my room is where i am able to escape the chaos of a house full of 30 strangers or snuggle up for a day if the house is empty. i've been working slowly to make it my own with the few things i brought along... and am feeling pretty settled in.
the door in the photos leads to my bathroom. the door that enters my room opens into the office. on most days, i set my alarm and get out of bed on my own; however, some days, after hitting snooze a few times, brian's voice on the phone or greeting guests draws me out of bed.. reminding me of the place that i'm living and what the day holds.
the chalkboard wall art has been completed by paige, audie, and rosie, quoting dave matthews band with original illustrations. my clothes, shoes, and storage all fit in the closets and my books and scrabble game sit right on top. i make most of my calls from the chair and after long days and hard runs i stretch out my yoga mat right in front of it.
it's hilariously ironic that now that i am living without anyone to share a bed with within 500 miles, i have returned to a double bed. i have trained myself to sleep right in the middle, using all six pillows. regardless, get your visiting asses out here and share my bed!
it's getting colder here and crunchy leaves are hitting the ground. driving today, i kept my windows closed and noticed the 1/3 red, 1/3 yellow, 1/3 green trees. it was a hard weekend for no particular reason and i'm very glad it's a new week. i officially start my other job tomorrow as a standardized patient at the osteopathic medical school in lewisburg. my first act is for the ob lab, meaning i get to have lots of babies tomorrow. i'll be sure to report on the experience soon. new experiences just don't stop showing up around here.
miss and love.
life is good here..getting colder, but we still have flowers so im happy.
today i remembered to make time to pick flowers! and these are my results. i'm trying to create more ,, but its a hard transition. i've started to feel flat when i am not confident cooking a dinner and i don't know the words to my favorite song. i'm really good at consuming: i pick up any food that is in front of me, know exactly what times to turn on my predictable and funny television, nod along to other peoples ideas, have an endless list of books, flip through folk songs and rap songs, etc. and i love this. i love taking this all in and learning from these weird and often contradictory outlets, but i want to more consciously consume and teach myself to create. so i'm trying to cook and make things with pencils and crayons. i'm writing blog posts and letters to friends around the country. ...and i'm picking flowers.
in the end, i am starting to direct more energy towards putting things into my environment, rather than just sucking up what is around me.
miss and love. xoxo
HELLO.
it has been nearly a week, but one morning last week i rolled out of bed and while i struggled to keep my electrical toothbrush in my mouth, all i could think about was being with mom. i miss her, like, everyday, but rarely do i wake up dreaming about being in the same room as her...it was a little bizarre, but i didn't think much of it.
so i fumble into the kitchen and start a new pot of coffee while attempting to maintain conversation with a chatty guest. before the coffee was even ready, a new guest, a very energetic 30 year old woman, came practically running in looking for some coffee. after not much more than a "good morning" from me, she was eager to reveal that she was headed to pick up her mom! nearly bursting into tears of mixed emotions, i listened to her talk about how her dad, who had practically "lost it" without her mom, was upstairs, already dressed and waiting to go. her emotion and eagerness to take mom home (which really just means to a halfway house closer to home) was so real. it was awesome.
so i was feeling a little jealous that twenty minutes later she'd be hugging her mom, but also feeling pretty *blessed* that i get to try new things and travel the world with my mom, AND have more than 300 minutes a month to call and talk about nothing really important (i average 20 minutes a day, usually saying "soo, that's all really....what are you doing tomorrow?.. and the next day?"
anyway, the universe really got itself together that morning and things just made sense.
on another note, if you haven't all donated all of your money to the alderson hospitality house, you should consider giving some money to the link below. i don't really know the guy that well, but he went to depaul and runs marathons. he is running chicago for an organization called "back on my feet." you can read about it on his donation page, but it's a non profit that helps people that are homeless through running and resources. paige volunteered (ran) with them some this spring and really liked it...i wanted to, but group runs are at like 5 am and i wasn't about to get up that early.
of course, if you would rather send your donations here, you can help pay for my growing donut obsession. !
miss and love. xoxox
here is the link to donate $$ (type it into a new page, or email me and i will send it to you so that you can copy and paste):
http://www.active.com/donate/BoMF2014CHIMarathon/CHIMarathon2014CDeKn
