High Five for Friday!

Praise the Lord it is finally FRIDAY! This week, I honestly thought Friday would never come. Here are five things I am super thankful for on this Friday!

• Hunter and I cooked almost every night this week, when I say that.. I mean, I cooked. It is nice to not have tons of homework to do each night, so I am making sure that no matter how tired I am, to cook dinner.
• Wednesday night, Hunter tried out the new men's Bible study at our church. He said it was really great, and I was so happy that he liked it.
• The diversion of the new class allowed me to have some time to get Hunter's birthday present! Sneaky, sneaky.
• A wonderful birthday dinner with some friends, Heather and Tyler. They came to my house last night to eat dinner and hang out for Hunter's birthday. What makes me so happy is that Hunter enjoyed the night and the meal. Last year, he was gone to basic training, so I tried to do as much as I could to make this birthday special!

This is Hunter's plate of food. We had corn, potatoes (grown in my Dad's garden), steak and shrimp.

• A restful weekend, Hunter and I only have a few things on our calendars for this weekend.. and, this will be the first weekend in over a month that we don't have a big event to attend. I am excited to spend some time sleeping (much needed) and just do a few things I want to do, as well as clean.

Linking up to Lauren at From My Grey Desk

OOTD - Birthday

Anthro - Traced Trimmings Dress (no longer available)

My mom bought me this FABULOUS dress from Anthropologie for my birthday! It was cold and rainy yesterday, so this is how I worked it up for the colder weather.

Dress: Anthro Traced Trimmings

Cardigan: New York and Company

Shoes: TJ Maxx

Dressing up and wearing heals just makes me happy. I had a great day on February 29, not only because it was my birthday, but because I felt great in this outfit too!

Birthday

My birthday only comes around once every four years... Yep... you guessed it. I am a leap year baby, and a twin on top of that. One day, when I have time..  I will conduct a mathematical study on the likelihood of this happening.. Yep, I am a nerd.

Two of my best friends had birthdays this week, also! My friend Steph turned 22, and my friend Mary-Anne turned 24. Mary-Anne had a mini mid life crisis, which really got me to thinking.

24 - (or 6 if we are talking leap years) what do we have to look forward to? Most life milestones are gone.. or long forgotten. Now we just work, hope true love looks our way... and strive for retirement. That is when a co-worker and friend of mine said, you must set many more goals. Goals in life to keep you going, to keep you young.. to keep you strong. You can check out Clint's management blog here!

Life isn't over because we are getting older, we just have a new outlook on things. After all that has happened the past few years here are some things on my list:

Goals:
Graduate with my Masters (May 2012)
Get accepted to the PhD program
Get a teaching job, with my very own classroom
Get married (maybe one day...)

I believe after these goals are accomplished, another new phase in life will get started... then, a new perspective and yet another set of goals.

Perspectives:
Not much really matters in the grand scheme of things. Stephanie has taught me through her struggle to value life and everything that you are given. Don't worry about the petty pickings of those self absorbed drama lovers. As long as we have each other and know what is important... we can do this.

Have fun, working yourself to death when you are young will only kill you - I can thank Clint and Hunter, David Tingle and Mary-Anne for this one... IDK how many break downs I have had throughout this graduate school journey. And looking back to how much fun I had in undergrad. Working your tail off isn't worth if you didn't enjoy it along the way. Clint gave me an intervention pep talk about grades and perfection, and Hunter strives daily to take me away from the desk even if just for a little bit and make me smile (I have begun watching TV again!). DT and Mary-Anne, I wouldn't know what to do without their shoulder to cry on... through the tough times, it means a lot to have someone who will actually listen.

Take the time to listen, you never know what someone has went through, me included. Stop your judgemental rudeness and have a heart. Yeah world, I said it. ;)

Beyond it all, God can bring you out of and through anything.. it may not be the way you planned it, or the way you wanted it. But that is why He is God and we are not, isn't it?  This year I asked God to heal my friend Steph for my birthday, and even though He may have said 'no' or 'not right now' somehow... this will all work out... I haven't been in the greatest mood or mindset though all of this, and I am trying really hard, but it is harder still to watch someone you love suffer. But that is another post for another day.

Here's to another year, another goal, a blessed life from God and some of the greatest friends a girl could have. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!



Here is a wall shelf a friend handmade for me, for my birthday! :)

Click here to read a short article done by the local news back home for mine and Donna's birthday.

Anthro Birthday!

Anthropologie sent me a wonderful birthday present! I am very excited to use it during the month of February!

Inside the envelope was a beautiful card, with a bracelet wrapped around it. It is a clock, and the theme is 'me time'.

How cute?! I can't wait to use this!

Flowers for a Flowers

Yesterday was a glorious day at work!!! I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers from work with a card that said "Happy Birthday - Building Maintenance - Neal, Clint, Michael, Tingle, Marlowe, John, Spooner and Cheryl" I thought that was very sweet because Neal put the names that I call everyone on there, not just generic names. :)

Aren't they BEAUTIFUL!?! It made me so happy!

Also, I get off at 2:30pm and have to go to class at 3pm, and of course, as luck would have it... it started pouring right before I clocked out! As I walked to the door I decided I was going to get wet no matter what... so to just do it. Well, Clint, my associate manager stopped me and said 'Do you have to go to class?' When I responded yes, he said well, give me your keys and I will go get your car. I told him, thank you, but I won't melt. He however insisted, saying I was not going to get wet on my birthday. So, I told him where my car was and what it looked like, and haded over my keys. Clint came back a few minutes later soaked, driving my car right up to the building. He also held my door open while I got in the car and shut it for me. I felt so bad, yet I was overjoyed at this act of kindness. A true gentleman. I am so thankful for the presence of Clint at my job. He definitely makes things fun and interesting. I am blessed to work with so many great guys... so blessed. I truly have the BEST JOB EVER!!

Birthday Weekend

Despite being terribly sick, I had one of the most fabulous birthday weekends!

Friday: I am so blessed that at my job, I get a day off for my birthday! :) So Friday, the University of Alabama gave me... 'A day in the life of a regular college student' HAHA! I woke up at 8am, got ready for class, packed for home, went to Starbucks, took some pastries to work for the office staff, then went to class and as soon as I got out of class, I grabbed some lunch and went home!! How amazing is that!?

Small side note: While I was visiting work, Neal, my boss, called me into his office and spoke to me about my job family - aka, the step ladder of promotions to go through. As of February 23, I have been working for Building Maintenance for six months! Wow how time has flown! And now that six months has passed.... I am eligible for promotion. And Neal told me that I was doing a great job, and that I deserved more money for it!! So, with that, he asked me to get started Monday on the process to my promotion... and ended with happy birthday and have a great weekend!! What a way to start my birthday weekend!

God is so GOOD!

Friday afternoon I arrived in Troy and visited Donna and her lovely puppy, Palin. :) Afterwards I met Daniel and Sean at the Troy rec fields, where Sean was giving a soccer lesson. Turned out the kid he was teaching went to Zion at one point, and I helped teach him in sixth grade beginner band!! What a fun reunion. After that I took a hilarious trip to walmart with my guys, Sean, Daniel and Derrick. Then the festivities began. The boys surprised me with a wonderful cookout and a guest list contained with some of my greatest friends! Even one that I haven't seen in forever, Charity and her husband Tyler! What a surprise! They also surprised me with a cake and limited my involvement in cooking. I truly know the best boys on earth!

Donna and Ali playing with Palin :)

Saturday: I was able to have a wonderful 'sleep over' with my niece Ali. We woke up early Saturday morning, played games and decorated posters for Dustin's (my nephew) ballgame. It was great to just hang out with her. Mom also took care of me while I was sick, and Beverly, my sister, brought me some medicine. We went to Dustin's ballgame, hung our posters on the fence and had a great time cheering Enterprise to victory! 

Dustin and Ali with his posters!

Saturday night Beverly's family came over and Mom cooked a birthday dinner made of all mine and Donna's requests! :) We also had a peanut butter pie for dessert! Dustin and one of his baseball pals found two balloons and came screaming 'Happy birthday' down the road. I thought it was so sweet that they thought of us. Donna and I opened our presents  after dinner, much to Ali's excitement. And then the night came to a close. 

Sunday: Mom declared me too sick to go to church and we hung out around the house, holding a hot rag to my face and playing on Mom's kindle. I traveled back to Tuscaloosa this afternoon and have been doing a few things around the apartment. I love my family and friends, and I thank them for a wonderful birthday weekend!