So, I know I was barely into posting about our daily comings and goings in DC. That stuff takes a lot of time. So, maybe I'll resume it in a few days. If not, go to Allison's blog to read about it.

November 13. Really?! This year has absolutely flown by. And now Thanksgiving is in less than two weeks. And I don't feel in the holiday spirit at all. I feel as though I almost have to force myself to listen to Christmas music (yes, I know it's early, but believe me I would normally have already been listening to it for over a month by now). Don't know what's so different this year that's got me in a funk about it, but hopefully I'll come out of it soon and really enjoy the holidays. I always find myself disappointed after they are all over because I didn't take the time to enjoy them like I should have.

Back to work, and back to life. Not so bad. Work has been good to me this week, and I'm thankful for that. My oldest sister, Melissa has been in town and so it has been disappointing to not be around much to see her. But we have had fun.

Well, on to another week! Happy Saturday!

My Cross

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
-Luke 9:23

A simple command. Simple, yet probably one of the most difficult.

Jesus didn't promise the life of following Him to be a walk in the park. In fact, His promise was that it is at great cost.

I have subscribed far too long to a touchy-feely, me-centered gospel. I have complicated His words, I have let my eyes stray away, I have been His wandering sheep. When I have not felt His love for me, I have doubted it completely.

What do I need to deny myself? Comfort, complete happiness (in the world's view), potentially bad friendships? What is my cross to take up? Depression, doubt, fear, loneliness-- to name a few. Nowhere does the Bible promise a life free from these.

I have come to realize that all of those things are not just a struggle of mine-- but of every other Christian. I have selfishly felt sorry for myself, wallowed too long in self pity. I have complained against the Most High God, I have told Him that He is doing everything wrong.

"And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." -Luke 14:27

Washington, DC: The Second Day

Waiting for the hotel elevator at the beginning of our second day.

After a visit to Alex Charles at work in DC,
We took a trip to the Arlington Cemetary.
Very solemn and very impressive.

Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
If you haven't gotten a chance to see this, you should.
I believe everyone should see this once in their lifetime.
It is beyond impressive.

We took a walk over the Potomac from the Arlington Cemetary
to the Lincoln Memorial.

Florida represent at the WWII Memorial

We never did go up into the Washington Monument.
But we took many fun pictures around it.

We ended Friday night with Allison's friends,
Alex and Pamela. Look at all of us beautiful girls!

I remember starting off day 2 incredibly exhausted. I think my only regret about our trip is that we were unable to ever really rest, making us really tired most of the time. But Friday was a good day. Arlington Cemetery, as usual, was one of my favorite parts of the day. It is very solemn and serious when you tour the cemetery out of respect for not only the dead, but the families who come and visit the graves of loved ones. Apparently on average 27 people per day are buried there.

We took what felt like a very long, windy walk over the Potomac River all the way to the Lincoln Memorial. I never realized how close everything is in DC-- Arlington Cemetery being in Virginia, I had always assumed it was really far away from DC. I can now say I have walked the distance and it really isn't very far.

That night we went to Allison's friend, Alex's apartment where her friend Pamela was also. We went out to dinner at a place called Ben's Chili Bowl followed by dancing at a club called Policy. Not the highlight of my week, but I'm not much of a dancer so that's why.

Friday was also the first day that it got cold-- and it never warmed up the rest of the week. I was glad, although definitely not used to that kind of weather. Another thing-- we got to see fall!! If you know FL you know that real fall does not exist. No orange, red, yellow anywhere. That was my favorite part of our trip to DC. Can't wait to show the Mt. Vernon pictures-- that will have to wait a couple more days.

Washington, DC: The First Day

Allison, ever faithful working out early most mornings.
While I still laid in bed, watching Fox and Friends.
Pretty typical. These quiet mornings, however,
Were some of my favorite moments of the trip. Oddly enough.

I was so excited to see Michelle Obama's dress!
Am I her biggest fan? No.
But she is a tall woman and I love her style.
So naturally, it was exciting to see a First Lady dress
That I might be able to fit into myself!

Me, trying my hand at the Presidency.
Do I remind you of Ronald Reagan?

Military nurses in WWII!

After a good five hours of Smithsonian fun,
We hopped the metro over to Eastern Market
Where we ate at this restaurant whose name I can't remember.

I ate a delicious butternut squash soup.
It felt like fall. For real.

Well, this is on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue
And another street I can't remember.
After all of our exhausting touring on only the first day,
We were ready for a delicious cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Yes, Starbucks.

Just a little light reading in Starbucks.
Constitution anyone?

Before we left for our trip, we made a joke about how we were going to "pull our pants down and slide on the ice." (Weird, I know... it's a quote from an old tv show... ever heard of Even Stevens?) In other words, this trip, though planned many months ago, was actually very spontaneous from day to day. We went in with a hotel and a rental car, but other than that we really had no idea how this trip was going to go down.

Our first day in DC was... amazing! Honestly I think we were mainly just so excited about the fact that we were in DC. We started off in the Museum of American History (which we spent more than three hours in-- we laughed about how tired we were after only our first museum of the trip), moved along to Natural History, with a lunch break in between that and the United States Archives. If you ever make your way to DC, I suggest the Archives be one of your priorities. Amazing.

We ended the day with our sunset walk back to the Smithsonian metro. Many a goofy pictures were taken there with the silhouette of the monuments in the background. If nothing else, I wish I could go back and recapture our excitement on that first day and keep it with me all the time.

Washington, DC

I just got back from a wonderful, awesome trip to Washington, DC. I went with my sister, Allison, for a week and a day. By far one of the best weeks I've ever had.

I'm absolutely exhausted. I will post pictures tomorrow, or at some point in the next few days, but for now I'm too tired to really re-hash the whole week.

I will say that this week was one of the most full, fun, relaxing and yet exhausting weeks I've ever had. We maximized each day to see as much of DC as we could, and I think we did a pretty good job of hitting most of the famous landmarks we wanted to. History and vacation go so well together.

I already can't wait to see what kind of trip we come up with next year-- but I know that for many years to come I will cherish the amazing memories I made this past week in the District.

These two crazy cats, Brennan and Lauren,
got engaged yesterday.

Lauren is my best friend.

We have known each other from nut and acorn (anyone get that reference?) aka when we were about 4 and 5. We were really dorky kids together, and pretty much were each others' only friends from about 5th grade until junior high. We did grow apart for a few years in college, but in the last couple years have grown closer again.

Brennan came into the picture about five months ago, and immediately I knew he was gonna fit right in. So I say: welcome to the family, Brennan! I'm so glad these two found each other.

It really does make me happy to see my friends getting joy out of life-- to see their dreams coming true. I don't say that to sound full of it, because it really is true. Perhaps my place in life for now is to sit back and see others' lives coming together, but it doesn't mean I have to sit on the sidelines and feel sorry for myself. It really makes me happy.

Congrats Lauren and Brennan!

My first football game!

A very sad game.
I'm not a big football fan.
But give the Jaguars a chance, and I think you will like them.

Catherine and I.
We didn't exactly know what was going on,
but we had a lot of fun hamming it up with the camera.

My bffs all in one place. Brennan and Lauren,
Hannah, Catherine, and then I taking the picture.
A pretty solid group if you ask me.

Last night, I went to my first ever football game. Even though it was a pathetic game, (even I could tell that!) it was exciting that my first game ever was a Monday Night Football NFL game! I'm slowly learning some of the rules, and finding out that football isn't quite as boring as I had thought. (with a little help from Friday Night Lights, of course)

Poor Jaguars. I hope they can do better from here. Jacksonville fans are not the most forgiving either.

On a happy note: it's moving day!

The past two weeks of work have literally left me crying three of the six days, on the verge of it two of them, and one very good day on Saturday. I'm at my wit's end when it comes to dealing with the stress at work. I don't know how. It is hard. It is so, so difficult to pull myself together when all I want to do is scream and cry and walk off the unit. More often than not, work is hard, grueling physical labor with a mental stress that just about breaks me.

I still have not officially moved. I'm getting pretty frustrated, but it's looking as if Tuesday is the day! I'm excited. Like really excited. My roommate and I have really made it a neat place to live, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Once we get all our stuff in, clean it up a little, I will post pictures.

October: I'm loving it! I think October is fast becoming one of my favorite months ever. I used to wish it would go fast so that Thanksgiving and Christmas could come, but I'm finding that October itself has so much to offer. Mr. Kercher said today, that it is after the heat of summer is over, there is football on, and it is an empty month before you have to worry about squandering your money on Christmas. Well said! It is a low-stress month! Well, now it is. Maybe I am only now realizing this because I used to associate October with the dreaded midterms.

And so, off to a potentially fun (and stressful) week.

Moving

I'm quite weary of this entire process we call "moving." I feel as though I am living in limbo between two houses, taking apart one and putting together the other.

Although I'm tired of it and ready for it to be over, I do love it. I've never moved before. And I never knew how tiring it is. I'm only moving 15 miles away, so I can't imagine how hard it must be to move 500 or more miles away when you can only make one trip with all of your belongings. There is an excitement, even amidst my tiresome complaints, that surrounds my drives back and forth, endless hours of painting, and trips up and down the stairs to carry what "junk" I have collected over the years.

It's a new beginning. Ok, ok, so it's a new beginning 15 miles from the home in which I grew up, but to me it's a new beginning. I'm excited about being in a new place, meeting new people, and just having an overall new rhythm to life.

New Room

Meet my new room.
This is the "hers" side of the bathroom.
Everything- both the his and hers, the entire room
Were all this disgusting color of baby barf blue.

Here is the "after" shot. I decided to go with a neutral color, called gallery taupe. Eventually I will accent it with my much more colorful comforter, and enlist the lovely Lauren Kercher's help in decorating.

This is the entry-way into the bathroom- on the right is the his, and the left hers. I will have two sinks, two walk-in closets-- not sure what I will do with all that space. Probably be very messy, as I tend to be, but I am going to work especially hard at organization as it is my biggest weakness! That open door on the left is the door to the hallway.
Also, ignore the carpet- new carpet is being put in tomorrow.

The view from the doorway. It is not your imagination that the back wall looks curved, because it is. I'm actually very frustrated because this limits where I will be able to put a bed without it looking weird except right in the middle of that wall.

I spent almost 11 hours at my new townhouse yesterday painting. We have almost finished the downstairs living room. After we were done with that, I proceeded to spend two hours taping up the baseboards, windows, outlets, and bathroom counters in my room. Then about another five hours of painting-- had to run home and take some ibuprofen to ward off a headache and pick up some screwdrivers to take down the mirrors and curtains-- and with some help from my roommate, I was able to finish it by 9 o'clock. Phew! I never knew painting could be so time-consuming and difficult! Thanks Dad for being the one to do it for us all these years! (and while I'm on that note I send out another thousand thanks to my dad for mowing the lawn all my life and never making us girls do it-- I never knew how hard that was either)

So, like I said, I went with gallery taupe for the walls because the colors in my comforter are too odd to actually use as a room color. I decided to go neutral, and will, with Lauren's help, decorate it to make it look warmer and more inviting.

I will post pictures of downstairs after we have actually moved in and it doesn't look so messy. I'm so excited about moving! The room is incredibly spacious, and I can hardly believe I have all that space to myself! I'm exhausted from yesterday and still have more to do today! Can't wait to see what it all looks like when we are finished!

8 random things

1. The weather has been nice and cool this week. And by cool I mean low 70s, which is marvelous for October in Florida. Keep it up Sunshine State!

2. I love Starbucks, and even more I love their pumpkin spice lattes. Perfect treat for a lazy Sunday afternoon. Mm... can I have another one, please?

3. I am recently discovering Nickel Creek. It has taken some time for me to like them, though I don't know why since I love bluegrass music and anything with a folks-y sound to it. I'm a little late on the scene, I know.

4. I love Gap's online store-- they have an entire line of tall clothes. I ordered some jeggings (ok, so I'm following that silly little trend-- I promise they are not made of spandex though!) online and am sincerely hoping they will be long enough. I've always had a hard time finding skinny jeans long enough for me, even if they come with the "tall" or "long" label. Worst store ever in that department? Express-- many people complain that they cater to the tall and/or skinny, but I would argue that they do not even come close in the tall department.

5. A wonderful lady at church has been making the extra effort to take time for me, speak with me, and know me. It feels good to be ministered to, as selfish as that sounds-- I have felt my soul dying lately for want of companionship. Walking into the grand hall and somebody actually wanting to give me a hug is not something I'm used to-- call it tall syndrome, but I don't think people find me especially warm or approachable.

6. Speaking of church-- it has been over a month since I've had to work a Sunday, and will still be a few weeks yet. Not planned at all, and for that I'm thankful.

7. It feels good to see friends happy and getting joy out of life. Even if I'm not always there myself, I love to know that there are others I love who are happy. I have great expectations for my friends and want them to succeed.

8. I wanted to make this list 10 items long but will stop at 8 for now for lack of anything else to say.

I hate shopping at high-end clothing stores.

The sales clerks are so snobby. The instant I walk in, I can see it in their faces: "Why is she here? She looks frumpy and poor." Or something along those lines. I walked into one today, dressed in somewhat grungy (more along the lines of really comfy) jeans and gray shirt, my hair was a little froey (it's humid and I have curly hair! I'm entitled a froey-haired day or two once in awhile), and the sales lady wouldn't even look at me. Had it not been for the second sales lady who was a tad bit nicer after she found out I was interested in buying, I might have walked out.

It really bothered me. I went into that store having seen a super cute sweater that I wanted to buy. She might have lost a sale because of her attitude, but I really wanted it so I set aside my pride and bought it. I secretly hoped she felt stupid, because it cost good money. I know, I know, that's really mean of me, but it is so wrong for sales clerks to judge people by their appearance. I know they do, because I have shopped in much nicer clothes in the past and been treated differently. Try it yourself.

Maybe I should Pretty Woman their ass... (anyone watch the Office last night?)

So I'm pretty fashion-challenged at times, and sometimes just give up. I'm trying to improve in that area. I really do love clothes and fashion, but I'm challenged when it comes to piecing together a great outfit out of what I already have.

Anyway, today was a good day of good purchases. Bought myself a cadillac coffee maker... an absolute must for me! And I bought a nice comfy recliner for my townhouse... soo excited! I almost want to keep it in my room all for me... but I will share it for the good of all. I predict many a good nap to be had in that recliner, maybe an Office episode on as background noise.

You can see how exciting my life is.

And it is October! The start of the best three months out of the year. I was talking with my mom today, about how as humans we are such creatures of habit, of tradition. October comes, we love that the weather cools down just like last year, we start seeing pumpkin patches popping up at all the Methodist churches, and knowing that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, followed by Christmas. We like it to be the same. We like the security of tradition, of memories.

And I love it. Bring it on!