Can you go home again?

Evidently what I need right now is some comfort! I have been stretched to the max emotionally lately and these are the things that usually help.....so I am about to start working my way down the list below.

This is the first time since moving to Austin that I don't feel at home here. I feel transplanted and detached from the people and places that have made this home. (Mostly because my apartment feels like a hotel room since I don't feel safe there anymore.) I have great friends here....I have family close (my brother and Jenny) but I need HOME!

I know there are so many friends that I graduated high school with that only go back home when they are drug by the skin of their teeth. I don't feel that way. I LOVE my hometown. It is tiny, everyone knows everything you do and there is nothing to do there but talk to the people you know. Sound boring as hell? It can be, but mostly there is a comfort in knowing that there are all these people keeping up with you. There is comfort in knowing that everyday is the same and that you can set your watch by the smells coming off the grill at Mr. Kenner's or the time the logs are being dropped at the mill.

Sniffing the air......"Mr. Kenner put the chickens on the grill....bout to start the lunch rush....."

I love that on Thursday's at noon, I know that all the men in that town that I love, will be gathered eating fried chicken at the Lion's Den and that I am always welcome there.

I love that the ballpark is still the best place to get a burger and that we actually go into ballpark-burger-withdrawal in the winter.

I love that when I drive down the main streets in town my left hand never sets on the steering wheel because I am waving at all the cars I pass....and that if I didn't my momma would have heard about it before she left school that day.

That's it.... I have just decided.....I am going home....SOON! I need the smell of the pine trees and the sound of the mill rumbling in the distance. I need the sight of the sunlight streaming through the stain glass windows in the sanctuary on Sunday morning. I need it all! There is a spot I hit on the drive home, where the mesquite trees give way to more majestic pines and the weight of the world that rests on my shoulders gets lifted away with the tree line.

I know I am over simplifying things, but hey....it's a simple place....and for the most part, we are a simple people.

If you don't have a place like this....you are more than welcome to join me in mine. But I think we all have a place that just by being there, makes us stop and take perspective. It makes us look into ourselves and find the peace we have been lacking.

I love to travel and see different place....the sights, the smells....the exotic difference of it all....but I will always need....home.

List of Comforts:

Comfort food: A Sonic DP and my grandmother's Apple Dumplings

Comfort People: Mindy....Mom.....basically the girls....

Comfort Movies: The Princess Bride, The Wedding Date, The Count of Monte Cristo

Comfort Cuddlers: Chloe

Comfort Huggers: Dad (why does a hug from your dad make everything ok?)

Comfort Music: DON'T LAUGH....if I am mad at a boy: Alanis Morsette......... if I am sad about school or work: The Dixie Chicks (I know there is much better music out there....but we are talking comfort here.)

Comfort Clothes: summer - my Dr. Seuss boxer shorts and my "hits happen" t-shirt; winter - my blue zebra-stripe flannel pj's with matching house shoes

Comfort Place: The backyard at my parent's house....laying in the grass between the pecan trees....laying still enough to hear the rustle of the leaves in the trees and feel the caterpillar walk across your hand.....

My turn to talk!

Hi! It's me Chloe!

I wanted to say hello to all of you that read Mom's blog.

There are a couple of things I need to get off my chest!

First of all, to the people who keep breaking into my mom's car.....

STOP! I mean I don't bite or anything, but I know a mean pit bull a few blocks over that really gets off on that type of thing!

Next, I would like to say that the reason Mom isn't writing this herself is because she has a biology test tomorrow that she is studying for that makes her want to cry. Which is also why these posts are kinda few and far between these days.

Also, you all need to know....today is my birthday! Please bring Snausages and Milkbones! I really do love them....but no squeaky toys....Mom really hates those!

Lastly, when you bring the goodies for me, Mom could use a hug! She keeps referring to this weekend as Crapfest 2007 and tonight she cried. I tried to hold her, but unlike Josh, I do not have disposable thumbs..... (yes, I know it is opposable....it is a joke).....what?

Then how am typing? Jeez....Mom is right....you guys are a tough crowd!

I love you all! Woof!

Nightmare on Pleasant Valley Drive

Guys! You remember my cute new little apartment that I was ranting and raving over just one short month ago?

You know, the one that was a little more hooker than pimp? Yeah? Well, it's a little MORE a lot of things....

little more robbers than cops (although I am quite sure that there have been many a COPS episode filmed on property)

little more dope head than just dope

little more riotous than righteous

OK! OK! I'm done....but you get my point! This place is a nightmare!

I have had the windows on my car smashed to steal my stereo, something stuck in my gas tank so I need a whole new fuel pump, and very large men with screwdrivers banging on my door at night screaming for me to call the cops cuz "they're gonna jump me". (I did call the cops, but more because there was a very large man with a screwdriver at my door......they never showed up by the way.)

They have however been there four times this week. I am not sure what for, but the sound of sirens right outside my door has become the soundtrack to my life.

Soooooooooo.......basically, I think I am moving again! If I can get out of my lease that is.....evidently being scared out of my ever-lovin' mind is not a sufficient legal reason to break a lease.

Who knew?

Friends....

I have such great friends! Lately I have been having such connections with my friends.

I know that sounds weird. If they are your friends, then of course you have connections with them. But maybe you know what I mean when I say that like the moon, friendships have phases.

I have been blessed in my life to have friends that I can trust and rely on, but I must say that usually I have one GOOD friend at a time.

Lately I feel blessed to have many friends! I have met new ones that I can tell are going to be a part of my life for years to come, and I have further cemented friendships that have been there for years past. Guys, thank you for you love and support through all the drama that is my life!

por ejemplo.....

Me and Joshy: We have known things about each other before we realized them ourselves....that hasn't changed after all these years and I am so thankful for it! I love you Joshy!

Me and Jessica: She makes me laugh, A LOT. She also lives her life in a way that is inspiring to all who know her. Plus she makes everything Gouda!

Me and Mindy: Wow! Where to even start? She has been my best friend since second grade, but she still manages to amaze me with her intellect and heart. I love you and thank God for you daily. And the night of the Madrigal.....

Me and Tricia: We met at trying times, but God knew I needed her to get through them! Now we deal with minute men and less trying issues.....

Me and Allison: The funniest girl I have ever met. She has a confidence about her that leaves me in awe. That Can't Be Yogurt! (good luck with that red scurvy)





Me and Kayla: We are still getting to know each other even though we have known each other our whole lives. I am enjoying the journey. Plus she "meets" my friends well!




Me and Dylan (and Logan, but we'll get there in a minute): We hardly know each other, but I feel a level of comfort with him that is so telling of his kindness. Sorry again about the whole sick in the car thing!







Me and Logan: I never expected another "best friend" in my life, and I surely didn't expect to find it in the "frat boy" persona a saw when I first met him. (But that was my own prejudice.)His generosity of spirit and genuine interest in everyone he meets is just the tip of the iceberg with him. I love you Doobie!





Me and Jennie: She is my brother's girlfriend, but she is now my sister.....whether it ever becomes official or not. I first loved her because of the way she treated my brother, but now I love her for the woman she is.



And last but not least.....Me and Chloe: She is the smile on my face when I go home each day! She is the best dog EVER! Screw diamonds! Dogs are a girl's best friends!

Book Club!

Mindy and I saw The Jane Austen Book Club tonight (sooo good) and in true life-imitating-art fashion, we have decided to start our own little Jane Austen book club!

We all know that I have a small obsession with Austen, so she didn't exactly drag me kicking and screaming....but I do have a few other books I am reading....Cellular Biology, Molecular Chemistry and Multivariable Calculus....so we are taking this slow.....

We are doing one book a month...I know....Austen does not take NEAR that long to get through, but again....I AM A BUSY GIRL....and let's face it, so is Mindy.....

Anyway, first we are reading Emma. We figure it will ease us into this with a little light reading....

I am so excited to read and discuss Austen AGAIN :) Please feel free to join us....I will post our discussions....PLEASE JOIN!!!

Common Topics of Conversation

Guys....I am a nerd!

It is official! School is back underway and I am daily, finding ways to cement my fate as a self-made nerd.

Here are the Top 5 Reasons:

5) Last weekend we came home from ACL (Austin City Limits Music Festival)....it was AWESOME by the way....and instead of doing college-y things like play beer pong and get arrested (ok, some of us did that too), we played Trivial Pursuit and went to bed.

4) I spend something like 9 hours a day either in class or studying. So much so that my friends think my study buddy has kidnapped me....he hasn't by the way....what? I can't hear you.....of course I wrote what you told me....yes sir....what ever you say sir!

3) Today as I was swimming (still loving it by the way), I was mentally going over the cohesive and adhesive properties of water and how the hydrogen bonding was responsible for the resistance in my stroke.

2) I got into a discussion last night about how the density of a loogie determines if it is possible to spit one out of the top of a moving jeep and it not hit you on the head. Ok so this sound like the conversation of a 12-yr old boy and not a nerd....I know, but it's the fact that we were using terms like "density" and "vectors" and "wind resistance".

and the best one.....

1) I TiVO Jeopardy! Every night as a study break, do I bust the Wii out and go to town, hell no....I have a standing date with Alex Trebek....that dapper, discerning, sexagenarian.....

Happy Birthday to Me!

I know that I have been missing lately! Sorry!

Here's a quick run down on my excuses....

1) I moved. (Really I could stop here, because wow, what a pain in the.....ok mom....in the tush.)

2) School started again. Classes include Chem lab....Chem 2.....Multi-variable Calculus.....and Biology......wait...I need a minute to cry now......

and

3) Last week was my 25th birthday!!!

What?

"That's only one day" you say?

Not the way I do it!!!! The weekend of the 24th, mom came up to help me move (which was really more, she bought me stuff for the apartment and Jared, Kayla, Pam and Jenny helped me move, but still.....) and we all went to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory for my birthday.

Then on the 30th (my actual birthday) I had a group of friends and family get together to celebrate with dinner at P.F. Chang's and drinks afterward.

My new tote from Jared and Jenny!



Me and my buddy Logan.



Saki bombs.....hmmmm....



Splash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



We were having fun!



Jared and Jenny....how cute are they?




Make a wish.....


Fun girls! My old roomie Lindsay in red and her new roomie Julie in black and white....

And this weekend, I have a group of friends getting together to go to the lake for a few days.....BIRTHDAY'S ROCK!!!

ANYWAY....I am finally getting settled in a routine so I promise, that Chloe and I will be sharing our daily trials again VERY soon.....

P.S. One of my birthday presents was an awesome new digital camera....so now my eloquent (cough cough) words will visual aids!