Fascination with MBTI...and Still Alive. =)

Well hello, world!
It's been a while, hasn't it?? My goodness. Time just keeps a-flyin' by, doesn't it??

Today was Daylight Savings Time and (hopefully everyone remembered--if not, set back your clocks an hour RIGHT NOW!!) the day seems to have progressed rather slowly. Was that just me or did anyone else experience that same odd phenomenon? I really did feel that extra hour! Not that I'm complaining or anything. Even though I'm in my twenties I still don't think I have enough time in the day to get everything accomplished! So I used my time wisely and worked on some school assignments, so hopefully I won't be cramming as much tomorrow.

Since I am randomly, out of the blue, back in the blogosphere (is that a word? If not, just roll with me here =)  I'm suddenly contemplating all the various topics I could discuss.

Maybe I'll start with one of my favorite fascinations. On my right (and yours too), you'll find my MBTI assessment. For those not quite introduced to my obsession MBTI means Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It is basically a personality test where you discover that you are actually quite normal, and your quirks all make up this wonderful four-lettered combination that perfectly describes YOU!!!
Whew!
 It is quite a liberating experience. In fact, my older sibling didn't want to take it for the longest time because she was afraid that she wouldn't really like her personality type and it wouldn't accurately describe her. Well, when I finally pegged her down and forced her to answer the test questions, she was thrilled when her personality description was quite accurate, and she felt liberated to be fully 'her'! Just in case you  were wondering, she is an ESFP, which I would have never pegged her to be. See? We all learn something new through this test!

It's been quite a process of discovery, but I have FINALLY been able to psycho-analyze my family, and my dad is an ESTJ, my mom is an ISFP, my sister is an ESFP, and I am an INFP.

Quite an interesting mix of family dynamics, aren't we??

I became obsessed with the MBTI when I first took the personality test in high school and when I read my type description I was a bobblehead--nodding vigorously at almost everything I read. It was such a liberating thing--odd quirks I thought NO ONE else in the world did or experienced were 'normal' for me because I was an INFP!

So. If you want to be validated by your personality type, and suddenly feel freedom to be beautiful, quirky you, pu-LEASE go to http://similarminds.com/jung.html and take the free test. Then go to this website: http://www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html to learn all about yourself. It is very important that you answer the questions honestly and not how you think you should answer them.

Hopefully I can go into more detail about the types next time.
Until then, happy personality discovering! =)
Lena

Air, but not much else.

Well well well.

I just discovered that I am going off sugar and starch for the next two weeks.

That means I get to eat:

1.) Air
2.)Water
3.)things rabbits survive on
4.)lots and lots and lots of meat

Yummy!!!

Oh, and cheese. That makes me very, very happy. I am afraid that I am actually deathly allergic to cheese, because I love it so much.

No, this is not a drop-dead dieting scheme I am forcing myself on. (although if I lose a few pounds I won't be complaining!) My mom just had an appointment with a natural doctor--i.e. doesn't use prescriptions and drugs as the answer to every ailment in life. She's been dealing with headaches, and the doctor said to try this diet for two weeks to see if it helps her any.

And to help her with this new "lifestyle change" for two weeks, my sis and I are joining her!

Awwww. What good daughters are we?? :)
Being the most health-nutty one in the family, I'm pretty excited about doing this, believe it or not.

Has anyone else out there ever done anything as nutty as going cold-turkey on sugar AND starches at the same time??

Or do I "take the cake"?--pun intended. Heeheehee! =D
Perhaps you'd like to join us on our little quest towards health?
No? Yeh, I wouldn't be that crazy either...

I am happy to announce that the Spring semester off to an uneventful start, is thus far three weeks in, and I am surviving MATH with an 'A'!!!! Wooot!!! Hallelujah and glory be!

So, WHO'S WATCHING THE SUPERBOWL SUNDAY?????

Or are you like me, and watching the superbowl for the commercials?

Or, are you like others who will be watching the superbowl for the food? (that WOULD have been me, except for my drastic diet change, as of... an hour ago)

Maybe you're extremely special and watching the superbowl for a combination of all three?

That'd be O.K., too.

Well. Sorry for the weird post. I'm in an interesting mood. I'm sure it'll be turning sour once my body filters out all the sugar from my bloodstream.

Happy carrot munching!

~Lena

Denial ain't just a river....

Psalms 31:19-21 NKJ

Oh how great is Your goodness, 

which You have laid up for those who fear You,

which You have prepared for those who trust in You

in the presence of the sons of men!

You shall hide them in the secret place

of Your presence from the plots of man;

You shall keep them secretly 

in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Blessed be the LORD,

for He has shown me
 His marvelous kindness in a strong city!

Quote

I beg you… to have patience
with everything unresolved
in your heart
 and try to love the questions themselves
 as if they were locked rooms or
 books written in a very foreign language.
Don’t search for the answers,
which could not be given you now,
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything. 

Live the questions now.
Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually,
without ever noticing it,
live your way into the answer… 

- Rainer Maria Rilke -

Mathematical Miracles

I took a math placement test today, after doing no math for two years.
I didn't study.
My relationship with math is comparable to oil and water. I loathe math. And I suck at it.
Honestly, a lot of my answers were guesses.

I didn't think I'd get into the class I wanted to. I placed into the class at a different college--two years ago. Of course THIS college wouldn't accept those test scores...but that's a different story.

Miracle of all miracles,  I placed into the class I wanted!!
Thank You Jesus.
Even though Christmas isn't a part of my vocabulary this year, no festivities, decorations, or presents, this was one of God's *many* gifts to me this month.

And now I finally feel as though my winter break has really, truly, FINALLY begun!!!!!!!!!

I found two more cool things from weheartit.com and I have to share before I go to bed.



I hope everyone experiences Christmas miracles this week--no matter how big or small they are!

~Lena

Truth.

 
(we heart it)

Studying? DO NOT READ!!

IMPORTANT:

If you are cramming for finals, the following sites you absolutely must NOT visit, for fear of hours of wasted productive time. They are as follows:

www.cakewrecks.com (being a baking junkie and a fun-country person, I get a kick out of this site)
www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com (never ceases to amaze me how awkward some of these get...)
Anything that ends with blogspot.com. (Bunny-trail galore! Need I say more??)
www.yahoo.com (I can forever click on the newsfeed and read articles/watch videos)
www.youtube.com (sure, good for getting good study songs. but much easier to just, well, watch videos.)
www.craigslist.com (not just for finding jobs or cool junk. it's amazing what you can read on this thing!)
www.twitter.com/ (easy to spend HOURS clicking on tweets,retweets, pics, and twitter accounts)
www.weheartit.com (I think the creativeness intrigues me.)
www.tiffanytreece.tumblr.com (shameless plug! I spent forever looking at this. I just discovered it yesterday, and well, it is bringing me oodles of happiness!!)

* disclaimer * sometimes these sites have some, well, inappropriate content...so I can't take any responsibility stuff that isn't perfectly 100% clean. As always, browse smartly! =)


It sounds like I seriously need to unplug and get a LIFE. Or maybe a less dorky life. At LEAST I'm not spending 95% of my internet time on Facebook. I cannot. stand. facebook.

Okay, Sociology. I HEAR you already!! I must go now.
Toodles! I hope if you have finals this week you are focusing better than me!!
Before I go, I must share this--I found it yesterday and cracked up when I read this. I don't like this cartoon. I've never watched a full episode of Spongebob in my life. But I think this is hilarious. : D Enjoy!!

Four. More. Days.

ahhhhh, blog. What did I ever do to procrastinate before you?? You indeed are a very easy and tempting choice when trying to avoid studying for my final exam. At all costs.
Okay, I want to be random for the moment.
Manafest's " Every Time You Run" is awesome.
And if a boy out there has a crush on me, he'd better serenade me with Shane Harper's "Rocketship" or Jason Derulo's "It Girl". Yeah, I'm kinda being a whacko girl right now. I don't care though. =)

Looks like my family will be moving Thursday, right after my final final. Yay. I hope so, cuz the weather probably won't be cooperating after that!

FOUR more days until sweet, oh so sweet, freedom!! (Funny, I just wrote a definitional paper on freedom, and now this word has a whole new level of meaning to me. I guess I actually DID learn something in college!! What a concept...)
Anyway. Freedom, of any form will be won-der-ful. I am also...

looking forward to some peace.

and quiet.
And, oh God, let's not forget
 normalcy.

I think I've forgotten what that is.

Because I've now wasted oogles of time, I must go now. Here's a picture that I found on weheartit. because I love that site. And Tenth Avenue North. Which is where the lyrics from this song come from.
And it's just good to be reminded of truth sometimes.

3 down. 9 to go.

Hello Cyber world!

Celebrating tonight with a post because... I am DONE with one of my four classes. Absolutely-positutely done. Let the people rejoice!! =)
I am still planning on going and giving the professor a gift on Wednesday for being the wonderful professor that he is. Although the class was controversial, I have to give him props for not being slanted and being that kind of wonderful professor that makes you feel special and important (even though he has, like probably 300 students currently). So, I'll be buying a Chick-fil-A sandwich with no pickles, an order of waffle fries, and in case he can't accept food, a nice book. The book is always a good fall back, no matter what professor you have.

I hate how professors pile on work at the end of the semester, and consequently I have a bunch of stuff to do before I can claim my winter break. It'll come before I know it, and then I'll move my family back home 100% and life will be NORMAL.

Whatever 'normal' is.

Anyway, random Q: has anyone heard of the websites ending in xxx? like, www.buy.xxx? It sounds like a porn site to me, but I saw advertisements for it several times tonight. I'm very curious about that. Surely we have enough .com .org .net sites to do without resorting to .xxx, don't we?? Apparently not.

Happy Monday, almost Tuesday, almost winter break!!!!


Love,
         Lena

::My Week of Randomness::

Made a batch of these today for the fam

Definitely what I'm wondering about lately...

Luh-ve this song, and the choreography! <3
They should get back together. Just sayin'.

    

Getting ready to do this, only the harder version.
If only it were that easy...

Can't WAIT!!!  =

Saw this musical this week,
which was TOTALLY awesome.
Made my heart happy. :)

       

Still thoroughly enjoying this on a daily basis.
Thank God caffeine is legal. 

And did this Monday, an unexpected joy and thrill. =) 

 

And last, but not least... still waiting, hoping, and believing.
I am still looking up. 

.:::All graphics found at weheartit.com.:::

Amazing Date

Not much to report, except that it is for the first and only time in my life, it is
11/11/11!!!!
How seriously awesomely cool is that???
When I was little, my favorite time of the day was 11:11 (well, that and 12:34). It never occurred to me that someday the DATE would be 11/11/11. I remember being excited about 9/9/99, but this is way cooler.

Unfortunately, life is so crazy we're not going to do much to celebrate except have a little schnapps in hot chocolate tonight. My mom heard somewhere that schnapps day is celebrated any time the year, month, and date are the same, i.e. 10/10/10, 11/11/11, 12/12/12... you get the idea. My family like never drinks alcoholic beverages, but we thought a little splash in our mugs of cocoa tonight would be O.K.  : )

So here's to  schnapps day and my favorite date of the year!!!

     11-11-11 11/11/11 11-11-11 11/11/11 11-11-11 11/11/11 11-11-11 11/11/11 11-11-11 11/11/11

Kinda fun to look at. And write. You should write your name tonight at 11:11 on 11/11/11 just so that you can document the fact that you were alive at such a cool moment in the universe. yeh, I know I am seriously weird...
But I'm OK with that. : )

Happy Friday!

~Lena

Here we go again

How many hours are in the day??? I thought Daylight Savings gave us more time! Well, not really. But at least give the illusion of more time.
Soooo many things to do!With the semester starting to tie itself up, more work is piling on while I'm losing concentration and focus to get 'er done. This is a summary of the lovely assignments I have left:

• Philosophy chapter reviews and a presentation I still know nothing about (??)
• Two Sociology tests, only God knows when, and 12 journals I've yet to start on. Don't tell me about it.
• Continuing Government homework, quizzes and discussions weekly, in-class paper to be written beginning of next month, and a final over 7 chapters
• Paper due for English comp... when? I dunno. But it's a definitional argument, something I knew nothing about a week ago and it's HARRRRD!!! Waaaa! 

PLUS, let's add in: 

1. Visiting grandparents over Christmas break and planning an Anniversary party (major milestone year)
2. moving back home, probably over Thanksgiving break.
3. Fighting a proposed cell tower in our neighborhood, yay for technology (sarcasm drippeth). Robbing us of our financial, physical, and environmental security is not cool! 
4. Starting a possible *dream* job with the library (I've applied a DOZEN times over the past three years and I get my FIRST interview with them NOW of all times of my life?? Seriously???)
5. Figuring out my Spring school schedule
6. The (dun dun dun) Holiday season. I can tell you RIGHT now, NO Black Friday shopping, much as I used to live for it, NO whipping up a Norman-Rockwell style Thanksgiving dinner, and NO Christmas decorating. If I have to move MORE crap in and out of the house for holiday cheer I am going to barf. 
7. Observing anywhere and everywhere like crazy because (don't ask me how I did it) but I am a college SOPHOMORE and have 12 hours left of basics left and I still have no freaking clue what vocation I am going to choose to work in for the rest of my life!!!!!!!!!!! How's THAT for a reason to be freaked out?!?!?!?!?

Ugh. I am tired. I am sooooo stressed right now. I am sorry to use this cheerful blog to be the displayer of my grumpy attitude. If you knew me in person I wouldn't be like this. I promise. But, you would know that I:

1.Like italics a lot. a lot a lot.

2.Enjoy using CAPITALS to emphasize my raised voice, cuz you can't hear it when I write it... dang technology

3. Use lots of ?!?!?!?!?!? to show EMOTION cuz I'm a very expressive person and when I write you can't see my face!!!!! Again, dang technology. 

Well, I think I can go use a good workout session at the gym to vent some of my frustration and stresses. so,  until I use the Joy of Cookies (which I really don't need much more of. It's not even the technical holiday season yet, and I've already gained my allotted 5 pounds + some.  dang stress) to vent! 

THIS is what I need right now:

Yeahhhhhhh. Fat chance, but I can dream!

Wilton Cake Class Wrap

I'm happy to report that I finally finished my cake class!! It was a lot more prep work than I originally anticipated, but it was fun, therapeutic, and worth it.

Today we had to bake, ice, and decorate a cake...although the cake had to be pre-baked and pre-iced before class. Without further ado, here's my piece of art (pun intended)

My cake! :) Single layer, chocolate (my dad's pick), heart-shaped
FYI, choclate cake's really hard to ice well! *disclaimer*

Disclamer: I just learned how to do roses TODAY.
I'm in much need of some practice--I know. 

Close-up of the border and detail...just ignore the cracks. :)

Tia's cake

Her detail's different, yet similar.
Her roses are bigger, more detailed, stars instead of dots
and a piped border instead of a star border.

Close-up of her roses. They look a lot better than mine! 

Final products. =)   =)

Interestingly enough, our cakes turned out a lot like us. My sister and I are very similar in some ways. Sometimes we're mistaken as twins in our looks. Oftentimes we're on the same wave-length and  have 'surround sound' reactions, comments, and questions. (which is awesomely entertaining)  At the same time we are both distinctly different in interests and personalities. Kinda cool. :)

So now you're probably wanting a slice, and for that I'm truly sorry. I'd actually give you a huuuuuge piece if you were here, because I'm sick of cake. BUT you can go take a Wilton Cake Decorating Class, and soon  your kitchen will be overflowing with baked goodies for FOUR whole weeks!! So go sign up! =)

Happy Sunday y'all!

~Lena

the (un)joy of living

Because I am sooooo peeved at life right now, I am going to act out my little form of rebellion right now by posting instead of being productive for the following reasons:
-The house is a pit
-I haven't had 'me' time in what seems like AGES
-The icing (I LOOOOOOVE icing) that we have to use for the decorating class I'm taking tastes sucky, and is full of nasty stuff for you (besides the fact it's horribly nutritional devoid of everything but fat and calories)
-the decorating class takes LOADS more time, energy, planning and MONEY than should be legal, and I kinda figured out that I suck at decorating. So much for my dreams of working at a bakery...
-Homework has been screaming at me for the last month and I can't focus on it to save my life
-My room is now a pit because I just spent the last half-hour turning it upside down, searching for receipts from MONTHS ago (the story of my life...)
-the more time I spend trying to be productive the more crap and lists continue to pile up. I'm suffocating in my own self-created world of lists
-WHY oh WHY does humanity have to do every single freaking thing on a COMPUTER!?!?!?!?! Why can't we do things the simple, old-fashioned way? We are NOT evolving for crying out loud, we should NOT act as if we have to make our lives as efficient as a computer hard drive!!!!!!!!!!
-Fall break seems to be arriving as quickly as cold molasses, but never mind that because I don't have classes on the days of the break!
-Christmas break will n.e.v.e.r. come fast enough
-Can we please not start talking about the holidays already? Or the new year? I need a break, not more stress of festivities piled upon my back!
-I'd really, really, really like to be able to put time on pause and just sit for a while. Just having a week that isn't chock-full of urgency would be a miracle.

Thank you very much for the gripe/dump/peeve session.
Love,
Procrastinating Peeved Polly

P.S.
I really
really
cannot leave being such a grump pot. Much as I would like to.
 And, as the old song declares
Count your blessings, name them one by one
count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings! 
Name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
So here's a blessing or two...although they're gonna be hard to think of!

-Three of my favorite songs have played in the last half-hour
-I couldn't do this before today:

-And it is filled with yummy pudding. Although my decorating skills still suck.

-The weather has been gorgeous this month. Unusual for October.

-I live in a free country

-I live with people who love me 

-The Lord does exceedingly abundantly more than I could ask or think

-Jesus lives inside my heart and is my closest friend

-Jesus is coming back soon! 

Yeah... that kinda puts things in perspective. =)

The Joy of Icing

Man, I am making up for lost time!! Funny how I do that... when I journal I tend to go through dry-spells and then I'll write like four times in a week.

So... what happened today?
It rained. All. Day.

And you know what, it was kinda wonderful! Even though while running errands I got soaked. And driving was much more tedious. It's been a very, very long time since the last good rain and it was so refreshing! I'm one of those people who enjoy rainy cloudy days--so the inconvenience wasn't too bad, in my opinion.

On another note, I am hoping to extend my joy of cookies :) to other realms, such as... cake decorating! I think it'd be totally awesome to get a job at a bakery, so in order to make myself more hire-able, (is that a word?) I started a cake decorating class today with my sista!  It's pretty fun, and not terribly challenging. I love icing so this should be right up my alley. :) So long as my hand muscles get used to squeezing a piping bag for several hours on end...
Who knows.. maybe my joy of cookies blog will become the joy of baking blog. = )

Here, again

I'm baaaaaack!!
For the moment, anyway. Life is just too darn crazy to try to blog about it all the time.
As you can see, I updated my look. I don't know WHY in the world I chose a beach with purple/gray skies--I have no interest in decorating with the color purple, much less paint my personal blog in it. Furthermore, I found the template under "Travel", and I am most certainly no traveler. Emotionally, yes. Physically, no. Spiritually, hopefully yes. So we may be changing the color/template quite soon... but for now I am happy with it. Beaches, and purple are, actually, both calming things. That may be quite good for me.
Just checking in to the blogging realm to see if all was well, and surviving without my help. ; ) Apparently it is, and I'm needing to give my homework some attention, so... tally-ho!

An Ode to Joe

Thank God for coffee.

I cannot believe that two short years ago I used to think I hated it. Now I'm a lost soul if I don't have my cup every day at Noon. I've perfected my concoction of instant coffee, cocoa powder, and french vanilla coconut creamer to such a level of awesomeness that it should be on a Starbucks menu. Of course, It's hard to decipher whether I'm really in love with the actual drink or the  caffeine buzz I get afterwards. Either way, I'm in love. Even on the 111 degree days of brutal heat I still have to have my steaming cup of coffee (some days there are a few ice cubes to cool it off a bit though).
This little ode brings me to question whether I am a bit on the obsessive side about this coffee thing. But, whilst sipping the last drops from my coffee mug, enjoying the feel of caffeine pulsing through my veins, I really couldn't care less.

Long live coffee!!!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

It's tempting for me to just think about fireworks, hot dogs, and patriotic cake decorated in strawberries, cool whip, and blueberries when I think about Independence Day. But lately I've become more and more aware of how blessed we are to live in a nation that is FREE. That's really what tomorrow's holiday is all about: having the courage to stand up for freedom. It's a biblical idea--that's what Christ came for--it is for freedom that Christ came to set us free. 
I am so thankful for the courage, diligence, and fortitude our founding fathers had to break away from the only home, life, and government they ever knew and begin life on foreign soil all in the name of freedom.
Today, this freedom we're so blessed to live out is threatened and not such a promised idea. That makes the freedom I already have as a citizen of America even sweeter. 
I love my country. I am so thankful the Lord placed me in America at this time in history. I am so blessed. 
God bless America!

Still alive over here!

Well.................
so sorry for having disappeared for so long. My family has kinda been running in thousands of different directions for the last month.

I had my play at the beginning of the month, which went

stupendously.

My summer, which feels like it has just begun, is going

swimmingly.

Except I don't know what to do with myself, suddenly not having rehearsal four nights a week until midnight and performances on the weekends.

Which makes my future two months of summer freedom somewhat

unsettling.

The only thing I know I'd like to do at the moment is go chase the ice cream truck that just went down my street.

It was playing music that I used to hear from the jack-in-the-box as a child.
I hated that thing. It made me tense up,and my stomach would turn as I waited for this puppet-clown thing to jump out at me.

It's amazing to think what adults give toddlers to play with... talk about scarring your childhood!

Come to think of it, I might settle for a cup of coffee instead. I like the caffeine buzz!

I guess you can tell I'm feeling a little discombobulated at the moment. More than anything, I am
excited and thankful for two full months of FREEDOM!!! 
and the joy and thrill of being on stage with five dear ladies who have become like family.