Charlie Reads Twilight

YES! A combination of Charlie AND Alex reading Twilight. I love it!

Confusing Dreams and Reality

For the last week or so, my dreams have been so incredibly vivid. I don't really care why, they're actually be pretty amusing. They range from me hanging out with Jared Padalecki on nights where I catch up on a Supernatural episode to going on a trek with some of my Life Group members (although I'm not sure where the trek came from). I'm not going to delve into a book about dreams and how a big crab means that you're super gay (thank you Dane Cook and no, I have not had any dreams about big crabs thank you very much) because honestly I don't care that much. I'm not the kind of person to wake up scared from my dreams. I'm the deranged person who wants to go back to their dreams, no matter how scary, just so she can see how they end.

Last night it got a little weird though how deeply entrenched in reality my dreams were. I've been sick this weekend so I've been doing a lot of TV watching and study guide typing for AP Euro. Last night, I hammer through about 50 pages of study guide typing so I have study guides on the brain. All these random lists of artists and questions about styles and techniques are obviously on my mind. Because I've been watching TV, I also have "The Riches" on the brain. For those of you who have never seen it, "The Riches" is a show that ran for two seasons on FX. Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard (LOVE THEM) star as the matriarch and patriarch of an Irish Traveller Family of Conmen. They've got three kids who all are skilled in pulling cons as well. They witness the accidental death of a couple called the Riches and move into their lives, becoming the Riches. I really fell into liking this show and pretty much have watched in non-stop these last few days.

So here is where reality has become firmly connected into my dream. Last night, I dreamed that I was a member of the Riches- part of the family. A lot of it was really hazy but I vividly remember that we had a list to things to complete before we could really become the Riches. Of course, what was this list? This list was the 50-page study guide that I had spent the day typing up. All five of the Riches- Dahlia, Wayne, Cael, Didi, Sam Malloys- and I were working together to complete this study guide/list, while trying to avoid Hugh Panetta, Wayne's boss, Quinn and Dale, two fellow Travellers who have it out for the Malloys, Chet Landry, the PI who is looking for Doug Riches' best friend, etc. It was one of the weirdest dreams that I have had in a long time.

So, who's curious about what this means??? :)

Awesome

and yet so sad at the same time. Thanks to Toothpaste for Dinner for this.

Change

Last Wednesday, Amanda and I hung out with some of our girls. For some reason, the conversation got onto the subject of hair and how I would look great with side bangs. So good in side bangs that I needed to get some NOW. Yes, NOW. For those of you who know me, it takes me at least a good week to get myself amped up to even trim my hair. I am not one of those spontaneous people who is just like "OK, let's go do this." Especially not with my hair which although drives me crazy at times, I usually love. Except when it's all kinky. And not in a gross way. Anyway, off stubject. So, after numerous pep talks, threats, analogies, even a throwing back in my face of my vote for Obama ("Michal, you voted for Obama and he wants change.... so now you need change too and have to go cut your hair), I finally relented. What do you think?

Not very happy about this.


In the chair....

Still not very happy about this.

Some pictures of the finished product.
Still getting used to them.

Life Group Amazing-ness

I was just rereading some of my older blogs (since I'm SUPER bored during prep and don't want to start typing study guides yet) and saw the one about my apprehension towards Life Group. That is GONE. Tuesday's Life Group meeting was incredible and I'm so excited to see what God starts to do in this group of ours.

It started with a mess of us meeting in the Ralphs parking lot to caravan down to Lake Forest. I ended up in the car with Garrett, Mike and Trenton while the Amys, Beth and Breann followed. We almost died in a crazy u-turn maneuver by Amy (which occurred WHILE I was on the phone with Mrs. Hassig) but otherwise the car ride down was hilarious. Of course, I got stuck in the car with all the boys and thus our conversation revolved around boy stuff. We talked about (OK, THEY talked about) fast cars, audio systems, audio systems IN fast cars, buying versus leasing, etc. I just sat and listened, absolutely amused.

We only had 4 people missing from the meeting, which was really nice. We talked about some expectations and ideas for the group (although Trenton forgot the epic suggestion box) and then went onto Life Stories. Man alive, I learned some things that I hadn't ever expected- I don't want to write them down just to be respectful to those who shared but man, it was crazy. These are things that you never expect when you meet someone and it reveals so much about the person. We are so lucky to have a group that comes from so many different backgrounds. I'm so excited to see that God is going to do with all of us.

After group was over, we arranged to all hang out at Panera on Friday (I'm so craving their food right now I cannot wait until 7 and a half hours), then go to a Costa Mesa community event and then deliver our Thanksgiving in a bag to our families. I'm stoked to just go and hang out with these people and I hope it's a great night. After we left Tim and Wendy's, my car, plus Chuck, Casey, Kendall and Heather stood outside talking for a good twenty minutes before we realized it was late and we were kind of loud. The drive home was again filled with boy talk but it was all good- I adore all of them.

I'm so glad that I kept going with this life group thing. I hope it continues to bless my life abundantly.

Creepers

Megan and I always seem to run into the biggest creepers. Last night, Dallas Willard was speaking at Rock Harbor. A bunch of us from college group- me, Megan, Kasey, Cosy, Seth, Colin, Jenny, Lucas, Kristina, plus Andy Hamilton and Steve Stubblefield and Rob Pierce- all went to go hear him speak. Cosy and I had dinner before hand, kind of on the run and in the car and in the patio area of Rock Harbor. The speaker was definitely different from what I expected. I thought it was going to be a lecture format and then maybe Q&A at the end. I don't really know much about Dallas Willard other than he's a pretty huge name in Christian circles so I was excited to hear what he had to say about transformation. Unfortunately things kind of rolled downhill when about 45 minutes, maybe less, into the discussion, they started opening it up to questions from the audience. That turned into a massive therapy session, talking about anger and feeling invalidated and transparent and that's when I totally lost focus. Trenton was in the audience elsewhere and he and I were texting each other- Megan and I were sitting NEXT to each other and we were texting each other. It was crazy. Around 8:30 they said that there was about another hour and we all died a little inside. So at one point, a little before 8:45, they did this exercise where we get up to introduce ourselves but instead of saying our name and job, we say our car and what we had for breakfast. That's when we made our escape- we were OUT of there. A few minutes later, as I was walking through the parking lot after saying goodbye to Megan and Kasey (Seth and Cosy had bailed about five minutes before), I ran into Steve, Colin, Jenny and Rob who had all bailed as well. So much for listening to Dallas Willard. I just felt bad that I wasn't focusing at all!

But let's talk about the creeper. There was this guy sitting behind me. I knew he was trouble when he started "yes, Lording" during the prayers. Not quietly but pretty loudly. And then he was typing on his computer like he was, as Megan put it, tenderizing meat. I have never heard some type so dang loud! And then he started making comments. I think that's what scared me the most. What is it with me and Megan running into creepers? First creepy skeleton motorcycle man and now meat tenderizer Typie McTyperson. We must be magnets!

Compliment???

Today I was told that I sound exactly like Juno.

Should I take this as a compliment or not???