Tired

Hello all. It is thursday night and i'm pretty beat. i went in to work this morning at 8 and was there until 5 this evening so i'm quite tired. i was supposed to get off at 3, but offered to stay when a girl called in sick. i figured i would use these extra hours since i'll be getting off a little early tomorrow to head home. i'm excited to be in lynchburg this weekend, and really excited for nina's wedding!!

we had our team meeting last night to kind of plan out what young life is going to look like at spotswood this semester and it was a really encouraging time together. we had a good time talking about different ideas and sorting things out. we're going to start club in two wednesdays. it is really crazy and a little (lot) sad to think that this is our last semester leading together.

we're trying to start our house bible study back up, finding a time for 7 people is so hard! we're going to read a book called humility this semester (it's pretty short so it probably won't take too long) and it looks really good. i'm really excited because it is such a good time together and really fulfilling.

for my reading this week i am working on a book about a native american, i don't remember if i've written about it before. i'm not fully into it yet and i'm not sure if it's becaue i jsut havn't gotten far enough in, or if i just don't really like it. i think i'm like 65 pages deep, so i'll read a little more and see waht i think. i already have my next (few) book(s) waiting. i picked up one at barnes a noble yesterday by steinbeck. i really enjoy looking at all of their employee recomended books and this one had a great recomendation. he said that is was one of the best books he's ever read and he couldn't put it down. it's called east of eden.

alrigth well that's all for now, i'll see most of you this weekend!

FREEZING!

Well, we just got back from rockbridge, and let me just say... it is SO COLD! it is in the teens here in harrisonburg and was definitely the same at rockbridge all day.

i worked yesterday morning 8-2 and then came home and ate some lunch and then drove down to meet up with the rest of the girls at rockbridge. they had gone down in the morning to get trained and run the tower and swing during the day. i didn't get down there till almost five and they were finishing up everything, so then we went and they got changed for dinner. this weekend was urban weekend so there were groups from new york, louisville, norfolk, and a few others. it was really cool to go to club last night and see how different it was than a typical club that i am used to (a bunch of middle to upper class white kids haha). then last night we hung out with eachother and a few of the other people who were there to help. we played a fun dice/card game and mafia which was fun. they had brunch today so we slept till about 9:30 and then went for food. free time wasn't until 1:15 so we got to hang out and nap until then. then it was time to brave the 20 degree weather for a few hours. a few kids came over to ride the swing and climb the wall, but not many. we closed up around 4 and then went and played cards some more until dinner. after steak dinner we hopped in the car and headed back to the soupbowl. it was a really fun weekend!!

now some of us are off to the movie theater to see a new movie (supposed to be pretty freaky) called cloverfield. later!

Snow Day!

It's a winter wonderland outside! The tea room was closed today so i didn't go to work. she called right as i was getting out of bed to say that she didn't think it was worth it to open today, so i got back in bed! county schools were cancelled pretty early, and then they cancelled jmu classes at 9. a bunch of us from the house went for a walk with duke around the neighborhood to enjoy how pretty the snow was. now i think we're going to hang around, probably eat ramen for lunch and watch movies all day. yessssss. we took some pictures that i'll add on here later!

i'll probably also do some ready, i got a new book last night that i think will be good. it's called the heartsong of charging elk. it is historical fiction about a native american who was part of the wild west show. he traveled to france with them and was left there, so he has to figure out how to live and stuff like that. i just finished the kite runner, which i really enjoyed, and i also read atonement over break. i also read the velvet elvis by rob bell which was really good and i think everyone should read it. now i am reading a john piper book called when i don't desire god and it's all about joy. i have been putting everyone's barnes and noble gift certificates to good use!

Do work!

Hey everyone. the title of this blog is a shout out to the show rob&big. this is a television show about rob, who is a pro skateboarder, and big, his bodyguard/best friend. our friend paul has the first two seasons on dvd and has come over for the past two nights to watch it. big black says "do work" about pretty much everything, and i love it :-D

do work also applies to the fact that today was my first day at work! it was pretty fun, and i think it's going to be a great place to work. all of the employees were great and super nice. i learned how to get the place ready in the morning (and i think i'm on my own for that tomorrow so i'm hoping i really did learn it!), how to make tea, and work the register. it is such a cute little place, if you are ever in harrisonburg i recommend it! they have a great salad with a homemade poppyseed dressing, yummm. i was pretty worn out from all of this learning so when i got home around 3:15 i got in bed to do some reading, but then woke up about an hour later after having passed out haha. i go back again tomorrow at 8.

since this weekend is a long one (due to martin luther king day), we are trying to come up with something fun to do as a house (i will have to work on monday, so i might have to leave early). we had talked about going to a cabin in the mountains that is owned by a family at church, but it is already booked so that's out. we have also been talking about going to rockbridge (the young life camp in lexington) to work the ropes course for the weekend. when yuo do ropes you are fed and stay for free, so it is totally worth it! plus you get to serve high school students and hang out with cool people all day.

now it's off to hang out for a little while before prisonbreak (another great television show) come on!

First Week Back

Well, i've been having a great time back in harrisonburg. On tuesday afternoon/evening i got in the car with amy and street and drove down to raleigh to stay with amy's siter (sarah) over night. it wasn't a bad trip, took about 4 or so hours. We stopped to see street's cousin which was fun and then when we got to sarah's house we hung out and watched an episode of the office before going to bed. We got up at 7ish and headed to durham (by way of starbucks) to chick fil-a. we arrived at said chick fil-a at about 8:15. as we were getting out of the car the chick fil-a lady walked over and said that there were already 120 people signed in..... ahhhhhhh. (only the first 100 are guaranteed coupons, and all those over 100 are entered in a raffle). so after a few (actually lots) minutes o debating about what to do, we decided taht it's wasn't worth it and got back in the car. seeing as how it was 8:30 in the morning and nowhere was open/not much to do, we went and sat in wendy's for about 1.5 hours and drank coke. we then went to the mall and walked about/ate lunch and then went to sarah's house to get our stuff. we left raleigh around 2:30 and drove to lynchburg. we ate dinner wtih mamma and daddy and hung out in the lbc for the night. we got back to harrisonburg on thursday aroud lunch time.

when i got home i checked my email to find a message from the lady at mrs. hardesty's tea room, where i had turned in an application on tuesday. she said that she wanted to talk to me about working there, so i went in on friday morning and we talked, and i'm starting work on monday!

friday morning i also had bible study, it was really great to get back in touch with all of the girls, and valeta. i always come away so uplifted and encouraged. (i am in a bible study with other girl young life leaders that is lead by an amazing woman named valeta).

last night after leadership i went out to dinner with sarah and some of the people from her young lfie team which was fun, and then came back home and there was a bonfire in the works.

today amy, michelle, melanie, kat, and i got up and went on a really fun hike up near west virginia. it was a beautiful day, nice crisp air, and warm sunlight. the rest of the afternoon was very laid back, i took a nice nap and hung around the house. now some people are hanging out watching some tv. guess i'll go join them! love to all

Back in Action

Well here i am back up in harrisonburg! i came back yesterday afternoon after grabbing lunch with mamma and greg. it's fun to be back with everyone, we had a good time last night hanging out, and we all had dinner together which was really fun. today i am on a job finding quest, so we'll see how that goes. I have a few places that i know i want to go, and we'll see after that.

this afternoon/evening street, amy, and i are heading down to raliegh to spend the night with amy's sister before going to durham tomorrow for a chick fil-a opening :-D hey i'm using my free time wisely i would say!!

here are some pictures from christmas time:

woops

alright well my mom was expressing some bitterness that i had not updated recently, and that it should no longer say that the varelas are on their way. i have had a great time at home for the past few weeks and i'm not quite ready to go back to school... or should i say harrisonburg yet. i'll write more later! love