This week. It's ova!

Do you ever have one of those "off" weeks? You know, the kind where it's just not super great? I hope so. I've had one.
This week has been looooong. I had a lot a lot to do. Yuck. Tuesday into Wednesday were not my finest days. At all. But good gracious, how grateful I am for friends! Y'all, I seriously have the best/most thoughtful/most caring/all around greatest friends in the world. I love that they take the time to recognize when I'm struggling. They recognize it when I'm not myself. And encourage. And love. And relate. And remind. And are simply amazing.
I've been told I'm hard to read. Which maybe is true. But not for those who know me. Who really know me. I wear my heart on my sleeve. If you've had a single conversation with me this week, or even looked my direction, you've probably noticed I've just been bleh. If you really know me that is. And if you (and you know who you are, there are quite a few of you) took the time to love me so well this week, thank you. I hope I will be able to repay you as well if you ever have an "off" week anytime soon. If you are one of those who read this and didn't notice, it's okay. I understand. We all have busy lives. And we are all so consumed and wrapped up in our own, it's shocking we ever notice anyone else at all. Nevertheless, I hope to love you as well in the future as the ones that loved me this week.
I've found myself praying for thoughtfulness all week. In order to love everyone the way I've been.
Y'all are beyond the greatest. More thankful for you than watching little kids jump in puddles, burned CDs, falling asleep to rain, and getting to hang out with my favorite high school friends tonight!

Sometimes life can be so hard. But it is still so so good. Nowhere perfect, but good. 

On rainy days like this, I live for these sunny day memories! Warm weather. And studly boys.

The Future

We can't know the future, 

just who's holding it.

I am thanking God that He holds my future. 

He is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine  

Ephesians 3:20

I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 

Jeremiah 29:11 The Message

Three cheers for Trevor Bayne!

This kid won the Dayton 500 yesterday. 

Not only is he the the youngest winner ever, totally cute, and loves Jesus, but also, he's from Knoxvegas!! 

Who even knew I was a racing fan? Not me. Actually no one did because I wasn't a fan until yesterday. But that's okay, I have since arrived. Bring on the earplugs and wife-beaters. Sure, I'll be a self-proclaimed redneck for this guy! 

Now, I don't personally know him (I kinda wish more than anything that I did), but I know people who know him! 15 to be exact- according to Facebook :)

Seriously, this kid is so great, not only from what I've seen on the news and read, but also from what I hear from people who know him first hand. He is using this new-found fame as a opportunity to share his faith. How neat. 

Trevor is the biggest thing that has happened to Knoxville since the Vols winning the SEC Championship in '98 or Kenny Chesney stopping concerts at the fair after having big hits on the radio. Knoxville is in an uproar. Everyone is so pumped. Billboard have his name on 'em. He's all over the radio and TV. Proud to have a local boy making it big. Way to go Trev!

Livin' for the weekends

Goodness whatta weekend it's been. I actually can't believe it's STILL the weekend. How weird. It has been absolutely b-e-a-utiful though. I'm praying so hard for it to stay Spring-ish and not go back to cold again. February is almost over and let's just forget about March "coming in like a lion..." can't we just skip to the lamb part? The rest of this week is supposed to be okay. Not freezing or anything. So I think I can probably survive.
So this weekend. Our rockin' YL club on Thursday night kicked the weekend off right (I'm not counting that one measly class on Friday mornings). I got to spend some time at Sarah Moore Greene, love the time I get there, kinda pretending to be a teacher. After that I ended up ON A BOAT! You read that right people- February 18th and we were on the lake! Holla! The absolutely insane boys wakeboarded. I cuddled in their sweatshirts and took pictures. Gosh, it was like summer all over again. No joke. Come on marchapirlandmay! I feel like it's so close. Yet so far. The little boating outing was the perfect taste to hopefully last me through the rest of winter (gag). After that, my weekend got even better with FREE CHIPOTLE! I love this place. And they most know they are in a close running with the Moe's on Northshore because those guys gave me free food. They must've been concerned for my health because no one in the place wanted me not to eat. (See, I had forgotten my money and although my friends offered to pay multiple times,  I was just gonna hold off. But once the manager stepped in and offered it on the house? Who can resist that?!) With all that being said, I am not a regular at Chipotle on the strip. They know my name. And they aren't forgetting it anytime soon. And I am a-okay with that.
Saturday we went hiking. Goodness I love this place. I love having mountains right in my backyard. We don't take advantage of them as much as we should. But we hiked the icy/muddy Chimneys. Quite an adventure. But ohsofun. I can't wait to go back. Maybe next weekend? Any takers? Be warned: I'm climbing to the second chimney this time. :)
Then a cookout and watching the slam dunk competition last night. Despite being 100% out of it, it was quite enjoyable. I just like being around people. But I was exhausted. (I might need to learn to say "no" sometimes- but then again, I can sleep when I'm dead, right?).
One of my very favorite parts of the weekend came today after church (always good) and after studying (always bad) when we played socca! This is another part of spring that I live for. Sunday afternoon pickup soccer games. So good. Nothin' like celebratory victory dances and yelling "goooooooal" with friends.
I had such a great weekend. I'm not sure this is particularly interesting to read, but I needed a break from studying and just wanted to blog about how good life is. And it is so good, don't chya think?

I hope y'all made your life an adventure this weekend.

I'm a celeb!!

This maybe is the highlight of my life right now. My veryfavoriteblog, Today's Letters, featured me, Jenn and Delaney in "Fist Pump Friday." I am fist pumping so much right now. You've gotta check it out. I am o.b.s.e.s.s.e.d. with this blog. Literally walking on sunshine (even though today is so cloudy) all day long. My fav. part? She uses the word DOLLHAIRS too! Love. Love. Love.

Happy freakin' weekend bloggies!

Halls Has It

Y'all. I am on the BEST team ever.
First of all, I am beyond blessed to be called to do YoungLife ministry at Halls High School. I am obsessed with this place. But most of all with my team. Let me back up a little bit first.

Two years ago I started going through this process here at UT to become a YoungLife leader called Quest. We got to visit a couple other clubs. And I visited a school named Carter. And I just knew it. THAT'S where I wanted to be a leader. I was positive. My mom was a leader there. And that's where I wanted to be.

My Quest class buddies. We're stuck together :)

While we were waiting to find out where we got placed my roommate and I would spend days saying, "What if you got placed at... fill in the blank." And whenever it ended in "Halls" we would say, "No way. I would NOT lead there." Of course we didn't mean it... that much. We really didn't even have a reason not to like it. So when the day came where I find out I was a leader at Halls. From the moment they told me that's where I was, I was beyond pumped. It was hands down the exact fit for me from the very beginning. Granted, Halls is a VERY difficult place to be a leader. YoungLife is not a prestigious as it is a Bearden, where I grew up in the YL world. It's an "East Side"< school which literally means it is on the east side of Knoxville, but all has a tag of YoungLife not being as well established, or frankly as strong. (I have to admit that after tonight, I do have a lot of momentum because our club was incredible. But our club was strong. So strong. It was huge. There were tons of kids there. Overfilling the room (which is really unusual for springtime as you other leaders know). It was funny and full of energy and full of laughter and kids and joy and best of all, the presence of God. Unbelievable. I am so thankful for this night.) Anyway, my team is set to break this stereotype. The team has changed a bit over the years. Okay, more than a bit. A lot. And at first I was hesitant. But I'm in love with this team. We are so young. And such good friends. We are close. We talk. A lot. And pray for each other. And vent about the hard times. And celebrate the good ones. There is absolutely no way it gets better than this. Halls is kinda

Literally couldn't do minstry without this girl

forgotten. Or at least that's what it seems like. Which is so wonderful because it makes us count on each other even more. And really we are the only ones who can truly understand Halls. And what it's like. I, we, are so in love with the kids that go to school at HHS. Sometimes they are not so easy to love. And really, it's hard to imagine anyone other than my teammates loving them with me. But these kids, I am so thankful that I know them. Really know them. Girls and guys both. Gotta love it. This has turned into a rambling. I wanna kinda spotlight all my teammates. Just because they mean so much to me. But there's not time now. Too late. I'm too tired. But I am just so full of joy and thankfulness. And love.

How can you resist that?! Loves.

Kirby isn't in these pics. And it makes me so sad. I am too exhausted to look through all of Iphoto to find one of her (I really should organized them better). Love her just as much as the rest of 'em.

Kelsey. T.J. Brittany. Spenser. Mandy. Molly. Matt. Josh. and Kirby. and Nic too.

"Thankful" really doesn't convey it good enough.

Halls. Has. It.

D.C. Chillin'

2011. The year of no regrets. A month and a half into it and I can honestly say, so far, so good.
Especially after this past weekend.

Ten college girls, two Megabus rides, 100 mph gusts of wind, three maps (mis)read, five (or 1) memorable Brazilians,  two long days,  ten thousand important monuments, way too many optical illusions, one car wreck, eight delicious cupcakes (for breakfast), countless cool museums, 26.1 miles walked, one time-crunched-super-panicked-almost-missed-the-bus cab ride, two fancy hotel rooms, and one HUGE city.

Let me just be honest for a second. This is probably going to end up being one of those comments I should "filter," but it's happening anyway. I didn't realized D.C. was so... big. Like, it's huge. I was thinking it was going to be pretty small. Like Knoxville size-ish. But it's giant. And there is SO much to see. And so many sidewalks to be walked. And let me tell you, I'm pretty sure we saw it all and walked it all.
Anyway, words really can't do it justice, so I'll let these pictures try... 

We started the day off right at about 7a.m. Good morning D.C.!

Maps are our friends... if only we could read them

First stop: The Capitol. Looks 57 miles closer than it actually is.

If only we looked this cheerful to be walking all day

Hip hip hurray for D.C.!

Us imitating the Washington Monument (I finally learned what it's called)

Here, we'll hold it up for you.

Giant pizza

WE LOVE FAMOUS CUPCAKES!!!!

Fist pumps and leg kicks for being in D.C.! (Thanks for teaching us how to show our emotion so much better, Today's Letters!)

Our mini Lincoln pennies with big giant Lincoln statue

Good ol' Rocky Top (Whoo)

Thank you feet. We could not have done it without you.

We came, we saw, we laughed, we walked, we took pictures, we talked, we got lost, we smiled, we hung out being bestest friends and having the times of our lives. So thankful for this time of my life. Thankful for roadtrips and friends and laughter and memeories and trips to the nation's capitol that I will never ever forget. No regrets.

V-Day

Today is Valentine's Day. I have a love/hate relationship with this holiday. By love/hate, I mean mostly all hate. I love love. Remember here? But I like the idea of celebrating the ones you love everyday, not just one day of the year. However, I do like the thought of making one day a tiny bit extra special. But let's be honest, today it only exists to remind me (and others) how single I (we) am (are). Luckily, I snagged a studly Valentine a couple of hours ago. We were both dateless. Coincidence? I think not. Viola! Well really this post is a bunch of nothing based around me really not knowing how I feel about this holiday- can it even really be called a holiday?? Basically, I'm too exhausted to blog about D.C., and also too tired to study for my Psych test. So little mini blog it is.
Synopsis of this random post:
1. D.C. rocked! Such a blast. Full blog to come pronto.
2. Valentine's Day sucks... I think? At least for now. But not too bad.  
3. I should not be allowed near a computer when I'm this tired.

The land of the free and the home of the brave!

While I was typing the title of today's post I had to hum the whole Star Spangled Banner just to remember which order the phrase went in. So don't worry Christina Aguilera, forgetting the words happens to the best of us...

Revolution in Egypt. Goodbye President Mubarak. As great as this is for Egyptians, it sure does make me glad I don't live there. True, they look so happy on TV and totally bonded together as a country, but gosh, I'm so thankful to live in the good ol' U.S.A. What a blessing that we live in a place that has already been fought for, a good place, where we are safe. Besides, we just had the Super Bowl to bind us together :) This is just such a fitting introduction, so allow me to make a smooth transition into the BIG NEWS OF THE DAY....

Tonight we are journeying to the home of:

• My favorite cupcake TV show
• The Lincoln Memorial 
• Red, white, and blue
• The Obama's
• All the b-o-r-i-n-g stuff we learn about in my American Law class
• The Pentagon 
• The place where Lincoln was shot
• Lots of war memorials
• The Smithsonian
• That tall, skinny, pointy white building (Think Forrest Gump... I can't believe I don't know what it's called...)
• Newseum (I love news. Sounds like my kinda place!)
• The White House
• Holocaust Museam- As sad as it is, I heard this place is incredible
• Many other very important and noteable places
• AND the Nation's capitol- Holla!

That's right. We are headed to D.C. baybay!

This will be my first time in the city (a city that is not in any state? or is it a state itself? I'll never understand this place). Most of my friends went on the Safety Patrol in fifth grade. It was the totally rad thing to do back in the elementary school days. Little A.L. Lotts, however, musta been above and beyond the safety patrol (or had many more parents who insisted they be involved) because we didn't have it. Therefore, I will play the roll, amongst all the other tours of ten year olds we see, of a first time D.C.-er in our group. Don't worry peers, I'll lead us well! (And make sure we stop and look left, right, then left again, at every crosswalk).

 Here's an interesting side note: it's just girls going. I'm so thankful we won't have guys trying to tell us what to do. Girls gone wild in D.C.!!!! Totally kidding. Really. There are so many of us going. I'm really not sure the exact number, but people were buying tickets even up to last night!! Which leads me to my next interesting side note, we are taking a MegaBus. What the heck is it? I don't know. I imagine it like a glorified KAT bus. Apparently it's double decker and that little (or not so little) puppy is drivin' us through the night-10:30pm to 6:30am to be exact- to this wonderful nation's capitol (and it will do the same again on Sunday night). All for the round trip low price of $6! And it's not sketch at all!... as far as I know :)

This weekend is what I like to call, "so college." I am crazy pumped about the spontaneous-ness of it. And that we're just goin'! Not a whole lot of plans. B-e-a-utiful. I can SO clearly picture us years from now reminiscing about "...that time when we were 21 and we rode a MegaBus to D.C..." Good gravy I can't wait! Assuming that we don't get kidnapped by the MegaBus driver, or taken off the streets of Washington D.C. (that was all a joke, Mom. Definitely not happening) I will most certainly be updating y'all on all the sure to be super memorable moments of the trip asap.

Most definitely will be an epic weekend will be had by all. 

GET ME ON THAT MEGABUS!

It's a wonderful day for a BIRTHDAY!

It is totally and completely FREEZING today. AND our "1-3 inches of snow" is non-exsistent. AND North Carolian lost last night. BUT today is one of the Fab Four's birthdays. Therefore making it a fantastic day! The one I've known the longest, for my whole entire life (minus 17 oh so short months). HAPPY TWENTITH BIRTHDAY, DREW! Good gosh I can't believe he's twenty! He's not a teenager anymore. This is so cliche, but I feel so old!

He can juggle. As if we needed more proof he's cooler than me

Drew. Wow. So much to say about the kid (or not so much a kid these days). Literally 99.9% of my memories from childhood involve him in someway. I refused to call him "Drew" for the first couple years of his life. He was just "Baby", or eventually "Babe Dew" to me. We grew up running up and down the muddy slopes of "The Little Grand Canyon" in the back of the neighborhood. We built forts (equipt with holes in the walls for him to pee out of- one more thing of probably TMI...) and treehouses and swings out of rope and sticks. We had lemonade stands and smashed pennies on the railroad tracks. We would sneak out of bed and lay on our stomachs and whisper to each other from our doorways, out of earshot of our parents until late into the night (realistically our "late nights" were probably over by 9:30). We learned how to play every sport together. We seriously did so much of our growing up side by side. This was quite annoying to me most of the time since I AM seventeen ENTIRE months older... But looking back, I'm so glad I had him by my side.

Apples to Apples words ALWAYS describe the person 

We are so so different. Maybe even opposites. But I am so thankful for him and all the memories we share. I pray that my own kids will get to grow up with a sibling so close in age. There is absolutely nothing better. I will never ever forget his sacrifice in a friendship for me. Drew means more to me then he will ever know.

Happy birthday Drew Bear!! Love you so much.

Sports again?

I swear I'm not a psycho sports fan. But tonight is a big one. UNC VS DUKE! If you cheer for Duke, I'm sorry, but we are not friends today. The Fab Four have all grown up rooting for the Heels. They were our favorite team even before we could speak. We all cheered for North Carolina for years before we realized it was okay to cheer for Tennessee too. Maybe you think I'm kidding... but I'm not.
It's all thanks to this guy.
<-------------
And this girl? ------------------------------->
Her initials are ACC. For North Carolina's conference. No joke. It was intentional. We are fans. And since Duke- or as I like to call it, Puke- is our rival, tonight's a big night. Go Heeeeels!

In other news, it's supposed to snow again tonight. Jammers inside out tonight, everyone! After tonight NO MORE SNOW! Come onnnn Summa!

Is it lunchtime yet?

My team won!!! I've always been a Packers fan :)
More importantly, fav. comercial: Definitely the VW one. With the kid dressed up as Darth Vader. Winner.
Granted, it was quite crowded where I watched the game, and I'm not usually one of few words, so I did miss probably about 80% of the commericals. I just had too much to discuss. However, I'm pretty positive it doesn't get much better than that one.
Another highlight of the game (other than my team winning and all the socializing I accomplished), I found out who our neighbors are gonna be next year. And they are rockin'! I am so pumped to have two houses of handsome fellas move in right up the street. I love our little Red Saile road, and come June it's gettin' two times better! Neighborhood parites? You bet!
I am sad to admit that I miss the Black Eyed Peas. I had to run and pick up a friend. I can consul myself with the fact that apparently they were not great. At all. But I also hear that Usher made an appearance. Break my heart. He's quite possibly the love of my life. So I'll choose to overlook that fact.

Pretend like this says "2011"

My brother ran a FULL marathon. He's a beast.

In other completely unrealated news. To update y'all on my progress from this post, I have been able to keep moving. Somehow I recovered. And actually improved. I wasn't going to put this out here on the world wide web until I was sure I was going to commit to it. So here it goes. Drum roll please....
I'm gonna run a half marathon. The Knoxville half marathon to be exact. On April 3. Wanna join me? You can do it. Running. It's all mental. Go here and sign up!
Today I ran 7 miles. I'm exhausted. I'm not sure if I missed the "runner's high" this time or what. Or maybe it has something to do with going to bed at 1 and getting up at 7... I really don't know. It's been a long day. I feel like it's time to go to bed. But the good news is, I have official run a little bit over one-fourth of a marathon. Ay baybay. Not to shabby. Only 6.1 more to go now...

My thought of the day: Be kind to others today. 

Easy enough... right?

Da Super Bowl

In case you haven't heard, it's Super Bowl Sunday. Ooooh baby, I love this day. Really, I just like any day that gives me an excuse to hang out with a big group of friends. Especially when we get to eat yummy food. And laugh at commercials. And each other. And cheer for the same team. Or different teams. Which leads me to my one problem with today. I don't know who to cheer for. Look at number 12 from here, to see my original thoughts. I was a self-proclaimed bandwagon Steelers fan. But I think I'm leaning towards the Packers now. I've been seriously debating this issue for the past 48ish hours, and I just can't come to a conclusion (It was so much easier last year- love Peyton- Go Colts). I feel some loyalty to the Steelers, since I cheered for them against the Jets, but that loyalty clearly doesn't run deep. And something about Ben Roethlisberger is a little too creepy for me. Especailly when compared to YoungLife alum Aaron Rodgers. Sketchy QB in a club vs a YoungLife-er like us! See? I think I gotta go for good ol' boy, Aaron. Plus, he replaced Brett Farve... talked about creepy quarterbacks. And I hear that all the guys with long hair are good. So keep an eye out for them doing... good? Go, Pack, go...?

I feel obligated to the Steelers, but ever thing in me wants to cheer for the Packers. 

Either way, my prediction:

Packers: 35

Steelers: 31

(I'm ALWAYS way off. So if you're into making Super Bowl bets, probably wanna get as far away from my guess as possible).

So, I guess I'm really cheering for... the commercials?

Can't wait to see what kind of scandelous ads the GoDaddy campaign comes up with this year. Please catch my sarcasm here.

And halftime performance by the Black Eyed Peas? Yes please! 

I've gotta feelin', that tonight's gonna be a good night!

LOL-ing

I haven't really used "lol" since the WVMS days, but it fits so well here.

If you need a laugh, PLEASE watch this. I may or may not have peed my pants a little bit (just kiddin'... kinda).

Enjoy!

Happy almost Friday!