Red Unicycle

I had a dream...

...about six months.  And in that dream I knew how to ride a unicycle.

That next morning I told everyone about my unicycle dream.

Then I began searching Craigslist, Amazon and eBay for a unicycle that could be mine.  Unfortunately unicycles cost anywhere from $50 to $200, not the kind of money I have in my back pocket.  So over the last couple months I have been hoping, wishing, dreaming, and praying for this beautiful red unicycle.  And although I was busy I always found myself thinking about it every so often.

A couple weeks ago a friend and I were wandering through a thrift store in my home town, not looking for anything specific.

And there is was, sitting in the corner of the thrift store, this little red unicycle.

The sticker read 5 dollars!!!!!

(Of course it was a little rusty and in need of some paint but it was beautiful.)

I have tried riding it a couple times and let me just say that I am not a natural.  I understand that it will take A LOT of practice before I am a pro uni-cyclist but I am up for the challenge.

An answer to a simple prayer,

God is Good

Unicycle Dreaming

Unbalanced by nature

TPRP: Toilet Paper Roll Postcard

I have always loved mail! Getting mail, sending mail.  They are little pieces of love in the mail.  There is nothing like opening up your mailbox to find a postcard or hand written note.  Along with snail mail I also love re-purposing and am always looking for another project.  My most recent is Toilet Paper Roll Postcards!  Everyone Poops (If you haven't read the book check it out) and I hope we all use toilet paper.  I found myself at the end of another roll and was feeling a little artsy!

These are all the supplies you'll need; some end rolls of toilet paper, scissors, markers/pens, paint, paint brush, newspaper, stamps and the address of someone who needs a little love in the mail.   

First I cut each end roll in half.  The qualifications by the United States Postal Service for the size of a postcard is that is must be rectangular, and be at least 3-1/2 inches high x 5 inches long x 0.007 inch thick greater than 4-1/4 inches high x 6 inches long x 0.016 inches thick.            

Feel free to use either toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls.  Cut the paper towel rolls either in thirds or in half depending on how big you want your postcards.  

The best type of paint to cover the cardboard is acrylic, but depending on the look you want you could experiment with different mediums.  Possibly watercolor or just markers.   

After the paint dried, I drew little pictures and wrote quotes on them.  

This is the finished project!

And off they go!!! 

(A little love in the mail from me to you)

Hello Wisconsin!!!

First of all for those of you who haven't watched That's 70's Show, 
Watch it! (unless you're under 13, then wait a couple years.)

If you haven't guessed I am in Wisconsin for the next couple days with the family.  It will be a nice break from this crazy busy summer.  It was a 3 hour drive from our little town of Waverly to Waunakee which for our family is nothing.  I grew up going on 30 to 40 hour road trips and that was only one way.  Usually through Canada, Washington, Oregon all the way out to New Jersey and New York.

As we drove into Wisconsin we all shouted "HELLO WISCONSIN!!!!"

While driving through Waunakee today we drove by this tower, a Goat Tower

  You thought I was joking.  Really it is a    Tower of Goats!

  These kind of adventures I LOVE!

   Random & Goat Filled.

31 Days of MAY~Being : Day 3

Living Life in Color.

This morning we had our very first Annual Royal Run 5K on Bethel Universities Campus.  It was amazing!  I spent most of the time throwing color at people as they ran by.

 

Such a great day!

31 Days of MAY~Being : Day 2

Children.

Sometimes, especially on a college campus, it is easy to forget about children.  How care free, imaginative, expressive, loving and bold they are.

Today I got to babysit Talli, a four year old little girl with an imagination that tends to run wild with a different shoe on each foot.  Also Rosey, a tiny blond ball of love.  They ran around Bethel's Campus with me for hours saying hello to everyone they met. (and those they didn't meet) Those two little girls are some of the friendliest kids I have ever met.  Not a shy bone in their rambunctious little bodies.  Talli kept running up and down the hall, as if her energy was coming from an endless supply.

Little Talli dancing around the room in her dress made from multiple scarves, simply enjoying life!

I think that there is an important lesson to be learned.

To take every day and appreciate the little things.
The walks to class
The sun dresses
The hot coffee
Finished papers
Hands held
Ping pong games
Late night movies
Adventures to the park

To see life through the eyes of a child.

Jesus said “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.” Mark 10:14,15

31 Days of MAY~Being : Day 1

I have 11 days of school left and 22 days until I leave the Twin Cities for the summer and head home to Waverly, Iowa.  The next 22 days are going to be crazy.  Not only are all of my semester long projects and tests coming up, most of my friends are out of school and have already started their summer.

I thought that this would be the perfect way to keep me sane.  Possibly even distract me from the craziness that is going on at BU.  

One thing is for sure, the weather is getting warmer so I won't have to worry about finding distraction they will happen whether I want them to or not.

Green

Limu Coffee

59 degrees.  Let me say it again.  59 DEGREES!!! Oh what a beautiful day.

I am in a cycling class for the next six weeks.  I have to bike 150 miles in total.  When you calculate that out it comes out to less than a mile and a half a day.  I have a feeling I will get way more than 150.  I had been working on homework all weekend and looking for some release.  What better to do on such a beautiful day than go for a bike ride?

At the corner of 5th Avenue and 5th Street is Limu Coffee, a little Ethiopian coffee place.  Anna and I both got strawberry banana smoothies.  Yum.

So good! So good! I got a smooothie! bumbumbum

6 miles down

144 miles to go

Our bike ride: Bethel University to Limu Coffee

Different, Not Less Than

At Bethel we have chapel Monday, Wednesday & Friday from 10:15am to 11am and although it is not required you can always find a number of familiar faces.

Different, not less than; the name of our series over the last week in chapel.  People who live with disabilities are different, not less than me and you because each of us is designed to change this world in diverse ways.  The definition of the word disability is, "a physical or mental condition that limits a person's movements, senses, or activities." Especially after this week the word, limits, seems out of place. 

Joni Eareckson Tada dove off a dock into the Chesapeake Bay, but misjudged the depth of the water and was paralyzed from the shoulder down.  As Joni was being introduced in chapel on Friday the list of  books written, degrees, awards, and achievements that she had worked for and been given kept going on and on (the very opposite of "limited").  Now she is the founder and CEO of Joni and Friends International Disability Center an outreach to thousands of families affected by disabilities around the world.

Another example of those with "so called" limits pressing past those limits is a man by the name of Emory Dively. He is a deaf pastor at Twin Cities Deaf Assemblies of God who also travels around the country signing his story.  An interpreter translated into a microphone from the audience continuously getting behind Emory due to his enthusiastic story telling.  He had a wonderful sense of humor and talked of God's plan for our lives (Ephesians 2:10)

This morning I volunteered with other girls on my floor at the Special Olympics and there was pure joy in the faces of those competing.  They were just so thrilled to be there and do what they love. 

I am perfectly healthy, but maybe by the standards of dictionary.com I do have a disability.  I am limited in many ways.  Some days it is difficult to find even a fraction of the joy that the people I saw today have all the time.  I am still limited by my view of the world and wonder what beauty they see everyday that I only occasionally glance at.

G3 Girls Volunteering at the Special Olympics

Disability. (n.d.). Retrieved March 30, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disability

 

Saturday at the Spyhouse

The need for an adventure lead us to downtown Minneapolis.  On the corner of Tyler and Broadway sitting outside Spyhouse, a hipster coffee house, writing and drinking the best cup of coffee I have ever had.  Seriously. Best Coffee Ever. 

Sitting there I was reminded of all the wonderful adventures I can go on, the freedom in choosing my next adventure.  It is easy to forget of that freedom while at college. Caught up doing all sorts of crazy homework assignments, working 2 jobs and without a car.  It becomes easy to feel stuck. But this is my life.  I can do what ever I want.  I can travel around the world, take up underwater basket weaving, and learn to play the harmonica or slam some poetry. 

I was raised for this. To be on my own.  Have my own adventures.  

And I am so excited!

My Spyhouse Carmella! 

Twin Cities

A Little Spring Snow

Spring. Spring. Spring. And, although it is spring here in the Twin Cities the snow will not let up.
But I know that spring-ie weather is just around the corner.  I have hope. I know it is coming.

I had lunch with a good friend yesterday and we talked about the importance of being present.  Being here.  Right now, in the moment.  If we are always looking to the future we become blind to the wonderful things right in front of us?

It drives me crazy this Minnesotan weather is so bipolar.  I know spring is almost here, but if I spend all my time dwelling on the future (in this case Spring) then I would not enjoy the big beautiful snowflakes falling from the sky today.  I find myself day dreaming all the time and I have to snap back into reality.  Life is happening right now and why would I want to miss a single second of it.

Today I will enjoy my coffee, French café Pandora station and warm sweater. 

Today.



Look at the size of that snow flake!



Walkway to North

Today

STAY CREATIVE

Spring is here! The warm weather is on its way! After this winter, I can-not wait for any weather that is above freezing.  Spring Break was this last week; the majority of it was spent hanging out with friends, watching movies and doing some sewing projects. I was going through some old boxes of papers over break and found a list of ways to stay creative while waiting for Summer to arrive and I thought I would make my own list!

23 Ways to Stay Creative

1. Make Lists
2. Get Away from the Computer
3. Day Dream
4. Doodle
5. Sing in the Shower
6. Drink Coffee/Tea
7. Take Pictures
8. Listen to New Music
9. Dance
10. Be Open
11. Repurpose Something
12. Plant Something
13. Don't Give Up
14. Go Somewhere New
15. Simplify
16. Read, Read, Read (not a textbook)
17. Count Your Blessings
18. Take Risks
19.  SƎ˥∩ɹ ƎH┴ ʞ∀Ǝɹq
20. Do More of What Makes You Happy
21. Free Write
22. Have Fun
23. Finish Something

Spring Break Shoe Selfie

 

A Little Vitamin D

Today was beautiful! Let me say it again. Today was BEAUTIFUL!!!

B-E-A-U-TI-FUL!!!!

With a high of 49 degrees, it has not felt this good in a very long time.  Only a week ago 10 degrees felt warm and now that I have seen  "nearly 50 degrees", I don't know if I can go back. I don't know about you guys but I am SO EXCITED for spring!

 

I went on a walk earlier today to get some good old vitamin D and found this little message chalked on the side on a building. 

 

Pr. 4:18

 

In The Message in Proverbs 4:18 it says,

 

"The ways of right-living people glow with light;  the longer they live, the brighter they shine."
 

The definition of the word right or righteous is, morally good or acceptable.  I believe that I have good morals and although I have been tested this year I have held fast to what I believe and have found strength in those around me. 

Being a light in this world can be hard some times, I know.  But being a light non-the-less can show some ones true character. 





How beautifully ironic that on such a gorgeous day I would find this little message. 

What a beautiful day

SNAIL MAIL

Hand written letters and post cards from far off places. 

Nothing will ever quite replace snail mail.  Although email, text messages and Skype threaten the old system I have continued writing away none the less. 

In the first couple months that I was at college there was nothing more encouraging than a letter from my mom or a post card from my Nana.  The packages were amazing!  And though I enjoyed what the boxes and parcels contained it really was the idea that someone took the time to pick out items that I liked, put them in a box and sent them to me.  As if sending their love in the mail. 

When it comes to SNAIL MAIL, there is one very important rule that MUST be followed.  You must write back, or else you have broken the chain of communication.  I know it takes time and effort to sit down, write about your day on a piece of paper, throw it into an envelope, stick a stamp on it, lick the weird tasting glue, find a post office and wait patiently for the person who is receiving it write back... BUT there is nothing like snail mail.  All of that time would not have been spent on someone that you don't like, and the person receiving that letter knows that, because they spent the same amount of time with the paper, envelope, stamp, licking, post office and waiting patiently that you have done.

I will keep writing,

cause I love it & cause I have to!



My Snail Mail

Write me and I will write you back!

Haliee Ewest

MSC 720
Bethel University
3900 Bethel Drive
St. Paul, MN 55112

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