Three weekends ago I went home to spend some time with my family since I neglected them all summer. Eats included dinner with my brothers at the Harp and lunch with C at the Flying Fig near the West Side Market. (I owe my expensive taste in unique restaurants to Emily S.) My dad took me to MOCA's new location in the developing Uptown district of Cleveland. I loved the prismatic building and all the new architecture around CASE's campus. Go Cleveland! We also finally watched the Ides of March so I could point out all the Cincinnati landmarks. Is it possible to be in love two cities at once?
enthusiastically being welcomed home by Logan /
crazy beautiful pyramid / C taking in the Uptown view
crazy beautiful pyramid / C taking in the Uptown view
My grandparents treated me to dinner at Night Town so I could observe the secret social circles of Cleveland's musically talented. As part of my "grandparent sleepover," my grandma really wanted to watch Bill Cunningham New York again since she had bought the DVD. After the film we made sure to go through every single extra feature. So glad someone else can relate to how adorable I think he is. Before I left, they also took me to the Cleveland Art Museum to see some of the new interior work and an amazing glass exhibit.
the inside that feels like it's outside at CAM / driving home to Cinci
Good dining experiences, great movies, and almost enough art. My family knows me so well! And they even succeeded in making me miss Cleveland a little bit. Just more options to add to the ever-growing "After College" plan...
Two weekends ago was Encounter 2012 (better known as the Navigators' fall conference). I drove up early to help with registration for the fourth year in a row. I really love to serve people administratively but this year I ended up doing more than I anticipated. The role of being a 5th year in the Navigators is a confusing one...most of the time I feel like everyone is mentally placing me on the fast track to go on Staff next year. I have to keep reminding myself that just because I'm organized and a planner doesn't mean that's all I have to offer.
Based on Fay's brilliant idea, Carri, Emily C, Emily K, Hannah F, Mandie, Sarah, and I met for three weeks to plan intentional activities for the girls at night, after all the scheduled conference stuff ended. You see, we've always been jealous of the bonding activities that the guys take part in when we split up. I'll leave the specific details undisclosed, but the boys are always a lot closer as a group when we return from Fall Conference. So this year we planned activities for, enouragement-bombed, and asked hard questions of all the UC girls in attendance. We've only talked about it a little since then, but I have a feeling God worked in lots of unknown ways both nights. And whether we ever find out what those ways were or not, that was the plan!
However, with all the responsibility and planning that I carried out over the weekend, I came back from the retreat pretty overwhelmed and confused. I'm still working through a lot of that, but I think it's important that these things are on my mind. I have so many decisions ahead of me and I'm not setting myself up for success if I ignore them.
who's idea was it to leave dry erase markers in the bathroom? /
Psalm 129 reminder / Andrew and Josh being twins /
Danielle, Beth, Fay, and me cheering on the Olympic competition
Psalm 129 reminder / Andrew and Josh being twins /
Danielle, Beth, Fay, and me cheering on the Olympic competition
This past weekend Mack, Logan, and Christie visited me! I took Friday off of work because as usual before an epic weekend I had too much to do. Somehow I cleaned my entire apartment, did five loads of laundry, grocery shopped, finished my Halloween outfit, and decorated for the dance party in eight hours flat. Okay, okay you figured out my supersecret alias: I'm Wonder Woman. Actually, I have no idea how I got all those things done and still had energy to dance the night away at the Navs' Monster Bash hosted by the 86 Club. But it happened and it was really fun! I think I may have even gained some real ninja skills/dance moves thanks to my costume.
dance party decorations / Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Rafael
On Saturday C and I met Emily S for lunch at Pho Lang Thang. (I think the only type of food Adam and I ever agreed on was Vietnamese, and it's still one of my favorites.) I was pretty excited to get lunch with my best friend from Cleveland and Cincinnati at the same time. It's like worlds colliding and only good things happening because of it. Christie got her hair did at the ever fabulous High Five Salon (Holla if you're on the ombré train! I'm still convinced it started back in 2010 with this girl.) while I changed back into my Wonder Woman costume to bake a cake, round up my brothers from the various corners of Clifton, and shower. It was Sarah's and my turn to make the Flora boys dinner on Saturday so Christie helped a little. It wasn't as good as theirs but it was okay for a chaotic weekend. In the usual tradition we played a few terrifying games of Slender Man and then argued about what movie to watch for over an hour. Ohh how I love my friends. I also learned how to play darts and that Matt's team wins EVERYTHING EVERYTIME.
perfectly subtle ombré
My brothers left early on Sunday but C and I made it to Iron's Fruit Farm with Navs for some action-packed maze navigation. Let me just say, if you don't like running through 20 acres of corn, deciphering maps of corn, tripping over corn, getting ditched in corn, or only conversing through hollering, don't go to a corn maze with my friends. Personally, I rather enjoyed it.
so glad she was here this weekend!
I feel like I skipped a lot of really fun things from October, but since I only use my iPhone camera as my long-term memory, they will have to remain forever forgotten. Coming soon: November adventures!
(If you are in my life, I'm pretty fond of you right now.)
Kendrasity
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