July 2015 (25x25)

Two months down! And I am quite excited to report that I have now officially crossed two things off of my list.

#10 Waterski twice this summer
#21 Visit Atlanta

And here's proof:

There's nothing like gliding over a still lake.

Atlanta involved seeing two friends and visits to the World of Coca-Cola, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and the Georgia Aquarium.

So much sugar!

Still friends even though we haven't seen each other in 2.5 years.

Whale sharks! And manta rays!

I also started reading The Silmarillion. Life doesn't get much better than reading about elves in a hammock in the woods of Maine.

Oh, right, and there was that thing about my sister getting married on July 4.

The Way Life Should Be

I'm still alive! Since I haven't posted since May, here's the highlights of each month.

June - I totaled my car. Not cool. I'm ok. My car is not. I now have a new car. Thankfully, no one else was in the car, and no one else was nearby to be involved in the smash. So basically I spent most of June figuring out insurance stuff and buying a new car. I had the opportunity to face one of my biggest fears - car buying. I'm so thankful for all the people who helped me during this frustrating period of my life. Goodbye, gold 2004 Chevrolet Impala. Hello, silver 2009 Toyota Camry.

July - I spent the whole month in Maine. By Maine, I mean a very specific area of woods on the shore of Little Ossipee Pond. After only being able to spend a couple weekends there the past two years, being able to be there for a whole month this summer was an absolute joy. I packed all of the Maine things into that month:

• picking wild blueberries
• fresh blueberry pie
• eating lobster and clams
• playing SOOO many games
• swimming
• sailing
• floating picnics
• 4th of July fireworks (on the 5th) from the pontoon boat
• naps in the hammock
• reading lots of books
• stargazing on the dock
• canoeing
• ice cream
• seeing old friends
• volunteering at New England Camp Cedarbrook
• late night talks with my sisters
• dancing on the pontoon boat under the stars with my sisters to music from the 40s and 50s
• listening to the loons - and seeing their baby
• sunset boat cruises
• misty mornings
• rainy, thundery days
• singing with my family
• climbing a mountain

August - Now I'm back in Orlando with all the people and experiences that make living here an adventure. After being here for over a year, I'm glad to say that by the end of my time in Maine, I was looking forward to being back in Florida. I'm from Massachusetts and Maine, but now Florida is my home. If I didn't call this home, then I'd always be away from home and that wouldn't be pleasant.

And now I have a whole collection of lovely photos of Maine to look at whenever I miss that happy place.

A Very Birthday Weekend

So I'm now 23. And I had an epic birthday weekend that involved the following:

• dinner at a fondue restaurant
• 23 candles in some delicious brownies
• a game night
• a sleepover
• a late night walk under the stars complete with our own musical soundtrack
• a day at Rock Springs tubing down the beautiful flowing spring water
• watching Godzilla in 3D
• BBQ
• an iced chai latte
• a pontoon boat ride AND a floating picnic dinner
• watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the Polynesian Resort

How did I still go to work on Monday and get things done? I'm not really sure but I did.

Here's some evidence of the tubing adventure part of the weekend.

Convertibles and Country Music

So I've been reminded by several people lately that I haven't been blogging. Sorry. I've been busy doing something called living life. It's kind of fun.

For example, last weekend I went up to The Villages to visit some relatives that are renting a place up there for the month of April. We rode around in their convertible, took a tour in their golf cart, and went swimming (in the adult pool, where technically you're not supposed to swim until you're over 30 years old...so I was 30 on Sunday - happy birthday to me!).

I got a haircut before I went up there. For the first time in about 11 months. It was about time. Here's a photo with both haircut and convertible.

We also bonded over country music. Have I shared that news yet? I decided in December that I like country music. It's now April and I'm still happy with that decision. Here's one of my favorites:

If you happen to also be a fan of the country music genre, feel free to offer up suggestions of artists or songs that you particularly like.

This weekend - today! - I'm headed down to Naples to visit MY SISTER who's staying there for Easter break with a college friend of hers who's from there. So excited!

That's all for now.

Random night

Tonight is random night. I’ll post a whole bunch of random paragraphs, and if you have extra time with your life, you can creatively come up with some theme that brings them all together (other than the fact that they all have to do with my life).

After being in our house for almost 3 weeks, we finally got the key to our mailbox. Yay mail! I got a letter from my mommy; therefore, she is the best. Thank you, USPS, for doing your thing, however long it takes you.

I sponsor a child in Ethiopia through Compassion International. Her name is Mihret, and she’s 10 years old. I need to write her a letter because then she can say ‘Yay mail!’ too. Hold me accountable.

Tijuana Flats is a Tex-Mex fast food chain I’ve been introduced to since moving down here. It’s several steps up from Taco Bell, which I think I’ve eaten at only once in my life. A group from my department goes to Tijuana Flats for lunch on Taco Tuesdaze.

My middle sister is back from her summer in Costa Rica. My whole family called me on Sunday evening to tell me all about the wonderful barbeque they were having at the cottage on the lake. And to say that they missed me. I’ll admit it: I miss them too. And the lake. In contrast, I was at the Orlando Premium Outlets on tax-free weekend cause you know that shopping is my addiction. J

They announced the new Doctor on Sunday! In December we have to say farewell to Matt Smith and hello to Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. If you haven’t ever watched Doctor Who, you’re missing out on some lovely British sci-fi telly.

I’m in the middle of applying to be a Big Sister through the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Florida. I am so glad for the time I was able to spend with my Little Sister at Houghton, and I am looking forward to getting to know another one here in Orlando.

After all that, I did sort of come up with a theme. Did you find it? Happy Tuesday evening!

A Tour

When I went to my blogger dashboard tonight to write this post, my stats said I was at 1000 pageviews. I would just like to mark this moment. Huzzah! Now onwards...

Tonight you get a tour of my new room because finally I am all settled in my new house. Be warned: My room is definitely decorated Bethany-style. There is no rhyme or reason to why things are the way they are other than the fact that they are the way I like them to be.

Mostly I love my room because it reminds me of so many people who have been or are a part of my life. As I sit and type, I feel surrounded by the love and care of wonderful friends - some new and some as old as I am.

When you enter my room, here's what you see:

For starters, the quilt was made by my paternal grandmother for my high school graduation. Lovely, isn't it? The puffin photo above the window was a gift from my youngest sister as a memento of a family vacation to Acadia National Park and a whale and puffin boat tour. The fabric over the headboard of my bed was a present from my town homestay family in Tanzania. And on the wall is the Tanzanian flag.

Then if you turn to the left, you'll have this view:

There's so much here, I don't even know where to start. I'll give bullet highlights.

• Starting on the top left of the bookshelf you'll Swiss Miss, my chocolate lab puppy from Celebration, FL, when I visited Disney for the first time (and only time before moving down) in 2004; Loony is back!; the candle was a graduation present from my aunt; I'm plant-sitting Miss Cactus for my maternal grandmother while she's up north for the summer; and the kanga (a piece of cloth which, sadly, you can't see) was brought to me from Kenya by a good friend.
• On the second shelf, those binoculars traveled all through Tanzania and western New York on birding expeditions.
• The TARDIS makes an appearance on a mug on the third shelf - a present from my youngest sister.
• The little woodstove on the fourth shelf joined the collection during a family road trip out to Montana, during which we stopped at the Laura Ingalls Wilder homes. This memento, actually a pencil sharpener, hails from her birthplace of Pepin, Wisconsin.
• On the very bottom shelf you'll see a tile on the left. That was a gift from a good friend who spent a summer in Mexico.
• Above my bed on the wall you'll see a poster of a painting by Monet that's at the National Gallery in London. It's actually of the Thames River and Elizabeth Tower. You may know the tower as Big Ben, but that's actually the bell in the tower. Formerly known as the Clock Tower, it was renamed in 2012 in honor of the Queen. I don't tend to buy stuff for myself, but I got this in London as a reminder of my semester there. (True Confessions: The flag I actually bought in Epcot at the United Kingdom Pavilion in World Showcase.)

And moving on, you have the less exciting area of...my closet:

It does have going for it the plus that it is the largest closet I have ever had. By about 3x. So much space! The cloth you see there is a kitenge, brought to me from Tanzania by yet another good friend. On the door is a drawing of me with a frying pan in a tree as Rapunzel made by a good college friend. And on the wall to the left you'll some photos from the wedding of an awesome girl I've known since I was born, accompanied by a cool tiny quilt made for me by one of my college roommates. It's based off a photo of a boathouse on my family's island on a lake in Maine. Makes me want to be there.

And last, but not least, I have a dresser!!!

With way more drawers than I have stuff. That's a good thing, I guess. The t-shirt quilt on the chair was made for me by my middle sister. Soooooooooo many good memories associated with the t-shirts in that quilt. My mommy gave me the bird-ness hanging on the wall, and the kanga on the dresser was a present from my village homestay family in Tanzania.

And there you have it! I'm here for a whole year. That will be a first. I've NEVER lived in one place for an entire year. Ever. Even though my family has lived in the same house for almost my entire life, we would pack up every summer and move to our cottage in Maine for several months. So here goes a new experience: living in one place.

P.S. All the furniture was either donated or loaned to the good cause of getting me settled. Many thanks to a church friend, a roommate, and my manager at work for their thoughtfulness. The only way I can repay you is by passing on the favor to someone else in the future.