So did you vote yet?

I personally mailed in my absentee ballot yesterday. The down side to this-no "I voted" sticker.

Or maybe I even could have gotten this sticker.

Being a swing state I know my vote is important. I know that history tells us in order for a president to win the presidency he has to win Ohio. It is energizing and exciting to know that the country is looking at us.

Today on the radio I heard about a woman who was in labor with contractions 5 minutes apart and membranes ruptured yet insisted that she needed to vote before she could go to the hospital. If she can vote, I don't know who can't.

I am amazed at the intensity of prayer and fasting going on today. This is what changes the world, not another political ad on my facebook, spodify, TV, radio, newspaper, youtube (anyone else completely frustrated by the infiltration of political ads in every form of media).

And although I, like every other American, is ready to be done with all the political ads I have to admit I did enjoy this saying spreading around the internet these past few days.

If you haven't voted yet, what are you waiting for?! Get your butt out there and vote!!

Go and Rock the Vote!

Catholic Woman's Almanac

Ok I am trying something new today rather than a daybook I am going to link up to Jenny's Catholic Woman's Almanac.

Moments of Gratitude

--Four days filled with whatever I want-it included alot of quality time, naps, sleeping in, good food shared with others, and some adult beverages.
--You want to talk about how much coffee I drank during break. If that isn't something to be thankful I don't know what is.
--Spending 6 hours a week in a newborn nursery. Some people call it a dream, I call it clinical.

Beauty in the Ordinary

Ahh I love beauty in the ordinary. One my favorite personal mottos is "Find the extraordinary in the ordinary." Ordinary days are when modern saints are made.

From the Kitchen

Nothing too exciting there. All I made this during the past few days is pasta and sauteed peas. O but I did make these gems which are now on my go to list for desserts.

Praying

---For our election and nation as election day looms right in front of us.
---For the Haiti Mission trip, I had 6 people added to the "Praying About" it list. I am fearlessly praying that the people who are called to the trip will hear the voice of God and that if it be the of the Lord's will a priest will be able to go with us.


Pondering

"He must recapitulate the whole of history from its beginging-from Adam on; he must go through the whole of it, in order to transform it."-Jesus of Nazereth

Reading

In light of the third Jesus of Nazareth book by Pope Benedict XVI coming out. I decided it was about time to read the first one. I have been reading it with overdrive on my phone and writing down notes and quotes in my journal. Can I just say I love it!! And I hope I can continue to make time to read more. Here is to hoping!

Memorizing

The Magnifact. I have a special love for Our Lady of the Annunciation. She is my household saint and I can't believe it took 200 some sisters for someone (me!) to finally pick her! Our Lady of the Annunciation, I believe, so perfectly emulates Our Lady's virtues. Recently while being prayed over, the Magnificat came up and since then I have been trying to talk hold of it chunk by chunk.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.

Captured

These are my BEAUTIFUL sisters that I got to spend four days with!! The weekend started to come to a conclusion with Sunday morning brunch

Day in the Life on Fall Break.

So this past Thursday was the first official day of fall break, or as it is officially called All Saints Break because we are a passionate Catholic University and make sure to remember that even if it is a secular holiday it probably has a Catholic origin (Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Christmas, Halloween...).

The morning started with coffee, TV, and laptop time with my roommate.

She will really appreciate that I found it necessary to put this picture in the blog but then again this was the better of the two.

She still had to go to Mass but I had been to Vigil Mass the night before in one of the dorms.

At 12, I went to a late brunch in the caf with some household sisters.

How good it is to spend unhurried time with my sisters enjoying good coffee and good conversation.

Next up was some shopping at Goodwill and Gabe's.

At Goodwill I found some great Christmas glasses that will make a perfect gift for my mom for Christmas and at Gabes bought a tan sweatshirt material poncho. I could get the glasses out of my car and pull the poncho out of my closet to take a picture but that would mean this post wouldn't be published for another 4 days.

Soon after this we went to our household's advisor's house for some All Saint's Day celebrating. We played bored games, watched Oliver and Company with her family, ate pizza, and partook in some of her famous margaritas. Mmmmmm.

Being the day after All Saints Trick-or-Treating of course there was massive amounts of candy consumption.

Most of these are from telling all the Laffy Taffy jokes in the basket.

And course what would it be without some more Angel fun.

Live joy.

1,000

Woohooo I made it to 1,000 views. Like any other beginner blogger I have considered-is this really worth my time? I realized it was when I was able to make another woman's, who I didn't even know, day because I featured her bushiness on my blog. So cheers to another 1,000 views+ filled with joy, faith and so much more.

Live joy.

What I Wore Sunday

I love me a link up so I am joining Kendra over at her blog with link up featuring "What I Wore Sunday".

Today is the last day of Fall Break and the only Masses on campus are at 10 and a travelers Mass later this evening. I, by chance, woke up way before I had to which is a great thing because the whole wake up whenever you wake up schedule isn't going to fly once classes and clinicals start again.

None the the less this is a picture of my outfit for Mass.

Please excuse the scary white legs, appartently panyhose don't photograph well.

Skirt is from TJ Maxx or Marshalls
Tank top from a household sister who was moving and getting rid of two bags of clothes.
Cardigan is one of the classic cardigans from Target
Scarf is also from Target and was one of my secret santa presents from one of my best friends last Christmas

And the shoes....

O the shoes. These gems are from Vienna. I bought them during my study abroad semester.

And the earrings.

I love when I can wear these. They are from a household sister who gave them to my induction class when we were inducted. Love them!!

Live joy.

House Tour.

So here is the long awaited house tour. I am sure you have been holding your breath in anticipation. I decided to give you an honest look, only a little tidying not a full blown cleaning spree.

So a little background on the house. We live in Assisi Heights which is a community of townhouse like houses on campus. Years ago they were project housing but the school bought them both for safety reasons and to make more student housing available. They were never built to be standing this long so they have there own slew of problems--we enjoyed when our hot water tank didn't work for nearly a month and the consistency of blowing a fuse.

Be prepared for a whole slew of pictures.

Without further ado.....

Looking up to the front door. Ahh how great is the picture MaryClaire painted for me when we graduated high school.

Walking into our kitchen.

The opposite view of the kitchen.

An honest look in our fridge.

My favorite cabinet-the tea and coffee shelf.

Our dishes, mugs, and glasses cabinet. Top left cabinet-shot and wine glasses, classic college.

The stove.

For some reason I just really think this brings a homey touch to the place. Cooking utensils in a mason jar.

Our "pantry".

Our living room. Lots of seating and trying to keep it cozy.

Our "gallery wall".

Our favorite part of the "gallery wall". Sara found this gem at a garage sale. There is some evidence that Polka Padre actually ended up getting convicted of being a pedophile so not sure how we feel about displaying it.

I just love the look of these pillows. I found the brown one in at my house and the green patterned one in the mission bin.

Going upstairs and a peak into the bathroom.

Looking down from the top of the stairs. A little bit of JP2 and pile of shoes.

Wouldn't be a ladies house without a linen closet full of beauty products and such.

The bedroom doors. The right one is my housemates and the left one is my roommate and my room.

Our door. Some angel love and pictures of me and my roommate.

My side of the room.

I love how I decided to display my pictures.

How my roommate displays here pictures.

The look out our window.

My desk which I never ever have studied at.

My side of the closet. At times it is super neat but this is more realistic. Those two bins on the shelf hold my sweaters. Shoe bin on the bottom. Drawers hold the basics like socks and tanks.

And there you go. A look into our house. Nothing glamorous just classic college living at the good ole Franciscan.

Done.

So as I sit here enjoying the first day of All Saints Break spending mindless time facebooking, editing photos, watching Gilmore Girls, drinking coffee, and blogging I continue to wish there was a "done option" for my Pinterest page. I want to be able to show the world, I am a recipe doing, craft completing, homemade cleaner fool. So I say, Pinterest please add a done button so that I can tell the world when I make awesome soup, bake amazing cookies, and craft up a storm.