Seven times Three

Equals twenty-one. I always liked the "sevens" times-table. It had a quirky feeling to it when the other numbers were just boring drudgery.

But that's not really what I meant to write about.

I'm 21 today!! I meant to write while it was still technically my birthday, but I didn't get online until 11:15, then I spent the next 45 minutes talking to friends and responding to birthday wishes. So here I am, half an hour into the day after my birthday.

My birthday started out less than satisfactory. I woke up in a grumpy mood. "Bleh," I thought, "I'm another year older... why can't birthdays be as exciting as they were when I was little? I'm too young to not be happy about a birthday. But nothing special is happening anyways... It's just another day. Stupid boring birthdays."

And then the coffee was yucky. And we were out of sugar and I had to use fake stuff.

And I just got grumpier and grumpier. Within like a ten minute time span. So I went back to bed! HA!

I spent some time snuggling with my pillows and talking to God. After I wallowed in pathetic self pity for a moment, He reminded me to not be so self focused and said that if I'd fix my attitude, it would be a good day. Even though nothing spectacular was happening. So I did. And He was right. (as usual.)

Birthdays are way more fun if you get to dress up. To my great pleasure, I had the opportunity when my lovely friend Katie decided to take me out for coffee. (which was superfantastic since my morning coffee was a disappointment) So, I put on my pretty skirt and my birthday things and we headed out.

Venti hazelnut iced coffee. (that can be a sentence by itself, right?) Katie and I decided to sit in the huge orange armchairs to sip our drinks. Carrying on a conversation became awkward. The chairs were comfy, but there was too much space between them and the speaker was pouring coffee-shop ambiance right on top of our heads. Not to mention the agent in sunglasses, keeping watch over his business partner (who was working a deal on the phone) and glaring at me every time I laughed.

After Starbucks, we went fabric shopping so I can make more cute skirts. Two for her, one for me. They're going to be awesome. Expect pictures in a week or so.

When I got home, my mom was making stir fry, which I LOVE.
And since I felt pretty, I had my little sis take a few pictures of me being twenty-one.
(This was also done for the purpose of photographically recognizing some of my awesome birthday gifts!)


The amazing yellow beads of sunshine are from Erin who thinks of me every time she sees something yellow. She also gave me some sweet bird earrings which are not pictured.

The super cute birdie earrings are from Kathryn, who knows my deep appreciation for Etsy and bird-related items therein.

The PERFECT belt is from Tiffany, who loves to shop. We went shopping together and she saw that I fell in love with this belt, so she went back and bought it for me the next day!!

(Sunglasses from Rae would have been in this picture too except I wore them yesterday and now I can't find them!)

Anyway, dinner was fantastic and afterward we had a family meeting of sorts. Life has been crazy, so it was good to take a few minutes to get everybody in one place to encourage each other and regroup.

Then I got to spend some much needed time with my dear friend Katey. Life's been SO crazy that we haven't gotten to really talk in a long time, so there was a lot of catching up to do. That was nice.

Beside for all that there's been a steady stream of birthday wishes on Facebook, which has been a ton of fun. I also got a card in the mail from my sweet Mema. Then when I got online to write this four friends were chatting with me at once all of the sudden! So... YAY! What I expected to be a boring, non-special day turned out really great. Nothing spectacularly out of the ordinary happened, but it's amazing how much good sweet friends, good coffee, a pretty outfit, and your favorite food can do.

So now you know. Happy 21st birthday to me!

20 was full of craziness, and so much change I can hardly believe it.
I'm excited to see where 21's gonna take me!

Goodybe, July

Thought I'd better write again before July was out. It is the last day of this fine month, you know.
I don't think I can coordinate my thoughts this morning, so a random smorgasbord of bullets is the order of the day.

• I'm currently eating cheese toast with tomatoes on it, courtesy of my friend Rebecca. She brought me a lovely block of Muenster from Wisconsin last week.
• 
• July has been a month of craziness.
• I made a successfully cute skirt a couple weeks ago.
• I need to go fix a seam in aforementioned skirt when I get off the computer.
• Yesterday I went to Six Flags again with some of my awesome friends.
• I have been so busy doing things with my friends this month that I am exhausted.
• Also, I have a cold.
• Wednesday was bad. It was very depressing. Erin gave me a string of yellow beads and that helped.
• My world is spinning around me like mad, but God's got it under control so there's no point in me freaking out about it.
• People are disappointing.
• God is faithful.
• People are also amazing.
• Thursday night I stayed up and colored a unicorn with my crayons. I think people should use crayons way more often.
• Sometimes I wonder if it will ever end, but I don't really know what "it" is. I have a feeling it's not going to, though.
• There is a fly that keeps buzzing around my head and it's driving me INSANE.
• I've been too busy for the past week and a half to journal, which is really sad because I've been busy doing stuff that begs to be written about.
• I've written more in my journal this past month than any other month in my life because I'm determined to remember. Recently I realized that I can't remember huge chunks of my life and it makes me sad. No, I mean seriously sad. Like I've lost part of my life, as if I had amnesia or something.
• God is amazing. I know I sound redundant, but when life goes crazy and you're forced to just spend time sitting alone in God's presence so you don't go crazy with it, that's when His beauty becomes so real.
• Sleepovers, a birthday party, a prayer retreat, a visit with old friends, six flags, VBS, are just a few of the things that have occupied my time and energy this month. And, may I say, they were all fantastically fun.
• As I'm writing, I'm listening to this video: Aaand you should listen to it too because that's my friend Janson and he's entered the Opening Act competition for a chance to open at Celebrate Freedom concert this year. Go watch it. It counts as a vote for him. :) Even if you don't care about the contest, I recommend checking it out anyways because it's a fantastic song.
• I could use some ice cream right now.
• Yesterday at six flags I was wishing I had put sunscreen on the back of my neck, but it was too late... then we noticed someone had left some spray-on SPF 50 sitting on a bench... thank you, random person, for forgetting your sunscreen. My neck is grateful. =)
• Bekka and I convinced Rebecca to get a spur-of the moment haircut while she was in town since she hated her hair. She loves it now. You're welcome, Bex. lol
• On the way back from the retreat, I spent hours talking in a British accent. During which time span this picture was taken. Starbucks' shaken iced tea/lemonade is delicious. Hat shops are less boring when silly boys and silly accents are involved.
  
• Egyptian bellydancing belts... haha. And it's ok if that didn't make sense to you. It won't make sense to most of you, but I felt like it had to be there.
  
• I kept up the accent until it was scared right out of me when I had to run across 4 lanes of scary traffic. O.o It didn't come back after that.
• If there's a cup over the ketchup pump at Zaxby's that means you probably don't want to consume that particular ketchup. Experience is a fantastic teacher.
• Looking at that pic reminds me I really need to work on my gangsta face.
• I won a game of Scrabble last night. Both the other girls I played with claimed to be champs. in yo face!
• I feel kinda bad this post is so disorderly, but I seriously am unable to write about everything in an orderly fashion right now, so it was this or nothin'.
• I never eat ice and yesterday my fingertips got all wrinkly from eating all the ice chips out of my cup at Applebee's.
• Um... I think I'm done for now. Happy weekend, people. <3
  

More Fun!

I've really been slacking on the whole blogger thing lately. You poor dears.

This morning I decided I just needed to post something, anything.

"Let's see..." I thought to myself, "what has been going on that I can post about?..."
"Well," I said to myself, "you have been going to Six Flags a lot lately."
"Oh, right!" I replied, "that should make a good update!"

So here I am.

It's true. I've been to Six Flags a few times already this year. It feels like I've been a lot, but I can really only think of 3 times so far. That number's gonna change fast, though. If you've been around a while, you may already know of my love for this park.

Not that you can actually see me, but I'm in the front there -on that crazy wooden instrument of exhilarating torture, the CYCLONE! ahem. Most people come off it with spinal problems and migraines. bahaha. Much props to my awesome friend for capturing such a cool shot.

On the left there is the awesome friend I was talking about, but this is a different trip. That's me in the middle, in case you didn't know. On the right is my devious-est friend. All together we had a blast that day. We brought two boys along so we would have somebody to pick on - how brilliant are we? Laughter all the day long.
(...so maybe we're not that mean... ... the boys are good sports, anyhow.)

And, just so everyone knows, the best thing in the world is to ride the Goliath in the very very front in the DARK. And be the very last people to leave the park. Super cool.
So, now you know.

The Unattainables

There's this one person you wish you could get to know. Inevitably blessed with a gorgeous smile and constantly surrounded by people. There they are, in all their glory, just running over with fun personality (that made me think of that line from Shrek - "you're just REEKIN' with feminine beauty!" unrelated, yes). You know, the kind that enables them to be friends with anyone and everyone.

Everyone but you.

Okay, so maybe that's not quite true, but that's beside the point.

You just know if you could hang out with them and really get to know them you'd be great pals. You'd have lots of laughs and inside jokes, and you'd get along really well. But it will never happen for you. Why? Because they already have a horde of best pals, and they're super nice to everyone else on the planet, too. How could they possibly have room for another friend?

"High school buddy moved away - now accepting applications for new friend."

It's not like they ignore you, heaven forbid dislike you. Sometimes they even stop and speak to little ol' you! They flash you that lovely, sincere smile of good will, ask how you're doing, make some astoundingly clever remark, and then they're off again. Off to be friends with the world.

Maybe I'm pathetic. I can think of ten people right now that I've observed in this light.

Some of them, looking back, were probably best left relegated to acquaintance status.

Some of them I was pretty close with, and this opposite thing happened where I watched our friendship slip into oblivion as they grew closer to other awesomer people.

Some of them I currently count among my friends, but still feel like I don't know them well enough.

Some of them I'm sure I never even spoke to. Maybe I said hi once. Maybe.

Probably not.

What do you call that, anyway? Is there a nice, short way to say "aspiring to be close to a person you admire who is so awesome they already have so many friends there's no room for you"?

Maybe I'm just a selfish kid. Maybe my wish to be good friends with these people is some inner self-seeking ....thing. I never considered that before. Hm. But I don't think that's it.

Honestly, I just think they're cool people and wish I could get to know them better. humph.

Maybe I'm the only one that feels that way about some people.

Nah. Can't be.

Are there any Unattainables in your life?

I wonder how they would feel to know they're in that category.
I wonder if maybe some of them do know?

Happy Presidents' Day!

• I didn't realize it was Presidents' Day until the mail never came.
• Pairs skating last night was cool
  
• I miss all the chocolate and valentines from working at preschool.
• I made a new hat this week but haven't photographed it yet.
• Alicia, Katey, and I made a Valentine's garland for their house.
  
• Construction paper, glue, glitter and markers make me HAPPY!
• Katey and I made cupcakes, too.
• God is good, even when life is cruddy.
• "Your Hands" by JJ Heller- new favorite song. See above.
• Laura and I went out with some girlfriends tonight for Valentine's Day.
• Sushi is good!
• Coffee is better!
• Choir's going into overdrive for Easter. YAY!
• I need another cup of mint tea.
• This week is chock full of stuff. Fun stuff.
  
• I'm happy.

Have a good week!

Adventure to the Bahamas -The Day Before

Two weeks ago today, I got in a car with three people, headed toward Florida to get on a ship for the BAHAMAS!! Those three people? My super-awesome friend Anna Leigh, her mom, Mrs. Jeannie, and the fun-loving Mrs. Theresa. None of us had been on a cruise before, so yay for new experiences!

I spent the night with the Acords the night before, and they don't usually have coffee. It was getting on around 9 AM and I was like, "Um... This is selfish, but I'm an addict and I need some coffee.... heh!" Mr. Rocky jumped up to make me some, but he didn't have to, because Mrs. Jeanie was on the phone with Mrs. Theresa, who was at McDonalds. Problem solved. The dear Mrs. Theresa brought me some coffee, and I knew everything was gonna be alright.

Mr. Rocky packed our luggage in the trunk, Anna Leigh and I settled down in the back seat with munchies, blankets, and dvds, and so we set out. Mrs. Jeannie took the wheel under the guidance of Anna's GPS, and Mrs. Theresa rode shotgun. And we drove. And drove. For hours.


For lunch, it was decided that we would all write down our top four choices for lunch (on a ripped up napkin) and whichever place had the most votes is where we would go. Subway won! The subway we found had a Dairy Queen beside it, and all of a sudden I really wanted some fries. So I decided to get a DQ chicken wrap, which I ended up regretting because it was tiny and weird. However, the fries were fantastic and that's what mattered. Then we drove even more, finally making it to our hotel about 9 hours after we started.


Anna Leigh and I plopped down on the sleep number beds as soon as we arrived. We played with the settings and laughed for probably half an hour, til Mrs. Jeanie called out outside to look at the awesome pool. By the way, the most popular sleep number is 35. The perfect balance between soft and supportive. The pool was pretty sweet. It had a waterfall rushing over these big landscaping boulders, and a nifty koi pond. It would have been nice to go for a swim, but we got there too late, and had to leave too early in the morning.

All the way to the hotel we kept thinking of things we needed. Fake nails, chocolate, deodorant, wrinkle release spray, blo pops... you know, important stuff like that. A Wal-Mart run was definitely going to be a necessity. We also decided we needed to find a Cracker Barrel for dinner since all of us but Anna needed a real meal. It seemed perhaps if we just drove around we would find what we wanted. We drove one way. Nothing. We drove another way. Nothing. That plan wasn't working so well, so we stopped at a pharmacy and asked some lady where we could find a Cracker Barrel. She gave us really good directions, told us there was, mercifully, a Wal-Mart right beside it, and suggested we visit the Atlantis hotel on Paradise Island once we got to the Bahamas.

So, we headed out following the girl's directions without a hitch, and found the Cracker Barrel. I have never been so excited about roast beef, mashed potatoes, and macaroni in my life. My heart flooded with joy at the thought of it. And rightly so. Anna asked if it fulfilled my expectations, and I told her it quite exceeded them. It was the best ten dollars I've spent in a while, topped off with a biscuit and blackberry jam.

With our stomachs much happier, it was time to head to the next-door Wal-Mart. We sallied forth, made our purchases, and headed back to the car. Mrs. Theresa realized that this trip (which had been pretty dramatic for a simple trip to dinner and Wal-Mart) was definitely worth documenting, and forbade us enter the car. Henceforth she found an optimal space in the parking lot whereat the Wal-Mart sign could be see above our heads. The camera found a place on top the car, auto-timer was set, and the picture was taken! Time to move forward!


Who knew forward would be so confusing? Richard the GPS voice told us how to get back to the hotel from our current location, but we passed the exit he told us to take. We got off at the next one, so he told us to get back on the interstate by turning left in a couple hundred yards. We approached the place to turn and were stunned to find not a clearly marked ramp, but what looked like a vast emptiness instead. "I'm not turning into that cow pasture!" Mrs. Jeanie said, so we did a U turn. It didn't make sense for it to be a cow pasture, and surely Richard was right, so we headed toward the left turn again. "Take it slow, Jeanie. Nobody's behind you, just go slow. It DOES look like a pasture!" said Mrs. Theresa from the passenger's seat. And so she did. Of course, it was not a cow pasture. It was not well lit, but it turned out to be a normal on-ramp, and we made our way back to the hotel drama free, with Anna Leigh and I contentedly eating gummies and chocolate.

Once we got back to the hotel it was time to make preparations. Getting ready for anything can be a fiasco when there are women involved. Increase the number of them, and the insanity increases exponentially. Anna Leigh and I had to lay out all of our potential outfits and corresponding jewelry, and invite a panel of judges to help us. Oh, the indecisiveness of us! We made quite a mess of the contents of our suitcases, deliberating which pants would be best for which day, and showing off our formal dresses. Mrs. Theresa's enthusiasm for everyone's dresses was very gratifying, and we were quite satisfied with our selections. Finally, casual and dinner dress were chosen for the next day, we re-packed our bulging suitcases, and went to bed.

Thoughts for 2010

So, the new year came in with fun times at the Looneys' house. Coffee, Apples to Apples, fireworks, and the best friends ever.

Upon inspection of my cards, I realized I had an excellent description of the perfect boyfriend.

Upon inspection of her cards, Katie realized she had an excellent description of a typical girlfriend. In case you can't read them: Complicated, Fantastic, Naive, and Phony.

We girls have a mantra for the new year. A little rhyming nugget of inspiration, if you will:

-God will send men in 2010-

I know you're so impressed, aren't you? lol So, I guess we can't dictate what God's going to do, but we can have some active faith going on, right? And it makes us laugh, and laughing is good. :)

Furthermore, my blogworld friend Jess inspired me to make an inspiration board.

I have made a small list in my head of things I would like to do this year. I made a small cork board tonight that I am going to add my resolutions, goals, and inspirations to. I encourage you to make one for yourself as well. Organize your goals and resolutions into an artistic visual piece...put it on the wall in a place you will look at every day. I have mine placed to the left of me as I sit at my desk.

Now to procure a corkboard. Or maybe I'll improvise with an unused poster frame I have. Oh, and lest I forget - some goals to fill it would be nice, too.
Let's see...

• A book a month - plus review/synopsis
• Write random kind notes
• Save a couple thousand dollars
• Read my Bible
• Consistently practice the guitar
  
• Maybe learn some French
  
• Drink more water

What else? I need an Etsy goal. None of those are really "whoa! noteworthy!", but I'm trying to keep it realistic and doable, but something I'll have reason to be proud of at the end of the year.

Ideas, people?

In the meantime, keep an eye out on my shop. I'm going to try to add a new item every day this week! I've already got 3 things finished, so watch for them!

Here's some new things you might not have seen.

Nothing like a good, stripey beanie!


What do you plan on doing this year?
-Caitlin

More Christmas Fun

Hello people!
It's a week til Christmas!! I'm so excited. I may have said that already. :D

Last week was the Sunday school class Christmas party. Anna Leigh and I teamed up to decorate a table. We got there and the other two teams already had their tables done, and quite splendidly at that. It scared me. lol But Anna brought some stuff from her family's Christmas village, and I brought some lights to illuminate it, and it turned out really pretty. So, yay!


We did a white elephant gift exchange, for which I brought a radio-football-pillow. Emily opened it, but I got it back from her when my turn came. Which means she was forced to open my package... and we won't even go there. Broken tiles, squished cans, duct tape, multiple knives... I'm not even kidding. Thank you Matt. lol But it was tons of fun. For the rest of us. ;-) My Sunday school class is a bunch of awesome people. Oh! I almost forgot to mention that Emily ended up getting the football back from me at the end of the game.


For the record, catchphrase is underrated. Best game ever. Actually, I guess it depends a lot on the people you're with.

"If you're not short, you're ....?"
"undecided!"
...**puzzled**
"You know - if you're not sure, you're undecided!"

The last few gifts I ordered are coming in the mail this week!! AH! The anticipation of giving all these people all this stuff is getting to me. :D

I hope you liked the pictures... I haven't had a picture post in a while. Now, I think I'm going to go to bed. I wish you all a happy weekend, and a merry Christmas. Again.

Caitlin

P.S. Check out how long my hair is getting!!

Time for some Christmas Fun!

Today's gonna be a good day.

In a couple hours I'm leaving to see a movie with my friends. The Blind Side, in case you were interested. And then the Michael's in Conyers had better have that yellow yarn I need, or I'm going to be in trouble. (on the bright side, YAY for Christmas sales!)

This evening is my Sunday school class Christmas Party. YAY! The only problem is that I don't have a white elephant gift... yet... heh...

Anyways, it's going to be a long and super fun day, I think.

Don't forget - it's the last day of my giveaway! Participation has been WAY lower than it was earlier this year, but that's ok, because it gives each of you a better chance. ;-) SO! Pick your fave and leave a comment!

I'll just go ahead and apologize for not having my new stuff added to the shop yet. I'm currently working on some brown gloves, and I've already finished a couple of unique stripey beanies and pretty wool scarves. I just haven't been able to photograph them yet. meh! And now I really don't have time to get them up for Christmas.

Oh well! Enter the giveaway here, and I'll declare a winner tonight, if I can stay awake. =)
Merry Saturday!

Caitlin

Of Owls and Spectres

Hello.
My bird just flew past and distracted me. Vincent's gotten pretty good at flying through the house. Sometimes he lands on the edge of the fishbowl, which I find comical.

Yeah, that's not how the beginning of this post was supposed to go. Then again, I didn't have a beginning planned or anything, so it's okay.

Thursday night was movie night at the Looney's house. Yeah! After the first movie, we sat around in the kitchen for a few minutes, just taking a break before we put on the second one. Or so I thought. All of a sudden, we're all singing "Happy Birthday." I like singing the birthday song, so I'm just singing along, wondering whose birthday it is now (there have been lots of August birthdays), when Alicia starts walking toward me with a glowing little birthday cake. I was like "Oh RIGHT! It's MY birthday! sort of..."

They gave me a little surprise party!!
It was sooo awesome. Katie stuck a tiara on my head, and I blew out my candles and just sat there and grinned like a little kid while presents started appearing out of nowhere. Among which gifts were these lovely owl bookends from Sheesh

.

That's not a very good picture of them.
I'll just have to take pictures of all my presents and make a whole post about them. ;-)

In other news (I love that lead-in, but I try not to overuse it, really I do), one of the resident kitties had a litter of kittens. A white/calico kitty, a grey kitty, and a white and grey kitty. I saw the white and grey one and declared that I was keeping him.

His name shall be Specter.
Or Spectre.
I haven't decided yet. What do you think?

See how cuuuute he is!!?

So, if you want a kitten, let me know. His very cute sisters will eventually need to be relocated.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make hot dogs for supper.

Recap of Summer

Hello.
I'm mourning the end of summer.
It was a lot shorter than it should have been.
Then again, maybe it wasn't so very short. Maybe I just didn't do all the things I had planned to do.
Yep. That's what it is.
I didn't organize any photos.
Middlemarch, which supposed to be the first book of the summer, is still lying unread on my shelf.
No new crocheted creations have been listed.
More time was still spent indoors than out.
We didn't go chill at the lake as much as I thought we would.
There haven't been as many movie-nights as I had imagined.

Cuz you know what? Life still gets crazy and inconvenient. Even in the summer! And sometimes your plans just don't work out.
But guess what?
I'm okay with that. Because even though I have a whole list of things I didn't do, it was still a good summer.

Six Flags is great. I lost count of how many times I've been. Eight or Nine, at this point, I think. And the fun's not over yet, either. Now that everybody's going back to school I can take all the little peoples and we can have a blast riding things over and over while the lines are short.
And I'm going for Fright Fest this October, which will be a new experience for me.

I got to spend some quality time with some of my girls from church this summer, too! Alyssa and Erin spent the day at the lake with us, and then we watched A Streetcar Named Desire. haha... I don't know what we were expecting from it, but we came away with a couple jokes and a lot of laughs. I have a fantastic picture of Laura dropping popcorn off the side of the boat for Alyssa, so she could catch it in her mouth while swimming. lol I guess if they force me, I'll take the picture down.

Erin and I went to see a movie after Six Flags with a bunch of friends. We hated it and walked out together. I'd say that was a bonding experience. ;-)

Allison had me over for a weekend. That was unique. LOL And lots of fun, of course. I learned about Charlie the Unicorn and they learned about Daniel Gardner. YouTube Marathon... mhm. Oh, and we watched a creepy alien-abduction movie that made my shoulders ache from being tense!

I spent the night with Anna Leigh before we went to six flags last week. I just sat there, being lethargic while she made caramel bars and we talked about deep stuff. And the next morning I practically begged her to drive through Starbucks and then had to explain how Gordon was flirting with her... Oh, and then laughing til we couldn't breathe at the creepy gas station that night...

See? Six Flags picture! I had posted a boringly normal version of this picture because Picnik was flipping out on me. But yay for editing, because Picnik decided to behave and now I have a cool looking version!
I stole it from Anna Leigh. It turned out blurry, but the Batman is awesome back there.
(L-R Keith, Anna Leigh, Jonathan, me)

And this stuff is probably boring to you people that don't know my friends. Sorry! Just thought I would prove that, for all my whining, I've had a fantastic summer. And of course, there's been lots of other fun stuff which I won't bore you with right now. Even with the big family-crises thing that happened, it's been a good summer. And now I'm 20.

Preschool starts back beginning of September. I'm excited. Have I said that yet?
I still haven't sent the parents from last year the pictures of their children I told them I'd send. Bad me. It's what happens when you don't get a paycheck during the summer.

And there's finally something new for my Etsy shop, which I'm going to finish up and photograph today. I'll show you what it is once I get it listed. ;-)

So, this may not have been very cohesive, but... yeah. I hope you enjoyed your little glimpse of my summer.

Caiti

Happy Summertime!

Hello, friends!
I waited almost a week to post again. Bad me!
Part of the reason would be that I've cut WAY back on the amount of time I spend at the computer. I'm now limiting myself to between 40 and 90 minutes per day. Limited time plus limited interestingness equals limited posting.

However, while my life may not be an exciting and brilliant adventure, it has certainly been fun lately. I warn you now, I have no pictures for this post. Actually, I do have this one picture of Laura sitting on Pepa's boat, dropping popcorn down to Alyssa, who is swimming in the lake, mouth wide open, trying to catch the popcorn... Lucky for them, it's on the other computer. ;-)

We've been extremely grateful for Mema and Pepa's house on the lake so far this summer. And, of course, our Season Passes to Six Flags - made happier by the fact that many of our friends also have passes. How cool is that? Various outdoor activities aside, cutting back on computer time has made way for the books I've been neglecting.

The House of The Seven Gables is my current project. You may recall I started reading it before, but never really got into the story. I ended up returning it to the library and never checking it out again. However, thanks to PaperBackSwap.com I now own a gorgeous hardcover book containing 5 novels by Nathaniel Hawthorne, of which The House of the Seven Gables is one. The beginning was eternally slow, but I think I'm starting to scratch the surface of the actual story.

It's taken me a while, though, because I keep getting distracted by other books. I took the time last night and this morning to reread a favorite: The Two Princesses of Bamarre. (Thanks again to PBS, I also happen to own a gorgeous hardcover copy of this one.) When I finished it this afternoon I wanted to start reading it again. It's just that good. Yay for brave princesses and handsome young sorcerers, deceptive spectres and beautiful, cunning dragons with bell-like laughter!

Hm. Now that I've updated you on my reading, what else shall I say?
I think I need to regularly write movie and book reviews. It would exercise my brain, and add a little benefit to all the time I'm spending on such trivialities. ;-) Ask me how that's going sometime. I need to be held to it.

My mother has put the idea into my head that I should go to cosmetology school. And I have to say, I quite agree. The more I think on it, the more I fall in love with the idea. I like to learn. Sounds like fun. And structure. And not exactly feasible at this moment in life, due to the busyness of several other family members, but I'm praying about it.

And now, I shall be off. Hope you're having a fun summer too!

Caiti

Coming soon...

Story of a Day At Six Flags coming soon to a Caitlinesque near you.

Aren't you glad. I know you've been waiting.
Rosalie has, anyways.
lol

Today was lovely, so I just felt like popping in and saying hi.
I got a new item up for my etsy shop this week.
I made two more new things, but I haven't put the finishing touches on them. Poor them.

But here's the beret I finished, photographed, and listed!



I'm kind of fond of it. :)

Work was good. Shopping with mama and Katey was good.
All the junk food I ate today was good.

Now if the rest of the week will keep with the trend, I'll be quite content. :)

Have a happy day.
Caiti

Turn Away

Disclaimer:
If you're not in the mood for a sunshiney, Caitlinesque post, now's the time to turn away because some "I could just hug the world" happiness is coming up.

I would like to start off by saying I'm starving, and all I've had today is coffee and a donut. Which has me a little excited but tired at the same time.

Next, I would like to say that choir practice this morning was da bomb. (allow me to channel my inner Randy Jackson for a moment.) There were still a couple rough spots, but we're gonna "blow it out da water" when the time comes. All for the glory of God, of course.

Also, I'm rather happy in general because my bestest-friend-in-the-whole-wide-world-for-as-long-as-I-can-remember is... **ahem**... in a relationship.

Or, to use a sometimes controversial/debatable term:
Courting.
**insert wide eyed gasp!**
And I'm, like, YAY!! Thrilled! (Yes, I sound stupid.)
So. Congratulations to my dear friend Katey and her nice fellow, Terry!
I think he's very lucky indeed.
Dunno what I'd do without my Katey. I know I've mentioned her quite a few times on this blog, and if you ever talk to me "in real life", I've probably mentioned her then too.
She's my anchor friend.
Other people come and go - that's just how life is - but Katey's always been there. And I guess I'll quit praising her so openly on my blog because that might make her uncomfortable.
( I know you're reading this. Hope you're ok with it. I'll take it down if you force me, but I thought everyone should know how great you are. lol)
See what a good friend I am?
Umm... Where was I? ...
Oh right. I've only met Terry a few times but I think he's great too. He makes a fantastic Earl Grey Latte.
May God bless their relationship and use it to bring them closer to Him!
So, yeah. I'm very happy for them, and looking forward to seeing how life is going to continue to surprise me...
:D

However, I would like to say that this has been FREAKY as well as cool.
Because, ... HELLO... this was supposed to happen in the future.
Who told the future it was time to show up?!
Rhetorical questions. Love em.

Tonight I'm going to hang out with more of my awesome friends and go eat horribly unhealthy, delicious food at the Varsity. Then we're going to the Atlanta Passion Play.
I love hot dogs.

The weather is terrible but I'm feeling so cheeryfull that it really doesn't matter.

I also got an email from my dear friend, Rae, who's getting married. It was pictures of her wedding dress and a status update on our bridesmaid dresses.
YAY!

Last night I succesfully reproduced this hat. Which I've been trying to do for ages.
And it already sold.
That's happy too!

Now I'm going to chillax, watch a movie with my family, and try to keep my feet warm.
Have a happy Saturday, dears.
<3
Caitlin

Life Lesson Monday

Today's Life Lesson:

If you order a small Earl Grey Latte, and end up with a large
because the barista messed up, be happy.
(not so very hard to do, obviously)

If you finish your large Earl Grey Latte and somebody gives you free pizza, be happy.
(also not so very hard to do.)

If you finish your pizza and want more Earl Grey Latte, be happy.
(hard to do. Because you really want more, since it was so delicious.)

If you go against your better judgment and decide to buy another small Earl Grey Latte,
and your sister picks that moment to pay you back for the drink you got her, be happy.
(again, not so very hard to do.)

If you get to the counter and the barista tells you not to pay because you can have their free drink for the day, be very happy.
(I don't even need to say that's not so very hard to do)

If you successfully consume this excessive amount of Earl Grey Latte within 2 hours,
you are probably going to have some side effects,
such as slight excitement and jitteriness.
This should enable your being-happy mechanism, and hopefully you can retain the joy throughout the rest of your day.

P.S. I love knowing the people who run Doug's Mugs! :D

Me at Doug's Mugs - only this picture is sort of a lie, because it's not from today.
It's from Saturday.
And Saturday I had an Apple Pie Steamer, and a Raspberry Cremosa.

The End.

HelloGoodbye

Hello!
I'm leaving.
I'm going to spend some time with my favorite katies this evening.
I'm super excited.
And I'm wearing a purple shirt.
I'm having one of those "I think I could hug the world" moments.
I'm so lame.
And I love it.

I hope you have as good a day as I'm having.
Bye!
<3
me

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!
It has been a regular old uneventful Saturday here, but I thought I should at least write a special blog post for the occasion. And not only did I think it, but I remembered to do it!

I must say, I haven't had much cause to wish for a valentine of my own this February.

I shall tell you why.

These 8 oh-so-deceptively cute boys all brought me chocolate.
YAY!
And I was practically killed with hugs and kisses out on the playground Thursday.
It had been a tough morning. I needed it.
I've been recovering by eating fudge ever since.

And that is why Miss Caitlin wasn't in Dreadful Need of a boyfriend for Valentine's Day.

All this is not to say that I don't need any guys in my life.
The little ones are great, but I'm awfully thankful for the bigger ones, too.
Firstly, I'm thankful to my Daddy for providing for me, and bringing me up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." And to my brothers for... helping me practice being patient and kind over and over. ... I'm still working on that one. **scowl at self** But really, Nicholas and Joey and Ben do surprise me with their thoughtfulness sometimes.

And now, if you don't mind, I shall list some of the other guys to which I am grateful.
Some of you guys I don't actually talk to (ha!), and some of you I haven't known long, but I'm still thankful for you, and you shall see why:

Stu - Thanks for the ice cream. And the other fun random times.
Danny - Thanks for listening to my frustrated rants and offering help and pizza stories.
Keith -Thanks for the many emails. I never know quite what to expect from you.
Paul -Thanks for the peppermints and yahoo emoticon wars from ages ago.
John - Thanks for the Zac Efron stories and being so fun to hang out with.
Joe -Thanks for the gum-wrapper flowers and the deadly sarcasm.
Grayson - Thanks for deciding what I should eat at Taco Bell. And for being a great guy.
Matt - Thanks for the many rides, and the breakfast on Sundays that nobody eats.
Janson - Thanks for doing Youth Choir and for being encouraging.
Jeremy - Thanks for the many times you've offered to pray for us. I appreciate that.
Ryan - Thanks for being you? Some people are just fun to be around.
Zack - Thanks for the stimulating conversations.
Isaac - Thanks for the jokes about calico hair, and whatever else we talked of back then.
Daniel - Thanks for the random humor. You're kind of a celebrity around here.

And there you have it folks!
Wasn't that nice...

I watched Fireproof again last night. It reminded me that lessons about love aren't just for married people. God loved us sacrificially, and we are supposed to show His love to everyone. Even when they don't deserve it. Even when they don't notice.
And it's hard.

"I will love you like God because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love, demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again.

God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him unto us."

-Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz)

What a beautiful picture of learning to love.

Speaking of Fireproof, I should like to bring your attention to a super-awesome song
from that movie. While I'm Waiting - John Waller.
For the sake of the length of this post, I'm not going to post the lyrics here. The link above has the video from the movie, plus lyrics. Click the link! It's worth it.

I purchased that song on iTunes today.
It's sort of what the theme of my life is and has been for the past two years or so.
Waiting on the Lord, and trying to live for Him as I wait.
Wait for problems to be worked out.
Wait for plans to be revealed.
Wait for people to change. (myself included)
Wait for Prince Chaaaarmiiiing....
(hey, it's Valentine's Day. Cut me some slack)
Waiting eagerly but not impatiently.

So, there's my little compilation of thoughts for the day! It was longer than I thought it would be.
Hey! I realized I still haven't listened to this week's episode of the Boundless Show! And it's bound to be great since it's about the Valentine's Day.
I think I shall leave you now.
I hope you have some chocolate to bring you solace in my absense.
lol
Love y'all!!

Caitlin

The Ski Trip Post!

Soo, it's about time I finally tell y'all about that ski trip I went on!
The thing is, once you let so many days past after an event you wanted to write about, the freshness kinda wears off, and you sort of forget what exactly it was you wanted to write.
Sad, isn't it?
But I'm going to see if I can't dig those highlights back up. :D

Firstly, I would just like to say that the people in my Sunday School class are awesome, and doing anything with them is fun. We could sit in a room and stare at each other and it would be fun.
... Maybe. lol
Maybe not. We've kinda done that before, actually. That's how Sunday School starts sometimes.
Aaanyways.

The ride there was fun.
Gracie called me! We hadn't talked in a while, so that was good. 'Cep for the not being able to hear her very well part.

We stopped and had dinner at Chick Fil A. Everybody needs to go there once with Allison so you can avoid all the terrible things we inconsiderate customers do to the place! And don't order a milkshake from her. Please. Trust me on this one.

I was the last one to finish eating, as usual.
I dropped my fries in the parking lot.
I hadn't gotten to eat them because my mouf hurted.
I was sad.
John couldn't save them.
They told me not to drop my drink too.
It was too late.
But I saved it before it spilled.

I have a feeling this post is going to get long. We're not even in North Carolina yet.

You know, I actually don't remember much else except for that it was a fun trip, and the hours passed really quickly.

Once we were settled in the hotel, Anna Leigh, Andrea, and I stayed up WAY too late relaxing. There was this CD... Ohhh man. It might would have been relaxing if we could have stopped laughing! This guy talked you through all these steps to help you relax. You had to tense up all your muscles, and then let go. "Feel the tension flying away from your toes as you breaathe iinn... one... two... three... and out... one... two... three... You may feel some twitching sensations in your neck. **soothing voice** This is normal."

I pretended to have a spasm when he said that. :D I'm totally cracking up just thinking about it!
It was hilarious. Then you were supposed to feel like you were floating... and imagine gradual immersion into a relaxing, warm bath. We had a hard time getting up Friday morning after all that relaxation.

As great as the skiing was, it was just being with my friends that was the best part.
I've never seen that much snow in person before, so that made me smile. :D Skiing was like flying. And not being able to stop. Ha! I just couldn't figure out how to make the stupid "snow plow" technique to work, so I would start sliding down the hill, faster and faster, with the wind whistling in my ears and burning my eyes, unable to control my speed, whooshing up and down the fun little hills down the slope... and praying "this is COOL! ...dear God, please don't let me hit somebody!" It was awesome. Except for the falling down in the middle of the slope 3 or 4 times and taking like 10 minutes to get the stupid skis back on. Then I decided it was quittin' time.

I went in, got some cappuccino, and sat down for a chat with Allison.
It was the strangest chat I've ever had with a friend.
I like romantic movies - she hates them.
She likes southern gospel music - I hate it.
I like my coffee with sugar and cream - she scorns any such thing.
She thinks some guy is totally hot - I think he's cute. Which is completely different, btw.
I like birds - she doesn't.
She likes weird country songs - I don't.
I love skirts and dresses - she hates them.
She likes... well, I ran out of things right now, and you get the point.

So I call her my dear Polar Opposite, though I suppose that's not exactly true, because we both like the Bourne movies and Kung Fu Panda.

Anna Leigh and I wrote notes to God on the nightstand. We were surprised to come back after going out for breakfast to find our scattered notes stacked neatly with the pen beside them.
We wrote God another note to thank him for the maids.
I wonder if they read them all...

Why did they give me a weird little coffee mug at the breakfast place? Everyone else had great mugs, and mine was small and funny shaped. They obviousy had a random assortment instead of a set. I liked that. I think it's kinda homey. Allison didn't.

On the ride home, we stopped at the Tanger Outlet in Commerce.
Philip told us we had half an hour, and then we were leaving.
Girls: "let us out! which stores should we hit first?!"
Guys: "we'll just hang here... what's the point getting out?"
I snagged some good deals. :D

I didn't realize how heavy my cute little suitcase was til I got home and had to carry it myself. Methinks having nice guys around to hold doors and take your luggage is awesome. Thanks, boys!

We were all kinda zoned out on the trip home, mostly. My iPod died. I played the same game of solitaire like 8 times, trying to win it. I finally gave up and started a new game.

Some favorite memories of each person:
Laura - Your discovery of the creepy elevator! I'm sad I missed out on seeing the creepy man.
Allison - You sitting at the table with me discussing our differences. Hilarious!
Katie - You lent me your other ski bibs. I accepted reluctantly, but I ended up really liking them. Thanks doll!! And we're both beret-wearers. Yay!
Andrea - You got me back for yelling at you. I totally wasn't expecting that. LOL
Anna Leigh - You cracked up so much when I scribbled out the scary face on the window... :D I still don't understand why it was so funny, but it was a great moment!
John - You almost killed Laura before we even got done with ski school. Priceless!
Joe - Your story about how firemen can shut down the highway anytime they want was great. You were all like "and we're like "yeah? watch us."" ... ha!
Philip - You tried to help me get the hang of snowplowing, and I got worse instead. You made a valiant effort, though, and I thank you!
Scarlett - You laughing at the weird man telling stories about his janitorial experiences.

I cracked up again thinking about that last one... You had to be there...

So, I guess that wraps up this post. I hope remembered a sufficient amount of amusing things to make it worth your time to read. :D
God has blessed me with great friends, and great opportunities.
Hopefully I'll take the opportunity to blog about Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Caitlin

Post Number 101 at Caitlinesque on Blogger

Guess what?


...wait for it...



...mhm...



It's 2009, people!!
2009!

Just making sure you got that.
Don't forget to get it right on your papers and checks and stuff.

You know why this year is going to be awesome?
First off, it began with coffee and hilarious, friendly sarcasm. That's a blast any day.
Secondly, because we have season passes to Six Flags. Did I mention that before? yeah, I did.
Thirdly, because... well... It just is.
Fourthly, because I'll be turning 20 eventually. Wait... that one doesn't make sense.
Fifthly, because my friends rock, and as long as they keep being my friends, 2009 can't be completely horrible.
Sixthly (say that a couple times fast), ... this list is pathetic.
But you know what?
God is on my side. And as long as I stay with him (cuz he sure ain't leavin' me - He said so :D ), 2009 can be good.
Maybe not all fun.
Maybe even really tough.
But good. And I'm excited to see where He takes me!

And you know what else?
I'm not making any resolutions. HA!
You know why?
Because I always break them. Shortly.
And there's no point making resolutions that I'm not going to keep, and then beating myself up about it.
So there.

I had a whole big list last year. Failed every one. I think I did improve on some of the things, I just didn't follow the list to the letter.

Are you making any? Do you usually keep them?

Forgive the scatterbrained-ness. :)

Have a happy 2009, folks!
Love, ME!

(Oh, and it's also going to be good because I have 4 new C.S. Lewis books to read. All bound in one hugemongous, lovely hardcover volume!)

Christmas cheer, anyone?

Yay for Christmas! I'm so excited. It's almost here!!!
I've felt rather Christmasy for most of December. That's been lots of fun, especially with all the fun things I've been doing. Like our non-skating skating trip. That was a blast.
A couple of us broke off from the group and tooks some pictures with the gigantic tree in Atlanta.

I almost had a whole paragraph here about different stuff from that night, but it wasn't turning out like I wanted it to, so I cut it. I'll move on.

My business cards came, but not until after the Christmas rush of packages had been sent off. But it was so exciting to finally get them that it didn't much matter they were later than I hoped for.
I got a nifty little key ring holder so's I'll always have some with me. There are 43 different pics. Which means this photo only shows some of the awesomeness. ;-)

Back to more Christmasy things though: shopping! I've done way more shopping lately than I have in... likely ever. I think I spent around 65 dollars in Claire's alone in the past month or so. Blast all those sales and discounts! :D But most of it was Christmas presents. And, I say, I believe I'm quite done spending for some time now. Lack of funds aside, I think I've actually had enough shopping this month. Time to be saving. ... heh. Anyways, here's a pic from one of our shopping excursions.Do we look alike to you? I'm not seeing any resemblance. I think Alicia and I look more like sisters than my own sister and me.


Also fun was the church's roller skating fellowship. Not very eventful, but fun. I fell twice.
It was because I couldn't figure out how to stop, or how to get around the wall of people that was suddenly in front of me. I don't have any pictures from that, which is probably good. :D

Then there's choir practice, which I enjoy, as usual. The Christmas stuff is fun, but all of a sudden I feel like I don't know how to sing any of this stuff we've been working so hard on for weeks. I was oddly clueless during Thursday's practice for lots of stuff that I thought I had memorized. Bleh. BUT! There is hope! We have practice again tomorrow, and we're bound to start off on a good note - how can you not when coffee and donuts are provided? Exactly. (I don't want to hear anything from you coffee haters. **cough**Becca**cough**)

We had our little Christmas party at preschool Thursday morning. We made little christmas ornaments and picture frames for the mommies and daddies, and then had a super-extravagant snack with lots of apple slices and cheese puffs. I forgot to take the camera, of course. I was gonna show you pics, but they'll have to wait til another day - I ran out of time!

AND! My wonderful aunt and uncle and cousins are coming up for Christmas! How sweet is that!

To top everything off, the excitement won't end at Christmas. My dearest friends in the Whole Wide World are planning a New Year's Eve bash that I've been looking forward to since last year.

What are you doing this Christmas season? Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. :) Even if your Christmas season isn't full of optimistic sparkles, warm fuzzies, and christmas cheer in general, may God give you the eyes to see all the blessings around you. We have so much to be thankful for!!
Love,
Me