The Beauty and the Mess

Happy Groundhog Day! I accidentally typed Groundhug Day the first time. That would be an even more fun holiday. :)

The Top 5 meme: Give me a topic, and I will give you my top 5. It can be songs, places, colors, childhood vacations, anything. It'll be fun! And you can even leave your own answers with the topic, if you want. The John Cusack in me just couldn't let this one pass.

Ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Feel free to ask tough questions. And don't be embarrassed to ask about something you think you "should" know.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

I wouldn't have done this, but other people are getting really interesting and thoughtful questions. Don't feel pressured to make up silly questions if you can't think of anything. I just thought I'd throw it out there. Also, I reserve the right to not answer if the question is really impertinent - and my standards of impertinence are pretty low, so that shouldn't be a problem. :)

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the weather here is just unreal. It's almost chilly outside and I love it! This is the least hot August I can ever remember. Everyone is speculating about what this will mean for our winter. I hope it just means that we'll have a long fall. :) All you Florida residents are on my mind today with the hurricane. I can't believe it's been upgraded to a 4. The organization around the eye is pretty impressive, though.

Well, last night I got a big surprise. Ryan had told me he was coming over because he had something for Evan and I...a birthday/early wedding present. He showed up at the back door with a new TV!!! Since Kathy left, I've been using a small castoff TV of my family's that has horrible reception. We've only been getting two channels- and that's with one of those signal enhancers. Ryan said he was tired of hearing me complain about it (which I really only did when he was there and wanted to watch something), so he fixed the problem. :) It's a 27-inch TV with a flattish screen and three A/V inputs, so we can watch DVDs again! The picture quality is awesome, and once my stereo works again, we can hook it up and it'll be like a home theater. I was so excited and surprised. It's unlike Ryan to give presents, let alone such a big present, so it's a happy sign that he's thinking of me in a more familial way. There's no one I'd rather have for a brother-in-law. I am very blessed.

So my birthday weekend is upon me. Monday is my actual birthday and I'm taking it off of work, but the weekend will be full of fun activities. Tonight we're watching the opening ceremonies with Debs and Ryan; tomorrow night we're going to a Derek Webb concert (which means I won't be at rawee1's bachelorette party - sorry, Robin! :(); Sunday night we're going to the Elvis Candlelight Vigil to wacko-watch; and Monday will be full of meals out and other fun things. Also, going to the DMV, since my license renewal-by-mail form has mysteriously disappeared. :P Going to the Vigil was my mom's idea. She thinks we ought to do something memorable for my 25th, and despite living in Elvis's hometown and being born on his death-day, I've never been to the Vigil. It ought to be hilarious. Don't worry, I'll take pictures. :D

Finally: What impressions do you get from me? And is there anything you associate with me?Whoever answers the above random questions will receive in return my own impressions and associations regarding them (if I haven't done so already!).

I am so, so tired. I can't remember the last time I was in bed before 11:00, and it's finally caught up with me. The 98-degree heat is probably a factor, too. Whatever the cause, the days are starting to run together with an exhaustion I haven't felt since my senior year band camp. I haven't exercised (other than Pilates, which I no longer consider exercise) since Saturday. I mean, it's bad enough that I'm not on a Bridal Diet Plan (since that's apparently what all engaged women are supposed to do :P), but I can't even find time or energy for a ten-minute workout. The irony is, I'd probably feel better after exercising. Sigh.

Debs spent the night last night, so I was up with her until past midnight. She came across my Personality Plus book and wanted to take the test- she's a Sanguine/Choleric, which is exactly what I expected. I'm a Melancholy/Phlegmatic, so we're total opposites. We both tested zero in each other's categories. :) That's still my favorite personality-theory book. It becomes really easy to identify people once you've read it.

Oh, and if you need summery clothes and have an Old Navy in your area, GO. The clearance is even more insane than I thought. They have sleepshorts for a dollar, little layering tank tops for $3, racerback exercise tanks for $5, etc. I ended up with a stuffed bag of clothes for a total of $50 (and one regular-price shirt was included in that). Insane. I'm thinking of checking out another Old Navy this weekend to see if they have more tank tops in my size...my store was pretty combed over.

Hey Shana and Phillip, do you guys have a wedding cake topper yet? :D

This could be fun: Part of being on Livejournal.com is inevitably gaining a number of LJ buddies. Unfortunately, as time wears on, it's easy to forget where all of them came from. Post this in your journal and have your friends respond with how they recall first 'meeting' you.

Apparently, many people on LJ are ready to shoot anyone who even mentions Friends, so I'll just say that I was sad but satisfied with the ending. And Joey looks funnier than I expected, from the commercial about it. "Hello, welcome to the news. I am Name."

I felt very cranky earlier but now I'm calmer. The next six or so weekends will be packed with wedding, birthday, and graduation events. The insanity begins. One current worry is that MaryElaine wanted Kathy, Em, and I to go to the lake with her over Memorial Day weekend. Since Em's bridal shower is that weekend, we cut it back to Sunday and Monday, and now we've concluded that we'll be too busy to go at all. We still haven't told her. I'm not looking forward to that. :( This weekend I need to go food shopping, exercise, go to the mall to get a skirt that's finally on clearance, take Debra to Hallmark so we can buy my mom's traditional Precious Moment, vacuum and Febreze my car, pack and store my winter clothes and unpack my summer clothes, and make and send bridal shower invitations. It's safe to say that some of these things won't get done. I hate it when things don't get done.

Today Debra's coming home for the summer! Also, since it's Mother's Day, there will be a lot of nice family time this weekend. Yay!

The Ace of Base song "Wheel of Fortune" is in my head and I have no idea how it got there. I haven't heard it in years.

Sorry for doing this meme, but Jessica made a poll out of it and it's a lot easier to take now. Feel free to skip. ( Me, me, me )

Okay, I guess I'll do this thing too: Pick an interest from my interests list that you either: 1: don't know anything about or 2: can't understand why I would like it.

The anonymous-notes-to-20-people thing looks fun too, but I just don't have time. :)

I've gotten a lot done today. I'd get more done now if I didn't see "Cannot find server" every time I tried to do something. You can too find the server. You're just lazy.

Today is my two-year anniversary at my job. I'd forgotten about it, but my boss mentioned it yesterday, and she and my other boss expressed gladness that I was still around. God has really blessed me in the boss/job department.

Switchfoot's The Beautiful Letdown is on sale at Target this week, and I'd heard a lot about it, so I bought it. It's really good! This song is my favorite. I think it's going on my 2003 compilation.

Sorry I'm boring lately. I'm having some sort of journal block. In the meantime, let's do this thing I keep seeing on the friends list. I don't usually do these kinds of surveys, but maybe it'll motivate me or something.

1. How did you first find my journal?
2. Why did you originally decide to friend me?
3. What's your favorite part of my journal?
4. What's your least favorite part of my journal?
5. Ask me a question. Be as random as you want.
6. Have you ever met me in person?

I might as well do this too (although I'm not sure I really want to know some of these answers :P). And when I come back to work in the morning, I'll have fun replies to read. Yay. :)

01. Describe me using three or less words.
02. If you could spend a day with me, what would we do?
03. Have we ever gotten in a fight?
04. Have you ever dreamt of me? If so, tell me about it.
05. If you could give me a present, what would it be?
06. Would you hug me?
07. What do you REALLY think of me?
08. Do you trust me?
09. Do you know something about me that no one else knows?
10. What month is my birthday?(without looking at my LJ profile! Don't cheat!)
11. Do you know how old I am? (same as above..Don't cheat!)
12. Anything you wanted to tell me but never got a chance to?

I have made a friend test. It's pretty silly, but I thought it was a fun idea. :)

This morning I read this: "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." I had always focused on the self-control and action parts of the verse, but it was the fully that jumped out at me today. I've been thinking vaguely about hope lately, but in terms of my future, of whether I will ever get married and have children, and things like that. Those are things I want very much, and I continue to hope for them, even if I maybe can't have them. But of course I will not function right if I set my hope on those things. Christ is the only foundation for hope. And I need to remember that. And so do we all. The end. :)