Well actually I dont feel really fine. I started to feel sick over the weekend but I really dont get sick often and when I do, I try to fight it by keeping doing things. Not rest like most people would. I took down wallpaper. Monday morning is when the worst of it hit. People say its been going around, thanks for whoever gave it to me. Of all the weeks, this was just not the week to get sick. Why? Well let see…

Im in the middle of planning a New Years Eve dance for about 100 high schoolers. Lots and lots to do the week of the dance and I handed a meeting over to my boss that I just simply couldnt attend. The stomach wouldnt allow me, hated that.

My old roommate is getting married this Saturday and she asked me to take the photos. Im happy to do that for her, and really hope to be 100% better by the wonderful day. Really hard for me to think quick when Im sick let alone creative!

Im working on my new room (hence the taking down of wallpaper) and trying to pack up my old one. I have so much packing to do but little energy to do it – or time for that matter! 17th is coming very quickly!

Im house sitting for my friends who I agreed to do so for ages before I knew I had to move. Thankfully their dog is behaving much better this time around than last time. I dont even want to think about having to pick up poop while feeling sick myself.

Oh and my car got a hit and run last week. Yeah. Right before Christmas. I was out caroling – you know, bringing Christmas cheers to others and someone backs up into my driver side door. So Gwen is out getting a new door. Thats costing a pretty penny in deducible. Thankfully, the friends who Im house sitting for are letting me use their car, saving me the rental car expense.

Im now short on hours at Starbucks for giving up my shift and not being able to pick any hours due to said NYE dance and wedding. I know it will work out. Trying not to stress about the fact I just may lose my benefits.

So, there is just a lot to be worrying out about. Im not for some reason. But I would like for things to stop coming all at once, you know? I mean, my gosh dont I have enough going on and being sick on top of that? Im ranting a bit much I know. I just trying to sort through some thoughts of all that is going on my life and trying not to go crazy with it.

Want a great way to end the year isnt it? I am looking forward to this dance, should be fun, even if we lack adult staff. The kids have worked hard to put it together. The wedding is one I have been looking forward to. So there is beauty in the madness, I just like to have more beauty than madness if you know what I mean.

Wet ‘N Wild

Beginning of the summer some friends of mine from 514 told me I should get a sessions pass to our local water park, Wet ‘N Wild. You may be thinking that these are young, college age friends when actually they are in their 30s and parents to the sweetest one year old in the world. The story goes that the summer they moved to Carolina from Washington (state – I cant believe I even say that because if I meant D.C. I would say D.C. I can spot a east coaster vs. a west coaster when this is even a discussion) they got sessions passes to Wet ‘N Wild and with Emma (their one year old) loving the water, they thought this would be the perfect summer to do it again. I wasnt totally sold, and put it off. Even when other friends of ours who at the time where expecting a baby goes sessions passes. But then my pastor’s family got sessions passes, who have kids that ages are perfect for such a place, I caved. I got a sessions pass to Wet ‘N Wild and man Im glad I did. Ive had such fun hanging out with my 514 friends, spending some quality time with Emma in her floaty, riding rides with the Renslow kids (pastor’s family) and my favorite, spending hours just floating on the lazy river. The Renslows go twice a week, every week, all summer. My other friends come when they can, which is probably once every two weeks or so. Im pretty much the same with my random work hours. I even took the Renslow kids without their parents once and it was blast. This last week I went alone, which to me felt a bit like going to the movies alone. Uncomfortable at first, but once I settled into, no one really cares other than myself that Im here alone, it was great. I got some quality tan lines which is really why I got the sessions pass in the first place oh and the fellowship of course. I hope that this many friends get sessions passes again next summer because I have loved showing off my sessions pass to my friends who I know are judging me for having it. I have no shame! I have loved my summer and my sessions pass.

Did I mention I was going to Ohio for 9 days? I probably didnt since I havnt been around my blog as much this Spring/Summer time – who KNEW that was crazy time for youth ministry. While I was busy, and was a litte annoyed with being so busy, I loved every moment I got with the students. And thats why I was in Ohio – I went with the youth I work with on their annual Project Serve trip which this year was to Findlay,Ohio to help with flood relief but to also just to serve the community of Findlay. I WILL blog more about that later – with I gather all of my photos together for some visual. Im better at telling/recalling stories when I have photos to go along with them. But for now, why dont you go check out some of my favorite people who were on the news yesterday talking about our trip. This is the fourth press we have gotten! Its crazy how much we have been in the media over this trip. You can also check out the blog we had while in Findlay at www.calmthewaters.wordpress.com . Has a few dailys (two more still to post) that my team created – you can get a glimpse of our time there until I blog again.

Everyday durning the weekend I made sure to let my camera tag along inside my seatbelt bag. Easter weekend calls for celebration, but I simply had just missed taking photos.

It got started off on Good Friday, with decorating eggs with some high school girls at Emily’s. Well, that was the plan, it turned a bit more into Stella and Graice coloring eggs while we all helped which I think we all liked better anyways.

Saturday was Farmers Market day, or so it seemed. Dana and I had made plans earlier on in the week to check out the farmers market near to our house that neither of us had been to before. What a packed little place at 9am in the morning! Apparently we were “late” getting there, but having Saturday as one my one day to sleep in, 9am was plenty early. Dana got some goat cheese and I got some fun produce, some pretty tea and flowers that remind me of Carlsbad.

Dana had never been to the big farmers market thats opened everyday of the week on the other side of town, so Jason and I took her there. Jace and I both love going there just to walk around checking things out (oh, and get ice cream. They have very yummy ice cream). Once I bought a tomato there that was so good I just ate it like an apple. It was a gorgeous spring day out, so lots of people had the same idea to be at the Farmers Market. I wish that Farmers Market wasnt so far out, otherwise Id go there every week for produce.

Easter Sunday I woke up to find that Mose had passed away. Strange feelings to be celebrating the day that Jesus was risen, but having to burry a fish. It was a sad morning of morning the loss of Mose, I dont think Neils still understand where his friend has gone. I picked some cherry blossoms and put them in Mose’s empty vase. The high schoolers had left at 3pm for Spring Break trip to the beach that Im sadly not on. But that also means I had a week off and got to go to 514 for Easter service. It was very small being that half our church is in the Dominican Republic on a missions trip and rest of out town visiting family. We ended in time to watch the Carolina game, have an Easter egg hunt and a little Guitar Hero. Typical Easter Sunday at church, no?
(The little girl you see in most of these photos is Emma.)

It was a very lovely Easter weekend that went by all too soon. Now if the weather would just remember that is spring and no more little snow flakes in the morning but warm sunshine, we’ll be in business for another lovely week of spring.

What a long good day. My roommate and I ran a couple of errands exchanging unwanted Christmas gifts for store credit and lunch at Chick-fli-a were a lot of the kids from the youth group work. One of them comment that visiting them is turning into a Saturday ritual. Ive only been one time before this, but I love going in and seeing them. Kelly and I then went on to the ABC store. We dont have ABC stores in California, we carry liquor in the grocery stores. It was quite inconvenient when I found out that dont do that here. Can I just say, I have never seen so much alcohol in one place at one time?! Sorta a bazar experience for me, but now we are well stocked up for tasty drinks for a while now.

A photo shot with good friends that was a lot of fun and indoors. Its too cold and rather ugly out to be taking photos. I was a little nervous about it since I hate using a flash. Ive learned a lot about how to set my settings with the ISO and white balance to help that, but Im no where near close to coming out with an amazing indoor photos. Moved them towards windows with fun and cute placing hoping a handful turn out.

After that, Jace and I went to a floating party of our friend who got her masters in Library Science. It took place out in the country on a real live farm. Chickens and a barn cat followed us to the door. Its always interesting to me when friends from different parts of my life are together in the same place.

Straight from the party, we went to where our church is currently located to help do the finishing touches on the room that Jimmy and Jason had been working hard on all week. The room no longer feels like a sterile fellowship hall in an old Baptist church, but more so a theater mets living room feel. Its a huge step forward in making 514 feel like 514 despite the location we have been given for this season. I have my eye on this neat brick building downtown for sale.

A wonderfully full Saturday that Im thankful to call my own.

Weekend began early Saturday morning as I mixed together the beginning stages of Pioneer Women’s Cinnamon Rolls. I headed over the Emily’s house few hours later when the yeast was warm and happy. We chatted and tried not to think about the amount of butter that was going into these cinnamon rolls we were so excited to be making.

Told you there was a lot of butter.

This is Emily putting on the cinnamon. Lots and lots of cinnamon. She was brave and rolled the first rolls that spilled out the sides every which way. We learned and better luck on round two. Thicker the dough the better.

This is me rolling up them round two. Less messy and you feel a bit like a pro at this point. Round two, this is such a piece of cake. Why was this ever something we had trouble with? Silly us.

After spending a lovely morning with Emily I headed to Starbucks for some tea. Brian was drawing coworkers as part of Starbucks ‘Cheer Party’. He is so stinken good. I could of watched him draw all day. I then came home to help prepare our home for a late brunch with friends from work. Its funny I say friends from work since none of us really see each other at work anymore. We had our brunch at three in the afternoon over good conversation and of course venting. Jason and I then had dinner a short while later with Brian and Sarah. I got to met the new kitty who likes to give people hugs. Such a sweet cat. It was good to visit my first home here in North Carolina.

Sunday, today, I slept in for the first time in quite a while. Ive been working lots of hours in helping the load while Im gone, so its been early mornings for me. I joined Mike and Kari for burgers at Natty’s. I havnt been downtown in quite a while, since is sad since you know live there. Theres a little Christmas tree lot covering up the ugly wall. A copy cat of Natty Greenes have moved in next door to Natty Greenes. I will have to talk a walk down there again soon. Straight from lunch I went to a birthday party for an 8 year old. The guest list was mostly women 20 years older than her. Its a tradition their family has done with their children. Asking for the older and wiser to share their life and experience with them before they hit their teen years. To encourage them in the characters we already see in her as a girl and how to keep blooming as an amazing women. It was a very sweet time to be apart of. After that I was at the Core again for a much better of a night then last week. I just love being there, even if I miss 514 as Jason and I swap stories after our evenings are over.

We are days away from leaving for California. Ive started to pack. Last minute errands to do and people to see before our early flight on Thursday morning. My weekends might not be as full of plans when I return. I may not know what to do with all that time on my hands.

Weekends like this is the reason I love having weekends off. Just so great to be with the rest of the working world, even if my weekday hours are still odd.

Saturday I was in my PJs really late. Im up and doing things, but unless I have somewhere to go I have the bad habit of not getting dressed or showering. I was productive, getting my Christmas cards together. I printed some photos from when it snowed to make into cards. They turned out okay, I dont know what really I was imagining, but I like them better than store bought cards. I ran out of prints so I will have a second batch hopefully to send out next weekend. My roommate and I, who rarely actually spend time together went Christmas shopping for her sister and then to take advantage of a great coupon deal NY&Company was having until 2pm. I forget how crazy shopping centers are on the weekends, during Christmas time. It took a lot longer than planned but fun none the less. We had lunch at Chick-fli-a with the sole purpose of hoping some of the youth group kids I work with would be there. I think half of the 200 kid youth group work at this Chick-fil-a. I might have to stop by to visit them more often, even to just to get a Diet Coke. After the shopping adventure I got to take photos of said roommate and her boyfriend. Yall, we planned this day two months ago, and it was delayed a week. Thats how nutty her hours and mine are (and her boyfriends). It was well worth the wait, we had a lot of fun and I liked how most of their photos turned out. I didnt take very many, about 100. Usually I take at least 200. I dont know what to think of that really. After the photo shot with them, Jason and I attended a Bunco Christmas party for the high school staff at the church I work at now. I have never played Bunco before, and had a lot of fun. I got to know a lot of the names I have been emailing with and connect more with these great people who give their lives to these youth. I won biggest loser, which half bad since I got a prize! Im going to hang my bunco score card up in my office too.

Oh yeah, that was just Saturday. It didnt feel as busy as it looks, it was quite delightful actually.

Sunday was a little more low-key but really fun. Worked on the photos from yesterday getting them ready for my roommate today. Again, in my PJs to hours that PJs shouldn’t be worn. Put away the piles of clean clothes sitting on my couch that I had been picking my outfits from the past few days. Looked over my up coming week and how quickly my days are filling up before we leave for California for two weeks. Im glad to go home for that long, but I feel like Im missing so much here. Might not be as easy to go home for Christmas next year, as Im getting so attached to this state and my community here. Jace and I grabbed some mexican food before meeting up with our pastor’s kids to see Enchanted. No, we didnt baby sit them, we invited the whole family to join us but only the kids were available to come. I love hanging out with their kids, because you can have real conversations with them, even though they are only 11,9 and 7. I just love spending time with this family and that only grows the more I hang out with them. I sat next to their youngest, Leia, sharing a box of Jr. Mints (her pick) during the movie. My favorite part of Enchanted (which is a great movie by the way. I would like to see it again its really great.) where the girl is putting her hand on the guys chest and Leia says loudly “EW. What is she doing?!” And during the kissing scene “Do they have to show it SO close?” I couldnt help but laugh. I had a rough time at youth group tonight…but the feeling was everyone did. We tired to do a backwards night, which in theory and paper looked good but it was really confusing. I was just glad I wasnt alone in the feeling. I had some great conversations that encouraged me and reminded me to why I was really there. I love being there even on nights that are hard.

How many times did I say ‘fun’ about my weekend? It really was just a lot of fun. Fun fun fun. My week is full of work and get togethers. Im excited for what it holds, if its anything like how the grand the weekend was. I might of just jinxed myself though.

Oh, hi. This past weekend I went on my churches first retreat of any kind with six other women (well 7 if we are counting Baby Emma). It was a nice little get away that gave us time to get to know each other and talk about all sorts of things. There was food, homemade and BBQ. Had delicious pumpkin ice cream and a bite of pumpkin fudge (never mind it was 86 degrees out, I was getting into the fall spirit!).

Last week I spend good part of the day with my pastor’s family. They are in the process of trying to adopt a child from China. This weekend when talking about it, we referred to her as “China Baby” which sounds so un-PC. I took pictures of their family for their application process, along with their home. Since their kids are home school I took their “school” photos. I dont know if I took what they were thinking or not. Guess we’ll find out when I deliver their photos this week. You’d probably know about the photos Im speaking of if you followed my flickr stream. Im not here to guilt you into checking it or anything. I just tend to update that more than my blog these days.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, some news. This is a full week for me, working an actual 40 hour work week along with having plans with friends and the return of The Office on Thursday. Ive been watching this place being built for weeks, maybe a month now. A Chipolte on my side of town! There was on where Jason used to live, but now that he lives over on the good side of town (my side) I barely go over there. So I have missed Chipolte, so think my excitement when I saw them building one! There were men in with Chipolte shirts on at work and I asked where my burrito was. They said that they were fresh out but on Thursday it would be a day of free food all day Thursday. FREE CHIPOLTE?! On my day off and the day The Office returns? Thursday can not come sooner, burritos for breakfast lunch and dinner!

This past weekend Jason and I traveled to the Washington D.C. for the first time. Not just together, neither one of us had been to DC before. People at work call my a world traveler, being Ive driven across the country a few times and been to handful of countries. Im a stranger to most of the east coast though. Jason, well, he has no excuse really. Our drive up was really quite nice, its always nice to start off with a nice road trip to an action packed weekend. Being that neither of us had been to D.C. before, we wanted to be tourists all weekend. Our wonderful hosts really let us indulged us in that. After a great meal at Chilpote (their current favorite places to eat and quickly becoming mine) we headed for downtown D.C. Best part of being a tourist is being show around by a local. I highly recommend seeing the monuments at night. Not only is it much cooler but the small number of people who are around is what makes it worth it. I cant even think of those places during the day. Actually, I can, we drove by them on the way home and man that is a crazy amount of people! We drove past everything and anything you could think of in downtown D.C. then headed over to Georgetown. Theres a city that never sleeps, well the mail stretch. That street had every store you could think of. H&M especially catch my eye and we put it down on the list for us to visit the next day. Our night tour ended with Graham showing us the Exorcists stairs. Where the pope falls down the stairs? I haven’t seen the movie so I didn’t make the connection, but fun none the less.

Saturday we slept in from our late night of walking around and had pancakes. I cant remember the last time I had pancakes, and it was so over due. We headed for American History Museum, which we sadly learned was closed till 2008 for renovations! I was so sad becasue it was the one places I really wanted to see while in D.C. (besides the monuments). Our second choice was the Air and Space Museum. As we walked across, literally to the otherside of the mall, we kept seeing signs for Dorothy’s shoes from the Wizard of Oz. I dont know if it was just the heat, but I never took the time to read the sign, I just thought they were taunting us that the museum that had Dorothy’s shoes were closed. Thats when Jason told me Dorothy’s shoes are on display at the Air and Space Museum! I got very excited because, next to Mary Poppins, Wizard of Oz is a movie I watched all the time growing up (the third would be Annie). We went to the Air and Space Museum, got some expensive lunch from McDonalds and hit up the planes. And more planes. I guess Im not a plane person becasue it all sorta blended together for me. Though it was neat to see the Wright Brother’s airplane (I am afterall living in NC now). Then, THEN we headed over to Dorothy’s shoes. Not only where Dorothy’s shoes there, but 150 of the top pieces from the American History Museum! The wound that I had felt earlier in the day of them closing the American History Museum was a little bit healed by that. By far, that room was all of our favorite part of the Air and Space Museum (tee hee). The many things we saw… Abe Lincoln’s hat, the first light bulb, the sit in chairs, Mr Rogers sweater, Julia Child’s hand written recipes, George Washington’s uniform, R2D2 and C3P0 to name a few. Oh and Dorothy’s shoes is a lot bigger than I thought. I always thought they’d be small.

Sweaty, and a bit tired we headed to Georgetown becasue that was the plan. I think, looking back we all had enough at that point, Nicole and I poked around H&M a bit but didnt want to wait in line for a dressing room or to check out so we headed to Ben and Jerrys. That is a pricey place to get ice cream as it is, but apparently since we are in Georgetown, they can charge more. We decided calling it a day and getting groceries to cook out with sounded like a great idea. While at the store we rented a DVD from the redbox – The Breech I believe it was called. Its based on a true story that took place in 2001 about a guy who worked for the FBI and spied on his boss who was sneaking government secrets. Perfect movie to watch after a few days in D.C. Jason brought the projector from work down, which was a lot of fun to use.

Sunday morning the boys went to church to do soundcheck while Nicole and I went to Starbucks for some breakfast before church. Always fine it interesting how different Starbucks are around the country. This one was a two story one and had breakfast sandwiches. Been wanting to try them for a while, and man those are good. I dont even want to think about the amount of calories in them, but they will be dangerous when they do hit the stores here. Graham and Nicole’s church was really sweet. Mostly I loved the worship. With my new church not even starting yet, worship has been Jason and his guitar. While thats nice and all, I dont think Ive had a worship experience like I did on Sunday since probably college group. Theres just something about a band who knows what they’re doing but not trying to get attention that makes worship easy to slip into. Hard to say I haven’t been apart of such a worship service in such a long time. Thats probably a whole other post. After church we had leftovers with Graham’s parents and the packed up and headed home, via IKEA. We said we wouldnt spend hours in there, but we did. It was good time though since the last times Jason and I went to IKEA together was in San Diego and we didnt really want to drag things across the country with us. Jace got some things he’d been eyeing for a while and I got some fun things along with useful kitchen stuff. That place is crazy but oh so wonderful. They have this non-fat yogurt Jason cant stop talking about – which when you think about it, says a lot about the yogurt.

As busy as it was, it was a really good weekend. Fun people in a fun city. Being it isnt a far drive away, Jason and I already planning our next trip back in a few months (this time maybe write our congressman about getting us inside of the White House). Its one of the cheapest vacations I think we can take. We have very giving friends who said we can stay with them whenever we want and everything up there is free. That is my kind of trip! Photos will follow soon, we shot in RAW this weekend. While the photos are really crisp and full of color, they are not flickr friendly so after they are converted they will be up to see!

For the first time in too long of a time, I pulled the blinds up and curtains back to my window. Its raining here right now and oh how we needed it. With the last minute trip to DC this upcoming weekend I was concerned with the heat. Jesus quickly answered my prayer for rain here, lets hope the DC area is also getting some relief. I also just finished making a Spicy Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup . I had plans to make it this week, but with it being so hot I wanted to put it off. But I started cooking it anyways and now being reward with a cool rain to enjoy yummy soup to.

So, I had all the intention in the world to share with you all everyday all the fun filled activities that I did with my parents this past week. The days were so fun filled that there was little time or energy in the evening to post about it. Though I did post the photos from each day before moving onto the next. Usually if Im not over here blogging, Im uploading on flickr, which is part of the reason I started to post photo of the day here. All of that is beside the point of this blog post, which is to share with you the past fun filled days with my parents!

Day 2: Biltmore! SO. GREAT. I mean, I didn’t think it wasn’t going to be great, I just really enjoyed it. My parents loved the gardens (the was a game all week – pointing out flowers and their names and origins…). We took the behind the scenes tour, which was great. See, I cant stop saying great. If you haven’t been to the Biltmore, go!

Day 3: After a long but really fun day in Ashville, we took it easy and stuck around town exploring the parks. It was neat to explore places I had been too but haven’t really taken the time to get to know. Id love to go back and just sit in those parks, taking photos, reading or people watching. My dad was very much into getting to know the history of the Guilford Courthouse Park – which actually was neat. Love the history my city holds.

Day 4: We hung out in downtown for a little bit, bought some gifts for people back home. Then headed over to Replacements, LTD and checked out all the amazing dishes they have. Dad took a little nap in a chair while mom and I explored. I got a neat old coffee pot which I will have to take a photo and post. I hope to find more information on it sometime. I cant believe that is only 2% of their inventory. 2%! We later went to Mike and Kari’s for good old fashion North Carolina BBQ. It was so good as always and it was fun to introduce my parents to my friends here.

All and all it was a really good time that went by really fast. It was sad to see them go, which talking with friends who lives states away from their family whom they are close to never gets easy to leave. Im trying not end on a sad note, but its hard since they left early this morning. Im so thankful that I was able to show them my new city and why I love it here.

They actually landed last night, but we just had a few salads and a late night of walking around downtown. I didn’t bring my photos for the tour of downtown sadly. Today we went to church this morning to which my parent got introduced to many people. Fun to show them off, feel like I know a lot of people when I really don’t. After church I drove my parents around town showing them some nice houses that were twice as big as their home and half the price. They just might think of moving here after seeing that (not really but thought about it). Then we went to a Grasshoppers game and then got some desert at the Melting Pot. Enjoy some photos from the game!

In the secret of His presence how my soul delights to hide.
Oh, how precious are the lessons which I learn at Jesus’ side.
Earthly cares can never vex me, neither trials lay me low;
For when Satan comes to tempt me, to the secret place I go,
To the secret place I go.

Would you like to know the sweetness of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath His shadow: this shall then be your reward;
And whene’er you leave the silence of that happy meeting place,
You must mind and bear the image of the Master in your face,
Of the Master in your face.

This song was written by a women name, Ellen Lakshmi Goreh. I know it well thanks to Sandra McCracken redoing the music and setting these lyrics that was originally a poem to a beautifully slow banjo piece. So many of these lines grab me, but today I just get lost in the whole song. “You hide them in the protection of Your presence” Psalm 31:20

Friday night I went out to celebrate Kelly turning 25 at a baseball game. Maybe Im just old or not a parent to understand, but Friday was my first time sitting in the lawn. I do not like the lawn so much. So many kids and rude people. Where as sitting in our seats people are friendly and get into the game with you. Just a little harder to do in the lawn. Plus Im not into yelling at the outfielders, which seems to be the only way to get into the game out there. We had fun taking some goofy photos just the same:

Saturday evening Mike and Kari invited me to go with them to see M. Ward in Asheville. Ive only been to Asheville once before for a quick dinner on a drive back to NC from Nashville. We got there a little early for dinner and so we got to walk around a little bit allowing me to see another street of Asheville than I had before. M. Ward was great. Ive seen him once before with a full band before I was really a fan and it was amazing. This show he played solo which was also amazing for a totally different sound.

Sunday was a day full of friends and catching up. I introduced Kelly to the Wii, which is living at my house currently. Jason returned from a weekend in South Carolina. We catched up with each other which I really like. As much as we want each other in our stories, we love sharing them with each other. We had plenty to talk about before the Amazing Race came on. Sadly, no photos from Sunday – Owen needed a little break. I loved having a weekend full of friends and plans since a lot of time my weekend comes and goes with nothing really note worthy. Not that everyday off needs to be note worthy, but it was one of the more enjoyable weekends in a long time.

As I sat in my seat waiting, I made myself busy by looking out the window at the men ruff up the luggage a little. Its always awkward to be coming down the isle while everyone looks at you with big eyes wondering if you will be their seat partner. You are always unaware if its a look of rejection or acceptance until you sit down. The plane is filling up quickly as I say a quick prayer: “Jesus, short, skinny and not smelly.” Its always my luck that the huge, tall or stinky guys sit down next to me. They see me with a twinkle with delight in their eye knowing this is gonna be a roomy flight. I never have enough nerve to say something, everytime I get an overflowing body part from the seat next to me that they did not pay for that part of my seat. If they did, Id love to know where my refund is as I get elbowed in the shoulder for no good reason. Not only does the sit next to me not get filled but the three seats across the isle where also empty. An odd character whos ticket number does not match the empty row next to me sits himself in the middle of them. I look away before I can no longer keep my facial expression to myself. When I believe the doors of the plane have been locked shut I hear a man tell our odd character friend that he is in their seats. A sweet family of four quickly take their seats, the man next to me. I thank Jesus for answering my traveling prayer as I turn to the window and smile.

Not sure how to feel about this warmish weather we seem to be having here. I thought I was going to get on a plane in a few days glad to be leaving the chilly weather behind. Seems as though I will be trading one warm sky for another, just on different coasts.

Jason and I seem to have a full week ahead of us in California. It includes but is not limited to: lots of family time (including extended family Jason has not yet met), birthday dinner (my mom makes it every year for me…hmmm), WB Tour (ie GILMORE GIRLS SET! No, Im not excited AT ALL), eating at Food network guys restaurant (who again, Jace?), Hollywood walk of fame, checking out Christmas lights and watching Oreo play in the tissue of opened presents.

And yet, it doesn’t feel like I’m really getting on a plane in a few days.

42 Hours

Ashboro Zoo

Enjoy.

Its a nice overcast day here in North Carolina. I’ve been wanting to capture the beautiful fall leaves on film for a little while now and decided this afternoon was the time to do it. I drove around the quant town I live in take photos of a tiny church along with the leaves. I’ve never been past the street the house is on, so I got a little adventurous and went further than I’ve ever been before. I passed a couple cute bridges and came to a farm, well, I think its a farm. It had one of those tall round space ship looking building? I pulled over to take a picture of the farm building because its just neat. Then I drove a little further and saw some horses lines up in a row. Very neat photo, don’t ya think? I thought so, and pulled over on the side of the road. I realized it was a little muddy because it has been raining a bit this week but I didn’t know how muddy till I got stuck. Yes, stuck . I didn’t realize how high the grass was and thought it was just as level as the rest of the sides of the road I had been pulling off onto. I try and get myself out of what I realize now is a ditch by pushing the gas with all my might. But we all know what happens when you do that, you get even more stuck. Realizing even if I did get behind my car and try and push myself, I wasn’t going to be able to move the car (which is still the rental by the way).

I call Brian and tell him I’m in bit of a pickle. I started to feel a bit woozy sitting at an angle like I was, I got out of the car. I think about 10 different people pulled over offering to help me. I don’t know what any of them really would have done but its very nice to live in such a friendly town. The second to last folks to stop was the guys who lived on the farm I was sorta parked in front of. Once Brian arrived I told him of the nice offering of being pulled out by the farmers (I don’t know if they actually are, but they own a farm, I think that makes them farmers). He said we need to take them up on that and walked up the drive to accept. They grabbed their big truck thats back window is covered by a sticker of the confederate flag and their chain. Brian is reassuring me at this point that they have probably done this many times before me and will really think nothing of it. Nothing else, they probably enjoy the chance to pull someone out of the mug. Once back at the car, all of us are really unsure of where to hook the chain up to, being the car was really in the grass and mud, making it hard to see. Brian found a secure spot and I got in (a little scared at that point) the car, put it in neutral and steered with all my might (I don’t think I’ve ever driven a car in neutral before) and got pulled out of the ditch of mud. I will forever be grateful to the guys who live not too far down the road from me. And they were trying to give me one of their kittens, nice guys.

I have just finished cleaning off any evidence that the rental car has been in a ditch being I’m more than likely turning it in tomorrow. There was a whole heck of a lot of mud under the car. Needless to say, I feel rather embarrassed that I got stuck in a ditch to take a picture of some horses. It better be the best photo I have ever taken. Brian can fill you in on the rest of the details that I’m surely missing.

There’s a well-known venue in Carrboro, NC called Cat’s Cradle that I was invited to last night. It an odd location for a usually packed out house at the end of a shopping center. After finding rock-star parking Mike and I took a walk to kill some time before the doors opened. We came across a used bookstore called Nice Priced Books and wandered around making comments that Ed McKays should take after there great organization skills. We were fourth in line to enter the Cat’s Cradle making way for our planned out seats (there is very little seats, a lot of standing and we both didn’t want to stand the whole time) and then the merch table walk. We both made some purchases (Mike some M.Ward t-shirts and I a M.Ward cd, Post-War) and then settled in for the nights show.

The opening band.. not really much to say about them. Oh other than the girl’s hair. As a naturally straight hair girl, I envied her sweet curls. She also was decent with a violin. Not sure why she’s in that band really, doesn’t seem to fit. The middle band or as they referred to themselves “the meat in the sandwich” was much better. I really enjoyed their music with guests of a 4 part string and they had a piano player. Its really hard to not win me over with a piano and a violin. Mike said it perfectly about the one element of the this band I sorta got over as time went it on, “I cant understand anything hes sayin’ but I believe him!” The singer had passion but he sorta talked as he sung and it was really hard to him understand him. The music that carried him made up for this strange form of singing though. Rather enjoyable to say the least.

My ears are still ringing just a little from how loud the show was. I’m usually an old lady when it comes to that sorta thing. But when the music is rocking like it was last night then you just have to let it be. Sacrifice your ears for one evening and let the music boom your body. Jason has said before when he watches a show he just stands, arms folded and without a movement watches the show. I don’t know if even he could of not even tapped his foot to the music last night. I don’t know how to put M.Ward in a typical music category. I want to say rock and roll with folk thrown in. See? That doesn’t really work now does it? Different sound than I’ve experienced at a show and I thoroughly enjoyed. Id even be willing to say it was the most fun I had a show in years. Which is pretty high being I knew very little of M.Ward’s music before entering the venue. You get much more into the music if you actually know it. I could only think how much more I would of been moving with the beat if I had known the material. The guy knows how to play a good, very well. It was a sight to behold when he did a solo or his bandmates and him rocked out. Another thing I really enjoyed was how two of the bandmates juggled the playing if acoustic guitar, bass and electric guitar. They were not half bad themselves but M.Ward was quite amazing. Maybe it was the smell of beer but it would of seemed fitting to have a nice cold beer in the end. Mike and I even discussed on the way to the show whether M.Ward would be a beer person. At the end of the show he held up a beer and said cheers.

I’m looking forward to getting to know Post-War very soon. I can see myself falling into the wonderful but dark musical trap of M.Ward. Thanks again for the invite Mike. Have a very happy birthday today!

After a long over due trip to Chapel Hill to visit Dawn and a quick walk on Franklin Street (that I did not know existed before yesterday) I drove home in the rain. I’m sure some folks around here thinks the cold and the rain is a little premature. It was perfect weather for the first day of September as some of the leaves start to turn sweet shades of yellow within the sea of greens. Dawn directed me to a smaller back country highway to avoid some nasty traffic on the 40. As I turned onto the highway I switched on my ipod and let it pick what soundtrack I should have for my drive on the 54. I was excited to take a new way back; another place to explore in my new state.

I’ve rediscovered the many things I love about the song “Let Go”. Its a perfect song to listen to while driving and raining. The commotion of the rain drops splashing against the windshield as a background bass almost to emotional songs, there are not many things like it. Classics in my book, such as “On Your Way” or “When You Come Back Down” where seen in a new light to me, driving songs (both about going somewhere). I never did get caught by Chris Mason’s second album as much as his first, but his song “Just Enough” reminded me of why I really do enjoy his work. Its also where the line for this entry’s title came from. “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” came on right when this red car was literally, holding up 15 cars (including myself) behind it. 54 is not the best highway to pass other cars on, with its curvy bends and hills to ride on. So for the entire song, this line of cars and I weaved between our lane trying to see our next move to mass slow poke. And the Decemberist write long songs, that one is no exception. 8 minutes. Somehow, I related to this song for a moment as I was stuck behind this line of traffic. “Tied to the Nineties” and “Mess” were fun upbeat songs to drive to, you need some of those in every mix. “Laugh Out Loud” was that familar song that I dont know why I dont listen to more often. “A Joyful Noise” was almost a slow dance song for the scenery that passed by too quickly. The farms and fields that tempted me to stop and take dozen of photos in the rain.

I couldn’t tell you of all the thoughts that those songs and I shared. It was really unplanned time that turned into a wonderful time of comfort and wonder of the glories around me. Usually I don’t think much of letting the shuffle button, but as each song came on, my thoughts just got further lost in the colors that painted my drive. Whether in the melodies or rain drops or dotted yellow lines, I soaked them all in. It was my sunday morning…

Let Go – Frou Frou
On Your Way – eastmountainsouth
Just Enough – Chris Mason
The Mariner’s Revenge Song – The Decemberists
Tied to the Nineties – Travis
Laugh Out Loud – Popular Genius
When You Come Back Down – Nickel Creek
A Joyful Noise – Glen Phillips
Mess – Ben Folds Five