Disneyland in a Breeze

Camping at Disneyland! Have you ever tried going to Disneyland with your mom? Does she literally take everything AND the kitchen sink? Yep, Holly and I had the same experience. Look at those duffle bags! Thankfully, we didn't have to carry those all around the park. Instead we pushed them. Our moms decided to get a kids stroller and pack it with duffle bags so that we could have everything we could ever possibly dream of needing during our day at Disneyland right there with us.

Sizzlin' hot babes on Main Street.

Good friends excited for the day.

One of the items our moms pulled out of the magical duffle bags: ponchos for Splash Mountain! Ahhh, I just love moms. Holly and I decided to go hard core in our simple sweatshirts.

The price Holly and I payed for going hard core. We were DRENCHED. We did Splash Mountain at about noon, and I remember making the comment that my butt FINALLY felt dry at like six thirty that evening.

After Holly and I took the picture that showed our drenched-ness, my mom and Mrs. Schultz decided to take a picture in which they were saying "We told you to wear ponchos!" Sure enough, after I said "1, 2, 3..." and was about to snap the picture, Holly and I hear "We told you so!" coming from their mouths like "Cheese!" I LOVE moms!

My mom treated us to mochas because we were so cold after Splash Mountain. Yum! Thanks mom!

Still enjoying mochas.
As we were finishing up our mochas in New Orleans, a New Orleans jazz show came and gave a performance. We watched for a while and then Holly was pulled into the spotlight to do a dance with the lady that you see right in back of us! Haha! She put in her own little flair too, it was fun. I caught it on video, but my blog doesn't seem to want to accept it.

We took this pic in New Orleans because they had the most beautiful colorful Christmas decorations, but the picture doesn't really capture it. I guess you have to see it in person.

Castle pictures!

Holly and her mom!

My mom and me!


I LOVE this picture. Isn't it just perfect? The castle is so picturesque!

Sleepy at Mimi's after Disneyland, waiting for a table.

Holly after a full day at Disneyland.

Me after a full day at Disneyland.

It was a great day! Thank you to the Schultzes for giving the extra tickets to my mom and me! Thank you to our moms for being such great moms! Good friends....I'm so grateful that God has provided to us the special gift of friendship. Isn't it amazing that He doesn't just stop with the gift of salvation, but He goes on to bless us with all these other special gifts too? Such an awesome God.

Butterflies of Excitement

DISNEYLAND, DISNEYLAND, DISNEYLAND, LA-LAND!

(Sung to the tune of Jingle Bells.)

I'm pretty darn excited this morning. My best friend, Holly Schultz, and her mom are treating my mom and me to a day at Disneyland today! These are the same friends who brought my mom and me to the shooting of The Office. They are the best best friends ever. Holly and I have been good friends ever since kindergarten, but it seems we've just grown closer ever since. I just wonder why she still wants to be such good friends with me....she's WAY better to me than I am to her. Anyways, DISNEYLAND, TODAY! In the Christmas season! Holly and I are two peas in a pod when it comes to the Christmas season....its our favorite thing ever. And this is going to be my first trip to Disneyland in the Christmas season, so I'm looking forward to all the decorations and Christmas music and fake snow and spending time with Holly...she makes me in such a jolly mood.

So why am I writing this at 7 o'clock in the morning on the day that I go to Disneyland? All because I found out last night that we wouldn't be leaving until 9:30 in the morning, so I got the bright idea that I could go to Physics class at 8 o'clock in the morning and still be ready in time for the big event, and then I thought furthur that because there was a possibility that we would be using my car to go to Anaheim, I better get it washed. So I decided to leave at 7 o'clock in the morning to get my car washed in time to still make it to Physics class on time. Then I further decided that I would really like to look cute during my day at Disneyland, meaning I would have to take a shower, blow-dry my hair and curl it before I left at 7. So in order to do all that in addition to eating and devotions I would have to get up at five. So I did, five o-stinkin'-clock. But I had coffee right away in the morning, so in no time I was bouncing from place to place as I was getting ready to go, shouting with excitement for Disneyland. Unfortunately the coffee on the empty stomach made me feel a little sick, so the sickness mixed with the butterflies of excitement made me feel not very hungry for breakfast, so I haven't had much yet.

Anyways, next question you're probably asking: If you decided to leave at 7 o'clock, why are you writing a post when you should be gone, washing your car? Weeyyylll, I was all ready to go at 7 o'clock when it finally dawned on me that the pitter-patter of the rain outside that I had heard all morning meant that it would just be plain stupid to go pay to get my car washed today, besides the fact that my mom let me know that we would be using Holly's mom's car anyways. Oh well, the coffee and excitement make me too ecstatically joyous to regret having gotten up so early, and besides, I get to write a post. Such a rare treat for me!

DISNEYLAND, DISNEYLAND, DISNEYLAND, LA-LAND!

By the way, thanks so much to my sister Heather who sent me an Alice in Wonderland purse for a Fall Gift, coincidentally right in time for Disneyland! She also sent me foot-pampering supplies, AND a really cute coffee mug because she knows that I've been drinking coffee lately. All I got her for a Fall Gift were two pairs of Christmas socks. Woopdeedee. But Haj, you know I put my heart and soul into the purchase of those socks.

Am I being really weird? You know why? Its because I'm becoming a kid again. You have to become a kid again if you go to Disneyland. Yay!

More things that make me smile

Okay, done with Calculus class. I'll take five more minutes out of my day of studying for my huge stinkin' Physics exam tomorrow to lists some other stuff that's exciting for me lately. Simply because its a fun thing to do.

Here we go: T minus five minutes till time of stopping:

Cardio-kickboxing, Philippians memorization, the hope of pumpkin pie this Thursday, Sunday afternoons with nothing to do, my cat running to me with squinted morning eyes in the morning the second he gets let out of the bathroom (his 'cage' for the night), Pastor John's sermons, worship in Crossroads, the hope of Resolved conference in February.....

*breathe* T minus two minutes:

Pure silver rings, the holiday season, oooooo, here's a good one: coffee in the morning, the creative flavors of coffee mate, The Office, the thought of seeing Heather in January, the thought of holding her baby in June, looking at the Oviatt library after the sun has gone down (when its dark around the library and the lights are on inside so that you can see students studying, you get inspired to go sit down and study yourself), lets see if I can end with a bang: Agatha Christie Murder Mystery books!

Much Needed Update

Hi Everyone!

I've decided enough is enough. I need to update my blog even though I don't have enough time to do a full fledged blog about something in particular. I've just grown tired of knowing that every time someone checks my site, all they see is my sad face and the title "Quite a Grumble Day." How long has it been since I posted that? You all need to know that these past months have been almost purely grumble free. I do have to admit that I have my grumble moments when I get bogged down with schoolwork (is 'bogged' a word? what is the word I'm looking for?), but overall, life is very happy right now. My sister is expecting a son or daughter (meaning I'm gonna be an auntie!), my older brother is two months deep into a special relationship with one of my very good friends from Belarus, my animals are making me laugh everyday, school is almost over (a little over a month more!), my relationships with people at Bible study are getting stronger, my parents continue to guide me with their loving counsel, God proves to teach me new things continually, oh man, I feel like I could sit here all day listing things that are making me smile these days. Unfortunely I have a Calculus class that starts in about 12 minutes, so I better cut it here. Well, maybe I'll go a little longer.

Anyways, LIFE IS GOOD! I've been putting off posting because there is a particular post I want to do but I don't have time yet to do it to its full glory. Its gonna be about my cat, Prince Winston, or P.W., better known as P-Dub. He's such a cutey! But I really think he's got some sort of a brain problem, you'll see what I mean when I tell some stories about him. So the mixture of cat with a brain problem makes for a very funny creature, because cats can be pretty stupid even when they don't have a deformity with their brains. So you'll enjoy the post about my little white prince, I'm going to try to find time over Thanksgiving break.

Until then (unless I decide to get on again today to just ramble)!

Quite a Grumble Day

It all started this morning...well, actually, now that I think about it, it started last night when I came home late from Bible study looking forward to watching The Office which my younger brother had quite willingly agreed to tape for me. The only problem was that Hunter forgot to set the channel on the VCR, so what I came home to was a lovely half hour of K-Cal 9 News. Woopee.

Then this morning, my parents had to borrow my car, which left me with their Caprice to drive to and from school. It was only a slight inconvenience, and I was happy that I was able to help my parents out by letting them borrow my car, but halfway to school I realized that I had left my parking permit in my car....no way of getting it back in time either because by that time my mom was already at work all the way in Pasadena. So that left me to search for parking on the streets surrounding my school, desperately trying to find regions where there weren't "No Parking Anytime" signs. I found a place in a two-hour parking region probably a third of a mile away from my first class which I was already late for because of the extra time spent trying to find a place to park. But, I just walked as fast as I could and tried not to think of what my teacher would think of me entering the class room eight minutes late.

As I walked, my dear green flip-flops, trustworthy to always keep me in style, began ferociously rubbing the inside of my foot. I recognized that sore pain of a blister forming but simply pushed it out of my mind.

I had to leave my second (and last class of the day) early because I needed to make sure I got back to the Caprice before my two-hours were over. So again, I walked as fast as I could probably a half mile back to my car. And on the way, my left green flip-flop gave out, as you can see in the picture. Flip-flop, I have been so kind to you over the years to continue to wear you even though I know you give me blisters. The least you could do was continue being a shoe for me during a time that I needed you most.

Anyways, I walked a long time on dirty pavement and asphalt BAREFOOT, thanks to my fashionable green flip-flop. I am now back at home with a mission of getting knew shoes and cleaning my feet before I go back to school to study with some fellow physics students.

I want to buy myself an ice cream cone. Actually, no, I want my parents to buy me an ice cream cone. Whoever reads this, please join in the petition (by leaving your comment) to have my parents buy me an ice cream cone! :)

"...when I am weak, then I am strong."

I know its been over a month since I returned from doing missions work in Ukraine and Russia, but I'm still pretty excited over what God taught me while I was there. So I thought I'd share a little bit of it with you all.

During the trip, God totally emphasized a truth that I had known before, but which had never really hit super close to home with me. In the weeks leading up to the trip I was studying a book that my brother, Harrison, got for me called Spiritual Maturity by J. Oswald Sanders. In one chapter he elaborates on 2 Corinthians 12:9 -- "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me...For when I am weak, then I am strong." In Oswald's chapter, he quotes someone (but strangely doesn't tell us who) who makes a really good point: "This is the strategy of God...that the world should know that Christianity--all the triumphs of faith in individual lives and the onward march and mission of the Church--is not to be explianed by anything in man, any human virtue, prowess, ability (for in the light of the men involved any such explanation would be absurd). Therefore the only possible explanation must be supernatural and Divine." Ok, so imagine me going into the mission trip having read that and desiring a heart that would truly want to step back in the lime-light and let God shine through my actions and words.

So, a few days into the mission trip, I reflected a bit on what had gone on during my time in Kiev so far as I was preparing to go to bed. Many relationships had been made, some old relationships had been made stronger, and there was much evidence that people were being encouraged in the Lord as a result of His work through my team. But, I also reflected on what had truly been going on inside of my heart during our time of ministry, and, as usual, was dissapointed to remember that yes, many of my motives and true desires had been me-centered, not God-centered. I kind of felt helpless like maybe I would never be able to truly conduct ministry....and then God used 1 Corinthians 12:9 to help me realize that I was absolutely right! I will never be able to truly conduct ministry, because any ministry or encouragement that is done is totally done by God. He just uses weak vessels, such as me, to carry HIS ministry. "...when I am weak, then I am strong." That phrase suddenly seemed to scream at me, "When you realize how weak your sinful heart makes your motives and desires, then you will realize the strength and the power of God that He uses minister to people through such a lowly vessel such as yourself." Sure, it was a very humbling lesson to learn, but also one that made me wonderfully excited. Its just so cool that the ministry and encouragement that God wants to get done WILL get done, not because the people that He uses are so great, but simply because He's the One who is doing it!

The Office

Oh man, I'll always remember that on September 19th, 2006, I had a super sweet afternoon. So I'm sure that everyone who reads this blog also reads Heather's, so I'm sure you know that she is a HUGE Office fan (tv show, remember?). Well, I have the same love for the show (ok ok, maybe Heather is a bigger fan). My best friend (Holly Schultz, in the picture above) is a crazy huge Office fan also, and knows that I love the show too. So, we were in luck, because her dad happens to be in the tv show business, he is a 'prop man' for various television shows. One of his friends that he used to work with just happens to be the prop man for The Office, so Holly used her connections to get my mom and I into the site of the filming of one of The Office episodes for my 18th birthday! It was so awesome.

We arrived at the set at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I was very surprised to find out that the location of the set is right smack in the middle of the valley, very near Grace Community actually. There were Dunder Mifflin Paper Company signs all over the property, especially on the outsides of the chain link fences that surrounded the studio. Mr. Schultz told me those signs were most likely used in the outdoor scenes of the show. One of the buildings of the studio actually had the sign "Scranton Business Park" on it....so cool.


Our group (Holly, both of her parents, my mom, and me) had to be ushered in by Mr. Schultz's friend, the prop man. It turns out that we weren't able to actually be in the same room that they were shooting in, because The Office really does film in an actual office-type place, meaning that its really small and there's no room for an audience. That also meant that strangers to the set (like my group) were VERY rare...it was a very special treat for us to get into the studio. Mr. Schultz's friend, Phil, took us to a room right next to the office set where the going-ons of the taping were projected onto two tv screens that we could watch. Phil also gave us head sets that allowed us to hear not only the lines that the actors were saying but also most of the background buzz in between takes. Most of the time the only other person in the room with us was the person who had written the first draft of this particular episode, and it was cool to observe him watching every take and then hear his comments about how he liked how this person added that line via improv or he didn't like how that scene was set up so he would have to go talk to the people directing to tell them to get it right. It felt very 'inside-ish' to be watching all of the takes with him and hearing all of his comments. So cool.


In between takes, the camera would still role, so we could see a little bit of the actors being themselves, out of character. That was pretty sweet. It was hard to hear a lot of the talk on the headsets, but it looked like the most outgoing crazy person during that time was the guy who plays Kevin, Brian Baumgartner.

Ok, what happened next was super exciting. Everyone took a break because they were finished with that particular scene that they had been filming. Fortunately, the room with all of the snack food was right outside the door of the room that Phil had placed us in, so many of the actors came out to get refreshed and such. First BJ Novak (Ryan, the temp) came out, but because neither Phil nor Mr. Schultz was with us at that time, we didn't know if it was an appropriate time to approach him. Eventually he went inside the men's restroom, so no more actors outside our door. But then guess who else comes out? Mindy Kaling, the girl who plays Kelly! She looked really nice, as she passed our room she looked inside the doorway and smiled really big at us, made eye-contact and everything. Sadly, we still didn't know if it was appropriate to leave the little room we had been 'assigned' to, so we just stayed put. Then a very exciting but at the same time painful thing happened....John Krasinski (Jim) walked right past our room, but exited the snack room by another door. (It was painful because he left...he's my very favorite on the show!)

Fortunately, Mr. Schultz came back soon, after both BJ and Mindy had left, so I felt confident that the next time an actor appeared in the snack room he would know exactly what would be appropriate because he's had so much experience on tv sets. Well, the next person to appear was one of my personal favorites on the show, Rainn Wilson, aka, Dwight Schrute! He looked JUST like he does on the show...it almost wanted to make me start laughing right then and there. Mr. Schultz just went ahead and stopped him in his tracks, reintroduced himself because he has worked on the same set with him in years past, and then introduced him to my group! So we all got to shake his hand and tell him our names and everything! He's real cool, not geeky or Dwight Schrute-y at ALL. He didn't spend much time with us, but he was very friendly and told us he was happy we had come.

The next person to come into the snack room......drum roll......Steve Carell! Phil had told him there were people there who wanted to meet him, so he came and visited with us for quite a while actually. Really friendly guy, you don't feel like you're talking to an actor around him, you just feel like an old friend. He very willingly took a picture with Holly and I, as you can see above.

When Steve left, Mrs. Schultz mentioned to Phil that Holly and I especially wanted to meet Jim, and Phil said, "OH, well if you had TOLD me!" and immediately went out the door that Jim had exited previously, only to return 30 seconds later with John Krasinski right with him! When John came in the door you could see a mission in his eyes: he had been told that there were two girls there who wanted to meet him and he looked right for Holly and I and came and introduced himself. I was already smiling from ear to ear from having met Dwight and Michael (sorry, I can't really get accustomed to using their real names), but when I saw Jim, somehow a mile-wide smile became and mile-and-a-half-wide smile. He had a very FIRM handshake....and I was surprised that he had the same exact voice, intonations, expressions, EVERYTHING that he has on the show. I felt like I was talking to my friend Jim from Dunder Mifflin, not John from real life. He was really nice and friendly, but he was in a rush because they had recently made the call that all actors were needed on the set. So he had to leave, but my smile did not away with him....:)

Oh ya, when Jim came into the snack room, so did Kevin, so I did get to see him in person, but sorry, I just didn't pay much attention to him.......JIM was there!

Right when Jim hurried back onto the set, Angela came out briefly (her real life name is Angela too). Wow, was SHE friendly! Real outgoing too! Real cute, actually, too. She only got to say a few words with us, and when they called her back onto the set she said, "Oh too bad, I was just getting chatty!"

After all of those exposures, we stayed a while longer to watch the taping of the next scene, but then had to go. Holly and I were slightly disappointed that we had to leave before the next break, because John had told us that he would be back to talk to us, but I am content with what we got from them.

Super fun day. How am I ever going to concentrate at school tomorrow?

My World Has Just Been Rocked (Significantly)

I found out tonight that there's no such thing as cooties.

Have no fear, I'm still gonna be an astronaut!

New York Trip Part II: A Weekend at West Point

Here I am to write about my weekend at West Point with my parents, sister, and many other people to witness Matthew Hitzeroth's graduation.

So, to pick up where I left off, after Heather's and my day in NYC, we met our parents at the airport and my dad got a rental car that would take us to a town right outside West Point. I fell asleep during the car ride, which I think was about an hour and a half. When we got to our hotel I think it was about 10 or 11 pm, and I was pretty grumpy because I was really tired. All I wanted was a hot shower, which I got.

We had to wake up pretty early in the morning in order to grab a quick breakfast at the hotel and then make our way to West Point to watch Matt in a parade. Apparently, the whole week leading up to the graduation on Saturday was full with activities and events that the cadets had to participate in such as parades and drills and stuff. So my mom, dad, sister and I arrived at West Point Friday morning to watch Matt in his last West Point parade ever, and there we connected with Matt's parents and his younger sister, Gretchen. When the parade was done we all got to go find Matt and say hi, that was really exciting because I hadn't seen him since January and Heather hadn't seen him for like six weeks. They were soooooooooooooo happy to be together again. Here's some pictures of the 'parade' and of Matt in his uniform:


When we felt our greetings to each other had been sufficient, we decided to make our way to Matt's barrack. On the way we saw some statues of old army heros, so my dad got excited and posed in front of General Douglas MacArthur's, I believe. It was really funny and nice to watch my dad whenever he was in West Point, because you could tell he was REALLY excited to be there and thrilled that he was going to have a son who would have graduated from there! My dad doesn't show his excitement very often, so when he does, its a pleasure to watch.

The barracks were actually pretty nice...from the outside they kind of looked like medieval castles. Matt's room was pretty empty because he had been packing all week in anticipation of gettin' home and gettin' hitched one week later. Even his sheets were off of his bed, and we started telling him he still had one more night to sleep there, but he just told us that he had been sleeping without sheets the whole week! Silly Matt.

Both the families went out to lunch next, TGI Fridays. Very fun. Can't remember everything that was said and done there, but just know that hanging out with family one day before a West Point graduation, especially when its also one week before a wedding, is SO FUN. I do remember that our waiter spilled lemonade on Gretchen. I think he felt really bad. Haha. And a picture of the happy couple:


After lunch my family returned to our hotel room to prepare for a formal banquet and dance that evening. Matt only had enough tickets for his family and Heather to attend the banquet, but everyone got to go to the dance. It was my first officially formal event EVER, so it was really fun to actually get made up WITH Heather instead of just watching her get ready. We went back to West Point in time for Heather to walk into the banquet hall with Matt. In the meantime, my mom, dad and I walked to a Subway on campus. It was so funny to watch people's reactions as we walked into the Subway all dressed up. Here's a picture of my mom and I on our way to dinner:

When we finished our dinner at West Point my dad looked at his watch and saw that we still had like an hour and a half before the dance would start. I suggested that if we walked back REALLY SLOWLY, taking our meandering time to "stop and smell the roses," we might make it back to the site of the dance in time to not have to wait around. So we walked slower than a turtle. I spotted a cemetary on the way back, and thinking that there might be some cool old war heros buried there, suggested that we walk through it. We had so much fun doing this. So many of the grave markers were totally extravagent. I kept looking for names I would remember from history, but didn't find any. I mean, I did find a Joseph Hooker, and got excited that it might have been 'Fighting Joe Hooker' from the Civil War, but we looked at the years of his life and realised that it definitely was NOT him.

For all our slowness, we got back to the site of the dance with about 45 minutes to wait. Pretty boring. But, I did get to watch a helicopter land only about 100 meters away from me. I think it was the helicopter for the dignitary who spoke at the banquet.

Eventually all who had attended the banquet started pouring out of the banquet hall, and it was time for the dance to begin! The dance was held in this huge building with lots of different rooms, in each room a different type of music was being played. I think that in only one there was a DJ, all the rest had live bands. Before any of us went into the rooms to dance, something like five people in our party had to go off on different errands. So, not wanting to start dancing without everyone being present, those of us that didn't have any errands just sat and waited. Everyone took SUCH a long time getting back to us, so Heather and I got slightly bored, and Heather got a migraine because a girl walked by in a neon blue dress (Heather's migraines are initiated by the color neon blue). I thought that the migraine would put a huge damper on Heather's evening, but I think that she was just so happy to be with her husband-to-be that nothing would knock her off her care-free pedestal. Here's us being bored and waiting for everyone:


After a half hour, when hardly anyone had come back from their errands, Matt's dad suggested that Matt, Heather and I go enjoy ourselves in one of the dance rooms while he continued to wait for everyone. We agreed and made our way to what we thought was the jazz room and saved a few tables. We sat down, listened to the music, watched other dancers, and continued saving the tables as we waited for the rest of our party to arrive. After another half hour, when no one had shown up still, we decided to take turns dancing while one of us watched our tables. That was pretty fun. Finally, when we were thoroughly exasperated that none of our party had come to meet us, Spencer, Matt's brother found us and asked us what in the world we were doing in that dancing room! We said we were in there because it was the jazz room, of course, and we had all agreed to meet in the jazz room! He responded by saying that no, the jazz room was downstairs, and that's where everyone had been waiting for us for a long time! So, we all traveled downstairs to the real jazz room and had a great time. We left the party early, at about 11 o'clock, because it was going to be a really early morning the next day with having to arrive at West Point at 6 o'clock in order to clear security and such for the graduation. (Tons of security because Mr. George W. Bush was to be the commencment speaker!)

It was difficult to drag ourselves out of bed the next morning, especially for Heather and I because we hadn't had a decent night's sleep in about three days. But, with the anticipation of what was going to occur that day, it didn't take long for us to forget our exhaustion and be thrilled to be awake. However, anytime I got into the car for a drive, I always fell asleep.

We arrived at West Point on time, I think, about six o'clock, but still had to wait in a long line of cars for about 45 min in order to even get on the campus. Then we waited in a line outside of the football stadium where the graduation was to be held for another 45 min or something, waiting for the doors to be opened. It was a very cold morning, really misty, and I was wearing a sleeveless top and had forgotten to bring a sweater. Oh well, being in line and waiting was actually pretty much durable and even fun because for the first time that weekend we connected with Mr. Mark Economou, who is one of Matt's really good friends. I was really glad he was there because he is such a fun guy! He makes waiting around for something feel like you're actually at Disneyland or someplace fun like that. So even after the doors were opened and we were waiting for two and a half hours for the graduation to start, there never seemed to be a dull moment.

Finally, the graduation began and the cadets filed in, and the graduation speakers filed onto the stage also. Here are some pictures of the completed stadium. In the second picture, you can see George Bush standing up, in the blue tie. Pretty cool.



Ok, I had been to a college graduation before, and knew how completely boring they could be, but this one was almost without a dull moment. Even if I wasn't sitting with really funny people and people that I love (not that I don't love the funny people I was with...I think I was sitting with only funny people and I love all of them:), I don't think I would have been bored. George Bush's commencement address was totally great, here's a pic of him delivering it:

My only disappointment of the day: I missed the moments that Matt had his name called, he received his diploma, and he shook the President's hand. Kind of a funny story of how that happened, now that I think about it, but it actually brought me to tears and a huge hurty ball in my throat when I realised what I had missed. :( But here's the story. I think there were something like 900 cadets who were graduating that morning, and I sat through probably half of them with an ever-filling bladder. Finally, I turned around to my sister, asked her what she thought of my going to the restroom just then...do I have enough time before Matt's name came up? Yeah, she said, she thought so. So I made my way, almost as quickly as I could, knowing the whole time that Heather was probably going to have everybody pretend that I had missed Matt's name being called and his hand shake from the President. I came back to where my group was sitting with a smirk on my face because I just KNEW what they were going to try to do to me. My seat was the last on a row of about 12 people, and as I passed each one, almost everyone greeted me with a "You missed it!" and I answered back with "You can't fool me!" When I got to my seat, Heather and I went back and forth, she trying to persuade me that I had, in fact, missed Matt's name and me coming back with "I know you're joking!" Finally, when Heather wouldn't let up, my last comment to her was "Please tell me you're joking?" When she looked at me with a sad and sorrowful expression, I slowly sat down and didn't talk for almost the rest of the ceremony, because most of the time I knew that if I said one word I would start weeping. I don't THINK that I would have normally taken that so hard, but my sleep schedule had been so completely wacked up for the past three or fours days and every day had been chocked full of adventures, so I was TIRED. And I, when I am tired, get emotional. So there I sat with a hurty lump in my throat.

Here are some happy pictures of the graduated Matthew Hitzeroth!

After the graduation, we spent the afternoon at the home of a family that Matt had become very good friends with during his years at West Point. The husband was a professor at West Point, I believe, and during Matt's first year this family had been assigned to Matt as sort of a host family, I think. Something like that. But Matt had remained good friends with them through all of the four years, and so they hosted his graduation party/bar-pinning ceremony (bar-pinning ceremony: a ceremony where Matt made an oath to his duties to the country had his bars, the symbol of his status as a 2nd Lieutenant, pinned to his uniform). The family made SUCH awesome food for us, yummy hors d'oevers (no idea if that's spelled right) and Thai food. Thai food's great, by the way, definitely recommend. The bar-pinning ceremony was pretty cool to witness:


When the party was over, our trip was essentially done. Matt did say goodbye to West Point in a very unique way, and for the sake of a PG rating I'll leave it at that. Haha, it actually wasn't all that bad. But anyways, the next morning we left our hotel bright and early to catch our flight back to LA, and in the airport we got Dunkin Donuts for breakfast because we had seen pretty much NO OTHER donut place anywhere in New York other than Dunkin Donuts....it was EVERYWHERE. Deciding that Dunkin Donuts must be a New York thing, we realised we couldn't leave until we had tried it. And so we did. Nothing special, but to me, you can never say a donut is bad.

I slept almost the whole flight home.

A trip that was well worth it.

Happy graduation Matt, even though it was like three months ago! And sorry for missing your handshake with the President...I don't think I ever told you about that! :)

New York Part I: A Day in the City

At the end of May, my soon-to-be brother-in-law (who at this time actually is my brother-in-law) graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. My mom, my dad, my sister and I decided that this was a special enough of an occasion for us to take a trip to New York to witness it, especially when we heard that President George W. Bush was to be his commencement speaker! So my sister got the bright idea that if we were going to NY anyway, why not splurge a little and spend a day in NYC together? Only my sister and I were up to this, so we decided that we would fly JetBlue on a red-eye flight so that we could arrive in the city early in the morning and have all day to toddle around, and then we would return to the airport that evening where we would pick up my parents in order to drive to West Point. Our goal was to spend less than $100 each during our day in the city, so Heather did some internet research to find out all of the fun things we could do for less than 100 bucks.

Our flight was really nice, I definitely recommend JetBlue. On their red-eye flights they pass out kits that help you sleep during the flight, it included an eye-mask, minty lip-balm, hand cream, and ear plugs. They also pass out Dunkin Donuts coffee! And during the whole flight, you get to watch an enormous amount of channels provided by Direct TV. My only complaint was that Heather and I believed we were going to be able to watch the American Idol finale that was airing that night, but when we got on the plane at 9 pm the plane was playing tv on NY time, so we missed the finale! AAAAARRRRGGGG. But compared to all the other fabulous things we got to do that weekend, missing the event was a minor incident. But still, aaarrrggg.

When we got off the plane, we both felt a little gross, and Heather was seriously about to faint because she was so hungry. (Don't ask me was she was so starving, JetBlue provides for you very well I thought. :) We cleaned up as much as we could in the bathroom before the bathroom cleaning lady started hmmmming and hahing that we were taking up so much space, so we left the place before putting on our make-up. Ok, I know its very fickle, but I got a little anxious about not having make-up on because Heather and I always like to dress the part of whatever adventurous places we go to, and because NYC always puts images of Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail into my mind, I was kind of thinking we would try to look cute in the city....but Heather was pretty set on NOT stopping in another bathroom before we went on with our day. That was another minor aarrgg.

Our first stop was the Today Show in Rockefeller Plaza. Thoroughly enjoyed it. We spent about a half hour, and saw the whole cast except for Anne. Katie Couric was really nice, and every bit of free time that she had she spent taking pictures with fans and signing autographs. Even though we don't agree with her ideals or values, Heather and I still felt very privileged to be able to see her in person before she quit on May 31. A very cool surprise at the Today Show was seeing Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Wolverine) in person!

When we felt like it was time to move on from the Today Show, we went in search of a good place for breakfast off of 5th Ave. We found a small place that was offering such things as bagels and egg rolls. Heather opted for the bagel, I for the egg roll. I wouldn't say I would want one again, but since I was in New York I though I should try something that is kind of unique to New York. (What is an egg roll? Basically just a roll with a scrambled egg in it.)

Next we made our way to Ground Zero. That was...I don't know if there is a word for what you feel when you look at the site now. It was a weird feeling of sorrow and anger mixed with a sense of helpless compassion because as Californian who knows no one who was immediately touched by the disaster, I feel disconnected from the sorrow in a connected kind of way. I feel diconnected because the strikes hurt real people, individuals and families, and that day will always be very personal for them and them alone. But at the same time I feel connected because the strike was not intended to be against individuals but against a nation and a cause, a cause that most of those who are parts of this country will stand up for and fight for at any moment in time. The site of the towers is HUGE. It grieves you to see the destruction - of souls, of bodies, of buildings - that went on that day.

On our way to Lady Liberty we decided to walk through the financial district. My greatest desire of that walk was to see the New York Stock exchange. In the middle of our walk we stumbled upon the site of George Washington's first inauguration as President. That was an extremely pleasant surprise!

We had to wait in line a REALLY long time in order to get onto the ferry, but Heather and I found ways to amuse ourselves, like we always do. First, I ran out of line quickly to buy an "I-Heart-NY" t-shirt....for five bucks you can't pass that traditional souvenier up. Next we started people watching. And it was that exercise that amused us for the rest of our one hour wait.

After we got onto the ferry, it was so amazing to watch Lady Liberty as we got closer and closer to her. From a large distance, it didn't really spark that much emotion in me because I've seen the statue so many times on television, movies, etc. But as we got closer and closer, and saw the Statue in all its height and glory, a huge wave of patriotism swept over me. I did listen to the ferry's recording of a woman narrating our trip to the Statue, and when she got to the part of describing the reactions of so many immigrants as they caught sight of the Statue of Liberty for the first time after their long voyage across the Atlantic, I have to admit, tears came to my eyes. They didn't last long, but my sense of patriotism lasted a really long time as I continued to gaze up at our symbol of freedom. It was really cool.


Heather and I spent about twenty minutes on Liberty Island, we fully circled the Statue of Liberty and also paid $0.25 each to get a telescope view of the NYC skyline. On the way back to the city our exhaustion caught up with us (we hadn't gotten much sleep on the plane and had been running around ever since), and so we both started nodding off on the top deck of the ferry. As we compared notes later, we realised that we were both at that REALLY SILLY stage of sleep where you fall asleep for thirty seconds and then jerk awake as you catch yourself from falling into your own lap. After we both woke ourselves up as we neared the dock, we started laughing SO HARD at what we must have looked like to onlookers, because Heather had been nodding her head up and down as she tried to keep her sleepy body stable and I had been jolting from side to side. Very funny.

We opted to go to the Empire State Building next. It was lunch time, but we didn't think we were that hungry, so we decided to skip. However, upon exiting the subway, we caught a glorious whiff of some kind of delicious edibles. We turned to where our noses were pointing us, and there was a street stand that sold hot nuts. Of course we bought some cashews to share, and I don't think I've ever enjoyed nuts as much as I did then. Yum!

The Empire State Building is huge. Overpowering, and very cool. But once I stepped inside, all the intimidation left and suddenly I was living Sleepless in Seattle. (It's funny, the whole day I felt like I new New York really well because I had met it so many times in movies.) The trip up the building was pretty much uneventful, although we did get to share an elevator with a bunch of U.S. sailors. Pretty cool, I guess. :)

Stepping out onto the observation deck was AMAZING. It was my absolute favorite site that I saw that day. And the side that pointed toward the Chrysler Building and Central Park was my favorite of all of the four sides. I really think I could have spent the whole afternoon there, just gazing, but we had a full schedule and after about fifteen minutes had to keep moving. But here is the sight that I loved:



We then decided to head for our dinner destination, Hard Rock Cafe, via Broadway and Times Square. That area was cool, but by that time my feet were aching and I couldn't get my mind off of the food I was about to experience, so I didn't come away with an overawed impression of Times Square.

Hard Rock was sooo good. It was my first time, but Heather had been often enough to know that it was one of her favorite restaurants. I chose their twisted mac 'n cheese, and after tasting that I don't think that I will ever be able to go back to the Kraft kind. It had juicy pieces of chicken and the greatest spices in addition to all the cheese. OHHHH, so good.

Ok, now another glimpse into the fickle life of Hayley....while we were waiting for our food to come Heather and I decided to take a trip to the restroom, and unbeknownst to her I brought along my makeup bag. After ten hours in metropolitan New York, I was determined to finally try and look the part. When I came out of the bathroom I confessed to Heather what I had done, and she just laughed at me.

We did not get any dessert at Hard Rock, so when we finished our entrees it was time to stand up again and begin our exploration anew. My feet were VERY cranky with me that I had allowed them only an hour to rest, and they gave me a whole bunch of trouble the rest of the night as we walked what seemed like a bazillion of miles. Our next adventure was in Central Park. All we did was walk through it a little bit, but just enough to observe little New York families letting their kids vent their energy after having had to store it up inside their little New York apartments all day. I think the whole time we were walking through the park Heather and I were both imagining what it would be like to raise a family in romantic New York. Here's me in Central Park:


Our next target was a little but very popular dessert place called Serendipity. Its a cute and romantic little cafe featured in some of our favorite movies such as One Fine Day and, of course, Serendipity. We walked probably two miles from Central Park in order to get to the place, and when we finally arrived my feet were giving me their thanks for promising rest for at least a short while. However, it was much more busy than we imagined and keeping in mind that we had to meet my mom and dad at the airport in only a few hours, we decided that it would not be prudent to endure the one and a half hour wait to get our seat. :( Poor feet. (Not to mention poor tastebuds...I got a glimpse of one of the desserts that was being served and promised myself that I WOULD come to Serendipity again at one point in my life.)


Instead of dessert at Serendipity we decided we would stop at the Lindt Chocolate store and each get a truffle, and then our last stop in the city would be the Godiva Chocolate store where we would each get one of their delicious chocolate drinks. We traveled on foot like three more miles it seemed to get to these places, on the way stopping at F.A.O. Schwarz (that popular toy store seen in movies...remember the huge piano in Big?) and probably our third Sephora for the day (Heather loves Sephora). When it was finally time to head for our last destination, the Godiva Chocolate Store, we had trouble finding it, and it was getting kind of late so I was worried about missing out on the yummy dessert. But Heather is just like a man, she will NOT stop to ask for directions. We found ourselves back in the Rockefeller Plaza area, and our eyes caught the NBC Experience store. It dawned on Heather that the store might sell The Office memorabilia, so we went inside and Heather bought an Office shirt for herself and we chipped in on a "World's Best Boss" mug for my younger brother. Thankfully Heather was able to 'lower herself' enough to ask the cashier where the Godiva store was, and he gave us good directions. So we finally made to the site of the store. Was it closed because of the late hour? It was a nail biting time as we approached to shop from the side.....fortunately for us, it was open!!! Glorious chocolate drinks.

After that, our day in the city was done. We actually looked forward to our subway trip back to the airport to meet our parents, because it meant sitting down. Well, unfortunately, the subway was much busier at that time of night than we would have imagined, so the majority of the trip we were standing. When we finally got to the airport and were traveling on the AirTram to get to the right terminal, Heather and I were kind of slap-happy and started making fun of my hair cut. I had just had it done the night before and the day in the city apparently wasn't good for the styling, so we ended up thinking I looked like Jim from The Office. Here's my Jim picture:

When the picture was over, we frantically started re-styling my hair because we realised that this would be the first time my parents would see it. So in order to avoid a "HONEY, you cut you HAIR off!" we had to make it look cute. Thankfully our efforts were a success, my parents loved the cut.

And our New York City trip was done.

Next to come, a narration of our weekend at West Point.

Tagged!

Here's a new thing for me, I've been tagged by HaysHitzeroth!

Four jobs I've had:
1. Television set prop construction - I make 'grocery' bags that don't make any noise for tv sets.
2. Childcare assistant - I was basically a Mother's Helper for the funniest little Korean twins.
3. Randomn babysitting jobs?
4. Yikes, I'm only 17, am I really supposed to have worked 4 jobs already? :)

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Apollo 13
2. I.Q.
3. While You Were Sleeping
4. Miracle

Four Places I've lived:
1. Granada Hills, Ca
2. Porter Ranch, Ca
3. Northridge, Ca
4. Again, seriously, I'm only 17!

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Lodgepole, Sequoia National Park, CA
2. West Yellowstone, Montana
3. Moscow, Russia
4. London, England

Four TV shows I watch:
1. American Idol
2. The Office
3. House
4. Malcolm in the Middle

Four foods I love:
1. In-N-Out Cheeseburgers
2. Lasagna
3. Nectarines
4. Vegetables (roasted in olive oil and salt)

Four sites I visit daily
1. Gmail
2. Hotmail
3. Blogger.com
4. Xanga.com

Four Places I'd rather be (besides heaven!)
1. Lodgepole campground in Sequoia National Park
2. Yellowstone
3. Tuebingen, Germany (some of you may know why :)
4. Minsk, Belarus

Four Random things in my bag:
1. NerdsRope candy (SUCH a great thing!)
2. 2 decks of cards
3. empty glasses case
4. Bible

Four things people most people don't know about me:
1. I wish I could play the piano (er, I wish I had stuck with the piano lessons my parents offered to me when I was little :)
2. I used to think you cook pancakes on a 'skittle'
3. I actually pretty much detest school and schoolwork.
4. I think my older brother Harrison is the funniest person alive.

Four people I tag:
1. Holly Housewife
2. Harrison
3. Amanda
4. Emily

things to look forward to

alrighty, what progress have I made? I've had this blog for 6 months now, have 2 posts, and a total of 3 comments, one of which was made by myself. not too much progress I guess. but today I put something on my blog that is a shadow of things to come....my first picture! you can see it in my profile, its a great picture of the statue of liberty. the reason I put that pic in my profile is because the statue means a TON to me, both because I am extremely patriotic and also because liberty is what a Christian is all about. I am liberated! from the chains of death and sin and fear! and ALL of the credit for this goes to Christ!

anyways, its a shadow of things to come because I've decided to blog about my trip to New York that I went on to witness my brother-in-law's graduation from West Point and to spend a day in the city with my sister. It was one of the best weekends ever, and I can't wait to write about it and get the hang of putting pictures in my posts.

"Hayley has a blogspot" is pretty much an oxymoron

I've had this blogspot for over two months, I think, and only have one post. In all actuality, I really despise working on the computer, especially if its not neccessary and not for school. My eyes start to feel all puffy and sleepy, I usually get a headache from staring at the screen for so long, all the tiny intricate muscles in my hands cramp up from typing, and I don't know if I've EVER sat down in a comfortable computer chair. So why am I preparing this post? One reason: my dear sister demanded that I update my blog.

So here you go, sis, if this doesn't show my love for you I don't know what will. I've updated my blog, and now you know a little more about me: I don't like updating my blog.

What God Has Done

"'The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything'" Acts 17:24-25

The God described in that passage is pretty awesome. Think about it: it says he's "Lord of heaven and earth." That means he created and is in absolute control over every galaxy, solar system, planet, the earth, each and every living organism, all humans that have and ever will live, ...and the list goes on forever. A Being like that probably wouldn't make the effort to pursue a relationship with humankind, especially since each and every one of us has sinfully turned away from our Creator to pursue our own pleasure, right? Well, surprisingly, this God has made quite a large effort to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us, an effort that required him to sacrifice himself, his own glory and honor. Why did he do that?

God was grieved when we turned away from him in sin. (And if you think you haven't turned away, think again. Unless you've lived every single second of your life with the motive of glorifying God, you're a sinner. See I Corinthians 10:31) He was grieved because the penalty for sin is death, and the spiritual definition of death is eternal abscence from the presence of God. So the Creator of the Universe did the unthinkable: "...God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." In other words, God came to earth in the form of a human, lived a normal human life (normal, except for the fact that he NEVER sinned, he was completely pure), and then took the punishment WE deserve by dying, allowing himself to be crucified on a cross. Next, he conquered the power of death once and for all time by conquering that which causes death; namely, sin! How did he do that? He rose himself from the dead!

Now, when God looks on me, he no longer sees all the wrong I've done against him. Instead, he sees the perfection of Jesus (the name God took on earth). Because of what Jesus did for me, I get to spend eternity in the presence of God in Heaven, instead of eternity in Hell. And God has made this salvation available to all, it is granted through faith in what He has done through Jesus. If you're interested in God's salvation, read the Bible. I recommend starting with the Gospel of John and Romans.