I have been doing things!

The struggle with keeping up with this blog is that I'm either
a) not doing any exciting things and therefore have nothing to blog about or
b) too busy doing things to blog about them!
But I have a free moment and have been doing things lately so I guess its time for a quick review!

1. I visited Texas a&m!
I have several friends down in Aggieland, and for the longest time I have wondered what the hype about that place is all about, so when the opportunity for a trip down there came up, I was all in. We went to Midnight Yell and the football game (BTHO Vanderbilt!) and hung out with some of my favorite people. The entire weekend was SUCH a blessing and so filled with love and joy and good food.  AND, A&M was not nearly as weird as I expected. I actually got surprisingly into all of the cheers and whatnot. So thanks and gig 'em for a great weekend, College Station.

These two guys...I couldn't ask for better friends! :)

2. I also visited...the hospital!
It all started with a cavity and a simple trip to the dentist to get it filled. Not enjoyable by any means, but also not a huge deal. After numbing shot #1, I still had feeling in my mouth, so they gave me a second one. After that, I STILL could feel all of the exciting things that my bearded dentist was doing, (note to all dentists--if its part of your job to have your face in other people's faces, can you please not have a beard? Thanks. And gig 'em) so he hits up your homegirl with a THIRD numbing shot, and then finally we are ready to get this show on the road. Or so we thought. Suddenly I find myself saying, "whoa, I think I'm going to pass out" to which he replies, "what...why?"
BOOM. Gone.
Waking up from that was interesting. I didn't know where I was until Dr. Bearded Guy said "you're at the dentist, you passed out." Oh. Oh yeah. My first thought was, "Oh, okay. Seriously? Who passes out at the dentist?" Anyway, long story short, Dr. Facial Hair requested that I have a friend (thanks, Emily!) pick me up and take me to the hospital to make sure I was okay. We went, even though I felt fine (other than the fact that the left side of my face was pretty much paralyzed...). I'll spare you the rest, but having a totally numb face (THREE shots, remember?) for about NINE HOURS was all kinds of entertaining and pathetic.

3. I've been eating fun things!
I made a clean eating pizza on Friday night, and it wasn't bad! Pizza is one of my favorite foods, so I will definitely be working to perfect this whole clean eating pizza situation.
I was totally craving a salad the other day, and I was feeling adventurous so I bough a bag of "Baby Kale Blend with Garden Veggies" (what, doesn't everyone buy mixed greens when they're feeling bold?). Its not even lettuce! Its kale, spinach, cauliflower, and carrots. Its healthy and different and I find it exciting. I've been eating it with crushed pecans and Greek vinaigrette dressing. YUM. I also tried Vietnamese food from a food truck last week, and that was good too! Foreign foods are so exciting, and I'm always down for trying new tastes.

 

So I guess that's all for now...I have three big papers due between now and Thanksgiving break which is only THREE WEEKS away! I'm so excited to spend time with my mom....'s pumpkin pie ;)

 



An Evening with Moses

I like to think I have good judgment. I'm a born rule-follower with a Catholic conscience. So imagine how much fun I must be having at a university where I'm pretty sure if there were a club for people who don't associate themselves with under-age drinking, I would be the president and one of the few members with high-functioning social skills. We would eat pizza and talk about our favorite sitcoms every Friday night.
...okay wait. That sounds way too much like what I actually DID do last Friday night...

Society thinks I'm lame. But that's not the point of this post because who cares what "society" thinks? I think I'm awesome.

Anyway, sometimes its kind of a bummer not having that many exciting, "you'll never believe what I did in college" stories. These are supposed to be our "glory days" and the "best years of our lives" right? So on Sunday, I took in a stray Dog thinking, "This will be so hilarious and crazy. Imagine the stories!" And how could I refuse this precious baby's face?

Let me give you a timeline of events:

9:00pm: My brain: "I'll take him home with me tonight and take him to the shelter first thing in the morning! It will be so fun! I know my apartment doesn't allow pets but....*this is where I decided to stop thinking*
9:15pm: Catherine and I took him INSIDE Wal-Mart on a leash--okay it was actually a piece of rope someone found. Maybe those people who make the "People of wal-mart" videos saw us.

9:30: Me to Elizabeth, my roommate, when I walked in the apartment with a puppy: "You know how sometimes you have those moments where you're like 'I'm in college and want to do something stupid for once?'"
Yall, her face when I brought a puppy into our apartment unannounced. Let me take a second and talk about Liz. She's freaking awesome. We met when we lived together last year in a dorm and I think God had such a good laugh watching us together last year that He wanted us to live together again. And round two has been even better than round one. So anyway, a few seconds after the initial shock, Liz fell in love with Moses.

9:35: Moses pees on the carpet
9:36: What the heck was I thinking? Ugh but he's so cute.
9:37: Suddenly this apartment feels a lot smaller than I remember. You think the animal shelter is still open? (they closed at like 5...)
9:38: Oh yes, this is why I don't do this type of thing.
9:40: Calling the non-emergency animal control people...they weren't there.
9:41: Giving up on that and giving Moses a bath! I know he looks like he's trying to run away in this picture, but he was so good! And so dirty!

10:00: discovering he had fleas...yay!
10:15: Falling more in love with his preciousness. He was actually a very good dog--super sweet and cuddly. But he did whine when he was left alone...I was planning on staying up all night and being with him so he wouldn't whine. While I turned off my judgment, I thought it would be fun to stay up all night because college is supposed to be about crazy late nights right? Here's what I think about that--why can't we do crazy stuff during the day and then sleep at night? Its a win-win situation. Whatever college social standards. You do you and I'll do me and sleep at night.
He was so sleepy after his bath.

 



11:00: I had an intramural soccer game and I didn't want to just ditch Liz with the stray dog I had brought home an hour ago, so Moses came along and in typical Moses fashion, made some new friends.

Shout out to Jake and Emily for keeping Moses warm and happy while I rocked left forward.
11:20: Halftime. Frantically texting a friend I ran into at Wal-Mart who was thinking about making Moses her dog!
11:45: Game over (Bears win!) and Moses goes to his new family. Shout out to Ashton for taking him in!

And just like that, he was gone. I think 3 hours of college craziness was enough for me. But Liz and I miss Moses already! Ashton's roommate is in one of my classes and reported to me today that Moses (who they renamed "Boone" after T. Boone Pickens) is doing fab.

So there it is, the non-biblical story of Moses. I guess college isn't about having terrible judgment, but making memories while still getting a healthy amount of sleep so you can get up in the morning and eat a good breakfast before your test that you studied for over the weekend. These are our glory days! ;)

Bye Moses!

 





 

When I made an unplanned pilgrimage to Prague

I did something super Catholic today. It was awesome.
I had to drive out to the little Oklahoma town of Shawnee this morning for a school project, and on the way there, I saw a billboard for the National Shrine of Infant Jesus of Prague. My first thought was, "that sounds Catholic!" My original plan, since I was already over an hour from Stillwater, a town where there is no Target, mind you, was to make a day out of being out of town and go shopping (AKA find a Target), but I felt so drawn to this shrine that I totally forgot about shopping. So when I finished my work for school, the shrine hunt began. I arrived at about 11:50--just in time for noon mass! Thank you Jesus for Your perfect timing! The chapel was beautiful. It wasn't super big or even overly-elaborate, but had such a feeling of reverence and holiness  Mass was beautiful. The priest gave a great homily. He talked about St. Francis, who's feast we celebrate today, which led him to talk about Pope Francis. And how can anyone not love that guy?



So anyway, mass was beautiful. Very simple and traditional. For the first time, I received communion kneeling at a communion rail. It was awesome. Fun fact, I also helped some people help this lady back into her wheelchair. #kakidoesthings. So after mass and a little bit of adoration, the exploring began. There was this little side area with lots of prayer candles where some religious sisters were looking around and praying, and one of them handed me a lighter and gestured for me to light one of the candles, so I did. When a little lady in a religious habit hands you a lighter and tells you to light a candle, you don't ask questions.

I lit a yellow one because its my favorite color :)
I stopped in the gift shop (oh, looks like I did get some shopping in today) and bought a little something for my parents (coming to you in the mail soon mom and dad!), did a little bit more looking around and reflecting and praying in the chapel, and eventually, I came to this statue of the holy family, who I love.

 

I've never seen an image like this one before, and for some reason it just captivated me. It is so precious. Joseph holding Mary holding Jesus. I've been wondering about Mary and Joseph's marriage lately. St. Joseph is so often forgotten about, and so rarely mentioned in the Bible, but I imagine that he loved Jesus and Mary so much and did his best to take care of them. He probably taught Jesus how to do carpenter things. The young Jesus probably looked up to him just as most little boys look up to their fathers. The three of them were a family. They ate meals together and said goodnight each night and good morning every morning. They celebrated holidays together--like Christmas...





I love this statue.

 

So I went on an unplanned pilgrimage today. Well, to me it was unplanned...

If you're ever near Prague, Oklahoma, you should totally stop at the National Shrine of the Infant Jesus of Prague. You'll be captivated by and drawn to the infant King. I definitely was.

Side note, the infant Jesus of Prague is named after the capital of the Czech Republic, not after the small town in Oklahoma. Read about it HERE. I love the universal church. Catholicism rocks.

Blessed are they who do things...

Wow! I am totally blown away and humbled by the response to my previous post about Instagram! I was not expecting that at all and I'm so thankful for all of the uplifting support I've received! People are so great.
Here's a "fab four" list of things I've been doing in the past week or so:


1. Faith
The Beatitudes! Gosh I love them. We sang this song at mass on Sunday and it reminded me of how much I love them. It was stuck in my head all day Monday, which eventually led to some reflection over the scripture it originates from. I have a few personal favorites:
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
I think sometimes I feel bad for feeling sad or upset about things because I get in this mindset that I'm supposed to be happy all the time if Jesus is in my life, and if I'm not then I must be doing something wrong. But life is way deeper than that, praise God! Check it out: He tells us its okay to mourn, and its okay to want things to be made right. In fact, its more than okay because blessed are you when you do. Blessed are you. Its not "I have to be happy because God says so," but its, "I can be happy even though I mourn and I hunger and thirst for righteousness, because blessed am I." Even in our sufferings He still continues to bless us. We are blessed because we suffer. He Himself suffered and it brought infinite blessings. So, like the song says, rejoice and be glad! Yours is the kingdom of God!

2. School
Okay, so if you don't already know, I'm a Human Development and Family Science major and I love it so much. I want to pursue elementary school counseling or work with the homeless...Well, I actually want to do both at some point...ANYWAY, here's a quote that I found interesting from an article I had to read for my Relationships and Marriage Development class:
"It is important to recognize that the development of attachment is not the same as the development of commitment, nor is attachment the same as commitment.  Strong attachments between partners often lead to commitment, but this is not automatic. It is the formation of commitment—a clear series of decisions about choices and the future—that brings security to a relationship, thereby settling any anxieties about attachment.  Attachment often pushes one to desire security but commitment brings evidence that one can actually trust that security exists."
This speaks so much truth! It also reminds me of that scene from Elf when Michael is reading Santa's book on the news and he's like, "Charlotte Denon wants a Tiffany engagement ring and for her boyfriend to commit already!" Attachment without commitment leads to anxiety and instability. I could write a whole post about this...maybe I will. #KakiMightDoThings

3. Fun
So many fun things! I was determined to make last weekend busy and action-packed.
Friday I went bowling with a group from church--and I won the second game with a score of 127. Look out world!

Saturday I went to Oklahoma City with Erin. Between the two of us, I'm pretty sure the entire color spectrum was covered. This was the only picture we got with our outfits in it, but I promise you, we're not 13. We are mature, college-educated young adults...ish. ;)

 

 

And Sunday-Funday certainly did not disappoint. It was a busy day and it also marked the start of Intramural soccer! I'm pretty sure this is one of my favorite parts of college. We tied our first game 2-2. Go bears!

4. FOOD
I mentioned in my first post that I wanted to start a clean-eating diet. So far its been a lot of fun! I've cooked and tried a lot of new and different foods, and I've gotten to the point where I can cook chicken without setting off the fire alarm! Last night I made this spaghetti pie for my roommate and two of our friends (and me, duh) and it was so good! And I think I'm going to make these cookies next weekend. This is the part where I'm probably supposed to post pictures of all of these gorgeous meals I've whipped up, but lets be real. 1, my food isn't always pretty (but its pretty delicious, promise!) and 2, by the time its done cooking, I'm just so ready to eat it that I don't even think to take a picture. Maybe soon if I can cook something pretty. Maybe the cookies. You never know what kind of things I will do....



"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity on the human heart." Ecclesiastes 3:11

Why I stopped filtering pictures of myself

I love Instagram. Like, a lot. What's not to love about seeing what all of your friends, favorite celebrities, and random people you don't even know are doing, eating, or wearing in a 2x2 inch square? And trust me, I very well know the satisfaction and excitement of seeing that little yellow speech bubble appear, alerting you of how many people liked your strategically arranged coffee and muffin snapshot on #sundayfunday. I love Instagram. If you're like me, you've probably had someone over the age of 40 ask you "well, what's the difference between "instantgrams" and facebook postings?"
Filters. On Instagram, you can give your pictures cool effects with the different filters. (okay, I know you can do that on Facebook now too, but that's still a new thing so hush)
Here's an (terrible) example:

But you can also use those filters to your advantage. Here's me, unfiltered:

Here's me with the "Nashville" filter:

Better, right? If only the DMV had Instagram filters for drivers license photos (now THAT'S a good idea...).
But then I realized something: That's not me. I mean it is, but not 100 percent. By filtering my pictures to make my skin look smoother and tanner and make my hair look blonder, I'm giving people an unrealistic idea of what I look like. They'll see me in person and it won't be the same.
THEN, I realized something else: By filtering my pictures, I'm giving MYSELF unrealistic standards for my appearance. I can't compare my reflection in the mirror to my picture with a filter because guess what? I'm not always standing in the most flattering lighting. I don't have perfect skin. Some days my hair isn't as blonde as other days (that one really stumps me too...how is that even possible?). But that doesn't mean I'm not beautiful. A picture may be worth a thousand words but being real is priceless. We don't need to hide behind filters to show off our radiance because filters take away from who we are. I'll still use them in other pictures and for artistic flair, but selfies and me trying to make myself look easy-breezy-beautiful can say goodbye to Kelvin, X-pro II, mayfair, lo-fi and the rest of the gang. We can't sell ourselves short! So move outta my way, filters! *cue I'm Coming Out by Diana Ross* *I'm actually listening to it right now*


"It doesn’t make sense to call ourselves ugly, because we don’t really see ourselves. We don’t watch ourselves sleeping in bed, curled up and silent with chests rising and falling with our own rhythm. We don’t see ourselves reading a book, eyes fluttering and glowing. You don’t see yourself looking at someone with love and care inside your heart. There’s no mirror in your way when you’re laughing and smiling and happiness is leaking out of you. You would know exactly how bright and beautiful you are if you saw yourself in the moments where you are truly yourself."

PS, follow me on instagram for more things that I do! @kakihoran

I am now one of those people

Well, here I am. I am now one of those people who blogs. Not that there's anything wrong with that...I love those people. I've spent many late nights surfing the internet reading about the lives of those people. I just never thought I'd be one. But I also never thought I would like Les Miserables and we all know how that turned out (oh, you don't? Long story short, I'm low-key obsessed). The moral of the story is, always believe in yourself I guess. Here's a little "this is my first blog post" list of fun-facts about me!
1. I'm one of the most die-hard extroverts I've ever met
2. Today has been one of those days where I think about random funny things that happened years ago and start laughing in public.
3. Catholicism--I love it. I talk about it sometimes a lot.
4. I'm trying this new clean eating thing.
5. By trying I mean I researched it today and bought some groceries. Clean eating blog posts will inevitably be coming soon to a blog near you. This blog to be specific.
6. My favorite things to wear include, but are definitely not limited to: Stripes (straight or chevron), skinny jeans, chiffon, lace, cheetah print shoes, teal, navy, toms, yellow, and my intramural soccer jersey. (#13, go bears!)
7. I don't know...what else should be known about me?
8. I drive a yellow beetle and I'm a Volkswagen enthusiast
9. DANCING.
10. Madly in love with life and all the good things in it.

So this is my blog, Kaki Does Things, where I'll blog about the things that I do. I feel like this first post has to make some kind of big impression but lets be real, everyone reading this (if anyone other than my mom reads it...hi mom!) probably already knows me. But I promise future posts will be more exciting! There will be fun stories, there will be pictures, there will be hilarious insight on my life.