some thoughts from TN...

On the way home from work this evening I was thinking about all the things I've seen and noticed since I've been here in TN, and got the idea that maybe I should share them with you.

Some of the differences I've noticed while I've been here have been slight, like the fact a shopping center in WA probably wouldn't ever be called "Colonial Park". As was expected, there are many stores and restaurants here in TN that aren't in WA. One of my new favorites is the local Super Target. Of course I was a Target-lover in WA, but now I've discovered something even better! I think maybe its because its the closest thing we have here to Fred Meyer (besides WalMart) that I feel at home shopping there. Most of the restaurants are different and I still haven't even made a dent in all the places I've never eaten. Some of the ones I have tried include Sonic, Chili's, Captain D's, Famous Dave's, Fizoli's (inexpensive somewhat fast-Italian food) and Ruby Tuesday. As far as Sonic goes - I can now understand why my southern friends who have been transplanted to WA crave Sonic. I have fallen in love with their onion rings and shakes. My intention is to try a wide variety of menu items but I keep going back to the onion rings. Captain D's is very similar to Skippers with the exception of offering Fried Okra as a sidedish, and every meal comes with a couple Hushpuppies. When I went there for lunch with one of my new co-workers, she was shocked I didn't know what a hushpuppy was, and that I don't remember ever eating one. So far I think Famous Dave's has been my favorite sit-down place to eat. They have some delicious BBQ burgers, cooked with special seasonings and different kinds of BBQ sauce slathered on them. They have like 6 different kinds of BBQ sauce at the table so you can dip your fries in some or coat your baked potato with one. There are a few familiar places to eat too, like Jack in the Box (which I was afraid they wouldn't have here), Red Robin, and places like Cheesecake Factory and Panera. Its nice to have some familiar things. :)

Book in Review: A Daughter of the Land

Since one of my goals is to finish reading all of Gene Stratton Porter's books, I decided to get started right away. My first book of 2009 was called A Daughter of the Land. Like many of Ms. Porter's books, this one takes place in rural Indiana. The story begins in the late 1800's with a young woman named Kate, at the age of 18. Kate is the youngest of a large family, and works hard for her parents on their large farm. She helps her mother in the house, with dishes, with meals, with the laundry, and in the potato patch so that her older sister can teach the local school. When it comes time for Kate to be able to go off to "Normal" to gain the knowledge she needs to be qualified to teach her parents refuse to assist her or even give her permission to leave the farm. One Sunday Kate hears a preacher encourage his congregation to "take the wings of morning". Unsure of what this meant, Kate considered this phrase in addition to her current situation. After pondering this, she realized that it must mean to take the opportunities life brings you and fly with them. Kate grabs ahold of that idea, and uses it to propel her to "Normal" and take charge of finding a school to teach at. For a while things seem to be progressing as smoothly as possible, but like is common in real life she finds herself in a few valleys. Life for all of us is filled with hills, where we feel nothing could harm us, and also valleys, where at times life seems to get the best of us. Kate's life in this story seems to have some of the lowest valleys. Most of the difficulties she has to go through during her life, people I know have never experienced and hope we never have to. However, somehow these difficulties only develop the best in Kate. She is better off for the valleys she has experienced, whereas some of her sisters are worse off for all the hilltops they have been on. Despite being estranged from her family, witnessing many deaths and disappointments she does find happiness and joy and love, especially during the end of her life. Though this is a fictional story, I think having a happy ending after living through such adversity is such a great example of what real life can be.

Once I started reading this book, I couldn't hardly put it down. During the middle of the story, I was starting to wonder if she would ever reap benefits from the adversity she faced. When I got to the end of the book I realized that this was one of the best stories I had read in a long time. How often do we read books about someones whole life? I'm not sure about you, but a lot of the books I have read (classics even!) end with the two favorite characters, who are usually from the younger generation, "hooking up" which suggests that they live "happily ever after". A Daughter of the Land was refreshing to me because even after Kate endured so much, she was able to get her "happily ever after" even if it was in her later years. In conclusion, I would highly recommend this to anyone to read, and especially those looking for something to make them appreciate their lack of valleys in life.

Evolution of Wedding Dance

I was catching up on some reading over at Beth Spera in Domino and found their post about this video called "Evolution of Wedding Dance" which is reminiscent of the famous YouTube video "Evolution of Dance". This video made me laugh so hard... I just had to share the link.

Life Goals, Resolutions and more

In August of 2007 I traveled east to visit my friends in Indiana [from the Common Room], and my friends in Tennessee. During my time in Indiana, my friend The Equuschick told me of something that she does which helped her in making some life decisions. She told me that several years ago she started a list of Life Goals. This concept was intriguing to me as I had never done something of that nature. Here is an excerpt from my journal about our conversation:

“She started telling me about things that were on her list of Life Goals. Things she wanted to accomplish or see before she dies. In the end I understood that her job at the Animal Shelter was a means to an end. She needs money to help her accomplish some of these things, and what she ultimately wants to make a living at isn’t ready yet. All her talk about goals & dreams, and plans of how to accomplish them, inspired me. I realized that I had nothing like [Equuschick’s] ‘list’ of goals. I’ve just been floating along since graduating [from college]. For 4 long years my goal was to finish school. Now that I’ve done that, I haven’t found anything to replace it.”
I was so inspired by Equuschick, that I wrote my own list of Life Goals on the airplane coming home. I broke up my list by periods of time I would like to accomplish these tasks, here is what I came up with:

1 yr goals:
Get my scrapbook up-to-date
Form habit of walking 3 mornings a week
Take Microsoft Office training and get certification
Attend a Photography class
Read Harry Potter book series
Finish “friendship” quilt
Get Business License [?] (not completely sure about this one)
5 yr goals:
Read all of Gene Stratton Porters books
Roadtrip down Oregon and California coasts
Go on a ‘We Care’ Campaign
Other goals:
Extended stay in United Kingdom
Live in a different state than WA
Visit New York City
Trip to East Coast (including New England and Florida)

If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you will have already noticed that one of my goals can be crossed off due to a recent change in my living situation.
Earlier this week my friend Micah Redding (of The Redding Brothers) and his brother-in-law Ryan Hogan, started a list of New Years Resolutions. However, this list is not full of your typical New Years Resolutions, such as ‘lose weight’ ‘exercise more’ or ‘watch less tv’. They decided to come at it from a different angle and aim high instead of aiming low and not accomplishing anything. They told me that if we aim for the stars we might at least hit the moon. Their original list included such gems as “Get Bubble Tea with Barack Obama”, and “get accepted to Yale”, however, they asked each of us who went to the New Years Eve party at Micah’s house to add a couple ourselves. After we all added to the list Micah posted a blog about this new adventure called The Resolution Begins, with an organized version of the list. Hearing Micah and Ryan’s thoughts on this new year refreshed my interest in my Life Goals list, so yesterday I flipped through my journal to find it. I’ve done some updating, and I will probably do some more as I feel that I need a couple more big ones on it, but here is what I have so far:

1 yr goals:
See the Atlantic Ocean
Visit New York City
Find a church family to place membership with
Finish reading the Harry Potter book series (only 2 out of 7 left!)
Finish reading Gene Stratton Porter’s books
Read the Twilight book series
Finish a quilt
Refresh old friendships through new correspondence
5 yr goals:
Roadtrip down Oregon and California coasts
Go on a Mission Trip
Trip along East Coast (including New England and Florida)
Other goals:
Extended stay in United Kingdom
Start Landscape Design business

You will notice that some things got moved around as I now live closer to some of the places I wanted to visit. I’ve also changed some items completely. Anyway… maybe this will inspire you as Equuschick did me… or maybe not! Whatever your reaction, I hope your year is filled with love and joy and that you make a positive impact on the people around you. Happy 2009 everyone!

Where I've been...

My mom suggested that I also post a list of all the states I've been to, and I thought I'd just do an updated "Where I've been" map. Hopefully soon I will be adding to it, as I'm so close to states I've never visited before. here it is:

visited 27 states (54%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or determine the next president

I have finally arrived!

Part of the reason I planned my route through St Louis was so that I could isit the Gateway Arch. So sunday morning before leaving St Louis to head to Nashville, I went down to the Riverview park where the arch is. It took me a little bit to find the parking lot as it was down on the levy out of sight from the road. I finally parked (just barely getting the cheaper price of $4 instead of $6) and the walked up to the park. The Gateway Arch is so much bigger than I thought it was from the pictures! It was so huge, I couldn't hardly get it all in one picture. It was a beautiful day to see the arch. You can see some of my pics below, and more on myspace or facebook (if you are on my friends list). After that I didn't really pay attention to things around me, because all I really wanted to do was get to Nashville as soon as I could.

One thing I did on my trip was keep a running tab of state license plates to see how many different ones I saw... here is what I found:

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

North Dakota

Ohio
Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Washington

Wisconsin

Wyoming

I also saw these Canadian plates:

British Columbia

Manitoba

Ontario

Only 1.5 days to go!

Was just going to get directly on the freeway but then I saw a flyer for this cool-looking park in downtown Council Bluffs, so I decided to check it out. It had some really interesting structures in the center of the park. One was part of the fountain that isn't currently running (presumably because of the changing weather). It was a nice start to the day. (see pics below)
Finally I've had some change in scenery. Missouri has more hills and greenery (or rather trees changing colors), than western Iowa did.
Once I reached Kansas City area I noticed a definite change in humidity levels. Just east of Kansas City the sun disappeared behind a foggy haze. It continued until almost right before St Louis, and then the fog disappeared and the sun came out again.
I went through Warrenton, MO and noticed a distinct smell of Onions. I'm ready to be done with my trip. Now that I'm so close, I kind of just want to get there.