Carrie-Anne's Guide to Top Drawer Traveling...

A couple of years ago, I took a fabulous vacation to Europe (England, Itlay, school in France) and learned several hard, quick lessons on travel. For those of you who are traveling, especially to Europe, take a look at these quick and easy quidelines before you go...
http://myonethousandthingstosee.blogspot.com/2007/04/carrie-annes-guide-to-top-drawer.html
And if you do end up reading my little travel blog, just know that I unfortunately didn't finish getting all my pictures uploaded and stories written yet. But I will.....

Have a great day!

Well I got my hair cut...

Well I got my hair cut...and I love it!! Cute bob hair cut...great color (dark blond with light blond chunky highlights). The stylist did a perfect job of giving me exactly the hair I wanted! Yea!! I'll get some pictures uploaded when I can...hopefully tomorrow. I have about a foot long braid to send in to Locks of Love. If you have long hair and have been thinking about cutting it, go to http://www.locksoflove.org/donate.html to get the guidelines for acceptable donations and the mailing address. Locks of Love uses donated hair to create hair prosthetics (wigs) for children with cancer. It's a fabulous organization, and these children will receive the wigs for virtually no cost depending on financial status. It's a really great website so you should check it out!

Today was a pretty good day. I went to work for a few hours then my faculty advisor and I met with the chair of the Mechanical Engineering Dept so he could give us his opinion on our paper. The deadline is June 2nd, so we're down to the wire, and I'm really ready to get this done and submitted! I was a little nervous, since I've had the chair for a few classes and I wasn't sure how he would like my portion of the paper. I am so pleased to say that he told me that I really did an excellant job and that he was very pleasantly surprised. Aaahhh...approval. Why is it that no matter how many people tell you they see how hard you're working and what a great job you're doing, there's always someone we still seek approval from. Well anyway, it was really nice to hear it from him. My faculty advisor has been working with me on this research and this paper since January of this year, and I couldn't have made it through without his constant encouragement. Speaking of which, I should be making my last minute changes to the paper right now. We're meeting tomorrow afternoon to put it all together as the Final Paper, or as I like to call it, the Final Paper Last Revision Version No. 4. But we're pretty sure we'll mean it this time. Dear Lord I hope so!

Also a quick note that we got our George W money today! Woohoo! Thanks George!

To Climb a Mountain...

Today is the anniversary of the first successful ascent to the summit of Mount Everest which occured on May29, 1953 by two gentlemen, Hillary and Tenzing. Apparently three days before, two other climbers, Bourdillon and Evans, came within 100 meters of reaching the summit, and turned back due to exhaustion. Seriously?! I can not imagine being so close to reaching such a phenomenal goal and having to turn back, only to have it reached days later by someone else; or to feel that level of physical and mental exhaustion that would allow you to justify turning back. Every night I go to bed with the intent of waking up more determined than I was the day before; because every day is one whole day closer to doing all the things I want to do..but that's only true if I make the most of every single day. So I now have a new standard of exhaustion before I will justify giving up...am I experiencing respiratory failure, throwing up uncontrollably, hallucinating, and have bodily fluids frozen to my face and legs? If not, then there's no excuse.

What summits are you striving to reach?

I'm Ready for a Vacation...

Good morning! I'm moving slow this morning. Kathie and Stephanie are spending their first morning in Costa Rica on a mission trip with 39 other church members, and I can't wait to hear all about it! My friend Laura is on a two week road trip to New York, I have classmates going to Florida, California and the Caribbean...I'm getting ready to go to work, and then to school to work on my paper. But that's okay, because the harder I work now, the more opportunities I'll have later. Josh and I are planning to meet my dad at his cabin in New Mexico in about a month and I'll be super ready to get out of town by then.

I'm watching the Today show right now and apparently the toilet is not working on the International Space Station. What do you suppose the service call would be for a plumber job like that?

My Dad was told last week by his doctor that he is now a severe diabetic. This was really scary news for all of us. Dad's handling it pretty well. We all have a lot of questions, but he's keeping us updated as he learns things as well. It all started with the ankle to groin blood clot they found in my dad's leg. Last night he said he was ready for them to quit telling him things that were wrong with him. He tries to stay pretty fit, doesn't eat too bad, so I guess it goes to show that you just can't prevent everything. Kathie was pretty hesitant to leave for the trip, and has a lot of people lined up to check up on Dad while they're gone.

Nothing much going on right now for me. I have an appointment to get my hair cut tomorrow. I've been wanting to cut it short for about two years now and it's grown fairly long in the meantime. Since I just got paid, I decided to make and appointment and go for it! I'm trying really hard to stay excited about it, but I don't think Josh and I know my mom neither one want me to cut it off. So now I'm starting to second guess my decision. I'm just really needing to make a fun change and do something new and different for myself. I got a little overwhelmed this past semester and I'm still having a hard time getting out from under the clout. But I have 27 hours and 10 min to constantly worry about it so that's nice.

Well, the toast and eggs have been eaten and the coffee is gone so I guess I'd better get ready for work.

Do something fun for yourself today!

Happy Memorial Day!

The Black Cherry Café salutes our military men and women and their families and loved ones. Thank you so much for all of the sacrifices you have made for our great country. I will always be grateful and will always remember and honor those who have died for our country today, yesterday, through generations past. God Bless the USA!

I'm having lunch at the Café today. Hmmm, I'm having a mesquite smoked turkey and cheese sandwich with mayo and a delicious concoction of spicy brown mustard and horseradish, a large handful of parmesean potato chips (oh let's just go ahead and finish off the bag...sorry Josh), cinammon applesauce for dessert, and water to drink (but only because there's nothing else to drink in the house and I have too much else to do today to have a martini....well maybe just one martini...yes, actually a raspberry martini will do nicely).

Well, I had a busy morning. I did have my Black Cherry coffee, but I had it to go. The global controls research group I'm in at MSU has been meeting a couple of times a week since school's been out. It's very rewarding to be part of a small group of students who willingly meet early in the morning to learn new theoretical concepts for engineering. We're fortunate to have a professor who encourages us so much. I was supposed to work a little more on the paper I have due this week, but I just didn't have it in me...so my professor's going to meet me in the morning so we can get all of it together.

I got home from school around 9:30am and decided that I would do some of the things I said I was going to do yesterday. So I set out to plant Laura's veggie plants. I started clearing out where I decided would be the perfect spot and turns out, I'm not the only one who thought it was a great spot. I was horrified to discover that about a million ants already lived there! So after payday tomorrow I'm going to buy a blowtorch and take out all of them. I tried to go ahead and work around them, but realized what a stupid idea that was and decided instead to clean out the rock fountain on the opposite corner of the yard. Things were going nicely until the enormous spider emerged and took my hoe away from me. I ran in the house to escape it's clutches, sacrificing the hoe. About 10 minutes later I went back out and the spider was gone. I suddenly realized how much worse it was to know it was there, but not where... So I looked back to the ant side of the yard and saw that Martha the Cat was playing in the pile of leaves and twigs I'd found the million ants under, and that she now had ants crawling all over her. I finally got them off of her but I think she got a few bites. Poor baby...she was not happy at all...

So the score is: The Yard-1......Carrie-Anne and Martha-0

I do not, however, take defeat lightly so tomorrow, I will declare war on the unwelcome inhabitants of my yard.

Ahhh...Sunday Morning

It's a beautiful morning...last night we had some thunderstorms rolling through that apparently I missed most of. I spent the morning with my husband Josh, took my dog Frankie outside for a while, then fed my cat and her 4 kittens. When Josh and I bought our lovely pointy yellow house, we were adopted by a stray cat who I named Martha. Martha had kittens about two months ago. Josh is very allergic to cats so they'll have to remain outsiders. And apparently the word is out because I think we also feed about 4 other cats in the neighborhood. We had an older couple move in next door and the woman puts food out on her side porch for the cats. Trouble is, I think sometimes she mixes in table scraps which seem to be a little harsh for the cats. One afternoon I so clearly recall, all the cats got sick and were throwing up in my yard.

Anyway, a friend and fellow classmate of mine, Laura, gave me two tomato plants, two pepper plants, potted mint, and a mystery plant (strawberry?) that she started growing in long planters at her apartment. They're getting big enough that they need to be planted, so she bravely and of her own will gave them to me. So since today I'm going to plant them in the yard, I found this extremely nice and optimistic quote:

"Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest. " ~Douglas William Jerrold, about Australia, A Land of Plenty.

Interesting...My mom also gave me a potted pink Gerber daisy I need to plant. It's really cute.

I've also agreed to run a marathon (26.2 miles, I think) with Laura on December 15th this year. I guess I enjoy pain and nausea. Laura didn't exactly tell me everything my body would go through during the 26 miles of "running" so I looked online to see what I could do to better prepare myself. One of the first suggestions I read was I should avoid getting runner's diarrhea. That's all it said. I would love to NOT get runner's diarrhea. So I do still have some researching and diet planning to do, but I'll get there. It's been a while since I've been in what you might call "great" shape, so Laura made me a running schedule to help me build up to the big day. So, today, I'm also planning to run for a bit.

But now I must get ready for church. I'm the chairman of our Worship committee at my church, and several of us are working to put together a Revival for early fall. It's already had its ups and downs, and I'm learning a lot about the politics of church and religion. I'm a preacher's daughter so I grew up in the church and understand that there is a political side to it all...but it's still sometimes pretty interesting and even a little disheartening at times to encounter. However, it is all making me stronger and wiser...qualities which I'll need throughout my future political career. But regardless of the ups and down, it's is going to be the best foot-stompin', banjo playin', Gospel preachin' revival our church as ever had. There are so many people who want to help out, and want to get involved, and I can not wait for it all to come together. You'll read about it here folks! (Unless you can come!)

Have a great day!

Welcome to the Black Cherry Café

I love to sit back sometimes and imagine how lovely it would be to open the doors of my very own cafe or coffeehouse. I see myself joining a friend or two at our favorite table in the corner, greeting my regulars, already knowing what they want, talking to fellow scholars about my latest journey, my latest publishing or book signing. Some days I might be wearing layered chiffon skirts and antique jewelry; other days, I might wear a pencil skirt with block heeled strappy shoes and a silk blouse as I take a slice of lemon merringue pie to my mama.

Ah well, since I'm still a full time student holding down a full time job, that hasn't quite happened yet. I have traveled a little though. Two years ago a friend and I flew to London, toured Italy for about two weeks, then attended a month long summer session of intensive french language in Grenoble, France. I would love to travel to Africa. One of my big future goals is to organize a mission trip to Tanzania, Africa, to teach and to build homes and churches, and while I'm there I want to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

I have another goal to become an elected political official. I'll start with the city government and see where it goes from there. I have a lot of ideas, and a great deal of motivation and desire to make a difference in this world.

But first, I suppose I'll have to graduate. I'm a senior now, majoring in mechanical engineering. This past semester, I had an opportunity to research control systems with my advisor, which resulted in a presentation at a regional conference. Right now we're putting finishing touches on an educational paper revolving around my undergraduate research with the hopes of getting my first publication. The paper is due June 2nd, and I'll find out by July 28th....so cross your fingers and I'll let you know.

I've become somewhat of a morning person, and I'm going to try to begin each morning with a thought, a scripture, a goal to reach, a motivation...I need to keep my mind focused and positive, and I'm hoping this will help me stay on track. So...I'll meet you here in the morning for a cup of coffee (with Black Cherry Streusel creamer and whipped creme on top)... Have a great night!