Proud Auntie

Because, I haven't any siblings, I am the honorary auntie to Daniel James Cooper and I couldn't be prouder. A couple of weeks ago, he turned one. Last year, God timed it perfectly for me to be able to see Ames and Nick and their new little boy. I was on my way back from a trip to New York City and it just so happened I had to drive mere miles from the hospital as I was on my way back to Lubbock. It was such a wonderful moment to share with my best friend's! The first pic is the first time I held him and the second is 2 days after his first birthday. How could I not love this cute boy?!

We Could All be Britney

Unless you haven't watched a single hour of television or surfed the web at all this week, you've seen Britney everywhere or at least heard something about her. They keep referring to this as her comeback...I guess cause' she's gotten so low in her personal life. The other night, I watched that documentary about her on MTV. As I was watching it I realized an underlying theme in her story...loneliness.

Afterwards, I felt really sorry for her. I think mostly because I realized her story of making unwise decisions could easily become mine or any 20-something young single woman's story as a result of the pressure of loneliness. If you really think about it, she's not that different from most young single women...dealing with the world's skewed idea that you need to be attached to someone in order to be fulfilled.

The other night, as I was driving home from spending Thanksgiving in San Antonio, this overwhelming feeling of loneliness attacked me...I didn't really have anyone waiting for me in Dallas...I mean, friends, yes, but not a guy waiting in eager anticipation. I have to be honest, if I wasn't under the amazing grace of God, I would have found some way to fill the loneliness...drinking, partying, giving into the hormones, ie. engaging in premarital sex...you get the idea. Anyhow, that's essentially what Britney did...she found things to fill the loneliness...an empty marriage, drinking, partying, etc.

As a result of this Britney comparison, two things happened...I became so grateful that God saved me from what I could be in my situation right now and I felt the need to pray for not only Britney, but the "Britney-look-alikes" out there...every 20 something single girl out there trying to fill the loneliness. I encourage you this week to encourage that group of saved and un-saved women alike and even men for that matter. I'm sure single guys go through the same thing.

I mean, a few wrong decisions and we could all be Britney, right?

apes

HSM

So, I've officially given in to the teen craze that is High School Musical and as you can see by the acronymed title, I really like it...cause you only refer to it as HSM if your a freak and that I am my friends...an HSM freak!

It all started one cloudy Saturday afternoon when my roommate casually mentioned that she secretly always wanted to watch them...them, being HSM1 and HSM2...I took the opportunity to confess as well. We drove straight to Blockbuster and rented shamelessly. We sat their in our cave-like apartment watching all that is cheesy, not answering phone calls...staring at Zac Efron!!!

After that, it was hard not to want to break out in dance at any given moment. Fast forward to last night. We really wanted to see HSM3 in the theatre since we hadn't seen the other two on the big screen, but hardly any theatres were showing it anymore. Fortunately, there was one theatre in Plano that was showing it, so we drove to the 9:15 showing. I think Monday may be the slowest movie-watching night of the week...we had the entire theatre to ourselves and let me just tell you...it was magical. The dancing...the singing...the Zac Efron-ess (gasp...hawwwt!)

If you haven't given in...just give in...you know you wanna! I'm going to burst into a choreographed dance right now...see ya!!!

apes

What's a Road Trip Without a Trip to the ER?

Steph and I had a lot of fun road trippin' it to Lubbock this weekend. We saw some sweet friends, went to the Tech game...and had one heck of an unplanned visit to the ER. So, if we happened to not be able to see any of you dear friends whilst we were there, it was because we were deeply investing our time in the UMC emergency room.

Saturday night, amidst our victorious chants at the football game, Steph started having some sharp pains to the right of her belly button. She mentioned it briefly in the description of a side stitch, but being the trooper that she is, she just let it go. Around midnight, as we were laying in bed, she said it was starting to get worse. Neither one of us knew what to do, so we just proceeded to sleep...well, at least I did.

Around 2:30am, Steph woke me up to tell me that she hadn't been to sleep yet and was ready to go to the ER, because she was scared she had appendisitus. So, Steph, myself and her parents all got dressed and headed to UMC. Long story short, a couple of blood tests, one CT scan and a lot of unexplained pain later, Steph was released. It was 9am when we left the hospital, 6 hours later, and none of us had slept. Steph was feeling much better and the doctor said she should be fine, but just to watch for any pain in the next couple of days. We headed back to her parent's house and slept for most of the day.

Thankfully, we were able to joke about the whole thing. We even had some pretty good laughs at the ER...it's funny what's funny when you're deliriously tired. Here are a couple of our game pics from before the "appendix incident"......GO TECH...I love being alumni!





apes

Mmmm...

...in less than 24 hours, I will be in Lubbock, Texas...quite possibly the most magical place on earth. I am indeed a happy girl.

apes

Knee-Driving

Most times, I find knee-driving to be extremely dangerous. However, yesterday as I utilized this thigh strengthening maneuver, I recognized its helpfulness in the following three scenarios.

1. Changing. And, puuleeese, re-inhale that gasp...you know you've done it before.

2. Booty-dancing. Shakin' your bum in the car is pretty much impossible, so in these cases, you must flail both of your arms about as a crazy person in order to make up for the inability to drop it like it's hot.

3. Eating chips and queso. Knee-driving is, in my opinion, most fulfilling in this scenario as you can hold the queso in one hand and dip the delicious chip with the other all while reaching your desired destination in a timely fashion and impressing the safe drivers around you.

Please knee-drive responsibly...

apes

Distribution of Passion

I just realized I hadn't blogged in two whole weeks...I still can't believe it's been that long. I tried to think what could possibly be taking up so much of my time that I haven't a blasted minute to indulge my readers (insert ponder here)....I quickly figured it out.........College football, ABC and the Village Church.

I am currently obsessed with college football...particularly Texas Tech football. I have spent nearly every Saturday heating up queso, staying in my pajamas and watching football games like a freakin' dude. Alumni...what, what!

I am also ridiculously over-committed to television. Last night, someone asked me what shows I watch. Here's what came out of my mouth...Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Brothers and Sisters, Samantha Who, Lipstick Jungle, The Hills and Project Runway. Project Runway is gone now so I can strike that, but in 2 weeks the gaping hole will be replaced with 30 Rock and then another will be added in January when Lost returns in all of its gloriousness. And, what's so crazy about this list is that I have seen every episode of every season of every one of these shows and that half of them are on ABC. Oh, how I love thee ABC!

With all of the tv watching, you may be wondering if I'm even a believer at all anymore...what with seemingly zero time to engage in a church community. But, alas my dear friends, the Village actually takes up more than all of that put together. I know I mentioned it vaguely in a previous post, but I've managed to stumble into a small group of girls so deeply engaged in discipleship that it makes me feel like I'm sitting in a Challenge group in the great atmosphere of Lubbock all over again. They have been a much needed answer to a sometimes frustrated prayer. The Village loves discipleship and it makes me feel like I'm home again.

Hope that got you up to speed. I'll have some new material to blog about in the coming days...here's a teaser. I am supposed to attend a "Hick-Hop" dance party with the very famous baker, Lindy Means, this Friday night. Tell me that doesn't get you excited for a re-cap post!!

Later,
apes