Still with hearts beating

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life

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One final paper and then this semester will be over. . . and summer will officially begin!

Plans for now and the next few days of life:

+ About to hit the road –> Boone for tonight + tomorrow

+ Two more days of work

+ A handful of meetings

+ A trip to Pennsylvania with them!

+ A day back in Chapel Hill to move and celebrate dear ones graduating!

+ A half day back home

+ Two days in D.C. with Mom, Kelsey, AND Abby!

+ And then, then I’m flying across this big world to this beautiful city!

These plans are the plans that make me excited to be alive these days. These are the thoughts that make my heart beat a little faster. Big transitions, big changes, but good things all around . . .

[Photos: 1.) BBQ love, 2.) Blair at 100 Shelton St, & 3.) A day in the life of Tiger House/100 Shelton St. residents//Grace Farson]

Ten

I found this list today from a little over a year ago:

1.) CALM down

2.) find a new job

3.) write letters and mail them

4.) change voice mailbox message

5.) apply for grants to Indonesia

6.) run

7.) climb

8.) finish videos for TedX conference

9.) visit Abbey Court

10.) taxes?

I love finding pieces of what life looked like last year and the years before. And the thing I love the most is knowing that i accomplished all of those pieces in time. I went on to get not one, but two new jobs, I went to Indonesia on a grant, ran a few miles, climbed with friends, went to Abbey Court, did videos for TedX, etc. and at the time, this little list of ten things was a challenge.

My list these days is sadly quite similar. I’m still trying to find grants to travel, I’m trying to keep the job I do have when I get back in the fall, I’m running, I’m wishing I was spending more time climbing, taxes still stress me out, and there is always a stack of letters by my bed waiting to be mailed. . .

This semester is getting so close to the END and I’m both excited and sad. The past few weeks have been great overall. So good in fact, I never want it to end.

Take for example this weekend. . .

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This weekend was epic. It all left my body feeling incredibly broken, sore, and used. My feet don’t really work, they’re cracked and still caked with mud.

That said, I also didn’t know it was possible to laugh as much as I did.

Sam came in town Friday with a basket of black lights and a massive speaker//sound system. The Tiger House hosted a fantastic Universe party! (Goal check) Glitter, good music, Ziggy Stardust-inspired face paint and even roller-blades! All I could ever ask for really.

On Saturday, I woke up at 5:45 and decided it was a good day to run the Chapel Hill ten-miler with Ora (*Almost exactly a year ago since the last big ten). Our last-minute decision was incredibly rewarding and actually quite fun (esp. the thrill of benefiting from a race without paying for it. Sorry world, I just wanted to see if it was possible). By that afternoon, I was volunteering in a tent painting little kiddo’s faces at Shakori grassroots festival and dancing around a fire to drums with Ora, Will, Jordan, Sarah and Cassie.

We danced, hula hooped, and then danced some more until the late hours. Everywhere we went we danced, we didn’t use our feet to walk, we just danced and floated through life.

It all left my whole being so incredibly happy.

A nice nap (*another goal) on Sunday was followed by a lovely dinner with Ma-Maw and Da-Dan and a lot of solo car time to think too. . .

I could have asked for nothing more this weekend.

It filled me.

[Photos: Shakori last time around. Fall festival days 2012. *Only brought my AE-1 this time around//Grace Farson]

What my weekend looked like

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It looked like this:

Bright. Happy. Full of smiles.

And sounded a good deal like this:

Magical. Sigur Ros in concert = unreal. There were tears. There was laughter. And there was a lot of existentialist thinking.

“Let us love the country of here below. It is real . . .” – Simone Weil

[Photos: D.C. + Annapolis with the people who make this life easy to love//Grace Farson]