Wind

Flying with my brother on New Years Day 2012.

My dad flying at Jockey's Ridge, NC.

Recovering the kite from a dive.

I love wind. Most people complain when it's windy, but it is becoming one of my favorite weather forecasts. I'm not really sure when this all started. I'm pretty sure that I haven't always loved wind, but I've never hated it either. I do know that when I was a child I was pretty apathetic about wind. I never gave it much thought one way or the other.

Whenever my family would go to the beach when I was growing up, my dad would bring his bag of kites. He had a wonderful collection of kites. He had 1 string kites that were fun shapes, two string kites, and even 4 string kites. I would help him fly them each summer at the beach because it provided a wonderfully steady sea breeze but that was pretty much the only time of year that I would fly.

A few years ago I caught onto the passion that my dad has always about towards kites. I've always wanted to be able to fly (you know, the whole wishing you had wings and could soar and whatnot) and flying trick kites is the closest I can get to that without doing something ridiculous like base jumping. When I fly a kite I feel so peaceful and relaxed. I think that my growing love for flying kites has been the cause for my love of wind. The most obvious and most important requirement for flying a kite is that you have a breeze. I truly believe that this is the reason that I have come to love wind so much.

Whether it is warm or cold, when I feel wind I am reminded of God. When wind wraps all around my body it is inescapable. Its like I can tangibly feel God's love and God's presence all around me. Wind represents to me God's strength, omnipotence, and omnipresence. Every time I feel a strong breeze I am reminded of God and feel comforted to know that he is on my side.

Nature

I love being at school. I love how productive I feel and all of the people I am around every single day. I love how I am so close to everything and can walk everywhere I need to go. I am truly grateful for the life I have here.

However, there are some things about being in college that are not my favorite. It is extremely difficult to find a place of complete solitude. A place where I am able to be alone and look around without seeing any man made structures. I miss that. I am also dissatisfied with not being able to live a natural life. There are many days where I am so busy that i am not able to take a few minutes to enjoy the beauties of nature or amazing weather. I am constantly seeking out many little ways to satisfy this, such as growing plants in my room, picking fresh flowers, and constantly admiring the many beauties that are outdoors. All of these things help, a lot, but they are not the same as living with constant opportunity to plant, water, grow, harvest, and eat things. I love being on the farm and working with animals, fruits, vegetables, and flowers. When I am in that environment I soak it up as much as possible to ensure that even when I am removed from it, I will be able to carry with me the joy that it gives me. 

Spring break this year was really nice because I was able to spend some time hiking. Honestly, of all the fun things I did over break I think that the day I spend the entire afternoon in the woods was a highlight. Opportunities like this bring me joy that I can carry through when I am cooped up in buildings all day.

Andrew and I packed a picnic lunch and found a really cool rock to eat it on. The rock was sticking out into the creek so the water was rushing all around. So fun!

Along the trail these trees had fallen over creating a perfect archway! It was so pretty.

One of the last (or the last) in the county. Makes me think that we are still somewhat connected to our old-fashioned ways.

A Fun Breakfast

I saw this idea and I've been wanting to give it a shot. All you do is slice a pepper so that it's in a circle, place it in the pan, and crack the egg into the pepper. These are the ones I made: 

 I was afraid that the eggs would be too runny but i put some water in the pan with a lid on it which makes a lot of steam and helps them to cook all the way through. They were perfect! You can see that I cut through the yolk and its only running out a little but which is just how I like it! 

The pepper with it was really good too. It was only in the pan for the amount of time that the eggs were cooking so they were still fresh and slightly crisp. 

I also had some greek yogurt with honey and bananas. 

Delicious :)

Headband

So I've been wanting to make another headband that I can use to keep my ears warm against the harsh Blacksburg winds (and MD farm winds too). I found this pattern and started making it with some scrap yarn I had in my dorm room.

It was super quick to make! I made almost the whole thing while sitting in SERVE planning meetings and reflections. My fellow CA's (Community Advisers) can attest to this. 

 I finished it today and am really excited for a little bit more cold weather to test it out. It feels so warm!

I chose a plain black button. It's nice because I can wear this headband whichever direction I want and it looks cute. I also really like how you don't have to make a specific button hole and that you can just put the button through any of the yarn over holes.

This was super fun and easy. I definitely would make more!