Tuesday, December 12, 2006


The other bridesmais watching Janell take pics. Posted by Picasa

Starbucks break before going dancing for Janell's bachelorette party. Posted by Picasa

My first cosmo... Posted by Picasa

A pretty flower in Clinton...playing with my camera. Posted by Picasa

Multi-colored leaf...playing with my camera... Posted by Picasa

Some boats in the San Fran harbor. Posted by Picasa

Yum! Posted by Picasa

I love the sea lions in San Fran! Posted by Picasa
I finally uploaded my camera to my laptop last night and here are some of my fave (or most interesting) pics from my Fall. They start at the most current. Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Camp…

This past weekend was our winter weekend. It went well, but Friday was quite the adventure. Friday we had a major windstorm. It toppled trees and that made getting into camp hard. Thankfully the bus in front of me knew the back roads in the pitch black. We followed them and made it into Lake Champion to discover that all the electricity was out. The emergency lighting was on, ran by generators, in the hallways, so we were at least able to find our rooms and drop off our stuff. We went to the gym and club, which were dimly lit by generators, and had a lot of fun. While walking back to the dorms, I thought I heard an alarm going off. I turned to Lindy, one of my girl leaders and friend, and said, “Do you hear that alarm going off?” We kept walking and as we approached the girls’ dorms we noticed that the fire alarm was going off at the first dorm. My first thought was that the lack of electricity tripped the wire and that is why it was going off. And then we saw the smoke. And then more smoke. We came to realize that this was major, as property crew were running around and volunteer fire fighter crews began to show up. The fire grew more before it was contained. What had happened was that the generator overheated, caught on fire, and then caught the building on fire. Some girls and leaders lost their belongings to fire and or smoke damage. Thankfully, no one was in the building while it happened. That would have been very bad.

Anyway, here is the crazy part. When the fire was going we gathered all our kids and met in the clubroom to do a head count. This is still w/o electricity mind you. The head leader then asks for all the Ferndale leaders to meet with him. (Ferndale is one of the girls’ dorms along with Brookview.) Each dorm contains about 8 rooms/cabins and bathrooms. Lindy and I were curious as to why they wanted to see us, as we were in the dorm next to it, the dorm that did not burn. Come to find out, somehow, we went into Brookview 5 instead of Ferndale 5. Because it was dark, we could not see the building name, so when we went to room 5 and saw it empty so we thought we were in the right place. We were supposed to be in the building that burned. Can you believe it? While I feel very badly for the people who lost their stuff, at the same time I am sooo thankful that we did not have to deal with that. I also feel really guilty.

I have pics I will try to post.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Not having a good day…

There are still mice in my apt. Another one bit the dust last night. RIP Mr. Mouse.

My car failed inspection. WHAT!?!

Winter Weekend is not going to be as I would have liked it to be (please pray for my attitude on this).

And work is so dang frustrating lately.

That’s all.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

I arrived in CA yesterday safe and sound. Overall it was a smooth trip - and I'm glad to be home!:-)

On the plane yesterday there was a woman from Liberia sitting next to me. In her broken English, as she was exiting the plane, she yelled out, "Happy Easter Everybody!"

So funny.

Have a good holiday tomorrow! I'm thankful for and love each of you bunches!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Today, along with finishing my second 20 plus page paper of the week (yes, I pretty much rock), I encountered my first mouse obstacle. I knew, since I moved here (to the EC), that this day would happen at some time or another. I also knew, that now since I live in the woods, that it would probably be in this apartment. Well, today while watching the history channel (yes, I’m a nerd), I caught a glimpse of something running along my wall out of the corner of my eye. I started praying, “Oh please Lord, help me to just be imagining things.” Unfortunately I wasn’t, as I then saw a field mouse run into my entertainment center. I promptly called my dad to ask for help. He told me to call my landlord, and I did. At first I didn’t want to call my landlord, because I didn’t want him to think that I was a girly CA mouse-hater. But…I soon decided I didn’t care what he thought and I gave him a call. (He lives in the downstairs apartment.) Long story short, thirty minutes later he was carrying a dead mouse out of my apartment. Praise the Lord for mousetraps! That was enough mouse activity to last me a lifetime…ick.

Tomorrow I begin my journey home for Thanksgiving. Because I leave at o’dark early on Tuesday, I will be spending the night in Philly tomorrow. I will be home for one week, and I am really looking forward to it. I hope that you all get to spend quality time with family and friends as well.

Next time you hear from me will be from the good ol’ WC.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Annoying…

Has anyone seen that commercial for that fancy new vacuum that is so fun and cute it makes everyone who is over your house for a party jump up and dance? And how come there just happens to be that many vacuums, one for everyone to dance with, in that apartment? I mean, seriously, I hate just the one vacuum I do have – why would I buy eight? And how can cleaning be so fun that it makes me want to dance around, with my friends, while dressed up, at a party? Uh, yeah, that has to be one of the lamest commercials that I have seen in a while.

On to things I do like…

The other day I broke out the Christmas decorations. Yes, I know it’s early, but I wanted to get the task out of the way. And I am so glad I did because now I will get to enjoy them for a little longer then usual. I love Christmas. Hard to believe it is next month!

Quote of the day…

Yesterday I was with Katie (the girl I babysit) and her friend Andrea. Katie had just gotten back from Walt Disney World, where she saw (gasp!) people wearing fanny packs and it reminded Andy of a story. She told me, “One time, my dad bought a fanny pack and he WORE it. It was so creepy. I wanted to die.” LOL!! Ahhhh, the fanny packs. I remember when those were hot. But no one wears those anymore, except if they are European. And they always seem to team them with socks and sandals.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

A thought for you on Veteran's Day...

Thought for the day from Tony Blair:

In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the anti-American
sentiment and negativity, we should remember England's Prime
Minister Tony Blair's words during a recent interview. When asked
by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in
America, he said, "A simple way to take measure of a country is
to look at how many want in and how many want out." Only two
defining forces have ever offered to die for you:

1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Kristin’s Visit…

OK, so here are the weird stories I have to tell you. Things that weren’t so weird…hanging out on Friday at Fridays, sleeping in and going to Kohl’s (both found cute stuff) and scoring free food at Panera on early Saturday. Then, it began….

First off we went to Princeton that evening for a couple of hours. We were walking around the campus and noticed this cat that had a collar on it. Both of us were curious so we started to walk up to this cat when we noticed that a man on a bike was riding up to it as well. He also stopped to take a picture, and Kristin and I were like, “OK, that’s weird, a man taking a pic of a cat on a college campus but whatever.” So we all meet up by this cat and the guy explains to another concerned passerbyer (is that a word?) that this was his cat and that it follows him. Well Kristin trying to be the nice and friendly girl that she is, she asked the guy, “How do you get your cat to follow you?” Cause we all know that cats just don’t obey like dogs and to bring your cat to a college campus is, well, weird. But the guy didn’t even hear her question. He said to her, “Do not ask me questions!! I have been asked 40,000 questions over the last 20 years and I don’t have to answer!!!” Kristin and I were shocked. The guy just kept on riding though and calling to his cat, stopping every few seconds to take yet another picture of it. He also kept mumbling to himself the whole time. He had a backpack on so we think he was just one of those people who are so smart that they lack social skills. Strange, huh? We can laugh about it now, but at the time we were kinda taken back.

So then we got in the car and started to drive to see a movie. This particular movie (One night with the King) was only playing at theaters that weren’t near my house (of course) so we picked a theater in Trenton cause we knew we would be close by when we were in Princeton. OK, so on our way to Trenton we saw a Red Lobster and decided to eat there. We put our names in and were told we have a 60-90 minute wait. We asked if we could just sit at the bar, cause we had a movie to catch, and so we did. Well in the bar area they had two high-rise tables. One of the tables came free as we were walking in to the bar area and the people sitting there offered it to us. We went to sit there and the hostess came up and said that we couldn’t sit there, as that was not bar seating. (Even though it was clearly in the bar.) So Kristin and I sat at the bar and ordered our food. Well, the two tables sat there empty. So finally we asked someone else if we could sit there, as no one was sitting there, and we were given permission to move. That left one high-rise table left. Now remember that this is regular seating, not bar seating…even though it was in the bar. Well that provided plenty of entertainment for Kristin and I. We watched them try to seat about five people/groups there. All of which were totally pissed, after waiting 90 mins, that they were sat at that particular table and not a booth. All of them asked to be reseated. Kristin and I would laugh to ourselves because they would literally page someone at the bar saying that their table was ready and then would take two steps and seat them at this table. It was so funny to watch the expression on people’s faces. Anyway, it worked well for us because we got in and out in time, and didn’t mind sitting in the bar area. It was a unique adventure.

When we were done eating we got in our car and drove to Trenton. You know you are in the ghetto when you walk in the theatre and there are two policemen staring at you, and everyone else who came in. The movie was decent and afterward Kristin and I went in to the restroom. There was graffiti everywhere, and I mean everywhere. We knew we needed to get in my car, lock the doors, and get out of that skeezy place. LOL…so crazy!

The next day Kristin said she would take me to get a manicure for my bday. We got in the car and started to take the back roads to Clinton, which is the town where we usually get our nails done. While we were on our way the car in front of us totally hit a car that was trying to cross the road in front of it. It hit it at about 40-50 mph. All of the windows blew out, one tire popped out, and the car literally did a 360 and landed in a ditch, right in front of our very eyes. Well, at that time Kristin and I were the only witnesses so we quickly parked and got out to help. Everyone seemed to be OK, PTL, but it was such a weird thing to witness.

Isn’t that crazy? Kristin, am I missing something? I know we had so many weird things happen last weekend. It was like one crazy event after another for us!!

Thanksgiving…

Remember how I told you that I was going to Indiana with the Van Etten’s for Thanksgiving? Well I was totally planning on it until the other night. Now it is official that I am going to CA. I am totally excited, but at the same time sad that I won’t be able to see Holli’s hometown and meet her family.

To tell this story I must start from the beginning. Last Spring I was going to go to Sweden for work. I bought the tickets and was all set. YL was going to reimburse me and I had permission and encouragement from my boss to go. Then he changed his mind and told me he felt like I should stay home. I was very mad and frustrated, but of course I submitted to him. I tried to cancel my tickets, but due to my buying them on travelocity I could only get a credit. So I had this credit for $670. (Which is actually a kick butt price for Philly to Stockholm but I digress…) And remember it was my own money, as I fronted that having been promised that YL would reimburse me. Well now they weren’t going to. So anyway I thought I would just use it for one of my many trips to CA. The credit was with US Airways. I tried to use it for each trip home, like over the summer or for Janell’s wedding, but US Airways always quoted me a much higher price then say, Frontier, so of course I went on Frontier. (Which, by the way, is an AWESOME airline.) Why would I pay a couple of hundred dollars more on a trip that I could pay less for? Then I thought I would use my credit for Tday. But Tday prices were so high I thought that there was no way I would pay about $600 to go home, when usually I pay $250-400. And plus I had already paid so much for Janell’s wedding and trip home I just thought that I would not go home for Tday and use my credit for Christmas. Well, same story, found an airline with a cheaper price so I took that. So I talked to my parents and we all decided that they would use that credit for when they came out in May for my graduation. (May 5 – write it down!!) They would book well in advance so they could get a cheap price with US Airways, and hopefully we could get two tickets out of my credit. It was a win, win, right? I called US Airways the other night, to book their flights, and found out that 1)I cannot put my credit in anyone else’s name and 2)I have to complete travel with that credit by March 10…the day it was originally bought on. That threw me into panic mode. That meant I had to travel in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb or early March or else I would lose that money. Dec and Jan were out as I already had booked my trip home for those holidays. And Feb and March? I have a lot going on then. So of course that left me with Thanksgiving. And who wouldn’t want to be home for that day? Anyway, I will be there Nov.21-28.

Banquet…

It went well. We had close to 70 people and were able to raise 1/3 of our budget. Praise the Lord! Now it is on to writing all the thank yous…blah. Not so fun! But I am very thankful for those who support this ministry. We could not do it without them!

Please comment…

If you stop by…comment! Pretty please!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

My weekend with Kristin was so weird! It wasn't weird being with her, but one weird thing kept happening after another. When I have time I will tell you all about it!

Right now I am trying to get a paper done. I am halfway there. I think I will be getting up early in the morning to finish it though. Blah. I have pretty pink nails though. Typing is so much more fun when you have fun nails.

Happy Sunday friends!

Friday, November 03, 2006

Monday is our annual fundraising Young Life West Jersey banquet. While this is a huge undertaking and a lot of work (it is like putting on a wedding reception) it is definitely an event that I still enjoy very much. This is our biggest money maker for the year and therefore is very, very important!!

We will have about 1/3 – ½ of our normal attendance. I was so disappointed about this the other day that I had to go to bed or else I thought I was going to get sick to my stomach. While I know that it is all about quality and not quantity, it is hard to not get caught up in it. My boss says that every area director’s numbers have been down, and while that does make me feel somewhat better, it is still not enough.

So please pray for me, the area, the banquet, the money, etc. To put it bluntly, we cannot have a ministry if we do not have the money.

The good thing is that as I am writing this Kristin is on her way up for the weekend. This will help me to get my mind off of the impending banquet and have some fun. Don’t really have any big plans but it will be awesome (of course) not matter what it is as Kristin is one of my best friends.

Speaking of friends, have I told you that I am going to Indiana with Holli and Jeremy for Thanksgiving? I could not afford a ticket home to CA, so I am going on the road trip with them. I am thankful that they invited me. What nice friends!

Enjoy your weekend and stay warm!

Monday, October 30, 2006

How was your weekend? Mine was good….although it went by quickly! The highlight was the hockey game Jeremy, Holli, and I went to on Saturday night in Philadelphia. It was the Philadelphia Flyers against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Penguins won 8-2. It was awesome. Sidney Crosby had a hat trick…and Jer had these awesome Pens jerseys we wore. Although we risked death by wearing them into that stadium full of Flyers fans, it was a lot of fun to support our team! Can’t wait until the next game!

School is busy but good. I just need to hang in there, and stay on top of things, until Thanksgiving and then my papers due reduce tremendously. Yay! This morning I registered for my winter class, and then my last three classes I have to take in the spring. While I do love school, it will be nice to be done.

It is getting really chilly here. Our evenings have (already) gotten into the 30s, and our days are dipping down as well. It has been sooooo windy here the past couple of days that a lot of our fall leaves are gone and it is beginning to look like the beginning of winter. It will be here soon!

My work’s annual fund raising banquet is a week from today. Please pray that everything will go well and that we have good attendance numbers. This is our major fundraiser of the year so it is important that all goes well.

There is now a Chipotle 30 mins. from here. Finally, semi-decent Mexican food is in my area. I think I have died and gone to heaven!!

Kristin is coming to Jersey this weekend. Looking forward to having her here!

Here is something inspiring for you to watch! The Capernaum director sent this to me. (Capernaum is Young Life for teens with disabilities.)

http://cjcphoto.com/can/