you're welcome

If you feel better about the state of the union today, you can thank me.

I'm temping. Contributing to the economy. Playing office.

Technically, this will probably only affect you directly if you have Starbucks stock. There happens to be a Starbucks conveniently located next to the temp agency where I temp.

But that's not the only reason I like to temp. I also like the Barista (I'm probably old enough to be his mother) who fawns over me. Granted, he probably treats all customers the same, but I don't know that and for three minutes of the day I feel special.

Plus the temp agency loves me, appreciates me, begs for me to come back and can't get enough of me (yet). The foundation of any good relationship in my opinion.

Most important, I actually have a valid reason to dress up.

I'm sorry people died.

I truly am.

But I'm still alive.

And what is life without Peter Pan Whipped Peanut Butter?

I want my whipped peanut butter back. Please.

Thank you.

holy moly

For your convenience, here is a Holy Land trip summary:

-My jar of Nutella made it through airport security.

-You ride the bus/walk to a site with old rocks and an old church. The church is probably built over an old cave. You ask the Pastor was Jesus really here or does this just commemorate Jesus. Peddlers ask you to buy ten postcards for a dollar. You ride the bus/walk to the next site with old rocks and an old church, repeat.

-Hummus.

-Pita.

-I like Hummus and Pita. But I don't care what anyone says. Its not for breakfast. Nutella!

-Falafel. I ate food prepared by street vendors, on the same street where you can find live chickens on one side of a store and roasting chickens on the other. And butchered cows hanging everywhere. But when you get back to the States, all Customs cares about is if you went to a farm. Hmmmm.

-I'm still trying to figure out how those Jewish guys get their curls so tight.

-Was it wrong of me, at the Wailing Wall, to think that girl's shoes are really cute? They were.

-I ate the best bagel I've ever had in my life in the Jewish Quarter.

-Herod didn't just hate little babies and Jesus. Two and a half years ago, the Pastor sprained his ankle hiking at Masada. On this trip, I fell on my knee hiking at Masada. Ouch.

-A shekel is worth something like a quarter. But by the time you go back and forth between Jerusalem where they have shekels and Jordan where they have jd's, you'll be so confused about converting and doing math and bartering when you just want to buy a diet coke that you just hold your coins out and let the shopkeeper take whatever they want. Then you give the rest to a Bedouin sheep farmer's kid in exchange for a hand-beaded bracelet.

-Jesus apparently didn't stress the need for hot showers and extreme water pressure in his homeland.

-If you find Pashminas for $10, buy more than one. I am a fashion victim in any country.

-On the flight home, the Pastor read some book about the Psalms. I read Allure and Us Magazine.

-A very friendly Egyptian man hit on me twice in front of the Pastor. I think the Pastor was contemplating how many camels he could trade me for. I'm sure he quickly realized I'm worth a lot of camels, and they would be messy to clean up after, especially without me around.

-Its apparently acceptable for ground crew to decide they are just not going to unload luggage because its too cold outside. Therefore, after we missed our connecting flight sitting in Customs waiting for luggage, we got a bonus night in Chicago courtesy of Royal Jordanian Air. Furthermore, in the Middle East I witnessed kindness, graciousness, and generosity. It wasn't until I returned to America I saw the real terrorists, and they were all working behind an airline counter where they still apparently use a paper-based system to handle flight re-bookings and hotel vouchers.

-I've been home for a day and I've plucked my own eyebrows, given myself a mani/pedi and a facial with my Dead Sea mud mask. Its good to do the do-it-yourself beauty after you get home from international travel - because sometimes Pastors don't understand spending money on such things immediately after he has spent money to take you several time zones away. I am going to get my hair done tomorrow - there are some lines I won't cross. I also put my heels back on today. Yes my knee hurts, but I couldn't let Herod get the best of me.

away in a manger

I am in Bethlehem.

I have not had access to a computer or phone, so I miss everyone.

But baby Jesus stuff is nice too.

Be home Saturday, really more like Sunday.

Be at the mexican restaurant on Sunday.

Jacob wrestled with God and got a new name (Genesis 32)

I wrestled with my tote bag and pulled a muscle. I didn't even really wrestle with it. It was more like I bent over to pick it up.

It only hurts when I turn my neck in any direction. Like when I'm sightseeing.

We went to the Jabbok River today and saw some ancient ruins (big, old rocks). I also got a cappucino at Dunkin Donuts - that is, it had all Dunkin Donuts stuff, except its called Donut Palace or something like that. In the place where Jacob wrestled by the river, I'm not sure why they would have issues with dunkin.

In Jordan.

The guide who met us at the airport - his name was Jihad. I'm not sure how it was spelled, but it was pronounced Jihad.

And the guy who served us dinner was Mohammed Ali.

I switched to decaf

and apparently that means you fall asleep at 8:30, wake up at 1 a.m. for a bit and consider blogging but fall back asleep until you are wide awake again at 5:30.

If this is decaf life, I'm not sure I want any part of it.

But we are going to Israel this week, and I didn't want my body to be all strung out like it normally is, desperately searching for coffee. I'm going to do this scientific experiment to see if this makes jet lag, etc. on international travel less of an issue.

Wedding yesterday, i.e., four pieces of cake yesterday. It was their fault. Each layer was a different flavor which is really just wrong. Wrong wrong wrong! I felt jilted after I got carrot cake. Who wants carrot cake at a wedding? I had to see what the other layers were. Still, I feel cheated because I did not get strawberry. I would have rather had strawberry than carrot.

Also, I feel cheated because I wore a certain fabulous dress again (outfit repeater!) and the Pastor still didn't take a picture.

Off to make my decaf latte. And get dressed for church. Maybe if I quit blogging and actually get dressed, I won't be late for church, and the Pastor and I can have a happy sabbath.

Happy New Year

from me and Big Bird's evil twin

feather boas

itch, in case you didn't know

Can you believe

I wore something I already had.

Sorry the coat covers the dress, but it was cold.

Yes, Christmas is over

but I didn't want you to miss this dress/boots.