You Can't Handle The Truth

More on all of this later, but just a quick photo update of our trip to LA... We are waiting for Alicia - she is so graciously and patiently waiting in line at the NBC Studio to get tickets to the show...

Here's quick photo synopsis of the trip so far... :-)

This is during our layover in Atlanta. It was really quick, but the perfect amount of time... This is the plane we were getting ready to board...

Next, in LA, we were making our way on the bus to pick up our fun rental car... it's a red Toyota SUV! :-) With a sunroof...

We had such a good time just looking around while we rode to the car place. The weather is really clear and cool. Kristin is freezing, of course, but I've barely worn my jacket. :-)

We are snapping pictures like crazy and fit right in with the rest of the tourists... :-)

We went to pick up her friend, Erin, who showed us around yesterday. We had lunch at The Farmer's Market - which was really cool and eclectic... then, we were driving around and saw Scott Wolfe!!! We freaked out, and when I turned to take his picture from the front (we were driving by), I missed him and got the car behind him! UGH!

Then, as we continued around, we ventured to Hollywood Blvd and saw more "stars" ...

Next, we played around in the Kodak Theatre (where they film American Idol and the Oscars are!!! FUN!) and around more on Hollywood Blvd before going to eat dinner at Mel's Diner - from American Graffiti.

Here is the Roosevelt Hotel. It is said that it's haunted by the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. Funny.

We learned lots of fun trivia and are excited to go out and do more today! :-)

Don't forget to watch The Ellen Show! We still aren't sure which show we'll be on (Wednesday or Thursday) but as soon as we tape today, we'll let everyone know! :-)

Love,

The Hollywood Stars - Nicole, Kristin and Alicia

I guess I've been tagged...

“People who get tagged need to write a blog post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”

I've been tagged by Alicia Christie. I am tagging Donna Bennett, Amy Hamm, Dana Cordell, Allison Stokes, Dennis Omondi, and Stacie Joh...

It'll be difficult for me to narrow down my quirks to just 6 concise answers, but I'll try my best:

1. I am super freakish about grammer and spelling mistakes when I read people's things. It's no one's fault... and I don't take style into consideration - for example, "i don't correct people if they choose to write in all lowercase letters." It's things like "to boldly go" - well, that's wrong. It should be "to go boldly." The mistake - split infinitive.
2. I have a good memory. I don't know why. It's also selective. Like the fact that I can remember Eugenia Wright's birthday (a girl I have not seen in 10 years and wasn't even a close friend then) but not remember things like Colossians 1. Super weird.
3. I know a lot of random facts. This sort of goes along with number 2. For instance - Elvis' birthday? Yeah, it's Jan. 8th. Driving into a tree going about 35 miles an hour? Yeah, it's the equivalent of driving off a 4-story building. Don't ask me why I know these things. Oh! And lettuce? Yeah, if you ate enough of it at once - it can kill you.
4. Sometimes I think God gives me moments of ESP. Two examples: - Yesterday, for about 20 minutes... I had the taste of fresh pineapple in my mouth. So weird (and a bit gross) - but I did. I haven't had pineapple in weeks. Regardless - I go to check my email - and Kristin has posted a comment on my Facebook wall... her message. "PINEAPPLE." Also, several weeks ago, sitting in church, I kept thinking about a friend of mine being pregnant. She and her husband have been trying, and it's something that we've prayed about a lot - but I was sitting at church thinking about it. What happens next? One of the pastors in our church begins a loud-speaker cell phone call with this couple (they are overseas) and she tells the church that she's pregnant. I almost fell out of my chair. (for both examples)
5. I don't think this is weird. Necessarily. I hate feet. I think they are gross. They often smell bad. Folks don't take care of them. Get them away. I mean away. No where near. If they even move near me, I flinch. Unless you are under 5. Then I don't care. I won't RUN for them, but if you touch them to me or I touch them, I'm okay.
6. I sleep with my ceiling fan on. This happens every day - all year long. It doesn't matter how cold the room already is. I need the sound, and I do NOT want to wake up hot - at anytime during the night. I hope my husband won't mind.

Introducing...

Well, I guess I'll use this super fun event to formally introduce my blog.

So - WELCOME!

I think it's safer than myspace.
no scary or scandelous adds!

Read on down for some of my other postings...
they're random.
they don't happen on any certain day.
sorry.

The super fun event?
We're going to LA next week! WOOO!
Alicia, Kristin and I got tickets to the Ellen show.
We are really excited!!
Here's how funny the show can be:

Go See Gladys

So - we're going to the 3:30 taping on Tuesday, the 30th. It should air Wednesday or Thursday. But don't worry. We'll let y'all know if we show up on there! :-)

comments welcome

There Is A Fountain

This is one of my favorite hymns. I found this page a while back, but "re-found" it while helping to gather some resources for a friend of mine who is working on researching suffering... (that's the easy way to put it)


This is one of the first hymns Cow­per wrote af­ter his first at­tack of tem­po­ra­ry mad­ness. Cow­per had been prom­ised a post as Clerk of the Jour­nal to the House of Lords, but was dis­mayed up­on learn­ing he would have to un­der­go a pub­lic ex­am­in­a­tion in the House be­fore be­gin­ning his du­ties. The fol­low­ing ar­ti­cle from the North Amer­i­can Re­view, Jan­u­a­ry, 1834, de­scribes his di­lem­ma, and how God pre­vent­ed him from de­stroy­ing him­self:

As the time drew nigh, his agony became more and more in­tense; he hoped and be­lieved that mad­ness would come to relieve him; he attempted also to make up his mind to commit su­i­cide, though his conscience bore stern testimony against it; he could not by any argument per­suade himself that it was right, but this des­per­a­tion pre­vailed, and he pro­cured from an apothecary the means of self-destruction. On the day before his public appearance was to be made, he happened to notice a letter in the newspaper, which to his dis­or­dered mind seemed like a ma­lig­nant li­bel on himself. He im­med­i­ate­ly threw down the pa­per and rushed into the fields, de­ter­mined to die in a ditch, but the thought struck him that he might es­cape from the count­ry. With the same vi­o­lence he pro­ceed­ed to make hasty prep­ar­a­tions for his flight; but while he was en­gaged in pack­ing his port­man­teau his mind changed, and he threw him­self into a coach, or­der­ing the man to drive to the Tower wharf, in­tend­ing to throw him­self in­to the ri­ver, and not re­flect­ing that it would be im­poss­i­ble to ac­comp­lish his pur­pose in that pub­lic spot. On ap­proach­ing the wa­ter, he found a por­ter seated upon some goods: he then re­turned to the coach and was con­veyed to his lodg­ings at the Temple. On the way he at­tempt­ed to drink the laud­a­num, but as oft­en as he raised it, a con­vuls­ive agi­ta­tion of his frame pre­vent­ed it from reach­ing his lips; and thus, re­gret­ting the loss of the op­por­tun­i­ty, but un­a­ble to avail him­self of it, he ar­rived, half dead with an­guish, at his apart­ment. He then shut the doors and threw him­self upon the bed with the laud­a­num near him, try­ing to lash himself up to the deed; but a voice within seemed con­stant­ly to for­bid it, and as of­ten as he ex­tend­ed his hand to the poi­son, his fing­ers were con­tract­ed and held back by spasms.

At this time one of the in­mates of the place came in, but he con­cealed his ag­i­ta­tion, and as soon as he was left alone, a change came over him, and so de­test­a­ble did the deed ap­pear, that he threw away the laud­a­num and dashed the vial to pieces. The rest of the day was spent in heavy insensibility, and at night he slept as usual; but on waking at three in the morning, he took his penknife and lay with his weight upon it, the point toward his heart. It was brok­en and would not pen­e­trate. At day break he arose, and pas­sing a strong gar­ter around his neck, fast­ened it to the frame of his bed: this gave way with his weight, but on securing it to the door, he was more successful, and remained suspended till he had lost all consciousness of existence. After a time the garter broke and he fell to the floor, so that his life was saved.; but the conflict had been greater than his reason could endure. He felt for himself a contempt not to be expressed or imagined; whenever he went into the street, it seemed as if every eye flashed upon him with indignation and scorn; he felt as if he had offended God so deep­ly that his guilt could ne­ver be for­giv­en, and his whole heart was filled with tu­mult­u­ous pangs of despair. Mad­ness was not far off, or rather mad­ness was al­ready come.

Af­ter re­cov­er­ing, Cow­per came to real­ize how God can erase the stain of any sin.

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.B
e saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,
For me a blood bought free reward, a golden harp for me!
’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine.

I'm just so thankful...

This weekend God really allowed my roommates and I to see how much He loves us by answering our prayers... from lost keys to stolen cars! Amazing! I'm so thankful for the body who desired to rally around friends and help! I really loved it when everyone prayed together... and when everyone worked together to solve problems!

What a joy!

Fun!

I think it's safe to say...

...blogging is probably safer than myspace. Sure, folks can read what you write - but you know that before you write... and you can even choose what to allow people to see - etc. I'm wondering if this is going to be my new thing. We'll see. Besides, I probably won't be embarrassed to show someone something on my blog like I am when it comes to myspace. The ads are ridiculous!

later friends.

nw