Day Zero... What's that

Okay, truth time.... I think about writing in here a lot. But I never actually do it.  I have so many cool things to write about from this summer, but just never have.  Someone mentioned my Day Zero project the other day and that really got me thinking.  So today I went through and kind of depressingly looked at my list.  After all, I don't think I've looked at it since April, so there was no way more than like 3 things could be crossed off.... And to my surprise, I totally get to mark off  FOURTEEN things!  Which may not seem like a lot, but it kinda is. So for my re-entry to the blog world, I'm going to stop doing recaps and focus on right now.  God's doing such cool things in my life and I want to share them with you now, not 3 months down the road when I finally get caught up. But I guess this is a recap, but more fun... the 14 things I've accomplished off my list this year:

80.

 Get a pedicure

The lovely Miss Rachel Dunn totally went with me to get pampered during the spring semester.  We had such a blast and my feet never felt any better... oh and ice cream afterwords at Mr. Freezes =
  AH-MAZING!!!


43.

 Learn Guitar

 So I'm definitely no pro, but I can make my way around it... kinda... maybe?


34.

 Take pictures with my dad on Campus

 We got all decked out for a banquet and then found some places to take pictures.... Fellow Alumni :)

Fellow Falcons!

33.

 Graduate from College

Already wrote about this... but such an awesome day!!!

Such a good day (p.s. So thankful for my awesome Professors!!!)

66.

 Learn to drive a four wheeler

We went to the sand dunes in Nevada...
  AKA the flippin' desert!!! It was so hot.  I'm pretty sure I told Brandy 100 billion times that I was just going to roll over and die in the desert... Any way, I totally learned to drive four wheelers.  It was sweet!

Woot!

55.

 Celebrate graduation with Brandy

 Fancy dinner included :) Yay us!

Too many pictures to choose from... sorry about that

77.

 Write a letter to the people who most influenced me when I graduate
  college

This took two months to finish, but I'm so thankful to everyone that helped me. (And to Brandy for sealing the envelopes, haha)


52.

 Go canoeing

2 best friends + 1 of their boyfriends + 2 1/2 year old godson + me = amazing night on the river.  He's such a happy kid!  I love him!

My lil' man is such a water baby

17.

 Go on a zip-lining course

7 Zips (4,025 feet worth), 2 50-foot belays, 2 rope bridges... oh and two amazing friends... yeah we're cool like that.

What a fun day with amazing people

21.

 Learn to sew

I made my first project - a pair of some pretty sweet pj shorts... Thank you Mary for teaching me :)

3. & 49.

Learn to golf and Golf with Dad

These two are the same.... basically.  I had to sub for my mom in a golf scramble with my dad... So I went out back with Dad, hit a few golf balls and then played 9 holes with his team at the Elms :)  What a blast [[And for the record, I take back every bad thing I ever said about golf...]]

Awesome golf team here... haha

98.

 Watch a meteor shower

A couple weekends ago we had a major meteor shower... So a friend and I laid on our backs on the bed of a trailer and watched the sky for a while.. Amazingly peaceful (pretty sure we saw 6 big ones and then like 7 little ones in an hour)

36. 

Go to an Air Show

Natalie asked me to go about 5 months ago, so we went with her dad and spent an amazing day at the Cleveland Air Show (Earplugs would have probably helped, but apparently they are lame, haha) From tricks, to a wing walker, to the Blue Angels, I can't wait for next year!!!!

SWEETNESS!

Re-living Jamaica

I can't believe I graduate in three weeks... not even three weeks.  Life is about to change big time and I couldn't be more excited about it! My updates have kind of gone on the wayside, but I want to share the rest of my Jamaican trip, specifically the two other items I checked off my list:

8)Learn chess (again)

14) Travel outside of the US

24) Travel with Mom and Grandma

It was over a month ago, but it was an amazing time.  I've never went outside of the U.S.  I've just never been called to leave here.  At one point in time, I thought I was meant to go overseas (I was set on Papua New Guinea), but that fell through. Things worked out like they were supposed to, but I'm glad Mom and Grandma picked Jamaica. It was awesome. 

Everything was so colorful! And so drastic.  When we drove through a town, it was packed!  Through the country, it was so desolate.  Everyone was so friendly too.  I can't wait to go back there!

 

The best part of the entire trip though, was spending it with Mom and Grandma. I am extremely blessed to have them in my life :)  Not only are they amazing, they are a riot!   So funny.  It's so fun to be around them.  Life is never dull and I understand why!  We have a lot of memories from there and I really hope that we can spend time together like that again.  I would love it! 

I also got to play some chess in Jamaica with Mom.  Pretty sure we were supposed to be getting Grandma an ice cream cone, but we got distracted... by a giant chess board!!! Not as giant as say wizards chess in Harry Potter, but still... it was cool.  And I totally won!  Haha, it was a blast!

Swimming in the Caribbean

I get to check another item off of my Day Zero list!!

#97. Swim in the ocean

(I mean technically, I swam in the sea, not the ocean, but it's close enough for me.)

Swimming in the Caribbean was cool (I kept quoting Pirates of the Caribbean the entire trip), but snorkeling in the sea was amazing.  Not only did we have an amazing guide, Ricardo, the sea was just so clear and full of life.  I held a sea urchin, all kinds of starfish, a conch, and got to see all kinds of things.  Living where I do, I get to enjoy all the hills and trees and beauty God put on this earth, but this is really the first time I saw the beauty He placed in our waters!

So pretty

Our guide, Ricardo

Conch Shell

Starfish we let go of

So cool to hold them

Once I got over the whole breathing
under water thing, I loved it!

Bring bread, Fish will come :)

Loved the flippers!

I figured you might enjoy seeing what we saw.  So awesome! And so cool to enjoy with my mom and grandma :)

Day Zero - You will be completed!

Last Thursday, I fulfilled one of my Day Zero Project Items!!!! I'm excited for this one, as I've been meaning to actually get this done for at least two and a half years!!  I ended up spending a bunch of money in order for it to happen, but I know it will be worth it!  I finally applied for a passport!!

My mug shot is horrible, but eh, whatever... It's done and expedited, so it should be here in a few weeks!  I can't believe I've finally done it!  Plans are being made as I type for a trip with my mom and my grandma.  I'm going to be leaving the country, which means one more thing is going to be knocked off of my Day Zero Project!

If you haven't heard what my Day Zero Project is, you should totally check it out here (and if you wanna help me out, let me know)! Every once in a while, I look at it and think "There is no way I'm going to do all this stuff," but then I think about how cool it's going to be to actually do it!

 

I totally encourage you to check out their website and check out some of their ideas.  It's where I got some of mine.  From what I'm learning in my management class, half the battle is just getting the stuff you want to do down on paper.  From there, it's at least a step in the direction of a commitment.  Check it out!

Yay for a new semester!

Wow, school has begun, and let me tell you, my feet have hit the ground running (not so much by choice, but because I have to run to keep up with this semester). This semester is going to be crazy!  I thought it would be way more laid back, but judging by the first 4 days, that's totally not going to happen.

I feel like I just graduated!

I graduate in 4 months!  But to get there, I have to take 4 more classes - Graphics [fun class], Finance, Statistics [there are only 8 people in the class], and Management.  For my 'lightest' class load yet, it's going to be quite the fair amount of work.   I'm really excited for this management class.  It's going to be the most work out of any class, but I'm going to learn so much.

Already, in 2 classes, it's challenged me to rethink how I think (talk about confusing), how I organize things, why I think the way I do, how effective am I, and what I truly want to do in life.  Now I already have what I will dub a 'dream job' [meaning whats the job you want right after graduation.  Not ten years from now, but the month after you graduate]. So even though a lot of the class is helping students figure out what that is, I'm still gaining a lot of cool info.

Oh, and did I mention I'm taking guitar classes?!?!  Super stoked!  And, in case you didn't know, that means I'm in process of completing something off of my Day Zero Project! (read about it here)  Speaking of which, I completed stuff over the break!!!  Like:

I got to shoot a gun!  Ben and some other friends taught me a little bit and I did get to shoot a few guns.  I still plan on learning more with my dad and grandpa, as well as Bill (I'm really excited for those!).  But I officially shot one.

I started to learn to drive stick.  It was pretty epic, pulling off the side of the road to switch places and then stalling a good 4 times.... haha.  But I'm looking forward to continue learning it.

I got a sewing machine for Christmas (complete with patterns to make pj pants, haha), so learning to sew should happen soon. I really want to make a quilt like this:

That's about it, but I've already got a few more things on my list for this semester :)

So yes, I'm looking forward to the semester.  To the musical that I'll be in, to the fun with friends, to some time down at Marmon, to snow (yes snow; I'm sick of this rain stuff), to the amazing things that God has planned for me.

P.S. Did I mention I'm glad it finally snowed? I'm way over this rain thing!

New Post. New Look. New Direction

This post is a bit different than my last ones, just kind of updating you on my blog status and the future of it.  Did you notice that it looks different?!?!?! I'm so excited for it!

[[ For those of you who just read my blog through emails, and don't visit the blog (which is fine, I'm glad you read and keep updated on the crazy things in my life), you should come visit.  Click here to see my blog.  It has had a complete makeover. ]]

Back story:  These past few weeks, I've been reading other blogs and have found this whole new community of people that I'm excited to be a part of.  It's a new thing to do with my free time (yes you can laugh at that).  It's been really neat to meet other people in all walks of life.

While I'm learning not to compare myself with others, it's hard not to compare your blog to someone else's blog.  Being a computer science major, I saw things that I could definitely be doing using the skills I have learned in html and css and all of that jargon.  So, I considered it a challenge to make my blog unique <-- one of the items on my { Day Zero Project }

My blog is still going to have the main purpose of sharing the craziness that is my life with my family and friends.  It's never dull in the Bennethum household, and I'm sure you'd like to hear the adventures that occur in my life.  However, I've really enjoyed sharing exactly what God has been doing in my life with you.  Through my analogies that I love, He's been doing some really cool stuff.

I renamed my blog from Country Jam to "ExtraOrdinary Love in Ordinary Life." God's love is amazing and has completely changed my life.  He loves me so much, and it's my challenge to myself to find His love in my every day life. From the leaves on the trees to my professor's funny anecdotes for the day, God is constantly showing His love, I've just got to take the time to see it and believe it.

So that's my new direction. I'm going to try to be more involved in the blog world, participating in things and posting with other people.  I'm not sure where it'll end up, but I hope that you stick around to see what God does.  I'm sure interested in it.  It should be an exciting ride.

 

By the way, do you like the changes?  I do.  It was fun to try to figure out all the fun behind the scenes stuff.  Be on the lookout for fun, new things.  I'm officially checking this one of my Day Zero Project, even if I plan to continue it.  It looks pretty now :)   1 down, 100 to go!

Oh and last tidbit, my camera has now been found.  It was MIA for about 2 weeks, but it is now home, safe and sound!  Expect pictures soon!