Labor Day Weekend and other random things

Kevin and I made the trek to the Magic City for Labor Day and had much needed time with family and friends. 

 We managed to eat all of our favorite foods,

did some shopping, 

and we took this one for her first drive! (in a parking lot)

Speaking of driving, I wonder if anyone's obituary reads death by 8 o'clock traffic. Because I'm pretty sure that's a contributing factor to wrinkles, mental disorders, and all-around destruction. 

In happier news, I let the secret out today that I am starting up some new adventures! Check it out here.

January in a Nutshell

I have been informed that I need to blog. My apologies.

January has FLOWN by. School kicked off with a bang, and I've left Auburn the last three weekends in a row. I can already tell it's going to be a very, very busy semester (but hopefully very, very fun!). Here is my month in a few pictures.

MLK weekend, I went with my dear friends Mike and Katherine Motta and their youth group to the Strength to Stand conference in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The worship leader for our venue, Matt Papa, had a very "Christian" piano.

I will never understand why people think that wearing tshirts that say "Ninjas for Jesus" is a good idea. You look like a freak. It's embarrassing.

I stumbled upon red velvet coffee while perusing the outlets in Pigeon Forge. HOLY SMOKES get in my tummy.

I bought this cute little travel kit at the brand, spanking new Family Dollar that's only 0.4 miles from my apartment. I needed a new travel toothbrush.

A mystery sock. I found this straggler in my clean clothes straight out of the dryer; Alex and Liz had to do some extreme detective work to determine who was the true owner of the stowaway.

This past weekend I helped with DNow at Shades. I genuinely can't figure out what a tape ministry is. I'm guessing it's probably audio recordings, but for such a tech-savvy place it seems like (video)cassettes (tapes-film-whatever) would be a little out of date. Maybe it should be renamed the Flashdrive Ministry. Or the Digital Ministry. Or better yet just steer away from the device and call it the Recording Ministry. In my head, I can just see adults teaching children how to appropriately make masking tape figurines. Okay, I'm getting carried away (and a little sacreligious). Sorry.

Cuties. My wonderful group of senior girls at DNow introduced me to Cuties. "Cuties are made for kids." They're easy to peel and yummy to eat. Win!

Loved catching up with my sweet friends.

I got an insanely small amount of sleep the weekend of DNow. In the picture below, I'd been awake for 4+ hours, and my eyes still don't look fully open.  Thankfully Sunday night I clocked in 11.5 hours of glorious shut-eye.

The ironing board has found its new home in my room in Birmingham. Not sure how I feel about this or what type of message Mama is trying to tell me.

Self-timer alert! On my way back to Auburn, I stopped by Dadeville to see my grandparents. I broke out my camera to document our time together.  I don't do that enough.

Grammy has been working on a hand-stitched quilt for me for a long time, and I finally got to see it. So pretty!

Finally, today is my other roommate's, Liz's, birthday. She's really not that many candles old, but I thought the image was funny.

That's all folks.

Two random thoughts

First of all, a big thanks to Alex for giving the blog a bit of a facelift.  All of the wedding planning has really rejuvenated Alex's creative mojo, so she channeled a bit to our little blog.

And now for my random thoughts.

1)  The "crosswalk safety tips" sign on Auburn's campus.

It's not that this sign inherently bothers me, it's WHY the placement of this sign is necessary.  I feel like that how to safely cross a road is one of those skills taught in kindergarten*.  Stop, listen, look both ways, hold hands with the person beside you, don't step out in front of a moving vehicle.  Since most people using this crosswalk are in COLLEGE, I am really concerned about the caliber of students that Auburn currently enrolls.  Also, if you don't know how to safely cross a street, you probably can't read this sign either.

2)  The Romney-Ryan logo.

I realize that I already tweeted about this, but seriously -- the R-R logo might as well have been stolen from Girl Scouts of America.  I wonder if R-squared is paying royalties.

Which brings me to part 2: was the exponent really necessary?  There are 3 R's (or 2, depending on how you look at it) already built in the logo - (3R)^2 is mathematically 9 R-squared.  Which is just confusing.  Also, it appears that the uniforms designed by Adidas for the Wisconsin v Nebraska (or Tungsten** v Nitrogen***) game also rocked the exponent/ periodic table of the elements look.

* I like pulling out all of my German vocabulary when I can.

** Yes, W is the periodic table symbol for Tungsten. 

*** Credit for this "joke" goes to ESPN.  Believe it or not.

moments.

1. auburn baseball games 2. birthday celebrations at bible study

3. more rainy days 4. distracting classrooms

5. unending homework 6. new shoes

7. it's almost senior year?? 8. sonic happy hours

rainy days.

I'm thankful for the past days filled with rain. Mostly because it's an excuse to curl up in my bed, watch movies, and take naps in any free time I might have.

Last week I also made Funfetti milkshakes for a Valentine's Day treat.  (I found the recipe here) 

It really did taste like cake batter. D-to-the-licious.

life through my {iPhone} lens.

 Flowers for no reason at all. My favorite Girl Scout cookies. Dinner at Irish Bread Pub. Working on my paper. Exploring. 

Also, how cute is this shirt from J. Crew? I'm obsessed. 

Hunting?

So every day I walk by this construction site on my way to class.  And every day I do a double take because I am 90% sure that this is a deer stand.  On the ground.  In the middle of campus.  And every day I wonder what on earth its purpose is.

it's the contraption right behind the sign and the gate, with the door open

Sunglasses

So here's the long version of my story.

I have very sensitive eyes.  In fact, I have almost no pigment coloring in my retina.  Which basically means I need to wear sunglasses whenever the sun's out.  Or not out.

Over the last few years, my contacts have really started drying my eyes out so I broke down and got some prescription sunglasses.  THEY'RE AWESOME.  Usually.  Until you end up in weird situations.

Well this weekend Auburn played Florida.  At 6 pm.  When I got there at 4:30 pm, the sun was out.  I wore my sunglasses.  But by kickoff my seat was in deep shade.  As were my eyes.  Because I still had on my sunglasses.

And... (if you can't see where this is going yet)... I forgot to take my normal glasses.  And while my vision isn't terrible, I couldn't come close to seeing the football without my sunglasses.  So there I am, watching the ENTIRE night game with my sunglasses on.  As in at 9:30 pm, I still have on my sunglasses.  I'm like that person who thinks it's cool to wear sunglasses indoors except this might be worse because the sun was shining on the opposite side of the earth... not just on the other side of the building's wall.

Not a joke: a random girl two rows in front of me turned around a took a picture of me with my sunglasses on during the game.  She tried to be all nonchalant about it, but she totally wasn't.  Oh well, at least Auburn won.

The short version:  I wore my sunglasses to a night game, and Auburn won.

Maybe I should wear them again.

except I felt really lame

Adventures in Auburn

Friday night.  Possibilities for entertainment are endless.  Just grab some friends and go....

... to Cracker Barrel.

Yep, this is where our Friday night began.  Checkers, rocking chairs, and lots of yummy food.

And... then we went to a put-put place.  USA Mini Golf.  The put-put course that takes you on a journey through classic America.  Let's just say it had some strange elements and was quite unlike my previous put-put experiences.  The venue was advertised as glow-in-the-dark.  We started our round of mini-golf fully lit, but the lights went off a little way into the game.  So I only captured a few priceless moments before the light went away... I apologize for not fully documenting the experience.  

for next time you need a clown rental

the Great Smokey Mountains hole, with San Francisco in the background

Alex in Memphis 

our spelunking adventures

Dorm life, year 3

Time is short... thus so is this post.

Move-in day recap.  3-2-1 go.

Sunrise on Lake Martin.  7 am move-in comes early:

Daddy shaves on way to Auburn.  Multitasking for the win:

My room is halfway put together.  Let the year of fort building commence:

The "Snack Man" is spotted getting on 280 complete with pickled eggs in the bed.  Ew:

From my window

Way back when I was beginning the process of applying to colleges (yeah, I'm getting old), I considered applying to Wake Forest.  But then I changed my mind when I realized that their application had about 12 essay questions consisting of really vague promps like... ~Who is the greatest intellect of our time?  ~Define cool.  ~Talk about something that outrages you.  ~What do you see when you look out your front door.

But now I have an answer... 

caption: what I see when I look out my kitchen window

The quick story:  Mouse was sighted eating Dixie's dog food, Charlie wanted to shoot the mouse, (with a BB gun), rumor is he hit it and the thing didn't die.  Believe what you want.

World Cup

I have played and watched soccer my whole life. I knew every name on the women's team, read soccer books, and practiced juggling in my spare time. I remember that my dream job was to be a soccer missionary. Needless to say, I was a bit obsessed. When I was about 12 years old, I had the opportunity to be a ball girl for the women's team during one of their practices in Birmingham. I even talked to Mia Hamm. It went something like this...

(she came to the sideline where I was to get some water)

MIA: Hey, thanks for helping us today.

ME: Yeah. I did my book report on you. (Cause that's the proper response and not creepy at all)

MIA: Oh really? Well I hope you got an A!

(she runs back to practice)

So I'm pretty much part of the team.

Anyways, the World Cup made me think about my soccer days. Even though I miss a lot about soccer, there are many reasons to be thankful that my soccer days are over. I know that God has a plan for me and I am so grateful for a college experience that is not consumed by endless practices. 

AND I can't wait to watch the big game on Sunday, yell at the t.v., and cheer on the U.S. of A

Solstice

The physical science of night and day has always fascinated me.  You know, how days and night get shorter and longer at different times of the year and the necessity of the leap year every 4 years.  Add our man-made daylight savings and you've got a delicate, carefully calculated system of night and day that almost perfectly fits the lifestyle of... well... life.

And I say almost perfectly for one reason: we always want more time in one day.  And summer solstice (TODAY!)  is the longest day of the year.  (Even though people wanting longer days typically don't want more daylight.  Not the point, though.)

So enjoy the longest day of the year.  And... Happy Summer!

The Magical Craft Box

Late last week, my toilet broke.

Not in a plumbing-issue kind of way, just a plastic piece in the toilet broke... and that made the handle (as in the one used for flushing) fall off.  

Anyway, despite my good intentions to go to Home Depot over the weekend, our toilet remained broken.

But... last night I remembered the craft box.  This is the box that Alex and I keep all of our craft supplies in (shocker...) at the dorm, and it's at my house for the summer.

Hey Alex, I hope it's okay that I borrowed some of your yarn.

But the good news is the toilet is "fixed."