It's nice being Home

It has been about three years since I have gotten to partake in normal day to day activities with my family.  Even though I have loved being in Texas, I still missed it!  So much has changed since I have been gone.  Friday night, I went with my sister and cousins to a Friday night movie outside at our local Civic Center.  It was so fun to just be able to hang 

out without the thoughts of only having a few more days to see them during a short visit. 

I do not know how much longer I will be able to do this, because I honestly have no idea what is in store for my life, but while I am here I'm going to enjoy it!

Me and Kaley (Candace's little girl)

Candace, Me, and Sis

Me and My Cousin, Sis (AKA:  Kristen- Long story, but we have called her Sis her whole life.)

Me and Logan (My cousin, Candace's, little boy.  Candace is Sis' sister.)

Me and My Sister

"Blogs I read"

So I just posted some of the blogs I like to read.  I will go ahead and admit that I do not know any of these people, but I'm assuming if you put your life on a blog, you want to share it with the world.  

Some of the families are just interesting (2 of them have quads) and others have amazing stories to share.  

I found most of these people by just clicking on other people's blogs.

Hope you enjoy them!

Goin to the Chapel.....

Well this past weekend was a much anticipated event...... one of my best friends got married. The wedding was beautiful (as was the bride!) and in my opinion the whole event could not have went any better.

Most of the wedding party was from Gardendale, so it ended up being a great reunion!  At the reception there were more G'dale people and I loved getting to see everyone!  There are so many people that have been called to other places, but yet there is just a bond that you have with these people.  It's so fun to just hang out with them!

Here is a recap of the weekend......  

I left after work on Wednesday and headed up to Memphis. I didn't get there until late Wednesday night, but that still gave me and Linz some time to practice her hair for the wedding (I did her hair and makeup).  

Thursday morning we got up and went to the Nail Salon for manicures and pedicures.  My nails are hopeless so I just enjoyed the pedicure.  After that Linz and I went to the mall.  I decided I wasn't happy with the dress I brought for the rehearsal dinner, so I treated myself to a new one. Which I am very glad I did that!  Except for some reason all of the bridesmaids wore black and white, and I was wearing an orange/red dress.  Let's just say I was easy to find within the crowd.  

I am so glad we got to spend a little time together before everything got so hectic.  She and I have really only been good friends for about 3 1/2 years.  And most of that time I have been in Dallas.  So most of our relationship has been over the phone...... which I think is crazy but awesome!  (On a side note... I have great friends and instead of friendships fading when I moved, most of them just got stronger!  And I made new friends in the process.... I love it!) But when Linz and I do have some time to hang out, we have to savor those moments because they are few and far between.

Thursday night was the lingerie shower.  It was so much fun!  And that's about all the details I can say about that!

All of the bridesmaids came in before the Lingerie shower, so most of us spent the night together on Thursday night.  It was so fun catching up with these girls I hadn't seen in such a long time.

Friday we got up (about 8 of us got ready at the same house) and went to the Bridesmaids Luncheon.  We were actually on time, despite the fact that I was finishing getting ready in the car.  But seriously.... that's not surprising to a lot of people.  And in my defense I was helping some people finish their hair.  The luncheon was at a tea room type place.  The food was very tasty!  The dessert was fabulous!

After the luncheon we were able to go back to the house and get some much needed rest.  

After resting several of the girls and I went to the hotel and checked in for the night before the wedding.  No way all of us would be able to get ready the morning of the wedding in the same house.

Friday night was the Rehearsal dinner.  Once again, it was fun to hang out with

people that have been great friends at some point in my life, but I haven't seen them in forever! I also made some new friends through the whole process.

Saturday was great!  I didn't have to be at the church until 1pm.  Which meant that I didn't have to get up early.  So around 9am, several of us met in the lobby for breakfast at the hotel.  And again, I loved seeing and catching up with people that I haven't seen in forever.  Unless you just knew, you would have never known we hadn't hung out in years!  

However, I really wasn't expecting the lobby of the hotel to be full of Gardendale people I hadn't seen in 3 years...... I looked terrible and that was not the way I was hoping to run into them!

I got ready the best I could and then headed to the church.  Linz was already there so we started on her hair right away.  I started feeling the pressure of how important it was that her hair looked great that day!  Not only was it the most important day of her life, but around 1500

 people would be there to see it.  But it was fabulous hair!  Some of my best to date!  I'm pretty sure it was exactly what she wanted!  Makeup was great too!

After the wedding it was time for the reception, which went by so fast!  And then before

 we knew it, they were off!

I'm so excited for them!  I can't wait until she gets back so we can review the wedding and see if it was as great to her as it was to everyone else (which I am positive it was!). 

Here are a few pictures of the weekend....

Bridesmaid Luncheon

 Lingerie Shower

And they're off....

Me and "The Wingos"

The bridesmaids singing and dancing before we walked out.

And then the icing on the cake was that I got to see these people.....

Da, Dum, Da Dum, Daaaaa, Da.......

.......That my friends is the graduation march song (Incase you couldn't tell).

Yesterday, I received a graduation packet in the mail.  It was definitely a dose of reality.  It had not hit me that I am really graduating, but at that moment I got it!  And now I am starting to feel the stress of not having a "real" job.  I'm praying that God will open the doors for whatever He wants me to do.  He has provided a step by step plan these past three and a half years, so I am completely confident that He will provide once again!  Unfortunately, the answers never come when I want them :(  I would love to have the security of knowing now what I will be doing in the next few months.  But it just never seems to happen that way.

So for now, I'm praying that He will direct me where He wants me.  

Much anticipated update.....for my millions of readers! ha!

Well, I hate that I haven't had any time to update. Mainly because that means that my post are always long. I'm going to try and only give the major details to prevent that from happening. So here goes...

First let me say that I am actually writing this from Dallas. I made the trip back for Karley's graduation which was yesterday. It has been such a great visit. It still feels like this is my second home. It's weird because the way I used to feel when I would go back to Bama for a visit, is how it feels here now. I'm leaving in the morning at 6:30am :'( so that I can make it back in time for work.

So now that I have mentioned work, I'll go ahead and say that I love my job! It is such a blessing. I love the people I work with and actually look forward to going everyday. The job itself is crazy busy though. The other day I got to work and had 23 emails and 8 phone messages waiting on me. That was a bit overwhelming. I am the Home Team Cordinator for one of the teams out on the road. My team is the team that travels to the beaches to do the SL Camps there. They have five beach camps and four regular youth camps. The youth camps are scattered out in various states all over.

This past week was more overwhelming than any I have had so far. Our camp in Daytona is in July, but everything for that camp was due on Monday. So that means that I had youth ministers calling needing to know what they need to have in and then once they found out they began sending in their rooming list and other forms. Part of my job is to enter all of these rooming list into our system. The stressful part is that Daytona has almost 7000 people attending! So now you see where the overwhelming part comes in. But the great news is that I got all of the list entered in that we have so far. That is huge because I am not way behind. I did have help from several co-workers though! It's so fun to talk to the different minsters all over the U.S. I've even had a couple that I actually know.

I started my last three classes last week. They are all online. I have also submitted my graduation application since the last time I wrote. That was a surreal moment for me.

Living at home is going way better than I ever could have expected. I am really enjoying getting to spend time with my family. However, with working from 8:30-5 I don't have a ton of spare time. I have had something going on every weekend since I've been home, so I'm looking forward to things slowing down a bit (but I don't know if that's ever really going to happen).

So seriously....life is going good! God has blessed me!

Quick Update

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update......work is great!  I LOVE my job!  It's really crazy busy right now with camps coming up, but hopefully soon I can write more in detail.

Stuffing an elephant in a suitcase.....

That's pretty much the only way to describe what my mom and I have been doing the past few hours. But the good news is that my car is packed up and ready to go. I have pics that I will post later.
Please pray that we have a safe drive home tomorrow (Friday). You can see nothing out of my back window....I think mom and I will have to get in the car, suck in, then shut the doors. That's how packed it is!
It's supposed to be a 10 hour drive, but with just me and my mom it always ends up being longer. We have developed some frequent stops over the past few years that we like to hit on the drive.
So I'm off to bed!

Week in Review

So this is how last week went and how my last week in Dallas will go.

LAST WEEK:

MONDAY: I had to sub all day. It was my last day to sub and it was a great day to end on! After working, I came home and studied some more for a test I had that night. I left early to go to a 6:30 review session before our 8pm test. During the review the power went out all over campus so we didn't have to take our test. Needless to say it was a great night! We got another whole week to study.

TUESDAY: Tuesdays are my long days at school. I had so much I had to do that day and miraculously it all got done. And I got good grades on it all! I had my funeral plan due (which I talked about in a previous post), a paper for another class, and a test all in one day. After my classes were over at 3, I went to work at the gym from 4-9. It was such a long day!

WEDNESDAY: When I got up, I started cleaning out my closets. The pile of clothes that came from the "bad" closet was the success I had. After cleaning, I went to lunch with my friend Brittney. It was probably my last time to hang out with her for a very very long time. After lunch I rode with Karley and Ann down to Waxahatchie for Karley to take her Senior pictures. I was basically Karley's personal assistant tending to the hair and make-up needs throughout the day. We got back home around 9:30 or so that night.

THURSDAY: I had class from 9:30 until 2. After class I came home and rested. At that point I was physically exhausted because of everything I had going on earlier during the week. That night Ann and I went to see "Baby Mama." We had some free tickets that expired that day so we had to use them. Very cute movie!

FRIDAY: I packed some more, ran (which I am still doing. With the craziness over the last few weeks, I have been running two or three times a week. But I guess it's better than nothing), and then went to work from 4-7 at the gym. This was my last day there. I'm sad to leave the friends I was just starting to make, but will not miss that job! After work I came home and packed some more. This time I tackled all of my drawers in my dresser and my desk.

SATURDAY: I got up and packed some more things. Then I cleaned out the inside of my car. I vacuumed and wiped everything down. It hasn't been that clean in a while. Saturday night I met my friend Tiffany at the mall. We went to eat at Cheesecake Factory and then saw "Made of Honor." It was great! I'm really going to miss Tiffany...She is another friend from DBU and we just "clicked" when we met.

This is a picture of she and I the first night we really became friends.

In this picture we are at Speed Zone in Dallas. This is the first event I ever attended with DBU. They had an All Night Party for all of the students. Some how we both managed to squeeze into this tiny two seater. There is a funny story to go with it though....She and I had been waiting in line with all of our other friends. When we got to the front of the line, she was going to get to go and I was going to have to wait until the next time. But all of our other friends were already in their go-carts ready to go. So we thought we would be smart and just ride together.

After convincing the guy how important it was that we ride with the rest of our friends and that we could fit in the cart, he finally agreed. So with everyone watching and waiting on us (friends and fellow DBU students) Tiffany and I carefully and forcefully placed our not so tiny bottoms in the go-cart. Once we were in the guy let us out on the track before the rest of the people in the single go carts. When we started to go we noticed that our car seemed slower than usual. Then we started to go up the hill on the track, and realized that we must have been way over the maximum weight capacity. The car was barely moving.

At this point Tiffany and I are hysterically laughing. There are people lined around the fence just watching us as we are flapping our arms and rocking our bodies to try and make it up the hill. In the meantime, we also notice that they haven't let any of the other single carts out yet. So we pull over to wait on them. So now we are just sitting in the middle of the track when one of the workers comes over and ask us what we are doing. When we tell him, he informs us that the double carts are not allowed on the track at the same time as the single carts. So basically he has kept everyone else sitting in their carts at the start of the track just waiting on us while we take our turn. Why in the world he thought we would want to endure that kind of humiliation, I have no idea! While trying to catch our breath from laughing so hard, we explain to the speed zone worker that the whole reason in us riding together was because we wanted to go at the same time as the rest of our friends. He was obviously very confused.

So we pull back into the start with everyone else looking at us like we are idiots. And rightfully so. No one had a clue what was going on. All they knew was that we came from the back of the line and squeezed into this tiny car and then proceeded to take over the track with just the two of us. Our friends and the other students are giving us these death stares. We are laughing so hard we are crying. I'm certain it was a great first impression on my part! haha!

You can't help but to be great friends after an experience like that!

SUNDAY: Today I washed the outside of my car. I packed up the big pile of clothes into two boxes. In a little while I will get ready to go to church for the last time. Well not the last time, but the last time to attend my church out here. Then tonight I will study again for my test tomorrow.

THIS COMING WEEK...THE LAST ONE:

MONDAY: I will probably study and do a little more packing. I have class from 6:30 until 9.

TUESDAY: I have class from 9:30 until 2. Tuesday night I will probably be doing something with the Osborn's for our last family night together.

WEDNESDAY: I'm picking my mom up from the airport around 12:30pm. At 5 she and I will be heading to get a mother/daughter massage! This is part of her mother's day present.

THURSDAY: I have a final at 10:30 and then mom and I are going to Arlington to have lunch with Janice Rogers. Thursday night we will spend some last minute time with the Osborn's and then pack everything up in my car.

FRIDAY: We will be leaving early Friday morning to head to Birmingham. But we aren't going the whole way on Friday. We will be stopping in Tuscaloosa to spend the night (probably). This only saves us an hour though. My cousin has her graduation on Saturday, so it will be easier to just stop and spend the night since we will be right there.

SATURDAY: We have graduation and then are heading to the lake for mother's day. This was my mom's request.

SUNDAY: Spending time at the lake and then home to unpack and get ready for work.

MONDAY: Start my new job!!!!! And a new journey......

Long post, but it sums up everything.

The Beginning of the End.

Well, this is my last week. I can't believe this is the last Sunday I will wake up living in Dallas (As far as I know). I don't know if it has sank in that I really am moving from here. There have been so many come and go moments since I first moved to Texas, I'm not sure it's really hit me that I'm going and not coming back this time.

I'm so overwhelmed with emotions. Happy one minute thinking about what's to come, but at the same time I'm sad to leave what I've known and become so used to over the past three years. Looking back, I can only stand in awe of everything God has done in and through me. I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER would have imagined the direction my life has taken and the experiences I have had.

So it's no secret that I am ALWAYS a last minute packer. It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers everyone around me. My mom gave me specific instructions to have everything packed and ready before she arrives out here on Wednesday. So kudos for me because I am almost completely packed!

I thought I would post some pictures in case anyone is still doubting me. I'm going to go ahead and put the before pics on here too. Let me warn you that I do not have the most organized closets in the world. But let me also remind everyone that I have all of my belongings in one room. So everything I own is in my closets. At some point you can't organize anymore, you just have to get the stuff in there.....

Ok, so this is the bad closet. This is the closet that I just put everything I am not using or I just need somewhere for it to go. I know it's bad, don't judge.

This is the good closet. After looking at it though, it really doesn't look that much better. But the good news is that I know where everything is.

All of these clothes came out of the "bad" closet. I honestly have no idea how they all fit in there.

The "bad" closet again. Everything in here is completely packed and ready to go. It just has to be put in the car.

This is the "good" closet again. All that is left is a couple of pairs of shoes, hanging clothes, and some random things that need to be put in a box. And the clothes basket that has clothes in it I need to wash. But other than that, not too much.

So now there are just a few little things left to do. I am so glad I started this early because I would have been overwhelmed and extremely stressed if I had to do it all at once.