cake balls and higher education

Today I borrowed a car and drove about 13 miles and entered an alternative universe. Some friends and I went to Eastern University to talk to the School of Leadership and Development about further education. It was really weird being on a college campus, especially one full of trendy Christians. That is something I don't see very often. The upside was getting a free lunch in the cafeteria. I never thought I would actually be excited about something like that, but Mission Year has completely screwed up my life in more ways than I can even count. Overall it was a good day that brought about thoughts about the future. More to come about that I am sure.

Other than that I just wanted to post some pictures of March, which has by far been the busiest month of my life. It has flown.

Because I have not the computer smarts, the patience, nor the energy to figure out why the pictures are out of order this is a backwards slide show of the past few weeks.

Brooke A. Cunningham came to visit. We saw most of what Philly had to offer, including Danny Bonaduce of Partridge Family fame.

We went to the art museum (free in Philly on Sundays) and spent a few hours looking at ancient art. We didn't walk around together because after many years as friends (almost 10) we have figured out that we are very different people, down to the way we walk around museums. Brooke is slower and more methodical, where as I am more of a skimmer, breezing through sections, not spending too much time anywhere.

The Liberty bell. After nearly seven months in Philly I still don't completely understand what the big deal is.

The weekend of the Gaines wedding in Texas! Target is fun. The dollar section is funner (i know it's not a real word). My friends from college are the fun-est. We laughed a lot. Thank you Bre for the valentines day episode of 30 rock. I will always think of you when I microwave a donut.

The Gaines. There was christian rap at the wedding. I danced a little more than was probably appropriate. Hot, hot, hot in the church.

Blue angels. Need I say more?

Lilly and I made cake-balls in Philly. It was a grand experiment. I saw the recipe on a website and attempted to replicate it without having it in front of me (no Internet at our house). The result was kinda tasty, kinda chunky.

My Mission Year team with our adopted mama Janet Samba. She gave me a small sequined purse. She knows the way to my heart. She cooks for us a lot, and has probably used thousands of gallons of oil in her lifetime frying things.

So this has been life lately.

cats?

It has been a long time since I have had time to post on this thing. My life has been pretty hectic over the past few weeks and I have barely had time to think straight. One of the things that has been keeping me busy is this video project I have been working on for the SWCDC. It is a project that kind of got thrown in my lap because none of the people that are actually employed there have the time/desire to work on it. The project is a community formed documentary about a garden that some ladies started in the late 90's a few blocks from my house. The idea of the video project is to involve to community in the film making process. So the people involved in the garden and the video project helped film, transcribe and edit the film. This might sound easy, but when you are working with 60-70 year old ladies with no prior knowledge of film editing (and why should they have this knowledge?) it is a challenge. Needless to say I have learned a lot about film making in the past few months. If you want to check it out this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjqwD5Mn49c should get you there.

On fat Tuesday I went over to the nursing home to visit because one of the residents told me that there was going to be a parade. I am never one to refuse a good time so I headed over and found all the residents dressed up with Mardi gras masks and beads everywhere. The social hall was decorated beautifully and they had hired two people to be singing old time songs for the residents. Everything was going good until the parade started. When it started all the sudden there were older ladies that worked at the nursing home dressed like cats coming around the residents and purring at them and getting up in there faces. I was pretty scared 1st. because they looked really creepy and 2nd because I was really confused why there were cats at a Mardi gras parade. My confusion was soon ended when more people started coming out dressed in outfits that were themed by famous Broadway musicals. Some of them were Phantom of the Opera, Westside Story, and South Pacific. If I could give more details without going on for way too long, I would.

Then last weekend I was lucky enough to get to go to Brenham, Texas for the wedding of Lauren Hall and Chris Gaines. It was a beautiful weekend with sweet time with friends. The wedding was really special and this had nothing to do with the fact that I had fake eyelashes on. Yes fake eyelashes. The make-up lady asked if I would like fake eyelashes and I thought, “Hey, I will probably never get asked this again” so I said yes. So for the night of the wedding I was sporting more make-up and accessories than have ever been on my face before. Special. The weekend was so good. I ended it Sunday morning with some of my closest friends drinking coffee and eating breakfast at one of my favorite College Station spots, La Bodega in short sleeves. I really love Texas weather.

Brooke comes to town on Friday, so I am sure I will have some more stories soon.