Zipper-Flipper-Thons, Moving and Grad School

This is a time-lapsed picture of the Zipper at a carnival, taken from Life Weekend Magazine (which comes in our Saturday St. Louis paper).

The Zipper is my favorite carnival ride. I don't know why. I didn't even used to like going upside down. My first upside-down experience was at "Castles and Coasters" in Phoenix, Arizona, on "Desert Storm", the roller coaster (pic below). My brother and mom made me do it - and I realized that even though it was scary - - - - it was really fun.



Years later (maybe 6+), when I was in my mid-20's some friends and I were at the Puyallup Fair in Washington State (its really the "Western Washington State Fair" but everyone calls it "The Puyallup". We were going on various rides (little coasters, big ones, the tilt-a-whirl... always a mistake for me) and then someone said, "Let's go on the Zipper." My reply: "Nuh uh!" But they prevailed upon me to do it and despite my SUPER fear of dying in a carnival ride, I did it. I think I screamed and laughed with fear and delight the whole time. My partner was Melissa VanLiew (now Haigh) and it was SO AMAZING. She made it fun by forcing me to spin around even before the ride started spinning.

Here's a picture of the Zipper (in case you don't know what I mean) when its still:
The Zipper has three planes of movement: Each cage (which holds two people) can spin around on its own; and then the series of cages moves around the center, like a ferris wheel - but the center is oblong, shaped like a hot dog; and then the center spins in a circle, too, while everything else is moving..... yes. Its crazy!

A few years later some friends and I met up with a friend at the Spring Puyallup Fair. We got in line for the Zipper pretty quickly and (here's the best part) decided to have a contest which will forever be known as the "Zipper-Flipper-Thon". There were 6 of us, four girls and two boys, we paired off into twos: the Lin sisters, me and Erin and the boys. The goal was to see how many times you could get your cage to spin throughout the ride. Its not easy, you have to work to keep it spinning or else the momentum of the ride will cause you to just rock back and forth. Larina and Tina (Lin) were the lightest cage, but they gave it a good show - maybe getting 10, Erin and I beat them and got about 15, I think - the boys BLEW US AWAY - I think they spun like 25 times. They had a weight advantage, but I also think they just really wanted to win. The losing teams had to buy the winning team a "Fair Concession" of some sort: funnel cake, pronto pup, etc.

What I haven't mentioned yet is that in my head I know I love the Zipper. I know I won't die on it. I know I'm going to have a crazy, good time. But there is a moment when I get in the cage and they shut the door and as we start to rock (to get ready for our spin)... when the cage door clinks back and forth. There's a little play in the door, it doesn't shut firmly and then never move until the end, NO, it moves slightly..... and immediately my mind thinks: "what if the door opens and I fall to my death?" and I contemplate asking the man to let me out, or screaming like a crazed person and thrashing around until someone realizes that I shouldn't be allowed to make my own decisions and pulls me out. At that point, I usually pray quickly and then say, "If I perish I perish" and start rocking and shut off all thinking. Then the ride starts and I start laughing and screaming and having the time of my life.

My life right now is a little like the Zipper.

I have an incomplete list of about 15 big things that need to be done at work in the next 5 days. And I'm also trying to get ready for that moving sale on Saturday and its Thursday already and its just all in big piles in my room. I'm thinking about moving and I'm juggling balls and its crazy. And the devil whispers in my ear, "what is that clinking noise? is that the door? is it going to fall open?" For brief moments I consider abandoning it all. Leaving in the middle of the night with just my i-pod nano, car cooler (full of regular coke and beef jerky) and driving to wherever my car will take be. And probably stopping wherever it breaks down.

I know that graduate school, Waco, etc is the right path for me right now. I know that in a few weeks I will be screaming and laughing with glee - but right now I am simply trying to stare at Jesus' face and ignore the wind and waves (if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor: carnival and bible story). Sometimes I catch myself looking to the left and right and the wind seems to be blowing hard and if I don't quickly stop and focus on Jesus then my mind goes to all the places that the devil wants - hopelessness, fear and unbelief.

Last weekend I was reading the "Daily Light" - my stalwart companion since January and hopefully for many more years. The morning reading was all about God's faithfulness to me and I was comforted by God's ever present help in times of trouble and I've been thinking back to that all week. Here's the reading of the day (for those who don't know, the "Daily Light" is a collection of morning and evening meditations on scripture, each reading is a compilation of various scriptures):

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to
pass.--In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.--Thine
ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when
ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.--Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he
remembereth that we are dust.--Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.--Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

I will end this rambling to say that if you are in the habit of praying for me, you can pray along with me that unbelief and fear would not gain entry into my mind or heart and that I would rest on the Father's unceasing care for me and my needs. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. Amen.

Pics - which said they loaded yesterday... but clearly didn't.

From Top to Bottom (not putting words between them so that you can click and look at them bigger...):
1) Andy and Laura Peterson and I under the sunburst
2) The view from under the archway
3) The glass in the glass-filled boat
4) More sunburst (I loved these ones!)
5) The chandelier as you walk into the MoBot gardens

Check out the website at: http://www.mobot.org/

Also, there are more pictures posted on my flickr account (click the changing photos to the right). I can't add any more now till July because I'm cheap (read: broke) and won't upgrade to the deluxe account.

p.s. to you scrapbookers out there: I decided to sell almost all my scrapping stuff - paper scraps, stamps, embellishments.... its a sad day.

Latest Updates (moving sale edition)

Hola. I'm overwhelmed this week if I choose to let myself be. So I'm choosing to not be...

This is the last week of our fiscal year, which means that every stitch of labor that is going to be done with 2006 monies needs to be done by Friday. Yikes. So I'm working extra hours painting walls (and today stenciling a new panther for our fitness center wall), and desks and losing brain cells with exposure to toxic acrylic paint in large quantities. I'm also trying to coordinate delivery of equipment and carpet and the labor to move some weight machines (of which so far I have little help... :( )

Combine that with this next announcement: to my dismay I am having a MOVING SALE on Saturday. Double Yikes. The last garage sale I had (2 yrs ago) I combined with 2 other couples so that we could say, "multi-family".... I made $30 and I was the big seller of the day. Seriously. What a hassle. It was hours of work for $30.

This week I have a ton more to sell, and lots of it is furniture so I think I have already made $100 just from friends wanting to buy stuff. Nice, except that as of today I've put in about 7 hours on getting ready. And its only Wed. morning. Tonight the Peterson's are coming over to help me clean my grill and patio furniture (yuk) and I'm hoping to get an hour sorting kitchen stuff. Tomorrow night Sue is coming over to help me organize. Others will help on Friday. This is quite an endeavor. Thanks, Lord, for these great friends!!

I haven't heard from the company who is delivering the equipment. They know its required to be here by Friday..... so I'm a little nervous. But I'm going to try NOT to be nervous until tomorrow and then I'll call them.

On to better news: Sunday afternoon was the "Tiffani, Andy and Laura.. DAY OF FUN part deux." Andy didn't get to participate much in part one (he was taking a test) so that day Laura and I hung out and shopped and it was great and then all three of us went to Qdoba (yum) and then later played the CSI game. Sunday the three of us went to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, where we had been hoping to go for a number of weeks. They are hosting a Dale Chihuly glass exhibit (pics above) and we didn't pay to see the actual exhibit (it would have doubled admission) but there was a lot to see anyway. We had a great time!!! But we were exhausted afterward!

Thats the latest from here. I'm going to go work on painting a desk now. :)

For Alexis

I'll try to put more, too, but I think thats a good start.... right? Love you!!

Travel Report: visits and paul simon

“I’m sitting in a railway station got a ticket for my destination, mmhhmmhhmm.” Simon and Garfunkel

Well, I’m not exactly in a railway station, but the modern equivalent I suppose. I’m in Salt Lake City, debating in my mind if I should get in line with the “A”s yet – its 1 hour and 15 minutes prior to my flight, so I think I’ll wait till I finish this update. But then I decided not to wait. I realized that I can type just as well sitting on the floor as in a seat – maybe better even for my neck since I’ll be lower.

I got in line and there is confusion now about whether or not this flight goes to St. Louis or direct to Baltimore…. For now I’m staying where I am and getting ready to update my blog when I get to work tomorrow (Saturday). Turns out the Baltimore people are not flying “direct” so much as not changing planes when we get off in St. Louis.

Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits and Paul Simon’s sTaolo albums have been my longtime travel companions, so the soundtrack of my life these last few weeks has been “America” and the “Graceland” among other favorites.

The last 10+ days have been great and exhausting and fun and sad and sweet all at the same time. Here’s a quick rundown of my days/appointments while I was here:
Tuesday night 6/14 arrive 10:30pm: Larina’s mom offers me spaghetti.
Wednesday morning 6/15: breakfast with Verla Gresset (former “official” mentor, now unofficial, but being with her is like breathing, such a blessing)
Wednesday – Friday afternoon 6/16: help Larina (along with her sister, Tina) get ready for Larina’s wedding. Lots left to do, very busy but a fun time. Got to meet Paul, Larina’s fiancée for the first time.

Friday evening: rehearsal dinner and time with Janae (friend and fellow bridesmaid) – we had a great time teasing the groomsmen, who were all Canadian and proud of it. They were really fun.

Saturday: marathon wedding day. While Larina went to get her hair done at 8am Janae and I went to L’s condo to pick up her wedding shoes – we didn’t stop after that: getting ready, photos, ceremony (90 minutes), reception (4 hours) and finally we all got back to the house and into bed by 1am….. wow. But there were so many funny memories of the day and lots of fun and laughter – also lots of tears both happy and bittersweet. See the pictures on the flickr site to the right.

Sunday: breakfast with Rana (lovely) and then lunch and hang out with Bethany and Erin (pics to right) at the Tacoma waterfront – then New Song. So refreshing to be at church that night and God was faithful to speak to me about my stress lately. AND I got to pray with Jarrad and
Casey – such a treat!

Monday: breakfast and lunch with Anne and Shawn and little Jonas – what fun to play with that little charismatic guy and to get to catch up with my old Brown friends. Tea on my way back to Seattle with Casey Mock (above) and play time with Isabelle, their 9-month old daughter. She is incredible social, I’ve never seen a baby like her. For dinner that night I had a date with an old friend – John Hickam. He treated me SO WELL – taking me to Palisade in Magnolia (WOW) and then for dessert at the Icon Grill. He let me order whatever I liked at Palisade and so I got a “Shirley Temple” (which cracks me up – but what can you do?)

Tuesday: Julie Guest and the boys (Jeremiah and Nathan) were stir crazy at their house so I walked to Peter Kirk park and met them for some play time. (pics to the right soon). Then a nice refreshing rest at my aunts’ house. Next on to Kristen F’s house for grilled salmon and steamed broccoli, what a peaceful and joyful day.

Wednesday: I had coffee with Dory, who I used to meet with when I lived in Seattle. She’s
doing great and getting married soon!! OH – and it was my BIRTHDAY on Wednesday! I walked down to the Farmer’s Market, got some kettle corn and Rainier Cherries (yum) and a beautiful bunch of flowers for my aunts and then took a birthday nap. SWEET. My aunts’ treated me to a fantastic dinner at the Olive Garden that evening and we came home and played Trivial Pursuit “the 90’s – pop culture” (or tried, really, it really hard) and then watched some funny Friend’s episodes.

Thursday was my last day in town: I got up early and went to see Jenny Brink (nee Haidle) in Kent. We had a lovely breakfast and then drove back to Renton for a walk around Coulon Park and Lake Washington. I went up to the house, relaxed and then got ready for dinner with: Brian and Dixie – who are getting married in November. They took me out to a fantastic fancy restaurant in Juanita and then we all went to Kristen’s for a game night with some of my favorite Seattle-ites!! What a good time was had by all.

Friday 6/23: my vacation ended with breakfast this morning with Aunts Donna and Gloria and it was great. Perfect ending to the trip.

Thanks to all who helped make this vacation so wonderful. Thanks for the birthday wishes and cards. Thanks for your faithful friendship. I love you all!!!

coming soon....

Coming Soon to a computer near you: "Tiff's Life" - from Waco, TX. I'm working on setting the page up right now, and soon I will direct all "tiffslifeingreenville" traffic to the new site.

I'll also update THIS site (lord willing) sometime today or tomorrow morning.

I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon for Seattle, to help Larina prepare for her wedding. Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Love, Tiff

Diets, Dr. Atkins and thank the Lord for low humidity

Good morning friends!

At the risk of revealing too much about myself to my friends who read this (and since there may be 5 of you... there may be 50... it is a little of a risk).. I need to make a confession! I tried on my dress for Larina's wedding last week and it really didn't fit.

Really.

Its the same size as the dress for Leah's wedding, but I think it's a "smaller" fit, and its possible I have gained some weight since then, but I didn't think so. The thing about gaining weight is that it is so subtle. The only way you really notice if people have gained or lost weight is if you haven't seen them in a while, I think - and I look at myself every day. So I know I'm a little "soft" around the edges, but I didn't think I had gotten to the point where I couldn't fit this dress. Granted - it wasn't like I was working out at all during softball season. I was just trying to survive, so even though I was trying to eat healthy those times we ate out, and even though I was trying to "think thin" :), it wasn't so successful.

Anyway, I was at the lady who is doing the alterations and the dress really didn't fit so I figured I'd go with three options - let out the sides (of the dress), atkins diet (no carbs for two weeks) and increased exercise.

More to come tomorrow....... I just finished swimming and I'm exhausted. :)

Summer (unofficially) has begun

Yes, for me, summer has begun. Though the official starting date of summer is (arguably) June 21st - my birthday, when you work at a college "Summer" begins once school is out and vacations have begun.

Last weekend (Memorial weekend) I travelled to Seattle to attend Eric and Lori's wedding (pics to come) and to spend some time with family. My dad (as most of you know) has 6 sisters, and between them they have 13 of the 15 grandchildren. As a family we are in close contact with 5 of the 6 sisters, and 7 of the 13 grandchildren, so it was really fun to get to see some of this clan over the weekend.

When I was growing up Memorial weekend was our Family Reunion weekend. We had these reunions as long as I can remember. The first one that I recall (it wasn't the "first", I'm sure, but the first I can remember) was at Moses Lake, Washington - we all had matching t-shirts that my grandparents had given us which were navy blue and in white they said, "I'm a valuable natural resource". I loved that shirt, and that was a fun reunion - hot as Hades and lots of mosquitos, but fun!

I have a lot of favorite memories from those times: the talent show where Anita and I sang "yankee doodle dandy" (that was not the funniest act, but its the way I remember that reunion - there were some FUNNY acts!), the beach where my brother and cousin got mired in the sand knee deep, the one where it rained so much overnight that I ended up sleeping in the van because my air mattress could no longer hold off the water under it, the scavenger hunt on the way to the location, scouting out locations with Gloria and Donna and Ben and singing "Lean on Me" together, my grandparents laughing - in particular, I remember grandpa from those days laughing out loud, the softball game where uncle Jim tripped and crawled the bases. Whoo. Even just thinking about them makes me laugh.

So it was great to be with family again that weekend. We didn't have a big reunion. Its harder than ever these days to get everyone together. My folks and brother live in Phoenix and Ben never takes vacation, and I can never get to Seattle when my parents are there. We don't really speak to one part of the family - lots of weird-bad history there (on her part, after my grandpa died), so we occasionally see one of those cousins (Wendy) and her daughter (Hannah) but not the others. And though the other sisters live relatively close to each other (within an hour or two) the cousins, now that we are all mostly grown up, are the hardest to get together. This weekend my cousin Steve was playing with a band at the Sasquatch! festival at the Gorge in George, WA. ** side note: there were some pretty famous acts at this festival, including Ben Harper and Death Cab for Cutie - my cousin plays for Sufjan Stevens, and was on the main stage - can you believe that?!? Also, Ben Harper is married to Laura Dern and randomly, my cousin Lisa (steve's sister) served her at the restaurant where Lisa works. Ms. Dern left her a big tip, so that was neat, too! end side note**

Well, I could tell you who was and wasn't there, or I could move on. So I'll simply say I got to see a few of my cousins (Katie, Tony, Lisa, Monica) and a few of my aunts (Sally, Anita, Gloria and Donna) and one of my few uncles (Brian) over the weekend and that was really fun.

The highlights of the weekend (in which most of my time was spent with family) were:
Friend-wise:
* sitting with Amy Jo, Kurt, Jane, Kristen, Terry (and others) in the third row of the wedding.
* Lori getting the giggles at the beginning of the ceremony.
* talking at the reception with old, good friends
* seeing Tim and Carrie Lynn and them making me laugh (as usual)
* getting to see Steve and know he's doing well

Family-wise:
* the 4 hour (each way) trip to Spokane on Saturday where we had our "snack" at Zips..., with Gloria, Donna and Anita - boy do they make me laugh
* visiting the graves of my grandparents, great-grandparents and great aunt
* do-si-do-ing at the graves
* playing "Outwages" and laughing so hard that we all almost you know what'd..
* sitting at the "kids" table with the cousins while our aunts and uncle were at the other table
* watching hugh grant movies with G and D

It was a great weekend. And now I'm back at work and enjoying my time here as well.

Thats the update for today. Hope to have pics, soon, for some of the events. Blessings to you!