iProject

I have an iProject. I'm loading all of my CDs onto my iTunes. I've been working on it for approximately 20 hours now and am doing it while work since all you have to do is keep popping the CDs in and out. Tedious I tell ya!

But, on the up side, I have found some fun old CDs that I had forgotten about such as Mase and The Notorious B.I.G. Tickling my earbuds with some oldies! In fact, Mo' Money Mo' Problems is playing as we speak!

Pet Sitting 101

I had my first crash course in pet sitting last night. But, I feel that it is crucial to share that when the instructor instructs you to make sure that the door locks are turned a certain way when you go out, one should in fact follow directions. Yours truly learned her lesson this morning.

Lesson #1:

6:30 in the am and I let the dogs out to use the bathroom. They came back in, but Sammie needed some coaxing to get back in. I get Sammie and come back to realize that I have shut the door behind me and it is now locked! I am locked out of the house! There are two beagles inside the house staring at me, but I am on the outside! I walked around and tried all the doors. Locked. I checked the windows. Locked.

Here I am in a strange neighborhood, locked out of the house, in my pajamas (not the best thing to be meeting the neighbors in) with no shoes on. My cell phone is inside the house. I have nothing. So, I did the first thing I thought of. I prayed. I asked God to send me a miracle or an angel to get me back into this house. The neighbor to the right is non-existent as the house is for sale. The neighbor to the left is not home. I'm getting ready to start thinking of another plan or finding another house to go to when I turn around and notice that the neighbor across the street is backing out of his garage and then he stops and gets out (as if he's forgotten something).

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" I yell as I am sprinting across the front lawn shoeless and in my pajamas. "Are you James' neighbor?" (Duh, he's James' neighbor)

He starts laughing at me and says "Did you lock yourself out of the house?"

"Yes! Please tell me you're the neighbor with the key!" (It's at this point, I remember James telling me that one of his neighbors had to let him in his house one time when he was locked out.)

"That's me!" he says

"Oh, you're an angel!" I said. (Maybe I should have held that in)

Meet my new best friend (and angel), James' across the street neighbor.

Lesson #2:

Now that the pet sitter is back in the house safe and sound with the pets, we continue with our morning. I decided to do my devo outside since the house has an awesome screened in porch (the key is in my pocket at all times now). And, how fitting, I'm reading in James.

James 1:2-8

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Our God has such a sense of humor and has made me laugh all morning! I imagine He got quite the chuckle out of me running around the neighborhood like a crazy lady in my pajamas with no shoes! I like James' use of the word various to describe the trials we encounter. Various means anything. Big or small. Death and sickness or being locked out of the house. But, these various trials do test us and they do test our faith. I was thinking about how I stopped and prayed in the backyard and how it was one of the first times that I seriously prayed hard and with no doubt. I had no doubt that God would get me back into this house and that He would show me a way. And, He did. It was such an awesome thing to read that part of James this morning and think about what had happened and see how just into the details God is and how He provides.

What a blessing this morning turned out to be!

Jill Done Got Hitched

We traveled to Hickory this weekend for the official hitching of Jill and Michael! CONGRATS!

The lovely bride with Bethany, Crystal, Halley, Me and Abby

My date is super special

My favorite bridesmaid

Mansion, Apartment, Shack or House?

MASH is now online! Remember that game? I think I was supposed to marry Marky Mark, have six children, be a professional softball player, drive a Mercedes and live in a mansion in Hawaii.

Still waiting on that to happen. :)

I Got Bangs

(and apparently, a double chin)

I went hog wild last night and decided to chop chunky little girl bangs. This picture doesn't do John Ward's masterpiece justice. They are growing on me and the ponytail is super fun in a J. Crew preppy kinda way.

Now a word to the fellas out there. In the event that you know a girl and she has just chopped herself some CHUNKY bangs and it looks different do not tell her that you want to call her bangs. She's super sensitive. In the event that you do not like the hair cut, wait until her next appointment and gently suggest that she go back to the old way that she had her hair. And, who knows, it might have grown on you by that point!

PS - Opinions on the bangs are welcomed.

Go Shorty. It's Your Birthday. We're Gonna Party...

June 12 is my friend Cheri's birthday! We celebrated at Sono last night!

Cheri at her birthday dinner

Ashley and I decided to gorge ourselves on not one, not two, but THREE rolls! We had the Lava Roll, the Piano Roll and the Screaming "O" Roll. YUMMY is all I can say! I went home with that miserable I ate waaaayyyy tooo much feeling.

Mine and Ashley's plate

Now, I will tell you why I like my friend Cheri. If Cheri was an inantimate object, she would be a shoe. But, not just any shoe. Probably this shoe.

Why this shoe? Because it's colorful and sooo fun! Just like my friend Cheri! So, here's to you Cheri! You Go Glenn Co-Co!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHERI!

OH HAPPY DAY!

My FAVORITE chinos are on sale at jcrew.com! What colors shall I get!?

The Shipping Is Killing Me

I like to shop online. It makes shopping easy. I don't care for driving around to stores. However, shipping costs are CRAZY! Like my bathing suits. Shipping on a skimpy half an ounce piece of material is around $20. And, today, I decided to break down and order a file box (as pictured in the lovely photo below) from See Jane Work because they were 50% off making them $11.50 each and guess what? Yup, shipping was almost the same price as the box. $8.50 to be exact! Man, oh man!

Race For The Cure

For those who don't know, I'm training to run my second marathon in October. My friend Lisa is training to run a marathon the week after mine so we are running together! On Saturday, Lisa and I met up with some other friends to run the Susan Komen Race For The Cure. It was a great race and more than 23,000 people turned out to support the great cause!

If you're interested in learning how you can participate in the Race for the Cure, click here.

Photo from komennctriangle.org.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

MMC's Fighting Softball Team finished up regular season play this past Friday. We had a huge fan base turnout and were 1-1 in the double header (due to a blown call by Ump Teddy in the second game). We tossed a coin for the second seed spot in the tournament as we tied with School Dude. Alas, we lost and are in the third place seed. Tourney play starts tommorrow! Let's go MMC!

The mighty Karen's up to bat

Now, it's my turn! Look how dirty I am - such the softball player!

Guess who's back?

Yup, it's a great day to be a Tar Heel! Read about it here.

What's Making Me Happy

No Follow Through

I'm training for my second 26.2 and am having a hard time running in the evenings in this horrible heat. It is summer time in the south ya'll!

So, I made plans to meet some running club buddies at 5:30 this morning to run. I did provide my disclaimer ahead of time that I am NOT a morning person and if I didn't show up to go on without me. Well, before I went to bed last night, I did my quick prayer that I always do thanking God for the day and my family and being healthy and living in America, etc., etc. Well, I threw in a little diddy about how I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to become a morning person and start running and doing devos before work.* Sure enough, I woke up around 4:45 before my alarm was to go off at 5:00. But, my lazy nature kicked in and the last thing I wanted to do was get up to run four miles. So, I turned off the alarm and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half tossing and turning and NOT sleeping. Completely wasting my morning away. I guess when you ask for it, He'll give it to you and shame on me for not following through on my request.

As for my morning time routine, I'm going to start getting up if it kills me! New goal for 2008! Ha - I'll let you know how it goes.

*When I was in China, I went to bed no later than 10:00 every night and woke up at 5:30 every morning and ABSOLUTELY loved it! I had two hours to shower, eat breakfast and spend time doing devo and whatever else I wanted. IT WAS AWESOME and I really want to do it in my everyday life now.

Mark aka Vinny

Kara brought something very important to my attention. Vinny Del Negro has been named the next Chicago Bulls head coach. Apparently, he's a former NCSU basketball player. Never heard of him.


But, Vinny looks a lot like Mark, no?

We're going to Omaha....

...AGAIN!!!

Photo via tarheelblue.com.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Today I felt like gettin' my eat on and swung through the Cook Out drive through at lunch to get a cookout style burger and a chocolate milkshake (good thing I'm running tonight!). I get back to my desk and am inhaling my food when I noticed that my cup has "Psalm 118:24" on it. Well, I had to look it up of course.

Psalm 118:24 (New American Standard Bible)
This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Well, isn't that nice?!

Then, low and behold my bag has "Proverbs 3:5-6" on it and I looked that one up.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (New American Standard Bible)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your

ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Cook Out has made my day! Not only is my stomach full of yummy goodness and I'm still drinking this creamy choclate milkshake, but I'm being fed the Word as well. The bag says SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. Well, Mr. Cook Out, kudos to you! I am satisfied!