Summertime

Hi dear friends!

It is SUMMERTIME. Ah, what an interesting and full summer it has been!
It started off with Grant and I traveling to State College, PA to visit his niece, Kaylin. We had a great time playing with her and seeing the town. We enjoyed some wonderful homemade ice cream from a small shop down there. Good times.

In mid-June, we celebrated Grant's 29th Birthday. On his actual day, I took him to dinner at Founding Farmers in DC. We had a nice time. Afterwards, we went to a singer/songwriter thing where his roommate and future best man in our wedding, Ryan Walker was performing. Later that week, a group of friends met us at Dogfish Head Ale Restaurant, and we enJoyed a tasty meal and some great beer together.

Towards the end of month, things ramped up at my workplace, and it was Busy! Work is good. I'm enjoying it greatly. We hired a few new business development people - and they have made life at the office varied, fun, and full! I'm thankful for this job and where it will take me. I feel like I am growing a lot there. Life is good!

At the end of the month, I dog sat a cute little chihuaha and doxen mix dog named Lucky. We had lots of fun! I hung out with people from my church community a lot that weekend. It was good, and much needed. The last week of June was extremely full, but good.

The first week of July, Grant and I traveled back to Kansas. Good times were had with his family on the 4th. We did some wedding stuff the next few days and just hung out with my family. My adorable little nieces, Elaina and Izzy Rue were soo much fun to play with and just spend good, quality time with. I treasured that time! On Friday night of that week, my wonderful sister & brother-in-law hosted all of my mom's extended family and we had a big cookout. :) Grant was able to meet some of my cousins he'd never met before, and it was just a great time of catching up with family.

On Saturday, we worked on different centerpiece ideas for the reception, and came up with a few winners! We also celebrated my sister, Rachel's birthday and had a great time. Later that day, we drove back to Wichita and hopped on a plane back to DC. Even though it was a great trip, and quite productive, I was ready to return home.

Just yesterday, I moved - yet again! I'm now living in Alexandria for the next three months. I moved, unpacked, and Grant and I put together my new dresser from IKEA. :-) Yay! I'm pleased to live there, and excited to see what the rest of the summer holds! It's my last summer of singleness. I will be a married lady next year at this time. :)

enJoy the rest of your summer days. Take time to ReLax, breathe, and soak in the sun. Ponder. Smile. Be. Love.

Time Flies By...

Life changes quickly...

Hi dear friends,

It's been incredibly too long since my last post. Soo much has changed in the past year. It's hard to know where to start...

The handsome man in my life, Grant is now my fiancee'. He proposed to me at my favorite memorial in DC - the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and I said yes! We created the unique ring together, and I absolutely LOVE it. 

Here's  a picture for you...

What else?

I have a new job. Oh, me and jobs...in the summer of 2011 I switched from working as an Admin at a civil engineering firm to going door to door and selling Verizon Fios, with the promise of owning my own business. Oh, it was hard. I learned a lot, and met some interesting people, but 10 hour days, and not making much money just wasn't cutting it.

At the end of November, I hunted for a new job. I started doing temp Admin work in December and working as a waitress at the District of Pi Pizzeria in DC. I really enJoyed working at the pizza place. It was fun, and I skirted by on tips. 

Around Christmas time, Grant and I made the trek to Kansas in one of our dear friends' SUV and had a wonderful time with family. It was great to visit them as an engaged couple! The future is bright. We set a date for October 2012 back in Kansas. He booked our honeymoon, and we have a church and reception place set up. We'll have a reception back here in DC late October, but I'm glad we have time. We need it. To plan. To prepare. To talk about all those things...you know, like money, and kids, and how to deal with conflict. All those important topics. The past. Influences. Dreams. Fears. Goals. 

In February, I landed a great job for a company called Black & Veatch. I'm the Office Manager for this architectural and engineering firm. It's good - they have benefits! And it's located in Arlington. We love that part of Northern VA. I hope we can find an affordable place in that area. :)

Well, what else? I've moved out to Burke. It's a long story, but I'm here for now. I paint from time to time. And I miss my cute little nieces! They are growing up so fast. I feel like the last year has been full of changes, lessons to learn, maturity to build, and lots of planning. This year has been full of ups and downs. I find myself pondering more than I used to, and thinking a bit more before speaking. I'm in my mid-twenties now! Life is viewed through a different lense than before. And it's okay - it's just different.

So many of my friends are engaged and getting married! It must be that time in our lives. Moving on to the next step. We're growing up friends. Sometimes we have to look life in the face and run ahead full force, even though we're a bit scared. I'm excited for what the next months in 2012 hold. 

There you have it - a quick little update on life. I'd love to hear how you are doing...a phone call, old-fashioned letter, text message, email, facebook message. I'll take it however it comes. Stay in touch, dear friends.

Until next time... 

Fall - are you here yet? Seasons change...

Hello, hello.

September is here. Hello and welcome to the start of fall. Ah, I'm SO glad it's here. I LOVE fall. This is an excellent season. Now, I realize that summer is still lingering...and fall has yet to fully come alive. ;)

Soon, very soon we will feel the crispness of the air, see the beautiful leaves change colors from green to multi-colored goodness. And I am ready! Ready for the layers. Ready to cuddle up in my scarves, to wear long coats, gloves, cute hats, be warm, layer, wear my great sweaters. I'm ready for it all!

Oh - and there is the season of pumpking goodness coming up too! How I love to make pumpking cookies, pumpkin bread - go to Starbucks and order a Pumpkin Latte. Mmmm...I can almost taste it now.

Enough talk about the changing of seasons. Have you ever noticed that when the physical weather seasons change, seasons in life tend to shift?

For some reason, there seems to be some kind of symmetry in my life with all of that, and I'm not quite sure why that is. However, I do feel like life is changing a bit.

In one instance, my job fully feels like it's mine now...and it's a BIG change from the office job of before. It's good. A challenge - which I always love. The hours are tough, I'm not gonna lie. And I've been traveling and gone WAY too much. I'm ready to be in DC...and STAY there. I know, it sounds strange, but it's true.

This coming weekend is the last one that I will be gone until the "Ladies Weekend" in October. And boy, am I glad. The last month or so, I have gone somewhere or done something every single weekend!

Let's see...a recap, if you will.

I'll move backwards from now. Well, right now - I'm away from home on a business trip in Mid-Maryland. Last weekend I was in KC visiting friends. The weekend before that I was in Jersey and PA visiting my Aunt & Uncle; my older cousin & her son & her significant other. Grant and I drove down after work on Friday and it took us forever to get there...but we made it. It was a lovely weekend! Good times all around.

The weekend before that I was at the beach. Bethany Beach in Delaware to be exact. It was pretty fun. We had a good time. It was full of a few days of relaxing, chilling on the beach, swimming in the good 'ole Atlantic, eating good food, and did I say relaxing? Awesome. The perfect beach vacation. The weekend prior to that...oh! I went to a wedding shower. And the the weekend before that...I did something. What did I do? It was the end of July - oh, right! I went to a wedding in Maryland. An outside wedding that was absolutely beautiful!

So - that's all folks! This coming weekend, I'm flying to KC, Missouri for another wedding. My boyfriend's sister is getting married on Saturday. And on Sunday he is going to meet some of good friends from college. I'm excited about that. ;) So - fun times ahead! And that IS good. It's just A LOT!

I'm ready to BE HERE. Now. And not leave for a good bit. Let me work a full week, from Monday to Saturday. And let me SEE and spend quality time with people from my church. I want to see my friend who came back from a little time in India and catch up with her. Oh - and I want to BE HOME! Do laundry. Breathe. Clean. Chill. Make food. Sleep a little more. Just BE. Maybe even spend some time with the roomies. We'll see. The point is, this season in life has been soo incredibly full, that I am more than ready for life to SLllloooow down. To live in routine life again will be lovely. Absolutely lovely.

That's all for now. I forsee more change in the future, but I'm still rolling around those ideas, possibilities, options. I have questions, no answers or explanations, but I feel like change is in the air.

enJoy the last days of Summer, my dear readers. And embrace the change and start of the wonderful season of Fall.

The End of Summer...

Hello there!

Can you believe that it's already August?! I know. The summer flew by! I can hardly believe that it is almost over, but it is. The start of September brings with it the beginnings of fall. :) And fall is my favorite season of all time.

Let's see...what to say? Life has changed a bit in the last few weeks. I have a new job now. Horray! It's pretty great. It's a LOT more hours, but the work environment is much better and I feel like I can be pretty good at this job. My new hours are 11am to 9pm, so out the window goes all my evening plans that were the norm. And I have to work on Saturdays...until I sign somebody up. Not the end of the world, but not the best either. Most of my coworkers are in their 20's and 30's, so that's fun too.

What else? Oh, I went on vacation this past week and weekend. It was great. I went to Bethany Beach in Delaware and it was wonderful. Incredibly relaxing. A great chill couple of days. It was exactly what I needed. And now, tomorrow embarks starting back to work.

I'm going to be traveling a bit these next few weeks, so by the mid to end of September, I'll be posting some pictures of my adventures. This weekend I went to the beach, next weekend I'll be visiting my extended family in Jersey, the weekend after that having a great time with my girlfriends in KC, and then heading to Missouri for Grant's sister's wedding and hopefully spending a little bit of time with my friends to introduce them to my boyfriend. :) Good times ahead, for sure.

In the midst of all of this, I'm realizing a few things.

First, that each difficult situation and encounter put before me is set there for a purpose, designed to help me become a better person - one who reflects the beauty of the Lord. It's there to help me overcome an issue, to become more like my Creator. So - I'm trying to look at these situations a bit differently than before. To embrace them, to learn as much as I possibly can and to try and overcome those issues. Because they are there.

It feels very much like a growing season in life. This is good. Mmmm...and I cannot wait for fall. It is full of my favorite things - turning leaves, crisp air, hot chocolate, cinnamon candles, pumpkin lattes, going to pumpkin patches, wearing scarves, and gloves, hats, ah! the JOYS of fall weather. :) I love it.

Secondly, people are put in our lives for a reason. Whether to sharpen us, or allow us to learn to love another way, or just simply to encourage us, it IS for a reason. And it's best to really get to know those God puts in our lives and seek to enhance theirs with the Lord's love.

So, what have you been learning lately? Any new discoveries or joys had?
Wish me luck on my travels, and I'll update in a month or so. Take care, dear friends. And remember to enJoy EVERY moment. Even the little things. It ALL matters - as do you. You make a difference in people's lives, even if you don't see it. You do. Remember that. Your actions do matter. You matter. And are LoVeD.

Ah...Summertime...and Questions.

Do you ever have questions without answers? You know, those questions that make you stop dead in your tracks? I do. And I've been having a few of those lately.

About what? You may ask. Well, that's not going to be revealed. Just questions. Questions that eat away at me…that fill my thoughts, dreams, and days. Questions that I try to find answers for…but no answers can be found just yet. These questions take time. TIME. Ugh. Sometimes it feels like a horrible 4 letter word that never seems to fade. Well, it does NOT fade because it's time…and time just continues to go…even when you desire it to stop or pause or fade, or become less prominent. It's always there. Constant. Steady. It comes and it goes, and it is present. Always present. Our whole lives, we'll live with time. In a way, it's comforting, but not when you want to pause and think, and ponder, and consider. And you want to do all those things in a safe space, where nothing else can occur to mess up the current progression of thoughts. Am I making any sense, here?

Do any of you have these times or seasons in your life? Where things arise and you just want TIME to stop. So, you can regroup, figure it out, and move ahead with confidence, knowing that this is the right next step. I sure hope so. Maybe comment and let me know. 

What else?

Well, it's summertime here. And most places, really. I've never really had good summers in my day. But this has been a good summer. A great one, really. I have a wonderful boyfriend who I'm seeing. I was able to go to Kansas and visit my family, which was wonderful. I'm missing my nieces a LOT about now. I've done some fun stuff this summer. One of my best girlfriends came to visit me in DC, and we had a lot of fun exploring the City and just enjoying spending time with one another.

Oh! And this past Friday I got to see one of my all time favorite people in whole world – LynAnne Weist. She's pretty great. If you don't know her, you should. She's an excellent friend, and I love her so! Anywho – she's back from being out of the country for a year…and she's in Pennsylvania. Yup, that's right – good 'ole PA. But only for a week. So last Friday, I rented a car and drove down to spend a few hours of goodness with her.  It was great. Really great. I got home at an insanely late time in the morning, but it was SO worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. So, that was pretty awesome. Another great part of the summer.

And for the most part, the weather has been decent. Last week is an exception, but other than that – much milder than last summer. By far! Oh – I am going to the beach in a few weeks, and I'm SUPER stoked about that. And I have a new job that's gonna be pretty exciting and worthwhile. Plus, it pays better, which is a bonus. Hopefully, that means I'll be able to purchase a car in October. Well, sometime this fall, at least. That will make life a thousand times easier.

That's all for now. Questions….and summertime. Yup. That's where I'm at. And I'm choosing to trust God with all those silly questions. That makes it a bit better. Cuz He knows the answers and knows what's best for me – now and always. So, I will trust and continue to put myself in a place of rest and submission to His will…not mine. Until next time, continue to follow Christ faithfully, dear ones. You will be loved.

- - Tina Lou

Thoughts...

Hello there,

I know, I know...it hasn't been very long since my last post. I realize this. But I need to write. So, here you go!

Ah, life. It's such a funny and fickle thing, ya know? One minute it's going great, your heart is soaring, the future looks bright and promising....and the next, well it's not going well. Why does that happen sometimes?

I guess by now, I should expect the unexpected to happen, because it usually does. It should be absolutely NO surprise to me that things pop up in one's life that you don't see coming. That's just the nature of this thing we call life. I guess it's how we handle those bumps in the road, those unexpected arrows flying our way that matters.

Because until life is no more, we will have things come up that we never, in a million years, could have anticipated. And that's okay. It makes life interesting. Varied. Challenging. And, as one of my friends would say, "It builds character."

This past weekend, I had a few unexpected bumps in the road. Nothing that can't be overcome or worked through...just unexpected bumps. That's all. No worries? Right...

I can't remember a time in my life that I've been good at the whole, "Let's not worry about this. Everything will turn out fine. Just fine." First of all, I dislike the word fine. Why? It's lame. It's a copout. And I think of the Italian Job, when they say what it stands for - F.reaked Out I.nsecure N.eurotic E.xcited. Secondly, I like to be in control. I like to know what's coming, what's right over the next bend. Ask those who know me well, I'm always thinking ahead. Always. Thus, sometimes, I worry. And consider, and plan, and fix.
Yeah, so anywho - how do I deal?

It depends. Sometimes, I freak out. Mostly, I think about how to resolve or move past whatever the situation may be. And, because I have "Strategic" as a top strength from Gallup's Strengthsquest, I immediately think of numerous solutions and then drop some down and end up with 2-4. Pretty quickly I choose what I think is the best option. And then I proceed. So - that's the default for me. But sometimes, it's really hard and I get scared. It's at those times that I cling to my good friends. I pour out my heart, ask for prayer and guidance, and of course - seek the Lord.

In the midst of a few "bumps in the road", I'm determined to...
- Keep my head up.
- Believe life will improve.
- Trust my King.
- Listen to my friends.
- Pray a LOT.
- Breathe
- Try not to focus on the bumps too much, even though it's hard.
- Continue to work through the issues.
- See how to do things differently next time.
- Continue to love and forgive.
- Embrace the truly hopeful future (even though it doesn't feel too hopeful right now)
- Take one day at a time...and one step at a time.
- Be patient. (I'll have to try REAL hard at this one!)

Yes. Life happens. Things come up. Surprises hit you in the face. Life keeps moving...it doesn't pause or slow down or stop. We have to keep going too! And thankfully, we have the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit to lean on and let be our sustenance. And for that - my friends, I am thankful.

Here's a photo of me this morning. Hopeful for a brighter day than the last; optimistic that life will improve, even if the odds are against me; ready to face the day - joy in heart.


Thanks for listening. For trusting and believing that we continue to grow as we journey on this path called life. The bumps, the decisions, the people in our lives create who we are today. Let's choose wisely, dear ones.

enJoy this brand new week. For it's NEW - clean, and fresh. A clean slate....a blank canvas, waiting and ready for the paint of your life to be splashed across it into a beautiful picture.

Embrace. Live. Love. Breathe. Experience. Hope. Be.

Until next time,
Tina Lou

An extended holiday weekend

Ah, the smell of fireworks being blown off all around you. What a beautiful thing.
This past weekend was full of family, food, good
times,laughter, fireworks, and memories made. My boyfriend and I flew down to Kansas on Thursday night and stayed through Monday. We had a great time!

Friday was a perfect day spent with my family. In the morning, the four of us went to the golf course and hit a bucket of golf balls. We had a lot of fun! When we headed back to my parent's house, Rachel and the girls had just arrived. We enJoyed a morning of good times with them and then went to pick out fireworks! At lunchtime, we celebrated my older sister's birthday. See pictures below:

Here you can see Elaina, Birthday lady (Rachel), me, and my boyfriend, Grant

Elaina helping Rachel open presents.
She got a bunch of K-cups (coffee) for her Kerig coffeemaker. :)

In the afternoon, we just enJoyed hanging out with the girls and unraveling lots of black cat fireworks. After a bit, Kelly joined us and my mom's brothers & sisters and my grandparents. It's been a while since they've all been together - and it was really good to see everyone and have them meet my man! :) We had a great time grilling out, blowing off fireworks, eating great food, and just hanging out. Definitely a memorable trip! After they headed back to Mac town, we retreated to the air conditioning where we played Catch-a-Phrase with my grandparents. Good times. In the evening, we said goodnight to the two cuties and us adults headed outside to blow off fireworks and Roman candles....and eat some more yummy food! See some more great pics from the day:

Mimi and Isabelle Ruby hanging out in the shade.

My beautiful niece Elaina Marie :)

Me, my boyfriend, and Mimi chilling

Auntie Tina reading Elaina a Dr. Suess book in the afternoon

My sis, Rachel laughing with Mimi about something while Isabelle sprawls out and Uncle Mick looks on at the cutie pie. :)

Yay! I love this one of all of us. The two couples. :)
Kelly & Rachel and then Grant and me.
I have a great sister and brother-in-law. Love them a Lot!

The rest of the weekend we spent with my boyfriend's extended family. We had a lot of fun. Saturday was full of golf in the morning for the guys and pedicures for us ladies. :) Naps and a meat fest for the guys. Hanging out...buying boxed fireworks for the night show! And then we went to his Aunt & Uncle's place and enJoyed some food, played washers, hung out, ate homemade ice cream (yum!), and then had a nice little firework show there. Sunday we went to Journey the Way in Wichita and heard his cousin, David Campbell speak. It was excellent! Afterwards, we visited Mead's corner - a beloved coffee shop that I miss from living in Wichita. Then Grant & I went to visit his Grandpa. That was a great time...he's an onery fellow, but it was real fun. In the evening, we had dinner with his brother, niece, and mom. That night we just relaxed and watched a movie, which was very nice after a busy couple of days. On the actual holiday, we packed up and visited my brother John and then headed back to head to the airport.

Overall, it was a great weekend! I loved visiting Kansas, but am glad to be back in the big city of DC now. :) See some other photos from the weekend below:

Me and my boyfriend's niece, Kaylin on Saturday night.
She's enJoying some yummy chocolate sheet cake. :)

Me and my brother John. It was so good to see him!

Well, dear friends that's all for now. I'm thankful for our country's freedom! I hope you had a lovely time celebrating...and hopefully relaxing some too. Let's see what the rest of the summer brings!