The Big News!

Hi there friends,

Some of you may have already heard my good, good news, but I am engaged!

I would love for you all to meet him, and I sure that most of you eventually will, although I don't know exactly when (especially for those of you who are living abroad). He came home with me for Thanksgiving to meet my family and some of my friends; however since we were only in Augusta for 3 days, it was impossible to meet everyone. I will be in Augusta for Christmas, but he will be spending Christmas here in North Carolina with his family. Oh well, in the meantime, I will tell you all a little bit about him and our relationship.

Brook is 34 and is originally from Pennsylvania. He moved to Durham, NC after college. His older sister had settled in ths area and he had a job opportunity here at a computer software company, so to Durham he came and stayed. He grew up in a family that had some church affiliation, but no really strong ties. About two years ago, his best friend was going through a difficult time and the two of them decided to try out some churches together. After visiting Brook's sister's church and one or two other's they both found a church home and both committed their lives to Christ. From then on, Brook has continued to grow and change and reprioritize his life. He is an amazing, generous, kind, thoughtful, gentle, humble person, and I love him.

He and I have been seeing each other for nearly five months, which is a relatively short period of time. For the first two months we were just getting to know each other and I didn't really know how I felt about him beyond just knowing that he seemed like a nice guy. During month three things began to be more serious and intentional. I invited him home with me for Thanksgiving. We began seeing each other more frequently. He visited my church with me a couple of times. By month four I think we were both pretty sure that this was it

On December 6th he pulled out a ring and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I was suprised. I knew that the proposal was coming, but didn't know it was coming so soon! Of course I said yes. And that is about that.

We are planning for a wedding in October of 2009, more details will be provided in the future. Rodger Otero will be officiating the ceremony. Rodger and Angela will be doing premarital counseling with us once a month up until we get married, and Greenleaf Vineyard Church will be our church after we tie the knot.

Miss you all and hope your lives are going well! Please write and let me know how things are going with you!

Dottie Lee

A Great Time of Year

Fall in North Carolina is just beautiful. After a year of living here, I have decided that fall is my favorite season here. The colorful leaves just make driving to work and walking all my little doggies just an absolute pleasure.

Saturday I went for a scenic motorcycle ride with a friend of mine. It was my very first motorcycle ride. We drove out and about in some more rural areas with a lot of pastoral scenes to take in. It was really nice. I wish I had pictures to share, but riding a motorcycle and taking pictures at the same time is probably a bad idea. But I did see one crazy thing that I just had to share with you all. We were driving around somewhere in north Durham County. There were cow pastures galore. We saw all the typical animals you might see in such a setting. You know like cows, horses, sheep, goats, chickens, and even a donkey or two. However, there was one field that had three zebras just grazing away. So that was quite the unexpected suprise.

Sorry for two months of no posts. Life has been hectic and until very recently, I have not had a computer at my home. But thanks to my friend Philip, I now have my very own computer. YAY! THANKS PHILIP! So, hopefully, I will find the time to post a little more now.

Mountains and Milestones

Mountains. . .

It's official, this whole working three jobs thing is killing me. 76 hours of work per week lately and I am dying. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't love my job as worship leader, like my job as a pet sitter, and sufficiently tolerate my job as a legal assistant. Also, I wouldn't say that any of my jobs are exactly high-stress jobs. It is just too much. I have next to no time for myself and I constantly feel like there are things I want to do as a worship leader that I just don't have the time and energy to do at the end of the day. I even find myself allowing things to happen in my life that I don't want and I know are no good for me, just simply because I am too tired to fight these things. . . does that make any sense?

Anyhow, I have no solutions yet, just needed to vent. Of course there are the obvious answers. . . don't work so much, cut back hours, learn how to say no once in awhile, and even quit the pet sitting job. But that opens a new can of problems. . . money. Sigh. This feels like a never-ending battle.
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Milestones. . .

This Sunday Greenleaf is officially one year old! My one year mark of being in North Carolina is not until October, but Greenleaf had its first official meeting this time one year ago. It is an amazing accomplishment and I am so pleased that I got to be a part of this. Read Rodger's blog. I ditto his sentiments.

In our first year we have seen several people from many different backgrounds and walks of life come to be a part of this little family. We are blessed to have each other. I would feel so lost if it weren't for my church family. The older I get, the more I realize how much people need community. We encourage each other, correct each other, and point each other to God's love. It is a beautiful thing.

Craigslist is good for almost everything, but . . .

. . . buying a car on craigslist just seems too scary to me. Perhaps I am paranoid, but the people that emailed me back about my interest in the car they advertised have all seemed completely skeezy. Sigh. As if the car dealership people seem any less skeezy. But I don't know what a good alternative is. Double sigh.

Anyhow, I am coming home to Augusta this week. I leave tomorrow after work and will stay till Sunday. I am looking forward to it. Seeing family and old friends. Good stuff. I am praying my good old Honda survives the trip :)

In the Market for a Car

I am hunting for a car (of course on Craigslist). I just emailed a guy named Michael Bolton about a car he advertised on Craigslist. It made me giggle.

No wonder I am exaughsted. . .

I finally sat down to calculate it out. I have been working 70 hour work weeks for the last six weeks. So that explains why I have turned into an old lady who goes to bed at 10 PM on Friday and Saturday nights. I am tired and I feel that I have earned it.

In other news, my roommate moved in about a week ago. She is great. We get along really well, as I knew we would. The poor girl is already freaking out about the work load and she is just one week into her Phd program. So she will probably be a hermit who has very little time for fun, but hopefully every now and again we will get to do some fun stuff together. At any rate, it is just nice to have someone to split the bills and someone to come home and share funny stories with.

Yesterday, I got to go to a baby shower for one of my college roommates. Normally, I don't really like baby showers, but I have to say that this one wasn't so bad. There was only one baby game and that was a word puzzle. I won of course because I do word puzzles almost every night before I go to bed to help me fall asleep. So I won a bag of chocolate (nice chocolate at that!). You can't beat that with a stick. After the game and the presents, Shannon (the mother-to-be) got to ask any questions on motherhood that she had and glean advice from all the experienced mothers in the room (which of course didn't include me). This portion of the party was both interesting and disgusting. It reminded me of how glad I am that I myself am not pregnant and not about to go through all of this weirdness. The shower was about an hour drive for me (in Wakeforest), so to make the trip a little more worthwhile I stayed after the shower for a bit to spend some time with my old roomie. I helped her with some set up for the baby's nursery and we had some good girl talk. Again, you can't beat that with a stick. All in all, I had a really great time.

I will have some time off of work in mid August and I will be going home. So for all you Augustans, I hope to see you while I am there. I'll be around from the evening of August 13th through the afternoon of August 17th.

The Conference

I just got back from the annual South East Regional Vineyard Worhip Leader's Conference. Wow. Just so much to process. I had a really good time of getting new ideas and refocusing and being inspired just by being around all these other artsy-fartsy creative types. I feel rejuvenated as a worship leader and as a church leader and as a Christian and as a human being in general (that's alot isn't it!).

So now I am left to the task of taking all this energy and momentum I got this weekend and putting into work in a practical and sustainable way. I am in the process of writing down all my action points. I may write a post more about this later, we'll see.
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In other news, the pet sitting mania is starting to die down. I am grateful for this and also a little apprehensive. On one hand, my life has seemed to be spiraling out of control over the last month with all the busyness. There was about a week or two there where I was house sitting for five different people all at the same time. This on top of a full-time job and church responsibilities was just insane, literally more than I could possibly do. Thankfully, Rodger and Angela have picked up the slack for me on some of the church work this month, which helped me maintain some form of sanity. So all this to say that, time wise, I am glad to be down to two pet sitting jobs for the next two weeks and after that, I am down to my one regular dog walk during my lunch breaks.

But I must say that the extra income from all this work has been good. Really good. I am thrilled that I am actually able to save money and not just scrape by! So with pet sitting going down now that the summer vacation season is coming closer to an end, I do have my concerns about what this will mean financially, but c'est la vie. I will figure it out.
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The new roommate comes in about a week and a half!

Now that I am a not soooo busy with pet sitting. I am working on all the final touches of making my apartment roommate friendly and finding the last few furnishings for her room. The main things left to do are:
1. Find a dresser for her room.
2. Assemble the etagere (sp?) for the bathroom. It is a fairly small bathroom and we girls need all the useable bathroom space we can get!
3. Figure out a good shelf arrangement for the kitchen. There sould be plenty of space in the kitchen for the two of us, I just need to rearrange all my junk to give her some space.
4. Rearrange the living room (again). I recently acquired an entertainment center (for free!), so now I just need to figure out how to make my furniture all work together.
5. Get all my junk out of the closets in the extra room and find new "homes" for it all. There should be plenty of space for everything. I just need to work it all out.

So these are my jobs for this Saturday, primarily. I may find some time to get some of these things accomplished in the evening when I get home from work, but usually I am not capable of much mental activity at the end of the work day. So trying to follow the instructions to assemble my etagere is just completely out of the question until Saturday rolls around.

So Glad It's the Weekend!

So glad it's the weekend and I get Monday and Tuesday off of work so that I can attend a worship leaders conference!

So glad I get to see the Sansbury's tomorrow!

So glad my finances have acutally stablized enough that I am to the point of being able to save money each month and not just have to scrape by from paycheck to paycheck!

So glad I found a boxspring for the bed in my extra room. Now if I can just find a way to transport it. . .

So glad my roommate comes in just two weeks!

So glad I got to hang out with Drew and Carolina and Paul last night, but sad that Drew might be moving to Ashville.

The Fourth, The Rain, The Change of Plans, The Cheesecake

Independence Day came and went without any fireworks for me this year. It rained cats and dogs on the evening of the fourth here in my little corner of North Carolina. But it was a good time nonetheless. (1) Day off from the law office, (2) time to read and catch some sun by the pool, (3) no pet sitting catastrophies, (4) cook out at Brendan andVicki's, and (5) playing Rumikub.

Saturday I had afternoon plans to meet up with a friend to go with him to do some shopping he needed to do and also to go to Duke Gardens. We had lunch and hit the shopping mall. While at the mall, it started raining cats and dogs again. So we did what seemed the best, most reasonable option given the circumstances. We decided to skip on our plans for Duke Gardens and go to the Cheesecake Factory instead. Mmmmmmm, cheesecake. It was the first time I had ever been to the Cheesecake Factory. I got the Dutch Apple Cheesecake and a latte. It was delicious, but now I feel the need to go out and run, run, run. I have been too spoiled these last two weeks with all these wonderful desserts. I think it is time to cut back on the amount of dessert I'm eating and up the amount of time I spend exercising!

A Weird Pet Sitting Day

Generally speaking, I absolutely love my pet sitting job. It is decent money for a job that is pretty much enjoyable for me, is not stressful, doesn't take much thought, and does not emotionally drain me in anyway. So the only thing I may complain about from time to time is the occasional allergy flare up, due to the fact that I do have mild allergies to dogs and some cats. (It's really wierd, but I am not allergic to all cats just some of them. I can't explain it. It just is what it is.)

With that said, Thursday was the weirdest and possibly most stressful day I have had as a pet sitter, certainly as a pet sitter in Chapel Hill and maybe even in my entire pet sitting career (if you can call pet sitting a career).

1. Thursday afternoon I went to walk the dog that I walk three times/week on my lunch breaks from the law office. The walk was all fine and dandy until the dog goes number two and a stick comes out. Well, the stick didn't come all the way out, just partially and then was just sticking out of the dog's butt. It was so gross and weird and I didn't know what to do. I kept walking her for a bit, hoping that the stick would work it's way out or that she would go number two again and it would come out. No such luck, our walk was coming to an end and the stick was still there. Finally, I got another stick, lifted up her tail, and sort of scraped the stick out. Yuck. It's times like this that I don't at all feel guilty about the fact that these people pay the agency $18/walk.

2. I got an email on Thursday from a client who is out of town for a month and I am looking after her three kitties while she is gone. I go to her home everyday and give the kitties food and fresh water and scoop the litter. Everyday when I come, their food bowls are empty again and, due to the fact that the water bowl is so close to the food bowl, their water is quite dirty from the kitties getting food in their water. Apparently, the client was in town for the afternoon. She stopped by her house and found their bowls empty and their water dirty. She sent me an email basically saying that it didn't look like I had been to her house for several days (which was absolutely not the case). I responded via email and phone. I think the situation is resolved now, but it was very upsetting and stressful for me. (I can't stand it when I feel people are displeased with me).

3. Thursday evening I was to start a new job for a client who had to go out of town quite unexpectedly and in a hurry. So this client hired the agency to send someone to look after her kitty without meeting the actual pet sitter ahead of time. I did get to speak to the client over the phone, but I didn't get to go to the house or meet the kitty ahead of time. So I mapquested the address and went on my merry way. Well, mapquest pretty much botched it up. Long story short, mapquest had taken me about a 30 minute drive from where I should have been and I had to call the client to get verbal directions from her. Then, of course, I missed a street and drove about seven more miles out of my way. Finally, after an hour and a half of driving around, I found the place. I was so stinking frustrated by the end of the night.

After all that, I was very glad to have Friday off from the law office so I could have at least a little extra relax and unwind time. Last Thursday made me very grateful for all the days when things go as planned and aren't too stressful. :)

Lossing Motivation

Does anybody know a cure for loss of motivation? I feel like I am going through one of those little phases where you only have enough motivation to get the bare minimum done. I don't really like that.

Anyhow, just to let you all know, my dinner at Elaine's was very nice. The atmosphere in the restuarant was nice, not the best I have ever seen, but very nice nonetheless. The entree was really good. I got the Alaskan halibut and I can highly recommend that. My date ordered the wine, so I'm not sure what he ordered, but it I do know it was a cabernet sauvignon and it was good. Neither of us ordered a starter so I cannot comment on that. But dessert. . . now I will rave about the dessert, but I must make a comment on the prices before I go on to the dessert. The meal was good, but overpriced. I was able to thoroughly enjoy every bite, knowing that I was not paying for the meal. But when I added it all up in my head after the fact, for 2 entrees, 2 glasses of wine, 2 desserts, taxes, and tip. . . I am certain that more than $100.00 was spent on our meal. If it was me paying, I would not have felt the meal was that good, with one important exception. . . dessert. I had Elaine's warm chocolate cake. . . it was absolutely heaven on earth. It far exceeded its dollar value. In fact, after one bite of it, if you asked me what I would pay for it. . . I may have said something along the lines of my right hand, my first born child, or my very soul (just kidding, but I am making the point that it really was the best chocolate cake I have ever eaten in my life). So if and when I go back to Elaine's I may stick to a starter, a glass of water, and chocolate cake!

Also, my visit with my sister was good. Lots of girl talk and lying out by the pool. It was fabulous. We had a good time at the show we went to last Thursday night. Me Without You was headlining and they were great. Mary and I missed the first band entirely because we came late, but we caught most of the second band and I really enjoyed them as well. The second band was Maps and Atlases. I enjoyed them at the show and now a friend is letting me borrow their cd and I am enjoying them even more. In concert, they sounded to me like Dave Matthews meets Modest Mouse, but on cd it sounds to me more like Phillip Glass meets Modest Mouse. Anyhow, there is some definite Modest Mouse vibe in there. And I like it. I would not yet say that I love it, but definitely like with the potential to grow into love, given enough time :)

This week is quite busy work wise. I have regular hours Mon-Thursday at the law office (Friday off for the Fourth of July!). But in the evenings and mornings and lunch breaks I am house sitting and dog walking for four different people. And on top of that, the usual church stuff. Which brings me back to the beginning of this post. . . I need to stay motivated! How do I get my motivation back?!

Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my birthday. I am now 28. I feel neutral about this, but I have noticed that people over this last year or two are starting to say things to me like "well, that's just aging for you" or "I guess we aren't as young as we used to be", and I must say I find these comments highly annoying. I can say things like this about myself from time to time, but it is kind of insulting when other people say them to you. Alright, enough ranting on the getting older comments. . .

This birthday will, of course, be fun. My little sister is coming into town today. I'll get to see her when I get off work! This evening a bunch of people are coming over to my place to play volleyball and grill out. This will be mostly church people, but maybe one or two other friends outside of church.

After V-ball and dinner, Mary and I will go see Me Without You (Mary's favorite band) at the Cat's Cradle. I will stay out way too late and when we get home we will smoke cigars and drink beer until the wee hours of the morning. The next morning I will go to work and probably be a zombie (because "I'm not as young as I used to be").

Tomorrow evening, I am very much looking forward to a friend treating me to dinner at a very nice restaurant and wearing the cute sundress I bought a few weeks ago. Then we will watch a movie at my place and there is a high possibility I will be so tired that I may fall asleep during the film, but I will do my best to stay awake (especially because we will be watching Juno and I have been wanting to see this movie for ages!).

And that, my friends, is how you turn 28. That is all ;)

Help Me Solve A Puzzle

I have a friend who is here from Germany. He is going back to Germany to visit for a couple of weeks and, of course, is expected to bring presents. He is stumped on gifts for children. Here are the "requirements" for the gift:

1. There are several children and he wants to get one (maybe two) gift(s) that they can all share and play with together.

2. The age range of the children is from 3-12 years old. Some are boys, some are girls, but the girls are the older ones and the boys are younger.

3. He would prefer to get something that is more outdoor oriented.

4. The game/toy must be very "American".

Any ideas?

My initial suggestions of jump ropes and sidewalk chalk were swiftly rejected because they were not specifically "American" enough.

The Roommate: Season 1, Episode 3

After lots of thought and careful deliberation and prayer and lost sleep and many emails and several phone calls and a visit or two from different potential roommates and a whole notebook full of charts . . . I made an offer to the girl I felt was the one I was most excited about rooming with. . . and she said yes!

In about a month Ruchita will be flying in from India and moving in with me! I am pretty much excited. Now I just have to get the room ready for her. I just need basic bedroom furniture. Craigslist here I come again!

The Roommate: Season 1, Episode 2

I have narrowed the twenty down to three. Of course, I have saved the info on all of them, just in case it does not work out with one of my top three for one reason or another. All three of these girls seem like our personalities would be compatible and that they would be completely capable of paying their portion of the rent (which is kind of important) and all of their references had beaming reports on how wonderful this person is as a roommate. Here is a little about my top three in no particular order. . .

1. A 27 y/o girl from India. She is coming to Chapel Hill to do a doctorate in Economics. She likes hiking and to watch movies and she even made a "Friends" reference in one of her emails, which really got her in good with me :). The perks with her: (1) she said she would show me how to cook indian food, (2) I get to experience a little bit of a different culture without having to pay a plane ticket, and (3) if I ever get to go to India I might just have a place to stay.

2. A 24 y/o girl from Indianna. She is coming to study Physical Therapy at UNC. The perks with this one: (1) she has her own car (I mention this because several of the applicants did not have cars, which shouldn't really make a difference for me, but I am a little worried that no car means that they will be asking me for rides on a regular basis and I already get enough of that from people I don't live with) and (2) she has a great sense of fashion and decorating (so her former roommate says).

3. A 26 y/o girl from NY orginally, but living in Greenville, NC currently. She will be studying psychology at UNC. The perks with this one: (1) she also has a car and (2) I actually get to meet this one before I ask her to move in with me (the other two are so long distance that I just have to communicate through email and phone). This one is coming to meet me and see the apartment on Monday evening.

The Roommate: Season 1

I am living my own reality show at the moment. I am calling it "The Roommate".

Yes, I am in the market for a roommate. After a few months to settle into my new surroundings, I feel ready and excited to take on a roommate. This will of course be a good financial move. I also hope it will mean I have a built in friend :)

I posted an ad on craigslist and got what felt like ten million responses, but was actually about twenty. So the last few days have been tons of emailing and facebooking and myspacing and telephone conversations. The next few days will be meeting potential roommates and contacting their references and more emailing and more phone conversations and lots of chart making. (I am a chart geek. I can't help it, I love them.) And little by little, all but one will be eliminated. . . (it sounds like it has the makings for a reality show to me).

Wish me luck!

Enjoying the Ride

The first several months after moving to North Carolina could be simplified into one single word. . . survival. That might be a tad dramatic, but only a tad. OK, no I was never at death's door and at no point (to my knowledge) was anybody stalking me with any harmful intent, but there were plenty of trials and stressful circumstances and loneliness and disappointments, etc.

But for the moment, many of the difficult circumstances have either been resolved or put off for me to deal with at a later date. And to add to the minimized stress in my life, I feel like I am actually making friends here. I have been going out to eat with people, going to the movies, having people over to watch movies, meeting people for coffee, meeting people for beer, having people over to play volleyball, having people over to make cookies, painting pottery with people, and the list goes on. And I love it. I must admit that somedays I get home and, between my full-time job, two part-time jobs, and social life, I am thoroughly exhausted, but is that good kind of tired. At the end of the day, I lie down in my bed and just before I fall dead asleep (within two minutes of head hitting the pillow) I feel really alive. It is a good feeling. Just thought I would share that with you all :)

Wining, Dining, Over the Rhining

My wonderful weekend/Monday in a nutshell. . .

Friday -
Work = boring, boring, boring.
Dinner with my new friend at Mediterranean Deli = yummy.
Painting pottery at Paint the Earth (a shop on Franklin Street), also with my new friend = good times. But we couldn't finish our artwork before the shop closed on Friday night, so we had round two on Saturday afternoon. Our masterpieces will be fired this week and ready for pick-up on Friday.
Beer at Goodfellows, also with new friend = good conversation and good people watching.

Saturday -
Consultation for a new pet sitting client = another job for this coming weekend. Yay for money coming in!
Visit with Rodger and Angela while I was in their neighborhood = a little catch up time with my closest friends in Chapel Hill.
Lunch and Round Two of Pottery Painting = masterpieces completed and more hang out time with the funniest German philosopher I know.
Esther arrives = extreme jubilation for me.
Esther and I see Sex in the City = the movie was just like the show. We were pleased. Why mess with perfection?

Sunday -
Icecream in Hillsborough = yummmmm.
Church = good stuff.
Over the Rhine Concert = the opening act was so good that one of her songs made me cry. OTR was wonderful as always. They did two encores. I could have died a happy woman that night.
Chocolate Chip Cookies = yumm, but I think I gained three pounds this weekend.

Monday -
Work at Law Office = boring.
Pet Sitting Job on Lunch Break = I almost got attacked by a dog. Yikes!
Spaghetti and Wine for Dinner = good food and good wine with Esther while she is still in town.
Bella = great movie. I highly recommend it. Seriously, stop reading this blog and go get that movie.
Cigars on the Volleyball Court = enjoyment of cigars with one of my only cigar-smoking girl friends.

Volleyball Night

Last night eleven church friends came over to my place to grill out and play volleyball. It was really fun. We got to feed burgers and pasta salad to some of my neighbors, and one neighbor even joined us for volleyball. It was pretty cool. I am really loving where I live. It is so nice to be able to host an event like that.

Well, not much else to say right now; however, as I mentioned in my last blog, this weekend has more than its fair share of good stuff going on. So hopefully, I will blog again Monday or Tuesday of next week (more than likely it will have to wait till Tuesday).

Memorial Day/Weekend

Well, I am back to the NC after a great weekend in good old GA. The weekend was sooooo great. Family, friends, and a housewarming party. Who could ask for anything more? There were a few friends I either didn't get to see at all or barely saw at all that I really would have liked to do some catching up with, but it is hard to find time for all your family and many of the friends you made over the course of about 15 years of living in that city. Sigh. But like I said, the time I had with the people I did get to see was great.

My older sister threw me a housewarming party, which was so nice. I got lots of little odds and ends I have been needing/wanting for my place (lamps, sheets, towels, candles, etc.)

Also, back when my little sister and I lived together, my parents gave her and I a TV for Christmas. When we moved out of that house and were no longer living together, I let her have the TV because I'm just not that much of a TV person. But now, she has another TV and gave me ours, which was great because the TV I was using was a tinsy 10" screen and ours is significantly larger (don't know the exact measurement though. So last night I hooked it up and discovered that for some reason this TV picks up way more stations than my little 10" did. With the 10" TV I was picking up about 13 stations consistantly and occasionally I could pick up 2 or 3 extra stations, but with my bigger TV I am picking up like 90 stations! I don't know the hows and whys on all of that, but. . . whatever. Now I still don't like the idea of becoming a TV junkie, but these days my social calendar is not what it used to be and I have to admit that I am turning to the tube a little more regularly. Am I glad about this? Not really. But it is what it is, and at least it's free (well not really, I'm sure the charge is included in my rent but I don't really have a choice about taking that out). Ok, enough rambling about a stupid TV :)

This week/weekend I am looking forward to a handful of events:
(1) A cook out and volleyball with church friends at my apartment on Thursday.
(2) Going to dinner and a paint-your-own-pottery place in Chapel Hill with a new friend on Friday.
(3) Esther coming to visit on Saturday!
(4) The new Sex in the City movie coming out! (I have to admit that Sex in the City is one of my guilty pleasures)
(5) Over the Rhine concert on Sunday night! (I would like to add that I could literally walk to this concert from my apartment. Have I mentioned that I love living in Carrboro?)

So at least my social calendar this week is up enough that I won't be resorting to the TV too much!

Back From a Wonderful Weekend

Well, its Monday again and that means back to work. But at least this week is sandwiched between two great weekends. (D.C. this past weekend to visit Sara and Esther and home to Augusta next weekend to visit family and many friends)

D.C. was great. No traffic problems there or back (woo hoo!) and great girl bonding time. I got in late on Friday evening and Sara, Esther, and I just spent sometime catching up on all the latest. Saturday, we met some of their friends for brunch and ate out on the lawn. It was beautiful weather and we practiced the fine art of throwing grapes in the air and catching them in our mouths (and also throwing grapes into other people's mouths). Then we went to an Asian Festival and just wandered around town for awhile making the most of the gorgeous day. Later, one of their friends made us an awesome dinner (Indian food. . . yummmmm) and we went out dancing (80s Night!!!!!!). I had to leave Sunday morning, but it was still a completely worthwhile visit, especially since both of them will be in Egypt all summer. I'll get to see Esther one more time before she goes (she is coming to visit me in two weeks!), but I won't see Sara again for several months (bummer).

Here is to next weekend. . . may it be every bit as wonderful as this past weekend!

My Downstairs Neighbor's Friends are a Little Scary

In general I really like my apartment complex. Sure, I had a rocky time at first with the apartment management not really being very responsive or helpful, and the guys I moved in after left the place looking like a train wreck. But after those initial annoyances, I had not one complaint. I haven't had overly noisy neighbors or an unreasonable gas bill to deal with, and since I have actually moved in the apartment management has actually been very helpful and freindly (I think it was just the one girl, who was incharge of taking care of my lease, who was not really doing her job). So on the whole, I would say my living experience there has been a good one thus far; however, I did have quite a shocker last Saturday.

I was out running around doing various and sundry tasks that one must do on a Saturday. I realized that I left something at my apartment that I needed, so I went back to my complex. I always listen to music in the car and sometimes when I get out I am still humming the last song I heard. So I hop out of my car humming away and jog up the first flight of stairs (I am on the third floor), but at the second floor a man who doesn't seem to speak english is shushing me. I was a little suprised and slightly offended and asked him why. He doesn't say anything, but points to his other hand which is holding a snake by the head!!!! So I just stood there in a mix of horror and shock and curiousity for about 30 seconds before I realized that I needed to just go up to my apartment and pray that the strange snake handler would leave and take his snake with him.

What was this guy doing? He was just standing outside of my downstairs neighbors apartment knocking on his door. Was he trying to suprise my neighbor? Did my neighbor lose his pet snake and this guy found it? Did my neighbors pet snake die and this guy found a replacement for him? The possibilities are endless. I just hope that it isn't a reoccuring incident!

Living For the Weekend

My next two weekends are going to be fan-freaking-tastic. This weekend I am going on a whirlwind trip to D.C. to visit with Sara and Esther K and still make it back to North Carolina in time for church on Sunday evening. There will be dancing and catching up and (as always with the me and the Kauffman girls) lots of giggling and acting like middle schoolers. I cannot wait.

Next weekend I am going home to GA for a nice long weekend (thanks to Memorial Day!). Hallelujah. I miss my mom so bad. I miss everybody else there alot too, but I'm really, really missing my mom. I haven't been home since Christmas and it has been hard. Luckily several people have come up to visit me. All of my family, except my brother and his crew, have come up to visit at some point. My friend Shelley came to visit me twice (she gets a gold star)! Alice, Esther, and Dan have all had at least a brief visit with me as well.

I get lonely sometimes living here with my family so far away and most of my close freinds scattered across the ends of the earth. But I will say that I am getting more accustomed to all the alone time. I am getting used to my social life being a little less eventful. I am growing to absolutely love having an apartment sans roommates. I learn alot about how I like things for myself when I don't have to worry about pleasing or accommodating anyone else. It's interesting. For example, I never realized how much I prefer organization over chaos or even organized chaos, until now that I have my own space that I get to keep just how I like it. Now I am not entirely anal about it, but I have to admit that maybe I am just the tinsiest bit anal about it. :)

Alright, enough rambling about whether or not I'm anal. I'll try to post again next week after my certain-to-be-fabulous weekend with the Kauffman's. Have a great rest of the week!

Has It Really Been Three Weeks?

I think that is a record for not blogging for me. Sheesh.

My excuse. I only have a computer at work. So all personal computer/internet related matters have to be done either on my lunch break or before my workday begins. To be honest, I sit for eight hours of my day looking at a computer screen, so by the time lunch comes around I am ready to not be looking at the screen. And showing up early to work sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't. All this to say that I haven't found the time for blogging recently. I miss it. I do manage to read other blogs from time to time, so at least I am able to stay current with what everybody else is up to (provided that they aren't blogging slackers like me).

Life in NC is generally good. No significant complaints here. The weather is nice. My job at the law office is going well. My job as a pet sitter/dog walker is going pretty well. Greenleaf is also going pretty well. My budget is going fairly well also. Things I am looking forward to:
1. The swimming pool at my apartment complex opening later this month!!!! Woo Hoo!!!
2. Going to visit Sara and Esther later this month!!!!
3. Going home to Augusta at the very end of the month!!!!!
4. Over the Rhine coming to Carrboro at the beginning of June!!!!
5. Esther coming to visit me at the beginning of June!!!!!
6. Possibly going to Charleston in June to meet up with Mary and Alice! (if my finances permit it).

Other updates are:
1. I am gradually getting more and more furniture. My livingroom really looks like a livingroom now! There are a few more things I would like for my livingroom, but it really is getting there. Other rooms in the apartment are still decidedly lacking in furniture, but still it's getting there. My most recent furniture addition was a sleeper sofa for my extra room. Now when company visits, they actually have a bed of sorts. Sweet.
2. Alot of babies have been born lately, the most recent addition, as far as my friends go, is Owen Lindsey. He was just born yesterday, and he is teeeeninsy. He was born at only 4 lbs and 7oz. (I think). But he is healthy, just itty bitty.
3. Working for a divorce attorney is really getting to me. I am starting to beleive that marriages just don't work. That is not good, but it's how it seems sometimes.
4. I can't think of anything else.

Well, here's hoping I have more excitement in my life soon, so that I'll have something to write about!

Pictures from the CROP Walk

The Greenleaf/CROP Walk Gang

The walk itself was great. It was a beautiful sunny day and we walked four miles through Chapel Hill and Carrboro.

I got a sunburn on my hand in the shape of an octagon.

Hunger and Poverty Make Rodger Very Angry!!!

Being Goofy At Church

Stolen From Mark's Blog

CROP Walk

This blog is to let you all know about an event my church is participating in to help meet the needs of poverty locally and globally. The event is the CROP Walk. CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. The walk in Chapel Hill is sponsored by Church World Service and the Inter-Faith Council (which is a non-profit organization local to Chapel Hill).

The money raised from this event goes to emergency response programs in the U.S. and worldwide, the Immigration and Refugee Program of Church World Service, the Church World Service Social and Economic Development Program, and to programs run by the IFC (Inter-Faith Council). The IFC runs two homeless shelters in Orange County, a food pantry, a job placement and training program, and other programs to assist people experiencing poverty locally. You can find out more information on the CROP Walk here (who and what the money goes to). Also the financial report from Church World Service is available.

I am raising money to go toward this cause. If you would like to contribute, please feel free to visit my donation page. The actual walk is on April 14th. I'll let you all know the stats on how it all goes!

Expecting a Visit

Have you ever noticed that when you are expecting a visit from your sister/best friend time just seems to crawl. This week has dragged on forever. I want the weekend. I want my sister. It will be great.

You know what will also be great? The Office. April 10th it comes back on the air! Yipee!

First Time For Everything

I called in to a radio talk show this morning. It was fun. Everyone should do that at least once in their life. :)

You Know That You Are Way Too Churchy When. . .

You know that you are way too churchy when instead of having the dream/nightmare of being naked at work or school or in public in general, you have one about showing up late to church and being forced to lead worship with songs you have never heard before in your life.

I seriously need to get a life.

Memory Lane

Old friends have been on my mind alot lately. Maybe it is because I am missing all those close friendships now that I am in new, uncharted territories with very few close friendships. Maybe it is just that chance (and Facebook) has reconnected me with some of those old friends. One of those reconnections was with Gordon Spivey, aka "G". G used to do band photos back in the day when I was into the whole Augusta Christian rock band scene, which was in the late nineties (has it really been 10 years?!). G did photos at least for Whistle for Fly, and I don't recall whether he ever did any for the Skadaddles. Anyhow, G hooked me up with some of those old photos. I laughed so hard I cried a little. Here they are.

P.S. From the looks of these pictures, we took ourselves way too seriously.

Notice the old Orwells Cafe T-Shirt Curtis is sporting. Awesome.

I am stylin' and profilin' in a Pinky and the Brain T-Shirt and my plaid wanna be converse.

Aren't we just so goth in this one? Or maybe we are supposed to be serial killers? Take your pick.

This might be my favorite. We look like the pound puppies.

Life Is Just Funny That Way

Last night I was on the phone with one of my old Augusta friends. We caught each other up on all the latest goings ons and what not. Her church is the one that sent out Rodger, Angela, and myself to plant Greenleaf. She and I used to be in a home group together. We also used to lead worship together. So we had a good long talk about how our respective churches were doing and about how our mutual friends were doing and how we ourselves were doing. She was saying how it had been so great to watch Greenleaf develop from the very beginning stages of Rodger and Angela just thinking about church planting to where it is now, an actual church. And that got me thinking and reminiscing about that year I spent in Augusta (post-Egypt, pre-North Carolina) and all the praying for and thinking about and preparing for the church plant. And that got me thinking about my friendship with Rodger and Angela. When I met Rodger and Angela, I had absolutely no idea that I would eventually be moving five hours away from my family and friends so that I could work with them to build a church. I just thought they were nice people who I had some common friends with. But God had plans and He knew.

I am always amazed at the twists and turns life has. I am always wondering what the future will hold and how relationships will grow and change.

Some Mornings

Some mornings as I'm getting ready for work, I look at myself in the mirror and think that none of this fits. I look at myself and realize that I am just a little girl playing dress up. I'm not really an adult. I don't really belong in these adult clothes.
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Again, the date is wrong. It is Thursday, February 28, 2008.

Church Planting Update

This past Sunday Greenleaf held its "What the Heck is Greenleaf?" service. Some of you may be asking what the heck is a what the heck is Greenleaf service. For more detailed answers to that question, please see Rodger's blog.

In the essence of time, I will just report a few things that are standing out in my mind from last Sunday and from the church more generally speaking.

1. We are growing! We started with three. . . now we are hovering around 20! This last service we had 22 (I think).

2. We have our first home group. It is a floating home group, meaning we rotate whose home we meet at. It is fun. I love home groups.

3. My little worship team is developing. First it was just me. Then we added a percussionist. Now I am practicing with another guitar player in hopes that as the church grows and he becomes more familiar with the music, he will help out on Sunday evenings. Also, as we get more home groups, he might potentially lead in the homegroup setting.

4. We are continuing to reach out. We have been working with the Inter-Faith Council here in Chapel Hill to meet the needs of the poor and homeless in our community. Our newest project is the CROP Walk. I'll post more about it in the near future.

5. We are dreaming and praying big. Our little church really believes that God is at work in our community. We want to be a part of what He is doing more than anything else. We want to see miraculous things happen. We want to see lives changed! Pray with us for big things!
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I don't know whay this happens so often now, but the date on this post is wrong. It is actually Tuesday, February 26, 2008.

In This Season of "Love"

Love is supposedly in the air this time of year, but not for moi. I work for a divorce attorney. If it is in fact "love" in the air around here, it is more like the foul stench of love gone bad. Perhaps it is love that was neglected in a dark corner or closet or outside in the elements where it molded and mildewed and rotted for years before anyone came to grips with the fact that they had to deal with it in some way, shape, or form.
I also found it interesting that the number of new clients we had coming on the three days coming up to V-Day (Valentine's) was significantly higher than our normal number of new clientele. All of these clients were wanting to separate from their spouse, and most of them after 25 years of marriage! These weren't just kids who foolishly rushed into marriage to someone they didn't really need to be marrying in the first place. Anyhow, I mentioned this observation to my boss and he says that this increase in separations around V-Day happens every year without fail, and he added that it also happens at Christmas time.
My theory on this phenomenon is that around these holidays people have heightened expectations about what their life is supposed to look like or how they are supposed to feel. When they realize that their expectations are just not a reality in their life, they get disheartened and give up. It is the same rationale I have for why the suicide rate goes up around Christmas time. It is sad and sobering. It gives this commitment-phobe one more reason to be glad I'm single.

A Really Great Weekend

Me and Dan In One of the Tarheel Shops on Franklin Street

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This weekend was one of the best since I've come to Chapel Hill. A couple of weeks ago I discovered that one of my college roommates is living in Raleigh and is only about 45 minutes away from where I live. So we made arrangements to meet halfway for dinner on Saturday night. It was so great to see her again and catch up on life. It is also so great to know that I have a really good friend who is within a reasonable driving distance from my home .

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On Friday my former boss from Augusta called to say that he was coming to Chapel Hill on Sunday with his parents and his son (who was my guitar student) for the Carolina/Clemson game. As it turned out, I only had a short visit of about 45 minutes with them. But still, it is always so nice to see some familiar friendly faces and get a few hugs and words of encouragement where you can.

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All in all, it was a great weekend. I have high hopes for next weekend as well, since my good friend Shelley and her daughters will be coming to stay at my humble abode for a couple of nights.

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I don't know why or how to fix it, but the date on this post is wrong. It should be Monday, February 11.

7 Oddities

At the inspiration of Amie and Dianna, I am posting seven of my quirky charactersitics/tendencies.

1. I talk to myself out loud and I do it all the time. At my house, at work, in the car. I'm sure other drivers, past roommates, and co-workers think I am mental. What am I talking to myself about? Usually I am rehearsing difficult conversations I think I might have to have in the forseeable future, unless I'm at work. When I'm at work and talking to myself, I am usually trying to keep myself focused on the task at hand. I know it's wierd that I have to rehearse conversations, but I HATE conflict and whenever I get in one of those tough conversations I freeze up and can't handle it. So I practice ahead of time to avoid/lessen the whole freezing up scenario.

2. I will eat honey mustard on damn near everything.

3. I have a strong dislike for banana flavored food products. I like bananas themselves quite a lot, but anything banana flavored is just yuck to me. I don't get it, but it is what it is.

4. I don't think it's clausterphobia, but I do have some kind of phobia involving being in a large crowd of people and not having enough personal space. I've never had a full on panic attack, but I will get really flustered and can't quite breathe right when I find myself in such a situation. This is why at church I always sit in either the front row or on an aisle seat if it is at all possible.

5. I can't stand it when people say "don't take it personally". I know a lot of times when people say this they are trying to make things better or soften a blow of some sort. But to me, it just seems like a cop out and a rediculous one at that. Please tell me what in our interactions with other human beings is not personal because, to me, it is all personal.

6. With me, flattery will get you anywhere almost. Keep stroking my ego, and we will get along juuuuust fine. ;)

7. I can swallow pills without washing them down with anything, even the really big ones.

I think the rules are that I am supposed to tag some people and they have to do the same post on their blog. I am a rule breaker like Dianna. If you want to do the post, great. If not, great.

A Little Out of Touch

I rarely go so long between posts, but my lack of recent posting is due to a number of reasons including, but not limited to:

1. I have no computer at my apartment. All personal computer and internet activities must be done during my lunch break at work or when I come in early to work.

2. I have actually been really busy for the last two weeks. Work is busy. Church is busy. And I'm actually getting some pet sitting jobs through the pet care agency I signed on with. All of these things are going well, but keeping me busy.

3. I haven't had much to say and the things I did have to say weren't particularly amusing or interesting. So just not much motivation to post.

So here I am on my lunch break and I am finally caught up with all my regular emailing and online bill paying, etc. I still don't have much to say, but I'll give you the latest on life in North Carolina.

I'm still enjoying my job very much, especially now that I have a little more job security. It is a busy office and sometimes almost too busy and sometimes not quite so busy. But generally I don't feel too stressed nor am I ever at a loss for something to do. My boss is a good guy with a slightly odd sense of humor. It is a good fit for me.

My apartment is feeling more like home everyday. As I said in my last post, I now have a bed and an incredible comfy chair. Also, my parents came to visit this past weekend and brought up my boxes with some of my wall art and family pictures. They also bought me some groceries while they were here. It was superb. Also, I arranged area rugs and decorative pillows to create seating areas in my livingroom while I am without a sofa and other chairs. So it has a sort of homey look and feeling despite the lack of furniture. I really like having my own place and not feeling like I am ever encroaching on someone else's space. I might end up getting a roommate somewhere down the line, but I am in no immediate rush for it.

Church is going very well. Our attendance for the last two Sundays has been 14 both weeks! And that's including the fact that four of our regulars were not there this past Sunday! That is some pretty good growth. Now we just have to keep them coming. Greenleaf is also having their very first, first home group meeting tonight. I am excited. I love home groups. Especially as the church grows in number, the home group is where real community and relationship happens. In addition to getting a home group started, Greenleaf is having a special event on February 24th called "What the Heck is Greenleaf?" The event will be something akin to a newcomer's orientation, in which people can get the background of not only Greenleaf, but of the entire Vineyard movement. We are all busily planning and preparing for the event. I am in charge of flyers. So myself and others who volunteered to help me out have been roaming the streets of Durham, Carrboro, and Chapel Hill posting flyers around town.

I am slowly forming some friendships with people here. I went with one person from our church to see a local band on Monday night. The band was good. The company and conversation was good too. Last night I went with another person from our church to watch the Carolina/Duke basketball game at a bar on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill. It was a fun experience, as the University of NC and Duke are huge rivals and the crowds watching the game (even at the bars) get pretty intense about it all. Angela and Rodger and a couple others met up with us to watch the game also. A good time was had by all (except for the people who were really and truly bummed about Carolina's loss). So here's to making friends and getting a life!

Two More Pieces of Furniture

Many thanks to my dear friend Pat who brought my bed and a few more boxes of my stuff up from GA. He also is letting me borrow for an extended, indefinite period of time the most comfortable chair ever.

Dang It!

The former tenant came back yesterday and reclaimed his furniture and all the other crap he left that I hadn't already thrown out or given away. So that kinda bummed me out. The extent of furniture in my apartment now is a coffee table and a bookshelf. I am literally sleeping on the floor.

Moving In

Saturday at about 10:30 am Rodger, Angela, Esther, and I showed up at my new place with two carloads of my stuff and one carload of cleaning supplies (I am taking over the lease for two college guys and intense cleaning was definitely called for). The former tenants not only didn't clean, but also left a bunch of stuff in the apartment. Some of it was just plain trash (i.e. moldy hotdog buns), but some of it was perfectly good stuff that they just left for no apparent reason (i.e. a $60 clipper/trimmer set that looked brand spankin' new with price tags still on it and all). So we weeded out the trash, the recyclables, the goodwill items, and the stuff I was keeping for my self. Some of the items I am keeping are a sofa and two chairs, an air mattress, an inspirational poster of Steve Prefontaine, two suitcases, a coffee warmer, a husband pillow, and a few other odds and ends. Anyhow, we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned until it looked like an entirely different place than the one we walked into. We hung curtains, assembled a bookshelf and coffee table (housewarming presents from Esther), arranged furniture, hung pictures, and at the end of it all, it kind of resembled a home. Albeit a home that seriously needs more furniture and many other household items, but a home nonetheless.

I haven't spent the night over there yet because Esther is in town and I don't yet have decent sleeping arrangements for company, but tonight will be my first night in my new apartment. Yay!

The Latest

My car is fixed. I officially have my own apartment, keys and all. Esther is visiting me this weekend. Life is good.

Week of Highs and Lows

Where do I begin with this week? Well, let's back track a little. . .

Going back to December 19th, I put my paper work in for an apartment in Carrboro. This began a frustrating saga of delay after delay which has been on going for nearly a month now.

Going back to last week, I began a huge mailing project at work involving somewhere in the ballpark of 2,000 letters going out. All of these letters are individually addressed and tweaked slightly for each and every person. So this takes alot of time.

So Monday, my boss and I catch a typo in the letters. We start to redo what we had already done, then he decides that the typo isn't so significant that we should redo everything. So we carry on with only a little bit of lost time. I skip my lunch break to try and make up for the lost time. No real news on my apartment. I talked to the lady who had been handling my paperwork, only to find out that she is no longer handling my paperwork and it has been passed on to her superior. I called her superior, but was only able to leave a message for her.

Tuesday, I talked to the lady who now is handling my paper work for the apartment. She is very apologetic for the length of time it has taken and promises me an answer one way or the other by the end of the day. I never heard back from her that day. I called back and left a message. Then at work, a more significant typo is found at about 4:00 pm and we literally have to redo each and every single letter. I want to shoot myself in the face. Time, money, effort gone down the drain. I stay three hours late to work on it. I leave work only to find that my car won't start. I sit in my car for 30 or 40 minutes telling myself that the next time I turn the key it will crank. No such luck. I call Rodger and Angela to come rescue me. I eat chinese food while I wait for them. They come. We stand out in the cold trying to charge my battery and then replace my battery, but it was all for naught. My car would not start. They bought me a snickers bar. We go home.

Today, I make significant progress at work and start to feel like I might actually be catching up. Finally. I have my car towed to a shop, but they can't work on it until tomorrow. So I don't know what the damage is gonna be there. I hope it's not too rediculous. The apartment people call. I'm approved!! Double Finally!! Yay!

Tomorrow, hopefully my car will be fixed. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. Hopefully I can find the time and the transportation to go by my new apartment complex to sign final paperwork and get my key. Hopefully there will be no more hang ups at work.

This weekend, Esther comes to visit and help me move in!! Maybe, just maybe Bee Jay and Alice will come up from GA with my bed.

So hopefully all the bad things happened at the beginning of the week and it will all just get better as the week progresses.

Investing is Important (Subtitle: What God is Teaching Me)

In my quiet times these days I have been thinking about the past, the present, and the future. I have been asking God questions like why Chapel Hill? What should I be doing while I'm here? School? Just building relationships? Focusing on church, church, church? What is the next step/what am I preparing for in the future? What have I learned about the past that can guide me in the present/future? Etc.

Do I have answers to all of these questions? Heck no.

Has God spoken to me at all relating to these question? I'd like to think so.

Here is what I have (forgive the stream of thought writing that might not make any sense to anyone but me): School is still burning in my heart. I want to go back. I want to do education. I'm really thinking ESL, but that is negotiable. Chapel Hill is a great area for schools. If I don't do it at this point in my life, will I ever? But also while I'm here, I want Chapel Hill to be like Cairo and Augusta were in some ways. Cairo and Augusta have felt like home. I have connections with the places themselves and with so many of the people there. I was invested while I was there and now I want to invest myself in the community here. Whatever that means, I don't know exactly, but I want it. In college at LaGrange, I was not invested. My heart was still in Augusta. Sure I made a few friends and generally enjoyed my time there, but I was always looking to go back to Augusta and to seeing my friends there. I don't want to miss out on Chapel Hill the way I missed out on LaGrange. I want my heart (or at least a third of it) to be here in Chapel Hill. So that's all I've got. It's not really a plan of action at this point, but maybe it is the beginnings of such a plan.
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Other Updates:
I still am up in the air with the apartment and I don't feel like even talking about it right now.

I am excited about going to visit the botanical gardens here in Chapel Hill today with 2 (maybe 3) friends.

I am excited about seeing Esther over MLK weekend. Either she will visit me or I will visit her. We haven't decided all the details yet.

I am brainstorming with Sara about doing a half-marathon in the spring with her and then doing a full marathon in the fall with her.

Bubble Tea

Tonight Rodger, Angela, and I ventured out on the streets of Chapel Hill to accomplish three things: (1) get Rodger a gym membership at a gym where a poster of Arnold Schwartzeneger watches over you as you work out. . . check, (2) laminate signs for our church. . . check, and (3) try bubble tea . . . check. What in the world is bubble tea? Read about it here. It was weird and I don't know how I feel about it, but if any of you ever come to visit me. . . you have to try it while you are here. There is nothing in the world like it.

Apartment Frustration

I am frustrated with the lady who is handling my credit/rental history for getting this apartment in Carrboro. If I get this place, I will be taking over the lease for a guy who is moving out of the country. So when I went in on December 19th to give her all my paper work and references and what not, she knew that this whole process was time sensitive. I will give her that the Christmas/New Year holiday was just around the corner, but nevertheless she said that she would have all the work done by Thursday of last week. I am not pushy and were it just a matter of me getting an apartment I probably would just wait patiently and never say a word to this lady. But the poor guy who is trying to be sure he isn't breaking his lease before he leaves the country is stressing out, and understandably so. So yesterday I called her up to find out the status and what was still needing to happen. She still needed to speak with two of my references and there was also some sort of information she needed from the payroll headquarters from my employment. There isn't much I can do about the payroll stuff, I really just have to leave that to her. But I emailed the two references with her contact info and asked them to contact her as soon as they could. Response from reference number 1: "today was the first time she called me; I missed her call and I tried to call back twice, but I haven't been able to reach her". Response from reference number two: "she called twice before, but never left her name or what organization she was with in her message, so I figured she had the wrong number; today she called and actually left a name; I called her back twice before actually speaking to her, then she asked for the rental information for somebody else entirely; I told her I never even met that person and then suggested that perhaps she needed the rental history for Dottie Lee; this apparently threw her off completely and she said she would call me back." At this point in time, I'm not sure if she has cleared everything up in her mind and gotten back with my references, but I am so frustrated.

Snow!

We got snow in Chapel Hill yesterday! When it comes to snow, I turn into a kid automatically and just want to run outside to build snowmen and have snowball fights until my hands are frostbitten. Unfortunately, I was working all day in my office that has no windows. I missed the snow entirely. Bummer. Hopefully there will be more to come.

The New Year Post

Happy New Year everyone! I hope yours was as wonderfully relaxing as mine.

I am back in North Carolina now. I came back on Sunday, as we had church on Sunday evening here. I went to a New Year's party last night. It was nice, but different since (outside of Rodger and Angela) I only was acquainted with about four of the people there and the rest were total strangers to me. Still it was a nice party and a happy way to bring in the New Year.

I lazed around this morning and took my time getting out of bed and getting ready. Then I went and spent some of the gift cards I got for Christmas. After that, I went to Starbucks (I got two gift cards for Starbucks). I enjoyed a cinnamon chip scone and a triple grande latte while I contemplated decorating ideas/themes for the rooms in my potential apartment. Speaking of the apartment, I still don't know whether I am in or not. I am hoping to know by the end of this week, but I was also hoping to know by the end of last week. We shall see.

After daydreaming about my potential apartment for at least a solid hour and a half, I came home and did some reading. Then I forced myself to go jogging. I didn't go running at all when I was in Augusta. I figured I would be too busy visiting with friends and family to really make it a priority, and I was right. So yesterday I eased myself back into gear with a jog/walk for only about 1.5-2 miles. Today I upped it to approximately 4 miles and jogged the whole time. My feet felt like bricks on the ends of my lead-filled legs. Of course on one of my days of getting back into the groove of running again I would cross paths with a man whose legs seemed to be a bout ten feet long and who ran with the grace and speed of a freaking dear. Not only did we cross paths once, as if that weren't enough to make me feel completely inadequate as a runner, no we crossed paths twice. I just have to accept the fact that I will never be one of those really graceful, gorgeous runners. I will always be short. I will always run out of breath just a little more easily than most runners (I have chronic asthma). I will always turn beat red every time my heart rate is raised even a little. Okay, I am going on a complete bunny trail here. The point of this paragraph is supposed to be that I made myself get back into gear right away for three reasons: (1) the longer I wait to get back into it, the harder it will be; (2) I really do love running, even though the first couple of days back are a kick in the pants; and (3) my New Year resolution is to run a marathon this year. I haven't picked which marathon or where or when, but I will make a decision after I have done a little more research as to what my options are and what is realistic.