Pedicure on our Toes, Toes! Trying on all our Clothes, Clothes!

I get to see some of my very best friends in the world this weekend!!!

Back when we were in school we started the tradition of reuniting on the 4th of July each year (because we just couldn't handle an ENTIRE summer of not seeing each other).  We've taken turns hosting in our home cities, and whoever can make the trip comes.  The turnout won't be huge this year because we're scattered all over the country and have lots of grown-up responsibilities these days, but I look forward to seeing the ones who can make it!

I considered posting a picture where we're all pretty and polished, but instead I want to show you some photos that will give you an accurate depiction of our friendship:

I have been missing these girls' daily role in my life for over a year now.  Graduating college and moving away from your friends leaves you with such a unique sadness.  It's weird how the passage of time turns some of the happiest moments of your life into memories.  

I know I'll always have these girls as my best friends, but the friendships are definitely shifting and changing as we move into adulthood. 

The Cleanse

This week, me and two of my small group girls, Kristen and Jessica, are doing a cleanse.
It's a fast of sorts, but we're not doing it for spiritual reasons (although they are a huge encouragement to me in that area).  We are simply doing this to better our health.  I can't speak for us all, but my diet has been pretty terrible lately.  This cleanse will remove all those toxins from my body and have me ready to jump into a healthier diet at the end of the week.

Here is what The Cleanse consists of:
1 day of fasting
3 days eating only fruits and veggies
1 day of fasting

The only beverages we can have are water, tea and black coffee.  Since tea of nearly every kind literally sets my gag reflex into action, I won't be doing tea.  If I had an autobiography, I could probably write an entire chapter on how much I despise tea.

Today is my first day of fruits and veggies.  This afternoon I had the a terrible, pulsating headache (caffeine withdrawl much?).  So... I did the unthinkable.  I drank a 1/2 a cup of black coffee.  I'm a cream and sugar kind of girl, so I had never actually attempted to drink a cup of black coffee before today.  I'm happy to report, that I didn't hate it as much as I hate tea.  But it was a very close second.

Anyone who knows me well knows I am allergic to nearly everything outside... trees, pollens, molds, birch, bark, grass, ragweed, you name it.  I used to get allergy shots each week to alleviate some of my misery, but I recently weaned myself off of the shots.  Anyway... as a result of my multiple plant allergies, I have what is called Oral Allergy Syndrome.  Basically, because of this, nearly all raw fruits and vegetables cause me to have a mild allergic reaction.  It's not severe or life-threatening, but it makes eating them very uncomfortable.  My lips, throat and tongue get all itchy and tingly and swell just a bit when I eat fruits and veggies.  This is because the proteins in the produce are similar to those in pollen and grass and all that good stuff, and my body recognizes them as the plants that I am allergic to. Long story short... this makes The Cleanse a bit difficult.  The good thing is though, that cooking the fruits and veggies kills the proteins (and the nutritional value) and I can eat them without discomfort.  Thus, I've stocked up on frozen broccoli and such, that I can steam in the microwave.  So not nutritional whatsoever, but what am I going to do?  Also, strawberries for some reason seem to be the exception to my allergies, so I am throwing those back like it's my job.

For someone who LOVES carbs and LOVES red meat... these next few days will continue to be a challenge.  

"Franck thought it would be great to have swans waddling around the tulip border ..."

When my friend Adrienne and I were in middle school, she lived at my house for a brief period one summer.  Her family was getting ready to move to Peru to be missionaries, and while her parents traveled around speaking to churches and things like that, she lived with me for awhile.  During this time, we watched "Father of the Bride" (on VHS of course) nearly every day.  I couldn't tell you why, but it was our absolute favorite movie at the time.  To this day we quote that movie and giggle hysterically (that should explain the title of this entry if it has you scratching your head)

Shortly after our "Father of the Bride" days, Adrienne took off to Peru for about six years.  We kept in touch a little bit over the years, and I was thrilled when she moved back to the US for college and we settled back into a friendship.  Four years ago, she joined our group of friends on a trip to a cabin for New Year's.  She knew us all, but was still getting reacquainted with the group after her lengthy absence in our lives.  It was on this trip that she confided in me that she thought our friend Nick was a pretty cool guy.  We went to middle school with Nick, but at that point in our lives, boys and girls did NOT talk to each other, so they really didn't know each other well before this trip.  

This is really the only photo I have with them both in it from that trip.  Adrienne is the one in the black shirt in the front and Nick is the silly brown-haired guy in the back.  

Over the next months I watched their relationship develop. The New Year's trip flirtation led to an "It's not a date" coffee date, followed by some real dates, that led to a really wonderful relationship. There were happy times, funny times, and a rough patch or two along the way... but in December she called me and told me the wonderful news that they were getting married!!! In the last months I've celebrated her wedding shower and bachelorette party, and about a week and half ago, I got to celebrate her wedding!!!  I cried through the ENTIRE ceremony and smiled through the entire reception.  I could not be more happy for these two!

Last night, all of our (local) friends gathered at Allison's to say goodbye to Nick and Adrienne.  They moved to Illinois today.  I will miss seeing them frequently, but know that this is just a new phase in our friendship.  There are many more good times to come. 

Friday Facts

Fact: My favorite app that I have on my phone is my daily CS Lewis quote application.  Who wouldn’t love to wake up to a snippet of wisdom each morning?

Fact: I have had the most mundane dreams lately!  Seriously… in the last couple weeks I’ve dreamt about the lamest things.  One running theme seems to be office supplies.  In three separate dreams I dreamt about wasting computer paper, using a stapler and the most troubling dream of all was about an excel document.  AN EXCEL DOCUMENT?! My subconscious needs a little more excitement.

What happened to the dreams where you ride horseback to Atlantic City, only to find that your elementary school principal and Dr. Phil are there and the three of you scrapbook together while eating skittles with chopsticks???

Fact: I’m not a huge fan of high heels.  I like how they look… and love how the perfect pair of heels can complete an outfit, but my goodness they are uncomfortable!  I reserve my heel-wearing for nights out rather than work.

Fact: My piano music obsession continues.  My new favorite Pandora station is called “Piano Hits.”  I love the station, but I think the name is absurd.  Are there really any piano hits? Who could name or identify a piano hit?  Katy Perry hits… sure, but piano hits just aren’t quite as mainstream.

Fact: It’s wedding season!  And I love wedding season!  I love dressing up and dancing!  Well, let me rephrase that, I love dressing up and dancing at events like weddings and formals.  I despise dancing at the club.  DESPISE it.  In an effort to keep my blog tasteful, I won’t go into detail,  but I just have to say that I don’t appreciate males with whom I have not exchanged names or pleasantries, coming up to me from behind  and forcing parts of their…anatomy(?)… to touch me. I’m sorry, but that is no way to introduce yourself. At the very least we should first discuss the upcoming Reds game and how unseasonably warm the weather has been. All this bumping and grinding that my generation enjoys, just doesn't suit me.

Fact: Nothing builds anticipation for the weekend quite like the “Friday” song.  I enjoy the Glee cover:

Just call me The Head Princess Beaver

This week I am volunteering for Vacation Bible School at my church.  I have a group of 3^rd and 4^th graders, and they are a lot of fun.  Each group has an animal name because the theme of the week is something about a jungle or safari or something along those lines.  My group is the Beavers. At one point last night when I was leading my line of kids down the hall, giant BEAVERS sign in hand, a little girl looked up at me and said in all seriousness, “You are our Head Princess Beaver!”

I like to think that she reached this conclusion based on my princess-like qualities, rather than my likeness to a beaver…

Meditations

I just wanted to share some verses I'm been thinking and praying about lately.

  ^"Gold there is, and rubies in abundance,
  but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel."

Proverbs 20:15

"...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
James 5:16


"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God,
who gives generously to all without finding fault,
and it will be given to you.
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt,
because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea,
blown and tossed by the wind. 
 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord."
James 1:5-7


"Many are the plans in a man’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails."
Proverbs 19:21

At least we can all agree on hummus

I look forward to lunch time every day at work.  Since the weather is nice, I eat outside in this delightful little shaded area with picnic tables.  There are few areas in or around the office that one would describe as “delightful” so this lunch area truly is a haven.  The group I eat with consists of four people besides me:

The Summer Interns: I hit it off with these two girls right away, because obviously I have more in common with the college students than those who have been living the corporate life for twenty years. One goes to Xavier, and the other goes to the University of Dayton.  I will mourn the day when their internships end. 

The French Designer: She is middle-aged and lives and works in New York but is here doing training for three months.  She’s an interior designer and brings so much culture and class to our lunch hour.

The Nova Scotian:  As her name would indicate, she is from Nova Scotia, and is also middle-aged.   The French Designer and the Nova Scotian often speak French together.  When the Summer Interns and I are around, they kindly use English as to not exclude us from their conversations. 

I love my little lunch group!  I love that we send fun little group emails each day to confirm our 12:30 lunch even though we all know the time and location.  It’s just nice to receive a friendly email mid-morning. 

However, the one thing I do not love about my lunch group is that I feel like I have the worst diet imaginable when I observe what they eat.  If I had to sum up what they eat in one word it would be LEAVES.  I swear, the main ingredient in each of their lunches are those dark green salad leaves... you know, the ones with actual stems still on them.  They are frequently topped with things like beats and turnips, and obscure vegetables I’ve never tried in my life.  I’m pretty sure The French Designer is a Vegan, and the others are just super health conscious. Fruits and vegetables… it’s really all these people eat. They all talk about how the only places to buy decent food in this city are Fresh Market and Findlay Market.  Meanwhile, I silently eat my turkey sandwich and chips and sip on diet soda.  It should also be noted that I usually pack my lunch in a Kroger bag.  I realize turkey, chips (baked chips, I might add) and diet soda doesn’t sound like a terribly unhealthy lunch to the average person, but to be honest, I feel like I’m eating a pile of onion rings smothered in ranch in comparison to their lunches. 

On a positive note, I packed hummus today, and it was received very positively by my lunch group.

It must be noted that I’ve never been called out on my “terrible” eating habits by my gracious lunch companions.  They are way too nice for that.  I do wonder though if they silently judge my eating habits…

Some Summer Reading

Books I am currently reading:

I got this book (along with numerous others!) from Savannah, because she works at a book publisher.  This is just one of the many perks of being her friend.  I always enjoy a good non-fiction story, and I have always been weirdly fascinated with reproductive technology. 



We are doing a Dave Ramsey series at church and I LOVE it.  It's great to soak up all this excellent financial advice at a young age. 

Who doesn't love a little Christian fiction? Karen Kingsbury is by far my favorite author in this genre. 

Last but not least, I am still working on my book about the royal family. 

I like to read several things at a time, and this is my current list.  It's a good thing it's finally summer, because my favorite place to read is poolside.  I was able to spend time time doing that this weekend and it was pure bliss. 

Rock Me Baby Like a Wagon Wheel

Phewf... I have been SO BUSY lately!  I don't think I've had more than an hour of free time in about two weeks.  But I can't complain, I've been working hard and playing hard.  I'm completely exhausted, but it's the good kind of exhausted.

In the last week I've taken a trip to Nashville, cooked out with friends, had movie night with friends, went to church, hung out with my neighbors, and acquired lots of new things for the apartment I hope to be moving into soon.

I'm going to recap my Nashville trip for you.

Nashville was a blast!  I knew I would have fun, but this city was

even more fun that I had anticipated!  Savannah, being the awesome

plan-ahead kind of girl that she is, had composed an entire itinerary

for our weekend.

Whitney and I arrived kind of late on Friday night, so we didn’t do

much that evening.  We just hung out at Savannah’s place and caught

up.   Saturday, we spent the day in Franklin, which is a suburb of

Nashville.  Franklin was full of quaint little shops and unique little

restaurants.  We had some lunch and spent the afternoon fighting off

cicadas as we explored the town.

Saturday evening we went to a restaurant called The Listening Room
where you can have dinner and listen to live bands.  All three of the
groups that performed were amazing!  The first girl was my favorite…
she sounded just like Zooey Deschanel.  We met Savannah’s friends
Jessica and Jeremy there.

After Dinner, we went out on the town!  I absolutely loved downtown
Nashville and all the places on Broadway.  We saw dueling pianos,
awesome performers on street corners, and great live music in all the
bars. As I expected going into this trip… everyone in Nashville is an
awesome musician.  We met some new friends who were Bellmont grad
students and spent the evening with them.

Everywhere we went had live country music and I fully embraced it.
Country music and I have a love/hate relationship… but this weekend
was definitely a high point in our relationship.  I loved embracing my
southern roots!  Ok, maybe I don’t have legitimate southern roots, but
four years of living in Tennessee has to count for something.

Sunday morning we went to church, and Danielle joined us at lunch
time.  That evening, the four of us, along with Jessica and Jeremy
went to a vineyard outside of the city and had a picnic.  The scenery
was absolutely beautiful (the photos don’t do it justice) and there
was live jazz music to listen to.  It was such a relaxing evening!

After the vineyard, we decided to make another trip down town and go
line dancing--  so much fun!!! I think if I lived in Nashville I would
buy a pair of cowboy boots and make it my goal to become an excellent
line dancer.  It would for sure be a newfound hobby for me.  I loved
it!

Monday we spent the morning being lazy at the pool, sun-bathing and
reading books.  We went to a Mexican place for a late lunch, and then
Whitney and I headed home.

I couldn’t have asked for a more fun, relaxing and care-free holiday
weekend.  I love Cincinnati and finally (a year after moving home)
have a huge sense of peace about living here, but this weekend for
sure made me miss the south!  I could definitely see myself ending up
back in the south at some point in my life.