only shooting stars break the mold

Goodbyes.

The majority are perfectly fine. Hugs, smiles, pictures, love yous, have a safe trips...but then there are the goodbyes where you know you will feel incomplete until you are with this person again. For a little while, the thought of leaving sounds completely insane. Why am I doing this, again? Why am I about to get on a plane and leave this person...again? Everyone I know is engaged or pregnant and I'm going to miss another year of celebrations...again? It's different for each person I've watched walk away, but man oh man. Then you find yourself sitting at Strawns and you suddenly burst into tears. That's the only time I've cried all summer, which is about a 3456% improvement from last summer. Yay progress!

Hopefully my cry face wasn't this terrible.

Even still, I am constantly reminded that this is all a part of a greater plan. This has been the fastest summer of my life, but it never really felt like summer. Probably because I haven't sweated the ENTIRE TIME I've been here. That's right, folks. Move to Cambodia and then Louisiana will be a breeze! I've been cold every day and I used to never get cold. Ask Kaiti Rees. I'm actually looking forward to the Southeast Asian heat.

Speaking of Southeast Asia, this summer made me realize I did a horrible job of telling people where I actually am in the world. It's ok if you thought I was in Colombia...a lot of people did. Alas, I am not to be found in South America, but rather, on the whole other side of the planet!

Here's your World Geography lesson for today: Cambodia borders Thailand and Vietnam. It's not incredibly far from Australia. It's about a 5 hour flight to South Korea.

Colombia, however, is in South America, NOT Asia.

So, there you go. The time difference is 12 hours because I'm on the other side of the planet. If you have any more questions, please holla.

I need to stop procrastinating and finish packing and checking things off my list, so I'll end here. I'll write more about summer once I get back to my beloved Cambobo and get back into a routine.

Thank you all for a wonderful summer! I am loved and blessed far more than I deserve.

M

heads carolina

This is the story of three gals who hopped in the TARDIS and journeyed east to the mythical land of North Carolina. We took this trip for several reasons. I wanted to see Maria, the three of us had never been to NC, and we couldn't afford to go to Europe. Technically, we will never be able to afford Europe, so I'll just say we couldn't trick ourselves into thinking we could afford Europe this year.

Sugar Daddies: we are now accepting applications.

We began our 15-hour drive early Monday morning and quickly realized that's a reeeeealllly long time to be in a car. After lots of pit stops and a really intense Disney princess car concert, we arrived a little after midnight.

On Tuesday, we explored Greensboro. One of our stops was Anthropologie. Maria is sitting on a $900 chair, and I'm sitting on a nasty leather couch with a $4,000 price tag. I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. They weren't mean, but they certainly knew I didn't belong in there!

On Wednesday morning, we headed to Asheville. We toured the gorgeous Biltmore house and I was even able to trick my mind into thinking it was a European castle. Note for future visitors: use the bathroom before you drive up the curvy, bumpy roads to park and then have to walk even further to get to the house. I may have shoved a senior citizen or two out of my way in order to reach the bathrooms which were hidden and only accessible by a bridge. A bridge.

We spent the rest of the day exploring shops and making friends with all the dogs. Battery Park Book Exchange is a used book store where you can hang out with your dog! They also have ballin' furniture and free ice cream if you buy a book.

We then went to Ten Thousand Villages, a non-profit store that sells goods from all over the world. It's like the Do Good store here. We found some stuff from Cambodia! We also found this adorable puppy.

That night, the stars aligned and I was reunited with my darling friend, Megan. I hadn't seen her since last summer and getting to spend time with her was so good for my soul.

Thursday morning rocked our worlds. Thank to Megan's suggestion and TripAdvisor, we found ourselves in Tupelo Honey Cafe. This turned out to be the greatest decision we ever made. Probably ever will make. From now on, every great decision will be deciding to go there again and again. The menu doesn't have a ton of options, but that's just fine because everything is so dang good.

I got breakfast pie and potatoes. And those biscuits. And homemade blackberry jam. 

I had never tasted food until I partook in this meal. 

"I feel like the term 'food baby' has never applied more than it does now. I even pregnant lady waddled to the bathroom and back. I'm in so much pain but it hurts so good."

Allison's "snack" from the day before. Food shaming.

I love you Mariar!

It turned out to be a crazy fun adventure I'm so glad I got to take. Lorinda- you're next! I'm gonna make it to South Africa one day, I promise. 

Beautiful sunset over the Mississippi. 

And now for some enjoyable moments that are blog-appropriate:

"Church vans and creeper vans are the same. It's unfortunate."

"That ain't no po po! He's got a burger in one hand and a cell phone in the other."

"I don't think it smells like cookies. It smells like fried ketchup."

"Is Mississippi where mother nature uses the bathroom?"

"I fee like I've been in the car my whole life."

"I'm poor and don't know what to do with my life--feels like 25."

Much to their enjoyment, I spent a lot of time wondering. I'm blaming car fever.

"Why are road signs green?"
"Why do lightning bugs light up?"
"What if armpit hair was like hair on your head?"
"What if I were my own source of power?"

M