whirlwind traveler

I have had a whirlwind of a week! I’ve spent the last week and a half traveling around visiting friends that I haven’t seen in months {years for some!}. The week was full of coffee runs, lunch and dinner dates, crazy adventures, crashing classes, attending chapels, and simply reflecting on life and the past semester.

Here are the highlights:

~Thursday I drove to Salem and my first stop was Willamette. I got to sit and talk with my darling friend Sydney that I met at camp through Circle T. Love that girl!

~Thursday through Saturday I stayed with my friend Stephanie at Corban. We’ve been friends since kindergarten and went to school together all the way through high school. I really enjoy the time I get to spend with her.

~While at Corban I not only earned Stephanie’s microeconomics class 12 extra credit points on their 15 point quiz {crazy right?!} I also got to have a coffee date with Alyssa, my first prayer partner from camp, and also wish her a happy birthday.

~Saturday night I had dinner with three friends from camp: Stig, Teau, and Tango. We sat around telling crazy stories from summer and complained about school J

~Sunday I was able to go to church at Lake {the church I grew up in} and say hi to a lot of dear friends, meet the new high school director, and hear two super legit sermons.

~After church I got to have lunch with Amy. She’s getting married in March so I got to hear about everything which was wonderful. I love weddings and I am so excited for her and I can’t wait to watch her become Mrs. Vanderveen {I love that she’ll still be Amy V!}

~Sunday and Monday I stayed with Kaiya at George Fox. We made a Dairy Queen run and watched quite a bit of Boy Meets World. I just love that she goes to school in this country now so I can actually see her when I’m home.

~Monday I had a coffee date with my Auntie Mary. We’re not related by blood but she’ll always be my Auntie. We talked about my upcoming semester and her fun, busy life. It was nice to sit down and really talk with her. It’s weird when you realize that you can really be friends and have solid relationships with adults. I guess I really am growing up!

~After coffee I went and had dinner with my dear friend Brynna. We had soup and salads and talked about what we’ve been up to and what God has been doing these last few months. So great!

~Tuesday I wrapped up my week by having lunch with Leanne who was also a prayer partner from Tadmor. We went to this cute Mexican restaurant down by University of Portland. I hadn’t seen her in over a year and half and it was definitely a joyful reunion.

So that was the first part of the week. My Idaho adventures are coming soon... (:

P.S. I've realize how terrible I am about taking pictures {aka I don't haha} I need to work on that!

winter vacationing in oregon

{home sweet home}

this long break has been sooo wonderful! vacation definitely suits me well :) it’s given me time for the things i love to do but never seem to have time for at school. i took long walks on the beach {sounds terribly cliché, but when you live at the beach it’s the best place to walk}, read books for fun, watched ridiculous amounts of antm reruns {guilty pleasure haha}, took pictures of the beach and my cute little town, slept  a lot, went shopping, and spent lots of time with my family.

here are some fun highlights:

~christmas, of course. loved the time i spent laughing and joking around with my family.

~camp tadmor smt reunion. It was a whole evening of screaming, hugging, and laughing as we all got to reconnect after being apart.

~i got a haircut! I got my haircut for the fist time in 8 months. and lets just say i needed it. badly. i got a new look and i’m lovin it :)

~babysitting my pastor’s son owen every wednesday night. he’s seriously the cutest kid. love that little munchkin!

~getting a job! I am the newest summer intern for the columbia river maritime museum. i’ll be working at the front desk and in the gift shop. should be pretty awesome. so if you make it up to astoria this summer come say hi!

~celebrating my grandparents 50^th wedding anniversary. that’s right, 50^th. such an exciting reason to celebrate. 

and.....my break isn’t even over yet! tomorrow starts my five day trek across Oregon to visit some dear friends. some from camp, some from church, and some from high school. a few i haven't seen in over a year. let's just say i'm pretty darn excited!

and then...I get on a plane to fly to the wonderful state of Idaho to visit my bestie at nnu. I seriously cannot wait!

it's been awhile...

back in february i had the brilliant idea to start a blog with the intent of posting the little joyful moments of my day. then the craziness of spring semester, the business of summer, and distractions this fall hit, and here we are, eleven months later and i'm finally writing another post. i want to do better. i really do. in fact i've made it a new years resolution. so here i go! 

i guess since i've been gone sooo long I should share what I've been terribly distracted with. last spring I had a tough class load meaning lots of homework, less of a social life, and even less sleep. god got me through, and he is the only way i did. 

the beginning of the summer whisked me away to corvallis to watch my oldest brother graduate from oregon state university. i'm so proud of him and i loved getting to cheer him on :)

the very next day i left for camp tadmor where i lived and worked for the next nine weeks. i spent my days scheduling, organizing, and planning {three of my most favorite things} as well as helping with games, serving meals, and acting in silly skits. and the best part was doing it to further god's kingdom and share His love with the campers. 

 i also found myself in a cabin my last week of camp counseling nine jr high girls from the church i grew up in. five of them were girls that i've known since they were small and it was fun to get to know them on a different level. it was a long, tiring, stretching, fun, and crazy week. i loved watching these girls {and three boys} fall more in love with god. we even ended up winning the week long championship!

one weekend i was able to escape away to sunriver to enjoy a weekend with my parents and brothers. i'm starting to realize that moments all together as a family are harder to plan now that we are older. i'm definitely savoring the ones we do have. {i picked this shot because it shows james' knack for ruining photos. figured it would never be seen if i didn't share it here :)}

okay, so now fall semester has started. i joined a small group through the college ministry at my church and met this lovely group women. they are such an encouragement to me and my walk with god. we went to bj's to celebrate november birthdays {the three of us on the left}, with a pizookie. yumm!!

speaking of birthdays, i celebrated my 19th birthday by shopping with my dear friend nat, who happens to have the same day of birth as me, and then getting cheesecake with these stunning ladies  {plus amy, who took the pic}. These girlies gave me a birthday to remember and i am blessed to be experiencing biola with them.

soooo that is the last eleven months in one, not-so-short post. here's to 2012! may it be just as fun and exciting as 2011 :)