Say Yes to Life

I realize that it has been way too long since I last blogged (maybe 8 months? yikes!) and I don't have any good excuses. So, I'm just going to move forward! :)

The latest thing to happen to me was an awesome four-day weekend with two of my favorite Wisconsonites! Jen McT and Courtney (two of my best friends from high school ... remember that time I lived Up North a long time ago?) came to visit me and we had such an awesome time! We were very, very busy because I had a lot of things to show them!

Here are some of the highlights:

Dallas Day - Thursday


On their first full day in town, we became professional tourists of Dallas. We went to the Sixth Floor Museum and studied the conspiracy theories behind JFK's assassination (so intriguing!), we rode a free trolley through UpTown and saw all of these fun places I need to try, and we went to the Farmer's Market where we bought lots of yummy produce that we cooked with the rest of the time they were here. It was delicious!


Friday

This day I took Jen and Court to Sam Moon. If you haven't ever been here, you should go! It's a huge warehouse type building with every kind of accessory you can imagine. It's a girl's version of heaven on earth. Jen and Court were quite overwhelmed at first, actually they were speechless, which if you know them is hard to imagine. haha. But, they persevered and we spent probably 2 hours in the store perusing hats (I bought a fedora), jewelry, scarves, bags and more. It was great! Then we got lunch and some yummy fro-yo and headed over to DBU so they could see where I work and go to school. DBU is a gorgeous campus and I always love for people to see it! That night we took a chance on an unknown musical and ended up being pleasantly surprised. Bring It On: The Musical was everything we could have hoped for AND more! Danielle came with us and the four of us just grinned from ear to ear during the whole show. The songs were SO good! The dancing was awesome! The stunts were great! It was just fabulous! Seriously!

 
Fort Worth Day - Saturday

On Saturday, I took the girls to Cowtown. We toured the Stockyards, saw cows, visited lots of really cute shops and ate at the Internationally Famous "Cattleman's Restaurant." Then we went over to Sundance Square and walked around. It was a fun, laid-back day! That night we went to Chuy's, which is my favorite Mexican restaurant in town! It is so good! We laughed a lot and enjoyed our last night together. The girls left early Sunday morning. I was so sad to see them go, but so glad we got to spend some much needed time together! I'm so thankful for great friends and I loved showing them a new side of Texas! :) 

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...

Snow in the Wood

As I write this blog I'm sitting on my couch, in my warm, comfy clothes. The heater is running, my iPod is on shuffle, at least 4 inches of snow is covering the ground and I just put down a good book. It doesn't get much better than this!

I love snow! One of all time favorite Gilmore Girls moments is an episode when Lorelei describes her love for snow. It's just such a magical phenomenon (in Texas at least) that is so beautiful, clean and quiet. Snow is calming and comforting to me - plus it is so much fun to play in! This morning, before we closed for the day, I went around and took some pictures of the HPU campus covered in snow. The snow was untouched at the point, because students hadn't gotten out in it yet, and it was breathtaking. Imagine one of your favorite places on earth wrapped in a white blanket - that's what I had the pleasure of seeing!

One of the many reasons I love snow is because it reminds me of living in Wisconsin. I actually wore my snow boots that I bought when I lived up there today and I may have been the only person on campus with warm, dry feet! All of the snow that we have had this year fails to compare to a true Northern winter! I think our first year that we lived there one storm brought 3 feet of snow in one day - THREE FEET! It was incredible! I remember Madie was 4 or 5 and jumped into a big pile in our little front yard. She lost one of her boots and we didn't find it again until 3 months later when all of the snow had finally melted. I actually learned to drive in the snow and I blame my poor parallel parking skills on it. I always end up about a foot away from the curb, which coincidentally is how far the snow stuck out. :) Winterfest, sledding, snow angels and snowball fights, oh it was so much fun!

Snow doesn't slow you down in Wisconsin - you just put on another layer and go on with your day. But in the eyes of a frozen Texan it was so wonderful. If every snow I see for the rest of my life reminds me of Wisconsin, then I will be a happy person!