A Very Lucky Girl

On the last Sunday of 2012, Life Church recruited a guest speaker to come and speak to our heathen souls about leadership. Whaaaaaa? Right? Leadership isn't exactly a cookie cutter, Sunday School, bible-beating topic. But excellent leadership is scarce, so it actually makes perfect sense to instill leadership wisdom into Christians. Because, NEWSFLASH, believing in Jesus doesn't automatically make you someone worth following (even on Twitter). You need common, worldly sense, coupled with spiritual maturity, to effectively influence people.  The guest speaker also refreshed my memory on the ACTS acronym (a useful guideline when you are lost about how to pray). But during said speaker's heartfelt advice about prayer, my mind started to wander. The ACTS acronym is honestly great for any tricky conversation. A is for Adoration. Suck up. "You've been looking so great recently! Have you been working out? I love that color on you!" C is for confession. Humbl...

Ahh week 4. It looks like Sean took a day off from his workout. Chris Harrison greets the ladies in the mansion and presents the 1st date card.  OH there's Sean! Just casually walking around in his boxers. Is this ABC appropriate? "Selma, Let's turn up the heat" Selma skips off to get ready for her date while the rest of the girls sit morosely in their pajamas around the living room, bemoaning their lack of a date. Selma leaves the house in yoga pants and a tank top. So I'm hoping they aren't going somewhere "really glamorous." She awkwardly lounges across his lap in their private jet, refusing to let go of his hand.  They land in the middle of what looks like the desert and Selma "does not do well in heat. at all. " He economically reuses his jeep from AshLee's date and takes them to a national park.  He invites her to rock climb to get a better view and she counters, "so are we taking a helicopter up there?" Selma...

I crawled out of bed on a Tuesday morning over Christmas Break at 5 am to accompany Sharbear to her 5:30 am kickboxing class. I have never boxed in my life, kick or otherwise. I felt EXTRA uncoordinated. That's another plus to running: the clumsiest person can do it with little ill effects. Nevertheless, I persevered through the class, pausing to gulp water only 3 times.  Sharbear is member at a small gym, the class had maybe 9 participants (the time likely drives everyone away) and had your stereotypical bouncy, overly energetic blonde who no doubt was headed to pilates upon completion of the class, the front row mom who did the opposite of whichever side the instructor commanded, the lone middle-aged man who reminisced about his old boxing coach before class began, and the obnoxious girl to my left who sang along to every. single. song. Honey, you aren't kicking hard enough! I really enjoyed the group aspect and the coach dynamic of the gathering. It felt vaguely li...

The Biggest Loser is one of my top five favorite TV shows of all time. I started watching it a few years ago with Sharbear and I've been hooked ever since. So it remains on my Hulu queue week after week. And I watch it religiously--usually with a snack like popcorn or cookie dough to keep irony alive and well.  This season has already been emotion-inducing and I love 3 main things about my Hulu dates with these overweight individuals: The trainers: Jillian Michaels especially. I've missed her. And her abs...no other image makes me want to get my ass in gear like a shirtless Queen of the Gym. On my bucket list: a last chance workout with Jillian.  The kids: This season has a special focus on childhood obseity and three children are in the spotlight. They aren't participating in weigh-ins and are doing most of the work from home, but they have such uncanny wisdom and heart-wrenching stories. I have a special affinity for Sunny, the girl who would like nothing more than ...

Sean apparently works out EVERY WEEK. Whaaaat? Chris Harrison rounds up the girls, who are finally getting comfortable in the house, judging by some make-up less faces. First Date Card: "Lesley M., How long will this love last?" Sean brings Lesley to the Guinness Book of World Records and she pretends to have a good time. We find out that Sean's dad holds a Guinness Record (seriously, this guy's pedigree just keeps getting better). Sean suggests that they try to break the world's longest on-screen kiss. Previously, it was 3 minutes and 15 seconds (which honestly doesn't seem that long....me and Tyler could EASILY break that). And really, it seems more like the longest on screen peck because their lips cannot ever separate for it to be legit. Lesley keeps laughing and fist pumps at the one minute mark, clearly not engrossed in her kiss. They beat it, obviously. Sean artfully leads her on by declaring that she is "the only girl I want to set records wi...

Successfully completed the first week of the 2013 spring semester--HOLLA ATCHUR GURL. 15 weeks to go. It's like I'm counting down a pregnancy, except you know, not at all. 2013 is turning out to be a bit more challenging than I originally bargained for. My life seems to be spinning out of control; but I recently realized that I completely control my academic success. So, long story short, my classes aren't going to know what hit them when I'm done in May. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday I kick off the morning with a nice dose of Introduction to Logic at 9:30 AM. This is the class that I had to take the math placement exam in order to get permission to solve word problems at the University of Oklahoma. Professor Dan Cheon seems nice enough. He doesn't bother with an attendance policy and all of his quizzes are announced and clearly assigned on the syllabus. The downside is that logic is still in the math family, just heavier on the words side. I saw "proofs...

then then Two years down fighting Addison's Disease , hopefully plenty to go! Annual shout out to Sharbear, OU medical center Edmond, and cortisol for saving my life.  then then Addisonial crisis On January 17th, 2011 I was flopped in an ICU hospital bed in an Addison's-induced and morphine-enhanced state of delirium. I had nightmares about sleeping among giant vegetables (as if I loved squash before...), being the victim in high-speed police car chase (the brakes wouldn't work! Not my fault!), and mistakenly thought I had been moved to 3 different rooms during my stay at the hospital. The first room my mind invented was a luxurious, hotel style bedroom with spacious double beds and a chaise lounge. The second was a freezing cold residence on a ranch where I slept on an incline with the aforementioned vegetables and there was no water to be found anywhere. The third room (in fact, the ONLY room that I was in for the duration of my hospital visit) wa...

I didn't get to watch Bachelor last night so I made up for it on Hulu this morning. Sean greets us with a not nearly long enough glimpse of his workout and subsequent shower. Chris Harrison meanders into the lions' den--AKA Bachelor Mansion--and delivers Date Card #1. "Sarah, are you ready to fall in love today?" Sean picks up his one-armed princess in a helicopter and the remaining girls watch wistfully as the couple flies to the top of a 35-story building. Sean invites Sarah to free-fall with him to the champagne toast at the bottom of the skyscraper. I think I would've forgone the bubbly at that point and suggested we steal a water bottle from the crew and split that instead. Less dangerous. But Sarah gamefully fell the 35 stories and was rewarded with a rose and a kiss after a conversationally-rich dinner with Sean. Meanwhile, Date Card #2 arrived at the mansion. "Kristy, Amanda, Brooke, Lesley M., Daniella, Catherine, Robyn, Katie, Selma, Taryn,...

The Holocaust is one of my favorite historic events to study, next to the sinking of the Titanic. Tragedy is riveting, as terrible as it may sound. I've read endless books about the horrors that happened in concentration camps, to many different people groups, but especially to God's own-the Jewish nation.  Corrie ten Boom and Elie Wiesel are my two favorite authors on the subject. Their separate, firsthand experiences in Auschwitz, coupled with their insight, make for meaningful reads. I highly recommend Ms. ten Boom's "The Hiding Place" and Elie Wiesel's "Night." I've read both, multiple times. I'm currently working through Corrie's "Each New Day" devotional and received "Open Heart" by Mr. Wiesel on Christmas. I finished "Open Heart" and it was phenomenal!  I learned a lot about Elie Wiesel, his life after the Holocaust, that I didn't know before. He is currently a professor at Boston University (M...

My Mimi helped me with the overwhelming task of cleaning out my room over Christmas break. Everything is better with a friend. Especially one that reminds you that you really don't NEED that high school cross country sweatshirt. I kept the St. David's one and goodwilled the Heritage Hall option. #compromise.  Other treasures unearthed in my boudoir: 3 pairs of tiny skinny jeans. Like size zero itty-bitty. Like they fit me when I was 98 pounds. I hung onto them previously because I was dreaming of fitting into them again. It's not going to happen. Goodbye skinny love. An abundance of china figurines that hadn't been taken out of the box since the move from Texas to Oklahoma. That was almost 4 years ago.  Various cross country and track memorabilia, plus my letterman jacket from Legacy Christian Academy in Beaumont. I shoved it to the back of the closet; that will never again grace my shoulders. Dry-erase markers from playing school all those years ago in an overly...

I make a motion to rename Sean Lowe's season: Abs on Abs on Abs. Any seconds? I watched the premiere of season 17 with some friends in Norman and amidst the reunion with Natasha and congratulating Savannah on her TEACH FOR AMERICA position (snaps for Sav!) I may have missed a few minor details of the show and gotten the 26? 27? girls woefully mixed up. But I took copious notes to kick start my blogging agenda for the season. I hereby promise to do everything short of death to have a recap posted on the Tuesday following the Monday night viewing. It may not be Tuesday morning; but it WILL be Tuesday.  So. Let the games begin, and may the odds be ever in Sean's abs favor.  The Boy The show begins with a preview as the faces of girls we don't yet know flash across the screen in various positions of drama. We walk through the Emily Maynard sadz (remember the mermaid skirt?! UGH) and then get an up close and truly personal glimpse of Sean's workout routine. And his bo...

Ashlee Amanda   These ladies will make their ABC debut on Sean Lowe's season of "The Bachelor" TOMORROW. Rumor has it that Kacie B. is going to join them in a "who IS she?" moment that will join the ranks of Jersey Shore Elyse's comment from Bachelor                  Ben's season in  franchise history. Brooke Ashley P Right now they are only a blur of boobs, spray tans, and blindingly white teeth. But I have picked out some favorites and some ladies that are sure to see the rejection limo first. Brooke, Leslie (not to be confused with Lesley), and Robyn will likely be among the first ones eliminated. Sad as it is, there has never been any diversity in the final relationships in Bachelor history. I expect Daniella, Kelly, and Lacey to make the ditziest comments (I discriminate against blonde hair). Lindsay and Lauren are my top two picks. Lauren reminds me of Sean's mom (we totes email--just kidding, we all saw ...

A strange number texted me on Friday, December 21. Coincidentally the same day that the Mayan calendar ended. But obviously we are still here because the Jonas Brothers promised that we make it to the Year 3000. My great great granddaughter is doing fine, in case you wanted to know.  I knew it was a Tulsa area code so I wracked my brain for all the people I knew from Tulsa, texted my friends to check and see if they had the contact number, and questioned the source, all to no avail.    The culprit, calling himself Peaches, turned out to be a complete stranger. The brother of a boy named Micah, a ChickFilA cashier that I apparently gave my number to...summer of 2010. Micah left my number on a napkin on his desk for 2.5 years. Public Service Announcement: If a girl gives you her digits on a napkin, either use the number or throw it away. Do NOT keep said napkin for 2.5 years and have your sibling text her.     I. was. so. creeped. out. Let it be k...