pterophylla camellifolia

okay, this katydid was in my pool. look at these pictures and tell me you're not fascinated. i probably wasted a good half hour on grasshopper and katydid classifications. all images are links to the actual size of the picture.



next to my hand


massive


the structure of the wings are amazing! any entomologists know if they actually have plant cells in their wings?


not gonna lie, that horn at the back freaks me out


pretty sweet :)

wishlist

• 2 Tickets to Fox Theater on November 17

yeah, i don't ask for much in my current "just because" wishlist. just two $100 tickets to see Jim Gaffigan. no biggie.

alright i'm done. for some reason posting at 4am is so much more appealing than posting at say... 4pm.

i need to go to bed

it is 4am and i should go to bed.

it is ridiculously hot right now and i am just lazy enough to not do anything about it. im really tired. i know you can't tell, but i am. maybe i should write more insightful things on here from time to time.

yeah, not tonite. just know that God is so good and constantly remind yourself that we can take all of our burdens and worries that life has given us and ever-so-gently... throw them all at God. i keep forgetting that He has my big picture worked out already. mad props, God. :)

oh akeelah...

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

--Nelson Mandela

spiritually high

dejé mi corazón en México.

adios

isn't that last song posted amazing? :) alrighty.. this is it for the week. off to baja. keep me in your prayers.

small bit of food for thought (by the way, i just typed 'snail bit of food'--weird)... anyway, i wrote down this quote from church a few weeks ago and am just now reviewing my notes. wouldn't it be great if we started every day with this question:

what am i going to do today for Jesus?

colossians 3:17

all set

losing air

isn't it strange how just seeing a picture of someone can make you forget to breathe? as in "wow, that person is amazing..." maybe you can't relate and i'll be honest, it doesn't happen that often for me, but it just did and i liked it a lot. :)

God is completely amazing to let us love on people so much that we can just get lost within them. coincidentally we can get lost in Him much more easily.

grrrr

i cant let myself rant >:(
but DANG, i'm angry and i cant get this stupid frown off of my face. being in a bad mood before bed is not good.

tomorrow will be better. ♥

waiting

It just seems like you're taking your time
I'm just waiting for the sun to shine
I don't wanna go another day
Without you here, without you here to stay

It seems like forever and I'm still waiting for you
I'm still waiting for you
It seems like forever and I'm still waiting for you
I'm still waiting for you
Yeah, I'm waiting

All I want is to see you smile
If a blink lasts forever, this might take a while
I don't wanna go another day
Without you here, I want you here to stay

It seems like forever and I'm still waiting for you
I'm still waiting for you
It seems like forever and I'm still waiting for you
I'm still waiting for you
Yeah, I'm waiting

It's never gonna be enough to dream of you
It's never gonna be enough to dream of you
I wanna see you... I wanna see you

It seems like forever and I'm still waiting for you
I'm still waiting for you
It seems like forever and I'm still waiting for you
I'm still waiting for you
Yeah, I'm waiting...

:)

graffiti

facebook graffiti is ridiculous and you'd think that i don't have a life. i drew these on my dear friend's wall. :)



i have to go into work.. for the second time today. soooooo tired. and i just had a quad redeye so not sure what the problem is--(quad redeye= 4 shots of espresso + coffee)

a major change

i think i just changed my major, again.

i didn't want to be one of those "idiots" that i heard about in high school/beginning of my college career that changed their major 92383719238 times and wasted tons o' money. but alas, that's me.

i went from graphic design to marketing to nursing to... eh, i don't want to say. i don't want to get my hopes up until i go talk to an advisor or something tomorrow/later this week. i mean, it'd be cool if they were all remotely related--which they're not. booooo!

:)
always keep your shining smile

hi

i think facebook is down and now i have nothing to do. but shoot, i'm completely fine now that "yours to hold" just started playing on my itunes. thank you, skillet.

at the risk of sounding like a freak, yesterday i had 5 glasses of lemonade. yeah, that's intense. i was bored at work and decided that i want to try every flavored lemonade possible. i had regular ole lemonade, raspberry lemonade, pomegranate lemonade, blackberry lemonade, and grape lemonade. don't worry, i have a good 10 fruity flavors left before i run out.

small prayer request: i'm not sure if i'm being called to help lead high schoolers at youth group or what. so just direction on that would be great since i could only see myself with the middle school/junior high age before this week.

soaked

i was just owned by a thunderstorm. before going into my leasing office, the rain wasn't so bad, then leaving i had to run as fast as i could for about 10 seconds before diving into my car. and was head-to-toe completely drenched. i did manage to keep my free popcorn dry though. priorities.

for some reason i thought i should just get home before the storm got worse... and i could not see more than three feet in front of my car which is ridiculously nerve racking--even while going 35 mph. then a random tree branch fell on me and my car--poor Rhonda.

then i thought i was going to be swept off the road since it looked like a river was flowing perpendicular to the road and it was getting hard to steer so i finally pulled over into one of the MSU research driveways and chilled with a van for a minute. then rain kinda, sorta, not really let up and a cement truck with huge lights on the back of it drove by, so i made my move onto the road again and got behind that monster so i could see a little further ahead of me.

when we (the cement truck and i--since we're buddies now) drove under the bridge, it was like a block party filled with random cars, motorcyclists, and bikers (we have a lot of hardcore bicyclists on my road). i would have joined the party too, and all, but i was only like a minute from home so i just continued on. i have never been happier to see my driveway. the end. i am still wet. yuuuck

yep

this is my entertainment at the computer. my cat is infatuated with the gloriousness of the printer. if i print anything off she runs over to it and stares in awe. since i hardly print anything off lately, she enjoys standing on top of it and waiting for something to happen. on average, she steps on the power button about once every five minutes which causes it to make noise and she goes crazy over it. i need sleep. for sure. i spent almost 14 hours at work today... ahhh. it's ok though, i'm learning discipline.

i am a workaholic

oh man...
i need to maybe not work as much. kinda feeling the physical side effects.

side note: i miss a good 7 people right now more than they could ever know. ...tear. :( pray for my friends out of state right now that are just living day-by-day on God's word and grace if there's some free time in your prayers.

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errors and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt

2007 SUMMER CHECKLIST

spend as much time with audrey as humanly possible
Cedar Point #1
bocce ball
golfing
tennis
daily ice cream trips
boating
picnic-ing
fireworks
art fest
wakeboarding
tubing
Holland, Mi
b.studs
Lugnuts game
Tigers game
elementary school playgrounds
Ludington, Mi
camping with friends #1
wakeboarding
Grand Haven, Mi
sleeping under the stars
annual lame jazz fest
Chicago, Il
Cedar Point #2
Mexico
Canada
weekly bonfires
swimming in a lake/river
camping with family
Common Ground
camping with friends #2
TP-ing
playing in rain & mud

music makes me lose control

lately, i've been obsessed with British rock bands. they're amazing because the little accent gets me every time. makes me wanna watch The Holiday. i would give the band The Kooks an A+ as far as being a good Brit band... my favorite of their songs is "Naive" because it's so sweet and addictive. also, i really like the cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," as well as all of their other session songs.
there's not a whole lot of mainstream Christian Brit bands, but it would be awesome to find a good one.
ohhhh--and "Ruby" by Kaiser Chiefs is pretty good as well--in fact, Kaiser Chiefs are a new favorite too.

off topic: this sounds weird, but at my only two tables that i actually talked to at work tonite, God worked His way into our conversations without me initiating it. kinda cool. i like.

her myspace

i was checking out my sister's myspace page. that beautiful girl is really getting good at creativity and graphic design in general. she is so talented in that she's such a creative writer with her poetry from time to time and has the gift of being able to say anything or tell anyone exactly what she thinks. she doesn't hold back.

her page has a section for her "shouts" to some people in her life... it begins with her best friend, then to her friend/ex-boyfriend (who she "can't ever stop loving"), then to our 'rents, then to some guy friend that i dont know... and i was thinking, gee, arent i a part of your life, too? ;)
and then finally at the bottom of her "shouts":
SARA:
Sara is my sissy. She's a big hero in my life because she's like "strict" gaurdian angel. Whenever she tells me bout something... she may think im just blowing off what she says, but dont worry, i truly think about things. I know this lady's got my back. She's showin' me that "Christian Life" Love you sis. =]

she makes me smile.

i spent way too much time lately trying to make something out of absolutely NOTHING. i was too blind to see that i wasn't good enough which kinda sorta really hurts but it's my fault for thinking otherwise.

i'm feeling bitter right now which i hope goes away because i don't want that in my heart at all.

however, i just found this passage which is an amazing reminder :)

This is the way God put it:

"They found grace out in the desert,
these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest,
met God out looking for them!"
God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again,
dear virgin Israel.
You'll resume your singing,
grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards
on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit—
oh, how you'll enjoy those harvests!
The time's coming when watchmen will call out
from the hilltops of Ephraim:
'On your feet! Let's go to Zion,
go to meet our God!'"

Jeremiah 31:3