Fun Weekends and Other Uplifting Thoughts

I haven't written in a while, and I'm sitting here in front of my computer trying to decide which direction I want to take today's post. There are a few ideas swimming around my head ranging from random to uplifting to my opinion on a current event. Maybe I will find a way to combine all three or maybe not. Bear with me, we're going to wander around in my mind for a bit.

It's Tuesday and I'm still exhausted from the great weekend I had. It began on Friday when I went to my friend Shannon's house in Redondo Beach. We packed up beach towels, books, and mojitos and headed to the beach. The beach was absolutely perfect! It was hot outside but not too hot, the water was just right, and the mojitos were delicious! After we had frolicked in the waves for a while, we both felt close to death at one point when the waves were incredibly rough, we returned to our towels and decided we wanted some snacks. Shannon decided to call her friend Rebekkah, well she's my friend too, to tell her to meet us at the beach and bring some snacks. When she arrived a half hour later we realized we should have been more specific about what we meant when we said "snacks." Dried cranberries and granola bars are not snacks.

The cranberries and granola bars went ignored and eventually we left the beach and satisfied our cravings with Mexican food. Then we departed from Rebekkah to go back to Shannon's to jump in the shower before we met up again later to go out that night. We were all dresed very cute so I'm disappointed I didn't have my camera because then I could have shown you. We danced and mingled and had a good time.

My Saturday was very busy. I had to drive what should have been an hour but took more like two to go to my nieces birthday party. I was only able to stay there for an hour and a half before having to drive back to the beach for a clambake the pastors of my church were hosting for those of us "single" people who serve in the church. I was kind of cranky after being in the car for so long and being unsure of where I was going, but my bad mood vanished as soon as I got to the beach. The night turned out to be really wonderful. The food was delicious, I stayed away from the seafood of course, I stuck to chicken and bread. What really made the night great was that there was another church hosting a BBQ right next to us. They were the most friendly people! All the BBQ pits were taken by the time our pastors got there to set up so they graciously gave us one and continued to include us in their party. What was really awesome was after the sun went down we all gathered around the bonfire (both churches) and we all sang worship songs right there on the beach. People were absorbed in the music, singly loudly and praising God, it was the highlight of the night.

Sunday morning I ended up sleeping in and then having lunch with my sister and her family. That evening I met Jen May for dinner and I don't even want to get into what happened at the first restaurant but we ended up leaving that place and going to the Coral Tree Cafe on Venture Boulevard. (I'm highly recommending it because we received such great service.) I had such a great time catching up with Jen May, it had been so long since we had one of our chats so I ended up spending the night at newly christened Villa de Arminta (former CSUN guys house) and we were so wired from our coffee that we were up until 4:30 in the morning. I am amazed to say that I was able to get up for work the next morning and actually function. I'm really tired today and I plan to catch up on my sleep tonight, even though Nikki says it can't be done.

I just realized that I have been going on and on about my weekend, I hope I haven't bored you all to death. But I did warn you that my mind was going to wander for a bit didn't I?

I think I'll switch gears now. Last night I had a great realization. For the last year I had been very mixed up, unsure, and scared about the future. I almost didn't go to Wales out of fear of making the wrong decision. I was freaking out at least once a month because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and I felt like I was wasting time not doing anything. It was a really hard time for me and I was just waiting to get out of that season and get on with my life. Last night it hit me that that season is over. I realized how great I was feeling, how excited, inspired and motivated I felt. All the frustration and pain of the last year has faded and now I am looking forward to what the future holds. I know living in Wales will be an amazing experience full of adventure and learning and growing and I can't wait to begin the next step. So let this be an encouragement to any of you who may have felt the way I did. It will get better! Just take a step of faith in whatever you are dealing with and things will get brighter. I hate to quote Star Jones right now, but I think I have to because what she said is really true. Upon announcing her departure from the View she said, "I don't know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future." (Disclaimer: I detest Star Jones, but it is a great quote.) I feel like Mary Katherine Gallagher when she would deliver monologues from TV movies. I don't know why, but I do.

Unfortunately for some reason, pictures aren't working tonight. So this will be a pictureless post.