Senior Portraits (college seniors, that is)

On Saturday, all of the Fat Tuesday girls went out to take pictures in the bluebonnets. We found a really pretty field in front of someone's house. We asked the owner if we could use his yard, and he said yes. I'm sure he was envisioning a few snapshots, not the all-out photo session which ensued. Emerald does NOT take snapshots! It was a lot of fun, even though the wind was blowing at least 30 mph, and we all got stickers in our "tookus" as Kalyn calls it. Here's a couple. You can see some more on Emerald's blog. I would highly recommend making friends with a photographer. It definitely pays off (not that that's the only reason I'm friends with you, Em :) )

My First Shower

Yesterday was my bridal shower at Westgate. My mom, Darby's mom, and my mom's friend Judy all came from Waco to be there. Also, my cousin Amy, who is one of my bridesmaids, drove all the way from Dallas. I didn't even know she was coming until Friday afternoon. She is so sweet!

Here's a couple of pictures from the shower:


My mom, me, and Darby's mom


All the hostesses and me

We got a lot of things we had registered for, which was great. Several people gave us some of our dishes. Here's what they look like:



My mom had given us all of her china, which she never uses. Darby's mom surprised us by finding a lot of pieces in the pattern to supplement. She found a platter, coffee mugs, a sugar and creamer set, etc. She had to really search because the pattern is discontinued, of course. It was exciting to get all of that. I didn't figure we'd be able to find many more pieces. I can't wait to have a fancy dinner someday!

The women at Westgate are so sweet, and the food was delicious! It was such a fun, pretty shower. I can't wait for my next one!

Post-Easter Update

So, I went home to Waco over Easter. Em came with me and we took my bridal portraits on Friday, which was very fun. The weather was beautiful (although too sunny for Em's liking). I felt like a princess since I couldn't move in my dress without someone holding it up to keep it from dragging the ground.

Friday night, Darby's parents took us to the Northwood Inn, which is pretty much the nicest restaurant in Waco. The waiters wore tuxes, and when they brought out my Coke, it was in a goblet with a cherry! How fun! It was nice to get to go to a fancy restaurant, especially since we weren't paying.

Saturday, it SNOWED! A LOT! I wasn't very happy about it, though. I really only enjoy seasonal weather. Snow in April is just not right, especially since my heavy coat was at the dry cleaners. Oh, well! I got to eat dinner at Johnny Carino's with my friend from high school Desiree. It's always fun to catch up with her.

Easter Sunday was my grandpa's birthday, so after church we took him to La Fiesta for lunch. (Obviously I ate a lot this trip). All in all, it was a great weekend. I was sad to have to come back to work. BUT, my shower at Westgate is on Sunday, so I'm excited. Yay!

Some Certainty!

Darby and I reserved an apartment today! I'm not going to go into too many details, so weird stalker-like people don't find us through my blog. But I will say it's a one-bedroom apartment at a complex near ACU. We can move in May 4th! (Well, Darby can move in, and I can move some stuff in; I'm staying at my sister's until the wedding). We have our name on the list for a two-bedroom, and if one becomes available before we move in, we'll get that.

It is such a relief to finally know where we are going to live. It kind of makes me wish we had just decided on the apartment from the beginning. But I don't think I would have been as satisfied as I am now. I would have wondered, "Could we have found something better?" But after searching for over a month, I am now certain that no, we couldn't have found something better (at least within our budget).

So, yay! We will not be homeless newlyweds!

Tearjerker (in a good way)

You have to check out this story and video on the Today Show website. They showed the video this morning, and I kept tearing up all day just thinking about it. The little boy's reaction is just too sweet. It makes me sad for the families who don't have their dad or mom return, though.

Uncertainty

I have a dentist appointment in June. Since I am a new patient, the office sent some forms to me to fill out before my appointment. I decided to go ahead and fill them out, so I wouldn't forget. I was going along fine until I got to the space marked address. I thought, "I don't know where I'll be living in June; I'll leave it blank for now." Ditto for home phone number. Then I got to occupation, "Well, I don't know if I'll have my job in June; I'll leave that part blank." Ditto for work phone number. And e-mail address, since I only use my ACU e-mail address. Then, I got to marital status. "Hmmm...well, I won't be married yet, but I'll be married a month from then. Why isn't there a box for engaged?" At that point, I decided filling out forms over two months in advance is stupid anyway and just gave up.

Pretty Princess

As promised, here are some pictures of my flower girl, Corrie. She loves to dress up and was reveling in all the attention she got from the saleswomen and other customers at David's Bridal. I was the flower girl in her mom's (my aunt's) wedding when I was her age, so I think it's really special that she gets to be the flower girl in mine. I just hope she doesn't steal the show on July 7! :)

Pity Party

Allow me to complain for a minute about how lame my Spring Break is: I have to wake up to a lonely house at 6:40, while it is still pitch dark (and raining), drive to work, where I am the only one who has to arrive at 8, and think of things to do for 8 hours, since no students are coming in and hardly anyone is calling. Poor me! Okay, I'm done. For the rest of the week, I will not be complaining about having to work.

On the bright side, Darby is getting back from skiing tomorrow! Yay! I'm looking forward to spending some homework-free time with him.

This weekend, I went to Austin and took my precious cousin Corrie to get her flower girl dress. I forgot my camera, but I think my aunt is going to send me some of her pictures. I'll post them soon. She is adorable!

Contentment

Mike Cope, whom I don't know but admire from his blogging, has posted an interesting piece on contentment. Check it out here. I needed that today.

I also just want to let everyone know what a wonderful roommate I have. She knows I've been in a post-graduation funk, so she brought me a sweet note, a People magazine and a Reese's to work today. Celebrity gossip and chocolate...now that's contentment :) Seriously, though, I am blessed to have her in my life. When you've lived with someone for going on three years, you can start to take their friendship for granted. Thanks for the little (and big) things you do for me, Britt!

I just finished reading Freedom of Simplicity by Richard Foster. It was a thought-provoking book about the spiritual discipline of simplicity; I recommend it highly. It is very well-written, and I feel like he does a good job of giving concrete suggestions for living more simply without making it seem like "10 Steps to a More Simple Life."

I've been thinking and struggling with the idea of simplicity a lot lately. My life is filled with so many things, and so much of my time is spent acquiring them. It makes me sad to think of how many hours of my life I spend shopping for and buying things. I go to Wal-Mart at least three times a week every week. But even though it is distasteful to me, it is hard for me to give that up. I enjoy buying things, even groceries. Although the idea of a simple lifestyle is appealing, it is difficult to implement the changes that would make that possible. I'm trying to make small changes and praying that God will free me from materialism and selfishness.

One interesting point Foster made in his book is that North Americans should not strive to raise everyone's standard of living to our own. If we were successful, our world would be depleted of natural resources. Part of helping the poor is drastically lowering our standard of living so that there can be a more equitable distribution of resources. Obviously, I knew that giving to the poor requires financial sacrifice, but I never thought of it requiring a drastic lifestyle shift. It is so much easier to just give money away rather than seriously evaluate our own consumption habits. This book really got me thinking. Now, I just have to do the acting, which is much more difficult.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know, I know...I'm one day late. I have always loved Valentine's Day, mainly because my favorite color is pink. It's just such a happy, pink day. Yesterday was no exception.

I got to work in the morning and Pam, our receptionist, had put Valentine's candy on everyone's desks. She pretended Cupid had done it...too cute! Last night, I made pancakes and eggs for Darby. I wanted to make heart-shaped pancakes, but I didn't have a heart cookie cutter :( We also exchanged gifts. He gave me a gift card to JCPenney because he knows I haven't had money for clothes lately. Plus, a box of Thin Mints! Yum! He's very thoughtful; I can't wait to use my gift card. We're having our actual Valentine's celebration on Friday because we had church last night. We're going to go see Music and Lyrics, and I'm going to make us chocolate fondue. Yay for stretching out holidays!

More books!

Yay! Another book quiz. This one I found at a new blog I stumbled across. It is devoted to books. Woo-hoo!

Amazon or brick and mortar? I love going to an actual bookstore to browse, but if I know exactly what I want, I usually order from Amazon, especially gifts. It's just nice to have it all taken care of. Plus, then I can justify buying another book to qualify for "Free Super-Saver Shipping"

Barnes & Noble or Borders? Unfortunately, Abilene has neither. Boo, Books-A-Million! In Waco, I love going to Barnes and Noble. Books and Starbucks coffee! Can life get any better?

Bookmark or dogear? Definitely bookmark. I hate dogeared pages.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? I try to group them by category (American fiction, British fiction, nonfiction, etc). But usually they just end up stuffed on the shelf however they will fit.

Keep, throw away, or sell? Keep! I would NEVER throw away a book. Occasionally I sell books that I know I will not read again and that I don't think anyone would want to borrow.

Keep dustjacket or toss it? Keep.

Read with dustjacket or remove it? Read with, because I'm afraid I'll lose it otherwise.

Short story or novel? Novel. I just can't seem to get into very many short stories. Not enough character development.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? Anthology. I have ADD. I rarely listen to a full CD by the same artist. Likewise, I usually don't read stories by the same author in one sitting.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter. Lemony Snicket is clever, but his books cannot compete with Harry. I don't get emotionally invested in his characters like I do Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? I usually try to make it to a chapter break, but if a book has really long chapters, I have no problem stopping in the middle of a page.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? Once upon a time, definitely.

Buy or Borrow? If it's a classic or one that I know I will re-read (i.e. Harry Potter), buy. I'm trying to build up a library, so that my children will have access to any book they could ever want or need to read. If it's just a fluff book, I don't mind borrowing.

New or used? Gently used. I won't buy books if they have significant damage, but if they are in good condition, I love saving money.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? All. Darby got me a subscription to the magazine Bookmarks, which has tons of book reviews, so I often go off of that.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger? In between. I like books that end with uncertainty but point to hope.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? Saturday morning is prime reading time, but any time is great.

Standalone or series? Depends on the series. I enjoy reading series, but I usually don't read them one after another. I break it up with other books.

Favorite series? Harry Potter, Ender series by Orson Scott Card, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? Hmmm...I don't really read books no one else has heard of. I like to know that at least one other person liked the book before I spend time reading it. I guess most people haven't heard of Breaking the Tongue by Vyvyane Loh, and I loved that book. I read it for a class, though, so obviously some people have heard of it.

Favorite books read last year? The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Favorite books of all time? Jane Eyre, The Time Traveler's Wife, Little Women

Thank You, J.K. Rowling!

The 7th Harry Potter book is coming out July 21!!!!! I had heard rumors that it was going to be 7/7/07, which made me very depressed. How could I read when I had to get ready for my wedding? And who would want to stop reading to come to the wedding? Then, when I found out the fifth movie was coming out in July, I figured it wouldn't be July at all. Brittany and I were bracing ourselves for it to be as late as December. But July 21 is perfect. I will have been back from my honeymoon for a week, plenty of time to get settled in. And I can do some re-reading of books 5 and 6 on the plane. Woo-hoo! I know I am a total nerd, but I am so excited!

My glass is always half-empty

I have recently been confronted with how pessimistic I really am. Darby and I were having a discussion about statistics, and I said that statistics don't comfort me at all. If someone says, "There's only a one in a million chance of dying in a plane crash," I think, "Yeah, but that doesn't matter if you're the one." In fact, statistics often make me worry more because I think how sad it would be to be the one in a million. If your family member dies of a heart attack, for example, you are sad, but you realize that heart attacks happen to a lot of people. If your family member dies of some rare, flesh-eating bacteria, you have to think, "Why them? It was so improbable!" I realize that logically this makes no sense, but it's the way I think.

I discussed this further with Brittany, and I think I came up with the reason why I think this way. I read too much. Books, newspapers, and magazines don't focus on the 999,999 people who don't contract the flesh-eating bacteria; they focus on the one who does. The smaller number is much more important in literature than the bigger number. Plus, I become very emotionally invested in books. So, although I personally have not been the victim of improbability, I feel like it happens all the time. The English major is very depressing. Science is much more uplifting. In science, the big number matters. So, Darby, it's not my fault that I'm pessimistic; it's my major.

The Poor Woman's Starbucks

I have discovered a great way to make coffee drinkable without paying $3.50 per cup. Just mix one package hot chocolate mix into a cup of coffee. That way, you get all the caffeine of coffee but the taste of hot chocolate. Yum! The best part is, my office provides the coffee and the hot chocolate, so it's totally free! Aahhh...the simple pleasures of life.

A Culinary Disaster

I volunteered to help make food for my friend Kalyn's art gallery opening (which is tonight at 7 p.m. in Shore Art Gallery, by the way). I was supposed to make a triple recipe of sausage balls. So I went to Wal-Mart and bought 3 pounds of sausage, 3 pounds of cheese, and Bisquick. I've never made sausage balls before, so I found a recipe in one of my many cookbooks. I started browning two pounds of the sausage. Brittany said, "You don't have to brown the sausage, do you?" I told her that's what the recipe said, and she said her mom never did it that way. This should have been my first clue, but foolishly putting all my faith in the recipe, I kept going. So I add the Bisquick to the sausage and start mixing. I realize it's going to be really dry and not stick together at all. Clue #2. The recipe says to melt the cheese, so I figure the melted cheese will help it stick. So I melt close to two pounds of grated cheese in the microwave. When I pull it out, it is one big, gooey glob. This should have been clue number three, but I kept going, pouring it into the sausage. That was dumb. The spoon would hardly even move through the cheese. After ten minutes of valiant effort in my extremely hot kitchen. (By now, the oven's been preheating for close to an hour), I give up. So, at 10 p.m., I'm off to United for two more pounds of sausage and cheese.

This story does have a happy ending. The second and third batches of sausage balls turned out well. (I let Brittany direct me). I will be rushing home at 5 today to make one last batch before the show. I just couldn't finish last night. (Kalyn, if you are reading this, you don't have to pay for all the sausage and cheese I wasted). Everyone has to have at least one cooking disaster, I guess. And mine naturally had to happen at 10 p.m. when I was trying to cook for 100+ people.

There has been snow or ice on the ground since Saturday! That is five days! This is unheard of in Texas. Every other time it has snowed, the temperature has gotten up to forty or fifty the next day, so it all melts. The high has been below freezing every day since Saturday, though. I think tomorrow it's supposed to get up to the 40s, but then another cold front is coming in on Friday, and there's a 50% chance of more snow!

Unfortunately, I have not had any days off work :( Monday was already a holiday; on Tuesday school was cancelled, but staff still had to come, and today they made us come because they can't delay the start of the semester any more. Oh, well! I'm nice and cozy in my office watching all the students walk by bundled up to their eyeballs :)

Snow Day #2!

Church is canceled tomorrow. That's right: CHURCH is canceled. It was icy today, and it's not supposed to warm up tomorrow, so they went ahead and decided to cancel church. Darby and I got the call at about 8:00. I can't say we were too disappointed. I feel a little guilty being excited about it, but I figure I deserve it. I've never skipped Sunday morning church. I mean, I've missed because I was sick or on vacation, but I've never just skipped. Now, I have permission to not go. It's awesome! Darby called his friend Ben to tell him, and Ben asked if Darby wanted to go to another church with him. Darby said, "Uh...no, I don't think so." I said, "Is Ben crazy? That's like going to another school district on a snow day. It's just not right." Don't get me wrong. I love going to church, and I really love Westgate, but for the first time in 21 years, I get to sleep in on a Sunday morning. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Plus, I have Monday off of work, so it's like I have three Saturdays in a row!

Just another breezy day

Oh, the Abilene weatherpeople...I could write a whole book about them. They provide me with much entertainment in the morning. According to the ever-optimistic Kristen Connolly, today is going to be "breezy, with winds from the south 20-30 miles per hour and gusts up to 35 mph" 20-30 mph! How hard does the wind have to blow to be characterized as windy, not breezy? Breezy makes me think of a gentle wind that tousles my hair as I walk along...not a gale force that blows open my car door and rattles my house. Actually, though, the wind hasn't gotten that bad yet. So maybe it will be "breezy" today.

My Favorite Pastime

According to this list, Kayla was the 46th most popular girl baby name of 2006. I feel like that's a pretty good place to be. I wouldn't want to have the most popular name because then there would be a million Kaylas (That looks weird; maybe it should be Kayla's, but I don't think so). But I also wouldn't want to have a name that didn't even make the list because then people would always be mispronouncing and/or misspelling it. I was disappointed to see that many of the names I really like were in the top 10 (Ava, Emma, Olivia, Ella; I'm into names that begin and end with vowels). I wouldn't want my daughter to be one of 5 Avas('s?) in her kindergarten class. Of course, I don't plan on having a kid for 8 more years, so maybe some of the names I like now will have moved down the list some. Anyway, baby names are just fun, so if you like them as much as I do, go look at the list.