I need a new look...

I am in desperate need of new clothes!! I weeded through my closet (as I occasionally do) of things I hadn't worn in forever. I am a firm believer that if you haven't worn something for the last six months (minus those that are seasonally specific - ie sweaters and coats) or if you look at it and your first thought is "eh", then you shouldn't keep it. So after I cleaned out old unwanted clothes, I noticed that all I had left were t-shirts and tank tops... nothing exciting... nothing stylish... I am a boring dresser. And the clothes I had gotten rid of were also not cute... so I need new clothes! I am determined to dress with more style and flare. I love the clothes at forever21, H&M, etc, but when I go shopping there I tend to get basic Ts and tanks ALL THE TIME!!! Well no more! I have recently discovered LOOKBOOK.nu - a website where everyday people post their cute stylish outfits. Some of them are ridiculous and I would never wear them, but some of the pieces are cute! So I am drawing inspiration from there. Here are some cute outfits I found -

I'm a fan of blazers

The necklace is strange, but the dress is adorable!

perfect!

really wish I could pull off aviators

I actually just like the bag and blazer in this picture... and maybe the necklace

maybe not the shoes or tights... but the rest if super cute!

So hopefully I can stick to my oath of not buying anymore plain t-shirts for a while...

Summer of babies!!!

So I didn't only travel this summer... there were also lots of babies being born - actually just 2... but still it was a summer full of babies and baby showers :)

First up was Jack Matthew-

me & Baby Jack

He was such a peanut! Proud parents Meredith & Andy were so excited for his arrival! All of us girls were excited to have another little boy around! He is so cute!!

Next up was this third little boy in our group! Spencer William -

me & Baby Spencer

My beautiful friend Jeannette!

Spencer William

Some of the girls! The other ones were there earlier so they have a different picture :)

This brings the total in our girls group to 6!!!

Me, Kelsie w/ Rori, Jeannette w/ Madi (Spencer in her tummy), Meredith w/ Jack, Jessica w/ Eli, and Nicole w/ Emolyn (Baby girl in her tummy) - we're missing Sarah & Tara

We definitely have our hands full!!

Up next is Baby girl Thompson in October! I am spending the day with Miss Emolyn Kate and when I look at my beautiful niece it is hard to imagine that I will love another little girl so completely! But I already do!

Me & Em

Emolyn Kate & me!!

I'm back!

Here's what has happened since we last spoke...

- Slept
- Worked
- Ate
- Hung out with friends
- Slept
- TRIP TO THE BAHAMAS!!

Amazing sandy beaches

lovely private beaches

View from our room!

LOOK AT THAT WATER!!!

Me enjoying our view!

the nannies

Rowan & I - I hung out with this little munchkin every night before bed :)

enjoying hand-rolled cigars!

Nicci & I - the only ladies who smoked :)

- Worked
- Boredom
- Slept
- Hung out with friends
- Made money
- CARLA'S VISIT!!!!

Macayo's for Carla's first true mexican food experience

Addicted to QT 32 oz Fountain drinks!

Heading out of town to the Grand Canyon!

Montezuma's Castle

Waiting to get into the Grand Canyon in the rain... Carla fell asleep

Bright Angel trail

enjoying the view from the edge

Tilly & Chels!!!

- Hung out with friends

- Back to school shopping

- School starts on thursday!

So as you can see aside from the occasional trip, my life is pretty uneventful. But I want to start blogging again and sharing with you my search for direction, adventure, inspiration, and just general excitement in life.

I'll be back soon... I promise :)

finals have stolen my soul...

I am coming upon the end of the semester... Summer is almost here and I am more than excited to have this summer to work and plan fun things to do!! I am determined to have fun this summer!
Due to my stress with finals and papers and whatnot that ends this semester, I have found it hard at nights to fall asleep... so last night I turned on the TV and flipped to PBS (you know, so I could bore myself with antiques roadshow or something - no offense Mom and Nancy). But to my delight, Rick Steves (I know Amy) had his travel show on and they were visiting YORK, ENGLAND!!! I have been to York... you all might remember Phoebe and my little video "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - it was filmed there! I was grinning like an idiot the entire episode see all the places I visited and seeing all the beauty of the city again! It got me to remembering Fountain's Abbey, The Bronte House, ghost tours with William Shatner (our tour guide looked and kind of sounded like him) around York where Rick, Brie, Tyler, Victoria, and I tried to scare ourselves! SO MUCH FUN!!! I missed it so much!
So I woke up this morning excited to watch Phoebe and mine's video... and then I moved on to watching all our videos again. I do this probably every couple of weeks and laugh hysterically cause they are so hilarious and were so fun to make!
I tried to upload the videos on to this post, but I can't... But I could only upload 2... so here they are





Europe #1

Europe #2

Excitement...

Wow, I almost forgot what this feels like!! To be excited about something... REALLY EXCITED!!! My best friend Kendra, my kindred spirit Betty, and I are going to the Bahamas this summer for a WHOLE WEEK!! A family from Kendra and Betty's church is going on vacation and asked Kendra to come and bring 2 friends along to watch 8 kids!! I am SO EXCITED!!!

Check out the RESORT we are staying at!!

TOMS Day without Shoes...

Hey all!!



I have been embarking upon an adventure today. TOMS shoes has declared this day to be a day without shoes!! I am overjoyed at this idea because I don't care for shoes! I tend to go barefoot whenever I can... haha!

But today is different, because I will not be wearing shoes ALL DAY! Wherever I go, I will have no shoes. Now, today is kind of an easy day to do this... I am nannying, so I have pretty much only felt weird walking through my garage and through the parking lot of the apartment complex where I watch Olivia. The challenge will come when I walk to the park later, a couple of block away! I am ready though because seriously it is nothing when you consider what SO MANY people live through everyday!!

Some facts:
Fact #1:
In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to food, clean water and to seek medical help.

Fact #2:
Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.

Fact #3:
Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.

Fact #4:
In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.

Fact #5:
Podoconiosis is 100% preventable by wearing shoes.

For many people all over the world, everyday is a day without shoes on their feet. Today TOMS is asking everyone to experience what it is like to walk a mile in their soles... even if it is only for an hour, or minute, or whenever you can.

TOMS is an organization that makes shoes, and with every shoe you buy they send a pair of shoes to a child around the world. TOMS are seriously the most comfy shoes in the world and I am completely dying to get a pair one day when I have $50 to spare.

So take part and live today without shoes!!!

After Lent...

So it would appear that after all the questioning over what I was gonna give up for lent, I guess I gave up blogging... and without even thinking about it. hahaha

this time last year!

Lent...

How many of you out there in blog world are doing anything to observe lent??

I have never done it... I have talked about doing it... but have never actually committed to anything. I guess the pressure to do something isn't really there because as a non-denominational protestant, I have never been required to actually give something up for lent. But part of me has always been curious to do it.

I was brainstorming last night with my roommates about what I could give up to observe the 40 days leading up to Easter and I threw out some ideas. BUT the catch is... you are supposed to give something up that would take away from you spending time with God. Now, if I am being honest, I have been thinking of limiting my Facebook time (not giving it up entirely, but LIMITING). But, my roommate asked me if I'd really be using the time I would normally have been on facebook to spend time with God? Convicting... because the answer is probably no. I would probably try... and then I would fail... and then I would feel that lovely religious guilt. ugh.

So will I do it?? Lent starts today (with it being Ash Wednesday and all) and so for the next 40 days I SHOULD be limiting my time on facebook... but the honest truth is, I have already not been very good at it.

So here is what I ask from you... word of encouragement... What are your ideas on Lent? Will you observe it in any way? If so, what will you be giving up? If not, why?

Do you have any idea how IN LOVE with the weather I am today!!! I am sitting with the door open gazing out at one of my favorite views in the whole world, my backyard :) So instead of updating you on the monotony of my life... which believe me, is MONOTONOUS, I am going to take a cue from Elsie and share some things that have made me happy or inspired me lately:

1. Spring dresses with cardigans


2. a dock by a lake

3. Jane Austen (of course)

4. wedding dresses with pockets

5. Book of Romans

6. the color grey (I actually spent most of the morning trying to find an affordable duvet cover in grey - so if you know where I can find one for cheap, please let me know!)


7. Weekend bags (I'm in search of the perfect one for under $30)



8. bike riding across ASU in the evenings


9. cucumbers (they're yummy)

10. Forever21 (got a gift card for christmas from my bro Tyler and I can't wait to go on a little shopping spree with it!)


Okay, I know that was a random list of stuff... some of it you probably wonder why it makes me happy... but as I said in the beginning, my life has been monotonous at best... so I am easily pleased right now :)

What makes you happy?

Tattoo!!!

So I have toyed with the idea of a tatoo for many many years now. I kind of have an idea of what I want, but I don't have enough motivation to actually get one... BUT I found this tattoo artist through Elsie's blog and I am totally in love with her work!!!! Check some out here!

I especially love her abstract stuff!!! I want one of her tattoos SO bad.

Doppelganger...

So 5 different people on 5 different occasions over the last 3 weeks have told me I look like Zooey Deschanel. I think it is the new dark hair! Either way, it is a TOTAL compliment and I feel so flattered because I think she is legitimately gorgeous! I also would love to mimic her style!


In other news, I have started the semester. I had one class this evening that ended up ending early because my professor wasn't prepared with a VHS player to show our first film of the semester. So she gave us the assignment to watch the film by class next week, so luckily I was able to find the film at the Tempe Public LIbrary :) I also read the first few sections of my online class "Shakespeare on Stage and Film" and I'll need to pick up a copy of Romeo and Juliet script in the next couple of days. Tomorrow I have my "Stuart England" class and my "Literature of Adolescence".

I am hoping this semester will be filled with excitement and that I'll like my classes :)

Semester nearly complete...

Today is reading day for ASU. What is "reading day" you ask? Well it is a day you don't have classes so you can focus on studying :) My day includes editing my final draft of my big 27 page paper (which I will do after this blog post) and the final draft of my religions paper (did that before this blog post)!! My religions paper is unsettling for me. This entire semester we have been working on a research project for the class. I chose the topic of Prayer in the Old Testament and what is said about the relationship between Yahweh and His people. We had to write a proposal and then a 5 page paper about the answer to our question as found in our textbook and then find 6 articles and write abstracts about 5 of them and a 3 page paper about the 6th. Now this topic was causing me a headache because I just had no desire to write on it as I got deeper into my research. I kept thinking that there was an ACTUAL paper looming in my future that I would have to compile all this research into... um... come to find out 2 weeks ago, there is NO FINAL PAPER!!! Basically we just have to RE-turn in all our little papers and abstracts online tomorrow edited and polished. No actual original paper from me on the topic. So some of you may be feeling an emotion of joy on my behalf at the discovery of 1 less assignment that I had been dreading. But as I said it is unsettling for me. I keep thinking that is TOO EASY! I keep having this feeling that I will turn it in tomorrow and discover that there is another assignment I forgot to do. Even though I have confirmed with my professor that there is no other assignment. I know, "Miranda, relax and breath." The end of the semester always drives me literally insane... all my neurotic tendencies come out full force right about now.

My big long 27 page paper is nearly complete. I am just gonna read through it a couple more times and make sure I clean up any messy spots and clarify any points I didn't make clear enough... should be cake.

In other life news...

I am getting into the Christmas Spirit slowly, but surely. I have my mom's gift, I know what I am getting Nicole, I have an idea of what I will be getting Shawn, and I know what I am getting Emolyn (I just have to go and get them all). I also need to figure out Tyler and my dad. Next week is my first week of freedom from school, so I'll be Christmas shopping during that time. Anything not to cause me to go stir crazy!!!

It also is looking like I will be moving out of my parents' house come January 1st. I found a girl from my church who is looking for another roommate for a house she and another girl live in just a couple miles from ASU. I looked at the house and talked with the two girls who I will be living with and the whole thing seems AMAZING!! More details will follow (along with eventual pictures) as it all becomes more final :)

I want to take a nap now...

Sorry this was a boring post. Here is a picture of when my life was fun and interesting...

I just did a cartwheel in the ASU Library...

Seriously, I did... I was feeling antsy from sitting my my cubical desk for the last 4 hours, that I had to get up and move around... I had an incredible urge to do a cartwheel and I did, and it was beautiful! Perfect 10!!!

I am trying to finish my BIG paper for my History 498 class tonight, because the rough draft is due tomorrow. Over the last several weeks I have written 8 pages of it and done outlines and research. The paper is required to be around 20 pages (no less than 10 and no more than 30), but as I began writing the paper, I realized it is not a matter of pages with me, it is a matter of content. I don't know why I do this... I always freak out that I won't have enough information to fill 20 pages! But low and behold, I am on page 17 and I have a good 5-10 pages of information left to write. Actually if I average a paragraph to be a page long, I have 12 pages left... not I may not end of writing on all the paragraph topics I have outlined. Luckily the paper is a rough draft, so I am simply writing information, I'll read through it to make sure it isn't sport any grammatical errors, and then I'll turn it in tomorrow and leave the major editing to my professor, and possibly me sometime next week. I am hoping I get it all done tonight so I have a whole month of editing and revising and not further research and lengthening.

But it is 8:30pm the night before my paper is due, as I said I am 12 pages away from completion, and what am I doing??? Updating my blog. I am a horrible procrastinator, but I just cant bring myself to break the binding of any more books for the next several minutes.

So where have I been the last several months?? Well, not in England, that is for sure. I have been home, living the college student life, back home with the parents, and trying to work 2 jobs (only a total of 20 hours a week - it's not that bad). I feel like after 6 months of exciting adventures, exotic locations, and a plethora of pictorial memories, being back in Phoenix and living my daily life is nothing to write on a blog about. I actually don't know how many people are even reading this right now, seeming as I have nothing exciting to share that involves breathtaking architecture, historical significance, or my lovely face in front of some famous European Landmark... what use am I anymore to the blogging community?? (if you have made it this far into the blog, please comment on the post for me so I know I am loved still :))

As my lack of blogging wore on, I became increasingly daunted by the prospect of possibly bring you up to speed on my summer events, school dealings, and work tales. If you are wondering, I went to San Diego with Kendra, Wisconsin with my mom for my cousin Erica's wedding, my friend Teresa got married!!!, and my family went to Disneyland... those are the events that stick out as even half way fascinating, but I won't begin to go into detail about each of them, or post pictures from the events because it may cause me to stop blogging all together due to stress. If you really want to see pictures, they are on my facebook and I am sure I am facebook friends with all you readers.

So what do I share now?? School stuff? I am registering for the spring semester at ASU and it sucks because the classes I wanted filled up WAY TOO FAST so I am left a little stressed about what I am going to take and whether I will like it or not. I am writing this thesis paper of the Protestant effort to save the Jewish people in France during WWII... I am reading children's books in my children's lit class... we had a Harry Potter Party last week that was actually pretty fun!... I don't like my Old Testament Bible class because the professor is arrogant... My broadway musical class online makes me miss high school theater, and my Tudor Monarchy class has caused me to purchase more of Philippa Gregory's novels and watch Showtimes "The Tudors" all over again. Its been a good semester so far actually.

I am working as a Nanny two days a week for a 7 month old little girl named Olivia... and I am also working at Apartment Life as an admin assistant for 10 hours a week... I get to do the hours whenever I want and I am being sent to Dallas next week for 2 days to train, so you may get a post on that :) Work is nice :)

Well, back to writing my paper... wish me luck and pray for my sanity! And again, if you got this far in reading, please comment so I know I am writing for someone, or else I will probably not blog again for quite some time :)

Phoebe & Miranda's European Dance Party #2

This is it folks... the last video!! The end of an era!!! ENJOY!!!!!

Phoebe & Miranda's European Dance Party #1

update...

- Im house sitting for Terry and Nancy and am absolutely LOVING IT!!! Sat out by the pool today trying to even out awkward tan lines - now Im in my sweats watching Titanic on TV... bliss!
- finally found my dress for my cousin's wedding in a month - Hence the tan line debacle... the neck line is not forgiving to strap lines.
- I start ASU one week from Monday!!! I am different than most students I think because I CANNOT WAIT!!! I am SO excited for all my classes this semester! I am also actually looking forward to structure in my life... I am loving being able to relax and laze about most days, but I need something to occupy my mind now and am ready to have homework and reading and classes to go to.
- I started a job this last week. I am a nanny for a precious 5 month old little girl named Olivia! I am only there two days a week (mon and wed) but it is a great job and I think will really work out well with school. She sleeps for a good 3 hours while I'm there, so that is prime homework time! When she's awake she is so cute and funny!
- I want to die my hair red... I am trying to decide if I should wait a month until after my cousin's wedding, or before - ideas?
- I miss Greek Food! I had lunch at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and realized how much I need to incorporate more Greek Food into my regular meal rotation... mainly just the feta cheese - YUM!
- Terry and Nancy's cat Shredder keeps meowing at me. I will come out of the bathroom even and she is usually sitting outside the door waiting to meow at me. I don't think she likes me being here.
- Oldnavy jeans are on sale and I may head down there tomorrow to check them out!!
- It's my best friend Kendra's birthday tomorrow!!! She is turning 25!
- there are several movies in theaters I want to see right now!
- Did I tell you how excited I am to be starting school on the 24th!!! I have even gotten a couple required books under my belt because I am THAT excited!
- speaking of books, Half Priced books is just down the road from where I am staying and I think I will need to head down there to get some new reading material!
- Like I said, Im watching Titanic, and I wonder whatever happened to Bill Paxton... not that his acting talent (or lack there of) is greatly missed, I'm just wondering.
- Amy Schubert! You will be excited to learn that I am really into Mad Men right now... I'm half way through the first season and I am loving it. I wish people still dressed like that even today... the dresses are beyond fantastic!! and the hair!! and the make up!!
- I am excited to have my appetite fully restored! I love food and it makes me sad when I can't eat it!
- I am working on editing the last two videos of Phoebe and I dancing our way through Europe... so those should be coming in the next week or so :)

Read this today...

For I do not believe God means us thus to divide life into two halves - to wear a grave face on Sunday, and to think it out-of-place to even so much as mention Him on a weekday. Do you think He cares to see only kneeling figures, and to hear only tones of prayer - and that He does not also love to see the lambs leaping in the sunlight, and to hear the merry voices of the children, as they roll among the hay? Surely their innocent laughter is as sweet in His ears as the grandest anthem that ever rolled up from the 'dim religious light' of the solemn cathedral? ... Sun will rise on you, dear child, feeling your 'life in every limb,' and eager to rush out into the fresh morning air - and many a [day] will come and go, before it finds you feeble and gray-headed, creeping wearily out to bask once more in the sunlight - but it is good, even now, to think sometimes of that great morning when the 'Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.'
Surely your gladness need not be the less for the thought that you will one day see a brighter dawn than this - when lovelier sights will meet you eyes than any waving trees or rippling waters... and when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past.
- Lewis Carroll (Author of Alice in Wonderland)

AMAZING!!

My parents and I saw this live at Hillsong Church in London on Easter... it was beyond powerful! I have been waiting to find it online for months and I finally did!! Enjoy - it's amazing!

Easter 09 Hillsong London from Ugo Boff on Vimeo.