Proud Sister!

My youngest brother was accepted into Liberty University last night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

STOMP

I'm going to see STOMP tonight with my family. They're in Wilmington this weekend, playing at the Dupont Theater, and I'm so excited to be going!

The other major highlight of my up-and-coming weekend is that I get to look forward to the first of five consecutive Mondays off from work. Yay for unused vacation days! (That, however, is no guarantee that I'll actually get to rest on said day-off. I already have a list a mile long of things that need to get accomplished because it's officially Christmas time. Wish me luck in getting things done!)

Happy Autumn!

Virginia is for Weddings

Well, here I go, off again to another wedding. :)

This time, it's down in Virginia Beach. And it's yet another cousin.

It should be fun.

And as an added bonus -
Highlights from this week:
-Celebrating my birthday
-Breakfast with Michelle
-Dunkin Donuts!
-Spending time with my mother and sisters
-Getting to be outside in the gorgeous fall weather

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Renaissance Faire!

Highlights include:

- A Midsummer Night's Dream

- Playing with swords

- Crossing the Kissing Bridge by order of the queen (no, seriously - she told us to cross it, and we couldn't disobey)

- Human Chess Match

-Archery demonstration

- Joust

- Watching Nicole enjoy herself, as she had never been before

Pictures come courtesy of Nicole and Becky!

So What You're Saying Is...

I have to thank Sara E., Jen V. and Joe F. for a most entertaining and enlightening conversation last night! I haven't been that random in a very long time.

"Save the whales! Ahhhh..."

Caspian is Coming

"To know what would have happened, child? No. Nobody is ever told that. But anyone can find out what will happen. If you go back to the others now, and wake them up, and tell them that you have seen me again, and that you must all get up at once and follow me - what will happen? There is only one way of finding out." -Aslan, Prince Caspian

Happy Birthday!

This is my beautiful sister-in-love, Cindy. Today is her birthday! We've had many fantastical adventures together, including a trip to Colorado, a memorable visit to the RCA Dome out in Indianapolis, loosing our voices at football games, playing guitar together, singing for long hours into the night, many long and weary days during numerous Marching Band seasons, the ups and downs of my brother and now being family! Cindy, I love you and am so blessed to have you in my life! I always knew you'd be my sister! Happiest of Birthdays!

Arrr, Mateys! Savvy?

Since it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I be making this log entry a bit more piratey. Savvy?

'Twas a fine day o' plunderin'.(1) Me scurvy dogs in me crew walked the plank, and naught but a couple of 'em tried to take me with 'em. (2) 'Bout time to weigh anchor(3) and I be hopin' to meet up with me hearties for a night o' pillagin'.(4) And if any of ye landlubbers try and mutiny(5), it be the keelhaul for 'em.

*Translations:
1. work
2. My co-workers and I used our breaks today to take a walk, because it was absolutely gorgeous outside.
3. Leave
4. Meet up with GAP North for Bible study
5. slow rush hour drivers causing traffic

*~*

I like this day. Argh.

The Grey Havens, Part the Second!

Well, here it is!


After the reheresal dinner, we all went back to the inn and spent a good hour folding Misty's programs. If you click on the picture, you'll be able to see them better. They were folded like this game we used to play, the one where you'd fold a piece of paper on it in about 20 ways (or some such number) and then read off numbers and colors and count and then you'd supposedly get your fortune read. When we were growing up, my cousins and I would spend hours playing that game. It was neat to see. And I have no idea what my father was doing to have made a face like that...

The cliffs by the water's edge that I spent some time climbing. I climbed down to them Saturday afternoon, as we had loads of free time before the wedding started. I spent a good bit of down on the dock too.

A view of the dock and an idea of how far down I came to get to the water's edge. It wasn't all that harrowing. ;-)

On the cliffs.

And yet another view off the cliff.

My brother and his girlfriend, Alisha. She's the sweetest thing ever!

Wedding time! My at-that-time cousin-to-be waiting intently for his bride. Where is she?

Oh, there she is! And she was absolutely gorgeous!

They said their own vows to each other. Oddly enough, I could only here Keith's as where I was standing with my mom and our flutes/the flute stand, the wind was to us, and we couldn't here a word she said. (*Note to self: send her an email to ask her what she said.)

"'Nother one bites the dust..." The deed is done!

Nana, Aunt Carmen, Misty & Keith, Kevin, Angel and Autumn. My family has made me so very happy. :-)

Wedding funness!

All partied out and time to head to bed...

...but not before cake! Okay, confession: I didn't really like this cake. I can say that without feeling guilty because Mist was telling me up until the night before that she was jealous of the wedding cake I'd gotten at my brother's wedding. And after tasting her cake, I had to say that I agreed with her. Mrs. Z's wedding cake has now spoiled me! But it still was pretty.

Sunrise on Sunday. It was so peaceful.

And the sea looked like glass and those ships called me home...

I think I'm quite ready for another adventure!

I know I have been quiet these past few days, with the exception of a post with a quote or something small in it. I've been spending that time reflecting and praying over many things, for there is just so much that I have to mentally process these days.

But I am feeling ready for another adventure. I am off for the weekend with my family to Maine. We are spending the weekend at The Grey Havens, where my cousin will be getting married on Saturday. I am in her wedding; I have been feverishly practicing my flute this entire week in the hopes to have the music (and my sore lips - I haven't kept up with playing!) ready in time, and it's been coming along nicely. We are flying up there this evening and driving home on Sunday. But it will be nice and relaxing to spend a weekend by the sea.

And yes, the Lord of the Rings fan in me is rather excited at the thought of sailing to the Grey Havens for the weekend.

Good, Better, Best

5 Good Things About My Weekend:

1. Kathy got married!
2. An absolutely gorgeous day on Saturday.
3. I received some much needed encouragement on Sunday morning during Sunday school.
4. Getting several nice compliments.
5. The huge stack of mail that had been gracing my desk was finally put to rest in either 1) the trash can, 2) file folders, or 3) my journals, thus clearing off my desk!

5 Better Things About My Weekend:

1. Hanging out with Becky to see the new Jane Austen movie Sunday afternoon.
2. Trip to (the outskirts of) Baltimore with old and dear friends on Saturday night to visit Megan and Jordan.
3. Getting to sleep in on Saturday morning.
4. Seeing my family in NJ.
5. Realizing that pre-season football has already started.

5 Best Things About My Weekend:

1. Spending time with God.
2. Spending time with family.
3. Spending time with friends.
4. Spending time in reflection.
5. Spending time just being.

And, as a bonus --

5 Happy Things About Today:

1. I saw three deer (two bucks, one doe!) this morning while driving in to work, and then once I arrived, a butterfly landed on my car.
2. The office was very quiet today.
3. Chocolate!
4. Being productive.
5. Knowing that I get to share about my Morocco trip tonight with one of my supporters.