like a popsicle on the 4th of July

Just thinking about fireworks, and fireflies, and freedom...

Source 1 & 2 Source 3

I’m missing the other half of my wardrobe which is packed safely away at my parent’s house undoubtedly being worn by my youngest sister...

antarctica

My youngest sister and I have been wanting to go to Antarctica together for a while. This is largely inspired by the book Troubling a Star by Madeline L'Engle. We're realistic about it, we realise it will take a few years to save up the money for a trip of this nature. This week the first concrete step of planning was accomplished. Lacy found this expedition. Now, all we have to do is save up about $25,000 each. (And we will definitely be doing the optional extension trip to Easter Island. I mean if you're going to take a month and spend a year's salary you might as well make the most of it. Right?)

cleaning out my phone...

I'm switching back over to my UK phone today, so here's a few pics and videos I saved from my US phone:

Will likes his head covered when he sleeps...

Ben's Chili Bowl!

Emily, Luke, and Flower

We fed "Flower" a lot, but we're not exactly sure if she's a girl...

Alternate name if she turns out to be a boy, "Blue"

Graduation!

Will's Birthday!!!

cake and shoes...

what more could a girl want?

We had my sister Emily's wedding shower this weekend. Good friends, good food, good times. I forgot my camera in the car so these pictures, taken before and after, are all that I have until other's are posted on facebook. The cake is Lemon Mint Pound Cake, made by moi.

After the shower Lacy and I had some chicken fried rice from PFChangs and went to see Valentine's Day with her friend Meghan. It was... ok I guess. Then I was up most of the night with yucky stomach cramps, hello little-people-germs.

Spent Sunday in bed and on the couch, hooray for Winter Olympics interspersed with Gilmore Girls and random movies on TBS.

That was my weekend.

for Lacy

a perfect poem for the ending of a year

~ e.e. cummings

more women should dress like us

So two weekends ago I visited my youngest sister Lacy in Tennessee where she goes to college. We had a great weekend. On Friday we went into Chattanooga and explored the city a bit. Fabulous independent bookstore where I found a copy of Pablo Neruda's Love Poems and Lacy found a wonderful little journal with birch trees. We saw The Proposal which was entirely predictable, but still enjoyable. We had great salads at Panera for dinner then crossed The Walnut Street Bridge for some ice cream from Clumpy's. The sunset from the bridge was beautiful and we just sat and enjoyed the evening. We walked past a man who said to us, "Good evening girls. Ya'll look great. More women should dress like you." We decided this must be because of our impeccable fashion sense and not because he thought we looked slutty. Sunset from the Tennessee River

Lacy

The Walnut Street Bridge

Sisters

On Saturday we went hiking in the Cherokee National Forest which was an adventure! The first half hour or so was fine, just following the trail and crossing the stream on rocks and fallen logs a couple times. Then we had to climb up the side of the mountain. That's when it got a bit interesting. As much as I love trail walking scrambling through the brush and decaying leaves full of large insects and possibly snakes is not my favorite thing. We made it down to our destination, a beautiful waterfall where we had lunch and soaked up the day and Lacy swam in the pool at the base for a while. (A short while as it was VERY cold.) When we decided to head back was when the fun really began. Lacy couldn't find the trail. You loose it on the way in and then have to climb back up to where you leave it to head back out. We were scrambling up and down and across the side of the mountain for a good 15 minutes when we came across an army back pack that had been lost or dropped or something. It had been there for a week or maybe less. Animals had gotten into it and strewn the contents. Prescription medicine, tins of food, a large package of ivory soap. And a machete. That was slightly disconcerting as we were half expecting to stumble on a body or hear the weak cries of an injured soldier. Anyway, I got tired of going back to the waterfall to start again and pushed ahead, blazing a trail in roughly the right direction. After a few minutes Lacy, who was lower down than me, called out, "I found the real trail!" Which was a huge relief to both of us! The rest of the day was taken up with snow cones and movies and easy dinners.

Giant millipedes were everywhere!

Lacy swimming in the pool.

Sisters

The waterfall and me

Staring up at the sky... This was my view!

The Waterfall

Snail and mushroom on moss

On Sunday we meandered our way to Atlanta where I caught a plane to Jacksonville, Florida. I'll be here until the 30th of July. So far, we're having a blast.

i know what it is!

You may remember that I couldn't figure out what song kept playing through my head. I wrote about my dilemma in May. Well, thanks to a random playlist of Lacy's I have discovered that the song is Wonderwall by Ryan Adams. What a relief!

i have my baby back

Before I left to do Transit, I gave my car to my sister. This was a good thing. She has lent it back to me while I'm at home. (Mostly because she doesn't want all of the little money she makes going to gas and car maintenance. I hope, otherwise you should've kept it.) Anyway, I'm so happy to have her/him back! I've never been able to decide if the car is a girl or a boy. Any thoughts? If I could decide then I could give it a name. (No offense to Lacy who named it Betsy. I just don't think he/she is a Betsy. But you can call her that if you want to.)


Here is a picture of me getting into her/him the day before I left last September:
This is the second car I've owned. My first car was given to me by my youth pastor and his wife when I graduated from highschool, they're pretty awesome and not just because of that. So this is the first car I bought on my own and I worked hard to pay it off and took really good care of it, never missed an oil change or tire rotation or scheduled maintnenance. It deserves a really good name. I've always wanted to name it but the gender issue has stopped me. So I'm open to suggestions for either what gender you think it is or good names. : )

random picture post

I have finally uploaded a bunch of pictures that have been on my phone for ages, so this will be very random!
Open mic night at the John Hewitt my first night in Belfast. (April 7th) Wisteria in Guildford! (From this past Tuesday)
The sun is still shining and it's 8:00pm (from yesterday)
The very first proper English stile I ever climbed over (January)
Weeding at Sunbury Court (Almost two weeks ago) We spent this past weekend working on a community project called Ready 4 Action which mobilizes churches and youth groups from all over Guildford to do gardening and painting for people who for whatever reason are unable to do it for themselves. This is lunch on the first day and then the finished room. (As you can see the teams changed each day)

I got my face painted! (Ready 4 Action Fun Day, this past Monday)
A flower pot I painted at Fun Day and chocolate I won thanks to the boys entering me in the t-shirt contest against my will.
I maybe got a bit carried away with the face painting pictures...

And more wisteria (this is for Lacy!)

for lacy

Because I'm not feeling especially clever or creative right now... missing you too much for that(thanks for shattering me with your words) ... here is one of our favorite poems to tell you how I feel about you until I can compose myself enough to try and express it myself:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

-e.e. cummings