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I am a fan of Twitter.

I know.

My grandma doesn’t understand, either. She wants to know why we all have lapbooks (aka laptops) and doesn’t understand why I would want random people reading my thoughts…but you are not random people, are you? If you’re not a follower of me yet, click on the button on the left that says “follow me on Twitter”… to give you a taste of what you’ve been missing in the past year, here is what I’ve tweeted but probably haven’t blogged…or Facebook. I love Twitter because I can post on it all the time and not feel like I’m overdoing it on Facebook. Haha!

- Epic win: bringing a spray bottle with me to the park to cool off :) Seriously, best idea yet. I was soooo hot at the park but the spray bottle made it all better!

- Well, didn't get anything at all shopping. faiiiiil I’m a failure at being a girl. I hate shopping.

- Have lots of errands and packing to do today! Leaving tomorrow am for two weeks! Yea, I’m actually on that trip now. This is actually a scheduled, aka fake, post.

- My roomie and I might do a little shopping today. Neither of us are shoppers so I'll be surprised if we make it 2 stores! We made it to one. ONE. See above.

- Who decided biking in 90* weather was a good idea? Oh yea, that would be me. I’m so smart. You know you want to be my friend.

- Little girl I'm babysitting has woken up twice in last half hour...she's 6 so not normal...hope she's not getting sick! She’s okay, she was just worn out from swimming like 5 days in a row. Her mom thanked me for taking such good care of her. I try!

- Hmm, thinking Chipotle for late lunch/dinner. Haven't had anything to eat yet today. Yikes. I had Chipotle that day, a shredded beef taco or three. YUMMY. And when I wrote that, it was 3:30 pm so it wasn’t Chipotle for breakfast or anything. Like I’d ever do that.

- Called to schedule an oil change and they can fit me in now. Guess I'm doing that! They even gave me a $10 discount, for what I don’t know but they did my oil change in like 20 minutes flat and I wasn’t going to complain. I love my car place. Except they probably love me even more, because I give them a lot of money.  A LOT.

- Giraffe licking my camera... http://twitpic.com/1xwqep Yea that was cool. I like the picture. More coming on that later!

- Heading out soon to babysit and deliver ice cream gift to one of my old coworkers. Looking forward to seeing her! It WAS good to see her. I have to tell you about the latest ice cream trick I played on her. Thanks for reminding me, Twitter!

- Highlighting my 15 y/o sister's hair for the first time. Yikes. Hope it works okay. I will have to check when I see her in a week or so. I forgot to look. I guess it doesn’t look awful because my mom hasn’t called to yell at me about it.

- Love how the hospital has wifi. Sitting in class. Lol When I saw this one, I had to ask myself, “why were you in the hospital?!” then I remembered I was there for a class for work. Probably didn’t stick.

- Can I cram 5 states and various cities all in June before the fam reunion???hmmmm Yes you can because you did and look how flippin fun the map looks!

- Biked about 8 miles tonight- kinda proud of myself! You can do better than that. Wuss.

- Dear legs, you didn't like that bike ride, did you?? I might have overdone it a tad...sorry! Whatever. Your legs look awesome now. Biking rocks.

- Ahhh. What an awesome, fun day with my coworkers. I love these girls Yes you do because they are fun people. And they also rock. And if you keep telling yourself this, you will stay in touch with them even though you are not working with them anymore. You WILL.

See what you’ve been missing?!?

Miley Cyrus

I don’t really write about celebrities here very much, if at all. I do like reading People magazine and semi-follow a few of my favorites- Lauren Graham, Sandra Bullock…but that’s about it.

Last week when my sisters and I were in a hotel up north, Miley Cyrus was being interviewed on tv. I’m pretty sure the last time I saw Miley, she looked like this:

 

The childhood star has grown up, let me tell you what! Little Miley doesn’t exist anymore- in her place stood a screaming (literally) teen announcing to the world, “I can’t be tamed”….woah.

I know Hannah Montana ended. I get that. I also get that Miley is 17 and probably feels a lot of pressure to grow up, more so than the normal teens who are not born and bred Hollywood. I understand that she wants to “show” the world that she sees herself as an adult set aside from the Hannah Montana character.

However, Miley—we don’t need to see as much as you’re showing. If you want to show us that you are adult-like, act like it. Dress like an adult and don’t scream words like “I can’t be tamed” in my ears. Actions speak louder than words…

Bethany Is…

Have you ever Googled your name with “is” to see what pops up? Here’s what’s new in the “Bethany is” world!

Bethany is…

…the cute college girl of the day (not sure I want to follow that link!)

… dumb (sometimes that is true.)

…an affordable college choice (Bethany Lutheran College in case you were looking for a college)

… turning into Nathan Lane (who is that?)

… a tigre (oh geez)

… a village in Jerusalem (that is true!)

…awesome (well now, THERE we go!) Might as well stop there!

I was also on Statcounter earlier checking out how exactly people come to my blog. It always brings up interesting searches!

Sleeping in her underwear. (WHAT?! Where does that come from?..ohh… I remember now!)

Marble Falls, Texas (hmm, never been there but according to a test I did a long time ago, it would be a good place for me to live…)

Baby feet art (really? Oh, that was when I was on my way to meet baby Elsie, I think!)

Texas tattoos (Okay, I definitely don’t have one of those!)

Eh, not as interesting as other times. Do you ever look to see what words bring people to your blog?

Jealousy

I struggle a lot with jealousy, especially within my own family. When I spend a large amount of time with my family, as I prepare to do while writing this post, jealousy is a huge topic in my mind. I’m jealous of my sisters and their boyfriends, for the most part.

Rarely does it cross my mind that anyone would be jealous of me, though. Over the past few weeks, a few of my friends and/or former coworkers have told me that I’m lucky- I get a start over. A new job, wherever I want, doing whatever I want. They are stuck back at school and I have a new beginning. I’ve also been traveling a lot while they are either bored at home or working part-time, with little or no trips on the horizon.

I was kind of blown away.

The fact that others would be jealous of my decision to quit my job…it’s been on my mind alot. I told the girls that if I had my way, I wouldn’t have a new beginning. I would rather be working at the school again, in a secure job, than trying to figure out the next step in my life.

And yet, they envy that new beginning I’ve been dealt.

The grass is always greener, isn’t it? Have you embraced new beginnings in your life recently? It’s hard…but it’s life, and I’ll do my best to be okay with it. Change is hard.

Liberty Bell City

A few weeks ago now I had the chance to visit Philadelphia while I was hanging out with my friend Lyn. As it turns out, one of my sisters is living just an hour or so outside of Philly so she and her boyfriend met Lyn and I and we all toured the city together. I’d been to Philly once before as a child (as in, the Liberty Bell was outside and now it’s inside…not sure when they did that!) so it was fun to go as an adult!

We came across huge clothespins and game pieces, as well as strange looking statues

 

discovered L-O-V-E

old Congressional buildings

         

         
 
         

          

port-a-potty toilets at the end of piers- perhaps in case someone boating by needs to go suddenly?

splashing duck boats (the driver completely GUNNED it- fun to watch!)

spied on New Jersey

and of course,

walking Liberty Bells

What? You mean you haven’t seen such a thing?

Well hop, skip and jump your way to Philadelphia then!

FAQ

Some odds-and-ends facts about me to keep you entertained while I’m gone. Haha!

Full name: Bethany Ann Philomena Bernadette Lastname

Height: 5’6”ish

Eyes: Blue or blue/green depending on what I’m wearing

(Not my eye…)

Hair: Blonde when I was really young, naturally brown, right now it’s more reddish

 
(Both me)

Favorite color:


Favorite foods:

(Yes, I realize they have a common thread in the cheese…haha!)

Favorite vacation spots so far:

(San Pedro, Belize)



(Block Island, Rhode Island)

And there you have it, a little bit of me! What are your faves?

 
(Like my flip flop tan? LOL!)

Last of the June Vacations

I'm heading out again tomorrow morning to visit my old college roommate Jess. I haven't seen her in a few years so I am super excited! I'll be with her for a few days and then head on to see one of my friends from teenage-hood before going to my family reunion. I'll be gone for almost two weeks so I'm trying to schedule lots of posts to the blog while I'm away. I probably won't visit any blogs while I'm gone but I promise to catch up when I get back!

So, is there anything you would like to see me post on at all? Have any questions to ask me? Your call, readers- unless any of you want to guest post. LOL!

An Honorary Irishman

The little boy I watch frequently, Bug, is a big part of my life. He’s definitely not Irish at all but I think my extended family (the MacV’s!) would love him. Last time we had a family reunion in New Hampshire, we did a lot of moose hunting in the evenings. A few weeks ago, I was watching Bug and just HAD to put these pj’s on him. He’d fit right in at our reunion!

 

Skinks and Amish Country

I was recently visiting my aunt in Virginia, and they found one of these critters in their basement!

It’s a skink…I don’t think I’d ever seen one and the one at their house was BIG! It was an older one so the stripes had faded and we ended up taking it to a nature center to find out for sure what animal it was. As it turns out, they are native to that area but it was the largest one the science teacher had ever seen. It was cute!

On my trip back from Philly I got to drive through a town I’ve always wanted to see- Lancaster, PA! We used to live right behind a family of Amish and I enjoy reading about and learning more about them. I wish I’d spent more time in Lancaster--- it’s a pretty place!

 

Jobs and Roommates

School ended a little over two weeks ago and it was such a whirlwind I feel I’m just now catching my breath and realizing what happened. When I’ve been with friends recently, they want to know how I’m doing, and the truth is I’m doing really well. I talk to a lot of my co-workers via phone regularly and since I’m living with one of the girls from work I’m still kept in the loop. Yay for perfect timing!

In reality, I haven’t been thinking about school too much. It’s not purposely, but I’m just really enjoying my summer break and the stress that came with working with Jessa completely diminished. I actually have one more Jessa story to share at some point, but the woman was just nutty (as if we didn’t know!).

So- I’m working a little with my summer job, which is nannying for a 4 month old little girl I call Care Bear. She’s adorable and a good baby, so we’ve enjoyed walks through her neighborhood and hung out at her house. Once my family reunion is over and I’m on to my normal work schedule in July, hopefully we’ll hang out with friends of mine at the mall/zoo/parks. Her parents seem really easy going so far, and it’s pretty easy!

My new roommate situation is going well! We’re good friends and have had a few roomie movie nights in the past few weeks. I really haven’t been here very much since moving in- I’ve been babysitting overnight/out of town for 11 nights and have only lived here a little over three weeks. It’s been fun having a roommate who actually talks to me!

So, I’ve already had one job offer. I thought that I wouldn’t really be job searching until July because of my travel commitments (plus I want to see how my summer job goes!). There is a possibility that my summer job could be combined with another family to create a job share, but the job offer I received was for a different nanny share job- a preschooler, a toddler, and two infants. It was a friend of a friend—truthfully, I just wasn’t ready to make a decision regarding fall yet, so I had to tell them that and they will find someone else to begin right away. Still, it’s good to know I’m in demand and can (hopefully) find a job in my field when the time comes. I will probably be nannying again for now instead of returning to a school job- that is just a bit too overwhelming at this point.

Anyway, that’s my job update!

GUESS WHAT! GUESS WHAT!

I interrupt this very important blog to make an exciting announcement---

I JUST PAID OFF MY LAST CREDIT CARD!!!!!!!!

Just today, hit the "pay full amount" button! 

YAY!

YAY!

YAY!

I still have some school debt and a family loan to repay, but STILL. THIS IS HUGE, people!!

Normal life may now resume...

Summer Reading

A few of  my bloggy friends and I have begun sharing our summer reading lists. I love getting new ideas for books- sometimes I just walk through the library and pick up random books that look interesting. A few days ago I took a trip to the library and ended up walking out with 5 or 6 biographies.

I typically find books through Christianbook and Family Fiction on Facebook, as well as on Amazon (great for suggestions!), Heartsong Presents and Love Inspired. My library puts a cap on 50 books out at a time and I frequently reach that. Especially with all of the traveling I’ve been doing, reading is one thing I absolutely love about summer- more time to read!

On my reading list this summer…

TAKE FOUR, KAREN KINGSBURY (My favorite author!)

MURDER BY FAMILY, KENT WHITAKER

COOL BEANS, ERYNN MANGUM
 


THE RELUCTANT COWGIRL, CHRISTINE LYNXWILER

HANDLE WITH CARE, JODI PICOULT

A HEART TO SERVE, BILL FRIST

OUT OF HER HANDS, MEGAN DIMARIA

PLAIN PURSUIT, BETH WISEMAN



So, what are you reading this summer? Anything fun?

Hmm...Blog Issues

Apparently, some people are having trouble reading the new blog layout. If you are having trouble, could you take a picture of the screen with the prntscrn button and email it to me at bschwe@gmail.com? Thank you...because this is what I see so I can't fix what is wrong! LOL...

Animal Mania!

When I was visiting my friend Stevie last week in Pennsylvania, we took her daughters to an animal park called Lake Tobias. It was a few hours away but the girls (ages almost 3 & 7 months) did extremely well in the car—not to mention, it gave Stevie and I lots of time to catch up since we only see each other about twice a year!

 

(We didn’t pass Punxsutawney on the way to the animal park but I drove through it on my travels and just think it’s a funny name. Didn’t see any groundhogs though :(   …)

We drove by this house which looks almost identical to the one I grew up in!

Anyway, the park was really neat and we saw TONS of cool animals! Some of them are popular zoo animals but others I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before!

 
Peacocks—I’d never seen a white one before!

I love this sign!



This bird was creepy!


Zebras!


Tiger—Stevie's favorite!


Miniature horses


Wallaby…

This lemur was SHRIEKING…it was really creepy!

And last but not least, the prairie dogs. Oh my gosh, so adorable! They remind me of the chipmunks from Alvin and the Chipmunks. I really just want to squeeze them!

So, that is one of the adventures I’ve been on recently—more to come, but off to babysit for now!