Day 34 of 100

A picture of me in my favorite place to get away.

Occasionally, I venture out alone to think, reflect, pray, worship, and collect myself.  My favorite place to get away is... did you really think I was going to tell you?  No one knows about my spot of choice and I like it that way.  That's half the point.

My second and more frequent spot is East Campus.  MACU owns a chunk of property on the river that is gorgeous.  Unfortunately, a lot of other people think so too; yesterday there were two people fishing and one guy playing with his dog.  Since it is often "crowded," my third spot is the pier next to my house.

After a walk, I like to stand at the end of the pier just gazing and thinking, one last final moment of solitude before rejoining the human race.  Corey and I also frequent the pier to read and sip tea. 

It's a good spot.  Jetting out into the water, the pier takes you to another world.   The pier invites you to leave your troubles in the grass and stepping out onto the weathered wood, your mind is hushed and your soul breaths deeply.  The sounds of the city are muffled and the water lapping against the dock whispers in your ears.  The cool water breeze fills your lungs and caresses your face.  Here the fog is lifted and you can think clearly.  Here your heart is free to feel as it pleases and is also re-centered.  Here God meets me and we dance.

Day 33 of 100

Yesterday Corey and I went bowling with Dan Smith, the new RHD, and his wife.

Wait... that's not us bowling.  O yeah... I forgot my camera at home.  And wait... I should have posted this yesterday.  O yeah... I left the cord to upload the picture at the office. 

Anyway, bowling was a blast.  Dan and Kathy are great and loads of fun.  I'm excited to have them on the team here at MACU.  Now all we need are students... only a few more weeks!

Day 32 of 100

What is there to do in Elizabeth City?  Nothing.  Unless you have a GPS.

Since June of 2007, Corey has been an active geocacher.  
"What is geocaching?" you ask.  Simply, it is a scavenger hunt with longitude and latitude coordinates.

Someone hides a "cache," records its location, and then posts it on the geocaching website.  You plug the coordinates into a GPS (or geocahing app in my husband's case),which will get you within about 15 feet of the cache.

Average size for a cache is a military ammo box.  Corey, being an advanced geocacher, has already found most of the larger caches in our area.  So we are typically on a search for minis, which are just that- very small caches.

Spoiler alert for all EC geocachers!
Today we went geocaching with Jason and Teri Woolard.

We went to a cache Corey and Jason had previously looked for, but failed.  We looked for some time and then Corey finally found it.

It was a bolt that had been hollowed out and attached with a matching nut to the guard rail.

 

Whoa.

Day 31 of 100

A picture of me and my love.

Corey is home and no longer sick.  The past few days have been great together.  We've laughed a lot, typically at the silliness of each other.  We've spent quality and quantity time together, both of which I need.  Corey seems to be in light spirits.  I think organizing our anniversary trip has contributed to that.  Planning something special for me is one of the few things he gets excited about.  Being with him comes so naturally to me.  It's nice to have my husband around again. 

Day 30 of 100

Yesterday Corey and I went to the beach.

I've been to the beach twice in 30 days.  I've gone an entire summer and not gone to the beach.  I don't know why I have recently developed this need to be there...

Anyway, since we were going to the beach I decided to have a little fun with my hair.  I pulled more of my bangs into my face and left the back down (I know, you're in shock).  It was a nice change of pace.

Corey never purchases his sunglasses, but acquires them (people leave them in the car, lost and found, stuff like that).  Some how we have acquired two pairs of aviators.  Weird.  Yesterday we both rocked a pair.  He looks better in them than I do.  They are simply too big for my face.

The sun was unrelenting, the sand scorching, and the water freezing.  Great day at the beach!  Corey spent most of the afternoon in the water while I spent it on the sand.  I read and soaked up some sun (a little too much on my legs) while taking a few breaks to splash around in the water with Corey and look for seashells.

After beaching it, we went to Corey's favorite OBX food spot, Awful Arthur's.

 
We got the crab dip, 1/2 pound shrimp, and 1/2 pound crab legs.  It was SUPER yummy.

Great day at the beach with my man.

Day 29 of 100

A picture of me in a hat.

This hat was made for me by Rich Meister.  Until Rich customized this hat for me, I had never found a beanie type head covering that I liked.  Now, I wear this one almost every Saturday.  It allows me to give my hair a break and to bust out a more earthy, urban style.  I dig it.  Thanks Rich!

Day 28 of 100

This butterfly was in the grass outside of my office.  It was rather large and its wings were gorgeous.  I'm pretty sure it was dieing.  It sat on the grass, its wings hardly moving.  Nor did it fly away scared off by my approach.

I am a worm saver.  I will move worms from the hot pavement to the cool grass, saving them from death by dehydration.  If I have compassion for the squiggly, brown dirt eater, I certainly wanted to do something for the glorious butterfly.  But what could one do?  You can't even touch it due to do the delicate dust of its wings.  So I snapped my picture and went on with my day.

If I am moved to action by the soulless insect, how much more should I be by the downtrodden and lost of my own kind that have eternal significance?