[insert your life here]

Friday morning in all its glory:

I woke up to the sun shine flooding the small living room of my older sister's 3rd floor apartment. My eyes weren't tired anymore but thankful for the first picture they were greeted with: rolling green hills with a valley full of living accomodations for college students and families. Bekah and I ate breakfast together as I read to her the duties she must complete for her "room inspection" at the end of the semester. "Yes, Bekah, you can move the refridgerator from the wall and vacuum behind it." Everything is non-abrasive; everything will be shiny. My lazy morning continues as I prepare to get "artsy" to the tune of the WWU marching band practicing somewhere in the valley. The brassy calls and sick drum beats echo off the hills coming back to the small living room of my older sister's 3rd floor apartment.

See, I told you: glory.

The afternoon ran something like this: Another sunny lunch hour by the waterside reading another chapter of CS Lewis' Mere Christianity. Yes, this book has been on my reading list since 11th grade. It's finally being read and I think it's being more enjoyed than it would've been thanks to what I learned this past semester in Moral Philosophy and Philosophy of religion. Kudos for education!

After making my cheeks rosy and coming to the conclusion that I don't tan I just pink I returned to work. Did some photoshoppin' and some freehandin' then met up with Sarah. We sped home. I packed. I sped to Bellevue. Picked up the package. Sped to Edmonds (all the while sarah earl jones was my book on tape reading book 3 of Harry Pottah to me in her sultry yet dignified voice: props) and at some point I borded a train to Bellingham.

I forgot to wear my BNSF train shirt. I rode a train and didn't wear my train shirt.... what is wrong with me!? Well, I have been forgetting and misjudging a lot lately. My lax Lithuanian way of letting things happen just doesn't really fly in American culture. Sarah and I left her bike in the back of the truck the other night. Someone else decided to take it out for us. Yeah. that wasn't good. But the strange occurence showed to me how much my dear little sister has matured in the past year. She handled the shock of losing Augustus with amazing patience and grace. Sarah gets two high fives and a pat on the back.

So I rode the train not in my train shirt but in a black tank top. That'll have to do. I had always wanted to ride the edmonds to bellingham line in the day time. The coast line was beautiful. As I rode north it hit me that I was returning again. It's a perpetual returning after the four.5 months in Lithuania and Europe. Tonight I stopped in Bellingham to play Scattergories with my dear older sister Bekah and her roommates, Then tomorrow it's on to my other home away from home: Langley British Columbia. The road to the border will be the first oddity. Crossing the border the next. And the first time I see the TWU campus again... so odd! But I love odd things so I am really looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of the weekend as it is my dear mister moes' birthday.

Happy 21st Birthday James!

Ok, I should let Bekah get to bed so she can rest before her final final tomorrow morning. I will make her muffins and then drive her to school (I am practicing my mothering skills).

If you want a good read check out the journals on my friend Shawn Kelley's travel site. He and his wife Danielle are going to Kenya for 11 weeks for a travel study and then helping out missionaries in the country. What an experience! Tell them how cool they are in the comments: Kenya

Amanda and I are going to meet atleast once a week this summer for a few minutes of encouragement and conversation. We did it via e-mail in the fall and I am realizing how invaluable that accountability was for me. There were certain overarching themes from my time in Lithuania that Amanda has encountered here in Seattle in a different way: childcare. From suffering to the role of history (in our pasts and our presents) three yearolds provide excellent case studies for soceity.

She also retold for me the story in a little tract called "My Heart Christ's Home." A piece that fits in the puzzle God has been helping me put together in the last few days. My friend Veronica said it best: "I'm taking the summer to really narrow down my life to the motivations that matter, and the time to be centered and still in what's often a chaotic life."

Tomorrow I start my second week of work at dtm and training for a possible STP (Seattle to Portland) bike excursion with my Dad and a friend from church. It'll be a good week!

(and as a side note, this looks like fun: Lollapalooza 2004 Lineup Day 1 Morrissey, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey *, Le Tigre, Modest Mouse, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Von Bondies, Broken Social Scene, The Walkmen, Wolf Eyes, Danger Mouse, Datsuns, Sparta, DJ Peretz Day 2 String Cheese Incident, Flaming Lips, Gomez, Polyphonic Spree, The Thrills, Fire Theft, The Coup, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Elbow, Wheat, DJ Peretz)

It's highly likely that I will be unpacking all summer long only to pack up again in less than three months. This is such an odd way to live... it's a perpetual moving. This summer is going to run away from me.

informercials are redundant... but redundancy isn't always that bad. However, in the case of infomercials: redundancy is bad. It's better to get up and turn off the background media.