Day 28

WARNING: Please mind sketchy business card picture.
While returning to Athens today (YESSS!) I made a slight detour to get my eyebrows threaded at my favorite Indian salon. I learned about it from my friend Nutan and I've been hooked ever since. I'm always shocked at the response that threading gets from some of my friends (usually it's not a positive one). To each her own opinion. Mine on threading...it's awesome. It's safer than waxing. It's cleaner than waxing. It's more precise. It doesn't hurt all that much (anytime you're pulling/ripping hair off of your face it's not going to feel like a walk in the park). It's really quick. And it's cheap!

Day 27

I like to eat healthy. I watch labels. When I was picking out syrup for my dad I saw the one that said "no high fructose corn syrup!" and I thought that'd be a great choice. I got it, paid, and headed out the door. When I got home I went to go read the ingredients to see what replaced the high fructose corn syrup.



Yup. Corn syrup replaced the high fructose corn syrup. Solid.

Day 26

I had to do some errand running for my dad. We stopped at a particularly sketchy BBQ place for lunch, as those tend to be the best. It wasn't fab, but it was certainly entertaining!

Day 25

One of my activities while at home was cleaning out closets. When I got to my closet I came across 10 polo shirts from my four year stint at the FFA-FCCLA Camp. 10 unflattering, wool-blanket weight polo shirts. After my fourth summer I counted upwards of forty t-shirts from my summers there. Those featured in the picture were ones taken from the drawer closest to me that I tossed in the pic. I've left FFA camp shirts in Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, Costa Rica...and I still have plenty to work with. The polos never traveled with me though. It was great summer after summer having extras on hand, and they took up far too much room and weight in the suitcase to travel. So where did they end up? Goodwill in Hiram. And I have more room in my closet. A win-win situation.

Day 24

Adding to the enjoyment of being home, I soon found out that a rat had made its way into the house. My dad's roommate had set up a humane-trap that had not caught anything. Cue Lowe's trip. I wasn't interested in the catch-and-release traps, I wanted one where death was guaranteed. This one used the phrase, "considerable force." Works for me! My view on bugs/vermin inside is that if they choose to come inside, they've forfeited there right to life (ask my roommates about my roach and moth killing skills. Or intensity). I happily leave them alone outside--it's where they belong! Inside...not so much. End note-rat was caught the morning after I set up the trap. Success.

Day 23

I really don't like to note when the day matches my mood (kinda cliche), but the weather really fit my mood upon day one of many in Douglasville. Before continuing to run errands I stopped at Chick-fil-A to pick up some tea (my preferred caffeine source these days) and I noticed there billboard. What was there coffee before? A Folgers blend?

Day 22

I do a lot of "sitting"-home, pet, and child. On Friday evening I was baby-sitting for one of my favorite families. When the little girl suggested playing Monopoly I was quickly on board. Somehow, while playing my brain took a break. Example one--after going around the board once she declared, "we're done!" I said, "no we're not!" She said, "That's how my mommy and daddy play," and I said, "well let's keep going." For almost 45 minutes. Example two--I got beat. Badly. I wasn't playing to let her win. She would land on a square and I'd say, do you want to buy it? And her answer was always yes. During my turns I landed on all of her properties and/or jail with almost every turn. Ever since playing I really want to bust out my monopoly board (Disney edition) and play.

A lull in posting...

I am headed home on Saturday morning to take care of my dad for a week. The homestead doesn't include internet (as of yet), so while I won't be slacking in my daily pics, I will be slacking in my posting.

Day 21

A few months ago I got a survey that said if I completed it I would get free coupons. I like coupons! I completed the survey, and as I was mailing it Mary warned me that I'd start getting a lot of junk mail. I underestimated how much junk mail was "a lot." All of the pieces in the picture came this week. Dern companies, let's save the trees! And now I have to figure out how to get all this junk cancelled. Sigh.

Day 20

Is it just me, or is anyone else bothered by hospitals charging patients and visitors for parking?!

Day 19

My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few months ago. He is religious about attending a yearly-physical, so it was caught really early. He went to have it removed on Tuesday morning and I was shocked by how invasive the surgery was. He was in surgery for two hours, and in the recovery ward for two hours more. He'll be in the hospital through Saturday, then have about 5 weeks of recovery ahead of him. I spent 15 hours in the hospital with him on Tuesday, and he was really out of it (thank you epidural and morphine pump). Having not seen much daylight Tuesday, I was startled at the beauty of the sunset poking in through the window.

Day 18

MLK Day 2K10 was filled with three meal outings with three people that I love lots. The morning started with a discipleship at Chick-Fil-A, then I booked off to Atlanta to see my newly ENGAGED, sweet, dear friend Laura-Anne (pictured above). We had a marathon lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, then window shopped at Lenox (hello Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, BR, Anthro, and Papyrus) for a few hours. I'm glad to have a friend who also gets as excited as I do over kitchen products and couches! We had to part ways in the afternoon, and I headed to the exciting town of Hiram. I had dinner with my (also engaged) friend and former discipler. Side note--Targets in small towns are awesome in comparison to college-town Targets.

Day 17

I've been busier than usual the past couple of weeks. Whenever I get busy, personal things start to slip. Compromises, if you will. The first thing that gets cut is reading. (I created the lists on the side of this blog to help me motivate myself NOT to cut reading ["I LOVE checklists"...name that movie!]). The second thing that gets cut is laundry. It is so easy for me to justify doing it later. And later. And later. And before long, my laundry pile is three feet tall. Like tonight. Oh gosh.

Day 16

Note...staging these pics adds a whole new level of enjoyment to the 365 challenge. Note addition of "bling" that I wore in a HS pageant to the ticket. Yes, you read that right. And I also used to dye my hair blonde. Oh gosh...moving on.



Saturday I went to the Miss UGA Pageant to see my friend who was participating in it (and who did awesome!). While in South Africa last summer she talked about doing it, but I didn't know if she was going to or not. I was so super-pumped when I found out she was, and even more so seeing her compete Saturday. Thinking about this got me to thinking about the fulfillment of dreams. I have been in a time of dreaming with the Lord for the past month or so. And this definitely spurred me on in dreaming. Not of doing pageants, but really seeking out both those little and big desires the Lord has placed in my heart.

Day 15

The color pink. From the ages of 1-5 I would only wear the colors purple, white, and PINK. Insert brief intermission of NO pink whatsoever, and the start of high-school. For a few months I went through a phase of wearing pink shirts. Every day. Seriously. Start college. I was done with pink, or so I thought. Then I found myself slowly accumulating more pink items..a raincoat, crocs, my travel items, et cetera. But the kicker is--I'm not a huge fan of pink. It doesn't look great on me, it's bright...et cetera. But then, I got a purse from a dear friend that is very pink and it's one of my faves now. My travel items that are pink can't get lost, which makes me a huge fan of them. I think my pink aversion may just be limited to anything I wear.

On Friday night I was going to play Nertz with some friends, and I was trying to find a deck of cards. The only one I could find was, you guessed it, obnoxiously pink. Unplayable pink really. And hence the inspiration for this post.

Day 14

At work this week one of the coolest girls I know had her nails painted, well, really cool. I saw them and thought, I HAVE to try that. It was like they were plaid/striped. Insert roommate on Project Runway Thursday.



Needless to say, my attempt in no way ended up looking like I wanted it to, and my right hand is currently covered in nail polish that won't quite come off. Better luck next time.

Day 13

This year at Wesley I work on the "dL team" and I love it. I could go on about it for a while, but that is a conversation better suited for face-to-face, or at least over the phone. This past week we organized a training for our student disciplers. It was great, our students are great...great.

Day 10

I like trees.

Day 9

This year I had the fun opportunity to host MorningStar students. I got the room cleaned and breakfast bought, but I cannot claim this gem. I left for the first MorningStar session in the afternoon, and when I returned that evening (actually, the wee hours of the morning) with the students, my precious roommate Mary had made and put this up for the students. She's so wonderful!

Day 8

Haste makes waste. I remember reading that for the first time as a child in an American Girl Book (Felicity was the character). That little motto comes to mind when ever I'm in a hurry working on something. I had about 10 minutes to whip up some frosting, something I thought, "no problem." In my haste, I misread how much vanilla was required for this recipe. Instead of the teaspoon or so, I put a TABLEspoon and a half in it. Oops.


Where's Day 7? Didn't happen. Neither did day 11 or 12.

Day 6

It was cold in Georgia. Really cold.

Day 5

In November I started working at the Gap to supplement the Wesley income (and also scored a sweet discount). A side effect of working at the Gap is that I now quickly notice when people's clothes are from the Gap. While on staff retreat my friend Courtney started describing her new PJ pants and I quickly caught onto that they were from the Gap, and that I had the same pair (almost same...red is to bright for me). A picture was understandably necessary.

Day Four

I "sit" a lot--pets, houses, and children. While pet-sitting on the east side over the Christmas break I was able to stay with my roommate Alyssa in a house that she was pet-sitting at on the east side. I was thankful to stay on that side of town, because it definitely made the 7:00 a.m. trip to let the dog out better. After coming back in one morning I saw one of the (many) cats being a bit...particular.

The photo-a-day challenge.

I heard about this fun little thing of taking a photo a day for a year. I heard about it a couple of days into the new year, and I was intially sad that I couldn't start from the very beginning. But oh well. I'm okay with that. Being okay with that is I believe a sign of growth in myself. That whole, "don't sweat the small things." And this is a small thing, but a fun thing.

Day Three Photo



I remembered that I was behind on taking my picture on my way to my super wonderful small group. Fortunately, I remembered while I was driving amidst a beautiful sunset in an area with plenty of trees and fields.