30 Things Challenge: Week 4

4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year old self, if you could.

This is kinda fun, as I was 16 exactly 10 years ago. While I am only a small portion through my life (hopefully) I guess I do have some wisdom to impart on my teenage self.

1. You. Are. NOT. Fat. Seriously! Get that through your thick skull! Dress in a way that flatters your body type and you feel so much better about yourself.

2. You are capable, and smart, and valuable, and will accomplish more than you thought you were capable of someday.

3.  Tell your friends, family and parents how much you love them and how important they are to you. In 10 years from now you will reflect on all they were to you at this time and hope that they know how appreciated they were.

4. Dye your hair blue if you want to. Eventually you'll feel like you're too old to rock cookie monster hair.

5. Stop saying "that's gay" and "that's retarded." Eventually you'll realize that those are not nice or acceptable expressions, and those habits are hard to break!

6. Don't worry about not being kissed yet! When you finally do get your first kiss it will be from the only person you ever kiss or want to kiss. It was worth the wait. :)

7. Your next boyfriend...maybe just don't. Haha. Trust me. He doesn't like girls.

8. Really appreciate being a woman. Do so by standing up for other women. Don't constantly bash female celebrities (difficult, I know) but look for women who are role models who have integrity, intelligence, and are taking steps towards making progress for women. Yeah, you become a feminist.

9. Go sing for Grandpa while he's in the hospital. You'll feel silly at the time but if you don't you'll regret it later (believe me, I know).

10. Keep writing! You're in the hay-day of your blogging and journaling and you'll wish you were still as diligent as you are now later in life. Its fun, embarrassing and weird looking back on things you felt and wrote, but its also a great way to document your life.

PS - Quit saying you're dumb. So many times you say "this is dumb" or "but I'm just dumb" in posts and things but you're not. And its annoying to hear you keep saying that.

30 Things Challenge: Week 3

3. Describe your relationship with your parents.

Ooh, this one is hard and easy at the same time! Its easy because I have a great relationship with my parents, but its difficult because there is so much I could say that its hard to put it into words to really do it justice.

As I was reflecting on this, I remembered a write up I did for a book for Mom and Dad that my siblings and I made them for their anniversary. It really says it all the best, so I will re-post what I wrote then - its still all 100% true today! Here goes:

Most people are embarrassed by their parents. Maybe it’s what they wear; maybe it’s the things they say. But I have never been embarrassed to have Mom and Dad as my parents. Not even as a teenager! I’ve always been proud that they are mine.

Mom and Dad have also had a huge impact on me with their example of faith and service to God. I remember coming downstairs in the morning and Mom would be eating breakfast at the table reading her Bible. That simple act of dedication and discipline really had an effect on me. I also remember being a teenager and talking to Mom about some huge decision that affected her and Mom’s attitude at the end of it was “God knows and He’ll do what’s right and in His will.”  I specifically remember thinking how much God must be in every part of Mom’s life, and how I hoped for myself to one day be like that, too.  Both Mom and Dad have also always been an amazing example in their dedication to the church, one that continues to impress and inspire me.

Mom and Dad are also the best when it comes to their commitment to their family – to each other, to their children, to their parents and in-laws, to their church family.  So much time, effort, and tears are put into their family and everyone in those circles feels their love and support.

Mom is my biggest role model and the person that I aspire to be in so many ways. I feel like I am at this beautiful age where I have so much I can learn from her. She is the best example to be of a loving, faithful wife; of a supportive, patient mother. She exemplifies the kind of daughter and daughter in law that I want to be – one that loves selflessly and gives endlessly.  If I am even half the parent she is I will have done a good job! Mom has always given me room to be myself and pursue my own interests, one of the greatest gifts of all.

While I am a lot like Mom, Dad has given me some of his qualities too. Dad loves to make connections with people – Dad had many hearts poured out to him on a bench in the Shopper’s Mall while waiting for the ladies to finish shopping. Dad also is always at the ready with a funny anecdote or story from his past…most of which we’ve heard already but love to hear told over and over again (always told with tears streaming down his face, of course! Even before the funny parts!). I think my Daddy also exists simply to give me joy. He is good-natured and everyone’s friend.

Some people are embarrassed by their parents, but not me. Mine are truly the best, and I’m so thankful for the family that God gave me. Everything I am today is a direct result of who they are. I hope I make them proud.

30 Things Challenge: Week 2

Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.

Some of these may seem silly but they are all legitimate to me because of the physical response I have when I think of any of them - tight chest, pounding heart, sweating palms, cold chills, the urge to scream, etc.

1. I am terrified of clowns. When I see one I cry straightaway or at least run away with my heart pounding so hard I can't believe I didn't have a heart attack. I don't think I ever super loved clowns in my childhood but I didn't fear them - I think I even went as one for Halloween at one point! But when I was 14 I watched the movie It based on the Stephen King novel, and since then I have been terrified of clowns. Tim Curry was absolutely TERRIFYING as Pennywise, a clown who lives in the town's water system and eats children.   That opening scene where he appears by the clothesline and giggling terrified me to go into the yard every time Mom had laundry hanging on it; I was afraid to go to the bathroom by myself for a long time because of the scene where the sink talks; generally the film is gross and I am embarrassed that something I saw so late in life scarred me the way it did.

I am less afraid of sinks and laundry and things now, but I still hate clowns. And I also hate carnival music, by association. At the church I work at there is a nursery school in the basement. Every spring they have a clown theme and hang terrifying decorations on the wall. One day, I went down to the basement to fill my water bottle when I remembered the decorations (my back was to them). I immediately starting sweating and my heart was pounding and I couldn't wait to get out of there. So yes, I am a 26 year old adult who is terrified of people in white face paint with fake expressions painted on them. Yuck.

2. I am actually really afraid of bats. They are like mice with wings. GROSS! And they flutter around all unpredictably. Once, I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep, and I thought, "what if there was a bat in our apartment?" and I actually almost hyperventilated and thought "then we'd have to move!" I could NOT live there if there were bats there. The flying foxes (aka cat sized bats) at the zoo give me a cold chill down my spine and a cold sweat simultaneously. Ew ew EW! This fear was unknown to me until I was 18 years old and had to go into a bat cave - the mouth of the cave was a wall of black. Vile.

3. A third fear is of people in my life dying. I cannot even think about any of my parents, husband or siblings dying - it makes me almost sick with dread. I actually don't know how I will continue to live if it ever happens. I am anxious about my aging grandparents. Now I have a newborn niece, someone else in my life that I could lose, especially as she is so small and delicate. My wonderful friends. I trust them all to God's care but I still fear them being taken away from me. This is a big one, and a real one, especially because I personally know almost 10 people my age who have one or no parents. These people are incredibly strong, as I don't know how they continued on after the death of their parent. I fear I don't have their strength.

30 Things Challenge: Week 1

List 20 random facts about yourself:

1. I love to dance - its the best stress reliever ever!

2. I have the potential to be a crazy cat lady. I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't married, I'd be a hoarder with like 8 cats and would live on dill pickle dip and chips. (so thank God I'm married! Ha ha.)

3. I think I'm OCD because if I spin around one way I have to go back, or else I am insanely disoriented. And I do this weird thing where I make crosses on my fingernails with my thumbs, and once I start I need to go through each finger, and then back, and then cross the pad of my fingers all the way through and back. I have tried to stop halfway through and it was terrible!

4. I always think I'm sick and I always self-diagnose via Wikipedia (bad, I know).

5. My biggest fear in the whole world is probably moths, followed closely by bats.

6. So I lied, I am actually also terrified of clowns, mannequins, people in masks and windows at night. I am basically scared of everything!

7. I hadn't thrown up in 5 years until yesterday. Not cool, flu, not cool.

8. I think tears are my coping mechanism for everything. When I am happy, sad, excited, scared, frustrated, moved, entertained, thankful, angry, relieved, stressed...I just cry. So I cry alot.

9. My first kiss was when I was 19 years old on a beach in Mozambique, Africa, under the most fantastic stars with the only boy I've ever been in love with. Top that, y'all!

10. I've only ever kissed one boy and I'm actually really proud of it.

11. I like colouring in colouring books. Its satisfactory to stay within the lines.

12. I could wear dresses and skirts every single day. I don't care what anyone says, they are so comfy and I love being a girl and getting fun options when it comes to clothes!

13. My favorite place to be is anywhere with my whole family. We have way too much fun and I never laugh harder!

14. I love autumn, its my favorite season. The colours are amazing and it looks like all of nature is worshipping God. And I get to wear tights and boots and drink Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Yum!

15. I'm REALLY so bad at math that its REALLY embarrassing and I REALLY hate all things math as a result. This is why I hate money games like Monopoly, Payday, etc. I will not play them.

16. My friends and I used to choreograph dance routines to Backstreet Boys songs and would video tape ourselves doing them. Yeah, I was cool.

17. I am really good and remembering unimportant things, even about other people. I always remember what Terrell ate/did a week ago when he has no recollection. I will always remember on Outtatown when Caryn would ask me what she did last week and I would tell her, and I even remember things she did that I didn't do with her!

18. As a result of this, I learn songs REALLY quickly. Like lyrics etc. Its pretty sweet.
 

19. When I remember these songs, I always remember the correct key they were sung in, and can sing it for you. Its really hard for me to sing it in a different key once that one's in my head.

20. I am convinced that I will die in a car accident, so much so that I only signed my organ donor card two years ago because I was convinced the day I signed it I would die.

Thirty Things Challenge

Well, I have certainly sucked at blogging over the past few years. I need something to motivate me, and so I think I'll try to tackle this challenge. Its meant to be done over a month, but I think I'll do one a week (so its more feasible that I actually accomplish this!). I found this on someone's Pinterest and decided to give it a go - the link to the blog I found it on is below. I'll start this upcoming week and see how it goes! Wish me luck!

THE LIST:

1. List 20 random facts about yourself.
2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.
3. Describe your relationship with your parents.
4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.
5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?
7. What is your dream job, and why?
8. What are 5 passions you have?
9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
10. Describe your most embarrasing moment.
11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.
12. Describe a typical day in your current life.
13. Describe 5 weaknesses you have.
14. Describe 5 strengths you have.
15. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What has been the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?
19. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
21. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?
22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.
24. Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
28. What is your love language?
29. What do you think people misunderstand most about you?
30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.

i miss...

...beautiful costa rica!

day 31.

31. something funny.

this is from what is quite possibly one of the funniest moments of my life. oh my word. i still laugh out loud to this day when i think about it!!

day 30.

30. you, then

here i am at my high school graduation with curtis, my grad escort. i had no idea what life had in store for me back then!

day 29.

29. errand.

since we've gotten to costa rica we've needed to grocery shop once or twice. here is the place we've been shopping at!

day 28.

28. a good thing

sometimes i'm a good girl and eat breakfast. if i eat its steel cut oats, or i drink a green smoothie, which is really good for me! it looks kinda gross but tastes sooooo yummy! it has almond milk, cocoa powder, spinach, a frozen banana, frozen raspberries, chia seeds, and cinnamon in it. YUM! i try to drink them at least twice a week, although eventually i'd like to get to every day!

day 27.

27. love/hate

my biggest love/hate relationship is with my hair. GAH! don't like it short, its tangled and annoying when its long, and i never have any idea how to style it. sometimes i wish it was more curly, other times i wish it was more straight, and it never does what i want it to! oh, hair.

day 26.

26. near

we are staying very near the pool and beach these days!

day 25.

25. frame

at zach and julie's wedding, in a frame.

day 24.

24. 3 things.

3 of my favorite things: laughing til you cry, singing your heart out, and DANCING YOUR BUTT OFF (all with people you love!).

day 23.

23. before bedtime

every night before bed we watch friends. it comes on at 11:00 and its just too hard to not watch it. love this show!

day 22.

22. up

i'm going up in a plane tomorrow!!!!!

day 21.

21. sometimes.

sometimes i try baking a recipe i found on pinterest, and its a total epic FAIL! these cookies were HORRIBLE and wouldn't budge off of the parchment paper.

day 20.

20. man-made

these men made my lunch for me today at mongo's. if you've never been, you should go. its a cool experience!

day 19.

19. underneath

taken almost a year apart...this winter has paled quite literally in comparison to the last one, which was warm and short and had hardly any snow! i know the niceness and warmth is under there somewhere...isn't it??

day 18.

18. price

i bought a beautiful skirt once and i was so beyond stoked by the deal i got that i kept the price tag! haha.

day 17.

17. in my fridge

well, its not very exciting, and we really need to go grocery shopping (mostly for milk and veggies!)...but i think the outside of my fridge is more interesting so here's a few shots of it, too. :)

day 16.

16. strange

i find it very strange that i often find faces in my food - pickles, soup, jam - but none as creepy as this pepper from 2008!

day 15.

15. first thing you see

i could potentially see a lot of different things in the morning...depends which way i was sleeping! the ceiling,  other side of the bed, the room, or my nightstand. usually terrell is up before me so most often the other side of the bed is empty...which gives me a good opportunity to stretch out and take over the whole thing!

day 14.

14. favourite

this is not my photo, but it is one the best pictures i have ever seen. when i feel sad, i look at it and it makes me feel happy instead! happy turtle!

day 13.

13. table

i wanted to use a pic from christmas eve, because when it comes to food this table on that night is the best in the world! ukrainian feast!!

day 12.

12. together.

it's always better when we're together.

day 11.

11. hero

these beautiful ladies are definitely 2 of my heros. my baba is the most generous person in the entire world - she is always caring for others in hands on ways. she inspires me to be selfless. and my grandma is one of the strongest people i know, and at 92 years of age, she continues to impress me with her strength. her faith is an inspiration to me. i love them and am blessed to know them!

day 10.

10. black and white

here are some pictures of my mom and dad from when they were dating! love these pics.

day 9.

9. something you do most weekends.

being a pastor, my weekends look a little different than they used to. every weekend some time is spent in preparation for sunday. whether its worship leading, preaching, or teaching sunday school, i'm prepping. today i'm trying to find a decent children's story for tomorrow.

day 8.

8. at night

terrell always says that it takes me soooo long to get ready for bed, which is true. that's because i have a multi-step process every night before i go to bed. gotta wash my face and do all the steps after that, gotta brush, floss, listerine and then put in my mouth guard. very time-consuming!

day 7.

7. natural

i love watching birds and squirrels - i think its genetic! whenever we get together with family, we always end up watching them out the window. i enjoy it so much. for us, that's natural!

day 6.

6. every day

every day terrell and i have to to find something quick to eat for supper before rushing off to something in the evening. today - fish tacos! oh, and we pretty much watch something every day when we eat supper, too. tonight we watched part 1 of a documentary about fruit hunters on the nature of things.

day 5.

5. bright

this is a toughie!! i have like a million pics i could post, because i LOVE colors and i have lots of rainbow bright things, but i finally settled on this. my rainbow hair from summer 2012. i love having fun colors in my hair and have for years. its my trademark! and my talented sissy can put it in for me!

day 4.

4. in my mailbox

the real interesting thing here is the letter in the bottom right corner. my baba sends us a letter every single week - she writes her whole family on sundays. this letter is one that i received from my university - its from my final year at school! apparently it was in a library book, unopened! blast from the past! i must have used it as a bookmark when i was writing an essay. i am stoked to see what it says!

ps - pardon the crappy editing job, but i just didn't feel the need to post any addresses up on here. :)

day 3.

3. far away

this is my best friend, and her awesome hubby and adorable son. they moved two provinces away in fall 2011 and that was really sad. she and i had never lived farther than 15 minutes apart since we met (when i was like 6 months old). i'm still not used to the distance! as i am with all people, it seems, i suck at keeping in touch but i think about them all the time, especially ash. i still hope and believe we will be neighbors sometime down the road, and hopefully our kids will marry each other too! haha.

day 2.

2. father

here i am at three different ages with my daddy! i have the best dad in the entire world. he is thoughtful and loving and makes me laugh! he's the best.

day 1.

1. you, now.

here i am, fresh after a shower, in my sweats for a lazy day at home. i'm going to zumba tonight with brynne so i didn't feel the need to get decked out or anything (sorry brynne). 

a photo a day in march!

my mom and 2 of my aunts have been posting a pic every day in february on fb, and have a new list of things for march. so i thought i'd join in the fun but here on my blog, instead. lets see how i do! also, it might go haywire in the middle for a while because in the third week of march my family and i are going to costa rica for a week, so we'll see if i can post there.

anyhoo, here's the list:

1. you, now
2. father
3. far away
4. in my mailbox
5. bright
6. every day
7.natural
8. at night
9. something you do most weekends
10. black and white
11. hero
12. together
13. table
14. favorite
15. first thing you see
16. strange
17. in my fridge
18. price
19. underneath
20. man-made
21. sometimes
22. up
23. before bedtime
24. 3 things
25. frame
26. near
27. love/hate
28. a good thing
29. errand
30. you, then
31. something funny

i like this because its open to interpretation...so lets see how it goes! join in if you'd like!

Happy Birthday Dad!

To the king of farting humor...enjoy!! Love you, daddy.

better late than never.

oops! i missed writing an update last weekend!

we had kristin and tyler over on the weekend and terrell was curling in the mca, so it was a little hectic. when i did have the apartment to myself, i was prepping stuff for church.  i taught youth sunday school and did the children's story. for the children's story i read the book, "the runaway bunny," which i borrowed from glenn and katie. if you haven't read it, do. its a beautiful story about the love of a mother that parallels with the love that God has for us - one which pursues and persists, even when we run or push it away.

last week was a busy week. with sr. youth we served at winnipeg harvest, which was a fun evening. they are such a great group and it was wonderful to visit and laugh while bagging and sorting rice. we also went out for lunch as staff to celebrate/say goodbye to our lead minister, who is retiring next week. the meal was so yummy and my colleagues are a great group of people. its weird to think of james leaving our circle...we'll all miss him very much.

last weekend i wrote a card to my great aunt and uncle, ed and elaine, to thank them for their generous christmas gift. they gave us a bag full of carrots, potatoes and onions from peak of the market. they were DELICIOUS and we have been enjoying many yummy meals with them. i also wanted to let them know i missed seeing them at christmas.

i hope you've all had a good week!

back at it

the difficult thing about blogging is finding the motivation to start again. i really have sucked at blogging for the  last like, 6? years. gah. but i felt a little motivated today so here i am!

sometimes i wonder if i should retire this blog and start a new one. maybe then i'd feel more inclined, with a fresh start and all that. but i LOVE this blog and all the memories it holds and so i find it really hard to do that.

something that might help me post updates is my new year's resolution for 2013 (which is not about blogging, actually). this year i have decided that i want to commit to writing a letter or card and mailing it every week. i really suck at keeping in touch with people and that really bothers me about myself. i have a LOT if people in my life who i love dearly and think about often who probably have no idea due to my friendship negligence. its pretty appalling. so here i am, trying to do a good thing - wish me luck!

i also used to have a passion for writing - journaling, blogging, letter writing - that i seem to have lost, and it makes me sad. ever since i had a spell of depression for a semester in my second year of university, i seem to have lost my interest and passion for writing. i feel like there is a void in my life, a "hobby" void, you could say, that writing used to fill. i feel like i'm so busy that i don't have many interests or things that i do for me, so i hope writing every week will bring back the enjoyment of it.

maybe if i commit to posting on here every week who i wrote to, that will help me get in the swing of blogging again. and it will be cool to have a record of who all i wrote to, so when the year is over i can see who i wrote to and how many times.

the first people on my list are people who i love very much but don't always have many opportunities to tell that to - my grandparents. their health has not been the best lately and its kinda shocked me into the reality that they won't be around forever, and i want them to know how important they are to me.

so, for week one (and a half, since the year started on a tuesday...awkward) i am sending a card to my baba and gigi, who recently had to put down their cat, and a letter to my 92 year old grandma, who is facing surgery for breast cancer within the next month.

until next time.

me and my baba and grandma, may long weekend 2012.