i’ve got all the colors of the rainbow

Apparently, my taste in colors is a little bland.

Y’see, I’m a black/brown/white/gray kinda gal when it comes to my wardrobe. They’re classic colors, what can I say? I also know that they look good with my hair color (of the week) and skin tone, so I tend not to venture out of my color comfort zone when it comes to clothing.

But best friend brought this to my attention recently (around Christmas maybe? or the twins birthday?) and I decided that she was probably right, that I need to add some color to my wardrobe.

So, with the help of my 40% off coupon to American Eagle, I have made it happen. Only one of the 11 items that I purchased is white (it’s a halter top). And I only bought it because I ordered red bermuda shorts, and I didn’t want to go overboard (ha! no pun intended) with color.

Not only that, but of the 11 items, only 2 items are the same color – and it’s not even one of my go-to colors! How’s that for stepping out of my comfort zone? I got lilac, and coral, mint green, pink, teal, olive, yellow, and navy. I’m so impressed by my excellent color picking skills that I think I might just step out of my color comfort zone more often.

Making progress one day at a time….

adoration i was not prepared for

Internets, have you ever felt like a rock star?

I have.

I wasn’t the popular girl in high school. If we’re talking “economic status”, I was more in the upper middle class – not popular, not un-popular. A few hundred thousand a year short of the upper class.

This Friday, I got a taste of life in the upper-class.

I was at youth group (where I’m a leader, in case you haven’t read my 100 things) and we were splitting into our small groups. “Where’s Rachel?” one girl asked. “Oh, she’s going with Mrs. Adams’ small group.” replied Stephanie. “Oh, ok.”

A few minutes later, Rachel decided to join our small group instead.

“I love your blog” she said, “Stephanie told me about it and now I read it all the time, I hope that doesn’t weird you out or anything.”

“Really?!” I squealed with delight

“Seriously, you’re so funny, I love it, and I want a tattoo just like yours.”

Insert tire screeching noise here.

I DO NOT need parents banging my door down because I decided to take the plunge and get a tat, and now their child wants one just. like. mine.

“It’s just so pretty and I love it, I really want one.”

So we spent some time talking about piercings and tattoos in youth group.

The conversation, of course, came back around to the blog and it’s content. Apparently, Rachel checks me out (well, not me, per se, the blog) every day when she checks her facebook.

Internets, I am as important as facebook to a TEENAGER.

See? Rock star.

goodbye

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” – Anais Nin

I’m one of those people who has a few really close friends. I’m terrible at returning phone calls and prioritizing my schedule, so I’m pretty sure that God had this in mind when he created me. I actually like it this way, because even though I will be twenty-five this year (it’s ok, you can gasp in shock, I know I do) I can remember most things about my friendships, whether the memory is happy or sad.

a newly-graduated me with Mike (next to me) and Randy (in the baseball hat)

I’ve known Randy longer than I’ve known my husband. I’ve loved Randy longer than I’ve loved my husband and I can just hear Randy right now saying “such is my life” in response to that comment. Because I married my husband, and not Randy. (I didn’t want to assume you got the joke) Randy is the male version of me, and even though I’ve known him for many years, I’m still surprised when I discover something else that we have in common. Like our love for Allison Kraus, or the fact that we both like the name Jackson for a boy (my luck is that I married a man who hates that name, Randy’s luck, he’ll end up with a woman who hates it as well).

The greatest part about Randy is that every single person who knows and loves him can say exactly what I’ve just said. Randy makes you feel like that – that YOU are his best and closest friend.

I’ve “known of” Randy since 1994, (he sings, and is on our worship team at church) but his impact on my life began somewhere around 1998. The year I started High School.

Randy was my youth leader then, and I can still remember when he approached me for the first time and said “Hello”. I didn’t want to be at youth group, because  the size of our church building and the sheer amount of students scared me into a stupor. Randy melted all my fears away.

Well, kind of.

He was friendly and warm and welcoming, and I remember thinking that life in youth group couldn’t be so bad after he welcomed me there. Even still, I had better things to do on a Friday night than to hang out at church, and tried as hard as I could to get out of going to youth group as frequently as my parents would allow.

Like most teenagers, I was a rebel without a cause, and about 2 years after that “chance” encounter with Randy, I got into some shady business, and finally youth group became mandatory in my life.

Soon after, I gave my life to Christ, and eventually, become a (willing) regular youth group attender. Randy was there through it all – bad boy decisions, (ok, most of my problems were in that department) butting heads with my parents, and just general teendom.

He listened intently, and never once told me what I wanted to hear, only what the right thing to do was. I hated that. I never took his advice, and only in looking back, and now being a youth group leader myself, can I truly appreciate the fact that he must have wanted to chop my head off to use as an example to all other stupid youth. But he never chopped my head off – he persevered, kept listening, kept giving great advice. I am proud to say that most of the gray hair on his head came from me; proud because it wouldn’t be gray if he didn’t care.

Randy has watched me grow from a rebellious, skeptical, angry teen to the somewhat compliant, trusting, relatively happy adult I am today. I’m not so sure that Randy knows just how great a part he played in that transition. In case you don’t Randy, I’m telling you now – it was HUGE.

Randy is moving away. To Columbus, Ohio.

Something about a job or something. Like he needs one. Like he couldn’t just move in with one of the hundreds of people who would gladly let him mooch off of them if it meant keeping him around. Myself being one of them. (because my parents’ house isn’t crowded enough, apparently) I will forever blame this move on Barack Obama and his cabinet for not pulling the economy out of the hole it’s in now. For not making more jobs available IN DELAWARE where all of the people are who love the wonderfulness that is Randy.

Like I need another reason to not like Barack Obama.

Randy tells us that he won’t be there long. That we should just think of his time in that strange land as him being away at college.What Randy doesn’t realize is that he’ll leave a hole in our hearts after an absence of one day.

I think about all of the new students in youth group who will never know Randy the way that we – those whose lives he’s touched – know him. It breaks my heart. They’ll never get those little nuggets of wisdom, never see that smile, or hug that man, never look back on their teen years filled with love and respect for someone who contributed to who they are now.

I remember, after I graduated high school in 2002, my parents had a party for me and Randy was there. At one point, my dad walked up to him and asked “So, are you gonna be here for the rest of them?” (my four younger siblings) and we all laughed at the idea that he might not. That it was a silly notion, Randy not being here. Now I wish I didn’t laugh – that I never took his presence in our lives for granted.

It just won’t be the same without him.

celebrating the Steelers 6th Super-Bowl victory! (me, Randy, and my sister)

now it’s just becoming ridiculous

There’s a running joke in my church that goes something like this:

If you’ve been dating someone for three months, people wonder why you’re not engaged -
If you’ve been engaged to someone for three months, people wonder why you’re not married -
If you’ve been married to someone for three months, people wonder why you’re not pregnant.

It’s great fun.

On the whole, it’s just what I said it was – a joke. But people take the baby thing pretty seriously around there, and I’m not kidding.

I have my own little personal joke about “baby season” at the church.

Now, at any given moment, it seems as if there are at least 5 or so pregnant women in our congregation of about 1,000 attenders. But when baby season hits, all bets are off, and I mean it.

Just today I learned of 3 four (see comments) different women who are expecting – one of whom is expecting twins!

It’s like, in the water or something. I literally need my toes to count all the women within the church who have buns in their ovens.

I can just feel it, pretty soon it’s going to branch out of just my church circle, and either my best friend or one of my sisters-in-law are going to tell me that they too, are expecting.

STOP THE MADNESS!!!

seriously considering quitting my day job

Do you guys remember last year when I took my good friend Ellen shopping?

I did it again yesterday.

I’m really considering offering this service to women in my church. It’s just too much fun to not want to do professionally. I  could be thinking that it’s so fun because Ellen is just so easy to shop for/with. She’s actually very open to branching out (in spite of her disdain for ballet flats, but that’s not as if she doesn’t like jeans, or something.) and she makes finding clothes and shoes for her quite enjoyable.

So because Ellen has a light, breezy, sort of preppy style about her – The Gap is our store of choice.

I was perusing their website the other day when I can across this outfit. I fell in love with it. Not just for her, but for myself as well. It’s comfort dressy casual, which is nice to have around for such occasions as bridal/baby showers. Casual parties and even church on Sunday. All of the things that Ellen was looking for. SCORE!

We had to sub out the button-up shirt in the picture for a different one at Old Navy ($48 for a cotton button-up shirt is RIDICULOUS!) but overall the look is just as lovely and looks outstanding on her!

Because Ellen is a SAHM, she was looking for a “dressy black sneaker” that would be practical, dressier than just a regular sneaker and not kill her feet. Internet, do you know how almost-impossible it was to find these shoes? We finally stopped at DSW and found the perfect fit, but I won’t lie, I was cursing the shoe gods for making the search so difficult. I mean, they come in EVERY STINKING COLOR, but black was the hardest to find. And, as far as colors go, it can be worn with more, so I was really wondering why this search was so difficult. In the end, the shoe was worth the trouble. It’s so cute! (they’re like that, except all black with black laces)

The best part, of course, was just spending time with someone who is a blast to be around. She is seriously one of the nicest people I know, and spending time with her is like being allowed to eat all the Reese’s you’d like without any of the weight gain. Or the horrible dentist bill.

I can’t wait for next year!

and here we…….go

Internet, have any of you ever lived with your parents?

Let me rephrase – Have any of you ever lived with your parents, while married, after your spouse just returned from a year-long deployment overseas?

I didn’t think so.

I don’t want to sound like an ingrate – living with my parents has been great for our financial health; there’s money in the bank and that is never a bad thing. Really, if I’m being honest, it’s not so bad most of the time. Heck, my mom makes dinner most nights of the week and even does our laundry sometimes. It’s just grand.

Every now and then though, dear Internet, it’s not just a walk in the park on a breezy spring day. No, sometimes it’s like driving down I-95 during the summer time at rush-hour, in beach traffic, and there’s been an accident that has blocked 2 of the 5 lanes. Sometimes, it’s just that bad.

Like, the fact that some of my brothers don’t know how to knock. Or that you can’t just walk around the house in your tank-top and underwear. (Or your birthday suit, as the case may be) Or that your time isn’t just your time, you have to consider how everyone else has their day planned and sort of work around them.

I don’t know though, I can’t really think of any specific examples…..

Sometimes Internet, you catch a break. Like if good friends ask you to house-sit (score!), or when the starts align, and everyone seems to have something going on that doesn’t require them to be at home, OR, and this is the best of them all my friends, when your husband has a “re-integration seminar” scheduled for the weekend and YOU ARE ALLOWED TO GO! That would be the case today.

I’m not staying with him the entire weekend; I do have other plans – like the Melting Pot tomorrow, and shopping with previously-linked-to friend on Sunday.

But tonight I get to spend with my husband, just the 2 of us in all of our “newly-wed” bliss.