And We Meet Again

Well we come to the "fake anniversary" of our blog cause IT'S EXAM TIME AGAIN!

Boo.

I have had some not-so-enjoyable dates with my books: "Engineering Fluid Mechanics," "Physics for Scientists and Engineers," and "Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics."  ("Fundamentals of Differential Equations" took early leave due to an exemption.  Take that, Diff Eq!)

So for the sake of brevity I will describe this week and next in one word:

STUDYING!!!!!

Addendum:

Top music choices for studying, Spring 2011:

Thompson Square's "Thompson Square"

Josh Kelley's "Georgia Clay"

Brad Paisley's "Old Alabama feat. Alabama - Single"

How Great Thou Art

Anyone that knows me well knows that I'm absolutely obsessed a long-term, dedicated fan of Fox's American Idol.  I have followed every season except the first, so if you do the math this leaves me watching approximately 5 DAYS' WORTH of American Idol (9 seasons, 40 episodes/season, 1hr/episode).  Granted this doesn't include the seasons I watched via youtube because of soccer practices, games, studying, and church.  American Idol and I have been through a lot.  The good (Carrie Underwood) and the bad (William Jung).  The motown/gospel powerhouse (Melinda Doolittle) and the strange bird that makes me wonder why I watch this show (Sanjaya Malakar). The dueling Davids (David Archuleta vs. David Cook) and the one-hit-wonder (Jason Castro's Hallelujah).  The screamers (Adam Lambert) and the guys to got kicked off WAY too early (Michael Johns).  And the true artists (Kris Allen, David Cook, Lee Dewyze, Casey Abrams).  As for this season, go Scotty!!  But all of this is beside the point.


Carrie Underwood rocks.  Further, her performance of "How Great Thou Art" with Vince Gill this past Friday rocks.  I don't care if you hate American Idol, hate country music, or hate how beautiful she is, this song is powerful.  I think I had chills 75% of the time.  I've always liked this girl, but now I'm convinced she has the voice of an angel.

Preach it, sister.

He is risen.

I had a wonderful weekend with the fam jam in Birmingham (and Huntsville) this past weekend.

Friday: Isabelle drove me around in the golf cart for about an hour. she showed me the garden, the new lawn mower ( I think mom likes cutting grass a little too much...she couldn't stop talking about how she wanted to cut every yard of grass that looked remotely bad), told me about all of her school projects, and ate honeysuckle. I think we made a solid 35 loops around the yard by the end of it. 

Saturday: I got the splendid opportunity to ride to Huntsville and watch my sister play lacrosse (Can you sense the sarcasm?) The game was delayed an hour and seemed to last an eternity. By the end of the day, my legs were bright red and I had a nice chaco tan. Their team lost BUT Isabelle scored TWO goals (*cough* she takes after her sister) so it was all worth it.

Sunday: Woke up at 5:40 AM to go to sunrise service. Let's just say I didn't get around to washing my hair or putting makeup on. Fail. After that I went back home to kill a few hours before I went to church with my family and got to help with children's worship. They LOVED the Easter egg hunt and the cupcakes. So precious.

Also got to spend some time with my awesome grandparents, Kaki and Bigdaddy. Oh, and of course I ate wayyy to much food. If it's possible to gain 10 pounds in one weekend, I'm pretty sure I did.

P.S. sorry for the longest blog post in history.

Creepy...

This was on the entrance to a gas station.

Creepiness factors:

1-  Scary people wearing hoodies have been in this gas station.

2-  Enough scary people wearing hoodies have been in this gas station to warrant a sign on the door.

3-  Some girl went back to her car to get a camera to take a picture of a gas station door.  Nevermind, that was me.  I don't think the lady working the check-out counter appreciated it.

And, no, I did not wear a hoodie when I went in...

Once a Rebel, Always a Rebel

What some people may not know about me: I'm really a no-good, dirty, rotten Rule Breaker. 
Yep, you heard me right. I'll even prove it. Here are a few examples of ways that I bring out my rebellious side.


1. I regularly order off the children's menu at restaurants (12& under puhhlease)
2. Sometimes I park in 15 minute parking for 20 minutes (I may have gotten a ticket for that one. Thank you, Auburn parking services)
3. I do not floss every day (I'm sure my dentist loves me)
4. I put the "pro" in procrastination (See Alex's Top 10 Ways to Procrastinate)
5. I wear white after Labor Day (Take that, Fashion police)
6. I EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH (I have yet to have salmonella poisoning, no worries)

 Oh, and I even break the rules of nature...

Walking on water. (Ignore the stepping stones on the left)

So there you have it. I'm basically on the run from the law. I bet you're all scared of me now. I mean, I would be.

Live

Brad Paisley @ BJCC, February 2010

I've loved music pretty much my whole life.  I think it's in my blood.  And really it's my favorite method of communication.  {Aside: Seriously, if I could find a way to study engineering through music I think it'd take a whole lot less time.  Maybe.}  Music just captures feeling and emotion in ways that mere words can't grasp.

Just as music trumps words, concerts trump recordings.  So I'm sure you've figured this out by now, but I just adore concerts.  Luckily for my pocketbook (and my boyfriend's...), many of my favorite artists aren't really mainstream (though some are) and consequently their concerts are {more} affordable.

Anywho, here's list of sorts that I've compiled of the concerts I've been to.  I might have missed a few here and there, but it's pretty complete.  A big shout out to Mr. Phillips for being my partner in crime at every single one of them all of them except Justin Beiber.

Casting Crowns, Denver, The Mile High Orchestra – BJCC, Birmingham, AL – December 6, 2008

Relient K, Copeland, Barcelona – Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA – October 10, 2009

Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Justin Moore – BJCC, Birmingham, AL – February 5, 2010

Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker – Columbus Civic Center, Columbus, GA – March 5, 2010

Tim McGraw, Love and Theft, Lady Antebellum – Verizon Wireless Music Center, Pelham, AL – May 14, 2010

Relient K – Alabama Adventure Amphitheater, Bessemer, AL – June 26, 2010

Ben Rector, Steve Moakler, Dave Barnes (comedy) – Workplay, Birmingham, AL – July 16, 2010

The Civil Wars – The Standard Deluxe, Waverly, AL – September 17, 2010

Ben Rector, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors – {Some sketchy place in Tuskegee / Auburn?} – October 15, 2010

Justin Beiber – BJCC, Birmingham, AL – December 20, 2010

Brad Paisley, Darius Rucker, Jerrod Niemann – BJCC, Birmingham, AL – February 11, 2011

Ben Rector, Steve Moakler – Workplay, Birmingham, AL – February 17, 2011

The Civil Wars – The Standard Deluxe, Waverly, AL – March 25, 2011

@ The Standard Deluxe, March 2011

It's All Downhill From Here

Yesterday, Charles and I ventured out to Cheaha State Park.  I took a lottttt of pictures, so I will attempt to be brief.  Ha.  {you can click on the pictures to make them bigger}

We started out driving...

 and driving...

and finally we arrived.  We went to the observation tower,...

Bald Rock,...

and Pulpit Rock.

We saw 4 deer, 2 lizards, a snake, pretty flowers, and some waterfalls.

We explored a bit, hiked a lot, and had a picnic.

Overall, we had a wonderful day enjoying the beautiful weather.

   You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.  -- Nehemiah 9:6

when everything falls apart

You said you'd never leave or forsake me

When you said, this life is gonna shake me

And you said this world is gonna bring trouble on my soul

This I know

When everything falls apart your arms hold me together

When everything falls apart you're the only hope for this heart

When everything falls apart and my strength is gone

I find you mighty and strong, you keep holding on

You keep holding on

When I see the darkness all around me

When I see that tragedy has found me

I still believe your faithful arms will never let me go

And still I know

When everything falls apart your arms hold me together

When everything falls apart you're the only hope for this heart

When everything falls apart and my strength is gone

I find you mighty and strong, you keep holding on

You keep holding on

Sorrow will last for the night

But hope is rising with the sun, its rising with the sun

There will be storms in this life

But I know You will overcome, you have overcome

When everything falls apart your arms hold me together

When everything falls apart you're the only hope for this heart

When everything falls apart and my strength is gone

I find you mighty and strong, you keep holding on

You keep holding on

-Everything Falls by Fee

It is so encouraging to know that our God will never leave us. 

There is not one battle that we ever have to fight on our own. 

He is always there for us no matter how many times we mess up. 

Love this song. Love my Savior. 

A Garden Tour

This afternoon, I took a mini road trip to see my grandparents.  It was beautiful day for a drive and an even more beautiful day at the lake.  Grammy took me on the grand tour of her garden and fed me lots of yummy food.

What I learned:

Grammy can't talk on the phone without her glasses; Granddaddy can.

The IRA expects both of my grandparents to live to be 99; they think this is funny.

Grammy wants a mini weed eater for their 50th wedding anniversary (May 19).