You broke the chains now I can lift my hands.

Ah, life.

At this point in my life, I am ready for change.

Whether it be a change of scenery, an official change of my last name [yeah, sorry Social Security Department, I'll get on that eventually], or just a change of pace.

I was driving to a meeting one day for work. It was such a beautiful day and there was some great music on the radio. I just wanted to keep driving, right past Delphos, and spend the day in Ft. Wayne or somewhere. But the ties of being an adult and having responsibilities held me back. It's only been 5 years since I was in college and lived with my parents. Back then, random drives to nearby cities were the smallest side effects of my spontaneous nature! Have I changed that much? In just 5 years?

The answer, of course, is yes. 5 years is a long time. It's expected that life would change.

It's expected that I would change.

I'm still me. I still enjoy reading late into the night, sleeping in, singing along to every song. But I guess I've [large sigh] became an adult. I'm married [still weird!] [yet awesome!], I have a full-time job, plus I cook dinner, grocery shop, do laundry, clean the house, and grudgingly get up early on Sundays to make breakfast for my husband [haha]. Plus during this super busy summer, I've played hostess to house guests every other weekend if not more. Yep, pat on the back for me.

Okay this post was off to a negative start. I apologize. I don't remember where I was going with that thought. It is now 3 days later and I am much more cheerful. Ryan and I spent a lovely Saturday morning at a new-ish little coffeehouse in Lima called Barista. We love going to little coffee places and sipping our drinks while playing a game of dominoes or Monopoly Deal. It's something we haven't been able to do very much since we got married. We rarely get a day just for the 2 of us. Our lives are so busy.  And when we do finally have a day when neither of us has to work or has any obligations, we are usually too exhausted to go anywhere or do anything. And actually, Ryan had to work that night and I had a friend's open house to go to. But at least we had a few hours that morning just to be together. They have delicious lattes, by the way. I ordered a Sticky Bun one and it was yummmm-o. Ryan went with a Blueberry Muffin latte. Said it was good, but I'm pretty sure mine was better.

Our one year anniversary is less than 6 weeks away. We [and by we, I mean ME] are trying to plan a little vacation to get away from our too busy lives. Ryan is dragging his feet, but it will happen. Haha. I am determined. It won't be anywhere fancy, but at least it's somewhere I've never been. Traverse City up in northern Michigan is the plan. Ryan has a friend from high school who just bought a new house with his wife, so we are planning to visit them.

Hmm, what else is new? A lot I suppose. We spent a couple days in Cincinnati with our newly-married friends Rachel & Levi Collins a few weeks ago. It was great to see Rachel and hang out. Walking around, holding hands with our husbands. Just how we always imagined married life would be. =) We visited the Creation Museum, went to a Cincinnati Reds game, and spent too much money at Ikea [at least I did].

I just realized this is my first summer as a married woman! Cool. I should probably try to remember everything...

Hm. I will have to take a look at my handy dandy desktop calendar. The official start of summer is Memorial Day, right? We went to a cookout at the Hughes' house, my friend Katie's parents. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed some yummy barbecued chicken and winning at corn hole. A few of the more adventurous had a bit of a water balloon fight.

June weekends were full of work events and helping at church as we transitioned into videoing all the services and providing online streaming. We enjoyed being able to offer our help and give back to the church. We also rescued a wedding in distress. Haha. That was pretty eventful. And I had my first glimpse of being a parent to a teenager, and I am SO not ready for that. Good thing kids start out so cute and cuddly.

July was a bit more fun. We went to a church picnic on the 4th of July. It was extremely hot but we had a good time. The next weekend was "Family Camp" at BCF. REALLY enjoyed that weekend! Wonderful services, and I got to see so many old friends.

It was different being one of the married people, though. Like I wasn't allowed to hang out with all my single friends. Psh, I did anyway. I am crazy like that. Haha. A very small number of my friends in the nearby area are married. I guess Ryan and I are still transitioning in that respect. I don't always feel like I fit in with the "married with kids" group but I'm also not technically a part of the "youth" group. I just kinda float around and hope people will talk to me anyway. =)

Also in July, Ryan turned 29. Wow is that old! I like to remind him how old he is. Haha, it's not really true at all but it's fun in any case! My favorite thing is that when he graduated from high school, I was in 8th grade. He hates that. It's weird how a couple of years is such a big deal when you're in school. Age never bothered me much. I had a 10 year standard, maximum 7 years older or minimum 3 years younger. Somewhere in that age range was okay with me. Ryan fit right in, at 3.5 years older than me. I don't know why I am still writing about this. I will move on.

I need to stop grocery shopping on Fridays. That is a pretty popular day at the store. And I detest grocery shopping. Mostly because I am always in a hurry and nobody else seems to be. They tend to block the aisles with their carts and have no intention of letting me pass until they find that really special can of green beans. [Aren't all green beans equal? Seriously.] I am often forced to try to do a u-turn in the narrow aisle and go the other way. Shake my head, as people say on Facebook nowadays. I had to google that acronym because I could not figure out what it meant. Haha, I am so not with it anymore.

Also, while I am talking about things I need to stop doing. Another one is leaving my sunglasses in the sun in my car. They have metal on the sides and so then they burn my face when I put them on. It is a bummer for sure. And on that note, I am going to publish this post. Sorry for the random thoughts and stream of consciousness style of writing. That's just kind of how I roll.