Have I Told You Lately....

....that I love my apartment.
No, seriously. It's wonderful. Its pretty and quiet and it suits me. I have a multitude of dining and shopping choices within walking distance. I finally have a Starbucks where they know me, and what I drink, and I can walk down and enjoy an evening latte (decaf, of course) and read and catch up on correspondence and just be be. I love it! I will definitely be hanging around this area for quite a while.

....that I have the best friends in the world.
No lie. I have spent the past few weeks (and will continue through the next month) in a non-stop blur of parties, showers, dinners, musicals, pub nights, and coffee dates.. and I never cease to be amazed at the incredible group of people that are my friends. The countless text messages, calls, e-mails, e-vites, and random conversations make me realize just how blessed I am to love and be loved by so many great people. Some challenge me to grow intellectually and spiritually, others are there when I need a break from it all, and some are just there to make me smile.

....that I pretty much haven't been this happy in a long time.
I mean, yea, I have my moments of wishing and dreaming for a different stage of life.. but overall, I am really happy. I am part of a wonderful church, I'm healthy, I have a good job, and an incredible network of friends and family.

....seriously. What more could a girl want?

Currently Listening to:
Album: Hopes and Fears
Artist: Keane

Livin' in an Uptown World

So.. I'm sappy right now. Forgive me. I think it's exhaustion combined with many long nights with good friends, and the feeling of freedom that comes with summer. But gosh darn it, if I don't have the best friends in the whole world. And family. My family is incredible too. Even if my life seems like a soap opera sometimes, I sure am blessed more than I deserve.

My place is shaping up nicely. Got rid of a lot more boxes this evening. Finally bought real, fresh food yesterday. Having a picture/shelf hanging day on Saturday, which is also when my dining room set is to be delivered. My couch comes on Tuesday, and then, I will pretty much be complete, sans some sort of desk-ish area for my files, mail, etc., and some bookshelves for my closet. Have I mentioned just how much I love it here? I shall mention it again. Everything is falling into place.. and it's becoming my haven, finally. I just want it all to be done, so I can get on with things! I have SO many plans of nothingness and fun for the summer.. work a little, read a little, have a few parties, see a LOT of movies, and just overall hang out with everyone I know and love. Oh, and there's the small matter of having all of my wisdom teeth taken out. Heh. We'll see what the dentist says on Monday.. but from the intensifying jaw pain and clicking noises, I'm guessing they're either impacted or something else is up. Fun! Hey, at least it will be a mandatory "vacation" of staying home, eating soft comfort food, and watching movies. Of course, I will fully expect all of you to come keep me company, ha.

Well, the hour grows late once more, and I still have a few things to accomplish before bed. I do hope you are all doing well. Please call me if you haven't heard from me in a while.. I'm back in full force, but it might take me a few days to fully catch up to everyone! Love you all. Hasta!

Currently Listening to:
Album: The Holiday (score)

Everything and the Kitchen Sink

Oy, I'm not great at this updating thing, am I?

So I moved. Technically, anyway. I'm not staying there yet, ha. But in a way, it's kind of nice. I go spend a few hours each afternoon unpacking and getting things like I want. Things are coming along! Still waiting on the big furniture (couch, bookshelf, and dining room set) to be delivered. The cable guy comes on Saturday (which is was the reason I am still staying at my parents.. NBA Playoffs, you know!), which will be nice. In other news, my kitchen is completely finished :) It looks so beautimous! Now I just need to buy real food to cook, haha. Lots of things coming in this week.. I should be completely moved in by Saturday. Then I just need to wait on my furniture, then it's party time! June will basically be one long month of dinners and parties ;) Get excited!!

Other than moving.. things are just kind of plugging along. Today was my last day of class at SMU for the semester. Now I just have a final presentation and project, and one final lesson to prepare.. then.. SUMMER baby! I can't wait. Especially for June, when the kids are out at Providence. Should be a nice summer. Taking a long weekend to go see my cousin get married in Baton Rouge.. and trying to figure out what other vacation I'm going to take this summer.. mostly, all I can think about now is sleeping and reading books all summer, lol. I'm perpetually tired...

Speaking of that.. I am exhausted. These late night playoff games are killing me.. especially when we lose! Seriously. Well, I'm out. Y'all have a good week! Good luck to everyone finishing finals, etc. in the next few weeks!

I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore, Toto...

So I was driving home from Target, after leaving work quite late for a Friday afternoon. I was sitting at a stoplight, watching the clouds. As I was watching.. the clouds were blowing in one direction.. then, they were going in the OTHER direction. Seriously. Freaky. All I could think of was Lewis Black... "Tornado Timmy's coming! Flee! Flee!" It made for an interesting drive home, haha. I made it home and started pulling into the garage approximately .002347 seconds before the first of the marble/quarter sized hail started falling from the sky. Then the tornado sirens went off. And then... nothing. The rain died/slowed.. and that was it. Luckily, my Mavs game was not preempted by OLD weather news, like most of the prime-time channels. Seriously. They kept showing the same Minyard's with roof damage.. even after most of the bad weather was WAY off to the east! Silly weatherpeople. Even tho the Mavs lost, it was still an interesting game, mainly because most of the big names were out tonight.. which gave some floor time to some decently impressive rookies.. they still need a little work, but they definitely show promise! I was only slightly freaked out that two of them are within a few days or months of my age. I dunno.. just weird!

In other news... I'm exhausted. I was out of commission all day Wednesday with a sinus infection (which I am still technically battling), which left me scrambling to catch up the rest of the week. Oy! So much to do before the end of the semester.. and so little time! This weekend, I'm organizing (and throwing away!) the boxes of solid PAPER that I brought home from the move. Seeing as how I'm moving again in a week or two, I figured I should get on that.

EEK. I can't wait to move. Like.. seriously. I'm so excited about the new place. And my colors! The walls will be lovely! A nice cafe brown color for the living room, and a color called soft jazz (blueish) for the bedroom. Yay :) I should get my mail key on Monday!

Well, tomorrow should be busy.. going to Joelle Keith's wedding at 1, playing in a different wedding around 5 at Perkins with Steve from church, and then more sorting/organizing/resting. Because this stupid sinus infection is really taking it out of me. And the stupid antibiotics give me headaches and make me queasy. But hey, it kills the infection, right? Ha.

Ok, I'm out. Have a great weekend, y'all!

Currently Listening to:
Album: It's Time
Artist: Michael Buble
Track: Save the Last Dance for Me

I'm Dreaming of a White.. Easter?

Seriously. Snow the day before Easter? Only in Texas.

This sleeping in thing is really wonderful.. I feel so rested! Today was rather relaxed. I bummed around the house until rehearsal up at church for tomorrow. We're playing a lot of the same music from last year. Should be a great service! (Or services, I should say! We're trying out the two service thing tomorrow!) After that, I went by Pottery Barn to drool over the duvet cover I want, and then to the mall to search out clothes to wear tomorrow. I never quite remember just how much I hate going to the mall on the weekend until I'm there. SO crowded. And slow moving people. Ugh. I finally ended up with a pair of pants (which I will probably take back) and a shirt. Oh well. I tried! Now I'm just making a pie for Easter dinner and getting ready to go to bed early (7am call tomorrow!)

Last night was the Good Friday service at Christ Church with the DBU Chamber Singers. Since I know the director up there, I was invited to sing with them. We did the Faure Requiem and a nice Bruckner piece that Dr. Holcomb conducted. It was beautiful music. And I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while. Afterwards, went to dinner with the Tomkins and the Blackstocks. It was really nice to see them! I've been rather out of the loop with the move last weekend. My GOSH, I can't wait to have my own place again, ha.

Ok, my pie is calling.. time to add the meringue! Have a blessed Easter Sunday, everyone!

Life After the Move

So I've been home for all of four days, and I'm already going a tad stir-crazy. But I'm adjusting. At least it's temporary! It's pretty much been an awful week, with my car dying twice, work being exceedingly busy/stressful, and feeling rather like crap overall. Between the car situation and my mom's plane coming in a few HOURS late, I've had two very short nights of sleep in the past few days, which made for a very long day today as I fought to stay awake. Luckily, once I get through work tomorrow, I can rest a bit on Friday before taking off running once again. Should be a good Easter weekend. The contrast between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is always particularly moving for me.

Well, I should finish the work I brought home and then maybe watch a show or two before I crash early. Love you all. I should be back in the real world again sometime soon!

Catching the Trade Winds

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain

I apologize for my two-month, unannounced hiatus from blogging. Between internet issues, work/school schedules, health issues, and other misc. circumstances, I have not been using the internet nearly as much as I used to. Which has turned out to be a rather good thing, in many respects. Primarily, I sleep more (sort of), plus I have been able to do more non-school reading, which has been great.

I would try and recap the last two months, but really, too much has happened. TMEA came and went, as did spring break. My health is finally returning to something like its pre-February state. To those who missed that whole fiasco, I will just say that I suffer from stress migraines, which, left untreated, evidently cause some stroke-like symptoms. My MRI came back clean, and that's pretty much all I know at this point. I just have to work on keeping my stress levels down... which is fun. Heh. But yes. It's nice to finally have energy to make it through the week again. The Mavericks continue to dominate the entire fricking NBA, which is very exciting to me. Church is going well, and Uptown is even doing two services on Easter (9 and 11am).

I suppose the biggest news of the hour is that I moved today. At least temporarily. I'm really more like a nomad, when you think about it. The lease on the Henderson apartment is up on Wednesday, but I won't be able to move into my (wonderful, perfect, lovely) new apartment on Travis until, at the earliest, April 15th. And it could be later. We just don't know yet. So, in the meantime, my furniture is living in a storage unit, the rest of my crap is in my parents' garage, and as for me, I'm splitting my time between home and the Blackstock's, who have graciously offered their second bedroom whenever I need it. And so, I wait. Which, we all know, is not one of my strengths. But, it's a good thing. It's giving me the time to be able to go through all of my superfluous crap and finally be able to get it organized, like I was before I moved out two years ago. And, of course, I'm saving money.

Today was long, but the move went smoothly. Jenny and donna came over last night and basically packed my entire apartment. Seriously, I think I might have had a nervous breakdown if they had not come over. Between being sick and having a particularly busy few weeks at work, packing kept getting bumped on the priority list. But they were wonderful and tireless and we (they) got it all packed around 2:30 this morning. I am forever in their debt! Once everything was packed, Dad showed up this morning with the truck, followed closely by Evan and his friend Andrew with the last of the boxes I needed. The other Andrew showed up not too long after that, and once we got moving, the whole process only took about 6 hours, including a pizza break. I have the best friends. And family. Seriously. What else can I say?? They were great. And so here I sit, only slightly dreading having to clear off my old bed, and very much desiring to sleep.

It's going to be an interesting April. I'm playing in one wedding, attending yet another, singing at Christ Church for Good Friday, playing both Uptown services on Easter, wrapping up my second semester of grad school, moving to (and possibly painting!) my new place and getting settled, celebrating many important birthdays, and basically waking up one morning and realizing that it's May.

But I'm excited. And I'm content. Some days I think that I am not, and wish for things that only cause me grief; but then a new day dawns, and I remember what it's all about, and how incredibly great my life is right now. Because I'm catching my own trade wind, and sailing off, ready to tackle the waves ahead and discover what God has in store next.

Currently Listening to:
Album: Awake
Artist: Josh Groban
Track: So She Dances