Transitions

Transition: movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another;

     I was born in Colorado twenty years ago and have lived in Colorado ever since. When I was younger, I was certain that there would never be anywhere else that I could call home. This colorful state was my home. It was where all of my friends and family were. 

     Around 2006 I started blogging on xanga. I made some really great friends through the groups (or whatever they were called) on the website. Suddenly I found that not ALL of my friends were Coloradans  and I knew that I was going to have to do some traveling at some point to get to meet them.

     Fast forward to summer 2010. I took a trip to Arizona to meet my blogging friend Naomi. I spent around a month out there - it was my first experience with being away from home for an extended time and pretty much my first time traveling alone. And? I *loved* it.

      Last summer I went to work at Grand View Camp in Arizona, spending yet more time away from home. That's sort of when I started to realize that "home" wasn't really where I lived anymore. It was more of a stopping place to come back to when there was nowhere else to be. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and friends in Colorado and I always miss them when I'm gone. I just began to feel that there was something more waiting for me somewhere - I just couldn't find it.

     A month after returning home from camp, I left yet again. This time I went to Wisconsin to meet another blog friend: Lydia. I spent three wonderful (and way too short!) weeks with Lydia and her husband Doug. I was so sad to leave and started to make plans to return as soon as possible. We even discussed the option of my moving to Kentucky with Doug and Lydia.

     Back home in October, I spent lots of time with various friends and applied for multiple jobs. Nothing came together, though. I began to think that all I needed was to get a very temporary job to make enough money to get back to Wisconsin. Viola! A job opened up for me to house-sit for three weeks. I stayed home for a month after the job so that my mom could go on vacation, then high-tailed it back to Wisconsin. Where I fell even more deeply in love with life. haha It was so good to be away from the city! Not to mention that the more I got to know people, the more I liked them. =) So I decided that I wanted to stay.

     Unfortunately, I had already signed a contract to work at Grand View again this summer. I tossed around the idea of backing out, but decided that I could wait a few months to make my Wisconsin residency official. Not to mention that I really like camp!

     Yesterday I arrived in Virginia to meet my friend JoAnna in person. I will be here for a few weeks until her wedding. After that, I'll trot back to Colorado for a few days before it's time for camp. Lord willing, I'll be back in Wisconsin in August! My friend Joyce and I have already picked out a cute little apartment to rent together. 

     I am so excited about my life right now! And I am so thankful that God has worked everything out so smoothly! I never would have thought when I started talking to people online all that time ago that it would eventually lead to an open door for me to start out on my own. I am also glad that I could take so many trips to get used to being away from my family before I actually move out.

     So... That's the latest in my life! I hope that I'll get to meet a few more blog friends in the future!
 

Vente

Time to cross something else off of the good ol' bucket list! And time to update my readers on where I'm at!

On Tuesday morning I boarded the bus bound for Milwaukee. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a trip! Wisconsin is lovely in the spring! I had so many mixed emotions about leaving, but I'll explain all of that another time. =) This post is about number 20 on my bucket list: Take a trip by train

In Milwaukee I switched from the bus to the train. The first part of my train trip was relatively short, going from Milwaukee to Chicago. Once I boarded in Chicago, though, I spend the next 21 and a half hours on the train. I learned a lot in that time. lol

First off, trains *are* better than buses. Traveling by bus feels like you're traveling mostly with lower class or even low-life people. Traveling by train feels more upper class. Even if not all of the passengers were high class people, they behaved like they were! (Read: much less swearing, no smoking, etc)

One problem that I had with the train was the price of food and such. I didn't bring as many snacks with me as I should have. I spent $6 on a tiny pizza. So on my next train trip I am going to pack more of my own food and definitely bring a couple of bottles of my own water.

Another thing that I learned is that if you want to be on time, Amtrak is probably not the best way to travel. My train ended up being over an hour late pulling into Charlottesville. The people working on the train as well as other passengers confirmed that this was normal. Apparently, the only destination that they make on time is either Philly or DC.

For overnight traveling, I really think that it depends on circumstances. If you can only have one seat to yourself, trains win for comfort. But if the seat next to you is empty, I was actually more comfortable on the bus than on the train. I suppose it really varies, though. Different buses/trains have different seats.

Trains definitely win in the luggage department. The first three checked bags are free, unlike buses and airlines. HUGE bonus there! They also transfer your luggage for you, while Greyhound does not. I found that to be very nice. It's not always fun to be lugging around two suitcases along with whatever carry-on items. Furthermore, Amtrak treated my luggage a lot better. With the exception of one of my suitcase handles getting ripped, my bags were fine. Whereas Greyhound? Don't even get me started. Mom and Dad bought me a great luggage set for Christmas and the bus trip was my first time to use it. Both suitcases suffered various rips and tears as well as getting completely filthy.

So that's the run-down on my recent travel experiences! I'm going to go see if I can get a few other posts in the works and get back into blogging!

If I Believed in Reincarnation...

If I believed in reincarnation, I would be absolutely certain that I was a girl who lived in Europe during WW2. The type of girl that hung out with the American military all of the time. It is absolutely ridiculous how many old guys come up to me and say, "You remind me of a girl I knew way back in..."

It has happened at church. It has happened in stores (especially Vitamin Cottage for some reason...). It has happened at restaurants. And yesterday when I was out for a walk, I got cat calls from an old guy! =O

Maybe I just have a really common face? haha I really don't know what to think. Do old guys just say that to every girl? I'm not really annoyed by it. Some of them are very grandfatherly and sweet. They are total gentlemen who just can't help but remark on the resemblance that they see. Only once or twice have I actually been a little uncomfortable and wondered if a guy was losing his mind.

Since I don't believe in reincarnation, I suppose I'll have to settle for the "common face" answer for now.

The Ring

[[Special thanks to my dear friend Sarah who helped me to realize that I'm okay in real life and not "so much better as a blog"]]

There are moments in life that we all look forward to. As kids we itch with anticipation if we have just a little money to spend or we count days until our birthday or Christmas. Then we get older and get excited about driving or getting a job or graduating. For a girl, though, there's one dream that she hangs on to from the time she's very small. Every girl, at some point in her life, thinks of her Prince Charming.

Unfortunately, a lot of girls think that once she finally has her man, life will be perfect. But there's enough people out there talking about that problem. I, for one, have seen a slightly different problem. Even girls who are completely aware that life will still have ups AND downs seem to want a lover too desperately.

Why?

I think I figured it out because I started feeling the same way. My thoughts one day were along these lines: "I know that life won't be perfect when I'm married. It might even be more difficult. But I Must. Get. Married!" As soon as I had the thought, I wondered why I felt that way. I have the most incredible life ever! I have been blessed with so many friends around the country, so many opportunities to do things that I might not be able to do if I had a husband.

As happy as I am with my life, why did I feel like I needed to change it?

Change. That's the key word. See, so many people that I know (including myself) are constantly trying to change themselves to fit in better with their friends, family, church, and/or coworkers. We have so many people that love us, but we second guess ourselves and think, "They only tolerate me. I need to ________ if I want to keep their friendship." We're haunted by the fact that people can just walk away without thinking about it when it would leave us devastated. Especially when it has happened before, the fear that it could happen again makes us sick.

That's why, in my mind, I needed a guy to marry me. Because some day he would get down on one knee and tell me that I was good enough just the way I was. Because he would put a ring on my finger that said to the world, "flaws and all, I want to share the rest of my existence with this woman."

I don't need that, though! I'm not saying that I don't ever want to get married. I'm just saying that I don't have to have a ring on my finger to prove anything to myself or to anyone else. I don't choose to spend a lot of time with people I don't like, so why would anyone else do that? If the people who spend time with me are at all like me, then the very fact that they choose to put up with me means that they care about me.

So the ring? Yeah, it'll be cool to have one some day. And it'll be nice to show the world that some guy loves me enough to claim me as his own. But until then? I'm just me, and even if I have room to grow, I'm blessed with many friends who think that I'm "good enough" the way I am.

More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

I am by no means a world traveler, yet in the past few years I have seen a few different cultures in my treks across these United States. Even though I have spent the majority of my time with other "normal" Americans, I always find it fascinating how differently people live.

There are certain things that we all do all of the time. Basic things, but there are so many ways to accomplish one goal. I love to study how people live and how they make their lives work out. I like to see if one way of doing something is any better than another. If you are not like that, this post will probably be rather boring to you!

Dirty dishes. They are a part of life for every person I know. But there are so many ways to deal with them! (Other than letting them sit for an age and a day) Here are a few of the methods I have seen:

1: "They were never dirty" method. As soon as you have a stack of dishes, dump them in a sink, wash them, dry them, and put them away as quickly as possible. This will leave your kitchen counters clean and make it look like you never used the dishes to start with!

2: "Kill 'it' before 'it' kills you" method. Wash every fleck of food off of your dishes, then let them soak in a sanitizing sink for a minute or two. After this, place them in a sanitized rack to dry. NO TOWELS. TOWELS HAVE CONTAMINATION!

3: "All about the bubbles" method: No sink full of water here! Squirt a little dish soap into your rag, wash a dish. Rinse the dish. Repeat. Again. And again. And again. Because you have nothing better to spend your money on than dish soap.

4: "Pre-Caveman" method: The nice thing about this method is that you don't really need any tools. These people just need soap and water in their sink. They use their fingers and fingernails to get the dishes clean, then stack them in the other sink to dry. (No drying rack) This, my friends, will totally creep out the "kill it before it kills you" type because 'no sink is ever clean even if it looks clean'... =P

5: "It's all food anyhow" method: If you used that pot for gravy and let it sit all night, that's fine. Gravy is edible. Go ahead and make your oatmeal in the same pot in the morning. You'll eventually wash the pot when it's actually necessary.

Which method do you use? I think that my method is sort of a combination of the above. =) 

Now aren't you looking forward to my post on ways to brush teeth? 

P. S. A couple of these are slightly exaggerated for affect. I'm not picking on anybody! =D

Yumminess =D

Last Saturday I had a lot of fun helping prepare food for a baby shower. We made some pretty delicious food, in my opinion!

Wafers with cream cheese and fruit Yummo!

Pickle Pinwheels =D

Mini tacos - made in those scoop chips

Fruit kabobs 

Veggie kabobs and dip (am I spelling kabob right? lol)

Cupcakes!

Pigs in blankets

Punch

Bacon and cheese... with the cheese on the extra-melty side =P

I love making food! It can be every bit as much fun as eating the food later! =D I am definitely going to save a few of these ideas and use them again later.  :-)

Ninety-Six

I just re-read part of my bucket list. Some of that stuff is quite silly. hahaha I do like Adam 12, but why do I want to watch all of the episodes before I die?! What. Ever.

Anyhow, I checked something else off of my list! =) Number 96 -Try cotton candy. I survived 20 years just fine without it, but I thought that it was a part of "normal" American life that I should try at least once, so I put it on my list. ;) One of my birthday presents from Lydia was a bag of the fluffy insulation-type candy. =D

My thoughts? It was good, but I'm never going to crave it or anything. I prefer to be able to chew on any non-liquids that I put in my mouth. lol

Anyhow, I would definitely try it again - especially if I was at an amusement park or something! But if I'm going to go buy candy for myself, I'll stick with York, Jr. mints, and gummy worms. =)

Three Things Monday

1. Wind

I love wind. I have a friend who is completely terrified of it, but I *love* it! The quiet, peaceful breeze or the wild, tearing gusts. They both make me happy - though in different ways!

My favorite wind is in the mountains when you can hear it before you feel it. =D

2. Long Walks

Healthy. Relaxing. My favorite time to pray. Not to mention that it's downright beautiful if I'm walking in the right place! =D

3. High Places

I love to be able to look down on everything so teeny tiny below. And the wind is windier on top of  a mountain. ;)

One thing about heights, though? I like them as long as the descent is rational. As I've mentioned before, the Tower of Doom was one of the scariest experiences of my 20 years of life. I loved the being up high part, but the drop? NOT something I care to repeat! 

Any Other Name

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - Anne Shirley disagreed with this statement and I just might be inclined to side with her. Names really do affect our perception of things and people.

Take, for instance, the name Ian. I don't want to offend anyone with this name, but the truth is that I have yet to meet an Ian that I like. Hollywood seems to agree with me, too. Think about it!

Ian Hawke: The antagonist in the chipmunk movies

Ian Howe: Antagonist in National Treasure

 Ian Bowles: Not as bad as Ian Howe, but he's just a jerk! (From Emily of New Moon)

Ian Edgerton: Okay, this guy is actually rather cool, but he definitely has issues! I know that he wants the best, but the way he goes about it... 

So... An Ian by any other name would probably be a better person. Based on my experience. =P 

71

Wow... It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated, but here is one of the blog posts that was supposed to come right after my wonderful birthday! =)

I'm sure that you all are familiar with my bucket list since I've mentioned it several times, so may I now direct you to #71 on said list? Because I can cross it off now! =)

A very cool person not only got me goldfish... but a snail, too! I never even thought about having a pet snail, but I *love* my snail. I call him Secretariat. My sister suggested the name and I think that it's "epic" to use today's vernacular. lol

Unfortunately, the goldfish part of this story is not as epic as my snail's name. You see, I do not at present have a living goldfish. Five goldfish have died in my fishbowl. *sniffle* I think that there must be something wrong with the water - my fish must be drowning! Actually, I have no idea what is wrong. I feel horrible for the poor fish! I read online that most of Walmart's goldfish are sold as food for bigger fish, so I'm trying to comfort myself with the thought that these fish were most likely going to die anyhow. It still makes me sad, though.

So... I have owned a goldfish and can cross that off of my list, even though it was a brief experience. And I happen to think that Secretariat is the coolest snail ever, so I'm very happy in spite of the fishy circumstances. =D

 Secretariat speeding across the bridge

 The big goldfish whom I was thinking of calling Dodger

Birthday Happinesses

Yesterday was such a great day! I am so blessed! My phone kept buzzing all day long as friends and family called and texted to wish me a happy birthday. Thanks so much, everybody! <3

Some of the best parts of my birthday will be in an upcoming post after I load some pictures. For now, I'm just going to say that my friends are too good to me and that I had a lovely day. =D

Oh, and we watched this really cute movie called Pizza My Heart. It's kind of a spin off of Romeo and Juliet - with a happy ending, of course!

It was cute and funny and clean... Yay! =) I thought that the girl in the movie was really cute. The guy wasn't all bad, either. ;)

Anyhow... more to come later on! =D

Bus Stories

6:15 Monday morning... Alan Menken's Enchanted Suite woke me up to quite an array of thoughts.

1. I still want to be asleep
2. I love this song!
3. I need to be ready to go in 45 minutes... no snooze button!

I took a quick shower, threw a few last-minute things into my suitcase, said goodbye to the fam, and headed out the door! Dad and I arrived at the greyhound station at 8 something. My bus was supposed to leave at 9, but there were mechanical issues and we didn't pull out until 9:45.

I have very little good to say about the first part of my trip, so I probably shouldn't say much at all. Let me just say that the bus was crowded, people kept ignoring the "No Smoking" and "No Foul Language" rules, and the atmosphere was just generally not cool. I was able to talk to an older lady and help her out at a couple of stops as well as sleep a bit, so it wasn't ALL bad. But I was quite relieved when we got to Kansas City and lost the majority of the smokers and all of the ex-cons. (One of whom I'm under the impression wasn't supposed to be leaving Colorado.........)

In Kansas City I went to claim my bags and found that only one of the two had been taken off of the bus. I asked a guy to help me, but he brushed me off. What's with that? I decided that if he was going to be an ornery jerk about it, I wasn't going to be pushy. But neither was I going to walk off without my bag. I stood there as everyone else took their luggage and left. Another guy saw me standing there and asked if I was waiting for something. I explained that one of my bags was still on the bus, so he went digging through the rest of the luggage until he found it. Now that is the type of person that greyhound should be hiring all of the time!

My layover in Kansas City was supposed to be 4 hours, but since we were running so far behind it was only three. I was very thankful for that because my past experiences with long layovers hasn't been so great... My time in Kansas City was actually pretty good, though! I talked to this one guy for awhile... I have no clue what his name is, but we had a pleasant conversation about a wide variety of things. =) It definitely helped to pass the time! I also read books and played games on my kindle.

The Story of the Sleepy Girl and the Indian Man

Once I boarded my next bus and it didn't look like it would be too crowded, I stretched out over two seats and went to sleep. I was sleeping pretty peacefully when someone nudged my foot. I opened my eyes to see this old Indian man leaning over me.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah." I answered groggily. Did I look dead to him or something?
He left and I went back to sleep. A bit later *nudge* there he was again.
"We're stopped. Aren't you going to get off?"
"No, but thanks for checking." I went back to sleep.
*NUDGE*
"You should eat something. You should get something to eat. Or I can get you something."
WHAT IS WITH THIS GUY?!
"No, thank you! I'm fine." I said. I was starting to wonder when he was getting off. Oh, and for the record, all of this was happening at 2:30, 3:00, and so on. Not exactly normal eating hours on my schedule!
We continued down the road and I was still asleep when I suddenly jerked awake because someone's hand was in my hair. By the time I sat up and turned around, I couldn't tell who had been there. I don't know if it was someone who was feeling their way to the bathroom or if it was the Indian guy... but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't the Amish kid behind me. lol

My last transfer was in Minneapolis. I got off of my bus and walked into the terminal. I had just found my next bus, which was already loading, when this guy came and tapped me on the shoulder. I was quite afraid that my Indian friend was back, but it was a young man this time. "Hey," he said, handing me his ticket, "Are we on the same bus?"
I glanced at his ticket and handed it back. "Um, yes."
"Thanks! I can't figure this stuff out."
Illiterate, much? hahaha Anyhow, he got on the bus and sat behind me, but he didn't talk to me any more. I was a little relieved... I'd dealt with enough strange guys on the rest of the trip.

Nothing else exciting happened until the excitement of arriving safely at my destination. =D So here I am, safe and happy! <3

Road Trip Bars

I couldn't find a simple recipe that sounded delicious, so I sort of made up my own. I thought that they turned out really yummy, so here's the gist of what I did:

1 1/2 cups quick oats
1/4 cup each of walnuts, dried cranberries, and mini chocolate chips
a little less than a tablespoon of dried coconut
4 tablespoons honey

mix together... if it doesn't stick enough, add more honey. Bake 15-20 minutes (or until edges are starting to brown) in a greased 8x8 pan. Let sit. Cut into bars and enjoy!

I thought that this flopped because I didn't let them sit long enough. They just fell apart and looked like granola. When I came back later, though, the ones that I hadn't touched were perfect bars! Yummo!

My bus trip went pretty well... I'll try to post more details on that soon!

Tata for now!

Three Things Monday

One thing that I absolutely love is the thought that when this post posts I will be on a bus on my way to Wisconsin!

Three other things that make me happy are:

Matryoshka Dolls

The painting jobs on these dolls are so wonderful!

&&&

Baby Toes -Awwww!!!

&&&

This recipe

MMMMMMmmmmmMMMMMM

Happy Inside Out

     I am so excited about how the next few months of my life are looking! In case I don't have opportunity to post much, here's the plan...

     On Monday I am boarding the bus for Wisconsin. I will be there in WI until mid-April and then... TATADA!!! I get to cross something off of my bucket list by taking the train to Virginia! I will be there for a few weeks to help a dear friend of mine prepare for her wedding. :) I plan to return to Colorado the second week of May. I won't be back for long, though! My travels will take me (almost immediately) to Arizona for another summer at Grand View Camp!

     So yeah... *very* exciting!

     By the way, I watched Dolphin Tale this weekend. It was a pretty good movie!

     There is something so magical about sea creatures. It must have been great for the actors to get to be with the dolphins! I quite envy them. Ish. =P

     Anyhow... I should get to bed. I hope to be able to post while I'm gone, but I really don't know what to expect. We'll see!