time to breathe...

Amidst my nightly five hour study sessions, I was contemplating the great, life-altering, climatic question every academically-minded and socially exposed college student asks themselves.."what am i doing for spring break!?"

First of all, these things must be planned in advance! Plane tickets become more costly as the date arrives; passports need time to clear and to fly to the other side of the world and back into your hand; parents need time to adjust to their "babies" going off for a week without parental supervision...all these things are essential to planning ahead. The next topic of discussion is "WHERE" am i going? Depending on what part of the country you live in, the beach may sound appealing. Or if you live on the beach, go inward to the mountains. What about the tropics? I've heard Cozumel and Aruba are nice vacationing spots! (wait, cozumel was hit by a hurricane and aruba swallowed a young girl..so maybe another destination..) According to popular statistics, most college students head for the beach for many reasons. I'd like to think it's just for the tan and waves, but for some reason there seems to be a more populous supply of substances at the beach rather than in the mountains or the plains. (please note, this statistic is purely observational) So WHERE do i want to go? And the last question, sometimes the most important is "WHO am i going with?" Brett and I were invited to go with a group of 10 people to florida, not having to pay lodging costs because of peoples' families. what? one of the biggest costs of spring break vanishing!? heck yeah!!--but then, we thought a little more about it, before making such a rash decision. you see, there was an even amount of girls vs guys going on this trip, which most would think turns out nicely, right? except for the fact that these guys like to have their "alone-manly-bonding" time and the girls, they like their girl time, but "can't we do everything together, guys??" brett and i foresaw (?) a few bumps in the road as you could imagine, and decided we needed to search for something different. brett opted to go on a short term missions trip with the school to louisiana and i decided flying to california for a week would be and excellent idea. family + sun - tennessee = AMAZING! and so that's what i did:


Charis and I started our sisterly-bonding by getting pedicures! For you gentlemen that means: sitting in a massage chair, putting your feet in a bubble bath, getting your toe nails painted and your feet massaged. Ahhh, relax!








Charis and Phil were the only ones in CA who knew I was coming out. My friends Holly and Mary knew nothing of my visit. Sunday morning at church, Ms. Mary walked into church and walked right past our pew. Not until the middle of the service did she turn around and with a look of surprise and glee and mouth, "What are YOU doing here?!!?!!" She came back to give me a hug and lots of poking, speaking things like, "why didn't you tell me? how long are you here for? you little tricker!"


Holly, unfortunately was out of town when I flew in. She returned on Monday night and Steven and I drove to the airport to pick her up. She didn't know that either of us were coming to get her, until she spoke with her mom on the phone after landing and her mom told her about steven. But she still had no idea I was there. Steven and I had discussed a few options of revealing my presence: 1) hide behind the passenger seat and when she got in the car, grab her from behind. 2) stand at the end of the departure/arrival lanes, and act like a hitchhiker until steven and holly drove by and then have steven pick me up. holly would've freaked. 3) walk past holly in the airport and nonchalantly say, "hey holly." and keep walking. The first one we chucked out; the second would've gotten me in trouble with airport security and so we chose the third one. but what we didn't realize is that there aren't very many people in the airport at 11pm. so we decided i would hide behind a kiosk and then when holly and steven walked past, i would follow them and quietly say, "holly..holly" until she turned around. I stationed myself at the kiosk and waited....three or four minutes later i see steven coming around the corner on the phone.."she's at the other entrance" he whispers as he walks by. seven minutes later steven comes running from the direction he just went and says, "she's actually at this gate over here!!!! i'll bring her by!" finally a few more minutes later, i hear steven's voice and holly's too. they walk past me and i proceed to follow behind. i have my camera ready and i start off whispering. my voice grows louder as i realize she can't hear me...until finally, "Holly!!" with a quick turn of her body she looks at me...stops for a moment and tries to put everything together: why would miriam be in california? then much screaming and hugs and kisses ensued. :)


Holly and I kept our annual tradition alive and went grocery shopping at 11pm at night. there weren't very many people in the store and so we were employing the role of "casual shoppers: let's stop and look at everything." i was kind of tired and so i stopped to sit on some cans of campbells soup while talking on the phone.












Holly and I were cuddling in the chair together and snapping photos. This is one of the better ones believe it or not.






Oh yes, the weather here!...with the exception of yesterday, it has been mostly sunny, highs in the mid 60s. tomorrow we're going to the beach and saturday it's supposed to be 71. ahhh yes! i'm finding lots of time to relax and breathe and continuing to learn about God's grace and goodness. And I'm also remembering how much fun my brother and oldest sister are. I'll post some pictures of them later! Love you all!