April 29: the pretty tree season

Aren't the trees just gorgeous this week? I know! This one is sort of reminding me of popcorn at the moment. I should take some pictures of the pink and purple ones too.

April 28: my favorite number

Confession: I have gotten really lazy with taking pictures lately. This was as I was getting ready to fall asleep and realized I hadn't taken any pictures. Whoops. But "31" has always been my favorite number. It's my dad's birthday number and it was always my volleyball number...and it's prime which is nice. It's got a lot going for it.

April 27: our last meeting for a while...

This is the vivacious bunch I hang out with every Sunday night (minus a few important people who were not available tonight) to sing and pray and plan for the next week's ministry on campus. It's so hard to believe that another year is almost behind us! Thanks for all of your hard work friends. You know how I miss you in the summer!

April 26: the new sink

My grandparents on my mom's side just moved out of the house they've lived in for 52 years! We are all a little bit sad about the transition, but we're so excited about their new place. It's going to be just right. Yesterday, my uncle and grandpa put in a new sink. My grandpa looks really intense here, but I don't think the picture is telling the truth.

April 25: lollypop

So, I realize that cats are sort of becoming a theme here, but it was the best picture from today's batch. Sadly, this was at my grandma's 80th birthday party. I wanted to take a nice one of her, but the pictures I got of her were really disturbing -- my dad's side of the family has a propensity to annoy and she spent a good portion of "Happy Birthday" with her hands over her ears because they sing this really obnoxious ending to the song that seems to go on forever....I think deep down she really loves it, but I can sympathize with the measures she takes to avoid it. So, as a result this really cute and serene cat that likes to be held like a baby is today's picture of the day. Lollypop is her name.

April 24: out on my walk

It was a pretty day for a walk at the OARDC

April 23: 31 days old

I was really busy today and forgot to take pictures, so today we have a picture of the balloon Jon and Julie gave Katie when she got her new job on March 25th!...that means it is 31 days old...what do you think is in that balloon? I've never seen such enduring helium. That doesn't seem normal to me. Also, I think we can finally put the Christmas tree outside soon. Yay.

April 22: light is sweet,,,

...and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.

April 21: Pavlovian Response

Monday nights have become a highlight of my week because we have dinner at our apartment with friends and try out new recipes, and watch moving/horrible/incredible youtube videos, and disclose unbelievable secrets from our childhoods, and dig into Scripture in really satisfying ways, AND do the dishes to the same song every week -- the best rendition of "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" as sung by Bono and friends -- it's got serious soul. Anyways, it comes on and as if on cue we're all up doing the dishes. It makes doing the dishes about as fun as can be and I generally think that doing the dishes is the most unfun chore out there. The irony is that this kind of community is exACTly what I've been looking for for oh, a good three years here in Wooster! I'm really grateful that that prayer has been answered for me.

April 20: Gospel Choir

You guys were moving all over the place...GOSH! I loved your concert. Mrs. Hampton, Katie and I really enjoyed ourselves a lot. Thanks for all of your hard work preparing it for us :)

April 19: meters

I stopped off the highway at the Mogadore exit yesterday (I seem to find myself in Mogadore more than I ever thought I would for some reason)...this building is next to the Arby's and I just like it in a wierd way. It's got all of these pipes that come join into the other pipes at various points along the length of the building and they all run into these meters. Fascinating, isn't it? I think this qualifies as the least interesting caption on any picture I've ever taken, but I like the picture. Ok. goodnight.

April 18: almost fruit salad

Katie and I had a really fun night with some of the YSU international students. We had dinner and talked about our experiences parallel parking all around the world. Korea seemed to offer the most options (apparently, two of the people had parked their cars by lifting up a car in the spot they wanted and placing theirs in...I think they won)....anyways, they brought fruit, that even I enjoyed (I know...pineapple...I'm branching out!)

April 17: friend

This afternoon I had a few minutes in the music hall and I realized something rather profound. After 18 years of feeling not warm feelings towards this instrument, something has changed about the way I see it. I think it felt like an enemy for a long time...that sounds strange, but it's true...I dreaded recitals and requests to play at people's houses and especially playing all by myself at church. I had some bad experiences and so often have felt like it was going to let me down when I was all by myself in front of a whole bunch of people. I know it's not really "its" fault, and that it's up to my fingers or the part of my brain that stores all that stuff. But today I realized that I'm not afraid of the piano anymore and that I in my own way know how to work with it. I'm never going to be a concert pianist which is A-OK with me! And for my purposes I'll be okay. Instead of feeling like something that I had to conquer, this afternoon it sort of felt like an old friend and I'm really glad about that.

April 16: impromptu party

Today I was sitting in Mom's truckstop and awesome people just kept coming in and sitting down, it was great. Maybe I should just go sit there more often and see all my friends. I like how Wen went with not just bunny ears, but double bunny ears. Hope you all enjoyed this pretty day!

April 15: beautiful day

April 14: IZZI

Julie gave me her prized IZZI game for my birthday. I finally figured it out! I was really sleepy tonight but I just needed to do something to keep my brain sprightly...I think my brain feels sprightlier now. So that's great.

April 13: tiny plants

Katie and I are pretty excited that we have growing things in our apartment...we haven't had a good track record as of late. These are tomato plants and I'm pretty excited to watch them grow.

April 12: living room use #87- ballroom dancing

I trusted him to not drop me until I saw this picture. Ha! He wanted to practice for prom so he can impress his girlfriend with all of his sweet moves. This being my super cool football playing brother who at the last three family weddings refused to leave the dinner table to dance. Aww, he's becoming such a gentleman. This pretty much summed up my evening in the Lakewood living room. As usual, there was a lot going on. Bill was capturing all the moments so that he didn't have to be in any of the pictures. Thank you Bill for this little treasure.

April 11: sweater

I spent some time in Kent today and found this tree that someone had crocheted a sweater for. I don't know who has that kind of time, but it was sort of charming all the same.

April 10: chalkboard

Today I had lunch in my friend Hannah's office. I was intrigued by her chalkboard and she was patient enough to give me a remedial lesson in bio-physics. This is some research she's working on with FRET (Flouresence Resonance Energy Transfer)...So, somehow there is a way to tell how close two things are in proximity to one another in a solution based on the different colors of dye that they the respective donors and acceptors emit. That's about as far as I followed her...and I'm okay with that.

April 9: you're going to need to zoom in

This is a picture that I've been waiting to take for seven years (I'm not kidding at all...I remember seeing it freshman year and thinking "Wow", just "Wow") Today was the day. It's just a zoo of lawn art. If you enlarge this picture you will see from left to right that there is the plaster of paris dinosaur, the eagle's nest, turtle #1, howling wolf, monkeys (?), resting wolf, baby black bear, kneeling giraffe, turtle #2, gargolye, penguin trio, and then a few unidentifiable blobs. I look forward to driving past it every day on my way to campus and on my way home...you just can't take life too seriously when you see that, you know?

April 8: making my day

It's sort of hard to talk about anything work related with this distractingly beautiful little bundle in your midst. So, it was probably best for all of us that he didn't stick around for the whole time. He is just delightful and so was our day in temperate Marietta.

April 7: pinwheels

This looked pretty sweet in person...right now it's kind of stressing me out to look at! Goodness...but unfortunately for you, I wasn't quick enough to capture Katie's co-worker and her husband ingeniously manuvering a way to get the lug nuts off of her very flat and very stubborn tire. It was phenomenal.

April 6: good question

April 5: Ben and Ralph

Katie and I have a treasure chest in our apartment that is full of things like ethernet cords, and books that we've already read (or not...), or things we have in abundance that maybe would be useful for someone else. I forgot that I put the koala bear in the there and wasn't anticipating anyone desiring a stuffed koala bear, but I was wrong. Apparently, Ben has always wanted a pet koala bear to name "Ralph", so I was delighted to unite them!

April 4: ducks in a puddle

I stopped at the Barn in Smithville to look at the ducks. I thought they were so cute with their heads all tucked in while standing up to their ankles in water (ducks don't technically have ankles do they? what constitutes an ankle?)

April 3: our favorite librarian

the organizer of information helping the common man find the perfect resource...

April 2: spray-painted piano

Unfortunately for our respiratory systems, the church hall where we were having the OICM senior dinner tonight had a piano in the process of being spray painted. Is that normal?

April 1: Caterpiller in the front yard

This morning I was working at my office and it seemed like the garbage truck was lingering for an extremely long time until I realized that a giant earth mover was digging up the front lawn. Apparently, Beall is going to be beautiful as a result though! Did I hear that they're putting trees down the middle of the street on campus?

It's that time again!!!

What's your favorite picture from MArch? I need your help! I'm loosing steam...tell me you're still procrastinating by looking at my pictures!

March 31: Tufty in Wooster

Well guys, today was sort of full so I just snapped this one of Tufty before bed. No matter what position he is in he always looks sort of droopy and sad. But, I assure you he is not -- he is just comfortable.