Growing Up

This weekend has been slightly amazing, despite the rainy days and homework to do. Friday night, we all thoroughly enjoyed the potluck at Josh's place with fantastic food (including my boxed brownies and Julia's huge bowl of Tater Tots which incited some arguments) and great conversation. People in Missoula are so nice - I met lots of new and fabulous people, and the spiderweb of friends is beginning to grow. Afterwards, we found ourselves at Kendra's to cheer her up a bit and Laura and I headed downtown to meet up with my roommate and some of her friends. From here, we went along on a tour of Missoula's finest bars and finally ended up at a place that reminded me of a basement college house party/some of Manitowoc's sketchiest "danceclubs", if you will. This tour of the town incited a very warm heart-to-heart between Laura and I, where we both realized that we're past it. We're past the crazy-party-drink lots-remember none-philosophy of socializing. I'm done. I'm growing up. I love socializing, meeting new people, hanging out with friends, etc. but now my requirements are that it must be accompanied by great mutual conversation and genuineness. Wow, what a requirement. And why did it take me so long to realize this? I never thought I would be to this stage, but alas, I am. Pat on the back, Lynn.

So, last night proved to be a wonderful follow-up to this realization, because it was spent with good friends, quality music, genuine conversation, and oh yes - nice food. We attended the first annual "Rattlestock", which was held amongst some cottages along the Rattlesnake Creek. Performing at this wonderful friend fest was a bluegrass band that some friends play in, and they were awesome. We did some dancing to the music, all while trying to avoid the rain. That raincoat I bought in June really comes in handy at times like this. Anyways, we stayed for a good portion of the night and got to see a lot of the people we had met at the potluck the night before. Afterwards, some of the gals and I went to Charlie B's before taking the bus home.

Today has been a super productive day, meaning that I woke up and went to the grocery store, made vegetarian chili with all of the fresh veggies I bought at the farmer's market yesterday (what a great deal!), baked cookies for our cohort meeting tonight, did my laundry, studied for the exams I have coming up, and did some soul-searching. Now that's a productive day. I hope you all have a great week.

Peace, Love, Happiness...