Scattered thoughts and deeds of the day.

Thoughts and deeds of the day:

• I miss Joseph Johannes.  He's a brilliant man from Ethiopic that we worked with on my mission. He was this adorable guy that felt like the Ethiopian/Italian version of a dad or grandpa. For some reason the memory of this odd snack he used to make us when we were at his house came to mind.  Saltine crackers with little slices of banana.  He would always get a big grin on his face and (re)explain that it's delicious because of the salty and sweet combination.  I love that man.  And I love that snack because it reminds me of him.
• I painted my nails today.  I never paint my nails.  And wouldn't you know that I smeared them.  It was worth a shot and they were cute for a minute...so I'm going to go ahead and say it was worth it. haha
• My brother-in-law gave me a jersey of France's lacrosse team.  He gave it to me because it was too small for him, and while it's too big for me, I don't mind.  It's a wonderful pajama shirt that has "France" written on it.  How silly that sporting anything with that country's name makes me happy.
• I've been listening to "Boom Clap" by Charli a fair bit.  I don't know what it is about that song.  Perhaps because it's peppy and care free.  Or maybe because I first heard it in the trailer to a hilarious yet effective sob-fest of a film "A Fault In Our Stars".  Unknown.  But sometimes my music doesn't have to be deep or ground breaking.  
• I sure am white.  Shouldn't I be darker than this in the middle of the summer?  
• A trip to the grocery store had me coming home a proud owner of Biotin.  Does it really make hair grow faster and healthy?  Time will tell.  But the prospect of trying something new (even if it's a silly vitamin for my hair) is something that I'm nerdily looking forward to tracking.
• I watched a wee bit of "So You Think You Can Dance" tonight.  At times I find it disturbing how incredibly flexible not only the women, but the men are on that show.  I remember being in Junior High and being determined to do the splits.  I gave myself like a month deadline, stretched after school and was so excited when I got close. haha Perhaps some day I'll recommit to that hilarious goal.  But maybe I should babystep my way there...like learning how to paint my nails like an adult. haha
• Between a great conversation with my boss at the Italian restaurant where I work and some really cool customers, I had a surge of excitement for this fall in NYC.  My life plans came up in conversation and it was fun to watch other people light up with excitement.  I'm grateful that my life has been exciting (in my opinion) and will continue to be exciting (again, in my opinion haha) with some upcoming adventures on the horizon.  I hope I always see my life as something exciting, something to smile about and be proud of.

Not a bad day.

Parable of the Life Vests

Sometimes my life makes more sense to me when I break things down and look at it from different perspectives.  Hence why you'll see random Mallory-made parables on here every now and then.  I don't know when it all started but they help me.  I figured I would share them in case they do anything for you.  Today's comes with some some nice 'n cheesy google images.  Be excited. :)

I noticed a pattern in my life that kind of bothered me.  It seemed I've gone through phases where my relationship with God isn't as consistent as I would like it to be.  And for some reason, it's not until it feels like everything comes crashing down that I realize how desperately I need to get on my knees and have a deep, meaningful, heart-to-heart with the big guy.  I've been thinking a lot about why that's been something that I've done (and I'm assuming other people do it too, perhaps on varying levels).  Here's what I've come up with.

I wonder if we view our relationship with God (at times) as similar to the one we have with a life vest on an airplane.

You know, you get on the flight and everything's fine.  You watch you movie, eat your free pretzels, and think that life is good.  No one pays their life vest any mind until lights are flashing, people are screaming and your in the middle of a panic attack because everything's going down--literally. THEN everyone frantically grasps for their life vests because it is literally the only thing that can save them.  

However, I think the way it ought to be is if we had a relationship with God, like the one we have with a life vest while river rafting.

Regardless of whether the waters are calm or rough, you keep your life vest on.  In this past time, wearing a life vest is viewed as having value all the time.  It doesn't matter if you get to a calm part, people aren't taking their life vests on and off.  You're more aware of your reliance on them.  They're strapped on every moment you're on the water.

I just want to be the type of person that has a wonderful relationship with God, because I put honest, sincere effort into our relationship whether the waters in my life are calm or rough.  I don't need to ignore the value in relying on Him until I'm in a tough spot.  But rather, I need to continually work to see the value of consistent, sincere prayer and reflection daily.  It will keep me afloat and...as happy as those people in the cheesy picture above. :)  That's all.

Mal

Moving, working with Italians, discovering a happy place

The Elders showed up at my house and challenged me to write in my journal.  I feel like blogging is a compromise.  I'm behind, as usual, and there is much to update.

Soo...in case you didn't know, I moved out of Virginia.  It was time.  I had worked for an Endocrinologist out there for a year and some change,  met some friends that are so dear to me, got to live 15 minutes away from our nation's capital, and had an incredible aunt and uncle close by.  It was a lot of great things and a very effective learning experience for me.  I'm glad that I went and am glad that I was able to recognize when it was time to go.

For the last couple of months I've been living with my sister Kim, her husband and their two children.  Of the five kids in our family, I feel like they've lived away from the rest of the family the most.  It's been so nice to spend time with my nephews, work out with my sister and enjoy some family time.  They are so nice to let me stay and have been such a breath of fresh air.  It's been great for me to regroup.

I'm working two jobs right now.  During the day I work for an Orthodontist in my sisters ward.  I am their receptionist...until they hire someone else.  haha Essentially I was a quick fix until someone more permanent could be found.  I'm okay with that though.  He pays me well, is a great boss, and it turns out employment is a pretty satisfying thing...among others.

My second job is at a mom and pop Italian restaurant/cafe.  The owner is from Sicily.  Kim and I went one day to get pastries and after speaking with him in Italian for a bit, he offered me a job.  It was awesome.  I've been able to get some waitressing experience, which has been fun.  And not only the owner, but his niece and nephew (who work in the kitchen) are also Italian.  So I've been able to practice my mission language.  It's pretty absurd how happy it makes me to speak it.

Before leaving Virginia, I had received a few acceptance letters from different grad schools.  If you don't know me, I really struggle making decisions.  It's a problem.  Simple things like:  what kind of ice cream should I get, which movie do I want to see, what should I wear today.  It's awkward.  I always manage just fine, but I'm just indecisive sometimes.  So alas, trying to decide which university I want to go into mass amounts of debt with, was nearly making me breathe into a paper bag.  After a lot of thought and...very effectively putting off the decision, I finally buckled down and wrote an acceptance letter to NYU.  It felt right and the more time passes, the more I continue to feel good about it.

Now the idea of moving to New York.  I have such a funny history with that city.  The first time I went, I was 18 years old and was on a church history tour with a bunch of kids from my high school.  I hated it.  It was June, hot, muggy and I didn't get what the big deal was about the city.  But after living in France and Italy, city life has grown on me.  Certain phases in Virginia were a struggle for me.  I made some poor dating decisions, was stressed about family stuff, and wasn't obsessed with where I was living.  When I had a rough week at work, was missing dear friends, etc I would buy a $40 round trip bus ticket to New York.  Sometimes it was just a day trip, other times I would sleep over at my friend Jana's house.  We'd go see "Once", wander through Central Park, grab a bite at Shake Shack, etc.  After one particular week, I was on the bus, trying to clear my head and I decided, "Today in New York, I'm going to take pictures of things that make me happy."  I spent the day taking pics of a man in Little Italy dressed up as a cannoli, cool street grafiti, Central Park musicians, a funny bumper sticker that I saw on a telephone pole, etc.

There was a pattern that I hadn't noticed.  My ol' friend "hindsight" is good at helping me see crap that like.  I came to realize that New York was my happy place.  When things felt like a mess, I went to my happy place.  Who knew that a city that I thought was yucky and dirty at the age of 18 would one day become my escape?  I'm certain that if it weren't for these situations that lead me to New York, there's absolutely no way I would have discovered that I love it or that I would have applied to any schools there.  It's funny how life works out huh?  The situations that were stressing me out or hurting my heart at the time, lead me to a place where I felt at home, happy, and like I could breathe.  It was wonderful. One day I thought, "Mallory, why don't you live in your happy place?".  So that's exactly what I intend to do.

Expectations vs. Reality, NYC and dating ridiculousness...

Life has been a whirlwind.  I have lived in Virginia for over a year now.  I can't believe it.  It's gone so fast and has been nothing like I was expecting. haha  I think frequently of the film "500 Days of Summer".  Particularly of the part where the film goes into a split screen comparing JGL's expectations going into an evening with someone he used to date, and the reality of what actually happened.  It amuses me comparing the two versions of my life--expectations and reality.  My life has not been the Rachel McAdams film that I had expected, but has brought a fair amount of hilarity, amazing people, challenging experiences (aka opportunities for growth haha) and lots of learning.

I thought I was going to go back to Africa this summer for work.  I was sooo excited about the idea of leaving my mediocre place of work and get to do something 100% fulfilling again with people I had given part of my heart to.  Well....it fell through, which was really sad, but allowed for a brilliant thing to happen.  I called my sister and said, "Kim, Africa fell through.  I won't have a boring summer.  Wanna go to NYC with me?"  If you don't know my sister, you should.  She's wonderful in every way.  She agreed to join me in NYC and planning commenced on what was to be the most amazing sisters trip that ever did happen.  The first of many, we've decided.  

We went to a museum which was originally really not our cup of tea.  Just lots of weird art that we were having a hard time appreciating...until we stumbled upon this beauty:

It quite literally took my breath away.  We just stood in front of it for a while in awe.  Van Gogh, you quirky genius.  I love that you took a piece of paper and created something that took my breath away and made me very happy.  It was a beautiful moment.  Just happening upon "Starry Night".  Absurd and beautiful all at the same time.

We went to a broadway called "Lucky Guy" for the simple fact that Tom Hanks was the lead.  He is hilarious to me.  It was so cool to see him in real life.  The broadway was not my favorite of the ones that we saw, but seeing Tom Hanks was super cool.  Kim and I waited afterwards to catch a glimpse of him.  And that's exactly what we got.  But it was perfect.

As a side note, while we were waiting for ol' Tom to come out of the theater, Kim and I got to witness something equally exciting as it was hilarious.  There was a cop that was fiercely attractive and yet I was also scared of him.  haha  I know.   I've never experienced it before.  He made a great cop.  As a crook, I would get scared out of my mind at the sight of this gent coming in my general direction.  He was ripped, had distinguished eyebrows that gave him a stern look and a walk that commanded attention.  Yet despite being intimidating he was also fiercely attractive.  I cannot explain further because I have never before experienced something of the sort.  

Kim and I were standing amongst a huge crowd, flooding the sidewalks, waiting for Tom Hanks to come out of the theater.  They had us all fenced off, leaving the streets clear, and policemen on horseback were constantly shooing passersby out of the street.  The fiercely attractive cop was pacing the area where Kim and I were scrunched...and fenced in.  Kim said she saw the cop talking to others, looking in our general direction, talking about a pick pocket.  They stayed close to where we were standing but tried to act causal.  Kim and I were nervously excited, grabbed our purses a little tighter but were watching the cops and the door of the theater at the same time...not sure which plot line in our lives was more exciting.  After Tom left, there was a bit of a scurry as the cops arrested someone (who had been standing near us in the crowd).  Kim and I were a bit ridiculous as we nonchalantly walked up and down the sidewalk, trying to overhear what the guy was guilty of.  It turns out we didn't really need to be worried about our purses at all.  The guy had been rubbing up against women in the crowd.  haha Yes.  Gross.  And real.  Apparently our ruby jewels were what were actually in danger.  Terrifyingly handsome cop saving us from a pervert on the loose?  Check. haha 

We accomplished so many lovely things on this trip.  We went for a jog through Central Park, played in FAO Schwartz, laughed our way through the NBC store, drooled our way through Little Italy (because of both the italians and culinary successes in that part of town), visited Ground Zero, went to the top of the Empire State Building, did sealings in the temple, meandered Grand Central Station, quoted "Arthur" daily, and had nothing but delicious food...everyday.  She's pretty much my favorite travel companion to date.  We love each other to bits, never run out of things to talk about, laugh all day and love living every moment of our time together from early morning to late at night. We saw Cinderella, Peter and the Star Catcher, Lucky and...Once.  Oh my...can we just talk about Once for a second?

We got to the theater a little late, but we snuck in and sat down in the middle of the cast having a bit of a jam session.  The cast has probably ten people, all singing and playing their own instruments.  Violin, mandolin, guitar, accordion, etc.  Perhaps it's because it taps into a genre of music that I love, but I was swept away from the beginning.  It opens with the main character singing a song all by himself on his guitar.  The song is called "Leave" and holy crap bag...this musical had a hold of me from that song forward.  The music was gorgeous.  The cast was perfect.  And I felt such a connection with the main character and the phase of his life the leading lass gets him out of.  I'm so thankful for music and the capacity it has to inspire.  This broadway was one of the highlights of my trip.  I'm so glad I got to experience it with my sis.

It was hard to say goodbye.  My sister and I didn't dislike each other but nor were we super tight growing up.  I love that we get tighter every year.  She's one of my best friends.  I love our long talks, her constant support, numerous laughs, she's one of my biggest fans and I'm definitely one of hers.  I hate that I took for granted the years that we lived under the same roof.  But love that in spite of the distance, we're very close.  I love her and am glad we were able to share this trip together.  It was perfect in every possible way.

Since New York, I moved with one of the doctors that I work with, to an office in Fairfax.  It's not my dream job or what I hope to be doing for the rest of my life.  But I have a job, I'm financially independent, and my boss loves me.  Counting my blessings.

Dating

As far as dating goes, my dear has this last year been a learning experience.  I have learned that I attract a rare breed.  And unfortunately, for some reason, I date them.  haha I would love to compile all of my dating stories one day.  I have some pretty ridiculous stories.  Perhaps I can share them with my kids one day in a book entitled "Gentlemen that made it clear that your father was the one for me".  haha 

I dated a guy for a couple of months that is not a member of the church.  (I attract those a lot for some reason.)  He was really handsome and adored me.  I go to church every sunday with a bunch of guys in ties that just want to be my friend.  So having someone that recognized me as a catch, got my attention, and I felt like I could give him a shot. He, however, worked part time--in a grocery store, took 7 years to finish his associates degree, and two months into our relationship told me that he had lied about his age. haha Yeah, real.  Sometimes I think I'm getting punk'd.  I'm not.  It's just my life.  I sat by him in the car, in disbelief and said, "So...you lied to me about who you were so that I would go out with you?  Right?  You know who else does that?  Sexual predators." haha He didn't think it was as funny as I did.  But I needed to help him understand that people don't do that and it's not okay.  Needless to say, I feel like I shouldn't be dating a man whose drivers license knows more about him than I do.  We broke up, and he continues to happily stock the produce at the neighborhood grocery store.  Good times.

My other favorite is the times when I've had a few dark chocolate skinned gents envision our children together (again, real...unfortunately) and how they'll have blond curly hair.  Cough...I hate to point out the punnett square in the room, but that doesn't make any sense.  We recessive folk don't stand a chance if we don't marry other pasty blonds.  But thank you for amusing me and creeping me out by envisioning the children that you and I will not be having together. haha 

As much as I have wanted to be the girl that gives guys the benefit of the doubt and give guys chances...I feel like I need to be very careful with this.  I realize now that it's good to keep an open mind, but don't waste his or my time if there's nothing there or in "waiting" to see if feelings will develop.  For some reason I've been allowing guys to take me out that have very different goals, contrasting views on religion (which is just non-negotiable to me), contrasting work ethic and greatly differing personalities.  Things I have learned:

• If I don't want to be seen in public with him, that's a pretty good sign I'm not interested in him.  I should want to be able to say, "I'm with that guy."  If I don't feel that way, it's probably because I'm allowing someone that I view as a friend to date me.  And we should therefore just remain friends.
• Relationships take work, yes.  But I should be happy.  In hindsight, all of the relationships that I've been in have been exhausting.  I've been tired, stressed out and not happy...probably because I'm forcing myself to stay in a relationship that the guys wants...and am ignoring the fact that I don't want it.  You should be happy. 
• There is wisdom in going out on planned dates.  
• Your patriarchal blessing is your friend.  I remember when I got my patriarchal blessing (I was 21), I was kind of disappointed that it didn't give me my future husbands name, where I would meet him and when.  haha I was really disappointed because I thought it was really vague and that he could be anyone.  Alas, in hindsight, if I had paid attention to my patriarchal blessing and the type of man God has promised me I'll marry, I wouldn't have dated any of the men from the past year.  They clearly weren't the right one.  It turns out, there is wisdom in having faith in Gods plan.

So here we are, a year in to my life here in Virginia.  It's been nothing that I had expected.  But I'm thankful for what I have right now.  Thankful for the mistakes that I have learned from and will not be repeating, and thankful for plans for the future.  I'm applying to grad schools in Social Work and Public Health.  I'm excited to further my education and to have a goal to work towards.  I don't like being stagnant.  I'm thankful for "Once" in helping me to understand that I can be "unstuck".  Til next post,

Mal

Arizona, the Family Littles, Things I hear...

It's been a long time since I've blogged.  Surprise, surprise.

Things have been kinda crazy here.  I have lots of things to update you on.

My brother Adam graduated from Thunderbird with his Masters in International Business.  I'm very proud of him.  He's worked very hard and has a great job in Kansas with his darling little family.  Congrats poopsiekins.

My handsome nephew Hayze was born.  I am so glad it worked out that I got to stop by and see him for a little bit.  He's teeny tiny and completely perfect.  I was already in love with him from the texts that I had received when he was born but finally being able to hold him was the best.  I'm obsessed with him.  The cutest, most perfect little baby.

Aannnddd it didn't hurt that spending time with my new nephew also meant that I got to see my brother, lovely sister-in-law and these two ladies who make me laugh all the time.  It's out of control how cute they are.  I adore them.

Kimmy and her two gents were able to come to Adams big day as well.  Again, how is it possible that my siblings make the cutest kids alive?!  It's one of the hardest parts about living so far away...having to  only see pictures of these tiny people that I adore and not be able to play with them.  

 Tate and my gorgeous big sis Kimmy.  Adore.  Both of them.  Everyday. All the time.

Look at the cheeks on that boy.  They want me to kiss them...all the time.

Speaking of cheeks, it was fun to see and play with my little niece Abby.  She is a doll.

So back to Virginia.  I'm still working at the hospital and teaching Sunday School.  I've been doing a lot of praying to decide where I need to be right now and what the right thing is for me to do.  It's been frustrating at times but I think personal revelation is the coolest thing.  How cool is it that God can tell each of us personally what we should be doing with our lives right now.  It's been a great experience for me and I'm thankful that I can make these decisions by myself and know what's right.  

Favorite quotes lately:

My co-worker said to me the other day after overhearing me singing to a song on the radio, "Wow, Mallory I'm impressed.  I didn't think you were the type to know these songs.  I thought you just knew...like church songs."  haha Yep, because they know I'm religious, they think I know nothing but hymns apparently. haha Nice.

My co-worker thinks it's cool that everyone in the office is from a different country.  

Dr. D from Czech Republic

Dr. A from Venezuela

Rosa from El Salvador

Trisha from Vietnam

Then...me.

Rosa has told several patients as they're checking out, "We're an international office."  As she proceeds to tell where everyone in the office is from, she finishes with, "And Mallory is Native American."  haha I think it's hysterical.  Apparently because I was born here (native??) she thinks that is what defines a "Native American".  I can't bring myself to correct her because I think it's funny.

Today after church I was at Munch N' Mingle (yep, that's a real thing. Be jealous.) and while I was in a conversation with a couple of people, I heard in a conversation next to me a gentleman saying, "It's like when Mallory Hansen walks into the room..that curly hair takes my breath away."  I'm pretty sure he was kinda teasing me/trying to get my attention but...either way, I didn't hate it. haha 

Things are good.  I have a vaca to New York that needs to be blogged about because it rocked my socks.  But for now, I'm pleased to have updated this ol' thing in any way.  Hope all is well with you readers.  Love from Virginia,

Mals

Suspenders, More Creeper Stories, My Next Big Plans...

I'm pretty much the worst at blogging consistently lately.  My apologies.  Though from my track record, I make no promises that it won't happen on occasion.

Lots of goodies have been going down.  First off, my big news from last post....kind of irrelevant now. haha I had received a job offer to go back to Uganda this summer and continue work with women in the Namatala slum.  I was sooo excited to go back and live in that beautiful country with those lovely people again.  I left there 9 months ago certain that I'd probably never see any of them again and I hated that feeling.  So naturally the possibility to go back made me extremely happy and felt like a wonderful opportunity.  And my job has been pretty rough so I was also really looking forward to a wonderful out.  Well...the job opportunity fell through.  The business apparently didn't have the finances to pay for my flight so it's a no go.  Soo....that was the exciting news! haha One of the life lessons that I feel like I repeatedly learn is that regardless of what you want, God always has you where He wants you.  While I'm sad that I don't get to go back and work there this summer, if God wanted me to be there, it would have worked out.  So He must have somewhere else that He wants me.  Yep.

I ventured into the big city a few weeks ago and hit up my favorite little panini shop.  (One of the few times that I throw my gluten intolerance to the wolves...and it's totally worth it. haha)  On my last occasion in the panini shop, I decided to read the scriptures on my phone and prepare for my upcoming sunday school lesson.  Spiritual enlightenment accompanies anything that involves pesto right?

Speaking of Sunday School, I kind of love my calling.  My first two lessons...Websters definition of "Fail".  haha The first time, I had read, studied, and prepped discussion points for 5 pages of the manual about the restoration of the priesthood.  Well..sacrament meeting went over with several peeps taking a brazilian years on their story-monies so I had 15 minutes for my lesson.  haha Which, lets be honest, sacrament meeting goes over sometimes.  It's okay.  It happens.  I was just all kinds of awkward and stressed about how to sum up the restoration of the priesthood in 15 minutes.  Not my best, really.  Not my best.  Lesson learned though--have a short and long version prepared.  Or better yet, prepare and follow the spirit.  Boink.  Sometimes the obvious life lessons take me a little longer.  haha  But my other Sunday School lessons have gone much better. Discussion feels natural, people willingly participate, it feels good.  It's been fun the last few times but dear me I've had some classes that were doozies.

It couldn't be more apparent that I wasn't meant to live in a big city.  My twelve point turns into parking slots are hardly my proudest moments.  Not joking.  Also, it's one of my new goals to regain the skill of parallel parking.  You pretty much can't go anywhere fun without having to decide between parallel parking and a $20 parking garage.  I literally don't think I have parallel parked since my drivers test.  Embarrassing, folks.  Embar.

I watched 500 days of Summer the other day.  One of my favorite movies.  There are so many funny parts in the film.  My friend Sarah says that relationships like that don't really exist.  (This was probably mentioned after I told her I really want to go on a date to IKEA. haha Yep, that's real.)  She then proceeded to inform me that she thinks I'm Summer.  Hmm...I will only accept that comment if she's implying that at some point in my life I get a darling, crinkly-eyed Joseph Gordon Leavitt all to myself.  Wouldn't ever complain about that.

I made a musical discovery a while back that was nothing but pleasing.  A friend took me to a local music place where Pig Pen Theatre Company played.  Seven gentlemen about my age played a variety of instruments and harmonized in such a way that they kind of made it difficult for you to not fall for them.  I honestly sat staring at them asking myself how and why the Orlando Bloom look alike in the band was making suspenders look hot. I dunno.  Must be those dang voices.  Jerks. They covered "Hey ya" by Outkast which...I didn't hate.  Here ya go:



I'll tell you a creeper story because...those are always fun. When I was in the middle of decorating my room, I would go to Home Goods a lot to look for cheap bedspreads.  Then, there's a Starbucks next door so I'd sometimes stop and grab a little hot chocolate for the drive home.  I had learned from a few little experiences that I needed to walk straight in, get my hot chocolate, and walk straight out.  I had been beckoned by some guys there on occasion so I learned to mind my own business and walk quickly.

Well this one evening after looking in Home Goods, I stopped by Starbucks and was approached by a guy.  He told me that he had seen me at Starbucks several times.  He told me that whenever he sees me (my eyes, my hair...blah blah gag me), he "gets a feeling".  My head tipped to the side in curiosity and also fear that he might say something entirely unclassy.  My suspicion was confirmed.  He proceeded to say, "I get a feeling.  And when I go home...I take care of it."  Ummm...are we serious?  Is that for reals?  I literally looked at him, said, "That's gross.", blinked a couple of times and proceeded to inform him, "You don't deserve that experience with me in person...OR in your mind."  haha

I called my mom on the drive home and told her the story.  She told me that I wasn't allowed to go outside at night anymore and that I shouldn't ever be alone. haha I love her.  But despite what she suggested, I'm not going to have my home teacher accompany me when I want to leave the house.  I just get trouble from the occasional foreign creeper.  But I'm sure that happens to many-a-lass wherever there are high dosages of foreign creepsters.  It's not like I'm Princess Kate and need a constant escort.  haha The very next day I got a package in the mail that had a hot chocolate maker inside.  Yes, my sweet, darling mother sent me a hot chocolate maker so I won't go to Starbucks anymore.  I doubt I could be any more obsessed with my mom.  She's so cute.

And in closing, part of the reason I've been a busy mess lately is because I'm taking a GRE prep course.  Yes, I'm preparing for grad school.  The current plan is to either go into Counseling (either School Counseling or Marriage and Family Therapy) or....International Development.  In any case, I'm excited that I have something to work toward and something to help me progress.  I had been feeling like I was in a rut there for a while and it's felt good (and tiring) having a big goal in my future that will get me closer to a better future.  So...not going back to Africa this summer, but I am going to grad school.  Different news that I had planned on announcing, but news nonetheless. :)  Loves!  Mal

Cute Couples, Baltimore, Home Decor

Well dear me, it has been many moons since I last wrote.  I hope that my last post wasn't depressykins. That was definitely not the point. I think a lesson that I'm continually learning in my life is that the challenges that undoubtedly come in life are always unexpected.  You don't always know what you're going to struggle with and you won't always have a perfect solution that will resolve everything right away.  But you can learn, be grateful and grow closer to God in any situation where you find yourself.

Here is an attempt to do some sort of updating in regards to life on the east coast....here we go!

I work for a pair of Endocrinologists.  It's nothing super swanky but there are details that I love.  For instance, just because I work in the hospital, I have frequent interactions with a variety of elderly people.  My favorites are the cute little couples that come in for their appointments together.  I love asking them how long they've been married.  Some still genuinely smile at each other and laugh together.  It's cute.  They make Nicholas Sparks look like silly. haha  One of my favorite little couples got out to the waiting room after their appointment and each helped the other put their coats back on, the husband handed his wife her scarf and thanked each other for the small but thoughtful gestures.  Darling.  I love that after all these years, they still look for opportunities to help each other and both genuinely (and audibly) appreciate it.  So so cute.

I have a friend out here named Sarah.  We originally met 5 years ago when I went on my study abroad to Paris.  I knew of her and we both liked each other back then...but didn't really hang out that much at the time.  Quite literally 5 years of radio silence later, we happened to run into each other out here and have been playing nonstop ever since.  She's been a life saver and is nothing but a good time.  Hence my selfish sadness upon learning that she scored a killer cool job in Uruguay and will be moving there this summer.  I'm so happy for her and she completely deserves it...but I'm selfishly ticked that my life won't have her geographically in it anymore.  So we've created a bucket list of things to do before she goes.  One of which, was visiting Baltimore:

I obviously have nothing but good feelings for all things Italian.  So it didn't take me long to google the nearest "Little Italy" to my zip code and get myself there.  I loved Baltimore.  Granted I spent just one Saturday afternoon in the area but that one afternoon did not disappoint!  We just did silly things.

Grabbed some hot chocolate, walked through a book store, I purchased a Ryan Gosling coloring book for one of my best friends (why would I not invest in such a clearly genius purchase?!  haha Seriously one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen.), walked around the harbor, and wandered around in search of Little Italy.  We walked around for an almost embarrassing amount of time, had to ask several people, the PTSD part of me (thanks to some choice incidents in Uganda haha) was nervous in some areas where we were walking, but we finally spotted an Italian flag and had made it!

 It's a cute, quaint little area with restaurants, darling housing, gelato and pastries.  Yes, it's a happy little land.  In fact, I've heard that in the summer time they have outdoor movies on Fridays and watch Italian films projected on one of the buildings.  You guessed it, that too is on my bucket list.  Yep.  It's happening.


In other news, I've been in the process of decorating my room for a while now.  I've been wanting to make a picture collage on my wall with different sized, shape and color frames...with shutters mixed in. I dunno, in my mind throwing shutters in there is a subtle way of expressing my love of Italy.  My aunt had the brilliant idea to go to a thrift store to buy frames.  So I actually had a date that wanted to accompany me to one of these thrift stores.  I embarrassingly acquired mass amounts of frames and shamelessly arranged them on the ground deciding which were my favorites.  Here is the loot:

 After the paint job:

I've been slowly acquiring shutters and was soo exciting to finally give them a fresh coat of paint.

 I'm still not quite finished...but here's what I have so far:

After years of watching home decorating shows, it's been fun to finally have a space of my own to decorate.  It's coming together slowly but surely.  There's something awfully satisfying about taking a room that was originally a sickly version of white and add color and life to it.

In other news my roommate found out that I am shamefully uneducated in Julie Andrews films.  She found out that I haven't seen "Marry Poppins" or "Sound of Music" and now I quite literally have random people approach me in church or send me texts exclaiming their curiosity (and secret disappointment) that I haven't seen some of the classics.  Apparently, even her coworkers now know that she has a roommate that has never seen the Sound of Music.  My apologies.  I need to be a better human being clearly.

There's more to say but I'll save it for another day.  I have potentially big news coming up but I want to wait until it's official before I spill it.  Give me a week and I'll get back with you.  Lots of love from Virginia.  Til next post!