goodbye!

this is the last i will write on this blog. it has been a good time though i apologize for my occasional lack of updates. hopefully i'll be better with my new one! i will now be writing at www.sewitall.blogspot.com so check that out. thanks to everyone that has been reading for the last few months!

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churches and cleansing

it has been awhile since i wrote, i know. i don't know who is even going to continue reading this. but alas, i shall continue to write.

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i have been here for two weeks now, and it is going well. i don't love it here yet, i need to find a church and friends first. that will help. i went with kelly to her church last week, st louis catholic and i hate to admit it, but i really didn't like it. it was definitly not the place for me. luckily, kelly is really into helping me find a church home so she has been asking everyone she knows. i just got home from going to a brand new church (this was their third week meeting) called dc metro church that meets in a movie theater. it was okay. but just okay. the worship was trying too hard to be edgy and for some reason, people that use little head set microphones really bug me. the message wasn't bad, it was about dispelling common myths about god, but i am used to a church that goes through a particular passage. when you can sit through a whole sermon without opening your bible and reading something for yourself, that doesn't feel right.

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i am not totally discounting it. i think i'll give it another shot. as i sat there though, i thought about how this world doesn't need any new churches. there are so many, especially in this country! we need to be more willing to come alongside other believers in churches that already exist and bring our gifts and talents there. churches that are dead need life brought back into them! there are so many divisions in the church, i think that it breaks god's heart. we are all one body in christ! i think we all need to learn how to live that out better. myself included big time.

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in other news, i am planning on starting the master cleanse tomorrow. i find it kinda funny because while so many of my friends did it in minneapolis, i vowed i never could. but now i am. i feel like over the summer with all my transience, i didn't take the best care of my body. the other day, that so inspired me to make this decision. i'm actually excited about it! i wish that someone was doing it with me so i could have support but instead, all of you are going to support me. i am going to try and write a "report" on my progress every day for the 10 days that i do it. i hope that afterwards, i will be able to change my habits in dieting and exercise and become a healthier person. this will be fun!

finally.

the final stretch to virginia was long but uneventful. before church, we went to a coffee shop that was highly recommended by my friend holly and it was a really cool place. i would have liked to have spent some time there. mars hill was a really neat experience. it meant a lot to me that my dad came and i think it was alright for him. rob bell was there which was awesome; he is really tall! it was a great sermon about entering the kingdom as little children. grand rapids was really pretty from what i saw, i wish that i could have spent more time there too, maybe with someone to show me around. i'll go back one day.

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my poor cats were pretty uncomfortable but they made it fine. so many changes! they hadn't let me sleep very well at the hotel but i was able to nap in the car. we didn't stop very much because i was just anxious to get there. i slept through most of ohio and pennsylvania kinda just kept going. by 11 o'clock last night, we finally made it.

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my dad and i not doing anything exciting before he goes home tomorrow. but that's okay. joseph and michael start school tomorrow and then things will fall into sme sort of routine which i look forward to. this should be a fun experience.

say yes! to m!ch!gan

right now i am sitting in a hotel room in east grand rapids while my cats explore this strange new ground. the poor things have been in a carrier all day long. they have been quiet though not eating, drinking, or using the litter box. i think they are about as stressed out as i have been the last couple of days. ---- the drive through wisconsin was not very exciting, as usual. it definitly isn't the ugliest state i've driven through. we took the lake express ferry across lake michigan which was very beautiful. it was also very windy. the sunset over milwaukee was cloudless but colorful and the moonrise over muskegon was golden. it was the darkest night i have seen in awhile. the album leaf was a perfect soundtrack to it. ---- tomorrow i will go to mars hill bible church which i am quite excited about. and i'm excited that my dad is coming with me. i just hope rob bell is the one that's actually speaking. and after the service it is back on the road for an 11 hour drive to my new home. fun times!

moving day

it's actually here and i'm ready for it. i have been kinda flustered and stressed out the last couple days, just being ready to leave. and now the day has come. i didn't get to hang out with anyone as much as i would have liked but, such is life. i will miss this place that i have called home for the last two years very dearly. but i'll be back someday. right now, it's time to move on...

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goodbye.

money sucks

and sometimes, the absense of it sucks even more. i hate being broke, at least being where i am right now. i would love to take friends out to dinner (or at least go with them), or drinks, or buy one last yard of fabric from crafty planet, or buy a mpls messenger bag, or buy gas so i could go to duluth...

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but alas, i am beyond broke.

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my dad comes tomorrow which i am very excited about. we leave on saturday to start a new chapter of my life.

reading and hearing. part two.

at this very moment i am listening to all the death cab for cutie albums on random. i think that they are a great band.

9 :

i foolishly only brought one book with me out here and read it in two days. it was "the road" by cormack maccarthy and it was bleak and kinda depressing but it was really good none-the-less. now i am reading two books, "cross country" by robert sullivan which is about just that. he has travelled across the country some 30 times in his life and he's writing about it. i also started "the brothers karamazov" be dostoevsky which i have wanted to read for a long time.

9 :

yay for books! and music!

today was the most beautiful day ever. well, maybe that's over-stating it a little bit but it was almost perfect. i rode my bike (finally a good biking day!) down to the river and sat along it's banks for a couple hours writing a letter and journaling and watching people and their dogs. the clouds were really fluffy and awesome. i rode around and took a few pictures and went to the library and walked around downtown. it was a very nice afternoon.

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every day up until now has been rainy and grey which is perfect weather to have to wear a sweatshirt and drink lots of tea and read books and sew and bake pies. but i was so very antsy to ride my bike and today was just right for that.

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i am enjoying my stay in minneapolis. i haven't done a whole lot or gone many places (i'm trying to avoid using my car as much as possible) but staying at the houses of my friends has been really wonderful. i will miss this place a lot.

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but alas, i am on to different things (if not bigger and better).

ode to mother

it has been brought to my attention that i thank my dad a lot in this and i am sorry to say that i have failed to mention and give thanks to my mom. she has helped in my trip as well (just less tangibly perhaps). there was this quote mentioned in a sermon i listened to yesterday that said

"being a parent is like your heart leaving your body and walking around out there."

it reminded me of how it must feel for my mom. and her heart has done a lot of walking in the last six weeks, much less the last 22 years.

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so thank you mom for your love and your support and for consistently checking up on me and hugs via the phone. i love you! and happy birthday. haha. (it's actually in april.)

YAY!

i am now back in my beloved minneapolis and i'm so happy. the weather is beautiful and i can't wait for many lovely bike rides and other various adventures. driving back was fairly leisurely and fun, actually. even wisconsin seemed beautiful! coming into the city and seeing the skyline that i call home was wonderful... here's to two wonderful weeks (of closure).