Oh, the wonders of Paint.

Hey, I never claimed to be an artist.

What are everyone's favorite Thanksgiving foods? Mine's the turkey, mashed potatoes, and green-bean casserole. Mmmm, I'm drooling just thinking about it.

...And they came in threes

Well, I wasn't quite expecting them so early, but my Mormon buddies came by today with their chauffeur for the day (apparently biking is out in the late fall). I had written about some things I disagreed with on their pamphlet (all over it, actually), and we talked about them for a bit-- about the Gospel being "restored" after the "apostasy" and "priesthood authority" being given to Joseph Smith and all that. They got down to the point asking if I would read over the book of Mormon and pray about it to believe, and I said no, so that kind of hurried their departure. I just kept saying that I believe the book of Mormon is an addition to the Bible and that all we need is Jesus Christ to receive salvation and an eternity in heaven. I asked why they were asking people to accept book of Mormon instead of Jesus Christ and why they ask people to accept that a man-- Joseph Smith-- was a prophet and believe in the book of Mormon. They said it was a testament of Jesus Christ, and it spoke of the Gospel like the Bible. I don't think they believe in perserverance with their evangelizing if they give up so quickly. I asked if I could pray for them before they left, and I just prayed with all my might that they would believe in Jesus Christ as the way to salvation and that no good works could save them. I said how we are all sinners and that nothing we do can ever earn our salvation except faith alone. I felt like I fumbled over the topics we discussed (possibly because I just didn't believe in any of them and didn't really have a specific references to rebuttal them), but I just wanted to show them the faith that I have in Jesus Christ without their book. Hopefully our encounter will be of interest to them, and maybe I'll see them again-- I invited them to the concert Friday because of church yesterday when they said to be faithful to invite people. Who knows-- they might come.

The best "blonde" moment ever...

Tonight we were playing Guesstures, and it was Loren's turn to go. She was looking at the cards and trying to pick out which ones she wanted to do, and she was like "Well I got these three, but this one... I just... I just don't know what this is! What is this word? Larry-nijits?" Andy Carr looked at it and was like, "Umm, I don't know either..." So the rest of us looked at it....

Laryngitis.

Go out in twos and threes...

Well, I just had my first encounter with some Mormon missionaries. I got to hear the whole pitch-- from Adam to Jesus to Joseph Smith. Somewhere around Lehi the prophet sailing to South America between 600B.C. and 400 A.D. did I have something I really didn't believe. Every other argument I said, they agreed with-- that the Bible is the breath of God, infallible, and shouldn't be added to or subtracted from was totally fine with them... BUT-- they believe that modern-day prophets exist and are accepted via 12 modern-day apostles that they have who pray and unanimously select a new prophet when the old one dies. What do you all believe about their idea that prophets are around today? I always thought that the Old Testament was very separate once the veil was torn and the church was formed, so I didn't think modern prophets were called after that. The only real hole in their pitch for Mormonism (if I were gullible enough to believe it) is that I am supposed to "pray about it" to determine if the book is real, and they said it wouldn't hurt me any if it were a false book. I wouldn't pitch Christianity by saying, "hey, if you don't believe it-- just trash it." I'd be shouting, "THIS IS THE TRUTH!" Anyways, help me out here so I can give them something to think about for our date next Thursday.

I was way cooler than Holly in high school...

What? We weren't cool and popular in high school? I beg to differ. Holly always thought she was too cool for school, but she could never compare to my coolness. I mean-- I was in the band. How much cooler can you get?!

Anyways, Holly said I would be kicked off the blog, drawn & quartered, and have my toes nibbled on by man-eating ants if I didn't post again. I don't have too much to say, though. Nothing has changed in recent days. James and I are 5 days away from being married for 3 months (although it feels like 3 years already), I still haven't found a job, and we still have no tv, internet, or a Roomba to entertain us at home. I've got an interview today for a job with the large animal department of the vet school where I would most likely be knocked unconscious by an angry heifer, but I'm desperate! I don't think it would be as trying as working in a small animal clinic-- one time we had a dog named Princess Vincent who once whimpered while getting her temperature taken, and the owner banned all of the assistants from even touching the dog. It was a rectal thermometer, but c'mon! It's a DOG. And who names a female dog Princess VINCENT? Honestly.

In recent Dalton projects, we've almost finished building an entertainment center for our imaginary television. Only the staining and varnishing are left to do this week and then it will come home with us! James designed it a few months ago, and his uncles cut boards to make the frame and they knocked it together last week. Woodworking is painstakingly slow for my taste, though. Last Saturday while they were out in the woodshop, I used his uncle's friend's expertise in sewing to start a dress pattern that I'd bought months ago. I bought a pattern that said "easy" on it, but MAN-- it was awful! We couldn't understand the directions at all. The pictures were deceiving and a lot of the directions weren't written well. We had one heck of a time just getting the bodice of the dress done. I ripped out so many portions that I had already sewn that I thought we'd never get it together. I still have to add the zipper to the top half and sew on the skirt, which I think will be MUCH more straightforward.... and then I'll have a dress that I may only wear to a Christmas party, but at least I made one! Dannnng.

Now's time for a request to anyone who's still reading this: James is bent on training for triathalon season in January, and I think I can finally commit myself to trying this year. I can train with him, but I'm not exactly challenging to ride bikes with or run with since I'm not as fast as guys are. Soooo, I need some buddies who would like to swim, run, and/or bike with me! I don't have a membership to a pool, but I'll probably get one so I can practice swimming. Did I mention I can't swim? Yeah. I can't. I sink. Like a body with cinder blocks attached to it. You know the kind. A patient buddy to work out with would be good. So if there are some ladies who would like to get together to do this, give me a holla.

Well, I'm going to go back to job surfing in case the interview today doesn't work out... or if I get kicked by a cow in the near future... ouch.

Bring out the parkas...

I just wanted to encourage my brosephs and sistas in the Lord to keep fighting the good fight... swim upstream! I have been so aware lately of my tendency to lose my footing and begin floating with the current of our world. But, by God's grace, we can make Christ look GREAT.

"Come, let us return to the Lord... let us know; let us press on to know the Lord..." Hosea 6:1, 3

In weather news, BRRRRRRR!! I think we just skipped fall and moved straight into winter. Oh well, at this rate it'll be snowing in no time. And I'm a girl who loves her snow. I fondly remember one day in February in the year of 2002... the day when Memphis received a whopping 2 inches of snow (they closed the schools, too... then again, they also closed school once for just the threat of snow, which ended up just being drizzle). Gabby and I made this humongus snow caterpillar using every bit of snow in my front yard. We then spray-painted him all kinds of crazy colors and named him Snowy. Our local newspaper came and took our picture by it, and we were on the front page of the "Neighborhood" section the next day. Did I mention we were really cool and popular in high school? No? Well, good, because we weren't.

SNAKES ON A PLANE.

Okay, so there really weren't any snakes on this plane. I just couldn't think of a better title.

First of all, I'M ALIVE. And yes, skydiving was INCREDIBLE. Definitely ranks up there about second to my salvation. The ride up there was really fun... even though we got stuck in insane amounts of interstate traffic once we got to Georgia. We were supposed to get there arond 10am, but we rolled in at around 12:30pm. We then registered and basically signed our life away (one of the sections of the waiver literally said "You may be dismembered, decapitated, electrocuted, etc... but you can't sue. Sucks for you."). Then we waited around for a few hours... and FINALLY at around 4:30 they started calling our names and we got suited up. Katie Roach and Bonnie Japp went first, then on the next plane it was me, Ashley Adcock, John Douglass, Zach Varnell, Andrew Thornbury, and his friend from ROTC. The last guys to finish us out were Kevin Harris and Daniel Jinks. Even though we were sad we couldn't all go together, it worked out great for getting to watch everyone and take pictures.

In case you're wondering what skydiving feels like (mainly because you're too scared to go and you just want to live vicariously through me), let me tell you. It's cold. After I did my two backflips out of the plane and I started free falling, wow... all I could think of was how freezing it was and how it was hard to breathe. The air rushing in my nose and lungs was so cold and so forceful. It was insane. And you can move your arms around, which causes you to spin all crazy-like. I could feel my chipmunk cheeks doing some serious flapping in the wind. Once we deployed the chute, it was so peaceful and quiet. You could look out and see Atlanta and some mountains in the distance. I was in awe of all of God's creation. We got to go in the late afternoon, too... so the sun was casting these incredible shadows on everything. Then we steered the chute and did some spinning tricks before the tandem instructor took control to guide us down. The landing wasn't difficult at all (but of course I wasn't the one in control of it... if I'd been steering, we would have ate it... hard). We just stuck out our feet and slid on in. Nice and easy.

And then that was it. 145 bucks and 5 minutes later, I had backflipped out of a plane at 14,000 feet and lived to tell about it.

The ride home was also really fun, especially because we stopped by Zach's parents' house in Chattanooga for some home-cooked grub. It was delicious... my favorite part was the homemade chocolate ice cream. Mmmm.

And if that isn't enough, we might go skydiving again in the spring. Yesssssssss.

Check out John Douglass's video that he took himself. Crazy.

GERONIMOOOOOOO.

Roughly 15 other people from VFC and I are going skydiving on Saturday in Georgia. I AM SO STINKIN' EXCITED. Even though I have no doubts that all will go well, please pray that we don't become smears on the ground (but if we do, to die is gain, right?).

Since I'm too stingy to pay the $85 to have a guy videotape me, here's what I guess it will look like.

Are ya kiddin' me?

I got home from work today and went into my room to change into some comfy clothes. As I walked into our master bathroom to look in the mirror, I heard what sounded like a helicopter fly by my ear. I then proceeded to watch this HUGE bee---no, DINOSAUR--- land on my UT shirt across the bathroom. A bee? Are ya kiddin' me? If it's not centipedes, it's humongus flying insects.

And since Gabby and I like food-related posts around here (I think you can HEAR us getting fatter), I made banana bread for the first time tonight and got to enjoy it with the lovely Kittrell family. I am just thankful it didn't turn out to be a banana-flavored brick. Props to Food Network for a scrumptrulescent recipe.

And last but not least, go Vols.

Food time!

Ok, so I've decided to pursue new culinary arts since I'm the main chef in the Dalton household (I think that's blasphemy to everyone who knows of James's skills... haha). Last night I was going through the Betty Crocker cookbook and saw a dessert that I'd seen on Food Network, so I decided I had to make it. I made two last night because we only had two containers to bake the dessert in, and I used the remainder of the mix this morning and had a tasty dessert with my lunch. I decided to photograph the experience for added salivation. Here it is!

Welcome to Baby Lava Cakes and 400 calories of pure goodness:

Here it is as a whole lil' cake

Here is the first peak into the yummy goodness inside

Here's a better view of the gooeyness... mmm...

Look at that lava pour out!

Good to the last bite

Quite easy and verrrrry tasty. Hope you all are drooling by now :)

UPDATE:
Ok, so I guess I'll type up the recipe for you to appease the hungry readers out there.

Lava Baby Cakes
Prep: 15 minutes Bake: 13 minutes Oven: 400 degrees F
Chill: 45 minutes Makes: 6 servings

1 3/4 cups (10.5 oz) semisweet chocolate pieces
2 tablespoons whipping cream (I used half-and-half b/c we didn't have any cream)
3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Powdered sugar (optional)
Raspberries (optional)

1. For filling, in a small heavy saucepan combine 3/4 cup of the chocolate pieces and whipping cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Remove from heat. Cool, stirring occasionally. Cover; chill about 45 minutes or until firm.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium heavy saucepan cook and stir the remaining 1 cup chocolate pieces and the butter over low heat until melted. Remove from heat; cool.
3. Form filling into 6 equal-size balls; set aside. Lightly grease and flour six 3/4-cup soufflé dishes or six 6-ounce custard cups. Place dishes or cups in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside.
4. In a mixing bowl beat eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, andd vanilla with an electric mixer [we're missing our mixer beaters right now, so I just did this by hand and added 2 minutes to the time] on high speed for 5 minutes or until lemon colored. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture [the butter & chocolate one you made 2nd] on medium speed. Sift flour and cocoa powder over mixture; beat on low speed just until combined. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into dishes. Place 1 ball of filling into each dish. Spoon remaining batter into dishes.
5. Bake in a 400 degree F oven about 13 minutes or until cakes feel firm at edges. Cool in dishes 2 to 3 minutes. Using a knife, loosen cakes from sides of dishes. Invert onto dessert plates. If desired, dust with powdered sugar and garnish with raspberries. Serve immediately.

Make-Ahead Directions: Prepare as above through step 4. Cover and chill until ready to bake or up to 4 hours. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking as directed.

Nutrition facts per serving: 621 cal., 47 g total fat (27 g saturated fat), 285 mg chol., 291 mg sodium, 50 g carbo., 3 g fiber, 8 g pro. 26% Vit. A, 8% Ca, 16% iron

Chef's notes: I prepared these last night starting at 4:30 p.m., served them at 8:00 after dinner, and had one left over which I ate at noon today. The cake rose a little more after sitting overnight, but tasted pretty much the same. I think the filling wasn't quite as runny as last night. I filled the dish 3/4 of the way up and it only rose a few centimeters, so don't worry about it baking over the top. Beware of using Corningware soufflé dishes if you don't have a rubber pot holder! After inverting on a plate, those things are too heavy to pick up with a normal terry cloth pot holder. If you have ramekins with corners, those might work well to hang onto. The cakes hold together well, and our first attempt at freeing them from the dish didn't destroy them. For those "balls" they tell you to form with the filling, I just cooled the filling in a 10-oz. Pyrex bowl and used a spoon to scoop up the filling. I didn't touch it with my hands, and it warmed up very quickly anyways. You can just scoop it out with a spoon like ice cream and plop it in the middle of the cake. If you'd like to only make this for two people, these are the proportions I used:

1/4 cup chocolate pieces for the filling; 1/3 cup chocolate pieces for the mix.
1 tablespoon whipping cream (or half-and-half)
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1.75 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1.75 tablespoons cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Powdered sugar (optional)
Raspberries (optional)

Happy baking!

This bugs...

Ummm... if Gabby thinks her fruit fly infestation is bad, I think I can one-up her.

Last night I was getting in bed and I looked at my sheets and saw what I thought was a piece of lint or string or something (I didn't have my contacts in, so it could have been a bear for all I knew). So I went to flick it... and it MOVED. It was a CENTIPEDE. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I had a centipede ROMPING AROUND IN MY BED. Uggggh, barf. Luckily, Julie's the man of the house and she squished it. It could have latched onto my pupil or something.

HELP!

Ok... they've found me. 3 years and 10 miles away, I've been found out... by the horrid fruit flies. Once inhabiting apartment 215 CD in Humes Dormitory for endless months (all because of some rotten apple and rotten orange that we got move-in weekend that never left our fridge)-- they have found me out in Rain Tree. I wrote about our infestations in North Knoxville earlier, but apparently West Knoxville is just as prone to having annoying and infuriating pests. You can blame it on our building-- it has *quite possibly* the most unsound structure (as evidenced by the curve in the back wall on the porch where you can see underneath the bricks or the fact that none of the doors shut right-- or you can blame our kitchen, which is currently holding bananas, open watermelon, open cantaloupe, grapes, apples, and peaches-- hey, we like fruit-- what of it?! Many a fruit fly has died just trying to enter the heaven that is our refrigerator. I find their cold little carcasses SOOOO close to the goodness of the fruit, but alas-- one can't fly when one'sbody temperature is a mere 40 degrees farenheit. Muahaha. I sound evil now, don't I? Well, they wouldn't be such a pain if they weren't so darn bold! They fly right up in your face and into your eyeballs every five seconds without a care in the world. You'd think they'd fear the creature that is 2000 times bigger than them, but they don't! It's amazing. God made some fearless creatures... for me to squash. James got so tired of me staring off in the distance and crouching like a cat before going *SMACK* with hands that I think he has deemed fruit flies out of season for hunting. I'll have to find new prey now... please send bug spray...

Short people got... no reason...

I read a news article on MSN yesterday that said researchers discovered evidence proving that tall people are smarter than short people. Also, they said that research has shown that short people make significantly less salary than their taller coworkers.

Clocking in at a whopping 5'2"..... I'm doomed to remain a broke-as-a-joke idiot.

Just thought you should know.

I talk goood and everythang...

I've officially decided, based on many proven instances, that I am by far the worst at making conversation with new people. Sometimes I'm bad at conversation with people I only know slightly, but with new people-- random stuff just flows out of my mouth, and I can't seem to stop it. I just met my neighbor across the hall [She's the one stinking our hallway up by starting her cigarette inside and then walking through the hall with it. Ick. I don't think Febreeze can mask that.] and all this stuff flew out at once, so I just backed away and said, "Have a good day!" and shut my door. I think I was just taken by surprise that she was actually leaving the apt. building since her car is always here (so is mine until I get a job...), so I didn't know quite what to say. At least I didn't say, "Oh, so you smoke?.... That gives you cancer..... Just thought I'd tell you in case the Surgeon General's warning wasn't big enough..." That would've been a pretty awkward conversation as well. I don't think I can bare to repeat what I really said for the sake of it being so stupid on my part (I need to save face somehow!), but I just thought I'd let you all know how dumb I am.

Fin.

It's been a while...

Hi, folks! I am coming to you live from Krystal's on the strip where I am stealing free Wi-Fi with my brand-new lappy! I bought a really nice Toshiba yesterday from Best Buy... and it's pretty much amazing.

Anyways, I am really excited about VFC this year! It's going to be awesome to see God at work. Plus our interns are GREAT.

There are now 4 girls I live with in the Hodgson's house (next door to the Kittrells... I smell some pranks a-brewin'... tee hee). Julie Kotynski, Loren Milstead, Sara Sagraves, and Sara Brown are now my unfortunate roommates... unfortunate because they have no idea what they are getting into. No, really, ask Gabby.... I'm a weirdo. Anyways, we are trying to think of name for our house. Great names like The Bex, the VFC house, and the Pink house are timeless.... so we were hoping to get a name for ours too. I was thinking something short and catchy, but I'm fresh out of ideas. You guys got any?

With that said, keep us all in your prayers, please.

Oh, and Gabby.... post some freakin' wedding pictures.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back, loyal readers! Just kidding... I know there are no loyal readers, and I am the one coming back-- not you. I am currently in Panera stealing the WiFi and smelling fresh pastries pop out of the oven. If that's not tempting, I don't know what it is. The local temperature is a blustry -35 degrees farenheit here next to the window and 18 air vents. It's so cold that my right hand is slightly numb, making it hard to type. I think all my arm hairs are about ready to jump off my skin since they're so vertical right now.

Sooooo, I guess that's all I have to say.


All right-- I'll tell you a little about the wedding, honeymoon, and recent married life. Here goes.


7 a.m. the morning of my wedding: I wake up to a dark sky, pouring rain, and an empty room. One thing I'd advise for everyone getting married to avoid is ending your lease the weekend you're getting married. That was HORRIBLE. I drove around my neighborhood and pulled a bunch of willow branches from trees that were going to be used to decorate the aisle in the pouring rain.

7:30 a.m.: I came back around 7:30 cold, with sore hands, and began working on the reception music. I'd attempted to delegate the music to Holly, who downloaded stuff and left it on her compy. So we asked Kevin Shipp, who knew that Bowman had wedding music on his lappy at the VFC house. Unfortunately, the burner on the laptop was broken, so I had to get the files transferred to James's lappy. I'd left burning the files off until the morning of the wedding because we were up late at my parents's house arranging flowers the night before. Anyways, lucky me, half of the files were downloaded from iTunes and were password protected when I tried to open them! Yay!

8:00 a.m.: While waiting on the music to copy from one computer to the next, I decided to take a shower and started crying uncontrollably before I got in the shower and couldn't stop until around 10:00 (See, Suzanne? I was that unhappy on my wedding day... haha). I'm not sure why... I just didn't wake up and ask the Lord for help that day, so I felt overwhelmed and like no one would help me at all. I think anxiety, exhaustion, and self-pity took over at that point, and I just couldn't stop crying. Every emotion led to crying that morning-- if I laughed, tears would start, so I just tried to be unresponsive for those couple of hours. Everything I wanted to get done for the wedding did in fact get done, but it didn't seem possible for me to be everywhere I was expected to be that day. It just took a lot of crying and everyone was more willing to lend a hand, oddly enough. I was supposed to go to the florist on Sutherland at 11, get my hair done at 12:30 in Maryville, visit the church some time that morning to decorate, go to the reception hall to decorate... Not exactly possible.

10:30 a.m.: I ended up making it to the florist and waiting 30 minutes for it to get made. I sent on my bridesmaid, her friend Hilary, and my roomie Sara on to the church to decorate, and I felt better when I got the bouquet and got to the church to see it was mostly put together. The aisle stands were up, so all I did was prune some of the greenery with clippers before I had to leave for my hair appointment at noon. I got back from the salon around 2:30, and then got ready, did pictures with the family and bridesmaids, and sat around while we waited for the ceremony to start at 5. I picked out a first dance song at random from Stacey's computer while we were chillin' in the Magnolia Room. It wasn't too agonizing of a wait since we had Jillian reciting all the monkeys from a video game that she enjoys. :) We lined up, entered the sanctuary, and the fun began! My favorite moment was almost tripping up the stairs to the altar as my heel fell off the step. That would've been hilarious.

Well, I'm too cold to proceed with the rest of the story, so I'll have to continue another time. To be continued................

Here comes the bride...

Today's the big day folks... please keep Gabby and James in your prayers! =)

The thorn in my finger...?

Ahoy, mateys! Only 3 days until the big day... you know, the day where Holly cries like a baby. I'm sure you'll all be around just to see that. So, what else can I talk about besides wedding stuff? Ummm... nothing. So let's begin!

Today, all of the flowers arrived via a fat stack of cash, one arm, and the soul of my firstborn child. Ok, it wasn't that expensive, but we cut back a lot of things we wanted to order. Apparently it's more expensive to ship flowers than one would think. Anywho, after an hour or two of unpacking, trimming, watering, running to Home Depot b/c the flowers had nowhere to reside, and many many thorn stabbings, I finally finished prepping the flowers. I'm not sure if it was too early for the pink flowers because they came at a slower shipping rate and are more open than the white flowers. Oh well.

Ooo ooo-- I have a funny story from unpacking flowers-- so I ditched a kitten on my parents about a month ago that Holly brought home from behind Lenny's near Nouveau. He was very shy and veeerrrry cute, so I thought, "Hey-- my parents wouldn't mind another animal." Well, the shy stage has passed and he's now in his toddler stage. The kitten is still nameless, but I'm pushing for "Bubba Gump" or "Gumpy." For the sake of this story, we'll call him "Pablo." So, Pablo the kitten is a little terror. He has rule of the house over my 7-year-old beagle and 9-year-old cat because he has claws, sharp fangs, and some pretty good ups. He gets into EVERYTHING-- it's amazing! Today I left Pablo upstairs alone and came back to find every fake flower we'd had on the table for the wedding favors now on the floor. He became very interested the flower buckets I had in the basement, too. I was trimming some roses and putting them in an old copper tub when I saw Pablo hunker down all of the sudden and leap into the air. I thought, "Noooooooo" (in slow motion) and splash-- the lil kitty was in the tub of water! Faster than you can say "Jumpin' Jehosaphat" Pablo bounded out-- streaking water across the floor. He curled up in a chair to give himself a thorough bath and looked rather sheepish. It was pretty funny even though wet cats are not usually pleasant to be around. I will end with a picture so you can go "AWWWWW" (or so you won't go, "Wow, why did I just read all of that garbage?").

This is from the night I dropped him off-- I'm guessing he was only 4 or 5 weeks old. Soooo cute.

It's amazing what you can do with Paint...

In a week, the person who stole this picture off of my computer, edited it, and posted it as my desktop will be married and no longer living with me. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be sad about that or not.....

Kinda like Kroghetto...

I haven't blogged in forever, it seems. It's not so much that I have given up on blogging... it's more that I just haven't found anything worthy of posting for the world to read. I mean, really, no one wants their post to be deemed "subpar." Well, finally, today something happened that I had to share. I had to go to the North Broadway USPS, and it was one of the most disgusting and miserable experiences of my life. It reminded me of Kroghetto. Those of you who have ever been North-Knoxvillians know of that redneck cesspool-- the magical place where during every visit you can witness one (or all, if you come on a really good day) of these three things:

• someone who is missing a major body part (leg, arm, eye, head, etc)
• seventeen half-naked children running around barefoot through pools of a questionable liquid
• someone who doesn't know how to keep their mouth shut if they happen to find you physically attractive.

The North Broadway USPS is -- hands down -- one of the most ghetto post offices in America... and today, I think it may have one-upped Kroghetto. Avoid it if you can!!

The home stretch...

Well, we're now down to 12 days until the wedding. I keep getting asked if everything is all finished up, but I can't really tell yet! The flower stands and decor for the ceremony are all theoretical right now, so we'll have to wait and see if all these ideas work in reality. Kind of scary... I'm still nervous about how it will all go down. I can't watch any more wedding shows or read idea books this late in the planning anymore because I keep feeling like everything we do won't measure up to the things these other people have done. I have to guard my heart against designers with lots of money, apparently! Kind of weird, but true. In the end, it's one day and no one will remember after it's all said and done. Right now I'm needing some songs for the ceremony. Suggestions are welcome for a "special seating" song, things to play before the ceremony begins, and the walk down the aisle. I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear some more. So leave comments, please!

You are good... always... always...

I've just been so amazed at God's provision in just the last week alone! I'll give a few examples to help you understand:

1. I finished up classes last Friday (the 7th) and was not stressed about my exams at all. This may sound like no big deal, but I am the biggest stickler when it comes to schoolwork and always find something to fret over. I ended up with a B+ and an A in my business classes, and I'm now done forever. Huzzah!

2. I hit dead broke last Thursday when I realized I had a rent check (and a few other purchases) going through soon for $216.67. What did my account have in it? $216.97. I had $0.27 in savings and $216.70 in checking. My mom had agreed to pay my rent this summer since I couldn't get a job (I kept telling people I had 3 hours of class every morning and needed a week and a half off in July, so finding part time work just didn't seem fruitful while planning the wedding...). She transferred some money to my account, but that's not the amazing part. What is amazing is that I thought I should check up on my half.com books for sale and try to sell more books so I wouldn't have to pack and move more stuff than I wanted to. I lowered the price on a couple of books and added a 2005 Cracking the GRE book that I would never need, and lo and behold-- I sold 4 books in 2 days! It was such an act of God! How else would I sell "Economic Botany," "Economic Regulation and Antitrust," "Microbiology," and that old GRE book? Wow. So in 2 days, I made $177.57 (minus some shipping costs that I'll have tomorrow and the price of envelopes) that I should be receiving in a couple of weeks.

3. I've had 2 showers in the past 3 weeks, and I've been amazed at all of the people who have given James and me gifts! We definitely have some generous friends and family with the amount of things we've received. It's mind-boggling that anyone would even want to buy us stuff.. I was just shocked at how many people came to the shower when they could've been doing anything else with their afternoon. God's so good!

Future job plans!!

In case you hadn't noticed, my little profile picture for this blog is a little (I'm assuming British) girl who seems to be the only "Gabby Wells" and also already a trained rider. I possess no such riding skillz, unfortunately. In light of my impending graduation on Friday and lack of occupational direction, I decided to do a search for my new name to see if I could find a career by following in my namesakes' footsteps since I know I could never be as cool as that little girl is. This is what I found:

http://gabrielledalton.com/: pretty much a blank page with an e-mail address for "Gabrielle Dalton & Associates Solicitors." Solicitors? UGH!

http://www.loesjesanders.com/04/clients/dalton/dalton-pix2k6.html : Gabrielle Dalton Costume Designer. Pretty sweet.

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/nt/content/2006/s1606129.htm : Gabrielle Dalton, a filmmaker who did some documentary called "Frontier Women" in the mid 1980s and collaborated on an autobiography for Mayse Young who died in March this year.

http://www.screenhub.com.au/index/crew_detail.asp?crewID=2913: Gabrielle Dalton, a producer of the 2006 movie, Rampage. This may be the same as the above person, but who knows.

http://imdb.com/name/nm1979886/: Producer of 2005's "Soundtrack to War" movie.

Looks like I have a lot of career options for the future now! Iif only I can obtain social security numbers and bank accounts for the people whose identity I'd like to steal... I mean...

Oh-- and here are my options for future cosmetic surgery if I'd like to look like any of my namesakes:
mm... I would look super awesome if I looked like him.





















Or maybe like her:

















So tell me which career path you think I should follow since I'm currently jobless with no prospects. Woot!

The Shipp or not the Shipp

Okay, so this may be a woman, but it looks a lot like Kevin Shipp to me. I just found it on one of those random pics that show up on mail.yahoo.com. Let me know what you think.

INFESTATION NATION!

I don't know about you guys, but it seems like the oncoming summer months only means one thing. No, no... not freedom from massive amounts of schoolwork or fun at the beach. I'm talking about bugs. EVERYWHERE. So about two weeks ago, a foul stench was wafting my way from one of our two trash cans. "What could that be?" I thought, all too curiously. Upon opening the lid, what did mine eyes see? About 30 maggots went cascading to the ground from under the lip of the lid. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH. They all wriggled on the ground in shock and then crawled away to I don't even know where but a vent to our crawlspace was very close... Ok, so after avoiding the trash can until trash day, I had a sigh of relief when the trash men actually got the nasty infested bag out. No more maggots! Ooohhh no. Last Tuesday, my roommate Sara threw away half of a raw chicken (the breast and ribs that had the gizzard and sick stuff attached to it). I knew disaster was imminent, so I attempted to keep the lid sealed on the trash can to prevent flies from going in there. Every time I went by, though, someone would always leave it cracked open. On Thursday, Holly and I had noticed a foul smell around our front porch (very close to the trash cans). I said, "It's trash." She said, "IT'S DEAD ANIMAL AND I'M GOING TO FIND IT!" Well, maybe not that excitable.. but you know, loud. Like Holly. So she goes out to the bush by the front steps with a broom and starts jabbing around in the dirt. I go inside thinking she's a moron, and then Holly runs in to tell me it was the trash and that there were maggots eating all up in the trash bag. Uuuunnh. The trash came the next day, and sadly, not all of the maggots left with the bag, so I had to give them a little bath with our water hose and dump their foul selves into the grass. I'm hoping the robins had a feast. Anyways, I've gotta run to class now. Watch out for maggots.
The end.

Back to school... back to school... to prove to Dad I'm not a fool...

This is the God-breathed verse for the first day of summer school today:

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot.

Ecclesiastes 5:18

School will be over soon. Yayyy.

It is hot in my house right now.

The girls in my Biblical Femininity Bible study are doing a traveling necklace this summer... kind of similar to the sisterhood of the traveling pants or whatever (I never saw that movie, it looked like a wad of snotty tissue to me). Leave it to my darling friend Julie Kotynski to pick out the most obnoxiously trendy necklace known to man (well... I guess men wouldn't really know...). The sad thing is, I really like it. Today was my turn to wear the necklace, take pictures with it on, write encouragements to the other 5 girls, and journal about my life for the next 4 days. All in all, it's pretty sweet.

All of this journaling has got me really thinking about some specific struggles I'm having right now. I think when I am in a group of people where the Holy Spirit is really at work and changing lives, it seems like no one ever deals with the same sin pattern for more than a couple of weeks (well, except pride, maybe). So, needless to say, I have a tendency to feel weighed down by the same recurring sin of laziness and lack of discipline. It's frustrating... I really connect with Paul's lament over him doing the things he doesn't want to do. It kinda makes me wonder if this will be "just one of those sins" that I struggle with until I go to Heaven (the thought of which has really been blowing my mind lately). Who am I to deserve sanctification? Of course, God promises it, but who am I to put a timeline on it? I can't demand to overcome something... I can only beg God's grace and plead that the Holy Spirit will change my heart. Praise the Lord that I received an amazing, encouraging, truth-filled email from Squatty yesterday reminding me that through Christ, we have power over sin.

Dude, dude, DUDE. New Attitude. Saturday. So flippin' excited. Ahhhhhhhh.

3 small steps for mankind...

3 small victories of the week:

1. I had an interview for a very good job yesterday, and although I'm not available as much as they'd like, I may be able to petition my way out of the 2 summer school classes I need to graduate.
2. I just received $1323 in financial aid to cover the cost of tuition although they originally said I couldn't use it if I wasn't full-time.
3. I just found my deodorant that went missing yesterday... yesssssssss.

NUMA NUMA.

Gabby, James, and I have spent the last 15 minutes running around the house and dancing like this guy.

Ohhhhh man, I see this making an appearance at the wedding reception...

Exams, exams

Ok, so I'm definitely supposed to be studying right now. I've been home alone since 4:30 this afternoon, and what have I done? I took a nap from 5-6, ate dinner at 7, played on the computer every spare moment I thought about something I just "had to look up," and then started "studying" again. It's so hard to get motivated! Tomorrow is my 2nd exam, and I am just not feeling microbiology right now. I made notecards about 2 weeks ago over maybe half of the material and still haven't even read through them all once yet because I've been going so slow. No need to even mention the amount I've not committed to memory yet... I did the math and found that I only need a 76% to keep an A and that seems to be prohibiting me from focusing on what I need to do. I'm only going to have 1 more exam to study for after micro and then I'll be free (for 3 weeks that is). Summer school in June will be my last 2 courses of my college career, so I'm way too pumped about never having to study again. Haha. Anyways, I have to go back to learning what staphylococcus aureus is all about... Good night!

All about Dorkface... I mean, Holly

Yes, to combat the evil done by my roommate, I shall retaliate. Muahaha.

Too much information about Holly Louise Ritchhart:

• Holly was born on September 20th, 1985 in Memphis, TN at St. Joseph's Hospital. She, unlike a guy we met freshman year named Cooter, was not the 2nd largest baby born there and did not come out holding a sandwich or having a deal to be the next linebacker for the 49ers.
• Holly is an only child... which should explain the rest of the weird things below.
• Holly had a gap the size of the Grand Canyon between her front teeth until she got braces in 10th grade.
• Holly is just like her mother. 'Nuff said.
• Holly likes to watch my FEMALE dog hump her leg until my mom proceeds to yell at her for doing so.
• Holly enjoys potty humor so much that she recently received the "Potty Training Award" at the last Bible study get together.
• Holly once made a video of her being an evil camera-woman crushing the invading ants on her kitchen counter.
• Holly once made a Wheel of Fortune video, and she gave herself a black unibrow and facial hair with black eyeliner. It looked nothing like Pat Sajak. I don't believe there was any form of a wheel either.
• Holly was obsessed with Britney Spears for several years (I'd say from 10th grade until last year) and commonly referred to her as "Britney" and "Brit." (They were so close they were on a first name basis...)
• Holly often found various people who had screennames and blogs calling themselves famous people and became their "friends." "Britney" often e-mailed her.
• Holly has (unless it's been removed) a larger-than-life head of Justin Timberlake taped near a mirror in her room that has a homemade quote bubble stating: "Oh, Holly-- you're so fine. Will you go out with me?"
• Holly laughs at inappropriate things, like the word "duty" during Care Group.
• Holly is attempting to become less crude.
• Holly does not use soap in the shower. She thinks shampoo and conditioner do enough cleansing.
• Holly apparently has a very keen sense of smell since she can detect even the smallest amount of sulfur dispensed in the air.
• Holly is afraid of children. Not deathly, just of holding them or having to be around them for more than 10 minutes without their parents there.
• Holly once freaked out that a spider the size of a piece of sand was repelling down into an open window and proceeded to jump into my side of the car while I was driving. I had to remove the spider from the vehicle as she crawled into the back seat.
• Holly is going to be a super senior, but hopefully not a super-duper senior.
• Holly plans out elaborate stories to repeat and begins retelling them immediately after they happen to make sure to include every word spoken and every weird detail. Sometimes they're rather hilarious.
• Holly cannot do laundry until her 55 gallon-sized laundry basket is completely full and the clothes are overflowing onto the floor.
• Holly has more shoes than normal people have hairs on their head.
• Holly is only person that really gets my sense of humor.
• Holly laughs at everything except planned jokes.
• Holly can only play Dance Dance Revolution by bouncing on her toes or snapping her fingers like it's show choir.
• Holly likes coffee... a little too much.
• Holly cannot impersonate Kermit the Frog. Ask her to try to say something besides "Kermit the Frog here."
• Holly likes to brush her teeth 4-5 times a day.
• Holly hates to drink water.
• Holly recently began eating fruit and vegetables. Maybe water will be next.
• Holly spends 2+ hours a day on her phone.
• Holly spends 2+ hours a day looking at profiles on facebook and all of their pictures, their friends pictures, and your mom's pictures.
• Holly likes really ugly or weird furniture.
• Holly's room is decked in leopard spots. (See above)
• Holly can handle my extremely mean humor.

I think that's a good note to end on although there's a lot more I could elaborate on. Enjoy!

All about Gabby, Part One

Well kiddies, after reading Squatty's post about his unique traits (which was totally spurred on by a conversation he and I had the night before regarding his taste in music), I decided to dedicate this post to my BFFFLBNOEWHM (best friend for flippin' life because no one else will have me).


Gabby, this one's for you.




Interesting Things About Gabrielle Marrissa Wells

• Gabby was born in Moberly, MO on September 24, 1985.
• Gabby severely dislikes most pictures I take of her.
• Gabby worked as a vet clinic tech for a summer and had to clean up animal poop all the time.
• Gabby really enjoys toilet humor.
• When I would get grounded in high school, Gabby was the only person I was still allowed to play with.
• Gabby does not like being poked in the armpit.
• Gabby is really ticklish.
• Gabby and I have only hugged once in our 7+ years of friendship. We pretty much don't ever touch, unless it's to punch one another.
• Gabby and her fiancé James are ridiculously cute together.
• Gabby takes amazing pictures of flowers.
• When Gabby gets woken up or is extremely tired, she tends to talk like Napoleon Dynamite. For instance, a few months ago I knocked on her door and woke her up. When she opened the door I said, "Oh, were you asleep?" and she replied (a-la Nappy Dyno) "YES, what did you THINK?"
• Most of the time, Gabby laughs silently. You can only tell she's laughing by her body's convulsions.
• Gabby did not play an April Fool's Day prank on me this year, much to my suprise.
• Gabby has lived within walking distance of me ever since I have known her.
• Gabby has grown INSANE amounts in her Christian walk over the past few years (praise God!).
• Sometimes Gabby drinks coffee, but she mostly hates the stuff with a burning passion.
• Once, Gabby accidently washed her face with nail polish remover.
• Gabby can play Dance Dance Revolution like it's going out of style.
• Gabby forgets to put on deodorant... often.
• Gabby is going to graduate college with honors.
• Gabby's brain shuts off in mid-sentence sometimes.
• Gabby has started to gain a shoe fetish... I think she's got about 30 pairs now.
• One time Gabby sang a complete song in her sleep. The scary part was it was actually really good...
• Gabby really enjoys buying rip-off brands instead of name-brand items... like Dr. Thunder instead of Dr. Pepper, and Kroger Zips instead of Ritz. She's even bought generic Kool-Aid packets. I mean, really, how much money does that save you, like 3 cents?
• Gabby is one of the worst drivers I know.
• Gabby is ÜBER artistic. She can paint, draw, and photoshop things like none other. I bet when she was littler, she was the only kid in her class to color inside the lines.
• Gabby is pretty clumsy. She trips and falls off things quite a bit. Last week she completely ate it while getting off the couch.

I hope you all enjoyed this tribute to my homegirl. I know that after reading this she is going to make a post to get revenge, so check back soon.

Calling all tp rolls!

I'm working on a project and need to collect about 200 empty toilet paper or empty paper towel rolls (paper towel rolls= 2 t.p. rolls, so it'll save energy if they come in that form). I currently have 25, so I'm quite lacking. I've got 2 months, though. Anyone with lots of roomies or a toilet paper fetish willing to help collect some for me?

I think this is a better picture...

Countdown!

I just realized today that we only have 9 days until the end of classes and only 102 days till the wedding! Hooray! The last two weeks of class are a breeze for me (for once!) since all of my teachers are on schedules with 2 exams during the semester and 1 final. It's awesome. Plus one of my classes is art-- so I just have to do 3 paintings for our final project-- and one class is conditioning. It's a blessing to finally have an easy semester (now that it's my last full one!). I've got 2 economics classes in June and then I'll be done with college on July 7th! I guess the thought of "you have to go into the real world" isn't so daunting since I'll be married 22 days later and will busy out of my mind for those few weeks, but I think it'll be much better than classes. I'm going to hunt for jobs some more and study for the upcoming exams now. Wish me luck...

This is whom I live with...

That's right.... the crazy one in the back.

P.S. CCK's new website is SWEEEEEEEET.

YAY FOR SCHOOL.

I have a lot coming up in the next three weeks... papers, exams, art projects, and finals. So, if you would be ever so kind to keep me in your prayers, it would be greatly appreciated.

New game plan, folks...

As some of you may know, James and I had been making plans to live out in Oak Ridge at his uncle's place for probably minimal rent, so house shopping had been put on hold for an indefinite length of time. Wellll, James called this morning and said that the 84 Lumber in Oak Ridge is being shut down (stuff is being pulled off the shelves as I write this) along with the one on Clinton Hwy and 60 other stores around the nation. They said it was to consolidate based on last year's earnings, which were very poor with the old management in Oak Ridge but getting better this year with all new employees. Anyways, the only options for outside sales (which is what he'll finally be doing at a new store, I think) are in Sevierville and Madisonville. So it looks like North Knoxville is a better option for house hunting since it's 35 minutes to Sevierville from here and probably an hour and a half from Oliver Springs where we could stay for nearly free. God has a funny way of changing our plans. I was kind of excited to hear the news, and so was James. I guess I'll be looking for jobs more in downtown and North Knoxville rather than far west now, although I haven't really had any good leads yet. We shall see....

Everytime I go to WalMart, something weird happens.

I'm in WallyWorld today at around 11:30am. At this time of day, only really old people are there. I mean, really, it's basically a scientific fact. So, I'm walking down the main aisle, just minding my own business, when out of nowhere this older man comes zooming around the corner and almost runs into me. I smile and move out of his way and keep walking, but then I notice that he has stopped next to me and is talking. I am like, what the crap. So after he gets done mumbling, I look at him and say, "I'm sorry, but what did you just say?".... and he replies with the best sentence a 75-year-old man could have ever said:

"Well, I've been trying to hit someone all day, but I just haven't had any luck."

I laughed really hard, and then he looked at me once my laughter had died down and said, "You're a pretty girl. Have a good day," and walked off.

Only at WalMart, folks. Only at WalMart.

A tale of two rebates...

I decided I finally needed to buy CD-Rs today due to my new responsibility to photography team (and all of the cds I've been rampantly stealing from Holly), so I hunted around Office Depot where nothing looked cheap enough until suddenly--

Gleaming from behind a wall of thin glass-- kept pure from the world by a cheap copper lock-- stood a glorious sale! Yes, twas a 512 MB memory card for only $19.99! Who can resist such grace, such allure, such... cheapness?! Not I, I spake to myself. Alas, I was taken with its charm and decided I must purchase it and deliver it from imprisonment behind locked doors! I bartered my piece of ye olde plastic(e) for the beautiful card and flittered away with my two rebates in hand. Twas a merry time for me! Then, after driving my trusty steed and arriving at my castle, I discovered a quandry-- how doth one send one original UPC to two places? The problem vexed me, and after a near fortnight on the phone with the lords of Office Depot, I was promised to receive $10 cash upon returning to the shoppe. Huzzah!

She takes a bite... chews it once... twice...

Today's verse is the following:

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation [1] under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

I think this is a good one to use to preach the Gospel to yourself. VQ has made me so aware of my inadequacy as a witness. I wanted to share the gospel with my conditioning instructor this morning, but I kinda made small talk about Florida instead after mentioning what VFC was. Plus he started going too fast for me to keep up with him and converse! Anyways, I have to go to repro.... pray for my animal ethics project that needs to be 15 minutes long and given tomorrow afternoon! I feel so unprepared even after looking up everything I possibly could on my topic! (It's bullfighting by the way) Peace.

VQ was awesome.

Something isn't displaying right with the blog.... but dawg, VQ was awesome. More to come later...

Decisions, decisions

I'm sure you're expecting glorious news that all my decisions have been made, and I'll stop talking about wedding planning-- BUT the reception site is still a mystery. I visited Rothchild, and it was nice, but I'm trying to find another place that is available to compare it to. Currently, every hotel (well, about the 15 that I've contacted) is either booked or not big enough to hold a large gathering. Boooo. The idea of an outside carnival is looking good right about now. I don't think people would enjoy July weather with formal wear on, so I'm trying to avoid outside sites as much as possible.

This morning I got on the idea of worship music for the ceremony because Casey was kind enough to provide an outline of how much music to include, and I heard a good song ("Beautiful" by Shawn McDonald) on Squatty's blog. This is a very difficult process for someone who loves modernized hymns to no end! I'm currently trying to find a copy of "O Love That Will Not Let Me Go" because I heard a Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken (I'm assuming it was her voice) version that's updated, but it's not anywhere for purchase online! I read the history of the hymn on the RUF music site and it seemed wayyy too pertinent to a wedding. Check it out:

History of Hymn

“O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” written on the evening of Matheson’s sister’s marriage. His whole family had went to the wedding and had left him alone. And he writes of something which had happened to him that caused immense mental anguish. There is a story of how years before, he had been engaged until his fiancé learned that he was going blind, and there was nothing the doctors could do, and she told him that she could not go through life with a blind man. He went blind while studying for the ministry, and his sister had been the one who had taken care of him all these years, but now she is gone. He had been a brilliant student, some say that if he hadn’t went blind he could have been the leader of the church of Scotland in his day. He had written a learned work on German theology and then wrote “The Growth of The Spirit of Christianity.” Louis Benson says this was a brilliant book but with some major mistakes in it. When some critics pointed out the mistakes and charged him with being an inaccurate student he was heartbroken. One of his friends wrote, “When he saw that for the purposes of scholarship his blindness was a fatal hindrance, he withdrew from the field – not without pangs, but finally.” So he turned to the pastoral ministry, and the Lord has richly blessed him, finally bringing him to a church where he regularly preached to over 1500 people each week. But he was only able to do this because of the care of his sister and now she was married and gone. Who will care for him, a blind man? Not only that, but his sister’s marriage brought fresh reminder of his own heartbreak, over his fiancé’s refusal to “go through life with a blind man.” It is the midst of this circumstance and intense sadness that the Lord gives him this hymn – written he says in 5 minutes! Looking back over his life, he once wrote that his was “an obstructed life, a circumscribed life… but a life of quenchless hopefulness, a life which has beaten persistently against the cage of circumstance, and which even at the time of abandoned work has said not “Good night” but “Good morning.” How could he maintain quenchless hopefulness in the midst of such circumstances and trials? His hymn gives us a clue. “I trace the rainbow in the rain, and feel the promise is not vain” The rainbow image is not for him “If the Lord gives you lemons make lemonade” but a picture of the Lord’s commitment! It is a picture of the battle bow that appears when the skies are darkening and threaten to open up and flood the world again in judgment. But then we see that the battle bow is turned not towards us – but toward the Lord Himself!

Any favorite hymns out there? "O Worship the King" is ranking up there, but I don't think a small band can rock out like Sunday morning worship can. Haha. I finally understand Chris Tomlin's version of the chorus after seeing the real words to the hymn:

O Worship the King

1. O worship the King,
all glorious above,
And gratefully sing
His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender,
the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor,
and girded with praise.

2. O tell of His might,
O sing of His grace,
Whose robe is the light,
Whose canopy space,
Whose chariots of wrath
the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is His path
on the wings of the storm.

3. Thy bountiful care,
what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air,
it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills,
it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills
in the dew and the rain.

4. Frail children of dust,
and feeble as frail,
In Thee do we trust,
nor find Thee to fail;
Thy mercies how tender,
how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender,
Redeemer, and Friend.

Different, isn't it? Well, I'm going to get back to my animal ethics project (I'm doing it on the ethics of bull-fighting. Woot). ONE DAY UNTIL VISION QUEST! WOOOOOOO! Maybe I should be packing...?

The Internet is full of amazing little treats...

April Fools day is fast approaching. I say this because Gabby and I have been in a war over our college years, each one trying to out-do the other when the holiday rolls around. Our freshman year, I began the competition with a flawless prank. I told our suitemate that I would be putting Icy Hot on the toilet seat, so to make sure she didn't forget. When I got back from class that afternoon, I was informed that Gabby's posterior had been tingling for nearly 30 minutes. A simple prank indeed, and it was glorious.

Sophomore year was Gabby's year to take the cake. I came back from a day spent at the Car Show to find my ENTIRE desk covered in Saran Wrap. Not just the big things, but every pencil, every envelope, every piece of paper... everything. Then I noticed the larger-than-life-size picture of me looking portly and making a hideous face (darn those blackmail pictures) hanging in our dorm window which faced the main parking lot. Above that was hanging my underwear, followed by a sign that read "THIS IS MY ROOMMATE'S UNDERWEAR." And, last but not least, when I opened the freezer, all of my other (aka icy) undergarments were found.

So, now it's our junior year. It's the last April Fool's I will have with Gabby as my roommate. What to do, what to do...

Any suggestions? Email them to me.

Who needs a reception anyways?....

I suppose you're all used to seeing every post from me now infiltrated with wedding planning. It's not consuming all my spare time... maybe closer to the day it will eat away at sleep.

Yesterday, in a procrasting fashion, I hunted for reception sites instead of studying for my test today. God was faithful, though, and I think I did well despite having to throw a few answers to the wind because my mind was a pile of mush after waking up at 4 a.m., napping from 4:30-5:10, and studying through one class, playing kickball in conditioning class, and the test at 10:00. Yay for cramming! Anyways, I think I looked up every hotel/convention center/community center (I looked at a community center for the deaf and decided Holly would get too much of a kick out of that...) in Knoxville and still have not found anything suitable for what I'm looking for. I'm trying to find somewhere close to the church, but the only areas with big banquet halls are Downtown near UT (*duh*) so it's proving to be a struggle to find adequate space and price for 100+ guests. Anywho, I'm hearing back speedily from some hotels and taking down pricing for each. Rothchild Conference Center and Catering e-mailed me back with meals around $17-$30/person with no room rental fee, more $ for the dance floor, and most of the decorating already included. I'm guessing about 125 guests will attend, so the cheapest meal choice + service charge + tax would be about $3,000. I don't know if that's reasonable or not, so some of you who've been through this will have to inform me! All we would need to add would be some centerpieces and embellishments to the stuff they'll provide as well as a cake (since theirs is $3/slice!). I'm aiming to not make my parents broke, and this seems like a good choice right now. I'll probably do most of the work myself (or with assistant posse in tow) instead of hiring for every service needed... unless I need a moonbounce. How cool would that be?!

Thanks to those of you who have offered referrals for wedding services already! I'm looking for crafty ideas for gifts and décor as well. 2 hours in AC Moore reading all of their $20 wedding books (no one told me 'This isn't a library!' so I took advantage of it :) ) didn't produce enough ideas that I liked.

Mmkay, back to house cleaning and sorting through my messy room!

I look like I have one squinty eye in my picture...

Some especially applicable scripture for my week:


James 1:2-4, 14 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. . . Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."


1 John 3:18-24 "Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us." (emphasis mine)

Oh how I long to get back into the swing of things...

The wedding update!

So Holly and I went dress shopping today and found some mad deals. We went to Wedding Wonderland and hung out with this sweet little lady named Margaret who probably thought we were insane. She was really fun and didn't act like we were poor or anything, showing me the $3,300 dresses. Haha. In the end, I went back to my first love-- the one and only one that I tried on at Budget Bridal by Connie. The first time I went with my mom, so I wanted to have Holly's opinion on it. Connie also gave me the world's tiniest slip/girdle last time-- she called it the 'sucker upper.' It was so tight I could hardly pull it off! Anyways, today's trip was less traumatic b/c I got wear a normal slip and try on the dress one more time. I decided I was sold, and I got to take it home with me today (it's great being such an average size because I fit into most of the sample dresses... this only stinks when I go normal clothes shopping because all the mediums are gone)! Woot. I'd leave a link, but I think I'll keep it a secret in case the fiancé decides to take a gander at this blog. Holly picked out a bridesmaid dress that looks pretty sweet. I was aiming for a two-tone green scheme, and this one is more the same green but different material for the bow on the waist and the sash. I like it a lot *Forrest Gump voice*. It's fun taking Holly dress shopping because everything she tries on looks like a muumuu.

Anywho, the current thought is July 29th, 2006 at 5 p.m. at Cornerstone (when I turn in the form to the almighty Event Coordinator, Leslie :-D). We're still debating on reception ideas. My mom doesn't like the idea of a hotel, and the church only allows a first dance... James and I aren't the biggest freak out dancers, but I think other people will enjoy it. The reception will be at night, so I'm sure renting somewhere will be expensive or already booked if we don't jump on it right away. I'm currently working on a guest list, so I don't know what size facility we'll need. I'm open to suggestions.. no, I'm begging for suggestions! I think we'll be staying at a bed & breakfast in Gatlinburg called Berry Springs (check out the incredible views!!) for a couple of nights or even staying in G'burg the whole week hiking, biking, and throwing little kids off rides at Dollyworld. Haha. Again, suggestions for locations? The east coast was a thought, but nothing was really there catering to honeymooners that wasn't off the charts expensive.

So the moral of this story-- leave some comments if you've got some ideas cookin!

Computers in the UT library are slow.

VisionQuest is coming up in like three stinkin' weeks! AHHHH!!!

Also, it's now been a little over a month (geez, already?) since Gabby and I started our own 6:00am club, and I have seen the fruits of pursuing spiritual disciplines and biblical femininity (when I type out femininity, I just don't know when to stop... kinda like typing out banana...). It's been hard like whoa trying to force myself to go to bed early and wake up at the buttcrack of dawn... but I can honestly say it has been getting easier (even though the lazy sinner within me wants to avoid getting out of bed like the plague). Praise God that my body is finally beginning to adjust!

And after re-reading that paragraph, I apparently have taken a liking to parentheses and periods of ellipses today.

OH--- speaking of taking a liking to something, ever since I've started working at Nouveau, I have gained 10 pounds. I know, I know, I am still a midget... but I really have been convicted of my poor eating habits and unhealthy diet! My clothes hardly fit anymore... what is up with that? Plus, Gabby has been getting on to me about being lazy and never exercising (what, walking from my bed to the computer doesn't count as exercise? It's like a whole three feet!), so it's time to start taking care of the body that God has given to me. Wow, I see a recurring theme here... lazy, lazy, lazy, lazy, LAZY. (The more you type out that word, the more odd it looks... same thing with knuckles. Knuckles. Knuckles? I've always said that knuckles looks like it should be pronounced "kuh-noo-clays" anyways.) This post has taken on new heights (or is it depths?) of idiocy, so I'm going to shut up now.

The big tale... :)

So apparently the grapevine has done all the telling, but I guess I'll fill the rest of the details in... I'm talking about my special Valentine's Day with James!

The evening started with James arriving at my door with my favorite roses!


He picked me up, and we drove to Oliver Springs to his uncle's place where there would be a quiet atmosphere and no roommates lurching. He said he wanted to cook dinner for me, but when I asked him what the plans were, he said, "I don't know... I'll tell you when I think of them" as we were driving there! When we were going through Oak Ridge, he said, "Oh shoot-- I forgot to go to the grocery store... we'll have to stop at Save-a-lot later" and my heart started to sink because he knows how much I dislike his 'winging it.' I was starting to think he hadn't planned anything... but I was suspicious because I didn't know of any grocery store near the house that was closer than the one we had just passed so I thought he was up to something.

We arrived at the house, greeted by a chubby dog named Sassy, and James said, "Wait here a minute, and I'll go get some money." Like he had cash there... psssssh. I knew he was up to no good, so I made 3 snowballs out of the tiniest amount of snow left and waited for him to open the door back up. He opened the door, and the first one hit him and didn't break. I threw another and hit his arm as I dove for the third one I hid behind a column when it looked like he was going to pelt me with snow. The fight ended (I think in my favor :) ) and I walked into a kitchen with 8 red and white candles on the kitchen table amidst marshmallow hearts and rose petals. He said the meal would be walnut and apple salad with raspberry vinaigrette, parmesan and garlic coated flat bread, some kind of pasta with shrimp and basal marinara, and chocolate covered everything for dessert. He had already made the salad, had the shrimp in the marinara and everything ready to go! He put the pasta in to boil and baked the bread while I wandered around the kitchen. While he was cooking, I noticed the two lamps he had turned on a lathe with his uncles sitting in the living room, and I started to walk towards them when I saw a small heart-shaped box on the floor in front of the tv. At that point, I backed away and acted like I hadn't seen anything and started the guinea pig running on the wheel.

Anyways, I had a kind of late lunch (but I also had a funny feeling) so I didn't eat much at dinner, which I think made James think I didn't like the food. I was pretty full, though, so we ended with some food left for the doggies. We sat there a minute, and he said, "Well, I guess we can do some dishes." Yayyyy, I thought. Soooo romantic. :-P Anyways, we soaked some dishes and didn't really clean any at that point, and we started talking about the two lamps again and walked into the living room ignoring the box right underneath our feet. He hugged me for a long time and then sat down to show me my present.

Ordinary box eh?


I sat down in front of it, and he started to pull the drawers out. This is what it had to say:


*The voice inside Gabby's head:* Uhhh...


What the...


You're joking!


....


Expecting a question mark written on the heart here-- haha.


Is it a sapphire? It looks blue!

He took it out, and I think he said, "Well?" I replied, "Are you sure?" and he laughed at me. I can't quite remember the rest of the dialog, but I'm pretty sure I said yes.... which is a good start, I hear. And he put it on my finger...



We just kind of sat there, and I hugged him, thinking, "Shouldn't I be crying?" Then he gave me a letter he wrote that afternoon, which was probably the nicest letter I've ever read in my life. The little cartoon he did at the bottom was hysterical. It involved a little guy kneeling reaching for a girl saying this:

J: Will you marry me?
G: Yes! *while jumping in the air*
J: Yeah!
G: Why are we floating?
J: Because James drew the ground too low!

I was near tears after reading the letter, but I would've lost it if I'd made him read it to me. Another day, though :). I sat there in disbelief for the longest time on the floor with James holding me. I was trying to wrap my head around it. The only thing I really asked about it was when to get married! Haha. I guess I still don't feel engaged yet. I'm working on it, though.

So we sat there for maybe 45 minutes, mustering up an appetite, then fondue-d oreo-covered marshmallows, strawberries, kiwis, bananas, and apples! It was scrumptastic. I'm drooling now thinking about it.

The moral of this story: I LOVE JAMES! Woo hoo! I hope this sastifies all the romance-lovers with enough juicy details. The wedding will probably be late July or early August since Mason won't get back from South America until July... what a loser :-P. Any ambitious people people to give advice?! I know absolutely nothing about weddings and already feel overwhelmed thinking about writing a guest list! I did buy my first bridal magazine, though, from The Knot since it looked more helpful than their website. $10.00 better be the only magazine I have to buy! Haha.

So here's the full display of my little jewelry box James put together for me :)


...the ice and the cute lil' box it comes in!


The end!

VFC Guys Are....

Last night was the annual VFC Valentine's Day party that the guys throw for the ladies of VFC. It was my first time going, so for those who don't know what this party's all about, it's basically the guys plan and put together this dinner and evening of fun that's especially catered to serving us girls and honoring us.

Well, I had an absolute blast last night!! I was so affected when I watched the video the guys put together where they each told us what they respected about us... I mean, what other group of guys would do that? It totally commends the gospel and shows God's grace in our lives (that we would desire these Godly, feminine traits) and theirs (that they would notice these things and thank God for us)! I am simply floored at the brotherly care I and countless other girls have received from VFC guys. So, if any of said guys are reading this-- thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Last evening served us in so many ways and really made us appreciate the Biblical fellowship we share with y'all! You rock! No, you're awesome! No, you're... incredible! Dangit, there needs to be a new word to describe y'all... one that is a mixture of those..... like... inrocksome..... or rawcedible. Yes, rawcedible.

Here are some pictures from last night.

Biblical Womanhood

I was reading the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood's resources for women this afternoon, and started reading one of the journal articles entitled "Preparing for Motherhood
A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE CULTURAL ATTACK ON DOMESTICITY" by Tim Bayly. I was enthralled with the story about his mother's life and the joy she obviously had in caring for her family. It talked about the rise of feminism in the 70's and the downfall of college educations for women in home economics and any other practical majors (nursing, Christian education, etc.) having any relation to the home anymore. I thank God for the transformation brought on by last year's VQ that made me realize the priorities I had before were merely for my own professional aspirations and not geared towards preparing for marriage and a family. There was also a section called "Quoted and Quotable" after the article. This is the quote I loved:

To be Queen Elizabeth
within a definite area,
deciding sales, banquets,
labors, and holidays; to be
Whitely within a certain area,
providing toys, boots, cakes,
and books; to be Aristotle
within a certain area, teaching
morals, manners, theology, and
hygiene; I can understand how
this might exhaust the mind,
but I cannot imagine how it
could narrow it. How can it be
a large career to tell other people’s
children about the Rule of
Three, and a small career to tell
one’s own children about the
universe? How can it be broad
to be the same thing to everyone
and narrow to be everything
to someone? No, a woman’s
function is laborious, but
because it is gigantic, not
because it is minute.

-G. K. Chesterton,
What’s Wrong with the World

And back to more puppies:

Attack puppy! And....

...attack boyfriend!

Thank You, Lord, for this bounty...

Yes, yes, I know the puppy post is adorable and you all want to adopt her, but I had to interrupt and say that I have been praying about a part-time job for a while now, and today I had a job interview at Nouveau Classics... and I got the job! Yay!! I'm so excited about this answer to prayer... the Lord is so kind!

Anyways, please read below about the puppy. Thank you.

And then there were none...

In the last 24 hours, I've been the adoptive mother of 3 3-month old puppies and now the lonely mother with none. James said 3 puppies were abandoned near a shed on his farm with a big bag of dog food, so we went there yesterday to retrieve them and bring them to a shelter to have a chance at being adopted. I asked around at church today and random friends if they wanted one, but I didn't think any would adopt them. Luckily, the old roomie Jessica got the grey and black puppy and Mason took the black lab looking one. I was ecstatic when they did, but I suddenly thought about what we'd have to do with the final (and the cutest, might I add) puppy remaining. She wandered around the living room kind of searching around-- I think hunting for her sisters since she was always the one to pick the fight with them and loved to wrestle. Then Holly insisted that we take her to the shelter today and not get attached, but I got sad holding in during the ride over. One, because she was going all alone to the shelter without her two little amigas, and two, because I didn't know where she'd end up. The girl at the shelter said, "You know there's the possibility that the animal will get euthanized, right?" and we said yes. Our landlord won't let us have pets here, and we also don't have the finances to care for a dog as it is. I definitely know how much vet bills cost. I just want to run back to the shelter and adopt her although it will be another 65 hours from now when she'll be taken out of isolation to be put in the puppy adoption area in the shelter. So if you're looking for an adorable puppy, this one is the most loving and spunky of any dog you'll ever meet. She'll be at the Young-Williams Animal Center on Sutherland Ave. for the next 2 weeks or so before she'll be euthanized.

Favorite Superbowl Commercial

Mine was BY FAR the FedEx one with the cavemen and dinosaurs... I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard... it was like one big laugh right after another with no time to recover! Gah, hilarious.

What was your favorite Superbowl commercial?

Today's Math Lesson: 2 large cups of coffee = 7 bathroom trips within a 3-hour period.

Okay, okay. I know you all are just DYING to know what's been going on in our lives. I can only write about mine right now, so those of you who were waiting on Gabby to post... welllllp, it was nice knowin' ya.

Firstly, I'd like to announce that I suck at waking up at 6:00am. My schedule got thrown off when Mom came into town this past weekend, and I've not gotten up early since Friday morning (yes, that's 4 missed mornings). I am so thankful that my spiritual discipline performance doesn't determine my favor with the Lord. I want to get back in the swing of things because I love God, and I want to know Him more and equip myself daily! So, I joyfully return to the 6:00am club tomorrow morning. =) And thanks to the New Orleans ladies (Jen and Danielle) for being so encouraging, even when you're 10 hours away!

Secondly, I HAVE CHOSEN A MAJOR. *drumroll, please* Communication Studies. I met with my former speech teacher, Mrs. Laura Smith (my favorite teacher ever, might I add), to get some help with the whole process since she's one of the top dogs in the school of communications. She is a Christian, so it was nice to have some Godly advice coming from her. Anyways, yeah, that's the major change. Apparently I enjoy going to school and will be here for another 47 years... shut up, your mom goes to college.

Thirdly, I love the girls in my Bible studies! The Humes girls and the girls in the Biblical Single Womanhood study are AWESOME!!

Fourthly, potato salad.

Fifthly, what the heck is up with this weather??! It's doing a number on my health... one day it's like 60 and I feel like wearing shorts (but that would mean I'd actually have to shave the forest that is my legs, ACK).... the next day there is a chance for snow and the thickest parka won't keep out the wind. I do not understand.

Sixthly, next time you see Peter Hedger, give him a wet willy. Everytime he's around me, he gives me like 10 in a row, so dangit, it's on like Donkey Kong.

Hmm, burning bush, anyone?

So when you ask for burning bushes, the Lord is faithful to lay down some clear answers. I had a lot of answered prayer today. For one, I am not supposed to be in a courtship right now. For two, I am changing majors and staying here in Knoxville. For three, God is SO GOOD and His sovereign will is best! So yay for the Lord turning a trial into a blessing! I have learned so much about trusting in Him in the past few months, and I am so thankful for that.

Like, please, Lord, a burning bush would be nice.

"I do not ask to see the way
My feet will have to tread;
But only that my soul may feed
Upon the living Bread.
'Tis better far that I should walk
By faith close to His side;
I may not know the way I go,
But oh, I know my Guide."

Cap told me that this stanza (from the hymn I posted earlier) had been really affecting him lately, and I would have to second that. The future is so up in the air right now... what dental hygiene school to attend, where I'm going to live in the fall, etc... and I can see myself searching for answers more, instead of just focusing on my Creator! I've been reading through Sinclair Ferguson's Discovering God's Will, and so far, it's been really helpful in giving me advice, especially these questions from pg. 73:

Is this lawful? Is this beneficial? Is this enslaving? Is this consistent with the Lordship of Christ? Is this beneficial to others? Is this consistent with the example of Christ and the apostles? Is this for the glory of God? And for that matter, am I living for the glory of God?

I also really enjoyed Carolyn McCulley's post on this book. The funny thing is, I'm not stressed or freaking out about my future... more than anything, I'm completely clueless! However, I think that being clueless will cause me to look to the Lord for guidance and to seek His will for my life. I only pray that I stay humble and continue to place my trust in the only One who is trustworthy... because if I don't do that, and begin to rely on myself or others, then that's when the anxiousness and fear will set in (and BOO on that!). I definitely need to be reminded that it's not all about ME and MY decisions and MY future... ugh, sometimes I can be so selfish! But, the Lord is always quick to convict me of my mistakes and draw my focus back to Him. Scriptures like Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 16:9, and Proverbs 20:24 really comfort me. God's going to guide my steps, regardless if I "feel" like all the answers are there. Gah, I wish I wouldn't rely on my feelings at all-- BOO on feelings too! Haha. It's encouraging for me to think that nothing I can do will EVER thwart God's plan... I just need to continue to seek Him by spending time in the Word and diving headlong into areas where I can experience Him more fully (like church, Bible studies, CareGroup, etc).

Anyways, if anyone else is dealing with this same stuff right now, hope this lets you know that you're not alone!!

P.S. I had Panera's French Onion soup today for lunch... I got some stank breath that just won't QUIT.

Riding with Strangers and Fun with Flan

Ok, so I know this will sound extremely crazy, but I had to share it.

This morning, I was running a little behind and didn't walk out to my car until 7:40. As I was walking out (and it was conveniently parked on the street for once instead of our lawn or driveway...) and saw this kid bolting down the street at me! I was like, "Uhh... is he running to me?" I kept walking, unlocked the door, and put my stuff in. I turned around and the kid had gotten to the house next door to me and managed to puff out, "Can.. I... get... a... ride?" I said sure although I thought about how much I would laugh having seen this kid chasing down a bus. Then again, I thought about how I stressed I always was with my parents considering me a huge inconvenience if I ever missed the bus and made them late to work. So I let him in, and he proceeded to show me his watches (yes, plural). He said, "I got this one from BK-- it's a Luke Skywalker watch!" Then his other wrist had a watch on it that he said his dad had when he was 13, but it had never needed a new battery after 14 years. I quickly did the math thinking of the kid's age (probably 11 or 12) and his dad being 27, which would make his dad only 16 or 17 when this kid (Derek, as I found out) was born. That really just broke my heart because I know from doing YOKE Youth Ministries for 2 years in this area that a lot of the kids around north Knoxville have a really tough home life. I asked if he went to YOKE, and he said yes, so I hope he keeps that up. I know YOKE isn't the best at presenting the gospel, and I wasn't either this morning since I didn't mention YOKE and think of the gospel until we were pretty much at the school. Granted, it is only about a mile from my house, but I need to be more quick with the important questions.

Alas, this afternoon I attempted to make a dessert I made two nights ago: flan cake à la Sandra Lee. I made it Wednesday night, and it turned out beautifully, but I had some last night to make sure it tasted good. Then I decided to make another to bring to care group. I'm not sure what went wrong, but this one did not solidify at ALL. It just turned into a flan puddle when I inverted the pan. I cooked it until it was nearly burnt on the top because I could see how runny the flan part was, but it was to no avail. I think I didn't let the flan mix reach a good boil to make it set. So, after looking at my nearly 2 hours of labor lying in a puddle on a broiler pan (and nearly tearing up), I decided to document the two cakes to let everyone have a good laugh. Here they are:

The original beauty...

...and Lake Flan

Oh my gosh... I feel like such an idiot. I just re-read the instructions for the 10th time after poking the lake and discovering that it had set up. It said to refrigerate 2 hours BEFORE cutting around the edges and inverting. Yes, I win the award for "Chef of the Year."

P.S. I went back to the grocery store and spent another $1.04 to try again. It's currently cooling in the fridge and may make an appearance at Care Group, even though I messed up the caramel topping.