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All my pictures are out of order. in this interactive blog it is up to you to place them in the correct sequence. (each ___ indicates a corresponding picture)

Last saturday Emmy and I decided to hike the infamous South Zapata Lake Trail. We left the house at 6:00 am in order to be able to hike in the cool morning air and be below the tree line by noon-ish. ___ This was the view from the bottom of the mountain, while our legs were fresh and the sun was not quite above the mountains. We had to cross south zapata creek several times. At our first crossing I suggested we try to cross barefoot for there were not enough rocks to hop across on. That was a miserable idea, for once I got both feet in the water I could no longer feel them. Then we saw the logs that everyone else was smart enough to cross on ____. The trail was really hard in some spots, with really steep inclines and lots of skree, there was more than one spot where i stopped to take in the scenary and to rearrange my lungs so the insides were inside again and the outsides outside again ____. Before we knew it we were halfway there and we could see the valley through the trees ____ and decided to stop for a snack. unfortuately an accident of gravity caused some of the gorp to spill on the trail and to remain in keeping with Leave No Trace techniques, we were beholden to eat it. off the ground. i actually really don't mind eating off the ground but in this particular case bark seemed to always make it into my mouth, no matter how hard i examined each handful____. After our break we crossed the creek again ___ and then the trail opened up into a beautiful valley ____ where I did break out singing 'The Hills are alive with the sound of music' It was stunning. By this point we had been hiking 3.5 hours and, not going to lie, were exhausted! The first body of water I saw, I was sure it was the lake and ran toward it, doing a celebration dance when emmy pointed out that it was rather small ____. oops. So we continued on, drawing closer and closer to the mountain, hoping over each knoll there was a lake ___. And finally! we saw it South Zapata Lake____. Emmy striking her victory pose ___.


Next week Blanca!



(correct order: 9,10,6,12,7,11,8,2,1,3,4)

last night we won our softball game, 11-4. and we were down two players, playing 8 to 10. and i made another out at home. and i walloped the ball when at bat and it went past second base. unfortunately it was in a lovely arc that inevitably ends in an out. oh well.

other amazing christa moments (you know you all want to see me play):
-dashing to second and slipping on the sandy base, falling on my butt but maintaining enough clarity to reach back and snag the mound with my hand.
-a batter's foul ball ricocheting off my knee cap. ouch.
-same batter, different foul just slipping out of my glove as i dove for it.
-flirting with the umpire, per usual.

i am exhausted. right now i almost feel like i am having an out of body experience as i try and gear up to go lead my group for the day.

wish me luck.

i made a vow this week to be more positive in my verbal expression of my opinions of the people i encounter in my life.

today this vow was sorely tried.

a gentleman in my workgroup actually called me 'honey' in that dripping, condescending tone of voice that automatically triggers every ninja-like quality within me. the man was lucky i was weedwacking and could thus take out my anger on the innocent weeds. he thought i was 'sweet and all' but didn't want to 'offend my sensibilities' with his plan to keep the yard we were working on weed free. he didn't want to tell me, i assume, because it was clear that i did not agree with his declaration that the poor people who lived there were 'lazy.' i am sorry, there are more important things than yards, like PEOPLE, and i would like to see him live the life of a single mom with three kids working two jobs and come home at night and pull weeds it instead of putting your kids to bed. I bit my lip instead of yelling WHY ARE YOU HERE? HAVEN'T YOU HEARD OF MERCY OR COMPASSION? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? but instead i smiled and pulled sniveling weeds from the ground.


and this was only one incident.


so things i am thankful for:

i only had to work a day and a half with this man
i had a dance party in the work shop with three middle school girls
i saw Georgia who loves me and can get me to do anything for her because she loves my cobbler
happy hour at the brew pub

summertime does well by me.

i spelled my own name wrong - can you find it?

i am at the local boys and girls club, layin' down some tracks, as it were. yo. so far we have recorded 'uncommonly familiar' our one successful original (we have many originals, but we don't talk about all of them) and now Rachel is working on 'godspeed' our flutist has a migraine and cannot be here tonight but hopefully she will come record soon. our contact in the boys and girls club will only be here for june, so we are trying to get as much done as possible to capture the short life of LuLu. i actually really do not like recording because, well, i can hear all my mistakes. and there are a lot. hopefully technological magic can smooth out all the rough edges.

working with volunteers makes me very self-reflective (because of vanity? chirstacentric thinking?) but i always think of what my mom once said, that you children are a reflection of yourself. so my work group and their attitudes, enjoyment of the week, etc. is a reflection of my attitude and ability to lead, etc. so basically i am constantly freaking out. but i am getting better at it. and on one of the evaluations filled out by work group member one person put ' christa is great. could use a clone of her' so i've got that going for me.

i am at the local boys and girls club, layin' down some tracks, as it were. yo. so far we have recorded 'uncommonly familiar' our one successful original (we have many originals, but we don't talk about all of them) and now Rachel is working on 'godspeed' our flutist has a migraine and cannot be here tonight but hopefully she will come record soon. our contact in the boys and girls club will only be here for june, so we are trying to get as much done as possible to capture the short life of LuLu. i actually really do not like recording because, well, i can hear all my mistakes. and there are a lot. hopefully technological magic can smooth out all the rough edges.

working with volunteers makes me very self-reflective (because of vanity? chirstacentric thinking?) but i always think of what my mom once said, that you children are a reflection of yourself. so my work group and their attitudes, enjoyment of the week, etc. is a reflection of my attitude and ability to lead, etc. so basically i am constantly freaking out. but i am getting better at it. and on one of the evaluations filled out by work group member one person put ' christa is great. could use a clone of here' so i've got that going for me.

Today is one of those days for me where i just want to stretch out in the sun until I am empty and can think straight again. Or just sit in silence with no need to think about when i need to move or talk again, rather i can just sit with only infinate time as my companion. and maybe a book.

I had a thought today about my work group. one of the things i try to talk about in regards to the homeless is how everyone has a story and everyone has a past and that it is so important not to judge on what you see but to spend time getting to know a person, see what is really going on. and it struck me that some members of this work group seemed to be battling their own demons as well. I mean, so many people come wanting to 'help' (i just heard someone say that 'help' and 'nice' are the worst of the four letter words. amen) and this mentality makes us unable to see our own brokenness or our own need for community or whatever. but some people in this group seemed so sad and i hate that i couldn't, you know, intrude in their lives and minds and ask them what was going on or what is wrong. (also, interesting personal insight, if something is wrong i assume i am the cause or reason for it, which more often than not is not the case. i wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what i was doing wrong, but it wasn't about me. maybe its simply a symptom of vanity and selfishness. but i don't know how to deprogram my brain. besides the afore mentioned sitting in the sun until all bad juju seeps away) only five more hours of work in this ten hour day of mine. i need a hammock, a tree house, a stream, a cone of cream and dream, or a nap to piece back together my brain.

today i discovered one of my favorite author's websites.

and i love her even more. we could be bosom friends.

www.robinmckinley.com

i would recommend reading her FAQs section (link found at the bottom of the website)

and i need to buy her new book, Sunshine. and she has another coming out this fall.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

8 yr olds

i have had two encounters with 8 yr old boys this week:
1. snotty kid heckling me at the softball game as i was at bat = brat.
2. sweet kid in my work group who, i think, has a crush on me. he always sits by me, leans his head on my shoulder, and follows me around talking about all his cuts and scraps and how much he loves his dog. this amazing boy redeems the previous not-so-nice boy in my esteem of 8 yr olds.

Here is a sampling of my trip to NC, out of order, yet still fabulous. I had lots of good times with my family and spent a lot of time catching up with as many people as I could fit into my brief trip.


Ellen, Katrina, and I went on a wine tasting adventure in the boondocks of NC. We went to the Uharrie Vineyard, which was great, and then went to Albemarle for lunch at The Goody Shop, an old school diner that was amazing (especially because of the huge portrait of Scarlett O'Hara, that was my favorite part) Our second winery, old stone winery, was not as good as the first, but still lots of fun.

Jennifer and Amy came over for dinner. We sat on the porch in true southern style and gabbed about what has happened in the past year.

On the way to Virginia we stopped by Raleigh to see Megan. It was great to catch up, although brief. and we found a bag with our band name in it. I can neither confirm nor deny that Megan pilfered a charm off of one of the bags for me. (YAY!)

Mom, Dad, and I went to Virginia Beach to see Kat and Josh's new house. Sophie and Denali tried out the new baby jumper. They approve.

Danny and I went to the Colombian Zoo, which was small but very fun, mostly because Dan's my favorite animal. We also went to a used bookstore, a great cafe, and played guitar together. Which means mostly Dan played and I watched (he's really good). Then we drove up to Charlotte and had dinner with the 'rents and went to see Pirates 3 (argh!).