best job in the world!

within my first year in new york city i met this cool chick named angie. i don't really remember how/when we became friends, but one day we did and now we are. she is a big supporter of my travels and adventures and, even better, she understands them because she is a travel and adventure addict herself.

i love hanging out with angie. she's approachable and quick-witted and easy to talk to. there is never an awkward lull in our conversations because we always have something to discuss, whether it be this season of the bachelor or her way fun job or something one of us has blogged about or where an airplane will take us next.

also, she makes pictures look better because she's so pretty:

not sure what happened, but obviously it was a travesty.

or we're just dramatic.

the reason i'm sharing this with you (yes! i have a point!) is that angie is one of the 50 finalists for the best job in the world. that's 50 out of 34,000 applications. i truly believe that she would be excellent for this job and i'm glad that the judges agree with me.

please head over to the island reef site and cast your vote for angie DAILY for the next 21 days! and you can read more about her australia adventure here.

beautiful

she likes attention. she wants everyone to know she has arrived and causes a commotion as the door to the nail salon swings wide open.

she rolls in slowly with the help of her assistant. she's wearing fur, of course, and tons of jewelry. her face is streaked with too-bright makeup: heavy blush (though she might call it 'rouge'), eyebrows drawn on, lipstick over-lining her lips and dripping into the deep-set wrinkles around her mouth.

she has just had her hair done, and it resembles a style from the 40's. she loves the lavender tulips in a jar by the counter and comments on them more than once.

she is 96 years old. she loves fashion. she is a former model - "i used to be tall!" she says. she's been watching fashion week on television, remembering the old days before "fashion died."

she is beautiful.

i watch in fascination as you engage her in conversation without hesitation. you ask her questions and really listen to her answers. you make eye contact. you treat her gently, like a friend, like someone you truly want to know.

you tell her you love her hair. you respond to her declaration that she used to model with a genuine, "i can tell!" you agree with her that the tulips are an exquisite shade of lavender.

you have 'love' tattooed on the inside of your wrist as if you need a reminder. in this moment, you don't care what is easy for you, you only care about her comfort. You aren't concerned with your own agenda, or your own time - instead, you are attentive to her needs.

you are beautiful.

8675309 JENNY!

i'm back from my self - imposed - not - on - purpose blogging hiatus...after posting 23 DAYS IN A ROW i guess i needed a small break.

i'm breaking the silence to introduce you, my billions of readers (read: ten) to one of my favorite people in the whole world. ever.

jenny wyatt gearhart has started a blog. and y'all, she is one of the funniest people i've ever met. just check out her gynecologist story!

jenny and i have known each other pretty much our whole lives - we grew up together, our moms are friends, etc. but we were in the same sorority in college and because of that special sisterhood (please click that link so you know why i'm being sarcastic) we became really close friends (read: i basically moved in with her and her parents for 2 years...her mom did my laundry!)

i love jenny for so many reasons, and i'm glad that she is choosing to share herself with the internets. i promise, you will be glad too, so go say hi!

top ten reasons i love coming home:

1. spending a significant amt of time with my entire family.

2. i love to drive.

3. celebrating the life of my incredible grandfather!

4. rose (= my blackberry) and ruby (= el's blackberry) got to meet for the first time

5. spending the day in nashville = sushi at pm and cupcakes at gigi's!

6. seeing twilight twice for a fraction of the cost with some of my FAVORITE people

7. sleeping in my own bed

8. attending crosspoint

9. it doesn't hurt wearing heels - the longest i have to walk is to the car :)

10. target and chick fil a!

...it could always be worse...

actual conversation via email with a good friend (aka GF) today:

GF: my mood is even worse today. i'm all grrrr, aaarrgh, and ugh (that means tiger, pirate, and teenage girl). anyway, hope you feeling good today.

ME: i've actually been forcing myself to have a good attitude. i keep telling myself it could be worse...it could be worse...etc....anyway, hang in there buddy. don't lose your grip.

GF:

i'm glad you're working and forcing the good attitude. and you're right it could be much worse.

in fact, let me give you a real life example of how it could be worse....

imagine you're kinda sad/upset/whatever and when you get like that you crave chocolate. so you're sitting at your desk eating...oh, i dunno, let's say you're eating some mini 3 musketeer bars. lunch time rolls around and you're craving the fatty goodness of Cracker Barrel. you hop in your car and head on out thinking of the greasy, gravy-covered, unhealthy that awaits.

just as you're getting out of your car, something catches your eye...something in the crotch area of your pants...oh, it's globs of chocolate that must have fallen into your lap and melted as you munched on your candy bars all morning. great. you feel the mild panic attack swelling as you think, "how long have those spots been there?! who at work has seen them?! did anyone notice?? if so, why didn't they say anything?? oh no...please don't let there be chocolate globs on my butt!!"

despite the fear and embarrassment that is overcoming you, your need for some lunchtime gravy increases to the point where it's overwhelming. so you hop out of your car and sneak into the bathroom to clean your pants and check the rear for any globs/stains. after quickly looking over the front, back, sides, and crotch areas (can't be too conspicuous cuz there's another fellow at the sink), you start calming down cuz it's not as noticeable as you feared. so you trot off to your table, at the back of the restaurant, walking by tons of people, relieved that the pseudodookie stains are gone.

after eating a delicious lunch, you head all the way back to the front of the restaurant to the register to check out. the line is long enough that you have to start thinking about the stain potential and make a quick run to the bathroom for a final check. as you're checking the rear of your pants again (this time more carefully cuz no one's in there with you) you see a large glob of smushed chocolate that you missed the first time around...not so much on the actual rear, but an inch or so down on one of the legs....and then you start to panic again. "omg - i walked past all those people - twice - with this blob on my pants! they've probably been laughing the whole time!! i can never come back here! oh yeah, and how many people noticed (probably none, but i'm in that state of mind) that i went to the bathroom before i was seated??!"

how embarrassing...

and if i was having a bad day before, i'm definitely laughing now...

i probably don't tell the people around me that i believe in them. i consider myself blessed to have friends who are so talented, beautiful, and smart. i believe they are all changing their small piece the world in a big way.

to my friends [you know who you are]:

i believe in you.

i believe that you will make the world a better place for millions of children.

i believe that you will change the face of the Church (Isaiah 58).

i believe that you will create fashion that revolutionizes the world.

i believe that you will compel all of America to laugh.

i believe that you will use your skills to help create community.

i believe that you will tell your story and it will change perspectives.

i believe that you will find deep rooted joy.

i believe that you will earn a living doing what you love.

i believe that you will save lives.

i believe that you will love and be loved.

i believe that you will figure out where you belong.

i believe that you will have a great marriage.

i believe that you will raise amazing children.

i believe that you will get through the hardest year of your life.

i believe that you will because He is.

love,
elizabeth

happy election day! and happy birthday!

i had a whole post written about exercising my right to vote (and also exercising my right to not tell you for whom i voted! and ALSO exercising my right to not discuss my reasons behind voting for him! YAY!) but i was bored writing it, so you would probably be bored reading it. so, to sum it up: i voted! it was awesome! i'm excited to hear the results! the next four years will be interesting either way!

anyway, today is election day, but also of importance: it's my friend elizabeth's birthday! (the other elizabeth. not me. it is not my birthday, and i would not refer to myself as "my friend." i mean, i like myself. but who writes a birthday blog for him or herself? weirdos for sure. so check back on january 3 for my birthday blog to myself!) Anyway, today is her birthday. i've mentioned her and her family once or twice...and i'm sure i have more to say about how incredible she is. however, time is short today, so i'll leave you with this:

happy birthday to one of my favorite people ever. hope it's your best year yet.

halloween pt.2 [or how to get two costumes out of one set of accessories]

last night, micole asked rachel and me (read: her friend bailed and we were sort of forced) to go to a costume party with her co-workers:

devil with a blue dress, blue dress, blue dress...etc

gayowulf

cruella de vil

entertaining ourselves on the way home:

you don't even want to know...

tomorrow, maybe a real post instead of all the pics!

it's the small things

"There's a kind of peace in tiny moments like this,

you know, a quiet happiness that's inexplicable

unless you know what you're looking for."

Both Holly @ Nothing but Bonfires (quoted above) and Jennie @ She Likes Purple wrote posts based on this – the little things in life that make you happy. I mentioned this briefly the other day and the concept has remained in the back of my mind...it might be the big moments that you remember as the best days of your life, but joy comes from the little moments, in the monotony that is life and if we blink we will miss them. they both wrote eloquently in paragraph form but i’m much better at lists:

1. eating lunch outside – in high school we sat on the sidewalks, in college we moved up to tables outside of restaurants, and here i head to bryant park when i can. there’s something to be said about drinking diet coke with my eyes closed and feeling the sun beating down on my [sunscreened] face. it’s a moment of peace, where my phone is on silent and i’m not attached to a computer so i can simply just be.

2. the morning commute - walking through the subway station in times square and God of This City comes on my iPod and i actually LOOK at the faces of the people around me [you’re the God of this city; You’re the King of these people] in wonder and awe that God knows and loves each and every one of them….and just as i burst forth onto the streets the chorus swells [greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city] and i get teary -eyed and overwhelmed with love for my Savior and love for this city.

(photo of times square by brett gullborg; ironically, i don't have any photos of times square)

3. quality time with any combination of roommates – when you live with 4 girls it’s both rare to have time with only one or time with all five. i intentionally try to spend time with each of them and cultivate a friendship that is one-on-one. also, on the rare occasion that all five of us are home, i walk away from the conversations feeling refreshed and encouraged.

before our impromptu trip to jersey--target + p.f. changs = bliss

4. airports and airplanes – i love the anticipation of sitting in the airport, knowing you’re going somewhere different even if only for a few days. i love that airplanes have been such a constant in my life for the last 4 years. i love sitting on the plane and having those 2, 3, 4 (sometimes more!) uninterrupted hours where i can listen to music and pour my heart out on paper. i love landing safely and knowing it’s only going to a few minutes until i get to see someone i know and love.

this is what i do on planes: write, listen, and take photos when i get bored

6. dinner with old friends – sitting across from people who have known me forever, people who have watched me grow up and become. listening to their stories and realizing that the very core of us never changes [and in most cases that’s a good thing]. knowing that after all these years i can still trust them. loving them for who they were and for who they are, and knowing they feel the same about me. belly laughing with them at things only we understand. realizing that we are all so different that if we met now we probably wouldn’t become friends, but grateful for the circumstances that brought us together so many years ago.

7. surprises – i get this from my dad – he loves to surprise people. he shows his love by giving gifts, especially to my sister and me, and he will go to great lengths to find the best gift he can to surprise us – one day i’ll write about the car i got when i was 14! this past weekend my sister and i gave our dad the best surprise ever. we conspired to fly me down for his birthday, and when she took him out to eat i showed up at the restaurant. the look on his face when i walked in and he realized what we’d done is one i will never forget! the trip only lasted two days, but knowing we made my dad feel loved and important is something that will last forever.

birthday dinner!

9. porches – i grew up spending Sundays at my grandparents’ house on their farm. after dinner all of the adults escaped to the porch to sit in rocking chairs and continue their conversation. they always seems relaxed and young and carefree, a contrast to the busy weeks they all had. to this day, porches are one of my favorite things ever. drinking a cup of coffee on the porch in the morning with nothing but my Bible, a journal, and a pen, or in the evening equipped with good friends and great conversation (and bug spray), sitting on the porch is just good for my heart.

10. getting mail (not bills but the fun kind) - there's nothing quite like getting home after my 45 minute commute and wearily walking up the stairs, through the door, and into the kitchen and seeing a letter or card or package addressed to me! knowing that someone took the time to write something or put a package together, address it, and go to the post office or mailbox so that i can have something tangible to read or enjoy makes me happy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

this quote hung on my wall during college and now is taped to my shelves at work:

"How simple is it to see

that we can only be happy now,

and that there will never be a time

when it is not now."

- Gerald Jampolsky

So, all three commenters of mine - what little things make you happy?

correspondence wednesday (cont'd)...

...which, like i said, doesn't exactly exist on my blog. but i wanted to follow up:

dear old navy,

i was right!

thank you todd oldham,

elizabeth

------------------------------------------------

dear stephenie meyer's publishers,

thank you. it ended so well. please pay stephenie meyer lots of money to keep writing about these people [ahem, werewolves and vampires] - i miss them already.

bella and edward forever,

elizabeth

------------------------------------------------

dear ethiopia,

140 days.

still [and only] because of Jesus,

elizabeth

-------------------------------------------------

dear jersey shore,

you were just what i needed. thank you for the perfect weather, for the perfect sunrise, for the perfect vacation.

made for the beach,

elizabeth

-------------------------------------------------

dear best friend,

adventures with you are always more fun. here's to pottery painting, miniature golfing, fashion showing, beach reading, alarm clock beeping, ocean beatings, Jesus acting, and sunrise watching. there's no one else like you.

love,

elizabeth

my best friend is 27.

twenty-seven reasons i love you:

1. you are the most compassionate person i know - you would give all of your money away to homeless people if i'd let you
2. you are hospitable when i come to your house and i always feel very welcome
3. you wanted to go to africa before it was cool
4. you are self-aware. you realize things about yourself and if they need changing, you take the necessary steps to do so
5. you love your husband well
6. you love the rest of your family (both sides) well
7. you always try to see both sides of every story and help others to do so
8. you are fabulous at your job - being a counselor to high schoolers is ridiculously hard
9. you are encouraging (for example, when you found out i started exercising you sent me a subscription to Health magazine)
10. you do thoughtful things (like buy me a book full of coupons only good in new york city)
11. you know what is important to me and support it with everything you got (like REVO and merry everyday)
12. you are honest in a tactful way
13. you can read my thoughts and finish my sentences
14. you always have fun ideas (hey! let's walk to the gas station in our wedding clothes! and bring the guitar! and laugh!)
15. your sense of humor is so unique - you make me laugh at things that are probably only funny to us ("drive by fooding," by far, is the funniest thing you've ever said)
16. when you love a song, you play it repeatedly (i got five on it, anyone remember that song?)
17. you like to vacation at the beach the same way i do: great company, minimal talking, a cooler of bottled water, a good book, and some chairs underneath an umbrella
18. you danced to can't touch this the other night and it was hilarious
19. speaking of dancing, remember when you were on the dance team in college? yup, love you for that too.
20. you don't blindly accept me; instead, you encourage me to be who i should be
21. you are nice to people on the subway
22. you like things to match both color-wise and symmetrically
23. the other day you broke both of your shoes. who does that? you do. love it.
24. you like to read, and when we don't have CDs or an iPod in the car you will read aloud to me
25. you always have chapstick and hand sanitizer.
26. your life goal is to tell the world about Jesus
27. one time you said to me, "part of who i am is your best friend and i wouldn't be complete without that." i feel the exact same way.

happy birthday, bethany. i hope it's the best year of your life so far.

diving in

friends-
...this conjunction of souls, like waves which met and break, subsides also backward over things, and gives all a fresh aspect.
-Henry David Thoreau

i'm on the edge of change, and this has caused some inner turmoil. lately my heart has weighed heavy with the what ifs and i don't knows.

my friend elizabeth (the other one) called me while she was driving home from arkansas last night after dropping her oldest son off at [his first every sleepover] camp. earlier that day she watched him take his swimming test. at this camp, each child has to be able to swim the width of the river so that he or she doesn't have to wear a life jacket the rest of the summer unless it's necessary. basically, he just had to prove that he could swim.

elizabeth said that watching him made her cry. [side note: on jonah's fourth birthday the two of us cried because he was turning four. we sat at ihop with teams streaming down both both of our cheeks just bcause it was his birthday]. i've known this child since he was 18 months old, so i got the crying. and now he's almost 9 and about to spend 12 days in the hands of camp counselors where he knows no one and when did he grow up so much and where did those chubby cheeks go?...and...and....and.

yes. transition. life's changes. i understand.

for the test they stationed lifeguards every few feet, just in case something happens. or that was her assumption anyway. but as the kids swam, she realized that the lifeguards were also there to encourage them, to cheer them on, to support them. they called each child by name while saying things like, "you can do this! just a little bit further! you've got this! don't quit now!" for some of thm they yelled, but for others they spoke so softly the spectators could hardly hear.

the reason elizabeth shared this with me is this:
she realized this is just like life. she learned yesterday that God does the same thing...he wants his children to jump in the water, but along the way He sets up guideposts for us. He puts people in our lives to swim with us. while sometimes He uses them to carry us, to swim with us, other times we have to swim alone while He watches...but every few feet we come across another person He has placed there. and some friends are for just one season, but others are for several, or even all of them.

i love that the tone of the words was tailored for the person swimming - they were called by name! sometimes we need to be cheered on loudly (Job 37:2-5), but sometimes we simply need a gentle whisper, a kind word, a quiet reminder (Zephaniah 3:17).

He knows what we need, WHO we we need, and when we need them. His ways are mysterious but His timing is always, always perfect.

baby envy!

this weekend while at home in TN i got to hold two squishy babies! i'm at work and i don't have the pic of melissa's baby elliot, but i'll post it later tonight.

**edit: this is elliot, my friend melissa's cute cute baby boy!**

this one is better of me

but this one is better of him! so cute!

and this is connor (with an 'O'), rebekah's beautiful child! he is so good and let me hold him for a looong time, which i loved.

this is right after he spit up on me. i blame my dad, who was moving him around a lot and then handed him back to me. but i don't mind....just look at this face!

[thanks for coming to see me, you guys! it made my day!]

i will be posting correspondence tuesday later today, and we'll pretend today is my tuesday because i didn't go to work monday...ok? ok.

happy revo day.

in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.
in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.
in 525,600 minutes
how do you measure a year in the life?

how about love?

there's no where in this world i'd rather be

if you know me, or if you have read my 100 things and you feel like you know me, you know that i was a pretty big fan of a certain band back in the 'ole college days. [if 'fan' means that on the weekends, i got in my car and followed them around the southeast. i might call it 'stalking' these days, but i speak for myself. and whatever, if was fun. and whatever, they were a great band. don't judge me]. one of the awesome people i met, alison (ONLY ONE L! GET IT RIGHT!), ended up moving to new york city right after i did, and over the past year and a half we have explored this city together as often as possible.

Last night we went on a little New York adventure...

Read about it here!




i heart teeeny tiny chocolate chips

heavier things

today was a heavy day.

it was one of those days where i sit at my desk and constantly fight back tears. a day where those closest to me are loaded down with the weight of their worlds, and i get to bear their weight too. [please note, i'm serious when i say i get to bear their weight too - it's an honor and privilege to get to walk beside these women].

days like these are days where there are no conclusions, only acceptance of each moment as it comes.

so, here's to life changes.

here's to you and you and you.

here's to my one of my roommates.

and here's to knowing what it's like to love, and knowing what it's like to walk away.
here's to tears because the memories are painful.
to the fact that they're just memories is even more painful.
here's to having memories at all.
here's to having a best friend.
to losing a best friend because it was time for them to find their own identity, and you yours.
here's to honesty. to wisdom.
here's to days like today, where there are no conclusions, just moments.
to making difficult decisions even though they're the best.
here's to Jesus, because He is so sovereign.
here's to facing it.
here's to growing up and accepting life, and learning from it.
to sharing your heart with people.
here's to loving, here's to losing.

...weekend in the poconoes

...unfocused