Huntsville!

I have been home for a little over a week now and it has been glorious! I am enjoying staying up late and sleeping even later! It is wonderful to be able to watch tv, movies and just relax!

My first full day in town I rode with 3 friends up to Nashville to see Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God concert. It was in Huntsville a week earlier but I had missed it because I was in STL. The trip to Nashville was wonderful! We ate dinner at Fido's, which I highly recommend for their food-coffee is a little expensive. It is a great place to people watch!

The concert at the Ryman was so good. I forgot the only downside to the Ryman is you are squeezed in to the pews like you are in a football stadium. Each person gets all of 4 inches for their seat. So you have to really like cuddling up with your neighbors.

And one of the great surprises of the night was all the other people I got to see! Julieann Kearns and Leslie McClenny were both at the concert. Plus, there were 3 different couples from school that came in town for the concert! So the night was full of surprises and fun!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Finished!!

The first semester is over!! I am so excited I am done with the first semester!! WOOHOOO!

The final stretch was a rough one for me. I have pretty much been sick with some form of a cold or sinus infection since Thanksgiving and it decided to go full force on me the week of finals. For about 2 days I was laid up on the couch being pretty pathetic using up a whole box of Kleenex.

I was able to pull it together long enough one night to go out and see 1o out of Tenn a group of artists out of the Nashville area. I went with Brian and Rebecca and had a fabulous time! Matthew Perryman Jones and Will Sayles were part of the group. I haven't seen either of them play since high school, but oh how it brings back memories!

So many AMAZINGLY talented artists are a part of that TOT. I highly recommend checking all of them out! Looking forward to some R&R in Huntsville! Can't wait to see everyone.

I'm heading home in the AM!

Christmas party!

This weekend was the Seminary Christmas Banquet. The banquet was at a local glass factory so during the heavy hourdeurves they had some guys creating different pieces (heating and blowing the glass).

Michelle, (below) my roommate and Sally from our program all rode to The Loop together. Thanks Caylen for a great dress. I got lots of compliments.

The only problem with winter parties here is it REALLY is COLD! The night of the party was in the upper 20's. Yes, that's right. So I took my sweater off once to dance. Otherwise I lived in it! Definitely a new experience partying in the cold.

Katie Traylor and I are still doing school together after 4 years in the same program at Auburn. We apparently couldn't get enough! I love having her here though!Happy early anniversary to Brian and Rebecca! So thankful for their sweet family!

Finals start today! I take my first one this afternoon then start studying for my second/last final. I also have to formulate a 10-page theories paper. So much fun! I'll be in Alabama soon!

Thanksgiving Break

This Thanksgiving while Nana and the family were celebrating an Iron Bowl Thanksgiving I was here in STL celebrating with friends. I came out from under my pile of books to enjoy more food and drink that was humanly possible to consume. Me and 9 of my new friends I made this year got together for a meal on Thursday night. Frank, one of our classmates was even kind enough to donate 2 bottles of champagne for the celebration!Jonathan and Christina were sweet to host it in their apartment in order to make good use of their new dining room table! Christina made her first turkey for Thanksgiving and did a fantastic job!My contributions were a pumpkin pecan pie (got the recipe from a roomie even though I didn't follow it). It was really tasty! Good taste and texture combination!The other dessert I made was a Gingerbread Apple Upside-Down Cake. It was a complete hit! I really loved it. Definitely a different taste than what I am normally eating (gingerbread that is) but totally worth it! Also, it does require a little bit more work than the pumpkin pie.Overall it was a great Thanksgiving with wonderful new friends. I was able to accomplish a lot for school and it will be extremely helpful as I head in to the last week of school and finals!

Happy December!

Costco!!

Super excited Costco opened tonight!! I've been waiting now for a few months. When I say waiting, I mean I emailed Costco to find out the official date that they were opening. Tonight was the grand opening and I needed milk so what better reason to go! Tons of people and TONS of samples!

Why I love Costco...

$1.50 Hotdog & a coke

Free samples (helps make for a bigger lunch or dinner)

Like tonight...I really wasn't hungry after shopping because there was SO much food to eat.

Cheap milk! Between Costco and Sam's I can get the cheapest milk in town!

Costco brand liquor and beer. A bottle of vodka bigger than Grey Goose and way cheaper.

Winter clothes anyone? They have real and fake Uggs. NorthFace jackets, smart wool socks and just about any other winter gear you might need!

Good books for good prices...not that I have time for extracurricular reading at this point. Maybe in another 2-3 years.

And yes, I felt like a creeper taking pictures in Costco. But, I am SUPER excited it is finally open! Now I have a new place to shop/wander because I can't eat all that food.

The City??

Who says I live in the city? Because really it is much closer to the 'burbs. I am at a major highway interchange but still not quite what I would call "the city". Still, living here isn't the country. So I don't expect to see all kinds of wildlife running around. Boy was I mistaken! The surrounding towns aren't kidding when they say "deer next 2 miles". One night driving home I'm pretty sure I saw about 20 deer in a 2.5 mile stretch.

What I wasn't expecting to see today was a deer on the side of the road in the middle of town. Right next to an upscale neighborhood grocery store and shopping center. The funniest part was when the school bus stopped next to me and the kids in the bus peered out the window at the deer. One comment was, "Yup, it sure is dead".

Thanks for joining random thoughts with Mary Martha.

Scavenger Hunt

Friday night I participated in a photo scavenger hunt with a bunch of folks from school. I was SUPER impressed by the organization of the party!

We all showed up Friday night on campus, received instructions and all went out to dinner. We had 1 hour to strategize and eat, then 2 hours to complete as many pictures as possible. It was so much fun running around town taking pictures. These are just a few from our group.

On the slide top-bottom: Me, Chris, Brady, Jennilynn
After all of the hunting we came back to a house to hang out and vote on pictures and winners. Such a fun night making new friends.
I am officially done house sitting and back at the APT. So happy to be back with my roomies!

Celebrations!

This weekend we celebrated Jenilynn's birthday and Halloween! What a great weekend. It was a group effort for a great party, but really Susan should get all the credit. Thanks Mrs. Doni for the sausage-potato-corn chowder recipe! It got LOTS of rave reviews from people. A great, cheap recipe that is super tasty!

So here is my red velvet cake I made. Not in love with the icing but the cake itself turned out pretty good. The first icing recipe called for 3 sticks of butter. I couldn't handle that so I found another one. But apparently it wasn't as good as 3 sticks of butter and a block of cream cheese. The cake though was a really good red velvet cake!Happy Wednesday! Halfway through the week and already NOVEMBER! Man how time flies!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We successfully went through 2 bags of candy here at our house. Lots of tricker-treaters and not all of them got candy from us because we ran out! So many cute kids!

The biggest news this week, other than an Auburn win, and a sunny day...

I won a PLANE TICKET!! Thanks to Regions Bank I can fly anywhere in the US between now and next year! How exciting is that! They knew just who to send it to! So now I can go visit the Kyles, or Threlkelds, or Laura in DC or go any number of places. Really, I want to go visit all these places. I will just have to make the rounds! Not really sure why I won the ticket other than the fact that I'm a new account. But, I went to verify it this week!

WHoooHOO!

That's about all the excitement here. Have a spooktacular weekend!

Fall Break!

This weekend was my fall break and it was glorious! I had Thursday and Friday off so I drove to Huntsville for a little mini-vacation. Wednesday night I hung out with the Calverts, enjoying a beer and catching up on life. Of course that was only after the obligatory meal at Little Rosie's.

Over the course of my short weekend in Huntsville I ate at LR 3, yes THREE, times. Don't worry I had something different every time to mix it up!

Friday night I got to hang out with a few of my sweet friends from church and catch up on all the excitement in their lives. What a blessing to see the sweet community they have and just poke my head in for a night. I look forward to my month in December to hang out with everyone.

Also, Friday night was pre-parties for Debutante weekend. So M&D, Nana, and I hit up 2 different parties. Daniel was only obligated to Jordan's party.

Definitely shouldn't have eaten dinner for all of the amazing food and beverages at these parties!

Saturday was the Deb. ball and Daniel was looking mighty fine in his tails for the ball. M&D dressed up and headed out to the party while I cried through the LSU game. Nana, Bethany, and Katherine came to console me through various parts of the horrible game.

You wonder when I got studying done, I didn't. That is what tomorrow is for! Yeah for fall breaks and being home. Eating Little Rosie's, real BBQ, and seeing sweet friends and family!

Apple Butter

This weekend was an apple butter stir for Allie & Eric's family. It is an annual family gathering that they invited me to join since I now live in the area!! They invited me to come out and meet Eric's family, Allie's parents and hang out for the day.

This apple butter stir is like tailgating around 2 cauldrons of apple butter. They lit the fire at 6am Saturday morning and hung out talking, eating, drinking, and playing games for the next 12 hours! They put at least 8 bushels of apples in to make all the butter!

After stirring 2 of the big pots all day they filled up this table (below) with jars that everyone brought to put the apple butter in. Several people dipped smaller pots in to the cauldron and poured the apple butter in to the jars.

After a day of making apple butter (all I did was hang out) there was amazing pot roast/carrots/potatoes, sides, and all the sweets you could dream of to eat. Plus, they had corn bread and biscuits to put fresh apple butter on. Oh, I did help make corn bread!

It's really cool because 2 of the aunts live right next to one another so when they run out of kitchen space they can start using the other. So it is kind of like the Ware, Martin, Abernathy, Harrison kitchen share to me! Someone asked me if my family does anything like the apple butter get together. I told her not my immediate family. But my neighbors who I consider family can through a pretty good party!

Roll With It

Tonight a few of us were invited to make dinner with one of my classmates and his family. One of the buildings on campus has a full kitchen in it so we all hung out in the kitchen together and made dinner with their 4 wild and crazy kids (They needed to get all their post-school energy out and didn't have much of a place to run around).

Skip and Kari taught several of us how to roll sushi and it was so good! They cooked and seasoned the rice with a sushi vinegar and then we placed it on seaweed paper with some cucumber and crab or lobster with some avocado and rolled them up.

They even had wasabi, soy sauce, and ginger for us! It was a great time hanging out in the kitchen and then eating together.

We had way more food than we could eat tonight. I think my favorite rolls were the ones with the cream cheese on them!

I look forward to doing this again because it is SO much cheaper than eating out for sushi and a lot of fun when you are making it with a group a friends.

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a great weekend!

A Foreign Land

Holy cold weather batman! It is freezing here. So while most of you are enjoying you 70's+ weather right now I am slowly turning in to an ice cube here.

It has consistently been in the low-to-mid 50's here. This morning even in the low 40's! Fall has definitely arrived here. The leaves are already starting to change colors and I am making soup. And yes, I am that girl wearing her toboggan (winter hat) in class now. It just takes me a while to warm up and they still have the air on in some class rooms!

It is midterms now, not that it has as much of an impact on the counseling program as it does the MDiv. (Master's of Divinity) guys. I have 2 weeks of papers and a midterm to get through and then I will be home for a weekend of Little Rosie's, AU/LSU football, and the best part of all...Daniel and Jordan dressed up for the Deb. ball!

Campus Life

This isn't a very exciting weekend. Everything is very low key for me today. Last night I hung out with the roommates and some of their friends at home and tasted 2 fabulous new drink recipes for margaritas and cosmos! Talk about a fun girls night!

Today between storms Michelle (another roomie) and I studied on one of the lawns on campus. What I love about being on campus is the community. You never know when you are going to be in the midst of a battle and get "taken down".

It makes everything studying a tiny bit more entertaining. Sorry the picture isn't better. But I will leave you with today's epic battle on campus to enjoy.

Up, Up, and Away!

In case you haven't figured out yet I don't get out much during the week!

This weekend was the annual Balloon Glow Festival and Balloon Race in Forest Park. Friday night I went with several of my new friends from school and lots of people I had never met to check out all of the hot air balloons. They light up off and on throughout the night and then have a fireworks show at the very end. There were so many people there and lots of cool balloons to

look at.

Joelle & Me

Fun fact: Forest Park is bigger than Central Park (at least that's what I've been told!)

Saturday was the seminary picnic to mix and mingle. Lots of fun times there. I skipped out early to head home for more pressing matters, Auburn Football.

I complain about technology often but I'm LOVING ESPN360! It makes life amazing since I don't have cable! Watched the game after the hour rain delay and loved being able to cheer us on to victory!

And something that didn't make the post last week was the surprise from Dad via Bill! Love my Daddy! It's great being a Daddy's girl!

Sports and the Arts

This weekend was a great weekend exploring the St. Louis. Friday night a group of folks went down to the St Louis Art Fair. It is ranked 4th and 5th in the Art Festival categories nationally (who knew they were ranked)! Anyway there were artists from all over the country there with lots of really cool pieces. It was like walking in an outdoor museum. You could stroll downtown Clayton with your martini or beer and check out art or you could check out all the cool people.

Saturday Bill, the Townsleys and myself went to the Cardinals v the Braves game. It was a great game to watch. I couldn't help but think of Jess because the Braves are only one of her favorites. Don't worry, I did wear a navy shirt. I don't own red.

But Busch Stadium is really nice. It's cool to watch the game a

nd then be able to see the Arch past the outfield. After a great game (Braves won), we all headed back to the Townsley's to finish off a great day with some SEC football. For all but Bill it was a good weekend.

The picture from our seats. The arch is to the right.

2 books down in school now only 17ish to go! If you are looking for a good read, Far as the Curse is Found. Definitely a good one it just takes a little bit of concentration.

War Eagle for Friends!

This has been a great weekend! Not only is it a 3 day weekend but college football started and I had friends come through town!

Friday night the MAC (Master of Arts, Counseling) Program hosted a Barbecue or to the southern folks a Cookout, for all the new students. It was great to meet all of the people that I am in class with and hear their stories.

Saturday Norman and Tim stopped through on their way back to Huntsville! It was definitely a highlight for me! We had some actual bbq and some STL frozen custard. I loved catching up and hearing about what has been going on with them. It was such a treat.

Saturday night, finally arrived! It's football season!!! War Damn Eagle!

I watched the football game with the St Louis Auburn Club. Of course, I was the youngest one there but tell people you have been in town a little over three weeks and they are excited to be your friend. All of them were very friendly. Would I normally hang out with these people, no. But what draws us together is the Auburn Family. It is truly one of the coolest things.

Sunday was another new church to try. This week was Kirk of the Hills. Loved it that it was very southern. Sunday was their church picnic. Love the free church food and meeting all of the sweet families!

Now for studying and getting ready for the week!

First

This past week has been a week of first for me.

Thursday was my first day of graduate classes. So far all is going well. Most of my classes are 20-30 people. The largest class I have, Intro to Counseling is probably 80 people. It is a huge class because all of the counseling and MDIV (wanna be pastors/master's of divinity) students have to take the class.

First time to slice my finger as bad as I did. I've knicked my fingers many times cutting stuff but this was a doozie. I debated stitches and sat for 30 minutes trying to get it to stop bleeding. I wish I had a good picture but none of them have really turned out.

First time to run out of gas. Yup, that's right. It's been a big week for me. I had a babysitting job last night and was stranded (thankfully at home). I had to borrow a friends car so I could make it to the job on time. AAA came this morning to put some gas in for me so I could get to the gas station.

And I am on the first of approximately 19 books I have to read this semester. Actually, I am juggling 2 already but one doesn't really count because I don't have to write a paper for it!

This weekend was the Festival of Nations. I had my first Burmese meal and my first Turkish meal. Not really sure what I had from either of them but they were both good. The Burmese was chicken fried rice and a beef and garbanzo bean "salad". My Turkish meal was a doner (pretty much a gyro) with lamb and beef and some red sauce on top.

The Apt.

So I have more than just my room to live in here at Covenant. I was lucky enough to walk in to a completely decorated place! Both of my roommates had already done all the work. The only downside is when they move out next year I have to redecorate!

A lay of the land, the front is on your right in the top picture. Past the door is the bar in the kithcen. Then the hallway to all the bedrooms. My room is on the left at the back. Due to lighting the couch looks like 2 different colors in the pictures but it's really the same one. Movies and popcorn in down time and watching children crash in the bushes just outside the window.

Furnished kitchen is awesome. Even more exciting is one of the girls has a Kitchen Aid mixer!

Another nice thing being on campus is when the dreaded snow comes this winter, I won't have far to trek!

Job

Thank you for your prayers because I got a job Friday! In the student center on campus is a job board where different people from the community will come by and post different job needs. Well I applied for a new posting doing what I call, Family Assistant. I am helping a local family with all their needs. On Monday I will be baking 3 batches of brownies and who knows what else. My job may entail picking up carpool, laundry, cleaning, running errands.

This is definitely not the job I had envisioned for myself but I will be making good money. Plus, I always have the hope of referrals! Thank you guys for your prayers.

On another note, a welcome reception and orientation were this weekend. Both lots of sitting and awkward conversation. Just like any other orientation it was boring.

Now I am off to enjoy the beautiful weekend at one of the many parks St Louis has to offer!

Fast Eddie

Last night I celebrated a neighbor's birthday at Fast Eddie's in Alton, IL. I didn't meet the birthday girl until we were leaving for dinner, but hey it all works out great.

So far everyone I have met is a current student at CTS. No other newbies to be found. I guess we are few and far between or Michelle (my roommate) and I are just spoiled living on campus meeting people already!

Fast Eddie's is a bar/restaurant that hasn't changed prices much since it opened. I bought mine and Michelle's dinner for $10 and we had more than enough to eat! It is only 21 & up allowed in the establishment. You can get a 1/2 burger for $0.99, chicken or beef kabobs for $2.99, fries for $0.99. So you can get lots of food for really cheap! They also require you to purchase a drink-coke, water, or alcohol.

But it's a fun atmosphere with live music just a bit out of town. Oh and did I mention it was featured on Food Network? The saddest part is that when someone was describing the place to me I knew where we were going from watching Food Network!

Campus

There are a few pictures posted on Facebook of my room from this past weekend. But I am have taken a few more, not that anything has really changed. To the left of my desk in the first picture is my closet. It's a pretty good size. At the foot of the bed in the second picture is my dresser. It got cut off from the curtains.

Sorry if the pictures are a bit blurry.

A brief summary of the weekend:

Dad and I drove for 7, almost 8 hours. Mom slept.

We hit a local brewery tour for Schlafly . It was really good beer and a lot of fun. Of course the guy giving the tour was a Covenant student.

We also went to the SEC kickoff event downtown. I got to meet several Auburn folks. None of which were in my age bracket. Oh well, nice to meet some fellow Auburn fans.

Last but not least, was the St Louis Annual Naked Bike Ride! It was on the news all weekend. Of course we would get stopped so they could ride by! The picture doesn't show much other than we were a lot closer than we cared to be! Talk about a weekend of fun!

Free Dinner!

Bill made it safely to St. Louis. He and I grabbed lunch today at a pizza place up the road from campus. The entertaining part of this is he drove and neither of us know how to get anywhere. So after a minor detour we finally made it back to campus.

Ran in to Jimmy Agan, he preached at Southwood twice this summer. God is so good because I'm headed to his house for dinner tonight! Ribs are on the menu so I'm really excited. I'm intersted to see what their ribs are like.

St Louis barbeque is different from Southern bbq. They slather the sauce on the ribs and we normally eat our dry. But, any bbq rib is good to me!

Orientation is Saturday and classes start next Thursday. I've still got LOTS of free time. Keep praying that I find a job. I just keep applying for them!

I'll post pictures soon.

Heading West

I leave at 6am for St. Louis. My car and Dad's are packed. Apparently I do have a lot to take so I'm glad Bill didn't need us to take anything extra or it might be tight!
And not so surprisingly other than an empty closet it doesn't even look like I've moved out!

Despite the fact that I have cleaned and packed I still have 2 missing camera chargers...I have no idea how I do that but alas I did.

Looking forward to meeting the new roomies and seeing exactly what I have gotten myself into! Pray for us as we head to St Louis tomorrow. I'm hoping to move in around 2pm!

Also, Happy Belated birthday to Emily! Hope you enjoyed your celebration as much as we did!

2 Weeks!

Please excuse the fact that I have been MIA for a while. Life I guess has just gotten the better of me. Or I just haven't had good pictures to post of what has been going on in my life!

Currently, and I do mean at this very moment, Daniel and company are driving through AZ to the Grand Canyon. They hit the California coast for a few days, Vegas last night and now they are going to do sunset at the Canyon. No, Caylen they will not be joining you guys. What is the next stop I have no idea. All I know is he has to be home by Thursday or Friday!

To prepare me, or mom for the move we had a TTFN party (TaTa For Now, for all you not so savy Pooh Bear fans) this weekend. It was all the usual suspects in attendance and of course lots of food! This is no Sandra Lee tablescape but I think it still looks good . The food was fabulous and thank you to everyone that helped make the party such a huge success! I move to St. Louis on Friday, August 14! We are getting super close!

These are pictures of the after party with the family. C&D you were dearly missed.

C-Dawg!

You know it is summer because there are so many fun birthdays to celebrate. Oh, and there is butterfinger ice cream!

Today is Caylen's birthday. Another of the three amigos.

C I hope you have a fabulous birthday celebration with David!



Beautiful sisters!

Belated Birthday

Happy Birthday Jess! I hope you enjoyed your first official birthday as a Calvert. We will celebrate this week! I love you lots and am so thankful for you!