happy new year!

~this radical outfit was created by me a few hours before the event... you may not see it... but my hair is crimped! amazing!~


~the party animals~


~what a tubular time we had~


~groovy goodies and bodacious beverages~


~me and my besties~


to welcome in 2009 we decided to have an 80s party. i always love a reason to dress up and have fun with friends. it was fantastic. we looked totally tubular. awesome dude! it was like the best like time i have like had in like a really long like time! we played apples to apples. had delicious organic reisling wine. and watched the ball drop in time square then the "bitchin" fireworks at the space needle. fun time with friends were had. uber wunderbar!

Happy Christmas

This Christmas was extra special because my sister was in town with all of my nieces. As many of you know... my family is a bit scattered. In more ways than just location. Together my sis and nieces and my mom went to get a Christmas tree. Then they came back and I got to help them put up the tree and decorate it. I have missed having a live tree for the past couple years. The smell was intoxicating and induced years of Christmas memories at the first wiff. It was so special watching the girls decorate the Christmas tree and lifting them up high to place ornaments on the branches at the top of the tree. Christmas through the eyes of a child is something so unique. We also had fun projects to work on each day. There were Christmas door hangers, Christmas reindeer, Christmas cookies, and so much more! I received precious hand written notes from the girls too. They just blessed my socks off! Christmas day after opening presents my sis took Natalie to the ER because of an infection on her face (thought it was a spider bite gone bad) and the rest of us girls stayed home and did pedicures. They were so adorable! We filled up a giant plastic tub and sat on chairs (little Mea -3- sat on a garbage bin) and we all stuck our feet in the the warm water. They squealed and giggled with delight... and so did I! So fun! I think pedicures should be a regular part of Christmas! What a joy to spend so much time with family this Christmas! I watched more Christmas movies than ever before. Camped out on my moms couch nursing a cold and an ear infection. It helped me get some much needed down time I suppose. I am so thankful for my family this Christmas. What a happy Christmas it was!

St Nicholas Surprise

I was coming to terms with my brother Nick being in Florida this Christmas when he called and told me that he wanted to come home. We decided that it should be a surprise for my mom and didn't tell because then she would be extra excited coming to find out that all of her kids would be home for Christmas this year.
So my brother got a flight out of West Palm Beach, Florida on the Sunday before Christmas. His connecting flight in St. Paul Minnesota to Seattle was canceled because of all the snow that blanketed the northwest thus shutting down the airport. Nick was stuck in St. Paul with no money. After staying the night in the airport and being given gifts of food by strangers he got on a midnight flight to Las Vegas... getting him a little closer to home. After arriving there he asked to be placed on standby on all flights to Seattle or Portland. That morning he was seated on a plane to Seattle and before they left the terminal they bumped him off the flight. bummer. he was back to waiting. hours later he got on a flight to Portland. trying to work out how we were going to drive to get him in Portland was nearly impossible. the weather in Portland was worse than Seattle. so dad bought him a train ticket. his flight would get in at 3:30pm and his train was scheduled to depart at 4:25pm. The train station was 45 minutes away from the airport. It would be a close call. His flight got in on time and with money from a kind stranger on his last flight he found his way to the bus station and got on a bus to the train station. He arrived at the train station at 5:40pm. Low and behold the train was delayed two hours. His train was the only train leaving the station to Tacoma... and it just happened to be delayed enough that he would be able to catch it home! Nick was picked up in Tacoma by my dad a little after 10pm on the evening of the 22nd. It took four planes, a bus, a train, and my dad... to get him home for Christmas.
The next day (the 23rd) was my moms birthday. She woke up still not knowing that my brother was home. He slept in the back bedroom at her house where she thought I was sleeping. Though he had a deep cough that she heard... I was fighting a cold so she just thought my cough had gotten REALLY bad.
My sis showed up to the house about 10am with her kids in tow and yelled to mom as she entered the house... did you get your present yet?! did you get your present yet!!? Mom was confused and said... what are you talking about? sis spilled the beans and said... Nick! mom turned around in the hallway and was immediately embraced by her birthday present. Nick was home for her birthday and would be there for Christmas too! what a fun surprise! It is so wonderful to have Nick home!

faithful to complete it

This has been the hardest quarter of my college education thus far. hence the lack of blogging and the lack of spending time doing anything other than studying hours upon hours. I am so in awe of all the happened this quarter. God brought me through a time of trusting Him for provision. I saw all of my college expenses get paid for including books. He also brought some unique friendships through classmates. I was challenged to grasp so much information at a time and yet felt like I was able to give back and share my testimony with my new study buddies. Amazing. This quarter I took Anatomy & Physiology I, Statistics, and Human Nutrition. All tons of information. My A&P class had a lab as well so it was like an additional class because we were simultaneously learning different things and being tested on them. It was nuts! At the end of the quarter I look back and am so glad that I made it through. God definitely was the reason for that. He told me He would enable me if I put in the effort. So I finished my courses above the goals I had set for myself and meeting the requirements to get into the RN program. AWESOME!! I was not sure if I was going to have to repeat at least one of these classes because of not meeting the minimum requirements for the RN program. God is so good! And this is only the beginning. There is so much more to come in my education and future endeavors. I am excited for the future. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I could not have made it through the quarter without you! God has began a good work and He is so faithful I know He will complete it!!

Report card:
Anatomy & Physiology 3.3 (needed a 3.0 for the RN program)
Statistics 2.6 (needed a 2.0 for the RN program)
Human Nutrition 4.0 (needed a 3.0 for the RN program)