Holiday From Real

After a fun day of learning great insight from Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel at Catalyst One Day, I am headed off on a great adventure!

I'm about to board a Greyhound bus to spend a day in Los Angeles hanging out with awesome friends, eating some yummy In-N-Out, and rocking out at the final show on Something Corporate's 2010 Reunion Tour at Club Nokia!

I probably won't update the blog until I get back on Monday, but I wanted to share this today:

I love adventure and I love being spontaneous and impulsive. Just as much as I love those things, I love that I have people in my life that inspire and encourage me to "go for it" and do fun, daring, adventurous things! I mean, this trip in and of itself may not seem like a big deal . . . but all the encouragement and love I've received in regards to the trip as the details have unfolded has ben so refreshing!

I know that not many people my age would travel on a bus for 2 days just to go see a band. I've definitely gotten the "you are so weird," and "girl you are insane" comments. Maybe I am, but my desire to embrace adventure and to experience life to its fullness drives me to board this bus with a huge smile and a full heart. Many say that I will grow out of this "wild impulsive phase," but deep down inside, I hope I never do!

_____

"Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

- Auntie Mame

Under The Sea

While I was on vacation, I got to meet up with Jenny from Parachutefan.com and we got to spend some time hanging out at the Baltimore Aquarium! These are some of the pictures that I posted on my Facebook album, but a lot of them are only here. I hope you enjoy them!

BONUS PLUS!
One of the workers at the aquarium had us fake feed the Archer Fish. You hold up what looks like food to them, and they shoot a stream of water from their mouth to 'hunt down' their food. Here's a video of Jenny interacting with the Archer Fish. We had SO much fun!

Just Watch The Fireworks

So I'm almost completely done editing the HUNDREDS of photos I took on my vacation! There's one collection I'm not going to upload to Facebook, simply because they don't really have a home there. I'd get like 1,000 pity comments like "oooh" and "ahhh" and "nice fireworks" and like 2,000 Likes simply because there really is no response to fireworks pictures that aren't just awkward. So I'm just gonna leave them here for people to come back and look at and hopefully be taken back to their own Fourth of July memories.

Maybe it involved a picnic.

Maybe it involved sitting on a blanket with someone special.

Maybe someone you know fell asleep during the fireworks show.

Maybe you set off your own and someone got severely hurt and had to be rushed to the ER and you had to try to keep calm as your mom got in the nurse's face and demanded you be treated immediately only to go home diagnosed with minor burns from a bottle rocket, which made the car ride home extremely awkward and then you had to work for the next month doing odd jobs to help cover the hospital bill cause you swore to everyone it was so bad you were going to die . . .

Whatever your memory, here's to remembering the wonder of fireworks:

We Were Made For Each Other / You Can Breathe (Vacation Recap)

A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should.
- Anonymous

I would have never guessed how much my life would change when I made friends with this seemingly shy girl from Baltimore ten years ago. But after getting to spend 5 days together sharing laughs, memories, and new adventures as if we'd never skipped a beat, I consider myself one of the luckiest people on the planet. She has, in a pretty major way, helped me become the person I am today. She shoots straight with me and isn't afraid to speak the truth in love to me while still being my biggest fan (next to my parents). She isn't afraid to be silly and she has an attitude just as fiesty as mine! Being around her was a breath of fresh air as she encouraged me so much and just reminded me what it means to have a best friend.

The hardest part about the vacation was saying goodbye. The best part was deciding to make my trip back to the east coast for the 4th of July weekend an annual event! I've been blessed enough to weather the toughest storms and soar above them with a soul sister always at my beck and phone call/text message/email and I look forward to more worthwhile adventures with my bestie!

Here are some pics to conclude the trip journal:

Anytime I'm given anything with whip cream or frosting,
it's pretty much just gonna end up on my face.
Sarah's dad knows this, hence his "oh this is normal" pose.

Other things that are pretty normal:
Sarah joining in the fun!

When we were in NYC, Sarah bought us best friend keychains
(the Big Apple & the License Plate)
We're equal parts cheesy and awesome! ;)

I bought us best friend "Fun Socks!"

A best friend never lets their friends forget to eat Chick-Fil-A

While we were there, Adam and Stacey White
(I was on staff at MCA when Stacey was a student)
joined us for lunch at CFA and it was SO great
to catch up and share some laughs.

Bonus Plus!
I got Sarah's dad to let me take a pic of him
modeling a bra in the middle of Wal-Mart!
Who could refuse me such an honor? ;)

When I left for the trip initially, I started reading this book,
SUMMER AT TIFFANY, about two best friends who spend a summer together living in NYC and working at Tiffany's. It was great to continue the story after having just spent some refreshing quality time with my best friend ever on the planet!

Sparks Fly (Vacation Recap)

We are the fearless duckbill platypus twins!

Okay I realize I only have 2 more days of vacation left to recap, and since I'm almost done with editing all the photos, it's about time to get wit' it. So the 4th of July was pretty awesome! It was a Sunday so I got to go to church with Sarah at Central Christian and hear Pastor Ron Surratt speak. I also got to see Ronnie, who Sarah and I had also gone to Master's Commission with! It was so good to reconnect with him and hear about all the awesome things going on in his life. It's funny that when I was in MCA I wasn't really appreciative of Ronnie's blunt honesty, but now I completely appreciate it.

Sarah, Ronnie, and me

After service, Sarah dropped me off at the Inner Harbor so I could meet up with Jenny. Jenny is a new friend of mine who is a fellow fan of Parachute (one of my FAVORITE bands) that I got to know through social networking. She runs PARACHUTEFAN.COM and I help her out as a site staff member with editing, helping with creative ideas, and general marketing ideas—although it should be known, she does THE MAJORITY of the work! I'm just honored to be part of it all!

parachutefan.com home page

I had mentioned before to Jenny on Twitter that I would be taking a trip to the east coast and we thought it'd be a great idea to meet up and talk about Parachutefan.com stuff for a while. Originally the plan was to meet for a couple of hours and just go over projects, but we ended up hanging out for about 9 hours down at the harbor. We had a blast walking around and talking Parachute & site stuff as well as stuff about ourselves. As you can see from the pictures below, we hit it off and had such a fun day!

I'm not a police man, I'm a princess!
A ballerina princess, that is ;)

Jenny the masterpiece

My friend Kelley won one of the CDs from a giveaway on Parachutefan.com—she won a copy of Parachute's album which included a drawing and an autograph from the lead singer, Will Anderson! I love Kelley's willingness to give what was rightfully hers and I am such a happy camper because of it!

We even got to beat the heat and go to the aquarium together! After checking out all the animals and cracking jokes in the shark section, we grabbed a seat outside and listened as a live band played cover songs outside the Hard Rock Cafe. We both agreed that we wished it was Parachute playing though.


After the show was over, we grabbed some dinner at Chipotle and talked and talked for even longer about the band, and how we as fans were so grateful for a down-to-earth group of guys that were dedicated to providing honest and quality music. As we were finishing, we couldn't help but notice a crowd flocking to one side of the harbor and then we heard the fireworks going off. So we stuck around and sat to watch the fireworks as they went off on both sides of the harbor—it was a perfect evening and such a fun opportunity to meet a great new friend!



The only regret I had was not charging my phone, which caused mucho confusion and worry for Sarah who couldn't get a hold of me—my phone was dead. When I finally got to her house she gave me a giant hug and told me how worried she was because she didn't know where I was and how every worse case scenario was going through her mind that evening. I felt so small—hurting your best friend and causing them to worry is never fun. I realized that night that there was in fact, a downside to my "go with the flow" spontaneity. But then we spent some time holding each other, and she kept saying how glad she was that I was safe. Even in the midst of my mistake, I was assured that I was truly loved by people that matter. We got to talk about our afternoon and then we called it a night.

VIDEO BLOG: Send In The Clowns (Vacation Recap)

Sarah, Honest Abe, & Me

Once upon a time, I wore a pair of snowflake pajama pants for 24 hours. True Story.

Saturday, July 3rd was my best friend Sarah's birthday. It was ALSO the day of the Dundalk Heritage Parade. I woke up at 4:30 that morning to help prepare breakfast for Sarah's family so that Ms. Shelley (her mom) could get some rest and recover from the hectic day before. I was MORE than happy to do it . . . my body on the other hand, demanded rest after breakfast was over.

I knew we were going to be watching the parade later that morning, so I went upstairs to download my photos from the day before. The funny thing is I don't even remember falling asleep. Sarah's friend Liz came to wake me up just 5 minutes before the parade, and as I was wiping the sleepies from my eyes, she asked me if I would do her a HUGE favor and put on the outfit she was holding and help her with curbside commentary to entertain Sarah's dad during the parade. I was MORE than happy to oblige—I was barely awake, but still happy to oblige. I was under the assumption that I was going to be sitting by her dad making funny remarks. What ended up happening was that someone handed me a megaphone and told me to go out into the street and get the neighborhood excited about the parade and give some commentary.

I tried to get each commentator break on film, but was only able to get some. I'd like to think of that as an act of God. ;)

I can't even begin to describe what supernatural force of energy overtook me, but it was POWERFUL. You guys, I HADN'T EVEN HAD COFFEE! I don't even remember half of what I said, I was just going off the cuff the whole time. Neighbors asked if I would go on a comedy tour (no, I won't), others asked if I was related to the Warners (only in heart & soul), others invited me back next year (for sure!). It was overwhelming and fun all at the same time. I think the best part was leading the entire neighborhood in singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my best friend!

Here is a video of the shenanigans:

And here are some photos from the day:

Liz and I -aka- Martha May and Connie Constantine

One of the Dundalk "Hons" marching in the parade
They're called "Hons" because they always call ya "Hon"

I got to enjoy the parade with Beethoven

After the parade was over, I got to give Sarah my birthday gift to her: 2 skeins of her favorite yarn! I had sneakily purchased them in New York at Seaport Yarn, which was this little yarn shop she fell in LOVE with! It was tricky hiding it from her, but I managed to get away with it and she was SO excited to get her yarn! And she loved the birthday card I gave her, which was from Plain Jane's Cards. And I got to sing the "Make New Friends But Keep The Old" song to her. It was the perfect day to celebrate my best friend!