Wait I live here? Weird?

So after a very long day yesterday I had one of the most perfect nights... I wish I could tell you there was a boy directly involved but alas it was just a night spent with some girlfriends catching up. My good friend Wendy who had recently moved back to her home state of Missouri was back in town for a business meeting. We thought it would be fun if we met up and took part in our old ritual that was dinner at Austin Grill. The funny part came when Wendy was turned around and asked me for direction on how to get there. And I knew what to tell her! But I jump ahead... Wendy was held up in a meeting so I called my friend Kelli (we had both been literally trying to clear our schedule for the past month so we could catch up but nothing was happening) to see if she could meet me before hand for some appetizers. Low and behold Kelli said she was already out the door on the way. So Kelli and I spent a good hour catching up and goofin off before Wendy arrived. Then Wendy and I spent a couple hours over dinner and our old routine of Austin Grill Accountability.

It was a wonderful spring DC night so instead of just jumping right on the subway we thought lets walk it. I directed her in the way we should head off to her office building and I would catch the train from there. As we were walking Wendy looked confused and I kept directing her in the way to go. It was weird because we were crossing the street at one point and I saw a girl I knew and we exchanged quick hellos and how are yous... We turned another corner and Wendy realized we were walking by the White House, I told her I thought that was the best way to go, because the White House is pretty awesome at night all lit up. She asked if I was still glad to be in DC and I stated I knew it was where I was supposed to be right now. As we were getting closer to the subway station I ran into a friend I had not seen in years (um I'm sorry how have I been here long enough to not see someone for years?) in the park walking his dog. We stopped and said hello and he happen to be on the phone with another guy friend of mine I had not seen in months so I chatted with him some on the phone and then headed to the metro. It was then that it hit me... wait I live here?! When did that happen? I know people and how to get around... This was to be a temporary adventure for two years. That's what I told everyone, two years in DC and then I am heading back home. Now I am working on my fifth year, and that my friends is the big mile-stone in DC. Many say if you stay here five years, then you're stuck... you are a Beltway Insider! Well I am not sure about all that but it was kinda neat not to feel like a temporarily displaced person, and like this is my town... weird I know... who would have thought I would live in DC?

Amanda may have Baby Bangs but I got Baby Purse!

I have never been that girl who carries a purse… I either carry a back pack, or satchel of some sort or everything I need in my pockets. It’s a main reason I find the smallest cell phone, and I have a tiny “wallet”, tiny camera, you get the point. I have arranged my life so that everything can fit into pockets if I need them. Being a compulsive hair brusher (My name is Michelle and I am a brush addict, I have been clean for about 20 minutes!!!) I even have a small brush that fits in most of my jacket pockets. its not that I hate purses, I actually do have a couple, but I just think they are restrictive, you have to lug them around and they can really slow a gal down in this city and life in general.

Now the wonder of not caring a purse is that sometimes you don’t want to stick EVERYTHING in your pockets, so you have to arrange something else… this usually comes in the form of one of my friends purses. Many of you reading this blog have endured my “renting” out space in your purse over the years, but lets be honest ladies, a lot of y’alls purses can hold a small village so what is a few extra items! Poor Sara has been tortured the longest with this ritual and a few weeks ago she came home from a bridal shower with some extra favors, little bags for note cards and the like. We soon both thought the one that looked like a purse was the one for me. …So it was not meant to so much BE an actual purse but I thought it would be funny if I used it as one. Everyone thought I was joking, but no no, I was serious. So I packed up my little purse with my wallet, camera, pen, checkbook, lip gloss and keys and headed to church.

Needless to say everyone laughed at me, but I don’t see why… it fit perfectly on my arm to my elbow, matched my outfit… weird
Below are some pics of Baby Purse…

Me and Baby Purse!

Baby Purse next to Jodi's Purse

What in the World?!

The Banana Boat Incident of 1999

Many of you reading this blog know this story… some of you were there. But last night after our last “unofficial” hang out time with our college students, they brought items to make banana boats after I had shared the story with them they thought it would be funny. First if you do not know what a banana boat is, it is a delightful campfire treat that rivals the smore. You take a banana slice the rind open and then mush the banana up inside the rind. The you add mini marshmallows, and chocolate chips! Wrap it in foil and place it in the fire. It melts together then you eat the yummy goodness out of the rind and smile!

Well I was introduced to this treat my first summer as a camp counselor at a Christian sports camp in Texas called Camp Balcones Springs. During the summer banana boats were made each camp out night so total of 4 each summer. Since I had the oldest girls during the middle of the summer my girls did not participate in camp out because of their trips and thus this cut my banana boat intake down to 2 a summer! I know! Sadly as well I also injured my knee pretty bad and had a large brace on my leg and gimped around for the last session of camp. My best friend Sara would drive me around in a truck to help me get around camp property.

The last camp out of the summer my girls were placed in the most RANDOM spot ever… it totally was a make-shift camping site as the grass literally came up to our knees and it was not cleared at all. At one point my co-counselor Kristen was walking by the camp fire when all of the sudden she fell… of the side of the cliff people! The edge was disgused by al the grass and she did not realize she had reached it! Luckily there was a ledge about 6 feet down that caught her, had it not she would have gone down 30! But I digress so a great Texas thunder storm starts to roll in. There begins to be a lot of ruckus around the camp sites and it is getting dark. Soon from the shadows Sara appears telling me she is driving me back to the cabin as the storm is coming in and we have to go. She looked very frustrated I guess from things that transpired before she reached me and began to pick up my camping gear. I had just taken my beloved banana boat off the fire when she arrived so I secured it in my left hand putting my right arm around her for balance as we tried to walk back her holding me and my stuff through the dark woods. I hit a tree stump in the ground and fall pretty hard. But as I go down I ensure my left hand stays in the air securing the safety of my banana boat. Sara then picks up my camping gear and is trying to help me up (keep in mind I can not use one leg to get myself up) and I am refusing to give her my left hand obviously because it is holding the banana boat. After many frustrating minutes for Sara to help me up and not drop any of my camping gear Sara grabs my banana boat out of my left hand and CHUNKS it into the lake! WHAT! Shocked and appalled at my “so-called Best friend's” actions I lay on the ground with a stunned look on my face. She in turns tells me “Let’s Go!” in her best mother voice and she picks me up and practically has to drag me back to the truck. Needless to say and by the fact I am posting this… this little incident in 1999 has been a light hindrance in our friendship. We are seeing a counselor and after my students so graciously retrieved the items needed for me to make a banana boat last night I am getting closer to forgiving her.

Jodi and I re-enacting the Banana Boat Incident at Retreat

A Little Southern Comfort

So I totally blame my parents... and my high school youth minister, not to mention the gentlemen at Texas A&M! Well what I blame them for is not bad it's good actually but it makes me have a high standard of folks... What am I talkin about here people is Chivalry and good manners! That's right! It's not that people this north are rude, most of the time its just simple unawareness of those around you. I was raised in a strict household of manners. My mom used to tell us to act like little adults. My Dad works for Marriott and when ever we were at the hotel or anywhere else for that matter we were to be on our best behaviour addressing everyone by Sir or Ma'am. I felt like I had done something wrong the first time a close friends mom told me to call her by her first name, or just Mom... it felt weird.

Then I get to High School, and my youth minister Allen insists on guys treating the girls of the youth group like the "Princess'" they are. The guys always carried our luggage to the buses before trips, or let us eat first at any event. And then A&M happen, where boys pick up their step to beat girls to grab the door handle, or get heckled by other guys if they are sitting on the bus while there is a female standing. Its a great culture and I miss it! I know about the Women's movement and I am all for women's rights, but I am also all for being a lady! Seriously!

Well in DC I found life is a tad different when guys I knew would open the door just enough for them to get in, again these are friends, not being rude just not going out of their way. Or I had a boss that INSISTED that I not refer to her as Ma'am. Now I get that often people telling me no or what not, I assure them it is not an age thing but an importance thing and since everyone is more important than me everyone is ma'am and sir. But she was not buying it, I told her to be honest I would much rather have her mad at me than my mom. (Keep in mind this lady is actually a big deal) She still was not buying it and thus since it was so embedded in my brain I had to put up sticky notes all around that said "No Ma'am" to remind myself not to say it. It was funny because I would often pause and say it in my head and then keep talking... yeah I'm weird.

But the biggest frustration for me here is the manners on the metro. People will do what ever they have to to push someone out of the way and get their seat! Its crazy. When a metro pulls into a station a little what I like to fondly refer to as "Tunnel of Love" forms around the doors. People make a sorta tunnel on either side for the folks on the train to disembark and then everyone boards. This is where things can get harry, people will push or slip their bag in front of someone to make it clear they are getting on first! Then they run like children to a Christmas tree for "their" seat. Its pretty crazy to watch these folks in their suits do this. I have seen a man push to a side an elderly lady with a WALKER (A WALKER PEOPLE!!) to get a seat only to close his eyes slip on his head phones and act like it never happened! But I have also been blessed to see some good folks too.

So what is the point of this blog, I think if we were all a bit more hospitable to people we would have a much happier world. You have no idea what that person has been through in their day to get to the moment you meet them, so if they are rude or nice, be kind, smile and be polite it can mean the world to someone. And manners are not dead in this day and age, if we just respect each other.

Pictures from the Gathering!

Gathering Rap-up

Well I meant to post this one yesterday but got distracted. Tuesday night was our last “official” service for The Gathering this semester. It has been an interesting school year one I may not soon forget. We have seen tremendous growth in this ministry and our students. Let me give you a tad of background on the campus I serve for those who may not know, I work with the college ministry through McLean Bible Church and we meet on two campuses American University and George Mason. We also hold a summer ministry at McLean for returning students and the LARGE influx of interns we see in this town every summer. It’s great. I have been serving on American since the second semester it has been on campus. We started out with 3 college students and a pastor. American was voted one of the most liberal college campuses in America, and the most politically active. The student body is some where around 6,000 students and 66% of them are women. They have one of the most diverse campuses around, in every sense of the word. You can find a large group of people from every race, religion, gender or cause you want. I never felt a call to missions but often when I am sitting in the cafeteria with my students I see the mission field brought to AU.

This semester we have grown to an average of 65 students attending each service, with an average of 15 to 20 guys! (That is HUGE for us here, on our largest attended night last semester we had 86 students and only 11 guys!) We now have a team of 12 volunteers! I love it! So I could tell a lot of stories about these students and how they melt my heart or make me laugh but I will just share some pics with you of the fun we have!

Check Out Aisle 2

This will be a rare glimpse for many of you who read my blog into the single life of a twenty-something in the city. (I say that because I technically have a few months before I hit my official late twenties and I am trying to hold onto the status of MID-twenties as long as possible.) After a funny incident this morning which left me laughing at a girl on the subway I thought I would share her story but would not be right unless I shared my own shameless stories.

Even if you are married you all should know about the infamous “ring-check” this is the sly movement of the eye when you spy one of God’s great creations of the opposite sex, before you stare too long you glance down to the left hand to check for the ring, once there is conformation there is no ring present you are able to go ahead and enjoy looking at God’s creation a tad longer.

Well this morning one such ring-check happened on the metro yet not so gracefully. The trains were backed up for some reason, which I am still unaware as they probably made the announcement while I was asleep. The funny thing is that earlier on the ride the train jolted I noticed a nice looking gentleman next to me, immediately did a ring check lo and behold there was one, and then went back to sleep not caring if my head bobbed or a little drool slipped out! (J/K I don’t drool!) So I awaken later to the train stopped in yet another tunnel and begin to look around, we come to the next stop and a very dashing man in his designer suit steps onto the train looking very important. I gave a quick once over and noticed yes he was indeed as good looking as I initially thought he was. He was holding a large folder in his left hand but my vantage point of sitting allowed me to see there was in fact no ring very easily. I then noticed a girl standing practically next to him checking him out as well, she although was having a much harder time doing the ring check. I started to chuckle to myself because I knew she was in fact not fixing anything on her heel but trying to see his left hand. Her efforts were futile and thus she decided heck with it and SHAMELESSLY bent at the waist an obviously checked out his left hand. Upon rising to an upright position she had a big smile on her face but this totally wigged out the cutie in the suit! It was funny!

Well since I sold this poor soul out on the internet I thought I should tell a couple of my own getting caught stories. While I am a pro at the ring check and never been caught there, I have been caught twice shamelessly staring at one of Gods great creations. The first time I was walking into the metro station when literally THE hottest guy I have EVER seen in person walked toward me. I could not help but to praise the Lord for His job well done by admiring a tad longer as he walked past me. The girl to my left totally called me out on it and shouted "I caught you". I jerked back and she was laughing and told me she only caught me because she too was shamelessly admiring as he walked by and was returning her head to face forward when she saw me. The other time was not that long ago when I was standing in Starbucks for my morning latte. A very nice looking gentleman (would rival my first metro boy) walked in and was standing to the side, after taking in the view for a bit I thought it was only right to text Jodi to rub this great encounter in. While I was waiting for my coffee at the coffee bar I was sending the message “Just saw the hottest guy ever at Starbees” when a young woman happen to look down and saw it. She laughed as she grabbed her coffee and told me “I agree”! I was mortified but glad she too thought he was as good looking as I did.