Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Randoms

List of randoms:

  • Grad students do NOT rebound from lack of sleep like college kids do.  I speak from experience.
  • Baylor Men's basketball rocks my world!  Elite Eight?  Are you KIDDING me???  This was the team that nation-wide coaches picked to finish TENTH in the Big 12.  Yay Bears...it was an epic run!
  • If men's basketball rocks my world, then the Baylor Women provide the beat!  Final Four baby!!!!  Sic 'em, Bears!  What an amazing season this has been!  Next up, UConn...it's going to be a fun one!
  • Have you heard the new Amy Grant song?  Better Than A Hallelujah.  Simply beautiful.
  • And you must check out Forgiven by Sanctus Real.  "When I don't measure up to much in this life, I know I'm a treasure in the arms of Christ."  Amen.
  • Oh, and these people bring so much joy to my life, I'm perpetually Sonburned! 
brandon, brian, julie, chuck, me

blessings, my friends!
♥ michelle

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Busy Bee

AHHH!!!!

I have been so ridiculously busy this semester! 
I have not been home, at my apartment in Lubbock, on a single weekend in a month and a half!

It started Valentine's Weekend, when I went to Ruidoso, NM for the ski trip.



And then I went to my hometown the next two weekends for dentist/doctor's appointments and my bestie's birthday.



Then the first weekend in March, I travelled to wacky Waco and College Station for a retreat.  (I will have a separate post on the amazingness that was this weekend.  God is so good.)

Next there was 10 days of Spring Break in Colorado (spanning two weekends).

Tomorrow I will bee heading back to Waco to help out w/ a retreat at the best university in America.  Yay Baylor!  (Expect a post on this retreat weekend as well as the fact that my Mens AND Womens Baylor Bears are in the Sweet 16!!!!!)

Then, next weekend is Easter!  Amen!  Alleluia!  I will be treckin' back up to Amarillo for the celebration of the best day in history.  Thank you Jesus!



And finally, FINALLY, after a 2 month hiatus, I will bee sleeping in and relaxing in my very own apartment the weekend of April 9th.  So excited. 

This insane schedule, combined with school, volunteer, and social priorities, is the reason my live is all a-buzz right now, and thus, no blogging.  But no worries, I will bee back soon!

Friday, March 19, 2010

"This life's gonna be a good life!"

get a load of this goodness:




go ahead. 
watch it again.
you know you want.

doesn't it just get you giddy for our Jesus!
i laugh every.time. i see it.
it just makes me so happy.

deliriously cheery.
love. this. life.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Bookworm

I love to read.
Anything and everything, it just makes me happy.
Serious, funny, fiction, non-fiction, biography, spiritual, politics.
You name it, I read it.
Well, except Sci-fi.  But that's a post entirely for itself.

In late February, I went home to Amarillo, and my momma had a book waiting for me on my nightstand.
She's awesome like that. 

It was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.



Now, I'm not always a huge fan of Mr. Sparks. 
I loved A Bend In The Road...but not so much The Notebook.
A Walk to Remember was so-so. 
I just don't always like his style...something to do with some literary term like character development but I'm not going to pursue that at this time of night.

So ANYWAY, I picked up the book...
...and couldnt. put. it. down.

It's not that it was so rivetting.
Or thought-provoking.
And I didn't like the main character AT ALL at first.

But I hadn't read a fiction book in a LONG time.
And it was just a nice break from the reality of grad school.
Plus, it was a sweet book with a good message.

Totally predictable...but once you've read many of Sparks' books, you began to see this trend. 

Oh, and it made me cry.
And I NEVER cry in books or movies.  Ever. 
{Ok, I cried in Armagedon b/c I'm a daddy's girl and Simon Birch b/c you have to be heartless not to tear up in that movie.  Oh, and The Passion...but that totally doesn't count.}

So there you have it. 
If you like a cute little fiction story,
Or if you're a Nicholas Sparks fan,
I would definitely recommend this book.

And that is that.

Enough with all this trivial nonsense, back to reading about upper extremity rehabilitation...Thrilling.  Be jealous.

**Ha!  So I just re-read this post and realized how boring it is.  And pretty much the lamest book review ever.  Eh, such is life.  Bless your heart if you made it through it! 

Monday, March 15, 2010

Laughter Mondays

No corny joke today.

Just one HILARIOUS youth ministry story:

A youth minister friend of mine took a bunch of teens skiing one time. 
The very first run of the day, he took a group to the top of the mountain. 
There was a sweet girl w/ them, let's call her Grace, who, bless her heart, was not always the brightest crayon in the box, if you know what I mean.  Just as they got off the lift at the top of the mountain, she decided that she had to use the bathroom.  Period.  There was no holding it. 

So being the accomodating youth minister he was, Gordy instructed all the teens to gather in a circle around this little gal while she did her business.

Only one problem.

Grace didn't take off her skis.  And as she bent to squat to do her business, the skis were pointed straight down the mountain. 

So as you could probably guess, gravity did it's thing, and she took off, straight down the slopes w/ her ski bibs around her ankles and her booty shinin' bright for all the world to see.

You can just imagine the shock of Gordy and the rest of the teens as they witnessed the craziness.  It was a site to behold, that's for sure.

Well, to make a bad situation worse, the poor girl was somewhat inexperienced at skiing, and didn't know how to stop proficiently.  So part way down the mountain she decided to bail.

Right into a tree.  ouch.

Grace (fitting name, don't cha think?) ended up breaking BOTH her ankles.  No bueno.

So needless to say, she was in alot of pain, and super embarassed.  But thankfully, the ski patrol was a Johnny-on-the-spot, and rescued her quickly from her misery.

But it doesn't end there.
We're just gettin' to the good part!

You see, just as the ambulance was fixin' to leave to take Miss Grace to the hospital, they got a call to wait.  Apparently, another injured skier was on the way down the mountain.

Several minutes later, the ski patrol showed up with a man who was walking with both hands out in front of him in splints. 

As soon as everyone got situated and the ambulance took off for the hospital, Gordy, who was accompanying Grace, asked the gentleman what happened.

He said, "You're not gonna believe this, but I was sitting on the ski lift, when out of the corner of my eye, I see this young girl skiing down the mountain with her pants around her ankles!  As I turned to watch the "full moon" pass by, I lost track of what I was doing, and fell straight out of the ski lift and broke both my arms catching myself!" 

Yep.
True story.

Oh my goodness!
Can you imagine?!?! 

Everytime I tell this, I get the most hysterical pictures in my head of all these events occurring. 
Poor Grace.
But what a story, huh?! 

I hope your Monday is exciting!  But just don't go around mooning people or falling outta ski lifts, k? 

Friday, March 12, 2010

Gimme a break, gimme a break...

...break me off a piece of that Kit. Kat. Bar.

It's officially SPRING BREAK!
Yayee!

So naturally, I'm going to do a completely "spring" thing and go to a snowy winter wonderland. 
Typical.

I'm off to Colorful Colorado for a week of skiing, snow shoeing, snow mobile-ing, crafting, reading, card-playing, and fun-doing!

I'm excited!


I don't have many snowy CO pics, so you will have to enjoy a summertime one.  =)

I feel like a "legit" blogger b/c I have some scheduled posts that will pop up while I'm basking in the snow-covered goodness of my beloved Rockies. 

Hope you have a great week!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Ready, Set, ACTION!

I am such a rookie when it comes to photography and photoshop.
My momma uses my computer occasionally for her yearbook course, so she loaded photoshop on it so that she can work from home (whenever I'm home, that is.)

Yeah, there's obviously a total benefit to having a teaching mom.
Conflict of interest?  I like to think not.

But I digress.
I'm totally digging Photoshop actions right now. 
The Pioneer Woman has some AMAZING ones for FREE.  Yes.  Free.
Oh, and there's this nifty little site, Coffee Shop Photography, that also has about a bazillion free actions too.

I simply can't get over how easy these things are to use!  
I've learned so much about layers simply by playing around with these.  
And they are sooooooo fun. 
And a great way to procrastinate.

Anywho.
Back to the original plan for this post.
Thought I'd share with you some of the amazingness that is a Photoshop action.

Remember how I went to Ruidoso and only took pictures of deer?

Here is the Straight Out of the Camera (SOOC) shot of the buck who so willingly posed for my camera.

 

Not too pretty huh?  I was quite a distance from this big guy, and I don't have a mega zoom lens or anything, so this was the best I could do.
And it was evening. 
And cloudy.
And I'm amateur photographer remember, thus...a not-so-pretty pic.

But Photoshop saved the day!

I tweaked this baby with the Boost and Define and Sharpen actions from Pioneer Woman.
And this is what I got:



It's pretty good, but I wanted more.
So I boosted again.

And WA-BAM!
Now we're in business!



So much fun.
And really simple.
Photoshop is quickly becoming very addicting.
But I'm ok with that.

And even though it's not a Laughter Monday, all this deer talk has brought 2 jokes to mind.


What do you call a deer with no eyes?


No eyed deer.
(no idea)



What do you call a deer with no eyes AND no legs?



Still no eyed deer.

Just cracks me up. 

Happy day, me dears! 
(pun intended)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Only a month late...

In February, we had a Valentine's bake sale for one of the organizations on campus.  

Well bein' all crafy and fun is on the top of my priority lists, especially when it comes to baking, so I searched around and stumbled on the cutest idea on Bakerella's website:  oreo balls shaped into kisses!



I LOVE oreo balls, so it was destiny that I make these for Love-day.

It was super easy...she has full directions here

Now, her directions call for the oreo kisses to be dipped in chocolate bark...but *Shock of the Century* I don't really care all that much for chocolate.  I thought the oreo + chocolate sauce would just be chocolate overkill, so I dipped mine in white almond bark.  This is how I normally make oreo balls...and they are always a huge hit, so I figure the chocolate police can't be too upset.

Now for a parade of pictures!







isn't this sign in my kitchen so cute?! 
love hob lob clearance!






Important marketing strategy:  take some leftover mix, and make
small balls for samples.  The customers just ate it up!  Literally.
They couldn't resist buying some after they had a sample of the deliciousness.





Hope your Tuesday is full of sweetness!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Laughter Mondays

What did the tie


say to the hat?




"You go on ahead....
                                            ....I'll hang around!"


Happy Monday!
♥ michelle

Friday, March 5, 2010

Lessons Learned

Oh ya'll.

It was bad.

I was fixin' to clean the counter after cooking supper.
I reached under the kitchen sink and pulled out the first bottle my hands touched *thinking* it was Clorox Clean-up.

I immediately began spraying the counter when I realized, I had grabbed the Windex.



What a dork.
So I exchanged it for the Clorox and doused the counter with a healthy dose of bleach.
And began wiping it off.



But I was quickly overwhelmed by an awful smell!
And it dawned on me:  Windex contains ammonia.

In a less than stellar moment, I had just combined bleach and ammonia on my countertops.
And I was home alone.

duh. duh. duuuuuuh.  (cue creepy piano music.)

My entire life I have been told that
Bleach + Ammonia = Deadly Combination.
Literally.

So in a matter of about 0.253 seconds (an Olympic record, I'm sure), I grabbed my cell phone and raced out the front door.
I was just certain that I had breathed in deadly fumes and would be dying in a matter of moments.
(I've always had a flair for the dramatic.  ha!)

Visions of men in astonaut-like chemical suits with gas masks and oxygen tanks began filling my head.  I just knew that poison control was going to have to be called, and they would have to seal my apartment until the deadly gases could be contained and eliminated.  My face would be plastered all over the news as the girl who almost wiped out the entire apartment complex with noxious gases.  But I wasn't even going to live to see it.

With what I was sure were the last remaining breathes I would take on this planet, I called my dad to tell him of my disasterous mishap and wish him a long and happy life. 

What happened next is the kicker.  Appaling really. 

In the midst of this traumatic experience, my dad
---the man who donated half his genes to me
---who never missed a soccer game in high school
---who can fix just about anything on earth
---my hero, knight in shining armor
LAUGHED AT ME!

Can you believe it? 
He laughed at me.  His own flesh n blood.

Turns out you have to have massive quantities of ammonia and bleach to produce enough chlorine gas to be fatal.  Who knew?

After his brief interlude of laughter at my expense, he quickly dispelled my fears of dying on my front porch and told me he was quite certain I would survive.  And poison control would not have to be called.  Thus chem suit guys would not surround my apt.  And I wouldn't make the evening news.

Darn.

So I went back inside, opened windows and turned on the ceiling fan to air out the smell.
And finished cleaning the counters.

All is right in my world again.

Oh happy note, I get to use these cuh-ute gloves.  Makes cleaning super fun.



One more life lesson learned.
One more crisis solved.
All in a days work.


What lessons have YOU learned lately?

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Simple blessings

Today, I'm thankful for:

*An unsuspected email from a dear friend who I only knew briefly this summer, but whose words touched my more deeply than she could ever know.  {Thanks Marli!}

*My hair dryer died.  As in, weird noises, then smoke, hot wires...yeah, the whole sheBANG!  Absolutely no money left in the budget to replace it.  The same day:  I was given a $25 gift card to Target, just because.  How beautiful?!

*Moms who buy extra groceries...just so daughters can "shop" the cabinets when home on the weekends.  She even stocks the freezer section...chicken, beef, salmon.  The works!  

*A beautiful prayer book of hope sent by a long ago friend...just when I needed it the most.  Oh, how He loves us.

*68 degrees of beautiful sunshine today.  My heart couldn't help but be happy!

So thankful that He provides even when we doubt.  So thankful that He scatters Sonshine every.where. if we only take the time to see. 

Today I am so very grateful.  So very blessed.



What are you thankful for today?  How has the Lord blessed you?

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Bring out the fireworks, ya'll!

It's Independence Day here in TEXAS!!!!

Yeehaw!  Time to celebrate!!!!

I'm one of the blessed few of the 8 billion of us on this planet to be Texas born and bred.

I just love this state oh-so-much.  From our state motto (Friendship) to our state flower (the bluebonnet), to, heaven help us, our state Pride, everything about it just gets me giddy! 

My ancestors were part of Stephen F. Austin's first colony that settled this great state.  So, needless to say, Texan pride is in my blood.   And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

So to celebrate, here are some of my absolute favorite things about the Lone Star State.


Amarillo!  My hometown.  Yep, even good ol' George Strait (a fellow Texan) couldn't help but sing a hit about this great city.  Good home cookin'.  The friendliest people you will ever meet.  The prettiest sunsets this side of heaven.  Prairies as far as the eye can see.  If you can stand a little wind and the occasional smelly feedyard, it's hands down one of the best things about Texas. 



Everything is bigger in Texas!   Especially our Faith!  This beauty is in a tiny town, Groom, TX, along I-40 near the Oklahoma border.  You can see it for miles around.  Simply amazing. 



THE Dallas Cowboys.  'Nuff said.



Back to that "everything's bigger" thing.  Check out this spectacular picture of a lightning storm in Amarillo from a few years ago.  There's just nothing like it! 



The rich history.  I love that we class after class of state history all throughout school.  There's nothing greater than remembering the Alamo, the widows of Goliad, the Battle of San Jacinto.  Great leaders of our state from Austin to Houston, Travis, Bowie, Crockett.  These amazing men who paved the way for the greatness that remains to this day.  Love it.

Just a few more things I love about this state:

  • Football is king.  And for a gal who only watches ESPN during football season (and of course the draft), this is vital!

  • Conservative roots.  Pro-business.  Pro-capitalism. 

  • The diverse landscape.  Mountains, forests, plains, coastal land, deserts.  You want, we got it!

  • The fact that it takes an entire day to get outta this place if driving across it!  Ha!

  • West Texas and the Hill Country

  • BAYLOR UNIVERSITY.  Oldest university in Texas, even back when we were our own nation!  Sic 'em!

  • And I gotta say it again, our ridiculous state pride.  It's hard to be humble when you're the best.  =)

All I gotta say is if you're still reading, you deserve a freakin' award!
Thanks for sifting through my tribute to my favorite place on earth! 

God bless, Texas!
michelle

Texan born and Texan bred, and when I die, I'll be Texan dead!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Laughter Mondays

A guy hears a light knock at the door.



He opens the door and all he sees is a snail.
He picks it up and hurls it across the street.

Six months later, he hears a knock on the door.
He opens it up and there's the snail.
The snail says "What was that all about?!"


{All images from Yahoo}

Hope your Monday is full of fun!
michelle