Eastside update

I am here, in Michigan. I've been here for eleven days now and I know, I know, I haven't blogged but I have a perfectly good reason. I'm on vacation!

It's been great, I've finally relaxed and started sleeping well, and sleeping in. I've finished one novel and am over half-way done with another. I've been playing in the garden a lot, going to nurseries, learning about flowers and trees and planting. In fact, tonight we planted five rose bushes who's names are Shockwave, Scarlett, Rainbow Sorbet, Chihuly, and Iceberg. The front yard is looking good!

I've also been spending some time with friends which has been such a blessing. This week I had dinner in Kalamazoo with Leslie and Sara. It was one of those great night where before I knew it, hours had passed, like over five hours. It was as if the past year, or even two, hadn't happened, we'd never been away. It was what coming home should be.

Then Thursday I met my friend Erika and we spent the day at the mall, browsing clothes, makeup, books, and talking. Talking about health, life, work, family, everything and anything. And especially Juno. It was great.

Yesterday I got to play golf, finally, and shot a 99. I beat my dad on the first nine then my game fell apart a little. But it was good to get out their and swing the clubs and focus only on my next shot for a few hours. Then last night I went to my first Olivet College Alumni event which just happened to also be my first Tigers game in Comerica Park. It was a beautiful night and I had such a great time with my friend Angel, which is why I really went, to hang out with her. Again, it was like time hadn't passed, in that good way. It's so great to spend time with people who know you, know your stories and who can share your history. It was also great to walk down memory lane and talk about all those things I did and people I knew nine, ten years ago.

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks so far. This week will hopefully be a little quieter, not so much travel for me. I plan to finish the John Grisham book I'm reading, so I can go out and buy that new Meg Cabot book. I want to see a few movies and spend some time with my grandparents. Oh, and find a job hopefully. But I'm not stressing. God has a plan for me, I know it.

On the Los Angeles front, several updates: one, I did not get the job I interviewed with. Too many qualified candidates, yada yada. In hindsight, I think it's for the best, it might have been a lot of work along with school. Also, my professional program has just started a listserve (an email sent out with announcements every few days) I'm pretty excited about. It lists activities and opportunities and tells about what grads of the program are up to. And can I just say that today's announcement included two sales by program grads and two movies being filmed by program grads. I think that bodes well for me! I am excited!!!

I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few days and I've come up with a couple of ideas, dare I say, life views I am going to try and hold on to as I go through this next new adventure:

1. To steal a quote from Juno, "I don't really know what kind of girl I am" - I love this. I love how she delivers the line and how she truly means it with all she is and isn't. I love that this line was written by a twenty-nine year old screenwriter who has recently done what I want to do: tell a great story, very well, to a lot of people. While I certainly don't know what kind of girl I am yet, I am having a great time figuring it out.

2. I like me and I think it's important to make sure that I let that show in how I dress, how I treat myself, and how I treat others. I want to make time for what's important in my life, and those who are important. And if I don't want to do something, I'm not going to waste this very valuable commodity of time that I have!

3. Life is great! Bring it on, everything and anything. I am expecting great things and I know, WITHOUT A DOUBT, that I'm going to get them!