A Sweet Surprise

I've said before that there are lots of things I love about my job, and I was reminded of one of them yesterday.  I was sitting at my desk just a working when I looked up and noticed Katie and Hillary walking up the sidewalk to the office.  Katie and Hillary are roommates with Caitlin, who was mentioned in Saturday's post.  I also got to know them on last year's spring break trip, and we've been good buddies ever since.  I was excited to see them because I always love it when people stop in to say hello; but they were doing more than just saying hello.  Hillary is discipled by Rachel, who I met in a Bible study when I joined ministry teams in 2007.  She is an amazing encourager and always has a smile on her face.  Anyways, back to the current story.  Hillary and Rachel make goodies for us at the office from time to time, and yesterday they brought us home made fruit and yogurt parfaits!  They were full of strawberries, blueberries, cranberries, almonds, and granola, and they were delicious!  I'm so blessed to be able to meet and do life with such wonderful people!

So sweet!

Look at that yummy goodness!

I'm all about the picture throwbacks this week...this was in 2007.  My hair was so long! And people have said that Rachel and I favor each other, what are your thoughts?

Bulletins = Friends (and Barberito's)

I've had a Barberito's gift card in my wallet for a while now, and it's really been calling my name lately.  For those of you who have never experienced Barbs, I am sorry, because it is sooooo good!   It's similar to Moe's or Chipotle.  I've never been to either of those two, so I can't say that Barb's is better, but it is wonderful!  They have deliciously crafted burritos and the best chips in town, seasoned perfectly.  A mini burrito on a spinach tortilla, with rice, black beans, chicken, cheese, salsa, lettuce, and mushrooms.  That's my usual.  If I'm feeling festive I'll add jalapenos.  So anyways, having the night free, I decided that it would be a good night to use the gift card.  I texted my friend Michael to see if he and his wife Haley had plans for dinner.  Unfortunately Haley had a class and couldn't come, but Michael could.  It's actually kind of ironic because I won the gift card at a Christmas party that Haley and Michael hosted.  And something else that's interesting is how Michael and I came to be friends.   My first semester on ministry teams with The Well was spring 2007, and I stood at the same door each week to hand out bulletins.  People can get name tags when they come in, and so it didn't take me too terribly long to start putting names with faces.  It was one of, if not the, very last weeks of the school year and I was at Applebees after The Well, which was the thing to do at the time.  I saw Michael and recognized him from coming through my door each Wednesday night and said something like "Hi! It's Michael, right?  I give you a bulletin each week."  I don't remember how he responded, but that was the first time we ever talked outside of The Well.  Now fast forward four or five months and we're at the first Well service of my junior year.  I'm standing at my door and here comes Michael, now remember we've only really talked once, but I was like "Michael!  Buddy!  Welcome back!" and we've basically been really good friends ever since.  True story.  I even caught the bouquet at his and Haley's wedding this past May, which was funny because the bouquet fell apart while flying through the air and I ended up catching just the stem basically.  But I'm so thankful that I always stood at the same door that spring, and that Michael always walked through it, because I eventually gained two good friends because of it!       

At Barbs tonight.

Hahaha!  The Well's Barn Dance, fall 2008.

At my senior photo exhibit, spring 2009

The bouquet catch, it falls apart right after the picture is taken...

See all the roses on the ground?

But it's ok, we put it back together again!

     

Mug Monday and Dyno

It's Mug Monday!  This mug I bought in August at The Well's yard sale.  A lot of things in my house came from The Well's yard sale actually, but back to the mug...I don't know what exactly drew me to this mug, but something sure did.  I think it's a combination of the rustic, country, simplistic aspects of it.  I also loved that it says Tennessee.  If it didn't say Tennessee, I wouldn't have gotten it.  For many of you reading this, that's not a big deal at all, and that's probably because of one of two reasons.  You don't live in Tennessee, or you've lived in the same state you're whole life.  Having spent all my growing-up years in Virginia, and then four years in Tennessee for school, actually moving here and establishing myself as an adult was a big deal!  I was so excited about getting my Tennessee drivers licensee and licensee plates, I loved the officialness of it.  I am here.  On my own.  Go me!  And now that I am a proud Tennessee resident, I'm enjoying collecting a few Tennessee items.   But you don't have to worry, my college football preference will always be for the Hokies! And besides, Volunteer orange is ugly : /

Most of you know about Ricoh, and all the stress he causes me; but you don't know about Dyno.  Dyno is our paper folder.  After the first two or three weeks of trying to use it, I called it quits.  Unlike Ricoh, when Dyno eats paper, he does not give it up.  You need the jaws of life to get it out.  Since the paper folder wasn't necessary, we just stopped using it and folded all the bulletins by hand.  Last week Drew worked on it for a while and had it working again, but of course when I tried it on Wednesday, it started acting up again.  It ate the paper, so I took part of the machine apart to try to fix it myself.  Not only did I not get the paper out, I couldn't get the tray back in right.  Instead of sending the papers underneath the tray like it's supposed to, they started shooting out the top, it was chaotic. Since we both had a little bit of time today, we went back to work on it.  Basically this consisted of me sitting on the steps while Drew worked.  It seemed like the more he worked, the more paper he pulled out and we soon had a small collection on the steps.  I think he got it fixed the best he could, so we'll see how Wednesday goes...

Black and Yellow

Every year The Well has a big Super Bowl party.  Big as in 36 foot screen, corn dogs in the first quarter, pizza and chicken tenders in the second, crazy half time games, hot fudge cake in the third quarter, and a corn hole tournament and Wii games going on the entire time.  It's a ton of fun!  Even though my team was out, I still wanted to root for someone, and I chose the Steelers.  Needless to say, I don't own a Steelers shirt, but I wasn't going to buy one either.  I decided I would try to find a yellow scarf to wear with a black shirt, and so I headed to Old Navy after church this afternoon.   Thankfully I found a cute one for only $10!  It turns out I wasn't the only one with that idea.  When I got to the party tonight, there were three other girls with the exact same scarf, and they also went to Old Navy after church today!  I also got festive with my fingernails.  I painted them black and yellow and put polka dots on them.  I kind of felt like I was in middle school, but it was fun!

Lauren, me, Chelsea, and Jordan, cheering on the Steelers!