OSU basketball team members, community remember the 10

There are events that take place that will be forever burned in you memory - you will remember where you were when it happend, how you felt, what your reactions were, the aftermath, and so much more. One event I will never forget is the OSU basketball plane crash on January 27, 2001. I was in my senior year at OSU and tutoring and mentoring men's basketball players at the time. One of my students, Daniel, was on the plane that crashed. The whole event and days surrounding were some of the most difficult times I have ever encountered. I was able to witness a university that I loved and called home come together in a beautiful showing of unity. I was able to work closely with and minister to other members of the basketball team through my academic involvement. I became a lot closer to my good friend Vic, through whom I eventually met my best friend. I learned a whole lot more about relying on God and not living only for the moment.

It has been eight years since that night, and it is still fresh in my mind and heavy on my heart at times. Today, and every day, my thoughts and prayers go out to the ones who lost their loved ones, and the many friends who were left behind hurting. Things like this change a person forever. I'm proud to be a member of the Cowboy family!!

OSU basketball team members, community remember the 10

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Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. I love to read everyone else's Not Me! posts, and thought I'd start my week off with my own!

This week I did NOT:

- Put off packing my house for the entire week, secretly hoping the moving fairy would come and pack my house overnight

- Want to hug the DirecTV instillation guy for hooking up my tv in my new house

- Sleep on my mattress and box spring on the floor because I was too lazy to put them on the bed frame, and only use a blanket and comforter because I was too tired to unpack my sheets

- Fully expect my friend to break something when he helped me move, then still get mad when it happened

- Pray for a huge snow storm to hit Kansas City this week so work would be cancelled (that prayer obviously didn't work out!)

- I did not panic last night when I started coughing that I was getting a cold which meant that I would not get to play as closely with my 'nephew' this week in Dallas - but rest assured, I'm feeling 100% today

What about you? Feel free to share things you did NOT do this week! Happy Monday!

29 Random Things About Me.....

Some of these may come as a surprise, but others the whole world probably already knows. Just thought it would be a fun post this Friday.

1. I am suffering from a severe case of procrastination, and it scares me because I have never been this way before.
2. I love sports - love watching them and wish that I was athletic enough to play them.
3. IF God had made me boy instead of a girl, Iwould have wanted to be a middle line backer in the NFL.
4. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE College Basketball.
5. In refrence to #4, I love betting on basketball, and every year my Dad and I count down to March Madness in VEGAS!
6. I want to someday have 4 children - preferably all boys.
7. Wedding cake is my favorite food.
8. I'm not a big fan of ice cream.
9. I know a lot of people, but would only consider a handful of them to really be friends.
10. I only have one really good girl-friend who lives all the way in Indiana, because I find it hard to trust other girls as friends. (I have evidence that many of them are not trustworthy - found out the hard way!)
11. I wish I was better at the Golden Rule.
12. I question God a lot about why I am still single, and check in with him regularly to see if he notices that I'm not getting any younger.
13. I'm afraid turning 30 and being single with no kids will seriously depress me.
14. If I don't go shopping at least one day of the week, I sometimes feel like I'm going to go crazy.
15. That being said, my secret goal is to go five whole days without spending one cent.
16. I give a lot of myself to others, and often wonder if I am selfish to hope that someday I will get back in return.
17. Every day I feel torn about living away from my family, and sometimes feel guilty that I like being 'on my own'.
18. I want to adopt a baby. With or without a husband.
19. It makes me very jealous and even angry to see women who have children and not want to take care of them or not care about them.
20. I wonder if anyone in the world is truly happy or if people just convince themselves they are.
21. I am very concerned that I will not have a job by the middle of the summer.
22. I compare myself to everyone.
23. I love to cook, but never cook for just myself. If I'm alone, I eat soup, frozen pizza, or takeout.
24. I wonder what people would think about me if they knew some of my thoughts or secrets.
25. I am amazingly stubborn when I feel like being; especially when my feelings get hurt or someone wrongs me.
26. I love my family with my whole heart and can not imagine what I would ever do if I lost one of them. I worry about them all the time.
27. I have a best friend but it is a complicated relationship that no one understands, and I get really sick of trying to explain it to people.
28. I wonder if I will ever be loved or have the opportunity to give my heart to someone.
29. Above all else, I just want my life to be important.

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Lunch Date Blouse GIVEAWAY!!!!

Check out this amazingly beautiful blouse I stumbled upon! I love it because it is so pretty and different - If you know anything about me, you know that I don't like to have the same things as someone else, and this is exactly what I'm talking about! Go to the link above to enter for a chance to win it for yourself!

Moving Update

Despite being somewhat lazy this afternoon and spending an unnecessary hour at Target this afternoon, I got a lot done today. I met the landlords and property manager at 9 this morning, and they are really nice people. She kept reiterating that they want me to make a home in the house and make it feel like my own. I can paint or do basically whatever I want. She even gave me permission to rig the side fences so they are a little higher - because we all know Miss Professional Escape Artist is guaranteed to get out in 5 minutes or less! I'm hoping I can get something temporary in place for a couple of months until I can con my dad into visiting and lending his expertise!
I went back over to the house this afternoon by myself to walk through it again and decide where I'm going to put everything. I have the bedrooms and kitchen pretty much figured out, but I have no clue how I want to arrange the living room. Currently, my living room consists of a couch, tv stand, bookcases, and two dog kennels - enough seating for 2! What I really want is a chair and a half, or oversized chair to go in the living room, but I'm not in a position to obtain one right now, so I'm going to recover the cushions on a wooden chair I found at Goodwill a few years back. A couple of things I'm excited about - in addition to the ones I posted earlier - the girl who lived there before left some really cute curtain rods in the living room and my bedroom; the landlords supply yard tools including a really nice snow shovel and rake; the bedroom is bigger than I initially imagined and I don't think it will be as cluttered as my room now (yeah!!!!!).
As for my accomplishments today - I feel I did very well! I have everything out of my bathroom that I can live without for the next week; my closet is cleaned out and mostly moved; my closet room is underway; and I have a huge pile of things to take over tomorrow. I'm feeling pretty good about things. As for my list of things I need to buy, I have a feeling that will grow over the next few days! I am certainly going to need curtains at some point, a new shower curtain, a few rugs for the kitchen and to put by the front and back door, and some paint for my bedroom and possibly the second bedroom. We'll see about the painting thing - first things first! I took lots of pictures today but I'm seriously too lazy/tired to upload them tonight so I'll post them later this weekend.

Babies, Budgets, Books and Boxes

Maybe at some point in my life, I will be able to sue this title on my blog for myself - I can imagine it now, I have a baby, I have to budget, and my many tons of cute clothes and tons of books have to go into boxes to make room for baby. But, not yet. When, you may ask? Ask God - when he tells you, please get back to me. I'm wondering the same thing! You know what? Ask God about that husband part first, and let me know if he tells you anything. First things first, ya know!

Ok, so the real post. My mind is consumed this week with Babies and Budgets - but not really boxes. The real priorities should be 1 - Budgets (because its for work), 2 - Boxes (because I'm supposed to be moving tomorrow), and 3 - Babies (because I don't get to go to Texas to see the new baby for two weeks). As usual, my procrastination gene has kicked in and my priorities are all off. So, here's a couple of new pictures of Andrew and Sadie that I stole off my cousin Debra's facebook page:

This one is big sister Sadie seeing baby brother for the first time. I can only imagine the look on her face from the other direction! I wish I had been old enough to remember my brother's birth - how cool is that.

Here is Sadie holding Andrew. She is such a big girl, and from what I hear, is so proud to be a big sister. Some day I'll talk with her about all the responsibilities of having a little brother (you know, me being the expert big sister and all! haha!), but for now it looks like she's in control! For comparison, here's a picture of Sadie when she was three days old:

Look how far she's come! Now can you see why I'm totally smitten with these two? They are the closest I have to a niece and nephew and probably ever will (unless my brother changes his mind one of these days). So, I've adopted them as my niece and nephew - and I love them to pieces! They have been on my mind a lot this week - the heck with packing boxes! haha!

In other news, I have inherited a new project at work this week, which has totally made my day. I love creating and planning and budgeting and orgainzing. So, this week, my boss asked me to help with an international student exchange conference we are hosting in a few weeks. I was originally asked to help with the budgeting and loved that part of it, then yesterday I got to sit in on a planning meeting and was able to contribute many of my own ideas to the mix. I really enjoy my collegaues and am excited to be working on this project. Hopefully I'll be a success!

Finally, yes, tomorrow is the big day! I sign my lease in the morning and can start moving my stuff into my new house. I'm excited and nervous, and have seriously not done anything to prepare except call the utility companies and my current landlord! Wow, am I a procrastinator or what! So, I'm going to just put my goals out there in cyberspace so I have some sort of accountability! This weekend I plan to:

Saturday - do a walk through, decide where I want to put everything in the new house, make a list of things I need to buy (hopefully its very short!), start moving things from my closet and bathroom.

Sunday - move things from my closet room and basement.

Monday - make sure the new basement is organized, all of my bedroom and living room stuff I don't need until next weekend is moved. Spend a few hours at the office to tie up loose ends and prepare for the week.

Wish me luck - I'm not to optimistic about my productivity! haha!! On a side note, I made some oh, so, yummy red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing last night - they were oh, so, yummy! I took pictures, I'll post tomorrow (oh, wait, I'm supposed to be moving !!!). Did I mention they're yummy?!?!

Babies and Miracles

Today, January 13th, 2009, my beautiful cousin Denise gave birth to a healthy 9.5lb baby boy, Andrew. I can not be more excited for her, her husband Travis, and Sadie, the new big sister.

Sadie is a beautiful 3 1/2 year old who will melt your heart. She was born premature and had to stay in the hospital for what seemed like ages, but you could never tell that today. I got to spend time with her over Christmas making cookies for Santa and playing. It was such a sweet time, and I feel so blessed that she is a part of my life. Her smiles can light up a room, and her laughter is angelic.

Today, our miracle became the big sister to another miracle. Andrew was born healthy, but that in no way takes away from the fact that this new life is a miracle from God. I can't wait to meet Andrew, and get to know this little man. Here's a picture of Andrew and proud dad Travis.

This family is so special to me. I have 10 cousins total, but I would probably say that Denise is the one I am closest to (no offense to my other cousins - I love you all very much). On my dad's side of the family, there are four grandkids, my cousins Debra and Denise are sisters, then there are me and my brother. Growing up we didn't see each other too often because we lived in west Texas and they lived in Louisiana, but it seemed like every time we saw each other we had never missed a beat. It still feels like that today. She is a few years older than I am, and we are usually at different places in our lives, but that has never stopped us from being more than cousins, we are friends. She is like a big sister to me, and I love her and her gorgeous family so much. I can't wait to see you all at the end of the month and meet Mr. Andrew!

I'm Moving on Up......

Yeah, good news - I'm finally moving. I do not think I could be more excited right now! I found a really cute two bedroom house about five blocks from where I'm living now. The new house is a 'real' two bedroom (meaning the second bedroom is actually large enough to live in - more on that later). It is a lot nicer than the house I'm in now - two bedrooms, large living room, a much bigger kitchen with lots more cabinets and a dishwasher (!!!), full basement, washer and dryer included, fenced yard, the how shabang! Everything fell into place so nicely, and I have no doubts that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.
Some of the too good to be true details:

• The girl who currently rents needed to move out because of financial issues, and wanted out asap, even though her lease was not over until March 31
• My lease is month to month, I had already paid all of January, so I have until the end of the month to be out - meaning I can take my time moving all my stuff (and boy do I have a lot of stuff!)
• The house comes with an almost brand new Washing Maching and Dryer. Exciting in and of itself, but what you don't know is that my own 2 year old washing machine is broken beyond (cheap) repair, and the repair man told me to just buy a new one because that would be cheaper.
• I am able to move in starting the 17th of this month. The prorated rent is cheaper than what I would have spent on a new washing maching (with delivery and warranty).
• The girl living there called me on Saturday as she was moving stuff out to ask if I wanted her to leave the queen sized bed in the spare bedroom.
• There's an unfinished bedroom in hte basement that will be perfect for my many crates of clothing and shoes, but most importantly - my punching bag I've been without for the past two years!
• The landlord is letting me sign my own lease this month instead of taking over the other young lady's rent and having to wait until April 1 to sign a lease.

Have I said that I'm excited??? I 'shopped' online all weekend for new things for the house. (Don't worry Dad - I didn't spend any money!). The good news is that I pretty much have everything I need as for decorations and furnishings, and goodness knows I can fully equip that kitchen! All I really *need* is a new shower curtain and stuff for the bathroom because mine are wearing out quickly; curtains for my room, the living room, and the little cute window in the kitchen; a few plants; and possibly a new rug for the living room and a rug for my room.

I can't wait to post before and after pictures - I'll take pictures on Saturday (the 17th) when I go sign the lease and get the keys, and I'll keep you updated on the progress. I should also post pictures of the 'old' house that I'm in now.....we'll see if I can get it cleaned up enough to be photographed!