a much needed break

i am finally done with winter quarter!! this one was hard for me, emotionally and academically, but it really helped me to rely on God even more. he totally helped me get through everything. my last final was done on friday at 4, and right after i got out, my friend tim drove steph and me home. we had a great drive involving rocking out to music, in n' out, and dr. pepper. when we got to my house, tim and steph came to dinner with my family and me, which was really fun. then i hung out with my family a little bit before i fell asleep on the ground in the living room (i stayed up all night on thursday night finishing work, so i was exhausted!).

saturday was nice and relaxing, i just went grocery shopping and hung out with my family. sunday was my birthday! i am now officially 20 years old. it's weird, but in a good way. i got lots of calls and texts and facebook comments, so i felt very loved. i went to church and got to see all my family at bethany, which was really nice, then we went out to lunch at topper's, my favorite pizza place. then we went to my grandparent's house, which was really fun. my grandma made angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries, so i'm not really sure how much closer to heaven i could have gotten, because it was amazing. my brother paul is in photo class, so we had to do a few photo shoots for that, which was fun. then at night i just kind of hung out. tonight my mom is making me my birthday dinner, because last night paul wasn't home.

this week i am filling in at my friend's parent's business as a receptionist, so i'm here from 8:30-12:30 every day, and it's pretty slow, so i'm just going on facebook, writing on my blog, and catching up on private practice and grey's anatomy. sounds like a good job to me. tomorrow, i'm not working, though because my mom is taking the day off and we are going shopping, which will be really fun.

i am really glad it's break. as much as i love being at school, i really need a break to get away from all the drama and stress in my life and just have a week to relax and catch up with my friends from home. it'll be really good for me to focus on God, and just listen to him and what he wants me to do about all the decisions i have to make. well, now i am off to watch private practice. i love this job!

nose piercings and linnaea's

so this weekend, steph's friends from home came up to visit and we decided to get our noses pierced. i had wanted one for a long time anyway, so i am really happy that i finally did it, instead of just talking about it. steph held my hand, and i squeezed so hard, it started turning purple! but i really needed that because i was scared! i definitely won't have it for the rest of my life, but college is the time to do fun, crazy, spotaneous things, and i have been trying to grab all those opportunities before it's too late. i really like my nose ring, and have been cleaning it obsessively so it doesn't get infected.

today, bailey, caitlin, and i went to linnaea's to study. it is this really cute cafe, and we got to sit outside and work on our tans while i studied for my music theory final tomorrow. it was a very fun way to do something very boring.

i am so excited for friday because that means:
1. i will have no more finals or projects
2. i will have no stress for a while week
3. i get to see my family and friends at home
4. it will be two days until my birthday

if anyone can get me through this week, it's God.

1 Peter 5:7 "Cast your anxieties on Him because He cares for you."

basically, God is the best.

girly.

so after that rant, i am feeling much better knowing that God is perfectly capable of handling everything we are dealing with. i just have to let him.

but anyway, tonight is night at the oscars! i am going to dinner with a bunch of friends, and then going to a church where we will watch movies that people in campus crusade made. and the best part is we get to dress up! i love dressing up. i am such a girl. and i'm ok with that.

now we are going to stephanie's apartment to do our hair and makeup and whatnot. i'll put up pictures soon!

grey.

i wish things were black and white. this is definitely wrong, this is definitely right. this is bad, this is good. this is black, this is white.

there is hardly anything in my life with a definite answer. and that is really frustrating. a lot of the time, other people are affected by my indecisiveness, not just myself. and that sucks.

grey isn't even a pretty color! black and white are classy, why do you need another neutral color added to it? it doesn't know if it wants to be light or dark.

but i think i know why there is grey in life. because if everything was simple, black and white, you wouldn't need to ask God to help you make the decisions. and maybe if we had listened sooner, grey wouldn't have been such a problem. because God would have told me what to do. i just never asked.

as it is, i will be hopefully doing a lot more consulting with God in all of my decisions before i go around making decions on my own, because clearly things go wrong when i try to figure things out for myself.

hot n cold

so, i'm not a huge fan of katy perry, but her song "hot n cold" is just so catchy!
i bought it about an hour ago and have already listened to it 14 times. pathetic? probably. but anyway, the lyrics talk about a guy who doesn't know what he wants and is hot and then cold, yes and then no, in and out, up and down, wrong when it's right, black when it's white... etc.

and guys can totally be like this, and i have a friend who was in a situation like this recently. but girls are exactly the same way! i am so fickle, it is not even funny. i want to wear an outfit, and then five minutes later i change it. i really like this guy, and then a few minutes later i can't stand him (this is not a specific guy, it's just how all of my crushes are). i want something for dinner, and then after i make it i want something else. my friends all know this about me, but i am just not good at sticking with my decisions.

in bible study last night, we were talking about king xerxes (who married esther), and how he and haman (xerxes' right hand man) both based decisions on their emotions, which are subject to change at any second. they are not the only ones guilty of this. i need to bring ALL of my desicions to god, not just the "important ones". so through this catchy song written by a girl who "kissed a girl and liked it", there is actually a pretty good moral.

guess we all "change our minds like a girl changes clothes".

and now i have listened to this song 17 times. i need to stop the madness.

thoughts and a bit of advice.

if you want to speed on the freeway, don't. you could get a ticket, and unless you have a spare $235 lying around that you feel like giving to the police, it's not fun to pay. and if you have tons of extra time to devote to traffic school then it's no biggie. but if you have fifty million other things to do, and are poor, like me, just resist the need for speed. lesson learned.

on the upside, i think my roomies and i are making pizza for dinner tonight!

also, today, i have been single for exactly one year. and i am totally good with it.

and lastly, i discovered today that cheddar and herbs chips are delicious.