Ready-Set-Go...

Tonight is my last "free" night for the next two weeks, and by free, I mean last night that I do not have somewhere to be, but definitely have a lot of things to accomplish. Due to my crazy schedule for the rest of June, a friend and I are getting dinner and hanging out tomorrow night after I get my hair done.. Which, I am super excited about because it has been almost four months since I have made time to get my hair done, and I love having my hair newly done!

Friday I head to central VA for nails, rehearsals, and loads of laughter with a bunch of my closest friends. Saturday is wedding day, and it is sure to be a whole lot of fun! Sunday, ironically is another wedding where I used to live of a roomie from college.

All next week will be full of work travel to San Jose for our annual convention, which will be a nice change of pace, but exhausting hours with a three hour time difference! I catch a red-eye home in time to attend a leadership summit, just in time to then load into my car and drive to Ohio to see my family and friends of my family... Which will be a lot of fun catching up with them (and hopefully some sleep!). With any luck I will be able to swing by an old place I used to work, and then see one of my best friends from college and his wife before returning home in time for the small group I am co-leading.

All in all I would say this is a fairly typical June for me, and while I will be doing an almost ridiculous amount of traveling, I am really excited for the chance I am going to get to read and catch up on homework, but mostly I just enjoy the change of pace that the summer provides without fail every year. I have no doubt come July I will need to sleep for a few days, but until then, life should be fairly exciting ;)

Weddings and Friends...

I made the trip this weekend down to Lynchburg for a wedding of a good friend and his new beautiful bride. I love... LOVE when prayers for healing, restoration.. and companionship are answered entirely perfectly for both people involved.

So excited for them, and so much fun being around friends all day celebrating!

Plus, I really love these girls :)

God is so good.

Love My Life...

I love my life!

Two save the dates, pictures from my two favorite 3 year olds, and notes from home!

Happy birthday weekend to me!

I Love...

A few of the things I was reminded of this weekend..

I love laughing and joking around with people.. Seriously, it is one of my favorite things, especially when it is purely for fun with no hidden cut you down agenda.

I LOVE hugs.. I am pretty sure I say this every fourth blog.. But, I do. They just make my day better.. And, I got a whole heck of a lot of hugs this weekend.. Seriously.. LOTS!

I love weddings (although I admittedly am a little weddinged out).

I love dancing.. With music everyone can hear... or just the music in my head. I love moving around and being ridiculous and just laughing through my whacked out sense of rhythm.

I really love getting to know new people. I enjoy learning about them, what their thoughts are, what makes them tick, and what they are passionate about.

I love having my hair done and did.. haha I just feel better :)

I love the water.. (and the sun) even if that means driving a jetski for hours on end to avoid anyone else getting on and potentially getting a ticket ;)

I love my friends.. all of them.... old, new, older, younger.. they are just wonderful people... and somehow I always feel so special and distinctly cared about when I am around my friends.

I love when people use my full name instead of just my first, not many people do it, but the ones that do always are full of such life, energy, and humor.. And usually they say my name a ridiculous number of times for effect...

I love watching people's reactions to my ridiculousness.. and my total and utter lack of self-consciousness... The array of facial expressions I see while I am the one who is actually making a fool of myself in front of people provides endless amounts of amusement for me...

I love when people feel close enough to me to clue me into their first impressions of me... like this weekend when I was informed the first impression someone had of me about a year in a half ago was that I was very shy and incredibly reserved... Which turned into quite the amusing conversation about the first time we met and why I did not talk much... and how different his perspective of me is now.

I love sleep.... but never seem to get very much of it!

I love how blessed I am... Even when life is rough.. I am so blessed.. even when I don't deserve it, I am so blessed... and weekends like this past one just remind me of how amazing God is, and how much He knows exactly what I need when..

Wedding Extravaganza!..

Today I had a fairly obnoxious day of doctors appointments that ran late/long which subsequently caused me to be late for everything else I had planned for the day!

However, I was able to get my "hair did" .. and have dinner with my sweet friend, which is always full of energy, laughter, and great conversations.. She is always like a breath of fresh air for me!

Now.. I am full swing wedding chaos/extravaganza!.. And, I love it. I am so pumped about this wedding because it is like a twofer.. Two of my best friends are marrying each other.. It will be epic!

Tomorrow is lake day!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I haven't been to the lake at all this year yet! eek!) Then the bachelorette party..

Saturday we are going for a group exercise run (only my friends plan physical activity as part of the wedding weekend).. then the girls are getting mani/pedis.. then the rehearsal shenanigans..

Sunday will be the wedding... of course.. and LOADS of fun..

I'm so excited to spend time with everyone and live through the memories and laughter.. I cannot wait!

Perturbed..

I am rather perturbed as I sit here.. (again in my hammock).. The homework that I got mostly done yesterday saved as a corrupt file. Awesome.

Thankfully it's not a super difficult assignment, just time consuming to put the formulas in... But, on a good note, my prof is giving me some extra credit! Praise the Lord!

And, just to say it, work will be interesting for the next little while.. Should be an interesting ride.

On a totally different note.. and not a perturbed one.. I'm headed down to Lynchburg again this weekend for one of my Besties bridal shower! I'm excited :)

Weddings and Friends

Today.. Weddings and friends! I'm so excited to be here and around my friends.. Dancing, laughing, hanging out, joking around.. and the normal be-bopping around with my bff's :) So glad to be here.

Love and Laughter...

My "bff" got married yesterday. It was absolutely amazing, and I can honestly say I was just overjoyed with excitement and love and wonder at how awesome God's plan and path are for each one of us!

A year ago Sarah and I had just survived a massive argument that at the end neither of us really could remember why we had started arguing, except that we knew we were each safe.. and were mad the other had not been calling as much as normal.. Without realizing we were both needing the mind-reading support of the other... We were both really struggling and life was just hard.. not necessarily for any reason at all.. Satan's just a jerk.

Now, a year later.. Her life has changed forever.. and years of my prayers were answered in a few simple words and exchanging of rings.. It was truly awesome, and she was thrilled, but totally at peace and calm about it all.. I love her so dearly, and am forever thankful for God bringing us together.. I have needed her friendship so many more times then I like to admit, and that she would ever know!


On to other things from this weekend...

I tend to write in a bit of a cryptic way so that those aware of situations and things going on get all sorts of insight and information, and those unaware get pretty much a basic overview of what is going on. Both people get pictures and glimpses of my heart and an authentic view of who I am, but the reality is sometimes carefully chosen words protect not only the private people in my life who do not like their life blasted across the internet (as if my blog had that much influence), but it also is an exercise for me personally to communicate well...

This instance is no different.. Sorry. :)

Several months ago my friend commenced into this incredibly intricately woven.. funny plan to.. you guessed it.. Hook me up.  (Story of my life haha) This story has been going on for about 5 months at this point, but the comical part is I have done little to actually be apart of "my story".. I did not initiate it, did not encourage it, did not bring it up, and certainly did not ask for it... in fact, I have done so little that I have been told what is going on as an innocent bystander. But, what makes the story so incredibly funny is the fact that I am supposed to be a key player.. since you know.. she's trying to set ME up with this guy.

I am normally a little leery with the whole being set up thing.. I have had a few doosey experiences, but given the right friend who knows me well, I will give it a chance. Since this friend knows me well, I decided not to shut down the idea right away.. 5 months ago.. So, I have spent the last several months being an innocent bystander in this whole thing, and have not actually had anything substantial take place.. except for a few incredibly awkward but funny moments, that ironically did not involve this guy and I.. just the people around us TALKING about us... without both of us present.. it has always just been one of us... How could this be?.. Well we had not met.. Amusing beyond all amusings.. and it has all felt like a sitcom/arranged marriage type situation. The type where you know someone has GOT to be filming this whole thing because there is no way these types of situations actually happen to people right?!..

Nope, they happen in the sitcom that is my life!

Well, this weekend 5 months of build up and this guy and I met... And, he earned some major kudos for how he initiated and lead.. I was pleasantly surprised. He also handled the awkwardness imposed by our mutual friend with incredible grace and style. The interaction was normal, no super incredible story, nothing too forward or assuming, just casual, enjoyable, with a touch of curiosity... It helped that he was surprisingly tall and attractive. I am not expecting anything to come of this, except for the absolutely amazing and funny story I have already. But, I am open to seeing where God leads next.. 2010 was an awful year, but I am so glad to have been there.. I have no idea what to expect from 2011... And, I like it that way!

Driving...

I have spent more time in my car recently then I think is healthy for anyone.. ever...

Memorial weekend I drove to OH for a wedding... And, they went through with it ;) So, worth the drive!

Last weekend, I drove with two of my best friends to New Hampshire.. About a 12 hour drive with stops.. which quickly turned into about 13 1/2 cause of traffic... It was fairly cold and rainy the whole time, but we absolutely love our friends, and they had a great wedding.. and got married in the end, so it was totally worth going ;) ... PLUS we got to stay in a castle (or a hotel that looked like one)! Then we drove the arduous drive home..

I work an hour from home.. so I drove to and from work Tuesday-Thursday...

Then Friday my friends and I left again for Glens Falls NY for another 10 hour drive for another set of friend's wedding... Which was great, and they also got married (YAY!) So, once again it was worth it and lots of fun... And, I might add, we are becoming experts at marrying friends off ;)

However, my back has been hurting like crazy for the last while (more so than normal) and the doctor finally discovered that my spine is all sorts of messed up... So, they are beginning the process of fixing me, but until I am fixed I have discovered a lot of pain in the process.. which does not mix well with sitting still in a car... or anywhere..

So, praise Jesus I have a couple weeks of normal driving ahead of me instead of marathon car rides!