uh oh

I find I am beginning to use British words sometimes when I am thinking through things in my head. I have yet to say much out loud because I usually stop myself but this could be an indication of things to come. You know it starts with the little things...

anticipation

This story makes me think of Diversity Day and that makes me look forward to new episodes of The Office!!

try something new today

Last weekend I went to Edinburgh with my parents. It was a really cool city- freezing and windy, but very cool. A traditional Scottish dish is haggis, with neeps and tatties. Haggis is one of those dishes that you don't want to know exactly what's in it. (But if you check the link above you'll find out.) We decided to give it a try so we could say we'd had it. It was actually really good. I guess if you put the right spices in it, even sheep insides taste good! What have you tried today?

on the run

I'm sure my readership has plummeted with my recent lack of postings. I feel like Jason Bourne. Last week I was in 4 different countries and was at the airport 5 out of 7 days. I came back from skiing in France, picked up Mom and Dad at the airport, went to Germany for work, came back and went to Edinburgh over the weekend. Now my feet are firmly back on London soil...at least for a couple of weeks. Lately every day I wake up asking myself, "Where am I?" I am looking forward to sleeping in my bed every night for a whole week in a row!

another reason to love France

In addition to Paris, the Riviera and French food, I can now add skiing in the Alps to another reason I love France. I am having a blast! The lessons have been very helpful and I've mostly mastered the green [easiest] runs, and done tiny bits of the next level. We've had some fun days of snow and beautiful days of sun as well. I am still in one piece, although I am amazed at how a knee can bend and twist yet still the bottom half of my leg stays attached! I also have a wicked tan/burn line on my face. Here is a small taste of the week so far with one day left to go.

on the snowiest day

the highest peak in the distance is Mont BlancI skied down this hill! (probably the hardest one I've done so far)

practice makes perfect

Today was my first day skiing! A few of us took a two hour beginner lesson and then we practiced for another hour. Now I am exhausted. I feel confident in going back out tomorrow. For now it's nap time.

I will post some pictures soon but for now, just to confuse you, I've finally posted my Vienna pictures so you can see them here.

multi-talented

This weekend I'll be hitting the dance floor then hitting the slopes!

I am headed off for a whole weekend of Ceroc! I'll be on the dance floor 24/7...well, almost. There will be lots of classes and lots of freestyle so I should come back a pro! If you have Facebook (and who doesn't?) then you can check out some video clips of intermediate classes here. It doesn't look as fun as it actually is but you can still get the idea.

On Sunday I'm going straight to the airport to leave for Meribel, France where I'll be skiing all week in the Three Valleys. I've skied a total of 2 days in my life (yikes!) so I've signed up for beginner lessons. You can check out the webcams and maybe you'll catch a glimpse of me flying down the slopes - or on my back! I think the chalet also has wireless so I'll try to post some photo updates.

the Factory

The church I regularly attend, St Andrews @ 7, is part of a larger group of churches in London called The Co-Mission. There is another church, Dundonald Church, that our congregation is involved with on a regular basis and which I sometimes attend in the morning. That church is about to move into a new building called The Factory.

It doesn't sound that exciting if you're used to American churches. However, in England most churches don't build new buildings, they move around within existing parish churches for the Church of England. So for a church to raise it's own money and refurbish a building on their own, apart from the existing Church of England structure, is unheard of. Unfortunately, it actually raises a significant amount of opposition from the surrounding parish (which are usually more liberal, non Bible teaching churches) because they are afraid that we are going to come in and steal all their people.

It doesn't sound new to me since I'm used to churches building their own new buildings or moving into non-traditional buildings. But here it is an exciting opportunity to create news since people are intrigued by a church moving into a factory. We would appreciate your prayers for growth in the church and for new opportunities to be created.

Where is God?

One of the most common questions we face as Christians is, "Where is God in the midst of all the violence and suffering in the world?" Good question.

The other night a missionary from Kenya spoke at my church. She had left with her children during the violence but her husband was still back in Kenya. She recounted the actions of two churches in the country. The two churches were each of the different ethnic groups which were feuding. However, during the violence the two churches came together and united to help each other and serve those around them. What a great picture of how God can work in a devastating situation!

Maybe sometimes we just need to learn to look a little harder to see how God is moving. I won't claim that this solves one of life's biggest questions, but, at least it's something to think about.

update

I've just gotten back from a weekend away with my church. It was a wonderful weekend and a great chance to get into the countryside, spending time with awesome friends, and hear from the word of God. We studied the topic of worship and it was very challenging.

Last weekend I was in Vienna and took lots of lovely pictures but I've yet to get them up online. By the time this month is over I should have a ton to post!

words

If you like words, and know a lot of them (and I know at least a few of my readers do!) then you should check out this site. Free Rice donates grains of rice for every vocabulary word you answer correctly. Yeah, it sounds kind of weird but how cool is that? Check it out and make a little difference in the world today. Thanks to Justin for the tip on his blog.

I feel the earth move under my feet

In case you're wondering, no, I didn't feel the earthquake...so everything is fine with me.

Wien

I'm headed to Vienna...

I was expecting a bit of a cold, wintry get-away but it looks like the temperatures there are actually in the fifties right now. Who would have thought that it would be colder and snowier in Cincinnati? Well, I guess if you know that Vienna isn't in the Alps that would be a clue. I didn't realize it but Vienna is famous for it's cakes and coffee. I think you know how I'll be spending my time! (I think I will prefer that over Wiener schnitzel)

one day at a time

The great thing about London is there are so many things to do.

The bad thing about London is there are so many things to do...and I want to do them all!

Things are about to get really busy for me. It's all my fault, and they are all fun things but I might get quiet for awhile. I'm in the midst of moving down the street and have a lot of trips coming up. With everything going on it's hard to think of things to write. The rest of February and March will be a whirlwind but I am looking forward to my my parents coming in one month!

fashion police

Last week I went to Hamburg for some training...We had a two hour delay leaving London so I had plenty of time to spot some interesting fashion faux pas. This was the best and I managed to catch the poor, unsuspecting man on camera as he came out of the bathroom. Two different shades of orange?? Classic.

I can't keep up

Does he want to stay or does he want to go? Will they or won't they trade him? Does he want to go to Miami or Washington? I wish Chad Johnson and the Bengals would just make-up.

I would walk 500 miles...

If The Proclaimers actually walked 500 miles I think they would be pretty sore. Yesterday I walked about 17.5 and I am feeling very stiff. We started our training for Trailwalker by walking from Wimbledon to Central London and back in 6 hours. Checking the route on Google maps you can actually figure out the distance which is cool. So 17.5 miles down, 42.5 to go.

I am getting used to the idea that I live in London...but sometimes it still strikes me at random times. The other night it hit me that I can navigate my way around the city without a map now (for the most part), and walking all the way to Central London and back was also cool. Now we just have to walk all the way to the coast!

hey, bloggers

I mentioned before that there is a service that tracks buzz on blogs, etc. You can check it out here. They have various tools on the site and one is BlogPulse profiles. You can enter the URL of a blog and it can give you various statistics. I tried entering my URL and it was a little creepy, although I can't say that I was surprised. For example, it could tell me that I'd recently referenced www.nkotb.com. If I go to the trend search tool I can search the trend of New Kids on the Block buzz and see there was a huge spike in late January with up to 0.11% of all blogs analyzed referencing New Kids on the Block. I'm sure it would be more interesting on a more high profile blog. Here's another interesting media/social-networking website where you can rate TV, movies, music and websites and also check out the latest buzz.

I'm a slave...

...to my email.

What did people do all day at work before they were chained to their laptops? I think I am a little obsessive compulsive. It partially stems from the fact that I am in client service so my job is to respond to client needs. That has trained me to respond to emails very quickly. Now it's to the point when I get an email I have an urge to respond almost instantly...except for a few that I would just rather avoid altogether.

It's even translated into my personal email habits. When I wake up in the morning one of the first things I do is check my email. I don't understand those people who don't turn their computers on all day. How do they survive? What if someone emailed them or wrote on their facebook wall and they don't know about it until tomorrow? I'm at a computer all day at work but then it's hard to tear myself away. (To be clear, it's not the work I can't tear myself from)

They tried to make me to go rehab and I said, "No, no, no!"

the super bowl