Colorado Recap

Hello there!  It's me...your long lost blogging friend!

I would apologize for my blogging hiatus, except who could really blame me with this right outside my front door.  (a.k.a. Sorry...not sorry)

Colorado State University where I spent the last seven weeks.  See those mountains in the background?!?!?

For the past seven weeks, I've been in Fort Collins, Colorado, with about 2,000 others on staff with CRU, going through ongoing ministry training.  I know I've alluded to this already in my  Colorado Teaser, but it was by far the best thing I've done all year that I didn't even know I needed.  I knew going into this summer that it had been a long year of adjusting to a new team and a new city.  It had been a great year, where we had seen God show up in some pretty incredible ways, but by the end of the spring semester, I just felt tired, the kind of tired where not even a good, full day on the beach does the trick.  

And then this summer....seven beautiful weeks of connecting with friends who are doing the same job I am, rejoicing in the same victories and wrestling with the same struggles, seven weeks of learning from people with incredible experience in leading ministry teams, and seven weeks of being encouraged to make my relationship with the God my number one priority (not my ministry or my team or my students).  Oh, and did I mention seven week of exploring Colorado.    

Day trips to Boulder...

People watching on the Pearl Street Mall

Hiking my first 14er and straddling the continental divide...

I just can't even tell you how amazing this moment was.  We left Fort Collins at 4am to make it to the peak of Gray's Mountain and back bellow tree line before the afternoon thunderstorms rolled in.  8 hours of hiking at 14,200 feet.  I knew it was going to be hard, and up until that moment, it was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life (that was before I did my second 14er a few weeks later).  I've done longer hikes, and I've done steeper hikes, but that altitude was harder than I expected.  Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.  But that view at the top...if there were ever anything that made that hike worth it, it was that view, literally standing on top of the word...or at least the Continental Divide.

Trips to Denver for Rockies Games and Thai food...

Our view at the Mile High Stadium

A quick trip to Vail...

Followed by a 3:30 am wake up call to hike my second 14er of the summer, Mount Massive...

Our hiking group at the second tallest peak in Colorado, 14,500 feet.  If I thought Gray's Peak was hard, this one was harder.  

But again...that view makes it all worth it.

Movies at Red Rock's Amphitheater...

A day trip to the capitol of the least populated state in the United States, Cheyenne, Wyoming...

The thriving metropolis of 59,000 just days before the largest rodeo in the United States comes to town.

A front row seat to see one of my all time favorite bands play, Needtobreath, courtesy of our CRU National Staff Conference...

Did I mention I was FRONT ROW?!?!?!?  I mean...I sang "Outsiders" right along with them.

And good friends to experience it all with...

Again I say...it was a good, sweet summer.  

Colorado Teaser

I know...I know...I've been a little absent lately, but there has been good reason. 

 

 

With this right outside my front door, it's hard to convince myself to use my free time to sit in front of a computer.  This is a hike right outside of Fort Collins, at Horsetooth Mountain, I did the day after flying into Denver. 

 

I'll update more about my time out in Colorado soon, but so far, I'll just say that it has been the best thing I have done this year that I didn't even know I needed.  In just one short week, I've learned so much about leading a campus ministry team from people who have far more experience than I do.  I've slowed down in a way that is impossible to do when school is going.  I've connected with the Lord in a way that has been life giving, refreshing, and needed, and, not to worry, I've had a blast.  Between movies, hikes, coffee with friends, and one Body Boot Camp Fitness class that left me sore for a week, there has been plenty to do to fill up free time when I'm not in classes.  

Fort Collins Possibilities

I love living at the beach.  In the past two days, I've spent a total of eight hours laying on the sand with the sound of the ocean in the background, and with the exception of taking a while to find a legitimate parking spot, every moment of those eight hours was perfect.  Today, as I was walking back to the car with my sweet friend, Kinny, covered in sunscreen, sand, and salt, no make up on, ready for a post beach nap, I suddenly realized how seamlessly I seem to have transitioned from my city life in Charlotte, to the beach life in Wilmington.

But, as much as I love the beach life in my "new" (at some point I'm going to have to stop calling it new) town, in just six short days, I'll dig out my Chacos, Camelback, and Mountain Hardware Fleece that have been sorely neglected since I moved here, and will board a plane to Fort Collins, Colorado, where I'll spend six weeks being trained in this position as a Campus Ministry Director. 

In the spirit of the Year of Do, I've been working on list of things I can do in my free time this summer to take advantage of my time in Colorado.  I'm not sure I can actually call this a Colorado Bucket List.  Tackling all of this in one summer might be more ambitious than my free time will allow.  Let's call it more a list of potential adventures for Fort Collins. 

Ahem....without further adu...things I'm looking forward to about a summer in Fort Collins, Colorado...

1) Go to Wyoming (I know it sounds a little crazy, but it won't be that far away and I've never been before)
2) Visit Boulder, CO and hike Flagstaff Mountain
3) Visit Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO
4) Wander around the LoDo neighborhood in Denver
5) Hike Quandary Peak (It's the shortest of all of the 14ers at 3 miles one way.  I'm pretty sure I'm not in shape enough to do Longs Peak, but this one is a possibility and hiking a 14er is on my life bucket list.)
6) Run down a sand dune at Great Sand Dunes National Park
7) Hike Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
8) Bike Fort Collins (Officially the most bike friendly city in the U.S.  You can actually rent bikes from the Bike Library for free for the summer.)
9) Swetsville Zoo (a "zoo" where all of the animals are sculptures make out of scrap metal)
10) Eat at Lucille's (boasts best breakfast in Fort Collins, although I think they have some steep competition)
11) Eat at Tasty Harmony (Organic vegetarian food)
12) Eat the best burger in Fort Collins at Study (because as much as I like organic vegetarian food, I love a good burger)
13) Get coffee at Starry Night in downtown Fort Collins (because I'll need somewhere fun to study for these classes I'll be taking)
14) Listen to live music at Lucky Joe's
15) Visit a ghost town
16) See either a movie or concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater, just outside of Denver
17) Watch a baseball game at the Mile High Stadium
18) Visit the Continental Divide
19) Drive Pikes Peak Highway
20) Go to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in late June (although this might might be a stretch.  I'm pretty sure Telluride is on the opposite end of the state.)
21) Eat at Yum Yum, a Lebanese/Mediterranean restaurant in Fort Collins.

That's it...I'm officially ready to take advantage of the weekends in Fort Collins this summer.

Wilmington in the Summer: Art Galleries, Bluegrass, and End of Life Care

My friends had been talking about how great this "art gallery" was for weeks.  "It's part art gallery, part concert venue, and it looks like an abandoned building," they said.  And they weren't lying.  Driving to the benefit concert that night, we passed straight through the parts of Wilmington I had gotten to know over my ten months living here, and into areas I hadn't know existed.  Well, that's not exactly true.  I knew there had to be something under the big bridge downtown, I just didn't expect it to be an "art gallery."  When I show you pictures of this building, you'll understand why I keep putting "art gallery" in quotations.  None of us really knew what the benefit concert was for, but one of my favorite bluegrass bands in town was playing and it sounded like an interesting night.

As we pulled underneath the big bridge, with the faint thump of cars driving overhead, a building sat to our left, overlooking the river.  From the outside it looked pretty nondescript, white walls, big factory like windows, gravel parking lot.  It looked like it had had multiple uses during it's life span, maybe a psychiatric hospital or a hog processing plant (I'm from Eastern North Carolina.  We have a lot of hog processing plants, and they all looked pretty similar to this art show/benefit concert I was about to walk into.)

We unloaded from the car, walked past the sign that read "Art Factory," and stepped into the building, hot/muggy air meeting us halfway.  Apparently they don't air condition buildings that resemble hog processing plants.  A sweet looking elderly lady met us at a folding table set up just inside the entrance, surrounded by concrete.  Concrete walls, concrete floors, everything was grey. 

She handed us a flyer for the event that read, "Living Will Coalition" at the top.  Apparently, in the pursuit of our favorite bluegrass band, we had stumbled onto a benefit for an organization that advocates for people to have a plan for their end of life care.  She directed us to the next table covered in pink slips of paper where a large man with lots of tattoos and a pony tail that stretched to his waist asked if we had given any thought to our end of life care and if we might want to go ahead and fill out a living will tonight. 

It's an odd feeling, standing inside what appears to be a place where your pork for your last family BBQ was butchered, listening to wagon wheel, talking about how you would like to die.  But it was one of those random nights I absolutely loved, good friends, good music, and a good story by the end of the night. 

Wilmington Summer Bucket List: Concert at Airlie Gardens

Picture this...it's Friday evening, eighty degrees and sunny, and to early in the year for the bugs to be out.  You're lounging in a beach chair munching on your favorites foods from Trader Joes, listening covers of some of your favorite 90s songs, all while sitting under a giant oak tree.  The conversation with good friends is wonderful and every once in a while someone you recognize from various places from around town pops in to say hello.  Sigh...every Friday should end like this.

My view for the concert

 

When people say that summer is the best time to live in Wilmington, I'm pretty sure they are referring to events like this.  Let's count this as one more success for the Wilmington Summer Bucket List.  

Wilmington Summer Bucket List: The Creepy Zoo Wasn't So Creepy

I'm not going to lie, my expectations were pretty low for the zoo on Carolina Beach Road.  For starters, who really expects a zoo on the outskirts of a beach town; A surf shop, maybe, but not a zoo.  But it was one of those places that has piqued my interest ever since I was driving through town with my friend Brooke and asked what the giant building shaped like a lion's head was.  So I rounded up a some friends and a few kids (because zoos are always better with kids around) and we set off to experience everything the Creepy Zoo, as I had affectionately started referring to it as, had to offer. 

What did we find?  It turns out the creepy zoo really isn't that creepy at all.  Actually, it's kind of amazing.  Who would have thought a leopard, white tiger, sloth, giraffe, and lemurs all lived within 10 miles of Carolina Beach. 

It's a super blurry picture, but here is our rag tag group of Creepy Zoo explorers standing at the entrance.

 

 

At the entrance you could pick up corn and peanuts to feed the animals with.  This donkey was quite friendly once he realized I had food.

 

 

Oh you know...just another day in the life...chasing a peacock.  At this point, I'm pretty sure Jacob was saying, "A bird!  I will catch it!"  Don't worry...he never did.  Did you know peacocks can jump fences?

 

 

I love sloths.  I think they are my favorite animals.  They just look so friendly.

 

 

I was attempting to feed the parrot a peanut.  I couldn't quite reach far enough.

 

Enthralled by the swans...so clique yet so true.

 

Special shout out to my friend, Julian, (and the random photo bombing girl behind us) who called me last night and said he wanted to mark something off my Wilmington Bucket List with me.  We actually marked off two things, the Creepy Zoo and the Trolley Stop.  You can read about his Day of Do adventure with me at http://julianjcarter.com/ 

 

Today was one of those unexpectedly good days.  If anyone living or planning a visit to Wilmington is reading this, I highly recommend a visit to the Creepy Zoo.  Once you get past the building shaped like a giant lion's head, it's actually kind of great.  

An Honest Look at Burnout: What I Did Wrong This Year

[Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post about a month ago in a moment of complete desperation and exhaustion after what had been a really long couple of months.  I told myself I'd never actually publish it.  It was a little too revealing and personal and felt like too much of a risk.  But I was talking to a good friend today about the Year of Do and how this year has been about taking risks I wouldn't normally take.  So...why not write this for the world to read (or, lets be honest, the few and faithful).  Why not give a little glimpse into the world of burnout and what happens when we don't trust God.  So...here it is.  I hope it's helpful for someone to see what I did wrong this year as a Campus Director of a Campus Ministry.]

Today I hit a wall.  This morning actually. 

I'll spare the details of what led to this point, but needless to say, there I sat, knees pulled up to my chest, in the middle of my bed, crying into my cup of coffee.  I felt abandoned.  I felt alone.  I felt like I had voiced for months that I was heading in this direction, feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, but as the responsibilities continued to pile up, I felt used.  Like every spare minute and ounce of energy I had to give had been given, and there I sat, dried up and spent, still falling short of the needs around me.  My friends had warned me for months that I was headed in the direction of burn out, and this was it, the moment I had been warned about.

There are really very few moments in my life where I have desperately wished I was married.  I can think of maybe two, and usually it is when my car or computer breaks down and I don't know how to fix it.  But this morning, as I sat sobbing in my bed, I desperately wanted someone to crawl up next to me, wrap their arms around me, and fight for me when I didn't feel like I had the energy to fight for myself. 

But there I sat, alone. 

Jesus was not my first pick of people I wanted to run to in that moment.  To be honest, I felt like He was partly to blame.  If this is what handing your life over to Him looked like, I wasn't sure I could do it anymore.  But my roommate, parents, and good friends were all at work, my staff team was busy preparing for the days ahead, and I wasn't even sure how to vocalize what I was feeling in the moment if there had been someone to listen. 

So I rolled out of bed, still sobbing, grabbed another cup of coffee, a journal, and my bible, and I climbed back into bed, to vent to the only one available. 

I picked up the journal first.  I wasn't ready to hear what Jesus wanted to say to me.  I needed to vent. 

"I need help.  I need a rescuer.  I feel like everyone else has someone fighting for them, and if I'm honest, I feel abandoned, alone, and a little used.  You talk about finding joy in situations that are far worse than this, but I don't know where to find it right now.  I'm exhausted." 

The journaling went on for a few more pages, echoing a common theme of exhaustion and hopelessness.

Next I pulled out my Jesus Calling book.  I wasn't ready to hear from God himself.  My heart was still a little bitter.  But I could ease my way into it by hearing what other people thought He might say. 

April 24: "Rest in the stillness of My Presence while I prepare you for this day.  Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

And then it hit me, the reason that had led to my current state.  I sat up from the fetal position I had been huddled in and loosened the death grip on my cup of coffee. 

At some point on staff, I had known that I could never do this job on my own, that I needed God to act and move if we were going to be successful.  But, whether it was because I had been distracted by a new ministry and position, or because I had done this so long I had let arrogance slip into my work ethic, somehow, for the past year, I had been doing everything on my own.  I didn't trust God to exalt himself, I needed to do it, and I needed to do it perfectly.  I didn't trust this ministry to succeed without my constant attention.  I needed to be at its beckon call.  Deep down, if I was honest with myself, I wanted God to take a backseat while I showed Him how things could really be done. 

But it hadn't worked. 

I had spent the last few months giving everything I could, but with every criticism or suggestion I heard only one thing, "It's not enough."  And it was true, it wasn't enough.  I wasn't enough.  This ministry, the staff who give so selflessly, the students who show up every week, they needed more than I could give them.  They needed someone who didn't have a limit the way that I did, who never faltered in giving love and grace, who would literally move heaven and earth for them.  They needed Him: The Strong One, The Everlasting God, The Lord Who Provides, The God of Peace, The Lord The Shepherd. 

And so I climbed out of bed, with what felt like hope for the first time in months, knowing that I wasn't enough for what lay ahead of me that day, but that this ministry and the people in it would have everything they ever needed, provided by someone who loved them more than I was capable of.

Summer Bucket List for Wilmington

Everyone keeps telling me that the best time to live in Wilmington is in the summer.  And with school done and a month before I leave on my summer assignment to Colorado, it seems like a great time to mark some things off my Wilmington Bucket List (a list I made my second day living in town because I was so sad about leaving NYC and needed something to look forward to in Wilmington).  Here are just a few of the things on my list I think I'm going to try to accomplish sometime over the next month. 

1) Learn to surf (or maybe the first step should be find someone to teach me how to surf)
2) Find a place to live
3) Finish the aprons that I started making six month ago but never finished (oops!!!! and oops again!!!!)
4) Go to the creepy zoo on Carolina Beach (Once you see a picture of the building, you will totally understand)
5) Go to a concert at Airlie Gardens (Anyone else want to go?)
6) Go to the Downtown Sundown Concert Series right in downtown Wilmington
7) Find a place to go Shag Dancing in Wilmington (for anyone reading this who's not from the south, it's not as bad as it sounds...promise.  It's pretty similar to Swing Dancing.)
8) Finally become a member of my church.
9) Spend a weekend with my dear friend, Melanie, when she visits Wilmington
10) Eat at Double Happiness (I've tried to go twice over the past year and every time I've shown up, there's a sign on the door saying they are on vacation to China or just decided not to open that day.  I'm more than intrigued at this point.)
11) Go to bluegrass night at Satellite
12) Sail (I've tried to go out sailing twice so far this year and every time the weather has been less than accommodating)
13) Get back into running (I'm a literal fair weather fan of running, as in, I only run in the spring in summer when the weather is fair.)

and last but not least...

14) Research and put together an EPIC Bucket List for my summer assignment out in Fort Collins, CO.

I think that should keep me busy in any downtime I may have.  And what better way to spend free time over the next month than marking off some Year of Do activities.

Celebrating the Little Brother's Wedding (aka- the adventures of a cupcake ninja)

Meet my little brother and one of my best friends, Sean. 

The two of us goofing off on a 8 mile hike in Newfoundland

He's 25, close to six feet tall, and not so little, but with two years him, and more embarrassing stories than I could possibly share on this blog, I feel like I've earned the right to call him my "Little Bro,"  or as he likes to be called when I'm asking him to do a favor "Lone Wolf."  (He is literally one of the most servant hearted people you have ever met, but only if you agree to call him Lone Wolf during the duration of the favor.)

But, as he has recently started signing his emails, "The Lone Wolf is not so lone anymore."  Just a few days ago, I made the trek to Belhaven, NC, for the Lone Wolf to, "Get Him Married He Do."  (Another saying he has adopted over the last few months.) 

I'm not sure there is anything better for the Year of Do than to go all out celebrating your little brother getting married.  And so, go all out we did...

The view was amazing,

The view from our family's house on the Pungo River where they got married.

 

the bride was beautiful,

 

 

Me and my new sister-in-law minutes before she walked down the aisle

 

there were tons of friends and family to celebrate with us,

Sean's two best friends I've known since they were three years old

 

and to say the food was good would be a gross understatement.

 

Okay, to be totally honest, I may be a little biased about the food.  Sean and Julia were a little bit heartbroken when they found out the baker didn't do Funfetti cupcakes for weddings.  So, it was the big sister and seven boxes of cupcake mix to the rescue.  It couldn't have been that hard right?  (I really need to stop saying that.)

 

Actually, I have been dying to try my hand at cupcake decorating and this seemed like as good a time as any.  And anything I had trouble figuring out, Google, Pinterest, and Youtube helped to fill in the gaps.

 

So the day before the wedding, I got to work baking...and baking...and baking.

 

This was only about 26 of 150 cupcakes we baked that day.  I'm pretty sure every usable surface out of reach of the dog was used for cupcake goodness. 

 

And then we frosted.  My first mistake in this process was thinking my Target brand hand held mixer was up to the task of mixing up enough frosting for 150 cupcakes.  Around batch 5 of butter cream frosting the mixer died a rather slow and noisy death and we had to resort to the backup mixer (thank goodness for backup mixers or this girl would not be able to lift her arms above her shoulders.)

 

Expertly piping frosting with the help of Martha Stewart, Youtube, and Pinterest.

 

Pretty frosted Cupcakes

 

Next came the hint of blue sprinkles to match their wedding colors.

Last, but not least, we topped them off with white chocolate hearts and monograms, and tied purple ribbon around the bottom to coordinate with the wedding colors. 

 

And for my first ever foray into wedding cupcakes, I was pretty impressed with how they turned out. 

Building A Kitchen Table: Part 2

It's been almost a month since I last wrote about the kitchen table I had great plans to build.  35 days to be exact.  I promise, I haven't given up or forgotten about it, but with the semester winding down for my students and lots of traveling, there has been little time left over for table making (or laundry, or cooking, or grocery shopping for that matter). 

But that all changed yesterday.  The table building is officially underway!  (In my mind there is lots of cheering and applauding by the many people reading that statement.) 

Do I have any idea what I'm doing?  Nope.  My grandad owns his own construction company and I grew up with the men in my family saying things like, "Why would we pay someone to build a garage when we can do it ourselves?"  My earliest memory in the house I grew up in was my dad tearing down one of the walls to, "open things up."  However, if there is such a thing as a construction gene, it most certainly skipped over me.  Around the age of 7, I attempted to make my own foot stool because I figured it would be cool to build something.  I thought it was the best made foot stool in the entire world until a few years ago when I was cleaning out my old closet at my parents house and ran across it.  If any of you watch The Office, you may remember the end table Michael Scott once tried to make that almost resembled paint stirrers duct taped together.  My beloved footstool looked pretty similar to that. 

But this table is going to be different.  Why you ask?  Because this time I have an acute awareness of the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing (something my 7 year old self was lacking), and the help of someone who not only owns a hammer, but knows how to use it. 

Meet Ash...

Ash's previous construction successes include a pergola, a dog house (complete with it's own porch), and not one, but two tables that look nothing like what I built when I was 7.

 

To be honest, I was really surprised how easily it has come together so far.  In just a few hours, we got all of the pieces for the top put together using something called a "pocket screw."  I'm still unsure exactly what that is, but I know you use things that look like this...

 

 

To make holes that look like this....

 

 

And somehow screws go into said holes in a way that pulls the two pieces of wood together so they are flush on top, with the only visible screw holes tucked inconspicuously underneath the table.  (See...I am learning something!)

 

But mostly, I just stuck to using tools I was already pretty familiar with...

 

Sigh...now that...that I know how to use

 

And I let Ash do the heavy lifting...

 

Does anyone else think this looks dangerous? 



 

Although, towards the end I rallied up the nerve to try my hand at something a little more adventurous.  It is the Year of Do after all.

 

Look at me...being all confident...using a drill...

 

So far, this hasn't been nearly as complicated as I thought it would be, and the more I see this table coming together, the more excited I get.

 

I'll post more pictures of the progress soon, but for now, I'm going to leave you sitting in anticipation.

 

Sewing: Not For The Faint of Heart

There I laid, sprawled out on the floor, gazing up at the gold and glass chandelier dangling from the dining room ceiling.  My first thought was, "That really is a hideous chandelier."  I had thought that ever since my roommate and I had moved into that house, but now, looking up at it from the floor, in the dim light of a rainy day, it seemed to take on a whole new level of heinousness. 

And then it hit me, the reason I was sprawled out on the floor in the first place, contemplating the ugly monstrosity hanging from my ceiling.  Just seconds before, I had diligently been working to finish the last two aprons that were supposed to be finished in time to be Christmas presents, trying to embrace the Year of Do spirit and take advantage of a few spare minutes.  I was feeling pretty good about finally finishing this project that had been hanging over my head since November and thinking to myself how the Year of Do really has made me a more productive person. 

Lost in a state of contentment and concentration, I didn't even notice the fact that my finger was getting dangerously close to the needle on my sewing machine.  I'll spare you the details of what happened next.  Suffice it to say, as a kid, I would routinely pass out at the sight of blood and needles.  As I laid on my dining room floor, I suddenly became aware of the fact that I had yet to outgrow that trait. 

My view when I woke up

 

I was able to snap this picture after I regained consciousness and the bleeding from my finger began to slow, and immediately sent it to  few good friends.  After they were adequately assured that I really was fine after passing out, we laughed at how this is pretty typical of the chaos/clumsiness that is often my life. 

 

Sometimes in the Year of Do, you sit back and marvel at how much you are able to accomplish, and other times, you find yourself laying on your dining room floor, texting pictures of your ceiling to your best friends.  We'll call this one a good story, but ultimately a Year of Do failure. 



 

The Year of Road Trips?

Whew...the last month has been a bit of a crazy one if you can't tell by my lack of blogging.  There was the Women's Retreat is Belhaven, NC, a trip back to Greenville to work on my taxes, the Leaders Retreat (literally in the middle of no where), and the Wilmington to Charlotte to Greenville, SC to Charlotte to Wilmington Easter extravaganza weekend.  In the last month, I have yet to actually be in town for a weekend.  Maybe the Year of Do should officially undergo a name change to the Year of Road Trip. 

So, with my first free weekend in ages, the options were endless.  Wednesday night, I literally couldn't sleep thinking about everything I could do that I haven't been able to in the last month.  I could actually do all of my laundry (not just wash the things that were absolutely necessary, leaving the rest in a heaping pile on the floor).  I could wander around downtown Wilmington, checking out the Azalea festival with all of its vendors and bands.  The Avette Brothers were playing a concert this weekend.  That could be a fun option.  I could actually go to my church.  I'm pretty sure they are starting to think I have either disappeared or found a new church home.  I could actually start building this kitchen table.  Oh goodness...this poor table that I got so excited to start, yet has sat sad and abandoned for the past month.

So what did I end up doing?  I traveled.  I know...I know...You're thinking, "I thought that's exactly what you didn't want to do!"  But when a good friends call spur of the moment on a Friday afternoon and say they have a beach house at Oak Island for the weekend, there really isn't any other appropriate answer other than, "Sure...why not!"

And honestly, I think it was exactly what I needed.  A weekend with no cell phone service, no internet access, where I could nap and read as much as I wanted, only to be interrupted by walks on the beach, snuggling puppies, the smell of cooking bacon, and hysterical conversations.  I love when the Year of Do and times of rest collide into one great, unexpected weekend. 

 

 

Cinnamon Rolls as a Cure for Insomnia

Well here's a change for you.  Normally I am up at 6 am, can't sleep, and decide to catch up on blog posts.  This morning, it's 6 am, and I'm already caught up on blog posts. 

Hmm...how to use these extra few hours for the Year of Do...

Step 1: Convince yourself if you try hard enough, you really can go back to sleep.  1 sheep...2 sheep...3 sheep.......this isn't working.

Step 2: Catch up on your social media stalking.  You can do that without even getting out of bed, while still holding onto some hope that you may eventually drift off to sleep.  Facebook... Twitter.... Instagram... nope... still awake.

Step 3: Catch up on your plan to read through the bible in a year.  I'm about a few months behind at this point.  A few more of these 6 am mornings though and I could be caught up soon.

Step 4: Resolve yourself to the inevitable fate that you aren't going back to sleep anytime soon.  But staff meeting is in just a few hours and you love surprising your staff team with the unexpected.  Sooo...6:30 am cinnamon roll baking it is. 

Yummm

Most of the team, post cinnamon rolls and all decked out in stripes for staff meeting

To Travel Or Not To Travel, That Is The Question

Sometimes all of this "doing" is exhausting.  Once I'm actually in the middle of doing whatever task I've set out to do, I love it.  But there is always this moment right before where I think to myself, "Wouldn't it just be easier if you didn't.  That couch looks so comfortable with it's fluffy blanket and cushy pillows." 

This weekend was a great example of that.  It was Easter weekend and here were the options.  1) Drive to Charlotte (for the sixth time this year) for the weekend to see my family.  2) Attend the wedding of a college roommate in Greenville, SC.  Or 3) Stay at home in Wilmington and catch up on some much needed sleep while at the same time proving to friends in town that I do in fact live here, something they are inevitably starting to doubt.

Thursday night, everything in me wanted to claim my rightful place on the couch for the weekend and catch up on Downton Abby.  We are in the middle of our busy season on campus right now and the number of free nights and weekends are few and far between.  Can you guess which of my three options I ended up taking?



Your leaning towards option 3 aren't you....



Now your starting to doubt yourself...maybe option 1....



Well, it is the Year of Do.  Why pick one when you can do all three...right?!?!

I packed up my car Friday afternoon and made the four hour trek to Charlotte just in time to meet my parents for dinner at my favorite BBQ restaurant in town, Mac's BBQ.  It's supposed to resemble a biker bar, but everytime I've taken my parents, my dad points out that the closest thing to a motorcycle in the parking lot is a row of brightly colored Vespa scooters.  Maybe it's not as biker friendly as they advertise, but no one can argue that they serve the best beef brisket in town. 

Saturday morning found my mom and I dress shopping with my soon to be sister-in-law for the perfect rehearsal dinner dress.  One of the biggest items on my bucket list for the year was to celebrate my little brother getting married.  That's not one of those things you can put off until next year.  You really only get one opportunity to celebrate well something like that and I don't want to miss it.  It was such a sweet time being able to just celebrate as the women in our family.  I wouldn't have wanted to miss that for the world. 

The VanScott women, elated over the fact that we found the perfect rehearsal dinner dress.  I'm going to keep you waiting in suspense for a few more weeks to see what it looks like.

 

We finished dress shopping just in time for me to stop by the hotel, speed change into a more wedding appropriate outfit (I'm not sure they would have approved the jeans and hoodie I was sporting at South Park Mall), and take off on phase 2 of the weekend, the wedding of a college roommate. 

 

Jen and I lived together during my senior year of college, and not only was I thrilled to get to see her get married, but it was also a chance to catch up with college friends I hadn't seen in years. 

 

I just love these women. 

 

And it really was such a fun night.  We danced, and laughed as we remembered ridiculous things we had done in college, and caught up on what had happened since (jobs and weddings and babies).  I laughed harder that night than I have in a really long time.  The kind of laughing where your abs hurt and you really do have a hard time catching your breath.

 

Sunday morning found me back in Charlotte, celebrating Easter with my family, and by that afternoon I was on the road, back to Wilmington.

 

As I was driving home that afternoon, I kept thinking how there really is something to this whole Year of Do thing.  It would have been so easy to sleep and sit on the couch all weekend, and it would have been well deserved after a few really busy weeks.  But instead, I went shopping with my sister-in-law, ate at a favorite restaurant, spent time with my family, celebrated a dear friend getting married, caught up with friends I hadn't seen in years, and saw my brother's new life in his new town.  I may have been asleep by 9:30 on Sunday night, but it was worth it.  

Building a Kitchen Table: Part 1

I think I've mentioned in the past my great tendency to over estimate my ability and underestimate the effort a project will take.  There were the aprons that took 3 months to finish (and the two that are still half finished in my closet), learning to surf (I swear they make it look so easy), and baking that infamous Triple Layer Chocolate Mousse Cake (It was delicious, but it took two days to make and when I moved out of my house last year I was still finding chocolate on the walls). 

You would think I would have learned my lesson by now.  I can just hear my past self yelling, "DON'T START ANOTHER PROJECT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FINISH!  You remember the mountain biking incident don't you?" 

But the small voice in the back of my head never tells me to put down the absurd project and slowly back away.  Instead, it echos, "It can't be that hard.  You're an intelligent person.  You can figure this out.  And even if you can't, just Google it.  Google knows everything."  And besides, this year is the Year of Do.  If there is ever an excuse to start an absurd project, this is it.

And so...I give you the most over involved project that I am under equipped to do. 

I am building a kitchen table.  (Or rather, I've convinced a friend to help me build a kitchen table.)

That's right, the girl who isn't really sure how to hang a picture straight on a wall and hates to measure things because it takes too much time is going to attempt to build a kitchen table that won't collapse the first time a fork is placed on it.  Do I know the first thing about "planers," and "routers," and "saw horses?"  Nope.  But, the people on Pinterest say, "It's the easiest project I've ever done."  And the Internet never lies...right?

Here's the look that I'm aiming for

A rustic reclaimed wood table from Restoration Hardware

 

And here is what it looks like right now

 

Don't let the picture fool you.  It's all just placed very strategic to make it look like I have some idea of where this is going. 

 

The cool part is that all of the wood for the table came from an old dock at my parents river house.  This dock has been washed away in two hurricanes and has been hunted down and towed back by kayak at least once before it was replaced with the concrete pier that now stands in it's place.  I have long loved the idea of a rustic, barn wood kitchen table that is big enough to fit an army around, but even more, I love the idea of having a piece of furniture with a story behind it. 

 

Don't worry.  This is just Part 1 in the saga of the kitchen table.  I'll post more as this project gets underway.  It should be an adventure to say the least.



The Timeline of A College Reunion, Late Night Pizza Run and All

6:30 pm- reunite with college friends.  Lots of hugs, lots of laughs, and lots of "do you remember that time when..." statements.

7:30 pm- Dinner downtown at a favorite Mexican restaurant.  More reminiscing and laughing.

9:00 pm- Stop into another restaurant when you hear live music coming from within the building.  Lots of laughing, although your not quite sure at what because it's hard to hear over the music. 

9:30 pm- Wilmington friends show up and meet said college friends.  This inevitably leads to immense amounts of high pitched laughing and story telling as lots of your favorite people end up in the same place.

10:00 pm- Pile into someones Jeep and take an impromptu drive on the beach (because this is just one of the perks of living in a beach town, and your friends are amazing).

10:34 pm- Climb out of said Jeep onto the beach and attempt to watch the stars.

10:39 pm- Realize that no one in the group can feel their fingers or toes because it is March 2nd, 30 degrees outside, and you're are standing on a beach.

10:40 pm- Load back into the Jeep and explore the beach a little more, this time, from the comfort of a heated vehicle with Drew Holcomb playing in the background.  Ahhhh...much better.

11:20 pm- Convene back at a friends house to start up a bonfire in the backyard.

12:03 am- Realize you are starving and warm up the only thing you can find in the frig/freezer, Stoffers Macaroni and Cheese.

12:30 am- Sit by the bonfire and enjoy not only reminiscing about fun times in college, but also what is new in your friend's lives.  Start making plans about the next time you can all get together again.

2:15 am- Realize how late it is, but it's been such a fun night, and since you're already reliving your college years tonight, why not end it with a late night Pizza run.

2:30 am- The five of you finish off a large pepperoni pizza.

3:30 am- finally crawl back into bed, exhausted and happy.  Look at the clock and think to yourself, "I haven't been up this late since college."

10:00 am- Alarm goes off.  Promptly turn off, roll over, and go back to sleep.

10:30 am- Wake up and think to yourself, "I'm too old for this."

Sometimes in the Year of Do, you say "yes" to random opportunities and it's some of the most fun and unexpected times in your life, and other times, you say "yes" to random opportunities and wake up thinking, "How did I do this on a regular basis in college?  Did I not love sleep back then?"  Luckily, this past Saturday was mostly extreme amounts of fun, with only a little exhaustion thrown in.  And if I had the opportunity to do it again, I'm pretty sure I would. 

The Intrepid Speaker

Ugh...I hate public speaking.  Have I mentioned that?  I guess I did write a blog post recalling my fear of public speaking based on the tragic/epic fainting epidemic in my seventh grade English class during a speech on Colonial America.  But, in case I need to say it one more time to reinforce the point, "There are some things you were just made to love and enjoy doing.  For me, public speaking is the exact opposite of that." 

And that's actually how I started my talk entitled A Biblical Basis for Social Justice at this past CRU meeting.  My plan was to come over prepared for my time, and then set low expectations so if anything bad happened, like another spur of the moment fainting attack, I would be covered.  In the end, it was unnecessary.  On two feet I stood, firmly planted on the middle of the stage, bible in hand, ear microphone wobbling ever so slightly in front of my face, with fifty sets of eyes either fixed on my every move or checking Facebook on their smart phones.  (It's hard to tell on stage with all of the spot lights shining in your eyes.)

And as uncomfortable and scary as it was, I'm so glad I did it, for a couple of different reasons.  First, and maybe most importantly, there has been a HUGE resurgence of Social Justice platforms lately among college students.  It affects almost all of their choices, how they spend their Christmas Breaks, which shoes they will buy, what stores they will shop in, which campus organizations they will get involved in, what they will major in, and what job they will eventually have.  As they contemplate how they will use their lives to meet some of the needs in this world, they need to understand that Social Justice fits perfectly into the heart and plan of God as well.

Secondly, and a far more selfish reason, it provided a great opportunity to step further out of my comfort zone and try things that are all together intimidating for me.  Call it nerves, or adrenalin, but it's kind of a rush to look at something with complete fear and walk into it non the less.  It may be one of the biggest perks of the Year of Do.

Passionately Persuing and Loving Friends in the Year of Do

There has been a theme in this week's Year of Do activities if you haven't already picked up on it, initiating with friends.  It's really easy for me to have an "out of sigh, out of mind," mindset with friends.  It's easy to keep up with friends you see every week, the ones you work with and see at church.  It's harder to set aside time for phone dates and road trips.  But the friends in my life who know me the best, the ones I call when life goes a little crazy (like a few nights ago when a racoon walking in front of my car in my neigborhood and I was overcome with excitement/nausiousnes), are the one's who have been around for multiple stages of my life, the one's I've made commitments to call and visit on a regular basis.  Thus, this year, being the year of doing and not just wishing, I want to passionately persue my friends, both near and far. 

And this weekend was a huge, and rediculously fun, step in that direction.  I traveled back to my previous home, Charlotte, NC, for a wedding of a dear friend and former roommate/co-worker.   The wedding was beautiful, and such a sweet reminder of the Lord's tangible belssings for my friend.  We cried, we laughed, we ate, we danced, and then we danced some more. 

Goodness...I love these people.  And there were probable thirty others I got to see this past weekend that aren't pictured here.

 



Here's to many more fun weekends with old and new friends in the Year of Do! 



Meet My Friend Carrie: A Year of Do Accomplice

Meet my friend Carrie...

and her fat pug in a little coat...aka...GIBBY!!!  (I really hope, as your read that statement, you sang it as Chris Farley from Tommy Boy)

 

Carrie and I met almost ten years ago.  She was a Georgia girl.  I was from North Carolina.  And for no logical reason, other than the fact that we loved the city, we both ended up at the College of Charleston, not knowing a soul in the entire state of South Carolina.

 

I still consider putting Carrie and I in a dorm room together that first year one of the best decisions the College of Charleston has ever made.  I wish I had pictures of that dorm room.  It was literally one of the smallest rooms I've ever been in.  There was a bed on one wall, a bed on the other, and a small walk way that ran between then.  Theoretically, one person could lay on their bed, reach out their hand, and hit the person on the "other side of the room."  But we loved that dorm room.  There were dance parties (I seem to remember Carrie going through a Hillary Duff phase that year), long talks late at night, and random moments that you can probably never get away with any time in life other than your freshman year of college.

 

From there, we lived in the Bull St. house (a historic house in downtown Charleston that looked far more charming than it really was), and after that the Society St. apartment (that was conveniently located next to a fire house that tested their sirens at 2 am every morning).  We graduated from college wearing our white sun dresses, a tradition at the College of Charleston.  We navigated the awkward transition from college friends to adult friends.  We moved to different states.  We switched jobs.  We have been through singleness, dating, and marriage (her, not me).  Life has changed a lot, and Carrie has been one of those sweet friends that has walked through a significant number of different stages with me. 

 

Carrie now lives in Indianapolis with her Husband and Gibby, the pug (pictured above).  I live in Wilmington, NC.  For those of you unfamiliar with east coast geography, that is a twelve and a half hour drive.  I think one of the biggest changes after you graduate college is that your relationships take effort to maintain.  Gone are the days when Carrie and I would run into each other at the Chick-fil-a in the Stern Center on a daily basis.  But for some relationships, there's really never a question as to if it's worth the effort.  It just is.  Carrie is one of those. 

 

So after a long phone date Tuesday night, we decided that the Year of Do would just be incomplete without a girl's weekend.  We've been talking of doing this since she got married last October.  Time to make it a reality.  We have it narrowed down to two weekends in May.  Updates will come as more planning happens, but needless to say, this may be the Year of Do activity I'm looking forward to the most right now.

Denim Dreams Really Do Come True

OH MY GOODNESS....I stopped into J. Crew really quickly tonight as I was waiting on a friend for dinner.  And what you do you think I found?  Only a jean jacket that looks identical to the one I have had for the past seven years.  The same one I recently proclaimed my love for, very publicly I might add, on this very blog. 

 

The $120.00 J. Crew version of the iconic jean jacket

 

 

My Jean Jacket I got from the Gap seven years ago, for a lot less than $120.00.

 

Here is proof that all fashion trends really do cycle around, and that if you wish hard enough, denim dreams really do come true.  I like to think that the new J. Crew trend was inspired by the Year of Do and my famous blog post.  I'm pretty sure their designers regularly read my blog to find out what is back in vogue.  Your welcome world!