Throw up, Home, and Magnified Pores.

So I'm sick. It's Sunday morning and I've been throwing up for a few hours. I'm really bummed. This is the first Sunday I've been in town and missed church. I feel bad for the band... they have to reorganize everything this morning now. boo.

We had a 4th of July party last night. It was basically just the staff and a few others from Epic. It was super fun. We played catch phrase and played girls against boys, which I usually hate doing because... it never fails... I'm always paired up with some ditsy girl who, when it's her turn, is always like, "ha! I don't know... umm... uh... I don't know... uhh...." and it drives me crazy because I'm incredibly competitive. I wish I wasn't so competitive. Anyway, we played girls verses boys and the girls totally dominated. ha... the guys were very much bothered by this... but it was a super fun time. I love my friends.

Someone that has lived here in Tucson as long as me made a comment the other day. it was something like, "ugh Tucson... I can't wait to get out of this hell hole." and I just shrugged. Which made him curious and led to a conversation about our lives here and I just said that Tucson may not, geographically, be my favorite place to live, but I like my life here. It's home to me now. It took a while, but it's home. I don't think I will be here for more than 5 years from now, but who knows. I do know that it will be sad when I leave. And has always bothered me that this friend of mine has never made Tucson home... especially since he supposedly moved here to love on this city and teach Tucson about Jesus... but I don't know. I think since the day he's been here he has always looked for the back door. shrug. I guess I would be miserable too if I felt like I was stuck in a place I hated.

I spent over an hour last night looking at my pores in one of those magnified mirrors like Grandma and my Mom had growing up. that is so addicting. I got this underground zit on my cheek, which is a weird place for me to get a zit, and I got that sucker out. oh man, it hurt so bad. And then I rubbed rubbing alcohol all over my face. I'm sure that's not good for my skin. But with that stupid mirror I just was totally grossed out by all the crap in my skin. I should get a facial. wait.... no I shouldn't. I did that once and that was the biggest mistake I've ever made.

sorry... that was a gross tangent.

I'm going to get back in bed. I feel bad.

Twilight, Centerpieces, and third wheels.

oh how you've been missed.

Tonight was fun. I went with Julia and Cale on their date(I'm pretty sure... even though they said it wasn't) to Olive Garden and to see UP. I've seen it before. It's a cute movie. It makes me cry. ugh... speaking of movies that make me cry..... My Sister's Keeper??? If you haven't seen it, you should. That movie will rip your heart out.


I'm house sitting for some friends for the weekend. They have two dogs so I thought it would be a good idea to bring Huck(my dog) over to play. Ya well, that was a hooooorrible idea. He never calms down. He just wrestles with them the entire time. And then they get annoyed with him a bark/bite him and then he wines. So I put him in a crate and his scratches at it and cries. With that said, I didn't fall asleep till 7:30 AM this morning. I could have killed him. Julia told me I woke her up at one point. She heard me yell, "I'm going to kill you!" to Huck. She laughed and then fell back asleep. Must be nice.


The other night I put together a mock centerpiece for Kelsi's wedding. It turned out great.

I love them. I'm going to make a couple changes, but that's it for the most part.

I've been listening to the twilight soundtrack like crazy. It's my guilty pleasure. Even if you don't like the books/movie, you should listen to the soundtrack becuase it's super good. I love Iron and Wine. They're my current "falling asleep" music. Accept for last night... I turned on classical piano music really loud to drown out my whining dog. ugh...

for the first time ever I created a blog and didn't post it. huh...

today hasn't quite turned out like I planned... which is fine I guess.

Kim is coming over. We need to cheer each other up. Here goes nothing!

My dad died a year ago today. That's been hard.

My old roommate and great friend, Jaime is coming down from Kansas City to hang out with me tomorrow and saturday. I am more than thrilled. She is so awesome. She's one of those people you want to be like. haha... it's been, I think, 2 years since I've seen her. this is going to be great.

I want to go to the Oprah show. Actually, I'd rather go to the Ellen show. My best friend, Kelsi, has been to the Ellen show and she danced with her. sigh... I have such cool friends with cool stories.

I'm going to Greysen's and Landon's baseball games tonight. I'm so excited. theyre so freaking cute.

Emma makes me laugh so hard. Check out this picture.

New Nails and New Moon

I stayed up late last night reading New Moon-- the second book of the Twilight saga. I never thought the books would be this good. I really like it. I'm learning to not rag on something until you look closer into it. I'm currently eating my words.

I went to the casino last night with my mom and I didn't win anything. In fact, I lost $17. My mom's $17. I refuse to waste my money there. I never win. But I had a good time with my mom. She lost $20 so I don't feel as bad. We just made fun of ourselves the whole time. It was funny.

I took Emma to get a manicure and pedicure today for her first time. It was super fun. She wasn't for sure what to expect, but she handled herself well and had a great time. Then we turned on the music really loud in the car and danced to Black Eye Peas' Boom Boom Pow. And then Em and I realized we like pretty much all of the same music. She is so cool. Either that I'm not. For self-esteem reasons I'm going to say she's just really cool.

I built mud pies with Payton when I got home. Mud pies are always fun. Hey Shannon, I remember making mud pies with you and the twins when we were really young and you guys lived in your old white house. and then we would play in your huge closet. ha...

I'm staying in tonight to finish New Moon. I'm really excited. I'm such a nerd.

Payton is playing a game on my phone and just turned to me and said, "look how good my score was!!!!"

"Good job Paytie! That's awesome!!"

Her score was -240. She's awesome.

Late Night Tears and Gardening

My mom is driving me nuts. Don't get me wrong, I love her to death-- this isn't a love issue. It's more of a annoyance issue. When you live far away from your family, you forget how intense they are and you just remember the good things. ah well... I need to be thankful for her.

It's been fun though to go to Landon and Greysen's baseball games. They're so stinkin' cute.

omg. Ok. Last night Emma spent the night with her friend. Well, apparently, her friend fell asleep before she did and so Emma was left awake and alone and bored... and I think a little scared. So she called Nikki to come and get her. Nikki is one of those moms that is sympathetic with her child, but also kindly tells her to suck it up. I think they call that tough love. Anyway, well she had me talk to Emma(while Emma is bawling her sweet little face off) thinking I could calm her down and talk some sense into her. That was pretty much the saddest thing I have ever done. I started crying with her and saying, "You just tell me if you want me to come get you. I will come get you right now!" and the whole time Nik is just staring at me like "this is turning out like I thought it would.... you need to tell her everything is fine and she needs to just fall asleep and she'll be fine....."

I'm horrible at that stuff. I told Nikki to never do that to me again.

Nikki's husband, Brandon, works nights so since I've been home I usually hang out with Nikki late at night. Last night we gardened at 3 in the morning. It was funny. And really nice outside.

I decided I like humidity when its cool and windy outside. I should move to a northern coast.

I think I'm going to the casino tonight with my mom. Should be eventful. Going places in public with my mom always produces stories. I'll let ya know if I win big.

Home Sweet Home

I'm home. Expect consistant blog updates for the next 2 1/2 weeks since the internet is fully accessable. (this is where Kim has her victory dance)

I like to drive from Tucson to Tulsa. People think I'm crazy. I don't really care. It takes about 22 hours because there's always a 2 hour nap in there somehwere. That nap usually takes place righ when I cross the Texas/Oklahoma border. I feel silly stopping there because I'm only 4 hours from home... but if I don't I will die. My mom watched this thing on dateline or something about how driving while sleep deprived is just as bad as driving while drunk. Don't think I didn't hear that at least 4 times.

When I was rolling into town I talked on the phone with Emma for like the last 15 minutes as she waited for me in the front yard. It was adorable. Her face made me tear up when I turned on her street. She was waiting for me at the stop sign and ran beside my car while laughing into the phone.

Then I walked into the house and the boys were in their room playing so they didnt hear me walk in... so I was in the kitchen with Nik talking and the boys walked in to ask her something and they just stopped and stared at me for a split second then screamed and ran to hug me. It was super cute. Man, I've missed those kids.

Then Payton came over with my brother and she saw me, screamed and ran to me... but then saw Nikki on her run over to me and hugged her yelling "Aunt Nikki Aunt Nikki!!!!" and then stopped caring that I was in the room and she hasnt seen me in 5 months. haha..... oh little Payton.

Anyway, I'm home and it feels great. I can't wait to see my best friend.

Merging, Weddings and New Hair. Selah.

So I went to a meeting today with the leadership team I work with and the leadership team I will soon be joining. Our senior pastor at the church(CityEdge) I work for is leaving and heading back to work for a church in Coweta, OK. so, our church plant is merging with another church plant in town. Make sense? Are we still considered a church plant when we've existed for a year? anyway... CityEdge is merging with Epic so I officially work for Epic church... well, starting tomorrow.

I'm really excited about the change. I think its going to be very good for our church. I'm so pumped to work with Jake, the pastor of Epic. I think there's a lot of exciting possibilities for the future.

Speaking of the future, I'm coming to Oklahoma soon for a nice long visit. May 24 I will be leaving here and heading that way. And I will be there for about 2 and 1/2 weeks. It will be good. Ive really been missing my family lately.

I will see these silly faces in about two weeks..... I can't wait.

I'm typing on a computer that is missing its backspace key. It sucks.

I colored my hair... I'll post a photo.

I look silly here... but atleast you can kinda tell what it looks like.

here is a photo of me with one of my best friends, Kelsi. She is getting engaged soon. We're all excited. I need to start gettin' my run on. I gotta look good for a January wedding.