Road Trip II

I leave bright and early for the long, straight road of I-5.  Thank goodness I brought my iPod because I didn't know when I flew into Phoenix that I would be driving back and thus, no road trip cds.  And a road trip without good music would be HORRID.  Horrid, I say.  This reminds me, I don't think I posted about the first drive to Oregon and all of the wonderful mixed cds I got from friends.  I really should post more on this here blog.  You'd think with bein' unemployed and all I'd have time, but nope, not so much. 

Just after

"I do not know which to prefer,

the beauty of inflections,

Or the beauty of innuendoes,

The blackbird whistling,

Or just after."

I can't remember where I read this, or who it's by, but it seems like it came from a book, maybe Ann Lamott-ish.  At any rate, I really like it.  And I think I would say just after is my favorite!

Going green, literally

So, thanks to a little someone also named Katie (because her mom has good taste like that) I did not paint my walls yellow.  She subtly suggested that in combination with my brown furniture my apartment would be the colors often found in a toilet.  Although I really liked the cheery yellow wall idea I knew I wouldn't be able to see my living room the same ever again, so I decided on Mardi Gras Green when I found it online.  Then I went to the store to pick up the paint chip and totally panicked!  It was a lot bolder than I pictured and chickened out and took the way lighter paint sample to my local Miller's to get no VOC paint ("green" green paint - get it! ha!).  I was totally kicking myself as soon as I got one wall section painted, shoulda stuck with the first choice.  Folks, they call this color Everglade Glen.  I call it neon fucking green, but whatever.

This one time I moved to Portland...

I love this place.  The last two days have been trying and exhausting, but also a ton of fun and I'm learning about my new neighborhood and I love it.  As I type this I'm eating a grilled cheese from my what is likely to be my new fave hangout.  It's the same place I had the weird encounter last winter with the guy who made me notes on his theory about the end of the world and how it was coming soon... dun-dun-duuuun.  I should tell that story sometime.  Anyway, I just spent the entire afternoon painting my living room bright green.  Seriously, have you seen the bright green boxes they paint on the street for drivers to be aware of bikers before they turn?  Yeah.  That green.  It's just a little preparation for the dreary winters, because you just go ahead and try and be sad when you're in a room this color!  Right now I should be packing for my crack o' dawn flight to Phoenix, so I'm going to go do that.  See ya'll soon!  I'll bring pictures.

It's fun to play with kids, and then give them back to the parents when you're done

I have had so much fun the last couple of days! Tonya, Will and I decided spur of the moment to go to the beach yesterday. Watching Will toddle around in the sand and put his feet in the water was so cute. To see the wonder and excitement rolling around in his little head was priceless. And then there was the aquarium. Fishes! Fishes! Fishes! Kids get SO excited, and I kept thinking all day how Jesus tells us to be like these little ones.

Tonight I got to hang out with the Davis kids while their parents had a night out, and let me tell you, I am beat. The whole fam went to the pool this afternoon after school, then we came back to the house and ate pizza and watched The Bee Movie, then rode bikes outside, played on the swings, played pickle (where I learned I can actually throw and catch a baseball - yay!), caught frogs, watched High School Musical 2 (gag, btw). I can hardly keep up with these kids, but they are so much fun!

Tomorrow I get to go to Lucy's first birthday party! It's so wonderful to be around all these happy little kiddos!

Just a little story with a rant thrown in because it's my blog

So my friend, Kel, did a sweet thing for me when I was getting ready to leave on the mission to Africa.  She thought of something personal & meaningful to give me as an encouragement, rather than going out & buying something trivial.  You see when she was leaving for England I gave her this cheesy magnet.  I knew that it may have seemed silly and cheap to her, but I risked giving it anyway because it was something special to me.  A very special friend had given it to me once, and it said something about not knowing where life is going, but you can always trust in the Lord.  I think it was ceramic & had a butterfly on it.  Maybe not a piece of decor exactly, but it was meaningful and a wonderful reminder to me on many rough days, so it was the significance more than the magnet that I wanted to pass on to my friend.  So I was touched when she passed on a book to me that had been special to her.

It traveled to Africa with me, but I must admit I couldn’t read it.  Those ten days were filled with so much emotion that I couldn’t process, I didn’t dare pick up that book for fear that it could send me right over the edge.  But now I’m sitting here in Oregon, waiting... waiting for the keys to my apartment, waiting for a call back on a job, waiting to find new church, waiting to meet new people, just waiting.  So I picked up the book.  It’s one I’ve heard of before, but hadn’t ever looked at.  It’s coauthored by John Eldridge and I’ve read several other books by him that I loved, but that was several years ago and my relationship with God and my perspective of Christianity has changed drastically since then.  I was worried I wouldn’t really get into it too much.  Every little bit, like I do with everything these days, I’ll pause and wonder, but how would this related to someone in a village in Malawi... and how can it be relevant if it doesn’t?  We are ALL created in God’s image.

[Rant ahead, you may want to skip the next paragraph.]

And so this is my latest struggle with being American.  I’m so focused on my life, where I live, where I work, what church I will attend and worship God, how I am growing in my relationship with Him, am I good enough, do I reduce reuse recycle enough, should I return that mattress foam topper because it’s not environmentally friendly and I’m being a brat that the free bed I got is too hard?  Gag.  The people I met are spending more of their day walking to get clean water, harvesting the food they are going to cook over a fire, and hoping to keep themselves and their children alive, and I’m shopping for bed foam.  But this is the society I live in.  I don’t know anyone here who has to struggle with getting clean water.  I’ve been buying mine in bottles at Costco for the last ten years.  How do I live and function in this society, and not just pray for Africa, but really help Africa?  How can they not just look at all of us and shake their heads in pity of our selfish meaninglessness?

[End rant.]

That aside, I must say this book has really gripped me.  I don’t know if God is just trying to be funny with His timing or if He’s really about to rock my world in a way I wasn’t expecting.  But this book is about the fourth instance in a row that has made me think hmm, could it be?  nah, huh-uh... well, maybe? about my future.  Haven’t I had enough major life changes lately?  Can’t I just chill in Portland for a while?  But on the other hand, do I really want to?  Isn’t God’s plan always crazy, but end up being way better?!  Maybe I just have an overactive imagination.

Just can't stay away

My former boss left me a voicemail asking if he could fly me back to Phoenix for a week to work.  It's nice to be wanted!  So, I'll be enjoying the sunshine again soon and seeing friends!  It still feels like I'm just on vacation.

Cynical in the city

I arrive to my 5:20 apartment viewing and buzz the manager, she says it will be just a few minutes. A girl walks up and says she is there to view as well (weird!) so I tell her the manager will be here shortly and attempt to make small talk. I asked her if she had been looking long and she said no. I told her I had only been looking a couple of days, and how I can't believe how competitive it is in this area and that everything goes so quickly - like within hours! We chatted a little bit about the neighborhood and then walk up two more girls to view the place. This is crazy, I think to myself. Then the manager unlocks the door. All three girls walk in ahead of me. Huh, okay. Before I even get all the way into the apartment the first girl turns to the manager and says, "I'll take it! Who do I make the check out to?"

Betch. I cannot believe she walked in in front of me and snagged it before I even saw it! Although it was hard to blame her. The apartment was amazing... but still! Unbelievable.

Eye encounter

"Them your eyes?"

I look around, I'm the only other person in the elevator, and not sure why the eyes in my head would belong to someone else, so I respond, "Yeah."

"Well, I just mean, you know how some people have them contacts to change the eyes."

"Oh, yeah.  These are really mine."

"Them nice!" he says and starts to exit the elevator, then pauses and stares at me, "Mmm... I could look into them eyes all day!"

"Uh... thanks?"

The routine

Find coffee shop with WiFi, buy a drink, look for apartment listings.

Go look at an apartment.

Choke back the tears because the apartment won't work and now I have to pee.

Find a coffee shop with bathroom, buy a drink, look for more apartment listings.

It's a never ending cycle, I buy a drink to pee and then I pee because I bought another drink.  I better find something soon, I can't afford this!

Proof Positive

I must really belong in Africa... today I pulled out on the road and was driving on the left side.  I didn't even realize I had done that until the person in on coming traffic pulled over and watched me go by.  Bless their heart, they were so nice about it.  Didn't even give me the finger or honk the "hooter".