7th Grade Memories

So in 7th grade I sat at lunch with Kimberly Mitchell, and Hillary Walus. We were the athletic type and in the general population (not super cool/not super dorky). Then two weeks into the school year, by God's great design, Amanda Lachowicz (now Boles) had to change her schedule. She was pretty much in the cool crowd and would not have chosen to sit with the athletes but there were no other seats open so she landed at my table.
That was 15 years ago! 15 years ago by God's great design He brought Amanda to my lunch table declaring in His all knowing mind that we would be Best Friends Forever!!!
We got to know each other that year and found out that we both lived out in the country and so my mom would take us home from church each Wednesday and Sunday night.

-We usually talked mom into taking us to TCBY on the way home.-

By our Junior and Senior years we were the best of friends. It was super hard to know that we were not going to go to the same college. I knew I was supposed to go to UT-Martin and she was staying at Austin Peay. We did kinda loose touch, but God in His mighty mighty ways was still at work. He allowed me to find Daniel and Amanda to find Duke. We were in each others weddings and go married 3 months apart. Now 7 years later we are Best Friend Couples. It is so fun to hang out with another couple (when we were first married we didn't really have a lot of good couple friends and now I feel like we have tons of them.) It's so good for your marriage to be surrounded by other couples and know that what you are going through is normal or that what you have in your marriage is special and extra ordinary! :)

So all that to say that God gave me Amanda 15 years ago to be my Best Friend for life. (Even our dogs are best friends- my Suzy is her Roxy's BFF) And I feel like the luckiest girl in the world that God in all of his mightiness thought of me and put Amanda at my lunch table to laugh with me and cry with me and suffer with me and journey with me along this trail.

Milk Saga

I ran into Walmart to get some cute invitations to our Small Group's Cook-out. ***Thanks to my good friend Teresa I knew they had them and it'd be a quick trip.**
I also just got back in town and was needing some milk. So I thought I'd grab some real quick. Then I decided to run some more errands...oops milk needs to stay cold right. Well I wasn't on my side of town so I called Duke and Amanda. We've been going for walks every night and so I knew I'd end up at there house at the end of the day (we walk at night) and could pick my milk up then. So I stopped it off there and then went on to run a couple other errands. That night we got something to drink before our walk and I said that I was worried I'd forget my milk, but really wanted to have cereal in the morning. Duke had a solution. He took my keys from me and put them IN THE FRIDGE!!!! So brilliant! Did I forget my milk, no I did not. But I've also never before started my care with a chilled set of keys. It was definitely worth not forgetting my milk.

thanks Duke!

Amazing Women

I've been thinking about the amazing women in my life.
I went and had coffee with a friend yesterday and she mentioned her mentor, a woman who invested in her life and prayed for her and challenged her to grow.
I've had the privelage of getting together with lots of different women since school has been out.
From my small group, to scrapbooking group, to casual lunch/coffee dates to walks with billions of dogs women have been influencing my life lately.
I'm so glad that God has allowed brave, bold, daring, zealous, strong, kind, caring women in my life to challenge me and encourage me during this season.

So I just wanted to thank you if you've influenced my life and thank God for allowing my path to cross so many amazing talented women's paths lately.

Good Business Practices

I went in to Memories in Bloom today to browse around. I told myself on the way in that I was not to spend any money at this store today!!! (I'm a sucker for scrapbooking supplies....I can never get enough.) But today I wasn't shopping, I was just browsing and de-stressing. :) I went in and looked at all the pretty things that they have. The pretty paper, the pretty stickers, the pretty pens and ribbons. So I'm walking out without purchasing anything (yea for me) and the lady at the counter stops me. She says that there was a mistake the last time I came in and that they had over charged me. (flashback to Monopoly- bank error in your favor) She proceeded to say that they had tried to call me, but couldn't reach me. (We've moved and I hadn't updated my info.) So she gave me the money that they had over charged me and I left a very happy customer.
I just wanted to let everyone know what a trustworthy business they run and also that they have very trendy scrapbook supplies. :)

EXPENSIVE PILLOWS

I saw a pillow on Oprah yesterday and began searching online to see how much it was. Well one was $60 and the other was $30. I really think that I've only ever spent $12 for a pillow and I thought that was expensive, but now I'm contemplating the $30 one.
I have headaches and sometimes wake up with "stress knots" in my neck. I'm wondering if anyone has ever purchased an expensive pillow and if it was actually worth it.
I'm reluctant to spend that much for a pillow then go back to my $12 one. Would it really make me sleep better or would it just be throwing away money.

Switcheroo

Yesterday we had a wedding to go to and then another event. Both were dressy, but the same outfit wouldn’t work for both. Since our church is contemporary and I was a PE teacher, it’s been a long time since I’ve bought any dressy clothes…..so here comes the dilemma. I have a fun black sundress that I got specifically for our beach trip a couple of years ago. I wore that to the wedding with black jewelry. I was proud to match the occasion and look dressy as well.
The second event was to go out to eat with an older couple and then go to a Southern Gospel show by The Perry’s….yes I said Southern Gospel….I don’t really like southern gospel, but Matthew Holt plays the piano for them and he was in our youth group in McKenzie. So if I was going to have to endure a southern gospel show, at least I could watch someone I knew.  So I didn’t think the sundress would be appropriate for that so I changed really quickly after the wedding. I wore a plain khaki skirt and a dressy red tank top with a dressy jean jacket and very uncomfortable, but cute red shoes.  I added big chunky pearls and was running around the house before the other couple got there when Daniel yelled, “They’re here.” I rushed out of the house really quickly, proud to see that the wife we were going out to eat with also had on a blazer with her skirt. Once again I was proud to match the occasion and look dressy as well.
I was so proud because in this one day I had worn my two dressy outfits and had fit in very nicely. When we were in the car after dinner on our way to the singing I noticed that not only did I have on the black jewelry from earlier, but also the chunky pearls. I panicked…..ugh…..those two pieces didn’t go together. The black matched my first outfit, and the pearls my second. I had simply forgotten to take off the black necklace. I quickly slipped the black necklace off and stuck it in my purse. Later I asked Daniel if he noticed. He said yea, I just thought you were trying to be cool with the black necklace to add a little edge to the outfit.  Love that guy.
Maybe next time I’ll take a second to look at the mirror before leaving so quickly. Then I could have flawlessly pulled off my SWITCHEROO.

My friend Melanie

Well I got to go eat lunch with my BFF Melanie today. She is an amazing person and I'm so blessed to be her friend. We were friends in High School and then college roommates. She moved to Charlotte, NC and we remained friends. Today we went to a very girly spot for lunch which was decorated with tea pots and dainty things. I think was called "Chatterbox" in Smyrna. The food was very good, I had a chicken salad sandwich, yummm.

I love hanging out with Melanie. I know I can always be honest with her even if I'm going through tough times. I know that she'll always listen and always give me Godly advice. Did I mention that she is engaged and I am so excited about that! Tony is a great man and they will make an amazing team. I'm honored that she's asked me to be her Matron of Honor.

I had to hang out with her at work for awhile because I forgot my cell phone....which was a whole other saga. :) Crazy how we've gotten sooo used to having our cell phones with us at all times. So back to Melanie....She's amazing at what she does. While I was waiting for another friend to meet me at the church I just sat and watched her at work. She is the Girls Ministry Specialist at First Baptist Smyrna. She does it all from design T-Shirts to keeping things organized to ministering to small group leaders and girls. She is also a dance instructor at a local Dance studio. She is very creative and I'm always jealous of how cool she is.

I'm so glad that God put her in my life as a BFF. She is a role model for me as well as a confidant and just a fun friend to hang out with. She keeps me grounded when I'm going crazy and also shares fun times and laughs with me as well.

So this is for Melanie...
Thanks for having lunch with me today and thanks for being my BFF.

Hotel HaHa

Sooo my plan for this week was to relax by the pool and chill while Daniel is recording. He is in the studio during the day then we'll meet up and hang out at night. Being the introvert that I am I'm cool with chilling on my own all day. I want to go to a park and walk, shop for a gift for a friend, and meet up with Melanie for lunch one day....but remember my main plan was to sit by the pool (which I was thinking wouldn't be that crowded during the day) and catch some rays.
Well we got to the hotel last night and walked around. We found the Pool sign with the arrows and followed them...and we found the pool..... IT'S INDOOR. So much for working on my tan.
I'm sure I'll find plenty to do, but it just made us laugh so I thought I'd share. :) HaHa!

Best Milkshake Ever

Sooo have you gotten a milkshake from Chick-fil-a yet????

Since they've had them available I've been trying to eat healthier, but last week when we were on vacation a milkshake was a must! :)

I'm so glad I picked Chick-fil-a to fill my milkshake fix. It was the best milkshake I've EVER had!!!

So if you haven't had one yet, splurge and treat yourself.
Cookies and Cream was the one I tried and YUMMM! It was amazing!