And I Quote . . .

I have a lot of catching up to do. In particular, a month of wandering around Europe. But right now, this is where I am. Florida. I moved to the sunshine state for almost 5 months. It's now been a little over a month and I still have to stop and just breathe and be glad I am here. The job is the same as last season, (Waitressing at an Amish style restaurant) but there are new friends to make and adventures to have and places to live in. (3 different places throughout the winter, to be exact.) This is new friends and old. Lynn, who is a friend visiting for 2 weeks. I actually met her last winter in this very town and we became best friends in short order. Then there is Amanda, who we met a little over 2 weeks ago and has been a great addition to our group. That's her brother, Chris, behind us. Linda (better known as Lu) is a friend and coworker of mine from up North and I'm so happy because she decided to come down to work as well.  Keva Juice is a favorite place of...

A good friend from work got married this week. It was my first Amish wedding. It was fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Even down to the hard benches we sat on for the ceremony.  A lot of us waitresses and past waitresses were servers for lunch and supper. We literally laughed all day. Somehow, no matter how different we are, working together has made us all close friends. Aren't the colors pretty? Huge thank you to my friend Lynn for sewing this dress for me.  Sadly I wasn't able to sneak a picture of the bride as she was surrounded by people all day. 

Here are a few moments from snap chat... Reunited with Diane...we were great friends in Florida.  When your car's battery dies and your mom comes with jumper cables.  Occasionally the brothers call and say, "want to go get ice cream?" And we do.  Emily is a dear friend. Level headed and loyal.  The joy we feel when we walk out after a long day of work...

This is a hodge podge of photo memories from part of my summer. Ice cream is always a good idea. Always. When friends from childhood come over for a couple of hours. Ah, the memories... Work. Lately it has been busy and stressful and sometimes, when I can't keep up with all of my tables, I just want to walk out and never serve another table again. But these people help get me through. This is my brother Logan, he is pretty cool. And he is holding my favorite nephew. I do try not to be one of those annoying aunts who talk of nothing but what their nieces and nephews, but it is difficult. My grandparents and I spent a day fishing together. It was awesome. And after a while I even quit gagging over putting worms on the hook. My Grandpa is a great fisherman. My church had a game night and invited some local officers to join us. I was honored to present one of them with a gift basket. This is my family. And our best try a nice picture. And this picture bec...

(Yes, this is my nephew. I adore him.) I know, it has been months since my last update. But life, it has this thing where it gets in the way of stuff like blogging. Or maybe, just maybe, I am a procrastinator. That is a distinct possibility. So much has happened and there are so many pictures I should share. Speaking of which, I have been trying to get photos of things. Happenings. Laughter. Because even just one picture can make you remember a whole episode in your life. This has been one of the hardest and also one of the best summers of my life. New friends were made and old friends became better friends. People I cared about faded into bittersweet memories, but other people went from black and white to color for me. People were married (seriously, what is with everyone getting hitched suddenly?!) And babies were born. People moved away, people got new jobs. There was laughter, there were plenty of tears. Through it all, God was there. He is always there. Which makes it alri...

Yes folks, I am finally an aunt. And quite proud of the fact. My little (very little) nephew was born April 2nd. He only weighed 4 pounds, but I tell you, he has all of us wrapped around his fingers. I came home from Florida 2 weeks early just to see him. In case you were wondering, I am his favorite aunt.  ::Shane Anderson Yoder::

 My bestie, Sherri, was able to fly down for a quick, half week visit. We had an incredible time, catching up, eating junk food, walking, riding the scooter, watching movies and just laughing. Because Sherri always makes me laugh.  Sadly my 'Grandparents' went home last week. I miss hanging out with them. I met Linda at the park a couple of weeks ago. Turns out we live in the same area and have mutual friends. She was one of the rare and wonderful people that I can just meet and instantly 'click' with.  Sherri, Emily and Marilyn are all coworkers of mine up North. And both Marilyn and Emily have been down here all winter as well.  Taking time out of our day to pose with an Amish man and his buggy.  I love this friend.  And these goofballs.

 After my (joyous) return to the warm, sunny South, I continued having adventures.  Anna, Diane and I decided we were a biking gang. Our name: Sweet Thang Gang. Our motto: "Don't look at us".  We never forget this. Mostly because the Northerners don't let us. I've had visitors. Marvin and Jan, dear friends from church who practically adopted me are down for a month. (Or maybe I adopted them.) They take me to get ice cream. We have a lot of fun.  Daniel and Janel, my world traveling buddies, were able to stop by for a quick visit. It was a blast showing them "nightlife" in Pinecraft. Where they roll up the sidewalks at 10.  I made some new friends as well. Rachel actually lives in my area up North, but we didn't meet till down here.  I had met Emily and Laronda before, but we didn't really 'click' till down here. The laughs with these girls were many  I love surprise visitors too. Tabitha dropped in at work...