what a toy!

It's no secret that I LOVE whataburger! It's one of my favorite things about moving to Texas. It's fantastic. From time to time I've been known to get a kids' meal--the portion is excellent, it comes with a random toy, and you get a bendy straw with your drink. What's not to love?

I'm currently wearing the Wrist Launcher that came with my dinner. It's green, blue, and orange. I've been practicing launching my discs at the guys this morning. I finally feel prepared in case of a random office attack which has been known to happen with nerf guns.

I've decided this wrist launcher needs to become a part of my everyday look. I mean it's fun, happy, summer-y colors and extremely practical. Since I'm running alone, this could be much better than wearing a whistle or carrying mase. Just think about it: some skeeze tries to ruin my running rhythm and bah-bam! here comes a brightly colored mini flying disc. That puts fear in the heart of anyone.

Thanks whataburger for making me even more productive at work and safe all at the same time!

music & me

I've always been a huge music fan. As a little girl I would constantly make up songs. As an adult, I still make up a few songs every now and then. They're nothing profound, always surface/slightly ridiculous songs that are good for a chuckle. Despite my lack of musical prowess, I am still deeply moved by music. It can be something as beautiful as a complicated symphony or something totally different like a Violent Femmes song. I love how much and how often I tend to hear God in music. Not surprisingly, God has used two bands to speak to me in big ways recently: Switchfoot and Mae.

I want to see miracles, see the world change
Wrestled the angel, for more than a name
For more than a feeling
For more than a cause
I'm singing Spirit take me up in arms with You
And You're raising the dead in me...

...I'm not copping out. Not copping out. Not copping out.

"24" by Switchfoot

The last ten days have quite possibly been the most interesting consecutive days of my entire life. Without going into a lot of detail, let me say that God is moving in a HUGE way. It's almost as if I've had a watershed moment which has resulted in a complete turnaround in my thought process. I have no idea what's going to happen but I know that I'm excited. I can't wait until things come into a clearer focus & I can start shouting from the rooftops the awesome work that God has brought about in my life.

Lately I'm alright
And lately I'm not scared
I've figured out
That what you do to me feels like
I'm floating on air
I don't need to know right now
All I know is I believe
In the very thing that got us here
And now I can't leave

Say anything, but say what you mean
'cause I'm caught in suspension...

....It's enough for me to get excited.

"Suspension" by Mae

week

"It's Friday night, I feel alright; the party's here on the west side." --Montell Jordan

What a week! I had my eight year old niece with me this week and I'm not going to lie: it was wonderful. I focused on her all week. We went to the zoo, saw Prince Caspian, played video games, cooked, got a little freaked out at Chuck E. Cheeze, you know tons of good times. Highlight of the week: Jasmine praying to receive Christ in my living room.

Having her all week definitely helped put things into perspective which led to several epiphanies. I won't go into them but God used that little girl to teach me some truth this week. I'm excited to put it into practice....and a tad nervous.

I'm also nervous about the half-marathon that I signed up for today at Luke's Locker. I joined the "fit club" and will be in a running group for the next SIX months. I've never run more than four miles at a time so this should be a very....ummmm....character building chapter in my life.

In preparation for the training, tomorrow I'm running a 5k with Alissa for Summer's Guatemala trip. So to prepare for that fun run, tonight I'm going out with an assortment of people. Makes absolutely no sense yet somehow makes me feel productive. I invited some people that I don't so much know but think we should be friends. I doubt any of them show but you never know if you don't ask.

So random post...poor sentence structure...bad punctuation....looks like I'm getting back into the groove of blogging.

drama!

long time, no post.

I've officially worked myself up....over stupid boy drama. I'm currently trying to decide how much is my fault of the awkward, sticky situation. Am I making this into a bigger deal than it actually is? I have no clue.

Usually I would call a couple of my guy friends for support, advice, and affirmation but I've decided since I'm twenty-five, I need to do this one myself. I need to fix the problem rather than run away or ignore. I've got to step up and clear out the drama. The question is, how do I do that?

Do I just jump in & fix it? Have a confrontation to clear it all out...is that too bold? Could I even do that? Do I just wait for an opportunity to present itself? Do I manipulate the situation to make him bring it up and then strike? Certainly not the last one, that's a little too New York (aka tiffany pollard) if you know what i'm saying.

I'm trying to look at the situation from every possible angle. I think the solution is obvious: take Hamlet's advice and get myself to a nunnery. ;-)

Strawberry Coke

I'm really excited about today! :-) This day has such potential for awesomeness: 1. it's Friday 2. it's picnic day 3. the spazmatics are in town tonight 4. i'm wearing my puff paint shirt to the concert hehehehe 4. i get to see some very fun folks tonight 5. i'm dogsitting

My good mood is a tad infectious. So far I've greeted every kid with a huge grin. Some of the kids are thrown off by extra-cheeriness (it's way more than usual-it's cranked up to fifty). During this period, one of the boys asked me what I was on. My first response: Strawberry Coke. Some of the kids started to ask questions about the drug. whoops....I meant my drink from Sonic. I quickly held up my cup....yikes.

I'm used to this kind of thing happening. It happened at every debate tournament. Think about it: I'm skinny, I have a freakish amount of energy, and 95% of the time I'm inexplicably happy. I get why they think I'm on something. So now I'll be waiting to hear the rumors about me...usually they're pretty creative.

Man I'm going to miss this place in the fall!

cute

8th grade girl: You like nice Miss.

me: thanks!

8th grade girl: Do you have a date tonight Miss?

me: no

8th grade girl: Then why are you dressed up?

me: I'm building some stuff for my church tonight & won't get to be cute later so I thought I should be cute now.

8th grade girl: Ooooh. So there's men there?

me: well, yeah.

8th grade girl: Then why don't you wear this?

me: I don't want to get it dirty.

8th grade girl: Are you wearing cute sweats?

me: no. Just shorts & a t-shirt.

8th grade girl: Are they cute?

me: They're ok--they aren't gross or ratty.

8th grade girl: Hmmm...are the men cute?

me: They're married.

8th grade girl: At least two of them are single, right Miss?

me: um......yeah I guess so.

8th grade girl: You should wear the cute sweats then Miss! I've got to go to class but wear your cute sweats. *walks away*

me: Have a good day. *perplexed look*

Round 2

Most people don't realize how I spent many an afternoon as a child: hula hooping on either the front porch or the backyard while Lucky (the greatest dog of all time) would watch. I can hula on my hips, waist, ankle, arm. I can walk forward & backwards while hula hooping. I can turn while hula hooping. I'm a little rusty on working the hoop up to my neck....

Last night the volunteer, Keith, and I had our hula hoop challenge. I'd given him close to a month to prepare. He bought a hula hoop & practiced. I gave him a warning before the competition began. I tried to give him an easy out. I showed him some of my moves but he still wanted to compete. Poor guy couldn't even hula hoop for ten seconds. I told him we could do best of three...which we did. Unfortunately Keith wasn't any better the second go round. I let him know I'd be up for a rematch any time if he needed some more practice.

Keith gets to name the next challenge. He said he wants a bake off. I have yet to warn him that this boy crazy girl has baked many a good in attempts to sway a young man's heart or two or thirty. I think he wants to beat me at my own game.

I now feel bad for the guy and wonder if this cockamamie competition should continue. If I beat him two weeks in a row, I doubt he'll recover his pride anytime soon....and I wasn't as gracious of a winner as I should have been. I might send him an email telling him we can quit now but I think that may be like rubbing salt in his wounds. Tricky choice....tricky competition.