Maddie Goes Outside!

After writing a scathing review of the weather that made up the week leading up to Thanksgiving break and the utter lack of autumn that it brought, I now realize it’s time for me to shut up and learn to be patient. I landed back in Texas on November 26th (just in time for the TCU vs. Iowa State game) only to find… fall! Everything I had been worried to miss while living my life in Texas wasn’t gone- it was just late.  I can feel the seasons shifting. And while I love everything about this season, I especially love the colors that autumn brings. The leaves are finally changing and falling, which somehow gives me a stronger desire to be outside, breathe in the crisp air, and soak up all the richness the outdoors has to offer us. It always offered richness, but autumn seems to do it in a whole new way. It feels new. Which, in my opinion, is the whole point of fall. It’s the beginning stages of a new start.  Autumn casts a golden glow in the morning and a cool and sentimental fee...

Today is the first day in Fort Worth that I’ve noticed how cold I feel- which is exciting because I always love the change in the seasons. However, it’s November 15th, 34 degrees (total winter weather) and the leaves on the elm trees in front of my house are still green as can be. How can this be? I love Texas, I really do, but fall is my favorite season, and I feel like I’m getting jipped. I almost feel though that in my earlier college years, the leaves had started changing by now- maybe have even fallen from the branch of a home they’ve known for the season. This year, I am all too afraid we are going to go from warm T-shirt weather to an instant Christmas.  My mom sent me pictures from our front porch in Nashville- and the trees are almost as beautiful as ever. Over Halloween weekend, I saw photos and videos of kids running through the leaves on the sidewalks as they trick-or-treated. It made me think of my own trick-or-treating years. Cold weather, my mom making me wear a jack...

Hello! It’s been a while! The last time I wrote, I discussed my experience flying to Israel. Today, I’d like to tell you about the journey to and my experience at the Dead Sea, one of my most favorite memories from the trip. The Dead Sea was honestly not something I was sure I’d be able to see for myself. My boyfriend and I explored and exhausted all options trying to figure out how to get to the Dead Sea from Tel Aviv in a fiscal and responsible way. We thought about renting a car and just going ourselves or taking a longer trip and using some of our budget to stay closer to the Sea so we wouldn’t have to join a tour, but ultimately, the day-long guided tour revealed itself to be the most enriching experience. We decided that it would be a crime for us to go all the way to Israel and not visit the Dead Sea (even if it was expensive), and it was important for us to be accompanied by an expert who could tell us things about the environment that we wouldn’t be able to see with the naked ...