guilty pleasure

Its practically my neighbor. Every time a customer makes a purchase, he gets a 40% or 50% coupon to be used on one regularly priced item. Its practically a crime to not use a coupon that good. But the tricksters make you use the coupon within about a week and a half. I have been spending alot of time there lately :)

Drive By

Ever since I started running consistently, I have been annoyed and intrigued by "the drive by." I am minding my own business, jogging along the street, and occasionally people (okay, males) whistle, honk, yell etc. One time a guy was sitting on the sidewalk and pulled out his phone to take picture!
I do not understand the logic behind their shameless expressions. I am sweating, gross, and trying to maintain a steady breathing pattern, so I am surely not going to respond to the brief, shallow, shout-outs. And you, the guy in the car, are driving faster than i am running (though some do reduce their speed temporarily) and will not actually gain any reward for trying to catch my attention as you pass.
So for the record, I know a friendly honk when I hear it. All other horns, whistles, cat-calls or pet names (namely "baby") are not working to your favor.

Sweet Home

so I went to Alabama this weekend. I know what you are thinking... NO, its not that serious.
Jared and I had friends who just got married, so Jared flew home for a couple of days and I met him for the weekend. it was a quick trip, but I had so much fun.
Alabama is much prettier than I anticipated. I am pretty sure the entire state is either a forest, a pasture, a porch or a church. Even though it was humid, I liked the change of pace, scenery and food.

Funny Signs
































the creek


















the lake















the kiddie pool (Jared's niece, Cameron, taught us how to wear goggles, walk on our hands, and have a surprising amount of fun in 3 feet of water)
























the Sosebees


















the swap meet and the salon (Carbon HIll style)






























And i wish i had a picture of the food. BBQ is one of my favorites.

But now i am back at work, and tomorrow i find out what my real travel schedule looks like for the year. Good times.

the quirks

having a new job brings about different challenges and perks, but mine has also has very comical quirks.

i love the people in my office. The counselors, in particular, are hilarious. Some would joke that we are "the face of CBU," since we are often the first encounter that people have with someone from CBU, and our job is to paint a picture of the school in order to get people to come. But let me tell you, this face is usually laughing.

We all work in adjoining cubicles, though i prefer to call them cubbies. the lack of privacy allows for prime eves dropping, sarcasm, and quick answers. maybe the romance of it all will wear off, but right now i really enjoy the atmosphere at work.

The other positive aspect of the job is the fact that i interact with different people all of the time. At times it is draining, but in hindsight, its always funny. i am mastering the courtesy laugh and realizing how differently God created each person. I have talked to a man that centered our entire conversation around Stephen King novels and movies, a girl who gave me a long list of what to look for in a "real man," another girl who educated me about Nor Cal "lingo" as well as the varying prices of marijuana in the state, along with a number of other entertaining individuals.

i will start posting the story-worthy interactions.

i love summer

i love summer. i like the blue skies, the warm nights, freedom from homework, and the smell of bbq.
one of my favorite holidays is in the summer. i think the 4th of July is great because fireworks are thrilling, friends are a blessing, and summer food is delicious. this year, i was particularly excited about the 4th because i got to experience all of those things and have a day off of work.
so now its sunday afternoon, i have had two days off, and im watching The Holiday and getting little things done.
for the few faithful readers, im updating :)

i did this. i now have a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration (general enough to do whatever, but not specific enough to do anything)























i went on a family vacation here.




















i got a job here. official title: Undergraduate Admissions Counselor



















and i am dating him. one of his better head shots :)



those are just some of the highlights. hopefully i can post more details and pictures in the future.

Shawna

I am pretty sure i never wrote a post about bella being stolen, since i am terrible at posting and it was kind of traumatic. For those of you who do not know, bella was my baby blue beach cruiser. i had her for almost three years, and she was one of my top five favorite material possessions. I took her on late night rides withmy roommate courtney. Lauren would balance on the back and we would maneuver around campus. And I would take her out daily to get places more quickly or just to feel the wind in my hair.

Unfortunately, I do not live in the safest of places, and a couple months ago, some little scoundrels came on to campus and took her and the lock. I was pretty upset, and I reported the theft to public safety. However, we were not able to recover bella.

To make a long story short, our office had a bike auction with some old bikes that the school had in storage. They had either been left or recovered etc., so the school let us clean them up a bit to resell them for a fundraiser. I kind of pulled some strings and was able to purchase a yellow beach cruiser that i had my eye on from the minute we started checking all the bikes. The previous owner must have been named Shawna, since it is written on the back fender with blue bike stickers. After making my purchase, i bought a lock and a friend and I worked on her for a while to fix the seat and tighten up some of the bolts. Now, the seat is not totally secure, and it kind of makes a chirping sound when i ride her, but i do not really care. I was seriously so thrilled to have a bike again! I have decided to keep the name Shawna, though i may remove the stickers, and we will try to fix the bird sounds over Easter break.

Anyway, just thought I would fill you in on my latest thrill. It does seem minor compared to the fact that I am graduating, and trying to find a new job, and going to Hawaii with my family in the near future, but sometimes its the little things that are worth talking about.

This Week

i had two midterms.
my sister's car caught on fire and burned up, with many of her belongings inside.
my parent's washer broke and leaked all over. same day as the fire.
jason screwed up his life on national television. ridiculous.
my roommate and i took free online typing tests should we need such skills when we graduate. approximately 75 wpm.
our faces are also breaking out from stress. attractive.
our friends intermural basketball team won their semi-final game and will now play in the championship game next week. but none of us were there to watch or support.
i have apparently not had health insurance for the last two months. oops.

so glad tomorrow is friday...

clarification

since i was not clear in the last post:
i do understand the mission and the message behind "His image" week. i completely agree with the fact that our confidence, value, and purpose should not be linked to our physical appearance. our image is found in Christ, living in us, as those who know Him have been given the Holy Spirit and are transformed to be able to reflect the glory of the Lord.
i also understand why some of the sessions during "in His image" week address eating disorders and eating healthy. external image is a huge concern and priority for many people, which unfortunately can outweigh their concern for Christ and their character. yet, we are responsible to care for our bodies, and many people do not properly care for their bodies, either by over or under eating. therefore, i just thought that if they were going to have a session about eating healthy, preceding that session with a late night breakfast was slightly ironic.

Counterproductive

i will preface this post by acknowledging that i am a cynic.
this week is "in His image" week at school. we have lots of weeks that are dedicated to different topics and causes. all of the ideas have a great purpose and principle behind them, but sometimes the promotion and activities associated with these weeks are comical.

for example, "in His image" week is a week to raise awareness about the fact that we are made in the image of the Lord, so we should not define our value and image based on popularity, physical appearance, or the standards of society. i completely agree with this cause, and many of the activities and discussions are very educational. however, this year, one of the promotions was showing a girl from CBU being transformed with makeup and a pretty hair style. it is a spin off of a "Dove" promotion, but i am still annoyed that all of the posters around school only show pictures of the girl with wind blowing through her curls, glossy lips, shadowed eyes, and editing. i feel like that defeats the purpose of communicating the fact that you can be pretty whether you are wearing makeup or not. granted, i am bias, since i do not wear makeup all the time should people someday be disappointed or shocked by my actual appearance if they saw me without it. many girls begin to feel like it is a necessity for beauty and a positive image.

on a less serious note, last night they had a time where a local pastor came to speak about how our image is found in Christ, and it is not based on our physical appearance. later this week they will have more sessions about eating disorders and having a healthy lifestyle and diet. of course, a major draw for these events is food. so last night, at 9 pm, they had french toast breakfast to kick off the in His image events. again, being health conscious, i laughed since i try not to eat late at night, especially treats like french toast, cookies, and other delicious carbohydrate filled foods. now, i understand that my "image" is not decided by my eating habits or the way their are reflected in my appearance, but i did think it was a bit counterproductive considering the topics later this week.
again, i know im being picky and critical. but i just thought it was all pretty entertaining.

a picture from a Dove campaign. i could not find one of the CBU student, but it looks similar.

26.2

a marathon is 26.2 miles, and the last 2.2 are easily the longest. but i finished, and i jogged almost the entire time, save the walks through water stations and a short walk break on mile 23 to rub out the cramp in my left thigh.
commonly asked questions:
how was it? SO HARD. the first 16 miles were really enjoyable. after that, it got hot, and i had less drive to want to push myself to run (partly because my joints and muscles were starting to feel it). this is also the time where refueling is important. i hate refueling.
will you do it again? Right after the race, my answer was no. my friend's mom said that you cannot answer that question right after, though, because right after childbirth, not many people want to turn around and do it again. but they usually do, and its worth it. so, maybe i will do another one. but i would have to do it with someone that is my pace and have the time to really train and do well.

overall, i am extremely glad i did it. i was so blessed to train with friends, and i ran most of the marathon with the amazing girls, jenni and erica. i was only sore for two days, but i am still having trouble with the outer ligament on my left foot (the planter fascia, i think?). also, i completely understand why Paul parallels running with the Christian life. Running is much more successful when you have a community and accountability. It involves a great deal of discipline, mentally and physically. Also, you must refuel, which involves drinking water and eating food or energy supplements. In most cases, eating and drinking are enjoyable and desirable. But i had to train myself to chew, swallow and drink while running and breathing. Many times, we enjoy and desire to be in the Word and to worship Christ, but when circumstances are hard, we often do not desire or enjoy making time for those things. We have to remind ourselves that we need those to sustain us. Now, I understand that a life devoted to pursuing Christ is much more difficult and long term than a marathon, but my friends and I were able to have alot of great conversations about the metaphors while we were running.

I do not have many pictures, but this is jenni, me, and erica at mile 15.

BiRtHdAy

As most of you know, i turned 22 on January 7th. Sadly, it was the first day of class for this semester, but my roommate(s) still made it enjoyable. I am a huge fan of the Pita Pit, but I did not know that we had them in Riverside. Lauren found one though, so she and Erika, who was our roommate last year, surprised me by taking me out for a pita and frozen yogurt. We made the guy take a picture since we were the only customers at the time.



Also, most of you know i have been training for a marathon. Yesterday we ran 21 miles, which is the longest we will run before the actual race on February 1st. It was definitely one of the most difficult things I have ever done, physically and mentally. I am so excited, though, to be almost finished with training and to be able to run a marathon with friends. Erica, Caitlin, Jenni, and Ethan have made this whole thing much more enjoyable. Im sure the next post will be about the marathon, since it is basically my priority right now. It has influenced my sleeping, eating, drinking, and social routines for the last month or two. Everyone says marathons are addicting, but addictions are a problem, and i think that people who are addicted to marathons have a serious problem. Pretty sure this will be my one and only full marathon. So ill let you know how it goes.