My darling boy Paddington

An ode to books

inspired by a fellow bloggers comment section...

rhythm is to a familiar tune :)

Books, books
a wordy read
The more you feed
the smarter you'll be.

Ways to entertain yourself on a long drive

1. take pictures of yourself with your camera phone (as soon as I figure out how to get them off my phone, I'll post them). I look like an alien in a couple of them and one has the sun shining from behind right where my eye should be. Totally cool.

2. Talk to a dog. I had my dog Paddington along for the ride. He pretty much went into car coma in the back seat but I could talk to him and he would look at me. That was fun.

3. Cry. Driving for a really long way by yourself gives you lots of time to think, analyze, get psychotic about things you really shouldn't. It's also a perfect time to just cry and yell and scream and get all of those emotions out. I recommend doing this during the dark night portions of your trip so that other drivers aren't scared by your emoting.

4. practice driving with your knee. I find this very practical when you are speeding down the highway at around 80mph and have a real need to eat a sandwich and use both your hands. Props to my dad for teaching me this excellent driving technique.

Any other great tips are welcome!

Our lifetimes were made for these years

On my 12 hour drive back from Florida yesterday, I spent the time listening to all the old tapes I found hidden in my car. One of them was from an ex-boyfriend who made a praise and worship tape for me (of him singing and playing - so thoughtful). Anyway, one of the songs he was singing had the phrase "our lifetimes were made for these years". It really struck me and I just thanked God that my lifetime during these years was indeed intentional. I was not supposed to be born or to live my life during any other time than right now. What motivation to discover what my purpose is then. This is not a lifetime (or years) to waste!

Christmas Eve

So I'm in Florida for Christmas. I drove down on Thursday with my dog Paddington in the the back seat. The entire trip took about 12 hours which wasn't too bad and I had a good time pulling out random tapes (yes tapes) and listening to them. So much fun. Today my dad and I went for a long walk on the beach and on the way to and fro we had to climb through some jungle and sand dunes. I made up the following hook for a song to remember the time by.

This ain't no honky tonk parade of memories
Sand in my pocket, dirt on my shoe, scratch on my arm
All from spending time with you.

I also had the easiest time of Christmas shopping ever. All of three hours yesterday with my friend Teri and I got all the gifts I needed. In fact I didn't even think about Christmas shopping until Monday of this week. Should be a fun Christmas though. My dad and stepmom got back on Wednesday from 3 1/2 weeks in Thailand and other Asian countries. So our Christmas tree is a ficus tree covered in huge red bows, one strand of multicolored lights and about three ornaments hanging from it. I'll take a picture and be sure to post it. I advocated spraying it with pine sol so we could at least have a Christmasy smelling house :)

Some random pictures of me and friends :)

My friend Nancy and Christy (and me) after we crossed the finish line of our first ever triathlon in Summer 2005!
Me during my first triathlon. This is setting up in the transition area.
My friends Justin and Josh.
One of my friends works at the White House. Can you guess the four people in the picture?
A housewarming party at my friend Alceste's house (she's in the white shirt standing up).
This is my friend Jessica and I out speed dating!

Live Nativity

This past weekend my church had its second annual live nativity. I sang in the angel choir and even though it was absolutely freezing outside, I had so much fun. This is a picture of the whole crew of us. There was even free hot chocolate and cookies...yummy!