The Zoo!

This little otter went up to the tapir and tagged it and ran away. No joke.
"Who has awakened me from my slumber?!"
Tilly the aardvark. Yes, I petted an aardvark today.
yaaaaaaaaaaaawn
I was almost positive it was going to eat me. Goats are vicious.

hahahhah!!!

I don't remember if I had shared this before, but it makes me laugh. And I really want to master his accent....

Ah. Public humiliation, how I love thee.

So I talked to my biology teacher today about my interview questions for a letter we have to write. So then class started and lalalala.. And then she started talking about the letter and she was like, "And SOMEONE is already READY to interview her expert!!!" (as she stood right in front of me) And then she raised her hand as high as it would go and she pointed to me.

Yeah. I kind of hunched down in the seat and died. Later I was talking to Mary and I was like, "Yeah... Everyone in the class probably hates me now."

"I hate you."

There's real friendship for you. True to the end.

Kristy, this is dedicated to you....

I'm pretty sure Kristy was tired of seeing my fake serious face, so here are some normal Elyse pictures for you. Enjoy.

Oh yes, I helped make dinner! It was yuuuuuuummy.

Cheesy meatballs, zucchini and tomatoes.

Over whole wheat pasta! It was gooooood. (btw this is hilarious.)

I wore this shirt to school today.

Only one person said anything about it. He read it out loud and then said that it was a "good" shirt.

...It's nice to find like minded people.

What to do.. What to doooo...

So what does one do on President's day? Go shopping of course!!! This shopping trip had been planned for many weeks after we were foiled in our planning.. But hurrah! Success!

Albert was in the dressing room for some reason.

Yes, Mary's dress DOES have little tiny Revolutionary war soldiers on it. I KNOW, it's AWESOME.Seriously, pomegranate lemonade. Get it if you're ever at Nordstrom's café, it's sooooo yum!

This Might Possibly be the Greatest. Thing. Ever.

hahahhahaahaha!!!!

Retard Award of the Year

And it goes to me...

Let Your Hair Down...

One day, a few months ago, I turned on the radio in the morning before I crawled out of bed and I heard a song that made me cry. I was going through an intense time of the Lord showing me how to be beautiful by accepting who I am. Just to think about how He coordinates my life.. It's just insane. My camp counselor called these times "Jesus kisses." Basically, they are just times when we know that an instance happened and we knew that it was from the Lord.

Here's an example. My mom planted a garden in Oregon because she didn't want to move. She planted a row of tomato plants and at the end of that row she planted two bell pepper plants. They ended up moving because they thought it was God's will for their lives. There was a garden where they moved to and there were tomato plants there. Things weren't working out quite like they had expected and she was wondering if it was really God's will. A lady from their church was over and she was telling her what kind of plants were in the backyard. Down at the end of the row of tomato plants she said, "What are those?" And my mom had never noticed them before. They were two bell pepper plants at the end of the tomato row, just like she had planted in Oregon. (She says that sometimes she would have to go out and look at those plants to remind herself that God had a plan.)

Anyway, back to MY example. ;) I knew that God was using this song to speak to me and it still brings tears to my eyes just because of how hard girls struggle to feel beautiful and to change themselves so that they can be "acceptable." To know that God just wants us to be ourselves and to love how He made us.. He doesn't want us to struggle.. I don't know, I think that's absolutely beautiful.

" Girl, put your records on, tell me your favourite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
... You're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow.
... When you gonna realise, that you don't even have to try any longer?
Do what you want to."
-Put Your Records On

I find it funny how I'm not even into the type of music that Corinne Bailey Rae makes, but that song is absolutely one of my favorites because it reminds me of what God showed me. I don't have to change myself to be beautiful, I just need to be me. The way God made me. I think it breaks His heart when He sees us hating ourselves and changing ourselves, He wants us to be free from that.

(And just to clarify I'm not discussing sin, because I have many, many issues in my heart that need to change, but I'm referring the behavior of changing yourself to fit in with a group.)

Anyway, oddly enough, I needed to hear that song today, but for a different reason. The way God loves me astounds me...

Wow...

I've been learning about DNA and I must say, I love learning about this stuff. If I didn't want to be a nurse I would want to go into genetics, it's so fantastic!

Also, it is absolutely astounding to think of how we are made from four nucleotides. Just four... Our alphabet has 26 letters. And yet with just four nucleotides God made you and me.

He's really smart. I'm just in awe.

hahahha!!!

I still love Downhere (in case you were wondering)

I met You like a little child
Wide-eyed and mystified
That You could love even me
So I'm here to testify
That it's been an amazing ride with You
And I have never walked alone
Wanna give You every moment, every minute
It's takes a lifetime to know You, to know You

And the more You show me, the more You grow me
The more Your glory becomes all there is
And the more I know You, the more I need You
The more I love You, the more You become to me

Fast-forward to the golden years
A smaller pride and a bigger fear
But still, no way are we done yet
I pray that You would keep me mystified,
In every way that I will still abide in You
Till You come to take me home
Wanna give You every moment, every minute
And take a lifetime to know You, to know You

Wanna give You every moment, every minute
I'll take a lifetime to know You
Hold me Lord, keep me
Draw me closer every moment of my life
-The More by Downhere

Honestly I had forgotten to search after the heart of God. I was complacent and I forgot that I can never fully know Him, but I want to.

Are you still amazed at who He is? You should be, I should be.. We need to learn who our Savior is. He wants us to discover who He is, this is all part of worship.

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

-Psalm 63:1-5

XD

I've been listening to some audio clips of people saying who they voted for and why. Cracks me up when people are like, "Barack Obama is so charismatic, so I'm voting for him."

Hmm.. A charismatic president... Is that necessary? How about we ACTUALLY look into the issues people?!?!

I heard another lady who was saying how we need to help the "little children" and she was veeeeeeery much against abortion, so she voted for Romney.. Ha ha!

Uninformed people should not be allowed to vote or maybe they should just leave our country.

We went to a one year old's birthday party on Saturday...

I love this picture...

This was after he got comfortable with the cake.

Before he dove in he was feeling a little cautious about the whole thing.

This is his "thinking" face. It's quite cute.

"Hmm.. Frosting.. Yes, this might just be a good thing... Maybe."

Called it!

Not really. But I decided (rather randomly) to cheer for the Giants, and they won! Yay!

Not like I cared.. I didn't even know who was playing until today and I didn't stay for the whole party. =P

E-Day

So Mary and I decided to be emo on Valentine's Day. So, I'm thinking black eye liner all around the eyes, and maaaaaaaaaaybe straightening my hair AND wearing ALL black.

Which, would involve black pants.. Do I have any? Hm... Maybe I'll wear a skirt. Wait. Is that emo? O_O

Also, I'm planning on having several Anti-Valentine Day functions in which I will watch horror movies with my friends.

(Wow.. This post was so cynical!!!)

Feeling slightly.. TRIUMPHANT!!!

Well, I just found out what I got on my Spanish test... 96%

WOOOOOOOOT!!!!

On the last one my teacher said that 65-82% was good and was what she was expecting from the class. I got 86% and I felt like dying (because I have MAJOR issues about grades.. It's sick.) but then my teacher said that if we got anything about 82% that was great and we really had to work hard to get there. And so I felt a little better, but I was still like, "Mergh..."

But then I found out I got 96% and I rejoiced!!! I really studied hard for that one and maaaaan... It feels good to get that grade, let me tell you.. ;)