I've been a Xanga member for 505 days. That's a lot. I don't think I've done anything else for that long. Except maybe go to school. And brush my teeth. And wash my hair. And eat. Oh, never mind.

I have to say, watching The Office re-runs is still funnier than watching new episodes of America's Got Talent (I realize they don't come on at the same time, but it was the best comparison I could think of.) That is one lame show. Most summer shows are, really. Do they think people don't care about quality shows in the summer? I for one care about quality year-round. I'm a high-quality woman, after all.

I'm also in a really silly mood. Sorry to subject you all to it. This concludes today's portion of "Erin Acts a Fool." Stay tuned for tomorrow's installment.

This last funny bit courtesy of Stephen.

The Worlds 21 Thinnest Books

21. HOW I SERVED MY COUNTRY - by Jane Fonda

20. MY BEAUTY SECRETS - by Janet Reno

19. HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN AIRPLANE - by John Denver

18. MY SUPER BOWL HIGHLIGHTS - by Dan Marino

17. THINGS I LOVE ABOUT BILL - by Hillary Clinton

16. MY LITTLE BOOK OF PERSONAL HYGIENE - by Osama Bin Laden

15. THINGS I CANNOT AFFORD - by Bill Gates

14. THINGS I WOULD NOT DO FOR MONEY - by Dennis Rodman

13. MY WILD YEARS - by Al Gore

12. AMELIA EARHART'S GUIDE TO THE PACIFIC

11. AMERICA'S MOST POPULAR LAWYERS

10. DETROIT: a Travel Guide

9. A COLLECTION of MOTIVATIONAL SPEECHES -by DR. J. Kevorkian

8. EVERYTHING MEN KNOW ABOUT WOMEN

7. EVERYTHING WOMEN KNOW ABOUT MEN

6. ALL THE MEN I HAVE LOVED BEFORE - by Ellen DeGeneres

5. MIKE TYSON'S GUIDE TO DATING ETIQUETTE

4. SPOTTED OWL RECIPES - by the EPA

3. THE AMISH PHONE DIRECTORY

2. MY PLAN TO FIND THE REAL KILLERS - by O. J.
Simpson

And the world's Number One Thinnest Book ....

1. MY BOOK OF MORALS - by Bill Clinton/with
> introduction by The Rev. Jessie Jackson

Glad

I am glad to be alive
on nights like this
one
with the wind blowing through the open windows,
carrying the scent of freshly-cut grass
and honeysuckle blossoms,
the stars winking above,
the road whispering below,
my mind composing poems like this one
that I will forget before I can put
paper and pen together.

I am glad to be alive
on nights like this
one
when I sing with abandon,
my one free arm dangling
out the window, meeting the wind
pressing up against it,
like the very earth rising up to listen to my voice
join the voices of those before me,
preceding those after me,
a chorus of praise swallowed up by the night.

Circle of Life

**Pictures added below.**

My brother's married now!  It was a really lovely wedding, despite a few "hiccups" along the way (the groomsmen being late for pictures, Brandon forgetting the ring and having to rush home and get it, the flower girl being spooked by the crazy wedding coordinator, etc.).  I only got a little teary-eyed towards the beginning of the ceremony, and I think that was mostly in response to seeing Brandon get a little choked up while watching his bride Nikki come down the aisle.  The rest of the time I was distracted by the fact that my hair kept getting caught in the flower arrangement located directly behind my head.  I kept picturing the entire arrangement tumbling to the ground when I got ready to leave the platform, but fortunately nothing of the sort happened.  It was a long day, and by the time my parents and I got home around 8 p.m., I was ready to go to bed!  And it wasn't even my wedding!  And I didn't even do anything major except stand around and look pretty.  (Which is hard work, I must say.) Oh, and I did do the cha-cha slide at the reception.  Hehe.  I like a dance that gives you instructions as you go along. (I thought I'd temporarily revive the boldfaced words, just for kicks.)

Stephen had planned on coming to the wedding, but sadly his grandfather passed away Saturday morning.  He had been in the hospital and not doing very well after a surgery, and they finally took him off the respirator Friday night.  I wish I could have been there for Stephen when it happened (he was with his family in Illinois), but I was able to go to Jackson today to see him, and I'm going with him to Illinois on Tuesday for the funeral.  If you think about it, say some prayers for the family.  His grandfather is with Jesus now, which is certainly better for him, but it's always hard to say goodbye to the ones we love.  How ironic that I'll be meeting all of his family at the funeral, when he was going to meet all of my family at the wedding.  Life is strange. 

EDIT:  Here are 3 pictures.  Not much, but it's all I really had on my camera before the batteries died.

The sanctuary before the wedding.  I tried this shot with the flash on and off, and it still came out dark.  Oh well.



Me with Nikki before the wedding.

 

Blah blah blah

Soo, Xanga's kind of dead.

I just finished reading Tuesdays with Morrie. I know I'm about 8 years late jumping on that bandwagon, but it's an excellent read.

My brother's getting married tomorrow. I'll probably cry buckets. (But I'll look hot, so that's a consolation. Hehe.)

I've now been away from Knoxville for three weeks, and I'm staying here a week more. By the time I return, I won't remember where anything is.

I've decided that TCBY is the best ever on a hot day.

The flower girl in my brother's wedding is the cutest, most precious little girl on the planet. Seriously. And I'm related to her.

My next book to read will be A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby. I'm glad to be feeling like reading again. I was a little worried at the beginning of the summer that I wouldn't want to read anything the entire break, but it seems my love of reading is insatiable.

I like making random lists.

I'm sure you don't like reading them, though, so I'm done.

That's My King

I don't know if any of you have heard of S.M. Lockridge.  I hadn't until the Sunday we left on our road trip. The pastor of Emily's church in Seattle played this fabulous clip of one of his messages, and it's a wonderfully powerful praise of God.  You can either listen to the clip on the site I've linked, or read the transcript.  It's really worth listening to, though.  You can just feel the excitement.  Sometimes I can't wait to be in heaven.

That's My King

And here's a really amazing testament of the strength of God in times of weakness.  It's about an accident that involved students at Taylor University and the responses of those who lost ones they loved.  Check it out.

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001294.cfm

Goodbye Seems to be the Hardest Word

"Goodbye." Such a small, simple word, but painfully hard to say. Each time I have to say it to Stephen is harder than the last. I just keep reminding myself that often the things that are hardest are the most worthwhile. Sometimes I remember that, and other times I just have to say the word quickly, head turned, eyes averted. It's kind of like ripping off a bandage; it's much easier to bear when you just do it quickly.

Road Trip Revisited

I uploaded about 50 pics to Photobucket, so if you want to see them, click on the link:

Road Trip pics

I'm sad that you can't see more of the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was really foggy and overcast the day we were there.  All of the Oregon coast pictures look like it was a really dreary day, and it was, but there was something completely haunting and beautiful about the fog coming off the water and hovering in the air.  I really really love Oregon.  Who knew it was so pretty?  I sure didn't. 

In other news, I have the sweetest boyfriend in the world.  I missed him terribly (even though I just saw him a week ago), so last night I went to Jackson to see him. He cooked chicken fettuccine alfredo for me, and we watched movies and just talked, enjoying each other's company.  He told me he had a surprise for me (he's always surprising me with little things), and he'd told me on the phone that it was black and rectangular, so of course I insisted that it was a picture frame.  It turned out to be a beautiful picture frame, but inside it was not a picture, but the poem "i carry your heart with me" by ee cummings, which I love and think is just wonderful.  It's the perfect gift.  He's the perfect gift.  (I know, I know, enough sap.)  But Stephen, you are the best thing to ever happen to me, and I don't care who knows it! :happy:

Back Home

I'm home. I have to say, I'm rather glad to be out of the car for a while. The trip was fun (a LOT of fun, actually), but it was getting old toward the end, probably because the last two days of the trip (yesterday and this morning, actually) were really boring. Not a lot to see in Oklahoma and Arkansas, plus none of the landscapes are as pretty as what we saw in California and Oregon. I really want to go back and spend some real time in Oregon because I just couldn't get over how beautiful and serene and poetic and mystical it is.

As soon as I upload my 160 pictures and select the best ones, I'll share them with you all. It will be hard to pick my favorites, though. So much beautiful scenery was captured.

A little overview of the trip:
10 states visited(WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR, TN)
3000 miles driven (more or less)
$300 of gas purchased (Emily's car gets amazing mileage, and we ended up only spending half of that total because people gave her gift cards. Hooray for generosity!)
2 books read (DaVinci Code and Dive From Clausen's Pier)
800 songs listened to (It was probably more than that, but I'm just giving a rough estimate.)
$16 gambled (of which $1 was out of pocket)
1 movie seen (The Lake House, which I loved and which caused me to cry like a baby)
5 hotels slept in (McBee Cottage in Cannon Beach, OR; guest housing at Golden Gate Seminary; The Luxor in Vegas; the LaQuinta in Albuquerque; the Motel 6 in Ft. Smith, AR)
lots of fast food consumed (I've definitely had enough of that for a looooong time)

Basically, it was great! The only thing that would have made it better was getting to spend more time in each place, since we hardly got to see anything in San Francisco or Albuquerque. I definitely recommend a road trip like this, and take lots of time so you can stop and enjoy everything. I hope to make a trip along the Eastern coast next. That would be fabulous!

On the Road Again

Today we got to drive across the Hoover Dam! It was really beautiful, as was Lake Mead. We took several pictures. (So far I've taken over 160 pictures on our trip.) I've been continually amazed at the splendor of God's creation as we've been experiencing a plethora of different landscapes, and it's just amazing that He lets us enjoy it all.

We also got to visit the Museum of the Americas at the International Petrified Forest and Dinosaur Park in the lovely, deserted town of Holbrook, Arizona. I'm not sure who thought up this genius idea, but there are just random dinosaurs scattered about the desert terrain, and then the museum had a bunch of artifacts "supposedly" from ancient to modern times. I took pictures of some of the typos found on the placards accompanying the displays, which was fun. (Yes, I'm a grammar snob. Someone has to be.) We got several hilarious photos with the dinosaurs, and I can't wait to upload them and share them with you all. It was truly worth the $5 we paid to get in.

Tomorrow we're off for Oklahoma, which I do believe will be our 8th state. We've already covered over 2000 miles of the U.S. That's pretty amazing, isn't it? It's been such a fun trip. I highly recommend a cross-country road trip to anyone. There's so much that God has created that we haven't seen!

Walking in Vegas

Even though no one apparently cares about my Vegas adventures, I'm updating anyway. I have an illness, clearly.

Highlights from today:

1. Eating New York pizza in the New York New York casino.
2. Playing the slots. We got $15 of free slot play at our hotel, and I came away with a whopping $3.10. Woohoo.
3. Seeing dolphins about two inches away at The Mirage.
4. Seeing white lions and tigers.
5. Seeing said white lions and tigers engage in some Brokeback Lion action. I'm not kidding. (When it started happening, we walked away, but everyone else just took more pictures.)
6. Eating in Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and having one of the best margaritas I've ever tasted.
7. Finding fun souvenirs for my family.
8. Buying some pretty jewelry.
9. Spotting two Elvi and seeing Kristin get her picture taken with them.

The negatives:

1. Sex is everywhere. Not literal sex, but sexiness. It's disgusting. You can't walk two feet without seeing nearly naked or scantily clad women. This really is Sin City.
2. The Strip is loooong. Our feet are killing us.
3. We wanted to come back to the hotel and go swimming, but the pool closed at 7pm. That's pretty much the lamest closing time ever.

Overall, it's been a wonderful, if not tiring day. Tomorrow we head to Albuquerque!

On the Road Again

Yes, as Susan commented in my last entry, even on vacation I can't get away from Xanga! Guess where I am now. Give up? Las Vegas!! We arrived around 11:00 pm, and it is just completely unbelievable. It's so overwhelming because everything really is as big and bright as it looks in the movies and on TV. We're staying in this awesome hotel called The Luxor, and it's a pyramid (it's prettier than the Memphis pyramid, I must say), and there are like 10 restaurants inside it, a bunch of shows, and 800 pools. (That might be a slight exaggeration. We didn't have a chance to see them all tonight.)

The road trip has been fun, if not slightly exhausting. We're clipping along at a rather fast pace so we can make it home for Father's Day, which means that yesterday and today we were driving for 12 hours. Good thing we're fun gals and enjoy each other's company, or it would be miserable! But instead we've laughed hysterically about something pretty much every other minute, and we've had lots of good music to entertain us.

The one dark spot on the trip occurred in the small town of Hawthorne, Nevada. I was driving, and we had just stopped for gas and were headed toward the highway when I look up and see flashing lights in the rearview mirror. Yes, that's right. I got pulled over. We were all very confused because we honestly couldn't figure out why the cop was pulling us over, but then he came to the window and asked if I'd "observed" the speed limit. I told him I actually hadn't seen any signs in the two minutes I'd been on the road, and so he wanted to clarify that I hadn't "observed" the speed limit. I said no again, and he said he'd clocked me going 11 miles over. Do you know how fast I was going? Not 70. Not 80. THIRTY-SIX. Apparently the speed limit was 25 mph, but none of us had seen a sign. The cop was nice about it and knocked it down to a 5 mph violation, so I'll be "donating" $47 to the hideous town of Hawthorne, Nevada. Perhaps it can go toward repairing the door panel of the Shell station, which looked as though someone had put a bullet through it. At the time I was a little upset about it because this will be the first ticket to actually go on my record and I just really had no idea I was doing anything wrong, but it could be a lot worse, so I'm thankful. It's kind of funny now. I guess. :)

Well, it's getting rather late here and we have a full day of sight-seeing in Vegas planned, so I'm going to head to bed. I hope everyone's having a lovely week, and I'm sure I'll be updating tomorrow as well, since we paid $10.99 for this internet service. (You'd think if Holiday Inn could provide free internet the Luxor could, but whatever.)

Happy trails!

No Time to Lose

Well, we're in Seattle right now, and Kristin and I are sitting around being useless while Emily packs up the last of her things. (We're at the point where we can't really be of help because she has certain things to do that we can't assist her with.) Then tonight we'll be staying in Cannon Beach, OR, which is apparently incredibly beautiful, and then we'll head on to San Francisco. We went to Emily's church this morning, and it was so great to see how much the people there just love her and are genuinely going to miss her. Kristin and I felt kind of bad because we're excited Emily's moving to Memphis because it's a lot closer to us, but we know it was a hard decision for her to make.

When we were driving back to the apartment, Emily said something that's had me thinking. She said, "I hate that it takes leaving a place to realize how much people love and appreciate you." That's really true, you know? When people are faced with losing you, that's when they tell you how much you mean to them or how much you've impacted their lives or how much they'll miss your laugh, smile, kind heart (fill in the blank with the appropriate trait). Certainly it's nice to hear that when the time comes, but shouldn't we be more intentional about letting the people we love know how much we love them on a regular basis, and not just when it seems that they are moving on for another phase in their lives? It's made me think about how I show my appreciation to the people who matter to me, and to think of ways I can more regularly show that love. There's something quite reassuring about hearing from my mom, "I love you" whenever we talk, and I hope that I can improve the way that I not only tell but show my loved ones what they mean to me. And considering how fragile and ephemeral life is, I never know when a conversation with a friend will be our last. Not to be morbid of course, but I know I could stand to remember to make each day count and take nothing for granted. That's how I want to live. That's how I want to love.

Girl Power

"The only time a guy's guard is completely down is when he's with the woman he loves. So she can pierce his heart like no one else." ~Shaunti Feldhahn, For Women Only

This is one of many interesting points introduced in this book, which claims to tell women what they need to know about the inner lives of men. I haven't gotten very far into it yet, but it's already given me a lot to think about, like the idea that men want to be respected even more than they want to feel loved. That's obviously weird for me, since women are the opposite, for the most part, in that they'd rather be loved than be respected. (Granted, both sexes would prefer to have both.) Ideally, with love should come respect, and vice versa, but I don't think that's always the case. Whether men care to admit it or not, women hold a lot of power and the ability to change a man's mood with just a few choice words. So even something like challenging a man's decision not to stop and ask directions can speak volumes to him about how he's valued (or devalued) as an intelligent man capable of making responsible decisions. Later in this same chapter, the author says, "If a man's wife believes in him, he can conquer the world--or at least his little corner of it." That's pretty amazing. (FYI: There's a book called For Men Only that's all about women.)

What do you think? Do you desire love or respect more?

This might be my last entry for a while, as tomorrow I'm leaving for Seattle to embark on my road trip! On Sunday we're (myself, Emily, and Kristin) leaving Seattle and heading to Oregon, from Oregon to San Francisco, from San Fran to Vegas, from Vegas to Albequerque, from Albequerque to Oklahoma City, and from Oklahoma City to Memphis. Should be quite the adventure. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Lessons from Anne with an e

"Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it." ~Anne of Green Gables

What a true, lovely thought. I'd forgotten how much I loved this story. Bosom friends, kindred spirits, dimpled elbows, the White Way of Delight and the Lake of Shining Waters, and Gilbert Blythe. Marvelous.

Picture Perfect

Some pictures from this weekend (they were all taken on Saturday, actually):

Relaxing after lunch.



Aren't we cute?



That one's my favorite, even though it's kind of dark and fuzzy.

Me with our friends Erin and Jonathan's baby girl, Bethany.



It's baking time!



Adding the cream of tartar to the meringue was a big moment, as Saturday was the first time either of us had ever encountered cream of tartar.



Ta-da!  We did it! 

I'm at home now. It was very hard to leave last night, but I'll get to see him again this Saturday because he's driving me to the Nashville airport so I can catch my flight to Seattle.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?  (I choose to believe that one over "out of sight, out of mind.")

Tonight is the series finale of my beloved Everwood.  It is dying before its time.  I'm not gonna lie, I'm sad about it.

Always Follow the Directions

Stephen is out walking his dog Bailey, so I'm taking this opportunity to update. We've had the most lovely time. Today we went to Chili's for lunch with a married couple, Jonathan and Erin, and their little baby girl Bethany, and we had a great time. We were both in their wedding, and it's always fun being around a baby, especially when she's happy and not fussy. Then we went to Books a Million, which I kind of hate as a bookstore, but since that's pretty much all Jackson has in the way of bookstores and Stephen had a gift card, we went. He couldn't find anything, so he bought me One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I've been wanting to read and will be added to my rapidly growing list of books to read this summer.

We also had quite the culinary adventure. Stephen's mom makes this really good chocolate pie that he loves, and he got the recipe, so we decided to try it. I've baked little in my life, aside from those "slice and bake" cookies, and I don't believe Stephen is an experienced chef either, but that didn't deter us. We interspersed a little dancing to Michael Buble with our cooking, which I highly recommend as a way of making the whole experience much more interesting. One lesson about recipes: read all of the directions before you start dumping in ingredients. Otherwise you'll add things before they are meant to be added. The pie called for a meringue topping, which we had to try twice since we couldn't quite get the hang of it, but we finally decided to just throw it on there and see what happens. It ended up looking very pretty (I took a picture of course, which I will upload when I'm at home), and we're waiting on it to cool so we can eat it, and then I'm going to beat Stephen at Scattergories again.

Tomorrow we're going to try and complete our list of planned activities, and so that means bowling and swinging and possibly a screening of The Breakup. Yay!!

Hope everyone is having a splendid weekend!

Title of the Blog

I'm with Stephen. We're spending the weekend together. (Not the WHOLE weekend-I am sleeping somewhere else, just to clarify.) We're having a jolly good time, and I'm not going to want to leave come Sunday. Boo.

Conspiracy Theory is a good movie. Stephen's dog is hyper. Stephen is going to learn how to play the guitar, and I'm going to teach, which means he won't be able to play anything. That's pretty much it.

Oh, and I'm happy. I think that's enough choppy sentences for now.

In the Eyes of a Child

"Which ones are your least favorite so I can save the ones you like for you?" Stephen asked me this last night when we were talking. He was referring to the flavored Tootsie Roll candies, and while I don't think it was a huge sacrifice on his part to eat the lemon and lime flavors and save me the cherry and vanilla ones, his offer reminded me once again of his selflessness. He's always deferring to my needs or wishes instead of his own, and would even be willing to go to a movie he has no interest in seeing if I want to go. (If he thought I would enjoy it, I imagine he'd count the lint on my shirt with me.) I commented on his selfless nature, and after we got off the phone I started thinking about how rare it is to find people who care enough about you to place their needs second to yours, and how I could stand to learn a lesson about being selfless myself.

Think about it: we live in a self-driven culture. Look out for number one; do what makes you feel good; if it feels right to you, do it; have it your way, and on and on. We’re a selfish people, and everything in our society is catered to appeal to our innate selfish desires.

The thing is, it’s not as though this self-first philosophy is really working. It's certainly not working for me. I'm not overweight because I put myself last. I'm overweight because I want good food, I want it now, and I think I deserve that extra piece of pie or that milk shake at two in the morning. The problem is that we are far too concerned with ourselves and not nearly concerned enough with others, and, more importantly, with God. Look at Mother Theresa–she did not make an impact because of her relentless pursuit of her own selfish desires; she made an impact because the last thing she thought about was what she wanted. She gave everything to others in service to God, and that is what people remember her for. How many times do you hear people remark of someone who is dead, “Well, he put himself first, and that’s what made him the great man he was”? Never. No one says that because we all know that in the end selfishness is nothing to admire, nothing to aspire to.And in reality it’s not anything we have to aspire to, since we all are born inherently selfish.The thing society should be shouting is, “Forget yourself, if even for just a minute!Put God first, others second, and yourself last!”Imagine the change that would bring.Indeed, imagine the change that would bring if I would practice that myself!

I remember an experience I had in Nairobi, on the last day of our trip. Before heading to the airport, we went to Kibera, which is the third-largest slum in the world and the largest in Africa. To see the degree of poverty there, the filth, the lack of adequate plumbing or even toilets, was one of the most sobering experiences of my life. The missionary who accompanied us led us to a "school" located in a central part of the slum, and while we were walking there, I saw eyes peering out from every angle: dark, soulful eyes full of hunger and curiosity, some older and surrounded by wrinkles, others youthful and wide. Some of the children we passed called out to us, "Hello! Hello! Jambo!" and followed us as if we were celebrities. Once we arrived at the school, which was a room about the size of my bedroom and had little in the way of furniture or supplies, students began flocking from every direction. Before we knew it, a little choir of sorts had assembled in the middle of the "playground," and we were treated to renditions of "This is the Day" and "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High," which they had been taught by some church group and which they sang in the most joyful, precious little accents.

After that, we started passing out what candy we had left from the week, and you would have thought we were handing out gold coins, the kids were so excited. And instead of grabbing as many pieces as possible, each child would take a piece and then give one to his or her sibling or best friend. There was no grumbling or whines of, "But I wanted the cherry flavor!" or "His piece is bigger than mine." Just brilliant smiles and lots of laughter. It wasn't long before we ran out of candy, and we were a bit apprehensive of how they would react to this, but that is when the most amazing thing happened. After showing them our empty candy bags, the children began sharing their candy. This boy, who was no more than four, unwrapped a sucker, took a few licks, and then passed it to a friend. Another had a piece of gum, tore off a tiny bit, and then it was passed from hand to hand until about ten children were sharing a piece of gum most of us would consider not even worth halving. I was stunned. Here, in a world where clean clothing was hard to come by, these children were sharing what little they had with each other. There was no hoarding, no shoving or fighting, but only love. I had to turn away to keep the kids from seeing the tears welling up in my eyes. These kids had a greater understanding of selfless love than I had. They knew more of Calvary love than I could pretend to know. That day in Kibera, a four-year-old was my teacher, and I the humble student. That day in Kibera, I wanted to give all that I had because true poverty is not just a physical state, but a spiritual one. That day in Kibera, I looked in the faces of children and saw all that I wanted to be--selfless, pure, and simple. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." ~Matthew 5:8

I don't say this to somehow romanticize poverty or dismiss it. The starvation of those children, and millions more like them, is real and urgent and requires our attention. And yet I can't shake the thought that the most selfless--and yes, even the most joyful--people I have come into contact during my brief time on earth have been those with little in the way of earthly wealth. So many of us are wealthy in our pocketbooks but destitute in our souls, and that hurts the heart of God just as much as hunger.