Mary had a little BAM!

This past weekend, our church held the youth Dodgeball Tournament to raise funds for youth summer mission trips.

My co- leader and I played with four of the girls in our small group. Two of the girls had played last year, while the rest of us were all new this year. But we weren't going to let a mostly new team keep us from winning! DC and I knew we could win - we even had strategies to win:

Post-Tourname smiles!

• Strategy #1: Only attempt to catch the ball if you are absolutely sure you can catch it.

• Strategy #2:  If possible, take out their strongest player first

• Strategy #3: Pray for DC and KB to be kind and have good, humble attitudes (DC and KB are a bit competitive - we really wanted to win)

• Strategy #4: Three people will run for the balls at the whistle and bat their assigned balls back to the rest of the team

• Strategy #5: Throw at the opposing team's feet. Its harder to catch that way.

• Strategy #6: One person just needs to be a body - stay in and only dodge balls because if time runs out, the team with the most people still on the court wins (We lost that way once. Never again!)

We walked away from the night 2 - 2, but still had a blast. Besides, we know (in our hearts) that we won for best team name, which was "Mary had a Little BAM!"

Pregame Smiles- right before we went and scoped out the competition!

Serious (Dodge) Ballers

  

 Our Awesome Shirts!

Hand- Drawn by MS and her mom

The Detour

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to IKEA in Charlotte on my way to Louisville. Now, many of you road-wise people may be going, "Wait a minute. Charlotte isn't on the way to Louisville!" Yep. It's not. I know that now. So let me paint the picture of how this came to be....

I had been wanting to go to IKEA for a while now, just hadn't had any reasons other than that to go to Atlanta or Charlotte (the closest locations). My departure time for Louisville had changed several times throughout the week and then Thursday night I got the great idea to just leave at my original time (early), hit up an IKEA, and still arrive at the agreed upon time.  Brilliant, right?

So Friday morning dawns bright and cold and I text my friend and ask if there's an IKEA in Louisville. She said no, but you pass one in Charlotte. Now, let me stop here and explain why I took her word right away.  My friend's parents live in this area and she came here at least 1-2 times a month during football season the last two years, so I assumed she knew this drive pretty well. I mean why would I question her, right?

So, I finish loading Roxie (my car), plug IKEA in Charlotte into my GPS and hit the road. So as I'm driving by myself, I had a list of people to call, one being my grandmother - Mema, as she had had surgery a few days before. Now growing up, I had taken many roadtrips with Mema and Papa, including several to Louisville while my uncle was in seminary there. Mema still knows the way, very well actually.  So as I mention that I'm on my way to Charlotte, she says several times "I don't think that's on the way to Louisville." Now me, being bullheaded, said "Yeah it is. It's just a different way to go"...getting quieter every time I said it as the doubt was now starting to sink in, that maybe, just maybe Charlotte is not on the way to Louisville. 

So I finally get to IKEA, get in and out in 30 minutes (Amazing, right? Especially considering it was my first time ever going to IKEA), and then hop back into the car. I contemplate swinging by Nordstrom to make a return, but see its about 30 minutes away so nix that idea. Then I plug my friend's address into my GPS and realize my trip to Louisville, which should have taken 6 hours and 15 minutes, is now going to take me 7 hours and 20 minutes, on top of the hour and a half I had already driven to Charlotte. At this point I just heave a heavy sigh and then chuckle at myself. In my friend's defense, I texted her early in the morning while she was multitasking.  In my defense, I should've checked the map first.  Oh well, I was happy I finally went to IKEA and got everything I was looking for! And, I got to travel across the entire state of NC, which was pretty to look at while I drove on through!

And what was I looking for on this grand adventure to IKEA? I'm glad you asked!

One of the things I was looking for was a rod to hold tins that would hold plants. (see picture below - that makes it a bit easier to understand!) My old roommate had one that we hung coffee mugs on, but since I don't drink coffee that wasn't very appealing to me. Lately, I've been using a lot of herbs and thought it would be cool to get one of those hanging things to hold herbs, so ta da! Right now, I have basil and mint in my tins!

I also got a hand towel holder because the way my bathroom is setup, there is a wall between the sink and the hand towels in my bathroom. I'd been wanting to get a holder for this wall for quite some time, so was excited for this too!

Ikea may have been out of the way, but I'm glad I went, because every good road trip needs a good story!

Louis, Louis, Louisville!

Over Martin Luther King Weekend, Roxie took her first major roadtrip!  (Roxie is my car for you new readers) After a detour to IKEA in Charlotte (more on that later), I went to Louisville, Kentucky for the weekend to visit my best friend! I had been to Louisville before to run a race, but had no time to visit!

This trip was all about discovering Louisville! The first great discovery - Roxie gets great gas mileage!  After leaving Greenville and going to Charlotte, I made it all the way to the Kentucky/Tennessee border before I had to get gas! Whoo! But, on to the real discoveries of the weekend!

After I got there, KQ and I went and had dinner and Tom + Chee! It is a cute little gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup shop! It was absolutely delicious! I got just a regular grilled cheese sandwich - can't beat the classic!

(Side Note: To get this picture, because I forgot to take it when we went, I had to open up KQ's sunroof, stand through it at a red light and quickly take a picture. It was quite comical.)

After dinner, we stopped and got ice cream at Graeter's and then went back to KQ's place and relaxed by watching the Lego Movie because neither of us had seen it (EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!). After a long day of driving for me and work for her, we both needed a calm and relaxing evening!

On Saturday we woke up, went and got Chick-fil-a, because what else would we eat together on a Saturday morning!?! Then we made our way to downtown Louisville and went to the Louisville Slugger museum. It was so cool! I didn't realize the bats were still made there!

Some artsy guys outside took this cool picture.

Of course we had to take a picture with this bat!

We picked a perfect time to go as everyone was down the street at the Duke - Louisville basketball game (Duke won).

Next we headed over to Churchill Downs. We had a wonderful tour guide! He has lived 2 miles away from the track his entire life. He entertained us with many great stories from his years attending the Kentucky Derby! Also, walking through it was much more enjoyable than running through it!

Then we headed back to KQ's place to meet MR and head to church.  After church we went to a restaurant called Game. Oh.my.gosh. SOOOO good. I had been talking about wanting to eat at Game since last April and man was it worth the wait! Game is a restaurant with a variety of game, such as kangaroo, bison, and antelope. I got a kangaroo burger - soo good. Told my colleagues in Australia I was officially ready to go work there now!

The game at Game

Kangaroo Burger

After that, we somehow made room for more ice cream from Graeter's. Then KQ and I settled in and watched Frozen! On Sunday we slept in a little and then went and had brunch at Toast, one of the hottest brunch spots in Louisville as evidenced by its 45 minute wait! It was quite yummy!

Then we attempted to go tour a few of the Bourbon distilleries along the Bourbon trail. However, all the distilleries are closed in January.  Whoops. Luckily the Evan Williams Bourbon experience back in downtown Louisville on historic Whiskey Row was open! It was really neat. It had a great tour of their mini distillery onsite, while giving a fascinating account of the history of Evan Williams and Bourbon! The tour ended with a tasting and of course I liked the oldest, most expensive bourbon they gave us the best!

Then we walked all the way to Indiana! Just kidding, but seriously we did cross the Big Four Bridge over the Ohio River, which connects Louisville, Kentucky to Jeffersonville, Indiana. It was a gorgeous and windy afternoon for a nice walk!

To wrap up our day we ended up at a local pizza place, Wick's pizza! It was like everything else in Louisville - delicious! Had a fun vibe to it and was a great place to wrap up my weekend in Louisville! While we packed a whole lot of stuff into one weekend, I can't wait to go back - there is so much more to do and see there!

A May-December Post

After cranking out two posts close together at the end of 2013, I was convinced that I would be able to post at least 1 blog post a month in 2014. Easy peasy, right? Whoops! This year turned out to be a lot crazier than I thought it would be, and sadly the blog was the thing that had to go.  So, below is a recap of my year from May-December, which may also give an indication as to why there were no posts from May - December!


May
May was filled with wedding showers, baby showers, and apartment hunting! It also included Jacob's last Spring Social - glad it was cotillion year - love the tuxes!

June
June was quite busy! I signed the lease for my new apartment, went to the beach for a bachelorette weekend, packed my entire apartment up, moved the weekend of the 20th and went to Minnesota for work on Tuesday, the 24th! I got almost all of my stuff moved in and arranged before I left for Minnesota, which was a huge relief. While in Minnesota I got to go to the Mall of America, which was very interesting- I only came home with 1 new pair of shoes, which if you know me is very impressive!

July
July started off with a 5k run with friends for the 4th, and KB & JA's wedding on the 12th! It was absolutely beautiful and I was so happy to be a part of that special occasion with them! I even got to take a little time off to go to the beach for a few days with my family!

August
August was a fun month! I had a friend stay with me while passing through town, had KN join me and my family at the Drive-In Theater in Greenwood, headed to Georgetown for AM & GT's wedding and ended the month with a viewing party for the Clemson-Georgia game!  I love the drive-in theater - I wish I would go more often!  Georgetown was beautiful, but the bride and groom were even more so! I was so blessed to be a part of the Martin family for the weekend for that wedding! The Clemson-Georgia game didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but I did have a blast hosting my first event at my apartment!

September
September is when things got really crazy! But in this case, really crazy was really fun!  In the beginning of September, I got to go on a cruise with KQ down to the Bahamas! It was my first cruise and it was such a blast! Hopefully a blog post with pictures will come soon- teaser picture below! The week I got back, I cut around 13 inches off of my hair and started what would be a weekly babysitting job. The next week I started a new bible study at my church and then ended September by going to New Jersey for the last week! Between the travel and 4 nightly commitments each week - I didn't stop!

October

Babysitting and Bible study continued on through October and football season was in full swing! This was also a really busy time at work that included a lot of early mornings and late nights! During the Clemson Homecoming game against Syracuse, because KQ is awesome, we got to hang out in the President's Suite during the 3rd quarter and meet Nancy O'Dell!

November

November was spent wrapping up a major project at work, as well as flying out to CA (for work) and then relaxing at the lake for Thanksgiving! I got to spend a week in Newport Beach, CA for work and let me just say it was beautiful. Even the flight to CA was spent chasing the sunset. Below is the view from one of my dinners in CA.

December

December started off with a quest for a coffee table! And find one, I did! It was a nice wooden table from Goodwill that I painted - the top is a gray chalkboard and bottom is black! Haven't decided if I'll keep the chalkboard top forever, but its been fun to decorate for the holiday season! And to bring us up to date, I spent the weekend with my family celebrating my birthday. We went hiking at Raven Cliff Falls in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness in Caesars Head State Park. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for hiking - low 60's, sunny! We had a blast! 

Well, hopefully as the year is winding down and things are slowing down a bit, I'll be able to post a few more "catch-up posts!"  The year is not over yet!

Stop! In the Name of Love!

(As I'm sitting here in a hotel room in New Jersey because my flight got in early, I wanted to finally finish the post that is about being too busy that I've have been to busy to write! Talk about ironic! So below is the actual post, but I just felt the need to share the irony!)

Lately I've been feeling very stressed, overwhelmed, and lonely.  Part of this is due to the fact that it is a very busy and crazy time at work right now and part of that is because I have made my job my idol.

I have made my job so important and forefront in my mind, that I have let it consume me. I have become so concerned with getting everything done every day and letting it stress me out when something is not complete that all I want to do when I get home from work is eat and go straight to bed. Now, let me clarify: I love my job. I love the people I work with, the relationships that have been created, and the many new opportunities that it has presented to me. But I've realized it's not my mission in life. God has brought me into this world for a greater mission to bring Him glory. How am I'm going to be used or what is my mission? I'm still not sure, but I do know that my mission is not being benefited by me working myself to the point of exhaustion.

I keep thinking to myself, if I can just get to this date, or just finish this assignment, I'll be able to rest or slow down. But, the reality is that every time one thing stops, something else starts. And no matter how much I try to slow down myself, it won't happen. I'm depending on myself to be able to rest and bring peace, when clearly I'm not capable of doing that on my own.   As I now have a moment to catch  my breath, I think of a verse that I haven't put into practice for quite some time:

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." - Matthew 11:28-30

I have created this burden for myself that in the span of eternity is useless. In this great big world, I am so small and in my mission in life, my job is a small aspect of it. I'm not using my job to spread the gospel, and I'm not growing in faith or community by working so late that I'm so tired I just want to eat and sleep.  I have come to recognize that I've been consumed with the things of this earth through my busyness and my prayer is this: that I learn that true rest and peace can only come by seeking out the Lord and being satisfied by Him alone.

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength." - Isaiah 28-31a

During this entire busy season, I have felt God constantly reminding me of his presence- whether a song that I hear or by His words that I read. I thought it was fitting that the closing song at church yesterday was "The One Who Saves" by Hillsong. So I leave these words from the song with you to remind you that true rest and peace come from the One who loves us, even when we feel we are too busy for Him.

"We have found our hope
We have found our peace
We have found our rest
In the One who Loves"

Hello, Roxie!

On a sunny Saturday in February, I made my first official "adult" purchase. I bought my first new car!

I knew I was going to buy a car at some point this year so that my dad could buy my old car from me for Jacob. I started researching cars in December/early January because I knew I wanted a small SUV, but I didn't know what kind.

I had always said, that I would just get the new Ford Escape whenever it was time for me to get a car because I had always liked them, however I did NOT like the new ones, so that threw me for a loop when it came time to really start looking. I was leaning more towards a Jeep, until one of my best friends bought a Nissan Rogue.  I have never really looked at the Rogue before because it was a little too small and round for what I thought I wanted.

Well, once I started researching, I found out that for the midsize SUVs, the Rogue had the best fuel economy- better than my Civic got! That, plus the safety features and price and it became a clear front runner!

On February 1st, the other KB and I went to test drive cars. First we went to the Nissan place and I knew as soon as that test drive was over, my decision was made. I loved everything about it- how well it drove, the features, the price- everything!  But to confirm my decision and just make sure, I still went to drive two other cars. Next we went to the Toyota place to look at the Rav4. As soon as I sat in it, it felt too small. So we went and test drove the new Highlander instead. I definitely didn't like it as much as the Rogue.  And finally, we went and drove the Ford Escape.  The Escape drove very similarly and had comparable gas mileage. After driving it, I felt like it could be a close second to the Rogue. However, there were some things that I wasn't sure about so immediately after leaving the Ford Dealership, we drove back to the Nissan Dealership to compare the Escape and Rogue back to back. Again, there were just a few more features that I loved about the Rogue!

I will say this though- I had the best time at the Ford Dealership. The Escape I was test-driving had the lift gate you could open with your foot. For 10 minutes, I was convinced I had the magic touch because between me, the other KB, and the salesman, I was the only one that could get the lift gate to open the first time. We finally figured out it was because I was the one with the key fob! We laughed and laughed because we all looked like fools kicking every which way, sliding our feet under the car to try and get it to work!

When we left the Nissan Dealership, I told them that if they could find me a Gunmetal Gray with black interior and a moonroof, we could make a deal! By Wednesday, they were finally able to find one, but by the time they called me to confirm it was what I wanted and then called the dealership back, it had been sold!  At that point, they asked me my second color choice because they were having a hard time finding a gray one. I was ok with black so I sent them on the hunt for that.  But then, Nissan called me on Thursday afternoon saying they found me a GRAY one! Yay!  However, to get my car they had to trade one of the Rogues from Greer plus buy a truck from the dealership in Orlando! So BIG THANKS to Nissan of Greer for going through all of that to get me exactly what I wanted! They put it on a truck that night so it would be here for me by Saturday!  On Friday, we switched over my insurance and got all the financial stuff squared away so that I could purchase it on Saturday! Friday night felt like Christmas eve- I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could go get my new car on Saturday!!

My parents came up on Saturday morning to bring all the insurance documents and everything else that needed to be in my name. They came up for as they kept saying- "emotional support and to watch me sign all the big checks instead of them!" Once we got to the dealership, we did a final test drive before we signed all the paperwork. I loved it! It was exactly what I wanted!  Although, the car did not meet the clean standards of my salesperson so they cleaned it three times! I'm surprise I didn't hurt my leg or ankle with how much I was bouncing my leg waiting to get my car!  I just like to think the anticipation made the moment that much sweeter!

Finally, it was ready!  I think I almost ran out the door I was so excited! So world, I'd like you to meet Roxie the Rogue!

Can you tell I was a little excited?

Although, the day was a bit sad as I had to say goodbye to Cindy the Civic. We've had a lot of great memories since I got her on that October day during 10th Grade! We've survived many accidents (some my fault, most of them not), and gone on many great adventures together. She's been a great little car and Jacob is lucky to have her! (Although I will concede to a name change as he refuses to call her Cindy!)

So Long Cindy! You were great!

Free at Last!

"Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty I'm free at last!"

2013. The year I finished my extra year of school, babysat a lot, started my new job, paid off my student loan debts, got a new microwave, and caught my blog up! Exciting stuff! Wait a minute, what was that thing in the middle?!  That's right- I'm starting 2014      

DEBT FREE! 

In 10 months, I was able to pay off my student loans while still being able to put money up in savings and to continue tithing!  Each month I took money out of my paycheck towards the loans, and anytime any extra money came in - tax returns, bonuses, it all went to my loan!  However, before I put any extra payments towards the loan, I always tithed and put some in savings.

Ever since I was a little girl, my dad taught me about the importance of tithing and how it was serving the Lord. Growing up I had three peanut butter jars, each with the label "God," "Savings," and "Mad Money."  Dad would give me my dollar allowance and then we would break it down into 10 dimes so that I could tithe 10%, save 10%, and use the rest of what I was given.

"Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all you produce..."     - Proverbs 3:9, ESV

As I got older, I continued to practice the money management skills my Dad taught me. I did finally get rid of the peanut butter jars and switched to envelopes (and added a few more) once I started working/babysitting in middle school. Looking back I am so thankful that my Dad taught me to tithe at such a young age. It became something I looked forward to doing each week. Emptying out my God jar on Sunday morning was so exciting! I got to give something to God! It was funny- my grandmother remembered that one of my cousins got very upset because my "God" jar was empty and the other ones had money in them when he visited. Once she explained it was empty because I kept giving it to God, he was ok with that one being empty.

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. " - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, ESV

Since February of 2013, I have been steadily paying off my loans. The Lord has blessed me tremendously this year not only through a new job and new friends, but financially as well. My job has been very good to me- a great environment, fun coworkers, and very generous bonuses!  Our last bonus came two weeks before Christmas.

As soon as the boss told me the amount, I almost jumped out of my seat. I knew that amount, plus what I normally pay from each paycheck was about $200 short of the total left on the loan. However, I made the decision right then and there to pull that amount from my savings because it would be worth having it all paid off and done with before the new year.  I was so excited I texted my parents and best friends, but of course, like what always happens when you have big news, nobody answered for hours!  (No worries though, I was still pumped by the time they answered).

In all of my excitement, I forgot about that wonderful little thing called taxes. Once I actually received my paycheck, the taxes were A LOT higher than what I was expecting. Because of this, I was going to have to take more out of my savings that I wanted to. I was still determined to pay the loan off before the year was over so I had some decisions to make. While weighing whether or not I should take more out of savings, or just wait to pay off the loan in January, I had a split second where I thought to myself, "why don't I just take my tithe amount and put it towards the payment and then I can just tithe twice as much on the next paycheck." Immediately after I had that thought, I felt horrible. I don't tithe because its an obligation, I tithe to serve and worship the Lord. I wouldn't even be pondering this decision without the Lord's provision. Any and all money I have received is His, not mine. For me to even consider not returning anything back to Him was absolutely preposterous.  I immediately pulled out my checkbook and wrote out my check to the church for my tithing. While writing it out, I was praying and giving thanks to the Lord for all he has blessed me with, even though I don't deserve it.

"Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to you fathers, as it is this day."    - Deuteronomy 8:17-18, ESV

 On Thursday, December 19, 2013, I submitted the final payment on my student loans. I knew it took 2-4 days to process the payment, so I waited and waited to see that zero balance. Finally, on the morning of Christmas Eve, I received the email that my payment had been processed. Because of the time it took to process the payment, it was showing that I still had a balance of $0.75.  As soon as the loan company opened for the day, I called them to check on my status.  The person I spoke to assured me that my account was showing a zero balance, but because of the holiday it would not show the zero balance until probably January 8th at the earliest. She also told me that it takes about 30 days for the official notice that my debt was paid in full and I wouldn't receive that until the end of January. That made it feel a little less exciting because I wanted everything to be official, but I was still pretty pumped. I knew it was paid in full and the system did too! Now it was just a matter of time before it was official in every which way!


Much to my surprise, when I woke up on December 31, I had this email waiting for me in my inbox:

AHH! It happened before the end of January! I even went to the website- nothing was there except more congratulations for paying off my loan! I couldn't believe it. The Lord continued to bless me even more.


Needless to say, this girl had a very good 2013. Here's hoping to a 2014 that's just as good! Happy New Year!

"I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs." - Psalm 69: 30 -31, ESV