This just made me smile!!! 

Seriously, I don't mind

Right away when people meet me and learn what I do for a living they label me, and it's just something that I have to accept. Which is not a problem. But the one thing that just drives me crazy is how people change the way they act around me because I work in a church. Come On...I'm not a perfect person so don't act like I am and don't act like you have to be perfect around me to.

First off: DON'T APOLOGIZE if you say a cuss word. Seriously, I don't mind. I've heard them before, I've said them before, and I'll probably say them again. So don't act like you can't talk around me the way you talk around your friends. IT'S OK!!

Second: I DRINK Frosty cold ones, so don't act like you shouldn't drink around me, or ask me if it's OK if you drink in front of me. OK, so I'm not a big drinker anyways, but I do enjoy a dacquiri or a beer every now and then. Jesus drank, so it's really no big deal.

Third: I work on Sunday's. I realize that Saturday night's are the big party night, so don't think I'm being rude because I don't stay out late on a Saturday night. It's hard to get up early and function appropriately when you've been out on a Saturday night.

Fourth: I like my job and what I do. So when you find out what my career is PLEASE do not say..."Oh, that's neat." "Good for you." "Oh, you're a 'good' girl." "Wow, that's awesome." Even if you "don't mean it that way" it still sounds like you're mocking me and it makes me want to slap you across the face. (don't think I won't if you bug me enough).

So just some advice to everyone out there...just because someone works for a church, it doesn't make them any different from you. OK. We're still humans who like to have fun and be taken seriously. We can get crazy sometimes too. Working at a church doesn't change who we are, we just chose to work for God instead of in the corporate world.

Manic Monday

A little bit of how my day went:

*I have a bad back...and I know I have a bad back. My mom had scholiosis and so I know that I don't have the best spine. Plus the x-rays that were taken of my back show that it didn't develop with the right curves and I have a shoulder that's lower than the other.....Anyways. I grew up with back pains and I've kind of just learned to live with it and not complain. I've been to the doctor and I've gotten pain pills, but they don't really do much for me anymore. But...my bed is just driving me crazy. Every position I lay in hurts. I try building a fort to support my back, but nothing works. By about 2:00 a.m. my back wakes me up and I can't get comfortable and I'm just miserable for the rest of the night. Which sucks, because then my back hurts and I'm tired.
Well I took Monday off because I've been working alot and I wanted some time to rest. Just my luck, my back woke me up EARLY in the morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. Stink, my day off and I got up early. So that's just me complaining.

* When I get out of the shower I let my hair air dry for a while and then decide my head is cold, so I go to blow dry it. After a couple minutes of blowing, I go to turn off the dryer to brush my hair and it wouldn't turn off. Weird I Thought. Well then the little motor blew up and I'm holding a small fire in my hand. I didn't know what to do. I was scared to go for the plug to un-plug it because I was scared I would get electrocuted. So I'm just standing there in my bathroom holding a blow dryer that has a fire in it. Finally the fire goes out and I unplug it and I lay it on the floor to cool off. But now there's smoke everywhere and it smells like burning. So I turn the fan on and let it blow...somewhere. So I got to buy a new blow dryer yesterday. I got an ION...it's supposed to make your hair shiny. I think it worked a little, but the weather is so gross today that it didn't last.

*I decided I wanted to spend the day at the mall because I still have some Christmas money and I really wanted to buy some cute new outfits. I was in the mall for over an hour and couldn't find anything that I liked. Which I was a little upset about. I just wanted some cute new tops or something, but I walked out of there with nothing.
Although I did talk to the Sprint guy about getting a new phone and renewing my contract. I decided on which on I want. It's pretty awesome. It's a Samsung which is apparently one of the best phones out there. I made him give me a sellers speech about it and why I should get it. I didn't buy it because I'm waiting to get my $150 discount that comes on May 1st. I realize that I don't need a $300 phone...but really, it'll only be $150 when I buy it....I'm such a sucker. Whatever. But he sold me on it....

*I also decided that I should do a bit of cleaning, while I had some time. I should have done more, but I got a little lazy. Really I just through out some dried out roses. I had a friend in college that would dry out bouquets of roses she got and then put them out as dead arrangements. It looked really neat in her place...but she was a little "darker" of a person than I am. Plus I kept them because they were from Matt from Detroit and I just liked the reminder of the sweetness of them. I usually don't just get flower's sent to me randomly, and so I liked that little reminder when I looked at them. But they started taking up room in the kitchen and would leave gross stuff on the table, so I just threw them out. I'm sure that will lighten up the mood in the kitchen.

*The rest of the day was spent watching a movie. But dinner at the neighbor's...Bratwurst, potatoes, sauerkraut, and beer. It was new to me, but I enjoyed it!!

A Love so Sweet

So I know I'm one of the biggest nerds in the world, but I just love the movie "A Walk to Remember." It's just a good story, not something that you could really see happening in real life, but still...
Now for those of you that know me...I'm a crier. It's just in my blood for some reason. So as I'm sitting there watching the movie on my couch, I'm just crying constantly it seems. But that's just me, I cry at every little thing; when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm frustrated, overwhelmed, worried, bored...you get the idea.

But I'm thinking about their "love" that they have for each other. It's basically all based on faith. It has to be because what's-his-face is the rebel-bad-boy that causes all sorts of trouble and she's the goody-two-shoes preachers-daughter. Who would have ever thought that they would get together?
She saw something in him that was good and he just thought she was a frumpy loser...but eventually fell for her. She was a little more persistant than I would have ever been if someone like him treated me the way that he treated her...but that's not the point.

He listened to her and helped her accomplish her lists of things she wanted to do before she died and she believed in him and pushed him to do all the things that he was capable of doing.

Sweet Sweet. Me personally, that's how I picture the guy that sweeps me off my feet. He's the bad boy that switches to this unbelievable person all because of me. I've shared that with a couple people already. That I want that guy with the edge, but in all seriousness is unnaturally sweet and patient.

In the movie he is considered her "miracle". The one that makes her life worth living and makes her illness barable. She has faith in him when everyone thinks he is going to be a failure his whole life.
Of course there's the happy ending (even though she dies)...they love each other, get married, spend the summer together before she leaves...

Aaauuuu, it's sappy, but sooo good. A mini-fairytale...

If only I could find my little "miracle" that has so much faith in me that it overflows in everything we do. Someone who, as Sensefield says, "loves me for me."

Funk

Do you ever feel like the world is just out to get you sometimes. I'm sure everyone has these feelings. But right now...I'm about to kick some but.

I had great weekend plans (well, I guess pre-weekend plans) for my mom to come up for a couple nights to hang out. I'm so busy here, that I really don't have much time to go home. Plus, they were watching Peanut for me while I was gone in Colorado and she was going to bring her back to me. Well, too many people were taking off the day she was asking for, so it ends up she can't come up. I'm sad Peanut won't get back here, but I'm even more sad that my mom and I won't get our girls weekend. We haven't done that in a while and I was really looking forward to that.

Because of my "working" all last week in Colorado, I was planning on leaving the office every day at about 2:00 or so, so far I've stayed til 4:30, 3:34, 7:00 and today when I finally leave, I have to come back here for a concert to finish up some responsibilities and then to lock up. Which, I guess I don't mind doing...but that means I had to cancel some previous commitments.

That and I'm pissed at my cell phone bill always being ridiculously expensive and I can't even make phone calls when I go out of state. Do you realize that I've been to four different states this month and I had to keep my cell phone off for all those times so I didn't have to pay the extra fee. It's nonsense.

But Tuesday was a good day. Some friends from high school came into Austin and we hung out. Carrie is getting married in July so we've been keeping in touch pretty good because, of course, I'm in yet another wedding of a friend. I'm not complaining, I Love her a lot...it's just a little reality check that most of my good friends are either married or in a significant relationship and I can't even find time to sit on my couch let alone meet someone. I should complain. Life is good right now. I don't need a boy to make me happy...although I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.

Anyways...we went to eat at the Olive Garden. Now, I'm not a big fan of Italian food, but that's where they wanted to go, so I obliged. Plus, I love their salad. I think I had about 3 1/2 helpings of it. Plus I finished most of my chicken alfredo, plus we each got some pretty delicious (big) frozen beverages. Needless to say...I was stuffed and I slept like a baby that night.

So life has it's good moments and it's frustrating moments.

My younger brother Daniel is taking is first big trip by himself this weekend and I'm so excited for him. He's going to Michigan to visit a friend of his. They met online and she flew down a couple years ago to go to his senior Prom. She's a really awesome girl, so I'm a little jealous that he get to go visit a friend. Plus, I would love to go to Michigan. Ever since I saw Lake Michigan last fall I really want to go back and see it again. It was gorgeous. But I've already taken my trips for now, I should take a little break before I head out on another journey.

I need to save my money because I want to go to Vegas for my birthday, plus I need to plan a trip back to South Carolina sometime this fall to visit my AWESOME friend LAUREN!!!

Enough Enough...there will be more to come.

"All of my Life I've Been Poppin' my Collar"

I'm just going to sum up the week in a few words because I have tons to do.

Drive to Kerville:
A&M vs. UT
"All of my life I've been Poppin' my collar, Poppin' Poppin' my Collar"
Dancing
CAMEL!!!!!!!!!
Jack in the Box

Kerrville:
Unload the Dully van to load up the charter bus
We each get our own seat
Worship with water placed all over us




Bus ride to Colorado:
Ice Age
Smelly bathroom
Waking up in a Wal-Mart Parking lot...at least there's mountains around it
getting stuck in the snow and having to put on snow chains
stepping off the bus into a good foot of snow!!

Monarch:
First time on a lift and I didn't fall!!
Missed my ski lesson so I basically fell the whole way down my first green. (I think I was up for a good 12 seconds and one time)
Getting a lesson in the afternoon and then kicking butt at skiing
Getting lost and going down a Blue by myself. (I only fell 3 times)

Missing one of my boys and then taking him to the ER in town by Ambulance.
Beautful snow
Negative 6 degrees...COLD!!
HOT ski guys
Hook
Mashed Potatoes

Ride back:
Buffalo!!!!!
Hedgehogs????

Favorite new joke: "What's the hardest part of being a snowboarder?"
"Telling your parents you're gay"

That's funny, ha!!!
Anyways...I'll tell stories later...

Check out some pictures: SKI PICS

"Look at her Pinky"

In High School when my best friend Carrie and I would meet new people one of the first things she would say to them is "look at her pinky."

For those of you who do not know, I burned my hands/arms when I was 5.
The story goes a little like this:
It was some holiday, I'm going to go with Memorial Day, but it could have been Labor day. Anyways, the whole family was out at our house. My brother's and my cousin and my mom decided to go for a walk down the road. I couldn't ride a bike, so I was riding on the back of a bike (the little plastic chairs that attach to it) that my 13 year old cousin was riding. We went down a cul-de-sac to explore and my mother left with my younger brother to go back home.

My two older brother's who were 7 and 9 at the time decided it would be cool to make a fire by rubbing sticks together. "That's going to be awesome", I thought to myself. There were tons of sticks and twigs to do this, so all 4 of us went walking around gathering them.

I found THE PERFECT STICK!! It was sitting on a pile of Coals. Little did I know they were burning coals. I reached for it, and as I reached for it...I fell. Right into the burning coals...I SCREAMED bloody murder. My cousin ran to me and pulled me out, because I obviously didn't realize that I needed to do that. I looked at my hands and they were purple with no skin on them. Gross, I know, I can still picture it. Yucky.

My mother, who was a good distance away, heard my screams and began running to where we were. By that time, my cousin had already put me on the back of the bike to take me back to my house. My mother was running towards us, so she "drove" me the rest of the way home. We put my hands under running water, my skin started to just hang off, so I started to pull it all off...bad idea, and then wrapped them in towels and placed them in a bucket of ice. We got to the Wilson County Memorial Hospital, but my burns were so bad that they couldn't do anything for me and so we journeyed up to San Antonio to Santa Rosa's Children's Hospital.
Well it was bad. I ended up having to stay there for 12 days because of all the infections and what not. Because I peeled most of the skin off of my left hand there wasn't much left to grow. I remember it looking like meat loaf...brown and crusty. There was a time when they thought I would need skin graphs...my mother explained that they would have to take skin off of my "rear end" and put it on my hands. I almost cried. I definitely didn't want doctors to see my bottom.

Anyways...I made some friends with the other sick children. They were obviously sicker than I was, but they were fun to play with. And when my family came to visit me they all had to wear masks and scrubs. They couldn't breathe on my hands.

Anyways, back to high school. Because my whole left hand is basically scare tissue and not skin, I can't straighten my pinky. It's ALWAYS going to be crooked.
But I look at my hand and all I can see is scar after scar and scar. I can see ALL of them and I don't like it. Mostly I'm scared of having to take the picture that most people take on their wedding day. The one of just their hands showing off the rings. Yuck.

<--Well, here is what my hand looks like to the human eye. Yes it just looks like a regular hand. But do you see what I mean when I mark all the scars?
To me, they just jump out and they are pretty gross. Of course, being a girl, I can notice everything.










I bring this up because a couple weeks ago I was showing my scars to a lady that I meet with pretty regularly. We were comparing scars and she kept telling me that she could barely see any of my scars. "WHAT? They're huge and all over." She still couldn't see them.
I can see all them the all the way up to my elbow.

It's weird how some people see something one way and another person can see the complete opposite.

At times I have grown to love my scars because it makes me unique and give me character. But at times I just think they're hideous. OK, so hideous is a strong word, but I definitely do not like them at times. Whatever.
I've just learned to live with them because I know they're not going to change anytime soon.
(<-- What I see)


I guess my whole point to this is, just because you can see something wrong with yourself whether it be mental or physical, you may be the only one who sees it.

Two Girls Take a Trip

We arrive in the beautiful city of Columbia and took a great picture of the two of us outside the state capitol...and what do we see flying high in front of this great establishement....





















The Confederate flag flying high and proud.
We had enough of that. It was time to venture back north and head into the other Carolina...














Well that's nice...the state welcomed us!!
We dropped out awesome Ford Taurus off at the Winstom-Salem airport. It was pretty dead. Good thing Lauren was there to take care of us.




















What a great receptionist she was. Very helpful.
At the airport we read great things on the wall as we awaited the Mayor's arrival. The air was getting fresher and fresher the closer he got. We all had a little nervousness in our stomach. Good thing they have this beverage called RED OAK to help with that.















Red Oak uses only the finest German barley malt, Bavarian hops, and Bavarian yeast.

Enough of that...it was time to have some fun in the Mayor's place while he was out!!














Lauren sat in as the Mayor and thought up some great idea's while in the throne...















I decided it would be more fun if I joined her in the throne for some girl time.
















I then thought it would be good to do some thinking of my own. Mostly I thought about how I was supposed to take a picture without cracking up.














It was then on to a more formal atmosphere...well, sort of.















Uh-Oh...what is this? Not good.















And right next to each other? I don't think that's appropriate.

Well this is just a brief glimpse of what happened while we were on our trip.
All in all it was a great time and lots of fun was had!!

Just a little back in time...

We'll start with our wonderful eve of the New Year...
Trishy, Laurey and Myself...












Um...Yes, we do look very good!!

















Ouch...we're smokin'

No....she wouldn't let me...

Now for Becca's Baby Shower: Isn't she a cute pregnant lady??!!

This is just a glimpse for now...look out later on for some Amazingly awesome pictures of North Carolina!!!