This past week has been pretty low key. We had two small groups of volunteers travel from Kansas and Florida to help on our Terpsichore and Annunciation work sites. I spent the beginning of the week in a sort of "funk" I guess you could say, with the passing of my friend combined with the stresses of life had felt especially overwhelming. Tuesday night we had our weekly meeting and I was dreading spending 2 hours talking about my feelings that at that point felt were spilling out of my eye balls. Fortunately, the meeting turned out to be exactly what I needed. We had all been asked to answer a series of questions pertaining to our thoughts on New Orleans, our community, our work placements, our worship spaces and aspects of all those things we felt needed attention. As I read what I had prepared, I felt a huge weight lift off my heart. Talking about why I love New Orleans, the unique characteristics that make up my amazing housemates and even the things that I have been struggling with while being here suddenly became therapeutic instead of a heavy burden when spoken aloud. Almost immediately after the meeting, I was out of my funk and into my normal silly, laughing, weird self. I was extremely grateful for that meeting.
Friday night I had this genius idea to go to St. James Cheese Company for happy hour. Let's say this is definitely one of the better decisions I have made. The cheese plate was big enough to share between two people, so we buddied up, ordered some wine and $11 later I was enjoying some of the most delicious cheese, bread and jam I have ever had. They also serve gourmet sandwiches, sell cheeses by the pound and even had pecan cheesecake that was actually to die for. I was lucky enough to get a bite from my roommate Kalyn when she ordered it! I cannot wait to go back.
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| My cheese plate...3 types of cheese, jam, grapes and honey walnuts! |
On Saturday, I headed over to the garden that my roommate Jess runs. She had a BBQ to promote interest in the garden and meet more of the community. I ended up on coloring and face painting duty (let's say I am not good at drawing lightning bolts...I had to convince the kids that they definitely wanted a spaceship or a muffin but a lightning bolt? They didn't want that...) There was delicious pulled pork, baked beans, red beans and rice, salad and cookies that were promptly devoured. I met this little girl Bri and we basically became best friends. I was flattered that she insisted sitting on my lap the entire time I was face painting...not that she was bored or anything. She must have spent 20 minutes admiring her reflecting in the mirror we had at the face painting station and putting herself into a fit of giggles every time she flipped the mirror over and suddenly her face was magnified 10x.
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| Me and my new best friend Bri :) She was precious! |
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| Anna Leigh and Sydney playing with tape...what kid doesn't like tape? |
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| Coloring station and make your own grass seed people! |
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| Emily face painting a batman symbol! |
The best part of my weekend though was heading to the Louisiana SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) for my two month in the making orientation session. Due to retreats, community service and other conflicts, I had to delay going to orientation for two months! I plan on volunteering about 10 hours a month playing with cats and dogs and even bunnies! I thought I was pretty indifferent about bunnies until I held one on Saturday and all it wanted to do was lay on my chest and wiggle it's nose. The girl who oversees the bunnies told me that bunnies love being held on people's chests because they find comfort in feeling and hearing the heartbeat. Also, if you observe the bunny, it's nose wiggling will slow down often to match your heartbeat. How incredible is that? Since having a pet will not fit into my life in the foreseeable future, this is a great alternative to get to interact with animals.
Finally, I will leave you with this adorable video of a little girl's first walk on ice. It might possibly be the cutest thing you see today or ever.
Lesson from the Journey: Wine and cheese happy hour makes you feel oh so classy.
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