honey bunches of oats

That's my butt.....

I thought I'd post these for your entertainment, seeing as how you took these pictures/videos :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Celebrate the birth of our SAVIOR, what a beautiful time of year!

LOVE YOU ALL, enjoy your families and your homes and loved ones.

Hi Hil,
I am so sorry to hear that!I will definitely be praying as well- for him and his family, and also for you and your friends to be a great support system for him.
I think it's awesome that you're asking for prayer (if that doesn't sound too weird) because I believe prayer is a very powerful thing.
I will pray for strength and peace- especially at this time of the year.
I love you.
Bri

Hey Hil,

I am so sorry to hear about your friend. Sometimes life can be so cruel -- thankfully God is good and just, even when we can't understand why or how something so awful could happen. I don't know if your friend is a believer or not, but either way I just pray that he would be able to see God clearer than he ever has in his life right now, and that he might experience greater peace in his life that is far beyond his understanding.

I will absolutely include your friend in my prayers -- I can't imagine what he and his family is going through right now. How hard it must be for his family to watch him at such a young age go through something so life-changing.

Love,
Joy

Hey all,
When I was in high school, and early on in college, I was involved in a weekly camp helping to work on the work crew in the middle school camp, and participating in the high school camp. During work crew, we got to become a very close group, and we'd get together throughout the year for a variety of church and non-church related things. All that being said, I just found out today, that one of my old friends who was having trouble this summer with some inability to use his arm, was just diagnosed yesterday with ALS (Lou Gherig's disease). I did not want to put this on facebook, and please don't comment there, because it is very new, and a private matter. I just want to ask you all to be praying for him and his family. It is incurable and apparently it is progressing pretty rapidly. He is in a wheelchair, which, if you know him is crazy because was one of the most active and in shape people I'd met. Also, he's having a little bit of trouble talking sometimes, and I think a little bit of eating trouble sometimes, too. This is just one of the most shocking things I could imagine. When one of my friends called to tell me, we just lost it. He is one of the kindest, funniest, most talented, all around best guys that I have ever met. He has dedicated so much of himself to the Lord. I would just love it if you could be praying for him and his family and for his close friends. It is such a shock, and it's not a situation where I would be able to text it, so I thought I'd leave it here. Please please please pray for him and his family.
Love you all,

hil

Ok so apparently I wrote a whole post and forgot to send it....awesome.

Yes! the swine flu has officially left my body, they say once the fevers are gone for a good 24 hrs you are no longer contagious. Well my fever decided to stay on for about 5 days so thus I was quarantined to my room...sometimes I snuck downstairs and watched some movies in the basement--my mom and brother already had their mild cases and it looks like pop somehow has avoided it for the 3rd time, so I didn't feel too bad leaving the sick cave. I have been "better" for about a week, still coughing up lungs and ribs and a kidney maybe. Also I can't hear out of my left ear because the newest development is an ear infection. No worries though after 4 days of calling for a sick appt at the drs. they prescribed me some drugs AND my health insurance officially works! Huzzah. I should be better in no time floating on a diseaseless cloud!

Also I loved the colors joy and I'm way copying you.

Another development as of late....drum roll please......
I signed my first lease for an apartment! I am living with 3 guys (two of whom graduated from Messiah--go figure! and the main contact dude is someone from my youth group waaaay back) Its in Fairmount, the address is 850 N. 19th st for those googlemap stalkers among you! I am SO excited to have you girls over for a little tour and warming get-together! It was a bit spontaneous but everything seems to be falling into place with it so I think God has it under control! I'll probably be looking for a 2nd pt time job if this sucker that I'm working at now can't give me what I need long-term but that's fine I hear there are a few places near where I will be living that might have some spots :)

I hope that you are all doing well and looking forward to enjoying the season with brightness and merriment! I know I am! I keep wearing that red coat with the brass buttons hoping to exude cheer and christmas with every step. I'm the corniest most enthusiastic bug in the city but I really love it!

Breedom--I hope finals have gone so so well so far YAY you're done on FRIDAY!! you're so close to the end of your first semester of gradschool how do you feel??? 3 more to go sister (right?) awwwesome!

HilREE--I miss you dearly dearest dear friend and I think your wonderful and I love reading your bloggings because you are great! Also those pieces that you pulled...excellent! I agree about the apron, totally would wear it as a dress if it had a back on it!

Joyousfulness-- Well I've survived the swine flu but I have to say, it woulda been a lot easier with your pharmaceutical expertise! I can't wait to see you again, I hope its soooon because I agree with your comments about booking it together, we should get on that!

Mostly I love you all and even one week is too long without seeing your beautiful faces and since its been much longer than that, its been much too long! I was thinking maybe we could get together and do like a Pride and Prejudice marathon or another Jane Austin with delicious crumpets and tea or cakes and coffee as the case may be. Just a thought for a future date with some of the most fabulous women in my life! Is there a time in January that works for anyone? I can clear my schedule (except the 15th, I'm sorta obligated to be at the apt on moving day haha)

Have a lovely hump day!

pigscanfly,
amanda

Why are they famous? The Kim, Kourtney, and Kloe... and in case anyone else did not notice that their names happen to be abbreviated to 3 K's in a row... what else in history was abbreviated to 3 K's in a row?

Judgemental Joy stopping... now.

Hilarieeeee: I enjoyed those CLOTHES, and those website.. Ruche? Never heard of it = new obsession. I just spent the last 20 minutes perusing (sp?) on that site looking at things I can't have. How's Hallmark? Are you bringing Christmas Joy to people in the store (no pun intended..) I love that commercial where the hallmark truck delivers "joy" "peace" and "wonder" ahh it's just the cutest and I think of you everytime I see it.

Brianananananana (okay, that's enough...): How's SCHOOL? Are you certified to crack my back yet? Not that certification matters, because I'm pretty sure even if you became a dentist, I'd still ask you to crack my back. When are finals? I am praying for you woman!

One who has been infected: Oh dear sweet girl.. are you better yet? I hope your parents are taking as good of care of you as I would if I was there with my self-imposed pharmacy. I am sad you have contracted the swine flu :( but good news, that means you are immune to it now! ::cheers:: you can't get it twice (you can get regular flu twice, but not swine flu, I asked the doc :)

Ladies as a whole: I cannot wait to start another book with you all. I love reading knowing you're all reading the same thing, it makes me feel closer to you!

On another note -- I got highlights.. yup. Amanda, don't worry, I got them PROFESSIONALLY done this time 0:) They aren't that noticeable to be honest, they are caramel color and very blended, which I asked for. (Actually I pointed to pictures of Jennifer Garners and Eva Longorias hair and said "I want that") Gotta love visual aids, they are the best. And apparently my stylist is a visual learner, yay for her... and yay for me too!

Final update: I put a Christmas tree up in my apartment.... and now I kinda feel like Charlie Brown. It's about 4 feet tall and a little scraggely (sp?) but it's got lots of love.

Well that's all beautiful women on Pennsylvania. I hope this post finds you happy and enjoying the holiday season thus far. <333

I found this stuff. I like this stuff. I wanted to share. I miss show and tell. I don't claim to be fashionable. I know what I like. Sometimes. Love you all!

Apron-Anthropologie ... let me just say this.... ahhhhhh. I SO enjoy this. I wish there was a dress made out of these materials and this color combo. (I looked, there isn't one.)
Striped/button dress-Ruche
Yellow/Orange/White dressy-Ruche
Shoes-Saw 'em on Lulus.com
Layered wrap sweater (Despite the fact that the color palette would wash me wayy out-anthropologie
Austrian-inspired dress - As seen on lulus.com
Grey dress- Lulus.com again

Hello to you! :-)

Hil! Your post is great!! :-) I'm not sure how to follow such great and fun writing!...
Also, I heard about your job at Hallmark!! AWESOMEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How's it going?? Please do tell! :-)
How were everyone's Thanksgiving's? I feel that I am about 5 pounds heavier...it doesn't help when you're pms'ing during the Thanksgiving break because then I eat EVEN MORE than I normally would, haha, oh well! But I was in Pittsburgh visiting the g-parents and relatives. Normally when we go out there we just sit and eat and watch tv and take a few naps throughout the day...however, this time we painted their basement...fun!! haha It wasn't too bad, but we're getting their house ready to sell because they're going to be moving out here- we're putting an addition on our house......so it should be interesting :-)
Also, I was wondering if it was ok to add a book to my list if that's ok!....I heard that 'The Pilot's Wife" is good...
And a Christmas party would be so fun! Good idea! :-)
As far as I know my last final is Dec 17th.....so I feel like maybe anytime after that would be good, but I could definitely work something out if the weekend before that is better!!!
I can't wait to see you!!!!!!!
LOVE YOU!

The (good) Buisness:
Joy-good plan. December is looking crazy for me, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's make this happen. Maybe we could venture to your neck of the woods soon? Or you all are welcome to come to my abode. Or somewhere in the middle. Or anywhere together.

The Pleasure:
Here's the 822 (twice as interesting as the 411). I'm bored. A lackluster lifestyle at present, to say the least, but luster is not something I need (want?!) (all the time). Overkill on the parentheses? Let's start a new paragraph.

Stemming from my Saturday night boredom, and recent internet media jaunts, I bring you my (very!) likes as of late. Trailer likes. Music likes... Everywhere a like-like, old McDonald had a...

Perusing the streets of IMDb I found myself at the corner of romantic and comedy, so here ya go ladies. Maybe something to look forward to crying, laughing, or should Tyra and her team of literary experts protest, "craughing" about.

And then after that there's some music I like. Some of which is out of character. Dare I say... country? (I dared.)

Film Winnebagos

• New York, I Love You - Celebs and their on-the-cusp counterparts join film strip for a bunch of mini stories a la Love Actually.
• Leap Year - Amy Adams travels through Wales with a rugged man, trying to get to her boyfriend. Cue the scenery. Cue the "I want to go to Europe" thoughts. Cue stick (I was on a roll, I don't know).
• Valentines Day - Seems like it might be sort of like New York, I Love You, Love Actually, and He's Just Not That Into You getting together for a sterroids summit. Full of people you've heard of being FUNny.
• Dear John - Nicholas Sparks bringing home the bacon. Channing Tatum with no shirt meets girl from Mama Mia and Mean Girls for a lot of romance (and what appears to be a nice soundtrack!)
• When In Rome - Girl from Veronica Mars and Forgetting Sarah Marshall goes to Italy for her sister's wedding... meets a bunch of people. Kind of a silly looking thing, but there's Italy, funnies, and Josh Duhamel. Sounds like a movie where you don't need to be ready to put your thinking cap on. And that's just fine with me!

Listening Chomps
College Acapella hits the scene (Ben Folds even dedicated a whole ALBUM to it), with an appearance by country, oldschoolish-country, and mindless slow pop with a catchy chorus. These, along with a few natural, 104.5 choices, round out the music playing constantly between the ears. Oh yeah, and Michael :o) . My hope is that you will all be bored enough to enjoy some of this, my (cornu)copious blabbing on about the media hype in my head. Sorry if this sounds as self-centered as I think it might. Not the intent!

• "1901" - Phoenix (Fallin', fallin', fallin' ... from the car commercial)
• "Haven't Met You Yet" - Michael Buble (Joy, how do you make that accent on letters? I think Michael's name really needs to pop!)
• "Hollywood's Not America" - Ferras-We've all heard it, but come now, let's sing it, Hooold on, put your bluuue jeans back onnnnn...
• "Happy" - Nevershoutnever - It's light and fluffy and I heard it on a TLC commercial.
• "Would You Go With Me?" - Josh Turner, or, if you prefer acapella frat boys version, the Academical Village People from UVA. Also, it's country.
• "The Story" - Brandi Carlile ... liked it about the same time last year, too. My favorite version is by the UVA Sil'hooettes. I can't help their silly names, but their voices speak (sing!) for themselves. There's a recording of them I found as a link to their website when they sang it at the Kennedy Center, I believe. The main girl is really just a lot good.
• "Wagon Wheel" - Old Crow Medicine Show (and many others, but this version is my favorite)
• Anything from the Glee soundtrack. Have you guys been watching? Hilarious, both subtlely and outright, and tons of great music and cute little storylines. And this guy sings "Sweet Caroline." [Although the music is all pre-recorded, no voices are substituted. If the characters are singing it in the show, they are the ones on the soundtrack. Watch out Efron!]
• "Bonfire" - Third Eye Blind, from their new album "Ursa Major." Saw/heard them last year in Harrisburg. Older but they've still got it. It sounds a lot like their older stuff. Catchy. Very 90s. Let's all reminisce.
• "Daylight" - Matt & Kim. Pump you up. (This, and the two following it have a similar vibe, if you will. And you WILL.) (Will you?)
• "Kids" - MGMT. We know this. I'm just reiterating its place in musical society.
• "Fireflies" - Owl City (coming to a Messiah College near you!)
• "Not the Same" - Ben Folds, or any of the many college acapella groups who covered it. But Ben Folds' rendition from his live album ("Ben Folds Live") is my favorite. That whole album really. This song, as Mr. Folds divulges to his listeners on the live album, is about a guy who was at a party tripping on acid, and climbed up a tree. He came down from the tree the next morning and was a Christian.
• "Anytime" - Eve 6. Silly itunes for not having this available. Youtube bound for this one.
• "Secrets" - Becca Hyland. Listen here. I credit her musicianship to being a product of Hess 2nd. :oP

My mind is suffering from involuntary arrested development. And my cold typing hands are soon to follow. Adios muchachos.

... if we were lost in fields of clover?

Love you each very much!

Hil

Yay! Okay, it's almost officially my favorite time of year! This is the only time of year I'm okay with it being cold only at this time of year. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving/Christmas time if you couldn't bundle up and watch football, movies, and snuggle right?

To my point for making this post... I want to see you girls around Christmas time! Wouldn't it be fun to do something Christmas-y together? So I mean, I was thinking we could have a little mini party of sorts together? I'd be willing to host (for a weekend or a few days, if you girls are available) or I'd even be willing to come that way. I definitely want to see you girls though, I got you all a little something :) yay!

Also... we have to pick a new book soon! Exciting!

Any particular weekends you are all free? I can't wait to see all of you! (and see Hil especially, since we missed you last time!!)

Alright that's all.. love you!

Hi all!

I have the list. Hope it was great yesterday! I missed you guys a ton, and wished I could've been there at great 'ol KOP, but it was great to finally see my brother and sister-in-law.

Ahem (this is just in order of when people shared their picks in the emo transformative young adult corner of Borders:

Bri picks...
"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold
"Friday Night Knitting Club," by Kate Jacobs

Hil picks...
"Telex from Cuba," by Rachel Kushner
"The Chocolate Lovers Club," by Carole Matthews
"The Blind Side," by Michael Lewis
"The Recipe Club," (nice job with the club themes, hil...) by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel

Joy picks...
"Marley and Me," (Kleenex me) by John Grogan
"Firefly Lane," by Kristin Hannah
"The Art of Racing in the Rain," by Garth Stein
"A Lineage of Grace," by Francine Rivers

Amanda picks...
"Songs of the Humpback Whale," (check!) by Jodi Piccoult
"Love in the Time of Cholera," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
"Any Place I Hang My Hat," by Susan Isaac
"This is Where I Leave You," by Johnathan Trouper

Love you guys super super much!
Hil

Hi Girls! I was wondering if any of you had the list of books that we compiled from our first meeting of the book club :) I seem to have misplaced mine :( I was going to post it! Oh well. Do any of you have the list, can you post it?

Love you all so very much!

Hi girls! Yes, I did dress up. I was Liza Minelli. Our team @ work had a theme that was "iconic music figures". Someone was Elvis, so funny.. Bono.. Madonna.. etc. It was very funny and a lot of fun! Besides that, I didn't dress up.. and we had no tricker treaters at Matts. Guess the rain deterred all the little princes and princesses. Anyways I put some pics on FB if you want to see me in action.. haha.



How is everyone? I miss you all! How's school going Bri? And job hunting Hil? Anymore interviews? Poptarts? I'm sure there's been more poptarts, but I would like to hear about the job interviews :) Amanda I hope your job is going well and you are that much closer to moving to where you want to be.

Things are good on this end.. no hernia ::cheers:: I did pull my groin (lovely) and the doctor said to just lay off the exercise for a little while, to which I responded "Sure no problem.. :)" She also prescribed me acne medicine.... which is a funny story that I got the chance to tell Hil and Amanda... but I'll repeat here for Bri...

So the dr says to me "here's some acne topical stuff.. it may irritate your skin a little, but it'll be okay" So I'm like.. no big deal how bad could it be? Well I put it on at night (to avoid worrying about what I'd look like progressively throughout the day had I put it on in the morning) and I woke up the next morning looking like Jolly Santa Claus went to the tanning salon gone WAAAAY wrong. OMG. I was so red.. it was kind of hilarious. And to top it all off, I was insatiably itchy... like all over my face.. itchy like a giant bug bite... ooooo it was so bad! needless to say, I called the pharmacist and he told me I more than likely had way to sensitive skin to use that medicine, so I should probably only use it like spot treatment... every other 3 days or something. SO funny. Anywhoo, I'm back to normal now (thank the Lord) and after that ordeal, I think I would almost rather have pimples, than have that episode happen again.

That's all she wrote for now, there's not a whole lot else happening on my end. I've made it to chapter 35 in our book, and should probably go back and read some of the beginning chapters to freshen up a little. Can't help it... I'm just a book worm :)

That's me
Love, joyful

happy belated halloween everyone!

i hope you are all are well and have survived the night of candy receiving and giving and baseball playing. did anyone dress up? i know joy did--i'd love to see pictures! on friday night i was the swine flu. i didn't realize that my costume could have looked EXTREMELY scandalous. here's what happened i was wearing about 4 layers of tights and leggings but the ones that you could see were cream, pink and blue. i cut holes in the tights to make it look like i was a disease. the problem: the holes in the tights left you looking at massive cream colored holes in my tights. translation: it looked like skin!!! it looked like you could see my legs through big holes in several pairs of tights! i went to a party and it wasn't until a few people around me got drunk that anyone bothered to tell me that it looked like wasn't wearing very much!!! lovely. i hope that people just assumed that i was decent human being and that i wasn't naked very far from it--i was sweating in all the layers i was wearing!

anyways, that was my little halloween mishap. the next night, which was actually halloween i dressed up all cozy as a lion and gave out candy to all the little soggy wet ghosts and princesses. my mom made slimey rickies which had frozen grapes in them and looked all slimy because of the lime pulp but they were delicious! she also made 'spider webs' out of cheese that were yummy too :)

i hope that if you dressed up, your costumes were a little less of a shamble than mine!

love you all
manda

LOL I don't like them either! Betcha Amanda doesn't either, since she gets like 8 of them a month..........

i don't like periods.




hope you're having a good day :-)

Awww Joy! It sounds a rough week :-( I hope things are getting better, if not already. I'm praying for you!! This week is gonna be great for you..I can just feel it ;-)
And I definitely miss you guys too! This November 14th thing isn't coming quick enough!!
As for the book...I think I'm on about page 80??..I'm trying to read more on the train, so hopefully I'll be much further by the time we meet! (It's gettin' good though!)
How is everyone doing??? I'm in the house by my lonesome tonight cause mom and dad are in chicago all this weekend....so it's quiet quiet...but it's all good :-)
Ok, well off for some more schoolwork. LOVE YOU

Okay, so I'm not ACTUALLY falling apart.. but kind of I am. Last week I had my first dental visit... and discovered I had my first two cavities! So sad. It didn't hurt to drill them, but the week leading up to it I was petrified. Holy moly.. I was like OMG my teeth are gonna fall out! Googling like crazy... oh googling.. it can be so dangerous. I finally got that taken care of.. and it didn't hurt at all! All the worrying for nothing. The only side effect, was my paranoia that I would drool because my lips were numb... hahahaha

So then, I got on the treadmill at the gym and had an awful pain in my hip... OH NOO!!! I frantically called my Dad (because of course, Dads are the end-all-be-all of knowledge... and Moms too) and thank goodness he is a PT, because he semi-diagnosed me over skype with a pulled groin. Lovely... I go see the doctor next Wednesday.. who happens to be the old nurse practitioner from Messiah College... and I am hardly thrilled about this. I can't wait to hear the diagnosis.. swine flu? Broken hip? The ebola virus? Maybe she'll give me as much medicine as they gave Amanda when she had the flu... and that way I'll be so high I won't even realize my hip hurts anymore!

Okay.. that was cynical.. but you all know what I mean! And during the past 2 weeks of prepping for the inevitable, I have been doing an insane amount of Googling my symptoms... which as I said above, is almost half the problem!! I'll be okay, really. It doesn't even hurt that much anymore, since I stopped exercising. My Dad's first diagnosis was a hernia.. oh em gee which would mean surgery.. and that would also mean the first surgery ever. They'd have to give me the dose of anesthesia that they give the obese men because that's how worked up I'd be.

Now, apparently I'm teething. My wisdom tooth hurts like your first heartbreak in high school, getting your foot run over my the car tire, a hangnail perhaps? Hard to compare.. I kind of want them out but he says they are coming in straight so it'd be a waste of money... lovely. Until then, me and the oral-pain-relieving-antiseptic rinse have become best of friends... (don't take it personally, it's just you three are so far away, I had to find a temporary bff)

Oh, and did I mention that when I went to the dentist to make sure that it was not infected.. he stuck a mirror in my mouth and told me I was teething, and then had the audacity to charge me $66 for that?! WHAT THE HECK. I am going to go broke if I have any more teeth issues.

So all that being said, I need you all in my life, because without you I am falling apart! All these things reminded me of our Frey D301 Diagnosis Center (A.K.A. Joy and Amanda googling symptoms and cures of Bri's fainting, Hil's coughing, Amanda's periods.. etc etc) and I cannot help but sit here and smile thinking about it.

What chapter are you guys on in our book?? Just wondering. I was at page 70? And then the other day I sat in the laundromat waiting for my clothes and kinda barreled through a bunch of it.. oopsie (it was an accident, promise!) but I really like this book so far!!! What do you all think? Do you like it???

Love, peace, and me

:

:
:
:

love the photo! i'm working on the uploading process myself, i just can't find the cord. so yea, thats a problem...

That's all

I am sitting in Amanda's kitchen, looking at our blog, and I just wanted to say that I really love you girls a lot : ) you're all wonderful women and I'm so glad we are friends!

Love,
Joie

As an aside, I'm beyond excited to see you girls..

That is all.

xoxo, joie

OMG Hil, I cried laughing so hard at that video -- with that cute dog.. and the flamboyant man singing in the background! hahahaha.. that was wonderful. Thanks girls for all your birthday wishes! I cannot wait to see you girls this weekend.. so exciting! It will be a fun-filled adventure no matter what we do, I'm sure.

I added that picture there a few days ago! You like? It was the only one I could find with the 4 of us. I like it :)

Okay well I'm at work and totally shouldn't be on here.. but I just wanted to say hey girls hey and wassaaap and I'll talk to you all SO soon!

Love and kisses
Joie

JOY!!!!!!!!!
You ARE a joy, however cliche it may be to say. A stellar lady, indeed. I'm so excited to see you this weekend! Are you prepared for the stuff dreams are made of? Of course, I'm talking about...
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY!

On this day in history...besides YOUR BIRTH (awesome!), this stuff happened.
-My dad was born!!
-My friend Jule, from home, was born (same year, too!)
-1776-British troops occupied Philadelphia (now cheesesteaks do)
-1888-Poet T.S. Eliot was born in St. Louis, MO ("I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach")
-1898-Composer George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn, NY
-1969-The album "Abbey Road" was released by the Beatles!
-The lady who hosted "The Weakest Link" (goodbye!) was born
-Jim Caviezel (from "The Passion") was born

A poem about your name is ....HERE

A birthday video for you is ....THERE---------> (here)


Lovely Joy Ann!
Here's to a lovely birthday! I hope it was wonderful!!! Love you TONS!
:oD
hilree

P.S. I would've made you a great road cake if I'd been there!! hahaha

Alright, so I just noticed that there's a picture on our blog site now! I totally didn't see it before...has it been there for a while?? I like it :-)
So...I really like that idea about walking in that backyard trail of yours, Hil. Also, maybe after we do that we can go into the little cute town of Media :-) And I like your thoughts of reading Anatomy...lol definitely joking..... Oh...and about a devotional, our small group just read through the book "Crazy Love". It's written by Francis Chan...it's a great book- if you want a copy I can get you a copy for free from our youth pastor. Let me know! And that goes for any of you!!
And I almost forgot that we spent all that time reading anatomy and sex books... That was fun...lol is that weird for me to say??
That's awesome that you're in you're in a yoga class Joy! There's classes at Jefferson that look fun but I haven't had any time to go to them.... Maybe you can hold a session for us sometime ;-) Hey- and any new news about your grandmother??
So that girl that you babysit for (Amanda) sounds like she's interesting....lol Also, EVERY time I pass through the glenside train station I want to get off! But I dont' know where your house is lol...but one of these days I will get off and I can see you for a little hopefully!

Ok, quick story- so the other day I was walking to class (a couple blocks away still) and I was at the corner of the street with 2 other girls in my class waiting to cross the street- we were just minding our business, talking, whatever, and all of a sudden...BAM!!....we look across the street and see this guy literally flying in the air and slam into a bus stop waiting area (you know those like little 3-walled areas with a bench?) The guy was riding his bike and slammed into a taxi-cab door that was being opened by a girl inside the cab! The girl didn't even him and he apparently didn't see the door opening either!! I felt so bad.....especially because no one helped him! I wanted to but I was across the street waiting to cross.....
So anyway...I guess when you're in the city- anything's possible to happen lol I had definitely never seen that before!!
Alrighty well I hope all is doing well- Am I/we able to stay at your place during homecoming Joy? If not, it's totally fine!
YAY only 1 more week! :-)
LOVE YOUUUUU
Briana
ps- I was just thinking of Michelle...lol ohh Michelle....but when is her birthday? I was thinking we could maybe send her some coffee?....yea?.... ;-)

HIIIIIIIIIIIII
So, I really want to respond to everyone's posts..........but I have to get this dumb paper thing done for tomorrow's class..(so hopefully I can write a longer post tonight or tomorrow)....but I wanted to at least let you know that I'm free on Saturday (Oct 3?) like morning/afternoon or something to hang out!!!!!!!!!! Let me know when and where, whenever you figure it out. I'm gonna be a hermit for the rest of the week because I have 2 big exams coming up...K. I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH! And I can't wait to see you :-)
Bri

Ummm, I'm gonna have to second Amanda with the toenails, and YES Hil.. so much polish.. so many layers.. seriously I feel like I've just been covering the same chipped nails with the same pink polish for like... weeks.. months.. years? No.. that's grosssss. And Amanda, that is exactly why I do not use waterproof mascara. Except for the one bottle I keep hidden away in the event of a funeral or sad movie event. You GIRLS make me smile! Even over the internet.... So I'm working from home today, and finding out exactly how hard it is to stay concentrated, OYE... why did I do that?

K love you bye!
Joy

definitely-- except that mainly happens on my toes, because those nails are the ones that mainly get painted. also, as gross as seems sometime i find myself removing layer after layer of built up waterproof mascara. nasty right? that stuff can be absolutely impossible to get off after one day of use, so why not get more bang for your buck and leave it for a few more days..... i'm kidding-- mostly.

i babysat today and this one(and change) baby is a pretty huge as far as babies are concerned. she throws temper tantrums that have been known to literally flip the stroller. i'm not making it up--it happened the other day in barnes and noble. those poor shoppers got a screechy show and i had to walk away ashamed of my babysitting abilities. i turned around to put my keys in my purse and whoosh she was flipped like a pancake, howling at the top of her little lungs. mind you, she throws herself on the ground all the time, for no apparent reason, so this barely phased me, it did however, very much phase the shoppers and coffee shop goers all around me. she is my main motivation for finding a job at this point.

just thought i'd share my woes with you all this absolutely lovely afternoon. i have nothing more to complain about, so i think i'll go enjoy whats left of it before the next babysitting gig tonight!

i lessthanthree youall
amdirk

I just completed an archeological dig of my nails. Layer after laquered layer of pinkish tones. At one point, I'm pretty sure you could see all the way to China.

I wish I had taken a picture. It looked like a groovy 60s nail polish experiment.

Man, I really should have taken a picture.

There is a distinct possibility I suffered temporary(?) brain damage from the acetone fumes.

A distinct possibility.

Love you all, just wanted to share and see if anyone else ever feels this way about the removal of nail fancying things.
<3 hearts and hearts of love,
hil

Hil, that entry was so funny. I laughed so hard at all your witty-isms.. I miss living with you! (And Amanda and Bri of course..) Hil, I completely forgot to call you on Sunday. I'm such a bad friend. I'll call you before Friday.. which means of course either tonight or tomorrow night. And whether or not you pick up, I will leave an obnoxiously long voicemail in which any rendition of "Farmer in the Dell" may make an appearance.

First weekend in October... YESS!! Hil, I'm going to Amanda's house on Friday evening. I'm sure she would say YOU COME TOO so I'm gonna say it for her :) And then wherever Amanda leads me... I will go (where you lead... I will follow.. anywhere.. that you tell me to) okay, enough singing. MAN I am SO tired... working kicks you in the BUTT.. and I find myself needing so much sleep!

I wanna walk in that path behind your house HIL! And on that exercise note.. I just joined Gold's Gym.. like a total diva I am taking Yoga and Pilates classes daily to whip myself back into shape, as I find myself unfortunately with the upper body strength of a kitten, and the posture of a gargoyle.. is that how you spell gargoyle? Anyways... it should be fun, although I had a meeting with the guy who gave me a tour of the gym yesterday and I could not for the life of me figure out if he was 1. Gay or 2. Hitting on me or 3. just really nice. Any rendition of which I was not all that comfortable with.. but hey I tried my very hardest to see it as a compliment. He even got one of the machines to "show me how to use it".. then asked me if I wanted to try I was like... uhhh perhaps an excuse to watch me? no thank you LOL. So uncomfortable.

Like the googler that I am (and I know Hilary is too.. and you too Briana and Amanda) I looked up Lisa Scottline almost the second after I read the last post. She looks really cute! Her columns are on her website, and I thoroughly enjoyed the one that I read. On the reading note.. Human Anatomy sounds... interesting. Reminds me of that time we opened Bri's anatomy book up the the male section, and Amanda's sex class book up to the intercourse section. Oh my.. maybe a more wholesome book to counter that pair of readings I remember so well.

All that stated, I love and miss all of you so much! And I can't wait to see one or all of you and hear all about your lives in person on that not-so-far-away-first-weekend-in OCTOBER!.. and I'm very glad we got this blog going again, sorry for the little hiccup on my end.

love love love,
Joyous

Hi women!
There's a trail that goes through the woods in my backyard (well, a series of trails-my backyard is connected to an arboretum) and goes across streams and through grassy areas, and under trees. It is really pretty. It was a big part of my, and my brother's and my neighbors' childhoods. I lost it for awhile. Nick and I went through it this weekend, which is good, considering the most exercise-like thing I'd done in awhile involved trying to find my cell phone which was hidden in the last place you'd think to look (my purse...). Needless to say, the workout was good, the beauty was exciting! I think it would be great if we could all walk along that trail sometime together and just have a fun little time. Perhaps later in the fall? Should be pretty with the leaves changing.

THAT was just a sidenote.

MORE IMPORTANTLY:
It's so great to hear from everyone! I love you ladies! Joy, thanks for all of your encouragment! I can't wait to hear about your job! I hope it is super and full of ways for you to put your skills to work! Amanda and Joy: Book club idea sounds awesome! I think a great first book would be the study of Human Anatomy, volume 6. Just some light reading, you know? ... Okay, NO... but I think this is an awesome idea. OH! Speaking of text-related things...there is this really funny author named Lisa Scottoline who writes a column called Chick Wit in the Philadelphia Inquirer every week. There is some funny stuff there, my friends. Her columns are posted online weekly. Just in case you are bored, they are fun to read sometimes. Okay, now that that sidenote is over... I am free the first weekend in October. Is it like a Fri-Sat. kind of thing? Or just Sat? I wasn't quite sure. Whatever it is, it sounds awesome. Bri-hope your classes are going well still, and that the train isn't giving you any trouble. Do you have pepper spray? I think you should have pepper spray. Or something that looks like pepper spray. Like spray butter, which is less potent, yet still intimidating. Haha, okay, kidding about the pepper spray, unless you're doing your whole "hang out alone in dark city alleys" thing again. I hope you're done with that stage, though...um, joking. Alright, well it seems I can't be serious right now. I feel silly.

I am spending my days looking for a job and doing a little bit of babysitting (not simultaneously). I am also looking for good devotional, because, as the case may be, I don't have any clue about the exegesis of the passages I'm reading. I also am not sure if that was the correct usage of that word. Maybe I meant hermeneutics. Who paid attention in Bible? Any of you? I tried, but my professor seemed to be more interested in having us get more confused by reenacting her reenactment book about Paul and the Roman House Churches. It was called, "Paul and the Roman House Churches." Needless to say, I didn't learn a heck of a lot about exegesis or hermeneutics, except that they are words. SO...if any of you know of a good devotional, let me know.

Welp, if you're still with me (and even if you're not), I love you all and can't wait to see you (hopefully!) soon!


Love you tons!

Hil

Oh yes the book club idea!

How cute would we be if we all got together and had saturday brunch and talked about life and books and stuff?? KOP is a good central meeting location--for everyone except joy but, as long as she's willing to come down this way once a month, I think this could work! Also, maybe we could make a trip further up her way one time too---like lancaster and the outlets perhaps?? I know breedom is in school and probs can't do serious outside reading all the time but maybe we could choose a few light books to get started....I mean if people are interested, I think I'm getting carried away haha what else is new?

I think there has been a sort of time warp where I have temporarily been sucked into a black hole and have recently emerged only to find that I have to become a real person. I have sporadically with and without cellphone access since I returned because my old one got fried by the wierd voltage conversion situation over there. I have missed you guys a whole ton and would love to hear all about summer and whats going on with love and people in your lives, as well as jobs and classes. It was fun to hear about your first day breedom, at Jefferson--I can just picture you spinning around and around looking for street signs school banners. I wish I coulda been there to see you off on your first day again haha!

As for me--I once again find myself without a significant other. We are still together! buuuuut-- countries separate us at this point, so that's kinda hard. However, things are not hopeless nor are they particularly gray in hue (unlike the skirt i'm wearing currently). I feel positive about the future and if my travels have taught me anything its how to take mammoth events and break them down into small and manageable steps. In that way, I feel like this summer has been all that I needed it to be before starting this phase of life. I'd love to talk to you ladies more about my trip and about the whirlwind of greg afterwards but, I figure all that will happen in due time, I find that when I dwell on it, I feel stalled from moving forward. Again, little pieces and movement in the fuhwuhds (or "forward" as said by the New Yorkian among us) direction. The jobfront is looking up as well, we shall see how that pans out but ya know I'm not in an entirely desperate frame of mind yet so again, doin well. My days are filled with very random things unplanned and planned alike so I feel busy which is helpful also.

Anyways, that was a lot of rambling, guess I haven't posted in awhile huh? Regardless I would love to see all of your pretty faces ASAP! so yea, have a lovely day tomorrow and the next and the day after that and with any luck I will see you on the 3rd of October~!

love love love love love
amdirk

Hey all, I miss you like crazy.

Briananana, I'm so glad you like the stuff you're learning! Your anatomy teacher sounds funny with the long boring lectures, I would like to see the peoples faces with that boring lecture!!!! lol.

Hil-train, how's the job hunt? I've been thinking of you a lot lately. Have you gotten any leads? I've heard that the job unemployment rate has leveled out at the same, regardless of the fact that the economy has gotten better.. but good news, by the end of this year it is supposed to get significantly better! I will keep praying for you for certain. You will find something, and God has hand picked a job for you already -- he's holding it off for some reason, and though you might not be sure why, it's for a reason.

Amanda! It was SO good to see you tonight. Nice seeing you and getting to talk with you and stuff :) It's always good catching up with you.

So we have an idea.....

We want to start a book club!! And we can meet like... every 1st, 2nd OR 3rd Saturday morning of every month.. and those can vary, in just breakfast, day events, or full weekend events (depending on availability). Soooooo here's the deal, I'm heading to Amanda's on the first weekend of October (the weekend of the 3rd) and if either one of you or both of you can make it, we'd love you to be there toooooooo ORRRR if you can't make it for the nightish whatever than just lunch at King of Prussia???? Just a thought. Either way, are you girls free the first weekend of October? We wanna read books with you!!! :)


I love you all a lot, and I hope to talk to you soon.

PEACE!

I MISS YOU ALL!! How is everyone doing??? How's everyone's job situations and homes?! It's really weird not being at Messiah this September...I miss it....and you....
So, I think that we should all try to get together at least once a month (I think we talked about this before)...but it would be sweet to come up with like "every 3rd Saturday morning" or something like that so that way we can plan around it :-) Anyone have any preferences or ideas or anything?? I'm pretty much open to whatever for the weekends....weekdays may be a different story.

And so I started school this week :-) Tuesday was orientation (meet the profs, docs, etc...) Mom and I were gonna take the train so I could get kinda used to it and know where I"m going...welp, turns out that we missed the train lol. Sooo, we had to drive. But it turned out ok anyway. So Wednesday morning rolls around and I have to get the train at like 7:06 so I can figure out where I'm going to get to my class on time (class starts at 9am). I get off the train and ask this lady cleaning windows which way is Chestnut street and Jefferson hospitals and stuff...she doesn't respond...I'm like, excuse me, do you know where blah blah......she's looks at me and says, "do you need to take the R2 or R5 train??" Lol i'm like, "um...no but do you know how to get.....blah blah..." She says, "do you need to get the R2 train??" lol I'm like, "nope, but nevermind, I actually see where I need to go..." I saw JEfferson stuff and head that way....needless to say, I get to class about 40 min early... ....Day 1 was successful but a little boring cause it was all preliminary stuff....
Day 2 rolls around and I walk into my anatomy class and this doctor guy with the big white coat walks in and says.."ok, this is advanced anatomy..here's the syllabus...different profs teach different stuff (what they specialize in...) and ok, so here we go- today's lecture is on the vertebral column" LOL i'm like, is this guy serious?? He like totally reads off the powerpoint, and keeps going, whether we've written everything down or not....there's like moans and sighs every time we start a new sheet of paper...lol then this one girl asks if it'll be online, and he's like.."oh yea, definitely" haha WHAT?! He could have told us that before so that we all don't have crampy hands..lol. oh well....Day 2 was good...but TONS of work...
And Day 3 is just a 3 hour class in the morning and then I'm done...so it's not bad yet, just lots of reading and stuff....
But I love the stuff I'm learning :-)

Anyway, I"m sorry I just blabbed on and on about school, but I wanna hear about your lives and days, so do tell :-)
I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU

Oh my grace-ous! You're 22! Happy Birthday, sweet Amanda! Your soul is sweet and so is your company! I love you (we all do) very much!!! I am so blessed to call you a friend! Miss you bunches and bunches! I hope you are able to see God's love especially clearly on this day, as you begin your 22nd year on Earth. You are loved so much!


You share a birthday with (...and you probably already know this...)
-Al Roker-NBC

-Connie Chung-CBS

-Fred Durst-LB (...Limp Bizkit...but I wanted to stick with the acronym theme :o) )

~Robert Plant (From Led Zeppelin)

~Jimmy Pankow (From the band Chicago)

...Rock on, young chickadee! You may have a TV/Musical career ahead of you!





On this day in history (besides your birth, of course!) this stuff happened:



~In 1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, months after fighting had stopped.

~In 1964, President Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.

~In 2009 (and always!), AMANDA IS LOVED SO MUCH BY HER FRIENDS!!!!!!

Name Meaning...you probably read up on this already, too, but...:

Amanda: fit to be loved, love, worthy of love, precious thing

You are certainly are our precious thing, fit to be loved! How appropriate!

Now watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCYWE146X2U

"Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart." ~Kahlil Gibran

(It's so lovely that you've been given them both-the inward and the outward beauty!)



Amanda Grace- You are a radiant aurora in our lives whose loveliness and luminescence we cherish dearly.

Happy Birthday, sweet lady!

Love,
Hilary

Ok, sounds good! I'm thinking that I'll still be able to go next weekend...I'll make sure I can :-)

How was everyone's week?? I hope well :-) I really miss you! And I can't wait to see you...

Just wanted to say hello :-)

LOVE YOU

Yes! We are still doing NYC (I think!) I have yet to hear about my job... BOO! So please hang in there. I do not anticipate them telling me "You start in 5 days", if they tell me I got the job, so I think NYC will still happen! And if you are in too much pain, we can reschedule... or load you up on pain meds :P

Hil!! Do tell about the Mission's trip, unless you're still on it.. then wait til you get back.

Amanda, come home!! I miss thee.

Bri, I will definitely be praying for you. You will be great -- you have a great work ethic, and I'm sure you will be a wonderful student at Jefferson. I will pray for you all of the years that you will be studying there. (Confession, even though I read the post 20 seconds ago, I forgot how many years you said it was.. haha :)

Anywhoo, let's all chat soon... YEAH?! I miss you guys a lotta.

Peace, love.. and me of course

Joy

So I just want to apologize for that blog right below this...I guess I hit enter by accident and I would delete it, except that I don't know how! lol
Anyway, Joy, I love that verse you put up...it seems very appropriate :-) (And honestly, I'm not even sure if I've read that before...) And I'm so glad that you're updating us on your project...I love hearing about it. And it's awesome that you guys were able to come up with this idea that turned into project that is able to help so many people around the world. I remember when we were sitting in the living room at school trying to come up with ideas for you for the project, and it's incredible to see where it's gone!! And just out of curiosity, how come it was only Tyler who went with your professor? And have you heard anything about the job?

Hilary- How was your missions trip?? Any fun and exciting stories?? :-)

Amanda- When are you coming home???

As for things here....they're going pretty well. I just had my last Jefferson orientation on Friday, which went pretty well. We signed up for classes and as it looks right now, I don't have any classes Monday mornings or Friday afternoons....4 day weekend?? lol yea right, those will fill up quickly with lots of studying. Anyway, I'm really excited to start- it looks like my first class will be Sept. 2, so if you ever get a minute, it wouldn't be too early to start praying for me lol because apparently it's a pretty rigorous 3 years...yikes, what did I get myself into??
And also, I just found out a couple days ago that I have to get my wisdom teeth out next Monday- they're all impacted with pieces under the jaw bone or something like that...great...so I'm hoping that I'll be fully recovered by NYC weekend...we're still doing that, right????
Anyway, you guys are always on my mind and I can't wait to see you. Maybe only 2 or 3 weeks????
LOVE YOU!

Remember that little senior project I did? Well I wanted to keep you guys updated.... Tyler and our Professor went to Zambia a few days ago to pilot the project with some World Vision staff/volunteers. We have real data streaming in and out of our database.. data that has things like how sick a child is, are they orphaned, are they old enough to go to school, do they need food? The database is full of children who need food right now.. and I am speechless. Here I am sitting in America as "technical support" for them, and all I can do is stare at these "alerts" that are being sent back to headquarters to say children need food. Out of 10 children input, 8 need food. The list just keeps growing as these community volunteers enter information about households they visit.

This project has come together, and though I felt taken advantage, I am speechless and profoundly impacted by what has taken place as a result of my work. World Vision's executive's called to tell us that our project has changed the face of World Vision and their outlook on technology and its impact in ministry, and we have also changed the face of mobile development. We've taken something so socialized and modern as an iphone or a palm or whatever people use these days and implemented something that's actually changing lives. Tyler sent me a message saying that children and parents were thanking him and Professor Nejmeh for the project, because now they would get help faster...

I'm so incredibly moved by this whole thing, and how this project was driven by God entirely.

If any of you girls want to follow the blog, its at http://blog.mobileappdev.org and Tyler and Nejmeh update it 4 times a day with new stuff.


As for my personal life, nothing new really. Hil your post made me smile :) I do need a fern! P.S. the day I saw your post, I watched that movie :) Watching chick flicks always makes me think of you guys, and how we could watch the same movies over and over again!! I haven't heard back from that job yet. I sent him an e-mail and he goes "You made a great impression, but these things take time..." UGH GUY! C'mon, don't you know that I've gotta find a place to live?! hahaha.. oh help us all..

BRI your new pics on fb are cute! Yes, I stalk you all. I cannot help myself.. you are all just so pretty!!

Okay, well I'm at work, and should be working.... my new assignment at work : Redesign the homepage. Pressure? NAH... (did you smell the sarcasm?)

Love you all, talk to you soon. Joy

Good evening, ladies,
So great to hear from all of you. I guess it's my time for some typage. I'll start from furthest distance and work my way back to here.

Miss. Sen of the Dirk<>Hope A country is treating you better...that sounds like a story right out of a book/movie... hilarious...I think I learned new ways to smile/gasp/chuckle while reading of the tale. If anyone can handle that, it's you though, miss travel-aveler. Take in the beauty...have you heard about the rain we had in June..."April flowers bring mayflowers, mayflowers bring the pilgrims"... and the pilgrims apparently brought high pressure systems from the northwest. Thank you pilgrims--we owe you one. (Special props to anyone who followed that twisted mind pathway!) Be safe. Have fun. Praying for you and your adventures. Love you. <3

Miss. Guhloowchee,
Missing you. I am sorry to hear about World Vision and their lack of paying you/appreciating you appropriately... Maybe they lost a contact (badump-CHING) ..... (Did anyone follow that silly joke?) Glad to hear that you are able to hang out with Mateo! Good man! Your apartment is probably not at home because..... you need a FERN! ALL HOUSES NEED A FERN! (A love fern, ideally). Just kidding-home is where the heart is-not completely surprised to hear that your heart is not in Hburg, land of the capitol, and Palumbo's, but sad that it's not more homey for you. The summer is moving along quickly now, yes? Sort of. Sometimes it's fast, and sometimes it's slow, I think. NYC-sounds like a perfect little reunion. Love and miss you. Thanks for keeping tabs on Grantham. We all need that. Praying for you and also for your job hunt. <3

Miss. Dubya,
Great chatting with you the other day. Hope you had fun at Dominic's. I think I figured out why your (and all) long distance relationships are hard. I've calculated this very carefully, and I think it can have something to do with how far away you are from the other person. BRILLIANT! I know, I know, hold the applause. Treasure your moments together! "Love is a battlefield" (Not only a new hit song, but also, and 80s classic). And if love is a battlefield, I think you've gotta be like, "whoah, war is not the answer-let's go get some Chik-fil-a, which, as a matter of fact, is what I said (minus the war part) and what is listed in my pre-school survey, as what I would do if I were given a dollar. {Direct quote: "I'd get my Chik-fil-a"} ....and the wandering thoughts continue. Praying for you and for your missing of him. Love you. <3

Miss. rhymes with doll (ahem: that's me)....
I have been up to really enjoying my time working at church. Lots of stuff to do, but not nearly as much pressure as my friend who is the Children's Director. I have a desk (which I'm not at a ton), and a phone number extension, and an email account, and a mailbox, and keys---um, go ahead, it's okay for you to call me a grown up---or not really.... the only things missing: benefits and a salary and a job opening, which hopefully I will locate, somewhere, somehow. I am working on trusting God's plan right now. I've heard a lot of people telling me that-I need to focus there. Tomorrow I'm taking off since I worked last Friday, and most other people took off...we did not know we had off (Cara-the children's director-and I).
I've seen the man a few times. I've only been to visit him once, though, last weekend for 4th of July. I get a lot of junk for that whole, you never visit me thing, but it's valid, and I honestly haven't been able to go since then-work on Sundays for awhile at the beginning, and other stuff on the weekends. He's been here a few times, once b/c he was doing work in the area, and once b/c I got tickets to a phillies event from a friend from church.
Going outlet shopping tomorrow afternoon with my mom-very excited for that!!!! Love to hang out with my parents more and more. Probably b/c I am understanding them more and more.
I love you and miss you each and all a whole lot. Praying for you all.
LOVE SO VERY MUCH,
HREE

Hey beauties. It is so good to come to the blog and find it filled with posts from you guys -- I feel just a little closer to you all seeing you post here. Bri, I'm sorry that you are feeling like a long distance relationship is hard. Matt and I have seen each other a lot this summer, but I remember last summer when I was in NY and he was in MD -- it was so hard. Sometimes we fought, but it was just cause we were so frustrated that we couldn't see each other. Especially since we saw each other every day!! How is Dom? How is his job?

Hil how's Nick? Do you guys get to see each other?

Amanda, I do not want to know about periods in Turkey.... haha JUST KIDDING! LOL that is pretty gross, but it was a funny image :) I'm sorry you had to experience that unfortunate event. I can't wait to see you! It's great hearing how much culture you are experiencing -- you are going to be a wealth a knowledge when you come back!!

And can I just say that right now at this very second, I'm really lonely? I don't think I'll truly feel at home here in this apartment -- I think partially its because I'm in transition and also because I'm going to move out in August so I'm anticipating more change, but I just feel like I'm in a hotel. Its depressing, and I don't like it. I can't get a pet cause they aren't allowed.

Also... can I just vent here for a second? I feel like I'm being taken advantage of for the World Vision project. I worked 58 hours last week alone-- and I don't get paid for more than 40. I get phone calls from my professor in the evening telling me things I need to complete and I'm just so tired but can't seem to find the time to sleep and eat nice cooked meals and I just want to go back to fry d301 or go home

I miss you guys...

hello hello!

girls, i am so happy i remembered to check here for updates about you wonderful women! i miss you all terribly and when i get lonely over here i just go to my computer and watch the hilarious videos that are saved there. ahem... thanks in large part to you ms. REE. i am sitting here and realizing that i have not been very good at all about updates and such. mostly that is due to bad internet connections and so forth but its also due to my forgetfulness and my inability to sum things up in a few short paragraphs.

anyways, i am in the a country now and have been for about 3 weeks. we just took a small 4 day holiday up to the mountains literally 15 km away from russia! we stayed in someones house in both of the villages we visited. it always seems like a big deal wherever we go because there are 4 kids along with the 2 parents and me so staying at someones house that theyve sorta shifted into a hotelesque thing is quite a maneuver. i promise to tell you all about the wonderful grandeur of it all in person complete with a few photos but i will just give you some advice for now.....

do not get your period in Seki.

they do not have toilets, they have holes in the ground that flush.
toilet paper, also does not exist--but there is a watering can next to the hole that is supposed to serve the same purpose.
also, tampons are extremely hard to come by and when you have 4 kids that you are carting around, going to more than one market is more than just a bit of a hassle
just in case you are ever in this situation, they only sell tampons at the pharmacy, which looks like a bread shop, or a hardware store.
tampons---no applicators, no toilet paper....hole in the ground, i'll leave the rest to your imagination, especially what happens when the water doesn't feel like pumping out of the faucet when you finally figure all the rest out you have to walk a little ways to find a spring that you can use to wash your hands and your thoughts of what happened away.

sorry that was graphic but i thought you ladies would appreciate some comedy of cultural clashing proportions!


i love you all very much and i will try to post soon! i hope that all of the job searching and money making is going well, i'm not looking forward to joining the rush but alas i know i will not be alone! i can't WAIT to see you all---

love love love
me

Well Hello!
Yes, Hil I'm sorry you were so sick!! You better keep eating...may I suggest some cat cookies? ;-) How's the summer internship going?? Enjoying it so far? And how's the job going Joy? I wanted to try to come up the other week, but the lady ending up calling cause she needed a sitter. And Amanda, I hope that you are having fun!! I miss you girls so much!! I think about our apartment often and awesome it was to be so close to everyone and living with you. I really miss living with you. So hopefully we can see each other soon so I'm not so depressed anymore lol.
Also, about Broadway, I second the post below about just being in NYC with you!! So I'm up for whatever, show no show, whatevs :-)
Please know that I'll be praying for everyone, for the big things and the small things :-) I really love you.
Have a great fourth of July! Any parties anyone is hitting up???
Love you!!

ps. I just wanted to share that a long distance relationship is really hard...like really hard. I've only seen Dom once since graduation :-( And I think it makes it worse that we're not going back to school in Sept where we'll be able to see each other every day (or almost) again. Just thought I would share some of my thoughts :-)
How's everyone's boys??

Hey!! Hil, I'm really sorry you were so sick! Don't get too skinny now.. 7 pounds?! You can guarantee if we were around we'd all be trying to feed you pot stickers like Amanda did that one time :) Thanks for praying for me girls. I've heard from a couple of places but nothing is nearly close to being solidified yet, but you will all be the first ones to know when something is!!!

As far as Broadway goes -- I'm up for anything! We can get a list of shows playing, and show up at the box offices that day like Hil suggested, and if stuff is sold out, we can just move to our second choice and go to that box office. Honestly -- I just want to hang out with you girls in NYC! :D does this sounds good? And yeah, like Hil said we can totally save TLM for when we are all a little more financially stable ;) plus we have to save money cause we'll be in the shopping capital of the northeast!! haha :)


Amanda I miss you SO MUCH!!!! I can't wait to hear all kinds of crazy stories and things that you did over there. Will you be around for the weekend at Bri's?

Hil I'm so glad you're job is going well -- it was so good to hear your voice the other day! And Bri I'm glad your nannying days are over (or almost over) :P

I pray for all of you everyday and not a day goes by where I don't think about you all!

Kisses and hugs
Joy

Sorry, women, that I have not responded on here! I forgot to check for awhile there-silly me. I will be praying about this job, JOY! It was good to talk to you the other night! Bri-good thoughts on the kids--I was thinking the same thing last summer and it was only 2 kids...you realize that it's like parenting except you never get to go home, and you don't get paid! ahh! I have some broadway thoughts-just a possibility, let me know your thinkings: We could go to the TKTS place in NYC as soon as we get into the city-they offer really discounted tickets for a lot of the shows--and we could try to get little mermaid tickets. Then, if they don't have any more for that day, we could just see something else cheap, and save TLM for another time (Maybe in the fall?) when more money is coming our ways? Just thoughts. Miss you Miss Amanda, but hopefully you are out and about and have very little time to be scanning the internet. Love you, if you're reading this. Love you if you're not. Love you all, lovely women! Joy-H-burg would be fun-God will provide for you! prayers prayers prayers! (I will be saying them for you).
Praying for all of you. Pray for me as well.
I LOVE YOU BUNCHES OF HONEY!
Hil

P.S. Funny story, and the reason for the title of this post: On this past Saturday, the whole side of my dad's family was at my aunt and uncle's house in NJ, (plus a couple of my cousin's friends, b/c they were going out for her b-day later), totaling 27 people who were there full-time. Anyway-great party, lots of fun...unTIL...dun dun DUUNNNN.... Monday morning-2 am.... I wake up in the middle of the night and start puking my brains out ... until 10am... when we called the Dr (around 9) and she prescribed anti-nausea medication (that, I later learned, they also give to Chemo patients) ... it was probably the worst I've ever felt in my life, or at least the worst I can remember... I lost 7 pounds in the course of 2 days... but the CRAZY part is... it wasn't just me (I think, according to talk w/ family, though, nobody got it for such an extended number of hours..aka 7hrs) ... 14 of 27 people got sick at about the same time!! ahhhhhhh.... it was just funny b/c we kept getting updates from my dad, like, ok, welp uncle Gary is sick, and Lily is sick, and Kelly, and Patrick, etc etc etc... more sad than funny, I guess, but. Just thought I'd warn you to be careful out there! haha. Okay, so that was significantly longer than I guessed it would be... probably longer than my original post. Oh well. LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU! wash your hands!

Amanda your pictures are amazing! It looks like you're having a GREAT time...I'm even more excited to hear all about it :-)
How's everyone's jobs going?? It's my last week nannying...(praise the Lord, lol) and then I'm gonna do Cracker Barrel 3 days a week...I hope that everyone is doing well! Let me know what's going on in your lives! LOVE YOU

HEY again! Bri if you have free time, I mean I work everyday but you can totally come stay a day/a couple of days if you want!!! I would love that. :) Your nanny job sounds like you have some stories about the kids, haha :) yeah, babysitting always makes you want to wait until you're 50 to have children...... love you all!

I/we will most definitely be praying!!! I'm glad that you said something. It sounds like it would be a sweet job :-) How's the summer job going?? I hope it's going well. I wanna come up and visit (I think I might actually have some time off next week...)
And I did get the nanny job...it's going well, but a little more work than I was thinking. I actually only have one more week and then I guess I'll be at Cracker Barrel again..boo...but I have learned that I will definitely wait a LONG time before having kids lol.
I hope that everyone's summer is going well! I really do miss everyone.
LOVE YOU!

Hi girls, I have a prayer request. I inquired about a job position today for the fall, its a job in Harrisburg as a Website Manager. I am really qualified for it, and I can't help but pray and hope that God will open this door. I have been applying to jobs like crazy these past few weeks, and I feel that I haven't been seeking out God and friends to pray for me :( So I'm starting now... Can you guys pray for me? I want it to work out if it is in God's will, and I really want this job -- so I need to trust in Him.

I love you all, how are you doing? I know Amanda is in transit :) she's probably snoozing right now actually.. but she's heading to family's house in the morning! How are you Bri?? Did you get the nanny job? How's your church job Hil? I realized how long its been since I've heard your voices, so I'm going to call you each sometime this week.

Okay :) Love you all, thanks in advance for praying.

ıt ıs so good to hear from all of you! ı am out of the country for sure ın ızmır. turkey and mıssıng you all terrıbly along wıth the dots on top of all of my ıs. the punctuatıon ıs so crazy!!! anyways ı only have a few seconds before the ınternet wıll cut out agaın but ı hope you all are well and enjoyıng every bıt of the summer weather. your apt ıs so cute joıe!!! ı also need to see pıcs from your adventurous road trıp---please keep me updated!

many kısses
amanda

Hey Hey-
Joy, your apartment is so cute!! :-) Thanks for putting up pictures. I wanna come visit sometime!! I agree with you girls...I really miss living with you! Maybe we could try to get together some weekend or something...
Also, Amanda...I hope that you're having a great time!! Make sure you take lots of pictures!!!!!
And Hil, I hope that the shower goes well tomorrow! Are you ready?! Did you come up with any other games to play??
Alright, well I have to get to bed. I really miss you!! Ta-ta for now!

That is my thoughts on your roomie room there Miss. Joy-Ann! So glad you love your job. We got back from MO last night-great time-couldn't help but constantly think about you women. Bri and I were constantly saying, "Joy and Amanda would love this," or seeing coffee and going, "Joy and Amanda would really enjoy this." Pictures to come later when I get closer to unpacking myself from school. So glad you love your job. Seems like a great step up! I really wanna come to Hburg-gotta see when I'm traveling with my summer shindig at church. I start Monday (6/1), so I'll find out soon.
Is miss. Amanda out of the country by now? I'm thinking yes. I couldn't remember when the date of country exiting was. Many prayers are being said for safe traveling!
Just posted some photos on facebook. I will tag later, or you can tag when you see them.
It is so way time for me to be in bed.
Mucho love and missing you women so so so so so so so so much. Shouldn't we just be able to collapse on the couch and pretend to watch a movie while we talk, again?
Love so mucho,
Hil
P.S. No one is here in the mornings to help me find lyrics to childhood favorite songs when I'm in the shower!

All of you.. of course! I miss each one of you -- and think about you girls every day! How was Missouri? Did you leave for Turkey yet? Are you excited about working with your church Hil? I wish we all lived together again so I could be connected with all of you!

I love my job -- I wish it was permanent! Working with the web team is great, they're really nice. My apartment is cute. I've had one visitor so far.. you guessed it.. Matt haha :)

Anyways, here are some pics of my apt..

That's all I've got for now, can't say it enough, miss you all -- hope to hear from you or see a post soon.. love you!

...the bulletin board that we absolutely failed to use for normal bulletin board purposes, yet pretended we did... (ex. The calendar was set to March)...

Collaborated by Joy, Amanda, & some by Hil, (but you can bet that Bri would probably agree on most)...

Things that drive you crazy:
-hurting hair
-underwear that rides up
-blatant panty lines
-foot itching in lace-up shoes
-visible nose hair
-the first scuff on new shoes
-library lines
-parking tickets
-meters that only take quarters
-corrupted computer file
-when the computer doesn't read USB
-printer out of ink
-dull exacto blade
-broken pencil point
-pen out of ink
-food stuck on silverwear
-slow internet
-buffering tv shows
-showers that lose hot water
-chalk on your pants
-deodorant on shirts
-sweating in the winter
-stockings that have falled slightly.....grooooaaannnn
-burnt tastebuds
-numb after novacaine
-dirty mirrors
-gum in your hair
-no gas in the car
-deck of 51 cards
-uncomfotable furniture
-ghetto treadmills
-missing a spot when shaving
-missing a spot with sunscreen
-skipping CDs
-static on the radio
-paper cuts
-lukewarm coffee
-slow drivers in left lane
-bruised fruit
-burning cookies
-not enough shampoo
-losing a button
-losing an earring (just one)
-moth holes in sweaters
-the undone hair in the back of the head (the "un-flattened wave")
-unpluckable eyebrown hair
-clumped mascara
-broken deodorant
-hang nail
-holes in socks
-stone in your shoe
-new shoe blisters
-drastic temperature changes in a building
-jewelry that turns you green
-stubbing your toes
-no toilet paper left
-soap in your eye
-voicemail when phone doesn't ring
-stale cereal
-twitching eyes
-pathetic coughing
-unmoveable food in your teeth
-seeing spots
-under the skin pimples
-charlie horses
-emails too large to send (returned)
-headlights of oncoming traffic too bright
-jeans that stretch out
-jeans that are too short
-being unbearably thirsty right before bed
-dropping a stitch when knitting
-forgetting one small, really important thing at the grocery store
-getting fuzzies all over your black jacket
-when the chicken is STILL raw even after charring it on both sides
-hil's longs showers-jk (this is hil, and this is true, no jk necessary)
-when the TV gets a black square on it
-when you can't get an internet connection
-those really good leftovers that you forgot about that now look like a mold mecca
-stubbing your toe
-stubbing your toe on the same place you just stubbed your toe 2 minutes ago
-bringing all your books to class and realizing they are the books for a different class
-when you answer the phone and people ask to speak to your mommy
-when there is only one square of toilet paper left and you realize you're out of kleenex
-when you go all day thinking you look pretty ok, and you get home and realize the size sticker is still running down the front of your shirt
-when you can't think of that one word and it's something really easy, like "pie."

...It is in transferring this written text to digital that makes me think we should make a "Things that drive us happy" list... (or maybe a list with a less cheesey name).
Word, ladies?

Mucho love,
Hilree

Hiiiiii
I'm so glad we have this!!!!!! Thanks for putting it together Joyful :-)
Also, I've never done this before either so this is SWEET
LOVE YOU

laksjceowiaf;wef!!!!
I'm so way excited for this little bloggy blog to happen! I'll be able to talk to you all the time! soooo many exclamation points.... I love you all for real and for serious. I can't tell you what a blessing you have all been to me this year, I don't think I will ever meet a group of girls quite as wonderful as you--I have not taken it for granted. I will miss you dearly once we leave but for now I'm happy to live with you for the next few days....

love,
lil miss p

It's true. It's never happened. I'm excited! I'm blogging! Love you women! :o) ...sorry if this was too lame of a thing to write...I'm new, remeeeeemmmmmber? You are a bunch of lovely honey oats (oats?)

Hey girls! I'm sitting on the couch in Fry D301 preparing myself to not be here -- and it makes me really sad! I'm going to miss each one of you dearly, and hope that this little measure of communication can keep us close, because I want to be best friends forever, of course! Love you all, talk to you soon.

Joy