I'm taking poetry again...

Rabbit Food

"I'm trying to quit," she said stickily

through a bite of caramel cheesecake.

My spinach salad stuck to my palate

as I answered, "You're not overweight."

"But I'll have to jog three extra miles

to burn even half of this off.

She looked so distressed, I said, "Give it a rest,"

playfully nudging my plate toward her.

How many women are still trying

to eat more romaine and iceberg?

Most charismatic are red-tip fanatics,

arugula lovers pull a close second.

Water cress, spinach, Chinese lettuce,

looseleaf, Swiss chard, radicchio, endire.

"I'll have the Thai--dressing on the side.

Can I have extra peapods on that?"

Faithfully, we chew our cud,

knowing that salad is best.

shedding the pounds by chewing a mound

of wet leaves and veggies with zest.

Whirlwind

Wow this month flew right by me! SO much has happened. Raimo and Katie did a competition this month and took first place in both novice and pre-champ. They're going to give me a run for my money this November. I'm mostly excited about my cabaret routine, which is coming along. We're moving pretty quickly, which is great since we only have about 6 weeks until we compete! I'm really enjoying the song we picked for it too! Classes are going fine. Even though I'm taking way fewer credits, I still feel as busy as ever. That may be partially because of my work schedule... I work a lot more early and late hours when I have to open and close the office. But I'm still really happy with my job overall--I just can't seem to find a normal sleep pattern. One night I was awake till 3:30 am because I just couldn't sleep, and I had to get up so early the next day! Ugh. I'm also staying busy by actually doing all my reading for school. In the past I've always been perpetually behind in my classes, but I am mostly on top of things with fewer classes!

Raimo has the best schedule in the world. He has classes from noon to 7 on Tue/Thu and he has Mon, Wed, Fri off--no school. Nada. He usually does some work from home those days and works on homework. And dances of course. He is doing really great with his work goals--they get rewards if they hit a certain mark. Last month we got a 300$ gift card to Best Buy! I think it is really motivational for him too and it is exciting for him to be able to do so well even when he's in school. I don't know how he does it. He just gets people excited about internet and tv. I know I'm excited.

I'm getting really excited for conference. I feel ready for a good spiritual boost. Hopefully we'll get to spend time with Monica and Raimo's parents too.

I'm not excited that the forecast says it's going to snow. It just can't be that time yet. Snow is so much work. Can't it just snow for like 3 weeks in December??

Lastly, Raimo and I need a new computer soon. Any day now this laptop is going to shut down. The question is PC or Mac?? I have always been a fan of PC--I just that I know how to use them well and you don't have to worry about conversions because most people have them. But I'm taking a class right now that uses Macs for design and I am enjoying it so far. But do I really want to make such a drastic switch?? And this brings me to another question: laptop or desktop?

What should I do? Leave me a comment. I love comments. And tell me why, because of course everyone loves what they have.

Thanks,
I'm Jessica and I'm a PC.

Go ahead and ask me why I'm posting this:

Wooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Jazz Fest

So it's probably about time for me to post some new pictures. Problem is, our camera is busted. I think it just gave up and died. But I'll figure out something soon.

We had such fun last week of summer--we got to go swimming and go dancing at the MAC and go on a drive in the canyon. Best of all was the jazz festival in Park City. The venue was outdoor on a big grass hill with trees all around. We really liked Warren Hill and of course we liked the main event, Al Jerreau. The craziest part of the whole thing was it started pouring rain on us while we were listening to him. Tons of people left, but tons of people stayed too and just pulled their blankets and chairs over their heads! We had an umbrella! It was a really fun day and I definitely want to go again next year!

I have been wanting one of these babies...

The shark steam pocket mop!!! Click here.

It swivels, has washable pockets, and even has a duster pocket so you can dust with it! All you need is water! I don't currently own a mop, which may or may not be gross since I only have 4 square feet of kitchen floor. This is the one! I'm sold

And I'm feelin' good

I am finishing summer term on Wednesday. I'm feeling strangely relaxed and nonchalant about everything.
The last couple of weeks were really poor weeks. Somehow a lot of checks went through at once. . . or something like that. And then of course we went on vacation . . . and sort of bought some new outfits for a wedding . . . and some birthday stuff. It was all worth it, but we were a little concerned. So we tried not to worry about it. Basically, that is how we work now. And things worked out! Amazingly, we got invited to dinner at some friends. And another friend decided to go on a carb-free diet and so he passed on all his carbs to us, thank you! And we went out to dinner with Raimo's parents one night, and to their house another night, and out to dinner with my grandma and aunt another night. So basically we have been eating despite our lack of funds. In fact, we have a lot of food in our fridge. The ironic thing is . . . we're going on yet another vacation this weekend. I was sitting at work wondering how on earth that was going to happen. And then while rummaging through my purse I found a card with some cash in it that grandma slipped to me on our last visit. And then I knew everything was going to work out. Does this happen to anyone else?? Because it happens to us all the time!

Only two posts in July and both were about school! BOooring. So what's been going on with us lately...

Raimo had a birthday on Wednesday--we had a fun day. He's 24 and that is really weird. He got a navy and a gray suit--they're both really cute!

We also went on vacay for 2 days to Riverside and hung out with my family. We ate everything in sight and went swimming and to the drive-in movies. I did everything possible to procrastinate my homework.

We've started practicing dance again with new partners (Kate and Alister)- our first competition is next week. Raimo and Kate have a lot of fun--they're both really easy going. And Alister and I are really intense about everything, so it works :) The fun thing about dancing with Alister though is that we "estep" or "estamp" our feet. Somehow that's just better than "stepping"! I think Raimo and I practiced with Katalister more last month than Raimo and I did in the whole year. We're definitely improving. What a surprise..?

Besides that, we have not done too much summer stuff! We're growing out our hair and trying to be tan. We work a lot still. I'm excited for fall because I'm only taking 5 classes/ 12 credits! It's going to be awesome. I'm also hoping I'll get to do a little of this

I can't believe it is the middle of July already! There are only 3 more weeks of class (starting next week). We sure are busy. I paid for a Biology online course in April. Haven't even started :) Great!

So I cried in my history of creativity class the other day. It wasn't really that sad, but we were talking about all my heroes . . . you know, Mozart and Beethoven . . . and they had the saddest lives. For a couple of guys who did amazing things for the world of music, they really had to suffer a lot. The story about Beethoven conducting Ode to Joy, which he had written while completely deaf, is particularly moving. He was convinced to conduct it for an audience (like the opening night) and although he could not hear the music, he knew every note of it and could feel the vibrations created by the music. He conducted it so perfectly, and he got so caught up in the music, that in that moment he actually forgot that he was deaf. After he finished the piece, he heard nothing, no applause. He began to cry on the stage, and it wasn't until someone turned him around that he saw the audience was giving him a standing ovation. I cannot imagine how he did the amazing things he did without being able to hear. That must have been a bittersweet experience for him.

While listening to the lectures in this class, I really feel that so much of history was brought about by God. The great people of the scientific revolution and enlightenment and the writers and musicians and thinkers of that time made really huge advances in such a short time. Many of them talk about how they felt inspired--how one thought had provoked a new idea or how in one day they were inspired with a whole symphony. And I know lots of those people had crazy ideas about religion and what God is, but despite that, He seems to be part of every one of their contributions.

As much as I complain about it, I really enjoy being in school.

Stress!

Ok- so I missed the first week of class this summer term because I thought I wasn't taking classes. But I found out I got some scholarship money, so I felt like I needed to use it. Now I am trying to catch up and do all this reading--and there's already a ton of reading since a term is only 7 or 8 weeks long--and get on top of assignments. To add to that, I'm not just taking any old class. I'm taking my senior course (supposed to be the last class I take in the major), as well as a history course. They're pretty crazy. At least we're on the 3rd week now. Only 5 more to go! I shouldn't be so stressed out over a couple of silly classes, but I just am! Tomorrow I happen to have my first midterm already! I've only been to two lectures for that class so far! Ugh.

On a happier note, it is Harry Potter week at work so I have owls and mail floating above my head and large black butcher paper Hogwarts arches too. And guess what house I am in? Slytherin. Yes, right down there with Voldamort and Malfoy. I'm excited about it. I'm also excited for the movie to come out next week! One day I'm going to read all of them--just not while I'm in college. Speaking of which, I am graduating in December! Yay! Despite the awfulness of taking both spring and summer classes, I am coming closer to that four-cornered, golden-tasseled hat! I have already mentally composed a list of things I get to do after December! It's going to be awesome. Maybe I will put them down here so I don't forget:

-Never read a text book again, never go to the testing center again
-Go snowboarding?! I can't believe I live here and never use my board!
-Take some music lessons
-Compete at nationals for the last time
-Go to the MAC a few times
-Maybe take the GMAT
-Bake more goodies
-Paint my nails
-Get a new job, hopefully with benefits
-Save money
-Help Raimo finish college!

One thing that makes me really happy is I'm only going to be taking 13 credits this fall. I have never taken so few in a semester. Once I took 21 and that was awful. What's wrong with me? Another thing that made me happy was taking a nap from 8 to 10 this morning before work with Raimo. Oh, and... my family's in town!!!! Yay we are going to party as soon as I knock out that stupid midterm.

P.S. happy birthday Mel!!!!

Sad day

Yesterday was such a sad day for me. It was just surreal. I'm going to miss you, Michael! White or black, doesn't matter to me! You rocked my world!!!