quote of the day

Amanda: "Do you want some hand sanitizer that smells like strawberries and says i love shoes?"

Dress shopping...
Erica: "What about this one? Looks like you're about to go skipping through a field. But it's white.
Me: "uhhh..."
Erica: "I think that's why I'm drawn to it."
Me: "Why cause it's white?"
Erica: "Yea. and the field thing."

GRADuation

Has it been 2 years already? Seems like just yesterday I was clueless about my life but decided to give school another go. And I'm SO glad I did! I think I've learned more about myself in these last 2 years than maybe any other time in my life. You're twenty-somethings are an exciting time and I have and will continue to make the most of them before I get old. I'm pretty sure I've never worked as hard as I have these past 2 years and it will take me a good long hibernation to catch up on all the sleep I lost just this semester. I've been given massive amounts of grown-up responsibility which has been fun and busy, but it's taught me how to slow down too. What I've learned about God, among several things, is that He is sure about Rock Hill. I wasn't ok with that 2 years ago. I wasn't ok with all of my best college friends leaving town and me living by myself and going to the same church, keeping the same job, and living in this town with nothing to do. Turns out I was wrong about every bit of that. This place couldn't be more perfect for me, and on top of that, where God chooses to put me isn't for me. It's so HE can get use out of it so that's even cooler. I've also learned how to measure someones body density using some crazy formuala I'll never see again and that a negative caloric balance results in weight loss. It hasn't really hit me yet that I'll be done with school forever but I gotta say I'm pretty dang proud of myself. A higher degree, as common as they might be these days, are hard as crap. If you don't beleive me, I'll hand you my 62 page thesis for your reading pleasure. And after graduating as a Master of Science in Sport and Fitness Administration, I'll get up and go to work the next morning. Not many people can say that. So overall I'd say these past 2 years were well worth it, Go Eagles!

quote of the day

Good convo at work about our upcoming golf tournament...

Me: "We need to have a practice sesh with some real golfers."
Merritt: "What do we need to practice for?"
Patti: "So we all don't look like fools out there!"
Merritt: "That's why I'm getting a new outfit. I don't understand."

Death in His Grave

This song by John Mark McMillan is my jam. I got that album right before Mom died and I couldn't stop listening to it for months after that, especially this song. It talks about how Jesus has conquered the grave and yea we all know that. But seriously. We deserve far worse than what we have waiting for us and I don't think about that enough. I don't think about how I don't belong here, how I'll never ever be satisfied here, how Jesus willingly died so that I'd eternally get to hang out with Him. I feel like those "first" holidays and events without Mom just keep coming. We went to the lake without her today for the first time and it's Mother's Day in a couple of weeks. I feel like it doesn't end sometimes, but that's ok, eternity will make up for it.

"On Friday a thief
On Sunday a King
Laid down in grief
But awoke holding keys
Of Hell on that day
The first born of the slain
The Man Jesus Christ
Laid death in his grave."-JMM

quote of the day

Amanda: "Did you know Laura is moving back to Gaffney? I'm excited because all Emily does is work all the time and I need someone to play with. There I said it."

quote of the day

Erica: "I found this really good verse and it said word for word, and I'm paraphrasing..."

Puppy Love

I promise I won't blog about my dog constantly like some people would. But hey, getting a puppy is a huge deal in ones life so I have to share right? She's still getting used to the whole crate thing. She whines every time I leave her there but I don't think it's because she misses me. Pretty sure its because she thinks something good is going on in the other room and she needs to be chewing it. I've had her for 2 days now and it's been real fun. I'll share 5 things that I've learned...

1. She does everything the opposite of how I want.
2. She's a morning dog (which goes against everything I beleive in).
3. So far she likes sticks.
4. My favorite word (NO) and her favorite word are not the same.
5. She's the greatest dog in the world.

Cali

Finally....baby Cali is HOME! Me and the roomies went and picked her up today and she did GREAT on the ride home. She slept in Grace's lap and wasn't scared when we went into PetSmart to get her food. I got a lot of "she's adorable!" comments as I walked through and they're right. She's SO freakin adorable. I mean, everything she does is cute. I didn't even mind when she pooped in the floor twice. But she's been good about going to the bathroom outside and she's getting used to her leash already! It was a good first day home for us. I'll probably change my mind in a couple of hours when she keeps me up all night.... Heyward gave me puppy motherhood tips...
Heyward: "You'll think everything is cute. Like tonight in the movie, there were these cute animated bunnies. And I thought Oh these bunnies are cute. Then I thought Oh...Molly is cute."

quote of the day

Sarah: "We're talking about video taping births."
Ben: "Oh that happens all the time."
Jon: "Murder happens all the time. That doesn't make it right."

Monday

Usually I hate Mondays, but not today. Today it was like 1,000 degrees outside. I had lunch with my old college pal Shannon Justice and Bickell. I love those girls and love getting to catch up with my peeps that I haven't seen in a while. In rock climbing, my photographer friend was doing a project and decided to take pictures of our class. My students then put their creative minds together and decided to spell WU with ourselves on the wall. This took a good 45 minutes of class time but I didn't mind because it was the hardest they've worked all semester. I think it turned out well. It was epic either way. I worked late thanks to the Come-See-Me youth climbing wall competition and ended the night with a milkshake with my roommates. My life is way too cool sometimes.

And the quote of the day...
Me: "I know a lot of people like KNOW they're going to marry someone and that's great. But for me, I feel like it's going to take a while. Like...more than a year.
Shannon: "Yea I have to see them in all 4 seasons."

Come See Rock Hill!

And here we have my shameless plug for the Come-See-Me Festival. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you either have never been to Rock Hill, SC or you're no fun. I discovered this 10-day festival sometime in my undergraduate days, I think when I saw the big fireworks show. I progressively started going to more events each year, and then the Parks and Rec department hired me up. My first job as a festival worker was in the form of dressing up like a big frog. They say in my office that you aren't really a part of the staff until you've been Glen the Frog. I agree. But this year I got put in charge of Souvenirs for the entire festival. And when I say get put in charge, this means I got voluntold. I knew I would have a thesis paper due at the same time and that my life would be crazy but why would I ever say no to bettering my community? So here I am with more responsibility than I can handle and my name in the brochure. But I have actually had a lot of fun being a team leader. I've met a lot of cool people and gotten to see a little bit of what it takes to plan and put on a 10-day event for about 70,000 people. This festival is at the top of my list for reasons why I love Rock Hill and being on the inside of it this year has only grown my love for the neighbors in my town even more. So all that to say...if you're in Rock Hill from the 7th-16th, I better see you at an event or read on your facebook status that you were at an event. And if you want to be my best friend and help me sell souvenirs then get at me. I'll hook you up with a free t-shirt. http://comeseeme.rockhill.net

pack it up, pack it in

Just incase you're still a little confused about how hard my life rocks, let me explain. Winthrop pays my graduate school tuition and I go rafting and backpacking for 3 days with the outdoor education class (also a free trip for me). With only a month left of school, I could think of no better way to end my graduate assistantship than living out of a backpack in the wilderness with 17 undergrads. We rafted 10 miles on the Chatooga River, hiked 14 miles, purified our own water, and slept in tents that did not keep us warm for 2 nights. The trail we had to hike on Friday was 7 miles up a curvy gravel road so naturally I had to throw up on the side of the mountain on the way up. Then I slammed my head into a huge tree that I somehow didn't see on the trail. So other than those 2 things and the fact that I thought all my organs would freeze during the night, it was a great trip! How bout we end with some quotes from our adventures...


After falling out of the raft..
Ayles: "Now I know why the people on the Titanic made those faces."

Brittany: "Next year I'm taking indoor education."

Emily: "I really like being out here and not caring about what you look like. No make-up. No hair.
Me and Britt: "No hair?"

To the chickfila customer standing behind us in line...
Jasmine: "Sorry we smell bad."