Merry Christmas!

well the family besides matt all left yesterday, and it was sad to see them go, but it was awesome having everyone here. here are a few pictures from the week...

the personalized "The Thollanders, They're FAN-Tastic" mugs for everyone


Ben looking festive


jon and i changed our traditional "christmas meringue" to "christmas cherry cream cheese pie" this year...quite a success i'd say


jake and ben in a light saber duel defending the galaxy (ben representing evil and jake good as can be seen from their expressions)


sophie saying "cheese" in her Swedish dress


there are a few other good pictures, like from when we had the family 1 minute saltine challenge, and of course the fish head, but they're on my mom's camera so i will get them later

and finally- joel and louisa got me a handheld video camera called a flip for christmas, so i've been filming lots of stuff- here is an awesome video of sophie- enjoy!

christmas surprises

so tonight matt and i went to a christmas party. it was a lot of fun, but the most memorable moment happened as we were leaving. we went to get in matt's car, and as matt got in he saw something large and furry moving in the back seat. he was startled and because i saw him startle (which i have never seen in my whole life) i was scared. then he says, 'jennie, open the back door and let that cat out." turns out a large grey cat had climbed in the small open (cause its broken) window in the back while we were inside. later he said one time he got in his car and a bird was trapped inside. we were just glad we found the cat right away and not miles down the road. and i was glad he found it and not me, cause im pretty sure my heart would have never recovered.

sadly i don't have a picture of that, but here's a few pictures of us at the party. first a nice one, then the classic "thollander smile"

one bro is home

so matt came home on tues night, and its been awesome having him here. we've spent time styling his hair so he looked like he was 8, exploring charlottesville looking for the perfect old musty used book shop with stacks and stacks of books (which we found today much to matt's delight), and watching old late night movies. jon, joel, louisa and the kids all come in on sunday, so im looking forward to them coming in as well!

and as far as the job front, i had a second interview at this place up in arlington on tues, but havent heard anything yet about that, and im still lookin around and putting out resumes.

my computer lives another day

so i was up in northern va this weekend, and i had brought my computer to show pictures from india. when i turned it on a blue error screen came on which i've seen before, but this weekend it came on every time i turned on my computer. luckily i bought an external hard drive when this first started happening so i had most things backed up, but its still a bummer. this morning i sat down to call dell and see if it could be fixed or if my comp had seen its last days, and when i turned on my computer it worked! i know its only temporary, but at least it gave me time to back up some documents, music, and pictures that i hadnt backed up yet. maybe it does only work in charlottesville...

lance started the fire

so my dad has been feelin queasy since we left india, and someone told him to eat 2 pieces of burnt toast a day for a couple days and take chlorophyll. so this morning he was trying to burn some toast in the toaster oven, and remarking about how hard it was to get it really burnt, when all of a sudden the toast burst into flames! he was trying to blow it out but the flames were too big and so i hopped up and ran into the kitchen and we both blew till it went out. the kitchen was filled with smoke but we opened the door and windows and luckily the smoke detector didnt go off. it was quite exciting.


a picture of pops and his toast through the smoke

no more b,b,& b

well i left my post as floor associate at the b, b, and b on sunday and became an independent contractor (aka unemployed). i decided with all the family coming in for christmas, and wanting to be free to travel around and visit folks and such, going back to work just didn't make sense. but that will also free me up to do more job searching (which i put in a few applications today) so we'll see what happens. anyways, i'm happy not to be workin! also, my folks and i are recouping from india by watching the 4th season of lost (they hadn't seen it yet). man i forgot how awesome this show is. and how good looking sayid is. i can't wait until jan 21st

oh and i dont have a picture relating to anything here, so here's a pic of my folks and i in front of the india gate in delhi

notice my mom's and my stylish indian garb.

a few pics from india

the entrance to a hindu temple


camel drawn carts that take you to the taj


the taj mahal


burning ghats in varanassi where they cremate bodies and throw the ashes into the ganges


monkeys at the 'monkey temple' in nepal


view of the himalayas from kathmandu


elephants we saw on the road that blocked in our car when my mom got out to take a picture

thanksgiving food = negative

oh and the results of the thanksgiving food bet- jennie = 0, papa lance = 1

i guess the indians didn't care about american thanksgiving. oh well. there was some sort of mashed potato business, but that's about it. now i owe pops t a foot massage

home safe and sound

well we have arrived safely back in the states. thankfully we flew out of delhi and so were far away from the bombings in mumbai. i'm also very thankful we left when we did, as i think i'd be pretty nervous if we were still travelling there.

anyways, the trip was definitely awesome, and although i was ready to be home, it was definitely sad to leave as well. its quite an amazing country. but i also think i appreciate america more than i have before, like the trash free and nicely paved roads, clean toilets, and upright showers with hot water (i just took a shower, and think that this is the first time i've been really clean in the past month). i'm pretty jet lagged but am trying to stay up to a reasonable time to adjust back quickly. i'm gonna load pictures on my comp later as i start to unpack so dont worry, the pictures will start comin soon.

i cant wait to reconnect with all of you! i love you much and its definitely good to be back. to those of you in dc- we flew into dulles and i so wanted to stop by and see each of you! hopefully soon

and i'm wearing my mocassins right now.....those were missed

and gas is 1.67? dang. i feel like i should fill up buckets and store them in the basement

last post before home

hello!

so when we came to dehra dun i was definitely ready to head home, but the last two days here have been great. we drove to rishikesh (a town about an hour from here) and visited a few schools that had been set up there. the kids put on all kinds of programs for us (including real indian bangra dancing!) and that was really fun. plus we visited an aftercare program for children who live in the forests and basically which have nothing, which was incredibly moving. then we went into the forest area to visit a family and a bunch of the kids saw us and gathered over there. then jonathan and i (for those of you who dont know jonathan is a friend from home who was in the forge this past summer and has also been in india periodically meeting up with us) taught the kids sharks and minnows and played a bunch of games, which was awesome. (and kaiti jones just so you know- i used judith to break the ice, and now she is an international superstar. she is able to break both the language and culture barrier!)  oh and earlier we had attempted to teach some kids bocce (cause they just had a bunch of rocks and were playing some sort of kick the rock game) and although only one girl was into it then, we found out later they started playing it when we left. so all that was fun. 

then yesterday we drove up into the mountain area to visit a village. jonathan has a motorcycle here so i tagged along on the back of his bike which was really fun. (although scary at times i must admit cause cars don't exactly stick to 'lanes' here) today we drive back to delhi and then fly home tomorrow night.

tomorrow is thanksgiving in america and so happy thanksgiving everyone! i think of all of ya'll often and can't wait to talk to you again. thank you so much for your love, prayers, and support! i love you all!

in dehra dun, home on thursday

hello! since i last posted we have been to varanassi and then up to nepal, and now we are back in india for a few days and then we fly home on thursday night. the trip has been awesome, but i'm definitely at the point where i'm ready to be home. yesterday was my dad's 61st bday, and so that was fun. we spent most of the day travelling (plane from nepal to delhi, train from delhi to dehra dun up more north) but it was fun celebrating his birthday in two different countries. we had a little time in between our plane and train and so took a cab over to some people we know in delhi that we stayed with earlier and will also stay with the night before we leave, and they immediately snuck out and  got him a cake so we celebrated with them a little before heading off. 

anyways, varanassi was amazing. i'll do a better job describing it in person, so ill wait for more details on that. after that we took an overnight train again to delhi where we flew to kathmandu. nepal was cool, but a lot of stuff went wrong so it wasnt quite the trip we were expecting. the main thing that went wrong was that we were supposed to drive to pokera (maybe spelling that wrong) where resham and sita (i think many of you have met them) have their ministry, and it sits at the base of the himalayas. but the gov't is having lots of issues and there was a bandh (like a strike/riot) and so all the streets out of the city were closed. so we ended up staying in kathmandu the whole time. but that's a really cool city and we got to see a lot of sites there and also hang out with resham and sita a lot who are awesome. i was bummed about not getting closer to the mountains, but we had a few good views from kathmandu, and my dad said he'd never seen them from there before, so i consider myself fortunate. the mountains are incredible, prob the most beautiful things ive ever seen, and i have resolved to come back at some point (when political things are settled down) and take a trek in the mountains.

anyways, we are now in dehra dun for a few days. we drive back to delhi wed. again i cant post pictures, but dont worry i have plenty.

i love you all very much, i havent had time to read any of your blogs but i promise to catch up on all of them when im back!

oh also, me and dad have a bet going on if they will serve thanksgiving food on the flight back to america. i think yes, he thinks no. thoughts?

in delhi, heading to varanassi

hey all!

i only have a minute but i just wanted to say that things are going really well. we got to delhi a few days ago and have been staying with a family here and touring around the city. yesterday we drove about 4.5 hours to agra to see the taj mahal, which was awesome. it kind of felt like i was standing in a postcard. tonight we take an overnight train to varanassi, which is one of the holiest hindu cities. its right on the ganges river, and hindus believe that if they die there they will go straight to paradise, and so needless to say a lot of people go there to die. after that we'll fly to nepal for about 4 days. i'd post pictures but i'm not on our comp so i cant, but i miss you all and hope everyone is doing well!

two more pics...

this one is of george-


people sorting rice-

one picture

ok i got one picture up- i believe this was the second- the picture from the conference in navapur, chris ill try to get the picture of george the cow up for you some time too!

thoughts from me

hello! i just posted an e-mail below that my pops sent out (read that first) and so now i figure i'll share a few of my thoughts on the trip.

india is...unexpected....hard....beautiful....depressing....amazing.

i knew it would be different from america, but i dont think i had any idea how much. it's hard to even describe all that i've seen and experienced, and i've only been here a week. luckily my mom and i have been taking lots of pictures so those will tell better what it's like here than i will be able to in words.

the convention in navapur was really quite amazing. after a day or two of culture shock i was able to settle in a bit more. the meetings consisted of anywhere from 10-50,000 people, depending on the time of day, and it was just so beautiful witnessing all of these people raise their hands in worship. what my dad said about the difference between light and dark here is so true. the beauty of the Christians is breathtaking. their hospitality is unbelievable, sometimes even makes me uncomfortable (like last night they washed our feet and put garlands on us which was weird), but it has been really neat meeting them and getting to spend some time with them. and then the poverty here is unbelievable. from seeing the slums to the poor villagers it has been a very eye opening experience. even in Mumbai, the financial capital and a city of 20 million, 40% live in slums, where the sewage is open and TB and malaria plague the people. but its cool to see God's work here and experience the body of Christ around the world. their love for us and for me a stranger really makes the term 'family of God' come alive. and its been cool to see little ways God's been protecting us, his timing really is perfect, even in the little things.

on other notes- the food is pretty good, spicier than i'm used to but most people tame it down for us which is nice, after being sick i wasnt sure i'd ever be able to eat it again, but cipro is a beautiful thing and i'm back to eating regularly. my mom and i bought some new 'indian garb' so we're lookin a little more stylish these days, and indian traffic is crazy. "lanes" don't exactly exist and the rule is loudest horn wins. also, roads aren't just for cars, they're also for people, cows, goats, dogs, buffalo, and so far i've seen one camel. pretty much every moment is a photo op, so i'm doin what i can. really you should come visit someday. i'll learn the ropes and then we can take a trip

i love you all very much, and miss you dearly, i hope you are all doing well! (i've read a few of your blog posts those of you who have blogs) but please drop me an email and let me know how you are!

ok i just tried to upload pictures but sadly the internet connection here is too slow for it to work, ill try again next time we have internet. they were going to be of this- (you can make a mental image)
1-some villagers picking rice in a field outside mumbai
2-women in colorful saris at the convention
3-the entrance to a hindu temple but its a really frightening face and you walk through the open mouth to go in
4-a cow in the road

love you all!

hello from india! (e-mail from my dad)

hello all!

so my dad just sent out an e-mail to a bunch of people and i'm going to post that here (its a good sort of summary), and then ill post some of my own thoughts and pictures and such

Dear all,

Greetings and love from India. Sorry that it's taken so long to get news to you. We have literally had no opportunity until now (Wednesday night, one week in) to have sustained internet access. In the past week we have sat in meetings of 40,000 in the village of Navapur (Christie spoke to about 10,000 at one afternoon meeting, most of them women, I spoke twice to about 500 pastors), ridden in planes, trains and automobiles, visited a small Bible school in the largest slum in Asia called Dharavi, been to orphanages and to meetings with pastors and their wives driven from the Khandamal area of Orissa. We have all three been sick, almost missed a train (which would have been a nightmare-Jesus prompted me just in time to get some advice that got us on the right train), lost luggage (Jennie's, thankfully we did get it back), reached a hotel to find our reservation was canceled and already have had various other experiences that have made each day an adventure of its own. Last night I watched Christie sharing about the love of God for women with about 150 orphanage children at Orissa Follow Up. She broke into tears as she talked about Mary's love expressed for the Lord at the garden tomb. She wasn't just talking about it to them. She was living it before them. That was pretty neat. Then Jennie, despite having been sick for two days, got up and shared some advice with the children. She was a real trooper (and the one of us three that the children were most excited to meet.) I took some pictures of their expectant faces that will make you smile. When Jennie presented the children with 2 cricket bats and 4 balls, the place pretty much exploded. That was a fun moment.

On the challenging side I had forgotten in our 7 year absence from India that coming here for spiritual purposes is really to go to war. It is not an easy place to adjust to. On the other hand seeing the light in the faces of the children and adults who know Christ as opposed to the lives of despair that most people endure makes our presence here so worthwhile. Indian hospitality is also a beautiful thing to behold. Today we had several meetings with about 50 pastors and their wives who have all lost their homes in the recent Khandamal violence. To sit in the same room with them felt like a special privilege. God must come to their aid now in a way that is not yet clear. Your prayers for these believers is still valued.

We have eaten more chicken than we might have thought possible in such a short span, drunk a fair amount of chai and tons of water. The weather has been a little hotter than we expected. I think it will cool some tomorrow when we head for Delhi.

We love you. Your friendship and support is part of the reason we are here. The body of Christ is so important.It's been amazing to see the interest in the US election over here. The world is watching America.

Jesus has been near. We miss you.

Lance

on our way!

well we're about to leave for the airport! my dad says we should have internet at our first hotel, so ill try and post that we got there safe and such.

love you all!

del sol shirt

ok so remember the infamous 'del sol' shirt? (for those of you who don't know- it's this shirt that changes color in the sun that my folks bought me a few years back and in a moment of honesty i told them i didn't like it and to this day it's a point of contention...in jest of course) well i've often wondered what happened to that shirt, and today my mom found it while going through an old box! so anyways, here's a picture of it. i think my parents are still clinging to it in hopes that i'll come around, but if anyone would give it more love than i would you could probably request it and earn big points in the thollander house.

on another note, i'm pretty much all set for india. bags are basically packed and all i have left to do is take pablo over to my friend claire's. we leave the house around 11:30 tomorrow (we fly out of dulles at 5) so that's nice we'll have some time in the morning to get last minute things together. it's hard to believe it's actually here!

daylight savings time

now i don't really understand daylight savings time. how is it that we can just decide it will be a different time now? is it that easy to control time? i mean we gained a whole extra hour last night. people complain about not having enough time, why don't we just give ourselves extra hours more often? why spring forward when you can fall back? and not all states follow it? i think virginia should decide to fall back more often. those extra hours of sleep are great

on that note today i was asking my dad about the time change between here and india. he said it was 10.5 hours. so then i asked, 'is it still 10.5 hours? do they have daylight savings time?' to which he responded 'i'm not really sure, but i think it's 10.5 hours either way...' hmm... now that didn't really make sense to me (or to him for that matter) so to take a break from packing i did a little daylight savings time research. turns out the time change to india IS 10.5 hours (they're ahead) and they do not follow daylight savings time (although they used to) anyways, he was right about the time change today, whether he would have been right about it yesterday....of that i am not sure.

here's a diagram i found. don't really know what it means, but pictures are always nice


ok now back to packing

3 days and counting

last night was my last night of work (well until after i get back) and i can't believe we leave in 3 days! but then this morning my mom and i went back to bb&b because this week i g0t a higher employee discount than i usually do (they call it 'employee appreciation week' or something like that) and so we went to get some travel pillows for our trip. anyways, while i was there i decided to buy
1- this plate. it has been in the clearance section ever since i started working and i've always liked it and have often said to myself 'if this plate is still here tomorrow i'll buy it' but just never have. plus i think part of me felt bad no one ever bought it (kayla you'd be proud). so today i finally did! and now for only 2 dollars i now have a new plate to eat all my meals on (although don't be deceived by the picture, it's small-ish, like a salad plate)

2- a new pillow. i've been learning some about pillows (among other things)- stuff like how you should have a different pillow for if you sleep on your side vs. stomach/back. and naturally i had the wrong kind. since i usu dont sleep so well i decided to go ahead and get a good pillow and see if that helps. anyways, im excited about it

alright alright as promised

here are the requested pictures of me in the two salwar kameez (not quite sure on that spelling) that i will be taking to india:




you're welcome.

but i do want you to appreciate the size of these pants that go underneath- it gives a whole new meaning to "one size fits all"


thankfully my mom sewed a draw string into them! she even sewed in an extra hem on the pants to the right so that the legs are a bit smaller. imagine how big they were before!

liz's mini sock things

so liz posted last week about these sock things for dress shoes, and i saw them yesterday in a store, so i bought some- i used them today at work, and they're brilliant! they're going to change my ability to wear dress shoes! so thanks liz and i definitely recommend them to anyone else!

touch lamp

so i've wanted a touch lamp forever (just cause they're awesome), and the other day bought one from work for 4 dollars! (it was discounted cause it was missing it's pair) but the problem was it needed a special lightbulb that i didn't know where to get. anyways, i went shopping for misc things today with my mom and found one! i'm pretty excited about it.

i think you'll like this post

so i just got home from work, but earlier i was making a sandwich to bring with me, and it turns out a tuna can is the exact size of the kitchen sink drain...those cans can be slippery when you're opening them! this would happen to me, remember the high heel/vent incident of 2008? its like deja vu over here

i did eventually get it out, but it took a while.

book suggestions?

also, i'm lookin for good books to read on the flight- any suggestions?

various india things

so a ways back my pops told me i didnt need any shots for india, but as the trip has been approaching i think my mom has been getting increasingly worried that i am going to get some horrible illness while im there and so has been checking sites that recommend various immunizations and calling the health dept and such. anyways, she decided that i should get the hep a vaccine. so today we went in to the health dept to get it. she actually ended up needing a booster as well, so we both got our hep a shots. i didnt manage to document the moment at all, but here's a picture i took of a tree on the way in. just cause i like the fall


and here are some other trip related pictures. one is of our india pills. the big green ones are for malaria, and the others are cipro for if we get sick. then there's a picture of the two salwar kameez that im borrowing from my mom to wear in india, esp in the villages. they're incredibly comfortable (like pajamas) and im very excited about them. katie has requested pictures of me wearing them, so ill save those for later in the week.

and one last thing, i am setting a goal to post everyday until i go, to sort of make up for the lack of posting i will be able to do there (although i will try as often as possible) and by posting that goal ill actually feel like i have to live up to it, so that'll be good

india prep

so ive begun getting ready for india. i bought some shoes the other day. i basically needed shoes that were decent looking (for staying in villages and with ministry leaders and going to meetings and such) but also that i could walk everywhere in cause i only want to bring one pair...well maybe and a pair of flip flops too. so anyways, these are kinda nice but also have thick soles and are almost like hiking shoes, so hopefully they'll be perfect! i also ordered a new camera yesterday which im excited about. i was sad to have to buy a new one, but this one looks great and i got a pretty good deal. its the olympus stylus 1010. (here's a picture) also i got my visa approved and sent back the other day, so thats good! oh and yesterday i turned in a letter at work saying id be leaving for november. so things are in the works!

sneetle time

oh and check out this car i saw today. i couldnt get a great pic, but this gives the idea. i don't really understand it- some type of smart car i guess. but i like that its called a sneetle

me = christmas elf

it is 8:39 pm. i'm getting ready to head off for an all night bb&b shift in waynesboro setting up christmas goods. although i'm not pleased about this, i'm trying to think of myself as a traveling christmas elf. christmas tumptyguben really.

mama thollander frolicking

oh and check out this picture of my mom and me frolicking in the apple orchard. she was frolicking on her own first (on my command) and then i joined her. it was excellent

weekend festivities

so this past weekend my friend kaiti flew in from nashville to visit for a few days (she left today). anyways i got some time off and so did my friend emily (also from the forge, lives out near there) and we went apple picking, hiking, and just hung out around charlottesville! we picked a ton of apples the first day she was here and then baked apple related things every day following, including apple pie, apple crisp, and apple sauce. i feel like i should be sick of apples, but i actually just ate one and it was delicious. it was really fun and good to see her. here's a picture of my mom, emily, me and kaiti up at carter's mountain. the weather was beautiful all weekend which was nice. it was tough goin back to work today and not feeling like my work there was very worthwhile, but ah such is life

5 weeks from today...

5 weeks from today i'll be in india! (we leave 5 weeks from yesterday) needless to say i'm very excited. work is going pretty well but not something im interested in doing forever (even though my boss did say i could rise as high as i wanted...hmm tempting) and im on day 8 (i work tonight) of a 9 day stretch of working, so im a little exhausted of it right now. but this morning my dad and i are going to get pictures taken to mail with our visa applications. we were going to drive up to dc to get them but he decided we should just mail them in instead. but hopefully those will go through and then one step closer!

oh also, this weekend my friend kaiti (that i went camping with a month or so back) is coming to visit for her fall break which im really excited about. itll be good to see her plus the weather is supposed to be awesome so im hoping to do lots of fall outside activities!

humpback rock

yesteday i went hiking up humpback rock in the blue ridge mountains with my friends joey and karen. it was perfect weather for hiking, and an all around beautiful day! it was so nice to be outside and definitely made me appreciate beautiful virginia!

switzle and bed fixin'

so i went up to northern va on sat after work and it was so much fun to see all the people up there! i arrived home this morning to find pops thollander sick in bed (very sad) and so momma thollander's first reaction to me was "go drink some switzle" and because when instructed to drink switzle you drink switzle, i went and made some! it was pretty delicious. and also im hoping i dont get sick. i also bought a new toothbrush today because ashley pointed out that it was time for a new one (the bristles on my old one were sprayed in a million directions and it was pretty grosse looking). OH also! so half of my bed has been broken for a couple weeks. basically a wooden part of the box spring was broken, and unfortunately it was on the side that i sleep on (meaning the bed has tilted down where i sleep. it was kinda annoying but i didnt think too much of it, but while i was gone my dad fixed it! i took a nap today and realized how much better it is to sleep on a horizontal surface!

a few encounters

a few good customer interactions from bed bath and jennie today:

1- a woman came in who has decided to become a 'fruit artist'- you know someone who carves things out of fruit. well she's gonna need lots of different 'fruit tools' so we set about looking for appropriate ones. i guess because i wear an apron, nametag, and walkie talkie that means im knowledgeable about things like 'fruit crafting tools.' and of course i pretend to be. needless to say we found some good stuff (she even bought a "cake tester" aka long plastic skinny stick to see if cakes are done....necessary? i think not) and then i gave her advice on making apple sauce. it was very enjoyable

2- saw a guy looking at knives (the expensive ones are behind a glass case) and went over to see if he needed anything. he was from another country and had a really thick accent, and somehow i got roped into a 30 minute conversation about...well im not sure what. i think he was from russia. and i know we started out talking about different types of metals, at one point we talked about how his daughter is named after a russian cosmonaut, then we talked about the rest of the family and what they do, and then somehow onto american cars and jobs. not really sure, but it was definitely an interesting encounter!

pockets

so i have now had two official full days of work, and i'd say its going quite well! lots of stocking things and helping customers, which is actually pretty fun. at this point im kind of looking at it as a constant scavenger hunt. but i think im catching on pretty well. in fact one of my managers (not to brag...ok but to brag) today told me that he thought that i was maybe catching on faster than anyone he'd seen. now i can't really imagine how that could be possible since i haven't really done much, plus im pretty sure he got chewed out by his manager later, so eh, who knows. but i do get to wear an apron. which i love. and its got pockets, which i like to fill with things. (like if i have to carry stuff i try to put a substantial amount in my pockets) really i want to be known as 'pockets' at work. like "hey, pockets, whatchu got in those pockets". thats what i really want to happen. so im gonna work on that. here's a picture of my name tag. plus my folks get back tomorrow which im excited about. its been a pretty good week overall but im definitely starting to get lonely around the house.

oh plus ive been thinking about what the 'beyond' could stand for, here are some options
1- all the kitchen stuff, table settings, cleaning stuff, appliances (pretty much all the stuff i work with the most)
2- the 'beyond store'- the online store
3- me- the newest and possibly most fabulous employee- they could really replace 'beyond' with 'jennie'

first day of work

so last night was my first day at bb & b, and it actually went really well! it was all orientation stuff, paperwork and videos and such, but the managers are laid back and joke around a lot and the other employees seem pretty cool! so anyways, i think it'll be good. plus actually i was impressed by the practices of the company and it seems like a good one to work for. also, i'm assigned to the "hard side" for my next 3 shifts, which means the side that has kitchen gadgets, plates, etc. which in my opinion is the cooler side. boo ya. plus i will be wearing an apron, which im not gonna lie, i like wearing aprons. so anyways, my first actual shift is tomorrow night, so we'll see how that goes!

job!...and bears!

well doesnt look like nannying is gonna work out, so i went out today to find a job to make some money before india, and i got one! you are looking at the new floor associate at bed bath and beyond. oh ya, i start tomorrow for training at 4. anyways, im actually pretty excited about it, the pay is pretty good, the employees are all pretty young and seem nice, and i even knew one of the girls already working there! (i knew her from like 5 years back) hopefully it will go well! at least it will help pay the bills for a while!

also, there have been bear sightings in our neighborhood (a momma black bear and two cubs), and check out what the "redfields community sign" said today on my way out

my question is who's been feeding wild bears???

several updates

so i forgot a few posts ago to mention that i had gotten a speeding ticket. i got it the weekend i went camping. cops are lame. it was one of those country-ish roads where the speed limit is less than it should be and i didnt even realize. so that sucks. oh well. here is a picture of my ticket. BUT also i went to take a picture of the ticket a few days ago and when i did i found that my camera no longer will take pictures with the flash. only without, which is not good for my unsteady hand. or when its dark. or inside. when i try to take a picture this little light next to a flash symbol blinks orange. but everything else works. so i didnt know that flashes can die (or something) but apparently mine did. i took it to best buy to ask the 'geek squad' and they're assessment of the situation was "yep, something's wrong" thank you technology geniuses. so i guess ill take it to a camera store or something. anyone ever heard of this problem or have any suggestions? oh and when i went to work out yesterday i realized i put on a lime green jumart. yess thats a rare and good one. sorry the picture is blurry- see above section

and one last thing- my folks left today for a week at hilton head. it will be a much needed vacation for them, but so starts my week of being by myself at the house. i dont think ive ever spent that much time alone, but it should be good. hopefully ill get this nannying job (i also emailed 2 more listings i found today) or else im gonna be really bored

possible nannying

so subbing has been not the most reliable profession, and i was startin to get antsy about income and such (my dad is still employing me but i feel like i need some outside income as well) and so yesterday i was looking at part time jobs online. i found a childcare one that runs every weekday from 1-6, and so i sent them an email and my resume. the dad emailed me back and we arranged to meet tonight. i just got back from that and it went really well. the only thing is they're also interviewing people who can be there longer than me (since im goin to india in nov) anyways, he's gonna call me this weekend, and hopefully it will work out, but we shall see. if this doesnt work out then hopefully something else will come up!

i dont have any pictures related to this post, so here's an awesome giant picture of kayla.


stick it to the man kla (ps i love you)

camping in southwest va

so late thursday night i was talkin to my friend kaiti from the forge who goes to school in nashville, and we decided to go campin this weekend in southwest va. after about a day of deciding if we were actually going to go, late fri night we decided to go for it! so another girl from the forge who lives in charlottesville (emily) and i left on sat to meet kaiti and her roommate jane. it turned out to be an awesome weekend, and i'd say we did a pretty good job of pullin off the "campin experience" with little knowledge of what we were doing. we managed to build fires (well with some help from neighbors), put up the tent, go boating at "hungry mother state park" and not get attacked by any wild animals. although this morning i did see a black bear walking on the road as we were driving out! here are pictures of emily and i putting up the tent

kaiti crafting a roasting stick with a giant knife

and jane posing by a tree for her future "woodland ranger"

all in all it was a fabulous labor day weekend