A little something something

I found this on my good friend Terri Pohl's Xanga and thought in filling it out I could avoid writing papers for school.

JANUARY.
1. Did you have a New Year's resolution this year?  No, I'm not into resolutions.  But if I had one it would probably be something like lose 5 pounds or read my Bible more often.
2. Who kissed you at midnight? No one...just hugs and smiles.
3. Does it snow where you live?  Heck yes it does.
4. Do you like hot chocolate? Especially with marshmellows.
5. Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop? No, but I've been to TS before...good times in NYC!

FEBRUARY.
1. Who was your Valentine? No one...what's new.
2. When you were little, did you buy valentines for your whole class? Yes, but I specifically gave cooler flavours of candy and neater looking cards to the kids I got along with.
3. Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not? No.

MARCH.
1. Are you Irish? I'm a mut, Swede, Brit, German, Irish and Czec.
2. Do you wear green on St. Patty's Day? I don't own much green...maybe a green shirt?

3. What did you do for St. Patty's Day in 2006? Probably homework.
4. Are you happy when winter is pretty much over? You better believe it!

APRIL.
1. Do you like the rain? I love it.
2. Did you play an April fool's joke on anyone this year? I don't think I did, but in the past I've been a part of some pretty awesome April fool's jokes...good times back at HSS!
3. Do you get tons of candy on Easter? I used to!  This year mom bought me a bag of malted eggs.
4. Do you celebrate 4/20?  Sick. no.

MAY.
1. What's your favorite kind of flower? Typical....roses.
2. Do you like the spring? YES!
3. Finish the phrase "April showers":  bring May flowers!
4. What is the first color you think of when you think of Spring? Yellow..."and they were all yellow...yeah."

JUNE.
1. What year did/will you graduate from highschool? 2002...gettin' old.
2. Did you realize nothing special happens in June? What, what about Flag Day and Fahzah's Day?!

JULY.
1. What did you do on the Fourth of July?  I celebrated it with my fam in Omaha.  I don't remember where we went...hmm...I think I was too excited about my adventures to Europe. Oh wait, now I remember...we went to the Base Lake to chill and grill at my Gma's big rig.
2. Did you go on any vacations during this month? Heck yes, I went to Europe baby!
3. Do you blast the A/C all day?  I did not live in A/C this summer...Europe doesn't really need/have it in large supplies like the US.  I actually liked to warmth...and in my car, I try to avoid putting it on unless I am sweating and need it.

AUGUST.
1. Did you do anything special at the end of your summer? I was in Oxford England...good times with UNL students...oh England.
2. What was your favorite summer memory of '06? The whole summer.
3. Do you have a sunburn? I got a little burned here and there...but I realized the importance of wearing sunscreen and I bought some that wasn't all sticky and smelly.  It was awesome.
4. Do you go to the beach a lot? Sad...the closest I got to a beach was on the Irish coast...it was terribly cold and windy that day too... : (

SEPTEMBER.
1. Did you attend school/college in '06? Last fall here at UNL...end of an era...
2. Who is/was your favorite teacher? Prof. Sanai is pretty funny...he's from India...love his accent.  Reminds me a bit of Holmesy back in Oxford.
3. Do you like fall better than summer? Fall is great...mostly for the football season...but summer is better.

OCTOBER.
1. What was your favorite Halloween costume?  Amish girl - 8th grade...or maybe when I dressed up as a Wicked Witch of the West Coast Offense.
2. What's your favorite candy? Dark Chocolate now...but I love all candy.
3. What did you dress up as last year?  LOL...I pulled off this 80's punk rocker chick with a red spikey David Bouie looking wig and red fishnet stockings with a bright yellow vintage looking shirt and a plush vest with sunglasses...my friends got a kick out of it!

NOVEMBER.
1. Whose house did you go to for Thanksgiving?  Grandma Joan's in Bellevue.
2. Do you love stuffing? Not really.
3. What are you thankful for? Christ...knowing Him, my church, my family and friends, America, so much...the oppportunities I've had to travel and meet new people from all over the world.

DECEMBER.
1. Do you celebrate Christmas? Yes!
2. If not, what do you celebrate? Put on your yah...
3. Have you ever been kissed under mistletoe? Nah.
4. Get anything special last year? $ for Europa.
5. What do you want this year? Don't know.
6. Do you like cold weather? It's alright...but I don't love it.

Celebrity? I think not.

So this picture was taken this summer...I took it myself (selfish, I know) but I was bored on the train and wanted to see what I looked like.  I have to wake up at 6:00 am and I am still messing around on the computer...this site is pretty cool though.  You can put any picture up and see what celebrities you look like.  I don't know...they say I look like Claire Danes in this picture?  "Romeo, Romeo..."

College life is back in full swing.  Walking to class, working out at the rec, eating at the dining halls, running into old friends, studying, sleeping...etc.  Soon it will be over though.  Sad, I know, but life is going to move on...it has to.  With God on my side, I can have confidence in knowing that He holds my future in His hands.  I just have to trust Him and seek to do His will in my life.  Recently I catch myself thinking more about what I want to say before I say it...though at times I struggle with being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  It just amazes me that God knows what I am going to say even before I speak but at the same time I am concious of my words and their impact on others...will they be positive or negative?  uplifting or discouraging?  I should re-read the War of Words book...good stuff.

I love eating healthy foods.  Since yesterday morning I have been focusing on eating lots of healthy, fiberous, low-cal, vitamin enriched foods.  I love it!  It makes me feel better than when I endulge on junk on the weekends.  For dinner tonight, I made a grilled chicken salad and had canteloupe and an apple with peanut butter! Yum! 

Well, it was one year ago today that Hurrican Katrina hit New Orleans.  Leaving in her path a destructed flooded city.  I pray that the Hurricane Katrina victims would continue to get their lives back to normal and would seek God through the pain of re-building and recovery.  It is sad to see the rates of depression, suicide and mental illness that has struck those affected by the storm.  I can't imagine living through such a disaster.  The hurt of seeing loved ones die and the pain of destruction would be hard to live through.  Thankfully only 2000-3000 lost their lives...if this disaster would have hit on the same scale in a different country I would imagine more live would have been lost.  The immediate (kind of) response of our national guards, volunteers and generous Americans helped keep the death toll lower than what was originally expected.  However, the response was not perfect...people died waiting to be helped...the outrage of the citizens would have been painful to be around.  Thankfully so many people have helped in the efforts to rebuild the area. 

Well I really have to get ready for bed! 

GO BIG RED...what what...only 4 more days until the first game! 

Cheers

Beefeaters

I just got back from spending time reading and studying at the Beefeaters pub.  Thankfully it is more of a restaurant than a pub.  It reminded me a lot of the Mill/CoHo but with a definite Euro feel.  I paid 3.99 Pounds aka $8 for some tea, scones, strawberry jelly and clotted cream.  It was muy bueno!  Mindy and Brittany (2 of my staircasemates) re-wrote their notes while I read about Thatch (Margaret Thatcher).  Our exam is next week and I have a feeling that there may be an essay q about her and her economic policies. 

I skipped out on dinner tonight.  Not because of what they were feeding us - which was actually very American (fried chicken, french fries, salad, chocolate cake and ice cream) - but because I wanted to go to St. Ebbe's for their Thursday night group gathering/Bible Study.  It was a short walk from Jesus College...just down the street from the shopping centre.  I walked up to the building and it seemed locked and dark inside.  Some random streetman walked up to me and told me to press the silver button.  So I did and a guy that was waiting in the lobby came and opened it up for me to let me in.  I got in and in a few moments I realized that what I had come for wasn't going on.  Turns out that the Thursday program is only during term time (aka. not during summer break).  I was saddened but glad to meet James and his finance Lauri.  They seemed very nice and gave me a little flyer for the meeting that will be on next Wednesday.  I plan on going to that for sure...despite the fact that I have a final on Thursday morning. 

This weekend I will be going to see Blenheim Palace - birth of Winston Churchill and more historical facts of which I am not too keen on at this point.  It should be beautiful. 

I bit the bullet and bought a calling card today for 5 pounds...I called Mom while she was at work at talked for almost 45 min!  It was so good talking to her...almost as if we spoke yesterday.  Towards the end of the convo it was a little emotional...I think we both felt it.  I tried to hold back my tears, but a few fell down my cheek while saying goodbye.  I think it is perfectly normal though to feel that way.  I mean, come on...she's my MOMMA! 

The park today was beautiful.  It was actually warmer than the past few days and the ducks were out in full force.  I sat down on the bench and finished reading 2 Timothy...God has blessed me with the time and place to read His word here in the busy and spiritually dark place that I live.  Reading it outside where you are away from people and distractions of the city makes it even more of a blessing.  The lake with the ducks houses a big group of lillipads with huge yellowish white flowers...so cool.  I have a feeling that I will miss my daily walks in the in the park.

Well, someone is waiting for the computer...gotta go! 

Cheers!

Nutella and Black Feet

I just got back from a long weekend in Dublin.  Overall I enjoyed my time there.  The city is really chill and not as busy as London or Paris.  The people there are nice and the city was very easy to navigate.  We hit up grocery stores for most of our meals and enjoyed spreading Nutella on bread and bananas or eating straight from the jar.  I don't know how the Atkins diet would survive over here.  It seems like all people eat are pastries and white bread!  I have re-discovered my love for tuna sandwiches that is for sure!

Yesterday we went to a castle and we ended up running into our professor and his girlfriend!  Odd, I know, but cool.  After the castle we saw the beautiful Irish coastline.  We really wanted to go see Billy Joel in concert but tickets were over 50 Euros!  Instead we ate at a nice pub and ended up cleaning house on the condiment front!  You should have seen our bread plate that was full of ketchup, salt, pepper and vinegar packets...this picture I took is priceless.  As far as the black feet situation goes...when you put flip flops on and trapse around a big city that is crowded and dirty...you are likely to end up with dirty feet at the end of the day.  What made it worse was when it rained!  I am surprised none of us fell and broke anything because the sidewalks tended to be slippery at times. 

Once again...big cities draw some interesting people that pretty much do anything to make money from those that walk by.  I saw a guy dressed in a skeleton costume with scary clear eyes and pointy ears trying to freak people out.  Then I saw a little girl probably around the age of 8 playing the accordian.  We walked past a few Irish bands and also stumbled across many a drunks.  That was a sad sight to see for sure...it is just sad that people have to fill the void in their lives with alcholism.  They need Christ...and in a large city with few churches and many distractions and pubs...well, you get the point.

I am hoping that this Wed. or Thurs. I will be able to check out St. Ebbe's.  Indeed it has been weeks since I have been to church.  Thankfully I feel that God has taught me lessons, allowed me to share my faith with non-believers, grown more as an individual, etc.  But the has been a void in my soul in a sense that I haven't had fellowship with believers in quite some time...I haven't sang hymns with believers either and I definitely haven't heard the word of God preached in person.  I listened to one of Lou's sermons for a bit last night as I was laying down trying to fall asleep in the hostel.  I was thankful to hear truth spoken.

Well...tis late...have had a long weekend away...tis cold, getting colder here...I hear it is HOT HOT HOT in NE and that there are wildfires out in the panhandle : (  Hopefully the Lord sends forth His rain soon!

Cheers!

Dublin