currently: late June edition

[waiting for the train into Dallas last weekend so we could go to the farmer's market]

Listening to: lots of Alexi Murdoch Pandora station. Also all of Kelly Ann's playlists. That girl has a gift of putting the perfect music together.

Reading:  Nothing fun. It's all grad school work for the next month and a half, unfortunately.

Thinking about: Our upcoming anniversary. It's almost been an entire year that we've been married, and it has been such a year. I'm thankful for having Ben as my teammate in all of this.

Watching: The construction workers right outside our windows. My building [the residence hall that I'll be in charge of & we'll live in] is still being built, and apparently the July 15 deadline isn't going to be met. I glare at the workers in hopes that they've move a  little faster.

Loving:  My mornings. As I've mentioned a bunch of times on here, I'm not a morning person. However, I enrolled in an 8-week kickboxing boot camp recently and the best time for me to go is before work. Class is at 5:15 & 6:15, so depending on my morning meetings, I go to one of those. It's MISERABLE waking up every morning, but once I get up, I love it. I love the peace of the early morning. I love getting my aggression out on a punching bag and feeling so accomplished and strong and so badass as I go. I love driving back with the Texas morning sky laid out beautifully before me. I love having time to make and eat breakfast, listening to Pandora and taking things slow before I have to walk over to work. It's only been a week, but I love it all so far.

Drinking: So much water. At the beginning of boot camp, they weighed me and took all of these measurements and then suggested a meal plan. The meal plan I'm not following really, because I'm so picky, but I am following their water suggestion. Apparently I'm supposed to be drinking 2.5 liters of water every day. I'm doing it and loving how it makes me feel, but holy cow, I have to pee so much.

Missing: My family, of course. This past weekend, I flew up to New York for my sister's graduation & party. We had a lot of fun and it was so good to see them, but it was hard to say good-bye. The hard part is now though, as I won't get to see them again until Christmas. Jessa and I shopped for her dorm room before I left and I just feel so sucky that I can't go with her to move her into college.  I love our life here so far, but I miss them all.

Not missing: Facebook, Twitter & Instagram on my phone. I was home on Friday, catching up with my family and loving on them and I couldn't stop thinking about checking my dumb phone. I was so angry with myself for being obsessed, so I grabbed my phone and deleted them all. I have to say that I do miss Instagram because I loved seeing little snapshots of everyone's life and I really liked sharing my own, but oh well. I feel free. I'm giving myself a week to see how I feel about re-installing Instagram and we'll go from there.

Looking forward to: Finishing grad school! My thesis and everything is due on August 11, which is just six weeks away. This terrifies me because I am nowhere near finishing my paper or field project, but I'll get it done. I'm just a procrastinator. I can't wait to be free. No more homework and no more stress. I'll just come home from work at the end of the day and be able to do anything I want. I can craft again! I can read good books! I can go on adventures! I'm so excited I can barely focus on getting my work done now.


I hope everyone is having a good summer so far! I know I'm not around here much, and since I recently got rid of my social media apps, I'm not really there either. If you want to chat, please feel free to e-mail me at sweetandwildchildblog {at} gmail {dot} com. I'd love to hear from you.

And as always, thanks to my sweet friend Megan [and her friend Dani] for inspiring these posts.

I'm Keeping the Glitter

It's Monday, June 3 and we're here in Texas. Is it dramatic to say that the minute we passed this sign, I felt like I was at home? Yes, it is, but I'm saying it anyways.

The past two weeks have been crazy. We finished up packing and had fun in our tiny apartment stacked full of boxes. The movers came and took all of our things as we sat on the porch reading magazines like real lazy bums. We then spent the next six days staying with my mom and then Ben's parents, hopping around from event to event: a wedding I was in, last minute meals with friends and family, a sweet goodbye party with my whole family, and days and nights spent in the sun with my parents and siblings. 

Then last Tuesday, we hit the road. I have so many sweet pictures of all of our goodbyes and of our fun trip down here, but I don't want to share them yet. I heard an idea somewhere [I think APW] about events that hold a special place in your heart, like weddings, births, special parties, etc.: when they're over, they feel too sacred to share with the world yet. They were special and magical and filled with glitter and many times, we get scared to share them and shake them in fear of shaking the glitter right off. 

Like I said, our time with family before we left was so special. That was the last time that I was around, knowing that everyone I really loved was within a half hour drive. And everyone made us feel so loved when they sent us on our way, giving us hugs and love and gifts that we never expected. It was even more heartbreaking to leave than I ever thought it would be. And then our drive down here was so much fun. We made stops along the way, some at big attractions and some at tiny little nothing towns where there were motel rooms for $19.99 in a trailer out back [yes, I am also glad that we didn't get killed]. The time Ben and I spent in the truck and out of the truck exploring this new world we'd never seen was fun and so good for us.

And now we're in Houston, spending a few days at Ben's sister and brother-in-law's new house. We're helping them get ready for their new baby and we're taking a few days to regroup on homework and moving things and then just relax. We'll head up to Dallas when our apartment is ready on Wednesday and hope that the movers are there soon with our things and then we'll get settled into that new life. Maybe by then, I'll be ready to share more about the last two weeks, but for now, I'm enjoying this in between time and I'm keeping my glitter.