Happy Birthday Dad!

So I've been seriously slacking on the blogging but I couldn't skip a birthday post for my Dad for his 50th! Especially if I did one for my mom! So how should I begin well let's start with the obvious, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! I am so blessed to have the best Dad in the entire world so I figure for the birthday post I'll try and narrow it down to the top ten reasons why he is indeed the best dad in the world. So here's the countdown:

1. He's my biggest cheerleader, he always has faith in me even when I don't think I can do it. Example one, going to school in Fayetteville which I thought was so scary and big but he kept telling me I would love (which I did.)

2. He taught me to drive, this seems like a silly one but seriously the fact that we both survived this fairly unharmed is pretty amazing. Push and pull are confusing concepts and that combined with the confusion of a yield sign really put some strain on the learning to drive thing.

3. He hates talking on the phone but still talks to me everyday at least once, usually twice. While we don't talk long I love that he answers when I call whether it was when I was walking to class or now when I'm on my lunch break.

4. We have a secret handshake. How many Dads do you know who have a secret handshake.....exactly.

5. When I'm home he picks me up and takes me to Sonic and when I have to head back to Fay he sometimes slips me a coupon for free sonic or coke money for the road. It's a little thing but he knows it makes me really happy.

6. He sat through more dance competitions, recitals and half-times than I can count. I'm sure my Dad would have rather been watching a sport but he supported me in everything I did including going running with me a whole summer so I would be ready for high school dance team.

7. He is full of good slogans, his favorite saying, "it's only as fun as you make it."

8. He gives the best pep talks and really is the only person who can calm me down from the 'freakouts' that happen when I feel really stressed, my mom doesn't even try anymore on the big ones and just passes the phone to him.

9. He works so hard and never complains so I could have the childhood other people only dream of.

10. He always has time for me. I never have to go very long without seeing him because if I haven't come home in a while I can count on him to come see me.

Happy Birthday Dad, thank you for everything! You really are the best!

Hello World, How've you been? Good to See You, My Old Friend

So really the post title has little to do with the post other than the fact that this song is stuck in my head. Sorry if you got excited because of the title, whoops. The past week has been crazy busy/crazy wonderful. Between work and school, life is still really busy but I'm super lucky because I really love both right now. In addition I have had lots of little moments of happy sprinkled throughout my days (I know, it sounds cheesy, but I like cheesy). Examples of little moments of happy include:

• How most of my friends have a lunch break at the same time that my lunch break falls. I know this seems small but being able to jet into Chi O and catch up for even 20 minutes before I head back to work or class is so exciting. All of our schedules are busier than ever and it keeps all of us informed of what is going on with everyone else.
• Today I got to go grab a bite to eat with Sgibs, I haven't had a chance to catch up with her in forever and it was so nice to be able to just pick right back up where we left off.
• Seeing my roommates before I go to work. On Friday, Dani woke up before I left and on Monday Chan was awake before I left. I know this seems small but on days when I know I won't get to see them again before at least 10 pm this definitely puts a smile on my face.
• Today's spontaneous Target run with Schuett once we got out of Bible study made me so happy.
• Today I got a totally random text from Meag that didn't say anything in particular but it still put a smile on my face. I love that we've been friends for so long and that I don't have to explain myself to her, she already knows all the background stories because she was there for them. I miss getting to see her more but things like our random text convos and quick trip to grab food last week gives us time to catch up.
• At work yesterday I got one of those super cool computer screens so I can connect my laptop and work off two displays. All the "real" people at work have them but until yesterday none of the interns did so this was really exciting.
• New t-shirts. Ok, so this sounds a little lame but we got new Chi O shirts last week and I am completely in love with them. New t-shirts always make me super excited.
• Mom's day is this weekend and I am so excited to see my mom on Friday. I can't wait to get off work and kick it with her all weekend.

That's all the happy moments I can think of at the moment. Love y'all bloggy friends!

Happy Birthday (A Day Late) Mom!

Whoops, I really meant to write this yesterday but I got a little too busy celebrating at home, so here goes (we can just pretend this was posted yesterday). HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOM EVER! Seriously, I know lots of people say they have the best mom in the entire world but I would put my mom up against any of them. I never realized how much my mom does until I came to college and realized not every one's mom does the same things. My mom did and continues to do so much for me that I just put in the category of well of course she does, because she's my mom but apparently it's not that way for everyone. I had no idea that it isn't required of moms to make breakfast everyday before you go to school because my mom did. I didn't know that every one's mom didn't take them three different places each year to buy school supplies because she knows how important it is that they get just the right things. I didn't know that every one's mom doesn't give a million pep talks a day about how you can be a big kid and go to a real internship and answer a thousand questions about what she thinks I should wear. I didn't know that every one's mom doesn't sound happy every time they call because even if it is my 100th phone call that day my mom still sounds happy to hear from me. My mom doesn't have to do any of the stuff she does for me but she does because she's the best mom EVER! And I hope that she had the best birthday ever because she deserves it! Thank you Mom for being the best and I'm so glad that I got to come home and celebrate with you! I can't wait to see you in two weeks for Mom's day so we can do what we do best, shop!! I love you Mom, thanks for being so awesome! I hope that I can be at least a fourth of what you are someday! Happy Birthday!!

Sunday's are the Best

Seriously, Sunday has to be one of my favorite days of the week. I just love Sundays! This Sunday started with a trip to my Fayetteville church, the Church at Arkansas. I love this church, after coming to college it took me a little while of church hopping before I finally settled with the Church at Arkansas last year. This church is super college focused which is great. Schuett and Nat decided to come with me today to check it out and since everyone was going Dani decided that she wanted to see where we went to church so she tagged along too! I met up with Meag once we got there. Meag's been my church going buddy since freshman year. Since we go to the same church back home it was easy for us to find a church that we both liked up here. The service was great today with probably my favorite line being that "Faith is an action word." This really seemed to hit home with me since its easy to just have faith and not act on it which isn't the way God intended it. After the service I had the opportunity to run into Brad and Debbie who are the couple that runs AAO the non-profit I interned for last semester. I love running into people I haven't seen in a while and it was nice to quickly catch up. After church we decided to grab a quick bite at La Huerta before heading home. Apart from church my other favorite part about Sundays is using them as a day to prepare for the upcoming week. I decided that today I should tackle some cleaning and homework. I love having a clean house at the start of the week and even better was that I got all my laundry done too. Its so nice to start the week without the stress of those little things hanging over my head. Jacob got back into town around five so I headed over there to get some things my parents had sent back up to me and decided to stay and eat dinner with him. Have I mentioned how stinking excited I am that he goes to school up here?, because I'm ridiculously thrilled. I'm now back home trying to finish up some homework for later in the week while watching The Princess Diaries, I'm such a sucker for chick flicks, ha. Happy moment for the day was getting to eat the leftovers my parents sent up with my brother for dinner. It was so fun to catch up with him and have a free meal! Well, bloggy friends I hope ya'll had a great Sunday too!

It's Yo Birthday, well actually it was MY Birthday :)

The Bartender for the evening, thanks Jake!

The whole group, I seriously have the best friends EVER!!

Love them so much, thanks for the most fabulous 21st a girl could imagine!

Me & Schuey!

Thanks for pit stopping in Conway for my Birthday!

Me & Kat!

Reunited & it feels so good!

Close up of the gorgeous cake, Lisa's Cake Boutique did a GREAT job!!

The cake again!

KB & Me at Old Chicago for the 1st Drink!!

Time for the BIRTHDAY post!!! BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! I had the best week long celebration ever. I have the absolute best friends and family ever. On the Thursday before my birthday Schuett rode back to Conway with me and we met up with Emily and KB at Old Chicago at midnight so I could order my first legal drink! It was so much fun, nothing like a birthday cake shot to start your 21st birthday off right, ha. My actual birthday was spent running errands with Schuett and eating breakfast at my regular birthday breakfast spot, Stoby's of course. That night my parents pulled out all the stops and threw me the best birthday party I've ever had. It was so much fun. I love them so much for taking the time to put together such a great night for me and my friends. We had a seafood boil and all my friends from Fay were there and so were my faves from Conway. It was like the best of both worlds! My grandma made me a red velvet cake and my mom also ordered me a cake from Lisa's Cake Boutique. Nini's cake tasted awesome, as always but I was so excited to have a store bought cake too. The cake from Lisa's was SO cute my mom did such a great job picking out a cake that was 100% me! I loved how everything from the party was coordinating, all my friends were like at least we know now where you got your love of coordination and birthdays, ha. On top of that my sweet friends had put together the ultimate girly 21st birthday gift including tiara and nail polish! I have to say 21 was probably the best birthday so far. I can't wait to see what else this year has in store. Ps. Sorry this post was so delayed, the continued birthday celebration pics will come with the Panama post! Love ya bloggy friends!

I've Got A Pocketful, Pocketful of Sunshine

Hello world! I have missed you dearly, the blogosphere has been a little low on my priority list this past week, which is so unfortunate since it was my new year's resolution to document 2010. Let's see what all I have been up to since we last chatted. When I first logged on tonight I thought it had been a week since I updated but I just realized that it has only been 4 days which makes me feel a little better. So let's see, on Friday my groups rolled out with some stellar presentations. We had Big Red come in to our class for Selling and Sales to assist with our presentation, which was a huge hit with our class and teacher. So after that Kara and I hit the road for Cway. Most of my friends were heading home for the weekend and since last weekend's trip seemed a little short since I got home so late I figured why not make a hair appointment and head home. We had a little jam session the whole way home and caught up on life in general which was great. It's so strange to go from living with someone everyday for two years to having to actually schedule hang out time. I got my haircut on Friday afternoon, which was definitely my happy moment for that day. I love my hairdresser, she rocks and I always love the way my hair looks afterwards. On Saturday, the whole family loaded up and went to the races in Hot Springs. Jake and I hadn't ever been before and it was a blast, I just love my family. Mom and I were talking about it later how we feel so sad for people who don't enjoy spending time with their families because we all just have so much fun together. I think part of the reason I love weekends at home has to go to the consistency of Sundays, I love waking up on Sundays knowing exactly where we will sit at church, knowing that I will almost always being running 5 minutes later than I should be, knowing Jacob will be mad because I wasn't ready on time, knowing that we will eat Cracker Barrel afterwards, and that I'll then get to come home and change into my bumming clothes. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and my happy moment for today goes to coming back and being reunited with the "group." I just love my friends, they are just so stinkin' wonderful I don't know how I ever lived without them. I know this was a long post but one last thing: On Tuesday I have a very special treat for all my bloggy friends, Katie Schuett is going to guest blog!!!

School's Back (For Real Now)

Hey peeps! So today isn't going to be one of those cool new blog posts I talked about last time because its like 11 o'clock and I'm tired. So if you were hoping for that you'll just have to keep checking back :) OK so the past two days have been crazy, this week is the fourth week of school which means we are a quarter of the way into the semester and that tests are beginning. I have a test on Friday of this week and two group projects due. My happy moment for Monday came when I rolled over to turn off my alarm to get up and saw that I had an e-mail from my teacher saying that my class was cancelled, the extra hour of sleep was so nice, especially on a Monday morning. During my internship yesterday I actually got to start doing stuff and that was exciting because its hard to occupy yourself when you aren't really busy. Tomorrow Amy and I get to venture out of the office and pick up some donations which thrills me because I hate being cooped up in any one place for too long. Today while volunteering at the blood drive I felt just like one of those obnoxious people at the mall who is asking you to sample lotion or a straightener and you just really want to get to Chick Fila and Dillard's and don't give a darn about their products. Every time someone passed by me while I was working the door to the donation center they started walking farther on the other side of the hall and as soon as I spoke I could see it in their eyes that they were already creating their excuses. I didn't donate today but plan on going tomorrow after my first class, I'm hoping it goes well, donating always makes me a little antsy but I always feel really good about myself after I do it. I guess that's about all I have for today, I'm sorry that it wasn't the fun post I promised but I want the fun post to be really good so it takes a little extra time, you know? My little bit of happy moment today was getting to talk to my mom before I went to class. I was just so stressed last night before I went to bed and usually I don't talk to my mom till late on Tuesday's because I'm busy and so is she so it was nice to get her opinion on stuff. I'm such a homebody that I can't wait till I get a chance to go home and see my mom and dad.

I'm Back

So, after making a big deal on my last post about trying really hard to update everyday I miss two days. In my defense the Internet in the house has been down, weak excuse but at least I actually have stuff to say since I missed some days, ha. Let's see on Sunday I went to Church at Arkansas with Meagan and Abbi. The sermon was so good. It was on how we should be less selfish which is something I struggle with. It's so easy to be unselfish when you want to be but so hard to be unselfish all the time. It's been my goal for the week to be less selfish and I'm trying to do it not just in big things but also in all the little everyday things. I keep reminding myself how much it can help brighten my day when someone sacrifices her time or energy for me so the least I can do is do it for someone else. After church I spent the afternoon catching up with some friends I hadn't had the chance to see in a while. Sunday night since we didn't have school on Monday we went over to Nic and Austin's house and hung out. So see blog world I actually do go out some, ha. Monday was a fairly calm day with not a whole of stuff going on. I met my parent's in Alma to pick up some stuff I forgot when I moved back up. It was good to see them even if it had only been a week since I came back, I am definitely a family person and love getting to see them every chance I get. The picture I put up is from Dad's day this year and I just love it, I put it up in a frame in my room just the other day. This week is going to be a busy week. I had a GAMMA meeting this afternoon and start my internship tomorrow. We have Bible study starting on Thursday and I am so excited about that I love the girl's in it and Colby and Amy do an awesome job leading it. I learned a whole lot last semester during it so I'm eager to start back up. I guess I should probably wrap this up and finish up some stuff for class tomorrow. My little bit of happy moment for the day was having time to hang out with Kara between class and GAMMA. It's still so weird to go from seeing her everyday for two years to having to actually plan to hang out. I got so lucky when it came to roommates because we just worked so well together. Well it's good to be back blogging, talk to you tomorrow blog world.