My New Smarty-pants Phone

Well y'all, it is done. I now have a big girl phone. An HTC Inspire to be exact. I like her. I'm still getting used to her, and currently I'm typing this with only my right index finger. Efficient I know. Justin says I need to start using my thumbs, and I don't really know why I don't. That's how I texted on my old phone. Pointer Finger just seems like the best choice right now. It's pretty neato that I can blog on here though. She doesn't have a name yet, buy I'd like to shoutout to my old phone Zena- You were a trooper and made it through 2 years of drops, babysitting, being dropped in vom while babysitting (not joking), being run under water, being caked in hairspray and face oil, and of course much calling and texting. You're my backup now, but it's time for you to rest. Live strong Zena.
You're touched, I know.

Grown Up!

Welp, even though I just got a new job, I just got a different one. I put in my 2 weeks notice at Boingo Bounce (which I LOVE working at by the way) to jump into the business world. Yep. I, who loves children and studied them, am going to become a power-suit and pump wearing business machine. Just kidding, but I do love women's suits. Don't hate. How cute is this?

Thanks, J.Crew

How unique is this?! Just kidding. I think it's really weird. Sorry Alexander McQueen.

Anyways, I'm sure I'll be learning a lot. It was a weird decision to make because I was still interviewing with an organization I love, but after much thought and prayer I decided that this decision was right. This was immediately followed with a lot of questions as to whether or not I'm being irresponsible, but I've already told the other place (Children's House if you were wondering) no, and committed to my new boss, Steve. Now, I will let my yes be yes and be a business lady, and I am thrilled (irresponsible or not).

This also leads to another big change in my life. I'm getting.....a smart phone. Yep. That's right, y'all. This hater  lover-of-not-always-being-accessible is getting one. My boss suggested it and someone (Chelsea) really wants me to get an iPhone to FaceTime her. I don't know about that because I can Skype her from my compy, but her chances have greatly increased. Any smartphone suggestions/advice out there?! I'd love it. I'll be making a purchase soon because my old contract just ended! Before I jump on this bandwagon though let me just point out that it isn't smartphones I hate. Nor do I hate the people who have them. I hate that I will always be accessible, and I extra don't like seeing people on their phones all. the. time. If I ever do that, please rebuke me. Seriously.

Happy almost weekend, y'all!

Baked goods

Y'all. Wanna know what I'm doing right now? Baking chocolate chip cookies before I go to work. Shocker. I'm using this recipe from BunsinmyOven because I love puffy cookies. I didn't actually know anyone preferred flat cookies. Huh. To each her own I guess. Here's what they look like.

 The left half was the first batch. I thought they were too done, so I shortened the time a little for the second batch. Generally I love burnt things. Cookies are the exception. They should be smooth and chewy and now crumbly. Hopefully the second will be better. Also, yes, that is a Darth Vader spatula. No, I did not purchase it. Thanks, mom.

The look beautiful, but I don't think they're a winner for a go to recipe. I do LOVE love love love love these. I made them last week, and they are wonderful. They're not super peanut buttery, but you can still taste it. Everyone who had them seemed to like them.

Bagels-another baked good that will now be a regular part of my life. Know why? A bunch of us camped out over night at the new Einstein Bros. in Fayetteville. The first 100 people got 1 free breakfast bagel/week for a year. I don't know why I decided this would be the one thing I'd ever camp out for, but I did. Justin and I got there around 10:15ish the previous evening. We joined about 8 others (not including 2 babies) who were already there. Most of those people were our friends anyways. In the first one hour we were there, more excitement occurred than in the rest of the night/morning. Almost immediately after Justin and I got under the covered porch it started raining. Then it started pouring. Then the wind blew so hard it knocked a sign over into the road from the gas station across the street. Then cars started running it over. The group decided it was not safe for the sign to be in the road, so Nathan, Ben, and Justin drove across the street to pick it up. Except they dropped Justin off then came back. I didn't really understand the logic, but whatever. Boys. THEN we heard a sound and noticed a power line hanging about 6ft off the ground in the road. Ben called 911, and cops came and redirected traffic. About an hour and a half later Cox showed up and fixed it. During this whole time everyone had opinions about what the cops were doing wrong with directing traffic and why they were doing what they were doing. Y'all. I hate situations like that. I for some reason have always stuck up for other people when I don't necessarily know their side either, and that tends to annoy the snot out of people I know. Seriously, I remember someone in high school telling me it was annoying. Maybe I'm being devil's advocate? I don't know. I don't think it's intentional. If they can't defend themselves and their actions, I might as well. Anyways, I felt bad for the poor cops and were certain they had dealt with these situations much more often than we had, and I strongly believe they are not idiots. (Have I ever told you that in my mind being an RA made me think that I knew what it felt like to be a cop? No. Maybe I'll tell you later, or maybe I'll forget.) Anyways, I don't know whether or not 52 bagel sandwiches was worth sleeping a car for an hour, staying up all night, smelling beer and pot, watching people be rude, watching people not follow rules, or watching people fight about where in line they were. Our friend, Tim, says it's worth it, but we shall see. I don't even know if I would've stayed there all night for the cash equivalent of 52 bagel sandwiches, but I don't actually know how much that is.

Here's us before we left our house. Yes that's a head lamp. Yes I had a much better attitude then.

Hey. Praise the Lord it's raining. Thank you Jesus. My parents field caught on fire in all this drought. More on that later. Go play in it! (Rain, not fire)

See ya summer

Y'all, first off I want to say that although it is 100andsomething degrees outside, I still, undoubtedly, love summer one trillion times more than winter, and I would prefer this weather over freezing any day except Christmas. So, all you haters wishing it were winter and complaining, I'll be doing it when we have 12 feet of snow. Bleh. That's all.

On another note, I GOT A JOB! Well, a part time job. At Boingo Bounce! Even better, with my friend Ashley! I'm so thrilled! I'm obviously still searching since I need a full time job ideally, but I'm thrilled! Bonus: I start tomorrow. Double bonus: it takes 4 minutes to get there from my house. Neato, huh? Thanks, Jesus. So, now I will be a grown up, and work. #notreally

This is a super random post because I haven't posted in a while, but if you weren't at New Heights Sunday, you must must must listen to the service online. There are few sermons/talks that I would listen to multiple times, but this is one. That one isn't on the website yet, but you should absolutely listen to this one. It's so wonderful, and Chels gives her testimony at the end. She was "for real a rebel". :) Hope you're not mad I did this Chels. :)

Welp, she's gone

Chels is safely in India and getting settled. That makes me happy. Her leaving wasn't super easy (I might've cried a little....or a lot.), but she's there now and doing grown up things like getting her classroom ready, and that makes me way excited for her. We probably weren't as prepared as we should've been to say goodbye (Meaning, we didn't really talk about it at all because it made us sad) which probably made it more difficult on our part. Whoops. But, I've skyped her twice since she's been there, and just seeing her face makes me happier! Anyways, thanks y'all who've been praying for us. I super appreciate it, and now that I know I will at least make it without her being in the same state, please direct all your prayers towards her. I mean, not towards her, but about her. Don't pray to Chelsea please. She and I do not support idolatry.

I'm still job hunting, and here's one thing I've noticed. Kind of a lot of the jobs I've applied for have a "Don't call about this job" somewhere on the application/listing. What?! Why do they teach us to do that in school then. It's super lame I think, and I'm kind of torn about whether or not to obey the command. Anyways, that's that update.

In other news, I've started painting our desk the same color as the table (Vintage Scotch Yellow-BHG from Walmart if you were curious. I love that name..or really anything with the word 'vintage' in it.) I really wanted it to be a different color, but I couldn't decide, and that's probably not what we need to be spending our money on now anyways (more paint, I mean), and it'll be in a different room. (wowie, I love conjunctions and run-on sounding compound sentences. Sorry.)

Here she is before. Missing hardware and all. We have to get a new top too. I'm so ready for this to be done, so we can put all of our stuff that's lying in the floor in it.

Also, sorry about the frequent blog changes. I can't decide what I like. I thought I liked this current an older one that none of you probably saw (red, chevron-y), but then I saw it was called 'Big Top', and that made me like it less. I don't like circuses. They're kind of creepy. I might stick with this one. I'm not too sure about this automatic centering. I love left align. 

And for your entertainment, here are some pictures that I forgot about:

After we floated the Elk River!

I made a Mississippi Mud Pie. It was ok, I thought. Justin loved it.

We went to the Rodeo!!!!! I. Love. The rodeo.

There was a NASA booth there. I don't know why.

Our 4th of July cake.

Pre-Harry Potter with Autumn's wand she found....in the bathroom.

Tomorrow's Friday!! Wooot! Justin's off, and I'm babysitting some of my faves. Bonus. Happy weekend!

How's married life?

This is the question I get asked most frequently...maybe 2nd most frequently. The other is, "How's the job search going?' Well, let me tell you.

Married!
Married life is so fun! I love spending time with Justin and living with him and getting to know him more. I get to bake and cook a lot, and I LOVE that. It's really great. One day, Chels asked me if Justin did stuff that reminded me of her, and he totally does. Not like he's girly or anything, but just some of the things they say and how I respond. It's kind of like I married my best friend she said. She's totally right. I think that's a good summary.
     *I just learned the difference between summary and summation. Summation refers to numbers being added together, and summary is words. (That's my concise comparison from my research. Ha.)
Anyways, this isn't to say life is perfect all the time, but it's fun and sweet, and I love it.

Unemployed
Currently unemployed at least. I have no doubt that I will find a job. God has always provided for me some how whether it be through my parents or my own work. I've applied for 5 different jobs within DHS. I am qualified for all of them and basically have heard via email "You're qualified. Thanks for applying. We might call you for an interview. No further action is required on your part." I applied at Vista Health, but our friend Ryan made me nervous about working there. I've turned in a few other applications, but at this point they're all jumbled in my head. So, yea. There ya go. :)

On a totally different note we went to THE midnight premier of Harry Potter part 1 billion. Just kidding. It was movie 8 but part of book 7. I'm not a super Harry fan, but Chelsea and Justin are, so I went. It was good. It was faster paced than all the other movies, so I liked that, but also more fighty. Didn't really like that. Did I mention that I hadn't seen 5 of them, so we had to watch the first 7 within the past 2-3 weeks. Whew. I'm Harry-ed out.

Lastly, my bestie moves to India Sunday. I have very mixed emotions. You'll hear more about this later for sure. I. Love. Her.

And you. :)
Bye.

She's done!

You probably don't know who 'she' is yet, but I'll fill you in.
She was at my wedding.
She stood behind me the whole time.
She watched us take communion.
She gazed at us from afar during the reception.
She's the door from the wedding. Sorry, that was probably a let down.
In case you forgot, here She is right after I snagged her from Fayetteville Trading Post.

Here can see her standing tall in all her glory.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=858566773347&set=t.1029750082&type=1&theater

I love her and knew I wouldn't want to get rid of her after the wedding, so long before I prepped Justin with the idea that we would use her in our house or make something out of her.

 We stripped the paint off like 5 million times and this (down) is what she looked like.

 We bought some legs from Lowe's and stuck them on, and then we painted after much deliberation over color. Some of you are probably gasping that I'd paint over that because I know it does look distressed and cool, and it is, but those new legs didn't match at all.

Here she is now, finished!

Isn't she cute!?