This is why I should watch Friends...

Over the Hill and Through the Woods!

So just a couple hours ago my mom told me that she and I need to leave tomorrow for Texas to give my Grandmommy a helping hand. She just got her knees replaced and needs help around the house and considering the fact that I am not really tied to much here in PA at the moment I happen to have the perfect opportunity to get to know my grandmother better.

My mom and I will be leaving around 7 tomorrow morning. My mom will come home on Monday and I am going to be down there as long as she needs me. I will be helping around the house and running errands and really just anything she might need. I will be taking my drawing things and my cowgirl boots... I am not sure if I will have internet access so I may not be able to post on my blog or on facebook... but that might just be what the doctor called for.

Please pray for safe travels and that my time down there would be a help and a blessing.

New Friends and New Possibilities...

So, lately I have been a bit directionless, so to speak. Since returning to the States the process of readjusting and the process of getting a job and the process of figuring out what the next year or so might look like have really been overwhelming. I am not the kind of "Go get 'um" type of girl... I am not exactly business minded. I am a procrastinator (which has been driving my family nuts, for good reason). I am very bad at doing things I do not want to do. My brain is usually floating off to some distant country that I have yet to explore and the people there that I would meet and learn about and love...

So in short... I have been in quite a rut this summer...

But, through a series of what would seem to be absolutely happy random events, I may have found some of the direction that I have been searching for... And what makes this even greater is that I in no way believe in Random.

While I was in Dublin, I hosted a girl in my apartment for a weekend, while she was on her way back to Scotland. Her name was Eliza. We really and truly hit it off. That weekend was one of those events during my time in Ireland that God gave me exactly what I needed when I needed it. As it turns out, Eliza and her family live about 30 minutes from my family here in PA. We determined that we really had to hang out once we were both back home. So last week I went down to meet her again, and it was so great. We got to catch up and we both learned even more how much we have in common. It has been such an encouraging thing. So I got to meet her family and a girl that is living with them, Steph. Last week Steph and I only got to talk a little but we hung out a few days later and as God would have it, Steph and I also mesh super well AND she attends the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design.


In the past couple weeks I have gotten back into my painting and drawing and I am realizing more and more how much it is a part of me... and that I really might want to continue my art education. So I have been looking into the PA College of Art & Design and instead of the queezy gut feeling that I have always gotten from looking at admissions sites for colleges, I have actually been feeling like there is potential and possibility there for me. Now don't get me wrong, the whole idea of it still scares the crap out of me, but this time it is different. Better. Exciting and Encouraging.

So I am hoping that over the next few months I can really continue to dive back into my art and begin to rebuild a portfolio... It would be really great if I could actually get a job in the meantime to help support myself and afford at least some of the expensive supplies that are needed for all that I am wanting to create. I am thinking that I will work and paint and draw and try to go either in spring or next fall.

I am going out again later today to fill out even more applications... I hope that something will work... but even if it doesn't soon I do have my paints and pencils here to comfort me again. I had forgotten how wonderful and comforting creating a new painting or picture really is for me.

"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."
Genesis 1:27

Finally!

My Sister

This is my sister... For those of you who are not familiar with our family, this may surprise you. But in reality her sweet little girl suit is quite convincing, but not real. She is actually a large bronze body builder that spends his days bent over in confusion...
You can see her appearance in the new movie Night at the Museum II:

I heard it was fun... I am afraid to see her on the big screen showing off her big bronze.... guns. Maybe when I grow up I might find the courage...

Convincing isn't it?

A Near Death Kind Of Experience

Warning : if you are of the Male persuasion you may want to skip this one...

So yesterday I was pretty sure I was gonna die. No Joke.
I won't go into all the awful details but this notion was encouraged by the fact that my *ahem* "Lady Troubles" were about 20 times worse than the usual agony in addition to the fact that I am battling some sort of stomach/head/cold THING...

(*disclaimer- I have no idea how medically accurate any of this might be... but it must be close)

It came on kinda slow in the beginning but around noon it was as if the bone marrow from my spinal column was leaking into my abs. And then a whale took up residence in my empty bones and my muscles and tendons turned into silly string, I felt so weak... and every now and again an invisible knife fish critter with spiral blades and razor fins swam around and through my insides, slicing and stabbing random bits of my gut and lady parts. And then the nausea kicked in. I had eaten a small bowl of cheerios earlier in the day but apparently they were gone by the time my body had decided to heave the contents of my stomach to the surface. Let me just say that dry heaves in the middle of the day AT HOME are worse than barfing up an entire meal consisting of pizza, nachos and cheese dip and salsa, coca cola, beer, cake, and ice cream... at 2 in the morning in a foreign country, WITHOUT your mom there to give you a glass of water and a wet washcloth for your head.... so maybe I exaggerate a bit, I am pretty sure there are zero razor fishy things inside my gut and there most certainly is not a whole whale in my bones... But I still didn't share all the gory details, Be Thankful. But if anyone can please tell me how to return the marrow to my bones please let me know?

But I am so thankful for my family... My mom, my dad, and my sisters helped me with my barf bucket and pain pills and Midol... they got me tissues when I broke down in pain filled sobs, they refilled my hot water bottle bear with freshly boiled water. They got pillows and blankets for me, water and cold washcloths.... I am so blessed.

Thank God I am feeling less wretched today... I am still on the mend but I can see a big bright light down the tunnel. And maybe even a few flowers and butterflies...

Did I say I was a Procrastinator? Yes, I believe I did.

Wow... so it is now the end of August and I am only just getting back to the blogosphere...

Since being back home my world has done a few back flips and somersaults, and might have upchucked a couple times. It has been quite an adjustment and still, bigger and newer adjustments seem to be needed daily, but that is life I guess. It hasn't all been difficult or negative. Maybe "challenging" is the nicest word for it all. Major Family Dynamic shifts and readjustments. Major Personal Life Goal shifts and adjustments... I am still trying to wrap my brain around so much that has happened but now I am also trying to grasp what exactly I am walking into, the rest of my life...

But here I am, taking bites too big to chew, once again. When will I learn to take life in moderation? Can I? I'm not sure right now. I love the whole "jump head first into adventure" kind of lifestyle but I can't seem to pick my feet up and find the next adventure. But the thought of waiting makes me kind of sick to my stomach.

Once again, I am in that weird place between oil and water. Suspended in my own personal vortex of indecision. Oh Dear God, I hope it doesn't last long...