Autumn Air & Spiced Cider Cups

(me and my sis)

It's a season of magic...a time of wishes and dreams...


Autumn wishes begin around September, when the air gets all crispy and so do the leaves...when you start hoping for that blissfully chilly air to invade your summery solace. That tingle-nose feeling when you breathe too much in - an overdose of oxygen. When you start to crave a mug of hot spiced cider...that's when the Autumn wishes start.

I wish I could feel those crunchy leaves under my toes, bare footed and all.

No shoes in the tangy air, just the colorful ground and my rolled up jeans.

I love not knowing if that squishy cold thing was a slug or just a water droplet...oh well. I'll find out later. I love wearing warm snuggly clothes and leaving the warm snuggly house to indulge in a greater kind of creation - His. Just to venture out into the unknown,

a field somewhere you didn't know existed, or a quaint little run-down cottage full of forgotten memories. You can find all sorts of little gems if you just take a walk and look. What's even more fun is when you take a walk and look with your spiritual eyes. You should try it sometime...A spirit focus vs. a soul focus. Watching out for the cool stuff God's doing in your everyday life.

I think everything is more beautiful in the fall...

Hills and plains,
Houses and chimneys,
Overgrown paths and tree lined roads,
Whimsical girls and conquering men...

Everything looks rosy through rose colored glasses, and everything looks magical in the most magical season of all.

The Humorous Truth

A few of my bloggy friends were doing this little survey, so as the dedicated blogger that I am, I decided to jump on the bandwagon! These are just funny little tidbits about me and my values...hopefully your opinion of me doesn't change too much after reading this :)


1. What time did you get up this morning?
6:30 am...Last day of work though!! One...last...day....... :)


2. How do you like your steak? Well done. I don't want to see what it looked like when it was still alive, so please...kill it. Kill it good. I would greatly appreciate it if the cow that I'm eating didn't just walk right off of my plate and back into the pasture that it came from.


3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Post Grad yesterday with my sister (who is in town for a bit) with Alexis Bledel and the beeeeautiful Zach Gilford. It was cute. Wait, he was cute. Wait, the whole movie was cute!!


4. What is your favorite TV show?
Umm, hellooooo! Gilmore Girls! In case you haven't noticed, the women in my family are all pretty much honorary members of the Gilmore family...oh yeah, that and the fact that random strangers on the street will come up to me and tell me I look uncannilly (is that a word?) like Rory Gilmore.


5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
Ireland, hands down. I've never been, but always wanted to. It is so beautiful there (I've heard) and I wanted to do a study abroad program in Cork for a while, but it didn't really work out. Now I'm going to New Hampshire!!!


6. What did you have for breakfast? Half of an un-fizzy dr. pepper. Yeah. I'm classy like that.


7. What is your favorite cuisine? It's a verrry close tie between Italian and Mexican. But I'm gonna have to go with my heritage here and say Italian.


8. What foods do you dislike? Anchovies, clams, oysters, dirt, cd's, drywall, candle wax, leather...you know.


9. Favorite Place to Eat? An understated, character-filled restaurant with food that tastes like the cook actually cares about what they put on the table. Mmm, those are the good ones.


10. Favorite dressing? The kind that makes an 80 calorie salad into a 350 calorie salad. What can I say, calories taste good!


11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? A green Toyota Camry...I call him 'Camo'. Let's just say we had a run in with a lightpost that left him dented and camo-taped for a few years. The name just stuck.


12. What are your favorite clothes? Layered winter clothing is de best!! I hate summer clothes because they seem just so...unimaginative, you know??


13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Ireland.



14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Half full! But who's measuring??



15. Where would you want to retire?
In the mountains somewhere...a peaceful log cabiney cottage with lots and lots of fireplaces, decks, and lookout spots. And maybe a body of water somewhere nearby with fishes in it. And a great kitchen to house all sorts of lovely old people parties.



16. Favorite time of day? I don't have a specific favorite time of day. I do have a favorite time of year though, Christmastime.


17. Where were you born? Upstate New York.



18. What is your favorite sport to watch? IIIIIII hate watching sports so much, I'd rather go iceskating in bare feet for 3 hours.



19. Bird watcher? Never tried!



20. Are you a morning person or a night person? Sometimes I'm both.



21. Do you have any pets? Not me specifically, but my family has two Maltese dogs. One puppy, one 2 year old. Gabe and Gunner.



22. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?
I'm frickin tired today??



23. What did you want to be when you were little? An astronaut because every other little girl I knew wanted to be a ballerina and I just had to be different from everybody else :) Well look where that got me? Now I'm a ballet teacher. Karma.



24. What is your best childhood memory? Eating noodles on the kitchen floor with my sister.



25. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog person all the way. But I don't really like animals in general lol



26. Are you married? ha. no.



27. Always wear your seat belt? Of course!



28. Been in a car accident? I don't think so.


29. Any pet peeves? Show off's, I'd say.


30. Favorite Pizza Topping? Hawaiian.


31. Favorite Flower? I like every flower God created!



32. Favorite ice cream? I like vanilla with Hersheys hot fudge and sprinkles on top!



33. Favorite fast food restaurant? DQ Grill and Chill :) It's got the sweet and the salty!!!



34. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Only once, people, only once.



35. From whom did you get your last email? Bank of America...



36. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Buckle.



37. Do anything spontaneous lately? How about my whole life??? Can I just put that?



38. Like your job? You mean the job I don't have?? Haha, today was my last day of work before moving to New Hampshire...



39. Broccoli? Yeah, for sure!



40. What was your favorite vacation? Oregon coast with the whole family. Ughhhh I yearn to go back!



41. Last person you went out to dinner with? The fam!



42. What are you listening to right now? Kim Walker



43. What is your favorite color? Purple.



44. How many tattoos do you have? None, but I imagine I'm soon to have a few!



45. Coffee Drinker? Only with my oxygen!


What time did you finish this quiz? 1:58 pm

Inspiration

Write and be happy, I always say... Don't write and, well, spend the rest of your days in a hellhole properly titled, "uninspired."

-Me

Closed Book

Well, my time here is almost finished and I only wish it lasted a few more months...or years. I feel so connected with this place, these people. I want to stay forever but I know that it wouldn't be in the right timing for me to do so...

"So off I go, back home to everything I wish I could turn around; If only the present could last forever..."

Miss you, sweet home. You will always be my first real home. I never thought I could be this sentimental about a plot of land. I hope it's like this for many plots afterward...Hmm, what could the future hold? That's the thing about the future, it's a closed book until we get there. But by then it's called the present.

74 is Waaaay Too Cold

This is sad, just sad.

I looked up the weather forecast for Tri Cities, Washington a few hours ago in a last minute effort to "prepare" for my one week vacation. And guess what I found??? At 9:10 pm when I arrive at the Pasco Airport it will be a whopping 74 degrees!

Are you kidding me??

I havent' felt 74 degrees since I walked past the refridgerated isle in Walmart a few months ago. 74 degrees is like the dead of winter to me. That's like 40 degrees below what I'm used to! Yes, it is 114 degrees here in Phoenix, Arizona...no lie. And that's not even all that bad.

So.

I'm bringing lots and lots of pants, sweaters, long sleeved shirts, and boots. Not going so far as to pack scarves and mittens, but trust me, I was *this* close.

Isn't it sad that I think 74 degrees is like the dead of winter?? Man I have lived here wayyy too long :)



Update: I'm headed off to the airport in about an hour to see all my precious lovins from Washingtonnn! Hopefully I don't end up sitting next to someone chatty on the plane, I hate talking to people when I'm flying. Throws off my groove.

Love you all, and have a fabulous week!

XOXO
Jourdan

Heavenly Architecture

"...The sufferings of this present timeare not worthy to be compared
with the glory that is to be revealed to us."
-Romans 8:18
from Brin at My Messy Thrilling Life today

My life is like a rollercoaster and I've said it before...it twists and it turns, and I don't know where I'm going until I get there. That's what it has been like ever since I moved from my hometown in Kennewick, Washington to the dry, hot Phoenix, Arizona. I hated it when I got here but I think God had a reason for it all...a divine design that was hidden from my eyes until His perfect timing determined that "it's time." Now I know.

Man, I'm looking back at my posts from when I first moved here and it's crazy how much I've changed. It is so humbling to re-read my grumbles and whines about coming here and then see how God has routed my life so perfectly for the near future. I would never be where I am at this moment...right now...if it weren't for this move. I'm sure of it.


All that to say...I am just having some of the BEST days of my life right now. My choices finally feel concurrent with His timing and it feels inexplicably perfect. My sister is home for a month (woohoo!), I put in my letter of resignation at work (which was a little bittersweet), I get to take a trip to Washington and visit all my good friends next week, and I get to start planning for my new life in New London...I couldn't be happier.

God works everything in His plan for the good of those who love Him.

...He really does...

I'm finishing up down here in Phoenix and I'll be off to New Hampshire towards the beginning of September!! That's a month :) Ah! I'm crazy excited.




"The light is breaking, the surface cracking...all the good is leaking through."

Thank You, Thank You Very Much!

I am a big girl now!!!

Translation: I just graduated from HIGH SCHOOL!

Ahh, finally. Sweet sweet freedom. Freedom from old cranky English teachers and smelly high school cafeterias. Freedom from the mean girls that look you up and down in the hallway..EVERY...SINGLE...DAY. Does it really matter that much to you what I wear on a daily basis?? Oh, and freedom from those mean, perfume sprayin, makeup cakin attendance ladies. I mean come on, if you hate your job that much you should really look into a career change. Seriously. Give a kid some candy every once in a while like those nice elementary school secretaries...they're so nice!

And really, I'm most happy to be done with the obligation. I hated having to turn something in every other day and risk the penalty of an "F" if I didn't. Ugh, I HATE that! Can't you just see that I work hard and give me an A automatically?

OH and non-multiple choice tests...I hated those too. Why can't every test have just three answers to choose from?? What will it be, A, B, or C? Pick one. You'll probably get it right. The end. Essay exams suck.

There goes my ranting...I'm a little out of breath, but on the whole feeling much much better. Ahh, sweet sweet freedom.

Oh and for my incredible perseverance and dedication to all things high school, I have earned myself a brand new MacBook Pro from the Apple store. I love it :) Thanks mom and dad!



I will be hearing about Streams School of Ministry within the next few days, so hopefully my next post will read something like "I Got Accepted, I'm Outta Here!"

But we'll see :)

XOXO
Jourdan

Streams School of Ministry

"Ahem, ahem, I haaave a little update for you......"

I have officially applied to the Streams School of Ministry Internship Program! I just sent in my application packet with a personal video, recent picture, my written testimony, and the filled out 8-page application form, a few hours ago. I really feel led to do this program, and I just can't wait to find out if I got accepted!

I am extremely excited for this :)

So anyways, I have to get crackin on my support letter, so I will talk to you all very soon! And don't worry, I'll let you know when I find out anything important...

PS. Feel free to keep me in your prayers as I embark on this exciting new journey! I would greatly appreciate it!
XOXO
Jourdan

The Truth About Writing

I'm not gonna lie to you, I've been ultimately burnt out on writing lately. I've had boring essays, long assignments, bull-sh** discussion posts, and work emails to write...and honestly, I don't think I can stand it much longer. Summer classes will do that to ya.

I'm burnt OUT.

So I'm sorry if it has seemed that I don't care about blogging anymore...I do. But I've been deceived to think that writing is always boring, no matter how you look at it. I've been blinded by the darkness of online school LIES!

I will try to be a better blogger, I promise.

But hold on for a few more days (*ahem, or weeks) while I finish my online classes and rip off that tattered black blindfold of lies to see the truth, if only for a few measly seconds...that writing is not boring, it only gets tedious when you don't like what you're writing about.

Right? Right.

:)

Bye Bye Blackberry

Well...goodbye precious, darling blackberry curve. I will miss you terribly.


Hello iPhone 3G!





I am now officially part of the biggest technology fad since cellular phones were invented.

Awesome.

Tingling Feeling

I get this weird tingling feeling in my heart before I write. It's like a little sign telling me I'm supposed to write something down. Is that random?? Sometimes it feels like I can't hold in all the emotions welling up inside of me; sometimes it feels like I might cry. It is such a good feeling when I finally write it all down, like I'm releasing all the pressure. Like it is just overflowing onto the computer screen.

I feel so relieved after writing that I've learned to recognize that tingling feeling. Sometimes I think it is a spiritual experience from God...a little warning telling me to get to a keyboard fast to jot it all down!!

I wish I could actually describe it to you, but it's so random I just don't even know how.



Overflowing...

Powerful...

Desperate...



Then relief.

Weird? Maybe. But I don't care...I think it's a "God thing" and I'm willing to be weird for Him :)

Top Twenty in my Playlist

If you don't already know this about me, I LOVE music. I love music so much I listen to it pretty much 24/7. I love making music too...So anyways, I created this playlist with my top 20 songs - as of today. Listen to them all! That's an order!! And there's a little something for everyone, I think.

However, like you have probably already discovered about me, I am not the most computer savvy person on the planet. Far from it, actually. So as it is a miracle that I even figured out how to create this playlist, you may have to click the 'pop out' button to adjust the volume. Pretty sure it automatically puts it on 'half-volume', and trust me, you want it at 'FULL'!! Enjoy my friends, enjoy!