baseball... and I LOVE going to baseball games. But, sometimes the games are fun just because of the people that you are with and not just because it's baseball.

Tonight I went to a baseball game with a bunch of people from the '20 something’s' group at church. It's called EPIC. It was super fun... and the Angels won!

Reason #1 why I love baseball games: It is ok to wear cheesy shirts that support your team and scream and jump around out of control when something awesome happens. If every time something awesome happened in every day life and your reaction was to scream and jump out of your chair, people would say that you're weird... at baseball games this kind of behavior is encouraged... that is very fun.




Reason #2 why I love baseball games: When the picture of the batter is up on the screen and they have an INCREDIBLY awkward smile... hilarious.



Reason #3 why I love baseball games: When my friends and I decided to smile in pictures and make awkward faces just like the guy who just had their picture up on the big screen.



Reason #4 why I love baseball games: Nachos and Red Vines


Reason #5 why I love baseball games: Watching crazy people. I ALWAYS seem to sit next to these people... it's a blessing because of all the fun stories I come home with. Tonight it was a guy who was REALLY enjoying his hotdog. SO funny!

I am going to blog tomorrow...

I know that when people don't blog for a while, other people stop reading their blog... and I don't want that to happen...

I will blog tomorrow. Sorry it's ben a while...there has been a lot going on.

I'm giving up Starbucks

So... I’m giving up Starbucks because I have always wanted to go to Europe. I know that these two things seem completely unrelated, but they're really not. Bethany and I did the math and we figured out that we spend about $100 bucks every month on Starbucks (ridiculous, I know). And, $100 times 12 months is a trip to Europe!

The rules are that we will not buy Starbucks (weekends excluded) for a year and we can only buy Starbucks during the week if we have a gift card, or if someone else is buying. If we aren't strong enough to withstand our withdrawals during the week then we have to take money out of our savings for our trip to Europe to pay for it. We have already gone through caffeine withdrawal headaches... so I’m hoping that the worst is over. I think that we can totally do this... I'm VERY excited!!

This is worth reading... it is one of my most emberassing moments ever...

I donated blood (and saved someone’s life, I hope). But the story behind it is really the best part. And by best, I mean most embarrassing/awkward/I can't believe this happened to me kind of thing...

So Sunday morning between the 9:00 service and the 11:30 service Jaime noticed that there was a blood drive going on, and he decided that he was going to go give blood. I had never given blood before and after listening to him lecture me about how it is my duty as a healthy human being to donate, I decided (after thinking about it for maybe 2 seconds) that I was going to give blood too!

So, we talk into the room and we get all the paper work to fill out and I'm getting more and more excited thinking about how I could help someone and maybe save their life. Then they call my name and I start to get butterflies, because then I remember how much I don't like needles-AT ALL. So I'm sitting in this little guarded off section with this nurse who pokes my finger with this little thing so they can check to see if I have enough iron in my blood. And, I start to get even more freaked out about what I am about to do. Jaime was pep talking me though all of this and I keep telling myself that I am super brave. (I had to keep repeating that in my head over and over).

My test results for the iron in my blood came back, and I move into this room where they have giant stretchers and people lying down while they are getting blood taken. I lie down on the stretcher feeling pretty confident that I am going to be a total stud and not even be affected by the pint of blood that they were going to take out of me.... UNTIL I LOOK UP AND SEE THIS.
Now, I am normally a pretty calm person, but because this was my first time giving blood, and because I didn't know what to expect and because it looked like someone’s vein had exploded on the ceiling right above me I start to freak out. I started to get up like, "YEAH freakin' right I am going to have my blood taken! It looks like the last nurse who drew this person's blood put the needle in totally wrong and their arm exploded-AND they must have been lying exactly where I was! I'M OUT!" But then the nurse came over and I felt like a chicken, so I stayed. BUT SERIOUSLY, how legit is this picture?? It totally looks like blood right?

To make this story even better, since I had only drunk some coffee and eaten half a muffin earlier that day it took me a long time to get a whole pint of blood. The nurse kept coming over and saying, "Ok honey, just a couple more minutes". After the third time of her saying that to me I said, "Really? Just a few more minutes? You have been saying that for the past 10 minutes... is everything ok?" She said that I hadn't had a lot of fluids so it was taking longer, but that everything was fine. So she FINALLY took the needle out of my arm. While she was doing this, I of course turned the other way because there is no way that I wanted to see what was going on. In turning my head I see another doctor who is just about to bite into his sandwich. He looked at me weird (I figure that he thinks I am eyeing his sandwich) so I say, "Oh sorry, I'm not eying your sandwich like I'm going to grab it when she's done, I'm just looking at you because I don't want to look at her right now". (Apparently I slurred my words while saying this, and was turning pale). He asked me if I’m feeling ok, to which I respond "OH I FEEL GREAT!” He kept looking at me and said, "Really? Are you sure?” and I say, "YUP! I'm totally fine".

2 seconds later...

I turn and look at the doctor and say, "Actually I lied. I'm feeling a little sick and lightheaded... is that ok?" He looked at me and shook his head like I'm a total idiot and says, "NO THATS NOT OK!" and 2 seconds later he is fanning me with this folder that he was holding, someone else is holding my legs in the air, and someone is putting nice behind my neck. I close my eyes because it was making me feel better, but someone grabbed my eye lids and said, "DO NOT CLOSE YOUR EYES!” While all of this is going on Jaime is up and walking around, he saw what was going on so he said, "OH MY GOSH! I'M GOING TO FIND A CAMERA..."

Needless to say that despite their efforts to help me not pass out I still passed out… and I also threw up. I guess I'm not as tough as I thought I was.

They took my blood pressure again and then made me stay an extra 15 minutes longer than everyone else because they didn't believe me when I said that I feel fine (because I said that right before I passed out).

I will still give blood in the future, but holy cow... what a crazy first experience...

So much to blog about... so little time!

I have so many stories and so many pictures to share... I will post about what has been going on tomorrow!

Hope you are al doing great!

I was tagged by Christine

Thanks Christine for tagging me… this is so fun! It was a lot harder than I thought it would be to think of these 6 things….

1. I have to take a shower every night before I go to bed, even if I showered in the morning. I just hate the feeling of going to bed without being totally clean (especially my feet)

2. Sometimes when I'm home alone, I'll turn on Frank Sinatra or Renee Olstead and sing super loud while I clean the house...

3. I have two really bad habits, one is that I try to read too many books at the same time and I can never finish any of them, the other is that I bite my nails (I know... it's gross, trust me I’m trying to kick the habit, it's just hard)

4. I do NOT like Fergie. I know that lots of people do... but I think that she is super annoying and hurts my ears. Every time I hear one of her songs on the radio I change the station as fast as I can. Her songs are so catchy I can get then stuck in my head... and that drives me even more nuts than just hearing her on the radio.

5. I sleep (every single night) with a body pillow. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to sleep without it.

6. Disneyland is one of my favorite places in the whole wide world (especially during Christmas time) and I always get super excited on my way there. Even though I have been to Disneyland SO many times… I still get super excited like is my first time going.

Those are my 6! I tag Elizabeth and Allison Murray!

I love my friends

Sometimes in life we go through really rough patches where it feels like everyone around us is having more fun than we are and everyone also has more friends than we do. Sometimes we feel like we are the only one being left out of everything. Sometimes people tell us that we’re making a big deal out of nothing…. but we know when we are hurt. Those are the times when I know I have to completely lean on God and just trust him that he's going to carry me through. And yet, even though I know this, sometimes it's hard for me to follow through with that. As much as I know in my heart that these are the most important times to be relying on God, so often they are the times when I ignore him. I feel like if I just get away from everything and everyone when I decide to come back and not stay away from life.... all the normalcy I am used to will return also.

I should have learned by now to take these periods with strides and be joyful for them, the fact that God is going to use them to mold me and make more like him... but for some reason I want to run from them. I know better than to run... so I don’t, but it is still hard to find joy in situations where you are hurting.

It’s times like this where I am soo thankful for the people that I have in my life that have ALWAYS been there for me. I am so blessed because of all the people that I have in my life that constantly surround me with their love and support. Who needs to be “friends” with everyone around them when you have 10 solid friends that you know will never talk about you behind your back, and never judge you for being honest? Who needs "frineds" that are only your friends becasue you are fun to be around, or becasue you pay for them everytime you go out? Those aren't real friends, becasue those are the kinds of "friends" who talk about you behind your back and arn't a friend back, even when you are their friend. Does that make sence? I feel like we all have people in our lives that we are more of a friend to them, than they are a friend to us. And, although it is good to have those people in your life that you can be pouring into and loving... those are the people that you can't confide in and can't trust. You have to be careful with what you choose to say and do around them becasue you never know what they might say or do, since they obviously don't value the friendship as much as you do. I feel like throughout my whole life I have always had one or two best friends that are there no matter what. And, over the past year my number of really good friends has grown. You know who you are, and I love you so much! I thank God for you every day! Thank you for being such a huge part of my life and challenging me to be a better person and loving me for me. You are amazing! I will always be there for you!

A letter to the 5 Freeway

Dear California Interstate 5,
What is wrong with you? I left early from work yesterday to take my friend Justin up to LA and I hit traffic both ways. Why do you let that happen? Why do you have only two lanes on the part of the freeway that is ALWAYS full of traffic? Why do you make it so difficult for people to get from one place to another? When you signed up for this job wasn’t your intention to make it easier? Why don't you expand and make more lanes, OR, make one of those lanes a carpool lane? I specifically took my roommate with me yesterday just so I could take the carpool lane, but it didn't do me any good through the heart of LA. WHY? Don't you want to reward people for ridding together so that your smog issue will get better? I would think that you do…


Really, I just don't get it. You need to get on to make yourself bigger and better, please make a carpool lane or SOMETHING.

You're loyal patron ,
Annie