Catch up....

I have lots of holiday pictures to post, but work is crazy so it doesn't look like it will happen this week.  I'm working today and tomorrow and then heading to Gatlinburg tomorrow night.  We have about 20 people going and staying  in a cabin.  I'm super excited! 

I'll be back on Monday so hopefully I can update all of my pictures then!

I'm kinda glad the holidays are almost over so things can get back to normal.

Happy (early) New Year!!!!!

Christmas Week Kick Off!

Last night we had our annual "High School Friends" Christmas Party.  Every year we vary on what we do-which is usually go to someone's house or go out to dinner.  This year we opted for dinner out because it's just easier.

It's so rare that people stay friends after high school, but I love these girls and we have so much fun everytime we get together. 

Me, Rachel, Lacey, Lacy

Nicole and I

Me and Bre

Courtney, Rachel, Lacey

I'm missing the group pic from last night.  My camera decided to quit working for it so I'm waiting on someone to post it on Facebook.

But here are previous years....

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2007 (AWFUL picture of me! ugh!)

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2005

I'm missing pics from years 2003 and 2004.  Those days were pre-digital camera and facebook so they are harder to come by.

Tonight we are having some people over to watch Christmas Vacation.  I haven't sat down and watched this whole movie in forever, so I'm pretty excited about it!

Merry Week of Christmas!

Happy May Saturday!

I'm a day late, but Happy May Saturday!

Last year.

Have you ever come to a place where you feel like the Lord is constantly showing you things about yourself?  I'm definitely there right now.  Unfortunetly, for now it seems like I'm starting to see a lot of areas that I didn't have as "together" as I would have liked to thought I did.  I guess the only way you learn these things is by being thrown/placed in situations that force you to take a good hard look at yourself. 
I'm hoping in the long run, this is a good place to be.  But for now, figuring out things I really need to work on = not the most fun I've ever had.

Last week, Matt Chandler (the pastor of the church I went to my last year in Dallas) had one of these kind of moments.  On Thanksgiving he had a seizure which ended up being the symptom of a brain tumor.  This is definitely one of those situations you hope you never find yourself in any part of (the person actually going through it, the wife/husband of this person, the friend, the family member, the child, etc). 
One day while I was feeding my blogging addiction, I read his wife's blog.  She didn't say anything hugely profound, but to me there just seemed to be such faith in everything she had written.  Then I clicked on a link to his blog.  He had written several things he was thankful for- one being his wife.  He quoted some of Proverbs 31.  This verse stuck out to me the most:
Proverbs 31:25
"She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come."

I don't know if I will ever be at a place where I "laugh at days to come." That almost seems crazy to me right now.  But I want to be at a place where I don't fear what God might be doing.  And if something happens that isn't part of my plan or I where I'm facing adversity, I don't just fall apart.  You can see from some of my past blog posts, that this is definitely a process in the making.  But I am finally at the place where I am grateful for the experiences I have had- both the good and what I would consider the bad.  But I have such a long way to go. 

After I started typing this post, I saw this.

Week 4

This week kicked off mine and Lacy's 4th week of 5:15am workouts!  I'm actually kinda starting to enjoy it.  The initial waking up process is terrible- I'm not a morning person!  But once we get there, I'm good.  We are working out in our church gym.  My favorite part...... the old people that are there every morning with us! haha!  They are so encouraging and unlike Lacy and I, they are morning people.  They are always smiling and have something witty to say.  Sometimes I don't know how to respond, so I just laugh and keep going.

Other Updates:

Thanksgiving:  I somehow failed to take any pictures.  I'm pretty bummed about it because my family from Houston was in town.  But it was great!

Black Friday:  Lindsey was in town and spent the night Thursday night so we could get up at 3am and be at the mall by 4.  My mom met us at my house and the 3 of us went out to battle the crazies!  Honestly, we got some good deals, but I'm not sure I will be gracing the Galleria with my presence at 4 in the morning next year.  But I think I said that last year too.

I haven't felt well this week and turns out it's because I have broncitis.  I have some meds. so hopefully I'll be good after the weekend.  My mom and I are heading to Memphis tomorrow to see Emma in her Wizard of Oz play.  We are pretty excited to see her!  And tomorrow morning I have my first of many Christmas parties of the season.  It's that time of year again!

1216 Family

I had dinner with these girls tonight..........

This picture isn't from tonight, but I love these girls and miss them a lot!  There's me, Maggie, Sis (my cousin), and Lorie. 

This is what I call my 1216 family.  When Sis and I first went to Alabama our dorm room was 1216.  We never really referenced it as Brittany and Kristen's room, but everyone always referred to it by 1216.  Well then our sophomore year Maggie and Sis moved into another house and Lorie and I moved into an apartment.  Sis and Maggie's house number was 1216.  So it just kinda stuck.

We have all known each other for ever, but became really close while we were at Alabama.  Sis and I lived together our freshman year (Just a random story:  the first day we moved into the dorm, our whole entire family came down.... grandparents, parents, siblings-probably close to 15 people- to help us move in.  We definitely had more people there than anyone else moving in that day.  I remember walking across the street to our sorority house after telling them goodbye for the "last" time and Sis quietly told me to keep walking and don't turn around.  Obviously, I'm going to and I look and there they are all lined up and every single one of them are crying.  For us, it was the first day of this big adventure, but it was like they watched us turn into women as we walked across the street.  You would have thought they would never see us again.  When in reality, they were all there the next weekend for the football game.)

Anyways, I have a lot of great memories with these girls.  Every Tuesday night we had "family night" where we would all get together and cook.  Then we would watch our favorite t.v. shows.  When the show The O.C. came out, we all skipped class for 2 days trying to catch up on the first season.  Not something I'm super proud of now, but at the time it was a lot of fun!  Family night grew to be a huge group of people and Maggie's sister and her friends (who are still at Alabama) still have there own version of family night.

These are some of the members of the original 1216 family.

The first picture is from what we call "1216 Comes to Dallas."  Which is basically when Sis, Maggie, and Lorie drove out to Dallas when I lived there (I guess that's pretty self explanatory!).

I have so many great memories with these people.  I would name a few more, but it's 1:15am and I'm pretty tired!  So that will have to wait!

We went to eat and then decided to go and see The Blind Side.  We drove across town to the 10:00pm showing and it was sold out when we got there.  That was a major bust.  I did however, let them talk me into buying a really cute pair of boots that I have no outfit to wear with them.  So now I have to find an outfit to match the shoes!  And after reading over those last two sentences, I realize how extremely shallow that sounds.

Now I'm off to bed.  My roomate is gone and I have officially freaked myself out like 100x!  I don't know why, because she couldn't really do anything if she was here.  Oh well, hopefully I will get some sleep!

**UPDATE:  After I posted this, I read this on another friend's blog.  Such a great reminder.

So I need to brag on myself for a moment.... my friend Lacy and I got up and were at the gym at 5:30am this morning.  I read in a magazine something about how you aren't supposed to tell people you are working out or trying to eat right because then you are less likely to do it.  The odds are already pretty against us so maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it, but I'm really not sure it will happen again so I need to boast while I still can!  (Side note:  By 9:30 I was ready for lunch and a nap......it's not looking good!)

I feel like Lacy has an advantage though because she has a 2 month old baby.  Why is that an advantage?  Because the hardest part is the actual getting out of the bed process and when you are already up at 4:45 feeding your baby, the hardest part of the battle is already won. 

Now, I do realize that I will have the advantage when I get to go home from work and take care of no one but myself while she is having to take care of a husband and 2 kids.  So maybe we are even.

I've wanted to post an update on what the Lord is teaching me right now, but everytime I try I just get overwhelmed and don't even know where to start. 

So to just sum it up very shortly..... I'm learning A LOT about faith and how to trust the Lord.  I heard someone say on Sunday that "the opposite of faith is not doubt, but disobedience." 

I'm also learning how to not worry or be anxious- which I think falls under the trusting the Lord stuff.  I'm definitely a work in progress in this area and I have a long way to go.  Taking every thought captive is a lot of work!  I'm such an analyzer.  I analyze every situation and over think waaaay to much!  Then the over analyzing turns into fear and then it can just go down hill from there.  So it's definitely a daily thing to just surrender it all over to the Lord.

I haven't posted pics of a lot of recent happenings so here are a few....

Several weeks ago we kicked off fall by havnig a camp out.  The bonfire didn't make it in the picture, but the moon walk did!  And yes, we definitely had a moon walk ran by a generator in the middle of the woods!

Stacey, Charli, and I in the moonwalk.

We also hosted a Pumpkin Carving contest at our house.  We had about 40 people over to carve pumpkins and eat soup.  I really just put this picture on here because I never did a post about where I live now.

This is the group of people that were left at the end of the night and all of the pumpkins.

Everyone carving their pumpkins in the driveway.

This is Autumn and I in are Bunk-o-ween costumes.  There were only 3 of us that dressed up.  And we basically just wrapped sheets around ourselves and said we were Greek goddesses or something like that.

This is my Halloween costume.  It took me forever to decide, but I finally decided on a gypsy.  It was actually really easy.  I had a fake nose ring that everyone kept asking me if it was real---I don't think I'm hard core enough for a nose ring.  I know you can't see the whole costume, but it was basically a skirt with boats.

I apologize if there are any misspelled words... I can't find the spell check since I updated my posting stuff.

Psalm 91

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust."

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare

and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—

even the LORD, who is my refuge-

10 then no harm will befall you,

no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;

you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;

I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble,

I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him

and show him my salvation."

A random little post

I saw on another blog where someone did a post of the pictures they had on their phone, so I thought I would post some of mine. Some of them are very random!

These were some cupcakes that I made for a friend's birthday.

My dog

Me and Karley when I was in Dallas last summer

Um.... this is something I saw in a magazine and I gave it to my cousin, Sis. I thought it was pretty hilarious!!!

It says, "Hey baby, want to rub some lotion on my back?" haha!

I know yall are going to think I'm so weird!  But I'm ok with it!

My sweet little buddy, Logan!

 
Logan and his dog.

Kaley

If I ever see something strange, I take a picture of it so everyone else can see it too. I thought this Easter Bunny was very disturbing. It's life size. I don't think any kid would want something like this.

Me and Dillion (one of the little kids I used to babysit).

Dillion, Kaydence, and Haley

Logan at the Zoo

Lake

My dad's father's day card. I had to add the "s" so it could be

from both me and my sister.

Kaley and Logan at the mall

Flowers

This is Eve. It was painted on a nursery wall at a church we helped out at. I just thought it was a little risque for the church nursery.

And here is Adam

 

The snake we/my friend Cody killed in our driveway.

Some more flowers that I really like the colors of.

Spiderman (AKA my friend Hunter)-My first experience at face painting at Children's Hospital

Catch-Up Post #1

I have a lot of bloggging to catch up on. I have seriously been working on this post for like 3 weeks. Everytime I start it I get interrupted.

So the first post is mine and Charli's trip to the Alabama vs. Arkansas game. Last year, Charli and I got tickets from her dad's boss to this game and we got lucky again this year. He has really good seats.

On the way there, the weather wasn't looking too promising. We had so much stuff to take into the game-a whole roll of trash bags so we could use them to sit on, towels, rain coats/ponchos, etc.

Here we are walking into the game. (Last year we lost our car when we came out and spent almost an hour walking around looking for it-In our defense it was really late and really dark.) It poured until right when we got in and then it stopped. It ended up being a really good day after all of the rain.

These definitely came in handy! And I'm always looking for a good excuse to wear them!

Right before the game started.

Charli and I after getting drenched from the rain.

I think it's so funny how the people you are sitting by at the games somehow become like your best friends while you are there (Even though you have never seen them before and will most likely never see them again). I felt bad for the man in front of us because 1.) He was crazy 2.)I think he really was hoping to have some really energetic people around him who were as crazy as he was.

At one point we scored and he turned around screaming and looked at Charli and I. I think he was hoping we would bump chests with him or something manly like that. We didn't though. The best part was when he is standing up raising his hands to try and have everyone else stand up with him. Everyone just kind of looked at him and kept watching the game. Then something exciting happened so we stood up for that. I looked at this man and he had a grin on his face-I really believe in his heart that he thought he was the reason all 80,000 or so people in the stadium were standing. Poor Guy! He had his son with him too. The son basically stayed facing the opposite way in a fetal position because he was so embarrassed by his crazy father.

Then the lady on the other side of me was a grandmother that had brought her little grandson with her to the game. He was probably 7 or 8. She and I talked a little but nothing meaningful. She didn't get my name or anything like that, but for some reason she trusted me to watch her grandson while she went to the bathroom. I know I'm pretty overly cautious about a lot of stuff, but I could have been a crazy too and walked out with her grandson. Maybe I have a trusting face or something.

Anyways, Alabama won and it was a lot of fun!

I hate titles.

I feel terrible today. My throat isn't hurting, but it's definitely not feeling normal. My head hurts and I'm scared I am getting sick. Normally if I don't feel well or if I have any type of pain I do not try and keep it to myself. I'm pretty quick to let everyone know. And usually it isn't anything serious, but this isn't me just being a little dramatic. I really do feel strange. Hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow and feel better.

My body is a little achy, but I'm thinking it might be because I did this last night:


It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. The funniest part was that I was doing the video while my roommate laid on the couch watching me. She was my motivator :)

I saw an advertisement for this the other day:

I would love to go! My Grammy used to take me and my two cousins when we were little. We went every single year, but I haven't been in forever. We may try and get a group of girls to go.

Here are some pictures from this past weekend. It was my friend Charli's birthday and another friend of ours. Our celebration was not quite as eventful as it was last year, but it was fun hanging out with everyone.

Autumn and I at Mellow Mushroom for the party

April and I (She is expecting a baby boy, Levi, in December. I'm making her baby shower invitations and I'm super excited about it!)

This is one of the cutest familes ever! Josh and Lauren and their sweet baby, Dillion. They are fairly new to our ministry and God has done a lot in their lives over the past few months. I love them and can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for their family!

Me and Mal

Dillion
Several weeks ago I got the idea in my head that I wanted my bangs to be shorter. I saw a picture of a friend who had really cute bangs and I wanted some. Every once in a while I go through this phase where I want bangs, but then when I get them I always regret it. They are so annoying and they never look as good on me as they seem to on everyone else. (FYI: I had real full out bangs until 9th grade! haha! It was a big deal when I let them grow out!)

So one day I just decided that I would cut them myself. I was kinda in the middle of an "emotional moment" and decided that bangs might make me feel better. Um... they did for about 5 mins and then I remembered how annoying they are and I was over them. So for the past few weeks I've pretty much worn them pulled back every day. Hopefully they will be grown out very soon.

Here is a random picture of me at the beach with the shorter bangs. This is pretty much the only time I have worn them down since I cut them.

Ok, I'm leaving work now and heading to bunko.