curiouser and curiouser

so this weekend, i hosted a tea party.  the main conclusion i have drawn from this event is that tea parties are a crapton of work.

bean wanted to take her small group girls to aunt sue's tea house in marion.  because it's amazing.  duh.  but...there was a fire.  and since aunt sue's was no longer a viable option, my sister decided i was the obvious next choice, having never hosted a tea party in my life.  i think we all know i am very much a sweatpants girl, and my mother will attest to the fact that i have been rockin the sweatpants look my entire life.  lace is a swear word.

but i do love tea.  and cooking.  and eating.

so.  i hosted a tea party.

lovely, right?  we had to be careful.  the tea set was borrowed from my mother, and i have it on good authority that heather had to leave a kidney on deposit.

after the girls arrived, they were invited to choose the different types of tea they wanted to sample. 

the meal started with the choice of vegetable or tomato soup, followed by scrumptious chicken salad (made by travis, and it's amazing) and crackers. 

the next course was fruit salad and scones.  we used a new favorite recipe of mine: melon, berry, and feta salad.  it is fresh, full of unique flavors, and so tasty.  mj was kind enough to suggest two awesome scone recipes: caramel apple scones and petite vanilla scones.  i had never made scones before, so they were a decent first effort.  they tasted very good...they just may have been lacking in style points.  and there was nothing petite about my scones.  ha.

we then served finger sandwiches.  there was egg salad on white bread.  i made cucumber, cream cheese, and dill on pumpernickel.  and not so much a sandwich...we had bruschetta: fresh mozarella, basil, and cherry tomatoes on crusty french bread.

and finally, there was dessert.  like they needed more sugar after the scones.  i had my go-to dark chocolate brownies.  we made red velvet mini-cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  and then there was the peanut butter fudge.  it tasted really good, but i did something wrong when i made it, because it turned out pretty crumbly.

the girls were all in food comas at this point, so we kind of just rolled them out the door and sent them on their way.  good times.

not being a fancy girl, i never know, but i just assumed a good hostess should wear pearls.  was i wrong?

late again

i had a whole bunch of 'i need to do' things this weekend that somehow slipped past me.  like blogging on time.  oh well. 

i went on the women's retreat with my church on friday and saturday, and i think my biggest takeaway from it was this:

i am extremely blessed to have a community of single women in my life stage in my immediate and physical presence.  there have been many seasons of life where this wasn't true, and i am beyond thankful for it now.

but having our small group surrounded by many other women who are no longer in our life stage was useful, too.  because we have much to learn from one another.

i think many churches today struggle to serve single people--and single women in particular.  mj shared a really great blog the other day that discussed this very idea.  (here's the link, if you missed it: http://lindseysthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/6-ways-to-love-single-women-in-your-church/)

so it is easy for me to sit in a group of women who are married and have kids and feel grossly misunderstood and forgotten.  it is easy for me to let waves of sadness drown me instead of listening to their hearts.  it is easy for me to close off and not want to be vulnerable with women whose lives look nothing like mine.

BUT--and this is a big old giant but--i know i do a huge disservice to my church (and the Church) when i allow bitterness and sadness and jealousy to cause me to miss the many ways they are really loving, connecting with, and serving me.  it is a delicate balance, and there will probably always be a tension surrounding it.  that's usually the case when people who are so different are in the same space.  that doesn't, however, mean that the tension cannot be couched with love and grace.

my favorite grownup has been loving on me, listening to me, encouraging me, challenging me, and speaking life into me for the past twelve years.  she and i have been in completely different life stages for that entire time.  i can't even begin to imagine all the wisdom, laughter, joy, and community i would have missed out on had heather dawn not come into my life...or if i had chosen to shut my heart off from her because our lives look so different.

my heart is free and vulnerable with heather dawn because she has modeled abundant life to me.  she has genuinely cared for me.  she has laughed and cried with me.  so i trust her.  i choose to be authentic with her because i believe she loves me.  if i am going to love the church well, i must consistently choose to believe that they love me.  even if their lives are different.  even if i feel misunderstood. 

because i believe that's what the church is supposed to be--intentional, authentic community moving toward one another in a spirit of love and grace.

by the bright shining light of the moon

 

oh, wisconsin.  how do you do what you do to me? 

 

as many of you probably know, i was in madison and appleton for a very brief stay this weekend.  i have recently been quoted as saying that i really love and miss wisconsin, but only in the summer.  turns out...that's not quite true... 

 

as soon as i got on the beltline, my heart felt different.  i drove past fish hatchery road and todd drive and was flooded with memories.  the places and faces and tastes of madison...there aren't enough words.  i got to see dan and holly.  i ate pho.  i played ultimate.  i got adjusted by chad, the best chiropractor in the freaking world. 

 

although it was butt cold, the weather was relatively cooperative and not much worse than indiana.

 

...and cheese.  OH, THE GLORIOUS CHEESES OF WISCONSIN!  it's something you just can't understand unless you have lived there.  when it comes to cheese, every other state is terrible.

 

and oh yeah, there was that great heart time with mj and jb.  nbd.  lots of giggling, quoting, and eating. 

 

considering i moved to wisconsin seven years ago on a pretty much just a whim, that state grabbed hold of my heart and refuses to let go, no matter how long i am away.

 

it's a terrible, good ache.  just think how bad it would be had i gone to a brewers game or the farmer's market or the farm...

i'll try being delightful

just as a nice change of pace, today i will discuss delightful things.  let's see.  where to start?

1) a delightful memory: in fifth grade, we had classroom auctions.  my favorite thing i ever bought at one of these auctions was a typewriter.  i still own this typewriter, although it is sitting in my parents' basement.  i think typewriters are super cool.  i love the noise they make.  however, when i am writing on my computer, i edit while i type.  so...that would be tedious and awful on a typewriter.  also, typewriters make me think of frank in you've got mail.

2) a delightful movie: you've got mail.  enough said.  but not really...enough good things could never be said about this movie.  i love it, and it tightly binds my heart with mj and jb's. 

3) a delightful near-future event: jb is turning 30 in a few weeks!  this is wonderful, because she has graced the world for three decades.  and because it means i get to go to wisconsin. 

4) a delightful near-past event: i helped pull out one of shorty mcgee's teeth last week.  she was a lot like heather in this whole process...as in, i could have blown on it to make the tooth fall out...that's how loose it was.  ha.

5) a delightful medical update: i used to have nosebleeds alllllllll the time when i was little.  but with the exception of being smashed in the face with a broomball stick and a frisbee, i can't think of any other recent nosebleeds.  heehee...i know you want to see this picture.  classic. 

(for those of you unfamiliar with the situation, i was playing broomball with junior high students and took a stick squarely to the face.  this picture was a few days after it occurred.  the result was a shattered nose, stitches, and two black eyes.  it.was.awesome.  (aside within an aside here: when i say it was awesome, i legitimately mean that.  i love injuries, and this was the first time i had ever gotten stitches.))

6) a delightful heart thing: our small group started last thursday, and i really love them.  i love them so much that i created a spreadsheet that has multiple tabs, and i contemplated how i could incorporate conditional formatting.  community and spreadsheets.  yesss.  which obviously leads me to...

7) a delightful work thing: spreadsheets are sooooo great!  i like that i have a job where i get to use them with regularity.

8) a delightful sports thing: i am delighted by the number of badgers in the super bowl this year.

9) a delightful food thing: aunt sue's tea house in marion certainly qualifies as delightful.  mmm.  tea.  scones.  i am drooling just thinking about it.  must.roadtrip.soon.

i bet you didn't know i had ten delightful things in me today, huh?  here it is:

10) a delightful truth: winter ends.  it always does. 

#iamgrateful

if we are friends on facebook, then you may have seen me hashtagging some things this week.  (and yes, justin timberlake IS the king of hashtags.  watch him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dzaMaouXA)

i don't normally like to do group-mandated activities, but we were challenged at church to post things for which we are grateful...and this is a good time to tell you to go read 1000 gifts.  just trust me.  so i'm hashtagging my gratitude.  (mom, hashtagging is a twitter term that facebook tried to steal, only it's less cool there.  it means putting the pound sign in front of a word or phrase to try and make it trend...that means make lots of people tag the same thing at the same time.)  because it's actually a very good discipline in my life.

here's what i came up with this week:

monday:

#iamgrateful for new mercies every morning.

#iamgrateful for burning thighs and bruised knees because it means this clunky jar of clay can still both move and feel.

tuesday:

#iamgrateful for cups of coffee and the book of hosea.

#iamgrateful that certain foods make me think of people I love. (Brussels sprouts...Stephanie and Holly)

wednesday:

#iamgrateful for sweaters and chai latte k-cups.

thursday:

#iamgrateful when my ribs hurt, because it makes me think of skydiving with Miranda and Melodie.

#iamgrateful for steak!!!

friday:

#iamgrateful for the many quality men i know.

saturday:

#iamgrateful for a life-changing summer in myrtle beach in 2004.



so what are you grateful for?

rant blog: not in the cards

i used to have a secret blog where i ranted about stuff.  not very many people had access to it.  probably for the best.

but there are times where rant blogs are necessary and helpful.  and, as i explained to mj last night, laughing at my pain can ease yours.

so laugh away.  i am [mostly] not full of rage anymore.

...

liz and i are on a budget.  (it turns out that moving is craptastically expensive, and this is why married people get wedding registries.  strike one against singles.)  so in our efforts to save a little cash where possible, when choosing our internet options, we made some decisions.  we bought our modem instead of renting it for $7/month, and we are doing self-installation instead of having someone come do it for us for $40.

so last monday, as i was trying to check out online, it said there would be a $20 shipping fee for the self-installation kit.  this seemed stupid and terrible and in direct contrast to what the helpful sales person had told me in an earlier conversation.  so i talked to another person, and they assured me if i went and picked it up at the location closest to our apartment, i would not have to pay this fee.  awesome.  however, it had to be me, and i had to show my id.  which complicated things a little, as

a) i don't work particularly close to that location
b) they close at 6
c) i get off work at 5

but no worries.  i would bolt out the door and make it there in the nick of time, and everything would be wonderful.  just to give myself peace of mind, i double checked to make sure it would be there that evening.

nope.  they don't keep self-installation kits on hand.  that would be silly.  it would take 3-5 business days to get there. 

as you may recall, i left for wisconsin on thursday after work.  so i conceded that i would not be picking up the kit last week.  not a huge deal.  we were both out of town, so who needed internet anyway?  not us.

so even though i had a long weekend with a lot of driving, i was all set to pick it up on monday.  i left work, hopped on 69-n...and sat still for about an hour.  police had blocked off all lanes going north because of a suspicious backpack.  which turned out to have water bottles in it.  and was reclaimed during the investigation.  sigh.  it was an inconvenience, but i ended up having dinner with my parents since i was rerouted that way anyway.

but yesterday was the day.  it was going to happen.  i sprinted out the door at 4:58 and got on 69-n in record time.  there were absolutely no delays and surprisingly little traffic all the way to anderson.  i couldn't believe it.  i figured it was some kind of justice for the annoyance of the day before.

i got off my exit, turned left, drove about fifteen seconds, and was greeted with a police barricade.  SERIOUSLY?  no idea what they were doing.  so i whipped out my phone and figured out my detour plan.  eta: 5:44.  ok, cutting it closer than i wanted, but i would still make it there in time. 

the detour, unfortunately, took about 300 cars through a stop sign.  which was a bit slow.  so i watched my eta change from 5:44 to 5:48.  5:52.  5:53.  5:58...

i got to the stop sign, turned right, drove, turned left on the road that had been blocked off (still couldn't see why), and booked it through anderson.  don't worry.  even in my panic and stress, i was driving reasonable and safe speeds.  i'm not a lunatic.

cruising along and making up a little bit of time, i think, 'even if i get there right at 6, and they have locked the door, i will bang on it and make them let me in.  i don't even have to pay for anything...just pick it up.'  this made me feel a bit better.

and then there was a train.  i am not making this up.

it was sitting perfectly still on the train tracks for no apparent reason.  i wanted to do violent things.

my eta kept creeping up.  6:02, 6:03.  but i refused to give in.  i had come this far.  it was going to happen.

the train finally moved.  i zipped down the road.  and then came to the heart of downtown anderson, which is full of stoplights and one way streets.  my eta was hovering around 6:02, and i died a little inside every time i had to stop at a light.

i turned on 10th street and searched high and low for this store.  nowhere to be found.  so i did the only thing you can do in this situation.  i kept turning down random one way street s to try and find it.  this resulted in driving several large squares and rectangles around downtown anderson.  but it worked, because on one of these ventures, i spotted a van with the name of the place i was looking for (notice how i have worked so hard at not disparaging the company itself because only some of this annoyance is actually their fault?). 

so i jetted down the street, only to see that it was an exit only.  no idea how i had missed the entrance, i let out a shriek of agony and tried to turn around.  that was a poor decision, but nothing bad happened.  i made a large rectangle around several blocks and realized the entrance was past the exit, which further enraged me.  but i found it and pulled in the parking lot.

i looked at the clock.  6:07.  willing my heart to slow to a normal pace, i walked to the door.  unsurprisingly, it was locked.  heartbroken, i looked inside.  an employee stared back out at me.  and looked away.  i stood around, looking pathetic, for several more minutes, but it was clear there was no way she was going to open the door.

so i drove home.

and we do not have internet.

but maybe someday...

less profound

i feel a certain sense of pressure to write something awesome since my last post got an insane amount of traffic.  (let's be real...insane for me.  normal posts get about 20 views.  the momma post got 300.  what.)

but after a weekend of moving and trying to adjust to a new place and a new drive, i don't have profound thoughts.  i barely have any thoughts at all.

our apartment is cute.  it's nowhere near being finished.  and both of us are leaving for the weekend, so it's remaining a bit incomplete.  oy.  but the move went well.  aside from the washer flooding...that was kind of gross.  many people helped us, and they are wonderful.  even kim, who went to the wrong apartment and carried a box in for strangers.  who were actually moving out.  haha.

i've been pulling out clothes and cds and books (ok, not yet on the books.  but it will happen.) for donations, so the 'donate 31 items' will be done in a heartbeat.

the only other list item of note is that i 'helped' heather with her scavenger hunt.  essentially, i sat on a bench, yelled at high school girls to run faster, and drove home.  now that's what i call qt with the big sis.

and...i am headed to the wisco tomorrow after work to play with mj and jb.  yes, the one and only time my little booty is getting to the great state this entire calendar year.  depressing.  but spending great heart time with my girls.

and...as soon as the apt gets whipped into shape, i'll delight you with some pics.  deuces, everybody.

hello, old friend

yeah, i have been absent.  not just from posting.  from reading blogs, too.  so if you have been writing super important things with funny little jokes that i should be laughing at, i haven't read them.  sorry.  i will spend some time catching up on those.

life update: i am still in madison.  still working for dan.  still playing frisbee.  but i am tired.  my body is worn out, and i miss home.  i love madison, and it will always be a home place for me, but it is not home anymore.

i am still looking at and applying for jobs.  waiting on one in particular, but we'll see how it goes.

i decided i am moving back to indiana in the middle of november.  unless i am called somewhere else earlier.

finally, a new little project.  miranda and i are doing beth moore's bible study on the psalms of ascent.  it's called stepping up, and i am super loving it.  one of the things i love most is that we are rewriting those 15 psalms in our own voice at the end of each section.  so great.  really helping me connect to the Word and to the Lord.

so...i think i am going to rewrite all the psalms.  and i am going to post them here randomly.  no timeline.  just want to share my heart a bit in that way.  i welcome your comments.

the end.

30 by 30: the late post with valid excuses

i have had a busy couple of weeks.  some of that craziness belongs to this update, and some belongs to may's.  so stay tuned for that.

here's what happened from march 22-april 21:

2) i paid off another hundred dollars...so around $300 left until my debt to dad is gone!

11) the monthly cooking blog featured the freshmen.  it's not hard to find due to my lack of blogging, but just in case, it's HERE.  that makes 17 out of 20.

16) i ran a marathon!  woohoo!  i actually ran about 26.7 miles.  missed a turn somewhere in mile 22, so that was a fun adventure.  my time was 4:57, so not nearly the marathon i was hoping to run, but i made a friend in last couple of miles who was really encouraging, saw my family and friends about 6 times throughout the day, and had a pretty joyful spirit the whole time, even while my body was rebelling against me.

i ran the first 7 miles with liz and steph and then had to do the next 19 on my own.  they ran great times.  this picture is at mile 15.  please notice the super cool fanny pack i am rocking (thanks, mom!).

i promise i was not nearly this smiley after my half marathon.  i'd say we look pretty decent for having busted our butts, though.

29) i only finished one book this past month...hopefully, getting grad school out of the way will increase my reading time.  :)  i read career information, career counseling, and career development.  that makes 71 out of 100.

my last will and testament...just in case?

in one week, i will be eating chicken. BOOYAH. 5 years of suffering, finally at an end. i am focusing on the positive (eating wings again) rather than the potential negatives (not being able to eat for a week...dying...living and still not being able to eat chicken...).

but a certain hockey player in the great state of wisconsin thinks i should prepare a will just in case. and...she also claimed all my books and movies.

so...who wants my stuff if i kick it?

oh my gosh

i'm trying hard not to type in list mode today since i did that monday, but that's really just how my mind is wired. i like the organization of lists. eek. i will try for paragraphs.

first, i have a story about yesterday. it's called, 'cars are the literal bane of my existence, and i would instead like a moped to ride around marion.' it's a long title. but i think it really captures the essence of what i am about to say. i was driving home from work, and a couple of friendly-but-rather-overzealous people in the car next to me managed to indicate that i had a flat tire. you may recall the (hey, miranda and heather, i am about to post a link here!) incident i had in june. so imagine my frustration at hearing i was having more issues with ron's tires.

well, i quickly pulled over (ironically, it was a kfc parking lot) and got really mad at ron swanson and the world in general. that quickly petered out (i mean, it's really not useful, so what's the point?). and then i called a bunch of people to try and figure out what i should do. my friend, andy, came and helped me think clearly.

we drove slowly to a gas station across the street and filled the tire with air. then he led me to his tire place. they were super awesome. they pulled a screw out of my tire, patched it, and had me ready to go in about five minutes. and it cost me $10.70. i can't say enough about how cool they were.

so the tire situation is fixed. phew.

second, i am struggling at waking up when i am supposed to. as a result, i ate chips and salsa for breakfast.

third, i am reading bryan allain's '31 days to finding your blogging mojo.' not so much because i have great aspirations for this blog at the moment (turns out grad school is a blogsuck), but because i like bryan allain and it was $4.99.

30 by 30 update: avoid the tornadoes, and you'll be all right...

so. i should have posted yesterday. i had really good intentions. but frisbee ended up taking much longer than expected because we waited out a storm in our cars. don't you worry...we won. oh...that wasn't what you were worried about? also, no one got hit by lightning.

i don't have much of an update regarding my 30 by 30 list...i thought i would get a lot done this summer, but i am busy as crap. so we'll see.

1. i am still taking classes for another month. should be wrapping them up around my birthday. just two semesters left after that.

9. miranda and i DID actually go on a road trip to indiana...and we had several crazy adventures, documented here and here. but as she pointed out, we don't really want that chaos to be our documented road trip. so this one is both technically done and not at all done. are you following?

11. this was my monthly cooking segment, and looking at the picture again is making me hungry.

14. i got a different car! i traded bj novak for ron swanson. aside from the blowout picture, i don't have any of him. miranda has the official picture. so that's forthcoming.

29. i am almost done with a handful of books, but i have this huge pile sitting on my dresser reminding me every day of how little fun reading i get to do anymore.

it is officially less than 13 months until this list is supposed to be finished. yikes! (and if you have somebody with whom you would like to set me up for a blind date, you can help me out for number 25).

oh, i did actually take some pictures of life...

so here's my sweet brother and his new wife. i love them. their wedding was beautiful and funny.

and here's my sweet best friend taking good care of ron swanson when we blew a tire on our way back to wisconsin.

and here are my sweet legs after a full weekend of frisbee. this picture probably doesn't even capture the full color difference between my feet and legs. you can also see a knee brace line on my left leg. and every place that looks like i was beaten with a baseball bat is, in fact, a bruise. those are real. and there are actually many more than you can see in this picture.

the terrain is actually rougher on 3 tires...

our adventures were not over. miranda and i drove to marion on monday morning to get some stuff from aunt betty's house and see some super cool people. and participate in the planning phase of the wigger olympics. trust me, you're gonna want to be there for those.

we were driving back to madison...about 45 miles south of rockford...when disaster struck. it sounded and felt like the back end of my car exploded. which is not a great feeling when you're driving, by the way.

i pulled over, and we got out to see what the rumpus was. my tire was not flat. nope. it was completely jimmy-jacked. as in...shredded to pieces. awesome.

good news, though. my best friend is an expert tire changer. who knew? so she got the spare on just fine, and we made it (oh so slowly) to rockford.

our pal, rex, helped us out. i obviously had to replace one tire, but it turned out the other back tire was so old that he was afraid it would blow out soon, too. and then they told me that they tested the battery, and it wasn't even registering. they had no idea how we had even made it to rockford in the first place. (you'll recall that grandpa's car had to be jumped before going to fishers and refused to take us to the movies.)

so i had to replace two tires and a battery. that was not a cheap trip.

but i made a million memories with miranda...we weren't hurt...we came up with a name for the car...all good things.

my car's name is now officially ron swanson. (and if you don't know the reference, i demand you watch 'parks and recreation' immediately.) i'll post pictures soon.

it may not be rock bottom, but the terrain is getting rough...

it was a long and strange day.

first, i should mention that my sweet brother got married to the love of his life. and i am so excited and happy for them! there was a lot of celebrating and hoopla.

second, miranda is here in indiana with me. she is integral to the story.

---

so...my dear, sweet car...i've told you stories...bj novak has just seen better days...so i decided to retire him. that's why we drove him down to indiana instead of taking a nice [read: reliable and air conditioned] car on our road trip.

anyway...so we had lots of running around to do today to prep for the wedding. like take lily to the hair salon. (one of the cutest things ever.) and drive to the church and to the reception...whatev.

my grandpa, who is no longer allowed to drive, is letting me use his car for a while since bj novak has been so sketchy lately. so my cousins drove his car down from marion and took it to the reception. well, grandpa's car hasn't been driven since december, so they had to jump it before it made the trip down. but no worries. made it to the church and to the reception. and then i drove grandpa's car home while miranda drove bj novak.

[miranda would like to interject here: 'of course, bj did not start for me even though he had started every other time all day long...so i had to bang on him in my nice wedding clothes']

we eventually got both cars back to my parents' house. i emptied bj novak and put everything in grandpa's car. good to go.

---

miranda and i decided to go to a movie tonight to unwind after our long day of wedding festivities. cool. so even though four different people mocked us for going to a 10:15 pm movie, we headed out. i was pretty psyched to take grandpa's car for a little test drive with miranda.

nothing doing.

yeah, that battery appears to be dead.

no problem. i went inside and bemoaned my ironic car troubles to my family while grabbing the keys to bj novak. one last little date with him. sweet.

[side note from miranda: the drive over was interesting... holly was frustrated with the car situation, but she had also had sugar cream pie. who knows what holly is allergic to? oh yeah, sugar. and for those of you who know what happens to holly when she eats sugar, we'll just say it was a fun, adventurous drive to the movie theater. no animals, signs or people were injured in this escapade.]

he did not sound great when we started him. but...we left anyway. and went to the movie and had fun and laughed and had good best friend time. awesome.

while we were in the movie, i leaned over to miranda and said, 'i hope bj starts ok, because i moved the scraper [which i use to bang on the starter to make him start when he doesn't want to...which is often] to grandpa's car already.' i am kind of prophetic.

when we left the theater, we tried to start bj. but...that didn't happen. so...........we eventually had to wake my parents up at 1 am to come and pick us up from the parking lot. great. totally what they wanted to be doing. oh, wait...they were happily sleeping.

---

i don't think it's a good thing when two cars fail you in the same day.

my favorite...coffee place

i'm currently at starbucks. no, not my favorite starbucks. that one is in south carolina. and my second favorite one is in indiana. shoot, i'm not even at my favorite starbucks in madison. this one is probably number 3 on my list. but it'll do.

i like coffee. i'm not a starbucks snob in the sense that i think they have the best coffee or the greatest music or the comfiest chairs (actually, i might make that argument) or whatever. but i am a starbucks snob in the sense that i would always choose to go to starbucks over any other coffee place.

let's be honest: i almost always have starbucks gift cards people have given me. that's free coffee, in my eyes.

and i know what i like at starbucks...actually, seven or eight things that i like (although, yes, i still really only typically order one of three drinks). don't underestimate how important a sense of familiarity with a place is in my mind.

starbucks is my favorite coffee place, though, for one major reason above all others: it reminds me of wednesday nights in myrtle beach with miranda.

starbucks reminds me of post it note passing, of intimate moments with Jesus, of a corner with purple chairs, of falling madly in love with 90 people, of learning how to be real and authentic and vulnerable about my heart, of desiring to know and be known, of laughter, of talks about boys, of dancing in the rain, of jumping in the pool with all my clothes on, of sand everywhere, of runs with nina, of experiencing so much in ten weeks that seven years later, i am still talking about it with wonder and deep affection.

every moment i have ever had in a starbucks since myrtle beach has brought me closer to Jesus.

why i am a writer: to explain

as some of you may know, i have some allergies.

no, it's true.

anyway, last night in class, i was eating a candy cane. it did not take long before i could feel the effects of the sugar. which meant the people around me could definitely see the effects. an infamous book stealer named sloan was intrigued by my behavior, so i explained the usual progression of sugar in my body:

i get excited.

i get loud.

i tell secrets.

i get paranoid.

i crash.

i throw up.

she was eager to see if i would tell any secrets, but i told her that this wasn't my first rodeo; plenty of people named miranda try that trick on a regular basis.

and then i wrote 'a poem for sloan.' it's over in the poetry section if you want to take a gander.

do any of your allergies make for cool party tricks?

30 by 30 update: 16 months to go

just for kicks, i'm gonna walk you through the whole list. shaZAM.

1. get my master's degree: past the halfway point of my second semester. like any good semi, i'm truckin' along.

2. pay off my debt to dad: wrote a check to the old man yesterday. $400 more into his pocket. down to a cool $2000. woot. (it's hard to have a lot of joy about this one, knowing that as soon as i finish paying him back, i will owe the government $17000. ah, well.)

3. leave the country: i haven't personally left the country, but i have been faithfully watching amazing race. does that count?

4. become a warrior: i'm gonna go ahead and pretend that 5k i ran in oshkosh was the start of my training program. yup.

5. take a weekend trip by myself: no. any suggestions for where to go or what to do?

6. make my t shirt memories quilt: maybe aunt betty and i will work on this the first two weeks of may...

7. make another cd: i've been writing a bunch of songs, so i bet i have a good selection for another cd. kyle is working on jazzing up that piano part i wrote for the hymn. i'm gonna put the cd making in a pile of things to do this summer when i live with somebody who owns a mac. :)

8. get something published: uh, haven't so much been working on this one.

9. take a road trip with miranda: colorado? indiana? so many options.

10. host a theme party: oy. sort of regretting this one. it seems like a lot of work.

11. do a monthly cooking segment on my blog: on track. wrote about the last one here. hey, i've just been doing a lot of cooking anyway. cause food is great.

12. plan a project reunion: ummmm...

13. get a pet: i might go for this one in the fall. it's probably better if i don't get one before i leave for the summer.

14. get a different car: amazingly, bj novak is still moving. i'm just as surprised as you. and now he has an indiana license plate. weird.

15. eat chicken: thanksgiving 2011 is gonna be EPIC. and hopefully not life-threatening. whatevs. i live on the edge.

16. finish my book: nope. not yet.

17. sit in abe's lap: DONE! i totally get to cross one off at last! shorty red graciously took pictures of me looking like a total idiot as i tried to climb up. wasn't easy. definitely wore the wrong shoes. i'm just gonna put it out there...i think abe and i make a very handsome couple.

18. go rock climbing: abe is made out of rock, i think. so maybe that counts. but i think i'll go this summer in madison. or colorado. or both.

19. learn bass guitar: not yet. haven't saved enough dollar bills to buy my bass.

20. sing karaoke in public: i think heather dawn and i might do this in colorado. song ideas?

21. learn to drive stick shift: getting offers left and right...might happen soon since the snow is [theoretically] gone.

22. paint something: nope.

23. take a spa day: no, but my back thinks it sounds like a super great idea.

24. go skinny dipping: well, someone IS getting married at a lake in august...

25. go on a blind date: i'm beginning to think the promised blind date isn't going to happen. any of you want to set me up with a stranger? (i mean to me, not to you. don't pick a rando off the street. creep.)

26. create a self portrait: not even done a little except in my head.

27. get another tattoo: no new ink yet. you probably would have heard.

28. run a half marathon: i'm thinking the indy mini or hodson half next year.

29: read 100 books: i managed to finish one last month. haha. it was the first year out (it's about students their first year out of high school).

30: scrapbook the list: well, not so much. obv.

thursday plus friday equals miranda

today's my bestie's birthday. she is cool, and i like her.

in her honor, i got a shamrock shake for breakfast.

picture this: hold your horses

this week's edition of 'picture this' will come on sunday. and it is dedicated to miranda.

i am full of mystery. :)

also...my week was awesome.

how was yours?