Erika

2006-04-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

FinallyThings have been a little crazy lately, but at least they've slowed down now. For the past few months, I've been incredibly stressed, waiting to see light at the end of the tunnel. I got my last settlement in from my car accident. About five and a half months of going back and forth with asinine and incompetent adjusters, I finally got through it. The adverse insurance company was

2006-02-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

Overheard I was standing in line at the Visitor Center on Peterson Air Force Base, waiting to get a decal for my car, when I heard these responses from the Visitor Center employees to a customer:Employee 1: "...well-hung elks--"Employee 2: "--and you can even wear shorts then!"Yeah. It made just about that much sense to me too.~Erika

2006-02-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

MyspaceI have a Myspace account. Really, I only obtained my account for the purpose of keeping in contact with people I don't see often or who live in other states. However, I absolutely detest Myspace. But, like, didn't you know? Like, anyone who's anyone has a Myspace account. (bubble gum being snapped) It's true, though. Almost everyone I know has a Myspace account, thus emphasizing it as

2006-01-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

Pictures from My Trip!Here are some pictures I took while I was with my parents in Idaho. They didn't all fit on one page, so if you scroll down and look to the right hand side under "Previous Posts," the picture labeled "A Church in Downtown Boise" is the last one. Or, you could just scroll down to my archives and click on the last archival. Whatever works. ~ErikaPS - This is my first time

2006-01-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

Trees II

2006-01-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

The three of us, after eating Indian food on Christmas Eve

2006-01-03T16:59:00.002-08:00

My gorgeous parents!

2006-01-03T16:59:00.001-08:00

The Capitol of Idaho

2006-01-03T16:59:00.000-08:00

Trees

2006-01-03T16:58:00.000-08:00

Capitol II

2006-01-03T16:57:00.001-08:00

Church II

2006-01-03T16:57:00.000-08:00

A church in downtown Boise

2005-12-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas!I'm at my parents' house in Boise, Idaho right now. It's really nice because I haven't seen them in a while, and I've missed them. I'm very excited that I'm off work for the next week, and my mom and I are going to go shopping a couple times this week. I got a lot of gift cards for Christmas, so it will be really fun--I've missed shopping with my mother! I think the three of us are

2005-12-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

Just LifeSo there's really not a lot going on right now that I care to publicly post (haha, now you're all curious, aren't you?), so I'll just write about the normal stuff in my life. Mainly because I'm sick of seeing the same post on my blog every time I check it. I get to go see my parents in Boise, Idaho, in December, and I'm so excited! It's so strange, because when I lived with them, I

2005-11-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

And So It IsI'm absolutely crazy about this song right now. Do you ever have those times when a particular song just seems to speak to you? I don't know why this one seems to - the lyrics aren't something that pertain to my life directly at this time, but I just really like it. It's pretty popular, but I recognize it most from the movie Closer.The Blower's Daughter Damien RiceAnd so it isJust

2005-10-31T10:48:00.000-08:00

New CarI have a replacement car now (imagine it in a dark, pewter grey/silver), and with any luck, I won't wind up getting in an accident in this one! I'm finding that I'm a rather paranoid driver now...I can't tell if it's the recent accident or the brand new car that I DON'T want to crash. Probably both. ~Erika <><

2005-10-24T22:29:00.000-07:00

CollideThis is a long post, just so you know. If you care to read, please bear with me.As some of you know, I was in a car accident yesterday. I was on my way to church, turning left onto Burgess Road from Black Forest Road. There was a green light, but because of oncoming traffic, I was unable to turn yet. As I was waiting, I looked in my rearview mirror to see a red Dodge pickup coming

2005-10-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

Grown Up?I'm writing this entry from my brand new laptop in my apartment. I haven't signed up for wireless internet yet, but somehow, my very smart computer picked up on someone else's wireless and hooked me up, yo. Which I think is illegal, perhaps. Well, it was the laptop's idea, not mine--that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I guess this is one of the benefits of living in a complex--

2005-09-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

My First Apartment!I'm all excited because my mom just put a down payment in on my first apartment at Summer Grove Apartments on the east side of Academy one block south of Austin Bluffs.I'm in a one bedroom, one bath. Add to the list of amenities a DISHWASHER! because even though it doesn't list one, since not all rooms have one, I do!It's only $399 a month plus utilities and it's cool because

2005-08-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hello to the Next GenerationAlright, Jaime didn't post it, so I will. She and I went to see The Skeleton Key (ok, I just thought I'd put an innocent link in there, please forgive the EXTREMELY creepy EYE!!) about a week ago, and as we were walking out, we see this mob of pre-adolescent twelve-year-olds gathered outside, circling two girls looking like kids but dressed like adults. (And badly

2005-08-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Shameful, ReallyAlright, alright, I'll skip the part where I berate myself for my embarrassingly long absence from the community that is Blogger.So, to update...sheesh, where do I start? Well, ok, my dad is a major in the Air Force, so he's gotten orders to Mounatin Home, Idaho, which, if you don't know, is horrendously ugly, though only about a half hour drive to the gloriously mountainous

2005-03-18T10:06:00.000-08:00

Farther AlongI am currently in Utah visiting family. My mom, dad, and I drive back to Colorado tomorrow morning. For those of you who didn't know, my grandma died last Monday at about 12:30 in the morning. It's been one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. The Friday before my grandma died, my mom flew out to Utah, where my grandma lived with one of her sons. We all pretty much knew

2005-01-25T21:27:00.000-08:00

Thank You GOD--It's 2005! So I don't think I'm going to do a whole recap of 2004. The reason for that is because my 2004, like so many others', I've read, frankly sucked. When I say "sucked," I mean to say that when I look back at 2004, I think of bird crap. Like something that was excreted from a creature, sent down hundreds of feet, and splattered on you unexpectedly. Most unpleasant.

2004-09-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Life Seems but a Quick Succession of Busy Nothings Well I guess I couldn't say my life is filled with nothing right now, but as I sat here thinking about the information going into the update I'm blogging, it might sound that way. So I've been working at Beauty Brands for about two months now, and I'm already a shift manager, which is right under assistant manager, so it's kinda big. It's a

2004-07-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Light at the End of the Tunnel Hey guys, I guess I'm posting an update again, since it seems inevitable lately to post as often as I would like. A lot has happened recently, so here I go to write and most some of you of what you already know and inform some of you of things you didn't. First of all, the most exciting thing has been the job I just got. I've been working at the Buckle for like

2004-06-10T20:27:00.001-07:00

Update Please forgive the silence. I don't have an imaginatively creative and clever excuse. My only lame excuse is, I've just had a total writer's block. I've had nothing much of note to blog about, but since a few people have told me I need to blog, I suppose I should at least just put something out here. Life has been relatively busy, which is how I like it. It's easier for me to get some

2004-05-10T18:50:00.001-07:00

Blogger: Fun to Play with, Not to Eat Oooh, the new Blog system is fun to play with! Alright, I know this is dumb, but when I wrote that, I automatically thought of the warning tagline for kids' stuff like Play-Dough, which is, "Fun to play with, not to eat." So then I started thinking of stuff I played with when I was little. The Best Stuff Ever 1) Legos 2) Those HUGE coloring books that

2004-04-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

Who Puts this on the Internet? Oh, sweet Lord. I want to cry for this man. To get the full point of the humor in this webpage, you have to scroll down and make sure you take a good look at this guy's finished project. Lights and all. James, don't ever think you're a geek again. ~Erika <>< PS- I'll post something intellectual again sometime, I promise...just not right now when there's

2004-04-25T15:32:00.000-07:00

Back from Cancun Alright everybody, we're back from Cancun, and A) no, we didn't wind up on any Girls Gone Wild Videos, B) no, we did NOT tan topless, and C) yes, we did see VERY hairy men by the pool. Ugh. For those of you wondering, our trip was very good and very relaxing. For the most part, our agenda went as follows: My mom woke us up at about 10 a.m. We got up, threw on some clothes

2004-04-16T07:55:00.000-07:00

Cancun Ok, so Jaime beat me to it, but I'm writing a goodbye blog. Each rainy/snowy day followed by a 70 degree day in the past two weeks has gotten to me so bad that I'm totally ready to get out of here and into some real spring weather. Alright, so it'll be more like summer weather, but that's beside the point. Anyway, I'm really excited cuz it's like the first time I've gotten to go

2004-04-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Small Towns Alright, you know, I live kind of between Calhan and Falcon, but not exactly in either town. I've noticed that in spite of the fact that subdivisions are piling up out here and they're building more stores, shopping centers, etc., the small town mentality is still running strong for some of these people. Examples: (A) I walk into Safeway after work one day to get a Starbucks,

2004-04-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Celebrities and Christianity I've been thinking about something that I heard on some show on E!, and the commentator of the show said something like, "People don't really care about a celebrity's career, what they all really want to know about is the star's personal life." For some reason, that popped into my head a couple of days ago, and I think that that statement radiates a lot where our

2004-04-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ok, I don't know if anyone else will find this funny, but I read this guy's blog, and this particular post totally cracked me up: Got Advertising Rants? by Kaya I think we can all agree that it is no longer an effective marketing strategy to mimic the successful “Got Milk?” ads. Please -- can we agree to stop copying this tagline? The once proud and mighty “Got Milk?” slogan has lost its steam.

2004-03-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

Update I just thought I'd write a blog entry about last week, which Jaime was here for. People keep asking how it was, did we have fun, etc., so I thought I'd just let you know how it was. Two times we went out between 9:30 and 10 p.m. to rent movies from Blockbuster. The second rental we got for free because the cashier was a flirtatious dork...oh well, hey, saved us some money. We

2004-03-16T21:01:00.000-08:00

Immaturity I strongly disagree with people who think that maturity should come with age. Personally, there have been times where circumstances in life have forced me to grow up rather more quickly than the natural progression of time would have. Other times, or in other situations I might say, I am such a little kid still. Allow me to deconstruct: 1. While working in the Buckle, we have to

2004-02-19T19:08:00.000-08:00

Quandaries Ok, I was watching my Bible class today (since I'm homeschooled under Abeka, I'm supposed to take a Bible class--the semester, it's "New Testament: Jesus and His Followers"), and the lesson was about the crucifixion of Jesus, and the different events that took place before it. Typically, when I think of Jesus, I think about him in a more "today" point of perspective, not so much of

2004-02-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

More on Worship To James: I really learned so much from your post on Fusion Worship--thank you for the enlightenment. To Michael: I had to read your post a few times through to fully grasp what you were saying, but I get it now. Our opinions differ a bit, but probably because I've never led worship, and you're right--I don't know what it's like, nor do I profess to. I think in my Worship

2004-02-13T14:36:00.003-08:00

Valentine's Day Alright, personally, I mostly despise Valentine's Day. The only time I used to like it was when I was little and I would come downstairs and my mom would have a little box of those wicked awesome candy hearts waiting for me. Yeah, I don't get those anymore--for some reason, those disappeared somewhat simultaneously with my abrupt atheism concerning Santa, the Easter Bunny, and

2004-02-10T14:02:00.001-08:00

Worship Styles--Including Guys Jumping Off Chairs Worship: to regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion. I guess blogs are useful because it gives you an outlet in which to talk about things you wouldn't just get up and shout from the mountaintops. I've been thinking a lot about worship, and how different people portray it. For instance, a certain guy on the worship team is really into

2004-01-29T08:24:00.000-08:00

Wonders Never Cease...and Neither Will Stupidity "CHARLESTON, West Virginia (AP) -- An inmate who was stuck for four hours with his head and one shoulder through a cell window has been charged with felony escape. Robert Anthony Hill, 25, used a metal shelf to smash through the 6-inch-wide, 3-foot-long window at South Central Regional Jail on Monday, authorities said. Rescuers spent four

2004-01-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

The War on Terrorism and Food for Thought With all this talk of the Iraqi war stuff and the capture of Saddam Hussein really makes me think. I just got done watching the first half of the presidential address on Fox. I asked my mom, "Now that we have Saddam, what are we going to do with him--can we kill him here, or what?" And she said, "Well, I think they're planning on sending him back to

2004-01-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

Youth on Jan. 17 and My Comfort Zone Theories Youth was really good for me this weekend. It was kinda weird because Pastor Rick's older d-group was gone, minus Nathan and Michael, so we had the regular backup singers, then Tom, Aaron, Weston, and Madison playing for the guys who were gone. Practice went pretty well, although we had to go over some stuff that the jv-band guys didn't know, or

2003-11-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

Back to Normal--Nov. 8, 2003 As usual, it's been a long time since I've written, but I guess lately that's how it's been. When I first started writing, I wrote about every weekend, and now I only write about the ones that impact me or others I'm close to. Oh well. Saturday was pretty good, considering we didn't have our usual worship leader. It's nice having Michael there because things

2003-10-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

Growing and Changing--Oct. 4, 2003 Saturday night had a mixture of feelings involved. First it was a little frustrating because I was trying to figure out what to do for certain songs on keys. The style of my playing has to change with every song, pretty much, or it all sounds bland, and the styles don't mix right. Then James came to talk to us about him stepping down. I was totally shocked

2003-09-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

Letting Go--Sept. 21, 2003 Ok, I'm completely wowed by how long it's been since I've written! Sorry about that! Lately I've been feeling that God is really wanting me to improvise on keys more. To people who have been more or less "pushing" me to do that for the past several months (i.e., Michael, Bobby, James...cough), I really am grateful to you guys for that...I know you wouldn't have been

2003-07-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Back from Costa Rica--June 19 - July 28 Wow. This past trip to Costa Rica was the oddest thing for me. Things happened between God and me that I didn't expect, as well as between other people and me. First of all, I was so grateful for the hotel we got to stay at, especially after the week-long village trip. (Those bugs bite hard! I still have marks on my skin where the bites were, and it

2003-05-25T23:23:00.000-07:00

Back from Cancun Alright, I just got back from Cancun today. What a week...it was really nice to just lay out by the pool, put on my Discman, and think about nothing but whether or not this particular part of the day is best suited for tanning. It was good to just relax, and since I've just recently had to get all my exams for school done and raise all my money for Costa Rica, it was good to

2003-05-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

Cancun!! Ok, so I'm really happy--I get to go to Cancun for a week!! It should be so much fun, and I'm sure it'll be great, but I'm gonna miss everybody so much!! I mean, I'm leaving this Sunday, and then I won't see anyone for the whole week after, and not for the weekend either. How depressing! I'm not gonna be able to check email and everything, obviously, which I know sounds really dumb,

2003-04-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

God is Incredible! I've been so stressed lately. I guess it's just been a steady accumulation of things that have amounted to a great deal of stress on me mentally and emotionally. I've been so worried about money for Costa Rica, and I really have no reason to be. Last time we went, my parents were planning on going, but when they decided against it, I got all the money they had raised.

2003-03-30T14:45:00.000-08:00

Why Worry? (Worship March 29) Last nite was so interesting. I have been feeling really weighed down by some insecurities lately, and I had had a talk on Thursday nite with two people who really made me understand how to get over it. It was really not something I wanted to get into with either of them cuz the reasons behind it are so stupid, but I am so glad I did...God spoke through them and

2003-03-23T20:29:00.000-08:00

It Never Fails (Worship March 22) I had such a good time last nite. I played keys for the second time, and it never fails--I get so strung up and stressed before I play. I mean, during practice, I learned two new songs, and I was about to freak out cuz I Could Sing was really confusing me. I'm not really sure why, but Bobby really intimidates me (probably cuz he's such a good musician), so I

2003-03-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

Ark Ministry for March 16 Ok, going to the Ark was so awesome! I mean, first, worship was really fun. It's so weird cuz I get all nervous during practice, and then when everyone gets in there, I'm totally fine and nothing about it bothers me at all. Luckily none of the songs were new to me, so it went better than last time. I really like singing there, and I don't know why...anyway. Yeah,

2003-03-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

Worship March 1 Saturday nite was pretty good. I played for the first time on the worship team, and it was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. I had these pre-conceived ideas about all these horrible things happening, and none of them did, so I guess that's good! It was a little embarrassing having to have Michael go over the verse with me in Enough about 20 times, and it didn't

2003-02-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

A Few Firsts (Worship Feb. 22) Saturday nite was really fun. For one thing, and probably the most dramatic, was that Jaime played keys with the group for the first time!! YAY!! Yeah, all week we were talking about it, and she was kinda nervous, but she did so well. The only thing to comment negatively on was the fact that the sound guys wouldn't turn her up enough, so we couldn't hear her

2003-02-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

Saturday Was So Fun!!! (Worship Feb. 8) Oh yeah!! I think practice was so much fun on Saturday, and I don't really know why...nothing really exciting. I just was in a really good mood I guess. And then I talked to James, who talked to me about having Jaime and me play keys. I am so looking forward to that cuz I really have felt like God is calling me to start doing that. I've been

2003-01-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

125 x 25 Wow, Saturday nite was so amazing! I mean, aside from the obviously cool fact of having 160 people, worship was so good!! It was so much fun to see everyone getting into it, and it's just such a blessing to know that God's working thru you to lead people into His presence. I came in that day after having a really crappy day...my mom and I had been arguing in the car, and then when I

2003-01-14T20:48:00.000-08:00

The Ark on Jan. 12 The trip to the Ark was really good, in my opinion. It was strange that I was really not nervous at all...I hate being in the spotlight--Jaime is only slightly worse than me. Jaime, Nat, and Haley went up to the girls' camp to encourage people to go, and Michael and I stayed back to practice worship. Ok, fine, I will admit that I was pretty nervous before people came in,

2003-01-14T19:31:00.000-08:00

Worship for January 11 Worship Saturday nite was so awesome! I mean, lately it's seemed that the congregation has been kinda...blah (this excludes the 28th, cuz I heard that was really good). I don't know everyone's hearts, so I don't know if they're really getting into it or if they're just bored. But it's been kinda frustrating. So it was really nice to be standing on the risers,

2002-11-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

Worship for Nov. 23 (It Just Gets Better!!) Wow, worship last Saturday nite was incredible! Everything flowed so well, especially at the end. The sermons by Michael and Dono were really good, and I think they woke people up a little. During the first worship, I noticed a lot of people sitting around and some talking, but later that nite, so many people were getting into God! I mean, wow!!

2002-11-10T16:11:00.000-08:00

Worship for Nov. 9 I just wanted to say how great I thought last nite at Fusion was! I mean, it seemed so much like we were a team, and more so than it really ever has been. I had just been praying that day that God would really show up, and He totally did. The congregation got into it pretty well, and more than that, the worship team was so in tune! I mean, it was weird cuz that was exactly

2002-11-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

Pondering the Mountaintop Hello everybody! I was talking to my mom one morning, and she was telling me about this cool thing she read in her devo book, and I thought I'd post it. She was saying how in the Old Testament, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and was talking to God, he asked God to show him His face. Then God said He couldn't, cuz His full presence would kill Moses, but He showed