weekly gratitude

thank you to the last of summer for allowing at least one more day of peep-toes

It's not quite there yet - there's still a fair amount of heat (enough, at least, to merit a few more wears out of my cut-offs) but I can hear it in the trees and smell it in the air...

Those first few whispers of dry leaves, a subtle burning as fireplaces light up for the first time this season... It's that scent.

You know what I'm talking about. 

Dean and Robin and I sat outside this morning savoring it, mulling over the breakfast we'd just enjoyed as I watched the waitress tip one more stream of hot, black coffee into my cup.

Four cups later I got my day started. 

Today was my first proper day off in over a week - proper in that I had nothing I really needed to do (freedom!) but things that could stand to be done nonetheless. I'd actually been looking forward to it all week. 

My apartment in dire need of cleaning, I made a promise to at least start on it today. But not before I took a drive. With the windows down. Blaring music. Singing the whole way with the wind whipping by. 

I landed at IKEA.

My little tree fort of an apartment, I had decided, needed some sprucing. So I gave into the nesting instinct I tend harbor each time the seasons change and indulged in a few linens and spectacular little basket to clean up the heinous mish-mash of crap under my coffee table. 

The only thing I am still in desperate need of?

A new slipcover for my couch (I'd love to say "a new couch" but getting this 8 foot beast into the place was hellacious enough - it ain't goin' nowhere until I move someday). Ideally I'd love something bright and neutral (instead of the deep olive it is now) but really, who do I think I am? 

Someone who doesn't spill things, apparently. 

Maybe I should rethink my color scheme...

_

1. Thank you for dinners! Two nights - read that two nights - in a row someone made dinner for me! Monday afternoon I got a text from Shamoo. More was said but I think I blacked out with anticipation after the words "stir fry". Have I mentioned that Shamoo's specialty is stir fry? He's been taunting me with pictures of his newly-minted cooking skills over the past couple months and I was tickled to finally experience the magic. The verdict? We've got a chef, ladies and gentlemen! Chicken, snow peas, carrots, onions, mushrooms, broccoli and spicy teriyaki? I accept. Then last night I went over to Dean and Robin's to celebrate Robin's freedom from retail hell (and an ever-closer start date for her first semester at PSU!) and lucked out once again when Dean made me spicy penne with garlic bread! These boys, I tell ya... They're too good to me. 

2. Thank you Emerson and Joy Eggerichs! The brilliant father and daughter behind Love + Respect and Love + Respect (Now) respectively (ha, didn't even try to do that) came to Solid Rock Friday night to film a little something for a new project they're working on. It was incredible. I had raced to get there after work and was lucky enough to find a seat in the very last row (the perks of being a single). Nearly five hours later I was one of the few remaining (fair enough - it was nearing midnight on a Friday nightI) as we all stood and sang "I Saw The Light" with such joy and such hope... It was surreal. The point of it was to have a conversation about love and relationships and marriage and God. Isn't it funny to think how easily people give up on one or all of those things without figuring out why, or working on things? These were just a couple of the questions posed - and answered - by Emerson and Joy. What was equally amazing was the hundreds and hundreds of people 18-35 who showed up for this event. A whole generation of people determined to do the hard work now so that we don't become a generation known for taking the easy way out when things get hard in a relationship. A whole generation fueled with hope and love and forgiveness and respect. Here's a little snippet from the evening:

3. Thank you for all the sweetness on my birthday! I was overwhelmed. Between the messages, texts, calls and tweets I was giddy with love all day. And then I was bowled over even more when I got treats in the mail from my two once-bloggy-bff's-but-now-just-real-life-loves Kate and Jenn! How I got so blessed to get these two in my life I'll never know, but I'm not going to over think it. Which brings me to...

4. Thank you for Jenn and Kate! Jenn put it best in a recent note (Jenn - I hope you don't mind me sharing it!): "Is it weird to miss someone you've never even met?!?!?!" Absolutely not. These girls are the kindred souls I never would have met had it not been for our little village in this corner of the interwebs (or maybe I would have - God's pretty crafty like that, so it wouldn't have surprised me!). But truly, they are two of the best friends I have never met and I get positively stupid thinking about our eventual blate and the indecent amounts of cheese we will eat at said time. Thank you girls for your honest love and friendship!

5. Thank you for a dad who ends emails with things like this:

"So...yet another day in paradise, or is it "pair of dice" for those who feel lucky..."Well, do ya punk...do ya feel lucky"? I appreciate Clint Eastwood."

_

So somehow it's come down to the one week mark before I leave for Fort Wayne...

Not freaking out at all.

#sarcasmtest

But really, I am on the edge of my seat with excitement and about to buzz right out of my skin! 

Andrea's getting married! I get to see Kamdyn (all two years of him!)! Jared's grandma will ask us all repeatedly if we want half a banana! I will continue to not understand euchre but Lord knows I'll hyperventilate trying to!

Can you believe we're already here?