observations from this monday

• Accountability is good. It smarts and stings, but once everything has been dealt with, you are glad for it.
• The student union is a loud place.  I walked into the deathly (deadly?) silent library to talk to Catherine, and when I told her I was going to the Union to study, she asked if my sisters and I all studied together in high school.  I said yes, and she told me that at her high school, everything was silent, owing to this the fact that I like to study in the union and she likes to study in the library. What she doesn't know is that I'm not exactly studying...
• People at my school read C.S. Lewis. (!!!)
• People at my school also sit and have philosophical discussions about the purpose of man. 
• I love the school I go to.  (To which I go.)

This is the "Fearsome Threesome." Of which I am one.

*wave*

Well Hello there Few-and-far-between-who-actually-read-my-blog-which-means-Merrill-and-maybe-one-or-two-other-persons!

Here I am, freshly home from a week in Wyoming, with so much to say!  In the past few weeks, I have been doing a great deal and thinking about a great deal.  But it is much too late to go into all that now, so I am just popping in to say hello and I will be back soon!

Isaiah 1 is fascinating to me.


The multitude of your sacrifices—
       what are they to me?" says the Lord.
       "I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
       of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
       I have no pleasure
       in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats...
  Wash and make yourselves clean.
       Take your evil deeds
       out of my sight!
       Stop doing wrong,
    learn to do right!
       Seek justice,
       encourage the oppressed.
       Defend the cause of the fatherless,
       plead the case of the widow.

June 6, 1944

It's not Independence Day, it's not Memorial Day, and it's not Thanksgiving. But today, I am thankful--and kinda proud--to be an American. 

oh, not much.

Pathetic, I know.  But people (including myself) are perpetually talking about how pathetic their blogs are, and how they don't have any good reasons why, and how they really need to start posting again. So I'm going to skip that goop, as much as I can, and get right down to business.
---

I...am...exhausted.  I spent the morning finishing up thank-you notes, cleaning my room, and scampering around the house doing little things.  After lunch, Moriah (who is here for two weeks!) and I rode horses for awhile, and then jumped our hot and sweaty selves into the pool.

I'm sunburned.

But see, this is how my summer is shaping up, and it is so very grand.  I made a list of things I need to accomplish this summer (besides the pure fun that is riding horses and swimming), and not one thing on the list is unpleasant.  It consists of things like run, tutor Kennen in reading, and scrapbook.  It's going to be a fantastic summer.
---

My graduation party was beautiful, and everything went well.  I loved my jewelry and my dress, and 100 people came, and all of the people I love the most were here for several days.  I have never given so many hugs in one afternoon before.

But, as fun as it was, and as much as I loved seeing so many people, I'm glad it's over.  I'm glad school is over.  I'm glad winter is over.  And, just like every other teenager in America is saying right now..."yay for summer!"

i'm not quite sure...

yakkity-yak.

And we're off like a herd of turtles!

Well...more like a herd of sloths. (But hey? What family isn't when they're attempting a graceful exit from the homeplace for a week?!) We haven't quite left yet. But we shall soon! I straightened my hair today and I am wearing a pink hat. I'm not sure about the hair. I adore the pink hat.

I'm mega-excited (the word 'mega' always reminds me of that Incredibles quote: "If you want to tell me you're some super-ultra-mega-lightning-babe, that's alright with me!") about going to Washington D.C. An entire week of discovering historical fascinations with my three amazing sisters! "Oh the places we'll go! Oh the things we'll see!" (Dr. Seuss?)

I guess I'm in a quotey mood tonight. Earlier Merrill and I were doing that one scene from You've Got Mail where Kathleen gets in the 'cash only' line and only has a credit card. BWAHAHA!!! :) ("Orange you going us a favor by swiping this card?")

Obviously I don't have a whole major load of news to report. So I will sign off now.

(We're taking a tour of Mount Vernon that includes a bunch of National Treasure stuff and talks about how they filmed there! w00t!)

this!...

...is a blog post!

(And that, I do believe, is a quote from the BBC Robin Hood - only he says "rescue" instead of "blog post." Not sure though. Would one of you BBC connoisseurs care to confirm or deny this presumption?)

Anywho, I think it's time I quit posting pictures and other boring paraphernalia, and give you a real blog post. The only hitch here is that I have naught to say. My sister suggested I go into great detail about how wonderful she is, but that's almost as boring as describing to you how to assemble a turkey sandwhich - another one of her superb suggestions.

I have been reading The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. ooh! =) If The Scarlet Pimpernel is 10/10 (which it is), then its sequel is approximately 9.99999999998/10. Wow.

I have also been reading Psychology--and lots of it. Needless to say, I highly doubt I will be majoring in anything remotely resembling psychology. Giiivveee meeee ALGEBRA! And this, my friends, is the explanation for why you haven't seen a legit blog post in awhile. It's not that I haven't been thinking - it's that I've been thinking about psychology and religion and other such things one doesn't find to be suitable blog post material. Well, the religion stuff might be moderately entertaining, but that could just be me after all.

I used to think I despised Miss Blonde-ditzy-animal-rights-activist-yucky-song-producer-Carrie-Underwood. I mean, seriously? Cowboy Casanova? UGH! But! I have, of late, discovered two really great songs by her: Get Out of This Town and The More Boys I Meet. Ahhh...they are so great! =)

My sister and I took some pictures the other day. She is rather good-humoured (my Aussie friend taught me to spell it like that), so when I meandered her way with my camera she was up for a few of those shameless turn-the-camera-around-and-shoot-yourself pictures.

The result? Not half bad, as long as I vigilently proclaim to the masses that there is more to me than a head and a neck.

I went for a run today. 1.5 miles in I got hot and shed my jacket. I think, just maybe, there's hope. This just might be the beginning of the end of this unrelenting beast of a Nebraska winter. I not only have a major itch to run, but I have an even major-er itch to ride my horse.

YAY spring!


Ok. I think that's all. Happy Tuesday people!

on snuggies and Hitchcock

I have a lovely post created in my mind...a post full of pictures chronicling my adventures in Texas. Unfortunately, all of my lovely pictures for said post are on our laptop and, shock of all shocks, it's dead. Thus, my lovely post will have to wait.

Being as I finished reading my book at 1 am and our departure is scheduled for 5, I determined it would be wiser to stay up instead of sleeping for two and half hours and waking up disgruntled with achey eyes. I hate those achey eyes you get when you haven't had your full measure of sleep. Two and half hours is definitely not my full measure of sleep.

So here I am. And instead of the perfect little post I had planned, I am simply writing. It seems a fitting thing to do at 1 am in the grandparents' drafty old mansion. It is so cold in this den that out of sheer desperation, I have stooped to one of the lower realms I will ever stoop to in my life. I am wearing a snuggie. And yes, you read that right. A snuggie. Did I mention that it is very, very cold in this house? Please don't hold it against me. Sometimes certain situations make people do things...

Two nights ago we watched Rope. All I had to hear were the names Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart, and I had the remote in one hand and hot chocolate in the other. (One needs hot chocolate in the vain attempt to stay warm in this house.) Jimmy Stewart, by definition, did not disappoint. Alfred, on the other hand did not do his best work in the creation of Rope. In the very first scene you observe young-and-in-love Tom get strangled. He is then directly stuffed into a chest, which serves as the supper table for the party hosted by the killers that evening. I usually cotton to creepy movies like Hitchcock, but with all the adjectives I have used to describe the grandparents' house, I have yet to use eerie. I will do so directly. The grandparents' house is eerie late at night. Did I mention we just finished watching a suspenseful and frightening movie, and all of the family had gone to bed while I finished editing some pictures? So here I am in this drafty, old, eerie house, with all of the lights out. I dash up the stairs with my heart pounding, grab my pajamas, and then begin the quest. You see, our bedroom is at one end of a very long, bookshelf-lined, black-as-night hallway. The bathroom is at the other end. There are plenty of places along the way for a menace to hide with a piece of rope, just waiting for poor, very-much-suspecting me to walk past.

And yet, here I am to tell about it. Although I'm sure I lost several years off of my life that night, at least I'm still alive, right?

a quick note...

I honestly have no clue if any of my Facebook friends read my blog, but for the few and far between that just might --

The reason I am nowhere to be found in the Facebook world is because I deactivated my account this afternoon. Why, you ask, would I remove myself - temporarily - from such a wonderful place? Well! Let me tell you!

Tomorrow (TOMORROW, people!!) is the last day of this semester. Take a whopping final, finish up a workbook, and I am outta there, baby! Next semester, I am taking classes from Grace University, and they don't begin until January 19th. This gives me exactly thirty-three days of zero school. I know. I'm rejoicing too.

Not having any demanding school deadlines, I just might be tempted to frivvle away these blissful thirty-three days. This, however, is something I absolutley, 100%, do NOT want to do, as much as I might think I do. If I waste them, they will quickly change from blissful and free to disgruntling and dissatisfying.

By deactivating my Facebook account, I am keeping myself from my stupid self. I am determined to use my precious thirty-three days of freedom wisely. I have a monstrous pile of productive things I want to accomplish, and I am not going to let myself get distracted by Facebook.

So! Email me! I will email you back!

(and just for laughs, here is a picture of my older sister and me in 1994. =)

do this girl a fave

Ok. It's time for you peeps to crawl out of your lurking crevices and gumshoe hidey-holes. It's time to show yourselves. Like real men.

(Here is a winky face so you know not to take me literally up there. " ; ) " )


Please, will you leave me a comment telling me who you are? And while you're at it, tell me what you do and don't like about my blog. I'm all ears.

"Yeah, you always was." (Sorry. I had to throw in quick Barney Fife moment there.)

(image here.)

about me: in google images

1.What is your first name? 2.When is your birthday?

3.What kind of car do you want? 4.Where do you go to school? 5.What's your Favorite season? 6.Whats your favorite type of shoe?

7.What's your status?

8.What's your favorite movie?

9.What's your favorite song?

Where do you find a picture for "too many to have one favorite"?

10.Favorite Disney character? 11.Favorite clothing line?

12.Favorite vacation destination?

13.Favorite dessert?

14.Favorite letter?

15.What are you most afraid of?

16. Favorite TV show? 17. What annoys you most? 18. What's your job?

19. Whats your favorite animal? 20. How old are you?

pizzle!

Mom and I love working puzzles. Nobody else in our family gives a hoot. Crazy them.

hallie

Keepin' the Girls...

...while Jarod and Sara go to a party.

Supper at Amigos

I did toes! Laurel's toes and fingers: alternate blue, orange, pink, blue, orange, pink. Next, clear sparkly. Then green dots, and finally clear to make them last longer. =)

Laurel: Have you ever been on a date with a boy?

Me: No...have you?

Laurel: No...I want to go a date when I'm 14...no, 16!

Me: When do you want to go on a date, Lydia?

Lydia: When I find a guy!