My heroes of the day!

Lindsay Anderson!! (won her conference meet in Texas) a 5k in 16:45!!! Holy SCHMOOKKES!! yayay I was so very happy for my speedy acquaintance :))

yeah. she is pretty awesome. take that.

Also!! My blood relative (we lived together for 16 years!!) K-flo tore it up out in Seattle and ran a 20:15 6k to take 6th place in the Pac-ten conference meet as a FRESHMAN. yeah, she is really good!  I hope that I can take some of her goodness for our meet tomorrow!!! Yay again!!

(sorry this is an old pic but I could not find a more recent one from Wash)...

ps-- Go hawks! Big tens tomorrow morn!]]

Not something you see everyday

Yesterday I was out and about and I saw an Avatar hopping and running around the ped mall.  I am pretty sure it was a female.  This avatar proceeded to go into capanna and run around.  She has an entirely blue body and an avatar sphere.  I think she was afraid that we were going to try and kill her so she felt the need to protect herself.  Later on I was walking past Starbucks and I saw the female Avatar ordering a drink and sitting down at a table.  I also saw the Avatar sitting at the bar Brothers

some thoughts

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the sucessive autumns."
-George Eliot October 1, 1841

Isn't it kind of cool that something can be written almost two hundred years ago and still make so much sense today? This week was a big week on the level of stress and anxiety(mostly about the future) and things I will never know of course!! But I realized when I was running with my great friends that all the best things like going on a run or having autumn and spring or listening to music or praying or laughing until your stomach hurts.  All of the VERY BEST things will never go away.  No matter what I do or how much I earn or where I live I can always have the best moments.

I also want to say on of the best things in the world is "hot cranberry juice"  Danielle introduced it to me and it is nourishment for the soul.  So much aroma and goodness.

the end.

Fall

Fall is the absolute greatest time of the year. I just feel most alive and the air is so fresh and it makes it joyful just to even breathe and be outside.  The wind is beautiful, the eerie nights and enchanting, and the colors and briskness make things pretty great.  Also...

running weather is best in the fall (This is TOTALLY what I look like when I am running)

Everything is pumpkin and so great! Whether it is pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin colored things, or carving pumpkins does not matter- it is all great!

Also Halloween is in the fall! It is also my favorite holiday although I think only my favorite because it is in the fall and I associate all the good smells and weather with it.  None the less- it is coming up!

Also also also! I can not forget the beautiful trees that are everywhere.  Sometimes I just lay beneath them when I have extra time before class.  I also love just staring at them, letting the leaves fall on me, crunching the leaves, smelling the trees, and being overcome with awe.  Thank you trees!

So this weekend was incredibly busy.  But SO worth it.  I got to experience and live a lot.... even if not one single book was opened in the process (whoopsies!)

From October 8th until October 10th there was a meteor shower taking place so on Friday night (after getting the seasonal pumpkin pie blizzard- yummy!!) my friend Duffy and I watched the shower.  It wasn't a real big one or anything, there were only supposed to be 0-15 meteors an hour, but we saw two! So that was still pretty exciting for me!  It did not look anything like the picture below.

Then Saturday morning we woke up kinda early (after staying up kinda late : D) and went to the cru retreat called Fall getaway.  It was a beautiful misty drive and a great day.  We got to hear some great talks, learn about ourselves, embrace the inner holy spirit, sing some crazy good worship songs, AND go hiking and canoeing.  We also were almost mauled by a corn plow machine that took down the corn 5 minutes after we were playing in it.  Crazy how things work....

Then TODAY was SO BUSY AND TIRING.  BUT SO AWESOME!!! I got to wake up and go run some long distances with my best friends and have some good weather and conversations.  Plus also my heel bone protrusion hurt nada. frick chyeah. It was a good practice.  Then I came home and got read to go pick vegetables at a local farm. Local foods connection is this really great program that I just found that works with CSA to provide healthy vegetables and farm foods (eggs, meats, milk, breads, etc.) to people who do not have food.  It is awesome because it is actually allowing the people to get some great nutrition and food that can help empower them! I was able to pick vegetables and help another farmer to clean up her fields.  They even let me keep some veggies! How kind.

To find out more please go to LOCAL FOODS CONNECTION

One last great find on the drive today: ( a great road name)

Never give up on a day

So then the rest of the day happened and it ended up being significantly better :)

I guess I learned that I should never give up on a day!

Megan picked me up and we went to leaf kitchen which ended up being possibly my most favorite restaurant ever to be in Iowa city.  It was so AAAAAAHHHH (me taking a big breath of fresh air).  The tables and chairs were all different and everything was vintage and used and old and wonderful.  There was an entire shelf devoted only to holding butter cookies and there is a tea time every afternoon as well as "green tea cookies" and "earl gray truffles"

These are just a few of the cute wonderful things about the Leaf Kitchen.  Plus our waitress was very nice and pleasant.  Also it is just such a nice thing to just go to a restaurant with another friend and just really enjoy your food and talk and just be present in that very moment.  I am so glad I got to go out to dinner with Megan.  I guess maybe that is why adults always have date nights and such.  Obviously megan and I were not on a date, but I can see how just spending time with another person and valuing their company and just talking and not worrying can be a great thing.  It is nice to take a break from everything and just enjoy a meal at a great place.

Today was just a day.

Today I woke up feeling anxious.  I realized that is just how you feel somedays.

But it was not a bad day.  I felt so happy that the sun was shining so much and I got to eat a honeycrisp apple and I found three dollars in my backpack this morning and then I found out I could buy 3 bagels! That was exciting.  My coffee was also good today and I got to have an easy run.  So it was a good day.

 I realized sometimes I will just feel anxious and there is nothing I can do to control that except for pray.  The feeling is not from God and not from myself, but just a feeling that I sometimes feel.  I am a human. Dur. Then I felt kind of anxious the whole day.  I felt bad because it was such a beautiful and free day with little obligations and I spent almost the entire day just itching in my skin.  But it is okay because it was just a day and now it is almost over.

Things I am still excited for in the rest of the day!

Going to Leaf Kitchen with Megan! It is supposed to be really good and have all local ingredients AND be affordable.  Really? Why have I not been there? BECAUSE YOU ARE A FOOL. So now I get to!

Also there are two COMPLETE HOURS of good television on nbc tonight.  Dream big Betsy.

Dream BIG.

RAY GUN ! FRICK YES.

So today I was strolling through the ped mall trying to procrastinate studying for my anatomy test even further.  When all of the sudden I see RAYGUN (the self-proclaimed "greatest store in the universe") but I was so excited! And I did not even know there was one coming to Iowa city so that made it all the more exciting for me. It is right next to Giavanni's and the moen group.

Also then I was walking further and I saw my favorite dairy queen worker! I did not want to say hi because we have never interacted outside of dairy queen, but he makes ultra super blizzards with an extreme amount of extra toppings at no charge.

Check it out yoooo ( shirts from RAYGUN!!!)

Des Moines: Hell Yes!


















Iowa City: All our Creativity went into the name.

ALSO. Even though I do LOVE LOVE LOVE the DQ at the bottom of the hill because it is the best one in the world.  The BEST BEST icecream in iowa city is dane's dairy. Unfortunately we did not go until the last weekend of the season and now have to wait until March when it opens on my 21st birthday! Phooey. But Last time we got blackberry softserve and it was fabulous and i got vanilla wafers and coconut in it. Shyummy.

The end.

God is GOOD.

Things that I can think about that make me really happy.

That the holy spirit is inside me and every person that I meet.

That it is fall and I can be perfectly briskly cold in a refreshing way.

The earth is beautiful.

Someday I may live on a farm.

My new fish is named tinkle.

I get to learn everyday!

I have really nice friends and i love my family.

It is legging and sweatshirt weather. My personal fave!

God is in control of my life.

think of these things= instant happiness!!!