"Me" Night

It's finally the weekend.  Well, it's as much of a weekend as I really get anymore...working for a church, my days off are Saturday and Monday, so the "weekend" kind of gets split up by work and at least one day overcome entirely by homework.  But, it is Friday night, and I took advantage of it for some much needed "me" time.

I therefore spent the evening engaging in the following activities:

-Taking a 90 minute nap

-Depositing a paycheck.  Always good.

-Briefly browsing Old Navy, only to discover that I wasn't in a clothes-shopping mood (which, for me, means feeling rich, feeling energetic, and feeling attractive, none of which were happening today).

-Shopping at the new Wal-Mart by my house...which included buying class materials for Sunday and (impulsively) the Just Dance 2 Wii game that I've been wanting to buy for the last 9+ months (yes, people do have babies in the same amount of time that it takes me to justify spending $40 on a video game).

-Watching The Swan Princess.

-Painting my toenails pink.

-Eating a Falafel salad (which is something I made up because the pita was falling apart, so I just ripped up the sandwich and dumped it on a plate.  Bam.  Falafel salad).

-Playing guitar.

-Watching Friends DVD commentary (on "The Holiday Armadillo" episode).

-Eating Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

-Burning CDs for my confirmation kids so they can learn the books of the Bible in hip musical fashion (I found this clip this morning and have been singing it to myself all night, so I feel like it'll be an effective learning strategy for them):

-Watching this week's Modern Family episode on DVR.  I'm pretty sure the line about Cam's diets "crashing and burning into a pile of Nutella" was based on my life.

...and that's really about it.  No homework, no cleaning, and the work tasks I did were enjoyable so they weren't any hardship.  I really needed tonight for my mental/emotional health.  Hoping for a productive day tomorrow morning, then plans with friends in the late afternoon/evening!

Onward

Cursor blinking
Blank screen.
Words.
Thoughts like notes
sprawled on a staff
Say.
Speak.
Think.
Believe.
Write.
Was I right?
Am I wrong?
Was I meant for a different song?
Sleep
Breathe
Rest
Wait
Trust
A God above
A heart and soul
A mind entrenched in come and go
You came, I went
I saw, You sent
Day to day
We speak
We say
Saying things we don't believe
Regretting things we don't receive
Minds rebel and hearts deceive
Treading softly
Lightly forward
Glancing backward
Moving onward
Something more
Another door
Open
Enter
Walk
Receive
Know
Go.
A way
A window
A beam of Light
Another life
Another love
Another chance
Another dance.
Moving on
Living strong
Reaching into
A different song
A better grasp
A life of progress.

Small Successes

Today was filled with small successes.  Most notably, I accomplished a TON of class reading, both for my two sessions of Systematic Theology that met today (along with a written response sheet) and for my Children's ministry course tomorrow (including a written paragraph response).  Those were big deals, considering that I really didn't see how I was possibly going to get everything done after everything this past weekend (which I realize I have not elaborated on, but some things don't need to go on the internet).

Surprisingly, I also managed to finish homework fairly early, which allowed time for other small successes...things like making progress on the piles of laundry and dirty dishes that have been growing incessantly (my apartment is slowly falling to shambles).  I still haven't touched the piles of clutter covering the surface of every table in my living room, but these are major household improvements.

Most notably, however, I successfully made falafel in my crock pot (yeah, falafel), which is going to significantly improve my lunch experience tomorrow (this is a big step up from peanut butter and jelly).  Add my falafel-making endeavors to the chicken marrakesh I created over the weekend, and it's been a very middle-eastern type of culinary week.

I also semi-mastered playing this song on the guitar:



Her CD is the latest in my bitter list of CDs not available for sale in the USA.  Lame.  At least I have YouTube to supplement my love of French pop, right?  And I really like having time to play guitar...it's a good emotional release.

Now to get through tomorrow...

Getting Back to Normal

Today was a long day, but it was the first normal day I've had in a week, and the first day that I haven't cried in 6 days.  Lord knows I needed today.

That being said, today was a hard day of work.  Started things off at work (naturally), attending a senior Bible study, editing demographic info, and packing food into bags/boxes for distribution at the senior center adjacent to the church.  That last part was particularly chaotic...one of those "too many cooks in the kitchen" phenomenons.  And, the seniors who were receiving food all kept coming inside early and getting in the way of those of us packing the food.  I was glad when 3:00 came around, and I could slip out for the day.  I came back to the apartment to take a brief break before heading to campus for Old Testament class and a paper-writing marathon in the library.  Food isn't allowed in the library, but I ate an entire peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the mezzanine, because 1) I'm 23 years old and perfectly capable of eating a sandwich without making a mess, 2) I was working through dinner and couldn't afford to stop, and 3) nobody's ever on the mezzanine anyway because it's restricted to graduate students and the library employees don't go walking through there.  So yeah, I stuck it to the man and ate me a sandwich.  My vaguely rebellious streak returns.

Happily, the paper writing went very well, and it only took me about 3 hours to pull it together and email it off to my mentor pastor for review before we meet to discuss it next week.  This let me take a little bit of a breather in the evening, happily.  And that was today...mostly busy, mostly working, but the first normal day I've had for a week, and a day that was desperately needed for emotional healing.

Also, this song was randomly in my head today, which is weird because I don't even know it that well...but watching it now is cheering me up considerably, so let's tack it onto the end of an otherwise mundane post, shall we?

Explanation

I didn't post yesterday.  It was an all-around horrible day, and today wasn't much better.  Hoping I'll feel better soon.

3 Friends, 3 Museums, and a 3 Course Dinner (Split 3 Ways)

Today my friends Miranda, Sarah, and I ventured off to that glorious place which is Fort Worth to check out some museums that were having free admission in honor of the Smithsonian Institute's Museum's-Are-Awesome day (that's not the actual title, but I don't remember the real title of the event).  Museums included the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (which was awesome), the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (which was packed out with children and adults of all ages, and during which I felt horribly sick from too much lemonade consumption followed by a long walk through the heat), and finally the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (which was a nice museum, but at this point in the day I was tired and still recuperating from the sickness of earlier).  It was a fun, intellectual sort of day.

To wrap things up, we went to Razzoo's Cajun Restaurant in downtown Fort Worth.  But, not being super hungry, we decided to split a three course meal three ways - that is, share an appetizer, entree, and dessert between the three of us.  Miranda and I added frozen margaritas to the mix.  Our appetizer was fried gator tail (yeah, fried gator tale), our entree was the Cajun Platter, including corn on the cob, garlic toast, crawfish etoufee, red beans and rice, andouille sausage, and shrimp jambalaya (all in very small portions once they were split three ways, of course)...and, the crowning achievement of the mix: bread pudding.  Yeah.  Razzoo's has the best bread pudding in the world.

And so it was another successful day in Fort Worth.

I'm still alive

and that's the only reason I'm writing, so that you readers won't worry.

Bunny Therapy

It was a long, hard day, in lots of ways.  Thankfully, videos of bunnies make everything seem better.

The Face Theory

Today my friends and I talked at great length about my developing theory that there are only so many faces, and that they get reused as time goes on.  Meaning, of course, that your face was probably present on someone else's head at some point in history.

I've been considering this theory for awhile now (actually, it may or may not have been my mom who first suggested it), but its potential ramifications came to the fore when a former classmate posted a photo of a 19th century self-portrait of a Norwegian painter that bore a striking resemblance to my friend Matt.

Here we have Matt (and me.  Ignore me, I'm not important in this example).

And here we have the 19th-century painting:

It's strange.  Very, very strange.  A little...too strange.

Seeing this photo of the 1800s version of Matt pop up on my Facebook put me in mind of a similar instance that occurred a few years ago, when my sister happened upon a similarly old portrait of a guy that looked just like her friend Alex.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Then, a couple weeks later, I watched a documentary about Jackie Kennedy, and realized that she looks exactly like my friend Kelly.  Don't worry, I have photographic support.

Here is my friend Kelly (and me.  Again, ignore me.):

And here is Jackie Kennedy (with John F. Kennedy.  Ignore him too.)

As if this isn't enough proof, maybe you've seen the "Nicholas Cage is a Vampire from the 19th Century" story currently circulating around the internet:

Vampire?  No.  The Face Theory?  Yes.

And we've all had those instances when we see someone who looks just like somebody that we know, right? Isn't it so embarrassing when you stare at them awkwardly marveling at how much they look just like your college roommate or your sister's best friend?  Don't be embarrassed.  It's The Face Theory, people.

Yeah.  The Face Theory is the real deal.  Now there is nothing left to consider but its potential implications for society as we know it.  A greater appreciation for our past?  A sudden influx in belief in reincarnation?  A loss of individualistic identity in favor of communal identity?  Face-based cultural warfare?  Who knows...this could be the end of the world as we know it, or just the beginning...

I leave you now to your thoughts and reflections.  And as you go now into the world of your mind, may your face go with you.

Reflections on Education

I've been thinking a lot lately how school really isn't cool once you get to adulthood (albeit young adulthood, in my case).

Let's start with a look at elementary school.  It's your first day.  Your mom is taking a picture of you with your little corduroy jumper and Minnie Mouse backpack, and the ground is still wet with morning dew that makes your shoes all wet when you walk through the yard.  Everyone is excited, because you are going to ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.  This is a big deal.  This isn't just preschool anymore.  It's the real deal.

Stylin'

My primary memories from elementary school include the following: playing with a parachute in gym class, watching from a distance as other kids poked sticks into a hole purported to house a snake of some sort, hula hooping in the parking lot, watching Charlotte's Web in the multipurpose room after school, playing bingo for jolly ranchers, and one day cutting off a tiny portion of my hair with school scissors for fun and not telling anyone.  Actually, those are my primary memories from Kindergarten through the second grade.  After third grade, I changed schools...primary memories from those years include watching baby chicks run around a cardboard box, digging for clay at the bottom of the sandbox, accidentally staying out on the playground longer than the rest of my class, and being a Valley Girl in the 5th grade program.  Those were good years.

Then came middle school.  Ah, middle school.  It's your first day.  You're standing at the bus stop at the corner of a neighborhood street, your shoes wet from the morning dew and your black satchel thrown across your shoulder.  You're nervous, but generally excited to be going to a school with lockers and passing times and all the romance of your favorite tween TV show.  But even better, you're away from those little kids: you're going to MIDDLE SCHOOL.  This isn't just elementary school anymore.  It's the real deal.

"Homework"

My primary memories from middle school include the following: making a friend a "birthday cake" out of Hostess Cinnamon Rolls, buying gel pens with quarters at lunch, getting Everlasting Gobstoppers from the vending machine, being embarrassed that I had the shiny purple gym shorts and not the cotton ones that most of the girls had, doing a social studies report on the terra cotta warriors, working on logic puzzles in math class, school dances where more time was spent talking in the commons than dancing, sewing cartoon pillows in FACS class, and the Cha Cha Slide.  Those were also good years.

Then came high school.  Yes...high school.  It's your first day.  You're waiting for the bus on a neighborhood street corner, your shoes wet from the morning dew and your hair already beginning to frizz up.  Your time has come: it's finally time for the context of Boy Meets World to become your personal social context.  High school is a world of football games, real school dances with real fancy dresses, dating, and driving.  This is it.  This is the pinnacle of teenage existence.  This isn't middle school anymore...this is HIGH SCHOOL.  It's the real deal.

Another useless life skill gained

My primary memories from high school include the following: twirling color guard flags behind the building, sweating in the sweltering heat of band camp, hanging out with friends in the cafeteria, the annual "matchmaker" survey (where for just $1 you could receive a statistical report of your best romantic matches in the school), dancing with friends in overpriced dresses in the middle of the school gym, breezing through French class while other students goofed off and subsequently did poorly on exams, early morning chemistry labs, marching band and color guard competitions, and the rotating darkroom door from photography class.

And then it's here...the moment you've been waiting for, the moment you've been working towards.  You've walked across the stage with all the necessary pomp and circumstance, you've bid your friends goodbye.  And suddenly, you're in college.  It's your first day.  You've braved the dorm showers, gotten dressed in a way that best showcases your personal style, you've memorized the room number of your first class, and choked back the homesickness tears that still well up at the most inconvenient times.  You join the throng of students heading out into the sunlight, your shoes shuffling along the concrete behind the sorority girls proudly displaying their letter jerseys.  This is COLLEGE.  It's not high school anymore...this is the real deal.

Enough for you and 10 of your
closest friends

My primary memories of college include the following: joining a sorority (surprising myself and everyone in my family), walking downtown for pizza, taking "study trips" to coffee shops with friends under the full realization that little studying would really be accomplished, formals and costume dances, messing around with coworkers in the foreign language labs, doing my best Broadway actress impersonations at Cabaret every year, singing in the tiny practice rooms in the basement of the fine arts building, having deep conversations over chicken tenders, and ordering cheesesticks that came in pizza boxes too big to fit through a doorway.  These were also the years when I got serious about my faith, which would come to have bigger effects than I could have ever realized.

But then it's graduation.  That darn pomp and circumstance is back.  And this time, it's not as exciting...sure, you're burnt out from your senior seminar papers and ready for a summer break, but you have to say goodbye to some of the best friends you've ever had.  But there's your family, smiling at you from the white chairs that spread out across the lawn as you walk across the stage under the shadow of the Grecian-inspired administration building and gaze out at the city skyline under a cloudless blue sky.  Your shoes don't match the dress you wore under your gown, but you don't care.  Your mom is taking pictures of you in your black cap and gown, holding your newly acquired diploma proudly.  In just a couple hours, you'll be a bawling mess as you move out of your dorm room and, God forbid, turn in your dorm key for the last time.  It's over.

And then you're in the "real world."  This is ADULTHOOD.  This is the real deal.

And this brings me back to my initial claim that school isn't cool once you reach adulthood.

For some reason that seemed good at the time, you've decided to go to graduate school.  After all, you've been through two graduations already...why not tack a third one onto that and become a MASTER of something.  Besides, everyone's talking about how the economy is horrible and no one can find a job...might as well avoid that for a couple years by becoming more qualified for said invisible job, right?  And it is a good idea.  But here's the problem: you don't get to escape the real world just because you go to graduate school.

In Kindergarten through High School,  your education is, essentially, your job.  That is what you spend all your time doing, and that is what is expected of you.  In College, your education truly becomes your life since you're living at your educational institution - the work load is certainly higher, but it's all so intricately interwoven into your everyday that you don't notice.

Good thing you have that coffee, girl.

But graduate school is a horse of a different color.  Education is still your job...but now, you're enough of an adult to realize that your job shouldn't be your whole life.  Yet, somehow, your graduate school "job" is your whole life.  Class is only a small part of the matter...there's the marathon trips to the library, the hundreds of pages of reading per week.  Leaving campus doesn't mean leaving work...it means STARTING work.  That's work that you're not even getting paid for, but that you're PAYING to do.  And oh yeah, because you're now an adult, you have to find time to maintain everything else about your life, like grocery shopping and your paid job and traffic-laden commutes and what have you.  But these things become difficult to accomplish because "work" is consuming your life.

I blame this as the primary reason for graduate school burnout.  As I've been working at my new program-required, yet paid church job, I've become aware of this great sense of satisfaction I have upon leaving work every day.  I feel like I've actually gotten things done...because I have!  I've planned lessons, voiced ideas in meetings, drawn up reports.  I get all sorts of things accomplished, and I get paid to do them, and then I go home and don't do them anymore, except for maybe a couple little things.  If I was always taking huge quantities of work home with me, people would call me a workaholic and tell me to stop.  They would tell me that I'm going to burn myself out, and they'd be right.

But with graduate school, it's basically expected that you will be a workaholic.  I never leave class with the satisfied feeling of having accomplished something...if anything, I feel more overwhelmed than I did when I walked in the door.  My work has only just begun.

And that is why school is not cool once you reach adulthood.  If only my 5-year-old self had known that she'd be doing school for nearly twenty years following, maybe she would have run back inside the house and hidden under her Minnie Mouse backpack.

But still, I'm thankful for my education, and I know it's going to benefit me in the long run and has already benefited me in countless ways.  Still, I hope that my primary memories of graduate school aren't the long hours spent in the library...I hope that they're the Gumbo and a Movie nights with friends, Tex-Mex trips to Chuy's and Fuzzy's, spontaneous trips to Fort Worth, funny stories about my professors.  And happiness.  Above all, happiness.

Still, after I graduate this year...I think that's enough school for me.

Alphabet Day

A is for Alarm clock, which went off two hours before I actually got up this morning.
B is for Breakfast, which I ate while reading my morning devotional.
C is for Chuy's, where I went to dinner with a friend.
D is for Deposit, which made my bank account richer than it was yesterday.
E is for Eating lunch outside in beautiful weather.
F is for Friends, which I watched two episodes of today (I recently bought Season 7 on DVD.  It's exciting.)
G is for Gorgeous 80 degree weather.
H is for Horn, which I might have honked at a reckless driver.
I is for "I can't believe it's almost October!", which I can't.
J is for "Just Do It!" attitude toward writing an intimidating paper assignment.
K is for Kissing that paper goodbye before midnight...at least until I have to present it on Wednesday.
L is for Library, where I spent most of the day.
M is for Meeting, which I had with my Lay Teaching Committee for my church internship this evening
N is for Needing to go shopping for various things, but not having time to go.
O is for Owl City, which I listened to on the drive back from the Committee meeting.
P is for Preceptorial Paper, which I successfully wrote, revised, and submitted in one day, as planned.
Q is for Quiet conversations about theological complexities and proper citation form in the library.
R is for Relaxing, which I wish I could do more of in my life lately.
S is for Scarlet Tanager, whose album I downloaded from iTunes just now.
T is for Traffic, which I navigated on the way to the Committee meeting
U is for Unusually small attendance at the Committee meeting...5 of the 8 members were absent.
V is for Very positive feedback from my mentor pastor at the Committee meeting.
W is for Writer's block, which I hit several times in composing my paper, but eventually overcame.
X is for Xeroxed copies of a report I drew up for the church with a small typo in the header.  Drat.  It only bothers me, no one else seems to mind..
Y is for "Yummy" leftovers from Chuy's (I labelled my takeout box with a pen).
Z is for Zzzzs, which will complete my day :)

Success!

The first day of teaching confirmation class was a success.  In fact, it was a great day at work overall - I really like having a purpose at my job instead of just shadowing other people as they fulfill their purposes.  It was just a really great morning...probably the best day of work so far (ps, confirmation class was only about half an hour of this good day, other things were good too).

The afternoon was spent, like yesterday, fighting through piles of theology reading.  The good news is that I've now gotten through all the readings and will be able to focus just on writing my paper tomorrow.

I realize this is a ridiculously boring post.  I apologize.  I've gotten in the habit of putting off this blog just like I procrastinate homework.  I think it's because, on the whole, I have less free time, so I stretch what free time I do have by putting off things that I realize are good (like sleep, which is why I'm still awake right now - because, you see, if I go to bed, when I wake up I'll have to do homework.  So going to bed, though I like sleeping, is a thing that is procrastinated too).

Anyway, thanks for reading.  I hope you have a wonderful daaaaaaaaaaaaaay! (extra letters for extra enthusiasm)

Cow Statues

My friend Miranda and I ventured downtown today in search of a cattle stampede, in statue form.

The location was Pioneer Park, nestled in among the buildings, and bursting with giant metal cows.  And bulls, presumably.  As much as I refer to all cattle as "cows", I have lately been informed that the designation of "cow" implies "female", but that does not change the fact that my suburban-grown self will continue to refer to both genders as cows.  Deal with it.

The park naturally provided good opportunities for silly photo poses, including the following:

After our Pioneer Park adventures, we took the train over a couple stops to the West End, where we had barbecue for dinner; not the best barbecue I've ever had, but it was tasty.  All in all, it was a good evening :)

As for that "paper writing fiesta" of which I spoke in yesterday's post...didn't really happen.  I spent the whole day trying to fight through just one of the three readings I need to respond to in my paper - even though it was only 16 pages long, it was so dense that I couldn't wrap my head around it.  I wound up taking a nap to firstly attempt to rejuvenate my brain, and secondly to avoid having to work (hence a 20-minute planned nap turned into an hour and a half).  And then came the evening cow statue and barbecue adventure.  Looks like I'll have a lot more work ahead of me this weekend...oh well.

It's the weekend!!

Hooray!  The weekend is here!  Today went really well, all things considered...despite horrific Texas drivers marring my day on ever commute of the day (I honked my horn at someone before 9:00am.  That says something.  And I don't often honk my horn).  On this topic, I delighted the Facebook community with my assertion that "If Augustin needed any supporting evidence for his theory that humanity is inherently evil, he should have gone driving through Dallas at rush hour."  Class was fine, work was great - I got everything set for my first confirmation class lesson on Sunday, which I REALLY enjoyed preparing...it kind of made me more confident in my current career choice.  I also was bestowed with a bag of sweet potatoes because, like I've said before, food just shows up in this church.  In the afternoon, I caught up on Project Runway, and spent the night watching Pirates of the Caribbean and making a late night In-N-Out cheeseburger run with my boyfriend.  It was a good night, and nicely relaxing before tomorrow's paper-writing fiesta (which actually is less intimidating now that I've learned that my paper must be emailed to the professor by Tuesday at 4pm, NOT by Monday as I had mistakenly written in my planner).

Anyway, I know that was rambley, and I know that I'm slipping back into the "Here's what I did today" motif, but it's late and the only reason I'm not in bed is because I don't want today to end because I don't want to have to wake up and do homework.  I also need to go clothes shopping - I've noticed that every morning lately, regardless of having all my clothes clean, I haven't been able to find anything to wear.  I think I could use a couple more tops...might hit up Old Navy in the near future.

But anyway (again), I hope you dear readers have a wonderful weekend, wherever you may be.  May the road rise up to meet you.

Long Day.

It was a long day.  Thursdays are always long days.  This one included my 2.5 hour Children's Ministry seminar (today featuring six super-peppy children's ministers in a panel discussion that was more like a flashback to my sorority years, but was still helpful and informative), a Taize chapel service (which I had to skip out early on to get to my...) 2.5 hour Internship seminar (which was more intense than usual), hanging out in the basement of the library for an hour and a half surfing the internet and trying not to fall asleep in the squishy gray armchair that I had claimed, and a 1.5 hour Old Testament class (featuring a lively and, occasionally, vaguely offensive discussion of the rape of Dinah in Genesis 34...vaguely offensive not because of my teacher, but because of some comments made by other students).  So there was my 9-6 campus day for the week, come and gone.  My boyfriend came over in the evening and we ate dinner and talked and generally just relaxed, and that was a nice way to end the day.  But oh golly, was it a long haul getting there.

I'm off to bed :)  Bonsoir, tout le monde!

Wednesdays are Unremarkable

Nothing much to report from today...woke up, went to class, came back, took a nap, read stuff about the Trinity, wrote a short response to said reading, went back to class, came home, ate leftover pork.  The only remarkable part of the day is that I really didn't have any homework to do tonight, so instead I spent a good chunk of the evening watching an ABC special on Jackie Kennedy, which was really interesting.  I've been more interested than usual in the Kennedys after my fourth visit to Dealey Plaza (site of the JFK assassination) over the weekend, and this documentary was a really unique look at Kennedy's presidency.

And that, really, was my day.  I know, right?  Fascinating.

Here's a clip about the documentary I watched, if you're interested.  You can watch the whole thing online at abc.com (and no, I'm not getting paid to say that).

Exciting Work Update!

I found out today that I get to lead the confirmation class at the church where I'm working this year!  Yay!  This is exciting for two reasons: 1) It gives me a specific, concrete, ongoing task at the church instead of just shadowing pastors and looking pretty and getting fed, and 2) It lets me work with middle schoolers, which, oddly enough, I actually enjoy.  Go figure.  So this is a good thing.  I'm in the process of reworking curriculum (shaping a 39-week curriculum into a 21 session program).  I'll have my first class on Sunday, which will mostly be introduction stuff, but I'm excited to meet the youth (3 boys and a girl).  Exciting stuff!

Other than that, today was a fairly normal day...I was doing well at getting back on the healthy track until today's work lunch was at KFC, then I had class in the evening, and I've been generally exhausted all day.  In fact, I think I may just go to bed soon (which will be around 10pm).  I'm still sleepy from the adventures of the weekend!

Cranberries

Today I busted out the crock pot for my first crock pot cooking attempt: Cranberry Onion Pork Roast.  I figured a good side dish would be Confetti Couscous, which is essentially couscous with corn, cranberries, and cinnamon (it tastes better than it sounds).  So it was a cranberry-tastic dinner, and it was delicious.  Crock Pot cooking adventure #1 was a success.  And, thanks to this website, I think I'll be doing quite a bit of Crock Pot cooking this year...

Other adventures of the day included Fuzzy's Tacos with my friend Rachel, a quick grocery run, large amounts of procrastination, homework for my Old Testament class, and catching up on Project Runway while doing the Wii Fit.  I'm trying to get back into the exercising/eating healthy habit.  It's probably a good decision.

And so my adventurous weekend has drawn to a close.  I'm vaguely in denial of having to go to work/class tomorrow, but I suppose that my 7am alarm clock will remind me.  Wait, actually I can sleep until 8am on Tuesdays.  Oh, the joy.

Here's to another week!

Laura's Visit: A Photo Summary

Well, after an awesome weekend that was absolutely packed full of sightseeing and delicious restaurant meals, my friend Laura is safely back in her old Kentucky home.  I took her to the airport this morning, and then headed off to work, as usual.  It was after work that the exhaustion of the weekend set in - after arriving back at my apartment, I completely crashed.  I wound up taking a 2.75 hour super-nap on the still-inflated air mattress in the middle of my living room, before waking up, throwing a Sweet and Sour Chicken skillet meal on the stove for dinner, and heading off to Bible study.  I fully believe that sunburns and exhaustion are the signs of a good vacation, and according to this criteria I had just as awesome a "vacation" as Laura did.

Since I didn't have time to write while Laura was visiting, I thought I'd recap the last few days with a photo summary of Celia and Laura's Texas Adventure Weekend...because a picture's worth a thousand words, and we both took a ton of pictures this weekend (don't worry, not all of them will appear in this post).

Day #1: Fort Worth

Lunch at Fuzzy's Taco's before hitting the road to Fort Worth for the day!

At the water gardens, we ventured down into the giant canyon fountain (which is entirely legal, in case you were wondering)...

It was absolutely terrifying.  It doesn't seem like the walk down is going to be so intimidating until you're standing at the top about to start the trek.  Those platforms behind us are the stone stairs we took down.

Vacations necessitate jumping photos.  It's a fact.  Eventually, a passerby came by and offered to take a photo of Laura and I jumping TOGETHER...that gem of a photo lies on Laura's camera, unfortunately (watch for it coming soon on Facebook)

Dinner at Risky's Barbecue.  I was reminded of my absolute love for barbecue joints, and inspired to look up barbecue crock-pot recipes immediately upon return to the apartment.  I had a pulled pork sandwich with potato salad, if you're interested.

We spent the evening in the Fort Worth Stockyards...aka, stereotypical Texas at its finest.  It's like walking into a Wild West film.  Seriously.

Laura outside the Cowtown Coliseum (yes, the COWTOWN COLISEUM), before the rodeo (yes, RODEO)

Getting our Texas on at the Rodeo.  We were some of the small number of people not wearing cowboy hats.

We were SO pleased with ourselves...it was just about the most Texan thing ever.

Cattle ropin'.  Other events included bull-riding, kids riding on sheep, and cattle herding.  It.  Was.  Crazy.

That's right people, Fort Worth has rodeos every Friday and Saturday night - a $15 ticket for three hours of Texas fun.  Who knew??

Day #2: Dallas

After beginning the morning at Dealey Plaza (site of the JFK assassination), Laura and I explored the West End...including Wild Bill's Western Shop.

If only we'd had these hats for the rodeo the day before...not that we actually bought them, of course.

Lunch was had at Chuy's...Tex Mex at it's finest!

We spent the afternoon briefly visiting the church where I work (ps, we visited SMU's campus the day before, I forgot to mention that).  Then, we headed out to White Rock Lake to check out the harbors and sailboats.

And for dinner: Pokey-O's.  Because nothing says vacation like an enormous ice cream cookie sandwich :)

By this point, we were (quite obviously) absolutely exhausted, and spent the evening watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Music and Lyrics back at the apartment.  

I must say, after a weekend of doing all of my favorite Texas things and experiencing a rodeo firsthand, I feel like I went on vacation too!

Friend Visit Part 2

Dallas Day!  Fun things happened.  But now I'm going to continue talking to my friend who is leaving tomorrow.

Bye :)

Oh My Gosh...The Rodeo

I went to a rodeo.  A real, live, rodeo.

It was the single most Texan experience of my entire life.

But as yesterday, I don't blog extensively with company, AND I'm too tired from our long day of Fort Worth frolics to expound on the wonders of the rodeo...

Until later, then...

FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!!

My friend Laura is here to visit!  Hooray!!!

This of course means that this is the end of the blog post...because it's rude to blog when you have company :)

Peace out, yo.

Cleaning Reflections

There's nothing like cleaning for company to make you realize how much your apartment really needs to be cleaned.  Happily, it only took me a little over an hour to declutter, vacuum, polish furniture/dust (which was really one motion), clean the stove, and run a Lysol wipe over all applicable surfaces.  And now, except for folding some laundry, my apartment is all ready for my friend Laura's arrival tomorrow!

Sometimes people come over and seem upset that I'd clean for them, saying things like, "Oh, you didn't have to clean!"  But yes, I do have to clean.  I have to clean firstly so that my apartment will be presentable and so that staying there will be a pleasant experience, and I have to clean secondly because it's people coming over that always kickstarts me into cleaning.  So I'm happy to get my cleaning on for company.

The rest of the day was your typical class/study day.  Class in the morning, an advising meeting, working on homework while chatting with a new friend in the library (in the basement, where such chatting is not so highly frowned upon), a picnic lunch and good conversation with the aforementioned new friend, study group, and preceptorial in the afternoon (where I actually said something smart!  Or, at least, said something at all).  Then more homework in the evening, and then the cleaning.

And that's that!  Looking forward to a great weekend with an old friend!!

Looking Forward

Today was the first day of school at my alma mater.  I wouldn't have known this if not for the conglomeration of "happy-first-day-back"/"I-miss-Transy!" statuses that popped up all over my Facebook this morning.

It was at this point that I discovered a startling truth:  I don't miss Transylvania.

This is not to say that I don't have positive memories of my undergraduate years, or that I don't still want to maintain friendships from those years.  I just don't sit around actively pining for the past.  And THAT is something that is very, very different from last year.

Last year, I was acutely aware of all the goings-on at Transylvania that I was missing.  For example, I remember one evening last September when I realized that I was putting groceries in my car while the majority of my friends were starting the first night of sorority recruitment, and subsequently felt sad, like I was missing out on something.  Of course, in retrospect, this is silly - I hadn't missed out on anything from college (except that perhaps I made more responsible decisions than the stereotypical college student).  I had my four years, and I moved on, like everyone is meant to do.  But for my entire first year out of college, I missed those years with a passion - it felt like something had been taken from me.

Which is why not missing Transy was an intriguing realization this morning, and why seeing Facebook posts of other people missing Transy was odd...because no one missed Transy more than me last year.

It's probably no coincidence that my not-missing-college epiphany coincided with the equally surprising realization that I love my life here in Dallas.

Yes, I get stressed out with homework.  Yes, there are times I want to crawl under the library table and hide. Yes, there are times when it's hot and there are lizards and I wish that Texas was a bit less Texan.  Yes, there are times that the traffic makes my goody-two-shoes self want to swear like a sailor.  But overall...I love my life here.  It took me a full year, but I'm finally beginning to feel the connection to my life here that I once felt to my life in Lexington.

I feel like I belong here.

Even better, I feel like I'm at a point where I look forward more than I look back.  And that is a very good feeling.

Happy Labor Day!

It's that time of year again when the majority of Americans celebrate their lives in the workforce with a three-day weekend.  Unfortunately, as we've already established, I did not receive the delight of a three day weekend since my standard days off are Saturday and Monday, but I did make the most of Labor Day today!

First of all, the weather was absolutely beautiful today - upper 80s with a cool breeze!  Quite a nice change from the stuffy 105 degrees that we Dallas-ites have grown familiar to this summer (we're in a drought, don't you know).  After waking up at a leisurely 9:30am, I did a bit of class reading before heading out to Arlington for the day to see my boyfriend, Josh- another perk of Labor Day holidays: even though it's not a holiday for me, it's a holiday for him and therefore gave us an extra day to spend together!

Josh had planned another surprise date for the day, this time to Kincaid's Hamburgers, in Fort Worth (my favorite Texas city, by the way).  Kincaid's has been around since the 1940s, and has won all sorts of burger awards and been featured in all sorts of food magazines ever since then.  It started out as a market, and you can still buy random canned food items in addition to your burger, which comes to you straight from an unassuming counter at the back of the store, surrounded by teal-green walls that are at once reminiscent of 1960s decor and dental scrubs.  To complete the atmosphere, we dined on picnic tables, complete with red and white checkered tablecloths.  Neither Josh nor I had been to Kincaid's before (he learned about it in a brochure he found somewhere), but we both gave it a good review!  I love finding fun little local places like that!

Digging into a Kincaid's burger!

A Delicious Fort Worth Landmark!

Hanging out at the Water Gardens :)

After our lunch, we ventured onward to the Fort Worth Water Gardens, which is a collection of large fountains in the middle of downtown - quite romantic and lovely in the cool autumn-like weather.  A lovely way to spend the afternoon!  Then, in the evening, I headed back into Dallas for my friend Kelly's birthday party, which was at Sherlock's English Pub.  Although it's a popular destination among Perkins students, I'd never been to Sherlock's until tonight - it was really fun!  Although it's a bar atmosphere, it's much more laid back and pub-style, and decorated with old books and bookcases.  They also had bingo games going, which I lost consistently (I don't even remember the last time I won a game of bingo.  Wait, yes I do.  It was when I tagged along with my friend Ashley to a bingo night at Maryville University, and actually won.  But that was 4 years ago).  It was a good group of people, and a good night all around.

The birthday girl and I!

Our failed bingo cards

And now, I'm heading back into reality - work tomorrow, class in the evening, and studying it up hardcore tomorrow night!!  The last few days were so busy with work and social stuff that I really didn't get as much reading done as I wish I had...but isn't that always how it goes?  In any case, I had a good weekend overall, and a great day today...and that's a good way to head into the week!

The Most Complicated (But Enjoyable) Picnic Ever

Today the church I work for had a Labor Day picnic in the evening, out in the countryside on a farm belonging to a couple in the congregation.  The picnic was scheduled for 5pm, so I left my apartment around 4pm since Mapquest said it would take about an hour to get there.  And sure enough, just after 5pm (and after momentarily being "lost" by not going far enough down the road) I pulled into the house's driveway.

And no one was there.

But, having just spoken to the woman who owned the house on the phone, I figured that she and her husband must just be inside the dome-shaped house, and that I must just be the first one there.  So I got out of the car, and started wandering along the fence, looking for a gate.  And I wandered...and wandered...and wandered.  I wandered to the very end of the long fence, and found no gate, besides a cattle gate that was wired shut.  So I turned around, and wandered back.  Shortly, I happened upon a farmhand and asked him where the gate was.  I was relieved to hear him mention the last name of the people I was looking for (at least I was in the right spot!), and he undid the wire around the cattle gate and let me inside the yard.

In a dramatic turn of weather-related events, the 105 degree stifling heat had given way to a day of temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s, which was lovely.  Unfortunately, this change in weather came with WIND.  And LOTS of it.  I felt like the Wicked Witch of the West was going to come flying by at any moment.  So, confused and windblown, I sat down in a chair and waited.  It turns out that not only was I the first guest, but I'd even beaten the hosts.  Eventually I fought the wind back to the car, both to search out a church bulletin and verify that I had the correct time (which I did) and also to sit out of the wind and away from the perplexed farmhand who was trying to figure out what to do with me.  While sitting in the car, I did what I often do in awkward situations: called my friend Brandi and laughed about the awkwardness that I was experiencing.

Around 5:20, the hosts of the picnic pulled up, and after introducing myself as the enthusiastic and charming young seminary intern, I helped unload their truck of its picnic-esque fare.  A little while later, another car pulled up, and a couple from the church got out.  Then we were all invited into the house, to escape the wind and wait on everyone else, who apparently had gotten hung up on a baby shower at the church (which, for the record, had begun 3 hours prior).

The house was the most charming thing ever.  It was one of those dome houses that you often see from the side of the road, but rarely get to go inside (if you're like me, anyway).  The inside was truly lovely, with warm yellow walls and hardwood floors.  The bulk of the place was taken up by a living room that opened up to the dome ceiling, complete with a spiral staircase in the corner leading up to a loft with cafe-style tables and chairs.  It doesn't take much more than a spiral staircase in the living room to make me a fan of a house.  Underneath the loft was the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom - simple, but adorable.  I told the family that if they ever got tired of the house, I'd take it off their hands.  This comment was received with general amusement.

For the next 45 minutes, I sat in the living room with these four people from the church (one of whom was wearing a white cowboy hat with a rattlesnake ribbon complete with a rattlesnake head sticking ferociously off the front).  We conversed politely, and I felt bad for being as tired as I was (keep in mind that I'd already been to work at the church and driven all the way out to the country by the time this event was happening).  Finally, around 6:30pm, more people began to show up, and around 7:00 or so I ventured back outside the house, into the wind and general crowd of Filipino people who had gathered.

It was at this point that the picnic began to be truly enjoyable.  I was introduced to a picnic table of ladies from the church and the hosts' next-door-neighbor, and sat and chatted with them for the remainder of the night.  The food (when it was finally served around 8:00) was bountiful and delicious - sticky rice (cooked in that perfect way that these Filipino people seem to be able to accomplish with ease), Greek couscous, grilled chicken, hot dogs, noodle salad with vegetables, adobo, and other things of which I did not partake because I ran out of room on my plate.  I did save room for dessert: a chocolate chip cookie and ginataang - a Filipino rice and bean dessert based on coconut milk and, in this case, containing giant blobs of tapioca.  It was all really, really good!  If there's one thing that can be said for this internship, it's that it's expanding my food knowledge and exciting my taste buds!

I left the picnic around 9pm, and got back to my apartment an hour later around 10pm.  The drive back included an unexpected venture through downtown Dallas at night; even though my GPS hadn't taken me on that highway on the way to the picnic, it seemed to be its preferred route back home, and being tired and unfamiliar with my surroundings I didn't want to risk overriding the GPS mandates.  Although this was naturally a more chaotic route, I always love driving by the city at night...it makes me feel like I'm living the quintessential exciting young-adult life.  Which, I suppose, I actually am...with some Filipino flare, in the case of this year :)

Tomorrow will be another busy social day, as I have plans with my boyfriend in the afternoon and I am celebrating a friend's birthday in the evening.  Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some homework time as well!!

Mundaneness

I'm finding myself back in a writers block trap.  As you faithful readers have noticed, I've not posted for the last three days (primarily because of academic and social busy-ness)...but today I realize that I also just don't have much to reflect upon.  Either that, or my brain is not capable of reflecting upon it in an entertaining fashion.  My life is slowly beginning to pick up the grad school monotony: work, class, homework, sleep, work, class, homework, sleep.

Today I participated in such riveting activities as searching the internet for crock pot recipes, grocery shopping, going to the bank, and exercising with the Wii Fit (which, incidentally, didn't yell at me for not using it for 132 days, but instead congratulated me on using it a total of 30 times).  In the afternoon/evening my boyfriend and I worked on homework together up at SMU (we started out at my apartment, but the Labor Day party at the nearby neighborhood clubhouse was too loud to focus), and then got In-N-Out Burger for dinner (which is one of Josh's favorite things on the planet, and which opened up a couple of months ago here in Dallas).  While these were all good and necessary activities, they don't necessarily lend themselves to a great deal of blog-post reflection.

Tomorrow will be a long work day, with the normal morning work routine and a church Labor Day picnic in the afternoon.  I hope all you readers are having a good holiday weekend!  It's really just causing me to work more :-P

Our dinner literally looked JUST like this.  In-N-Out is tasty!

                             

Three Days in a Row? Really?

Really.  Once again, like the last two days, by way of a busy night (this time going to see The Help with a friend, and then watching Penelope together back at my apartment), I find myself at 1:00am, tired and unmotivated to write anything of great consequence.

I therefore wish you a happy weekend.  God bless us, every one.

Oh, but I should point out that I bought a 2-qt crock pot for $11 at Target today.  I'm excited about the food possibilities in my future.

Peace out, yo.

It is Finished

Paper's finished, homework for the week is finished...that is, until I start working on things again tomorrow.

Sorry for another short post.  I'm off to bed :)