July

...That's not right. Somehow it's only the end of May. I really barely believe it. It's been so unbelievably hot.
I've been spending my days with this kid.

I'm just being a mom this week. I've been running errands, doing laundry, and taking care of the pets and kid. I've loved it all. Especially sleeping in a king size bed! This boy is one of a kind and I love him so much.

We've been keeping cool...
Lake life

And hanging out at Governor's pool. What a way to celebrate Memorial Day.
I told Sam we were going to go to the Governor's pool to swim and he said, "The Haslams? In Nashville?!" Then proceeded to question me extensively as to why they have two houses. He's funny.

Lastly, some early mornin' lovin' for Knoxville. I adore this city.

Roomie Love

I am borderline obsessed with my roommates.

All-starts. 

 

 

 

 

 

Pray for all my friends and their friends and my family at camp this week. SharpTop, Frontier, and Windy Gap, and Beach Camp having the best weeks of their lives!

Post College Post

Woooow! Welcome back to my life, Bloggies! It's been awhile to say the least. Lots of exciting things have happened since my last post.
Here's to catching you up on my adjusting to the post undergrad life (yeah right).
1. NEW ROOMIES!! While I am so sad to be losing two of my sweet roommates from last year, I am SO pumped for the two new ones that moved it. EEK!

Babes. The Red Saile girls are rockin'.

2. Red Saile got is getting a makeover. It looks totally different than last year but is coming together... slowly.
    This accounts for me not blogging for awhile. We didn't have internet. Actually we did, but it took us about a week to finally figure out how to plug everything in #slow #girls #blonde #technologicallychallenged

3. I finally joined the technology advanced average world with... hold your breath, Bloggies, an IPHONE. Yes. I, Chelcie Crawford, finally got an iPhone. No more Palm Pre baby! I'm about 99% sure it was the last one in use in the world and it has officially been retired. Glory, glory! PTL.

4. Post college life I have zero money. Typical. But we made about $300 in coupons to Chickfila when we went to the grand opening. Lucky number 70 right here. The heat, awful tan lines, and extreme sweating were totally worth the limitless sweet tea, cornhole, and time with friends, and of course a years worth of free Chickfila. Insert CFA plug here: the new cookies are ah-maz-ing. And if you want to see our fame, you can click here. I'll be signing autographs all week.

Red Saile girls love chicken.

Been up since 4:30, still lookin' good.

Introducing our temporary replacement roomie, Kevin. He's almost as good looking as Jamie :)

Our home for the night. The night was about as rough as the tent looks.

5. We went to the drive-in. Gotta love embracing our inner East Tennessee-ness.
The Advengers > The Lucky One. Just FYI... 

And that's a wrap!

Graduation Day!

Today I graduated college!
It is significantly different than high school graduation though.
For one, instead of getting up early and going to graduation, I stayed in bed and read. And hung out with my fellow graduate roommates.
I laid out at the pool.
I didn't put on a dress.
Or a cap and gown.
And guess what, they still let me graduate!
How cool.
No cards full of money coming in the mail.
Or celebratory dinner with my family.
Or cool grad gifts I'll never use again.
Or graduation parties where we all share our favorite memories.
None of that.
But still a graduate.
Awesome!
For all you Legally Blonde fans: "Congratulations class of 2004 2012...we did it!" I hope you were accurately able to hear Reese Witherspoon's voice in your head.

The best way to show enthusiasm. Fist pumps and leg kicks for being d-o-n-e with undergrad!

Cinco de Hold the Mayo

I hate mayo. With a passion. Gag.
But I loooove Cinco de Mayo!
Thanks for giving us an excuse to celebrate, Mexico.

I mustache you a question.
No, I'll shave it for later.

Happy summer.

The Real Last Day

So today is officially the last day of finals. Graduation starts tomorrow. Weird. We're all about to be college graduates. These were the fastest four years of my life.

Random people out in public have been asking what's next? College? Where?
I need a shirt that says "I'm older than I look." I'll wear it until I get too old. Which is 30. Or maybe 25.

I'm out of college. Except not really. Out of college for about 20 more days.
Then back at it.
Grad school.

I'm embracing this. Doing my best to avoid the real world. Yuck.
I only get one year though. I need to figure out how to make it a little longer...

I feel like everyone is thinking, "I'm done with college... now what?"
I'm glad I have one more year to totally get that figured out.
It's a weird/scary/exciting/weird/fun/sad/busy/lonely/weird/confusing/freeing/adventurous/really weird time.
One of my bffs tweeted this: "a wise man once told me (disclaimer: I have no idea who this "wise man" is, but I agree, he is wise) "God designed life to get better and better." aka rest of your life > college"
I'm not sure how this will be possible, but I have to choose to believe it.
So freshmen year of life (kinda), bring. it. on.

The End of My Kindergarten Days

The semester is over and my days in Kindergarten have come to an end.
At least for now.
Possibly forever.
I really loved my time at Brickey. It made me realize more fully what age I hope to teach:)

Here are some of the funny things that happened on my last day with the bebes:
1. We had "Bee Day." We made a "hive" out of the tables and each kid got a bee job. I got to be the Queen Bee. My job? To be fed and make babies. Can this please somehow become my real life job?
2. A girl asked me to pull out her tooth. She clearly did not hear of my extreme dislike for all thing dental related. I told her to wiggle it with her tongue and turned around. Two seconds later she was shoving a tooth (root and all) into my hand. Nice.
3. One boy told me that another boy was saying bad words. The "S" word. I raised my eyebrows. And he said, "Yeah, he called someone 'stupid.'" I had to hold back my laughter... again.
4. They were making Mother's Day cards and it was my job to read them the sentence and write down their answers to the fill in the blank. One sentence was "I know my mom is smart because she __________." The kids were filling it in with things like "...she knows how to count by tens all the way to a thousand" and "...she knows what 100 + 100 equals." Then one boy said, "I know my mom is smart because she listens to my dad." Sigh. Boys will be boys...?

I have loved all the funny stories I've had while teaching Kindergarten, but I'm excited for another grade next year. I'm glad this profession offers something different every day and will allow me to entertain friends with funny stories. It seems like every single day of my placements I had something funny to tell afterward. I have no doubt Norwood will not disappoint in plenty of stories to tell as well.
Elementary school. Gotta love it. 

Did they say "Bubs?"

I get this a lot.
Bubs?
What the heck is that?
Well, friends, it's my nickname.
And I get asked all the time where it came from.
So here it goes...

It all started when I got placed on this awesome YL team (side note: wowwowwowwowwowwow we've changed so much). Anyway, those three boys in the back are the instigators of pet name.
I was so uncharacteristically (insert sarcasm here. and thumbs up for using such a long word.) super pumped and enthusiastic on a particular Saturday in general and adding in my additional excitement to meet my new team must have made me into some kind of crazy ball of energy.
Fortunately for me, rather than describing my personality as "over the top" or "annoying", they found it endearing and "bubbly." This could've been a much different post if they had gone with the first two adjectives...
So they spent that Saturday calling me "Bubbles."
Something is not right when the nickname is just as long as the given name, and one of these boys was quick to realize this and shortened "Bubbles" to just "Bubs."
And the rest is history.
I really have no idea how it stuck so firmly.
I guess those three guys have some kind of power that gets people to do what they want.
We went to Oregon on summer staff and "Bubs" was all I went by. And not because it was how I introducing myself.

These two jokesters took my nickname coast to coast

And from that summer on, that was it. I became known simply as "Bubs" to many people. In fact, one YL leader met my mom and she asked him if he knew me, Chelcie Crawford. He said no. But he knows me. We're friends. Real life, hang out, have each others phone number friends. He just didn't know my real name. Oh my.
But I love this nickname. For a couple reasons. First of all, everyone is required to love a nickname that actually sticks. Secondly, it's a compliment. Who doesn't want to be thought of as cheerful? And lastly, let's be honest, it's impossible to angrily say "Bubbles." I dare ya to try.

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO BLOGGIES!

Dream Team

I didn't join this ministry for community, but I am sure thankful for the community I have found. 

Does it even need to be said?
Of course it does.
Halls has it.
Boom.

It's My BFFL's Birthday!

Here she is.
In all her glory.
Becca Jones.
We all say we feel like we are still 17.
So I felt like it was fitting to put up a picture of her when we were that age.
Although, today she is 22!
Tiny freak out moment happening here... We got so old so fast!
Somethings about Becky:
Becca is the craziest, funniest, coolest, friendliest, best person you will ever meet.
She is one of those people who I sometimes thinks knows me better than myself.
She cracks me up every.single.day.
She's the one I call when I have something funny to share, need some advice, or just wanna talk (which is so very often for me).
She's a total babe.
She makes everyone feel important and like they are the greatest person in the world.
She shares her cute clothes with me.
We make a perfect team.
We have SO many memories together. She is like a personal journal of my life.
I can't even start naming them or I'd never ever stop. For real.
I love her so much and am more thankful than words can say that I get to call her my best friend! (everyone else be jealous).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOUK!!!!

Short, Sweet and Still Meaningful (Hopefully)

Here we go...2 weeks, 2 posts...we've got a streak! I also promised this would be short, which is hard for me. Very Hard. I figured I could post a little video and that would keep me out of the danger zone of writing another small essay. Let's get to it quickly, or else I'll start on a tangent about Spring Fling or my Birthday and then it's over....you'll be here till tomorrow. For any thoughts pertaining to that, you can request a personal live blog from myself at any time this week. But alas, onto the video....

So, I have a sneaking suspicion that 98% of the people who read these posts are females. Just call it a hunch. That's ok though, because I can post stuff like this song that I probably wouldn't post on my facebook for all to see. But I need to post it somewhere, it's just too good.

I have a big time crush on Sara Bareilles. She's a phenomenal singer, really talented writer and just seems like she would be extremely fun to hang out with. She's really funny, sometimes corny, and is incredibly good at one of my true loves - the piano.  If anyone knows anyone who knows her, point her in the direction of this blog. I feel real good about my chances. 

I have an even bigger crush on this song right now. Youtube claims it has 5,033 views. I estimate at least 1,000 of those are mine. I've added four more just during the time I've spent typing this post. It's called Beautiful Girl and it will be coming out on a short album at the end of May. You're welcome. It shows off Sara's talent as it's just her on a ukelele and that's it. It's really simple but it's got this hauntingly beautiful sound to it. I also love the lyrics. That's weird for a guy to say, but it's true. If I was a girl, this is probably something I would really want to hear. Even as a guy, this is something I want girls to hear. Shoot, everyone needs to hear it. So without further ado, Sara B getting it on the uke....

-Tyler