camping. on steriods.

i'm never one to back down from a party. especially when i can be the hostess.
or so i thought!

after getting out of the bakery today with 15 loaves of bread, 65 hamburger buns, and spending my arm and part of a leg getting hamburgers and enough oranges to feed an army... i started to wonder at my sanity of agreeing to get food for (at least) 50 people to go camping this weekend. 
hmmmm....
i'll give you my answer when i get back. 
good news: i got 4 free loaves of bread today!

my shopping list for the night:
think bulk and you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. 
that and enough food to feed 50 people for 3 days. i don't know about you, but it sounds like a costco run is in order! and winco. oh winco, i love you! you make shopping for parties so much easier. 

other news:
i was feeling bipolar the other day... and this happened.

this.

to this.

i figured it was far too long since i had been a blonde... and that it was time to bring it back. (not to mention i was ready for a new adventure in hair! yes, i did it all by myself. well... with the aid of my younger sister.) 

hopefully i'll stick with this one for a while. i've decided hairstyling is an expensive hobby. and i'd rather keep my hair...

this everyday life

i decided to do a post on the things that are part of "normal" "everyday" life here at the j.c. (if you haven't caught on... that stands for jerusalem center...) 

we were walking through the old city the other day, and i realized that this is not normal. in less than a week, i am going to go back to real life. planes, trains, automobiles and all that jazz. no more walking everywhere, no more bargaining for what i want (i'm scared that i am going to try and haggle with the cashier at walmart...), no more weird smells, no more listening to the call to prayer every day, no more seeing tour buses everywhere and thinking "these tourists... they are soooo annoying!" 

"real life" is waiting. 

and to be honest, i'm kinda scared. 

what happens when i walk to class and forget my notebook? i can't just run downstairs to go and get it.

what am i going to do when i get a text message? (i haven't texted in over 3 months!)

what if i burn everything that i try and cook??? say it isn't so!!! 

(that might be a little too much for me to handle...)

our shopping mall.

this guys has skillz.

home.

for like 4 more days. 

we're not going to think about this anymore...!

ramadan started last week... so the old city looks like christmas!

just an olive tree in the kidron.

no biggie.

;)

p.s. the sunsets over the city are amazing.

we decided to spend a whole day dedicated to just walking through the city and taking pictures.

this is one legit police car.

we were a little afraid that it would start transforming in front of us...

skull hill/golgotha/calvary

they built a bus station there.

hmmmm.

not quite what you were expecting huh?

damascus gate!

they actually had scaffolding covering it for most of the summer, and they only removed it right before we left for galilee. so i had to get a pic!

 

story:

so we were trying to spell "jerusalem" all over the city.

i saw a shoe store and thought - perfect!

"s" for shoes!

(they have these random shoe stores everywhere...)

the shop owner next door was making fun of my "s"...

the view from the top of the austrian hospice.

1st century paving stones!

the western wall

st. james armenian monastery

the street right by zion gate

it almost makes me consider being a vegetarian...

it's a small world after all...

have a happy, sunshiney day!!!

life at home... is... it just is.

not much news today.
not that home is boring or anything like that... just nothing that the world needs to hear about. nothing exciting...
just regular, everyday things... like my mom being obsessed with oven cleaner. (because she just discovered that it cleans the top of her stove. and that it actually gets rid of the blackened and burnt egg/cheese/spills from my brothers cooking their breakfast... and it doesn't scratch it! listening to her tell me about it was beginning to sound a lot like the oxy-clean guy on tv. i was feeling like i most definitely had to go and buy a bottle to take with me.) or maybe going to savers with my mom and finding the cutest vintage dress i have ever seen in my entire life. and it fit! (i swear pictures will come!!! i have actually made a deal with my sister to let me steal use hers for the summer.)
we also colored eggs last night... and decorated them like monsters. my sister brooke wasn't at home with us, so we took a family picture of our eggs and sent it to her:

can you guess which one it is? (or rather, isn't?)
i think mine looks like a minion.
yeah, that's pretty much home life for ya.

so sad news: i found out yesterday that due to a lame little thing called a "revolution"... that i won't be going to egypt. i think a part of me died last night when i read that.
instead, i get to go to turkey.
what is in turkey, you ask?
i have no flippin' idea.
we will figure this one out together!
[but i made a promise to myself that i WILL make it back to egypt one day. no worries, king tut! i won't keep you waiting for very long!!!]

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his voice...

good golly gosh!