these 12 hours at home are not enough!

well, i must admit, nashville surprised me this weekend. i think i went in with pretty low expectations - not really having any idea who i would get to see or what i would spend my time doing. turns out i got to see so many more people than i expected, i didnt cry all weekend, and i knew the whole time that it was right for me to move and start life somewhere else. friday i spent quite a fair amount of time at emi, and i wish i could've stayed longer and talked to people more, but that'll be for another trip next spring. then i got to meet baby justus and see emily and that was great, then went and met allison and saw her new house and then went and was silly at the corn maze. and found out that it is true, i am still nowhere near 6 feet tall. saturday morning was relaxed, slept in, ate panera, and went to the franklin fall festival. then helped allison create her prom queen sash for the halloween parties, then had dinner with lauri [which was a true highlight of the weekend] then met allison at missy's halloween party where i saw so many unexpected faces - it was a delight. this morning, got up, got ready, ate more panera, did some reading, went and hung out w/ john and emily and justus some more and then headed out of town promptly at 1:45. drove for 5.15 hours, filled the gas tank and hit the grocery store, came home, made tacos, watched random things on tv, and now am trying to motivate myself to unpack/repack as fast as possible and go to bed b/c work comes at 7am followed by another drive tomorrow afternoon in order to spend another week in monticello. maybe i'll get lucky and we wont be there all week and i'd get to come back to little rock early. that would be AWESOME. i really like it here and i want to be here more often to really start getting to know the people i've met. in the meantime, i'm exhausted... need to figure out some clothes for the week and then go to bed..

and in fact, it is not poison ivy!

well, a few things. for one, this morning my mom and i found pictures of poison ivy. grossness. which is to say that i do not have poison ivy - thank goodness, because if i did i dont think i could stand the sight of myself. i suppose it must purely be a random allergic reaction, go figure. the upside is that i have been getting to take benadryl every night which means great sleep, and the medicine is actually starting to work.

okay, with that said. as i was driving home from columbia today, for my 24 hours of niceness in little rock (the hours are so rare indeed) i got thinking about my trip to nashville this upcoming weekend, and i must admit, i got a bit concerned (mildly speaking) as my pleasant memories from nashville are few and far between, i got thinking that this weekend could be a painful trip back in time. after a few more times listening through my hillsong cd, i decided i was just being silly and opted to hope for the best for the weekend. come to find out, i probably wont get to see 75% of my friends from nashville, which is a bit disappointing, and yet, seemed to fall in line with my overall opinion of nashville and memories of said city. however, going back to what i agreed with earlier, i do believe everything turns out a certain way for a very certain reason, and i will stick with that. i am expecting a very terrific time at the switchfoot/relient k concert in jonesboro w/ little rock friend sara, plus staying in a cabin in the park that night is also greatness. so maybe i'll head home earlier sunday than expected, but that would only mean more time in little rock, which wouldnt be a bad thing.

so on that note, i want to go read and take benadryl and sleep my thoughts away!

could it really be poison ivy?

okay. i know. this is not blog worthy at all. but i cant stand it. it appears that i have somehow gotten poison ivy. it is rapidly taking over and i cant take it! i dont remember the last time i had poison ivy, but i can tell you right now that whoever said that you shouldnt itch it is out of their minds! it itches so terribly badly how can you not give in to the pain of it all??? not that itching it ultimately helps in the end. i'm afraid it makes it worse, which means i have made my case HORRIBLY! worse! i dont know how to say no. i mean, unless i'm asleep, i'm 100% aware of this insanity. it wont go away, the benadryl is not helping like the pharmacist said it would! and whoever made aveeno itch cream and said it would actually help should be fired, as it does no such thing. i dont know how to make it go away. it's so sad. plus, the benadryl isnt even making me tired anymore, which would lead me to think i should take it during the day, but with my luck, if i took it tomorrow, i'd fall asleep driving back to little rock and that would be bad. it's a lose-lose situation as far as i can tell. unfortunate to say the least. not to mention, where did i get this poison ivy from? unless it was last week when i was adventuring through a random old quarry with my adventure buddy and we regularly remarked that we should watch out for poison ivy. i guess i need to learn my leaves, and wear gloves so that i cannot itch anymore. it's bad. and it's driving me crazy. thank you for letting me get that out :)