Seashells for your soul...

seashells are my new treasure.
I have a lot of creative ideas that I'm going to use shells for and I can't wait. I go to the beach and go to get into the water and get distracted by all the shells. It's cool how all of them are different in some way, be it shape or color. Some are whole and some are broken. Some are big and some are itty bitty. It makes me think of people. We're all humans but we go through different struggles or triumphs. We're broken or made whole with Jesus. We're all different in some way but all have a "God-shaped" hole in our heart.
I've been thinking a lot about how much the world runs away from the Truth and in the end that is what they really need. Dean spoke about Hell at a Christian Surfer's meeting the other day and it really convicted me. I know the Truth. I have the cure and I'm not sharing it with the people around me. I work at Gap and seem to work with at least one new person each shift (which is pretty crazy in my opinion). Some people who know the Lord and some people who are totally turned off by Him. At Gap, they "force" us to talk about the GapCard with each customer. Some customers get asked multiple times by different people in key locations (fitting rooms, salesfloor, and the registers). The point is that I talk about that stupid card every shift, to every customer, trying to convince just one person that this is what they really need to change their shopping experience. Why am I not talking to at least one person a shift about Jesus and explaining what a difference he can make in your life?

Matthew 6:21

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

oops...

So I might have undressed the male mannequin above the registers today to get the last pair of 30's in the plaid shorts.
I might have forgotten to dress him after the man bought those shorts.
The male mannequin might have been "naked" for a couple of hours until I told another co-worker about it.
The other co-worker might have bursted out in laughter and told me I was suppose to re-dress it after I had stripped it's shorts off.
So I might have gone up to my manager and pointed out the naked mannequin and asked if she wanted me to dress it.
But I did not own up to the "undressing" and forgetting to dress it even when she exclaimed in shocked outburts as to "who did this?" Because it's not important as to who might or might not have done this accidental deed, the only important thing was that I was going to fix it.
And that's what I did.

I love smoothies, yes I do. I love smoothies, how 'bout you?

i was on search for the best recipe for a strawberry-banana smoothie. or actually any smoothie because i love them but can't afford to get them all the time. i looked up recipes, debated which one would be the best, and daydreamed about the ultimate smoothie. all to find out my lovely sister doesn't even have a blender. and now I am really craving a smoothie. Like the time I really wanted one at midnight and so I called Smoothie King's number. but I dialed the wrong number and woke up some weird man who had no idea what I was talking about.

...smoothie fail.

oh this old thing? I just happen to wear it today

ever noticed how clothing can change your mood?
this morning i wore an awesome skirt to my interview and felt good.
then i came home and put on gym shorts and felt comfortable yet very sloppy and
like a big 'ol slob.
haha who would have thought that clothing could affect ya so much.
....or at least me.

Sister # 2

My beautiful and perseverant sister, Leighann, got nominated for "Most Inspiring Blog." So if you wanna vote for her once a day until July 6th that would be awesome. She has to be in the top 5 to get the judges to review her blog so that she might win. We'll see but if my family has anything to do with it, she'll at least have a chance :)

If you want to help out you can go to her blog

I'm not gonna lie...

I'm mad at you Target for getting my hopes up with a super cute swimming suit and then canceling my order because you no longer had the top part of the suit when I already bought the bottoms....
And while I'm at it, I'm mad at Kohl's for only having the bottoms to a swimming suit I like but not the tops--- really? how do you run out of one of the two pieces?

Also I got lost in blogger land and found some really cute/cool blogs

Rockstar Diaries (she and her husband now live in D.C. and put up cute pics and reviews)

Team Boo ( random family with cute posts)

Abuela Española (She just died but she was 97 and still blogging in Español)

Fawn DeViney (she got engaged in a photo booth- sounds creative and she loves antiques and pictures)

St. Lewis (I found this guy last summer and he is hilarious and really good at drawing)

There is a time for everything....

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die.... (Ecc 3:1-2a)

My Uncle Bill died last night. He had been battling cancer for almost two years now so it was expected but still sad. I thought I wouldn't be sad because even though he was my favorite (on my dad's side), I've only seen him once in the last couple years and I knew his death was imminent. But I can't help but feel a little bit of sorrow for him. But I can also rejoice that he isn't in pain anymore and that he knew the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. My brother saw him a couple weeks ago and said my Uncle didn't even recognize him. He also was very skinny and slept a lot which made it extra hard to communicate with him because he was deaf. My heart goes out to my dad, grandma, aunt, and cousins on this day.
The funeral will probably be this weekend when we're all home (a blessing in disguise).

I remember my Uncle being so funny. My dad and him would always pair up and my Uncle would tell funny stories at all the family get togethers and my dad would be his "voice." I haven't been as close to my dad's side of the family since the divorce but I still respected this man very much and will miss him. It was intimidating as a child to know that two of your aunts and uncles were deaf but Uncle Bill and Aunt Glenda didn't let it stop them from getting to know and love each and every one of us.

él robó el corazón

Adyn has been abnormally sweet to me the last couple of days.

Yesterday he shared one of his jellybeans with me even though he really likes them.
He randomly turns to me in the van and says, "Even though I love you Aunt DJ, I'm going to share my jellybean with you." The jelly bean was bit in half but I couldn't have been happier. Of course I ate it. Was that even a question?

Later Dean told the boys that the best two things that happen in his life was their mama and them. Adyn says," Well Dada ya know what the best two things in my life are? You and Mama... and Aunt DJ... and Kael. (Amy's still working on numbers with him). Hey I made it in the list though.
So he walked out of his parents room and said," Aunt DJ, I love you." and gave me a kiss. I don't think he's giving me one kiss since I've been down here. It was so cute.

It feels good to be loved.

I know where I live... I think.

So the cheapest gas station around requires the zip code of your billing address when you use a credit card. So I typed in 17201 and was told to "See the Cashier".
Yeah right, I know my own zip code. I'm just going to wait until they cancel the sale.

Round 2
Oh yeah Maryland's zip code starts with a "2".
217... I typed it wrong so I had to cancel the sale.

wait for it...

Round 3
maybe it's 21470?
Nope, "See the Cashier"

by this point I was laughing out loud and the guy next me was wondering if I was crazy.

Round 4
I got in my car and found some Maryland addresses in my purse used to fill out those millions of applications since being here in St. Augie Dog
Oh yeah 21740. The same zip code I've had for the last 19 yrs of my life. Well besides 40390, 32086, and the others I've been using to write letters and applications- 30064, 20036, 56701, 17201,40383, 28173. You get the point.

Photo rights to Corbis

Wildlife fest....

This day was worthy of two posts.

Last night Dean, Amy, I and some of their friends went out on a boat, ate pizza, and watched the sunset. It was really fun and relaxing. We even saw a couple dolphins feeding, which was a highlight for me. I have a crush on that little boy named Isaac. He was so cute and he said he loved me after meeting him for the first time that night. Haha kids can really get under your defenses.




This morning, we went to an isolated beach and saw all kinds of wildlife. We even saw a Osprey with a fish in it's talons that was still swishing back in forth. Amy and I both sunk down in the sand and felt something tickling our feet to find out it was a crab trying to get out. Haha what a surprise. Those things are fast swimmers.




Then this evening we got a call from a friend telling us there were manatees trapped in the intracoastal waterway. Gotta love small towns. We all piled into the van and headed 15 minutes down the road to find a whole bunch of people watching like 12 manatees in this marshy area right by the road. Apparently there was 1 female (who wasn't ready to mate) and 11 males trying to force her out of the shallows so they could get some action. Dang is all I can say- I would stay in the shallows too if I was her. But it was cool to see them even if I couldn't get a good picture (I really need a telephoto lens). Plus I saw another dolphin feeding. There was this huge fish that kept jumping out of the water and I guess the dolphin finally got it. I managed to capture both the dolphin fin and the manatee's bodies chilling in the water in this photo but both are very small hence the arrows ;)

I love God's creation. It intrigues me so much.

i like to Zumba Zumba....

I just found a new way to stay in shape. I went with my sister and some friends to a Zumba class at the local college. The great thing is that it's free on Mondays and Wednesdays. It's like aerobics meets Latin dance. It was really fun even though I felt stupid and my sister and I kept laughing at each other. At one point, my sister whispered sarcastically to me that it was "our time to shine" as we both messed up and everyone was doing a turning move and saw us in the back row. haha. It was an hour workout but it went really fast and I like it way better than running in the hot sun.