God certainly works in mysterious ways.  Or not so mysterious ways.

My internet took a nose dive along with what little integrity my landlord still had this last week.  Stoked about it.

So I come to you as I stew over a melty hot fudge sundae at McDonalds using what is coined as free wi-fi, but required a manager to come help me connect.  Strange Wi-Fi connections are not a good thing for technologically challenged individuals....

I could say this is a tragic downfall in my life...as I am now completely unconnected to one of my favorite ways of staying connected.  However, perspective wins out and I needed a break and am enjoying the freedom of not having every bit of information at my fingertips at any hour of the day.  This change in focus has also allowed me time to read the books and start in on the movies that I need to read/watch a few more times and then discard before moving to Boston.

Update on Boston:

I leave in a little over 3 months.  Terror is beginning to take over...but the kind of terror you get when you ride a roller coaster.  Excitement....horror....but then a general sense of exhilaration for having forced yourself to do something terrifying for the sake of expanding your horizons.  I'm unbelievably excited about starting school again and I'm becoming more and more pumped to be living on the East Coast and being exposed to a lot of new things.  I'm not excited to leave my family or my beautiful friends, as I very much expect and believe that there are no others like them anywhere in the world.  In addition to preparing to go, I also find myself relishing the opportunity to enjoy one last full summer in the Pacific Northwest, as there really is nowhere more beautiful and special than here.  I don't care what anyone anywhere else says....we've got it right out here.

As far as the details go, I have an apartment, a plane ticket, and a general idea of how I'd like things to go (ha...yeah right), but very little else to go on.  I have yet to receive my placement for my internship, haven't registered for classes, don't know where my work study job will be, still need to put for the last of my loans, and need to learn to navigate this crazy huge city in 3 days once I get there.  I also have to drag my wonderfully cute but horribly impatient cat across the country on an airplane. Should be exciting.  Not to mention I've been told that I'm moving to Boston on the biggest moving day in the city.  75% of the city's apartment dwellers move on September 1st....including most students from Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Tufts, etc...  I'm in for a long day.

For those that read this that are praying types (which most of you are), please pray for my continued preparations to move.  I have begun to realize that leaving the place you have grown up in is a pretty complex process and not really one that I'm ready for or able to do on my own.  Also, pray for my friends (of which you are one), because many of them have some challenging things on their plates right now that I can't wrap my head around at all.  God is full of grace and very much in control, but our 26 year old lives are being turned upside down in ways that I don't think 26 year old lives should.  Also pray that my cat doesn't die on the airplane in September....Amen.

:)

I've been told I'm pretty picky.

I suppose I am.

It takes very little for someone to make my "its not ever going to happen" list.  Not for lack of personality or lack of looks or lack of trying...but simply because of lack of common sense.

Harsh?  Maybe.  But here are 10 things that will instantly earn Prince Charming a place on the "Do Not Call" List.

1) Planning a date that is high off the ground...not romantic.
I'm not kidding when I say that if a guy asked me to marry him on a hot air balloon ride I would say no.  You drag me up that high in the air, you deserve a quiet, awkward ride back to Earth.



2) Wearing t-shirts that expose your nipples....gag.
Whoever decided this was cool was actually too high on testosterone to realize that girls think you look stupid....not cool.



3) Buying me things that are expensive and worthless....my jewelry box is already full.  Thank you.
If all you can think to buy me is a necklace or set of diamond earrings, you don't know me very well.  The only diamond I want to receive is in the form of a ring that says you want to be with me forever (and it better be conflict-free).  Otherwise....get creative.



4) Spending every spare moment pumping iron....meat head.
I'm all for fitness, but get a life.

5) Being a crappy driver....safety first.
Didn't your Dad ever teach you to respect ladies and keep them safe?  Your ridiculous road rage and disrespect for the law does not impress me.  It just reminds me of what my Dad always warned me..."Guys are idiots".



6) Not asking questions...interview me please.
As much as I love to talk and as much as I have twenty billion questions stacked up in my head to ask you, I would also like to believe that you want to know a thing or two about me too.


7) Expressing that indoor activities are inferior to outdoor activities...I like movies.
As much as I can appreciate a day at the lake, a weekend of camping, a hike up a fairly public/non-bear populated mountain....I also really like movies, game nights, and indoor things.  The moment a guy gets snooty about his activities, I back up slowly....and eventually turn and run.  If you think the outdoors beats out indoors on every occasion, go marry a hippy.



8) Singing to me...it makes me want to disappear inside myself.
Painfully unromantic....really thoughtful, but too awkward to be enjoyable.



9) Making pigheaded ultra-Conservative comments....I'm a social worker.
At least pretend that you can see my side....because it's face it...I'm usually close to right...if not dead on.



10)  Making me chicken...if you've spent 5 minutes with me you know I hate chicken.
I'm not a picky eater....I like beef, I like most ethnic foods, I like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I'll eat vegetables, and I'll even eat things that are burnt.....but I will not eat chicken.  Get over it and quit trying to make chicken happen....it's not happening.

Bucket List Revisited

My mom told me about this little baby who was diagnosed with a terminal illness and whose parents were writing a blog in her honor, documenting some "bucket list" moments that she was experiencing.  She died this last week at the age of 5 months old, and as I read her blog yesterday and ugly cried my way through it...I recalled that I had made a bucket list myself and that I was making little or no headway on it.  I decided to take a look and see where I've been...


This last year I managed to mark a pretty solid handful of things off my bucket list....a few of these things included....


15) Go to Europe.
22) See the Eiffel Tower
30) Fly a kite
55) Volunteer regularly
54) Find a street sign for "Danielle Street"
38) Find a career that I love.
58) Live in an apartment with no roommates.
60) See one of my favorite artists live (Dierks...oh Dierks)
80) Send a message in a bottle
82) Build an epic sand castle
99) Go to a GU B-Ball game at the Kennel
21) Visit the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans


I also plan on doing these two things this coming year for sure...


40) Get my Masters.
96) Live somewhere other than the West Coast.



Now the interesting thing about bucket lists are that they seem to morph as the years go on. There are things I felt like would "complete" my life last year that really don't hold any meaning for me this year.  Why waste my time watching every single Oscar Best Picture from the last 20 years if I don't like half of them?  Why in the world would I want to hold a tarantula?  I don't even like spiders.  Do I really want to run that half marathon?  My knee barely allows me to get through Bloomsday.  I may still do these things....but will my life really feel more complete because I did them?


I guess I've been thinking a lot, not about the meaning of life, but about what meaning I'm putting into my life personally.  Am I taking the time to do things that bring me joy?  Am I putting great importance into my relationships with others or am I putting great importance into my relationship with things?  Am I living expressly for the purpose of showing God glory through my life?  What a terrible thing to waste your life on things that don't matter.


I guess what it comes down to is living life fully....living it with purpose and with intentionality.  Too many days I come home and sink into my couch and watch TV to numb my experiences from work.  I may be serving during the day, but so many days it's with a heart that doesn't want to serve and that would rather be somewhere else.  I have 50 days left to make my experience at work something that feels positive at the other end of it.  I could leave feeling burnt out and unwilling to explore this population further in future job opportunities, or I could leave with a positive attitude.  I could also devote my time outside of work to things that feel like they matter....things that make me feel alive.  Maybe doing things that make me feel more alive outside of work will make me feel more alive at work.


I love that Baby Avery's bucket list was a list of experiences...a list of joyful moments with the ones that she loved.  Not experiences that would make her life more complete in the end, but that allowed her to live fully during the time she had.  So maybe my bucket list for this year....if I were to be honest with myself...would be a "make it as I go" list.  Am I living in the moment and grasping opportunities when they arise?  Am I trying new things and taking risks?  Am I laying it on the line and using up every ounce of every day to allow my life to have real depth?  That's what I hope for this year.