Friendventures

What a week of friendventures!

On Wednesday I was blessed to spend the evening with my

dear friend Cari. 

We worked together up at Hume over the summer.

I started calling her "Cari-Lari"...

but now I mostly just call her Lari. 

{Isn't she lovely?}

She has such a sweet and beautiful and ever so spunky heart. 

She is such a ginormous blessing to me as she sits and listens and asks questions

 as I warble on about my life. 

We wandered to Starbucks and across my campus, exchanging words.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing all about the big transitions in her life. 

She is definitely an example of strength and consistency in 

the face of change,

revealing such a heart of obedience to the Lord's direction for her life. 

She also hand-made this for me:

and I am thoroughly obsessed with it. 

It is a case for my laptop, hand sewn.

It's thick and cuddly and protective and I very nearly slept with it the first night. 

I am so thankful that my computer is going to be cozy and safe

for his daily nap times.

Oh Lari, what a lovely lady!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday was a day for another friendventure! 

The day started and ended with my sweet friend/coworker, Rebecca.

We had been planning a day for thrifting for weeks and this was the day. 

We only hit up two stores, but our time was well spent and produced good results. 

I picked up some epic items that I am stoked to wear.

{I love clothes that require a process to obtain!}

Then, we ventured to Carl's Jr for lunch. 

Rebecca had never.been.to.one.

In my family, this is a very big deal.

I told the cashier that it was her first time and the sweet lady

FLIPPED out.

She was really excited for Rebecca.

I had a good chuckle over that.

Rebecca was clearly WAY stoked too. 

{She was quite delighted by her lunch, lemmetellya.}

We polished off our lunch with the new yummy dessert at Carls.

It's the oreo cookie ice cream sandwich!

{I have consumed a copious amount of these sweet treats in the last week, it's bad.}

What a phenomenal sweet invention.

Just like friendship is a phenomenal sweet invention.

{Good one, God}

Adventuring is the Best Way to Grow Up

This past weekend was one for the books. 

I smiled so much that my face hurt every night. 

I was BEYOND blessed to spend Friday morning until Sunday afternoon 

in the gorgeous Pismo Beach. 

I drove up with two dear women, 

both of whom are named Melanie. 

{at the gum wall in SLO}

These girls bring me so much joy!

It was such an honor to be able to talk at them

and listen to them for hours and hours. 

I love people.

I love their words so much, too.

Our weekend involved no rigid schedule or plan. 

We quite literally meandered our way through the days. 

We watched gorgeous sunsets.

The viewing of this one involved the consumption

of copious amounts of Gushers and Goldfish.

We really are kids at heart, err stomach.

There was a little airplane that accompanied the falling of the sun. 

The pilot came closer and closer and even waved at us,

doing backflips and showing off. 

But then this big ugly pelican monster decided to imitate the plane and fly straight at us.

{have I mentioned my fear of birds yet? yeah not so much a fan}

Lots of pretty awesome people watching

went down, as we were able to 

walk everywhere in the small town. 

On Saturday, we decided to explore San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay.

We found a place where you can feed Seals. 

{SAY WHAT?!!}

I got to throw ranky, stinky fish parts at this little guy. 

{lookin' yummy eh?}

And he and his friends caught every single one.

They were born at Sea World, in captivity,

so they can't be set free in the wild.

They did all kinds of silly tricks.

Oh my goodness it was just so much fun!!

What a great experience!! 

We watched some movies

(Titanic and Water For Elephants)

and talked

and laughed

and ate

(we cooked all of our meals together)

and snacked

and talked 

and slept

and talked

and laughed. 

A lot.

The timing of this weekend was a significant blessing to each of us.

How wonderful that our Lord knows our needs?!

His timing is so beautiful to me.

Experiencing incredible peace and a lack of stress

really reminded me of how important it is to 

intentionally REST. 

My mind and heart and body

often process life at a speed that is much faster 

than necessary.

I am learning how to handle this phenomenon

as I experience greater levels of pressure

in school and life. 

I'm still very much a youngster, 

the canvas of my life is still very empty

of color and design, 

as I am seeking to develop into the big girl I hope to be some day.

However, this last year has involved

extensive stretching

of my heart and mind. 

I feel that I have grown ever so much. 

This adult skin still doesn't fit very well. 

But I'm getting there. 

In many ways, this weekend 

revealed to me how important it is to be

aware of this growth, and to celebrate it with people.

And God's glorious creation.

Oh I also learned two new things about myself this weekend:

1) I love beach towns.

2) I could quite literally stare at the waves crashing on the beach for hours.

(Looking back, I actually realize that I have down this

many many times throughout my life)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday evening, on the way home I stopped at a friend's home.

We adventured around town, 

driving and exploring

and eating wonderful food,

while talking of God's presence in our lives.

We finished the evening enjoying

so much creative, beautiful music.

My little heart felt near overwhelmed

with the amazing gifts that God has given to others.

I am so thankful for friends who choose to receive and then give, 

rather than hoarding their blessings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This Monday holiday was spent 

traipsing through Laguna Beach with my family.

Such a lovely place.

Such a lovely bunch of Rhodeses.

{relaxed and sigh-happy is this little Maddy}

Sandy Christmas

This week has been a sicky week. 

Bleh. Mrrr. Mehak. Gah. 

Luckily, though, the cloud o' disease didn't

set in until my finals were finished. 

I came home quick as a whip and slept.

And slept.

And slept.

And slept, even as I was sleeping.

Yesterday was my first day back in the real world. 

The morning started off with some

mad Christmas shopping with my mom. 

So wonderful. 

I think I realized for the 

first time

that Christmas shopping is not supposed 

to be a hassle. 

It's such a JOY to be able to spend time 

(with my amazing mother)

looking for special and personal objects

to bring a smile to the face of someone I love. 

I bet the wise men were stoked out of their

freaking purple-y royal robes

to bring their gifts to sweet Jesus. 

I want to be a joyful-gift-giver too!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night I was able to catch up with

 my sweet Hilly-friend. 

Our goal for the evening 

{we tend to have goals for our adventures, see here}

was something "Christmas-y".

We drove towards San Pedro 

over the bridges 

{love bridges}

across the harbor and up around the hill, 

past the Korean friendship bell

and the lighthouse.

These sights were accompanied by an overflow

of words

and laughs

and all around giddiness.

And then we had to stop and turn around.

Stupid construction.

On our drive to a coffee shop back around home, 

I spotted a Christmas tree lot on PCH. 

We pulled in and parked.

The moment I opened the door 

and breathed the first outdoor breath,

I knew I was really home. 

{love this lady}

My nose revelled in the smell.

It was Christmas-tree-meets-ocean.

Saltypine if you will.

The smell of a SoCal Christmas.

Growing up in Southern California 

was often confusing for me. 

Surfing the week before Christmas

is normal.

The ocean makes me feel at home.

Hilly and I walked through the trees,

aisle after aisle of sweet green, 

pretending we were in a forest. 

My nose nearly started weeping 

at the glory of it all. 

The salty breeze-laced greenness overwhelmed me. 

It was beautiful. 

Then we went to the beach

{woooo}

and ate ice cream

on the pier

as the waves crashed 

underneath us. 

Christmas involves all the senses.

Last night, 

my nose welcomed the season.

((happyfacemaddypants))

.Rest.FULL.of.JOY.

Last weekend I went on a retreat with the girls from my floor. 

It was a wonderfully restful and joyful 24 hours. 

It was a time for us to get away from school and get to know each other better.

We drove a snatch away to Oak Glen

where there are many beautiful apple farms.

We all caravaned in different cars...

but our caravan broke apart and the area

 we went to didn't get very good cell service.

So it took a few hours to get everyone together. 

Here are some snatches of what we did:

One of my R.A.'s Winnie and my dear friend Georgey.

Several of the girls that make life in Alpha so sweet.

Classic napkin head impersonation from The Holiday.

We did a lot of eating, too.

Los Rios Rancho is a lovely little store...

but it's so much more than just a store!

We tried yummy apple samples 

and tasted several variations of apple butters

and fresh baked bread...

mmmm so delicious!

This is Georgey. I'm her Lenny.

We're going to open up a fitness center for 

senior citizens someday.

((She blogs here.))

The pinkies matter. 

But mostly not really.

Playing some old school four square at the Christian 

Conference Center we stayed at.

It was like a summer camp but we were the only ones there!

Awesome roommate pic. 

Rinny is the one who usually takes all the pictures.

So I try to sneg moments with her in FRONT of the camera every now and then. 

((Posing on fake ponies is hard business.))

My other epic R.A. and good friend, Ruth

There was an old truck on the conference center campus. 

It was nice being the only ones there.

Needless to say it got pretty exciting!

I think this moment involved the suggestion, 

"Pretend you're about to get hit by a car!"

We keep it real classy.

Also, there was an old school one of these bad boys.

I'm pretty sure they've been outlawed like

everywhere. 

It was pretty sketchy...

and by that I mean amazing.

This is my lovely Lou friend. 

She is gorgeous.

Rinny captured her gorgeousity well.

It was an amazing golden hour.

Bah I love all of the girls that I got to spend 

those few hours with. 

We laughed often and talked even more often. 

Sporadic Disney songs and talk about boys 

rang loudly through the gorgeous trees. 

I delighted in SEEING the stars for the first time since Hume.

I felt RESTED in my quiet times with the Lord.

I sat with great CONTENT under a tree eating a fresh Jonagold apple.

I felt my HEART SMILE when I saw a leaf that had truly changed color.

We rang in the Autumn season well. 

((so thankful for these girls is this Maddy heart))

Statue Search (Life Adventurous Through Photos)

I enjoy long drives along the ocean.

((no this is not the start of a personal ad))

The scenery/nature/glory of creation is so lovely...

but I also like exploring such places in creative ways.

So earlier this week, a dear friend

Hilary 

and I went on an adventure up the coast. 

Our goal: take pictures with 10 statues.

The rules changed as the day went on...from having other people take
 our picture to getting creative with the timers on our cameras.

We mostly didn't have any kind of plan...just kinda stopped when we saw cool things.


This is the lone Sailor Memorial down on Ocean in Long Beach.
The little old lady taking our picture thought our pose was cute.
That's all that matters.

The Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro was a jackpot for sure...

 I'm not sure what the story is with these two little guys...
but they were very happy indeed.

We ventured to the lighthouse down the hill from the friendship bell.

WE SAW WHALES!!!!

It was so cool, I've never seen a whale in my life...

so rad!!!

We headed up towards Palos Verdesish (I think...)

and as we were driving up a side street in a direction-less way, 

I spotted something old-looking in the trees.

It turned out to be an old truck/bed. 

Pretty snazzy eh? 

We found some random little statues along the drive...

it was so fun to keep our eyes peeled as we drove

and then veer over to the side of the street the second we spotted one.

We lunched near Malaga cove and it was quite the smorgasbord!
There was a fun little market/deli that had an amazing (GINORMOUS) BLTT
((bacon, lettuce, tomato, and turkey aka the ESSENTIALS))
We ate outside under a gorgeous tree,
sippin on our fabulous lemonade.

Ope can't forget the Seal Beach Seal!!

A classic for sure.

Overall, it was a fun day...
lots of driving and getting lost in conversation
with much laughter in between.

P.S. Sorry for copious amounts of Maddy pictures...my camera actually broke when we saw whales and I got excited and tried to hop a wall...so Hilary took the majority of the pictures

oops.