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I'm Feeling: relaxed
Background Noise: To Be With You by Mr. Bigg
Yesterday afternoon I had the distinct pleasure of attending Mason Middle School's 7th grade girls' basketball game. Christy, Huntar, and Nat are all on the team (although Huntar was sick yesterday, so she wasn't there) and it was really fun to see them. They're beautiful, sweet girls that I am really blessed to call my friends.
Our (Mark's) friend Dave is in town on business and staying with us for a few days, which I always enjoy as well. I really like Dave - I've known him almost as long as I've known Mark, and Mark loves having Dave around, which makes me happy too. They crack each other up - I like watching other people with their really close friends almost as much as I like being with my own really close friends. Speaking of which, I got to see Kelsey again yesterday - she stopped by the house on her way through town. Although short, the visit was a bright spot in my evening. Thanks Kels!
As an update (requested by AJ) - I managed to memorize the first 19 verses of Galatians 5 (there are 26 total). Not what I wanted - mostly because I could have done it, I just slacked off at the end. But by October 11, I'm gonna have Gal. 5:1-6:10 memorized. Cheer me on!
I'm Feeling: full (Qdoba for lunch!)
Background Noise: All Star by Smash Mouth
First off - congrats to Scott and Heather! God blessed them with another beautiful daughter, Maggie Kaylin, on Friday. It's so cool to watch our friends' families grow!
Friday I drove to Grosse Pointe to visit Kelsey - we went to play practice, visited her friend Anissa and Anissa's son Samuel (soo cute!), went out to dinner at Fish Bones w/Jess, ate a lot of TCBY, and saw the new Reese Witherspoon movie. Saturday we got up early, ate pumpkin pancakes at the original Pancake House, went back to play practice where I discovered the joys of costuming for high school plays, visited an art fair in the village, made out like bandits at an estate sale, and finished up with lunch at Panera. I met a lot of new people, and it was really fun to see Kelsey's world. Saturday night I was kinda tuckered out when I got home, so I basically crashed. Sunday was church (always good), and I spent most of the afternoon working on the tshirt quilt I'm making for Mark. Then at 6:00 some YoungLife girls came over for ice cream (my house was the neutral staging area for the high schoolers) and I got to meet new girls, eat ice cream and laugh a lot. And Mark arrived back home safely from San Fran! All in all, a really fun and eventful weekend.
Did you do anything fun this weekend?
I'm Feeling: grateful
Background Noise: Prince Ali (from the Aladdin soundtrack)
Today is Gratitude Day - I like this picture (it made me chuckle)... but seriously - when I sit down to think about the things I am grateful for, I'm humbled. Not just by the amazing number of blessings that really do exist in my life (even when I'm having a crappy day), but that I so rarely sit down to acknowledge them. Here are a few things that I overlook far too often:
1. My family - we don't always get along perfectly, but there is genuine love there.
2. My job - it gets in the way of my otherwise phenomenally productive plans for the day, but I get a regular paycheck, work with people that make me laugh, and I get to talk to new people every day. It's great!
3. My friends - old and new, near and far... I have a lot of people out there that would help if I asked.
4. My husband - at the risk of sounding mushy - it can be easy to complain when you live with someone, but the reality is that I'm married to a man who is strong, upright, funny, generous and in love with me. How can you ask for more?
I'm grateful for these things and more - the good things in my life far outweigh the stressful things... perhaps my attitude should better reflect that. I'll quote Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Jerry Maquire, "I love EVERYBODY!"
I'm Feeling: a little claustrophobic - I didn't leave my office at lunch today
Background Noise: clunky hum of my air conditioner, and music from iTunes that is so quiet it's indecipherable
On September 20, 1975, David Bowie scored his first number 1 hit - "Fame" from his album Young Americans. This doesn't mean much to me, since I wasn't alive in 1975, and since the extent of my David Bowie exposure is Labyrinth and The Wedding Singer. But, it's kinda interesting, so there you go.
Galatians update: through verse 19 now - got 7 more to do by 9:00 tonight. I'm fairly confident, even though I didn't work as hard as I should have (or really at all) on it last night. Once I got home from WyldLife I was just exhausted, and wanted to sit and think without really having to think about anything specific. Interactions can leave me worn out sometimes, and it's good to have some solace time to just be. It was nice to be able to get a little of that last night.
I'm taking Friday off work this week, I think (at least the afternoon). I'm going to visit my good friend Kelsey this weekend, and I could really use a little time away from the office to relax and think about other things. It's easy to lose perspective and get stressed out (for me, at least)... but I'm guaranteed to spend a lot of time laughing, talking, listening, loving and being loved this weekend - I'm so looking forward to it.
I'm Feeling: incapable of doing all the things I want to do/have to do
Background Noise: Something in the Way She Moves by James Taylor
And I don't mean that in an overly negative way.... just thinking that there are all kinds of things in my job that I'd like to start doing, but I simply don't have the time/resources to do it at this point. Or that there are all kinds of levels I'd take my involvement in YoungLife to - but I have to work full-time, and that limits me. I know God will give me enough time to do the things He wants me to do... it's just tricky to sort them out sometimes.
It's definitely Monday, though... time's been flying - I got a lot done today (yay!) but I feel like I've barely stopped to breathe. Tonight will be fun, to be sure (yay WyldLife!) but still not much time to breathe. I guess lung-function is overrated. :) Had a nice weekend - not a lot of monumentally impactful happenings, but the house is relatively clean and I got to hang out with some people that made me laugh.
I'm working on memorizing Galatians 5 (the whole chapter) right now - I'm up through verse 14... got to have it all done tomorrow night. Think I can do it?
I'm Feeling: just ducky!
Background Noise: The Mob Song (Kill the Beast) from the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack, and cars driving in the rainy streets outside
It's finally raining! The grass everywhere has been looking so sad and brown lately (except Dale's lawn - he's our next door neighbor, and his yard is freakishly green). Hopefully this makes the horticultural world of Mid-Michigan a little healthier and happier. The bad thing about rainy days is that it usually makes students want to skip their appointments and not tell me about it... so I may spend a good part of today sitting and waiting for visitors that will never come...
Last night I got to eat at Mitchell's Fish Market for the first time - Brooks and I went together (Mark doesn't like fish/seafood, so Brooks thought it would be a fun idea for us to go on a "date"). The food was excellent, although not discount-priced, and I had fun with Brooks - he keeps conversation going really well. I haven't gone out to dinner alone with a guy other than Mark in AGES, so that was a little surreal - but I think both Brooks and I understand that sadly, there just isn't much of a future for our dating relationship. We'll have to stick to being friends. He said that "someday" he wanted to go out to dinner with a married woman, so it's funny that we got to make that happen. :)
I get to have lunch with a new friend today - Chelsie and I are going to Qdoba for some tasty quasi-Mexican food. I'm excited! I notice I'm usually in a distinctly happier-than-average mood on Fridays - I adore weekends! Got a busy one coming up, but hopefully our "commitments" will turn out to be really fun times with good people, full of food and laughing (two of my favorite things!)
I'm Feeling: hungry! Background Noise: Happy Girl by Martina McBride
Mark and I have a lot of friends who have moved on to new places - our friends Nick and Molly moved to Florida in December of 2000. We've managed to see them a few times since, and visited their ocean-view home (amazing!). Their daughter, Ineka (pronounced like Erica, but with "in" instead of "er"), turned 1 earlier this month, and I thought this picture was too cute not to post.
Funny how I feel so busy, yet I can't come up with anything new and exciting to post - how is it that we spend all our days and hours doing things that we can't remember 24 hours later? Yesterday I met with 8 students, visited with Brooks and Katie for a little while, went to Barnes and Noble, ate lunch at Georgio's, cleaned the house a little after work, went to Meet the Team Night at Mason Middle School, watched the season premiere of Gilmore Girls, talked to my parents on the phone, and consumed some chocolate-peanut butter milkshake. Nothing earth-shattering, but certainly enough to keep me running all day!
Just a heads-up for all you procrastinators out there - tomorrow is officially "Someday." So if you have a bunch of things you said would be finished/accomplished someday - your time is almost up!! Better get cracking! :)
I'm Feeling: pleasantly content
Background Noise: professors chatting in the hall and cars driving by outside
I had a good weekend - we went up to Timber Wolf Lake (a YoungLife camp) for a retreat weekend for all the leaders in Michigan and Northern Indiana. It was good to get away, and TWL is always a fun place to be. I got to hang out with some gals that I don't see enough of normally, and I got a chance to talk to some people I've never really talked to before. I like that too. Yesterday afternoon, I got home and crashed - I don't ever get enough sleep at camp. Partly because of the beds (not superduper comfy) and partly because 20 girls in one room have a hard time being quiet (me included). Mark wasn't home (he and James went to Traverse City straight from camp - for 36 holes of golf) so I just napped on the couch for a couple hours. I'm not usually a good napper, I have to be REALLY tired - so I always appreciate naps when they happen. Means I really needed it.
It's a pretty normal Monday - lots of appointments, and tonight we have WyldLife - I'm leading tonight, so that should be fun. It's also Chocolate Milkshake Day, so I'll have to see if I can't squeeze that in somewhere.
What was the best part of your weekend?
I'm Feeling: on top of things
Background Noise: Jesus, Lover of My Soul by ZOEgirl
I just got back from lunch at Panera with Dana - I had a salad (not the one pictured - that one has onions on it - YUCK!). The salad was delicious and my company extremely entertaining. It's been awhile since Dana and I have hung out together, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I think I was talking too much to eat all of my salad, but that's an OK problem to have in my book.
On a completely unrelated note - have you ever noticed that there are some people it is easy to have tough conversations with, and some people where it's not? I think it depends on lots of things - how close you are, your personality, his/her personality, the issue at hand... but there are certain tough conversations that I'd rather stick something sharp in my eye than have. Maybe I'm just a wimp. Maybe I don't like confrontation (at least not with certain people). Any tips on having tough conversations?
I'm Feeling: a little tired
Background Noise: big truck of some kind idling outside our building
Did you know that our brains can't feel pain? All the other things brains can do, and there are no pain receptor-majiggies in them. Maybe it's because they are so busy doing other things all the time - can't be bothered with miniscule things like pain. Plus, they're busing registering pain from all other parts of our body - it would get pretty annoying, I'd think. I looked this up this morning, as I have had a headache since Sunday night. Not a horrible one, but noticeable and certainly distracting. I was trying to figure out what could be causing it. No dice. Hopefully it just goes away on its own.
I teach again today - although this week, I use that word loosely - I have 2 guest speakers coming in, so I won't actually have much of anything to do in class. Just get to sit back and listen - which will be really fun, I think.
I miss school - I knew it would happen, and I figured it would take about a year. I was right (I'm so stinking smart sometimes!) :) I want to take a class again - trouble is, I don't know what to take, and I don't have the time to take it. Maybe it's just not meant to be at this point in time. I'll just have to try to teach myself something. Any suggestions?
I'm Feeling: a little overwhelmed
Background Noise: You by Switchfoot
The leaves are starting to turn, which is funny, because it really hasn't been chilly at all lately. It seems like the trees just know that Labor Day is over, so now it's time to put on their fall colors. I don't mind - I adore fall. It turns all too quickly into winter, but the few weeks of crisp air, sunshine, pumpkins and bright leaves are some of my favorite times of the year.
My weekend was good, albeit tiring. We got to meet a number of distant and not-so-distant relatives at Jay's wedding, and it was good to see Martha, Chad, Mike, Steph and Dad. The trip to Chicago was smooth - we ate great food, opened presents, played Dominos until our eyes were burning, and enjoyed each other's company. We got back yesterday around 3:45 - Mark and I walked into our house, and we fell asleep almost immediately. It was a big weekend.
Things seem to be picking up pace in all aspects of my life - work (school is back in session, students descending en masse), home (I can barely keep our dishwasher empty, our clothes clean and our plants watered), YoungLife (DIG starts up every week next Monday, we go to Timberwolf for the weekend on Friday, Mission Community meeting tomorrow). But the really good news is that it's already Tuesday (gotta love those long weekends)!
I'm Feeling: GREAT!
Background Noise: The World's Greatest by R. Kelly
That's my big brother Adam, and his wife Melissa. Aren't they cute? We'll get to see them this weekend - I'm looking forward to it... it's been a while since I've seen my whole family. Although, I've never been too excited about the drive - it's only 3.5-4 hours, but I've done it many times in the last 7 years. Also, it will now cost us about 60 bucks to take my car roundtrip to Chicago, with gas at $3.39 a galloon. Sheesh!!
I'm Feeling: a little worn out, but good
Background Noise: I'll Fly Away by Jars of Clay
I cannot believe it's already September. What in the world? When I was driving home from work the other day, I saw my first tree of the season with red leaves. I love fall, but the sight made me a tiny bit sad - I felt like things were going too fast. I love my life, but sometimes I feel that there are so many things going on that I don't have the time to stop and appreciate any of them. I know that's not really completely true, but it feels that way sometimes.
I taught my first solo college class yesterday - my freshman seminar on going to law school. It's mildly terrifying to have these students looking to you to provide them insight and knowledge - but I think it'll be really fun. I had 18 students, I was able to remember everyone's name by the end of the class, and I had a few people say that they were really looking forward to the rest of the course. All seem like good things - and next week, I have 2 guest speakers, so I barely have to talk at all! :) Even better.
Mark is sick, which is sad - he almost never gets sick. He was in bed when I came home from work, and stayed there until 7:00. Poor guy - pray that his body heals quickly!!
