November 20-21

       What a fantastic weekend! Les Mis on Friday night totally got me off on the right foot. Since then, I haven't done a lot of big stuff like that, but there have been a lot of little joys. Saturday, I got to sleep in again and relax for awhile in the morning. Unfortunately, I had to work on a paper for my Shakespeare class for quite a few hours this weekend, but there is still something enjoyable about having the time to work at a comfortable pace AND sleep enough. Even though I would now consider myself an official procrastinator when it comes to writing papers, my life is still easier now that I don't have Starbucks stealing my precious time and energy. So, I spent some time working on my paper, and then took a break to go buy some food. I didn't feel like waiting for the bus again, so I booked it down Snakes Lane (the street to the tube station and mini mart) and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and fall leaves everywhere. After some tea, more work, and a lovely skype session with my family, Marta and I grabbed ourselves some of my delicious leftover bowtie pasta and kicked back to watch some Glee episodes. Thankfully, these last 2 were better than the Britney Spears and Grilled Cheesus episodes! Dude, can I just say that Lea Michele does a wicked impression of Barbra Streisand? All she needs is the 70's cornetto fro, and you've got Barbra's Mini-Me. Inspired by Glee's tribute to Barbra and Judy's duet "Happy Days are Here Again/ Get Happy,"  Marta and I decided to watch "A Star is Born" after we discovered that we are both big Barbra fans. (Marta had it on an external hard drive.) I can't remember the last time I just had an evening to kill with a friend back home. I'm usually too tired and busy to initiate the impromptu hang-out anymore (and so are my friends), but things are different over here! We had the time, so we spent the evening totally diggin' Kris Kristofferson's abs and Bab's hilarious character (and her fab voice, of course). I did a little bit of work before falling asleep, but I still fell asleep happy.
         Today I got to sleep in again! I'm so sorry to those of you who are reading this and haven't had the chance to sleep in lately. I know how it is. I hate the feeling of waking up to an alarm clock every morning. Even when I sleep in, I don't necessarily wake up in a good mood, but today I did. I just felt really joyful for some reason. After consuming my toast and making some tea, I read through 1 Timothy 6 and came across an answer to prayer. No need to elaborate really, but I'll just say that it's really neat to see a prayer request answered that quickly! I finished with some prayer and reading through a bit of C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves" and then it was off to the gym. I'm not sure if it was the tea or a gift from God, (Could be both. Tea is a gift from God. So is coffee.) but I had tons of energy at the gym. While listening to The Script, I hoofed it on the elliptical, worked my abs and legs, and then jumped on the treadmill. Usually I wear spandex capris to the gym, but mine were dirty, so I wore shorts today. Here's the little math lesson I learned: 3 years of working, eating, and drinking at Starbucks + mid-thigh workout shorts + running on the treadmill = cellulite central. Ewww. I immediately looked up foods that fight cellulite when I got back to my room.
        Because I had decided to make exercise and singing both top priorities today, I spent over an hour singing in a practice room after I cleaned up from my workout. I had so much fun! I was in good voice today, and I can't really tell you how happy I am whenever that happens. I sang my heart out (a little too much, in fact) and left with a bit of a sore throat. It was still really fun. Then work time. Apparently exercise and music before writing an essay really helps to put your mind in a productive mode, and I got quite a chunk of work done!
        Earlier in the day, I got a text from Marta asking if she could come to church with me tonight. We've talked a little about God and church, but she's not religious at all, so I was really excited that she was interested! We left early and got some dinner at the little Greek diner by the church and then walked over to the church. I really liked the service tonight, songs and all. I was praying that the gospel would be an obvious part of the evening somehow so Marta could better understand what this whole Christian thing is about. And guess what? There were 2 baptisms tonight, and boy do these Brits know how to put on a baptism! They use a really awesome liturgy that I have never seen before, but it's jam packed of goodness about professing Jesus as Lord and Savior and rejecting the devil, etc. Usually baptisms are pretty boring back home (no offense), but these two were so exciting and alive! They take baptism seriously over here, and it was a very joyous event. I'm so glad Marta got to see it! After the service, we mingled with some of the other people from Middlesex, and she fit right in and didn't seem nervous or anything. As we chatted throughout the rest of the evening, I could tell that she had been receptive to the whole experience. I am so thankful for that; it was an answer to pray (another quick answer, btw, like less than a week).
       Since then I have spent hours working on my paper that is due tomorrow. Just after I set down my laptop to go to sleep, I remembered that I needed to blog for you all! AHHH! So now it's almost 2:45 am, and I'm almost done. I hope you've enjoyed reading another very long entry. Feel free to leave some feedback even if it's a random joke or something dumb. I like to hear from you all!

Prayer Request of the Day: That Marta would come to Jesus and that I can help.