if you even still read this

the one redeeming quality about the movie In Her Shoes, is that it includes awesome poetry by E.E. Cummings.

As in, that was the first time I remember reading his stuff.

And I took an AP Literature class.
And I have a strange memory for obscure things like authors & such.

Anyways, I watched that movie my freshman year of college.
That was when my life changed a ton.
Independence.
A laptop.
No mom telling me to get to class on time.
You get the picture :)
I watched the movie with two good friends: my sis & Audrey.
After sharing the book & reading it, Audrey & I both wanted to watch the vid.

Well, let's just say I'm not a fan of Cameron Diaz.
or Shirley MacLaine.
or slackers/slacker characters.
or, uh....I don't remember much more of the movie :)

so anyways, after reading the book, and watching the video, Audrey & I love, love, loved the poems in both.
For a special gift (maybe her birthday?), I gave Audrey a frame with fun pictures of the two of us with a much-loved poem from Cummings.


So Audrey, this is for you :)

link: angela hardison

it makes me think of
new friends,
a discovered, shared enjoyment,
& valentines day (the lovely colors!)

bits and pieces

here are some bits and pieces you may not know about me.....


. I think I pulled a muscle from going on the monkey bars yesterday at the park
. and oh my, I forgot how much monkey bars hurt your hands!
. I have the uncanny ability to trip every time I wear my fake Uggs, no joke
. I also trip on my other foot every so often. Process: step out with L foot, jam R big toe into L heel, trip, almost eat it
. I have bouts of very sensitive teeth. I feel so pretentious asking for my water without ice at restaurants.
. I love doing workout videos from the comfort of my own living room.
. I tried doing a 10 min. one a few weeks ago and only lasted for 5 min.
. but,,,, today I made it through a whole one!
. I have a yucky bruise right above my hip from not going around the corner of the staircase railing all the way on Sunday. yes, I do periodically run/walk into things in that way. (i.e. corners of walls)
. I love me some avocados.
with salt!
on a piece of toast!
*just like my mom. wow. never thought I would!
. I joined bloglovin last week & I like it a lot!
. i heart ampersands! &=love
. i also heart graph paper/lines
. i also heart these { }  brackety-type things
. i also heart etsy  -such a great source of inspiration!
. studying Kay Arthur's, Lord I Want to Know You. It's an awesome study of the names of God!
. my favorite finds at UO have all had a price tag of $4.99   . yes! Five Dollars!
. I have two official comments from bloggers I stalk like but haven't ever met! eesh!
. last night I was looking at my blog stats and I have had readers from different continents! cuh-razy! how do they even find little old me?
. one of my dad's friends found my blog last year and read a bunch of posts about my CL internship. It totally weirded me out. Like, totally. (fer sure. I just got a....  can anyone finish that?)
. one of my favorite little people can't say his 'er' suffixes. so.stinkin.precious. watew, anyone? monstews?
. making homemade V-Day cards makes me soo excited :) (read: craft-nerdy)
. my sister gives me funny, ridiculous, cuh-razy nicknames all the time. i love it. soo much :)
. I quite regularly call my sister after waking up so she'll come in my room and say good morning. hehe.
. for instance, I texted her last week: "Knock knock. Jwanna?"   . when she came in my room I said, "Jwanna come snuggle?"
. sometimes I think I'm obviously very clever.
but don't let that fool you.
I'm not.. this lovely, amazing, what-a-blessing girl is having a birthday tomorrow!!

and last but not least,
. today I woke up to the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
bam!that just happened!


What are some bits & pieces from your life?

PSA

It's the time of year for a PSA- public service announcement.

{Be kind to your neighborhood grocery store employees.}

For the people working on Sunday, being Superbowl Sunday, it was just as crazy as any other holiday of the year.


Trust me.
I know.

b & a

before:

&

after:

Notice anything new?
I made some changes!

 They're subtle- but still fun!


**sorry about the wonky photos. I'm not a Paint pro :)

early

so if someone wanted to give me an outrageously early birthday gift..........                                                                (click pictures for links)

I would be happy to take these boots off of their hands,

And they're only $59.99!
And they're in my size!
( 9 if you really want to know- they run small )
It's like they need to be on my feet! right now!

I wouldn't mind taking ownership of this pleasant print:

I could make do with this amzing blazer:

and I don't think I would mind wearing this dress over and over and over and over and over again:

and not that I would be able to walk in these, but I spotted almost exact look-a-likes in the j.crew catalog today!

and ohmygoodness I'm trying not to buy into the whole oxford shoes & platform ankle boot trends, but these two are just too amazing!

and correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the girl modeling this sweatshirt a past ANTM winner?

or am I crazy?
or are you ashamed that I used to watch that show? it's okay. I am too :)
what a waste of time!

February 1st

After finishing up the very first month of 2011, (and almost another day -Feb. 1st)
I think it's a good time to look back and check out my goals.

~Have accomplished anything on my 23 things to do before I'm 24 list? (ahhh!!!!!! it sounds so.stINkin old!)

~have I worked on any of my goals for January?

~ have I worked on my goal/resolution I shared with my LifeGroup last week?  (being more intentional about praying every day)

~ am I posting/adding any pictures/new features/making changes to my blog?

And finally, I think it's good to look back,
see what I've done,
what I haven't,
what I should,
what I shouldn't, (yeah, I was a little ambitious about January)
what I want to,
what I need to change,
where I'm doing okay,
and what fun thing I'll do to bless myself&others!

Here's to doing all of this inspection tomorrow morning :)
'Cause let's face it, I should have gone to bed when I came home 3 hours ago.
.            .           so... um.... yeah..

Here's to {tomorrow}!

just another day at work.....

While doing my practicum last semester for Child Life at my local children's hospital,
I got to do something the average person might think as surprising.

I played monopoly for an entire hour.

Uninterrupted, we played monopoly in the oncology clinic for an hour.

While a patient waited for treatment/to see the doctor/for a procedure, we played monopoly and then moved onto making crafts.
And in that moment of playing a simple board game, I realized, "This could be my job someday! Playing monopoly!"
How cool is that?
Very- if you ask me!
Because in that moment, all the boy needed was someone to play with and something to keep his mind off of what he was waiting to do. And where he was. And that he was sick.

During that hour, I was able to bring a smile to his face,
act goofy and silly,
made sure he wasn't changing the rules (the stinker!),
made up weird words,
sang,
laughed,
and hammed it up!
All for a great cause :)
In those moments, I was able to remember that God didn't give me the gift of being overwhelmingly talented with talking to adults, but with talking with kids.
With that gift, I can inspire, distract, teach, excite, humor, energize, mold,  pretend, be silly, and love on some kids who need it a lot! Thanks for that God! .amen.

and now onto my main reason for typing this here post:


Volunteering/working at a children's hospital means that a normal day can include any of the following:

-playing an adapted form of monopoly (or any other board game)

-making a collage out of teen magazines

-tracing horses straight out of a book

-playing computer games

-playing bingo

-winning awesome bingo prizes

-learning how to play video games

-being totally and completely crushed by a little kid at said video games

-apologizing for being horr.i.ble at said video games

-holding a  t w o   w e e k   o l d  baby (that is just craziness people!)

-walking about 3 miles up and down stairs, over entire units, outside, inside, upside, downside (you get the picture)

-rushed someone back to their room (about a floor, two units, and 15 rooms away). just to pee. ah!

-as an adult, dressing up for Halloween and walking a parade route

-going on a Halloween parade and getting candy from nurses, doctors, and other nice hospital staff

-painting someone's nails

-petting volunteer dogs

-reading countless books

-watching little-kid tv shows/movies

-praying over little babies

-gowning, masking, and gloving up to hold/be with little (& big) ones

-using Purell 52trillionbilliongazillionmamillion times in just.one.hour.

-making paper crafts

-making sugar cookies

-painting

-racing cars

-playing Barbies/Star Wars/Cars/fill-in-the-blank with a popular kids toy/movie/show

-playing candyland

-making towers with Jenga blocks

-passing out toys/blankets/slippers/hats/costumes to kids

-decorated for holidays

-sung songs


-talked about favorites (color/hobby/friend/day/candy/food/pet)

-learned how to make tabouli (from a 5 year-old no less!)

-watched kids grow up


-seen battered/worn down/and wiped out kids, families, visitors, and staff
-witnessed 'accidents'

-witness temper tantrums

-discipline bad behavior (no, it is not okay to say those words in a room filled with kids 4 years younger than you! say darn it- or that makes me mad)

-comfort lonely/sick/frightened/tired/bored/frustrated kids

-loved on kids

-& most importantly:

shared God's love & joy with kids, parents, employees, and visitors

siigh. I love it!