Ive been busy, but have loved a lot of the moments Ive been busy. Well, the youth minstry part of it. The Starbucks side of it I could always leave. The last two weekends I spent time hanging out with high schoolers and got some photos to document them.

These photos are from some of my kids who go to one of the many high school repersented in the youth groups Twirp dance. Thats right, the dance is called Twirp. What is Twirp you may ask? The Women Is Required to Pay. Apparently Sadie Hawkins is soooo last year (or when I was in high school).

This past weekend I drug Jason along on an adventure of driving over 800 miles with 10 high school kids as we raced ten other teams all around North Carolina and Virginia. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact we didnt win. We did however win the most awards for how strangely we ran the race, but thats another story for another time.

On another random youth note, my Jr. High school youth pastor’s wife found me on facebook yesterday. I love when stuff like this happens! We got disconnected when I moved to San Diego and they to LA. They now have three kids (last I knew there was only one) and doing college minstry on a volunteer bases. We’ve been playing catch up over the last 5 years of our lives and its just great fun.

Usually when I turn on the radio to something other than NPR, its crap. Crap crap and more crap. What happened to radio? I was a teenager in the nineties (wow that is something someone who thinks she is getting old would say) and there was great stuff on the radio. Tonight was different for radio and me. I started to listen to a cheesy country song and couldnt make it thru, I turned the station to “What a Wonderful World”. And it pretty much summed up my day which was a lovely way to end it.

There wasnt anything practically great about today, other than I just always found myself pretty happy. Even after having to get up at 4am this morning. The morning shift was fun, despite a lot of unwelcomed energy so early in the morning. Then planning poorly and getting fast food that just made me feel awful as I waited for twenty minutes at the bank for an appointment making me late to work. See, doesnt sound like the best day after I share it now does it? But at the end of the day, I look back and see a happy day. Maybe its because Jason and I had a good conversation over a yummy hamburger and spent the evening with friends discussing coupley things. I got to make faces at Emma whos getting bigger by the moment. That baby could put anyone in a good mood. I dont know really, but it was just a really really good day. I love days like that.

Dear Whoever is stealing my internet,

Hi. How are you? Enjoy the snow today? Got the day to spend it inside STEALING MY INTERNET. Im sorry, I know we just met and all, but Im frustrated. With you. I know its not your fault that my landlord made the lame decision to have our internet not password protected. But that doesnt mean you have use it. Unless you are one of my roommates, which I do not think you are becasue one is a sleep and one is watching a movie with her boyfriend. Thats right, I waited until the night to see if I could upload my photos of the lovely snow we had today. I thought maybe the internet would be as fast as you know, someone who isnt stealing it is on it, sorta way. But noooooo, still so slow and I still dont have my snow photos up to share with my friends and family. Do you feel ashamed of yourself now? Not only for stealing but for keeping such a thing from perfect strangers? Well you should be. So please kindly get off my internet and buy your own. Its a perfect last minute Valentines gift to yourself.

Sincerely,
alisa

Usually it snows in the morning or I wake up to snow. Ive never been driving home and big fluffy flakes spill onto my car. I dont want to go to bed early for an open shift! I want to stay up staring out my window watching the snow cover the ground in the street light’s glow. I love snow so very much.

…sad becasue I thought pressing flowers was easy.

…annoyed at the wind.

…glad that I spent $20 dollars on car cleaning items.

…unsure if the newly wrapped present looks manly or not.

…watching season six of Friends.

…drinking Cherry Coke Zero instead of a beer.

…waiting for all my newly printed photos to come to hang on the wall.

…going to reread P.S. I Love You after seeing the movie last night.

…missing my family. Why wont they call back?

…in the process of doing my taxes.

Is the strike actually over? Are the rumors true? Will The Office and How I Met Your Mother return to my regular schedule life?

Tonight is one of those nights I just want to drive around with the windows rolled down listening to music. Recently I found a station that plays 90s music which these days is what 80s music is to me. Love singing along to the songs I cant believe I know or still remember the words to. I grabbed a short one pump mocha, one pump white mocha, one pump peppermint non-fat no whip hot chocolate and set out with the plan of driving around. Then my gas light came on, such is life. So, I took the city route home in exchange for a night drive around town. The lights off the building against the dark night sky is one my favorite things. Maybe a Sunday drive will show itself instead.

Found out today some of my high school kids read my blog thanks to the bosses wife. Hi girls. How are you? Shouldnt you be doing homework or something instead of reading my blog?

Its funny, my brother was the first in the family to get himself a blog. I found it somehow and read it, asked him about something he wrote. He got very upset with me “WHY ARE YOU READING THAT?!” I look at him with a confused face and said “Its on the INTERNET. World Wide Web.” He didnt really have much to say after that, becasue its true. Careful what you put on the internet, anyone can read it. Im not ashamed of what I have written, but sometimes I forget becasue of this screen that anyone can find and read it. I tend to spill my thoughts more than I would in person, but Im thankful for an outlet like this. Its my own little corner of the internet.

This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday. The youth group is meeting early so they can be out to watch the big game. I had to walk into John’s (my boss) office and ask who was even in the Super Bowl (Im a college ball girl, Go Tide!). Planning this week’s youth night has been a lot of fun. Maybe because I let myself get too stressed over the last one, this one is more fun for me. Im hopefully going to create the yard lines on the floor of the room and the end zone where John with teach from. I love stuff like this, which is one of the many reasons I love my job.

Thankfully, John isn’t going to be cheesy and teach about God being at the end zone or the game of life. He’s teaching, or more so explaining what Ash Wednesday is all about. I couldn’t believe its become Lent season already. In the mist of planning this Super Bowl Sunday night along with finding references to ashes in a media way, I’ve been trying to think about Lent. Beyond just what to give up, and more about sacrifice. Whatever I decide to give up for lent wont even begin to touch the sacrifice others make everyday. Or what Christ has done and continues to do for me. I probably would think until next years lent thinking of that if I was disciplined enough.

There’s the hope in me that I will keep perspective beyond my sacrifice. To regain the knowledge of others and Jesus’ sacrifice and take it into my daily life after lent has passed. I love how God works in the small things. Even though at times in this upcoming Lent season I know it wont feel small.