I can't believe it's Christmas again! How does everything always go so fast?
Thank goodness God's in control, not me.
The Notables of 2012:
- Interning with American Leprosy Missions, including attending the Catalyst Conference
- Running my third half-marathon
- Having a GREAT D-group--what would I do without Emmi, Emily, Tayla, Sam, Adair and Katie?
Traveling to Switzerland (with a pit-stop in Paris)
- Taking a double-decker bus trip with Jay to visit DC, NYC, and Boston and stay with Lily, Rob and Megan
- Discovering collard greens, brussel sprouts, kale, artichokes, bean sprouts and butternut squash--yum!
- Presenting at a Communications Honors conference..and getting my paper published!
- A year and a half with Jay
- Learning about the spiritual disciplines, love languages, the enneagram, and how to deal with my perfectionism
- Going to a very glamorous wedding in Cincinatti--what a party!
- Not taking plastic bags from stores all year long
- Realizing that friendships with Shannon, Lily, Grace, Carrie and Charlee really will last--love 'em.
The Notables of 2013:
- Traveling to South Africa, Namibia and Botswana in February and March
- Graduating in May: what?!? #Grownuplife, here I come.
- Cruising to Alaska with my brother, parents and grandparents in June
- Getting a big-kid apartment
- Job-searching (and hopefully, finding): I want to be somewhere where I can use my communications and research experience to make a tangible difference in the world.
Hawaii and Family Time:
Yeah, it's weird to reunite with people that you haven’t seen in six years. It's particularly strange to have dinner with people who were once your best friends and enemies (depending on the season) during middle school across the country when you are all 19 and 20 years old. Nonetheless, I planned a Moanalua Middle School reunion when my family and I journeyed back to Hawaii last week. Boy, it was such a relief to know that while we’ve all "grown up," changed haircuts, embraced new lifestyles, changed and yet stayed the same, we can still have a darn great time together. It made me realize lots of things about myself, as I finally end my “teen” years.
This trip to Hawaii was a beautiful time to reconnect with the place that forms part of my piecemeal geographic identity. I rediscovered how hard it is to run on loose, sandy beaches. There are more Asians than I remembered. Time changes really are irritating. It hurts to enter the water altering jumping into the water from the famous rock at Waimea Bay. Elevators can be slow and awkward, but the Hawaiian breeze in August is absolutely perfect. Wearing a feather in my hair is my kind of “edgy." It’s surreal to realize that your first babysitter really is a mom now. Though it's steep, it doesn’t actually take THAT long to run up the Diamond Head road. It is wonderful to not have to watch your feet for snakes while enjoying the perfect combination of ocean and mountains. Kahlua pork and shaved ice really are that delicious, no matter how unhealthy they may be. "Soul Surfer" can bring me to tears. And big shock: it is actually possible to fall asleep around 9 pm and wake up around 7:30 am on a regular basis. All in all, I’d say our Aloha family getaway was a success.
After returning to Florida Wednesday night, sleeping 13 hours and doing not much besides outrigging for the first time in at least a year, we headed out Friday morning for Mimi’s funeral five hours away. She was ready to go home to Jesus, even though it breaks Papaw’s heart for her to leave. The flower queen went to hang out in heaven on my twentieth birthday, of all days. Somehow, I wasn’t sad at the service that she planned for herself (special grandmother that she was). We had time to remember how wonderful she actually was and then we headed back the way we’d come in the family van, third edition. Oh hey, that’s where I am now: goodness knows there’s nothing like being stuck in the car for a bunch of hours to make you think and want to write (unless you’re reading David Sedaris’ “When You Are Engulfed in Flames”--I finished that hilarious and strange book an hour ago).
Time in Florida with the family, the subsequent family trip back to Hawaii and somewhat last minute all-day trek to my first funeral were an interesting finale to quite a busy summer. May 7th until August 29th: the summer of potlucks and cats and road trips and drama; the summer of studying Hebrews and colorful walls and the J.Crew sale and babysitting and picnic dates; the summer of Table Rock and a Disney Movie Marathon and “the last movie of our childhood;” the summer I learned to racewalk, learned that middle school is always nearby, and discovered an awesome old bridge; the summer I acquired a fancy camera that I still don’t really understand, I met my fairy godchild, and crafted like crazy using Great Grandma’s old buttons. Decided I never want to do a trail marathon, listened to “Remind Me” over and over (and over), and had a wonderful glimpse into the non-profit world I think I’d like to join.
My Hopes for This Year: I want to spend time with the people who are most important and who are willing to make an effort. God and I are going to hang out on a regular basis, and not just at FCA, bible study or church. I want to send handwritten letters just because. I want to enjoy some of my favorite TV shows and maybe even get my abs back while I watch them. I want to remember that every (EVERY) person I come into contact with is there for a reason. I’m not going to complain as much, I’m finally going to bike to downtown Greenville, and I’m going to wear flowers in my hair more often. I want to be a mentor for my little freshmen interested in joining sororities, yet still remember that I’m really no different than they are. I don’t want to whine about not wanting to “grow up”, because it really is so much better than the alternative.
There are so many more things I want to do. But it’s His plan and not mine; I'll try to remember that one this time around.
Exercise: it's an amusing endeavor. Like a lot of things, it only works if you do it regularly, and yet, there are so many different forms and methods of exercise that every now and then, something can surprise us. Last week, I joined my mom’s exercise class at the tiny but nonetheless well-patronized local gym. Somehow I willingly woke up at 7:45 am (easy compared to the 3:55 am alarm for the flight to Hawaii, but still semi-painful), grabbed a couple of honey-wheat pretzels and a juice box, and made it to class. Hey, with our brilliant track record of being late for oh, everything except business meetings, we were only the second-to-last there. I grabbed an available spot that wasn’t next to mom, but wasn’t front and center either—success.
I was most definitely the only person under 40 years of age in the room of about 15 people. The instructor, Karen, seemed as energetic as any twenty-something, and very much ready to teach “Power Sculpting." My favorite people instantly became the two old men behind me who assisted me to set everything up (weights? Step and risers? Rubber band AND medicine ball? What is this?!) Now, my mom is certainly the slowest runner and hiker in our family (of semi-overachieving varsity high school/college athletes), but she is tough. I winced more than a few times and intentionally hid the fact that I was a division 1 athlete. Somehow, the hour was eventually over.
I learned a few things as I regained a healthy sense of humility. Older people call it a “seat”; not a butt, not an ass, nor a bottom. I have to say, I normally like seats a lot more than I did during that class. Also, I think I now understand why people of older generations hate "obnoxious" (yes, some of it certainly is--Exhibit A: "it's Britney, bitch") top 40 music; that’s what they have to listen to while they do unenjoyable exercises over and over, about seven repetitions and one set past what anyone would “enjoy”. Anyways, I promise I didn’t hate it as much as this rant might suggest. It was nice to complete a decent core and weights workout by 9:30 am. I even decided to do 90 minutes on the elliptical afterwards in place of my “long run;”so what if its Thursday and long runs are supposed to be on Sundays? This rule-follower would allow a lot of rationalization to avoid that famous Florida sunshine for more than an hour. Bonus: I was able to indulge my deep love magazines. You can’t take those on long runs because you’d look really weird if you did and you might even incur something worse than the scars I have from that lovely running-and-texting incident (yes, it happened).
I also found out the other day that my dad recently cracked several ribs waterskiing: another acknowledgment that hey, nobody wants to grow up. I currently embrace this mentality--silly as it may be--by listening to Taylor Swift's “Never Grow Up”, Kenny Chesney's “Young,” and most recently by loudly singing along to the chorus of “Barefoot Blue Jean Night” by Jake Owen (“Never wanna grow up, never wanna slow down”). On the cusp of my 20th birthday, I have definitely put up more than my fair share of whining about “getting old.” I’m kind of worried that my knees are going to be very pissed at me in the next five years or so...just like my boyfriend Jay, I guess. Poor guy: he only has four total knee ligaments although I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to have three in each. I do have to yell at him because he typically doesn't consider this. At least he can keep up with my brisk-to-others-but-normal-to-me walking pace as we pursue as many adventures as possible.
One last musing: it really is great to do ab workouts while watching a movie. Also, I hope the rest of humanity didn’t judge me too much for my yoga and calisthenics stint in the airport yesterday at 8 am. Well anyways, off to run…I’ll shut up now.
A Capitol Fourth, Indeed:
It was a sweltering and wonderful trip to DC. This trip will most certainly remain unforgotten for a long time. I loved seeing all of my friends, particularly my sweet little fairy godchild Sophia with the most gorgeous eyes I have ever seen. I channeled my Army-brathood and I unabashedly basked in the the patriotic energy of being in our nation's capital for Independence Day. I wore the glittery Uncle Sam hat and the cheesy temporary tattoo, got way closer to Steve Martin that I'd ever thought possible and reverently listened to the 1812 Overture with cannons in front of the Capitol building with a zillion others.
Xterra Half-marathon:
Yeah guys, a week and a half after the fact, I can still say—it was rough. I really wasn’t aware that it was possible to go uphill so many times in a row without going downhill…Columbia is an interesting place. Hey, at least I made a couple of friends in my 2 hour-plus run (my time was surprising compared to last time…hills? Roots? Summer air?). It was a challenging and awesome experience. Claire’s reaction to her first half was priceless: “I feel like I just swam in a lake and rolled in the mud”. Jay was a good cheerleader, and it was nice to see his house and meet the ‘rents on the roadtrip. I have effectively crossed “trail marathon” off my to-do list. Successful trip.
I'm Coming Home:
I head back to my lovely Florida island home on the 30th of July…don’t quite know how to deal with this, besides the need to truly appreciate how awesome this summer has been. I love Greenville; I thoroughly enjoyed the crazy-at-times house situation, spending lots of time with the boyfriend, babysitting my life away, listening to too much country, losing my ipod and learning that I can actually survive without it, becoming close with some truly incredible people that I’ve met just within the last year, trekking to DC (my favorite place), going to museum after museum, getting star-struck at “A Capitol Fourth” (apparently I do like bluegrass, thanks Steve Martin for actually being funny in person), and meeting the fairy-godchild, playing Just Dance, growing a little garden, interning with one of the coolest organizations I’ve ever been involved with, finally getting a darn Twitter, learning to racewalk, getting to jam out at Radius nearly every week without having to check my watch to leave early for chapter or the library, getting stabbed while picking wild blackberries, biking 22 miles on the Virginia Creeper Trail (yes, there is actually a Creeper Trail), learning more deeply of God’s incomprehensibly vast love through studying Hebrews. It's been a very happy time.
As much as I’m scared to grow up, I know the best is yet to come. I wonder if I’ll have to start acting normal when I turn twenty…probably not.
Psalms 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God"...I've been called out on it again. I feel like time is going a little too fast. Where has the summer gone??!
I'm still figuring out and currently overthinking my relationships with family, friends, bosses, boyfriend, and the accountability group. I'm having trouble resting and I simultaneously keep running out of time to do everything I'd ideally like to do: imagine that!? I've also been needing to re-prioritize my essential actions, even making time for running, time in the Bible and seeing people that I care about.
How do I come to terms with my Type-A wiring? How do I use my weeks, days and moments well? How do I make some progress on my (awesome) bucket list while also diligently cleaning my room, calling the people that I should (this isn't helped by my irrational semi-hatred of talking on the phone), and still make time to rest and marinate in God's presence.
Help me out here please, God.
First book of the summer: Soooo I read it off and on for a month, returned it on the absolute last day I could (Tuesday at 10 pm, yeah book drop), read it very sporadically while sitting in the car (not driving, I promise) and at the pool and on the elliptical and finished it while racewalking up and down the hallways in the PAC. And which book was it, you ask? Sophie Kinsella's new "Mini Shopaholic". Don't judge, crazy British woman addicted to shopping trying to raise a child? So great.
Half-marathon: On July 10th I am doing my second-ever half-marathon, the longest race I've run since senior year of high school. Though Claire is joining me to race, I don't have a training buddy, weird compared to the cute little group we had last time. Why am I running 13.1 miles in the dead of the summer in Columbia, South Carolina?? Yeah its a little crazy because it will for sure be a million degrees out, but I can never do these races during the year because of cross country and track and I think it will be legit. Not to mention I will finally be meeting the boyfriend's family--first impression time anyone? ;)
Ginger cousins: Gingers are great...I so wish I had red hair, or had the possibility of having little redhead children somewhere down the road. But, until then, I'll settle for having a precious ginger cousin (who lives in Greenville!), some fun ginger twins as friends, a big who's a ginger-in-hiding, the adorable little baby Morgan I watch, and Arley the strawberry child. Love them all, hence the conclusion that gingers are great. I did actually think that before I met them, but they just help prove the point. But anyways, the cousin kept me up until 3:30ish am last night doing various assorted fun things (music swap, clothes analysis, CMT award watching...eating delicious tortilla chips and discovering my new favorite candy, York peppermint patty pieces=YES. And then we got up at 8 am...apparently this crazy 15-year-old-almost-little-sister does this all the time, so hard core. Well, I'm exhausted (napped AND drank a massive Starbucks to make up for it, sadly depleting my giftcard to $1.26--birthday present anyone? haha) because of it, but I still love her =) Pick yourself up a ginger cousin today!
Such quality blog/rambling time today...I should fly to DC all the time! That would get expensive...
Peace out, girl scout.
Traveling for Shopping and Celebrations:
Recently, I finally made it to the J. Crew warehouse distribution center in Arden, NC, after wanting to go since my freshman year. Wow, it was scary and awesome. I woke up at 5:43 am for that shindig. I caught up with my dear high school friend Lizzy on the phone during the drive up (naturally, we could only chat at 6:15 am on a Saturday) while caravaning with Emmi, Kara and Alyssa and company. Anyways, I went into freakout bargain-hunter mode and bought nine bathing suit pieces (including a one-piece--finally got one!-- and a present for my mom). They were $3 each and I still have no shame about the binge. It was only until later that I realized that I no longer live in Hawaii or Florida nor have a legitimate need for an endless supply of bathing suits. I also purchased three really pretty shirts, three pairs of pants and a gorgeous belt. It was insane, but I'm so glad I did it. ("Way to break the no-spending pact, self.") For the rest of the day, Biz, her boyfriend Jeremy and I gallivanted around downtown Asheville, sunbathed, went to the motorcycle helmet shop, and went to an Asheville Tourists game. Yes, I voluntarily went to a baseball game. I did indeed get yelled at for people-watching too much instead of paying attention to the game. It was an exhausting and great day.
Last weekend's trip to Atlanta/my friend David's house (side note: is anyone actually from Atlanta?) was hilarious. 25 people came to celebrate Albert's 21st birthday. I caught fireflies, took photos, attempted to sleep in a hammock, got bitten by a lot of mosquitoes, chatted it up with my sweet former freshmen from my time on hall staff (they will always be freshies: let's be real) and laughed a lot. I don't drink, but I always appreciate the funny stories from being around others people who do.
I'll be arriving in DC at 3:30 pm today and I have no doubt that this trip will be awesome. I'll get to see Lily, my crazy-wonderful-beautiful Tridelta big, Shannon, my "mother" and my gorgeous redhead nonprofit-y Valentine's Day Syndrome-having (VDS) partner-in-crime, Arley, my feisty Sociology class buddy who is becoming a really close friend, Adair, my adorable and sweet Anna Maria Island-loving friend. Not to mention that I'll get to be in my favorite US city for several days and that we will get to sit in front of the teleprompter at the Capitol Fourth concert on the mall. I'm so ready for this.
See you in DC! Amuricah.
