Past Due

I never posted pictures from the Bridal Shower for my friend Joy that I helped host.  So here they are.

Joy (Who got married this past Saturday) and the main table.  I'm obsessed with fresh flowers right now.  Especially hydrangeas!  I love this arrangement!  I wasn't sure at first because I had to leave the hydrangeas in my car for several hours the day before (without water).  By the time I got them home they were really pitiful looking.  But I cut the stems and put them in water and it was like a miracle before my eyes, because they just popped back up (popped may not be the right word because it did take a few hours)!  I was so excited!

The Fruit and Punch Table.

The main table before all of the food

Those are peacock feathers.  The colors were turquoise, black, and lime green so we used these to bring it all together.  

That's all for this post.  I'm about to leave work and hopefully go home, change, and then go walking/running.  A friend and I met on Saturday and walked together.  We are trying to do it more often.  It's a great time to get to know each other and exercise.  Hopefully I will run before we walk, but I'm not making any promises!  I just know I need to get back in the habit. 

Happy Monday!  It's almost over!

On a serious note.

Sometimes I forget what I actually post on here.  There have been a few times that I have written out a post and just never published it.  It sounds good in my head, but then when I read it out loud it just isn't what I thought.  

I say that to say, in this post I might refer to things I have already mentioned, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself.

Last night I was reading the book of Hosea.  I have read these specific verses before and they really stuck out to me.  I just couldn't figure out why I was so intrigued by them.... until last night.  I was moved by these verses, but just didn't have the words for it.

Hosea 2:14

"Therefore I am now going to allure her;

I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her."

I'm pretty positive it's God talking about Israel right here.  But I've mentioned before that I have felt like the past 4 years of my life have been a desert time for me.  Not in a "I've been miserable" kind of way, but just a time that I've really felt God took me to a place where I could really hear from him.  He removed some things in my life that were causing distractions. Forever I thought it was about physical location.  After I had moved several different times and nothing seemed to change, I realized it was a matter of the heart.  

This verse is exactly what God has done in my life.  There were some things he used to allure me to this place.  I guess He knew I was not going to willingly walk there on my own.  Once I realized it, there were many days I fought it.  I often wished I could turn around and go back. I don't know when, but there was a point I finally surrendered and just told the Lord I would do whatever He wanted me to do.  I didn't know what that was then, and I really don't know what it is now.  

I just know that I'm ready, whenever He chooses to reveal the next step for me.  

I really feel like this "desert" time in my life is beginning to slowly come to an end.  I feel so relieved and happy, but I also feel a little sad.  Looking back, it was hard.  But sooo worth it.  It has been such a precious time with me and the Lord.  A time I know I'll never get back.  I hope that I wasn't so focused on getting through it that I missed the beauty that was in it.  

In the last verse of Hosea 2 it says this:

"I will plant her for myself in the land;

I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one.'

I will say to those called 'Not my people, You are my people'

and they will say, 'YOU are MY GOD."

That last line pretty much sums it up for me.  I have always been able to tell the Lord, "You are God."  And I meant it.  I have never doubted it.  But before the "desert" I don't think I could really say "You are my God."

That's really all I know to say about it.

Disappointed

I had a dream last night that I won free airline tickets.

I was so bummed when I woke up this morning and realized it was a dream.  

In my dream I had already decided where I was going and everything.  Such a let down!

Another disappointment....when I walked in the bathroom this morning at work and realized my middle button of my shirt was completely unbuttoned, showing much more than you want to show in the office.  Actually much more than I want to show anywhere!  I have no idea how long it had been like that.  The sad thing is that I'm no longer surprised when stuff like this happens to me.  I just buttoned it up, shook my head, and walked back out.  

One thing I'm not disappointed about is something new I'll be doing at Children's Hospital now.  I've mentioned before that I volunteer there once a week.  Well the opportunity came up for me to be what they call a "Volunteer Coordinator." 

Once a month they have "Fun Night at the Harbor" (The Harbor center is a building that was built to give kids in the hospital, or their families, something to do if they have to stay in the hospital for long periods of time.  They have a basketball court, a game room, karaoke, a gym, and some other fun stuff for them).  Well the current coordinators are in med school so they are moving to do their rotations in May.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and so now I'm getting to take over the coordinator position (it's still volunteer, FYI).

I went last night to hang out with them and learn what all goes on.  I had so much fun and can't wait to get started!

 

I have to finish filling out my tax forms now :(

P.S.  This weekend I painted an armoire for my room when I move.  I will get before and after pics up soon!  It looks so good!  And the best part...It was free!

Bored to death!

It's Friday afternoon on a BEAUTIFUL day and I am sitting at work.  Needless to say, I am so bored!

I am sitting at our front desk which is nice today because I can see outside......

The bad part is that I'm not on my computer so I can't get anything done that I could be working on.

The office is DEAD today.  The parking lot is pretty much empty, but I'm here until 7 :'(  This is what I'm listening to.  

You may not can hear that, but it's the sound of four clocks ticking away.  It's putting me to sleep.

I really want to be outside in a park somewhere.  Possibly laying on a blanket reading a book.  Speaking of books, I ended up starting this one:

It really makes you think.  If you don't know what it's about, click here.  This is really all I could find to give a description.

Ok, it's finally time to go.  I'm off to bunko.

Weekend of Birthdays.

This weekend was busy with family birthdays.  Friday was my cousin Kristen's (Sis) birthday, Saturday was my little cousin's 16th birthday and we celebrated Logan's 2nd birthday.  

Friday night my Aunt gave my cousin a surprise party for her 16th at my grandmother's house.  It was suppposed to be outside by the pool, but it rained here for about 5 days straight so we had to move it inside at the last minute.  

My aunt hired a DJ for the party.  The 15 and 16 year olds weren't much into dancing in front of everyone, but my entire family throughly enjoyed it!  I'm pretty sure my little cousin was a bit humilated!  But what are families for, right?!?!

I took a little video of the weekend.  Here are a few things you will see:  

1.  Kaley doing her own dance moves.  She had no help and I have no idea where a four year old learned some of those! 

2.  My Grammy dancing with a group of 16 year olds!  

3.  Logan getting his hair cut in the sink.  It's the only way he will sit still long enough for me to cut it.  I love doing it!  We have so much fun playing in the water and he thinks it's hilarious to get me wet.  

My uncle says it is going to be a problem when he gets older and goes in for a hair cut and proceeds to get naked and ask where the sink is.  

4.  Logan scared to death of the Chick-fil-A cow at his birthday party.  Poor little guy!  For the rest of the party he kept telling everyone "I not yike dat cow."  

5.  I think it's Kaley singing Happy Birthday and she is a bit off key! haha!  

**For  those of you who don't know, Kaley and Logan are my cousin's kids.

Don't judge me or my family based off of this video :)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Spring Cleaning

I have got to get more organized.  

The key ingredient for this is I have to slow down and figure out how not to be as busy as I am now.  

Most people seem clean on the outside, but if you were to open drawers or closets you would find chaos.  Well my problem is I am organized (for the most part) in all the places you don't see, but I need to get control of a few things.  I just don't have time to.  

This weekend is it!  I have a few things I have to do, but I'm making the time.

I started today with my check book.  I'm awful about writing things down and I just depend on the internet when it comes to checking my account.  But I went to the bank and got a transaction register the other day.  Hopefully it will make me more aware of my spending and I will save more money.  We will see how it goes!

Tonight I'm going to wash clothes.  That should take care of the problem with my room :)

My car isn't that bad right now.  But it could use a little attention.

I'm getting ready to clean off my desk at work.  It's in desperate need of dusting.  

Also, in regards to the second paragraph of this post, problem is fixed!  Yeah!  My life is now a little easier.

One last thing.... I am in a bible study where we only meet once a month.  This month we are supposed to read a book.  It can be any kind of book (Christian book, of course.), we just have to read it.  

Ever since the movie "The End of the Spear" came out, I sparked an interest in Elizabeth Elliott.  Something about going to live with the tribe that killed your husband was intriguing to me.  I have wanted for a long time to read something by her.  I remembered a friend telling me something she read once in one of her books.  So I found out the name of the book.  It's called "Passion & Purity." I got on Amazon today to see what it was about and I was a little disappointed.  It's a basically a book for singles.  

To be honest, I'm finally at a place in my life where I am content with my facebook relationship status.  There are days that I think it would be nice to have a boyfriend (i.e.  when I have to pay for my own dinner.  ha! jk!), but I'm excited about where I have been and where I am going.  So I looked some more and found another one she wrote for her daughter called "Let Me Be a Woman."

I think I might go with it.  We'll see.  It looks like I will be making a trip to BAM or the Christian book store tonight.

P.S.  I am working late today and their is obviously someone else in the building because there is a little girl that keeps riding past my desk on a razor scooter (we have several of these around our office and you never know who will be riding around on them).  It's making me nervous.  She just stopped and starred at me for a good 30 seconds.  I smiled and she just stood there.  I'm really good with kids, but that was awkward.

Shopping Tips

I saw this blog post and thought I would comment on it.  A few months ago a friend sent me this website:

www.shopittome.com

I'm usually leery about stuff like this, but basically what you do is check all of the brands of clothes you are interested in.  Then they send you what's on sale every week.  

I'm just now getting into the whole internet shopping stuff.  I like to try stuff on and see it in person before I buy it.  Even if I can send it back.  I hate the post office and prefer to stay as far away as possible so I don't like to risk the fact of not liking it.  But recently I've began to find a lot of stuff online that is cheaper and there is more variety.

So if you like to buy stuff on sale (especially expensive name brands) or like shopping online, check it out!

A first.

Some of my best friends, Matt & Erika had their precious baby boy yesterday, Colton Willis Morton.  I was so excited because several of my friends and family have had babies over the past few years, but I haven't been here to experience any of the births.  

I went to see Erika and the baby yesterday when I got off of work.  When I first got there, there were still several people visiting so I had to wait a while before I got to hold him.  I ended up getting to stay longer than I thought after everyone else left.  Matt had to leave to go home and get a few things, so I stayed with Erika and her mom.  

It was so fun to just sit and hang out with her and the baby.  I thought I pretty much knew most things about birth and babies, but I learned a few more yesterday.  I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or not :/

Introducing Baby Colt!

He has the prettiest coloring and skin!  

I tried for a long time to get a good picture of him.

Please notice my new gladiator sandals in the background.  I got them for Christmas and I finally had a warm day to wear them.

I want one of these ONEday.  Not any time soon though.

Weekend Review.

This weekend was busy, but a lot of fun.

Friday started off with my normal routine of volunteering at Children's from 8-12.  After that I went to get some decorations and food for the Linger shower we were having that night.  Luckily, I wasn't having to plan that much of it.  

Here are some pics of the shower...

Yummy Cake from Edgars!

Mexican Fiesta

A vase I borrowed from my grandmother.  The next day it rolled out of the back of my car and splattered all over the driveway. Fantastic!

"All the Single Ladies.."  Mallory, Charli, and Me

Joy (The Bride) after the "Panty Poem"---Such a cute game!  Please notice the awesome Granny Panties on the far right!  

Group Picture

After the shower, I had to drive about 25 minutes away to a D-NOW I was helping lead.  I was already exhausted and it was time change weekend.... still not sure why they would plan a DNOW on time change weekend!  The whole way there I really had to pray that God would put my heart in the right place.  I just was not in it.  It was a very last min. thing and I wasn't going to be able to stay then entire time because of other things I already had going on. 

It ended up being a blessing and the girls were great!  I stayed there until 2 on Saturday and then headed to babysit.

Sunday afternoon we worked on our mission projects.  My group went to a single mom's house who lost her husband about 2 years ago.  She was in the bed with pneumonia but we got to hang out with her sweet kids while we worked.  

I really realized how much I take for granted.  I meant to take a before and after pic, but I forgot.  These are all I took.

Posting like crazy!

I just went to the bathroom and realized I only put mascara on one eye this morning.  I obviously got distracted while I was putting my makeup on.  

Also, my car door has still not been fixed.  It took me 10 minutes to get out of the car this morning.  I broke out in a sweat, was out of breath, and thought I had pulled a muscle in my back by the time I finally got out.  I HAVE to get that fixed.  Very soon!

It's no secret that I have been addicted to reading other people's blogs.  I don't know why I am so intrigued by them.  Maybe because I have gotten some good ideas from them or for the same reason I like reality t.v. (even though I'm not really sure what the answer to that is either).  But I have decided that I have to restrict myself.  

I really think it's awesome that people can post prayer request and struggles they are dealing with.  I have said before how amazing it is that there are thousands of people all over praying for people they don't know and will probably never meet. However, I have to take a break from reading all of these.  I have felt this way for a while, but just kept telling myself it was dumb.  I mainly feel like this because I keep reading about all of these terrible things people are going through.  As crazy as it is, I have prayed for a lot of the people I have read about.  But once you read so much of it, for me it begins to consume my mind.  I just keep thinking "What if that happens to me?" or "What if I have a baby with that disease?" I know I can't hide from everything in the world, but I can't keep putting myself in situations that cause me to live in fear like that. 

So that's just a random note.

On something completely different, my cousin wanted to get some cute invitations for Logan's birthday this year.  I found some online and even though they weren't crazy expensive, I told her I would see what I could come up with.  So here is my design:

I think they are pretty stinkin cute!

A little surprise.

I woke up Sunday morning to my dad telling me to go and look outside.  This is what I found:

As beautiful as the snow was, it wasn't a great day for it.  My friend Courtney's bridal shower was that afternoon.  I had to get to the church at some point so I went ahead and tried to make it.  What should have taken 15 mins. at the most took about 50.  I seriously drove 10-15 mph the whole way.  If I was going to go off of the road and hit anything, I didn't want to be going fast enough to do any damage.

This is on my way to church.  I know it was so unsafe, that's why it only last about 6 seconds.

By the time I went in church and came out, most of the snow had melted.  It was like a whole new day outside.

The End of an Era

My sister's pageant was Saturday night.  She won 2nd!  We were all excited for her!  I think my dad was probably the most excited over everyone.  He is finally done with cheerleading and pageants!  I can't tell you the money he has offered and bribes he has tried to make to get both me and Cass to give these up.  He is definitely not a pageant/cheerleading dad.  He is the dad that makes fun of the girls that mess up! haha!  Those of you who know my dad, know this is true and hilarious!

My mom threatened to get him a "Cheer Dad" shirt.  He shot it down before she could even complete the sentence.  He finally had one of his dreams for his girls come true a few weeks ago when my sister made the golf team.  It's so random and no, she's never really played golf before, but she did the best out of all the other girls during tryouts.  From what I hear, that's not saying much.

Cass at home in her interview outfit.

Answering her Top 10 Question

Sportswear

Formal Wear

Waiting to take pictures before the pageant

Cass and Me (AKA:  Her personal assisstant for the day--?  Apparently that's what she thought)

Getting pictures made.  She looks like such a DIVA in this picture!  These pics aren't that great, but I just took them while he was taking the professional ones.

After it's over.

Poor dad, we are working on his picture taking skills.

Cass and Grammy (I love this lady!)

Grandparents

Grandparents

Me, Sis (my cousin), and Maggie-->They came out to watch

Me and Mags

Bunko

My Bunko Friday night went really well.  My food, wasn't quite as good as I would have liked, but there's not much you can do when it's over.  Here's a recap of the food:

Lasagna Cups:  Really good, but next time I will use more garlic

Alfredo:  A complete mess!  The cheese refused to melt in the sauce and it just wasn't good.  Next time I want Olive Garden alfredo sauce, I'll just go eat there.

Spinach Dip:  This is an amazing recipe!  If you like spinach dip, you have to try it.  Everyone said it was the best they have ever eaten.  

Mini Cheesecakes:  The cheesecake part was very good.  They had Reese's in the middle of them, but they didn't melt as much as I would have hoped.  There was also too much graham cracker in the bottom of the pan.  

Overall everything turned out really great!  I love Bunko nights.  Playing is so fun, but we always end up sitting around talking after.  Our conversations are so unpredictable!

The Tables.  I forgot to take a picture before everyone got there (Probably because everything took way longer for me to cook than expected and I was running way behind!) so I had to set it back up at the end of the night so I could get a pic.

Charli and Stacey

Watching the "Dancing With the Stars" work out video that was one of my prizes.  Notice it says "watching" the workout video :)

P.S.  There is a certain show that I will not even say the name of anymore but it involves one man trying to find the love of his life among 25 different women.  I hate that show and I will never, NEVER watch it again.

That's all I am saying.

EVER!