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September 19, 2010

Elon College Freshman Girls Small Group Reunion Weekend

Alternately titled: Who needs therapy when you have great girlfriends?

Alternately titled: Why is crying so therapeutic for women?

Alternately titled: I can't wait until next year.


I'm pretty sure I was the first to cry. I'm also pretty sure I was the last one still crying. I'm positive I was not the only one that cried. But let me start from the beginning...

For at least 2 years we have been trying to plan a reunion of the girls who were in our Freshman Girls Small Group bible study together. It was a group that, at the time, we all just liked being part of, but would all realize in the years to come was pivotal in each of our lives.

Almost 13 year to the day of our first meeting, about a thousand emails, and almost no formal planning whatsoever, 6 of us from the original group gathered together at a lake home owned by one of the girls' in-laws. We each needed to be there for very different reasons, and yet we all had come for the exact same reason. 13 years ago a bond had been formed that would forever bind us to one another.

Between the 6 of us there are 7 1/2 children, 5 husbands, 3 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 single girl. Yes, in case you hadn't picked up on it, that last one is me. And in case you don't pick up on it by the end, that same last point is the basis of all things involving tears on my end of the weekend.
Courtney's known her husband practically her entire life and their son just turned 1.
Katie met her husband in college and their daughter will turn 1 in just a few weeks.
I introduced Sara to her husband when we were in college and their son will be 3 in December and a second is due in February.
Anna's known her husband since high school and their daughter is 2.
Susan met her husband shortly after college and their kids are 2,4 and 6.
And then there's me.
Don't get me wrong, I've traveled the world, gone to grad school, I stay out as late as I want (which, lets admit, isn't very late), spend money on whatever I want...and I do it all alone.

On a daily basis I feel like I am surrounded by co-workers who tell me how lucky I am not to have a spouse at home upset about how much I work, married friends who remind me how much harder married life is than being single, pastors who preach about being content in the life you have and trust in God's plan for my life of singleness right now. And most of the time, all I want to do is scream, cry, and run away. But I don't. I smile. I nod. I agree that they are probably right.

Which is why I needed this weekend. There is a closeness, an easy vulnerability, a knowledge of each other without ever having to explain yourself that somehow formed between all of us when we weren't even paying attention.
Instead of having to put on the brave face, the smile that I was screaming behind, I finally let my guard down the crumbled. And they knew.

We all cried this weekend. Some for the people that are in their lives, some for the people they'd lost, and some for the people we wish were in our lives.

But we also laughed. A LOT!



p.s. court....no pictures!

February 06, 2010

Product Review - Amy's Organic Soy Cheeze Pizza

As most of you know, I'm lactose intolerant. It started about 2 years ago. And in those two years, I developed a hand full of other food allergies.

So I've been cutting more and more things out of my diet, scrabbling to find things to replace them with and have decided to take baby steps towards eating an all natural diet.

I was never a big pizza eater before. I LOVE cheese but hated the greasy oiliness that it created on a pizza.

I decided to give this Amy's pizza a try, though, and I am EXTREMELY pleased!


This pizza isn't in the least bit greasy or oily (I assume because the cheese is actually soy) but it tastes wonderful too. The Crust was crunch and the sauce was sweet. This may be a new favorite treat!

(I was even able to find some coupons for Amy's pizza's)

And this, too, shall pass!

On December 30th I wrote a blog post that basically outlined what a crappy year I had had. But, hopefully, you also read about my HOPES for the coming years.

Part of that post was centered around what a difficult year my FATHER had and all that he had gone through on the road to recovery. Just before Thanksgiving he had returned to work and was doing REALLY WELL as he regained strength little by little, day by day.

Unfortunately, after only about 2 months, all of his symptoms have returned. He deteriorated quickly back to the point he had been at his worst.

My parents called the neurosurgeon in California and scheduled the same round of tests and procedures that worked the last time. The are scheduled to fly out tomorrow morning and begin tests on Monday morning.

Mother nature has a confusing sense of humor. Pittsburgh has been dumped with close to 2 FEET OF SNOW in the last 24 hours. Snowed in, and without power, they now don't know if they will make it out tomorrow. In all my 18 years of living in Pittsburgh I don't remember ever being truly snowed in or without power.

Please keep my father in your PRAYERS as they TRY to get to CA and then for everything they will do out there. Please pray that this time, his results will last MUCH longer!

On a happier note...

The Lord has been teaching me (a very stubborn and slow to learn student) so much about faith and trusting HIS timing!
How amazing His lessons are, though. Sometimes, it seems, He must push us to our very limits in order to get us to trust and lean solely on Him!

I am happy to announce that, in HIS PERFECT TIMING, I was offered a job (and accepted it) at UNC hospitals working in the Jaycee burn center.
(I can see that "oh my gosh, that's going to be really horrible" look on your face right now...but don't worry, I am REALLY excited about it)

They are currently taking care of some patients from Haiti! What an honor!
The doctors in the video links (Dr. Jones and Cairns) will be my attendings. I am so excited to work with them and the rest of the team.

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement throughout the process!
THIS, is going to be a great job!

January 27, 2010

"NO" Guilt


Are you one of those people that thrives off of staying busy?

Do you find yourself always saying "yes" when asked to join, commit, volunteer, etc.?

Do you feel like you could be a founding member of a group called 'Over Committers Anonymous'? ***

Me too!

I've always been one of those people that loves to join in. I hate to miss a good time or an opportunity to help someone out. In fact, about 5 or 6 years ago, one of my friends and I actually joked about starting a group called Over Committers Anonymous (OCA) but then figured we were just adding to our own demise because we would never be able to say "no" to the invitation to join our own group.

But lately, I have really been striving to be intentional in the way I spend my time and who I spend it with.

This, however, comes with an overwhelming feeling of guilt about saying "NO"!!!

Just the other day, a friend called me looking for a baby sitter for her cousin's baby. This particular baby is extremely LOW maintenance and she knows that I really love cuddling this sweet little girl. But she needed someone for the ENTIRE day, and I already had plans for the morning. For a moment, I even considered backing out of my morning plans just so I didn't have to say no to the babysitting job (a little backwards I know). And after I told her I wouldn't be able to do it and hung up the phone, I felt guilty!

I even ended up calling her back to tell her I could do the second half of the day if she needed me to.

Why is it so hard to say 'no'? And why do I even have to have a reason to say no? Couldn't I just say "I don't think I want to do it"? (even though I would have liked to watch this particular little cutie pie).

Do you have "NO" guilt???


January 09, 2010

Curling: the making of a future Olympian


On Friday night my friend Bobby organized for a group of us to go to a
local indoor ice rink and attend a "Learn to Curl" clinic.

At first, I was really skeptical. I'd seen curling on t.v. and, to
be quite honest, it looked like a joke.

People in sneakers shoving huge rocks across ice while others used
brooms to "sweep" it into position. I mean, SERIOUSLY?!?!
The whole "sport" was a joke, right?

But I went anyway. And I am SOOOO glad that I did.
We had such a fun night.

The evening started out with a 30 minute classroom instruction session.
And then we moved out on to the ice.

Here I am trying to move one of the stones.
Each of the stones weighed over 40 pounds!!!

Now that we were on the ice, we were taught how to put our feet in the starting block, how to use the brooms for stability when throwing your stone, and how to NOT fall over when actually throwing the stone (you wear a silicone liner on the bottom of one shoe to make it super slippery...and it works! It was extremely hard to stay on your feet when that thing was on)

After a lot of practice in form and function, we were finally let loose to put all the steps together.

Here I am pushing off out of the starting block

Here I go sliding, and forgetting to let go of the stone!
Once you let go of the stone there was almost NO chance of staying vertical!

And last, but not least, here is me after I released my stone. This is also where I spent a good portion of the evening, on my butt on the ice.


This must have been a picture of my 4th or 5th try because most of my first throws ended with me sprawled out flat on my belly across the ice.

It was SO hard, but SO fun. We laughed really hard all night long and will have some great stories to tell for a long time.

Oh...and I almost forgot. NBC-17 was there to film the whole evening. AND they will be airing the footage locally during the 2010 winter olympics. There were quite a few times that they had the camera pointed right at me, and one time particularly that I did that graceful spread eagle across the ice move. So keep your eyes peeled during the olympics, maybe you'll see me!

January 02, 2010

new year challenge


"...forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead." Philippias 3.13

I came across this verse in my daily devotion on new years day.

It struck me as so perfect for a verse to take me from the hardest year of my life (2009) to, what I hope to be, one of the best years of my life (2010)!

So my challenge (NOT resolution) to myself is to to look forward to the joy and blessing that lies ahead for me and not dwell and the hardships of the past.

This, in no way, means that I will "forget" what I have learned by coming through those rough times, but I am choosing not to dwell on how crappy it has been.

Help to keep me accountable to this! This is me formally giving anyone and everyone permission to gently "remind" me to dwell on blessings and not on hardship!

Won't you too look towards how He is blessing YOU this year?!?!

NYE 2009

New Years Eve has always been a big deal for me. I think it's because its one of those holidays when people DON'T go home to families but instead opt to celebrate with friends.

This year my friend Eric had a bunch of us over for a pot luck dinner. He made some super yummy beef and veggie stew and everyone else brought fantastic yummy sides.

After dinner at Eric's I stopped over at my friends Rob and Meredith's house for their annual party.

And finally, around 11 I landed at my friend Jason's house for a quiet countdown with friends. It turned out to be a really fun night.


Back row: Lori, Me, Erin
Front Row: Laura, Jay, Jason, Su-Anne, Bryan

New Years day couldn't have been better. I got up at 8 (who know's why I didn't sleep in but oh well), cleaned the house, went to "Virginia" to cook breakfast with Jason, Su-Anne and Erin, went to the gym and ran 4 miles (yes, 4 miles and I kept breathing the entire time), and then landed at my friend Todd's house for the rest of the day/night to watch all of the bowl games with great friends.

What an absolutely perfect two days with friends. I wish every day could be so sweet!

I am really excited about 2010 and how great it is going to be!