Vacay?

The past 3 weeks or so have been physically and emotionally exhausting for a few reasons. I've lost sleep, I've been down, I have had a list of things to get done that never seems to get even close to the end. But now I'm finally gone from all of that for 10 days, where I will rarely have internet or cell reception. I started in Boone on friday and I've just arrived in Tennessee with my best friend and about 50 family members for a family reunion until Sunday. I can sit on a porch swing and do absolutely nothing but hike, sleep, eat, take pictures, swim, and spend time with family that I never see. 

Boone was great. Both of my best friends made it for the weekend.  We stayed in Kat's apartment and spent some quality time together. Here is a list of memorable highlights because I'm too lazy to go into detail:

 Day one.

- Had dinner at Coyote Kitchen and when on a long drive along the back roads of Boone.

- Made some yummy drinks.

- Roasted marshmallows using microwaves, candles and a lighter, and ate s'mores

- Found my new addiction: Organic Cinnamon Crunch cereal.

Day two.

- Slept in past 10 which was a first this summer. Not too mention I didn't  actually get out of bed until 11:30.

- Made the best smoothies ever.

- Went to a party and played Mario Kart

- Beat an undefeated team at beer pong, my first game in 2 years. Score.

Day three.

-Bestie's car wouldn't start. The headlights were on all night.

- Called AAA  to jump my bestie's car.

- AAA failed to jump bestie's car and couldn't tow it to the dealership bc it was sunday. Lame.

- I lost my keys. Not as lame but making the day more lame.

- I thought we would be stranded in Boone all week with my lack of keys and her dead battery. Super lame. I want to go hiking.

- I found my keys and hour later. Sweet.

- Got on the parkway and took a gorgeous hike and watched the rain clouds move in.

- Nicole left for home because of work the next day, we showed off some sweet dance moves in the rain as she drove off.

-Packed up Kat's place in boxes for her big move.

Day four.

- Got coffee at Panera and got on the internet.

- Towed bestie's car and left it there.

- Made a few trips to move Kat's stuff to storage.

- Storage guys decided to go on lunch break without the checking cameras and locked us in.

- Kat escaped through a side door and manages to open the gate through the outside, thus freeing us.

- Ate Chickfila sitting in the open trunk of my car and reflected on the weekend.

- Then headed to TN., where we are currently going to bed after dipping peanut butter cookies into hazelnut coffee on the front porch. 

Actually I'm the only one awake and even though I don't have internet I felt like writing. But because my laptop is the only light around, I'm being attacked by moths and gnats who apparently have secret passageways to get into this cabin, meaning the light's gotta go. But there are quite a few fireflies that have gotten in too, and it's pretty wonderful to look at.

More to come  soon.

Leave. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back. It is you who will have changed.

      That's the encouragement I took from a book by Donald Miller in high school, when worrying about my future, college, dreams, etc. The advice is wonderful and it's tugging at me again, for when I graduate. Before age ten grew up thinking my life would be graduating college, getting a job, living in Charlotte and getting married and having children. When I realized that wasn't required of me in society anymore, I decided that path for me personally was absolutely crazy. At least until I'm much much older. There is way too much I want to experience before any kind of settlement happens. I've rarely given any thought to a wedding or children since then. Not that it won't happen, maybe one day, but definitely not anytime soon. I always told people that when I grew up I'd be a photographer or artist. But there are so many other things I want to learn and make a living from. How can people just choose one thing to do?        
       I only have one life to experience, so I may never know what I want to be. I really crave experiencing every place and culture the world has to offer, finding true love in nature and living simply, and make my career in life to become selfless, help those who need it, and to find God in everything I do. This may be a bit too Eat Pray Love for some people, but to me it sounds like the most rewarding life out there. It may not be realistic, to be honest not many of my dreams have been. But I don't want to let this one that I love so much slip away.

I have a long to do list for my life. I won't list all of them but here are a few.

-Work in a vineyard
-Learn to sail
-See the northern lights
-Spend at least a month in New Zealand
-See a sunrise in the Grand Canyon
-Have a sweet six pack, but I'll settle for a flat stomach
-Learn how to be completely self-sustainable
-Own a piano
-Take a road trip across the US
-Inspire someone
-Become slightly domesticated (aka cook)
-Improve my spanish by spending a few months in South America
-High-five a monkey
-Work with marine life like dolphins, seals, etc, even if it's just feeding them dead fish.

So... If you see me in seven years living in Charlotte and I've only done two or three of these things, please poke me in the eye and remind me that I really wanted a cool life for myself. I may need a reminder, especially if I'm poor.

"It's a living book this life... Soon the credits will roll and all your friends will fold out of your funeral and drive back to their homes in cold and still and silence. They will make a fire and pour some wine and think about how you once were... and feel a kind of sickness at the idea you will never be again. My hope is that your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside you, about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get on story, you and I, and one story alone."
Donald Miller.

This post is dedicated to my grandpa who passed a year ago, July 7th 2010. One of the most inspiring and spiritual people I've ever known.

It's also dedicated to my friend Ted who still manages to travel the world without the use of most of the muscles in his body due to ALS.

Pitch Black Porch Jams, Featuring Fela Ellis