Trends in Twenty Ten

I came across the year in review on Yahoo. Not saying that Yahoo is a legit source or anything, however I found it kinda interesting. I got a kick out of the top 10 burning questions of 2010. These are the questions that were typed into search bars across the world the most. Let’s share:

1. How to tie a tie. I actually contributed to this. The Harry Potter midnight showing required me to wear a tie and I couldn’t remember. Thanks Youtube.
2. How to lose weight.
3. How to kiss.
4. How to write a resume.
5. What’s the world’s only immortal animal? A type of Jellyfish
6. Which city has the best tap water? I don’t know why people searched this as much as they apparently did. But the answer is in Arlington, Texas. Just one more thing for Texas to be proud of.
7. Which natural disaster shortened earth’s days? The Earthquake in Chile on February 27 took 1.26 millionths of a second off each day. Dang.
8. What is love? I don’t know, but you can ask the 3 million of my friends who got married this year.
9. What causes lightning?
10. How to boil an egg. Just add water.

quote of the day

Laura: "Ok can we leave now? I have to go by and see my Grandma, the home closes at 9."

You make me feel so young

With all the Christmas funtivities and snow falling, it got me thinking about being a kid. I was a really cool kid I think. I was a bad kid, but that kind of made me cool. While going through the cabinets, Dad found a thermos from my old lunch box that has a skeleton on it and says "Boo Dude!" It was a Goosebumps lunch box and it was friggin awesome! I owned every Goosebumps book ever printed, I was a big reader back in that day. I read the Boxcar Children, Babysitters Club, Curious George, Nancy Drew, Animorphs. One time I stole money from Dad so I could buy a book at the bookfair (see, reading doesn't necessarily make you smart). When I wasn't reading a scary book, I was writing them. I had notebooks FULL of scary stories and I wish I still had them because I know my writing skills back then would make for a mortifying laugh. Apart from my journalism skills, hobbies included getting in fights at school over who took my swing, collecting baseball cards and monkey stuffed animals, and trying to be better than my brother at everything (I never got there). My fave birthday party was Curious George themed and I didn't leave the house without my Atlanta Braves hat on my head. I played baseball, soccer, and I clogged all at the same time and I'd like to think that's why I couldn't make anything higher than a C in school. Really I was just a slacker and didn't care. I spent my entire 5th grade year grounded because I couldn't pull those D's up. So that Master's Degree might feel really good in my hand soon. It's funny how you mature in some ways but on Christmas eve I woke up every hour through the night and my family would agree that I still hold the record for fastest paper unwrapping. I think the cool thing about beleiving in Santa is knowing that all these presents were about to show up no matter how good or bad you were that year. It's almost like you knew you didn't deserve all that great stuff but you could count on it being there. That was still my feeling on Christmas morning #24 and that's pretty cool.

We R Who We R

Luckily Christmas isn't about family, friends, traditions, or parties. It's not about snuggies either, even though I got one. It's a lot about how giving Jesus is. And in the case of my life He's blessed me with a bunch more than anyone deserves. It's always a good Christmas when Gaffney pals gather around the table at Waffle House to exchange presents and make fun of each other. Whenever these friends get together, there are too many quotes for one day and they constantly impress me with how funny they can be.
Erica: "What was going through your head when you picked out my Froot Loops shirt?"

Erin: "Erica likes cereal."

Laura: "Kesler, you take the picture."

Kesler: "I have to turn around in the booth?"

quote of the day

Grace: Everytime we want to try something new we should say, "We should test that out in the club."

I've got my love to keep me warm

I know with all of my heart that I was created for a purpose. That purpose is to be warm. It is to wear flip-flops and shorts and skirts and to be outside when the grass is a pretty green color. South Carolina ranks second in the nation (so I've read) in state pride next to Texas. And for good reason. We have seasons typically, we have the beach, we have a mountain or two, we have historically lots of sunshine, we have festivals. We barely do it, but California is hard to beat. I spent 10 weeks there, lovin' on Jesus, selling t-shirts and pirate toys, surfing, and eating good pizza. I said that after I graduate in May I'm going to take a trip. Italy is my first choice but I just got a job that doesn't really pay that great so that's not happening right now. So I'm planning on returning to Santa Cruz. You see I have some good pals going there this summer just like I did 4 years ago including a staffer who I love and will be bunking with at the Peter Pan Motel. Making this decision is right in the middle of this horrible winter weather where it has been 12 degrees every morning for the past 2 weeks. My soul needs sunshine (not to mention my skin) and I can feel myself getting more and more emo as the month goes on. Summer, please hurry. South Carolina, please get your identity back.

Tis the Season

I wish the Grinch would come and steal this cold weather away. I'm SO over it. Not that anyone cares that much, but I'm actually more into Christmas than I thought I'd be this year. It may be due to the fact that I will attend 6 Christmas parties in December, 4 of them were last week. Just another reason why I love my job because 3 of them are office-related. I came across a blurb on yahoo that shared the Do's and Don'ts of office holiday parties. First of all it said to actually go to your office's holiday party if you can. You don't want to look like a lame Friday night loser and be left out on Monday morning. Lots of employees get drunk at their office party and humiliate themselves by trying to dance with their boss. It's a good idea to not do that. Christmas parties are unlike any other type of bash. I've eaten pizza, olive garden, lots of good cheese dip, and killed about 5,000 mugs of hot chocolate. In addition to all the yummy foods, I got a new PRT shirt, a nifty PRT rain jacket, a $25 giftcard, and 7 oranges from Ed my boss. Christmas is mostly about getting, let's just be honest. But giving is cool too. I'm far from done with my shopping list but I just bought my Grandma the Blind Side on dvd. That's how cool she is.

The Youth Council had their Christmas party on Wednesday and since I'm in charge of them I got to participate. After swapping some gifts and fighting for others (there might have been injuries) I ended up with a Blockbuster gift card. And nothing says Christmas like a Jersey Shore poster.

quote of the day

Aaron: "Walked into Elevation church in Ballantyne, felt like I was about to play laser tag."

quote of the day

From Brittany as she noticed someone different was leading worship this morning:
"Is that a violin? Who are these people? Are they the Dixie Chicks?"

quote of the day

My co-worker, Latoya: "Ho is my favorite word in December. You don't know if i'm saying ho ho ho or calling you it."

The Office

So I ask myself a lot, “Self, is what you’re doing with your life worth something?” What do I want to do with the rest of these about 50ish years I have left? For only God knows (literally) what reason, Rock Hill is where I need to be. This week I got hired up by the Parks, Recreation and Tourism department, the future I've been wanting since I pulled my first prank up in there 2 and a half years ago. I'm way beyond blessed to first of all have a job. On top of that it's a job that not only do I LOVE and not only is it what I went to school for, but it's a job that effects people. The world of recreation and a job with city governement is the most personal job I could get. Luckily I get to work with humans of every background, race, education level, salary level. My main job is in Youth Programming but I get to work with children, senior citizens, mentally handicapped, I'll get to hang with the poorest person in York County and the City Manager of Rock Hill. What does this mean to me? It means God has given me a freaking awesome job. He's given me the opportunity to effect an entire city for His glory (in a microscopic way on my part). Christians always walk around talking about creating community and the importance of it and sure I'm on board with that. My job PAYS me to create community and work in the community. God calls some people to live in countries I can't pronounce and some to live in small towns and big cities and some to live in Rock Hill, South Carolina. All I know is that I'm so stoked to get to live here for now and get the opportunity to effect just a small part of a city for King Jesus! Game. On.
"If I had to, I could clean out my desk in five seconds and nobody would ever know I had ever been here. And I'd forget too." -Ryan, the Office

quote of the day

Dr. B: "Not everybody in Rock Hill cares about Clemson/Carolina. There's 70,000 people!"
Brandon:"I know. I was at the pet store saturday night, that place was packed."

Because I love you

I'm not one to read through the Bible and just pick out a verse that sounds good but as we've been going through John at church, 1:16 has continually stuck out to me. And since it is in fact the season of gratefulness and thanksgiving, I might as well share. "From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another." Some days I beleive that (convincingly) more than others. The night before Mom's birthday last week, my small group gathered around me and prayed for me and my family over the holidays. As they were praying I got to thinking (and crying) over how lucky I am to have friends. And it could stop there. But I have friends with some beautiful hearts. Two roommates who have seen me in straight up depressed mode these last 4 months and have always made me laugh and have always taken care of me. I have three best friends who I've grown up with and somehow only get closer as we get older. I had three full rows of just my friends, some who drove 4 hours, just to give me a hug at Mom's funeral. The Thanksgiving lunch table this year wasn't my favorite place to be and no we didn't sit around the table holding hands and singing songs. Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthdays won't ever be the same, but I got an amazing Mom for 24 years and for that I'm thankful. A lot of people don't get a Mom. So out of all that, the coolest thing is that I'm not blessed because I've done a super job at anything or because I work hard at being really good. From the fullness of His grace, the Lord has provided all that I need and then some. From the fullness of His grace and because He loves me, Jesus will never leave me alone and He's all in, all the time. So if I never saw another tangible blessing for the rest of my life, just that fact is enough to thank Jesus for going to the cross for me and every other human. You can't get much more loving than that.

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever."
-Psalm 118:1

Out of 9 I give you 10

Let's just say I woke up this morning (after my 5 hours of sleep) feeling like a battle was still going on and that I had something to do with it. Like Voldemort hasn't been defeated yet. Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows left off at the most gut-wrenching spot in the movie. And I thought I couldn't wait for Part 1 to come out? geez. Waiting on Part 2 in July is going to drive me nuts! And then it's all gonna be over so all you Potter haters can go back to your normal Twilight-watching lives. Before the movie, me and my roommates danced around the kitchen, butter beer in hand, dressed like the best of Hogwarts students. Seeing everyone dressed up in Griffyndore/Winthrop colors, all packed into the theater, bonding over how epic the movie was going to be was by far the most nerdy fun I've had in a while. Makes me really glad to still be somewhat young and able to atleast function at work the next morning on few hours of sleep. So all that to say, the movie of the year was in fact the movie of the year. Two thumbs.

These are dark times

You better hide ya kids, hide ya wife, and hide ya husbands because this week is about to get crazy! Harry Potter fans will party in the USA on Friday morning at 12:01 and I personally cannot wait another second. I haven't read the books so I don't know exactly all of what is going down in the Deathly Hallows Part 1 but I know the most important and epic moments and I have a feeling that I will have felt every emotion that is humanly possible by 3am. Part of me knows that the reason I'm so excited about the midnight showing is because everyone else is and truthfully, if life depended on it, I could wait until Friday at lunch to see it. But I'm not gonna. You might as well dive in with the rest of the muggle world and enjoy the first veiwing when everyone will be "ooohing" and "aaahing" and getting dressed up to beat the dark lord together. You might say that Voldemort is the most villian-ous villian of all time. That kid is nuts. Lots of people are about to die in these last 2 movies, every kid and most adults will have nightmares, hopefully the life of vampire movies will end as we know it. Starting tonight, the Cabin will be showing the 4th, 5th, and 6th movies. One each night until Thursday so if you want to come get your Hedwig fix, you better join us. Also, big shoutout to the Winthrop Quidditch team who fought the tournament against Duke and Appalachian State this weekend, for you got us all in the spirit. Huzzah!

quote of the day

The new Cabin motto....

Britt: "If laughter make you live long...we gonna be OLD!"

quote of the day

At dinner with my small group...

Janna: "You're so cute in your sweatsuit!"
Lynn-d: "I'm looking forward to my workout. I'm feeling pretty energetic, my prenatals are kicking in."

Let it all out

I only put on Relient K albums when I want to bring out the 8th grade version of myself, but my shuffle gave me one of their songs on my walk to the Library this afternoon. We all know how much I love music and lyrics and stuff and this song just hit my day right on the head. It was a tough day, a day when I really missed my Mom and I hate those kind of days. I don't have those days every day anymore, but when I do they really hurt. It's been almost 4 months and for some reason I'm still surprised when I randomly cry or get angry or can't sleep. Incase you don't know and for future reference friends, it is VERY hard to be convinced that God has your best in mind when He takes someone that you love. You get told over and over and over but believing it with consistency just doesn't come very easily. The good thing about that is that the truth doesn't depend on my mood. When I said Yes to Jesus I don't remember Him promising me an easy life or promising that my parents would live forever or that death wouldn't hurt. When I said Yes to Jesus I signed on to take Him at His word, knowing that we're not meant for this crappy, painful world anyway. I have a LONG way to go before I can say "Way to go God, that turned out good!" But today I re-learned that grieving takes longer than a couple of weeks and it takes more than just staying busy all the time. I haven't been and I won't be my normal self anytime soon and that has to be ok with me too.

And you said I know that this will hurt
but if I don't break your heart
then things will just get worse
If the burden seems to much to bear
Remember
the end will justify the pain it took to get us there

Grey Team

I tell ya, my little soccer team is the light of my week. I love coaching them, watching them run around in God knows what direction, listening to the rediculous things they have to say. I have to remind them constantly which way to kick the ball, to pay attention to the fact that we're still playing a game, and to stick that action figure back in your pocket and keep playing hard. I have them repeat things back to me (I hear that works) but as soon as the whistle blows they do the exact opposite. If you've been around me for 10 seconds, you know that I'm more competetive than you are. But I really like what those 5 & 6 year-olds can show me about myself. After the game whether they lose 10-0 (which has happened) or win by 4 goals, the most exciting part of their saturday is of course...the snack. I don't even have time to talk to them after the game, they're already headed straight for the capri-suns and oatmeal pies. With childrens it's all about the little stuff. They're content with next to nothing. I sure wish I could be like that. Instead I want to take over the world, be the boss, win every game, constantly move on to something better and bigger. Contentment is a good good thing and I don't know if it's something you can learn, but I could use a big dose of it lately. Word.

quote of the day

I LOVE saturday morning soccer...

Carson: "What's the score now?"
Me: "I don't know man, I'm not keeping score."
Carson: "What? you don't realize it's always getting tied?"

quote of the day

"Halloween should be a day where we honor monsters and not get mad at each other."
-Micheal Scott

Fame

Fact: humans are obsessed with other humans. I have a few autographs hanging on my wall from famous athletes mostly. The average human will wait in line for hours for the chance to shake hands with someone who's won a game or wrote a book or been on tv. Why do we want their name hanging on our wall? Well, I can tell you why I waited in line for 4 hours to meet Lauren Conrad. Because she's AWESOME. I've watched her on tv since my senior year in high school (which was her senior year in high school too) and have followed her fashion career to this day. Now, fashion is something I couldn't care less about. But LC is just as beautiful and wonderful and nice in person as she is on tv. I can dig celebs like that. She was so appreciative of everyone that was at her book signing (all 500 of us!) and took the time to chat a little with everyone. LC rocks at it, but I don't think I'd ever want to be a celeb. You have to look cute all the time and get bugged by creepers like all of those LC look-a-likes that were at Barnes and Noble. Now I'm gonna go read her book and learn 6 different ways to wear the same black dress. fabulous.

quote of the day

Brooke: "Remember when it was fall and we did stuff?"

Brittany: "Everytime I hear Mighty Ducks I think cartoon."
Me: "That's Darkwing Duck."

alkjsdflja;slk

I think this has every bit to do with the rain outside and yes that's rediculous, but I'm just so over school. I haven't touched my thesis paper since last May. My plan was to have it done by December. oops. I know I shouldn't be this way because I often come across those people who practically wish their life away because they want to move on to some new job or marriage or kid or fun activity for the weekend. I usually want to punch those people in the face and then blog about how everyone needs to calm down. But sadly I am that person, today at least. Truth is I've loved grad school. I couldn't have made a better decision with my life, I've been having a ball. But when you teach the same class twice per semester, no matter how much you love rock climbing and undergrad students, it starts to get old. One of my current classes takes SO much busy work that grad students straight up don't have time for. I feel like I'm constantly working on stuff for that class and it will never end and it's annoying. Pretty sure I'm just ready to not be a student anymore. I'm a different kind of student as it is, but still the same idea. As a result of all this unmotivation and negativity towards school, I tend to live for the weekends. As for this weekend, the roomie and I will be going to Raleigh to live with Brooke and meet Lauren Conrad. That's right. We get to say what's up to the Laguna Beach/Hills star who I've followed on Mtv since high school. I get it, not everyone appreciates this and it sounds totally lame. But Lauren isn't some drama queen from Jersey. She's actually really talented and stuff. We will more than likely profess our undying love for her and she'll realize we should be best friends. I've actaully dreamed that before....

quote of the day

Erin (text message): "So I had a really disturbing dream last night that you were pregnant and Erica was crazy."

Getting Younger

I limped into work this morning with an ankle/foot injury. Not from fighting a bear or jumping from a building or something cool. It's from kickball. One of my fave professors asked me to be on her kickball team because a lot of the team is going to be out for this one game. People, this made me happier than anything could. See back in my day, on Limestone Elementary's field day, the 5th and 6th grade class played each other in the most competetive game of kickball you've ever imagined. It was insane. The 6th grade teachers usually cheated because lets be honest, a 5th grade win is so not cool. So 6th grade rolled around and it was finally our turn to be on top of the kickball sport but we lost. To this day I'm convinced they cheated. We talk a lot at work about how getting old is a horrible thing and I get made fun of for still eating chicken fingers and fries and I get yelled at for being in my 20's. I can't help it that I love kickball and drink soda at breakfast and still dress up for halloween. Life's just more fun that way.


Quote of the day:
Co-worker: "Getting old hurts. Shutup Katie."
Me: "But I have a kickball injury."
Co-worker: "Are you 5?"

White people go to Jacksonville

Yep I'm that blogger that comes home from a mission trip and talks about how awesome it was and how it changed my life and stuff. So get over it. 7 of us manchester creekers went on down to Jacksonville Florida and helped out with 2nd Mile Ministries. They're an urban ministry serving in the worst neighborhood in the city. Actually the neighborhood that we stayed and served in has the highest murder rate in Florida and it's the worst school district in the nation (based on test scores). Most of the groups that come down to help out are in the minority in the neighborhood and people usually ask, "Where did you get all these nice white people?" I felt like that was the same reaction for our group as well. A lot of the community folks walking past us as we did our street projects would stop and ask which group we were with and would thank us for doing the work which I thought was really cool. I've done urban ministry before, and usually the thing that tugs at my heart is the reality of how much "stuff" I've got compared to someone else. It's good to be thankful for my stuff and my family and friends and my living situation, but this time that fact really didn't stick out. What got at me was the parable in Matthew 25 when Jesus teaches that what we do for his people is really what we do for him. What I've learned about parables is that He cares more about our hearts than anything else. I don't expect to change the world or expect to see complete justice for the poor or oppressed people in this world, but I can and should have a heart for the poor and oppressed and care about injustice because God does and He hasn't forgotten about them. He hung out with those people when He was here. The people that don't have it all together, the people who don't have anything at all really. When you go into the urban areas, you want to change their situations and fix all the problems. I would've loved to have gone down to Florida and seen some lives changed but it didn't happen. But I think that we all saw that Jesus wants our hearts to form more to His and care for the things he cares for. So that's a good week indeed.

Mickey

I've grown in love with Rock Hill for several reasons and I'll spare you most of them. I don't know if it's because I work for the City or because I'm just that awesome (not likely) but I've gotten to know a lot of the community folk. Like Mickey. Mickey is the nicest old man who wears a bow tie and greets me as I walk in the door at chickfila on Cherry rd. A couple of months ago he was asking me what I wanted to do with my major because he didnt really know what it was. Like I tell everyone, I said that I was going to own the Panthers and he laughed and said really seriously that if I put my mind to it, then I could. Tonight I walked in for my free chicken sandwich and he said "where have you been lately? I thought you'd ran off to own the panthers!" Isn't that awesome, that he remembered that? I love that. I love being a regular at cherry rd. and at Moe's and Kinch's across the street from my work. As I was walking home from small group, my ghetto-fabulous neighbor who sits on his front porch everyday saw my guitar and asked if I played and said: "You got some cd's out and stuff?" See the more I stick around here, the more I feel like I fit in. Not just because of Winthrop or because it's some big cool city, but because of the relationships I've made. I told my boss the other day that I'll either be the Director of Parks and Rec one day or the Mayor. The one they had before Dougie was a woman, so I think it would be cool. I recognize that I have a long way to go to reach that goal though. I should probably graduate and pick a high school football team. We have 3 high schools here, and I'll always cheer for Gaffney no matter what. It's just that everyone has a team and they kind of force you to choose a school for the typical friday night football conversation. This is going to make me sound like a total lame head, but everytime I hear a song about a hometown I get all emotional because I love Gaffney so much and miss something about it every week (if not daily). But if I can't be there, I'm glad to have this town where the community mascot is a frog and where people like Mickey know your name.

quote of the day

Rachel: "Do you want something that's not coffee? Hawaiin punch?"
Me: "You have it in cans? I'm gonna marry you! And we'll have these in our fridge!"
Olivia: "I thought you were gonna say have hawaiin punch babies!"

If I could make a livin' out of lovin' you

I need to stop telling people that I'm going to own the Panthers and/or Yankees some day because that's how rumors get started. Just the other day someone asked, "What are you doing after graduation?" Before I got the chance to say I don't know, one of my pals said "Own the Panthers!" I'm honored that you peeps have such faith in me but I was not born into the ownership business, and for a billion dollar industry such as this, it has to be in the blood, dude. BUT just incase I do get put in charge one day, I'm getting some creative juices out of my sport marketing class. We were talking about how even the best sports teams in the biggest cities don't sell out every night. Maybe because the fans (customers) most of the time don't feel appreciated for coming out to the game. It's true. If I were in charge, I would thank the crap out of you for coming to my establishment, for paying $7 for my hotdog, and for sitting in traffic 3 hours after the team just lost. To have a successful business, you've gotta make your fans feel something. Feel like they're literally part of the best team in the country despite your 2-10 record. I would let fans into practice for free during the week. I'd take my season ticket holders out to dinner. I'd have bojangles at the concession stand, serve free sweet tea at every game and all kids would get in free. There would definetly be fireworks and loud, very loud music during crunk time. I'm just saying, people would be more into sports if they could go and have a great time at a game despite the win-loss record or despite how much knowledge or alcohol they have. I'm a dork and I think about stupid stuff like this in my free time. I'll stop now.

Canaan Bound

I sin a lot. And lately I’ve doubted God. I’ve doubted God through my need for immediacy. Ya know, things like “God, I want to feel happy again” or “God, just put me in that dream job already” or “God, times running out so where’s my husband?” I hate that my heart is so set on me. When I get in urgency mode, I'm saying that what God’s doing RIGHT NOW isn’t good enough. I think that the pain I have to put up with every day should just go away but I haven’t earned it yet. And it’s impossible to think that He’s actually using this time to make me better. Andrew Peterson has a song that I really love and it’s been on repeat lately. It’s about Abraham and Sarah’s journey to Canaan and how God has PROMISED Abraham that He would do all these great things through a son. But at the time Sarah was barren so that wasn’t looking too good. They didn’t see how or when, but Abraham knew that God would come through. The world has kept going long since Abraham’s been gone and God used him to bless nations and nations and more nations. I just know that I miss it a lot of times. I claim Jesus so I must claim the promises that He’s made but I just don’t really trust in them most of the time. See when I doubt God, I rely on myself and that’s a sucky place to be. This issue goes way past being impatient, it’s a straight up disbelief in the whole story of redemption. Jesus has saved my soul and He’s promised victory and perfection in the very end. All that to say, even though things are dark for now and for who knows how long ahead, the story won't end there. Good.

I trembled at the voice of God
A voice of love and thunder deep
With love he means to save us all
And love has chosen you and me

Long after we are dead and gone
For a thousand years our tale be sung
How faith compelled and bore us on
How barren Sarah bore a son
So come to Canaan, come
-A.P.

Childrens

I helped in the 4 year-olds to 1st grade sunday school class yesterday. It's been a while since I've been around really little people so a class of ALL BOYS was kinda overwhelming. I also got my soccer team roster this week and I have 14, 5 & 6 year-olds. So I expect life to get a little more fun and interesting in the coming months.

Quote of the day from 4-year old Troy:
Me: "Troy, stay in here until Dad comes."
Troy: "How do you know my name?"
Me: "I know everything."
Troy: "Oh."

All Day

I've had better days than these most recent ones. But today was just sick. I went to the Carolina/Georgia game and my Gamecocks punished it! We never ever beat Georgia and I never ever brag about games because I don't want to be like a Clemson fan, but this one was great. We led the whole game and Williams-Brice was straight CRUNK. I've decided I'm naming my kid William Bryce. While watching Georgia lose, I got to hang with the other half of the Duo and that was just fantastic. I love hanging out with a pal who puts up with all of my opinions on football and who can talk trash with me. That makes a darn good friend so thanks, Manda. Later I got to hang out with Laura on my front porch and talk about Jesus and thats just as good...actually better....than watching the Gamecocks dominate the SEC. Just sayin.

Invitation to the Thirsty

There's a thing that's been coming up in sermons and in what little reading I've done in the word lately and it deals with being thirsty. In Psalm 13 David is begging God to do something. He's wondering how long his emptiness will last. Well, Psalms is my favorite book of the Bible and in #13 David could straight up be my brother we're so alike in this one. He asks "How Long, Lord?" a lot of times but he asks because theres hope in the question. He can see that there will be an end to all the madness. In all the ways Pastor Ken could've tied Psalm 13 together with Jesus, he chose to get at John 4, talking about the Samaritan woman who needed some REAL water. Her testimony is awesome. After the conversation she has with Jesus she runs into town and tells people, "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" She has found out that Jesus is actually the one that will satisfy her. The Bible is slam packed with pathetic sinners like me who constantly get fooled into thinking the world has something to offer.

I came across Isaiah 55 that gets at kinda the same point. It's like it was written for people who have been crying out to God thanks to all the emptiness and hard times that have taken over more of our lives than we would like. For me right now I need to be reminded about every 5 seconds about who Jesus is. That he's the one that satisfies my needs and takes care of pain and fixes my soul. And I'm sayin, if I were to choose to put my faith in nice things and in fun activities and in human beings I would be so screwed.

"Come, you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come and buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to me and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare."
-Isaiah 55

quote of the day

Me: "Do you mind if we watch football?"
Grace: "Nope."

I love my roommates!!

Nerd Alert

The one and only reason I'll be glad to see the leaves change is knowing that another football season is among us. I'm kind of rediculous about college football and I'm not sure why because my college doesn't even have a team (yet), I've never played on a real team because I'm a girl, and I'm a Gamecocks fan which means it varies from year to year whether you can call that good football or not. I did wake up a bit happier this morning knowing that my team kicks off the season tonight at home against Southern Miss, a game we'll actually win. The thing I hate about college football has eternally been the way they decide the National Champion. You have to first of all start off ranked in the top 2 to even have a chance at it and they rely on all these different polls of people who vote because they think they know who the champion should be. As it turns out, the College Football Researcher's Association Poll has been added to the list of polls that the NCAA recognizes as legit and the people who vote on this poll actually have some legit-ness to who the college football national champion will be. A friend of a friend hooked me up and now I get to be one of the voters! Isn't that the nerdiest thing you've ever heard? I'm not saying I'm cool and that my vote is the deciding factor. It's just rad that I get to be a small part of the actual process that chooses the champion for college football. This is boring the crap out of some people so I'll stop. I just wanted to share in my excitement for football season and if you live in the south, I bet you're excited to watch your fave team on Saturday too.

Allostatic Load

I realize that my thoughts have been way past emo lately and for that I'm sorry. It's just going to have to be like that for a little while. This morning I had to literally talk myself into staying in grad school. I was overwhelmed with all the stuff I have to do and decided that I didn't have the brain capacity for it and maybe I should skip this semester and come back to it later. After another good morning with my rock climbing class I remembered that it was 7am and I was sleepy when all that was decided. I would never go to school to be a teacher (thats why I didnt) but I do love teaching my class. Sure it's just rock climbing, a beginner 1 hour course but we have fun and we get to tie knots and climb up on things and be active and that's a good thing. I have a blind student in my class and on the day that I was told this, I really freaked out and decided that overall my semester would be a disaster. Turns out she's one of the best students and the rest of the class is being so helpful and are learning how to deal just like I am. So it's cool. My health class will be time consuming and I'm not that interested in it, but maybe I'll learn something. My sport marketing professor said you had to be a moron to get a B in his class and he's cynical and hilarious so I know I'll love it. Overall, the first week of class was successful. My planner for the next 3 months looks like it might explode so I don't really know what to do about that, but if grad school were easy I wouldn't even bother, right?

quote of the day

Brittany: "What if he was on jeopardy and told the truth...I watch battlestar galactica and creep on 14 year-old girls."

While watching the part of the Emmy's where they recap all the year's deaths in hollywood, Brittany says: "Grace, I hope that's you one day."

Progress

Last week I met with this really great woman from my church who is a pro psychologist. She had me over for a little chat and fed me nachos and homemade cookies and it was awesome. I've been totally against going to a therapist or psychologist because you have to talk about yourself a lot and I didn't really think I would leave knowing any more about myself than I knew already. After I told her what I had been going through lately, she told me that I was actually depressed and that it was normal. She told me there are different forms of depression as far as body-reaction goes. What I have is called anxiety depression. So instead of that horrible stage where you don't want to get out of bed or go to work or be social, my body instead wants to speed up and produce constant adrenaline and fool myself into thinking I don't have time to think about or process anything. She diagnosed that junk right away when I said "I just want all this to be over." I'm fine with being emotional and crying a lot and all the fluffy stuff, but I want that to be over tomorrow. October at the latest. And unfortunately she tells me, "honey, that's not gonna happen." I get that it's going to be hard and I'll miss my Mom and lose a little sleep but I'll take about a week of that, please. Most of all, it was good to hear that I'm normal. Since our chat, I've been sleeping. For a while there, I didn't think I would ever get a full night of sleep ever again on my own. And the fact that I am is all thanks to prayer. So many people have been praying for me and with me whether I like it or not. This proves that God hasn't just left me to grieve on my own. He won't zap me one random Tuesday and make my heart not hurt anymore, but He has shown that He's faithful, which I haven't doubted for a minute. I think some people who get angry at God when something bad happens is because they don't "feel better" right away. And since not having a Mom for the rest of my life will always SUCK, I'm not really counting on "feeling better" for a while. I can only keep reminding myself that how much He loves me doesn't depend on my mood.

quote of the day

At the Charlotte Knights baseball game...

Emily: "Times must be tough if he's going for that!"

quote of the day

Kerin: "True story: a guy had the wrong number and then texted this: 'No disrespect but you have a beautiful voice, are you in a relationship?' whaaaat i dont know whether to be flattered or depressed that the only guy to ask me out in almost a year hasn't seen me."

One Week

Don't stop reading my never updated blog these days, I'll try to do better. I don't have anything super spiritual or emotional to say. I just want to express my unmotivation for school to happen in a week. I need about another month or so before it starts, or maybe another summer so I can shoot for a better one. Although I am excited about the new graduate assistants I'll be working with since all of them are brand new this year. One is my roommate from my Ireland trip and she's pretty rad. I have 2 classes and should finish up my research project before December (but probably I won't). I'm teaching 2 rock climbing classes, working some ropes course sessions, working for parks and rec, attempting to be active in my honors fraternity, play in the church band, and host lots of people at my house every night I'm sure of it. Hello Fall.

In less stressful news: Eat Pray Love was a great movie, the book was even better. Mad props to Grace for getting me the book for my birthday and in 17 days I've read the whole thing with much excitement. I'm typically a slow reader so this is a big deal. The whole thing makes me want to travel, mostly to Bali where I can surf and see through the water. I'm heavily contemplating a big trip in May when I graduate. I have a few grand places in mind, probably not New York City any time soon.

quote of the day

Pastor Ken: "Chris, will you open us in prayer and then I'll close when it gets awkward."

quote of the day

In the starbucks parking lot...

Erica to Stephen: "Maybe we'll call each other at the same time tonight!"
Kt: "Oh let's hope so!"
Erin: "Do yall want me to go in?"

at the trashcan in Zaxbys...

16 year-old boy to Erin: "That's a really nice dress by the way."

Processing

Dang it, the purpose of this blog is that hopefully I would encourage the person who reads it. Not every single time, but maybe once or twice with some idea I've crafted up. I usually never write about myself directly, I usually have some other purpose behind the things I say, hoping it's encouraging or positive or funny to someone who keeps up with this thing. But I just have to say, I don't have the juice for that right now. Truth is I'm not happy. I'm joyful and I'm hopeful but I'm not happy. Those things are different. Around midnight on Sunday night I went to urgent care because my body was in physical pain, pain that I'd never had before and it was one of the few moments I've ever really been terrified. I had no idea what was going on and at the moment felt like I had no chance of ever feeling better. It's what we call anxiety I do believe, and I do not wish that on anyone, no matter how young or old. My brain has no freakin idea how to grieve, I've never had to before, and usually I just call my Mom when it's something big and scary. Not being able to do that messes up everything inside of me and I'm tired of being physically hurt. I've always been a "rub some dirt in it" kinda girl and the most stress I feel is usually during a Carolina football game so all this is brand new. Sitting in the waiting room at the Doctor's office I felt about as big as a bread crumb. I couldn't do a thing about the way my body was handling things. I couldn't fix it, I couldn't just feel better, and I realized for the first time that this is going to take such a long time. If God's reasonings have anything to do with making less of myself, then he is well on his way. There's no way I'll come out of this without Him. I may not right this second, but I will love God more than I ever have when it's all over. Right now I have every right to be selfish and I think I'll take that privaledge some of the time, but God has knocked me down to about as low as it comes and trying to fix THAT on your own is literally impossible. So I guess I will write about myself and this battle for a little while, it's how I process things. Maybe it'll be helpful to someone one day, but I seriously pray that no one goes through this at a young age. I mean any age is hard. But 20's are your on top of the world years and everything is cool and new and fun and taking over the world is somewhere within reach. So it's a little different and 24 years is not long enough to learn how to handle things like this. Maybe I'll come out of it a little more mature. Let's hope so.

I need to write

I haven't even started to think about processing my life right now, but what I know to be true is that the plan is good. I fit into this really big plan, my Mom fit into it, my Dad and Scott fit into it. God doesn't ever need to explain himself but gladly He will one day and I'm excited to hear. My heart is so far from being healed at the moment, but I can't wait to learn from the healing process. To hear from Jesus and learn more about how sometimes life sucks but it really does without Him. So more to come, later on. The best advice I've gotten so far is to take all this one day at a time. My advice to you is go give your Mom a big hug.

The Boss

Quick! Someone needs to give me $1.6 billion to buy the Yankees. George Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yanks died yesterday as most of you probably heard. He was a crazy hardcore business man and is pretty much the reason the Yankees are what they are (the best team in baseball). One of his famous quotes is "Breathing first, then winning." I mean that's pretty intense. He did whatever it took and payed whatever amount to win baseball games. I'm not saying that's the most moral motto for your life, but in the name of business, it's pretty dang smart. There are only 2 sports teams worth more than the Yankees in the world, Manchester United (awesome soccer club in England) and the Dallas Cowboys (not so awesome football team in America) so he must have done something right. I'm going to my first Yankees game on Friday! There's a small portion of my life on Earth where I will strive to make all of my sports dreams come true and I'm well on my way with this one. It'll be the teams first game back from the All-Star break, the first game after their owner's death, and they're playing the second best team in the league. So I think I lucked out and couldn't be more excited. I think it's perfect timing if you ask me. I'm probably going meet some big shot wearing a tie and convince him that letting me be the next owner would be a great decision. All those who pitch in to buy me the team for my birthday, I'll give you a job and an endless amount of hot dogs on game days.

Fellowship of the Fellowship

I feel I've been hit by a train today. And I very well could have been at some point in the last 24 hours, I just have no brain activity so I really wouldn't remember. Last night I participated in what should be an equivelant competition to the boy's Chicken McNugget Challenge. Last night the youth group at MC had a Lord of the Rings marathon from 9pm-9am, and similar to the Chicken McNugget Challenge, you feel like total trash afterwards and you eat way more than you can handle during those long 12 hours. Going into this adventure I'd seen only the first half of the 1st movie and some clips of the 3rd movie but I was fully aware of what I was getting myself into. That's why I insisted on staying awake through the whole thing because I know myself, and I know I wouldn't have watched all 3 of them probably ever in my lifetime if not for this event. We started at about 9:40pm, took 0 breaks and finished at 9:15am. I moved from the couch to the floor once and shut my eyes right in the middle of the 3rd movie for about 3.5 minutes. 4 out of the 11 of us ate popcorn, brownies, chips & dip, pizza, and cheese puffs literally ALL night just to stay awake. I'm sure all that junk is the reason I can barely walk today. As far as the movies go, they are definetly EPIC. Which of course I knew already. I really liked them but I can promise you I'll have a better appreciation for them next time if it's actually at a proper viewing time. I didn't really learn all of the characters names or get all the little things that would make me a trivial pursuit champion but I'm ok with that. I'm just satisfied that I actually stayed awake during the 3 most action/gospel packed movies of all time pretty much and that we watched all 6 discs in a row. I shall visit the series again, maybe in the form of books one day, but don't count on it. When Gollum goes into the fire at the end all wide-eyed because he finally got what his heart was fixed on but it did him NO good....Vampires, you aint got nothing on that crap.

quote of the day

At Yummies, an icecream shop of hometown goodness.

Kt: "We used to sit in this booth too!"
Laura: "No we used to sit over there in the corner because I used to stick my hand in the mail slot."

may the 4th be with you

As someone who has a birthday, I get really into celebrating the day in which someone or something came into existence. Really I just like any good excuse to sing and have a cookout. A lot of people diss on America and rightly so. We currently are at war, we're killing tons of ocean life from our oil, and our soccer team should really be better than it is. As a birthday present to our land, I would suggest actually celebrating America on July 4th and take pride in living in such a beautiful, clean, and rich country. Take some time on Sunday and contemplate how lucky you are. Go outside and cook a hambuger on the grill, watch sports on your cable tv, shoot fireworks if you live in South Carolina, and let George Strait and Jay-Z play on your ipod. Support all those things that make America an overall good place to live. There's a lot of crap going on in the world. Earthquakes and tsunami's kill thousands of people every day. Children are raised and taught by strangers to kill people, if raised at all. Slavery still exists. Most people in Africa are just waiting to die from Aids. But in Cleveland, Ohio Lebron James wonders where his next $96 million will come from. I'm pretty thankful to live here for the simple fact that I've already lived 23 years and that would be cut in half if I lived in a third world country. Maybe you could write a little note or letter in your diary to our most powerful country, telling it how much fun you've had over the past 234 years. I think I will.



Dear Uncle Sam,
Way to go! Did you know that Justin Beiber can make a living for himself at just 12 years old? Thanks for the right to vote on our leader. Some children are given up or left by their parents and I might adopt them one day because I can. That Taylor Swift makes my toe tap. I can tell people about how awesome Jesus is and Target was the best idea anyone ever had. I love Rock Hill, SC and the money it pays me to live on. I love Moe's. You're my favorite country ever. Go Yankees!

Patriotically,
Katie

Your Love is my Drug

I wouldn't say I want to make a career out of being a bridesmaid, but I definetly do not hate it. Erica's wedding this weekend was my 1st bridesmaid experience and boy do we know how to party. We've decided to replace the month of "June" with "Erica" on the calendar. We took her to the beach, to the movies, to get our nails did, to nice dinners, to fancy lunches, and to several dance parties all because she snatched up the right man. The bride sure is lucky but so am I to be able to spend the last several weekends with my best best friends. It was cool to see us all come together from down the road, from California, from DC to support Erica in green dresses and calm her nerves with some innapropriate conversations. I'm glad she's married. I'm glad it's to Stephen. I'm glad for the kind of friends I have who love and support and pray for each other over years and years of time.
Thanks Erica, for having such an awesomely beautiful throw down and being the best pal a girl could have. And also for my awesome tote bag.

quote of the day

A night on the town and Toy Story 3 was AMAZING! and so are my friends.

Kesler: "Erica you need a napkin. I'm gonna give you a napkin."

Erin (before the chair at amelie's broke with her in it): "I feel like this chair is gonna break."

Erin: "One time I thought a fire hydrant was a midget."

The Cool Kids

I'm glad I don't go to the hip church. Not that there's anything wrong with the hip church. I actually became a Christian within the hippest and biggest youth group in town (for gaffney that is). And there are some big, popular, loud churches out there that are saving people. If I ever move from Rock Hill or even if I don't, I may end up at the hip church in town one day. This summer Manchester has a small group that meets on Wednesday nights, a.k.a "book club." We are reading and discussing the book "What is a Healthy Church Member?" Since college I've gotten into reading a lot more and quite enjoy reading, but when I saw this book I almost fell asleep just thinking about what might be inside. But really, thanks to much discussion I'm learning more and more about the church and what it means to serve and be a part of the body because well, that is our job as believers. We don't sit around and discuss why some churches work and some don't, or the pros and cons of our own church. It has gotten me thinking about how I fit into the local church and what role God desires to see us take. When you're in college you have all these cool campus ministries, the bible study possibilities are endless and there is conference after conference to get you hyped. But then you graduate and it's a terrible, terrible time of trying to figure out your life. For me, that's where Manchester came to the rescue. I didn't have someone feeding me Jesus every time I turned around, all I had was a church family who reminded me how blessed I was and a group of youth who (still does) keep me from acting my age. I don't worship my church. I don't worship Pastor Ken. But getting into a local church and using your gifts to bless someone else is a good good thing. It takes the focus off yourself and you stop looking for the church to entertain you. Stay tuned for more of my opinion this summer as we've only covered Chapter 1....

quote of the day when asked about our thoughts on Expositional Listening:

"We don't have enough terms really, we need to create more."
-Jon Moore

quote of the day

Stephen: "Aunt Katie, will you help us with our sportistic children?"

quote of the day

Pricing yard sale items.

Erica: "How much for this rug?"
Me: "You're selling that? Dude it's gross."
Erica: "Um, did a spider web JUST form on it?"

Maggie: "Tetanus for $1.oo!"

Free Your Glee

I gotta go with Brooke on this one...I love reality television. Well, there are some limits to that, I mean I do have morals. But there is just something so freeing about watching the Hills and the City and thanking God that I'm not like the people on those shows. I like to watch the Bachelorette and have full on text message convos with all my friends about why we love certain guys and how mad we are at Ali for not picking them. Last night Gleeks drove from miles away so we could watch the season finale of Glee together while dressing up as our favorite characters and crying during the Journey medley. Side note: Uncle Jesse is joining the cast of Glee so if you didn't watch it before, there is your reasonable excuse (maybe some Beach Boys and Elvis covers are in our future!) ABC Family keeps coming up with the most absolutely rediculous shows, it's newest being about high schoolers who murder people and lie about it...or something like that. No doubt I'll give that one a shot as well. I just want to say thanks America, for giving us such mindless entertainment that I'm almost sure to never get tired of. As long as the Cabin is together, there will always be room on our couch for a nice break from actual reality if you ever need it. Because let's face it, if you are a breathing human being, chances are, stupidity fascinates you.

Quote of the day from the Glee party...

Laura: "You should've worn pearls!"
Me: "The ones I have are bigger though, so it would have looked weird."
Amanda: "Hello, I have pearls in like...my purse."

To and From Raleigh

I LOVE the Duke Bluedevils. I LOVE Brooke Currie. This weekend I experienced both of those in all their glory. It was Lil Brooke's 24th birthday so Britt and I decided to surprise her and go up to Raleigh to give her a big birthday hug. We hit up this awesome burger place, a 2 dolla flick, went to her awesome church, and ate icecream cake. I just hardcore miss all the nance girls I spent my days at Winthrop with. I know that's a really obvious statement, but it's true. Raleigh is most def on my list of places I could totally live if Rock Hill doesn't secure my future after grad school. Just sayin. On the road home, we decided to stop by Duke and just check the scene out. I'm really big into seeing famous sports places and on my list of things to do before I die is definetly go inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, which is where the 2010 NCAA Champion Duke basektball team plays. We walk up to the arena and I automatically spot Kyle Singler, the star forward on Duke's team who will probably go to the NBA and who is conveniently my favorite player, outside taking down tents. I got his autograph and had a little chat, and we walk up to the door and some guy tells us we could come in! Obviously the doors were locked, but I got to go on the floor and take some pictures. I seriously thought I was going to lose my mind. I mean, most of my sports dreams came true in one spot. You don't have to be happy for me since I know most of you don't care. But I had to share with you, my dear readers. I would say it was the luckiest day ever to stop by Duke's campus.

You and me could write a bad romance

I always knew this weekend would come. The weekend that me and my 3 best friends go on a trip together because one or all of us is getting married. We took our first victim to Ocean Isle this weekend before she gets married 27 days from now. I know it's probably not possible to be in love with something that doesn't have feelings, but I'm just seriously in love with the beach. I even love it when the plumbing fails and we have to go to a hotel for the night, have to eat pizza in the car, sleep a total of about 5 hours, and get only 3 hours a day at the actual ocean. Nothing about our trip was normal. So abnormal, I'm surprised Lady Gaga didn't show up. But really, all the props to my 3 best friends for making a weekend at the beach so hilarious with the things they come up with...

Laura: "I think Erica broke the toilet."

Laura:"Erin is telling that guy her whole life story!"
Kt:"I know, good thing we have a knife on my keychain."

Erin: "I just mooned the entire atlantic ocean!"

Laura: "Why do yall have such dirty minds?"
Kt: "I live with Brittany Brock."
Erica: "I work with 14 year old boys."
Erin: "I work with body parts."

quote of the day

Grace: "The people on this phone right now are the only people who make any sense. And maybe Lauren Conrad."

If you build it

So...who wants to give me $5.4 Million to buy the Field of Dreams? Just heard that it went for sale this week and that would be the most pimp thing to own. I don't know a single thing about Iowa, nor do I have any desire to live there but owning the Field of Dreams would mean sacrifice. If I had an endless pile of money, that's the kind of crap I would buy. Probably definetly season tickets to all my favorite teams, too. Lots of people would buy cars and clothes and houses, but I'd just buy things that I could enjoy and places to take my friends on the weekends. This year my birthday is July 30 so start saving, friends.

Truth from Ruth

Currently at the MC, we're rocking through the book of Ruth. Each sunday Pastor Ken asks an epic question that he pulls out of the chapter. What I've loved about Ken since he arrived is that we've been going through books of the Bible that the normal Christian won't pick up and read themselves. I mean, Judges? Ruth? Who even reads those? I'm happy to be at a church where the pastor believes in going beyond the 4 step process of how to be a good husband/wife or tries to make us all beleive the same theology or gives us pointers on how to raise our children. So yesterdays sermon came from Ruth chapter 2 and the big question was "Will God provide for my needs?" You can probably guess that the answer is yes, obviously. Obviously I'm thankful for family, friends, a job, and those awesome sugar cookies in my kitchen because they are the bomb. But to see God's provision is to realize what our soul is in need of. It's to think a little bit past just the things we're really glad God gave us. Ken tied it all together real nicely when he asked, "what do we REALLY need?" Once you think about what you really need, you start to see what God has done to provide it. Truth is my need goes beyond food or another paycheck or a better job or any relationship. My true need is for a savior, because I'm a sinner. And that's exactly what God provided in a way that still blows my mind. Props to Pastor Ken for bringing the word hardcore style.

Grace (both kinds)

So my beautiful, grammar perfect roommate Grace graduated today! I'm so proud of her because I know how much she hated school and how much she didnt want to hang out with Christians when she came to Winthrop. Luckily Jesus changed her mind about the friends thing and we've tolerated each other for 4 years! I thought a lot today about Winthrop, obviously. I realized how creative Jesus is and Him giving me some truly awesome friends was His best move. Grace and I have nothing in common. Well, except we both like manly men who talk about pizza and we watch cash cab and any dumb movie on ABC Family together. She only knows what I tell her about sports and for some reason acts like she doesnt want to kill herself when I go on about the Yankees for an hour. Truth is I wouldn't have had a chance at sanity this year if it weren't for my roommates. It's been a great year, but it's mostly thanks to all the fun we've had in our house so far. I've seen the Lord work in awesome ways through those 2 girls and He has really worked on the Cabin. What I've learned through them and especially having such diverse friends is that REAL friendship doesn't work without Jesus. The kind of friendship that is deep and worth anything can't function without Him. I love living with and around people who are different than me. It pushes me to see the creativeness in the creator and how blessings pour out from the weirdest places. Before Grace stabs me in my sleep, I'm gonna stop talking about sentimental things that give her attention. Sorry roomie, I loves you!

quote of the day

Britt: "What status can I put up to get the most attention? I think that's what some people think sometimes."

I Wanna go to Rockfish, HEY!

Kinda ripped off the idea of writing this from my dear friend Brooke. Camp Rockfish has been coming up A LOT lately. I'm currently missing it in an abnormal way. Last week a co-worker showed me a picture of a snake she almost stepped on while on the trail. It brought me back to the time me and Brian Spanner had to kill this huge copperhead behind the pool. I'm absolutely terrified of snakes but I turned into beast mom counselor mode because I knew I had to kill it so it wouldn't bite a kid so I helped and it died. At work we're currently planning a youth ultimate frisbee tournament and lately ALL I wanna do is play frisbee. I remember falling in love with ultimate frisbee at camp. Whenever we had time, the staff would literally be throwing the frisbee. In the middle of the road, in parking lots, with campers, in the staff lounge, one night until 2am. We just strapped on our chacos (or most times went barefoot) and played on the play field for hours. That summer at camp I learned more about myself and Jesus than I did on summer project I think. I don't think I was pushed on project like I was at camp. I was hot and hungry and sleepy and running short on patience at all times for 11 weeks. And God provided for me and taught me more about Himself than He ever really has. I understood what it meant to be a servant and I read Romans 12 every day for 11 weeks to remind me what my body is to be used for. All this to say I think being around camp was the calling I never really realized unfortunately. I was a rising senior in college and around that time you have to think about real professional jobs and stuff. The more I work in Recreation here in Rock Hill, the more I find that's where its at for me. Sure I would love to own the Panthers or market for the Gamecocks. But the more I think about my future (whenever that will be) I think recreation is what I might be wired for. I love seeing kids get to be kids. Watching kids play and get dirty and get excited about mud is a good thing. Also, my chaco tan is forming. yes.

School

The idea of summer is definetly in my mind, but the reality nor the temperature of it is anywhere close I don't feel like. With that said, this particular Wednesday has me sort of down. It's probably because I thought earlier about how MUCH time I've honestly put into this research proposal and I feel like it's defeating me. I've said before that I'm not anywhere close to being an overacheiver and my grades are currently fine, it's just that when you voluntarily sign up to get your masters you wanna GET it (without complaining, too). I don't want to just start on papers the night before or turn in half-done work to the head of our department. I know, it's not that serious. I just want this ultimate paper I need to graduate to be GOOD. Really good. Because if it's not then what's the point? I've literally spent several (as in like 5 or 6) hours in the library on the days I'm not at work, for several weeks now and it's still not done. I haven't even started on my presentation for it yet. Monday can't come soon enough and I'm working ALL weekend plus a friday night exam so that doesn't help when trying to get things done. I apologize that for another year, you'll probably have to hear about me in this endless battle with my research project. Maybe I'll feel better about it once the faculty doesn't shoot me down and tell me it's the dumbest idea ever. Here's hoping.

Time for the quote of the day as it comes from a thank you card written by my engaged best friend:
"You're gonna rock this bridesmaid thing." -Erica

Evaluation

There is only one day left of my first, very own rock climbing class. I can't say I'm excited about that fact. They have been a great class and we've had SO much fun. The thing that I really love about teaching (and coaching soccer too) is seeing the progression from the beginning to the end and how the students get better at climbing each class. Some were scared of heights on day one but now they are trying the hardest routes on the wall. They filled out evaluations on me on Monday and honestly I'm scared to death of the comments they put down. We goof off and joke around so much there's no telling what they wrote. In evaluation of my own class, I will say that I learned a lot about being a teacher I guess. The big problem with this particular class is that I'm friends with a lot of them outside of class and have been for a couple of years now. Since we're all pals, it's hard for them to realize that they can't get away with murder. I'm a really chill person in general, but when you never come to class/you're always 15 minutes late, I'm gonna do some things to your grade, no matter how much we hang out otherwise. On the other hand, lets be honest, rock climbing isnt the most intense course at winthrop. It's meant to be fun and chill and a class where you can learn and excercise and swing around on ropes. Even though some days were more frustrating than others, I had the best class in the history of classes. ever. A couple of my students want to have a muffin date together before class monday morning in celebration of the last day. How great is that? They're adorable.

The quote of the day might have spurred on the above rant that no one cares about:

While belaying Hannah up the wall...

Amelia: "Quick! I need a quote! I have to be encouraging and positive!"
Janna: "umm. umm. Don't hate the player, hate the game!"

quote of the day

In bible study...

Rachel: "Oh I'm sorry, I just cut you off."
Brandi: "No, I was done. I was just going to keep saying the same thing in a different way."

Britt (from the bathroom): "ahhh!"
Me: "Did the cricket get in your room?"
Britt: "No I couldn't find my way out of my hoodie."
Grace: "That sounds like a goosebumps movie."

quote of the day

For the Hills fan only i guess...

Manda: "Will Spencer get a job? How many times will Audrina meet for lunch with someone to discuss Justin Bobby?! So many unknowns!"

Hello, I Love You

You knew I had to blog about this: the awesomeness of GLEE. The spring season of the show happily premiered last night, but not without lots of comments from all the haters. I get it, most people don't like musical happiness or shows with attractive people in it. And Glee is the new big show that everyone is watching so of course you must be different and hate it while never seeing a single episode. But I don't hate on all you Lost peeps. I mean I'm completely lost on Lost, I have no idea what's going on and I don't really care. The cool thing about how the creator created us, is that we're all different. Most people don't care who Lauren Conrad is and I don't care how much the biggest loser loses. American Idol could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn't lose any sleep. All that to say, it's ok to disagree, just don't be a jerk about it. After all, it is just television and if for some reason mine were taken from me, I think I would survive just as well. I just want to comment on how last nights episode was centered around songs with HELLO in the title. Most of the episodes depend on the songs and I think that is just a lot of cool. It just shows how important music is and what it can do, to create an entire story around it! That's all I really have to say about it. It was kinda the highlight of my week, so you can imagine how exciting life is right now.

quote of the day

Teddy stomps a caterpillar...

Pastor Ken: "Teddy, do we always have to kill everything?"

For Me, It's You

Today I registered for classes to start off my 2nd and LAST year in graduate school! How crazy is that? I just started. Actually, just yesterday I was a power ranger, defending the Limestone Elementary school playground. Time sure does fly by. I know I've talked most of yalls ears off about how ballin my life is now that I've gone back to school. I'm actually making good grades, I've got great new friends, Jesus is bigger and more real to me than He's ever been. I took a trip to Ireland and I get paid to teach rock climbing to undergrads and play around on the ropes course. I have my huge research project proposal and presentation due May 3, so I anticiapte a few late nights in my future but that's ok. About once a year I get sad about not meeting my husband in college or not getting a kick-awesome job in Cali, but then I get some sense back and realize that I wouldn't be here with 2 perfect roommates. I like this plan a lot better personally.

2 more things I love:
1. Duke Basketball. Champions. Booyah.
2. My front porch. Has a brand new light so we can sit outside past 7pm. EPIC.

quote of the day

During a video at church....

Stephen: "I hate this video. What is this font? Jesus deserves a better font. And this song sounds like the theme from Step by Step."

Happy Easter!!

quote of the day

If there needed to be proof that my roommate and I are BIG nerds, here is us in a conversation about hell...

Me: People would be screaming, "Go Tigers! We love Clemson!"
Grace: People would be screaming, "Between you and I!"

quote of the day

Grace: "Well I mean, murder isn't going out of style any time soon, so we could get em both."

Two is better than one

Within this past week or so I've mentioned to God that I need to be humbled because I'm full of it. I get like that sometimes, where I get on a power trip and act like I run the show. It's not a good place to be in. When you have tons of stuff going on in life like I do, it's easy to just take charge and act like the functioning of everything and everyone is your responsibility. Just this morning I almost forgot I had class. The class that I'm the durn teacher of. With life being as hectic as it is, I just need a little kick in the face from God, who reminds me He's in charge and that I'm not as cool as I think I am. Last week I was subbing for the disc games class. I'd never played disc golf before but I thought how hard can it be, I'm athletic. Right? Being farely good at sports has always come naturally to me, with the exception of real golf but it's not natural to be good at that anyways. I played 14 holes of disc golf and didn't hit the stupid chain once. Not even close. Three of my shots went into the creek, one went into the jungle, and all of them curved to the opposite direction of the hole. I left that class frustrated as heck because it's a sport, why wasn't I awesome? In addition to that rediculousness, it bugged me for the rest of the day. That's just a small example of how my mind works sometimes and I need to be reminded of the fact that I'm just not that great. I like to be the best at everything, take control of my situations, be the boss. In some cases where assertiveness is needed, that's a good characteristic. But when it comes down to who's really in control, I need something, big or small, to humble me. Yep.

Home

This may be just a little kumbaya for most, but I don't really care. I was in Gaffney this weekend and I straight worshiped at FBC! Unfortunately, it hasn't really felt like my home church for the past couple of years, and that's ok, I mean I'm never there. But this past sunday was about as close to heaven as things can get here. The place was packed with most of the congregation being youth who just got off of Impact weekend, a weekend that is very dear to my heart and it rocks. Youth were praisin some Jesus. Which is the norm in my little home town. Isn't that just cool? There are some major things going on in Gaffney and Blacksburg high school with FCA getting massive and athletes are praying before every game and things are happening that don't ever happen, especially among sports teams. Every time I go home I see more and more out of town college students from Limestone at church and helping out with our youth group. This really isn't surprising to me, seeing as how we have some of the best adults in our church and by far THE best youth pastor in the universe. Not everyone is a fan of church. We criticize it a heck of a lot, me included. And I will always think that there are problems within the church, that is the direct result of humans being born into sin. But I praise God for FBC Gaffney because they are telling people about Him. They are loving on youth and college students and athletes and lots of other people I'm sure that I don't know about. Just wanted to give Jesus some praise for a minute for the work He's always doin. That's all!

Cheers!

So now the highlight of my semester is donezo. Ireland has come and gone, that's a 3 hour credit out of the way, and tons upon millions of papers are only ahead. dang. But what I do have to look forward to actually makes school work a little less dreadful, and that is warm weather. Most people probably think I love warm weather in an abnormal way. It's just that I love being outside SO very much and I there's literally nothing better than flip-flops and/or chacos. I get to wear them all the time now, along with t-shirts and dresses to church. Oh man. I'm also way past ready to get back into my tent, so if you want to go camping, let's get up.

Enough about the weather. My 10 days in Ireland were freakin amazing. One night in particular, I went down to the local pub with Dr. Travis and his good friend Collie, who is the typically wonderful irish man that you might imagine in your head, and had a pint and talked about sports. That seems not so cool to most of you but that was just the coolest thing to me. I got to be in a beautiful country while learning about another culture and visiting sports facilities. All in one day I went surfing, climbed the rock wall, conquered a ropes course, and got a Johnny Cash classic dedicated to me by the local pub duo band thanks to my southern accent. Couldn't have asked for a better trip really. They say that when you travel overseas, you start to have an itch to do it even more and see all the wonderful places that you've been missing out on. Whoever "they" is was right. I want my next stop to be Australia I think or maybe Scotland. Or wherever the next World Cup is located so I can attend. This pic is the little surf town we stayed in for the last 4 days. Bundoran is the most beautifully perfect place to live and work and get married to a professional surfer. Guess my mind is made up.

to sum up my week...

• I hate the snow!
• the youth at manchester creek are hardcore.
• Got my hair cut today. new haircuts are annoying.
• I REALLY miss playing soccer. I'm not so good at it anymore.
• I need the word of God to survive. Realizing that is hardcore.
• I love packing because it means I'm going places.

Road Trip on the Left

This is probably the last time I'll speak of Ireland before I leave. Mainly because I know you're probably starting not to care, and because I'm just gonna be swamped with things to do until next thursday. We're getting around to finalizing the trip and the itinerary has some pretty sweet things for us! Some of the places we are visiting are the National Aquatic Center, Department of Sport, Culture and Tourism, Football Association of Ireland offices, Sport Institute of Northern Ireland, Irish Football Association, Tollymore Mountain center, lots of other foreign-sounding places, and we're gonna catch a few sporting events. I'm almost positive that my favorite part of the trip will be at the end when we visit and stay at the Donegal Adventure Center in Bundoran. We're staying there for the last 4 days and we're gonna surf, do the ropes course, take a tour of Yeats Country, and probably jump off some cliffs into the ocean. As freakin exciting as this all is, I'm kind of hating the fact that I have to drive on the left side of the road, the 6 hour flight, and it'll probably be 40 degrees the whole time. But who cares, it's Europe and it's going to be beautiful. And if I can drive in lots of Dublin tourist traffic in the rain and on the wrong side of the road, then shoot, I'm gonna go get my p.h.d because I'll have proven I can do anything.

Fact finale: the whole island is about the size of Indiana.

Music Monday

When I die I don't want to have to regret not doing things that are cool. So when I heard that the Black Eyed Peas were coming to town, I had to jump on board. Not only do I love a good jam, but I single handedly introduced the Peas to my college pals back in 05. Everyone judged me in Wal-Mart as I bought their album "Monkey Business." After several dorm room dance parties, today those same college pals are jealous because Will.I.Am didn't tell them to do a fist pump followed by a 2 hour dance party. And that's what it was folks. A straight up club mostly full of white people, except we all got our own chair and dancing space. I think it changed my life, and I'm far more into rap concerts than I ever thought I would be (and less frightened by them). Also, I didn't really get the whole obsession with Fergie until I saw her rock it out live. I'd say Fergalicious is a fitting term for a solo album.

Revisiting Rhett and Link Days...

A Valentine's list

If theres one thing I love in the world, it's TV. There's no better way to blog about Valentine's Day than with a simple yet fun list of top TV couples, based on my opinion of course. Before you get angry with me, keep in mind that I've only been alive for 23 years, so those "back in my day" classic couples just don't count for me. This is in no order, and readers feel free to comment on some of your faves because 10 just isn't enough. Reality rocks.

1. Dawson and Joey-Dawson's Creek
2. Ross and Rachel-Friends
3. Zach and Kelly-Saved by the Bell
4. Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky-Full House
5. Spencer and Heidi-The Hills
6. Will and Grace-Will & Grace
7. Jim and Pam-The Office
8. Cory and Topanga-Boy Meets World
9. Luke and Lorelai-Gilmore Girls
10. Steve and Laura-Family Matters

A thought from my car

Somewhere along in my frustrations of the week, I've realized that I've gotten lazy. Not the kind of lazy where I sit at home watching tv instead of doing my homework or skipping class to sit out on my porch, but the kind where I'm just doing enough to get by. These days if I get a little stressed or overwhelmed, I act like my world is crashing down. I felt that way on Monday but when I went to bed I remember thinking I had a really crappy day, but why? Because I was a little stressed? Because my research class requires a little bit more of me than I'm willing to give? This won't apply to everyone, but I think that if we (especially college kids) get a little overwhelmed with school or work or social events, it's because we're lazy. We don't want to put forth the effort that whatever we're doing requires. But God says do things that aren't normal. Do things better and bigger than they would normally be done. Study a little bit more to get an A. Have coffee with the person that needs to talk to you even though your day is non-stop. I've been serving our youth ministry at MC for almost 3 years now and lately I've done just enough to get by. Just enough to cover our sunday school lesson if I even teach it anymore. I only read for class when I think my professor will ask me about it. Ok, I never have been/never will be an overacheiver, so I am in no way suggesting we all become one. But in my attempt to share my personal convictions with you, maybe we could all use a little dose of effort. These thoughts just didn't pop into my head because I've been feeling bad lately about something I didn't do. Nope, these thoughts come from driving down the road and thinking about how lazy Jesus was, which was not at all. He went to the cross so maybe I could study for that extra hour to pass a health quiz. If He were to preach to me about Passion I think it would slap me in the face. Having passion for something means putting everything you have towards it and making it EPIC and giving a crap. I want that for EVERYTHING that I do. I don't think passion is limited. A lot of us Christians (me) have big plans of changing the world but we don't want to get out of bed and go to work in the morning. We don't want to study and be good at our careers because it takes too much of our time. We need a precious 9 hours of sleep instead of hanging out with someone that we could potentially influence. I'm ready to get rid of all that thinking. I want God's work ethic.

Music Monday

It's a little under a month before my trip and what better way to spend music monday than with U2. I wouldn't call myself their biggest fan, but I have a lot of respect for those dudes. When I told my Dad I was going to Ireland, his response was: "Maybe you'll meet Bono." They are the most popular band in Ireland even today and I would say the most popular band in the world. You could fight me on that, but I don't know who else would get such a title. The main type of music in Ireland currently is what it is everywhere else I would assume. Irish Rock is pretty big, but they probably enjoy a good dose of Lady GaGa just as much as the next guy. After doing a little research (googled it) I came across the top 5 biggest selling Irish acts of all time. Strangely, I've heard of all of them.

1. U2 170+ million albums sold
2. Enya 75+ million albums sold

3. Van Morrison 55+ million albums sold

4. The Cranberries 50+ million albums sold
5.The Corrs 43+ million albums sold

Colts vs. Katrina

Today is the official finale of the football season. I'm sad. However, I would like to take some time and vent out all of my feelings regarding annoying people who act like they care about football. I realize that football is not a big deal given the bigness of this world we live in. Like I said, I'm a realistic sports fan. And while I will be pulling for the Colts in the big game, the Saints actually have a better chance of winning. Why? Because they have the better team. The people who don't care anything about football will get all Go Saints on you for the most rediculous reasons. Hurricane Katrina is my favorite. Don't accuse me of not being a compassionate person or anything like that, I mean I don't support natural disasters. But don't be the Saints biggest fan because a hurricane hit 4 years ago and you feel sorry for them. They're recovering, and all the sin of Mardi Gras will resume this week with no worries. I really like the "underdog" reason. People, a team isnt given the title of "underdog" because 98% of America feels sorry for them. They're given that name because out of the two teams playing, they are less likely to win. And if you cared anything about sports and watched it, you would learn that the Colts are actually the underdog because the Saints are statistically the better team and have been all season. I don't want to bore you with this bitterness anymore. I'll just leave you with a big GO COLTS, featuring Peyton Manning (4-time league MVP) He's pretty good.

Music Monday

It has nice alliteration so why not. This first music monday will be spent talking about worship. And I realize I've talked about worship a thousand times in this space, but it's a really big deal to me and I love worshiping Jesus with some jams. I sat around with some pretty amazing girls last night and we talked about the ways that we get alone with God. I have to admit that the whole "being quiet" and just sitting still is hard for me. I almost always have my ipod in or I like playing my guitar when I'm having time with Him. As we talked about being alone with God, I kind of thought that "worship" is a great thing as far as talking to Him and just being still. There's nothing else going on, except a song that's playing with words that tell about how GREAT He is anyway. I know that worship can be focused on TOO much and that people get all weird about how its done, but the fact that we get to use the talent of playing instruments and our voices to praise Him really loudly, I think that's a lot of cool. Music is good. God is really good.

"That my heart may sing to you and not be silent; O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever." -Psalm 30:12

quote of the day

Bible Study.

Brandi: "I kinda just picture God being half Irish and half Nigerian."
Janna: "Word."

Irish Sports Report

My passport is in! I still can't beleive I had to wait 23 years to have a reason to get one, but who cares really. My prof. sent me the readings that he's requiring his Globilization in Sport class to read before taking our adventure to Ireland. I haven't read them yet, so today's fact isn't from anything academic. It's just that the whole point of this here trip is to experience sport in another country. What kind of sports do they got over there? Well I'm glad you asked.

Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland in terms of match attendance and community involvement, and represents 34% of total sports attendances at events in Ireland and abroad, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at 16% and rugby at 8% and the All-Ireland Football Final is the most watched event in Ireland's sporting calendar.

Actually I've been cultured all along, seeing as how I've played soccer my whole life and soccer is THE sport of the world. I just love everything about it. Too bad no one else in America does. But I've always had this weird interest in Cricket. First of all, I just really like that a sport is called Cricket. I don't really know all the rules and I've only seen a few clips of it on tv, but if baseball and kickball had a baby, it would be Cricket. I feel like you have to be wicked athletic to play it or be a student at Hogwarts or somethnig but I would love to give it a try. Ireland's Cricket team played in the 2007 World Cup and was one of the final 8 teams. The next Cricket World Cup will happen in 2011 in India, Shri Lanka, Bangladesh and ending in Mumbai. Anyone who's reading this is bored.