The Randomness That Makes Up My Life

Christmas at Mount Vernon

2012-01-20T13:00:00.000-05:00

I was able to get the chance to go to Mount Vernon and see it decorated for the holidays. While in the 1790s they did not decorate like we think of Christmas decorations today. The decoration in the house was pretty much limited to evergreen bows over the windows, and the Christmas Camel on the lawn Aladdin. I just love going to Mount Vernon, and I now have an annual pass so I can go whenever I want!

The Thanksgiving Turkey

Aladdin the Christmas Camel

I love this house so much!

The Greenhouse

View of the Potomac from the Veranda

View of the Spinning Room.

The Loom. G.W. was a huge proponent of homespun cloth for his Plantation.

Mount Vernon in Gingerbread, Incredible!

Veranda View

It is so detailed, and looks exactly like the house!

One of my favorite spots. I can just picture the Washington family sitting out here, and watching the activity that passed by on the Potomac River. I am in awe when I stand here, and think about it. I'm so lucky to be able to go here whenever I want to.

Welcome to 2012

2012-01-18T15:41:00.002-05:00

Well I had a whirlwind end to the semester in December. All I can say is that it is over, and I survived the insanity. I was able to go home to Florida for a week and a half over Christmas. It was so wonderful to be home, and to see most of my amazing friends. I also got a Kindle for Christmas which is the only thing that I wanted! I really wanted to stay longer, but alas it was time to get back to the District, and my lovely job. I'm now in the midst of revamping my resume in the hopes that I can graduate to a real job at a museum anywhere.
Classes began on Tuesday, and so far I think I feel more comfortable this semester with the work load and with the type of work that I will be doing. I am taking Religion in American Culture, which will not only prove to be interesting. I also get to delve a little bit back into my Southern Religion books, and that is what I am most excited about. My life would be made if I could just study southern history, because that is where my history passion lies along with African-american history, and american women history. Hopefully I'll have more regular posts about my life here in the District and the few things I get to do for fun when I have time. I'm planning a Christmas at Mount Vernon post to be published shortly, get excited for a picture of the presidential pardoned turkey!

Last Moments of Fall

2011-11-10T21:52:00.001-05:00

I originally wrote this post in November, but never got around to publishing it. So here is a look back to November.
I have experienced my first fall this season. I've absolutely loved it. I thought I would just share some images of fall I took on the way home from the metro the other day. It was a nasty day, but the leaves were everywhere. It was beautiful. This season has cemented my love of fall!

The City of Brotherly Love

2011-11-10T20:48:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I was able to go to Philadelphia to do research for a paper. I was able to do research as well as be a tourist as well. I had so much fun, and have fallen in love with Philly. I want to go back and spend more than a few hours. Regardless here are some pictures from my trip and I apologize for the overload.

Independence Hall. They are working on restoring the tower, and I think it is scheduled to be done soon.

I don't remember what this is, but Philly has some gorgeous architecture. I love the pattern on the window above the door.

If I remember correctly this is the building that the Philly/Independence National Park NPS Headquarters is located.

Another architectural detail.

An example of an English style garden? I just really loved this gazebo and pathway.

I love the pattern on this gate.

Part of "Bank Row" All of these buildings used to contain some of the first banks in Philly. Fortunately the buildings are still there!

This is the whole reason why I came, for this exhibit. This is the street entrance to the Presidential House exhibit. The liberty bell center is in the background.

Me inside the exhibit.

The dining room area. Each room is supposed to have mini vignettes about several of the slaves that lived at the Presidential House in Philly. The colored panel has a significant event that happened in the house? I was kind of confused by them, I didn't exactly know the significance of the events that were on some of the glass colored panels.

Archaeolgoical remains of the Presidential House, and the structure that was built ontop in the early 19th centruy. the Rounded portion in the upper right corner is part of a window that George Washignton added to the house.

NPS sign about the house, gave a brief summary, and is nice because of the visual of what the house used to look like.

Independence National Park

The Liberty Bell!

A George Washington Statue. Fun fact this one is also on the GWU Campus. This is a fun game to play. How many George Washington statues can you find!

This is the train board at the station in Philly. It's so old school. When I was in the station I felt like I was back in 1943 or something. It was magical, and I was totally romanced.

The train station was beautiful!

So that was my trip to Philadelphia in a nutshell. It was the first time that I had taken a trip by myself, and I survived. I was a bit nervous, but it was wonderful. I do wish I had someone with me, but that's for another time. I was able to see the exhibit, and get more source ideas for my paper!

Mount Vernon

2011-10-11T20:29:00.003-04:00

This semester I am taking a class at the Mount Vernon Estate. The class is entitled George Washington and His World. I really enjoy it, and I'm really excited to research and write my paper for the class! A couple of weeks ago we were able to actually tour the house! Mount Vernon is the nation's first house museum, so it's kinda considered the mecca of house museums. Many other house museums strive to be like Mount Vernon in their areas.
Because I am in the class, we were given a special tour by one of the curators. We were able to go into the basement, spend a little bit longer in 'the new room', and also go up to the third floor! The third floor is rarely seen because logistically you just can't get a lot of people up there, and it would really block the flow of traffic for a sight that gets millions of visitors a year. The third floor is pretty special though. It's where Martha Washington moved her bedroom to after the death of George, and also allows access to the coupola. The curator at Mount Vernon said there isn't anything that indicated that a ladder was stationed at the coupola like there is now, but it definetly provided light and air flow for the house. Regardless I got to go up into it and I took a few pictures of the grounds from that great vantage point! I appoligize in advance, these are from my phone so they of course are not the best quality.

The Mount Vernon website is full of information about the house and I would consider it one of the premier museum websites out there. There are all sorts of education information, trip planners, and even a virtual tour of the mansion. Check it out at http://www.mountvernon.org/

Nooshi

2011-09-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

I got home from work today and really wanted sushi. I had to go downtown to pick up something from school, so I asked my roommate if she wanted to get sushi. We decided to try out a restaurant in D.C. called Nooshi. It's on 19th Street between L and M streets. It was really good!
I decided to just dive in and get sushi. It was reasonably priced with rolls ranging from $4-$12. I got the California Roll, Yellowtail and Cucumber Roll, and Soft Shell Crab Roll. I only spent around $17 for all three and was so full when I was done. The soft Shell Crab was my favorite roll. There was a mixture of the crab, with a creamy sauce in it and maybe lettuce or cabbage. I just thought it was super tasty. My roommate got the Tuna and Avocado roll and a noodle bowl. She said they were both really good, and the noodle bowl was huge it could have fed 2 people.
This is definitely a college/young professional hang out because of the excellent prices.
I will be going there again and trying more things soon! I think it will become one of my new favorite sushi restaurants.

Random Thoughts

2011-09-09T00:01:00.000-04:00

Well there isn't much to report about up here in the District. I have begun working at Starbucks about 20 hours a week and I'm of course still in training. Learning to make some drinks and such during my shifts.
I was able to have a completely free day on Monday. My first labor day off in 3 years, because well Flagler does not believe in that holiday. My roommate and I went to Ikea. It's about 30 minutes away in another town with a huge outlet mall beside it. I bought a bunch of stuff including Ikea meatballs and cream sauce, Yum! School is back up and running. I have all three classes next week, and a paper topic due. I have no idea what I am going to write about. All in time. I'm staying pretty caught up on readings so far, and actually taking notes on the readings. Which mainly has to do with the fact that I have to pay for all of my printing here.
On Tuesday, I left class and took a 1.5 mile walk through D.C., past the White House to the National American History Smithsonian to take a look at their special 9/11 exhibit. 50 items were on display on tables for people to look at. There were objects from the three 9/11 sites (New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa) as well as the TSA. It was really interesting to see what survived out of that horrible day. At the end of the exhibit was a short film, about the day from the news and news anchors perspectives. Then a place where people could reflect and write their thoughts and memory of the day. I thought it was fantastically done, because if someone had a question about an item, they could ask different staff and volunteers at the tables. Also it left the objects up to interpretation. There weren't text panels or anything like that, just labels as to what the object was. I think the video was the most powerful part of the exhibit, because it was right there again in front of someone's face. I'm really glad I braved the rain on Tuesday to see it.
It has been raining like mad here, and I feel wet and damp all of the time. It's gross, and I'm willing it to dry up and the humidity to depart from this place. I want beautiful fall.
Also a new random fact. I am falling in love with yoga. I felt like trying it because I was so stiff. I bought a yoga mat which was also for my dvd cardio/strength style workouts. However, I just decided to try an online streaming yoga video, and I just love it for getting all of the tension out of my body. I have found a Weight Watchers meeting here in town that I am now attending. I have been in a plateau all summer, and I'm trying to get out of it. I lost 1.6 pounds this week, so if I can lose another pound I will be super happy.

Off and Running

2011-09-02T18:30:00.000-04:00

I have just finished up m first week of classes at GWU. So far I think it is going to be a really good semester. Monday, I had George Washington and His World which takes place at the Mount Vernon Estate each week. I'm really excited about the tours coming up. I also have to figure out what I would like to do for my final paper/project. My professor would like me to do something Museum Studies related, but as I told him I don't really have much experience yet with my field, so we'll just see what happens. Tuesday, I had Exhibit Design Curatorial Planning. Basically we will be focusing on the role of a curator in the museum profession. This really pertains to my chosen track of Exhibitions, so I think that this class will help me in my future career. Thursday, I have Museum Management. Although, I'm probably the least excited about this class, I am confident that this class will help me understand how museums operate from the management perspective. Overall I think this will be an exciting semester full of new things.
I also have started attending National Community Church at Ballston. I really like how the church emphasizes community within as well as contributing to the surrounding community. They also preach straight from the Bible, and really emphasize one's personal relationship with God. I'm excited to become more involved in the church and meet more people there. I'm considering trying to join a small group this semester. However, with the scheduling between school and my new job, I don't know if I will be able to balance it all this semester.
Finally that brings me to my new job. I am now a "partner"/employee of Starbucks. Lots of free coffee! I love how God provides every time I need a job. He is constantly showing His hand in my life.

Memorials

2011-08-24T17:18:00.000-04:00

Well today was an errand/adventure day. I took the metro down to GWU and got my student id which is needed for everything! I then had lunch at J-Street, which is the dining facility on campus. Then I decided to check out the library. Oh man I'm in love with the library, there are so many books! 3 floors of books, plus a floor of periodicals, and study areas everywhere! I'm can't wait to use it.

I then went on my way and decided to walk from GWU to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial which is on the tidal pool. It was a super long walk but was well worth it! I walked by the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial on my way to the MLK Jr Memorial.

Lincoln Memorial

They are redoing the reflecting pool (hence now water) WWII Memorial, Washington Monument, and Capitol

Lincoln

Lincoln Memorial

I wasn't completely sure where I was going, but when I saw all this paraphernalia I knew I was heading in the right direction.

The memorial was really nice, and full of people. It is the opening week, and the official unveiling ceremony is on Sunday. I was walking around, and found it really moving that a bunch of people were on the phone talking to others who weren't there. These people seemed to be recounting many of their Civil Rights Movement era experiences, and it just reaffirmed that this memorial not only belongs on the National Mall, but how much this man, and the movement impacted people's lives. It was a great time.

The memorial is lined with some of his quotes, this one is about the Vietnam War.

View from the Memorial.

I then walked a forever long way past the Washington Memorial, and finally ended up back at the metro. It took me forever to get back to the metro, because the MLK memorial is kind of in the middle of nowhere so it is quite a hike, and I was not wearing the right shoes!

Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial

National Park: Floral Library

Jefferson Memorial

My Shoes! I walked 2.5 miles between GWU and the Smithsonian Metro Station

I finally came upon the Holocaust Museum and Bureau of Engraving and Printing building. So I quickly new exactly how to get to the Smithsonian Metro station which would take me right back to my station closest to home.

Holocaust Museum is the closest building, and the big square one is the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

I thoroughly enjoyed wandering around downtown today. I really think that The District is the only city I could really live in. I was just thoroughly delighted today, and I think that God keeps giving me the gift of delighting in Him through where I am now! "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives." Psalm 37:23

Apartment Tour

2011-08-22T17:24:00.000-04:00

I decided to go ahead and make a video tour of my apartment last night. There is much work still left to do on the common areas, but my room is basically all unpacked and even decorated minus a few items. I apologize if the video is terribly shaky, I obviously was walking around, and have never claimed to be the best videographer, especially with my little camera. Enjoy!

Crafting

2011-08-18T11:46:00.000-04:00

After drooling over various projects on Pinterest, I finally decided to make something that I saw on there. I saw a project for putting a decorative backing on a bookshelf and I knew that I already had the perfect bookshelf. I found my backing at Michaels for $1.80. It was vinyl shelf paper that was on sale. It was probably not the best thing to use, because it ended up getting a little messed up on the overlap part, but that is hidden by a shelf anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

Bookshelf Before = boring

Supplies: Vinyl Shelf Paper, Rubber Cement and Scissors. I didn't really need the rubber cement, but I added a little bit to the corners and where the vinyl ended up overlapping in order to provide a little extra hold.

After! There are some bubbles and creases after applying the vinyl, but they aren't that noticeable especially with stuff on the shelf.

After with shelves on.

In my room with the books and random supplies. I really think it adds a little bit of color to my room.

Close up of the backing. The pattern isn't really that noticeable because it's so light and small, but I think it's really cute.

Once I have finished organizing and unpacking everything, as well as cleaning up the boxes I plan to do a little video tour of my new apartment!

Smithsonian

2011-08-16T19:19:00.000-04:00

I have finally ventured out of my apartment! I decided to go downtown to my absolute favorite Smithsonian, and one I hope to work at one day. The National American History Smithsonian. Full of all things American from pop culture, wars, people, and presidents. It took me about an hour to get there. I left my apartment later than planned and after a 15 minute walk got onto the metro. From there it was maybe a 20 minute ride to the Smithsonian station. I then took a wrong turn out of the station and walked around the USDA building (an entire block) finally found my way to the Mall and found the building. By that time it was about 10:30am. I got a free map, and the woman asked me what I wanted to see. My answer: everything, and I did just that. I was in the Smithsonain until 6:30 ( a total of 8 hours) and I was exhausted afterwards! I completely fell even more in love with this new city that I lived in. I just love the fact that I can take a trip downtown and basically have a free day to wander around a museum for free!

Some of my favorite exhibits were of course Julia Child's Kitchen, The First Lady Exhibit, The American Presidency, and The Price of Freedom: Americans at War. But by far I think my favorite exhibit was For All The World To See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights. It combines two of my loves: history of the civil rights movement, and how media shaped and influenced it. That is what I love studying in addition to of course Women. I thought the easiest way to share my adventure was through some random pictures I took. I did see everything, but there are some items like the Civil Rights exhibit, and the Star Spangled Banner where for preservation reasons pictures are not allowed. Also I apposition for the quality of the pictures. I took them with the flash off (because I believe in conservation), and my camera died so I also used my phone. Enjoy my favorite things at the Smithsonian.

Lunch counter from Greensboro, N.C. where the first Civil Rights Movement sit-in occurred.

Women factory workers during WWII

This is a shoe that a Chinese woman with bound feet would have worn.

I thought it was funny that a van similar to what my family had when I was little is now in the Smithsonian.

Cartoon of the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Atomic Fire balls, part of American after WWII and how the atomic bomb and plastics began to change and influence our lives.

Modern 1950s kitchen, plastic is everywhere!

1950s living room.

The invention of "The Pill" I personally liked the header

Julia's Kitchen

Julia's copper pan wall!

Julia's cookbooks and videos

Another view of her kitchen.

Me and Julia's Kitchen!

Vintage lace from the late 1700/1800s

A very blurry picture of one of Martha Washington's gowns. It still looks beautiful and pattern on the dress was actually hand painted!

First Lady Michelle Obama's dress!

The Red Slippers! They are not as beautiful as they once were.

Fifinella! The WASPs mascot during WWII.

Vietnam nurse

Vietnam POW bracelets. People used to buy them, and each bracelet had a name of someone who was MIA/POW.

A piece of the World Trade Center from 9/11

Freedom of Americans to petition. Civil Rights Era

Vietnam War protesting poster.

March on Washington button.

Votes for Women button.

Hope you enjoyed this extremely long post about my recent adventure. More to come!

Vlog

2011-08-11T23:10:00.000-04:00

So I decided to make a video during our first day of travel. The sound seems to be a bit wonky, and I totally look ridiculous, but whatever. Enjoy!

Random Topics

2011-08-11T06:25:00.000-04:00

Well tomorrow I'm off to the District! There will be many posts about that in the next coming weeks! However, I have some new foodie items and recent knitting projects to show off.

First, my favorite part the food! When I went to the farmers market I had already decided that I wanted to buy eggplant. I have never been a huge fan of eggplant stemming from a bad experience as a child. The kind of eggplant that I bought was considered Asian eggplant, and supposedly has smaller seeds. So I searched the internet for panini recipes because I also wanted to use my beautiful foccacia bread. I didn't really see one I liked so I made up my own.

I pan "grilled" eggplant, sauteed onions and peppers, put tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on the sandwich and stuck it in the toaster oven.

I also made roasted broccoli, so yummy! I used a recipe from the Food Network.

A few days later I also made Eggplant Parmesan, but unfortunately never got around to taking a picture of it. However I used a recipe from Weight Watchers, so including pasta I believe it equaled out to about 9 points or so.

I also completed a first birthday gift for "A". I decided to knit her fruits and vegetables to play with. Her mom also made her a bunch of felt food, so we had some overlap in items that we made, but I think A will have a lot of fun playing with the items, and I loved making them.

The banana was the funniest thing! She recognizes bananas and tried to eat it. She was very upset when she realized it was not a real banana.

Celery

Pear

Broccoli

Apple

Pumpkin

I'm also planning one more special item to be sent a little later, because well sometimes I'm really slow and behind at what I do. Well that's all, if you are reading this over the next few days, please pray for safe travels to D.C. and prayers of peace and direction once I'm there!

Farmer's Market

2011-07-26T01:40:00.000-04:00

Saturday, I decided to hit up the local farmers market with my friend Meg for the last time. I went in determined to buy some different vegetables than I normally would. We got there and went straight to the Anastasia Kitchen booth and got sweet potato and black bean burritos which were awesome! Then we walked around, and just kinda looked at what was there. I ended up buying quite a few things, and Sunday I did my first round of cooking with my farmers market items.

Pretty peppers, and a red/purple onion.

Apparently these are Asian eggplants. They are supposed to have less seeds in them.

A beet!

Goat cheese!

5 beautiful peaches.

Delicious Garlic and Rosemary Foccacia bread from Maria's Bakery

I decided to make roasted peaches with goat cheese, honey, and toasted hazelnuts. It came out pretty well. However, I did have a couple mishaps. First, I totally burned my first batch of hazelnuts, and secondly, the goat cheese I used was not as soft as I would have liked. Therefore, I am going to try this again with a softer goat cheese. It was really good though!

I also made a delicious roasted beet, peach, and goat cheese salad. I have come to adore roasted beet, and really should come up with more uses for it!

That concludes my farmers market adventures. I am still looking for something to make with my eggplant. I just haven't narrowed down the perfect item. And in other news I move out of my home for 3 years, in just under a week and a half. I can't believe it, and I'm going to miss it so much!

The District

2011-07-21T16:02:00.001-04:00

Well it's been a few weeks since my trip to The District also known as Washington D.C. I really had a great time although it was a whirlwind trip filled with business and not much pleasure. My Dad flew us up there and we spent 3 days traipsing around D.C., Maryland, and Virginia looking at the school, apartment hunting, and airplane business. I did find an apartment, and recently found out that I did get it! I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to secure an apartment in my price range, but I was successful. Another bonus is that it is about a 10-15 minute walk to a Metro station. So I will have easy access to and from school. There is also a bus that will take me tot he station if I don't feel like walking.
So the main purpose of my trip was to find an apartment and see GWU. However Dad and I also got to go to the National Air and Space Museum on Sunday night when we got there. During the summer months some of the Smithsonian's are kept open a little later to account for the tourists and such. I really enjoyed the exhibits and I think my Dad did as well. After we left the museum we took the opportunity to take a couple of pictures on the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol building, while heading back to the Metro Station.

The next day, we were able to take a tour of the GWU Foggy Bottom campus, which is just a few blocks from the White House! The campus is huge compared to Flagler, and walking around I totally fell in love with it. Below are some pictures I took of the campus.

The 7 story library! I'm sure I will know every inch of it soon!

24-hour Starbucks on the 1st floor of the library.

The Women's Studies Department building. This house has a great story behind it!

John Quincy Adam's House, He was one of the original founders/financial contributors to the college.

I look disporportionally short in this picture, but this is where the main admissions office is located. I think it is also the official address for the college as well.

In honor of Mr. Washington himself, these are on the four main boarding corners of the campus, and they look out onto the city.

The GWU Bookstore. There are three levels, enough said.

Campus map, they are posted around campus on the street. I can't believe I'm going to a school so big they have maps on the sidewalks.

Oh the Hippo. The unofficial mascot of GWU. I'm kinda in love with how ridiculous it is.

That pretty much sums up my whirlwind trip to the District. While we were there, we were able to meet up with my cousin and her fiancee which was really cool, as I had not met him yet. I am so excited to begin my journey in the big city. The countdown is on, and we will be on our way in 21 days! I only have 3 shifts left at lovely Panera, and then we will see what kind of wonderful jobs await me in the big city.

Leavin' on "Jet' Plane

2011-06-18T23:17:00.000-04:00

Well tomorrow I will be heading to The District to do some apartment hunting. My Dad is flying us up to D.C. so that I can finally see GWU and tour the school. We will also be trying to find a potential apartment for me, probably in Virginia. I can not wait for this trip, and I'm sure that there will be much more to share once I get back!

Adventures in the Kitchen

2011-05-30T22:25:00.000-04:00

What is this three blog posts in the past two weeks. I feel like I'm setting a record for my blogging.
I've got the cooking bug again and I've been experimenting with pizza. My goal has been to create "semi-gourmet" pizzas that are low in weight watchers points.
This time I made a sausage and peppers with mushrooms pizza. I used low fat Italian cheese, tomato paste sauce, and Jennie O Italian Turkey Sausage. It was so good! I have found the trick is to use half a pound of dough per pizza. It is the only way to truly get a thin crust!

I also had an abundence of zucchini that I bought from the framers market. While looking through recipies on the interent. I found a recipie for stuffed zucchini. I hollowed out 2 zucchini's, chopped up the zucchini, tomatoes, onion, asiago cheese, and bread crumbs. I put the rest of the low-fat Italian cheese from the pizza I made on top and baked for 15 minutes. They ended up being around 3 Weight Watchers PointsPlus each!

I'm excited to be cooking again. I feel like since it is now summer, I have wanted to really create good food again, rather than mediocre food. I'm also trying to create really good low points food. I've been working out everyday. I have lost 37 pounds on Weight Watchers, and want to keep a good trend going, and not be held up by my diet. As my good friend and I have discussed, Food is an addiction and it is hard work to break that addiction

Food

2011-05-23T12:20:00.000-04:00

So with increased time again now that is summer, I have begun to experiement with recipies a bit more. Last Saturday I went to the farmers market and picked up zucchini. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. Later that day my friend was telling me about this delicious recipe from Vegetarian Times Magazine. Zucchini, Red Pepper, Goat Cheese Pizza. It was really easy to make and was so good!

In case anyone is interested the recipe is at Vegetarian Times Magazine

Grad School

2011-05-18T10:55:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I wrote on my blog so I thought a little update was in order and I'm going to try and blog at least once a week.

A few posts ago I wrote about the grad schools I was applying to. Well the results are in and I decided about a month ago to attend George Washington University in Washington D.C.

Talk about a shocker. I never thought I would get into the school (that actually happened to be my dream school), and now I'm accepted and actually going! I still can't believe it, and I don't think it will really be real until I'm there.

I'm still trying to figure out how everything will get paid, but I'm trusting and relying on God to help me figure out how to pay for school and everything else associated with it. The more important thing is that I'm going to be studying what I love at the best school for it. I will be getting my Masters of Arts in Museum Studies, and I cannot wait for all of the opportunities that will be available for me in D.C. This is truly a dream come true.

Personal Victory

2011-03-21T10:39:00.000-04:00

It's only 10:30 on a Monday morning but I already have achieved a personal victory this morning. Since I joined Weight Watchers in July I have lost 30 pounds, and while that is a victory in and of itself this mornings was almost better. I began working out sporadictly when I began Weight Watchers (and I still do not work out as regularly as I should). I decided to check out the work out room at my complex because lets face it, if I'm not going to use it if it's free I'm certainly not going to pay to use equipment. Well I walked in the room and just saw machines. I was not familuar on how to use the machines spart from the treadmill and stationary bikes. The first one I saw was the infamous eliptical. I had never been on one, and it seemed like the most popular machine based on facebook/internet comments about it. Well I got on the machine 6 months ago and about died. I could barely use it for 2 minutes. I moved on to other machines.
Well today after walking on the treadmill, I decided to get on the elliptical and just try it for a few minutes to see if I could do it. To my surprise and delight I could! And I was on there for 12 minutes! It totally has made my day. To me these things and even smaller clothes show me how much better my health is getting in just these few short months with Weight Watchers. It also shows me that of all the weight loss programs on the market Weight Watchers is the only one that works! I need the accountability of a weekly meeting and that is what has helped me to be successful.

Praise

2011-03-09T15:24:00.000-05:00

Praise is something I've done often. Many times it was out of sense of obligation that as a Christian I need to praise God for the blessings He's given me in my life. Often when I have felt the lowest spiritually I will try to keep my longings for change and petitions to myself, and focus on praising God, but it often feels fake. However lately I have come to feel that my circumstances and life are completely out of my control right now. I'm in a holding pattern. Therefore, I feel like the more I think about it and what I can't change the more I begin to obsess and become ungrateful and often blind to what God has already blessed me with. I feel like I shouldn't be ungrateful. I also have recently felt that by not taking the time to recognize and acknowledge these blessings I'm being ungrateful. I know that my faith isn't about all the good things that I can get from God. Obviously struggle is necessary , but I believe that there is something so powerful about thanking God for the non material things, the little things in life that I normally would not consider as a gift from God. I believe that I have missed many of these moments in my life, but I think that for my true spiritual growth, I must be conscience about God working through the everyday seemingly unimportant details. In these small parts of life I hope to find and maintain a joyful spirit.
This is partially inspired by the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp which I'm waiting to receive and read. I also read an entry from Frances J. Roberts book Come Away My Beloved entitled "Learn to Reign" where she writes. "Praise Me, O y People Praise Me Praise me out of a heart full of love. Praise me for every blessing and victory. Yea, and Praise me when the most difficult thing to do is to Praise. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith and praise is the voice of faith." (168).

Update

2011-03-02T12:18:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy few weeks. I have been working a lot at my new job as well as volunteering for Flagler working on the civil rights archive that will hopefully launch in a few weeks. I also have been working on a presentation that I will be giving next week on my senior seminar topic for women's history month. I'm slightly terrified! I don't think it will be much of a problem once i get up there and start talking, I just hope everything makes sense and that it is interesting. I also have to tweak my presentation because I don't want it to really be just a paper presentation, but a genuine presentation. I am excited for the opportunity though.

I did receive the best birthday present on Friday! I found out that I got into the musuem studies program at George Washington Unviersity! I really didn't think I would get in, and it's just an amaizng thing to get in! I don't know if I'm going to end up going there because it is so expensive, but it would be awesome if I was able to go.

Finally, I have lost 25 pounds on Weight Watchers since I started in July. I have dropped two dress sizes and kinda love to shop now. I am hoping that I can get refocused a bit and really work to get quite a few more pounds off before I have to leave St. Augustine and my wonderful group here!

Done!

2011-01-30T08:42:00.000-05:00

Well as of last night I have officially applied to all of my grad schools. There are four total and I am praying that I just get into one of them! I am applying to all of them for the programs either named museum studies or public history. Although they are all similar type programs they have different names for them.
I applied to:

I will find out from the schools beginning in about mid march. I am so nervous, but I no matter what I'm trusting God for His plan. Ideally UNC Greensboro is my first choice in schools for various reasons. I am ready to leave Florida! I love it here, but the program looks amazing, the tuition is the least of all schools, and North Carolina actually has seasons which I love.
So now that this little project is finished, I am probably going to keep plugging along with the class I'm auditing and perhaps edit a paper to submit to a history conference in February. I also have begun to watch videos that will be included in a new civil rights archive at my college, and abstracting the information out of them. I'm about half way through the first interview and it is so much fun! This is really the work I was born to do.

Passion 2011

2011-01-12T10:59:00.000-05:00

This year at Passion was interesting. The group of people I was with were really great people and I realize that I am in an extremely different place in my life than last year. However I have really yet to process and unpack everything I learned and experienced from Passion so I'm not sure what I learned, or if something is going to happen in the next few weeks or months and something I heard at Passion will influence that. I'm in this really weird place right now where a lot is happening around me and I think the gist of it is that I'm unhappy.
I'm not a fan of being done with school right now. I'm not a person designed to just work in a job that doesn't involve my degree and field that I love. Which is what I'm doing right now. I miss the excitement of a new year and of mountains of school work as stressful as they are. Yet today I'm realizing that my unhappiness is taking me away from being present in this season of my life. I'm not really a fan of that either.
So I'm working on my attitude with my station in life right now and trying to enjoy the people in my life. I want my focus to be on my relationship with God and with others, and not on me as much. I often focus on my plan and the way I think things should go. However, I have to remember that I am not in control! I just need to rely on God and let Him do His thing, while I respond in such a manner that I carry His name effectively to those around me.

Passion 2011

2011-01-01T08:26:00.000-05:00

Today I am leaving for what should be an amazing four days in Atlanta for Passion 2011. This college student conference will be a time of rejuvenation and just spending time with some great people and God. I was fortunate to go last year to Passion 2010 and although it was a very trying time. I also was given a vision for my life last year that I hope will also happen this year. I truly believe that this conference is the most brilliant thing ever created, and having the opportunity to listen to great speakers like Louis Gigilio, Francis Chan, and Beth Moore is just the tip of the iceburg. I also love having the opportunity to really make an impact on the community and world through Do Something Now!

If you have missed the opportunity for Passion 2011 in Atlanta. There will also be a second Passion 2011 in Fort Worth in April. I would recommend this conference for every college student!

Check out the website www.268generation.com for more information!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T23:19:00.002-05:00

This has been a fun and rather eventful/different Christmas.
With a lot of changes and various situations my family has gone through in the past few months it was a bit different. But it was still a great day and I feel like this was the best day of family time that we've had in a long time which was really nice after a very long and stressful semester.
However, as always I remember what the true meaning of Christmas is all about and will enjoy being in my home church tomorrow morning with my family. Hope you had a great Christmas as well and here's to a happy new year!

Secret Santa

2010-12-18T23:42:00.006-05:00

As a history major at a small liberal arts college it is really easy to have a bunch of classes with certain people. Well there is a core group of 5 that have become really close especially this past semester so we decided to have a secret santa since we can't afford to buy everyone a gift! We exchanged gifts tonight and I got the best gift from my good friend Melissa. Out of the 5 we have spent the most time together and know each other really well. As a history major and future museum curator I love old stuff! In fact last weekend we all went antiquing together. I have always wanted kitchen type stuff, but since I don't have my own kitchen I really didn't want to buy kitchen stuff. So instead Melisssa got me some for Christmas and it's all so cute I love it!!

The best thing are these milk bottles in the crate! They are sitting on my bedside table cubes and I am planning to go out and get some sort of flowers to stick in them! They are my favorite part.

I also got this sign that tells you how to make a lattice top cherry pie which I think is just so adorable. It is also pink which as everyone should know I love!!

A vintage potato masher that although i never intend to use will look adorable hanging on the wall one day.

And finally this vintage dish towel which is so cute!

I will be spending the rest of my evening chugging some Diet Coke and studying this.

The lovely GRE which I will be retaking on Monday. Although I am dreading it, I do feel slightly more prepared this time, hopefully my score will reflect that!

Graduation

2010-12-15T22:56:00.001-05:00

I am officially a college graduate. Last week I graduated from Flagler College with a Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Political Science. It was a really fun day and I was so glad I was able to spend it with family and good friends. It is really weird to know that I am done and do not have to go to school anymore and is going to require an extreme amount of adjustment. Even though I plan to go to Grad School, I still have about 7 months of free time. I am in the process of working on and finishing up my grad school applications as well as studying for the GRE which I am taking on Monday. However, I have enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in and do things I haven't had the time to do in a while (like laundry). Enjoy the picture movie, they aren't all great pictures but they are fun and give you a little taste of my graduation.

What have I gotten myself into!

2010-10-07T09:18:00.003-04:00

So I basically fail at blogging about Europe. I don't like to blog about it if I can't get the pictures up and Belgium pictures are the trickiest. It was a crazy day and they are just a bunch of random monument pictures. But I'm going to get them soon. However my life has been consumed by school this past month. Senior Seminar is in full swing and I'm working on my lovely topic, which I changed the focus of two days ago. I'm writing about Nurses and other Women who served in Vietnam during the war. I orgianally was going to focus on their involvement with Vietnamese civilians, but now I'm going to argue that Vietnam was a transitional war for women's roles in war kinda thing. Oh man I have no idea how exactly it's going to work yet. But it'll be fine in fact I think it will turn out better than before.
In other news I am taking the GRE on Saturday. I've been dreading it for months and now I am finally taking it. Unfortunatly I haven't really studied for it so I am hoping that I do well. I will be able to find out my score on two of the three sections right away because it is a computer based test so that is nice. I will know whether or not I need to take it again. I'm hoping for not, but I have a feeling that I will need to.
Other than that I've just been hanging out in between the mountains of school work. I started the Beth Moore Revelation study at church which is amazing and I'm super invovled with Fusion still. Hopefully I'll blog about Belgium and Germany soon!

Books!

2010-08-21T19:03:00.003-04:00

So this week has been filled with books! I've ordered my books for school and they have started trickling in and I'm having to find places to put them. I've also had a very challenging summer with the Lord. I have definitely been touched by the Holy Spirit many times and things are moving and shaking here in St. Aug at my church. I'm really excited for the avenues that God will use me this year. But I haven't really had a good time this summer with a regular time with God and Bible reading and such. So I decided to seek out the help of one of my mentors for book recommendations. She recommended several to me and I decided to go to Barnes and Noble to see what I could find. I only found one that she recommended and boy has it been amazing already.
The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian. Apparently this book has been around for quite a while, but it still packs quite a punch. I love it already and I've only read the intro and chapter 1. I'm really excited for the journey that this book is going to take me on.
I also impulsively bought Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I had heard of the book and then went to Passion 2010 conference and heard him speak. I really liked him and have wanted to read this book ever since. Plus many people have recommended it. I'm looking forward to starting this book and also being challenged in my walk with God.
My final purchase but not at Barnes and Noble, Amazon. Was Come away my beloved by Frances Roberts. This is also a book that was recommended to me and has been around for a very long time. I do not know much about it except for that it is pretty amazing and I can't wait to get it!

So those have been my recent book purchases. I will be doing my next Europe post soon. My short adventure in Belgium that was very interesting. I just have to get the pictures organized then it's on to Germany and Austria. This has been a very memorable summer and I cannot believe that school is only a week and a half away.

France - Land of Pain au chocolat and the Eiffel Tower

2010-07-30T17:05:00.003-04:00

The second blog installment of my European adventure. Once again I am so sorry this is so long but there is a lot to talk about. At the end of all of this madness of words there is a slideshow of France pictures. Also I will soon be writing a knitting post because there has been some during these several months I've had off from school.

June 7th
Today was packed with events. We hopped off the ferry and onto a coach bus for our whirlwind tour of Normandy. We picked up our guide and she began to explain the history of the area to us. On our way to Normandy we were able to stop at a local French bakery for Croissants and baguettes and it was an amazing start to our day. Being in Normandy was another pinch me day. The area has such deep meaning to so many people because of the battle fought there and has become idealized and romanticized through the use of Hollywood. Yet being there was not disappointing, it was sobering and gave me a need to just reflect on each place we went no matter how short of a time we were there.
We began our tour at the Port de Hoc Range which was a German battery. Craters are everywhere, from the allied bombs, as well as remnants of the fortifications that were there including concrete, barbed wire, and metal. Walking through the are was frightening and fascinating because this one of our first really battlefield type place we went to, and to see how the war so dramatically changed the landscape of an area was mind blowing. It is so different from battle fields in the states from the civil war which are basically empty fields, but the civil war did not involved the same military technology to create such vast destruction. While I was there I began to understand how much the allied troops had to go through to get past the German fortifications. Then we headed to Omaha Beach which everyone was excited to see and disappointed when we were only given 5 minutes. The beach had two memorials on it that I am assuming were both for D-day. One was actually in the sand and the other one was by the road. I was really excited to go the beach and just see it and maybe receive a little taste of the day over sixty years ago. One of the only things I could think about there was the comment made by someone that with Saving Private Ryan there was one thing wrong with the beach and that in the movie you can see sand. On D-day the sand could not be seen because of the massive amounts of bodies. The sights of Normandy all felt very sacred to me and the beach was not an exception. Next up on the agenda was the American Cemetery. This famous cemetery holds many graves and I believe that the average age of a soldier buried there is early 20s. I could have stayed there all day long and just wandered around and read the grave stones, because for me each gravestone is of a person who has a story and I want to know who they are and what their story was. As with many places the cemetery was also a heavy emotional spot because so many American men gave up their jobs and joined the military, fighting for their country. On our way into the cemetery we spotted three older gentlemen who were veterans of D-day and we were able to take a picture. I wish we had time to talk to the men but alas we needed to move on. With a lot to see and not enough time to really explore, I headed to the small chapel in the middle of the cemetery and then back to the main memorial near the entrance which contains on a monument Operation Overlord. We left the Cemetery after only twenty minutes and headed to see Batteries de Longues which were pill box style German bunkers. These were different because two of the three still had guns that were intact. The previous site and this site were remarkably intact but also looked like no one had really done anything to them after the war and someone asked how all of this was still there. Our guide said that the French were basically tired of war and decided to just leave everything where it was because it was much easier than trying to clear and build something else. Also there is a possibility of an unexploded bomb somewhere in the craters.
Our next stop was the little town of Arromanches where we were able to wander around and have lunch. There was a D-day museum but many of us decided that it was not really worth it because of the other museums we had been to. My group headed down to the military shop that was supposed to have really interesting artifacts from the war. I went in not expecting to find anything spectacular and was going to buy one of the old magazines that the troops would get. However, I decided to ask the owner if He had anything related to women in the military and he said that he did. It turned out to be a WAC officer winter dress hat. The coolest part was that there is a number written on the tag inside that appears to be the ID number of the WAC who wore the hat. I am in the process of finding out who the hat belonged to. Regardless it was the coolest find of the day in my opinion, when he showed it to me I about died I was really excited. It was definitely something that I could not pass up. Arromanches itself was also very important during the D-day invasion and in their harbor the floating docks are still there. The docks were used by the allies in order to transport heavy cargo and machinery to shore so that the larger ship would not get stuck.
We headed back to Caen to drop off our guide and to go to the Caen memorial museum. When we got there a film was about to begin so we headed in and watched a very visual film with very little words about the rise of Hitler and the beginning of the war as well as a section of pictures of France. The film was excellent because it gave a lot of information, was entertaining and people of all languages were able to watch it because there were very few times where anything was spoken. I thought that was a good use of their resources rather than having something for everyone in their own language. After the film we headed towards the exhibit which employed a clever use of a circle space to highlight the entrance into war as well as the change of color from white to black. The exhibit was excellent and I enjoyed the artifacts and informational boards throughout. One of my favorite and most memorable parts of the exhibit was just an artistic element. A brick wall with posters in the upper left hand corner peeling because they have been there for a while and a bike chained to the wall. To me those small parts add great value to an exhibit. They help to establish a sense of place into what you are looking at rather than just have the artifacts strewn all over the pace with random text panels. I was disappointed when I realized I had only gone through about one-third of the exhibit and then it was time to meet up with the group. After spending only a few moments in the exhibit I knew that I wanted to see everything, but there was not enough time for everything.
From the museum we headed to our hotel in Bayeux for the night. We ate dinner and then heard from a gentleman named Jacques who . I was disappointed when I realized I had only gone through about one-third of the exhibit and then it was time to meet up with the group. After spending only a few moments in the exhibit I knew that I wanted to see everything, but there was not enough time for everything.
From the museum we headed to our hotel in Bayeux for the night. We ate dinner and then heard from a gentleman named Jacques who lived in the Bayeux and was six when the Americans liberated the town. Although he did grow up during German occupation he was a very young boy so did not remember much about that, but he told us what he remembered. He remembers small things like the candy from the American soldier and the great dislike his mother had for all Germans. While now he can separate the German people from the Nazis, he mentioned that his parents and many of the older people never could. I think he enjoyed talking to a group of young people who seemed to be genuinely interested in the stories he had to share.
June 8th
After a lovely nights rest in Bayeux we packed up and set off for Paris, but not without taking a detour to see the most famous piece of fabric in Bayeux, the Bayeux Tapestry. The tapestry was made by women in Bayeux after 1066 and depicts the success of William the Conqueror in the area. No one knows exactly who made it or why, but it is one of the most skilled pieces of embroidery I’ve ever seen. I also was impressed at how well something that is almost 1000 years old has been preserved. Apparently the tapestry has been stolen by Napoleon and other Kings since it was created which adds to the impressive nature of the preservation. The museum has an audio guide for the tapestry which explains each scene. I was really grateful for that because I would not have known the story if it was not for the audio guide. I was really glad for this detour into medieval European history and to experience a beautiful piece of art and social history that was not originally on our itinerary.
From the tapestry we boarded out bus and headed for the lovely town of Rouen. The town is famous because it is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. So that is where we went first. The memorial was very simple I thought. A large cross in a little garden, but the actual cross part was several feet high so that the bottom almost looked like a stake to me. The town had built a small chapel as well dedicated to Joan of Arc and there was a small museum about her. We decided not to go in even though it was a good price, because Lauren wanted to get to the Cathedral it was the only thing she wanted to see. Before we went we got lunch at a little shop and practiced our French. Lauren and the owner were very helpful in teaching us how to pronounce what we wanted to order. We made it to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which I found out that all Cathedrals in France are named Notre Dame because they are all dedicated to our lady. The Cathedral was beautiful and very intricate. It is so hard to imagine that the builders did all of that by hand and totally understandable why it would take a couple hundred years to build the Cathedral. The most fascinating part for me was their handling of the damage created by World War II. The church was severely damaged by bombs during the war, they have pictures inside the Cathedral where you can see the damage. I am sure one of the most devastating loses was the stained glass, but instead of replacing the glass they installed white glass. It was almost a memorial to the suffering that World War II had on the everyday life of the people, even the church. The town also took great pains to rebuild after the war. There was an effort after the war to rebuild in the medieval style of architecture and I am glad that they did, because it was their heritage that they were losing if they did not.
From there we headed on to Paris. Everyone says that you will either love Paris or hate Paris that there is no in between. I was worried about being disappointed by Paris and not loving it. However, I can say that I do not hate Paris, but we were not really there long enough for me to love Paris. I was disappointed in the fact that we were not there long enough to really experience Paris, but that is a nother trip for another time. We got into Paris and went to dinner at an adorable French restaurant and had a very French meal. After dinner, we went to the Pantheon in Paris which is located in the Latin Quarter and is the resting place for French royalty and those who have made significant contributions to France. From there we walked to the Metro station to see the Eiffel Tower. The one thing I was looking forward to the most of this trip and it did not disappoint. I was worried about pickpockets on the Metro and at the Eiffel tower, but I never had a problem which was exciting. We got out of the metro and walked straight up at the base of the Eiffel tower. The first thing we encountered were tons of men trying to sell us souvenirs. They were a lot like vultures in a way constantly coming up to us and asking us if we wanted to buy something for a Euro. We successfully avoided them, got our tickets and proceeded to the top. We took the first elevator to the first deck walked around, took some pictures, and then got in line for the next elevator. I am pretty sure that half of our time was spent in line for the elevator. We finally made it to the top and the views of Paris were incredible, I could have spent much more time up there just taking in Paris. However, it was time to leave so we once again stood in line for an elevator. Once we got down to the bottom we headed to the middle of the park that is around the tower to take more pictures. The tower was really beautiful all lit up at night and I can see the romance that Paris is known for. After the tower we went back to our hotel and rested up for our full day in Paris.
June 9th
I was really excited for our tour of Paris. We picked up out tour guide Katherine who was so knowledgeable about Paris and was just very French to me. We drove around Paris in our bus and saw so many things that I really can not remember them all. The building in Paris were so beautiful and so many survived the war because Paris was never really bombed. As our guide said no one wanted to be the one who destroyed Paris. The tour mainly focused on Napoleon and the French Revolution which I was slightly disappointed about, I wish there had been more of a focus on the World War II history in Paris but the tour was still awesome. We saw the statue of Joan of Arc, the Arc de Triumph, and one of the most famous squares in Paris Place de la Concorde where many died during the French revolution at the blade of the guillotine. One of the most interesting and surprising parts of Paris was the two thousand year old roman bath. I think many of us were shocked to find out how far the roman empire expanded and how their remnants are still around today. We also saw the square where the Ritz hotel is located, where Princess Diana stayed. The square is dedicated to the Sun King, Louis XIV and contains some of the most expensive stores in the area including the first Cartier store. After our tour of Paris we made our way to the Palace of Versailles. I overheard Margaret ask why we chose to go to Versailles since it was a World War II themed trip. But the palace does have connection to our trip because the Treaty of Versailles was signed there which was a reason for World War II starting. The palace was beautiful and I could just picture the opulent furniture and people who lived there during the 18th century. Having Katherine as our tour guide was great because we were able to have a nice detailed tour of the palace, but I do felt that we rushed through the rooms a little bit. The palace has about 2,000 rooms inside and we saw maybe a little over fifty. I wish they had more rooms open to the public including the private apartments of the King and Queen. The public rooms were amazing and I cannot imagine having to do everything in public like they were required to. They not only had to sleep in public, but get dressed, eat, and just about everything else. After our guided tour we were able to explore the apartments of the Dauphin Prince which were very opulent and numerous for such a small person. Then we took some time in the gardens. Because it was raining and we were short on time we did not fully explore the gardens but we did go to the back of the palace and the gardens just went on forever. I cannot imagine the upkeep a garden like that requires, but it was opulent like everything else.
We left Versailles and headed back into Paris where we had some free time before dinner so we went shopping. I bought some cute stuff and we all headed to dinner at a pizza type place. It was a really good dinner and was a welcome rest from the whirlwind of the day. After dinner a group of us headed to the Latin Quarter to hang out. I do not actually think my group made it to the Latin Quarter because we split off from everyone but we had a fun time. We kind of lost our bearings on the way back to the Metro but everything was fine and we made it back to the hotel safely. One thing I regret about Paris is that I felt that I did not get to truly experience Paris in the way I would have liked, but EF trips are about tastes of places so you know what you would like to go back to. Paris is one of those places for me and I fully intend to go back in the near future to truly experience Paris.
June 10th
We left Paris and traveled most of the day but for me this was one of the most impactful days of the trip. We paid a surprise visit (for us anyway) to Mumm’s Champagne House. Apparently the Champagne region of France is the only place that what we call champagne can be made and actually called champagne. Everyone else that makes it, even if they use the same technique cannot call it champagne. Making champagne is a very intensive process and they take great care to ensure that the champagne is the same quality that they have produced for decades. They also have kept a lot of the historical equipment throughout the years which I thought was really cool. After the fun detour from our history emphasis we headed to a World War I battle site of Verdun. The site was of the longest and bloodies battle of World War I. We got to the area and stopped at spot that was covered in craters and the remains of trenches. I did not realize until later that the site we were at was a town, and the street names were actual streets. There were little plaques where houses once stood and several memorials including a chapel that had been built. It really hit me as I walked around by myself that the area was a battlefield and that mend died and were probably still buried beneath my feet. In the quiet eerie stillness I could almost picture the battle. World War I really changed the landscape and geography of Europe. In the whole area where the battle took place there had been nine villages, but they were all destroyed in a matter of weeks. Also the land is now basically useless and nothing can be built on it because no one knows if there is an unexploded bomb in the area. Yet I do not think the area should be rebuilt, to much happened for anything but a memorial to be on the property. Standing there on the bath with craters all around me I realized that is why I came on the trip. To stand in these places and get a glimpse of what it was like for the men who fought these battles we learn about in our history classes. I also was able to see why there was so much appeasement for Hitler prior to World War II. I could see the devastation that Europe wanted to avoid again.
We left the area and made our way to the Fort de Douaumont which was built in the 1880s and continually reinforced through the early 1900s. The fort was used by the French and the Germans. In the early part of the Battle of Verdun the Germans had a hold of it in 1916. But the fort was continually bombed and the French later recaptured it after heavy losses for both sides. Craters were everywhere and so was the rubble. There were several holes blown into the fort including one in the roof. The fort was built into a hill which I am sure helped to conceal it somewhat as well as make it harder to capture on foot. Unfortunately we did not have a lot of time there, but if we had more I would have paid the small fee to go inside and explore the fort. This area was the first battle area I have ever been to that looked like it had been through war. All of the battlefields in the United States are basically big open fields with little evidence people died there, but that is mainly due to the technological advances. The destructive evidence of war was clearly seen.
Our last stop at Verdun was the cemetery and Douaumont Ossary. It was a cemetery of the French soldiers with a memorial to the unknown. There was also a memorial to the Muslim troops mainly from Algeria and other French influenced countries that fought for France. The memorial has a very Moroccan architecture and I think it was really cool that the memorial was there. We often do not think of people of other faiths fighting in wars except for the difference between Christianity and Judaism. They were also buried in an area separate from the other troops. There was a fence around their graves and a sign in French that basically said that it was against their religion for people to walk on their graves. I thought it was great that they were not left out of the commemoration to all the people who fought and died in the battle. The building on the site was a tower and held memorials to the unknown soldiers that were found. I walked around to the back side of the building and saw windows near the sidewalk. I looked in them and there were piles of bones which shocked me to no end. I still do not know why they left them exposed like that, it almost seemed irreverent in a way. My only conclusion was that maybe they were the bones of the unknown soldiers that were memorialized inside the building. I walked through the French graves looking at the names and half way searching for anyone with my last name. I did not see anyone but I enjoyed looking through the graves and just seeing the names. One interesting thing about the cemetery was that the general was at the head of all of the graves, separated from everyone else which is a sign of the general’s ranking and importance in the group of soldiers. The cemetery was a peaceful place and holds over 15,000 french soldiers who fought in World War I. Cemeteries are always impactful for me because of the history of the people buried there and the untold stories represented only by a name. The whole day in Verdun was just really impactful for me and was one of the best days of the trip.
We headed to our hotel and passed by two very interesting sites on the way there. The first was a German cemetery, which was very different from the other cemeteries we had visited. The graves were marked by black slate crosses and there were not any memorials in the area that emphasized it was a German cemetery. We found out that this is typical for all German cemeteries and I can see why they would be understated in France because of the negative connotations. Then as we were driving through the countryside we spotted a bunker in the middle of no where. The funny part about it was that it was being used as a stable. I thought it was interesting how the people have turned the various things left by the war into something useful for them today. We stayed at our hotel in the middle of nowhere, France but had a wonderful time. It was defiantly a night that I do not think anyone will ever forget. We all had a lot of fun hanging out and Margaret taught us a hilarious game called Ibble Dibble that I am sure will be a new St. Augustine staple.

England

2010-07-16T15:04:00.003-04:00

The beginning of the whirlwind trip through Europe

June 4^th

The first day of the trip and it was incredibly eventful. There were many headaches and difficult situations to contend with not to mention many exhausted and sweaty college students. But our first day in London, England was amazing despite everything. The day was started late by my groups late arrival from the states but we hopped on our bus and headed towards our hotel. We were able to drive through the center of London and received a mini tour from our tour director Margaret. It was really great because I know that it helped me to get my barrings for the city a little bit. I fell in love with the architecture that is in London, the buildings just have so much character and I really loved the ones with the glass domed ceiling that artists mainly live in. To me that is an interesting history of the building and the city, it is some of the things I like to know about the place After we dropped off our luggage and our bus we gathered everyone back together and took the DLR line to the center of London. This was my first experience really using a subway type station in a completely foreign city so I was slightly nervous but everything worked out wonderfully. We went straight to Hyde Park and had the choice of lunch or going to the Palace. My group opted for lunch first and then we walked through the park to Buckingham Palace. We took the obligatory pictures and then just kind of stood around for a few minutes and took in the area. I think this is when I kind of realized that I was in a foreign city, but at the same time the fact that everyone was speaking English fooled me into thinking I was still in the states a little bit. After that we headed off towards the Imperial War Museum. I was really excited to see my first museum of the trip as that is what I would like to do for my future career. Margaret left us to go on our own and we got a little lost on the way I think. But we finally made it to the museum and I was surprised to see that there was a section of the Berlin Wall at the museum. It made sense for it to be there because the museum was about war and WWII and the wall was a result of the was. I was surprised but I also felt that it was appropriate to have it there for the above reasons. The museum itself was well done and had interesting exhibits. Margaret recommended that we go see the Holocaust exhibit, the trench experience, and the blitz experience. I loved the holocaust exhibit, as strange as that sounds. As someone who has been to the huge museum in Washington D.C. I was expecting the same thing, but the museum really took the time to make it different. While the timeline is the same, the IWM I think took a slightly different spin on it. They focused more on the persecution of the Jews before the expulsion to the camps. They also seemed to focus more on the lives in Europe and on several individuals, making it seem more personal than the vastness of the D.C. museum. I liked the trench experience, even though I knew that it was fake and it looked fake, I really felt like I had some sense of what it was like to just be in the trench. They even had a strange smell that to me added to the realness of the experience. I did not like the Blitz experience at all. They first have you walk into a shelter type room and you sit there in the dark while bombs drop around you. That part was fine and I thought it was a good representation. Then the (insert name of the warden type person) comes and ushers you out to the “street” but the street is dark and there isn’t really anything to look at and no one knows where to go or what to really look at. There was also nothing to point towards the exit which made the whole thing even more confusing. I think it is a good concept, but was poorly executed. The museum also had a wonderful exhibit about the children and their experience during war time. That was probably my favorite exhibit and it was very well done. I wish I had been able to go into the ministry of food exhibit but they charged to go onto it and I did not want to pay the money. I thought that was interesting that for certain exhibits they required an admission charge. I never would have thought of that and I wonder if it is common in many large museums in larger cities. I have heard of charging to see a museum but not just one exhibit. Overall, I enjoyed the visit of the Imperial War Museum and was able to get some really great propaganda post cards.

We then headed to Covent Gardens and Piccadilly Circus to shop and waste some time. It was really fun to explore a little bit of London in the short time that we had, after that we headed to dinner and then back our hotel. I think all of us were glad to have the day over with. It was an incredibly tiring day coming off a full day of travel. We all slept really good that night and needed our rest for the even fuller day for the next day.

June 5^th

Another full and crazy day in London. Our tour guide Stuart met us at our hotel with a bus and driver. Stuart was probably my favorite tour guide of the trip nto only was he knowledgable but he had a wonderful sense of humor. We began our bus tour of London near our hotel in the docksides and east end of london. I knew that the East End of London had been brutally damaged by the Blitz of 1940 but did not realize it until I was in the area and Stuart pointed out all of the new construction in the area. The old dock area has now been turned into fancy apartments, but some of the buildings did surrvive the war. The first place we went and got out of the bus was a park with a memorial ot those who died in London during the Blitz. It was kind of sad because the memorial itself is not well taken care of and had grafity all over it. But I personally loved it, it is a black block with a dove carved out of the middle of it. I loved the simplicity of the memorial. Reading about the Blitz and London during 1940 in particular helped me to really appreciate all that the people went through during the endless months of bombing. Being in that park really brought alive for me a little bit of the war and was one of my first aweing moments of the trip.

We continued our tour of London and went to St. Pauls Cathedral where there is also a memorial to the firefighters who worked tirelessly throughout the blitz so that the city would not burn down completely. St. Paul’s was an important symbol to Londoners during the Blitz and Churchill specifically said that St. Paul’s must be preserved. So Stuart told us about the insanity that occurred to keep St. Paul’s standing. Volunteers would be all around the Cathedral even up on the roof and if an incindery bomb landed on the Cathedral they would take sand and water and run up and extinguish it as quickly as possible. Every day with St. Paul’s was still standing and the dome was visable served as a morale booster for the Londoners. We drove all over London and talked about the Battle of Britian and the role that many buildisn played during that time. We talked about Parliament and how they alternated meetingplaces during the war. Londeners were never broken but they took many precautions including evacuating many of their children to the country. The Royal family and paritucaly the Queen and children were highly encouraged and many plans made to evacuate them out of London. Yet the Queen refused to leave her husband as well as London and the princesses also got involved in volunteer work. This was important because it also helped to boost morale because they Royal family were equally involved in the war effort. We ended our tour with Stuart at the Battle of Britian memorial which was a tribute to the Royal Air Force and it was awesome that they honored the pilots.

After our tour with Stuart, we went to the Churchill War Rooms. I was indifferent to them when we got there but I really enjoyed the museum it was one of my favorites. It was continually emphasized that after the war everyone just left the room and did not go back in for many years. The museum was opened in the 1980s and they did an excellent job of preserving the rooms how they were and it really is like stepping back in time. I did hear a comment that someone wished that it was more a living history rather than the mannequins perhaps. But I felt that with the audio guide and the mannequins it was more of a stepping back in time. I feel that if it was more of a living history it would lose some of its timelessness I loved the audio guide. I did not listen to every single thing, but for that museum it was better to have an audio guide rather than text to read for several reasons. First, putting up text panels everywhere would take away from the authentic feeling of the War Rooms, and secondly it would slow down the visitors and create congestion in very narrow areas. I did not get to visit the Churchill Museum inside the war rooms, but I was impressed with the store because they had a lot of unique information that I had not seen yet. For instance, I was able to acquire many propaganda poster post cards for a decent price that were not available anywhere else. Everything they had there related to the war and the time period.

Then I went to Westminster Abbey with Dr. Butler, Maggie, and Nicole. The abbey was beautiful and there was so much to see. Thousands of Kings, Queens, and other people connected with the royal family are buried or honored in the Abbey. It was fascinating to experience this famous church and to see everything that was in one of the most famous and historical buildings in London. One thing I thought was odd was that Elizabeth I and her sister Mary were buried together. Even though the reasoning was that as sisters they would be reunited in the after life. I can not help but think that if they really knew how they were resting in death that they would be very upset because they hated each other that much. The Abbey also had audio guides which helped so much with understanding who was buried where and what graves and rooms were. The guides also allowed me the opportunity to really look and examine what I was looking at rather than reading text and then looking at the graves. I was disappointed that the Coronation was not there, the sign said that it was being restored, but it would have been amazing to see the chair that the current Queen sat in during her coronation. The Abbey was also damaged during the Blitz and although they repaired it back to its original state, they did leave one small part with just glass in it to show where some of the damage was located in the back chapel. Through the (idk what it’s called) there was a small museum with various artifacts relating to English Royalty. The museum contained many wax figures that apparently were used funeral and my personal favorite was the coronoation chair used by Mary of William and Mary. The chair had been gratified all over by boys who were part of the Westminster Abby Boys choir in the 1800s. There were also other artifacts that contained similar graffiti. I though it was funny how the view of these objects were so different back then especially with the young boys who I am sure did not care about the historical significance of the object and wanted to leave their mark. Yet it also gives the object a sort of charm and greater historical value rather than pristine economic value. Another strange part of the Abbey to me, was the burial of Charles Darwin inside. For the man who came up with the theory of evolution, which denies that God had any part in creation of the world, to be buried in a church was just strange.

After the Abbey we went to Piccadilly Ciricus to meet up for dinner. After an interesting Indian meal, some of us headed to the Jack the Ripper tour with our tour guide Stuart. We began at the Tower of London and walked through the east side of London where the murders took place. One of the most interesting places we went to on the tour was a former religious mission that had a separate entrance for men and women. I did not really know anything about Jack the Ripper before the tour and I really loved the approach that Stuart took with it. He gave us the facts and the theories, letting us really make up our own minds about what happened. As a history major, I appreciated not having a crazy embellished story told during the tour. We also got a sense of Nineteenth century London with some of the narrow streets we went through. The tour was one of my favorite parts of our time in London.

June 6^th

D-day. We woke up, loaded up, and headed to Portsmouth. After a several hour drive we arrived and dropped off our luggage at the ferry. We went to the D-day museum and saw the World War II tapestry which is called the modern day Bayeux Tapestry. The tapestry was really amazing and detailed. It traced from about 1940 to 1944 and was full of the major events of the war. I looked through the tapestry and then it was time for the presentation of the Secrecy of the Preparations for Dday and how they kept it secret. The talk had interesting information that I did not know, such as the allied forces used clever camofalughe paint as well as wood and rubber decoys and misleading messages. All of these tactics were employed and the speaker gave good information, but he reminded me of a British Mr. Tingley which totally distracted me from the presentation. I wish I had instead talked with the veterans that were there, especially after I found out that there was a British Army Nurse who was there. That would be my biggest regret of the trip, not talking to the Veterans. After the talk we sped through the exhibit that the museum had set up. It was a pretty good exhibit, and even though some parts were better than others, the overall effect was awesome. I thought it was really cool to come out of the exhibit and see many of the vehicles used in the D-day invasion. The most poigniont for me was the transportation boat that was used for the soildiers in the Channel. I was standing inside and got the amazing sense of the conditions and what they were feeling as thousands of young men headed to the beaches of Normandy. I got to see the cramped quarters they piled dozens of men into for a very wet journey that day.

Unfortunatly for me the group I was with rushed out of the museum and wanted to head to lunch, but there were still many sights to see. We wandered around Portsmouth and just took in the scenic town while take our time heading to the Spinnaker Tower. We stopped inside a very small church that had the roof bombed off during World War II. It was really small and pretty with just a few volunteers inside. The part that was left intact was the alter and where the choir sat. The stained glass was interesting because it showed many of the important Kings and a Queen ofEngland. After we left the church we found a statue that was dedicated to those who decided to leave England in search of a better life in the United States. I was not expecting to find something like that in the middle of this small town, but I believe Portsmouth was one of the main ports for those leaving to the United States so it does make sense. The statue was of a family packed and waiting for the ship and was set in an area that I believe used to be the port from which they would depart. There were also other interesting areas of the town that I saw from a distance but was not able to investigate further because of time constraints. I was surprised by how much there was to do in such a small little town. From the historic dockyards, to the boardwalk area, and the various historical monuments and buildings, Portsmouth was definitely one of my favorite places of the trip. I am really glad that we were able to add it to our itinerary and spend time there.

We boarded our ferry that night and began our journey to Normandy, France. The ride over was much shorter than I and most others anticipated, and for many of us it was a short night.

Coming Soon...

2010-06-28T09:39:00.002-04:00

Europe Update coming soon. The trip was amazing I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. I have been crazy busy since I got back working and life. I am still sorting through all my pictures which is proving to be a challenge. So hopefully a detailed post will be coming soon, probably in stages there is a lot to cover.

Europe!!

2010-06-03T00:05:00.004-04:00

The day has finally come in a little over 14 hours I will be headed to London, England for my two week study abroad trip! I have been planning for this trip for over a year and worked hard to pay for it as a job I didn't really like. But the day has finally come. I'm looking forward to this WWII themed trip and can't wait to see all the places I have only read about. One of the things I'm most looking forward to is seeing the Eiffel tower I'm a little obsessed, but I also feel like I have a right to be since I have a completely french last name haha. So expect some awesome pictures and perhaps a blog while I'm over there. I will be updating twitter so anything exciting will be over there! Two weeks in England, France, and Germany I know there will be lots to talk about. I also have a knitting project that I will maybe complete (but probably not) while I'm over there. I'm making the Clapotis in a really nice cotton/wool yarn that I can't remember what it is at the moment. But hopefully I will be able to knit on the plane and such.

Surprise!!

2010-05-17T00:42:00.003-04:00

For the past few days I was in a funk. I felt like I was in the depths of despair as Anne of Green Gables would say. But today that changed when one of my best college friends Jenny came for a surprise visit. Oh man it was wonderful. It's only been about 2 weeks but it's awful to go from seeing everyone everyday to nothing. Plus she is just such an encouragement for me that I've missed her greatly. But we had lunch, knitted, and visited for a bit and I can't wait for her longer visit in about a week and a half. Also my good friend from home Katie is hopefully going to visit me down here in St. Aug this week will be wonderful since I haven't seen her in months!!! Otherwise I'm working some at the Research Library and working on papers as well as unpacking my room which needs to happen before my roommate comes back from Israel!

PS I hope she doesn't kill me for this but this totally represents our friendship and personalities me standing there as Jenny is crazy and makes me laugh.

Picture Update

2010-05-11T21:19:00.003-04:00

I feel like I've had nothing to write about lately because everything is the same day after day but I do have some random pictures from the past semester that I would like to share.

These are WASPs from WWII I've been wanting to see them for such a long time the only sad par was that I did not actually get to meet any of them but it was one of my dreams come true to get to see them and hear their stories!

This is one of my good friends who I never get to see, Hannah, at my B-day dinner.

This is also at my B-day dinner with my roomie Brooks.

Hillson United at the Pasion 2010. We were really close to the stage as you can see from the picture. But they were really cool to see in person. Even though I didn't really care that much at the time, they are really awesome worship leaders and song writers and really know what it is to glorify the Lord with their gifts rather than themselves.

And these girls were probably the highlight of Passion 2010 because they were good friends when I was younger and living in Louisiana. We haven't seen each other in 9 years and it was great to see them again even if it was for only a short time. I hope to see them again soon.

Summer

2010-04-27T16:30:00.003-04:00

Summer has begun for me. I am done with my Spring semester at Flagler. So far I have 3 B's and I think one A but it hasn't all been confirmed quite yet. I didn't do as well as I was really hoping this semester but it's better.
I've really enjoyed by internship this semester and I'm currently waiting to find out if it will turn into a job for the rest of my time in St. Augustine. It would really be awesome and I'm really anxious to find out and praying that I will be hired!
I will also be moving into my first apartment sometime in May. I'm really excited to be living with the 3 other girls that are sharing the apartment. It should be fun!
I also am really looking forward to my Europe trip in June! I'm trying to plan things and hopefully will be buying some stuff for my trip. But that is all I'm sure I'll have much more to talk about soon.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T14:59:00.002-04:00

Easter is one of my favorite holidays everyone gets dressed in new clothes and heads to church to celebrate Christ's resurrection. I kinda realized today why we always get new clothes. Because it's a symbol of our newness in Christ and the spring season where things are new and fresh. Which may also be a reason why God chose this time of year to have Christ die to represent the new life that we can have through Jesus. Church was amazing this morning and I've missed my family so much and am glad to spend time with them. School is over in a few weeks and I have so much work to do so this is crunch time. I will be so glad when it's over! Happy Easter and I hope everyone remembers why we celebrate this wonderful holiday!

Knitting

2010-03-06T10:36:00.006-05:00

I've finished 3 projects in 2 days that is every unusual for me. However, most of these projects had very little left to them to finish so I finally bit the bullet and finished them. The first was was a pair of socks for my sister.
The Basic Ribbed Socks in Red Heart Heart & Sole In Razzle Dazzle. I really loved this yarn just the pattern is adorable and made the seemingly monotonous part of knitting 3 x 1 rib go by really fast.

The second project was my Roomie's Scarf. It was supposed to be her Christmas Present but I ran out of yarn and had to wait till I went home to get more. I Cast on 17 stitches and just knit in seed stitch till it was long enough. I used Paton's Shetland Chunky In the Variegated Denim color way. It's really cute and matches the hat I made her last Christmas.

Finally I finished something for myself. I bought Bernat Alpaca Natural Blend yarn a while back and have been wanting to make somthing so I decided on the Kaya Cabled Scarf. It's really cute and was super easy! I guess I'll have to wait till it's really cold to really wear it but It'll be great.

On another note the Passion: Awakening Cd comes out on Tuesday and let me tell you it's amazing! I've been listening to it on Itunes and it is so great to relive that time at Passion 2010 through the music!

Knitting and Misc

2010-02-16T17:32:00.005-05:00

So I have started a new and fabulous project for me!!

It is the Whisper Cardigan from Interweave Spring 2009, and I am using Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in this beautiful blue color. I am totally in love with it. This is all that I have done so far.
It is coming along nicely, there are some mistakes but I'm just going to let it go for now I don't really care that much...I think. I am kind of a perfectionist when it comes to my knitting especially when I am knitting for myself but right now I'm just going to go with the flow on this one and see how it turns out.
In other news I was walking around St. Augustine the other day and happened on this lovely thing
An old Mail box!! I love it this town has so many cool little gems all over it!
Also my roommate and I decorated our door for Valentines Day, well really she did and I helped. It turned out adorable. Unfortunately we didn't win the contest but I think it's only because we won the last time. Well that's really it for now, I guess I'm back to the grind of endless school work!

What A Week

2010-01-30T22:10:00.000-05:00

I feel like this week has been a blur. I didn't have to work at my internship on Monday so I basically had a day off, but since then I've just been running around busy. I am absolutely loving my internship! It is a ton of work but the work that I am doing is so amazing, I literally feel like I'm a part of history at my internship just with the changes that are happening there. I also found out that another amazing thing will be happening at school in the next few weeks but I will wait to post about that until after it has happened. Anyways I just can't believe that I am taking the classes that I am taking.
At the moment I am taking a class called Oral History and I will have the opportunity to interview people in the area who have been veterans. My goal is to interview women which should provide a very interesting paper that I am ecstatic about! I literally am giddy about a paper and it is so strange to me. However I am taking another history class called Southern Religious History and my paper topic for that is still very unclear and I am hoping that next week I can really nail down an idea which hopefully one of the people who works at my internship will be able to give me some ideas. Although I'm not swamped yet with school work (which is amazing!) I am still incredibly busy just with classes and my jobs. But so far this school year has been interesting just there have been some downs with some of my friends just being strange and stuff and I am hoping that they will just straighten out a little bit or just get over their issues a little bit. However I am determined to just have a good semester and knit because it makes me happy. I am working on a lovely Alpaca scarf and will soon be starting the Whisper Cardigan from Interweave Knitting Spring 2009. I am still waiting on my yarn to come in for that though. Sorry about the random post but this is just how my mind is working right now.

Knitting

2010-01-22T19:06:00.006-05:00

I have finished a few projects lately that I have slowly been working on over the past semester and Christmas break.
This is the Maroma Shawl from NaturallyCaron.com I made it for my Aunt out of Patton Merino Wool in the Denim colorway. It came out really nice and I also crocheted the first border ever around any knitted item I am really glad at how it came out. Unfortunately the color is quite off but it is a really deep denim blue.

I also made this scarf as well as a Spring Beret out of the same yarn. The scarf is called the Scrunchable scarf and it was completly charming while I was knitting it. The yarn is Caron Simply soft in plum.

I made this scarf for my roommate from last year. I even knit on it while I was at the BarlowGirl concert in Tallahasse! I love this scarf I used the Feather and Fan stitch, but it was a beast to knit it just took so long! I made it out of about 1 1/2 hanks of KnitPicks Shadow Lace in Spring Green. She loves it and it looks so good on her too!At the Barlow Girl Concert!

New Year New Semester

2010-01-16T22:24:00.003-05:00

Oh man it has been a long time since I've written. Many things have happened and much has stayed the same. The Fall Semester finally ended in a whirl wind that was not as successful as I would have liked it to be. My GPA dropped but I am confident that I can raise it back up to a more successful (in my view that is) number. I spent much of my break working at the craft store so that I could make some money for my Europe trip this summer, however I as always got spendy and spent a lot of it on Christmas Presents. However I came back this semester to school and have started my internship at the St. Augustine Historical Society Research Library. I am responsible for one main project involving a reorganization of biographical photographs and also assisting with the development of a tour about the house that the library is headquartered. There are also several other projects that I will have the opportunity to be involved in which will give me a ton of experience for my future career in public history. One of the most exciting things about this internship is that this experience will be amazing for my grad school applications because as my professors have told me is that many undergrads who apply for the public history degress in grad schools do not have this kind of experience to back up their interest. So basically I'm ahead of the game which makes me really excited. I am a bit nervous about my course load and am praying for all As! That would just make my year I feel like. Well this has been an incredibly random post and I also have plans to write about my experience at Passion 2010 which was probably one of the best experiences of my life, I loved Atlanta!

It's About That Time

2009-10-19T23:55:00.002-04:00

There comes a point in every college students semester where they just get into a funk. I am at that point. Everything has piled up into the same week and well I'm just there. I need a vacation, but my school doesn't have vacations it's pretty much one of the only draw backs though. I can't explain this time right now I'm anxious and in a funk really that's all there is to it. I am trying to rely on God though and it helps but my mind tells me that it's not. However I just try to keep focusing on God and this particular verse has been helping me out for the past few days. Philippians 4:6-7 "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hears and your minds in Christ Jesus."

BACK AT SCHOOL

2009-08-28T00:00:00.002-04:00

I moved back into Flagler yesterday. I am so glad to be back! I moved into a different dorm entirely so it's been interesting getting used to the way things are over in this dorm. I have a fabulous roommate who is just awesome! We get along great and in a sense were practically roommates last year I spent so much time in her room last year. I am an orientation leader so I was able to move in 4 days early which was so nice since there was no where near the traffic and chaos there will be on Saturday when all the Freshman move in. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. It's a bit strange to be on a practically empty campus but I kinda like having it to myself, it's fun. Classes start in 6 days and I'm excited but not at the same time, after all it is class. Soon I will be finishing up a post about what I did this summer working at the Museum of Science and History. Which was a ton of fun and I have really cool pictures and stuff to share.

Summer 2009

2009-08-02T07:54:00.009-04:00

So summer 2009 has ended...a long time ago but I haven't had a chance to post about my summer yet so here it goes. I hate summer it's way to long and I miss everyone at school also I just can't handle not being in class for 4 months it's way to boring. However one thing that has not been boring this summer was working at the MOSH. At the MOSH I interned with the history curator and was able to work not only in the collections room, but I also was able to create my own exhibits! It was so much fun and I learned a lot about museum work. This is now my official plan once I graduate from Flagler to immediately make my way to an institution with a graduate program in museum studies where I will most likely focus my history on American Studies and then learn all aspects of curatorship. So I though I would share some pictures of the work that I did at the MOSH because a blog post without pictures is well...boring.

This is some of the stuff we have in the collections room...I spent a lot of time in here organizing and cataloging stuff

This is one of the exhibits I helped create it's war bonds and ration cards with a couple posters as well.

This is the case on women. The dolls are probably my favorite. They are Madame Alexander WAC and WAVES dolls and they are just adorable.

This case has artifacts from NAS Jax during World War II. It's really cool.

This case is about is about the homefront, we put different stuff in here including a life magazine article about victory gardens, the little red and white flag with the blue star is an original flag that a family used to indicate that one of their family members was in the war. There are also gas masks an adult and a child in case of an attack.

This is an American Red Cross sock kit from the 1940s, I really wanted to make socks out of this yarn, I thought it would be so cute...but alas it's an artifact and such, but still really cool.

This is the 1950s house where I probably spent at least 2 weeks inventorying and rearranging. We put these manaquins down there this summer and I think they are really funny, they kind of freaked me out at first because we put them in about a month after I started so it was kinda weird with them being in there but I like them alot.
Well this is what I did this summer. It was a ton of fun and I can't wait to have more internships!

Lucky

2009-07-18T11:21:00.003-04:00

Our beautiful dog Lucky died this past week. As you can see he lived on our front porch and I used to joke that this was our redneck dog because of that. We found him as a stray when we lived in Louisiana and had him for over 10 years. He was the best dog anyone could have. He loved people and was just so sweet. It was hard to watch him go, but he was definitely sick, I'm not sure with what, but we knew that something was wrong. I'll miss his perky little face when I drive up to the house, and the lovely way he kept door to door people from actually getting up to our door! But it was great to have him as a dog and I know that he is not in pain anymore. It's sad but we are moving on maybe one day we'll get another dog just as sweet, but for now we are once again petless.

Growing Up and Moving On

2009-05-31T23:16:00.002-04:00

So I've noticed that what everyone has told me about life and friends has started to come true. I've noticed that some of my high school friends are drifting away and we don't have as much in common anymore and are not keeping in touch as much. I swore this would never happen, but it is as I'm becoming so close with many of my new college friends and love spending time with them. The funny thing about this whole process is that I don't really mind it as much as I thought I would. I'm okay with this process and I'm seeing it as part of growing up. Now don't get me wrong I'm a little sad about it, but I guess I've accepted it and am ready to move on and embrace my new life!

Lately

2009-05-16T10:47:00.003-04:00

I have officially started my summer jobs. My first one and probably my favorite is that I am interning at the local history and science museum in the collections department going through and reorganizing the Pre-Colombian collection AKA Mayan pottery and other related things. I also am responsible for the care of one of the exhibits making sure that there aren't any lights out or signs aren't knocked over. Also in the care of the exhibit I also get to clean all of the snotty and fingerprinted glass which isn't the most fun thing but I will get to spend a lot of time in there and I like it in there so it's all good. I really thing that museum work is the field I'm interested in pursuing. However, I've only been there for a week so I'm not totally convinced yet but I like the work so maybe that is what I will do once I graduate from college. I also have started working again at the craft store I worked at last year and over Christmas break. This is good because my internship doesn't pay me anything and I need to make money so that I can pay for my Europe trip next summer, which I'm very excited about!! I can't even contain my excitement sometimes. So this is basically what I have been doing for the past week working at my two summer jobs and then making dinner if I'm home at night.

I have also started several new knitting projects. One is for me, my lace shawl I mentioned in my last post, a shawl I started on around Christmas time for my aunt which is coming along, and then a pretty lace scarf for a college friend (it's going to be a surprise ). Well that's about it I hope that you have a great weekend and hopefully I'll update again soon with pictures :)

My Life

2009-04-28T10:34:00.004-04:00

My life has been insane lately. With all of my school work I've barely had time to do anything but study, sleep, and eat, with not much sleep. However, school is done until fall and to be honest I'm not very happy about that. I truly wasn't ready to leave school I just wanted new classes. I am taking a WWII from the American Perspective class next semester that I am really excited about since WWII is my favorite time period to study and I would like to focus my history studies. So now with the summer I am starting an internship in May at the MOSH where I will basically be working with artifacts and inventorying what the museum has I am really excited about it as I am thinking of going into that field as I do not want to teach history which is what everyone always asks me.
Anyway so I know that this post is very random but I also wanted to share what I have finished on the knitting front. Over Easter break I finally finished my sister's vest and it turned out really well and she got a ton of compliments from her friends about it which made me very happy! After all I've been working on it for about a year.

Now I'm working on a lace shawl and so far I love it! I also have been working on multiple dishcloths and am probably going to be giving a bunch of them to a friend who is about to get married.
Let me talk about my wonderful morning yesterday. I share a room with my sister at home and yesterday morning around 6:30 am I was in my bed sleeping and my sister was getting ready for school and our entire closet collapses. The shelf and bar just collapsed and woke me up. I jumped up in bed, I thought that it was our computers falling off our little table. I was so annoyed and I couldn't go back to sleep so I was very very annoyed. Anyway so that was my morning.
I realize that this post is a bit disjointed and completely random, however this is what my life is about LOL.

Good Friday

2009-04-10T14:29:00.002-04:00

In honor of this day I thought I would post some youtube videos I found that really demonstrate what this season is all about.
The first one was shone in my church in Saint Augustine last Sunday and I loved it

This second video is a song by Tree63 just called Sunday! I love it!

I hope you liked them. Happy Easter

M.I.A.

2009-03-26T19:09:00.002-04:00

So there hasn't really been that much to talk about lately. I've been updating a lot with Twitter though. I just have been crazy busy with school and haven't been able to sit down and write a blog post about well my random life :) Well school is about to be done in less than 30 days which is a relief from the school end, but makes me kinda sad and depressed because I'm going to miss everyone here at school so much especially my roomie. We've gotten a long so great this past semester and I couldn't have asked for a better roomie. I also have been very busy with school as I've alluded to but it's winding down which also means that there is about two months of work packed into one. I have about 3 papers left to write this semester but they are all huge. One paper is 15 pages and the other paper is 10 pages. I'm not looking forward to writing them. But everything has been going pretty well. I'm super excited because this weekend my little sister Amy is coming to stay a weekend at college with me and I can't wait for her to get to meet everyone down here and the added bonus that everyone is staying here this weekend and not going home makes it better so she'll get to meet everyone!

I actually haven't been knitting that much which makes me sad. I've been to busy. I am almost done with Amy's vest which she is excited about as am I since I've been working on the thing for about a year. I can't wait to see her wear it as it's really cute. I've also been working on some discloths for a friend who is getting married in May!

I did go home last weekend for my "spring blink" it was so much fun. I relaxed a little bit and hung out with some good friends. I also bought a new dress (for easter) and a super cute pair of brown wedges from payless! It was spectacular. I also got a dress in that I had ordered from Old Navy that is this really bright but pretty coral color and I can't wait to wear it!

Alrighty well I'm off to read about the Irish Gaelic Revival for my class so I can write a paper on it.

School

2009-02-16T20:54:00.002-05:00

Oh school how I loathe thee a little bit. you've been kicking my but lately and it's just a bit annoying. However, I know that I will be sad once you are done for the semester, so I'll just keep plugging along without trying to go to insane!

So yes this is my life lately. I have so much to do and so little time. And then I procrastinate by writing on my blog, twittering, facebooking, you name it and I do it. However school is going pretty well, but we are at the point in the semester where teachers are like oh yeah you need to have a test/quiz/paper due and they decide to do them all at the same time! That's my life.

Another thing I've been doing lately is a Bible Study with my church down here. I was in it part of last semester as well. However, we are studying the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. And let me tell you it is awesome!! I have learned so much in the last 3 weeks about myself and why I do the things that I do. It's been amazing so far. I highly recommend every teenage girl, young woman, and every woman really to buy this book and read it. It will change your life!

Alrighty well I am going to go and enjoy my ICEE while studying for my test and quiz tomorrow because I have procrastinated on here enough.

Grateful

2009-01-26T11:25:00.002-05:00

Last night, I went with a group from my sunday school class to the one and only homeless shelter to make and serve dinner, in the town that I go to school in. It's called St. Francis house. For one thing it is a tiny shelter and to see how many people came through there for food was very humbeling. They actually had to come in shifts. So anyway while I did have fun, I also was overcome with a sense of being completly grateful and thankful to God that he has provided for me and my family the way He has over the years. I mean there were kids in there that were my age. Like I can't imagine being homeless at my age and having to rely on a homeless shelter for my meal. I don't know I have been just thinking about it since last night and thanking God. Because really whose to say that one day, in this economy, that could be me. I pray to God that it won't be, but it could happen. And last night while I was sitting in my nice and warm comfortable dorm room I was just pondering about all of the homeless people here in town and also my hometown. Going out and serving others just makes me so much more grateful and thankful to God. So that's all I just wanted to share that and encourage everyone to go out and serve somewhere and make a difference.

Back at School

2009-01-19T11:17:00.002-05:00

Well winter break is over and I'm back at school for my spring semester. I have a new roommate, and she is fabulous we get along so well. My classes are pretty interesting I'm taking History since 1877, with a professor that I love; History of Ireland, with the professor who happens to be my advisor so that's kinda cool; Middle East: WWI to present, the professor is really old and it should be an interesting class we have to do role play debates which I'm not really fond of but I'm sure that it will be okay; Comparative Politics, with a very cool professor who is actually from Britain; and Cultural Anthropology, I'm thinking of picking up anthropology as a minor because I have so much free time class requirements wise. I didn't get as much knitting done over the break as I wanted to because I worked so much. However, I did start over on my sister's Bryant Slipover vest so that now it will probably fit her and I also started a new scarf for myself out of Bernat Natural Alpaca blend in a pretty charcol gray color. It's super soft and I love it. I guess that is all for now. It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day so I don't have classs which is nice I got to sleep in.

Cedar Key

2008-12-30T16:59:00.003-05:00

My Dad is a pilot and I haven't gone flying with him in a couple of years because we are both so busy and never can coordinate our schedules. So yesterday my Dad decided to fly me to Cedar Key and eat lunch there. I had so much fun. I have never been to Cedar Key before and it was so cute! I was worried that I was going to get sick as I haven't flown in a while plus I was sick with a stomach bug last week as well, but as my Dad said go big or go home when it came to flying so we flew across the state for lunch. My Dad and I don't really spend that much time together one on one for extended periods of time so it was a good day. Here are some pictures from the day.

The really cool clouds from the plane.

Ben Hill Griffin Stadium AKA "The Swamp" from the air

The restaurant we ate at in Cedar Key

Me and my Dad

A really cool restaurant building

some old buildings on the main street in town

The Library

An old fire truck parked by the Library

My Dad loves flying here cause he think it's cool

Downtown Cedar Key from the air

Overall it was a great day and now I'm just chilling during my winter break. I'm ready to go back to school though I miss everyone there but only two weeks left!

It's been a while

2008-12-10T19:03:00.003-05:00

School has kept me very very busy lately. Fortunately for me it's finals week and tomorrow is my last final!! Then home for a month. I'm so excited! I have some pictures to share but i'll make another post later. So this is just a very quick and brief update!

My Little Adventure

2008-10-14T14:44:00.007-04:00

So I pass by this everyday on my way from my dorm to the campus.
We call it the pumpkin church. So I just couldn't resist and I bought one to bring back to my dorm room!
Here is my baby pumpkin, isn't it so cute! They also gave me this lovely little sticker which is just adorable!
I think it's the cutest and I put it in my window for now
I'm going to draw a face on it soon, I just don't know when. Oh and this weekend I went to my sister's band competition They got First place in their catagory and 5th place over all Go TCA Marching Band.

Oh Fall

2008-10-13T10:00:00.003-04:00

I knew fall weather wasn't going to last very long. I mean it's certainly not hot now but I'm so ready for sweater weather. School is starting to get busy now. I love going to class but boy do I hate studying for test. I'm so tired to, I just feel so exhausted. I need to sleep!! I went to a new church yesterday and it was really good. I mean it's not as good as FBC, but I think I'm going to end up going there the most. It's called Anastasia Baptist Church (ABC). And on a funny note, the wife of the college leader graduated from my high school. So cool. I haven't really been knitting much as I've been studying but I really want to, maybe when I get back to my room this afternoon I will. I'm soooo tired right now I just want to sleep! Well that is my life right now class, study, sleep. I did have a fun time this weekend though. I went to my sister's marching band competition. Whew it was such a long day. I was there from 9 a.m. until about 11:30 that night. They did so good though and I was impressed. They were best in class for Division 1 A and ended up placing 5th overall which if I remember correctly last year at this same competition they placed 6th so that is a good improvement. I really love going to marching band competitions they are so cool and I was never even in Marching Band. I kinda find that hilarious.

Fall!!!

2008-09-25T15:15:00.003-04:00

It's so pretty right now. It is totally fall weather right now. I love it. However it makes me slightly mad because I know that in a couple days it will go right back to hot weather. But I'm just going to enjoy the weather for now.

I think my Dorm Room is Making me Sick

2008-09-19T10:23:00.003-04:00

That's right my dorm room is making me sick I'm convinced. Well really I don't truly believe that but it is crazy cold. I actually wore flannel pants and a hoodie last night and I never do that not even in the winter at home. I'm going to the store today after I'm done with classes to get some medicine. I think it's really just allergies though, or maybe a combination. I don't know but it's really cold. Classes are going well. I have my first real speech on Monday and it's on Happiness...I'm really not happy about it. I love my U.S. History class my professor is so good. I also like my other history classes but my U.S. History is the best. Oh so another political shout out I guess. I must say all of the comparison of inexperience between Palin and Obama is driving me crazy. First of all I would say that yes Obama probably has more experience than Palin on national and international issues, but Obama is running for President and Palin is not. Palin is running for Vice President. Therefore it is not a very good argument in my opinion. Besides Palin does have John McCain to I guess teach her, and I guess the same argument can be made for Biden. Anyway that is getting on my nerves when I read articles or watch the news (which I don't do that often because I don't have a TV). I guess that's it for now. I haven't really been knitting much, but I've been working on my sister's Bryant's Slipover so I'm about half way done with the waist shaping which is good. Oh and the new Knitty is out and I love it, there are some things I just have to knit from it.

Politics

2008-09-04T22:00:00.003-04:00

I don't think I've ever talked about politics on here before but right now I'm so very frustrated that I have to write about it. Today I had a class about Women in American History. I pretty much knew that going into this that it was going to be a very liberal feminist class. I mean I'm all for women's rights but there are somethings that I don't agree with. So of course Governor Sarah Palin came up. Okay here is the thing I don't think anybody really likes her in that class. Some of the things that they talk about are that she is either going to be a bad mother or a bad VP or do a half okay job on both. I think that she can do both. Be a great mother and a great VP, because here is the thing if her husband was running for VP nobody would ask those questions. Also, her abortion stance in right on in my opinion. I realize that people disagree and this is the United States of America we are allowed to disagree. I believe in the sanctity of life so to me abortion is never right. Also her pregnant daughter, apparently this is a huge issue. My view on that, there is only so much a parent can do to hopefully prevent their teenager from getting pregnant. Even if her mom had been a say stay-at-home mom her daughter could have still gone out and gotten pregnant. I mean I know well not personally but I know of Christian girls that have gotten pregnant outside of marriage. Oh and it was mentioned in my class today that Evangelical Christians may not vote for Palin because of the belief that a man should be the head of the household and not be up front leaders in church. Which is a slightly untrue statement, I believe that women should not be preachers however I do believe that women are necessary in leadership especially to lead other women. Trust me my church has tons of women leaders. Anyway I wish I had said this but James Dobson is as far as I know completely behind Palin. Therefore if Dobson is behind her than Evangelica Christians take that into consideration more than the argument about women being leaders in church. With all that I think Palin is awesome and could do great things for this nation. I hope this post makes some kind of sense. Oh and for history I'm reading Thomas Paine's Common Sense which I kind of feel is appropriate right now LOL.

School

2008-09-04T12:47:00.003-04:00

I am now at college and I absolutely love it here!! I have 3 history classes which I'm so happy about because that is my major. I am also taking a political science class as well as speech. I'm really not to happy about speech, but I have to take it. Here are some pictures of what my mom calls my "not normal dorm room"

My bed

My desk area

My spiffy ceiling light

the view from my room (it's one of our 2 courtyards)

my fruit plate that my mom thinks is adorable

Some of these places look different now because I have been here for about 5 days now and have some more stuff like I just got some more posters yesterday plus my school books. But I'm having so much fun. I haven't really been knitting because I forgot my Bryant Slipover pattern at home. I can't decide what I want to start right now so I'm kind of waiting. Other than that things are going good and now I have to do some reading.

Update

2008-08-26T14:12:00.003-04:00

It's way over due for a post. I only have one FO to show and that is my Ravelympics Project here is a link to it on ravelry Maroma Scarf.
This is my Maroma Wrap Scarf

And here is a close up.

I'm thinking of trying to make a hat to match it. I haven't every designed anything before but really I'm just taking the stitch pattern and adapting it. I don't know I'm still thinking about it. I have also finished my monkey socks, but I haven't taken pictures of them yet. I also have made a rug for my dorm room and it is super cute! I'll take more pictures soon and add them .
I leave for school in 5 days and I'm so super excited! I am so ready for school to start. Also as you can tell I'm slowly making changes to my blog. I'm ready for a change, it's slow going because I'm playing the the HTML codes and since I don't really know HTML I'm just kinda playing with it. So that's all that's going on lately.

I've been Bitten

2008-08-06T23:20:00.003-04:00

Okay it's now time to admit it. I was kinda skeptical at first because well I don't really wear them, but I've been bitten by the sock bug. I love them! They are so fast and easier to knit than i even thought. I'm working on Monkey from Knitty. They are super easy and super cute. I'm using

Colinette Jitterbug in the colorway Fire. I'm in love. Here is a link to my Ravelry project page with more info. I wish I had pictures but alas I let my sister borrow my camera this week for camp so when she gets home on Friday I'll try and take some pictures. I'm also gearing up for the Ravelympics. I'm so excited about it. I'm doing a scarf and will post more about it later. I promise pictures in my next post.

How Great is Our God

2008-07-23T23:54:00.004-04:00

There are oh so many reasons why I love going to the youth service at my church even though technically I'm to0 old for it, but I still go sometimes (okay well a lot but that's because it's so good). Tonight my college and career leader actually spoke because the youth minister was having a meeting with the camp counselors. He spoke on prayer. It was just awesome. When I left I just felt like I wanted to keep worshiping God and I really wish that the praise and worship had been so much longer, one song we sang was How Great is Our God. Which can sometimes get a little old because we sing it so much, but tonight I really focused on the words and what the song was saying and I don't know, it was kinda like a camp moment. Then I was reading this blog about one of Beth Moore's conferences that someone had been to and so now I'm listening to Revelation Song on Youtube because that's the only way I can listen to it. I love worship music, especially the new songs coming out that are what I sometimes like to call rock worship. I don't know there is something about the music being so loud that I can't hear anything else but the music so that way I can focus on God more. I don't know it's kinda weird but awesome and amazing at the same time. I'm just marveling the in the awesomeness of God tonight. I don't normally write posts like this, but this is what I'm feeling.

Why am I blogging about these things?

2008-07-09T22:37:00.003-04:00

So I have bought some new yarn. I got the Bernat Bamboo natural blends it's amazing I love the way it feels. I think I'm going to make a washcloth out of it for my new roommate at school. Oh and I bought new foundation. I haven't worn makeup in months because well I didn't really like my foundation so today I went to the store and got some Cover girl trublend whipped foundation or whatever it's called. I love the way it looks on my skin completely natural. Oh and I have started playing around with google docs and other google application stuff. I think I like the fact that I have some documents that are stored on the web so that they maybe they won't get lost or whatever. Apparently things are completely boring if these are the most exciting things that have happened to me lately.

Limbo

2008-06-30T23:29:00.003-04:00

So I'm really disliking this period of my life that I'm in right now. It's like I'm in limbo just waiting for things to happen, or things are happening and I'm not part of them. It's a rather hard thing to explain. Hopefully once school starts I can get into a nice routine that I will be happy with. I am excitied though because today I got my room and roommate assignment. Although I'm not in the dorm that I wanted, I am in a brand new building which is less than 1/2 a mile from the main campus block. The dorm that I wanted is on the main campus block. But the more I looked into my dorm building the happier I became about it. I am only having one roommate as opposed to two or three. We have our own bathroom and I will get my own sink. So there are some upsides. Also better parking because of where my college is the parking is really bad and hard to find. So I'm just trusting that God has put me in that dorm room in that building for a reason and I just have to trust Him!

Frustration

2008-06-29T13:17:00.003-04:00

I'm in this weird and lovely frustration period. First of all my job. I really do enjoy my job, but they keep scheduling me on days that I really can't work on, like Sundays which is when I go to church. I talked to my boss about it and He said that He wouldn't schedule me anymore but that my hours would probably be cut. I mean I understand but I've given him 5 and even 6 if He needs to schedule me, and I'm available on any of those days at any time. I'm just so frustrated. Secondly, school. I need money and I don't know where it's coming from. I realize that it isn't really any one's fault but my own, but I'm still frustrated about what to do. I guess it'll all work out, but in the meantime I'm still going to be frustrated.

Coolbeans

2008-06-23T19:16:00.003-04:00

In the past couple of days I have gotten three new cds and I haven't had to pay for any of them. First, I was at Wal.Mart with my mother and I got the old Carrie Underwood cd Some Hearts which I love and I've been wanting it forever so that was cool. And then I got 2 free cds from a radio station. They sent me an email and told me to pick my top 2 out of their list I guess in case they run out of one before they get my email or something. So I was only expecting one but they sent me both of them which is really cool. So I got the new Caedmon's Call cd Overdressed and Hillsong Live Mighty to Save. So yeah it's pretty cool getting free stuff!! New music is awesome. I'm working on my sis's vest on the knitting front, and hopefully I can get it done before I leave for school but I'm not holding my breath.

WIP

2008-06-01T22:22:00.008-04:00

Oh there are so many right now!
This is all I have done so far, just the bacFirst there is my sister's Bryant Slipover from Interweave Knits (sorry I don't remember what issue). I can't wait to see how it looks when I'm done!

I'm also working on the Bleeding Heart Stole also from Interweave Knits, but this is from Spring 2008. I'm really happy with it and very excited to see how it looks when I'm farther along. I started it on Friday and this is about all I've been doing all weekend.

I participated in a swap a while back on Ravely and I totally forgot to post what I got on here. My swap buddy was awesome!! I love everything that she sent me.
She sent me everything in a cute little bag with a Chinese print. Two sizes of index cards which I'm sure will be useful next semester at FC. A journal and pencil pouch, a case of paper clips and those little paper grippers, some tea, and an apple cozy. Which I love it's my new favorite thing. I actually showed it to some non knitter friends and they kinda looked at me like I was crazy, but I love it. I think it's the cutest!

Oh and Memorial Weekend I didn't have to work, so my family and I went down to the town where my college is at. Here are some pictures from the school.

This is the main courtyard area that leads to the lobby.

The ceiling of the lobby.

Part of the Campus.

It's gorgeous down there and I can't wait until September so I can move there. Anyway so that's about all. I have been thinking about trying my hand at spinning. Any thoughts? My mom already bought a drop spindle, I did buy some wool but I don't think it's going to work right. I might need to go and buy something else from my lys or maybe online.

Old Hobbies

2008-05-22T12:04:00.006-04:00

I'm knitting but I don't have pictures of that right now. However I am starting to pick up on an older, less proficient hobby of mine. Sewing. I come from a line of women who sew, I learned at a young age but I haven't sewn in forever. So I've decided to make a quilt. I know it's ambitious, but this quilt has been in the works for about 2 years and since I don't have school and I'm going off to college next year I figured it's about now or never. So today I started cutting it out. This is the pattern that I'm following

Of course I'm not using that fabric, even though that fabric is really cool. Instead this is some of the fabric I'm using

Manatees and Flamingos may seem a little weird, but for some odd reason I love manatees I think they are the cutest. And the flamingo fabric is so cute. Most of this fabric is from my tropical/Hawaiian phase. I was going to do my room tropical but I never did. I still love the bright tropical colors and the patterns to. Anyway so this is what I'm going to be working on during my summer break.

In other news, This is what I got my mom for mother's day

I bought her the cupcake stand and my sister made her the cupcakes. I think this is the first mother's day present I've ever bought for my mom. Oh and I bought her this awesome Gilmore Girls card from Hallmark. She loved it. So that's what is going on with me lately.

Long Time No See

2008-03-31T14:43:00.005-04:00

So I haven't really had much to talk about lately, hence the no blogging. Well college is going pretty good right now, and I'm on Spring Break this week so very excited about that. Since the last post I now am employed at a local craft store which is very exciting so I now have a steady stream of income and I get yarn at a discount so thats very exciting!!!! I am working on several new projects and after a trip to my lys I now have some great new yarn. This is what I bought when I went to my lys last week

if your on ravelry you can see them individually (my screen name is luvbg89). The yarn in the center is Jitterbug colorway fire I love it dearly I think it is the beginning of my stash as I have no plans to knit it anytime soon its just to pretty. I have started a couple new projects the first is the Bryant's Slipover from Interweave. Its for my sister and I'm about half way done with the back right now.

I love this pattern and I can't wait to see if on my sister when it's finished. I have also started a gift for my swap buddy for the College Knitters Swap. I have to get that done this week during by spring break so that I can send it to her in mid April. This is my first swap and I'm really excited about it. Oh and the Spring Shawl has been put on hold for now. Maybe I'll have more time to concentrate on it in the summer. Those who have finished it have really inspired me to take up work on it again it's so pretty. But alas I have so much going on right now that I really can't get it all done. So for now my shawl is on the back burner but I am determined to finish it soon. Again back to school I was accepted into my dream school last week. I'm so so so happy and excited. Also a little bit worried because well its really expensive. It's a private college and it's pretty cheap as far as private colleges go but still it's expensive. Student Loans here I come. Well thats about it for now, hopefully I'll have more to post at the end of the week.

FO post

2008-02-06T00:24:00.001-05:00

Finally, some new FOs to see. First up is the Debbie Bliss Shawl Collared Jacket (baby)
I think it turned out really cute. I haven't given it to the recipient yet because well I haven't see her fortunately the size is for a 12-18 month baby and the baby is only about 1 month old so I have a while.
Secondly, the Santa Cruz hat. I ended up giving this hat to my grandmother for Christmas. She actually liked, now whether she has or ever will wear it who knows but at least it was fun to knit. I might have to make myself one.

Finally, this is the yarn that I got for Christmas, it is for the Spring Shawl Surprise by Lul. I'm actually very sad right now because I have had to take a mini break from it so that I can get some school work done.

I really do like this yarn though. Its Jagerspun Zephr in the color Cassis. I am also working on a sweater for my sister. I'm sort of designing it myself so I decided to use a bunch of yucky acrylic yarn as a "test" sweater and then going and getting nice yarn later since the budget it pretty low right not. Well thats all for now I must study for Anatomy and then go to bed.

My Amazing Father

2008-01-25T16:20:00.000-05:00

I just have to say how amazing my dad is. My laptop screen broke something to do with the LED or something I don't really know. So anyway he ordered a new screen from dell and installed it himself into my computer. Now don't get me wrong I was slightly freaking out the whole time but it was amazing he took the screen apart and installed the new one without even really knowing how to do it. And amazingly it worked!! I was so excited, I have been without my laptop for several months and its so nice to have it back. Who knew an airplane mechanic is also a computer repair man. So thanks Dad!!!

I Lied

2008-01-19T18:08:00.000-05:00

So I was totally planning on taking more FO pics and posting them but of course I didn't. For one thing I don't know where my camera cord is...I remember seeing it I just don't know where. So eventually they will be added. On another note college has started and its pretty fun so far. I have a lovely Anatomy test on Wednesday that I haven't studied for at all. Everything else is so easy right now. History of Florida and Human Growth and Development are probably my favorite classes right now. And then we come to Precalculus. The teacher is nice and has been easy but she doesn't teach and the homework she gives is online and has at least 30 problems if not more. I wouldn't mind the homework if it didn't take on average 3 hours to complete one assignment. Oh well I'll just have to endure it.

Knitting has Occurred

2008-01-02T10:26:00.000-05:00

I'm an awful blogger but there hasn't been much to write about. College finished up and then Christmas came. Now in 5 days school starts again, I'm glad but sad to because now I have to wake up earlier because I have Two 8am classes one's on Monday/Wednesday and the other is Tuesday/Thursday what a drag. But I've actually been knitting a lot I just haven't taken pictures yet but I will soon and post them I will also post what I got for Christmas as soon as I take pictures of it. Well I'm off to go and get my books for class, and then I'm coming home and posting a bunch of pictures :)

Ugg I just got back $600 for books...ridiculous

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2007-11-23T01:01:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!!. This is really my favorite holiday great food and great atmosphere and just spending time with the family. My mom's parents came over for the Thanksgiving meal this afternoon and then after they went home we went to my Dad's parents house and had fun, played some Uno, tried to teach my cousin how to knit, and chatted. So today was fun and then I came home and watched Amazing Grace which is a very good movie by the way. Well I'm exhausted so Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Why Am I Hat Knitting in Florida?

2007-11-05T13:49:00.000-05:00

Yes I have knit 2 hats since my last post and I am working on a third. I don't really understand the need to knit hats since A. I don't really wear them; and B. its Florida its not even cold enough to wear a hat except for like 2 days out of the year. Whatever they are easy and fun who knows maybe I should send some to people who live in colder climates. So I am finally caught up with my school work enough to knit as is obvious by the recent hat knitting. However, now the serious hunt for a job must begin :( , but i really need gas money so oh well. I am so glad that the semester is almost done. I have 2 classes that end in two weeks YAY!! And then my other two classes end in December. Next semester should be fun!!! Uh how about not. I have 3 classes on Tues. and Thurs. and it starts at 8am and my last class ends after 1pm ugg I hate being there that long. On the bright side I only have 1 class on Mon. I have to start waking up early so I will be prepared for my early classes-won't that be fun. Oh and I will post pictures of my hats soon :)

Knitting Depression

2007-10-23T12:21:00.000-04:00

Ok so I finished the Santa Cruz hat today. Now I'm depressed, I have nothing else to knit and I don't have any money to buy yarn. But I guess its a good thing since I do need to focus on school again, well that is until I get more yarn...maybe my mom will buy me some. After all I need to knit for Christmas gifts. Or maybe I should just get a job, yeah I think I should just do that LOL. Anyway I'm kinda behind on the schoolwork still so I need to stop getting online, but let me tell ya Ravelry is totally addicting.

Santa Cruz Hat

2007-10-22T10:50:00.000-04:00

I started the Santa Cruz Hat from Magknits on Saturday. I really like it. From what I have read on Ravelry though it comes out small. So I'm doing the Worsted version and I cast on the amount of stitches for the Sport hat. I guess I'll find out if it is to big, but I'm making if for my grandmother and so I think it will be fine. I really like the pattern though. I've been on the look out for lace style hats since I finished Foliage. My next project, I want to make a lace shawl type pattern. I think it will be fun. I'm becoming more adventures in my knitting though I'm really excited. Oh I went to my first LYS the other day and I got some Misti International Cotton. Its a cotton silk blend, and it is so soft I love it. I found out that the LYS isn't as far away as I thought and they yarn isn't really more expensive then lovely Joanns. Besides when I start venturing into sweaters I want to have really nice yarn. So that was fun.
And I guess I should mention that I did get on Ravelry last Friday. It is so much fun! My name is luvbg89. I love looking at other people's patterns and all the different yarn. Well I guess I'm all caught up. Now its back to the books, I'm still really behind and it just never ends :(

Not Knitting

2007-10-17T09:42:00.000-04:00

So the knitting has been basically non exsistent. Well actually I "grounded" my self from knitting. I packed it all up and put it in my closet. Now I would only go to such extreme measures because I was so behind in my school work. But now that it is getting back under control, I may be able to start knitting again. After all I need to start on some Christmas knitting soon.

On another note my invite for Ravelry will probably come tomorrow as there are only 184 people in front of me. I am so stinkin' excited!!

Oh and I finished the shawl-collared jacket except for I have to put buttons on it and then I will post a picture of it on here eventually.

Picture Post

2007-10-06T17:29:00.000-04:00

Okay so its time for a picture update so be prepared for an obnoxious amount of pictures.

The finished project. Its not a very good picture, but I'm hoping to get a better picture soon.
I'm almost done with the shawl collared jacket from Debbie Bliss Baby Knits for Beginners. All thats left is to seem everything up! Be prepared for some more pictures later.

And on another note. I hate school right now I feel like I'm drowning and I don't have enough time to do all the things that I want/have to do. But right now I'm just plugging along and also looking for a job, because well I need money.

Foliage Update

2007-09-22T18:26:00.000-04:00

I finished my Foliage hat from Knitty and I like it. I will post picture later. I have started the Shawl-Collared Jacket from Baby Knits for beginners by Debbie Bliss. One of my sister's friend's mom is expecting a baby boy so I wanted to make something for them. It is awfully cute.

Foliage Pt 2

2007-09-17T17:19:00.000-04:00

So here is an update on my Foliage hat from Knitty. So for one I think I have knitters cramp my arm/elbow hurts really bad and is rather cramped up. But thats okay my hat looks pretty cool. You can't really see the detail very well in these pictures but I think once it is done and stretched out it should be able to see.

The top of the hat.

A close up view. You can't really see anything but the yarn looks really pretty.

This is what the yarn looks like. Its really a lot prettier than this picture I can't wait until I can wear my hat!!
This is actually one of the only things I have made for myself. I am normally giving things away but I really wanted to keep this hat. I'm hoping to make a sweater soon.

Foliage

2007-09-15T20:45:00.000-04:00

So I have found a new knitting project Yay! I started Foliage from Knitty. I really love this pattern. And the yarn I'm using is a really pretty brown with red and yellow in it. It reminds me of fall. I'll post pictures later.

Knitty

2007-09-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

The new Knitty came out today. I'm excited. I love Knitty its probably my favorite knitting magazine. For one thing its free and it has really great patterns and articles. If you want to check it out here is a link. www.knitty.com.

Birthday Surprise Revealed

2007-09-13T12:54:00.000-04:00

Okay so I finally finished the birtday surprise and gave it to my friend so now I can tell everyone what it is. Its the Rosy Cables Cozy and Scarf from Creative Knitting January 2007. I knitted just the cozy and not the scarf, it took me long enough as it was without having a huge scarf to go with it. I decided to use purple yarn because that is what I had on hand and I knew that my friend had purple in her ski jacket so it would kind of match. So here are some pictures of it.

This is when it was about half way done.

The completed project. I love the cables!!

Close up of the cables.
And the quest begins again.

I'm Done!!

2007-09-11T11:22:00.000-04:00

I am finally done with my friends birthday present. All will be revealed after I give it to her tomorrow. I'm am so happy that I'm done. I loved knitting it but it was taking forever. I am ecstatic I never thought I would go from knitting scarfs to hats to my slippers and now this which is the hardest one I've done yet. No worries though I'm going to branch out and do more. This project was basically all cables and I've never done them before but I loved doing them they look so cool and are definitely not as hard as I thought they were going to be. Now I'm going to have post knitting blues as I don't know what I'm going to do next. I want to do the Punk Rock Backpack from SnB but I don't have the yarn yet. But I'm definitely going to get the yarn for that soon. Well thats all for now I will have pictures of the gift tomorrow probably.

Progress Bar

2007-09-05T00:30:00.000-04:00

So check out my nifty progress bar to you right. It only took me about 2 hours to figure out but YAY!! I did it I made it work. I'm really happy. Oh and the bar is for my current knitting projects :)

Ravelry

2007-09-03T21:39:00.000-04:00

So I just found out about this really cool site for knitters called Ravelry. I've been debating for a couple of days whether to put myself of the waiting list. But I went ahead and took the plunge and I am now on the waiting list. However the waiting list is like eons long and right now I am #30,810 on the list with 19446 people in front of me and 9 people are behind me. I think I have a long while to wait. But hey thats okay. I have come to realize how quickly I knit when I'm in the knitting mode. Right now I am knitting a birthday present for my friend which I can't talk about because I know she reads my blog. But trust me I will take pictures of it and talk about it when I'm done. This is by far the hardest thing I have tried to knit so far. I'm excited though and I'm having fun with it. Well anyway thats about it for now. Happy Labor Day!!

Slippers

2007-09-01T13:27:00.000-04:00

I am officially done with the Felted Furry Foot Warmers!! I got more yarn yesterday and set about to finish them last night. They actually felted a lot better than I thought they would. I'm so happy that they are done they've taken me about 9 months on and off. Here is a picture of them last night they were a still wet after coming out of the washing machine.

And here is a picture of them this morning they were dry except for the inside was a little damp. I love them I think they are hilarious looking. I want to make more soon. I have hot pink fun fur yarn that I want to use.

So now I have to figure out what to knit next. I found this hat that I was working on when I was looking through my yarn stash, however I'm almost out of this yarn and I'm going to have to get some more. The story of my life. I do love this yarn it feels so good and its a pretty pink color. You can't really tell in this picture but its this really pretty bright pink color. So the quest continues on what I'm going to knit next.

Knitting Part 2

2007-08-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

I have finally finished a slipper! Yay!!! Here is the finished product well without felting that is.

So now all I have to do is make the other slipper and then felt them both. Classes start tomorrow at college. I'm kinda excited!!

Knitting

2007-08-25T00:08:00.000-04:00

As I have come to realize, I haven't really been saying anything about my knitting. I believe the reason would be is that I haven't knitted recently. I'm not exactly sure why, I just haven't been in the mood. So today i finally decided to tackle my current WIP. Felted Furry Foot Warmers from SnB Nation. For some odd reason they have been giving me trouble. However, today I believe I have finally understood the instructions and therefore have started knitting them again. Here is a picture of the one slipper I'm still working on as of tonight.

I'm rather excite about the progress I have made. Now I realize that it may not look like much, but I'm actually pretty far into them. I will hopefully finish this one either Saturday or Sunday.

Driving Adventures Part 2

2007-08-19T00:10:00.001-04:00

So apparently all I write about is driving. I'm annoying my self. Haha. So anyway I made it to my friend's house with out much trouble. Coming home was way easier. I'm actually pretty excited to be driving now. Of course now I must get a job. I'm now realizing that now that I can drive and do stuff with friends how poor I really am. I have no money and that is going to have to change as soon as possible. Well thats all for now. Church tomorrow always fun!!

Driving Adventures

2007-08-17T12:55:00.000-04:00

Well I've driven with out an adult in the car twice since I've obtained my license. However today I'm supposed to be driving to my friends house. I'm slightly nervous. Her house will be the farthest I've driven by myself plus I will be completely by myself. The last two times I've had someone in the car with me. I'm kinda scared. However I'm sure I can do it. I'm hoping that i won't run into any hills on my way to her house. Because my car is a manual and I'm still tending to either stall out on hills (which is what I usually do) and/or I start rolling backward so I'm probably taking the long way to her house but I'm pretty sure that there isn't any hills. Well thats what I'm praying for anyway.

I Finally Got It!!

2007-08-14T13:32:00.000-04:00

After 3 years of having my permit and failing the drivers test once I have finally got my Driver's License. I actually almost failed this time but I passed and I have it. So exciting!! I get the good key with all the buttons for my car, plus I now get to keep my flower in my car. Yay!! So exciting. Well Thats all I'm just really really excited!

How Can We Be Silent

2007-08-10T23:48:00.000-04:00

I got the new Barlow Girl CD today How Can We Be Silent

I love it! I've proabably listened to it about 5 times already. It has so many good messages on it, plus the girls them selves are amazing examples to all girls. Well thats all the news for now. Just wait until school starts I'm sure I'll have many more stories to share.

Drivers License Is Imminent

2007-08-06T12:57:00.000-04:00

Well my father has informed me that I will soon be getting my drivers license. I'm so nervous and scared. I'm driving pretty good however I'm just not feeling as if I'm really ready. Now Dad says I am so I'm just praying that I will pass the test. I'm not really telling anyone when it is that I'm getting it I do have an appointment set up but I'm so scared that I will fail so I've only told like 3 people when I'm taking the test. However when I get my license I will certainly announce it because it will be rather exciting and I will get the key to my car that has the buttons. Right now my brother gets it because he is the primary driver. Well thats about all thats going on in my life right now. School starts 3 weeks from today. I'm excited cause I'm actually going to have had a full 3 month summer!