I suppose this is why they're called dreams.

Isn't it odd how only when something is taken away from you, you begin to realize what little importance it had to begin with? Sure, the initial withdrawal period is seemingly very painful and emotional, but once you get past all that, it suddenly "clicks" and makes perfect sense. Does God do this to enable us to become stronger people? Is He teaching us a little lesson to show us to ultimately be solely reliant on Him? Or is this just yet another question left unanswered in life that we'll forever grapple with? I wonder.




However, on a much happier note, though I've stopped publicly acknowledging friends' birthdays, these two people are too extraordinary to be left unmentioned.

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, CAROLINA PARK (11/24)! HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY, TARYN YU (11/25)!

You guys have both touched my life in ways that I can't ever explain, and I'm so thankful to be blessed with such dear and beautiful friends. Grattis på födelsedagen! =]

Det snöade eftersom vädret var 3 minusgrader i dag. Det var mycket halt och kallt. Jag frös när jag cyklade till hem.

The sun setting at 3:47 PM in the afternoon in Lund.

Barcelona, Spain is a beautiful city. More specifically, there is not a single drop of rain and only glorious sunlight in BCN. =] I can't believe that the sun can still shine and that trees can remain green in the rest of the world. To celebrate this joyous fact, I ate a McDonald's ice-cream cone every single day while I was in Barcelona. It cost a mere 0,50 Euros. In my world, one would never be compelled to ride a bicycle in 0° to -2°C weather with 25mph winds, one would always, always be able to eat a McDonald's ice-cream cone, and one would instantaneously become an architecture and art history major.



Antoni Gaudí, BCN's brilliant architect and designer, whose influence is seen throughout the city with its mosaic colors, unconventional patterns of texture, and blatant disregard for rigidity and stiffness.



Sagrada Família. "The architect of the future will build imitating Nature, for it is the most rational, long-lasting and economical of all methods... We cannot help but notice the coincidence between a beautiful building and the structure of trees." -Antoni Gaudí.




Park Güell. "The great book, always open and which we should make an effort to read, is that of Nature; the other books are taken from it, and in them there are the mistakes and interpretations of men." -Antoni Gaudí.




Font Màgica de Montjuïc.




Montserrat.




Sunset over the Mediterranean Sea and from the Palau Nacional de Montjuïc.

Today was the first time I caught a glimpse of the sun in three weeks.

I must be the world's unluckiest person.

Sigh. This needs to stop.

I can't wait until I'm married. Aside from re-learning how to play the piano with my children, I decided that my husband will cut my fingernails for me and I will pop his pimples. I can't wait.


I have already achieved one of my dreams here in Sweden. Let's see if another will happen.

Det finns inga hyggliga Svensk killarna. Suck. Självklart inte.


Effin bastards. Usch.

Love manifested in a 7 kg package brimming with everything good Home has to offer.


There are a dwindling number of simple acts in life that are able to elicit the same elation and happiness as good old-fashioned airmail does. How much more are these moments to be cherished?

잔디 엄마와 아빠의 쎌목장 모임 사진. =]

Hej då, solskenet. Så synd. =[

Susan: me and kwan and john song laughed together at u riding bike around
Susan: kwan brought it up
Susan: and we all laughed in disbelief




This is my means of transportation around Lund. I have named it Shorty Starry, or SS, for short (no pun intended). Notice how the bicycle seat is nearly lowered to its absolute lowest to accomodate my runty legs.


I need some steak, pho, and Del Taco Chicken Soft Tacos. =[

"Sometimes He comes in the rain
And we question the pain
And wonder why God can seem so far away
But time will show us
He was right there with us, and...

Sometimes He comes in the clouds
Sometimes His face cannot be found
Sometimes the sky is dark and gray
But some things can only be known
And sometimes our faith can only grow
When we can't see
So, sometimes He comes in the clouds"

"Remember What Matters" by Chuck Klosterman.


As is so often the case, the best advice I ever received came from a drunken, bitter man with a patently ridiculous soul patch. It has been said that you are only as old as you feel, and --if that is indeed true-- this 27-year-old surfer doofus was approximately 146. And what he taught was this:

You think it should matter, but it doesn't.

I was semimadly in love with a woman who lived 800 miles away, in Minneapolis, and I'd heard a rumor that she had begun casually dating another man. This was predictably vexing, and I felt my only recourse was to go nuclear. Her birthday was October 16, and I suspected her new paramour might give her flowers. My plan was to send her two dozen long-stemmed roses; this way, even if the New Guy went for the jugular and gave her a dozen of his own, his gift would suddenly be dwarfed by the monolithic magnitude of my romantic gesture. So this is what I did. And the night before they arrived at her desk, I met this 146-year-old punk in a bar and asked him if he thought this move was brilliant or pathetic.

'Neither,' he replied. 'If she likes you, she'll think it was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for her; if she doesn't like you, it will totally freak her out. And if you sent her nothing, that wouldn't matter, either. If she likes you, she'd find your indifference appealing and powerful; if she doesn't, your indifference would simply validate her belief that you're not the person she should be with. So give her everything or give her nothing. You think it should matter, but it doesn't.'

"So in this thought be comforted
It's in His Hands
This too shall pass"

"We must continually keep our soul open to the fact of God's creative purpose, and never confuse or cloud it with our own intentions. If we do, God will have to force our intentions aside no matter how much it may hurt."

I'm trying something new that I've never thought I'd be able to do before. It's a bit exciting, but a bit scary at the same time. Hopefully it'll become something I never regret.

Today marks one month since I have been here in Lund, Sweden. It's remarkable how quickly time has just slipped by. I suppose a lot has happened to me within these four weeks (i.e. getting stung by a bee on my lip, having the airline lose my luggage, battling with a bout of the stomach flu) but a lot also hasn't happened. I haven't hooked up with a hot Swedish guy, I haven't gone partying every night, I haven't eaten meatballs everyday, and I haven't done something else unmentionable. Living by myself and particularly this past week cooped up in bed, I've had a lot of time to reflect and think, something that I've come to embrace and welcome, rather than avoid. And what of these introspective thoughts, conclusions, and self-revelations? "Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly." No more extraneous expectations, no more waiting for something that may never come. It's time to move on and to stop dwelling in the past. Someone beautiful recently told me something I deeply took to heart: to not brood over things that inevitably pale in comparison to the greater things, gifts, and blessings in my life. Yes, indeed.


It's almost time for the fall season to begin, and I absolutely love that I can literally see the change from summer to fall. It's incredible. Why I was never able to before, I don't know, but I'm thankful for being able to enjoy its beauty now. =]

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matthew 6:33-34.