A,B,C's of life as of August 16,2010

No real reason for the random blogpost with no pictures, but I was just thinking it would be fun to see what I could come up with for the A,B,C's of life at the moment.

Approval Essay.I am about 90ish percent done and just need to find the motivation to proof read the thing a few more times and call it done. I am tired of working on it.

Books. Since no longer being on internship and not quite yet into school yet for the last year, I have more than taken the time to read several books that have been sitting on my shelf before I am once again told what I will be reading and how many pages and all that good jazz.

Centerville. It is fun to be back at home for a little bit, but also a little strange. I suppose that is how it works when I haven't lived at home for so long and am now back under my parents roof. I feel bad because I have slightly taken over one end of the house.

Dolphins. I have officially decided after my recent trip to Cancun that the dolphin is my second favorite animal after the Giraffe.

Earthquake. I can't believe it has already been 7 months and 4 days since the earthquake. At moments it feels like yesterday and at others it seems like eons ago.

Fresh. The glory of being in the midwest is that I once again have at my fingertips all sorts of fun fresh fruit and veggies at my fingertips! I LOVE IT! I missed being sooo close to the fresh fruits and veggies while living in Colorado. Although the Colorado peaches were pretty stinkin good.

Grandparents. I have the world's greatest and quirkiest grandparents. I love spending time with them.

Home. Every time I move I find it harder and harder to define where 'home' is. ND, Centerville, Littleton, Dubuque, Sioux Falls, Okoboji... the list goes on and on.

Iowa. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be calling Iowa home for 3 years. After living in Colorado for a year it may be a little bit harder to live back in Iowa again. I loved Colorado's weather!

Jungle. While we were in Cancun we got to go zip lining through the jungle, it was amazing!

Khaki. It is strange to not have to dress up to go to work every day. It is a little weird to have only put on my khaki pants a couple times since leaving internship and I almost want to put them on just for good ol' times sake, but realistically I probably won't. I love being able to wear whatever I want.

Land. I am thankful to be back in the prairie where the land is so very important to the people. I love being able to see my horizons and being able to run out amongst the fields and watching the crops grow (where they haven't been flooded out).

Moving. I am ready to be done moving and settle into somewhere and be able to not know when I am moving again. I am sick of moving every 9 months, 3 months, or a year.

North Dakota. I am heading back to ND this weekend and am looking forward to seeing lots of friends and getting to be back under my ND skies. I must confess my love for ND!

Okoboji. I get to head to the lake this weekend and play on the lake. It is slightly like going home as well.

Puppy. We currently have my brothers puppy living at the house with us because he can't have her in his apartment for the semester. Never a dull moment with a young dog living in the house, but I must admit Nala is pretty great.

Quilting. I am a little sad that my sewing machine is packed up and I don't have the chance to quilt a little bit. I have a couple projects midway through and would love to finish them but it isn't going to happen until I return to the castle and I am able to set up my machine again.

Running. I am learning to love it and now find myself craving a good run. I am training for a 10K in October with some friends from seminary and a half marathon (yes I have lost my mind) in January. And I am excited, I never would have imagined myself saying that.

Social. I feel like I am running all over SD and ND seeing family and friends (which I LOVE getting to see everyone) I just don't feel like I am getting much down time at the moment, which for the introvert can be a challenge at time. But I am soooo very thankful for the month to travel around and see many folks who I love deeply.

Technology. I am always fascinated by it and must admit that I like keeping up with it. I love new technology but have a hard time justifying it until my older stuff actually wears out. It greatly disturbs me that we do not have good methods of recycling old computers, phones, laptops, etc.

Unclean. That's how I am feeling like I am living at the moment. I have half my stuff still packed in my car. Some of my stuff in my bedroom, some of it still in rubbermaid boxes in the spare bedroom and some things still in my suitcase. I just don't like having stuff all over, I like to be organized and neat.

Veins. I am currently debating if I want to donate plasma again when I get back to Dubuque. It is a catch 22 for me. A piece of me really does want to donate and a piece of my has absolutely no desire to do it. The reason this fits under 'v' is because I despise when they screw up and my veins bleed and I get a massive bruise on my arm. We'll see what actually happens.

Wartburg. I am headed back to school on September 5. It is a strange set of emotions that come with it all.

Xylophone. I actually saw some man playing with 8 mallets while we were down in Cancun. It was ridiculously impressive.

Youth. I am already missing all the folks at Abiding Hope in particular the youth and children and their families that I was blessed to serve alongside.

Zero. I have no more letters to find something to write about. I am impressed if you are actually still reading at this point. I challenge you to try doing this as well, it is actually harder than one would think, but slightly fun as well.