The "Grown Up" Life

I have officially been living on my own for a month now—SAY WHAT!?

I know. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true!

My parents and time in college did a great job preparing me for adulthood, but even so I’ve learned a lot over the past four weeks.  My biggest fear about living on my own was that my diet would consist entirely of pasta and ice cream. (As of now there is only ONE tub of ice cream in my freezer and I’ve only cooked pasta twice. BE SO PROUD OF ME!)

All jokes aside, living on my own for the first time has taken some getting used to. I knew it would be weird. I knew it would be fun. I knew it would be NOT fun, but KNOWING and experiencing are two very different things.

I knew it would be really nice to have my own space.

As much as I loved living in a dorm—excuse me, residence hall—I was looking forward to not having to share a bathroom with 26 other people. 

When I was first moving into my apartment I was freaking out a little wondering how I was going to fit everything (clothes, towels, craft supplies…) into my bedroom closet. That’s when it hit me, I have THREE closets, and a pantry to boot! Guys, I have a CRAFT closet!

I’ve also been able to fulfill my lifelong dream of hosting dinner parties! I was so excited that my friends were finally coming over to MY place for dinner that I spent a whole afternoon making napkins to match my green dishes and red chairs (no Christmas today, thanks).  

{True to form, anything that can be floral patterned WILL be floral patterned}

It may be old fashioned, but in the same way I still think it’s important to send hand written letters, I firmly believe people should eat together in one another’s homes. Getting together at a restaurant it just fine, but there’s something special that happens when you gather around the table in someone’s home to share a meal together. Allowing people into the place you live requires a vulnerability that translates into allowing them into your life as well. 

"I really believe that every person should be able to feed themselves and the people they love. I think preparing good and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies but to our spirits. Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility." ~ Shanna Niequest, Bittersweet 

However, I also knew it would be really hard to have my own space.

There’s a price for having space totally to yourself and no, it’s not included in the rent.

I've made the ‘starting over new’ transition over the past few years several times now, and yet it stills surprises me how long it takes to settle in. I think the process might be even harder now that I have an idea of what to expect. Relationships take time to build, and no matter how much you try, you just can’t rush that. It takes time to figure out your role. What part do I have to play in this new job? In my new church? With new friends? With old friends? You can’t rush the process. All you can do is be patient and figure it out as you go.

When I first went to college I remember there being this weird time when I just felt hug deprived. It happens right when the excitement of meeting everyone wears off. When you've begun to establish relationships with people, but aren't quite on that level yet. I’m starting to feel the same way now.

There are days when I come home from work and don’t want to cook. There are days when I stare at the pile of dirty dishes in the sink and thing “How could I have possibly thought this would be a good idea!?”  There are moments when I feel very much alone and disconnected from everyone. When the loneliness feels physically heavy and doubts attack with a vengeance.

Novelty has a way of slipping into the routine, and yet over all, I’m ridiculous happy because you see,

I also knew that I would grow in this season.

I read a quote once that change, although it may be painful, is a sign that you’re alive; that in the same way a plant must change its shape in order to grow, we need to change.  Without change, without growth, we too die.

That’s how I feel right now. I can feel myself being stretched and challenged and while it can be painful at times, it’s all wildly and incredibly good. 

Home Town Tourist

When we first moved to Houston, I wasn't a big fan. It was dirty, crowded, industrial and to top it all off hot and incredibly humid. Granted, as the fourth largest city in the US, Houston was the largest city I'd ever lived in and my first experience in actual downtown Houston was a weekend mission trip serving in the poorest parts of the city. While this was a wonderful experience and I'd do it again in a heartbeat, it meant that my first impression of Houston was not the prettiest.

Having done some more traveling I've come to see that the whole dirty crowded and industrial thing is just part of city life and hot is pretty much synonymous with Texas in the summer. Humidity on the other hand is horrible and definitely a  characteristic of Houston

First impression aside, it didn't take long for this city to win my heart. So when two of my best friends came to visit, I couldn't wait to show it to them! 

The thing I love most about Houston, is that the best parts aren't easy to find. You kind of need to already know where they are because there aren't any giant signs or guidebooks to tell you where to look or where to go.

Actually that's not entirely true. Houston Downtown made this really cool audio tour (I know I know that's sounds lame, but trust me it really is pretty awesome) that takes you to all the hidden gems of downtown H-Town.   

{ Hometown Tourists }

{Discovery Green}

 {Christ Church Cathedral}

 { Chase Tower }

Houston's awesome. True story.

Dallas Love

Chile...Dallas to see Susie and Jordan. 

Chile...Dallas to see Susie and Jordan. 

Driving to the airport yesterday morning, it was hard to tell which part I was more excited about. Lucky for me, I got to do both. However, as I attempted to check in for my flight I was greeted by the lovely following message: 

"Your flight has been canceled."

Not exactly the words you want to hear at the start of your adverture. Fortunately for me, I was a able to get a flight to Dallas a couple hours later (of course by that time I might as well have just driven it but anyway...) 

AND I WAS REUNITED WITH MY BEST FRIENDS

We spent the day catching up and exploring downtown Dallas and it was wonderful.

Roadtrippin' -- Indy Edition

My parents, my father in particular, are rather fond of road trips. Every vacation for as far back as I can remember, has involved loading up the van, hooking up the camper, and hitting the road. The car rides were often grueling, but the final destinations were worth it. 

So when my father proposed that our family make the 20 hour drive to Bluffton Indiana to visit my grandparents, as a seasoned roadtripper I wasn't the least bit surprised. However when he proposed that we drive it all in one day I was a bit more skeptical. "We have four drivers," he said. "It'll be fine. It'll be fun!" 

So that's what we did. The four of us piled into the civic and hit the road.  

After about 16hrs "fun" might not have been the way we would describe the experience, but like all our other road trips, the destination was worth it. Life back at school is always crazy busy, so it was absolutely delightful to just sit and spend time with family. 

Plus, where else but your grandparent's house do you get to wash down Heyerly's caramel rolls* with a cup of coffee served in a mug your own face on it? * Heyerly's Carmel Roll: the best doughnut you've ever had. 

Also, the Midwest is highly underrated: IT IS BEAUTIFUL

(although it is also cold...which is rather unfortunate) 

The One That (almost) Got Away

This afternoon my friend and I were chillin at my house when my mom walks in.
"So, how good are your lizard catching skills?" She asks.
"Ma'am?" we answer, unable to think of a proper response to such a peculiar question.
"Well, see there's this lizard sitting on the windowsill in the living room. Can you [meaning my friend] catch him?"

And so began what was to become known as THE GREAT LIZARD HUNT. Sure that little green guy was only about 7 inches long from nose to tail but, let me tell you, could that bad boy run. After about 10 minutes or so of watching my poor friend unsuccessfully try to pick up, capture, or otherwise detain our uninvited guest I had a brilliant idea: why not just chase him out the back door?

"Ya!" I said, " While you chase him toward the door, I'll slip out and keep the dog outside."

It was a good plan and my mom and frustrated friend quickly agreed. So while they chased the lizard across our kitchen floor I opened the backdoor and grabbed for Doogle's collar, but before I could get a good grip on the dog,  the lizard was at the door too. Next thing we knew, there was no more lizard. In the blink of an eye, Doogle had snapped that bad boy up.

....all but the tail that is. No, that poor lizard's tail remained on our kitchen floor, in all it's reptilian glory, gently twitching back and forth. Now, I've seen a lot of nasty things in my time, but I can honestly say that that tail was probably one of the more disturbing and I will not be the least surprised when it becomes the subject of my nightmares in the next couple days.

Oh. Hey there, Jon

In celebration of my return from college and his high school graduation, my brother Luke and I decided to venture downtown to the House of Blues to see one of our (well my) favorite artist's, Jon McLaughlin!!!!, in concert. I've been looking forward to that concert for quite awhile and was SUPER excited.

Now, when I get excited about something I have a really hard time waiting patiently at home like most normal people. Instead I have to get there WAY early. (...Like the time I may have made all my friends wait outside the movie theater for four and half hours just to get tickets for the Avengers premier...) Our concert started at 9:30 with the doors opening at 9:00. So of course, we logically left at 5:00. Don't worry I'm not completely crazy, we had dinner downtown too. But, even so we still have quite a bit of time to kill before the show and so we spent a good amount of time just walking around downtown. As we wondered it struck me how when we first moved to Houston, I thought it was one of the ugliest cities ever. But now that I've lived here awhile I've come to appreciate the certain beauty our city holds.

 

Around 8:00 we finally decided to go get "in line," and by "in line" I mean we stood against a wall behind the only other two people there. That's right people, who was the fourth person through the door??? This girl. We mostly passed the time taking stupid pictures of ourselves, wondering at the fact that apparently it's against company policy to let you sit down while in line, and creating an elaborate plan for how we were going to touch Jon's piano.

These well laid plans, however,  proved futile. Not because we were unable to carry them out, but rather because once we got in there we were right next to the stage and all we had to was reach out our hand and give that keyboard a little love tap.

Less exciting perhaps, but definitely no less awesome. And the concert? 

It. 

Was.

 AMAZING!!!!

Jon puts on a good show and being THAT close for the whole thing was just cool.

My Birthday Was in Septemeber

We have a tradition here at Austin College know as the "Improv Study Break" each year you bring that textbook you've been staring at for the past 48hours and watch our improv team use it, and anything else with words you care to throw at them, as their script. This year in addition to this traditional routine, they also performed a made up musical about a yellow tadpole named Pippin living in a pond of toxic waste.
So anyway, I went to that thinking it would make for a nice study break. After all, as I learned in Psychology 101, laughter is one of the best stress relievers out there. This "study break" wouldn't have been a problem except that after the improve show I got a text from my friend Sophie informing me that real life fruit ninja was going down and I just couldn't pass that up!***

***Just in case you didn't know, fruit ninja is an video(?) game where you chop random pieces of fruit that fly across the screen while trying to avoid the bombs that are also flying around. My friends, being the wonderfully crazy, creative people that they are, found that this could easily be replicated with some extra caf fruit and a wooden martial arts sword. Obviously there are no bombs, although someone did bring a slingshot to the party.....but I digress.***

Looking back I should have realized I was headed for trouble since I was breaking one of my cardinal life rules:  always be where you're supposed to be (because 98% of the trouble a person can get into is from not being where they're supposed to be doing what they're supposed to be doing). I should have been back in my room studying my little heart out, not out in some field with my friends pelting each other with citrus. If I had been studying, it wouldn't have mattered that as we were packing up to leave Michael reminded everyone of their vow to throw me in the birthday fountain. (---I mean, never mind the fact that my birthday was back in SEPTEMBER.) If I had been studying, I wouldn't have found myself running from what, to an outsider, would appear to be an angry mob of college students covered in fruit juice. If I had been studying, I wouldn't have been picked up and dragged clear across campus kicking and screaming and dunked in a fountain.

But alas I wasn't and so I was.

In case you couldn't tell, I was not overly pleased with those two

I wasn't the only victim that night. Ray and Susie both have summer birthday's and Talia's was in January so our friends decided to just throw all of us in.

Now, to be honest, it really wasn't that bad. I mean sure it was a little cold, and I may have lost a little chunk of hair in the struggle to "get away", but I made them buy me ice cream after and so it was all good.

Only in Sherman....

If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, you'll remember that I wasn't so keen on moving to Sherman, TX at first. (You Can Take the Girl Out of the City) After about a semester and a half I can confidently report that Sherman isn't all that bad. My main grievances towards the place have been resolved in the fact that we now have not only one but TWO frozen yogurt shops. Watch out Dallas, Sherman's moving up in the world. (Ok, maybe not.)

There are other perks to living in Sherman though! For instance, apparently it is totally acceptable to ride horses to school or mules to the Verizon store. 

No, really. 

Last Sunday we were sitting on a friend's front porch after worship when to men appear around the corner, riding their horses (home? To school? Just because? I guess we'll never know).

Pecan and Grand Ave. True Story.

This event in and of  itself wouldn't have been so funny if I hadn't just seen this a few days before. Some friends and I were on our way to Walmart in preparation for our camping trip (Lakeside) when low and behold beside the side of the road was a parked mule. ...Only in Texas.

Photo compliments of my friend Lindsey

 

Spring Break or Boredom

This week, formally known as spring break, has been characterized by a rather unassuming and relatively uneventful series of adventures. The first day, I woke up to find the weather had gotten inconveniently cold. (Definitely not doughnut weather....although I guess you could argue that any day is a good day for a doughnut.) In vain I hoped that this poor weather selection would be confined to Sherman and that my drive home to Houston would provide an escape from that dreadfully dreary day. No such luck. Shortly after I hopped in the car to head south it started to rain and it continued to rain...the entire way home. Additionally, I'm fairly certain that half of Dallas was also on its way to Houston for spring break. WHY? I'll never know, but between the traffic and the rain my drive home looked something like this.
    

BUT 

I made it home safe and sound to find a delicious home cooked meal and adoring family waiting for me. That alone made the miserable trip worth while. 

The next day I got 4in cut off my hair. It wasn't supposed to be that much and it made me sad.  How's THAT for excitement??? 

The other big spring break highlight was going to see Miranda Lambert at the rodeo. AWESOME. In case you didn't know I'm a big country music fan, but none of that washed up pop singer, sorry excuse for music mess. I like the real, singing through your nose to keep the prairie dust out of your lungs, hillbilly lyrics with some serious sass country music. Which is why I like Miranda Lambert. If I had to pick a superstar alter ego it would probably be her. 

AND

You can always count on the rodeo, like any carnival or fair, to have an impressive selection of fried goodness: everything from funnel cakes (BORING: I know, but still my personal favorite) to fried fruity pebbles to chocolate covered bacon.

And that white blob to the right? Yes, that. Nachos served logically in a dog dish. Duh.

Other than that, I'm afraid my week has been pretty boring. Mostly I've been listening to show tunes, reading the Hunger Games (yes...it's true) and watching lots of mind numbing television.  While this is definitely not the most exciting or exotic way to spend spring break, and there have been times when I've been tempted to complain about being bored, I really am enjoying the luxury of having nowhere to go and nothing to do. Just what I need before diving back into the chaos they call "college".