"I already had lots of ice cream at work so just bring yourself and it will be good."

There is no joy like the joy you feel when you walk out of school on a Friday afternoon. You've got the whole weekend ahead, and this weekend we've got three whole days of freedom. I started it off by going to the HSE v Fishers football game. Kriger, another teacher, and I went to work the Junior High section. Basically we were paid to walk around, monitor and hang out with all the kids from our school.

We got to see our new students, the 8th graders that we know well at this point and the High School kids as the passed through from the bleachers to the concession stand. It kind of blows my mind how many people I know here these days. I'm lucky to be part of this community.

Saturday morning I got to sleep in and then go to get coffee and keep reading my book. Though I love weekends when I can travel and see friends, I'm thankful for days like this when I can just be here.

I got to meet Bailee, Brookie, Alana and Kaylee for lunch. Goodness I just love these girls-- they're the best and so much fun. They're so busy with sports and school during the week but today we got to hang out for a long time. Alana couldn't believe that we sat and talked for almost two hours before we looked at what time it was. Life is good when you can do that.

Saturday night I went to meet Taylor Fischl and Rachel at the movies to see Lee Daniel's the Butler. I'd been wanting to hang out with these girls and going to the movies is one of my favorite things.  Fischl pulled out a bag of carrots when the movie started which was almost too precious.

This movie was phenomenal. Ceasal grew up as a slave in the fields but through a series of events and hard work later became a butler in the White House. There he served through eight presidencies as the country changed in front of his eyes. I totally recommend that you see this movie.

I went to church Sunday morning, one of my favorite parts of the weekend. I'm still driving down to Common Ground in Broad Ripple even though it's far away. Those seats feel like home after all the mornings I've spent there. He spoke that morning about authenticity. 

We invite God, and others, into all areas of our lives knowing that God's grace is really for us.

I care about what's going on inside. Let's drop the facade and look at the whole picture. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted. The goal is to live more fully into who God created us to be. 

I try to live an authentic life. I want to be honest and real with the people around me. I hope that I give others the grace and acceptance to be authentic with me too.

On Friday I had gone to the library and checked out a couple new books. This weekend I figured I'd have time to start reading again and I started with Variant by Robison Wells. I'm always up for a good dystopian society book that has to do with teenagers rebelling and going against the status quo. This book certainly fits that description. About half way through when the robots showed up I almost quit but had to see it through. Oh goodness. It's just too much for me. I don't think I'll be able to read the sequel to this one.

Sunday afternoon I had a typical lazy summer afternoon-- bike ride, sitting by the pool, writing a letter, watching TV and checking Instagram. Truth: I don't know how people do that all summer long. It was just one afternoon and I was already bored. Thank goodness for summer camp.

I haven't made a friendship bracelet since my stockpile before summer camp. Today I got started again. I made two and a half this weekend-- looks like I'm back in the swing of things. Now I've just got to figure out who I'm going to give them too.

While most of the Young Life family was busy with Labor Day festivities, a couple girls still came over for Chick Flick Sunday. Kaelyn, Pidgeon and Alex came over and picked out "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton." It's an older movie now but has so many great parts that made us laugh and then wish that we could each have our own Pete. 

Katlyn started sending me songs I should listen to and these three have become my new obsessions. I've been listening to them in my car all weekend and can't get them out of my head. You should do yourself a favor and check them out.

Boomerang by The Summer Set and Wake Me Up by Avicii and Safe and Sound by Capital Cities

On this glorious Labor Day Monday morning I got to sleep in and then go meet CILT girls for breakfast. I drove over to the East side to meet Amanda, Courtney, Anna and Sophie at Einstein Bagels. These four all go to school together, represent session 1 and 2, and are great friends. I hadn't seen Courtney or Anna since camp and was so excited for all of us to be together for a little bit. Later I was telling my friend about breakfast and she said, "I think it's cool how all of you miss and love camp so much. Your reunions are great because everyone is so excited to be together." She's got it figured out.

Later this afternoon Emily Westcott showed up at my apartment to visit. She walked through the door with these canvases that I'm obsessed with. We crafted, talked about life, shared music, watched a funny video of T Swift dancing at the CMAs and laughed. I love getting to hang out with this girl. I'm lucky to get to be on the list of people she visits when she comes back home.

The day of overlapping continued when I drove to see Allison Stamer and Matt for a little bit. The visit was quick but really great. Al was one of my first friends in Indy back when I first moved here and she has always made me feel so loved and valued. She makes my life better. Can't wait till we get to play at Summit in a couple weeks.

Then for the grand finale of seeing friends, I got to have dinner with Mike and Mel Lang. They came for town for the Mumford and Sons concert and I got to snag some time with them first. It's rare that I get to be with just the two of them. It was really great to be able to talk about camp and school and friends and life with this pair.