My Sister (the avid blogger) does a weekly Friday Fill-in which I believe is an act of the bigger blogging community. (I just cut n' pasted it from her page ;)

1. My favorite food seasoning is cinnamon (?)

2. Laughing is music to my ears- especially loved ones. :)

3. Lucky is having class cancelled!

4. My relationships is something I take very seriously.

5. Many people look like asylum escapees today!

6. Pumpkin Purea, instant vanilla pudding mix and eggs was the last thing I bought at the store.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I am going to do a little baking (pumpkin bread/pumpkin pie), read "The Lucky One" and potentially watch a movie with a couple friends, drink carmel apple ciders and eat whatever I baked, tomorrow my plans include coffee with Kristin Hale and doing homework and Sunday, I have church, play practice and I think Red Robs at some point :)

I am home sick, or rather working from home. I need to be writing a couple abstracts for some speaking applications. And that of course, leads me to blog.

Follow-ups for my last couple blogs:

-sorry about adding the 'S' to Alderwood, lol.

-And as for the day I wore sweats. Not sure if Ty'd love me writing this or not, but without even knowing of my recent blog, he fed right into it. This morning he sent me a short text "Wearing sweats today...run into Jim and Kelsey at the bus stop" Isn't that the rule? It's not just me. lol. I never see people I know on campus or the way there, unless I didn't shower that morning, didn't wear makeup, spilt coffee down my shirt, or decided to wear sweats. It IS the rule.

Yesterday, I woke up feeling sick (and had several times throughout the night), but I had a paper to write and an appointment with my writing teacher to make. So, I toughed it out and got it done. I bundled up and headed into campus. I met with my writing teacher, printed out my paper, and headed to my first class of the morning (which my paper was due in). I think the neon lights intensified the headache, because part way through it was getting pretty awful, so I left in the break of my first class. I felt a little pathetic, but by the time my bus reached my stop, I was so glad I'd left, it was horrible, and I felt horrible.

So yesterday evening, Kris (who was also sick) and I watched P.S. I Love You, and I cried more than the last two times I've watched it. I cried probably 5 different times, maybe more. But one part of it struck me more than usual, laugh if you want. There's a scene where her husband is telling her that their life is already started and she has to stop waiting for something to mean it has. I don't know, maybe its my melancholic mood, but it inspired me. It's so easy to keep viewing your life as preparation for when you really start living and miss out on so much right now. I definitely want to prepare, but I also want to live right now and get everything out of this moment I can, and LOVE where I am. :) That's my thought.

Now, I HAVE to go crank out these abstracts...

(I just re-read this, and I think it is a little confusing. Sorry, my head is sort of a-moosh right now. And yes, I can use that word.)

MEK 101:

MEK denim is sold at Buckle (my favorite store), Nordstom, Metropark (? which I have yet to go into, but we got one at Alderwoods recently), and Sureel. I am sure they are sold many other places as well.

Here are a couple pics of some:
Womens:

Mens:

I liked my outfit today, and of course, saw no one I knew.

Last week, I wore sweats. I saw both Tyson, and Braden on campus, not a big deal, just ironic. But let's be honest, I then had the most attractive guy I think I've seen on campus in the last three years come sit by me with his novel to read, in his MEKs. Yes, I sat on the window sill drinking my white mocha and reading my short story, in my sweats, mentally chastising myself and laughing.

Thankfully, I don't take myself too seriously, and therefore I can share this ridiculous real-life humor with you my friend. :)

Life is nearly always funny in perspective.

I'm an avid reader of a few blogs, not many. One is my sister Kim's "I Smell Books." As I've mentioned before, she is tearing through books in a way I admire, and slightly fear. However, opening her blog today, I found she too has been stunted in her reading by the changing of the seasons.

This inspired my next confession of a tale.

Last night at homegroup, a friend brought up Thanksgiving break and how we need to do something. I gave a shy look, and they picked up on it. I was hoping they wouldn't ask, but they did.

What?

I replied sincerely, I was just thinking the other day how I really want to start my new book, but that I will probably have to wait for Thanksgiving break, and then I realized that all my friends will be on break then too, as will my family, and everyone will want to make fun plans for those days. I just want to sit at home, and finally enjoy all the reading I've been looking forward to. I bought a new book 3 weeks ago- and it has been sitting patiently on my shelf!! I however, have not been so patient in my head.

"Are you serious right now?" was the reply that came from two of the three people at the table with me. The third person was Elise, and she just shook her head and laughed.

Oh, I don't know how I have any friends at all, but boy am I grateful for them! lol. Even when they decide to leave me 19 voicemails, and 14 texts, and tons of missed calls all at once when I clearly don't have my phone. Oh yes, that is what I came home to last night after homegroup. I'd left my cell in my room, and as I drove away down the street I realized it and contemplated going back- but it would mean being late and I really wanted to be on time for the phone bank we were doing. So, I didn't. And when you leave your phone, you are always paranoid you will come home and discover everyone's been trying to reach you. Well, that paranoia was true yesterday evening. Kind of. A number of my friends were together, and they'd somehow got the brilliant idea to each leave me the exact same loooong detailed message with the adaption of "by the way, this is ______(their name)" at the end of the voicemails and text messages. They were funny. Except the second round of voicemails where they told me they weren't waiting any longer- "Kati, we're done waiting. We're starting the movie. We've busted into the ice cream and brownies. The Swedish fish are gone. We've opened the reeses peanut butter cups. you are mising the party. By the way, this is _______" Yes, those ones made me a little sad to have missed the party.

But oh well, I'd had a great evening, free from my phone, over at Jeff and Elise's visiting after homegroup. And what's funny, is I was talking about our generation and how bound we are to our phones, and how we expect that if we text or call someone, they should reply immediately. Oh, the prophetess I sometimes am. lol.

Still, I have great friends, and I am so lucky. Thank you for putting up with my affection for my books, and for leaving me 19 voicemails, and 14 texts, and for all the missed calls. I heart you guys.

Oh, By the way, this is kati. ;)

Changes. Autumn means things dying so others can live. I don't like the dying part, even when it isn't really dying, just falling off and going dormant. It seems fall always brings these difficult changes, especially in relationships. And it makes me miss people so much...like Kim.

I really want to just increase in my desire for the Lord right now, and not get distracted by the changes going on in and around me. I love that the Lord has created me to love others, but I also don't want it to decrease my attentiveness to His heart, and grafting ours together. Still, there are always those seasons where you feel friendships changing, maybe permanently, maybe just for a time. Some moving further away, some just staying further away. Summer is a blast because you get to spend so much time together, no school, no homework. Then fall comes, it grows colder and the days shorter, and the responsibilities longer.

At the same time, fall is a time for contemplating and measuring, and can be one of drawing in to the Lord. I've been asking this week how mature I really am. I know with that question, there will need to come even more change, more deaths, and later, more life. :) It is a scary question to ask, especially when you truly desire an answer. How mature am I? How can I grow in maturity? What do others see?

Even in the quiet of fall there is always the promise of next Spring, when the whispered thoughts and exchanges of the autumn and winter suddenly burst through the ground and reveal what has been secretly amassing strength through the cold months. There is even now in my Spirit these unnamed expectations and desires being stirred. It is like the fog is there, but I can sense something great in it, and though I don't want to let myself call it out by name...I know it's near, and it's beautiful, and therefore I can accept the changes I feel shifting the ground around me.

"The Lord is with you mighty warrior. So rise...Spread your wings and fly. The four winds of heaven are blowing your direction, so fly." -Rick Pino

It is so grose feeling in my class room right now- like moldy moist feeling. :P

Furthermore, today is a no-makeup-day. For two reasons, it just felt like one of those low-key days (and I like ot have them on occassion...the day someone doesn't recognize me because I don't have on my makeup, is the day I throw it all away forever!) Also, I left it in my mom's car yesterday, lol.

But yes, It feels good to liberate my face for the day :)

This was not the intention of my blog today. Steering to the right...
I just checked up on Kim's book blog, my book-ravished oldest sister has just finished yet another book. And yet again, I decided I want to read it, so, I put it in the mental list.

Here is a chunk of the ever-growing list of books I wish to read, the order is random.
1. Something by Faulkner
2. The Endless Knot, book 3 in the Song of Albion trilogy
3. Lucky One
4. Sundays at Tiffany's
5. Beloved by Toni Morrison
6. East of Eden by Steinbeck
7. Catch-22
8. The Allegory of Love by CS Lewis
9. Surprised by Joy by CS Lewis
10. The Four Loves by CS Lewis
11. The Weight of Glory by CS Lewis (can you tell I like CS Lewis)
12. Till We Have Faces by Lewis
13. Something from Jane Austin
14. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult (I started it last spring...and need to finish!)
15. Dreaming with God by Bill Johnson
16. The Seeking Heart
17. The Brothers K

and then there's the list of the best 100 books written which I'd like to read...

:/ meanwhile...I'm reading Beowulf (again!) and other vast old and middle english pieces, in a very moist and moldy smelling room.