it all depends on your attitude

So, my day went like this.

I woke up on the couch this morning, around 9 still in my jeans and clothes from last night. I had fallen asleep there and Bethany's shaking and calling my name couldn't wake me up. I got in the shower and ready for chapel. Yesterday I bought the cutest new heels from the thrift store and put them on with the perfect outfit. Except for that I ended up being late for chapel, and on the way in the bottom of one of the heels broke. I also forgot a jacket on my way out and was cold most of the day. Spanish class was frustrating. We learned a whole new set of verbs in five minutes and then was expected to conjugate them without really learning how. Cool. I was frustrated and didn't understand and then when it came my turn to list off the different forms of verbs that I A) had never seen B) didn't know the meaning of and C) didn't know the form I was supposed to use. I almost started to cry. All this on top of not eating lunch and being completely overwhelmed with school. I could say I had a pretty rough day.

So my day went like this.

Brittany thought I may not have gotten to each lunch today, so she thought to bring me an apple and a cookie. Sam called me because she had heard my shoe broke and offered to bring me new ones and a jacket. When she got to the office she also had a cup of tea in her hand for me. Ryan was in the office and let me cry on her shoulder for a bit. Then she encouraged me. Cristina texted me as I was leaving the school, asking if they could come by. A bit later three of my favorite people rang the doorbell with cupcakes in hand (which are almost all gone by the way). We then went out to dinner and I laughed at Caleb, a lot. I got to talk to a good friend on the phone for a while tonight, and it made me smile, a lot. I went over to the guys' house and got to see a bunch of them that I don't see often anymore. Sebby came over after and had some tea with me.

All this to say I had a pretty great day.

one saturday morning...

Took these on my phone while we were being lazy on the couch.

This morning I woke up around 9:15 and rolled out of bed. I put some jeans on and took one look at my hair before I decided not to brush it. I was just waking up when I got to the Robeck's door and after I set my things down I almost immediately laid down on the couch and watched cartoons with Rebekah until breakfast was ready.

Eggs, biscuits with homemade jam, bacon, raspberries, strawberries, hash browns and coffee. I love meals with CMR and RRR because they are almost always action packed. This morning Rebekah was done with her breakfast and had moved on to leaning on me from her chair (something she often does). Well she put her foot up for a second and the next thing we knew her water glass was exploding across the dining room.

After breakfast and my second cup of coffee we all kinda laid around and hung out. Bob Marley (what?) and Jack Johnson serenaded us. We talked and laughed and looked at some of Rebekah and Caleb's baby pictures. Finally around 2:00 the kids got out of their pajamas and I headed home to work on my paper. Such a wonderful morning.

meet some of my friends please

These are all the girls I live with. From the left, Sam (Sambam) Jessi (Jess), Bethany (Bethers) is the one I share a room with, Me, Tiffany (Tiff) and Rebecca (Becca)

This is Sebastian (Sebby) and Sam, being goofy, usual.

Meet JR. He is the biggest teddy bear I know. A heart of gold this one and I just adore him :)

My friend Wix (Chris), is the greatest. Awesome drummer, total goofball.

My friend Simeon, who I met through Ryan (below). Pretty sure he knows nothing about cars, pretty sure this was staged. He is great, however, loves music and playing on the swings at night.
James, so many adventures with this one. Together we love reading and traveling and spanish and tea and the ocean and kids and trees.

Meet Nate (Natillo, Bubba, Bubs), Bethers you know, and Ryan (Ry). Nate is, big. I'm sure he's at least 3 times larger than I, but a total blast. Ryan is one of the besties, she is so much encouragement and joy in my day. I get most of my phrases from her.

This on the left is Fula, her real name is Andrea but everyone calles her Fula. She may be the raddest person I've met yet. These three girls are great together, so much friendship!


The above individuals are key in my life right now. This isn't all of them, just a lot of them. They are the ones I see everyday, or talk to on the phone during breaks and drives home. These are the people I clear my schedule for and think about most. Could not ask for a better group of friends.

P.s. Most of these pictures are random off facebook, which makes me realize that I really need to start taking pictures with these people.

we might be busy..

This is the state of my and bethany's room. Please don't judge us.

español

So, I am taking Spanish this year. It's not required or anything, I just really want to learn this language. Living in Southern California I feel I ought to, having a heart for people in El Salvador I feel I ought to. My professor, a man from Colombia, conducts most of the class in Spanish and is kinda tough when it comes to things like pronunciation and the ability to think up random sentences to say when conjugating verbs.

Right now I am in the midst of studying for our second test. I'm a little nervous. I usually am required to read and write and everything is very concrete. I know just what I need to do and how much effort to put in to get a good grade. With this, studying feels a bit more fluid. I can study and memorize and work on changing verbs from preparar to:

preparo
preparas
prepara
preparamos
preparais
preparan

all I want but if I need to do it for a word I don't know it becomes harder. If its a plural, harder yet and then I need to decide if its male or female. And that's just the present indicative form. These are the days I wish I was Catherine.

i'm just glad the committee is norwegian..

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Oslo, October 9, 2009

 

in example:

In my Spiritual Disciplines class on Monday, Bill (an affectionately coined nickname for our Professor, previous Campus Pastor, mentor and friend) told us a story of two people who were once apart of his congregation. 

Florence and Phil, were engaged to be married just six months before Phil went away to war. They were in love and promised to each other that they would be married upon his return. Until then they would write letters to each other every day. He was sent oversees, to Europe and was on the beach at Normandy just a week after D-Day. Their letters were constantly in circulation yet it was sometimes weeks before one would get just a single letter, or sometimes a whole stack of them at once. For four years they wrote, for four years he told her how passionately he was in love with her and for four years she waited for him to come home. 

"She told me that the mailbox on her family's farm was about a quarter mile from the house. She used to walk it sometimes two and three times a day... searching for a letter."

Phil was wounded three times during his service. The final time, an injury that would  paralyze him, was by friendly fire. A man was cleaning his gun in the barracks, and it accidentally went off. The bullet went through the wall and hit Phil in the back, paralyzing him for the rest of his life. He returned home with about six months to live, or so they said. 

Even with so little time left, they were married. 

"They were apart of my church congregation. When I met them Phil had far outlived the doctor's predictions for how long he had to live. I was so privileged to be the one to renew their vows. For their 50th wedding anniversary."

Sitting in their home Bill asked Florence, "Why did you marry him?" She could have easily  changed her mind when he got home. Easily have chosen the less painful road, instead she faced watching her husband pass shortly after their wedding. Florence didn't answer, but got up and went back into her room. 

After about 10 minutes of shuffling around she re-entered the room with a large box. Inside were more shoe boxes. Each full of letters. They had matched their correspondence and stored them away. She began to read one to Bill and it was difficult for her. Not because of her old age or bad eyesight, but because the letter had been read so many times and touched so often the words had begun to fade. She stopped and said, "How could I not marry a man who writes like this?" 

Bill relayed to us that at the reception of the renewing of their vows he watched a couple who were just as in love with each other as the day they were married. 

"Every once and a while I would look over and watch Florence swat his hand away from her and say, Phil!!"

a productively lazy day...i hope

Someone once read me a book when I was little that I haven't really seen or read since. It's called the napping house. Today I was reminded of it when it was after 10 and all my roommates were still home. Then after we ate breakfast half of us went and crawled back in bed. 

My plan is to cultivate a feeling of productivity in my life this afternoon. However upon arrival to the office I still feel a sense of quiet relaxation in the air. Its just one of those days. I think I need a cup of coffee, and maybe some good music. 

The good thing about my to do list is that on it are things like, write such and such paper and read books x and y. Things that I normally just enjoy doing. With this new job comes a new desk that resides next to a wall that is made up of primarily glass. I think I have an affinity for windows. 

books and tea..

I got to spend the majority of this afternoon and evening with a good friend of mine. We laid out on the grass for a while, in the peace that seems to surround Vanguard's campus. Then we went to class, and were completely filled with wisdom from one of my favorite professors. Not once during his lectures do I ever wonder what time it is, or think about what I am doing next. After much debate, and by random chance we ended up getting pizza and eating down by the water. We got there via car, windows down and music up. Illuminated by the setting sun we ate close to the entire unevenly sliced pizza, and almost got attacked by a flock of angy-at-life birds. It's funny how watching the sun set, no matter how many times, never gets old. In the end we wandered into my favorite coffee shop- they switched the art recently- with chai tea. I went home with a stack of new, to me, books and some new tea to try.

Delightful.

life in manual

Tonight I was so blessed to be able to have dinner with many good friends. Pastor Marian, and his daughter Karolina, are visiting the States from Poland. I worked in Poland for three summers during high school and became good friends with them and Derek Ford (who lives in Wales and helps with the english camps) as well. To sit and talk and catch up with them was incredible. I left full of joy.

Driving through Twain Harte I put on the cd my sister left in her car...and took full advantage of the manual transmition I am driving this weekend.

"I get lost in the night
So high I don't want to come down
To face the loss
Of the good thing
That I had found"

Driving home I sang at the top of my lungs. When I got to the part of the highway where there are double lanes there was no one around. As I drove with the music up as loud as it would go I looked over and through the sillouted black pinetrees I saw enormous billowy clouds illuminated by the full moon, wizzing by me.

"See the time we shared it
Was precious to me
But all the while
I was dreamin of revelry"

bbrrr.

I just looked out the window at the thermometer. It's currently 47 degrees. Then I walked by the thermostat in the hallway and guessed before I read it. I was right on, 65 in the house.

Perfect.

windows down with the heater on

I drove home this afternoon.

For the first time, I think, as I drove away from Costa Mesa I felt a sense of relief. Maybe it was because I was listening to Brave Saint Saturn, or maybe because this last week was stressful and emotional, but I felt so much joy at the thought of being here tonight.

I got into Sonora as the sun was setting, and took a series of pictures that I'll upload later. Through Twain Harte I rolled the windows down and the scent of pine and pineneedles filled my car. I soon was shivering, and turned the heater on.

I forgot how much I missed twisty, open mountain roads.

I pulled into my driveway with a big smile on my face. I walked into my house and felt relieved. This house has turned into a little mountain getaway for me. Complete with a balcony that overlooks...trees. It has cozy carpet, a little kitchen and there are blankets and comfy old couches everywhere. From the backroom I can hear my dad building a fire. This weekend I plan on visiting some dear friends, and writing a paper for my favorite class. Other than that, I'm going to sleep in and relax; and hopefully see my Gram.