Sunday, July 30, 2006

richard...what's happening?

I'm not really sure what's happening these days. Alison and I moved into our new apartment 2 weeks ago. We like it. It's homey. All we need now is a small dining room table. We've got happy candles all around and pictures on the wall. I've been working a lot. Mostly at night, which isn't all that much fun. I'm still looking for other jobs, but none are exactly jumping out at me as THE JOB. In other news, guys are really weird. That's pretty much all I have to say about that. I can't figure them out. Seriously. They're a mystery. Some more than others. One especially. *sigh* And life goes on. Anywho, I figured that I hadn't blogged in a while, so I probably should. I guess life just really IS that boring right now. Maybe there will soon be excitement, but I wouldn't count on it.

Thursday, July 6, 2006

why i don't like packing

I'm remembering part of the reason that I don't like packing. I am a pack rat. I know it. I embrace it. I'm not crazy about it, but I embrace it none the less. And since I live in a small apartment, I still have a lot of things that remain in boxes until I need them. I've been going through said boxes tonight. I found stuff that I forgot about. I through a lot of stuff away. I filled 3 garbage bags. It was rough. Really rough. I threw away all of the wedding magazines that I've had since 2002 when I first started planning my wedding. Figured I should throw them out since I'm not having one. I found a lot of the manilla envelopes that Reagan would send me with funny things written for each of our middle names. All of them were thrown away. I finally packed up an "ex-boyfriend box" with some of the things that he'd given me and his letters. There's something that I thought that I'd never do. I have an ex-boyfriend box. Wow. So, yeah...that's been my night. Mo, you have any of that Chocolate Trinity ice cream left?! I could really use some right now.

Monday, July 3, 2006

not as planned

Well, my trip didn't exactly go as planned. I didn't make it to McKay's Used Books in Chattanooga, but I did find this great store just north of the FL/GA state line that had a bunch books, most Christian titles, for really cheap. We're talking I bought Blue Like Jazz, Through Painted Deserts, and Searching For God Knows What by Don Miller, The Wisdom of Tenderness by Brennan Manning, and Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper for $3.99 each. And the Piper book is a hard cover. What in the world? So, that was cool. What was NOT cool was getting stuck in Atlanta rush-hour traffic. I guess it was more like "I hope you're not in ANY kind of rush, because traffic isn't going to move" hour. By the time I hit Chattanooga it was dark and raining. I only drove as far as Monteagle, TN, which is pretty much on top of a mountain. I love TN. The next morning I drove through Nashville and waved...and bought coffee at Starbucks. I kept driving until I hit WI at 7:00. Then I booked it to Waukesha since I was supposed to be there at 7:30 for the bachelorette party. I pulled in at 8. Don't ask how fast I was going. I'm not really sure.

The wedding was pretty standard. Nothing too exciting to report. I got to hang out with two of my best friends, Ryan and Erica, who I hadn't seen in two years. It was pretty sweet. On Sunday I did drive down to Greenville and as soon as I pulled into town I ran into the Wattersons. That was really great. I wasn't sure how the boys were going to react to seeing me, but they ran two houses down to where I was parked and hugged me. When Nicholas found out that I was going to be in town for 2 days, he asked if I was going to come and babysit both days. Too cute! And Christopher is WAY too big. He's supposed to be tiny. That's how I'll always remember him! But nooo, he's starting kindergarten in the fall and Nicholas is starting 3rd grade!

I then continued on to the Ritter's house. As I pulled up to the house, I saw two of my best friends "hiding" behind a tiny tree near the house. They then snuck to another very tiny tree near my car and hid again. I love my friends. I played along and pretended not to see them and then to be surprised. It's nice to just be able to pick up where you left off. Michael, Stacey, Kristen, and I all had dinner and brownies...lots of brownies. Michael went to bed since he had to be up early and Stacey, Kristen, and I watched college videos. We watched our soph. year choir video, then our senior slide show from Jr/Sr, and then lastly the OTHER video from the England tour. (That's what it was labeled...it's all the touristy stuff and the choir being silly as opposed to the concert video) I still need to get a copy of the England videos. We stayed up way too late. Monday, Stacey and I started the day off with coffee from Jo's Java. We talked for a while and then I went up to the church to visit Kristen and to see Tina Watterson. Kristen and I met Michael and Stacey for lunch and then I headed to the Wattersons to see the boys. Eric ended up having to run an errand, so he suggested that I take the boys on a walk to the park. I miss walking to the park. Apparently, I miss walking altogether, 'cause I was feeling it. I guess I really haven't been exercising much at all lately.

After convincing the boys that I really did have to leave and that I would come back more often than every 2 years, I went to have dinner with Michael, Stacey, Kristen, Ryan, and Erica. We decided that we needed to go to Mario's because it had been way too long since I had Mario's pizza. Funny thing is, Mario's in closed on Monday nights, so we ended up at Chang's. The fabulous dinner buffet was then followed up by brownies and a game of Apples to Apples at the Ritter's. Ryan, Erica, and I all stayed there Monday night. Tuesday, the 3 of us went to Jo's for coffee and then got a brief tour of the new additions to campus by Ryan Giffen. I went with them to visit a friend of theirs and then we went to Mike and Chrisy's house so they could all go to Six Flags without me. It was fine, though, because I got to see Anne and Ty one more time before I left. (Anne was the flower girl in Emileigh's wedding.) After one more stop to see Kristen and to see Stacey, I headed out of town.

I hit Nashville at around 6:30 and stopped to get dinner and coffee for Jayar and Shimmy at the WAY-FM studios. I hung out with them for a little while and they let me pick out a ton of great CDs. I was so excited. I'm still excited about them. I got David Crowder*Band's A Collision, Chris Tomlin's Arriving, Shane and Shane's Clean, WOW Worship: Aqua, and Jennifer Knapp Live, not to mention The Polar Express. Too much fun!! After hanging out for a while longer, I decided I should get going. The problem was, I couldn't get ahold of Brenda. For some reason, we were never able to reach each other. So, I ended up driving about an hour or so to Manchester, TN to spend the night. This was probably better anyway, since I would have had to get up even earlier on Wednesday morning to drive that extra little bit.

Wednesday was beautiful. I got to see Chattanooga in full effect, all sunny and gorgeous. I made a little detour up Lookout Mountain, but didn't make it all the way to the top because a Wide Load truck had some problems with one of the tight curves near the top. That was sad, since I really wanted to go up there, but I made the best of it and cranked David Crowder as I drove down the steep turns of the mountain. I discovered that "You Are My Joy" is not only a great night driving song (especially for steering wheel drumming), but is also a perfect mountain descent song (with no steering wheel drumming...must keep both hands on the wheel!!!). This set me back a little bit, but it was worth it. I raced on through GA, stopping just before the FL state line again to revisit the little book store to get my friends all of Don Miller's books. After refueling, I didn't stop again until I pulled onto Mo and Rebecca's street for our book study.

**I realize that this blog is getting very long, even for me, the rambling one, but I promise that I'll wrap it up soon.**

Now that I'm back home I've hit a plateau. I was very excited to be coming home because for the first time in a long time I feel like I have a home. And I am happy to be home, it's just that I'm back and I still don't know what I'm doing. Everything is pretty much squared away with the new apt. situation, but I still don't know if I want to look for another job. I'm somewhat content being single, but I really would love to have someone to share things with. And not just anyone. I don't want to just find A guy. I want to find MY guy. I want to find the person that makes me a better person. I want to find the person that appreciates the things that I appreciate. I know, I know...I'm a broken record these days, but with hearing about weddings and attending a wedding these past few weeks, it starts to wear thin. And unfortunately, most guys don't seem to be the brightest bulbs in the pack. Ok, that's not completely true, but it feels true. I mean seriously, how hard is it to find someone that fits the qualities that I listed in my last entry? Apparently, it's going to be harder than I thought.

Right now I'm just tired. And I don't want to pack up the apartment. And I should really go to bed. I'm glad that I've finally typed this all out. It's interesting how when something is bugging me, I usually can't write. It's only when I admit what's bothering me that I can actually pour myself and my thoughts out. So, there you have it. Hope it was worth reading. If not, you'll get over it. I love you all!!

Grace & Peace