I love Sundays!

I love Sundays.

I love…

… going to church

… singing at church

… listening to Pastor Colp preach

… staying after church to catch up with old friends

… random afternoon activities

… youth group

Sunday morning started off with me being woken up at 7 by a “rock on my window”. Dan and some friends went camping near my house on Saturday night and had their car parked at my house so when they got back, Dan came to my window to say good morning. I was a little mad when I woke up at seven, but when I saw who it was waking me up I didn’t mind!

After that I fell back asleep till church at eleven. In church Pastor Colp talked about having faith in a BIG God. During the church service, a portion of the service was set aside to recognize new Stephen Ministers at the church. My mom was one of the seven new ministers they were recognizing. After church I went to a luncheon and then Beth and I headed down to Sawyer for Caitlin’s engagement party.

All the new Stephen Ministers

After Caitlin’s party I went with Beth, Brittney and Kaela to Starbucks for some ½ price frappuccinos and to visit Rosie at work. And then we went and walked downtown and on the pier. Growing up my sisters and I have always had a close connecting with the Rigterink sisters. Brittney is 3 months older than Abby, Kaela is 9 months older than Beth, and Aryn in 9 months older than me. I cannot begin to count all the crazy adventures we have had together. However one that I will mention is our love for surveys. Back when I could be contacted at lakeshorelancers2001@yahoo.com , the 6 of us girls formed a special sisterhood, we called is survey sisters. The sisterhood was pretty simple; whenever we would find a survey we would send it to each other and fill it out.

As you can see I don't check my old email much anymore!

I was rummaging around in my inbox and ran across this survey we did a number of years ago and I filled it out last night.

Survey

1. What is your occupation? Student

2. What color is your underwear? Blue with flowers

3. What are you listening to right now? Dan’s voice

4. What was the last thing you ate? Strawberry shortcake

5. Do you wish on stars? Sometimes

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Probably pink!

7. How is the weather right now? cool and cloudy

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Dan (But I talked to Mandy Moore before that :) )

9. What is your favorite girls name? Juliet

10. How old are you today? 19, 3 months, 3 days

11. What is your favorite drink? Fiji

12. Favorite sport to watch? Football

13. Have you ever dyed your hair? yes

14. Do you wear glasses or contacts? I have reading glasses

15. Pets? A cat named Kitty and a fish named Dewey.

16. Favorite month(s)? Warm months!!!

17. Favorite food? Spaghetti

18. What was the last movie you watched? The Back-up Plan

19. Favorite day of the year? I would have to say April 24th, because it’s not to cold and not to warm, and all you need is a light jacket

20. What do you do to vent anger? cry

21. What was your favorite toy as a child? I had a Dalmatian Dog named Rolley.

22. Fall or Spring? Spring

23. Hugs or kisses? Depends on who from ;)

24. Cherry or Blueberry? Blueberry!

25.What is your favorite Boys name? Jack

26. What is your favortie Ice cream flavor? The Vannilla fiddy-nine cent cones from McDonalds ( I wish they still had those!)

27. Living arrangements? Currently in my wonderful bedroom at home with my parents.

29. When was the last time you cried? A few days ago… I miss my AU friends!

30. What is on the floor of your closet? Carpet and shoes

31. Who is the friend(s) you have had the longest? I think maybe Krissy

32. What did you do last night? Went to DQ and had an NCIS marathon!

33. Who was the last person who really made you smile? Mandy Moore!!

34. What are you afraid of? Drowning

35. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? cheese

36. Favorite car? The one I drive!

37. Favorite dog breed? Any tiny dog breed!

38. Number of keys on your key ring?

39. How many years at your current job? I don’t have a job!

40. Favorite day of the week? Sunday

41. How many countries have you visited? 13

42. How many states have you lived in? 1

43. How many cities have you lived in? 3

44. How many countries have you lived in? 2

45. How long did this take you to complete? 20 minutes

Although there was only 2/3 of the group together, I could feel the wonderful Port-erink spirit in the air!!

I love pier walks!

Beth, Kaela, and Brittney

Beth, Kaela, and me

Sunday night I went to youth group. Yes, I know I am no longer in high school but I still love going!

At youth group Adam and Chloe discovered they both had injured feet!

I Love Sundays!

Five Finger

Vibram Five Finger. When I hear five-finger it makes me think of a fruit that you probably know as star fruit. However growing up in Trinidad we called them five-finger.

Five Finger

However the Vibram Five Finger are not a type of fruit but a type of shoe. The shoe's tagline is: walk barefoot wear fivefingers. Although I have seen these shoes (if you can even really call them that) in the past, they have recently been brought back to my attention because my boyfriend, Dan, bought a pair.

Here Dan is proudly showing off his new shoes on his Facebook

Normally, I am all about bare feet. I hate shoes (well that’s not fully true. I do have a love for shoes and a closet full of them to prove that fact! I just prefer to go barefoot). However the Vibram Five Finger kind of weird me out.

As much as I am a little creeped out by these shoes, I think I almost secretly want a pair now! Especially now that I know they come in pretty girl colors.

I Think they are a little to big on me!

:)

Ending note: Okay... I really really want a pair now!!! (Hey, Dad. I know you read my blog :) )

BREAKING NEWS: NAOMI’S SECRET ADOPTION

This week has been a very exciting week for me. As many of you know, I am obsessed with Celebrity gossip. I love reading all about these peoples lives… and now I have done something a number of celebrities have done like Sandra Bullock, Madonna, and Angelina Jolie… only I have taken it one step farther. I have not only rescued a child of a different race, I have adopted a child of a different species.

A few weeks ago my dear friend Mandy Moore came back from the store with Dewey. Dewey was a happy fish at first and then I started noticing some neglecting from his mother. His tank was dirty and I feared that his health might be in decline. And when I learned about his Mothers decision to give him a ride on the porcelain express I took manners in to my own hands. On May 5^th, 2010, I rescued Dewey by adopted him.

Mandy cleaning out Dewey's tank

So far things with Dewey have been going great. I put a new ribbon and added a diamond pendant to make his little home mirror mine a little better. I have to admit… I was sort of hoping Dewey was like the Arctic Fox that changes colors to match their environment, but so far Dewey shows no signs of changing from blue to pink L

Final note: The story above about Mandy is not fully true. She was a great Mom to Dewey. However because her summer plans consisted of her being gone most of the summer she could no longer care for him.

Dewey's new home

Happy Mother's Day!

Background information: my mom hates cats. A few years back my dad found two little abandoned kitties, Pumpkin and Pudding, in a building he was tearing down and brought them home for us. As much as my Mom was opposed to the idea, the cats lived with us until their deaths. In May 2007, I found five little abandoned kittens. We found homes for four of them and we kept Captain Jack (we just call her Kitty now). Kitty and been a member of our family since. And my mom is still not a fan of having Kitty.

Here I am in May 07 the night I found the kitties.

Yes, the pile of fur in the box is indeed 5 little kitties!

My LART class last semester provided me with two hours a week to write papers, facebook, skype and browse the Internet. During one of my LART classes I was looking at the different designs you could have for my Discover Card. While looking at these, one in particular, I was inspired to write this email to my Dad:

April 13, 2010

Dad,

I think you should get Mom a new discover card that looks like this (see picture below)…she would love it! haha :)

I hope you are having a great day!

Love,

Naomi :)

My dad sent me this email back:

Made my day! Your daddy loves you!

I just sent this as a joke, but yesterday my dad came down to my room to show me that he actually ordered the kitty credit card for my mom! So I activated it and snuck it in her purse with a “Happy Mother’s Day” note. When my mom pulled out her Discover she almost died laughing when she saw it!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

The first video is of Beth and me giving the kitties a bath. Yes, we are very mean. The second is of Kitty this past Christmas is the pretty reindeer outfit Beth and I bought for her!!

White Walls

All I can see as I sit in my room are white walls. The walls of my dorm used to be covered with all sorts of colorful décor. Kirsten and I had posters, drawings, letters and pictures covering our walls, but now all the embellishments have been removed and we are left with nothing but plain white walls. This week has been a sad one. Although I am overjoyed to be able to call myself a college sophomore, my joy is nothing compared to the sadness I feel about leaving this wonderful place I now think of as my other home. I hate the feeling of saying goodbye to my friends for the summer. I’m excited to be home and to see Dan everyday. I’m excited to wake up and see my family. I’m excited to be able to see my friends from back home. I’m excited to go to the beach. I’m excited to sleep in my pink room. I know tomorrow will be filled with tears. But as I leave tomorrow I will be leaving not with tears of sadness, but tears of joy. I have no reason to be sad tomorrow. I’ve had some of the best months of my life. I am joyful for the year I have had. I am so blessed to be here to Anderson. Tomorrow as I leave I won’t focus on the sadness of saying goodbye to my friends, but I will focus on all the good memories that we have had together. Although I may be sitting in a room surrounded with white walls and brown boxes everywhere, when I look a little bit closer, it is so much more then that. I can see all the memories I’ve had here. I can hear all the laughs I’ve had. I am surrounded by a year of wonderful memories with great friends and I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Your Love is my Drug

Saturday was a pretty lazy day... and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I stayed in bed all morning and then went to lunch with Leslie, Libby, Mandy and Meghan. I went to the computer lab for a while in the afternoon to finish up a website I have been creating in class. Then I got ready for dinner!

Some of us girls went to IHOP for dinner. I think I may have eaten more on Saturday night then I have this whole semester! After dinner Abby and Leslie came down to my room and we watched 10 Things I Hate About You and then went to Taco Bell. I love the randomness of college life. I love the talks I have late at night in Taco Bell. I love the friends I have. How is it possible my freshman year is already over?

Carrie, Meghan, and Kelsi

Megan, Libby, Abby, me, and Leslie

For church on Sunday, Mandy, Leslie, Abby, Libby, Mary, Coop, and I took the 30 minute trip to Noblesville and went to church at Genesis.

When I first came to college I was worried I wouldn’t find a church I liked. My church search was a frustrating process. I’d go to a church for a few weeks and decide it really wasn't the church for me. I’d even come to the point where I'd question if there really was a church in the Anderson area that I like. After switching between 4 churches in 8 months I can confidently say that I have found the perfect church for me. Although I have only been to Genesis three times I already feel as though I am a part of the church. I have never regretted the hour long round trip on Sunday to go to Gensis. I am really excited about possibly getting plugged into a ministry there next fall.

Because Leslie lives very close to Genesis, after church we all went over her house and had lunch. For lunch, her mom us some of the best tasting lasagna ever made!

After lunch we watched The Office and Father of the Bride while some of us were napping and others were studying for finals week.

Now back to reality… 1 final down and 5 to go!

243 Days

I can’t believe that it was just 243 days ago I started my freshman year at Anderson University. I remember going around and seeing where all my classes were before my first day. I remember choosing out my outfit. I remember all the details like it was yesterday. How have the past 243 days gone by so quickly? As much as I'm ready for summer break to come, it is kind of a biter-sweet feeling knowing I am going to have to say goodbye to some of the most amazing people I have ever met and won't see for almost 4 months. I have been so blessed to be here at Anderson. Although these past two semesters have had their ups and downs, I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Here I am all ready for my last day of classes

This is Courtney. I met her at soar and we have been "business buddies" ever since.

My last day of classes went pretty great. My Friday classes are Management, Research Writing, Business Computer Applications, and Marketing. I really like how my schedule worked this semester; I started at 8 and was done by 11:50 on MWF. Nothing to exciting happened in any of my classes, Management and Marketing were just presentations, English was cancelled and in Computer I was just finishing putting the final touches on the website I have been creating.

After lunch I watched some TV and then took a nap with Mandy and Leslie. For dinner I went to the Raven Haven with some lovely ladies!

We had some time to kill after dinner so we hung out for a little bit before we went to the Senior Send Off in The Valley.

I'm pretty sure Carrie and I met the first week of school. She is such a sweet girl!

Megan is so awesome. I am really going to miss her since she is transferring to Belmont next year. But I am super excited about getting to visit her in Nashville!

I think we're in love! haha. Leslie is pretty great. We are pretty much going to be the coolest roommates is Martin next year!

Abby aka. Mom. aka. My Obsession

It was such a pretty night. The weather was just perfect for sitting down and listening to some bands play. After being there for awhile we decided to head over to the football field for some girl talk. On our way back to Rice we saw two horses! It was the most random thing ever.

This was the perfect day to end my freshman year!