quote of the day

Talking about what we're all doing for Christmas....

Nicki: "We'll be visiting the unreached people group known as the Williams family."

Come Back Soon

I believe that everything happens for a purpose.

Not because I read it on a coffee cup or a Christian bookmark.  Not because I just believe that sentence so that I don't have to face reality.  If I believe that God is the author, creator, King of everything, then I believe that there is a grand purpose for everything. And that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing for me and for Him.  I think He sees the big picture and I only see the 75 or so years that I get of my life.  I haven't really said much about last Friday's news, mainly because how do you even process something like that?  When all you hear in the news lately are shootings in schools, movie theaters, malls, football stadiums.  Do I think our gun laws could stand to be looked at? Absolutely, let's look into it and see if something can't be changed so that everyone isn't running around with a rifle in their hand.  Maybe the media needs to chill out and in some cases stop idolizing violence in our country.  I mean I agree with some of that stuff and if something, anything, can be done to get it under control then I say let's go.  But what happened in Connecticut wasn't a gun law's fault.  It wasn't the media putting fun ideas in people's heads.  What happened was a result of anger and hate.  Not much we can do about that one outside of Christ.  

Why does a God who loves us SO much allow stuff like this happen?  I have no idea.  I don't know why He thinks I deserve a bed each night, food to eat everyday and people who love me either.  My only thought is that sin is huge.  It effects everyone, it's in everyone, and it will never leave us until we leave this life.  There has to be something more than these few years full of pain and crazy that we get.  We had to have been created for something greater, because God loves us SO much.  He won't leave us alone to all this.  But until then, He's all we've got.  

"So we groan in this great darkness
Are we alone in this great darkness?

If nature's red in tooth and in claw
Then it seems to me that she's an outlaw
'Cause every death is a question mark
At the end of the book of a beating heart
And the answer is scrawled in the silent dark
On the dome of the sky in a billion stars
But we cannot read these angel tongues
And we cannot stare at the burning sun
And we cannot sing with these broken lungs
So we kick in the womb and we beg to be born
Deliverance!
Deliverance, O Lord!"

-Andrew Peterson, Come Back Soon

quote of the day

Me: "What cuss word did you say?"
Sarah: "Probably all of them!"

Sarah: "I know that Hebrews is about how Jesus is the better of anything that has ever happened."

Touchdown Jesus: Why Notre Dame will win the big one

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in the National Championship game for the first time since 1988.  Will Heisman Trophy finalist, South Carolina homeboy quarterback, and Jesus guide them to glory? Or will they become just another victim on Nick Saban's ridiculous list of Championships?  No way to tell, except to keep reading.

• #5. On defense he is Manti Te'o.  Definitely the best defensive player in the country, who has already won 6 awards this year and was a finalist for the Heisman trophy.  On offense he is Everett Golson, a Myrtle Beach boy who only thew 5 interceptions all year. He threw for 11 TD's and rushed for 5 in some pretty big games. 

• Fans.  Only the TRUE sports fans drink the Hater-ade when it comes to Notre Dame.  I'd put them up there with teams that people pull for when they have absolutely no idea who they want to win anything.  Other examples: the Red Sox, the Cowboys, Manchester United, UNC Tarheels.  The true sports fan thinks they only got #1 votes because the "masses" love them and I would be willing to bet what little money I have on the fact that more blue will be in Miami than red on January 7th.  The story of Notre Dame playing for a National Championship was just too cute to pass up. 

• Rudy.  What a great movie.  If a team bonding sesh breaks out the night before the big game complete with some thin mints and this movie, Bama's got no chance.

• Freedom.  As of late, conference commissioners and athletic directors across the country have been pondering and paying for their next big conference move.  While most schools are saying, "Give us more money", Notre Dame says "We don't need your money" aka "Our football program is better than yours." They sleep well at night knowing their air time is locked down, while a little TV network called NBC televises all of their home games.

• Touchdown Jesus.  If the help of talent, mass groups of fans, or the luck of the Irish won't bring home the BCS trophy, our Savior will.  Notre Dame's football stadium, which is officially called "Notre Dame Stadium" (it doesn't need naming rights aka "our stadium is better than yours") is known for its view of the famous mural from inside.  This mural, apparently a gift to the University, is Jesus holding up his arms like a referee signaling a touchdown. If that's not FAVOR, tell me what is.

Final Score of the BCS National Championship game (prediction) : 

Alabama - 17       Notre Dame - Ten Thousand times Ten Thousand

quote of the day

Watching a video of a newly invented Skittle Sorting Machine, created by some scientist somewhere:

Katelyn: "That's how the world is going to end.  With a skittle sorter machine."
Joel: "That thing is straight up taking a picture and being like, that skittle is green."

quote of the day

Margaret to Kevin (getting really excited and standing out of her chair): "So what is your end goal? Am I going to be filling up my car with your seaweed?"

quote of the day

Tom : "I could eat 2 scoops in a waffle cone right now.  But I would have diabetes by midnight so I'm not going to."

quote of the day

Me: "You hate me."
Grace: "I'm not going to be your ex-roommate anymore!  What if every time I got mad at you, I moved in with you?"

In the News

Twitter and Facebook newsfed us some good stuff this week.  Incase you missed or lack an opinion on these 3 items, see below.

1. NFL Referees.  Our Presidential candidates could've told us that they hate America or that they actually agreed on something on Tuesday morning and no one would've blinked an eye.  That's how close the media was to having a total meltdown over the Packers vs. Seahawks vs. Referee fiasco.  If you ask me (and you did by reading this), I'm thankful for the replacement refs.  If the NFL hadn't decided to at least get some jokers in there to run games, we wouldn't have 3 weeks of entertainment because the actual refs want more money.  They could've just held the season until an agreement with the real guys was met.  But then I couldn't see the Panthers go 1-2 and that's just not fun.  I do know that the next time they call for replacements, I'm striping up.

History: "Russell Wilson becomes the first QB to throw a touchdown on an incomplete pass." 

                                -Twitter

2. Fall. The season is among us in 84 degree fashion.  But is it though?  I just don't see how you can look up at a tree right now or go outside at 2pm and say that fall is here.  My Facebook friends seem to instagram differently.  Side note: just because Instagram takes the cool version of pictures and can change something purple to brown, doesn't mean it's actually brown.  I would appreciate it if everyone would refrain from using words such as: leaves, cardigan, pumpkin, front-porch-sittin', (insert fruit name) picking, and any combination of chai/tea/spice. At least until the weather actually gets here.  Come over to my house though, and we'll eat some Halloween Oreos together.

3. National Dog Week. I had no idea that this was an actual thing.  But really a lot of people, places, and things get weeks or months dedicated to them nationally.  So it's really no surprise.  It's also no surprise that I'll take up a lot of space here talking about how great my black blob is.  I'm constantly amazed at how socially loving she is.  When someone comes over to the house, she is in their lap whether you've given permission or not.  Everything she does is because she loves you, no matter if you're a stranger or her Mom.  Wouldn't it be cool if humans were that way?  If everything we did was out of love for someone?  I don't know, but it's good to let that little booger teach me a thing or two.  To all the dog masters out there, let Doug brighten your day....

quote of the day

Walking into the football stadium on Saturday....

Eric: Most girls would be like "Let's stay at home and watch the Notebook!"
Me: "Oh is that what girls say?"
Eric: "I think so."

quote of the day

Youth Council kids discuss being in the Rock Hill Christmas parade....

Lane: My Dad has white hair so he could be our Santa.  And he's fat too!

quote of the day

Kate: "I saw this article on things to say when you're watching a soccer game so you'll sound like you know what you're talking about.  I almost read it."

Records, Lies, and Secrets

The Pretty Little Liars season 3(A) finale broke the record for the most social media comments during a single TV episode with 1.6 MILLION comments.  For those who didn't catch the best TV episode of the summer, maybe year, here is what you missed free of charge.

Turns out none of my top 5 PLL betrayal predictions were true (college football predictions still pending).  It's rare that I'm wrong, meaning these ABC Fam writers are too legit to quit.  Turns out the betrAyer of the Liars and the entire town of Rosewood and all of us is...#TOBY.  What this means:

A. #Toby just got more hot or more creepy. I can't decide.
A. Spencer will regret what she did in this last episode when she finds out what #Toby did to her.  By that I mean lied to her constantly by being on the A team AND probably getting her pregnant.
A. Have you seen #Toby's body?  He won't be as easy as Nate to take down and stab.  Emily, take note.
A. The cops will never figure this one out.  #Toby has already been through the ringer in season one and got off clean AND he's gained all the Liars trust (and then some *cough* spencer).

Also: Nate is DEAD. Black dude out.

quote of the day

Eric: "What he has in arms and abs, I make up for by watching Pretty Little Liars."

Ready for gAme dAy?

I'm obsessed with two things: football and Pretty Little Liars. Lucky for you and me, college football officially starts this week. But lucky for you and sadly for me, Pretty Little Liars ends this week, with what is sure to be the most EPIC season finale since last season's finale. In this last episode, someone will betrAy the Liars. No other context or info is given in the previews (thanks for nothing, ABC Fam) but we do know that it will be a shocker to everyone (probably including the actual betrAyer.) So to get everyone on the same page, I have listed my top 5 college football team rankings and my top 5 betrAying suspects for the PLL finale. Keep your eyes open for these teams to win a trophy. But also keep your eyes open for "A" to be jumping out of the closet to kill you and your 3 best friends.

1.      USC Trojans.  The “other” USC is looking good this year.  Mostly I mean their starting QB Matt Barkeley.  He’s the best QB in football dude who will I’m sure turn out like Matt Leinart and Carson Palmer who can date models but can’t hack it in the NFL.  He's as pretty as any of those Liars, though.  My one reservation at putting them at #1 is that they play Hawaii, Syracuse, Utah, and others that will never be ranked and aren’t important enough to list.  While all the SEC teams are out playing each other for top spots, USC will be playing Arizona State.  We’ll see though.  TV networks will make bank on them anyway.

 Jenna.  She’s not blind anymore, which makes her public enemy #1.  Not to mention the fact that, in season 2, she and Garrett burned page 5 of Ali’s autopsy report proving that they were linked to the night she died.  I’m not sure how a betrayal will come in since we already know she’s involved.  Maybe she’ll finally give our favorite resident black guy, Nate a chance.  That’s betrayAl and just gross.

2.      Bama.  The Crimson Tide graduated quite a few players last year (just go check out the NFL rosters).  But aint nobody touching Nick Saban.  He’s a freaking good coach.  I also think he’s freaking crazy, but crazy wins games apparently.  And they win without quarterbacks in the news and players getting suspended each game. 

Paige.  Now this one is obvious for so many reasons that were only thrown out in this past week’s episode.  What we know about Paige is that she hated Ali (who didn’t), she’s in love with Emily (who’s not) and that she doesn’t trust the Liars AT ALL.  The betrayAl part may come in in the case of Emily.  Em will think they’re relationship is the best when actually her girlfriend is a psychotic killer.  Also, she probably drowned Maya in the school swimming pool.

3.      LSU Tigers.  Tyrann Mathieu, one of the nation's best players is out (don't do drugs, kids) but this more than likely won't stop them from playing in another national championship.  Les Miles is a great coach and even though they lost some seniors, they've got recruiting power for days.

Noel.  He’s been a creepster from day one.  Not only did Maya disappear from his lake house, but he sent Spencer the video of it?  He dates every girl in school, including Mona while she was A, and walks around with a creepy look on his face while never really saying a full sentence at a time.  But I’m thinking that for there to be betrayAl, there has to be trust first.  So never mind.

 4. Oklahoma Sooners.  They have a veteran veteran quarterback Landry Jones.  They always play a  good schedule in a conference that tends to produce some really good games and teams that aren't ranked initially but surprise everyone.  Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas State all have the potential to make a big game out of Oklahoma, but I still think they'll win the Big 12.

Caleb.  If Caleb betrAys anyone, I’m never watching this show again.  The only reason I tend to think of him is because 1. He knows more than any of the other dudes in the show and 2. It would throw everyone completely off because everyone loves Caleb.  The preview also shows Hanna with a horrible look of tears on her face at a crime scene which probably tells us that either Caleb or her Mom (literally the only 2 people she gives a crap about) is involved in this scene.  PLL writers better NOT be messing with Ashley Maron, though.  Leave the hot moms out of this.

 5. Oregon Ducks.  The Mighty Ducks have great uniforms, a great mascot, and all the love from Nike they could ever want.  That's all you need to be ranked #5.

Emily.  *gasp* not one of the liars?  Yea I said it.  Our girl has had it rough lately.  Her ex-girlfriend got murdered, she got unknowingly drugged (twice), our favorite resident black guy Nate keeps hitting on her, and her friends think her new girlfriend is murdering people.  I would betrAy/punch the crap out of everyone in Rosewood.  If it’s you Em, I think we would all understand.

quote of the day

Brittany: "I only have 9 more months of teaching left! If people can be pregnant for 9 months, I can teach."

Dark Knight Review

Now that the Dark Knight Rises has been out for a week, I've seen it twice and have somewhat digested it, let's chat.  Surely all of my friends who are friend enough to read my blog have seen it already, but if you haven't, stop reading right now.  I'm about to spoil the crap out of it and answer those burning questions that we all have.  Technically it's not fair to compare the movies in this trilogy because they are different stories and each one has its purpose.  I do think that the Dark Knight, besides being one of the best movies ever made in my opinion, was the best of the three.  Unless you are literally satan (or Voldemort, who is satan's child), there is no worse villain than the Joker.  He didn't give a darn about anything, including Batman, and just killed people for fun.  Bane with his creepy mask asthma voice was terrible and all, but he really doesn't keep us up at night.  Sure he broke Batman's back, survived the hell prison, and blew up the Steeler's stadium, but him crying at the end and reflecting on what a sucky life he had just isn't enough villain for me.  Plus he didn't kill enough people.  I love a good happy ending, but Gotham City was essentially at war.  The only people who died were the Mayor (called it), the cop guy who was trying to steal the Commissioner's job and had really dumb lines, Bane (called it), and the actual villain girl in charge (called it).

So all that happened.  But no movie is a movie without some hanging questions meant to drive us all into Arkham Asylum.  So now what?

1. Will there be a Robin movie?  Turns out Blake was a huge liar the whole time.  His REAL name...you guessed it but I didn't....ROBIN.  There will probably be a Robin movie and he'll probably be played by Toby Mcguire.  Let's be honest, Tobs needs recovery from Spider-Man and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is too cool for that.

2.  Will Chris Nolan produce the Robin movie?  No. It would be far too gay for Nolan.

3.  Is Anne Hathaway our next badass action-movie-leading-lady-heroine?  I actually had all the faith in my soul that she would steal the show as Catwoman.  She totally kicked comedy butt in Get Smart and kicked fashion's butt in the Devil Wear's Prada. And she has great taste in men as we saw when she won over Batman's still maybe broken heart.  So hate on, haters.

4. Best Movie of 2012?  Yep.

quote of the day

We discuss the Dark Knight Rises...

Erin: "So they set it up for a Robinhood series?
Everyone: "Robin and Robinhood are two different people, Erin."
Erin: "Are they?"

quote of the day

Erica: "Yall have fun this weekend!"
Me: "Thanks, we might get murdered. It's Friday the 13th tomorrow."
Erica: "No don't get murdered!  Wait till next weekend!"

quote of the day

Brittany: "I want a tattoo!  I didn't mean to say that!  I meant to say I want a football, but that lady had a tattoo and I couldn't stop staring at it."

quote of the day

Our interns learn so quickly.

Bess: "Give me that post-it. She's about to start talking and I start writing stuff down."

Here's a Love Story

As some of you may know, I am in a relationship with a really cool dude. We’ve been dating 6 months, we know everything about each other, it’s the most mature relationship you’ve ever seen, and the plan is to be engaged and married by late August 2012. With none of that sentence being true except the 6 months part, let me share what I’ve learned about dating and give you my very best relationship advice in case anyone is seeking it. The lesson that I continued (and sometimes struggled) to learn while I was completely single is the same lesson that I’m learning now that I’m dating: I need Jesus. Trusting in Jesus is really hard when you’re single. Trusting Jesus is really hard in a relationship. I think (and am pretty confident) that trusting Jesus is really hard when you’re married. Trusting in Him is also really hard when you hate your job, when you love your job, when your paycheck is enough, when your paycheck is too little, when you have a hundred friends, when you have zero friends. And that is all due to the fact that the human heart will always want more. If you’re single, maybe you want to be dating. If you’re dating, maybe all you want is that ring and it can’t come quick enough. If you want to be single the rest of your life, well, there’s a lot of other things that your heart could want. I’m not ashamed to say that at times, I let girl world get the better of me when all of my friends were starting relationships and getting engaged and married and I was like “What the world? Where is all of that fun stuff for me?” Well now I do go on fun dates with Eric. We eat really awesome food together, we play kickball and golf together, we watch basketball together and he pretends to know stuff about soccer. It’s really cool, but let me be absolutely clear in saying that my life is not complete. No relationship will ever do that. It’ll never be enough to make my heart joyful. I’ll never need a boyfriend or a marriage or 3 kids and a house the way I need Jesus. I know this because I’ve heard and seen in some ways how nothing in my life (as awesome as my life is sometimes) will last except what God did once for me. I think a lot of people see relationships as some next form or stage of maturity and I just couldn’t disagree more. If it's possible, I think I know less about relationships now that I’m actually in one, making me think that REAL maturity comes from imitating the character of Jesus. I like this way that he created humans. In HIS likeness, in His grand image so that nothing else besides Himself would ever satisfy us. Knowing that, the only thing I can ever hope to gain in this life is more of Him. I’m down with that.

Crumbs of Mercy

At Remedy we’ve been going through the book of Matthew for a long time. I mean WAY before I started going there, and we’re only in Matthew 15. But one thing that has stuck out to me over and over is the idea of what it means to have faith. For the longest time I’ve thought the answer was based on how much I believe in God. With the Lord’s teaching (through Phud) I’ve come to realize more of what it actually means. Obviously I believe in God, that He is an actual being that exists and created everything. But it’s not like there are certain levels of that. Technically you either believe in Him or you don’t. It would be silly for me to wake up tomorrow morning and say “I really need to believe in God more today.” So in Matthew, he talks a lot about having great faith (in the cases of the centurion and the gentile woman) and having little faith (in the cases of Peter and the disciples). What I’ve been seeing through reading these particular stories is that the faith Jesus talks about here isn’t dependent on the measure of faith that I have, but the object of it. It’s not a question of, “Is my faith big or small?” necessarily. The better question is, “Is my faith based on something little or something great?” Great faith means I’m dependent on and the object of my affections is Christ. In Matthew 15, the gentile woman had great faith because the object of her affection, her desperation, was based on Christ and not on her sick daughter or her circumstances. She didn’t come to Jesus with a heart of entitlement; she came begging for crumbs of mercy. If I only believe that Jesus was an actual guy that lived a long time ago and did some cool stuff and learned some facts about him, that gets me no closer to anything. Having great faith (so I’m learning) is trusting and committing my life to something great, not just nodding my head at something I believe is true. I love learning from stories that I’ve heard a thousand times. And the more I read it and the closer I grow towards Jesus, the more I realize that like that woman, I’m a beggar whose appeal is based solely on Christ’s mercy. Good stuff.

quote of the day

Tom Bell: "Eating mac & cheese is like eating a little hug!"

quote of the day

Grace: "Sometimes you have to lie and sometimes you have people trying to murder you."
Me: "That's my motto."

quote of the day

This is what happens when the catchphrase in the game Catchphrase is "Lost and Found."

Eric: "If I misplace my Bible, I would go here."
Chris: "Hell!"

Summer Games

Usually the summer months are a sad time for me in regards to sports.  It's usually that stretch of time where only 500 baseball games are on tv, and other than the few good Red Sox/Yankees games that are on primetime espn, the sports world doesn't have much to offer.  Luckily for me the summer of 2012 has stepped it up.  The Gamecocks are going for their 3rd straight College World Series win, the Euro Cup (that's a european soccer tournament) is in full force over the month of June, the U.S. Open is this weekend, and the uconn women's basketball coach is in the middle of some sort of lawsuit for sexual harrassment.  Way to get women's sports on espn, coach.  There is also the NBA finals between the Thunder and the Heat.  The battle between these two natural disasters is not just one game that no one cares about, but will probably last through all seven games.  This may make me a bad sports fan, but I just cannot bring myself to care about Labron James.  I don't care how many points he scores, why he wears those big fake glasses, how much money he makes, or why he hasn't won a championship.  A lot of people have never won championships, so let's just leave it alone.  So while we suffer through the Labron Circus for a few days, let's all be hopeful that the Olympics start on July 27th and the National Youth Soccer Tournament will be live from Rock Hill, SC (no big deal) starting on July 25.  Hit me up if you want to be there.

A Duo Wedding

I feel like all I do is write about weddings these days.  But I'm not even mad because it is wedding week for the other half of the Duo, Amanda Mathis!  Amanda and I have been friends since the East and West side middle schools combined at Gaffney High School in the early 2000's.  I don't remember a specific time or place that we started our awesomeness, but I do remember thinking "This kid is cool.  We get each other."  For the past twelve or so years we've mostly agreed on everything, I've never been mad at her, and we seem to make any situation fun and hilarious.  My favorite times were when we would sneak over to college park at night to hang out with the cool kids or when we knocked down a mailbox in Casey's mom's expedition or sitting at GHS football games and not having to explain the game to her.  We did some crazy crap back in our high school days. We also did some really stupid stuff that could've/sometimes did get us in trouble.  Now fast forward eight years and we're still best friends. I'd like to think we're a little more mature than we used to be, but that's probably not true.  We still agree on pretty much everything and we have a lot of the same opinions (example: we think everyone is stupid).  It may be sad to say that our love for pop culture hasn't changed much, it's just that those important life questions have changed from which Backstreet Boy is the cutest to which Pretty Little Liars character do you most want to be like?  My answer is Spencer, by the way.  Bottom line is that I can always count on Amanda.  To make me laugh, to be there when I need to let off some steam, to agree with me even when I'm wrong.  When Mom was in the hospital, her and Laua went all the way to Spartanburg to bring me food from Moe's because it's my fave.  So I'm VERY excited to get to stand beside her on Friday while she gets hitched.  I've gotten to know her groom-to-be pretty well over the past few years and when he talks, he's awesome.  Justin perfectly balances out Amanda, he treats her so well, he's a Gamecock fan.  What more could a girl want?  But Amanda, he will never be the other half of the Duo (sorry Justin).  The Duo is specifically reserved for those girl moments when the Biebs comes out with a new 3D movie or when "A" finally gets revealed or when that next hot rap song comes out on the radio and I need to know who sings it.  I'm so blessed to have such amazing friends that make good life choices and that I get to be there when they do.  Gaffney has some good people.

Our entire relationship is summed up in this one picture. straight G.

Janna's Ugly Wedding

This weekend I drove many miles for yet another wedding. But this wasn’t just any normal road trip and it wasn’t just any wedding. The road trip was a long one by myself. Turns out Georgetown, SC is not the most direct place to get to. The roads of corn or rice or whatever was growing in them were plenty, the gas stations were few, and there was literally a church on every corner. I passed a sketchy building that had a sign on the side that said, “Hell is no joke. Turn to Jesus” with a joker picture on it. What is that? I passed through several towns that I didn’t know existed such as Delzell, and when not having my glasses on thought it was Denzel and got really excited because I love him. Georgetown, however, is a lovely little town and Janna and Jonny Sharp had a lovely wedding. Before the wedding, Grace and I had lunch out by the waterfront on the roof of the restaurant, looking out at sailboats and listening to Jason Mraz on the radio. That’s what I wish my life was like every single day. The coolest part of the wedding was how the pastors told stories about Janna and Jonny, about how they served together at 6am at church, how he waited 2 years until her Dad told her she could date and they’ve been together since. All the stories of how God worked out the actual wedding day process was just unreal and it made it even more clear that the Sharps are a couple that God sees as better together than apart. I love to be at those weddings. To watch two people who aren’t walking down the aisle to happiness or in worship of each other but to yet another way to glorify God and in worship to Him. Because for two people who put Jesus first, that’s what marriage is. It’s a way to show this messed up world how much God loves it, and the Sharps are going to do that. I was excited to see the start of that and to be reminded of what God intended marriage for (because I’m not so secretly getting tired of weddings these days.) One of my best pals in the world, Brooke Currie, got engaged last weekend and I can’t wait to be a part of that day as well. To watch her marry a freaking awesome dude and be the hottest and most fun wife ever. Weddings are sometimes brutal and I never want to do the electric slide again in my entire life, but marriages that please Jesus are the coolest. Not only will their kids have superhero names (because their parents do), but I’m pretty sure #SharpWedding was trending nationwide on Saturday.

quote of the day

What a great friend...
Caitlin: "When you bring Cali to Wilmington, she can swim in the ocean while you're out on the surfboard! Ok, I'm going to make all of that happen for you."

As We Go On, We Remember...

Hey friends, remember that time we all graduated from college and got real jobs and then our souls died a little bit?  I just keep reading facebook post after tweet about the upcoming graduations and how sad life is.  Leaving roommates, leaving friends, leaving town, leaving Kinard.  It's all sad.  But it's funny how for 4 years you do nothing but complain about school and how much sleep you lost and how much you hate it, except for when it comes time to peace out.  Then you realize college was the best years of your life, you met the coolest people you'll ever meet, and that exam really didn't matter that much.  A year ago today, I graduated for the second time and I remember feeling like I could breathe again.  I was so proud of myself for literally just surviving those two years and glad that somehow the chair of the department found my thesis worthy of graduation (truth is, she probably didn't. She just likes me).  Still a year later, I never want to see another scholarly article on sports law again in my life.  What I've noticed lately is the typical american/human who can't wait to get it all over with but then cries for days after it's over.  I remember thinking that the real world couldn't come soon enough.  And when the real world slapped me in my face with bills, no job, and no roommate, I wanted college back so fast.  I'm pumped for the kids that are graduating in the coming hours/days.  And I wish I could stand up at graduation and tell them that the real world is scary at first (job or no job) and that you more than likely will be more poor than you were in college but mostly everyone survives.  And to all the parents out there, don't go spend all your money on a beach house in Florida on this big day.  That college grad will still need your wallet for years to come.  Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

quote of the day

Me: "I'm going to be Mayor one day."
Amada: "I would vote for you! I don't even live in Rock Hill but I would find a way."
Me: "But what if I really was Mayor one day?"
Amanda: "Yes and we would have awesome Mayor Parties!"

Friday Favorites

It's been a while since I've shared some favorites, but today I have just the thing.  Props to my Dad who sent me this link from a photographer who took pictures of his furry friends jumping in a pool after the ball.  Awesome.

Year Reflections

As I watched the Come-See-Me Festival fireworks go off on Saturday night, I thought about last year actually. During this weekend last year, was the most stressed I'd ever been in my life and I'm pretty sure I'm still catching up on sleep. I had just started my job full-time, it was my first festival as a team leader (I had NO idea what I was doing...), I was teaching classes as a GA, I was trying to finish my thesis and actually graduate grad school. And just for fun, I brought home an 8 week-old puppy. I was just thinking about how great of a year it has been since then. Cali has made my life frustrating and for some reason STILL chews all my stuff. But she really is my favorite thing in the world and sometimes I don't understand how I can love her so much and how anything is that cute. I loved living with Brittany and Grace and I realize I could've never made it roommate-less without Cal there to protect me and eat all the bugs that Brittany would normally kill with her shoe. With Cali's help, I've met most of my neighbors and over the past year, I've grown to love this town even more. It's things like the festival that remind me of what a blessing it is to live in a good, thriving community. Not many towns are like this these days. It's annoying how much I love my job and the people I get to work with everyday and the fact that I can say that while working in a government job is crazy at best. Rock Hill is a small but great place to live and go to college, raise children, raise dogs, raise chickens, play sports, watch sports, go to church and play in a park. But even with all this stuff that I love around, it's good to get up out of here sometimes. And after these last 10 days, I need a vacation.

quote of the day

Stephen: "Are either of you going to Audrey's to watch Jane Eyre?"
Erica: "Oh is that with Anne half and half?"

quote of the day

Karen: "It's time to eat people! Not eat people. It's time to eat comma people."

quote of the day

Brittany: "Why are you being so professional?"
Savannah: "Oh my gosh, you're wearing new jeans!"

Caitlin: "Did you know something like 25% of men died on Titanic but like 74% of women survived?"
Savannah: "Chivalry died on the Titanic."

Caitlin: "Don't mind me, I'm just reading about the Holy Spirit."

Easter Thoughts

"The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” -John 10:17-18

What Jesus is saying in this verse makes him worthy of every bit of my praise and trust and obedience for the rest of my life, even if I never see another good day. I wish I had atleast a centimeter’s worth of this kind of obedience. I mean He had authority over his own life, but he was obedient to his father. I mean, what? He wanted us SO bad and loved and trusted His father THAT much to willingly die by his own authority? I want to depend on Jesus this much. To trust Him that much that when He tells me to do something, I can’t not do it. Easter is my favorite holiday. Sure because everything is so cute and colorful and I get fun family time, but the joy that surrounds Easter is what I’m all about. Celebrating the cross without all the decorations and presents and stress is awesome, and I like this verse for Easter. It's the holiday where we get to just love the crap out of the fact that He went to the cross for us and it was never in his plan to stay in the grave, to stay away from us. We don’t have to be like the disciples on Saturday, wondering what there was to hope for anymore. To be left with how Jesus was dead and left to think “what now?” Nope, we get the scriptures that tell the whole story, even the part that is coming and we get to celebrate it all. Jack read the first lines in Genesis in the children’s Jesus Storybook Bible in the sermon on Sunday: “The Bible isn’t about you and what you should do, it’s about God and what He has done.” Love that. He has done more than we deserve, more than we will ever understand, and more than we could ever pay him back for with any good we may do. Go Easter!

quote of the day

Telly: "I mean the Olson twins didn't turn out that great. They're still trying to figure out how to eat."

quote of the day

Alfred: "I feel like I'm the only popular black guy in my grade."

Timmy and the Jets

I really like the part where Tim Tebow was excited.

The Twilight Games of Harry Potter

I'm about to get real. The long awaited (for some) movie, The Hunger Games has finally graced us all with its presence. This weekend I saw it twice, I've read the first book twice, and I'm that kid that will see the next 3 midnight showings and talk about it contstantly. My review of the movie was that it was fantastic, but that's coming from someone who doesn't take the whole "let's turn that book into a movie" thing too seriously. I mean sure they left some stuff out, but a movie is not a book. It will never be and I don't think movie producers are trying to beat the book version of whatever they're creating. Books leave the whole story up to the reader's imagination and that's automatically cooler than whatever they put together on screen, in my opinion. I don't mean to get on rants about everything that happens in the world and me defending this movie is just as rediculous as every other argument out there BUT people need to just chill out. First, you have the people that don't like these types of movies because everyone else does. If you're one of those people, listen to me, you're not cool. You're just denying yourself the pleasure of something awesome by having some stupid ego issue. Just go see the durn movie, and if you don't like it, fine. We all have our favorite movies and I'm not saying you need to like the Hunger Games to be a human. And for seconds, people, STOP comparing everything to Twilight and Harry Potter. It is not the same thing. It's like saying the Blind Side and Remember the Titans are the same movie because they both have football and happy endings in it. How can you compare movies that have completely different plot lines? Apparently if a book is made into a movie, it's automatically compared to HP and Twilight even though books have been made into movies for years before either of those were even thought of. The Hunger Games is a cool story and I was stoked to see what they came up with in a movie. It didn't dissapoint me at all and I'm that much more excited to see the next one. Some really cool fight scenes, the casting was perfect (Lenny Kravitz being my fave) and even the soundtrack is legit. So those are all of my opinions (for now atleast). I'm going to go write a book now. And then turn it into a movie and screw up all of literature.

quote of the day

Grace: "Where has Holden been?"
Eric: "Yea what happened to him? Did his heart finally explode?"

Erica (after A is finally revealed on Pretty Little Liars): "Man, I want some gum now."

Me: This is like Gilligan's Island meets...."
Karen: "LSD..."

Am I Mad? All the Best People Are.

I wouldn’t call myself the biggest basketball fan in the world. Not even close. While I do prefer college football to any other sport to watch, there’s this thing about March that puts me in a better mood. The NCAA Tournament is so different from any other championship-ish effort put on by other sports. You simply have the best 64 teams in college basketball, single elimination, playing for 2 weeks to win the national championship. If you play well during the season, you get seeded higher in the tournament, which doesn’t always mean a whole lot, but it helps. I remember calling my Mom in the airport during our layover coming home from Ireland. The bracket selection show had just started and she didn’t even say “Hey” or “Are you back safe?” The first thing she said was “Duke got a #1 seed in the tournament!” That’s how much my family loves Duke basketball, and since they are always in the running for the national title, March Madness will always get me pumped. This year I decided to do an office bracket competition. They all got a little upset because they thought I was only doing it so I could win the prize. But the coolest thing about the tournament is that any and every team has the chance to win it. Teams who have made it to the past several Final Fours aren’t even in it this year. Teams like Butler can play teams like Duke and UCONN for the national championship. So really all bets are off when March gets here, and that’s really exciting to watch. Luckily Winthrop has a new coach coming in next year, so hopefully we’ll get some more shots at the tournament and I can get back to camping out in front of my TV on Thursday in my Winthrop gear. As for this year, I’ve got Kentucky winning it all, as much as that pains me to say out loud. Here’s to the rest of the month!

Ready to Run

For those of you that didn't get the privaledge of knowing me in high school, there's no other way to put it. I was a smart ass. I remember literally introducing myself to our new soccer coach in 11th grade as "your best player on the team." I pretty much did my own thing at practices and told my teammates what to do instead of letting the coach do it. My spring soccer team had their first practice last night and I think I've met my match in a 9 year-old girl. The whole team is actually going to be a handful, but I like that.

Me: "Ok everybody on the line. If you don't listen, you have to run."
Reagan: "Oh I see how it's gonna be."

Me: "Your homework is to think of a cool team name and we'll talk about it next week. Our colors are blue and white."
Reagan: "The Yankees!"

quote of the day(s)

This weekend was Special Olympics Mid-Winter Games, so we took yet another awesome group of athletes down to Charleston for competition in Disc Golf, Bowling, and Powerlifting. It was hilarious, look...

Laura: "Where's room 111?"
Terry: "You found your way around New York City. You can find your way around a Sleep Inn in Charleston."

Me: "What did you get on hole 3?"
Chuck: "I got a 2 on hole 3! You better believe I did!"

Chuck: "My cologne is cheap, but it smells like Old Spice."

Stephanie: "You ever heard that song Lean with it, Rock with it? It reminds me of me because you know how I lean and rock?"

quote of the day

Sarah: "Death by chocolate....what are the side effects of that?"
Everyone: "Umm. Death."

Ice Ice Baby

You’ve probably heard me say that hate is a pretty strong word and I try to refrain from using it except for those times when I really mean it. So when I say I hate being cold, I mean, I HATE it. I hate sweaters and snow and ice storms and static electricity when you touch someone and dry skin and being inside and high gas bills and having to wear actual shoes. The winter months are just awful for me. I will say that we in South Carolina have completely lucked out this winter though, and I have complained very little. A snow big enough to ice the road from home to work would’ve been nice for a couple days, but I really am ok with not seeing a single snowflake. I’ve been unreasonably cold twice in my life. One was when I went surfing in Ireland in 2010. The temperature outside the water was in the 40’s, but I put on an already wet wetsuit and jumped into the stretch of Atlantic Ocean where the Titanic sank only to get out about 30 minutes later with mild hypothermia. I didn’t realize what it was until one of the surfing guys told me afterwards and I thought “oh. that’s why I couldn’t feel any part of my body.” Another time was when I went backpacking last March. We whitewater rafted 10 miles in the rain to start off our trip, and I never warmed up over the next 2 days. Even at night when Brittany Brock and I were literally in the same sleeping bag. During both of these experiences, I legitimately thought my organs were going to freeze. So after learning these lessons, I STILL thought it would be cool to run into Lake Wylie this weekend for the Special Olympics Polar Plunge. The high temperature was a warm (for February) 53 degrees, which really was a miracle, because it could’ve been a lot worse. There were TONS of people there plunging, and we raised $12, 524. Thanks to my scuba diver costume, I fell in, which gave me a bloody knee and water up to my chest. Neither of those things felt good. But it was awesome. It was so encouraging to see the amount of people that were there to risk the cold and quite possibly their health, for a great cause. And a BIG thank you to everyone who donated so that I could plunge! If you were disappointed that I didn’t go all the way in, you should see my knee. It was definitely sacrificial.

quote of the day

Me: "Man, people think too much. I'm glad I don't over-think everything and I'm just like yea, God is awesome."
Erica: "You blog. Therefore, you think."

Love Week

Who knows what their love language is? Theres all these books in the world that talk about what yours might be, and I've never read one. I'm not even sure of what all the love languages are. But I do know that mine is gifts, and I get it genetically. My Mom was always REALLY good at giving gifts just for fun and I really loved that. Giving gifts makes me happy too, even though I'm not always the best at picking them out. I like to let people know they are special or that I'm thinking of them by physically giving them something that makes them happy. Because really, how good is just a facebook wall post or text message? All that to say, I have felt super duper loved this week. It's Valentine's week obviously and that has everything to do with it, but a lot of people and things have made me happy. I got a card and some money from my Grandma and a valentines/late graduation present from one of my best friends Mom's in the mail. I got some beautiful flowers, Lady and the Tramp DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack (whaddup), and a Justin Bieber valentine from my awesome boyfriend on Valentine's day, proving that guys are not hopeless at giving gifts. A bunch of my co-workers gave me lots of candy. I have way too much candy. And this morning, a co-worker brought me starbucks just because she said I was doing a "fabulous job." That's the kind of thing that makes my day. But outside of material things (gotta stay humble) I've had some good phone time with friends I haven't talked to in a while this week and been reminded of how undeservingly loved I am. I've always liked Valentine's day, because it's mostly stupid and it's important to tell people how awesome they are. Sure you should do that every day, but who actually does? And we all could use an obnoxious reminder during the month of the cold and depressing death that is the month of February.

Quote of the day:
Erica: "Sorry, I'm rubbing in my treatments."
Me: "Ew."

Retweet the Sounding Joy

Coming soon to a Rock Hill near you.

quote of the day

Sarah (on guys being creepers): "This guy is ALWAYS trying to talk to me and ask how my day was! First of all, I'm goal-oriented. I'm trying to get somewhere. And two, I don't want to have this conversation a million times."

The Hangover

It was said last year that nearly 1.4 million adults planned to call in sick to work on the day after the Super Bowl. I'm thinking I should've been one of them today. Not because I ate too much or had too much to drink but because of everyone elses Super Bowl hangovers. As soon as I got to work this morning, I heard all the opinions on the game, the commercials, the halftime show. And I just have to ask, what are you people's standards for a halftime show? If you want Dave Barnes or John Mayer up in there with the acoustic guitar being all mellow and low-key, then you might as well be watching the High School Musical Marathon that was on Disney last night. Cause that aint happening. The Super Bowl is EPIC. Maybe not the football part exactly, but the event is a whole production. Cities spend billions to get the big game to come to them, they build extra hotels, there are parties and parades and celebrities coming out of the walls the entire week. So why would the halftime show be nothing less than some crazy 3-D techno light show with fireworks? Mostly every American and/or human would agree that Madonna is a pop icon. Whether you like her or not, she's a big deal to the music industry. But she lip-sings the halftime show with 3 different sets and suddenly everyone thinks she's crap? No I do not wish for my daughter to grow up and be like her someday, but that doesn't mean I wasn't completely entertained for those 15 minutes. And I actually didn't think she would have much of a wardrobe to malfunction, so the simple fact that she was wearing clothes is a big win for the NFL. All that to say, I should just stay home from work and stay off facebook and twitter after the Super Bowl. Everyone has their opinion and nothing reminds me more than social media the day of a big event. #haters
Whatever your opinions were on the game, we all HAVE to agree that this was the best commercial. Good dog.

quote of the day

Erica: "Is your house number really 100?"
Laura: "No I just have those up there."

Laura: "I'm sending out letters next week."
Erica: "I want K!"

Erica (at cook-out): "Get out, I want to eat my feelings!"

quote of the day

Youth Council meeting...

Johnathan: "Are we talking about legit local bands or like, karaoke? Because I can do a mean rendition of Turn Me On by Nicki Minaj."

Over the Sun

I just WISH my prayers were half as epic as the Psalms, ya know? I read Psalm 17:14 this week that says: “Lord, by your hand save me from such men, from men of this world whose reward is in this life.” What a cool realization, the idea that this world has anything to offer me is a lie. Most of us go our whole lives thinking that if we just have that “one more thing” then we’ll be happy. Subconsciously I sometimes think marriage is some big reward. That if you worked really hard and said all the right things and God answered enough “where is my husband/wife?” prayers, then you were all good. But when God took away my Mom, I realized that even spouses don’t last. Almost every week I get told the lie that I should be valued more in my job. It’s true that sometimes I do a lot of work but everyone else gets the credit, that’s just part of being the youngster at my job. I sometimes believe that I deserve more credit or more money or a higher status with my name on stuff and when that happens, I’ll be set. And then I’m reminded that my name won’t last. The more satisfaction I find in Jesus, the more I find that that’s all I have to go on anyway. I spend so much time getting stressed over that “one more thing” I have to have but if I actually get it, then what? I was listening to a sermon the other day by a Pastor in Texas talking about idols, where he said that it’s probably worse to actually GET that thing you want so bad. Actually getting our idols, the thing we’ve got our heart SO set on, is worse than just the wishing we had it. I gotta say he’s probably right on that one. Getting that promotion or that marriage or that dream house and kids isn’t a bad thing unless it becomes your life’s reward. All this is why I’m super glad Jesus came, because we’re just screwed in the hope category without Him. King Solomon had literally everything he wanted under the sun. Nothing existed that he couldn’t have. And then he found it all lacked REAL satisfaction and all his shiney gods left him empty. Note taken, dude.

Decisions

Who's everyone voting for in the Super Bowl this year? Giants? Patriots? Coors Light commercials? Maybe I'm getting soft but for the first time since the Giants played the Patriots in the 2007 Super Bowl, I have no opinion on the outcome. I hope they both lose and that Madonna steals all the twitter and facebook posts. These are two well-known and big market teams, so that's cool for their fans and for the city of Indianapolis, who's economic impact is going to make bank this week. My usual Super Bowl complaints are about the people who pull for the "underdog" team because a hurricane came through the town or their quarterback loves Jesus. But neither of these teams are the "underdogs." So for those fans, I predict they'll pull for the Giants because the Patriots win too much. Ya know, for being a bunch of Americans, we sure do hate winners. Anyways, as far as me, I just don't have anything to go on. The uniforms of both teams are the SAME colors and couldn't be more boring. Both quarterbacks are cute. They're both from the Northeast. Neither team has a fun mascot. What's a girl to do? Just give me some chicken wings, my Panthers jersey, some good commercials, and I'll raise my glass to next year.

quote of the day

What we talk about at work...
CC: "Nature is crazy. The fact that a turtle can be in a shell and he grows up in there and has a backbone, and is a turtle? Man that's just crazy."

Friends in Low Places

I didn't know this, but turns out that Charleston is the place to be after graduating from Winthrop. So my job this weekend was to go visit the friends that all live there now. We had some major girl time and went over to Charleston Southern for the Winthrop game. It was a semi-close game, and it was nice to wear garnet and gold again and cheer on our Eagles. I really should do a better job at making it to more games that I don't have to drive 3 hours for. Winthrop basketball is nothing like the glory days anymore, but watching live basketball is one of the best things ever. We also went to dinner at this amazing burger joint and then went over to the Hammonds house where Ansley had chocolate cake straight out of the oven. It sure was nice to chat about our lives, talk sports with Brandon, and watch Summer giggle a lot because it was way past her bedtime. I'm so proud of all of my friends and how grown-up we are these days. Summer, Beth, and Heyward are real teachers, Shannon is leaving for Argentina in August for a year, and Ktb is an associate minister. All I can say is Winthrop sure knows how to grow em.

Shannon: "This hand sanitizer sparkles! Am I making that up?"
Me: "I think it's just the light."
Heyward: "What drugs are you on?"
Shannon: "No it totally does! It's pretty look!"
Everyone: "Yea it totally does."

Summer: "Look at their pep band. That's high school crap right there. They could've spent a little more money and got silver instruments. That's tacky."

Ktb: "Keeping teachers out past their bed time...hilarious!

quote of the day

Laura: "You know how poor people's dogs are always better behaved than rich people's dogs?"

quote of the day

Amanda: "I could never marry a Clemson fan. I couldn't stand him making fun of my team the whole time and I don't feel like going to jail."

quote of the day

Sarah: "Paintings! Who drew those?"
Kevin: "Someone black."
Everyone: "What? Dang! Racist!"
Kevin: "No! Someone with the last name Black."

Friday Favorites

I tell ya what's good about Rock Hill. Besides only everything, Bethel United Methodist Church is good too. During the January to late-March months, they host something called the "Soup Kitchen." It's not the homeless people version, although I'm sure they would give a homeless person food if they came in, but it is an actual lunch stop where all the food is made by the little old ladies of the church. One woman in particular makes THE BEST pimento cheese in probably all of York County (this isnt a fact, but maybe I should do a Rock Hill pimento cheese search). At the soup kitchen are all of her sandwiches and any and every dessert you could want or need. And the best part is that all of this food only costs $5. You could give more though, because it all goes to their church's missions efforts. So I encourage you Rock Hillians to go check it out and support them on a Thursday lunch run, as Thursdays are the only days it's open. CN2 was actually there yesterday doing a story on opening day and it was slam packed. As usual, you got Jesus drawing a crowd.

quote of the day

Me: "I want to stay up all night but it hits midnight and I just turn into a dead pumpkin. Or what is it? The opposite of Cinderella."

Kerin: "This concert is way better than being in prison."

Me: "The people in front of us just asked us to be quiet. At a rock concert."
Kristen: "Seriously? Tell them shutup you don't like their shirts."

Chick-fil-a cashier: "Would you like some more ice?"
Kerin: "Ice won't be necessary."

Kerin: "I have a video or just a really vivid memory of it."