fur real...

It's been a wild and fantastic and humbling summer. I'm in the last leg of my adventures on the east coast [which followed my adventures on the west coast] and not-so-secretly looking forward to the next year of being settled. I've committed to a year in Portland, but after that... I'm excited about full-time ministry opportunities and a passionate life of serving God to the fullest.

Right now I'm sitting in a hip tea shop off 5th Avenue in New York City, waiting for Alisa and people watching like there's no tomorrow. A lady just asked which college I go to. I'm not sure if that means I look smart with all these books scattered around me, or just young.

I couldn't even begin to tell you all the stories from this summer. But, I ended up with a bunch of fabulous new friends, a broad direction for my life, a great but fading-too-fast tan, and a full length vintage mink coat. [wait, a what?]

That's right. I [ahem, 'invested'] spent my carefully saved birthday money on a coat that I found at a house sale in Lexington, Mass. Mama V, one fabulous half of our fearless camp directors this summer, is rather addicted to yard sales and the dedicated dozen spent several early Saturday mornings driving around in a mini-van searching for deals. I now know all the secret rules of yard saleing, including spotting, looking-disinterested, and bargaining. At a grand old house in Lexington, where everything left in the house was for sale, a few of us girls jokingly tried on a beautiful vintage fur coat. The guy said he couldn't get ahold of his wife to find out how much she wanted, and so he'd sell it for $50. Okay, I might not ever have a chance to wear it, but I knew that a coat like that was definitely worth more than $50.

So, after much petting and one payment, I now own something almost as useless as that piece of paper. I laugh at myself [i'll take some glamour shots before i sell it, don't worry] and have a great physical memory of the timeless city of Boston.

Sometimes life is an adventure, and sometimes you have to make it an adventure. Bon voyage!

first comes love, then comes...

Though I missed many weddings of dear friends this summer,
I was so excited to make a quick trip to LA to attend the nuptials of JohnDavid and Elyse!

Welcome to the Intern 2004 Family, Elyse!

It was so good to see gracious Allison, who let me sleep on her super comfy couch and shared about "the life after." I'm excited to have her as an example of a woman passionately pursuing God in her post-college adventures!

We wish the rest of you could have joined us to celebrate!

Garrison battled endless early morning LA traffic to get me
back to the ferry on time to make my teaching session on Catalina! Thanks, G. Move out West!