Lazy days...

There is nothing better than time on your hands, after an incredibly busy first semester, followed by busy trip to spain and then a hectic holiday, I FINALLY HAVE TIME TO BE LAZY!!!!!!

I have caught up on my reading, I read a great book by Jodi Picoult called "My Sister's Keeper" It is a great book, keeps you interested and makes you to think about a lot of things.



Now I am looking for a new book to read... ANY IDEAS??????? What is your favorite book??

If you are looking for new books to read next year... here are my suggestions

1. Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
2. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
3. The hours by Michael Cunningham
4. Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
5. Kite Runner ( I forget the author)
6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel.


Those are just some good suggestions. I want to get a lot of reading done over my winter break because school is always so crazy with homework and friends and extracurriculars so it is hard to find time to read. I am also working hard to write a lot in my journal. I keep a journal every year, and each year i have a them or a saying. This year my theme was.... " FIND BEAUTY IN EVERYTHING" So i worked really hard to see the beauty in small things. I don't mean aesthetics always, i mean like the pure beauty in people and situations and sort of just the beauty of the world, how it everything turns and comes about. We really do live in a beautiful world! Some day, I Challenge you to go to a coffee shop or a shopping mall, just any place where there are a lot of people, and then just sit and sip some coffee and look around, I think you will find how incredibly beautiful the world is. I have to start thinking of a good theme for next year..... Any ideas? Let me know.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukah or whatever it is you celebrate or don't celebrate for that matter. Haha... Hope to hear from you soon!

*Vanessa*

Trip to Spain

So, as a BIG christmas present, my mom and I decided to go to Spain as soon as I got out of classes. I want to be a spanish major in college, so we went for me to practice spanish. Also, my mother is a SHOP A HOLIC, so we went to fulfill her shopping needs and of course, just to spend time together. At home, my mom and I live such different lives that it is hard to find time together.. so traveling is great for us, all the time in the world just for each other. We were in Madrid, Spain, the capital of the country. It was a gorgeous place. We only had a short stay there, about 5 days. We saw almost all of the tourist attractions they have to offer, a gorgeous old castle (where the king and queen really lived!!!), an enormous park full of old architecture and tons of people... lots of great stuff!! Here are some pictures.......













(isn't my mother beautiful???))

A Pre-Christmas Entry.

Welcome to my revised blog!!!

I am back in my beloved Minnesota, how I love thee! I am only here for about another month, and in that time I have a lot of nothing to do! How wonderful! Just time to SCRAPBOOK, spend time with friends, and get to know myself a some more. You can always get to know yourself better.

Are you ready for the holidays????

I love the holidays, full of family and just the whole spirit in general. I swear that love is not more present at any time of the year than over the holidays. I don't mean the gooey type of love you see in movies, people staring into each other's eyes, I mean the type of love that people have for the world. I guess you could call it compassion. It really is a beautiful time of the year though, espcially now that it has snowed! (I made a snowman the other night, or should i say snowWOMAN)

Welll please be safe! And Merry Christmas. Spread love this chrismas, spread it to your family and your friends, but more importantly to strangers and yourself.

MAY PEACE BE WITH YOU.




This christmas, my wishes and prayers will go to Charolette of Ghana, Africa. I met her almost a year and a half ago and she has continued to touch my heart. For this reason, I will send her my thoughts of love and safety and write a small financial contribution for her. Thank you Charolette, for helping me to see the beauty of the world and I hope to effect you as you have done for me.

PEACE.


"Amazing Peace" by Maya Angelou
(read in Washington, Christmas 2005)

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Floodwaters await in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to
avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and gray and threatening.

We question ourselves. What have we done to
so affront nature?
We interrogate and worry God.
Are you there? Are you there, really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension,
Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the
bright air.

The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps
quietly in the corner.
Floodwaters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we made our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children.
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they
walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth, brightening
all things,
Even hate, which crouches breeding in
dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by
its presence
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas
We beckon this good season to wait awhile with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim
say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and
the Confucian,
Implore you to say awhile with us
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see
community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a
language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to
each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of
Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming
of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and
Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. we llok at our world and speak the
word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into
ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or
hesitation:

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

A-Z Sounds like fun!

A - Available or single: a little bit of both?
B - Best Friend: can't name just one, friends from home and friends from here!
C - Cake or Pie: Apple Pie
D - Drink of choice: Kool Aid!
E - Essential item you use everyday: i-pod!
F - Favorite color: purple!
G - Gummy Bears or worms: gummy worms
H - Hometown: raiseed in Plymouth, Minnesota
I - Indulgence: scrapbooking, the backstreet boys
J - January or February: Febuary
K - Kids & Names: none yet!
L - Life is Incomplete Without? Good friends and family
M - Marriage Date: To be Determined!
N - Number of Siblings: none, I am an only child.
O - Oranges or Apples: i am allerice to apples, but I love them both.
P - Phobias or Fears: being alone
Q - Fave Quote: "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us!"
R - Reason to Smile:love, of all sorts!
S - Season: SPring time!
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: none of you will do this...
U - Unknown Fact about Me: i secretly am an organization freak, maybe that isn't so secret.
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: lettuce (can you believe it)
W - Worst Habit: staying up too late
X - Xrays: thats a bad one, i guess its the only thing that starts with x..
Y - Your Fave Food: i love spaghetti and vanilla ice cream.(not together though)
Z - Zodiac Sign: Scorpio, although i don't think i follow it!