dinner in the courtyard

The company that manages our building put 2 grills in our courtyard last week. Completely unannounced. They just showed up one day. I know that doesn't sound super cool, but just trust me that this is a big deal. I'm not even a grill person.
Turns out living in the city does something to a person. Every time you smell someone bbq-ing on thier much coveted patio or even more coveted backyard, it does something to you. It does something to all city dwellers. It's like...you have to get as much of that smell as possible. You follow the trail. You take deep breaths. You look at all your friends and say "[big breath] ahhhhh, grilling," and they nod their heads in agreement.

So not even a week later, and Ryan and I have already eaten dinner in the courtyard 3 times. Mind you, it's also been raining a lot this past week. So that's pretty much all we could eat out there. One night that we were eating down there, there were at least 5 other couples/families from our building grilling too. I wasn't kidding; living in the city does something to your grill-deprived souls.

Salmon burgers with parmesan and provolone cheese, sauteed spinach with garlic and olive oil,
lettuce, mashed avocado and homemade garlic-lime mayo. Sweet potato fries with ketchup or
bbq sauce. Rinsed down with peach iced tea (or water?)

Yum!!! I foresee many grillin' nights this summer.
It's also really nice because, when you leave the apartment for a meal it kind of feels like a date. So even if Ryan only has time for dinner that night, we still get to squeeze in some quality time together



On another note, I fell more in love with Zooey Deschanel today. I know. I know. I didn't think it was possible either. I was reading her interview in Marie Claire magazine and they put a warning out there to all guys who are in love with her...she doesn't want to have kids. She said this on the topic,

“That’s never been my focus. My sister [Emily]
was always very motherly, babysitting and stuff.
I like kids, and I like being around kids –
but it was never an ambition, something, like, I need
… I like working. That’s what I like doing. I like to work.”

The article also said that she seemed almost embarrassed to admit it. Like she had gone too far.

And I was reading it, and was just like, "Ahhhh, a girl after my own heart. I knew we were soulmates." And whenever I tell people that I don't want to have kids, I kind of feel bad too! I can just feel them judging me. No matter how much I explain myself, and my heart, people just have a really hard time grasping the idea of a young lady having no desire to have children.

 

With that said, I really believe that Zooey and I should be best friends. As if I had any doubts before.

thoughts from my brain

I've been thinking lately, err for the past few weeks, that I really should be ambidextrous. When I posted about how I love painting so much, my sister commented, "Are you sure you're right handed?" And then the more I thought about it, and the more I found myself creating things...the more I felt like I should be ambidextrous. Here's the thing, I love numbers and logical and fitting all the pieces together far too much to be right brained. But at the same time, I love crafting and creating and envisioning future projects and designs to be left brained. These loves are truly equal for me. So I should be ambidextrous right?
So I've been doing little experiments with myself; trying to use my left hand in various situations to see how things pan out. (Except not for dangerous things, like cutting veggies, cause that's not really something you want to experiment with.) So far, it's been really easy. I don't find it too hard to do things with my left hand. Writing is still a little shaky, but I wouldn't say it's hard, I just need more practice.

I've also been thinking about equality in our country lately. Because although I know we all have equal rights; men, women, whites, black, hispanic, etc., I know we don't have equal opportunities. Where you grow up really does affect what you can become. Not in all situations, and it's not always the case. But it just doesn't seem fair that because I grew up in an upper-middle class area with both of my parents I have an easier time becoming what I want, versus a child who grows up in a rough neighborhood with a single parent whose really struggling to make it. You know? I understand that there's nothing legally standing in their way, but they have so many more hurdles to jump over than I would just to achieve the same thing. Does that make sense? And a lot of times, as sad as it is, race and color really do make a difference when they shouldn't. We say we're all equal, but do we really live that way? I know I'm kind of rambling here, it's just been something that been extremely visible to me lately. And I don't want to start a whole political debate or anything, I'm just talking here. But it's just really sad to me, that we can live in this amazing country with so much opportunity, potential and money and yet, we still get so much wrong. I've started volunteering with Broad Street Ministry and it has completely broken my heart and brought a lot of things to my attention that I wouldn't have thought of before. Poverty seems like a vicious never-ending cycle and I'm having a hard time with that. I've only worked one week and I can already feel God at work in me.


Onto to less serious things...
This song has been on replay lately.

I had you living life like you should
You say you never had it so good

I'm kind of in love with Jackson Avery from Grey's Anatomy. Look at those little freckles.
Oh heeeeey, Jackson.

There are two times during that, if possible, you will most definitely find me in front of the tv. First, Ellen at 3pm. But who in the world misses Ellen?! Second, Price is Right at 11am. I freaking LOVE The Price is Right. Being on the show is most definitely on my bucket list. And I get so mad when people are stupid and play the games wrong. I mean, there's a system to some of those games and if you're smart, it's pretty easy to win. And some of these people just totally botch it, and I'm literally yelling at my tv screen. Seriously, C'MON PEOPLE! Uggggh.

Also, kind of in love with this.

If you haven't done this yet, do it and be amazed.
[Google is going to take over the world. You heard it hear first. Or like seven-hundred-thousandth.]
Go to google translator, type in 'pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch', select German as the language, and click the listen button in the bottom right hand corner.
Feel free to make your own combinations and waste hours of your life. I won't judge you.

philly bucket list: bucks county

This weekend, Ryan was in-between rotations. [So he just finished on one Thursday and would be starting his next on Monday] Which means...dun, dundun DUUUUUUNNNNN...WE GOT TWO WHOLE DAYS TO SPEND TOGETHER!!
We took full advantage and decided to tackle one of the larger/farther things on our Philly Bucket list...Bucks County. The County of Bucks.

You know that "Country" magazine? [Probably not, I know]
My grandparents always had that in their house when we were growing up, and my sisters and I would always look through them trying to find the elusive needle. Anyways, they would feature a different area of the country in each magazine in the "This is God's Country" feature. You know, areas that are all nature-y and almost unbelievable because they are that beautiful. Well, I'm am certain that most of the pictures they show for that feature are taken in Bucks county.

Bucks county was so pretty!! Ryan was in heaven. Every turn we made or house we passed (they were rare), he would be like, "WHOA! Look at that!" or "OOO!! LOOK OVER THERE!" or "WOW!!!" It was a good thing I was driving and he wasn't.

First, we drove to one of the many [11] covered bridges in Bucks, the Erwinna covered bridge. Apparently it's known for it's lattice structure...but the others that we saw later looked the same. Whatever. It was still cool.

 Then, we drove to Peddler's Village. Which is super touristy, but that was kind of the point of our day. Naturally, our first stop was at a cute candy store where we bought candy cigarettes and each picked out a treat from the chocolate case. Since they were holding their annual strawberry festival (not as cool as it sounds), they had live music. So we sat on a bench, listened to the banjo-led music and enjoyed our chocolates. Ryan with his chocolate-covered s'more and me with a dark chocolate pecan turtle.

My camera was running out of batteries, so I only
had a shot at one photo. Ryan was hardly cooperative.
See above photo.

 After walking around the village, we had dinner at Hart's. A simple little country restaurant with a variety of stuff to choose from. Kind of like a bigger Yum-yum tree (Oh, Yum Yum, how I miss you!!) (Those who aren't from Brighton, Yum Yum Tree is our little downtown restaurant. It's super cute.) I got a burger and Ryan got fish and chips...and get this...our meal was only $21!!! WHAT IN THE WHAT?! We definitely weren't in the city anymore!!

After dinner, it was still light out so we headed out to see 2 more covered bridges, in hopes that we would finish around sun down and could go to the Rocky Overlook to see the sunset and then the 'super-moon'.

Turns out it was way to cloudy to see the super-moon.
Also turns out that the rocky overlook overlooks a lot of tree trunks...so...not quite the view we were expecting. Still cool though and we enjoyed our mini-hike.

Right? What kind of "look-out" is this?!

We had a great time and often wondered if this is what married life would feel like for us if Ryan wasn't in school. Maybe in a few years we'll get to regularly enjoy each other's company. As for now, I've got the week off and plan to make the most of it!

call me betty

Ryan has an exam this week, so he's been studying even more than usual. I know, I know, I didn't think it was possible either.
So that leaves me lonelier than before (and falling asleep on the couch every night this week while Ryan studies in our room.) So I've been drowning my sorrows in cooking and baking and practically loving every minute of it. I thought I would share with you all what I've made, because everything has been pretty darn good!

First I made these energy bites. Which isn't a new thing around here, but they are soooo good. And although I don't think they are as healthy for you as the lady who made the recipe claims, I wouldn't say they're bad for you.  And they are definitely much better for you than no-bake cookies. So it satisfies my never-ending craving for those bad boys. {HOW CAN A COOKIE BE SOOO DARN GOOD?!}
You can find the recipe here.
I add dry toasted, unsalted chopped up almonds. And I half-way toast my coconut because I like a little bit of crunch.

 For dinner tonight (and last night, because I made a whole lot more than I needed too) we had stuffed zucchini (and/or zucchini cups, depending on which night we're talking about.)
First I made them as cups, like the recipe says, but the zucchini I bought was much too small for that and I had a difficult time stuffing them. So then tonight, I cut the zucchinis in half length-wise, scooped out the guts, and then stuffed them. Mmm. Either way, it was delish.
You can find the recipe here.
I made it with ground turkey and used a yellow pepper instead of green.

Then, darn it, I had zucchini guts leftover. Whatever shall I do with those...so I made zucchini carrot muffins.
You can find the recipe here.
I added flax seed meal and golden raisins.

Then those muffins were so good, that I wanted to make more. I noticed the Braeburn apples that have been sitting in our fruit bowl for almost too long. I bought apples to eat with my awesome greek yogurt fruit dip (cocoa almond butter (or just almond butter, cocoa powder and your choice of sweetener) and plain greek yogurt), but I really didn't like these apples. I'm super picky with textures of food, and these apples were super mealy (or as I say, "pethy.") So I made apple carrot muffins.
You can find the recipe here.
I cut the carrots in half and added zucchini in its place (just because that's what I had on had), added 1 TBSP Canola Oil, and a bit of sugar (because they weren't sweet at all, kind of bland, but I think it was because of my choice of apple.)

 And I also made Kale chips for the first time. Yum!!
These are easy, just strip the kale from the center "rib" and rip it into good sized pieces (slightly bigger than a potato chip.) Add olive oil and a little bit of salt. Bake at 300 for about 20 minutes. They come out crispy and just as good as popcorn or potato chips but so much better for you! (I overcooked one batch of ours, which is why some of them look a little too brown and not so green.)

And while I'm sharing recipes, I remembered I never shared about the turkey quinoa meatloaf I mentioned a while ago. It was really good, and I made it extra pretty by making them mini in a cupcake tin. Then I topped them with cooked spinach and garlic mashed potatoes.
You can find the recipe here.
I used french onion soup mix instead of an onion,  and ketchup instead of tomato paste (but only because I didn't have any). I nixed the hot pepper sauce. And the topping was a little too sweet for me, so I'll probably change it next time I make this.

And there you have it! You can just call me Betty Crocker.

love it/hate it

Time for a list post.
'Cause I like em, and I have lots of things I've been obsessing over lately and wanna share.

Get in my life right now (aka loves)
1. STELLA SCOOTER.
Hey, member that one time Ryan mentioned to me that maybe one day I should get a scooter and then from that moment on most of my free time was consumed with researching and eventually falling head over heals in love with Genuine Scooters' Stella?
No? Oh, well, that happened.

Oh, she sure is a beauty, that Stella. Cream colored with leather seat and handles? My, my my. I've got it bad for Stells. No, that's not a typo, its a pet name. Yes, a pet name as in, "I love her so much she gets a special name aside from her given one."

Don't worry, I've already picked out my helmet as well. Safety first, kids.
It's like $500. So by "safety first" I actually meant "style first."

2. Discovering new Trader Joe's food.
So, the girl who brought snacks for our small group this week brought some of her favorite stuff from Trader Joe's (plus a 7-layer Mediterranean dip she made which was AWESOME!) She brought blueberry vanilla chevre (goat cheese) and caramel cashew cookies. Don't knock 'em til you've tried them. Seriously. Both were so good. And added bonus, she left the extras with us!! I may or may not have eaten an entire container of carmel cashew cookies this week.

Get in ma belly.

3. My rockin' painted globe.
Remember that globe I bought at the flea market a few weeks ago?
Well, I decided I wanted to paint it.

I kind of need to clean up around the letters, it's a little clumpy. But you get the overall look I'm going for.
I really like it for now, but I might end up washing it off. Maybe paint something else on it later. Or leave it plain for a while again. Who knows. But for now? Loving this.


Shut your face (aka hates errrr dislike because hate is a bad word)
Okay, so I have A LOT of pregnant friends right now. Like a whole crap ton of pregnant friends. With that, some stuff has come up that really bugs me. I don't mean this list to offend anyone in anyway. This is just my opinion, and since it's my blog I can write whatever the heck I want. Don't like it? Don't read it. And just because I don't like it, doesn't mean I think you shouldn't as well. Do what makes you happy. So pregnant friends...keep being you. Even if what you're doing right now bugs me. Haha.

1. Pregnancy countdowns that include days.
Such as "19 weeks and 3 days!!" Yuck. Your facebook friends don't need to know when your man impregnated you. "19 weeks" is perfectly adequate information for you to share with the world.

2. Maternity photo-shoots.
I understand that people want to capture various stages in life...but I seriously don't get maternity photo-shoots. When that baby is born you'll no longer want a picture hanging of you with your preggo belly...right? Like won't those pictures so quickly be substituted with pictures of you with THE BABY?! And really, I don't ever think those pictures look good. I mean, I hate to be blunt, but you're kind of swollen and fat. And no one wants to see your naked belly with your hubby's hands in the shape of a heart over your popped out belly button.

Oh, dear Lord, make it stop

I can't be the only one who thinks this, right? But I do think I'm in the minority here, because errrbody and their mamas get maternity photo-shoots.
But belly-progression photos? Love those. Those are cute. It's when people pay someone $600 to take really ridiculous photos...that where I draw the line.

3. Gosh darn Pure Michigan commercials because I'm not there.
Alright, Timmy, I know that Michigan is beautiful. I know that I should be exploring Grand Rapids or enjoying Traverse City rather than inhaling the toxic air of Philadelphia. I know, I KNOW. So you can stop playing your magnificent commercials here.

And I don't even like Ann Arbor!! (I just couldn't muster up the strength to post/watch the Grand Rapids one. I'd rather not cry right now.)



So I guess I had less obsessions than I thought. I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out that I was planning to share. Oh well. Wanna hear some random stories? Good.
We went and saw "The Hunger Games" tonight (YAY! SOME TIME TOGETHER!!) Don't even get me started on how long it took. I knew I didn't want to see it right away because I didn't want to be surrounded by teenage girls screaming about Peeta or Gale. Because I really really love those books, and the story is soooo much more than a love story. So it bugs me when people are all "I'm team Peeta!" and I'm like, "This is NOT Twilight." (Hey, member when I TOTALLY called this craze?) Cetus la peetus.

Thank you for not sitting behind me in any movie ever.

I get that there is a love story in it...but look beyond that kiddos. Get the bigger picture. I digress.
So yes, I wanted to wait a little bit until we saw the movie. But since we waited so long,  we were now surrounded with all these old people who were like, "Let's go see what all those crazy kids are talking about and see that Hungry movie today." So like the guy in front of me says half way through the movie, "WHOA! That girl is really good with a bow and arrow!" And I'm like, "Duh. Where have you been the past year? Or at least the last hour and 15 minutes?!" And then the whole theater like flipped out when (SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOKS, WHICH YOU SHOULD SO IF YOU HAVEN'T THAN YOU DESERVE TO HAVE THE MOVIE RUINED FOR YOU BEFORE YOU SEE IT) Rue dies. I literally rolled my eyes at everyone in the theater. Ugh. People. Read a book.

Oh, and Ryan decided that it was best to eat as much popcorn as possible, as loudly as possible, during the quietest most serious parts in the movie. I was rolling my eyes at him too. At one point, after telling him to be quiet numerous times, I grabbed his hand out of the bag and just held it really tight until the scene was over. I take my Hunger Games very seriously, and nobody is about to ruin the rooftop scene for me. Not even you, Ryan Russell. Love you, but I really didn't know that eating popcorn could even BE that loud! (Whoa, I sounded like Chandler and I didn't even mean to!)

Want another random story? Great!
I fell asleep on the couch last night while Ryan was studying in our bedroom. I guess he tried to move me into the bedroom when he was done, but I was apparently uncooperative (which explains my dream of having a man try to kidnap me, I guess.) So this morning, I wake up at 6:45 and realize Ryan never kissed me goodbye before he left for work. And I didn't hear the shower going or anything, so I knew he wasn't just running late. So I run into the bedroom and shake Ryan awake.
"IT'S 6:45!!!!"
He says, "It's Saturday."
Oh, whooops!

Kony 2012, Cover the Night

The Kony 2012 video went viral. And after being in the public eye, it received a lot of criticism and backlash. And although I don't agree with Invisible Children all the time (never have, probably never will), they are the only group out there trying to bring Kony's name into every household, and that is something I can get behind. I'm not required to give any money to them, I don't have to advocate for their group...it's simply about Joseph Kony and his victims in Central and East Africa.

While I was in Uganda, Watoto was launching Project Gulu. Gulu is in Northern Uganda, which is where the LRA was "stationed" for decades, and they have suffered severe loss and trauma due to the war there (Have you still not watched the movie, "War Dance"? C'mon people. This is the third or fourth time I've written about it. It's a beautiful story about hope and redemption. Seriously, watch it. Now.) Watoto was trying to make life livable again in Northern Uganda through trauma rehabilitation for the children who had been child soldiers, medical intervention (check out this video of Nancy), and starting one of their villages/babies' home there.  I got to hear a young man, David, give his testimony at Watoto church. He was a child soldier, forced to kill. Through Watoto, he found Jesus and learned the power of forgiveness. His story stuck has with me, which is part of why this campaign is so close to my heart.
(He is featured in this viedo, along with others who Watoto has helped. The first minute and a half-ish is about Watoto's founders and how it started)


Anyways, so because the video went viral, Invisible Children kind of changed their initial plan of Cover the Night.  Yes, it still involved hanging posters and such around your city, but they asked that you focus on getting involved in community service in someway on Friday. Because making a change in the world starts across the street. Beautiful right?
Ryan and I both work full, full days on Fridays so our available hours weren't really compatible with volunteering at a local charity. And the annual Philly Spring Clean up was last weekend, so areas around us that need trash pick-up were covered during that. So I had to settle with getting some toiletries for a local homeless shelter for women and children (I called earlier and asked what they needed most, and that's what they said. Not volunteers, not food or clothes but toiletries.) But I've also connected with a ministry just down the street that I'm going to start volunteering with every Tuesday. I'll be working at their food pantry, which they try and run like a grocery store. Where the families benefiting from it can come in and shop for food they want rather than just receive a bag of food we put together for them. They have a certain amount of credits to use on non-perishables and an amount for fresh foods. I'm so excited to start doing stuff in my community. (Our small group is studying the book of James and after discussing the section in James 2 about "faith without works is dead" I've been really convicted to do more physically in my community. Not just volunteering with church, but taking the initiative to seek out a group to volunteer with separate from our church. Then this Kony 2012 campaign was just an extra push in that direction.

Broad Street Ministries, where I'll be volunteering

Some of our donations to drop off at Mercy Hospice

They also asked to send hand written letters to your leaders (representatives, senators, and president for me) either thanking them if they supported the recent initiatives to support bringing Kony to justice or asking them to jump on-board. (I learned that my representative is named Chaka Fattah. I've been saying it over and over ever since.)

Ryan and I headed out late Friday night and hung posters and wrote in chalk all over town. We were as considerate as possible and tried not to create any extra work for people, because that would only bring more negative attention to the campaign. So we used painter's masking tape to hang our posters and only did chalk "graffiti" so it would wash away in the next rain (which was on Sunday). And I told myself that any posters that I hung that I still saw hanging by Tuesday, I would take down myself. But they have all been torn down by now. I also attempted to get permission to paint a wall, but every one I contacted either didn't respond or said no. Oh well, we did what we could.

Ryan has improved a lot in the picture taking department.
He took this without a flash at night, which is
nearly impossible to get a clear shot with, with my camera

Somebody else's work, but still a cool shot.
(I didn't buy posters from Invisible Children)

This post was meant to just share our pictures from the night. Sorry for all my video links. It's just that I can't help myself, this is a topic too close to heart.

dreams

One thing I've always loved about Ryan is his limitless dreaming. I've said this many times, but he really wants to and believes he can do everything. Be a P.A? Sure. Become so good at snowboarding that everyone and their mom wants to sponsor you? Why not, we've got time. Live in Alaska? West Virgina? Haiti? Go for it. Own and operate a farm? Rebuild an old car? Yep, that too. Get a Rhodesian Ridgeback. Live on the beach. Learn to surf. Get a Masters in Public Health. Climb Mount Everest. I'm not kidding, he wants to do everything. I love that about him, even if the practical side of me is just screaming inside.

But I think Ryan's dreaming has kind of rubbed off on me. I've recently found myself adding a few things to my list of things I would love to do in life. Most people have a 5 or 10 year plan all set out. You know...get married, buy a house in the 'burbs, have 2 girls and 1 boy, all with daddy's eyes and mama's smile. Not me. I really only had one thing on that list before: get back to Uganda. Okay, maybe 2 because I also want like 7 different dogs. Not that I want that many dogs, but...it's just I want so many different kinds of dogs that it's added up to having a bunch. (A smooth Jack Russell, a scruffy Jack Russell, a 2 or 3-legged blind dog (preferably a Poodle, so I can name it ramen noodle and Drake will be it's guide dog) and a Rhodesian Ridgeback...so I guess that's only 5. But chances are I'll fall in love with 2 more dogs during one of my many petfinder searches. Oh. And a bulldog.) Oh, and I want to own a 60s/70s era VW Vanagon. So I had 3 things.

YES! GET IN MY LIFE!

Last week, Ryan and I watched "Contagion." It's a movie about this viral outbreak that ends up killing over 25 million people around the world in like 3 weeks. Kate Winslet plays an epidemiologist who is sent to Minnesota to research the outbreak there, before it gets so full blown. And in the movie, she's going over all these statistics and turning what she sees into numbers, and equations and predictions...and it was so cool. Like it literally blew my mind. I thought about that movie for days and days after watching it. Every free moment I had was thinking about that movie. And considering I had an unexpected week off, I had quite a bit of free time.

I loved Statistics during my undergrad years at Grand Valley. I was going to minor in Stats, but it was going to keep me there an extra semester, and that was not something I wanted to do. I did take a few extra Stats classes though. And thoroughly enjoyed them. I feel like you really enjoy math when you not only understand your professor's math jokes, but you also find them extremely funny. I laughed so much in some of my Stats classes.
Anyways, so now I think being an epidemiologist for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) or WHO (World Health Organization) would be like...the coolest career ever.
(Don't worry, I'm smart enough to know that the job wouldn't be exactly like Kate Winslet's job in Contagion.)

Oh, you know, it's just future me studying a crazy viral outbreak. No big deal.

I've also decided that I want to have a big, old letter-press. And make really beautiful wedding invitations and such. I fell in love with letter-pressed things while planning our wedding, but it was not even close to being in our budget (sad story.)

Ahhh, she's a thing of beauty.

And while we're on the subject of where the heck I would put that massive thing...I want to have my own little creative studio. Even something as small as a shed in our backyard (our rented backyard someday, because I really don't ever want to be a homeowner. (Plus also, I read about how people who are smart with investments these days actually AREN'T buying homes. So booyah. Don't try to talk me into buying a home because I'm so stubborn that it will push me into renting that much longer.)) I will have this beautiful little tiny space that is just mine. With gorgeous natural lighting. And...sigh...I just see it in my head and I love it. I would spend hours and hours out there. Ryan already said he knows he would have to come get me at midnight and I would just be hard at work, loving life.

This picture alone makes me so happy.

And well, since we're talking about out-there dreams, I might as well add that one of my dream jobs is to be the person who makes the gifts that Ellen gives her celebrity guests. Because I would be awesome at that job.
Except for the gift she gave Jonah Hill. I don't know if I could have done that one. Which also happened to be THE BEST HOUSEWARMING GIFT EVER!

The housewarming gift perfected.

I'll have you know that that painting was MASSIVE too. It was like 5'x A lot of '.

So now you're thinking...how are you gonna do all that in one life?
Exactly.

But I also have one more dream, which I've been thinking about for a while after I heard myself say it one day. I was telling Ryan about a fellow Watoto volunteer I know who is living a dream life. She kinda just does what she wants. She didn't go to college, doesn't ever want to. She's single and perfectly content with that...so she just...does what she wants. Goes where she wants. Finds a job that will support here for a while, and then she moves on. Go to New Zealand? Be a nanny/cheese and fruit salesperson? Sure!! Move to Bali? Why not? She literally just wants to do something, and get this...the crazy part...SHE DOES IT.  I want a life like that...a life that's lead by LIVING and not working. I want to work to live and not live to work. I don't really ever want a career, where I work 40 hours/week and have 2 days to "live." Yuck. That sounds disgusting. And so so so miserable. I don't want that. I don't want that. I don't want that.

So mostly, I won't be an epidemiologist even though I think it's like the coolest job ever. And I doubt Ellen will ever hire me to make awesome gifts. But I still could have my creative shed :)

Oh, and 7 dogs.
And my Vanagon.