The Roomie Reunion in Ocean's Paradise

It's been three weeks since I returned to OKC from San Diego. I am excited because the dark purple bruise that trailed all the way from my knee to my ankle is almost gone. I also got my new camera in the mail to replace the one that I killed at the same time I obtained my colorful souvenir at the tide pools. Helpful hint: 8 year old cameras do not like to be dashed upon the rocks and then bathed in sea water. In fact, they dislike it so much that they spitefully refuse to ever close, turn off, turn on, or take any more pictures ever again even after leaving them buried in dry rice for several days.

My week in San Diego was in three words: Won-der-ful! I got to see California for the first time, have girl time with my old roomies, meet a roommate's boyfriend (I approve, btw, K-Rug!), fulfill a lifelong dream in going to the San Diego Zoo, visit Canyon Ridge Baptist Church, step into the cold ocean, see a little of LA (not too impressive), take a picture at the Santa Monica Pier where Route 66 ends, hike up Mount Helix, spend a day at Sea World, injure myself at the tide pools at Point Loma, walk on the Coronado Beach (which was just voted the most beautiful beach in America this year), shop in Old Town, have a Room Meeting with my roomies (on Thursday night of course!), taste an In & Out burger, have a bonfire on the beach after dark, and much more.

Truly San Diego was the most beautiful place I have ever been. Coronado Beach and Point Loma were breathtakingly gorgeous. The landscape often reminded me of Texas somehow. Except with more green, palm trees, and mountains. The weather is just about perfect year round. You know how when the weather is nice (it does happen on occasion in OK) you always ask, "Why can't it always be like this?" Move to San Diego; it is.

I loved the culture and how everyone embraced the outdoors. All restaurants have outdoor seating. The apartments don't have (or need) air conditioning. No one cares about parking half a mile away from where you are headed because walking is normal. The malls are more like outlet malls with each shop being covered but the walkways are all outdoor. But yet, the one I visited was still four or five stories high. (And I didn't see any escalators either... Although I think there were elevators.) Oh, and pets are welcome in the mall!

I noticed some other things that were also just kinda cool. Target was two stories tall, in a mall, and had a special section of the escalator for locking in shopping carts to carry them up or down. 7-11's are convenience stores but are NOT attached to a gas station. The CVS pharmacy carried firewood. There are IKEA's and trolleys, although sadly I didn't get to experience either this trip. You can get a ticket for not angling your tires when parking on the street (has to do with the hills and the potential for your e-brake failing). Oh, and if you want to spend the day at the mall, only the first couple of hours get free parking!

The city limit sign said that the population is 1,230,000 people, but rather like OKC, it doesn't feel too much like a huge city. It's spread out and rolling. The architecture often has a Spanish flavor (perhaps another reason it reminded me of Texas...) And the people are culturally diverse, easy-going, laid-back, and friendly. Oh, and according to an article I read, it is in the top 5 big cities with the highest average salaries earned by single women. It's also easy to find good, healthy, fresh foods. In fact, eating healthy and being fit (not over-weight) is probably one of the few things that Californians are downright snobby about.

But even paradise has its downfalls. Housing is expensive. Gas is expensive. To be drowning in debt is normal. Traffic in rush hour is a typical big-city nightmare. Because the weather is so nice, there is a very large homeless population. Churches are hard to find. The whole week even with all of the driving around, exploring, and getting lost I only counted four churches. Of any kind.

I have to say that with all that I saw, did, and experienced the greatest thing was being a part of Kronk & Fannlee again.* It was the second time in three years that all four of us Roomies from my Senior Year were together at one time. (The first was only for a couple of hours two years ago when two of them graduated.) I had forgotten how well we all worked together in spite of how very different we are.

We have managed to stay in fairly close touch, but that was nothing compared to being with them all again. I truly think that one of the biggest blessings that came from my college experience is my friendship with these three girls. The laughter, the encouragement, the tears, the prayers, the testimonies, the fact that we have stayed friends longer than a year (which is something I have yet to accomplish except with a couple of other people), all of this combined together makes me thank the Lord for the day He made us all roommates.

We hope to be the kind of friends who stay friends for life no matter where we all end up and no matter what directions life takes us. We hope to get together like this every few years and having our families be friends. Will that happen? I don't know, but if the last three years are any indication, then I have a pretty good feeling about the future. =)

*(If you need an explanation, read http://pennysworthofthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/05/chronicles-of-kronk-and-fannlee.html)

Songs on a Sunday: Anything That Costs Me Nothing

I heard this song for the first time in church today. The message really struck me because it was David's actual desire. He truly did not want to give God something that was free and easy. Yet it seems to me, that what we all want today is to give God the least that we can possibly get away with and still please Him. What has happened to the desire to please God no matter what the cost?

Anything That Costs Me Nothing

An offering of highest price, a servant whom the Lord can use. 

I will not offering anything that costs me nothing. 

I'll place before Him nothing less than my very best. 

And if I am called to sacrifice, 

It will be worthy of my Christ.

I will not offer anything that costs me nothing.

To serve Him is my goal. How could I withhold? 

Whatever's mine He's given me, it's not my own, but His alone. 

Whatever He requires, that is my desire. 

Whatever He may need from me I'll pay the cost, gain or loss. 

I will not offer anything that costs me nothing. 

I'll place before Him nothing less than my very best. 

And if I'm called to sacrifice, 

It will be worthy of my Christ. 

I will not offer anything that costs me nothing.

And if I am called to sacrifice, 

It will be worthy of my Christ. 

I will not offer anything that costs me nothing.

The Chronicles of Kronk and Fannlee: The Beginning

Once upon a time in the school year of 2008-2009 in the heartland of a country not so far away, in a land that was unusually windy, stood a city. In the heart of the city there was a special college where children of the King would go to study and prepare themselves for whatever the King might have them to do. At this college there was a Hopeful dorm in which maidens who were the King's daughters came to dwell while they studied. And in this Hopeful dorm there was a room marked by the numbers 705. Little did they know, but four princesses (for after all isn't that what daughters of the King are?) were soon to find themselves embarking on an epic journey of friendship and adventure!

The first Princess to arrive and thus begin her great adventure was Princess Annlee. She was the oldest princess and it was to be her last year in the Hopeful Dorm. When she didn't have her nose stuck in a book, she was often teased about her lack of a prince. The short but feisty Princess Annlee would always look up (way up!) at the other girls and laugh (as she loved to do quite often) in the face of this teasing, boldly declaring that she would wait for a Prince Manly because she did not want to settle for a yucky little boy! 

The next princess to arrive was the youngest of them all and was brand new to the school in the heartland, but she had shown wisdom beyond her years by praying that the King would bless her first year in a special way by giving her just the right roommates, which, as you will see, the King truly did. A lover of random birds, Princess Yonk had enough spirit and spunk that the others often forgot that she was younger than the rest of them. In addition to her spunk, Princess Yonk's beauty and spirit caught the eye of Prince Mit (or Mittens as Princess Annlee liked to call him) the minute he saw her. At first Princess Yonk laughed at his jester-like silliness but in the end she couldn't resist his princely charm and even now is married to him and is living out her happily ever after.

Our third Princess to make the Room 705 her home was the blonde Princess K-Rug who was known to enchant whole crowds of people at a time with the beautiful music she could draw forth from her violin. The King had given His daughter Princess K-Rug not only a special gift of music but also of love and acceptance. Even the hesitant Princess Annlee could not resist the sincerity of her gentle acceptance of each of them in spite of how very, very different they all were.

Our last Princess (and possibly the most important of all) almost missed out on the great adventure and actually came into the story several days after the others. Without Princess FB, it's highly doubtful that their adventures would have ever taken place! Seemingly carried by the unusual wind that seemed to never stop blowing, Princess FB breezed into Room 705 and, just as quickly, breezed into the hearts and lives of the other princesses. Princess FB was so like the wind with which she came, always swirling about the room full of life, chatter, and made-up songs that it earned her the nickname Forest Breeze as one of her many, many nicknames.

It did not take long before the King's answer to Princess Yonk's prayers became obvious and the Room 705 became known as a peaceful, joyful haven in the Hopeful dorm. The other maidens living in Hopeful dorm loved to visit this Room 705 to talk, joke, and even to do Tae Bo. During the year that these four Princesses dwelt together they had many great adventures! Perhaps some day, if you are very lucky, you will be able to hear the tales of "How What Was Almost Wasn't", "Ross and the Shrimp Skirmish", "the Night the Bed-Bugs Did Bite", "The Mystery of the Ghastly Girls: Who Scared Princess Mallory?", or their most recent adventure "The Roomie Reunion in Ocean's Paradise."

As much as Princess Annlee loved to read and laugh, Princess K-Rug loved music, and Princess Yonk loved random birds, Princess FB loved to talk. Each of these zany princess were so very, very different but together they were something very, very special; together they became Kronk and Fannlee, sisters bound together as daughters of the King.

Milestones

Today's post is a celebration of recent milestones in my life.

• I just turned 27 which is pretty cool, because it is a favorite number. 
• I got my first dog as an adult.
• I am about to go on my very first "real" vacation to see some states and an ocean that I have not yet seen before. 
• I have been a college graduate for 3 years this month.
• One month from today I will be celebrating the 2nd anniversary at my job and a full year in my department. 
• My blog actually reached and exceeded 1500 page views.
• This is the 50th post in which I have had the pleasure to practice honing my attempts to harness my thoughts into written form and which you, my beloved readers, have been crazy, goofy, loyal, or curious enough to take the time to read. (I'll let you decide which you are, but please, do share!!)

Now, friends, family, and any other readers who are reading my blog, the time has come to announce the winner of the contest!!! In case you have missed a few posts and have no clue to what I am referring, let me bring you up to speed.

I decided to have a contest to celebrate my 1500th page view right here on Penny's Worth of Thoughts. Each comment here as well as comments and likes on Facebook on posts 46-49 would be entitled to one entry each into a drawing for a $15.00 gift card to Starbucks. (Why Starbucks? Because I felt it would have virtually universal appeal and I would have entered such a contest myself. =)

Rather than actually writing out 32 names (yes, that's how many entries there ended up being) and drawing them from a hat the old-fashioned way, I did what any somewhat "tech-savy" 27 year old would do... I searched online for a free tool for contest drawings. I decided to use RandomPicker, a free service that allowed me to copy and paste my list of names and then generate a winner. (It was so easy to use, that I actually wish I had another contest to start so I could use it again!!) I did practice several times (which it allows for) before finalizing the drawing.

And the winner is.... Drumroll, please.............(Are you actually doing a drumroll? I didn't think so. Come on for real this time!)

Drumroll, please............

Amanda Allmon!!!!

Amanda earned four entries into my contest and one of them paid off! Amanda, please be sure to send me your mailing address through the messages on Facebook and I will get your prize mailed out to you!!

I would also like to say a very special "Thank You" to the following people who took the time to enter the contest by liking or commenting on my posts (in order of initial entry):

Samuel B. with two entries

Kayla B.

Becky P.

Faith B.

Christina B.

Laura S. with two entries

Mandy G.

Anita B. with four entries

Danielle W. with three entries

Rebecca L.

Caro W. with two entries

Kayla S.

Shawn E.

Rachel G. with two entries

Kate D.

Jason E.

Tammy W.

Angel and Coby M.

Mallory S.

P.S. If you are of the suspicious nature or are just jealous to miss out of some free Starbucks, you may examine the results yourself at http://www.randompicker.com/protocol/5723x13024.

Thanks once again everyone!!!