Past-due

I haven't posted in almost a month, and I actually miss doing it. A lot has been going on in my life, and I've been quite busy, and so I've neglected the computer all-together usually, but especially my little blog!

Here's a quick update for anyone who would like to know:

I'm actually really liking my new job! It's never boring, and I always have something to do. Oh, and I got promoted after being there only two weeks! So I'd say that's real good. And I got my first pay check last week from there. And it's definitely the biggest paycheck I've gotten in my life, ever. And that made me super, super happy :)

I'm making new friends, and hanging out with old ones more and more. And things are really going great. (Although I do miss my St. Auggie friends a whole, whole lot; and can not wait to see yall for the wedding!!)

I am oh-so-completely obsessed with Fuzions. We go at least twice a week, and sometimes more. It's just so delicious. At least it's semi-healthy-ish since we eat it so often!

We started a new young adult Bible study at church, and it's going really great. I'm so glad to be apart of a community again where we study God's word, and fellowship with each other. I thank the Lord for this new group, and what it's becoming for all of us!

Next weekend, my parent's are going out of town for their anniversary, so Meg and I will be alone for five days, and we're pretty excited about it. Oh, and we're going to the Florida State homecoming game during that weekend with our super sweet Granddaddy, and it's going to be great.

Oh, and this is Emma, the sweet baby girl I nanny-ed over the summer, and she's almost a year old now. Just wanted to share a precious picture of her.

I love you all...good night.

Pumpkin Pictures

Pumpkin Patch

Today my precious little family went to a local church to buy some pumpkins in order to support their missions. Megan dubbed herself the "Pumpkin Manager," and was therefore in charge of picking them all out. And she dubbed Papa the "Pumpkin CFO," so he was in charge of the pumpkin purchasing.

We took our time picking out all the most perfect ones, and took plenty of pictures to go along with it of course. We got pumpkins of all sizes and shapes. Pumpkins that sit on the front porch with Sally (see photo). A tiny pumpkin that fits with our tiniest scarecrows in the flower bed. And pumpkins that sit on our pretty dining room table.

We got around 10 pumpkins total. And they're all "perfect." It was a great day, and we had fun and laughed a lot. Oh, and fall is my favorite :)

*Check next post for photos. Now, when you click on it, it will open up larger. Couldn't fix it on this post.*

Praise the Lord!

I GOT A JOB!

For those of you who haven't heard, I just recently landed my first official "big-girl job." Since arriving home in May, I have applied for over 50 jobs, in a number of capacities, in maybe seven different cities! Sounds a little excessive right? Well I was certainly getting tired of it. And I was getting really discouraged. I was trying really hard to trust God, and wait for his plan. But I felt like I had been waiting forever...

At church the last few weeks, we've been going through a spiritual emphasis, and have been focusing on different basics of our faith. One week was worry. And man, did that ever hit me right smack in the face. All I've been doing lately is worrying about one thing or the other. So at the end of the message, we all wrote down the one thing that's weighing us down right now, and put it in a shredder on the stage. I wrote "JOB." And I felt better immediately, because it really did feel so symbolic.

Then that next Wednesday, Duncan emphasized worry in youth, and we did a similar exercise. And again, what did I write, but of course, "JOB." Then only a week later, after a quick application, interview, background check, and phone call later, I was offered a job!

So now I am the receptionist in the Classification division of the Department of Corrections. It definitely isn't the most fun thing ever, but it pays me, it's interesting, and I'm looking forward to learning a new job, and meeting new people.

So all this to say, PRAISE THE LORD. I got a job. And here's the object lesson: it really DOES pay to stop worrying, and simply hand over your problems to the Lord. Cuz our awesome God really does have this kind of thing under control.

"Princess and the Passenger"

This past weekend, I drove down to Orlando on Saturday morning, straight to Jenni's house (well after a few wrong turns of course...), for a wonderful evening of fun. Her Mama bought us Chicago style hot dogs for lunch, which were quite delicious, and we had some coffee to perk us up for a late night, accompanied by some delicious cupcakes I brought from Lucy & Leo's Cupcakery. We dressed cute but comfy, and headed to Tampa for the Rascal Flatts concert!

Our directions were perfect, and there was no traffic, so we were there 2 hours and 15 minutes early. Oops. OH well, because we had a ton of fun filling that time with our goofiness. Some lady knocked on our car window and gave us rediculous stickers, which Jenni was super excited about.Then we headed over and waited in line for a while. We saw a sign that said Kellie Pickler would not be performing due to illness, and I was quite OK with this, because that just meant more stage time for Rascal Flatts, which I was already dreaming about anyways!

Once inside, we got the most perfect lawn seats, spread out our blanket, took off our shoes, and marvelled at how well this was all going so far. We had a great view of the stage, and were not jealous at all of the regular seats. We were so comfy, had a ton of space, and had our own cooler and card games! Perpect.

We took a TON of silly pictures of ourselves, and had a TON of fun doing so. Here's an example:Then the concert started! Chris Young was the opener, and I had never heard of him. But I actually knew a few of his songs, I just didn't realize it at first. And he was quite good. I enjoyed him a lot more than I thought I would, so that was a pleasant surprise.

And then my beloved Rascal Flatts came on! This is their 10th Anniversary tour, so they are celebrating all ten years of their music! And to do so, they sang a few songs from each of their albums, from oldest to the most recent, and they were so awesome! I loved every minute of the show, and when it was "done," I didn't want to leave because I knew there just had to be more. And I was right. They came back out again, and sang some more great music. After an amazing night of great singing, laughing, pictures, and fun, we went to a nearby steakhouse for some line-dancing. It was quite spontaneous, but ended up being real fun! And, it was a nice way to wrap up our country-themed evening.

Side note: Rascal Flatts was the first concert I ever went to, when I was 13! So it was great to get to see them again for their 10th anniversary tour! Such great fun. Oh, and the title of this post is from one of my favorite songs of theirs, "Secret Smile." (Not a good video, but you can at least listen.)

Probably the Best

On the way home from church tonight, Mama says, "You know what we should do? We should take home frozen yogurt for us and Meg, and Papa."

And you know what I said? "OH YES PLEASE!"

So we stopped at the amazing Fuzions Frozen Yogurt, and made 4 cups, to go. And this was Probably the Best one I've ever made myself. Here was my "recipe:"
Mango yogurt--topped with almonds, mini chocolate chips, Fruity Pebbles, and kiwi.
And it was so dadgum delicious! I am hoping to re-create this flavor combo as soon as possible. Who's with me?!

Pancakes, Percussion, Pizza & Praise

Rock the Universe is always the last event of our Youth Extreme Summer Spectacular. And we just went last weekend. And it rocked. Quite literally. (Except on Friday morning: I had pancakes for breakfast, and no coffee. [Feelin' me Bridget?] So I was fading, quick. I had to load up on some caffeine to counteract that bad decision...but then I was ready.)

We arrived at our giant hotel Friday afternoon which is directly across the street from the park, checked in, painted my fingernails an awesome shade of Robin's Egg Blue, and then we all walked across to Universal!

First order of business was the new roller coaster, Rip, Ride, Rock It. And we did Rock It. That Friday night, my wonderful group was Chandler, Taylor and Aaron. And it was great.

We did a few more rides, ate dinner, and then headed to some concerts. That night we saw Jars of Clay, (I wasn't too impressed with them...) and Skillet. And they were real good.On Saturday, we went to Islands of Adventure, and went straight back to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And it was so amazing looking! It really looked like Hogsmeade, and I felt a little like I was on the set. (Aside from the hundreds and hundreds of people all smashing into each other.) We saw the whole "town," rode The Hungarian Horntail, and then decided to try Butterbeer. (For those non-HP fans, it is not alcoholic in any way.) But it was waayyy too sweet. And no one finished drinking theirs.We stayed in that park all day, riding all the most awesome rides, eating some delicious pizza for lunch, and laughing and having a good time. New and different people flowed in and out of our group for the day, and we had a lot of fun. Including Hannah, Meagan, Sara, Kristen, Kaitlin, Jacob, Daniel, Nikki, Will, and maybe a few more...We then met Duncan for our check-in time, and were back into Universal for another night of concerts.

After dinner, Chandler and I went to the Needtobreathe concert. And they were soo good! I'm going to be purchasing their new album this weekend, The Outsiders.

And then we waited for our beloved tobyMac! There were tons of people all around us, but it was worth it, because we were real close, and the concert was real great! I've seen him probably six times now, and every time I love it just as much!

We then saw some of Jeremy Camp, and just kinda hung out, because we were exhausted by this point. At midnight, we met up with the group, and walked back to the hotel all together.

Sunday morning we got to sleep in, and then had a small Sunday school lesson with Duncan. Packed up and left after 11, got gas, and headed home. The bus was silent as everyone was asleep, which it was nice for Duncan and I. After a few hours, lunch, and countless bathroom breaks, we were home. A great weekend in all. With great kids that I love.

Oh, and here's a picture of me and my weekend-roommates.