my new interests...according to facebook

talking about myself, listening to the trendy music (and telling everyone I've always hated it when it becomes uncool), wearing nike shorts year round...with leggings and uggs in the wintertime (sometimes I forget the shorts and just wear leggings), practicing my dance moves to NICKELBACK songs...they sure are talented!, saying the word "hella" in front of all adjectives, mumbling incoherently, wishing michael jordan still played BASEBALL (he wasn't that great of a basketball player), quoting movies i've never seen, bar hopping (not actually going in to bars, but literally HOPPING on one foot to and from bars), bringing my own boom-box to a public pool and listening to my nickelback cd loudly while I suntan...I just can't stand what they play on the radio!, purposefully not eating anything before I give blood so I can faint later in front of a lot of people (I need the attention), and i just LOVE that new song by old crow medicine show--wagonwheel, drop-kicking snickers bars on campus at night


if you can't sense the sarcasm, my life is one big fail.

i am

scared.

this is why


"If some permanent members of the UNSC wish to put sanctions first before dialogue, we would respond with bolstering our nuclear deterrence first before we meet them in a dialogue," according to KCNA.

no shortage of wild-life tees in Maine, USA

July has flown by. Seriously. Although there are many topics worth mentioning, I'm choosing to blog about wolf t-shirts. You heard me. During my time in Maine this month, I couldn't help but notice the plethora of wildlife t-shirts in almost every store. I think I even caught some people trying to sneak a few "wise indian sitting on a horse" or "majestic eagle" tee's into J. Crew...This might be old news, but my sis told me about the wolf t-shirt section of amazon.com and I found it amazing.



The t-shirt in itself is noteworthy (by the way, the name of the shirt is "mountain men's three wolf moon tee"), but the reviews left by obviously satisfied customers is what tears me to pieces.

For Example: B. Govern said

"This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.
I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.
Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark."

Woah. That's no amateur review; this guy knows his wolf t-shirts. I could go through it sentence by sentence and break it down, but I don't want to take away from any of its brilliance. That's just the first review on the site, there's a lot more where that came from.

After skimming youtube for 1.5 seconds, I found a local TV station's take on the shirt.



I love how they have the part about some McDonald's worker throwing hot oil all over a robber's face right before they talk about the shirt. Bet that guy owns a wolf tee. And I bet he was wearing it under his Mickey D's uniform. Or maybe he's the one who said he was getting it tattooed onto his chest. Huh. Smart move, dude, looks like that investment paid off. One of the first things I thought when they actually got to the wolf-tee topic was, "No, I'm not allergic to 'awesome', so I guess that means I can keep watching." Thank God.

Oh and don't worry tiger fans, there's a shirt for you too.

bermuda, bahama, come on pretty mama

While in Bermuda, I read the best book I've picked up thus far in the year: The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky by Ken Dornstein. It's a true story centering around the author, Ken, who lost his brother in the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988.



I can't do it any justice by just talking about it, but its one of those books that had me laughing and crying (kind of an embarrassing thing to be doing on the beach...unless you're David Hasselhoff). I'm not usually a fan of memoirs. They tend to be pretty cheesy, written mostly for the writer's enjoyment and personal satisfaction, while containing no literary worth. Wait, did I just describe my blog? Anyway, Ken Dornstein is a pretty freaking awesome writer, so check it out.

FML

Oh the joys of driving a Toyota Corolla. For example: Snapshot view of the parking lot from my apartment. If only I could tell you how many times I have tried opening the wrong car...



Mine will always be the best...no matter how many times I get it confused with the others. Yep.

my favorite michael jackson memory

Ok, so maybe we've never actually met, but who doesn't have their favorite MJ dance party moment? That's what I thought. Mine takes place in middle school in good ole dance class; they made EVERYONE take it at my middle school. Imagine every kid you knew in middle school (yes, the awkward years to make things even better) aimlessly flailing their arms and legs in every direction all to the dismay and entertainment of the human being who chose "middle school dance teacher" as a profession. If only they made everyone take dance in college...Anyway, back to MJ. My favorite and most memorable dance routine learned in middle school was our dance to Thriller. Man, dance teachers sure do love to whip that song out around Halloween. When the song starts, we'd all be laying on the ground, then get out of our invisible coffin when the music cues, and then burst out into the Thriller dance. There is nothing better than thirty 7th graders doing the Thriller dance in unison. If only I could have fully appreciated it at the time. RIP, Michael Jackson!

this is like...LIFE, man...

so, since everyone is doing top 10 lists...

I guess I'll throw one out there. In the month of June, these songs have managed to keep me sane.

10. Where I Stood-Missy Higgins

9. Against the Wind-Bob Seger

8. The Sun Also Sets-Ryan Adams

7. Heavenly Day-Patty Griffin

6. Come Downstairs and Say Hello-Guster (I mean...I had to)

5. Lying in the Hands of God-Dave Matthews Band

4. The General Specific-Band of Horses

3. Mykonos-Fleet Foxes

2.You Are the Best Thing-Ray Lamontagne

I'm suddenly feeling a lot of pressure about my number one song at the moment...that's a pretty big shoe to fill. But I'll go with...

1. Come Pick Me Up-Ryan Adams


Stay tuned (no pun intended...ha ha ha..) for next month.

City Stages identity crisis

As an introduction, Guster played at City Stages Sunday night; they opened for The Doobie Brothers and Lynard Skynard. Sooooo....this was the crowd at the Guster show...



Pretty self explanatory. I can't even make up the kind of things going on in this picture. If the camera had ventured a little further to the right, you would have seen me and my dad. I'm pretty sure the lady caught mid-sip on her beer was just letting her 12-year-old daughter play with the can, meanwhile her husband(?) had his arms outstretched for most of the show probably convinced the entire Guster show was just a really long version of "Freebird". Welcome to Alabama, Guster.

Most of the lovely citizens you see in the front row most likely had their lawn chairs parked there since noon...and they were so drunk by the time Guster played at 6pm half of them probably thought it was Lynard Skynard playing and were wondering when "Sweet Home Alabama" would start. I'm pretty sure Guster got a pretty big kick out of this whole redneck situation, however. They commented on their twitter (see...having twitter can come in handy!) that the lyrics to "Freebird" were taped down on the stage...no lie. But I think if me or my dad had mentioned to any of these loyal Skynard fans that half the band (including the lead singer/frontman/songwriter) was wiped out in a plane crash in the 70s one of them would probably have taken out their gun and shot us. And yes, I am making the sweeping generalization that 1 in 3 of these people probably carried a gun into City Stages. Don't get me wrong, Lynard Skynard is pretty rockin'. But come on. It's pretty comical that an eco-friendly, philanthropic, well-known liberal band like Guster happens to be the openers for Skynard; about as redneck as it gets (and if you don't believe me, see above picture). God Bless America.

Back to Guster: check this out. It kind of fills in the blank on my lack of explanation for changing the name of my blog. Come Downstairs and Say Hello.



And yes, they did play this at the show Sunday night! Dad and I tried (and failed) to take a picture of me in the front row with Guster behind me...but I got some shots of just Guster.






Summing things up, I'm pretty happy about the fact that this show was priceless in so many ways: great music, but mostly you just couldn't beat that atmosphere. And I never want to try to.

due to summer classes...

my blog habits have not been as sound lately. I'm sure I'll pick back up in July when all I have to do all day is trespass at Two-21 pool and pray they bring me free pizza again.

True story: I'm sitting at the pool a week or so ago, vocally wishing I was eating pizza, threatening to order it to the pool...when all of a sudden...SUMMER MIRACLE! Some lady brought out pizzas from the office and handed them out to us pool bums. "Would YOU like some pizza?"....yes please!

Anyway, taking a little break from homework because everyone needs to check out this album recommended to me by my bro-in-law, Scott: it's called Endless Highway. The whole CD are The Band covers by various artists including Gomez, Jack Johnson, Widespread Panic and The Allman Bro's to name a few. If you're into bluegrass, I think you'll like it. A few of my faves are Guster's rendition of "This Wheel's on Fire" and MMJ does a pretty great version of "It Makes No Difference".



Check it out. Only 4 more days of summer class!

dogs like eating human hearts? that explains a lot.

Disclaimer-this is from an actual episode of One Tree Hill. Seriously.

Prepare to be dumbfounded.






Ummm...? No.

baby hands

Will Ferrell hosted SNL last night; probably one of the funniest episodes in years (not that I watch...I mean obviously I've just heard it's been sucking...right?)But it wasn't Will's Harry Caray or even his George Bush impersonation that made the show for me. It was.....THE BABY HAND SKIT!

This photo was taken of me over a year ago, therefore proving that myself and a few others knew of how comic a baby hand truly is.



Will Ferrell plays Lawrence Welk in the baby hand skit, where one of the Lennon sisters has...you guessed it...BABY HANDS! I mean maybe I'm behind on the joke (obviously not though, see above picture) but I couldn't believe it.

Click here to see the skit.


I went looking for the actual video from the show on youtube, but all I could find was this really creepy remake. Still entertaining. Almost so much as the Will Ferrel version, but only because one of the sisters randomly pregnant and their outfits are just delicious.



Now that baby hands have been implemented on SNL, where do they go from here?

you're not ready

I want to be able to dance like this.

never read twilight before bed

I had a very weird dream last night. Usually I don't remember my dreams, but I do sometimes if they scare me. This may be the nerdiest/stereotypical girl thing I could say right now, but you'll need to be familiar with the Twilight movie to follow me on this...and please fight the urge to roll your eyes at this moment.

So in my dream, I was Bella Swann, human. Edward, a vampire, and I were in love (duh), but we were running from these OTHER vampires. Edward kept promising that he loved me and would never hurt me like those other vampires would. I had a feeling he was lying; even though I was Bella in this dream, the way I reassured myself that Edward wouldn't try to kill me was because that's what the Twilight books said. But suddenly, he turned all evil on me and started chasing me trying to bite me...I woke up afraid of Robert Pattinson.

I mean, I feel comfortable saying 50% or more of the girls at Auburn are borderline obsessed with Twilight. Maybe my new fear of Robert Pattinson will help me tone it down.

spinach-artichoke dip? yes, please!

Just an update: I ran 9 miles today. This half marathon is most definitely happening. WOOOOO! (ummm...did I just say "woooo"? yep, I did.)

So last night after going to see the play out at Opelika, Ansley, Holly and I went to Chilli's. Let me just say that being starving was an understatement. We could have eaten our hands we were so hungry. The play didn't end till 9ish, and that's a pretty late dinner-time if you ask me. So once we got to Chilli's, we destroyed 2 refills of salsa. I mean we ate it like a bunch of animals. Then we look over to the table next to us where a couple had just left...they had about half of their spinach-artichoke dip left uneaten sitting there. We were at a crossroads: sit there and wish we were eating spinach-artichoke dip or chance it and grab the dip from the table and scarf down some probably questionable leftovers from people we didn't even know...we chose the latter. And I have to admit, that's pretty sketchy, even for me. There were definitely chunks of chip from the other people mixed in with the dip, but apparently we were so hungry we didn't care because we finished in within 30 seconds; just in time to return the dip to its original table without our waitress ever noticing. We have no shame.

revelation 7:16-17

"Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be
their shepard;
He will lead them to springs of living water.
And God will wipe every tear from their eyes."


Every time I read this verse it means something different to me. Usually I relate it to my own struggles, looking inward and seeking relief from from my tears/pain/heartaches. But lately I've taken it differently. Jesus asks us to be His hands and feet, therefore while we are here on earth we should take it upon ourselves to show others compassion; to make a conscious effort to alleviate others suffering, to wipe away their tears just as Jesus does for us every day until we meet Him; when they can finally be wiped away forever. The Latin root of compassion is "to suffer with". God showed the world ultimate compassion when He sent His son to come down and suffer with us. Grace is what resulted. I want my life to look more like Jesus, so instead of loving some and showing indifference to others I should be striving to love all, making extra efforts to be compassionate. Why is that so uncomfortable to do? Living in this world can make it pretty hard sometimes, yet it is so rewarding when we do make an extra effort to love. I'm far from it, but one day I hope it can become a natural disposition for me.

This verse means a lot when simply looking inward on my own life, but it also serves as a reminder: like Jesus, we need to reach our hands into the lives of others and show unconditional love.

C.S. Lewis does a pretty good job of summing up what I feel when I read the verse:

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -C.S. Lewis\

I desire an end to suffering. Not only do I long for my own tears to be wiped away, but the tears of others. The only means of satisfying this is by allowing God to enter my soul, heal it, tweak it, and make it His own.

well, I guess I've found my embarrassing moment

I've often tried to think of an all-time embarrassing moment to have handy just in case I'm asked in an interview, but can never think of anything. I know embarrassing things have happened to me, but nothing monumental or worth remembering. Up until now. Sure, I've had the "Megen, you've got a bugger in your nose" or the occasional trip and fall, but nothing compared to two specific incidents that happened in Orlando over Spring Break.

I went to Orlando with Lindsey, Lauren and Morgan, three of my sorority sisters, where we experienced a space shuttle launch while standing on Cocoa Beach, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Magic Kingdom Disney World. It had definitely been the best spring break so far. We jam-packed it with all kinds of fun. You may be asking yourself, "With all of that fun, what could go wrong?".

Embarrassing moment #1:
After spending the day at Cocoa Beach last Sunday, we watched the space shuttle launch. INCREDIBLE! There were a lot more people who went to watch than I thought because it took 4 hours to drive back to Orlando afterward. Traffic was horrible. And I really had to pee. It got to the point of being painful I had to go so bad, and there was not a single exit. Finally we decided to pull off on the side of the road...as if that's not humiliating enough as I'm running back to the car I realize I must have squatted in briars...a.k.a. thorns that stick to you. As we picked them off of me on the side of the road, at least I had the comfort of all of those encouraging honks from passersby. Omg.

Embarrassing moment #2:
We stopped in Gainesville, FL Friday on our way back to Auburn so Lauren could visit her cousin who goes to UF. We went to a famous restaurant for lunch, the swamp. In order to cross the road from where we parked there was a small fence to climb over. Easy in shorts, but I happened to be wearing a skirt. Not so easy without flashing the world. I would much have rather done that than what actually happened: as I'm trying to get over I lose my balance and fall off of the fence, trip on the sidewalk, land on my hands and knees, and finally end up completely face-down almost in the road. It was the kind of fall where people didn't laugh, they were generally worried if I was OK...which I was, but my pride took quite a wound. After dusting myself off and awkwardly trying to laugh it off, some random dude walking to class asked me if I was alright, along with plenty of stares from people who had been sitting outside the restaurant and saw the whole thing. I'm kind of cringing right now as I write about it.

So there you have it, next time I get asked in an interview what my most embarrassing moment is I will choose one of these. Then again neither of these are probably appropriate for an interview...

To make myself feel better, I looked up some other people's embarrasing moments; here are a few of my faves:

Today, I got an email from my professor with my grade for a paper. It said, "Solid writing, but your should have proofread your final draft more carefully." In a moment of annoyance, I typed in the reply box, "God should have proofread your FACE more carefully." My elbow hit the send button.

Today, I went to the mall with my mom. We were in American Eagle shopping for spring clothes, when a few good looking guys walked by and whisted at me. I smiled at them. They were checking out my mom, not me.

Today, my husband of 9 years announced he was gay. He insinuated that he was only able to achieve erections because I looked like a man.

Today, my friend and I thought it would be funny if we could both fit into her big sweatpants. When we tried to take a step, she fell on tope of me. She started peeing uncontrollably. We had to cut ourselves out of the sweatpants.

Today, I was at lunch with my grandpa and my sister. My grandpa looks over at my sister and says, "Wow. You're so beautiful." Right after, he turns to me and says, "And you have a nice coat."



Well...I guess my life's not so bad ;)

we were just kidding, i promise...?

ok. so formal was last night! in case you didn't know, tri-delta formals can be pretty crazy. we're talking people walking onto the bus with open beers in their hand kind of crazy. let me explain a little bit of the ridiculousness...

first of all, everything that happened at formal contributed to its awesomeness.

that said, me and trent had an unspoken agreement to observe the people around us...and make fun of them. some of the couples there (most actually) got really into the dancing. and when i say really, i mean REALLY. they were serious about some bump and grind. so as they are totally taking themselves seriously, me and trent are mimicking them...and elaborating. it got to the point where people thought WE were the ones being serious, making us the ones being pointed at. this, of course, only added to our enjoyment of the situation. here are a few of my favorite moments:

1.) me and trent acting like the creepy guys that sit in chairs right by the dance floor to stare at the girls dancing. turning this combo into a dance move is actually pretty funny.
2.) making fun of the couples who were so drunk they could barely stand...but were still attempting to dance, which ended up looking like they were bracing eachother for support to keep from falling... in a move from side-to-side kind of way. this was extremely amusing to act out.
3.) somebody's date looked to be about 30 years old, probably because of all the alcohol he's consumed thus far in his life. he was pretty steadily drunk the entire night. well, when the "stanky leg" (what are rappers thinking?) song came on, he enjoyed it a little too much. he was so drunk he knew we were laughing at him, i mean literally in his face, but i think he took it as encouragement and got even more into it. side note: on the bus-ride back, he somehow ended up standing in the front of the bus (still drunk). when the bus came to a sudden stop, he fell into the windshield and then into the driver's lap. afterward, he thanked the driver for saving his life...i'd also like to thank that driver, he saved ALL of our lives by not letting an unexpected drunk frat guy falling into his lap distract him.

sadly, i failed to take even one picture :( so you'll just have to imagine.

why I love Mary Lindsey Goodwyn

She made a pot-roast today. A legit one. I woke up this morning at 7:50am to go to breakfast with Kaylan and there it was, on the counter, simmering in the crock pot to cook all day. So that must mean that she put it on this morning around 6:30am before she left for teaching. At random points in the day today I've found myself amazed by Lindsey's domestic abilities; seeing the pot roast this morning prompted me to just be in awe. But somehow, it just fits. The statement, "Lindsey made a pot roast this morning" is natural for some reason and it rolls off the tongue. My experience in the kitchen today: spoonful of cookie dough, microwaved 30 seconds, aaaand instant snak! Maybe I should learn to cook...? Nah. Well in any case, my roomie, Ms. Goodwyn, is a rockstar. That pot roast was incredible. Maybe one of these days I'll sneakilly learn to make a delicious meal and serve it to my roomies...Anyway, Lindsey's kitchen skill is just one of the million reasons I love her! But there is just something special about the fact that it was a pot roast. Her check list today must have looked something like this: wake-up 5:30am-check! lesson planned-check! put on the pot-roast-DOUBLE CHECK! Isn't she great? :)

P.S.-Lindsey, anytime you want to make another pot roast, I support it! In fact, if you wanted to make the above check-list a daily thing...

meg...en

I am starting to think that the point of blogging is to make random crap available for the world to see...partly because one likes writing about themselves. Guilty! If you blog and you don't think you just like writing about yourself, you are in some serious denial. In fact, I'm starting to think that the only reason I read other peoples blogs is so I can gauge how funny I need to make my next blog post. I'm like: "well so-and-so said this in their blog, and that was pretty funny, but I'm going to say THIS in my blog and people are going to think I'm so much funnier". When in reality, other people are doing the same exact thing. No matter how many "clever" things I try to say, whoever reads this is only thinking of ways they can be cleverer (pretty sure cleverer isn't a word...). So anyway, I am going to put something completely random, and I bet you somebody out there reading will see this and think: "Wow that is pretty random, but I can totally think of something even more random and therefore my blog will be the coolest. Ha!" So here you go...beat this!

I've noticed something. Most people call me "Meg". My parents, my sister, my close friends, etc. But when they get annoyed/angry/frustrated with me, I suddenly become "Megen". Also this tends to happen early in the morning when people are generally in a bad mood. It's like I no longer am worthy of my nickname once I've done something to piss people off. I can just tell whether or not someone is in good humor by the way they address me. It's like they think adding the "en" to the end of Meg somehow makes things serious all of a sudden. That's kind of crazy don't you think? But maybe I do the same thing. Do I call me mom "mother" when I'm a little ill with her? I think not. So yeah, it's just other people who are weird like that.

So did you note the sarcasm? Pretty blog-tastic don't you think? Not that any of this matters at all to anyone, but in certain social situations or when something funny happens or when I make a major mental breakthrough (such as the above random fact) I often find myself thinking "hmmm...this would be something really good to blog about later, and then people will read it and wish they were as funny as me". Except for the fact that not that many people read this...reiterating my point that we bloggers do it for our own entertainment. What I didn't realize until recently is that when other people do read my blog they may be thinking its funny, but meanwhile they are conjuring up their own funny stories or witty comments, preparing to strike down any humor mine had with their own. So I think that instead of blogging, it should be called "battling"...battling for the funniest blog, that is.

8 debs, 1 queen, and...a buffalo?

so the title of this post may have you a little confused...don't worry it will all come together, it has been a crazy weekend!

friday night kaylan and i went and got a little sushi at fuji followed by going to see SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE!

omg. it was incredible. it's just one of those movies that makes you feel good, and believe me i'm a sucker for those. i went into the movie expecting it to be a drama based on a young man from the slums of india who wins a million dollars...this premise alone would have made for an AWESOME movie, but the surprise to me was the love story. in fact, the love story is the overlying factor throughout the entire film. i ate it up. the film takes you through the main character's, jamal, life and the experiences that taught him the answers to the questions on 'who wants to be a millionaire'. he isn't a genius and he isn't lucky, but every question in the show could be related to an impacting moment in his life. apparently the director is a pretty young guy and most of the actors were really from the slums of india. the main characters are portrayed at several different ages, so it was hard to believe that the actor playing 7 year old jamal is actually from the slums. pretty low budget, amazing performances. it just goes to show (in fact, i'm pretty sure this is a theme in the movie as well) that no matter where you are from or how you grow up you have as much potential as anyone.

on the the next thing!

saturday i rode with caitlin down down to montgomery! it was deb ball day! of the 8 debs, i knew lindsey and caroline (roomies), and allison. the queen deb was miss liz wiatt! but before i go into talking about the ball, there are quite a few occurences that need discussing that happened long before the ball...

once me and caitlin got to montgomery she went straight to get her hair chopped. i mean CHOPPED. 8 inches! you go girl, she gave it all to locks for love. we then had a delicious meal at Schlotzsky's. not nearly enought people have discovered this little peice of heaven that is a sandwhich restaurant. mmmm. after lunch caitlin dropped me off with lindsey and mrs. goodwyn at the shoe store. we were on the prowl for a pair of shoes for mrs. goodwyn. i knew this was going to be good...lindsey's mom has the sweetest southern accent i have ever heard, and the sweetest southern demeener i have ever seen. as you may guess, watching her pick out a pair of shoes was entertaining (for both linds and myself). "i just can't be showin' my toes at my age!" was said countless times along with other comments while me and lindsey exchanged looks. LOVE mrs. goodwyn!

later kathryn and caitlin came over to lindsey's and we all got ready for the ball together. here is where the fun began. kathryn caitlin and i needed to eat dinner before the ball (lindsey left early to go for pics), and caitlin was craving olive garden...girl was running half marathon the next day and needed her carbs! keep in mind this is VALENTINE'S DAY, so every restaurant within a 50 mile radius was gonna be packed. we took our chances and decided to call in an order and pick it up. 45 minutes later, the three of us were dressed and ready for the ball, all we needed was a little food in our tummy. as we pull into olive garden to pick up our food, the three of us begin panicking, realizing that we are 3 girls...ON VALENTINE'S DAY (why do i keep capitalizing this?) in formal attire at olive garden with no dates. ha! so we decided one of us should go in and get the food, that would look less stupid. yeah, right. i lost the paper-rock-scissors and ended up going in. by myself. got a couple of looks along the way. the food wasn't ready so i sat in the bar alone for about 20 minutes waiting. FINALLY i carried the food back out to the car (more looks) and we headed back to lindsey's to eat it.

WELL..

when we got to lindsey's house no one was there. john (her bro) had left for the ball. so we were all dressed up, had armfuls of food, and nowhere to eat it. did i mention we only had about 20 minutes till we had to be at the ball? we were planning on picking up emily on the way, but decided to go ahead to her house and eat the olive garden there. whew!





finally we made it to the montgomery country club (we had to run a few blocks in heals due to shortage of parking i might add) before the doors closed! it was a blast. all of the debs looked gorgeous (especially my faves lindsey, caroline, allison, and liz). there was dancing, socializing, and lots of meeting new people. as the night progressed people loosened up, side effect of an open bar, and the dance floor became PACKED! me and emily tore up the dance floor while lindsey and caro cut a rug with their dates. got a little electric slide injury however...didn't wear shoes and was victim to a foot smashing into my ankle. ouch. totally worth it, i kept going (it became the crippled electric slide however). we were all delirious by the time they served breakfast in the country club at 11pm, so tired! but a great end to a great night.

moving on to SUNDAY!

so we've had this tri-delta chapter bonding/i love my ddd sisters/gag me retreat planned for the past few weeks for today. the ENTIRE chapter was required to go, unless you wanted a $100 fine. we were going to la grange, ga to go on a WILD ANIMAL SAFARI...what? i don't know if you have ever heard of la grange, ga, but there are wild animals there. ummm...?

kathryn picked me up from lindsey's at 7AM. wow. def went to bed at 1am. moving on. as soon as we got to auburn we had to be at the chapter room for role call. ahhhh. it was a 45 minute drive to la grange. as we entered the 'wild animal safari' parking lot we noticed some white buses that had zebra stripes spray painted on them...we thought they were a joke but we soon found out this would be our mode of transportation through the safari. awesome. our "tour guide" was a man named william who may have had 8 teeth total. even more awesome.

as we entered the bus, which had no windows to enhance our experience, they gave us pellets to feed the animals. as soon as we drove into the safari about 45 different species of animal bombarded the bus. it was so ridiculous no one could stop laughing!

the picture on the right is just a small representation of what we encountered. yep, that is a bull with its tongue about 3 inches from my face. there were goats, emu, yaks, deer, buffalo, llamas, pigs, you name it...they had one. and they all lived together in the massive...african safari land? the only caged animals were the giraffe, the camel, the lions, tigers, oh...and the LIGER. you heard me: they had a liger, lion mixed with tiger. things couldn't have gotten more ridiculous once we saw this, but they did. the tour just kept going and going and going and meanwhile the animals just kept appearing, sticking their faces into the bus, mouths open, tongues flapping...when the tour finally ended we ate lunch and hit the road. part of the fun was wondering what made the non-tridelts who were there wake up that morning and decide to go for a redneck safari...why? lets just say we saw quite an array of people and felt severely out of place in our sorority sweatshirts and pearl earrings.


made it back to auburn around 1ish, went for my run (2 miles today), took a nice long nap (not to mention my shower was about an hour to wash off the smell of animal), and have been hanging out with the roomies tonight. it was a wild weekend (no pun intended, ha ha ha...) but i feel it was a good representation of my life as a college kid. unpredictable, friends all around, and so much fun!

tag!

I Am: a friend, a daughter, a sister, a Christian
I Have: more than i'll ever need
I Think: all the time, thoughts are always bouncing around in my head
I Know: that i don't know everything
I Dislike: cold days, asparagus, and lack of follow-through. i'm pretty easy to please
I Miss: my house in huntsville, mostly the people in it
I Fear: rejection
I Feel: loved
I Want: to be successful but never let my career define who i am. to be in love. to have a family, raise my children in a safe, loving, and Christian home like the one i was brought up in
I Smell: the Christmas candle sitting on my desk that i refuse to put away even though it's not Christmas anymore
I Crave: chocolate
I Cry: sometimes. my own brokenness helps me realize how much God loves me
I Usually: try to see the best in people
I Search: my soul
I Wonder: what i'll be doing in 5 years
I Care: a lot once i start caring
I Love: unconditionally, with my whole heart
I Regret: withholding love from others and not always trying my best
I Always: remember the good things that came out of hard times
I Worry: too much
I Am Not: perfect
I Remember: when my dad used to check me out of school just to take me to lunch
I Dance: to make people laugh
I Don't Always: think things through
I Write: a lot. part of being a PR major, but i love it. i'm always reading something
I Win: never. i'm extremely unlucky.
I Wish: i didn't let my mind get ahead of me and lived for today instead
I Argue: in my head when sometimes i should speak up
I Listen: well. i love hearing other people's stories
I Lose: sunglasses...or accidentally run over them with my car
I Don't Understand: why people choose not to get better, to heal themselves and their relationships with the ones they love
I Can Usually Be Found: listening to my ipod, sipping a coffee, reading a book
I Am Scared: to be alone
I Need: love, encouragement, words of affirmation, quality time
I Forget: to do things. i have everything written in my planner
I Am: blessed despite my own shortcomings

you're not going to believe this...

I'M TRAINING FOR A HALF MARATHON!!! Ok, ok, I know what you're thinking. Why in the world would I want to do this? Truthfully, I've kind of always wanted to; it's one of those goals that I've set but have never actually planned on achieving. Since I'm going to be in Nashville April 25th to see DAVE MATTHEWS (kinda excited..), I might as well run in one of the most famous annual marathons in the country. Check it out here. It's the CMA Half Marathon, and I'm going to be running in it. Wow. Over the past few weeks I've been training for my training. Over the next 12 weeks I will hopefully go from barely being able to run 2.5 miles (today's accomplishment) to being able to run 13.1 miles on raceday.

To be honest I've never liked running. I think words like "hate", "can't stand", and "loathe" have even been used by me when referring to running. But since I've started training I've enjoyed the accomplishment of setting a goal on how far I will run that day and achieving it. And I guess it's starting to grow on me.

things i learned in 2008

So it has been a little while since I've posted a blog. Sorry! Just been getting settled into the new semester. School, friends, life. I thought my first post of 2009 should be a compilation of some things I learned last year. It was a BIG year for learning for me. I learned a lot when it came to school, but my soul was taught a few lessons also. So here is a brief run-down of some important changes and realizations I came to last year...

Life isn't about being perfect. Take off the mask. Receive the TRUTHS of God.

No matter what I do, put forth Christ crucified.

My emotions should not be so easily tossed, God is my rock, consistent, and His is the love that matters.

Sometimes it hurts to grow, that's when I've felt closest to God. Sometimes God is teaching me and I'm not even aware of it. If I have a pure, sincere love for something and want to go into the world in His name, even if I feel like God isn't doing anything in my life...HE IS!

My actions should be pure, God knows my motivations.

Surrendering to God doesn't always mean I will get what I want, but I will get what is best in my life.

No matter my status, I must remain in my calling and be committed in the things God has placed around me.

There is no need to make things more complicated than they should be. Every human relationship includes risk. Trust the wisdom and promises of God.

Even though I've always been a believer, the Lord met me where I was, helped me embrace my brokenness, and as a result I know Him like I never have before. He manifests Himself in miraculous ways.

I need to love equally. Not just my friends, family, or acquaintances. I need to love the person who I pass on the street, the person who cuts me off in traffic, the annoying kids in class. God, the Creator, the great I AM loves everyone equally; therefore EVERYone is worthy of my love, who am I to withhold it? COMPASSION.

What I lack in knowledge I make up for in resourcefulness.

There are so many lies in this world, listening for God's voice is hard but we can always find it. God aches for us just as we ache for Him.

In reference to YoungLife, the Lord taught me that I all had to do was GO to the school and be His servant; He took care of the rest. I have gotten the awesome opportunity to love on 9th grade girls and be just a tiny refection of the love God has for them.



Those are just a few things I came to realize, there is so much more: much I'm sure I'm not even aware of. Basically, God is good. So so good.

xoxo