ENJOY LIFE NOW: April 2016

I feel like there is a series of things I need to document that I just haven't had time to do, so I'm just going to do it in a bullet/paragraph form. And of course, miss things too.

Quilting

I've talked about all the quilts I did in January and February - I finished two and did two from start to finish. I was on a roll. I haven't touched my sewing machine since I finished Charlie's quilt at the beginning of March! I have a few more that I want to work on this summer from this list I have saved on Pinterest. One for me and a few for friends! :)

Extra Cat

For three weeks in March and early April, Molly and I watched Wembley, Brittany's cat. The first day they hissed at each other, but they became best friends and basically annoyed the crap out of me from the hours of 10pm-7am. Then they would just sleep all day. Usually in a chair together. I felt really bad for separating them when Brittany came to pick him up - he ran from us and hid under Molly's bed, while Bowie walked around looking for him for a few days. While I was home one weekend, someone asked me when I was going to get married, which is obviously not anytime soon. Later I got to thinking, "I'm single, but my cat's boyfriend has moved in." Molly and Wembley really took to each other, so if she would have been able to take a cat with her to Charleston, she would have.

Charleston

Speaking of Charleston, my 'temporary' roomie is moving out. 14 months of living together has been great and hard, but it will soon come to a close. Molly's moving to Charleston. I'm so excited for her and I think it will be a really good opportunity for her to truly be on her own and do a little growing up without relying on parents and older siblings to do so much for her, but I'm also really going to miss having her here this summer to go to county fairs, festivals, concerts, runs, walks, ice cream dates. I wanted her to get her own place so we could each have our personal space back, I just didn't wanted it to be 10 hours away!!

31!

I had a birthday in early April and turned 31. I can't even believe it. 30 seemed like a fun age. 31 just sounds old. The last handful of years I have been surrounded by college students, so I haven't felt like I was in my 30's. I felt like, and sometimes acted, like I was still in my early 20's. Something about this birthday makes me want to me more settled and less involved in the college life. So I've stepped down from several of my advisor roles on campus and am going to focus on a few more adult like things that I haven't paid much attention to over the past few years....like laundry, staying organized, sending birthday cards on time, eating dinner before 8pm, maybe having time for a boyfriend. #adultingsohard

On my actual birthday I had to work - from 8am to 8pm. Total bummer. But it was actually ok because it was a Monday and what was I actually going to do on a Monday. Plus, so many people at the banquet wished me a happy birthday, so I just felt the love all day long. A few days later I went to dinner with my girlfriends. And the day before my birthday I went to my grandparents' for a birthday dinner (Arby's!) and cake (DQ ice cream cake)....it was a perfect Sunday afternoon! The pictures are all on my mom's phone, so they'll have to be added later. (Mother, email them to me, please and thank you!)

Out for Abra's 31st birthday a few weeks before mine!

Brunch after my birthday.

Garth & Trisha
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood brought there world tour to Columbus. Since I had just seen them in October, I didn't plan to go again in April. But a friend called the night before their first concert and asked me to go and I couldn't turn down the opportunity! The show was great (I think it was just a little better in Cleveland though) and I had a lot of fun. Then a week later I got to "meet" Garth when he and Trisha came to campus and did a "conversation" with students. There were about 100 students there and it was so cool to just listen to them talk and tell stories. And they sang Trisha's "Walkaway Joe" for the group. I was never a huge fan, but after seeing his amazing shows and then listen to him talk about music, his family and his faith, I'm sold!

I was this close to Garth.

Dogwood 5K
This is the race that I've ran every year since I started my journey in road races, so I made sure to head home for it again year. Unfortunately, it was freezing and there were only 20 people who ran. I will never understand why they don't advertise this race more. When I was little it was such a big event. There was a giant start and finish balloon arch and so, so many people. I keep make suggestions every year about things that could improve the race - advertising on racing websites, putting it in the newspaper, social media, your own festival Facebook page!! I also have suggested that it start/finish line in the middle of the festival since it's not busy at that time of the day and to work with local organizations (scouts/church groups, etc) to staff a water station and along the course where people need to turn (someone got lost this year). So Dogwood Committee members who are reading this, here are a few suggestions from a frequent 5K runner! :)

Payton and I ran together and she beat me by :02 seconds. We walked for just a few minutes, so of course after I finished I was bummed because I could have kept going and probably cut off 5 minutes of my time!! I finished at 35:37 and got second in the 18-39 category.

Dogwood Festival

To go along with the 5K, this weekend was our annual Dogwood Festival. My little Avery was crowned queen! I missed her crowning, but I was there to see her in the parade. And my dad spent is 47th year frying fish at the fire department. Since Mom, Molly and Tyler were all out of town, I spent most of my weekend hanging out in the back of the fire house with my dad while he thawed fish. It smells, but it's fun to hang out with him and get a little one on one time.

Isn't she lovely?

Nobody fries fish like my daddy!

Pike County Murders
My hometown has been on the local and national news a lot lately. I love my hometown. Like, I love, love, love it. But there are some not so great things about it and those are usually the things everyone else hears about on the news. We're known for the Atomic Plant from the 1950's, the house that got washed away in the flood in 2010, the hometown of Zack Farmer, and now what we'll be known as the home of the Pike County Massacre. I have no idea what happened, but no matter what, it's crazy! I'm sure there are so many pieces of information that haven't been shared with the media yet, and I'm totally fine with that. Let the police do their investigation!

I didn't know the family at all, but I do know of other extended family members and I had friends and family that had the boy as a student. I had lots of friends and internet friends (Hi Brandi!) reach out to me when the news broke about this and days after. I'm so thankful for friends that care about me, the safety of my family, and my little town. Hugs to you all.

I know one of those deputies on the CBS evening news!

Honduras
This summer I'll be traveling to Honduras with a group of students. I'm really excited for this study abroad/mission trip that I'm going to experience. I will post lots of pictures when I get back!

I'm going to rewind back to Valentine's Day weekend. I never blogged about it and it's definitely a weekend I want to remember.

Last year Molly found and volunteered with an event called "A Night to Shine", which is put on by the Tim Tebow Foundation. This event is a 'prom' for teens and adults with special needs. The TTF organizes the event and likely provides some financial support, but then churches around the country actually host it in combination with a lot of volunteers and support from the community.

Molly went to Cincinnati last year, but this year a church in Newark was hosting and we decided to go help with that one. I signed up to be part of the 'paparazzi' and Molly was a a helper with the board games and non-dancing activities. We had to go to a training event a few weeks prior, and have a background check run, of course.

Because it's a formal event and all of the guests are encouraged to wear fancy formal dresses and tuxedos or nice suits, we dressed up too. Molly had a sequin skirt and I wore a black dress with some sparkly beads.

As the guests arrived, they were introduced and then walked down a red carpet. My job was to take pictures of them as they walked down the carpet, just as a celebrity would have their picture taken multiple times on a red carpet. It was fun to cheer for them as they walked to the end, which then went into the gymnasium where the food and dancing was located.

Molly ended up not needing to work at the games because the guests were all dancing and not one bit interested in playing cards or games, but they were in need of a few more buddies (even though they actually weren't), so Molly volunteered for that. She was paired with a girl who was there for her prom. :)

Once I got done taking photos on the red carpet, my new friend Devon and I grabbed dinner and hit the dance floor with Molly and her buddy, along with a few other girls and boys and we danced and danced and danced. Before we knew it they said "that was our last song of the evening."

We still got in line for the photo booth and got a few group photos to remember the evening.

If anyone has the opportunity to volunteer with an event like this (this one is always held Valentine's Day weekend), I would highly recommend it. It was so much fun and a great way to spread love during a weekend that was completely focused on love. It would have been easy for me to sit down and complain about being single on Valentine's Day, but instead I got to hang out with these awesome people and help them have the night of their life!