the big apple

{via}

After nine relaxing days cruising, we decided to stay and explore the Big Apple

Highlights: seeing Times Square for the first time, black & white cookies, real NY cheesecake, riding through Central Park on a bike, feeling like a little kid in FAO Schwartz, browsing through Tiffany & Co., shopping on 5th Ave, walking through St. Paul's Cathedral, exploring Greenwich Village & NYU, figuring out the subway system, the beautiful view of the city from the top of the Empire State Building, Eating at the famous Carnegie Deli and becoming great friends with our hilarious waitress, visiting Ground Zero, bartering with vendors in China Town, eating at America's first pizzeria in Little Italy, watching some crazy talented street performers.

I loved New York City... it was such a feast for the senses. I love the life and vibe that you feel as you're walking down the streets. I'm sure you could explore for months on end, but I feel like I got a good little taste in the few days we were there. What a great little post-graduation adventure! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

c'mon let's cruise...

Hello, blogging world! I have to say, I quite enjoyed my time away from the technology world... but I am back! And I promise to write more this month (as opposed to the whopping 4 posts in May). I will start off with a little recap from our Caribbean cruise:

...Puerto Rico...

...St. Thomas...

...St. Maarten...

...Tortola...

...On the boat...

...Highlights...
sailing past lady liberty out of NYC, a cruise kick off toast with the family, adjoining cabins/decks, lots of reading time, staring into the deep blue ocean, watching the ever-changing sky, dressing up in a fancy dress, delicious food & LOTS of it, soaking up the sun at the boat's pool, exploring the colorful city of San Juan, visiting El Castillo de San Felipe del Morro, the beautiful white beaches at St. Thomas, SNORKELING, playing in the ocean, walking barefoot in the sand, watching the silly pelicans and diving birds, drinking coconut milk straight from a fresh coconut, dad crooning to his music, breathtaking sunsets, playing endless games of bananagrams and Black Jack, the 70's entertainment night on the ship (hilarious), lots of good sister time, my adventurous nana who was such a trooper, long chats with my momma.

thankful thursdays {24}

Happy Thursday!
Here's my little list of thankfulness for the week!
Feel free to play along in this little experiment in cultivating thankfulness.

wise friends
much-needed motivation
a chance to catch up on some sleep
a beautiful snow storm, followed by bluebird days
the light that turned red & allowed a few more minutes to finish a great song
knocking out some major projects/exams for the semester
stories of God's amazing faithfulness
swapping stories with nursing friends
revisiting cherished memories
a fun celebration at red iguana
catching up with my cousins
little motivational speeches from my parents
an unexpected sister date... much laughter involved
free coffee. good free coffee.
feeling more and more comfortable as a novice nurse

In case you missed out last week, I am making a conscious effort to highlight the amazing peope in my life and write about why I am thankful for them.
This week I'm featuring my Dad!
His birthday was on Wednesday, so I thought he would be a perfect choice to write a little thankfulness list about. I love you and am thankful for you, daddy!

{haha... this picture was taken on his birthday. one of the MANY things I love about my dad is his love for homies! he's just the greatest!}

thankful thursdays {21}

{via the notebook doodles}

Sorry about skipping out on my little weekly list of thanks last Thursday. I just plum forgot to do it... Needless to say, it has been a crazy few weeks. But I am back today with an extra thought out list of things that I'm grateful for!

writing letters with recovering drug addicts
a sweet visit from the lil' sis (diet coke in hand)
fage greek yogurt with honey
slap happy moments brought on by sheer exhaustion
the countless people in my life who invest in me
a birthday celebration for my bestie
getting an invite to sigma theta tau
my amazing gym buddy, emily
getting geeked up about the things i'm learning in my seminary class
a professor who (unlike the rest) is not making me jump through hoops this term
and another one who bought me pizza just to be nice
finishing up my psych rotation (holla!)
cinnamon vanilla creme coffee mate
being mentored by one of the coolest ladies around (through a project at my church)
learning a whole lotta stuff about cancer
zumba and kickboxing
blessings from project 119
long chats on the phone with my momma
2 new tires (after having a bad flat)
God's provision
the creativity that comes with being broke
walking through life with the goonies
this song. oh, goodness... give it a listen!
somehow finding time to journal and hit up the gym

and last, but certainly not least...
this precious little bundle


Introducing Isaiah Benjamin!
This sweet little blessing came in to the lives of two dear friends, Zane and Jasa, this past week. We held a shower for them last night and it took a whole 5 minutes for him to steal my heart. You can read their amazing adoption story here! Praising God for this beautiful little life!

Be blessed.

one last toast to 2010

i wrote one of these little toasts last year,
and i'm thinking that 2010 deserves at least a toast or two as well...

{via}

to finishing months of physical therapy
to 2 healthy knees
to prayers for Haiti
to nurse geekiness
to finding a new church to call home
to choosing faith that's based on more than feeling
to finding a healthier balance
to being pushed to live a better story
to embracing a little whimsy
to the closing of a chapter
to little summer blitz trips
to divine plans
to big unknowns
to facing fears
to a slow-paced, Midwestern culture
to family away from home
to heart break over mental illness
to fun adventures in new places
to an amazing preceptor
to new friends
to thunderstorms brewing over dark night skies
to learning to get over myself
to asking hard questions
to lessons in listening
to understanding myself better
to a box of letters
to lessons from mr. lewis
to a greater understanding of God's will
to adventures in public transportation
to struggling through doubt, fear, & discontentment
to gaining victory and freedom
to a shift in heart
to tangible change
to experiencing God's joy
to cultivating thankfulness
to resuscitating the blog
to blessed jobs
to the best study buddy a girl could ask for
to my fabulous cohort
to both the good and bad days in nursing school
to sweet little children struggling with cancer
to surviving my maternity rotation
to confronting materialism
to having the "hardest" semester of nursing school under my belt
to living with a bunch of goonies
to my sweet little bucyeneza irene
to growing pains
to a God who refuses to give up on me
to battling insecurity
to restoration and building back
to african refugees
to my wonderful family
to not making plans

to 2010: what blessed year!
i am truly in awe for the journey this year has been
and i'm looking forward to new adventures in 2011.

Mazel Tov!

what are your 2010 highlights?

thankful thursdays {15}

happy thursday!
as always, here's my little weekly list of thanks
from project: cultivate thankfulness:

lazy mornings filled with coffee and family
straight A's for the semester (with one little minus on the side). holla.

a lovely evening chatting with lovely ladies
a memorable family party
lots of crafting & baking
reading. reading. reading.
being home for the holidays
a frigid (but fun) game of ultimate frisbee
celebrating another finished term with my nursing peeps
a much-needed haircut
catching up on sleep
skipping out on the holiday shopping crowds
actually having some time to chill
christmas cards
cooking with my momma
"Echoes of Christmas" with the fam
catching up with far away friends
a sweet Chinese exchange student who's staying with my fam
a beautiful advent season

and most of all, I am thankful for Jesus...
for the God who chose to come dwell among his people as Emmanuel.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. {Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21; Isaiah 9:6 ESV}

Thankful Thursdays {6}

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ~G.K. Chesterton

first pumpkin spice latte of the season... yum!
surviving a heart-wrenching day in the PICU (definitely not my niche)
holding tiny babies with duck fuzz hair in the NBICU
(so stinkin cute... though, not my niche either)
my hippie little faith family here in salt lake

+ our retreat this weekend
(learning from this guy, singing songs, and enjoying the mountains)
+ a sweet time of worship, singing this song
+ being challenged to be still before God

Celebrating 78 beautiful years of life with my Nana
Psalm 61:2
my job... have I mentioned what a blessing it is?
5 Roses Tea (will forever be my favorite)
laughing harder than i have in a long time... it's good for the soul
an amazing clinical instructor who brought us pizza on tuesday
avoiding homework with tori
(i'm beginging to think that we're bad influences on each other... whatever!)

Hey all, hope you've had a lovely week.
Tomorrow is Friday... you can do it!
Feel free to jump on board with this little experiment in gratitude if you'd like!

mom & dad come for a visit.

My parent's came for a little visit this weekend and it was a blast! I think we pretty much covered the entirety of southern Minnesota, along with parts of Iowa and Wisconsin. Here's the run down of what we did... hold on, this one has lots of pictures!

{Friday}

I sent my parents on a tour of the Mayo Clinic while I was at work.
We went to Newt's for lunch (they're famous for their "Jucy Lucy" burger).
Then we ended the evening with Toy Story 3 (which was ridiculously cute!)

{Saturday}
We woke up early and made our way to Harmony, Minnesota (aka, where all the Amish people live). We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at a little place called The Harmony House, went antique shopping, and toured around Amish country.

{we bought homemade granola bars from an amish roadside stand... probably the best granola bar I have ever had... notice the price: 30 cents!}

During our tour through Harmony, we tripped across a purple house that was home to the"goat lady." We had a blast playing with these baby angora goats.

Next on the list is Lanesboro... this quaint little riverside town was so much fun. We explored around the shops for a bit and then rented bikes for the afternoon.

We ended up stopping in a small town (Whalan) for some "world famous pie". I had a slice of the "Elvis Peanut Butter Pie"... incredible!

After our pie adventure, we made our way to Aviary Acres to do a little bird watching,

then drove through Decorah, Iowa and Lacrosse, Wisconsin.

On our way back to Rochester, we tried to find a place to eat in Nodine, but nothing was to be found (ironically... no-dine).

After hours and hours of traveling, we ended up eating at a great restaurant in Rochester called Twigs... best butternut squash ravioli ever.

{Sunday}
We started out the day with a yummy breakfast at Rabbits bakery in Lake City. After a little site seeing, we drove up the Mississippi river through Pepin, Nelson, Wabasha and Redwing.

{me and the parents next to the World's Largest Boot... what a touristy moment}

... we also did some monster searching in Lake Pepin for the notorious Pepie lake monster (is that not the wimpiest lake monster name ever?)

We ended the day with a few hours in Minneapolis/St. Paul. We were able to see the Mall of America, the St. Paul Cathedral, the State capital and LOTS of fireworks {Happy 4th!}






{Monday}
As always, we kicked off our day with breakfast and coffee, this time we went to Dunn Bros.

Then we stopped by a Rochester fave... the world's largest ear of corn (are you noticing a pattern?)

We spent the biggest part of the day kayaking on the Zumbro Falls River... it was gorgeous and SO fun!

We ended the night at a fun little restaurant/pub in Rochester called Whistle Binkies.

In the words of my dad, "We broke the fun meter."

And we did! It was such a blast to have my parents come and see what I'm up to for the summer.

I love hanging out with them... they're off to see the sis in North Carolina now, and I'm back

to work! I love you guys!

{xo. jarah}

one last toast to 2009

For those of you who want the reader's digest version of this whole update thing, this is the post for you. At the end of every December I like to take time to journal some highlights from the year. Okay, okay... I admit this might be a little weird to read in May of 2010, but I though it would be a good overview of '09 at large. So, without further ado, here is the unedited toast to 2009 from my journal...


To dropping everything.
To living in Africa.
To the undeniable work of God's hand.
To heartbreak.
To opened eyes.
To growing up.
To never too far.
To realized dreams.
To beautiful African babies.
To lessons learned.
To reevaluating tradition.
To wise mentors.
To teammates.
To lovely little letters.
To kindred spirits.
To leaving behind pieces of your heart.
To beautiful reunions.
To (re)learning to be an American.
To hard realities.
To difficulty in ministry.
To junior high girls.
To confronting wrong.
To epic road trips.
To pen pals.
To "glory-strength."
To diet coke dates.
To being uprooted.
To relationship blunders.
To obedience.
To letting go.
To the wait.
To challenge.
To walking through a desert.
To lifelongs.
To getting in.
To unlikely friendships.
To being humbled.
To Veterans.
To wanderlust.
To fueled passion.
To desperation.
To pediatrics.
To where to next?
To my sarge.
To stolen cars being found.
To spontaneous adventures.
To success redefined.
To oceans of grace.
To broken knees being fixed.
To unexpected joys.
To an unforgettable year.

2009: I'll archive you away as a favorite forever. Mazel Tov!
{xo. jarah}