sunshine in winter

So I have to admit I realized the other day how I have been a bit hypocritical to myself in blogging, I have been signing on and checking fairly often for updates, stories, pictures from my friends across the USA and even around the world, and I get bummed every time I see no new updates. But then I realized I haven't posted in almost 3 weeks either, so haha. Here I am with an update, and even a beautiful picture of the sun rising this morning out on the road.

My classes this semester are going great so far! I'm taking World Art, US History, Music Appreciation, and Nutrition. I have a pretty strong feeling after one lecture in my Nutrition class that I may very easily be converted to some kind of health nut. I thought of Natasha several times throughout the class, and how I could take a leaf from her book and go vegan :)
It's been raining for about a week now, and it's supposed to continue throughout next week. However, this morning there is a glimpse of sky and it's let up on the watering so I've pulled back the drapes and I'm going to enjoy the sunshine for as long as it lasts.


It's been almost a month since I moved in to my new place here in Redding, and though I am still job hunting I am excited to be here and I am loving the scenery.

A little waterfall and pathway on my campus!

I will try to post more often, and that will be interesting as now I actually have studying and papers and such. But I love reading my friends posts, so I will be back soon I'm sure!


Been listening to an audio Bible in my car to and from classes, and this verse stood out to me the other day. I've heard it a lot, but it kind of hit home at the time, so I thought I'd share!

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?' 'Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" 

Romans 11:33-36

which one which one

Happy new year!

Today I have a quandary. Most days I seem to have quandaries but today I am gonna share. I am at the brink of starting school (again) and I am SO excited. Being on the campus and talking to counselors is reminding me of how much I want to be there! However, here is the issue:

I just moved here to Redding and haven't found a job yet. It's only been like a week and half, so I'm not worried. Today, I had a final interview at Wells Fargo for a teller position. I keep praying when it comes to a job that God will have a hand in whether or not I get it. Many, many times in the past I've been sure I wanted a certain job and I prayed and prayed to get it and it didn't come through only to see another job open up that, looking back, I now know I enjoyed much more than I would have the alternative. 

Now - I don't know if I got the job at Wells Fargo, I'll find out in a few days - but they made it pretty clear that they are looking for someone who doesn't have conflicting schedules with their needs (such as college classes), they prefer open availability at all times. I'm not picky if I need a job, I understand that a job is important but on the other hand the reason I moved back to California and left my friends and job in Minnesota was to go to school, and really go. Like full load classes, finish three years in three years, and really BE a student.

It could mean taking out loans to live off of until I do find a job that will work with my schedule which I would love to avoid (at all costs.. haha get it?) but I think even as I am writing this I am realizing I do want school to come first. I already decided that when I moved back to CA and then to Redding. I've been working working working for years and now I want to switch it up. I'm young and single and I should do these things while I can!! Right??!

So the quandary is to take the job if they offer it (it's greeaat pay) and put school second for a while longer or risk it and sign up for the classes I really want. I know what I want to do, but I just figured since no one is here at home for me to talk to and my parents are busy I'd write it out and see how it feels at the end, now I'm at the end and I think it helped clear up the situation!

If you have any advice on school, job and college going together and all that please share! I'd love to hear how other people succeed at this cause I don't get it!

Hope you are having a wonderful new year! It's been good to me so far :)

Sacramento River

unpacking

Well I have finally unpacked all of my boxes, suitcases and bags. I have set up my books, jewelery, pictures, and all of my clothes and shoes.

It's a good feeling, being able to feel "settled" although I have to admit it's taking some time for it to set it that I really am. My new roommates are away at a wedding for the weekend and now I'm all alone in this new town so as excited as I am to be here it's a little lonely for now. So I'm just chillin during these gloomy winter days and enjoying some tea (in the mug I got from my sister for Christmas), watching The Office.

But it's all good! I'm really looking forward to whats in store for me here in Redding! I am gonna meet with a school counselor next week to plan my semester and am hopefully close to getting a job at a bank (fingers crossed and praying daily!)

So with the move and all the holiday festivities I've been a little busy but here's a small recap of the last month:

 I got some new glasses and now I can read and look at my computer in my total hipster swag without all the squinting. My sister won't let up that I'm a hipster but I'm just as convinced that she would wear them too if she were so bold ;)

...

My family and I also got the incredible privilege to attend a friend's wedding the week before Christmas in Palm Desert. It was really small and intimate and SO exquisite. The groom is like an adopted son to my parents and basically my sister's and my long lost brother. He married an amazing woman and blessed us with including us in the family-only event. I didn't take too many pictures, but here's a peek:

I also baked a lot of cookies with my mom and accepted the fact that it's ok to eat a lot of cookies during Christmas.

For the first time ever my family was not at home for Christmas. My parents helped me move and then we traveled 4 hours east to Fernley, NV on Christmas Eve to be with my sister since she worked Christmas morning. On the subject of Fernley it is really nice to be living somewhere within driving distance of family. Hopefully within the next year or so my parents will also be living there and as much as I miss Minnesota that is something I am thankful for. Being in northern California again is really nice (I lived in the bay area as a child) and seeing redwoods and mountains again is really refreshing. This is the drive between Redding and Fernley that hopefully will become more and more familiar to me as I visit with my sister!

Well I'm gonna get back to watching Office reruns now. It's been good to catch up.
Peace.

feature ideas...

Well my efforts to make my blog something I actually want to spend time on have started to succeed.
I am, however, having a little trouble settling on a "feature" for my blog. Weekly, bi-weekly, monthly.. lists of sorts... I don't necessarily need it to be about one thing, just something regular I can come back to. If you know what I mean and you have any ideas or clever tips for me I would really love to hear!

I am crocheting a lot these days it feels like but I would like to be doing even more... my eyes get blurry so fast so I can't do it for too long at a time. Next week I'll have my new glasses so I can crochet alllll day. I am desperate to learn to read patterns and take on some new projects with new fun stitches.

Tonight, I made my first headband! Noelle taught me this stitch! As a matter of fact she taught me to crochet!

 - - By the way, I just downloaded the Hipstamatic app for iPhone, and if you have a smart phone I strongly recommend it, it is SO fun!

 

This photo, however, was not taken with hipstamatic. It's just that I want to show what I do here in Twentynine Palms ... without any friends........................... 

I climb on counters to take self portraits.

Thank you, thank you.

So please, leave me a comment with some ideas for a feature you would find interesting enough to tune into!

and have a goood weekend!

(also, I'll come up with a signature that is not a picture soon)

where you go...

Well, almost everything that could have changed in my life in the last three months did! I will fill you in.

What hasn't changed:

I'm still single.

I still love coffee.

I still like Justin Bieber.

What has changed: 

I moved from my friends house to the dorms on the Bethany campus, to the church on the Bathany campus, to my parents house in California and I'm now getting ready to pack up yet again and move to northern California.

I cut all my hair off!

I am starting school this Spring in Redding, CA hopefully major in either Linguistics, International Studies, or who knows what else really but the goal is indeed to finish.

I just got a new, much needed pair of glasses, and I will definitely post a picture soon.

. . .

I have been on a bit of a Jesus Culture kick lately (when I'm not listening to Christmas music of course) perhaps out of anticipation of visiting Bethel church once I get to Redding.. either way I've had this song on repeat on my computer for a while now - so good.



late night

WELL - these last few weeks have been crazy to say the least. I moved out of my apartment, quit Caribou, am on my last week as a nanny and still don't know what to do next. It's like I can do anything I want but nothing is opening up and saying "take this route" or "pick me", everything is waiting for me to act and for the strangest, unknown reason, I don't. And I wonder late at night like now, why this is....


But on a more exciting blog type note I finally made an appointment to get my hair cut at a fancy salon worth more than $14 cuts.. though it'll cost a pretty penny I am going to someone who specializes in curly hair. Also, I'm doing something pretty new.... and will post pictures as soon as I'm all freshly styled :)

Now it really is time to shut my eyes and hug my pillow. Late night blog posts deserve pictures too...

 

(Lake Harriet - cell phone)

mulberries and sunshine

I was looking forward to writing a post today... but it's after nine and I would rather at this point do a small recap of my day via the cell phone pictures I took.

Today was a usual day.

After my Caribou shift, I took a picture to send to my sister before she even woke up.

Then after a quiet morning randomly shopping around at Target, I headed to job #2, hanging out with the coolest kids ever. But before getting to that, I got some of the sunshine I've been missing.

 Now among all the other wonderful things that my day included (such as a Chipotle dinner), I got to pick and eat mulberries right off the tree with the boys this afternoon.

  Ashwin on the left (five), Arjun on the right (seven)

 Tasty mulberries

 Arjun

Arjun's super-cool new shoes

...

So all-in-all, this was a good Friday. I feel like I had something else to mention, but as I said it's late and I've been up since 4 this morning, so I'll leave it to the pictures today.

tired of my day

Here I am procrastinating on my "must get finished tonight" project... third time this week. I'm enjoying a caramel latte from Panera sitting next to my room mate, Christie Ann, listening to Pandora (Jason Mraz station, perfect coffee-shop-sitting-tired-after-a long-day type of music). I would much rather be asleep altogether.

Today was lame! It was a series of seriously unfortunate events, but I don't want to think about that anymore. I am working on wedding photo editing and already preparing for my next wedding in July (which is coming up so fast!).

For blog post number two this one is pretty much pointless, I just really can't concentrate on the reception "special dances" photos right now. Last night I went to the bou bs (caribou girls Bible study) without reading either of the 2 chapters, but I got SO much out of the discussion! We are reading Smart Faith by JP Moreland and Mark Matlock...

This Bible study is such an amazing blessing. There are five of us in the study, four of us work at Caribou together (the other is a sister), and I've never had relationships like this with people in my workplace outside of teen mania/bcom... so I praise GOD for these friends and seriously awesome women who are teaching me about the book I am failing to read! gah...

So it's almost bed time now, I open at caribou in the morning so I'll be finishing the photos tomorrow I guess. I am looking forward to taking the weekend OFF, so I better finished them! Planning on heading to the farmers market again this Saturday and who knows what else I can't even think about it all right now! So tired...

this is entry one, fifth time this year,

Every now and then I remember I have a blog... and I never actually tend to it because I don't have this amazing idea for a first attention-catching entry. So I changed my reasons for the blog, and decided to write for now, with the intention of captivating readers. I'll talk about myself, and what myself is up to... and probably other things like awesome food I am cooking or cool pictures I am taking or something. I'll probably put pictures with my posts because I'm aesthetic like that. Right now, I am already out of time and must be getting ready for job #2 this afternoon. But if I can start with one simple post, then I'll probably be hooked and be back again very soon.

aesthetic touch #1