Redirecting

He loves me with an everlasting love. Nothing I can do or say will ever sway the power of his love for me. He thinks of me night and day. He showers me with little gifts just because it makes his heart glad to see my smile. He is jealous of the things that take me away from him.

I have rejected him. I've run from him. I've left his body full of scars.
And still he loves me.
When I leave him, those arms that ached on the cross ache to hold me close.
His hands, the hands that I wounded, long to touch me with healing and comfort.

His love for me is so strong he would kill for me.

He did kill for me.
His own Self. His own Son. He made a sacrifice of his own flesh and blood.
So that I would know his love.

And then he conquered Death!
His love is so powerful that it shattered the reign of Death so that I could be with him!
Not only for proof of his love and power, but to give me the ability to share in it.

How can I not love Him?

This is the greatest story of love ever written. This man, my Lord, who is Love Himself, wants nothing so much as for me to be caught up with him in this beautiful extravagance of love. To share in his life. To share in his power. To know and be known.

He is beautiful. And I love him.

Just Today

foreward: This is a seriousish post about a conversation I had with God about me being single. If that disinterests you, you may tune out now. =D I wasn't going to post this on my blog, so it started out earlier today as a little note on Facebook. But now it's officially a blog post too, just in case any of you would happen to like it.

So...

I was going to do this as a blog post, but then I decided that
it wasn't blog worthy. Or too personal maybe? Or that people wouldn't like it.
Or think I'm weird. Or something. I don't know. Something kept me from posting
it on my blog, but I just wanted to share it. Mostly with Erin because we've
been talking about this kind of stuff lately. (contentment, trusting God,
relationships, talking to God... you know...)

Well, I had a revelation
the other night. Or maybe it was an epiphany, whatever that is. Or just a
realization.

I was lying in bed, trying to muster up the courage to tell
God "if you want me to be single for the rest of my life, I'm okay with that." I
do a lot of my talking to God at night, in case you haven't noticed. Anyways, I
really couldn't even manage "I am content to be single til I'm 42, if that's
your will for me, God." Because, honestly? I want God's will and only God's will
for my life, but how can I promise that I'm going to be content being single
every day for the rest of my life right now?!

And then the neatest little
thing happened. God said "You don't have to be content to be single for the rest
of your life. Just today."

Just today?
I thought I had to sign it all
over and say "Lord, I am ready to be an old maid for you! Let's do
this!"

And He was like "nope. Just today. That's all I really
want."

That makes SO MUCH SENSE!

I can live with being single
today. We're supposed to take life one day at a time anyways, right?
He gives
grace when we need it, and right now I don't NEED the grace to be content to be
a crazy old bird lady for the rest of my life. All I need right now is the grace
to serve joyfully where I am TODAY.

And I dunno if this is necessarily
scriptural, but why should I force myself to say "I'm content to be single
forever" when God hasn't said that's His will anyways? I don't know WHAT His
will for the future is.

But I must act on what I DO know of God's will,
and I DO know that TODAY I am supposed to be single.
I can deal with that.
=)

And sufficient grace for each new Today will come as it gets
here.

And if it turns out that I AM supposed to be single forever, well I
guess that'll be ok too, because not only will God give grace, but Erin has
agreed to be a crazy bird lady with me.
<3

In Which Caitlin Turns Twenty

Today I am Twenty.
What does that mean?

I am no longer a teenager.
In a year, I will be twenty-one.
If I live to be eighty, a whole quarter of my life is over.
While I may be young, I can't just shrug and say "ah well, I'm still a child!", for I am not.
Being a grown-up comes along gradually, but being Twenty makes it more real.
Twenty does not "feel" different.

It has been an odd two days. In preparation for the coming school year, my fellow teachers and I attended a conference. Of course, you know that the other ladies I work with are all "grown ups" compared to myself. The conference was full of such grown ups. I'm certain I was at least six years younger than anyone else there. Twenty or thirty years younger than everyone, for the most part. So, while I was mourning becoming old, I was painfully aware of just how very young I am. Quite interesting.

The teacher I worked with last year told me today to stop calling her "Miss" so and so.

And now, I present you with a list of thing I have not yet done in my twenty years of life, and would like to accomplish sooner or later. Preferably sooner.

Twenty Things I'd Like To Do**

• Grow my hair out long again*
• Travel someplace exciting
• Become more like Christ*
• Lead some people to Christ
• Go to school for photography/cosmetology/writing
• Make my business more successful
• Learn another language
• Read the Bible through
• Write something publishable
• Develop patience for larger crochet projects
• Take guitar lessons
• Go skydiving
• Learn to dance
• Ride a horse
• Keep a quote journal
• Become somebody's special somebody***
• Read more great books*
• Write regularly
• Learn to play the piano again
• Be a fantastic Oldest Sister*

* currently a work in progress
** money, time, and God permitting/no particular timeline in mind
*** no particular somebody in mind at this point, in case you were wondering

Thank you to all the fantastic people who wished me a happy birthday.
I couldn't ask for better friends!

And Another Week Passes...

Keith observed how vacation goes by so much faster every year. I told him it was the Matrix. They speed the program up a few notches every year. And if you haven't seen the Matrix, then you won't get that, but it's ok. It's not necessary for a well-rounded life. Time's just flying, and it's creeping me out.

Growing up is creeping me out. Life's crazy.

But you know what? God is good. All the time.
And I just read this article, and it really ministered to me. Read it. It's good.
(I wonder how many people actually click all the little linkies I love to include in my posts? lol)

Aaaand, Laura's home! I missed her while she was at camp the last two weeks. She's going back for another week on Monday. Then I'll miss her again. But I'll be busy going to six flags and a preschool conference.

We haven't done anything really awesome and sister-y. Like I said, life has decided to go all haywire on us. But I'm so glad she's home again. Even when we don't do fun stuff and talk a lot, it's just good to have here here. And now I must post a picture in honor of our sisterhood.So, yeah. I'm looking forward to going back to work. Yay! Until then, maybe I can squeeze in the other stuff I meant to do this summer. And maybe not. And if I don't, I won't feel guilty. It's been a nice summer.

And... well, I guess that's all I've got for now. Happy wishes to ya.
Caitlin

Rapunzel Returns

Time for another hair update!

(Last update: Rapunzel, Rapunzel )

So, my hair's growing slowly but surely. I wish it would grow quicker, but the awkard mid-length part is pretty much over. Aaaand, despite my constant lust for quirky hair, I'm resisting all thoughts of cutting it again. Dying it, too. No more fun hair. I'm going to grow it back out long and natural. And then guess what? I'll chop it off again!! **evil laughter* ... maybe. maybe not.

But the point of this post is so that you can admire my constancy and determination.
Also so you can tell me my hair looks great. Which means you need to see a picture.

Lucky for you, I have four.
I was feeling snap-happy.

Obviously, I straightened it. It looks longer when it's straight. Which means it looks shorter than this when it's curly. (don't you love my redundancy?) I have to straighten it every now and then to help me remember that it's growing.

After church, I ran around looking for batteries for the camera. "You guys, I have to find batteries!! I have to get a picture of my hair or all that time spent fixing it will be WASTED!"

Obviously, I found some batteries. And now you have this lovely post.

You're welcome.
:)

Oh hello!

I hope you've all been having a nice life. My blog subscriptions are all backed up. I have no idea what's going on with anybody except for the Looneys and my "church people." Which really isn't all that bad, actually. It's kinda like things used to be before the internet took up 75 percent of my life.
haha...

During my prolonged absence I've been doing more reading. I feel like I need to apologize for the impersonal nature of my last post (The Remains of the Day). Summer reading, I decided, would be a little more fruitful if I wrote something about each book after I finished it. And so I did. However, since the completion of The Remains of the Day, I've also finished Fahrenheit 451 (which was fantastic), and Romeo and Juliet (I've never read Shakespeare before). I've not written about those yet.

Etsy sales have picked up some! Three or four sales in one week! Yeah!

Yesterday I went and had some fun with my friends and didn't exactly keep good track of my money... I almost spent more than I had, but fortunately I made a sale and got paid during the day, so nothing bad happened. Thank you, God!

Today's plans : Go pick up "The Beautiful Fight" from the library. Make some slippers. Ship some orders. Go to church. Oh wait. The things that require driving to town might have to wait til tomorrow...

So, anyways, now you know what's going on with my life.

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Caitlin

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

Unrelated Accomplishments

Hello!

Remember when I made that lovely green vest thing?
I posted a poll on my blog that said: What should I do with the green vest?
(because, if you'll recall, it was a little too small for me, and I didn't want to sacrifice my favorite buttons for something I couldn't keep.)

You answered:

Get over the button issue and sell it on Etsy	1 (5%)
Put on new buttons and sell it on Etsy	19 (95%)
Give it away - family or friend maybe.	0 (0%)
Heck with too small! keep it!	0 (0%)

Oddly enough, I decided against the majority.
The vest was just so pretty, it deserved my bestest buttons.


So, here you have it.
Finally properly modeled, photographed, and listed on Etsy. YAY!

So, moving on to the unrelated accomplishment.

I just so happened to write a poem that was very pretty.
It's dark and sad and beautiful.
Behold!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Momentary silence.
Unnecessary fears.
Return to pain and violence
Immersed in private tears.

Time is neverending
Elusive glimpse of peace
Darkness and pretending
Aching for release.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I'm very proud of my sad little brainchild.
And I'm amused by the fact that I wrote it while in a very silly, happy mood.
It can be difficult to focus on dark imagery when you're feeling chipper. But I did it!
After I told Katey and Alicia to stop making me laugh and let me focus for just a second.
I always write strange things at their house...

Anyways, that's just a random update to share the things I'm very proud of.
Maybe I'll remember to update again soon instead of abandoning my blog for over a week as I seem to have gotten into the habit of doing.
=)

ttyl!
Caitlin

Memories

I've been having lots of memories from when I was a small child coming back to me lately. It all started when I remembered this one time I had a nightmare.

The Little Mermaid came out the year I was born, and it was my favorite movie until The Lion King came around. One night when I was very small, I woke up to Ursula standing beside my bed. The larger than life sea-witch gave me an evil stare, and I jumped out of bed and ran across the hall to my parents' room. What's funny is I remember vividly the placement of the bed in their room, and where I was standing. I also remember telling them it was real, even though I knew they wouldn't believe me. Of course, it was just a bad dream, and that's what they told me, but I was convinced the giant purple squid was still standing there beside my bed.

After that came to mind during a discussion about dreams one day, all sorts of other memories keep coming back. I'm trying to remember to write them in my journal so I'll still have them and won't forget.

(see? Little Mermaid shirt.)

Little things, like how I used to be fascinated by the woven wicker-type backs of Mema's dining room chairs, and the nifty wooden shutters in the breakfast nook. They were just shutters, but they captivated me with their pivoting slats. I remember eating many a lunch and dinner at the round table in front of those shutters, looking out the sliding glass door to the back patio and the swimming pool. I would purposely drop a few crumbs for the puppies as I wondered what exactly would happen if I got in the pool before the half an hour was up.

(We don't seem to have many pictures taken in the kitchen.
Aunt Cindy, Laura, Nicholas, Mama, and me. Obviously, we were dying Easter eggs.
See the shutters?)

The kitchen was magical. There was something wonderful about sitting on top of the washer or dryer as they were spinning, begging to eat some of the cheez-its that were supposed to be for the top of the chicken casserole. Another cool thing about the kitchen was how it was open on either side, and you could run from the kitchen, through the dining room, through the living room, back into the other side of the kitchen. That is so fun when you're a small person. Fortunately for everyone but me, there were usually gates up for the dogs, so I didn't do much running.

The place to do the running was outside around the pool. Nevermind that you're not supposed to run on concrete, or get that close to the edge. Who's scared of scraping their knees and falling in the pool anyways? Laura and I used to make "soup" out of the prickly evergreens and pool water. Nothing like the smell of warm, wet concrete, sunscreen, and a fresh towel. When you're having a birthday party, it's pretty much perfect to have grandparents with an awesome pool. Sometimes at night, we would sit at the edge of the pool with Mema, feet dangling in the water. Pool water is always so warm at night. We'd listen to Delilah playing love songs for people on the radio while Mema had a smoke, keeping an eye on that serpentine polaris as it made its rounds. I never liked the polaris. I swear the thing chased me.

(I have no idea who all these people are, but it was my birthday. ;-) 3rd, maybe?)

(Combined party years later. Me-8, Laura-7, Joey-2)

(see the bushes we made soup of? The diving board was so fun.)

(Go Laura Go!)

(Aunt Cindy, I posted this one for you.)

Mema taught us to sing in the fan. She always had a stand-fan turned on in her room. We would go stand with our faces almost against the wire cover, and warble "singin' in the fan! we're singin' in the fan! what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again!",
laughing at the sound of our voices chopped up by the blades.

There was an air of mystery about the front door since we never used it. We always came in through the den. Up the concrete stairs, with the big four'o'clock bushes beside them. In the door, past the sofa, past the piano, and through the little breezeway we called "the puppy room" (mema used to breed poodles), and into the dining room, with the living room at your left.

(This is the den, and the door we always used.)

Upstairs always seemed a little creepy. Aunt Cindy's room was to the left once you topped the stairs. She was away at college, so her room was always perfectly neat and vacant. I guess the quiet perfection of it was a little strange. However, she had some neat stuffed animals and sometimes Mema would let us play with them. :) There was a door directly at the top of the stairs, and I don't remember if I ever knew what it was for. Funny how innocuous things like doors can be frightening when you're a small person. Mama's bedroom was to the right. You could see the garage and the driveway and the magnolia tree from the window. The window had a little rainbow sticker in one corner.We kept all of our toys in that room. Big blue and red rubber bins with rope handles were our toyboxes. Somewhere amongst those toys was a little egg that, when "cracked" open, had a little chick who would pop out and say "cheep!" When the buckets were emptied of toys, they were just the right size for little girls. Laura and I would take turns rolling each other around inside them.

When we were done playing upstairs, we would sit on our bottoms at the top of the steps and "slide" down. Last time I tried sliding down a flight of stairs it hurt tremendously. I think we even used to go on our bellies sometimes. I don't think Mema liked us doing it, though.

Past Mema and Pepa's house, up the hill, was another little house. Mema's daddy, PawPaw, lived there. There was a corncob squirrel feeder on a tree outside his house. Mema would fill a Tupperware plate with dinner, and she let me take it to him sometimes. It was dark and smoky in his house, but I loved taking him his dinner and getting a hug in return.

(me and PawPaw on my birthday)

(Aunt Cindy, me, and Laura, dressed as bunnies for Halloween. That's PawPaw's little house in the background.)

Around Christmastime, there would be a fire in the fireplace. I loved to sit by the fire til I got so warm I had to move back. The best thing was when Mema would let us "help". We would wad up a piece of newspaper and throw it in. Then she would use the poker, push it under the grate, and we would watch as it lit, glowed, shriveled up and disappeared. It was so exciting for Aunt Cindy to come home from college - she brought us candy. lol And there were always sausage balls on the coffee table to snack on Christmas morning while we opened presents.

(notice the sausage balls in a bowl, and the biscuits beside them)

I remember sitting in the kitchen and Pepa teaching me to count money. Pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters. Quarters made sense, they're the biggest amount, and biggest coin. I remember thinking it wasn't fair that nickels were bigger than dimes, since dimes are 10 cents and nickels only half that much. Perhaps that explains my random love for dimes. I have a little glass piggy just for collecting dimes.

Sometimes Laura and I would sit out on the swing with Mema, each with a handful of saltine crackers and a piece of "slice cheese." We'd sit there, happily munching and swinging, getting covered in crumbs and mosquito bites.

(This picture was taken at the apartment where we lived, but it's the swing that used to be at Mema's)

When we spent the night, we liked to sleep in the guest room downstairs. Across from the bed was a window from which you could see the pool. Against the wall was Mema's vanity. We loved to sit in there and watch Mema get ready to go somewhere. Watching a grown woman fix her hair and makeup was pretty much enthralling to me as a little girl.

It's so fun to remember all these little things. Most of my memories of being a small child are centered around Mema and Pepa's old house. Sometimes Laura and I will hear a country song on the radio that was popular back when we spent entire weekends out by the pool. We look at each other and say "that makes me think of Mema's old house." I usually hate the smell of cigarette smoke, and Mema and Pepa have long since both quit smoking (yay for them!), but sometimes when I'm outdoors on a hot day, the warm breeze, smell of pavement, and just a whiff of smoke takes me back.

I thank God we were able to be that close, and spend so much time making memories with them when we were little.

See you later, Alligator!

Becoming

This afternoon was spent tidying my room, having random, sporadic conversation with friends, and making chicken pot pie. Pleasant occupations, if you ask me. I decided to wash the sinkful of dirty dishes I had created, and as I began to scrub chicken and flour off various utensils, a contemplative mood came upon me. Weird, eh? Washing dishes does that to me sometimes.

Somewhere between recalling a conversation about how fast time flies and assessing my own personality, I remembered a statement I read somewhere. By the time you finish high school you will have become the person you will be for the rest of your life. Or something like that, anyways. I suppose it means that your personality, likes, and dislikes are pretty much cemented. Character flaws apparent, strong points developed. Maybe the fundamentals of who you are have been laid, but that can't mean you'll be at 80 the same person you were at 18.

But that got me thinking. I'm 19 - have I become the person I want to be for the rest of my life?
The answer was yes and no.

Ever since I was able, I've liked myself. Which sounds rather vain, doesn't it? People who acted like someone they weren't never made sense to me. Why would you want to go through the trouble of being someone other than yourself?!
(When I was about 14 and realized I wasn't "cool," it made a little more sense. I recall wishing I was a different person then.)

I like who I am now, but I don't want to stay the same. Of course, I doubt staying the same would be possible. People are bound to learn and change as time passes, for better or worse. But I don't want to just be shaped by what happens to me. I want to be the person climbing the escalator even it as it takes me forward (metaphorically speaking. ;-) I usally like to stand still on real escalators and watch the people go by).

It doesn't make a lot of sense to say that I'm happy with who I am, but I don't want to stay that way. I guess what I mean is that there can always be a better me. Being me is good. I want to always be the Caitlin we know and love, but working to be the best version possible. I don't expect to ever get there. Not on earth, anyways. Til I die, there will always be more to learn, and perfection being impossible, always some flaw to overcome.

Sometimes I think I could have made a little more progress by now, but I know I'm on the right path. Sometimes I like where I am and want to stop and dawdle for a while. Usually when that happens, I somehow manage to slip backwards a step or two before I realize I need to keep going. Sometimes I want to run, but I just can't become as good as I want to be as fast as I would like. (Sometimes I like using metaphors and then think they sound stupid. However, I don't feel like deleting this paragraph!) Sometimes I just want to sit down and cry because being good can get so darn hard. And sometimes I do. Then I get angry at myself. And then my Perfect Father reminds me that I can't do anything by myself, and if I would just look, I'd see that all my progress was because He was with me, not because I'm just that awesome.



And now I have that Switchfoot song stuck in my head.

This is your life, and today is all you've got now.
This is your life, and today is all you'll ever have.

This is your life
- are you who you want to be?

Random Weekend Update

Today my siblings and I are off to Six Flags. Feel free to come hang out with us. ;-)
Ooh! I just realized it's Christian Music Weekend! Cool.

I'm currently reading Deadline by Randy Alcorn. The power went out because of the storm last night, but I stayed up reading from like 11:00-1:30 by the light of an oil lamp. Yay! It's a super good book.

It's making me excited about Heaven. I always pictured it as standing around a throne singing forEVER. Which isn't too bad, I guess, since Jesus is there, but it did seem a little boring. Mr. Alcorn's vision of heaven is pretty cool. But I guess I won't derail this post and go into it here. :D

Trading on Etsy is fun. I'm trading these slippers
for this pendant. Thanks Lori!

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday! It's going to be busy, but fun. The choir is singing in both services, then my family is going to hang out at Mema's house with lots of other great family peoples, and then we have communion service at church, and youth choir practice afterwards.

May we remember the reason for all the celebration during the flurry of activity! Jesus Christ is Risen! YAY!

Oh - my Morning Thunder tea is steeping, and it's probably nasty and bitter by now. :|
If you like black tea, you should try Celestial Seasoning's Morning Thunder. It's gooood.

This is so random. But I felt like posting, and decided to just write whatever I thought to write.

Oh! Another thing! I'm almost done with sorting out "the businessy stuff" in regards to my Etsy business. By which I mean that I finally got my business registered, my trade name registered, and got a tax ID number to take care of sales tax and all that. Phew. Now if I could just figure out how to submit sales tax. They sent me a whole packet full of papers that I don't really understand how to use. I'm seeking help for that... And help needs to come fast... I'm running out of time to file for the last quarter!

I thought y'all would like to know that after all the whining I did before about not being able to figure it out.

So. I'm going to get ready to go to Six Flags now. After I drink my tea.
Have a happy Saturday, and rejoice! Our God is alive. :D

Caitlin

The Elfin Slipper Battle

The words "Finish Elfin Slippers" never made it onto paper yesterday.
The battle is over.
I defied the concrete importance of the written word for motivation.

**singsong**
Guess who feels accooooompliiiiished.
lol
**smug face**
Now to tweak my pattern so's I can make more of these without wanting to die.

P.S. I'm on Twitter now.

Life Lesson Monday

Today's Lesson is:

Set Goals

Sunday night, our pastor made note of how important it is to write your goals down on paper. It helps realize them. He cited some statistics saying people who clearly define and record their goals achieve exponentially more than those who do not.

I attempted a little research of my own just now and was unable to find any concrete statistics with which to impress you. However, I would have to agree that it's very helpful to make lists. There's something about a line of words on paper waiting to be "exed" off. (That's what I say. Exed. Like when you draw an X over something.)

Today, I had a mental goal:
To finish that stupid pair of slippers that has been haunting me this week.

Now I have a good explanation for not even attempting them today.
I didn't write it down.
Maybe I'll make a list tomorrow.

And now, I leave you with a picture of myself being sleepy and wearing my crooked glasses.

New Post!

I'm not read to write another post yet, but I didn't like knowing that grumpy post was the last one up.
I was still mostly grumpy til Saturday morning, but Saturday was lovely, as was today.

Current news:
Etsy sales are down. Way down.
I need a car. A lot.
Choir practice went well. The drama is soon.
I'm watching this documentary about a girl named Deborah.
I don't want to take a shower because it will undo all the hard work I did to straighten my hair.
This week is going to be CRAZY busy!!
I'm rather cheerful and optimistic. Probably because I haven't attempted to finish those troublesome slippers yet. Which I need to do before that dear customer gets upset.

I'm contemplating doing a giveaway, hoping it would promote sales.

Have a good week, people. :) I will be back for a life lesson tomorrow. If I can think of one. lol

This is Gimli

And me.
We wish you a happy week.

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

Rapunzel, Rapunzel!

Ok, so I'm nowhere near Rapunzel, but my hair is growing!
And I'm so happy about it, that I decided to do a blog post and show off.

This is me in July, when my hair was red and the shortest it's ever been.
I loved it like that.
So fun!

This is me today, and my hair is blonde. And I need to color it again.
It's growiiiiing!!!
My roots are getting very long, and I want my hairs back to their natural color.
I look like a hobbit!
:D
And I'm wearing my favorite little bird earrings in both shots.


You could have seen these pics in vibrantly edited color, but alas!
Picnik would not behave.

On a totally random note, I'm eating a PB&J and some yogurt. Yum.
Grape jam! My favorite!
What's your favorite?

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

One of Those Days

The plan was for a long, chipper, Caitlinesque post about the ski trip and other happenings of late.
Too bad for you, becaaaauuuse ...

**suspicious violin music**

Your friend Caitlin morphed into Miss Grumpy Pants for the day!
**shriek of horror**

It's true.
Every minor inconvenience merited another plunge into the depths of despair.
Every disappointment was worthy of a childish fit, complete with stamping, and whining refrains of "that's not FAIR!" (not that I actually did that, mind you.)

Sulky. Self pitying. Irritable. Mopey. Lazy.

I know, right? Caitlin? Grumpy?
Nevaaaar.
(haha! That part was so those of you who know me well may enjoy a sarcastic laugh.)

Anyways. An Apology:
We're sorry! Today's scheduled programming has been delayed on account of an unaccountable change of the author's mood. We'll be back to normal as soon as she kicks this funk off.

Thank you!

P.S. Obviously, I'm getting over myself or I wouldn't have written this. :)
Surely I'm not the only one who has those days.

20 things about me...

These things are going around like the flu. Some people are doing ones that have 17 things, or 25 things, but since I got tagged for this one, I'm doing a nice even 20. :)

1. Sometimes I just look at people and say "Hi! How are you?" after I've already had a whole conversation with them. People who know me say "Hi" back, and proceed to answer the question. People who don't know me so well look at me like I'm insane. They may be right.

2. I like to joke about myself being unintelligent, but I don't really think I am.

3. My little Etsy business is going pretty well. Now if I can just figure out what to do about state sales tax, and that little spending habit...

4. For some reason I try put off hard work, but almost always enjoy the labor and feel really good about myself when I'm done.

5. I love the people at my post office. They're so friendly! It's good to see familiar faces there. :) And just this week, that nice post office man told me he likes my "army jacket .... wait? don't they call those things pea jackets nowadays or something?" ... LOL the other guy was like "no, those are different. Pea coats. I got my wife one for christmas."

6. I had my first experience hitting an animal in the road a couple weeks ago. There was a little birdie sitting in the road, and it wouldn't fly away... crunch. :( I actually wasn't too upset though. that surprised me.

7. I have a hard time saying only a little bit. It's all or nothing. Ergo this series of mini-stories.

8. Don't get me started with the whole " "wine" in the Bible was just grape juice" thing. It was totally for-real wine, and Jesus did drink some. (in the podcast today some girl had a question about whether someone's convictions about alcohol should be a dealbreaker in a relationship... that's why I thought of that. lol) (see? there I go with another mini-story!)

9. Been listening to copious amounts of Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra after getting some CDs for Christmas.

10. I act very strange sometimes. And sometimes I feel a tinge of amused pity for my future husband. lol

11. I try to do a weekly blog post entitled "Life Lesson Monday" but I frequently forget to do them until Tuesday or Wednesday.

12. I have chronically cold feet, and I'm seriously upset about it because it's so annoying.

13. Coffee is my best friend. Well, it's pretty far up on the list anyhow.

14. I love walking. Walky walky walk. I don't usually tire of just strolling around. Hiking is good, too. Let's plan a hiking trip.

15. I am SO PSYCHED about having season passes for Six Flags(!!!), and I think it's awesome that they'll be open weekends starting the last day of Feb. (you can do a bunch of walking at Six Flags ...)

16. Sometimes I stop and realize that I'm actually a very selfish person. It bothers me.

17. My favorite books are Mere Christianity, Mansfield Park, 1&2 Corinthians... and I guess there are more. I have a hard time picking favorites.

18. I express excitement with childish glee. I bounce up and down and clap my hands and say "YAY!" a lot. It's true.

19. Currently reading: Surprised By Joy, Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God (not enjoying it so far ... heh...), and Winnie The Pooh. Finished reading: Blue Like Jazz, Let Me Be a Woman, and Bear Stays Up For Christmas. Plan on re-reading:Mere Christianity, Get Married: what women can do to help it happen (girls, check it out :D),Do Hard Things, and Charlotte's Web.

20. I looove being in choir, and I need to get ready for bed now so that I won't be sleepy during church and choir practice tomorrow. **yawn**