Land of the Tsars

I have always and will always find the country of Russia extremely fascinating. Ever since I learned about Anastasia in school I have continued to read up on all the history of the tsars and their families. I know what a weirdo right...But I loved learning about how lavishly they lived despite the poverty the rest of the country was living in. From Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, to finally Tsar Nicholas, each with such a unique and interesting life. It was a shame that my school never had a decent history teacher. I always had to learn about them on my own time. Which even included the history channel...yes I watched the history channel. It has always been a dream of mine to visit Russia one day. I was so jealous when my mom got to go a while back. But one day I will go don't you worry. Jimmy and I have been learning the Russian language in our spare time, which I had a little bit of this evening. We're going to be good. I know I won't be fluent duh, but I will be able to get around a bit. That's my goal. We'll see if that happens, but what else do I have to do this summer....

Bittersweet

Usually I like things that are bittersweet, such as dark chocolate. But today I was thinking about how it is going to be bittersweet to leave this place in a week. And I'm not liking the thought of it. I've realized that as much as I am ready to be done with school, I don't want to go back home this soon. Obviously school is not keeping me here, it would have to be this apartment. Ok well not the actual "place" because it's a bit grody at times. But the roommates...awww. I really like them.

At home I just don't like my friends as much as I thought I did. The ones I have here are much better. We've seemed to grow apart and become quite different I've discovered this week. I mean I have some pretty great people at home to hang out with...it's just not the same. And on top of everything I won't be back here until January! This week I have started to think about how long I'm actually going to be gone. It started to sink in...3 1/2 months is a long time to be so far away from everyone that I care so much about. At least I have Missy with me! But modern technology will keep me connected to everyone...thank goodness.

I wish our country wasn't so big. If I could, I would move some of these unnecessary states out of the way. Wouldn't that be nice...and much more convenient.

I want to bake some dark chocolate brownies with coconut and almonds....

and kelly here is my prom entry for you...."omg prom!!!!!!!!!!!" (not as extensive as our xangas were but this is just as good)

What If...?

Tonight was a night of delightful pondering inspired by my roommate. And it got me thinking about all those major decisions in my life that I have made but.... what would it have been like if I had chosen my other option?? Or should I phrase it as what would it have been like if I hadn't followed God's plan and chosen what I thought would have been best? Well I am pretty darn certain that my life would be no where near as incredible as it is right now. And of that I am sure.

I mean what if my dad had taken that job in Sheboygan, Wisconsin when I was in fourth grade? I highly doubt that I would be at Clemson right now. And what if I had decided to go to Valpo instead of Clemson...I bet I would be freezing. And I would probably not have as great of friends as I do now. What if I hadn't signed up to be in an FCA small group my freshman year and made friends with that blonde girl wearing a Lawrence, KS shirt!! And oh yea there was also that girl in our group who missed the first meeting for a frisbee game....man she is soooo athletic. Handycamp. Where do I even begin? I am so very thankful that God did not let my parents listen to me that first summer of Handycamp back in....2003!!! wow. If my parents had let me stay home when I insisted, ever so adamantly (to put it in a nice way), that there was absolutely and positively no way that I was going there for a whole week. Man I don't even want to know what my life would have been like without it! So impossible a thought today. And good thing Missy and I decided this past summer that we were tired of Shiloh, and it work better to go later in the summer like...July. I would never have been able to meet some pretty great people, and a certain one in particular (a super great one)!

And it makes me realize how glad I am that I am not in control because I doubt I would have picked half of these things if it had been up to me. But God sure does know what he is doing. It is also very interesting to watch how God will answer my prayers within each and every one of the situations above. They are not always as timely as I would want them to be, but God obviously already has it all figured out. I would never want any of these things to have turned out any differently.

The Flight of the Monkeys

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess pony named Felicity. She was very angry because she had a queer name, causing most people to mistake her for the American Girl Doll. One day when she was trotting back to her home she met a cute old man named Ernest. Ernest was a bald man who had a peg leg and three teeth (aka he only seemed cute from far away). But Felicity still approached him because she was just that nice. She noticed that he was wearing ugly clothes, so she kindly offered up her personal stylist, who had made her beautiful and "princessy." Her stylist, Clinton Kelly, saw so much potential for him, and his first suggestion for Ernest was seersucker! The old man, however, outwardly denied this suggestion, even though he adored Mr. Kelly. Mr. Kelly's next suggestion was a fabulous pinstripe suit accessorized with a top hat. Ernest smiled and nodded his head in agreement.
Now Ernest was ready to take on the world and show off his polka dancing skills with the beautiful princess pony Felicity. They had just decided to go dancing on top of the Eiffel Tower when Felicity's evil twin showed up and mauled her sister with bears she had summoned from the hills. Ernest was broken hearted to lose such a dear friend as Felicity so he went out in search of her evil twin. He found her, finally, in an underground coffee house in New York City, reciting her evil, dark poetry. He charged her with his peg leg in his hand, but he didn't quite make it to her as he only had one leg to hobble on. He fell on top of an open bagel slicer, piercing his heart as he cried out, "may monkeys curse you evil princess pony!" And his voice echoed all the way to the African jungle where the monkeys sprung into action. They flew over the Atlantic Ocean (they learned to fly from their ancestors in the Wizard of Oz), grabbed the evil princess pony, and took her back to the jungle where they roasted her like a kabob. And man was she tastey. Kristin spelled "tasty" wrong. The monkeys decided to find Clinton because they were all in desperate need of a makeover after such stressful events.
They found him sipping coffee in a Paris cafe grieving over Ernest's death, mainly because the pinstripe suite was torn and bloody from the bagel cutter. Kelly spelled "suit" wrong. Whoops, my bad; anywho, one look at the monkeys and Clinton knew it was a fashion emergency! He called in Carmindy his assistant to help work some fashion magic on these frightful monkeys. She shaved them. They cried over their lost hair, but soon recovered because they realized they now had more magical powers. Like the power to summon bears (like evil princess pony). Bears traveled far and wide to find the monkeys. When they found them, the monkeys told them to maul Clinton Kelly, because they wanted to take over his styling business; so they did. And the stylish bald monkeys shared their talents with the rest of the jungle, making the world a better place.
THE END!