Curtains, another wedding, and a present

I've been meaning to make curtains to match my blue wall for a few weeks now... and never got around to it. But then I was in Walmart and saw some fabric that would make the perfect curtains for the landing and I was inspired. So Friday I made curtains for three windows. It was fun. They are very cute, at least, I like them.

Today I met Sarah in Gridley and we went to CP for Chris and Ashley's wedding. Number 4 of 9. (I'm skipping number 5, it's tomorrow). Sarah and I went for a nice rainy drive in the country, I think we took a route to Cissna that's never been tried before... but we made it. We almost couldn't find the church but then Sarah and her amazing church finding skills got us there as I was on the phone with Jer for directions. I was excited to see Karen at the wedding...good stuff. And hearing "Chris" and "woo" in the same sentence was huh-larious. I'll miss them both... it's kind of hard to believe that I lived with Ash for two whole years, and that Chris was my quasi-roommate-next-door-neighbor for that long also.

When I got back my graduation present was waiting for me. I am now the proud owner of a beautiful Singer Sewing machine!!!! It has 10 stitch options, a serger attachment, and automatic button holes. It's sooo cool. Too bad I already made my curtains. :) I spent most of the evening trying it out. And I learned how to smock with it. I like to look at it, it's sooo pretty!

Anyway. Church in the morning.
Blessings.

"You know what I think when I hear W.M.?"

"Waste Management!" hehe.

Leo was really relaxing. Lyssa had Dippin Dots at her graduation party and they had tons left over so I got to eat a lot of those. I spent a lot of time reading by the pool and hanging out with Abby. And rode the go-kart and played Wii and shuffle board and volleyball. I went shopping with three of my aunts one afternoon and we spent at least an hour in Christopher and Banks. I don't even like that store. I guess it's good for me... or something. Abs and I went jet skiing one evening on the mighty st. Jo river. It's not the cleanest river... I think I would be afraid to actually swim in it.

Joanna and Will's wedding was this weekend. Matt and I went on Saturday night for the singing. I stayed with Gab and Meg at Wayne and Gloria's. I haven't seen Meg in ages so it was good to catch up with her and Gab. And talk to other U of I people that I haven't seen since May. Sunday was good...lots of Mexico trip people there... they said yes. The reception line was waay too long, but I was with cool people so I really shouldn't complain. :) I guess a little wait to see real people is better than a drive through with a plastic figurine. Gab rode back with Matt and I... fun times. We stopped for "the Great Guzzler" which of course meant a bathroom stop... It's good for Matt right?

I have one more week of freedom.
Blessings.

200

This is my 200th post. Wow. I feel accomplished or something. Too bad I don't have anything profound to say. :)

I got a job. Woot. At PDC Laboratories in Peoria. I'm excited most of the time, but there's still a part of me that wants to be lazy a little bit longer.

Today is Katie's wedding. She asked four of us girls who aren't on vacation to sing, so I'm a little nervous about that but it should be ok. We practiced yesterday at Heidi's and we don't sound too horrible. I attempted to help Heidi a little bit after practicing but I didn't get a whole lot done. O well. It was good to see her again and hang out.

After the reception Mom and Dad and I are going to Leo for Alyssa's graduation. I think I'm staying until Thursdayish. It should be a good time!

In which I venture into large crowds

So Gridley this weekend was really good. The weather was beautiful, and everything else was really enjoyable. I was really excited to see my roomies again, and the other U of I people that came. I did branch out a little bit and met a few new people. :)

I never get headaches ever... and I did Saturday night. It hurt. I almost threw up. So weird... but I was feeling a lot better at Amber's. It was sooo fun to stay with Kris and Sarah and Amber and Kaleigh. I miss those girls. So what do you call a lady with one leg? Eileen! Where does she work? IHOP!! Wow. Gotta love laffy taffy jokes and Sarah jokes.

Sunday Matt and I visited Grandma after church and then he left me in Gridley. (On purpose, I wanted to stay after the festivities were over, and Nic kindly volunteered Bob and himself as a ride home.) A group of us went to Kaleigh's and threw things at each other, played games, and spent a lot of quality time outside in the sun. Good times. The guys had me home before midnight... I guess that's late when you have to work in the morning. :D

Blessings.

p.s. Mike, you still owe me a pie... cause I'm pretty sure you didn't bring me one this weekend. :)

Blue

So I decided to paint my bedroom this week. It's been the same since I got rid of the peach/pink Precious Moments border in 8th grade... so I figured it was time. It also needed a complete scrubbing. (I won't tell you how long its been for that *grin*) I painted one wall stargaze blue. *sigh* I love it. The other walls are white because I didn't want to live in a cave.
I'm also excited that my bedding matches my walls for the first time in pretty much ever!

I did have to miss out on a C-U trip because of painting and the mess it created in the rest of the house. That was disappointing.

But I did get to see a bunch of super awesome girls at Joanna's personal shower Thursday night. Which made up for it. And I got to ride with Amber and Melissa and Kristen, good times.

Ooooo.... and I'm really excited because Mom brought me home a zone 5 hardy crepe myrtle bush!!! Woot. They have them all over down south- they're covered with flowers and they're gorgeous. I wanted to bring one home with me when I was in Florida but I thought that having to bring it inside for the winter was too much work. But now they have hardy varieties! So I planted it today.

Mass chaos in Gridley tomorrow.... I'm mostly going to see U of I people. (I know that's a bad reason but I don't really care.)

Blessings.

One down....

Eight to go. *grin*

Heidi and Luke's wedding was... yeah... I don't know. Really, really, surreal. But good.

Saturday was long and busy, Wendi woke me up at 8:30 when she called to tell me that pictures were not outside since it was thunderstorming. So we took a few at the fellowship hall and by afternoon it was cleared up enough that we went to the river front to take some more.
The rehearsal was fun. I didn't know that they had the whole walking in thing down to such a science. So if you ever sit in the 8th bench on the center aisle in W-ton... you're the spacing for the bridesmaids.

They had the dinner at the Tea Room in Mackinaw Saturday night. It's good food, but it's definitely "chick food." Some of the younger people at my table weren't especially fond of the menu choices *cough* Wendi. We had to go around and share a memory... so fun to listen to but not so much fun to do. :)

Church was full but not overly crowded. I like to watch all the people as they come in, it's always interesting to see who's there.

We had some amusing moments getting ready and waiting for the wedding to start. Like getting locked out of church. Trying to hide kleenex in our Bibles. And rescuing a crying baby. But, otherwise it went really smoothly. I didn't trip. I didn't go too fast. I didn't cry. They said yes. It was a good wedding.

Katelyn and I found the leftover Pepsi from lunch on Saturday at the reception. When you're wearing a purple dress, I mean, lavender, you can pretty much go anywhere and you don't get scolded for being in the way.

I found out that my ice cream punch pouring skills are sadly lacking. Either that or the ladle was poorly designed. :)

So. I'm exhausted and will probably sleep through any Memorial day festivities tomorrow morning. Blessings.

Sewing

I went to world relief sewing today for the first time since I used to skip physics at ICC to go. It was fun, I knotted a comforter for a while. Then we ate pizza and Dairy Queen ice cream. Grandma taught me how to quilt- it's pretty easy but painful! I can't seem to figure out the thimble so my fingers are a little bit sore.



4 more days until I never see Heidi and Luke again.... mur.

Randomness

I was in Hannibal all by myself Tuesday night. It was fun times.

It was weird to be in Washington on Wednesday... but Gab showed up so that made it not so weird.

Last night at bible study Tammy told me she was going to Champaign to surprise Brian and asked if I wanted to come. She gave me two minutes to think about it and then we left to pick up Gab. I think he was a little surprised when his door flew open at 11 pm. :D So we went to Perkin's and then to Merry Anne's because Tammy had never been either place. Then we came home. Hooray for random road trips and awkward conversation!

Tonight I'm going to my cousin's musical. Tomorrow is Jakey's graduation.

Blessings.

(for you TSau and GKR- JLPL *grin*)

Hail to the Orange, hail to the Blue

Hail Alma Matter...

Well. It's over. I had one last week of good times with U of I people and then a crazy weekend of singing and personal showers for Heidi. The personal shower was fun. She owns a lot of rubber duckies. And a lovely pair of lacy pink shorts from... well, lets just say some previous shenanigans. :)

Sunday my family and I went to Champaign for church (it was graduation day). I didn't walk, but we went for Bubble Tea and wandered around campus for a while. Jakey and Shelly had never experienced bubbles before and I don't think that they were very impressed. Of course, they are a lot better the second time you have them. We went to Famous Dave's (because it's in the round barn and Dad wanted to go there) for supper.

I spent Sunday night at 709 with Amanda. It's so empty and lonely. It's crazy how fast two years went. And how much stuff accumulated. :) This morning I met with a potential subleaser from K-State. I was trying to explain to Amanda how she heard about the house... gotta love the random AC connections.

My room is a mess. Better than it was... But still a mess. And there are spiders.... I was screaming about one and trying to kill it and had just smooshed it when Jakey sauntered in. I told him that I had it all under control, and then he said, "two seconds ago the whole world was at sixes and sevens and the house was falling down around our ears!" Gotta love a little Skin of Our Teeth now and again. I laughed.

So a lot of fun and interesting things have happened that I was going to blog about... but I just didn't have time. Like how Abby's car randomly broke down in Champaign on her way to Leo and got to spend the afternoon with me. And how we scrubbed down the kitchen and living room. And the crazy phone call I got on the way home from C-U... o wait... no, wasn't going to blog about that, something about protecting the innocent. ;)

I love summer. Blessings.

Hi Shelly

*grin*

All good things

Must come to an end.

My college career is almost over. It's very hard to believe.

I have an easy finals week so I haven't been stressed at all. It's pretty great. So here are some random pictures from the past week for your enjoyment:

At the young group picnic on Tuesday
Getting ready to leave for the amazing dinner Shaker made for us- formal attire was required. We had to make them modest of course... and fun. *grin*


Yes, that is my little brother serving salad in a bow tie on good china. Yes, I know it's hard to believe...

I've played a lot of sand volley ball the last few days, and almost died at steak and shake, and saw three guys on bikes wearing only their whitey-tighties at 2 am, and tried on a purple bridesmaid dress, and survived my first piano recital, and managed some late night shenanigans, and used a squirt gun on drunk people on Green Street.

*sigh* I'm gonna miss it.

Happiness is...

Making an egg casserole with your roommates at 2 am without a recipe.

Girls and Guys

It was a good weekend, busy but very fun. :)

Friday when I got home from school I headed over to Peoria to check us W-ton girls into the hotel we spent the night at. (I was the only one over 21- the hotel was being a little ridiculous- two of the girls are getting married in a month but they can't get into a hotel room that they payed for) We had a blast! We ate out, went shopping, went to a play, snuck into the pool, sang for the front desk guy and security guard, and stayed up really really late. We did have to institute a ban on communication with the male species... but it was all good. :)

After I got home I mowed for 3.5 hours... I'm a little bit burnt. I took a spin in the canoe on the "lake" with Shelly and Tate. In my swimsuit and mud boots. Mom laughed really hard. No cameras were allowed. :) Matt and I went to testimonies in Eureka Saturday night, I haven't been there in ages. Jakey went to prom- with a girl. He looked sooo handsome in his tux- the picture doesn't do him justice. :)


Sunday afternoon Matt's roommates (and their parents) came for supper. He also got a bunch of clay pigeons and 200 rounds of ammo. So they played with guns for a while. He let me get in on the fun and I actually hit two- a little surprising since I've never shot at clays and it's been years since I've even touched a shotgun. We had a full house for supper and interesting conversation. :) They played some games after supper, lost Gherkins, went on a tour, and generally felt like little kids at potluck. Good times.


This morning I had an interview in Peoria, and then had to come back to Champaign for class in the afternoon. Two more weeks. Yikes.

Pokey Stix

Are pretty much amazing. :)

I was hungry after church and some of my roomies needed study breaks so we ordered some. In four years of college this was the first time I had ever ordered pizza- how sad is that!

I'm not quite ready to give up these random fun nights. *sigh* The real world is scary.





Poor Timmi is out in the rain. I hope he doesn't wake up. Hehehehehehe.

Streamers

Gab and Amanda just destroyed a class project video tape and spread the tape all over the house....

It's quite lovely. :)

Back again

It's been such a long time since I've been in Kansas City. Ok, it was January, but it hardly counts because it was Ned's baptism and it was a crazy weekend. :)

Matt and I met Luke and Heidi in Springfield and had a fairly uneventful ride out. The two lovebirds weren't too nauseating (*grin*) and we listened to a pretty eclectic mix of music. We went to Alan's for a while when we got to KC. So good to see Kansas people.

I stayed at Aunt Karen's... good times. Saturday I was on the painting crew. We helped a couple paint their living room and kitchen and hallway some very interesting colors. The living room was an orangish/ peach and the kitchen was lime green. Not what I would pick but it turned out looking kind of cool.

After we got done working, Scott and I went to Robeks. It was sooo good. We need one of them in Champaign. I wasn't very hungry for supper at the park. :) All of the rest of my cousins were there in the evening with their children. They're all getting so big! It's crazy.

We stayed up pretty late talking and making Ned play his violin for us. He's so good at it, it was beautiful. Ned was in the bathroom with me when I was taking my hair out.... his eyes got really big when he saw how many pins I used. It was really funny.


I was a little tired for church in the morning, but then I sat by Cailer in the afternoon and he kept me awake. :) The ride home was really quiet. I drove for about three hours and half of my passengers were sound asleep. Good times. So now I only have two more weeks left of school. Yikes. I'm not really excited about that.

Tractor Tractor

Its been a busy week so far but I don't really remember why....

Jakey was at the Union for WYSE yesterday. I almost baked cookies but I figured he'd rather see me than eat cookies... :) Mr. Bill was there as well so it was good to talk to him. And hang out with Jake's friends.

Last night a group of us went to Tremont to visit Mary and Greg. I got to drive so that was fun... although figuring out how to get to Mary's was a challenge. I just have problems visualizing "go out of the parking lot and turn left at the stop sign." :)

Hanging out at Mary's was a good time. Saw people I haven't seen in a long time, met some new people. On the way home with Gab, Matt, and Nic we listened to "Slugs & Bugs & Lullabies" which is not exactly good music to drive to at midnightish. So then we listened to a random CD Gab made for me. Funny stuff.

Today is Matt's 21st birthday. I visited his room. He wasn't there. He now has 21 random things to find. (Plus balloons, streamers, etc.) *grin*

768 miles

This weekend started a little early, I went home Thursday night and then went to Iowa City for an interview on Friday. (It was good... I guess... I wasn't nervous, a big plus) I went back to Champaign that night and went over to the Shaker with some of my roommates. Amber and I ended up hanging out with some of the Shaker brethren and some tremont guys at Merry Ann's until pretty late.

So after 4 hours of sleep I got up and left for college weekend. It was pretty funny... we were all standing in our driveway staring at the cars... so we numbered off. I was with Jeremy, Nic, BAM, and Kellen and we played 20 questions Kellen for most of the way. It ended up being a fairly enjoyable ride (I wasn't bored to tears).

College weekend was good. Lots of people there that I haven't seen in a while, great speakers, good food, a banana in Gab's coat pocket (she deserved it). :) The ride home was good too.... although I was pretty tired and fell asleep.

It was relatively warm when we got back so a group of us went to play sand volleyball. It looked warmer than it really was but it was still good times. I like volleyball a lot even though I'm not good at it at all.... and I'm short. And I don't have any "ups". My toes were really numb from the cold sand. It felt good to be outside.

So now I'm being a bum. But I got lots done this weekend in the car on the way to Iowa so its ok. Or something.

Blessings.

You know how

Some people have clothespins on their mailboxes for outgoing mail?

We definitely have a bobby pin.

It cracks me up.

Happy Easter!

He is Risen Indeed!