Adventuring

I watched a documentary on a group of people who thru hiked (backpacked) the John Muir trail. My newest ambition is to go backpacking for at least a week at some point in my life. Just thinking about it makes me super excited. I of course haven't thought out logistics, but my pinterest board is full of great ideas. Where were we before Pinterest? Anyway, thats what I want to do. Going adventuring in the wilderness away from civilization for a while just sounds so inviting. Roughing it. Camp fires at night, with only the lights from the moon and stars instead of the noisy and bright lights of populated areas. I live in the country as it is, but there is a walmart 5 minutes away from my house, so it hardly similar.


And after next month I hope to do some serious hiking. I have a warrior dash race I'm running in August, and then a week later I have a half marathon, so I have to finish my training for those before getting much quality trail hiking in. I live about a mile away from 1 trail, round trip (if I cross the road and then turn around) its 5 miles. I run it at least once a week, and its not difficult at all. Unfortunately I'm not super close to any other trails. At least not that I know of. The trail I'm near by is part of trail that travels around my entire state (over 1300 miles), I just can't figure out where it continues after you cross the road.

For now though, I'll stick with obsesivly pinning backpacking related things on pinterest, and dream a little. And continue with training for my upcoming races.

I can't wait to start hiking.

Milestone

Another year older, another year wiser... I hope so anyway. Yesterday I hit a milestone birthday. The big 2-5.  A quarter of a century. I don't feel any wiser. Just older. So I sit here hoping that the salad I am eating for lunch makes up for the venti iced caramel machiatto I am consuming. Only because it was free. The Starbucks that is. I cashed in my free birthday drink today, and the friendly barrista wrote happy birthday on my cup, misspelling my name though, of course.

Yesterday was a good day. Despite having someone back into my car at work. Broken headlight is not the way I wanted to celebrate, but they are paying to have it repaired anyway. But I got home from work yesterday, made myself some Teavana Cocoa Mint tea (which is glorious, by the way) read out of Jane Of Lantern Hill (one of my favorite L.M. Montgomery books) and then was given lovely red roses by a certain someone special (draw your own conclusions heehee) and ate a wonderful dinner of tacos! watched one of my favorite Deanna Durbin movies (my favorite actress from the '30s and '40s) and then had hot fudge pudding dessert with vanilla ice cream! it was lovely. And I finished off the evening by starting The Screwtape Letters (another birthday gift). All in all, it was lovely.

Nothing much exciting has been happening. I have kept very busy, leading worship for various functions at different places. Trying to get back into my healthy regime, and getting my workout schedule back on track. Though its been rather soggy lately, so I haven't been able to do any running. It has, however, been so nice and warm! today, all though it is dreary and rainy, is wonderfully warm! I didn't even need to use a jacket!

I am so looking forward to clear weather, where I can go running whenever I please! or don't please....

Finally

For the first time in months, we've had a break from the endless snow, freezing cold, and the general dismalness  of a harsh winter that seemingly has no end. Alas, we have a taste of what spring shall be, despite the fact that the snow still covers most of the ground.  Spring is in the air. I awoke this morning with the sounds of spring in the air, birds singing their collective hearts out. You can finally smell the earth again. Even though its a muddy mess in the areas where the snow has completely melted, its a glorious sight compared to our three months of endless white. The sun is shining, and all is right.
I was able to go out running the other day without feeling cold at all, and infact wishing I had worn something a little lighter. The temperature was about 45 degrees out that day, if thats any indication of the temperature jump. When 45 degrees feels balmy, you know its been a cold winter. Tomorrow I hope to go run, right before I trash my healthy eating habits by taking my nephew out to Steak and Shake for his birthday.
   When all is said and done, I am supremely happy that the weather has finally decided to change. Finally.

Tea

The only thing this weather is conducive to is drinking tea, reading, blogging, drinking tea, watching literary vlogs (its modernized culture. Don't judge) and drinking more tea. I found chocolate mint tea. I can't wait to try it. Chocolate. And Mint. and tea. What genius decided that would be a good combination? they deserve a hearty "atta-boy" or "atta-girl", depending on  which it was who actually thought of it. At least I assume they do, as I have yet to try said chocolate mint tea.
I believe I have become seriously addicted to tea. Its reached the point where I don't remember the last time I actually got a non-tea related drink at Starbucks. Today I am trying a black tea latte. Its ok. Not nearly as good as chai. Speaking of chai, I would like to take this moment to sing the praises of Vanilla Chai. I had a lovely cup of it last night, which then in turn kept me awake half the night. Its probably my favorite tea. It needs no sweetener, no milk/cream or what have you. And its lovely. Perhaps this is a phase, perhaps not. Either way, I am enjoying it tremendously.

Chai, Vlogs, Winter and other Non-Essentials

I've discovered something. I LOVE chai lattes. As in, I crave them. Thank goodness for Starbucks rewards. I have in front of me (or rather next to me, my little table is full of my computer, my phone, my water and my salad) a venti classic chai latte. Because it was free, go for the biggest, right? right.
I seriously should cut back. I'm afraid, in spite of my salad, my eating habits have fallen to indulging in too much unhealthy food. Not all the time, but more often than I should, I say yes to junk when I should say no. I blame the weather. Winter where I live lasts forever. And its cold. Very cold. As in negative double digits. The other the day the windchill was nearly 30 below zero. The area I live has been listed as one of the coldest cities in the U.S. This intense cold has made me sluggish, unmotivated and rather inclined to eat too many cookies. My mom has been baking and baking and baking, much to the detriment of my will power to avoid such things. I can't wait until this winter is over. I am dying to go running, and to help my self get out of this slump of my healthy ideals. Instead, we get snowstorm after snowstorm, rendering it practically impossible to run outside. Plus, I'm a wimp when it comes to running in the cold anyway. Though negative double digits is a pretty good excuse to stay inside and sit  reading, playing music, or my most recent activity of binge watching vlogs. But seriously, when you take my favorite books and turn them into modern video blogs with superb acting. My favorites? Lizzie Bennet Diaries (Pride and Prejudice), Emma approved (Emma) East and West (North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell) and one I discovered last night, Green Gable Fables. Seeing as I go through the entire Anne series at least every few months, you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that they have a vlog about it now. Seriously. Its as if YouTube has become my biggest time waster ever. Though, one can hardly call Anne Shirley a waste of time.  Plus, they are making a season two, which will follow Anne of Avonlea. One can only hope they will at least do Anne of the Island, ( seriously, how awesome would a Phillipa Gordon be?) Anne of Windy Poplars (I would love to see a good rendition of Rebecca Dew) and Anne's house of dreams.

To completely change the subject, I have a wonderful new computer. Well, new to me. And I got it for free from my sister in law (Thanks Bethany!) A 2008 MacBook White. It doesn't run the latest operating system, but it has Garage Band! and its a Mac. And it was free! and its much faster than my old PC, which would take in the neighborhood of 10 minutes just to turn on. Anyway, Its wonderful having a computer that is fast. Its a good in between computer while I save up for a new Macbook Air. Save up for a long time. I'm hoping by this time next year I'll have a new computer.

Come as You are.

Ever have one of those "wow" moments where you are just struck by the fact that God loves you? I mean really loves you. I had one of those moments on my way to work this morning. I was sitting in my car, listening to David Crowder singing "Come as You are" and the thought struck me, that no matter what we have done, God is still there, always in the back ground, waiting for us to realize that he is there and wants to have a relationship with us. Its astounding. Its something that I've always known, but sometimes it strikes me again, and I am again in awe of Jesus. No matter what I have done, Jesus still wants me. No matter how far I've wandered, Jesus is still there, waiting for me to return. No matter how ashamed I might be, God looks past that and calls us to him. He is always there, always waiting for us to come to our senses and realize that he is the reason we draw breath every day. That with out him, everything is meaningless. Yet we still search for other things to fill the void that only He can fill. Even if we know, and have experienced Jesus, why do we still wander? why do we forget what he wants with us, and search for fulfilment in other things? Nothing can, nothing will ever satisfy us the way a personal relationship with the one who created the earth and all that is in it does.
He invites, as we are. Only he can erase our pasts from our eternity. Only he can grant us eternity with him. He calls us to him, regardless of our miserable attempts at life with him.
Come as you are...

Come out of sadness from wherever you've been
Come broken hearted let rescue begin
Come find your mercy
Oh sinner, come kneel

Earth has no sorrow
That Heaven can't heal

So, lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken
Lift up your face
Oh wanderer, come home
You're not too far
So, lay down your hurt
Lay down your heart
Come as you are

There's hope for the hopeless
And all those who've strayed
Come sit at the table
Come taste the grace
There's rest for the weary
Rest that endures

Earth has no sorrow
That Heaven can't cure

Come as you are
Fall in His arms
Come as you are

There's joy for the morning
Oh sinner, be still

Earth has no sorrow
That Heaven can't heal



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE6QXWFL6jY

Its been to long

Here I am, in the familiar old spot. Its been a long time. Life gets away from you when you are busy, and non-essential activities get laid aside to make way for more important priorities. But, I have now found the time, and perhaps more often I will be able to keep up with this blog. I hope so anyway.

Its been ages since I've been inside a Starbucks to just chill. This one in particular. Doris chopped her hair. It is now very closely cropped. There are baristas I don't recognize, The eternally perky one has grown a beard. I have exchanged pleasantries with the artist by the door.Small talk on how its been a while since I've been here. I am in his seat right now, the one where he usually is by the door. When I got here he was having one of his meetings, at a different table, so I took advantage of the only seat with an electrical outlet that was left unoccupied. After his meeting was over, he did say he might have to beat me for stealing his seat. We chuckled, and that was that.

I have gone through some changes since last blogging. For instance, I have stepped down as the youth director of my church. It became too much, I was working two other jobs, and didn't have the time anymore. It was a difficult decision,  but after much prayer, I felt that God was giving me peace about making the decision to step down. I am still very much involved in the youth group.I lead worship for it, and I am still a leader, I just don't have to call the shots anymore, or prepare a message every week ( on top of leading worship, preparing games etc...) Its nice to have some time to call my own again. I have been doing a lot of worship leading now though, 4 times last week. 4 different days. Exhausting, yes. Rewarding? for sure! I think that is the direction God is leading me. Opportunities popping up somewhat often for me to lead people in worship. I like that. It pushes me to better myself in areas of music that challenge me. It makes me work harder than I may have otherwise done, working more on the piano. I've slowly seen some progress. Slowly, but surely.

The waging war of starbucks

I feel very..whats the word...Hipster? Granola? Not hippie, cause I don't smoke pot, have hair down to my knees or wear tie die. I feel like a lot of hippies wear tie day. And have long hair, and smoke weed, or use terms like "groovy" or "right on man". I could be wrong. Thats just the general impression. I guess you could say I feel granola, without being granola. Why? My lunch is two hard boiled eggs (from our chickens) and carrots. And I picked up some fresh mozzarella too. I don't shop at whole foods. I shop at walmart, so thats why I say "granola with out being granola". Yes, I use stereo types as the gauges of my moods. Don't judge me.

I haven't had as much time for blogging lately. I am now the Office Manager at my job, so my Wednesdays have been busy. No time for blogging. I missed it though. And due to a dr appointment this morning, I didn't have to head into work. So I am eating hard boiled eggs, carrots and fresh mozzarella at Starbucks. That where the Hipster comes in. Starbucks. Mmmmm...I'm still just drinking black coffee. Iced, of course. Its good. Though Panera iced coffee is better. I've got an inward battle going on in my mind over whether or not I should use the coupon they gave me when I got here for any grande iced beverage for 2 bucks after 2. But then there is the whole 'drinking empty calories' thing, and so I continue to wage war within. Plus, I already ate more carrot cake than is good for me last night. But I am eating carrots for lunch, so... And I had fruit and yogurt for breakfast...And I am not eating any veggie dip or dressing with my carrots and celery. You see my dilemma.

On another note, our county fair is in less than 2 weeks! I love the fair! pig shows, auctions, rough trucks, derbies, bull riding... I love the fair. We camp there. I love it. I am a fair junkie. To many people, the fair is the carnies, rides and games rigged for people to spend 30 bucks to win a stupid stuffed animal for their child or significant other. For me, the fair is the animals. And canning, and veggies, and baking and photography...I could really care less about the other aspects. I am entering a carrot cake this year. With cream cheese frosting. also a photo. Though I've never won anything for a photo.

At any rate, I most likely won't be blogging again till next month.

Happy Eating, Happy Feeling

After a weekend of 4th of July party and family reunion, I am happy to say that I didn't gain any weight. I was mostly good with what I ate. except for the brownies. But seriously, they were brownies.And they were fudgy, gooey deliciousness. Brownies are a downfall. And as a matter of fact, I am down another lb or two, so win win for me. I get a brownie (...or two) and a good number on the scale.

I have been working out a lot more lately. And trimming down the junk. I even quit putting milk and sugar in my coffee. And have been getting black iced coffee at my beloved starbucks. I Cut out sugary beverages. I tried to drink a can of pepsi at our family reunion. Got about 1/5 through the can and could not drink anymore. High fructose corn syrup is disgusting. I can taste it now. How did I use to love pepsi? My latest pop favorite was Dr. Pepper, but its been almost 2 months since I've had any.

The first couple weeks were a struggle. Now I don't even crave or want junk. I start craving fruit and veggies. Junk makes me feel gross I've found. Nothing is quite as satisfying as knowing exactly what is in what you're eating. No unpronounceable ingredients. No  questionable acids and long words and animal by products. That is, the type found in hot dogs and other odd looking "meats". I love me a good steak. And chicken.

All that to say this: I weighed myself this morning and found that I've lost 10 Lbs. Got dressed and found that I lost a belt notch too. Its a great feeling:)

Just a Little More...

Sometimes it takes more than one post a day to satisfy my craving to write something. Plus, listening to the Avett Brothers on Pandora makes me feel like writing something. I believe this is the epitome of the hipster life. Coffee. Skinny Jeans. Earbuds. And singer song-writer music stations. My last post was informative. This one shall be frou-frou-ie. The candy of blogging,  if you will. At least that's how I see it. I don't know if you agree, but to each their own as they say.

Does anyone else think that I over-use commas? I have a suspicion that I often use them incorrectly. But grammar was years ago and I can't remember. I also don't remember what semi-colons are for. Probably not the best thing to admit on a blog where I am always saying how much I like to write and how I would one day like to write a book, but if you've been reading my blog for any amount of time you've probably noticed my frequent grammatical errors. I should probably attempt to fix that and better myself in the proper usage of proper comma, semi colon etc. uses. I'd probably be full of spelling errors too, but thank goodness for squiggly red under-linings informing me of my (many) mistakes.  Spell Checker is amazing, unless its on your cell phone. My iPhone has a mind of its own. It decides it knows better than me what I'm trying to write. I generally hit send before realizing that it completely changed what I was attempting to say.

While technology is a wonderful and useful thing, I think it has made the general public decidedly more stupid than before.

The fun and the Not-So fun

New York was awesome. It was a gorgeous drive to the Finger Lakes. Keuka Lake is beautiful. We drove 6 hours or so, stopped for Breakfast at Tim Hortons on the way. It was a gorgeous weekend for a wedding. The morning of the outdoor lake side wedding was chilly and over cast, but right when the dancing started on the deck the sun peaked out and it warmed up nicely. Later in the evening a number of us changed out of our wedding attire and went for boat rides and then a frigid jump in the lake. I figured I probably wouldn't have another chance to go for a swim in New York in a beautiful Lake. once the initial shock of cold left, the water was  actually refreshing. It was a lovely weekend, meeting wonderful people and having a complete blast, even if we were all severely sleep deprived.

Unfortunately the wonderful weekend was followed by a midnight trip to the ER for me and then a 4 day stay in the hospital where I wasn't allowed to eat, and for the first day and a half wasn't even allowed to drink anything. Monday Evening I had extremely uncomfortable stomach pains, but was still able to sleep. I woke up around 1 AM Tuesday morning (after drifting in and out of dreams where I was trying to get my sisters to leave New York cause my stomach hurt) I woke up feeling like my gut was trying to murder me in my sleep. After about an hour or so the pain had increased to the point I was crumpled on the floor in the fetal position cause I couldn't even stand up straight. I woke my parents and they immediately decided to take me to the ER. There I was diagnosed with Pancreatitis, which is no fun I assure you. . All they can do for pancreatitis is monitor your pain (which is extreme) and starve you. I lost about 4 lbs in 4 days. I have been working out and eating healthier in an effort to lose weight, and I'm now closer to my goal, but starvation was not the way I was planning to lose it.Oh well, there is a silver lining I suppose. Plus I can eat now. Hospitals are the worst. they wake you up every couple hours to check your vitals, woke me at 4 am every morning to draw blood. Fortunately the wifi there was great and I was able to watch Netflix. And I had a ton of visitors every day. I felt bad for my room mates. I had so many visitors a couple times that we didn't fit in my room and we had to move to the little atrium to chat. Even uncomfortable seats didn't stop me from regularely falling asleep on my guests. Which happened several times. Pain meds are powerful things.Also, I hate morphine, which is what they gave me for pain the first 2 days. Not only did it knock me out for hours at a time (I slept more in 4 days than I think I did the entire previous week) but when it would start kicking in it made me feel like my head was gonna pop off. Not pleasant.

But I am all better now:) I came home last Friday evening and yesterday was the first day I didn't need to take anything for pain cause I feel fantastic. Plus one of my clients at work surprised me with a Starbucks gift card yesterday, which made my day:)

Unimportant Drivel

A night full of insane dreams that I don't remember. A frightening sudden jolt out of dreamland courtesy of my alarm going off, and scaring me half to death. A quiet morning preparing to leave. A meeting with fellow youth workers. The drive to where I am now.
I think I might be able to find something worth while to write about. If I think long and hard enough. I wonder where some people find their inspiration to write. I generally find it in a memory. Or a thought. Or a picture of some hipster drinking coffee with earbuds in and a cool fedora on their heads. I wish I could pull off a fedora. They are always too big and fall down over my eyes. Which does not give the effect of being a mysterious brooding stranger as it may on some people who can pull off a fedora. Nothing mysterious about me. I'm too much of a talker to be thought mysterious, and I rarely brood, so a fedora wouldn't do me any good, even if it did fit.

In a few weeks I'm heading out on a road trip to NY with my sisters. A friend is getting married there and we are going to help. Plus Anna is a bridesmaid. We are taking Florence . I look forward to  it. Even traveling within the states is still traveling. And the last time I  really road tripped I was 7. We went to Connecticut to see relatives. I don't remember much about the drive, but I do remember the visit. Uncle Paul's basement smelling like candles. The little out door 'sanctuary' where we played church.Going to see the Atlantic Ocean and collecting shells. Playing in the leaves with cousins, visiting museums, eating Aunt Gloria's wonderful cooking. Seeing the Yankee Candle museum and drinking Sprite. Good times. That was 17 years ago, which makes me feel really old.

I find I have no concept of time anymore. Something that may have happened 5 or 6 years ago I think happened only last year. Then, when someone corrects me and I try and figure out how on earth it could have been that long ago, because I remember it like it was yesterday. My long-term memory is in prime shape. My short- term memory is just that---short term. I don't know exactly how that works out, but there you have it. I'm sure its something scientific about which lobes of your brain are being used in different situations. But I tended to zone out when it came to the science of the human body, so I don't remember.I zoned out in chemistry too. Algebra too. I didn't mean to, but when something is that boring, and my mind is so full of interesting things to think about, its hard to focus on the uninteresting for very long. To this day, I don't know how I passed algebra. I got through chemistry pretty well, and science, but I have since forgotten all but the most unimportant aspects of both. Because that's how my brain works I guess.

Excerpts

I was reading through one of my (very) old journals last night. Wow. Its pretty funny. At one point, in an effort to improve my penmanship, I made my journal entries into letters to a certain "Lady Violet". The adjectives I used were...Outrageous. My spelling was laughable, and what I deemed to be interesting was. Well, perhaps to my 11 year old self they were important. I found at one point, I lamented the fact that punctuation existed, and that I was happy I didn't have to worry about it in my own journal. As you can imagine, there were never ending supplies of run-on sentences. For instance, here is an excerpt:
                       " I am glad I don't have have to worry about punctuation in this notebook I wonder who came up with the idea..."

It's funny, now lack of punctuation drives me crazy.

When I was especially feeling about something, I would make dashes between each letter. For example:
                         "On the way home (almost a two hour trip) we ran into an E-X-T-R-E-M-I-L-Y bad storm..."

                          '' I think I won't write on the next page, cuz it is W-E-I-R-D!!!!"

Perhaps I wrote that way because its difficult to write in italics in cursive? I don't know.

As for my love of big words and adjectives:

                    " I hope I do good in math today because I always do positively discracefully horrible at it"

Also, in reference to my friend returning from over seas, here is another example of overly dramatic and unnecessary adjectives I used:
           
                  "If yall ( NOTE:I don't know whom the 'Yall' I was referring to was) couldn't tell, I ame 
extremily, extrordinarily, tremondously, excitingly excited!!!!!!"

(NOTE: I am writing exactly as it is written in my journal. So many words  are spelled incorrectly)

Even now, I am sitting in Starbucks, probably making a fool of myself by my sudden bursts of laughter. What I wrote was... hilarious. For instance:


             "Sam -------- is here, and will be here for about two weeks. His parents' are going to Ireland! I would love to go there sometime~ I wonder people there still believe in leprechauns? and if they do, Aunt Jea (Jae) and Uncle Alled (Alan) (they are Sam's parents' but we arent really related, they are just very close friends!) better not critizise them 'cause they would get very offended.I've heard that the Irish have very strong belifs in stuff like that."

         " for supper were having creamed chicken on bisquets yummy I hope I don't get a stomach ache from eating to much like I did yesterday."

           "I was playing baseball again. I am sore! Emily kept calling me a "sissy hitter"! Maybe if people could pitch, and I was useing a bigger bat, I would hit it. She can only hit if I pitch to her unless its someone older."

I played baseball. A lot. Most journal entries are about playing baseball.

Reading all these entries makes me want to go find my other old journals. It would make for some highly entertaining reading, I'm sure. Fortunately, My spelling, punctuation and literary abilities have improved much since then.


 

Nothing in Particular Because My Headphones Broke

This is a very dismal, rainy, chilly, miserable day. I feel sorry for those who work outside. Its the type of weather that is good for soup and terrible for those prone to weather related headaches. I am prone to weather related headaches. And I have no soup to console myself with. Only a chocolate chip scone. And Starbucks coffee. Which I suppose is better than nothing.

Its a wonderful day to be curled up in a blanket with a good book, however, I'm sitting at a tall table by a window at Starbucks currently, wearing my jacket because Any time the door opens the temperature at my seat drops a good 10 degrees.So no lounging in warmth for me.

I am afraid I have an acute case of writers block, which I am mostly convinced is due to the fact that my headphones broke today, and so I can't listen to my Indie Singer-Songwriters station on Pandora.The mish mash of genres and such that Starbucks is currently playing is hardly conducive to blogging, and highly grating on the nerves. I'll bet once I plug my phone into my car and listen to my Pandora station a plethora of lovely blog- writing-related topics will flood my mind. And then I'll be left with the regret that I leave you a such a boring bit of my mind to read. So with that, Its time to leave and buy some new earbuds.

A Night of Culture

Last night, I got some culture. If you can call it that. I went to see a play. Pride and Prejudice, put on by the local University the next city over from where I live. My mom, sisters and I dressed up a bit , meaning we set our usual jeans and tennis shoes aside for the more classy, dressy, skirts and dresses. Because when one is going to get cultured, casual attire is not acceptable. Its true, we were pretty much the only ones there so nicely dressed. I guess the rest of the attendees weren't as interested in being cultured.

A college student was sitting out side the theater selling pop, water and candy bars to those of us waiting in line. His sales tactic was holding up baby pictures of himself on his smart phone, saying things like " This is the adorable face of a baby that was once me....Could you possible say no to that face?...seriously, wasn't I cute?" his sales skills were greatly lacking.

We got really good seats, the seating attendant in our area told us we had the best seats in the house. I couldn't have agreed more.
The atmosphere was delightful. I was surprised to see how many guys were there, seemingly of their own accord, without the company of ladies. Of course, the gentleman in the yellow hat sitting directly across the theater from me did sleep through most of the first act.Apparently Jane Austen didn't thrill him as much as the men, who had ' I am a big shot athlete in this school' written all over there faces,  on the top row did.

 I think the prerequisite  for the male seating attendants was to be decidedly short. The one at the top of my row took his job very seriously.
"Excuse me ma'am," to the lady in front of me, 'did you take a picture of the set?" "Yes." "well I'm going to have to ask you to delete it due to copy write..."
 A few minutes later to a lady above me, 'Excuse me ma'am, we cannot allow you to take pictures of the set..." shortly there after, to the same lady, ' I'm going to have to ask you to finish your drink out in the hall, only bottled water is allowed in the theater, I'm sorry..." no one else seemed as strict about food in the auditorium. I saw plenty of people munching there candy bars etc.

The play was amazing. The actors and actresses were wonderfully talented, the costumes beautiful, the script accurate, and filled with Jane Austen's witty humor. It was enjoyable. I was vastly disappointed when it was over.
Mrs Bennett was a riot, Mr Collins was sufficiently annoying, Mr Darcy was very good at brooding, Lizzy was able to express herself through even just the squinting or widening of her eyes, Mary was...Boringly humorous, as she should have been. It was exquisitely cast, and everyone performed their parts to a T. I hope to go again to that theater, and I'm fairly certain that "My Fair Lady" will be showing in June.I hope so. Another night of culture sounds wonderfully inviting.

Good bye Max, Hello Florence

These last weeks since I wrote last, have been full of mishaps and frustrations.
It all started on April Fools day. I went to my sister and brother in laws house for dinner. I got the clever idea to play a prank on my dad. Or at least I thought it was clever at the time. Right before I left, I called home and told my dad I couldn't get my car to start. I even got my brother in law in on it. Had him talk to my dad to tell him what was going on with the car. Boy, did we ever get him good. I drove home and walked in the door as if nothing happened. My dad had been searching the internet to see what could possible be wrong with my car. It was a great joke. Unfortunately, the joke turned around and bit me on the metaphorical rear. The very next day (Wednesday) my car stalled 3 times on my way home from church. 3 times. I barely got it into my driveway, and it stalled again. The next morning I had to have Max towed to the car shop. Friday morning I got a phone call. Max had blown his gasket. If you know anything about cars, you know that blown head gaskets cost a lot to repair. As in $600-$800 to repair. And Max, bless his mechanical soul, was not worth the cost it would take to fix him. I had to say good bye forever. Fortunately, Dan called me less than 2 hours after I asked him to keep an eye out for a car for me, with a great deal. A 2008 Chevy Cobalt. For a very good price.It helps to have big brothers with connections. I bought that car. Its nice. I like it a lot. As much as I loved Max, it is very nice to drive a vehicle that doesn't make strange noises. That doesn't make knocking sounds as you come to stops, that's engine doesn't randomly make frighting, costly sounding shutterings. That wasn't incredibly noisy even on his good days, which lately had been few and far between. Its nice to have a car that has a fully functioning cd player. and mp3 output plug.

Since the "Sorry Saga of Max", I have had another birthday. I am now 24. And broke. For the first time in my life I am in debt, and have to make car payments. Like  a big girl. I don't like being a big girl. Its expensive. It wouldn't have been so bad, and I could have paid the price in full had it not been for pesky things called self-employment taxes, which were due the same time Max died. And they were much more than they were last year. So I had to borrow the balance of what I couldn't pay for my car from my parents and sister. I should have it paid off in about 10 months, at the most, but still. Its the principle of the thing. I like my new car, which shall hence forth be referred to as 'Florence'. I just wish my savings hadn't been wiped because of her.

Silent Conversations

Every so often the longing to get back out there and roam around hits me. This is one of those times. I know I've said it before. And I know I'll say it again. I really want to go somewhere. Road trip, airplane trip. Somewhere. Perhaps the longing has hit me because it seems that spring has finally sprung. After enduring the bitterest and most snowiest winter in my life, warmth has once again showed itself. And with the arrival of spring, the desire of going somewhere, anywhere, has come back full force. One day, one day I'll discover the little coffee shop where I'm certain my literary aspirations will come to being. One day I'll meet people with interesting stories, with lives and  backgrounds so different from my own. To sit down and talk and talk and talk about nothing in particular. I had one such moment a few years ago. Accept she didn't speak English. And I didn't speak Hungarian. She was such a sweet little tiny babushka woman. Hand gestures helped us. And our Bibles. I think she understood that we were traveling to Africa from Hungary, on a missions trip. She was the most joyful little thing. Sweetest blue eyes, and happiest smile on her pudgy wrinkled face. Sometimes you don't need to understand each others language to have a conversation. And in that train car bound for Budapest, we had a conversation without words.

I love history, and I love different cultures. I love site seeing. I love wandering museums, roaming cities, all the while sipping wretched little shots of coffee, in instant caffeine jolt. There is one thing for certain about Ukraine and their coffee. If you get straight up coffee, you get a dixie cup half full of brown liquid, that will instantly have the same effect downing 3 energy drinks. I only drink their real coffee if I have to. I always get the shakes, and can't sit still for anything after I drink it. The worst was drinking it right before driving to Slovakia. Cooped up in a car for several hours without being able to let off my excess energy is awful. My foot tapped. When it quit my hands tapped. It always gives me an extreme case of the jitters.

If you ever travel to Ukraine, Slovokia or Hungary, take my advice and always order Cafe Americano. It will not run you the risk of a heart attack.

Reminiscing

Ever smell something that triggers a memory? or hear a song?
I do. Made me think of my childhood, and the creativity we had. We sure had fun, without the aid of tv screens, computer screens, video games, cell phones, etc. etc.
The great outdoors was our playground, mud and sticks and the like our playthings.
A taught myself to ride a two wheeler bicycle when I was 4. We had fun. My older brother, Dan, was very creative. One time, when I was about 6, on an extremely windy day, my older siblings tied me to a tarp (a was tiny) and had me jump off our trampoline. Its the honest truth when I tell you the wind carried me across the yard, several inches off the ground, until I ran into our fence and twisted my ankle. That was Dan's idea. Another time, Dan created a "Rodeo" in the basement. He was the bull, and my other brother and I were the cowboys, and he sure bucked us off. Dan even made me chaps and a vest out of some ugly furry fabric he found in the basement. I was quite proud of them too.
We played pioneers in our pine trees, sweeping the pine needles to the side, and building "houses" by laying boards across tree branches for shelves, creating fireplaces by tying three sticks together with twine, teepee style, and hanging an old bucket from the center and making "soup" by filling it with water, dirt, grass, grapes (from our grape vines) and anything else we could find. We would get in trouble for that sometimes. We forgot to empty the buckets when we were finished, and a week later my dad would find them, and they'd be all smelly and mildewy and moldy (from the veggies we swiped from the garden, and the chicken scratch we added)

we played baseball at my neighbors house, and football. I was quite the athletic type. I used to be pretty good at both.
We weren't without our neighbor hood tiffs though. Once or twice I beat up the neighbor boys. Once or twice they beat me up. You'd think my brothers would stand up for me. Huh. Although Dan did hold wrestling matches in our basement, and taught my sister and I to fight. They must have figured I could fend for myself.

We made leaf houses in the fall, snow forts in the winter, played hide and seek on summer nights, made mudpies in the spring, and, on occasion, held caterpillar races. We also played flea market. We gathered all the toys and junk we could find in our back yard, set up our tables, and sold our items. We used mulch as money. Dan always got the best stuff, and us little ones got the leftovers.. Old ice cream buckets and such. We even sold "Popcorn' at our flea markets.We had a couple lilac trees out back, and we'd collect puffs of flowers, and then turned a bicyle upside down, turned the pedals and stuck the puffs through the spokes as they spun. that was our popcorn.

As we got older, we played different things. Once we created a "natural history museum" between my house and our neighbors. we collected feathers, birds nests, turtles, toads, rocks, leaves, caterpillars, and once, even a snake. We stacked them up in boxes and pens and old shelves and brought the grown ups through. The honestly didn't have much to see.

We also built "'hobbit houses". We tore up turf from out back, and covered logs and stumps with them, and decorated them, made roads in between, and even fields. They were really cool. We did that every spring for 3 or 4 years.

Once, when I was just old enough to be left home as the oldest, and in charge of the little kids, we took turns tying eachother to chairs as tight as we could, with the most difficult knots we could think of, and tried to escape. I told them we had to, cause if we were ever kidnapped (after all, it was one of the first times i was able to be in charge. who knew what could happen) we needed to know how to get away.

Thats only a tiny excerpt of the things we came up with. I pity the kids of today, whose main entertainment is video games and screens. They sure miss out on a lot.

Sometimes I just need to say no. Its tough. I always seem to disregard the fact that there are other people besides myself that have the ability, availability and talents to accomplish something. I am a busy person, what with work, running the youth group, leading various worship events. I've had to schedule time to hang with friends, and the only opening I had was 2.5 weeks away. Last week I said no. This week I said yes. The difference between them, one is a one time event (this weeks). Last week was a weekly event. One extra thing I can handle every so often. A weekly thing is something I seriously don't have time for. I need to learn not to feel guilty if I'm unable to do something. To sometimes take a step back, and make sure I actually have time for me. Time to spend with friends, time to keep my sanity. Time to not be burned out. Occasional breathers are a must. I need to have a life of my own. Time to pursue my interests, my desires, and most importantly, time to spend with God before I conk out at the end of the day.

I love the things That I'm spending time on. The issue is that I tend to say yes toO many times,thus filling m plate so full I lack time to do anything but Commitments. Its tiring.

I feel that my time is managed pretty wisely, and as long as I remember that I can say no, (and not feel guilty about it) I can go on my merry way and be happy. The current reason why I'm ranting is because I've booked my self for so much these last couple months and spread myself so thin (and next month!) that Its been tough to find time do anything other than be places or preparing for things that I committed to. April will be nice. April I will finally have a chance to relax.
Oh April, you can hardly come soon enough!

Its good to be here.

I've missed this. more than I can tell. I haven't had a chance for weekly blogging. I feel that there is so much to relate...I went to Ukraine.  I had a seizure, which has left me unable to drive until February.The latter has impeded my ability to blog. I mentioned before, Starbucks is the place to Blog. It worked out that I was able to be dropped off for a few hours at a somewhat local starbucks (in a hippy, artsy, liberal college city. I had some guy tell me my scarf (very feminine, its a flowered infinity scarf for pity's sake) was 'so cute, where did you get it?!" with such enthusiasm you knew he wanted one for himself. When you are in an artsy college town, such remarks are expected and frequent. Much to my dismay...its awkward.

This is the busiest place I've been to as far as Starbucks go. Often the line is all the way to the door, never a quiet moment.

but enough about that. I have things to talk about, such as Ukraine!

We met new friends (Tanya, from Moldova)

Prayed for lots of people

ate lots of  really good food and miraculously didn't gain any weight

spent time with these gypsy wonderful people!

Had coffee and hung out with Monica and Anna

went to a very poor gypsy village and had fun with kids! 

had a girls night which included tea and lots and lots of chocolate

met new children who were born in the last year. Seriously, isn't she a little DOLL!?

Waited at some benches and took some artsy pictures

Precious children at the gypsy village I mentioned above

The gypsy village we had a children's program for.

artsy photo I took

another artsy photo..

strutted the red carpet...like a pro

ate at the fanciest McDonalds ever in Budapest

 I have so many more pictures, perhaps I'll add them at a later date.

All in all, that was another fabulous trip to add to the books. I was the only girl who went this year. So many inside jokes occurred... You know when one of the members of the team starts a story with "Now Cara, don't be offended..." its going to be interesting. I survived though:) even if my suitcase zipper broke at customs at the train station on our return trip. Fortunately one of the guys on the team had bungee cords with him. And also fortunately we found another suitcase when we reached Budapest.

Until next time...