Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

My talented and lovely friend/roommate Lindsay Beals...aka....Bealsabub(its not meant in the you know...bad way..) has started a blog!!! And since I know you all like great blogs I thought I would give her a little shout out on here! So here is it...."LINDSAY HAS A BLOG! CHECK IT OUT!! IT"S GREAT!!"

This is when we met the president. We were a pretty big deal. We had snipers on us.

We were M&M's. Cutsie.


Tennis Pros.


Celebratin'.

We do this alot. Just so you know...this was Halloween and I was Pam...Lindsay was a ladybug!?! Hmm.

www.lindsaybeals.blogspot.com

Desk Smesk

I sit at a desk all day...and though I love my little area and view outside the windows...my desk itself is pretty boring(big...wood...)...I have a lamp that I like...a picture frame that is cute(yes just one) and two stackable trays that are super cute from the container store. Thats it. And behind me I have this sort of desk that has drawers and all. But I have nothing on top of it. I need help. It does not represent me at all. I want to make it more organized and homey. What do you guys have on your desk?! I need inspiration...ideas. I know this is a lame post. But I really need some fun creative ideas to spruce up my work enviroment!!!

Help a sister out!!

Pictures are worth....

So. I was given this site...and it's amazing. I promise...I am working...you just have to take breaks. Here are two pictures for you to enjoy.

Gosh. Bangs were Awesome back then!

This is my favorite! Ah!

Go Yearbook yourself!! Okay....back to work. It is the day before my birthday...I am entitled to do what I want...right!?!

Laughter is the Best Medicine.

Okay. I know. I've been a.w.o.l. I have also been trying to update my blog with a Fallish layout...yeah didn't happen...I'm pretty sure pink is not a Fall color. Nonetheless its a good color. My fave at that. Oh. Sorry that you have been deleted from my page...your names that is. I still love you and I will work on that. That got deleted somehow in the chaos of finding the perfect Fall layout. Geez.

So. For an update. I am officially signed up for the 10k race that will take place on Labor Day. Lord have mercy. I am actually really excited about it. I am ready and I have trained my little legs off. So I say Bring it! It's all mental they tell me.

Somebody has a birthday this weekend. Any guesses!?! ME! Yep. August 23rd. I will be 27 years young. I am really looking forward to this year...its going to be a good one...I can already feel it. I don't know if I have ever talked about this on here...but I kind of have a problem with the odd numbers. Birthdays that is. I feel like they are a little Debbie D. You hear 28...you think Exciting! You hear 27...eh. You hear 24! Wow! What a year! 29...hmm. BUT! I have decided... out with that thinking..how dare I put a curse on it before it has even begun. I love birthdays. They are super.

So the other night I was lying in the bed with my biblioteca...I don't care that its not translated right...I like it...I mean why would you use biblioteca for library...hello its obviously bible. Someone was not doing their job the day that got approved. I was reading and came across Proverbs 31. You know. The calling all women verses. As I was reading them all the sudden this one verse just stuck out to me. You know people say...its like I had never read it before...it was so new to me in that moment. I really think I have NEVER read this verse before. I mean have I just skipped over this one every time...did ALL my bibles accidentally delete it!? Did all women's conferences skip over this part for time sake!? It was crazy. The verse is: Strength and honor are her clothing(this part I had read), and she can laugh at the time to come. Proverbs 31:25.
She can laugh at the time to come. Holy Cow. I am going to say it one more time. She can laugh at the time to come. How many times have I been in a place where I laughed at what was coming...the known...the unknown. I didn't say, Well I know that the Lord is going to take care of me so I can rest in that...I can have a peace in knowing that(which is not wrong or bad)...but no...I am so lost in the freedom of who He is and have such confidence in who He has said He will be in my life...that I will laugh...I will let my heart be light...so light that it laughs. Maybe I am reading way too much into this...but it just really spoke to me. I realize that there are things that happen in our life that are so hard and so tough that we can't even begin to imagine a smile...let alone a laugh...and the great thing about it is that God loves us completely in the moments that all we can do is sob...or scream...or sit. I don't want to belittle those times by saying we should laugh it away. But He was obviously trying to tell us something in this verse....just a thought...

Oh. Another thought I had while reading that chapter. Dang! She is busy. I got tired just reading about all the things she sewed and made and created and woke up...girl multi-tasks.

Say I Can't...

So. My roommate/great friend Bealsabub and I were talking the other day. Whenever the Olympics come around we start to get really jealous of the people competing in the games. I mean let's be honest, they are super talented, dedicated, and they get all this air time..plus they get these really cool necklaces or medals...whatever you want to call them. AND we get really frustrated with our parents that they didn't see the need to place us in a sport that would eventually bring us to the Olympics...we could have been training and training and training and could be competing this month in Beijing. But no. We are sitting in the US with no medals, no Olympic stories to tell and no face on any cereal box. So we started thinking. We could train now! Hey! That swimmer is 41 years old!! If we started training at 27 years old we have a good 8 years to get ready and we would only be 35! Younger than the lady this year! So. We talked about what we would want to train in...the child in me obviously wants to do gymnastics...but let's be honest I'm too tall. SO we are thinking either swimming, diving(lindsay says, hey all they do is jump off the diving board and twist and stuff), or...and here is my fave...synchronized swimming. We think we could bring a new life to this sport. Lyrical Hip-Hop Synchronized Swimming(LHHSS). We would ask Tabatha and Napoleon from So You Think You Can Dance to help us with our routine and then we will practice for the next 4 or 8 years. I think its doable. What do you think about this!?

Lindsay and I(Easy)

Easier.

Hmm.

Cutest Little Boy I Know.

Okay! SO. I just got in last night from my weekend in Ohio! I decided that I would share the experience with you in pictures. So here it goes.

Mom and I right before we left for the airport!! So excited!!

Noah drinking his first Starbucks! Lemonade/Green Tea Freeze. We didn't know that all he had had until this point was water and milk....oops.:) He loved it! Drank the whole thing in maybe 10 minutes.

Okay. You might be thinking...why is he wearing pants...haha. Well they are his size swim trunks...he just has cutie patutie short legs....it was sooo funny to watch him in them. AH!:)

Here we are taking a little ride around the neighborhood. Noah waves and says hello to everyone. He gets a little upset when people do not wave or say hi back. It's pretty funny. He grunts at them.:)

Target.:)

Fruit Punch. Drank the whole thing.:)



Noah and his first ice cream cone!! He LOVED it!! Below is a video from this event. It cracks me up!!

Sorry its sideways again...:)

:)

He wanted to hold the WHOLE preztel. Of course.:)

Mimi and Noah!

Pool Time! He likes to splash outside of the pool...so I thought if I got in it might encourage him....and then this is what happened....

He is watching me...in the pool...by myself....

Craft Time!!

Finger Painting for the first time! He didn't know what to think of it at first....He doesn't like to get his hands dirty...but as you can see he got over it.:)

We had the BEST time! We were completely exhausted by the end but it was all worth it to spend some quality time. We were sad to leave....but hopefully we can get another trip in soon!! We love you Noah!!

Randomness.

Is my middle name. I do it well...randomness that is. So since I have been experiencing bloggers block I decided to devote one post to the random things in my life right now....SO. here it goes.

Zoe's. Love.

Alll this time I have been going to Pei Wei(which is located right beside Zoe's.). So dedicated to the honey-seared chicken that I wasn't able to venture out and try anything new. Then my incredibly talented, sweet, beautiful, fabulous friend Leslie told me about Zoe's...that I needed to give it a try...the Turkey Pita she said. I can now say that I am in love with their slaw. Slaw?! You say?! Yes. Slaw. I can't tell you how many days I crave the Zoe's slaw. You can buy it in a container to take home and you better believe that I have. My craving for this slaw scares me to think what I will be like when I am actually with child. Scary. SO. if you have a Zoe's within a 60 mile radius and you have not had the slaw...go today. stop what you are doing and go directly there. (no they are not paying me.:))

YMCA. Love/Hate

I have not put this out there as of yet mainly because of the pressure. I don't like pressure. BUT I have joined the Y. Yes I did it. Nashville has the best Y's. I grew up in Memphis(pronounced Memfus) and let's just say the Y was not somewhere you ventured to. SO. This was a new concept for me when I moved to Nashville. I love it. Now. Do I love it at 5:00 in the afternoon when everyone and their brother/niece/aunt and dog are there....no. Do I love it when its hot as hades outside and then with everyone piled in it feels like a 100 degrees while you work out...no. But I am learning to deal with this. I am learning to deal with this because...here it goes....I am training. I will be running a 10k in Sept...Sept. 1st. to be exact...with the one and only Jana Kelley and Andrea Rhodes. Two amazing runners...who have run many a race...and then there's me.:) I am up to 6 miles now...which is blowing my mind...but I am not letting myself get too excited...if I do I'll end up spraining my ankle tomorrow or something. Now. Jana is trying to convince me to run the half-marathon in Memphis this December. Baby steps. BUT I would really like to. SO. We. will. see.

Leggings. Love.

I have a new love in my life. Leggings. I was also introduced to these by my dear friend Leslie(wow. you are very instrumental in my life. but duh. we knew this.). Right now I only have two colors...black and brown. But I am mixing and matching like you wouldn't believe. It might be the most comfortable outfit I have ever worn. They might be my new brown pants(for those who have known me in the last ummm 4 or 5 years...I had a pair of brown pants that were my go-tos. I wore them with EVERYTHING. They have since died....sadly.). I say everyone should own a pair of leggings. Go get you some.

(She scares me a bit. But you get the picture.)

Vrbo.com. Ecstatic.

Okay. If you have never been to this site you need to go. My mom's friend, Cindy told us about this website. Basically you put in the state and city you are going to and it tells you listings of people who rent out a property for you to stay during your visit. I know. I can hear you. Shady. No. It is legit. AND most of the listing are places that people don't live in at all...they are investments...take NY. I mean come on the hotels are outrageous. SO. People buy apartments and rent them out to visitors. They had so many fabulous listings on there and they are waaaaay cheaper and you feel like you are getting a more "real" experience. That is where we found the place we will be staying in NY. It is right next to where "The Shop Around the Corner" was in You've Got Mail!!! AH! It is in Central Park. I am extremely excited. Plus say you rent a place on this site and get there and it is not legit. You get 5,000 in insurance to stay somewhere else. They got your back. SO. Check it out.

Haircut. Needed.

I am in major need of a haircut/color. And today is the day! I will be going to my regular. Kim Brown. She is fabulous. Let's be honest I can post a picture but it will look practically the same...maybe a inch..two...shorter....and the color fresh. But fun times anyway.

Last and certainly not least.

Noah. LOVE.

Tomorrow my mom and I will be flying out to spend the weekend with Mr. Noah. My brother and sister-in-law are going to a conference....sooooo we have him ALL to ourselves. Be prepared for many a picture when we return. There will be much spoiling that will happen. He will be able to do whatever he pleases at any time....minus anything that could hurt him. of course. But it should be a fun weekend!!!

Okay...that is all for my randomness. Hopefully the block will take care of itself soon.

Dark Knight=Oh.My.Word.

This weekend an exciting event happened. As I have stated in a previous post I love movies. Love with a capital L. SO. As you can guess I have long been awaiting July 18th. DK Day. I'm not a huge Super Hero junkie but I absolutely loved Batman Begins. There are many reasons why I loved this movie...one being that Morgan Freeman graced the screen...he is one of my all-time faves. Oh, Red. If I ever get to meet him...wait...when I meet him...I am going to walk right over and give him a big hug. He just seems so grandfathery.:) I also love Michael Cain ("You know why we fall Master Bruce...so we can learn to get back up."...said in the greatest English accent.). The movie all around was just so great! Sidenote: I also loved Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk...hmmm maybe I am becoming a comic book gooroo wannabe.

So last week we went ahead and bought our tickets for The Dark Knight. 10:20. Friday night. Imax. We made a plan to get there when the movie time before it started so that we were sure to get the best seats possible. When we went to see Spiderman we got there an hour early and the line was out the theater. All day at work I was stressed out. Stressed out I tell you. I was so afraid that we would get there and I would have to sit on the front row...front row of the imax=sucks. SO. We got there and guess what!??! We were the first ones there!! I told my dad that and he said well duh! You got there like 5 hours before the movie! Haha. So Whit, Lindsay and I (Ryan and Dawn to come later) took a seat and got out the cards...played a few rounds of Crazy 8's( dominated.). Gin Rummy(dominated.). and one horrible game of Go Fish(lindsay is a cheater.). When they began to take our tickets I walked/ran into the theater(its okay...you can laugh at me.). Best seat in the house!! The movie was amazing...intense from start to finish...I wish that Heath could be here to receive the praise he deserves for this role...ah.ma.zing. I'm not going to talk about it anymore for those of you who still would like to see it. It is worth the watch.

Here are some pictures from Lindsay's phone of us waiting in line...it and the cards kept us busy during the long wait:)

This is before Lindsay started cheating...:)

Dominating....

So Excited!!

I love New York in the Fall....

Okay guys. This is exciting news. This might come as a shock to you(I don't know why...but perhaps) but I have never been to NYC! The Big Apple! The City that Never Sleeps! Gotham! The Mothership! (Okay I made the last one up...but the rest are legit.) NEVER. But have always wanted to go. I mean hello, who hasn't...were not talking I've always wanted to go to Augusta, Maine here...actually I have...two reasons: a) I was born in the month of August, so there's that...and b) I love Sarah Plain and Tall. BUT anyway. moving on. We are flying into New York City(brace yourself) on Sept. 11. I know! I know! Can you believe there is not even lowered ticket prices on this date?!? I mean granted we will have great service...seeing that we are the only ones on the flight....but still...I think there deserves to be some price break. Oh well. Can't win them all. We will be there for an extended weekend!! This is the thing. I have so much on my "list" of things to do while I am there I think that I will need to take a day off from work when I get back so that I can crash from my vacay. I need to really decide what's most important to do. This is where you come in. My faithful little world(state)traveler blog-writing/reading friends.

Let me tell you what the plan is so far. We will be visiting many a site. I am embracing the fact that I will be a total tourist. There is no playing it cool here. When I go back for my second time I will be all,"Oh, New York...yeah its like my home away from home...we are BFF. This time...absolute tourist(sorry girls who are going with:)) I promise I will not wear a fanny pack or my camera around my neck...I will just be excited about everything. There will be no stopping it. SO. here is what we have scheduled so far: Central Park(duh). Empire State Building(Sleepless. Sigh.). The Today Show(I'll let you know which morning and you can tune in to see me...oh and let me know of some fun poster I can make so that Al will come over to talk to me...didn't you hear me?! Tourist!). The Bull thing-a-ma-giggy. Statue of Liberty. Ground Zero. Ellis Island. Wicked(AH!). Museum after museum after museum. Kidding. We will prob only have time for one or two. Still haven't chosen which yet. It is a hard choice! Baseball game!(one of the last in the old stadium). Tiffany's. Brooklyn Bridge. Coney Island. Bloomingdale's. St. Patrick's Cathedral. NYU. China Town. New York Library. Bryant Park.....and then the last night. Celine Dion in Madison Square Gardens! Okay I am not even a HUGE fan of hers...But how fun!?! So...after typing all that out I am a bit tired just thinking about it all...but its going to be fabulous.

This is where you come in. What are musts on the trip?!

I chose this picture because. A.) Well its New York City. B.) It reminds me of Gotham City....which can we say 3 days?!?!

Treasures.

"So I wish all the people I love the most could gather in one room, and no each other and love each other well. And we could all go camping and lay beneath the stars and have nothing to do and stories to tell. We'd sit around the campfire...make each other laugh remembering when. Your the first one I'm inviting...always know that your invited my friend. And at the risk of wearing out my welcome...at the risk of self-discovery...I'll talk every moment and every minute that you'll give me."



I have been thinking about this line from a sara groves song that I love. I have been singing it a lot in my head and let's be honest out loud. I have been in a place the last month or so that just really misses you. It's kind of hard to explain but I'll try. I think that facebook and blogs are some of the best inventions ever. Not because they are part of the world that is electronics and all things technology. They are community. They promote community and togetherness. And whether we want to admit it or not...whether introvert or extrovert we long to have community...we long to feel connected. This new form of communication has given us the feeling of that...I can sign on my facebook and see my friends from elementary, middle, high, college, post-college, present, studentlife, preschool...the list goes on. I get to see your life changes...be apart of the little and big things....well as much as you allow.:) Then I mosey on over to your blog and read about your thoughts and your daily, weekly activities. Your great insight on the world and those in it. Ten years ago we would have never been able to feel as connected... unless we called everyday...sent xerox copies of our journals...and mailed weekly pictures of our lives. Alllitttle time consuming. It's the strangest feeling to have all your worlds collide. To have my friend from Gentle Breeze(high school ensemble at church...don't be jealous.) comment on my blog right above a friend that I met a year ago. I have found it a true joy to get to see your babies and little ones...or your new husband/new boyfriend...but I want to hold your new baby...I want to go get coffee with you and talk about your new love.

I have been truly blessed that God has brought so many people in my life that have poured themselves out to me in small and big ways. He is so good that way. Always providing what you need in that moment. Someone to just laugh with you, someone to tell you how it is, speak truth, someone to bash the ex with you(yes this is biblical;)), someone to cheer you on and let you know that it is in fact doable. He has always provided these people in my life and I think that I enjoy them so much in the present that I don't realize that some of them were there for a season. A short time. Then when I sign on to facebook and see that persons face all the memories of who they were in my life flood back. I want us talk to about all the great times...but then I want to know what you are going through now...what you love now...the things that you have learned since I last saw you...the things that you want to do in the future...

When I was thinking about the first line from the song above, "So I wish all the people I love the most could gather in one room, and no each other and love each other well." I thought, that would be like heaven to me. To have all those that I love the most in one room...and everyone to know each other and not only know each other but love each other like I love them...or more. And then it just kind of hit me. That is heaven. There will be a time when all those God has placed in my life will all meet back up. I might have only gotten 2 years with you on this earth...but there is eternity. This is an exciting thought! I was instantly insanely excited! I long for that day...community at its ultimate finest. No more separation. So until that day...I just want to say thank you for who you are in my life...you are not just random people...you are loved, thought about, missed, remembered, priceless treasures in my life...

Now. Let's go get coffee.:)