Global Night commute and dreams of a half-marathon

Hello, all! Today is a beautiful Sunday, I actually skipped church (I know, I know) to sit out on the patio and read my bible and journal for a couple hours. Just what this girl needed. Sometimes you get so into going through all the motions that you forget what it's really even all about. You think if you join enough bible studies and serve faithfully at church you're sure to be on the right path for sure, right? No, actually. Not at all. It's supposed to be a vibrant, growing relationship between God and Me, and sometimes I get that mixed up and end up really lonely because in all the stuff I forget what's really important.
(Don't get me wrong, I'm all about church, actually I just finished a book by Joshua Harris called "Stop dating the church, falling in love with the Family of God." Really fantastic! It totally taught me about the relationship God wants us to have with the church and just for the record, I'm definately falling in love with mine! It's great!)
Anyway, spent the morning talking to God and it was fantastic. I'm such a dork, but I've actually renamed the patio "the cafe" and I've been having breakfast out there on the weekends. Talk about starting out your weekend right! A good book, my bible and journal, beautiful sunlight, and a great breakfast and coffee, what could be better? :)
Last night I spent the day in the city (hung out at an amazing Garden Market in Union Square, where I bought some amazing blackberry preserves from a farm in Jersey), then went to the Global Night Commute (remember the email some of you got from Caroline about the invisible children? It was to bring awareness to that.) It was great, even though I required a pep talk from Care to get me to go back after initially going and finding out I felt pretty awkward going alone. So I got myself back over there and stood up for something really important
(check it out at www.invisiblechildren.com ok? !!!)
and it felt great. Then met up with Allie and we traded woes of missing home for an hour or two in the Gemini diner (old Italian waiters, open 24 hours, def. a place to go again.) Then when I got home I was really inspired. I need to do something different, because what I'm doing now ISN'T WORKING! I'm bored! I am! So I spent awhile looking up stuff on running a half marathon (seems like a logical choice, right? bored with your life so you decide to run a marathon?) Well, turns out even to START the half-marathon plan you have to already be able to run 6 miles. STRAIGHT! So I decided to start slow and start a running plan and become a hard-core runner in 11 weeks. After that, we'll see about the half-marathon thing :). I'm also thinking about joining some sort of painting club or book club, but we'll take one thing at a time, ok? :) So today I'll be starting the running plan, and hopefully having a fablulous day. I apparantly can't pace myself when it comes to reading good books, (I've gone through 3 this week!) so I'll need to stop by borders and get myself a new book to read. Maybe I should bypass the book store and just go to the library? But those darn libraries make you pay money if you bring it back late, they get you every time. Well, they get ME every time, I guess. Haha. Ok, I'm rambling, but I just wanted to say, things have been tough, missing home and being bored and all but TODAY IT CHANGES. I'm excited about getting excited about life here, and not just my next move. So I love you all, but I've got to get going!
christina