randaMocity

community

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:41:00 +0000

A magazine I subscribe to and enjoy is Relevant Magazine. They also have a ridiculously funny podcast that has made me look like a big weirdo on the bus numerous times.

Last year the people at Relevant started a new branch called Neue which is targeted toward church leaders. They put out a quarterly book zine with some pretty inspiring and thought provoking articles. I just read one today and it really made me think. Here's an excerpt from the article about community by Jimmy Spencer

"Community is simply the network of relationships that are birthed from working together. This important work is to reflect Jesus and His message so strongly that it compels those we encounter to ask us why we are so unique. We at The Sherma Movement call this Viral Jesus. Unfortunately, we spend so much time motivating and training people how to do the work of the Church, we often have little time to actually do the work. I would implore leaders to get workers into society and allow them to experience, and sometimes fail at, being Jesus to others. This work builds the Kingdom, matures us and produces real community amongst those who participate. This is the Kingdom of God.

We should be conforming people to the image of Jesus. Not ourselves. God community is a beautiful mosaic of different people and practices. Adding unique people to our community refines us into who God intended us to be."

As a leader in my church this really spoke to me. The community we are building in our college group....is it for fun, or for the Kingdom?

Five of us are going to New Orleans this weekend to help the baptist mission there hand out candy to kids on Halloween and to help get all their Christmas decorations up. This place demands a lot of hard work and a heart for that community, and I love it. Every time I go though, I'm reminded that I need the same heart for the people of my own community in Austin. I need to yearn to love those that others don't, but who Jesus would go straight to. I pray my church develops this same yearning that I so desire.

We are beginning a campaign to raise money to build a new sanctuary in our church in an effort to reach out to our community more. I pray that in this process we, as a body, grow closer together because we are all working for the same cause. I pray we remember that it's for the Kingdom of God, and not just for a newer bigger building.

This was long, I hope some of yall made it to the end. I guess I should stop reading articles that tug at my heart and read some for my class in a few hours, haha.

ps. I graduate in less than 8 weeks!
pps. I've been thinking about seminary lately and I feel very drawn to marriage and family counseling or something along those lines. If you think about it, pray for clarity in listening to what God has for me :)

full of oops

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:37:00 +0000

My blogging is getting really spaced out...oops!

I'd like to say it's because school is getting hectic (now that I'm so close to graduating!), or that I'm super busy at church all the time but it isn't and I'm not. Considering I have two writing intensive classes and a science, my work load is pretty easy, and I haven't gotten behind on anything which is just crazy for me, ha.

Church activities do keep me busy but not in an insane way. Our college group is going through a growth spurt, but I don't mean in the size kind of way. We've all grown so close together. Such a great way to grow in a church :) Even though I'm graduating in less than two months I plan to stay in the group until next December when David graduates (hopefully!!)

The rest of my life is filled with far too many Disney tv shows, food network competitions and whatever else David makes me watch. Don't get me wrong, these shows have their advantages. There are NO skanky girl commercials on late at night on Disney and the content and language is always clean. Though my humor level and knack for intelligent conversation maybe lowering, I find it refreshing to not have my mind bombarded with the level of sex, language, and violence that society has deemed normal for prime time television. When I do watch adult shows it's usually just the office, haha.

I say all this to then say, I'm still knitting! I just have this problem lately of starting a new project before I finish another one, so I never have pictures to share of finished projects. Soon I will be making my Christmas knitting list and knitting like a crazy grandma up until December 24 at midnight I'm sure.

My biggest project is that blanket I mentioned a few weeks ago. All I have is this pic from my iphone to show you, but I think it gets across how awesome it is. It's super soft too, I love it.

I'm almost done with a gift for some special friends and will post pics when they get to their new homes, hopefully sooner than later. I might also be doing a little halloween accessory knitting this weekend, we'll see.

This post was random and longer than I planned, oops!

I'm crazy..

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:10:00 +0000

so the other day i got sucked into trying to crochet again. It wasn't that bad and I understood what I was doing so I had the crazy idea to look into crocheted blanket patterns. I've always heard crocheting is faster than knitting so it seemed like a decent idea to crochet a blanket. after looking, falling in love with, and obsessing over the blanket idea I did a swatch run to see if I could even manage the crocheting.

I did. but. It was soooo slow! In the amount of time it took me to crochet a chain and then the first row on it I was able to do an almost full knit swatch.

So, I started looking for zig-zag/wavy knit blanket patterns and found a great free one on lion brand's ravelry page.

I went out and bought yarn and new needles for this project on Friday and I'm already through 2 5 inch stripes! I'm not sure why exactly I thought it was a good idea to start a new big project right now, but I did...ah well.

It's light gray, turquoise and peacock (so light and dark teal) and I love it. The yarn is from hobby lobby, called I Love This Yarn!, and is so stinkin soft. I'm hoping I can get it done in the next few weeks in time for the cooler weather that I'm hoping i coming soon.

81 degrees at 1am in October is just not acceptable!

lists

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:03:00 +0000

to knit:

485920 preemie caps (or until i use up my baby yarn)
Sophie's green beret
Christmas stuffies for my little cousins
Christmas scarf for MeMaw
David's annual Christmas hat
Christmas gifts for the rest of my family

oh. my. goodness.

A lot of people I know are starting to have babies now too, so I want to come up with a cute knit/sewn baby gift to start making them all. There's pressure to make it cute and special enough to not get lost in the sea of baby stuff everyone gives. I love the thought of one of my knit toys becoming a childhood favorite :)

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:57:00 +0000

rain. rain. rain.

I know it's good for the earth and all, but I really hate driving in it...and I have a lot of driving to do this week. My Austin>San Marcos commute, jaw appointment in San Antonio today (my dad is driving half of the way!), and then on Thursday I'm headed to College station to see two of my favorite girls!

Yay for Sophie and Carolyn!

I'll be coming back to Austin Friday afternoon and then getting on a bus for Great Fall. I'm very excited about this year's Great Fall. Our college group has grown so much stronger and closer as friends, so it should be loads of fun.

On the knitting front I've been working on some premie caps for my church's Threads of Love organization. We knit/crochet/sew caps, blankets and vests for babies that are born premature. The hats are so tiny and cute. It amazes me that there are babies so small (I was a 9 pounder, and nearly 2 feet long...poor mom).

I wrote out my own pattern for the caps and I hope to get it up on here in the next week or so once I make sure the sizes I have are good. Maybe some of my knitting readers can knit a few up! You can seriously make on in the time it takes to watch a movie. I made a cute pink one while watching Bride Wars the other night.

Oh AND, I had a lovely lazy day with David yesterday. He didn't feel well and ended up staying home from school, then got some sad news from a friend so he was feeling a little blegh. I decided it was a nice day to be out and about so we ventured out to Bee Cave and got some yummy frozen yogurt at Yogurt Planet, got him a snazzy new hat at Marshalls and picked up a few other things along the way. We then ended up at his cousin's 8th grade football game where he ran a touchdown in the first play, then the team didn't score again, heh. It was beautiful weather though and enjoyable to sit with his family for a while. Then we watched Big Bang Theory with my mom and followed that up with Coraline with Casey and Whitney. A wonderfully relaxing day spent with the boy I love :)

i know he looks sad here but apparently this is his modeling face

long, strange, good weekend

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:52:00 +0000

It's been a long but good weekend. To give some background to how it started...I thought my head might be broken. Well, sorta. Wednesday night my head started hurting a lot where I hit it on my car window in the wreck last week. It worried me because up till then it only hurt if something touched it, but now it was hurting nonstop and making it hard to enjoy hanging out with friends.

So, Thursday morning comes around and my head hurts too much to go to school. I told my mom I was staying home and we decided it might be a good call to go see my Dr about it. We did so and I ended up getting a skull series done (4 x-rays of my head) later that afternoon. He also gave me some strong anti-inflammatories to get the swelling down from where I was was hit. One bad thing about these is he told me not to take any other medications for pain at the same time, so here I am with a massive headache and I can't take meds for it...yay.

Friday arrives and I end up sleeping all morning, which was well needed. David and I ventured to north Austin to get him some new chacos (and my awesome new water bottle) and to visit a place called Lucky J's. David had to do an art direction project with them as the subject so we figured we go see what they were all about. Lucky J's is a chicken and waffle stand. Does that sound weird? I'd heard of this combo plenty before since we watch the Food Network an insane amount, but I had yet to try it.

Ya know what? It was weird. Ya know why it was weird? Because it didn't taste weird! It was weird how unweird it really was. The overwhelming seasoning (I think mostly oregano) in the chicken batter and the sweet maple syrup married together perfectly. The waffle amazing on its on too, so thin and crispy. Even the sweet tea I had was good. I won't be surprised if David gets a craving for it sometime soon :)

After eating with David and taking him home I finally heard from my Dr on my way to choir practice. My skull is perfectly fine, no fractures, nothing weird...well nothing new and weird. The meds he gave me are working too, my heahaches aren't as frequent, I just get bursts of pain now and then. If you see me wince and hold the back of my head, that's what's goin on.

Oh yeah, I also got a new car today! We settled with insurance over my dead car and were able to find a good deal on this 2008 Mazda Tribute. It's like a baby version of my old car. I love it and I'm excited we were able to find it. The Lord provides in great ways. Hopefully I'll be able to drive this one for a long time, and get a new car on my own terms next time, and not from my poor car getting murdered.

ps. thanks momma and daddy for my car!! :)

a new love

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:51:00 +0000

David and I went to REI today and I found my new favorite water bottle. It's a smaller version of the big 32oz bottles that you see everywhere, at 16 oz. I like the blue and cute little trees. I like how the mouth isn't so huge that water dumps in my face everytime I take a drink. But, my favorite part...it fits in cup holders.

Ah, the simple things in life.

gretel

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:16:00 +0000

I finished my gretel cabled beret last night. Now it needs to get cold so I can wear it everyday! I used Cascade Heathers yarn in summer sky, on size 7 needles. It's so comfy and I can tell my head will be very very warm and snuggly this winter :) ok now onto pics.

ok and this song is amazing and I want this guy's cd now. Spencer Day. awesome.

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:30:00 +0000

my physics professor says..

slitterbom...instead of schlitterbahn

and

nucular...instead of nuclear

This class is way too slow and boring to wake up at 6am for. Especially after another 3 hour night of sleep. blegh. I'm already ready to climb back into my comfy bed and go to sleep!

injury induced insomnia

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:25:00 +0000

It's just past 4am and I can't sleep. Since the wreck, there is only one very specific position I can sleep in to not be in pain, and it's not on my side like I'm so used to sleeping. It finally got to me tonight and I just can't sleep. I'm hoping this vicodin kicks in soon so I can either sleep in the weird position comfortably, or let the bump on my head touch the pillow without yelling.

Anyways....in my attempt to get sleepy I thought I'd post some pics of my latest work. I'm going avoid typing too much more since I know my typing skills go down the drain on meds :)

saying goodbye to my dear explorer

birthday bow I made for Whitney's 22nd birthday, it looks too cute in her big curly hair :)

Whitney's other birthday present that I started last year and put off finishing till the day of her birthday this year (it's a giraffe by the way)

another birthday knit, this one for my sister's roommate/best friend. she loves owls and I couldn't pass up knitting something this cute :)

so tonight...

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:14:00 +0000

So I went to Hobby Lobby this evening before praise band practice to get some fabric for a project I will talk about later. Then, on my way to church, as I was taking a turn I hear a loud honk then bam! The car next to me didn't turn tight enough and rammed me into the bridge wall on my right.

He was an older man and when he realized he might hit me he went to hit the brakes but slammed on the gas instead and hit me pretty hard, then kept going through the light.

Once I realized what happened I tried to drive through the intersection to get my car out of the road but it wouldn't move. So I turned it off and saw a woman in a car next to me trying to ask if I was ok. I told her I was but I needed a phone because mine flew across my car and I couldn't find the battery that had flown out. She pulled ahead then came back, called 911 for me and let me use her phone to call my dad.

The fire truck got there first and I managed to crawl out of the back driver's side door since my door was jammed shut. A fireman made sure I was ok, helped me out of my car and talked to me till the ambulance got there. When an EMT got there he took my blood pressure and checked me oer to make sure I didn't break anything. We realized I had a HUGE bump on my head where I guess I hit my head on the door window. I also felt something weird on my neck/collarbone area. He said it was a burn from my seat belt. Other than that no injuries. He also said they could take me to the hospital but I felt ok.

My dad got there from choir practice and made sure I was ok. He also talked to everyone around and took pictures of my car. When he realized I was ok he called my mom. The tow truck arrived soon to take my poor broken car away.

Once we finally left the scene the burn on my neck started hurting more, as did the bump on my head so my mom said we could go to an urgent care center. Once there, the doctor said my head was ok and I had a first degree burn on my neck. He also gave me a tetanus shot b/c the seat belt rubbed my skin pretty raw, it was bleeding in parts and my shot was definitely not current. Other than that I was fine, my parents are just supposed to wake me up tonight to make sure I don't have a concussion.

So now I'm home, vegging on my futon and watching Josie and the Pussycats. David is with me taking care of me and being the wonderful boy he is :)

I thank God so much that I made it out of that wreck with minimal injuries! He has kept my family safe through a few crazy wrecks and I have no doubt He will continue to take care of us!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me, I appreciate it so much! Continue to pray for my healing and for all the insureance fun we get to go through now and in finding me a new car.

fidgety!

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:35:00 +0000

My jaw has been hurting a bit tonight so I took some meds to make the pain go away and sleeping easier...and now I just want to knit. So I'm sleepy and to fidgety to sleep, blegh. I think I'm going to knit a little surprise for an upcoming birthday and see if I fall asleep on my yarn. Oh and I finally uploaded some pics from my life lately.

I have three small windows on one side of my new room and this one is my favorite with all my colorful glass in it. This was taken around 11am, the 5pm sun shines through and lights up the glass beautifully.

A little sneak peak at my aqua walls and black sheer curtains. Such a lovely color.

I took an illegal picture before the show started at Wicked!

Progress shot of my Gretel beret. The color is a prettier teal, can't wait to get a picture in the sunlight.

Close up of the yummy cables.

where has summer gone?!

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 06:36:00 +0000

I can't believe I haven't posted in over two weeks! I guess my surgery and busy summer have really kept me preoccupied.

I've been knitting a bit and getting ready for my LAST SEMESTER of college. Scary.

I'm knitting Ysolda's Gretel in a lovely light teal cascade yarn. I'm loving all the cabley goodness. Makes it an interesting knit that I don't get bored of after an hour.

I finished up my mom's birthday slippers and gave them to her. I need to get some pics. I really like how they turned out, I even added some cute buttons :)

Next on my personal knitting list is crazily enough...I think a sweater! A cardigan actually. I think I want a cute little black cardigan to wear with t-shirts and jeans. The ones I have that are black are too tight for some of my t-shirt sleeves, so yeah, I need to get on that. If I'm lucky, it'll stop being over 100 degrees everyday so I can get motivated enough to even start knitting a sweater, heh.

Well I hope to be back soon with pictures!

stitches...of all sorts

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:31:00 +0000

Well, I had another jaw surgery today. This brings the tally up to five in three and a half years. The last one lasted a year and a half so I'm hoping this one will last just as long if not longer. These smaller surgeries aren't too bad, just takes me a while to get out of my anesthesia daze.

I've been eating pudding, jello, and chicken soup broth. I might even brave some easy mac tomorrow! I've also been passing the time spent awake with knitting my mom's birthday present (her birthday was today..happy birthday momma!) I can't tell you what exactly I've been knitting until I give it to her, hopefully sometime tomorrow. I'm excited because I tried attached i-cord for the first time and I like it, aside from how long it takes, heh.

Anyways, back to some knitting and then more meds and then hopefully sleep! Pray for continued healing and no more nausea from the meds.

ps. my ear is also bleeding which I can't figure out whether or not is related to the surgery so I'm wearing a stylish piece of kleenex in there.

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:18:00 +0000

I've been crazy busy packing up my rooms and moving from my apartment back home. Oh and I've also been ridiculously busy blowing my nose from the cold I got from all the dust!

I hope to have pictures of my pretty new room soon :)

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:27:00 +0000

i gave in...

@randamocity

follow me?

Oh yeah, I'm having surgery to fix my left jaw joint on wednesday the 22nd most likely. If we can get insurance to approve fast enough that is. Pray for me please?

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:05:00 +0000

It's been a year and a half since my last jaw surgery. This is the longest I've gone without surgery since I had the big one in January of 06. I'd been doing great until about 3 or so months ago. Now I can't even take a nap on the couch without ending up with a massive pain in my left TMJ (temporomandibular joint). It's also hard to sing too much which just kills me!

Well, I finally called my surgeon today and I'm going to see him on Friday to see what going on with me. I'm pretty sure there's no more cartilage left in my left joint, which is just lame...literally, heh.

So yeah.

In the meantime I'm interning at my church, knitting randomness, enjoying the sun and spending time with David.

Oh that's a pic of all the little toys i've knit for David. There are plans for a pirate monster to be knit soon I hope :) I lucked out getting a guy who likes the toys I make!

movin and shakin

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:13:00 +0000

us dancing at Dani & Joel's wedding last month

The family reunion was great. David's step family is so great and welcoming. You would never know they weren't blood relatives, i love it. Some of my favorite moments were the mealtime prayers, getting soaked by the misters, playing with the cutest puppy in the world, and the delicious home fried catfish that his uncle's caught.

Family is so wonderful and I feel blessed to be included in so many. The Bordens, Browns, Waldons, Woodlawn, and my Wall. Ha, I'm caught up in the B's and W's.

I'm hoping to finish a little knit gift soon and get pics up. I also knit a purple headband for David's mom this weekend and I can't to see the pics of it. I knit it in a 12-ply merino wool blend and it was ridiculously soft!

I'm not sure how much crafting I will get done in the next few weeks, I have 18 days to pack up and paint my apartment AND my room here in Austin and move it all around. Hopefully it doesn't get too chaotic.

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:26:00 +0000

I'm still alive!

Last week I had preteen camp which was a blast! I worked this week and am about to head out the door to go to David's family reunion for the weekend.

I'm still knitting, I promise :)

melting...

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:12:00 +0000

With my internship and trying to catch up on rest from youth camp I haven't gotten much knitting done. I want to finish my father's day gift before I leave on friday for YEC (youth evangelism conference). I'm also going back to highland lakes for pre-teen camp next week. Busy busy busy.

By the way. It's been so stinkin hot down here! Look at the forecast for my week at camp. Ugh. I spent my last two summers in northern Montana and northern British Columbia, Canada (like right by Alaska!) so I haven't experienced an entire Texas summer in a few years. I might just melt.

i'm back again!

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:30:00 +0000

I forgot to mention that I was going as a councilor to youth camp this past week. I think I survived. Youth are crazy. I somehow managed to make it through middle and high school with little to no drama so I don't understand those who thrive on it. But God moved in amazing ways through the speaker and worship band. It was a nice way to get refreshed as a person who helps lead worship every week.

I have a few knitting projects I'm about to start. Father's day, threads of love, and a pirate monster! Hope to have pics soon :)

a new sighting!

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:49:00 +0000

I finally caught up with this little monster and got a good picture of him in the daylight. Once he realized he was caught he had no problem posing for the camera. Monster's are silly that way.

I can't wait to send him away to camp to meet his new best friend. I hope she loves him as much as I do. I almost want to keep him :)

I used vanna's choice yarn in sapphire and some scrap black for the eyes and belly button. The pattern said to glue the teeth on but I hated that and didn't have any glue so I just hand stitched them on there. They turned out a bit crooked which I think gives him the right amount of kookiness. Very fitting for his new best friend.

post 100!!

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:56:00 +0000

wow, 100 posts! I wish this were a more exciting post, haha. Not too much going on around here. I'm interning at my church for the next five weeks so I'm not sure how much crafting I will get done.

I did have an interesting knitting encounter tonight. We had a monster sighting earlier. He came and went in a flash, hope to catch a better picture tomorrow!

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:07:00 +0000

The tony awards, knitting, and a new t-shirt.

does it get better?

mmmmmmonsters

randamocity@gmail.com (randa) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 05:12:00 +0000

I'm starting a new knitting toy project to send to Carolyn at camp! I'm pretty sure she never gets online so I don't mind posting about it. I got some great bright blue yarn at Michael's tonight and I'm so excited to finish this little guy. I'm using the maddox pattern by rebecca danger. her patterns are adorable, she's the one who made the bunny nugget pattern I used for easter.

I got a few other random goodies in the dollar section at Michael's and I can't wait to send it Hff to her!

ps. I'm so glad I learned to knit, it keeps me busy while David lays on the floor playing Xbox for HOURS!