rainy days and reading

i think most anyone who knows me knows how much i love to read! when i started kindergarten, i was reading on a fourth grade reading level...i just loved books from a young age and i picked up reading quickly. my love of reading has continued all through my life, up to present day. even with life being as busy as it is, i still try to read about one book per week, although sometimes it takes me a little longer if the book is longer. my dad and i go to booksales twice a year and they are always some of the highlights of my year :-) i just tell people that i'm a nerd like that! i honestly don't even know the last time that i bought a book from barnes and noble or a regular bookstore...they're just so expensive there! there is a booksale once a year in atlanta at perimeter mall that has over 100,000 books that are sold. people donate their books all year long at different locations and when the booksale comes around, they are organized by topic and genre for people to search through to their hearts content. there is also one in greenville, south carolina that he and i go to that is basically the same thing. i have just about any book you can think of and i've never paid over $2.00 for any of them. all of my paperbacks are about .50 each. gotta love it!

anyhow...over the past year, i don't even think i can count how many books i've read. i got into the twilight series and read them in no time at all. i don't think i even watched tv for a few weeks because all i wanted to do was read them! i love james patterson and i read his entire alex cross series in a few months along with his women's murder club series. i've read all of jane green's books and just about any other chick-lit author you can think of. i just finished jodi picoult's newest one, handle with care, and it was by far one of her best books, second only to my sister's keeper. today is a rainy saturday, the perfect kind of day to spend curled up on the couch reading! i've been reading angels and demons by dan brown and so far it's AMAZING! such a good story and the kind of book that is hard to put down. i read the da vinci code years ago but i have to say that so far, i like this book better. no, i don't agree with the theological/religious things in the book but that doesn't mean that it makes the story uninteresting to read. brown is a fantastic author!

so...what about you? i'm curious to find out about books that other people read. i'm always up for finding a new author that is good! let me know if you have any recommendations for a rainy saturday! :)

springtime fun!

have i really not written in here since almost a month ago? time just flies and i look at this and i realize how long it has been since i updated! oops.

this has been a busy and a fun spring so far! easter was really nice with my family. it was so nice to spend the day together as a family. we all went to church together and had lunch together afterwards. my mom bought my brothers and i some treats for easter, as she always does :) i love that she still does that! later that afternoon, my dad and i drove up to the school that i will be attending for graduate school. i have a meeting with my advisor this coming tuesday so i wanted to know where the buildings and offices will be that i will need to go to. it was such a beautiful day so he and i walked around together and explored the campus. it was such a nice afternoon with him and it made me so much more excited for the fall to come and for classes to start! it is going to be such a different experience to go to a school where i don't know anyone. it didn't even seem like i was going to college when i attended tfc. everything was just so easy. i had my dad as my advisor because i could just bring home forms that i needed him to sign and i already knew at least half of the professors because of my dad working there. i already knew my way around the campus and i parked wherever i wanted because i had a faculty sticker on my car in case my dad drove it to work. haha! so this will definitely be a good experience for me and make me more aware of what going to school should actually be like :) i am very excited.

if you know me, you probably know how much i love to play trivia! my friends and i go at least two thursdays a month to one of the local restaurants to play trivia. we never really do very well but it is just fun to go and play! my brother andrew came down this past thursday and we went with about six of my friends from work....and lo and behold, WE WON! there were about fifteen teams playing and somehow, we managed to beat the team that has beaten us every time for the past year and a half. we cheered so loudly when we won! the final question was this: since the opening of the first waffle house until 2006, put the following menu items in order from the most served over all of those years to the least served. waffles, hashbrowns, pie, eggs. have fun and check back in my next entry for the correct answer. and by the way, this is the question that we got right and that put us in the number one spot! and this is especially good for me, considering i've never eaten at waffle house! i'm not a big fan of greasy food. yuck.

my brother andrew leaves on may 12th for the air force so i have been trying to spend as much time with him as possible before he leaves. he came with us for trivia the other night and then the next night, he and i went to a late showing of the 4th installment of the fast and the furious movies. i LOVE those movies and he and i saw the very first one together so it was fun to watch this one together. i hate that he is leaving for the air force but at least he will be back for good in late october. i'm so proud of him and so thankful he's my brother!

so all in all....life is going well, just busy busy busy! i do like being busy though...although since it is sunday afternoon, i'm going to enjoy it and relax! my mom stayed the night with me last night because she flew in last night from her arbonne conference in las vegas. i made yummy chicken and cheese enchiladas for lunch today and they turned out so good! now off to do laundry and catch up on a few television shows. hope all of you are having a wonderful saturday!

here are a few pictures of me and my family from this spring....they are the best!

be my everything

we sing this song at church a lot and it has become one of my all time favorite songs. the words are so beautiful and i just had to share them with all of you. it is such a beautiful prayer to the Lord and it's definitely what i want my life to be like.

"Be My Everything" by Tim Hughes

"God in my living, there in my breathing
God in my waking, God in my sleeping
God in my resting, there in my working
God in my thinking, God in my speaking

Be my everything, be my everything
Be my everything, be my everything

God in my hoping, there in my dreaming
God in my watching, God in my waiting
God in my laughing, there in my weeping,
God in my hurting, God in my healing

Christ in me, Christ in me,
Christ in me the hope of glory,
You are everything

Christ in me, Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory,
Be my everything
Jesus, you are everything."

here is a link to the video of it on youtube...it is so beautiful. i encourage you to watch it if you get a chance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrIWy42sC6U

exciting news!

i got some very exciting news about a week and half ago....i found out that i got accepted to graduate school for the fall semester of 2009! i will be attending piedmont college, which is about twenty minutes away from where i got my undergraduate degree. i've been planning to move back home this fall to live with my parents and attend school...but i haven't been able to finalize anything until i knew that i was officially accepted to school. once i finally got all my paperwork in and completed, i received my official letter telling me that i was accepted!

my fabulous coworker jessica and my wonderful coteacher april made me really cute congratulations signs for my classroom door at school. the owner of the school also made me a congratulations sign which was just so sweet! i'm SO excited to start school in the fall even though i am going to miss my job and my kids and my coworkers so much! however, i'm ready for this next phase in my life and i can't wait to see what the future holds!

we have a winner!

so....remember that entry that i wrote a few entries back...about the mom who was having a giveaway for some baby items? well....color me shocked when i logged onto my blog on saturday and found out that I WON! i honestly don't know if i've ever won anything in my life so i was completely surprised. what a fun surprise to wake up to on a saturday :)

i have a friend who has been trying to get pregnant for about eight or nine months. she was able to conceive last year but ended up having a miscarriage. since then, she and her husband have been trying but have not yet been able to conceive again. she told me that she still does buy baby clothes and random baby things from time to time for when she does have her little one someday. when i saw this giveaway, i thought of her. the cute polka dots on the bib and burp cloth are just totally her. so i wrote her a card and gave it to her as a little gift today and she was just so excited. i know what an amazing mom she is going to be someday and i can't wait to see her get use out of this precious little gift when the time comes.

valentine's day party!

i'm sure most of you know that i teach preschool every day. i absolutely adore my job! i love love love making arts and crafts with my kids. i LOVE making cute things to decorate our classroom with and to send home with them for their parents to keep. holidays are by far some of my favorite things so i always go all out for them with crafts and with decorating. when i was working by myself at christmastime and had 18 kids on my own, i still won the holiday decorating contest that my school had. can you tell i make decorating a priority?! valentine's day is always a fun one to decorate for so over the past few weeks, april (my co-teacher) and i have been making tons of things with our kiddos. here are a few pictures from our valentine's day party and a few pics of things we made. i'm so blessed to be able to say that i genuinely love what i do everyday!

fun baby giveaway!

so in reading through a friend's blog, i found another blog that is doing a fun baby item giveaway! you could win a coordinating bib and burp cloth set from sarita baby. the front is made of a gender-neutral designer fabric and the back is an ultra soft chocolate brown fleece. i'd like to win this contest for two reasons: one, i've never won a contest before! and two, i have a friend who is expecting who i would love to give this cute set to! i'm definitely hoping to win but i wanted to spread the word about her site. http://www.monkeys-on-the-bed.blogspot.com. so head on over and check her out!

balanced

i think most of you know that i attend northpoint community church in alpharetta, georgia. the pastor there is andy stanley. i've been going there for the past two and a half years, ever since i moved to suwanee. i have learned more and grown more in the two years that i have been there than at any other point in my life. i cannot say enough about the amazing programs that they have, the phenomenal worship team, and the wonderful sermons that andy (and other talented speakers) have given. they have truly changed my life.
all of this to say, for the past six weeks, andy has been doing a series entitled "balanced." its a series about gaining and maintaining financial stability. normally i am not one for hearing sermons on finances but this series is unlike any other i've heard. he spoke on how important it is to know what you are spending your money on and continually said, "you have to be knowing where your money is going." for the entire six weeks, he challenged everyone to record their finances...every single penny. at the end, each person was to total what they spent in every area of their life. food, gas, clothes, bills, debt payments...everything. it was such a good exercise for me and i was definitely pleasantly surprised to see how responsible i am with my money!
my favorites of the series were two different sermons...one about the importance of staying out of debt and one on controlling your spending. after hearing this series, i have a completely different view of credit cards. don't get me wrong, i've never been one to just charge and charge and charge. however, i am definitely more committed to paying cash for just about everything now. numerous bible verses have drastically changed my viewpoint. its also interesting to see just how much this society does not replace things...now we UPGRADE. a lot of it was things that i already knew but what an important reminder, especially with the economy the way it is now.
there is a study for small groups to do along with hearing the series each week at church. my small group will finish the study on monday. i have so enjoyed learning with the girls in my group and being challenged by both andy, the girls and the workbook. my parents have gotten phone calls from me each week after the i hear the newest sermon and then they have to listen to me rave about it. :) its just a really amazing series and i would definitely encourage every person i know to listen to it and to participate in the study that goes along with it. the site for it is http://www.balancedonline.org/. its challenging and thought provoking and really teaches you just how much God desires for you to use your money responsibly and for His glory.
just wanted to share what i've been learning lately! i hope some of you find this interesting :)

all about me!

sometimes its fun to fill out different types of surveys...i know i always enjoy reading other people's answers when they fill them out. this is just something that has been going around facebook and its a survey of sorts. you're just supposed to write 25 random facts or tidbits about yourself and then tag other people to do the same thing. jessica and i did ours the other day when our kids were napping at school and we had so much fun doing it that i thought i would post my 25 facts on my blog as well. its just some random facts about me...happy reading :) and by the way, i tag meg!

1. i hate change. i'm not good with it. i get too used to how things are and when they change, its really hard for me. not to say that change isn't good, because oftentimes it is. and a lot of the times when things have changed, they've worked out better in the long run. however, its always hard for me to deal with at the time that its happening.

2. i'm obsessed with being tan in the summertime! i think anyone who knows me at all knows that. i hate when my skin is pale and i will lay in the sun for hours as soon as it gets remotely warm out. and no, i'm not the best at using sunscreen...although i'm getting better with that! i'm quite proud of how dark my skin gets in the summer! :)

3. i'm way too hard on myself on just about everything. i probabably expect too much out of myself...sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes its not. i strive for perfection in a lot of areas and i get mad at myself whenever i fall short. i definitely ended up with a great gpa in college because of it though :)

4. i'm a freak about grammar and punctuation and spelling. i absolutely cannot stand when things are not spelled correctly. and i get even more annoyed when its in a professional environment. for pete's sake, if you can't spell, then use spell check!

5. i've had the same core group of best friends since i was fifteen. i met them when i moved to toccoa and they have been my best friends ever since. i was incredibly blessed to have them all through high school and i don't know how i would ever make it without them. they are the girls who have been there for me through thick and through thin and they are more like sisters to me than friends. i love you, joni, karen and kerri!

6. living on my own for the past three years has made me more grateful for my parents and my family than i ever thought i could be. i never realized before just how many people come from broken families and how many are not raised with a loving and supportive home environment. i've blessed to have parents who have a wonderful marriage and who have raised my brothers and i to know the Lord and to have a relationship with Him. my parents and my brothers are some of my best friends and i have the best home life anyone could ask for.

7. my relationship with the Lord is the most important thing in my life. when i say that i trust him above all else, i mean that with all of my heart. he has been my rock through everything i have ever gone through and no matter what ever happens to me, i place my trust in him. i don't believe being a christian is believing in God. anyone can believe in him. having a growing relationship with him and living your life for him, even when you don't always understand what is going on...that's what truly makes the difference.

8. i despise abortion more than just about anything in the world. i believe that life begins at conception and i dare anyone who has read the bible and who truly values life to tell me differently. i honestly believe that abortion is one of the worst things anyone could ever do and i have ZERO tolerance for it. it makes me sick to my stomach.

9. i have absolutely no regrets! i've tried to always make wise choices and i generally think things through before i do them....or at least i try to! that's not to say that i've always made perfect choices but i have never done anything that i wish i could take back or do over. i'm proud of my life and the decisions that i've made!!

10. i hate hurting people more than anything. i'm not a person that is okay with hurting someone else's feelings. i know how easily i get hurt and i would never want another person to feel that way. even if its unintentional, it will bother me for a long time if i know i've hurt someone.

11. i love taking pictures! i love looking back on pictures after a lot of time has passed and being reminded of all the great times i've had and the memories i've made. i have a ridiculous amount of pictures on my computer!

12. college was four of the best years of my life. if i could relive those years, i would. i loved my major, i loved the people i met, i loved the classes i took and i love all of the memories that were made. those years were amazing and i will never ever forget them.

13. i've only ever said "i love you" to one person and i meant it with all of my heart. i don't think saying that is something to take lightly. however, there is only person that i think that i'll never truly get over and ironically, its not the person i said "i love you" to. this person...probably one of the only people who's ever truly had my heart and to this day, i think i still hold him on a pedestal in comparison to other guys. i don't know if anyone will ever compare to him in my eyes.

14. i hate getting up early! i'd be content to sleep in every single day. there are days that i sleep until nine and there are days that i sleep until noon but its just the joy of not hearing my alarm clock go off that makes me really happy! i hate using an alarm clock and i hate getting up early every day for work. every morning is an ordeal for me! i count down days till the weekend and no alarm clock!

15. in the spring and the fall, i love sleeping with my windows open! i've only done it a select few times at my apartment since i'm on ground level and freaked out about someone getting in when i'm sleeping...but as much as i can, i love to. when i'm at my parents house, i sleep with them open every night...i love the fresh night air!

16. i worked at a coffee shop for five years (yay for the java station!) and it was probably the best job i've ever had. i never ever dreaded going to work and i love that i got paid to make yummy drinks and hang out with my friends. my boss was more like a parent to me than a boss (he even let me borrow his jeep when my car was in the shop!) and i still keep in touch with him today. it was a fabulous five years and the best job i could ever possibly have had during college. i loved it!!

17. i love to read. i can read for hours upon hours at a time and i do that a lot on saturday and sunday mornings when i first wake up. i love chick lit, i love fiction and i love murder mysteries...and probably a whole lot of other genres as well! i've loved reading since i was a kid and i probably always will. its by far one of my favorite things to do.

18. i think jenny knows me better than probably anyone else in the world. she's the one person i have told absolutely everything to...i don't think that there is anything that she doesn't know. she loves me on my good days and my bad days and she's there for me through all the inbetween stuff as well. she's the bestest!

19. call me old fashioned but i don't believe getting drunk is okay, i don't REMOTELY think that doing drugs is at all alright, and i don't agree with sex before marriage. that's not to say that all of my friends agree with me or live their lives the same way i do...but its what i personally believe in and they're the values and morals that i choose to live my life by. its also not to say that its easy because its NOT and i struggle with certain things a LOT. and i am FAR from perfect. but ultimately, that's what i believe and what i live by and i'm proud to say that!

20. if i have a little boy someday, i want to name him griffin after a little boy that i worked with at a hospital in new york. he had leukemia and he was in treatment when i was there and he's in remission today. i love that little boy so much! my favorite girls name is ansley and it has been for years. i love that name! i have no idea about middle names yet but those are the two names i've been dead set on since college.

21. i am incredibly neurotic about my stomach. i've always been picky about having a flat stomach and if i remotely start to gain weight there, i get super self conscious. i really should do sit-ups and crunches and stuff more often than i do but i do them occasionally. i wish i would gain weight in my legs and my arms but i am ridiculously picky about my stomach. its the thing i'm most critical of on myself.

22. i'm really good about staying in touch with people. friendships mean a lot to me and taking the time to stay in touch with people is important to me. i love writing cards, sending texts, writing emails, sending e-cards, phone calls...all of that! i do my best to stay in touch with the people i care the most about.

23. i have to sleep with a fan on. i've slept with one since i was ten years old and i cannot go a night without one. its bad. if the power goes out, i'm up the entire night. its pathetic but true!

24. i really do think jason on the bachelor is just about the most perfect guy in the world! he's hot, he's sweet, he's a great dad, he's fun, he's spontaneous...yeah, he's pretty much just perfect! :)

25. i love my life! i love my family, i love my friends, i adore my dogs, i have a fabulous job that i enjoy going to every day, i cannot wait to start graduate school, and my relationship with the Lord is by far the most important thing in the world to me. i'm incredibly blessed and i try to remember that every single day!

random things

*my current favorite store: h&m (i'm obsessed - cutest clothes EVER!)

*my current favorite song: so many! katy perry "thinking of you" - savage "swing" (yes, i like my ghetto music from time to time!!) - pussycat dolls - "i hate this part" - downhere "here i am " - hillsong "from the inside out" and so many more! i like a variety of music, can you tell? variety is the spice of life! :)

*my favorite tv show: 24 - hands down! i like quite a few tv shows but 24 easily wins out. every season i'm reminded why its the best show on television!

*my favorite thing to do: stay home on the weekends! my weeks are crazy busy so my weekends are sacred to me! time to clean, catch up on things and then go out in the evenings with friends.

*my current favorite thing: my pink ipod nano! love downloading and organizing music on it! cutest ipod ever! :)

*i'm super excited about graduate school...almost all of my paperwork is in and complete so i should find out if i will be accepted soon. i'm so nervous!

*i have the best new coworker ever! she's a strong christian, around my age, and someone i would have been friends with outside of work. she's a huge answer to prayer for me!

*i finally got all of my pictures organized on my computer again and that was a huge accomplishment! i did it a few months ago and spent hours doing it...and that was the laptop that was stolen! i still had all of my pictures on my hard drive but i had never resaved them once i had organized them so i had to do it all over again. oh well! at least its done now!

*i can't wait to go home next weekend and celebrate my dad's birthday with him and the family!

*i forgive too easily...i've learned that this year. don't get me wrong, its a blessing to be able to forgive and forget but i'm working on setting better boundaries and having more respect for myself. the saying is so true - "oftentimes you forgive people because you can't stand them not being in your life." that is very true for me.

*i want a white shag rug for my dining room but i totally don't want to spend lots of money on it! hopefully all my gift cards to target will total up to the amount of the rug. here's hoping! it would pull my dining room together perfectly :) if you know me at all, you know how much i love decorating! just wish i had more money to do it!

*i have the most food in my refrigerator that i've had in a long time! ha. guess i've been here more lately :)

*i rarely drink coke or soft drinks anymore. i still have them from time to time but hardly ever. i generally only drink 100% juice, milk, or water. yay for me!

*i love being organized and on top of things. i hate when my apartment is anything other than perfectly clean and organized. and yes, i'm a bit ocd and i'm well aware of that!

*i LOVE music. a song can completely change my mood or outlook on things. i have to have music on when i'm in the car and it has to be loud. i seriously cannot drive in silence.

*when i watch movies, i turn the tv super loud. i don't know what my problem is but movies have to be loud in order for me to watch them. thank goodness most of my friends are the same way!

this was random but in the spirit of updating more, this was something at least! :) ha ha. hope y'all are having fabulous weekends!!

completely organized!

if there's anything i've learned in the last three years of living on my own, its how much i love being at my apartment and cleaning/organizing. i am completely content to spend a weekend here cleaning, decorating and catching up on things. part of that is probably due to the fact that i am so incredibly busy during the week that i consider my weekends to be sacred! i generally spend every saturday morning sleeping in and then reading my book in bed for a couple hours...with my coffee of course! :) i've had a couple free weeks but the craziness starts up again this week. i have every evening planned from monday-friday. some is babysitting for the family i pretty much nanny for, one is my regular tuesday night dinner with some girlfriends, one is my small group bible study...but nonetheless, its a busy week! i've been trying to take advantage of this three day weekend by organizing things that have gotten unorganized in my apartment due to me hardly ever being home and i've gotten quite a lot done! i think this is the most organized i've been in a long time...and it wasn't even bad to begin with. i love this whole not working thing...i could definitely get used to it! i also caught up on quite a bit of tv...its sad how behind i'd gotten! when i was reading the twilight saga, i don't think i watched tv for a month! i read every spare moment i got. so now i'm getting caught up on everything.
tomorrow will be back to the real world and work and all that it entails...but it was incredibly nice to have a weekend to just be home and enjoy it.

blog makeover!

so a BIG thanks to my great friend kelly who totally did a makeover on my blog! i thought i was doing a good job just going to websites and copying their backgrounds to my blog (ha!) but kelly made it cuter than i ever thought it could be! thank you, thank you! i adore it. you will see my blog looking like this for quite awhile now...i just love it.
so now...i should be better about posting considering that i am much more excited about the way it looks :) tomorrow is mlk jr day so i have the day off from work and i am thrilled about that. most anyone who knows me knows how much i love being at my apartment and cleaning and organizing. i've already gotten a ton done this weekend and i plan on doing even more tomorrow. and i LOVE spending weekdays at home because i can get up in the morning, make my coffee and my breakfast, and then curl up on the couch in pajamas to watch regis and kelly (if i'm up that early!) and then the view. i love my morning talk shows :) i have to watch the today show every morning while i'm getting ready for work. its my favorite! i love matt and meredith! gotta have my regular morning routine!
hope y'all have a great day tomorrow, especially if you have the day off from work! relax and enjoy it! and i promise to post again soon! and again...THANKS KELLY! you are the best!

a perfect start to the new year!

happy new year to everyone! we came up to buffalo, new york this past saturday to spend a week with family and friends. for those of you who don't know, i grew up in buffalo...we lived here until i was 13. we generally come up for about a week every december around the christmas holidays. as much as i don't like snow in georgia (because no one knows how to deal with it down there!), i absolutely love it when we're in buffalo. after the week is done, i'm ready to not see snow again for another year but for the week we are here, its fun. its not christmastime without snow...as far as i'm concerned! i grew up having a white christmas just about every year so coming to buffalo is pretty much the highlight of the season for me :)
we spent new years day with my dad's cousin's family at their cabin snowmobiling and playing games. i haven't gone snowmobiling since i was about 15 years old and we were in wisconsin for the holidays. i LOVE snowmobiling...its so much fun and i can do it for hours at a time. my cousin and i rode for about two hours today and it was a blast. the weather was only about 16 degrees but i was so bundled up that i was warm the entire time. it was a gorgeous day out....sunny and hardly any wind...perfect weather for riding. i was just in awe the entire time of how beautiful the snow was on all the trees and covering just about every surface that we rode past. we would go flying through the open meadows and i kid you not, i was just in amazement of the beauty of it all. God has created such beauty for us here on earth and i know that i for one take it for granted. today was a beautiful reminder of all of the many things he does for us and of the beauty that is all around us. here are a few pictures of our day spent snowmobiling and then playing games for a few hours. it was such a fun day and the perfect start to the new year! happy 2009, y'all!