Recent Photoshoots

A little over a week ago, I got to go out with my roommate Hayley and her boyfriend Jim to take some photos... we had a great time, despite a little rain. They are a cute couple - here are a few of my favorites from the shoot:












Earlier this month, all us RA's got to go on an 'architectural cruise' on the Chicago River, meaning simply that we were on one of those tour boats with a wonderful tour guide talking about the history of the buildings. From there, we took a water taxi, and we all went up into the Sears Tower. Oh, did I mention all this was FREE... very nice, considering it costs something like $12 to go up in the Sears Tower. Great day. Here are a couple of my fave shots... more to come, I'm sure.

A Big Day

I now officially work at the only Segway dealer in Chicago, as a tour guide. I had a complimentary tour today, then was asked by the manager, "So, what did you think?" And he offered me a job. My first interview Tuesday was the easiest and longest I've ever had.

Flexible hours, $8/hr plus tips from the rich, old people who actually sign up for the $70 tours, and best of all, I get to ride one of these babies and get paid for it. Added bonus: I love having jobs where I guide people and get to tell them things they didn't know.

Yay! So after my interview, I decided to have some fun. Fun I have not had lately. I went to Starbucks, got a mocha and a rice krispy square, then went shoe shopping. I tried on some $85 Diesel sneakers that were awesome, then went to payless and bought some cute Champion sneakers there instead. I may have just gotten hired, but I will probably never be the girl to spend $85 on sneakers. Oh, and Heth had talked about Payless's 'buy one, get on 1/2 off' sale, and so I also bought these beautiful babies, plus a matching purse. What will I wear them with? Not sure. But I will make it work. I could NOT resist.

Ahh, what a day.

Talk talk talk talk talk

That's all I feel I've been doing lately. Let me explain:

I am a resident advisor at the University Center in Chicago. Move-ins of our 1700 residents have been occurring since this past Saturday. And there's no sign of stopping, any time soon.

Move-ins are exciting, I have been living on my floor nearly empty for the past three and a half weeks. I love meeting people that are moving into my floor. That phrase that I had to wait three weeks to say, "Hey! I'm your RA!" is finally being of use.

The schedule for move-ins, however, is a little tiring. Morning meetings are at 7:45am. "Early is on time," so my supervisors say, though we still never seem to begin the meeting at 7:45. Most days move-ins begin at 9am and end at 6pm. We go in shifts and all man different stations around the building. An almost-well-oiled machine.

In addition to moving 200 people in each day, there is night duty, floor meetings, special last-minute projects, floor programs, etc., etc., etc. At the end of the day, I am exhausted. Well, during the middle of the day, I'm also exhausted. But my sugar keeps me going.

About the 'talk talk talk' - when I am the greeter, I stand and await their car door opening so I can give a big cheerful "Hey there!" I inform them of all the procedures for move-ins. I make small talk with the parents so their students don't get annoyed with them. When I am manning the ID card station, I get to give a wonderful shpiel (how DO you spell that word?) about what their card is for, and what happens if they must replace it. Then there are resident questions. Most are good questions, like, "where do I throw out my trash?" Others I can't quite understand, like the suave guy on my floor who keeps asking me if I know anyone who's 21 so he can get some alcohol. Um? I'm your RA, and I'm pretty sure that's a stupid question.

In a perfect world, or a perfect residence hall rather, the RA's would move folks in, get their extra work done before or after their shift, and have some "me" time. I find it amusing when people arrive at our building at 11pm expecting to be moved in. Did they miss the memo?

Nevertheless, I am enjoying myself here. More exciting stories to come, I'm sure of it.

20 Questions

Lawsuit depositions. Not a fun way to spend my Thursday, let me tell you.

Silly lawyer: "Can you give me an estimate of how fast the driver of your vehicle was going?"

Me: [well advised by my attorney not to make assumptions] "I couldn't see the speedometer, I'm not really sure. However, I do know that the driver of the vehicle did not typically speed during these kinds of trips."

Silly lawyer: "Well, I'm not asking about that, can you just give an estimate of how fast the vehicle was moving?"

Me: "I couldn't really tell you, I'm not sure."

Silly lawyer: "How fast did it feel you were going?"

Me: [giving a definite 'what part of "I don't know" don't you understand' glare] "I simply don't know."

Silly lawyer: "Did it feel faster than normal? Above 55? Below 55?"

Me: "You know... no, I'm not just going to throw a number out there. I don't know."


Late Thursday night, I got off the metra, and instead of going my usual public transportation route, I hailed a cab. Exhausted. Bewildered. Frustrated. I gave the driver a 75-cent tip. Are you supposed to tip a cab driver for a 3-minute ride, in which he talks on his cell phone and speeds through every intersection right as the light turns red? He looked disappointed. I'm sure I just looked worn.


On another topic, Josiah moved to Chicago in the Moody Bible dorms yesterday. His birthday was today, so we went out to an Italian place in Wrigleyville. Very yummy. GREAT to have my baby back!

To Endure, or Die? The Struggle to Run...

So along with a new living place here in the city, I thought I should take this golden opportunity to get into new healthy habits. I want to get in shape - so that I don't go panting when I climb the stairs from the subway. So that I have muscle definition in these legs.

My roommate, Hayley, runs every morning at 7am. I went with her last Monday, and never in my life have I felt so lousy. Even though Hayley's style of running is more like a drawn-out, hour-long slow jog, we hardly went 25 minutes and I couldn't go on. How pathetic! So this morning was the second time that I went with her. We ran for 20 minutes, a little faster than last week, all the way to the planetarium along the lake shore. We stopped to stretch on the back side of the planetarium, and discovered a sandy beach there. [Might I add that Chicago is the most wonderful city... parks, big buildings, cozy cafes, and random stretches of beach all within close proximity of each other.]

So we thought, 'OOOH! Let's run on the beach!!' Mistake. Running in sand is HARD, especially if you're as out-of-shape as I am. After about 10 seconds, I cried out for mercy and we took the stairs back onto the path. then we walked almost all the way back, because I could not bring myself to run any longer. Once we got back to Michigan Ave, we ran back to our building, and at a regular, quick running pace. It was exhilarating, for the 5 minutes that it lasted.

Why is starting to run so stinking difficult? Ugh... Nevertheless, I'm going to try to force myself to get up tomorrow morning and do it again. Maybe, though, I'll just go at my normal running pace and die after 10 minutes. Whatever it takes.

Scalpel, please?

"Ma'am, I have some good news and some bad news. First of all, your loved one had a successful surgery. All the infected tissue was removed."

"And the bad news?"

"The bad news, well, there was such extensive loss that we are afraid that your loved one may go into a severe shock. We don't know just how long her recovery will be, or how successfully her body will handle this sudden loss of limbs."


My plant underwent extensive surgery this evening. I decided, after a short conversation with my mother, that I needed to get rid of all the dying, infected, shriveling leaves. So I pruned my plant, probably way too much, considering that 1/2 of the long fronds were dying. Before my plant's move to Chicago, it was a flowing, gorgeous plant that looked healthy. As soon as it arrived in Chicago, however, it started to look brownish, shriveled, wilted. I don't know if it was just too much direct sunlight hanging in the car window for 5 hours straight, or the sudden loss in humidity? But even with good sun and reasonable water it's been looking sad ever since.

I told my mom that I feel so bad, I feel like I should be taking it to the plant hospital or something. Going to my local plant doctor. But as for now, my plant is in recovery from a critical home-done surgery, with closely monitored waterings, sunlight, and steaming while I take a shower. I am praying for its recovery.

What I've Been Up To

I am now back in Chicago, living in the University Center once again. Since I was in hibernation from blogging this whole summer, I thought I'd give a recap of what I've been doing all this time:

Garden department, Home Depot. I watered plants, loaded brick and mulch, sold lawn tractors, and planned out people's gardens with them. I enjoyed my short stay at Home Depot, with its good pay and simply the fact that it was a home improvement store. Josiah worked there with me, so that was a plus as well. I was supposed to transfer to a store in Chicago, but it just didn't happen. So I'm currently looking for another job. Again.


Summer classes. I took "Art History I" and "Diversity in America" online through Hawkeye Community College. And I will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER do this again unless it is absolutely necessary. Sure, I saved thousands of dollars by getting these classes out of the way, and I'm grateful for that. However, when running into friends asking how my summer has been going, I hate talking about homework. All online classes ARE is homework.

CLEP tests. I took four $80 tests in Psychology, Natural Sciences, College Mathematics, and English Composition; I passed them all. So, I got 27 credits, more than will actually transfer but 27 nonetheless, out of $320. Good deal, huh? I think so too, the math and English tests were really pretty easy, the psych test was an educated-guessing game, and the science test was definitely the hardest test I have EVER taken. So now, I might be a junior instead of a sophomore. I don't really know.


Sunday morning worship. I got the opportunity to help with praise and worship at Open Bible a couple times, and it was great. Singing with the old team, God really reminded me of the power in music, how it's a medium in which we connect with him. Then there was the morning Pastor Bill sort of threw me a curveball - I got to practice early that morning to realize that I was leading the worship that morning, then came to discover how dreadfully HIGH the songs were for my range. Though I was freaked out, God really humbled me that morning, and I was forced to give my abilities all to him, and he made it an amazing time of worship. Unforgettable.


The best family reunion ever. Epleys from all over came to Waverly in the scorching heat, we ate lunch then played in the sprinklers back home, had water balloon fights, got a history lesson about the family farm from my great aunt Florence, sat and caught up with family members that I don't even really remember ever meeting in person. At night we grilled burgers and sat around and talked. I left early the next morning for Chicago, so I missed the last part of the reunion. But like I said, it was, in my perspective, the best family reunion ever.

Highlight of the summer: the family dinners where Josiah came over, and the night that Megan and Jarred came also and we built a bonfire. If I have one regret over the summer, it is that I didn't spend more time by the fire, making s'mores, cuddling with Josiah on my swing, watching the stars. I miss the stars when I'm here in Chicago, the city is so bright that you can't really see them.

So there's my summer in brief, now I must begin a new story in Chicago. Stay tuned...