have a nice day!

He was amazed

When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.” So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.

Luke 7:1-10

I have been so challenged and encouraged by this scripture. It can be difficult to possess faith like this Roman soldier, but it is so incredibly worth it.

google is still better

why does this commercial crack me up?

What does a clam do on his birthday?

He shellebrates!

One of my roommates is turning 20 this weekend! We're throwing her a little dessert buffet party after her family leaves to go back home. We're cooking up (no pun intended) a few ideas for sweet treats, but we would love your suggestions for your favorite dessert recipes!

The invitations. :)

today was a fairytale...

...okay, just kidding but today was kind of awesome.

It started out eating crepes here with my roomie, Carrie. We've been going to this little spot for quite some time, but today I created the best crepe combination I've ever had. It contained bananas, honey, and cinnamon. Holllllllllyyyyyy smokesssss it was so good.

Following our little breakfast, we went to Children's Harbor on Lake Martin to surprise all of the baby pandas on their pledge retreat. We had a lot of fun, and I made these to snack on:

Peanut Butter Nutella-filled cookies. They were pretty legit, if I do say so myself. All in all, it was a good day.

a strange new phenomenon

I love back to school shopping. Seriously, it's like a sick pleasure how much I love trips to office supply stores. I wish someone would send me a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils one day. Anyway, this year's shopping list included the usual suspects: binders, paper, felt tip pens, good ink pens, post-it notes of many colors, index cards, so on and so forth. But upon going to class for the first days, it became apparent that I was indeed missing something that I found to be of great necessity.

I said I would never wear one.

I felt like I never understood people who did.

It never dawned on me how much I was missing.

The satisfaction that comes from it is positively disgusting.

So, I caved.

I did what I said I wouldn't.

I bought...

...a wristwatch.

Not only did I buy it, I sport it every single day. And I'm a huge advocate of the previously misunderstood accessory. Even one of my roommates was coveting said watch so much, she had to go out and buy one, too. And the other roommate is going to get one as well.

I think this sudden change of heart stemmed from the fact that professors have gotten really hard on cell phones in class. Some of mine even threatened to kick students out if they even lay eyes on a phone. And apparently Auburn can't put clocks in all of the classrooms...so, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Who knew such a tiny device could bring so much unadulterated delight.

And this is the part where I apologize to all the wristwatch wearers out there, and hope that you will accept this convert into your special society.

a room with a view

I'm starting to get settled in my new dorm room, and it's looking pretty cozy already. Here is the progress I've made thus far:

a new season

Well, rush was... something.

It was stressful. (See my skin for evidence.)

It was long. (I was up way past my bedtime.)

It was disease carrying. (Bacterial infection? Check.)

And rash causing. (I was allergic to my pref dress fabric.)

But it was so worth it. The bonds between us all became stronger and we got the most precious, ballin' new baby pandas. (My pledge class was extremely reluctant to give up that title.) And if I didn't already know for sure that I'm in the right place, I sure as heck am now. The list of inside jokes made was at least a mile long.

And I have to best roommates ever.

I'm so glad to be back. For realz. We tight like a sheaf of wheat.

Now it's time to start school. I forget that's why I'm here.

Observations from suburbia...part three

I had a great summer job. Really. It was so perfect for right now. But it had its...moments.

For example...

Wednesday. A lady comes and buys a robe for her daughter. Mom picks out monogramming. Great. Saturday. Daughter comes to pick up robe. She cries. Literal tears streaming down her face. No, it's not the wrong initials. No, it's not a family heirloom that has been ruined. She just hates the font. She thinks it's too "scripty." The font used was almost block. Picks another monogram. Leaves. Tuesday. Daughter returns to store. Picks up robe for the SECOND time. Just looks at it. Manager asks if there's anything wrong. Girl stares some more. Monogram is fine. Manager asks if we need to take it out. Again. Girl quietly says no. Girls Leaves. We take bets on if she went to her car and cried. There are just bigger things in life to worry about, you know?

I can't leave this kind of drama.

But it gets better.

This is the story that will forever go down as the best work moment of all time:

I'm in the back of the store taking inventory. Cake is sitting on the table. Owner is holding a stocking in one hand and juggling something else in the other. Stocking and cake make contact. Icing is on stocking. Owner licks icing off of stocking. I stare. I ask owner, "Did you just lick that stocking?" Owner responds, "Well, I guess I just did." Owner giggles. I stare. No further conversation needed. (Side note: the stocking never made it out to the sales floor.)

Or this one...

Owner is helping customer. Customer finds aromatherapy bottles. Customer wants to smell a different scent. Owner opens a different bottle. Owner spills liquid everywhere. Owner walks in the back and says, "I spilt that stuff all over me, and now I smell like a french whorehouse." More expletives used. Question remains: how does she know what a french whorehouse smells like?

But then again, sometimes my job involves just listening to people.

One day, a lady told me that she needed a gift for a cousin with whom she had just reconnected. Great. That's still a little more than I need to know, but not too intimate. She keeps going. Apparently, said cousin's great grandparents took a covered wagon out to Idaho. This is when I know I'll be keeping on my fake smile for quite some time. Customer continues to tell me about what life was like out west back in those days. Lady, I took years of American History classes AND played Oregon Trail back in the day. I think I have an idea. Plus, YOU WEREN'T THERE. I don't care how much it snowed. Does that affect the huge linen pillowcase you're buying? Didn't think so.... The things we do to make sure customers are happy in the store.

Frequently overheard phrases:

Crap-a-doodle-doo

If it's not one thing, it's your mother

Shut the front door.

Oh, WHOA.

Are you KIDDING me?

I'm having a hot flash.

You're a hot mess.

We got another email from Indonesia...

Opulence, I has it.

This commercial cracks me up. I don't even know why, but every time I hear it come on one of the TVs in the house, I run to catch it again. Even my dad and I quote it. I think I've come to the point where I enjoy watching TV just for the good advertisements.

a house is built of walls and beams, but a home is built of love and dreams.

Why I LOVE Birmingham and will miss it:

1. See my favorite Birmingham restaurants. This enough is reason to love it.

2. It's kind of under the radar, but the art scene here is definitely present. Sure, we have a nice museum. But there are always art festivals going on somewhere. Magic City Art Connection ALWAYS has something going on.

3. Birmingham has a pretty legit music scene. All of the big names come here, but there's definitely plenty of the coffeehouse shows to go around. And around. And around. And on the off chance that a musical artist is on tour and doesn't come here, chances are they'll probably

hit Atlanta, which is close enough.

4. There are all different kinds of people here. Birmingham isn't just for yuppies or baby boomers, people of every age, race, nationality, etc. are here.

5. Like Goldilocks taking baby bear's porridge because it's "justttt right," Birmingham's size is just the same.

6. 4 hours from the beach. 2 from Lake Martin. 2 from Atlanta. 3 from Nashville. Holla.

7. The shopping is pretty legit. Big chain stores, small boutiques, specialty stores...you name it, we've got it.

8. While we may not be New Orleans (pre-Katrina) or Mobile with old French charm or St. Augustine with Spanish influenced architecture, we've still got plenty of cuteness to go around. Just take a drive through some residential parts of Homewood.

9. You want to learn defensive driving and/or navigation? Try driving around this city. There are some crazies out on the road. And all of the one way streets, random alleys, and weird turns are sure to get even the most seasoned drivers turned around.

10. As sappy as it sounds, this is where my roots are. My family is here. My friends are here. This is familiar. This is home.

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world

10 Test Birmingham Restaurants.

1. Ocean Holy smokes. Best meal of my life. Words cannot even describe how amazing it is.

2. Rojo Superrrr trendy, but delish. And everyone can go there and be happy since there's an American side of the menu as well as a Latin American side. (Go for the second.) And if you don't take my word for it, I mean, Bob Dylan eats there. NBD.

3. Nabeel's Greek food at its finest. And the little market attached is super cute, too.

4. Savage's Bakery I've been going here since I was in the womb. IT IS SO GOOD. Lunch or just a snack, it's one of the best bakeries in town.

5. Surin West I'm not super into Thai food, but I will eat just about anything here.

6 Iz Cafe Best chicken salad and lemon squares in town. For sure.

7. Taziki's Is it sad that I know what their specials are everyday and always get them on Wednesdays and weekends?

8. New York Pizza We used to celebrate our wins (and heck, our losses, too) for church league here because they have the best pizza in town.

9. Pappas' Grill These people are legit off the boat from Greece. And they fight all the time, but Mrs. Papas wins every time. It is like watching a scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And they have the best hamburger in town. Odd, for a Greek restaurant, but it's true.

10. Cobb Lane Too bad it closed. Super upsetting. I used to have tea parties here when I was itty bitty.