Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 4: Kodak Moments

This is my final photo installment in this mini-series (egh I sound like I'm trying to make it so official or something...) devoted to those pictures that just capture the moment so well. Here goes:

Part 4: Kodak Moments



Natalie Joy, do you recognize the beautiful baby in this picture? This is the day that Haleigh and I came to visit new baby Mel in the hospital... AND she smiled for the picture!



Megan and I got tired of shooting still-life pictures in the junkyard, so we played around. We found this oversized tricycle... I want one of those to ride downtown here... wait, parking would be too expensive...



Hehe, look at the fire behind those blue eyes of mine. You may also notice that I am completely missing my front-left tooth, which got knocked out when I was one years old when I fell on my bottle. I like to think of myself as the calm, sensible child of the four of us, but by the looks of this picture, I must have had some 'obnoxious' in me at an earlier age.



This is in Bill and Nat's old backyard where we had youth group one night. Haleigh and I had just been out taking pictures together all day.



On our very second photoshoot, Haleigh and I took a bunch of timer photos. For this one, Haleigh stood in the water and I pushed the button, then ran and jumped in the creek. What I didn't know what how HORRIBLY cold the water was. It startled me, quite frankly.



While in England, our choir group stumbed upon this professional violinist playing in a square. It was so insane... he put on a cd of a famous symphony and played the lead violinist part of the song. Wow.



Though betraying the idea that these are all pictures I dug out from my old photo album, I had to end with this one. It is one of my favorites from my trip to Kenya, where I worked with Christian Mission Aid in the slums of Nairobi. This little girl followed me around quite a bit, and one afternoon, she was just standing in the doorway of the school building (a shack, really) and when I pulled out my camera, she smiled (Kenyan children adore getting their picture taken!) Every time I see this picture, I want to jump a plane and go back there...

Well, that's all for this series of photos, eventually I plan to write about Kenya in detail and show more pictures from the trip, but I want to have time to pour my heart out into it, and with school started up again, it will be hard. Thanks for taking time to look at my blog!

Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 3: My Funny-Farm Family

Years ago, my mom sent my older brother, Adam, a card at church camp signed "from your Funny-Farm Family" and the term kinda stuck with me. Note the hyphen... it joins the two words into one... This is my third installment of pictures, dedicated to my wacko but wonderful family...



Um, what better picture to start with? It fulfills everything you could imagine for a crazy family. The grumpy looking farmer father, the disinterested eldest son, the goofy mom who still loves the concept of bunny-ears, the over-glammed daughter, the over-stressed twelve-year-old, and the never-ending perplexity of a young'un who never seems to mature!



AWWW... look at me in my carseat.... awww look at.... AWWWW.



Doin' what he loved to do... Haleigh, you took this one the first day we took pictures with my new camera. I will cherish it forever.



Why the weird finger thingy? I don't know. It was Jacob's idea.



This is a picture from one of my "vacations" to Chicago... we went to the best Cubs game ever, I think four homeruns were hit or something?!? It was AMAZING.



I think the best part of this picture of Jake is how ridiculously innocent he looks... do not be fooled, my friends; there is obnoxious fury hidden behind all those freckles!



Adam, I want those glasses. Oh.... I was thinking I should try this hairdo sometime again, the one where there's a curlyish tuft on top of my head and all the hair on the sides is real thin and worn down.



My grandparents, who are now footloose, eternally dancing together like the first day they met.



And finally, (phew, that was a lengthy one!) the two rejects. Theme for this photo? I'm guessing indigestion and constipation!


Hope you enjoyed that! I sure did. Coming up next - the final installment: Kodak moments

Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 2: Memories of OBC

Alright, here's the second installment, as promised...

Part 2: Memories of OBC


Ever need a really awesome place for a date? This is a picture I took of the Chicago skyline during our missions trip to Chicago. This was the trip in which I first got to know and fall in love with this city. Taken from one of my favorite date places of all time, Navy Pier.



The Chicago trip ended with a bang, literally... I took this picture after our 5-vehicle pile-up, telling Jess, "Smile big, we're in Chicago!" I love this picture, though I am reminded almost daily of the not-so-good part of the accident, my sprained back!



Road trip to regional music/drama competition. Bill was taking a long time to buy snacks, so Tim, Jess Teidt, and I washed the car right there at the gas pump.


Back to School Retreat, click on this one to see it bigger for sure, the expressions and personalities are so fun to remember. We were goofballs. Wait, I don't think that's changed.



Another good one from the Chicago trip, I think this was all but a couple people that went... I remember that one guy (Jon Wolfe? I don't remember) stayed upstairs in his room for the evening, and Brenda took the picture, and we went out to walk around downtown. That was such a fun night, walking past all the ritzy stores and beautiful lit wall with water cascading down... Ahh I love my Chicago.



My worship team, celebrating our immense victory at Mosaic (woohoo... a trophy.) Actually, I believe we got scholarships to the Chicago trip from this one? Maybe I am mistaken, but good times...



I'll finish with this beauty, taken of the two koolest girls ever... that year at church camp was crazy... we were incoming freshmen, on the worship team, and we both were hit on big time by upperclassmen. Ughh. :O)

Alright, that's all for this installment, coming up next: The Funny-Farm Family.

p.s. I posted an additional picture on the last installment, when I made the original post it simply wouldn't upload. But I got it to work, and it's definitely worth checking out...

Trip Down Memory Lane, Part 1: Silly/Unforgettable

Today I have been "cleaning house," though it actually seems I am making a worse mess since I'm plotting to re-arrange my room. I just have gotten so bored with the setup of first semester. I may have to enroll some of my neighbor guys to help me move the bunk beds tonight. Consult my roommate? Why? She's NEVER HERE. Anyhow, as I was "cleaning house," I opened up my photo box and perused my old photo album and a loose batch of photos... oh what memories. So I wanted to post some of my favorites, so you all (that know me) might take the same trip down memory lane and enjoy yourselves. This will be a three or four-part blog.

Part 1: Silly/Unforgettable



This is me at the peak of my training. Notice that boxing is no longer grueling for me, that it's become easy and fun to knock out my friend, who smiles because she expected to be clobbered anyway.



This one was taken at church camp when I was on worship team. It was rainy, and we all made a slip-n-slide down the hill at the ol' campgrounds. Pheew... that mud had a nasty smell, let me tell you...



Whoahh!!! That gravel can be tricky sometimes... I performed this rolling stunt at age 15 with my school license on my way to cross country practice. Funny thing I just noticed: you can see my hand print on the door where, in my shock and horror after flipping, I jumped out of the broken window and ran home (only a 1/4 mile away.) A moment of silence for the car, please.



This picture at Winsor Castle in London is pretty self-explanatory.



I will never be able to forget this picture, or how significant it has been to both Haleigh and me. Derek had wanted so badly to plan prom and be able to attend, and he did both of those. He passed away less than a month later from complications of cancer.


There you have it... coming up next: Memories of Open Bible Church

Veddy Interesting...

I was reading Chilihead's blog talking about a site she found with digital retouching of a bikini model, so I googled a phrase and came up with another great site to look at. It's so fascinating (and disturbing) to me how much work is done to the models' pictures. There are women who do have gorgeous bodies and skin, I'm sure, but it's not as normal as we make it out to be. Take a look at the site, if you scroll over the pictures, you will see the before version. Interesting...

Getting to Know Me... Getting to Know All About Me

Bill tagged me a while ago with this meme… I was wondering the same thing, what IS a meme? Just a game? Where does the word “meme” come from? Oh well, here goes…

Four jobs you had in your life.

1. Huge milk bowl watcher – once my dad’s milkhouse equipment was acting up when I was probably 6 or 7 years old, and he had me watch to make sure the milk level inside the huge glass sphere didn’t go beyond a certain level. Problem was, probably after about 5 minutes, I was so bored and worried I would have to be there forever that I ran out into the barn crying, saying I didn’t want to watch it anymore. Luckily my dad let me off the hook.

2. Hay raker. What could be better than sitting on a tractor, just making sure I stay in a straight line, all the while getting a tan in the skimpiest bikini I owned, and singing as loud as I could to my little brother’s Cadet CD? Oh, AND I was paid $7 and hour to do it.

3. Pizza Hut waitress. “Can I get you a refill?” “I’m sorry, there was a mistake made in the kitchen. Your pizza was made ALL with pepperoni and sausage instead of half and half.” “Sorry sir, I’m the only server tonight and I have twelve other tables that ordered their drinks before you!”

4. Caretaker for Grandpa. When I discovered that my grandfather was engaged twice before he even MET Grandma, something my dad didn’t even know. The best job I’d ever had.

Four movies you could watch over and over.

1. Spanglish. So many quotes I could put down, I love it!

2. The Wedding Singer.

3. Sabrina. Not the teenage witch. The movie with Harrison Ford. I watched this movie every single time I came home sick during high school.

4. Two Weeks Notice – because it’s Hugh Grant. Sorry, Josiah.

Four places you've lived.

1. Mama’s belly. It was wet and dark in there. We were both pretty happy when I decided to move out.

2. RR 4 Box 123. Before our country road even had a name, just a number. It was a good old blue house, with lovely shag carpet.

3. The main Epley farm. I love it there.

4. Chicago, IL. Fast paced, just right for me. But when I go home to the Epley farm, I hear imaginary city noises while in bed because I’m not used to the peace and quiet anymore.

Four TV shows you love to watch.

***I do not really watch TV anymore. These I have liked in the past:

1. Family Guy

2. Average Joe

3. Friends

4. Who’s Line is it Anyway?

Four places you've been on vacation.

1. Chicago, a few times.

2. France and England, if you call a choir trip a vacation.

3. Maryland, because that’s where my aunt, uncle, and cousins live.

4. Maasai Mara, in Kenya, Africa, where I went on a 3-day safari.

Four websites you visit daily.

1. google.com. I don’t know why, I just don’t feel fulfilled unless I’ve googled something each day.

2. hotmail.com and aol.com, to check my email.

3. facebook.com. The college version of myspace.

4. blogger.com. I love reading what’s new with my favorite Waverlyites.

Four of your favorite foods

1. Spaghetti

2. Chicago style pizza – my new favorite is Giordano’s.

3. Mom’s macaroni casserole. Coming to a church potluck near you. Seriously, it’s the greatest.

4. Stir fry, preferably with some steak strips inside.

Four places you'd rather be right now

1. In Kenya, doing just about anything.

2. In Los Angeles with my brother. (My spring break plan.)

3. Hanging out with Josiah, anywhere.

4. On a Caribbean cruise.

Four bloggers you are tagging

1. Haleigh, though her blog isn’t up and running right now.

2. Angela

3. Uhh… anyone else I can think of that hasn’t filled this out…

4. …?

My TV's Ethnicity

In an earlier post, I explained that my TV was broken, that it wouldn't work no matter what I did. So when Josiah moved in last week, his parents helped me out by driving me down to the repair shop to take in the television.

I must explain that mapquest was quite misleading in its estimated time of 17 minutes to get there. First of all, the shop is located smack dab in the middle of the Spanish part of town. Spanish part = narrower streets. It took us an hour to get there. Why Philips doesn't have a closer repair place to where I live, I am baffled. Anyhow, we got the TV to it's repair shop, I paid my $50 deposit, and headed back home.

A couple days later, I got a message on my answering machine asking me to call and explain what the problem was with the TV. I was a little confused, since I explained pretty clearly when I dropped it off. Nevertheless, on Monday, I called the store and explained thoroughly how my TV set was broken. They said, "OK" and told me they would call me when they figured out what the problem was.

An hour or so later, I got a call saying the TV was fixed and ready to pick up. Why, I wondered, was it fixed so fast? Suspicious... So yesterday, Josiah and I took my car from Hyde Park to the repair shop to pick up the television. Mapquest's directions this time conveniently took us through the "lock your doors and pray we don't get shot" part of Chicago. Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty ghetto. We spoke with the technician who worked on my TV... he plugged it in for us and it worked great. Then he explained that he did absolutely nothing to fix it, he even opened it up and checked to make sure everything was fine, and it was. Josiah and I brought the TV back, plugged it in, and voila, worked fine.

I have since played with many theories as to why my television acted as it did. Maybe the outlet it was plugged into was messed up. But I have it plugged into the same outlet now, and it's working great. Maybe, as my grandmother suggested, the car trip to the repair store jostled something back into place. Perhaps. But I have decided on a much better theory:

My TV is of Spanish descent. Why else would it suddenly start working again once it got to the Spanish part of town? It must have felt comforted to be home, around people speaking the same language, who looked like family. That comfort gave my TV the strength it needed to do its daily job once again.

Next time your TV is broken, maybe you could try playing some ethnic music to soothe its homesickness. Maybe it would have saved me $50.

A Funny Forward That Was Actually... Funny.

Today in my email I got a forward from my cousin, Kris. It had a link to a very funny (and clean) video, which I wanted to share: (clicking below will start downloading the video.)

http://www.military.com/Video/050303_DanceTime.wmv

Enjoy!

Young and in Love, part 2

Now that my scanner is working, I also wanted to share my new favorite photo of Josiah and me together. As I've already discussed, his love has taught me so much! I love you, babe!

Diversity at Columbia

I got my scanner working!!! Ok, for my first semester photo 1 project, I decided to do "diversity at Columbia." So the following pictures were my attempt to capture Columbia's diversity in ethnicity, student life, and personalities... enjoy!

Eh... it's the new year, why not?

I read this survey in Angela's blog... Ang, I love reading your blog. Oh, and my mom and I have decided you and Matt are the cutest couple. It is so obvious how much you love each other!

Here goes...

1. What did you do in 2005 that you had never done before?
Traveled overseas by myself - many lonely hours in London Heathrow airport, let me tell you!

2.Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I honestly don't know if I set any. I'm sure I did, but don't know what they were. This year I'm going to try to read more Christian literature (other than the Bible.)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Mandee and Heather

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Both of my grandparents... that was hard.

5. What countries did you visit?
Kenya and Uganda, working with Christian Mission Aid (www.cmaid.org)

6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005?
A year free of car accidents!

7. What dates will remain etched in your memory and why?
January 20th - first date with Josiah - met for coffee at Cup of Joe
February 7th - officially dating Josiah - our anniversary!
May 29th - graduated from high school
June 6th - boarded a plane for Kenya, working for CMA for a month
June 26th - my grandma, Evelyn Epley, died while I was still in Kenya
August 27th - moved to the windy city
November 8th - my grandpa, Ivan Epley, died
December 25th - Josiah and my first Christmas together!

8. What's your biggest achievement of the year?
I could say being valedictorian was pretty big - it all came down to how I did on my physics final test... if I had missed a few more questions I would have tied with the #2 person.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not getting more scholarships to pay for my expensive Chicago education maybe?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I mostly just dealt with my usual back pain, but I had really horrible food poisoning while in Kenya, so badly in fact that after puking my brains out all night I had to go to a tropical disease clinic to be tested for malaria, (test was negative), then was given an IV to restore the fluids I had lost.

11.What was the best thing you bought?
My 67-300mm zoom lens for my camera!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Josiah - when I first met him, he told me that because of past relationships, it would be hard for him to fall in love. But he has turned into the most amazingly sweet, loving guy!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and disgusted?
The liberal democrats, who try to make everything good about our country seem like a crime and who try to convince the world that everything our government does is corrupt...

14. Where did most of your money go?
I'm tempted to say Kenya, because that was expensive, but college has definitely drained my bank account much worse.

15. What did you get really, really excited about?
Falling in love with a wonderful guy, and doing missionary work in Kenya.

16. What song will always remind you of 2005?
Hmm. To put one song to it would be impossible.

17. Compared to this time last year are you?
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) fatter or thinner? thinner. not by much, just 5 pounds or so.
c) richer or poorer? that goes BOTH ways, moneywise I am much poorer, but I have become richer by the many blessings that have come my way!

18. What do you wish you had done more of?
Spending time with loved ones, studying God's word.

19. What do you wish you had done less of?
Stressing about unimportant things.

20. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
I went with Josiah to a friend's house, where we ate pizza, watched a movie, and played games, and of course, I kissed my love at midnight!

21. Did you fall in love in 2005?
YES!

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I honestly don't watch TV anymore, nor can I remember any particular program I loved.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I do not hate people.

24. What was the best book you read?
I think I would say the Bible.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I fell in love with many bands... 'Coldplay' and 'Deathcab for Cutie' are two.

26. What did you want and get?
I wanted to really fall in love, and i definitely did.

27. What did you not want and not get?
Malaria.

28. What was your favorite film this year?
Oh boy. What movies did I see? Ones I liked were Hitch, Bewitched, King Kong, Chronicles of Narnia, and Monster-in-Law.

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
I worked, quickly ate some cake in front of my dorm-buddies, then went to African History & Culture class.

30. What one thing would have made your year measurably more satisfying?
Having spent more time with God, and less time doing pointless things.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion in 2005?
The continually recycled wardrobe.

32. What kept you sane?
My relationship with God, my family, Josiah

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I can't say.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The Democrat's discrediting everything great that's happened in Iraq.

35. Who did you miss?
Josiah, my friends, but most of all, Grandma & Grandpa Epley.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Josiah by far.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2005.
Even when you are least expecting it, or incredibly undeserving of it, God will bless you.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"its time now to sing out, though the story never ends, let's celebrate remember a year in the life of friends. Remember the love." - "seasons of love" from the musical Rent