Actually one of the less spectacular pictures from the ruggball files 

powerful plays, beautiful injuries

So okay, I haven't spent the whole afternoon working. I just got back from watching around 2 hours of rugball. However I did spend around 2 hours before that getting lots of good research done in the library. Anyways rugball is incredible, so much fun to cheer for. The players just go around wiping each other out and tackles can get pretty incredible. The picture above is from this autumn, but not today, Jonathan is tackling JCombs. Way to go buddy! Which leads to the other cool part of rugball, where else can you cheer things like "kill them all", "punch them", "tackle you fool", "don't pull my brother's hair", etc. Also Jonathan's team kicked butt, and is gonna go onto finals tomorrow. As he teammates agreed, Jonathan is quite the beast to watch play, I am so proud!

killing time before the plunge

Today my goal is to finally just dig down and research, I've been avoiding it for weeks, but I just need to start. So wish me luck and hopefully you won't find me blogging for the rest of the day, and instead reading all about women in mission and single menno missionaries.

This is a picture of the ring at the end of Wednesday, I completed the soldering process and spent around 2 hours filing and rounding the ring. The final steps in the process will be polishing, adding liver of sulphur to the sunken parts, then additional polishing and final touches. This has been by far my favorite jewelry process and I feel like I have learned a lot not only about fabrication but about how I would have done parts of the design differently. 

This is what my ring looked like at the beginning of class on Wednesday. I have completed the sawing of the metal pieces and filing, then sweat soldered them unto the band, then shaped the band and the process I am doing at this step is soldering the ends together. If you look closely at the joint you should notice the small pieces of solder on it. The charcoal block it is resting on is what you use when you solder, it helps absorb copper released during the heating process and keep firescale from building up. Though I should also note that the ring is not actually red with heat, that is firescale already built up from previous parts of the process. 

java jolt successful

Coffee worked this morning, although note to self in future, nalgene = really bad coffee storage container (especially if it smells funny to begin with). Also just scooping 3 large tablespoons of sugar into mixture w/o tasting is also a bad idea. Exam update: survived, grade prognosis scraping by with an A-- if lucky B if not, but hey I could surprise myself and get a C, don't really know Tiredness update: I have basically been feeling wide awake ever since I actually tried to sleep at 4:30am last night, with the brief exception of 7:30-7:50am (pre-coffee time). You know caffeine is a pretty impressive drug, why did I not discover it earlier in college? and yes Meryl I know it is horrible for me.

queries from the hub

So its wednesday So that means late night posts from the hub So that means 8am exam tomorow morning in Environmental History So that does that sound ridiculously familar? I was gonna post yesterday, but I wanted to get to sleep. So no post for Tuesday. In Jewelry today, I took pictures of my ring and will post them when I get back to my room or tomorrow. Progress is going really well and I am in the fun part of actually polishing it. I really hate 8am classes. I have decided that after college I will not accept any job that starts before 9am, so maybe I should look for a job in Europe, I think they have a better idea of work there. Although on the other hand, it would be nice to have a lifestyl that got me to bed at 10, so that waking up at 7 was refreashing instead of brutal and cruel. I have recently discovered the miracle of coffee and no I am not getting addicted, just learning that it can indeed make the difference between falling asleep in class or staying awake. Although I shouldn't talk too much, considering I still haven't ever made it for myself or drink it with less than 2 sugars and creams in it. Monday mornings are also interesting in that Meryl and I work together for around 3 hours double checking data entries. Among the many lessons I have learned during this time include that for some people the word counsultant can be seen as consy hant or the word schedule can be seen as sonduly. Also according to Meryl I get a pretty bad case of ADD whenever I am sleep deprived, who woulda guessed it? I think the low point of the week has been hearing more news about the declining health of my Pappy. His mental sharpness is declining rapidly along with his physical health. The family is preparing to deal with his death in the next little while. This is really hard for me to hear, although I think the large part of that is watching my parents deal with it and thinking toward the future and how I will most likely have to deal with my own parent's mortality at some point. Which I am definitly not ready to even consider! Also it is so sad to see Pappy fading in this way, while I don't have memories of him being hugely physically agile, his mental quickness and agility was always there. Always talking, telling stories, jokes, and his amazing bark of a laugh. I also have a lot of fear for how Grammy will deal with it all. Well I am sitting here and the hour is aproaching 1:30am and we have yet to recieve one of the feature articles! But back to work or at least attempting something....

all I want is a bubble bath and some candles, is that too much to ask?

Music: Diana Krall "Maybe You'll Be There" Highlights of the day (an attempt to be positive instead of grouching about): -getting an amazing backrub from Sarah! Now if you have never had a Sarah backrub you are missing out, she has really strong hands and you can actually feel the difference in your knots after she is done. I got so spoiled in high school, so receiving one after such a long time was wonderful. And also it was great to just hang out with her and catch up, truly a friend for life -having an hour long chat with Tim via the magic of IM. It really is amazing how technology has connected the world. I am so envious of his life right now, he and Charletta just went on the London Eye, which looks like so much fun. I saw it when I was there this summer but decided not to take a ride due to its impressive cost. However I think I am pretty much envious of anyone who is in the after-college exciting time (note to self-stop looking longing for the future, live more in the present!). -eating my mom's amazing squash/pumpkin chocolate cookies and generally being blessed with incredible parents -getting a bunch done in jewelry in regards to my band ring. I actually soldered all by myself today and although I got really worried that I was gonna melt my piece, I didn't and it looks good (or it will once I bend it into more of a round shape and polish it a whole bunch) Well there are my lists of events for now, once again I failed to get this post done by the midnight "deadline" so now it is tomorrow, so goodnight.

the weekend is gone

So I had such great plans for this weekend. I was gonna go to Indy on Saturday and have a really great time, then I was gonna come back to the dorms and be really productive on Sunday. While I did fulfill the first part of the plan the second part definitely nose-dived. After church I went to lunch at the rot than came back to my room, messed around with my pictures and videos from yesterday then went to see Criminal Hearts with Jess. Got back from that went to the Advocates potluck, got back from that and spent 3 hours hanging out with Sarah D, then I finally sat down and got some reading done for the first time this entire weekend, but then ended up talking with Steph for another hour. So while all that equals a really great weekend, this week is gonna be crazy........sigh I wanna go to China now! not later. Sorry for the complaining, I will try to have a better attitude next time :)

Once again I am taking the easy way out for blogging, but this time beause the hour is so late. Well today was a blast, I went down to Indianapolis to watch the State Marching Band Finals with Zeb and Meryl. As this pictures shows, we are a crazy bunch. Oh and tommorow morning I am helping lead worship for church, so obviously the late hour is not good. I'll post more tomorow about the trip, goodnight all. Oh and thanks very much for the encouraging comments! 

nostalgia

Someday when I start my own rock band I am gonna use this picture as the cover. I guess I just really didn't feel much like posting tonight and figured the easy way out would be to post a picture. Today has been so long and just not that great, definitely some good moments. But does anyone know that feeling you get when you just don't feel like a good person or that you will ever reach your goals? Well that was how I felt today, just very mediocre at best and like a weight on other people's neck. Well maybe tomorrow will be a better day. 

the best and worst of college

Today was really great and really bad, so I guess pretty normal. As I was lying in my bed this morning during the 5 minutes or so I give myself in order to recover from the trauma of waking up before forcing myself to get out of bed, I noticed that the sun was really high on the opposite wall from my bed. I didn't think much of it, but again on my way back from the fraker with coffee in hand heading towards my 9:30 in Wyse, I again noticed the beautiful way the sun was cutting through the fog and trees. Finally about halfway through my 9:30 class I looked out my window and it all made sense: the sun way shiny for the first time in around 4 or 5 days! Moments from the day that made me ponder: -talking about truth-telling and its connection to sarcasm, what is a lie? is it ever okay? -talking with Karl Shelly as a part of the Pastoral Review process and contemplating this concept of ministry and how complex it is -hearing from Alan Kreider in my history senior seminar, an amazing man! Inspiring love of life and deeply rooted Christian faith. Made me think a lot about post-Christendom in relation to my brief experience in England and N. Ireland (and my correspondence with Tim) and the way the US is both moving towards a post-Christendom context and remaining a very Christendom empire. Also talked about his interesting career choice of both historian and missionary. Frustration of the Day: So I have all these fascinating experiences and interesting thoughts, but NO time to process them. This is definitely leading to my biggest problem with college, so much input and so many opportunities and demands and activities. But I guess I will have to just save this all up and think about it over Christmas break :)

what I think about the election

This is for Tim. Okay, well this is a complicated thing to figure out, or at least express with any amount of eloquence. In many ways I am very much in opposition to Bush, yet I also not a huge fan of Kerry. However for me the key issues are the war in Iraq, drilling in Alaska, abortion. There are a lot of other issues I care about, but I don't always know how the candidates stand on those. So judging just by those three, I will be voting for Kerry. But what I find more scary that anything else is the article about Bush that I provided a link too in my last post. Bush is not as stupid as he sometimes appears, he is a lot smarter and determined than I think most liberal critics give him credit for. The following quote really made me think: "You think he's an idiot, don't you?" I said, no, I didn't. "No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!" Wow! I find that a very fascinating concept, because in someways liberals have played right into Bush's hands. By reacting to harshly to his slip-ups and mispronunciations, we further widened the gap between Bush supporters and his opposition. In the end I think it is that gap that saddens me the most. No matter who wins this election, the president will be hated by close to half his country, how are we going to get any real work done, or do anything to improve this country in an environment like that? While I agreed with much the article or at least found it very interesting, I was bothered by its portrayal of faith. For me, faith is so very different than that expressed by the President, I think the quote of Jim Wallis, used to end the article really expresses that difference: "Faith can cut in so many ways," he said. "If you're penitent and not triumphal, it can move us to repentance and accountability and help us reach for something higher than ourselves. That can be a powerful thing, a thing that moves us beyond politics as usual, like Martin Luther King did. But when it's designed to certify our righteousness -- that can be a dangerous thing. Then it pushes self-criticism aside. There's no reflection. "Where people often get lost is on this very point," he said after a moment of thought. "Real faith, you see, leads us to deeper reflection and not -- not ever -- to the thing we as humans so very much want." And what is that? "Easy certainty." In summary, that is what I fear the most about living under another four years of Bush as a President, his absolute certainty in the rightness of his actions and rejection of the useful tools of critique and doubt.

fascinating look into the Bush presidency

check this out if this link expires, let me know if you still want to read it, I have a copy saved.

one more reason to love being a Mennonite

I just got back from my first stairwell hymnsing. It was incredible and I literally sang my voice away. Although I was hesitant about going at first, because I still had homework to complete, I was so glad I went. Only at a Mennonite college would a small group of people gather together at night to sing hymns in a stairwell. I think our ancestors who used to sing these same melodies in caves in Germany would be pleased to see their traditions being carried out this way. What an amazing tradition I am blessed with!

oh looky, looky here

I am so pleased with myself. I was trying and trying to insert a link to blogshares into my template, but seeing as I know nothing about html or anything like that, I couldn't figure it out. But I was determined to do it without asking anyone for help, so I kept trying things until I got it work! So look down to the right, isn't it pretty. Oh and I added a link to make it easier for me to create new posts. Wow, there is just a whole new world to explore with this, so excited!

dreary days at goshen

As most of you goshenites know, goshen is blessed with more than its fair share of dreary days. I over all do not like this fact, however there do exist some exceptions which include the following: 1. autumn dreary days, these are rendered less depressing due to the bright colors on the trees and general crispness in the air (although if too many of them occur together, they can get difficult) 2. winter dreary days when there is snow covering the ground. all the white brightness makes the day much more tolerable and this also coincides with my theory that if it is gonna be cold, we might as well have snow too! 3. dreary days when you own a really bright red raincoat or umbrella or even boots, unfortunately this one doesn't really apply to me, seeing as I don't own any of those 4. dreary days when you don't have classes, because of course then you can spend the entire day sleeping 5. dreary days when you are in love, seeing as I have never been in love this is more of a guess, but I bet dreary days would be better

lazy sunday afternoons

Music: "Yellow" Coldplay Look at the stars, look how they shine for you Hmmm, I like that quote. Well today I slept into the lovely hour of 11am! It felt so good. Last night Meryl and Zeb came over to my house and we lit a fire and played Sequence. Then we got really hyper, wrestled and built a fort until Steph arrived and made us baked apples (really yummy!) and played cherche la bouche with us. It had been a really long time since the four of us had done anything together, just us. It was really fun and we all got along so well, a year ago I would have never believed it possible :) Well then this afternoon I spent around 2 hours procrastinating and making a video of my younger brother. I think I might give it to him for his birthday, a tribute video of sorts :) (if I can find a way, I will try to post it here) But I am actually in a productive mood, so I think I will get back to my loads of reading.

Happy 21st birthday too me! Wow I have awesome friends. 

okay, I just liked this one, I mean its in black and white, how cool is that! 

life through a really tiny lens

I got my camera! It is really lovely and complicated, I like the fact that I need to read through the instruction booklet to figure out all the different things it can do. It is also really tiny, approx. the size of a really out-dated cell phone. I had a great time last night spending time with friends and watching Sex and the City and I am now gonna head off to retreat later this aternoon, just for the evening. Then back here to try really hard to get some about of work done. I am getting behind on Ethics and Morality reading, so I need to get moving on that, plus I still need to finish my cold connection for jewelry (which was due Friday....tsk tsk Abby) I'll try to post some pictures soon from my new amazing camera.

okay so technically its friday, which means the weekend!!!

but I am still functioning in Thursday mode, so here is my post for the day: Camera dealings Okay so I ordered the camera and it has been shipped, and has actually been to my house twice, but because of strict security requires a direct signiture. Grrrr, so close but yet no camera. However tomorow I should have it worked out that there will be someone at my house when they stop by, so I will get my camera (cross your fingers!) Classes I took my last midterm for intl. classics, it was okay really long though and I think he asked for way to much long-winded details. Oh and I got back my ethics and morality midterm, which I didn't do as good as I had hoped, missed an A by 1.5 points. But I think I'll be able to do better next time. Well I think I will be brief and maybe post more in depth over the week, oh I do want to talk about some of the interesting connections that keep occuring between different parts of my life and different classes. Gutt nacht. horrible spelling I am sure:)

mourning the return to classes

I really can not believe that fall break is almost over, it really feels like a totally inappropriate thing to have work due tomorrow! So what I have been up to for the past day? I finished some little touches to both the long goldish skirt and the shorter brown one. I like them both, however I am not sure I will be able to wear them a whole lot on the coming months, because one is more of a costume skirt and the other is a pretty springish type skirt. But maybe if the weather gets freakishly warm again! Then I sewed a green skirt from the neverending bolt of fabric with the pattern that I have now used 4 times! Talk about getting your money's worth. However before I did all that I went to a worship planning meeting about Advent, which is indeed my favorite season of both the year and the liturgical cycle of the church. During the planning I realized that this year we have almost 4 weeks for Christmas break!! That is so exciting for me, I can't wait to have that much time to relax and unwind. The planning meeting also talked a little about past Advents and one that was brought up was the Advent of 2001. Which was a really fascinating one and very moving, because it obviously occurred in the months after the September 11th tragedy, and on a more personal side, was also when I got baptized. Actually our church had 5 baptizism that Advent; Anna Yoder, Dan Shetler, Sarah Dick, Becca Shantz, and myself. Which means my 3rd baptismal anniversary is coming up this year, the 23 of December I do believe. Anyways then yesterday evening I went over to Becca's house and we had a movie fest and reminisced about past such events for us and had great venting conversations of the type that I only seem to have with Becca :) The movies we watched were Mean Girls, not worth my time and this view is probably biased by how I find the main actress in it Lindsay Lohan, really annoying; 50 First Dates, very funny, a great combination of comedy with a touch of romance, but definitely a step up from the common chick flick, probably my favorite Adam Sandler movie ever; then Something's Gotta Give, excellent movie, I love Diana Keaton! Basically the movie was so uplifting in its portrayal of both love, relationships in general, but especially for older women. It also made me want to have a beach house in the Hamptons really badly, despite its total luxuriousness! So all in all a good day, then after only 6ish hours of sleep I went to a Pastoral Review interview with Lois Kauffman. Very interesting, I didn't contribute much, but sort of observed the whole process, Assembly is really a wonderful church. I love many things about it. It also made me think just a little bit about the possibility of ministry in my life, something I had never even considered at any level before! Now this was only really a passing thought, but I think something I will at least try to give some thought to. Oh and yesterday I got a call from Tim, the brother in London! It was a total surprise to pick up the phone and hear his voice, I am getting really excited to see him again in December. Oh and that call is probably why I had a really vivid dream last night about being back in the LMC in Charletta's apartment. I think it was one of the memory dreams, yet I was impressed by how vividly I saw all the details of it, from the bathroom and kitchen to the living room outside the apartment (in which during the dream, Tim, Char and I moved new furniture into, yeah I don't know the interpretation of that one). Well this is quite a windy post, but it may have to do for a while, because I now have to face the rather unpleasant fact of work due tomorrow and sigh getting back into the rhythms of college. I hope you all had great breaks and look forward to seeing people's return to campus. Happy Autumn!

tribute to the seamstresses of the past

I guess I missed posing for Monday, oh well, it is still Monday for me, so that is what I am going to post about. Today was a good day, I got up early so I could take my Mom to work, thus allowing me to have the van for the day. Then I took my sewing machine to Merideth's to get it unjammed and did a little grocery shopping (during which I almost got my keys stuck in the van door, but a nice old man helped me out). Then I went home and made myself yummy French toast and proceeded to spend the rest of the day sewing. I finished my brown skirt and I think its zipper is by far my best yet. Then I worked on my long goldish skirt for my renaissance dress, for which I got to tackle the art of the gather. I am really happy with my sewing machine, I think it is really helping me be more professional about my sewing. I am trying a lot harder now to make my pieces look good, not just for my standards, but for more than myself. I am a lot more willing now to rip out a seam that doesn't look right. Then in the evening Becca and Zeb came over and we spent about 3 hours making a chocolate genoise cake, that although not as pretty as the spring break ambroisia, still tasted pretty good! But as Becca said, it definitely didn't look like a gourmet cake! Oh and then we watched Ladykillers an interesting Coen brothers' comedy, starring Tom Hanks. It was pretty funny, but I wouldn't rate it extremely high on my list of movies. Well I think I am gonna sign off, seeing as I need to be at a meeting by 9am tomorrow morning for worship planning. Oh and although I know things can change quickly, I am feeling much better than yesterday! Love to you all!

another good day (I think)

hmmm, well I went to church, made lunch for my family, had sewing time with steph (which unfortunatly didn't go as well, because the machine jammed, so I will have to take it in tomorow to get looked at) but I did get several patterns all cut out, so now when the machine is fixed, I'll be able to zip right through. Then Steph and I watched Connie and Carla, funny but fluffy movie. After that I had supper and played sequence with my family and came back to my room, where I watched Practical Magic with Steph. I think I have been watching too many romantic movies. They are very much like cotton candy, anything so sweet just can't be good for you. Movies like that put me in moods where it is very hard to be alone.....sigh. It is so frustrating to want something that you don't want to be wanting. But no matter how much I deny it or try to persuade myself that I don't, I really do want a romantic relationship. Okay really now enough venting to the world. I can't believe fall break is going by so fast! I feel like I am not getting all of my big projects done, but I am getting lots of relaxing, maybe too much! Considering that I have seen 5 movies in the past 3 days! I guess I was catching up from not seeing any for so long. Well I am off to bed, because I have to take my mum to work tomorow, so I can have the car. Goodnight all. Goodnight moon! Goodnight leaves and stars!

events of the day

Today was a lovely day to start fall break off with, I slept in until around 11. Then after a great catch-up im conversation with the amazing katie, I headed home. There I was pleased to find my dad hard at work destroying the porch. I helped out and did laundry, generally enjoying hanging out with my parents. I was helping my dad removed a layer of sort of plywoody stuff from the outside of the porch and then decided to go take my shower for the day because mom and I were going to go to Merideth's sewing corner to purchase fabric for my sewing projects. Around 20 minutes later I came back down and discovered that about half the porch was gone! Apparently my dad had decided that it would be easier to just take a sawsall to the thing and just worked away! I am definitely afraid that my dad will somehow manage to injure himself someday, and I will be so mad at him if he does! So then I went fabric shopping with Mom and picked up fabric for a skirt to replace my lovely black and white one that I am missing, a zipper with which to sew my green fabric skirt, and enough fabric to sew the skirt for my renaissance dress! So I have lots to do for the next few days. Then I watched Return to Me with my Mom, a great little gem of a movie. I had avoided watching it for sometime, cause it seemed really cheesy and it was, but maybe I was just in the mood for it, cause it hit the spot. Funny, sweet and actually really genuine, just a lovely sweet little film, nothing extrodinary, but nice. After that I headed over to Joanne's house and met up with her, Miriam and her housemate Lisa. We played dutch blitz until Becca arrived with her amazing cookies (yummy as usual), then we watched Fahrenheit 9/11, which I had never seen before. Very interesting film! As I put it when discussing with the girls afterwards, I think film is very truthful, but very very biased. It was also difficult realizing that many of the people who needed to see the movie the most, would be put off by the first part (in which Moore spends 40 minutes lambasting Bush for its connections to the Bin Laden family) and would miss the vitally important message in the second part about the crime and tragedy that is the US's involvement in Iraq. The movie definitely did increase my anger and frustration with Bush, but not as much as I thought it would and I really did appreciate how it is actually hopeful in someways. It is clear that Moore loves the American people and thinks very highly of them, it was very evident that it was the administration with which he hold a problem. Well enough for now, I think I am going to head to bed now, so goodnight dear cyber world.

motivational matters and the consequences of freedom

-not very motivated to post right now, but am bored so I will do it anyways -I am now free from school for an extended weekend, which is really cool, however I am not as excited as I would be if I was actually doing anything for the week -took my jewelry midterm today, I think I did okay, plus I finally got my ladybug cut out and spent some time polishing its back. I think it might actually look cool when I finish it. -just bought my camera online so now I will of course be on pins and needles waiting for it to arrive -just decided to nuke myself a supper and go watch tv in hil and kat's room with miriam, okay so now fall break is looking better

third mini post of the day

Site Meter update: it works now, it is just way way way down at the bottom of the page, I may try to fix that sometime, but not gonna bother right now Sol's comments: I love em, keep them coming. I pretty much love any and all comments I get!

a declared free evening

well I have decided, despite my jewelry midterm that I am as good as done and can now begin fall break!!!! I have discovered a cool site meter that will count all you (the people reading this) so I know how many of you there are. However I am currently having trouble getting it to work.

late nights, refreshed mornings

Well last night was the latest I have stayed up this school year. Clocking in at 4:10am, after the longest Record night ever!!!! and working on a paper for today, I finally went to bed assuming I would awake in 3 short hours for my 8am. However my body had different plans for me and helpfully decided to lower my hearing abilities to the point that I didn't hear my alarm, or meryl's. Although in retrospect I have vague memories of Meryl telling me to turn off my alarm.... Anyways I woke up at 9:30 having completely missed my 8am, after which I decided that my 9:30 wasn't worth going late too. So I slept in until 10:40, giving me a glorious 6 hours of sleep! So now I feel quite refreshed, although I don't relish informing my profs of my reasons for missing class. So I am off to jump through the last few hoops before the freedom of the weekend.

Happy Birthday to mein Muder

Its my mum's birthday today and she is now fabulously 52! This is going to be a short blog, because I am all blogged out from yesterday, so cheerio-o all, and good luck with midterm week!

Happy Birthday to me!

Wow, today has been really good! Even my midterm for ethics & morality was good or at least as any test can be. Oh and today was the best surprise ever, my parents got me a sewing machine for my birthday! It is solid quality and has lots of different stitch possibilities and should last me for most of my life, if I take care of it. I am getting really excited about fall break, I am gonna be lazy, sleep watch movies, bake things, cook meals, hang out with friends, help my dad be very destructive to the back porch, and of course sew things! It is interesting how one can feel both so old and so young. You know despite all the little things in my life right now that are painful, frustrating, worrisome, I am really happy right now! This morning I was rounding the corner near admissions biking towards umble and I was just struck by the absolute beauty of the campus, the sunshine and the goodness that comes from being alive right now. Why would I ever think I need to have a romantic relationship to feel those things! I am loved and fulfilled in other ways, and maybe some day I will be loved and fulfilled in different ways, but until then why worry and get impatient. (um, yes I am in a good mood, and yes the above paragraphs may not represent complete mindset, but they are how I feel now!) oh and I hope you enjoyed the photos!

photo 21: me, tim and char looking oh soo cool in london (summer 2004) 

photo 20: me and my dearest emma on the beautiful mournes at sunset (n. ireland 2004) 

photo 19: meg, me and meryl catch some CO rays (aren't those pasty legs hot!!) 

photo 18: hannah and I attack/hug each other to death on may term 2004, dang I miss that group of folks! 

photo 17: tara, me, libby and meryl, or in other words the amazing girls of Yoder 426 (late spring 2004) 

photo 16: meryl and her thushan, don't they make the most beautiful couple ever! (winter 2004) 

photo 15: meryl and me all glammed up, gosh I love that girl (spring 2004) 

photo 11: me with the char and mel phenomena at the amazing cheesecake factory (fall 2003) do you notice the stuffed grins we all have? 

photo 10: proof that I am loved, no matter how much I doubt it from time to time. location: Tara's house. what: a surprise birthday party. why: my 20th birthday of course! 

photo 9: what can I say, I have beautiful friends, isn't Jess a gem! (circa fall 2003) 

photo 8: ah those were the days; me, tara, meryl and zeb at the H house sometime fall of 2003 

photo 7: one of my all time favorite pictures of the boundary waters, and yes that is Jonathan 

photo 6: me and Laura at a cousin get together at rita & anthony's farm the summer of 2003. 

photo 5: katie, rachel and I on our daily walk through the streets of Bogata, Columbia (May Term 2003) 

photo 4: me and the fam at Tim's big leaving college shindig, man I am ready to graduate! 

photo 3: an oldie but a goodie from my first ever real road trip.....dang good memories can make you feel so odd 

photo 2: okay I couldn't resist another shot of the bloggin' girls.....happy memories 

photo 1: In celebration of my birthday I am posting 21 of my favorite photos from over the past few years of college. This one is from my first year and is with my favorite younger brother ever!