Change Is Happening

around here.  I gave my two weeks at Trekkers yesterday.  That is my big news that I couldn't share.  What, you don't think that's big news?  Well, its big to me, okay?  I gave my two weeks yesterday and I will now be working at Trekkers only as a sub and not as a full-time teacher.  Because I am going on my unexpected trips this summer to NC, I am converting to a sub.  I am so excited about this.  Its unreal.  I have been SO busy lately that I will really not know what to do with myself when I don't have a job or school to go to.  Can't wait for that.  Don't get me wrong, I love Trekkers and it is such a fun job, but I just need a break and some quiet time without being constantly busy.  Moving on...

This weekend for Memorial Day, we (the Weavers + me) had the annual Crawfish Boil.  Can you say yum?  It was such a fun time.  I always have a blast when I'm with the Weavers, so when you add cute babies, yummy crawfish, and great weather to that, you get an awesome day.

 Poor little guys had no idea what was coming.

 

YUM.

 Lowering them into the pot and to their death.

Rick eating his first crawfish of the evening.

I stole this picture from KateandKuby, because its the only picture with me actually in it.  Haha. oops.

Oh My It Has Been A While

since I have written a post.  I have been so busy finishing up the Spring semester of school and with work AND with Summer school.  Goodness, this past month has gone by SO fast.  It's unreal.  What is new?  Well, I'm glad you asked...  There are some pretty big changes coming up in this girl's life.  I can't tell you much about them yet, but just you wait.  This summer is going to be a good one.  I am so glad for a long weekend with no school or work Monday.  Work and school have been crazy busy this month, with Summer school and Summer Camp starting at work.  The classes I am taking for Summer school are the May intercession classes and they are only 3 weeks long, so they are super intense (one day of class is like a week of normal semester classes).  I'm rambling, so let's move on.

So as it turns out, I am taking more trips than expected this summer.  Which is super exciting!  Mom and I are going to Missouri in June for my cousin-in-law, Sara's, baby shower.  Then, we are driving with my aunt and uncle to their house in North Carolina to stay and help them get ready for their Lamp Lighters' event this August.  Then, in July, I am going to Destin for 2 weeks.  Yes, I repeat, TWO WEEKS.  Yay!  It will be a well-deserved vacation for this busy girl.  For the first week, I will be with Ricky's family on their vacation.  Then, for the second week, Ricky, his brother, Kenny, and I will be staying with my family for our vacation.  I cannot wait.  In August, mom and I are going back to NC to help staff the Lamp Lighters' event, which I am so ready for.  What an awesome experience.

To get ready for Summer and all of these beach days, I am doing Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.  Let me tell you, I hate that woman.  By that I mean that she is a great personal trainer and will get results fast.  But to get results, you have to work and be incredibly sore.  I literally had trouble walking the second day.  Not cute.  But I can't wait to see the results.  I am trying to get in shape before the Summer really starts and before I start training for the St. Jude Marathon Relay, which is in December.

I am so excited for this summer and to see how the Lord works and moves throughout my summer.  I am thrilled and humbled to be a child of the one true God.  I am so thankful for my blessings and I can't wait to spend this summer praising and following the Lord.  YAY SUMMER!

D-Now 2013

This weekend was Disciple Now at my church, Kirby Woods Baptist Church.  I was a Co-Leader for 8th grade girls.  It was such a fun, encouraging, and convicting time.  My Leader was my sweet friend, Casey, who I go to school with.  This girl is such an encouragement to me.  We got to talk before bed each night and we have so much in common.  She did such a great job with our girls (she is their Sunday School teacher, so she already knew them all).  I loved getting to know our 5 sweet 8th grade girls.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to Hollywood Community Center and held a block party.  This was a fun, yet trying time.  My girls were assigned to the Photo Booth.  We got an iPad and two printers (that were as slow as Christmas) and the girls would take pictures of anyone who wanted their picture taken and then print them off.  This was a trying time, because some of the people would get impatient and our printers were so slow that we would have to ask the people to come back and pick their pictures up later (which they did not like).  Our girls did a great job at staying patient with the people and at working hard to do everything they could to keep the people happy.  I was so proud of their hard work.

During my quiet time Saturday morning, I read Philippians 2:13-18.

"For it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to desire and to work out His good purpose.  Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.  Hold firmly to the message of life.  Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn't run or labor for nothing.  But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.  In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me."

This was such an encouragement to me on a day when we were tired and having to work with impatient people.  We had to let Jesus work through us, because we could not and should not do it through ourselves.

I learned so much this weekend that I cannot even tell you everything.  The theme of this weekend was Jesus is greater than ________?  We put Jesus behind so many things in our lives.  Jesus is so much more important than all of the other things that we put before Him.  Jesus should take preeminence in our lives and it is so wrong that we do not put Him where He belongs.  One thing that Justin (our children's minister who preached to the middle schoolers) told us in his message on Friday night was that some people say "it should have been me on the cross".  BUT we COULD NOT have been on the cross, because we had to have a PERFECT sacrifice to save us from our sins.  We could not save ourselves, because we are sinners who are not perfect.  We needed Jesus to die for us, because He was the PERFECT sacrifice.

I am so thankful for this weekend and for everything that the Lord taught me through Brother Justin, through Casey, through Keresa (my host home mother), and through my sweet girls.

Lord, change me every day to look more like your precious son, Jesus.  Help me to remember everything that You have taught me through this D-Now.

Things I Love Thursday, Episode 2:

1. Urban Outfitters Floral High Waisted Bikini, 2. YMCA Membership, 3. Crest 3D White Toothpaste, 4. Tom's Crochet Classics, 5. Cher Lloyd, 6. NYC Nail Polish "Underground Purple"

1. I am in love with this swimsuit.  It isn't too terribly expensive for Urban Outfitters.  $42 per piece.  I love a high-waisted bikini, because it is more modest than a traditional bikini.

2. I used to work at the Olive Branch Family YMCA (and Ricky still works there), so I had a free membership.  While I was working there, I started going there and I love to swim and workout there.  They have a ton of brand new equipment and a nice lap pool.  My family has kept our membership, even after I quit, because we like to (and need to) go workout there.

3. So, I am really weird about my teeth.  I am one of those people who brushes their teeth after eating anything and floss every night before be.  I love to brush my teeth.  Why, you ask?  I really don't know.  I find brushing my teeth very satisfying, because I am doing something helpful to my body and anyone who will be near me.  And I just love having fresh breath.  I don't know... I'm weird.  Anyway, so I have been using this toothpaste for a while, because it is awesome.  Most of the whitening toothpastes I have used don't leave your breath fresh, but this one does.  It tastes great and minty and it whitens your teeth.  What more could you want?

4. I got these Tom's for my birthday and I wear them all the time.  They go with everything.  I was worried that they would get dirty quickly, because they are cream colored, but they have done great so far.

5. Cher Lloyd.  She sings the song "Want You Back", which has become popular lately.  I have her album on my Rhapsody account and it is great.  I don't love every song, because some of them are real cheesy.  But for the most part, I like it.  My favorite song of hers is "With Your Love".  Her songs are just super fun and they make me want to dance.

6. NYC Nail Polish in "Underground Purple".  I am obsessed with this nail polish color.  I have two bottles of it.  It is only like a dollar fifty or two dollars and it is such a pretty color.  I have a serious addiction to nail polish, so the cheaper, the better.

Easter Weekend:

Friday, I slept in with my pup, Grendel, then went and got a mani-pedi with my mom.  After our nails dried, mom and I met dad at Steak n' Shake for lunch.  That Frisco Melt was the best.  Yum.

Then, I went shopping with mom and we found some cute stuff, like this little Elvis piggy bank at Old Navy.

After much shopping, I went home and got ready to go to Revision's Good Friday service.  Ricky's brother-in-law, Ben, is one of the pastors at Revision and Ricky's other brother-in-law, Josh, leads worship.  Their service was wonderful.  Very convicting, encouraging, and exciting.

Saturday, Ricky came over and we dyed Easter Eggs.  Some turned out good, some bad, but thats okay.  We had fun.  It has become a tradition for us and that's exciting.

These are a few pictures from our egg dying last year.

These are from this year.

 This one is dad's Storm Trooper Egg.

Our dying kit came with these fancy bowls.  Too cool.

Here's our whole dying station.

My ombre egg.

My attempt at a red white and blue egg.

Cool speckled egg.

After we finished our eggs, Ricky and I worked on our Halo costumes.  I've been trying to hold off on this subject, because it makes me seem super nerdy, but here goes nothing...

So, Ricky, Kenny, my dad, and I are making Halo's Master chief suits.  You build them our of paper then fiberglass them to make them hard.  It is going to be a long process, but hopefully it will turn out really cool.  Plus, its great bonding with my boys.  Get it, "bonding"?  Haha.

At about 7:30, Ricky and I went back to his house and ate steaks with his family.  Then we watched Rise of the Guardians with his parents.  When the movie was over, Ricky walked me out to my car and when we walked out the door, we both froze.  It was SO foggy.  It literally looked like we were inside of a cloud.  We ran back in to bring his parents out to see.  We all stayed outside in amazement for a while before I finally went home at midnight.

Once I got home, I had to bake cupcakes, because we had a few families over after church on Sunday for lunch.  Well... when you try to bake cupcakes at midnight, it doesn't always turn out just right.  So what happened?  Well, I had some batter left over after I filled the cupcake pan, and I wanted to be able to go ahead and wash the dishes, so I put the extra batter into a few cupcake liners and set them on the stove.  Well, then I went and cleaned up the house a bit, and when I came back, I found this...

The batter had spilt out all over the stove.  Awesome.  So I threw all of these little gems away.  Moral of the story: taking a shortcut can sometimes actually make things take longer.  I ended up going to bed at 3, so I was very tired on Easter Sunday, but it was still wonderful.

After everyone left my house on Sunday, Ricky and I went over to his sister, Lindsay's, house to eat dinner.  Dinner was amazing.  (Side note, Ricky's family should own a restaurant, because they are all master chefs.  You think I'm kidding... I'm not.)  After dinner, Ricky and I watched some Curious George with his niece and nephew, Jovie and Jack.

My Easter weekend was filled with fun, family, and lots of laughs.

Things I Love Thursday:

So I decided that I want to start a weekly post about things I like/use.  I like the way "things I love Thursday"sounds, so I decided to do them on Thursdays.

For the this week's "Things I Love Thursday", I have 5 things I love:

1. Clinique Chubby Sticks

2. Old Navy Girl's Leggings

3. Apple Earpods

4. Sunflower Jasmine Tea

5. Free People Floral Socks

Okay, so number 1 is something that I could not live without.  I am obsessed with Clinique make-up.  I have never used anything other than Clinique, because I fell in love with it from the beginning.  If you go to Dillard's and look at the different make-up counters, you will see why I chose Clinique.

Lemme show you what I mean...

Estée Lauder:

Clinique:

As you can see, Clinique is a more natural-looking make-up.  I love their make-up, for real.  These Chubby Sticks are a creamy, balm-like lip color.  They moisturize your lips while they add color.  They come in a bunch of awesome colors.  I have three.

Okay, on to number 2.  This is a kinda weird one.  Old Navy girl's leggings.  I know what you're thinking, "there is no way she fits into little girl's leggings".  Oh how wrong you are.  I get a large or extra large and they fit perfectly.  They are so cute and come in so many awesome designs.  I have the ones in the picture and I have a black and white striped pair.  I sleep in mine and they are super comfy and cheap.

Seriously?  How cute are these?!

Number 3, Apple Earpods.  I got these babies for Christmas last year and they're awesome.  They fit your ear so much better than the old Apple earphones and the sound quality is great.  And they're like $30, which is not bad for earphones.  I also love that you can control that volume and change/pause the song from the headphones.  I use this feature so much, especially when I am washing dishes in the kitchen at church and don't wanna get my phone all wet and gross.

Number 4, Sunflower Jasmine Tea.  Ricky's mom, Mrs. Marion, gave me this tea for Christmas this year.  She drinks it every night and I would always drink some when I went over there.  So, she got me my own glass teapot and this wonderful tea.  Jasmine tea is so good, for real.  It is sweet and smells like honeysuckle.  I get a little frustrated trying to make it myself, because Mrs. Marion's tastes perfect and mine never turns out quite as good as hers.  But I am still practicing.

Number 5, Free People floral socks.  Free People has the coolest socks and I saw these when I was birthday present researching (you know, looking for things to ask for for your birthday).  So, when Ricky asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I was ready.  He like a perfect boyfriend bought them and another pair for me (along with 5 packs of Ghiradelli chocolate.  Oh yea.)

Thing I Want To Make:

Here is a list of a few projects that I want to do this weekend.  I don't have work on Thursday or Friday, so I am going to try to do some DIY projects.  The first project that I am going to work on is finishing some letters I am making for my mom.  I made these for Ricky's sisters and mom Christmas before last and my mom loved them, so happy mothers day to her.

Here is what the finished project looks like (these are Katie's):

Supplies:

Wooden Letters from Michael's or JoAnn's

Yarn

Superglue

These are super simple to make.  You just wrap the yarn around the letters and put dots of superglue where needed.  The hardest part is the letters with holes, like p and e.  You have to push the yarn through the hole each time you try to make a loop.  This took me forever, but if you cut the yarn into smaller sections instead of trying to push a lot of yarn through, obviously it's easier.

The other project I want to do this weekend is a hanging organizer.  I saw this on my cousin's tumblr, These Renegades of Mine.  She posts super cool pictures, so you should go check out her tumblr.  The organizer has a super simple design, which I love.  As you can tell by looking at the picture, it is pretty self explanatory.  You just sew different shaped and colored/patterned fabrics onto a shower curtain.  I am going to make mine smaller than this one, because I don't have a huge amount of wall space to put it.  I am going to put it on my short, 4 foot, wall beside my desk.  Wish me luck!!

Supplies:

Shower Curtain (I'm using a canvas one)

Different Colored/Patterned Fabrics

Needles

Thread

DIY Blog Button

I have recently become obsessed with blogging.  I love everything about it.  I love making my blog my own and adding special touches to it.  One of my favorite things to make for my blog is a blog button.  They are cute and super easy to make.  So... I am going to show you how to make one.

Step 1: Go to PicMonkey and upload the picture that you want to make into a blog button.

Step 2: Resize the picture to 200 x 200.

(Make sure you uncheck the "Keep Proportions" box)

Now you can edit the picture and add text or whatever else you may want to your button.

When you are done, save your picture somewhere where you can find it easily.

Step 3: Now you want to upload your picture to Photo Bucket.  

This will give you the code that you need.

You need the "Direct Link" code.

Step 4: Next go to "Grab My Button" Code Generator.

Here you input the information it asks for.

First, input your blog's name, then your blog's URL, then the direct link code.

You can customize your button's text box, then click Preview.  

If you are happy with what you see, copy and paste your code into the HTML section on your blog.

A Weekend In The Life...

A summary of my Saturday:

Saturday was my friend Megan's baby shower.  We have been best friends since 7th grade.  We kind of fell apart a little when we went off to college, but we reconnected this year and have become close again.  She is pregnant with little baby Greyson James.  He was not exactly expected, but he is a blessing already.  So Megan's baby shower was Saturday morning and there were SO many people there.  It was great to see people supporting her through this time.  She got a ton of stuff and after everyone left, me and my other bestie, Kayla, helped her organize all of her stuff.  We had a blast.  That kind of stuff is what Kayla and I live for.  We love to organize and sort things.  It was great to have some "girl time".

After we finished up with Megan's stuff, Ricky picked me up and we went to the Wolfchase Mall.  We ate Chinese, sampled Teavana teas, got our free Godiva chocolate for this month, gave each other back massages at Brooks Brothers, and shopped around for some summer clothes.  It was a fun-filled date.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are pictures of Ricky getting an eye and head massage at Brooks Bros

Once we finally left the mall, with aching feet, we met my dad at the Mid-South Con, a geek-filled weekend where nerds from all around gather to be weird together.  Needless to say, my dad fits right in.  He "trooped" and led games throughout the weekend.  By "trooped", I mean he dressed up in his Storm Trooper costume and walked around and took pictures with people.

Dad in his Storm Trooper suit

Ricky, Darth (dad), and I at the Crystal Ball in 2012

God is Good.

This morning, I was driving to school and praying the whole way.  I prayed for my family, my church, my friends, and I prayed for mine and Ricky's relationship.  I prayed for our relationships with the Lord, first and foremost.  Then I prayed for our relationship with each other.  I want the Lord to be the focus of our lives individually as well as our relationship together.  We used to pray together every night before we went to bed and text each other scripture, but we have gotten out of the habit of doing that by accident.  So I was praying that the Lord would give Ricky and I a passion for Him and a longing to seek after Him in our own lives and in our relationship.

So I never mentioned this to Ricky or anything, but later today I got a text from Ricky while I was in the drive-thru at Burger King.  The text was him explaining how he thinks we need to fix our relationships with the Lord and each other.  I was completely in awe.  I sat in the Burger King drive-thru crying like an idiot, because of how amazed I was that the Lord moved so quickly.

God loves us and He wants to answer our prayers.  If our prayers line up with His will, then He will answer them happily.  It was so amazing and encouraging and exactly what I needed today to see how faithful, loving, merciful, and amazing my God is.

Even in my joy, I was convicted of how small my faith in the Lord really is.  I should have prayed expecting Him to answer my prayers.  I shouldn't have been surprised by how quickly and perfectly God answered my prayers, because I should have trusted Him in the first place and known that He is faithful.

I am so thankful for a God who loves me and wants the best for me.  I am so thankful for a faithful God who knows my heart.  I am also thankful for a wonderful boyfriend who is seeking after the Lord.  I cannot wait to see how the Lord transforms and uses me and Ricky separately and together.

DIY Chicken Wire Wall:

Ricky's sister, Katie, has a small wall in her kitchen that she put chicken wire on and she uses it to display pictures and things.  Well... today, I was sitting around the house trying to find something productive to do.  So, I made my own version of the chicken wire wall in my room.  It isn't the whole wall, but it is a 4 foot section of one of my walls.  This was a super easy, quick, and very inexpensive DIY project.  I wanted something that I could start and finish today, and this was the perfect project for that.  I used chicken wire that my mom already had from one of her projects, a staple gun and staples that I found in our garage, my mom's measuring tape and scissors, and a chair in my room to stand on.

 This is the wall before (nothing special, just a blue wall):

These are the supplies I used (a staple gun, measuring tape, heavy duty scissors, and duh chicken wire):

This was when I laid the chicken wire out to measure and cut it.  For this step, I just measured the wall and did my best to cut the chicken wire about the same height.  I was fully prepared to have to cut some off of the bottom once I hung it, but it fit perfectly.  Yes!

 This is what it looked like when I finished stapling it to the wall:

 This is the finished product after I hung some knick-knacks on it.  I'm in love with this wall, like for real.  I love being able to change it up any time I want.  (I'm a little fickle, so its perfect for me).

 Here is a close-up of the goodies I put on it:

Here's my inspiration, Katie's Version.

I am incredibly pleased with the end result of my chicken wire wall.  Yay for DIY projects that come to completion!

Blogs I'm Obsessed With:

I have been wanting to make a post about the blogs that I follow religiously for a while now.  I'm not entirely sure why I haven't yet, but oh well.  Anyway, here ya go...

KateandKuby

Katie is my boyfriend's sister and I am obsessed with her blog.  (I seriously check it everyday).  For a few reasons.  For starters, she is amazing and I love reading about her day to day life.  I love being able to keep up with what her, Josh, and baby Canaan are up to through her blog.  Secondly, she has awesome style and is a great DIYer.  Seriously, you should see their house.  Amazing.  Go check out her blog.  I promise,  you will not be disappointed.

Bloom

I actually found Bloom through Katie's blog.  This girl, Nicole, is so sweet and she has an amazing heart.  I love reading her encouraging posts about Jesus.  She is a newlywed and I love reading her posts about engagement, wedding, and wife stuff.  Her blog is awesome.  But don't take my word for it.  Go see for yourself.

Little Chief Honeybee

I found this blog a few years ago and I fell in love.  Kaelah is a super cool blogger.  She is tatted up (which I love) and she has two adorable pups.  She is really witty and I love reading her posts.  I now follow her on instagram, which is a treat as well.  Go look at her blog.  But don't say I didn't warn you, you'll fall in love.