Seven Wonders of the World

I got a forward this week that made me pause and think. Basically it is one little girl's perspective of the "Seven Wonders of the World." Here is her words with some pictures that I think illustrate them.

The Seven Wonders of the World

To see


To hear


To Touch



To Feel


To Laugh



And to Love

A Great Weekend

I had such a nice weekend at home.

Friday night I had a really nice dinner with some of my best friends and then had Sabbath worship with Katie and my family. It was lovely We went on my parents back porch and the stars came out as we enjoyed singing and listening to the violin and cello.


Sunday was Paul and Alicia's wedding! They got married at Whigs Meadow on the Cherohala skyway. It was a perfect day and a beautiful wedding.

Man Vs Wild

Sometimes we watch a show called "Man vs Wild." Basically this guy drops himself in hard to survive places like the desert, a glacier, or a lava field, and then shows you how to survive were you to unfortuantly find yourself in such a situation.

I ran across an article called 10 things You Need to Know on his website. It gives ideas of how to survive things like a shark attack, a snake bite, or hypothermia. Here is how you would survive the car filling with water.....


10 Things You Need To Know

When Your Car Goes Underwater You don't have to drive off a bridge to experience the terror of sinking underwater in a car. Flash floods can be just as deadly — a car could start floating away in only 2 feet of water. Either way, once the water starts pouring into your vehicle, you need to keep your cool while acting quickly. First, unfasten your seat belt. That may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised at the number of drowning victims who never unbuckled themselves. Then, before the electricity shorts out, roll down the windows. THAT'S RIGHT, ROLL DOWN THE WINDOWS This may seem a suicidal act as you sit in a sinking car. But the point is to equalize the water pressure inside and outside the vehicle. If your sinking car stays full of air, there's no way you'll be able to open the door. If you still can't get the door open and windows won't roll down, find a heavy object, say a flashlight, and break the glass. Don't try to kick out the windshield; you'll never be able to do it. Smash a side window — it breaks more easily if you hit an edge or corner — and swim out through it and head to the surface. YOUR LAPTOP WILL FORGIVE YOU Don't waste time trying to gather up valuable possessions. The laptop, the purse, the DVDs ... their time has come. Yours hasn't, if you use your head. More Things to Know 1. When It's a Bear, Don't Stare 2. When Your Car Goes Underwater 3. Staying Safe in a Tornado 4. When Lightning Strikes 5. If Your House Catches Fire 6. Out in the Cold? Avoiding Hypothermia 7. Lost at Sea? 8. That Sinking Feeling: Getting Out of Quicksand 9. Snake-Bit? 10. Taking on a Shark

So the paper's going really well....

This afternoon was supposed to be my time to work on my paper. It's going really well so far! I went rollerblading, took a shower, made lunch, finally started on the paper. Stared at it for awhile. Talked on the phone. Wrote about a page. Talked to my roommate. Started on the next page. Talked on the phone. Took a nap. Now I'm trying again! At this rate I'll be finished in no time......

Ah well. At least I'm working on it!

Brilliant Songs

So I just got Josh Groban's latest CD, and I must say that I LOVE several of the songs on this CD! The quality isn't as good on youtube, but here are links to my two favorite songs.

The first is "You are Loved" I think this is an amazing song if you think of it as God singing it to us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnKH2kdu__c

The Second is "So She Dances" I just love this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEGuAOHDKi0

Had a bad day......

So today I feel like that song that they play over and over again on the radio. I really just don't feel like myself today. I feel like I have very heightened emotions. So things that might only bother me a little bit, are bothering me a lot more. Ugh. I think I should go back to bed and try again.

Top Five Amusing Things at a Career Fair

1. People who say to me, "You don't have a very dark tan for living in Florida!" Hello. We do have some sort of winter here. It's not summer all year.
2. Other vendors who try to attract attention to their booths by doing things like hiring models to walk around in what looks like nothing but bathrobes bearing their logo.
3. People with a much smaller sense of personal space with strangers then I possess
   
4. Candidates who say "Orlando? Don't you guys have tons of hurricanes?" Hopefully for all of us living here that was just a bad couple years not a permanent trend!
   
5. People who say "Can I steal a pen?" Sure. Or you could just take one. You'd probably feel less guilty that way.

Nowhere to run

Every once in awhile I get the urge to make a change. I get discouraged or disappointed and I want to start over. I consider moving to Colorado or back home to Chattanooga. Because it feels like if I hit a roadblock, that I must be going the wrong way. But it seems more and more like God is teaching me to rest. Sometimes the hardest thing is to stay still. To wait on Him to make sense of things. For him to provide direction and perhaps build a bridge to an area that once seemed impossible.
I've started reading the book "Captivating." So far its been a good book, but there was one line in particular that really spoke to me. The idea is this. When Eve first took the fruit, she did it because she was convinced in her heart that God was holding out on her. How often do I make that same mistake? When things aren't going how I planned, its so easy to feel cheated. Like God is holding out on me. And so I try to regain control. I too take the fruit.

Thank God for His mercy and gentleness with our human hearts. Thank God that He has a good plan for our lives, even when we don't understand it.

Hi. I'm a doctor and a lawyer

I went to lunch with a couple of my work friends today and we happened to see a "local celebrity." For those of you that don't live here, he's an attorney that is both an MD and a JD and describes himself as such on his commercials. He says, "Hi. I'm Dr. so and so. I'm both a medical doctor and an attorney....ect..." Basically a "how would you like to sue YOUR doctor today?!" commercial. Which, if you'll permit me a side bar here, how does a medical doctor become a lawyer?? I mean really? How did you go from saving lives to sueing those life-savers? Okay, I'm done. So we saw this guy and were amused. My friend thought it would be funny if she pretended to choke on her food and then I ran away all suspicous like and she gasped out, "help me. I need a doctor AND an attorney!"

We had a good laugh about that one!

Mr. Kristen

A couple of the girls that I work with and I are listening to an audio book about how to hold important conversations effectively. One of the things we learned yesterday was that when adrenalin is flowing through your body more blood goes to your muscles groups and blood actually leaves parts of your brain. Which is why sometimes when you are emotional you say things that seem smart at the time but not so smart later, when all the blood is back in your brain.

Anyways. I discovered that I am not immune to this today when I received the following phone call.

Me: "Human Resources, This is Kristen."
Indian-accented Pharmacist: Silence
Me: "Hello?"
Indian-accented Pharmacist: Can I speak to Mr. Kristen please.
Me: (Already a bit annoyed having received an email from this person addressed to a Mr. Kristen.) "This is Miss Kristen"
Indian-accented Pharmacist: I received an email from Mr. Kristen asking me to contact him.
Me: I'm Kristen
Indian-accented Pharmacist: Something I don't remember because the blood is leaving my brain, but I think it had something to do with, can I please speak with Mr. Kristen.
Me: I'm Kristen. I'm a girl.
Indian-accented Pharmacist: Oh

Yeah. Thinking back on this dialogue, I probably should just asked what he wanted and used a deeper voice...... ;)

It's not that cold.....

This weekend I went to the beach with some of my friends despite weather predictions of below 70 degree temperatures....We thought, hey it's sunny out. It will be nice! Which, it was sunny and beautiful outside. However, we decided to play in the waves. It really didn't feel that cold at the time. But we were the ONLY people on the whole beach (did I mention that its Spring Break?) who actually got in the water! And we stayed in for a good while. Which was fun and kindof invigorating. However, when we got out it was REALLY cold. And we had drifted a very long way down the beach so we had to walk back against the wind. It took me awhile to warm up after that....

Still, it was very nice to spend time outside this weekend!

Washed Clean

Tonight I gave my lovely little kitty a bath. She was not very happy about this. But as most of you know, she is fluffly thing and as such tends to attract a lot of dirt. It was time for a bath. I hopped in the tub with her and turned on the water. It was amazing to see how much dirt came off of her. I also love how she smells and feels when it's all over.

I couldn't help but think that sometimes God must feel like that about us. He knows we are dirty and that he can make us look and smell so much better. But sometimes that involves going through the water. But God doesn't just throw us in and hope for the best. He jumps in with us and help us remove the dirt from our lives. And when we're out it's amazing how much better and cleaner we can feel.

Hymns

I really like the words of some of the older hymns. For example, I have not heard the actual arrangement for "I am Trusting Thee Lord Jesus" but I love the words so I created a simple tune to sing them to. I think it has a simple yet powerful message.

I am trusting Thee, Lord, Jesus,
Trusting only Thee;
Trusting Thee for full salvation,
Great and free.

I am trusting Thee to guide me;
Thou alone shalt lead;
Every day and hour supplying
All my need.

I am trusting Thee for pardon;
At Thy feet I bow;
For Thy grace and tender mercy,
Trusting now.

I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus;
Never let me fall;
I am trusting Thee forever,
And for all.

Travel

Most people who know me are aware that I love to travel. However this last trip was almost enough to keep me grounded for awhile...

It started out okay. I left for Toronto Thursday morning around 8:15. Our flights left on time and we even arrived into Toronto ar 15 minutes early at 3:15. However, that's when the fun stopped. We got off the plane and had to wait in a little room for reasons I'm still not sure that I understand. I heard mutterings of a work slow down and not enough workers.... However, after a few minutes we were let into the customs hall which was filled with people from all over. The lines moved rediculously slowly. We finally got through the first customs agent, but apparently my co-worker looked fine, but I looked suspicious. We were separated and I was sent to the "special" baggage claim and she got to go though the normal side.

The "special" section consisted of 20 guard stations and only 3 people working. There was a long line that I got to stand in before finally allowing my suitcase to be opened and answering questions like, "What business brings you to Canada? What do you pay for nurses in your company? Do you offer relocation?" Does this customs guy have a friend he wants to refer to me, or is he really just this interested in my job? Anyways. I finally got out of the Toronto airport and we made it to our hotel with just enough time to drop off our bags and head to the evening activity.

The job fair was good overall. I got to meet some of the recruiters from other Adventist hospitals, which was cool. It was very cold there. Around 5 degrees.

And then there was the trip back. We got through customs easily this time. But the problem came in our connecting flight in Orlando.

Apparently a great number of people wanted to fly from Miami to Orlando that day because we got an Airbus plane. This is the Europe size plane with 11 seats in one row. Our Airbus had a mechanical error and we all had to wait for about 2.5 hours before finally heading to Orlando.

Wow. I'm okay to stay out of the airports for a few weeks now.

On a positive note, I was able to go camping this weekend! I got back to Orlando with just enough time to hop in my car, drive quickly to Deland, and catch the last ferry to Hontoon island where I had a very nice time hanging out with friends. We had a nice warm fire. We played games. I made a s'more. So, overall it was a good weekend. :)

This is why people live in Florida!

So I went outside on my lunch break today and was greeted with sunshine, blue skies, and 70 degrees temperature. It is absolutely gorgeous outside!!! Anyone want to visit me?!

Why I rarely listen to the news

Why is it that the news is so often full of horrible depressing stories? I happened to listen for a couple minutes today and heard about a daycare worker who punished a child for crying by putting him in a COLD shower. What I would like to know is how this person got hired. I would think that people who work at daycares should like children and generally be good with them. Not put them in cold showers. Doesn't give you a lot of confidence in daycare does it?

Sunglasses

Sadly, my favorite sunglasses broke this weekend. Sunglasses are not the easiest things to fix so I'm now in the market for a new pair. Unfortunately, I have a difficult time finding some that look good on me and that I actually like. I don't want to buy boring sunglasses so that eliminates quite a few, but neither can I pull off the giant white ones. If anyone would like to go sunglasses shopping with me, let me know. It's always good to get another opinion seeing as those tiny long mirrors rarely do the situation justice.

A new level in culinary skills for Val and me!

Homemade CheeseSticks!!! Yes, they were very good. No we did not feel guilty. At least not much!

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families

I listened to this audio tape during my trip to and from Chattanooga. It's a great book and I recommend it. But in case you don't have the time, I wanted to share three of the examples Stephen Covey shared that really stuck out in my mind.

· You can climb the ladder of success only to get to the top and realize you had placed your ladder against the wrong wall. Choose what are the most important things in your life and than work toward success in these areas.

· Having a successful family is like managing a flight plan on an airplane. You set your end point and that move towards that goal. Sometimes you will get off course, but the flight plan will keep readjusting you to get to the goal.

· Relationships are much like bank accounts. You make deposits and withdrawals. Deposits are things like affirming words and keeping promises. They are also whatever the other person in the relationship considers to be deposits. You must find out what is important to them. If the bank account is full, an occasional withdrawal will not affect the overall account. But if the account is empty, the smallest withdrawal can send it into overdraft.

About me

Val inspired me with her list of 100 things about Val and Eli so I decided to try a list of 25 about me.

1. I'm from Chattanooga, TN. Yes, I know I don't have the accent.
2. I play the violin and the piano.
   
3. I spent a school year in France. It was an amazing experience, though difficult at times.
4. I'm solar powered.
5. Seattle, Washington is one of the worst places I could imagine moving in the U.S. See number 4.
6. I wish I were perfect.
7. But I'm not.
8. I like English Breakfast tea and Dr. Pepper.
9. I like to snowski and waterski
10. I miss living near good hiking.
11. I used to own a horse.
12. Sometimes people think that Heather and I are twins. I think it must be the hair.
13. I consider myself outdoorsy more than athletic.
14. I miss having Christmas, Spring, Fall, and Summer break.
15. For the most part I like my job.
16. I don't like to wake up before 8:00 in the morning.
17. I wear a lot of blue and pink colors.
18. I once took a night train to Italy by myself. One the way I actually heard people speaking in a weird sounding clicking language.
19. I am an affectionate person with people I care about.
20. I don't like scary movies
21. My Great Grandmother had her Masters degree and worked at Madison Academy in Nashville.
22. I get excited when I find good deals shopping. I feel much better about a purchase if it was a good deal.
23. I have moved 4 times in the last 3 years.
    
24. I like to eat at Mexican restaurants
25. Relationships are important to me.