Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas, kapoentje

Gooi wat in mijn schoentje,

Breng wat in mijn laarsje,

Dank je Sinterklaasje

The Dutch celebrate St.Nicholas Day on the 5th, while Northern France and Belgium on the 6th. Totally forgot until Anna posted the song on my wall, and then I looked it up and there is a Dutch store 20 minutes from campus. So, either tomorrow or tuesday after class, I'm gonna go and pick up a few things!! So excited!! AAAHHHH!! Anywho, that's that :)

Beautiful

Sister got married, various friends are in relationships, one girl is contemplating whether a guy we both know is interested in her, every movie and book has some sort of underlying love plot line to it. The world is so corrupt with worldly love.
I wish I could be content with God's love alone, but people are always saying "you'll find someone, you just haven't crossed paths, or it might take a bit to meet them." I'm waiting for prince charming, but I feel like in the end I may just be wanting to have someone love me and be with me for the rest of our lives. I'm sure when I meet that person I'll know it, but having never been in a relationship of that sort I'm scared to get in too deep for fear of falling for someone else, but not liking them in the end and realizing it too late.
I hate being around people who are all gushy, but I want to feel the same. I glad for them, but I wish they would stop flaunting it.
Have given up on guys for a bit because not really in a place to think about them, more so just getting through school and finding a stable base. I can't help but still think about being in a relationship and as I get older finding more things I would like in a guy.
I'm also scared of getting hurt and being taken advantage of, and not realizing it until it's too late.
I'm scared of being alone, but I'm scared of committment.

Tell the World

In a career of self-promotion, all I wanna do is work here, as a promotion for Him.

BBC Regency Era

3 weeks from this past friday, and I get to see my mum, dad, and jojo!!!! Really really really excited!
Have lately gotten hooked on the regency period, specifically the music. BBC has a couple shows/movies that are amazing. Persuasion has a song, Downton Abbey theme is pretty good, and then North & South has a couple. Listening to them while doing homework is pretty nice, but that's all I can think about and it makes me wanna travel back to that time :(
This next few weeks will be hectic. Half way through one class, with a project, and then one more class and an even bigger project for that one, but in the next 3 weeks it will all be over with for the term.
It has snowed a few times since wednesday. Woke up thursday morning and there was easily 2 inches, possibly 3, on the ground. It melted a bit, but then we got more by friday morning :)

The Intro

4 WEEKS!! 'Til I get to see mum, dad, and jojo. It'll be such a relief and joy to see, hug, talk to face to face, and just be around people I know. I don't even think I know how much I need to see them right now.
Applied to an einsteins out here. Called the gm yesterday and he said it helps alot that I have the experience, but not being able to work the holidays (going home) might hurt a bit, but if he doesn't call by wednesday to call him. Hopefully that all works out and I can get the job, even if it's a few hours a week it's something.
Have 17 days of class left, with the remaining 11 days being weekends. Got all registered for next term and I have pm labs so class from 12p-6p, with an academic twice a week for two hours, just to start getting some of that out of the way. Also, looked at my graduation status, and if all works out this summer with camp, I could graduate a term early; which would be AWESOME :)
Talked with jojo this afternoon. Love and miss that girl so much. Never thought I would be talking with a friend about guy problems. Came to the realization that "men are confusing, strange, irritating, and manipulative." I then realized that friends from back home may be "going off to college" yeah two hours away, having boyfriends, getting high/drunk, and doing whatever, still within decent driving distance of home. I might have taken two years, but I don't have a boyfriend, and smart enough not to get drunk/high, and am going to school 20 hour drive away. Would almost say that that is a far more adventurous move. Yeah, I may miss my family, but I'm experiencing something I've never done before, and you know what? For the most part, I love it.
Song for the month. Heard it on Pandora few months ago, and the group showed up again few days ago. There's actually a 10hour long loop on youtube, and it's not too shabby. Here's the short version though

River Flows in You

Almost a month into the school year. It has been an adventure to say the least. Up at 4:45 each morning to be in class by 5:40ish and hitting the rolling pins by 6, 7:30 actually after demos and lecture. It's rather nice to get up so early and have classes done by noon so I can relax and get other things done the rest of the day. I have successfully burnt pastry cream, some arm hair, some butter cookies, and something else I'm sure. Have cut my fingers multiple times from the knives, those things are sharp :( We get 3 day weekends though which kinda makes up for the early, but six hour long class.
Miss mom, dad, and bekah very much. Never realized how much I took getting a hug from mom for granted. Since being here I have gotten maybe 5/6 hugs total :( I do get to see the rents and jojo (hopefully) at thanksgiving, which is about 8 weeks away, and I'm sure it will go fast once other claseses start and I get a job, *cf*.
Turned 20 last week. It was funny being up before I was officially born, and waiting for class to start when the hour struck.
Found a church, and it's within walking distance and a bunch of people from school go there, so it's nice to not feel too out of place.
This school is a vast experience. People cuss, smoke, dress scantily, and a bunch of other stuff. My room overlooks the front of the hall, which has a bunch of tables and people are always smoking there; wouldn't be surprised if I had a small case of lung cancer by the end of next year just from inhaling the stuff.
Overall though, I may regret traveling so far away to go to school, but it will be an experience and the only way you can learn is by doing. It'll only be for 2 years though and then I'll really be off :)
This is my favorite version of the title song.

The News from Lake Wobegon

Yup, finally listening to all those Prairie Home Companion podcasts. Good grief :) The current generation has no idea what they're missing; Larry the Cable Guy has nothing compared to this guy.
The august thing never happened, but better late than never so some time it will happen. The coming weeks will be trying, but I'm really looking forward to the new environment and meeting new people.
Mum keeps telling me I'll miss her, and I'll tell her she'll miss me- "Clara, shut up" :)

Kiss the Rain

Barakel, forming a plan to quit, and still finding time to keep sane without lighting Hugo (guitar, yes I named it :) on fire; it has been a crazy week.The date of resignation is july 31st, which happens to place on a tuesday between paychecks, which in a weird way is perfect :) I'm sure I will regret leaving EBB early, but sometimes you just gotta take the plunge, and I'm a pretty good swimmer so minimal drowning will occur. Two days to recooperate and then a full day of travel to colorado for orientation, and back in the "D" 5 minutes after midnight; so looking forward to that day, not, but Starbucks will be my friend.
August will be reformation/transformation month. Mom & dad have agreed to take on a Mediterranean diet, which I'm terribly looking forward to so much. All the time off will allow for more focus on packing, paperwork, and just improving overall health before I jump into a term of being surrounded by carbs and sugar for six hours in the morning. It will also come with wearing pants/shorts as little as possible. Part of my transformation is dressing more feminine and simple. With that will also come getting rid of clothes I no longer have/will wear, and recycling what I do have and making new stuff- like more skirts :)
On that note, there is a modesty challenge out there by the people of Feelin' Feminine. For a week, based off certain guidelines, a girl wears only skirts and dresses. I've known about it for a while now, but have never really had the time to do it. I'm really looking forward to taking part in this. It also requires a daily blog posting so that will be up as well.
I also hope to take this time and do a more regular devotion, or at least read the Bible. If I'm gonna transform who I am why not improve my spiritual life as well :)
The next year will be full of risks, nothing too bad though. Risks that will shape me for better or for worse, but in the end I hope to learn from them and become a better person all around.
We're only given one life, and it's short, so why not live it doing what you love, even better if it's for His cause :)

Midnight City

What a week it has been. Saturday started out with the church being locked, until 6:30a, and we were supposed to start hair and makeup at 6:15a. All went well though, and minus the programs not getting sent in to campus print services in time, the wedding was beautiful.
The past two weeks at camp have been workshops, so tomorrow the first batch of campers arrive. Best wishes and may God guide everyone in their actions and words to the campers. Sad I can't be there for the whole summer, but mum, dad, and I will be up there in july for a week :)
Banks are so irritating. Went to cash a tax refund check today and I had to pay a fee if I wanted the whole amount back. People, is it so hard to just give me the money? You get my business so why risk losing a customer for mistakes that other people make and forcing me to pay the consequences? Tempted to go back to the good 'ole fashioned money under the mattress idea :)
Crazy week coming up, but getting things done and we don't have to worry about a wedding anymore :)
Wonder if Colorado has apple orchards? That would be awesome to make a visit to one while I'm out there.

Swing Life Away

Yay for kidnapping/rescueing (sp?) friends and hanging out for the day. Bekah & I saw 'The Raven', rated R for bloody violence and grisly images, grrrrr :)
Things are getting sorted out for school and I have a roommate!!! She friended me on fb, we got to emailing and find out she lives in central IL, is a bit taller than me, but has the same size in shoes :) She is also Christian which will help in just the transition from leaving home and entering a new state when you know someone with the same beliefs as you.
Work is work, and today was scarily busy because it felt like everyone and their brother, sister, mother, father, great aunt loise, and 2nd cousin bernie were there; and for a few hours there were just four of us, one being a noob and it was his first day, poor kid. Then the baker left early for prior engagements so I took over that part for bout 45 mins baking, crazy crazy people and their bagel fixes :P
Four weeks until the wedding and everyone is excited to the gills :)
Did really well in classes this past semester and hopefully those will help with financial areas *fc*
Slowly but surely, I am becoming addicted to Pinterest. I just get so many ideas and then try to expound on a growing idea that it's terrible. But it's not like I spend every waking hour on it either cause then it would be just irritating to find things I would never be able to do or make :O Oh well, but it's nice to get ideas for things w/in reach :)

The Arms of Sorrow

This post is actually not as sad as the title proposes, it is actually quite happy :)
Learned that a friend will be able to come back to work for a bit, so the next month hopefully won't be as crazy as anticipated.
Four days of class left and final projects are coming together bit by bit. Just a little over four months until I move out to Colorado for school! Terribly excited for the opportunity that has been presented there. Still looking for some scholarships that will help with that even though mum and dad are helping.
Looking forward to the next month and a half, with wedding stuff, and getting to see some of my favorite people.
Kinda sad that I won't be able to spend the summer at Barakel again, but the family is going up for a week in July so that'll be better than not going at all :)

Remember Everything

Welcome to weekly tuesday panera run. This is the part of the show where Clara comes out and tells you about the week. So without further to do, weekly tuesday panera run with Clara...
Mom and I went to Ohio, to see how the wedding goes. Where we visited no one knows but mom and I went to Ohiooooooo.
Kidding, but we did go to visit Anna for Easter. Left in the afternoon, dinner at max 'n' ermas, ice cream at youngs, then I went to an open mic. Sunday anna & I went to church, then lunch at fiance's house. Lovely walk at Glen Helen after that, then ice cream at youngs once again. Left on monday, and went straight to work. Class this morning and here I sit enjoying my between class salad at panera.

It's the first week of April and Michigan has decided to grace us with some snow; not too bad but a light dusting. Have my work schedule for the rest of the month. Between finishing up classes and work, it's gonna be a crazy next couple of weeks.
Until next time, this is weekly tuesday panera run with Clara :)

Feel Good Inc.

*Sigh*Lets see. Visited Denver with mom start of the month to see JWU- it's pretty awesome. Did a general campus tour, then a few days later was able to do a class shadow- artisan breads and something else- again pretty amazing. They made zuchinni and banana bread, walnut curant (sp?) bread, honey wheat rolls, and focaccia bread with herbs, spinach, onions, and tomatoes- amazingly delicious. Look forward to going there for the next two years- hopefully finances will allow it. Please God :) We were there six days, so the other four we bummed around that area of colorado and perused downtown denver.

Started and finished what was supposed to be a six hour afghan, took five days due to work and school. Size 50 needles, and four strands of bulky knitted at the same time, and 2.5 skeins of each yarn color. Turned out pretty cool so I'm excited for winter, yes winter, to use it to stay warm.

Last weekend, headed down to ohio to take bekah to Winter Jam in Cincinnati. We arrived with plenty of time, but I made a wrong turn and we ended parking across the bridge in Kentucky- lucky us parking was only $3 as opposed to $20 on ohio side and it was fun to walk in the nice weather. So we waited in line for bout 30 to 45 minutes. Got to the door and had to finish off almost my entire water bottle- bout 28 oz.- but I snuck in a starbucks canned drink and some gold fish :) We got in and headed to the nose bleed area, but looking at the stage the area on the left had almost no one in it. We ended up being three rows away from the stage and right by all the equipment and pyro stuff for Skillet :D It ended up being a pretty awesome night. We got out of cinci pretty good, until I stopped in Xenia to get gas. Well, xenia's about 10 miles outside where we needed to be. I got us lost and wandered around that area for bout 30 minutes. Thank goodness bekah had picked up a map at a gas station earlier, and she got back to school 3 minutes before her 1am curfew :P phew.

Bombed a nutrition test last week, but besides that school is going well. Work is crazy as usual, but we're short staffed and some people are just being real idiots at the moments :( so we sane people have to deal with it and life goes on, but not in the way we had hoped. The weather has been in the mid 70s to high 80s the past couple days and then the weather channel says it's supposed to be mid 40 tomorrow, oh joy :)

Eyes Wide Open

Yay for short weeks, or at least short weeks that were. Monday and wednesday consisted of work, while tuesday and thursday were class then right after class mum, dad, and I left for barakel. On the way up there was no snow whatsoever, but by ten the next morning there was easily 5 inches. Barakel in the winter is my favorite thing during winter.  
It may be the last time I'm up for there for a while so it was nice to remember it that way. Borrowed a friends copy of "Hunger Games." Started it friday at 11pm, and between work, and sleep, finished it sunday around 12:15pm. Proceeded to borrow the other two in the series. Started and finished the second one in about 9.5 hours. Have yet to start the third one, so that will probably get accomplished during the denver trip.
This week is work and school, then sunday morning mum and I board a plane out to denver. I applied blind to jwu, so we're visiting it next week. Quite excited for that. A friend of a friend lives out there and she's offered to show me around, which is also exciting.
A few weeks ago I got an ipod touch. Still figuring out some of the kinks, but slowly getting the hang of it. The pic -------> was actually taken with it, so the quality of the pictures is really nice, have yet to figure out how to zoom though :(
So this musician has been around for I think 7 years at least, but he being from NZ he wasn't well known that much in the US until this year. His song "Somebody That I Used to Know" became really popular at the end of 2011, and 89x played it a few times. Well, I bought the cd and the track right after it is probably one of my favorites on the album. The music video is pretty cool too. Rights go completely to Gotye and his producers. No copyright infringement intended.

AAHH!!

I GOT ACCEPTED TO JWU DENVER!! Had sanitation from 8a-2p today, came home, grabbed the mail and in it were two things from jwu. Saw the big envelop first, read the words behind the celophane and did a little jig in the driveway. The smaller envelope said basically the same thing but with information on scholarships I was eligible for. Anywho, that was todays goodnews.