All this Beauty.

I have been putting some serious effort into organizing my life.  My bedroom is full of clothes I don't wear, books I don't read, magazines that should be thrown away, and shoe boxes that still haven't been unpacked since I moved back from Chicago.

Rather than find the appropriate places for these things, I have been shifting them from place to place (bed, floor, chair, bed, floor, bed, floor, closet).  In all of the rearranging, I stumbled across the journal I kept when I was a junior in high school and traveled to Europe.  I spent ten days traveling through France and Italy.  Before we left, my high school French teacher recommended that I keep a record of our "adventures".  Because I idolized her, I took her advice.

I was flipping through it, remembering how smoggy and malodorous the city of Paris was, how underwhelming the Leaning Tower of Pisa is, and how absolutely incredible Nice, Monaco, and Florence are.  At the age of seventeen I was blessed with the opportunity to see masterpieces like David, which I snapped illegal pictures of, the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, the Sistine Chapel, the Rodin garden, and Versailles.  I had the opportunity to attend Mass led by the Pope himself.*

In nine days I will turn twenty four.  I have been mopy about my Birthday, as is typical for me, thinking about how I am getting older and how I haven't done anything with my life.  Bethany was married by my age, Jim was preparing to climb Kilimanjaro when he was 24, Jon was changing the face of Grand Rapids' neighborhoods with his design skills. 

I can't let myself become a bitter old woman in her mid twenties though.  I HAVE done things, and I am starting to realize how many more things I have to do with my life.  I watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at night from the Seine, I got lost in the Vatican, I sang hymns for the congregation of the National Cathedral.  My research has helped schools in Florida and Georgia keep recess and PE programs, and I even touched Butch Walker.  Twice.

Sparkle Sparkle

Butch Walker, I love this man.

Yes, I have friends that are married, friends with kids, with mortgages, grown up jobs, and I think to myself that they are living their lives.  They are established.  But you know, the idea of being established is more frightening to me now than being 24, single, and living with Mom and Dad.  I am learning to embrace this ridiculous freedom that I have.

Maybe I haven't lived yet, but I have experienced.  I haven't peaked yet.  I have sixty years to peak.  Good things are coming, 24 will be good for me.  Who knows, maybe a refresher trip to Europe is in order....

*The Pope was presiding over the mass, we could have stood in the courtyard with the hundreds of other people, Jenny and I chose to go shopping instead.

SOmething clever or relevant as my title

I have been a very bad blogger. Let me just tell you, it isn't my fault.

Well, it kind of is, but mostly not.

I have been stretching myself out between my internship, my job, and my summer classes. I have dedicated 50+ hours each week to bettering myself. Weekends have become the time in which I sleep, do my laundry, revise my resume for new prospects, and edit old papers to turn into writing samples.

Naturally I am exhausted. I just want to fast forward to August when I will be completely finished with my internship, my summer classes, and hopefully my time at PNC.

I have lately become obsessed with the idea of joining J in Chicago. As a result I am crawling all over job postings for technical writers and communication specialists within a 25 mile radius. I found one truly exciting prospect, but I think it is safe to say that the first job I would have in Chicago would probably be banking related.

How depressing.

Whatevs, I'm excited y'all!

Hear The Signs, and Know They're Speaking To You

I frequently like to tout the magic and wonder that is the city of Grand Rapids.  You are all sick of it, I know.

Don’t worry, that’s not what this is about.  I love my city, it’s growing, changing, and catching the attention of some very powerful people, but alas, this weekend I was reminded that Grand Rapids is not the end-all-be-all of places to wind up. 

I spent the weekend running around the Evanston/Chicago with my gorgeous BFF. 

We played beer pong over breakfast on the roof.

Tooled around Evanston in a Benz.

Took in some Regina Spektor.

…and Nelly.

Met the Turkish version of Jake Gyllenhaal

And giggled at inappropriate things, watched sexy foreigners run around without their shirts on, and just soaked up the time we spent together (awwwwwwwwe). 

Getting away from Grand Rapids, from my routine, and from all the people that have grown bored with me was nothing short of catharsis.   

Grand Rapids may always be my home, but I am really not ready to settle into a home life yet.  As of last week Thursday, I am 23 years old.  That’s young.  Too young to be tied down to a mortgage, too young to be tied down to anything. 

This weekend I am forcing myself to start a more rigorous job search.  Initial places of interest? Chicago, Charleston, Boston, anywhere that is big, beautiful, and entirely new to me. 

I am so ridiculously proud of J and the way she has made Chicago her own.  I’ve said it before but the girl is exactly where she needs to be.  She has established an entire life outside the four walls of Jenison, and it’s a GOOD life, full of wonderful people.  I love it.  And her. 

Some days you just want the rest of your life to happen right away.  Unfortunately these are the days in which I am stuck in a 3.5 hour class on Monday/Wednesday nights.

This is the first time in my life that I have ever anxiously awaited the end of summer.

We are Golden

It's been a while... seems like I should keep all three of you posted on my recent shenanigans...

These are things that happened in recent weeks:

I went back to blonde.

Its okay, I do what I want.

I graduated from GVSU with my writing degree.

Let the glamorous job offers roll in...

The delicious boys of Brena released their second album, I watched it all unfold.

You will know these boys soon enough.  Just watch.

National City officially became PNC.  National City no longer exists, unless you live in Indiana/Illinois.  You still have Nat City for another month.  Cherish it, their operating system was so much easier than PNC's.  

I started my internship at the Grand Rapids Children's Museum.  I don't have any fun pictures of that yet, but I'm sure some will come along soon enough.  Right now my job consists of me sitting at a desk fervently searching for relevant articles on how play benefits child development.

Basically I have convinced myself that I will not own a TV once I have kids.

I want my children to be so wonderfully weird and imaginative, and completely unaware of the existence of the Disney channel (unless they bring back Bug Juice).

I started my summer class: Writing in the Disciplines.  (I should be doing homework for that...)

The prof. is teaching us about dangling modifiers and what not.  That's what I get for taking a remedial class that I tested out of.  This girl needs four more credits before GVSU will stop holding her diploma captive.

After this I just need to complete Women's Self Defense and I am an official graduate.

I got out of going to the Bosnian wedding.  Loving that.

I got to not only see Butch Walker live:

I touched him.  Twice.  Somewhere around this point in the show:

My life is complete now.  I love this man. 

Other minor things:

-My neighbor's house caught fire (everyone is okay).
-I learned of the band "Locksley" and fell in love with them.
-I made the Dean's List for the first time ever in my collegiate career.
-Jenny came home for Mother's Day.
-I probably made some crafts and bought things I shouldn't have.

It's summer, which means I am smiling a lot more than I did over the winter.  I hope to have more time and less angst when it comes to blogging.  :)

Check Ignition and May God's Love be With You

I am in a constant state of counting down.

Countdown to my next paycheck...(nine days)
Countdown to Spring...(60 days)
Countdown to my birthday (May 27, for those interested)...(127 days)
Countdown to graduation...(????)
Countdown to moving away...(????)

Is this why I am such a boring person? I am so busy waiting for this moment to be over that I don't even consider what could be?

This isn't some uber-inspirational post about living for the moment, because in all honesty, I can't even begin to comprehend something like that.

The phrase is so overused, so cliche, that it has no real meaning to me.

However, a friend of mine was recently telling me about his Christmas break.

"Yeah, we just jumped in the car and took every freeway that said South," he told me. "Eventually we got to St. Petersburg[Florida]."

(Ahem) An impromptu 1,300 mile drive? Who is this guy? Doesn't he have a job to worry about? What about finding places to stay? Money for gas? What if the car broke down? Flat tire?

They spent one night in the car in Florida, another in a tent in a high school parking lot. And they have a story to tell.

What do I have to tell?

I spent Christmas break counting down the days until spring break (42 days).

Don't worry, I'm figuring this whole thing out. Perhaps I will someday learn to "live for the moment". Then I will have real stories to share.