I want new furniture

I know I don't need it. But I really really want new furniture. The
free couch that was left in my apartment by the previous occupants and
the egg chair left over from college just aren't cutting it anymore.

Thus, I started a furniture fund. It's only about a week old so
there's not much in it right now. But I started looking at furniture.
And tonight I measured my living room and made a floor plan and cut
out furniture pieces to see what fits. And wouldn't you know it, the
Pottery Barn furniture I was looking at online fits perfectly.

But it's super expensive. But I don't want cheap furniture. If I
wanted cheap furniture I would have already bought something.

Is it wrong that I'm considering Pottery Barn? I never thought I
would. It seems so snobby to answer the question "Where's that from?"
with "Pottery Barn."

Makes me think of that Friends episode where Rachel buys furniture at
Pottery Barn and tells Phoebe it's from a flea market.

These are the things I think about when I'm at home by myself, up too
late, and am thinking about what I should do with my Friday off.

Pottery Barn trip? Just to look? Maybe?

24 hours!

My plane to Boston leaves in 24 hours! So excited to spend the week
with the sister!

I should probably pack.

Fixed!

The car is fixed! Big thank you to my uncle who saved the day. I tried
to do it myself but I didn't have the tool that would have made it
easier. Or a car to get to the store to get the new battery.
Apparently the old one was dead.

Now I'm tired. And I'm supposed to be going to the beach for a
bonfire. I want to sleep. Or just lay on the couch. But I'll probably
end up going. When did I actually get a social life?

Why today was the perfect day for my car to break down

Right now my car doesn't work. At all. Doesn't turn on. At all. And my
dad assures me that I can have it fixed (by myself!) before noon
tomorrow. I love his confidence in me! So instead of sitting here and
complaining about my car not working and missing Bible study tonight
because my car doesn't work and losing out on part of my day off
because I have to fix it, I am instead going to think about the good.

It happened at work. Where I work with guys who know about cars and
were able to get it to the point where it got me home. It wasn't at
home or while I was running errands or some random place by myself.

It happened on a Thursday afternoon before my Friday off. I can use my
Friday of to fix it. I didn't have to come home and stress about
getting it done right away so I could make it to work the next day.

I have a wonderful dad and brother who can try to help me from far
away, give me instructions and encouragement, and answer any questions
I have (including ones like "is there anyway I could end up killing
myself?"). And I got to talk to both of them today. And Stephen. And
Erin. And Mom.

I have a dad who thinks it's important that all of his children have
tools and know how to use them. They're coming out tomorrow!

I have two good legs that can walk me to the store should I need
anything.

I have uncles nearby that would come over and help should I need it.

And even though I hated having to miss Bible study tonight, it was
actually really nice to have a relaxing night at home (the first one
in a while) and get to watch the season premiere of CSI.

So things are looking up! In all honesty, I do think that it won't be
a big deal to fix the car. Basically I need to remove some corrosion
from the battery terminals. But Dad and Nathan made it seem easy
enough. And if I actually do it, I will definitely feel accomplished!

Simple Pleasures

• sleeping in a big comfy {real} bed
• sleeping until nearly 8:30 and then laying in bed for another hour with a cool breeze blowing in the window
• 3 day work weeks
• cinnamon raisin toast with butter
• an entire clean apartment
• "borrowing" internet from an unknown source and completing albums on iTunes
• a new bag in super cute material that took less than an hour to make
• looking forward to Disneyland tomorrow
• beautiful sunsets
• showering when sweaty
• cool night air
• random DVDs from the 4 for $20 rack at blockbuster
• an apartment all to myself
• calling my big brother to wish him happy birthday
• disney's earth
• stove popped popcorn with butter
• Bible studies
  
• jr. high girls
• raspberry iced tea
• dr. quinn medicine woman on dvd
• smelly candles and wallflowers
• creativity, imagination, dreams, and the ability to act on them

and those are just some of the ones I experienced in the last couple days. God is good.

4 weeks, 2 hours, & 43 minutes...

... until my flight leaves for Boston! 6 days with the sister! So so
so excited!

Anyone out there?

So after a nearly month long break from blogging, I'm pretty sure I've lost any readers I actually had. Oh well. I don't think I had that many to begin with. Why the long break? Honestly, I'm lazy. I still don't have internet at the apartment and blogging from the phone is, quite honestly, a pain in the neck (and possibly other body parts, but we're keeping this child friendly)... Add on to the annoyance of typing on the phone the fact that I tried to post a couple times and Blogger only would publish about half of what I wrote, and well, I gave up.

This weekend, I'm in Clayton with the parents, so I actually have a real computer with real internet. Much easier. I came up for a dear friend's wedding reception. It was this afternoon and it was amazing. Such a wonderful celebration of God's faithfulness and goodness and a time to catch up with some of the best friends a girl could ever hope for. This was all after getting to spend yesterday with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, and grandparents. Ah, the blessings in this life are almost too much to handle! It's weekends like this that I sometimes wonder just why God had chosen to take me away from all of this to my life in Southern California. I know I'm where I'm supposed to be, it's just that at times I get a little sad that where I'm supposed to be isn't here.

Nevertheless, I press on. Things are getting busy down in the southland. I've recently started doing Jr. High at church (and actually missed a staff retreat to be up here this weekend). Jr. High is such an interesting stage of life. I know that personally, I did not particularly enjoy that stage, but it's wonderful getting to know these kids as they are growing up, becoming their own people, and beginning to make their faith their own. I'm also doing a couple Bible studies. One is through the Young Adults group. I'm hosting it at my apartment. It should be good and it makes me clean at least once a week! The other is the women's study I did last year. This year, we'll be studying Beth Moore's Jesus the One and Only. It starts this Thursday and I'm so looking forward to this study and getting back with these women! If it's the same general group as last year, I will be the youngest (by far), but I love forming strong relationships with older, Godly women. It's great! Can't wait!

All of that combined with work and continuing to develop friendships and relationships and trying to be a good daughter/granddaughter/sister/niece/cousin/friend/etc. makes for one busy girl!

So that's my life at this moment. Further posts may continue to be few and far between until I give in and actually get internet. And I'm stubborn and like the look on people's faces when I tell them I don't have internet at my house. So it probably won't happen for a while. Oh well.