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.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

My friend Bonnie died last week.

I met her in August 2009 when we were both about to start as freshman at Houghton College. Houghton has a two week wilderness adventure program that freshman can choose to participate in before starting the actual first semester. We both chose to participate.

Although we were in separate groups, one evening our leaders took everyone to the Houghton pool to have an evening splashing around and relaxing...and getting a bit cleaner since we were going without showers. Bonnie and I hadn't ever talked before but we saw each other, and I guess we each sized the other up as a friendly person worth conversing with.

We spent the rest of the time in the pool holding on to the side in the deep end and talking. We talked about Africa - she had grown up there as an MK - and our excitement and trepidation about starting college.

At the very beginning of college you meet a lot of people. You have no idea which of those people you'll actually keep hanging out with. Who will still be your friend at the end of four years of drama?

Bonnie and I were still friends.

It helped that she lived with her parents right there in Houghton, just up the hill from the campus. And her parents hosted a college student Bible study at their house that I started attending. I kept attending that Bible study as I was able throughout my time at Houghton - I even led it one semester - as long as I wasn't running off on semesters studying abroad.

During my senior year I lived in a basement apartment with 6 other girls, and Bonnie and her parents lived right across the street. She loved old movies so - among others - she made sure that I watched the epicly long comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World before I graduated.

Death makes me really sad. Although I am so happy that Bonnie is now with Jesus and fully healed - forever - of the cancer that slowly took her life over the past year, her parents and her friends are left here - without her. And that's not cool at all.

Thank you, Bonnie, for your friendship. Thanks for your cheerful hellos and happy hugs. Thanks for your honesty and your generosity.

Here's a picture that Bonnie drew of me after I spent a semester in Tanzania (she did the same semester the year after I did). It's a cross between Tangled and Tanzania. Looking at it makes me feel ready to go out and take on the world - or at least the bit of it that God is asking me to tackle.

Bethany Stobbe
Expert Tanzanian and Exceptional frying pan wielder
From: Bonnie

A Confession

So I haven't posted in a really long time. I don't really have an excuse, but if I was to give one, it would go something like this:

My family came down for Christmas and I spent two and a half weeks with them. So many wonderful things happened while they were here that I was overwhelmed thinking about writing about everything. Then more wonderful things happened in January. But I hadn't written about Christmas yet so I didn't write about January. And now it's February and that line of thinking has to stop.

In order to remedy this situation, I'm going to write up little posts more often, rather than one big one that would probably totally overwhelm me as a writer and you as a reader.

With all that out of the way, my mom is down here this week with my grandparents, helping them get a To Do list done. And they ended up coming down to visit me yesterday. Yay! So my grandparents finally had a chance to see the Discovery Center at Wycliffe, I gave them a tour of where I work, they visited my house, and we had a lovely visit.

My family is funny. And when I say that I mean it in both senses of the word. They are both funny - strange and complex in their own way - and funny - extremely hilarious and amusing. I love to laugh and I always laugh when I'm with my family. That is a very good thing.

Life on Fast Forward

The Day of the Doctor

Saturday, November 23, was a very special day. It was the 50th anniversary of the BBC show, Doctor Who. Yes, indeed, and I will admit to being a Whovian. I enjoyed seeing the special 50th anniversary episode both on Saturday afternoon - I was house-sitting so I actually had cable! - and on Monday evening in a movie theater IN 3-D with a friend. I promise I try to do lots of actually useful stuff with my life.

Thanksgiving at Dowling Park

At the end of November, I was finally able to go up to visit my grandparents in Florida - the snowbirds have arrived down south! When I'm there, I'm the chef and the chauffeur and the IT guy and the Christmas decorator. 

We ate Thanksgiving dinner in the dining hall with relatives, but I there were some traditional family holiday foods that I just couldn't live without. Behold a delicious slice of Dutch Crumb Apple Pie a la mode. Trust me, once you've had this pie, a normal pie crust on top will never satisfy. 

And if you desire a more tart experience for your taste buds, then you might be interested in this Cranberry Apricot Lattice Pie. This family favorite can be found on pages 288-289 of The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. And lucky for you, these pages are available on Google Books for free.

Santa's Marketing Elves

And then, last week, Christmas arrived in grand style. Wycliffe had a building-wide Christmas decorating competition. I work with a bunch of artistic, creative people. Together we decided, go big or go home. Behold the wonder of Santa's Marketing Workshop. 

The Elves have a countdown to Christmas, a live feed to Santa's reindeer, a fire and stockings with their names on them, snow falling on evergreen trees, lots of Christmas lights, lots of paper chains, 6 Christmas trees, a photo booth, Christmas cookies, hats, signs, and presents.

Peppermint "Peppy" Sugarplum is head of Santa's Letter Reading and Response department. She loves reading all the letters that children all over the world write to Santa, even those that are skeptical of his existence.

Merry Christmas!

Mom, Mommy, Mother, Mum, Mumsie, Momma, Mama: Bottom Line = She's Mine

I love my mum. I only have one, and I'm quite satisfied with the one I've got. One is quite enough. I know all this because this weekend mine came down to visit, and we had 4 whole days together that we packed full of adventures.

On Friday we had a SeaWorld day, brimming with fish, aquatic mammals, and a variety of other living creatures. We saw Shamu, rode the Manta roller coaster, thoroughly enjoyed the dolphin show, and froze in Antartica.

It's Christmas in the ocean already apparently. It even started snowing - in Florida, I know! - while we were there. OK, it was only a snow machine.

 I made friends with some manatees.

And a colony of penguins. I may have tried to go native there. That plan didn't succeed. Oh well. What can I say? I like birds.

Saturday we drove over to the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. After eating lunch at a special little restaurant named Loyd Have Mercy, where we dined sumptuously on grits, collards, and other southern delectables, we spent the afternoon driving along the Black Point Wildlife Drive observing...you guessed it...the wildlife.

Although it was a gray day, the clouds mostly behaved themselves by not raining on us when we ventured from the car to get a beach picture. After being together at the Pacific Ocean only three weeks earlier, we needed a photo like this to bookend our fall travels.

We went to my church on Sunday and had Tijuana Flats for lunch with my roommates and some friends. In the evening we dined in a restaurant on Park Ave in Winter Park. It's a really fun place to walk and enjoy a Florida evening. And there was a beautiful full moon.

My half birthday was on Monday. I took my mom on a grand tour of Wycliffe. This fulfilled two purposes: 1) My mother had a chance to see where I'm working and learn about what I'm working on and who I'm working with and 2) my coworkers and friends at Wycliffe had a chance to meet my mom. 'Twas a grand success.

No picture for the final event which was five hours of clothes shopping that afternoon. Those of you who have known me for a while know that until about two years ago I was quite content wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie almost continuously. This was my existence for several reasons, but a few major factors involve me being born without certain genes that most other females seem to have in abundance. I hate shopping. And my 'oh, this is SO cute' meter is non-existent. Blessings on my mother for helping me through the transition of trying to expand and mature my wardrobe. I think we are moving in the direction of victory.

My mom's pretty cool. And she's super cute too. My meter isn't that broken.