Bookbag Memories

Sooo... my camera charger finally came in (from Hong Kong, who knew?) and I am super excited about taking lotsss more pictures. I feel like I have billions of pictures from my high school days and then... no documentation of my college years. Maybe it's better that way ;) But seriously, I'm making it a goal to work on that.

In the meantime, I was finally able to upload all of the pics that I had on my camera when it died back in August. Among the photos was a picture I took toward the very end of the summer before I moved back to Duke. While cleaning out stuff & figuring what I was going to pack, I found my Camp Bethel bookbag from 2007. Not the splatter paint bookbag -- I have that at Duke and actually carry it from time to time. The bookbag I found was the one I had during my first three years of high school. I took it to camp after my junior year and let all my campers & co-counselors sign it throughout the summer. Obviously, after endless nights of Home-In-The-Woods and Horseshoe Bend hikes, the bookbag was disgustingly dirty and mom refused to let me carry it during my senior year of high school. It got packed away, and I don't think I've seen it since.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this:

Haha! Yes, the signatures down at the bottom clearly belong to some of my precious tenderfoot campers, but up at the top... Zacharie! It's really funny to think about it now, because that was almost one full year before we started dating! (Sorry, I got a little carried away with the exclamation points.) We were co-counselors for a little over two days during July 2007 -- and let's just say that I'm glad our co-counseling abilities were not indicative of our relationship-to-be :) Still, it's funny to think that this is actually where it all began. And although neither Zach nor I had any idea what was in store for our lives together at this point, we have no doubt that God was just beginning to weave together the starting threads of our relationship... and we've been SO blessed every since.

On a completely separate side note -- I had NO idea that boy was capable of writing that neatly. Someone has been holding out on me for the past two & a half years... ;)

Birthday Princess

I'm aware this is probably going to be one of the longest blog entries ever. But... you only turn 21 once, and mine was beyond wonderful, so I feel like it's completely okay for me to fully document the events of the weekend :)

Wednesday, October 20

• Starbucks with Laura at 7:45AM. Yep, it's true. I wake up nearly an hour earlier than I normally would every Wednesday to get Starbucks with Laura before we go to the art warehouse. It's become a weekly tradition that I wouldn't trade for anything. This week was no different, except for the fact that I started celebrating my birthday on Wednesday, so I considered this "Birthday Starbucks with Laura" :)

• Tucker came to Duke! Although I've only visited Tucker at UNC a couple of times, Tucker had never visited me at Duke. So Wednesday afternoon, Tucker ventured over to dear ol' Durham & we spent the afternoon/evening wandering around campus, eating at Panda, going inside Cameron/the Chapel, and just hanging out in my dorm. I attempted to take a picture of the two of us inside Cameron, but as a loyal Tar Heel, he freaked out, picked me up, and spun me around right as I took the shot. Alas, this is all I have to document our afternoon together. Sad times.

• Coffeehouse with Helen. Again, this is another event that happens every Wednesday night, but this particular Wednesday night was "Birthday Coffeehouse with Helen" :) I work from 10PM-2AM at the Coffeehouse, and Helen comes all the way from West Campus & sits at the bar during my entire shift. Wednesday nights with Helen make my heart happy, but this one was even more special. I drove her back to Edens after we closed, and we stayed in my car for almost an hour talking even more about absolutely everything. It's so refreshing to have friends that you can talk with for hours & hours, especially when they know everything about you & still love you :)

Thursday, October 21

• Birthday Dinner with my Family. On Thursday night, I met mom, dad, Katherine, & Corrie in Burlington to eat at Red Robin (yummm!) It's always good to see my family... plus, they gave me birthday presents :) I got two shirts, a pair of jeans, a pair of earrings, and a bracelet -- all from New York & Company. We had a wonderful time hanging out & celebrating me almost being 21.

Friday, October 22

• Lunch with Casey at Bruegger's. Casey & I went to Bruegger's on 9th Street a lot during our freshman year, so we ventured back for old times' sake... and it was just as delicious as ever :)

• Kacey & William came to Duke! I'm seriously starting to feel spoiled now--this is the second time in less than three weeks that they've come to Durham! As soon as they got here, Kacey gave me my birthday present... oh. my. goodness! I saw these adorable salt & pepper shakers on ModCloth at the very beginning of the summer & wanted them SO badly. Kacey claims I showed her a picture of them months and months ago, but I do NOT remember that at all. Besides, they were completely out of stock at the time. However, my best friend happened to remember and -- tada! They're now proudly displayed in my room :) ALSO, she & William brought cheesecake... my favorite food in the entire world. Best friends ever? I think yes. We ventured over to West for some food & spent the rest of the afternoon just hanging out. I'm fairly convinced my birthday weekend could have just ended at this point and I still would have been the happiest girl in the world, but it just kept getting better...

• Zach came to Duke! Thanks to long distance relationships/the Marine Corps, Zach & I haven't actually been together for any of my birthdays during the time we've been dating (my 19th & 20th), and it's already looking like he won't be here for next year's, so we were both really excited that he got to be here for this one! I met him at Southpoint so I could buy my little tiara to wear all day Saturday, and he went ahead and gave me one of my presents -- a gorgeous cross necklace. Before he left for boot camp years ago, he gave me the cross necklace that he always wore, but now I have my own :) We also took this picture (totally his idea, actually). Technically, I despise the book Dear John, and I hate the movie even more, but I love the quote about "no matter where you are in the world, the moon is never bigger than your thumb." It was so nice to have our thumbs in the same picture -- just having him with me made my birthday weekend so wonderful.

• Drinking Duck. Zach let me wear my birthday princess tiara through the grocery store where we bought two bottles of Welch's sparkling grape juice to celebrate my birthday weekend. (Haha, yesss I turned 21, but I really have no desire to drink. We still refer to it as "duck," but it's not the actual sparkling wine.) We came back to Southgate & Zach gave me my other present -- the perfume from Anthropologie that I've been wanting foreverrr! Oh my goodness, it smells amazing :) We stayed up until midnight & went through one entire bottle of duck, but then I quickly got in the bed & he went to sleep on the couch since we had to get up at 5AM...

Saturday, October 23 -- my ACTUAL birthday

• Road Trip to Virginia. Yepp, we were up at 5AM and on the road at 6AM, since I'm on the team for Pilgrimage (a Christian retreat in our denomination every March at Camp Bethel) and our first training/planning session was in Roanoke, VA at 9AM. Haha, not exactly how I always pictured spending my 21st birthday, but it worked :) As not-awesome as it was being up so early, I did see a shooting star while driving since it was still dark out, which was awesomeee. I also got to watch the sunrise in my rearview mirror, which was pretty cool. I dropped Zach off at his house in Martinsville & had a wonderful day with the other 13 members of the team. We were able to accomplish a lot as far as planning goes, and everyone went above & beyond to make me feel like the birthday princess all day. They had a princess balloon, princess decorations, princess gloves, a princess wand, etc... & as funny as it was, I truly felt special. Plus, I got to see my sister, my mom, and my aunt... and mommy gave me some new bath towels just because she gave me all of my presents on Thursday night and felt bad not giving me something on my actual birthday :)

• Cupcakes with the Jones Family. I left Roanoke & drove back to Martinsville to pick Zach up, and when I got there, Zach's mom had made some incredible cupcakes... I'm fairly certain I inhaled mine. They sang "Happy Birthday" & I got to spend a little bit of time with Kim, Ben, Gabe, Olivia, Sophia, & Zach before heading back to Durham. Also, Zach's mom took the only picture of the day NOT on a cell phone or photo booth, since the camera charger that I ordered two weeks ago has still not arrived & I wasn't able to properly document the entire day :( So glad I have a picture of Zach being the birthday princess with me. (Side note -- isn't he the most handsome boy you've ever seen?? I seriously love this picture. He just melts my heart!)

• Dinner at Cheesecake Factory. Zach & I got back to Durham and broke the world record for changing clothes & getting ready so we could get to Southpoint & have dinner at a semi-reasonable hour. We had around 45 minute wait, so we sat beside the pretty fountain that I so distinctly remember from my high school (junior year) college tour trip with Kacey & Amy :) I had penne pasta & chicken (of course) & Zach got the crispy spicy beef with rice. Then for dessert, we split the "Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake." It not only had Reeses Peanut Butter Cups & layers of fudge & caramel; 25 cents of every piece of this particular cheesecake that's sold goes to Feeding America. So... go order one, because it's absolutely amazinggg.

• Visit with Casey. In between dinner & going out, Casey told me to come over so she could give me my birthday present. Oh. My. Goodness. I really don't think I had mentioned how desperately I needed a jewelry box, but this pretty girl knew exactly what to give me. It's the gorgeous Pearl Essence jewelry box from Anthropologie, plus TWO pairs of Anthropologie earrings. I absolutely loveee it :)

• Dancing at Shooters. Laura came over around midnight & the three of us ventured out to Shooters. I've only been once -- with Laura -- and she wanted to make sure she was there for Zach's first experience as well. In the grand scheme of things, it was super packed & impossible to be on the dance floor without touching at least 72 other people at the same time, but we had a lot of fun. Really, I just cared about entering through the "21+" door and get a sparkly blue wristband... which they cut off when we all left at 2AM. Who knew? I would be pretty upset about it, except the DJ did give me a 21st birthday shout out during the night :)

• Sponge Candy. Laura really wanted us to come back to her dorm after we left Shooters so she could give me my birthday present, so we went all the way to Edens & hung out in her room for a little bit. My present? Sponge candy! Laura is from Buffalo, NY, and sponge candy is really big in western NY & parts of Canada (and maybe even parts of Pennsylvania?). She gave me a piece last year when her mom sent it to her in a package & I loved it, but now I have my own box! It's absolutely impossible to describe the taste/texture of the yummy goodness -- definitely not like anything you would expect. So, if you're ever up north & see sponge candy, buy some! Buy a lot, actually, because I'm going through my box rather quickly...

• Birthday Wishes. We got back to my dorm superrr late, and as you can see, Zach instantly passed out on my bed. So, I swapped places with him for the night & cuddled up on the couch, but not before checking my Facebook. I don't check my Facebook at all on my birthday, so it was really exciting to open it up & see over 100 wall posts from friends, family, residents, classmates, etc. in addition to the countless texts I received throughout the day. Once again, I felt SO special & SO loved... just like a true birthday princess.

Whew! This past weekend was easily one of the best ever. Thank you to EVERYBODY who helped make my 21st birthday so, so memorable. I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams & can't thank y'all enough :)

Gas Mask

"I just got my issued gas mask."

Anyone else wake up to a text similar to that from their boyfriend this week? No, just me? Greeeat...

Warm fuzzies all around. No worries, he's still here for the time being. It's just part of the standard gear for his new unit.

But really? I'm hoping tomorrow's good morning text will make me a little less nauseous.

On the plus side, maybe I can at least try it on this weekend...

Beatitudes

Just recently, I was reading one of my favorite verses -- I love Matthew 5:14 in The Message: "You're here to be a light, bringing out the God-colors in the world."



(above: graffiti bridge at Duke // below: canvas created during a worship I lead on Matthew 5:14 at Camp Bethel in 2008)


I don't know. Maybe it's just the artist in me, but the thought of my life bringing out the "God-colors" in this world... wow. Needless to say, I go back to that verse quite often. Today, however, I actually read the entire chapter in The Message as opposed to just my favorite little section.

And do you know what I found?

The Beatitudes... Message-style :)

Obviously, I've read the Beatitudes. I've memorized the Beatitudes. I still remember the cute little Vacation Bible School song from when I was in elementary school about how "it's fun to have a Beatitude attitude."

But I don't think I've ever read them in the Message. I feel like I would have remembered this:

• You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
• You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
• You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
• You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
• You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
• You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
• You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
• You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
• Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Oh my goodness, are you in love yet or what? I read the first one & thought, "Ooo, that's good. I like that" and each one just got better & better. Such wonderful reminders from such a wonderful God!

Fall Break

*I realize that I'm getting pretty slack at updating, but I'm blaming it on the fact that nobody likes a blog without pretty pictures & I have lost my camera charger. Fail, Beth -- I know. No worries. I've ordered a new one. In the meantime, I apologize for my text-heavy posts*

Basically, here's a summary of my fall break:

Friday.

I drove to Winston after my interview with PSS (more about that later this week) and arrived home before 4:30 in the afternoon. Mom had to pick Corrie up from Calvary's homecoming game, so we decided to get there a little early and watch the court. Lesson learned: I do not miss Calvary or high school in the least bit. I actually already knew that; it was just re-emphasized throughout the night. After homecoming, I stayed up until 5AM working on my project for dPS (more about that later this week as well).

Saturday.

Corrie dragged me out of bed around 2 in the afternoon to go shopping. I wasn't thrilled, but we were celebrating my birthday with the family (mostly because I was already in town and wouldn't be able to come in on my birthday weekend because of Pilgrimage -- more about THAT later this week as well... goodness!), so I had a lot of money to spend in a short amount of time. I ended up with a sweet pair of boots, two pairs of jeans, two tank tops, three long-sleeved shirts, a cardigan, a sweater, two other nice shirts, two pairs of earrings, a bracelet, and a $10 iTunes card because I didn't feel like finding anything else to buy. Saturday night was a continuation of the dPS project, but fortunately, I finished around 1:45AM.

Sunday.

Church, as usual. Well, not really as usual, since I've gotten used to the Saturday service at the Summit Church in Durham. But you get the picture. Zach drove up to Winston from Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon for my family birthday party where I received all aforementioned purchases, in addition to Starbucks, Sheetz, & Target gift cards. And... he got to stay overnight since Monday was a government holiday & he had a 72!

Monday.

Zach left around noon, and I worked on homework for a while (lamesauce, Duke -- it's fall break!). Katherine, Corrie, & I had our annual Christmas pictures made, and unanimously agreed that we are too old for such shenanigans. If pictures are really that necessary, we can easily use mom's nice camera and take some shots. After the painful photo extravaganza, I got to choose dinner since it was my last night of fall break (Golden Corral was not an option, though. Hmph!), so we went to... Sonic. Yep. You never know what you got 'til it's gone... and Durham is lacking in the gloriousness that is corn dogs, tater tots, and blue coconut slushies.

Tuesday.

Zach had his going away ceremony at the marina on base, so I left Winston at 7:25AM in order to be in Jacksonville by 11:30. I hung out at the armory one last time with everyone before going to the cookout. (Once again, no turkey burgers, in case you were curious...) Everyone had the opportunity to say something about Zach and the other two guys who are switching units, and Zach was the only one to receive absolutely nothing but praise and positive encouragement. He truly is skilled at what he does, and it was such a blessing hearing others talk about how they've always been able to trust him/look up to him/go to him with questions. I'll admit it, I'm completely gushing over my sweet boyfriend right now. But I really am so, SO proud of him. Oftentimes, his hard work and faithful obedience seems to go unnoticed, so it was really nice to see him in the spotlight :) I said goodbye to room 215B (two fifteen bravo) and returned to Duke, thus concluding my fall break.

Whew. Kind of long, considering I didn't really do much of anything. However, I did enjoy time with my family & the love of my life, as well as two blue coconut slushies & four ridiculously long bubble baths. As far as catching up on sleep, I've got a long way to go...

Photo Update

I've been out of town the past two weekends, so I figured I'd put up a few pictures of my most recent adventures :)

On September 23-26, I went to Cherry Grove, SC with 28 other ladies from my church for a retreat. The weather was absolutely beautiful the entire time, and I enjoyed a much-needed break from school.

The first two pictures were taken from the house where we had the retreat, and the third was taken from my balcony of the condo next door -- the perfect spot to read Nicholas Sparks' latest book!

Last weekend, I went up to Heritage Day at Camp Bethel. Zach got to Durham a little after 8:00, and after one stop at the uber-sketch Chicken Store bathrooms in Martinsville, we pulled into camp at exactly 11:15PM. Needless to say, lots of hugging and chatting and more hugging occurred with the rest of the Camp Bethel gang until our shift to stir the apple butter at 2:30AM. By then, we were the only ones up around the fire, but time flew... and we only hit the side of the pot once! Such pros :)

I didn't bust out the camera until Heritage Day was almost over... fail. Oh well. Zach & I got some pretty awesome shots on the shaky bridge.

And what do I have to look forward to this weekend? Fall break -- thank goodness! I'm heading back to Winston -- I haven't been home for more than a couple of hours since moving to Durham at the beginning of August. Plus, we're celebrating my 21st birthday with the extended family two weeks early. Yesss! :)

Heritage Day

I can't remember the last time I was this legit excited about anything! It's officially October, which is only contributing to the excitement, and that means Heritage Day is finally finally finally here! Since I'm way too hyped up to write any type of coherent blog post, I'll leave you with:

The Top Ten Reasons This Is Going

To Be The Best Weekend Ever

1. Road Trip with Zach. Seriously, going on road trips is one of my absolute favorite things. The fact that it's with my favorite person ever just makes it even more perfect. Z is an awesome road trip buddy; I've always told him that I feel like we could drive straight across the country together and I'd just be so content the entire time. Maybe it's because the majority of our road trips are solo (him coming to visit me or me driving to see him), so while it may not seem like a big deal to other couples, spending three hours simply being together in the car is like, heaven for us. Plus, I've got my new road trip playlist all ready to go. Have I mentioned how excited I am?

2. Camp Bethel & the Shaky Bridge. I wish I could put into words the feeling I get when I turn onto the gravel road. Many people say home is where the heart is, and since a huge portion of my heart is undoubtedly "in the hills of Virginia, where the whippoorwills are calling, where the crystal springs are flowing," I am definitely home whenever I drive through those camp gates. (Aw. How cute was that?) However, no trip to CB is complete without some time on the "shaky bridge," my most favorite place in the world. Many of my most meaningful life discussions, cherished memories, and precious heart-to-hearts have occurred in this very spot, and I'm sure this weekend will be no different :)

3. David Jamison. David was one of my closest friends even before he helped set me & Zach up :) He probably knows more about me than most anyone else...and he might be the only friend whose bloody toe I've ever bandaged. But why does David get his own special category? Because... David was in BVS (Brethren Volunteer Service) for the past year(ish) out in Kansas and I haven't seen him since he came home for a brief visit over Christmas/New Years... nine months ago! We have so much hugging & "so, tell me about your life" conversations to catch up on --- I cannot wait to see him!

4. Camp Bethel Family. Not only am I "coming home" for the weekend, but so is everyone else! All of the loves of my life that I've had the privilege of working with for four summers --- Damon, Alyson, Tina, Tyler, Josh, Stephanie, Ron, Ryan, Hannah, Katie, Billy, Chuck, Tabitha (this is the part where everyone else gets really mad if they're not included --- I love you all, promise. These are just the people I know are gonna be there). Lots more hugs and catching up, and probably a few jumping pictures if we're lucky :)

("Excuse me ma'am!!! Why did I not know you have a blog?!! Now I have so much stalking to catch up on since you didn't tell me sooner!!!" - Tina Lowe)

5. Hammocking. There's not really much to say about this one. It's just perfect.

6. Apple Butter. My dad was the Virlina District Youth Cabinet advisor when I was younger, and I remember hearing countless stories of him & the youth stirring apple butter at camp; I couldn't wait until I was finally old enough to tag along! Since the apple butter has to be stirred continuously, everyone signs up for a shift and takes turns throughout the night. I love spending the wee hours of the morning as a group in the Hexagon almost as much as I enjoy the steady rocking motion of stirring. That's completely false. I'm a dreadfully awful stirrer, mostly because I have the attention span of a three year old, but it's a two person job & I'm hoping Zach is better than I am. (We've done it together before; I just can't remember.) Anyway, we have the 2:30-3:30AM shift, and we promise to try really hard to not make the stirring stick hit the side of the pot ;)

7. Camp Fires. Granted, the fire underneath the apple butter pot won't be quite as large as this fly-in fire from a 2008 worship picture that I love, but there will be a camp fire and I will be happy. I miss the peaceful silence that accompanies the crackling of the fire, and the glow of familiar faces sitting around. As weird as it may seem, I even miss my clothes smelling like smoke for the rest of the week. Good times, good times.

8. Family. No, not my camp family. My family family! Katherine is driving up from High Point tonight (she gets the 3:30-4:30AM shift...sucker) and mom & dad are driving up from Winston tomorrow. It's always good to see them, plus mom normally gives me some money to buy all the wonderfully tasty goodies. Epic success :)

9. Tyler's Birthday. TODAY is T Goss's 20th BIRTHDAY! Seriously one of the coolest people I'll ever know (if you can't tell from this picture taken at Heritage Day 2009) and I can't wait to celebrate with him. Speaking of which, at Camp Bethel, we have a special way of wishing our counselors a happy birthday...

10. Birthday Month. Like I stated at the beginning of the post, today is the first day of October! And, according to very credible sources, October is the best month ever... mostly because it's my birthday month :) While my birthday is still 22 days away, I fully intend on making the most of my birthday month. And when I say "I fully intend on making the most..." I actually mean "I fully intend on constantly reminding others so they make the most." You've been warned :) I'm aware it doesn't have much to do with Camp Bethel or Heritage Day, but the fact that I get to start telling everyone that it's my birthday month is a significant enough reason to be included in my "Top Ten Reasons This Is Going To Be The Best Weekend Ever" list.

Whew! Now I just have to get through one early class and wait all day for Zach to get off work & drive two and a half hours to Durham so we can then drive three hours to Fincastle. Ugh. It's going to be a long day. But it's definitely gonna be worth it!