Everyday An Adventure

Birth of a Parrothead

2012-01-28T16:21:00.006-05:00

I'd known I wanted to be a teacher since the day I discovered office supplies. Well, initially I thought I wanted to be a receptionist at an office. Probably a doctor's office. This is due to the fact that my Uncle Jesse is a doctor, and my Aunt Normie (his wife, my mom's sister) ran his office. My sisters, cousins, and I used to play secretary in her office at their house and in the reception office at "The Office", which is what we referred to his medical practice as. While playing secretary was fun, who wouldn't love pretending to answer the phone, taking messages, and making copies?!?!, it left me wanting more. Specifically, a big, white board to write on. This is when I decided that being a teacher was my true calling. My sisters and I had mini dry-erase boards hanging in our bedrooms, we had real "teacher" grade books that we filled with the names of students from school, and several plastic cups full of pens on top of our desks at home - among other office supplies that we tended to collect.
In third grade, that all changed. I grew up hearing Jimmy Buffett songs and knew the words to all the hits, but in 3rd grade I really heard "Cheeseburger In Paradise" for the first time. What was different now? This time I'd paid attention to the back-up singers. As far as I was concerned, the girls that sang, "Paradiiiiiiiiiiiiiise," had the most beautiful voices I'd ever heard. I also decided that they were probably the most beautiful women on the planet. I pictured them with their long, shiny hair blowing gently in the ocean breeze, a tropical flower tucked behind one ear, wearing brightly colored bikini tops and sarongs, living the LIFE down in Key West. I had to be one. I found my parents' cassette tape of "Songs You Know By Heart" and listened to "Cheeseburger In Paradise" over, and over, and over again until I was convinced that I could sing JUST LIKE the girls in The Coral Reefers.
I think that's what really launched my love-affair with Jimmy Buffett, Key West, being a Parrothead, and all things coastal. When I graduated from high school I went on a cruise with 5 of my best friends (Troop 820) and our moms. We left from Miami and ended up in Cozumel, but my favorite part of the trip was our day in Key West. When we got off the boat that morning, you'd have thought it was Christmas morning I was so excited! My friend Jessie shares my love of these things, and our junior year of college we took a roadtrip that went Wilmington > Athens, GA > New Orleans > Destin, FL > Savannah > Wilmington. During the drive from New Orleans to Destin, we started passing signs for Pascagoula, Mississippi. Needless to say, we both started screaming with excitement and decided it was only fitting to roll down the windows, open the sunroof, and BLAST "The Pascagoula Run" as loud as her Volvo would allow.
Obviously, my desire to be a Coral Reefer took a backseat when I realized that my music abilities just weren't up to par. Actually, I still just really loved the idea of teaching. And I'm not a musician. Either way, now I'm a Parrothead teacher who'd love to find a way to work a pirate-themed unit into her school year, would rather be at the beach than anywhere else (even in January - I love the beach in the winter), wishes she could paint the rooms of her house varying shades of pink, blue, yellow, orange, & green, and who thinks that time spent on a boat is the BEST way for time to be spent.

"Cheeseburger in Paradise" is still one of my favorite songs, and while there are no back-up singing girls in this video, it's one of my favorite videos of the song being performed. Partly because of the lack of talking, stuffed-cheeseburger devouring Polynesian tribal heads on stage (Really, "Scenes You Know By Heart"? Really?), but mostly because I think there's something kinda sexy about the 1985 JB.

Smoothie-girl is a liar. (ok that might be a little harsh)

2012-01-07T10:57:00.002-05:00

I got a magic bullet for Christmas.
That being said, I had seen this post on Pintrest that was an idea for pre-made smoothie packets. I thought, "OMG that is the best idea ever!" So I bought all the ingredients, followed the directions, and tried to make a smoothie this morning. Well, it sounds simple enough except the main part of the directions is that you freeze everything, including the yogurt. I think I'm getting ahead of myself. In order to make the smoothie packets, you have to slice up all the fruit you want, measure out the yogurt into a muffin tin, and stick it all in the freezer. Once everything is frozen you have a bunch of frozen fruit (by the way, frozen blueberries are really yummy, kinda like frozen grapes) and these cute little frozen discs of yogurt. You tracking? Ok so then, you put a thing of yogurt and a couple of handfuls of fruit into a ziploc bag and put it all back into the freezer. Voila! Pre-made smoothie packets. Add ice, and breakfast is only supposed to take 30 seconds now!! SIKE! Homegirl that came up with this idea failed to mention that all that frozen stuff is not going to blend up very easily in my little magic bullet. I started making my smoothie this morning and quickly realized the truth. I bet I took that magic bullet off the little engine thing about 25 times and shook it, stirred it, or banged it on the counter. FINALLY I took out everything but the yogurt chunk and put it in a cup, then I blended up the yogurt, added the fruit and ice BACK in, and tried again. It was a little better, but it still wasn't blending up well. Then I decided that maybe I needed something that wasn't frozen. I searched our fridge, but came up empty handed. I didn't want to add milk, cause I thought that might make it TOO milky, you know, 'cause of the yogurt being in there too, so I added some water. I probably lost a lot of flavor with this move, but at that point I did not care. My smoothie started mixing just like it should have and 20 minutes later my 30-second breakfast was ready!
Next time I'm letting the yogurt thaw in the fridge overnight.

Dang it.

2012-01-03T23:27:00.003-05:00

I just realized that I totally FORGOT to do my annual birthday post this summer! Maybe I'm the only that is actually sad about this, but who cares, it's something that I do every year. So here goes, just in time for my half birthday (January 29).
This year I was 26. TWENTY-SIX!!! Holy mack, I'm officially closer to thirty than I am to twenty. Fran and I had only just moved into our house, but since we both weren't working we'd spent a whooolllleee lot of time together and had already gotten to be pretty good friends. She asked me for about a week leading up to my birthday what I wanted to do, and I kept saying I didn't care. I didn't really need/expect a party. I especially didn't expect someone I'd just met to plan anything for me. The night before my birthday, Frances, Ben, and I were hanging out with the Hancocks and as we were leaving they all started being really weird and vague. When I started asking questions, all they would tell me was to be back at the Hancocks' house at 9 the next morning, and to wear my bathing suit.
The next morning, Fran and I both put on our bathers and cover-ups, grabbed towels and sunscreen, and headed back over to the Hancocks'. Lindsay jumped in the car with Fran and me, while Ben and Bryan followed in Lindsay's van with the Hancock kids. I originally thought we might be hanging out at the pool all day (which was our habit this summer), but the more we drove, I realized that we were headed to WILMINGTON! Lindsay's parents keep a boat down there and we spent the day out on the waterway. There are few things I love more than being on a boat, so I was in heaven! We first headed to one of the little islands that the Hancocks call "Party Crab Island" because of all of the sand fiddlers in the tide pools there. We anchored there, had lunch on the boat, and walked around the island for a while. If you're familiar with Wrightsville Beach, this little island is just off of the Shell Island end of WB. We walked over to the side that was closest to the ocean and swam across/ fought the current to a sand bar between Shell Island and Figure 8. Eventually we headed back to the boat, made a pit stop on "Palm Tree Island", cause you HAVE to if you're out on a boat at Wrightsville Beach, then headed over to Masonboro Island. Masonboro is an 8.4 mile long barrier island between Wilmington and the Atlantic Ocean. It is completely undisturbed and is only accessible by boat. People go over there all the time to camp, surf, or just hang out. A long time ago, the island was at least partially owned by my dad's mom's family. Throughout the years, the island was divided up between kids/grandkids, but now all of it has been sold to the state except the part that my dad and his sister's still own. We can't do anything with it, but it is funny to laugh about owning a piece of "Mase." In all the years that I lived in Wilmington, I had never actually been over to Masonboro (no one in college had a boat!). The Hancocks decided that my birthday was the day I was finally going to go! We anchored there, walked around for a little bit, then got back in the boat and headed to Rita's for some Italian Ice before making the drive back to Goldsboro. That night, a few more people came over to my parents house for dinner and cake & ice cream. It was a GREAT birthday, and I can't believe I totally neglected to mention it until just now!!

Birthday on a boat.

Frances is the best.

Hallie is so darn cool.

(Don't worry, we were going extremely slow at this point.)

MASONBORO ISLAND!

In keeping with tradition, here are some fun-facts about the number 26 (although, I still think my list at 23 might have been the best ever):

No NBA or NFL team has retired the number 26
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet
If I were a guy, I couldn't be drafted anymore now that I'm 26
In a regulation deck of playing cards, there are 26 red cards and 26 black cards
A Rubik's Cube can always be solved in 26 moves or less

Go shawty, it's ya birthday,

We gon' party like it's ya birthday...

-50 Cent

From Hadley's Blog...

2011-12-23T10:36:00.001-05:00

*Stole this post from my sister Hadley's blog. It's all about our family's Christmas traditions! Click on the title of her blog and check it out.
Faster Than A Speeding Bullet: Christmas Traditions:
Here's a list of all of my favorite Christmas traditions, old and new! 1. My entire family (at the time there was 17 of us) spending the n...

Mawwiage. Mawwiage is wot bwings us togevah today.

2011-11-13T17:41:00.002-05:00

I went to 10 weddings in 2011. While this number pales in comparison to my friend Ginny's 16, it is still a lot. If this post had a sub-title, it would be "10 Weddings in a Nutshell" or "10 Weddings, 1 Blog Post."

MAY

Clint and Mary - Beaufort, NC

Mallory, Me, Leslie Wiggins, Malissa Wiggins

Clint's parents are in Supper Club with my parents, so it was fun to have all the "Supper Club Kids" together and on the dance floor! Mary looked beautiful, and it was obvious how in love they are!

Jonathan and Nancy - Mt. Airy, NC

Nan was Hadley's roommate at Carolina and best friend. She doesn't have any sisters, so she has adopted the 3 of us as her own. We LOVE our honorary sister and had such a great time celebrating her and Jonathan!!

**Not pictured: Kelly & Tyler - Goldsboro, NC

June

Justin and Georgia - Goldsboro, NC

Emily (yellow), Miller (purple), Georgia (bride), and Haley (not pictured), and I grew up in Girl Scouts together. These are the girls I'll be friends with 'till I'm 90. Georgia was the first of us to get married and it was great to have a Troop 820 reunion!

Ben went with me to G's wedding. We had such a fun time dancing all night!

Jay and Eva - Goldsboro, NC

Emily!

Margaret Lee, Ginny, Anna, and I spent 3 weekends in a row dancing the night away at weddings this spring.

September

Matt and Meredith - Cornelius, NC

Meredith was one of my best friends growing up, so it was really special to get to stand up beside her as she married Matt. Mallory and Meredith's sister Laura Lee are also best friends from growing up!

Daniel and Miller - Goldsboro, NC

Miller (the 2nd of the "Girl Scout Girls" to get married) got married on the same day as Meredith. I hated that I couldn't be there to celebrate with her, but I had a great time hanging out during her bridal portraits shoot!

October

Blake and Katherine - Emerald Isle, NC

Katherine is a good friend from high school and her beach wedding was beautiful!

**Not pictured: Jordan & Robbie - Fremont, NC

November

Graham and Lindsey - Goldsboro, NC

Ginny and me after the wedding!

Grace!

Due simply to the fact that there was a photobooth at the wedding, I have zero pictures from the reception, but I do have a lot from the post-wedding festivities! A bunch of us went out after Lindsey and Graham's wedding and had such a good time laughing and singing karaoke!

David and Emily - Goldsboro, NC

Doesn't my mom look so gorgeous?!

I caught the bouquet!!

Troop 820

The Love Byrds

...and wuv, twue wuv, will fowwo you fo'evah... so tweshah your wuv...
The Princess Bride

Off to the races!

2011-11-09T21:32:00.002-05:00

I am an "aspiring runner." At least, that is what my twitter bio says. Someone recently asked me what that meant, and all I could come up with was: I would like to be a runner, but I'm not... but sometimes I try. That being said, I think it goes without saying that although I went to Wilmington for the Beach to Battleship Iron Man last weekend, and the Battleship Half Marathon this weekend, that does not mean that I was a participant. My friends were though.
Last weekend, I went down to Wilmington for the day because Josh was racing in the Beach to Battleship. He did the half, which is still a WHOLE LOT.

Bekah was an awesome cheerleader/photographer/race-lingo translator!

Josh, a couple miles into the run portion, doesn't even look tired! (He might HAVE been, but you couldn't tell!)

I always have a hard time managing my time in Wilmington because I want to do everything and see everyone every time I go! Sometimes, I manage to accomplish this task. MOST times, I don't. This past weekend, I wanted to go down to surprise Bekah because she was running the Battleship Half Marathon. My friend Lindsay was also running, along with my friend Michael and his roommate Dallas. I decided this would be an "on the sneak" trip. That means I tell basically no one that I'm coming, and I just see who I see. I texted Josh and told him I was coming, but not to tell Bekah. I told Lindsay that I'd find her at the finish line, and I told Michael I'd find him too. As I was walking up, I heard people calling my name and saw Andrea, Mo, and Jami!! It was so fun to hang out with them and cheer people on at the finish line.

MICHAEL was the first of my friends to finish!

(Followed closely by Dallas.)

Bekah (yellow shirt - on the left), much like her husband, didn't even look tired when she crossed the finish line.

LINDSAY!!! I think Noah, Mills, Hallie, and I started screaming for her when she was still a quarter mile (ok maybe not that far) away. The best part of that moment was when all 3 Hancock kids jumped into the race, grabbed their mom, and ran across the finish line with her!

Post-race breakfast with the Asselins at The Basics in downtown Wilmington.

I haven't gotten to really spend quality time with the Asselins much lately, so it was good to just sit and have breakfast and talk. They're my faves. After breakfast, just as I was about to leave town, Michael called to tell me to come have lunch with him and Dallas. Even though I'd just left breakfast with Josh and Bekah, I went and sat/hung out with the boys. We laughed, drank coffee, and rode around the beach with the top off Michael's jeep. I'd say it was a good day.

Swing Your Corner Lady

2011-10-23T19:18:00.000-04:00

Not only has Young Life provided me with a roommate - FRANCES is one of the new YL interns here in Goldsboro - it has also brought BEN back to town! Ben is one of my very best friends and an adopted cousin. In all honesty, he's really more like a brother. His family moved to Goldsboro 14 (?) years ago, and my entire family immediately adopted them as our own because my family's mountain house is across the street from where the Johnson's grandparents lived. Ben and his sister Lindsay quickly became the 9th and 10th grandchildren in the King family and we've been cousins ever since.
Lindsay's birthday is this week, so this weekend I went with Ben to his parents' house in Lynchburg, VA for Lindsay's square dance birthday party! It was SO GOOD to get to spend some quality time with the Johnson fam.

I got to help launch and catch a hot air balloon!

The view from the Johnson's porch.

Lindsay's party was a hit! Everyone had a great time dancing and sitting around the fire. It was fun to meet so many of Ben and Lindsay's friends!

Lindsay's college roommate, and best friend (on the right), flew in from Texas to surprise her for her birthday!

I am so thankful to have friends like the Johnson family. They make me feel like one of their own and are always so much fun to be around. Thanks Linds, for letting me crash your birthday party!!

You fo' real right now?!?!

2011-10-19T00:08:00.001-04:00

Oh Lord. 3 months? THREE MONTHS?!
Whoops.
Sorry bout that.
For real though, life's been busy.
I moved into this sweet house (sweet as in AWESOME) in downtown Goldsboro with 2 really fun girls, I started teaching 4th grade (can a girl get ANY consistency in her job??), and I'm still leading Young Life and LOVING my girls!
This summer, one of my Australian roommates, Renee, came to visit for 2 weeks. We had such a good time! We toured Goldsboro, spent a few days in Wilmington, hung out some more in Goldsboro with my fam (who quickly adopted her as one of their own), then went to NYC for a week with my OTHER friend named Renee! That one's from Wilmington. Geez we had fun.

We went to church on Sunday at Hillsong NYC. It was incredible and felt a little like being "home" at church in Sydney. Minus the being in Sydney part.

I heart Washington Square Park. So much.

Cooling off in the water on the High Line.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Staten Island Ferry - the BEST way to see Lady Liberty... and it's FREE.

Breakfast in Central Park!

Our rainy afternoon adventure.

Strolling through Brooklyn - Cadman Park Plaza.

Dinner at Carmines on the Upper West Side.

We met up with my friend Mariana on the Lower East Side to see one of Renee (from Australia) and my favorite bands from Sydney, Boy & Bear, at the Mercury Lounge. We had such a good time that night!

The last night we were there, Mom flew up and went with us to see the Yankees play the LA Angels. I always love getting to see the Yankees play, and it was fun to get to take Renee and Renee (ha!) to a game in Yankee Stadium! We had a great time getting to be with mom at the game and walking around the city that night. Our week in NYC flew by and I can't WAIT to go back!

Best Week of Your Life (or your money back)

2011-07-26T11:22:00.000-04:00

Earlier this summer I got to go to Young Life's camp in Georgia, Sharptop Cove, with a bunch of high schoolers from here in town. It was such a privilege to get to hang out with the sweet girls that went from the high school that I am a leader at! It was also so good to get to spend some time hanging out with other leaders who are friends that I just don't get to see very often.
If you are (or ever have been) involved in YL, you know the amount of "inside jokes" that always come out of summer camp. Even a month later, my girls and I are still throwing random lines from the program into normal conversation, and cracking up every time! There have been a lot of, "Oh my gosh, remember the time....!!" and I love it! Here is just a little glimpse into our amazing week.

Hips Don't Lie

2011-06-07T20:09:00.000-04:00

I'm back in the running game. It has been over a year since the last time I ran for real (meaning, 2 days in a row or more). In fact, I basically ran one race and quit. If you're the type of person that keeps up with this sort of thing, the race I ran was in April of 2010 and I went to a wedding afterward. The bride and groom just had a baby... that's how long it's been since I last ran. YIKES. Well, I've decided I'm going to start again. My parents' neighborhood is right next door to the community college here in town and from their driveway, around the perimeter of the college, and back is exactly 2 miles. Yesterday I got out my running shoes and actually used them for their intended purpose... I RAN. Okay, okay.... I mostly walked. But still, I RAN! WITHOUT DYING! I don't care that it took me 30 minutes to complete my 2 mi. run/walk. I don't care that I was sweating like a boy and my face was as red as a tomato. I don't care that at some points (the running points) I may, or may not, have been breathing like I was in labor. That point is that I did it. Then I did it again today, and I ran a little more than yesterday! Y'all, yesterday was definitely no piece o' cake (it ain't like ridin' bike), but today was WORSE. I mean, it probably doesn't help that it was 2000 degrees fahrenheit. Also though, about 2 houses down from my parents I remembered that I hadn't drunk anything all day. Not water, not diet coke, nothin'. That didn't really help either. Another thing that didn't really help was my granny hip. Well, that's what I call it anyway. When I was a sophomore in college my hip started hurting REAL bad ALL the time. So bad that I wouldn't go to class some days because I couldn't walk. Over Thanksgiving break, I went to the doctor (conveniently, my uncle), who sent me to the orthopedist, who gave me a shot of cortisone and sent me to a couple of months of physical therapy for bursitis in my right hip. That's the same thing Shaq had in his left hip a couple of years ago. Basically, there is this sack of fluid in your joints that keeps the muscle or tendon from rubbing directly against the bone. The bursae in my right hip got inflamed and ta-da! A raging case of bursitis! Eventually it stopped bothering me and I went on with life. I did have to learn how to sleep differently but other than that, no major changes in lifestyle. Either way, it has bothered me off and on ever since then, but never anything bad enough to warrant going back to the doctor... until lately, when my mom has urged me more than once to go back to the ortho and see if I can get another shot of cortisone. The whole reason that I'm even telling you this sob story is so that I can tell you a valuable lesson that I've learned during my time of learning how to be a "runner". My dad has always been a runner, and each time one of my sisters or I started running, he would always say, "Listen to your body. Don't push yourself too hard. Push yourself, but not too hard." Sometimes that feels like a cop out, but sometimes that is really hard to do. I go through the whole "Ehh... it's kinda hard to breathe I think I'll walk," "No! You know you can keep running, don't stop now!" battle. Today I had that same battle, and as bad as I wanted to run more, I couldn't. I could feel something in my hip pull with every step that I took, even when I was walking. I slowed down a little, and was feeling so dissapointed in myself because it was only my second day out and I was already wussing out. Well, I walked in the front door and realized that even though I felt like I had to walk slower, my running a little more had paid off because it took the EXACT same amount of time! Whooo PTL! I have to tell you that was such a confidence boost! I can do this, I do have to take it easy on my hip, but eventually I will run all the way around the college without stopping! And then who knows... maybe I'll be a real runner!!!

My next big adventure...

2011-05-07T21:41:00.000-04:00

London!!!

For a LONG time I've wanted to go, then Wills and Kate had to go and get married and make me want to go even MORE! So, I've decided that I'm going to. I am operating on this "why not?" mentality when it comes to traveling and I like it. My career of choice doesn't hurt either - you know, the whole summer break thing. For those of you that are familiar with my Olympics obsession, I've already checked and Summer 2012 tickets aren't available anymore. However, my Royals obsession might be bigger than that of the Olympics so I'll be happy either way. Let the saving and planning commence. London-town: HERE I COME!!

So simple

2011-03-30T20:49:00.000-04:00

found this on Pin It and LOVED it

I am of the opinion... (and other statements)

2011-03-23T20:23:00.001-04:00

1. Working out is NOT fun.
2. The feeling after working out, however, is great!
3. I ALWAYS feel compelled to buy Penguin Classics. Not because I've read (or even heard of) the book, but because I reaaallllyyyy like the way they look all lined up on the shelf.
4. I have a song for EVERY memory. For example, "I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias will ALWAYS take me back to July 2010 in Oz. (And Needtobreathe's "The Outsiders" will always remind me of riding the 606 - the bus - to the shops at Parramatta.)
5. If you ever start thinking that others should consider it a privilege to be your friend, they probably consider it a burden.
6. If you ever start thinking you are better than the town you came from, that town is probably better off without you.
7. I think that Vampire Weekend's first album (Vampire Weekend) is hands down better than their second (Contra).
8. Sometimes I forget that "you're welcome" isn't spelled "your welcome" and then I accidentally misspell it in a text or an email that I can't take back and I am embarrassed.
9. Sometimes I also hope my friend Margarita doesn't judge me because of my terrible spelling/punctuation/grammar when I write here. HA!
10. Just because you are a bride, you don't have a license to be a bridezilla.
11. I do my best thinking while I'm driving. I also do my best "talking" while I'm driving - which means I have been known to get in my car and drive around with the intent of having a phone conversation with a friend.

My first attempt at gardening!

2011-03-19T21:34:00.000-04:00

And I use the term "gardening" verrrrry loosely. Real gardeners, the kind who are serious about the things that grow in their backyard, might take offense to my referring to a potted plant as an attempt at gardening! Who cares. My experience with plants thus far has consisted of whatever "un-killable" plant my mom would bring to "liven up" my apartment when I lived in Wilmington. I had one that lasted a couple of years... but I moved it to another shelf, forgot about it, and it died. Story of my (gardening) life. A couple of weeks ago my sister and I were at Lowe's one Saturday morning because I've decided I want to grow Peonies. (The Peonies have yet to be planted, by the way.) While we were there, I saw this amazing Mayan-looking decorative pot. Hadley and I both got one, but until today, they've been empty and neglected because we couldn't decide what to plant in them. Well, last weekend I was at my cousin's house in Raleigh and noticed that she had the exact same pot! With a plant in it! I went back to Lowe's today in search of the same type of plant and was successful! Tonight after dinner I drug my dad out into the driveway so that he would help me get my plant from the plastic hanging basket into my awesome pot. When I say "help" I really mean, do all the dirty work and I'll take pictures - for my blog, duh! I had to recruit my dad because his thumb is about as green as it gets. Heck, all 10 of his fingers are green.

This is what we started with. I thought I did a pretty goo job shopping for myself.

We soon realized that my plant was not going to fit through the small opening in my pot.

Dad's solution? Chop it in half!

I would also like to say that I did everything up to this part myself. Well, almost.

Hey Dad, not quite sure we needed a hatchet for this job, but it definitely made it a little more manly!

Then we realized that my tiny bag of potting soil was not going to be enough. Dad went into the garage and got one he already had. Why did I even buy dirt in the first place?

The finished product!

Eventually, my plant is going to fill out and look a little more AWESOME and a lot less wimpy. I hope. I'm also hoping that my thumb will begin to turn a little less black and a little more green. Even if it's a light shade of green. I'll keep you posted, and when I plant my Peonies, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Gwen the Sales Lady or FREE SAMPLES!

2011-03-12T20:43:00.003-05:00

I love love love Bond No. 9 perfume. All of their scents are named after a different neighborhood/place in New York City and the scent is modeled after its namesake. I first fell in love with their Bleeker Street scent, mostly because of the amazing bottle it comes in. (Even though the Brooklyn bottle gives it a run for its money.) Their newest scent is called Madison Square Park and it smells like Heaven. I got some today and the sales lady gave us one of each of ALL the Bond No. 9 samples they had... and a few others! I'd say we got our money's worth.
And if you're ever in NYC you need to check out the Bond No. 9 store on Bleeker Street. Go to that one because it's right beside Magnolia Bakery and you should go there next and ask for the Banana-Bread Pudding. You can thank me later. :)

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4 Things

2011-02-26T17:41:00.000-05:00

I loooooooove design blogs. A lot. I wish I was cool enough to have my own. Sadly, I am not. However there are 4 design elements that I am loving right now.

LUCITE

especially lucite trays like these

The Rogue Blog

Dabney Lee

DRAPER DRESSERS

1st Dibs

OR, you can make your own for SUPER cheap!

This is one of my fave Ikea hacks ever.

Directions on Marcus Design

MOROCCAN POUFFES

Table Tonic

PEONIES

(Ok, maybe not a "design element" but I'm including them.)

Blue Girl

The Laurel Hedge

Wedding Bee

Little Things

2011-02-19T21:06:00.001-05:00

I discovered this new(ish) blog all about the little things that make life great and quickly fell in love with it! These are just a few of the "little things" that I stole. Check it out here and enjoy!

one word

2011-02-17T21:39:00.000-05:00

My one word.

Several years ago my church in Wilmington (Port City) started a tradition of encouraging everyone one to choose one word to sort of be the theme of their life for the year, instead of making New Years resolutions. My one word for this year is love. Simply put, I want to remember to first: love the Lord - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deut. 6:5), second: love others - "So encourage each other and build each other up..." (1Thess. 5:11), third: love myself. I feel like that one requires a little more explanation - mostly so that you don't think I'm a complete narcissist. (Y'all ready to get personal?) Loving myself is more a self-esteem thing than anything else. This year I don't want to automatically assume that I am annoying someone, or in their way, or being an inconvenience, etc. I need to remember that people aren't going to hang out with me because they feel sorry for me or because they feel like they have to, but because they WANT to (huh, what a novel idea). I need to remember that I am "fearfully and wonderfully made!" (Ps. 139:14) So, I'm eating better, working out, and WORKING on not assuming the worst about myself and the way others think about me. That's it.

Love.

Does that make sense?

It crossed my mind

2011-02-11T23:48:00.001-05:00

For a SPLIT second this thought crossed my mind, "Man, if we'd lost the Revolutionary War we'd be part of The Commonwealth and it would be so much easier to go back and forth to Australia."
So sue me.

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Loves and loathes.

2011-02-10T20:14:00.006-05:00

Loves.
2-hour delays for school
Glee
My Aussie friends
The social networks that allow me to keep in contact with them SO EASILY
Gray nail polish
The OPI "Texas Collection"
Hanging out with the Hancock family
The fact that Spring Training is JUST. AROUND. THE CORNER!!

Loathes.
The fact that I haven't worn anything but jeans / fall and winter clothing since September 2009
The pasty-whiteness of my skin as a result of having an 18-month winter
The score of last night's Carolina v. DUKE basketball game
Pretending that wearing 4 inch heels doesn't hurt (even though I still wear them)
Shaving my legs (even though I still do - regularly)
Obnoxious sports fans who do more bashing of other teams than cheering for their own
The fact that all my best friends live in different cities/states/countries
NOT being in Australia and having severe FOMO (see: "Fear Of Missing Out") when I read everyone's facebook and twitter

I also love this quote (because it is me 100%):

Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life.

Easy A

The good. The bad. The sad. The hilarious!

2011-01-02T21:15:00.003-05:00

Instead of doing a typical 2010 "Year in Review" post, I thought I'd give you a glimpse back through the year via my twitter (typos and all). Enjoy.

9 January:

FOUND MY KEYS!!!!!!! (They've only been lost since labor day)

29 January:

“Love fails, only when we fail to love.” – J. Franklin (via iheart)

5 February:

While putting on pj's my leg somehow got tangled in my pants and I fell down. To the floor. Yep

9 February:

Hanging out with the Hancocks. Just made a photocopy of my face. Awesome

12 February:

OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!!

22 February:

- Jury duty. This is a new and interesting experience

- Guy who decided he would be in charge of the remote chose an old movie on AMC. Hope the other 86 people in here are in agreement

- Haha everyone's yelling at him to "find the olympics!" He pretends he doesn't hear.

- Dude found CSI. Round of applause. Compromise? Guess so.

- Jury Duty update. At 3:00 I fell asleep in my chair. When I woke up I thought it'd been at least 30 minutes. It was 3:07

- I think my tweet quota for the entire year was reached today. #pathetic

28 February:

closing ceremonies. i'm entering a time of mourning!

6 March:

Sitting next to Reggie Jackson

13 March:

Singing at the top of my lungs... until I realized Andrea was asleep in the next room! #oops

26 March:

1st grader: "I had to do eenie, meenie, miney, mo this morning on my pants. I couldn't decide which ones to wear." --they wear uniforms :)

27 March:

Every time I hear the song "Shout!" It makes me want to "dance through the ages". Too many summers spent working at #younglifecamp :)

1 April:

"I saw a lawn mower have a wreck with a car today." @hadleypeacock

4 April:

I'm alive because Jesus lives

27 April:

Just bought a one way ticket to australia. Freaking out is an under statement

21 May:

Laughing over the last 2 years with Bek. Mo, Jami, O'C, @mysterywhitegrl: Loooooooooove you girls SO MUCH!!

23 May:

Very last LOST with the Hancocks. This is a sad sad night.

30 May:

- Just rode our bicycles in a motorcycle parade.

- That group of 20 somethings singing real loud while they bike along the national mall? Oh, that was us.

4 June:

Old map? http://tweetphoto.com/25545055

14 June:

K! THIRTY! EIGHT! For the last time. With people I love.

21 June:

- "What are the names of the months in Australia?" - @hadleypeacock

- Me: "I'm going o Australia." Guy at bank: "Oh so you're doing like a European world tour thing?" -- Geography FAIL

26 June:

LAX for the next hour.... then on the NZ then SYDNEY!! nervous/excited/homesick/tired but i'm sure more excitement is coming... right?

29 June:

I MADE IT!!!

4 July:

first cold 4th of July ever! (booo) cooking the "housemates" a cookout-style dinner tonight though. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

9 July:

Yesss!!! http://tweetphoto.com/31778677

11 July:

Grocery shopping in Austraila is EXPENSIVE yo! http://tweetphoto.com/32069146

13 July:

baseball has given me so many reasons to be sad today.

15 July:

I don't hate it! Haha http://tweetphoto.com/32774349

17 July:

Gellato and old books in Glebe. Coffee and thrift stores in Newtown. Manly tonight which means MEXICAN food and the BEACH - my 2 faves

18 July:

Church tonight. Gold Coast in the morning with Sarah!

20 July:

- My view right now http://tweetphoto.com/33941763

- Lunch on the beach. Dinner in the mountains. This country is awesome

26 July:

Bondi http://tweetphoto.com/35130038

29 July:

- Drove a CAR in Australia today! Look out pedestrians in Manly... MC's comin' through!

- And, might I add, it was a stick shift! Shifting left handed was crazy but no stall outs for this girl!

31 July:

Who's got tickets to the SOLD OUT Eels game?? We do!! http://tweetphoto.com/35939734

3 August:

Surfer Blood. Right now. http://tweetphoto.com/36584026

4 August:

Mumford & Sons at The Enmore http://tweetphoto.com/36763135

5 August:

starting to get really sad about leaving Syd

6 August:

- Nabes are throwing their weekly Friday night rager. We're making our escape early this time

- Friday night at the drive-in. I feel like I'm on the set of Grease! http://tweetphoto.com/37144537

8 August:

Sunday Night Live at @hillsong. Last Sunday in Oz. What a way to go...

9 August:

last hoorah part 1: chillin at the argyle to the sounds of al green http://tweetphoto.com/37845433

13 August:

HOME! also NEVER staying awake for 55 hours straight again. ever. in my life.

14 August:

Since my body thinks it's 4:15 in the afternoon it's completely normal that I'm wide awake and hungry at 2:15 am. Right?

12 September:

been a long time since i laughed as hard as i did last night with @margaritajg and @abjphoto. definitely one of the highlights of this wknd

24 September:

on my way to the queen city for the much anticipated wedding of @laurenlizc and @josh_bick! this is gonna be a good one......

25 September:

Tonight I danced with my favorites, talked and laughed about Oz with Tracie, and Lauren became a BICKERSTAFF!! So good.

5 October:

homesick for Sunday night grocery shopping, and Bondi, and wandering around the city, and @hillsong, and flat whites, and and and...........

15 October:

Verse a Chilean miner clung to while trapped: "In his hand are the depths of the earth, & mountain peaks belong to him."-Psalm 95:4

18 October:

pkgs i sent myself from oz (aka clothes and shoes that wouldn't fit in suitcase) are JUST now being prepared 2 b shipped #auspostissloooooow

29 October:

Friday night with @margaritajg http://twitpic.com/3212gw

1 November:

So thankful for amazing friends and family! Please keep PRAYING HARD for Papa and all of our family - for healing for papa and peace for us

3 November:

Papa made it onto twitter! That is so cool. Thanks @InsideCarolina and @Yankees!

14 November:

http://twitpic.com/36wl4w several years ago there was a rumor that they were gonna do away with the penny. Papa started saving....

20 November:

I just dropped my sweater in Thomas Jefferson's fireplace. Literally. #whoops

30 November:

10 DAYS TILL POLAR BEAR!!! Get excited yo http://twitpic.com/3brkia

2 December:

Sitting n my parked car bc "The Girl" is playing. Lol bc I can't count how many times I've done that with @corrinerobins and Renee

4 December:

Ready ready ready ready, ready to ruuuuunnn! http://twitpic.com/3csuhh @mirandawrites86 @hadleypeacock @mallorypeacock mimi and amy #notMC

10 December:

WINDY GAP!!!

17 December:

Annual Peacock bonfire! If you're not here you're missing out!! http://twitpic.com/3gwy1e

24 December:

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining! It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth!

26 December:

@angpurchase wish you were here in this SNOW!! http://twitpic.com/3jvf0s

2010 was a year with a lot of major events. I went to Australia (and came home), I started teaching at a school that I love, and I lost my precious grandfather. I have so many FUN memories from this year, and some pretty sad ones, but one thing I CAN say is that the Lord has been with me through everything and that is something I know I can count on for 2011 as well. As for what else will come, I guess we'll just have to see...

Is anyone even still interested in this?? (part 2)

2010-12-31T13:03:00.000-05:00

My e-mail to everyone after I decided to come home... (the WHY)

I have been on the go almost every day since my last email, which is a good thing, but it makes it hard to sit down and type something longer than the 140 characters that twitter allows. All of you that have emailed me and written to me on facebook, please forgive me for not responding. All of your messages and encouragement have been so appreciated! I can't wait to tell you all about it when I see you in person!

For most of this stuff, you can read the details here: http://mcpeacock.blogspot.com

but I'll give you the highlights...

I spent a week in Queensland and it was crazy... good crazy. I think my favorite parts of the trip were Steve Irwin's zoo and watching the sunrise at Byron Bay on the most easterly point on the Australian mainland. The beaches in Queensland look like a tropical paradise, even though a lot of them are in big cities!

I also spent the day at Bondi Beach, saw fireworks over the Opera House, went to a footy game (rugby league), sat on the edge of a cliff (with my feet dangling over the side... yikes!), ate the biggest cheeseburger I've ever seen in my entire life, turned 25, hiked all around the Blue Mountains, and washed all of my clothes by hand (thanks to a broken washing machine). See? Told ya I'd been busy.

If I ever win the lottery, I'm buying a house at Bondi Beach. I loved it. My housemate Renee and I spent the day there, but I think I could spend every day there. The next day Renee and I went into the city for the afternoon and did a lot of shopping. While we were in one store, we heard fireworks and went running out into the street (we looked both ways) and down to the harbour and caught the grand finale of a fireworks show that was happening right beside the Sydney Opera House. Now tell me that isn't cool. The day after that was my birthday and my other housemate Corrine and I went up to Manly (one of the northern beaches in Sydney) and hiked all around the headlands. It had been raining, but stopped just in time for us to jump a few fences and walk right out the edge of the cliffs. Yes, I was careful. Yes, it was kind of scary... but it was SO COOL. To the left you could see the city, to the right there were more cliffs and the beaches, and straight in front was the ocean. At that moment, I felt very small and God felt very big.

Friday, Corrine and I drove up to the Blue Mountains and hiked all around an area called Katoomba. There were trails going all around the edge of the Jamison Valley and the views were amazing. On Saturday, I went with Renee and my friend Ang to see the Parramatta Eels play against the Sydney Roosters. The Eels are part of the NRL - the National Rugby League. Not to be confused with the Rugby Union, or the AFL - the Australian Football League. The Eels also won the Grand Final (the championship) last year and are SUPER popular around here. The park that their stadium is in also just happens to back up to my neighborhood. Anyway, the Eels were really good last year, but sometime between then and now something happened because they haven't been quite as good this season. When I say they haven't been "quite" as good, what I mean is that they are in 10th place out of 16 teams. The Roosters are in 3rd. That didn't stop Parra fans from being just as excited though! The game was sold out and everyone was loud and excited all the way up to the end... even though we lost 46 - 12. Also, the star player for the Eels, Jarryd Hayne, goes to Hillsong. I've seen him a bunch of times there so it was cool to actually know who at least one of the players was.

This week, Renee and I went to 2 concerts and they were both really good. The second one, Mumford & Sons, was one that we had both been really excited about for a long time. It was their last show in Australia for the rest of the year, and it sold out in 5 minutes! They were already one of my favorite bands, but seeing them live definitely made me like them even more. They played in a really old theater with seats in the balcony, but standing room only on the main level. Everyone was packed in so tightly, but I think that just made it even more fun.

I think that basically gets things caught up, in a nutshell, of the events here in Sydney. As far as the job hunt goes... that is another story. Here is the short version: Long, long ago (ok back in the spring) I applied for a transfer to a different school at home, just in case, I ended up only staying in Australia for the summer. I wasn't technically eligible to apply, but I did it anyway. When I got to Australia, I almost immediately started feeling like my "big plan" wasn't quite right and I wasn't going to / supposed to stay here long term. I really didn't like the thought of that, but couldn't shake it. Yes, I was homesick, but I have been homesick before and stuck it out and everything has been great. This was a different feeling. Everything in my head wanted to stay, but something in my heart was telling me it wasn't what I was supposed to do. I wrestled back and forth with what to do, and got nowhere. I prayed and prayed for clarity, and only got more confused. I prayed and prayed for a job, then heard that it can take up to a year to get into the school system here. Do you see where this is going? Lots of tears. Finally, I basically said to the Lord, "Ok look, I am seriously going to need your help here. My making a decision on my own just isn't going to happen. I know that no matter what I do, You have a plan and a purpose, but I REALLY need something obvious to help me out." Y'all I am not kidding, the next morning Hadley sent me a message and told me that I had gotten a transfer to another school at home. I asked for a job, and I got one. It might not be in the country I wanted to be in, but it was an answered prayer. I asked for something obvious, and I got it. I mean, just because it wasn't what my plan had been, I couldn't ignore it. I mean, you can't only choose to listen when God gives you answers that fit in with the plans you have made because then, what's the point of asking anyways? All that to say, as sad as I am to leave, I am coming home. I have made great friends, and I know that this isn't the last time I'll be in Australia, but I also know that it isn't where I am meant to stay right now...

So there ya go. Sorry for the repetitive stories in this post from the e-mail, but it's been long enough that I figured it wouldn't matter too much. :)

THE END

Is anyone even still interested in this?? (part 1)

2010-12-31T12:59:00.002-05:00

Other than Phil Lacey?
It's the last day of 2010, which means my story needs to be wrapped up... considering that I've been back for almost 5 months. I'll just pick up where I left off, and finish this saga once and for all.
After leaving Bondi, Corrine took me to the airport and did her best to talk the guy at the ticket counter into giving me a business class seat instead of economy. No such luck though.
The flight back was awful. I mean, I might have gotten a little spoiled by Air NZ on the way over. I flew back Quantas, which is supposed to be equally as nice, but the plane was older, there was turbulence the ENTIRE 9 hours to Honolulu, and the man in front of me snored LOUDLY the whole time. I was exhausted and feeling sorry for myself and was just plain miserable. When I got to Honolulu, I got my bags and rechecked them and met our friends Mark and Tanya Kelly (who just happen to be stationed at Hickam Air Force Base). They took me straight to lunch at one of their favorite places on the beach in Waikiki. After that we went to the International Market and walked around a bit, then walked down the beach back to the car. I have to say that one of the coolest things was the because of the time difference, I had Wednesday, August 11 twice. I spent my first Aug. 11 on Bondi Beach, and then technically walked on Waikiki Beach that SAME DAY! And if you REALLY want to get technical (according to the clock and calendar), I walked on Waikiki BEFORE Bondi. Crazy. After lunch, we went back to their house on base, then they took me to Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was surreal. It is something that you hear about for your whole life, and learn about in school, and watch movies about... but to see it in real life was incredible. After Pearl Harbor, the Kellys took me back to the airport... armed with Tylenol PM this time. 9 more hours (I think) to Dallas, 5 hour layover, then 3 hours to Raleigh. I didn't sleep at all during my trip home and by the time I went to bed Thursday night, I had been awake for 55 hours! My sleep schedule was completely reversed for about a week, literally. I would sleep all day, then be wide awake all night. After not having much jet lag when I got TO Sydney, it was weird to be so out of whack when I got home.
I think the biggest question was WHY did I come home? Well, I am just going to copy and paste what I wrote in my e-mail to everyone when I decided that is what I was going to do...

(I'm making it a second post since this one is so long already.)

Leaving on a jet plane...

2010-10-13T23:38:00.001-04:00

My last day in Oz. Renee had to work :( that day, so I made sure to wake up early enough to hug her and tell her bye before she left. It only took 3 trips to get my suitcases downstairs, and we only had to lay all the seats down flat in Corrine's car to make them fit. Ha! After we got the car all packed up, we drove to Clovelly to meet up with Carmella to do to Eastern Beaches Coastal Walk that runs from Coogee to Bondi. The walk was gorgeous! It runs along the very edge of the beaches, a lot of that being cliffs. The weather was PERFECT and the surf was enormous so there were tons of surfers to watch along the way. I finally got to see the big Australian waves I'd been expecting all along! The walk takes about an hour and a half one way, so by the time we got to Bondi we were starving for lunch. We went to a cafe on Hall Street that is ALWAYS packed - Le Paris Go. It was delicious, but I think it's safe to say that all 3 of us felt a little like posers. Everyone in there, customers and employees were total hipsters, and while I WISH I was cool enough to be a hipster, I am not. It was the same feeling I had while trying to order coffee at Single Origin. Afterward, we walked around and window-shopped in several of the boutiques that line the street, then headed down to the beach. I HAD to put my toes in the sand in Australia one last time before I left. We decided to take a cab back to Clovelly, where we'd left the car, and that was definitely an interesting experience. Mostly because the cab driver wanted us to give him directions from Bondi to Clovelly... even though he's a cab driver and should know those things... and he had a GPS. Lawd have mercy.
I'm gonna drag out this last little bit as much as I can because let's be honest, I don't want it to be over.

On the rocks at Clovelly - before starting our walk.

Surfer at Tamarama.

BONDI and the Tasman Sea!

The adventure of a lifetime / best summer EVER!

Lots of words. Lots of pictures.

2010-10-10T22:05:00.001-04:00

My Australian story is coming to an end. (I'm only 2 months behind.) Mumford & Sons was amazing. The theatre was PACKED, everyone sang at the top of their lungs, and enough of the audience jumped up and down during several songs that you could feel the old wooden floor bowing up and down. The concert was on the 4th, and that marked the beginning of my last week in Oz.

That Friday, I woke up with an agenda. I was going to ride the ferry from Parramatta into the city. I had researched the ferry times, figured out what time I needed to get on the bus, and planned to be ready and in downtown Parra in plenty of time to stop at Gloria Jean's for a flat white. I was prepared. Let me just tell you what I learned on this day: I should have been riding the ferry the whole stinkin' time! When I rode the train, it took me an hour and a half just to get to Central Station, and that was just where I needed to change trains! The ferry ride was only 55 minutes, and that took me to my final destination. Lord have mercy! So I rode the ferry to Sydney Harbour and it was FREEZING (remember, it was the middle of Winter) but it was beautiful! Like I said, should have been taking the ferry the whole time. That day I stayed in the city for a long time because I went with the intention of finishing my gift shopping. I had a list and I wasn't leaving until every name was checked off. Let me just say, "Mission accomplished!" Saturday, Corrine and I went back into the city (we drove. it took half the time.) because we wanted to go to the Kirribilli Markets. First we stopped at Luna Park so that I could see it up close and personal. Then we hopped back in the car and headed to Kirribilli. When we got there, we couldn't find the markets anywhere! Not because we were in the wrong place, but we had the WRONG DAY. While all other markets in Sydney are on Saturday, the markets in Kirribilli are on SUNDAY. Whoops. So, we drove to Glebe and hit up those markets and ate Gozlemes for lunch (omg YUM). Then we went over to Newtown because who DOESN'T love blocks and blocks of vintage stores and the smell of patchouli on a hot (ish) day? (The weather was like a roller coaster.) Well, I love the vintage stores, and can deal with the patchouli, but on this day, every step we took made me feel sicker and sicker. No bueno. We left Newtown and drove to The Rocks because we were going to meet up with Ang to climb the Harbour Bridge pylons. Well, long story short, Ang ended up not being able to meet up with us and I seriously felt like I was going to vom. We decided NOT to climb the pylon and instead ducked into a hole-in-the-wall cafe for tea and banana bread. I felt SO sick that I didn't care what I was missing out on... and that banana bread was just what the doctor ordered. I don't know what was wrong, but after a good night's sleep I felt good as new. The next couple of days were spent packing, mourning my impending departure, going to church, and shipping a bunch of stuff home (it only cost $250! OUCH). Man, my last Sunday at church was so sad! I've told everyone that I've talked to that Hillsong Church felt like home the minute I walked in the doors. Being there just felt right and it definitely became one of my comfort zones, so leaving that wasn't easy. Monday night Corrine, Renee, Carmela, and I went to The Argyle (our fave restaurant/pub in the city) for dinner one last time. Carmela had some errands to run in the city before dinner, so she picked me up on her way in. One of the places she had to go was right next door to Hillsong's city campus, so we walked over and looked around really quickly. It was really cool to actually SEE the city campus because I'd been hearing about it all along. Carmela and I got to The Argyle before Renee and Corrine, so we walked around for a while... and stopped at Krispey Kreme for a doughnut (because when is dessert before dinner ever a bad thing??). Dinner was great because all of the booths at the pub are huge, and the atmosphere is really chill so we literally just lounged and hung out for the longest time. After dinner, we walked to Max Brenner for REAL dessert. Max Brenner is basically a chocolate lounge and it is just plain amazing! It was a good night. Tuesdays in the world of Hillsong are connect group nights. Connect groups are small groups or Bible studies... whatever you choose to call it. Renee's connect group was going out to eat for another girl's going away dinner. Sarah Gordon, Renee's bestie and one of my good friends, is also in that connect so I tagged along since it was my last night in Oz. Wanna know the funny part? We ate at Outback Steakhouse. Outback is sort of a novelty restaurant in Australia, but Renee and I just laughed and laughed at the fact that I was eating my last Australian dinner at an Australian-themed American restaurant. We had such a good time at dinner though! After dinner we had to take a late night trip to Kmart so I could buy a 4th suitcase for the trip home. Don't ask me how I accummulated that much stuff! The important thing is that I managed to get everything packed up (and kept it all under the 50 lb. per bag weight limit) and ready to go the next day!

Clocktower Square

Corrine and Carmela

Max Brenner! Yum!!

Luna Park from across the harbour

Hillsong Church - Hills Campus

Awake My Soul

2010-09-29T00:52:00.002-04:00

And now... the thing I had been waiting, hoping, and crossing my fingers for since May. If I am really honest with myself I had been waiting for this moment since I discovered the goodness all the way back in October 2009! When I bought my plane ticket home, there was this little (ok it sold out in five minutes) concert on August 4 that I HAD to go to. I'm not even kidding.

Every concert within 6 hours of me when they toured the States was SOLD OUT when I tried to buy tickets. I was pretty sad. Then, I decided to check and see when they would be playing in Sydney, but I quickly found out that both nights they were playing were sold out as well, and this was May. Bummed would be a massive understatement. Now, flashback to June 30th. My brand-new-just-met-her-2-days-ago housemate Renee and I are walking around Castle Towers (the mall) and we are talking about bands we like. I tell her that there is this band that I found out about back in October and I am OBSESSED with them. No one in the States knew who they were until like February, then all of a sudden people started being like "Omigosh have you heard of this band?" and I was like, "Duh." Then this spring when they toured the states, all their concerts even remotely near me sold out, so I didn't get to go. I tell her I looked to see when they were playing in Sydney, and it is coming up soon, but it was already sold out way back in May when I checked. She says, "Oh really? Who is it?" "Mumford & Sons." "No way! I have an extra ticket! I am going! You want to go with me?!" OH MY GOSH I cannot believe my ears! This girl that I have known for about 2.5 days has an extra ticket to go see MUMFORD & SONS?! And she wants to know if I want to go!! ABSOFREAKINLUTELY!!!!! Needless to say, when purchasing a return-trip plane ticket, this concert was taken heavily into consideration. When I say considered, what I really mean is that I wasn't going home until after that concert... no matter what. So that is just what I did, I booked my ticket allowing for plenty of time to see Mumford and go to church one last time.
I can't believe I'm almost done telling the story of my Australian adventure! I also can't believe it has taken me this long! I'll get it all wrapped up in my next post, and then for anyone that cares (that doesn't already know) I'll tell you why I came home.

Love it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,

it will set you free

be more like the man you were made to be.

There is a design, an alignment, a cry of my heart to see

the beauty of love as it was made to be.

- Mumford & Sons

PAR-RA! PAR-RA! PAR-RA!

2010-09-02T17:01:00.000-04:00

YIKES! I am a slacker! (How many posts in the last year have I started along these lines?? Too many. Sorry Jan Archer! haha!)
Ok, the last post was my birthday... well, actually the day after in the Blue Mountains. That night (Friday) our friend Sarah, the one I went to Queensland with, had a dinner party. From what I hear, Sarah has a big dinner party each season and goes all out. She is a great cook, and it's just a good excuse to get all the girls together. She had one long table set up in the "lounge room" (haha that's what Australian's call the living room/den) and just put all the food dishes in the middle... it was awesome. We passed things back and forth, reached over each other, and laughed a lot!
The next day (well, night) I went with Renee and Ang to the Parramatta Eels footy game. Footy is what they call Rugby. The Eels are in the NRL - the National Rugby League, not to be confused with the ARU - the Australian Rugby Union, not to be confused with the AFL - Australian Football League (Aussie rules football). Confused yet? Everyone over there seems to have absolutely no problem whatsoever keeping it all straight. Me? Not so much. I do know the Eels are in the NRL and the Wallabies are ARU, but that's about as far as it goes. Either way, we went to the game. Let me also say that Parra won the Grand Final last year, which is the championship, but this year must have been an off year. They were not that good at all to be quite honest. The Sydney Roosters killed us! It was really fun to see Jarryd Hayne in action though. He is the star player for Parra, but also goes to Hillsong and always seemed to be sitting in our vicinity at church.

Even though we lost, Renee, Ang, and I still had fun at the game, and it was fun to see all the Parra fans decked out in their blue and yellow getting so excited any time something good happened. Maybe the Eels will have better luck next year.

"Are there gonna be snakes?!?!"

2010-08-15T05:22:00.005-04:00

Whoa it's been a while. I blame the fact that my pre-paid internet ran out a week before I left Australia. Then, I blame jet lag. Now, there is just no excuse.

It's 4:30 am. Yes, you read that correctly. My body still thinks that it's 6:30 pm so I am on my second sleepless (read that as WIDE AWAKE) night, which means tomorrow promises to be my second sleep-like-a-dead-man day... all day. Instead of leaving out everything else that happened in Syd and skipping to now to tell you about the trip home, I'm just going to do my best to pick up where I left off. Also, I spilled Schweppes Lemonade on my computer while I was packing so the southeastern region of my keyboard sticks a little (or a lot) when I type. The length of this post will be an indicator to how long I choose to put up with it. (What I really need to do is take it to the Apple store and get it fixed... but that requires making an appointment and then driving for an hour.)

The day after the rainy day in the city was my birthday. TWENTY FIVE. I think I've (not-so) casually mentioned that ~~just a couple of~~ several times on here. Anyway... it rained again that day, but I was ok with it because I slept in. Renee had to work and Corrine wasn't getting home from her trip to Fiji until around lunch time. When she did get home, we jumped right in the car and drove up to Manly (one of the northern beaches) to ~~walk~~ hike through the bush around North Head. North Head is basically the headlands just north of Manly and the cliffs look right out at the city, so it was pretty cool. We had to jump a few fences to actually get out the cliffs, then we had to "take a short walk," as Corrine put it, out the edge. Turns out, "taking a short walk" directly translates to "carving our own trail through the bush." Oh and did I mention it rained that day? Really I'm not complaining, just joking... 95%. Either way, after we made our way (without a trail) through, I had to shut up and stop saying, "Corrine, I am NOT going through that!" because the view was incredible. The cliffs were REALLY high and pretty nerve-wracking but the water at the bottom was so pretty and if it had been warmer, and a lot closer, I would have been tempted to climb down and go swimming.

After our hike, we drove back to Manly and walked along a trail that looks back over Manly Beach. Of course those views were also amazing, and I liked it because there was an actual path to follow. I should also mention that I am the one that drove us back into Manly. Oh yeah I drove, in Australia, on my 25th birthday. How cool is that?! I thought it was at least. Corrine drives a stick-shift and I was really nervous about shifting left-handed, but I did it... with no stalling out! The weirdest part was allowing for room on the road on the left side of the car instead of the right. I probably drove right down the middle of the road a lot of the way. Good thing there no other cars out!

Once it started to get dark, we drove to this burger place on the beach and got the biggest cheeseburgers I had ever seen in my life. They had all this crazy stuff on them like beets (they call it "beet root"), pineapple, and a fried egg (along with a ton of other stuff and normal burger stuff). Yeah. I have to be honest though... it was good. The next day, Corrine and I drove to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains and hiked (on a trail) all around the Jamison Valley. The big thing that the overlooks all pointed out was "the 3 sisters." There is some old story about it, but all I can remember is that at the end of the story, the sisters turned into stone, and that is how they have been ever since then. The Blue Mountains sort of reminded me of the Blue Ridge mountains in NC, so I really liked hiking around and feeling a little at home.

Adventures in the City

2010-07-31T08:20:00.000-04:00

Let me just start by saying that having your birthday in a time zone 14 hours ahead of everyone that you know is AWESOME! This year I have 2 days of birthday because even though July 29 is almost over in Australia, it is just beginning in America! Also, I wish that I had time to reply to everyone who writes on my facebook wall and sends me a message on my birthday, but I don't so I'll just say a blanket THANK YOU right now and it is up to you to know that I really do mean it. You should also know that the previous statement was totally not meant to sound narcissistic. Really.

I have a lot to catch you people up on so sit back and relax. Maybe go pop some popcorn, pour yourself some lemonade, get comfortable. Or maybe not because I say that I don't want to make these too long because you might get bored, but really sometimes I just get tired of typing so I leave things out. Only unimportant details though... don't worry.

On Monday, Renee had to work and Corrine was in Fiji so I decided to do nothing. I had literally been on the go for a full week and I was exhausted. Tuesday, Renee had the day of so we decided to head down to Bondi Beach ("Bond-eye") for the afternoon. I was more than a little excited. When we got there, we first went to this really cool cafe/used book store called Alice + Gertrude's (oh side note, the + sign for Australians says "and" but probably also "plus" but only if you are doing math). A lot of the places at Bondi have big doors that open the whole front of the shop or cafe up to the sidewalk, making the sidewalk feel like an extension of all of the businesses. We walked around a little bit more before heading down to the beach 'cause you KNOW I had to check out the cheesy tourist shops. Some of them, at least. There is a sidewalk that runs the length of the beach and let me tell you, if you sit or stand there long enough, you will see some interesting people go by. Renee and I ended up standing right behind the lifeguard station and there were a couple of people that kept asking the lifeguard to take a picture with them. I thought it was just because he was a lifeguard and they were at Bondi so they thought it was cool. Wrong. I mean right, but only half. Turns out, there is this really popular show in Australia called "Bondi Rescue." I think it would be like if you took "Baywatch" and "COPS" and mashed them into one show. Either way, this lifeguard (Renee knew his name, but I don't watch the show so I already forgot) is apparently one of the cute ones and I guess is sort of a local celeb. Or maybe just a celeb to the people that watch. I don't know. He's well known enough that Renee texted her friend that has a celeb-crush on him to tell her that we saw him and her friend was really excited. Then we saw him AGAIN while we were walking later on and Renee laughed and said she felt like a stalker. I have no idea who this dude is, so I didn't really get it. We also saw an old guy in a very small Speedo, a younger guy in a business suit, a whole bunch of surfers, and 2 guys who were clearly living out of their VW van cooking lunch on a camp stove in the parking lot. After people-watching on the beach for a bit, Renee and I walked a little further down towards the Bondi Icebergs. The Icebergs is a swimming club on the side of a cliff just above the ocean. The pools are cool because they are basically just a walled-off section of the ocean. Just past the Icebergs there is a path that goes up around South Head and connects Bondi Beach to Coogee (sounds like cook minus the k, gee). We didn't walk the whole thing because it would have taken 3 hours, but we did walk along a little of it at the beginning so that we (I) could see the cliffs and the view looking back at the beach. It was gorgeous. Eventually we had to leave, and I had to stop taking pictures because we had to get back for Sisterhood that night at church. While we were walking back to the car, we saw this really cute guy from church in one of the cafes, but we were so busy laughing like teenagers at the shock of seeing him that neither one of us actually thought to go get in line behind him in the cafe... dang it. Haha. We are pathetic, I know.

That night we went to Sisterhood United at church. Sisterhood is usually every Thursday morning and it's just for women, they provide a program for the kids so that moms can come and they have worship and a message. Every so often they have Sisterhood United which is when all the women from the different Hillsong campuses across the city get together at night, instead of in the morning. This gives the girls that work a chance to come. When we got there, they had girls coming around with cups of soup and bread, girls doing manicures, and girls giving shoulder massages. It was really nice. They had converted the main auditorium into "Theater Mode" which basically cut it in half and made it feel a lot more intimate. Bobbie Houston spoke that night and she was amazing. Obviously I don't know her, but the bit of her personality that comes across on stage reminds me a lot of my friend Anna Gayle. It was great.

On Wednesday, Renee and I woke up and made plans to go into the city and hangout all day, then have dinner... then we looked out the window. It was pouring. We decided we didn't want to be cooped up inside all day, so we were going to brave it and go into the city anyway. We went in just about every tourist shop in The Rocks. We also went in couple of other random stores AND the Opera House! For dinner, we went to a pub called The Argyle that Renee had said was one of her favorite places in the city.As soon as we walked in the door I could see why. It was really nice and had a great atmosphere, but was also very laid back. The food was really good too. We ended up just sitting and hanging out for a while before we finally made our way back home to hills. Despite the rain, both days wound up being so much fun!

One more candle and a trip around the sun.

2010-07-28T11:14:00.003-04:00

(Jessie Bruggers, name that song.)

Here in Sydney it's 11:13 pm on July 28, 2010. That can only mean one thing: I should really be in bed. However, because Renee and I decided it would be a good idea to do a Tim-Tam-Slam at 9:30, I am wide awake just waiting for midnight. As I lie on the floor in our living room listening to the newest Hillsong album ("A Beautiful Exchange" - go buy it. it will change your life) I am thinking that I can't believe I am about to turn 25... in 47 minutes to be exact. (Well... 43 now 'cause it's 11:17, but whatev.) Earlier I was saying to Renee, "Man, if I had known at 17 what I know now..." How many times have we all said that?? Thing is, there are some things that I'd probably like to change, but I also know that everything, good and bad, that I've been through - every situation, every friendship - has made me who I am, and brought me to where I am right now. I've learned a lot of the past 25 years, starting with how to sit up... and it only got better from there.

Having a summer birthday has meant that I've had birthdays in a lot of different places over the years. One of those places was never school, however, and as a kid that was REALLY sad. I never got to be the one whose mom brought cupcakes and Hi-C juice boxes for the entire class because school doesn't happen in July. You know what does happen a lot in July? Vacation. There were 3 or 4 years where I didn't even have a proper birthday party because my family was on vacay when July 29 rolled around. I spent birthdays in hotel rooms, random restaurants in other cities, and even once at someone's wedding. I celebrated my 16th birthday in September because I was bound and determined to do something fun with all of my girlfriends and having the party in September guaranteed that everyone would be in town because school would have started. I turned 19 while I was on Summer Staff at Sharptop Cove. This guy on the ropes team told every high schooler that rode the swing that day to go to the snack bar and tell me happy birthday so all day I had high schoolers paying for their nachos, looking at my name tag and saying, "Oh you're Mary Clyde?! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" It was awesome. When I turned 20, I had just driven 10 hours from Buena Vista, CO to Lubbock, TX with my friends Katy and Rachel after finishing summer staff at Frontier Ranch. Our good friend Ginny flew to Lubbock to meet up with us and we had such a fun week hanging out together! My 21st birthday was spent at Windy Gap (are you noticing a pattern here??). My birthday just happened to fall on a Saturday that year, so after all the campers left we were already supposed to have a party anyway, and it just became a big birthday party. We had a huge dance party by the pool and at one point I was shag-dancing with a guy I was on Summer Staff with and I noticed we were inching closer and closer to the edge of the pool. No one was actually in the pool because the pool at Windy Gap is ALWAYS freezing, so needless to say, I was fully clothed. Next thing I know, his hands are planted firmly on my shoulders and I am flying backward through the air into the water. Obviously this turned into a free for all and almost all of the girls were picked up, or pushed to the edge, and thrown in. What used to be a dance party was now a swimming-in-your-clothes party. It was, again, awesome. On my 22nd birthday, I actually had 2 parties. On my actual birthday I went out to dinner with a couple of girlfriends, and later my friends Jami and Mo showed up with a cake they'd gotten from the grocery store and we are pretty sure it was left over from the 4th of July, but I didn't care because they are just great friends. The second party was that weekend and it was just hilarious.

For my 23rd I was determined to have a bonfire and cookout at Carolina Beach, so I dragged everyone out there and that is exactly what we did. Josh was so gracious and drove all of our junk out there and dug the best fire pit that beach has ever seen, Mo made monogrammed cupcakes, and everyone had a such a good time... well, I mean I never heard any different so that's what I'm going with! Haha. There was a second, smaller celebration that year as well because of the mid week birthday and it included personalized coozies and a cake that said "OMG MCP is 23!" Classic.

Last year I just happened to be living with 2 of the best people I know and we had an awesome cookout with an equally as awesome photo shoot on the couch (it took about 27,000 tries to get a decent group shot). Come to think of it, there were 2 birthday celebrations that year as well. This leads me to believe that I am either a brat, or I have the greatest friends a girl could ask for. Probably some of both. But for real... my friends are awesome and they are way too good to me, way too patient with me, and give me a lot more grace than I think I deserve.

So now I'm 25. I have no idea what is in store for this birthday, but I'm Australia so that in itself is pretty cool. I've had 2 hilarious and fun-filled days already with Renee (hurry up and get back from Fiji Corrine!) so I'm going ahead and counting the week as a win. I'll put a post up about all of that tomorrow, but for now here are some things I know about the number 25:

It is a square number.

It is the size of a full active-roster for a major league baseball team.

It is the number of cents in a quarter.

Tommy John, Bobby Bonds, and Barry Bonds wore the number 25. My mom knew/knows all 3 of them.

There are not that many fun-facts about the number 25.

My 25th year better not be as boring as this list.

For real.

One thing I do know is that 25 is mid-twenties which means I am just as close to 30 as I am 20. YIKES! I also know that once you turn 25 you don't get to check the 18-24 bracket on surveys because you have to check the 25-35 bracket. DOUBLE YIKES! Is this when my quarter-life crisis kicks in? I am actually ok with turning 25, so I think I'll be able to avoid the whole I'm-getting-old freak out. At least until I turn 26...

I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today.

William Allen White

Holy Momentum Batman!

2010-07-27T04:01:00.002-04:00

Friday morning in Queensland (day 5) Sarah and I left the Sunshine Coast and headed south to spend the day in/around Brisbane. We drove to The Big Pineapple which is at a pineapple farm somewhere in the area. It was cool to see the way that pineapples grow because I guess I'd always assumed they grow on trees. Wrong. They grow underground. The Big Pineapple is a tourist trap if I've ever seen one, but I had heard so much about it and everyone had said that I had to see it!

After we left The Big Pineapple, we went to this other tourist trap called "Aussie World." I'm still not sure what all they had there because it was so big, all I know is that one of the places had award winning meat pies. Meat Pies were another thing I had been told that I HAD to do (eat) while in Australia. At Beefy's, the pie shop, you can (and apparently should) get "mushy peas" on top of your pie. Sarah said she doesn't really like mushy peas, but while waiting in line we started talking to some of the people who were already eating and they said mushy peas were the way to go, so that is what I got. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little bit nervous when we sat down to eat. I also have to say that it was sooooo good!

From what I'm told, this meal could not get any more Australian.

After lunch we went into Brisbane and walked around in the South Bank area along the river.

That night, Sarah and I met up with some of her friends and went to Friday night church at Hillsong's Brisbane campus. Afterward, we went out for Mexican with everyone. Sarah's friends were really nice and we had a good time with lots of laughter at dinner! By the time we got back to Sarah's mom's house we had to go straight to bed because we were waking up to drive an hour to Byron Bay to watch the sunrise before we started the long drive home. Byron Bay was my favorite place on the whole Queensland trip! Oh my gosh, it was just a small surfing town on a peninsula and I loved it! It looked like it belonged on the coast of South Carolina. We drove up to the lighthouse and walked out to the very edge (literally) of Australia to watch the sunrise. It was by far my favorite thing that I did all week.

On the way home, we also stopped at this place called Red Rock. It is one of Sarah's favorite places in the world, and I can understand why. When you walk out to the beach, there is the mouth of a river on one side, an island in front of you, and the ocean on the other side. It looked like the place that they would go to film the deserted island scene in a movie. It was beautiful and I think I could have stayed there all day!

This is the river with the island on the other side... the ocean is behind me.

13 hours after pulling out of her mom's driveway, Sarah and I finally made it back to her house in Sydney! Renee came and picked me up so we could go meet some girls for dinner and a movie. We saw Inception and let me just say, go see it. It was amazing! The next day Renee and I went to church in the morning and Robert Ferguson spoke about our future. He said that people waste their money paying people to tell them the future, but if we really want a glimpse of our future, we should look at how we are living right now. He used Jeremiah 1:6-12 and said we had to ask ourselves some questions and the way we answered them would give us a glimpse at our future. If we didn't like what we saw, there was still time to change the way we answered them! He said we have to ask ourselves:

What do you study? (1 Corinthians 10:11)
What do you serve? (Jeremiah 1:6 "Ah, Sovereign Lord..." Jeremiah served the Lord, Matthew 6:24, Philippians 1:6)
What do you say? (Jeremiah 1:9, Numbers 14:28)
What do you put a stop to? (Jeremiah 1:10 - Jeremiah lived in a nation that wasn't stopping their backsliding, 1 Corinthians 15:33-34)
What do you store up? (Matthew 6:20)
What do you sow? (Jeremiah 1:10 "...to build and to plant", Isaiah 59:21)
What do you see? (Jeremiah 1:11, Ephesians 1:18-19).

It was such a good sermon and it was so good to see the scripture that backed up everything that he was saying. That night, Brian Houston preached. He is just always good. He's been talking about "Holy Momentum" lately and Sunday night he talked about our momentum coming from the Lord and how the Lord is ALWAYS going to be with us and will never leave us. He said we had to get rid of our "Old Testament" perspective of God because God isn't hard to access anymore - he is in US... WE are the temple. It was a good Sunday and I am realizing more and more what an amazing opportunity I have had to get to be a part of this church.

Crikey! Crocs Rule!

2010-07-26T03:43:00.004-04:00

Fourth day in Queensland. Sarah and I hopped in the car and drove north to the Sunshine Coast. It just so happens that Steve Irwin's zoo, The Australia Zoo, is on the Sunshine Coast. Needless to say, that was a must do for me. Sarah wanted to go hang out with her cousins and do a couple of other things, so she dropped me off at the zoo around 11:30. Since it was the middle of the week, the zoo wasn't super crowded and it was kinda nice to just be able to wander around and do things at my own pace. The zoo was awesome and all but 2 of the animals (the elephants and the tigers) are animals that can be found naturally in Australia. It wasn't like your typical every day zoo either. A lot of the exhibits where areas that you could go into WITH the animals... not the crocs though. There was a "rainforest" that you could walk around in with all these different birds flying around. I bet there were 5 or six areas like this, but my favorites were the koalas and the kangaroos. I got to pet a koala! It was so cute and I wanted to bring one home with me! I also got to pet a couple of kangaroos and got my picture taken with one. Unfortunately, the kangaroo was not aware that we were taking a picture and kept trying to hop away. Eventually he stood still long enough for me to squat awkwardly behind him and have a random stranger take our picture. I also made friends with a Burmese Python, not that good of friends though because I already forgot his name. I went to the Croc Show after I ate lunch and it was one of my favorite parts of the day because everyone has seen the clips of Steve Irwin doing them, but it was cool to actually see one live. I could not get over how big the crocodiles actually were! It was crazy to be 3 feet from something twice as big as me and could also kill me in one snap... if it could get through the 2 fences that separated us. After I walked through the crocodile section of the zoo I had the "Never Smile At A Crocodile" song from Peter Pan stuck in my head for the rest of the afternoon. Not cool.

I hung out at the zoo for a little while longer, but eventually had to leave because it was closing. Sarah wasn't able to get there until about an hour and a half after the zoo closed because something happened to her car and it just turned out to be a whole 'nother adventure in itself. Needless to say, when she found me sitting on a bench in the parking lot, I was cold and hungry and glad to be headed to her grandparents condo at Golden Beach for the night. Sarah's grandparents were hilarious and so great! Her grandfather kept telling me to stop calling him "Sir" and said, "Why do you keep saying 'Yes sir'? Do you call our dad sir? You are making me feel like I'm in the military!" I said, "Yes sir, sorry! I can't help it! It's my southern upbringing." He said it was ok if that was just my good manners showing. He also asked me if I grew up on the coast and when I said no, someone at the table said (I forget who), "Well when did you learn to swim? When you got to college?" "Umm... no I always knew how to swim. I didn't grow up on the coast, but we went to the swimming pool and the beach in the summer." Apparently that was an acceptable answer because my swimming abilities were no longer a topic of conversation. Random! Anyways, her grandparents were so welcoming and I just loved them. Their condo also had a great view! There condo was waterfront, but it was on the channel between Bribie Island and the ocean, but you could see the ocean on the other side of the island because they were up high enough. You could ALSO see the cargo ships passing by on the ocean. We saw four going past each other in all different directions at once! Out the back, you could see the Glasshouse Mountains. I never quite got used to the mountains being right there at the ocean and was amazed at that all week!

I also have to add that my camera died while I was at the zoo and I forgot to pack my camera charger, so the rest of my Queensland pictures were taken with my cell phone.

Boots on the Beach

2010-07-25T09:51:00.001-04:00

Queensland. Days 2 and 3.
Tuesday, when we woke up, Sarah and I headed to a suburb on the Gold Coast called Surfer's Paradise. I'd seen the sign for it on the highway and asked about it, but Sarah said it was kind of seedy with lots of night clubs and we would not be going there. However, our friends Angela ("Ang", with the J sound, not like Ang Lee the guy behind Brokeback) and Carmela were also in Gold Coast for a few days and they said I needed to see it. Once we all met up, we walked around Surfer's and shopped a little. Then, we drove about 2 minutes to Broad Beach (I didn't even know we'd left Surfer's) and got Japanese take-away for lunch and ate on the boardwalk. I would just like to say that, unlike my friend Phillip, I was able to eat the ENTIRE meal with just chopsticks... rice and everything! Oh yeah. That in itself is an accomplishment people. After lunch on the beach, I went with Ang and Carmela to do some more shopping. That night we had dinner at Ang's parents' house. Dinner was delicious and it was really good to eat a home-cooked meal with a family for the first time in a while. That night, Ang, Carmella, and I went to see Knight and Day. First of all, Australian movie theaters are ridiculously nice and the one we went to had assigned seating... weird. Either way, the movie was good. It made me like Tom Cruise again and forget for an hour and a half that he's a raving lunatic.
On Wednesday, Sarah and I went to Burleigh Heads and walked a trail along the cliffs at the beach. Oh. My. Gosh. It was gorgeous. The mountain that Burleigh is on is actually a volcano and all of the rocks on the beach are volcanic ash I guess. It was all so pretty it almost looked fake because you just don't see anything like that in Carolinas. I mean, our beaches are beautiful, but in a completely different way.

I took so many pictures, but you'll just have to check out facebook to see the rest. Once we got back to the parking lot, Sarah got some ice cream and we sat on the rocks and just watched the swimmers and surfers who were brave/crazy enough to get into the cold water. Sarah had to leave to hang out with some friends, so I walked down the beach a bit to meet up with Carmela and Ang again. Ang convinced Carmela and I, pretty easily, to take off our boots and actually put our feet in the water. It was chilly, but it wasn't so bad once you stood there for a while and got used to it. It was also the first time I'd ever touched the Pacific Ocean so that was pretty cool. We had a good time hanging out on the beach, but left after not too long to go to Greenmount Beach. There is another trail along the cliffs there, so we walked along that and watched the sun set. When you get to the top of the trail, you are pretty high above the water AND you are on the Queensland/New South Wales border. I loved it! When we left Greenmount, we picked up 2 more girls and headed to Brisbane for dinner. Ang and Carmela had found this steakhouse type restaurant in another town once at a wedding and fell in love with it. They googled it and discovered that there was one in Brisbane, so we HAD to go since the closest one to Sydney is 3.5 hours away. The restaurant was very similar to something like Logan's or Texas Roadhouse, so I thought it was funny that they were SO obsessed with it! We definitely had an adventure that night and laughed a whole lot. It is so good to be making girl friends that are so much fun to hang out with! Carmela took a bunch of pictures that day, so as soon as I get a chance I'll steal them from her. Here are a few of my pictures from the walk at Greenmount:

Two places at once! The blue side is New South Wales, the brownish side is Queensland.

**UPDATE: After consulting a map... Google Maps, to be exact, I have learned that it was NOT the Pacific Ocean that I put my feet it, but the Coral Sea. Oh well...

"I don't know the words to the Australian national anthem, BUT I do know all the words to Khe Sahn."

2010-07-25T07:38:00.003-04:00

"Khe Sanh" (sounds like "key san" like sand minus the d) is this song that is apparently "that song" that is played at every sporting event and all Aussies love it and know all the words and it's the "second national anthem." Having cleared that up, I was introduced to this song about 4 days into my time here and have been made to listen to it many many times since then. We were watching TV the other night and the craziness surrounding Australian politics was on the news. That led to a discussion/education for MC on how Australian politics works. Somehow this all led to the American national anthem and one of my friends saying the line that is the title of this post. Maybe you had to be there.

Annnnnnyways.... I went to Queensland this past week. My friend Sarah is from the Gold Coast and was going home, so she invited me to go with her so I could see more of Australia. I spent the night at her house on Sunday night after church and we set off on our 10(ish) hour drive at 6:00 on Monday morning. On the way, we stopped to see the first of the many "big things" that I would see on our trip... The Big Banana. There is even a sign on the highway pointing to the exit you need to take to get there. The Big Banana is at one of the many banana farms (plantations?) on the Banana Coast. During the course of the week, I also saw The Big Knight (macadamia something or other), The Big Mower (i have no idea), The Big Bee Hive (honey superstore type place), The Big Avacado (farmer's markets... i think), The Big Strawberry (strawberry farm), and The Big Pineapple (pineapple farm). And there are highway signs for all of these things. Hilarious. Ok, so a little farther down the coast from The Big Banana was stopped to see Sapphire Beach. This was my first encounter with the amazing beaches in Australia. (I mean, I went to Manly the other night for dinner... but it was dark.) Sapphire Beach was pretty but I would soon find out that it didn't hold a CANDLE to some of the other beaches I would see later in the week.

By the time we got to Sarah's mom's house on the Gold Coast we were both exhausted, so that's about it for Queensland Day 1. I won't post the whole week in one post because it would be tooooo long. Stay tuned...

I havent gone AWOL, I promise.

2010-07-22T03:38:00.001-04:00

So... I haven't blogged in a while because I am in Queensland for the week with my phone as my only connection to the internet. Blogging from your phone isn't exactly the easiest thing to do on account of the very small keyboard. (Very good for texting and twiiter, even the occasional e-mail, but not so much for writing a blog post.) That said, I've been having a lot of fun in Qld and will be sure to post pictures and tell you all about it as soon as I get back to Sydney!

Language Barrier (of sorts)

2010-07-16T10:26:00.004-04:00

3 weeks. I have been in Australia for almost 3 weeks! That is crazy. For 4 years I have talked about going to Australia, and now I can actually say that I have been here for 3 weeks!
I am still absolutely loving church! Maybe I'm still a little star-struck over the whole thing, but it is pretty cool. On Tuesday night I went to a connect group (small group / bible study - whatever you want to call it) with Corrine. I knew 2 of the girls who were there so it was fun to get to hang out with them some more, and meet other really nice people. We didn't do a study that night, just went out to eat at a restaurant in Parramatta called City Extra. All of the restaurants in downtown Parramatta have a lot of sidewalk seating, even though it's winter... they just put up these huge tent-like covers with the plastic sides that drop down (like on a golf cart) and bring out heaters. We ate outside and it was really cool to be right in the middle of all of the people who were out and about at night.
Thursday night at dinner Renee and Corrine made a list of all of the things I have to do while I'm here, and there is a LOT on that list. It is fun the be able to check things off as they get done, but it is also really great to have fun activities to look forward to. There are actually 2 lists; a "to do" list, and a "to eat" list. I have to say, I really like "Aussie" food. Last night Corrine made me try Vegemite and I have to admit... it wasn't so bad. Granted, I think she didn't put a whole lot on the bread, but still, I would eat it again. She also made "beans on toast" which apparently is the staple food of college students and 20-somethings. I guess it would be the equivalent to Ramen Noodles and Pop-tarts in the States. Either way, beans on toast is GOOD. I will definitely be making that when I get home.
Another thing I'm going to have to get used to is the way you order coffee. Today I learned that you don't order a cup of decaf and then put your own milk and sugar in it. Oh no, they do it for you here, and it's steamed milk. The closest thing I can compare it to is a Cafe Au Lait. Either way, you don't just say "I'll have a small decaf, please." You say, "I'll have a small flat white with one sugar." I think flat means there is no froth on top and the white means it has milk in it. All I know is that it is "bang bang boogie" (as Bennett would say) - that means really good. Unfortunately, I learned all of this a liiiiittttttle too late today. My friend Jason, who is married to my good friend Renee, told me that he'd heard of a coffee shop in Sydney that was supposed to be really good. I looked it up, and today I set out to find it. It's called Single Origin Roasters and it turns out that it's only a couple of blocks away from Central Station in the city. It is definitely a place for the locals though because it is this teeny tiny little place on the corner of 2 side streets. There is no menu and I felt like a huge poser because I do not speak coffee. I just sort of stood there for a bit trying to figure out what to do. "Uhhhh......." Well, finally the guy behind the counter asked me if I had been served, I told him no, and our conversation went a little something like this:
Guy: Would you like a cup of take away coffee?
Me: Yes, please.
Guy: Ok what do you want?
Me: Decaf.
Guy: How do you like it?
Me: What?
Guy: How do you like it? With milk?
Me: Yes. With milk.
Guy: Ok. With sugar?
Me: Please.
Guy: How many?
Me (not wanting to seem like that girl that goes to a LEGIT coffee shop where they don't even have a menu because everyone there speaks FLUENT coffee so they just know exactly what to order but I don't because I just go to Starbucks and order something off the menu and tell them to add Vanilla because I really don't like coffee that much unless it's super sweet and the color of my skin - pale.): One.
Immediately I regret saying just one sugar because I KNOW it is going to be too bitter, so I also immediately start making plans to stop at that 7Eleven that I passed a block back and add about 7 more sugars from their little coffee area.
Guy: Ok great.
He finishes making my coffee and hands it to me. While handing it to me, he repeats back to me what it is that I ordered, but because of his Aussie accent and the fact that I, again, don't speak coffee, I only caught about half of it.
I wait about half a block until I try this coffee that I am positive is going to be too bitter so that none of those cute boys I saw going into Single Origin will see me scrunch my face up in disgust. But wait! What is happening?! The coffee is GOOD! And not too bitter! It's a MIRACLE!! I immediately make plans to go back as soon as possible to order another one of those miracle drinks... only after I figure out what it is that I ordered. I'll ask Corrine. She speaks coffee.

The Rocks

2010-07-10T05:27:00.000-04:00

Today Renee and I went into the city and hung out in an area called The Rocks for a while. It was so cool. The central part of Sydney feels very New York City so I looooved it! On Saturdays there are markets set up near the Harbor Bridge with food, and clothes, and jewelry...

At one point, we rounded a corner and came up on this...

They were called "Super Florence Jam" and they were good!

But the BEST part was when we rounded another corner and saw... (drumroll please)...

TA-DA!!!

I nearly screamed when I saw it. It's one of those things that EVERYONE has seen in pictures, or on TV, or AT LEAST in "Finding Nemo", but to see it in real life was crazy!

Now that I have a small feel for the city, and I know where to get off the train, I think I might just try to venture in on my own one day this week. I mean, I could navigate the D.C. metro system by the time I was 14 and I most certainly can get myself around New York, so I can handle Sydney... right?

Let's hope so!

I survived week 1!

2010-07-06T02:32:00.002-04:00

I have officially been in Sydney for 1 week. I still don't love it, but I also know that it takes time to adjust and once I make friends and get comfortable with where I am and getting around, it will get better and better.

I have met a lot of really fun girls through my roommates ("housemates" because apparently here when you say roommates it means you literally share a room) so hopefully I will get to hang out with them some more and we can be friends! On Sunday I went with Corrine, my housemate, to coffee with 7 of her girlfriends before church. They were SO nice and a lot of fun! We all sat together at church, and afterward I went with a couple of them to the mall then to the "markets" - basically the farmer's market. It was a zoo in there! People everywhere, different stands everywhere, some guy talking about different deals over a loudspeaker... sensory overload! BUT I got a bunch of stuff for only $4.60!! I am a fan. I have also heard that you can get cheap souvenir stuff there too, so I might just have to check that out. After we left the markets, we over to a couple of the girls' house and hung out for a little bit before going home to get ready for church on Sunday night. Sunday was the 4th of July and Judah Smith, an American pastor from Seattle was preaching, so when he came up on stage after worship, the band started playing "The Star Spangled Banner". Everyone was still standing, so all of the Americans in the room started to cheer and sing (shout) along... that was a lot of fun, and hilarious. Judah Smith was HILARIOUS, you should look him up. After church, I cooked hotdogs for Renee and Corrine - they LOVED them - and showed them how to make s'mores... over the gas stove! We had to improvise a little on the ingredients, but they actually tasted pretty good.
Yesterday, Monday, Hillsong Conference started and let me tell you, it is HUGE. Before I get to that, I DO have to say that I RODE THE BUS! Only for about 15 minutes to get to the mall, but STILL. It wasn't that bad, kinda lonely, but not scary. I am still not super comfortable venturing out by myself, but at least I can get to the mall. I also got a phone, which makes me feel like a citizen of the world again because I can actually be connected to people.
Ok, Conference.... Hillsong does this huge conference every year in Sydney that people come to from all over the world - 77 different countries are represented this year! They rent Acer Arena in Sydney Olympic Park for the week and this year they have over 21,000 delegates (people who paid to go to conference). The nights are free, so Renee and I went to the big opener last night and they estimated over 30,000 people were there! It was SO cool! I mean, it was cool just being in church on Sunday worshipping with this band whose CDs you own, and seeing Brian Houston preach, but seeing it in Acer was insane. Hopefully I'll get to go every night this week. Last night Brian used this video that Lanny Donoho had done during part of his sermon, and Andy Stanly is one of the speakers this week... so it ALMOST feels a little like BigStuf for grown-ups.

I still haven't ridden the bus yet...

2010-07-01T21:38:00.000-04:00

...but I'm thinking about it! haha

I did figure out that my key works on the front door, so at least I can go for a walk and get back in. I think I might do that today... maybe I'll walk to McDonald's for lunch... or the Coca-Cola factory down the street. Literally. It's Friday, which means CHURCH this weekend, then next week Hillsong Conference! I am so excited! Here are some pictures thus far (more on facebook).

the view from our balcony

The other day my roommate Renee had the day off. Since we didn't have enough time to go to the city and explore, we went to the "country". The country turned out to be the foothills of the Blue Mountains and it was so pretty! Even though it's winter, it looks and feels like fall and I love it!

I MADE IT! Now I need your prayers...

2010-06-29T18:00:00.000-04:00

I think my system is in shock because I'm not hungry. In fact... I've only eaten twice since I've been here. Don't freak out Mom and Dad... I'll eat if I'm hungry. I haven't been to the grocery store yet, but if I get desperate, there is a McDonald's and a pancake restaurant about 100 yards away on one side and a Domino's on the other.
I am still trying to absorb the fact that I am in Australia and at this point am feeling pretty neutral. I'm not super homesick, but I'm not super excited to be here either. It's weird. I also have A LOT of anxiety about trying to venture out by myself... especially using the bus system. I have never once in my life ridden a city bus so it's a little overwhelming to think about trying to figure it out in another country. Also, at this point I can't leave the apartment unless I'm with one of my roommates or one of them is home because our keys don't open the front door to the building (we tried) and I don't have an opener for the door to the parking garage yet. Pray that I get one of those before tomorrow when Renee (one of my roomies) has to go back to work. Otherwise... I'll be forced to be a hermit.
I still haven't been to the city yet, but we've driven around the area we live in a lot and it is nice. There are 2 huge "shopping centres" (I call them malls) nearby. They have EVERYTHING in them... normal stores you would expect to find in a mall, but also grocery stores, cell phone stores, banks, and Target. The grocery store part is the funniest though because you see people wheeling their carts full of grocery bags around the mall like it's nothing. And they have these things called "Travelators" which is basically an escalator with no steps. Like the moving sidewalks at the airport, but at an angle.
Please pray that I will adjust quickly and have the confidence to go out by myself (and the ability to get back in) and the confidence to start trying to find a job... and some idea of where to start. And that I will begin to meet people and make friends... preferably ones who will be willing to pick me up if they want to hang out (I know that's selfish, but it doesn't hurt to ask).

Almost ready!

2010-06-24T10:11:00.000-04:00

I leave in 2 days. 2 DAYS!! I can't believe it. I'm 80% packed and have knocked almost everything off my to-do list. This is a boring post, but that's all I have time for right now. :)

So forget all your duties

2010-06-12T08:54:00.002-04:00

Over Memorial Day weekend, we went to Washington DC with Bennett's family -- Hadley's boyfriend. They go every year, camp out, and bike everywhere! It was so much fun. Every day we drove to Reagan National Airport, biked into the city, and stayed all day! We did all of the typical tourist things... including the concert at the Capitol Building. We also laughed and laughed and laughed, then we laughed some more. There were motorcycle parades, bike races on the National Mall, Parkour everywhere we went, a flat tire, and many, many more antics. When you combine a family with 4 boys and a family with 3 girls and all the "kids" are basically the same age, it can be hilarious and ridiculous. Here are just a few pictures from the weekend.

Antics:

On your marks get set go
Bicycle race bicycle race bicycle race

- Queen

Things Kids Say: III

2010-06-02T19:35:00.002-04:00

In anger, a kid started yelling a nursery rhyme as loud as he could. His version was a little twisted:
"Hickory dickory dock! The mouse ran up the clock! AND SHE DIED!!"

I almost fell out of my chair from laughing.

Things Kids Say: II

2010-05-27T21:49:00.001-04:00

Heard around Room 105:

An Argument
Yes he his! SpongeBob is a SPONGE, not cheese! And Mr. Crab is a CRAB!

Misunderstandings
What I heard: "Little smart ass!"
What was actually said: "Click the small X!"

Miss Peacock is that Scott's tape?
No, it's my tape.
No, is that SCOTT'S tape?
No. It's mine.
No, Scoootttttt's tape.
No. It's mine. This is MY tape.
(Frustrated sigh from kid.)
Wait, huh? SCOTCH tape?
YEAH! Scott's tape!
Yes. This is scotch tape.

On the importance of having a job
Miss Peacock, did you know my mom has 2 jobs?
Yes.
Well, my grandmother keeps telling my grandfather to GET a job cause all he does in the morning is run around while we get ready, and then he goes to my cousin's house to play some game with him.

On New York City
Have you ever seen one of these Miss Peacock? (points to an exotic looking bird in a book)
No.
I have. I've seen a lot of them in a tree... in the old country. -- (He's from Brooklyn.)

Miss Peacock, how come we don't ever see no moons here in Goldsboro?
Maybe you go to bed before it comes out.
Well, I know that in New York City they got 'em. I've seen 'em.
The moon you see in New York is the same one you would see here.
I don't get it. BUT, I do know that the United States is a biiiiiiiig place and, like, on one side people can be awake, and on the other side people can be asleep. I read it in a book.

Also, there are only 8 school days left. Who's excited?

2010-05-27T19:24:00.001-04:00

ONE MONTH FROM YESTERDAY IS THE BIG DAY!!
On June 26 at 4:40 pm I will officially start my big adventure (cue Stephen Curtis Chapman). Things are coming together sloooooowly, but coming.

Getting Back In The Game

2010-05-16T22:30:00.001-04:00

Y'all, I haven't run in more than a month. Yikes! There are a couple of different factors contributing to that, but this blog is not about having a pity party so we're moving right along. My goal this week is to run every day, rain or shine. There is a race in Sydney, the City2Surf, on August 8 and I'm thinking about signing up for it. It's a 14K (about 8.7 miles) so I've got a looooong way to go. I'm up for it and I'm motivated so I'll let you know how the running restart goes.

I could name more than a few of these...

2010-04-26T19:20:00.001-04:00

I love looking at / reading this blog and when I saw this picture on there I howled with laughter. Mostly because of the girls I grew up with, and some I knew in college, and our (previous, although some of them still hold to these) ideals on men.

(click on it to make it big enough to read)

April

2010-04-25T20:14:00.002-04:00

Well... better late than never. Right?
Easter weekend:
That Saturday we had a bridal shower for my cousin Blythe. She got married on the 17th, but the shower was the first of many wedding events. It was a lot of fun to celebrate and get to hang out with Blythe and her sister Miranda. The next day was Easter, and a lot of our family came to our house for lunch. It is always fun when ANY of us cousins get together because we laugh... a LOT.

April 10th. The Tar Heel 10 miler!!! On race morning, Hadley, Mallory, and I woke up at 4:30 (!!), drove to Chapel Hill, and met up with Amy, Miranda, and Mimi. Amy and Mimi ran the 10 mile course while Hadley, Mallory, Miranda, and I ran the 4 mile. My goal was to finish in under an hour, but while I was running I had no idea what my time was. I didn't have a watch that I could time myself with, and there were no clocks, or people shouting out the time, along the course. The weather that morning was perfect, which helped a lot I think, and even though I walked most of the up-hills my official time was..... 48:35.35!!!!!!!! And to be completely honest, I could've kept going. I think I might keep this running thing up.

After the race, I went over to Mimi and Miranda's house in Raleigh to shower and get ready for a wedding! Shane (the groom) is a good friend from college and it was great to see the whole Wilmington crowd (minus 2) all together again.

The next weekend:

BLYTHE and BRIAN'S WEDDING!! Wow what a busy, but fun, weekend! Thursday night Mallory and I went over to Fremont to help our cousin EGie set up for the Bridesmaids luncheon on Friday. We danced around more than we worked, but we got it all done and it turned out beautifully!

Friday, I worked 1/2 a day at school then ran back over to Fremont for the actual luncheon. Then we all changed clothes and went to Wilson for the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner/after party.

Saturday started with a brunch in Wilson, then the wedding was that afternoon! It was beautiful. Blythe looked great and everyone had a really good time. After the wedding we went over to the Johnson's for a cookout, then Sunday we went BACK over to Wilson for a post-wedding-weekend lunch. Whew! It was all worth the exhaustion though!

Here's an update on Australia. I've found a plane ticket that is SUPER affordable. However, I've entered the stage of planning that I like to call "HOLY COW WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!" I'm in freak-out mode. I think I'm terrified that I'm going to get over to Sydney and all of a sudden be jobless and broke and stranded. Even though I know that won't happen and this whole situation is in God's hands it is still so scary. I'm actually going to call Jess later tonight just to get some advice and encouragement from someone who has done this all before.

I promise all this 1-post-a-month nonsense will stop soon.

March. In a nutshell.

2010-03-26T18:09:00.000-04:00

Considering that it has been a month since I last posted anything, you would think I'd have a lot to catch you up on. Not so my friends, not so. And such is the life I lead here in Goldsboro. Even as I type this message to you, I am thinking "I am going to have to look at my calendar to even remember if I've done anything post-worthy." Sad.
And now my brian begins to work and says, "Duuuhhhh Mary Clyde!" and all of a sudden I remember.
I'll start with my annual trip down to Tampa for Yankees Spring Training. Ahhhhh Tampa. Let's just take a moment to revel in the wonderfulness (word? i don't know) that is Spring Training. --- Ok. This was by far the quickest trip to Florida I have ever made. I mean, we are talking 36 hours in the Sunshine State. My parents and sister were planning to go down for a long weekend at the beginning of March, but I just couldn't take the time off of work (for various reasons). As the weekend approached my mom had a great idea! "Hey MC, since we are driving down, why don't you just fly down on Friday night after school and ride back with us on Sunday." "Omigosh mom!! What a great idea! How much is this gonna cost me??" Turns out I was able to find a pretty cheap ticket, and the tradition continued. It was great.

Cute PaPa in "work mode".

In case you don't recognize these guys: PaPa in back, Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner.

Just another day in Suite 1.

Jessie is one of my best friends from UNCW. She is in P.A. school at Nova and was in the Tampa area with some girlfriends. When we found out we were going to be so close to each other that weekend she talked the girls into buying tickets for the game on Saturday. It was so good to see her!

Dinner at Landry's with the fam. (Dad was there, but he was the photographer.)

One of many pictures taken during our midnight adventure!

Last weekend Dad, Mal, and I went down to Savannah to see family. My cousin Sean bought a boat last summer so we spent all day Saturday enjoying the warm weather and the first day of Spring!

I also got to go to Wilmington one weekend and that is always good! I walked on the beach with Renee, ate fish tacos at K38, took a nap on Michael's couch, had breakfast at the Asselin's, shopped for groceries with Bekah, and went to church at Port City for the first time since before Christmas. I think it was just what the doctor ordered.
So there's the month of March... from my point of view. As far as Australia plans go, I e-mailed a girl at Hillsong and got their accommodations list. Everyone on the list needs a roommate "now!" so I think I am just going to try again when the time to go is a little bit closer. Also, I'm working on getting everything together so I can get my visa, and as soon as I have that I can apply for a job as a "casual teacher". I think that is sort of like a substitute, but you have to be a certified teacher to do it. The website has a whole section about prospective applicants who will be in Australia on a "Work and Holiday" visa (which is what I will have), and they say that it is an ideal job for people like me. Hopefully it will be as easy to get a job as they make it seem! Pray for a job and housing to become reality in the next couple of months!

With glowing hearts

2010-02-28T18:24:00.003-05:00

Even though the USA-Canada hockey game was JUST tied up and we don't even know what the outcome will be I am already going into mourning for the Olympics. It happens every time. So without going into a long eulogy for the 2010 Winter Games, I'm just going to give you my favorite things from the last 17 days.

Shaun White and the Double McTwist and his second gold medal
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir being the first North Americans to win Ice Dancing gold and then watching Scott not just sing along with but BELT OUT "Oh, Canada" during the medals ceremony
Joannie Rochette's strength and winning the bronze despite all she went through
Ok, Canada just won and I have to say that it is kind of good to see Canada win THEIR game on THEIR turf
Apolo Ohno becoming the most decorated American Winter Olympian. Plus, how can you not love him?
USA wins Bobsled gold for the first time in 62 years!
Lindsey Vonn overcomes a shin injury to win gold in women's downhill
Bode Miller. Bronze. Then silver. And finally gold! What a come back.
The American Nordic Combined team

As always there are many more but I'll let you come up with your own list. Also, if they show anymore of those P&G "Thanks mom" commercials I am going to have to take out stock in Kleenex.

Little Victories

2010-02-16T17:43:00.001-05:00

Today I ran for a total of 19 minutes. That is a lot for this non-runner! Did I mention that half way through I accidentally hit the "Cool Down" button instead of the slow down button and had to restart the whole thing so that it would keep slowing down on me every minute? Umm yeah. So I lost track of my distance but it was somewhere around 2.3 miles. That is .3 farther than I was doing! Like I said.... little victories. I did 10 more minutes on the elliptical and 10 more on the rower. That was only because I'd reached my time limit on the treadmill and I felt like I shouldn't stop while I was in the groove. You know what the best part is?? After "all" of that working out... I don't feel like a spaghetti noodle!
Also... while I was on the elliptical machine, this 13 (there is no way this girl was any older than 8th grade) year old girl and her friend got on the machines on either side of me. The both kept yelling over me what "number" was under "the place that says distance." Eventually I started paying attention to how far they had gone. I'm glad I did because 5 minutes later when they both got off and announced they'd gone 7 and 5 miles I had to laugh. Why? Well, apparently they stopped teaching decimals in middle school... they had gone .7 and .5 miles. Stay in school kids.

Some favorite running songs today: Middle of Nowhere - Hot Hot Heat, There Goes The Fear - Doves, Break It Out - The Rocket Summer, Burnin' Up - Jonas Brothers (don't laugh), More Than Anything - Hillsong United

Ahh yes... it's that time again.

2010-02-12T17:18:00.001-05:00

I love the Olympics. People laugh when I say the Olympics are my favorite TV show... but I'm not joking. For the next couple of weeks I will be camped out in front of my TV watching the action, getting goosebumps when they play "The Star Spangled Banner" during a medal ceremony, and cheering really loudly... as if it would make some kind of difference. We are supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow tonight and I just think that would be so fitting - watching the Winter Olympic opening ceremonies while it snows outside. If you need a little boost to get you excited for what's about to go down in Vancouver, allow me to help you. Here are some of my favorite Winter Olympic moments:

The opening ceremonies in Lillehammer - 1994 - the first ones I really remember watching
Jamie Sale and David Pelletier being awarded a late, but much deserved, gold medal for pairs figure skating - Salt Lake City 2002
Dan Jansen finally winning gold in speed skating - Lillehammer 1994
Sarah Hughes making a comeback from 4th place to win figure skating gold - Salt Lake City 2002
Shaun White - Torino 2006
The women's hockey team winning the first U.S. hockey gold since the "Miracle on Ice" - Nagano 1998
And even though I wasn't even born yet, how can the "Miracle on Ice" not be on this list?? - Lake Placid 1980

Get excited people, it all starts tonight at 9 EST.

A train! A train! A train! A train!

2010-02-04T19:50:00.001-05:00

I never thought I would say this but...drum roll.... running isn't terrible. It isn't great, but it isn't so bad anymore! I actually felt kind of good (whhhaatttt??) when I got done tonight. I still can't run very FAR or for very long spans of time, but I'm working on it. I'm up to 2 miles, which is HALF of what I am running in April, so that is a small victory. Even though that 2 miles is 1/2 running 1/2 walking I still traveled 2 miles. On my FEET! Not in a car, not on a bike (not in a box, not with a fox, not in a house, not with a mouse). Anyways... woo-hoo! I'm becoming a runner!
Some of my running songs tonight: I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas. New Shoes - Paolo Nutini. Alright With Me - Kris Allen. Ashes - Embrace. Break It Out - The Rocket Summer.

I do so like green eggs and ham!
Thank you! Thank you Sam-I-Am!
Dr. Seuss

Pump up the jam...

2010-01-27T21:50:00.001-05:00

What constitutes a good running mix? When I make a playlist on my ipod it is based purely on my mood, and I am having a little trouble getting into the running mood while sitting on the couch trying to accomplish this task. Right now I want to listen to Cold War Kids, the New Moon soundtrack, Mumford & Sons, etc. Clearly, this is NOT going to get me pumped up to go run. There are definitely multiple made-as-we-danced dance party themed mixes on the pod so why can't I just make my playlist as I am running? Ha! That just isn't going to happen. I am trying to stay ahead of the game, but I'm coming up with nothing. Nada. Zilch. Ok so maybe I don't have a completely empty playlist sitting in my itunes, but I feel like I am missing some obvious essentials. Any suggestions?

Baby Steps

2010-01-24T15:26:00.000-05:00

Let me start with this: it is HARD to be motivated. I started by just walking on the treadmill because I hadn't even done that in SO long. Anyway... I finally ran the other day. Then I thought I was going to die, but the point is that I RAN! I don't know how far it was; I know it wasn't even a mile... but it was the length of 2 songs on my ipod. Haha! Hey, you've got to start somewhere... right?

One Foot In Front Of The Other

2010-01-16T18:06:00.001-05:00

I'm becoming a runner.

Ok, let me rephrase that... I'm going to start running.

My dad is a runner. My sisters are runners. My cousins are runners. My friends are runners. I am not a runner. At least not right now. All of the previously mentioned runners are running in the Tar Heel 10 Miler on April 10th, and while there is no way I could run 10 miles by April, there is a 4 mile race on that day as well. During the Christmas holidays they were all registering for the race and said, "Hey MC, you should sign up. You could totally do 4 miles." I beg to differ, but I signed up anyway. So now I've gotten good running shoes, running socks, running tights (running is an expensive hobby!). Then I got a ridiculous sinus infection. I know, I know... good excuse NOT to start running. I will say that I am feeling much better now and ready (sort of) to start. I know I just have to take that first step, but I realllllly don't want to. At the same time, I really do want to. So tomorrow... my running career begins.
I'll keep you posted.

Taking it one step at a time... literally.

Things Kids Say: I

2010-01-07T20:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes my kids are hilarious. Sometimes they are just incredibly random. They'll say things to me that are totally unrelated to anything we've been talking about, and then there will be (what seems like) no point to the story - just one statement, that's it. This is only volume 1 since the hilarity will most likely keep going long after I post this.

Thoughts on pop culture:

Moonlight was one of the compound words they had to read...
"I think that's a movie! Except it's called New Moon."
"Oh I know New Moon! It's that movie where those boys turn into wolf-es. I didn't see New Moon though. I saw Avatar. That movie was so long it almost went me to sleep! It was good though, and we had to wear those glasses! But I took mine off to see if I could still see them blue people and it was FUNNY looking!"

On the movie "Up"...
"That house blowed up cause of all those balloons and that dog could TALK!"

After reading "The Cat in the Hat"...
Kid: "You know the Cat in the Hat and them two boys with knotty hair killed him."
Me: "What?? You mean Thing 1 and Thing 2? What are you talking about?"
Kid: "Yeah! The Cat in the Hat and them two boys with knotty blue hair killed Michael Jackson!"

Thoughts on my hair:

First week of school, wore my hair down for the first time...
Kid stops dead in his tracks coming in the door in the morning and bursts out laughing. "Miss Peacock! Is that a WIG!?"

Wore my hair curly for the first time...
Kid walks in the door, looks at me: "Oh Miss Peacock, you took a bath?!"
Me: "Well, yeah... I mean, I take a shower every morning. Why?"
Kid: "Your hair is different."

During free time:
"Miss Peacock, I'm gonna draw a picture of me and you dying our hair."

Other random statements:

This came completely out of the blue one day
"One time I went on a Sunday School vacation and I got one of those things with a sharp tail and it was pointy."

Things you might see on a trip around the world...
A rainbow
A horse
A duck
The President
Animals
A boat

When you ask a 6-year-old to spell "banjo" you might get:
Band Joe
bandgow
bandjow
bandgeo

12 Drummers Drumming

2010-01-06T22:16:00.000-05:00

When I was younger, I was in the children's choir at church. One Christmas one of the songs we were practicing was "Angels We Have Heard on High." Well, the part that says "in excelcis deo" was too hard for us to pronounce, so we sang "eat egg shells each day-o." Yep. And now, every time I sing that song, those are the words I am tempted to (and sometimes actually do) sing. Christmas and New Years have both come and gone... but only just. Since today is technically the 12th day of Christmas it is OK that the Peacock Christmas tree is still up and lit. It is OK that I am just now posting about the holidays. Christmas this year was great! Partly because I can actually remember it. Also because it was just good time with my family.
My cousin Amy was here for a full week from Savannah and that was so much fun. We've decided to make her last name hyphenated so it's Murphy-Peacock. Christmas Eve my mom's side of the fam had dinner at her oldest sister's house and we had a great time! Sweet Talley danced all night and we all just sat around and watched. Christmas day we spent ALL day at Mama and Papa's house. We had 26 people so there was no lack of entertainment. The rest of the week was really relaxed... lazy, even. Then we have New Years... oh NYE. Wow. That was an experience. I went to Charlotte and rang in TWENTY TEN with the usual suspects (Asselins, Cribbs, Bickerstaff) plus a few others. It was great to get to hang out with Lauren a little before the festivities began. After an interesting night and absolutely no sleep, I have to admit that once the sun came up on January 1, I was ready to come home. School has started back and my kids are saying even more hilarious things than ever! (Stay tuned.) The weather man is promising snow on Thursday night and I, for one, am hopeful... and who doesn't love a good snow day?? Even if it does mean we have to make it up later in the year.

Talley danced everytime there was music! Dad often joined in.

When Aunt Beverly and Kathryn got to town, we headed out to the Wiggins for some Holiday s'mores. After spending many Thanksgivings together, it would only be appropriate to have some sort of Christmas celebration at their house as well. We were glad Amy, Kathryn, and Aunt Bev were there to take part.

While Amy was here, we discovered that she had never been to Chapel Hill. We quickly jumped in the car, drove to Chapel Hill, had lunch at Sutton's (and found SO many people we knew in the pictures on the walls), and gave Amy a whirlwind tour of Campus. Not without stops at Johnny T-shirt (and many other Franklin street staples), the Pit, the student store, the Dean Dome, etc.

We also discovered that Amy had never seen Acid Park...

New Years Eve! Phil was there!! We rang in 2007 together at a Summer Staff reunion and decided 3 years later was enough of a break to come together again to ring in another new year. It was a fun coincidence!

Did I mention that Josh was supposed to be at work on NYE. Needless to say, when he showed up at 11:45, we were all surprised and excited... especially Lauren. I guess she's allowed to be extra enthused though since they're getting married and all.

So that was my 2 week holiday season in a nutshell. I was no where ready to go back to school on Monday. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things. Here's hoping for that snow...

The Things We (I) Take For Granted

2009-12-16T21:38:00.001-05:00

Things I am really missing about living in Wilmington right now:
- riding around looking at Christmas lights with a certain 2 faves
- K38
- 5605
- Emily
- Andrea
- my married roommates ("Mom & Dad")
- the fact that Renee is IN Wilmington AGAIN (this time with husb)
- the smell of the ocean in winter
- Johnny Mercer's Pier
This entire list is about my friends (either directly or indirectly). I mean they are pretty awesome... but they aren't in Goldsboro which SUCKS. However, I am starting to feel a little more a part at school these days and that's been fun. I will be in Wilmington this weekend and I plan to experience ALL of these things. All I have to do is make it through the 1.5 days of school, the school Christmas concert, the pizza party for the school pageant contestants, and our classroom Christmas party. Then I am FREE until 2010! (If you don't count the teacher workday on Monday.)

The best part of life is when your family becomes your friends, and your friends become your family.
Diane Sawyer

The Latest (in words and pictures)

2009-12-10T00:54:00.000-05:00

Ok here's an update:
1 - After MANY unsuccessful attempts at obtaining a passport, I was finally successful and it came in the mail a few days ago!! (THAT is a story in and of itself folks.)
2 - I am finishing out the school year here in Goldsboro, which means I won't be leaving for the land of oz until June. This is for many reasons - 1 of them being the need to save more money. Another being that last year when I decided to leave in January, I would have been perfectly happy leaving the job that I had half way through the school year. I guess I just assumed that every teaching job would be as bad as last year, so I wouldn't mind leaving 1/2 way through. This year, it hasn't been a walk in the park, but it hasn't given me reason to leave after Christmas. So here I sit. Quite satisfied with that decision, as a matter of fact. Plus, I think I finally figured out that trying to do things on your own schedule never works out anyways because God has his own timing.
3 - One day I was on Facebook and, thanks to the stalker news feed, I saw that my friend Jess had just moved to Sydney. Jess and I were on the ropes team at Frontier Ranch (a Young Life camp in CO) in 2005! We hadn't talked in a while but I e-mailed her and told her I was heading that direction sometime in the near future (aka June). She's only staying through December, but has been so great about letting me pick her brain about everything I could think to ask about making the big move down under. I still have so many questions for her, but she's given me great advice already!
4 - It's 12:36 and tomorrow is only Thursday, which means I should have been sleeping 2 hours ago.

Since I was in high school, the Peacocks have done Thanksgiving with our good friends the Wiggins. We go to Blowing Rock, NC for the long weekend and come home with a Christmas tree... straight from the farm. Well, this year we didn't go to BR but we decided to do Thanksgiving together anyway here in Goldsboro. After lunch, we all went out for a "post-lunch cruise around the lake." Ha! I'd say that's a pretty fair trade from the straight-from-a-Hallmark-movie weekend we normally would have had.

This is me, Leslie, and Malissa on the boat.

Mallory, Hadley, MC - Thanksgiving 2009

The next weekend, Mallory, Hadley, Had's roommate Stuart, and I went down to Savannah, GA for the Savannah River Bridge Run.

Mallory ran...

Hadley and our cousin Amy ran...

Stu and I cheered (and froze) (and got rained on) from the sidelines.

Can You Hula?

2009-11-17T17:30:00.000-05:00

Watching first-grade boys try to hula-hoop is HILARIOUS!! I guess they either just haven't really learned how to hula-hoop yet, or maybe their motor skills aren't developed enough yet. I don't know. Either way, watching them try is definitely the highlight of my days at school. Some of them can actually do it. They've got the whole move-your-hips-in-a-circle thing down. Some of them think that if they spin it really fast and stand still then that means they're hula-hooping. There are those that think they have to spin, then walk or run to keep it going, some think they have to jump up and down, and some that look like they are doing some sort of frantic dance. Also, I think that, in their minds, singing "Who Let The Dogs Out" really helps. "Watch Miss Peacock, I can hula-hoop and sing and dance all at the same time.... WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!? HOO HOO HOO HOO!!!" These kids would never cut it in Hawaii.

We used to go visit my grandma on the train, and on the way my sister and I would talk to people we met and tell them we were from Hawaii and could speak Polynesian and I'd hold up a 7-Up and say this is called puka-puka-wanini on the Big Island and we'd make up longer and longer names until it took about 10 minutes to say one and about that time we would be there and we'd say aloha and go off to have lunch at my grandma's and my sister would hold up a Mrs. Paul's fish stick and say in Hawaii they call these molo-molo-pooey-pooey and I'd try not to choke on my fruit punch.
Story People

I-Heart

2009-11-05T18:12:00.008-05:00

Ok, if you are friends with me on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter, you have probably seen an ABUNDANCE of #theiheartfilm lately. What is that?
A few years ago the guys over at Hillsong United in Sydney had an idea. Over the next 2 years, they filmed every experience they had, everything they saw, and everyone they met as they circled the globe... a couple of times. What they began to realize is that every story, every individual story, ultimately points to one story... THE story. Over 500 days of editing later, The I-Heart Revolution finally hit the big screens. I went with my cousin Miranda to see it in Raleigh last night and was blown away... not to mention totally humbled. I knew going into it that we were about to be a part of something huge, but didn't realize to what extent that would be. I can't even find the words to describe it to you right now. It's about love, justice, hope. It's about mankind. There are people all over the world who are hurting. There are people living in conditions that seem unimaginable, yet to them.... it's their everyday life. It made me wonder how I got this life, and not that one. How did Mary Clyde Peacock end up with a roof over her head, and a bed to sleep in, and food in the pantry?? These are things that I take for granted every day of my life. I have even come to expect to have them. And why shouldn't I? It makes me angry and breaks my heart to think that there are those that have NEVER had these things that are basic human rights. So why did I get so lucky? Just because I was born in a different place than someone else doesn't mean that my life should automatically be better. Just because we are so far removed from a situation doesn't mean that we can't do something about it. There was one part of the film that talked about this guy who was a leading abolitionist in England back in the 17 and 1800's... William Wilberforce. One of the things he said was "You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know." That pretty much sums up how I felt when I walked out of the theatre last night. I am aware, and there is no way I can stand by and do nothing. Choosing to do nothing is not choosing to be neutral. There should be justice for these people. I know what you are thinking, "I put my couple of dollars in the plate as it passes at church," or "What can I do? I live too far away, and I'm only one person." or "I agree, it's awful, but that isn't what I'm 'called' to so I'll let someone else do it and it will be OK because I'm still going to church, and praying, and worshipping." Check this out....

"I can't stand your religious meetings.
I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
   your pretentious slogans and goals.
I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes,
   your public relations and image making.
I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
   When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
   I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
   That's what I want. That's all I want."

Amos 5:21-24 (The Message)

Ouch.

I am not saying, and I don't think God is either, that conferences and loud, fast, worship music and lights and all those things are bad. I'm simply saying, maybe we should check our motives. One of the things they said last night is "For too long, the church has made a big deal out of small things, and a small deal out of big things." I couldn't agree more. We live in a society of iPods and iGoogle and myspace and I, I, I and me, me, me. Let's change our thinking. Start asking yourself, "What can I do to change the world?" There are things you can do right here in your own town... all you have to do is take a little time to find out what. You can do it! We're all in this together.

If what we're doing inside the four walls of our church is having no effect in the streets we travelled down to get there.... maybe we're missing the point.

Yo turn up my auto-tune...

2009-10-25T21:01:00.002-04:00

This little bit of amazingness is just one of the MANY reasons why I love PC3!!
The e-media team made this and they showed it on Sunday (10/25) as part of the 10th Anniversary/Birthday celebration.

Goin' Back 10 Years from PC3 on Vimeo.

It HAD to happen eventually!

2009-10-21T20:17:00.000-04:00

Meredith and I have been friends since we were 12 and haven't ever been able to take a decent picture together... literally. That is AWFUL!! This weekend I went to Charlotte to visit and WE FINALLY GOT ONE!! YAY! So... I have to post the proof of this momentous occasion.

To blog, or not to blog...

2009-10-12T17:24:00.000-04:00

I realize that I NEVER blog anymore and when I do, it is never anything interesting. Actually, I feel like I only write on here at all just because I feel like I should and what I say is just a string of random thoughts... just for the sake of posting something. I started thinking about it, and I came up with a list of reasons for my recent apathy towards blogging.

10 reasons I don't love blogging:

10. I'm not tech-savvy enough to make it look just the way I want.

9. Putting pictures up is kind of frustrating and annoying.

8. I'm not very clever...

7. ...but since I don't have a husband or kid, I feel pressure to be clever and keep it interesting...

6. ...my life is not that interesting.

5. Does anyone even read this anyway??

4. This is my blog, so shouldn't I be able to say what I want?? Well, I feel like in this place of honesty, I still have to censor myself. I can't talk about an awful day I had at work or times that my principal makes me cry. I can't talk about how I have ZERO tolerance for stupid people, and even less than that, stupid drunks. I can't complain about things that annoy me or something that hurt my feelings. Oh, and heaven forbid that I am too negative. Well... what if my life goes through a time that just sucks? (Yeah, I said "sucks" Mom and Dad.) And that is another thing... my parents read this.

3. I am not really sure how often to update. Once a week, a couple times a week? Who knows.

2. Lately, I would rather update short little blurbs multiple times a day. Thank you Twitter.

1. I know that I will never be, nor do I want to be, some really popular blogger that everyone reads, so sometimes I wonder if it is even worth it at all.

Up on the roof

2009-10-06T20:17:00.010-04:00

My friend Michael lives in this AWESOME townhouse right on Front St. in downtown Wilmington. Why is this important? Well, partly because it is just awesome, but mostly because I have recently learned that it is the BEST place to be when Wilmington puts on any sort of fireworks show. This past weekend was Riverfest, and Saturday night we all went up on the roof to watch fireworks and hang out. It was so much fun. Basically, all I need in order to have a good time is laughter and good friends and we definitely had those on Saturday.

(I stole these next 2 pictures from Callie)

The Crowgeys!

2009-09-20T18:43:00.002-04:00

Renee and Jason got married yesterday. Let me just say that the dance party leading up to the walk down the aisle was one for the books!

Ode to Windy Gap

2009-09-15T19:32:00.002-04:00

What do I love about Windy Gap? Everything. I love the sounds of camp during free time. I love that every single time I walk into the dining hall or kitchen there is music blasting that I can't help dancing to. I love knowing that I am going to see at least one person that I haven't seen in a while when I am there. I love Cheerwine Slushies. I love having a memory in every single square inch of that camp. Last week I made a last minute decision to go to Women's Weekend up there and I am so glad I did! If I end up leaving the country, it was probably the last time I'll be there in a while, and it was a good way to go out. I was actually surprised at how many friends I got to see! Overall, it was a great weekend. We laughed, we cried, we rested, and we laughed some more... especially when "The Jans" were involved. It was awesome.

A what?!?!?!

2009-09-10T18:58:00.002-04:00

Teaching a social studies lesson about rules and laws:
Me - Ok, who can tell me what a law is?
Kid - It's... kinda like a branch that falls off a tree, but it's bigger... like, fatter.
Me- What??
Kid - You know... a LOG. Like... wood.... from a tree.
Me - No not a LOG, a LAW.
Kid - Oh.

HAHA! Some things never cease to make me laugh. 6 year olds are one of those things.

You don't get a kids meal, you don't get a toy!

2009-09-07T22:35:00.002-04:00

Things I wish I could find right now: my car keys, my phone charger. I haven't seen my car keys since Wednesday. This hasn't really been a problem because I have just been using my spare keys. Those don't have a key to my house on them, but that hasn't been a problem either because every day when I get home from school, someone is there. Until Friday. On Friday afternoon (before I was done at school), by parents and sister headed up to our family's mountain house. I knew this was going to happen and had planned to grab the spare house key from by the backdoor that morning. As I was pulling into the driveway on Friday afternoon I realize... I forgot to grab the key. I immediately think this is not a huge deal because I am sure my grandparents have a key. They don't. No one does. WHAT?! You mean to tell me that (almost) our entire family lives in or around this town and NO ONE has a spare key to our house?!? Yes. That is, in fact, what I am saying. Oh wait, this just in... my Aunt Margaret MIGHT have a key. I drive to her house. She gives me a key. It isn't the same kind of key as the rest of our house keys, but I am hopeful that it is just a copy that is a different kind of key. It also occurs to me that in the 13 years that we have lived here, we have moved once and gotten the locks on our current house changed once. The key might be to the house in Fremont, or it might be pre-lock change. I am still holding out hope that it will work. I get home, the key goes into the lock... nothing. The key is not a match. Uh oh. Umm.... what do I do, Mom? The solution: go to Smithfield to the outlets and just buy enough clothing to get me through the weekend in the mountains... AND a dress to wear to Lauren and Brad's wedding. I think this will not be an issue at all because I am sure that I will find everything I need in 30 minutes at Banana Republic. Not so. After hitting every store that I possibly could, I walked away with a dress for the wedding... and nothing else. At least I had THAT taken care of though. I get back in my car, pick Andrea up in Apex, and proceed on to the mountains. Saturday morning: Wake up, put teacher-clothes back on, and HOPE that I find something to wear in Blowing Rock. First stop: the J.Crew outlet... SUCCESS!! After many more stops I finally had everything I needed for the weekend, including new Rainbows, a new toothbrush, and new jeans... among other things. In other news... the Yanks are NINE games up. My teaching job is still mostly great. I am getting REALLY antsy lately to be in Australia. And college football season has started!

2009-09-01T22:12:00.005-04:00

Grace doesn’t deny a wrong suffered or pretend it wasn’t that big a deal, but forgives it and loves in spite of it. I’ve received it so now I’ve gotta learn to give it, even though I’m not always the best at this and I’m still angry about some things. I am human.
-Brooke Fraser

3 Random Thoughts

2009-08-30T20:48:00.004-04:00

This weekend I went to Wilmington for, probably, the last time for a good while. I've decided that the reason that my mind still thinks in Wilmington is that Wilm and Goldsboro are so easy to get to from one another. I mean, I can be in Goldsboro one minute, and an hour and a half later, I can be in Wilmington having dinner. What I'm trying to say is that even though it isn't exactly a simple drive down the road, it isn't that hard to go back and forth. Which explains the confusement that my brain is experiencing. Whatever.
Today, I went to the grocery store with Bekah, and we proceeded to buy 5 (yes 5!) containers of ice cream... simply because it was buy 2 get 3 free. Oh the things we get sucked into. I will say, that our savings on ice cream was $16.77 and the total savings of the whole trip was are $32... so all in all, it was a success. And the Asselin household now has 5 different ice cream flaves in their freezer. Also, I came home with one of Andrea's shoes in my car, and she has one of my shoes in her house. Whoops.
Being back in Goldsboro is still an adjustment. It is feeling a little more normal now that school has started. So far, I am really liking my job. I mean, it has only been 4 days, but so far my class is good, and my grade-level team is great. After last year, I just thought that I hated teaching and that I would hate every teaching job that I would ever have... that was all I knew. Luckily, I have been pleasantly surprised. I hope it stays this good.

This is going to take some getting used to

2009-08-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

So much has happened since I left Wilmington! Where do I even start? I got a job, my mom got FACEBOOK (what?!), and I'm living at home. Let's start with the job. I got a job in Goldsboro on the day that I got home... LITERALLY. That was a loooong day because I sort of had a nervous breakdown. Well, that is an extreme exaggeration, but I did freak out, maybe a little unnecessarily. Here is the short version: I had an interview at 9am. When I left the interview the principal told me to call her by 4:00 if I wanted to be considered for the job. I go home, can't get up with my parents because they are in Alaska and in the YUKON that day with no cell service. This is a big decision to make with no one to run it by. I decide (at the prompting of Bekah) that I should call and tell her I want to be considered because then it will give me some time to think about it some more AND it will be a shot at a steady paycheck. 3:15 - I call the principal to tell her that I would like to be considered. She says, "Oh I already gave it to someone else." I said, "Ummmmm......." She says, "HA! Gotcha on that one!" Long story short, by telling her I would like to be considered, I accepted the job. I immediately went into, "Holy crap what have I just gotten myself into??" mode. Well, turns out there may not have been any need for that because school started yesterday, and the last 2 days have been really good. I mean, you have to account for the standard beginning of the year chaos, so all things considered, I have 2 good days under my belt. AND I am teaching 1st grade again so that is something familiar in a world of new things. On the first day of school I went to the classroom next to me and said, "Uh, where is the cafeteria?" True story. Another true story: Apparently it is really common for people to confuse Peacock and peaches because a kid today called me Miss Peaches (this has happened before). The BEST part of this story is that later on, a kid yelled at me across the playground, but they said, "MISS PEACH CUP!!!" Bwaaaahahahahaha! THAT was a first. On top of the new job, I am living in my parents house for the first time since I was 18. Living at home isn't bad. Being back in Goldsboro has been the interesting part. I have one friend that I actually hang out with here. Plus, my brain still thinks in terms of Wilmington. I try to figure out the best way to get places, and remember they are in Wilmington. Or I'll go somewhere, get halfway there, and remember that I don't remember how to get there. Needless to say, I am still adjusting.

It's Official

2009-08-10T20:53:00.001-04:00

I get by with a little help...

2009-08-07T12:50:00.000-04:00

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen...

2009-08-04T14:54:00.005-04:00

The most frequently asked question when people find out I've been living with the Asselins: Isn't it weird, you know, living with a married couple?? My response: Nope. I thought if anything, I would wear out my welcome or begin to irritate them at some point, but I am pretty sure we've managed to avoid that. Really, living with Josh and Bekah hasn't been weird or awkward at all. It's actually felt pretty normal. Josh said this morning that it was like me hanging out with them like always, just more often. Well said. We became like a little family (me being the daughter) which, at times, was quite hilarious. I mean, it is kind of nice to have friends that you are this comfortable with. Also, I am pretty sure that their guest room will be labled "Mary Clyde's room" forever... or at least until they have a real kid.
This being my last day as an actual resident of Wilmington, you would think I would be writing some big, long, sappy farewell... but I'm not going to. I already had Cryfest 2009 on the couch last night, so no more sadness. Instead here are some favorite memories from the last 6 years (in no particular order):

- The night Bekah O'Connor and I went to the benefit for the Amani Children's Foundation
- Thursday nights with Andrea and Shane
- the Trolls and going "Out on PaTROLL"
- "The Family"
- The single boy party at 211
- Sleepovers on Bagley Ave. with Briley
- 19b W. Greensboro Street (and everything that ever happened there)
- Javi giving salsa lessons in the kitchen of 19b
- my very first club as a Young Life leader
- the night we got placed as YL leaders
- watching TV in Caroline's bed eating stovetop popcorn
- all of the dinner parties at Cape Cottages
- DESTRUCTIOOOONNNNN!!
- dance parties in the kitchen at 211
- the summer we ate at EL Cerro 12 days in a row (and almost every other day as well)
- the day Shane came back to visit and we hung out literally all day
- eating at K38 multiple nights a week with Bickerstaff
- Renee hosting movie nights in MY dorm room freshman year
- and of course... everything done with The Usual Suspects, who will still be my best friends 25 years from now. I'm sure of it.

I'll be back.
- The Terminator

Birthday Cookout

2009-07-31T23:17:00.003-04:00

No Candles

2009-07-29T23:57:00.001-04:00

24

2009-07-29T23:45:00.004-04:00

My sisters drove down here for my birthday and went out to eat with Bekah, Josh, and me. We had such a good time. Laughed a lot, made friends with the table next to us, and ate lots of birthday cake. One thing we realized a little too late was our lack of birthday candles. That problem was quickly solved when I remembered that, thanks to Ben Johnson, I had a book of matches in my purse. (See "No Candles" picture.) After dinner, Hadley and Mallory headed back to Goldsboro and the Asselins and I headed home. We ended up just sitting on the deck hanging out, and when the bugs got to be too much, we moved the party to the living room where the doing a whole lot of nothing continued. Also, since I am now a "crackberry" user, I not only recieve texts on my phone, but also e-mails and facebook. Needless to say, between the 3 of those things, plus the occasional phone call, my phone battery (which was freshly charged) was dead by the end of the day. At one point, I thought I might have to have it surgically removed from my hand. It did make me feel loved, so I'd say it was a pretty dang good birthday. Plus, the celebrating continues on Friday night with the real party. I think the e-vite Bekah sent out said something like "Let's celebrate Mary Clyde's birth and be mean to her because she's leaving." I've got great friends.