It’s not always exciting. Sometimes it’s tedious. Sometimes it’s painstaking. Sometimes it’s heart-wrenching. Sometimes it’s confusing. But right now, it’s exciting.
I’m excited! In about a half an hour I’m leaving to go to Washington DC to go dancing for New Year’s Eve.
I might post pictures of what I’m wearing later… but to give you an idea, it’s either going to involve sequins or glitter. Or both. 😀
I’m going with a couple friends from the area and we’re meeting other friends at the event! When we get there we’re all going to take a little siesta before getting glammed up and going out to dinner. Then we’ll pre-game in somebody’s hotel room before hitting the dance floors. There are TEN different ballrooms with live bands.
It’s gonna be lit. 🔥🔥🔥
The dancing goes until 6 or 7 in the morning. :-O I’m not sure how long I’ll make it… I can definitely see myself making it until 4 or 5 though. 😀 <3 🙂
Yesterday I was driving all day long from the Northeast back to where I live. I drove for ~12 hours. Yep. It would’ve been shorter but we were driving in sleet and 34 degrees which caused 7 accidents on the interstate. The accident slow-downs added about an hour to the drive.
I’m just thankful that my brother and I weren’t one of the accidents!! Especially since he and I got into a minor crash on the way up North. He was driving my car and rear-ended somebody which caused them to rear-end the car in front of them.
Life is exciting, remember?!
Thankfully it was minimal damage and nobody got hurt. Minus some stiffness in my neck for ~3 days. Praise God!!!!
So back to the drive.
Right before the sleet I went to a specialty dance store and bought a pair of salsa shoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
I’ve been looking at dis pair of shoes for quite some time. This one and a couple others. When I tried them on, they fit like a glove. Love at first sight. Glove? at first fitting? lol
Guyzzzzzzzzzzzzz you don’t understand, I’ve been wanting these shoes FOREVAH
And now dey are mine!!!! :heart_eyes: my own, my precioussss
hahaha
So. Yes. Life is exciting! It feels good to be writing again too! I left my laptop at home during my travels so I could focus on spending quality time with my people and quietness/reading/unplugging from technology 🙂
On that note, God bless you all friends! Happy freakin’ New Year…… whatever you do tonight, have a good time. Smile. Inhale deeply and look up. Appreciate the sky and stars. Or the clouds if you’re in a cloudy spot. Find joy and beauty in the little things and don’t forget to laugh.
Something I’m really going to work on in 2020 is living in the moment. Really taking in my surroundings. Observing. Delighting. Ceasing. Doing things that bring me joy and fulfillment.
guys I’m soooo excited! I just registered for a women’s writing conference in November. It actually was supposed to take place a couple weeks ago, but with all the hurricane shennanigans it got postponed! Which I am THRILLED about. I didn’t register for it before because I was super busy with shtuff and also didn’t have the moneys because my client had just passed.
Well fast forward a couple weeks, and the conference is BACK in action and I have $$$$! PRAISE GOD I can go! I just registered and booked my AirBnB. It’s a super chic private room with free coffee, chocolate, and soap. I mean, how can ya beat that? It also has a keypad entry — more private, less bothering people occurs! I plan on checking out the dance scene while I’m down there, so I don’t wanna bother my host super late at night coming in. Soooo the keypad thing is nice! It also sounds like my host may not be there for some or all of my stay. Not that I really care cuz it sounds pretty private anyway, but that’s always a bonus!
Yes ma’am, conference, dancing… the thrill of traveling… God providing the funds and the way for me to go… I am PSYCHED!
As for today and tonight, I just got off work after 9 hours. Tomorrow I’m working a 12 hour shift. Then possibly going dancing… Prayer & church sunday. Then relaxing. 😀
Work all next week. Dancing Tuesday night!!!!!!!! Wooooooot lyfe is good. Life is definitely good. God has been SO good to me by re-teaching me what I’m good at and what I love. <3
Writing. Singing. Dancing. 🙂
There is so much to live for. I simply praise Him for helping me take the focus off of myself and put it on Him. He alone is worthy. And I am victorious with Him. No schemes of the enemy can change or break that.
People ask me all the time: “why did you move to Virginia? ” Seaford, Virginia: not the most metro, hipster, saving-the-world, hip place to be. There’s more cars than people and less trees than roads. The constant humidity is similar to living your life inside a sauna and everybody has carpets and air conditioning. Allergies are more common than not and people don’t take clocks seriously. It’s not limited to any one group of people. When people say meet at 5, it’s 5:30. And this is definitely true when shopping: people do not make haste. All the cashiers and people standing in line have all the time in the world.
So why would a mid-twenties college graduate, outdoorsy, activist, artistic, northerner move to the tiny town of Seaford, Virginia? And the answer, my friends, (drum roll please)
is Jesus.
What does that even mean?
As somebody with a strong Southern accent might say, hang on naya. We’re gittin there.
Once upon a time…
I was living on an island in Maine eating local food from the Portland Co-op, gardening, riding the ferry to and from work every day and riding around the island on my bicycle. And I just wunt satisfied (another Virginia-ism). I wunt fulfilled. I had a couple friends but they weren’t all that close. [***Except N <3***] I had a couple of jobs but they were hellish (#nannywars). I had done a couple diets and was back to square one. I had dated a couple guys which both ended quickly (thank God 😉 ). I had a head full of sparking thoughts. And then the spark found the kindling: Jesus. I needed … to be closer to Jesus…!
But Jesus is dead. How can you be closer to someone dead?
So I started to attend church again. And I craved being around Christians. And I met a couple solid* Christians on the tiny island Baptist Church named Jack and Gerri.
pause
*When I say “solid” I mean bold. Bold about their beliefs. And willing to stand for them. And live by them. Practice them. And preach them!
And Jack & Gerri invited me over to their big, beautiful house. && I got to know ’em. Jack told me about the business he started. I walked their dog. We ate ice cream. I met their friends. My new Baptist friends were always having missionaries come and stay with them. They surrounded themselves with peaceful, humble people who knew so much about history, the bible, and current events.
Jack gave me a book full of knowledge. Just what I wanted. I hunted knowledge like a hungry animal hunting their prey. I couldn’t get enough of it. Knowledge about Jesus and who He was.
I need to be around more people like this, like Jesus.
And then I heard a voice.
Velvet, you must go to Virginia.
It’s weird, I know. But I couldn’t ignore or deny it. And it isn’t totally out of the blue. I have family in Virginia. My pen-pal/ favorite cousin lives in Virginia. We’ve been faraway friends for life and have grown very close in the last couple of years.
After hearing the Voice, I visited Virginia for six weeks and stayed with my cousin in her apartment. It was an experience. We shared her bedroom for ~5 weeks. Her bed. She shared her bed with me for five weeks! #goodfriend <3
She was always surrounded by people. Boyfriend, friends, neighbors, people she worked with and for. And every time I felt …. so …. loved by everyone I met. People were different than in Maine. They smiled and waved and said “how do you do?”. They helped each other out and were joyful and successful and prioritized their families. And she talked about Jesus all da time. Nonchalantly in conversation. Nobody did this up North.
I had much to learn.
I met several families that every member was in love with Jesus and loved each other. I didn’t think families like these existed. But truly every family has baggage and nobody is perfect. And when your situation has hit rock bottom, everything else is glorified. But there are better and worse ways of doing things & handling drama and issues; and I liked what I saw. It was different to me and I could benefit from the newness. I was seeing Jesus.
&& I returned home in mid-December, and left my precious bicycle in VA because I knew I was going back ~*~
Mt. Monadnock in the winter; Jaffrey, NH
At home
I was contemplating my next move for about 3 weeks…
when my Great Aunt Patsy Sours passed away. Her funeral was in Virginia in January. I was going back sooner than I thought!
At the funeral procession, a friend I had met when staying with my cousin offered me a job to live and work for her family, take care of their grandmother. I would be in Virginia, in the home of strong Christians, and I would see how their family lived, walked, worked together and were mirrors for Jesus all throughout.
After much contemplation, it became loud and c l e a r that this job was exactly where I needed to be.
It became clear that this situation was exactly what I needed at the time in my life and the lives of the family I was moving in with.
It became clear that this family and I couldn’t have ever matched ourselves together.
The Voice was loud and clear.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A season to give for others.
To be a loving, forgiving, active, dependable, reliable family member.
A season to study, to teach, to become involved in a large community where people keep each other accountable.
To have a church, a bible study group, an additional weekly bible study.
A season to love like Jesus did: love people He didn’t know and wasn’t related to, but forgave them for their human sins and mistakes and showed them the love He wished to see.
I moved to Virginia to be in the light.
Where it’s brighter, hotter, less cold in so many ways; and where joy and love can be vibrant inside me and shine out to others.
I moved to Virginia to experience living in a Christian home with fellow Christ followers.
And to undo so many habits that were ingrained in me from my family life.
And so much more. These are surface level changes I was going through. And there are so many more to come. 11 months in Virginia so far. Not sure how many more.
It’s been an adventure. I love it. God has blessed me tremendously and continues to do so.
If you’re into elegant love stories, Sense and Sensibility (S&S) by Jane Austen is a must-read. It tells the tale of two sisters looking for love in the midst of losing their father, fortune and familiarity/comfort of their home. Kind of rings true to my own life actually, except that I don’t have a Colonel Brandon or Edward Ferrars pining after me (read on to know the devilishly handsome blokes I’m referring to!”.
Ferrars, Brandon 😉
The story is about love, loss and the importance of waiting on the right timing for magic to happen.
My current roommate is an Austen lover and knows the story (and several other of Austen’s works) practically by heart. When I moved to Virginia in February, it didn’t take long before S&S was in my left hand and a cup of black tea with cream was in my right (also compliments of my tea-drinking-Austen-loving roommate… ps. she’s single!). My roommate, let’s call her “C” kept me accountable for reading by oh-so-innocently inquiring as to where I was in the story and what had happened last. Following each *ahem* interrogation, my feelings went from annoyance, at first, to gratitude and joy in knowing how dearly C held this story in her heart.
Not only did her joy over the story bring me joy, but it gave me a deeper sense of understanding the characters, plot-line and overarching themes in the novel. After weeks of reading the book, we were ready for the film. Of which there were two versions btw. First we watched the Emma Thompson/Hugh Grant/Alan Rickman/ Kate Winslet version (AKA the good one), and then the old sappy one (of which I don’t recall who was in it because it simply wasn’t memorable), and then the good version again. The soundtrack makes me weak in the knees just thinking about it.
Now, six months later, C & I are ready to hit the theater. We are attending the play! in Washington D.C. this weekend. 🙂 <3 🙂 <3 🙂 <3 The seating availability online looked pretty sparse and we weren’t sure if we’d get seats. I joked that maybe when we want to order, someone will have just returned the two best seats in the house.
Twenty minutes later, I called the theater to inquire about seats and the woman working at the box office said “lucky you called when you did… I have two seats available only because someone just called in and returned them……… and they’re the best seats in the house! Orchestra, row G. Would you like them?”
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
So that was insane.
Though i couldn’t say “YES” right away because C was on the phone with a friend that was interested in coming with us. I tried to explain the seating situation to C and get her to put her friend on hold, but the lady wouldn’t stawp tawking. I had to tell the box office worker I’d call back, after asking her a dozen or more stalling questions and asking her to please keep the seats warm for us.
5 minutes later, once it was evident that C’s friend couldn’t come whether she wanted to or not, we were calling in for the seats. When the lady answered the phone I vibrantly exclaimed “It’s meeeee!!!” to which she replied, “um, I just took over a shift and wasn’t the one you were talking to”
derp
“… but I got the scoop and figure you’re calling about the two seats in G??”
phew, lol
So there you have it. We’re off to D.C. to see the play. We have the best seats in the house. Which, by the way, we paid the “Under 30” price and saved $70 between the two of us!!! (I have never heard of such a discount before, but hey, I’ll take it!)
It’s truly the little miracles that brighten life so so much. From the story, a seed, to the movie, a plant, and now to the theater, a flower… I hope you get as much ever-growing joy out of this story as we did!! <3
I’m looking for a red tent. Would anybody be kind enough to lend me their red tent? I’m a woman in disguise, covered by a scarf, in need of a retreat. Where I can expand, lay loose, cry if I want to cry?
If anyone living close to my apartment was just hanging out at the end of their driveways in the dark, they may or may not have just experienced a Continue reading “Moon love”→
That’s what I was Googling last night. Similar to the classic mid-lifer except instead of dealing with whether or not to fix my porsche or divorce my spouse, I’m dealing with things related to not knowing where I’ll be living in a few months, what job opportunity I should grasp, whether or not to attend grad school, and whether or not falling in love will fix all of my problems or create many more. Continue reading “some twenty things for twenty somethings”→
In the last couple of weeks I finished up nannying, cleaned my last house for a while, cleaned up my room to get it ready to sublet, cooked & dehydrated my last couple boxes of pasta, and hiked 57 miles through the Green Mountains!
My friend Judith drove me to Williamstown, MA last Wednesday and we dined at Noco Pastaria and camped at the Winston County Park. They had a nice pond to swim in, and a clean & quiet bath house to shower in. We started the trail on Thursday the 3rd and Judith hiked the first 3.3 miles with me until we reached the official start of the Long Trail, just over the Massachusetts border.
