My Life

Tomorrow marks my last day at Starbucks Greystone.

I'm sitting here at my store watching some of the greatest people working behind the counter, each with a different and hilarious christmas hat on. Garrett is wearing a green santa hat, but it's spring loaded. Eric has Mickey Mouse ears coming out of his santa hat. Kyle's santa hat fits more like a child's toboggan in Charlie Brown or something. Ryan is wearing a red velvet pimp hat with white fluffy trim. Where else can you find co-workers such as these??

No where.

These people are priceless to me, and I have to say goodbye. There are so many things I shall miss.

It's not all so bad though. I get to openly date my wonderful boyfriend, Brantley. The people at my new store are very nice and accepting of me. I'm 5 minutes closer to work. That's about it.

On a different note, I celebrated the ever-so-important 22nd birthday this past Saturday. I spent it with my family. We went shopping for my birthday presents, and man did they overdo it. I received quite a nice entertainment system for my bedroom. Wow. It's unbelievable! Brantley got me an hour-long asian acupressure massage, dinner at The Melting Pot, and the most precious flowers (those were a surprise!). He checked with a florist to see if my favorite flower was in season, but not until spring! I cannot believe how lucky I am to have found a man such as Brantley. He is making me realize how much I deserve and how much I have to give. That SOUNDS completely snooty, but everyone deserves the very best for them! It's important that people can see how much they are worth.

I am so blessed.

I was blessed in heartache, and I am blessed in love.

God has done a lot of work on me this past year.

Cheers!

Nesting {cont.}

I cannot explain why I have had such an urge to DO things around the house, but I am loving it! I got so bored that the other day I went ahead and painted over this darn awful piece of work:


I mean....just so very busy and all the wrong colors for the apartment. We need color in this house! Earlier this week I painted about 8 coats of white to attempt and mask that hideous pattern. Thursday I went ahead and painted the rest! Here are some pictures:


^^here is the painting as a whole^^

^^one of my little flowers^^


^^and Natalie's little flower!^^

The colors are much prettier in person. The green is more of a pea-green than lime.
I cannot wait to hang it up somewhere! So much color :)

Also, Natalie went ahead and gave me my birthday presents! (Three weeks early!)
She is hysterical!

First there's this dreamy pillowcase:

hahahahaha! Score!
Then there's this necklace:

The plate says "My neck belongs to a vampire," and the little charm attached are tiny vampire fangs. This necklace WILL be worn to the New Moon premier in two weeks!

TWO WEEKS!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Nesting

I have been all over the place lately.

So blissfully happy with where I am.

This past week I have had the overwhelming urge to work on the nest. I cleaned out the fridge! I had no clue I even had that instinct in me. I started painting over this big old thing an "ex" gave me. It's my goal to have my best friends all contribute something to the painting. It will be nice to have a little bit of them hanging on my wall (that sounds very creepy). I want to organize my closet and bathroom and purchase the appropriate things to do so. No purchases have been made yet, but soon...knowing me...

Speaking of nesting, I found this adorable light fixture that I am dying to purchase:

{urban outfitters}

Lately I have had the pleasure of reconnecting with a few more High School people on Tuesday nights. We all get together, contribute home-made meals, hang out, and share a devotion, scriptures, and words of wisdom and advice. It's nice how this thing that started out as dinner has turned into a fixed thing in my schedule. I look forward to this every day. We all pooled money together and bought these awesome Thanksgiving Dinner boxes that we are going to personally deliver to families in need. We also hope to raise money to buy a family's Christmas. If you can think of great ways to raise such funds, that'd be awesome! We are trying to take our blessed time together and bless others.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!

And a huge congratulations to my bestest friend Rachel (Meet The J.Rays) and her Hubs, Ross!

Can't wait for your little angel to get here!

Don't come any closer

As it so happens, my dad thinks I have the swine flu. Why must they slap such a gross title on it? Why on earth would they choose the word SWINE? The flu in and of itself is not an appealing disease (but really, what disease is appealing)...

It all started with my already sore muscles getting more and more stiff.

Tonight was Brantley's 2nd birthday dinner, and I forced myself to go, even though I was feeling terrible! I didn't have a fever at the time, so I figured it was just all my knots reacting to the weather or something.

I started getting a low-grade fever toward the end of dinner, and by the time I was home I was crying from the pain. For a while I was really worried that I had Meningitis again. They feel very similar.

Can I just say how wonderful Brantley is? He asked his entire church to pray for me tonight. He is so thoughtful.

Now I'm wondering how long it'll be before I can be around people...

Finding people to work for me till i'm well might be tough.

I already miss several of my friends, and this dumb sickness insuring even more time till I get to see them again!

BLah.

I can't find my camera, so I haven't had the chance to take any pictures of my new room.

I'm going to bed!

Much love, and a big "OINK!" from the girl with Swine Flu

Fascinating New Things

("F.N.T." (Fascinating New Thing) Is a wonderful song. Just saying.

Anywho, this past week has been one for all things new!

It all started with a pair of curtains!

I am the type of person that needs to sleep in near to complete darkness, but apartment living means pesky yellow street lights and pitiful aluminum blinds that seem to glow in the light rather than block it. Monday after work my wonderfully gracious mother and roommate journeyed to our Mecca, Target. We, and by "We" I mean "I", took forever picking out the right curtains. I ended up selecting a beautiful silver velvet pair with big-blocked vertical stripes where the velvet alternates from matte to shiny. They are so beautiful!

With the new curtains in hand, I got the overwhelming desire to redo my entire room! Even more time was spent picking out a new white comforter, a pair of euro shams, sweet bed skirt, and a precious decorative pillow that ties in the bedskirt and curtains. All of this went along with the new brown organic sheets I purchased just a few days before!

I will post pictures of my new bedroom soon!

In other new things, I went on my first hiking trip on Tuesday! I ventured to Oak Mountain State Park and was treated to a Subway picnic lunch on a picnic table overlooking the Mountains. So beautiful! After lunch we found our way down to the waterfalls , and walked hand-in-hand down the stream, jeans rolled up and feet soaking up the cool water. The climb back up was quite a workout! I want to go back regularly just for the physical benefits!

I am loving life, you guys. Thank you for sticking with me!

Again, pictures will be up soon!

Love.

It's A Wonderful Life

After I got off work tonight I really started re-analyzing my life.  I am in such a beautiful place right now.  I really think that people can see it.  I have never been this happy before.  Happy is not the word.  I believe this is real Joy!  I get to live with one of the most amazing girls I have ever known to exist.  I have true family in the Aldridge/Mann clan.  The Vickerys are yet another addition to my vast family, as well as the Bashtas.  The dust has settled in my life, and all that I was afraid of losing is actually more special and precious than it ever was!  I have GAINED so much more than I could have ever dreamed!

I am finding the funniest friendships at Starbucks.  There's Tracy, child of the night.  She has her quirks, but what a special woman she is!  I absolutely love that girl, even in her "bad" moments!  Then there are Kristie, Jesse, and Garrett!  What loons!  They constantly make me laugh!  Then there is Kelly.  What a crazy little pregnant lady!  She knows what she wants, and she gets things done!  I love getting to talk to her!  Ryan is absurd and hilarious.  Brantley is so chill and smooth.  What a ladies man!  All the ladies love him!  Ashley and I share a love for many of the same things, and I love talking to her!  Melanie is the craziest manager!  She's so spirited.  She gets me excited about work!

What I am trying to say is that my life is perfect.

Thank you to all who contribute!

Yatta!

Dream a little dream

It is my dream to one day look KILLER in this: