I Headed North to Fort Worth

It's been one week since I've blogged and although I know this blog could possibly bore you to death, I feel the need to document the excitement that's gone on since last Wednesday. Plus, I'm sure you're ready for something else other than me gushing about The Canadian Tenors.

Last Thursday me and the roomies headed to the Rodeo. The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is truly a phenomenon and I believe that you're not a true Houstonian until you experience it at least once. Brad Paisley was the entertainment of the night and he did not disappoint. He is such a cutie and is most definitely all about his audience. I think he spent more time running around the stadium than he did on the actual stage! It's always a late night when you stay for the entire show, but every minute is worth it. It's so much fun! Not only do I enjoy the artists they bring in, I'm a huge fan of the actual rodeo itself. There's just something about watching bull riding, the calf scramble, barrel racing and mutton bustin' that gets me all riled up! If you're not familiar with mutton bustin', please do yourself a huge favor and youtube it. If I told you it was five year olds holding onto sheep for dear life would you watch it? Then please go.


Mandy, me and Claire. So fun! Thank you to Mandy's dad for giving us the awesome tickets!


This past weekend started Spring Break in our area, probably like most of you, so Sunday after teaching at church (which I'm teaching for the next 2 Sunday's and would so appreciate your prayers) I packed my sweet lil' self up and headed to Fort Worth.

Jen and Raven, my sweet friends who I so dearly miss, hosted me for a few days and we had a ball. I left a lot later than I had planned due to an un-planned Sunday nap, but when I arrived around 9 pm, Raven and her roommate, Katie, had a spaghetti dinner waiting for me. It was so tasty and I was so grateful they waited for me to eat. I know they had to have been starving!

Of course we chatted late that night then headed to bed. Monday morning we woke up, got ready then scooted around town and ran some errands for Rae. She took me to a neat little restaurant called Yucatan Taco Stand and we shared a burrito bowl. Y'all, it was better than I ever imagined. We then went to the dentist for Raven, then after that she took me to Curly's Frozen Custard. We each treated ourselves to a kiddie size and it was perfect.

That night we met a bunch of her friends at the Stockyards. It's so adorable down there and since Jen was back in town, they obviously met us there too! I was so happy to see her. We ate some Risky's BBQ and it was so tasty. Basically, if you can imagine, I ate myself through Fort Worth. It seems to be what we do every time I'm there. I was sad because it was way colder than we wanted, but we made the most of it. We shut the restaurant down! Jen and Ryan came back to the apartment with us and chatted for a bit, then after they left Rae and I stayed up and talked till 2:30. We are crazy! But oh, how I love those nights!

Me and Raven enjoying our custard in the car since it was chilly outside.

All the girls!

I was riding the horse. What can I say?

Fun in the stockyards!

Tuesday after we were all fixed up again, I finally got to see Jen's cute new apartment, then we toured Fort Worth the rest of the day. We ate lunch at a cute little hole in the wall called The Lunch Box. The decor was green and yellow, and I happened to dress for the occasion since I was wearing green and yellow. Neat.

On Monday Raven had wanted to take me to a cupcake store called The Cupcake Cottage, but it was closed. So Tuesday, we pre-ordered our cupcakes, went and picked them up, realized we didn't have any milk, so we drove through the McDonald's to get their kids milk jugs, and then we enjoyed eating our cupcakes at the Fort Worth Water Gardens. After I devoured my first one, I was instantly wishing I would have ordered two. They were that good. Oh, and did I mention that upon my arrival on Sunday Raven had a JD's Chippery cooking waiting for me? It was as good as I've heard them to be. Oh my word! We never went to Dallas so I didn't get any extra, but my next trip up there, we're so going.

I'm telling you, it's all about the food, folks.

After our Water Garden and cupcake adventure, we went back to Jen's and chilled for a bit before making our annual trip to Target. Jen needed a dress and well, let's be honest, Target comes in the form of therapy for most people, so Raven and I supported her buying a dress. We too purchased a dress and some shoes. To be detailed, we purchased the exact same dress and shoes. Yes, we're lame, I mean, cool like that.

They then whisked me away to Posados. One of the best Mexican restaurants ever. To be honest, I didn't have high expectations because of the Mexican food we have here in Houston, but it exceeded anything I thought and more. I like to consider myself a fajita connoisseur, and these were by far some of the best I've tasted. Dare I say they were better than Pappasito's? Y'all, that's saying something.

The night was coming to an end and as sad as I was, I was also part excited because I was pooped. Those girls kept me as busy as a bee.

Raven and I didn't stay up near as late talking because we had to be up early to leave, but I did create a blog for her. She had a blog in college, but once she went to seminary fell off the blogging bandwagon. Now that she has more time, she wants to start again, so what's better than starting fresh? It's cute. Now she just needs to blog.

In front of The Lunch Box. See how I match the colors?

We were not only excited about what was in the pink box, but we were also excited about the pink box itself..

I love this pic, but I had my camera on a different color setting, making us all look a little...tan? Red?

The pink box became a staple in our pictures.

The Water Gardens. It is really neat!

They called this wall the mountain. I wonder why? And yes, if you didn't notice, we have matching shoes on.

This is what I like to call a pre-jump pose. Unfortunately, the actual jumping picture didn't work out.

I was trying to be artsy.

I came home this morning and on my way out picked up Jen to ride back with me. The four hour drive goes by much quicker when you have someone to talk to. It's been a while since we've had good, decent time to talk, so it was great car time.

Her dog, Scout, even joined us and all was well with his doggy car seat until his foot started bleeding. Bless his heart! Thankfully, I was able to pull over and we rigged a plastic cast, but she's taking him to the vet this week to get him all fixed up. He's a cute little thing, that's for sure. And until today I've never even heard of a doggy car seat and it's by far the funniest thing you'll ever lay eyes on. Oh my word!

I'm back home now and am thinking about going back to work tomorrow. It was most definitely a fun few days and I was so thankful to take a few days off and get away! I love my girls and don't see them near enough. Thank you, sweet friends, for being such wonderful hosts. I love y'all to pieces!

As Raven and I were getting dressed this morning, we both new we wanted to wear our new shoes. I clearly packed what I had on, and then after Raven got dressed, we came to the conclusion that we are absolutely ridiculous. But we love it. They say opposites attract, do they not? It was way to hilarious not to document.

If you feel the need to own these shoes, please know you can purchase your own for $12.99 at Target. They'll make you feel like Spring has finally arrived. And rightfully so. Just look at them!

The roommates. They're hilarious!

Scout in his doggy car seat on the way home! How funny is that?

And here Scout is with his rigged plastic cast. The plastic bag, might I add, is actually a poop bag. It now serves more than one purpose, and we were so thankful for that!

Happy Spring Break, y'all! I hope it's been a fabulous break for you all.

Yes, I'll Marry You!

*Updated: Please see Jen's post about our entire day Thursday. I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks. It's just too much!

When I was younger, you know, like Jr. High and High School, I made my "husband list" like every other girl on the planet. It was chalk full of non-shallow, spiritual things. Ha! Do you hear the sarcasm in my tone? I'm pretty sure on paper I described the perfect man, knew I'd find him in college, then he'd whisk me away and we would have beautiful children. As you can imagine, that dream has yet to come to fruition. Since then, I've chucked the list and recreated it to a more down to earth male that is far from perfect. I think I've revamped my list a time or two on this here blog.

What I do remember about my list, besides the fact that he was tall, handsome, strong and a Gucci model was that I desired someone who could sing. Particularly sing and play the guitar and/or piano, but if he did not posses the latter skills, it was no deal breaker. Singing would suffice. This was huge for me because I myself am a music lover, can sing, and have grown up in a musical home. My mom has been a piano teacher my entire life, for goodness sake. Some people like to refer to our family as the Von Trapp family. That wasn't embarrassing or anything back when I was 14.

Anyway, I think it would still be neat to marry someone with some type of musical ability, but believe me when I say it's not the deal breaker it used to be.

This past Thursday as Jen and I were driving up to Dallas we had to find something to not only keep us from being an emotional mess, but we also needed something to keep us awake. So, we did what we always do, we turned to music. No one, and I mean no one, gets us like we get each other when it comes to this category. I'm sure we're the only BFF pair that can bust out Disney songs while traveling north on I-45 like no one else's business. It's pretty ridiculous. Plus, the wide variety of music we like could create confusion to anyone that doesn't know us.

At one point, probably near Buffalo in the middle of nowhere, she asked if I'd ever heard of The Canadian Tenors and I to my surprise, I hadn't. She hadn't either until just recently as they were on featured on Oprah. The reason she so wanted me to desperately hear them was because their harmonies were angelic, they clearly had a musical talent like Josh Groban, there were 4 of them and frankly, they were easy on the eyes. If we appreciate anything in music, it's a good harmony.

Thanks to my handy dandy iPhone, I coached her how to find it on YouTube. We then proceeded to plug it into my auxiliary cord, and for the next 4 minutes were mesmerized and smitten by what could possibly be the most beautiful sound. And no, we didn't listen to it just once.

For lack of a better term, they are amazing and my new favorite. The next morning while getting ready for work, I downloaded their album and haven't stopped listening to it since.

So yes, yes in my dreams I would marry them. All of them. Or really, one would be great.

Without further ado, please take 4 minutes out of your sweet day to the heavenly sound that is, The Canadian Tenors. They sing one of my favorites, Hallelujah and at one point, since they readily admitted that Celine Dion was their favorite and since Oprah is queen of surprises, she surprises them with Celine and she joins in on the fun. It is epic. Enjoy, my sweet friends.



And if any of you know a single male that sings like this, I'd appreciate an attempt at a hookup.

An Annoying Habit

I find it completely humorous that according to my post count, this is my 400th post. Wow! Who knew I'd make this post so boring? I mean seriously, I could have at least talked about my weekend, or you know, shocked y'all with another post about singleness. Or better yet, talked about the Oscars, Biggest Loser, Bible study or toenails. Toenails because I gave myself a pitiful pedicure last night. But that's neither here nor there.

No, I'm choosing to discuss a habit I've developed that I despise.

And while this isn't the worst possible habit a human could posses, or the only habit I choose to indulge in, it's quite annoying.

Here's the deal, the Lord blessed me with some long eyelashes. I say blessed because I know some people purchase what I've naturally been given. Don't be ashamed or feel guilty if you've been a purchaser of said eyelashes, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do, and we need our luscious eyelashes, do we not? We have to bat our eyes at somebody.

Anywho, ever since my mom started letting me wear make-up, and more specifically, mascara, and clear mascara at that, I've been obsessed with my eyelashes. Granted, I've graduated to black mascara these days, but the obsessions started young.

As weird as this may sound, I love the way mascara feels on my eyelashes. I know, please unsubscribe if you feel you can no longer support me as a friend, I do understand. Because what most people think feels gross, I'm obsessed.

Not to mention the fact that putting on mascara is like an art to me. It takes me a sweet forever to apply it. No clumping allowed and I'm a little OCD the minute that wand touches my lashes. Don't believe me? Ask any of my BFF's. I'm sure they'll love to weigh in.

I think you know where this is headed.

Every night as I sit and blog, read, watch t.v. or whathaveyou, I pick at my eye lashes. Namely, my mascara. I do it all night long leaving little specks of mascara dust all over my face, and by the time I wash my face, all eye make-up is pretty much removed.

Now I know you're wondering why that's so annoying, or even such an issue? Let me explain, besides the fact that I leave a trail of mascara everywhere I walk, while picking at my mascara, I also pluck out eyelashes unintentionally.

Y'all, I'm convinced I'm going to be eye lash less soon if this awful habit doesn't stop. You'd be surprised at how many I pull out each night.

And let's face it, when most girls say they feel lipstick completes their look, I feel that mascara completes my look. Do you see my dilemma? What happens when I have no eyelashes left?

I remember someone telling me a long time ago that for people who bite their nails, there is this nail polish you can buy to paint on the that tastes disgusting. Unfortunately, I don't bite my nails, but I wish I had that problem. No one has invented a mascara that shocks you upon touching your eyelashes. Maybe I should patent that.

So, what's a girl to do? How do I stop this annoying habit? Seriously. What are some things you have done to break a habit? What are some of your habits?

If I can break the habit of having a Diet Coke every day for lunch, I can surely break a habit of picking mascara off my eyelashes.

Please, help this soon-to-be-no-eyelash-girl out!

A Quick Prayer Request

Hi friends! I have a quick prayer request to ask of you.

In the grand scheme of things I feel silly asking for prayer for this, but tomorrow is the day they are going to celebrate sweet Carson's life in Dallas.

Jen and I are going to make the trek up there tomorrow morning, and head back in the evening to not only celebrate with them, but to support their family, and mainly our sweet Joanna. It's about a 5 hour drive from Houston. I am driving and am extremely grateful to have Jen with me to keep me company and awake, but I know it will be an exhausting day all around.

Funerals tend to wipe me out, so would you pray for safety, strength and energy for us tomorrow? And that we would be able to minister and love on them during the short time we're there? I get anxious about days like this, so I would greatly appreciate your prayers on our behalf.

But more so than praying for us, please continue to pray for the Richardson family. I just cannot even begin to imagine the sadness in their hearts as tomorrow approaches. I'm praying that His perfect peace would rule their hearts, for a peace that passes all understanding.

Thank you so very much. I know that they covet your prayers!

On the Wings of Love

Well, the drama is over. Jake has chosen his baby and we can all claim our Monday nights back for ourselves. That is until May comes and we all watch as Ali picks her baby. (If you don’t understand why I am choosing to use the term “baby” please do yourself a favor and stay confused. No use in explaining the awkwardness that was that line last night.)

I want to start out by saying that every season; I continue to be sucked into the drama that is The Bachelor. Or The Bachelorette. Whatever ABC decides to air that season, I anxiously await all the drama to unfold all the while asking myself why I continue to watch it.

Yes, I’ve only missed one season, so please know that I’m just as involved like most of you.

I’m not sure why I continue to be sucked into the saga; because most seasons, I’m disappointed by the outcome or how they choose to live their life after the show is over.

But last night I was not only convicted of my thinking, I was also floored.

I’m not going to lie; I didn’t want all the internet rumors to be true about Jake’s final pick. Let’s just say I’m not Vienna’s biggest fan. And yes, I’ve had my fair share of rude remarks toward her. Just putting that out there.

But I am truly floored at the way she is being treated and talked about.

The truth is, what we see is what we get. I don’t know why we think that protesting his decision will make anything different. It never has and it never will. There may have been a few red flags in the process for sure, but yet again, as I watched her home date with his parents, I caught myself asking for forgiveness as well, just like his family did. We don’t know the girl from Adam, so to judge her and say nasty things about her is flat wrong.

I realize I may step on one or twenty toes here, but when I logged on facebook and twitter last night real quick after all was said and done, I was shocked at all the nasty things I read. It was kind of upsetting.

Who are we, as believers, to voice our opinion on whether or not homedude made the wrong decision? And not just voice our opinion, but absolutely slam the girl he chose. He’s a 32 year old man whom I’m confident can make his own decisions with or without our help.

I’m not pointing any fingers. In fact, I’m placing myself right smack dab in the middle of this category. I had a few choice comments myself.

I also saw a few people upset that they declared they’d be moving in together immediately. I’m not sure why this was so shocking or upsetting, because we can’t expect non-believers to act like believers. There’s no need to put that expectation on them.

Newsflash, this show has never been and will never be about Christ-centered dating. I have to remind myself of that a lot because most days, I live in my own Christian bubble.

It’s clear that Jake is a decent man that loves and respects Vienna. It’s clear that he wants to provide for her. It’s clear that he wants to take care of her. It’s clear that he enjoys her company.

To be completely honest, without judging either one of their motives, I find that refreshing.

So much unnecessary attention is going to come from the controversy that is Jake & Vienna, when the reality is that if you look around there are marriages falling apart all over the place because…

The husband is cheating on the wife. Or vice versa.

The husband doesn’t feel respected, or the woman doesn’t feel loved.

The husband can’t provide financially for his wife’s needs, so she moves on.

There is abuse in the home.

The wife feels more connected emotionally to another man, so she leaves her man for that.

And countless other reasons.

I’m not going to pretend to know one thing about marriage. Stink, I’m not going to pretend to know one thing about dating.

I say we all move on. Their relationship is not going to end the entire world, nor will it end the long running dramatic television series.

There are more things to get upset about than one simple man who chose one simple woman.

I don’t know what will happen in their relationship. I know that if Christ is not the center it’s harder to manage. We’re all human. We all fail. But for a moment can we just rejoice in the fact that a man loves his woman and wants to treat her well? Don’t we need a little of that?

This doesn’t mean I won’t be watching another season. I can almost guarantee that I will be on my couch, Dove Chocolate in hand, counseling the TV on whether or not any of those men are worth going for.

But hear this, I will not get emotionally involved or rip them apart. It’s TV, for goodness sake.

I’ll use it more-so as a tool for how not to date.

And if you think that’s messed up, and that I have some messed up thinking for even watching it again, then I apologize. I’m human.

On that note, I’m off my soapbox.

If you care to find me, I’ll be soaring on the wings of love.

All the Single Ladies

This past weekend was most definitely a single ladies weekend and I loved every second of it.

As stated before, the Lord has immensely blessed me in the friendship area, and while I've prayed specifically for girlfriends here in Houston to walk this journey with, He's instead given me a handful of other friendships, for which I am particularly thankful for.

However, I need you to know that there are two girls who mean the world to me and are most definitely walking this road with me, they just happen to live in different cities..

So, imagine my surprise and excitement when Raven texted me to see if I was free this weekend to have dinner since she was in town. Indeed I was! And to make matters even more exciting, Hannah was free to. What, what?! We've tried to plan weekend get together, but our schedules are all so crazy and wonky, it's difficult to actually find a good weekend. To say that I was looking forward to our get together would be a complete understatement. It's been a good while since I've had a good, deep conversation about life (that makes me sound like some girl who thinks all the time! Ha!) and I knew that these girls would not disappoint.

Since about our Junior year of college, we've bonded together. Stuck together. We completely get each other and where we're at in life. It's one of the sweetest things.

We're all in ministry. We're all out of college. We're all called to churches that may not provide us with the best singles ministry every. And we're all singe. Yet we're all content. Yes, we get each other.

Friday after work I got home, packed a little bag and waited for Hannah to drive in from Huntsville. Bless her heart, she got into a bit of traffic so it took her longer than expected. I had a feeling that would happen. When I lived there I either left super early during the day, or late at night. The traffic is pitiful.

She finally arrived and we hopped in my car and headed to Raven's. She lives in Ft. Worth, but she was in town for the weekend visiting her family. Her mom lives in a town close to Galveston, so I was thinking traffic would be bad for us as well, but thankfully it was not.

By the time we got to Raven's we were starving! We all agreed that Mexican was in order, then we headed to Kemah to eat at Cadillac Bar. I love the fajitas there! We of course laughed our heads off, talked out faces off, and got tickled at each waiter who flirted with us. Y'all, they were so funny! It was so obvious!

After almost shutting the restaurant down, we walked over to Starbucks. Is there a better way to end the evening? If it wouldn't have been so windy and chilly, I so would have been first in line to ride the roller coaster. We ride it every summer, and although it knocks you around, it is a blast! I love me a good roller coaster. We will forever miss you, Astroworld.

At Starbucks I'm certain we annoyed every human being in there. I'm just here to say that we're not the quietest bunch, nor is my laugh a quiet one. We weren't trying to be disrespectful, and I don't think we were being disrespectful, I just think we were having fun. I bet everyone was jealous.

We did shut Starbucks down, then headed back to the house. Did I mention that it was a sleepover? Oh, the joy in my heart. It's been too long since I've had myself a good sleepover. We did what any girl would do at a sleepover, changed into our pj's, then sat on the bed and chatted til we had no spit left. Poor Hannah fell asleep, but we forgave her.

That next morning after sleeping in Raven made us cinnamon rolls and fruit, and after that Hannah and I packed up the car and headed back north. The morning was cut way to short, but I enjoyed every last second of it! I love those girls to pieces. They did my heart some serious good. It was just so refreshing! I think all of us would say that. We all needed that night and it was delightful. I'm so thankful the Lord allowed us to have a spur of the moment mini-retreat. I love spur of the moment evenings.

Hannah, Raven and me at Cadillac Bar. Yum. I'm sad this is the only picture we got of the three of us!

How precious are my girls?

Me and Hannah!

Playing with my iPhone. It truly is a phenomenon. Raven, how did we manage to not get a picture together?

Hannah can pull off pretty much any hair piece. We're not jealous or anything. Would you look at this cute, gorgeous girl?

Raven was very excited about her drink.

We stopped to get gas on the way home. It's not everyday you see a limo parked at the Kemah Food Mart.

Saturday evening I had already made plans to hang out with Sara. She was getting her iPhone that day, so I declared that a celebration was in order. I don't know anybody that has wanted an iPhone more than her! Sara and I have a special relationship. She's a senior and although she does not go to my church, we met through her sweet mom who I met (kind of) through blog world. Since then we've pretty much had a monthly date!

I picked her excited self up and we headed down to Memorial City Mall. We had already planned on eating our normal Chick-Fil-A meal, but we also planned to see a movie and she wanted to get a few accessories for her new phone. Memorial City offers all of the above so it was perfect!

Girlfriend is so cute. I think she taught me more about my iPhone than I taught her, which is crazy since I've had mine since June! It was great.


Once we got all her accessories taken care of, and had eaten, we went to see When In Rome. I think it is so cute and funny! We happen to sit two seats away from some sweet old ladies who had to be at least in their 70's. They had those earphones that allow you to hear the movie better. I've never seen those, but I think that's neat. The cutest thing was that pretty much every 5 minutes, they said, "Oh my!" Sara and I were beyond tickled. If I could have, I totally would have taken a picture of them.

We had a fun little evening and I am so happy for Sara to have her phone. For the main reason that she'll no longer have to steal mine when we're together! Ha!

Here is Sara eating her first Chick-Fil-A meal with her phone. I did teach her how to use ShakeItPhoto, which she now loves.

Love this picture and love this girl! It was her first try with that fun app and it was perfect.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I'm off to listen to Single Ladies. I feel that is only appropriate as I clean the kitchen.