Starbucks VIA Challenge

Drop by a participating Starbucks from October 2nd-5th to take the Starbucks VIA Challenge and they'll give you a free tall brewed coffee for your time!
Another reason why I hope it smells like Starbucks in Heaven :)

Marriable

I just finished reading the book Marriable by Hayley and Michael DiMarco. Alyx gave it to me, and the Omaha hockey trip was the perfect amount of time to finish it.

To quickly sum up why I loved this book, it's because it's not like other books!

I know, I know...every single book will say that they are not like the others. And one must admit, that this is true. Every book is told just a little bit different. But it seems that the message and meaning are always the same. Don't date until you're ready to get married. Follow Christian teaching. Guard you're heart. And while this book says those things too, it does so in a totally different way!

I've read Josh Harris' book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, along with many others. But this one stated the point, and then moved on! (yes Josh Harris...moved on!) It was humorous, and fast paced. I wanted to be reading it!

It stated the 10 most common lies that guys will tell girls. I talked about being friends with the opposite sex, and how only gay people marry their best friend.

There were many parts of the book that I would like to post, but I will stick to one, and you can read the rest (after Kristen, who currently has it).

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Top 10 Rejection Lines Given by Women (and what they actually mean)

10. I think of you as a brother (I don't want to kiss you, ever.)

9. There's a slight difference in our ages (I'm not Mary Kay LeTourneau or Anna Nicole Smith.)

8. I'm not attracted to you in that way (again, I don't want to kiss you, ever.)

7. My life is too complicated right now (Instead of "you complete me," you complicate me.)

6. I've got a boyfriend (And his name is TiVo.)

5. I don't date men where I work (And if you quit, I still work on Earth.)

4. It's not you, it's me (It's me not wanting to date you.)

3. I'm concentrating on my career (Until I find someone that I see a future with.)

2. I'm celibate (How many times do I have to say it? I don't want to kiss you!)

1. Let's be friends (You won't mind when I tell you about all the other guys I meet and have a crush on, will you?)

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Top 10 Rejection Lines Given by Men (and what they actually mean)

10. I think of you as a sister (I'm just not attracted to you.)

9. There's a slight difference in our ages (I'm just not attracted to you.)

8. I'm not attracted to you in that way (Um, what he said.)

7. My life is too complicated right now (I can't keep juggling you and dating my new crush.)

6. I've got a girlfriend (I'm just not attracted to you enough to dump her.)

5. I don't date women where I work (I see a nasty breakup in our future, and I need this job.)

4. It's not you, it's me (It's you.)

3. I'm concentrating on my career (I'm just not attracted to you.)

2. I'm celibate (This is getting redundant...)

1. Let's be friends ( I value you as an important influence in my life and can't imagine navigating my free time without you being a part of it. Did I mention that I'm just not attracted to you?)

When it Rains...

On Saturday night I was talking with my friend Alyx, and we had just about run out of all hope in the opposite sex. We've been reading lots of courtship books together, including Marriable, which I will post next.
So we prayed together, and decided to ask God for a sign. If there were any decent men left, God would send rain.
I greatly admire Alyx because she asks God for signs every day, and never doubts what she's sees. I, on the other hand, am always doubting whatever I ask for: "Is one flower good enough, or was I asking for more?"
About two hours later, Alyx text me and said that if the rain didn't come on Sunday, it would come on Monday. To which I replied: DO YOU WANT MEN TO FAIL???
I mean rain? Come on?
Sunday came and went without a single drop.
Not even a little breeze.
Monday came, with no sign yet.
But at 9:30am, God opened the sky's, and I had the fear of God placed into me!
The puddles were 6 inches deep! By the time I reached my class, my jeans were wet up to my knees!
Some may say that it's just a coincidence. That it had been predicted to rain all week long.
I however, will continue to say "that I CAN reasonably take credit for making it rain!"
(Although Mrs. Bennet from "Pride and Prejudice" cannot...)

Love is a gross exaggeration of the differance between one person and everybody else.
-George Bernard Shaw

T.A.K.E. Defense!

We traveled to Kansas City today to take a self defense class with some friends. Miss Hannah practiced her moves with me, while the mothers used their hips to fight the enemy off.
We were SO tired from all of this that we just HAD to go to Chick-fil-A ;)
Then we traveled a little further on 435 to the Victorian Trading Company outlet store. We "exceeded our income" by making lots of nice little purchases. Including a pink shirt for me that says "Helpless Romantic".
We also did some graduation and spring formal planning, since these events will be here before you know it!
Over all a great day spent with some great girls!

Shelly and Lord Byron

N.B. Percy Shelly, his wife Mary Shelly, and Lord Byron often vacationed at a summer house of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. One summer they agreed to each write a ghost stories and see who could come up with the best. Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" won.

She Walks in Beauty
by Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Sick...

The bipolar weather finally caught up with me, and I'm now drinking fluids religiously. With the ACT on Saturday and a hockey tournament after that, a speedy recovery is much needed.

Quotes...

A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying.


At some point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That's how we're made. So, you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them. But there are some lines... that are way too dangerous to cross.


Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt. It's a freakin' ocean.


Maybe we're not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human. Maybe we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.


Communication. It's the first thing we really learn in life. Funny thing is, once we grow up, learn our words and really start talking the harder it becomes to know what to say. Or how to ask for what we really need.

PureVolume.com

I realized today that I haven't done a very decent job of sharing this wonderful piece of heaven with all my readers. I can now sleep once again with a clear head!
It's this great website where unsigned bands can post their music and people like you and me can download it for free! Yes, for free! So far I've found: VersaEmerge (she sings with A Day to Remember in their song If it means a lot to you), He is We (plays the piano...enough said), Vanilla Sky (did a cover for Umbrella), and NeverShoutNever (oh man he is gorgeous! My favorite is 30 Days). Look these up and let me know if you find anything yourself

SwapTree.com

I signed up for a book swap group today! I had a few books and CD's that I was looking to get rid of anyways, and I always have a book I'm interested in reading. I added 9 things to my list today, and I'm excited to pick out my first book!

New Moon: Meet Jacob

Something Inside

This is such a great song and movie. I can honestly say that I have cried every time I watch it.
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (guitar) is a great musician and plays a great role in this movie. It's a shame that such a small part of the song is in the movie. One of the reasons I love Yellowcard so much is because they have a voilin player in their band. I know that the times with always change, and that musical styles come and go; but something about classical music will always be with us. It comes back in little bits here and there. Modern musicians take an idea from Chopin or need I say Pachelbel? At any rate, I hope you enjoy this song.

August is Over

I have been waiting a year to post these lyrics on my Facebook status. And finally, on Monday, I did! We the Kings has long been one of my favorite bands. I was listening to them before anyone knew who they were. And now they're on tour in the UK and are very well known.

August is Over
Say a prayer
The summer nights are dead
The fall is coming
We were careless hearts
Who got caught up in this

You were shy
To the night you drove me wild
And you crashed into me
And I won't lie
I wish it lasted a lifetime

Please stay-ay-ay
Won't you stay-ay-ay
Tonight

Breathe in deep
And say goodbye
The saddest song
I'll ever write
For anyone, anytime

Breathe in deep
Before I say
I can feel us slip away
You're almost gone
You're good as gone
August is over

No wait
Cause August had to end
All our bags are packed
Just two broken hearts
That got caught up in this

I deny
That tomorrow you'll be gone
And so far from me
It's something strange
Never love the same way

Please stay-ay-ay
Won't you stay-ay-ay
Tonight

Breathe in deep
And say goodbye
The saddest song
I'll ever write
For anyone, anytime

Breathe in deep
Before I say
I can feel us slip away
You're almost gone
You're good as gone

We can try to drown it out
But it never stops breathing
We can take it all in
But it never slows down
We've come down from that cloud

Well say-ay-ay
What you gotta say-ay-ay
Please say-ay-ay
What you gotta say
Whoa-a-oh-oh
Whoa-a-oh-oh

Breathe in deep
And say goodbye
The saddest song
I'll ever write
For anyone, anytime

Breathe in deep
Before I say
I can feel us slip away
You're almost gone
You're good as gone
August is over
We're not the reason
August is over

Human Life International's Statement on the Passing of Senator Edward Kennedy

We must, as a matter of precept, pray for the salvation of heretical Catholics like Senator Edward Kennedy, but we do not have to praise him let alone extol him with the full honors of a public Catholic funeral and all the adulation that attends such an event. There was very little about Ted Kennedy's life that deserves admiration from a spiritual or moral point of view. He was probably the worst example of a Catholic statesman that one can think of. When all is said and done, he has distorted the concept of what it means to be a Catholic in public life more than anyone else in leadership today.

Obviously we don't know the state of Senator Edward Kennedy's soul upon death. We don't pretend to. We are told by the family that he had the opportunity to confess his sins before a priest, and his priest has said publicly he was "at peace" when he died. For that we are grateful. But it is one thing to confess one's sins and for these matters to be kept, rightfully, private. It is another thing entirely for one who so consistently and publicly advocated for the destruction of unborn human beings to depart the stage without a public repudiation of these views, a public confession, as it were.

It is up to God to judge Senator Kennedy's soul. We, as rational persons, must judge his actions, and his actions were not at all in line with one who values and carefully applies Church teaching on weighty matters. Ted Kennedy's positions on a variety of issues have been a grave scandal for decades, and to honor this "catholic" champion of the culture of death with a Catholic funeral is unjust to those who have actually paid the price of fidelity. We now find out that President Obama will eulogize the Senator at his funeral, an indignity which, following on the heels of the Notre Dame fiasco, leaves faithful Catholics feeling sullied, desecrated and dehumanized by men who seem to look for opportunities to slap the Church in the face and do so with impunity simply because they have positions of power.

It is not enough for Kennedy to have been a "great guy behind the scenes" as we have seen him referred to even by his political opponents. It is also not praiseworthy to put a Catholic rhetorical veneer on his leftist politics that did nothing to advance true justice as the Church sees it or to advance the peace of Christ in this world. Every indication of Senator Kennedy's career, every public appearance, every sound bite showed an acerbic, divisive and partisan political hack for whom party politics were much more infallible than Church doctrines. Whatever one's political affiliation, if one is only "Catholic" to the extent that his faith rhymes with his party line, then his Catholicism is a fraud.

As the Scriptures remind us, there is a time for everything under the sun. This, now, is the time for honesty about our Faith and about those who are called to express it in the public forum. If we do not remind ourselves of the necessity of public confession for public sins such as Senator Kennedy was guilty of, then we are negligent in our embrace of the Faith and we are part of the problem. As Pope Benedict has reminded us recently, charity without truth can easily become mere sentimentality, and we must not fall into that error. A Catholic show of charity for the family must not eclipse the truth that is required of all with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Senator Kennedy needs to be sent to the afterlife with a private, family-only funeral and the prayers of the Church for the salvation of his immortal soul. He will not be missed by the unborn who he betrayed time and time again, nor by the rest of us who are laboring to undo the scandalous example of Catholicism that he gave to three generations of Americans.

Sincerely,


Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

When I consider how my light is spent by John Milton

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."

For English this year we have to read two or three poems each week. So far I've read this one by Milton, 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's Day' by Shakespeare, 'Kubla Khan' by Samual Taylor Coleridge and 'The Raven' by Edgar Allan Poe. The last, if you haven't previously read, is very much worth your time. It has by far been my favorite so far, but was a tad bit too long to post here.

Quote...

Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else. ~George Bernard Shaw