Hello from Vietnam!

Hey everyone!

We are INCREDIBLY busy in Vietnam, but here is an email the group sent to our family this morning that sums up some good parts of our trip!  Promise to write more later!  If any of this post doesn't make sense, I blame it on heat, sleep deprivation, and inside jokes that have taken over our minds :)  Love to all!

We've had another couple of wonderful days in Ho Chi Minh City! Tuesday morning we walked around the city and visited the biggest market.  We saw lots and lots of great knock offs, silk robes, and pajama sets for Rachel.  The market also had lots of really cool Vietnamese handicrafts.  HCMC is really interesting and busy--there are literally motorbikes everywhere you look.  Tuesday afternoon we visited the orphanage again and fell even more in love with the children.  We have such a fun time playing with them.  Tuesday night we went to a really great restaurant--aka a miniature table (Ryan really loved the matching miniature stools) on the side of the road next to a sketchy, urine scented wall.  It was definitely an experience to say the least. We ate "hotpot," which is a traditional meal where the food is cooked in a pot on a hot plate in front of you (which really adds to the already stifling heat). We poured the vegetables and broth (and Anne added some sketchy looking seafood which resembled cuttlefish) over rice noodles.  We even threw caution to the wind and drank the ice.  What daredevils. (No sickness yet though!!) And of course, being the group we are, we found the frozen yogurt across the street from our hostel.  Don't worry, we'll be going there often.

Wednesday was even more filled with beautiful people, and more importantly, us throwing each other under the bus (sometimes the only way to get through the day and awkward language barrier).  After our English lesson at the monastery turned into a karaoke contest featuring Brittany Spears, the Backstreet Boys, Ricky Martin, and ABBA, we had a great lunch featuring MANGO, Rachel's absolute favorite food.  We even ate the mango with rice and soy sauce, just like the monks. Wednesday afternoon we played with the kids again, and we learned a lot about how the orphanage was started and is run on a day to day basis.  When we were leaving, literally all of the kids followed us to the street corner, waving goodbye.  We had such a hard time leaving them for just an afternoon, we have no idea how we'll survive without them when we leave.

Wednesday night, we found a great restaurant with a couple of Western dishes and of course, free happy hour with a drink that tasted like cough syrup.  And Rachel got her french fries.  We had a nighttime visit at our hostel from the monks and a surprise lesson in Vietnamese. We're pretty much pros, of course.  Fluent.  They were also kind enough to bring a traditional, very special fruit.  We have no idea what it was called, but it was like durian, but worse.  Even Gheales did not like it.  At all.  The smell alone was enough to vacate a room.  We were overjoyed this morning when we found that the extra mystery fruit Anne and Ryan place outside our room had disappeared never to return.  Ryan's exact words: "My dream came true!" (Don't worry, we were all very polite to the monks and told them we loooooved their fruit)

This morning, we were able to sleep in a bit and are headed to finalize our weekend plans after sending this email.  We're hoping to go to Cambodia this weekend and then the Mekong Delta (not Tri-Delta, like Rachel likes to refer to it...) next week with the monks and Tina.  Hope y'all are all doing well and we miss you tons!

we are family.

The whole fam went to dinner last night at the Cheescake factory! It was hilarious 

(as always) and consisted mostly of Andrew and I ganging up on goodnatured-ly teasing 

Grace.  Reminded me just how much I adore them...

Love 'em.  Definitely gonna miss them this summer.

happy day :)

Home is where the heart is.

I love being home.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE love love Athens, with all my heart.  But there's something about coming home that just... ahhhhh.  The smell of my house (not a bad smell.  a unique smell.  a homey, welcome home smell.  you know what I mean).  My bedroom.  My desk.  My bed (which, yes, even though it's 10:30pm, I'm in bed).  Everything.  I LOVE it.

In a few days, yes, I'm sure I'll be ready to get back to Athens, back to my college friends, back to my college-life.  But for now, I'm enjoying bumming around, taking long, hot baths, eating the food we always have at home, sitting at the kitchen table with my sister while she does her homework (which is now AP World History instead of 5th grade science projects), reading on the back porch while watching our puppies play (ok, so they aren't puppies anymore), watching tennis with my brother, and drinking coffee in the kitchen while everyone gets ready for school and work. I'll enjoy spending time with my high school friends, visiting old teachers, running with my high school coach, and having lunch with some incredible ladies who not only let me spend time with their incredible children (and paid me for it :) ! ) but also truly shaped the person I'm becoming.

And I'm excited.

happy day, folks :)

sweet summertime.

Holy moly.

Thank goodness finals are over.  Update: I have slept.  Quite a bit, and it's been lovely.  The past few days have been filled with celebrations--graduation celebrating with Michael's sweet family, Ryan's birthday, and of course, Mother's Day.  All in all, a great last few days to an incredible semester.

To all the graduating seniors--I can't believe y'all won't be here next year.  And I really don't wanna believe it, either!  Y'all have been absolutely incredible, and you'd sure better keep in touch. :)  The graduation ceremony was actually not bad at all--they kept it quick, and Alton Brown was absolutely HILARIOUS.  Seriously.  I'm going to try to find a video of the speech to put up here.  The student speaker, Christie Haynes, was wonderful, too.

So summer.  Here's my schedule...

This week (May 9th-14th or 15th), I'll be back and forth between Johns Creek and Athens, visiting anyone and (hopefully) everyone!

May 15th or 16th: leave for Seaside, FL

May 22nd: Head to Thailand!

June 4th: Return to Atlanta (hopefully without food poisoning)

June 17th: Fly to Philadelphia to intern with Teach for America as an Operations Coordinator at "Institute," which all TFA-ers attend before going out into the world of education. :)

August 5th: Return to Atlanta

August 6th: Back to Athens :)

So excited for this summer, but missing Athens more than I can explain. :)

happy day.

After finals...

I have a list next to my computer of all the things I can't wait to do when I'm done with finals.  In 24 hours. WOOOOO!

• Run.  A lot.
• Sleep
• Tan
• Read
• Make cookies
• See people, and not have to leave after 0.000004 seconds to go work on another paper
• Sleep
• Sit and do NOTHING
• Watch movies
• Write notes to my friends who are doing absolutely incredible, amazing places this summer
• Dream about going to Vietnam
• Sleep
• Not rely on caffeine to stay focused :)
• Clean
• Did I say sleep?

happy finals :)

more books

How do I know it's finals?

Because I'm obsessively cleaning.

And adding to lists.  Like my list of books to read:

1. Strengths Based Leadership
2. White Oleanders
3. Stones into Schools
4. Pathologies of Power
5. Half the Sky
6. The Bielski Brothers
7. Everything is Illuminated
8. Long Way Down
9. Sophie's Choice
10. Profiles in Courage

And no, I don't plan on doing anything except reading when I finish finals.  Reading.  What I want to read.  In the sun.  Falling asleep.  Drinking Diet Coke.  Or sweet tea.  ahhhhhhh.  This might actually motivate me to write papers.

Or not.  Whatevs.

oh finals.

Me: I wish I was an insomniac.

Unsuspecting roommate: I'm sorry. What?!

Me: I wish I was an INSOMNIAC.

UR: Um, no.

Me: Ok, ok.  I mean... I wish I had magical superpowers so that I didn't have to sleep.  Ever.

summer reading

In high school, I always saved my summer reading until the very last possible moments of summer.  now, I'm the nerd who makes her OWN summer reading list.  So here we go...

1. I am Charlotte Simmons
2. Remembering the Forgotten God
3. The Lost Symbol
4. The Reason for God
5. The Freedom Writer's Diary
6. Nanny Returns
7. One Day, All Children
8. Pride and Prejudice (No, I haven't read that...)
9. Kite Runner
10. A Thousand Splendid suns
11. Committed
12. Jhumpa Lahiri  one called "The interpreter of Maladies" and "Unaccustomed earth." 
13. "Bel Canto" written by Ann Pratchett
14. Peter Hessler's "Oracle Bones"
15. "The Possessed: Adventures With Russian Books and the People Who Read Them"

The last few are spring break reccs that I never got a chance to read!  Eek, thinking about reading these will probably get me through finals haha.  And add to this a ton of books I have stacked up at home that I can't remember... :)  Just a few days!!

I'm off to a dinner, but I couldn't help but post this...

From Marianne Williamson:

1. Recognize your Creator. This step makes you humble.
2. Seek opportunities to put more love into the world. This step makes you loving and lovable.
3. Set aside time each day to spend in spiritual reflection and contemplation. This step makes you strong.
4. Become more accepting. This step makes you gracious.
5. Forgive anyone you have not forgiven. This step makes you kind.
6. Recognize your mistakes. This step makes you responsible.
7. Try to see the good in others. This step makes you positive.
8. Take stock of your thoughts and behavior. This step makes you grow.
9. Bless the world. This step makes you beautiful.
10. Use each interaction to be the best, most powerful version of yourself. This step make’s you a conduit of God’s love.

words of wisdom.

Not much time today (because usually I have soooo much free time, right?) but thought these were good quotes/words of wisdom for today:

“Great leaders don’t produce followers. Great leaders produce other leaders.”


And then at lunch with a fantastic man, Bill Bracewell, he told me about a discussion with Dean Tate, whom he referred to as "the ole man" or something like that...


BB: (In facing some problem at the University) (In jestful exaggeration) "Why aren't you here when we need you?"
WT: "It's your turn now."


I don't know why, but that resonated somewhat with me.  Just interesting.


happy day. :)

one more thing...

Spring break is in 2 days.  Actually, ONE for me.  Yay for no class on Friday!  And yay for good books to read over the break!

thankful.

today, I am thankful for...


1. My incredibly low caffeine tolerance.  Thankfully, to survive being awake from 7am on Monday to 4:30pm on Tuesday, I only had 3 16 oz. cups of coffee and a cup of tea or two.  Incredible? Yes.


2. Incredible friends who buy me coffee for said all-nighters.


3. Flowery tasting tea.


5. Snow days that are called for NO reason, except to thankfully get me out of class.  Which leads me to the next one...


4. Spring time.


5. Chips and salsa.  Um, hello, heaven.


6. Crownies.  (Brownies with cookie dough baked in.  See above.  Hello, heaven.)


7. Quiet.


8. My bed.


9. Michael Buble on Pandora.  BEST. THING. EVER.


10. Most importantly, my friends.  Without going into detail, the past few weeks have been super busy, super stressful, and just not super happy.  But these friends have been there to drag me out of bed, make me smile, surprise me with books, take me on pointless errands to procrastinate, amaze me with kindness, give me bear hugs, help me survive the morning after a very fun night, buy me painkillers, put up with me, and most importantly... make me laugh.  Even if at my own expense.  :)  I have been blessed by unbelievably solid, caring, compassionate friends.  And I am amazed.


:)


happy day.

snow day.

What am I doing with my snow day?

-eating
-cleaning
-emails!
-work
-studying
-paper writing
-finallyyyyy running (at the gym.  snow running=disaster)
-packing for spring break!

Please notice that although I still haven't gone to bed yet (wooooo all-nighters!), I will not be sleeping on this snow day.

Oh well.  Spring break in... THREE DAYS.

ahfdajfkld;ajkf!!!!!! pure happiness.

Teach for America

Here's a little article my fellow CCC's and I wrote for the FINAL deadline (last Friday!)

Lent

So last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent.  I know people giving up sweets, meat, facebook, Twitter, cursing, alcohol... you name it, someone's probably trying to give it up.  I've tried my hand at most of those, too. This year, though, I'm going to do something different.

I can't remember who first suggested this to me (although I'll bet you it was probably my mother...), but this year, I'll be adding something for Lent. (Here's an article about adding for Lent..)  It's something I used to do every single night, but I fell out of habit as the year became busier and busier.  Ironically, it was probably as I became most busy that I need it the most.  Every night, I'm going to write down the little blessings I come across throughout the day.  I love those little things, the things that seem like little notes from God saying, "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you."  So for the next thirty-seven days, I'll be searching out those love notes, writing them down to remind me of His unfailing love, unending grace.

happy day :)

PS, anyone in Georgia, who else is happy that SPRING has given us a little preview?  Thank goodness for hitting the 60 degree mark!!

american honey.

Definitely my new favorite. Play count is heading to the mid-70s (although that's nothing to compare to Anne's play count for The Chain...)

In this life, we cannot do great things, only small things with great LOVE.
- Mother Theresa

James 5:10-11 (The Message)

Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

grace.

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. II Corinthians 12:9 (NLT)

guilty pleasure throwback.

except I don't feel one ounce guilty about it...

Mornings like this.

Mornings like this fill me with anticipation, hope, gratitude.  Mornings like this that make me realize the opportunities just beyond my fingertips.  Mornings like this that reveal to me even the smallest blessings.  Mornings like this that my eyes are opened.  Mornings like this that make me feel as if I am about to burst with excitement for the unknown. Mornings like this.

new years resolutions

so I absolutely LOVE this time of the year, as I'm sure y'all all know :)  Halloween to January is the best time of the year.  Just in case you haven't heard this, I'll outline my reasoning.  Halloween: we dress up.  And get candy.  And it's Georgia-Florida.  Really?  What else do you need?  November brings my BIRTHDAY (21 this year--yay!) and Thanksgiving.  Oh Thanksgiving.  A no pressure holiday.  Bring food.  Eat food.  The end--no presents to worry about, thank you notes, just a great way to bring in the holiday season!

And then we have December.  Let's just review: Christmas movies, Christmas carols, Christmas cookies, Christmas milkshakes.  Everything Christmas!  And everyone's in a great mood.  And everyone is loving and giving and just wonderful :) Haha.  Maybe a little overboard, but whatevs.

And New Years.  I love New Years, the opportunity to start over.  The hope of a new year.  Looking back on all of the wonderful things of the past year.  A few years ago, my mother began having us each set goals, and each month we "report" on our progress at a family dinner.  Yes, we all sigh and dread it sometimes, but I actually enjoy setting goals. Anticipating great changes and great possibilities.

Along that line, here's a great blog by Don Miller about the new year!

http://donmilleris.com/2010/01/01/living-a-good-story-an-alternative-to-new-years-resolutions/

Year in Review

This year has been... incredible.

JANUARY...

Ashley's mother's BEAUTIFUL wedding... after our road trip to Baton Rouge to see our Annie presented into society :)

Katie Gamble cut off her hair and donated it to locks of love...

We celebrated birthdays...

I spent most of FEBRUARY in FLORIDA...

Went to the ASJA conference for Judiciary, where I learned Patrick Dever is age-ist, sexist, and can't remember to lock his car doors.  Ever. :)

Then I headed to Jacksonville with Mama Goodwin and Grace to run my first MARATHON...

MARCH brought the SNOW!

Spent the night at Elyssa's house... our first roommate bonding experience :)

Travelled to the "mountains"... AKA South Korea, where we learned about Buddhism and food poisoning, and bonded more than any of us ever could have imagined!

And celebrated more birthdays in Athens...

(which may have ended in hot knees...)

Spent a weekend relaxing at the mountains...

Spent a lot of time lounging around and wasting time at the Pi...

May... Katie turned 20!

We moved out of the Pi :(

Spent some time playing around Athens before heading off to Ghana...

June - Spent a month in Ghana

Spent a three weeks in Peru (but my camera was lost... boo)

And now I'm bored so... To be continued. :)

happy endings.

I am an optimist.  It works for me.  I like happy things.  I'm not saying there isn't pain or sadness in the world, but I would just SO much more rather focus on the HAPPY. On the things that work out.

The rest of the world, unfortunately, has not gotten this memo.

Last night, I was admittedly in a not-so-hot mood.  Not in a terrible mood, just not in a great mood.  So when I headed to the movies with Michael, I was excited that we were seeing what I THOUGHT was going to be a feel good movie.  BEFORE you attack me, though, let me say this--it WAS great.  It WAS hilarious.  I WOULD see it again.  I probably would have liked it a lot more if I'd seen it when I wasn't upset about something.  It was just, at the end (and I'm SPOILING this for anyone who hasn't seen it), I wasn't ready for the "realistic"ending.

Throughout the movie, Ryan (George Clooney) develops a "relationship" with business woman Alex, who leads (at first glance) a similar, detached life on the road (or in flight).  Ryan's attraction brings the slightest warmth and humanity and even vulnerability to Ryan, as he realizes, with the help of Natalie (Anna Kendrick) that he needs SOME human connection.  Despite his backpack speech about how relationships hold one down, Ryan realizes, as he explains to his sister's uncertain fiance, that the most important parts of life occur not when one is alone, but when one is sharing life--the pain and happiness--with another person they care about.

This was actually my favorite part of the movie.  Ryan, who has publicly denounced marriage, committment, children, and everything that terrifies his sister's soon-to-be-husband, must convince this young man to take a plunge Ryan has yet to even slightly approach.  At first he acknowledges all of these fears, and flounders when he sees his older sister's disapproval and tries to get the fiance back on track.  But finally he finds his feet, and, like I said before, comes to the realization that as pointless and bleak as life sometimes may seem, it's better with someone else there.  "It's better with a copilot."

Ok.  So writing that and focusing on THAT message--against the isolation that seems to pervade every part of life (think about it--you can "communicate" and "reconnect" and see what others are thinking and develop relationship without even leaving your computer.)--redeems the movie somewhat in my eyes.  But still.  The end, when Ryan finds out that Alex has a husband with kids at home? Somewhat depressing.

All in all, a good movie.  Good humor.  Good message.  Just not a typical happy ending.

This WAS well directed, and here's a little clip about one of the most recognizable scenes:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/12/04/movies/20091204-upinTheAir.html

The NYTimes.com Review:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/movies/04upinair.html

best christmas commercials

I refuse to believe Christmas is over...
















merry, merry y'all!

2009...

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

So for an early Christmas present, my mother gave me an ORIGINAL framed movie poster for my FAVORITE movie (not JUST Christmas movie... ANY MOVIE!!!!).....


WHITE CHRISTMAS!!

She even had it matted and framed BEAUTIFULLY.  Like I said, this is my favorite movie of ALL TIME.  I remember watching it for the first time when I was in elementary school.  We were on the way back from my dad's mother's house, and my mother sat in the back of our minivan with me as we watched White Christmas on the tiny 3 inch flat screen.  And I fell in love. I wanted to BE Vera Ellen!  I'm a sucker for the oldies--Bing Crosby melts my heart.  Seriously, if you haven't watched this movie, along with Holiday Inn and It's a Wonderful Life, take a few hours PLEASE watch! :)

I lied. THIS is the last one.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

one last quote for the night...

it is more important to know who you are than where you are going, for where you are going will change as the world around you changes.
-HBR

Why I read

"All books are alike in that they are truer than if they had happened, and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer." 

Ernest Hemingway