so many possibilities

grateful

for the very green, pokey, wonderful grass at the community center in newberg
for having a friend to lay in that grass with and read and chat and laugh

for the rogue river

for my pelonis standing fan that keeps me cool at night

for spending time with people who are really good at laughing
for knowing that those people, who not so long ago were strangers, are my family
for seeing baby quinn for the first time and loving him so very much

for chapters

for vanilla yogurt and frozen blueberries

for jasper... my new and wonderful car that takes me to all sorts of adventures

for a wonderful bed that i didn't have to purchase but am storing for a year

for the women who came up to my kiosk at work and told me they were looking for aphrodite
for being able to keep my inner dialogue to myself

what will be will be

the problem is that i am too dang efficient. if i am given tasks that my boss thinks will last me an entire shift, i am done in about two hours. this leaves me with five hours with nothing to do. please help me! if you have an inefficiency tips i would greatly appreciate them. especially since i will be working 19 hours in the next two days.

i google-image-searched my name and this is what i found:

she can't complain

i work in a glass box. no, seriously. i feel like a goldfish. although sometimes i forget that people can see in just as well as i can see out. it's like my own private little observation bubble. but i have decided that there are three things that would make my job cooler.

if i could wear anything i wanted (within reason), as opposed to heels and fancy pants

if my job was a mobile job and i could wander around (i am learning to love wandering)

if it was always dark outside, because this is what i would see all the time

and it's just so pretty

those are my thoughts on work.

now here is my sad thought for the day... this thursday my family is starting a five day trip down the lower rogue and i can't go. now, when i say family you have to understand that this means cousins, aunts, uncles, dad, and brother. and this trip is something that everyone in my family EXCEPT FOR ME has done. the closest i ever came was when my mother was six months pregnant with me. this also means that i don't get to see my dad or brother for who knows how much longer.

so here's my happy thought... the feeps are having a celebration this weekend down at my home! we are going to do a wonderful afternoon float down the river (this is nothing compared to the lower rogue) and i will show off my town (which should take about an hour, maybe a tour of all our dutch bros) and we will get to hang out at my magnificent house. this is a big step, for me to call my house magnificent. because it really is but i had a hard time dealing with how nice it was and it all seemed very extravagant. but it has made my parents very happy and they have been hosting so many things that i know it's a total blessing from God. there is no way on this green earth that they would have been able to host two spring serve trips at our old house. ha.

somebody told me today that our water/fire feature at bridgeport is obscene. i thought that was funny.

fly away, fly away

i'm sitting in chapters today and was joined by the most wonderful people! i knew that they were coming but that didn't make it any less wonderful. we sat, Jessi and Kayla and i, around a table laughing and talking about nothing and everything. then we saw this driving down the road... dwarfing everything else. and we laughed out loud.

he opened up his arms

i've been doing a whole lot of thinking lately. i've felt trapped and tied down to newberg by lack of income and responsibilities. i can't just drive away or fly away to some grand adventure. i wish i could. i wish i could be done with school. i wish i could travel without a care, or travel someplace where i couldn't help but care. so i've been escaping in my imagination. thinking about traveling (i even dreamt last night that i went to bulgaria. i don't know anything about bulgaria). thinking about things that make me smile. thinking about my favorite things. thinking about things that make me laugh out loud and cause other people to wonder what i am thinking about. so i will share. these are a few of the things i have been thinking about:

two weeks in ireland with my dad

taking pictures and exploring the beautiful country

kilarney national park

boats in kilarney

hillsides on dingle penninsula

a month with a group of incredible, inspiring people

adventuring in cuba & jamaica

learning, living, breathing in the culture and beauty

xxxxxxxxxxxx

playing with my cousins outside

on the river or at the lake

making each other laugh and scream

xxxxxxxxxxxx

living at the beach for the summer

whether it be santa cruz

or bandon oregon

i would have posted more pictures but my pos computer has issues operating. oh well, i'm thankful that i have this computer and that i didn't have to pay for it out of my own pocket. maybe someday i will have a reliable computer but maybe i don't really care that much. oh, what's even important anymore? probably not having the most state-of-the-art computer as nice as it would be. hmm, there's something else to think about...

pour out your water

i watched the most spectacularly beautiful movie yesterday and it has been running through my mind since then. if you want to be blown away, go get yourself a copy of hero and give yourself some time for something wonderful.

i also daydreamed yesterday. i remembered this place i went to in high school. i was working at a summer camp and we took this weekend off to go camping. we drove up the coast for awhile and then found a spot to camp by the dunes. one afternoon we went exploring and just walked out into the dunes. we kept walking and walking, up and over another dune just to find ourselves facing more sand. it was like in the movies where the characters have to cross the desert and all they see all around is more sand. that's where we were, just trekking through the sand. we crested yet another dune and were met with a wonderful surprise. an oasis stood before us. not the kind of oasis one might expect to find. this oasis was more or less a straggly tree and a pond of stagnant water. but when i closed my eyes it seemed more an enormous paradise with trees and waterfalls and tropical birds. that is what i remembered. and then i smiled.

seeing eye to eye

i had the most wonderfully serene night last night. i was the only one awake in the living room so i lit some candles and put on enya. that's right, i like enya and it just seemed like an enya night. after making myself a cup of madagascar vanilla tea i sat down at our new dining room table (huge free blessing... i love "storing" things for people). the next few hours were wonderful

read from my old journal

read blogs of people who inspire me

thought of two new photo projects to write down in my book

spent some time writing so eloquently about the happenings of this last year
of my life... sometimes i surprise even myself

talked with God about everything that was or had been on my heart

let my hair down and thanked God i can grow my hair out to bless a child

drank my favorite tea and thought about Miki-Ann

i went to bed in a room that was filled with the sound of night and rain. it smelled like spiced chai from the beautiful candle i had lit an hour earlier. i read some more Anne Lamott and started noticing the little things about my room that i love so much... like the pillowcase on my pillow that is wonderfully tacky and beautiful. my dad found it in the attic of a house he had listed for the family of an old woman who had passed away. i was in high school and he asked if he could take it for his daughter because he knew i would love it. only the pillow case, not the sheets. thanks dad, it's still my favorite.

tell me quando, quando, quando

so i have been searching through craigslist for jobs since that seems to be the only place that i can find people who need employees. my friends have been helping me out by letting me know when they go into establishments that are hiring (thanks Leah for the tip about that gas station and great clips, very helpful). but so far, the easiest way to earn $5000 that i have seen advertised on craigslist is donating my eggs. sounds like a great idea right up to the self-injections and surgery. but i did send my resume to a company that installs the advertisements you see on grocery carts. it's only 35 hours a month but i would get to travel (to salem and mcminnville) and use a cordless power drill. tell me that doesn't sound appealing.
no really, though, i got a call about an interview as the guest services attendant at bridgeport. that sounds right up my alley... dressing up everyday, answering phones, carrying umbrellas for rich people while they shop. but at this point, anything sounds good. plus, God let me in on a little plan of his called, "katie will have a job by the end of the month." i just have to hold up my part and keep applying and giving out my amazing resume.
sundays are probably my favorite days so far this summer. even though i do go to church alone, it's really nice to have a home at imago dei and i meet new people every week. when church is over i get to spend time at powells and whole foods, which was something i used to do with lots of people, but now i go it alone. but sitting at those windows in the coffee shop, reading Anne Lamott and listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a wonderful way to spend a sunday afternoon.
i think that friday night was the funniest night i have had in a long time. tuesday i went down to eugene to hang out with my folks and grandparents and see a concert my brother was in. let me tell you, trombone ensembles are pretty awesome. the rest of the time was... interesting. my parents are still having a hard time with me going to school for another year, but at least my dad understands me a little more after i was able to chat with him about my dreams. we're still working on my mom. thursday i got to see Kirsten, Leah, and Maleah. i went to the airport to hang out with Kirsten before she left for Nepal and it was so good to be with those girls again. how i missed them.
but back to friday night. went to dinner with Mar, Britt, and Chad (he was my surprise guest) and it was so much fun. then us girls went shopping for a little *hum* present for our friend Nicole. that's right, we had a bridal shower to go to and figured since we were the only younger ladies attending, we were therefore in charge of bringing the, well, you know. but the most awkward part was when i called my mother because we didn't know the rules about buying, well, you know. she told me that there were no rules, except maybe nothing slutty. it was interesting hearing my mother use that word. but it was a good thing since Nicole's mom took pictures of her with each of her gifts. oh my.
here's me wishing i were anywhere but here.

free falling

i just remembered the real reason that i was going to blog today. Laura is in california right now and Mari is fish-sitting for her. this fish is a delightful temporary addition to our not-always-as-delightful-as-we-first-thought apartment. the other day Mar came into the living room and asked, "did you feed Willy?" i replied, "his name is Walter." then we both look at each other with puzzled faces. "wait, his name is Martin."

i heard there was a secret chord

so the starlight parade was... fun. i don't know what it is about parades. i always get so excited for parades and then i go and then it's just boring. so this is the conclusion that i have come to. parades are only really good in disneyland. i figure that this is due to the fact that they are custom made to be amazing and have very little downtime... let's go to disneyland!
the next thing i would like to say is that Mar and i went to Steph's for dinner on sunday and it was truly fantastic. we walked down to the playground and swung for a bit. i love to swing, but swinging in a skirt is a whole different ball game. it involves careful planning and cunning strategy. on the way back twighlight had come and i was inspired for yet another photo project to put down in my "wicked ideas" notebook. someday i will get to all of these projects. maybe when i finally finish school (boo).
someday i will find a job and it will be great. and on that day i will truly be able to express joy and happiness when people tell me they were just hired at the exact place i had two interviews and was told people came back for the summer. if you don't want to hire me, just say it, don't lie.
jerk chicken and fried platanos at whole foods made my entire week!
and now for my final musing. walking through the park to get to chapters is actually not a short cut, but definitely good for some laughs.

i know what i know

i have stopped wearing deoderant. now before you get all grossed out let me expound on that statement. i sweat a lot, one armpit more than the other (not that that isn't already common knowledge). i sweat when i wear deoderant so i thought to myself, what if i just don't wear deoderant? i would probably still sweat. but would i smell? i am here to tell you that, no, i don't smell. can you imagine the things that this new way of life are going to save me from? i am saving money, time, laundry, and all of those not so inconspicuos pit checks. i feel like a new woman.
on a different note, i just saw a lion ramble down the street. followed closely by two giraffes. they were being pulled by trucks and were affixed to trailers and weren't real. it was a bizarre sight nonetheless.