New York, New York

I am SO EXCITED to see NYC... I can't believe I have never been there (among other places!!) - that will all be changing this summer. Here is the problem...

My flight from here to NYC got cancelled so I have to leave here a day later, meaning I only have 1 night in NYC with my friends Amy & Jonathan, then they have to keep going to their final destination... I can extend my stay for another night, but then I'm in the city by myself for a night... which means I'd either have to pay for my own hotel room, stay in a hostel (which is still pricey) or find someone to stay with... hence the blog :)

Do any of you know someone who lives in or very close to New York City?? I want to stay longer to see more, but I'm a little nervous about doing it myself...


Speaking of never having been to other places... I've never been to NYC, Chicago, California, Texas, etc..., etc... I want to take lots of roadtrips this summer, and have a few friends who also want to go on some... any suggestions or ideas for cheap/easy roadtrips from Ohio? Anything to see or do where you live (I can cook you a killer dinner in exchange for a roof to sleep under)? Here are some of the plans/ideas I have so far:
~Memphis/Arkansas to visit a friend/go to her lakehouse
~Colorado to see my Aunt, Uncle & cousins there
~of course Cincinnati/N.KY as much as possible
~Chicago
~Nashville
~Birmingham (to see a friend working there & visit my Grandpa just north of there)
~S. Carolina
~Indiana

Ideas? Places to stay in NYC (or anywhere else)?

Dear Melinda,

I cannot take you out to dinner, I cannot even call (you see, I tried... it wouldn't work, I think I have the wrong phone number), I can't text either (once again, wrong number, also it doesn't help that my phone isn't sending texts right now... lame!)... so, here is my gift to you (for now)...

10 things I love about you (because I typed 'hate' and realized I can't even make it sarcastic enough for people to understand I am being sarcastic ... but then again... you would get it...):

1. Speaking of which... I love the way you just get it. You understand my humor and sarcasm, not judging me for either.

2. I love the way you always tell me the truth. I know I can count on you to be honest with me, even if it's not what I want to hear, but what I NEED to hear.

3. I love when I'm in the middle of teaching and having random memories of you being right here next to me pop into my head, and just giggling about things such as snot fountains, and the kids begging to know what was funny :)

4. I love that you take the time to think about what peoples love languages are, and then do whatever you can to give them that type of love.

5. I love that you love without reservations. You DO have a unique ability to connect deeply, whether that is an Africa thing or not, you just do.

6. I love that you can fall flat on the floor, laugh, and just pick yourself up and start over again (dork dance, anyone?!).

7. I love that I know even if we disagree about something, that's ok... whether it's something as silly as the best ice cream, or something as deep as theology, you will always hear me out (as I hope I have done for you) & love me the same in the end.

8. I love that I can sing in front of you... not just sing, but full-on belt my heart out, and not feel the slightest bit of embarassment or fear.

9. I love your genuine curiosity. You aren't afraid to ask questions, and are always willing to hear the whole answer. You make me use my brain & think about what I really believe, feel, and think, and why.

10. I LOVE that I am going to be SO CLOSE to you and can come and take you out to dinner to celebrate our birthdays for real in person SO SOON :) :) :)

What's Next

Here is what I know about what's next so far:

~Be back in Ohio June 9th (after a 2 day stop in NYC to be a tourist with Amy and Jonathan)
~Buy a car
~I have the pleasure of being in my beautiful cousins wedding on June 27th, and then will be attending one other in July
~I'll be jam packing as much travel, and visiting friends & family as possible in June, July and early August (*hopefully including* a visit to Colorado, Tennessee/Arkansas, Indiana, of course Cincinnnati/N.Ky... and wherever else I can convince someone to come along with me)
~Begin furthering my education at on of three places... and this is where I begin to have noooo clue what's next...

Depending on which school I decide to go to, there are 3 different paths my life will begin to take.
1. Stay in Dayton, work hard to get an assistantship and/or scholarships, start a job (most likely two, the one I was doing before coming here, and probably another part time), then start my 2 years of graduate school.
2. Move to Cincinnati, start a whole new life there... new friends, new job, new everything... then start my 2 years of graduate school there.
3. Move to Nashville.... start an even newer life, with even newer friends, a new job, and really... a hugely newer everything since I don't know anyone or know my way around at all... then start my 2 years of graduate school there.

Now I just have to wait to hear from 2 of the schools about acceptance, and then decide...

Oh boy...

cooking up a storm

I've been cooking a lot the last few weeks, and I have really been enjoying it. I have been trying to be more intentional about actually cooking rather than eating out or buying things like bread for sandwiches. I can't wait till I'll actually have access to so many recipes that sound AMAZING that I can't try here because of the inability to find the items, or the expense of them (although, I think I'll also miss the challenge of finding substitutes and changing the recipes to fit what I can find). Just to give you an idea... tonight I made (for my 2 upstairs roommates and our friend Stacey who is in town for a few weeks for his job)... fried eggplant, roasted red pepper, and mozzarella sandwiches on toasted garlic french bread . It turned out so well, and I was so excited!!! It was very filling, had tons of flavor, and the best thing, it was pretty cheap (only about $20 for all 4 of us!) :)

I've been using these steamer bags that Ziploc makes when I can find fresh broccoli and I LOVEEE them!! They are so super duper easy to use (all you do is wash the veggies, toss them in the bag with seasonings and stick it in the microwave!) and the finished product tastes amazing with rice or noodles... great find (although I only have a few left... anyone want to send me a pack?!) :)

I also brought some bacon bits with me (the kind that are real bacon, not imitation), and made 2 baked potatoes about 2 weeks ago, one for dinner and one for lunch the next day, and I put some bacon bits, cheese, and butter on them... yum! With the leftover potatoes I made what my mom calls parsley potatoes, but to make it a little more exciting, I added a little ranch dressing and some laughing cow cheese (similar to cream cheese, but a more cheesy flavor)... all so yummy!!

Also, last Saturday Amy, Amanda and I decided that instead of going out to eat on Saturday night we would splurge on some real (and really expensive) cheese and look up a few recipes and create our own restaurant quality meal :) - we ended up making what we call turkey pie (a recipe from one of the Lebanese mom's at our school, who happens to be an incredible cook herself) and beer cheese soup (which was really more like soupy fondue, and we dipped bread in it).

I have really enjoyed cooking lately, and just thought I'd tell you about some of the fun things I've made lately :) I hope everyone is having a fantastic Valentine's Day, I sure did!!!!

25 Things

There is a phenomena that is circulating around Facebook right now... here's my "25 Things" post... sorry it's not me writing, but those words, they still haven't come. Soon my friends, soon (I hope)!

1. I just watched Top Gun for the first time this week… felt like I had already seen it 20 times though - (Chris Brown totally stole the ‘hearts all over the world tonight’ line from Meg Ryan in Top Gun)

2. I have a scar that is about 1inch long on my right thigh from my bathtub here in Ghana… I know, I know… the bathtub??

3. I would really rather sing every sentence that comes from my mouth and dance every step of every journey I take than simply talk and walk… impractical?

4. Pretty much every time you speak to me there is a song that is playing in my head, the lyrics matching or coming after whatever you just said…

5. Isn’t it funny that in the US during the winter 50 degrees can feel warm, but in Africa during dry season when there is no humidity 90 degrees can feel COLD?!?! I know you don’t believe me, but it’s so true!!

6. The thought of even the possibility of moving to Nashville on my own makes me more nervous than the thought of moving to Ghana did.

7. Three days ago I had the joy of having a 20 minute heart to heart with 10 5ish year olds about why kissing people who aren’t your family on the lips is not appropriate (“Yes, when you get married you can kiss your wife on the lips all you want, but not in Kindergarten!”).

8. Once I went on a 3 mile bike ride through the African bush… might not sound very far… but I will never do that again (certain death awaits if I try, I’m just sure of it).

9. Once I went on a 4 hour hike through the African jungle… I will never do that again either… although I would LOVE to swim in the waterfall we stopped at again. Do you think I could arrange to hike down and then just get airlifted out after swimming??

10. I have athletic induced asthma. I did not have my inhaler on either of the 2 above trips… bad plan.

11. It probably wouldn’t actually be too hard to convince me to do either of those two things again...

12. I had my first ear infection at the age of 21.

13. I cried almost every day after school in first grade. I think I learned more that year than any other because my teacher pushed us so hard and was so ‘mean’ (read: I was too sensitive). I also think that year of my life has something to do with why I am an overachiever with some things but extremely unmotivated for others.

14. I love the way the antiseptic they used at the clinic in my elementary school smelled. I went there almost every day after lunch in 3rd grade. I don’t remember much about that year, even my teacher’s name (ok, now an hour later after thinking REALLY HARD about it, I *think* I remember… Mom, was it Mrs. Brown??), but Mrs. Osbourne was the nurse’s name and I can tell you the exact layout of the clinic…

15. Come to think of it… I don’t really remember much about 2nd grade either… there seems to be a black hole (give or take snippets here and there) in my memory where a majority of the memories of 2nd and 3rd grade have disappeared.

16. I wear my feelings in my eyes instead of on my sleeve… they change colors depending on my mood and emotions. If you can figure out the color that comes with a mood/emotion, you can read me like a book.

17. I love that my eyes change colors… it’s pretty much a superpower ;)

18. I feel like a bad sister/cousin/friend/daughter for missing things like showchoir competitions, graduations, award ceremonies, dances, performances, weddings, engagements, parties, game nights, birthdays, births, vacations, and road trips, but it’s really the small things like text messages just because we can, talking on the phone for 5 minutes or 3 hours, sitting down for a meal in or out, hugs, and being able to say I love you to your faces that I miss the most.

19. It takes a minimum of 20 minutes from the time I start typing a text to the time it gets sent. I will re-word it 10 times before you ever see it.

20. Unless it’s so crowded there is no choice, it stresses me out to no end to have people sit right behind me in the movie theater. Please choose the back if I go to a movie with you :)

21. I don’t like feet… not afraid, just don’t want to touch yours.

22. I am afraid of clowns. Not like I’ll go run and hide, I just really don’t like them, especially if they won’t talk.

23. One summer I lost weight even though I pretty much only ate ice cream. The Ice Cream diet… it works (or working at an ice cream shop almost every day for the whole summer).

24. I can make one killer chocolate, peanut butter, and cappuccino chip ice cream cake (in Ghana… I’ll have to re-invent it when I get home).

25. Ice cream is my favorite food. Yes, it is a food. Hence the killer ice cream cake, working at an ice cream shop, and eating it all the time. Hands down, all time best flavor ever (don’t even try to argue with me, especially if you’ve never had it) is chocolate peanut butter but ONLY if its from Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs, Ohio… other than that I’m not really a one-flavor gal.

** Bonus fact… kind of like when they put an hidden track on a CD, but maybe better… It took me 4 days to complete this list.