{Nice, France}

Weekends are for... 

rejuvenating

relaxing

reconnecting

reorganizing

reflecting

rejoicing

Happy Weekending!

Happy Birthday, Lyndsy!

Today is my sweet friend Lyndsy's birthday!  We celebrated at Yogurtville last week, and had a great time catching up.  

I met Lyndsy in Maastricht when I studied abroad there.  We lived across the hall from each other, and became friends really quickly.  I knew I liked her when she got us through the underground tunnels of Maastricht on a scavenger hunt.  For this directionally challenged girl, she was speaking my love language!

Here we are after finishing the tunnels.  Whew.  I didn't know I was claustrophobic until then.

Lyndsy is a great caretaker.  :-)  I can't believe I'm posting this picture of me, but whatever.  I fainted on Easter Sunday in Rome, and Katie and Megan and Lyndsy were all there with me, and we went to the clinic at the Vatican.  (I'll have to tell that story another time!)  They gave me a shot and some chocolate, and Lyndsy tried to relay whatever the Italian doctors were trying to say.  She stayed very calm as I was freaking out.  

This was last year on my 23rd Birthday.  

She came over with Claire and Smoo to help me celebrate with my family!

New Years Eve 2010.  

We spent it at Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth.  

It was a rather hilarious evening.  

Apparently we like to celebrate birthdays together!  

Here we are at Claire's "Pink" Party last February.

Lyndsy's family also has a lake house on the same lake as mine, 

and we get to hang out there sometimes.  We were having quite the fun times on the float.  

This was after some animal came up and bit me.  We were laughing pretty hard.

Lyndsy is a great friend.  She's in grad school for Physical Therapy right now, and works really, really hard.  I have to get on her calendar a couple weeks in advance, usually, but I always love it when we get to catch up!  Happy 25th Birthday, Lyndsy!  Hope you have a happy day!

A Scare and A Surprise

This morning certainly started out with a twist.  I went running since it's about 20 degrees cooler at 6:30 a.m. compared to running at night.  Anyone else ready for Fall??

Well, I had my iPod in, and I had turned around to come back home.  I was on a road with lots of cars and felt safe.  Until someone came up and grabbed me and wrapped me in a hug.  I screamed.  I'm sure everyone at the stoplight wasn't certain what to think.  

It was Lyndsy.  I saw her running in the neighborhood yesterday on my way to work, and then we got to run together for just a little bit today!  It was quite a treat.  Unless you count the part where she scared the living daylights out of me.  But I'll forgive her.

{In the Swiss Alps in 2009!  Lyndsy is on the left.}

When we studied abroad in Europe together, she would run every.single.morning.  Even when it was super cold (which pretty much ended up being evey day.)  The only running I did was to catch a train or two along the way.  In fact, we almost missed most of our trains by a few seconds.  Good thing I could keep up with the Baylor track star! 

She's studying pretty much all the time for Physical Therapy school, so it was an unexpected treat to get to see her this morning.  Emhpasis on the unexpected.  :-)  Who knew that I'd have to be running in order to see her!

Happy Birthday KK!

In college, March became a very celebratory month around our apartment.  SM's birthday was March 1. And on March 11, we get to celebrate Katie's birthday too!  She is affectionately known as Katie, KK, KKface, and many other terms of endearment.

{On a train in Europe--headed to the airport!}

Katie and I spent our last semester of college together sharing a small room in Europe (when we weren't traveling, that is).  She's the kind of girl who will go on any and every adventure, regardless of how much sleep you deprive yourself of.  For example, she went to Austria one weekend for a Valentine's Day ball, taking an overnight train there and back.  (I went to Germany that weekend and had a great time and a bit more sleep!)

All that to say...Katie is a maximizer.  She takes every moment she's given in a situation and uses it to the fullest.  And she has some really great and hilarious stories.  Sometimes it's fun to just sit back and watch her.  

She is also a great and loyal friend.  She has a tender heart for others, and she is very reliable.  I know I can always count on her, and I so appreciate that.

{The roomies.  Being obnoxious in our DDD rain jackets.  Sweet.}

 {Katie Sherlock Holmes...it has a nice ring to it, right?}

Katie comes from a crazy and random family.  The things that happen to them make you want to say, "Am I really witnessing this??"  Yes, you are.  Her mom and dad would come to Waco and take us to dinner, and her brother and sister-in-law lived in Waco for a little bit, and it was so fun to hang out with them, too.  I feel like I am a part of their family, and I love that.

Katie is an extremely hard worker.  Senior year, she became our Float Chair because some other float chairs had to quit, so she stepped in, and I got to work alongside her.  We worked long and hard hours, and she slaved away to make Float a fun event that people would want to come out to.  We made a great team, because I was out there during the afternoon while she had class, and she was out there late into the night.  She has more energy than anyone I know and is a natural-born leader and team player.  Quite a combo.   

{We won...mostly because of Katie's hard work!}

Perhaps the best part about Katie is her heart and her love for the Lord.  She seeks Him and makes time to spend with the Lord, and it is so evident.  This summer, during a particularly rough time, Katie prayed specific prayers for me every hour, on the hour.  I was so honored and floored.  

Now she lives in Nashville, getting her Masters in Education.  She wants to teach and coach high school.    I can't wait to see where she ends up next...it will probably be somewhere adventurous!  She went to Nashville because she'd never lived outside of Texas and wanted to try something new.  I'm thankful for a great reason to visit that fun city, but I definitely miss having her around.  

Happy Birthday, Katie ~ Here's to the year 23!

One year ago today...

...I was on a plane to Maastricht, the Netherlands. I cannot begin to explain what an adventure those three months were. It was the trip of a lifetime!

When I set foot on Baylor's campus in August of 2005, if you'd told me that I would spend my last semester of college in various foreign countries, I would have laughed in disbelief. You were talking to the girl who couldn't handle a week at summer camp before my senior year in high school. Going off to college two hours from home was adventure enough!

(Freshman Homecoming, 2005)

Well, gone is that girl who is terrified of leaving home. In her place is a well-traveled, cultured 23 year year old. (If I do say so myself!). That's not to say I didn't get homesick. I definitely did. I missed my family and friends a lot. A LOT. But, I learned the art of keeping in touch through email and Skype, and even snail mail. I tried to send a postcard to my Great Aunt Jenny in North Carolina in every city I visited.

I took my last eight hours of class through independent study, so I corresponded with my professors by email. It prepared me for the job I have now--my boss is in Austin and my other team member in Houston. We navigated train schedules and hostel reservations. I wish I could say I gained a better sense of direction, but that's just not meant to be. Thankfully I made a great new friend, Lyndsy, who took care of the directions part! And when we were lucky enough to travel with Katie, she definitely added a whole other sense of adventure. Oh, the stories she tells.

I learned to travel with only a day-pack for a backpack, and I honed the art of packing. I'm telling you, ROLLING your stuff is the secret. It really works.

I learned that the best place to make friends were on the train--they could give you inside scoop to your destination.

I fell in love with whoever invented Long Johns. They are the best invention ever for someone that gets chilled so easily. I wore them every. single. day. with. out. fail. Even into April.

London was a great place to start. I actually did have a sense of direction there, much to Katie's surpise. Something about Subway systems make sense. We got great, cheap seats to see Les Miserables and Wicked.

Spain was my favorite. Perhaps it was the warm sunshine we hadn't seen in months, or the familiar Spanish language, or the apartment-style hostel we lived in with 10 of our friends. That is at the top of my list of places to go back to.

Rothenburg, Germany wins for being the most quaint. I remember the snow and all the good food we ate: Chinese food, German food and Italian food. Dutch food left much to be desired, so by the time we traveled there on our third week in Europe, I definitely appreciated it.

Nice, France was the most picturesque--without a doubt. I really have no words.

Easter in Rome was unforgettable. Mainly because I fainted and was cared for by the Pope's very own doctors and nurses.

Pompeii, Italy was something I'd wanted to see since my seventh grade Latin class when we learned about Mt. Vesuvius' eruption that swept over the city, catching its residents mid-run. I also ran into a friend that I worked with at Southwest Airlines. My small world just got smaller.

Oh, what semester. I gained so much independence and confidence in those three months. I learned much about myself, about relationships, and about Europe. I cemented friendships with those I traveled with and with those I kept in touch with. It was quite the adventure.

I quickly got acclamaited back to life in the states--making regular runs to Sonic Happy Hour for a Dr. Pepper. I graduated from college and began the job hunt. I've now worked long enough to have my own insurance--weird. To say life has changed in the last year would be an understatement. But I'm learning to like this new life, too. But as I sit at my desk some days, flashes of Europe play in my head. They make me smile the most.