This Old House

Any day now Operation: New Bathrooms will begin! While there's so many pros to owning an old home, there are also some cons! Not really cons, but challenges--opportunities to build character right? Only one of the 2 bathrooms in my house has a shower & a few weeks ago I discovered is has a leaky shower pan. The only way to fix this requires the entire thing to be torn out & rebuilt. So while one bathroom is being ripped up why not do the other one right? The other bathroom in my house is only a bathtub. It has a window in it & is lined with fake tile. It was in the list of things to re-do around the house someday. Well that day is quickly approaching. A lot of people have asked if I'm going to do it myself. Seriously? No way.

Shower with leaky shower pan.

Bathtub with a window in it, fake tile & no shower head.

Because the floors are already black & white, both the standup shower & the bath/shower will be tiled in white tile with a black & white checked accent border. Pretty basic. Kevin the tile guy is supposed to start tearing things out this week & hopefully will start tiling/rebuilding during the week of Thanksgiving. I'm super excited to have TWO working bathrooms in a couple of weeks! If buying a house didn't make me feel like a real grown up, remodeling two bathrooms surely does! :)

Fun group pics.

If you know anything about my former life (with Worldview) one of the things I loved to do was organize group pictures. It was the highlight of my Monday morning each week. Last night we decided to take a group pic to send to Mwangi, the Compassion boy we sponsor in Africa. They turned out pretty good--notice it's the college boys (the leaders!) in the back that are the ones misbehaving.


And of course, a silly picture...


Aren't these kids precious? Those are my 7th grade girlies in the front left--I just love them!

Oh and an update on the "Big Dance" that I blogged about a few weeks ago...one of our youth leaders created a facebook event for the performance next weekend...so far over 400 confirmed attending and over 700 maybes. This thing may be out of control, but it's going to be awesome!!

Halloween

I got to go to Midland this past weekend to see friends & visit my old stompin' grounds. :) Bad weather in Houston delayed my flight from an 8:45pm departure to an 11:45pm departure! Fortunately it was a direct flight & so I arrived in Midland a little after 1am. My sweet friend Sarah picked me up despite a stomach bug she was battling! But thankfully she was able to take the day off on Friday & we both slept in & watched tv until mid-afternoon when we got up to go have a late lunch with another friend & then got ready for a party our friend Caroline was having that night!

Sarah & I on our way to lunch.

Sarah, Dawn & I had decided to be "3 Peas in a Pod" for the party. Sarah & Dawn did an awesome job putting the costumes together! We stuffed some really big green shirts with HEB & Walmart bags & Dawn's mom made us a pod that put the finishing touches on our costumes!

3 Peas in a Pod

The best thing about our costumes was that they were so un-flattering that it completely freed us up to eat as much as we wanted! Or at least that was my favorite part of it! :) The party was fun & everyone had great costumes on!

Me & Hilary (Hi Hilary!)

Me & Caroline

Peas, bacon, eggs & a hotdog!

Bert, Ernie & 3 Peas in a Pod

Even though it was a super quick trip, it was super fun! I sure was blessed with good friends out in West Texas!

Braidy Bunch.

It is hard to take a picture of the back of your head! Inspired by Laurie, I tried a new braid today & am pretty pleased with the results. I pretty much just want to be like Laurie.

I don't remember it raining this much in College Station when I lived here 3 years ago. I feel like it rains a little everyday. And when it's not raining it's so humid it might as well be raining. So there's no use in trying to straighten my hair. A braid & pony are perfect solutions but I fear that I feel like people in my office are thinking "does she know how to do anything else with her hair?" I'm always game for a new idea! Thanks Laurie!

October so far.

This past weekend I went to Corpus to celebrate my grandpa's 84th birthday! Even though it was a quick trip it was a good time & beautiful weather! I had lunch with my parents & Pop at Brewster Street Ice House which is right under the Harbor Bridge, next to Whataburger Field--it was a gorgeous day to be down town near the water!

My Parents

Me & Pop

Last week my little 7th grade girlies & I played around with Photo Booth on my MacBook. The little hamster in the corner named Hammy & he's a mascot of sorts for our junior high ministry.

Also this month, my roommates & I busted out the fire pit in the back yard! It's been raining so much it that hadn't been dry enough to start a fire but we had a couple of dry days in a row a while back & we made the most of it!

Dottie gave a valiant effort to start the fire--it took a while but
she persevered & it was a major success!

Sarah & Rachel eat some s'mores!

Me & Dottie love s'mores too!

Griffin just wants someone to pay attention to him.

"The Big Dance"

I feel like I need something to update on in order to be motivated to blog. Well I have a project now! There's this big youth event in December that all the kids dress up for & we watch videos that have been made using youth kids & leaders. They're competing for the best of a certain category. We (youth staff) make up the categories, put together the videos & pick the winners and apparently it's a pretty big deal (this being my first year working here I haven't actually seen this deal yet, just heard all about it). So a few weeks ago we started thinking about different videos to make & I showed this video & said maybe we could do something like this.



Well, apparently it was a good idea because today we had our first practice session & had about 75 people show up! Our goal is at least 100 & I have no doubt we'll get there. Two people left practice & took the music with them so they could teach all the leaders in the Bible study they direct who will in turn teach their group members. If just 25 more people come we'll get there! The first place this will be done is the half time show of a local Christian school football game October 24. The principal & coaches gave us their blessing to be the half time entertainment. The second time--get ready for this--will be outside Kyle Field a couple hours before the kick off of the A&M-Baylor game on November 21.

Like I said, today was just our first practice but I was super pleased with the turn out & the excitement people had for this event! Here's a video of our performance. I think it was the first time we tried to have people be in lines, so you can see it still needs a lot of work. But I am confident it's going to be awesome. Hopefully people will practice this week & we'll have even more people at next week's practice. :)



If you're in the B/CS area & want to be a part of this--it's all being filmed mind you--and not just by me--they actual performances will have real videographers--if you want to be part of this, let me know or just show up at the Grace gym next Sunday, 3pm.

5 things that make me laugh.

I like to take pictures of things that make me laugh. Most of the time these are taken with my phone & I never do anything with them. I was looking though my phone pics the other day & realized there were some funny ones (at least I think they're funny) in there!

Man-pris (man-gauchos...manchos? mauchos?).
I spent several days at Starbucks meeting with people & this guy came in everyday. And everyday he wore these same gaucho style pants--in black, in dark green & in denim. They made me laugh.

Toddler hockey.
Yes, folks this is real. There's an ice hockey league for tots.

Griffin.
This is what my roommate's dog does when I put a baby gate up in my doorway so he won't come in.

Griffin again.
Sometimes when he's looking out the front window his head gets so heavy he has to rest it on the couch.

When people put luggage tags on their kids.
This is actually my friend's kid...and it was her 5 year old's idea to tag the toddler when they flew cross country. Not a bad idea actually.

Harry Potter Theme Park!

Who's up for a vacay in Spring 2010?

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-29692008

Got a Little Update for you Ags.

Tonight is our first Axis (Wednesday night youth group meeting)! My new job at Grace is mostly working with junior high students who meet at the church on Wednesday nights to play games, break into small groups and study Ephesians this year. Over the last couple of weeks (I'm already in week 3 of the job!) I've gotten to meet with several of the leaders & get to know them & what they're looking forward to this year in ministry. Last night was our first leader's meeting and it was so exciting to all be in the same room, getting excited together about what the Lord is going to do this year in the lives of these kids and us as leaders! There are about 30 leaders on our campus (the church has another campus with about 10 leaders I think).

Tonight (yes, tonight!) we're breaking the kids into groups to do skits using random characters, locations, events and conflicts that we give them. Can't you just see 7th grade boys portraying Gisele (from "Enchanted") at the dog races on Christmas morning being chased by ninjas? I can't wait!

So there's a little update for you. It strays a little from my usual youtube/picture posts. Look at me, I'm growing. :)

The house is good. Still coming together. Boxes are all unpacked, but things aren't in their final resting places necessarily. Not much is on the walls. If anyone has any ideas of what to put on a wall behind a red & white checkered couch please let me know. My roommate got a dog, Griffin the Boxer. He's real sweet & not too smart. He likes to chase his tail but then he gets dizzy & it's real funny. We played "Tunnel of Doom" the other night (one person lay down in the hall way & we threw his toy down the hall to see if he'd run over the person). He does a giant leap over whatever is in his way & it's hilarious. We put pillows down & other things next to us, trying to make a bigger pile & he still leaps over. Way funny.

I'm off to get a little snack before tonight. Hope you all have a good one!

Ice Cream & Cake!

At first this was annoying to me, but then I realized that this is pretty much what's going on on the inside when I eat ice cream & cake. :) Watch it at least twice. You should laugh too.

Summer 2009: Top Ten in Pictures

There are so many intangible things I learned and experienced this summer but those are hard to describe/illustrate. Here are my top ten tangible experiences in pictures. After trying unsuccessfully to rate them, I decided to just put them in geographic order.

1. "The Wives"

Liv, Linda, Laurie & Regina.
The wives of the faculty & camp director are some of my dearest friends. This is from one of our "girls nights".

2. America Girl Place--Chicago

I've never seen so many dolls or doll friendly activities! It was like doll Disneyworld! My friend Alysia & I went to see the doll hair salon, cafe, art studio, store & more! Everything there came in human size & doll size--crazy, but so cool! And I can't figure out how to turn this picture, sorry!

3. Eat.Shop.Chicago.

My friend Laurie got a book called Eat.Shop.Chicago. & so we took the train into Chicago to eat & shop! We ate a delicious lunch at a fancy little place called Blackbird, got some yummy pastries & coffee at a local place (can't remember the name) and shopped some way overpriced boutiques. I only came away with (aside from a full tummy) these awesomely huge sunglasses! The only pictures we took were on the train home--a funny montage including the one above.

4. Buying a house while driving through Chicago traffic.

I didn't take this picture, it was taken by one of the other vehicles driving through the same traffic. It was on this day & in this traffic that the house buying adventure began!

5. Niagara Falls

The girl staff.

In line for the boat--we got these sweet ponchos!

Cara & I on the "Maid of the Mist" approaching Niagara Falls. It was awesome--totally worth the price of the ticket!

6. York Beach, Maine

The super crowded York beach.

Cara & I got some "wicked good" ice cream!

The Hubble Lighthouse--this picture doesn't do it justice--it was beautiful!

7. Lobster in Massachusetts

The "wives" & I had a delicious lobster dinner at Liv's parents house in Massachusetts. The whole process--buying, attempting to race them across the floor (they were mostly dead & didn't really race), steaming & eating them (every little bit of them) was awesome!

8. New York City

We took the staff to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway!

9. Lancaster, PA

My friend Aubree lives near Lancaster & so came to spend a couple days with me at camp. She & I went & had lunch in an old train car & saw some of the Amish country.

We climbed to the top of this scenic tower to take some cool pictures--unfortunately we couldn't get the scenery & us at the same time.

10. Skeet Shooting in Virginia

We had lunch at one of the staff guy's houses & went skeet shooting afterwards. I am proud to say I hit all three pidgins! I also hit 2 out of 3 targets with an AK47. I'd take credit but I'm pretty my shooting abilities come from my momma (who was on the riflery team at Univ. of Texas), so I have to say it's in my blood.

My Golden Birthday!

26 on the 26th! So far being 26 is pretty good!

My New House!

Last Friday while driving through downtown Chicago, IL during rush-hour traffic I bought a house in Bryan, TX! Read that sentence again & let it soak in...buying a house while driving a 15 passenger van full of college students through a city of almost 10 million, at least 8 million of which were bumper to bumper with me on I-90, or was it I-94? I don't know, don't care really, because the bottom line is...in the midst of all that I became a homeowner!!

My wonderful Realtor, Lisa, had sent me a list of houses in Bryan/College Station last week (Tuesday probably) & I fell in love with one of them! An older 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in Bryan with real hard wood floors, a red front door & black & white checkered tile in the kitchen & bathrooms. My mom made plans to drive up to meet with Lisa & look at some of the properties that Friday afternoon. She (my mom) warned me not to get my heart set on any house in particular because anything could happen. Well during the next few hours anything & everything did happen! My mom met Lisa at 12:30pm, saw my favorite house first, realized it was as wonderful as the pictures, went on to see some other houses, came back to the first one and learned that at 4:30 that day the owners were picking a buyer!

My mom had called me about 2:30pm & I was in the midst of packing & loading up camp & getting on the road. I told her I'd call in 10 minutes. I called about 15 minutes later...driving to O'Hare Airport to drop some staff off & she answered the phone, "I'm buying you a house!" I laughed & said "tell me about the houses!" So she does & tells me how great the first one was (my favorite one) and then she tells me that it's been on the market a week, there are 4 offers already & that Lisa had said, "Offer X amount right now if you want it!" That was when she'd called me & I said I'd call her back. So she called my dad & he said to go for it. She did it & so now we wait.

So I'm driving in this awful traffic just praying for wisdom & patience & that if this isn't the house God wants me to have that I'll be able to trust Him to provide something better. I called my mom about 4:15 and she said again that I needed to guard my heart because there was a good chance we wouldn't get it. My dad called a few minutes later & said "Congratulations, homeowner!" I said, "That's not funny! Don't joke with me, that is so mean, I can't get excited because then I'll get disapointed!" He said he wasn't kidding. I still didn't believe him, so I called my mom. She said he was telling the truth! They'd picked us! I kind of still didn't believe it, but I did start screaming & woke up everyone sleeping in the van & made them scream with me! Lisa called a few minutes after that, and with her word that this was all really happening I finally believed it! Screaming ensued again, as did another retelling of all the events to my captive audience, aka the residents of my van who had no choice. :)

I hadn't even finished filling out my loan applications or anything! Actually the evening before I had been close to giving up the idea of buying entirely based on how frustrating filling out all that paperwork was! Justin (the loan guy), named in my phone & referred to as, "Justin loan guy" wrote a letter stating they'd loan me the money I needed & I finished filling out all the stuff that night, got every other detail about my life they needed to know in over the weekend & signed my life (the next 30 years of it at least) away this week! I should close at the end of July (this month!) and can move in August 10!

All the inspections were today & so my parents went up to meet with all the people & take some pictures! All I've seen is from the realtor's website, but my mom says they're exactly what it looks like! So here it is...(the pics from the realtor that is...the ones from my mom have to wait for her to get back home tonight & for me to talk her through putting them on her computer & then emailing them to me)!

The front--black shutters & a red door!

Living Room.

Kitchen--how sweet are those floors?!

Dining room--the doors on the right lead into the kitchen.

Pink room.

Hallway bathroom.

Master bedroom.

Backyard--I will definitely need some high school kids to come mow my lawn!

A good sign! My mom took this on her phone today & sent it to me.

Isn't it adorable? I love it! All the inspections were good. My mom says it's in a great neighborhood with some awesome houses! And there's a Starbucks right down the street! What more could a girl ask for? I can't think of anything! So if you're in College Station after August 10th come see me!