A Little Rambling

I know I have mentioned before that one of my biggest fears is that I will stop playing . Sounds silly, perhaps, but I really love to play. I think that's why I so deeply enjoy time I get to spend with my friends this summer. Yes, half the time we watch movies, but we also play . Monday night, we were all in the pool, and there were all kinds of games being played, both real and made up. And then playing sardines in the dark, stuffing ourselves into pantries and under tables and squealing at sounds in the pitch-black storeroom in the basement. And the tskaa! game - couldn't be sillier. Simple things, childish things, but they make my heart happy.

I don't like making the big decisions, sometimes. Especially the ones of want vs. should. It's sometimes so hard to look past what will make me super happy right now to what is actually going to work out best for me in the end. Especially in the times when it's not a decision of right vs. wrong, where I can trust to the absolute truth I find in God to make the decision clear, if not easy. It's when neither choice is 'bad,' just one is probably better. I had to make that decision on my house this week, and I decided to withdraw my offer. We met with the inspector on Saturday morning to hear what he had to say. There were a couple major problems - like no a/c and no hot water - that were pretty big warning signs. I won't go into all the details here, but overall it just wasn't a very sound decision financially to go through with this particular house. After much prayer and consideration ( Philippians 4:6 ), I contacted my Realtor and cancelled my co...

I love fairy tales, and last night almost was one. I got to dress up pretty, be with my girlfriends, enjoy dinner and a show, and then go out dancing until the clock struck midnight. Well, 11 pm, but still. Bex and Chantel and I decided that, outnumbered as we are by boys in our particular group of friends, we needed a girls' night out. We put on our dresses and heels and wore flowers in our hair and drove out to the Broadway Palm dinner theatre in Mesa to see Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella . My voice teacher was in it, as were Ryan, a girl from Chantel's studio, and two guys I'd met at the sing-along mentioned in my previous blog . :) We enjoyed our dinner and getting to get caught up on each others' lives, talking and laughing and having good girly fun. The show was beautiful. The set was a rolling, folding, pivoting masterpiece of bright colors and storybook details. And the costumes - they were magnificent! Bright colors, tons of detail, some ...

This summer I have been enjoying a new habit - staying out all night. Monday was a record - I pulled into my driveway at 5:01 am. Wheeee! It was a great night! Unfortunately, it has rather reversed my sleep schedule. When normal people are wont to go to bed, I am wide awake. I can usually manage to fall asleep about 3 am, but pop wide awake at 6, only to be sleepy again at 1. I take my nap, but then have to get up for work. I drive in groggily, and then I leave to go hang out with friends still sleepy, and am wide awake again as the hours progress. A couple days later I will begin to normalize, just in time to be out all night again. I love it. During the school year, I am fairly responsible. I go to class, I go to work, I go to six bazillion concerts, and I go home to do my homework. This summer to me is freedom! (I also love that my spell check recognizes 'bazillion' as an actual word.) Last night, my new friend Matt (who just happens to be fluent in German, which ...

So, the long awaited news has come at last - the bank has approved the short sale on my the house! HAPPY DANCE!! I was driving home from work, when Aunt Faye (my Realtor) called with the good news. We found the house in early April, put in an offer right away, got it accepted, and have been waiting. As far as short sales go, this is actually not a bad wait time! I squealed a lot, and we talked about next steps, but mostly my mind was dizzy with the fact that I'm actually buying a house. It's so much less fuzzy now - but even more surreal, if that makes sense. I spent the remainder of the car ride scrupulously driving only the speed limit and not one mile over, talking very loudly and excitedly to myself and dancing in my seat, and occasionally emitting a small scream of joy, since I figured those would be unappreciated at home. In between the high pitched bursts, I brainstormed ways of breaking the exciting news, and settled on a pretty good one. Me: "So guess what ...

I generally go to one Diamondbacks game a year. When dad had season tickets, I went much more often. Back then, I knew who the players were, and I cheered enthusiastically for as much of the game as held my attention. (I was often more interested in the ballpark food.) About since they went from purple and teal (awesome!) to red and tan (blech), I've stopped caring. I recognized 3 names at the game tonight. I wore a hat in support because I got it free at the gate. The fact that we lost almost went unnoticed. That is not why I go to the games (though my love of baseball itself is undiminished). These girls are why I go to the games. Rachel and Bekah, two of my favorite humans on the planet. I know I've mentioned this before . I've known them since they were born, and been friends with their older siblings since I was born. I cannot even begin to express how much I adore them. Going to this game with my parents' sunday school class is a long standing traditi...

I live very far from most of my friends. Average about 30 miles. Since they all live much closer to each other, I find myself driving long stretches of freeway quite frequently. Sometimes, this drives me nuts. Gas prices are outrageous, and if the music just isn't shuffling right, it can be a boring drive. This week had a full moon, which made the drives so much more enjoyable. On Tuesday, on my drive to Bex's for the Truth Project, the sun was setting in the west, lighting the sky on fire. Out one window, I had a fluorescent orange glow shining from behind the mountains. Out the other, the moon was luminescent in a lavender sky fading to dusk. It was a gorgeous balance, the time of change. Wednesday, I was driving to Shantel's for swimming and movies and the moon was full, still hanging low on the horizon, pale yellow in a deep midnight teal sky. At one point it silhouetted the mountains I was passing, setting their rugged outline stark against the sky. I do so l...

Oh how I love summer vacation! The freedom to lounge around and soak up sunshine without a care in the world but not frying and not being late for a barbecue. It doesn't get better, does it? I've had such a fun week! I went to Big Surf with Jessica and lounged around in the wave pool and on the slides during the hours when very few people venture out to a water park. Delightful! I saw Marc and Mohamed perform in "The Music Man" at the MAC, which was way better than I was expecting. Afterward, we enjoyed deeeeelicious food at Old Chicago , along with copious amounts of laughter, as usual, and one particularly awkward moment. My bad. I took my first piano lesson in 7 years, and my first jazz lesson ever. I have a healthy new respect for my adult students now! But it was great fun, and I'm excited to continue. I had a girls night involving a ton of scrumptious junk food and lots of really bad 80's movies, redeemed by finishing the night with Dr. Horrible...

Well hello lovely reader! It has been indeed quite some time since my last post, which clearly means I have been off enjoying real life. The problem with extensive time in the real world is that when I come back to the computer, there's a lot to catch up on, and it's hard to do it all justice. So here is my attempt to sum up the last week in it's awesome entirety. WARNING: very long post. Proceed at your own risk. Wednesday Last Wednesday, after a morning of grocery shopping and cleaning, I went to the airport to pick up John. I parked my car and entered the forgotten realm that is Terminal 2 at Sky Harbor. Along with perhaps five other people, I sat anxiously outside the security line, pacing and waiting for John to disembark. I knew he had landed, and I kept waiting to catch sight of combat boots walking down the terminal amide the throngs smattering of other passengers. No such luck. Eventually, I get a call from him asking where I am. Now, Terminal 2 is the d...