where do i begin...?

i have been avoiding this blog like the plague.

mainly, because i know i have slacked.

it makes me sad because i enjoy looking back on my blog. its like a scrapbook. only more like a journal.

a personal journal that you read.

i can sum the last couple months of life up in two words: organized chaos. 

oh boy. oh boy.

this is going to be a long post, so feel free to come back next week when i am back in my groove.

i moved to washington d.c. after graduation and did an internship with a start-up non-profit.  it didn't involved too much of my time, so i gave tours of the city.

lots of tours.

oh it was a love hate relationship.  i loved the people and the $$$, but i hated the heat. and customer service gets old too.

i was hopeful of finding a full time job in washington d.c. -- i had two interviews -- one with NASA and one with the United Nations.

neither worked out.

(insert freak out on life moment here)

i literally had mornings when i would wake up sick to my stomach, call my family crying and pray for the Lord's guidance in this uncertain step of life.

i have some pretty incredible friends in dc. actually incredible doesn't do justice. they are angels.

they took me in. literally. i lived with my dear friends catharine and kyle for a month.

i hated where i was living in bethesda.  ohh i hate to type the name of that city...it makes me cringe. so one night at dinner they decided to pack up all my stuff and move me to their apartment(s) in crystal city.  (jordan craig played a big role in this by the way)

I JUST LOVE CATHARINE AND KYLE! (yes, i used all caps) -- they are the couple on the right.

they are adorable. funny. sweet. kind. cute. smart. caring. the list goes on and on.

they let me live in their apartments and bum off them for a month. they took care of me and introduced me to their circle of friends.

i will never. ever. be able to repay them for what they did for me. 

thank you, kyle & catharine. 

thank you to my dear friend jordan too.  he knows me so well and knew i was unhappy. he tried everything in his power to change that.  

thank you jordan for being a best friend. you daaaa best.

transition: this photo was taken on my last night in dc.

yes, you read that right. my last night.  i am no longer in dc. i haven't been for about a month now.  my dear friends took me out for dinner in old town alexandria followed by karaoke/dancing/beers. (yes, beers. i drink beer now! i know, right?)

jordan also bought me red velvet cupcakes that night. oh that boy knows me too well.

after a fun night out and an illegal taxi ride home, i found myself in tears telling these wonderful folks good-bye.

(and in tears (laughing so hard you cry tears) because jordan and matt put a hole in the wall. haha.)

goodness gracious, i was being ripped away from these wonderful people who i had become very comfortable with. life was kinda sorta starting to make sense right when i was leaving.

but i was headed home.  actually, i was headed to Ithaca, New York with jordan and katie. (more to come)

but i was headed home to iowa. 

an hour after i walked in my door at home, i received a call from TOMS offering me a full-time job in california.

i had been interviewing with them for a couple weeks and had a gut feeling i would be offered the job as i had interned with them last summer. 

after a lot of pondering and many many prayers, i officially accepted the job on July 27th, 2012.

this meant no more dc.

i am moving to california and joining my TOMS family as a full-time employee. my first day of work is august 21st, 2012.

i am excited. anxious. nervous. beyond grateful. and ready for the next chapter of life.

some days i am so sad that my dream of living and working in washington dc after graduation didn't go exactly as planned.

i get sad thinking about the friends that i will be living 3,000 miles away from.

there is something about that city that i just love.  

i think the main reason i love that city is because of the people.

the friends that surrounded me in that city are one-of-a-kind. they are the kind of people changing the world for the better.

lesson: regardless of where i go, i will find people who share the same interests and values as me. 

...

life is so uncomfortable right now.

it is so challenging.

i am moving my life across the country (again).

i am going to be on a tight budget, but i will be working for a cause that i believe in.

i don't have an apartment yet, (see a pattern here?) but i will be living with another former TOMS intern. she and i have been apartment hunting daily, but trying to find an apartment in LA is about as easy as finding a needle in a haystack.  we have a few leads on a couple apartments opening up within the next couple weeks. prayers please.

i will have to learn how to drive in twelve lanes of traffic, but i can do it.

life will be hard. it will be another transition. there will be tears. there will be moments of joy and moments of confusion.

life will be uncomfortable for awhile. but that's okay. 

i know that God has a plan for me. a plan bigger and better than what i planned. i get so excited thinking about what He has in store for me.  it must be something really neat. 

i hope one day i can look back on this period of life and realize how truly blessed i am.

i want to live my life in a way that honors the Lord.  

when God gives you a blessing, you are to bless others.

and that is what i am just about to do.

california, here. i. come. 

 12 points for you if you read all of this and it made sense...!

like i said, it is kind of like my journal.

poor neglected blog.

oh this poor neglected blog.

don't know why i'm not really into blogging lately.

it will change.

 eventually.

have a wonderful week.

BBQ Festival

felt like I was at the Iowa State Fair...

only the White House was two blocks away.

on a boat.

Best part of my "I don't have a real person job yet" is that I get on a boat for an hour during work. 

And lunch + Ben & Jerry's ice cream for free.

And sweet little children say comments like this,

"your teeth look so healthy"

then they all give me hugs when the tour is done.

sometimes the creepy old men give me strange smiles too.

god bless them. and god bless the hundreds of honor flight men i see at the wwii memorial everyday that make me cry.

thoughts.

i think i want to start my own business.

i want to create things. pretty things like this.

i worked 11 hours yesterday. today i have the day off.

i'm spending (some of) it at the pool.

bragging rights.

every so often, i have a moment when i am proud of myself.

today was one.

i was scheduled to give a private tour to a 4th grade class from ohio.

my driver pulled up in a ford explorer.

i looked at him and asked where the charter bus was.

he replied we only had four people and didn't need one.

false.

we had fifty-FOUR.

so. a few phone calls later, a bus was on its way to meet my group at union station.

the bus got stuck in traffic for ohhh ya know... an hour and a half.

fortunately, my group was incredible and understanding.

great chaperones and very patient children.

they played simon says and climbed the christopher columbus memorial at union station. ha. ha.

finally the bus pulled up a little before 4 p.m.

the tour was supposed to leave at 2:30 p.m.

we jumped on and headed to the jefferson, FDR, and MLK Jr. memorials.

then we went to arlington national cemetery.

ohh. they started to hate me as soon as we walked through the gates.

their poor feet were exhausted. they were hungry. thirsty. and all needing the bathroom.

we made the lonnnnnng hike up the hill to see Kennedy's eternal flame and then watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

they. loved. it.

their faces, expressions, and reactions were priceless. (my face was too when a student dropped their camera in the walking path of the honor guard/do not cross here line, but that's another story)

after arlington, we still had three more memorials to see: Korea, Lincoln, and Vietnam.

by this point, they were so hungry and toured out that we moved fast. real fast.

(to all of my tour guide friends, we did the big three in 25 minutes. yep. i know, that's impossible.)

they were hot, sweaty, hungry, exhausted and every other adjective you can think of that is associated with tourists.

but...when they got off the bus (that smelled like nasty fish) they all had on big smiles. said thank you and gave me hugs. and their chaperone told me ... "i've been doing this trip for 17 years, and you are the best tour guide we have ever had."

and that folks made me day completely worth it. that is my bragging right for the day.

i love working with youth.

insta love.

well hello there.

fancy seeing you around my blog...seeing how i don't post often.

my life is overwhelming.

don't know where i'm going.

don't always know what i'm doing.

i spend the majority of my days showing people around the city.

you can usually find us (more so them) sporting new balance shoes with a fanny pack around their waist.

it's exhausting and i complain about it a lot.

i should be more thankful for the fact that i make good money.

(and that i get good tips)

so any who...

enjoy my insta photos.