P.S.

In this very moment I am contemplating the culmination of this ever-so-entertaining blog. This is hard for me to conceive but also exciting altogether. I learned lastyear that everything has a shelf life....a beginning and end. And even though I am not good with endings I like to think that I have grown a little and could use this challenge. This decision isnt final just a mere thought but it is gaining power by the moment. Will anyone be sad? Is this whole thing in vain. Please help me think not.
To be continued.....

Productive Monday

Today I was a rockstar. I worked 13.27 hours today straight through without ever stopping to go to the bathroom. If you are my future spouse and you are reading this, no worries - this only happens on occassion and thus I should not have incontinence problems later in life - so I am told.
Really, though, today was a great way to start the week though I have seen this all before and what happens is to be expected. I am geared for success Monday and Tuesday and then come Wednesday at 11:30 - especially this week with the weather expected to be in the 70's - I lose all steam and I justify every reason to not work. Working so hard today made me feel really efficient and really complete. I feel like I am using my God-given abilities that I so often ignore and man, does it feel good!
So, I am going to work out now at 8:10 pm. Let's keep this momentum thing going.

I am so proud of myself. I still can't breathe though......any thoughts???

Dr. Dave!!!!

I still can't breathe.....I am on the verge of driving myself to the Emergency room at Northside.
How much do you charge for a consultation?

Friday game for those of you twiddling your thumbs

http://www.miniclip.com/bigjumpchallenge.htm

And, PS - yes, I did not spell check in the previous post. Use your best imagination. I stink today at details.

Window cleaning and chicken sales

I had to write this down and oh how I am itching to extrapolate. It'sFriday. I had a closing which means good things in m business. Prior to the closing the window washing crew was washing the windows outside of my office. I sat mesmorized for 45minutes as they went about their business. Some of my shadyer counterparts dared me to to smash my body up against the window and just sit there during the whole washing. I didnt take them up on their dare.
What a cool job? If you look out your window in Atlanta right not you may say nearly 16 different buidings that are all bordered by windows. Do all of those buildings have window washers? It seems to me like everyone these days is about slashing overhead and increasing bottom line. Personally, you would think one of the first services to go would be the windo washing service? You'd think. Obviously, this is among the things that just must be done. I can't tell you the thoughts that are going through my head regarding this because I have to run ( I am going to workout because I have no time to get things done today and I am busy but I think I should atleast be busy with a clear head. Good justification right?) So more interesting thoughts to come on this window deal. I am fascintated.

Quickly, too, I am also fascinatedby this lady that I just met at my closing. She is the US importer and exporter for the poultry industry. yes I love chicken but more so I love to travel. In 4 days she was in Dubai (sp?) where it was summer andthen in Russia somewhere else where it was below 20! There are so many jobs that happen daily that you wouldnt even think someone does but yet you see the produce of their work all around you. I eat eggs for breakfast every single morning!!! Someone has to get those eggs to the Dubian's too to eat for breakfast. Of course, you'd think they have their own eggs????
K, for real, going to workout. Don't overlook any job today - someone's peculiar job could be the very reason you enjoyed your chicken nuggets lastnight and are looking through a flawless glass window as you read this......
I want to was windows or sell chicken to other country's.

What happened to me?

I think nearly 30 days after my precious birth my sweet mama dropped me on my still-forming head.
Either that or at the ripe age of 3 I fell out of my weeble people yellow and red plastic car (you know the one..). Something tramatic happened in late February in one of my years past - this is certain.
It seems every year about this time my lungs seem to close up and it takes everything in me to not pass out throughout the day. I can't breathe - bottom line. This happened last year and I spent many hours and dollars for some overeducated doctor to tell me it was psycholigical not physiological. Bull crap.
I couldnt be more at ease these days (meaning like the last 3) and none of these breathing issues have to do with any negative current circumstances. I am on my own cloud right now. Good perspective - good things happenin. Glass is half full and rosy colored at that. Therefore, I conclude with my spance of vast medical knowledge that some rare childhood disaster effects me everytime at this year. And though I dont know it nor remember it - my psychie (is that a word?) knows it and it hanuts me every February.
Please dear mother, find it in yourself to reveal to me what so terrible may have happened - I wont hold it against you, promise. I'll forgive you 70 times 7. I just need to be able to know this is coming each year and have some survival solutions. Not being able to breathe is debilitating and nonetheless embarrassing when I am trying to rock it on a sales call and I have to turn away and gasp for just a short sweet breath of air. Mama, please fess up.
Until then, let's hope I wake up in the morning. I have to medicate myself to fall asleep so I dont sit up and focus on the scary fact that I can't breathe. No worries, kids. I'm a survivor.

PS - Have you ever taken a shower and then mildly dried all your 2000 body parts and then jumped back in your most-comfortable-bed-ever only to continue the drying process? Heaven heaven heaven.
Who reads this???? I forget but maybe I should go back to the discretion thing. Too late. Submit.

Chocolate, conversation and catch phrase

.....were all part of my night lastnight (sans the catch phrase though we had good intentions) with 8 or so of the finest women in this town. So, you ask....what happens when a bunch of fabulous girls get together on a random Tuesday night with 5 or 6 different assortments of chocolate and nowhere else to be??? We talk about you!
Kidding. That's what you would think I am sure. We have way too much great stuff going on than to sit around and talk about you and your boy problems or your communication problems (be that you are a boy) or your died hair or what you were thinking when you made that dumb decision...really - we have better things to talk about....'intimate relations', scandalous workout machines at the gym, the truth about commando, our corrupted-modern society (to which we have all decided to buy a remote island to raise our kids to avoid such corruption), penguins and the beauty of their monogamous intimate relations and of course how amazing God is in our every day lives.
So we sat and laughed til we made funny noises and ate chocolate and licked the icing off the cupcakes, (cause that's what you do when it is just the girls - you go right in for the good stuff- no shame!), and talked about all things that you wouldn't talk about with your Sunday school teacher and we created simple-happiness.

My mother has always said that chocolate is better than most things in life. No, I haven't put her theory to the full test but I think after lastnight - I can concur. Chocolate is a natural aphrodisiac you know?

Drive by cutees

3 times a day on average I am out driving about Atlanta, doing what I do best - aimlessly wandering (but yet looking very busy all the while). What is great about my job is the ability to roam and actually have it factor into the success of your day. Business is not lurking around the offices so they urge us to get out and roam and bump into business. But atleast 3 times a day I tend to bump into unsolicited "mini-crushes." Yes, many of my dearest people right now are smiling to themselves as they think this siting of 3 crushes per day by their pal Betsy is the norm. Well, first of all - boy crazy I am not- to all you who would say otherwise....I just have a good eye for a cute smile. Second of all - where are you, oh, fair-weathered cute-smile in the car boys?????
This is the question of the day today - where do all of you (meaning just the group aforementioned, no other creepy internet folk wanted) seemingly interesting 25-35ish males hang out? Not that you are strikingly beautiful or that we need to plan our children together but I see you singing in your car, sunroof open, looking from car to car as I do at the other pretty folks that make up this city. And I just want to know where you hide? Granted, I am not known too well in the bar circuit here in the Atl but I think I do my fair share of trying new places and exploring the unique new "boro's" in the Atlanta area. But I don't see you. I tend to see the same Georgia folk that you couldnt miss in the same scene in Athens, Tuscaloosa, Knoxville, Opelika and Columbia (nearly 4 years ago) but that is it. I am not necessarily looking for trouble anytime I am out and about - I just want to know where you hide. I am in close relation to probably the largest pool of attractive, entertaining, self-sufficient, good-cookin, confident, adventure-seeking, single group of girls in the city and I think that you and your crew of other cute boys who drive through the city singing loud on a sunny day but hide at night need to mingle with my fabulous group of girl friends. Have your people get with my people, sing a little louder and don't be afriad to flash the occasional 'I see you too and think you are kinda cute and you seem to have alot to offer and hopefully one day'll we'll run into eachother- look'.....I might just take you up on it.

And with spring coming I know there is going to be abundance of car-flirting going down in the city...gotta love the spring in Atlanta. Bring on the warmth.
Going to wander....

Is anyone else working today?

There are 4 people on my floor today and since I celebrated Presidents day on Friday by skipping work and taking salsa lessons - I am here today. Since I am here I am going to make the most of it and try to write down lists of things. Here we go:
These are some things I need to get done soon. If you have any suggestions and/or contacts don't hold back...
-My complicated taxes being that they are 100% commission based and I have weird write offs
-Fix the boo boo on the back of my car that has been there since last March
-Find a flight that is not $600 for St. Patricks day - I am going to visit my favorite Texan, Julia, in Austin
-Start getting scuba diving lessons and certification for trip to West Palm in May
-Find someone who can instruct me on what to do with stocks. Yes, I was a finance major but these paper certificates are not doing much good as placemats right now.
-Go to the dentist
-Oopss.....before going to the dentist......start flossing daily in stead of every other day for atleast 30 days so they can believe me when I tell them my flossing habits (Is this gross? I think 3 to 4 times aweek is probably better than your record?!?)
-Attend class at Dallas theological to see if this is something I can make some time for this summer
-Sleep! This weekend I willbe with 17 fourteen year olds for 72 hours straight. I must prepare. Anyone know the cool thing to do with 14 year old girls these days? I am assumming anything that has to do with boys????
-Drink 2 more glasses of water a day
-Need to start getting up even earier than 6 to read in the mornings. Quiet time at night just doesnt work unless you want to end up sleeping with your lights on and pages stuck to your face.

People I need to thank for reason's unexplained and or send belated birthday wishes to:
-2 anonymous flower senders for Valentines Day (to the Terrace girls)
-Beth P
-My Nana
-Mama
-Melissa M
-April (dear friend from highschool that I ran into)

Stuff I like RIGHT now:
-Diet cherry coke
-70 degree weather
-Facebook
-Madlibs
-Tivo'd Grey's anatomy
-Salsa dancing
-loose fitting pants
-TheAlchemist - my latest read
-Ray Lamontagne
-fresh sheets
-anyone who rings my phone actually looking to use my services (immediatly would be nice)
-double decker brownies
-Edamame
-my clean smelling hair
-personal handwritten mail
-Our secret admirers who sent the perfect flowers for V-day
-Sweet mint Orbit gum
-alone time at my house

Me and the funniest man I know and my sweet Nana.  

View from atop Kennesaw during sunset 

Northcutt Stadium on a Friday night 

Things I miss

This may only hit home with some random people sparsed throughout the United States. I know you shouldn't look back to and long for things of the past but I had to go there today. Come back tomorrow if you aren't up for the nostalgia today. These are a few of my favorite and most treasured things......

-Saturdays in Marietta when dad used to open up the back doors and the windows. He would put 96.1 on the radio throughout the house and cut the grass. The smell of grass and the sound of the outdoors and the breeze blowing through the house are enough to make me never want to leave home. Of course a few years later my family moved North and I don't know until I have my own home that I'll feel that way again.

-I'll warn you...I may not make it through this one as I can feel my eyes starting to water.....my grandad has never said too much but he has never had to. He could say a few things and either have us laughing hysterically or we'd end up in a big hug (around his sculpted belly). It's not that he is a true comic or could even tell a good joke -it's just that everything he seemed to say was well-thought out and delivered just perfectly. You'd think he wasn't thinking a thing...just happily reading a book or the paper and then he'd pipe in and it always surprised anyone in the room. More so, he wouldn't let you walk by without a big-belly hug. We used to play with all of his trinkets and toys in the basement on Mark Avenue where they lived for decades. In the past few years dimensia has started to take a toll on his youthful mind and though he still adds more flavor to a conversation than anyone in the room -I don't know that it purely intentional. Granted, he still recognizes me for the most part -(aside from the few times I was mistaken for one of my brothers girlfriends) it is obvious that he can't possibly enjoy the things he used to to the fullest. But then again, the peacefulness that he brings to any setting would make you think he is fully content and it is just the rest of us running around scared of this disease. I do miss having grandad (or Punky as my Nana calls him) set the tone for any Christmas gathering or for any fictitional game we tried to play in the basement or for the yearly Easter Egg hunts and even for the many weeks at Orange Beach over the years. He taught me how to bait my own hook when we fished from the dock and though he never actually made me (the only girl grandchild for a while) do it - he atleast wanted me to know the basics. I hope he knows how treasured he is for so many memories.

-Athens on a game day. I am admittdly a little odd. I have always seemed to be a few years ahead of everyone else in terms of interest and maturity. I think this comes from being the oldest child and a bossy oldest child at that. Every Saturday during home games in Athens I would wake up early (or early for most) around 7 and head out for a mega-run. There is something about Athens on a game day, especially when you call Athens home, that truly can not be described. Really, it has nothing to do with football and alot to do with the simplicity of life. It's the traditions and the family's gathering and the energy and the band practicing on the practive field hours before game time. It's all the best of anyone's cooking open to any and everyone. It's the way the wind always seems to blow easily on game days and the sun is radiant but usually never too hot. It's boys in red pants and girls in big hats. But for me it was getting up and scouting out the town on a never ending run before ayone else would think of getting out of bed. You could smell anything from barbeque to gumbo to grilled burgers even at 8 and 9 in the morning. And, yes, many people were already taking in their first bourbon and coke at this hour - nonetheless, everyone felt it -everyone feels Athens on a game day.
I still try to go back to most of the games and these Saturday trips are still incomparable to any other weekend activity but it will never be the same. I felt like I owned the goodness of Athens on a Saturday and I was a part of the reason it was so pleasant.

-I am a self-proclaimed runner. Self proclaimed because my body tells me I am not a runner. the doctors tell me I am not a runner. My dad once even told me I did not have a runner's body and most of the family weren't runners. That's okay. I crave long runs. The runs where the goal is to get lost and then know you gotta get home eventually. One of my most treasured things when I travel is getting up to run and explore my new place. Last year my body won and I can no longer run due to years of extensive high-impact wear and tear on my knees. I have since tried to walk Atlanta 53 times over but it is not the same. Ask my friends, I walk like I am going to pick my heel up any second and start running again. I try to pump my arms and do everything I can to result in that beautiful high that only comes from running. I miss running! I miss when I lived in Marietta by the square and about 4:45 in the afternoon I would park at the visitors center and start on the 3 mile trek towards the other side of the mountain. This part was all preparation. Then, on the way back it always worked out perfectly to where the sun would start to set beyond the mountain and on a normal day I may only pass one other runner. It was like that hour and that place were made specifically for me and my indulgement. Once I got back I would then hike up to the top of the mountain. Just 1 mile up and on most afternoons you can see all the way to Stone Mountain one way and to Tennessee the other but more so, on any day you feel completely at peace and completely in touch with the Creator. I CRAVE these runs. I crave the feeling of fully exerting your body in a way you didnt know could be done. I am not quite sure why my body decided to start falling apart last year so early but I do know there has to be reason behind it all. I am waiting patiently (and plumply) for the answers.

-Friday night highschool football games. Just writing that makes my heart beat faster. Friday night football games at Northcutt stadium were magical. Yes, I was a cheerleader and yes for most of my varsity experience I dated the QB so things were good. But in Marietta there is a little more flavor than any other typical Friday night football game. The whole town has been coming to the football games, whether or not they knew a player on the team or even had a child in highschool, for years and years. The whole town (atleast when I was there) bled blue starting Thursday afternoons. I think the excitement when you are on the field (and believing you are a part of the action though I will admit the cheerleaders were there for pure comedy) is the closest thing to utopia that I can think of. Had I known then how easy things were and how those Friday nights could be some of the most precious -pure, atuthentic moments of exhileration I might have savored them a little more.

-Charleston afternoons sitting on smelly couch at 205 GhettoFabulous. I lived with 5 other of my most favorite people on earth one summer. We all worked 4-5 jobs during the day and then gathered as often as we could on smelly couch on the porch of our typical row style, Charelstonian home. We faced the water and faced the sun setting. We regularly bought the William Sonoma margarita mix and whether we added anything to it or not - we didn't care....we could sit and laugh and tell stories and tell secrets and talk about anything under the sun. I don't know that I'll ever cherish a time in life the way I cherished that summer and those friends.....Ashley, Mic, Fran, Rachel, Katie Lee, Leah....our many visitors.....'Toothy' the scary woman, The rickshaw boys....'Willy' our homeless lover, our pot-smoking neighbors next door....I think we met everyone in Charleston that summer and made a lasting impression on each one of them. Not because who we are but because we were on a mission. It was our divine mission to share God's love with anyone that summer. I can really smell the water as we sat on our deck and would watch the storms come in in the afternoon.

And a few more of note:

-Watching Monday night football and eating homemade gumbo or jumbalaya and not paying attention at all to the hours wasted.
-Walking around camp Greystone my summer as a counselor and feeling the presence of God in every step I took.
-Sleeping in mama's bed during the weekdays when dad would travel. Sometime we'd pile 3 or 4 of us in there.
-Jacuzzi nights during a rain storm.
- Family dinner every single night at 6pm. Never earlier and never later. Mary eats only noodles, Carter will eat anything, Mom never seems to sit down and wanted to know our high's and lows of the day. I never ever thought that I would miss being forced to sit at a table until all of my lima beans were gone. Mom - little secret - bathroom trips during dinner meant beans down the toilet.
-Snuggling in Charlsie's bed with her Husband, chocolate chip cookies and solving the worlds problems. (her Husband is her beloved pillow)
-Fighting with my brothers over who got the toy in the cereal box. Matt was sneaky and would open the box for the first time and dig it out. I would act like I didnt care but secretly I was livid.
-Feeling like the luckiest girl in the world b/c I was smitten beyond recognition and didn't care at all....


Okay, the world seems a whole lot more pleasant now. I will turn off the cheese and get to work.
Here's to tomorrow!

Chocolate eggs

Please please buy all of this hideous Valentines candy and get it off the shelf. No bitterness here, really. If I show any hostility towards this holiday it is because I loathe Valentines candy. I have an affinity to the Easter candy that is right around the corner. You got it: Marshmallow Peeps, Reeces Peanut butter cup -egg shaped, Cadbury milk chocolate eggs, malted eggs....all my favorite! I will hold out until then for the real deal. Maybe someone will read this before one more person comes and places a heart shaped piece of chocolate on my desk. FTL!

Our Favorite Valentines

-Mystery admirer who sent flowers to the Terrace today. Yep, to all four cuties! We don't know who you are but we are smitten smitten smitten! We made you Valentines cookies tonight. What a fabulous surprise.

-Stephen: 4 blizzards for 4 ladies on a Pre-Valentines evening. We are fat and happy because of you. But then again, you said, you like your women plump- plump enough to fit right in your arms.

-Kat and I treated ourselves tonight to a Valentines treat at the cooks warehouse. We learned how to make salsa. Really we didnt. We drank wine and ate lots of guacamole and salsa. We didnt learn a thing because we were those girls...talking and giggling. Perfect treat.

Goodnight. Hope you all feel loved. I do.

One of those days

It just is.... and I am trying my hardest to breathe slowly and think happy thoughts today but today just isnt my day. Maybe tomorrow. Though tomorrow, being the Hallmark Holiday of the year, may be setting up to be another flop. Yes, mama always told me you choose the day you are going to have and I am choosing to be real quiet today and just sit back and pray I don't burst into tears.

On other notes: we are decorating our Christmas tree tonight with pink and red for the Holiday. It is a seasonal tree and we think it would look fabulous donned in pink and red hearts. You can see it from the Terrace window. Check it out.

Some fun dating discussion in the Atl.

God's gift to women

Spandex all day

Too tired to explain.
All day.
Coupled with sweat bands and screaming people.

Add a dose of legwarmers.
More to come.
Happy Friday!

I think this calls for another Friday with the coloring book and Sermon on the Mount book. Is that sad?

“If I find in my heart a desire which nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
CS Lewis

Worth posting again.

Javier

He happens to be one of my favorite characters on Felicity. Felicity happens to be one of my favorite background tv shows...you know...you intend to read or write letters or open mail or work but you turn on something in the background just to keep you company and then you end up watching multiple episodes in one sitting? Anyway, Javier is energetic and has the most genuine heart on t.v.
So lastnight I go to dinner with a friend that I haven't caught up with in several months. We always have great conversation when we do catch up. More so, there always seems to be some undiscovered treasure whenever we get together - not necessarily between us but in any particular environment. These 'treasures' are bred by my friend's sincere intentionality with people - anyone and everyone. It's a beatutiful thing really, and one of my my beloved qualities in a person.

I eat soup and drink a beer and he eats tacos and drinks a pretty amazing margarita. I enjoy the company and the stories. I think we both light up a room and honestly on several odd occassions by-standers tend to comment on the joy that we exude in just the laughs and smiles. This sounds arrogant and it is not - it is that beautiful spirit within that comes out when you feel connected to something bigger than yourself. That's my take on it.
Anyway, after beer and soup - healthy diet - he asks me to meet his friend, Javier. Javier loves Jesus and it is apparent in the glow in his eyes. Javier has 'it' whatever 'it' is.......I have 'it' too though 'it' is unexplainable in words...rather apparent only in actions. And 'it' is contageous. Isn't it so divine when we encounter other random people whom we have had no previous connection what so ever and then over a beer at a bar within 5 minutes your heart wants to be exposed. God really is contageous. I am beautifully affected when I encounter people whose hearts, too, through completely different circumstances and stories are enamored by God. There is a peace that comes with their presence and it solidifies what I already know and feel. It is tried and true. Being broken and humbled by God is a real thing with real effects that have no boundaries on goodness/badness/situation/status/culture...you name it - no boundaries. God's love is for everyone who chooses to recognize that we are part of a bigger story. Every circumstance and situation that we face is for a reason. Everything. Nothing is by chance. How affirming is this?
Lastnight was perfect. I would think for my lack of faith at times that I don't even deserve to be affirmed in the way that I feel God affirms me at times. That is grace in all it's beauty and all it's power. Grace, too, like no other thing on the earth, can change people. It is so rare on this earth that we experience true, unwarranted grace. Life's little graces makes God's grace all that much more potent.

It is by grace that I am who I am. It is only by grace that Javier has a joy that explodes when he speaks of his life and his children and his wife of 16 years (also his college sweetheart.) I am thankful for my new friend, Javier, and the light that he shines even in a little bar in East Cobb. How divine that God would have him there. How divine that lastnight was so perfect with such a dear friend. I promise you a year ago I couldn't at all see God's purposes in this broken relationship. Nor did I have the faith to just trust that His ways were better than mine. How thankful I am that my life is not my own but that was made to glory God - even in brokenness and trials....even through a beer and a simple conversation....

Next time you are in East Cobb, stop by Tiajuana Joe's and have a beer with Javier. You might come away a believer in faith and grace and mercy and all things so rare in this world. Yes, my dinner buddy lastnight always has some kind of treasure to share whenever we get together....

Blog success

Thanks to Tricia for a tip lastnight after reading yesterday's blog. Tricia heard on the radio that Faith and Tim's interview was being aired lastnight because so many people were angry that CSK's funeral lasted so long and ran over the Oprah timeslot. We Tivo'd it at 12:05 on TBS thanks to Tricia's suggestions so anyone can stop by and do a little special viewing if you so desire. Maybe it's just me that was so bummed???

Moreso, read Stewart's comments from yesterday's blog. Wealth of valuable info. What a great day was yesterday with so many great comments. I love y'all!
blog comments=happy blog author

Mad at ABC

First of all, a few things are important on t.v and this is not debatable. One: Grey's Anatomy especially when there is a Code black. There was a flippin Code Black at the SanDiego hospital and Meredith Grey had her hand in a man's chest while Izzy was kissin boys in the closet but no.....the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Seattle Sea Turtles or something were playing a little too much football. Did anyone actually care about that little game of football? Not really. So, yes, ABC, eventually aired the most nerve-wracking episode to date but it didnt even end til 11:40 and I wasnt happy.

Worse: I get up early, work out, do lots of good work today -very efficiently - so I can come home just in time to see Faith Hill and Tim McGraw's first tv interview together on Oprah. I turn on ABC to find Michael Bolton of all goobers singing at Coretta Scott King's Memorial Service. I am in no way saying she shouldnt be honored properly for her role in keeping peace and the legacy of Mr. MLKjr going strong. . .but does it honestly have to be during the prime time interview of the year. I am mad - really. And, yes, I have Tivo and I dont have to watch the show now but even later I am going to want to go turn on my beloved show and have to watch Mr. Bolton and some lyrical dancers again. I came home for this. Supposedly, Tim lights up when he sees Faith and they blush and it is so great on the previews and so hopefull for the rest of us hopeless romantics who want a Tim all to ourselves. Hasn't CSK had 3 or 4 memorial services since she passed? Dekalb schools were out of school for this hoopla today. I can't speak of it anymore - I am getting more frustrated. Maybe there is a function on Tivo that will allow me to view the regularly scheduled program???I'm going to figure this out. Please help if you can.

Frustrated in ATl, GA,
bn

“If I find in my heart a desire which nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
CS Lewis

MASH

Remember this??? I think at some point in life we all revert back to our middle school games to determine any partof out future. This should help. I'm livin in an apartment with 6 kids is all I know.

www.playmash.com

Thanks, Kat, for today's material. What would I do without you and your 'Hey's and 'You woulds' and your uncanny comments and silly mindless games. You do rule!

SNOW SNOW SNOW
SNOW SNOW SNOW
I WANT SNOW!

Stephen and the girls. He's got a way about him. 

Yummy. 

Always opened arm with a hug for his Terrace girls. 

Stephen in his finest get-up. We love the way you look at us.... 

How can you not fall head over heels? 

Our Favorite boyfriend

Stephen W, this is for you, my love. All for you. The Terrace has been quite smitten with you since we first met you doned in blazer and sideburns. Now, more than a year later, your relationship is so cherished by all of the Terrace ladies. You make us giggle throughout the days with your uncanny text messages. You cuddle with whoever happens to be on smelly couch when you come over. You bring us cookie dough in the middle of the night. You hold our hands and rub our heads if we are in extra need of attention (which is rare). We do adore the random notes under the pillow and we have even allowed the cardinal Terrace rule, no boy spend the nighters, to be broken just for you. (As we find out I think this rule has been scretly broken before). We dont get jealous when you are fratrenizing with one Terrace member and not the others because we are all one bg dating machine. We love to see you and your great white hype pull right up into the front yard when you come to visit. We love the way you look us in the eye and tell us just what we need to hear sometimes. And then sometimes when you are brutal honest - we appreciate it. Only you can be that honest with us. Today, as we are going public with our affection we are going to the Walmart to make you a key. Yes, it is true. The backdoor code is still just for you but we want you to have a front door key too. Smelly couch is all yours anytime you want it. This is our DTR, publicly. No love is greater than this. Can we please go get our names airbrushed on a car tag just to make it official. You are our #1 beau.

With Love,
The Terrace Girls

Kat, Betsy, JJ and Catie on a perfect Thursday night at Nuevo Laredo

JJ, Chance, Peach Snapps and Patti

That about somes up the roommate adventures lastnight. After a rough week at the Heartbreak Hotel, aka The Terrace, we decided a Thursday night outing was in store. All we knew it would entail was margaritas and cheese dip. Little did we know it would turn into a whirlwind night of new friends - young and old- and a little star performance by Katherine, the next Patti Griffin. We don't need to go into detail about the heartaches. Bottom line: most boys are thoroughly confused and get in way over their head before they realize that some girl may actually fall for their mindless charming plots to woo the (temporary) object of their affection. I don't want to hear of anymore of these terrible scenarios. I have been a victim myself before and though the lessons learned are insurmountable - the idea alone that some pretty amazing girls I know walk around with a tough guard up for way too long after they were asked to believe some silly boy's emotions who doesn't even know what to do with them - makes me nauseous. These are the all-to-familiar situations of smitten.... to..... freaked out all in 48 hour periods (or less).

Anyway, this may be a little heated subject for me so we'll carry on....Kat and Catie and I venture to the other side of the tracks to the greatest little whole in the wall in Atlanta, Nuevo Laredo Cantina. It was our destiny that we would meet our newest of favorite charcters, JJ.
JJ is much more of a regular than we are and it seems that everyone around him knew JJ's story and wanted to play a part in it. Kat just wanted a margarita. JJ and friend, JR (or was it JT??? I just realized that JJ's sidekick was named J-something...interesting) ordered some margaritas and cheese dip and we could have been happy for the rest of the night. JJ tucked his tie into his shirt (I love it when boys do that - weird. And, really, he is not a boy) and proceeded to eat what looked like a usual meal at the bar while we chowed down on the greatest salsa and cheese dip in Atlanta. About an hour later and 1 pitcher later we realize our name still wasnt called so JJ sent over some kind of secret note to the hostess to get us a table. Really, our name was called 30 minutes prior but we were too interested in JJ's trips to Costa Rica, desires to ride a white horse to Cowboy's and his strong-affinity to fine dining in the Atlanta area that we missed it. JR -JT, whatever, was really the sidekick and eventually he took interest in a died-blonde girl (though he had just flattered us with the thought that he only likes brunettes and red-heads, go figure)...Soon enough we sit at the most perfect table right in the middle of the dining room. There were 3 of us at a 4 person table so naturally JJ joined the festivities. I was a bad DD. I made Katherine finish the margaritas in a timely manner as to not let them get watered down - I hate to waste things and after this week at the HH - a little margaritas and comeraderie were just what the psychiatrist would have ordered. Thus leading to random conversation about Peach Snapps, ( we never partook (is that a word - I think not) in any but we all found it hysterical, including JJ, when we said the word), The Citadel, dead Mexican's and bareback horseback riding to say the least. JJ invites a friend on the phone to come meet up with us. Chance joins us and tells stories of his brushings with the stars. Brad Pitt to say the least.....
I think I know, but I wasn't sure that I had seen Chance before. And JJ for that matter. They are those older men that seem to always be single, have a smile and a beer and great conversation to offer wherever you go. Innocent -really and altogether pleasant company. Chance, we discover, after asking if he had ever eaten at Nuevo Laredo, is the same man in all the pictures on the wall of the Cantina. Oops....
Chance orders a special from the kitchen and we engage half the dining room in our random, playful conversation. Good stuff. With pictures and kisses and promises to meet again we head out the door thankful that we were not stupid enough to give out any contact numbers. (Good moves, girls.)
So, the talk of Peach Snapps and superstars lands us at Park Bench in Buckhead. Kat, Catie and I and about 3 other raving fans crowd into Park Bench and listen to the artists on what seems to be a rotating night where each singer plays a song or two. We tend to take over wherever we go so soon enough we were causing a little too much comotion to pay attention to the background music. Then we meet new favorite friend #2, Fransisco. Fransisco seems like a local unknown legend. Actually, he is probably really known but I am just not in the Atlanta music scene. Francisco owns Park Bench and seems to be a mentor to a bunch of up and coming artists like our super star friend, Cory. Francisco then takes the mike and Kat's confidence starts to swell up. It may have been the long island tea's but whatever it was it doesnt matter. Kat joins Fransisco on the stage for a few Patti Griffin selections. Catie and I have tried to sneak a peek at Kat's shower performances but we can never get the full effect. What a treat lastnight was to have Katherine, smiling if only temporary and singing like she was a RockStar.
Then Cory takes the stage and we all sing along and giggle and talk about Peach Snapps and giggle some more and smile at the new friends we made on a random rainy Thursday night.

Thursday night's will become a staple in the Terrace household. I love Thursday's and I love meeting random new friends and entertaining the idea of flying to Costa Rica and riding to Cowboys on a white horse. Why? Just cause. Great answer, JJ, just so you could say you did.

What a beautiful time in our young lives....to be young, to be foolish (or to pretend to be foolish), to eat good food, to engage in some pretty entertaining conversation, to be a light in the world just by the smiles on our faces, to be entertained by wealthy older men (innocently), to sing like no one is listening and to allow our hearts to be vulnerable even if it means heartache. There is no joy when there is no risk and yes, we are all learning - to let your heart go is to risk but the true joy really comes in just taking the risk, whether or not the heart part ever works out.

Thanks JJ, Chance, Kat, Catie, Cory, Stephen and Francisco for an enjoyable, theraputic Thursday night.

Park Bench groupies...Kat was still singing Patti into Stephen's ear. 

Cory, our natural SuperStar.  

Kat and Francisco and a little Patti on stage. SuperStar Thursday's to be continued... 

Insight from Katie, from Tozer, from Kempis

From A.W. Tozer book "the Pursuit of God"

GUARD YOUR EMOTIONS
Christ: My son, do not trust your affections, for they are changeable and inconstant. All your life your are subject to change, even against your inclination. At one time cheerful, at another sad; now peaceful, now troubled; now full devotion, now wholly lacking it; now zealous, now slothful; now grave, now happy. But the wise man, who is well versed in spiritual matters, stands above these changing emotions. He pays small regard to his momentary feelings and whims, but directs all the powers of his mind towards the right and true end. Thus, having fixed his gaze and kept his intention constantly on Me, he can remain single in purpose and unshaken under all circumstances.
Thomas a Kempis

For Ladies Only

Check this out: This is courtesy of Charlsie Kate, my most informed friend and a guru on anything cool on the internet. Just once I want to spread some www-love that is completely frommy own findings.....Thanks Charlsie!


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