Category: Friends

You had a bad day

Posted by – February 7, 2008

So, the other day, I had a bad day. I mean really bad. There were some tears. Some yelling. Some bottling up emotions. Some cursing. It was just an all-around bad day.

But you know the best part of my bad day? My incredible friends. There was my friend who spent way too much time encouraging me, telling me how great I am. I’m not good at accepting compliments, but she wouldn’t let me “aw shucks” it. She told me I was good until I actually started to believe it.

Then there was the friend who got mad with me. Who let me know that the injustice I had experienced wasn’t right. She wanted to act on my part, to protect me, to kick some butts and take some numbers. And then she made me laugh. I love it when she makes me laugh.

Finally, the friend who just hung out with me. Who sat with me in a quiet coffeehouse and just hung out for three hours. Who let me laugh, be angry, and shared her own stories. She made me realize that I wasn’t alone. We laughed about our differences, laughed at our sameness. When I left, my hair smelled like coffee and my heart felt just a bit lighter.

I had a bad day. But I have wonderful friends.

Did you see that over there?

Posted by – January 30, 2008

Just wanted to let you all know I added some new links over there.

To your left.

Keep going.

Almost there.

Bottom of the page.

Check ‘em out!

(Just a note, you actually have to come to my site to see this–so if you’re using a RSS reader, or if you’re reading this on facebook, you’ll need to come to my blog to see the links. And you should do that. It’ll be fun. I promise.)

A few of my favorite things…

Posted by – January 29, 2008

I’ve been meaning to post this picture for a while. It’s from when I was home in Virginia for Christmas. And it contains some of my favorite things (in no particular order):

  • A Starbucks Gingerbread Latte
  • Friends
  • A baby

How fun :)

A different kind of family…

Posted by – January 20, 2008

Family is important to me. Extremely important. I love being a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece. But, distance has caused me to tweak my view of family. My biological family is still essential to me. I love nothing more than flying to Virginia, hanging out with my mom, bickering with my brother and catching up with cousins, aunts and uncles.

But now I have a new kind of family. One made up of friends whom I spend Thanksgiving with. Friends who I chat over coffee with. Ones who welcome me into their homes, and more importantly, into their own families.

I was reminded of my different kind of family this weekend at a birthday party. My friend, Krissy, asked me to help with her son’s birthday party. She couldn’t have guessed how flattered and excited I was. It was a beautiful day, filled with homemade pizzas and crazy boys.

An evening filled with Krissy’s family, and delicious cups of chai tea (the right way).

A late night filled with crazy kids and bouncy balls.

It doesn’t sound like much. But it was the perfect day. I was silly, stupid, crazy, nerdy.

Just like I am with my family.

Hello my international friends!

Posted by – September 7, 2007

So, it’s fun to me when I look at my website stats and see that I’ve had visitors from other countries. So today, I would like to address my international visitors directly!

To my American friends–Ah, my faithful ones. I know that some of you are spammers, filling my comment log with posts about things that I can’t repeat. But I know that a few of you are actual readers, people who spend more than 5 seconds perusing my sight, taking the time to comment. Thanks for reading!

To my Canadian friends–I will refrain from posting “eh’s” at the end of every sentence here. Because I know you probably hate that. Just like I hate when people mock me for saying y’all. Whatever. Thanks for visiting! I’ve never been to Canada, but I’d like to some day. Specifically, I want to go to Prince Edward Isle. With my kindred, bosom friend. Because I’m a nerd like that.

To my Japanese friends–Konnichiwa! (Don’t be too impressed, I totally googled that!) Wow, Japan! That’s exciting! I’ve never been to Asia. I did have a friend from college who was from Japan. She used to eat these vinegar soaked bits of nastiness that looked like grapes. And lots of dried fish. But hey, she was super skinny. I was not. So I’m sure she thought my cheeseburger and fries looked just as gross. And she was right.

To my United Kingdom friends–I must say, my only experience in the UK was at Heathrow Airport. But I won’t judge you based on that. I have to admit, I love your British accents, though. And the aforementioned airport was pretty much crawling with handsome blokes. I think I’d like to visit again. Take in the sights. If you know what I mean ;-)

To my Indian friends–Ah, another place I’ve never visited but would love to! I actually have two great friends who are from India. They are my TIFs (tiny Indian friends). And the things I’ve learned from them about Indian culture, love for family and curry have been wonderful. So thank you India, for producing lovely people. And yummy food.

To my Philippines friends–I don’t know a lot about the Philippines. But I get to write stories from there, since Compassion has several projects there. It’s interesting to me to see the mix of such beauty, with such poverty.

To my Turkish friends–Okay, to be honest, I know nothing about Turkey. Wikipedia tells me that Turkey “is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and the Balkan region of southeastern Europe.” So in other words, Wikipedia tells me nothing. But then Wikipedia surprises me, telling me that the Turkish national sport is Yağlı güreş–or, oiled wrestling. Ah, my Turkish friends. You never fail to amuse me.

To my Albanian friends–I won’t lie to you. When I say Albanian friends, I know that, in fact, there is one person who reads my blog from Albania. She’s a lovely friend of mine, who is living in Albania with her husband and son. When she told me she was moving to Albania, I had to pull out a globe, because I wasn’t sure exactly where it was (southeastern Europe, in case you were wondering). So, thanks for visiting my blog, Gretch!

and finally…

To my Polish friends–I love that I have a reader from Poland! Poland is actually the first place I visited outside of the United States. I went there on a trip in college. My memories of Poland–cold, gray skies, cold, good soup, cold, wonderful people. Oh, and it was cold. As in, one night, I went to bed with my hair damp, and when I woke up, my pillow was frozen to my head. That cold. So my Polish friend, what’s your secret for not freezing to death? I’m curious.

Well, that was fun! I look forward to more visitors! And if you’re one of my international friends, please leave a comment!

I’m an accident waiting to happen…

Posted by – August 26, 2007

So, this is what happens when you go hiking with me.

Hiking Mishap

See, it’s exercise AND live entertainment. I should totally start charging for this stuff.

We want the funk…

Posted by – August 21, 2007

I love this commercial. Because it’s true. Being with people who understand you is priceless. People who laugh at you when you snort. Who cry with you when you grieve. Who are there for you, not because of what you can do for them, but simply because they love you.

Priceless

They had to go and ruin it…

Posted by – August 9, 2007

Okay, so the Callicotts spend weeks bashing me on their blog. And just when I get warmed up, they have to go and bust out the nice blog. Now what do I do?

In all honesty, having the Callicotts as my house guests made for a wonderful week. It’s fun sharing my life with my friends–especially friends who seem genuinely interested and excited.

People sometimes ask me if I miss Hannibal. And to be honest, I don’t really. I had served my time lived there for three years, and I felt like God was moving me elsewhere. But I do, without a doubt, miss my friends–and the Callicotts are definitely on the list of those friends I miss the most. I can’t tell you how many times I sat in their basement and laughed so hard that I started making those weird gasping/choking noises. And people who love you after seeing that are your real friends.

There’s nothing like being adopted into a family when your own loved ones are hours away. The Callicotts are definitely my family–you know, like those weird cousins who you love in that embarrassed, pretend-like-you-don’t-know-them-when-you’re-in-public kind of way.

Or something like that ;-)

Filthy Lies…

Posted by – August 9, 2007

So, a few blogs ago, I responded to Scott and Tammy’s slanderous comments about me. The filthy lies have continued on their website, so I’m here to defend myself again.

  • I was never actually LOST at Garden of the Gods. I took us on the scenic route. Why does everyone always have to be in such a rush? So, the Callicotts maybe weren’t used to the lack of oxygen. Boo hoo. I was taking them to one of the most beautiful spots of Colorado. You’d think they would be thankful.
  • I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Not every town is as small as Hannibal. Some towns actually have stoplights and intersections. It’s amazing. So yes, it did take me a while to get to Target. But I was NOT lost. It’s a long trip. Wah wah wah. Get over it Callicotts.
  • Oh, and for someone who gets “lost” all the time, I would venture to ask, who is the one who found the lost Callicott child at Focus on the Family? What, I can’t hear you? Yeah, I thought so.

Slander

Posted by – July 30, 2007

Okay, I have to defend myself against the slanderous comments made over on Scott and Tammy’s blog. And to think, I opened my home to these people. And I know their recollections are only going to get worse.

Although, it’s not all slanderous. They did call me a gracious host, and a great friend. Oh, and an uptown writer. Whatever that means.

But they are blowing the whole getting lost thing COMPLETELY out of proportion. First of all, Colorado Springs is a lot larger than Hannibal, Missouri. A trip across town in Hannibal takes five minutes. Sometimes, it takes me five minutes to turn left out of my apartment complex. So the trip to dinner was long. And we did go the long way down a street with lots of stoplights. And Tammy may have thought that a hotel was the Olympics complex. But we got there, safely. And ate yummy pizza.

So, I thought I could get us home quicker by taking the interstate. So I said, drive towards the mountain, and then take a right. That’s all the directions you need in Colorado. We’re outdoorsy people. Living off the land. We don’t need your stinkin’ GPS systems. If you run into the mountain, you’ve gone too far west. It’s that easy.

And it’s NOT my fault that there was some kind of insane back-up on the interstate. And I was never lost. I knew where I was. I knew where I wanted to go. The in between part was a little fuzzy.

And the part of town we were in wasn’t THAT bad. There weren’t any hookers or anything. And just because someone looks like they’re from Deliverance doesn’t mean they are. SOME people just judge too quickly.

We made it home. What more do you people want from me?