Fires and Fabulous Food

In case you haven't heard, the fires here in Cali have been pretty voracious. There was one in Brea, which is pretty close to us. Only about 8-10 miles away. We could see the smoke start early in the morning on Saturday and by mid-afternoon it had filled the sky. It was hard to breathe outside, which left campus pretty deserted, but did give us sweet pics like these:

If only I could have taken a picture at sunset time! The sun was seriously deep red! On Sunday, it was raining ash like some form of weird snow...except not the kind you would want to catch on your tongue. By Monday, the air was clear and it has been since. Another Christian college in Cali, Westmont, actually had the a fire burn down some of their buildings! Scary! Thank goodness that God protected them and there were no lives lost.

Last night, the caf treated us to Thanksgiving dinner, a week early. Dr. Barry Corey and his wife were slicing up the turkey and serving it. The food was marvelous!! We all enjoyed the festive atmosphere as well. Nu-Nu leaves for home today with her guy friends from Oregon. She's skipping her classes on Monday and Tuesday...shhh! Kendall leaves for home on Tuesday. Brenna and I are going to hang around here until Wednesday or Thursday, then head for her house in San Diego. Should be exciting for me, cause I've never been there. Well, that's about all for now. God's blessings on your Thanksgiving. Take a few minutes to remember what you have to be thankful for. Bye now!

-Jojo

The Surprise Party Extravaganza!!! :)

Hey, it's Kendall. So, this past weekend, I got to go home after being at school for... two and a half months, which, believe me, is a LONG time to be away from home. Anyway, I woke up at 4:20 and sat in the airport for three hours (the shuttle insisted on picking me up at 5...) then flew out of LAX to SFO, where my mother picked me up! Then I went home for the last few preparations for my boyfriend Joe's surprise birthday party which I had been planning since... mid september? :) (I wanted to be sure that I picked a day where most everyone could come... haha). So, as you can imagine, the trip was long awaited! And let me tell you, as the time got closer and closer, it was harder and HARDER to keep it a secret! But, it all worked out just perfectly! Everyone got there and parked out of sight... except for one person... but that's okay :)! He was so surprised and everyone had an awesome time! Oh... back track a bit... His friend Alex took him out of the house earlier that day so that everyone could sneak in and set up, and his mother told him she was having a candle party. So, when we were ready to get him back and surprise him, his mom called him and said something was wrong, and to come home right away. So he comes in, and the first thing you hear is "mom, why the heck do you have Rock Band out?" (thinking she and her friends had done something detrimental to it!) and then everyone jumped out and yelled, "SURPRISE!!". Except me... because I "wasn't there", until he came into his mother's room and opened part of his present, which was me inside a box, hahaha. It was great! I thoroughly enjoyed planning it, and getting to bring him joy however I could for life in general, but specifically his birthday (even though i threw the party two weeks early...). So, ya! I spent my weekend there, hanging out with Joe, whom I had missed very much... and it was just SO good to be home and with him again. And to top it all off, we had delicious Japanese food! What could be better than being with those you love, fun times, and great Japanese food, right? Sadly, I was only there for two days, but I will be returning home for thanksgiving in roughly two weeks! So, I'm excited for that! Oh, and side note... I finally got to meet the two interns that have been living in my house for the past two months... one is from Argentina, and the other is from Ukraine? or something like that... but, it was interesting finally meeting the people I had heard stories about! Alrighty! That's all I've got to say... EXCEPT... thanks God for answering all my prayers for this last weekend! I got rain, my party plans worked, and my boyfriend enjoyed his party :) which is enough for me!

~Kendall

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

Well, friends. The most important news as of late is currently in progress. IT IS RAINING!! Yes, folks, that's right. It actually rains in Southern Cali. Woah! I kinda want to whip out my wonderful pink and burgundy umbrella from Gap and run around barefoot through the puddles.

Yesterday was Halloween!! :D Our dorm, Alpha Chi, rolled out the red carpet (actually colored squares of plastic tablecloth) for its annual sugary bash, Candyland, based on the board game. Each of the six floors decorates according a character from the game and the lobby is transformed into a center for all those tacky carnival games everyone "loves." Our floor was Gloppy, and we morphed that into Gloppyland, as in Disneyland. Each of the dorm rooms decorated their door like a ride from the park. Kendall's door was Pirates of the Caribbean. She won third place in the door decorating contest. Brenna's door was Indiana Jones. She made a sweet bridge out of sticks and yarn, and a 3-D boulder. Nu-nu and my door was Splash Mountain. Three little lollipops (which strangely resembled Brenna, Nu-Nu and I) were riding a log boat into a splash of molasses glop. So for three hours last night, we handed out candy to adorable little kids in costumes. They were really cute!

Also, yesterday was free burrito day at Chipotle!! Brenna, Kendall, Kelsey, and I accented our sweet Halloween costumes with tin foil and partook in deliciousness like no other, especially since it was free. Kendall was Arwen from LOTR, in a gorgeous green dress she designed and her mother made. Brenna was Snow White, and quite popular among the little girls who came to Candyland. Kelsey was...a skier. Aka, she didn't really dress up but was wearing an old skiing sweater and jeans. I was none other than the amazing....KIM POSSIBLE!! I used a black shirt and shoes I already had and bought some cargo pants from the little boys' section of Target. I also dyed my hair a lovely shade of red. Now that's commitment!

As the festivities wound down last night, Brenna, Kendall, and I headed out for our nightly walk around campus. We passed a couple of families talking and witnessed the most epic battle known to mankind. Indiana Jones vs. the Storm Trooper!! Little did those innocent children know that they each represented a George Lucas film series and were encompassed in the most awe-inspiring battle ever embarked upon. We didn't stay long enough to congratulate the winner, but I'm pretty sure Indiana Jones probably won.

Well, I believe that is about all for now. Brenna, Nu-Nu, and Kendall just headed for the beach...in the rain...shortly before dusk...weridos. I stayed to work on hw...which is scarier than all the ghouls on Halloween. Hmm...I'm feeling a Thriller rendition coming on....

-Jojo