The Charlotte Chronicles: I

The Charlotte Chronicles:  a moving story.

Once upon a time, a boy and a girl decided that they were tired of living in the land of the ice and snow.  They wanted an adventure!  And they wanted it to take place somewhere subtropical.

In the bleakest of winters - you know, that one with all the polar vortexes - they packed a truck with furniture and boxes of belongings.

  

At 7:00 am, they departed from Pennsylvania.  It was 2 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

They drove and drove... and drove.  The truck roared and roared.

It was a boring journey.

But the destination was worth it!  In North Carolina, they stayed with gracious friends; and the next day received moving help from several hospitable strangers.

It was 65 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

That's more like it.

We made it!

They gave us a brand new stove!

Same ol' boxes; different place.

Celebration

The story continues...

Change of Address

Well, my husband and I loaded up the ol' Uhaul again this weekend.  It was our second move within the year, and it won't be our last.

No longer in remote Centre County (home to Amish farmers and Penn State), we're living in exurban West Chester.  There is plenty to do here!  The county is filled with apple orchards, independent dairies, wineries, breweries, art galleries, restaurants and markets specializing in local whole foods.  It's a pretty hoppin' place!  And it's pretty great that we don't have to drive forty-five minutes to get to town now.

Although we'll live here only temporarily, we are both excited to enjoy some culture, a time of rest (a "winter break," if you will), and time with family and friends (we can even go to visit some by train!).  Huzzah!

Crazy Fall

 We are crazy.  My husband and I are crazy.  We've been from Maine to Miami in the past two months.  Who does that?  We dipped our paddles into the frigid Gulf of Maine, then dove into the bathwater-warm Gulf of Mexico.  "Why?" you may ask.  Well...

We did camp this summer.  That means we worked 18 hours days 6 days a week for three months.  It was fun.  It was also exhausting.  After the summer, we headed up to Maine to our usual spot:  the family place at Petit Manan Point.  It's Down East.  It was cold.  We bundled up in many layers of L.L. Bean gear and did hiking, boating, reading, and sleeping.  We ate lobster:

After all that fun, we returned to Central PA, and decided that from there, we wanted to hit up the Great White North.  Oh, yes.  I had never been to Canada before - what a beautiful, exotic land!  Along the way, we hit up the Niagara, New York area, exploring wineries and visiting the Falls.  The Falls are SO impressive.  I definitely recommend a visit there, if you can.  We also got to stop at the Corning Museum of Glass, where art and science collide and shatter into a million brilliant pieces.

at CMOG

Toronto Harbour

CN Tower, in Toronto

 So, we finally got to Canada; we finally got to get donuts and a coffee at Tim Horton's (after an earlier misadventure all over Rhode Island - our GPS lies to us sometimes); finally got to use our passports at a border crossing.  The city of Toronto seemed pretty great, but we didn't want to spend money on anything cultural, so we pretty much just ate and walked around.  We did discover something called Poutine.  Poutine!!  It's an incredible concoction of French fries... covered in gravy and cheese.  Oh, yum.  I could eat it daily.

Another discovery included the fact that the stereotypes one hears of Canadians are true:  1.  they are so polite.  2.  they love donuts.

The reason we went to Florida after all this northern nonsense was that over the summer we had been called to help work at a conference at Disney World.  Oh boy!  The magic!

We got a little taste of the typical Disney magic, but spend 98% of the week inside the air-conditioned hotel conference center.  The trip to Florida, however, afforded us the opportunity to visit some camp friends, which was awesome.  Florida is a crazy place.  Two friends go to school in Tampa, and two just moved to the Fort Lauderdale area.  I think they are a bit crazy for doing so!  It is SO hot there; even in late October, it was 90 degrees and insanely humid.  Also, getting around town can be nightmarish at best.  All the worst drivers from New York and New Jersey retire there, so careening around town is a complete free-for-all.  Every car ride was a stressful experience.  Because the Sunshine State consists of cities built between sandy shorelines and swamp, every town is very crowded.  Sprawling suburbia with a zillion shopping centers as far as the eye can see - until you get to the Everglades.  The Everglades were beautiful in their quiet, besides calling birds and fan-boat motors.  We did an air-boat ride to see the alligators, which was fun; although our captain/guide was feeding popcorn to the birds to attract them to the boat.  I think that's kind of counter-productive to conservation, right?  Well, we didn't see a gator eat any of the birds.  Besides that, we swam in the ocean and got to see our fabulous friends!  In short, Florida has fun stuff to do, but I could not see myself retiring there.  It is vacationland, indeed.  Oh wait, that's Maine's title.

Besides all the fun and adventures, we did take the opportunity to visit some graduate schools in the South.  The idea for this came from my memory of every Pennsylvania winter and how much I dislike the slush.  The promise of warmth and very little snow is rather appealing!  Anyways, we visited three schools in North Carolina and one in Virginia.  I also reconnected with an old-time camp friend who highly recommended that school; and we were so glad to hear of her and her husband's experience there!  We also had a great visit with our admissions guide, Harrison Ford (for reals).  Filling out applications now... we're going to give it a shot!

In short, the past two months have been rife with adventure (and driving!) and we are grateful for hospitable friends, generous employers, and God's provision and sovereignty.  Looking forward to where He'll take us next!  We have learned that Florida is fun, North Carolina is warm and promising, but Maine is still The Way Life Should Be.

On travel

Although my heart desires travelling into the unknown, I haven't been to very many different places.  Spring break trips with a college ministry group took me and friends to Florida, West Virginia and Texas.  Dallas, Texas, I would say, is the most "different" place (from homestate PA) I've seen.  Excursions to Maine have been a part of almost every summer in my teen to adult life.

This year, I'm looking forward to seeing the Dominican Republic, possibly San Antonio, and Maine, once again.  I'd love to add in more adventures, though; to see more of this country than I've considered.  I feel a call to the West:  California, Washington, Colorado, Oregon...  I'd love to make it to those places someday soon!  To see canyons, deserts, redwood forests and the Pacific ocean would add so much to my personal experience of the world.

A recent aquisition of mine:  a Passport.  Never had owned one before.  It's a ticket to anywhere in the world, so long as it's backed by funding for a plane ticket.  How does one travel internationally on a small budget?

Perhaps I can finally expand my travels to, finally, the Great White North.  :o)

discontent

Dear friend & college apartmentmate Meghan came to town to hang with me last night.  I rather enjoyed our conversation, catching up on life and ambitions and conquests and dreams.  She kept stating how she missed living in Kutztown, how quaint & quiet it is, how pastoral and friendly.

I find I'm becoming disinterested.

Many folk around here are quite happy and do good in marrying and making babies.  But there are others out there living what I dream about; traveling the country, getting a master's degree, homesteading, having decent full-time jobs.

When will I get there?  Living the dream?

see? i told you i need to travel more...

visited 22 states (44%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

eight.

1.  i love Echo Hill Country Store.

2. working on developing new bread recipes.

3. received the brochure about CreationFest.  read through & realized how very high-school-oriented it is.

4. acquired my Berks County library card today.

5. enjoyed browsing around in Young Ones today.

6. so glad my Corolla is old. :o)

7. painting is fun again.  loving the dioxazine.

8. i need to go on an adventure soon.

Two Weeks: VIII

Tuesday, May 5

Work again, gave Magan some okra, which seemingly brightened her day. :)

Wednesday, May 6

Grabbed a sushi lunch with Robin & Abby, debriefed the week at Princeton and the three of us got really pumped about making our youth ministry more relational. Work again, then had dinner at ABC with Meg and Dan.

Thursday, May 7

Ill in the morning (I hope not because of the fish & chips?) It may be "swine flu", which apparently began its existence while I was out of town. Strange! So I just napped all day, ate crackers & broth, etc. Also watched Grey's Anatomy - oh my!!

Friday, May 8

House cleaning to prepare for Bridget hosting prom dinner. Stopped by work to bid Meg farewell, with a six-pack of glass-bottled Cokes. Weather improving - hopefully Central PA air quality will improve as well!

Two Weeks: VI

Friday, May 1

Helped Greg clean up & move out of his apartment, killed a bird with my car, drove to Abington to hang out with grandma for her 82nd birthday. Got home to Greg's parents' house, ate, hung out, relaxed, unloaded the truck & such.

Saturday, May 2

Greg & I went to the Fine Furnishings show in Baltimore. I am so good at reading maps, but apparently my PA map cuts off at a certain point on Route 1 South. Well, we got there, saw some sweet woodworking. Greg especially liked one guy Dave's work - lots of slabs, totally natural look & process. He doesn't do too much to the wood - and finishes it with linseed oil, rather than synthetic toxic crap. If we're ever in southern Illinois, I'm sure we'll visit Dave's shop.

Next, we drove up to York County (the "heart" of PA wine country, apparently) & tried to find Sarah's aunt&uncle's place: Moon Dancer Winery. There are more than 2 yards on that road with grapes growing in them. Found the party, hung out with KU people; Greg & I agreed that we aren't "winos" at all... drove back to Harrisburg & relaxed the rest of the evening while planning Sunday school stuff.

Two Weeks: V

Thursday, April 30th

Final day of great lectures & fellowship with everyone. Went to a great session, "Lifecasting: Teens Fishing for Intimacy in a Sea of Technology" about how adolescents grew up completely with technology, how they use it, how they change it, and how we can deepen relationships face-to-face, which is what they're really searching for. Great stuff! Picnic lunch with Donna, Jorge, and Susan from Wisconsin, followed by session 2 with Tom Stephen. Adrienne came this time too. :-)

Final small group meeting was a fun trip together to the Bent Spoon (I ate chocolate habanero ice cream - yowza!) filled with laughter, stories, and sharing contact information (just like the last day at camp). Another great lecture from Andy Root - great content, although his rhetoric is a little scripted. The Banquet that night was great - met Will from Clark's Summit, and enjoyed more good food served on actual dinnerware this time - coffee in fancy teacups, too! They gave out awards & certificates to folks and then we gathered for powerful final worship to send us out back into the world.

Sad goodbyes preceded my drive back to Kutztown, although Wallace called me and filled me in about how the invisible children rescue was still going on and they were petitioning Oprah in Chicago to help them end the civil war in Uganda & save the kids there. Arrived in Kutztown for a relaxing evening with Greg.

Summary: if you're a successful pastor/theologian, write a book!!

Two Weeks: IV

Wednesday, April 29th

Day started with a long lecture, Southern-Baptist style. Rainy & cooler today. Grabbed some coffee at Small World (recommended by Robin) - lovely! Afternoon was free time, so grabbed a cheesesteak downtown with Dan, Jim & Amanda, followed by Canada v. US floor hockey!! Flippin' awesome! Canadians are so hardcore - pastor Blair was wicked fast; saw some seriously intense moves from all of them. Andy Root definitely the most solid U.S. player - saw some quick moves of the stick from him!!

Afterwards, Amanda & I wandered Princeton U. campus until we found the art museum, spent 20 minutes there 'til closing time. I looked at some Renaissance & medieval paintings (Albrecht Durer, yea!) as well as a few quick peeks at some Impressionists/Modernists (Degas, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne - all the good guys). Amanda had been exploring far more ancient Chinese art downstairs.

Then we wandered around town, Palmer Square esp. - checked out a ceramic/glass shop, popped into the Bent Spoon for a few tastes, visited Jake's on Nassau (I usually like a lot of the Life is Good stuff, but theirs was clearly meant for the affluent population of Princeton - "Life is Good... when I'm golfing"). Later we met up with Jim & Jorge at Triumph for dinner - and saw a great big crowd of Forum on Youth Ministry leadership (administrative folks, lecturers, pastors) come into their reserved party room right behind us. Jorge said, "Well, it's good for the leadership folks to get away from us and hang out for a bit." I replied, "Yea, it's grown-ups only night out!" It felt great to bond with folks 30-40 years old and not feel like a "kid" amongst them. :-) Well, this was the day Amanda & I had gotten a ride to campus with Donna, so we were waiting in the cold for the hotel shuttle to get us. Oh man. Did a midnight swim before bedtime - very refreshing!

Two Weeks: III

Tuesday, April 28th

Opening worship starts the day, then went to a different Extended Seminar with Amanda (all about conflict resolution - good stuff), went to a lecture on missional hermeneutics (very bookish - made it seem like going to seminary is a bit boring) but has some good small group discussion.

Picnic lunch with Adrienne, Gerald, Amanda & Martin followed by small group & more lectures. Went to the "soul-tending" session with Tom Stephen, who reckoned one's spiritual life to the 12-bar blues.

Later, Keynote speaker: Andy Root - said some great stuff about being real with the youth in your group, not elevating yourself to "youth leader" status, but just fostering person-to-person ministry. Another delicious meal to end the day (I'm thinking on-campus catering gets way improved for guests, haha) followed by good conversation at the Yankee Doodle (old-skool Princeton U. watering hole). I really enjoyed the wall of portraits of Princeton U. graduates - all a bunch of rich, white dudes until the most recent portrait: Michelle Obama. Oh, patriarchal society... Anyway, hung with Becky, Karen, Amanda, Jim, Martin, and met Donna from Long Island and Jorge from Michigan. Great folks!

Two Weeks: II

Monday, April 27th

Said goodbye to Julie, met up with Greg who took me to Uptown Cafe for breakfast. Um, so chocolate pecan pie is flippin' amaaazing! Fueled up with good coffee for the road. Hadn't previously realized I-78 had such deeply rolling hills past Allentown/Bethlehem.

Made it into Jersey, almost broke down when I got stuck going 'round & 'round in a traffic circle. Saw Trenton & some Jersey countryside before I made it back to Princeton (yay detour). Figured out that PTS has some pretty horrible parking on the east side of campus; eventually found the lot behind the library. Wandered around a bit, met up with Amanda, tried to park on east campus but some administrative lady threatened us with a tire boot, found a spot (geez, this shouldn't be so hard...)

Then we went in for registration & opening worship, where I met pastors Mark D. & Tom S. after a sweet pro-real-community sermon. Small group time was refreshing in the shade on the grass. Jason Santos is a fun guy, chill, glad he was our "facilitator" (although we pretty much talked without him having to ask a lot of questions). Bonded with Karen from Eastern Shore Virginia, Dan from Alberta (yes, Canada!), Kareem from Newark, & Jim from the D.C. area. Great group!

Had our first Extended Seminar (mine was just ok), then another lecture (Mark DeVries on student leadership - solid stuff!) then sat down to dinner with Amanda, Adrienne & Martin. After dinner, Amanda and I each drove all over Route 1, being misled by those nasty jughandles until finally we made it to the hotel. Checked in, then met up with some Forum folks at Triumph on Nassau street. Met Becky from Wisconsin & Karen & Jim were there too for some great conversation.

Two Weeks: I

The past short chunk of time has been pretty crazy for me - thus, a de-brief blog will help me to collect my thoughts & decompress...

Saturday, April 25th

A full day at work, 10:00 am to 6:30 pm (as a part-timer, the first looong day for me). A hot day: ate lunch outside, which overheated me slightly until the end of the day. Felt good taking off my shoes after work. Drove to Kutztown, hung out with Julie, Greg, Josh, Jake, & Abrams at Basin Street, then stayed at Julie's apartment, talking until 3:00 am.

Sunday, April 26th

An early rise to walk across town to meet at the middle school for Cornerstone Church. A quick service - senior recognition, baby dedication, quick explanation of baptism, followed by baptism of my "freshman" friends (those who arrived at my senior year) Ben, Britt, and Adam, as well as Alex "SP" Smith. Gotta love watching the dunkings. Church picnic location change from Kutztown Park to Raudenbush Farm - spring allergies arrive on this hot & windy day, so Greg takes me back to his house to sleep while he goes into the studio to work all afternoon.

Went to the Library, hung out with Sylvia for a while, whilst figuring out the best way to get from Kutztown PA to Princeton NJ. Popped into the wood shop to see Greg, still working hard, then went to Ebling to help Julie procrastinate from studying for finals and to hang out with Jake, who showed me the mouse he beat to death. We explored various recipe websites to help him expand his cooking repertoire from microwaved egg & hot dog dishes (ew), and I taught him the basics of playing harmonics on guitar (we watched Susan's video, since she is actually good at it) Greg took me to Camillo's to eat an e-nor-mous calzone. Tried a Blue Moon for the first time - lovely! Stayed with Julie again, further assisting her procrastination on studying.

April 1st

April 1st is the best day of the year to use Gmail/Google. Those guys are great.

So now that it's April, it seems summer approaches more quickly. Currently I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself... advice, please?

Option A :: continue working at Dick Blick
+ relaxed schedule
+ teach classes at Carlisle Arts Learning Center
- Blick doesn't pay a lot (7.50/hr)
+ could earn money teaching at CALC

Option B :: work at Krislund, again
+ being outside for the summer (this is necessary)
+ not living at home
+ hanging out with kids & great people
+ help the new camp director as an alum staff member
- very low pay (0.22/hr)
- quitting Blick, or returning to work in August?

Option C :: potential employment at local state park
+ pays a freakin' lot more (12.75/hr)
+ would involve playing outside for the summer
+ could perhaps continue part time at Blick?
- 1 hour commute (2 hrs daily!)
+ continue involvement at CALC

Option D :: day camp for "at risk" jr. high kids
+ decent wages (8.50/hr) and hours (10-3)
+ fun activities (hiking trips, amusement parks...)
+ loving on kids who need it
+ could work afternoons & weekends at Blick
+ continue involvement at CALC

So that all has been on my mind lately.

Also this summer, if I'm around Camp Hill, I'll be able to continue hanging out with the youth group, which would be sweet. I am definitely going on the summer mission trip, July 18-26 - and hopefully Wallace will be coming as well! Plans may work out that I simply stick around in Maine after that and head east to Petit Manan to spend a few weeks with Greg's family on the coast. Wallace and I area also thinking about doing some sort of white-water rafting trip around here (PA, MD, VA). A summer of adventure!

This morning I made an attempt at vacuuming, but it broke, smoked and made a seriously awful smell. I turned on the bathroom and kitchen vent fans, opened windows, went upstairs for an hour - it still smelled, so I used a name-brand air spray and 2 hours later the scent still lingers lightly. Ew.

Yesterday I went shopping for my good friend Megan, whose bridal shower will take place on Saturday. The proprietor of the lingerie store was very kind and helpful; a lovely woman. Kept telling me how glad she was that I stopped in. Made me wish I had a reason to visit there more often, just to say hello.

I'm quite glad to be able to use the studio space at CALC. Last night I helped Thom with wedging some reclaimed clay and he told me all about teaching opportunities for the center. I can basically just make up a class curriculum, put together a materials list and then they'll make up advertisements for the thing. I got to see the creepy, creepy basement that extends under the entire building and has a cast-iron boiler the size of a steam engine in it, as well as some art materials. Apparently, the back room of the building had been used as a beauty school to get women off the streets in the 1970s - so they took beautician classes upstairs and lived in the basement. I can't imagine how anyone would want to live down there - I'd rather sleep on the sidewalk!!

Anyways, it's wet out, and spring is settling in, soon to dry out (I hope). Looking forward to sunny days, hiking, kayaking, and maybe some bouldering down at White Rocks. I think if I get that state park job I'd get a chance to do some paddling on their lakes. Maybe I'll look into pricing for kayaks...

Obesity contributes to global pollution

Check out this article:

Should Overweight Consumers Pay Extra for Services From Southwest Airlines & Other Businesses?
A number of companies and consumer groups think that overweight adults should pay extra for their services. Do you?
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/95247/should_overweight_consumers_pay_extra.html

Excerpt:

Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that the American population's weight has been creeping up since the 1990's. More than thirty percent of American adults over the age of 20 are obese. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states that the average weight of American adults has ballooned by 10 pounds.

The extra weight of these chubby vagabonds has translated into an additional $275 million dollar expenditure to burn more than 350 million additional gallons of jet fuel resulting in 3.8 million extra tons of carbon dioxide released into the air.


your thoughts?

25x

001. i must eat m&ms in the correct order: blue, green, orange, red, yellow, brown.
002. i thrive on summer activities like hiking, climbing, kayaking; exploring nature.
003. if i had excess money i would buy a taylor guitar.
004. i once punched a raccoon in the face.
005. for years, i settled for a combustible-black marshmallow on my s'more.
006. one time i witnessed a girl nearly fall into the abyss at hershey's chocolate world.
007. the concher is my *favorite* part of the chocolate factory tour ride.
008. donald miller is one of my top 3 favorite authors.
009. green is the color to which i'm most drawn.
010. i have seen the sun set over cadillac mountain on the down east coast of maine.
011. i have not seen a puffin.
012. this summer i saw two bears, two porcupines, and several doe. and the raccoon.
013. i have only heard, never seen, a pack of coyotes (sneaky buggers).
014. wallace and i aspire to drive route 50 from ocean city to sacramento.
015. this spring i discovered how inexperienced arkansasians are at snow driving.
016. my favorite thing about florida is the abundance of anoles *everywhere*.
017. the only time i flew was to visit 2 friends in chicago in 2005.
018. i worshipped God with homeless folks in a church next door to a crack house.
019. my roommate and i once cleansed the waters of the atlantic in wildwood, nj.
020. i have been to 10 weddings, and was the maid of honor in one of them.
021. i am a founding member of the ice cream challenge.
022. i once licked a cave formation that has been filmed for television.
023. one of the best things about camping can be trying to hang up your bear bag.
024. i enjoy driving a 15 passenger van
025. i hope to travel extensively in the somewhat-near future.

Sting

and the Police are playing in concert on our television.

Scrapple gurgles around in my stomach after having felt the uncomfortable gaze of a group of girls whom I value and appreciate. They told me how much they'd love to get together for overnights, retreats, hanging out here and in the woods... and then explained that they never are free to do so.

Sting says "yo" a lot in his lyrics.

Of course, I'm re-reading Donald Miller's Through Painted Deserts and am really wishing it was summer immediately. December has been so stinkin' mild, it feels like spring should come bursting through the trees at any moment. The idea of two and a half months of ice and dry air discourages me and makes me feel as though I should really appreciate this season more anyway.

The working world sort of compells me to wish for a career as a farmer or cattle herder or something else more natural and basic and necessary. My current job is to convince upper middle class ladies that they need spend more money on frivolous items for their homes. Something more necessary and helpful to people might be more satisfying as a vocation. Especially if it were something that involved spending hours outdoors. I miss that aspect of my summer job. I wonder what I'll do this summer. National Park work sounds more and more delicious every day I think about it.

Well now I'm going to get in the car, spend money on gas, spend free money on coffee, and drive down unknown winding state routes to West Chester and my love.