College

i have been reading everyone's enteries about the cooler weather and about being able to wear sweatshirts and jeans, and i must admit that i have been a bit jealous. but today is college day and we got to wear college shirts and jeans!!! now, i was really hoping that it would be cold today, because i wanted to wear a sweatshirt, i have so many. see the thing is, that i really don't have any mizzou t-shirts, shocking i know, but they are all from homecomings, and i don't think they count, but it was cool and therefore my sweatshirt got some use. i love it, and i do miss the days of waking up and leaving without getting ready. so, maybe i am not as jealous anymore. we are also having pizza for lunch, company sponsored. since i am speaking of college days, i find it very entertaining that i have made friends with two girls: jen and becca, they work together on some projects and have befriended me. it's one of life's little treaures.

something new everyday

let's see....i was having lunch with my co-workers, i have lunch buddies!!!...and we were discussing this inter-office thingy that we have. and i found out that you can earn points for free stuff, amazon, plane tickets, etc... i was blown away. i could have earned a free trip somewhere these past two weeks, when i have been doing absolutely nothing. so after lunch, i figure that i will have plenty of time to browse the site in hopes of earning myself something grand and wouldn't you know that i actually have work to do. nothing taxing, but still i was looking forward to earning my points. last year you earned money for surfing the site. each day brings something new.

when i had some time i did some surfing and came upon an article about public speaking. so, i peaked at it. there were several words that caught my eye and intrigued me to read farther. it said "don't apologize". now i know that may seem obvious or elementary, but it hit me. i have a tendency to apologize for no reason. if i mess something up or do something else my reaction is to say i'm sorry and take the blame, even if it not my own fault. this isn't the first time that i have realized my tendency to do this, but when i started my new job i made a point to myself not to apologize for things. so far so good. i realized that it makes me seem insecure and unconfident. something that i clearly proved in my interview. it's just something that i need to work on. i used to be so self-assured. well anyway...

i started this yestarday and i am finishing it while something downloads. i actually have things to do today. i can't remember what i was going to write yestarday, but i will fill you in on some details of my life in the past few days, i know that you are dying to read. i found out that two more couples i know are pregnant!!! ahhh...scary.. at least there is one other couple here who do not want kids just yet..thank you ryanne and jon. i finished another book, and i started the 5 cofn book. i am moving toward my goal, but other books keep getting in my way. i stumbled upon an author that i really enjoy, jodi piccoult, the book i have read of hers are the pact, i just finished it, and my sister's keeper. i am going to buy keeping the faith tonight.

since david will be working all hours of the day this weekend, i will have plenty of time to watch movies from netflix, thanks to kelly, read, and maybe even do some shopping!!! i get my first pay check tomorrow!! woo-hoo. however, it's direct deposit and i don't know if i'll get a stub. so much for framing.

long weekend

so all those of you that have been waiting for me to get my post wedding haircut, i finally did! and it looks amazing!! it's about 2 inches shorter and i have some resemblance of bangs, they are longer than i first wanted, but i think i'm glad that i didn't really get any. i know you're all thinking that doesn't sound like much, but it is a change, at least for me. i decided, before i got it cut at all, that i wanted to grow it out long enough to give to locks of love. it's something that i have always thought about doing, and now i can. so about in a year or so i will finally cut off my long hair and opt for something shorter. i get a bit scared when it comes to going to new people and getting a cut. the lady was nice and she did a decent job, but it cost me twice as much as i had anticipated!!!!! good thing i had my coupon :) so that's my haircut story.

the rest of my weekend was spent with quasi-friends. a few girls from our small group got together and hung out while we ate and knitted. i finally know how to do the purl stitch. you are supposed to learn that one second, but i'm kinda backward and i somehow managed to learn the knit stitch first. but my good friend jessie helped me. it was really good to hang out and get to know the girls better. yestarday we went to baltimore and watched the orioles get spanked by the stupid red soxs. it was embarrassing, almost as embarrassing as there being more sox fans than orioles ones. we walked around the city with friends of david's co-worker. don't worry we had meet them once before. it was nice having a tour guide of the city.

anything else interesting....i went to 2 book festivals this weekend. one in dc, which was huge. the jr league was volunteering and i talked to a lady about joining. i think i am going to sign up next year. they do lots of volunteer stuff throughout the city. i got sue monk kidd's autograph. i meet a friend down there and we grabbed lunch. oh, and there were demonstrators everywhere! it was so weird and so cool at the same time. the ladies in front of me were remarking on their protests in the 60's. there was also counter demonstrations going on. i guess that's one cool thing about dc. the other book fair was in baltimore. we just happened upon it. i got some movie posters. it definitely wasn't as large. so i guess that's about it..i am so tired from all the excitment.

understanding

does anybody know a good book to read about legalism?

tummy pains

today i arrived at work a bit early, because the metro was freaking fast, so i thought it would be nice to stop and get a bite to eat and drink before my stressful day :) every day i pass by this restaurant/cafe, like panera, and wonder what the food is like. today, i take the plunge and go in. my first new thing of the week. i thought they had bagels and such, but what i came accross inside was a tasteful display of desserts. instead of getting what i would normally get, a chocolate muffin, i decided that i would try one of their advertised fruity health drinks. now, i am not normally a blueberry lover, but that was the only flavor, and it had these things in it that were supposed to help your body absorb calcium and stuff. since i could use some calcium, i dove in. well it tasted rather good, i must say. however, the latter results weren't so good. i'm not talking about massive gross explosions of any sort, but about an hour later, i think my body started rejecting it. i think it thought it was those foreign bodies bad for the body. boy do i have my body fooled or what. at least i am having pizza for lunch, so maybe i can set things straight.

books, books, and more books

too much work and not enough time to read. i am starting to miss my days of leisure, now that it's fall and all these books are finally being published. those years of high school and college that i failed to leisurely read during, what a waste! i am in the middle of the secret life of bees, whose content maybe controversial to some people. the author is going to be in dc this weekend for the national book festival, so i am going to get your autograph. today a book i have been waiting to read comes out, Goodnight Nobody, by jennifer weiner. i just found out in two weeks, another book everyone worth knowing is coming out. i have been waiting for lauren weis.... to write another book since i read her first one. and nicholas sparks is coming out with another book in october. so that's 3 right there, plus the one i am reading now, and i want to finish the harry potter series, since i have 3 people telling me that after the fourth one i'll be hooked, and i have 3 more books in the chronicles of narnia, which by the way i have to finish before the movie comes out in nov?, and then there are the other 2 which i've had for years and one other one that looks goods. needless to say it's a lot. man oh man how i love to read!

good times with old friends

old friends are the best! i talked to one of my oldest friends tonight. we kinda have an unique relationship. see, we meet the summer after our eighth grade year at a camp in middle eastern mo. we quickly became friends, however i don't quite remember what draw us together. we were inseperable the whole time we were there. the only draw back about our relationship was that we have never, except for maybe a few times, spent much time together. our friendship bloomed through 10 page letters, all throughout high school. see she was from columbia, and i st. charles. between when we meet and when we graduated i think we maybe saw each other 3 times. usually it was when i went to chicago, or she came to columbia. now you may be thinking to yourself, how could a relationship like that last for so long? my take on it is that we both needed a friend that was impartial that we could trust to be honest with each other. we lost touch for a few years. but, we have rekindled our relationship.we now correspond through e-mail and maybe a phone call 3 times a year. i know most people wouldn't think that we could be close, but she knows so much about me and has seen/read me through a lot of things and vice versa. one thing that i have realized since i moved here is, friends close to the heart, no matter how far a part will always remain close. distance and time may seperate two people, but they will always be able to pick up where things left off. i am a firm believer in that! love can do so much!

i finished captivating by stasi eldredge yestarday, and one of the things that continues to stand out in my mind is what she says about women and friends. first off, she says that you need them, who knew. she goes on to explain that each one of our friends is a vital part of us and that no one else can replace the part they have in our life. i feel that this is very true. she also says that you can have no more than three good friends at any given time. just look at jesus's life. he had the 3 and the 12. the heart cannot give to more than three people at a time. maybe i can use that to justify why some past relationships have failed, or that girls are jealous of other girls. i know that God heals those hurts, and gives us other people to feel the void. ok, enough with my soap box. i highly recommend this book to girls who have experienced some sort of self doubt, depression, or another form of unpleasant experience in their life. she uses biblical principles and her own experience to put things in perspective. i am very thankful that God has given me some girlfriends here. it was getting kinda lonely. but, all you friends back home remember you hold a very dear place and always will in my heart.

hmmm...

here i am at work again with nothing to keep me busy. i definitely thought that i would lose interest in posting these things, but i feel it is my way of keeping the world current with what's going on with me. Even if no one was to read it, it amuses me.

i added a new link today, if you didn't notice. it is to a friend's website of paintings. she does it for a living. maybe i'll highlight her today. i meet her at the small group that i am attending. she went away for a while then reappeared this past wednesday. tiff, she reminds me of you. i think it is the way she carries herself and her mannerisms. she is also petite with shorter blond hair. david doesn't agree, but i know i am right. i found out that she likes to knit and sew, as do the other girls. man i sound like an old woman. anyhow, her work is on display in a NC gallery. how would i describe her paintings.... simple yet unique. now, i have only seen them online. right now she paints in her walk-in closet. studio space is @ $300 a month here.

moving on...kelly some of the best books that i have read this year are undomesticated goddess, books by jennifer weiner, she has a new book coming out next week, and in her shoes will be in theaters in oct., i am in the middle of reading captivating, i am enjoying it. most books have been for pleasure i might add. when i am done with captivating i am going to start what's so amazing about grace and the da vinici code. both of which i received as presents almost two years ago.

i guess that's all i have for now. 2 more hours of work. woo-hoo! i get to leave early today. i know that many of you will be surprised to know this, but i joined the social committee at work. shocking, right? the cool thing is at the end of the month, it's college day, so you know i'll be sporting mu. however, i do wish it was cooler, so i could wear my sweatshirt. i do have plenty of those.

new job

since i am writing this, i must not be very busy. my first day of work, has been well...slow there is nothing for me to do! i have explored every link on my associations website and its fairly extensive. if you are interested the url is www.namss.org i will be working for a medical certification association, and since we do not take control until oct. i forsee many more days like this. but hey i am working right. i am supposed to have some html training as well as imis training the next few days, so hopefully that will keep me busy. as for now i should prolly go, don't know if they track what i do online.

btw-i went to an amazing restuarant for lunch. harry & david's i think. if anyone one comes to visit i'll take you there, but we have to go at lunch time. it's kinda pricey.

i have small group tonight and i am excited!! a new couple is coming and they both seem fun. plus we are having tacos!!

resolutions

yestarday i finished my 20 & 21 book since the beginning of the summer. at the beginning of the year when i made a resolution to read two books a month. i never would have thought that i would have completed that well before the end of the year. so, to date i have read 26 books, those were the ones that i could remember, and i have started my 27 book- if god is closer that you think, why is he so hard to find, john ortberg. you never know, i might finish it today, considering this is my last day of leisure.

let's see here....how are my other resolutions coming along. well, i was trying to watch afi's 100 greatest movies this year. i was actually on pace to finish while i was back in good ole mo, but since i have moved i think i have seen one. my library back had almost all the movies, so i watched them for free. it was fantastic. so far i have watched 52 of them. i think that's pretty impressive considering most of them were painful for me to watch. but here are a few of my recommmendations: guess who's coming to dinner, some like it hot, the african queen, doctor zhivago, and vertigo.

another resolution i made was to learn to drive a stick. i tried to learn while i was living at home, but my mom never let me drive the neon. so i came here to drive david's car, i didn't quite get that either. so, we bought a new car, and sold david's. a malibu to be exact. we got a good deal on it. so the stick thing, yeah i am still working on that. i just need practice, i know the basics.

learning to sew was the next one. i did make some pillows for my new bedroom, and my mom and i were so supposed to make a comforter, but we ran out of time. so she's still working on that one. i did learn to attach circular patterns to straight ones and how to insert zippers. i also made some belts with ribbon. so i think that i would consider this an accomplished goal.

my last one, has been the most challenging when i know it should be the easiest. reading the bible all the way through. i haven't been quite as successful as i would have liked. even when i have a daily bible sometimes it still seems overwhelming. but, i have figured out a good way to help me with this. since my commute will be a little over a hour both ways i have plenty of time for reading, and while i do usually read a fun book, i have committed to reading and praying on the way in to work. yestarday i tried it for orientation, and it actually made the day better. sometimes the easiest decision are the hardest ones for me to make. i think resolutions can be made all year long, if you are willing to stick to them.

one other thing that i have been trying to actively do is knitting. i am working on a scraf now and i am hoping to make some hats soon.

let me know how your resolutions are coming along if you've made any

i'm a newbie, so bare with me...

well, i can now say that i am part of the working world. i accepted my very first job yestarday!!!! i can't tell you how excited this makes me. for some time now i thought i would never find a job that i wanted. and God heard my cry and answered it a thousands times over. the awesome thing is, that i had the chance to decide between two possibilities!!! i actually got to pick the one i wanted the most. I was all smiles yestarday and even today. i am going out to celebrate with david tonight, that is if he ever comes home. he's had to work overtime a lot the past few weeks. so, when i wasn't interviewing i was at home all alone.

well...maybe you are wondering what this new job that has me so excited is all about. i am going to be working as an association assistant for a non-profit medical group. the company is acquiring them as a new client here in the next month. i will be part of a brand new team!! i don't know all the details, but it sounds like it is right up my ally. and every friday is jeans day. for those of us who were required to wear uniforms to school, we know that this is huge! i start on monday, so no more life of leisure for me, and that means that my reading will be cut down dramatically. the other awesome part is that they have offices in STL and CHI-TOWN. possible jobs back at home.

more good news...some of you know that i was lonely here, having no friends that were down or accross the street like in college. but God does answer prayers as i have been blessed immensely lately. we started visiting a church here, by suggestion of someone in our parking lot, who happened to go there and happened to be from KC. our first impression was woo baby. this was definitely one of the larger churches that either one of us had been to. i thought i would never like a big church because i would feel like no one knew me. after our initial shock, we decided to give it another try. we went to a class that was for young married couples, hoping to meet some people to connect with. well. let me enlighten you all on something i learned from this experience, young here means different things than it does it missouri. most of the people were in their early thirties and had been married for awhile. needless to say, we felt out of place, but we are determined people. we signed up to be a part of a Bible study, not knowing what we would encounter. we recieved an e-mail from a couple in our area who wanted to start a group. we figured we had nothing to lose so we met them and a few other couples at panera a few weeks ago. what we saw was a glorious sight. other young couple our age who had just moved to the area. the only difference was they had all been married for about 2 years. not bad right, they were young, our age, and without children. i made a comment about this because it was different than what we encountered at the church service, and what would you know one of the couples is expecting next may. i think this is how God displays his sense of humor to us. another key thing about this group is that i really connected with on of the girls. we are both midwestern girls and have some of the same interests. we have been able to hang out outside the group a few times. i am definitely feeling more at home here in dc now.