New job + Creativity

Yesterday I started my new job at the Teacher Resource Library on-campus. It's only a 5-minute walk over there, and the job is exactly my cup of tea: organizing children's literature and reading a few books here & there as I go :) The library isn't open for customers right now since it's summer and all, but come August I will be giving tours of the library for class groups that come in, and checking out camera equipment for those who need it. It's a great job and I feel so blessed to have it! It's going to prepare me really well for teaching and since most of the teacher clubs and honor societies meet in our study area, I will probably end up joining a lot of those clubs!

I have discovered that I am a creative person. I guess I always have been, but lately I have this unquenchable need to do creative things. They make me feel more alive. They are great way of preventing boredom & I feel like I am doing something productive rather than just watching TV all day. I went through a cooking phase for a long time, and currently I am in the thick of a knitting phase. Here's a hat I recently knitted for Lars:



Next on my creative hobby to-do list (in no particular order):
*Drawing (with some really good markers and quality paper)
*Pottery
*Sewing
*Cake/cupcake decorating

I have been browsing on Etsy lately, and I really love seeing some of the creative work that other people are doing in the world. Here are a few of my favorites:






Lace Bag by tortillagirl













Set of 3 Micro Tiles by elementcaystudio











Cute drawing by ashley g.









Baby Skull Necklace by Michelle Chang Jewelry


















Inspiring photography by urbandesign











Penelope the Empathetic Monster knitting pattern by dangercraft









So....what are YOUR latest obsessions?

First week back

I've been back in Phoenix for about a week now. Funny story...as soon as I got my baggage and gave Lars a big hug upon his arrival, we walked out the sliding doors into the parking garage and WHAM! A huge blast of oven-hot Phoenix air came at me and Lars said my eyes got huge. I said "Oh. Em. Gee." I was just not used to it after 2 weeks of cloudy weather in the 60's.

But I have gradually gotten used to it. It actually feels sorta nice to walk out in the hot weather after being indoors in the A/C all day. I have also been getting back into the swing of things with my life in Phoenix. On Friday, I saw Eclipse for a second time with Lars and our friends Alyssa and Phill. Then, the next day we went to night church, saw his parents, and then out to the Cheesecake Factory with a big group of people celebrating our friend's birthday. On Sunday we had a more chill day, but since it was 4th of July we decided to go over to Jon and Cherie's apartment for some yummy BBQ and a rousing game of "Settlers of Catan", a game kinda like Risk. We all got really into it and made enemies, it was hilarious!

A book that I read recently and really enjoyed was "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner", lent to me by Heather, a really nice girl in my bible study. For all you Twilight fans out there, it's a must-read because it shows a different perspective than Bella's on the events that happen in "Eclipse":Now I better get back to studying for my big test this weekend. I keep getting distracted because of reading the above book (in one sitting), working on knitting a hat for Lars, cleaning my apartment, and a plethora of other excuses. There's always something ;)

Seattle Trip, Part 2

Here I am sitting at the kitchen table at my mom's house, listening to Michael Buble on repeat (it's my brother's favorite music lately). I miss my family terribly when I'm away so I want to soak in the feeling of spending a lazy sunday afternoon at home.

My trip has been pretty amazing so far. I have been seeing old friends pretty much nonstop. Yesterday I went to Seattle with my friend Erin, who I have been friends with since I was about 12. We met up with our friend Shannon downtown for lunch & shopping. I love seeing the Seatte skyline, it's such a comforting and nostalgic sight for me:


The day before we also visited her apartment in Tacoma and stopped for a tasty treat at Frisko Freeze:


And today I got the privilege of going to church at LifeWay, which was my childhood church growing up. I saw my friend Shelby there. We have been friends since we were 8 or 9 years old. Afterwards there was a baptism at Dash Pointbeach, so we went straight there after service. Our friend Juliet's sweet baby Josiah was there. Here he is wth Shelby, playing with her car keys and eventually dropping them in the sand (haha):



The little girl being baptized was a 10-year-old girl named Lexi, who I have known since she was a 6-month-old baby. My family actually considered adopting her at one point, so she was over at our house all the time, but my parents eventually decided that they couldn't handle another child at the time. Still, this little girl is very close to my heart (an almost-sister if you will) and so it was great to see her get baptized today and commit her life to the Lord forever. Here she is with Billy Arnold, the lead pastor.

I've had a great trip so far. And I have gotten quite good at knitting. Here is my mom and I's stash of yarn, mostly made up of free yarn that she gets from her work at a yarn supplier, which I call the "Rainbow Factory":
I finished my second project, which is a phone cozy. Now I am working on a hat for Lars. I really miss him :) I will see him on Thursday, so until then I am enjoying my limited time in my hometown of Federal Way!

I'll leave you with a picture of the wonderful little lion, Cato:

Seattle So Far

I have been in Federal Way for the past few days now, visiting my dad, mom and brother. Federal Way is a relatively large suburb south of Seattle, Washington and it's where I grew up. When I was 16 I moved to Phoenix because of my dad's job, then graduated from a Phoenix high school and ended up at ASU, where I still am to this day. My parents moved back to Washington, and so now I visit them during summer and winter breaks. It is sometimes strange to go back to my hometown after so many years away and after so much has changed. But I still love the green trees, the rainy days where you can sit inside and read a book and take a nap, the amazing sightings of Mt.Rainier (when its not too cloudy), and the hip, arts-oriented culture.

On Father's day visited the church where I grew up (Lifeway) and reconnected with old friends there. In the evening I attended Mars Hill with my dad and brother, which is a church that I love for it's truth-filled messages, sound biblical doctrine, and amazingly put-together visual and musical arts. The main preaching pastor, Mark Driscoll, is a salt-of-the-earth guy who I respect so much, and so does Lars. In fact, you could say that we are a little obsessed, and think he is the speaker of our generation, much like Billy Graham was for the last one ;) We watch his sermons online while we're in Phoenix, so it's always surreal to be sitting only 8 rows away from him as he preaches a sermon in real life. What was even more surreal was a year and a half ago when Lars and I actually got to meet him and shake his hand, but that's another story.

Here's my dad and I, sitting in a cute little crepe cafe in Ballard, waiting for the service to begin. We had some yummy strawberry crepes and french-press coffee.

In other news, yesterday I got all 4 of my wisdom teeth out. Why would I get my wisdom teeth out while on vacation, you ask? Because it had to be done, and I would rather get it over with in the summer than during the school year. The surgery went miraculously well. I was very nervous because the surgeon had said that I was at risk for temporary or permanent paresthesia, which is numbness of the lip or chin, because of how close one of my wisdom teeth was to my jaw nerves.

Amazingly, I have no numbness and the Lord answered my prayers that my nerves would not be affected at all. Additionally, I am hardly in any pain and haven't needed to take any of my meds. I have no swelling or complications, and the operation took only 30 minutes. I must have had an excellent surgeon who knew what he was doing. Here is a picture of my wisdom teeth before they were taken out. You can see how close the one on the right lower side was to the nerve (the faint double-line, do you see it?) Sorry to creep any of you out with an x-ray of my mouth :) I just wanted to show you what a close call it was and how happy I am that everything went perfectly!

I have learned 2 great new hobbies since I have been here in Seattle, one of which is KNITTING! :) I seriously love to knit, it doesnt take long to learn and it is so therapeutic and fun! My mom taught me how to knit, because she is the graphic designer for a yarn supplier and so she is a pro at knitting now! I finished my first project last night, which could either be a washcloth, oven mitt, or anything you want!

My next projects will be knitting a phone cozy for my new phone (an enV touch), a hat for Lars and a sweater for my favorite little chihuahua, Stella!

The second hobby that I am starting to get into is geocaching, basically a worldwide treasure hunt. There are millions of geocaches hidden EVERYWHERE, all you have to do is get a GPS and try to find the coordinates. My mom and I found one in Olympic View Park the other day. All you have to do is go to this website to find a geocache near you (the website also explains what geocaching is, if my explanation didn't quite cut it for you).

Those are my Seattle adventures so far....stay tuned for more updates :)

Food Love.

I'm realizing that this might as well be a food blog, because this summer my main hobby has become cooking/baking and I post pictures of what I make on practically every post. Today is no exception. I wanted to show you the results of the "gourmet" dinner that Lars and I made together for our 3-year celebration. Rather than going out somewhere expensive, we went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on yummy groceries.We had asian-style marinated chicken breasts with an apple, carrot and pomegranate seed spinach salad that he made, and of course some sweet tea :)
And yesterday I experimented with making flat bread, which I like to call "bible bread" because it's the ingredients that people have been using for thousands of years to make bread: yeast, flour, olive oil, and salt. And a tiny dash of sugar. That's it. I love the simplicity of it.


I made the little indentations with my fingers right before popping it in the oven. It gives it some rustic appeal.
And what posting about home-made bread would be complete without a low-quality snapshot of the chef eating her creation?

There, now I can go to bed :)

Studying and Baking

I am officially signed up to take the AEPA (Arizona Educators Proficiency Assessment) for Elementary Education this summer. It is a 4-hour long, 100-question test that determines whether you are certified to teach Elementary Education. Basically, the SAT for teachers. I have to take 3 portions of the AEPA before I graduate: the Elementary Education, the Special Education and the Professional Knowledge portions. I am taking a leap of faith by taking it this summer, which is much earlier than most of my fellow teaching majors will be taking it. However, I don't think I will be learning much more about elementary education at this point in my program, and so I might as well take it now when it's fresh in my head (normally, people wait until right before they graduate).

My point in all of this is to ask for you to pray for me. I have exactly a month to study for this test, and if I don't pass, I will have wasted $100. I would ask for your prayers that I could study effectively and pass this test on the first try. Once I pass, I will have peace of mind knowing that I am one step closer to becoming the awesome teacher that I want to be!!! :) (Oh, and if you are wondering, I still haven't decided what grade to teach yet. Anywhere from Kindergarten-4th grade is fine with me!)

Today my friend Rachel and I made wonderful mini-pizzookies, similar to the one's that they serve at Oregano's or BJ's here in the valley. They are basically soft, gooey chocolate chip cookies covered in vanilla ice cream. You have to try them! Here are our results:

P.S. Let me know if you know of any good studying strategies!

The lovely month of June.

June is upon us! I love June because...

It is the month of Lars & I's anniversary.
It is the heart of summer and lazy days.
It is the time that I usually go on some sort of vacation (such as Seattle this year!)
It is another month that I get to spend living the wonderful life God has given me.

Here's my June itinerary:
June 5 & 6th (this weekend) - Babysitting with Lars for the kids in his host family while their parents are out of town.
June 6th through 16th- Hardcore studying for the Elementary Education portion of the AEPA (Arizona Educator's Proficiency Assessment) that I'll be taking in July. I have to take 3 different parts of it to become certified as a teacher. I feel confident that I'll be able to pass it on the first try, but it will definitely be a challenge :)
June 17th - Leaving for Seattle
June 21st - Getting my wisdom teeth out. I'm actually looking forward to it because I'll be pampered by my mom and I'll be able to drink smoothies all day :)
June 24th- Back to PHX

I will leave you for now with some yummy ham& cheese hot pockets that I made from this recipe.


Mmm, don't they look heavenly! The dough was too sticky so I didn't get to roll them up as prettily as I would have liked, but they are definitely delicious and they can be easily frozen to re-heat for lunch at a later time.