The Long Awaited Journey

On Wednesday, Drewey, Amy, Craig, DJ & I flew out of Boston at an ungodly hour to the great state of CALIFORNIA!!
Our trip has been a wonderful success! We've seen the sunset on the ocean twice, laughed so hard we cried way more than twice, been to San Fran, hugged the groom, met the bride, prayed together on the beach, taken more than 700 pictures (and that's just Drewey!), eaten at the best taqueria on the planet, put many miles on our rental Jeep Liberty, made fast friends with the Starbucks folks, and have had many other memory-making moments.

YAY for friends! YAY for weddings! YAY for California! YAY for God's very evident fingerprints on this trip!

Thinking It Through

This afternoon Evan, Jill & I assembled a pool for the backyard!

As we were putting it up, in my ultimate wisdom I had the idea to get inside the pool to straighten out the bottom while they raised the sides. It worked like a charm! The bottom of the pool was nice and tidy and smooth, and then...

HOLD THAT THOUGHT!

I was STUCK! The sides of the pool were completely raised, coming up to my chin. There was no way out!

So, I stayed in there for 45 minutes while they assembled a ladder to rescue me.

Good times!

PS - Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I think you're pretty much the bomb diggity, and I'm a lucky little girl to be your daughter!

So, Last Wednesday...

Craig, Drewey & I spent the day in Boston...



And that night, I went to Fenway for the FIRST TIME!

How was that day spelled?

H-A-P-P-I-N-E-S-S!!



(my first glimpse of Fenway)

My "ER" haircut

This past week I got an ER haircut.

I went shortER and blondER.

In fact, I went so blonde that I felt my IQ drop several points.

It Only Took Me 28 Years!

This weekend I ran into someone who I haven't seen in several years. It took them about three seconds to notice my nose ring.

Their comment:

"Well, that's the first cool thing you've done!"

WOW!

The rest of the weekend I was making mental lists of other "cool" things I've done, to try and validate my existence for the last 28 years.

Then, in a rash case of insecurity, I wrote them all out in bullet format to post on my blog.

But then I realized, I don't need to rationalize my life so that I'm marching to the beat of someone else's drum.

I love my life... except, of course, when I'm being mocked by "cooler" people.

So, I'm not going to post the "cool" things I've done in my life, but there was one that I thought of this morning that I never blogged about, and it makes me laugh every time I think of it... so below, for your viewing pleasure, the one thing that made me "cool" before last weekend's piercing!

Attempting to drag race (yes, in my Tracker) two strangers in their souped (you're welcome, Drewey :) up Honda in the middle of Manchester. Through the open window, as I gunned my accelerator, I heard them shout in disbelief, and then fly past me. Amy & I were laughing so hard we were both in tears for a good ten minutes afterwards!

And tonight, I got to put ice on Spiderman's boo boo, and I bet not even the aforementioned mocker has gotten to do THAT!

Ocean's Thirteen

Hmmm... I was disappointed.

I really liked Eleven, laughed out loud a few times at Twelve, but Thirteen was not what I would call a favorite... at all.

If you find it worth it to spend money for a ticket, popcorn and a soda to see a few shots of George Clooney's exceptionally long eyelashes, by all means go.

But if you don't, in my humble opinion, this new one in the series is certainly a renter.

Sad me.

Tales From A Swamp Rat

Yesterday was SO hot at work. I don't know what was going on, but the AC was not really doing it's job.

So, today, when I saw that the sun was shining, I dressed for it to be very warm outside and in. The sun was deceptive, and the AC had begun working.

No worries! I have a jacket in my car for such emergencies. Over break I ran to get it.

I forgot that my car sometimes leaks when it rains, and my new found warmth came with a bad surprise.

It smelled like swamp! Therefore, I smelled like swamp.

Because You Asked So Nicely

This is seconds after it happened... you can even see a little fuzz left over from the cotton ball she used to clean it.

Let the record show I was NOT CRYING. My eye was merely watering...

Things I Never Thought I'd Hear My Nephew Say

"Have fun getting your nose pierced!"

But, he did.

And, I did.

Pollyanna Is Not Dead

Generally, I try and see the good side of life. I try to make a conscious effort to focus on the "pro" side of a graph, rather than the "con," referring to it as my Pollyanna side.

Today was a day where I just couldn't rise above it. Work was so heavy, and I couldn't focus on anything positive. I sent an email to a friend stating "Pollyanna died in her sleep last night."

But, she didn't die... she just decided to stay home from work today.

She met me as a little blonde two year old, running to me with lit up face, so happy I was home from work. She wrapped her dirty-from-being-outside-all-day arms around my neck, and held on for dear life.

She was also in a wonderful summer-is-almost-here dinner of corn on the cob and salad.

And my precious apartment, that stays so cool when the weather is turning warmer.

No, Pollyanna is not dead!

Hurray!

Thoughts On This Tuesday

Today I had a conversation with a friend at work, and came out of it more convinced than I have been in a while that waiting for the one that God has for me is really what I want to be doing... not settling, not jumping the gun, not whining... just being patient.

I'd lost focus these last few months, and had been struggling with major feelings of discontent. And I wasn't used to that. In the last five years, I felt like I had a corner on the contentment market. Of course there were days where it wasn't fun to be single, but for the most part, I was living my life to the hilt, regardless of my status.

This past week I've been very sick, and for most of that time, I was really afraid. There were doctor's appointments, ultrasounds, phone conversations with doctor's offices, and no one knew what was wrong with me. Thankfully, they ruled out tumor and leftover gallstone from last fall's surgery, but then I was left with, "Sorry you're in pain, but we don't know what it is, so track your symptoms and keep us posted."

Thankfully, with the help of WebMD, I was able to figure out that my pain was coming from side effects of a medication that I'd been taking for several months. Yesterday was the first day since last Tuesday that I thought I might actually live!

As I was telling my co-worker this story, explaining my fear at two different appointments when they called in second opinions, he asked, "And were you all by yourself for this?"

"Yes," I replied, "but I was ok with that." (In fact, for the ultrasound, several people had offered to go with me, but I chose to go by myself)

He kept saying how sorry he was that I had been by myself, and the more I tried to reassure him that it had been ok, the more I felt myself being reassured. It almost felt like I was saying the words to myself, and he was just eavesdropping.

Then he began asking the whole, "Have you found someone yet?" questions, and then "Well, is there anyone on the horizon?" followed by "Would you be open to seeing someone outside of your faith? No... well, you do know that narrows the field, don't you?" (YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT??)

This unwillingness of me to open up myself to other faiths caused a silent shaking of the head, and he wanted to know why. When I explained a couple of the reasons, he still shook his head, and explained that he and his girlfriend are making it work. Fantastic! My heart is abounding in joy for them! However, I think theirs is a much-in-the-minority relationship in that aspect.

This type of conversation happens so frequently at work.

"He's cute - you should date him." (Sure cute would be nice, but far from my highest priority)
"He's nice - you should go out with him." (Yes, nice is something that I'm looking for, but once again, not the only characteristic)

But during today's conversation I finally got to use the sentence I've been wanting to for quite some time... "You know, people are actually capable of being happily single & content."

And this evening, my heart is thankful, because in trying to convince my friend that my life was still worth living, I saw that it really is... regardless of what's on (or not on, as the case may be) my left hand.

If You Think...

... that because I got tagged by two people, I'm going to list FOURTEEN random things, you're wrong. However, here are my seven.

1) I just had the opportunity to listen to the story of Jonah being put on in skit format by my niece & nephews outside my bedroom window. (The trampoline was the boat... Pastor Daddy was directing)

2) Lilac season makes me so happy that I tend to get a little teary when I smell them!

3) Topping the list of things I never want to hear my doctor say again: "Um, I'm going to get another doctor in here, because I'm feeling something I shouldn't & I'm not sure what it is." (That happened this morning, and after being convinced for five minutes that I had the-word-everyone-dreads-to-hear, the other doctor confirmed I have "low ribs" and they were just feeling the tip of my lowest one)

4) Last week I had an epiphany that I no longer hate my job!

5) Though I've been an avid "American Idol" fan for several years, this year has just not grabbed me, and I couldn't care less whether Blake or Jordin wins.

6) My free piano is in the midst of being fixed... bringing the cost of it's free-ness to over $1300.

7) I am so very, very rich in the friends that God has given me!

And if you like this type of thing, consider yourself tagged :)
If you don't, well then, consider yourself un-tagged!

Of Kilts

I like kilts! A lot!

When Darren & I were in Scotland (ten years ago this month) we saw lots of them, and I loved it! Never had something so boring as going to a grocery store been so much fun! I mean, I never see kilts in the Bedford Hannaford's!

Today as I was upstairs at work, out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy in shorts. "Not legal!" thought I. But then I looked closer... and he wasn't wearing shorts. He was wearing a kilt.

And he should not have been!

Some guys can pull that look off. He can't/couldn't/didn't.

Shudder.

Happy Feet!

Aaaaaaaaahhh!

Once a Big Brother...

... always a big brother.

My big brother flew up from VA this morning. And flew back this evening.

He and Evan went out for lunch. I got to leave a little early from work to spend time with him.

All of us took the kids to the park before I drove him back to the airport.

The four of us adults chatted while the kids played.

The sun was shining, the kids were laughing, my heart was full, and...

He even pushed me on the swings. For old time's sake.

I don't know that a girl ever out-grows her adoration of a big brother.

I sure haven't... for either one of mine.

Just Another Normal Tuesday

So, I was driving home from work.

And I had my foot peeking out the window to catch the breeze.

And I caught a bug in between my toes.

But then it stung me.

Wonder if I'm the only one that happened to today.

So, This is Kinda Funny

I heard of this quiz from one of my friends, who shall rename nameless, and thought it would be funny to do :)

Lindsay -- [noun]: A real life muppet 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

PS - want to know the definition of the aforementioned friend's name? "A person who falls into an outhouse and dies." I guess I should feel lucky to only be a muppet!

The Fate of My Knight

I finally met my knight in shining armor... we were happy, as you can tell!
Then Craig's stupid dragon ate him.

The end.

Yay For Filled-up Love Tanks!

This past Sunday, I went to see a play that several of my peeps from "The Boys Next Door" were either performing in/directing/stage managing... and we got PICTURES! The cast has stayed close, and have made it a point to support each other when we're performing.



John, Mary, Jason, Me
My beloved director, Tim
MARY!!! She was the Sheila to my Clara! :)

Just the Three of Us