Flowers, Friends, Frenzy

In the last couple days, there is the feeling of spring in the air! The flowers are blooming and everything seems fresh and new.


There is something about a street full of cherry blossom trees that makes my heart flutter with excitement inside because it's so beautiful and full of life. So today I tried snapping a few pictures of them.


And after today, I have flowers inside my house too! A friend of mine came over for tea and blessed me with some flowers. Was so wonderful to have her company and now I have a lovely bouquet of tulips in my living room as a reminder of our visit as well.


And life has turned into a frenzy (hence the lack of blogging). I have been so busy packing up my house that I have neglected entirely to pack for my month long trip. Maybe if I had a washer that worked I could wash clothes to pack. For now I will just run around getting everything else done, avoiding packing for my holidays altogether.

Countdown is on: 4 more sleeps and then the adventures shall begin!

Countdown, Crazy, Countrywide

Thought I'd post a countdown for fun, because there is a lot that I am looking forward to in the next little while!!

Palm Springs: 3 days
Seattle Getaway: 16 days
Trip to Quebec: 18 days
Trip to Asia: 61 days
The Only Wedding I have this year (compared to 10-12 other years!): 158 days
Moving Day: 160 days

Crazy!!

Lists, Longings, Life

I LOVE lists. In fact, perhaps a little too much. I enjoy making to do lists and adding obvious things like "wake up", "shower", "eat breakfast" and so forth. That way at the end of the day I have a ton of things to check off and it seems like I have accomplished a lot in the day, when in reality all I did was probably brush my teeth after eating breakfast and the rest of the day was spent making the to do list.

So this post is about lists. First I shall start with a countdown because that's kind of like a list of counting. Or something like that.

Countdown:
1 day until I go to Seattle!
7 days until trip to the Island!
21 days until South Africa!
39 days (approximately) until I become a DOUBLE AUNTY!!!!
78 days until my birthday!
79 days until Christmas!

Things I have been able to cross off my bucket list in the last couple months:
-swim 200 lengths in a row
-sit in natural hot springs
-go to Australia/New Zealand
-go to 40 different countries

Things I expect to cross off my bucket list in the next year:
-learn to crochet
-write a book
-take a picture of the stars
-get a hole in one in golf (wishful thinking)
-sea kayaaking
-memorize a book of the bible
-carve something from wood
-eat dog
-Go to all 7 continents
-built a homemade kite
-bake bread
-ride an elephant
-go to Thailand
-run the police run
-3 day silence retreat

Some things I want to get done before I leave for South Africa:
-Christmas shopping (officially started yesterday)
-Christmas cards (I will wait to mail them of course)
-Christmas decorating (yes I am crazy)
-Get a business license (printed the application today!)
-Make some business cards
-Finish another chapter in my book
-Write a bunch of letters
-Finish planning my wedding (okay just kidding-wanted to see if you were actually reading)

This past season of my life has been an interesting one. For many reasons, but one of them has been that I don't always have a clear cut answer to "What do you do?" It's been good for me to sort through that and realize that my identity is not found in what I do.. as in where I work, etc. So in case people wonder what in the world I do all day long,

here are some of the things I'm passionate about and that take up my time:

-walking with God/studying the Bible: continually learning more about God and engaging Him and getting to know Him on a deeper level
-relationships/community: I strongly value keeping in touch with people and connecting with others in meaningful ways and being able to encourage people
-prison ministry: I volunteer in prison and absolutely love it
-teacher's assistant: I mark a lot of papers
-photography: I love capturing the beauty and majesty of God's creation and sharing it with others
-my family, and especially my nephew :)
-blogging: i love sharing my thoughts, experiences and ideas with others and hope in some way that it is uplifting and encouraging to those who read
-reading/learning: I love learning. About other people, cultures, countries, subjects, languages.
-letter writing: It is my personal goal to bring back the art of letter writing. So I have many pen pals and try to keep it up.
-instilling value in others
-traveling
-being a blessing to others (hopefully!)
-youth: worked as a youth leader and now am a youth sponsor and i love it!

Here is a list of some of the things I would love to do with my life:
-work at McDonald's (okay just kidding)
-border crossing guard
-corrections officer
-parole officer
-author
-public speaker
-travel journalist
-counselor, specializing in looking at body image/personal value etc. in individuals
-teacher in university
-stay at home mom and adopt kids

And so ends my list of lists. There are more things I could probably add to the lists, but that is what is coming to mind at the moment. I wonder what other people make lists of?

Simba, Sushi, Showers

Last night I confirmed my favorite sushi place in the area. It's in Vancouver and it's called Honjin Sushi, and I honestly can't wait to go back again, because it's THAT good. Mmm.. tasty. I took Alisha there last night and she heartily agreed.

After dinner, we went to the Lion King, which was fantastic! I had seen it before, but it was wonderful once again and definitely gave me the shivers. Makes me super excited to go back to Africa in a few months!

And below is the reason I usually don't shower and wash my hair before going to bed...

And I decided to give myself an entirely new look.. let me know what you think.
Instead of working on writing my paper and my final, I decided to create a countdown for the next few months. So here it is:

10 days: Desiree's wedding
16 days: Portland roadtrip
29 days: Australia!
79 days: Cali trip
92 days: South Africa!
149 days: My birthday!
150 days: Christmas!!

Lots more to look forward to between now and then and I can't wait! It will be fantastic! Now back to the books and trying to write this silly paper. And maybe I'll wash my hair again...

Flurry, Fiesta, Fantastic

No matter what, it always seems like my life is crazy busy. Each week seems to pass in a flurry, but each moment is filled with wonderful things. I'm learning to enjoy every moment and make sure I intentionally stop and simply enjoy being amidst the flurry of insanity.

This weekend I made 2 puzzles with friends. I really enjoy puzzling and it's a great way to just hang out with people and chat. So here's a couple of pictures of the puzzles we made. Made me think of my life as a puzzle. Each moment is a piece and sometimes I know instantly where that piece goes and sometimes I stare at it having absolutely no clue where it could possibly fit. Yet, in the end, each piece connects perfectly and a beautiful picture emerges. Love it! :)


On Saturday, our church put on a Mexican Fiesta as a fundraiser for their Mexico Missions trip. They've been going for about 10 years now I think. I was in charge of the craft station for the kids' fiesta which was super fun. We made little sombreros which was great! I was too busy wiping glue off the tables for the next group to take too many pics.. so you will just have to imagine some amazingly crafted sombreros. :) And I"m actually going to Mexico with my church this summer too! I'm pretty excited about it actually! We're building 3 houses and well, i have absolutely no clue how to build a house, but I'm excited to go serve in whatever way possible!

And Canucks playoff fever has begun again! My brother and I went to the first game on Thursday and we won! Yay! And we twirled our towels around enthusiastically for every goal we scored! Actually, I think I am the Canucks' good luck charm, because this year, they have won every game I have gone to as long as I'm wearing my jersey. I couldn't be there on Saturday, and therefore they lost. Go figure. I should probably fly down to LA just to help the team out.. (well i have thought about it...)

Woooh!! Go towel power!! This pic was taken in a rush after we scored the winning goal! Great game to be at! :)

Pic of all the towels laid out on the chairs. Wouldn't that be a fun job to have?

The rest of my weekend was great! Even went swimming outside for the first time this year-delightful! And did laundry too! Still waiting for my washer and dryer to walk themselves into my basement so I can do laundry at my house for the first time since August... I'm hoping one of these days a couple of strapping, strong young men will show up at my door to carry them down. haha

And because I haven't had a countdown in a while, here goes some things I'm excited for coming up:

4 months until Desiree's wedding!
3 months until Mexico!
60 days until Bridgid's wedding!
45 days until going to Calgary for Jacquelyn's wedding!
40 days until roadtrip to the island for Alex and Ryan's wedding!
38 days until I get to go see one of my fave musicals in Seattle!
12 days until roadtrip to Kelowna for Carrie's wedding!

I think there will be a lot more random adventures mixed in there, but that's that for now! :)

Paper, Psychotherapy, Party

Greetings!! It is 2:30am in the morning and I just finished typing my last page of my paper on the connections between spirituality and psychotherapy. YAY! Well I think I have a lot of editing to do (seeing that it is 2:30 in the morning and the brain doesn't fully work), but the bulk of it is done!!

Here's some numbers from my paper:
6 people interviewed
30 pages
40 sources
9000 words

Anyway, just wanted to write a post of celebration that the end of school is getting nearer now that the bulk of this paper is completed! Huzzah!!

And some Easter pictures and other fun stuff is coming up soon!! :)

Only 120 papers to mark! (okay cut out the only, that's a lot!)
Only 4 more days until I start working full time!
Only 3 more days until my first and last exam!
Only 1 more paper to work on!
5.5-the hours of sleep i might get tonight!! woo hoo!

Done, Down, Depression

I just finished writing a paper! YEAH! That means I only have like 70 more pages of papers to write for the rest of the semester! Boo ya! The paper I wrote was about religion and how sometimes it can lead to having an extreme internal or external locus of control (that's where you think the control of your life comes from.. you or other circumstances/people) can lead to learned helplessness and consequently depression. And how a balanced approach needs to be found between faith and works, between one's own actions and depending on God within them. Interesting enough. Not really sure if it makes sense, but I'm okay with that, because it's DONE and now I have one DOWN. If anyone likes editing and wants to read/edit my paper, let me know!!

Updated Countdown:
-six more classes to attend
-10 more days until classes are done!
-16 more days until my last exam! (and first exam)
-17 more days until I start working full time!
-77 more days until fun!
-70 more pages to type for papers
-120 more papers to mark!!

YIPPEE!

Tired, Travel, Time

Happy Monday! I'm a little shocked that it is already the 23rd of March! Ahhh!! Everything is flying by so incredibly fast. Lately I have been getting more sleep than ever before and am so exhausted. I have decided that perhaps I have sleep apnea which could explain why I'm tired often and also why my mind is not working so well of late (or maybe that's just from being on overload!)

Lately I have been really wanting to go away, yet at the same time have been fairly content at home. I have to be content at home until about August mind you.. I think that will be record for me! I'm excited for some summer projects around the house and to go out exploring a lot more around the area.

This weekend in church I was on worship team which was great. A favorite moment of mine was when the leader started singing the wrong word. He pronounced f- and then realized, so switched and sang "heart". The resulting word was "fart". "No fart could fully know..." haha.. I paused and thought "Did he just sing fart?" I glanced over and noticed another band member trying not to laugh and had to work to keep my composure as well. The five year old within me thought it was pretty funny. :)

One of the quotes mentioned in the sermon was "It's never too late to be who you want to be". So true. yet so often I forget that. Change is possible. I see change as immediate as is reflective of the culture we live in today. We want immediate gratification. Yet, change is a slow and gradual process that we need to be persistent and perseverant in. So I was encouraged once again to keep pressing on! :)

Here's an updated countdown:
3 more days until Jocelyn comes over (just so she can be included in the countdown this time)
7 more days of classes!
16 more days until classes are over (and hopefully most of my large papers)
22 more days until my last exam
23 more days until I start work
83 more days until fun and excitement!

Now I'm off to do some work. I'm tempted to take another nap, but I'm off to prison in a while, so I will hold off. :) Have a good week!

Hot, Henry, Homework

Greetings!! I have had no hot water for about three days. Turns out the pilot light was out, and I couldn't get it relit. The plumber came and discovered it's leaking and needs to be replaced. So the water dripping dripped on the pilot light. Shucks. I was hoping to get to pay for a new water tank this month. Good thing I factored that into the budget. Note to self: make section for miscellaneous expenses...

So now I have a new hot water tank and I shall name him Henry after a vacuum cleaner I once used while living in Quebec. Henry sucked (in a good way because he is a vacuum cleaner) and so in honor of his faithful sucking, I shall name my water heater after him.

Anyway, enough of that. haha. Went to the Canucks game last night and we won 4-2!! YAH! Last time I went with Cheryl, we lost 8-2, so I'm glad it's not her that was unlucky. Plus, it was St. Patty's day, so it was a good day in all. I even wore green!! :)

Lately I have had too much work (Teacher assistant wise) to do my own work. And March is rapidly racing by. Yet somehow it always gets done, so I will count on that once again :)

Talk to you soon! Perhaps one of these days I will have exciting pictures or something.

Countdown:
10 more classes!
26 more days until my last exam!
27 more days until I start working full time!
37 days until graduation!
87 more days until excitement!
100 more pages to type yet on various papers!

Theatre, Thesis, Thread

Happy Monday!! I feel like I have too much to update but I will say what comes to mind. I have pictures but they are on my camera and once again I have misplaced my camera chord. One day I will have a special spot for it!

This last weekend was a busy one. i was on worship team for the weekend and then on Sunday Chrystal and I went to our monthly musical. This month it was 'Bye Bye Birdie' which was performed by Langara College's Studio 58. It was entertaining and fun. :)

I finally started doing schoolwork and seem to be on a roll! My midterm went well, which was great seeing i had only been to one instructional class. And now I have to get cracking on a lot of stuff so it can get done before I head out to Colorado!

Right now I'm trying to get emails of people who have elementary aged children (grades 2-7) who would be interested in participating in my thesis research at school. So if you have kids that age, send me your email at vanessa.siemens@mytwu.ca and I will add you to the list (this doesn't mean you have to participate, only that you are interested) and then I will email you the survey!

And now back to the homework!

Updated Countdown:
8 days until Colorado!!
16 days until Bahamas!!!

Done, Dream, Die

Happy Snowy Tuesday all!! I'm off to go swim some laps at the pool, but thought I'd write a quick little update first! :) I have not been doing any homework still. Time is ticking. Shoot. But I finished painting my bedroom and bathroom and put stuff back up on the walls. I love love love love love love love love it! It makes me happy. The pictures don't quite do it justice.. but if you ever want to come over for tea, then I'd be happy to show you, just let me know! :) I posted a few pictures but in the big shot of my room the glass on the picture frame reflected funny, so that's the flash not a weird white mark on my walls.

For never having painted a room in my life, I think I did a decent job! Yes, there is paint on my ceiling, baseboards and even on the carpet and the perfectionist in me cringes.. But at the same time, I'm working on embracing imperfection and symbolically I will do so with my paint job! haha.. So for now I will simply enjoy it! And I was excited to finally put a few of my pictures into picture frames to hang. I ordered a shot from hawaii that should be arriving anyday now! And my bedroom is ready to receive it! It has always been my room to have a blue bedroom, so I am quite happy that it is finally so! Last night I fell asleep in my bed (which was in the middle of the room) under many blankets, with the window wide open letting in freezing cold air, hoping I would not die from the paint fumes. Thankfully I did not..

Now I guess I have no excuse to procrastinate the homework!! I have a midterm on Friday for a class I will have only gone to three times, so that should be interesting! Hopefully after my swim tonight I will get cracking on it!
Tomorrow night I get to see my friend Liz from Quebec who is studying at SFU for a semester-SO excited to see her!! I visited her a couple years back in Quebec City but have not seen her since.
Also, thanks to Elsie for the church tip for sundays. This weekend I'm on worship team at my home church but soon I will definitely come check it out! I have been wanting to check out churches in Langley and so that will be my first one! Is that where you attend?
Okay folks, I'm off to walk to the post office and then the pool! I have lots of mail to send out (having lots of homework to do also makes me very motivated for letter writing.. If anyone wants to swap addresses to send snail mail in letter form or postcard form, I'm in! Always looking for new people to write! :) (and secretly, i love getting mail!)

Updated Countdown:
14 days until Colorado and Las Vegas!!
23 more days until Bahamas!
3 more months until I graduate!!!!!!!!

Have a great evening friends!

Book, Bookshelves, Blue, Beauty, Beast

Well, been busy these last couple days. Saturday night Chrystal stayed for night and the next morning we went to Ikea, then out for lunch at the Cactus Club and then to the musical Beauty and the Beast. So, this is my third time at Ikea and the first two times were disastrous. I guess this time can be a redemptive time! They say third time's the charm! I bought two bookshelves (connected) that were 200 dollars off and some DVD holders/shelves too. I put up the bookshelves yesterday and it's so nice that all my books finally have a home! Beauty and the Beast was quite fantastic as well!!

Today I picked a friend up from the airport and then went to my mom's where we proceeded to make a dozen chicken cordon blue, 50 or so meatballs and muffins!! Whew! I'm tired now!! Then I came home and realized that the guy who plows our complex decided to plow the snow away from half of my driveway. Nice though except that he shoved so much snow against my garage door that it wouldn't open... and so I had to shovel it all away. Good times right there.

In Hawaii I started reading the book, "eat, pray, love". It's a woman's story about her yearlong travels in Italy, India and Indonesia. Being a person who loves traveling, her book intrigued me and she inspires me to write my own book! Anyway, it's quite spiritual and has a lot of good stuff in it. Thought I'd share a few quotes and thoughts here:

"To devote yourself to the creation and enjoyment of beauty, then, can be a serious business-not always necessarily a means of escaping reality, but sometimes a means of holding on to the real when everything else is flaking away into... rhetoric and plot."

"And I will leave with the hope that the expansion of one person-the magnification of one life- is indeed an act of worth in this world."

"On the other hand-when is it a good time of day, or life, to sit in detached stillness? When isn't there something buzzing about, trying to distract you and get a rise out of you?"

"There's a wonderful old Italian joke about a poor man who goes to church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, "dear saint-please, please, please... give me the grace to wint he lottery." This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, "My son-please, please, please... buy a ticket"

"Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention."

"God dwells within you as you yourself, exactly the way you are."

"Your treasure-your perfection-is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart."

Anyway, reading about her experiences encouraged me in my spiritual life and prayer life in seeking God in the silent moments and throughout all moments and reaching my full potential through His strength. Any thoughts on the quotes?

Countdown:
12 days until Disneyland!
35 days until Colorado!
44 days until Bahamas!

Twentieth, Tejtsew, Tan

Aloha! Happy twentieth of December!

For those of you who can't figure out what the second word is, it's westjet spelled backwards because i'm coming home today! On Westjet! Look at me and the creativity of my titles.. haha.. :)

And I have a bit of a tan and a heat rash to boot :)

This morning I had breakfast on the lanai watching the turtles swimming in the ocean. Very fun. I love watching them.

And that is all I have to say for now!

Except for an updated countdown:
1 day until I'm home!
2 days until my family gathering!
4 days until Guys and Dolls!
5 days until my birthday!
6 days until Christmas! And another family gathering!
8 days until Larissa and Andrew's wedding
9 days until Calgary
14 days until Rae's wedding
a bunch of days until Colorado for Amanda's wedding
a bunch more days until the Bahamas
way too many days until graduation!!! :)

i'm sure i'll figure out exact numbers at some point...

Eighteenth, 'Ello, Eeeeee

Aloha!! Happy eighteenth of December!!! Here's some more photos.. I can't remember if I have posted these because they're kind of scattered seeing that they're coming from three different cameras, so sorry if there's some doubles! Enjoy!



This picture is for Chrystal since I never sent her a postcard of a banana tree.. so here's a picture taken just for her!













Here's what made today better than yesterday:
-My heat rash got worse
-I saw a bunch of humpback whales at sunset
-Had an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with shrimp, avocado and tomato in it for lunch!
-Finished my third book

And here's an updated countdown:
-2 days until I'm home! (I'm excited for snow and Christmas festivities)
-3 days until my first family gathering!
-5 days until Guys and Dolls!
-6 days until my birthday!
-7 days until Christmas!
-9 days until Larissa's wedding!
-10 days until Calgary to visit Jenn and Lindie and hopefully Leslie
-13 days until New Year's (okay i secretly hate new years but don't tell anyone...)
-15 days until Rae's wedding
-between 15 days and 2 months until Colorado for Amanda's wedding!
-2 months until the Bahamas!

YAY! Okay!! see you all tomorrow! :)

Twelfth, Tears, Tape

Happy twelfth of December! I ran out of tape for wrapping gifts so I had to go buy some more today! :)

Here's what made today better than yesterday:

-I finished all my marking and TA responsibilities!
-I applied for a directed study- woohoo!
-I applied to Kwantlen for a class I"m missing which means I'll be able to drop the similar one at Trinity, giving me next semester with Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays off...
-I went for lunch/dinner with my friend and roomie Heidi
-Chrystal, Matt and I watched Elf which always makes me teary-eyes.. won't tell you where. haha. I never cry during movies so it's funny that Elf brings tears to my eyes every time. I have a theory for it mind you
-And it's late and I have not yet begun to pack so I should go do that!!

Countdown:
1 more day until Maui!!
12 days til my birthday!
13 days til Christmas!

Eighth, Eat, Escape

Happy Eighth of December!! I drive an escape (just thought i'd tie in the title).

Today was better than yesterday because:

-I wrote my philosophy exam and only have one exam left!
-I finished a lot of marking
-I went out to Milestone's with some great friends of mine: Amy, Amy and Laura
-Amy made up a synonym for the word betrayed: traitorized

More to come soon. Sorry for the scant posts

Countdown:
-3 more days until exams are done!
-5 more days until Hawaii!!
-16 days until my birthday!
-17 days until Christmas!!

Fourth, Faraway, Friends

Happy fourth of December!!!

I just had a phone conversation that was 27 minutes and 27 seconds. Go figure. That made my day better than yesterday in itself-specially since the convo was with Jenn

Things that made today better than yesterday:
-I made cookies.. but not just any cookies. it's a secret recipe and I got to see it and make it as an honorary family member!! very exciting!
-I went to Costco with Chrystal and got to be there while she had her first Costco hot dog ever
-I saw Four Christmases with Chrystal and it was quite funny
-I booked a trip to the Bahamas!!! YAH!!!!!! Atlantis on Paradise Island here I come!! There are like a bunch of waterslide parks there, 20 swimming pools, 14 marine life areas, two private beaches, and much much more! I'm going with Chrystal and Lindie and it should be amazing!! Below are some pics of where we're staying.






Funny conversation of the day: (context: me sitting at ea typing up this blog post..)
Random Guy: Nice computer
Me: Thanks
Random: How old is it?
Me: Um, about a year
Random: Wow, yeah, that's nice. What are you studying?
Me: Psychology
Random: Cool. Are manic depression and schizophrenia the same thing?
Me: Nope... blah blah blah
Random: Cool. Good to know.


Hmmm... Interesting.

Random Fact about me:
I always back into parking stalls. Unless I need to load something into the back of my vehicle.

Random Funny Story about me:
When I was little I thought that the non-sticky part of bandaids was to put over your fingernail or toenail so you wouldn't rip your nail off when taking off the bandaid. So the sticky part always went over my wound.. And I hated taking bandaids off because they hurt so much. Ha. To this day I have an aversion to bandaids as a result.

Weirdest thing I said today:
I phone my hold on the other side.

Updated Countdown:
7 days until exams are done!!
9 days until Hawaii!!
20 days until my birthday!!
21 days until Christmas!

Random guy keeps staring at me so now I shall end this post. Sorry for the randomness of it all. But it is the fourth of december after all. What did you do today to make it better than yesterday?

Second, Starbucks, Senior

Happy Second of December!!!

To make today better than yesterday, I:

-slept until 11am making that 12 hours of sleep I got last night (must have been needed)
-did homework at Starbucks with my friend Jocelyn and Chrystal
-got ethics approval for my senior thesis!! supposedly record timing for approval!
-went for dinner with my cousins (Japanese-mmm)
-hot tubbed with my friend Kristen
-and dyed and cut my hair!! AHHH!! have wanted to have black hair since i was a child. today that dream came true. this will be hard to top...


Updated Countdown:
1 more day until classes are done!!!
10 more days until exams are done!!!
12 more days until Hawaii!
23 more days til my birthday!!
24 more days til Christmas!!

Hope you likewise did something on this second day of december that made it a bit better than yesterday. feel free to share! :)

Waiting, Weading, Weekend

Greetings! Internet is back on but I am still lazy, so no pictures.

I had something genius i was going to blog about that I thought of earlier today, but for now it has completely slipped my mind and you will have to content yourself with my ramblings.

I was on worship team this weekend at church which was great as per usual. It was baptism weekend and it was so great to see so many people taking the step of baptism and declaring their faith. Very exciting! I'm not a teary-eyed person, but for some reason, baptism always gets me! But they're tears of joy and excitement. Isn't it interesting that when we experience a certain emotion to the extreme, it seems to bank over into the opposite?

The sermon this weekend was on waiting. And how a lot of the time we are in a period of waiting for God. And in the waiting, God builds us up and prepares us. While I definitely understand the concept of waiting, I'm tired of waiting! I could list about four huge areas of life where this is big right now and so it's just frustrating, because I want to be out of the waiting... but I guess I just need to wait more and pray that God would continue to build perseverance and character through it.

I have to read a textbook for one of my classes as part of our mark.. I have not read the textbook all semester and have just begun. I am really tempted to just say I read the whole thing, but then I am reminded of my goal of having more integrity-so trucking through my 500 page history of psychology textbook I will go! Should be a fun afternoon!!

Here's an updated countdown:
1 more day until the month of fun! (it has been so declared)
4 more days until no more classes!!!
12 more days until my exams are over!!!!!!!!!!!
14 more days until Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!!!!
25 more days until my birthday!!
26 more days until Christmas!!

Coming up next: my thoughts on my prison visit the other day and more details on the month of fun. Stay tuned!!

Vancouver, Very, Vanessa

Hello! Sorry for the delay in posting. I have had the pics uploaded for a while but haven't taken the time to add words. Plus I wanted at least one comment before posting again. :) Just to have proof of readers! So for reading break, I pulled off the best surprise ever and took Chrystal to Vancouver for her birthday weekend. I told her I was going to North Dakota for the weekend and when she came to pick me up to drive me to the airport, I told her my flight was later that evening and I was taking her for dinner beforehand for her bday. We pulled into the hotel valet parking and she still didn't realize what was up. I then proclaimed "I am a genius mastermind" and "I found your birthday present". That didn't do it, so then I said "We're staying in Vancouver for the weekend for your birthday!" haha.. Then she was quite shocked. Kaeli had packed stuff in Chrystal's trunk so she'd have clothes for the weekend.
Friday night we went to Granville Island. We went to the Keg for dinner and then to Theatre Sports. We had to try on some hats at the hat shop first! Theatre Sports was great! It's improv and there's three shows you can go to. During the second show an audience member had arranged beforehand and proposed to his girlfriend during their audience participation "improv" part.. haha.. She was totally shocked and it was pretty fun to watch.
Saturday we went to the Aquarium. One of the belugas is only four months old and pretty cute (for a beluga). We watched the poo in the water which was pretty pleasant.




Tradition when we hang out and go on trips is to get copious amounts of wings. haha.. Yum!
And so ends our weekend!! Seems like it was just this past weekend. For the rest of the weekend, I put up my Christmas decorations!! Now my house is Christmassy!! So fun!! I will post pictures of that soon. I was pretty excited to have my own first Christmas tree. My mom has also been putting her decorations up so I will take pics soon and post those too.

The rest of the week was pretty good, ending with a Friday night on Granville going to the Keg and Theatre Sports.. hmm.. sounds familiar. haha.. just turned out that way. An old friend from high school and I get together about two or three times a year for dinner and a show and it's pretty great to catch up and hang out together.

I keep thinking that things are pretty easy breezy with school right now, because i have three big papers due next month in December. Then I realize that those papers are actually due on the 1st of December and that's um... like 12 days away. dang. haha.. I'm feeling WAY less stressed this month and it's been nice to get my head screwed back on straight and go for walks and do other fun stuff.

Have been learning a ton lately and growing. And being filled with hope. It's refreshing and exciting. Will write more to come. I just made the best Christmas present EVER and now it's done, so I'm off to bed. More to come soon!

Countdown:
3 days until I see Hairspray
8 more days of classes!
24 days until Hawaii!!
35 days until my birthday!!
36 days until Christmas!!