Fun Never Stops!

Last night was 80's bowling... and it was fantastic. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one.Timot's a stud. Diamond stud, fohawk, suit jacket, and ripped up jeans- improved his bowling game by at least 32 %I'm not sure how Gabby did it, but her poof was at least three inches high- Best hair award went to her. Best dressed went to Alisha- who we all think secretly teleported here straight from the 80's- most likely through the mystical standing stones- as we all know were constructed for time travel. Sharon was hot. She had a onesie! Does it get any better than a stripey tube top that turns into shorts!? I might have to bring that one back with me to the nursery. Simple and efficient dressing is back in folks. As are florescent tights. Maple Leaf won't know what hit 'em. Best 'leg in bowling balls' shot went to Ree. It was a self- proclaimed award. :)Hair Spray-- great dance movesGirl on left: It is either Beth, or Elaine from Seinfeld. She looked great. Girl on right: Megan- Queen of Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution!

God's Green Earth

The grounds at Broughton CastleMy birthday party!Stourhead on Easter breakStone Henge

22

How is it that my blogs always try and fail to put into words just how incredible the human mind is? You'd think I'd just give up, but then again, what's the fun in that. I'd rather have another go.

The amazing thing about the mind is that noone else can get in it, and words can't always escape it. What I mean is, I am sure the right words are somewhere in there that will quite accurately describe the sensation of the mind, and yet they are either unwilling, or unable to get out onto the screen. Jerks.

My mind is stubborn. Whatever is on it, whether I want it there or not, will continue to be there until my mind makes up its mind to dismiss it. And if you are thinking this is a fairly detached way of looking at ones mind- that's exactly right. Because that's the other thing... my mind tends to function without me really being present. This is that phenomenon of daydreaming. But about the mind being stubborn? I only say that because while it floats around in circles- it kindly gives me one thing to think about.

So yes- I have become the unwilling servant of my master mind, who has continually been hounding me to write another blog. And so, while I laboriously work on this end, it somehow feels free to wander around a little, starting with this room, picking up the sounds from Tiger, taking a giant leap to Canada, thinking about family, then Redeemer, then my nephews, friends- all quite vague really, and very distracting. But that's alright- then it remembers Easter, which reminds it of occasions, which reminds it that it is my birthday tomorrow, and I'm turning 22.

When wandering, my job gets harder. I write things that fill up space, but say nothing. Like that last sentence. I often worry about what goes on inside my head. For example, this Easter, Mark, Tim, Heather and I were out for a midnight stroll through Stourhead and tapped into our childhood forms of entertainment- nearly forgotten. We turned the full moon into our sergeant hero, the grass into a battle field, marked the manor house as our only source of freedom, and tried to beat the villanous censor lights to achieve victory. At first it was funny- we recognized how absurd we looked creeping across the grass under the full moon at midnight.. but then it became strangely real. When a sudden movement triggered the lights, we freaked out and went sprinting back across the lawn. We strategized. We took painful efforts to reach the mansion. Tim and Mark cut up their hands and knees while painfully crawling across the gravel path to reach the wall. The lights became bullets, a sure sign of sudden death. Call me crazy, but the mind can play weird tricks on you...
But it's a wonderful thing to realize that the art of make-belief is not a lost art. One wonders these things when turning 22. Things like- after 3 1/2 years of university, should my brain be a bit more developed? Do I still think like a child? Is my mind maturing?
My thoughts on this point are inconclusive.

So Easter was fantastic. 13 people in a mini-bus for three hours will obviously be fantastic, and staying in a stable yard surrounded by horses and chickens is also up there. The grounds were incredible, being landscaped to perfection around a beautiful lake, complete with islands inhabited by swans, ducks, and our very good friends- the Canadian geese. The rhodo's and daffodils worked their magic in sprucing up the place with incredible colour, and the sheep, lambs, and open grass fields generated a very peaceful pastoral feel- quite fitting for an Easter retreat. We made a trip out to the Stonehenge on Saturday, but for the most part, we entertained ourselves at Stourhead, which was fine by me. The girls had their own private cabin jammed with bunkbeds to accomodate our party of 10, and the boys had an equally large room for 2. That being said- we fully enjoyed our sleeping quarters, and stayed chaste in the process.

Top few things from the weekend
-Sharon led us in Chapel on good Friday. Isaiah 63. It really hit home.
-hopping around Stonehenge for an hour because I lost circulation in my toes. Heather and I are available if anyone would like coriagraphed dance moves
- Easter Sunday at the Anglican church
- Talent Night!
- sneaking up on baby sheep while they were sleeping, so I could pet their wooly backs
- Easter dinner/ easter egg hunt
- nice drive home with my good friends Simon and Garfunkel

Well folks- it's 12 am in England. I am maturing as we speak. Let's hope being 22 holds as much excitement as the past year- and I really have no doubt it will. Hope for the future holds a million possibilities, and excitement is bound to be caught up in there somewhere. It hasn't failed me yet!

Cheers to everyone back home! Love and miss you lots. Especially today.

I like this picture.

One- because I started a mini stampede by scaring then scattering this small herd-

And two- It captures the ratio of guys to girls on this trip. Redeemer's ratio seems to follow me.

I am lazy

I just want to direct people who are interested in my life to Laura, Jodi, and Sharon's blogs. They have quality pictures, and Laura has some funny videos from the weekend. That's it.

Have a great Easter everyone! I'm off to Stourhead tomorrow morning- 13 people in a mini-bus for a couple hours should be one heck of a good time- and I'll be back on Monday.

Cheers, and blessed Easter!

Caliban

The past week has been a blur. Somewhere between fighting with a persistent head cold while trying to wrap my head around Caliban's schizo personality, all the pent up frustration, days of memorizing lines, and carried over exhaustion from spring break spilled out onto the stage on Friday night. How did the production go? Well, the answers vary.

For those of us who like this sort of thing, it was a good night. For those of us who have never acted in our lives, nor ever wish to do so again, just getting through the thing- regardless of cutting off speakers, forgetting lines, needing 9 prompts, and laughing on stage during a final song.. was a challenge. I suppose the difference in attitude was most notable at the end. Those who thrive off drama may have felt disappointed with the few screw ups, tough crowd, and train wreck ending...whereas a few others came out of their singing "Hallelujiah! I made it through alive! Yes, I suppose I could be lumped in with the latter group on that one. BUT, it is over. And that is one more thing I can cross off my list of things I have never done. Wow, singing in public and acting on stage. Scary stuff.

But a week has passed since our production, and I have realized that the only things I remember from the past week are the social highlights with the group. School? Not so much.
I have come to the conclusion that spring makes people want to play. Generally, I love to play all the time, but spring just puts people over the edge. And so the field across the street has become our stomping grounds-hosting one game of American Football, one game of competitive soccer, one hilarious chicken fight, an aerobics session led by Laura Loney, many pre-game warm up laps, and one fantastic game of soccer baseball. All of which are done in the rain- because the rain tends to tag along with spring quite regularly. But no worries. We are told this builds character ( this "character" I'm building seems to be aimed at my nose, with the revival of an old head cold) Nevertheless- believe me people, we have fun.

So the other night was boggle night. Leave it to a bunch of English majors to spend their friday night spelling words competitively. It's great. We met at Sharon's, had a glass of wine, then wandered down to Gabby's place, where we discovered her secret identity as host genius. For poor students, the sight of a fruit and veggie platter is like stumbling onto a gold mine. Mango's, bananas, cantaloupe, strawberries... does it get any better? Then broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, and celery. With dip! Yum.
So along with the food, came boggle, catch-phrase, dutch blitz, a good movie, and a great conversation until about 1:30 am. I won't rehash the conversation, but it was an eye opener to the many view points there are concerning love and leadership. That was a gross generalization of what was discussed, but there's a taste. Very enjoyable.

Yesterday we met at the field again, ran like idiots in the rain, warmed up with some hot chocolate and whipcream at Laura's while watching "I am Sam" then decided we should all get together at Jodi's for a pancake/sausage/bacon/home fries dinner. This was a great idea, until I realized the ingredients were scattered all over Charlbury, which involved me running in the rain for about 40 minutes to round them up, and by the time I made it back to Jodi's with the goods, I was soaked to the bone. The cold is officially back. I don't know how to get the message across that it wasn't missed. But anyways, the meal was fantastic, followed by a night at the pub with my hostess Beccy and her friends.

Fellowship people. I honestly couldn't live without it. Speaking of which, Church starts in 15 minutes, so I better get started with my walk in the rain.

This is a shout out to everyone back home that although I'm having a great time, I still love and miss everyone back home!! (Hint to my mom to keep me updated on family news! And the same hint goes for the friend department too :)

These are for you mom, to give you an idea of where I'm living, and what the house looks like :) Here's Tim and Tiger in the kitchen
Living room- below is dining room Kitchen Laundry room/ complete with everything you need to make tea/coffee and bagels The Lane I walk everyday to get to my house!The backdoor to the house One of the beautiful views of the Cotswold countryside- about 2 seconds from my housePeeking over the wall to watch some little league soccer
Hope that helps! Cheers!

This is the Vatican- where the Pope comes out and addresses the masses. Unfortunately, we just missed him. This was meant to be a "where's Ree" picture. I didn't blend with the foliage as nicely as I'd thought

Another one of those "where.." pictures. Haha..I'm such a loser.

This is the site where Julius Caesar was murdered. I'm not sure why, but the place has become some sort of safe haven for cats- there had to be at least 50. Ew.The Mouth of Truth: as legend has it, you put your hand in there, and if you tell a lie, your hand will be bitten off. Clearly, Laura felt she had nothing to worry about.