Two For The Books (or blog)

What do we not see in this picture, folks? 

Can anybody tell me? 

An obnoxious, red "MaintReq" light. 

Baby's first oil change! 

Day 2 of adulting went indefinitely different than Day 1. 

I boldly walked into Benton County Tires, (with my car key pre-taken off the ring), announced my name and appointment time, told them the year and make of Beastie (my Rav), handed over the keys and my coupon, and took a seat while the professionals did their thing. 

Now, I have a light-less car and may have even had my tires rotated. Still not sure why that is a helpful thing, but mostly I'm excited about the light being off. 

To temper my "adult" move, here's a picture of how I accidentally closed a tree branch into my car door. 

While we're on the topic of being a responsible adult, here's another small win that I've been waiting to reveal until it became a pattern, not an idea.

I wake up at the ungodly time of 5:30.
I started this last week during MomWeek2014.
Except this time, I was the mom.
TO MY DOG

Needless to say, it was magical. I could smatter this whole post with pictures of our moments together, but that would reveal just how obsessed I am with my small creature...

ANYWAY, little man wakes up at 5:30 (ish).
So, I started waking up them, feeding him, taking a bike ride, coming home to do my morning devos, then writing my thesis for an hour before getting ready for work.

I am still behind on submission schedule (was meant to submit a first full draft last saturday) but I edited my first chapter and wrote a second one doing this system.

What it's gonna take to get this done is channeling crazy college jamie.
There's a lot about her that I hope to never, never revive, but college jamie knew how to get crap done. That's for sure.

Goal finish date for chapter 1 is Monday.
Ready go.

April Showers (of Blessings)

At the start of this month (in regards to The States), I was phoneless, carless, homeless, and jobless.

And by the end, I have a great vehicle I plan on driving until it dies in a nursing home parking lot sixteen years from now (its predecessor Bess set some pretty tough standards for Toyotas. 500,000 miles logged into that car over 16 years, five of which were mine. And, though she did die in a nursing home parking lot, which really is just ironic, she is still kickin' with a nice hispanic family my dad knows).

Secondly, I have been invited to join a home. I'll have my own room, the kitchen and living areas are lovely, there's a fenced-in yard so they're letting me keep my wee pup (Oh how I've missed him!!), and my roommates, though I don't know them, seem so sweet and warm. They are introverts, too! From our one FaceTime and emails/Facebook posts of theirs, I can already tell I'll enjoy living with their quirky selves.

Third (which I have already mentioned), I have occupation. Signed my contract just this week, actually, when my new boss came to visit Lakeside. I was very thankful for the chance to get to chat with them and rewrite my first impression on them. The first impression? My roommate Lauren's wedding rehearsal was at their home. I had the flu. And spent the majority of the rehearsal puking and hiding out in their kitchen hoping nobody would notice my absence. It was super classy.

My favorite part of all three of these was that they took me entirely off-guard. Honestly, I prayed for a car that worked, a roof that preferably didn't leak, and a direction. At the same time, I had in my mind what would be considered The Dream, the best possible situation. Did I ask for this? No. Because I would have been thrilled with the basics.

In return, I have had the complete shock of not once or twice but three times over being given the EXACT parameters of my dreams.

This is not a "suffering leads to gifts" or rewards for service. Not at all. Don't misunderstand me.
I see this as grace and confirmation over and over and over that the direction he's sending me in is exactly where I am supposed to be walking toward.

Hola Praha

To be frank, geography is not my keenest skill.

When Sonya asked me how I felt about the Czech Republic, I thought it was in Africa.

Turns out, it is right up there by Austria and much cheaper to fly to.

Fine by me. Then, by some sort of providential pintervention, I discovered the most beautiful library I've ever seen and looked to see its locale: Prague, Czech Republic. Yep, yep. Definitely fine by me.

We arrived in Prague mid-Monday and were greeted by a gust of warm air and sunbeams. We very nearly lay on the sidewalk and wept.

I knew she and I would get on well when, upon walking into the city and seeing some native american dancing (because, of course), she said, "Ok. First order of business: ice cream." Praha was a little disappointing in that region, but that's the only one.

Our hostel was just on the outskirts of the old town square, where we arrived just in time to experience their Easter Market.

Trdelnik is a local favorite. It's like slow-roasted dough on a spit. Looks like a sugar-coated napkin ring. Vanilla, almond, sugar, and dough. 

That tree has sombreros, giant eggs, and streamers all up in it 

 While in the Czech republic, we had several run-ins with adorable dogs. People had dogs everywhere off their leashes. Weird breeds, too.

My favorite (not pictured) was a wee white dog that looked like the puppy version of a polar bear. Seriously, it had cub ears not dog ears. I could have snuggled it all day long.

This, of course, led to a discussion between myself and Sonya on the nature of dogs and leashes. Do we dog-leashers condition our animals to yearn for freedom and, thus, run off when unleashed? Do these unleashed foreign dogs behave because they are entrusted with their freedom?

So many questions.

The dog on the right there, Sally, we saw running around a bagel shop in Prague. Just happy as a bug running all about. Nobody minding at all.

Her owner, Lucien, we learned is actually a Seattle native who just kind of ended up in the Czech republic. He's part of a blue grass band there, and it's awesome. 

Lucien also informed us that the US imports their German Shepherd police dogs from CZ because they are some of the best dog trainers in the world.

 Betcha didn't remember that Prague is the hometown of Franz Kafka! Blanking on Kafka? It's ok. Not all of us are English majors.

Kafka. Think "The Metamorphosis." Think man gets turned into a giant bug. There you go! Now you're with me.

Fun fact: Kafka, though from Prague, was only popular after death, largely due to the fact that he wrote only in German. Not Czech. In fact, Czech was language #13 for his works to be translated into. WHAT. Crazy, I know.

Beautiful, no? No wonder Hitler wanted to make Prague his summer home following his victory in World War II. 

An example of a principle I learned from a horrid Freshman reading requirement called..oh shoot! What is it?Something to the effect of Transcendent Grace, or, to define it instead, the idea that even non-Christians and non-Christian things can teach us more about and be used for the Kingdom of God. 

Now then, that example. Hitler. 

Because he wanted to make Prague his summer home, he ensured that the entire Jewish sector of the city be left untouched. Yes, it was in the major floodzone, but not to be touched by man. He wanted it to be used later on as a commemoration over his enemies. 

Yet, because he lost the war, the Jewish section of the city is one of the only untouched areas of Judaism that remains intact to the core. 

The music hall (which I could not get a good shot of) has six statues on the roof. 

I think it was Mozart, but it could have been Beethoven--I am seriously losing credibility here--played in that hall. But the statues! 

One of the musicians up there was a Jewish man. The German dude who took over the building wouldn't stand for that, so he sent his lackies out to go shove it off the building.

However, they didn't know which one it was, so they measured the noses and wrecked the statue which had the longest. Ironically, it was the only German musician up there. Pissed the leader off in the extreme, but the Jew stayed. :) 

One of those bridges, by the way, is called "Most Legii," which looks like Most Legit. Soooo we walked across it. 

I'm rather certain that what's featured below is the senate building, with gardens named after some family whose name I didn't catch while eavesdropping on a segway tour group. 

It was also a peacock garden 

 Okay this is my favorite part of the garden. This is a faux-natural dripping rock wall. I think I like it particarly well because I didn't know it was fake until I reached the plaque at the end.

On my way down the wall, though, I had been noticing things that looked like trapped faces or trap doors or huts with feet (the picture on the left if that dang plant hadn't been there).

Then, upon reaching the plaque, I learned that that was the whole point. the wall was designed with an air of magic and mystery about it. There are all kinds of hidden little tricks in it. So whimsical. I loved it.

Then there's the astronomical clock.
Let me tell ya. They are dang proud of their astronomical clock.
At the top of every hour, two little windows open and saints go round and round peekaboo style (as in the picture), while a skeleton rings a bell (up there by the upper circle on the right). Then, for the finale, that golden rooster shakes its feathers, does a little dance, and crows.

The clock itself tells you basically everything from position of the sun, the season, the time, where on the star chart we are, and the phase of the moon. The moon part, though, is manually changed every single day, but nobody has any idea who does it. It's all very smokey and mysterious, Quasimodo like.

Oh! By the way, all the historical information I'm pulling out is from our gorgeous Australian tour guide named Ashley. He also specializes in pies.

Day Date

I spent the entirety of yesterday with prong two of the Trifecta: Caity Ruth (Kullen) Roberts. Try saying that five times fast.

At long last, we found a slot of time between her married life and busy schedule and my unmarried life and apparent inability to accomplish the one goal which would enable me to go and see her (paper writing...I finished, by the way! Only edits and online submission stand between me and freedom now). 

The day started with coffee, as it should. We sat and chatted for I don't know how long in my living room, Cubby ever watchful. 

Then, after what seemed like an endless struggle against mutual indecisiveness, we headed on down to Brookside. It's this super trendy part of town with restaurants, coffee shops, and shops with stuff that are super cool, but you can't help but wonder who the heck buys from them. 

In Brookside, we split lunch and had high-five one of three for the day. When you share food and end up with the perfect amount, you need to high-five. There's an unspoken law. 

Shades of Lame came next. It's actually called Shades of Brown, but my camp friend Annie Paige always used to refer to it as Shades of Lame, and I've never been able to rewrite it back to the original in my mind. 

Probably because I think it's a definite shade of lame. It's like if a hipster were on hipster steroids. Except that it's so hipster, it's not even hipster anymore. It's just kind of uppity and I feel judged when I go in. Because they are, in fact, judging me. 

But Caity likes it, and anything with Caity is fun. So, we drank an eggnog latte and a brown sugar latte and talked and talked (so sorry to fellow coffee goers). On the list of subjects were people we went to high school with, how everyone we've ever met seems to be getting engaged, Joel Osteen, books we're reading or want to read, and how creepy the guy across from us was. 

Seriously, he was either tripping or had some sort of serious social dysfunction, but this guy across from us just sat there, blatantly staring, grinning, shaking his head, grunting or chuckling in response to our conversation, and giving us thumbs-ups. 

Then he'd leave. 

Then he'd come back. 

In the end, we left and went on a quest to find little HayHay a Christmas present (SHE'S CURRENTLY ON A PLANE HOME TO US OHMYGOSH). 

Mostly it just ended in us feeling really bad for the overly friendly store owners. "Well, she doesn't wear jewelry, she doesn't like trinkets, she doesn't do a whole lot of recreational reading, she lives in China, so it has to be small, no, still no trinkets"...etc. 

Usually, to find her a present, we just have to wander around stores until the muse reveals the correct gift. It's a serious struggle. Thus, the reason I didn't come up with anything to give her from NI. 

Caity, on the other hand, has a veritable stash in my closet. She's the easiest person for me to find gifts for. 

The rest of the evening was a blur of more chatting, searching, food, and ice cream on the kitchen floor. 

The best purchase (only purchase) of the day was a bowl shaped like a lettuce leaf. Since my freshman year of college, I've kind of been amassing ceramic cups, plates, bowls in the shape of fruits and vegetables. Not like have pictures of fruits or veggies, they actually look like they're made of them. 

I have a plumb cup, an apple cup, an asparagus cup, a lettuce bowl, and I used to have three more cups made of carrots, cabbage, and corn, respectively, but I have since given those away.  Jansie hates them. I think they're great. 

It was great, having Caity back. I'm never worried about our friendship, but it's such a pleasure to interact in-person instead of Skyping. 

I guess we sort of take each other for granted in that way, but it's a good way. We can move apart, make new friends, and alter the make-up of our everyday lives, but I always know she'll answer her phone if I need her to think up a word for me and she knows I'll always edit her writing. 

We'll forever share inside jokes, books, and our life stories. She's my best friend, what can I say? 

Highlights Reel

There needs to be some temperance here. I'm not all doom and gloom.

Lovely moments since I've been home (old pictures):

*the reunion between Jamie and Kraft Mac and Cheese (one of those odd cultural cravings)
*My best friend coming over the evening I got home. She was very kind about the fact that I was practically asleep in front of her.

*Coffee with my friend Anna. We have the most consistent friendship of all my acquaintances. Once a month, without fail, we spend time together.

*Drinks with Maddie Stewart. I don't know how to describe her. The perfect combination of sass, spiritual, and snuggles.

*Sleepover with Heather, Becca, and Allison.

*Getting to see the happy shock of several of my friends to see me in the country.
*meeting my nephew, Superfly. Or Sam. I prefer the former, though the latter is pretty good. :) Baby snuggles cannot be topped, really. And he makes the sweetest wee grunts when he's asleep. They're so contented.

*More bonding time. This time with my dear friend, Sadie. She's one of those friends with which humor and spirituality are always pretty tightly knit.

*lots and lots of this handsome guy.

*driving. There have only been two incidents of "what's this guy doing in my freakin'...NOT MY LANE! NOT MY LANE! NI's got me all mixed around.
*yesterday, I was shopping and got caught waiting in line between four sassy black ladies. We had a great talk. I've missed black people. There are three in Belfast. Really. Like there actually are just three.
*Today I went out with one of my mentors. She was my high school AP Biology and Anatomy/Physiology teacher turned friend/mentor. Giant. More giant than I am, bigger boned, louder, and always wears big ole heels (a trait I have recently embraced for myself). All that, and she can work a sex talk into any conversation topic. It's like a spiritual gift. She used to do it on purpose during class to watch me about crawl under my desk embarrassed.

*my ma drawing tattoos and facial hair on lingerie models in a magazine

I have no idea how or why this picture is snowing. That didn't happen, and I'm not smart enough with technology to make that. But the picture and the ice behind the fake snow is real! aha! "google + 'auto awesome'" did this. 

and this: 

This is so fun! 

And this is the United Airways Dublin way of saying, "You're about to be in the USA! Get pumped!"

 My beautiful Oklahoma.

Tulsa from the plane. :)

*and last but very much not least (and I'm sure I'm forgetting several), I finished two of my three papers. 

24 hours, 19 sources, and 6400 words.