some things of note...

It's been a very, very interesting couple of weeks in my life. Here are some of the things that I think are noteworthy enough to share:

• the Carribean parade on Jasper Ave. Um. Yeah. This was on the same street where they held a cattle drive 2 years ago. It seemed kinda "off". Or maybe it was entirely "off". It was absolutely hilarious. I think there is more thought that went into the floats in the Tofield parade.
• There was a moth in my room a couple of nights ago. Now, I'm not usually one to be afraid of bugs, however, this moth was larger than a toonie, and it FREAKED ME OUT! I spent 30 minutes on the phone with my parents (who were, by the way, laughing their heads off), trying to kill the thing with rolled up newspaper. The thing fell off the blind, and landed on my bed. I hit it on my bed, and it fluttered to the floor. I went to grab it with paper towel from under the radiator, and it flew under my bed. So I went to grab the vaccuum cleaner, and it disapeared. So then, I couldn't find it. (I found out later, that Eric killed it a few days later.) This was a very tramatic experience. I thought I was iron-woman. Clearly, I'm not.
• I spent an evening (and part of a night) watching meteors and stars beside a fire. For those of you who weren't aware, every year on August 12th, there is a meteor shower. (provided that it doesn't cloud over) Even though it did, it was still amazing to see the stars, and hang out with cool people.
• I led worship last weekend, and God was totally amazing - giving me words to say and songs to sing. Totally cool.
• There was also a sweet thunderstorm the other night. The thunder was incredibly loud, and the lightning was so amazing. I was enjoying it, and terrified of it at the same time. Funny how that works....

sticking to the map (or not)

On Sunday night, my dad handed me a map. It was nicely scanned, and the route that Lisa and I were to take was highlighted in orange.

I should always remember: stick to the map.

We made it fine, all the way to St. Walburg. But then, the highway we were supposed to take was under construction and turned into gravel. Lisa and I both decided that it COULDN'T POSSIBLY be right if it was gravel, SO, we turned around and took the next road. But that led to the middle of nowhere. So we turned around went back to the store. The lady there looked at us as if we were nuts, but at least we knew that we were on the right track.

Um... did I mention that there are only 2 roads OUT of St. Walburg?

Ok. So after that, we thought we were fine. We were still on the map. Still heading in the right direction. Until I decided to make a stop at Auntie Del's cabin. At this point, we veered off the map, in a deadly detour that took almost an hour.

There's this white arena with a map painted on the back of it in Loon that I remembered as the land mark to get to the cabin. EXCEPT, Lisa didn't remember it being there. She suggested that we keep going. (deadly advice) So we kept going. I still wasn't convinced, so we stopped at the Dairy Bar to ask someone. We asked a lady, but she had no idea, so we asked the next person: a native guy with a baby.

pretty safe eh? a resident of Loon, with a baby?

be ye not deceived!

He told us to go straight. When we saw a white arena, make a turn. But it would be really far. He pointed in the direction that we were traveling already.

This convinced me that it was a good idea. 20minutes later, I was not so convinced. The road turned into a smaller road, turned into a gravel road with many signs, but not the one we were looking for.

so we turned around.

Mr Native Man neglected to tell us that we needed to GO BACK INTO TOWN TO TURN AT THE ARENA. Leave out a vitally important piece of information, and we're lost for 45 minutes. Eventually we got there. I'm pretty sure that it took my aunt forever to decipher exactly what had happened to make us laugh so hard, but we arrived nonetheless.

As I said before: stick to the map.

yet another reason that my sister and I should never be left alone together with a map and some keys.

man.

a ring, among other things...

I'm deciding to add a post on my blog for two reasons: one, it's about time to update. and two: I'm trying to avoid the chick-flick that Eric's fiancee brought home that mom and lisa are watching downstairs.

did you catch that? Yes, that's right. Eric and Jen got engaged this weekend. We're all really excited!!! {insert grinning face here} The wedding is set for next July, but there are already wedding magazines floating around.....

That's just one of the really cool things that happened this week. The work part of the week this week was really long, but the other parts of my week were really fun.
I was reminded this week of what awesome friends I have and how much I enjoy hanging out with them. Coffee, "beach" volleyball games, chai lattes, and movies... (kudos once again go to duch for spending all day saturday shopping with me.... AHH!!!!)

There were also some interesting parts of my week: I had to take Lisa to get her wisdom teeth out on Monday. I was reminded of my own experience in Thailand, and was really really glad that it was not me climbing into that dental chair on Monday.

Ah yes. It was a busy week, but a good one. We're heading out for holidays tomorrow, and I am very excited to be spending some time relaxing, and reading, and doing more hanging out. yeeee-hawww.

enjoy your week! i'll see ya on the flip-side.

um.... we're in mundare....

So Lisa and I decided one night to drive back from College and Career on Highway 16. This was a great idea.
Or it would have been, if I had been paying attention.

About 30 minutes into the trip, Lisa looks at me and goes, "Um, isn't this taking a really long time??"

"nah, Lisa! It's just because you're not used to the landmarks."

"oh"

{insert driving noise here}

A few minutes after that, I look up and see a sign for Pederson Road, and I think to myself "man. I am so not observant. I've never seen that sign before."

{insert driving noise here}

We keep driving because I haven't seen the sign for our turn-off yet. Lisa keeps telling this animated story about how she disliked a certain pastor at BreakForth, and I am watching her arms failing, and laughing my head off.

After yet a few MORE minutes, I look to my left and see a HUGE LONG line up of cars at an auction place. Again, I think to myself, "man. I am so not observant. I've never seen that place before!"

{insert driving noise here}

All of a sudden, Lisa stops talking and says, "Um, should we be in Mundare?"

"huh?"

"Well, that sign says 1.5km to Mundare."

Yes, that's right folks. We made it all the way to Mundare. Super-duper.

We made it home... eventually. As I said. It WOULD HAVE BEEN a good idea, if I had been looking for my sign.

Lesson: PAY ATTENTION! (even if your sister is telling a good story!)

swangin'

This is one of the more humerous things that has happened to me in quite a while.

Here's the story: I was out at Luke's place a couple of weekends ago, and we decided to swing on the swings. This in itself is not odd. I love swings. I still love swings.

Now, all of the swings that I have been on in the past have had enclosed loops at the top, through which the chain passes so that you cannot swing "off" the set. This set, however, did not have this enclosed loop. It was a hook.

UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't know this.

That's right, boys and girls, I went higher... and higher.... and higher........ and came right off the hook.

Now one would think that this problem would be immediately obvious. However, it was not. My eyes were closed and I didn't actually notice that I was falling until I hit the ground. (I believe that this was a small blessing.) I had no time to prepare for this unintentional landing. Somewhere in this whole escapade, either I sat on my glasses, or they were stepped on. I'm not quite sure, but they were flat, and I was on the ground. And so was the swing.

As I look back, a couple of things are funny: first was the look of horror on Luke's face. second was the fact that I had NO IDEA that I was about to fall.

Aside from a few VERY BEAUTIFUL bruises, and bent glasses, I emerged from this event unscathed. I'm really glad that I fell to the side instead of straight down. It would have sucked if I'd've landed on my tailbone!

LESSON: check the swings before you swing, so as to avoid making a fool of yourself.... :)

enjoy y'all! Drink a cold one in this heat!
r