A Weekend Full of Thanks

1. A full week that leads to a refreshing weekend.

2. Waking to the sound of birds, the rustle of trees and beams of sunlight.

3. Friends who encourage me to follow my passion, find a new passion and strive for excellence.

4. A moving day with no rain.

5. A slice of Key Lime cheesecake waiting for me in the fridge.

6. A new idea that gets me excited.

7. Time with the t.v. off.

8. The gumption to finish three blogs in one afternoon.

9. Freedom from the need to multi-task!

10. Finding the most amazing scarf and having the money to purchase it.

11. An extra day in my weekend.

12. My friend Jenn who showed me how to add the button to my blog, link to the website and introduced me to the whole thing in the first place! Thanks friend!

Friendship…it’s a beautiful thing

Something beyond reason happens in my life at least every month and sometimes more. Everything in the universe culminates and every commitment I have ends up on the same weekend. And the absurd thing is that up until Thursday night, I feel quite certain that I can keep every single one. But as the weekend draws nearer, my students get antsier, and my time ticks shorter and shorter, I finally realize I can’t do it all. Something’s gotta give.

And what should that something or several things be that get booted? Well, housework, obviously. But after that it becomes a little fuzzy. Some people drop things in the order they have come into their schedule—long standing commitments could be the last to go and last minute plans are instantly rejected. Others keep things that are most insistent, cause the largest amount of guilt if you don’t do them,  choose family, or what is most fun.

I have done each and every one of these things when planning various weekends. But more often than not friends and family trump all else. Relationships are extremely important, and for the single girl, imperative. Friendships are a major way the Lord teaches us because, let’s face it, they can be really difficult.

As much as friendships can be fun they can also be hard to manage, keep, and traverse. Whenever we get close to people we have to show sides of ourselves that are awful, messy, disastrous. Thank goodness for friends who see all that and stick with you. It is at this point, when a friendship crosses into this messy place, we can grow and change.

God has blessed me with amazing friends. It has sometimes been quite a rocky road, but a road worthy of travel. So, this past weekend I had the chance to get together with some old friends, meet new ones and foster some developing friendships.

On Friday, my work had a retreat. Work you say? But I love the women I work with. It is a terrifically diverse group of women, working together for a common purpose (teaching children and keeping one another out of a mental institution). I love them, love working with them and would not have made it this far without them.

   

Brandy, Brooke and I all took advantage of the spa station in order to pamper ourselves (actually, Erica pampered me with an amazing foot rub and pedicure, heaven).

Jo Ann, Carmen and Deb chill outside, deep in conversation. They actually have no idea I took this picture, I was in the kitchen and took it through the window (cue maniacal laughter).

There were so many other pictures to share (there were 20 of us at the retreat), but I’ve gotta move on.

Melea and I met for brunch at Mimi’s Café. Yum! Then we did some shopping. What a great way to spend an afternoon.

 

Finally Jenn and Elizabeth (Jenn I’ve known since high school and Elizabeth since just after college) and I went to Starbucks to talk about life, twins (Jenn has 1 year old twins) and buying cool retro houses (Elizabeth and her husband just did that. Now, I was supposed to edit this picture, add in Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie since the girls felt their lives have been too hectic for them to be in a picture. Sorry girls, I tried, and the sad result is I am not at all computer savvy enough to pull that off.

Bonus: here’s Tina and I at Polaris just last night. We had a blast eating at The Pub, shopping (I bought the cutest scarf in the world, not too mention two amazing headbands) and eating a little cheesecake by the fountain.

Adventures in Gardening

 In February, while Ohio was still inches deep in cold snow, I began to dream about a time when snow would turn to rain, the grass would be green, and the sun would remind us that we are not currently living through the second ice age. I was ready for Spring, but it seemed so far away! And even though the ground hog promised Spring was just around the corner, you never know if ground hogs are 100% reliable. So, to pass the time I took a piece of paper and some crayons and sat down to color with the kids in my class.

As the kids drew pictures of rainbows and stick figures, I drew a picture of a garden in my backyard. I added a raised garden bed and filled it with all kinds of vegetables and flowers. Pots were drawn and filled with strawberries, herbs, and peppers. My drawing was sub-par. Only a small step above my students artwork, but it held a promise of things to come. When my co-teacher, Jo Ann, saw my drawing she said, “you need to do this. Don’t forget about it, make it happen.”

And so the planning began. I ordered three dwarf citrus trees and researched how I could bring this garden to life.

Spring finally arrived and I was faced with a huge task—build a raised garden bed.

I’m not much of an outdoor girl and I know next to nothing about power tools. Furthermore, since I’m single there’s no husband to order outside and insist he build me one (that’s how that works, right?) I am also not the type of girl that men fall over themselves to do things for. I mean, let’s face it, I’m not 22 anymore. Just kidding—that didn’t happen when I was 22 either.

There were only two options: ask for help or do it myself.

And here’s another confession, I hate to ask for help. I have a myriad of reasons why I hate it such as: I don’t want to inconvenience people,  fear of rejection, no clue who to ask, my own silly pride. I could go on, but I don’t want to make myself look too bad. Bottom line: I won’t ask for help unless there’s no way on this earth I can do it myself.

Besides, if the Pioneer Woman could do it, then I certainly could! Her website is where I found instructions to make a raised bed. Of course, after reading the directions (and not just looking through the pictures) I realized she had asked some guy to build hers while she just took the pictures.

The time came to either build the bed or forget about it. But I am not one to let a vision go by the wayside. Instead I asked to borrow my dad’s truck (hey, I asked for something) and he graciously offered to pick up my supplies for me and drop them at my house. I agreed and soon had a backyard full of odds and ends.

Did I mention that I have like the smallest backyard in the world? Small but super cute!

Armed with my dad’s drill and a friends level and carpenter’s square (that his wife lent me and he may not even know I have, but which will be returned as early as tomorrow) I got to work drilling holes, tightening screws and leveling.

I worked…

…and worked…

…took a break and ate some lunch…

…worked some more…

…and finally finished. Not quite perfect, but close enough.

As some of you might have noticed by the drastic change in shadows, it took me an inordinate amount of time. I prefer not to think about how long it took me. But it felt great to accomplish what I had set out to do.

However, I’m not sure that I made the right choice. Not in my choice of gardening style, but the choice I made not to ask for help.

Actually, I wasn’t alone in my backyard. I prayed. A lot. (Especially toward the end.)  But could it have been even better if I had enlisted someone’s help?

It can be difficult to be a single girl in this post-feminist world. Not that it doesn’t have perks. Without the feminist movement I would be known as an old maid, or I would have married some random guy just to be married. I’m thankful for my options in this modern world. But this world also tells us to be independent and strong; it presses us to rely only on ourselves.

I finished my project, and love the end result. It felt great to accomplish what I had set out to do. I’m excited for a bountiful Summer. God gave me the strength and tools to finish this project, but what would I have gained if I had asked for more? Perhaps another year of arthritic free hands. Then again, maybe additional people would have only added stress (too many cooks in the kitchen).

How much self-reliance is too much? How often should we flex our independence? Can we rely on others too much?  And how do we make sure we remain reliant on God instead of ourselves?

Questions I’d like to ponder, perhaps while I sit in my garden.

April Showers…May Flowers

Spring is my third favorite season following Summer and Fall. Placing it third when there are only four seasons may make it seem as though I don’t like Spring very much, but this could not be further from the truth.  Although I place it third I always look forward to this season of new life. I yearn for it, just as I yearn for Summer and Fall.

You may realize that I have not yet mentioned winter, and that is because I abhor it.  Generally, I think bears have the right idea—that you should sleep through it. Of course, I do see the gift of having to stay in doors in front of the fire and sleeping a great deal more, and so I grasp these two hopeful thoughts in order to endure. But the hope of Spring is always on my mind.

This year Spring seems to be particularly glorious, despite the constant rain—which makes those of us living in Ohio feel as though we have moved to Seattle minus the perk of fresh fish. Typically, it seems that Spring is the most fleeting season as winter tries to hold on to its reign by dumping one last foot of snow  followed by Summer storms snatching tender blossoms from their branches before we’ve had time to really enjoy them. But for a change, this Spring has lingered. The crocuses and daffodils dazzled us over Easter and then just as they faded, tulips and flowering trees sprang to life.

Last week, I went for a walk at a park near my house and found myself in the midst of a beauty I had not expected. Everywhere I looked life was gently unfolding. Is there any better shade of green than that of new Spring leaves? I felt compelled to grab my camera from the car and capture some Spring to share with everyone.