Congratulations Tom & Kim!

First comes LOVE...


Ah... sweet engagement!!


Then comes MARRIAGE...

Aren't they cute?? 

Then comes A ______ IN A ______ CARRIAGE...

I'll let you fill in the blanks. ;)

Suffice it to say that I'm SUPER DUPER PUMPED for September of this year!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day... almost

Alright people... I keep checkin all these blogs on my blogroll... and NO ONE IS UPDATING!

I find it to be rather dissappointing and smelly, so I've decided to update. Yip Yip!


What to say... what to say...

Tomorrow is my favorite holiday of all time ever. Valentine's day is such a neato day. You get to wear pink and give hugs and say I love you all day. Plus sometimes you get candy and flowers from your friends and loved ones. It's grand. Tomorrow evening all the guys that I hang out with are making dinner for all of the girls I hang out with. This is the second annual Valentine's Dinner at Jim's and expect it to be quite fabulous. At the dinner last year I was trying to get my friend Lucas to stop putting his arm around me and whispering in my ear. All he was trying to do was discreetly ask me which guy I liked ... but I couldn't tell him that the guy I had my eye on (Andrew) was sitting across the room and probably thinking that Lucas and I were flirting.

I found out a few months later that Andrew was totally thinking that. Dog gone that Lucas! :) No matter... I turned the flirting on super high later and a few weeks after that was my first date with my now fiance. Neat.


I have nothing else to say but at least I posted something on this rather boring site. Why don't the rest of you get on it and make some words happen. I"m getting sick of surfing blogs with nothing on them to read. Boo to You.

Is anyone getting excited about the Spring theme? I am. It's been stewing for awhile but I think it'll be a good one. How is your Winter of Trust going anyways?

95 Days

There are 95 days remaining until I'm officially a married woman. Is that the complete most crazy thing ever in the whole world?! I think yes.

I spent my entire day today from 8:15ish to 4:30ish getting rid of stuff.

I went through my closet... got rid of clothes.
I went through my dresser... got rid of clothes.
I went through my filing cabinet... got rid of old bank statements and love letters.
I went through my bookcase... got rid of books and disks and cd's and paper.
I went through my desk... relocated crap to now emptier bookcase.
I went through 2 nightstands... got rid or more stuff.

Yeay for throwing things away and giving things away! It is exciting to get rid of the old and welcome the new.

But I was talking to Andrew this morning and we were thinking about what it will be like in 97 or 98 days. Besides the obvious stuff that will be very exciting and new for both of us... what will it be like to be married?

I mean... I'm not going to have to go home when it hits 1 or 2 am. I can actually stay with Andrew. WHAT?! Is that possible? And when I come home from work... it won't be to my Daisy house with my Daisy roommates. It will be to an empty apartment where I will wait for my husband to get home. MY HUSBAND!

The whole thing is so big and unbelievable that I can barely make sense of it in my head. And I'm so stinking excited and scared and amazed and anxious and happy!

I'll be a MRS. in 95 days! YIPEE!!!

Bleck

I have my first cold in approximately a year and it's kicking my butt.

Tuesday and Wednesday I left work early to come home and sleep. Today I went in late, and when I got there, they yelled at me and told me to go home.

I love my job, by the way. Even when they yell... it's totally out of love.

Anyways... back to this cold thing. Fever, cough, sneezy, achey, so I can't function piece of yuck cold.

Phlegm... did I mention phlegm? Even the word looks gross.

Well... that was a fun blog, huh?

By the way.. I'm not whining.. just informing. Colds are stupid and we should ban them.

Love & hugs (but not close hugs cuz you'll get sick)

Anger & Disgust

These two emotions, though rarely experienced by me, are two of the emotions that a movie I watched recently caused me to feel.

Who has seen the movie "40 Days and 40 Nights"?

Now right off, I have to tell you that I was intrigued to watch this movie. I decided... perhaps it would be funny... perhaps it would be lighthearted... perhaps it would be a little sketchy, but I might still like it. After all, every now and then there are slightly sketchy movies that I enjoy.

But this one was NOT one of them. And here's why:

The movie "40 Days and 40 Nights" exemplifed everything that our crazy American society is and everything that a true Christian society would not be.

For just a second let's put aside all of the gross misinterpretations of the Catholic Church that are in the movie (like a Deacon hearing confessions for example)... because although those parts pissed me off, they did nothing compared to the portrayal in this movie of human sexuality.

The movie implies that a male in his early 20's is incapable of avoiding sex for 40 days. The main character in the movie gives up sex, pornography and masturbation because he's trying to get over an ex girlfriend... and all of his friends (including his brother the Deacon and the local Priest) decide that he will be unable to do this.

The movie says that humans are only carnal. It gives absolutely no indication that we were created in the divine image. It ignores the fact that we have will and intellect. We are not like dogs and cats and monkies and rabbits who have instincts and MUST act upon them. We actually DO have conciences and will power... though, unfortunately we frequently decide not to use it. The idiotic piece of poo movie even goes so far as to show it's main character with a constant erection by his 40th day of no sex because "obviously that's what happens if you don't fulfill your desires." IDIOTS!

In today's society of instant gratification, it seems like everyone has the motto of "if it feels good... do it". We as a people have no concept of consequences of our actions (either those consequences in this life or the next.)

This movie made me realize just how awfully screwed up our society is. The movie created such IRE within me that I had to flee the room in which I was watching just so I wouldn't start screaming at whomever was there for me to scream at. No wonder we have 11 year olds and younger experimenting with sex already when we put this kind of disgusting crap in front of them to watch for entertainment.

Ack... I haven't even begun to cover this topic... but I'm out of things to say for this evening. I'm sure you'll want to discuss this one. Giddy Up, Friends... Giddy Up.

The top 25 of 2005

I promised myself I would get this done before the first full week of January was over. So here goes nothing...

My top 25 highlights and lowlights of 2005.

1) March for Life 2005 - This was my first "chaperoning" experience as I went with my roommates on the BC High School trip to DC to save the babies. As always, the March was fabulous... And I actually surprisingly did okay being with 100 teenagers on a bus for 5 days. Not that I'd want to do it every day. God Bless teachers!

2) Sojourn - Last minute appointment to crew chief... Being horribly sick and having to medicate myself all weekend... Catching the eye of a very interesting young man named Andrew... Meeting a ton of really amazing young adults. This retreat was a weekend began a major change in my life.

3) The Bizzarro Couch with Amy and Andrew - With 30 people at the Daisy House for the Superbowl party, I found it imperative to be my weird and crazy self. And so Amy, Andrew (who I wasn't dating but was seriously flirting with) and I began acting the weirdest we've ever acted. Oh the fun we had! QUACK QUACK SEAT BACK!

4) Valentine's Dinner at Jim's. - How could a dinner where the guys completely doted on all the girls NOT make my top 25?

5) The National Catholic Singles Conference in Denver - Amazing speakers, amazing friends, a roadtrip. What a fabulous weekend!

6) February 28th - The First Date - The first day that I was pretty sure that some day I would marry Andrew.

7) Chicago! - The best part of my job at Hertz (besides not being at MAAN anymore) was the two weeks of paid training that I got to spend in Chicago. I saw the sights, flew by myself, and realized just how different it is to be in a place where I had time by myself. It was fabulous and I had some GREAT pizza.

8) The Ups and Downs of starting a new job, a new relationship, and having WAY less time to spend at my house... Oh the headaches the roommates and I went through for a few months. (This perhaps was not a highlight... But it was a definite chunk of year that sticks out.) Lisa and Kimmy - I'm so glad we're friends again.

9) Andrew's Confirmation - My honey became confirmed in the Catholic Faith. My parents came down for it and his mom and Don came up for it... And they met for the first time.

10) Little Elizabeth Springer - An amazing new addition to the world who I was so happy to meet early in the Summer (especially after watching Stephanie go through the pregnancy.) Yeay for new families and babies!

11) Julie and Lucas's wedding. Two friends that I introduced got married and their wedding was SOOOOO fun! What an amazing holy couple they make.

12) July 3rd at Midnight. The unconventional proposal to be Andrew's wife. What an amazing day!

13) Planning the wedding for April 29th... No May 6th... No May 27th... No October... No May 13th... Or May 20th... Wait back to April.. No May 6th! Definitely May 6th... Or maybe October... Okay okay.. May 6th. :)

14) Dish with the Bish - Having the amazing honor of having Bishop Jackels over for dinner. I'm still not sure this happened it was so surreal. There were 70 young adults and one really fun Bishop. He even stayed to lead the rosary for us. What an awesome shepherd our diocese has!

15) Tom & Kimmy's Wedding. In my book, many things made this the party of the year: Watching my brothers dance, hearing Joe and Ginger's awesome speeches, wearing a hella pretty dress as my first time as a bridesmaid, finally getting Andrew to dance with me, singing the Rock Chalk Chant. And Andrew and I got to drive the slightly drunken bride and groom back to our hotel bar for more drinks... And then to their hotel. Plus, I have a sister now! YEAY!

16) The 2nd annual Daisy House Party for St. Therese's feast day. Having our Lawrence friends in town made this a rockin time for one and all! Minus, of course, "the incident".

17) Rachel and Randy's Wedding. Getting pretty again... Crying because I was so happy for Ray... Dancing A LOT... And seeing how very beautiful Ray was on that day. Very awesome.

18) Thanksgiving Dinner at the Daisy House. I felt like a mom on this day. Cooking and cleaning and being so happy just to hear everyone having fun. Perhaps I'm romanticizing it... But I'm super excited to have a family to cook for.

19) Actual Thanksgiving. - The first time Andrew and I experienced juggling the needs of both of our families. It was not exactly the least stressful experience I've ever had... But at least there was much food involved.

20) FDOC party #5 - Celebrating Ray's and my 25th birthday with a big fun party at the Daisy House was way fun. And I think I have one of the funnest roles of film I've ever seen from this party.

21) Christmas! - The best Christmas I remember in a really long time. My family played cars and shared sarcastic remarks for 3 days and then Andrew and I got to have more fun with his family. Charades is my new favorite game, by the way.

22) The SLC - The best and most fulfilling new job I've ever had. And the job I've been looking for since I graduated from KU. I didn't know I could feel so happy and welcome at a new place. And how could I not be ecstatic to be working at the very place that I met my fiance? Plus Jesus is right down the hall. And everyone there is so goofy and crazy. What fun!

23) New Friends - All of the amazing people that God has brought into my life this year blow me away. First with Sojourn and then with Daisy House stuff and also with both of the new jobs I got this year. Not to mention all the amazing people I've met that Andrew has introduced me to. His family friends are some of the sweetest people I've ever met in my life and I’m so excited they're part of my life now.

24) Wedding Planning - Being able to take my MOH Valpo and my mom and dad on my first excursion of dress shopping was like a dream. It was on this day that I found THE dress, and I'm not sure I could have done it without them. My dad was the cutest as he picked out his favorites. And Val and Mom were so wonderful in taking pictures and helping me pick "the top three." And all of the fun stuff Mom and I have been able to do so far in planning... Meeting with the florist and cake maker... Examining the halls. How FUN!

25) Erni! A great friend from high school is back in Wichita and back in my life. And I'm so blessed to have her around again. What fun she brings!


And God. This year has been full of ups and downs... I missed daily Mass so much when I worked at Hertz... My prayer life has been kinda yuck... And I prayed and prayed for direction. And God sent Andrew. And God sent the SLC. And God sent inspiring friends. God is Awesome.

The Seasons are Changin

The Fall of Contentment is officially over today... the first day of winter.

The Fall has definitely done for me just what I expected. After 2 years of searching and searching and searching, I've finally found a job that I can actually call my "career"...and even my "vocation". I love the SLC more than I knew I could like I job. Everything that I do there is stuff that God built me to do. And on top of all that, my coworkers are the most fun and crazy people that I know. They are just as weird as I am (though most of them have not yet discovered that I am THAT weird.) I am content in my job. And Jesus lives right down the hallway. I get to go to Mass every single day. And my boss is a very holy priest who just fills me with joy. What a wonderful wonderful wonderful Fall of Contentment.

I hope you have found some contentment as well. Feel free to post your fall experience.

And now for the new season:

This one has been brewing for a few months. In the midst of my contentment, I've had a bit of a sense of "impending doom." I just feel that in my whole "life's a rollercoaster" philosophy that things don't generally STAY good for long periods of time. And in the last month or so I've noticed a shift in some places in my life... and in the lives of the people around me. The shift seems to bring things like sadness, confusion, searching, frustration or anger. For awhile I had some pretty awful ideas about what to theme the winter. But then it hit me...even in our trials, God is with us. His ARE the footprints in the sand.

So I've decided that this season will be: The Winter of Trust

Even though the winter may bring some things that just don't make us happy and we may get sad, worried, angry or scared... we don't need to fret, my beautiful friends.

Put your Trust in God. Know that all of these things you face will bring you somewhere greater eventually. Let go and Let God work.

In 4 days we will celebrate His incarnation. God made flesh. God be with us in our trials and help us open our eyes and hearts to Your grace at all times.