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This is a post I've wanted to write for a while. It's filled with things that have made me smile since being back in Ohio. Seeing as how I meant to write this back in October, a few other things have happened along the way that I can add. 

Lets start with good 'ol Dunkin Donuts. They built one down the street from me. And by down the street, I mean within walking distance. Thank you, Jesus!

Getting ready to have the best morning ever.

Do these Ohioans even know what they're in for?

My life is complete and filled with lots of coffee...and less money.

Next…

At work, we have a required spiritual day of rest. We are told to take the day and spend it with Jesus. Its amazing. Last year, I spent the day walking around a beautiful park. This year, I wanted something a little more…reclusive. 

Let me introduce you to "The Refuge".

Can you say cozy? There's a pond outside that window, ducks and rainy day included.

There's a couple just outside of Cincinnati that turned a portion of their house into a suite. They allow anyone who works in ministry to use this suite, free of charge, to recuperate in, and it. Is. Amazing. 
 

Did I mention it was cozy?

Breakfast bar with a Keurig, lots of coffee, and happiness.

See? Wasn't lying about the pond.

Next…

Finally got our apartment together. 

Practically none of this stuff is mine. Thank goodness for a furnished roommate.

Dresser that a coworker gave to me. A tall coworker, so no slouching in front of the mirror. At last.

This isn't currently how the room is set up, but wanted to show off my shelf hanging skills. As well as my bed purchasing skills. Got this at a yard sale for $29.50, then saw the same one for sale at a thrift store for $350.

Bargain of the century, what-what!

Next…

My friends are famous.

Here they are laughing it up, having fun making cotton candy, while I am sweating in the background dishing out snow cones to Harvey Cedars campers that are literally inhaling them and getting back in line for seconds. Is death by snow cone possible? It was a very real possibility that evening.  I exaggerate nothing.

I am also famous...and not just for my upper right arm as I am in the picture above.

No, our eyes aren't glazed over from drug use.

We were on a beach at night and someone took a blinding flash picture. 

I can still see the spots. 

Next…

I was blessed with my Aunt Joanne's bread-maker. I haven't bought a loaf of bread in probably 3 years, and this has made my bread-snobbery oh so much easier. But as you can see, that first piece wasn't exactly the perfect makings of a sandwich…

Yes, its ridiculous. But warmed up with butter? Delicious.

Next…

BSF, as always, is amazing. Coming back to this group with these awesome ladies has been such a blessing. When apartments change and bosses change and churches change, BSF is always the same. 

Also, super cool fruit bowl from an estate sale.

You'd think a blog post that was 3-4 months in the making would have been a little better. But I think that's why I'm taking such a long time to blog. I read so many blogs that are so good, and I feel like I could never write as comical as they do, as deep as they do, or even as grammatically accurate as they do. I'm trying to get past that and assume you will all still love me, even when my sentence-putting-togetherness isn't up to snuff. 

My encouraging ending story is from STARS today. I had a good day. Sometimes, it feels like they're never listening, they'll keep making whatever choices they want, regardless of the kind of advice we try to give them, but today, I was encouraged. Our topic was on media, particularly how ads/tv shows/movies use relationships/sex to sell their product. We talked about a lot of different things and were having a really good discussion, and it seemed they were all understanding what we had to say. Then I mentioned a horrible horror movie my friends in college made me watch so I could encourage them to be bold enough to speak up to their friends if they don't feel comfortable watching something, and at the mention of the movie title, one of my students yelled out "Oh, that's the best movie! You should all watch it!" and I just wanted to yell back "Have you heard anything I've said?!" But there was one student, my quite little anonymously-named student, who looked at me, and smiled. And I knew she listened. I knew she heard my heart and I know she will take what we said and apply it to her life. Being in the business of "seed-planting" stinks. But when you see one little seed take, its a wonderful thing. 

Joining the 21st Century...

I feel like I keep waiting for something amazing and life-changing to happen to me so that I'll have something excited to blog about.

Shockingly, that hasn't happened yet.

But I would really like to continue blogging…and more than once every 4 months.

Hold that thought, just remembered I have laundry in the dryer. brb….

Sorry about that. If I leave it too long in the laundry room, my fear is walking in only to find my nice clean clothes in a pile on the gross floor of our laundry room, which also doubles as the hallway between apartment buildings, as well as dumping grounds for random trash that our neighbors feel belong in the corners of the laundry room. 

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, my re-entry into the blogging world.

Life has been…alright. Just returned to Ohio from my Christmas vacation in NJ, and Ohio has welcomed me with open arms…and temperatures below 0. Its great to be back. We had snow days this week, forcing me into a life of office work, and 3 days of that just about killed me this week. 

But alas, I survived. What else does the month of January have in store for me? I'll be talking to kids about sex, talking to some other kids about sex, and then I'll be guest speaking at a church talking to their teens about…anyone? Anyone? Yup, sex. 

I have the weirdest job. 

I'm still flabbergasted that this is where God has lead me. What else could He have in store?

In other semi-exciting, non-spiritual news, I've officially joined the 21st century. I, Allie McGillick, now have a smart phone. I had to change numbers to get a good deal on one, and the first day I had it, I wanted to chuck it across the room because I couldn't seem to do anything correctly on it, but now that I've had it for a few days, I'm starting to see the light. How did I ever live without one? 

First order of business was to make sure I ordered the perfect case. Not only did I want to be able to protect my new baby investment, I wanted to do it in glamorous, geek-culture style. So in 7-10 business days, I will be sporting this bad boy around…

No judgements please. Unless you think I'm cooler. Then judge away, my friends.

And if you would like an affordable smart phone of your own, check out Republic Wireless. Their plans are amazingly inexpensive. The number change was worth the nearly $600 I'll be saving in the next 2 years. Cha-ching.

What else? Did I mention it was cold? Moving on…

I signed up for health insurance last month, but am still waiting on the info to be mailed to me. Hopefully that happens soon, I want to take that little, magical health care card for a spin. Maybe not to the extreme they do here…

April and Andy and their insurance...

I think that's it for now. Gotta go get my laundry out of the dryer. Had to put it in for a 2nd round; the other dryers were being used and I was stuck with the broken one that takes at least 2 cycles to properly dry stuff. 

My positive little story for today is that I was blessed to be able to purchase almonds. And not just any almonds, but cocoa roasted almonds. It's all I can do to not run in the kitchen now and consume all of them. But I'm gonna make that bag last as long as I can…or at least the next couple of days.