the key to happiness

so i love lap swimming. but i keep losing my goggles.
goggles. such a funny word, such an annoying necessity for swimming. they never fit my face right. ever. water always gets in, no matter how tight i squeeze the cords, i have cut off circulation before until today...i bought kids swimming goggles.

bright pink ones.
and i went swimming today and it WORKED! i finally figured it out....i have a tiny tiny childs face on a grown ups body...is my face small? did no one ever tell me i have a small child-like face?

Also...on my way back from swimming i saw a man riding his bike with no hands...just riding along..sitting upright and i have to say i am so jealous of people who can do that....how do they do it? who can teach me? to quote a famous song...i can ride a bike with no handlebars...HOW?

look at how happy these people are...this is the key to my happiness

there's something about the ocean

Summer session ONE is done...I finished last Wednesday and then on Thursday I slept until 1 and then went back to bed at 3 to wake up at 6. I think I was exhausted. I have had a nice little break and now summer session TWO begins.

But a lot has happened since summer session one ended and summer session two began. r at least from the last time i posted.

my plant

died.


US Airways lost my luggage. forever. And in it..they lost Sammy...RIP Sammy. RIP.



i always said there is not much of my material possessions i would be truly upset if i lost...except Sammy and a couple of my pictures. I thought the only way i would lose these items would be if i ever had the unfortunate event of a house fire or something. but no.. US Airways has ruined my life.

Also, I watched The Dark Knight and Transformers on our "movie marathon day" so much for a marathon day.....i dont know how i could watch more than two movies in one sitting unless i was sick and dying in bed. Dark Knight was awesome, transformers was overrated

lets see...the roommates of the JACK house had a crazy party and almost had the cops called on us...we were playing charades and telephone....yes we throw some crazy parties.....and by crazy party, it was a very random assortment of random philly friends who randomly showed up to scream at the top of their lungs on a friday night.





oh i went to the jersey shore for the second time in my entire life. i love the ocean. it is so big and makes you feel so small. The whole time I layed on the beach, loving life, a memory of my friend Christa

singing with her beautiful voice this song by Ten Shekel Shirton the beach while climbing on the Jetty with Brandon at Cape Henlopen:

Something about the ocean
Makes me rise up and praise
Something about the heavens
Makes me stand in awe again
Something about the sunrise
Reminds me of Your faithfulness
Something about the ocean
And I'm lost in love again

The other thing that came up was this little gem


i looked at this picture and i read through my blog since new years and all I can think it where did the last 6 months go? I never thought so much could change in such a small amount of time. But is has, some good, some bad, some irrelevant...but change none-the-less. It is hard to imagine what life would be like without change, but sometimes its hard to keep up when life keeps moving things around in your life too. i need time to process. i need time to evaluate the change, and by the time i do that, everyone else has moved on.

i'm tired of playing catch up...maybe one day

Getting drunk?

researching for my alcohol addiction powerpoint i found a great quote from one of the websites....for all you people drinking this weekend, remember:

"The body metabolizes alcohol at the rate of about one drink per hour. Does drinking strong coffee or taking a cold shower have an effect on the person who is drunk? The answer is yes — the result being an alert, cold, and wet drunk. Time, and only time can sober a person up."

99 balloons

Today while I was making my taco casserole...awesome by the way, I turned on the telly to see ol Oprah makin people cry...which I never do until now.........
she showed this video and i actually legit cried. enjoy. ha



and to cheer you up....a video my advisor sent me today

my oh so fun week

Well I am OFFICIALLY done with "classes" for summer session one. I have projects, papers, and a final until June 25 though and then summer session two begins on June 29...can i get a break please?
tonight after all of our big presentations some people from class went out for dinner and drinks and my favorite quote of the night would have to be
"4 shots of tequila please"
"its a MONDAY"

anyway...lots of work to be done before I leave for Chicago/Detroit!! My cousin is getting married this saturday and I was telling my mom today that I was stressed about traveling during finals week, but I thought about it and now i am super excited! Its pretty much my only vacation all summer (to detriot! aWESOME) and i get to stay in a hotel (my FAVORITE) and not pay for things all weekend (thanks mom and dad!)

Tomorrow is a hair cut and ORCHESTRA with Josh in our box seats! AHH SO EXCITED!!!! so many fun things, so many papers are getting in the way...

stu's song....soundtrack of my life.

laurens breaking it down...and shes going to kill me for posting this

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3611583720375768125

its always sunny in Philadelphia

Today was a glorious day for so many reasons. After work this morning at around 11, I went for a bike ride on the schuylkill river and listened to This American Life about classifieds, it was a beautiful show and it made me smile while I biked along the river.

Next I headed to the Italian Market to get this sandwich I have been craving from Gleaners Cafe on 9th and Montrose. And what do I see...Its always sunny characters..they were taping in the Italian Market! LOVE IT

Later I come home to my roommates and the conversation goes as follows:
Roommate A: Charlie pooped on the floor when I was babysitting him
Roommate B: NO he didnt! When I was little I was in the tub and I van vividly remember watching this brown thing float by me and I was so confused why my dad made some comment and lifted me out of the tub..I wasn't done my bath yet and I didn't remember pooping.
Roommate C: When I was little I used to think if i didn't make a really loud noise when I was pooping it wouldn't work. so i can vividly remember grunting in our bathroom with the door wide open and my mom saying i didn't have to make such a ruckus.

and this is why i love my roommates..such honest conversation. so deep.

the rescue aftermath

tots

Well before I cried myself to sleep last night over the depressing 5 - NOTHING loss from the penguins...i did something amazing.

i ate tater tots.

Jo, Andrea and I were sitting by the river and i think i may have randomly yelled something about tater tots..this sparked a enthusiastic discussion about our love for these small little squares of happiness. so on the way home, we stopped by Thriftway and bought tater tots, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and a bottle of wine. We completed our sophisticated night by watching Bedtime Stories (the one with adam sandler) it was actually quite enjoyable.

Here is a picture of the ridiculous amount of tater tots we devoured. Oh...did i mention the ice cream sundaes we had after?

the weather is confused....

well the series is tied 2-2...but its okay the penguins are going to win games 5 and 6.

but the real reason i am posting is because I just checked weatherDOTcom
and i would like to show you what it said.

June 5 Showers

June 6 Partly Cloudy

June 7 Partly Cloudy

June 8 Isolated T-Storms

June 9 Scattered T-Storms

June 10 Scattered T-Storms

June 11 Scattered T-Storms

June 12 Isolated T-Storms

June 13 Isolated T-Storms

June 14 Scattered T-Storms

and then i laughed until i cried...or cried until I laughed, either way i am sick of the rain...and i LIKE rain, I can't really imagine what it's like for those of you out there who hate rain...you must really hate life right now huh?

sweet sweet game 3

healthy, green, and lead-free

i LOVE auto-tune the news......its the only way i enjoy watching...

today was perfect windows down while driving weather...im just sayin.

carolyn likes sports?

a hidden secret (not so hidden once i post it on here) is that i love sportscenter. i got into it last year when i was in denver and i have made it a tradition now to watch it every morning when i eat breakfast or start my day. I don't really like watching full sports games/matches/events but i love sport(sc)enter. Andrea thinks its funny that i know more than she thinks i know about sports......so she was asking me some questions tonight and this is was transpired.

I was explaining the current basketball playoffs to andrea and who was playing in them. when i told her the "cavs" were playing "orlando magic" she replied calfs? like moo moo? it was the best thing i have ever heard.

then as i sat down to watch game 4 of the pens v the hurricanes i was pleasantly surprised by a big W from my faithful penguins. i love you pittsburgh penguins...i really do. GOING TO THE STANLEY CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its washington weather

I really do love rain. I love cool weather and rain. sO I am pretty happy today...other than the fact that I am sitting in the library until I get all my work done....summer session one is HALF WAY OVER ALREADY! i cannot believe it.

later i shall update on my thoughts on india. but until then I think you should go here and listen to Jared's sermon from this past sunday...it was incredible. God was really speaking through him and moving my spirit.

he is my idol

all by myself

well i have the house all to myself for the weekend...
andrea is on the womens retreat, jo went on her epic road trip to vegas for 11 DAYS!, and Katie is in New Jersey.

weird. what shall i do with myself....

hey look! sammons made the news!

the fog

everyday I get these devotionals from Park Community Church. My friend Molly goes there, and she sent me an "8 minutes with God" once and so I signed up, because I figured yea, I can do 8 minutes. It has turned into a huge blessing for me the mornings I actually sit down to read. Here is a quote from today's devo...

"As I came home from church one evening, I was struggling to recognize God's guidance for my life. Suddenly, I drove into dense fog and could see nothing. Poking my head out the window, I noticed a tiny light from the road ahead. As I inched my car forward, it blinked out and another set of oncoming headlights took its place some yards ahead. I crawled along, following just the short distance I could see--one light after another--until the fog cleared. Then I realized that this is how God guides me. He shows me how far I need to go at any given moment. And step-by-step, I move from one light to the next. Confident of God's guidance, I let go of the need to see his complete plan."
Dr. Helen Roseveare, a British medical missionary in Africa from 1953 to 1973

"when you feel like you are on the end of your rope, tie a knot & hang on"
<3 thanks bren

a jam packed entry full of excitement

A lot has happened. I say this a lot, mostly because my life is so full of excitement :)

First. I want to share with you my adventures in the kitchen. I decided that I am going to stop saying I'm a bad chef and actually do something about it. Which is normally how most of my adventures begin...innocent enough. Well for some reason I decided that my first adventures would be with "Gazpacho" a traditional cold Spanish tomato-based raw vegetable soup, originating in the southern region of Andalucía..according to wikipedia, which happens to be the most true source of information to date (please see here.) I started cutting and chopping and grinding and before I knew it I had over a gallon of cold soup that I could not eat. I read at the very end of the recipe that it had to sit for 24 hours. awesome. So I made some cucumber dill yogurt stuff...with too much yogurt. Some pictures for your enjoyment before moving on to the next excitement that is my life....






So this past weekend I decided that I would go to colorado. Christa Gorman turned 21 the weekend I ran the Broad St run, so her dad, the AWESOME Tom "tank" Gorman, flew me out to surprise Chris and celebrate with her. We ate a lot, went cycling, hiking, ate some more, went to church and then the weekend was over. It was short but jam packed full of fun and colorado and festiveness. And its okay thats its over, because shes flying in to Philly on Thursday night. I have fun plans for her while shes here...if you want in, and I know you do, let me know. Pictures to follow...but here is one from when I first surprised her! She had NO CLUE I was coming!!


And finally. I know you have heard me talk about LiNK (Liberty in North Korea). I helped host a screening with the organization back in April. Well one of the roadies (Brenda) and I pretty much clicked immediately. And as it turns out, she came back through Philadelphia on her way back to California. So I got to spend some time with her and really show her around Philly...you know, the awesome places. While we walked around, I got interviewed for two different news stations..both airing on Wednesday night (one at 10 and one at 11) I believe the stations were CBS and NBC. And the questions the asked me were so absurd...first, what do I think of Bromance? Please two names to mind.....joni and richard. yuck. And the second news station asked if spicing up your sex life really helps your relationship...which is funny for so many reasons...She was dumb founded when I told her I think sex should be kept for after marriage...whew...so after all that excitement, Brenda and I spent a couple hours just talking in love park. It was beautiful. Then we walked to the library and she met my homeless friends. It was so refreshing and fun to hang out with her. Here are some fun shots of our day-o-fun together.







All in all, a good past couple days, jam packed full of fun and no sleep. And to top it off I saw the kittens inspired by kittens girl on Tyra last night...does life get any better? I submit that it does not...unless you are haley and jason!
CONGRATS ON YOUR ENGAGEMENT!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYYAYAY!!

RACE DAY!

Well I did it. I finished my first "half" marathon. It was actually only 10 miles...but who is really counting after 7 anyway? The reason I say I finished my first half marathon you ask? It is because I plan on running more. I know what you are thinking..Carolyn, how fast did you run? do runners really just pee themselves when they are running? And the answer to these questions is trivial (under 2 hours; ask kt fet) but I will tell you this: I ran with style and grace...in other words, I run by dancing and repeating the phrase "I hate my life 2009" OR "I love my life 2009" depending on the level of sarcasm I am feeling at that particular moment in time. I ran for what felt like an eternity. But I loved every second of it! Including the awesome rain (I love rain), the sometimes live bands, and sometimes well dressed bands along with my favorite encourager's posters that read: "You are running faster than my dog!" and "Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much ass"

I loved running with people. I liked that it was an event and a sense of accomplishment at the end. There was a goal at hand. I read this verse before bed last night, and are day with it.

Hebrews 12:1-3
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

We started the day with Jesus, we ended the day with Jesus at Liberti and I am ready to sleep like a baby...no alarm for me tomorrow suckas

the website that keeps on giving...

get up.

Oprah rescued Chicago. I cannot believe how huge this is. She literally looked at the camera and charged all of her viewers to go to www.invisiblechildren.com and watch the video. If you have no idea what I am talking about...then you should go there too.

don't sleep through a revolution.

be a part of it.


i am so pumped!