Blogiversary

Monday is my one year blogiversary. I must admit, I enjoy blogging a lot more than I thought that I would. It's so neat to look back over the past year and see all of the places I've been, the things I've learned, people I've seen and how I've grown.

Believe it or not, here are all of the places I've been in the past year - Orlando, Florida; Galveston, Houston, Amarillo, Dallas and El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Missourri; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C.; New York City, New York; and Taipei, Taiwan. (I provided links so you can read about the adventures you may have missed out on!)

Some other big changes include a job promition to Director of Media Relations, moving offices from the Harrison House to Packer, moving out of my apartment and into a house with a new roommate and my family moving from Canyon to El Paso.

I feel like this past year I have grown a lot in my relationship with the Lord. I'm learning more about who God is and how He loves me. I'm also working on figuring out His plan for my life. That's definitely a process that I know will continue the rest of my life, but God's given me a new confidence in who I am in Him, which has really changed my perspective.

Lots of new people have come into my life - new friends, a new pastor in my church, a new president at my school, a new Sunday School class.

Not to mention I joined the Quarter Century Club in November - being 25 has rocked my world! I'm in my mid-twenties. Whoa.

It's definitely been a pretty big year in the life of me! Thanks for being a part of it! I look forward to the next year of blogging - sharing about my trips, my thoughts on God and life in general, updates and just for fun stuff too.

So, here follow me as my Tales of Wanderlust continue...

Don't Forget the Frozen Custard!

I spent my Labor Day weekend in wonderful Wisconsin. It was so much fun to be back in the cheese state with the friends that I love so much! I got in around 9 on Friday night and had a very grown-up experience as I rented a car for the first time. For some reason, it made me feel like such an adult to fly into Millwaukee, rent a car and drive around. I spent Friday night with my "church" friend Erin Soderburg. When I lived up there I had my "school" friends and my "church" friends -both groups were amazing and had profound impacts on my life. Erin lives near the UWM campus and we had spent the night catching up on each other and everyone we know. Saturday morning we walked to a Brugger's bagels a few blocks from her apt - which was wonderful! This was my mom's request for my trip - to eat at Bruggers - and it was just as good as I remembered.

Then, I headed to Jen McT's house for a bit before we went downtown to meet Courtney. Jen and I didn't stop talking from the minute I got to her house to the minute we met Courtney - which was really funny because we didn't even really discuss plans, I just followed Jen around figuring it out as we went. :) Court lives in this really neat apartment complex that was built in the 1930s. My favorite part of her apt was her toilet, because, if you look closely, you can see "Erie" on it. She said as soon as she saw that, she knew this was the place for her. Haha. So random, but so fun! The three of us took off on a walking tour of downtown - which amazingly I have never done before! Court and Jen were great tour guides - telling me all about the statues, Cathedrals, City Hall, and pretty much everything we saw. We just happened to see JP II (Pope John Paul II) which was just perfect since I decided in high school that I was going to be the first woman, Southern Baptist, American, English speaking Pope. We also ran into the bronze Fonz, don't ask me why the city decided they needed a bronze statue of the Fonz.

Then we walked along Lake Michigan in this really neat wildflower reserve that they have built behind the SummerFest grounds. It was so beautiful and just the perfect day! Katie met up with us and we headed to the Grand Avenue Mall. That night all of us met up with Chuck and Erin for dinner at Maxie's, a new cajun restaurant in Tosa, which was soo good! We all took a trip down memory lane as we reminised about our days at Tosa East. Of course we then had to get frozen custard - what's a trip to Wisco without that? Then we headed to Chuck and Erin's house where we sat around for hours telling stories and laughing until we almost cried. Jenny P (Erin's twin) was able to come too after she got off of work.

Sunday morning I went to Northwest Baptist Church (the church my dad used to pastor) for the first time in probably 6 or 7 years. They have a new building now and so I had my friend Mandy take me on a tour - which was fun! I felt like I aged 8 years over night as I saw the kids that used to be in the nursery with Madison tower over me, play in the orchestra and drive! Being back there definitely brought tears to my eyes, with memories of the wonderful times I had there, and seeing how far the Lord has taken me since then. That afternoon I met up with Ron and Lynne Crump, my friend Amanda's parents, who I have known since I was three. It was so good to see them, and to see that Ms. Lynne's arm had healed since she broke it at Lorin's wedding. Then I went over to Melanie Strenk's house for a fun party! Here's the guest list: Sherry, George and their kids Shelby and Chase, Scott, Tawny and their kids Sam and Emma, Mel's dad Bill, Scott's mom and brother and then a couple of others. We sat around and talked while the kids played and even celebrated Scott's 30th bday! Sherry, Scott and I were in the youth group together and Mel and Tawny were sweet enough to be friends with me even though I was in high school while they were cool college chicks. It was great seeing them and their kids!

That night I met back up with the Tosa East crew at Katie's house. We sat around her fire pit because amazingly enough it was cool outside! (kind of a shock to my Texas system) I got to meet Katie's boyfriend Filo. Even though we stayed up late, we decided to meet at George Webbs for breakfast on Monday so we could all be together one more time before Jenny had to work. The rest of the morning we spent watching great movie including Anastasia and Enchanted. It was a perfect end to a perfect weekend!

Being back up north brought back lots of memories. Living up there was so different than anything I had known before (or since probably). It was a hard adjustment my first year, as a freshman, but I made amazing friends (all listed above, plus many who are living other places now). The weather was a major adjustment! (who knew snot could freeze in your nose?) I was also challenged spiritually, emotionally and politically. I really had to figure out what I believed and why I believed it, because sometimes, okay A LOT of times, it was different than the majority of the people around me. I know that God had a great thing planned when He brought the Lowrie family up to that cold tundra, and I am a better person for having lived there and met all of the people I know. PS - look on my facebook page for more pics from the weekend.

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Scrub-a-dub-dub - I finally have a new tub! Haha, what I thought was only going to take 2 or 3 days to install, turned into a week and a half. Thankfully, Kristy, Jeff and precious little Tyler were sweet enough to let me shower at their house while I impatiently awaited the completion of my bathroom. While it wasn't fun getting up 30 minutes earlier than usual for all of that time, it was fun to see the Mitchells more often. We ate chocolate chip pancakes, played swords and cars, ran in circles around the living room and had dinner together. Kristy mentioned one day that it was like I was part of the family - which was really sweet! I don't mind being an honorary Mitchell, not one bit!

I am so excited because tomorrow I'm boarding a Midwest flight with the destination of MILWAUKEE! (looking forward to the chocolate chip cookies on board!) I have been on the phone all week making plans with everyone I can think of that is still around. I'm renting a car for the first time in my life, and it's kind of like another sign I'm an adult - as if there aren't enough already. Hopefully I'll be able to find my way around town. Even though this is the place where I learned how to drive, and you would think I would remember everything, we moved pretty soon after I got my license and it's been 8 years now, so we'll see how it goes. I think I have every hour of my 2 1/2 day trip planned out, and I just can't wait! My next blog will be full of pictures and stories of my favorite city in the North. My friends are so precious to me, and I can't wait to see Lake Michigan, Tosa East High School, the village, my old house on Gridley Avenue and visit Northwest Baptist Church for the first time in forever!

Milwaukee Bound

Travel Update: I'm headed to Milwaukee!

Well, it didn't take long for me to find a new place to go! I'm so excited because last night I bought tickets to Milwaukee for Labor Day weekend. It's been a year since I was there for Amanda's wedding and I have missed it so much. I can't wait to see all my old friends and be back in the wonderful state of Wisconsin! It's really amazing how much of an impact living there had on my life in just three years! It's now been 11 years since we moved up there, and it seems like forever ago that we moved back to Texas, but I still have a part of me that will always call Milwaukee home. I was truly blessed with some amazing friendships while I lived there and am so thankful that time and distance haven't changed them. It's fun to plan trips only a month in advance because then I don't have to wait very long until I am actually there. Can't wait!!

Me and my best friends from Tosa East - Court, Steph, Erie, Jen McT, Katie, Vonnie, Jenny P and Erin!