I Worked So Hard My Teeth Hurt

Yesterday Abbey and I began moving my stuff to the new house. We are both pretty impressed with how much was accomplished. The kitchen is basically all moved and so is my closet. What's even better is that it is all put away in the new house. Now I may not be able to find anything and I might have to call Abbey to locate anything in the pantry, but it feels pretty good to have all that done.

My parents arrived last night after getting stuck in traffic right outside of Nashville. We met last night for dinner in Goodlettsville before making the track back into Springfield since they got held up and we were all starving. Before we all officially called it a day we went by the house so they could see if for the first time.

Today will be filled with more trips up and downs the stairs. (I am really wondering why I live on the second floor right about now! My knees and ankles are feeling every trip made up and down those things from yesterday. I mean, my teeth hurt....oh wait, that may have more to do with the fact that I squeezed in an orthodontist appointment yesterday after work and before the move!) The goal is to get the majority of the furniture moved.

Have I mentioned what great friends and family I have? I have some of the best!!! They help you move, they mow your lawn, they drive long distances with a U-Haul....Well, I better get off this couch and getting moving...of course I think a cup of coffee and two Aleeve will really help the process!

A Night on the Town

This afternoon Blair and I headed out of Springfield for a little big city action. I mean you can only keep a Tampa girl out in the middle of no where for so long!

We began by doing a little shopping at a cute little shop in Hendersonville. They carried a pretty good selection of Vera Bradley. The rug I have picked out for my living room is a Vera print and I needed something to use to match a sofa/love seat/chair arrangement. I ended up buying a placemat of the same pattern. I was very pleased to come home and realize that all my Fiesta matches so I will have to go back and get a few more.

Then it was on to Downtown Nashville. Several people told us we were crazy since it is the CMA festival. It actually ended up being a lot of fun. We were going to eat at BB King's, but it ended up being closed for a private event. We went further down the street and at the Wild Horse Saloon. Dinner was very good and watching everyone line dance was very entertaining.

Then we walked around the crowded streets, stopping in the stores we wanted until are feet hurt.

On our way back out of the city we decided to stop at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel (which is who owns the Wild Horse Saloon in case you were wondering about our choice of eating establishment...oh and we were finished eating by 6:45 and out of downtown before dark!) for some coffee and dessert. We almost gave up when we realized it was $18 to park, but eventually we figured out we could park at the mall and walk over.

We had a great day...However, we have to get to bed earlier...this is the second night we are up at 1:00 am! I guess we are trying to cram a lot in a few days. Tomorrow is our last full day as Blair flys back on Sunday and I have to work Sunday night.

Tour de Springfield

My friend Blair from Tampa is here visiting. We are staying busying catching up and today I took her on Tour de Springfield. Actually that doesn't take very long, but we ended up stopping in some of Springfield's finest stores to do a little shopping. Basically the goal was to see if we found any ideas for the new house, which was one of the stops on Tour de Springfield.

Check back for some pictures in a day or so.

Boomerang Express!

This week has been Vacation Bible School at Jeff and Abbey's church. Since I am such a good friend and Abbey is in charge of the whole thing, I have been helping!

It has been a great week with a record number of kids today.

I have also been very impressed with Abbey...she has been amazing to watch. Not only is she organized and prepared, but she is full of enthusiasm and great and getting the kids excited each and every morning. She has also handled the unexpected trials and challenges really well.

Spring in Mississippi

My weekend in Mississippi was filled with reminiscing and catching up with old friends. I had not been there since I moved to Florida three years ago. Over the years when I have gone back to Clinton, I have stayed with my college Sunday School teacher, mentor, and friend, Jackie. This time was no different. Since it had been three years, Jackie and I had a lot of catching up to do. On Saturday, my friend Jackie and I moved from one room of her house to another telling stories, talking about books, talking about what God has been teaching us, catching up on the mutual friends we have stayed in touch with over the years...and well, you get the picture.

Speaking of pictures, you would think I would have had one taken of the two of us, but like I often do I forgot. I did take a stroll through her backyard on Friday before Jackie came home from work and between torrential downpours. I forgot how beautiful Mississippi can be in the Spring.

I forgot how much I enjoy the Azaleas. Since it is only a seven hour drive, I have a feeling this will be the first of several visits back to my college stomping grounds.

An Afternoon With Reed

This afternoon my favorite 2 year-old came over for a little while. His mom had a few errands to run before she went to work and his dad had a few errands to run on his way home from work. Considering he had no nap at that point and has a bit of a cold we had a great time. We started by going to the playground in my apartment complex. It was a bit windy, but he didn't seem to mind.

Then we came back to my place where he watched an episode of Sesame Street.

Then he went down for a nap...of course Jeff showed up about 15 minutes later!

Under The Weather

Sorry about the lack of posting. By the time I finished work on Wednesday, I had a full blown cold. The past several days I have been trying to get plenty of rest. I have managed to get a little shopping done, work on the piece of furniture I bought a week or so ago, and help celebrate my friend, Reed's, 2nd birthday.

I'll try to get some pictures up tomorrow before I go back to work on Tuesday.

Disney

What's better than being with a child during their first trip to Disney? Being with your friend from college (and the daddy of said child) on his first trip to Disney!

My friends, Jeff, Abbey, and Reed, were in Orlando for a LifeWay conference. Since I am just a hop, skip, and a jump from there I took a half day off on Thursday and then a whole day on Friday. I have known Jeff and Abbey since they were 18 (I have always been much older and wiser...I was 19!) Since they live in Nashville these days, we don't get to see as much of each other as we would like. Of course they would tell me, "If you would move to Nashville, you could see us all the time!" We try to get together at least yearly. I saw them last year in October, so we basically had less than 2 days to catch up. I also finally had the chance to meet their friend Bill, who apparently stops by my blog on occasion. (Hey Bill!)

In that time we rode the teacups (well, they did, I know better than to get on that ride), Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, It's a Small World, Space Mountain, Aladdin, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, the People Mover, the carousel, and I am sure I am forgetting some. Obviously Reed didn't ride all those rides...in case you thought we smuggled a 20 month old on Space Mountain!

I think the general consensus was the Reed's favorite part was the night parade and the fireworks. He was mesmerized by both. I was really impressed that he didn't cry at the pops and bangs of the fireworks. It might of helped that there was funnel cake too!

As it is everyday at Disney...it was a great and of course "magical" day!

Unexpected Surprises

I love a good surprise. For example, I don't like it when I know what I am getting for Christmas or my birthday. I also love being the bearer of a surprise. There is just something about seeing a person's face when you totally pull of a surprise.

Well, this week it was me who received an unexpected surprise. On Wednesday the UPS walked in my office, which is not usual. He smiled and held up a box he was delivering. I figured it was just being polite because I could read the side of the box and figured there was no way it could be for me. However, in a few minutes one of my co-workers came into my office with the box.

I read the card first because I couldn't even begin to think of who would send such a gift. The card was sweet and encouraging, and this is what I found inside.

Thanks to my sweet friend for thinking of me. I was not only pleasantly surprised, but I felt special.

Girl's Day

Today my friend, Blair, and I had planned to spend the day together. We had a great time!

It began with a late breakfast at one of my favorite places, Mimi's. Then we headed to the movies to see Batman: The Dark Knight! No spoilers here, but it was good. Of course we both think Christian Bale is pretty cute so we are a little bias. No day is complete without a little pampering, so we ended the day Starbucks and pedicures. Technically we drank our goodies on the way to our appointments, but still...

By the way, has anyone else tried the Vivanno Chocolate Banana Smoothie? I must say, I am a fan.

Then it was back to the real world with cooking dinner, laundry, and mopping. But I did enjoy several hours of just hanging out with a friend. I also have pretty toes to show for it!!! :)

Meet Mr. Sting Ray

I had two great posts taking shape in my head last night. I even took the time to take a few pictures to accompany these random posts. However, I got side tracked. I decided to take a walk and watch the sunset. It was a great one! By the time I got back to my apartment I need to finish up my niece's sonogram video so I can get it and the canvases in the mail. By the time I completed my tweaking (I have been known to be a wee bit of a perfectionist) and burned the four copies to put in the box it was late and there was no time for blogging. (It wasn't that late, but when you alarm goes off at 4:45 am, it was already going to be a short night.)

During my sunset gazing, I was surrounded by God's creation. Ducks and other birds that I will never be able to identify flew overhead. Fish were jumping out of the water...I can only assume that they were trying to get a quick glimpse of the colorful sky. Dragonflies skimmed the top of the water. Then this guy surfaced right under where my feet were dangling off the side.


I am not exactly sure how big he was, but let's just put it this way, I'm glad I wasn't in the water with him. Which ironically reminded me of when my friend Abbey came to visit and we went to the beach. She read the warning about the stingrays and how to do the "stingray shuffle". What was so funny was that she practiced it in the sand. Anyway, the barb on this guy was about 3 feet long!

As I walked back to my apartment four dolphins were swimming just a few feet away, but there were too fast for me and my little camera.

I'll try to post some of my sunset pictures later today.

Friends, Coffee, and One Long Chat

Yesterday I had the opportunity to catch up with a friend who was in town. It was one of those completely random get togethers. She was really on my heart that morning so I sent her a quick e-mail. Her husband e-mailed me back and told me she was in Tampa. A couple of quick calls and several text messages later, we were set to meet for coffee.

I drove to Bradenton where my friend's mom lives and we found a Starbuck's. We talked and talked and talked. She filled me in on her mission trip to Thailand/Singapore that she went on about 2 months ago. We talked about how it was simpler when we lived overseas. (She and her husband were missionaries in Thailand when I was in China.) And of course we talked about all the different things that God has been teaching us.

It didn't seem like we had been talking that long, but when Angela asked me what time it was, I was shocked to discover it was almost 1 am! I felt like we had been talking for 5 minutes, not 5 hours! It was a great evening and so worth the drive and not getting back home until 2:30 am.

You know, you just got to love friends that you can do that with. Those friends that 5 hours feel more like 5 minutes. Friends that you can pick right up with even if you haven't seen them in moths or years.

Spontaneity

If I am going to be completely honest, I would have to admit that I am not really a spontaneous person. I am a creature of habit and routine. A great example is the fact that I have the exact same morning routine that I do every day. I know what time it is by what I am doing. I always make my bed between 6:00 and 6:15 each morning. I fix breakfast and pack my lunch from 7:00 to 7:30...you get the idea.

So, to receive a phone call at around 11 pm asking me if I would like to go to Jacksonville the next day and for me to agree should be impressive. I took off around 1:00 on Friday afternoon and arrived for my spontaneous weekend away around 5:00. I met up with my old roommate and her current roommate who drove from Georgia and we headed to the Beth Moore Conference.

It was a great conference full of amazing praise and worship and challenging words from Philippians 2:12-14. I would share pictures, but remember this was a spontaneous trip and well, I didn't pack my camera. At least that is the only thing I forgot to pack in my spontaneity.

Reporting from LandLife

I know that I said I would blog from Nashville, but that has proven to be more difficult than I thought. My lack of blogging has not been due to the fact that I am not having a great time. We are having a blast, but this has been different than any other time that Abbey and I have hung. That could be because we always have a baby in tow. Let me give you a brief synopsis of the trip thus far:

Still no luck on figuring out how to rotate pictures. I promise they look right everywhere else.

Thursday- Flew to Nashville, went shopping, dinner with Jeff, Abbey, Reed, and their friends the Spicklers

Friday- Reed got a haircut, lunch out, Reed's first modeling photo shoot (he will be on the cover of one of LifeWay's magazines this summer), attended my first stamping party

Reed was way more interested in the dinosaur than the haircut

Saturday- I made breakfast, trip to Wal-Mart to buy baby food and materials to make our costumes for a party, assembled costumes, made monster toes for party, attended said party

Look at my two teeth!

We went to the party as salt and pepper

WOW!!! That makes me tired just typing all that out. Now, Abbey is preparing to teach Sunday School. I guess I am not being very much help since I am sitting on the couch. I guess I will go help now.

Reed

Some of you may know that my friends, Jeff and Abbey, are in the process of adopting a little boy from Taiwan. His name is Reed and is 6 months old. They are actually leaving tomorrow for Taiwan. They have a pretty full week, but next Friday they will return home with their son. Please pray for this new family as they begin this journey together. Pray that they will have smooth travel and a smooth time of transition.

I can't wait to show you their first family picture, but until then you can see this adorable face that I (and a lot of others) have fallen in love with over the last several months.

You can read more about the Land family at their blog, LandLife.

Friendship

Both sermons at church today centered around friendship. (I go to one of those 'strange' churches that still has Sunday night church.) Tonight's specifically challenged me to be more thankful for the incredible friends that God has blessed me with during my life. The text was Philippians 1:1-8 and the three points were:

1. Appreciate your friends' devotion
2. Appreciate your friends' distinction
3. Appreciate your friends' determination

As I have thought about these points, I have decided to make a list about friendship. The inspiration of this list goes back to my childhood. We had a set of sheets (I don't think they are still around, but anything is possible) that had the Peanuts characters all over them. They then had all these statements that began with "Happiness is..."

Friendship is...

1. Taking you to and picking you up from the airport.
2. A random phone call, card, or e-mail just to tell another person that you care.
3. Asking someone if they need anything from Wal-Mart and then buying it for them.
4. Dropping everything because you know they need a shoulder to cry on.
5. A Papa John's pizza, paper towels, and a rented movie.
6. Laughing so hard that you cry or think you might wet your pants.
7. Sharing a look that speaks louder than words ever could.
8. Putting together an entertainment center and then going back to Target to talk the manager into giving you a refund because it went on sale the day after you bought it.
9. Taking you the doctor when you are too sick to drive.
10. Able to overlook differences and embrace similarities.
11. Proof reading your papers in college and seminary.
12. Late night conversations or e-mails.
13. Sending a book in the mail so that they don't have to go buy it.
14. Standing in the rain to get Tony Dungy's signature.
15. A gift.

I could go on and on, but will refrain. So, to all my friends, near and far, thank you. I know I don't tell you each enough, but I love you and appreciate all that you do.