"Come away by yourself to a lonely place for awhile.

'Cause I'm sure you're tired, you know I can't even see your smile.
There's just too much confusion here. Why don't you come and be with me.
So He took my hand and we headed off to the sea."
~ Waterdeep (with some help from the Book)

I'm going on a trip and I'm going to take with me a....

Friends Are Friends Forever

"It is one of the blessings of old friends, that you can afford to be stupid with them." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sweetness

Much joy has been felt in the past few days.

Sunshine...warm weather...flip-flops...good friends...Cardinal's baseball...
Mat Kearney/Matt Wertz in concert...
Michael Jackson tributes...conversations...laughter...fountains...dessert...
getting lost yet being found...


Hope springs eternal.

"People are not crucified for helping poor people.
People are crucified for joining them."
~Shane Claiborne (The Irrisistible Revolution)

Everything I know I learned after I was thirty.
~Georges Clemenceau

It's funny because turning 30 was fun....new....adventurous. I know 30 is just a number, but it was a new number in the ten's place all the same. I loved/love the movie "13 Going On 30" and claimed it's famous line "I wanna be 30 and flirty and thriving," as my own . The Dairy Queen at the military base in Ktown had it's grand opening on that day (I'd like to think it was just for me), and then we had a big dance party at my house later that week.

Being 30 was cool.

And then yesterday happened. I turned 31. I'm no longer able to say, "I'm 30." No, now I'm IN my 30's! It brought a whole new perspective on life, age, etc.

So in honor of all that was wise and new, I drug my mom right down to the local tattoo parlor, made her listen to heavy metal music, and wait for me while I willfully let some 13 year old kid pierce my nose. (See pics below of the finished product.)

And just as the quote above states, I'm learning a lot after 30. Here's just the beginning of what I'm sure is to become a GIGANTIC list of life lessons....

1. Taking mom to a tatto parlor is an extremely odd, yet hilariously unforgettable moment.
2. Nose piercing hurts like h*## but goes away soon after.
3. Living in a small town, far away from friends, makes you do strange things with your parents.
4. TO BE CONTINUED...

Enough Talk...

Hypothetically Speaking

If someone were to want a nose ring...is there a rule as to which side it should be pierced?

Just a hypothetical question to a hypothetical situation should said person decide to do something crazy for her 31st birthday.

So...I'm back from "The Betty."

One week of introspection was plenty. Who knew I had so many stressors? Or that I've lost a lot in the past few years? Who knew that I could start crying on Tuesday and not finish until Saturday? Who knew that "unpacking" the last few years alongside of so many quality people would be "normalizing?" And who knew that I would leave there without any further clarity on my future, yet feeling refreshingly exhausted? (Yes, I know that doesn't make any sense, but it does to me, OK?!)

All this to say....it's been a good couple of weeks.

Side Note:
Kansas--Why do people say that you are ugly and boring? Traversing your land was about the most beautiful part of my drive. The rolling hills and the desolate prairie...the meandering clouds that floated above me...that huge expanse of sky that stretched up from the highway and reached out far beyond my mind's imagination...the tumbleweed that danced across the road...
No wonder some of my favorite people ever came from you!

Suffice it to say, you had me at your welcome sign, OK?

I have more to write but, for some reason, I feel like I have jet lag right now and believe I will save that for later. I hear the coffee pot and the washing machine calling to me now. Must go....







The picture above is my dear friend, T on our Saturday morning "hike" up the Rockies.

The picture below is of my new friends from "The Betty"..We're redefining the look of workers today!