Free Condom.

Now that I have everyone's attention! Yup, it actually is a free condom, received at college night in Fargo, ND at the Fargo Dome.




Right away I could make all kinds of comments about how it says something about our society when they give away condoms at a college fair but we have all heard this before. Let me make it clear that I don't make a big "political" deal about a lot publicly but I will get up on my soap box and pound my pulpit about the importance of birth control until the cows come home so this is not about that. The reason for me putting this out there is that the whole exchange was so amusing to me. I was strolling through the college fair picking up free T-shirts, pens, candy, hair dye, ear plugs and anything else that people have come up with to give away. I walked past Planned Parenthood's booth which was one booth away from the Catholic Newman Center's booth. That was either a mistake or a really hilarious joke by someone!
This woman sees me glance over and shouts at me "Free Condom?!"
"Ummmm sure." I said
The guy that I was walking with, a classmate of mine says "Nice! Free condom!"
The really hilarious thing is that these things come in little packages like cheap matches and have all kinds of stuff written on them including a figure that looks like the Republican Party elephant with the phrase Protect America underneath it. As you can see by the photos this is, indeed a XL condom but I am pretty sure that I can not protect the whole of America with one extra large condom!

Finding My "Happy"

My friend Kim told me that when her boys were young the best way to clam them down was to tell them to just go off somewhere and find their happy. I am finding that for the first time in my life my happy has found me. I have evaluated many things in the last few weeks as my journey into culinary arts has started and what I have found is astounding. I don't wake up in the morning trying to be happy, I just am. I don't worry about things that I can't control and work hard on the things that I can. I enjoy the small things in life, like a conversation with a friend or sunny day.
I had someone ask my awhile back what my long term goals were. I had to joyfully answer that I had no long term goals, that I was waiting to see what life had to offer me instead of being so vain as to assume that I could decide without any help. Maybe the universe has something for me that I hadn't thought of before. Maybe it has my perfect job and perfect home and perfect match and I have to be patient and wait for it.
So, off I go into the world to find all the things that I love. So far I love food, friends, family, my dog, scuba diving, knitting, napping, eating, hot baths, swimming in a cool lake, walking barefoot in the grass, swing dancing, hugs, smiling, laughing... This may take awhile!
This year I want to try everything that I can. I will make stock, learn to ski, sky dive, sew, and travel... more. Any other thoughts?! Please submit your request in writing!

Back to Fargo

First of all let me start out by saying that I believe this phrase to be grossly overused but I am going to use it any way. I am a very blessed and lucky person. I have just returned from a three month long adventure in the Southwest United States. Las Cruces, NM to be exact. It was one of the most amazing trips of my life! There were so many things to see and people to meet. I had the chance to get scuba certified, crew a hot air balloon and see all kinds of sites... like mountains. In addition to this I lived with Candace and her fabulous family who took excellent care of me while I was there. I am alive, in one piece and happy as a clam. I felt that the best thing to happen was the one thing that people take for granted the most sometimes. The people that I met were amazing. People who do interesting things, see the world in a completely unique way and are at turning points in their lives. People ready to find their own adventures!
As for me I have returned to the Fargo/Moorhead area to finish my degree in culinary arts and look for my next big adventure. As I was coming home I found a new sense of happiness. I am still not used to people actually liking me so it was a welcome and happy surprise of sorts to find my family and friends anxiously waiting for me. I danced, knitted and got caught up with everyone. One of the people that I met on my journey emailed me not long ago and said that since I had people who were sad to see me go and people who were glad to have me back that I must be doing something right. I sure hope so because I am the happiest right now that I have ever been. I feel as though my soul has found me again and that we can face the world with a strength that I thought was lost.

Special blog

I have decided to create a new blog for my trip to New Mexico. That way I can easily find things later and you can all see the fabulous things that are going on here. The link to that blog will be...

http://happilyigoforth.blogspot.com/

Enjoy my adventure!

Trust and Pain

I normally try not to blog about people who may, in fact read the blog. But here we go. I am not a trusting person by nature any more. I am pretty sure that most people are out to get you and have a hidden agenda. That being said I work very hard to trust first without judgment and deal with whatever consequences may happen along the way. I recently made a very good friend. The kind of friend that you don't make every day. Someone who shares my interests and genuinely cares about me. Someone who is not necessarily exactly like me, but that was part of the beauty of the relationship. There was so much to learn and challenge and be a part of. Not judgment and resistance but real connection and happiness. So I thought. I wonder if I did something wrong although I can't think of what. I realize that sometimes what we perceive as happiness is actually a clever disguise for someone using you. I don't like to think that people do that, especially in this case. So, I worked at it and the more I do that the more hurt I got and the more times I felt like I was fighting a loosing battle. With anyone else I would have walked away by this time and just said that it wasn't worth the frustration. Why is that so hard to do now? I feel like a piece of me has been taken, borrowed and not given back. I either want that piece back or I want my friend back. To be honest I would prefer my friend.

A Note On Cleaning

I finally decided that I needed to clean the apartment. One of the reason's this is so hard is that my apartment is essentially only one room. So, I have no backup. It's not like I can hide the mess in the spare room and shut the door. And don't tell me that you have never done that! I also think that if I didn't have so many books, yarn and cooking gadgets it would be a lot easier to keep it tidy. But as much as I hate to clean I hate an untidy apartment more. So, I suck it up and clean. I even re alphabetized the books, organized the kitchen and cleaned the fridge! I feel like I got so much accomplished. Note to self...I need to go to Target and get hangers on Monday!

Born a Travelin Man

Or gal, as the case may be! That's right folks I have officially booked my flight and am going to Las Cruces, New Mexico for the summer. For those of you interested in all the nifty details, I will be flying out of Fargo on June 6th at 12:15pm. The plan is to fly back into Fargo on August 18th at 3:30pm. I DO have a round trip ticket so all those person's who have been worried about me staying there should not be worried! I am excited about this trip for a few reason's. One of the things that I said I wanted to do more of when I went back to school was travel and see new things. The other is that this is the first trip of this kind that I have ever taken. One of the things that I would like to do while I am away is to write letters. Not emails, facebook, blog (although I will be doing all of those things) but real letters, on paper, addressed and mailed through the USPS. If you would like to be one of my summer pen pals please let me know. Otherwise, keep an eye on the blog. I will post photos and thoughts for the entire summer about my adventure. You may also find me on Facebook! See you on the road!