Ida Winds

Random fact about me: I LOVE the wind. I always have loved wind, especially at dusk and just after nightfall. (Forgive me as I wax poetic for a minute here.) The wind has always made me feel sort of wild and alive, like I and the world are full of promise, possibility, and power. Maybe because the wind is so invisible itself, and yet affects everything so visibly. I love that clothes whipping around you, hair streaming behind you, leaning forward to make progress sort of feeling.

And so I'm totally loving the Ida-sponsored winds we've been having that last couple of days. According to my google weather, the wind right now is blowing at 27 mph out of the south east. And walking home for dinner just now I felt bouyed up by all that energy and vitality. It was awesome.

Hallelujah!

Four things you would be rejoicing about if you were me:

• It's Friday
• I don't have a run scheduled for today
• It's 75 degrees outside
• I'm not working morning shift next week
  

Itchy!

So, my entire life has been reduced to one single fact: my legs are super itchy!

I made the mistake of going out at dusk-ish with shorts on, and now my calves are covered in ridiculously itchy noseeum bites. They are so itchy that they've kept me up at nights despite liberal applications of anti-histamine cream. My coworker just recommended benadryl lotion, so I'm making a trip out to get some post haste!

New Month, New Calling

Well, everyone, after 2+ years working in the primary, (the organization in my church for children ages 3-11), I've gotten a new calling: President of the Young Women (the organization for young women ages 12-18).

I must admit not being overly surprised by the new assignment, but it's still a little overwhelming. I mean, I'm going to be moving from a world where you talk about what to do if someone takes your toy away to a world where you talk about what to do if some stupid boy wants to take your virginity away. Just different. And being a small, isolated congregation adds some extra special challenges.

I'm excited though. I feel really confident that this is exactly what the Lord wants me to be doing, and that He's going to make sure that everything turns out all right. Also, I think it's going to be a lot of fun along with all the work and worry. And as I've been thinking about it, I've been comforted by the fact that although there's a big difference between little kids and teenage girls, the gospel that I will be teaching is still exactly the same. When I was in the primary I always said that if I taught the children nothing else I wanted them to know that God loves them, that I love them, and the Jesus is their Savior. And now that I'm in Young Women, if I teach the girls nothing else I want them to know that God loves them, that I love them, and that Jesus is their Savior.

$3 Shoes are Cuter

Once upon a time I've been needing new black shoes for a good long while now, so when my dear friend and neighbor Ed, texted me today and was like "hey, do you want to go to Payless with me today?" I was totally on board with that. (Of course, she was mostly just asking so I could help her with her two adorable, but CRAZY boys. And also because she loves me.) So, I found a pair that I like that said they were on sale for $16.

But THEN! they only rang up as $6. Which was awesome! But THEN! Ed had some kind of Oprah cupon or something so that the whole purchase was half off, making them $3! THREE DOLLARS! And you know what, shoes are cuter when they are only $3.

High School Reunion

So, my 10-year high school reunion was this past weekend. I did not go. For two reasons: 1.) it was in California, I live in Florida; 2.) I didn't want to.

Instead, I had a High School Reunion: The Good Parts, and T3 (who you have already met in a couple of previous posts) came down to spend a week with me. There are a couple more people who I would have invited to have a true "Good Parts" reunion, but just having T here was pretty great since we were super tight in high school, but hadn't really gotten a chance to catch up since about... 2004.

Anyway, she got here Saturday night, and mostly we just drove home from the airport. And then Sunday was church and such, and we had dinner with my friends, some of whom were moving away the next day (saddest! Hales, we miss you!). Then on Monday we had the bright idea to walk around the island. I say bright. I mean, the NOT WELL THOUGHT OUT idea. The first six or so miles were actually quite nice. Then miles 7 and 8 were ROUGH man. Luckily, we had already planned to stop at B.O.'s Fish Wagon where we had delicious fish sandwiches and fries and conch fritters and we sat for a couple hours just talking about stuff. Then we walked the last couple miles and pretty much went straight to bed.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I was working Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, which means we were pretty low key those days. On Tuesday we helped out with Young Women's/building the neighbor's garden. And on Wednesday we went to the Mel Fisher treasure museum. Mel Fisher is this dude who spent like 20 years of his life searching for a sunken Spanish ship with treasure in it. AND THEN HE FOUND IT! Crazy, right? So we went to the museum and one of the cool things you can do there is lift a real gold bar that was made in like 1617 or something.

After that we did Mallory Square. We talked to this really cool guy who does wire figurines and just wandered around a bit. And then Thursday was our Bahia Honda trip where we were attacked by seagulls, but saw this beautiful bridge:
We also stopped at the Key Deer Visitors Center which was pretty fun, and the dude who was there was AWESOME! Like I wanted to claim him as my uncle and invite him over for cornbread and chili. I didn't though. I've learned my lesson about stuff like that.

On Friday we went to the Eco-Discovery center which I really enjoyed, not least becasue it was free, but the definite highlight of our trip was the sunset cruise on Friday night. Seriously guys, if you ever come down here, budget in about $40 to go on a sunset cruise because it's AWESOME! I loved it.

On our way home we stopped for drinks (of the soda variety) at my favorite bar in Key West, the Keys Piano Bar. And then she had to go back to her kids.

The best part of having T3 here was all the talking. We had silly conversations, deep conversations, funny conversations, random conversations. Just all kind of talking and I loved it. Also, I don't know anyone who asks as many questions as T, so it was also like a fun knowledge quiz! Seriously, I loved it.

All around a truly fabulous time. Thanks for coming to visit, T! Key West misses you. (Also, I promise to get the rest of mthe pictures edited and uploaded for you soon.)

Our Perfect Picnic in Paradise Put Us in a Perilous Position

So, T3 and I headed up to Bahia Honda to spend some time on the beach. Because neither she nor I are particular fans of sand or salt water.

But you really can't come to Key West and not spend a LITTLE bit of time on the beach! And you know sand and sea aren't the ONLY parts of the beach experience. Anyway, we wandered around for a bit and then we set up our towels and stuff and started eating the picnic lunch we had brought.

Well, there were quite a few seagulls around, and we could tell they were pretty interested in our food and it was kind of cute.

Until one of them swooped down from behind me and STOLE MY LETTUCE! Out of my sandwich! Which was in my hand! Like seriously, I'm there and I'm like hey a bird is flying over me! and then all of a sudden it was attacking my sandwich! THAT WAS IN MY HAND! And not just that! its razor beak nipped my finger:

BECAUSE THE SEAGULL STOLE THE LETTUCE OUT OF MY SANDWICH THAT WAS IN MY HAND!

I'm never trusting a seagull again.