Always the Bridesmaid, Never the...

You've seen the movie 27 Dresses, right? Well, believe it or not, that movie was loosely based on my life! I actually just added dress #8 to my collection.

I absolutely LOVE being in weddings! Truly, I do. It makes me feel so special that someone would choose me to be a part of their most special day.

This past weekend I got to be in the wedding of one of my absolute dearest friends,April.

We were roommates for 3 years at Lee and I loved every minute of it! I would go back to college in a heartbeat.

Most of the wedding party went to Lee, so this weekend was a college reunion of sorts. We laughed a lot, ate a lot, and stayed up to about 3 AM every night. It was SO incredibly fun.

Here's the weekend in pictures:
Jaime drove over to Atlanta and we flew out to the wedding in Maryland. Here we are on AirTran (cheapo, stupid airline. No pillow, no blanket, and 1 cinnamon cracker as a snack)

Wen we got there, it pretty much rained the whole weekend. Here we are, drowned river rats, after we loaded up the car.

That first night we got in at midnight, so what else do we do but grab some Taco Bell! Yum!

The next day we moved to a different location and as we were getting ready for the bridal luncheon that day, I was in the shower and went to move the shower head. Normally, this is not a big deal, but on that particular day the shower head had a mind of its own.


It actually fell off the wall!! Water began pouring out of the wall. I screamed and the girls ran in thinking I had injured myself. After I turned the water off, we laughed about it. Thankfully, it had happened before and it was fixed the next day.

OK...back to to the wedding weekend.

Friday was the bridal luncheon and nail salon.




Here's all the bridesmaids, the bride and mother of the bride.

Here's April with some of her gifts:


So...the purple sweat suit is lovely, right? April is kind of a modest person and she appreciates my humor, so I thought this would be perfect for her. The tacky flowers and puffy paint really made it stand out. The puffy paint was a verse that I thought was appropriate for her on her wedding night.
On to the nail salon


The nail salon was an experience. Can you imagine 8 women getting manis, pedis, and waxing?! Wowzers!

Then it was on to the rehearsal dinner.



A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about one of my dearest friends, Lisa, losing her mom. This is her:

She is doing great! She keeps people around her and stays busy, but she is really doing well. It was SO good to see her and reconnect with her!

Here are the 3 amigos. April, Lisa, and I lived together for 3 years and it was some of the best times of my life!

Our dresses were beautiful, but came with this huge butt bow that April, thankfully, didn't want us to wear. We thought we'd have fun with it anyways. During the rehearsal, we all wore our bows in some crazy way as a surprise to April. We some crazy gals, I know.




Here's some random shots from the rehearsal and dinner.



The next day was wedding central!















The wedding was beautiful! She should have charged admission because the singing was better than any concert I've been to. Phenomenal!

After the wedding it was time for the reception. Lots of food and lots of dancing!










Their favors were CD's of their favorite songs. Such a cute idea!


It was a wonderful weekend! It made me miss those girls so much and realize how lucky I am to have such wonderful friends.

The Exciting Conclusion!

Well, seeing as how I got 0 (zero!) comments on my awesome gummy bear lab science experiment post yesterday, I can't imagine too many of you are interested in seeing the exciting conclusion...

...but I'm gonna tell ya any way!!

You might think the gummy bear would dissolve or disintegrate if left in water over night. But oh no!

The gummy actually absorbs the water and swells up!


How fun is that!? Try it today :)

A Science Experiment

Being a science teacher is great because kids come to me already liking science, for the most part. Today we started a science experiment that always gets lots of oohs and ahhhs!

The Gummy Bear Lab!


Today, we made predictions about what will happen if the gummy bears are left in water overnight.

Some of the most common predictions were:
-it will dissolve
-it will get smaller
-it will lose its coloring

What do you think???

I'll reveal what happens tomorrow! (I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat for this one!!)

Baby Asa's Here!

My best friend, Amanda had her little baby boy, Asa, tonight!!


7 pounds 10 ounces & 20 inches long. Born at 9:13 PM.

He is beautiful! His skin is flawless! He really is just precious!

Oh...and by the way...she had him NATURAL!! Yep! All the way! She was a trooper!

Poor Amanda's dad is in Jamaica on a missions trip :( Here is Cindy trying to get a hold of him by leaving a message on some Jamaican's phone!

My Dear Friend

I am asking for your prayers for one of my dearest friends ever. My college roommate, Lisa, lost her mom Thursday night due to complications from a liver transplant.

Lisa's brother set up a blog to track her progress. It happened very quickly and although Lisa knew this could be a possibility, nothing can prepare you for losing your mom.

Lisa and her mom were very close, so I'm asking that if you think about it this week, please say a prayer for her. Monday & Tuesday is the viewing and the funeral is Wednesday, so this week will be extremely difficult for her.

My heart breaks for Lisa because I know she feels so alone right now, but thank you Jesus for your promise to be with us!

The Marriage Project

Last year, I shared how I made a major life change. I can't even describe what that was like. There were times when I wondered if I had done the right thing. Did I really hear from God?

Well, it's been about a year now that I've been going to Mountain Lake Church. Because I was always involved in children's ministry, I rarely ever sat in the sanctuary to hear a message. So it was a new experience for me to show up at church on time (instead of an hour early), sit in the sanctuary, and leave right after church.

I enjoyed MLC from the first time I went. What I really enjoyed was the preaching and from that first Sunday, God really spoke to me through every message. I looked forward to hearing the message every week.

Recently, they just finished a message series called "The Marriage Project". I have to admit that when I first learned of this series, I was kinda bummed.

"Really, God?? I have to sit through 4 weeks of how-to-have-a-better-marriage? Is this a cruel joke? You know this is the ONE thing I want more than anything!"

I have to tell you, though, that I have LOVED every message! Instead of being down and depressing, it has been very uplifting and encouraging.

It really opened my eyes to marriage. With 98% of my friends being married (yes, I did do a mathematical formula to figure that out!!) I feel like I have a basic knowledge of marriage. I know you married folks are probably rolling your ideas right now and thinking "Girl, you ain't got NO idea!" Hey...I did say I had a BASIC knowledge :)

Each week focused on one of these main points.

Building a good marriage requires a decision to...

1. believe in your spouse.
Believe the best in each other...even when you don't always see the best. God
saw the best in us...He saw our potential.
2. leave and cleave.
Your spouse is now your priority...not yo mama! We become "glued" to our
spouse. Nothing comes between us. Romans 8:38-39
3. love.
We demonstrate our love by being kind, compassionate, and forgiving. Christ
demonstrated the ultimate sacrifice of love by loving us when we didn't deserve
it.
4. submit.
It's not a tug of war of "I'm-right-you're-wrong". Both need to submit. Submission of one partner does not benefit the marriage. We see the ultimate act of submission through Jesus.

Here's 2 main things I got from this message that I loved:

Marriage is a PROJECT not a PROBLEM.
This is so true...from what I've observed. Think of your house. How many of us start a project on our house and work on it here and there. Or maybe we get it the way we want it, then a few months later change it around.
I believe this is true in marriage. When you say "I Do", that's just the beginning. I believe you constantly have to work on it, find out what works and what doesn't.

Your marriage is a picture (or reflection) of your relationship with God.
It's a mirror image. I LOVE this picture. Our relationship with God is reflected in our marriage.

So...where's my mind in all this marriage talk?

I want a marriage more than anything else! Yes, I'm excited about the wedding part, mainly because I'm a girl and that's just the way we're wired, but I'm WAY more excited about the marriage part. I WANT the "project" to work on because I want to work on it WITH someone. I have loved being single and having freedom, but believe me...I am SO ready to have that companionship.

This series has really opened my eyes, though. If my relationship with God is a mirror image of my marriage, then I know I've got some work to do. If I spent the same amount of time with a spouse as I do with Jesus, my marriage would be suffering.

So more than anything, I have been fired up lately about my relationship with Jesus! Some days, it feels like I'm learning about Him for the very first time. I'm looking forward to the future, marriage or not, because I am falling in love all over again with Him.

By the way, the church started a blog during this series that's been very interesting to read. Some entries from some of the pastors as well as their wives. Neat stuff!

The month of NEW!

I have been disgusted with myself for letting a whole month go by with no updates. Granted, I'm no super-duper, top-of-the-line blogger, but I do enjoy sharing my little corner of the world with the blogosphere! I know all 5 of you appreciate it, anyways :)

My lack of updates is certainly NOT for lack of news. So, without any further adoo...uh adue...adew...here we go:

NEW #1:
The month started off with me going back to work. I know I can't complain. I mean what other job do you get 2 months paid vacation?!?! I have to say, though, that I am lovin' my classes this year. My class sizes range from 13 to 21! It is definitely a teacher's dream come true! Can I get an amen??!!

I have been dying to hang this up since I got it, but just never got around to it. It's SO teachery and I don't really use it, but I just couldn't resist. What makes this even better is who gave it to me. My brother-in-law!! For those of you that know him, can't you just see him picking it out of the catalog?! It cracks me up!



Here's my "first-day-of-school outfit". We'll contrast this on the last day of school!

NEW #2:
OK, so this really isn't something new, but hey, I've got a theme going here! Speaking of theme (ha! I knew I could work it in!) Some friends of mine and I threw my sister and best friend a double baby shower! It was so fun!! Mandi had a girl and Amanda's having a boy. For both of them, it was their second child, but both mothers were having the opposite of what they already had, so we knew they would need some stuff. And who doesn't love throwing a shower?! Our theme was Purple & Blue Dots. Kind of different, I know. Mandi's nursery is different shades of purple polka dots. At the time, Amanda hadn't had any colors or themes, so we just went with light blue.

Everything turned out SO cute, but I'll let you be the judge of that:




I didn't get the greatest pictures, because I was running around getting everything together.


[Sorry this is crooked] I made each mom a diaper cake with little stuff to add to their nursery.



I loved this idea, although I can't take credit for it. We used children's books as a guest book. Guests wrote a little note on the inside cover to each baby.



And here are the lovely hosts:

...with the guests of honor:


By the way, Kelly I used your Cherry Limeade punch recipe and it was a hit!

NEW #3:
I got a new car! I don't have any pictures of it yet, but here's what it looks like:


NEW #4:
I got a new dress...well sort of! I'm gonna be in my roommate's wedding in June and one weekend this month, she hosted a "Bridesmaid Weekend". It was a blast! All the bridesmaids had a slumber party Friday night, then went dress shopping on Saturday. When we woke up Saturday morning, Amber had us all sequestered upstairs until she gave us the word. When we came downstairs, the dining room was set up so pretty:

At each of our place setting was a card and gift.

Before we opened it, she read us a little excerpt from Captivating about the importance of friends. It was really sweet. Then she had written each of us a really heart-felt letter and got us some sweet smelling Victoria Secret lotions and other goodies!


We found a dress we all liked! I'm SO excited about it! And Amber is pretty sure she found hers also. It's truly breathtaking on her!!

And I have saved the BEST "newness" for last!!
NEW #5:
I have a new niece!! Megan Lynn was born on August 21...on her parent's anniversary, no less! We were all at the hospital waiting her arrival. I love that part of it! The anticipation of it all is so much fun!












So ya see...it's not like I've had nothing to blog about :)

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Tonight is officially the last night of the summer...for me. I return to work tomorrow after a 2 month break. Yes, that's the life of a teacher. I'll return tomorrow to the inevitable question, "So, how was your summer?"

Last year, I had an exciting answer to that question. This summer was much more low key. The only big trip was a weekend getaway to the lake. And while we did have a really good time, it was no beach! This was the first time in about 25 years that I haven't been to a beach!! How will I ever function?! How will I survive?!

Ok...I'm better.

So tomorrow, I return to the bubble world of teaching. Where students become the topic of interest, most nights will start to wind down at 9:30, mornings will start at 5:30 (!), all errands will have to be done on the weekends and conversations will probably start with..."You won't believe what happened at school today!!"

Winners!

I have gotten the biggest rush out of reading all of my comments! All 215 of them!! Through the help of random number generator here are the winners:

The post-its go to - Misty!

The clippies go to - Jessica!

The $10 Target gift card goes to - Evan!

The Vera Bradley coin purse goes to - Sugar cat!

I will be emailing the winners to get your addresses. Thanks everyone for playing. I really enjoyed it