OK Go...Will One Of You Please Marry Me?

For those of you who don't know, I really LOVE music. Lately I've been on a music video kick and excitedly discovered that OK Go has a new[ish] video out, and I thought I'd share it with the world, because the world NEEDS Ok Go. These guys have the most creative music videos. They've seriously raised the bar. So much, that unless a music video has an incredible story line or involves nerdy guys doing nerdy things such as choreographing their own dance moves, I go thoroughly unimpressed. There's nothing I hate more than a stereotypical music video - hot girls, glamorous shots of band playing, ridiculous amount of lights. It's all been done a million times before, which is why these guys are so incredibly refreshing! So without further adieu, here's their next-to-latest vid!



And because I love them so much and can't share just ONE video...here's the first video ever made. Do you understand why I love them so much?



And here's yet another epic video. I would share the entire YouTube channel on here if I could.



And last but not least, one of the most impressive things I've ever seen pulled off. You HAVE to watch this!



Head on over to their YouTube channel to watch the rest of their vids, including their BRAND NEW video for "Last Leaf," which is entirely animated upon a piece of toast. Yup, I pretty much love them, and would gladly marry any one of them. Enjoy!

You Are Not Your Own. You Were Bought At A Price.

We often hear of stories in which someone who is dying comes to accept that they are "no longer in control of their life." Perhaps they are battling cancer or suffering the effects of a lifetime of bad choices, or perhaps they merely come to such a conclusion because they recently lost someone close to them or their life has suddenly spiraled out of control. No matter what the circumstances, those who come into contact with the reality of death all come to the same conclusion: you are not in control. We can all relate to such a realization at some point or another in our lives, yet we must ask ourselves why on earth it takes so many of us until we are staring death in the face to realize that we are powerless. We thought we were the ruler of our own lives, but we couldn't be more wrong.

If there is anything in this life that is certain, it is death. From the moment we are born we are slowly dying---growing older with age, maturing, and preparing ourselves for that imminent moment in which we must be held accountable for the life which we have lived. We all know that we cannot escape it, yet most of us spend our lives trying to avoid it. We try to push it out of our minds as if death does not exist, yet it is always looming, lurking around every corner. We could die at any moment. Heart attack, car wreck, cancer---the possibilities are endless. When death is finally near, we fight for our lives, yet the majority of our lives are spent living as if we didn’t care if we died at all.

Perhaps it is only through the realization that we are dying that any of us can ever truly understand that it is not us, but rather God, who is in control of our lives. It’s funny how often we talk about “giving God control of our lives” in Christian circles, as though at some point we somehow took it from Him. In reality, we never had it in the first place. We were brought into the world as entirely dependent creatures and we will die as entirely dependent creatures. From the moment we were born our lives were in the hands of someone else. As newborns we could not sit up on our own, we could not control our bodily functions, we could not even speak for ourselves. All we could do is trust that someone would care for us and humbly cry out for help in our time of need. Are we really so different now? We’d like to think that we are, but we could lose all such privileges at any given moment. Some of us may even know someone who actually has lost such privileges, such basic functions as the ability to move their limbs, to remember where they were five minutes ago, or to utter a coherent sentence. And yet, we still can’t fathom that such a thing could ever happen to us. They may no longer have control, but we still do. Right?

We are so often fooled into believing that we are in control because of the simple decisions we make---where to live, when to wake up in the morning, what to wear, where to work---that we forget that even the ability to make a decision is a gift given to us by God. Every second I make a decision to breathe in and breathe out. Every second I make a decision to live on, yet is it I who creates the very breath I am taking? When my body begins to fail, can I renew it? Can I cause my own heart to pump blood through my veins? Can I cause my lungs to deliver air to my suffocating body? No. All I can do is surrender to the fact that I breathe only because each breath is given to me. My body is not my own. My life is not my own. I am not in control of anything at all, but merely a vessel which God has given the gift of life. He is the potter, I am the clay. No matter what shape I take, I am still the clay. I cannot form myself out of the mire. I cannot carve intricate patterns into my delicate being. All I can do is say, “Here I am, Lord. Take me” and recognize the reality that were He to remove His hand from me for even one second as my life spins on, I would crumble.

If you are to take anything out of this post at all, let it be this: You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6: 19-20) He has carefully and intricately created you to be not even a vase or a jar, but a temple. Do not be deceived and live your live as though you are an ashtray. Do not forget the price that was paid on the cross so that you would no longer have to be an ashtray. And do not for one second forget that you are the created, not the creator.

Halloween!

I've always loved Halloween, but unfortunately most of my youth was spent in sub-par costumes that were so pathetic my parents didn't even bother to document them. If you'll observe the picture below, you'll see me dressed as She-Ra (from the He-Man cartoon series) and David as the karate kid. This is probably the most my parents ever spent on a costume for us. In later years I would be a cat not once, but twice, meaning that we merely paired ears and a tail with a sweatsuit. I would also use my mom's nightgown as a wedding dress another year, borrow my neighbor's cheerleading uniform still another year, and stuff a homemade pumpkin outfit my mom got for free at an estate sale with newspaper another year. Clearly my parents have never been as enthusiastic about Halloween as I am.


This year, however, I set out on an adventure to make my very own super awesome costume, that would be sure to put all others to shame. I've wanted to make this costume ALL year, ever since I read on My Life Is Average that someone else had done it. With the help of a couple dear friends, as well as my mom and step-dad, I was able to accomplish my dream of being the house from "Up" this Halloween.
Here are my good friend, Denton, and my mom working away. We made the frame from cardboard, then used popsicle sticks for siding and shingling, until we discovered the glorious power of FOAM. If you ever want to make this costume, please take my advice - ditch the popsicle sticks and just cut foam into strips! You'll save so much time!

And here's the finished project! The colors aren't actually right, but we had to improvise. I'm pretty sure it's still awesome anyways. I added the special touch of putting the characters in the windows.
We used my dad's rainbow suspenders to hold the house up. Denton had to try them on himself. I caption this picture as "Hey there kids...why don't you come on down to my basement for some candy." (*sidenote: This guy spent his ENTIRE weekend helping me build this. I seriously couldn't have done it without him. He's so amazing he should pretty much be a saint. Just sayin')
And here he is enjoying my Mom's shakeweight. If you haven't seen those commercials...well, don't. They're so wrong.
Voila! The finished product! And I might add that I actually won a costume contest!
Denton unenthusiastically poses for a picture to display our glorious work of art.
Some other friends who participated in the contest. Hobbits!
Wayne & Garth!
Wayne and Garth using Ariel's dinglehopper to devour Flounder. Mmm...
All in all, it was a delightful halloween...well, except for the fact that I was sick all weekend and didn't actually get any rest because I stayed up late working on the house. But that house is my pride and joy, and I seriously felt like I was reliving my childhood when I won that contest. I'm such a nerd...I know...and now I can't wait to make something for next year!

Thankful Thursday!

Ah yes, from this day forward, all Thursdays shall be dedicated to giving thanks. Mostly because it's easier for me to sit down and make lists of things than to write about an actual topic or post pictures. I dream of writing such posts, but alas, I'm a busy girl these days. So without further adieu, may I present to you things for which I am thankful today...

1. Youth group kids. Seriously, I love them all. Every single one. Most of the time I wish I could be in ten places at once so I could get to know every one of them better, and hang out with them, and speak truth into their lives. But alas, I am only one person. God isn't going to use just me to impact their lives, and it's not up to just me to do so...thankfully. With or without me, God is working in their lives for good. But I am ever so thankful for the times when He does choose to use me!

2. I mentioned this last time...but my office plant, Francesca. Her sprouts are growing strong and healthy. She's flourishing! And even cooler, she surprised me with mushrooms over the weekend! I have no idea where on earth they came from, but it was a pleasant surprise for a Monday morning. I'm secretly hoping for more, as they've already withered and died. Is it weird that I get such thrills from watching a plant grow?

3. Beth Moore. I've been reading "So Long Insecurity" lately and it's been an amazing journey thus far. I already knew I was insecure in several areas, but I didn't quite realize the massive extent of them. Most of the time it's embarassing, the thing's that I'm insecure about, and even more so the way I act because of them, but God's used many situations lately to show me the areas that need to be taken care of, and with His help they shall be defeated once and for all!

4. Motion City Soundtrack. I don't know why, but I've been really into them lately. They just make me smile. :-)

5. Restored friendships. A friend and I recently had a bit of a squabble, but things are sorted out now and I'm ever so thankful for that. And I'm thankful that he (and most of my friends, really) is a forgiving person. And I'm thankful that God gives me the strength to forgive, because it's so hard to do when you've been hurt. I'm slowly but surely learning just to love people as they are, to encourage rather than try to "fix" them, and let me tell you, it's a lesson that's hard to learn, and it's been quite painful on the journey. Someday...someday I will finally get it.

6. My dad. We just had the most delightful conversation the other night. We talked for hours, and he really encouraged me and brought understanding into areas of my life that I was nearly on the verge of giving up on.

7. My guitar came!!!!! And she's even more beautiful than I imagined! Now I just need to name her...

8. "Easy A." I've already seen it twice. I wasn't so sure about it, but man is it witty. And even though it portrays Christians as complete nutjobs...it was still hilarious. I would highly recommend it...for an adult audience though, of course. One of my favorite lines: "I don't know what your generation's fascination is with documenting your every thought...but I can assure you, they're not all diamonds. 'Roman is having an o.k. day and bought a Coke Zero at the gas station. Raise the roof.' Who gives a rat's a**?" Funny how that's my favorite line...and I'm blogging about it.

9. Men. Sometimes I love 'em, sometimes I hate 'em. But I'm thankful for them nonetheless.

10. And last, but certainly not least: Children's books. Particularly Scaredy Squirrel, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Walter the Farting Dog, ABC Kitty, The Butt Book, and The Secret Keeper. If you have children, then you should be reading these books to them. They're amazing. If you don't have children, then you should also be reading them. Because they're still awesome. :-D

And now, because no blog post of a spinster is complete without a picture of a cat...I give you lolcats.

Splurge!

I have a confession to make.

I just completely splurged.

On this...

Isn't she just beautiful? I don't quite know what I'll name her yet (I'm open to suggestions!), but I'm so excited to get her in the mail. Some of you are probably surprised that I didn't go for this...

I am too. Pink...sparkly...how exactly did I pass this up? It's even cheaper! But alas...my heart was continually drawn towards the sparkly purple. I like the body design better, plus it's called the "Tom Boy." It seems to fit me...and if I had a hot pink sparkly guitar, I'd feel a bit of a poser. I don't have the skills to own up to that baby just yet. ;-)

These next 7 days will be a little bit of torture...the anticipation is already killing me!

I've been dreaming of an electric guitar for a couple years now, but seeing as how my finances have gone to tuition for the past six years of my life I couldn't quite bring myself to buy one. I found a great deal on e-bay, though, so I just couldn't pass this one up when I saw it.

Now don't go thinking that because I bought an electric guitar I'm actually good at guitar. Quite the contrary, actually. I have taken lessons. All of my 8th grade year and a semester of my senior year in college were devoted to lessons, so I've got basic training, but my excitement for the guitar always waned due to the fact that I was forced to play songs like "Over the Rainbow" and "Holy, Holy, Holy." I know, I know. Who wouldn't want to rock out to that, right? Also, the fact that the only guitar I own is an acoustic I purchased at a garage sale for ten dollars has not helped to spur me on to greater things. This guitar is so crappy that it would make Jimi Hendrix sound like an amateur. The neck is slightly bent, so the actual strings are about a mile away from the fretboard, meaning that my fingers must endure 20 times the pain than that of the average guitar player. And after all that pain...it doesn't even sound good. I always remain convinced that I completely and hopelessly suck until I pick up an actual decent guitar, and am in shock at the fact that my playing is not drowned out by an incessant rattling noise, but does indeed slightly sound like music. Who knew?

And so my mind is filled with dreams of Ozzy, Jimi, Zeppelin, Metallica, Kansas, Boston, and the like...I WILL master "Crazy Train." I will, I tell you. And hey, if I get REALLY good (and if I can afford it), maybe I can own one of these beauties...

(Just look at that sparkly white and filigree neck design...It's gorgeous!)

P.S. You should check out their online catalog here. The company is called Daisy Rock, and it's strictly guitars for GIRLS. Finally, guitars that don't require me to have man hands! Their designs are smaller, they're lighter weight, and the frets are closer together. Sounds like guitar heaven to me. :-)

Happy guitar dreams to all of you. And if any of you want to start a band some day, let me know. We can call ourselves the "Spinsters of Death"...or perhaps the "Flaming Bagladies." Hehe.

Dental Woes

For those of you who know me, you know that I would rather be locked in a room of hungry, rabid squirrels while wearing walnut-scented perfume than go to the dentist. I. Hate. It. And not only do I have to go twice a year for routine check-ups, but I of course end up having an average of 2-3 cavities every single year that I have to go back for. At least when I was a kid I got a special prize from the treasure chest after the appointment was over, but now all I ever get is bleeding gums, a sore mouth, and a bill.

As you can probably guess by the fact that this post even exists, today I had to make yet another visit to the dentist. This time for three, yes THREE fillings. I had two cavities and a chipped tooth. Who knows how that even happened? The funny thing is, I never actually even know that I have cavities. They don't ever hurt. They're not even sensitive. The only times I have ever full-on known that my next dental check-up would bring about another for a filling was a) when a previous filling fell out and I had what seemed like the grand canyon between my back two molars and b) when I could pull an entire kernel of corn out of the crater that took up residence on yet another back molar (the aforementioned chipped tooth, in this case). I'm convinced that all other times, however, I have never actually had a cavity. They just want to suck me dry with their expensive fees, and because I know absolutely nothing about dentistry, they know they can get away with it. Curse you, evil dentist! Curse you!

I have gone to the same dentist my entire life and he still scares me. It's not his fault, though. It's nothing personal. It's just that, well, when you have twenty+ years of associating the dentist with pain and discomfort, you're naturally going to not like your dentist. And when the only time you ever see him is when you're high on laughing gas and he's staring at you with his bulging magnified eyes as he pokes around and drills inside your mouth, well, I'd say the anxiety is probably legitimate. The only possible compassion I could have on him is because of the following scenario.

Me:Gag

Dentist in the middle of drilling: Heh.

Me: Gag again.

Dentist to assistant: Watch that suction. I think you've got it too far back in her throat. She's gagging.

Me: Gag. Gag. Gag. Sit up in the middle of drilling. Throw up in sink next to me.

Dentist. Uh, let's go ahead and turn that laughing gas off now.

Yeah. Like I've stressed, the dentist office is never happy fun time for me. Even the laughing gas fails when you've had too much and throw up in the middle of your appointment. Awesome.

Anyways, today's lovely appointment lasted a full hour. The appointment was at 9, and 5 hours later I'm finally beginning to get the feeling back in my face. Have you ever tried to put lip gloss on when you can't feel your upper lip? Hilarious! But I warn you not to try it without a mirror. The mirror is essential, ladies. Also of great entertainment are trying to scrunch your nose, smile, drink water, and eat a banana. Oh, and whatever you do, make sure you don't ever talk to a cute guy after a dental appointment. When you smile, you look like a drooling infant...and you don't even realize it. You should really just avoid all male contact until you have feeling back. Trust me on this.

Okay, so I think I'm FINALLY done ranting and raving about the dentist. Thanks for enduring to the end...if you did indeed accomplish such a feat. And if you did in fact read this, I shall now reward you with a link to a delightful sketch from the Carol Burnett Show.

Give Thanks

I'm still terrible at this blogging thing, but I'm doing my best here. How on earth do people keep up with these things?

Ah well, some day. Some day. Today, however, I've decided to take the opportunity to use this blog as a way to give thanks to God. It's so easy to focus on the trials in my life, to lose sight of all that God is doing and has done, but today I just want to take time to list some of the things that I'm thankful for. And believe me, there are many things to give thanks for.

So, in no particular order, here's what I'm thankful for today:

1. My office plant Francesca, because no matter how many times I neglect her, she still thrives. She even has seedlings!

2. My amazing bosses, Deb and Jim. They're so flexible and patient with me, and are just a joy to work for.

3. Audio books, and their ability to get me caught up on reading while I work at my desk. If it weren't for this site, I wouldn't have discovered the young adult genre, and probably wouldn't have discovered my desire to be a youth services librarian (*fingers crossed*). AND I never would have gotten around to reading Les Miserable and The Count of Monte Cristo. Their length always intimidated me, but now they've become two of my absolute favorite books!

4. My two best friends Josie Marie and Rachel Anne. Life always seems to separate us somehow, but it also always brings us back together somehow. I'm looking forward to being friends with these girls for a lifetime, and can't wait for our future B.F.F. road trips, getting to become "Auntie Tiff" to their future children, and of course drooling and knitting together when we someday share nursing homes. :-)

5. Little answers to prayer. Like when you're visiting a college & career group for the first time, are incredibly nervous and praying that someone will at least talk to you, and as soon as you pull into the parking lot, Amy Schmidt from Tabor (who is also visiting for the first time) pulls into the space right next to you. Yay God! Yay Amy!

6. The Prince of Egypt soundtrack. Need I say more?

7. My incredibly giving, unselfish, patient, kind, loving, and supportive parents (That includes you, step-Dan! :-D). I don't think I even need to say more than that. They're just wonderful.

8. A brother who seeks God in times of great trial, and who leads by example of what it means to follow Christ. I'm not gonna lie, his life totally sucks right now, but God has done GREAT things in him and through him these past few months, and I'm so proud of the godly man he's become because of these hard times.

9. Hot morning showers---because I get one every day and many around the world don't. It's just one of those blessings that I always take for granted.

10. Living in a state that has sunny blue skies followed by torrential rain, hail, and tornado warnings in the SAME day. Kansas weather is AWESOME.

And there it is. Today's list. I think I'll keep this PTL (Praise the Lord) list up. It makes me smile. I already feel ten times more joyful and optimistic than I did a mere hour ago! Anyways, I shall now end this post, and what better way to end it than with some super awesome Bible verses? Behold...

Ephesians 5: 18b-20

"Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Corinthians 15: 56-57

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"

And now...because posts are better with a picture...a picture of the day from icanhascheezburger.