Refresh

I haven't blogged in a long time due to many reasons. But I now feel I should.

I am excited to be home for good now. I'm done with classes, except for a final next Monday. I got really excited last weekend when I found out about a townhouse opportunity with three close friends downtown. Then, the landlord said no to 4 girls, and since I was the last one that decided to go in on it, I was the first one to get the boot. So, I'll be living at home for at least two more years then hopefully getting my own apartment or townhouse near the Detroit Medical Center downtown.

I have a feeling of refreshment for a number of reasons. Number 1 I am about to clean my room and I love the feeling of a clean room. On the outside, it looks really neat and clean but don't open my closet or a drawer, they will explode. I must get rid of stuff. Number 2 Summertime is finally here and my one summer class will start in two weeks, which means a new beginning. I'm hoping since there's just one class to worry about I'll be able to do well in it. Number 3 I just met a wonderful guy, Ryan. He amazes me in a plethora of ways. More to be blogged about him in the near future.

Okay, so.. I think I have to admit I am a shopoholic. In this economic climate, that is not a good thing. But, I did it anyways. I told myself it was okay since it was my birthday earlier this month and I had birthday money to spend. But, I ended up spending more money than I received. Luckily, I stayed loyal to my New Years Resolution to not buy any clothes, shoe, etc. (basically no money spent on myself outside of gas, food, limited entertainment) until now. And, since I stayed loyal for so long, I had some extra cash to splurge with when I went shopping. But still, I think I need to see a psychiatrist. If you look in my closet, you'd assume I lived in state that experiences a warm climate all year round. 75% of my wardrobe is composed of summer clothes i.e. shorts, short sleeves, tank tops, sandals. The other 25% is made of clothes that I actually NEED like jeans, sweatshirts, sweaters. To be honest, I hate winter clothes. They're SO ugly! Sweaters are itchy and make you look fat. I feel clousterphobic in long pants. Considering I live in Michigan, I don't know why I don't invest in winter clothes because when winter comes I wear the same outfits every week. When summer comes, I don't want it to end because I hadn't even gotten halfway through my summer wardrobe selection yet. Perhaps I should begin to donate some of my summer clothes that I don't wear as much to Africa. They have warm weather and not enough clothes and I have cold weather and too much warm weather clothes. Makes sense? I don't know though, I'm not one to trust charities that ship across seas. I once heard of a "Feed-the-Children"-like program someone I knew was involved with. They got a letter and picture in the mail of a child they were supporting and got to write letters to. It was pretty personal. Then they got  a letter from their orphanage saying that child got sick and died. A few years later they started supporting another child and got the same picture and letters in the mail. Ha. That's sad. 

I Dislike Colored Nail Polish

I painted my nails pink on Thursday afternoon.

It is now Saturday evening and they have been chipping since Friday evening.

I sit here and ask myself why I haven't painted my finger nails a colored polish for over a year?

I have been reminded of my reasoning.

I also wonder why I spent $10 on OPI (apparently the "best" nail polish brand) clear nail polish that also chips within 24 hours of application when my moms' off-brand clear polish she probably paid $1.99 for takes almost a week to chip.

I'd rather my nails look shiny with clear nail polish than chipped pink.

They (I) Never Saw It Coming!!

According to St. Peter Lutheran Church's attendance record, I've become a Christmas-Easter attendee. That's not really true in the broader spectrum, I've gone to church elsewhere. I kind of broke my ties with the Lutheran church once I started college. At this point I started a new job and the load of college swamped me to the point that I stopped attending church for a few months. I found a wonderful church - Restoration Church - a few months ago that has taken the place of my church attendance at St. Pete's. I had a number of reasons that I didn't like the Lutheran worship service, which made finding a new church so much better, i.e. no more yawner hymnal songs, repeating the same 10 creeds every Sunday, having someone tell the congregation that only "confirmed members" are allowed to receive forgiveness through Holy Communion sacrament, and the list goes on.

Sunday morning was Easter Sunday. My family was going to church at St. Pete's so I figured I'd tag along anyhow to be with them. Going into it I was confident that it was going to be another morning of "playing church": getting dressed up and doing the "routine" church things (10 creeds, hymn songs and a choir I can't seem to understand because they're more concerned with how loud their voices get than how clear I can hear their praises..) Anyways, I thought it was going to be just another Sunday recite-ship at the Lutheran church.

The sermon was titled "They Never Saw It Coming", referring to the people finding Jesus' tomb empty on Easter morn. To be quite frank, I never had once listened to a sermon in full at St. Pete's. One because I normally sat with my friends and had better things to discuss than listening to the good news of Christ, two because I never was that strong in my faith to realize the importance of the message and three because the pastor's never appealed to me as good story tellers. This Sunday I decided to change things up. I sat isolated with my family and payed close attention to the message.

God worked in me like none other. The meaning of the Easter message was clearly stated but that's beside the point here. The title of the message and the illustrations used in it made me realize that although I think the whole realm of the Lutheran church is plain and boring, if I actually pay close attention to the message maybe I'd get something out of it.

I still don't like the hymn sings or the idea of reciting the same creeds every Sunday. I like praising in music I enjoy more, like the type played at Restoration Church. However, I've realized it wasn't the church that made me fall away from it, it was my sinful nature. I had never had a faith as strong as mine is today while I was a regular attendee at St. Peter's. In fact, I was dead when I attended there.

I feel very strongly that God used Easter Sunday to invite me back into my Lutheran church home. I'm not sure how it's going to work out exactly. I'm going to give the "contemporary worship service" a try next weekend to see if the praise music gets me more involved in worshipping my Lord that so dearly deserves it.

I'm excited! "I Never Saw It Coming"

The Lord Taketh, The Lord Giveth

I was in the gym today after class, multitasking. I was studying my anatomy & physiology notes while on the elliptical. I figured they went hand in hand, I was learning what exactly was going on inside me while I burnt 200 cals.

As I was doing this I reminded about how good my God is. It's April 6, so like... it shouldn't snow. It should be mild, partly sunny, maybe a breeze. Not 6 inches of snow continuing throughout the day. But that was okay. Because the Lord can do whatever he wants whenever he wants to do it. Amazing. What was even more amazing was seeing the wrath of my Lord. One of the TV's had the weather channel on & they were reporting footage from a tornado that whipped through a home. The Lord is good... but the Lord is mighty!

Amen!

Oh, also, I'm really happy.

Soy Chicken?

I was wondering if someone could maybe tell me why..

..I had soy chicken for dinner & there was a bone in it?

Sunrise

God knows me all too well.  I was in a serious state of depression Friday evening/Saturday morning.  It did not feel good to be home from vacation in the least bit.  Going to bed in my own bed and waking up to my alarm was awful.  The rest of my house was sleeping as I awoke to get ready for my work day Saturday and walked into the kitchen to start it off.  The sunrise was definitely not a Michigan sunrise.  Believe me, I have woken up every morning for the past 5 years in this house, walked into the kitchen around the same time most of those mornings and there has never been a sunrise over my backyard as spectacular as the one I saw Saturday morning.  Never.  No joke.  It was shades of pink and orange and took up the entire eastern sky.  I think it was a love note from God saying "Yo I know you're back to reality but life can still be beautiful even when you're not on vacation." <--- Ok so those words I just typed totally did not come from my mind.. I just kinda typed them out and then realized God spoke to me again.  Wow.

Bonita Springs - Second Half of Trip

Tuesday

Leaving Disney was depressing (if I didn't clarify that in my last two posts..). Why is a 19 year old complaining about having to go to a beach over Disney? Anyhow.. we drove to Bonita Springs and I got to go to my all-time favorite restaurant.  It's hard for me to pick favorites in just about anything but the 'restaurant' category is an exception because of this restaurant: Sweet Tomatoes. It's not in Michigan, but I am happy for that.  If it were, I'd abuse my right to eat there and it would probably dwindle down my list of "Top Restaurants".  For those of you who have not had the pleasure to eat at Sweet Tomatoes you should.  It's cheap: $9.49 per person. No excuses next time! It starts off with a (50-foot?) salad buffet. HUGE. Pre-made salads, create-your-own, dressings galore.  I faired with a Won-Ton Salad & an Asiago Caesar Salad adorned with my own special touch of hard-boiled eggs and garlic croutons (this is Day 1 remind yourselves!). It gets better.. then there's an infinite amount of soups you can choose from.. noodle soups, chilies, chowders, the list goes on.. and then the bread. Oh my! Foccacias, muffins, rolls, warm loaves.. the butters! Honey Spread is my #1 pick. Pastas! Then dessert.. Fat free frozen yogurt, a lavish toppings bar & right out of the oven cookie bars. The drinks.. Strawberry Lemonade & Mixed Berry Green Tea.  Throw in some shopping (eh, browsing..) and the night was complete. Did I mention $9.49 is all-you-can-eat?!

Wednesday

Woke up to clouds. Boo. Floridians were getting all geeked up because it was suppose to rain. They had had a drought.  I was less than thrilled.  Lucky for me, and not so much for them, it didn't rain!  The clouds broke up and we drove down to Naples to enjoy the beach.  The clouds came back in less than half an hour after arrival but that was alright because it made for perfect sea-shell hunting weather.  We walked the pier and even got some dolphin footage.  We ate at a great seafood restaurant right on the beach where I got Jamaican Jerk Grouper. Yum.

Thursday

Round 2 in Naples. This time we walked 5th Avenue and felt very underdressed.  I came quip with my swimsuit & coverup.  I should have known stilettos & Gucci gear were the norm for a morning coffee stole. Whatev, I flaunted my American Eagle freebie beach bag with stains.  Floridian hopes narrowed as mine soared as the storm clouds broke up & I fried like a tomato.  No fear, Sweet Tomatoes round 2 was in store! Fast forward to dinner (since it was obviously the highlight of my vacation).  Let me note here that Bonita Springs is also known as Seniorcitizenville.  No joke.  I've never seen that many elderly folk outside of a nursing home! The buffet line went stagnant before we even got inside the building.  Apparently the 60+ crowd moves a little slower than the rest of us.  As we were approaching the doors an old women walks out to her car & comes back in with bike helmets.  Another old women behind us nudged to her wheel-chair ridden "gal-pal" and says "It must be getting rough in there!"  I bursted out with laughter.

Friday

Last day.. packed up and drove back up to Tampa.  But before all that I had my last meal in Florida, a make-your-own belgium-waffle from the hotel's continental breakfast. Did I mention that I had a Mickey Mouse shaped Belgium waffle the last morning in Disney?  I looked up Mickey Mouse shaped waffle makers on Ebay already.  Going for no more than $51.99!  Nudge-nudge, my birthday is in 12 days (..Jesse..)