When I returned home from the retreat I saw the trees had green leaves on them. Its so great to watch winter fade away into spring. Some friends of mine are having a hard time with spring due to allergies. I cant decide if I’m having a hard time with spring or not. Not because of allergies, I feel fine. Its the heat that has already started to come upon us. Its nice, but the humidity oh the humidity, how I forgotten about you. This might be why I love winter here so much, I’m one of those people who’d rather be cold than hot (the whole there’s only so much you can take off but you can always put more on). This morning I woke up and notice the porch being a little dirtier but didn’t clue into what the line cover of dust was till I saw Gwen. She was covered in this musty yellow green pollen. At first I thought it had been a build up on my car of not washing her (my dad would be very sad to her she hasn’t had a bath all winter), which I really wanted to do but the threat of rain has made me hold off. As I drove through downtown I saw most of the cars shared the same musty yellow green color as Gwen did. The daffodils are being replaces by clovers and dandelions. I forget how much I love flowers, especially ones consider weeds.

Number middle school kids (aka prisoners): 55

Number of adult leaders (aka police): 9

Speakers at the weekend: 2

Speakers who cussed in their talk: 1 (I kinda cheered when she did it too, is that bad?)

Number of rented 15 passenger vans: 4

Time spent in car rental office getting and dropping off vans: 2 hours

Number of 15 passenger vans I got to drive: 1

Temperature of the amazing weather we had: 83

Number of turtles seen: 8

Number of turtles caught: 1

Number of turtles that died: 1 (yes, the same as the one above. Its a long story.)

Total times I was told we were having tacos: 4

Total times we had tacos: 0

Amount of times I had sausage gravy for breakfast: 1 (first time ever)

Times the Office got referenced: about 12 (by both leaders and students. This is an Office loving group.)

Showers taken by girls in my cabin: 3

Number of girls in my cabin: 5

Hours spent making a slide show: 4

Totally photos taken: 489

Amount of times I had to tell the girls to be quiet and go to sleep: 10,000

Total amount of sleep that I had during the weekend: about 9

Cups of coffee I consumed: 2

Glasses of sweet tea I consumed: 7

Number of dandelion’s puffs blown: 6

Amount of teddy bears brought to camp: 2

Amount of students who brought teddy bears to camp: 0

Number of boys sitting in John’s car listening to the game: 13

Times I teared up over the kids: 5 times

Hugs I received from kids: dozens and dozens

This weekend, I get to drive a 15 passenger van for the first time. Well, if we are not counting this past week test driving the church van around the church parking lot. Is it bad that’s one of the things I’m really looking forward to this weekend? Nevermind its the middle schoolers retreat and its going to be so much fun because fun people are going, I get to drive a 15 passenger van! Ah, the joys of being 25.

Whats so amazing about living here instead of visiting, which I had done for two years, is all the details you miss. Ive been here in the spring time, but I didnt get to watch day to day this city slowly change from winter to spring. When I was inside for two days to shake my cold (leftovers are still here but I feel worlds better) when I drove to work, I couldnt believe how much spring had sprung. Mainly in trees sprinkles through out the city in an amazing white blooms that pairs so well with a pretty blue sky. It rained a couple of days ago, making for some pretty puffy clouds as great background of their white tree friends.

Also, Ive known wild flowers in my time, but Ive never seen daffodils grow quite as wildly as they do here. During the fall I watched the leaves cover a green stub of some kind but forgot about them as winter came. The leaves blew away and you saw the leaves start to pop up, not just in my yarn but all over. Its as though someone took seeds a sprinkled wherever there was soil. But daffodils grow from bulbs, so I dont get how they are found everywhere you turn, but I love celebrating spring with them.

I took the day off of work (thank you Brian ) to hopefully shake this cold. I’ve been going and going since it started on Thursday, so under the orders of Jace , I am to take it easy today. Thankfully Marla wont catch my cold, so she has been keeping me company most of the day (along with the food network). My offering today is a review of the meds I’ve been trying to help this cold pass.

Robitussin Cough Gels is my new favorite discovery. A nasty cough started this cold and I have never found much help for a cough in cough drops. They are nice with a sore throat, but thankfully I haven’t had a sore throat. I’ve only taken one a day and they really have helped lessen my cough, which is nice when one is tired of coughing or trying to sleep.

Dayquil and Nyquil, I’m really not so sure why this stuff is so popular. Especially the Nyquil, the stuff really doesn’t do much for me, and I sleep more when I’m on it. And not that sleeping more is bad when you have a cold, but when you do need to get up and go but you cant, that’s a problem. Dayquil seems to calm some of the icky cold stuff but doesn’t largely improve anything to me.

VapoRub is a strange thing, which is why I’ve never tired it before. But since Catherine thought it was good stuff and I needed to clear my nose up, I tired it. Its sticky and doesn’t really work. Smells nice, if you can smell, which I really couldn’t last night. Maybe it will work later on sore mussels which is also says its good for.

Two nights in a row I couldn’t breath through my nose. That makes trouble for a side sleeper like myself. First night I slept on my back and prayed I didn’t row over. Waking up to a wet pillow the next morning on my side, I realized something else need to be done. Theraflu made me feel better the last time I was sick so I’m not sure why I didn’t turn first thing to Theraflu. I love me some Theraflu! It cleared me right up and help me sleep so well and doesn’t taste half bad.

Something new happened here in downtown this morning. Around 8:30am, which normally on a weekday I would not say is too early for folks to be up and making noise. I wasn’t bothered so much by the noise but by the confusion it brought me. “Left, left, left right left…” was loud and clear through my bedroom window but I thought maybe I was dreaming that a military outfit would be outside my window and went back to sleep. Well, I tired to go back to sleep till my alarm of 9am went off, trying to get more rest than usual because I have a cold that has taken over my head. I got on Marla, replied to some emails and then turned on the TV to catch some of the Ellen show. My eyes would just not stay awake, so I gave in and set my alarm till 1130am (longest I wanted to sleep). I slept till again I heard military voices outside of my window and this time I peaked outside to see if I was crazy or the nightquill was still kickin’. Sure enough there was a dozen or so men jogging down my street. Wonder if this will become an every morning occurrence. I got this cold on Thursday that really was just a slight cough. As the days went on, the cough worsen but according to webmd.com it was just a cold and there wasn’t a whole lot I could do other than rest and drink plenty of fluids. I don’t like to call in sick to work, plus right now I’m trying earn vacation time and save money for some trips coming up this spring. With not much of a voice (I lose my voice when I get sick) I went into work, sounding a lot worse than I actually felt. I went out to dinner for Catherine’s 21st birthday on Saturday night and felt fine. Sunday morning was a little worse, which I think had to do with daylight savings time. By the time the evening of yesterday rolled around the cough had officially taken over my head. I don’t remember my nose running this much in years. Yet I still went to work today. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I keep my distance and really think I feel better being out and about than staying in back. Part of me my adult thinking is, people get sick, but life doesn’t stop and mom isn’t here to take care of me all day long. I guess its good I have some mind set of not just lying in bed feeling sorry for myself or something. All of this to say, I hate having a cold. I have gotten more sick in the past 9 months living in NC than the past 5 years or more in California. Apparently my body just doesn’t know what to do with all this clean air.

I updated my flickr profile today and I thought it was blog note worthy. It gives a brief history of my cameras.

I love taking photos, more than most of my friends wish I did (but they always thank me later). You can go back to my early grade school days to see me with a camera in hand capturing my life through a camera. Seems everyday there’s something new to learn about photography, especially with an addicting site like flickr as part of that education. Film seems to be a dying art in the photography world, which is truly what I love to shot with. Here’s a little bit of history with the equipment I have mostly gain by people who encourage me in this creative outlet:

Digital:
Nikon D50 aka Owen: Owen is the newest addition to my camera family. He was a Christmas 2006 gift from my parents and he has opened my eyes to how neat digital photography can be. Also only camera I have named, that’s kind of a big deal.

Kodak DX3600: This was a hand me down birthday present from my parents four years ago (my haven’t I come along ways). Its very trusty digital, despite its large (fat I should say) size. Its been a lot of places with me and has captured a lot memories for me. Only digital I’ve owned (till Owen) and would be tough to give it up.

Film:
Minolta QTsi Maxxum: Jason bought this for Christmas a few years back to help my creative side come out more than the Kodak was allowing. I love the photos that this little camera takes. In college my mom let me borrow her Minolta that she bought when I was born so I do have a little bit of a soft side for Minolta’s. I think she needs a name (yes, digital camera’s are boys and film camera are girls).

Canon Rebel 2000: This was a “trade” of sorts from David since he dropped film and hit the ground running with digital. I didn’t see the big hoopla over Canons till I took some rolls with this one. Wow, so pretty colors.

Nicole said it well, “I’m tired and I really didn’t do anything today.” Even though most of us were tired at the end of this early afternoon wedding, we stayed up late catching up with old friends. Well, really, they were Jason’s old college friends who were catching up. Nicole and I, who buddied up for the weekend, stood more so on the sidelines remember those good old times when we were still in high school or middle school for her when the stories took place. This group of friends who over the years have collected spouses and kids are always fun to see each other at each mini reunion they find themselves having at each others weddings. They stay close it seems through such celebrations and its been fun over the past year to learn of their community. Part of my community at church is closely tied to the couple that got married today. You can see how each of them poured into each others lives as they shared their love for the bride and groom. To see our casual church dressed up fancy to celebrate this marriage that many had waited a long time for. It was wonderful to be apart of their day, mostly from sitting back and watching. Taking in these friends who over the years have changed but still are deeply important to each other. To watch my friends be flooded with emotion for this couple. It was a beautiful day for a wedding.