A Place to Hang My Hat

Spring is in the air and I am very much enjoying it. It's hard to believe the semester is over half finished, spring break has come and gone, and plans are already being made for this summer. Some plans have changed and I am staying in Milwaukee for mostly the entire summer now. I vetoed my trip to Italy to study abroad, but the sis and I are planning a backpacking trip for late summer, which I am very excited about.

Spring Break was awesome with 3 guys, me, and the beach. The sun, the great company of my house mates, Rodeo Golf, key lime pie, Grouper, and the occasional Corona completed my trip.

I also recently finished the book Gina gave me called Any Place I Hang My Hat. I had it since Thanksgiving and thought Spring Break would be a good time to finish it. Well, I loved the beginning, the middle, and found the end to be a bit tarnishing. I have a problem with not finishing a book so I trudged through it. A good message-but a little too cliche at times for me.

I am excited to finish up the semester and all the fun that summer brings
with it. Jazz in the Park, summer festivals, the lake, booze cruises, and summer outings are only a few of the things I am looking forward to. I am also excited to continue to get to know the person I am currently dating. I love the new feelings of a relationship and getting those butterflies again. I am grateful to have the opportunity to get to know such a kind-hearted man and hope more experiences will be shared together.

Firsts, Traditions, and Sunshine

I'm hoping the weather stays as is and continues to bring on more sunshine. It got up to 80 degrees on our driveway back home over the weekend. Can you believe it? Tomorrow it is supposed to get up to 60 degrees!

My firsts of the weekend: Green beer, drinking German beer out of a glass boot, eating Lucky Charms at the bar, and expanding my thoughts of religion and faith with a new friend. So most of these have to do with the bar...but remember it was all in moderation.

Traditions: 3020 girls taking over the dance floor at our favorite bar, having dinner at my staple East Side restaurant, of course traveling to wherever the LoveMonkeys are playing, and landing myself on stage.

Finding myself at a coffee shop back home, it is amazing to me how many people I ran into and who are still in town. I was there for 2 hours and came across a handful of people I went to high school with and an old teacher of mine. It makes me wonder how life would be if I hadn't attended college outside of West Bend. I am grateful to have the opportunity to go home whenver I can and it's a short ride away. Landing myself back home last weekend led to a meeting of an old friend, with new perspectives and beliefs. It takes me back to the days when I was a regular at church, had early morning bible studies before school, attended national youth gatherings, did mission work, and looked forward to summers spent at Crossways Church camp. Have I lost that ambition about my faith over the years? I believe that my strong faith is still entact but I miss doing that type of work and activities. Faith is what keeps you going, it is what you question when things are not looking up, it's what each person has their own version of. To me, faith is a beautiful thing. You just gotta have it.

Change Goal and Lucky Stars

My time has been consumed as of lately with only a few events: work, school, working out, or going out. 12 credits seems to free my schedule of class time, so I have a lot more hours at work. This also lends to more time to get my work out on, which led me to create my "Change Goal." It is a tricky little invention from kashi.com where you write yourself a goal that you want to work on. From eating healthier to going to bed earlier to trying new things-its your call. I created mine because I feel that when you write things down your goals hold my ground and more of a structure to follow through with them. So I am working on following through with mine in hopes to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Friday night Gina and I went back home to spend time with the family and had our step-sister's baby shower on Saturday morning. West Bend was hit with much more snow than Milwaukee and on returning home, my car was found plowed in, covered in snow. I had Friday night plans with the hometown friends and a close friend who had returned from the Navy. Frustrated with having to dig out my car and not having any chocolate in the house, we made deal with what we had. Frozen cookie dough and my Dad's SUV saved my Friday night plans. The plan of staying out for only an hour quickly diminished with run-ins with old friends, good conversation, and a handsome old friend who I hadn't talked to in years. Memories were shared and it was one of those moments where you can feel the love we had for the ones we had lost but share a greater appreciation for the time we had with those loved ones. Just an awesome night~

A girls night out on the town was the perfect fix to the end of the weekend. We had plans to close Wolski's and by golly we took it by storm. A few drinks into our night on the town we had wondered if we would make it to bar close to get those trendy bumper stickers. "7 girls chose to live in a house, to find out what happens when they stop being polite and start being realllll....3020 Milwaukee!"-was the theme to our night.

Can't believe it's already March and almost Spring Break. Another semester flying by and enjoying the good old days with some of my favorite people!