VBS and iphone.. it's been a long week :)

So I got the new iphone 3G today and I will tell you that I waited 6 hours in line. I know I'm crazy but it's so nice to have a phone that works again!!! I will be putting all my contacts in my phone on Sunday during the bus ride to camp.

So I tested the camera part today at VBS and I think you'll find that it takes great pictures :)

So here's VBS 2008: Knights of the Son!!!

Busy Busy

So I'm headed off to camp on Sunday and I can't wait. I will try to keep a log of our time there like I did last year. This week has been crazy with VBS and camp prep. VBS has been going great I just can't wait for it to be done.

OK well I'm off to go get stuff for camp. Pray for our safe travel and that God will use me and our leaders in the lives of the kids this next week.

This is why I hate the summer

So lately I have been feeling kinda sick. I'm not sick, but I have this horrible cough. I can't shake it and I think, no I know it's because my family won't turn on the air-conditioning. Currently in my house at 10:00 pm it is 86 degrees. I promise! And I was just in the other room and it's a good 20 degrees cooler in there. So why is my room so horrible? Why can't we turn on the picking air-conditioning?!?!??!

I cannot continue to live like this. I'm practically sick because of it!!!! I try to tell them every year and they say it's my own fault. It's very frustrating... I try and I try to tell them and yet nothing ever gets done about it. It happens every #%%&@*#& SUMMER!!!! I hate it when it's hot. I can't sleep and I get very irritated... AARRRGHGHGGHGHHG

Well in an effort to get better I'm sleeping downstairs on the couch... yay.....

PS-Go see Wall-E it's wonderful!

PPS-VBS is going to kill me if this cough doesn't

PPSS- Can someone write my talk for tomorrow morning?

Thanks!

Happy Fireworks Everyone!!!

It will be the most memorible epica in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by suceeding Generations as a great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as a day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.
--John Adams on the first 4th of July

Happy 4th!

Yea we're free!!!

So What did you do today?

Oh me... I did nothing but GRADUATED!!! YEA!!!

My top 25

I read in Entertainment Weekly this week one of the authors top 20 playlist, so it got me thinking of what my 20 would be and what it actually is. Well since it's finals time and I don't have time to put together about what I think it would be I thought I'd just post my top 25 from iTunes. Below is the Song, the artist and the number of times I've listened to it. Minus the Legally Blonde, it's a pretty good list--Don't get me wrong I love, I LOVE Legally Blonde, but it's the majority of the list, so look past it and there are some gems!

So Much Better, Legally Blonde The Musical, 49
Omigod You Guys, Legally Blonde The Musical 45
Serious, Legally Blonde The Musical 38
Take It Like A Man, Legally Blonde The Musical 38
Nothin' to Lose, Josh Gracin 34
Suds in the Bucket, Sara Evans 34
Austin, Blake Shelton 30
Chip On My Shoulder, Legally Blonde The Musical 30
Bend And Snap, Legally Blonde The Musical 30
Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde The Musical 29
You Alone, David Crowder Band 28
Taylor, the Latte Boy, Kristin Chenoweth 28
Goin' to the Dance with You, Kristin Chenoweth 25
Stays in Mexico, Toby Keith 25
Good Morning Baltimore, Hairspray 24
I Will Go Sailing No More/Just Around the Riverbend/Strangers Like Me, On The Record 24
What You Want, Legally Blonde The Musical 24
There! Right There!, Legally Blonde The Musical 24
God of Rembrandt, Shine Like Stars 24
Leavin's Not The Only Way To Go, Big River 23
You Oughta Be Here With Me, Big River 23
Positive, Legally Blonde The Musical 23
Undignified, David Crowder Band 22
Passenger Seat, SHeDAISY 22
The Girl in 14G, Kristin Chenoweth 21

K.. Back to studying!!!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Well first thing is first. I want to tell you all about the most exquisite dinner I've had in a long time. On Sunday evening we went to the Napa Rose to participate in one of the Disney's California Adventure Food and Wine Festival special events. We attended the Guy Fieri celebrity chef dinner. It was a five (well actually 6) course wine paired dinner. Now before I get into the individual courses let me tell you that Michael Jordan (not the basketball player) is the Master Sommelier of the Napa Rose and he is awesome. I am a big fan of him and his wine pairings couldn't have been more perfect. Ok so here's how the night went down.
We arrived and sat in the lounge and we were served the Lasorda Pinot Grigio with 3 appetizers.

One was a lettuce wrap (well more like a lettuce cup) with delicious chicken filling. There was a piece of salmon that had been cooked on a cedar plank with a cracker. Now I don't usually like salmon, but man this changed my mind. The infused cedar flavor in the salmon was unbelievable. The third appetizer was a tapioca rice paper roll with sushi rice, avocado, BBQ pork, & a garlic chili mayo sauce. It is called the Jackass Roll and it is served at his restaurant Texwasabi's. This place is definitely on my list of places to visit... and soon!
Ok so then we go into the dining room and we have a great table close to the center of the room and close to the kitchen so we could see everything that was going on!

First course:
Bacon wrapped shrimp with a chipotle BBQ sauce.
I think that speaks for itself. You will see that I took pictures of the rest of the dishes, but well this looked too delicious and I ate it up before I could take a picture, so you will just have to imagine. The wine that it was paired with could not have been better, it was Riesling from Germany. The smoky-spiciness of the BBQ sauce and the sweetness of the wine--BEAUTIFUL!!! Like I said, I ate it up!

Second Course:
Lemon Grass Chicken with Green Papaya Salad

This was great, and while it was my least favorite course that's just because the others were FANTASTIC and this was just REALLY REALLY GOOD. It had a lot of flavor and half way through I forgot that I was eating papaya, so that was cool. Guy said that he got this idea from going to a chinese restaurant and ordered a green papaya salad and was pleasantly surprised by it so he used the idea and added the chicken. Well done, Guy! Very good. It was paired with a Sauvignon Blanc from Sonoma Valley, very good as well.

Third Course:
Crispy Fried Red Fish with Mojo Sauce and Sofrito Potatoes.
Ok so this first picture is of the fish itself:

Here is how it was served to us:

Now this fish was UNBELIEVABLE. The pairing with the Albarino (a white wine) was so great. I couldn't get enough of both. Now I haven't told you this yet, but well... let's just say we were sitting at a VIP table so they gave us, in addition to the plate above, an actual whole fish to eat as well, and a refill of this wine. As you can see below, we ate that UP! SO SO SO SO GOOD! I want some right now! The fish was great and crispy on the outside and flakey and juicy on the inside. The flavor was fantastic.


Fourth Course:
"Gaucho" Steak wiht a 4 Herb Chimichurri and Green Beans

I don't think that I've had a more delicious steak EVER! I know that sounds exaggerated but the 4 herb chimichurri was so delectable and just added so much flavor and layers to the steak that... well... I just can't describe it. This course was paired with a Negroamro red wine, which had some chocolate undertones... I know that sounds weird but it really complimented this dish. Of course let's not move on before saying how much I love green beans and clearly Guy wanted to impress me and let's just say that it worked :) I like beans.

Fifth Course:
Guido's Flaming Banana's with Tahitian Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and White Chocolate & Pecan Cookies

I love banana's foster and so this was so good. The Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Riesling Eiswein from Colombia Valley really went well with this dessert. It brought out the carmel flavors in the bananas and complimented the ice cream too.

Well I could go on and on about the night, about how he got people to sing and act silly the whole night; how MJ got the room chanting "Napa" "Rose"; how Guy got 5 people cooking in the kitchen with him; and how Gwen patted Guy on the butt when we left, but well.. I won't. I will tell you that Guy is just like he is on TV and is a real and very personable. He definitely loves what he does. This was a fantastic evening and the food was so money! Thank you, Guy, for a wonderful meal! I can't wait till next year! I will leave you with this picture:
Me, Guy and the fish (Michael Jordan is holding it up in the background :)

Quick Update

So I got my grad check back already.. I'm going to see if I can graduate by August.. yea!!! That would be better than January :) I can't believe how fast that went. Someone likes me :) and I think it's Tuffy :)

Also I had an amazing dinner on Sunday and I will post all that information probably tomorrow. Also a post dedicated to my maternal grandmother soon... long story, stay tuned. Well that's my quick update. I'm so glad the grad check went through quickly :) I will sleep better tonight!

Have a good night and love to you all!

Stupid piece of paper

So lots of papers and reading to do this week. Did some research yesterday and I also filed my grad check. Now I would've sworn that I had turned it in before, but I guess I didn't. Ok so you have to fill out this form of how your name is spelled and your major and what-not. Anyway you have to pay a fee with the form. Ya, you read that right, you have to pay to graduate. Shouldn't that be included in your tuition?!?!?!?! A diploma fee?!?!? I have to pay for the piece of paper!

Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid!

BTW--the date on my diploma will be January of '09! Cool... it takes 9 months to print a piece of paper.

I love state schools........ well at least not right now.

Lock and Loaded

Still not sleeping. But at work. With Shotgun Sam. Sam makes everything better.
"Don't make me angry. When I'm angry I'm not nice. [BANG]"

Update

I'm doing better.. still sad and still kinda hurt. I'm not mad anymore, so that's good. I think I will feel the sting from this for awhile.

Here's what I don't understand... why can't we act like adults? Why don't people talk civilized to each other? Give each other the benefit of the doubt. Let the person react to what you have to say instead of "knowing how they'd act." You're not going to know until you say it and they experience it. And--how do you know what you have to say is relevant or not? I think that if it's in-between you should ask the person, you shouldn't make that call.

I think it's a lot like how Christianity should work. So often people make judgement of what they "know is right or wrong." How? How do they KNOW?!?!? Isn't that God's judgement? Who am I to say? Isn't it better if we're all truthful from the start and then we let God or the other person react instead of making the call yourself?

Ok well those are my thoughts today.

I bought myself flowers so that I would cheer up a bit. I hope I can sleep tonight.

Good News. Bad, Bad News.

Sometimes I think I know what's going on. I think I know my life and where it's headed, and then... I hear something or experience something I never saw coming, and I think, why didn't I think or expect that!?!?!?

Tonight was one of those nights. I learned something that I did not see coming. What I learned initially felt good and made me glad that I was where I was, but then, I slowly learned and realized it wasn't so good. I was happy and then hurt. I was glad and then felt guilty. What I initially felt good about I now regret and feel bad. I shouldn't have felt that way. I should have felt sympathy... and then I got hit--or at least it feels like I got hit.

First of all, why do other's actions hurt so bad? Why can't I be confident that the best intentions were meant? Nope. That's not what I can focus on. And that hurts too. I need to let things go, and breathe. I guess I just want to know why I feel so hurt, why I just want to cry.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry the initial news made me happy. I'm sorry I let the other news hurt me and I'm sorry I can't see the situation for the intentions meant. I wish I could and I know in time I will.

I think I just need to sleep on it.

Was I really wasting that much time with TV?

So I have survived so far without TV. It's a little weird, and I don't really miss it. What I do miss is talking about my favorite shows with my friends. Why is that? Why do we talk about TV? Aren't there better things to discuss with one another? Like maybe what is sin and what it means to be a Christ follower, or what we did at work, or how there are still people enslaved all over the world, or maybe about the election. How about the economy or even the weather.

I've noticed lately just how much conversation is based around television. In my classes, at work, with friends, on the radio. Do people even do things anymore? Do people ever go golfing or do they go sailing (my brother does) or do they just go to the beach to enjoy a good book? Why bother when it's coming out as a movie next spring? Why not just get out there and actually doing something?

How often do you spend watching TV a week? Now I don't mean that you have your 4 shows you watch so that's it, but do you turn it on in the morning when you're getting ready? How about in the evening when you come home? Or when you're making dinner? Or at a restaurant and it's on the screen? Or at night as you're getting ready for bed? Or do you fall asleep to it?Or when you're working out at the gym? (granted you're working out, but couldn't you be reading or improving your mind?) When I work out at my gym I either put it on ESPN or CNN or Fox News or I have a book with me and I turn it off.) Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I don't know... but think about it. How much do you watch?

I will tell you that without TV I've been able to read A LOT!!! I've actually read books for school, two of them. I've read 2 books for fun, and I'm on my third. I forgot how much I loved books. I LOVE READING!!!! So much better than watching That 70's Show reruns or whatever is on food network. I've also been able to get work done earlier, because I'm not distracted by the TV and I've been getting at least 8 hours of sleep every night.

Was I really wasting that much time in front of the TV?

In 60 years

So ya know how I have a lot of movies.... this is going to me me in 60 years!!!

I'm just saying... y'all may think I'm crazy.. I'm not like that!

Don't tell me I Tivo'd It... No really don't tell me!

So I did something drastic this week. I have been really stressed at work (mostly because A LOT of CRAP came out of the woodwork within the last month) and so that plus 6 classes has been a strain on my system. Tuesday afternoon, my body shouted at me in the form of a panic attack in the middle of one of my classes. I couldn't breath or really comprehend what I was doing.
I'm ok now, but it has forced me to re-evaluate how I'm spending my time. So I decided to do something about my time. Instead of watching movies or tv, I will for the next month, read, catch up on school and work and hopefully find time for myself.

So last night I went home, cleaned out my TIVO, and unplugged my TV. I will plug it back in sometime in April (probably around the 14th).

So I ask you not to tell me what happened on LOST yesterday or for the next month, or How I Met Your Mother, or who won Project Runway. I will find out (i have a very trusty TIVO).

I hope this works.

So if anyone is keeping count and want to hear it another way--I've now officially lost 32 pounds or 12% of my body weight AND I'm down a clothes size (in jeans!!!)

Yeah so feeling pretty good today... And I went to MAC and got my make-up done and now I have no where to go...


Oh well I'm sure I'll end up at Disneyland... :)

Pounds are going to fall off!!

So I've been super busy. I just wanted to post a bit about what I've been up to. So I'm not sure if you know or not, but I've been really changing my life and turning over a new leaf. The first step was of course, working in my "dream job." I'm now working full time with the Jr. High ministries, and man is it hard!!! But I love it!
The better news, is that I'm loosing weight. Currently the total weight loss is 30 lbs!!!! Can you believe it?!?! I hardly can! I have just been really focusing on what I eat and portion and when I eat. I will start an exercise program next week! OMG!! The pounds are just going to fall off then, huh?!?

Ok so that's up with me. I'm so excited and I'm so glad that 2008 is WAY better than 2007... so far. :)

Winter Camp

Hey last weekend we got back from Winter Camp. I wanted to post a couple of pictures! We had such a great time!!!

This is us sitting on the stage in the area known as "Nova Scotia"


Here are some girls hanging out in the shake shack:


Here's the girls waiting for the boys to come to the bus:


Needless to say it was fun!

Hope you had a good weekend...I'm sad my Patriots lost :( Oh well... next year!

Ash Wednesday and Lent

So I know that I haven't been on here in awhile, and for that I apologize. :) I have been really busy at work which is great and I started school again.

I just wanted to link to a great blog, and one I haven't mentioned before. But Mark Roberts is an awesome guy and I love his blog. This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. I actually love Ash Wednesday. I know it's kinda morbid and we are told that from dust we have come and to dust we will return. Yet we know that we have Hope in God because he rose from the dead and we may return to the dust, but we will live eternally with Him.

Ok I know it sounds great and elloquent, but I ripped it off of Mark... so to read it better go here:
Mark D. Roberts

Ok so needless to say I love Ash Wednesday and Lent...

So what are you giving up for Lent? I'm not sure what I'm giving up...
I think I will not buy a movie and something else... hmm.. must think about it.

Ok it's late and I have to talk tomorrow! Good night!

Christopher "Ultimate"

Christopher was born!!! I have another nephew!!!! YEA!!!! Welcome to this world, I already love you so much!!!

My cute new nephew

Here's a picture! This is my sister and Christopher!

PS-- I love Ratatouille!!!!

It's the best movie ever!!

Update

Happy New Year!

Well this week has been quite eventful. I have been preparing to say good bye to Ryan, the Director of Jr. High Ministries at IPC. He is moving to Texas to become the youth Director at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church in Boerne, TX. He's been the Jr. High Director for the past 9 years at IPC and has taught me SO much. Now God has given me an awesome desire to become a Youth pastor!

So that's what's going on with me. I will have much more to report on Monday... stay tuned.