Rhyme, Rhythm and Muse is retiring! :(

   Weeeeeelllll what have we here?

   www.iamonmywayrunning.blogspot.com

   A new blog for an all new adventure called Gospel for Asia's School of Discipleship anddd beyond! See y'all!

xoxo - Andi <3

throw it way, WAYYY back

   yesterday was throwback thursday!

   and yes. I am deliberately botching capitalization and punctuation in this post, in an attempt that it will look more..artsy. whatever that means.

   so..umm..here I am! don't you just dig my rad shades? I was such a hipster. I was a hipster before it was cool to be a hipster..clearly. ;)

   And then..here Richmond and I are with newborn Greyson, April 1999. aren't we just the epitome of presh? I feel so conceited. But we were very adorable children. especially Greyson. Someday, you must see ALL his baby pictures. (:

   ...SOMEDAY.

heels and hammocks(:

   I have previously written about the best part of teenpact..now for the rest!

   Even though I don't like long skirts and professional attire..it was a cross I had to bear. Except no heels. They couldn't make me wear heels to clomp around the capitol in all day, all week. I donned my comfy classy black ballet flats instead. Muchhh better. The only reason heels is in the title of the post is because everyone else (well, not the boys obviously) was wearing them. So they got to make cute clacky sounds up the long staircases, but that was the only downside to my soft and silent flats. ;)

   This being my second year, I was part of the alumni track which was discussing entitlement programs. I won't bore you with the gory details, except I loved teaming up with other alumni to interview random visitors, lobbyists, and security in the capitol building to ask them their perspective on government-funded welfare. Their answers were fascinating, enlightening, and sometimes misinformed and rather amusing. It swung from being perfectly serious to preposterously uproarious. #lovedit.

 
  Back at camp, I hung out with mostly fellow San Antonio people from track, xc, and co-ops I don't go to. ;) Our default hangout was this spacious and amazingg white rope net hammock down by the river! It was so relaxing! And when we weren't doing that, there was soccer (that shouldn't come as a shocker) and TETHERBALL.

   Oh goodness I love tetherball! It should for reals be an Olympic sport, because I'd probably be on the USA women's team. It would be epic. ;) I played it every spare breathing second, one-on-one, doubles, or tournament-style. And then onlyyy person who could bring me down was Richmond.

   My own brother. But that's probably because we've been viciously competitive with tetherball together since we were six and four. I have old photos to prove it. :P So by now, he knows all my tips, tricks, and winning maneuvers. BLAHH.

   The food at camp was great (but the Capitol club sandwich at the capitol was indescribably awesome) and I did nothing but blather all the first day to Mark, one of my bestest track friends, about how much I loved the sloppy joes at camp and how I wanted it to be sloppy joe night..and sure enough it was. Sloppy joes andd tater tots and heaps of amazing salad.

   Except Mark was about to go run seven miles..being the hardcore distance runner that he is. So he just picked at his salad, and I ate his sloppy joe for him. Plus mine. Plus all the tater tots. Because there were usually not a lot of seconds..haha. And this became a trend for the week..I ate my food and all the food he really didn't want. This kid weighs less that me. -.- Andd now I know why! ;)

   Also, I got to see my dear sweet fish friend Amanda Yates, from xc--llama girl, remember? haha She was my shadow all week, and I got a chance to be a positive role model in her life. God is so good!

  My carpool commute from camp to capitol was crazy awesome! We tumbled along in this big white twelve-passenger van full of girls--I swear we all had curly hair except maybe one--that was covered in neon bumper stickers and giant psychedelic hippie flowers! I was in heaven. Dudeee, if I don't get a truckk..I want a hippie van. WRITE THAT DOWN. haha ;)

   Even though I missed my senior year track team group pictures..SADFACE..it was good to get away and just reflect on Jesus. I love Him like craziness! <3

just something.

   I'm back from teenpact! :DDDD <--see all those smiles? they represent a small portion of my joy right now. Not because I'm home..because I'm kinda sad I had to leave. :/ It wasn't long enough! BUT..it was amazing.

   Amazing. AMAZING. AMAZINGGGG!

   I mean, the political/philosophical part was great and informative and an enriching experience, but I'm talking about the camp. And not the food or the people either (although both were so incredible in their own way..)

   I mean the JESUS part. Our nightly chapel speaker was Bob Chambers, and with every service I felt like God was using him to speak directly to me. He spoke on God's purpose and design..

   God has one for me. There are days I've felt like waste of space, a constant mess, a mistake. But Jesus wanted me to be here. He chose me and He made me, and I wasn't an accident. There's a lot of background to why I've always felt this way, and I can't really talk about it here...BUT...
  
   ...But He knew how I felt. And He used teenpact, the last place on earth I thought I'd get closer to Him, to speak to me. To me.

   You are not a mistake. You are not a mistake. You are not a mistake.

   Over and over and over again until I was a sobbing, broken, beautiful mess..who was starting to believe it.

   You are More. [Psalm 139]

maroon hair & middleschool track meets

   Hi, my name is Andrea, and last week..I dyed my hair maroon. ;)

   It was an accident. Sort of.

   I meant to grab the chocolate-covered cherry box..darker brown with the slightest tint of red to give my drab dark auburn hair a fresh look for summer. But apparently, HEB doesn't mark their box-dye section very well, and I ended up with maroon instead. -.-

   Oh, what the heck, I thought, how bad could it look? And I like maroon anyways..so it's not like it'll be a complete waste. And whatever I don't like taking things back.

   So I went ahead and dyed it after all. And it was for sure not subtle. haha

   I'm trying to weave this whole hair thing seamlessly into a post about the Patriot home middleschool track meet..so here I am there with my beloved Danielle. And my hair. Which looks WAY more maroon in person ;)

  I was kind of hoping no one would notice, but no sooner had I stepped foot through the school gate did one of the middle school boys come running up to me and yell, "ANDREA! YOU DYED YOUR HAIR RED!"

   ..uhmm. no such luck. :/

 
  But the meet was fun! :) Our team ran so well..and also there were free carrot sticks for the workers. Here some of the highschool peoples are attempting some sort of human pyramid..which completely failed since no one wanted to crush the poor boys. ;)

   Clearly we got over that at the next practice..PERFECTION! Also..I reallyyy look like a ginger here! (:

oh, winnie the pooh!

   I just adore childhood. Clearly, never-growing-up would be like..the epitome of happiness for me.

   I came downstairs the other day to the youngest four piled together in front of the television watching a partially recorded winnie-the-pooh movie. Granted, it was only the last forty-eight minutes, but I instinctively found a chair, pulled Benjamin up into my lap...and proceeded to watch and rewatch all my favorite animals from the Hundred Acre Wood multiple times (read: six!) over the weekend.

   I laughed remembering how when Richmond, Greyson, and I were little they used to say I was "just like Rabbit". It couldn't have been because I was a bossy big sister?! Nahhh..they're referring to my epic gardening skills for sure. ;)

   I..am starting all these paragraphs with I. Which shows blatant conceit and poor writing skills on my part. ;) Anyways, I found Daylon and Po crawling around today in Eeyore and Tigger costumes. Hannah was in tow wearing..I don't know. A bandana over her face?

   I just wanna be a kid again! :/

spring break, bathroom break, and breakthroughs

   I have a lot to cover. And you know what that means...I'm going to ramble ridiculously for a good long while before finally making any sense! Except I'm not going to do that this time. Ohhhhh no. Andi has a plan! :)

   It's spring break right? Wrongggg. Well, yeah it is, but I'm not off school or on vacation..unless you count the brief weekend trip to Rockport for a trackmeet (stay tuned..) and the dismal rainy weather makes it feel anything but spring. Oh, but there is spring cleaning..that has to count for something, right?

   Anyways, over this past weekend, besides getting my life back in order (haha no big deal!) there was the annual Rockport track meet. I tried hard not to be disheartened by the overcast weather (which eventually turned into pouring rain) that cancelled the trackmeet, ruined the beach, and sent my beloved seagulls into hibernation.

   Disappointed? Yeahhh..I was. :/ Especially since it was my last chance to run at Rockport! And possible last time at the beach.

   On the upside, I had a crazy fun trip down to the coast that included a rather haphazard bathroom stop and a photoshoot..which explains all the random pictures dispersed throughout this post. And also, the hotel hangout that night was crazyyy awesome..

   Red bull. Coffee. Apples to Apples. Tasting ALL THE ICE. Coffee. Poker...guess who won? Not me. But I was close! haha. Barefoot trips to the Valero across the street (no shoes..no service? who thought THAT one up?!) Coffee. Talking to people I hadn't really gotten to know yet. COFFEE!! Candy. Spending the night on the hotel floor with Destiny..and laughing and crying about stuff in our lives. Bonding, for sure ;)

   And then the coach decides to tell us about midnight that we'll be getting up at six-thirty in the morning for a mandatory long run. Ouch. But despite how antagonistic I felt towards it at first, it was actually quite amazinggg running three miles in the mist beside the bay and the seagulls.

   Not to mention that after that there was muffins and more coffee for breakfast, followed by vicious card games in the lobby before walking off to the beach with a group of friends, singing boisterous songs under our umbrellas. ;)

   Enough about Rockport already. There's more important stuff to discuss..like an amazing breakthrough I witnessed on our track team last night at practice.

   Ever since my first year, I've been slightly discouraged by the way a certain group of runners on our team seem to clique together and ice the rest of the team out, as if they're somehow superior to everyone else just because they're the fastest, best-looking, or know each other outside of track. I mean, sure, I don't expect you to be my best friend, but really? We've been running together three years and you've never so much as bothered to learn my name?

   Because there wasn't a strong 'welcoming committee' on the team, a lot of first-timers never came back, and other runners consistently confided in me that they felt there wasn't enough unity...there was just one main group of friends and everyone else faded out into the fringes.

   I wanted to change that. So it became my goal, from the start of this season, that I would find a way to bring all of the "everybody elses" together. We might never be a part of "them", but it was important that everyone felt they were included among most of the team members.

   I got to know almost everyone on the team (quite a feat, considering there's 137 of us...) but was simply failing in trying to bring everyone together. So I just prayed about it. God, please, before I leave the team, let me just see that what I've been working so hard on is paying off!

   And then last night, I noticed that several people I'd introduced to each other were gathering together, and then more were joining...and talking! And laughing. Guys, girls, middleschool, highschool, newbies and runners who'd been on the team for years alike..were finally coming together until we were just one huge circle of friendship standing in the middle of the field talking about everything and nothing and pie.

   No big deal? Well, it kind of was to me. #breakthrough!
 

mercy

   I have made mistakes. I have been afraid.

   Listening to Beautiful History by Plumb this morning, and all I can think is how this song is exactly what I needed after several weeks that have been moving progressively downward for me.

   I have felt alone, then You called my name.

   Crazy how priorities can unravel and your life can shift in such a subtle way..slowly..

   Things were crashing loudly, happening all around me.

   And then I wake up yesterday and I realize...I haven't had a legit conversation with God in days, weeks maybe. My Bible is still sitting in the corner where I left it Sunday. My emotions are starting to close off and I'm feeling number.

   I have been such a fool, when I have known the truth.

   Where did I go wrong, even? It was so gradual! I just found something I wanted to live for more than Jesus...

  
   I've wasted so much time doing what I want to do..

   Hugest mistake. Ever. I didn't even think I could hit an all-time emotional low, yet I did!

   I have been living solely for myself and myself only.

   ANYTHING you put before Jesus is an idol. Even if it's a good thing, or your intentions are right and your heart is in the right place. #hardlessonstolearn

   Whenever you run away, whenever you lose your faith...it's just another stroke of a pen on a page.

   There's nothing more beautiful than the feeling that you've been forgiven. That you're life is back where it should be. That your priorities are straight. If it seems like I'm rambling, well I am. I was wrong.

   And it can't just be this thing where I'm "Okayy..now I'm right with Jesus again! Let life resume as normal!"

   No way. I have to take up my cross daily and follow Him. All it takes is one day thinking, I'm totally okay with living for myself today..and then one day just leads to another.

   And another.

   And then you're in over your head, and you're drowning in your own problems that you've created for yourself because you pushed Him away.

   But He forgives. And brings you back.

   His mercy...it's indescribable.

track meets && toy dinosaurs

   First track meet of the season...over. :/ Sooo, my 200-meter time was a 29! Not bad for the first race of the season. Also, I pr'ed in the long-jump, but since my jumps lengths are so pathetic to begin with, it wasn't a big deal.

   I couldn't resist taking a picture with Daylon on the way to the meet...rockin' the shades! (;

   I'm not really sure at what point mom took this..or what exactly I'm so enthralled with. But I have practically zero pictures with me in those warm-up pants. Might as well add just this *one*. (:

   Blehhh! I had no idea I looked this gruesome and horrific when I jump! And my form is terrible...definitely room for improvement here. q:

   So, two track meets NEXT WEEK! I shall try to keep you moderately updated. And with better pictures I hope. (:

   Anyways, I'm a cripple. Okay..not *exactly*, but I am hobbling around in a decent amount of pain. And it's all my brothers' fault! For reals! Not just using the eldest-sister-blaming-tactic!

   So, awhile back, Po and Daylon "unofficially" moved into my room with me, and then "unofficially" moved back out. But occasionally they forget that my bedroom floor is no longer their domicile and drag in tubs of cars and trains and trucks and...toy dinosaurs.

   And so I come home from work this morning, tired and ready to eat my taco and then get some well-deserved sleep and BOOMCHACALACA!!! my foot explodes in pain. ):

   I jump around and use some..creative...words (haha just kidding!) for a few minutes, but think nothing of it. After all, when you have a taco, pretty much any pain can be temporarily ignored. But as I'm standing back up, I realize there's this red stuff on the carpet, and the bottom of my foot is warm and wet and sticky.

   Sorry for that beautiful imagery. Hey, at least I didn't take a picture!

   So apparently two of the dinosaur's plastic feet punctured side-by-side holes in the bottom of mine. A toy! I kind of cleaned up the wound and put on a clean sock and fell asleep. When I woke up, it was bleeding AGAIN! Using my brains, I cleaned it again, put on a different, less-bloody sock and went running!

   Three miles. Gashed foot. Not my most brilliant idea.

   I came home and kind of limped around before just laying on the floor. And now, with no tacos left to ease the pain, it hurts to walk.

   Rawr. ^_^

flats and indie rock

   Obsessions? I think so.

   Well, you know me. I don't "do" heels. Mainly because I'm kind of clumsy to begin with and I don't need to strut around on narrow little stilt-like objects to make myself any more graceful. (; But also because I'm like 5'7 and height isn't something I need to improve on, if you will.

   So my newest shoe love (I was always a barefoot person..but NOWWW..) are flats. FLATS! Flats. If you want to make me happy, buy me a cute pair of flats. If you want to make me REALLY happy, buy me two pairs.

   As pulled from Pinterest (another current obsession), above and below are pictures of flats I just adore for various reasons. #majorflatlovecoming(:

   Okay. OKAY. I'm really done talking about flats nowww! On to other things. Like..Groundhog's Day?! What's up with THAT? Do we even want to ask, really?

   And also, indie music. Specifically, I just wrote another song. While my first one had more of a chipper pop beat, this second "song" is slightly slower with mellow verses and a melancholy chorus. I'm quite proud of it. If only I could sing! Sadly, that is not a talent of mine. -.-

   I won't give you any major details yet, but the song is mostly about words. And how they can bring everything you've ever hoped for to a screeching halt in one, terrifying, awkward second. And I write as one who has experience, sadly. :/ More on that later.

   P.S. I'm doing a pretty good job with this whole faithful blogging thing, eh? If I could blog even once a week I would feel exceptionally satisfied. ^_^