62. Crossing the Finish Line

It's been awhile since I've crossed a finish line. I ran cross country for one season and crossed about two finish lines per week. But I wasn't a huge fan of it. Running 3.1 miles just for the heck of it sucked.

Then I learned that crossing the finish line is a spectacular experience. Especially when it's 3.1 miles after 20 kilometers of biking and 500m of swimming. I've never heard of someone DISLIKING crossing a finish line. Not just the finish line of a race. But finish lines in general. Crossing things off of lists is a great experience. The finish line of a project is always exciting. Even the grand finish line of life is an exciting one, even if the world tends to view it as a bad thing (how can it be bad when JESUS is on the other side!?). But regardless, crossing a finish line is SUPER sunny. And thus...

Today's Sunny Thing?
Crossing the Finish Line

61. Catch Phrase

Catch Phrase is our family game. I mean... extended mom's side of the family. Every Christmas/Easter/Thanksgiving/birthday/Labor day/etc etc etc. It's sad that the little kids can play now (not that the 6 and 7 year olds are good at it, but they used to sleep right through it and now they want to join in). Anyway, Catch Phrase is pretty much the Kemmerling game.

We get pretty competitive. My grandpa is SUPER slow and the buzzer frequently goes off in his hands. Uncle Ken is like a cop. He will ALWAYS catch you if you go against any of the house rules. Uncle Matt is the official game organizer. He splits us up into teams, makes sure everyone knows who passes to who, and declares winner when no one can hear the machine over all the noise. Rose and Lauren are always on the same team. Grace and Brooke fight over who gets to be on my team and usually end up with someone else. My grandma never gets clues like "these people say 'Hang Ten'." My aunt gets embarrassed by my Uncle Ken making crude jokes. My aunt Chris is pretty quiet but a good teammate. Andrew and Stephen are unstoppable when they're on the same team. My mom laughs too much and my dad proves that he's too smart for his own good because no one gets his clues. Point is, it's a good time and I love family get-togethers. =)

Today's Sunny Thing?

Catch Phrase

60. Flintstones Vitamins

Flintstones Vitamins are an amazing thing. Almost every one of us took them as kids. Not only are they good for you... they're a great conversation starter. As a kid you either loved them, hated them, were forced to take them, got caught sneaking them, knew someone that took them, etc etc etc. Try it! Buy a few and put them in a prominent place. You'll find yourself taking one each day and might get a few interesting conversations out of it!

Today's Sunny Thing?
Flintstones Vitamins

59. Packing

I know, I know. Sounds ridiculous. But oddly, packing was, for me, a very sunny thing today.

I think it's the idea that in my experience (thanks be to God), packing has always been a good sign. We packed to move from our old house to the one my dad just built and again to move from that one to the one we've been in for the past 18 years. We pack for vacations... for Alaska and Florida and West Virginia and Italy and Japan and the Bahamas. We pack for the lake and we pack for school. More recently I packed to move into my first dorm room, and then to move home for the summer, and then to move back to school and back home again... and then into my first apartment. Today involved packing up to move into my next apartment... my Senior Year Place.

It's going to be an exciting year. I'm living with my friend Sarah & I'm super stoked. It's a two bedroom on the third floor and I get a bigger room but only pay about $50 more than I do now. =)

Anyway, I digress. Packing today was a little more sentimental than usual. Today I packed up what has been my favorite room of all time. My bedroom in this year's apartment was... to put it simply... Sarah. It just fit. It had all my favorite colors and mirrors and Christmas lights and glow-in-the-dark stars and bulletin boards and pictures ALL over and paintings and hallmark cards and my favorite quotes and fortunes from fortune cookies and church information and poems and soccer schedules and all sorts of things covering the walls. (And by covering, I mean pretty much covering). I LOVED that room. It was cozy without being cluttered... something that I treasured.

While I will miss that room, I look forward to having more space to live in next year. I'm excited to decorate again and make another room that fits me. I'm considering going for a more serene look this time around, but I know I'll end up with the polka dotted craziness that I love. Especially since I got polka dot wall mirrors this year from Kohl's!

Today's Sunny Thing?
Packing

58. Running

Let me clarify. Running is NOT a happy thing. Well, let me clarify further. Running is a happy thing if you do it like the kids do. Tag and Hide and Seek and Pickle... those make running fun. Running how grown ups run... "today's my 5 miler!" sucks. However, finishing a run is one of my favorite feelings. Feeling my lungs completely open up, my legs burn with a happy release, and the endorphins surging is one of my favorite things in the world. Don't get me wrong... I HATE to run and will come up with a thousand excuses not to, but when I force myself, the only thing that gets me through is remembering how I'll feel when I'm done. And I'm always right. Try it sometime!

Today's Sunny Thing?
Running

57. Turtles

I still remember the day that turtles became my second favorite animal. I was eleven years old and on crutches (again) and couldn't go up to deer camp with my dad and brothers. (Wooden trails are less than kind to a cripple). Instead, I sat around at home trying to occupy myself until they got back. When they did, they had a surprise for me. It was late at night and I was already in bed when they told me I HAD to go downstairs and see. So, twenty minutes later, I made it downstairs where Andrew came in with his hand closed over something so tiny that I honestly felt disappointed that they had found a rock for me. He opened his hand and said "His name is Art cause he's a Painted Turtle and in art class you paint!"

It was love at first sight.

This little turtle was the size of a quarter. He can't have been but a few days old. He was colorful and adorable and perfect for a girl that couldn't walk at the time. BUT he was the reason that I DID walk. My mom said that I could only keep him if I walked at school the next day. The doctor told me that it was still a little early but my mom was sure that he was just being conservative. And thus, on the way to Music class, I handed Stacy my crutches and attempted to walk. It was a terrible sight (not using that leg for so long had diminished all of my muscles to next to nothing) but I did it! And thus, Art was mine.

We kept him until he was too big and then we let him go (after intense training on how to eat minnows and fend for himself). I chose the Hidden Lake Gardens where he wouldn't get hit by a car. =)

A few years later, I adopted a little turtle from my biology teacher in high school. He came to soccer practice with me where my team named him after us... Usasem (pronounced You-Sass-Um). Usasem was a sick little guy but I got him healthy again and he lived for about 5 or 6 years before he went blind and eventually passed away. Now I've got Petrie and Little Foot. Petrie was from my grandpa and Little Foot is from Brian. They're adorable and so far, seem to be getting along better than when Little Foot first entered the picture in July!

Today's Sunny Thing?
Turtles

56. Air Fresheners

I'm not sure what it is about air fresheners that have always excited me. Perhaps it was just the thrill of being able to drive my own car, symbolized by getting to choose my own air freshener (as opposed to my mom putting them in her car). Perhaps it's just the fact that they smell yummy. But picking out a new air freshener for my car is always an exciting moment and this week, I got to do just that. =)

Today's Sunny Thing?
Air Fresheners

55. Daisies

Daisies are one of my very favorite flowers. Daisies and sunflowers. I never had a favorite flower but so many people have asked me what it was over the years that I started paying attention to the different types and those are officially what I've decided on.

Sunflowers were already a sunny thing, but I just love that they turn their faces to the sun. I always think of the hymn we used to sing in grade school.. "Like a sunflower who follows every movement of the sun. So I turn to You, to follow You, my God. In simplicity, charity, I follow. In simplicity, honesty, I follow. In simplicity, fidelity, I follow." Such a beautiful concept. Such a beautiful flower.

And then there's daisies. Daisies are just so HAPPY! Aren't they? I don't know what it is about them. They just... are! And if you want to, you can put them in colored water and see them change to all sorts of vibrant, almost neon, colors! Fields of daisies... wouldn't it make a beautiful photograph to put a little girl in a red dress in the middle of a field of daisies? Ah, daisies.

Today's Sunny Thing?
Daisies

54. Swinging

Swinging is kind of an official stamp of childhood. The sound of squeaky swings is a familiar one in summertime. An empty but moving swing is a symbol of childhood tragedy in the media. The motion of swinging is known to calm infants and be intolerable for extended periods of time for most adults. Thus, swinging is a relatively certain symbol of childhood and one that I enjoy very much. I can't handle swinging very high for very long, but every time I find myself sitting on a swing, I get nostalgic and deep and start thinking at a level that I don't normally fall into. Swinging. Dontcha miss it?

Today's Sunny Thing?
Swinging