Remember that time I was going to have a blog?

You know, I had every good intention of keeping up with things on here (and pretending like all of you eagerly await the next adventure), but between some pretty big life decisions and their associated internal/external struggles, new road tires on my bike, and oh yeah, a new nephew to squeeze and adore and give my whole heart to, I have failed to do any photo-uploading or make any attempts to put words together into even semi-intelligent sentences.

To make for it, here's a pretty picture of some prairie prickly poppy from Sandhills State Park.

Through a complicated series of increasingly frustrating events, I have set aside the plans I had laid last fall to pursue a high school teaching career and left the program of which I was a part before I began classes.  I battled with this decision for several months, and now that a few weeks have gone by I can say that I feel really good about it and know it was the right decision.

It was also the right decision to follow this little guy into the brush, though to my everlasting
shame, I could not even guess as to what kind of lizard this is...a skink of some kind??

My superstitious nature prevents me from divulging any of the new/old and exciting ideas swirling about my cranium, but I'll leave you with a vague statement: It would seem that the one thing I desperately want to do is also the thing that terrifies me the most.  When the time comes, and if all goes according to plan, it will be a big leap of faith but probably completely unsurprising to anyone.  But it could also be replaced by an equally ridiculous idea in the coming months, so really I just want to apologize for this entire paragraph.

Now that school is out for the summer and my substituting skills are no longer required, my days are filled with alloparenting and keeping my nephews entertained, odd jobs around the house and especially in the basement (update to follow soon, I swear), being a rockstar in the kitchen when time and motivation allow, and getting in the kind of solid hang out time with friends I have not been able to enjoy in years.  I obviously find time to roam around the state parks of Kansas, but I prob didn't need to tell you that.

Wilson State Park.  So cool.  Will be back there soon.

To sum up: I'm still alive.  Still in my hometown.  And there may indeed be a light at the end of the tunnel for me yet.