Holy wow!  Today has been one of those days where I'm still wondering if it's real or not.  Come along with me and I'll be your guide on the happenings in my world!

Woke up today not feeling so great.  Definitely couldn't stay out of the bathroom for the first few hours.  The good news is that I swept the floor with the roomies on the Timber Tally!  If you need more info on the aforementioned, send me a message...it's not a story fit for general audiences.

After bumming around for awhile we decided to make a trek to The Walmarts.  Totally went in my pj's because, hey, it's The Walmarts and I wanted to fit in.  Exchanged the poop brown hair dye for black and away we went.  Steph dyed my hair, thus helping me get a little bit closer to my goal of becoming a Bettie Page look alike, and it was further deduced that I had a fever.  Go figure. Cowbell wasn't the prescription.

My hair turned out FABULOUSLY!  I felt like a model and became a little self obsessed every time I passed a mirror.  This too will pass.

Figured out while my hair was processing that I was in the hole more than I care to mention, did a little freaking out, crying on the phone with Daddy-O, and generally trying to get my crap together.  Spoke with both the parentals...made me feel like an even bigger poop, but swallowed the pill of being a real live grown up.  They didn't offer a spoon full of sugar.

After our little ANTM tribute, Kate and I took our second trip of the day to The Walmarts to replenish my Old Mother Hubbard-like cabinet.  After our little jaunt, we receive a telephone call from our roomie Steph saying that there were armored trucks and police with their guns drawn pointing at a neighboring building in our complex.  We were out of the parking lot like bats out of hell.  When we pull up to the entrance of the complex, we're greeted by police telling us there is no way on God's green earth that we're getting into our complex, even if we did have milk in the trunk that was going to spoil.  Thankfully, Steph was able to make like a bread truck OUT of the complex.  While trying to get the lowdown from the neighbors, including one guy from the Netherlands on his first day in the States, we hear one gunshot fired followed by four more, inspiring our very quick, very loud and squealy getaway.  We're girls...we squeal.  Steph's friend Mandy offered us a stay at her house until the madness blew over, even though she was on her way to Minneapolis. 

Upon entry into the very large and elegantly decorated house, my first thought I'm sure wasn't like anyone else's would have been.  Whereas the normal 25 year old woman would have been fairly impressed, I was struck by the knowledge that I was never going to be in possession of such lavishness.  I know this would sadden some, but it was kind of liberating to know that my life is one not controlled by the pursuit of possessions, and I hope it never will be.

Ate half of our purchases from the day during stress eating session, made tons of phone calls to loved ones, and watched Friends in attempts to calm ourselves down.  Watched in wide eyed wonder as the hail fell around us through the Severe Thunderstorm warning.  Thanked God for His protection and provision through it all.  Glad for Mom's obedience amidst the crazy when I was told that she was woken a few nights ago to pray for my protection.

After three hours the call was finally received that we were able to slither slyly back into our apartment.  Still not feeling safe and freaking out a little even after informed that the "bad people" were gone and everything was back to "normal".  Turns out a guy thought it would be a optimum day for carjacking and squatting in a random open apartment in our complex. Took 22 rounds of tear gas to get the jerk and his girlfriend out.  Other hostages were released a little earlier in the day. We are definitely double and triple checking our deadbolt and wishing that it had 8 more friends on the door.

I charged my phone and checked my email first thing when I got home.  I received an incredibly encouraging email from someone I've befriended at work.  I know this one is a divine appointment beyond a shadow of a doubt and I'm so excited to see what Dad's gonna do with this one. 

There are so many things that He's doing and is going to do with me and through me.  I'm in the process of exchanging my seatbelt for a harness, because everything's gearing up to be a wild ride.  I've had a lot of realizations about my future...not in the creepy way, but in the way of I know what the eventual outcome looks like, and getting there promises to be pretty exciting.  I just have to remember to enjoy the journey.

I've arrived safe and sound at my extern in Colorado Springs, CO.  I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to mention what the place is in case someone tries to google it and gets a terrible misrepresentation about it from my blog.  Let's just say it's a way fancy pants resort in COS. (That stands for Colorado Springs, CO in case you were wondering.)  Anywho, last week was full of boreientation and training and this week I've moved on to working in the bakery.  I've only worked 3 full days in the bakery.  In fact, I'm supposed to be working right now, but there was some kind of mix up and they think I'm disabled or something, so now I have to go talk to the lady with the smoker voice in HR.  I guess it beats being at work at 3am, but I'm tired of my schedule being all screwy.  Meh!

COS IS beautiful with all of it's purple mountain's majesty.  I haven't gotten to fully enjoy it yet, because call me crazy, but I'm not extremely excited about going up in the mountains by myself.  I think I'll wait until I meet some people before I decide to breathe heavy in the thin air.

Nothing too exciting really.  I wake up, go to work, come home, watch a movie or something, eat, sleep and do it all again. 

Gotta make this one fast...forgive the randomness.

Since I found out I'm not going to England, I've been scrambling a bit trying to figure out the whole extern deal.  Fortunately for me, there is a career fair going on here at the school.  I'm going to be passing out my resume and firmly shaking hands like a mad woman in between work and class.  Tonight I've got to print out my resumes and cover letters and decide what I'm wearing tomorrow.  In an effort to try to at least stand out visually from the rest, I've decided to go with business casual rather than the whites.  We'll see how that works out for me.

I have class today from 2-8:45ish.  Hopefully we kick some butt today because I am really tired of getting out of there late.  That and I really would like to go to the baker's club meeting tonight because they're doing a review for the practical that I have coming up the week of Thanksgiving.  I hope I pass...I have this overwhelming feeling that I'm going to fail.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I was planning on staying here because we only get 4 days and it's a 14 hour drive home and plane tickets are a little more than I can afford on my $50 a week salary and because my middle name is Elizabeth.  My middle name really has nothing to do with anything at all; I just thought I would throw that in there in case you were wondering about my middle name.  Anywho, thinking of actually doing a bit of a road trip with my friend Jason and taking him home to meet my family.  Hopefully we can avoid a "God Warrior"-esque insident.  We'll see how that goes.  If I do stay here I'm SO going to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  HOW COOLWOULD THAT BE?!

Gonna head off to class now.  I'm getting that nervous feeling in my tummy because I know I've forgotten to do something.  Hopefully it's not something too important.

For those of you who received an email link to a very strange post in the past few days, I'm VERY sorry.  I feel a bit mild (as in mildly retarded) after realizing that the VIDEO that was supposed to accompany it wasn't there.  If you're still interested and haven't run for the hills fearing my insanity, please leave me a comment and I'll be sure to email you that video.

I'm sure you'll still be questioning my sanity after seeing the video...

Yes, 'tis true, I received an offer from one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants to go and do an extern for 4 and a half months with them.   Here is the link for the restaurant: http://www.gordonramsay.com/claridges

I have to figure out how to get money to GET there, I still have to file for my visa, and I'm working on finding a place to live.  The good news is that one of my friends is also going to be at a restaurant there, so we're going to try to get a place together.  I'm going to work really hard on not getting bogged down by the details and just BE EXCITED!

Look out England, HERE I COME!