Archive for December 2010

The Best of 2010!

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There are only 30 hours left in 2010! 2011 is upon us and I am SO excited to use my new mini moleskin planner!


Copying the trend of so many others, I have decided to post a recap of the year!

January
This month rang in my final semester of college! But before I went back for my very last, I went on a little adventure with Hannah and my mom to go see the Rose Parade floats! I can't believe it's been almost a year since then!

February
I dealt with my share of drama this month, so to cheer myself up, I enjoyed a perfectly spent day with my cousins. Cousins always seem to make things better. 
This month, it also became clear that it wasn't in God's will for me to work in England for 3 months. While I was devastated, this taught me to trust that God's ways are higher than my ways and that He ordains the perfect plans for my life.

March
I turned 22. Senioritis was RAMPID. And on top of that, I got sick. Not just any kind of sick though. Sick enough to get to me to the doctor, something I hadn't done for YEARS. Labyrinthitis was the diagnosis; vertigo was the symptom. Crazy times.

April
My life changed more this month than any other month. Classes finished, my senior show took place, I worked my last day at the Admissions office at CBU, I completed the wild goose chase exit process. Never again would I be a student. So weird!

May
One word: GRADUATION.



June
My summer officially began to flow. The season of love began. The first wedding (my cousin David's) took place on the last day of May and me and my other cousins made an epic road trip out of it. Who could forget the memorable mystery spot in Santa Cruz?!

July
Miray got married and I was one of her bridesmaids! Jr. High Camp also took place! I love serving in the Jr. High Ministry and I am so thankful that God has placed in place with so many people I love!

August
The month I practically live for finally arrived and I went to England once again! I seriously can't imagine my year without England in the picture!

September
This was a month of interviews. The one I was counting on the most failed to reply to me, but I can see now that that was a God thing. God wanted me to have my job at The Bridge. Looking back, I am so amazed at God's faithfulness and sovereignty. And nope, I don't have any pictures to show for my interviews. Haha.

October
Tim got married...in Michigan! Such a fun and spontaneous trip with the fambam! Not to mention, Michigan is gorgeous!

November
Michelle and KC became husband and wife (and I was a bridesmaid)!

December
This year has definitely been the fastest year of my life! I graduated college, got a part time job in my field (to get my foot in the door), watched a bunch of friends and cousins get married, and God to witness the hand of the Lord move again and again. I am so thankful for this year—for both the ups and downs. So here's to a wonderful 2011, a year where I can grow closer to the Lord and become more of the woman He wants me to be!

Counting

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2011 will be the year of counting.

1. I will be participating in Project365 so that requires the counting of photos.
2. I will be counting how many cans of mousse I go through. I need to know how much I'm spending on hair products per year.
3. I will be counting how many books I read the whole year. I usually count in the summer, but I'm not leaving the rest of the year unnoticed this time around!

Church College Groups

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There's a strange dynamic in church college groups. Everyone is either in a serious relationship or looking. It kinda scares me. I think that's why I've always avoided going to the college groups.

But for the first time (even though I already graduated college) I am going to the winter retreat with the college group at my church. I'm excited, but I also don't know what to expect. It makes me a little nervous. I'm feeling like I should just pretend that boys have cooties and talk to no one but the girls.

Is there a third category besides the people in relationships and the people who are looking? I'd like to think that there's a category of people who care less, but I'm thinking that category doesn't actually exist. What do you think? Does it exist or not?

A Strange Phenomenom

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For the past week, every morning when I wake up, my feet hurt reeeeally badly. They are fine when I go to bed, but I wake up in pain. Can someone please explain this to me?

Mhmm!

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...and buy me a cashmere sweater for no reason whatsoever :)

The Ordinary

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"Why was [Jesus] a baby born to an ordinary family in a less than ordinary place, in a worse than ordinary manger?

Because God loves doing the extraordinary with the ordinary...

My hope is that by your ordinary life, you will point people toward an extraordinary savior. My prayer is that your ordinariness will be so pronounced that it will be astonishing and above all, it will reveal to friends and family members and neighbors and strangers, that you’ve been with Jesus."

-Jon Acuff

His Good Promise

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"Your place of service may not be a big one, but it's an important one; and God put you there because you're the right person for the job right now. He wants to work through you to get some things accomplished for His glory, and He will do it if you will 'let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom' (Col. 3:16). No matter how difficult your place of ministry might be or how discouraging the situation, adopt the attitude of Peter, and God will do wonders for you: 'Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net' (Luke 5:5). That 'nevertheless' of obedient faith makes the difference between success and failure. You can trust in this truth: 'There has not failed one word of all His good promise' (1 Kings 8:56)."


Exerpt from Wiersbe's On Being a Servant of God

Christmas Book Tree? Book Christmas Tree?

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I would like to go to San Francisco so I can see this tree in person and take pictures standing next to it.

Seriously, guys? Hahahaha.

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I know this is gonna look extremely stalkerish, but I feel like my blog isn't THAT popular so it wont be a problem to the few people that read this. Basically, when I saw this, I nearly peed my pants. My friends are TOO funny. I just couldn't resist taking a screen shot!

The Perfect Love Note

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This is it.

Trust and Obey

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I'm a punctuation person. So naturally, when there is an exclamation point in the Bible, it catches my attention.

Psalm 27:14
"Wait for the Lord; 
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!"

I'm learning, yet again. God is teaching me to trust and obey—to trust that His ways are higher than my ways and to obey His command of waiting on Him.

"But we never can prove
the delights of His love
until all on the altar we lay.
For the favor He shows
or the joy He bestows
are for them who will trust and obey."

Keeping Christ in Christmas

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Some Christians are getting so hyphy this year. They make us all look like crazy people. Bart Millard (of the band MercyMe) posted a quick facebook status and wrote "Xmas" instead of Christmas and it was as if he dropped a bomb on the church—people were FRANTIC. The feedback made me hysterical. I hiiiiiiighly doubt he meant anything by it. He was just typing a quick facebook status.

On a similar note, at work a couple weeks ago, I had been working on Christmas Eve Service Invitation Postcards. Look at that long, five word title. The printing company is very specific about their file names and it can't be more than 20 characters long. Naturally, my file name turned into xmasevefront.jpg and xmaseveback.jpg. Am I taking Christ out of Christmas? No, I am not. I am simply changing a file name. And Bart Millard merely posted a quick mobile status update. CALM DOWN, CHRISTIANS. Don't give us all a bad name. Christianity is so much more than that.

Pastor Chuck talked about this yesterday morning at church. The celebration of Christmas itself has become hypocritical, regardless of the name you give the holiday. It is supposed to be a celebration of the coming of Christ, but has become this vast commercial holiday where the focus is receiving and giving gifts to each other. How about Christ? Where is He in that picture?

Rather than go crazy and ridicule people for saying "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Xmas," we should be celebrating that Christ is still here in the midst of our commercialism. Notice that the very same people who refuse to say the word "Christmas" are confessing, "Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, late in time behold Him come, offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Diety. Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel. Hark the herald angels sing, 'Glory to the new born King.'"

That's a LOT of doctrine in one song. Praise God that the name (and deity) of Christ is being spread through mere Christmas jingles.

Photo Square - Take 2

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Don't get used to this. I'm not doing one every day. But my little toy is new so I'm having fun with it :)


Notice, Little Man is of the greatest importance...so he is on the top left. Would have been better if I hadn't cut his head off though. Oops. He's cute all over though so it works :P

Photojojo Pocket Square Digital Camera

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I thought I'd help some people out. There are no answers on google and now there will be!

If you own a Pocket Square digital camera and don't read Japanese (the instructions don't come in English) you will thank me for this blog post.

There is no "normal" aka "00" mode. The three modes are P1, P2, and P3. And of course, the photojojo site defines them backwards. I've tested it over and over...here are what the modes are.

P1 - monochrome
P2 - noise
P3 - vivid

They are in alphabetical order so that should make it easy to remember! Same way with the videos! Have fun! :P

My Pocket Square.

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It arrived in the mail today! Woohoo! So, of course, I am playing around with it and trying to figure out the techniques :)


Homemade Gingerbread Cookies

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Hilda Grahnat, one of my favorite bloggers, posted a blog on her favorite holiday snack. I, along with several others, requested her recipe and she was kind enough to share it! I did a little bit of altering, since ingredients are a little different in Sweden than they are in America so here is my final recipe! (Decimal measurements might be a little awkward too, but they will suffice!) Enjoy! :)

.6 cup golden honey
1 cup brown sugar
7 oz butter
3/4 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tbsp ground cloves
3 tbsp ground cinnamon
.6 cup heavy cream
1 tsp baking soda
5 cups flour

Stir honey, brown sugar, butter and spices to a batter. This is easiest if the butter is either melted or room temperature. Whip cream into foam and mix it in with the batter. Mix baking soda with flour and add flour to batter little by little. Make a "dough loaf" and let cool in the refrigerator over night, covered in aluminum foil.

Use rolling pin to make a thin layer of the dough. Use extra flour on the roller if the dough too sticky, but not too much! Use baking shapes and lift the shaped cookies onto a baking pan covered in foil. Bake at 395˚F for 6-10 minutes or until brown enough. Careful, they burn easily! Move onto a cooling rack. Serve when cool and store leftovers in a closed metal or glass (not plastic) jar.

By the way, this recipe makes approximately 7 dozen cookies. Yes, SEVEN dozen, aka 84 cookies. A lot, I know. Perfect for family gatherings for the holidays.

(Photo Credit: Yours Truly—had to give myself some credit since I'm pleased with the way this photo came out!)

Happy Accident

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There's a a high level of comfort in this polaroid. 
I'd like to say that this is what Trever calls a "happy accident."
I'm pleased with the way it came out :)


Answered Prayers

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God has been answering a lot of my prayers these days. Not so much prayers of what I should be doing, but questions I had been asking.

Today, He answered another question. I have read this before, but today, it had new clarity.

I'm not even going to elaborate. Just let it speak to you.

1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1
23(A) "All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up. 24(B) Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25(C) Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26For(D) "the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof." 27If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go,(E) eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29I do not mean(F) your conscience, but his. For(G) why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that(H) for which I give thanks? 31So, whether you eat or drink, or(I) whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32(J) Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to(K) the church of God, 33just as(L) I try to please everyone in everything I do,(M) not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. 1(N) Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Life Discipler

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Ever do that thing where you take your Bible, flip it open to a random page, and drop your finger on a random verse, and ask God to speak to you? Seems like that's a back-up method when you're in a state of spiritual desperation.

Don't let yourself get to that state of spiritual desperation. We are to be constantly in the Word. But let's face it, we're human. Sometimes we need that little tug in the right direction. Life Discipler is the perfect little tug. It's like a concordance in your pocket, but it gives you the verses without you even having to look for them! A perfect little Christmas gift that gives right back!

Team Buzzplant provided me with a free one to review, and I would definitely recommend this little gadget. Check it out on http://www.lifediscipler.com/. And if you choose to purchase it as a Christmas gift, there is a discount that goes until December 17th! Check it out! :)

Bad Luck.

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Bad luck takes its toll.

11:30 pm - I reach in my purse for my ipod because I wanted to charge it. I notice my ipod case is wet, along with the bottom of my purse. Uhoh! What spilled?
11:32 pm - I realize my ENTIRE water bottle spilled onto my bed, explaining my wet purse. But now my entire mattress is soaked. How do I sleep?
11:34 pm - Blowdryer to the rescue!
11:40 pm - Uhoh, my blowdryer wont reach all the way! Now what?
11:42 pm - I try using a towel to absorb the water. But it's too much water. And it's already absorbed completely through my mattress.
11:43 pm - Back to blowdryer!
11:44 pm - Blowdryer blows out. Lovely.
11:46 pm - There are extensive instructions underneath the reset button instructing you on how long to wait before and after you press the button. I read every word and follow it to a tee.
11:47 pm - My blowdryer resurrected! Yessss! Buuuuut, it still doesn't reach.

Guess I'm sleeping on the floor tonight.

International Higher Education

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I am upset.

One of my lifelong dreams has been to move to the UK. I've actually been thinking about this quite seriously, applying for jobs, and looking at housing accommodations.

Then it hit me. In the back of my mind, I couldn't imagine never going back to school again. (So much that I just used a double negative.) So why not go back to school in England?

I frantically began my search. I had always heard that schools in the UK were less expensive than ones in the US. But in my search, I learned that they were only cheaper for UK residents which, sadly, I am not. My sneaky mind automatically thought, there HAS TO BE a loophole. I did quite a bit of searching. No loophole.

I wish I was born in the UK. Oxford costs roughly $8,000 US dollars per year. Good ol' CBU, the second cheapest private school in Southern California costs roughly $20,000. Mind you, I'm only comparing tuition costs, not housing, fees, books, etc. Four years at Oxford: $32,000. Four years at CBU: $80,000. Are you depressed yet? I am.

People have always complained that the cost of living is higher in the UK. Who cares! I surely wouldn't mind paying a little more for a sandwich and a pair of jeans knowing that I saved about $48,000 on my higher education.

Solution? Jen and I have comprised a list.

Plan A: When Jen becomes a famous movie star (and makes lots of money), I will design her business cards and website and take her head shots. That, in turn, will make me famous with lots of money and then I wouldn't have to worry about paying the international student costs at a university in the UK.

Plan B: We sit here, penniless and not famous (unfamous? infamous?) and end up in an insane asylum.

Plan C: We come to grips with the fact that we were born in the US. Instead of becoming insane old maids, we become elderly roommates and live cooky lives like Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." We take up knitting and learning Japanese. After all, we'd need some wild endeavor to keep us sane.

Which plan would you vote for?

Pocket Square Digital Camera

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I'm kinda REALLY excited about my Christmas gift to myself this year. Why do I even get myself gifts? Because I have terrrrrrrrible sales resistance. Becca assured me that it was alright though, since I am exceptionally great at bargain shopping.

So here it is.














What is it, might you ask? A pocket square digital camera. Notice in the url, it is under the category of awesomeness. That's because it is. 

C'mon USPS! Please get this little thing to me before Christmas, or preferably before Dec. 21st so I could play with it on my arboretum photoshoot with the friendsies. Thanks.

Biblical Christianity

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Unbiblical Christianity says, What can I get out of this?, while Biblical Christianity says, How can I listen to His Word so that I am equipped to teach His Word to others?

Waking Ned Devine

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When you don't feel like love or hate,
war or peace,
action or fantasy,
THIS is the perfect movie for you.

Waking Ned Devine
My new favorite movie!

Something to Ponder

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"What are you going to do
with what I have given you?
How are you going to use your influence,
your leadership, and your resources
in the world around you?"

-God

Thirty days has September...

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...April, June, and NOVEMBER.

Yeesh! I hadn't realized December will be here TOMORROW. Sorry for the delay, folks. To download your December calendar, just click the link below the picture! It's sized for a 15-inch macbook pro, but will be a great wallpaper on any computer! :)

Enjoy!

Today.

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Today was SO outrageously out of whack that it deserves a blog post. I think my twitter account captured the wackiness though so I'll just compile a list of tweets that got the most feedback today.

• "May I have your first and last name please?" "Elizabeth Mousa." "Thanks Kelly, how may I help you today?" "Uh, I'm Elizabeth."
• The janitor just told me, "You're very pretty." Today keeps getting more and more interesting.
• the bathroom at work is FRIGID. i thought my hands were going to fall of when i washed them.
• a million little kids just came into my work. i need a decibel diffuser.

Ok, maybe it wasn't THAT bad. Guess you just had to be there. Or maybe the play by play on twitter just made it more dramatic.