Back Again

Last night’s In-Store performance of Parachute was off the chain! The guys are so amazingly friendly and fun to talk to. I also got to meet some other Parachute fans and I’m so excited to have new friends 😀

Things are starting to cool down here, which is nice. That 103 degrees yesterday was ridiculous. And when I got home, for some reason, I half expected it to be cooled down. Alas, it was still a sauna. But at least I got to sleep at a decent time.

FUNNY STORY BREAK:
I went to grab lunch at Pagliacci Pizza today and I guess when I sat down, the chair slipped my gauchos down just a bit. So I’m walking down Mercer St. . . .which is a busy street. And I feel a breeze and I look down and I realize my pants are down and I’m totally like flashing my underoos at all the passersby. And here I was thinking they were all checking out my Cons. Whooops. I actually pantsed myself. Who knew? 😉

I get to see Parachute again tonight with The Script. I’m really looking forward to rocking out 😀

Burning Down The House

Things are really heating up here in Seattle!

This morning I turned on the TV to watch the news (a rare occasion indeed) and the forecaster guy (i’m pretty sure that’s the technical term for his position) was all sorts of excited and was like:

“And today, we may actually break a record! If we top out at 101 degrees, then we will beat the record of 100 degrees in Seattle from 1981!”

And never have I wished so much that i could reach my arm through the tv screen and smack that guy in the face. Seriously? That record breaking 101 is no bigee for this Texas girl, EXCEPT for the fact that, living in Seattle, most places here don’t have Central Air, including my house. So my room is a sauna. I actually have to get a cold compress on my head before I go to bed to help me sleep. My little tower fan is working as hard as it can, but this heat is ridiculous. I so wasn’t prepared for this. Oh well. At least my boss got me a box fan for my office today, so the shades are drawn, I got the big box fan running and two little mini-me fans. It’s so nice to not be drenched in sweat. 😀

In other news, I’m pretty bummed that Rachelle Lefevre is going to be replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard for Eclipse. 😦 Eclipse is my FAVORITE one in the Twilight Saga, and I was really looking forward to seeing Victoria’s character step up her game into uber-fierceness. BDH just seems too sweet and innocent for the role. Especially after seeing her in Lady in the Water and The Village and in the Spidey movie. I know she’s probably gonna get a lot of backlash from other Twilight fans, and to a certain extent, I feel sorry for her. But let’s get real. Rachelle Lafevre is a fiercely bad mamma jamma and she really brings it to the character. I hope BDH can bring it as well.

In otro otro news, I GET TO SEE PARACHUTE AT A MEET & GREET/ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE TODAY!!

After work, I’m walking all 4 blocks to get to Easy Street Records to go see them and I’m so excited! They have an amazing sound and those guys are so funny! If you haven’t checked out their website yet, you should. JUST CLICK HERE. I also get to go to their concert tomorrow night at The Crocodile and I can’t wait! 😀
http://www.youtube.com/v/Z09Nv8XJXMQ&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00&border=1

Well my lappy toppy is in the shop. And it was funny, because Evan, the Genius Bar guy who helped me out was like, “Why did that other Mac Genius ask you to reschedule? That makes no sense. He should have just taken it in then and there.” We were laughing so much at so many things, and we got to talk about macs and the upcoming stuff in September (which is when my apple care expires) and it made me smile.

I also got to have dinner with Cindy Jones, who is just such an amazing woman! She seriously refreshes me so much! I love being in her company. AND she made these pita pizza things that I’ve gotta get the recipe for! They were delish!

Okay well I will update again tomorrow and share some photos and such with you all! Peace!

Hammond Song

My birthday is about 4 months away. . .and I think I discovered a wondermous birthday present:

On Nov. 3rd (my b-day), the U.S. version of HOW TO BE will be released!! wheee!! I love it! 😀

http://www.youtube.com/v/tWUurHB5-Dg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/boSbOojC-JA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/lFl1DT3yVEI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1

http://www.youtube.com/v/MEc2SDD0neI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1

Okay so really i love Rob Pattinson, but hey it counts. It’s a really fun movie 😀

When Love Takes You In

I had a great weekend at the Women of Faith. It was so interesting for me. I’ve always had this GIANT aversion to “women’s ministry” type stuff. I just have. I’ve always seen it as this thing for ancient old ladies who sit around playing shuffleboard and singing “I’ll Fly Away” until 5 p.m when they had to go to bed. However, being at this conference, laughing so hard at these amazing women who have gone through so many things, who were not afraid to open up their hearts and share their lives in such a relevant way, spoke to my heart so much.

My favorite speaker was Lisa Harper. I love her teaching style and her perspective on faith and it’s intersection with life. I learned so much from the teaching she shared and it renewed my hope in a lot of things. Here’s some videos of her talking about her new book:
http://www.youtube.com/v/MS0isIIUX0M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/Wj6AbkXP-WY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/oCwbAgY50wQ&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6&border=1

Another great part of the conference was getting to see Steven Curtis Chapman. He sang some of my favorite songs from back in the day. It was also amazing to see the bravery and humility and realness that he exuded as he sang “Blessed Be Your Name.” Seeing him sing the words “You give and take away” knowing that just a year ago he lost his daughter, after she was run over by the car that his son was driving. And hearing the cracks or tears in his voice, was so powerful. He wasn’t trying to be strong, he wasn’t trying to hide the pain, he was simply singing from his heart and from every thought and feeling that was contained in there. It was beautiful. He also sang “When Love Takes You In” which is a song I used to listen to when I felt unworthy of love, when I felt like my world was crashing around me. And it took me back, to realizing that I am valued and that even when my world crashes around me, God is unshakeable.

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/xziws
When Love Takes You In
by wanzea

Possession

So, I took my laptop to the Genius Bar, in hopes that they would be like, “Oh yeah. Well let’s get this fixed.” Instead, my computer played the perfect angel part and they couldn’t reproduce the constant error message that has been popping up for the past week. And by constant I mean every 3 minutes, and once it pops up, I can’t do anything else until I CLICK okay. 😦

So I made the appointment, went to the Genius Bar and since I didn’t have my iPod Shuffle dock with me, he was like, “Well it might be the dock. So reschedule an appointment for the Genius Bar and bring the dock back.” So now I get the *privilege* of picking another evening time slot where I can take the 1 hour bus trip out to University Village, go to the Genius Bar, and spend another 40 minutes on the bus ride home. And I even spent the night before backing up all my data on my external hard drive!

I think what made me the most upset was that this message has been popping up so much and like, at random times, so it’s highly unpredictable, but still a pretty big presence on my screen. . . and the minute I take it in to the “doctor,” it’s fine. Just peachy.

It’s like this:

Exhibit A> my computer in my home environment:

and Exhibit B> my computer when I take it to the Genius Bar to get fixed:

unbelievable. Thanks, lappy toppy. You made me look dumb. 😦

i seriously walked away feeling like this guy:

Crashing

Because your music education is all I care about.

. . . well that and a lot of other things.

Here’s the music video release for the song SWIM by Jack’s Mannequin.
My art didn’t make it into the video, but the video is still AMAZING! So creativo!

Jack’s Mannequin “Swim”
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=60776394,t=1,mt=video

In other news, my laptop is sick and I’m taking it in to the Genius Bar to get looked at tonight, so I may not be as frequent with the blog updates if they take her away to get operated on. 😦

My Secret Is My Silence

One of my favorite blogs to read is POST SECRET. [disclaimer: content is not always appropriate for younger viewers] I’ve always been kinda curious about what kind of lives people lead.
_are they like me?
_have the seen the things I’ve seen?
_have they gone on amazing adventures?
_do they struggle with the same things I do?
_what can I learn from them?
_are they funny?
_what kind of pets do they have?

. . . the list goes on. Even as a kid when we used to drive down the highway or through the neighborhood I would look at windows and see people and imagine what their lives would be like. I would run scenarios about family dinners and job promotions and dance recitals and lots of other stuff.

So when I read Post Secret, I feel more connected to the world around me. I laugh. I cry. I get angry. I get my imagination sparked. It’s such a cool thing.

I’ve never actually sent in a postcard, but eventually I will. The guy who started it all, Frank Warren, posts new secrets that people mail in on postcards every Sunday and on Twitter also (@postsecret). There’s a new PostSecret book coming out soon:

and so in honor of that, and inspiration to continue to share my life honestly with you guys, I’ve made some PostSecrets of my own. I’m not going to submit any of these to P.S. because they’re officially not secret anymore, and that’s okay, but eventually I will send in a REAL postcard creation of a secret of mine.

I wanted to share with you guys some of my secrets, not to be pretentious or sensational with it, or to cry out for pity, but just to share my life, to encourage others and to continue to grow past my past. So without further adieu, CUE THE INDIAN!

Related Post: DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

Know Your Enemy

I came across this article today on MSN. . . and I seriously almost threw up in my mouth. The article is about

TOP TEN MOST UNUSUAL STATE FAIR FOODS
[click link to read article]

So, I’ve worked at a fair before, and the thought of even smelling half that stuff was gross.

I think after checking out [thisiswhyyourefat.com]
(linked from twitter via Nate McFarland from Parachute)
I’ve become EVEN more picky about food.

I watched this the other day:

and seriously, I don’t think I could ever eat a donut again. sick.

I’m starting to regret all those “Beef Fritters” we ate when we worked the fair in LaGrange 😦 boo.

Open Your Eyes

Happy Sunday everyone! What? What do you mean the day’s almost over??? Schwat?? Un.believable. So, I’m finally starting to feel better (can you tell???)
hint—> all the unnecessary “???’s” that keep escaping from my mind onto the screen

Yesterday I actually got to get out of the house and get some fresh air. PS: being cooped up in your room for 2 days with strep throat is lame. Seriously. And no amount of Facebook, Twitter, TV, or yes, even James Morrisson’s amazing voice could keep me from going batty. It was ridiculous. But yesterday I got to go downtown and do some shopping. Got some new makeup from Sephora. . . and I don’t know HOW I WAS SURVIVING without Urban Decay’s Primer Potion. Really. I also got to go to Pike Place Market, and bought some honey and just took in the beauty of the flowers in the stalls and was so quickly reminded of just how much i LOVE this city! Also, Blockbuster was going out of business in Crown Hill so I stopped by and got 4 movies for $20. And I got a coupon for a book at Barnes and Noble and bought SLEEPERS, which is one of my absolute favorite movies. I’ve been reading it on the bus and it hasn’t made me fall asleep yet! 🙂

A really crazy cool thing happened this morning during Sunday School. Okay, so the fact that B— was the only one to show up wasn’t that cool, but still I had a great talk with him as we played 3 rounds of pool. We talked about “disciplism,” which was something I learned in Master’s Commission from Dan Matlock. [more about “disciplism” here] and to start off, I asked B— what “discipleship” was. His reply was, “Something to do with being a disciple?” And we talked about discipleship for a bit. Then I asked him what “evangelism” was and he was like, “Evangelism? I’ve never heard of that. What’s that?” And he was being dead serious.

I was astounded. It’s so crazy the things I’ve taken for granted. Growing up in the “Bible Belt,” you go to church and it’s like, everyone knows EVERY Christianese word ever. Kids in 3rd grade know what discipleship, evangelism, prophetic, warfare, and the like all mean. They memorize verses about this stuff. But being up here in Seattle I’ve learned that there’s so much that young Christian teenagers don’t seem to know about. It really challenges me to put it in a way that makes it easily understandable and will help make it not a “churchy” thing. It gives me an opportunity to change the bland term “evangelism” into something that actually makes sense and doesn’t teach a lifestyle of leaving trcts instead of tips and that a hand-out is meaningless without a hand-up. We had a great talk about how living an authentic faith-filled life that will help him leave a positive influence in his class that is made up of 95% athiests and how to develop habits that will help him live as a reflection of Christ.

I personally get hung up on some of the terminology used in Christianity, because having spent most of my life under a cynical perception of faith, certain terms have already left a weird impression on me. It was interesting when he said he’d never heard of the term “evangelism” before because it left me to wrestle with myself as to whether or not to continue calling it that or whether I should just lay it out there with a different catch-phrase. I ended up sharing a little bit about the misconceptions of that term and what I believe the Word of God means when it mentions evanelistic instances. I loved hearing what he thought and learning about some of his struggles with connecting faith and life. Being a mentor to these students is helping me grow just as much as it’s helping them grow. I love where I am and what I get to do!

Gonna Make You Sweat

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and I’m stuck inside, with a contagious strep throat.

boo.

The plus side to being sick is the *MASSIVE* amounts of soup you get to eat (note sarcasm). Just kidding. But I do enjoy the fact that even though I can’t go out to the gym for fear of contaminating everyone with the plague, I’ve learned enough various exercises in Master’s Commission to keep me fit, in the comfort of my own room. So as I was working out last night, I thought it would be cool to post a playlist of my usual workout tunes. So here it is. You may be surprised by the amount of hip hop songs I incorporate into my workout tunes, but I mean, c’mon. I’ve always been a G!

Kidding, but I do like to add some dance beats and stuff in there, to counteract all the intense rock tunes. So here’s the list and underneath it, I’ll break down the sections for ya 🙂

The Warm-Up

All Star by Smash Mouth

Walk Like a Man by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons

One Time by Justin Bieber

The Workout

G is for Girl by Ciara

1, 2, Step by Ciara

My Heart by Paramore

Silhouette by Thrice

Live Your Life by TI feat. Rihanna

Superstar by Lupe Fiasco feat. Matt Santos

Single Ladies by Beyonce

Numb by Linkin Park

The Cool Down

Creature Fear by Bon Iver

Use Somebody by Kings of Leon

Under Control by Parachute

Shelter by Ray LaMontagne

What do you listen to when you work out?