125 biscuits

I woke up at 5:38 this morning. On my own. No alarm. And it made my heart so happy. And my equilibrium at the gym happy too, having had 40 minutes to adjust to being awake before exercising, instead of the usual 10 or so. It's now 8:59 and I'm wiped out. But since I don't want to wake up at 4 (which would not make my heart happy), blogging is a clear answer. :)

Today at work we had the monthly staff birthday lunch. While in line I noticed a co-workers skirt and in my head I said, "Oh, Courtney's skirt is from Gap." What came out of my mouth was "Oh, Skirtney's court is from Gap." I heard it come out. I paused. Received a strange look or two. Said it again, thinking still "Courtney's skirt is from Gap" and again what came out was "Skirtney's court is from Gap" still not computing what was wrong. Yeah, blaming THAT on that 5:38 a.m. magic.

Last week (per mentioned, maybe?) was a 4-day work-week, and how thankful I was for it. I did a lot of work at work on Sunday, and Saturday was filled with a project of sorts (more below), and Friday was really a great day of just fun. My friend Katie came to town for a bit--hooray! There was a multi-church Good Friday service--HOORAY! And pizza with excellent ladies afterwards--hooray!

Saturday was a quiet morning. Run, errands (including a trip to the bookstore; more on my selection below) time with a friend. Then, my Saturday project. I got to make breakfast for church on Sunday morning, and I choose recipes that I could do the day beforehand. The menu was biscuits and breakfast casserole. I have an awesome (and easy) homemade buiscuit recipe I used, and the casseroles were easy, just labor-heavy. Zakiya came over and helped me; thank God-I think she grated cheese for an hour and a half. When all was said and done, 125 biscuits were made and 5 casseroles were constructed. At one point I was worried there wasn't enough. Let's just say I sent half a casserole home with someone on Sunday. I took an ENTIRE casserole to work. And took an ENTIRE casserole home. Yes, that's almost 3 too many. I've been having it for dinner since Sunday. At least it tastes fantastic. If you live in Athens and want leftovers or some biscuits, call me. Seriously.

Sunday was Easter Sunday...happy, happy day. Excellent, excellent church service and fellowshipping. Quiet afternoon. Happy-happy.

Oh! Per mentioned, I got a new book. I was given a giftcard to Barnes and Noble, that I went to use it on Saturday. I was going to grab a couple of novels, but it put me in too bad of a mood to buy "beach books" with no scheduled beach time in my future, so I moved on. And a cookbook would be a far more practical choice (and I love practical uses for giftcards). So I spent almost an hour looking at books. I was going to get one by the founders of Baked, but I just wasn't in the mood for a sweets only cookbook (practical, remember)? I saw a few Food Network cookbooks, but I just wasn't impressed. I was thumbing a Rachel Ray when I saw it. The one I was missing. The Joy of Cooking. I'm in love. I used it for the breakfast casseroles. I read a chapter or two when I got home.

My current cookbook collection. Joy fits right in. (The Grit cookbook was absent for this photo-shoot, but definitely an important part).

I took this picture last night from my front door, thinking it was cool (it was at the top of the porch).

This morning at 6:30 I walked into the web.

Not cool.

cotton candy pink

On Wednesday night I realized that I had a four-day work week. Hip-hip-OH NO. It may be a 4-day work week, but I definitely still had a week full of 5 days worth of work to get to get done. This morning I got to work at 8:17 ready to tackle it all AND get health insurance...and at 12:56 when I was fried and decided to go to lunch, I realized I had crossed one, ONE, thing off of my to-do list (but I did have my application for health insurance in, score.). Rather than stress, I took myself to FarmCart (I forgot my lunch at home), and then wandered around in a few downtown stores (I love working DT). I came across a vintage dress in one store. Darling design. Lovely details. But the color...ugh. Pink. But not just pink. "Cotton candy" pink. It's on hold for me until tomorrow...

Oh! And when I got back to work almost EVERYTHING got done. Thanks, Lord.

I didn't share about my super weekend from last weekend. It wasn't entirely what I envisioned travel-wise, but it was still really-really good. Friday night my friend Kelli came over for dinner and a movie (and I lost my winning record of staying awake for a movie). Saturday I had had ideas of visiting friends in Kennesaw and visiting/running some errands with Nutan in Atlanta, but I got tripped up by my goal to squeeze as much as possible into every day. Two different city visits just were not in the works for me, so I ended up running to ATL, seeing Nutan, shopping, finishing some errands, and hurrying back to Athens. We did...well, I got some major deals. I don't know which one was my favorite...an $80 Banana Republic skirt for around $9, or a $128 Anthropology sweater for $19. On Sunday I had a mostly low-key morning and spent the afternoon cooking for church with one of the coolest people I know. Happy times.

So I'm about to embark on a three day weekend. That phrase alone sets it up for success. And what makes it assuredly awesome is that it is Easter weekend.

Praise the Lamb.

in quotes.

My week.

Here are a few of my favorite moments. Please note subtle sarcasm.

Tuesday at Work

On the phone

Me, "Hi, we're planning an Easter sunrise service and I just wanted to confirm...oops! I called the wrong people. Sorry!"

quickly hang-up phone

Daynes, "Who'd you call?"

Me, "The cremator"

Thursday Night, 2/24

At the gym at approximately 9:00 p.m. at night; I go running to the worker and say:

"Ohmygosh I've been so busy today that I forgot to go online and cancel this Amazon thing and if I don't I'm going to be charged and I don't really need that and is there any computer here with internet that I can use to get one really quick before I forget?"

Gym guy-"Um, yeah sure."

Friday Afternoon

While making small talk at work:

Me, "Yeah, I'm going to have my directory picture taken today.

Coworker, "Why didn't you dress-up?"

Me, "I thought I did."

Saturday Afternoon

Treadmill,

Me, "&*!%" when I hit the emergency stop button on the treadmill at the 20 minute mark at a running pace and consequently slammed into the machine.

Saturday Evening

Miss Epic pageant.

When a student band came onto the stage and said, "for our first song," my friend (who asked me to go with her because she was supporting someone in it and needed somebody to record it) and I simultaneously looked at one another and whispered incredulously, "first?!"

Sunday Morning

Customer service rep Jordan-"Thank you for calling Amazon, how can I help you this morning?"

Me-"Hi, I'm an idiot. I thought I cancelled my prime membership but I just found out that I did not and I don't buy that many books online and I really don't need it and again I thought I cancelled it but I didn't and I'm now charged for something I'm not going to use and"

Customer service rep Jordan-"Ma'am we can get your money refunded."

Me-"THANK YOU so much!"

10-minutes later Sunday Morning

I open up iCal to add a few things to my do list and discover I've missed a few birthdays:

Me, "darn-it." But the stronger version.

And a few for real favorite moments...

A program at work is over. A Treasure Hunt. Knocking two items off my "things I don't want to do but I have to do" list. Precious family. Community Group. Good runs. Board games and trampoline time with some of my favorite children I babysit for. Sweet friends. Writing a training guide for a new girl at work (which means a new person is coming IN at work which gets me one step closer to getting into my new job). Wednesday Night Prayer.

And a 74 degree Sunday with a borrowed camera lens and no obligations until 4:45 p.m.