No words…

There are no words for how much of a slacker I have been with my blog.  I think my last update was New Years- and I promised myself one post per week.  Life always ends up getting in the way.  I am still at the homeless shelter two days a week, and struggling through grad school the rest of the week.  I’m always at least one week behind and feel like in a constant game of Catch Up that I can’t win.  Every time I finally finish reading my 500+ pages per week, next weeks is due!  Talk about exhausting.  

This past month has been full of busy-ness with school, and I’m looking forward to this summer and 2 months off.  Since I’m a really lucky girl, Vernon planned a surprise Valentines Day weekend to the North Georgia Mountains in Blueridge, Ga.  It was beautiful and even snowed on Saturday morning.  It was a combination of a party/relaxing weekend, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.  I needed it big time!  We went with two others couples, and on Saturday night the boys planned a fancy homemade dinner and had us get all dolled up.  Two thumbs up this Valentines.  

Our beautiful cabin 

All dressed up for dinner

Being silly 

And I had to add this one…we were playing with the camera and being really silly.  He busted out this face, and I was dyyyying!!!  Ah- I love that face! 

SLACKER!!!

So…I’ve been neglecting my blog.  Poor little bloogy…I have sorta missed you. Christmas came and went…as did the New Year.  I have been thoroughly enjoying my time off of school, and not ready to go back.  T-minus six days.  

While trying to think of New Years resolutions, I’ve had some time to reflect on the past year.  It has been crazy and amazing.  I fell in love, was crippled for a while, and started grad school.  I’ve been enjoying life, and really wouldn’t change a thing.  But, one must always have a resolution, so mine this year is a little lame- drink more water, less soda. Baby steps.  I rang in the New Year with the boy and some friends at a Cosmo- then bowling.  Next year, pi’s, champagne, and the couch will suffice.  

70 things I’m thankful for…

So, the past 9 days I have been in Berlin and Rheinsberg, Germany for a study abroad trip.  Since I’m missing Thanksgiving back home I wrote a list of 70 things I am thankful for (while I was zoning out in a conference).  I never realized how much family, friends, and traditions meant to me until I missed out.  And, since I’ve been here, there are a few comforts of home I realized I take for granted.  So, here is what I’m thankful for this year.  Happy Thanksgiving to all from Germany.  

• Jesus 
• Family
• my boyfriend Vernon and our relationship
• my best fran Amy and our silliness 
• Amy’s family (my second family)
• school breaks
• toilet paper
• soft mattresses
• sleeping pills
• church 
• fruits & veggies (hard to get here)
• Atlanta 
• my cellphone!!!
• my car
• old friends who know me so well
• new friends
• the U.S. Dollar
• laundry
• everything Apple 
• English television (reality tv- woohoo)
• being a LOUD American (as they call us)
• dramamine 
• the Amsterdam airport
• window seats (on planes and cars)
• traditions
• shopping
• dentists 
• beards
• turtles
• inside jokes
• Kevin Hart comedy
• the keyboard on my computer (European ones are insane to figure out)
• fountain drinks
• still water (Vassa nein gas bitte= water no carbonation please) 
• the sun 
• warm weather
• leggings
• scarves 
• bath tubs
• wash cloths (none here- thanking God I brought one)
• ice (another thing not here)
• sweet dessert  (tired of bitter)
• chicken (instead of duck)
• Heinz ketchup 
• 6% sales tax (its a whooping 19% here!)
• electrical outlets 
• swim suits (Europeans are nudists) 
• modesty 
• Eastern time
• texting 
• English 
• Mucinex 
• Facebook (my means of communication while here- and phone cards)
• Skype 
• massages 
• physical therapy 
• mustaches 
• meaningless tattoos 
• 500 thread count sheets 
• Fellinnis pizza
• Starbucks
• my strength (you never know it until you need it) 
• sleeping til noon
• black tea
• vending machines (only cigarette ones here- weird)
• piggy back rides 
• THANKSGIVING as a holiday 
• Carmex
• Hair straighteners 
• GPS 

A year ago…

So, exactly one year ago I decided to take the leap back into relationships…and it was the best “crazy” decision I’ve made.  So, without giving TMI and being all mushy (because I can easily get there) I will just say my boyfriend, Vernon, has made my life so much better.  It’s an amazing feeling when you’re in a relationship because you want to be, and not because you need to be.  There are so many great things I can say about him, he’s amazing, but I won’t go there either.  He knows what we have, I know what we have, the end.  But, I did want to make a brief post about it because one year is kinda a big deal.  And I’m so appreciative and thank my lucky stars every day.  We celebrated by a day at the zoo, eating at the Sundial/Sushi/Coldstone (it was a long day), and ending with drinks w/ friends.  We also took a trip down memory lane with some of the most memorable pictures in the past year… here we go…

Our 1 hour journey to get a Columbian hotdog 

New Years 2011

We see that face in many pictures… (Hawks playoff game)

Braves game

trying to convince him that this is my SPOT 

Don’t be fooled…we aren’t cuddling.  We were competing in Robotek (best game ever)

Halloweeneyyyy

I was a nerd…nothing exciting.  But Fran was QuailMan- very cool.  

C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity

“Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk. Perhaps we feel inclined to disagree with Him. But there is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on. If God thinks this state of war in the universe is a price worth paying for free will—that is, for making a live world in which creatures can do real good or harm and something of real importance can happen, instead of a toy world which only moves when He pulls the strings—then we make take it it is worth paying.”

“I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond.”

Noni’s- how I’ve missed you…

After one fateful night at Noni’s- about a year ago, my car was burglarized…broken window and all.  Since then, I haven’t been back- until this weekend.  And I remembered why it was one of my favorite places.  Good music, cheap drinks, chill people… 

Frans before we went out

At Nonis..don’t let the face fool you.  He loves me most the time.  

The guy passed out standing up in the background?.. yea…that’s his panda hat I have on.

The Lady or the Tiger

There is story and it goes like this:  

A princess falls in love with a guard, which is obviously not acceptable because she’s a princess.  The King finds out and throws the guard into some kind of arena.  In the arena there are two doors.  Behind one door is a tiger that will tear him to bits.  Behind the other is a lady with whom he will be free to live the rest of his life with.  The princess if forced to sit in the stands and choose his fate.  

In the end…the author never tells you what she chose. Really dude?!?

Hmmm…the point?  What would you choose?  Choosing the tiger means she couldn’t live with the pain of seeing him with someone else.  Choosing the lady means she loves him enough to want him to be happy.  And isn’t love selfless…

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml 

Week One

The first week of the “no cussing competition” goes to…(drumroll)…me!  Like I would post anything if I lost.  The final score ended at 3-17.  Seventeen is a bunch…I know…and it got to 17 in one shameless “sore winning” kinda night.  We had date night last Friday, and going with the theme of things, we chose to COMPETE.  So we went bowling, played arcade games, and played pool.  And we kept track of every single win/loss.  Round one was bowling, and Vernon won 2 out of 3.  Next was air hockey, which he won again (although it was close).  Pool- Vernon.  Basketball- Tie.  Racing- me.  So, obviously he had to brag and say that he whooped my a** and killed that sh**.  Over and over again…just to rub it in.  All the while, I’m tallying up the curse words and WINNING in LIFE.  :)  

Seriously- look how close it was.  Definitely not brag worthy.  But hey, a win is a win.