i hate running

not really, but i'm feeling quite dramatic right now.

today i tried out my 4 mile run that jaws & i neglected during our vaca last weekend. it started out fantastically. the route was (relatively) flat, i had been hydrating all day, it was the perfect amount of time between meals that i felt energized but not full...it seemed that the stars had aligned.

then i hit some major hills, nearly got run over by a car, and then got lost!

by the time i realized that i had missed my turn, i was waaaay out of the way and ended up adding an extra 2 mile loop to the run.  needless to say that i walked it.

so, i'm feeling discouraged. i thought i was gonna have a great 4 mile run to brag about, but instead i got sore legs and major thirstyness.

if this is how dramatic i feel after 4 miles (or 6), i'm gonna be a MAJOR diva after 13.1

sigh.

update: to the person who got to my blog by googling the phrase "do real runners laugh at 13.1 stickers?":
i would say no, no they don't.

on a lighter note...

i'm going to the beach!

tonight i'm having an early memorial day cookout with momma

then it's off to the beach with jaws & his fam.

see y'all next week! happy memorial day!

p.s. can you tell i'm excited to eat that watermelon?

this post is long overdue

she's going to kill me for posting this...

 i don't want to exaggerate, because then A MILLION people will be all worried, but last week was really one of the worst weeks i've ever experienced.

cliff notes version, my sis was in the hospital for some of last week with kidney stone number 3.  every time it would seem like she was getting better, that gosh darn stone would start moving again.  it felt like the nightmare that would never end.


anyhows, during this week, i kept praying and praying, but seemingly NOTHING changed. i mean, clearly, she got better since she's back to work and stuff, but it didn't feel like my prayers were heard or acknowledged at all.

i don't believe we should be whiny toddlers when God doesn't answer prayers they way we wanted him to; HOWEVER, i feel frustrated that we're supposed to come to him with our troubles and he didn't seem to be listening to mine.  what's the point in praying then?

so i got to this point in writing the post and couldn't think of anything else to say.  i really wanted to come up with some neat conclusion, something that would keep this post from sounding like I was saying that prayer is pointless (which is NOT what i'm saying), but I couldn't come up with anything.  so i let it sit till i found this...

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

2 Conrinthians 12:9

i was reminded of why i write about spiritual things on this blog.  it's not so that i can share some sort of deep wisdom or theology with you, cause we all know i'm not qualified to do that.  it's because i want this to be a real blog.  i want other believers to know that it's okay to struggle and i want my friends who aren't to know that the Christian life isn't about being perfect.

so i'm boasting in my weakness. i don't have an answer to this insecurity (yet!), but in my weakness, His power is all the more evident.

bird war!

i don't know if i've mentioned the evil demon bird that lives outside my apartment before, but alas, there is one.  this spawn of satan poops on my car

every.

         single.

                     day.

i've started parking in the street to avoid him. yes, i have been exiled from the driveway that i pay to park on by a bird.  this bird makes me rue the day that i became a wildlife biologist.

anyway, my mom threw conservation to the wind and went out and shook this out of our tree.

no birds were harmed in the making of this photo

so at last i thought it would be safe to park in my spot again.  in my jubilation, i even washed my car until it was squeaky clean.  then today, i saw this:

dun.

      dun.

             dun.

it's on, bird.

oh yeah, it's on.

dirty hair

friends:
i am in the process of writing a deep post with musings about hospitalization and the meaning of prayer, but while i'm formulating those deep thoughts, i wanted to share with you this little convo that lacey & i had yesterday:

me: i'm trying this new thing where i only wash my hair every other day.

lms: ew. why?

me: ...well it saves me a lot of time...you know...i'm not spending 30 minutes drying and straightening...it saved me so much time on saturday!

lms: you're unemployed. what are you doing with your time that couldn't be better spent cleaning your hair?

touche, lacey. touche.


whatever. i'm sticking to it.

living the life (girls night edition)

Remember my awesome cousin Sumer ?  Thursday, LMS and I went to Charlotte for a girls night with her friends. First of all, let me say that 'cabo fish taco' is the most delicious restaurant in all the land (or the Charlotte metro area).  We ended up piling into the mini-van (mom's night out rides in style) and cruising through the city.  at one point, we realized that you CAN'T close mini-van doors while in drive, but we were already in the middle of the street, so we drove around downtown with the Oddessy doors open, emergency alarm beeping, and kids music blaring.

By the time we got there, I had to pee in a MAJOR way and so did LMS, but we found that 'cabo taco' didn't feel that STALLS were necessary in their restroom facilities. I had to go so bad that I almost considered it, but LMS was a dear and let me go ahead.

also, i witnessed someone using a breast pump for the first time ever.  you learn lots of things when most of your friends are older than you. 

if you're ever in charlotte, go to 'cabo fish taco' and get the bbq mahi tacos. you won't regret it.

living the life

here are 3 ridiculous things that happened to me today:

uno.   i went to food lion to get boxes for moving and they gave me banana boxes, which are awesome because they're sturdy and have handles that are helpful for weaklings; however, 2 hours into packing my winter clothes, i realized that the whole room smelled like a dirty famer's market at the end of the afternoon. (ew).  6 hours later, the smell has reached the kitchen and front door.

dos.  not showering until 5pm.  unemployment is pretty awesome. i can be productive and not have to look presentable.

tres.   i stopped by walmart for a few staples on my way to run.  whilst navigating towards the conditioner aisle to grab the ONE THING i needed, i found candy on sale for 98 cents, so naturally i bought some...and ate it...on the way to the greenway to run. 2 miles later, i was definitely regretting the cheap milkduds.


ridiculous.

turkey-spinach lasagna

  Yesterday was a frustrating day to cook.  I was trying to find a recipe for some sweet comfort food for a friend, but we were out of sugar and making comfort food without sugar is dang near impossible.

  I randomly picked up a Women's Day magazine we had laying around and there were recipes for using up leftover turkey, which was perfection considering that my mom roasted a turkey last week and we have tons of it still in the fridge! 

It's healthy, tasty, and it keeps in the fridge, so you've got dinner for the rest of the week.

Here's how you do it:

(un)productivity

4 years later aaaaaand you're qualified to answer phones...

 Today was my first official day of unemployment, which was (expectedly) sad and unproductive.  I had a very, very long to-do list of things that sickness, employment, and loooooooove have prevented me from accomplishing over the past 3 weeks, but actually, I did very little of it.

It's bittersweet to be finishing with my year of ministry and moving on. It's also frustrating to have a very expensive piece of paper hanging on the wall in my room that says i should be qualified for a job, but to receive rejection after rejection.

I didn't really intend for this post to turn into a rant about my employment frustrations. I truly honestly know that big J has it under control.  If I learned anything at all from the whole Sweden debacle, it's that God knows best.  He's never done me wrong, never let a bill go unpaid, and never given me anything that I couldn't handle, but there are still moments where I think "grrrrrrrrrrrrr i hate this" and proceed to throw myself a really fancy pity party.

On a positive note: I got out and ran for the first time in a week and it was so. nice. I'm so impatient to up my distance so that I can feel like a real runner (sorry, JP!), but it was fantastical to get back out after a week of tissues and dayquil, even if it was only 1.5 miles. :) Unemployment or not, I'm a lucky girl.

Night, y'all.

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with your counsel, and afterward

you will take me into glory.  Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

Psalm 73:23-25