Church

Blake and I joined a new church back in March because at our last church the Sunday School teachers moved and our class was told to blend in with other classes and well....we just didn't "blend" in with another group. It was a hard decision because we made so many great friendships but we couldn't stay just for social reasons. In April we went on a few trips before Blake's deployment so he didn't get to meet everyone in the new class or at least get to know everyone enough to remember names. So for the past few months I have been attending without him and the class has been so sweet - they don't really even know my husband that well and yet they ask about him all the time. I prayed a long time about the decision to move churches because it isn't a small decision when you consider church as part of your family, but I know that it was the right path for us. Just this week I was invited to dinner by a family in our class that switched their schedules around just so I could have dinner with them. I'm used to being the one that changes everything so having someone change for me was very generous. They also gave Bailey a strawberry shortcake bicycle with training wheels and she loves it - if it wasn't so darn hot outside we might try riding it ;) And last night I met the ladies for dinner at and although it took driving everywhere to be there I'm so glad I went because I got to know 4 women (we were on the corner) so much better.
Blake and I could have "made it work" at the other church but instead we went where God was leading us although it meant leaving the familiar and seeing our fabulous friends each Sunday but it has challenged us and has made my faith grow to heights it hasn't been before. I can't wait for Blake to come home so he can be just as excited as I am to get to know these people better and see where God takes us next.

Good & Bad Car News

Blake's lease on his Honda Accord ended the same month he deployed so for the past few months we have not had a car payment (so nice!). Blake has been talking about wanting a truck now for the past 6 months but they are so expensive! I didn't realize how much trucks cost - even used ones! A few weeks ago he was searching for a truck online and he just didn't like any of them besides the ones that cost 35K+ and that isn't going to happen! On Thursday of last week he sent me a text saying he found the one he wanted. I was excited because that meant it was in our price range and had good mileage. So I said just tell me where it is and I will go look at it - long story short it wasn't a truck...it was a Mustang GT Convertible! Now first of all I am not a frivolous person and a convertible is very frivolous in my opinion. Well on Friday I went and purchased it - call me nuts but I love my husband and he now has a car he loves. After I bought it he said, "This must be what Bailey feels like when she gets a handful of chap stick and stickers." Here are a few pictures of our Mustang!

On to the bad news...I had a car accident on Tuesday...thankfully in my car and no one was hurt although I have had a horrible time dealing with it. I am a very careful person and I rarely mess up (knock on wood!). But seriously, ever since Bailey was born I don't take chances like I used to and always think of the outcome before doing anything (besides speeding...but I've changed my ways after those lovely tickets last year). Plus if you add up the time Blake has been gone since May 2008 it is a lot (16 months) so I have to responsible - there isn't room for mess ups in my life. So the one time I do not look in my blind spot there is someone coming down an off ramp and I hit her. I still get sick to my stomach when I think about it and I have had horrible nightmares since then of all the "stupid" things I have done in my 25 years of life. I wish I could erase those bad decisions but they always creep up on me and make me feel awful. But time heals all wounds I guess and I'm doing better - it was an accident and like I tell my 3 year old, "accidents happen." Here is my trailblazer's boo boos. On that note I decided to name my trailblazer "Tibby". I figure we will be together for a while and "Tibby" is a cute name for HER. I decided she should be a girl as well because us girls have to stick together.

Pre-K Already?!

A few weeks ago I had lunch with my sorority sister who teaches Pre-K. She loves Bailey and has been a great friend to me throughout the years and very helpful in times of need. When I mentioned we would be moving in a year and a half it brought up preschool because Bailey would not be here during that time. We wanted Bailey in her class and since she almost made the age cut this year we took a shot - no expectations just a 'maybe she might get in'. There were 2 slots open for one boy and one girl with 2 more girls to interview. I told Bailey if she did good in the interview and answered all the questions she would get a princess doll if she got into the new school. Well Bailey loved the new school and both of the teachers and wanted to start that day so my feelings changed to - "I hope she gets in!". A week went by and yesterday I received a phone call that she unofficially got in! I hurried to send Blake a BB message although it was 1 AM so he was sleeping and when I woke up this morning I had a message sent around 11 PM our time that said "That's awesome!" So we are both really excited about this new school and the price - ABSOLUTELY FREE! Which means we just got a $500/month pay raise! The Lord is good and will provide our needs. So last night Bailey and I went by Sonic for a Strawberry Limeade Chiller (so good!) and Toys R Us for a princess doll. Since the princess doll she liked was on the cheaper side we sprung for a large box of princess stickers and 3 new tubes of kool-aid flavored Lip Smackers chap stick. I think she might have been one of the happiest children in the world at that moment in her new Cinderella pajamas that her daddy mailed to her last week as a surprise. We seriously don't spoil her that much but this post may seem like it.

On another note my medical bracelet came in - I think it's cute. I didn't want a beaded one or anything fancy, plus with this one I can put it on my key ring or purse strap if I don't want to wear it. I think it looks normal and like a regular sports bracelet people wear. I have small wrists so I just got the large in kids.

Just for fun...Where's Meiko? I did have all the pillows fluffed up and nice, but he has a way of pushing things around to get it 'just right'.

ZTA 2010 National Convention

I am a Zeta Tau Alpha. I pledged back in 2003 and have been an active sister since I joined. Some people ask or wonder why I still do "that sorority thing" and it's hard to describe other than I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT! Well last week was The ZTA National/International Convention was in New Orleans, LA. I had never been to NOLA and my 2 ZTA sisters (one of those being my Big Sister and Best Friend) that are also advisers wanted to go. I went to convention in 2006 and loved it so another opportunity to go was awesome, plus I needed a break from "mommy duty".

Most of our time was consumed with meetings, luncheons, and dinners in our very nice hotel downtown. It was so nice to get dressed up every day and wear fun outfits with two friends that I don't get to see much because of our schedules. I took 10 dresses (plus an entire large suitcase) as well as 11 pairs of shoes...and I wore all of them except for the athletic shoes...we ended up just walking the town for exercise in flip flops. There was 896 ZTA's in that hotel PLUS A fraternity was having their convention the exact time we were - what a coincidence! Oh if I was in college and care free I might have...oh well I don't know...maybe it's best to not think about it :) With roughly 1,800 greeks in one place those elevators were always packed - we had to go down 29 flights of stairs one time because we could never catch a ride.

View from our hotel room to New Orleans Riverfront area

Wednesday

ThursdayCrown Chapter Night for Collegians - I wear my crown anytime there is a reason - I spent way too much on that thing for my wedding...it has been very useful!

Ritual Time! We initiated Tanya Snider, Wife of the NFL Washington RedSkins' owner

Friday

Think Pink Badge Attire Day

Checking out the ZTA Exhibit - chain of chapters #182 Theta Nu link

On Friday night we were presented with the CROWN CHAPTER award for our Alumnae Chapter - this was the first time Montgomery had ever won it so it was a BIG deal seeing as how the new leaders took over 2 years ago and within those 2 years we have almost tripled in size and have done all sorts of new things to get us noticed. Then IO surprised us all with a mini-concert by DJ $krilla and the ZTA-Epsilon Chapter Sprite Step Off Winners! Both performances were awesome! And then we went out that night to celebrate on Bourbon Street (see my Disclaimer below about what I think about this city).

Night out on Bourbon Street

SaturdayMardi Gras Night

Sunday

So now I am back from convention and I'm still on my "Zeta High". It's kind of like when you come back from Christian camp and you are so on fire for God except this is with ZTA. Not to say I'm not on fire for God...because I am. I had such a great time with my two friends and would not change anything in the world for the opportunity to be with them at convention!

My Disclaimer:I have to say that New Orleans is disgusting and scary and I don't know why anyone would go there for a vacation. It smelled like throw up and urine everywhere we went... and if it smelled like it then you knew it was near by and I almost stepped it when we were out seeing the "beautiful city" - that is what the people from there call it! Beautiful! Maybe one or two things were nice but if you saw it somewhere else it would probably just blend in - the reason it was nice there is because everything else was so horrid and filthy.

This was the nicest place I could find - Jackson Square

July 4th weekend

It feels like the past two weeks have flown by. July 4th weekend was a three day weekend. I could have had plans but decided to make it very low key. To start it off on the perfect note I went to the library and grabbed a couple of FREE movies for the weekend then we went with Blake's little sister to see Toy Story 3. Now what I did not know is that it was going to cost $12 a ticket because it was in 3D. I would have waited for the 4:00 showing to watch it the regular way but since we were already there with my purse crammed with 2 Share & Tear bags of M&M's (peanut and regular) along with 3 bottled drinks: diet coke, mountain dew, and sprite (don't judge me...so I like to save money. I still bought their buttered $7 large popcorn!) there was no turning around. It was such a good movie but I do not prefer the 3D because Bailey didn't like wearing the glasses and it made the movie have a dark tint and the 3D effect wasn't enough to pay $5 extra a ticket. Also kitty cat came with us (see picture) and they did not charge for her to enter...thank goodness! And Yes we did take home the bottom two inches of that popcorn bucket - I spent $7 on that thing we were not going to waste that high cholesterol goodness.

The rest of the day we stayed at home in play clothes playing with legos, dolls, and markers while I finished sewing Bailey's new dress! I had a hard time deciding on the color to accent the hot pink but the paisley turquoise pattern turned out great. I also made Bailey a zebra pillow to match her curtains with the left over material - pillows are like the easiest things to make in the sewing world.

On Saturday we took a mini-trip to see Blake's family down in Brewton for a pool party. On Sunday I met up with my shopping gal Robyn to hit the 4th of July sales where I bought some princess fabric that was already smocked at the top. I thought it was on sale but it wasn't! Thank goodness I had a coupon. I didn't realize it was .50 cents an inch (total was $17 but I had a 40% coupon)! I said "make it a yard" without looking...that would have cut the cost by $4.00...oh well. At Dillard's they ALWAYS have a fabulous 4th of July shoe sale. While other people are at cookouts - I am at Dillard's finding my beloved shoes. I was beginning to think I wouldn't find my "special" shoes but then on the top rack in box marked size 9 I opened it and there they were...if only they were my size instead of a 9 AND THEY WERE! (who's getting chills!!) They were size 8's in the wrong box - the heavens opened up and the angles were singing "hallelujah, hallelujah...." I put them on and felt like the "hot" girl (this doesn't happen often). I looked in the mirror and it was like they were destined to be mine! They were Nina's with a 5 point crown marked down from $60 to $40 with 30% off making my total $32.00! Mission Accomplished!

On Monday I made Bailey her princess dress with the fabric I purchased - wow! It took all of 3 minutes to make the actual dress and maybe 20 minutes total to do the straps. What's perfect about this material is that it is stretchy and I can adjust the straps or take them off and she could wear it as a skirt. I still have to make my sister-in-law her scrubs that I started on in January...they are coming! Sometimes I get an itch for sewing and this weekend was perfect for it.

Doctors & More Doctors

Things could be worse...It's just another bump in the road. It seems that every time I go to the doctor something bizarre is wrong. Why can't my body just be normal? First it was the jacked up pregnancy that turned into asthma with heart palpitations that turned into hypo-thyroidism that turned into kidney stones with cysts and now I go for my blood work check up to find out I have borderline high cholesterol with a genetic disorder. I'm only 25! Which now seems so young because when I turned 25 all I could think was "What have I done in the past 3 years?!?" Why is my body breaking down?! It's so scary to go to the doctor anymore because there is always something wrong with me to add to the list. Like I have time to go to all these doctor appointments between working and taking care of Bailey and Meiko. Ugg....it's been two weeks since I found out so I'm fine with it (after googling my heart out about it). I have my referral paperwork coming "in the mail" so it will probably be another month before I actually get an appointment with a hematologist. I know it could be worse but it seems every time I face another long road Blake is either at basic training, tech school or deployed. I try to look at the good in everything and I know God will not give me more than I can handle which obviously he thinks I can handle a lot - which makes me feel confident that I am walking in the right direction. So that's my "feel sorry for me" blog post...hopefully it will be my last!