Ozarks Trip: Part II

This is the second of the three part blog entry highlight our trip to the Ozarks.  Here you get to find out more about Eureka Springs, golf in Arkansas and contour line drawings.  That last one was inspired by our upcoming game of Pictionary, where sometimes the rule called for the drawer to refrain from picking up the pencil during the entire drawing.  Trace thought about a form of drawing called contour line drawing and did one of me - where it's not super exact, but the artist looks at the subject and does not pick up the paper.  So that squiggly drawing is me. :)  These are the fun conversations and things that happen more likely on vacation with friends than during the daily grind.  Ah, how I love an escape from the daily grind!

Ozarks Trip - Part I

4th of July is always my favorite holiday.  It is seriously so much fun to celebrate mid-summer.  It's always beautiful, relaxed, with few expectations.  I think this year we had more expectations than usual because we were taking a weeklong road trip to the Ozark Mountains, staying in a house we rented on Bull Shoals Lake.  We traveled with four friends - Trace & Ryan, Mike & Ali.  Trace is from Arkansas so he wanted to visit home, and the rest of us wanted to check out a part of the country we hadn't seen before.

We got to our cabin after a good 20 minutes on winding dirt roads in the middle of nowhere, and it was beautiful.  Our cabin was named Lakeside Hermitage.  It was quaint and wooden and cute.  I absolutely loved it.

So the first day we got there - after 12 hours of overnight driving - they found a leather journal for guests to write in.  I was immediately told that I was assigned to the task of writing in the journal on behalf of our group.  I'm pretty sure my friends meant that I should write an entry before we left.  Of course I took job seriously and took it to the extreme.  I wrote 6 pages on various days throughout the week!  Trace had the idea of taking pictures of the pages so I could share them in my blog.  So I'm going to share them with you - with commentary - over the next three entries.

(The first part of this page was Jake's one entry.  I know it doesn't make much sense - just remember that when traveling with a group of friends, there tend to be a LOT of inside jokes).

I do think that through reading these, you'll get a sense for our week and what went on, and how we were feeling throughout the week (or at least how I was feeling!)  Enjoy!

PS - If you can't read it, click on the image and it will enlarge on your screen.

That Feeling

I'm reading A Million Little Pieces right now and am completely enthralled in it.  Sometimes it takes me awhile to get into a book, but once I do, I can't put it down! (Same goes for a TV show, movie, song... it just takes time).  Oh and in case you're wondering, yes - James Frey deceived people about his "memoir", so it's not all true, but I really don't mind. It's well written and a really good story. 


There is a page I'm reading now where the author has let himself feel things he hasn't for a long time.  And I quote: "Something else comes and it makes me feel weak and scared and fragile and I don't want to be hurt and this feeling is the feeling I have when I know I can be hurt and hurt deeper and more terribly than anything physical and I always fight it and control it and stop it but her voice calms me and her arms warm me and her smell lightens me and I can feel her heart beat and if she let me go right now I would fall and the need and confusion and fear and regret and horror and shame and weakness and fragility are exposed to the soft strength of her open arms and her simple word okay and I start to cry. I start to cry. I start to cry."


James Frey isn't very good at using periods.  He has a LOT of run on sentences.


Anyways, this page made my heart race.  It's all about being vulnerable.  It's that feeling we get (whether romantic or not) when we open ourselves to another human being and let them in.  It's when we let our guard down and show someone something inside us that scares us, hurts, or makes us feel ashamed.  And gosh, sometimes that feels SO good.  I admit it, I'm a crier.  I'm a total crier!  People say I'm sensitive, and yes, I am, but it also takes a lot of guts and strength to face emotion head on and let out the tears.  


I guarantee if you haven't cried in awhile and you let yourself fall, expose yourself to another human being, it will be the greatest high you've experienced in a long time.  The few hours after a good cry for some reason bring an immensely good feeling.  Yes, you'll also feel like you have a feeling where you could be hurt deeper and more terribly than anything physical, but isn't it worth the risk?  Isn't the high from human interaction worth the risk of vulnerability?  

Being 27...

...was fun.  A LOT happened!!!  Here's a brief recap of the highlights:

• I plugged my way through a LOT of grad school.  We're talking 19 credits!  This included classes like Financial Accounting, Operations Management, International Strategy, Leadership Development, Ethics, Information Technology, Financial Management and Managing the Strategy Process.  WOW - the breadth and depth of knowledge I'm getting at Carlson is impressive.  The coming year will prove to be just as jam-packed (22 credits), but then I'll be on the home stretch!
• We got MARRIED!  This was for sure a highlight.  Not only were all wedding-related events memorable and fun, but the joy of being married to Jake for 11 months (!) has been even better than anticipated.  I love being Team Matthies.
• We got a puppy.  This coming from the girl who wasn't really interested in dogs for most of her life.  Callie has been a great addition to the Matthies family - and she has taught us a lot about caring for another living being.  The three of us are a force to be reckoned with!
• I visited my 28th and 29th states.  Those states are Hawaii and Arkansas.  Two very different experiences, but both equally important!  I have a new goal to hit all 50 states by a reasonable age, and I only have 21 left!  More than half of those are in the Northeast corner of the country - places like Maine, Vermont, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island - these can all be tackled in one trip, right?
• I got a new job.  Like not just a new job in Global Trade - a totally new job where I am challenged, stretched, inspired... I'm learning something every single day and meeting new people all the time.  I like who I am in my new role and the skills I have to use and practice.  I like how the people around me and the role itself force me into territory to work on things like asking the right questions and digging deeper into root causes.  I REALLY like my job!

28 will be a fun year.  I can already tell!  I will visit a new continent/country (India!), my 30th state (Nevada), travel to Mexico for a wedding, be a bridesmaid in two other weddings, hopefully be down to 1 semester left in grad school, and keep honing skills in my job.  I'm looking forward to the wild ride!

Nights Like This

Nights like this are what I live for.  I've always been a night person - and over the past couple weeks, I've had a lotta nights to live for.  Tonight was silly.  I had golf league with Colleen, Trace and Matt, and we were punchy!  We could barely focus on the game.  We were jumping around the course, making jokes, enjoying the bug-free, warm, Minnesota weather.  They brought me some birthday garb - it was ridiculous but fun.  Check it out!


Last night - my actual birthday night - was even more special.  It was also more planned out, and both types of nights have their merit.  My fam and Jake's fam - our fam - they were all here for a low key BBQ.  I felt so loved and so happy!


Something about evening, dusk, sunsets, darkness - it's so peaceful and calm and gives me time to reflect on the great day, the great week, the fantastic month I'm having.  Some people choose mornings, but for me, nights are where it's at.


I remember so many nights in my teenage years when I'd be driving home from friends' houses (yes, on Manning) just listening to music and staring at the stars.  I remember laying blankets out in Pioneer Park or sitting by a campfire taking in the scene around me.


Last week we got some of this too.  In the Ozarks, we had campfires, went nightswimming, played games, and sat out on the deck.  My absolute favorite night happened organically - we went out to the deck and ended up chilling, listening to rock music, and drank wine until the wee hours.  It was unreal!  Even during the week, my favorite time of the day is the last hour before bed.  We settle in, Jake reads in bed, I usually browse the internet or get some reading done myself, and all is good.  We reflect on the day.  If it was a good day, I reflect what made it good.  If it was a bad day, I know it's behind me, and tomorrow we will start anew.

Be patient...

Hi all! I know you've been checking back and disappointed to find nothing by way of new posts. Back from vacation, theres a lot in the works! Check back soon and thank you for your interest in my words! Xoxo, Allison

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