Springtime?

Today was absolutely gorgeous in the southern Maine area. 50s, felt like 60s, and sunny. Although now it's getting darker, I made use of most of the sunny hours and even went for a run. This morning I drove my grandmother to the bus stop and was able to spend some time waiting with her. She told me about her first date with Grampy which has kept me smiling most of the day. Timing worked out perfectly to meet my mom a couple minutes away for errands. Among other quick stops, we opened a new account with a bank that doesn't charge international ATM fees! After that, we picked out lunch at Shaw's and brought it over to Bug Light. After wading through the vigorously melting snow (and some floating dog poops >_<), we found a bench facing the sun right next to the water. We got our picture taken in front of the lighthouse by the newspaper as well, hah. Some quality mother-daughter picnic time!

In reference to my last post, I have my first piano lesson in a few years tomorrow morning. My teacher is really something else. She is 98 years old and refuses to slow. She drove over to my house yesterday for a tea-and-brunch visit with my mom, my grandmother, and me. Now, yesterday there were ice warnings, but she insisted she'd be fine. She called again before arriving to warn us she'd be a few minutes late. After visiting with her for a little while, I learned the reason why. She confessed to having been up since 6 in the morning to paint all the doors and the kitchen cabinets by herself. You'd think after knowing her so long, we'd have learned to get used to this kind of behavior, but how can we? She continues to shock and awe. Most of the brunch was spent passing wide-eyes around the table in reaction to her casual, humble comments that reminds us how spunky and young she really is.

Also in reference to my last post, my trip out to Hope was just great! It was so refreshing and nourishing to spend time with my friends out there. aljsdlskdj I like them all so much! And I appreciated how a lot of people really made time to see me. The whole time was one big highlight made up of many neon explosions. Especially the snow walks and sleeping at the Green House again. Also, we signed the lease for our house next year! I'm so excited to live with this group and it feels nice to have that settled before I leave.

Okay well that's all the ramblings I've got for today! I'm off to exercise class with my mom and Jennie.

It's official!

Today was the 3rd snow since I've been home, but it was the first real storm day with cancellations, etc. Taylor and I couldn't hang out because of the roads. The bad news was that I slept in too late to really enjoy the gorgeous snow before the sky darkened and snow turned to rain, but I finally got some paperwork done... And... it's official! I'm visiting Hope from the 17th to the 21st! I'm so excited to see everyone, and it'll be great to be on campus without worrying about classes and homework. I booked the ticket today after chewing on the thought "I want to go back, I want to see everyone" for a long time. I'm just barely starting to get into this "so do it" mood, after being so used to just acclimating myself to whatever or lazing around until it's too late. There's definite merit in sitting with discomfort, which I learned throughout the semester. I realized that allowing the unhappy, appreciating the discomfort, and sitting in the silence is okay. It has its place. Understanding that leads to contentment, which is my underlying goal of everything. However, paying attention to what you want, even if it's as small as slipping in an extra visit to see friends before leaving the country, is important. Taking advantage of the freedom to change things is exciting. It's called being proactive. Yay for common sense! Pretty simple, but sometimes it takes a while to internalize. If something makes me unhappy and I find myself complaining about it, why continue to trap myself in a box with it?  On the flip side, if I really want to be around someone for good reasons, why not make an effort to do it? For example, over break I keep finding myself wandering over to the piano. I sit down, open my music (that I used to have memorized), and-- cannot play. At least not the way I should be able to. I can read the notes, I know what it should sound like, but there's a disconnect between my brain and my body. Aka lack of practice. I haven't really played since senior year of high school. So, since repeating the mantra "I wish I could play" over and over again unfortunately does not spark my fingers into action, I'm going to call my old piano teacher. TA-DA!
Anyways, I'm about to clean my room. Look at me go, right?