Lovely Day & Lovely Night

Lovely is defined as 1. charmingly or exquisitely beautiful. 2. having a beauty that appeals to the heart or mind as well as to the eye, as a person or a face. 3. delightful; highly pleasing: to have a lovely time. 4. of a great moral or spiritual beauty: a lovely character. –noun 5. Informal. a beautiful woman 6. any person or thing that is pleasing, highly satisfying, or the like: Every car in the new line is a lovely. –adverb 7. Nonstandard. very well; splendidly.

Throughout the day, things were just lovely. I heard a glorious testimony about God's work among my friends' church in Virginia, which made me smile outrageously. It is the same Lord that is working here in Pennsylvania, and it just makes me "happy, happy, happy!"

I heard "yes" from the five remaining youth about going to youth camp, which made me so excited that I could hardly stand it! I faxed in our registration and it's set in stone now, which took a monumental load off my shoulders. Of course, that's just me. I don't like things to be "up in the air." So, we're going to youth camp in Dallas, TX!! It's gonna be a wonderful road trip (20+ hours of driving one-way) with a stop at the house of my oldest friends--cuz they're takin' in us strangers for the night--and then onward to the paradise of freakishly hot Texas. But I can't go on about this too much-we still have 3 months to wait!

After work, I went running. I was joking with friends last night that my goal is to "run 'til I throw up." Sorry, if that disgusts you. It's my way of saying that I want to run through the pain. No, I did not throw up. But I definitely was in pain, and I definitely ran alot. Still not anything impressive. But eventually this training will pay off and I'll stop being a running "poser." :) (Flashback to the youth group days! "Poser" is the ultimate insult. LOL)

Onward to dinner with some of my friends that I rarely get to see. We had dinner at my new favorite restaurant. It is my favorite as of last night! It's a great little Italian restaurant, which is undoubtedly the best-kept secret of central PA. Sure, it's fancy and a teeny bit expensive. But its decor is charmingly Old World. The service is unhurried, and the ambience wonderful. High-backed booths that make conversation easier (I dislike tables in the middle of restaurants). And the food was classic, delectable Italian.. my favorite! Altogether, perfect for a "special" meal. I sound like a restaurant reviewer. Pay me for this & I just found a new career!

The night is still young--for normal people. I stopped at the grocery store to get supplies for my baking extravaganza tonight. It's always heartening when someone's face just lights up when they see you! The Lovely Friend happened to be working (I knew that-so I went shopping there-haha), and so after she was done, we chatted for awhile. Great talking, because I haven't seen her in forever!! Then, on the way home, I chatted with another friend for a few minutes.... hmm, I think "friends" are the common theme of this blog post.

Except the last part. It was a dark & stormy night (really!). As I started to drive up the mountain, a deer stepped out into my path. It was larger-than-life. The first split-second, I thought it was a horse! :) Of course, I slammed on the brakes and the deer slammed into me. By the time I stopped, I figured my car was totalled--negative, I know. But--PRAISE THE LORD!!!-the only damage was the total disappearance of my driver's side rear-view mirror. Strangely enough, the deer left hair all the way down the driver's side of my car and a large tuft of hair in the windshield wiper! Umm, okay. God is good and kept me (and my car) safe!

The End.