Happy Spring Semester!!!!

I took a little blogging break as I enjoyed my "one week of freedom" in the academic year that is Princeton Theological Seminary's! Hah! And even that had reading to prep for classes for spring semester! Oh, well! I enjoyed myself--lots of movies, cleaning and organizing the apartment and hanging with good friends. Not going to complain. And then, I rolled out of bed today, after hitting snooze once or twice (ouch--back to a normal sleep schedule) to discover a beautiful view from my windows. I love looking out to the back of our building rather than to the front, where the street and parking lot are! It was just a dusting, and so classes were on normal schedule (God's got a wicked sense of humor as I know for a fact some people were on their knees begging/praying for a big snow and cancellation of classes today). The dusting was just fine with me as I was excited for my classes (the two I had today were FABULOUS!). It was so beautiful, too! I'd still love one big snow dump, but as winter can stick around until the first of April in grand 'ole New Jersey, there is still hope!

Hostess of the Mostess?

So, my friend Nicole stayed with me for a few days a week back because her apartment was loaned out to friends and she ended up needing to come back earlier than expected. We had a grand 'ole time. Only problem was that the poor girl is addicted to Diet Coke (she drinks it for breakfast!). She found my beverage offerings to be somewhat limited in that 1.) I have no soda in the apartment, 2) that left me with milk, water, OJ and tons of tea to offer her, and 3.) Nicole thinks tea tastes like grass and will have nothing to do with it. Thus, she kept having to go down to the lobby and buy Diet Coke from the vending machine. Well, once Nicole left and went back to her own apartment I wised up and purchased a 6 pack of mini Diet Coke (they were just too cute to pass up and I'd always wanted to buy the minis) to have around for hosting purposes. My friend, Anna Kate, pictured above, is also pretty connected to her Diet Coke so I figured my purchase was a good investment. And so it was with great pleasure the other night that I was able to offer her a Diet Coke to drink when she came over to my place. Well the plan was that this little six pack would last me a while as I generally never drink coke myself. Herein is the problem. I've been in "finals mode" going on three weeks now and my eating hasn't been the greatest, especially this last week. Pizza, Chinese food take-out, homemade paninis and tuna melts, you get the point. My little pack of mini Diet Cokes came to mind each time I sat down to one of these nutritious dinners. Lo and behold, I am now out of Diet Cokes! Oops! So much for my grand plan. I'm either a) going to have to buy more in order to continue to be a good host and risk the fact that I might also drink them myself or b.) quit buying them so that I don't keep drinking them and risk being a bad host. What's a girl to do? Any thoughts???

When I was a child...

and still in diapers, "wipes" were a way of life. Now that I am an adult, I've been reintroduced to them. The ones pictured above are for adults. Watch out, now. I see you laughing. Don't mock until you give 'em a try. It just might revolutionize your life. It did mine!

"It's hard work, but it feels good!" ~A.K.E.

My place of work the past two weeks has varied only slightly. When I'm writing, though, I usually spread out at the kitchen table because it is bigger than my desk in my room. As you can see, I can be kind of messy. The good news is that I have two papers done and only one to go. The scary thing, though, is that the last one is due Saturday morning. I'm in high-gear! It's not a joke! "It's hard work, but it feels good!" Thus saith, A.K.E.! :-)

Neighbors

I looked outside my window the other day to see these guys in the backyard eating lunch at about the same time as me. Naturally, I dropped my food, grabbed my camera and clicked a few shots before they left. Oh course, the whole time I was thinking, "Great! Some new pix for my blog!" So much for being in the moment, right? Ha! But really, you can't plan this stuff! You're just glad when it happens! We have been having such a warm winter, I think my "neighbors" were happy to go out for lunch! :)

I made a little clucking noise to get him to look up! Smart, eh?

He decided to go somewhere else for dessert!

Random Ramblings...

Okay, I know you are probaby saying to yourself, "Isn't that what she's always up to on this blog of hers?" but give me a moment.
1. Filling out the form correctly the first time around saves you a lot of time and hassle.
2. I've been linked on Heavy Duty Power and am feeling pretty special right now.
3. One paper down, two to go--one of which I will commence writing tomorrow at 8am. YES!!!
4. I love going grocery shopping.
5. Sometimes rambling to a friend while you are supposed to be studying is really helpful.
6. It all gets done in the end so don't stress.
7. Adding cut up orange slices to a spinah salad with a nice homemade vinegarette dressing is remarkably refreshing.
8. Why was today a no mail day? :(
9. Thank goodness for protective cases for iPods--never leave home without one!
10. A mere 30 minutes of snow flurries is way too tempting and mean!

Okay! I'm done! Back to the grind!

Remember the Sabbath Day...

There was a time, when I used to feel guilty, back in undergrad days, when I didn't make the best use of the weekend, getting every last jot and tittle of my unrealistic plan for studying accomplished. Then somewhere along the way, still in undergrad, I was introduced to the concept of keeping the Sabbath. Some concept, huh? Not exactly new! :-) But still new to me. I remembered my parents loving their Sunday naps and hating when they made me have quiet time in my room so they could rest in peace, but I never connected it to Sabbath-keeping. After all, Dad was working hard on Sunday morning as a pastor. I just figured they were tired and that was all there was to it. Well, the exhaustion that comes with being an overachiever, new to college life and freedom to stay up LATE, hang with friends at all hours, etc, finally caught up to me not long into SPU life. Thus, when Marva Dawn came and spoke to us about the idea of keeping the Sabbath and SPU got on board with talk of Sabbath culture or something (we were all about culture talk at SPU), I was all ears. I read her book on it, and loved the concept so much I was inspired to enact it in my own life--much to my little mind and body's surprise and delight. It's a good thing!!

All of this to say that today, when my 40-minute power nap before working on my Aquinas paper turned into 3 hours of heavy sleeping, I relished in it rather than say FREAKING OUT THAT I'M BEHIND IN MY PAPER WRITING SCHEDULE! Seriously, I'm now fully recharged and my mind is as clear as a bell. I'll have many productive hours to write tonight and that is all that matters. Thanks, God, for making the Sabbath for us and not us for the Sabbath!

PS: A word to the wise, sleeping with two fleece blankets over you does not seem to help one stick to a 40-minute nap schedule. I was so incredibly warm and toasty (but not TOO warm and toasty) that my body felt on kind of a movement lock-down. I couldn't possibly have gotten up any earlier if I had tried. Wild horses would have had to drag those blankets from me! Or somethin'! ;-)

Still Dancing...

"Yes, Virginia, it's true. Shannon still does interpretive dance." Some of you are privy to the fact of my legendary history of interpretive dance, especially while enrolled at Seattle Pacific University. I entertained the masses. Well, not exactly, but almost. A few of you saw me dance once or twice during my first two years of PTS. I must confess, I hadn't danced recently. But going home for Christmas brought it out in full force. Of course, the seeds of my dancing go all the way back to my childhood when I would "entertain" my lucky babysitter by dancing around to my records in our living room. I remember feeling at that tender age that some day I would be doing this on a bigger scale. What can I say, guess I'm a visionary!

These pictures are from Christmas Eve night. We've just finished opening our gifts and you can see my brother in the background. In photo op #1 he's delighted by my interpretation of "Breath of Heaven." By the second photo, he's gone back to fiddling with my new iHome (yippee!) and is ignoring me completely. That's okay. I was inspired. Believe it or not, I was thinking through my theses for the three final papers I'm now working on back in P-town. Now that's something to dance about! ;-)