A Harrisonburg Tradition

I was a student at JMU for four years and never experienced the Green Valley Book Fair. I've gotten a lot of shocked responses over that one, but no longer will that happen! Today I met my housemate Tina at the book fair after work and we shopped for about an hour. It was great!! The place is huge and has like every genre of book you can think of for really cheap. I made three purchases, none of which were too exciting. I was much more intrigued by the young adult guilty pleasure reads and books on making your own baby food, but I guess because I care too much about staying within my stage of life I stuck with a Bible commentary, Nutrition for Dummies (ironic for me but written by an RD and full of good stuff), and Churched. So check that one off the list :)

On another note, I must fill you in on the jousting tournament which turned out to be a renaissance fair. Not only did I get to check out some modern day jousting action, I listened to a minstrel, watched a belly dancer, and was KNIGHTED! Quite a day :) Here are some pictures...

Thanks for photos Kelly :)

Hiking Extraordinaire

So on my list I planned to go hiking, little did I know that I would actually go hiking 2 days in a row! Last week my friend Emily called to let me know she's be in Harrisonburg for a few days and wanted to get together if I had time. I suggested we go hiking (it's not only on my list but something I've been wanting to do in the Shenandoah Valley for awhile now). She liked the idea and so on Monday afternoon we went for about a 2 hour hike in George Washington National Forest. We had a good time! Stopped at several places for snacks and good conversation. We also had a good laugh when we almost got lost on the way back. We were disoriented for about 5 minutes (felt much longer though) before we finally found the trail again!

Monday night I found out that I would be hiking AGAIN on Tuesday with my new co-workers. It's slightly funny that after Monday's hike I told Emily I wasn't sure hiking was something I'd want to do all the time. Tuesday's hike ended up being much more challenging, with lots of uphill but it paid off when we got to the top and saw the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. It was a gorgeous and very wide view!

On another note, I'm going to a 189th Jousting Tournament tomorrow afternoon! It's not everyday you get to experience something like that :)

Update

I haven't been completely faithful to my 2 posts a week, but here's an update of what I've done recently and what I hope to do soon.

67. Own "Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem. I purchased this book last month but forgot to mention it haha. It's a nerdy Christian book I suppose but kind of a key tool. I plan to do a Bible study on doctrine this yearat JMU so I think this will be a good resource. Not everyday reading though that's for sure, not for me at least.

71. Find a church in Harrisonburg... in progress. This past weekend I visited Greatest Freedom Ministries on 42N. It was a small congregation, very sweet and friendly. Two little kids randomly hugged me during the offering time and the pastor and his family had me over for lunch afterwards! The love was felt. I'm still praying about where God wants me though. I feel like I should visit a few places before making a final decision.

Plans for the near future....

Donate blood, get a library card in Harrisonburg, and learn to mow the lawn.

#39-Check!

I was just looking over my list to figure out what I could do next and I realized I completed something last week. I sewed! I bought a pair of cotton shorts in California at Ann Taylor Loft. The shorts fold over at the bottom and have a few stitches in them to keep them folded, however one of the stitches came out the other week. So guess what? I pulled out my mom's sewing stuff and put a stitch back in myself! It was pretty easy and I was so excited that I decided to put a few stitches in another pair of fold over shorts I have that never seem to stay folded (and drive me nuts!).

On another note, I'm moving back to Harrisonburg tomorrow! More blogging to come I'm sure.

Not much to report...

So I haven't made much progress but one of my things to do is blog at least twice a week, so I figured I better say something :P Right now I am sitting in a hotel in Baltimore because my grandmother had surgery at Johns Hopkins last week and we are hoping to take her home tomorrow. My mom turned the tv in the hotel room on HGTV without me having to ask, and I must say I am proud of her :)

I must say my 101 list is on my mind a lot even though I haven't accomplished anything this week. Any time a friend of mine gets engaged or talks about getting married I think, "maybe I can be a bridesmaid in her wedding!" And I keep seeing people with wild colors in their hair like purple or green, and I wonder if I could maybe rock that color for awhile. So it is on my mind, even if it is the crazier things.

Hopefully next week I will have something fun to write about! I'll work on it :)

Ohh one more thing, I want to sign up for a half-marathon in November so I can start training next month. The only one I've found is in Richmond but it costs $75. The price makes me hesitant cuz I don't have a lot of money right now. If anyone knows of any other half marathons in the VA/MD/PA area let me know. And if you wanna join me, that'd be cool too ;)

A Day in the Kitchen

As many of you know this coming year I will be interning with Campus Crusade for Christ at JMU. Because Crusade is a non-profit ministry I had to raise support. Starting at the $0 point it felt like I would never get it all in, but praise God I can say that I have finished with 2 weeks to spare :) God is good! And now I have some time to relax and play before moving to Harrisonburg for the year.

Today I spent a few hours in the kitchen. I was able to complete two things off of my list:

47. Make homeade bread

My mom has a bread machine, however I can maybe remember her making bread like once in my life. So I decided to bust it out and give it a try for myself. I used a whole wheat recipe that came with the machine. The bread took 3 hours and 40 minutes in the machine! It seemed easy but unfortunately it did not come out so delicious. It was pretty tough and dry around the edges, and the taste in general just wasn't that good. I think I'm going to try again with a new recipe. I'll let you know if I find success next time!

40. Make homeade ice cream.

This adventure was much more successful. I borrowed my grandma's electric ice cream maker and found a recipe for frozen strawberry yogurt from allrecipes.com It was very yummy :) I had a few bites and put the rest in the freezer. I plan to take it with me to a camp fire tomorrow night with my friends. Sharing with others always makes cooking and baking more fun! (when it tastes good at least).

One half of something down and a really cute story!

I spent the past week visiting two friends in San Diego, California. It was a beautiful and really fun time! While there I completed 1/2 of something on my list. We spent my last day in Cali at Moonlight Beach, so gorgeous!

After picking up some mexican food at a local taco shop for dinner we decided to head back to the beach and watch the sunset, which was perfect seeing as how one of my to do's is "watch a sunrise and sunset from the beach". As we were sitting on a bench in a small park right above the beach, we noticed a woman begin setting up a table with beautiful flowers and tea light candles. Being the curious girls we are, we decided to ask what was going on. The woman said with lots of excitement, "My son is proposing tonight at sunset!" After ooing and awing we asked if she needed any help and then proceeded to help light the 30 or so candles. Look how beautiful it was!

The couple arrived on their beach cruiser bicycles. The girl was of course in shock at the sight of the romantic scene. They sat down, giggling and hugging, talked for a bit and then we saw the guy get down on one knee. Soon after they were embracing and kissing! It was so cute. The parents then came out from hiding and invited us over to take pictures and meet the engaged couple for ourselves. The night seriously made our day, perhaps even my whole trip. Meeting them and sharing in the excitement felt like a gift from God!

And I am now down to 100.5 things to do :)