halloweek

I love holidays and think they should be celebrated the whole week (at least) leading up to them.
So...
I hope you all had a great halloweek! I couldn't let this go by without a few pictures of my goings-on:

Day Farms pumpkin patch with our Ky bird.

(don't even try to pretend your pumpkin is better than mine- and yes, I did free hand that)

Nathan's- inspired by Lord of the Rings.

-It was quite an epic year for pumpkin carving at the Johnson house.-

Pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes served with a smile.

Kylie Potter

I hope yours was as great as mine! xo

the way

Right now I work with all males. Five to be exact. Most of the time I really love it except when I have conversations with them like the one I had last week that went a little something like this:


Me: (after fixing my pants/shirt/undershirt for the millionth time)Alec, don't    you hate those days where nothing fits quite right?


Alec: Long pause.... uuhh...


Me: um, do you ever have days like that?


Alec: (in his polite voice) Uuuh No. No, I don't.


Stupid boys.

targeted

if target is my mecca, i made my hajj tonight for the first time since Ghana. and let me tell you- it did not disappoint. i could only handle about fifteen minutes in there but oh baby. it was bliss. 

everything was so nice and clean and new. i couldn't help myself- i had to touch e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. everything.

i was smiling from ear to ear the whole time then had an intense harry potter conversation with the kid ringing up my purchases at the check stand and in true target fashion i spent more than i should have and walked away with a lot more than i went in for.

success.

mya

I'm a godmother!

I finally got to meet my sweet little goddaughter- Mya Elizabeth Glenn.

She was born to my best friends Liz and Duncan Glenn last Wednesday.

I am completely smitten by this little bug and I know we are going to be the best of friends.

Welcome to the pocket pack, Mya!

I can't wait for my fairy wings and wand to come!

back again

tell all your friends- I'm back again!

These past two weeks I have been trying to collect my thoughts and feelings about then and now and life in general and I can't help but feel kind of like Frodo Baggins after his big adventure through Middle Earth when he writes

“How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back."

Ok ok, so I can't say my adventure was quite as dramatic but there is some definite truth to his words. After any kind of experience you can't just pretend like it never happened. I'm still playing the puzzle game- trying to piece together this new life of mine and figuring out how I'm going to fit Africa into the fabric of my life. To move forward- not on. America and Ghana are two completely different worlds so it has been quite a task melding the two together in my heart and brain.

 

 

I'm finding that the goals, dreams, and things that make me happy are completely different from the ones I had when I boarded that plane July 3. 

 

 

Life here is a lot less epic and I think that has been the biggest adjustment for me. 

BUT I can now proudly say that I can go a whole day without crying, even just a little, for Ghana.

This marks the beginning of a whole new chapter in my life- the graduated from college chapter. It terrifies me to think about building a career but I get more and more excited about it as the days go by- I just need to get myself a real job first.

I can't wait for all of the adventures life has in store for me- at home and abroad- so stay tuned!