PIECE'A LISA

picking up the pieces, showing you some pics

2009-05-12T11:04:00.007-05:00

as of 6 days ago... my job description for the rest of the school year has been simplified to teacher... i'm not directing drama, or setting up art shows or any of that silliness, i am simply a teacher who goes home at the end of the school day and has time for things like grocery shopping or reading. it's for me, the most wonderful time of the school year.

to celebrate my freedom i took a short weekend trip to MN this last weekend to see Ben and Kate and the brilliant kiddos. Here are some picks to prove their adorable existence...

NEWLHS ART CLUB
- well part of it anyway... after painting windows at Culvers.

YOUNGLIFE FUN-NESS
Chester & Esther (Zach & Claire)
the Moth Ball Testers - trying to get "hip" for camp

deuces

The Stanky Leg
(if you're asking yourself, "what is the stanky leg?"; you may be too old to care)

some of younglife's fearless leaders

zach & lisa 2009

and, in case you weren't able to be here, here is just a taste of this years drama production, "The Curious Savage"

The Griffin Star Wars Action Figures Draft of 2008

2009-01-01T14:22:00.008-06:00

I wish I could focus on the work that I need to get done... but I just know that I wouldn't be doing the world justice if I didn't take the procrastinatory time to sit down and blog about our Star Wars Draft...

There are several steps to this process, I suggest that if you are going to at any time entertain the idea of having a draft of your own that you take these steps to heart...

Step 1:
Carefully take all 'action figures' out of the box
and place them on the floor,
so they can easily be seen.

Step 2:
Outfit all the figures with the proper accessories

Step 3:
Take a look at all of the Star Wars Figurines &
get to know them individually...

some good questions to ask might be,
"Was this Chewbacca ever run over by a car?"
-or-
"Do I have to get the pig man if I want Jabba the Hut?"
Note: Take into account both sentimental and monetary value...
perhaps conduct some online research.

Side Note: Ignore anyone that thinks that you are silly to be spending so much time on such a 'trivial' thing... they will write about it in their dream journal later and then move on ;-)

... Instead, get excited about all the possibilities!

Step 4:
Carefully examine the possible selections individually.
Make sure that you do not choose anything created after 1983,
that's not from Hong Kong,
or that may have come out of a cereal box (sorry admiral akbar)

Step 5:
Make the selection already!!!!
Side Note: Be sure to grumble and groan about any selection that someone else has made that you were going to take in your next round, or should have taken in your last one...

Step 6:
Trade until you get what you actually wanted, and enjoy!

* All action figures seen here could be for sale... given the right price and the overcoming of some pre-existing sentimental ties.

my life be like oooo ahhhhh

2008-11-26T16:57:00.002-06:00

12 week grades... done.
report cards printed.
schedules inputted.
pizza ordered.
pizza partially eaten.
couch cozy.
long weekend ahead.
much merriness to come.

i'm ready.

word on the street is...

2008-11-05T17:23:00.004-06:00

A friend of a friend found a dress that fit her perfectly and then she took a look at the tag... the dress was $2.50, simply amazing!

She admittedly prayed before going.

so it is now evident to everyone that God works at Younkers.

Because who, without God's help, can find something on sale for $2.50 at Younkers?

I have a student that works there... I'll have to ask her if she can set up a meeting.

ribbons on my shoe

2008-09-15T18:31:00.005-05:00

so, busyness has become a way of life for me, and for those of you looking for an update, just know that i no longer have a day to sleep in.

this last saturday i was up an hour and a half earlier than i am on a normal school day... ahhhh volleyball, it's fun, but sleep depriving on occasion.

my freshman have been doing pretty well... improving as they go, and struggling too, which always leaves room for more learning.

i took on new responsibilities this year at school, since we are without an administrator, and so it has been quite the busy start for that as well, and with only one prep first hour of the day... my brain is usually exhausted by the time the end of 8th hour rolls around.

you may be wondering what the ribbons are all about... it probably looks like i'm trying to remember things in all of this busyness. but alas it is not. it is simply that our varsity team get a little team spirit with each game they play by all wearing the same ribbons. And as part of the coaching staff, i also get ribbons, boop boop. This picture is after only two games... hopefully by the end of the season my flip flop will be overflowing with them. thus keeping my tootsies warm in the approaching cold.

the rest of the story - somewhat abridged

2008-08-09T20:55:00.008-05:00

talk about a lapse in time... my apologies.

In Virginia we spent some time with Erin's family, and after a flat tire told us to try for D.C. another day, we went to Colonial Williamsburg instead...

Here's one of our gracious tour guides... He was very good. We also spent an hour in the evening listening to some 'ghost' stories, as told by 3 different women. It was great, if you ever go to Williamsburg I highly recommend it!

On to D.C., here is Captain Mike of the D.C. Duck Tours, He was great! Every great tour starts with a great tour guide.

2 Happy Ducks! Quack Quack

Our final day of travel we had two roadside attractions to hit in two different hick towns of Indiana. The first, the pink martini drinking elephant in front of a liquor store.

And our final roadside attraction took us to 2 nudist colonies (don't worry we didn't peep any nudists). Classic, this final stop topped my list, it's the lady leg sundial.

One final reminder...

roadtrip part 2 - from mike's to the belly dancing recital

2008-06-15T21:34:00.011-05:00

after hell... we headed to Mike's in Marysville, MI... which just so happens to be right across the river from Canada and the city just on the other side from Mike's apartment is Sarnia. Sarnia is actually where the 'Griffin' family homestead is... anyways, time with mike consisted of sitting, sleeping, movie watching, eating, phase 10, true colors, and drinking... it was fun.

from Mike's we moved on to the longest leg of our journey... the 12 hour drive to long island went relatively smoothly... no major mishaps, and plenty of good music.

In Long Island we stayed with Erin's friend Lindsey and Lindsey's fiance's parents. Their house was awesome, and Vinny, the father-in-law to be made us breakfast each morning.

Our first full day in NY we took a train trip into downtown NYC. Our first stop was ground zero, which much more than a whole in the ground is a bustling and busy construction site as they work on the freedom tower. So instead of showing you a picture of the cranes... here is a beautiful one of one of the trees in the cemetery of the church just across the street from the World Trade Center. It is a beautiful church that was a big part of the relief efforts after the 9/11 attacks.

After ground zero we walked until we found a spot where we could get onto the double decker bus tours. Now the double decker bus tour is a tricky thing, and is only ever as good as your tour guide. I'm not sure that we really perfected that of this journey, but the great thing about NY's bus tours, is that you can always get off and wait for the next bus. Here's a pic of Lindsey and Erin pointing out something very specific...

and of course, some of the sites...

After our long day in the city, we made it back to Long Island before midnight. The next day we have a lazy morning, and then in the early afternoon erin and i left long island, and headed to the bronx to visit with our friend Joy.

Joy just happened to be participating in a recital that day, which was awesome. It was the best part of NY for me, by far. The recital consisted of a variety of different performances by all the different classes at that particular Bronx Community Center. The atmosphere in the room was awesome, like out of a movie. There were over 50 kids in the room in different colored tutus, many also wearing tap shoes. it was great, and joy's class did a phenomenal job. Joy was awesome... and all the people around us were commenting on how they wish they had been in the class. I've only included one picture of the whole group, i'm saving the rest for blackmailing joy at a later date (i'm going to be rich someday).

after the recital joy took us to this awesome local pizzeria, john & joe's. joe was behind the counter, and once again i felt like what joy was living in was community and it was a very beautiful and tasty thing!

road trip part 1 - going to hell

2008-06-15T14:19:00.004-05:00

day 1 of the trip i drove to chicago to pick up erin from the Huster household, and made some good time to Greg's in Warsaw, IN. Our first roadside attraction attempt was to see the world's largest fake nose and glasses, which was recently moved to somewhere in the furthest south eastern town of michigan. that attempt as pictured below, was unsuccessful:

we were forced to turn around after following a road closure, and an alternate route that led us to a no trespassing sign - if we had continued we may have been shot (thanks gps).

It was nice to see Greg for a couple of hours. We stayed the night, but were only really able to hang out with Greg during dinner at applebee's, and breakfast at BK. Thanks Greg for forcing yourself to eat some breakfast so I could spend some more time with you.

Following the breakfast at BK Erin and I set out on our next great adventure... We were going to Hell... Michigan. But we couldn't go alone, so of course we did what ever american does, and we stopped at Walmart to pick up some hand baskets and coordinating decorations. We took the time in the car to carefully decorate our hand baskets before heading to Hell... Michigan.

Hell was surprisingly lame (well maybe it shouldn't have been surprising). Hell consisted of about 3 buildings that included a general store and some restaurants that were selling things that didn't smell very good at all. The buildings were decorated with some tacky and ridiculous devils so of course we had to have our picture taken in their little photo ops...

While we were there, Erin had to go pee, so we stopped in the general store and asked where the bathrooms were... and wouldn't you know that the only place to go pee in Hell is in a port-a-potty...

all in all, it was pretty ridiculous, Hell didn't even have good postcards.

embarking

2008-06-08T07:05:00.003-05:00

today i leave for a two week roadtrip.

the itinerary is as follows:

june 8th - pick up erin in chicago and drive to see the world's largest fake nose & glasses, then on to Greg's in Indiana
june 9th - go see world's largest ball of paint, go to Hell (a city in Michigan), then on to Mike's
june 10 &11th - hang out with mike
june 12th - drive from michigan to long island, new york going one of two ways, either through canada, or around... we'll see which way the wind takes us.
june 13 & 14th - hang out in new york, go to see ground zero, etc.
june 15th - drive to richmond, VA... the recently acquired malenke residence
june 16th - 18th - hang out with malenke family, celebrate chicken's 21st birthday
june 19th - drive from richmond to somewhere in indiana, possibly staying at a hotel with a ridiculously sized sneaker.
june 20th - driving to chicago, and stopping to see a pink elephant with a martini glass and possibly a large leg used as a sundial along the way... after dropping off erin, i'll continue to milwaukee to see my mom for the evening.
june 21st - drive home, do laundry and pack up to leave for younglife camp the very next day

hopefully there will be moments along the way when i will be able to chronicle the many events and happens with blogs and pictures.

i'm excited, you should be too.

Introducing, the next generation of Super Heroes!!!!!

2008-04-26T17:49:00.006-05:00

Cosmic Nate

Superpowers Include:
Super Strength
Lasers out of eyes
Super Fast
Shooting Ice out of his hands
Putting His Hand out to force things to move backward
Point at something and make it move wherever he wants (the force)

Lightning Super Duper Duper (Eli)

Super Powers Include:
Super Speed
Shooting Lasers Out of Eyes
Shooting Lightning Out of His Hands

Big Girl Ava

Superpowers Include:
Supersonic Scream (as pictured above)
Shooting Babies Out of Her Hands (Instant responsibility on all those who oppose her)

The Dynamic Trio:

musical weekend

2008-04-18T10:47:00.003-05:00

So the musical, "The Truth About Cinderella" begins tonight.

My kids have been working their tails off the last couple of days, and I think we are all worn out, but hopefully it is all for the good of this weekend.

3 days, 3 performances, & strike after the final one on Sunday.

My mind has been a wreck, and my hand has been covered in notes to myself about this, that, and everything so that i would forget almost nothing for this weekend. and i think we're pretty close to being good to go. boop boop.

If i have the chance i might even take a couple of pictures to post, or borrow from the yearbook who will have a plethora.

My sanity is very thankful to all of the people that have put in extra time and effort to make this whole thing possible. God knows my limits and has sustained me through this journey.

Next year, we are just going to do a play. And I'm going to enlist more help from the very beginning. That way I don't end up looking like this... again next year.

busy is the word i use to describe...

2008-03-19T21:33:00.002-05:00

musical directing
set directing
teaching
facilitating
eating
sleeping
dating

:: Listening ::

2008-02-15T08:57:00.003-06:00

These last few weeks, I have found myself slightly addicted to downloading all cds of music on my iTunes. My current faves are:

Ingrid Michaelson - Girls & Boys (i love, love, love this album today!)
Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static (at this point i don't think it's better than 'in between dreams', but perhaps upon further review that will change)
Jack's Mannequin - Everything In Transit
Iron & Wine - Our endless numbered days

There are also a few stand out songs that I cannot get enough of:

Keep Breathing - Ingrid Michaelson
Anyone Else But You - Michael Cera & Ellen Page
Taper Jean Girl - Kings of Leon
Flathead - Fratellis
Colorblind - Counting Crows
She Just Wants To Be My Friend - Andy Gullahorn
The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson
The Great Escape - Patrick Watson
Fidelity - Regina Spektor
Whole Wide World - Wreckless Eric (from 'stranger than fiction', love it love it)

There are probably so many more, but without much outside of my ipod in front of me, I can't think of them

cold day, not nearly so bitter

2008-01-30T10:48:00.000-06:00

today with the windchill it is best for us to round it off to 40 degrees below zero.... and i find myself on a 'cold day' off of school in the middle of the week. Last week, it was about -20's with windchill, and we still had school, over the weekend it got up to 45 degrees, and now here i am staying home from school because it's -40 with windchill. i'm perfectly fine with the cold weather today, because i slept in for an extra 3 hours, and am looking forward to eating lunch with a couple of other teacher friends.

so to those of you that are working today, because you live in warmer climates, i hope you understand that every once in a while there is a silver lining to living in unbelievably cold, crazy wisconsin.

I read this the other day, it made me think...

2008-01-09T18:22:00.000-06:00

A story is told of a king who went to his garden one morning, only to find everything withered and dying. He asked the oak tree that stood near the gate what the trouble was.

The oak said it was tired of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine tree.

The pine was troubled because it could not bear grapes like the grapevine.

The grapevine was determined to throw it's life away because it could not stand erect and produce fruit as large as peaches.

The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.

And so it went thoughout the garden. Yet coming to a violet, the king found it's face as bright and happy as ever and said, "Well, violet, I'm glad to find one brave little flower in the midst of this discouragement. You don't seem to be the least disheartened."

The violet responded, "No, I'm not. I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be."

I think this story illustrates a beautiful point. And upon discussing it with a friend today I realized once again, that self-esteem should come from nowhere else than above, in the knowledge of our God we find the assurance of our purpose. Since I know that He wanted me, I'm determined to be the best me I can be.

NYE - 2008

2008-01-05T10:57:00.000-06:00

So this year my roommate Summer, friend Kerstin, & I decided to take matters into our own hands, and we hosted a party for New Years Eve. We often host game nights at our house, so we began searching for a way to throw the ultimately fun new years eve game night.

Well when ordinary games did not amount to enough, we ended up deciding on designing a fabulous new years eve, middle of winter, photo scavenger hunt. After much discussion we had a plan. We decided to have people separate themselves into groups of 3-5, each group would pick a mascot (that must appear in every photo) and a team name. Then we came up with the list of things people needed to take pictures of. We picked 5 must-have pictures that each team had to get before they could move on to the rest of the list. 'The rest of the list' included about 38 items that took the teams all over town and into all sorts of different situations. Of course, because it was new years eve, we made sure to mention several times that our participants should be smart about things, not drive like crazy people, and not get arrested.

The event itself turned out to be as fabulous as it possibly could be. We had 6 teams and a total of 27 people. What really made it great for me was that summer, kerstin, and I got to participate as well, we didn't have to sit home and wait for people to get back. Here are some pics to help you see how much fun we had without you... perhaps you could come next year. As you'll see my teams mascot was a bright blue cat house, & one of the other groups mascots was my teddy bear.

List Item: Hulahooping

List Item: The Shell Dinosaur in GB

List Item: A Human Pyramid

List Item: A Nativity Scene

List Item: Someone Getting Patted Down

List Item: Someone In Uniform

List Item: Goal Posts

And of course - List Item: A pair of 2008 glasses

Everyone had to be back to the house by 10:30 pm, and once back, we took a look at everyone's pictures on the tv. It was great to hear all of the wonderful stories, including one team that made it on the local nightly news. After we had seen all the pics, summer, kerstin and i picked the winners and then handed out all of the trophies to the winners. By the time that we were done with all of that, it was 10 minutes to midnight, and we all brought in the new year together! Here's a pic of the whole group with all of the trophies...

And here are the organizers, me, kerstin, & summer.

the wedding in short.

2007-12-01T21:41:00.000-06:00

Gettin' Ready!!!!
Ready or not here we come!!!!
The ceremony.

The Happy Couple.

The 'bride has to go to the bathroom, let's stop at the nearest gas station' stop.
The 'stop to lick the lollipop' stop.
The phenomenally fun reception with roommate & kerstin.

The wedding was awesome.
The bride was flawless and she couldn't have been less stressed out.
The wedding toast went exceptionally well... everyone liked it, it was untraditional, it was fun, & let's see one of you try to put overalls on over your bridesmaids' dress... right about now, you probably wish you were there.

wish me well

2007-10-22T21:38:00.001-05:00

it tends to be a trend this time of the year that i fall off the face of the blogging world, and with one good excuse after another... school starting and volleyball, i am barely left any time to see my roommate in person let alone sit down to blog.

here's what's happening with the lisa-girl.

my freshman volleyball team finished their season really strong, and i have no doubt that some of them will be getting pulled up to varsity at the start of the season next year. varsity is still on a roll... they just won the regional championship on saturday and are headed off to their first sectional game this coming thursday. they have very high hopes of making it to state, plus they are ranked third in division 4 in the state, which is pretty stinking awesome.

teaching has been going pretty smoothly this year... i'm excited about the direction that i have my peer ministry group heading, but not excited about the amount of prep it leaves for me. i'm also really hapy with the way that my intro to art classes have been going. One of the other teachers told me the other day that she was told that you are the best teacher you can be when you are in your third year of teaching, because you still have the enthusiasm, and you appear to know what you are doing. well that's just great, i'm peeking already.

i am also now officially the head of the drama department since the past head left last year. it's not a position that i would have chosen for myself, it's much easier to be the helper not the leader. but i am excited about the learning experience that it will be for me, and how fun it is for the kids. i'm currently trying to find time to organize some one act plays for performing in late January... and trying to decide between a dinner theatre, and a musical for the spring.

i have also now become committed to a group called YoungLife in green bay. and the group that i am going to be a leader with is just starting a group in a new high school. i'm really excited about meeting the kids and getting to know them, and giving them opportunities to learn about Christ. I even have one of my students at NEW who used to go to that school that is going to be helping me out, especially with knowing some kids that might be interested. I really pray that the Lord is going to bless this group.

i am maid of honor in a wedding on thanksgiving weekend, and currently trying to organize the lowkey bachelorette party that we are going to have...

outside of all that i try to find some time to hang out with my roommate and friends, and am often somehow successful at that... which gets me sane enough to start each new day with a positive attitude.

needless to say i'm busy... but i pray that you all are doing well! May God's peace, blessing, strength, and comfort be with you all!

call me crazy, but i think it's a syndrome

2007-09-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

So when I was a younger gal I used to sit and watch tv with the fam in the evenings... surprise surprise

Well at times, when I was sitting and watching tv, suddenly things would appear small and far away. The tv would appear to be the size of a match box sitting on a tiny tv stand. I could shake it off pretty easily, but it was still weird, right?!?! Well it happened on several different occasions, and so at one point i told my mother, and she being the concerned mother that she is, had no idea how to take the phrase, 'mom, things are getting smaller.' Eventually it stopped happening, and I never quite figured out what it was...

...that is, until the other day when my roommate summer and i were watching 'medical mysteries' on abcnews. you may see where this is going... the very first medical mystery that they discussed was this family whose daughters claimed that at times objects would suddenly appear large and distorted (i.e. a doorknob the size of an entire door) or at other times they would be really small and far away (i.e. a tea kettle appearing to be the size of a doll house tea cup) . The diagnosis and common name of this happening is called 'alice in wonderland syndrome' which makes sense because alice would 'take one to make you small', and 'take one to make you tall'. the mother of the family said that she also remembered that happening when she was younger too. the scientists/doctors working on finding out more about the syndrome have also linked it to migraines, and things occurring in that part of the brain.

needless to say, mom, i'm not crazy... i just have a syndrome, and thank goodness i don't have the werewolf like disease that it was followed up by. thank you 'medical mysteries' for explaining one of the oddities of my childhood.

life is wonderful-ly tiring

2007-09-16T12:27:00.000-05:00

Hello All,

It's been a while since I've had the chance to blog. I've begun the new school year, and coaching volleyball and the search for any free time I can find to catch up with friends or on my sleep is an ongoing process.

Volleyball has been going well. I'm coaching our freshman volleyball on my own this year, and it's definitely taught me a lot about myself, and my capabilities. My girls are doing pretty well... We win a little under half of our games, but my girls are learning the game a lot better than any other school in our conference teaches it. I have a really great group of girls, but there are only 7 of them, so they are getting alot of playing time, especially this last saturday when one was sick so we were down to 6 girls for all 7 matches that we played that day. I now get up earlier on saturdays than any day of the week, because of volleyball tournaments. (eek)

School has been going pretty well. Last week was the first 5 day week of our school year, and you could tell, because all of the teachers and all of the students were exhausted by the time that we got to Friday. My art program is doing well... there aren't as many kids in it as I'd like, I believe that mostly due to the way that the schedule turned out, but the students that I do have are a joy and just as inspiring to me as any other year. It's nice to be able to repeat some of the same projects with the intro class this year... and to still have the time to come up with new and cool things to do with my advanced students. My peer ministry class is going really well. This semester I have two sections of peer ministry, the morning section is pretty small and the afternoon one is much larger, which means that I get to test everything that I'm doing out on those morning folks. I've changed some of the format for the better, and hopefully students will get more out of it.

I'm currently prayerfully considering becoming a leader of Young Life in Green Bay. I'm excited about the ministry of working with high schoolers outside of my school who may or may not be part of the body of Christ.

We'll see how things go... and hopefully i'll have the chance to update the blog a little bit more during the keyboarding class that i'm teaching this semester.

Road Trip Blanket Pics

2007-08-11T09:36:00.001-05:00

Home Sweet Home

2007-08-10T22:34:00.000-05:00

12 gas stops = $345.53
6 different toll roads = around $35
Food for 28 days = (i don't know that i'd like to know this number)
1 trip to Six Flags = $68.76

Traveling 4,688 miles through 19 states to see 16 different friends & family; & returning home to sleep in your own bed... priceless

Day 27

2007-08-09T23:05:00.000-05:00

What a great day!!!!!

I started out my morning going to see my friend Angie, and her husband Pete. They live in England, but are here visiting friends in St. Louis... It was full of great food, great conversation, and a lovely time.

I also had the opportunity to hang out with my old college roommate Amy.

Amy's husband Eric, Jake Rynes, his girlfriend Crystal, are all in town for a mutual friends wedding. We accomplished quite a few things today, we went to six flags, out to dinner at Duffy's (which was an adventure to get to, let alone eat at) and then out for custard at Ted Dewes (let's just say Jerk {don't worry it's an endearing term} took the scenic route there)

Here's Amy, heroine of the night

and jerk, hero of skipping little girls

Days 24-26

2007-08-07T22:13:00.000-05:00

These days have been spent wisely hanging out with my brother Adam and my parents in FlowerMound, Texas.
The first day we went to the Kennedy Museum, and learned all about the different conspiracies surrounding JFK's assassination. The second day (today) was spent at brunch (delicious!), the Kimball Art Museum (awesome!), and we went to see the Bourne Ultimatum (sweetness!)

Days 21-23

2007-08-05T10:08:00.000-05:00

Alright, here's a game for all of you folks at home, how many computers do you see in this picture?

Somehow it has become the thing to do and have in our family is to have a laptop, and to sit and play games with the laptop whether or not there are other things going on in the room like watching tv or movies. It is a tradition, I almost always take part in.

please note: the packer flag (a representation of our heritage) in the background, and the griffin with the blanket (a representation of our namesake) sits idly protecting the front door of the house. This could almost be the next american gothic, minus the pitchfork.

Day 20-21

2007-08-02T19:56:00.000-05:00

I spent the evening last night with Erin's (see days 10-12) parents in Auburn, AL. It was a lovely evening, they treated me to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, and I enjoyed the food and the conversation greatly. This morning, day 21, it was on to my parents house in Tennessee... I made the trip safely, and got a lovely birthday dinner of homemade pizza and delicious apple crisp; there really is nothing like home cooking. I am happy to say that I will not have to drive for at least 6 days... although I will be traveling with my parents to my brother's house in Texas, my parents will be driving for that portion of the trip.

Blanket Pics To Date

2007-08-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

Days 13-19

2007-08-01T19:50:00.000-05:00

For the last week I have been at the LCMS National Youth Gathering in Orlando, FL. The gathering was wonderful, and really assured me that the LCMS has at least some faith in their youth, and cares about them. As a young adult volunteer (YAV) on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I was put in an area called Chosen To The World - Live It Area, where I was working under five wonderful DCE's from various parts of Texas. Each of them are awesome, and so encouraging. I spent the majority of my time in a booth that was showing the movie Most. After each time a group would see the movie, either myself, Lonnie (one of the DCE's), or Sarah would debrief the audience that had just finished the film. It was a wonderful experience, if you haven't seen, or heard of this movie, you need to check it out. It's a half hour long film that has a number of parallels to God the Father and Jesus... in the movie a father is forced to choose between saving his son and saving a train full of people. Beautiful, powerful film! Every time that I see the movie I get something out of it, and I wasn't bored once in the whole 3 days I had to spend in that space.

Besides being in the booth, I was able to go and enjoy the mass events at night... and boy, there is nothing like being at one of those events. Sharing a room with 26,000+ other people who are all praising God... well, there's nothing I can really think of that compares, or that is more encouraging to these youth.

I only have a few pics to show for the whole week...
Here's Lonnie, Sarah, & myself

This is a little guy, we named him Enrique, that hung out with us at the booth for an entire day.... I think that he liked the warmth of the computer.

My fellow teacher Kelly with the blanket

Some of my students with the blanket.

Some of my students getting ready to go on a secret mission.

Kelly & I

Days 10-12

2007-07-26T19:53:00.000-05:00

Let's see Florida...

Erin just moved in to a new apartment with her new roommate Jaclyn. I'm pretty sure two such beautiful people should not be allowed within in such close proximity of one another; their beauty exudes from with-out and within.

Erin & I went to visit the Morikami Gardens near her home in Boca.

We had lots of fun along the way, and even ended up wearing paper shoes in one of the dojos. (is that how you spell it?)
Here's Erin's pic with the blanket.

We also went kayaking this morning with Jaclyn, which was a lot of fun, although my arms are a bit tired to say the least.
and... our final pic together before leaving. erin dyed my hair last night... it's a little bit darker.

Day 9

2007-07-24T16:33:00.000-05:00

Spending time with Joy was great! We took lots and lots of pictures, and there was not a dull moment in the entire day.
We spent some time at the beach & a local tiki bar...

We also had a bit of an obsession with taking pics of different stop signs we saw.
We came across some gorgeous places, and were surrounded by trees with spanish moss.
And here's Joy's pic for her picture with the blanket
Here's mine.
We went to Carrabba's for dinner, and it was delish!

Day 8

2007-07-22T11:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the longest leg of my driving journey. I was in the car for 12 hours yesterday. Talk about dedication to my art. So yesterday was a gorgeous day, and I found plenty of ways to entertain myself.

I listened to 'The Last Battle' - the final of the Chronicles of Narnia series.

I listened to 'Tuesdays with Morrie' - and cried through the whole thing, don't worry, it was a good cry.

I found various animals or shapes in the clouds ahead. What do you think this one is?

I read some pretty funny signs, like:
- Don't Tailgate
- Merge Right - Take Turns (This was on one of those big flashing highway signs)
- Speed Limit enforced by aircraft (what does that even mean?)
- & the best one was "You're always a weiner at Pedro's" (this place called 'South of Border' had advertisements for probably 100 miles before you reached it)

I also had time to figure out what I should have been doing in each state that I stopped in, too bad I'm already half way through the trip, guess I'll just have to do it next time.

I stopped in DC for lunch with one of my college roommates, Kayla

I arrived at Hilton Head Island around 9:20pm (I had left PA at 8 in the morning)
I promptly joined Joy and her friend Shawn to meet some friends... Joy rarely has a day off, and so the night before a day off is prime time for doing something, and since I was ready to do anything but sit in a car, it worked out perfectly.

The best adventure of our evening last night was just trying to get back out of the subdivision we were in to get back to a road we knew. I really should have paid more attention on the way in, but the way out at 3:30am was not at all simple. I think it took us about 20 minutes. (big subdivision = get directions on how to exit before leaving, and not having the number of anyone that could help you... lesson learned)

Days 6 & 7

2007-07-20T17:50:00.000-05:00

Yesterday consisted of a rainy drive through Pennsylvania to my friend jon's house.

Highlights:

- Jon & I drove into Philly today to go to Qdoba and get some sweet burritos, and from there we walked around town a little bit.

- We stopped in LOVE park

- We also stopped across the street where there's an open paved area that has different pieces from various board games, from Sorry! to Monopoly to Dominoes.

- I'm pretty sure that we're going to watch Psych... and I know there's probably nothing else I'd rather be doing.

Day 5 - Cleveland Heights

2007-07-19T15:48:00.000-05:00

Hey Guys,

Cleveland was just as I had remembered it...
...full of construction

In Cleveland, I visited for the evening with my cousin Sarah & her husband Justin.
it was a little awkward getting sarah naked for this picture, but sometimes you just have to go for it.

I'm now in Pennsylvania, the drive was rainy to say the least, but I'll post pics in the next couple of days.

Day 2-4

2007-07-16T09:27:00.000-05:00

i am currently hanging out with my friend Mike in Michigan.

We are at his families' cabin, which is just across a tiny channel from Canada. Don't worry, the canadians are a peaceful people.

Let's see... highlights:

- I took a ferry to get on the island... it took all of 10 minutes to get across, but it was still quite the experience. Apparently it's the only way on or off the island (talk about a monopoly, I hate that game)

- I got a tour of the island by driving behind Mike and having him point out of the window at various things. It meant that I got to make up my own audible for what Mike was pointing at. "And if you look to your left you'll see what Mike is pointing at."

- I watched Martha Stewart with Mike. He says it's because Mario Batali was on, but I'm pretty sure Mike watches the show all the time.

- we are not the only people here this weekend, but there are definitely not as many as there are toothbrushes here... apparently there's a whole etiquette and procedure for who gets to keep their toothbrush at the cabin, and who doesn't.

- the best part of the trip so far has been getting to listen to Mike play his guitar and singing along with the songs i know.

Day 1

2007-07-14T17:39:00.000-05:00

Greg's quite the busy bee. I got to see him for 2 hours, but now he's back to work, & I'll be lucky to see him much more for the evening.

highlights:

- I knicked a bird, within the first half hour of driving.

- I passed a rather large buffalo on the way here... no worries, it wasn't real, but I didn't have the chance to stop and take a pic: seeing as i was driving and all

- I get to see the show 'Big' tonight for free, and they have the large piano that they will dance on, just like in the movies...

Tomorrow it's off to Michigan!

embarking...

2007-07-13T10:01:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, I will start on my journey through &/or to 19 different states!

I'm really excited to see all of the people that I'm headed towards, and to have some fun while this summertime lasts!

I may or may not have the chance to blog whilst I am on the road, but I'll definitely be posting pictures when I get back...

For a while there I was also in search of a gimmick, or as my mom called it, a flat stanley... something that I could do in each state that I visited, to give the trip a fluidity or feng shui (fung shooey). Any who, I have figured it out, and you all will get to see what that 'gimmick' is when I post pictures upon my return.

Since most of you who check this blog are people that I am headed to see, well I guess the only thing to say is, I'll see you soon!

God Bless You.

challenged or changed?

2007-06-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

This morning at church I think I cried more than I have ever cried before in church. The words that the message held, had more truth for me than I've felt, or allowed myself to feel for a long time. I was surprised by my own tears, and the overwhelming feeling that things in my life, that priorities in my life NEED to change. I pray that each of you take the opportunity to listen to this message, and hopefully it strikes you in somewhat of a similar way that you are left with no other choice, but to share it.

Here are a few things that I scribbled down as I was watching and listening.
What does a true expression of the church look like?
Is God an end or is He a means?
How do I break down and get rid of my self-serving reasons for doing God's work?
Am I only trembling because my sin is about to be singed?
God is calling me to repentance, do I want my life to be worth God's suffering?

I pray that you check out this video, that your heart & soul are willing to hear the message there within, and that you feel led to pass it on. Something you should know... the biggest stumbling block to you may be that this video is 30+ minutes long, but I know that these words are worth that amount of time.

"The question isn't were you challenged, the question is were you changed!"

There are two versions of the compilation, one is strictly an audio version, the other is the audio with the words printed along with it. I would suggest looking at the latter of the two.

If for some reason, either of those two hyperlinks don't work, you can try going here, and clicking on them yourself.

a ridiculous russian doll situation

2007-06-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

So it's been awhile, my apologies, but sometimes this whole blogging thing can be a little intimidating... especially when you've been too busy to do it for a while.

Well, good news, school's out. I no longer have cable, or internet at my home, or a third roommate for that matter. I've wanted to start reading books, but I haven't finished cleaning my classroom yet, and until that's done I am enslaved to my job. The school year finished well, although I think my students somehow forgot how to clean up after themselves by the end of the school year. It will be nice to be free of them for a while.

I have now planned a road trip for this summer... that takes me to and through about 15 or so states on my way to adding 5,000 more miles on my odometer. I'm excited about it, and am sure I'll be giving more details as to the tour stops on that trip in the near future.

Wow, what have I been up to since I blogged last... I remember thinking that all of my stress would be over once I finished the play, but that was not so. I always forget that May is one of the busiest months of the school year. In May, I missed 3 days of school to go to 'Trees for Tomorrow' which is like an outdoor ed program. I planned, setup, sat through, and took down for prom. I pushed through a few extra projects with my students. I bought an iron & wine cd and wondered why I hadn't done that before. I went camping over memorial day weekend. I saw numerous phenomenal finales before my roommate moved out and took the dvr with her. I purchased Blockbuster Online. In June we started off with graduation, which meant plenty of graduation parties, and far too much food... the parties continue through the coming weekends as well. My calendar for the summer is filling up all too quickly, and I have a feeling it will fly by and I'll be back in school in no time.

I'll have to keep reminding myself to breathe the summer in & let it simmer.

Uncle Phil's Diner

2007-04-23T17:04:00.000-05:00

Here's what has been keeping me so busy... but, as I learned this morning, I haven't gotten any less busy since we closed out the show yesterday. One of my students counted the number of days left in our school year, and it's 29... not counting the weekends of course. It's crazy how many things still need to be accomplished by the time those days are out. Ah how time flies. I can barely wait to be enjoying the weather and reading book after book.

moments of reflection

2007-04-08T00:51:00.000-05:00

I came across this poem this evening, it was written by a dear friend of mine. And it reminded me of the many good friends; for whom these words ring all too true. I miss you all dearly.

"My Promise"

have you ever
watched the stars
on some
crystal clear night
and
(for a moment)
thought you saw-
a memory, a tear,
an unchartered portion of heaven itself-
and simply paused…?

there will come
(undoubtedly)
a lapse in time
when you will wander
alone
and think back to this ‘now’

there will be
(without fail)
those certain moments
when strengths will weaken
under
a veil of uncertainty

and then
(at the perfect element)
you will look
toward heaven
and catch a falling star-
the good-byes of tomorrow
which are now
the faded tears of yesterday-
and remember
the face of someone
frosted in a nostalgic somewhere
encompassed by a lost sometime

who
(hundreds of memories away)
is breathing
the same air-
under the crescent moon
which follow you-
and
(for a moment)
finds a distant tear
in a quilt of stars
with a simple pause…
for the distant harmony
of you
-angela m onstine
june 3, 2000

pictures from spring break with the fam

2007-03-30T09:20:00.000-05:00

The ladies taking a multi-generational walk on the path.
Enjoying the merry-go-round!

up & down, & around
what a wonder, Ava's addicted to the iPod at such a young age; where are this girls parents?
Snuggle Time with Grandma!

An afternoon at the Zoo!
Kate should really calm down, merry-go-rounds aren't that scary.

roadway antics

2007-03-25T22:06:00.000-05:00

30 hours in the car, 2000 + miles on my car and plenty of family. my spring break was an official success... but i bet you're wondering what it is i did to keep myself alert in the car, besides of course the usual rocking out to my favorite cds/iPod and the necessary practicing of my sweet dance moves... well, it's quite simple, being bored led me to doing several different things, but i think one of the things that i found most enjoyable was writing notes to things that i saw or did along the way. these were of course only expressed out loud in the car by myself, or simply in my thoughts. And because i know that i have officially picqued your interest i will let you in on a few of them. (you must forgive the format, for my 'enter' key is not currently functioning on my laptop; as a result, and for your viewing pleasure I have tried to separate them by color.) Dear McDonalds, located an hour south of St. Louis, I regret to inform you, that you are not very good at what you do, and could use some off store hours practice. Waiting in line at the drive-thru for twenty minutes for a McFlurry, was not really my idea of how things should roll out. I also noticed that when I got to the pick-up window. There were several customers staring out the pick-up window at me, for they were bored, and tired of waiting for their food as well. Here are a few suggestions to help you improve your business: Work faster. Have more flavors of McFlurry available, namely the oh, so delightful Take5 flavor. Give the customers inside something to look at, preferrably something shiny, so that i, the customer, am no longer uncomfortable passing by your pick-up window. That is all. Dear 101.1, radio station of St.Louis, You blew my mind with how perfect your music selection truly was. I have to say, that i did indeed love it, and that if you had given me the 3 digit area code preceeding 969-0101, I would certainly have called in and let you know that myself. Will you please start a sister station in Green Bay, WI, effective immediately! thank you. Dear Mister 'I drive a Dodge Stratus', your antics on the road were not necessary. I can see that you drive a dodge stratus, but i do not think that entitles you to owning the road, or being so rude. I would suggest that you become more courteous to others, effective immediately. Dear Wapsipinicon River, I was delighted to meet your acquaintance, so much so, that your name is stuck in my head. I still remember the first time I passed your sign, most likely because it was only 2 days ago. After seeing your name while flying by at 70 some miles an hour, it took me approximately 3 minutes to pronounce it out loud. But once I got it, i couldn't get it out of my head. If ever, I were to create a word of my own, I could only dream that it would reach somewhere near your potential.

When Sally got an 'A' on her math test she was detective novel

2007-03-16T08:59:00.000-05:00

thrilled, i think would be the best word to describe how I am feeling right now. Spring break begins in t-minus 6 hours, and I could not be more ready, well perhaps I could be.

In the search for the perfect adjective to describe my emotions, I found that when you type 'thrilled' into Microsoft Word, and then look up synonyms for the word, one of the synonyms is 'detective novel'. Of course! I couldn't figure out what word would sound just right in that sentence, but 'detective novel' makes so much sense...

Over spring break I will be traveling to Collierville, TN to see and hang out with my parents, brothers, & nephews/niece. Can't wait to see and spend time with all of them.

300... insights into my soul!

2007-03-07T08:31:00.000-06:00

so, i'm psyched to see the movie '300' on Friday... pretty sure that i'm going to enjoy it thoroughly, and if not, well then naturally, I'll be pouty for the rest of my 3 day weekend.

On a side note: I'm pretty sure that I saw the best episode of Crank Yankers ever, the other day. This guy calls into a plastic surgery place and it goes a little like this:

Receptionist: Hello?
Chip: Hello, is this cosmetic surgery?
R: yes.
Chip: Hi, I don't need to make an appointment today. Do you want to know why?
R: sure.
Chip: Because (Chip now begins to play a sweet and simple beat and then he bursts into song)... I'm good looking
I'm good looking
pretty little nose
pretty little eyes
really nice shoulders
a nice little body
feet, also too
because, I'm good looking!

Over the course of the sketch Chip sings the song 4 different times varying it a little in the middle... but it all adds up to being stinking hilarious!

and on thursday...

2007-03-01T14:24:00.000-06:00

we rested! So, here I am faithfully checking my family's blogs, to see what is going on in their lives...

and may i simply take a moment to mention, Greg, i am proud of you, and congratulations on your acceptance into your masters program, and thank you for finaling blogging again.

however, the blog that made me laugh, and realize God's good sense of humor, is my brother adam's blog... his blog for the day speaks to the fact that in flowermound, texas spring has truly sprung... and normally i would be exceedingly jealous, but today, well Today I have a snow day, as in they called off school in my area because there was too much snow on the ground for the majority of people to make it in to school safely. so i have absolutely no reason to complain, because if for whatever reason WI decided to follow the rules of nature and actually begin truly warming up for springtime, well then i would be stuffed up in my school unable to enjoy any of it.

now to truly celebrate with me, you should know that the weather forecasters have been saying that beginning last night and continuing through friday there would be a gi-normous (just sound it out phonetically) snowstorm dropping loads and loads of snow on us here in Green Bay; and that the Green Bay school district in which i work has not called off school for a 'snow' day in over 10 years... yes, they've called it off, because it's been too cold, but not for an actual 'snow' day in 10 years.

now, the accumulation of snow fall from last night and into this afternoon, as measured by my shovel on my driveway, was approximately, two inches.

God you are indeed good... and though i feel your love and see your blessings in my life daily, today i am truly able to appreciate your smile on my face.

it blizzarded outside

2007-02-25T10:40:00.000-06:00

the meteorologists for the past couple of days have been reminiscent of paul revere's ride through town saying 'the blizzard is coming, the blizzard is coming' well last night the blizzard took a midnight ride of it's own and i'm proud to announce that we have now reached our quota on snowfall for the year... last night we got around 11 inches, which had all the churches in the area cancelling their events for the day... i highly doubt that reaching this quota will help us in anyway not to get more snow, because i live in wisconsin where the weather can be 70 degrees one day and knee deep in snow the very next. i am definitely staying positive though, because i went grocery shopping yesterday and have plenty of rationed food to keep me till all the roads are plowed today. not to mention that blockbuster is 100 feet away, so as long as they are still open, I will be able to make the treachorous treck to and from with a pleasant result of being fabulously entertained.

2007-02-19T15:08:00.000-06:00

On friday whilst hanging out with my lovely friend Heidi, I had the opportunity to get a tour of the firestation her husband works at, at the local airport. The tour was SWEET, her husband, jeff showed me everything from the control center, to the trucks, to the roof of the trucks... yeah I got to walk across the top of a fire truck. The coolest thing was probably the infrared camera that they have built into one of the trucks so that you can find where people are in the event of a fire. It was pretty sweet.

LOST

2007-02-07T09:18:00.000-06:00

16 weeks of suspenseful bliss, begins tonight.

quic with the pic

2007-02-07T07:26:00.000-06:00

::purchased::

::created::

because i know you want to be in the know

2007-02-04T00:45:00.000-06:00

::tonight::
- i attended a sort of art gallery/open house in which a few of my pieces were on display. i mingled about with several people that i know and several that i was meeting for the first time. i enjoyed the ambiance, and i'm proud to say that i also purchased a collage that was made by the wife of one of the pastors at a church that i do a twenty something bible study at. it is a phenomenal piece. hopefully sometime in the near future i can get a picture of it on here.
- i've been online for a couple of hours, and have purchased a few coffee table books including the gashlycrumb tinies and some brian andreas.

::this past week::
- everyday felt like friday, and not in the good way... and then friday didn't really feel like friday.
- i've been wondering if having too much caffeine can hurt your kidneys? can it?
- i made a painting to put in the art show thing that i went to tonight. i think that it was a success. it is a black and white painting of a park, with a small pond and a statue of a rather large hand.
- an elliptical machine was delivered to my house. now, while i haven't the vaguest of ideas of how to put it together, i did take all of the pieces out of the box and placed them randomly about the floor in the room where it will eventually be put together. i think that it was the most exercise i've had in a while. now all i need is my friend craig to help me put it together, so that i can set up my lovely but strict schedule of exercising when i'm on it.
- i completed the adjustment to the slightly devastating haircut i got 2 weeks ago. my hair is now officially apologizing to me and doing what i ask it to.

scissorhands is not a good name for a fish

2007-01-17T22:44:00.000-06:00

I got new fishies!!!!!

Their names are as follows:
Sparrow
Wonka
Barrie
& Gilbert

They are named after a certain actor's movie character names, and since my roommate and I couldn't quite decide on the final and fourth of the names, Barrie's nickname is Ichabod.

quietest they've ever been

2007-01-16T08:57:00.000-06:00

My apologies for being super lazy on the blog business for a while.

Let's catch up:
Christmas was good. I watched movies and ate chinese food with my lil' brother, Greg.
Post-Christmas was great. The entire fam came to my house and we hung out and opened presents for several hours, not to mention eating food for several hours, and then repeating that action over and over.
Post-Post Christmas was fun. My cousin Sarah got married and I stood up in the wedding... so that was awesome, got to see almost everyone on my mom's side of the family, and look gorgeous while doing so.
New Year's was spent hanging out with my family in Merrimac, WI... we didn't do much to ring in the new year besides play some cribbage and pet a sweet cat that we found lingering outside our door.

Recently:
I've enjoyed watching the office, hilarious!!!!
Been looking forward to the start of Lost again.
Hung out with my lovely friend HeatherBob, after she locked herself out of her house in her pjs, and then walked three blocks to borrow my cell phone to call her parents to get the extra key. Her landlord and direct neighbor in the duplex, couldn't answer the door, why, because he was taking a deuce.

Currently I am:
watching my peer ministry class fly through their exam, and trying to keep the one's who are done from talking to distract the others.

my recommendation

2006-12-18T16:56:00.000-06:00

so on saturday i finally buckled down and used a gift certificate i had been sitting on since last december.

i went and got a facial at a local place where they do things like that. the entire experience left me pondering why no one had ever told me of the wonderfullerness that was all encompassed in a facial. i'm pretty sure the person who invented the facial was thinking about heaven when they came up with it.

let me give you the run down of what happened, i laid there and relaxed as jenessa (oh, sweet jenessa) rubbed my face, neck and shoulders; gave me a hand rub, a foot rub, and made me feel like a better person for it. i'm pretty sure that jenessa was made of amazing. she kept me relaxed and peaceful the entire time. Even while i was laying there, i had time to think about how i would put the amazingness of it all into words for those of you that read my blog, and i'm pretty sure that i have not done jenessa justice or given her the glory she deserves. but i do recommend that each and every one of you (man or woman, elder or child) should try this at least once in your life, namely in the very near future.

if you are nervous about going yourself, i would be more than willing to tag along, if only to make you more comfortable.

ah yes, i suppose this would also be a good recommendation for future gift certificates for lisa.

haircut

2006-12-08T15:39:00.000-06:00

it's my haircut, and it's about time.

cute stinking kids!!!!!

2006-12-01T08:25:00.000-06:00

I had so much fun seeing these guys over Thanksgiving! I can't wait to see them again for Christmas!

I didn't say when...

2006-11-12T00:59:00.000-06:00

There have been some complaints filed by the general populas that I said there would be pictures of my new hair cut and new car to follow... well I didn't say when, and while I'm still getting to the car one, here is one of my hair (mostly)

another weak

2006-11-10T15:21:00.000-06:00

Recent Happenings:
-took 3rd at state
-first week out of the gym with the season over
-mom came to visit
-found out i pronounce 'crayon' wrong
-started to snow 2 days after it was almost 70 degrees
-final vball coaches meeting at the bar
-my peer ministry students led their 1st of 3 bible studies
-found out i'll likely never stop loving 'snow patrol'
-made thanksgiving plans
-painted a few pictures (small ones)
-loved it when freckles called him james
-almost hit 500 miles on my B.B.
-stopped wearing flip flops... mostly
-and that is mostly all.

pictures to follow

2006-10-27T13:12:00.000-05:00

Recently I have purchased a few things.... this list includes a new car. I have welcomed into my life B.B. (Baby Blue) She's my new toyota Yaris. We have become fast friends, and I am committed to making the relationship between me and B.B. work! I also got a new haircut yesterday. I had been growing my hair out for my cousin's wedding in December, but alas I got so sick of the long hair and never doing anything with it besides tying it back in a bun/ponytail, that I got it cut off yesterday. From the hundreds of compliments that I received yesterday I can only assume that it was a vast improvement to what it had been before, and hopefully by the time new years rolls around it will be of a sufficient length to do something with for the wedding.

In other news, my varsity volleyball team has made it into the sectional finals... which will occur tomorrow and from what i've heard the team we will be playing leaves the door wide open for us to make an impressive appearance at state next week friday. wish us luck!

it's easy as ABC 123

2006-10-17T11:34:00.000-05:00

So I've only ever been rollerskating a handful of times in my life... but yesterday afternoon made me want to be a kid again and go. One of my students brought in some Jackson 5 into art class to listen to... what a sweet idea! the music just made me wish that I was a kid again and could roll about on my skates, carefree, dancing to the music. Not that I was ever very good on wheels (about as awkward as an ostrich trying to snowboard) but who cares as long as you're having a good time right?

test drive

2006-10-17T11:17:00.000-05:00

Today I will be test driving a yaris, to see if it is the car for me! I'm pretty stinking pumped about it! Any tips before I hop behind the wheel? I've never test driven anything before in my life.

personal ad

2006-10-13T11:51:00.000-05:00

preferences:
stinking awesome
& made of amazing...
that is all.

happy birthday

2006-10-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

happy birthday nate nate, sorry it's a little late late.

puzzling pieces

2006-09-19T09:17:00.000-05:00

so putting together puzzles is one of those relaxing and mindless activities that I have found that I enjoy from time to time... As of late I have been putting together a 1000 piece puzzle that was one of my favorites from childhood. I have memories of putting it together with some christmas music blaring in the background and it is simply a high quality puzzle with a train, and houses that have different color outlines, a waterfall, some swans, horse drawn carriages, and some pumpkins... i doubt that there are many puzzles out there that rival this one.

Well, come to find as I have neared the finish line for the puzzle that it is missing 3 key pieces (cue: daunting music). I'm seriously disappointed in this puzzle. As much fun as it was to put together now it's come to a discouraging hault. I can only hope that those pieces will be found on the floor of my living room. Which by the way brings up the idea of spare parts for puzzles. I know that it wouldn't work, but I need something to make me feel better about those stinking empty holes. This whole missing pieces thing reminds me of the same problem I've been having with my dryer 'eating' my socks. Do you have any solutions, besides getting a life?

alright so here's the deal

2006-09-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

i was sick for a week... but i still went to work

volleyball has been sitting down to dinner with and eating all of my free time.

i've set up an emailing system for the school so that they can contact parents with the info needed to keep their students alive.

i've gotten up by 7.00 every saturday morning for a vball tournament in some random part of northeasterrn wisconsin.

my art students are setting off to work on self portraits or 1-2 point perspective which they all love me for (it's a requirement... that they love me).

my keyboarding students are complaining about how stinking bored they are, no offense to me of course

i've been trying to work on my professional development plan whose due date is creeping up on me

i've gotten through episode 16 of season 2 of 'lost' (thank you blockbuster movie pass)

and i haven't seen my roommate for at least 3 days.

life is rolling/crawling right along...

back in the swing of things

2006-08-30T08:20:00.000-05:00

so the school year officially began yesterday, and i officially started really working on it the day before that, so i have been climbing quite a steep slope as far as that's concerned.

it's definitely different this year, with knowing most of the students and getting to meet all of the new freshmen. there is a new teacher at the school this year, she's doing a great job. she kind of reminds me of myself when i was her age. sigh.

anywho, my social life will now consist of... sundays after church until volleyball season is over. oh well. eventually i will come to know my friends again, perhaps at the end of october.

doggie rehab

2006-08-21T12:03:00.000-05:00

so, sad news folks... we have to give up Mr. higgins. he apparently bit my roommates sister-in-law and gave her some sort of bacterial infection and now along with some other circumstances we have to give him up. hopefully they will be able to rehab the poor guy so that some other family or loving people can take him, because he is a seriously cool dog & i will miss him dearly. i love you higgins!

2006-08-06T11:26:00.000-05:00

reason #62 why my parents are a blessing from above as it relates to my ears.

my mom and dad like to get things done and have that motivation to get it taken care of. for example: i have been unable to hear very well out of my left ear for the past month or so. and in the one evening that i get to see my mother which included a bridal shower for my cousin and the general enjoyment of my family's company we also squeezed in over 45 minutes in the bathroom with my mom using an ear syringe to clean out 15 years worth of wax from my ears. now, i understand that this may be disgusting to some of you, but it is unbelievable the difference that it made to my ability to hear and truly understand my parents unconditional love for me.

thanks mom for the clean ears, and thank you dad for the ear wax accumulating ear canals you so graciously gave me.

who's got my back?

2006-07-18T16:51:00.000-05:00

seriously people why didn't anyone tell me that 'jarhead' was such a stinking crummy, go nowhere, do nothing movie. i was severely disappointed last night when the first hour of the movie moved so slowly that in the hopes of something, anything action wise. i stayed awake only to realize that that would never happen.

blog worthy hodge podge

2006-07-18T16:37:00.000-05:00

so this summer has kind of thrown itself together as a solid bunch of random things that keep Lisa busy. I've spent 2 full weeks working in an office whose mindless tasks treat me quite well, i've been to california and back for the first time... why didn't anyone tell me that san diego is 74 and pretty much perfect everyday? i really wish that wisconsin could find that setting on it's temperature dial, but instead i've been in a gym that gets up to about 85 degrees and 60% humidity daily for volleyball camps.

in addition to those things i've been moving into a new, sweet duplex whose space and fenced in yard have afforded my roommate Liz and I the opportunity to get a stinkin perfect dog, Higgins.

outside of a few more weeks of mindless office work and a trip to minnesota my summer is over and all of my prep for the school year needs to be ready. (yeah, I should really get on that)

California... California.... Here I come!

2006-07-03T16:55:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow begins my wonderful journey to California for my cousin Eric's wedding. Can't wait to take in all of the fun and festivities it will entail! and I'll be back on the day of one of my most beautiful friends birthdays, that's the ninth for those of you not in the loop. Happy Birthday Annika... Love you, you gorgeous piece of meat you. Expect something new on this blog in a little over a week. :-)

Introductions galore.

2006-06-28T15:34:00.000-05:00

I would like to introduce to you, my audience, the darling, MR. HIGGINS

Higgins is a daschund and chihuahua mix and he will soon be coming to live with me. My dear friend Liz (who i will also be living with) recently picked up Higgins from a pet rescue and he will now be 'our' adorable pet.

Now, I've only met him once, for a few minutes, but he has proved himself to be quite the gentleman. I simply cannot wait to get to know him better. I'm sure our relationship will lead to many interesting blogs in the coming years.

hmmmmm curious...

2006-06-21T18:13:00.000-05:00

you know how there are some things in life that you just couldn't imagine ever going without... like the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, or toilet paper... well i think that music belongs in that mix as well... gotta have it, love to hear it, can't help but singing along. i'm pretty sure that life would be boring without it.

i read a book recently by chuck palahniuk called 'lullaby'... and the main character kept calling everyone quiet-a-phobics and noise-a-holics, that is so me. i'm not really afraid of silence, and sometimes it is necessary, but i'm pretty sure that silence can be vastly improved by subletting it's existence to music.

i've often thought about making soundtracks for different units of my life like: naptime, worktime, picking flowers time, painting time, happy time, eating time, fancy eating time, and of course dancing time. i just never seem to get around to it, apparently soundtrack making time hasn't quite made it onto my list yet. it takes a lot of work and a lot of times to get things right and to get them to flow it takes way more than i'm often willing to give, especially for nap time.

i'm interested to hear what you would include on a soundtrack to your life... does each song fit certain moods, flow with a particular memory, or just make you feel good therefore defining your personality. hmmmm curious...

wittling gnomes

2006-06-06T21:01:00.000-05:00

you know how there are some words that just catch your attention and you think that they are awesome words or that you should use them more often? well, some of my friend Tyra's favorite words are 'wittling' and 'gnomes'.... and it got me thinking do i have any words that would do the same for me? are there some words out there that you guys use that you can't get enough of? i guess that i do say that things are 'made of amazing' quite alot, but i'm not sure that is the same thing as what i'm talking about. hmmm... words i can't live without... i know i have some but nothing comes to mind at this very moment. ooo, i think that one of them is 'inappropriate', yes, good word! maybe i'll get back to you with some others.

the grand final-e

2006-06-02T07:43:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of finals for the students at my high school which, for me, means it is the last day of formal work before i clock in for my few month vacay.

This summer won't be all fun and games... i did find a job to cover about half of my summer and the other half is busy as well, but hopefully i can get out and enjoy the beautiful summer weather for a few days before all of that begins.

as far as finals go, i guess that i thought my students would do much better than they did on the final that i gave for keyboarding. apparently i'm not the most amazing teacher. oh well, i guess i need some room for improvement leading into my second year of teaching.

a life of ease, please

2006-05-18T12:45:00.000-05:00

So this last saturday I was afforded the chance to attend the sold out brewers game in milwaukee. My friend Benny, who works for thrivent, had two suite seats (oh, they were 'sweet' indeed) and offered me one of them. let me tell you, i do not think that i will ever go back to sitting in regular seats in any stadium ever again (except, the next time that the opportunity affords itself) because those seats were so awesome! there was free food, free beverage, and free parking close to the stadium! you really couldn't ask for more, in my opinion those seats were made of A-mazing!

I wish that i had remembered to bring my camera so that i could show you some of the suite pics... but everyone else there probably would have stared at me for taking pictures of the food anyways. the game itself was awesome as well... the final score was 9-8 the brewers lost, but any game with that much scoring has to be good, and it was!

in addition to all the other amazingness it was also a bobble head night, so we got a bobble head as we walked into the stadium as well as extra that were in the suite when we got there... i believe that it was derek turnbow... and it had like fake barbie hair and everything... the bobble heads were so cool that i gave them to two of the teachers that i work with so that they could sell them on e-bay and make some money off of them. i could definitely get used to being pampered, or accepting free food and such, hopefully this gives a warm fuzzy feeling to any of you who might think you would like to give me something for free but you weren't really sure how i would react.

marathon woman

2006-05-15T08:30:00.000-05:00

So yesterday was mother's day, and another happy mother's day to you mom! but in the spirit of the day i sat on my butt and watched the Gilmore Girl's marathon that was on ABC family yesterday! The show is so delicious that i had to wait til commercial breaks to be able to go to the bathroom and take care of other things that needed to be done yesterday (i.e. dishes that hadn't been done for a month). i did however somehow find the power to change the channel at 9.00 when the grey's anatomy season finale started... i couldn't agree with you more adam, sometimes tv is just too good to be shutting it off to go to a movie or something crazy like that.

lazy monday

2006-05-08T08:23:00.000-05:00

whilst i did not wake up in the late afternoon and eat cupcakes, (mmmm cupcakes)i definitely wish that i had gotten more sleep this weekend... but you can't win them all, i suppose. it was a good weekend indeed, meeting new friends and acquaintances, i just wish that i could keep my eyes open and awake looking for more than five minutes this morning. i suppose that's what coffee is for, but alas i was too lazy to stop by starbucks for some of their tasty coffee-like treats on the way to school. well, my students will rest assured that we will simply be accomplishing low-key tasks for the most part which do not require me to do much of anything. maybe by the end of the day i will be ready for the week to come with a fine arts banquet and other appointments that don't care if i got enough sleep or not.

my spidey sense is tingling...

2006-04-25T08:01:00.000-05:00

Adam as pretty much the coolest uncle ever sent a few sweet gifts with me when i went out for easter to see Ben & Kate. The first of which being a sweet spiderman costume that fit nate almost perfectly. It even had room for his large muscles!

Adam also got a sweet monkey puppet for Nate to play with, which he just loves.

Nate & Eli besides being without shirts for almost the whole weekend also enjoyed the 'bob the tomato' and 'larry the cucumber' hats that we got for them.

Surprisingly, Ben fits into those hats almost too well...

Here I am with my little niece Ava... she was adorable the entire weekend, it has to be so tiring for her to be that cute all the time.

My mother was also in MN for the weekend, spending time with her grandkids so it was a grand ol' reunion.

The weekend itself was a great joy, and I look forward to seeing all of them as soon as I can this summer.

2006-04-21T08:22:00.000-05:00

you are about to see what has been keeping me from having restful sleep for the last month.

here are some pics of the set that i have designed and executed for peter pan. i think they look a lot better with the actors on them, but i'll have to borrow some of those pics from the yearbook people.

This is the backdrop for Neverland (before we put it on the stage)... we also made large mushrooms and have a couple trees that fit on stage.

This is the pirate ship.. .the only way for actors to exit is by going into the 'captains cabin' or jumping over the side of the ship.

Here is the nursery... where children slumber safely in their beds until young boys and fairies 'fly' into the room and take them away

can't hardly wait

2006-04-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

this weekend I am going to be traveling to Minnesota to hang out with my brother & sister-in-law, my niece & nephews, my mom and my little brother. hopefully it will be loads of fun and it will take my mind off of the play for at least a few days...

details and sweet pictures may well be arriving soon after my return.

i've got high hopes

2006-04-12T07:55:00.000-05:00

recently I have become involved with designing the set for our school play, 'peter pan' to date i have designed most of what i want to happen as far as the set is concerned but a lot of it has still not taken shape yet. i have a wonderful crew of students helping me, but so far all we've been able to get done is a lot of the painting for the backdrops. there is still a whole pile of things that need to be made for props and such. thankfully my little brother who is quickly becoming a pro at this stage stuff is coming on monday to help me out with anything and everything. that still doesn't keep me from becoming extremely stressed out about the whole situation and losing sleep... but at least i know i'll be able to sleep again once it's all over. Thank God!

no comment

2006-03-28T12:32:00.000-06:00

at the school i work at we have a 'marriage and family' class that all of the seniors are required to take. recently their teacher assigned them to do an interview with someone who is single and over the age of twenty one. asking them about how they like single life, probing into their feelings about being single and how it affects their relationship with God, and so on. well now, let's just take a look at how many people at said school fit that profile group... um, yeah, that's one, me. the assignment is due on friday and i've already had 2 students interview me for the assignment i believe that the other 28 or so will come a knocking on thursday, or friday during lunch. which reminds me to thank mr. mcclellan for reminding his students that i fit into that brachet and would likely be a very easy person to go to, to complete their assignment.

to keep myself from getting bored, i will likely start changing up my answers like, being single makes me super depressed and all i do with my free time is write emo songs about it, or i cry myself to sleep at night, or everytime that i meet a new guy i size him up and batter him with questions to see if he is the 'one' for me (i don't know why they all run the other direction). there are so many good angles to fly on this, and that way mcclellan won't get bored when he's reading their answers. any suggestions for possible answers?

they say it's your birthday

2006-03-20T18:06:00.000-06:00

hey mom...

happy birthday!
For those of you that haven't met my mom, she is the one of the left. she's celebrating her 25th birthday! Way to go mom, you made it.

By the way my parents just started a blog, you may find the picture a little repetitive , but they can't help being so lovely... so get over it.

a case of mistaken identity

2006-03-20T17:48:00.000-06:00

on friday before i left for chicago i went to a fun dinner at tumbleweed for my friend jason's birthday. while at the restaurant i was sitting next to Chaz another friend... Chaz loves kids in that sweet he wants to be a father way... well there were some kids in the same room as our little party and Chaz kept making comments about the kids. This one little boy was throwing chips all over the floor. This child also had a Woody doll from the movie "Toy Story". Chaz tends to have blond moments sometimes, which is why it shouldn't have surprised me when he said, "Hey, I think that kid has a Tim Allen Doll!!!" Oh Chaz... you can be so blond sometimes, but perhaps it is a conspiracy of some sort. i'll let you decide for yourself

even if it's not, maybe tim allen does deserve an 'action figure' of his own. tim allen you handsome devil you.

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, yeah i can spell it.

2006-03-17T13:51:00.000-06:00

yeah... i gave my keyboarding students a game day today, because I didn't feel like watching them type for two class periods in a row... I'm pretty much the coolest teacher that I know. Besides as soon as school is done today we are all headed out for spring break, you can't get much better than that, and you can't expect students to focus with that kind of freedom looming over their heads.

I am headed down to Tennessee to see my parents and then off to texas to see my brother... i will return on sunday the 25th, wish me and my car luck, as we may need it just to make it down to Tennessee and back again.

um diddle diddle diddle um diddly ay, yippee

as a silver lining...

2006-03-13T11:49:00.000-06:00

this last week was ending relatively badly for me, which is unfortunate... but on saturday to my surprise the near fatal prognosis took a turn for the good. I have been in slow contact with a guy here in green bay, but we couldn't catch each other at the right time to be able to figure out the best time to meet... well it worked out that we could do it saturday night... He was in possession of what i had thought to be clay in bags that my students could use. as it turned out though, i was completely wrong... he did however have 1,000's of clay pieces that had come out of molds that i could take pretty much for free...

he (let's call him steve), steve had recently picked up the hobby of glazing and painting ceramic materials just before a local store that he bought his materials from was going out of business. the store was such a fan of steve that they simply had him pull up his truck to the back of the store and then they loaded tons of clay pieces and molds onto it for him to take for free. well now steve had all of these random things that he is more than willing to give away, and who better to pick through them than me. it was awesome! i felt like a kid in a candy store. steve had the most random stuff and it was stored all over his house. from teasets to easter bunnies, easter eggs, and boxes full of hands that looked like mickey mouse gloves. I found a lot of cool stuff & it really put a good upward spin on the end of the week... plus i now have my next project for my art classes all figured out.

nobody makes me bleed my own blood, NOBODY

2006-03-09T10:30:00.000-06:00

dodgeball... now there is a sport in which i will likely fail.

this week, is lutheran schools week... that means that we get to do fun things like eat a free leisurely lunch, have a penny war, and play dodgeball... where it is class against class and faculty against students.

today is dodgeball day, and i think that i have to be honest with myself. i will likely fail. it's not that i'm not 'made of amazing' when it comes to dodgeball, it is simply that when you play faculty against students the term 'vendetta' comes to mind. hopefully i won't be broken in many places by the time we are finished, but we'll know by 3.00 for sure.

To the one who has everything:

2006-03-02T13:15:00.000-06:00

And to think I thought antlers would be the perfect thing to get for you.
Happy Birthday Adam!

information that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY

2006-02-28T07:37:00.000-06:00

so this weekend i bought an ipod nano, while i was in milwaukee. dude. my friend jon let me put all of this awesome music on it from his computer. sweet. little did i know that you canNOT move music from an ipod to a computer, it only goes the other way around. now i am back in green bay with a nano emptied of the songs i was going to love, simply because i am an idiot when it comes to being in the know, and i didn't get any burned copies of the cds i wanted. dude, not so sweet.

Thanks alot Ben

2006-02-21T08:28:00.000-06:00

Total number of Movies in your collection:
Probably about 15... My friend Brandon who owns over 200 has become my Blockbuster, so I haven't bought a whole lot of them recently.

Last Movie I bought or that was given to me:
About a Boy or maybe Donnie Darko

Last Movie I watched:
Four Rooms

Five Movies I own, that I could watch over and over:
Meet Joe Black
Fight Club
Princess Bride
Supertroopers
Zoolander

to 'some' it up

2006-02-20T13:01:00.000-06:00

this last weekend, i traveled to shawano with about 20 other 20 somethings from the green bay area. we stayed at imago dei, a camp/lodging site on the shores of a lake. besides sleeping here is pretty much what we did...

Sang Some Songs

Sat in Some Chairs

Finger Wrestled Some Fools

Hugged

Leg Wrestled Some Other Fools

Ate Some Food

& Posed

Snow Day Blues

2006-02-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today, in Green Bay... no children will be attending school, because today is a snow day. There is a little more than 2 inches of snow blowing around, but with the promise of much much more I don't think that any school in the Fox Valley area is having school today. Now, you may notice when I post this that it is at 7 something in the morning... and you may think to yourself, did Lisa get internet in her house, wake up, was unable to go back to sleep, and so she is blogging? NO, Lisa does not have internet in her apartment, which can only mean.... yeah, i'm at school today, even though we have a snow day, because i told someone that i would help them move some heavy equipment. So snow day or not, I am still here... Darn, that spirit that has been instilled in me by my parents to help others and live up to their expectations... perhaps this afternoon I can get out there and enjoy the snow a little bit. maybe i can spin this off to make it look like i'm an extremely dedicated teacher, who not only doesn't take sick days, but comes in despite any whether conditions that might be occuring... yeah, like the postal service.

does superman get a super hero salary?

2006-02-15T12:14:00.000-06:00

I have recently discovered a new super power of my own, and I get paid to do it... I actually get paid with real money as well, not just the ol' 'thank you for saving my life' bit. I gained my super power the day that I turned 18. (apparently i've been trying to hone in on this skill for 5 years or so) Anywho my new superpower is... donating plasma.

I think that they will call me 'plasma girl' and my costume will be blue and red, like the color of blood, (the color of plasma is too icky to have as a superhero color)

You can make $50 a week donating plasma, that's up to $2400 a year, if you don't ever get sick or lose the right amount of protein in your blood or answer any of those questions about 'the hiv' the wrong way...

Now all that I need to do is seek out my 'fortress of solitude' and I'll be set. I'm thinking maybe the bahamas, or my living room, seeing as i can't quite afford to fly to the bahamas everytime that i need to consult my floating heads... i really need to develop that power of flying thing soon.

CC for me me

2006-02-09T07:47:00.000-06:00

Let me begin by saying that I, my friends, AM A HUGE NERD! it's true, and i thought you all should know. i should be ashamed to admit why, but i am not. it is simply because i love to have the closed captioning on whilst i am watching your everyday tv shows. it's not that i have the sound off or anything, no, the sound is on, but i enjoy reading along with my favorite shows as well as the news. you'd be surprised at how many interesting things come over the CC that don't get said on the news stations, and you can always tell when they mess up reading off of their prompters... you probably wouldn't be surprised though at how many people have made fun of me when we are casually watching tv at my house and i realize that i have forgotten to turn them off.

anyways, this morning i was watching music videos on MTV. (i know i was as surprised as you that they still play music videos on MTV, but it was in the morning, when not many people are watching, so that is likely why) i was watching them intermittently while i was getting ready. one of the music videos was Matisyahu, a new-to-the-scene jewish rapper, who sounds an awful lot like Bob Marley. his message is an extremely positive one about faith. he honestly conveys his faith/spirituality openly which compels me to respect his artistry and message. when i was reading the lyrics on the CC they kept putting a hyphen in God, so that it was G-d, as though it was a bad word that had to be bleeped out. i was momentarily outraged that MTV would do such a thing until I went to Matisyahu's website only to find that that is how he has God's name written in his bio. what is up with that? can any of you explain to me why he would want to put a hyphen in God's name, it's like when people turn Christmas into x-mas.

not so 'in shape'

2006-02-03T12:17:00.000-06:00

A day before the second semester began at my high school I learned that I was going to be teaching physical education, that's right gym class. Something that I have never been trained to teach and a class that I never really enjoyed that much myself. (That is of course excluding the relaxation class which was a portion of my gym class in high school)

As it turns out I only have 7 students... and they're all girls, not too intimidating, but with only 7 of them it really limits the gaming possibilities. So far we have played games like four square, badminton, giants wizards & elves, nuke'em (which is a game i picked up off of the internet)... but i am starting to run out of ideas. we have begun doing tae bo on wednesdays and pilates on fridays, but the other days i need something to stick in there. i have decided that when it becomes delightfully warm enough outside we will be doing some frolfing, but until then i most definitely need something fun to do indoors.

So this is the part of the show where I turn to the audience and ask for any volunteers, or idea makers. Keep in mind that not all of these girls are the most athletic, and that in order to play with even numbers i have to participate (again with the 'not so in shape' notation).

(Above image taken from this website)

toothpaste for dinner

2006-01-23T16:08:00.000-06:00

ran into this by accident... some of it's funny, some of it's not so funny

coolest thing this side of... well, that side

2006-01-16T07:39:00.000-06:00

On Friday I went to a lazer light show at the planetarium in appleton... it was sweet, about 50 minutes of various sequences of lazers set to the music of U2. There were some parts where it got a little bit boring with some of the shifting shapes... but staring up at the huge ceiling is a lot like being in a huge imax... so when the mullet dude who ran the show would throw stuff in there sometimes it would make you feel like you were moving. there was even one part where it simulated you being on a roller coaster... and it actually felt like you were riding the roller coaster it was sweet... everyone was yelling and putting their arms in the air as well. if we hadn't had reservations for dinner for the 12 of us across town we would have stayed for pink floyd, dark side of the moon at the nine o'clock showing... better luck next time i suppose

20,19,18,17...

2006-01-08T12:29:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I attended a mini girls night, and we watched classics like Empire Records and the tear-jerking Notebook... it was a blast; pizza, chocolate&peanut butter brownies, gummy worms... I think that I was even supposed to learn how to crochet, but we never quite got around to that. I suppose finger weaving is about the best that I can do at this point.

Anywho... a girl named Summer (hereto refered to as Sumner) was at the movie nite. She seems like a sweet girl and everytime I've seen her she always tell me how funny I am... (I have no choice but to love that) Well Sumner sat me down and put that serious question out there on the line, she said. LisaBob you seem like a real clever chic, but I don't know much about you... you have 20 seconds to convince me to be your friend. Well the daunting, suspenseful music began to play as I swiftly convinced Sumner that I was pretty much the coolest person that I had ever met. Sweet relief, there's nothing like spreading a little truth.

but I still didn't know much about Sumner in return, so I asked her what I needed to know to be her friend... apparently, I simply need to know her favorite color, orange; favorite number, 7; and favorite movie/actress, Ever After/Drew Barrymore... Looks like you can go ahead and chalk one up to LisaBob being the newest Wisconsinite in possession of a season/friend named Sumner.

2005-12-27T23:28:00.000-06:00

Just thought you all would like to see a picture of the most beautiful baby girl in the midwest... for more check out my brother ben's picture blog there are also some adorable ones of my nephews.

vay cay update: does that look like spit to you?

2005-12-26T19:51:00.000-06:00

status: good to go

so my brother adam... known not so much for being hilarious as he is for being outrageously funny has been here for the last day and a half. he is definitely a stress reliever. i will be sad to see him go tomorrow.

my vacation has been going well... i think that i've only really thought about school twice and that has only had to do with discussing stage set-up for the spring play with my little brother who is in love with designing things... and the little memos to self that have been reminding me to talk to my father about 403B's (which reminds me, i need to do that)

in a couple of days here i will be traveling to chicago to spend the coming in of the new year with annika... my delightful friend who is visiting for a very short while before heading back to new zealand.

01-01-06 i will be getting up way too early to the tune of a headache and a 3 hour drive to green bay to go to my first packer game ever... which will be awesome...-ly freezing but really good, cuz it might be favre's last game. I'll have to see if i can order up a large farva.

TEAM RAMROD!