One Week Down...

So as predicted, I have been M.I.A. for the past week.  Last Wednesday I took my final exam early and bolted out of Seattle in hopes of reaching Kennewick in time for dinner.  On Thursday morning I had a two hour long interview with Habitat for Humanity for the Volunteer Coordinator position.  After talking with everybody in the office and getting a tour of the re-sale room (where they take donated appliances and building materials and sell them at half their value), they offered me the position.  I'll have you know that I accepted and I'm excited to start work on September 8th. I'll be sure to fill you in on my duties once I'm a bit more acquainted with the job myself.

After the interview, Cameron and I packed for family reunion fun in Sun Lakes Middle of Nowhere, Washington.  There were 40-50 of us staying in little bunkers and enjoying the huge communal kitchen that the site offered.  We swam, ate, hiked, cliff jumped and played with babies. All great fun. 

I left a day early to catch up with Analisa, Ebay, Jimmy and Keith in Tacoma on Saturday night for the Lady Gaga concert.  We meshed right in with the other freaks wearing fish net tights and neon colored accessories.  Gaga delivered a sacriligeous shock-and-awesome show, and we finished the night sweaty from monster dancing to "Bad Romance."

After a night spent in a tent in Analisa's backyard I made my way to Portland for a camping trip with my long-time friend Sean and his roommate James.  We fished, hiked, caught crawdads, rope swinged, gutted fish, whittled and ate s'mores for three days in the Oregon wilderness. I haven't felt so much like a kid since...I was a kid perhaps. With no agenda, I was free to roam, nap, war paint my face, and observe nature without a care in the world.

I just got back home a couple of hours ago seriously in need of laundry detergent and time outside of my little Corolla.  I head out for Seattle tomorrow to get Ali and hear about her summer at Malibu Young Life Camp. On the 30th I fly from SeaTac to Denver to spend a week with Allyssa and I'll be returning to Spokane on the 6th.  Anybody wanna pick me up from the airport?

Sorry for dropping the ball on blogging. The next month’s activity forecast promises a shower of visits with friends and family, a sunny week in Colorado with Allyssa, and a hailstorm of job hunting busywork. So, in preparation for another possible blog disappearance I thought I’d squeeze in a little update.
Where to start? Last weekend sounds reasonable. The Haacks came home and Emily drove over to visit me from Friday to Monday. We went crabbing with my cousins all day on Saturday and met up with Ande for Indian food on Sunday. Both were fun new experiences hoped to be repeated in the near future.

Rylie and I have been spending a lot of time together which has helped me not go crazy with lonliness during the daytime. I started going to Bikhram (Hot) yoga with her—one and half hours of sweaty, detoxifying, contortionist torture, for those not in the yoga loop—and I’m addicted.

I also started my Tri-Cities job search and found a promising position at Habitat for Humanity. After sending in my application and talking with a lady from the organization, I feel really good about possibly being their new Volunteer Coordinator. However, there is another position on the radar as a Program Coordinator for a farm-worker housing development C.A.S.A that also seems like a perfect fit. So…we’ll see.

My professor graciously agreed to move the final final of my college career (HALLELUJAH!) to this coming Wednesday so I could make it to an interview with H4H on Thursday morning in the Tri-Cities. Then, it’s off to a family reunion, back to Tacoma for GaGaugust, down to Portland for camping with Sean, back to the Tri to pick up my mom, over to the West side to get Alison from camp, way down to Colorado for a week with Allyssa, and into Spokane to hitch-hike to Kennewick and start my job (fingers crossed) the next day. Geez.

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow!"

Oh what a week! Apart from getting Marshall the Female towed (as Joanna and Ebay named my paint chipped Corolla), life has been full of good music, tasty food, spiritual deepening, and quality conversations with friends and family. Here’s a brief overview of last week’s highlights:


My mom and Cameron came up to Burien last Saturday and whisked me away to the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery for a warm evening spent with Jamie Cullum. If you don’t know him, please do yourself a favor and check his music out. He is the most talented performer I have ever seen.

We celebrated my Grandma Helen’s life in Spokane. As with any Johnston family gathering, distant cousins were popping out of the woodwork and there was no shortage of new babies. I hitched a ride back to the West Side with my cousin Barbara and her kids and am looking forward to a crabbing trip with her family in a couple of weekends.

I got my first s’mores fix of the summer at a friend’s house in Burien. I met the host through church and realized how nice it is to be counted as a part a group of friends close to “home.”

With only one class left for the rest of the month, I devoted more time to understanding polynomials (nearly) stress free!

On Friday I met Ande at Pike’s Place to wander without direction through Seattle. She bought me flowers to kick off my birthday weekend and we shared pizza and wine on the Puget Sound while we waited for Analisa, Ebay, Claire and Joanna to arrive.

Saturday brought a relaxing morning and a drive out to Wallace Falls. After a hike and a late lunch of burgers in at the Alpen Drive Inn in Start Up, we toured Edmonds and headed for Thai food in Burien. We rounded out the day with my second helping of s’mores for the week, wine, and a campfire (compliments of Fire-bay) on the beach.

I thank God for 22 years of blessings—a solid family, food in my belly, and friends with whom I share everything. THANK YOU!