kristin's blog

things that make me go 'ha'

2009-02-18T07:30:00.000-05:00

It is raining and snowing at the same time. I just ran in it which makes me slightly (or not so slightly) demented.

I have decided to write about things that make me laugh out loud because I could use a good belly laugh this week-especially with the sad looking weather.

Nacho Libre-specifically the part after their first fight and all of Jack Black's songs. It was hard to breath the first time I watched!

I attempted to entertain a room full of girls by leaping past their open door rather than simply walking past (how boring). My leap was glorious, but I forgot my phone was in my pocket. It exploded against the concrete wall and I fell trying to catch it. They were certainly entertained, it just didn't go quite how I imagined it.

Phoebe from friends. I enjoy her one liners and her songs my favorite is
"...so the crusty old man said I'll do what I can
and the rest of the rats played moroccos"

Videos my students make in the dorm late at night.

My youngest nephew ran straight into the glass doors in my lobby the last time he was here. It should not have been funny (I must have been channelling my mom), but watching it and his reaction was a side splitter! He wasn't hurt by the way.

Most of the 'Baby Mama' Movie. Don't judge-it is funny and I am proud to own it!

Anytime my RAs try and come up with t-shirt designs it turns into a priceless conversation.

"fat guy in a little coat, fat guy in a little coat. Richard what's happening?!"

Pictures that one of my fellow RDs sends me-too funny to share!

Hopefully I reminded you of something that gives you a hearty chuckle too!

hide and seek with a twist

2009-02-13T17:00:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite events that we do during the year in Shupe is 'Find Your RA' .

My 6 resident assistants disguise themselves and blend in at the mall. I bring vans full of our freshmen who fan out to locate them and be the first team back with the most signatures. It is fun for us to plan out as a team and every year the freshmen are impressed.

Here are some pictures!

birthday fun

2009-02-09T23:50:00.000-05:00

Happy late my birthday to you!

We'll not talk about the number of years that I have been walking the earth just how lucky I am to be sooooo loved! I had quite the prolonged birthday last week.

At 12:01 on my birthday my RAs made a human pyramid and sang me a song before they kidnapped me and took my to IHOP to celebrate. It was great fun! They gave me lots of homemade gifts along with other goodies. They are such a good bunch and made me feel appreciated!

Friends took me out on the night of my birthday after a day full of good wishes via phone and facebook. Cakes were throw in my face all day, which I happily ate as my blue fingertips could attest to and presents arrived by mail to add to the fun! That was plenty of celebration, but my parents came and took me out to lunch on Friday and friends nabbed me for dinner and a movie on Saturday too!

It was a great birthday! I felt loved and celebrated even more that I deserved.

25 random things about me

2009-02-03T23:12:00.004-05:00

I have been tagged many times in the last few days to list '25 Random Facts about you' by friends on facebook. It has been fun reading others so I thought I'd better reciprocate. Here goes....

1. I have ran 2 marathons and 3 half marathons. Slowly, but I have the medals to prove my finishes!

3. I have lived in 7 states.

4. I can take fold my socks with my toes.

5. I love to use exclamation points! I also like to talk as if exclamation points follow what I am saying! That makes sense in my head.

6. I have the cutest nephews in the world that are rapidly turning into handsome young men.

7. My niece is so beautiful-her parents are already nervous about her teenage years and all the young men that are to come.

8. I HATE pickles-I often wonder why God would allow something so foul to be created?!

9. I can go weeks on only a few hours of sleep each night.

10. American Eagle jeans are my favorite type of jeans. I think that I'll refuse to get too old to shop there!
11. I can quote 'Father of the Bride', 'Tommy Boy' and 'High Crimes'. Three very different movies I just realized, hmmm.

12. Reading is my FAVORITE thing to do! I can't think of anything that I would rather do than lose sleep over a good book.

13. I am going to Tegucigalpa, Honduras this summer with a team from Bethel. I am nervous that I will want to stay and will cause a scene whalst boarding the plane home.

14. My first kiss was at Bethel, but while I was in high school.

15. My siblings and I used to act out WWF (wrestling) tournaments. My famous move was to lay on my back and kick-I was typically the announcer : (

16. Lately I have been listening to Pandora constantly; maybe obsessively. I do enjoy music in the background of everything I do, so I doubt it'll stop soon!

17. If I had to pick an actress to play me in the story of my life I would pick Mariska Hargitay. She is my favorite! Just so you know the title to my life (that would first be a best selling book) would be 'Awesomeness!'

18. Daniel is my favorite Old Testament book of the Bible and Philippians is my favorite from the New Testament.

19. I love traveling and staying at new places..............but I crave nights alone in my apartment.

20.I love living with college students and I think that freshmen girls are the most interesting, fun and strange creatures of the bunch!

21. If I had been a boy my name would have been Matthew. When I was younger I wanted my name to be Cornelia. I know-so weird! She was a character in a book that I read.

22. I love history and finding out the origin of things. I have a specific love for American history.

23. Snood has been completely dominated by me-seriously I am amazing. I defy you to beat my scores!

24. I over analyze many things. I have the suspicion that my friends tune me out as we are walking out of movies and I am processing through the story, characters, theme, EVERYTHING.

25. I did not think that I would be able to list 25 things; hopefully a few of them counted as being random and interesting!

snow and other things about the cold

2009-01-31T12:54:00.005-05:00

It is very cold! I am learning that I do not appreciate the cold weather and would love to migrate to a warmer climate, maybe for life. Still there are things about this time of year that are pleasant. I thought it would do my heart good, and maybe yours, to remember a few.

mittens-I will never outgrown them and have quite the collection by now

everything is sparkly, who wouldn't love that!

I enjoy seeing my breath and having my cheeks naturally pink.

drinking hot chocolate is a must this time of year is so much fun, especially with mini marshmallows

knee high socks to keep warm

snow-baseball with my girls, actually tackle-snow-baseball

the campus is gorgeous covered in snow

Please, please add to my list!

life with my ladies

2009-01-30T14:45:00.000-05:00

There are many things about my life that are different with my kiddos back, here are just a few:

-The dorm is very active-that is my way of saying loud (I secretly enjoy it though).
-My things are disappearing again-namely my movies, pans and kitchen utensils.
-I get to hone my matchmaking skills (as if I have any sort of license to advise here).
-A warm shower is exciting-hot water is rare and most days it is merely cool.
-I get to converse about 'Twilight', 'American Idol' and 'The Bachelor' often-when I am on my game these conversations turn into very enlightening discussions about life so don't judge!
-My basketball skills or lack of skills are entertainment for all. We have an RD team purely for interaction with our ladies and to entertain. This year we brought in a few ringers and we won a game!

Pretty much the level of fun and intensity in my life increases while my sleep decreases!

movie reviews

2009-01-19T19:48:00.008-05:00

Classes were canceled on Friday and we took advantage of it by seeing a matinee 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop'. It was cute and unlike many comedies it did not get raunchy. I enjoy Kevin James, he was great! Many of the funny parts were given away in the preview, but there were still plenty to go around. My favorite line-"...the mind is the only weapon that doesn't need a holster." My favorite part was his tattoo revealed! While I did enjoy the movie I don't give it two thumbs way up, but maybe one and a half.

I also saw 'Defiance'. I seriously give this movie two thumbs way

up! 'Defiance' takes place during World War I in Germany with four Jewish brothers hiding from the Nazi army and the police who killed their parents. I loved watching the main characters evolve. They start the story set on revenge, trying to prove they are free by demonstrating how strong and unafraid they are. As others come to them for help and protection the brothers wrestle with maintaining their humanity, sense of community and faith while still feeling the need to exact revenge and violence. It was humbling to listen to their love and hate of their faith. A teacher cried out "...Lord unchoose us, take away our holiness so that we may survive." during a funeral service. That is just one of several powerful moments that are stuck in my mind. The main characters were flawed and ugly at times, but it was easy to root for them as we got to know their hearts

The movie is based on the book 'Defiance: the Bielski Partisans' by Nechama Tec. I wish I had know that before I saw the movie, but I am certainly reading it! I recommend both to you! Bonus-Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber-two fantastic actors and Ed Zwick the director from 'Blood Diamond'.

adventures in hair cutting

2009-01-16T17:09:00.005-05:00

I have been inspired. Yes, my talented sister, Nicki inspired me to take action. If you know Nicki you are surely waiting excitedly to see pictures of what I have sewn or a jewelry item I have created or even a beautiful child that I have birthed. No, no of all of the wonderful things that I could have taken from her I have decided to teach myself to cut hair-my own hair.

I have dabbled with this in the past, but have cut my entire head of hair. I mean after all it is just hair-it'll grow back, no one will notice but me Um not so much on that last one, thank goodness
the first one is true. Short, lopsided bangs are in right? I think that I have better luck with sewing.

I am probably less upset than this boy's mom is about home haircuts!

new fav!

2009-01-11T22:59:00.005-05:00

I have decided to pay tribute to my new favorite device-pandora.com! I love it! It is online radio station. I never know who is up and coming in music and I think the radio stations around me don't either. Pandora lets me type in an artist or genre and it creates a radio station for me with songs similar to my request. My new favorite stations were created around Sara Bareilles and another from Missy Higgins. I of course had a sweet Christmas station and some David Phelps (don't judge).
Here are my tips: there are a limited number of songs you can skip through and choose artists not genres. Enjoy and let me know if you have artists I should look up!

they're back...

2009-01-07T16:27:00.004-05:00

My students have returned! They began moving in slowly yesterday, but we are in full swing today with classes starting tomorrow. I was returning emails when I heard several ear piercing screams. Some of you may have been alarmed by this, but I sat calmly at my desk to overhear how much a group of girls loved another girl's new haircut. Ahhh yes, my noisy, screaming, running, boy loving ladies are back! The sounds that would drive some crazy are soothing to me now because it means all is well in Shupe and the love continues for another semester.

in sickness and more sickness

2009-01-06T12:25:00.003-05:00

For the past week I have had a wretched form of the stomach flu ! I must give thanks to the makers of diet 7-up and to the makers of wheat thins. Those items have been my friends for the past few days, though I hope to never consume them again.

Whilst lying around I was afforded a great opportunity to pay tribute to my sometimes forgotten videotapes. I enjoy technology, but I scoff at the idea of giving up my VCR and replacing my videos with DVDs (at least until I see them in the $5 bin at Wal-mart).

Here are some of my favorite videos that I haven't been able to give up:
Necessary Roughness (was nice to watch after my beloved Colts lost this weekend)
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Far and Away
Never Been Kissed
The Rock
Ever After
Speed
High Crimes
Sleepless in Seattle
Clueless-don't judge it is a classic from my time!

Torn between love and hate

2009-01-03T19:48:00.005-05:00

This morning I got up early for one of my most loved and most hated Saturday morning activities-running! My running buddies and I hibernated during the past few freezing weeks; today we strapped on our shoes and got moving! I loved and hated it!
I hate running because it hurts, getting up early to be in pain is craziness an makes me question my sanity. I love running because it is great therapy. Long talks with my buddies while we are pounding the pavement is a good way to start the day. There is nothing better than the rubbery feeling my legs get after a long run. I cut out a page from one of my magazines that says

'I keep running because it lets me be selfish. It is the one thing I do that's just for me, and nobody else. FYI, I never thought this being-selfish-thing could take so much discipline.'

My love for running continues to outweigh everything else at least for now! My next race is the Shamrock Shuffle is Chicago-strap of your shoes and come join us!

Here goes...

2009-01-02T12:20:00.004-05:00

My first blog-how exciting! You must have the same thrill and probably have goosebumps raised due to excitement as well. I can hear you now...

'What will she say?'

'How much wisdom will she dispense?'

'Oh we'll learn so much! Glorious Day!'

Ah yes, you are excited! I am so sorry that I will surely disappoint. Yes that is right-I have no clue what to blog about? I do not lead an exciting life, I am not that intelligent and I rarely have things to say that others should listen to. But alas I vow to try! Here goes...