trick or treat.

Don't get me wrong: I love Halloween.

But I have the misfortune of having incredibly clever friends, who all come up with really funny costumes and funny ideas.

To an observer, it's a lot of fun. To a participant, it's a lot of pressure. Already, I'm getting texts saying, "Can't wait to see your costume!" and "I'll tell you like I told your boyfriend: I'm expecting you guys to have really stellar costumes!" While I appreciate everyone's good faith in my ability to come up with a good costume, I have "costume-block." Everything I think of seems so cliche or too childish-- Alice in Wonderland, Cops and Robbers, Fred and Wilma... nothing that hasn't been done at least a million times. I am also really opposed to buying costumes at costume stores because they're overpriced and look too fake (I know, I know... it's a costume, it's fake).

So I'm in a pickle.

Pickle... maybe I should be a pickle.

See, that's the kind of thing I think of when I'm so desperate.

pros & cons

Pro: Alice came to town and we got pedicures and flexed our artistic muscles at Sips N Strokes
Con: The people in the apartment above me partied until 4 a.m., so I woke up at 7 already in dire need of a nap.

Pro: I finally pulled out my favorite sweater-- it's light blue and soft and thin, so I can wrap it around me-- because the weather finally felt just right.
Con: I burned my finger on my straight this morning and, as the over-used but adorable British toddler quote goes, "It's still hurting."

Pro: I turned the radio on just in time to hear "Party in the U.S.A." in its entirety-- the perfect start to a Friday morning.
Con: I hit every red light on the way to work.

Pro: My project at work today is to create a box maze for the fall festival, so basically I've been constructing my own personal playground at work.
Con: The air-conditioner is not on, so I've already broken a sweat trying to wrestly the mismatched boxed together and bind them with duct tape.

Pro: Tonight is much-anticipated girls' night, complete with fruity drinks, colorful pajamas, and the promise of lots of talk about weddings, engagements, and boys.
Con: I must fit a nap in before girls' night; nobody wants to be the first to fall asleep at a slumber party.

Pro: it's FRIDAY.

you're an old soul.

Two people in my office have called me an "old soul" since I've worked here.

Usually, I'd take this as a compliment, as someone saying I was remarkably mature and well-rounded, but I'm beginning to wonder if they just mean that I'm the lamest twenty-something they know....

Mentone Mountain Madness.

This weekend hosted my third trip this year to a tiny mountain town called Mentone, Alabama. I have grown to love this hamlet (so pumped to use that word) nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. It is quaint and out of the way, a parallel universe where time and calories are obsolete. The sun wakes you early, and the company keeps you up late. And, of course, there's no such thing as a diet: hamburgers, hot dogs, and tacos are the usual fare, followed by cookies and chips and cans upon cans of soda. There's no such thing as a bad time in this wooded retreat; you're surrounded by your closest friends and sometimes family, too. The plethora of activities includes Scrabble, Rook, Monopoly, cornhole, and everyone's favorite- Things. Even in solitude, Camp Harvey has much to offer. God's hand is impossible to ignore from the rustling leaves to the rushing Little River (okay, it was flooded this weekend... it's not always rushing), all of which can be taken in by a canoe trip up to the "rapids" or a hike to the "secret waterfall."
Highlights of this weekend:
- "Party in the U.S.A."
- Logan hanging from the rafters during "Party in the U.S.A."
- Erica quotes, like, "He's an equal opportunity employer."
- Blake's dancing, of course
- "...and green beans... but I guess they're just beans to you." and other color-blind jokes.
- Things
- Cinnamon roll birthday cake substitute
- Real Talk with Jacob Russell, something of a departure from Real Talk with Ben Peters
- Sound of Music montage on the dock, featuring Kelsea, Evan, and Lindsey
- Canoeing with four dogs
- 12 hours of SEC football
- Blake's potato soup and Stouffer's lasagna... there were cookies, too, but I burnt them.
- Evan would want tacos to make the highlight list...
- I traded phone numbers with Joe, so now I'm friends with a rock star.
- Photo shoot in the woods/on the dock... but then...
- Evan sat on my camera.

There you have it. Mentone, round 3, was a complete and total success.

Mid-term Evaluation

I have been very pleased, to say the least, with my internship placement. Every day is a challenge: the work is not always in my comfort zone, and I do not always succeed in my endeavors, like finding utility assistance for a client or answering difficult questions that come up in relationship classes. Some weeks I feel stretched to my limit, and other weeks I feel like a superhero capable of changing the world.
When I first arrived here, staff members often referred to me as ‘the marriage intern.’ At first this lulled me into a feeling of false security. Thinking I was in my safe zone—teaching ACHMI classes that I had worked on for several semesters—I came to work everyday ready for the paperwork and intense classroom discussions. Soon, though, my role as intern evolved into much more. I have observed after-school programs designed for underprivileged elementary and middle school children to be mentored and tutored, where a 7-year-old girl astutely pointed out that I needed to shave my legs. I have gone on home visits to assess the needs of those who are home-bound. I have conducted many intake processes where I met with and evaluated a client’s needs and referred them to agencies that can meet their needs, like food banks and clothing assistance. I have attended committee meetings whose topics span from the agency’s fall festival to the community's Hispanic Service Providers coalition.
Many people struggle with relationships, but I thrive on interaction with others. In a service agency, human contact is not a plus but a necessity; my ability to communicate with others is something I have grown to pride myself in. Of course, where there are strengths, there are also weaknesses. I am a people person, and that is to say that I love getting to know people and building relationships based on mutual disclosure and shared experience; leading a group, however, is stressful to me. In front of an audience, I am unsure of myself and consult my notes often... probably too often. I co-facilitate and assist with several classes here, and each time I have to mentally prepare myself for public speaking. In my head, I rehearse each line and anecdote over and over again. Sometimes I even write out a script because when put on the spot I falter and fumble with my routine.
I consider myself quite blessed to have alighted on this agency. The atmosphere is familial and laid-back, the services provided are precious to this community, and the experiences as an intern are priceless. I have been exposed to so many people groups, and my awareness of a community’s needs is heightened exponentially. I feel like my metaphorical bubble has been burst—not everyone lives on their parents’ payroll, whose perks include an expensive education, frequent dinner dates with friends, a nice apartment, new clothes as often as trends come and go, and membership in every club or society possible—and, because of that, I am a better and more thoughtful person.
At the end of the day, I often have to remind myself that I cannot change the world. I cannot single-handedly restructure and rehabilitate a client's lifestyle and circumstances. But the little moments-- the food referral that fed a family for a week, or the relationship class that encouraged a client to call his estranged daughter-- those are what make this type of career worthwhile. Even if we only help one person out of every ten clients, then we've done our part.

Getting back to my roots.

I cut my hair... like, a lot.

For most of my life, I've worn my hair fairly short. In college years, though, I've been lazy and cheap. So recently my hair's been longer than it's ever been (well, naturally... I wore extensions a couple of times), and I've had a love-hate relationship with it. When I put time and effort into-- those brief occasions being Friday nights and the occasional Saturday-- it was pretty... at least, I liked it. But every other day of the week, I flat ironed and pinned back my wayward bangs, and sometimes I threw in what my cousin called, "OMG! The Lauren Conrad sidebraid!!" Not a terrible look, but just kind of...bleh.

My plan, as of this spring, was to wait until after Lauren's wedding. She wanted all the bridesmaids to wear up-do's, and I eagerly obliged. On July 4, one week before Lauren's wedding, Lele asked me to be in her wedding, though... so I committed to another 6 months of bleh hair.

But then...

Hailey asked me to be in her wedding in June, and I just couldn't do it anymore. So this weekend I resigned myself to go for it. As they say, "Go big, or go home."

So I cut off 5 inches, and I dyed it down to it's natural color... or close. Admittedly, it's shorter than I'd like, but that's the nice thing about hair: it grows back. She cut off the length initially, and I thought, "Wow. I love it." But then she just kept cutting. It's much choppier than I'd like, and a little thinner than I'd prefer at the ends... but the length is good and the color's better and the 'do is not half bad... so I'm not complaining... but next time I'm going for the Jen Aniston bob and not the Kristin Cavalerri layers (yep. i took pics to the salon).

It's funny, now that it's done. I come to work, and some people say, "I love your hair!" (Lamont gave me knuckles), and some people stare earnestly at me and ask, "Did you do something different to your hair?"

Yes, as a matter of fact. I cut off five inches. No big deal, it's just half the lenght of my hair.