She's the maccaroni...

...to my cheese.

I just love this girl. 

No one can make me laugh as hard or as long.  She is hysterical.  Laugh-so-hard-I-pee-in-my-pants funny. 

She's also beautiful.

And she's smart. 

And loves the Lord with her everything.

She has one of the quickest wits I know.

And she is one mean scrapbookin' machine. 

She's got the sweetest moves on a diving board you will ever see.

Plus, she can out-eat every boy I know.  

She's also a little sassy:

And super opinionated. 

She's an amazing dancer.

And one of the most loyal people I know.

And did I mention funny?  Yep, she can have an entire room of people in stiches, rollin' on the ground, beggin' for mercy. 

But, my sweet, beautiful, funny, wonderful friend...

 ...is leaving me.

Yep, she's chasing her dreams.  And following her heart.

She found out 2 weeks ago that she got accepted to UTMB medical school.  [See, told you she was smart.]  So she'll be packin' up her gear, and moving to Galveston.

Which is no where close to Amarillo! 

We just got reunited in May after my long stint in Waco at Baylor.  {read all about our reunion celebration here.} 

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm sooo proud of her.  Thrilled.  Ecstatic.  She is getting the opportunity to do what she has always wanted to do:  help people.  And she's going to be so fantastic at it. 

But my little selfish heart wants to have my best friend close to home. 

So that we can water ski, and have impromptu photoshoots, and scrapbook for days straight. 

I mean really, who else can I get to belt "Why'd you come in here lookin' like that" by Dolly Parton on a ski lift for all the world (or all of Wolf Creek at least) to hear?  And who is going to eat all my red Skittles?  Or have cooking catastrophes where we nearly burn the house down?

We're like peanut butter and jelly.  She's my other half. 

And I'm gonna miss her.  So. Much. 

But Britt, sister,

You go to Galveston. 

And you show those islanders what a REAL Texan is all about.  =)

And kick med school's tail! 

And when you finally get done, when you have the knowledge to shape and change lives, and the tools to make a BIG difference in this world...well, I'll be here.  In West Texas.  With my arms open wide.  Ready to congratulate you.  Ready to watch you shine.  Ready to point at one of the prettiest gals I know and say, "yep, that's MY best friend.  The doc.  She's somethin' special." 

Can't wait to watch you run this race!  I love that you are sooo courageous.  You are gonna do great things! 

Thanks for dreaming BIG.  Go get 'em sister!

oh, and one more thing...after you go and get all educated, and you think you're all smart and get too big for your britches...remember this...I can always pull out the mud wrestling video to knock you back down to size.  And don't forget, I can still school you at cards.  oh and another thing.  Even if you are all smart and can sign your name Dr. Porter and all...well, green beans should still be cooked with BACON.  You won't ever win that argument, friend....no matter how many degrees you get.  k? 

Oh, and for all you men out there...soooo sorry.  But she's also taken:

Love ya, Britt! 

Hilarious Happenings

Brittany + Michelle = recipe for disaster. Or at the least, a whole lotta fun!

A few weekends ago, Britt and I planned a girls' weekend in Ft. Worth to celebrate being college grads...some may say we're educated, but please maybe you should wait until the end of this post to pass judgement on the level of our edu-macation.

Friday:
Being the wonderfully refined college graduates that we are, we decided to celebrate our transition into adulthood properly...by going to Hurricane Harbor!!!! (Back in my day, it was called Wet 'N' Wild, but I'm an old fogie now.) It was a blast! We started out the day with a bang by riding down the super tall, crazy steep, big slide (technical name... actually my aging memory is failing me and I can't come up w/ the real name). And we hooted and hollered the entire way down in which we were plunged not-so-gracefully into a deep pool of water. Wow-wee, what a way to kick off the grand watery adventure! Yes, much to the "delight" of our parents, we may never grow up.

After enjoying a full day of wetness and slides and wave pools and an amazing, knock-your-socks-off, take-your-kids-right-this-minute jungle gym-like water fort, we were pooped. And starved. And if there's one thing that Britt and I do well, it's eat. Especially when the menu involves unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks at the one and only Olive Garden! =)

Yep, that's right, folks. Six bowls of soup, two big bowls of salad, six breadsticks, and a full bottle of Muscato wine later, we were finally stuffed. (I interrupt this riveting blog post to inform you that you can buy a bottle of Olive Garden's rock-your-world salad dressing for 4 bucks... amazing. And yes, I give you that nugget of info for free, b/c well frankly, I'm just very generous.)

But we didn't stop there. In true celebratory fashion, dessert was an imperative part of the evening. But it turns out that OG disapproves of their guests unbuttoning their britches to make more room in the belly for some dessert, so we paid our ridiculously expensive bill (due to the full bottle of wine) and left that fine establishment in search of greater dessert horizons.

But we detoured. B/c we are Brittany and Michelle. We decided that we should make some room in our overstuffed bellies for the birthday cake ice cream we were craving, so we high-tailed it across the parking lot to TJ Maxx where we spent an hour perusing the goods, and making some very fun purchases for our houses.

Then back at the car, we headed to Albertson's b/c it was the closest grocery store (actually in the same parking lot as OG and TJM) to find ourselves some much-deserved ice cream. But much to our chagrin...the dang store did not have a single brand of ice cream with birthday cake flavor!!!! I know! I'm as shocked and appalled as you are reading this! I'm still quite upset about the whole matter...I need a moment to compose myself...

*sniffle*

Well we were flabbergasted (talk about a fun word!) but never the ones to back down to a challenge, we decided to continue the search for the much needed bday cake ice cream. However, b/c we were already in Albertson's, and b/c we were desperately craving ice cream, and b/c we were unsure of how long and far our search for bday cake ice cream would take us, and b/c we are nothing if not opportunistic, we decided to make a teensy-weensy purchase of ice cream for the road. Turns out Ben and Jerry sell these amazingly cute little bitty cups of ice cream, so Britt got strawberry shortcake, and I got chocolate chip cookie dough, to hold us of over until we were able to find our Holy Grail of ice cream.

And boy did we ever find it! Mecca, aka Marble Slab, saved our taste buds from a night of below-par desserts. Yes indeed! We whipped into the parking lot, scarfed down the last remaining bits of Ben and Jerry's (b/c even we know it would have been unclassy to walk into the Slab eating some knock-off, can't-even-make-bday-cake-flavored-ice-cream-available-to-the-general-public brand), and walked right into that deliciously smelling ice cream-lover's paradise, and ordered us a pint of birthday cake ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.

Every sweet thing in life should be served with sprinkles.

When that spoon filled with wonderfulness hit my tongue, I was transported to a place I didn't know could exist on this side of Heaven. Only two words could describe the transcendental experience: life. changing. I'm still savoring the moment.

It is here that I must interject a tidbit of info that may bring some insight into why this moment was so out-of-this-world. You see, since last October, Britt and I have been on a bet in which we do not eat sweets unless it is a big holiday or birthday. Yes, I know, we are out of our minds, but to our credit, we never did claim to be sane, so that's your own fault for assuming. Ten grueling months of nothing but drab apples and yogurt, left my taste buds desperate for ice cream.

And ice cream is amazing. And when sprinkles are thrown in there, it's just downright heavenly. So we proceeded to eat this amazing goodness until it was completely gone. And then licked the bowl. I'm afraid my life ended then and there, b/c nothing could ever top that moment.

Alright, enough with the melodrama. But seriously, if ice cream was a man, I'd marry him in a heartbeat...can you just imagine THAT kiss? =)

So with that sweet thought, I think I shall go munch on some carrots. All this talk about ice cream has made my jeans tighter.