grid project - week 12

[insert clever/interesting introduction here because I don't want to]

Sunday, August 8: Took myself out on a date to the movies--Inception!
Okay, if you have talked to me at all within the last two months and the subject of movies came up, you already know that Inception is the BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME. Since I don't quite have a significant other, I decided to take myself on a date. It was great--Sunday nights generally mean near-empty theaters because people have to work on Monday...and I figured, what better time to go to the movies by oneself? So I went to Inception. And it was awesome. And I ended up seeing it three more times after that. But that's really beside the point, I'd say.

Monday, August 9: Met up with Pasutti in a resort town in Maryland.
Pasutti and I hadn't seen each other in a while, so we found a place in the middle and met up for the afternoon/evening. The town was called Grantsville. In and of itself, there's not much to it...at all. We walked around a little artisan village and then had dinner at the restaurant next door, then we drove a few minutes to a coffee shop on a lake, south of a little resort town called Accident. Yes, Accident. It was such a stereotypical lakeside resort town, I could have sworn I was back in Minnesota! But no, it was definitely Maryland. And as always, it was wonderful to spend some time with Pasutti!

Tuesday, August 10: Worked on/revamped the St. T's youth ministry website.
Our website was very outdated, so I took some serious time (a few days, really) to update the information and add a few new pages. And I have to say...it looks pretty great. Of course, much of it was already existing (having been created originally by our website guy), but it was still fun to play around with things a bit and use my creativity in a way I don't usually get to.

Wednesday, August 11: Went to Kennywood and got DRENCHED under the waterfall on the Raging Rapids.
Summer Stretch was amazing...and as our final session, we spent the day at Kennywood. It was fun/exhausting to keep track of fifty or so middle schoolers, especially on such a hot day...but lucky for me (?) I was the one who went under the waterfall on the Raging Rapids and was quite damp for the rest of the day. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic summer program. I can honestly say that I can't wait for next summer!

Thursday, August 12: Saw Inception...again.
This time, I went with one of my former youth group peeps, Molly, who is now off at college. We had our end-of-the-season softball party and then the two of us went down to the Waterfront and had our brains exploded for a couple of hours. It was awesome...I sincerely think that the second time seeing Inception is the best.

Friday, August 13: Went for a walk around the lake at North Park.
Pretty self-explanatory, I'd say. One of my friends called me up and was like, "Hey, you want to go for a walk?" and I was like, "Yeah, dude! Sounds peachy!" or something equally chipper. And then we did. Yup.

Saturday, August 14: Figured out/started seriously planning the youth ministry theme for Fall 2010.
I'll be honest and say that ministerially speaking, I had kind of a rough summer. I was in a bit of a funk, which meant that I was having considerable difficulty coming up with ideas for the fall semester theme and programs and whatnot. So it was already the middle of August and I had no idea what would be happening in slightly over a month...which worried me considerably. So I said to myself, "Self, you need to put your thinking cap on and get crack-a-lackin', homeslice!" And I came up with the theme and mapped out the entire semester and started working on lesson plans, and everything started coming together quite nicely. BAM!

Getting closer! I figure if I do an average of one GP update every two days, I'll be all caught up in no time! Though I might do another one later today, just because it's my day off and I have a crazy week coming up. Go team!

grid project - week 11

Sunday, August 1: Attended a Latin Mass.
The first and only other time I had been to a Latin Mass was a couple of years ago when I was in Washington, D.C. for a youth climate conference. It was terrible--not because of the content itself (how could something as beautiful as the Eucharist be terrible?), but because I didn't understand what was going on. So this time, I went with a friend who frequents the Latin Mass at Holy Wisdom Parish on the North Side, and who was gracious enough to lend me a missal, complete with translations and bookmarks and whatnot. I was really surprised at the Latin Mass, especially after my bad experience with it in D.C.--I think now I can appreciate the opportunity that it provides for personal prayer and contemplation of the Eucharist. I definitely prefer the Novus Ordo Mass--the "regular" Mass for most of us--but I'm very glad for the opportunity to experience the Latin Mass in a more positive light.

Monday, August 2: Went mini-golfing.
I hadn't been mini-golfing in ages, so as a little "last hurrah" before my friend Dan left to do NET Ministries, we decided to go! It was pretty fun--the place we went to has two courses, one of which is suuuuper old...like, I'm pretty sure it's a historic something-or-other. Either way, it was a jolly good way to say "Adios!" to Dan before he made the trip out to Minnesota to start his NET training.

Tuesday, August 3: Survived a near-breakdown.
I had some unexpected drama come my way from Minnesota that I'd rather not go into detail about. But suffice it to say that I had a major freak-out which nearly ended in copious amounts of yelling and crying...but which got sorted out before too much of that happened--for which we should all be very grateful.

Wednesday, August 4: Discovered duck-pin bowling.
Ahhhh, Summer Stretch...teaching me new things, exposing me to new activities and opportunities. Like duck-pin bowling! It's basically the same as bowling...only mini! So the pins are about two-thirds the size of normal bowling pins, and the ball is super small too. So our social activity in the afternoon was to go duck-pin bowling. I was really only half-there all day (having lost a good bit of sleep over the drama mentioned above), so I didn't actually play...but it was still fun to watch the kids play and to discover the game's existence. It's the cutest bowling ever!

Thursday, August 5: Participated in Learning Days with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie.
Each August, the Benedictine Sisters of Erie have something called "Learning Days." They bring in a theologian to speak for two days on a particular topic, and they invite all of their Sisters and Oblates to be a part of it. Since I'm in the process of becoming an Oblate, I was also included on their invitation list. The person they brought in was Fr. Dick Sparks, a Paulist priest, who talked about Catholic morality. I was only able to attend the second day (due to Summer Stretch on Wednesday), but it was a really lovely day: back in the "learning mode" that I kind of forgot about after college, out of the Burgh, at a place I hope will become a sort of second home to me during my time in Pennsylvania.

Friday, August 6: Went to Starbucks with one of my youth.
(Sidenote: I keep reading articles where young people are referred to as "youths," and I think that sounds funny. Like, I actually chuckle to myself when I read anything about "youths"...anyway.) I met up with one of my girls and had a lovely little chat. I love relational ministry, I really do!

Saturday, August 7: Got back into the Lectio groove.
As part of my preparation to become an Oblate, I'm expected to pray regularly using a particularly Benedictine prayer form called Lectio Divina (Latin for "sacred reading"). Lectio is a way to read and reflect on a passage by taking a small chunk of text and reading it multiple times, deepening your reflection with each reading. My explanation doesn't do it any justice at all, but it's a wonderful way to pray, especially if you have a hard time knowing what to say/do in prayer. Normally you do Lectio with a passage from Scripture...but since I'm becoming a Benedictine Oblate, and one of the other expectations is that I study the Rule of Benedict, I decided to do something a little different--I take a small section from the Rule each day and pray through it the same way I would through Scripture. And I have to tell you...I love it. There's so much wisdom packed into the Rule. It's hard to believe that it was written over 1500 years ago!

Alright, one more done! Now I think I'm going to go grocery shopping. YAY! I love grocery shopping so much!

grid project - week 10

Woo! I'm on a roll!


Sunday, July 25: Skip Day.
It happens.


Monday, July 26: Decorated a cake...badly.
By the end of July, the softball season was coming to a close. One of our coaches, Dan, was getting ready to head out to Minnesota for a year of mission work with NET Ministries, so at one of our last practices, I decided to bake a good luck cake. I would normally make everything from scratch, but I didn't quite have enough time, so I broke down and just did the whole box cake thing. I bought some white frosting and some green icing to decorate it, and it turned out...innnnnteresting. I wish I had a picture of it to submit to Cake Wrecks...but alas--no such luck!

Tuesday, July 27: Stopped and looked around the North Hills Art Center.
I pass the North Hills Art Center several times a week while I'm driving from place to place. I had always meant to stop in and look around, but I just hadn't gotten around to it--until that day! So I checked it out, and it was pretty sweet! They have art classes and stuff, and a gallery of the work of local artists and students.

Wednesday, July 28: Volunteered at World Vision.
As part of Summer Stretch, we took our group of middle schoolers to World Vision, an organization that (among many other things) collects and distributes clothing items to people in the developing world. World Vision receives thousands of new clothing donations every year from different retailers, and lots of times, they come packed in boxes with lots of wrapping and hangers and stuff. So our job as volunteers was to unpack them, take out all the stuffing, and inventory them. It was a blast, and the kids had so much fun! It's definitely a place I'd like to work with in the future, and I'm so excited that I was able to be a part of it for the first time through Summer Stretch!

Thursday, July 29: Dressed up for no particular reason.
Every once in a while, it's fun to get dressed up for the heck of it--and since my normal work attire is pretty casual, I decided to spiff things up a bit. Yeah!

Friday, July 30: Went to a backyard Mass and potluck.
I've never been to a backyard Mass before, but I absolutely loved it. The sense of community, the fresh air, the genuine authenticity of it...what a lovely experience! And I was able to meet some new folks and had a lovely conversation with them about church and ecumenism and other theological awesomeness.

Saturday, July 31: Cheered on my peeps at the Diocesan Co-Ed Softball Championship Tournament.
The super-sweet teens on the St. Teresa softball team made it to the diocesan championship tournament! We started the day by playing an intense game against some random team from the south section. (Still can't remember their name...St. G...Gertrude? NO! I remember now! St. Germaine!) Anyway, we beat them in the semi-finals, and moved on to an even more intense quarter-final game against St. Ferdinand's. Even though we lost, our youth played their best...and for what it's worth, St. Ferd's ended up winning the whole thing, so I thought we did great!

Okay, time to go to work! I have a big junior high mailing to get out this afternoon, so I suppose it would be a good idea to, you know, do it. Peace out y'all...

Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

grid project - week 9

What?! Two posts in one day?! That's madness, I tell you, MADNESS!

Sunday, July 18: Rode to Boone County, West Virginia for a mission trip.
What I didn't include in the last post was that the Saturday night I got back from Minnesota was also the night of the softball lock-in...so I was up until about 2am for that, and then woke up at 5am to pack for a week-long mission trip with an organization called Appalachia Service Project. I took a couple of kids from my parish, but we were with a larger group from St. Alexis up the road. I really wanted to see what it was like (without the pressure of bringing a ton of kids) so I can grow the group next year. So after 8am Mass at St. Alexis, we were off! That said, everything for Week 9 of the Grid Project has to do with learning skills and having fun on the mission trip. WOO!

Monday, July 19: Caulked the seams on the foundation of a house.
Yep. I think several of these things will be pretty self-explanatory.

Tuesday, July 20: Learned how to play Euchre.
Euchre is one of those old people card games that folks get really intense about in nursing homes. And apparently, so do the folks from St. Alexis Life Teen. So I learned how to play! It's kind of like Hearts, but not. I don't know how to explain it, really. Either way, it was pretty fun--maybe I can go volunteer at a nursing home and play Euchre with the residents or something...though I'm not sure who would want to be my partner. There's a distinct difference between knowing how to do something and being good at it.

Wednesday, July 21: Installed soffit on a house.
Soffit is cool stuff. Click here for a picture of how soffit, fascia (read "FAY-sha"), and gutters are supposed to work together on a house. Unfortunately, the soffit, fascia, and gutters for the house we were working on was absolutely terrible. So what did we do? We replaced it, of course...or at least started to. It was pretty intense. We got about half of the front side of the house done (about 30 feet of it) by the time we were done on Friday.

Thursday, July 22: Learned how to use a pop rivet gun.
Pop rivets are sweet, but I still haven't quite figured out how they work. For the sake of our argument, let's just assume it's magic. However pop rivets work, I got to do it. I felt really cool too. It was interesting how the roles of our crew members sort of decided themselves almost immediately when we started work on Monday...and how much they were determined by gender. You know, the girls doing things like painting and cleaning, and the guys doing...manly stuff, with power tools and the like. Of course, I'm not one to just accept gender stereotypes, so I was up on the ladder as much as possible--or using a drill, or a pop rivet gun, or a table saw.

Friday, July 23: Went to prom!
This one's going to take a lot of explaining, in two parts. First--the prom itself. ASP does fundraising within each week of service to help pay for the materials used at the work sites. The main way they do this is through something called Penny Wars, which is a competition between all the work crews. As an incentive to raise lots of money, the staff sets various benchmarks for dollar amounts. One of those benchmarks happened to be...a PROM. So naturally, we got a prom on Friday night. Now on to the second factor--chores. At the beginning of the week, we were separated into work crews. In addition to working together at our job sites throughout the week, we were also responsible for doing chores together every day. There was a giant chart in the hallway with various chores next to each crew's name. One unique chore is called "staff love," which involves showing the five staff members that you love them and appreciate all the hard work they do, and which we were assigned on Friday. It could be something simple like making them cards or buying their favorite snacks at the store...but our work crew is not the simple kind of crew. We staged an elaborate ceremony at the prom involving a scavenger hunt, each of the staff members' favorite Dairy Queen Blizzard, and all of it culminating in the staff members walking into a pitch black gymnasium, the lights flicking on, and the staff members being crowned the kings and queens of the prom. It went so well...I couldn't imagine it going any more perfectly than it did. And after that, we went back to dancing the night away. It was SO AWESOME! And I think the staff felt loved!

Saturday, June 24: Took a really nice shower and slept in a bed.
After a full week of sleeping on the floor and being in a constant state of dirtiness, it was absolutely heavenly to be able to sleep in my own bed and take a decent shower. It also made me think about all the blessings I have, and about how much I take them for granted sometimes. All in all, it was a very powerful and life-changing week, and one that I can't WAIT to be a part of next year!

And now, I'm going to sleep. It's way past my bedtime, and I've got a dreadful cold. Love you, miss you, blah blah blahhhhh...ahhh...ahhhhhhhh...ACHOO!

grid project - week 7

Woooooo, GP Week 7 update as promised!

Sunday, July 4: Went to the Regatta/fireworks.
I spent the Fourth with one of my friends here in the Burgh. We started the afternoon with a little party up on Mount Washington--one of Fr. Bob's priest friends was having a potluck at his church/rectory, and somehow I got invited along. (For what it's worth, the taco dip was DELICIOUS!) Anyway, we rode the incline to the downtown area and went to this thing called the Regatta...it's basically a big shindig where the rivers meet--there are boat races, musical performances, kids' games, fireworks, and (my personal favorite) freestyle motocross shows. I tried really hard not to freak out with all the people--thousands and thousands of them, all crowded in a relatively small space. Luckily, I didn't have a panic attack and DIE. Anyway, we went back up to Mount Washington and watched the fireworks from the church up there before heading back to the North Hills for some well-deserved sleep. All in all, a very busy, very fun day.

Monday, July 5: Ate some raspberry sherbet with white chocolate chips.
Simple pleasures, right? It made me happy, and that's what matters in the Grid Project!

Tuesday, July 6: Went to Kennywood Park for the first time EVER!
Kennywood is a Pittsburgh tradition. For all you Minnesota peeps, it's the Pittsburgh equivalent to Valleyfair. It's strange, though--Kennywood has special days throughout the summer for different groups of people to come to the park and represent (what whaaaat), based mostly on where people live or what ethnicity they are. For example, there's Canonsburg Day, and Polish Day, and Italian Day, and Jewish Day, and more. Well, every summer there is a big event called "Catholic Youth Day" at Kennywood, and I brought a carload of youth. It was a fun day for the most part--except for the part when I almost fainted. But really, other than that it was fantastic!

Wednesday, July 7: Reminded myself why I LOVE middle schoolers.
This marked the first day of a summer program I'm coordinating with a bunch of North Hills area youth ministers called Summer Stretch. Basically, it's a six-week service/social program for kids in grades 6-8 that happens each Wednesday. It travels around to a different parish in the North Hills each week so that each youth minister only has to do one day of planning for six solid days of programming. All in all, it's a great program that I'm excited to be a part of. So when forty middle schoolers swarmed the auditorium at St. Teresa's for Summer Stretch's inaugural session, I instantly remembered why I love middle schoolers so much. They're HILARIOUS! They're open to anything, they always tell it like it is, and they have so much energy! I love middle schoolers. I LOVE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS! I can't wait for this fall when I start up a program for them! YAY YAY YAY YAY YAYYYYY!

Thursday, July 8: Had s'mores at a friend's house...in MINNESOTA.
Yes, in the midst of all the ministerial chaos, I was also getting ready to head back to the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes for a little "vacation." So after navigating my flight (scratch that, flights--three, to be exact!) to Bemidji, which involved SPRINTING through the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and uttering a few..."choice phrases"...I finally made it home. It was wonderful to see my mom and dad waiting for me at the little airport in B-Town, and after a yummy dinner with them, I went to my friend Erika's house and had some quality campfire/s'mores time AND some quality puppy time too!!! She saved a pregnant dog from certain death a while back (long story), and it had some kids, so we got to hang out with them for a little bit. The puppies were each about the size of a Chipotle burrito. SO CUTE! I need to get a puppy.


Friday, July 9: Traveled to North Dakota to see my grandma and other relatives.
Pretty self-explanatory, I'd say. It's so weird...my oldest cousin on that side of the family is going to be a senior in high school this year. When did that happen?! I guess I don't see them a whole lot, so my images of my cousins are stuck on a few years ago--no matter how many times I see them or get pictures of them or whatever, they're just...frozen in about the year 2005. So in my head, my cousin Joey (the senior) is in about seventh grade or so. It's wacky. Either way, it was a lovely (albeit SHORT) trip out to the No Dak.

Saturday, July 10: Went to an ordination.
You may remember from one of my Rome vacation videos that we visited a friend, Craig Vasek, who is studying at the Pontifical North American College (a seminary for guys from the United States who are preparing for the diocesan priesthood). Well, he was a deacon then, and on July 10 he was ordained a priest at the Cathedral in Crookston, MN. It was a beautiful thing, and I felt so blessed to be a part of it!

Okie dokie, one step closer! I'll try for another update tomorrow, but we'll see. For now...

Love you, miss you, blah blah blahhhhhh!

grid project - week 5

Your weekly GP update (sorry it's a day late!):

Sunday, June 20: Went to Third Service.
Third Service is a contemporary worship service at a non-denominational church up the road from me...I have been meaning to go check it out for several months, but I finally got around to going for the first time on Sunday. While it's nothing like the Catholic Mass, I really enjoyed it a lot, especially the music. They do several praise and worship songs at the beginning, say the Lord's Prayer and Apostles' Creed, and then do a sermon on a Scripture passage...and they encourage folks to bring their own Bible so they can follow along and make notes, which I always appreciate. I am definitely planning on going to Third Service as much as I can this summer (in addition to Mass, of course). I think it's going to be a nice supplemental experience for me--something away from my parish so I can really focus without all the distractions of worshiping where I work.

Monday, June 21: Learned a new song on the guitar.
I learned how to play "Eleanor Rigby"...the chords are about the easiest thing in the entire world (literally, C - Em - Em7 - Em6), but the rest (the finger picking and all) is kind of difficult for me since I'm self-taught...so I stuck with the chords. Maybe someday I'll be able to play it all fancy-like, but this is good enough for now!

Tuesday, June 22: (though it applies for this entire week) Survived a bunch of elementary school kids.
Though it might not seem like much of a feat for most well-adjusted adults, it's a serious challenge for me. I was in some skits for Vacation Bible School at my church all last week...and I really don't like kids, so I struggled a lot with it. I know, I know: "But Jessie, aren't you a youth minister?!" Well yeah, because I can deal with middle schoolers and high schoolers...but any younger than that and I go nuts. Maybe someday I'll be able to handle spending significant amounts of time with small children, but for now...nope. Not there yet.

Wednesday, June 23: Did ALL of my laundry.
I'm the type of person who waits until the last possible moment to do laundry. Normally, I just do a couple of loads and have a bunch of clothes left in the hamper. I think, "No problem, I can just do the rest tomorrow!" or something equally ridiculous and improbable...and then the next time I see that awesome shirt is the next time I find it in the bottom of the hamper and say, "I'll do it tomorrow." So on Wednesday, I did all of my laundry. All of it. And it felt AMAZING!!! Yeah...

Thursday, June 24: Read a book for leisure.
I know, seems pretty commonplace, right? Well, it should be, but it isn't. I hardly ever take the time to just sit and read a good book...so I think I'm going to change that by making a conscious effort to read at least a few pages every day. Seems like a good summer project, right? I also want to get back into some of my theology books from college. As crazy as it sounds coming from a person who struggled a lot in school, I've found that I really miss learning.

Friday, June 25: Encountered a GDC without screaming, but instead delivering a clever CSI-like one-liner.
Mmmmmhmm, you can say it. I'm a total BA. So I found another Giant Demon Centipede in my bathroom. I calmly went into the kitchen, got my trusty green creepy-crawly-catcher cup, trapped the GDC in it, and because I had to leave and didn't have time to take it outside, I looked down on it with squinty eyes and said, "Now you stay in there and think about what you've done." Okay, probably not the cleverest thing in the world, but it sounded cool at the time. Never mind that I was talking to a centipede.

Saturday, June 26: Cheered on some friends at a softball game.
The other coaches for the St. T's softball team are all on a team together, so I decided to go to one of their games...it was pretty exciting--it was interesting to see how different grown-ups play than high schoolers. For one, there was wayyyy less walking (like, four-balls-and-you-automatically-go-to-first-base kind of walking) and things were a lot faster. It was a good way to spend an hour, anyway! And I learned more about the game, which is always helpful. Annnnnnd I was very impresssed with my fellow coaches too...they really played great!

Okie dokie, that's it! Until next time...

grid project - week 4

Is it already Week 4 of the Grid Project? Daaaang, time sure flies! Well, let's get right to it--your weekly GP update:

Sunday, June 13: Played foursquare.
After an embarrassing softball game in which we lost to a team that hasn't won a game in THREE YEARS, a bunch of high schoolers came back to St. Teresa's for root beer floats and some sweetomatic hangin' out. We ended up playing foursquare in the parking lot for over an hour. It really brought me back to my Underground Foursquare League days during the summer at St. Ben's--playing on the grass, making squares out of stakes and string, developing our signature moves (UNICORN STING!), and making arbitrary rules ("Name a state every time you hit the ball!"). It was just a really fun time all around, and I was excited to have a chance to get to know some of the softball kids a little better.

Monday, June 14: Started the day with Sun Salutation.
For whatever, reason, I was just in a yoga-type mood when I woke up on Monday morning, so I did the most obvious thing: sun salutation! It's basically a series of poses that help you stretch out and wake up. So I was like, "WHAT UP, SUN?!" and that day ended up being much more productive than I would have imagined.

Tuesday, June 15: Had a delicious smoothie.
The daughter in one of my youth group families invited me over for a mid-afternoon smoothie, and it was amazing! She made it with frozen strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, plain yogurt, and Splenda, so it ended up being not too terrible for me, and quite yummy at that!

Wednesday, June 16: Survived a trip to the Home Depot...with three teenage boys, an 8x4 foot piece of foam board, and my YARIS.
I honestly don't know how we pulled this one off, but...we did, and it was awesome. Basically, we had to create a set for Vacation Bible School (which starts tomorrow!), and it's typically a job left to a group of high schoolers...which means that I get to be in charge of it. Great. Anyway, while three girls made palm trees in the youth room, the three boys and I went to the Home Depot and bought a giant foam board (you know, the pink kind that's apparently used for insulation or something). Of course, an 8x4 foot anything is not going to fit in my little car, even without three teenage boys, so the logical thing was to have them cut the board into three pieces before we left the store. The dude who cut it for us definitely got some funny looks from several of his co-workers who actually stopped whatever they were doing to watch him complete the task. (I guess they typically only cut big wooden planks...but when have I ever been conventional? Haha...) Either way, that was only half the adventure, as we also had to get back to the church with our soon-to-be foam hippopotamuses. Five cool points to me for spelling hippopotamuses correctly the first time! Needless to say, it was an adventure.

Thursday, June 17: Dug my summer clothes out of storage.
It has been insanely hot here the last little while...and I finally gave in and pulled the flat tote containing my summer clothes out from under my bed. Now, when I say "summer clothes," what I really mean is "several capris and one pair of shorts" because other than that, my wardrobe stays the same year-round. Coming from Minnesota, I'm conditioned for cold weather--which is why I have absolutely no problem wearing short sleeves in the middle of winter, and why I don't really own any thick sweaters...but I don't think all Minnesotans are like this, and it's possible that I'm just weird like that. This also means that crazy hot weather (hellooooo Pittsburgh!) doesn't do well for me--I've had several headaches these past couple weeks from a combination of generally crazy weather and a bit of dehydration. NOTE TO SELF: Migraines suck, so drink more water, fool!

Friday, June 18: Developed a completely legit budget.
I know, I know...I should have done this months ago, and I kiiiiind of did. But now that my loans are going into repayment, I had some adjusting to do. So now, in addition to having the general monthly amounts that I'll be paying out, I also figured out which paycheck those amounts will be coming out of and what day they're due (or when I have automatic payments scheduled). ALSO! Something slightly related that I'm a bit proud of is this: with the exception of (I think) one or two accounts, all my accounts/statements/bills are PAPERLESS! I'm so happy that I don't have to deal with all that junk mail and all those stamps and envelopes and blah blah blah...it means I can save my envelopes and stamps for writing letters to people who really matter to me. Yay!

Saturday, June 19: Bought fair trade vanilla extract.
I've been meaning to get some more vanilla extract for the last three weeks or so, but I'm quite particular about my vanilla, so I hadn't gotten around to it...until yesterday! I try to buy fair trade vanilla if I can, because I like knowing that the people who produce it receive fair wages and all that...but not many places around here have fair trade certified vanilla extract, so it took a bit of research to find out that a store called Right By Nature in the Strip District has exactly the kind of vanilla I was looking for! So during a torrential downpour, I traveled down to the Strip and got my vanilla, and there was much rejoicing.

Alllllllright, peepskis, it's time for bed. I had quite the early day today (which I will talk about later), so I'm absolutely exhausted! Hope you're doing well--and Dad, on the off chance that you're reading this:

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I LOVE YOU!

dress for success!

So the cupcakes were wonderful! I ended up bringing most of them to softball practice on Thursday night, and I brought the rest to Bruster's (the ice cream place where one of my kids works) and gave a cupcake to everyone who was working there.

OH YEAH, did I mention that I'm an assistant to the outfield coach on the St. T's youth summer softball team? I know, right?! I told one of my mentors from college that I'm doing this, and he said (and this is a direct quote), "You will be an awesome softball coach. Or at least comic relief, which you do pretty well." Yup...that about sums it up. Moving on...

Today, I tried a recipe for homemade flour tortillas. They're super easy to make and super delicious! I'm really loving this foray into the world of cookin' stuff I've never cooked before! Maybe I'll try some exciting crock pot concoction next. The thing is, I have to be very calculated whenever I take the time to actually cook stuff, because there's only one of me...so whatever I make has to be easily refrigerate-able (is there a better word for that?) and/or freezable so I don't end up wasting a bunch of food and money! Because wasting food and money is LAMESAUCE to the EXTREME!

Here's the recipe for...

Flour Tortillas!

2 1/4 c flour (I used the regular all-purpose stuff, but I'd be interested in trying a wheat flour of some sort just for funzies)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt (I thought this was a bit too much, though, so maybe cut a little)

2 tsp vegetable oil

a titch over 3/4 c. hot milk

Put the milk in the microwave for 60 seconds and leave it until you need it.

Measure out all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add in vegetable oil and mix it all together a bit.

Slowly mix in the hot milk until the dough ball comes away clean. Adjust with more or less milk and/or additional flour (but not too much!).

Mix the dough for 3-4 minutes, then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it once or twice to shape it some. [I actually overlooked that entire sentence when I made them, so I didn't mix it for a full 3-4 minutes or knead it at all...no wonder it was so sticky! Oh well...ZOOPSIES!]

Divide the dough into 12 equal balls. Roll each ball into a 6-inch circle on a lightly floured surface (I don't have a roller, though, so I just pinched them out until they were thin enough) and cook them on a griddle (or a frying pan--that's what I used and it worked just fine!), roughly 30 seconds for each side.

Voila! And there's so much you can do with these little guys! You can make open faced sandwiches or a little flatbread salad, or you can slap some peanut butter on there for a little afternoon snack! I'm going to experiment and see if it would work for a grilled cheese sandwich or even just straight-up toast. We'll see!

Coolio...well, I'm going to go be awesome now (or should I say, keep being awesome, since I'm always in a state of awesomeness...HAHA). Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

butternut squash

It's been a while since I wrote about anything really substantial. It's one part "I kind of forgot about the blog" and two parts "I've been pretty busy"...the result is that I'm here, with lots to say and not much time in which to say it. So let's just dive right in, shall we?

It goes without saying that I've been up to my eyeballs in ministry stuff. Last Sunday was a successful night about the Trinity--complete with an extreme three-legged race because...well, why not do an extreme three-legged race on a night about the Trinity? It was super fun, but the teens were also able to take the topic seriously (and it's a really intense topic!) and reflect on what our response should be as people made in the image of the Triune God. I was really impressed with how well the youth did, and I'm very optimistic for how to go about covering those more serious topics in the future.

I saw my second production of Beauty and the Beast on Thursday night. It was really great, but I've noticed that the auditoriums (auditoria? Hmm...) in this area are very small. Like, you could probably fit four or five of the ones here into the one back at my high school. No wonder they're always bragging about having sold out shows--the venues are super small!

This afternoon, I'm going to another play. (I know, right?!) This one is called The Wiz. Should be good, I think--apparently it's a different take on The Wizard of Oz or something. I've got a couple of kids in it, so I figured I'd make an appearance at this play too, so as not to show favoritism.

On Tuesday, my good pal (Pasutti) came through the Burgh on her way to Virginia, so she and her mom stayed here overnight. It was so good to see her again, and to spend time with some people I know! It was a pretty chill couple of days, mostly watching movies and eating food and catching up on life and that kind of thing. It was just so good to see her again!

I can't recall if I've talked about this before, but talking about Pasutti's visit made me think of it. I'm a fairly touch-oriented person. I love hugs and just being close to people. I thrive on it. So when I moved out here to Pittsburgh, that aspect of my life was pretty much eliminated completely. I mean, I get the occasional hug from some of my "adoptive moms" here, and sometimes from my youth group kids...but other than that, I am pretty much starved of physical touch. At first, I didn't really notice it, but after a couple of months, it dawned on me that if there's one thing I miss about home, it's being able to hug the people I love--my mom and dad, my friends, even my dog! It really started to be real to me when I was working at the fish fry about a month ago. I was standing around talking to someone, and for some reason, they put their hand on my shoulder for a second. Not even kidding: I jumped because I was so startled by something so simple as physical touch.

I don't know, it's just little things like that that jolt me back to the reality that I'm very much alone here. I mean, of course I have people here who care about me and who I'm fairly close to, but there's just something different about having those relationships that have taken years to grow, where a hug contains within it all of the memories and experiences and late night conversations and resolved arguments and pain and joy of being together.

I miss that. I really do.

i hate the saxophone

Get ready for a random post!

1. I have this cool thing for when I'm bored. It's called StumbleUpon, and basically, you click a button on your browser and it will randomly take you to a website (based on things you identified as your interests when you registered with the site). Well, today, I stumbled upon a website and made this:



How cool is that? You just click a bunch of squares on this grid and it creates a little musical loop for you...so check it out! (Also, if you don't want to listen to it the whole time, you can click the little 'Play' button down in the right-hand corner. I think you can also edit the one I created by clicking the little squares on any of the eight grids...I think.)

2. This week has been absolutely beautiful in the Burgh...the sun has been shining and it's been really warm (like, 70 degrees) and everyone has been in an exceptionally good mood. I've worn a skirt three days this week! I love spring!

3. Yesterday was a great day in Ministry-Land. I met one of my youth group girls at Starbucks and we got to hang out a bit, which was lovely! (I haven't seen her much lately, so I thought it would be good to catch up over a Frappuccino.) Afterward, I went back to St. T's and worked at the fish fry for a bit...and then I randomly went to see Avatar with a couple youth group girls. (It was one of those things like, "Man, I still haven't seen Avatar..." "Me either!" "Hmm. Want to go?" "YES.") It was really awesome. I mean, all those folks who said the plotline is the same as Pocahontas were absolutely correct...but the 3D awesomeness made up for it. We literally sat in the theater for a couple of minutes afterward, just staring at each other in amazement.

That's about it, I think. Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

it's gobbledegook, i say! utter rubbish!

Ohhhhhhh goody goody gumdrops, it's bloggin' time!

First things first: the Family Potluck on Sunday was a TOTAL SUCCESS! We had about sixty people there (a handful more than I expected), and it was just wonderful to meet people's parents and siblings and whatnot. I invited Fr. Gary (our parochial vicar) to give a reflection on how to observe Lent as a family, then each family made a "Lenten Family Plan" of things to do together and ways to support each other throughout the rest of the season. After that, we had a short prayer service up in the chapel, and then everyone left. It was so awesome. I used a convection oven for the first time (lasagna, HOLLA!) and even though the edges were a bit overdone, it was pretty darn good. At least it wasn't a total disaster! And I really think people had a generally good time all around so...add this one to the list of events to look back on when I feel like quitting ministry and torching the church. (Hmm, that's the second time within a week that I have written about setting fire to a building...anyone have some matches I could borrow? I mean, uh...OH LOOK, something shiny!)

Ever watch a life-changing movie? Well...Food, Inc. is one of those life-changing movies for me, I think. As in, I'm seriously considering vegetarianism after seeing it. It's all about discovering where our food comes from and how it's affecting our culture, our health, our planet...basically every aspect of our lives. At the end, it talks about how every bite we take is a vote for what kind of world we want to live in (or something like that)...and after seeing that movie, I think I'm going to change my vote. Of course, I need to do some research so I can make sure that I get all the vitamins and everything that I need to be healthy, but I'm almost 99% sure that I'm going to stop eating meat...or at least eat significantly less of it, and commit to being more aware of where it comes from (so, being more intentional about finding local, healthy alternatives to the processed, preservative- and growth hormone-filled "food" at the grocery store). This is so funny...if my dad ever reads this, he'll probably make some comment about what a "damn hippie" I'm turning into or something like that. Good thing he's severely technologically impaired, haha...

In other news, here's another opportunity for you to send me your prayer intentions so I can pray for them when I go to Rome this upcoming week...really! I want to take you with me! Leave a comment or get a hold of me some other way, and I'll add you to my list. :)

Okay, I need to get to bed ASAP--this whole 7:15 thing is making me sleepy a lot earlier. I actually really like this little routine I've created for myself. My sleeping patterns were so random before (it just...happened that way), so it's kind of nice to have a set schedule in that respect. I have more energy, I'm more motivated, and I've found that I'm just generally happier throughout the day. But for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure it's a combo platter of a) consistent sleeping habits and b) regular conversation with the Notorious G.O.D.

Alright, hope you all are having a fabulous week...I know I am! Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

i wish that some fireflies would give ME dancing lessons

First, please watch this video...it's this dude named Sam Tsui doing a cover of the song "Fireflies" by Owl City. He recorded himself doing all the different parts and then made a video of it using the magic of technology. It's brilliant, and (in my humble opinion) way better than the original! So...just watch:



This morning, I woke up and sang at 7:00am Mass. Whew. Only by the grace of God was I able to perform that feat. Obviously I was tired, so as soon as I got back to my apartment I went back to bed for another hour...and I experienced the most realistic dream I've ever had in my entire life.

In this dream, I was leaving St. T's after Mass, and the parking lot was almost empty. This family in a big white SUV started circling around me, closer and closer, really slowly. Just as they were about to hit me, I rolled down my window and yelled at them, "What the heck [okay, I didn't say heck] are you doing?!" and they just looked at me and kept going. Then I thought (just as I would have in real life), "Oh no, now those parishioners are going to think I'm a mean person and won't let their kids come to youth group because this is the only contact I've had with them. CRAP!" So anyway, they pushed my car a little ways (not sure how, but...it was a dream, so it just happened.) Needless to say, I was SO MAD, so what did I do? I drove to a different part of the parking lot so I could watch them as they continued their circles, get their license plate information, and give it to Fr. Bob so he would kick them out of the parish, of course! But when I got out of my car, I stepped in a pothole...and I knew they were watching me, so I tried to make it seem like it was on purpose. And all of a sudden, I was in the kitchen of my really old house (the one in Ranier, MN from when I was very small--but it was in PA and doubled as the St. T's parish office). The secretary at St. T's was there, along with another random person and...my mom! I noticed that she was wearing a new wig and figured it was just because her hair was growing funny or something. I was just about to call Fr. Bob when my mom just started talking to him on the phone. I kept trying to interrupt and give her the info to give to him (like when I was little and would always bug my mom when she was on the phone), but she just ignored me and kept talking. I kept at it, though, and I was right next to her ear...so when she finally got too frustrated, she turned really fast and hit me in the nose with her head. I was like, "Mom. That really hurt." (And it DID!) And then I woke up to my alarm. It was weird.

Again, I have wasted your time on something uninteresting. But it was SO REAL! You have no idea how disoriented I was when I woke up. Yikes!

Okay, what else...last night, I went to this thing called Catholic Underground with Erin (she's one of my awesome Core Team members who volunteers with the youth group, and one of the only people I know here who is my age). The night was sweet. There's a Holy Hour and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and then there's music and food afterward. I've had a lot on my heart lately, so it was absolutely wonderful to go to Confession. What a perfect way to start the season of Lent! I feel so much more able to keep my Lenten resolution now that I have a clean slate...it's hard to explain. It's like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders or something. So for a couple of days, at least, I will have that invincible feeling of grace that says, "I'M NEVER GOING TO SIN AGAIN!" And then I'll punch a kitten and that feeling will go away. Just kidding, I would never punch a kitten...unless it clawed me in the face and set my apartment on fire. But I know that something ELSE will happen and I will be unpleasantly reminded of my humanity. I guess that's why we have Jesus!

Looks like I'm working backwards...so on to Saturday morning. I watched the movie WALL-E (yeah Netflix!) and it was so good! It's so amazing how they can have Wall-E and Eve express so much without really using any words. Easily one of the better movies I've seen lately--I would highly recommend it, if only for the BRILLIANT end credits. Seriously.

Friday night, I worked at my first St. T's Fish Fry. Now I don't want to brag or anything, but our fish fry is SO AWESOME. I got to run orders back and forth between the take-out area and the kitchen. Basically, it was rushing around for three straight hours...and I loved every minute! Plus I got some delicious fish, and the best macaroni and cheese in the world! Is there a better combination?! (Answer: NO!)

Okay, today we're having our First Annual Youth Ministry Family Potluck...so I have to go do stuff. Wahoo! I'm so excited! We have something like 50 people coming, and I need to go get some lasagna and put the finishing touches on a prayer service! I LOVE MY JOB!

Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

archie taking the gang for a ride

Okay. I need to talk about something really important. This may come as a shock to some of you, but it's something I've been thinking about and reflecting on a lot lately, and I feel that I really need to get this off my chest because I value our (mostly one-sided) correspondence and believe that, especially where this is concerned, I just need to be honest with you. Okay. So here goes.

I LOVE THE JONAS BROTHERS. I know. I know! They're so ridiculous! But have you SEEN their TV show? (Thank you, Netflix!) Honest to goodness, I challenge you to watch one episode of it and not tell me that it's super hilarious! Seriously! It might be one of my favorite shows ever! AND don't tell me you can't listen to one of their albums without tapping your foot to those unbelievably catchy beatz! And I think you should also know that talking about the Jonas Brothers makes me use exclamation points in excess! So YES! Hate me if you want! I DON'T CARE!

So now that THAT'S out of the way, I feel much better. Phew! On to other exciting things in my life.

Well. It's snowing. Again. Two weekends ago (February 5-8, because I'm counting Monday in there), we had something around two and a half feet of snow within the span of about four days...which, because of the hills and other factors I haven't quite figured out yet, resulted in a week where most school districts in the Burgh called off school for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW. What?!

We (me and five of my kids) were supposed to be going on a ski retreat with another parish on the weekend of the 5th to the 7th, but we had to cancel it because of snow. How funny is that?! Of course, the decision to cancel was made after driving two and a half hours...in the snow...in a coach bus...but apparently the place we were trying to get to already had over a foot of snow and we most definitely would have been spending the night in a snowbank. No gracias! But I ended up going skiing that weekend anyway with four of the five kids--after the roads had been cleared well enough to get up to the mountain. I messed my knee up pretty badly and broke my glasses on my last run, which was awesome...but a broken pair of glasses is nothing that some Gorilla Glue can't fix! Now if only Gorilla Glue could get rid of this wicked limp. Oh well! I'm sure that when I walk around in public, people just assume I got in a fight with a ninja...which kind of makes it worth it, when you really think about it.

I just found out that one of my favorite bands (other than the JONAS BROTHERS!) is coming out with a new album this year! That's right, The Weepies! Oh boy oh boy oh boy, I can't WAIT! It's like my soul is doing the "I'm-going-to-pee-my-pants" dance (you know the one)!

Yesterday was a fun day in Youth Ministry World. Several kids, adult chaperones, and I attended the Lovewalk for the Poor, which is basically an annual event sponsored by the Diocese of Pittsburgh that happens around Valentine's Day. It's a chance for youth to collect donations for a few local Pittsburgh outreach programs and gain a tiny bit of perspective about issues of hunger and homelessness. There were hundreds and hundreds of young people there, which is always exciting to see. We had Mass with the Bishop and then walked as a giant group for a little ways before dropping off our donations at a truck along the route and dispersing to return home. We came back to St. T's, had some pizza, and then the chaperones left and I played a few rounds of Deaf Karaoke* with the kids. Let me tell you, that game never gets old! I was only expecting to stick around the youth room until 6:00 at the latest...but then it was 7:45 and the last of the kids were trickling out. Oh, it was so fun!

*Deaf Karaoke is a game where you pick a song on an iPod (preferably one you know the majority of the words to), put the ears in, turn up the volume as loud as you possibly can, and ROCK OUT. The reason it's so awesome is that you can't hear yourself sing at all, but no one in your audience can really hear the music in your ears. Basically, it's a smashingly wonderful way to make a complete and utter FOOL of yourself. Perfect for parties or when randomly sitting around with a bunch of high schoolers, and the only supplies you really need are iPods and the ears for them! YEAH!

Okay, that's it for now. Sorry about the big gap between the last post and this one...not that it's a huge deal, I just forgot about the blog for a little while there. Love you, miss you, blah blah blah!

PS: I was just thinking about what would happen if I stuck my hand in the garbage disposal and it somehow turned on accidentally. Is that disturbing? Yes. Yes it is.

christmas cactus!

A quick post this evening...

The March for Life was a wonderful experience. There were somewhere around 250,000 people there, which was definitely a powerful presence. And here's an accomplishment: I didn't lose any of the ten kids I brought! Wahoo!

The one thing I did lose, however, was my cell phone. I left it on the bus. Of course. So if you need to contact me, you can e-mail me or leave a comment here...but I'll try to track down my phone soon so you can call me ALL THE TIME!

Okay, off to youth group!

reader's digest

I had a really great day.

Like...really great.

I woke up early, had a very healthy breakfast (homemade granola, yogurt, and some fruit), cantored at 10:30am Mass, bought a couch, ate a late lunch (spinach salad with cottage cheese and raisins), prepared a bit for tonight's Life Night (youth group gathering), actually had the Life Night, and then went to a restaurant called Eat'n Park with three of my St. T's teens for some evenin' vittles.

YEAH, I bought a freakin' couch. It was the only one in the entire furniture store that passed the "plop test." That's basically where I would imagine coming home from work and wanting nothing more than to plop down on the couch and sit for a little while...so I would do that. I did that on every couch in the entire store--minus the leather and the recliners because, helloooo! Not interested! Some of the couches were too mushy and I would basically get sucked into them, and others were so hard that I was like, "Ugh. This is like sitting on a freakin' board!" But I finally found this one, and it even comes with pillows! So they're going to be delivering the thing on Wednesday. I sure hope it fits in my hallway...and doesn't look terrible in my living room. I'll get pictures/video up when I can.

At our well-attended Life Night tonight (25 kids!), a couple of my moms (Mary and Chris) surprised me with an ice cream cake, candles, a ridiculous hat, a little banner...the whole shebang. Of course, I had just had a piece of a different ice cream cake with my Core Team before the teens got there (leftover from when I brought it in to the office on Friday)...so what I'm saying is, I had two pieces of ice cream cake within the span of half an hour. I am happy to report that both were delicious. Good thing I ate healthy the rest of the day. SHOOT!

Since school is off tomorrow for Martin Luther King Day, a few of my teens invited me along when they went to Eat'n Park after the Life Night. It was a nice time--a great chance to just hang out with the teens and do the whole relational ministry thing for a couple of hours. It reminded me of our Perkins runs when I was in high school...good times indeed. I still remember (in high school) the funny look I got from the waitress when I ordered a chicken caesar salad bread bowl, minus the chicken, with breakfast potatoes on top instead. I'm telling you, it was the best salad EVER! But tonight, I had some cheese sticks. Yum. Again, good thing I ate healthy the rest of the day! (Well, other than the ice cream cake...but that doesn't count.)

OH, and it rained cats and dogs today. Most of the snow has melted away. I think I'm going to go write an emo poem about it. JUST KIDDING! Haha...

Cool, well...that's about all for now, I suppose. Love you, miss you, ET CETERA!

russian, spanish, french

My birthday was wonderful. I was on retreat with a bunch of other youth ministers from around the diocese, which was much needed and very refreshing! But it also got me to do a lot of thinking. Some of the following thoughts are my own personal reflections, but some are also things we talked about as a group throughout the retreat.

I've been really frustrated lately, because I feel a bit lost here, in the "big-picture" kind of way. I mean, I know God put me in Pittsburgh for a reason, I just haven't figured out what it is yet. And it's not like I'm not listening, either. I've really been trying to hear what God has had to say over these last few months...I just haven't heard a peep. Don't get me wrong--I absolutely love it here and wouldn't trade my experience for anything, I'd just really like to know the reason I've been called here. Of course, the obvious answer is "to do youth ministry, silly!" But here's the thing: there's more to me than ministry. At the end of the day, I'm not a youth minister, I'm not a cantor, I'm not even a website committee member (as awesome as that is, haha)...I'm a child of God. God loves me for who I am in God, not what I do for God. So there has to be another reason for me to be here. I just have to figure out what it is. So any time you're ready to tell me, God, I'm ready for it! Until then...I guess I'm just...growing?

So after all the retreat stuff on Tuesday, about ten of us piled into a few cars and went to a place called Wings, Suds, & Spuds. I had a strawberry milkshake and some macaroni and cheese bites (SO DELICIOUS!), and they even gave me an orange balloon because it was my birthday. So that was exciting...a very laid back birthday celebration, but very nice. And then it was back to retreat stuff on Wednesday. :)

Well, it's back to work now...I decided to spend the morning working from my very comfortable bed--I made some phone calls about the March for Life in Washington, DC next Friday, and I've been working a bit more on the semester curriculum for the youth ministry program. I've got most of it pretty well laid out until May, but there are a couple more details to work out so I don't have to keep putting all my time and energy each week into "AHHH what are we doing this weekend?!"-type stuff. It'll be a relief to get all that taken care of!

And ALSO! I need to get myself a Dairy Queen cake today or tomorrow. I mean, it's not just for me, of course--it's like in elementary school when you brought cupcakes for everyone on your birthday...only with grown-ups on the church staff instead of sugar-crazed little children. Yippee skippy! I looooooove ice cream cake. I might even share it with the teens on Sunday if there's any left over...or maybe I'll just take it home and keep it in my freezer just in case I need my sugar fix...

apple cores

All in all, this was a very exciting weekend--more exciting than most, anyway!

I went skiing with the Campbells on Saturday and Sunday, which was SUPER FANTASTIC--I spent the day skiing with two of the guys from my youth group, Jeremy and another kid named Nick. It was so fun...I hadn't been skiing in years, so I started the day by taking a quick run down the bunny hill just to get my "ski legs" working again. I was surrounded by little children who were learning how to snowboard and stuff. They were funny. Especially when they fell down. But then again, you could say the same for me.

On our second-to-last run, I took the most EPIC fall ever. I mean, we're talking flying through the air, flipping over a couple of times, losing one of my skis, my helmet flying off. EPIC. I have a nasty bruise on my left leg (which sucks because that's the side I usually sleep on), but other than being a bit sore, I didn't really get hurt. Though I did keep wondering to myself, Is it possible to get a concussion without knowing it? (If you know the answer, please leave me a comment or something, because even though I'm fairly certain I did not get a concussion, I am very curious now if it's possible!) The Fall happened right next to a chair lift full of people (which had STOPPED for some reason), and I could see them all staring at me and hear them all going, "Ohhhh!" and laughing and stuff. Heck, I was even laughing! I can only imagine what I must have looked like. I figure, I would have laughed at someone else if they had fallen, so I didn't mind ONE BIT if people laughed at me!

In other local news, last night was the spring semester kick-off for youth group. It was pretty fun--nothing too structured, but we did have a giant Catch Phrase tournament and played Bananagrams and whatnot. In addition to a bunch of junk food, I had bought a veggie tray and a fruit tray at Sam's...but then I forgot them in my refrigerator at home, so now I have two giant trays of fruit/veggies sitting in my fridge. I'll have to pay the church some money since I'll be the only one eating the stuff...but OH WELL! I had some yogurt and pineapple chunks for breakfast this morning, which was delightful.

And if you're wondering, NO! I DON'T HAVE TO DYE MY HAIR!!! (Phew!) We had somewhere between 25 and 30 kids come, so...no blue or purple hair for me. It was still a good time, though! Apparently, the bulk mailing I spent hours working on this past week didn't get to the families in time--which I was kind of relying on to get the word out about the kick-off. Grr, United States Postal Service!

I have a love/hate relationship with the USPS. I so appreciate how they deliver letters and care packages (HINT) and forgotten Christmas presents right to my door! BUT the process of preparing and sending bulk mailings is so utterly filled with red tape and ridiculousness that I can't help but shoot death lasers out of my eyeballs at them whenever I think about it. I would totally devote an entire post to how truly absurd the stupid little rules are at the USPS, but then you might think that I'm one of those ultra-annoying people who complains about little things all the time...and I know how irritating that is, so I shall spare you the gory details of bulk mailings.

And now, I am going to go shopping. Love you! Miss you! Be well!

don't run with scissors, OKAY?!

Today, I went to Sam's Club and got my official business card. Here's the dangerous part: having a Sam's Club business card in my possession means that I can make purchases for the church and charge it to the card (like chips and whatnot for youth group events), but I can also make personal purchases as long as I pay for it another way (like a huge container of hot chocolate mix). So I need to be careful with how I spend my money (both the church's money and the stuff that comes out of my wallet) at Sam's Club.

(I just realized that is not an interesting thing to write about.)

When I got a ride to St. Cloud from Tibby's family on my way down to the airport in Minnesota (a couple days after Christmas), we listened to Mika's album The Boy Who Knew Too Much. Ever since then, I've been listening to it basically all the freakin' time. It just seems to get better and better with every hearing. I especially like the songs "I See You" and "Blue Eyes," but honestly, the whole album is quite a wonderful experience which I would highly recommend to the WORLD! Maybe I'll mail a copy to President Obama. He'll probably write me a thank-you card for changing his life with the power of pop. And he'll probably also send a thank-you card to Mika for writing the music, and then Mika will write me a thank-you card for exposing President Obama to his high quality tune-age, AND he'll give me a plane ticket and a VIP pass to one of his European shows and then we'll fall in love and be together forever...err, maybe that last bit wouldn't work out so well. But everything up to the VIP pass would be quite possible, I think.

I got my car back yesterday! AHHHH! It was awesome...apparently, the folks at the shop started referring to my car as "The Little One" because all the other cars getting fixed there were twice its size or something...and when I walked in the door, the lady sitting there gave me one look and said, "I bet you're looking for a little car." I was very relieved to be reunited with my baby after weeks and weeks of sadness and despair...and the inability to drive to a grocery store. Things were really looking a bit desperate there for a few days. I kept thinking to myself, "One can only survive on crackers and peanut butter for so long!" So since there's been a SUPER INTENSE snow storm ravaging the Burgh the last few days, and since I'm generally pretty good at driving in such admittedly perilous conditions, I braved the snow and ice last night and went to Giant Eagle for some super fantastic grocery shoppin' awesomeness. My fridge is full of good things like...eggs, yogurt, carrots, broccoli, cottage cheese, and MORE!

Oh, small note, but worth mentioning: one of my New Year's resolutions is to take better care of myself...so I am proud to say that I did not buy any junk food yesterday. None. Not even a little bag of chips or candy or anything. All good things--fruits and vegetables and the like. So my first trial has been successfully overcome...we'll see what happens the next time I go grocery shopping! But I'm really serious about this, so hopefully I can continue to stay away from all of my favorite things...haha! But really, living by myself, I don't have someone who will see what I'm eating and judge me (consciously or not) if it's something terrible...and sometimes that judgment is a good thing because I often adjust my behavior when I'm in the spotlight...but no one's here to do the judging...it's like when you know company is coming over so you clean your house. Okay, now I'm just rambling.

But on a serious note, I'm going to be doing more legit cooking from here on out, so if I find any delicious recipes, I will be certain to post them here!

That's really all for now. I'm going skiing up in the mountains tomorrow with the Campbells. I don't remember the last time I went skiing...so this will be an adventure. Pleeeease God, don't let me break my leg!

OH and I won't be back until Sunday afternoon, so the next time I post anything will be after the kick-off...meaning that I may or may not have a different hair color. AHHHHHH!!!

how many black skirts can one girl own?

I decided to switch things up a bit as far as the colors and whatnot on this here blog thingy...mostly because I was bored. So THERE!

I took down my Christmas tree today, so now there's a giant gaping hole in the corner of my bedroom. Maybe I'll just stand there several hours a day, just so there's something there. No, actually, I'm waiting for the perfect couch and chair to come along on Craigslist so I can put them in my living room, and then take the chair I have in the living room now and put it in the corner of my bedroom. Does that make sense? And really, it's all just a matter of time (well, six months) before I drive back to Minnesota and get my GREEN CHAIR AND OTTOMAN OF DESTINY. I wish I had a picture of them, just so you could see their epic-ness. Oh wait, I do. I had to copy these two pictures off Facebook (from my FORT photo album), so it might not be the best quality ever, and you might not be able to tell how green they are, but at least you can see a small bit of the epic-ness this way. Or maybe not, in which case you need to get some new eyes, homeslice! Because if you can't see the epic-ness of the GREEN CHAIR AND OTTOMAN OF DESTINY...well, maybe we just shouldn't be friends anymore.

BEHOLD! THE GREEN CHAIR AND OTTOMAN OF DESTINY!

Annnnnyway. I've been trying to solve a mystery that occurred in my apartment over the last few days. So while I was back in Minnesota, I found a little container of holy water that I forgot to bring with me when I moved out here, so (naturally) I brought it back to the Burgh so I could splash it about and bless stuff. WELL, I have a little prayer corner in my bedroom, and I put some of the holy water in a small bowl that I have (like probably a quarter of a cup or something). And...over the last couple of days...the holy water DISAPPEARED. Like, it's completely gone. I get the whole evaporation thing, but there is NO WAY it's supposed to happen that fast. Maybe God needed it for something super important...but you'd think He would have left a note. I guess it must have gotten soaked up into the clay or something. But seriously? That's WEIRD. I thought at first that my mind was playing tricks on me...but then I went over to my corner and gazed into the emptiness of the bowl and was like, "WEIRD. It's GONE."

That's really all that's been interesting in my life recently. This week is going to be CRAZY at work, because I'm getting ready for our spring semester kick-off this Sunday. I don't think I've mentioned this here before (though I've been talking about it on Facebook a lot the last few days), but it bears repeating because it's that hardcore. I've made a bet with some of my youth group kids that if 80 high schoolers come to the kick-off (that's double the number we had in October), I will dye my hair any color of their choosing. I'm so scared...I have a terrible feeling that if they actually succeed, I will end up with electric blue hair or something crazy like that. The priests at St. T's are pushing for fuschia. One random usher told me after Mass yesterday that I should do half black and half gold (go Steelers!)...but I specifically said any color, not any colors! If that were true, I'd probably end up with a rainbow on my head, and I'm going to go ahead and avoid that if possible.

Regardless, part of me is going: I hope they get 80, because it might actually be cool to dye my hair AND because 80 is a TON of people...

And then there's the part that's going: 79, 79, 79...

Peace out, folks. Keep in touch! Leave me a comment! Whatever!

we are not what you think we are!

A quick post today:

Happy New Year! 2010 promises to be a crazy year full of excitement and adventure...I hope I'm ready for it!

I'm making announcements at all the Masses this weekend about what's coming up this semester in youth ministry. Two down, four to go. I'm especially looking forward to the 7:00am Mass.

...

Oh sorry, I just zoned out a for a bit thinking about being awake at 6:00am. *shudder*