Hello Hyde Park

You'd think by now I would have scoped out everywhere within a 5 mile radius around campus and known about all the great spots. You'd think I would have tried a little harder to do this because of how much I actually didn't like being here last year and how much I wanted to transfer....but I guess when you are unhappy when you are you become even less motivated to try and make it better. The happier I become, the more willing I am to branch out into the city - try a new cafe, volunteer with a new non-profit, go to a new church.

The new place I went to was Hyde Park! For any fellow Georgians, imagine a place like Roswell Square, Marietta Square, or Old Woodstock. Imagine the best of all three of these on a warm, beautiful day where families have come with there dogs and an art festival was happening. The result is a lot of good energy, and a peaceful feeling like, "hey, maybe the world is really a good place". Lia and I went to go look at the "Chalk-Walk", an art viewing/competition where local artists had taken one of their art pieces and transcribed it onto the sidewalk with chalk. There were two streets of sidewalks full of these art pieces. They were all kinda of intricate varieties, like the two pictures I took below. They were both coincidentally of birds, probably because of the new appreciation I have for them after spending a weekend at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Conservation Center caring for them. 

We popped into a few shops after, including a designer dog

boutique where they sold things like plush bottles with labels

like "Dogs Equis" and "Bark-cardi" and fancy dog collars. 

We ended up eating lunch outside the cheesecake factory 

(Yes, I have a weakness for chain restaurants because they 

always seem familiar and comforting. Chilis, Longhorns, Outback, they are like old friends. Is that weird? I don't care. At least we sat outside in the sunshine!) I was feeling as peaceful as a wealthy woman who just spent 

a full week at the getaway spa. I was being positive, being easy going, and letting the day lead me instead of trying to direct the day. Of course tomorrow is Monday and I'm heading back into a world of schedules and deadlines and my job and mean people and a dent in my car and a suspended drivers license for a speeding ticket and worries of signing up for summer classes. I can only hope that my new desire to become a happier, more nostalgic, appreciative me sticks. I hope the stress of life finds it a little harder to bring me down this week. I hope the world sees me a little different than the person I was last week. A little positive change week by week can make a whole lot of difference in a year. Like Gretchen said in her book, "Why wait for something bad to happen to start rearranging your attitude and life? If you start now, you're already prepared when something bad happens". I can't let life crush me anymore. I am powerful and God is on my side.