God likes Google Chrome

So, apparently God likes Google Chrome (but not internet explorer), so here is the link to my video of my apartment.

And where I talk about the desk, I mean the lap desk on the floor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VweeKjIOl04

Yup, God definitely likes Google Chrome. (I just had to switch the blog over to it to post that link!). Yay for Google Chrome! And yay for God! :)

The blog lives!

But only so I can try and post this video of my new apartment. Like I have time for blogs...ha! I rarely read other peoples' (although I look at their pictures sometimes), much less write my own. BUT, because I am waiting for this video to upload and I pretty much have everything ready to go for tomorrow and all the dishes are done, I suppose I will write something.


The new job is great. I am busy ALL THE TIME, and I love it. My next free day is my first weekend in September. As Grandpa says, "The only thing worse than working is not working." I've just been going going going with one (sometimes two or more) events a day--even on my days off. But people are giving me food and feeding me (really good food, like ribs) so that's awesome.


This weekend I'm heading up to a minister's retreat for the diocese of Baker, so that'll be nice to meet some new people in the diocese and hopefully see some familiar faces. Afterward, I'm staying with Grandma and Grandpa for a few days to get in a good visit and have a much needed BREAK! While I'm there, I'll pick up some more of my things + some bar stools for my counter. Once I have that stuff and get another chair and a coffee table from Fr. (+ my table that is being refinished), my apartment will be fully furnished! I have lots of places to sit in the living room (and I sit on them all), so come and visit!


In October I will be starting up youth group for Jr. High and HS, Jesus 'n' Java (a Monday night HS prayer group where we'll experience a different style of prayer each week), and Newman Club at OIT. I definitely have my work cut out for me. I'll also be attending a ministry conference in Boise, so it will be nice to go home (briefly--and get paid to do it!). The weekend after is my birthday weekend, so I will be driving up to Seattle (with a stop in Portland both ways) to go to the Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger concert. Anybody wanna join? I find it ironic that I'll be spending some of my birthday in Seattle, but such is life. Oh yeah, I'll also be taking an online class during that month for my ministry certificate. Phew! (Thank the Lord that some of my classes from UP count, so I only have to take five 15-hour classes instead of eight!)


Aside from all my many duties (including fundraisers for the kids to raise funds for events like Steubenville NW and ICYC), I'll be doing some fundraising of my own to go to IRELAND next summer! Yes, Ireland! Some of you know that there are 3 places I've always wanted to go to: Hawaii, Australia, and Ireland. As you can see by the title of this blog, Oz happened. I did Hawaii in high school. So with my trip next summer, my goal will be COMPLETE!


I am going to the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, Ireland, with the Diocese of Baker. It's about a 10 day trip or so, with 7 of those days sightseeing all over Ireland. I think I will get a very unique experience that I would not get the chance to have if I went on my own. Although, it's not cheap. So, for a fundraiser, I used some pictures I've taken, and added Bible verses to them and will be selling them. I ordered some other products today too, so hopefully it will sell well.


Okay, well, this video is taking a long time to upload, so I think I'll get ready for bed and just let it go...


A-Dios!

8/25: Sooooooo, the video didn't upload here, so I put it on youtube. Here's the link:

Okay, God just doesn't want me to show this video to you right now, so we'll do it later. Thanks for checking in!

I have the best friends ever!!

I'm in the midst of studying for finals, but this was so good I had to share. (Besides, I already wrote about it to a friend, so I can copy and paste.)


So... I've been studying medieval philosophy all day. I was getting a teensy bit stressed, and then I went downstairs at 4 pm to make dinner for my house (sloppy joes, homemade cornbread, fruit salad, and potato wedges). I knew I'd probably be downstairs and busy until at least 9 pm, 'cause we had a guest for dinner (my Aust. Hist. prof) and then we had a long meeting after. So I'm cutting up fruit for the fruit salad, and my roommate comes down and tells me that somebody left something for me on my desk, and that I should go check it out. soon. Well, we're right in the midst prepping dinner, but I manage to run upstairs for a minute, and what do I find?


A bouquet of Oriental lilys (they smell super good and are gorgeous... I think I just discovered my future wedding flower) and an 'anonymous' note that says, "Katie, Good luck on all you finals. I'm sure you'll do great! Love you!! <3 <3 ".

And that pretty much made my day. Such a random act of kindness, totally reminding me of God's love and that I have friends who love me (which this was extra special, because she knew that I'd never received flowers before), even though I may forget that sometimes. And that even though I worry about stuff, God finds a way to make it okay.

So that's my story. Have a wonderful day!

17 days

We have 17 days left. Insanity!! So... we just got back from our roadtrip up North. Super fun and super HOT! It was so nice. Now we're back to cold. But hopefully it won't be too bad. Now I guess I better study. Yes Mom and Dad, pictures are coming (not that there's too much to see scenery wise-- think of the drive between Burns and Bend). But we did see a lot of cool stuff and had a good time. Here's a video for now. It's at a place called Nature's window.

*Video's not working. Maybe I'll try again later. 'night.

P.S. I just got shampoo in my eye really bad and it hurts like a (unknown expletive or adjective describing a lot of pain). But good news: I'm not completely blind! :)

The rain has begun

I think after a month of this I will be ready to get back to summer in the states. Hard to believe, but I will be back on U.S. soil in exactly one month from today (for you guys-- yesterday for me). Things are slowing down and speeding up at the same time. I only have one more essay to write. Next week is our last week of classes, then we have study week (during which I am going on a road trip up North [yes, HEAT!!] and possibly another side trip to the desert with a couple of the girls). After that we have two weeks of finals. My finals are on Thursday/Friday of the first week and Monday/Tuesday of the 2nd week. I have 2 finals on Tuesday, but at least I'll be done. Then I have 3 days to do everything I want to that I haven't done yet. Then that Saturday I fly home. Absolute insanity. Anyways, here's a video from this morning, when the rain just started. I had to turn up my volume really loud 'cause I was trying to watch American Idol. But I had a bad connection so I just clicked on the thing on MSN. Very disappointing. The other dude should've won.

Happy Mayday!

1 May 2009
Happy May Day! A lot’s been goin’ on that I haven’t caught up with, but I’ll start with today and then try to go backward from there.
So… today is Friday. Yay! Day started out good. Nicole made hot brekky for us: eggs over easy, bacon and hashbrowns. Yummy. Then we had class, which was fine. Came back, I took a nap, and was out. Then went to tute. P.S. The drugs kicked in for this afternoon so I was able to breathe and my nose stopped running. Afterward made some top ramen and had a productive afternoon. Went to the campus library and got books for my medieval PH essay. Immediately after, left around 2:30 and didn’t get back til 5:30. I went to the Town Hall to get some info, but there was a psychic session going on, so I couldn’t check it out too much. Then I went to the Fremantle library, and was assisted by my new best friend  and found lots of good stuff about Freo for our paper. The only thing I didn’t find out too much about was St Patrick’s Basilica. I tried to go there, but it was closed (the church wasn’t even open so people could pray!) so I’ll just have to go on Monday. Then I came back, hitting up Woolworth’s along the way. It was an awesome afternoon, and I didn’t get lost! Tony picked us up at 5:45 for dinner, and we got to meet Sarah (the middle daughter) and Richard and their baby Tommy (21 months). I absolutely love them, and Richard is hilarious! It was very laid back, and fun. We had a genuine and authentic Aussie meal (lamb roast, veggies, including pumpkin) complete with homemade pavlova for dessert. SO SO GOOD! And I had mint jelly with the lamb; it’s actually pretty good. Elizabeth sent the last piece of pavlova home with us, so I’ll probably finish up the gloriousness tomorrow. (Sidenote: pavlova is named after a Russian ballerina: Anna Pavlova, I believe). I talked to Richard (surname King) a bit about journalism, since he’s a freelance journalist (and may actually have a review published in tomorrow’s The Australian. He’s originally from Britain, and met Sarah when she was in London. I said that it sounded like a romantic movie, but he said it’s actually quite common, and that all the Curtis women are with Englishmen…  And Tommy is absolutely adorable. He was showing off for us, but I couldn’t play with him because I didn’t want to get him sick. Oh, and then typical Katie conversation. My nose started running, so I asked Elizabeth where the tissues were, and she directed me to the bathroom. It was interesting that she said bathroom, because in Australia it’s always called the toilet. So when I came back I asked her what the appropriate term was. It’s toilet, but she’s used to people calling it the bathroom. Brooke and I explained how we never call it the toilet in the states, because that would be considered inappropriate, and we also call it the restroom or even the powder room. Then we threw in some other lingo. Elizabeth is used to calling it the loo. Australians call it the dunny, but that’s usually for an outside toilet. Then I asked Richard about water closets, and Elizabeth remarked that architecture plans always use W.C. to signify where the toilet will be. So, we just threw out all the names we could think of for toilet, essentially. It was a lovely conversation, very typical of Katie’s world (especially at the dinner table). Anyways, it was a fantastic evening and an incredible dinner. Then I got home and couldn’t breathe through my nose and it was running again. But Brooke found some more drugs so I’ll be sleeping good tonight…
It’s only 9:36 p.m. but my energy seems to have left me, so I think I may just get to bed early tonight and get some sleep. I’ll be productive tomorrow… right?
Oh, and when I came home from the Freo library, I found a note on my desk from Matt. (He came to pick up his journal). So… he was in my room when neither Brooke nor I were here. But he made the note prop up on my laptop, so kudos for that. ‘Night y’all.

P.S. Water goes down the drain clockwise. But not in a toilet...it just sucks it all down at once.

Reflections on ANZAC day (April 25, 2009).

26-04-09
Reflections on ANZAC day (April 25, 2009).
Yesterday was ANZAC day (Australia and New Zealand Army Corp), so very similar to Veteran’s day in the U.S. I was able to find a schedule of events the night before, so I knew what I wanted to do. I did NOT go to the 5:30 am service at the war memorial (i.e. the monument), but I knew I wanted to see the parade and the ceremony and stuff afterward. We left a little bit after 10:30 and made it to the esplanade in time to see all the troops coming in from the parade. We just followed the sound of bagpipes. When we were walking up there, watching the troops come in, one of the diggers (what they call soldiers) was carrying an American flag, and I can’t even describe how I felt when I saw that. It was really special. Then we hung around for the ceremony, where the Mayor gave a speech, some kid gave a speech, and then they blessed the wreaths and raised the flag to full mast. Then they recited this ode:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. Lest we forget.

When the speaker got to the lines “We will remember them.” Everyone repeated it. Then he said, “Lest we forget,” and the entire crowd repeated that as well. It was very powerful. They ended by playing a recording of the Australian National Anthem. It started out softly, but then everyone joined in singing it, and it was very moving. The whole thing was pretty indescribable; I can’t really give a description of what I felt, because there are no words. Afterwards, we went up to some people to ask where to get an Australian flag, because we wanted one. I scoped out a few people, and then asked these two ladies if we knew where to get the flags, and they gave us theirs. It was really special. One of the husbands told me to take good care of his flag, and I promised I would. I was talking to the lady that gave me her flag, and she said, “We don’t mind Yanks, here.” So I was called a Yank, but not in a derogatory way. Then Laura and I went to the town hall to look at the commemorative material (where we ran into the couples again). They had stuff even from WWI, and it was really neat. Then there was free coffee/water and muffins outside, so we got hooked up with some of that. Then Laura and I went back to the esplanade to hear the country music concert. It was nice. My favorite was when one of the guys sang ‘Ring of Fire’, and then when all the artists got up there together and sang ‘Waltzing Matilda’. After the concert was over, Laura and I hit up the free coffee again and used the toilets in the Town Hall, before heading up to the monument. It was beautiful. Then we headed back via the footy game (which we didn’t go to). We stopped by the market, and I got 6 plums for $1 and 5 kiwis for $2. Then we came home, and it was 1:45 pm. We’d been out for a solid four hours—the whole time carrying around our flags. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching a lot of ‘Without a Trace’ and writing a super long letter to Leah (8 pages front and back). We went to bed at 2 am. This morning we had brunch, and now we’re off to Perth. But I think I’m part Australian at heart, because yesterday was incredible, and hearing everyone sing the national anthem was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard.