Grow Up

I have to grow up.

I don’t want to, but I have to.

I want to rest on the assurance of things I’ve done already, things I’ve seen, things I know are safe, comfortable, easy.
I have to grow up.

I have to put childish things behind me. Laziness, procrastination, disorganization.

I don’t want to grow up.

I don’t want to, but I have to.

I have to grow up.

Menu Monday!

Alright, so it's Tuesday, BUT I made my menu and shopping list on Sunday, so taking the mathematical average of Tuesday and Sunday, I get MONDAY...so it's still fair. Plus, it's my blog so I win. :)

Our menus are going to be pretty skimpy this fall because of our schedule. Due to early evening activities at church Wednesdays and Thursdays, we'll be eating at "The Caf" at Trevecca. Sundays after church, we have decided to eat out with friends most weeks. So that leaves just a few meals a week, but after a busy and sporadic summer, I'm super excited about cooking again. And fun fall foods are upon us. If you read this blog at all, you know that I LOVE FALL!!

So here's what we're eating this week at our house:

Monday: Leftovers (starting out with a bang)

Tuesday: Oven baked corn dogs, salad, and chili roasted sweet potato fries

Wednesday & Thursday: TNU

Friday: Pizza on the grill, salad, and green beans

Saturday: Muffins, turkey bacon and fruit for breakfast; Leftovers for lunch; Oven-Baked Pressed Sandwiches for supper

Sunday: out for lunch, BBQ with The Gathering students for supper

See, I told you it wouldn't be super-exciting, but I am looking forward to corn dogs and sweet potato fries tonight! Let me know what you're making this week.

Bye Bye Bean

My best childhood chum is moving across the country in the opposite direction today.

We didn’t plan to end up so close together in the first place... just both happened to jump at opportunities east of the Mississippi after college.

I miss hear already which is strange and probably a bit inappropriate because we never saw each other, and I’m terrible about remembering to call, so we only talked on the phone a few times in the past four years. But it was nice to know that if I wanted to, or if I needed her, she was a measly two hours away. I’m kicking myself for not spending more time with her while we could. Wish we could have at least met for a Saturday or two every once in a while…

My heart is heavy in her absence, which is so utterly selfish because I couldn’t be more excited for her: Moving to THEE PERFECT city for her, her boy, and their dog; Living downtown in an unfathomably amazing location, with hundreds of new things to explore along every neighborhood street; Fantastic job opportunities await…

Maybe too my heart is realizing that now I’m all alone out here…realizing how exciting it would be to be moving back to a place where I could be a 15 minute walk from my BFF...or a 4 hour drive from my family..in case I wanted them to join me for dinner some Sunday afternoon...

I love you, Bean, and I'm so excited for the new things that await you. This muggy, ridiculous, wild mannered South will miss your glorious presence. Save a spot on the floor for us as we’ll have to visit you and Ashton SOON!

home is no longer my home

I started to title this post "home sweet home" but then I couldn't.

I'm sitting in the office at my Dad's house in Colorado, on a crisp, beautiful Summer Sunday morning, and having an absolutely smashing time visiting my family this weekend. Friday night we went to a Rockies game and watched our hometeam soundly defeat the Cubs. We played all day yesterday at our favorite Denver summer spot, Water World, and made the two and a half hour trek back to Yuma for dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant. After dinner we caught up with my favorite Yuma aunt, uncle and cousins, and chatted into the night/held a quick make-shift early birthday with my sweet mama.

After the day ended, I fell asleep next to my sister in a room that is not my own. There's been a little bit of shuffling around in the Campbell house, and my sister Kirsten now resides in what was my room (for one summer while I lived in this house after college). This change is certainly no problem for me at all because she's an almost 18 year old girl who needs her space and I'm glad she can use the room that I might have maybe stayed in once a year for the rest of my life.

What this change does represent, however, is how I've grown up and replaced my thoughts of home with a different place. While I will always say that Yuma is my home, ie: flying HOME for the weekend; going HOME for Christmas; as I began to title this blog "home sweet home," I realized that Yuma is not my HOME. My home is the little brick house in Nashville where Trevor will be waiting with open arms when I fly HOME on Monday.

My family will always represent my home of the past. One that I will cherish, and hope to visit often. But Trevor represents my home, both now and always, and I can't imagine it any other way.

Lazy Saturday

It's 10:13 a.m. and we're still in bed. I am thoroughly awake, and have been playing on facebook for an hour, however. I should prolly get up and be productive. Especially because I've been home one evening out of the past 4 and did nothing relating to housework that night either...

Laundry, here I come.

Where we've been

Oh my gaahsh...you thought we fell off the face of the earth, didn't you? Well, we were close. After almost a month of company following a week of General Assembly and two weeks of intense GA prep, we were exhausted! BUT we had a fantastic time, and now we're reasonably rested and ready to reflect. The posts might be kind of random, but I hope to share some pics and video from our summer so far.

A major part of Trevor's new job for the first few months was helping plan Trevecca's promotional stuff for General Assembly. He even convinced them that he could build and furnish the booth for the convention center at 1/2 the cost. It was a TON of work, but he pulled it off beautifully! My photos aren't working right now, so you'll just have to take my word for it tonight. I'm sure we'll blog on General Assembly more in depth, so I'll leave it for that post. I know, I'm killing you with the suspense...

Then Mom and Jenni came on Thursday the 2nd to spend the long 4th of July weekend with us! We relaxed and shopped, played MarioKart Wii and ate lots of yummy food. The only thing we didn't get to do was see fireworks (it rained) but that just means that they'll have to come see them next year.

Unfortunately, Jenni could only stay for a few days, but mom got to stay through my birthday on the 15th. We had so much fun together. One Saturday we went down the the farmer's market and the bicentennial mall, enjoying the sites and fun things the city had to offer.
This little boy was making smoothies and lemonade at his parent's fruit stand in the market.

There is a huge map section at the Bicentennial mall. This one is 3-D.

This one is huge...maybe bigger than a regulation sized basketball court?

There is a giant amphitheater at the mall that looks up at the state capitol. I wish I would have gone and stood down there so you could see just how big it is...

That night, we headed down to Centennial Park to watch people swing dance.

She also got to watch Trevor and I play softball which we love to do in the summer, and we all got to go to a couple of minor league baseball games - thanks, Trevecca!

Trevor was able to score extra tickets, so Stephen and Brian came too. They're cool...they play worship with us at church.

(We had great seats)

We tried to go to the Loveless Cafe for lunch, but even at 2:00 in the afternoon, there was a line out the door. Come visit us on a weeknight and we'll be more willing to take you out there. It is an experience for sure!

I'm a little disappointed that I've been working on this post for an hour and I'm not even close to covering all the fun we've had this summer. I haven't even mentioned our amazing week with Torrey and Anni last week...that's definitely coming in another post. Trevor is ever-so-patiently waiting for me so we can go home, so I'd better wrap this up. There WILL be more to come, I promise...and with more frequency then I have been posting, to be sure!

Note to Self:

Buy this book