Introvert vs. Volleyball

So Facebook recently showed an event I found interesting. Adult co-ed volleyball at a local community center. Basically for $5, I could play over 1-2 hours of volleyball twice a week until I come home. Tonight, I was free for the first time. But I was scared. Almost too scared to go. I talked myself into the idea of not going. I was worried the group would be overly competitive and I would make an idiot of myself. I do desperately need to work on my front plays. I was worried I would be super rusty from not playing for five months... Worried that it would be awkward going alone. Worried that I wouldn't be in good enough shape to keep up with the game....

I knew I would rationalize not going. I've been pushing myself lately. Do new things. Meet new people. Break boxes and facing fears (no matter how small)  has been something I've been working on for a little over a year. So I went. Driving and praying. By myself. To a place I've never been to before. With strangers.

I had fun. Turns out, I was the second best player on the court (not to toot my own horn). It was low key, non-competitive and everyone had fun. It was still a good practice and workout, but nothing compared to the high speed summer games I'm used to. I hope that my work schedule allows for me to go a few more times over the new few months....

Sunday

Most Sundays are leisurely in our household. Yesterday was far from quiet. It could be categorized as chaotic. It started at 6:45. I had to admit I turned off my alarm and laid in bed for a moment wondering why in the world I had to get up this early.

By 8:00am, I was ready for the day, backpack multiple changes of clothes in hand. Said goodbye to Dad, who is out of state for the next few days and headed for Granite Falls and the Mountain Loop Highway. Starting in January, I'll be cooking for weekend activities there, so I needed to scope out the "kitchen"- it is barely qualified to be a proper kitchen... -_- Kinda disgusting and old. It should be an adventure.

From there, around 10:45am, I headed to Canyon Hills Community Church, barely making it to the 11:30am service with Gracie and Nick. I changed my shoes and shirt in the car at random stoplights as well as fixing my hair. I rather enjoyed the service and wish it was a closer church. We talked for about forty minutes after the service while waiting for the traffic to die down.

Gracie invited us to hang out at her house until dancing started, an offer Nick and I quickly accepted. Once dancing started, I learned the bare, bare basics of the dance that was taught before we ditched and went to find alpacas (which turned out to be llamas) and ended up wandering through the woods. many ferns and branches were thrown at each other...

Volleyball was right after the dance, and we headed that way to catch a game before dark. It was sad cause it was the last game I'll get to play this year since I'm leaving next Saturday. Nick, Gracie and I, after much thought (and little brains) ended up in the Target parking lot, towering candy corn and talking.

It is days like yesterday that make me happy and appreciate the little things in life.

Sunday

Sundays are usually relaxing. Yesterday was far from relaxing, but I somehow came out of it feeling happy and fully of energy...

Between waking up and Church, I went and had a business meeting for Civil Air Patrol and toured the "kitchen" I will be spending the weekend in once a month. It was a sad excuse for a kitchen, I'm not sure I've seen a kitchen in worse condition and that's saying a lot. I barely had enough time to do the entire tour and get to Church on time - okay, I was a couple minutes late and ended up changing my shirt and shoes and fixing my hair at stoplights on my way.

I hung out at my friend's house for the next few hours before Joyful Dancing started. I took about three minutes to learn the very, very basic step of what was being taught before two of my closest friends and I ditched to walk around the woods nearby.

Volleyball was already in full swing by the time we got there after the dance. I caught one game before it was too dark to play. I really just wanted to say goodbye to people since I won't see them again for at least another two months...

My friends and I weren't ready to call it a day quite yet, so (after many brainless moments of trying to find a place to go) we went to Target, bought drinks and candy and talked in the parking lot. We stacked corn candy up to look like corn, at Espresso M&Ms (which are amazing!) and talked pretty late. It was fun. I'm lucky to have such cool people in my life!

Hit the Ground Running

I got home last Saturday night. Ian picked me up at the airport and we had a fun drive back up home. I stayed up late to see Dad and the rest of the kids who were watching Ax Fights. I didn't end up going to bed until 1:30... 3:30 my time.

Sunday morning, Ev and I went to Church, then helped outside with a project. Jane and I went shopping for Rose's piano recital refreshments before we headed to volleyball.

Monday, Jane and I spent literally the entire day making food. We made Neapolitan rice krispy treats, lemon cookies, watermelon with mint and mini chocolate cupcakes. Plus gathering all the catering gear we would need

Overall, the spread looked great and went over well, even though we had a lot leftovers....

Tuesday, Jane and I did grocery shopping for a couple weeks. It took us a long time. We went thrift store shopping after with Ev and then after that, we played tennis. I use the word played lightly. We chased balls around and missed a lot. 

Wednesday, Mom and I went out for sushi and Costco shopping. After that, Jane, Ev and I went thrift store shopping in Everett. I have uniform pieces to put together for my main summer camp this year. 

I was rather sucessful, even though I only got one item. I got a nice pair of black tactical 5.11 boots. They're comfortable. When we got home, we made curry for dinner, then played more tennis. 

Thursday is already expected to be a busy day. I finished my ICUT training. Required radio training for Cascade Falcon. I've managed to get out of doing that course for four years, so it's finally almost done. I have a hands on evaluation tonight. I'm making cookies for the tester. It's not bribery... ;-)

The rest of today will be making cookies, getting together with Gracie and then CAP tonight... 

Basically, my life is crazy.... Crazy, but good. 

Fort Worden Adventure

You know the times when you see your friends at different activities, but you don't actually get to hang out and talk with them? That's how I've felt pretty much the entire time since I've been home. I've seen friends at dancing, volleyball, Jane's choir and birthday parties. But it's not the same as actually getting to hang out with no real schedule or plans.

Nate Miles and I while trying to arrange a day to go somewhere as a group of friends, could not settle on a date, pushing it out into June. Big family with older kids problem right there... So on a more spontaneous idea, we set the date for Sunday, just over a week away. Ridiculous that everyone we wanted to come was able to come that day! But skipping Church... 

8:45 Sunday morning, a Jamieson, a couple Hackings, a few Miles and three Fuji's embarked in the rather dirty 15 passenger van and headed Northwest to Coupville. We really wanted to catch the 10:15 ferry, so we were cutting it way too close. I was positive we would have to wait for the 11:45 ferry (which is way too long to wait). We were sooooo excited that we were the second to last car boarded on that ferry. They had me re-park after the initial time pulling up in order to get us to fit. We were stoked to be on that ferry and many high-fives went around. 

Needless to say, we had a blast on the ferry, both admiring the view, losing members of our group and then sending other off to find them, then people to find the people who were sent to find the original group who had just returned. It turned into an endless cycle of missing people. It was hilarious! 

We finally got to Fort Worden and after posing for pictures in the beached boat, we explored the fort. It was just as cool as I remembered. Almost all the doors opened and closed, hardly any were welded closed and the super narrow (almost creepy narrow) pathways between bunker rooms were super sweet. We did a lot of singing in the bunkers because the acoustics are amazing in those rooms! 

We had our standard Robin Hood lunch on the REAL sand beach and then while the others explored, Nate, Lindsay and I found an even better bunker to sing in. We had fun singing before being joined by the others. I felt a little bad doing a Sunday since everyone goes to Church, but I have to say, the fellowship and worship that happened in that bunker was 10x better and more natural then going to Church. :-D 

Even though we left plenty of time to get back to the ferry, most people made reservations for that particular ferry, so we were stuck at the terminal for an additional 1+ hour. John, Jane and I played card games while the other explored Port Townsend. All of us played Quack, Quack, Bang and Ninja until it was time to board. 

As if that day wasn't crazy enough as is, Ian and I took Kaylie to volleyball and caught the last game before heading home and to bed. Now to clean up the van and wait patiently until the next time we can have a crazy adventure like this one was. I love this particular set of friends, they're so easy to be around, we're like one crazy family. <3

An April Weekend

Friday:

 I was up at five thirty to go watch Ian compete in SkillsUSA with Dad and Mom. It was super interesting to watch him work and see more of the industry I've heard so much about for the past 2+ years. Once home in the early afternoon, I set to packing for the weekend in Wenatchee.

My plans got somehow foiled when Ian (once he came back) got a game he had been waiting for in the mail. A super fun game called Coup. You all should try it. So we invited the Rothenberger kids over (they live about five walking minutes away...) and played the game with them for a couple hours. 

Saturday: 

I woke up at 4am. Way too early to wake up on a Saturday, but it was well worth it. Ev, Jane and I headed out on highway 2 over the pass to go to Civil Air Patrol Washington Wing Spring Conference. We hit the pass at sunrise and it was gorgeous. We sang almost the entire way and complained about the people who were driving slowly. 

Spring conferences is pretty much a day of awards, speeches, lectures and classes, but the majority of the people who go are awesome. Still, there's nothing like getting to see about 100 friends and having to sit through classes. So I ditched the whole class idea. A senior member from our squadron and I hung out pretty much the entire day and got some good ideas down for things to do with our squadron and ways to improve. 

At four, I taught my DFAC class. Well, at least part of it. Half way through my class, another senior member came in and told us we had three minutes to wrap things up and get out so they could do banquet set up. I was a little frustrated because the second half of the class involved a bin full of M&Ms, Skittles and Reese's Pieces. It was my hands on food handler's portion of the class. Anyway, as far as I got went really well in my opinion, but I definitely need to work on my public speaking. 

The banquet was boring, the food was marginal, the dance afterwards was horrendous, but I got to dress up. During the dance, one of my favorite cadets and I went to the hall and talked instead of watching the awkward senior members and cadets try to dance. We had a blast talking and it made my evening! 

Sunday: 

The drive home the next day was fun, Jane had never been to Leavenworth, so we stopped for less than a half hour and went to the cheese shop and the hat shop. We made it home in decent time. Someone in our family had a birthday celebration that day (namely the eldest child) and we made rice pilaf, garlic asparagus, tilapia with homemade mango salsa and Drumsticks for dessert. It was a fun celebration and the meal was delicious! 

Ian and I ditched after the party to go to volleyball. It was a blast to get to play and hang out with friends again. That and Ian's a pretty awesome brother. :-D 

I thought this week would be calm, but after a crazy Monday, I'm thinking I might just stay in my pajamas all day...