Wacky Tag Wednesday: Welcome Back to America!

Well, technically, I'm the one who's coming back. You get the point, right? Can my excuse for not blogging be that I was too distracted by the sun and sea, Sicilia, Sardegna, and starry-eyed Italian men? It totally was for a week and a half (and Paris/French countryside/Biarritz/Spain/Barcelona before that)!

Girls, I'm not even going to try and catch up. I'm just going to have to try harder this go 'round.



I AM: the brownest I've ever been, and peeling from a really bad sunburn that led to a really interesting friendship with two boys from Holland. I am also quite excited about how God has had a plan for me all along. Quite excited, indeed.
I WANT: to know why I feel more at ease around non-native speakers of English like train conductors and foreign university students than the kids in my summer classes at Western.
I WISH: that I could remember half of the little things I saw everywhere in France, Spain, or Italy and took for granted because I was so used to being there already.
I HATE: that pictures are only 1.000 words.
I MISS: my spot on Flo's couch, Brooke's crazy faces, Sarai's laugh, Bina's smile, Allie's chases and 'real' chocolate.
I HEAR: that if you throw three coins in the Trevi Fountain, you get what you wish for. I'm really glad I did it again.
I WONDER: why Americans live in such a private culture of fear of germs and strangers.
I REGRET: nothing, except having to throw up five times in two hours. And that only because I missed out on so much conversation.
I AM NOT: really as focused on my trip as this makes it sound. It's just still really fresh in my mind.
I DANCE: when no one else will; like in the line for the Vatican with a boy from South Carolina who might have me beat for best leader in a two-step.
I SING: when I am happy and to cheer myself up when I am sad; sometimes, even if I don't know all the words.
I CRY: at old couples sharing gelato and taking care of one another, at the prospect of never seeing someone again, all across Rome, on the train to the airport, on the last plane home, when I laugh too hard.
I AM NOT ALWAYS: very loud; it comes out when I am either very comfortable with the people around me or rather uncomfortable with them at all.
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: skirts, muscles relax, playdoh models of things, slinky bridges, flower arrangements.
I WRITE: letters and emails and messages and things in chalk on sidewalks and stickynotes on cars and poetry, sometimes.
I CONFUSE: the approval of God with the approval of others.
I NEED: a lot less than what I get.
I SHOULD: be seventy times seven times more thankful for that than I usually am.
I START: relationships as if I will know that person for the rest of my life.
I FINISH: tests, meals, and other people's sentences earlier than I ought.
I LIVE: as if what I earn and what I get are not as important as who I am.
I PRAY: a lot while driving and listening to music; more for the ability to accept things than for changing things themselves.
I SEEK: a life that makes God content.
I WOULD RATHER: eat tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches on my front porch in the late evening sun with a best friend than get caught up in the deceiving pressure of work and obligations.
I PREFER: dogs over cats, pull-and-peel over traditional, sour over salty, love over security.
I KNOW: that everything will always work out the way it's supposed to work, even if my perspective doesn't get the whole picture.
I MUST HAVE: been crazy when I went to the train station to see that boy off to Switzerland. You don't just do that for an almost-perfect stranger.
I HOPE: that said boy emails when he gets back in the States; if not, that's okay. It's all in the bigger plan, anyway.

SURPRISE!

In exactly three days from now, the whole world will finally know what I've been keeping secret since last week! Just thought you should know!

Mad Music Monday / Tell All Tuesday / Wacky Tag Wednesday

Monday : : Sound O' Music was still replaying in my head from Saturday morning--particularly "Maria" because it's obviously one of the best songs from the whole show and "Edelweiss" just because.

Tuesday : : I did something crazy on Monday, so Tuesday was probably the most exciting day because I got to reveal my surprise AND watch more Friends. This is always my favorite day!

Wednesday : : It's time for another wacky tag! This week's tag should be that wherever you are in your blogging, come back! Answer these questions in your blog and pass it on!

1. Assuming you have a DVD player and a show you used to enjoy becomes available on DVD...what is the deciding factor on whether or not you'll actually buy it?

For me, a) how long it's been since payday and b) how long I can wait for the inevitable price deflation.

2. If you were in charge of the FCC, which of the following would be your priority when it comes to decency on the airwaves: cutting down on violence, sex or profanity?

I'd want to cut down on all of them! I guess my priority would be violence first, then sex, then profanity.

3. One of those crazy remodeling shows appears at your door one day and offers to redo any room of your house or apartment for free, but that it can only be one single room that gets a makeover. Would you let them in, and if so, which room would you choose and why?

I would probably cry the whole time like I do when watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, but instead of doing my dorm room, I'd take them to my parents' house and have them makeover Shane's room. He's really the best little brother anyone could ask for, so I think he'd definitely deserve it. That, and I know how to decorate my own rooms, and he might need a little help.


Tag, you're it! Happy Wednesday, girls! Enjoy your day!

Wacky Tag of the Week

The top 5 must haves:

In My Fridge:
1. fruit nectars
2. water
3. veggie burgers
4. sushi
5. slim-fast (roommate's)

In My Closet:
1. button-downs (thrifty)
2. big skirts (thrifty)
3. skinny skirts (thrifty)
4. shoes, boots, sandals, stilettos
5. iron used solely for grilled cheese

In My Purse:
1. CatCard
2. check card
3. >1 pen
4. keys
5. cellphone

In Someone Else's Car:
1. Wicked soundtrack
2. Jones soda
3. NPR
4. faulty dashboard instruments
5. sing-along songs

On My "To Watch in Oodles of Free Time I Have":
1. American Idol
2. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
3. reruns of Project Runway
4. Top Chef
5. What Not to Wear

Okay, slackers. TAG!

Mad Music Monday / Tell All Tuesday Special Edition

Again, it's one of those weeks where it seems like two days have constituted at least seven or eight.

Instant recap: Friday, fun. Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Tuesday daytime, not so fun.

You are the source
of the life.
I can't be left
behind.
no one else will do.
I will
take hold
of You.

'cause I need you,
Jesus,
to come to my rescue.
Where else can I go?
There's no other name
by which I am saved.

Capture me

with grace.
I will follow You.

I feel stuck, friends.
Like a hamster on a wheel, like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth, like a skip in your
favorite CD, like watching a really bad TV show rerun over and over and over, like taking the same class and getting the same answers wrong on the same tests you've taken before. A lot like knowing Ross and Rachel end up together at the end but it's only Season Five and they're still with the wrong people.

And I think I let this frustration and disappointment close in on itself and take over. I think I lashed out; I think that I was wrong; I think I might have hurt a friend. I feel completely humbled. And all this was a confessionary side note to the main thing:

It's not that I don't know where I am supposed to be right now.
It's just that I expected to be more joyful than this. I should be thrilled to know that I'm where I ought to be now. Most people around me are switching jobs and majors and girlfriends and wives as many times as I change clothes in a day. So I am trying to put my whole heart into it, to be happy with circumstances beyond my control that I have to believe are tailored for me and for my benefit. But, friends, it's hard. I'm very glad for the honesty of our friendship right now--it's the very often the brightest spot in my outlook on the next few years.

I guess my word for this week is acceptance. My goal is to find it and to practice it, but it seems like it should be one of those organic, passive things. So much for holding on to impatience. Time to lay that down, too.

nail-pierced hands,
wounded side,
this is love;
this is love.

this holy heart
was sacrificed.
this is love;
this is love.

i bow down to the Holy One.
i bow down to the Lamb.
i bow down to the Worthy One.
i bow down to the Lamb.

the Son of God
died for us.
this is love;
this is love.

He walked the hill;
He bore the cross.
this is love;
this is love.

I bow down to the Holy One.
I bow down to the Lamb.
I bow down to the Worthy One.
I bow down to the Lamb.

Jesus--
i love You.

nail-pierced hands,
wounded side,
this is love.
this is Love.

Thing I Love Thursday

I love that The New York Times arrives on campus every week day, and I love feeling connected to the world outside in such an overlooked way like a newspaper. There's another benefit to reading the same newspaper:

Thursday Styles!

I have become enthralled by all things domestic: flower arranging, painting, upholstery (still looking for an outlet for this one), decorating, crafting, cleaning, baking, sewing, and more sewing!

So today, there was an article about a New York City lady who has decorated her whole flat in my favorite color--that gorgeous blue between wedgwood and aquamarine--AND the latest from Paris and Milan.

It's always good to pick up my spirits and feel a little lighthearted after reading about polio epidemics in India and the genocide in Darfur on A1. These things are of utmost importance and deserve the front page attention they receive, but fashion serves as a great foil to them.

It's just one more little thing that makes my day!

Wacky Tag Wednesday

Sabrina, you are a brilliant woman! Way to go with fun themed things! I take this not-too-testy tag and PASS IT ON!

The Movies I Watched, 2004-2005:

Note: most of these weren't made in 2004/2005,
but these were the ones we watched, laughed through,
or loved over and over again.

Saved! (not for the faint of faith),
Lost in Translation,
Garden State,
Closer,
Down With Love,
Moulin Rouge,
When Harry Met Sally,
Serendipity,
Kate and Leopold,
Someone Like You,
Meet Joe Black,
City of Angels,
Jerry McGuire,
Cruel Intentions,
The Skulls,
Empire Records,
Sleepless in Seattle,
Say Anything,
Sixteen Candles.