Always an Adventure...

I have a few friends in my social media network who never fail to impress me with their prolific use of #hashtags and I can admit to googling them and one point and trying to figure out why on earth I was suddenly seeing these weird metasubliminal messages on peoples' posts.... so on my way to embracing the hashtag, here are a few thoughts: Monday: Spent 20 minutes at the acupuncturist with 8 needles stuck in my legs. #ouch #notreally #justpsychological #didntlook Tuesday: Bought new socks from a truck on the side of the road. #myglamouroustaiwanlife Wednesday: Took off my sweater only to realize my shirt was on inside out. #adultlifefail #gettingold Thursday: Had homemade oatmeal with peanut butter chips and craisins for breakfast. And lunch. #comfortfood #yummy Friday: Reading Isaiah, I suddenly want to rename my bible study class "Okes of Righteousness." #inspiration #suchanerd

It's a new year, and just like last year , I wanted to ask God to give me word for the new year, to guide me, to inspire me, and to be a theme for me. I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, and the word freedom popped into my head one day as I was walking, but it didn't seem quite right...too easy almost... so I kept thinking, then I started sharing with people that I was looking for a word, and the pressure was on, I knew they would ask me what I chose...or what chose me! As I went through a fun long weekend and an enjoyable New Year's Eve with friends, I still didn't really have a word... just before bed, I read a verse from Streams in the Desert which came from Deuteronomy 11, here set on the background of my view of Taipei 101 on new year's eve: It kind of inspired me to remember that God is there among all the beginnings and endings. In fact, 2012 was a year of many endings for me. The end of my 20s, the completion of my master's degr...

This past year has been a lot about reflecting for me, which is good, and I still have 4 more months until my 30th birthday. I hope I can continue to work toward my goals in that time. In the meantime, life still happens, right? Christmas went by in a flurry of parties and events, and new years was kind of the same. There are only 11 more days until my trip to Thailand and starting new classes. But for now, it's time to think about what 2012 is going to bring. One of my kindred spirits, Krystal shared this blog on Facebook, and I was indeed inspired. The blog challenges us to come up with a word (One Little Word) to represent your hopes for the next year. On the blog it says,  You live with it. You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads.  There are so many possibilities .  Do check it out. A lot of people had some very nice sounding words, especially in the comments, like nurture, gravity, believe etc. And as I was reading...

Amanda did this meme: 7 random facts about me... well as she said.. I'm not sure what kind of random facts remain to be shared that most of my blog readers don't know! There are things about my life in Taiwan my Canadian friends don't really know, and things I like or have done before that my friends here don't know about! But here are some random things: 1. I sometimes try to make up conversations in French or Portuguese in my head just to see if I would be able to communicate at all if I met someone who spoke one of those languages.... 2. Those conversations almost always turn into Chinese without me immediately realizing I've switched 3. I really like hardcore music, and I just put Blindside and old Skillet onto my MP3 player... (sorry Norah Jones, you had to go in order to make room) 4. I thought I lost my birth certificate last week and it took me forever to find it because I never throw anything away and had waay too much stuff to sift through! (Ok, many of y...

I did this once a long time ago, and just got the idea to do it again a little differently! The idea is you type "your name is" into google (you need to quotation marks for it to work. Then post the first 10 (or 10 most interesting) sentences from the results. So here we go: Charlotte is Wise, Patient, and Caring (that really was the very first one that came up!) Charlotte is leaving the hospital Charlotte is on maternity leave. Charlotte is the largest city in the state of North Carolina (I'm surprised there weren't more like this) Charlotte is taking a hiatus from blogging. Charlotte is disturbing and shocking Charlotte is obviously suffering from the uniquely female illness, hysteria Charlotte is just as important to children's books as the other one Charlotte is from Sparta Charlotte is definitely dually talented, Charlotte is more than a pet Feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you try it!

What better to fill some time than a few holiday quizzes... You're welcome to leave your results in the comments if you take any of these quizzes. What The Holidays Mean to You For you, the holidays are a very spiritual time. You have as much holiday fun as everyone else - but you never forget what you're celebrating. You celebrate the holidays in a offbeat style. You believe the holidays are for doing whatever you feel like - and some of your "traditions" are pretty wacky. During the holidays, you feel magical. You love all of the decorations and how happy people are. You like to sit back and take it all in. You think the holidays should be decadent and indulgent. You never mind gaining a few holiday pounds... it's worth it! Your best holiday memories are of childhood foods and traditions. You secretly still wish you believed in Santa Claus. What Do the Holidays Mean to You? I think this one is pretty accurate. A mix of traditional, spiritual and my own random un...

Here's a fun googling meme lifted from Amanda 's blog! 1. age at next birthday 2. A place I'd like to travel I've wanted to go to Thailand for a while now! someday... 3. Favorite Place The good old Canadian rockies! 4. Favorite Thing It was so hard to choose a favorite thing, so at the moment, let's say Christmas! 5. Favorite food 6. Favorite Color blue! everyone knows this right? 7. Favorite flower Orchids and Calla lilies both of which grow here in Taiwan! 8. Town you live in Here's what looks like an aerial shot of Yilan 9. Name of a past pet Our little puppy in Yuli, named for his color! 10. Nickname With not quite the same pronunciation LOL 11. college major I love this first graphc, which really did come up when I googled TESOL! 12. first job