Yarky Smithens!!!

(Yeah, that blog post title...I made it up)

I've been posting blogs about my day-to-day activities and my goings-on, but I wanted to take a break and post something fun and silly :) I got the idea from Lindsey Christmas's blog...I love these surveys! Enjoy!

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 84 degrees, maybe a little less if it's hotter outside. But we don't use the A/C too much.
B- My BEDROOM theme is: Hollywood Glitz and Glam. Everything in my room is pink and sparkly and I have a lot of Marilyn Monroe posters.
C- The CAR in the driveway is: A 1987 Volvo (which I drive, but's it has no A/C!!!), my mom's Dodge Durango, and my dad's Dodge truck.
D- My DESK looks: Nice and clean and organized...I can't work in a cluttered space. It houses my laptop, pencils/pens, notebooks, folders, and books, but they are all nice and ordered :)
E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: Whenever I wake up...I like to stay up late and do my work, so I usually end up waking up around 10:00. But since my new classes start at 9:00, I'm gonna have to get used to waking up earlier...eeeeek!
F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: My left arm...haha! I have a precise method and system of bathing...arms first!!! If I'm washing my hair then I'll do that first.
G- My GARAGE is filled with: All of my dad's tools!! Some of mom's, sister's, and my old stuff is packed up in the attic, but most of the stuff includes his car tools and equipment.
H- My HOUSE is: A two-story home in a gated community. I really like my home :)
I- If you peeked INSIDE my bedroom you'd see: A lot of pink and Marilyn Monroe stuff :)
J- My favorite JUICE is: CranApple or regular cranberry
K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: The island...besides using it for cutting food, I always sit up there :) It's like a gathering place.
L- The LAST person who visited my home was: Amooooorrrr! :) She came to hang out!
M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: A credit card application for students. I get too many of those.
N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: A nice, polite, classy girl...which I am :) I'm always there to babysit, house watch, petsit, and be a friend.
O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: *sarcastic tone* Bed sheets and rubberbands. What do you think you'd see? *rolls eyes* Haha, all jokes aside, you'd find milk, juice, bread, eggs, and various containers of leftovers.
P- My last house PARTY was: About 3 weeks ago...Alex was turning 18 and we had a swim party.
Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: A chicken wrap...just a piece of breaded chicken inside of a tortilla with horseradish sauce and lettuce/tomatoes.
R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: A tie between my room and the family room...I spend most of my time in those rooms.
S- The SHAMPOO brand I use: Usually Dove...it works the best and I've been using it for years. Sometimes, I switch to try other products, like the Fructise brand now.
T- My largest TELEVISION is: In the family room...it's huge one!
U- UNDER my bed you will find: The trundle that I pull out when we have guests plus a few big items that won't fit anywhere else.
V- The last time I VACUUMED was: Thursday, on clean-up day and the kitchen floor last night.
W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: Our side yard and the side of my neighbor's house plus some of the street. I have a pretty good view of the hills and mountains, too.
X- I wish I had X-TRA: Money. It doesn't buy happiness, but it sure makes things easier.
Y- My YARD is: Really nice! The backyard has a pool and grass, patio, and a small pond that my dad built. The front yard has grass and two good-sized trees.
Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: Between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning (I'm a night owl) :) Sundays, I'm in bed earlier because I get up early to work at the church.

Scary Night

Last night, we had the scariest fire start and the winds the caused it to blow within a mile of us. We could see flames whipping up on the mountain behind our house. The neighbors gathered outside to watch the progression. We could hear loudspeakers telling people to evacuate only a block away from us. We went back outside every once in a while to fire-watch. Thank God, about an hour later, the flames closest to us had been extinguished. Smoke and ash continued to pollute the air. We drove around to check the area around our house. Hundreds of people were in the streets watching the fire or leaving because of evacuation alerts. Finally, we ended up at home and prayed that God would lessen the flames. This morning, the fires seemed to be gone, with only smoke and ash lingering. My friend called in the afternoon and said that she had to evacuate her home. I pray that she and her family will be okay. Please God, extinguish these fires and protect those near them, including families and firefighters!

The view from our street. The red dots along the hill are the flames, about a mile from our house.

Sideways shot of the smoke in the air

INCEPTION

My mom and I went to see Inception on Sunday afternoon. We are big on dreams...my sister, mom, and I wake up most mornings telling each other about wacky dreams that we've had. I've even experienced dreaming I was in a certain place and years later, I'll be at the place I was in my dream. I think that God also speaks to me through my dreams...my dreams often actually play out somehow in real life. My mom and I also like to interpret our dreams...it's quite interesting. So, even though we really didn't know what Inception was about, we went to see it anyways...and it was AMAZING!

Here, let me give you a quick plot overview just in case you haven't seen it: It takes place in a time where people have the ability to enter the dreams of others in order to extract important information because our minds are most vulnerable when we are sleeping. The main character, Cobb, played by Leo DiCaprio, is like the leader of his "dream group". He is hired by a man to plant an idea in someone's mind while they are sleeping...the problem is that Cobb is used to taking information from people, not planting them. Planting the idea takes a lot more skill and involvement because it involves making the person believe that they came up with the idea themselves. See? It's complicated. Well, Cobb constructs his team...Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (hotttaaaay), and Tom Hardy (another hottttaaaaay), among others...and they enter the mind of their subject, played by the Cillian Murphy (yes, another hotttttaaay). Thus, begins the wild whirlwind of dreams.

I liked the movie because it keeps you on the edge of your seat. You'll spend the movie trying to figure it out, only to find that whatever answer you came up with is probably wrong. It's exciting and pushes you into the unknown. It has a lot of action and interesting points about dreams. Make sure you pay ATTENTION!!! Or else you probably won't understand the ending...trust me, I paid attention and it was still confusing at times. The aspect of the movie that I liked the most is that it'll have you thinking about it and talking about it for DAYS! I definitely came up with my own theories. I recommend this movie if you're into psychological thrillers plus action :) Go see it!

For those that have seen it, what did you think of it? Any theories on the movie and the ending?

Just Another Stepping Stone

These past few weeks have been a little hard for me. I'm preparing to leave for VA soon and it's been an emotional ride. I've been quietly keeping my fears and worries to myself. I've been praying and reading the Scripture; ultimately looking for comfort from God. Today, I found out that I wouldn't be receiving a scholarship that I had applied for and it was very discouraging. Paying for school is hard work! I know that God will provide the funds for me to attend school. Not recieving the scholarship is just another stepping stone that I have to cross.

If you know of any scholarships or grants, please post the link in my comments section. I'd love to spread the word about different means of financial aid. Blessings!

Picture of the Day :)

My mismatched sandals (shades of pink, of course)! Lovely.

Less Than a Month Now...

I'll be moving to VA to attend school in less than a month. I am so excited! And nervous. It feels like I'm being pushed into the deep end of a pool without knowing how to swim. I think that my move to VA is a big test from God. I know it is His will for me to go and He wants to make sure that I am trusting Him through it all. Christen Allocco recently sent out a blogger email asking us to write about what God has been doing in our lives this summer. Well, He's taught me that I can survive on my own. Even though I loooooove my family so much and love being with them, I can be independent and not be afraid to be away from them. He's shown me that I only need to trust Him to take care of things in my life that cause me sadness and worry. He's got my back!!! :) God has also brought me friends that I've connected with online before the move, so I know I've got a great support system before I even move! See? My God is a great God :)

So, as scared as I am, I know God is there to catch me when I jump into the deep end of that scary pool they call life :)

In other news, Alex got her driver's license...I'm working as a tutor, swim instructor, and label designer...I finally got my new bathing suit...aaaaaaannnnnnnddd...that's about it. Blessings!

(And here's a shout out to a Miss Sabrina Holloway!!! She gave me wonderful comments about my blog and has been a good friend through email correspondence, so I thought I'd say "What up!!!" to her in my post! I can't wait to meet you!)

Change My Heart Lord

I asked God to change my heart...to love others as He loves me: unconditionally. I can't judge people for they are from sinful beginnings just like me. Please, Lord, help me love them...without restrictions and rules...just love. Amen.

Things I Did Today

- I wore mismatched sandals to church...one light pink sandal and one hot pink sandal. I didn't do it on purpose either, but I liked the end result :)

- I tried Fire Island Rice for the first time...it's long grain rice with black beans and coconut...delicious!

- I got to see my "J" baby in the nursery...I hadn't seen her in over a month and boy did she get big! I love it when she stares at me with her big, brown eyes :)

- I went to lunch with Alex, my mom, and our girlfriends from church...it was sooo fun!

- I watched the 700 Club Interactive and a man went to the streets were young adults hang out...mostly the rebel type...and he just asked them if they needed prayer for anything and he prayed for them right there on the street. He wasn't afraid to catch infection from a man who had a staph infection or to be rejected from those who seemed to reject Christ or who were concerned with his motives. It was awesome!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Blessings!

Fun Friday

I had a fun Friday! My sister planned a swim/movie day as a continuation of her birthday party. She really wanted a pinata at her party, but we didn't have one, so my mom bought her an Avatar pinata to fill with candy and smash. We watched Napoleon Dynomite and Disturbia and swam swam swam!!! I tried out my new bathing suit! Yay! We filled up on chips, lemonade, candy, and pizza. It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of the party (and a few from my fun week), as well as a video of our pinata fun :) Blessings!

The Group!

Me after Alex broke the pinata

The cloudy and sunny skies

Enjoying sister time :)

Enjoying daddy/daughter time

Trying Out BloggerMobile

Again, it's after midnight and I'm messing around with BloggerMobile, trying to get the hang of things. I want to test to see if texting in my blog posts in separate texts will result in one blog post (because my phone sends texts with only 160 characters and breaks them up into different messages). So, I'm typing away at my little keyboard, excited at the prospect that I can blog anywhere and everywhere at anytime now due to BloggerMobile. But I'm a little worried that it's going to send as several different posts because of my phone. Blah, blah, blah...I'm ranting on...it's late, but I'm enjoying it. So...here goes nothin'! I'm sending my newest mobile blog post (and my phone split it up into 6 text messages); hopefully it'll all post as one! Yeeeeee! (There I go being weird late at night again...). Blessings!
_____________________________________________________

(Typed this morning) - And, alas, my BloggerMobile test did not work. I got up this morning and checked the post, which had, as I predicted, posted into 6 small posts and not one big one. AND they posted out of order! Juuuuust great. Oh, well, I'll just keep messing aorund with BloggerMobile and figure out if I can ever post normally. Btw, the post you see above is a correctly formatted and spell-checked post that I fixed after I saw the 6 seperate crazy, out-of-order posts. Aye.

The Woes of the DMV

The woes of the DMV. I experience them even when I'm not at the DMV for myself. My sister, mom, and I were at the DMV today so that Alex could take her permit test. We arrived at the DMV even earlier than the appointment was set so that we could get out of there quicker. We were ushered by a flirting security guard (no really, we were) to the appointment line. It was nice to be out of the heat and in air conditioning. That is where our absence of DMV woes stopped. We found out that Alex couldn't apply for her permit without having her official birth certificate present, which we had left at home. After a few minutes of anger and semi-yelling, we decided to drive back home and get the certificate so Alex could take her test today. We were frustrated and hot and bothered by the 107 degree heat. When we got back to the DMV, I flagged down the flirting security guard this time to make sure that we were in the right line and he tried to tell us that we missed our appointment so we had to wait in line or go back home. (Really, guy? If your gonna flirt with me, don't be negative about our appointment). We then asked the woman at the appointment desk if Alex could take her test today since we had the certificate and she said "Of course!!". Luckily, she had remembered us from earlier. Finally, admist the tight crowd and confusing lines, we had accomplished what we had set out to do there. So, I'm standing in line, texting in my blog post via BloggerMobile because I don’t know what else to do. Good luck to my sister on her permit test! 1...2...3...SMILE for the i.d picture! Many Blessings!

Bloggin' on the Go!

I just registered with BloggerMobile so I could blog on the go! This is a test post of sorts...it's after midnight and I'm up, so why not :) Hope it works!

**A Quote to Ponder**

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe

I saw this quote on the internet and was immediately drawn to it because...of course...Marilyn Monroe said it. But it also caught my attention because it is very TRUE. This quote can be used almost as a friendship/significant other "sifter". If someone runs away and doesn't stick by us when things get tough, why should they be around us when things are going okay? Well, frankly, they shouldn't. A test of true love happens with the stuff hits the fan. And we are all sinners, we all make mistakes, but if we can't love people for their imperfections, as well as their good traits, then we aren't being a true servant of the Lord. Jesus hung around with liars, cheaters, murderers, the self-righteous, and prostitutes because He was showing them God's unconditional love. If Jesus wasn't around them when they were at their worst, then why should they trust Him to lead them to their best? I think that Jesus realized this. Only when He reached them when they were down, could He help them reach their best potential :) I'm glad that God sticks around me allllll the time, good times and bad. Blessings!

My Week in Pictures

At the Fairgrounds for the fireworks show (mommy's taking the picture)

On Alex's birthday, getting ready for the water balloon fight

Alex and me, with our buddy Shaun

The pretty birthday girl :)

Me being silly :)

And a special birthday SHOUT OUT to my sister Alex whose birthday was on Wednesday :) I love you, sister! May God bless you with many more :)

July 4th

This 4th of July was amazing! We went to church in the morning and I later went to Starbucks to get a Lemonade Passion Tea to beat the heat. When headed home to grab the stuff we needed for a 4th party later on. I ended up taking a nap on the floor in my room. I jumped up a little while later after remembering I had a party to go to.

The party was fun! We ate huge hamburgers and lots of chip and dip and danced! After the party, we headed to the fairgrounds to watch the fireworks show. I absolutely love fireworks, so I was pretty excited. We had to park about a half a mile from the show and we walked as the show started. We could see the fireworks in the sky, but as soon as we arrived the show had ended. We were all pretty bummed that we had missed the show up close. But as we were driving back home, my sister realized that another venue's firework show was starting so we parked and watched it. It was amazing! I love the rumbling, sparking fireworks! It makes me feel so patriotic and wonderful! My D.L.F ended up spending the night, so I knew I was in for a crazy next day!

My D.L.F and I got up and starting swimming before noon. We spent pretty much the whole day in the pool, lounging and splashing. Alex joined us after a little while and we had lots of fun in the pool. Later on, my eyes burned from the chlorine, but we ate dinner and my mom and I walked to Cold Stone to get my birthday ice cream. And I am so tan from being outside all day :) Overall, it was a fun day! I love summertime! Blessings!

Alex and me being silly at the fairgrounds

Silly girls!

Awesome fireworks :)

100th Post!!! And My 21st Birthday!!!

Wow! I can't believe I've reached 100 blog posts! Oh, how the time flys. I really enjoy blogging and can't wait to see what other blog posts come :)

In other news...I turned 21!!!!! Woooohoooo! It feels really good! And I had a wonderful birthday thanks to my wonderful friends and family :) We went to the movies to see Eclipse and stood in line for an hour and a half. The movie was great! Even better than the first two! Then, we came back home, ate hamburgers, and relaxed. I drank half of a Mike's Hard Lemonade before I stopped...I didn't want to push my too far with the drinking. My family and friends made it such an amazing birthday! I love you guys! Here are some pics of the day :)