Bug Bites & BBQs

So far this week has been a whirlwind of work and after-work activities that have kept me up way to late every night. Tonight will be no different because I have a date with a girlfriend! We are going to explore "The Americana" which is an outdoor shopping mall with a lot of restaurants and such.

Despite being so excited to move into my new condo next weekend, I have really been enjoying living in the Pasadena area. The house is right up against the Los Angeles National Forest (Did you know there was such a thing?) so not only does that mean the occasional bear sighting but also that there are great hiking trails right down the road! My friend Ben and I spent about an hour blazing a trail and the mosquitos spent the majority of that time feasting on my ankles.

(Please excuse the poor photo quality, my camera is in a box...somewhere)

The next night we avoided the pesky beasts and broke in the boys' new grill. The result was quite tasty.

Well, back to work for me! (Even though I am dreaming of a nap...)

Date Night

1,000 miles of travel, and four and a half days away is not all that big of a deal but no matter how long the journey – getting home always evokes a big sigh of relief. This time around it included a squeal of joy as well.

Why? Well first you need a little bit of background information on my love life. Andrew and I met at the end of our freshman year of college and were almost immediately completely (totally, head-over-heels) into each other. Before we actually started dating Andrew would chew “5” gum and doodle on the back of the wrappers. Song lyrics or notes or pictures covered endless numbers of wrappers and (of course) I saved all of them. So tonight, I got home to find a gum wrapper waiting for me with a message asking for a date on Friday night!

The note was absolutely adorable, of course I said yes, and now I just have to decide to give him the mug I got him tonight or on our date on Friday! He loves black and bold coffee so I really just couldn’t resist.

And just to avoid accusations, I would like to state that I do NOT purchase everything that I am tempted to. For example, the most perfect kitchen towel containing an explanation for my entire life.

So goodnight world, hello workweek, and date night…hurry up and get here!

Skip Graham, The “Money Man”

(I actually wrote this yesterday around 4pm, completely unaware that it would take me until midnight to get home due to a door malfunction on the plane but hey, I made it! So please enjoy.)

I am sitting in LAX going over my travel Checklist:

- Laptop loaded with the latest episode of the Bachelorette? Check.
- Cell phone and headphones loaded with the newest music? Check.
- Down blanket rolled up into the smallest ball it can achieve and shoved into my purse? Check.
- Latte? Check.
- Flight on time? Well, not so much but I’ll get there!

I am heading right into the little airport in Santa Rosa, California where my dad will be impatiently waiting and then drive me the ten minutes between the airport and our house.

This particular trip is a little more significant and solemn than others. My grandpa, Harvard Eugene Graham, Jr. passed away a few weeks ago. Not that we called him that though. No, he was Grandpa Skip and one of the most wonderful men I will ever have the privilege of knowing and loving. Tomorrow we are holding a “Celebration of Life” in his honor and, if you had had the pleasure of knowing him, you would understand just how appropriate that is.

Grandpa Skip loved. He loved golf, pistachio nuts, Kahlua and cream, red zinfandel wine, my grandma, all of his (very large) family, and me. I am very fond of dancing and no wonder when some of my very earliest memories are of Grandpa singing out square dance calls even if no one was dancing or, when I was a little taller, holding me tight up against his wonderfully round belly and dancing me around the living room. As I got older he taught me many more wonderful lessons like, always return his things on time if you borrowed them (or he would charge you interest), men are out to conquer the world, and every day that he has known his Savior has been a blessing. I also learned to warn any boyfriend I brought home that he could bet his life on Grandpa Skip cornering him for an hour to find out who he is was, where he’s from, who his parents are, what he wants to do with his life and does he know the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior.

Seeing Grandpa Skip was always a lot of fun. Ask him how he was and he would promptly inform you, “Well, I woke up this morning and the good Lord gave me another day!” or wish him goodbye and he would hug you just to say, “I’m glad you got to see me.” Grandpa and Grandma owned a financial planning company (two huge influences towards my desire to study business) and he started out at a large insurance firm where he was dubbed “Skip Graham, The Money Man” since he was the top producer for many years. It was almost like growing up famous because everywhere I went and everyone I met either knew personally or had heard of my grandparents! I loved it. But mainly just because I loved them.

So despite the significant and solemn occasion to be traveling home, I am greatly looking forward to spending the weekend celebrating the life of such a wonderful man who was always full of a passion for life and the people around him.

Book Club, Anyone?

Someday I would like to be a part of an actual book club. One where you get a whole bunch of people to all sit down and take the time to read through, think about, and then discuss a book. Nothing intense, maybe once a month? I mean I've read 4 books and am working on my 5th since the end of May so that sounds incredibly do-able.

Funny thing, the topic came up tonight. So now I am thinking who would want to be involved? How many people would actually come? What should we read? The possibilities really are endless. Plus, there is something just so wonderful about someone who is well-read and something so sexy about bookshelves (Ok well maybe that's just me).

So if anyone has any suggestions on books or structures or anything I am all ears! For now I shall rummage up that long list of "Books to read" I've been building my entire way through college and begin putting some feelers out for who may want to join.

Party Animal

Not that I am a party animal, but I now fully believe I can handle anything any party has to throw at me. At least form the "hosting" perspective. Andrew and I threw his best friend Ben a party last night for his 22nd birthday. We have all been looking forward to it for quite sometime but little did I know it would take over my whole weekend.

Saturday began with cleaning and organizing and the moving of all of my stuff into the garage (instead of the middle of their living room). Then we spent about 4 hours of the afternoon grocery shopping at Target, Vons, and Dots Cupcakes to pick up all of the essentials: Ice, drinks, ping pong balls, frozen finger foods, chips, and of course a Starbucks latte. Now this is not a type of party I am used to throwing (I tend towards the wine and cheese evenings full of social conversation and candles). Thus you can understand my need to clean everything and make the house fully presentable, much to Andrew's dismay. Now we did come to a nice compromise and we were ready on time and did not run out of food or drinks or fun until the ungodly hour of 3:30am.

Now comes the fun part. The whole house woke up at noon the next day. The guests peaced out and Andrew and Ben headed off for a day at the Apple store in Pasadena where they both work. That just leaves me. Me and more empty bottles and beer cans than I have ever seen in my entire life. Of course I handled it like a champ and a mere 4 hours later was showered and dressed for an evening to myself. Needless to say, they owe me one.

So after all is said and done I will keep two things in mind:

1. Never clean the whole house for a night that involves beer pong.
2. NEVER be the last and only one left in the house.

(I am also left wondering how my mom has managed to not go crazy with so many birthday parties to throw every year!)

The Gym

I had a gym membership once. I had it for a whole summer. My grandma, Nanny, added me to her Fitness Club membership in Santa Rosa the summer after my first year of college. I had a job as an activities director/dining room host at an assisted living center and was off every day around 5. We got quite a little routine down, actually. We would meet at the gym after I got off work and she would swim, walk, or sit in the sauna while I experimented with all of the different (and very strange looking) machines spread throughout the facilities. Then we would shower and spend the rest of the evening sitting in Starbucks sipping on our respective coffee beverages. Tall vanilla latte for me and a decaf coffee in THIS cup with THAT much coffee and THAT much hot water with THIS much extra room at the top for cream (she had the places marked on her cup in sharpie). She would open her paper, I'd bury my nose in a book and we would stay until they kicked us out. This was often about a half hour after closing though because Nanny was friends with all the baristas. If she didn't bring them a bag of fresh apples off of her tree, they would send her home with a whole coffee cake. This is really one of the reasons I believe my late night/Starbucks coffee/Coffee shop addiction is genetic...

But anyway, back to the gym.

I loved that summer of gym membership, loved my years in Cross Country and although I have never LOOKED particularly toned or "in shape" I love the feeling of being healthy and fit. So now that I have a relatively normal schedule and a few gyms scattered throughout my area I am dreaming up workout routines and scouring the web for good smoothie recipes and dying to try a yoga class. Imagine my joy then, upon finding out that at my office there is an entire gym already furnished with all of those strange looking machines and mats and even a tv and speaker system hooked up to a DVD player! Not only that, my boss is dying to bring in a yoga instructor once or twice a month during lunch and there are even newly remodeled shower facilities upstairs. Not that our facilities are as sweet as the Google complex or anything but hey, I am not complaining.

The plan? Try out the office gym and if I get too sick of being in that building I will begin to look into gym memberships but for now, you just can't beat free.

The Interior Decorator Within Me

Regardless of whether or not I have a physical room or finances with which to furnish it, after having seen the absolutely adorable little situation which I will be moving into next month I am well on my way to having the whole thing decorated. In my head, at least.

As long as you don't ask me how any of these items actually cost, you can get a feel for what I am dreaming up!

This Never-Ending Thing We Call Life

So just when I thought my life would begin to develop a bit of normalcy, things exploded.
I had a nice job and a nice room and was excited to begin saving (for once) and spending my weekends doing everything BUT homework.

Then my car broke down.

And for the last two weeks I have been bumming rides to and from work, swiping friends’ and boyfriend’s cars for errands and feeling generally stranded. Then right as I get my car back, it becomes apparent that it would be wise for me to move out of my housing situation and “couch surf” until other arrangements can be found.

So now I am theoretically homeless.

And yet, through it all, I have a great boyfriend who, along with his best friend and roommate, spent their 4th of July weekend moving me into their living room. And I have a few overly-generous girlfriends who have volunteered their beds and couches for my nightly occupation. And my car is running. And my job is still going really well. And I already having a housing situation lined up come August 1st which will actually be even more comfortable, trendy, conveniently located, and affordable than before. And I guess you could say I am learning quite a bit along the way…

So I will spend tonight in a spare room, drinking wine and laughing with a friend and I will be thankful for God’s road of provision. Even with the pot holes.