Happy fourth of July! I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and having fun! This weekend I took care of my cousin's bearded dragon, Hunter while he went camping. Hunter's pretty cool.
I spent the week babysitting again. Their dog, Pearl, loved hanging out with me this week. The boys had fun, too. They had me playing Animal Crossing and the expansion pass for Sword and Shield. The older of the two wanted to play the expansion pass with me. He told me to go looking for new Pokemon. I started searching the ocean and stopped at this small island/sandbar to pick up an island. I looked out and saw waves rushing towards me. I exclaimed, "Why are there waves rushing towards me??" He told me it was a Sharpedo. I started exploring the ocean again, a Sharpedo snuck up from behind. I was told to catch it, so I began to battle it. Sharpedo attacked, and I remarked, "Sharpedo's bulling me...." They asked why I said that. I replied, "Because Sharpedo used crunch. It's bullying me... with its teeth." They laughed and told me to stop. Funnily enough, the very next day the older of the two asked me if I remembered when Sharpedo bullied me. When I told him yes, he responded, "Me and Venasaur are going to go take out all the Sharpedo so they can't bully you any more." I found it very humorous (and laughed quite a bit on the inside). Later he had me helping him search for Diglett. We found most of them in the wetlands. It was pretty fun. I won't lie; I enjoy this laid-back kind of work.
The Celestine Prophecy arrived this week, and I was excited to start reading it. My aunt had brought it up in a family group chat, asking if my grandma had told anyone else about the book; turns out my grandma had recommended the book to my aunt years ago, and when she had recommended it, my aunt had just bought it from some sort of book fair or sale. I was intrigued and bought the book. To be honest, once I started reading it, I didn't want to put it down. It's so interesting and invigorating. I did end up putting it down so I could go to sleep (energy for babysitting is important, after all), but I finished it within a day and a half. Such a phenomenal book. There are no coincidences. It makes A LOT of sense in light of recent events. It lines up so much with recent events and synchronicities; it all adds up. I definitely recommend reading it. I ordered the next books in the series. There's a lot of truth and insight.
I also watched Monthly Girls' Nozaki Kun this week. It's so funny! I love the characters and their interesting dynamics. There's such a diverse cast and never a dull moment. It's a bit sad that there's only twelve episodes, but they were a great twelve episodes! I laughed so hard. I could easily re-watch this show again and again. The main character, Nozaki, is the creator of a Shojo manga; he enlists help from friends/schoolmates and gains inspiration from real life for the story of his manga.
We had part 2 of our errand/shopping adventure. Corliss had put two pairs of shoes on hold as they didn't have them at that location last week; they were put on hold at two different locations, so we made it into an adventure. We ended up meeting at the mall because she had some things she wanted to pick up first. We ended up stopping by Earthbound because my cousin's birthday is coming up, and I wanted to get some crystals to be part of the present. To our surprise it was buy-one-get-one-fifty-percent-off. That's a bit dangerous for Corliss and me; we only went in to get a few crystal stones for my cousin, and both of us came out with a nice little collection. We aren't mad about it--they're awesome additions, and it's hard to beat that price--but the unexpectedness of it all. We also found out that they will be starting a rewards program soon, which is further incentive to go back, on top of the sweet items for sale and awesome, friendly staff. Before leaving the mall Corliss made a return for an online purchase; waiting wasn't all that bad since we weren't in a rush, but the hot, muggy, humid atmosphere of the store definitely didn't make the wait super comfortable.
The next stop was a bank for Corliss. I decided to wait outside and watch the clouds since it was such a beautiful sky. While waiting outside, I almost witnessed a major accident. A couple was crossing the street in the crosswalk while a car waited to turn right. Once the couple had walked across, the car had the green light to turn right. The thing is: a car on the opposite side of the street decided to speed into the intersection to turn left. The other car had nearly completed their right turn (it was only one lane for each direction), so the other car swerved into the opposite lane of oncoming vehicles and sped past the car turning right. I'm grateful no one was hurt, but gosh! I just stood there in disbelief, blinking and trying to process what I had just witnessed for the remainder of my wait for Corliss to return.
We stopped by one of the shoe stores to pick up one of the pairs on hold, where Corliss also found a pair of flip flops and sandals on super clearance. She was super excited and told me that normally they would sell for $100, but she was getting them for $15. Before venturing to the other shoe store, we picked up some food for Corliss and were on our way.
The other store was a ways down south, but we decided to make the experience an adventure. We found the store easily enough, and Corliss received her other held shoes pretty quick. Since we were in an area that we don't normally visit, we decided to check out what else was in the area. We discovered there was a crystal shop pretty close to where we were and decided to check it out. It was called Prospectors. We weren't sure exactly what to expect since we hadn't visited or heard of it before, but we were incredibly and pleasantly surprised. There were crystals everywhere! It almost felt like a dream. We were so happy and excited. We became super absorbed in the store, losing track of time and discovering something new each time we revisited a section because there was just so much. We had intended to check out the Silver Lady store John had informed us about last week, but we had been so engrossed at Prospectors that so much time had passed, meaning it was closed for the day. We were a bit disappointed, but we have no regrets about Prospectors--it's amazing! There was a review for the store, remarking, "There is a Heaven on Earth, and I found it today! If I ever win the lottery, this is the first place I will go!!! I felt like I won the lottery just walking into this place!!!! I literally just stood their with my mouth wide open in awe... It was literally a dream come true... I could spend the entire day there just gawking at the gorgeous items. I can die a happy woman now." The review is no lie--it's completely true, and we can't wait to go back. This is definitely one of our absolute favorite stores now. On the drive up to the store, we kept seeing repeating numbers--seriously, all the way to the store: 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's, 7's, 8's, 9's, 0's. They kept popping up everywhere, repeating groups in doubles, triples, and quadruples. The numerology was extremely high. To top it all off, my total for the store was $123.45: ascending numbers. Corliss' total? $93.93 (her birth year is '93). No joke. The whole experience left us in awe, and it was super nice of them to give us a free stone with our purchase. Once we walked out of the store, we ran into one of my students from the Toucan class and her family. It was surprising since the school is a considerable (but not outrageous) drive north. There are no coincidences, though. It was really interesting, but it was great seeing their smiling, happy faces, especially considering that the last time I saw them physically was back in the beginning of March. It really is a small world.
We stopped across the street to pick up some sparklers for Corliss; I have to agree with her--anime makes sparklers and summer festivals seem like so much fun (anime makes all of Japan look awesome and fun, to be honest). Funnily enough, she told me that she wanted "sprinklers" on accident, instead of sparklers. I laughed and remarked how confused the staff would be if she asked for sprinklers at a firework stand. She genuinely considered asking for sprinklers for the humor of it all. While waiting in line to check out, we noticed that there was a sign explaining a sort of rewards system. I'm sure some people take advantage of it, but I noted to Corliss, "It'd be game over if this was for a crystal store. Could you imagine? We'd go all out with no hesitation and no regrets." Too bad it was for only fireworks, but we still had fun.
We stopped by a snow cone shop a ways out for Corliss, since it's her favorite. It used to be called Glaciers. Last summer it was renamed Tropical Paradise. Now it's called Under the Sun. I wonder why it keeps changing it's name, but Corliss loved her snow cone, so that's more important.
We wondered how we should continue our adventure. Corliss and I had been looking forward to Silver Lady, as mentioned previously, but it was no longer an option. She was bummed that the crystal stores closed so early. I reminded her that one crystal store we went to in Chicago stayed open later, so there could be one somewhat in the area that's open here. Mystic Valley was still open, but it was neither really close nor really far. We decided to go for it and check it out since we've never been. It was a neat shop with beautiful crystals--not as many as Prospectors but still a nice selection. It was interesting to find that it had it's own little cafe inside. Neither of us had expected to add to our collection, or at least to the extent that we did, but we have no regrets. They even gave us a free stone with our purchase.
We weren't starving or all that hungry when we left, but Domino's was right next door, and the garlic Parmesan sauce pizza with green and red peppers is amazing! We decided to order it and then go hang out at a nearby park. Turns out I had been at the park before several years ago to celebrate my aunt's wedding--it looked familiar as soon as we arrived. It's a small park, but it was nice and peaceful. Birds sang, and there was beautiful greenery. After eating a bit of pizza and enjoying the scenery, we decided to walk around the park. We found a really neat car nearby. Corliss originally thought it was covered in stickers, similar to my car, but it was actually covered in license plates. It was such a unique and interesting find.
It was such a fun adventure, full of surprises. Life can be so interesting and full of abundance. We're so lucky to be alive! There's such beauty and joy to be had in this world. We're truly blessed. Love and light to all of you, my friends!
Food for thought:
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