Saturday=6 hrs at Starbucks finally starting work on things that I should've been working on 4 weeks ago :)

Pazooki- such a great way to finish off the day

Staff Day Off, Round 3

For our 3rd and final staff day off, most of the staff team enjoyed a day at the waterpark on the pier. I however, didn't feel great and didn't think that the idea of sitting out in 95 degree weather for 6 hours sounded too fun. So instead I slept in, did some grocery shopping, and hung out at Starbucks. And then later in the evening, I was able to join some of my roommates for dinner at a delicious root beer/hot dog restaurant in Cape May so I'd say that overall, it was a pretty good way to spend my last free day here in Wildwood.

Lori and I trying to distract ourselves from our horrific bowling games

Flashback: bowling- our first staff day off

One Week!

One week from tomorrow, the staff team here at Wildwood Summer Project will be heading home and leaving students to fend for themselves. It's soooo crazy to think that I've already been here for 5 weeks. Time has flown, and yet, I feel like I've known my condo roommates for years. We've had an incredible time and, in His mercy, God has been refreshing my soul with a community of women who love one another well and point each other to Jesus. And although I'll be sad to leave, I'm looking forward to getting re-aquainted with life in Oxford and to snuggling my precious little kitten, so all-in-all, I think this summer as a whole is going to be pretty great :)

Mini golf flashback

Flashback: Lori and I stuffing our faces at Sunset Beach

Summer Project Backyard BBQ, in pictures

On Saturday, our Wildwood Summer Project students hosted a barbecue for community members and co-workers. We had tons of food and desserts and even some live entertainment. It was an awesome time for students to serve the community and to connect on a more personal level with their friends from work as well as international students (and also anyone who happened to walk by our massive gathering at the project house). It was such a fun evening and I'm excited to see the creative ways that students decide to reach out to the community as the summer progresses.

Bridesmaids, round 3

Tonight, I watched Bridesmaids with my roommates and, even though it was the third time I'd seen it, I'm pretty sure I laughed just as hard this time as I did the first time I saw it. 

Leading a training session in my highlighter yellow shoelaces,
aka- dressed for success.

A Rainy Day in Jersey

Today was one of the few rainy days we've had here in Wildwood since we arrived about a month ago. And I LOVED it because it meant that I was able to wear my rainboots, which are the coolest rainboots you will ever see.

Flashback: Halloween 2009, the debut of the rainboots,
which you can't really see but I love this picture so you'll
just have to use your imagination

Movie Obsession #1

So. I saw this movie a few months ago and fell in love with it. 

Song Obsession #15

This song is so epic, I won't even try describing its awesomeness. Which means you should probably just listen to it for yourself :)

Staff Day Off Round 3

Tonight, we ventured out to Atlantic City again. This time, we checked out the outlet stores and ate at a delicious Mexican restaurant called Los Amigos. My roommates and I then made our way to Ocean City for a 9:45pm showing of "Brave." I was pretty much the only person in our car of 4 who wanted to see it but they kindly indulged my whims (which, little did they know, would involve running 5 minutes in the pouring rain which would make sitting in the insanely cold, air-conditioned theater that much more miserable for them). That's true roommate-ship right there. The movie was weirder than I expected, but still intriguing and enjoyable. And the music was AMAZING. I plan on buying the soundtrack at some point in the future :)

Facts about the game of Marbles

Well. I discovered something new about myself while eating a donut on the boardwalk the other day. There happened to be the National Marbles Tournament taking place on the beach and it was FASCINATING. I never thought I'd be intrigued by the game of marbles, but it looked super interesting so I decided to google it once I got home. Here are a few things I learned.

1. (This is def my favorite) Participants in the sport of marbles are called "mibsters"

2. The marble each player uses to throw at the marbles in the center of the circle is called the "shooter"

3. Players can request that the marble board be swept before shooting so that any debris (aka sand) can         be removed

Exciting. I know.

Mini Golf Here We Come!

Sorry Allie, totally stole these pics from you :)

Flashback: Anders and Allie studying the book
of Ephesians together

Flashback: Nighttime adventure to the bluffs.
I basically had to drag these two there but once they
got over their irrational fears of the dark, I think
 they really enjoyed themselves :)

Usually I hate granola bars, but these are so ridiculously good I figured I'd share the deliciousness with you.

Happy Father's Day!

Here's a shout out to my awesome Dadda on Father's Day. I love you so much and hope you felt appreciated and cared for today :)

Color Run!

So tonight my friend Lori and I signed up for the 5k Color Run in Louisville, KY on July 29 and I'm PUMPED because 1. This run seems like it'll be tons of fun 2. I get a t-shirt for participating 3. Now that I've registered, I'm motivated to actually go out and run/train over the next few weeks 

Louisville, here we come! 

Staff Day Off #2: Chic-Fil-A and Bowling!

Beautiful form, horrible shot :)

Chic-Fil-A

Three Weeks!

Three weeks from today, staff will head home from New Jersey leaving the students to operate project by themselves! It's so crazy to think that our time here as staff is halfway over... it's been an incredible experience so far and I can't wait to see what the rest of our time here will hold, and even more importantly, what God will continue to do in the hearts of the students over the next 8 weeks.

Roommates!

Love them.

Song Obsession #14

An up-close shot of Pete the baby,
seriously the cutest thing ever

Finally! A good coffee shop in Jersey.

As all of you should know by now, my dear roommate owns an epic coffee shop in Oxford and I've been spoiled rotten with having quality coffee beverages at the tip of my fingertips whenever I wish. Thus, when I moved to New Jersey a few weeks ago, I had to deal with the hardships of having very few options when it came to my espresso needs. And then my friend Lori decided to let me in on the secret of this cute little establishment in Stone Harbor, a town about 15 minutes away from where we're staying in Wildwood, and it has become my new favorite hangout. Also. Let's be honest... the main reason for my love of this place is that Taylor Swift used to play gigs here before she hit the big time. And we all know how much I enjoy having meaningless connections with my celebrity obsessions.

Samuel T. Anders meets Ellen DeGeneres... well sort of...

So, you know how parents oftentimes try to live vicariously through their kids? Well I am officially becoming one of those people... but I don't have a kid. Just a cat. But he's a pretty awesome cat. And after an exceptionally cute nap time photo shoot, I decided to send a picture into the Ellen DeGeneres show. And apparently she thought Anders was cute too (or it was probably just the random person that keeps up her website... but a girl can dream). Nevertheless, my kitten has basically met Ellen, which may or may not be one of the top items on my bucket list, and since he's MY kitten, I've pretty much met Ellen too. Makes sense, right? Not really. But thats ok, we can pretend.

http://photos.ellen.warnerbros.com/galleries/animals_hugging_toys

Night of Reflection flashback: there's so much highlighter in this pic
but the black and white version is so epic I couldn't resist

Mmmm, Sonic

Best post-church meal ever. 

Today, a package arrived from my roommate/guest blogger consisting of epic dvd's and giftcards... and it made me feel really loved.

Women's time- capture the flag!

Hibachi+FroYo = Wonderful staff day off :)

Today was our first staff day off since we arrived about 2 weeks ago and it was SO NICE. The day started off on a good foot when I finally discovered a good coffee shop here in New Jersey... and by discovered, I mean my friend Lori has been frequenting the place and finally decided to let me in on the secret of the only decent coffee shop in town. So that was fun.

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon sending emails, listening to music, watching Nickelodeon and napping. And then we grabbed dinner at this awesome Hibachi place and ate some frozen yogurt on the boardwalk. What a great day. Tomorrow, its back to work- including mulching a community member's yard and cleaning up a local church that we'll be using for meetings this summer. But until then, I'll be enjoying this random Kate Hudson movie we found at Redbox and looking forward to getting a good night's sleep :)

Amanda and I being weird at the fountains in Cape May

Today I slept in until 11:15am for the first time in almost a year. Awesome.

Flashback: dutch blitz, 3 lbs of hot tamales, and swedish fish.
Doesn't get much better than this.

A Night with Jesus at Sunset Beach

Tonight, we took the students to Sunset Beach for a "Night of Reflection"... aka, an opportunity to get away to a remote beach to spend time journaling, reading the Bible, and experiencing the beauty of God's creation here on the east coast. We all ate a picnic dinner together and then spread out, watched the sun set, and spent time with Jesus. AND afterwards, we grabbed some delicious Ben and Jerry's ice cream. What a good night :)

Sunset Beach with Lori, our fearless project director :)

Movie Night

The 7 single staff ladies (plus Megan, who is actually married but hangs out with us enough to be considered a member of our condo) here in Wildwood have decided that we're going to try to watch all of our favorite movies over our next few weeks together. The problem that we keep running into is that Redbox doesn't carry any of the movies on our list so we've been watching a bunch of random new releases until we figure out how to get our hands on these gems:

1. Hoosiers
2. The Butterfly Effect
3. Lars and the Real Girl
4. Dumb and Dumber
5. Sense and Sensibility
6. Tommy Boy

Movies we've watched thus far:

1. War Horse
2. One for the Money
3. In Time
4. Man on a Ledge

Students sharing about all of the crazy big things God has
done to bring them here to Wildwood this summer

Song Obsession #13

Flashback: Colorado summer 2011... we stole Liz's
phone while she was in the bathroom :)

Food for Thought

Some interesting thoughts on Summer from John Piper...

"Don’t let summer make your soul shrivel. God made summer as a foretaste of heaven, not a substitute. If the mailman brings you a love letter from your fiancé, don’t fall in love with the mailman. That’s what summer is: God’s messenger with a sun-soaked, tree-green, flower-blooming, lake-glistening letter of love to show us what he is planning for us in the age to come—“things which the eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Don’t fall in love with the video preview, and find yourself unable to love the coming reality."

"Jesus Christ is the refreshing center of summer. He is pre-eminent in all things (Colossians 1:18), including vacations and picnics and softball and long walks and cookouts. He invites us this summer: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). This is serious summer refreshment."

John Piper

The Start of Project... in pictures.

Random Fact of the Day #2

"A cat’s brain is biologically more similar to a human brain than it is to a dog’s. Both humans and cats have identical regions in their brains that are responsible for emotions." 


Thank you, facts.randomhistory.com. That explains why Anders is so freaking awesome... and why we understand each other so well :)

If you can't tell already, I totally stocked up on new shorts for my birthday

Welcome to Wildwood!

Students have finally arrived! Our staff team has spent the past 8 days cleaning, organizing, and planning for the start of Summer Project here in Wildwood, New Jersey and now things are officially under way. After a full afternoon of registration, we kicked off our first evening together with a pizza party where students were able to meet staff as well as other students. Day one = success. Can't wait to see what the rest of the summer holds!

The Project house where most students stay