pics of mandi's visit

mandi and me. sometimes i can take a really good picture. believe it!

ok, this drink was for 4 peeps...called the volanco- it started on fire.

mandi, me, and nicki. love that we are pals.
cheese!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

random thoughts

it's been a long time since i've blogged and it is simply cuz i have NO TIME. i've been forcing myself to sit in front of my computer to work on my capstone paper for grad school. let me fill you in. while in Florida on vacation i decided it'd be super smart of me to lose my zip drive that had my paper on it. yes, yes, yes...i know, why didnt i save it onto my hard drive on my computer? about five days before i left for Florida my computer contracted a virus...a bad one. one that cost me $150 big ones to fix. (thanks andrew) so, since the virus i got in the habit of just saving my paper information to my zip drive so it didnt contract a virus like all my other documents. anyways- to make along boring story short...i lost my paper. thus, 2 weeks ago i started over. this Thursday my paper is due. thankfully my professor give me a 2 week extension, but that still doenst make the job any easier. almost every minute of my day is used up doing 1 of 4 things: working, writing and correcting, working out, and than on occasion i find time to do normal everyday sort of things like eat, sleep, shower, clean my house, make a phone call, see my friends and of course....blog! tonight is one of the very few and fleeting moments.

besides being insane: life is life! i hate that it's april 27th and it's 40 degrees out. i cant stand that i have friends that i haven't seen in more than a month. i love that my arms hurt right now...i started a new arm workout and it's kicking my butt...i mean- it kicking my ARMS! i wish that i had 2-3 hours more in a day so that i could do all the things i think about doing, like writing some thank you cards! my students are going nuts...they hate being cooped up in a gym. and if we have to spend any more days inside because of cold weather, i might go completely nuts. i wanna go back to Florida with the girls and forget that my month of may is booked solid. oh, i took a part time job. yeah, life isn't busy enough for me!!! i decided i needed more things to do. i will be the front desk lady at my athletic club (Golds gym) and will be working the 5 -11 a.m. shift. awesome. it will be fantastic for summer. but now- it's super bogus! this Thursday is the last class of grad school. i cant wait!!!! i can smell the pay raise. Saturday i got to spend the morning with my super good friends andrea, kate and vollie (from high school). katie is pregnant and so cute. we cooked up some yummy brunch like food and than went for a super long walk around the lake. i needed that down time with them. the Guatemala missions trip is only 19 days away. man, time flies. the girls are excited. so i am. i just hope we can get prepared and ready so we can do God justice over there. oh yes....i am still on weight watchers but took a month off cuz i swore the last time i was there. sort of decided it was controlling me a little to much and needed a break from it. i will start up again next week. i am almost sure i haven't lost any weight, but also feel like i haven't gained...so thats good. my friend mandi was in town on Friday. we hit psycho suzy's in NE and had a riot. our bill was almost $400 big ones. we met a very random fellow named joe who sort of hit on us all. it was hilarious; his girlfriend was really pisssed. mandi looks fantastic and i love seeing her. but i am mad at her hubby sunil...he seems to think i am a lesbian, but i think he is sort of kidding - but regardless it mad me sad! Saturday night we had the basketball banquet. it was good to talk about ball and see all the girls fancy. krissie is done coaching and i am sad about that too. she will be very missed!!! sunday i got to see Chummer...love that guy. he is one of those friends i wish i had more time to spend with. today i cooked up a great steak and sat down and watched Dancing with the Stars. i want either the bull rider guy (ty) or the country singer (chuck) to win. first night in a very long time that i didnt work on my paper all night long.

ok- is that enough random thoughts? here are some random pics from the past couple of weeks of jo jos journey. sweet.

Florida summary

so i sort of forgot to blog about our daily adventures in Florida...and Katie took most of the pictures, so i don't have a lot of them to share. but- i do have a lot of memories from our trip. some of the highlights i will note here.

1. Chris and our e-tour - yeah, it blow and was a waste of our time...but we laughed a lot of how stupid he was. and if not for the e-tour we wouldn't have had such a cheap trip.

2. joey our waiter at the rain forest cafe. he was super fun

3. islands of adventure (the theme park). it was awesome. a little on the windy and cold side, but still very fun. the roller coaster rides there were amazing. and some how Shelby worked her magic and got us to the front of a very long line. she seems to have her ways.....and the water ride at island of adventure- we decided to go on that last so we didn't freeze all day long. it was hilarious...and super fun- and we got totally drenched.

4. watching the girls pick grapefruit off the tree in my friend Kara back yard. it's like they never seen a grapfruit tree before.

5. Shelby jumping into the back portion of her car just to save us $3.00 at the beach.

6. the animal wildlife nature drive. we sow lots of birds....and made up lots of imaginary animals to make it more interesting. and we were greeted by a very nice old man with out his teeth that gave us candy, and he had a super funny southern accent.

7. clearwater beach- laying in the hot sand, and swimming in the cold ocean water. it was the perfect day! loved that day. it might be my favorite day!

8. dressing up all fancy and going out to a fun Greek restaurant. (cant remember the name of it).

9. the cockroach in the bathroom. so funny!

10. watching the tar-heels win the NCAA championship game. (yeah Tyler!)

11. sitting in a lawn chair and reading all day on Saturday...

12. Carrabba's bread! (if you are ever in Clairmont Florida, you need to go to that restaurant...fantastic)

13. Nicki tackling the waves for the first time ever. super fun- she loved it. and Hannah losing half her top for a split second in the waves- also super funny.

14. getting tan. and we all burned the tops of our feet the first day at the beach, so the second day we had to cover them up with sand so they didn't burn more!

15. laughing my head off at all the funny things said and done. had a blast!

Florida 09 - Day 1

love that i am in Florida blogging. let me just say to all you MN'ians- IT'S 9:17 a.m. AND I AM SITTING OUT ON A PATIO, IT'S PARTLY CLOUDY, A LITTLE WINDY, BUT 74 DEGREES OUT. SUCKS TO BE YOU! yesterday it was reached 80 and was super sunny all day long.

so we've been in Florida for a little over 24 hours. the first 3 hours were a little rough. the girls (hannah, katie, shelbs and nicki) pulled into the Orlando airport to pick me up at around 11:00. yes, the girls drove (27 hours) to Orlando, i flew (3 1/2 hrs in the air; total travel time was 6 hrs 45 mins)....sort of like that i am established in life and can afford to fly instead of drive. the girls were tired, smelly and wanted nothing more than to get out of that car. after a little driving, a wrong address route, the wrong keys and room number given (and yes we did walk in on some other peoples room...the dude was in his his underwear), a walk through scary and dirty hallways...we found our room, our beds and some much needed sleep. pretty much our DAY 1 in Florida was laying at the pool, taking a dip when we got hot enough, taking naps and enjoying each others company. seriously - we laid at the pool from 10:30-4:30. yeah- it was fantastic. but us MN'ians don't respond well to sun.... so when we decided we'd had enough and wanted to shower and get ready for a dinner adventure...well, we found that some of us had gotten a little to much sun. most of us aren't badly burnt...just certain spots. katie's face...well maybe katie's whole front side, hannah's belly, shelb's chest, my arms, and nicki's upper (and inner) thighs. yeah- it was a very successful day at the pool. after getting ready for our evening out we made a stop at marshells for new swimsuits, a hat, a shirt, and sun glasses. From there we went to Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe. it was an 1 1/2 hour wait, but.....Chris (our knight in shining armor- ok, the host guy) told us there wasn't a wait if we wanted to sit on the patio. are you kidding me? that isn't even a choice....so we were seated right away and got to sit outside in the warm weather instead of inside in the air conditioning. Joey- our waiter...he made the night super fun. Katie tried to set Shelbs up on date with him cuz all the girls thought he was 25. i told them he was way older than that. (and he was) so once they found out his age they switched from shelbs to me. it was funny stuff and joey played along really well. all in all- our first full day in Florida was nothing but sun, relaxation, and laughter. good times!

jay and jen

jay and jen got married this past weekend and it was by far one of the most laid back, but beautifully, weddings I've been apart of. it was awesome to witness and stand up for two fantastic people. two people that desire is to serve God, as individuals, and now as a couple. It is very satisfying (and even serves as a place that i find hope for myself) to see God work and move in a relationship like jay and jens. to say the least i am very happy for them and cant wait to journey with them as they begin their married life.

without getting into a ton of detail and with out posting to many of my favorite pictures...I'll just to a 'quick' run through of the day.

Thursday night - rehearsal dinner. it was easy and the food was good. but more that that it was so good to see jens face permanently fixed with a smile on it. she was so excited for her wedding day.

Friday morning- i worked a half day (til 9:40), than bolted from there to go shop for my shoes. yes, i hadn't gotten shoes for the day yet. i actually wanted to sized up the best man so i could find shoes that didn't make me taller than him. once that was accomplished, i went to get my toes done, cuz the shoes i got were open toed. bolted from there to home and packed up my dress and other this and that things...and than went to jens house with caribou in hand, of course!

Friday afternoon- jen and i had arranged for our make-up and our hair to be done. sharla, jill and beka came with to watch and be our consultants about we were looking good for not. it was a very relaxing way to get ready. this is the first time I've paid for someone else to do my hair and make-up for a wedding and let me just say it was easiest way to get ready. i wasn't nervous about how things were gonna turn out and i didn't have to stress out about if i did a good job on myself or not. these people did a fantastic job! it was awesome! expensive, but awesome. we did lunch in there at some point as well.
Friday night- the wedding was at 7:00. we were at the church by 4:30, and a little bored. so we chatted and just hung out, which i think was good for jen...just to sit and not be rushing around a lot. at around 5:30 jen put her dress on and did a couple last minute touches...and than took some pics of the 'girls' while the boys were locked up. jay did the same with his boys, while us girls were locked up. the time flew bye and soon we were walking down the aisle and jen was getting married. the message was one of the best I've ever heard at a wedding. attention getting, funny, but really really good. it gave jen and jay something to think about and handed them good advice in how to live in and be in a Godly relationship. the service was about 30 minutes....in and out. everything went fine. ben and i did a great job standing up with them. no one fell over, no one screwed up. and jen and jay left the stage with really big smiles on there faces!!!!!

Friday night-night - the reception was again... simple, but super nice. anna did a great job decorating the tables and it looked super cute- just like jen wanted it. we had a small meal and than cheese cake and caribou coffee was served. oh my goodness....i drank coffee straight. how many times do you get to go back for a refill and don't have to pay!!! loved it. overall it was a great night. jay and jen looked great. we all said our goodbyes around 11:30 and i was home in bed by 12:45. it was a great day! loved that i got to be a part of it. jen has been, and will continue to be, one of those friends that doesn't waver or move. she is consistent, trustworthy, is highly aware of the needs of others around her, and wants what God wants. jay is one of those guys that is so kind and caring that you just want to be around him, he is also consistent, funny and loves jen like she should be loved and he wants what God wants. i love that. it was a great day!