How have we spent the last few morning in Portlandia??? By sitting in some sort of coffee shop or even McDonalds for a few hours. It is just the natural thing to do I guess.

Sorry no pic. I can't figure out Clayton's laptop and don't really know that I care to.
  Talk to you in a few days.

Stupidest thing ever!
Guess what I just found??? My passport! Remember the long lost one??
 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I knew I would find it after going through the hoops to get a new one.

This will entertain you for at least 5 minutes

 I really enjoyed reading this aloud to myself. 





Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!
- B. Shaw

What a colorful time

Niki and I decided to have a cafe craft day yesterday. We decided to finger paint. .

First we made some tea, (look at the cute infuser I bought!) I am so excited about it.

I made some vanilla spice tea. mmmmmmmmmm

  A number of other co-workers, regulars, and little cuties stopped by to finger paint with us.

   This is Kay and Sam's daughter. Kay used to work with us and now her husband Sam does.

 This is my first painting. I think it is pretty.

 Our co-worker Danny painted this^^ It is a of Clark. hehe

 Clark was painting us apparently. Niki and I didn't see the likeness, but everyone who saw it guessed it was us. Weird!

 This is one of our regulars, he is hilarious! He said that he would finger paint if he could paint something that was "brutal".  As he was painting he kept saying "brutal, Brutal". haha! He painted a monster.

 Then this little guy, who is the child of a regular came over and did some painting. He was the cutest thing ever!

I guess the way I see it is that ;

We are created to be social beings.

 So many other spiritual views take away the social aspect of life that our soul longs for and reduces it to either us being alone, or us being surrounded by people for eternity, but not necessarily people who truly want to be there but rather persons you earned during your earthly journey. 

No body wants to be forced to spend time with a person. 

I guess that is the part I cannot get past. 

When I tell you that I want you to believe in the awesomeness of Jesus and believe that heaven really isn't as cheesy as we have come to view it, I say it partly because I just want to spend eternity with you laughing with all my favorite people, and a captivating, excellent  Father who embraces us in a comfy blanket of love and approval. 

We finger painted today

When I was a child, everybody smiled....

Sometimes I get to tell stories to friends, and they really like them! 

Then they tell stories.

I like those times very much!

:]

I learned how to insert IVs today. It was interesting.  

I was surprised by how much I wasn't freaking out when I had to do it. I thought I would be shaking. I sometimes shake when I am at work making coffee drinks because I get nervous. 

Why does that make me nervous but shoving a needle and catheter into someones vein not? hmmm

Let me tell you though, it is hard. It's kind of an art form. 

AHHHHHHHHHH!!

This is killing me!!!
all I want to do is go. I want to be in  with the least of these, sleeping on a thin mat, waking up in the scorching heat, Hugging children. Taking vitals, treating basic wounds, listening to the language, trying to learn the language.  

Spending my days teaching about sanitation, and basic disease control through cleanliness.  Teaching CPR and basic life saving skills,
and just loving people. 

I want to do beautiful things in dusty places!

Ethiopia

Please be praying for

Jen (Mission Medic leader& Pharmacist) 

and

Elen(Mission Medic alumni & one of the best people you will meet.). 

They are in Ethiopia right now doing beautiful things.

I played Chess against Jordan today. I won , well one game, he won the other. We plan to have a tie breaker soon.

I sketched tonight. :]

Niki and I planned another Cafe Craft day, we plan to finger paint.

We also went to a random park to swing in the dark.

It was good. :]

I never do get sick of The Weepies.

Meet Venaday, my eight year old self!

Today was one of those days where I woke up and said "I want to wear this, this and this, and I don't care how it looks together."

I love those days where the inner child in you gets so hyperactive that it gets you excited to do things even if they aren't a social norm!
  HOORAY!!

 I feel like a colorful butterfly!

I keep recalling the image of my nephew Josiah (at age 3) putting on a small pair of dress-up wings, running around the yard saying he could fly like tinkerbell. I feel like that some days, and it is beautiful!

Today is one of those days.

Remember that Fashion show I told you I was in? It was yesterday, and as a thank you the models got to pick out a pair of sweet designer sunglasses at the store.

So allow me to drop some Blue steel on you!

mmmmmhmmmmm.

btw the guy with the beard called me today. He wants to do lunch. I told him I am so busy these days, which is exactly true.

:]

Remember a while back when I was talking about creating that Mission Medics sight?

   Well, I didn't post the link for a while because there was all this debate over if there was going to be a different host site that we would use or not, but finally we decided to use this site for now. So here is the link to the site. 

Manaal just added info on the shirts so now it should be more legit. 

 http://missionmedics.webs.com/

The things you learn in a coffee shop

Today was very redemptive. Aside from feeling weak and sick for most of my work shift, some great things came  out of the day.  I got to talk to my friend Courtney for a few minutes which was great because I haven't seen her in a while really, or been able to talk to her. We talked about going on an adventure together in the near future. Possibly Ethiopia to do some sort of great work there. :]

  I also asked her to go get tea with me soon, she answered in her super cute way by saying just "yes".

 hehehe

SO cute!!

 Then this customer comes in and overhears me telling someone that I am really feeling well, so he asks me if I don't sleep well. I told him that I have just been stressed.  Then he starts telling me that he is a Buddhist (though not a very good he, he admits.) and he starts giving me these words of advice. They didn't quite apply but I appreciate him caring and trying to help me out. Then he starts telling me that he was adopted, and his adopted mom was Chinese and his adopted Dad was Japanese, so he is a black belt in all these different techniques of fighting. He then goes on to teach me all these self defense manuevers for when I go travel so I can go alone and feel safe. SOOO awesome. It got a bit nerdy at times because he would talk about anatomy things like say, "you know the place on a persons throat right below the Adam's apple?"

 "The Cricoid cartilage ring?"

"yeah that one.".

hahaha

 Or it would go 

He would say "so the sternum the tip of it here, you know what I'm talking about?"

I would reply "Yeah the xiphoid process."

It was really awesome..like really. 

Then one of my co-workers, Brandon, comes back to the cafe right as I tell this guy "this is really cool, now I need to find some random person  to practice on."

The guy and I then look over at my co-worker Brandon. ahahaha

 It was great. 

     I then busted through a BUNCH of my "to do" list for today.

I had to actually write one of those. I don't usually have to but I figured it couldn't hurt. Maybe it would get my stress under control. 

I wrote "BREATHE!" as one of the tasks to do. Just in case.

Where did this stupid in-ability to handle stress come from? I am not a fan at all.

 I was finally able to pick up my letter from the post office without having to wait at all. Then at the library I printed off all my needed forms for Ecuador and my passport situation. I am almost done filling them out. What a relief! 

On a random note, I think I may get a P.O. box because of how often I am moving around.

I think I may do some reading now. 

I didn't go Salsa dancing tonight because of how weak and tired I have been all day. 

  Tomorrow morning I am going to be in a fashion show at the church. Should be interesting. 

Shekinah and I just kind of agreed to it to try something new. 

     

I did get to try on a Belle dress to wear for it. It didn't fit.
You can also tell I am not nearly as "well endowed" as the original owner of this dress.
I guess gymnastics will do that to you.

Oh well!

BAHAHA look how awkward my right arm is. That is why I am not a model. ha

  Well goodnight!

tea can really make a day better.

Today has been kinda of a stunk fest of a day.  I slept straight throught the AM hours without even stirring slightly.


    Brenda woke me up because I need to go with her to pick up her work car and take her to "surgery" where she would be getting a HUGE needle stuck into her back.
I hate driving here. Nobody seems to be able to drive, and there are an un-necessary amount of stop lights. There is nothing more frustrating than sitting through a light 2 or 3 times when you are the first car just because there is no left turn arrow.
AHHHH!
  I also had to drive over to the post office to pick up a letter (my birth certificate that my Grandma mailed me) because supposedly they tried to deliver it to my house but no one answered the door.
I went into the post office to get it, waited in line for what seemed like forever (mind you I have been in the car for over 2 hours at this point to make a drive that should have taken only 40 minutes at the most.) and when I got to the desk they said that the person who had it on route still wasn't back and it wouldn't be there for pick-up until tomorrow. I decide that something needs to be done to bring sunshine to this slushy snowy day.

I happened to have parked in front of a tea-house. SOOO cute. Just the sort of place I want to own some day or at least work at.   I wander in hoping to find a stout cup of hot black tea waiting for me. I am immediately taken in by the amazing aroma of all the teas. The place had canister after canister of tea on the wall with free-sniffs available. I order a cup of  spiced vanilla tea, then buy some bags of loose tea to go.
I got an ounce of  Classic Chai and an ounce of Cinnamon Orange Spice  which the lady said was one of the most popular.  They smell great. 


 It all rang up at like $6.55. I looked in my little baggy of spending money(tip money)  and there was like $6.64 in it. PERFECT!!!
      I told her that it was my tip money, and she asked me where I work. Upon learning that I was a barista at Hastings she offered me a possible part time job, and if I couldn't asked if I had any friends who maybe would be up for it. Beka, if you were here I would be able to get you a job in NO TIME!!! I picked up the application and am thinking about if it is worth filing out seeing as how I am leaving in like 2 months.  I'm not sure if it will be worth it for when I get back either. HMMM. Maybe I will think of someone to give it to.

hehe

I cannot keep track of what day it is

I kept thinking that today was friday and that I had missed some major things that I had agreed to do this week.

It's Monday right??? Ok yes it is. 

  My Grandma emailed me today and told me that I am getting a pretty nice tax return. I now have money to use for my vaccinations. Those will not be cheap, that is certain. 

I emailed St.Lukes today about any possible jobs. I asked about their ER-Tech requirements. I really hope there is something there for me. 

Alyee also found a  temporary place to stay until I am back from Ecuador. I am so happy she found somewhere.

    I'm just catching up on some school reading.

Good stuff you know.

That is all I have to say for today. 

Hope your day has been lovely. 

I know it is easy to feel sorry for yourself, but you really have no reason

  Feeling blessed yet??

                                           

How about now??

 Counting your blessings???

And they say America is in a recession!!

Maybe it is a good thing our economy is so bad, I don't think people can afford to get much bigger.

Skin can only stretch so far.

Why are we not spending our lives in an attempt to care for the broken people?

What makes me even more upset is that I personally know people who get depressed that they cannot buy the new clothes they want all the time, and the designer bags they wanted, not to mention have a smart phone and an SUV.

My heart is very heavy tonight for these poor, beautiful people of the world. It depresses me that I pay my bills by selling people 5 dollar cups of coffee. 

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS.

We need to get over ourselves! 

winding down from an important day

Met with the future room-mate (Alyee) today for coffee. I showed up at the wrong starbucks on the opposite side of town and had to drive through rush hour across town to get to where she was. hahaha Not to mention my scooter was sooooo low on gas I thought it would die any second. OH FUN FUN!

   We talked for a while, and i think it will be a really good thing. :]
  Manaal stopped by my work today to drop off some samples of the mission medic shirts. She is getting ready to move and I really hope she doesn't go far because she is the cutest thing ever!! She also said that she would give me a bunch of stuff for my apartment when I move out. Just the stuff that she doesn't really need anymore and was planning on taking to thrift stores. She also offered me a couch. Answered prayer much??!!!!!?!!?!?!?
 Anyone who thinks that God doesn't answer prayer is really missing out not to mention probably to wrapped up in themselves to notice the small blessings.

   I then went with Alyee to the Meridian vineyard to see a guest speaker, Sy Rogers. He was HILARIOUS as well as brilliant. :]  Every time I go to that vineyard I get so touched and feel like crying all the time. That is saying alot knowing me because I don't cry unless something is really wrong. 



After listening to Sy speak I went home, cleaned the bathroom, and headed out to salsa. Not the best night ever, not the worst though either. I was utterly exhausted and there were a shortage of guys there to dance with, so when i finally did dance I was all over the place. OH MAN!!




Im now going to eat an unbelievable amount of pasta then go to bed.

What an adventure of a day

                                         Chicken noodle.... Breakfast of champions...maybe??

       I wanted to wear these instead of my flats...

    so I stashed my flats in a pot and came back for them later.

       hehehehehehehehehe..... apparently  I actually sound like that when I laugh "hehehehehe"

     lovely coffee shop. I got a motto chai tea, the "big size"

Niki got an Irish cream thing. 

Not sure how I feel about this outdoor escalator. 

So strange.

 If a sight like this doesn't make you proud to be American, then I don't know what would. 

We are so lucky to have a right to protest.

We walked up flights and flights of stairs to the top of this parking garage, 

we had a dance party up there.

                                                                         Happy life!!!

I can hear birds singing outside my window :]]

I am not a fan of the day that BOGO starts at Payless, and I get that email telling me all about it. It always seems to be on my day off, when the weather is nice and I know I am getting a fat check deposited into my account  within the next 24 hours.
The temptation is just ridiculous!

          Why are girls typically so attracted to shoes?

                 It looks like I just inherited a new pair of mocasins.

I woke up and went to brush my teeth and they were right outside my door. HMMMM

  I feel like we have met before.

   

                                "they ummmmmm followed me home?.. I guess I should keep them."

 Today is my day off and a co-worker just asked me to work her closing shift tonight. UH!

"Don't wake me I plan on sleeping in"

-Postal Service-

I am meeting up with a possible room-mate this friday. 

I am so excited. 

She is 20 and an artist! 

She is interning at the Vineyard arts studio.

I am really looking forward to getting coffee with her. 

It should be a great time.

stay healthy

                     Drink MORE water! It is sooo good for you and will make you feel just so good!
                                               It does great things for your skin too. :]
          If this picture doesn't make you thirsty just to look at then something is probably wrong with you.

I just talked to the Passport people and found out that I can take care of all the passport stuff downtown. I feel much better.  A sigh of relief is in order! Wait for it............ *sigh*.
:]

3-6-11

                                              I love getting some sort of art medium on my fingers. 

                              

                    Please do not judge me too harshly, I am still a novice when it comes to dry pastels.

 I added a ship to this piece, but I don't love it so I am not showing you a picture of it with the ship. 

                                                It's my blog and I can do what I wanna!

                             Using the pastels on white drawing paper turned out really nice. 

\When I sprayed it down with a finish all the vibrancy didn't die.

5am doesnt agree with me. It is 9 and I am ready to pass out.

I just need to stop and breath! I don't know why all the sudden I am uncapable of handling stress. I'm starting to lose sleep over stupid things. 

I am so sick of fretting over my passport being MIA that tomorrow i am going to apply for another and hope that it gets here in time for me to go visit my parents in May. I miss my family and would love to spend my birthday with them.

 Guess what came in the mail today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          My EMT certificate and a sweet patch, and a card to put in my wallet. Now I can officially say "I'm and EMT, what happened?..." if I come across a person in an emergency situation. 

I remember last June I was in Nevada with my family and we were driving to Laughlin and we passed by a car on the side of the road that looked like someone could have been hurt. I asked my dad if we could stop and he said not this time, but when I had some medical training done then he would be more eager to. 

I am SOOO glad looking back at it. I would have had NO idea what to do.  Now I do! You call 911. haha

 I felt like rocking some BIG hair today. This is as good as it got. I think I can do better next time. 

 Next time I think I will tease my hair alot first and maybe curl my hair with it flipped upside down. Does that even make sense??

 I found myself with a couple of free hours to roam the mall today between working open to 11, reading about dislocations and fractures, picking Shekinah up at the airport and delivering her home (YAY she is back!), and picking Brenda up from work.

I love how it feels when you can walk through stores and appreciate things but you have almost no desire to buy anything even if you had excessive money to spend. I can't think of anything I want (aside from finding my passport of course.).

   I did see this at Borders and cracked up.

They have one of those books for everything.









We have also narrowed down our t-shirt options. 

Here and here are the womens options.
Let me know which of the 2 you would like as well as the color.
Here and Here are the mens choices.
We can also get the logo printed in a smaller size if you want it that way for any reason. :]
YAY!
 I hope you are getting excited about this like I am. :]