Sometimes i can be a little dramatic...

So this morning i got a call from Chase Bank offering me a position as a teller... thats right, following that super dramatic post and a day where i felt like nothing could go right God came through to show me he was still in control. I am very excited for this opportunity for a lot of reasons...

1. I am only going to be working 20 hours a week which means that i will have a lot of time for other things in life. I am looking at going back to school to get my certificate of achievement in Business Administration. I was looking on the Mesa website today and saw that i only need to take 3 more classes in order to get that because i have already taken all the other ones. That would be awesome just to have for the future and maybe while i'm taking classes i can start taking Italian like i have wanted to since i got back.

2. Chase is an awesome company with lots of different opportunities. I could move up in the branch or up to the corporate level. There is possibility that i could work for them for a long time. But right now i just need to focus on doing a good job as a teller.

3. Im excited for all the people i am going to meet and the doors that God is going to open through this new job. Never know where it could lead me.

Anyways it all goes to show that God is still in control and even when i am faithless he is faithful!

-H

Big Ol' Question Mark

So i was at work (HYP) recently and we were watching the movie "Ramona and Beezus" (which btw is a really precious movie) and this song came on while Ramona was running away from home and i totally resonated with it...which is funny because im not really the biggest fan of Taylor Swift. But all personal pregudice aside this song became the theme song for my life! Check out the link below.

Theme Song to My Life.

So all you readers get the really special opportunity to tell me what the heck to do! Thats right im letting you decide my future because i am having an exceptionally hard time deciding what the heck to do so i am giving up! ... here are the choices:

1. Administrative Assistant: which includes going to community college to get an Admin Assistant Certificate.
2. Hairstylist: which includes going to beauty school
3. Property Manager: which includes going to community college to take some classes in real estate and possibly real estate school.
4. Airline Stewardess: helps to learn another language and maybe shrink a little
5. Disaster Relief: requires moving to the east coast
6. Slash if you have any other suggestions i'm seriously open to anything and if you feel like i would be good at something that i haven't mentioned then please suggest them.

I really would like some direction. Right now i'm waking up and praying for enough faith to get me through the day, it has definitely been really rough waiting to see what is going to happen. Im going into my last week at HYP which means i will no longer have an income. Also thanksgiving is quickly approaching and i cant even think of facing my family and having to tell them over and over that i am not doing anything with my life. I know that God has something for me, but i'm feeling super lost and confused on where i'm supposed to be and where my gifts could be used most for the Lord.

HELP ME!!!!!!!!!

In the mean time i have been distracting myself with projects. I moved all my furniture around in my room and went shopping for a bunch of stuff to decorate it. I know not the best idea to go out and spend money on something that isn't necessary when you don't have any solid source of income, but i honestly needed to do something to make myself feel productive. Im also going to sand down and paint 3 pieces of furniture in my room, so that should take a lot of time, i am excited to see what the finished product will look like. Lauren and I went antique shopping on Saturday and found this awesome shop in downtown La Mesa that carries designs by this company called "Red Door Interiors". All of her stuff was sooo cute i had to practice some serious self restraint over this furniture. I also fell in love with this desk, that unfortunately was not for sale, but the owner of the store said he would call me if they got anything else like it in. I am going to have to become a frequenter at this place!

I will be sure to take some before and after pictures and when i'm done with the furniture and my room i will post them pics. Im excited to see how it turns out.

christmas list

This is the list that i sent my mom of things i want for Christmas...

I normally dont know what i want which makes it so my mom buys me random stuff and i dont like nicknacky stuff, so i am excited to have a list of items i actually want.

The longboard i want... so i don't have to steal my sisters anymore :)

Rosetta Stone: Italian Level 1

Nixon Watch:

I got used to wearing a watch while i was in Uganda and all i have is my $6 target watch that is kinda tacky and i don't like it.

Sorry the picture is tiny but this is the wallet i want

Steve Madden Boots

So if you need to buy me a gift here are some ideas... jk... well unless you want to buy them for me (my #1 love language is gifts)

-H

501

Hello Readers-

The last week and a half has been very unproductive, in fact the only thing i have made progress on is watching 3 movies on the 501 must see movies list. Yes you read that right 501 movies.

A few years ago me and my best friend Jen were at Costco and looking at our guilty pleasure (books) and stumbled upon a book of 501 must see movies. I rambled about how uneducated i am when i comes to movies and all i watch is new release chick flicks and disney channel movies (which is very true) and how there were a lot of movies that people always talk about that i want to watch but never have. So for christmas the following year Jen bought that book for me and i honestly hadn't opened it since then.

But since i got back i have looked into getting netflix because blockbuster sucks and redbox doesn't have a wide variety of movies. And i just have to say that netflix is the best thing EVER! It is only $8.99 a month to use netflix and you get one movie at a time and can keep it for as long as you want. They also have movies online that you can watch at anytime. I figure even with a job i can afford $9 a month (its about the equivalent of 2 cups of coffee) for endless entertainment, thats a fabulous deal if you ask me. So after signing up for netflix i have watched "When Harry Met Sally", "Sleepless in Seattle" and "Little Shop of Horrors" which are all fabulous and all are out of the 501 must see movies. I am excited to watch the moves in the book, although there is a whole section of war movies that i am really not looking forward to watching.

It is going to take us a long time to go through those 501 movies, but when both Jen and I are unemployed it makes life a little easier.

I decided not to take the internship that i spoke about in my last post because she didnt have a set schedule of when she would need my help which makes it very difficult to get a paying job ontop of it. I was offered a job working at HYP until June but i decided to turn in down in search of something that provided more hours and little more of a future. I love working for HYP but it cant really be used on my resume for anything unless im working at another child care place. I will be working there the net 3 weeks to cover for someone else so that gives me a good buffer time to find something else to do after that. I have an interview with Chase next week and i am sure that where ever i am supposed to be will work out.

The message at Existence was so legit today and i am excited to find times and situations in which i can be bold of God and live a radical life for him, wherever that may be. In the mean time i will be educating myself on movies :)

Much love- H

On To The Next One

Well i have been back exactly 1 week and it seems that luck is on my side because i landed a pretty sweet internship with Raincoat Records today. I sat down for coffee with Gayle Skidmore today and talked about details. Things are pretty crazy right now because her cd is being released on Nov. 13th (i think thats the date) but i'm excited to learn about the music industry and see where this takes me. The only unfortunate thing is that there isn't a set schedule of when i will be doing any work for her or anything, it depends a lot on what is going on that week. I could be working at her shows at night or help do promo during the day it all depends, which makes it hard to get an actual paying job along with the internship. I guess that is why i love Marions so much! I think i will work out for me to post availability for Marions all the time and then just take it off when Gayle has something for me to do. As long as i am persistent in getting this jobs then i should be okay financially... hopefully!

Other than that life has been pretty boring around here... i guess im just used to being in a different country every day. Im going to look into buying Rosettastone soon (whenever i have enough money for it) so i can start getting my Italian on. :)

I went to San Luis Obispo this last weekend with ADX and AGO and played team mom to the girls. I seriously love that kinda stuff (cant wait to be a soccer mom) The girls did awesome finishing in 2nd, couldn't be prouder! Plus i got to spend 6 hours with the amazing Duke in the car on the way up to SLO, very exciting stuff.

I unfortunately have to make a phone call to France tomorrow because the hotel double charged my card so i have two charged for over $400 that i need to get back. It will probably cost me a small fortune just to make those phone calls anyways. Rough... but it will be nice to have that little chunk of change back in my pocket.

Im very excited for the Manors Halloween Party on Saturday... the Condo's costumes are coming together nicely and i am very excited to see what everyone else has up their sleeves.

-H

Ti Amo Roma!

I love Rome... almost as much as i love New York!!! (and that says a lot!)

I sent today riding the hop on hop off bus tour in Rome. There were less stops here than there were in London or Paris so i had time to ride it the whole way around and then to get off at different stops and wander the city, and i can tell you that is the only way to really see Rome. Most of the buildings in Rome are 4 or 5 stories tall which means you cant see what's coming until you have found it because it is all surrounded by buildings. You will be walking down a random street and turn a corner only to find the Trevi Fountain, or a beautiful church.

Speaking of church... i miss it terribly! Don't get me wrong i have had some really sweet God moments during my trip but i haven't been to a real church service in almost a month! The first sunday i was gone i went to a church service all in dutch, then the second sunday i went to a kids service in africa, the third sunday i was driving from Jinja to Entebee in the morning, and this sunday i was being a tourist in Rome. I miss fellowship and cant wait to have that back. I guess its true what they say... you dont know what you've got til its gone!

The other beautiful thing about this city is that there are 5 gellato shops on every corner! I was tempted to have one ever 2 minutes but restricted myself to only 2 the whole day! haha

But overall i love Rome... i love the feel of it and the people and just everything! I definitely loved London and Paris but there is something about Rome that just makes me feel more comfortable and at ease. With all its ruins and old architecture and culture it almost has a vulnerability to it that i cant place. I wish i could spend more time here but its time for me to start making my way home!

Tomorrow i go back to London for the night and then on tuesday i have an 11 hour flight that is going to trip me out since i am taking off around 9am and landing around 12noon (time change)

48 hours and 40 minutes until i am back in the states!

Arrivederci!!

-H

ciao

Hi Everyone-

After what feels like forever I have reached my 5^th and (almost) final destination…ROMA! I can say without a doubt that Rome will be my favorite. When I arrived here I checked into the hotel then went out to explore. I got a scoop of gelato and walked around until it started to rain. I love the rain, and it wasn’t very heavy so I kept walking and exploring. I love that you will be walking down what looks like a regular mundane street and then out of nowhere a fountain appears or some roman ruins, its incredible! Tomorrow I will be taking yet another double-decker bus tour (my third one this week!) just to make sure I cover the entire city in the limited time that I have.

Since I haven’t gotten the chance yet to report much on Paris I will take this opportunity to do so…

Paris of course is beautiful but I don’t know that I will be in a hurry to go back there. The first night there I went out to eat some French cuisine and it was soo good the entire time I was wishing that my sister were with me to enjoy the fabulous spread laid out before me, because if there is one person that enjoys food more than me… its my sister! The next day my meals consisted of baguettes and crepes… that’s it! Lol I had to take advantage of the fact that I was in Paris.

One of the highlights of my day was seeing the Moulin Rouge in person! I don’t know… maybe I have see the movie one too many times but I expected it to be bigger and more grand… but I still stood looking at it for about 10 minutes taking it in. Another thing checked off the bucket list! J

The street that my hotel was located on was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. When I decided to go to Paris my uncle suggested this hotel since it is the one he stays at on his frequent visits to Paris. The street was very market like lined with fruit stands, bread and cheese shops, delis, cafes, and flower carts. Before coming to Paris I had a vision in my head of what it would be like, and this street is the epitome of the vision I had.

Although there were a lot of great sights to take in in Paris, I was slightly let down by the fact that most of the city looks exactly the same. On every corner there are the same cafes and patisseries and the same shops that sell the same tired Paris souvenirs.

If you have not been following the news France is currently experiencing strikes because they changed the retirement age from 60 to 62. Both days that I was there touring the city I saw protests starting and lots of police everywhere. But this strike did make today a little stressful for me. I had a flight from Charles De Gaule airport in france at 10:10am. So I plan to leave my hotel at 6:30 to make my way to the airport. I have to take 3 different metro lines and I think that I am making good time until I switch to the last line to the airport and some of the metro workers who are striking don’t show up for work which means there are less trains. So I get on a train and ride it a few stops then they make an announcement that the train isn’t going any further and that I have to find another one. Then they keep switching the platform but I don’t know because they are making all these announcements in French. I go to get on one train and this guy starts speaking French to me and telling me not to get on. I don’t understand why but he keeps pointing up. Finally I find a guy about my age and his Mom who are dragging along suitcases and they seem to know where they are going so I ask them if they are trying to go to the airport too, and lucky for me they are and the boy speaks both French and English. Finally we find the right train, but at this point I am running behind and kind of stressed out as to whether or not I will be making my flight. It is nice to find some Americans that I could talk to since over the last few days the deepest conversation I have had is with someone I am ordering food from (I miss normal human interaction!!). The boy and his Mom are from New York and he is here studying abroad and his Mom came to visit! I make it the airport about an hour before my flight. Luckily I don’t have any bags to check which saves time for me and I get to my terminal with time to spare.

I am excited to really experience Rome tomorrow, but I cant help to count down the days until I come home! I think I have decided to pursue learning Italian, but we will see if tomorrow makes me want to learn it more.

p.s. I watching the Lizzie McGuire movie in preparation for coming to Rome… J