Royal Wedding

History has been made and I'm glad I can say that I was truly a part of it (at least in a small way). Apart from having a small nap yesterday afternoon, we stayed up all night waiting for the big moment. It was great and surprisingly I made it through! The whole spectacle of it was great. The guests arriving in all the royal pomp and circumstance with their extravagant hats and coats. And then finally William and Harry departed for the abbey and I think all of our hearts skipped a beat. A few more processions and cars later, and the real moment we'd been waiting for when Kate finally got to the car to join the rest of the wedding. It was such a sweet thing seeing her with her dad in her last moments as a commoner. Her dress was perfect, her veil and tiara were perfect, everything was perfect. As she walked down the aisle we sat in anticipation of the look on William's face when he would finally see her. It was one of the most precious things I've ever seen. The ceremony went smoothly with no noticeable mess ups, and then they were off to sign licenses and then on to the balcony. I came back to my house very quickly, got into my bed and turned the tv on. They weren't quite ready yet, and I almost missed this kisses dozing off for a few minutes, but thank goodness I woke up just in time. So sweet, and not only did they kiss once, but twice, and it was the cutest! It seems like every moment was the moment we'd all been waiting for, something that will always be remembered. People have talked about and tried to recreate Charles and Diana's wedding since it happened, and I believe this will be just as much of a historical event in time. Here's to the happy couple!

A Grateful Heart

There are so many things I have to be grateful for, but a recent answered prayer is something that I would like to remember (and probably won't forget it even if I don't write it down). My organic grade was greatly stressing me out for multiple reasons, some of which include scholarship and vet school. In all honesty I was not as optimistic as I should have been, but before going into the test I prayed and asked God to bring me through the test because He already knows the answers. He already knows the bigger picture, and if that included failing another test I asked Him to help me accept that. Thankfully I made a C, which believe it or not is such a blessing! I still have to work hard for this class and the rest of my classes, but when you cast your cares upon God and fully release them, He will uphold His end of the deal and take them from you. One of my favorite verses is Matthew 11:28 which says, "Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.'"
 Something else I wanted to mention was tonight I attended a discussion about diversity, truthfully for bonus points, but it was a lot better than I expected. It made me realize or remember that every group you belong to, whether religious, ethnic, racial, social whatever has stereotypes, and even though you or someone else within that group may fall within these boundaries, you don't fit every category and you can't judge someone based on a group's reputation. We are individuals and deserve to be treated that way with respect. If you don't agree with someone, respect their opinion and maybe they will respect yours enough for you to persuade them. You can at least know that you have planted a seed within their life of whatever, that they can allow it to grow or die in whichever way they wish.
And lastly, tonight there has been mind-blowingly awful weather in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and north Alabama. Cities are ruined and lives decimated. I cannot begin to imagine what people are going through and I'm so thankful that everyone I know is ok. I'm thankful that I've never had to experience anything like that. Say a prayer for these people in the rebuilding of what is their heart. These people will be carrying heavy burdens and need the rest that only God can provide.

Early Sunday Morning

This weekend has been so great after the busy week I had. Yesterday I had a bit of a movie day, ending last night with watching Pearl Harbor. It's one of my favorites and makes me cry every time. Must have something to do with Ben Affleck because Armageddon has the same effect. But it is such a great story that I think does a great job of recreating something that otherwise most people will soon never have experienced it or seen any part of it. I guess I'm no expert and didn't live then either, but that's just my opinion. Watching last night though, it really hit me how real that was, that it's not just another movie, that that really happened. And every time I start watering up at the lines, "Danny you can't die! You're gonna be a father." "No, you are.", but this time the water works started flowing much sooner. Seeing the men trapped in the Arizona was something that I cannot even imagine. I read on IMDb that Ben Affleck's granddad turned down the chance to see the movie because he didn't want to relive any part of the war. I feel like we get so desensitized by what we see day to day that something so horrific goes by as just another film. Then I also started to think about how American opinion has changed. What would America have done if the earthquake in Japan had happened shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor? Would there have been the same amount of support? Trust me, I think it's great that we do have the ability to help with the devastation there, but it's just a thought that occurred to me. So if you haven't seen the movie and have about three free hours on your hands, you should watch it. And don't forget some tissues!

Easter

Today is Easter, a day that shouldn't just be another holiday on our calendars. This is the most important day in the year for remembrance of why Christians have the hope and assurance of the next life. Jesus conquered all and in Him, we have victory over death too. This is just so huge, it's hard to wrap my mind around. Society tries to decrease it to candy and rabbits or whatever, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Which is another story in itself. I do think it's nice to celebrate with family and do fun things, and trust me, I can throw back some Peeps, but I hope I'll never let it be just that and not what today is supposed to be about. Why do people that aren't Christians celebrate Easter? Why do we as Christians not do more to explain the meaning of it? Let's not let culture take something so sacred and turn it into another weekend we can get off work and give presents. Here is a song that I love and someone tweeted a lyric this morning, but I think it is perfect in honor of today.

Friday Friday

Wow, it's been a long week, and I am so thankful that it is over with! Some things are weighing in on me though with finals coming up. Just grades and that matter, which every semester I always get worried and then things work out fine, but this time I feel like I have a little more reason to worry than in the past, but I still know that everything will work out just the way it should. I have to cast my cares on the Lord and remove them from my mind. Today has been a perfect ending to the week though. For lunch, Drew who's in hotel restaurant management, had a lunch for one of his classes that they had to cook for and I got to join Meredith and his sister and Dad for it. The food was awesome! It was fancy too, not Chicfila or Papa John's like a normal MWF lunch. We had Caesar salad, basil crusted chicken over mozzarella and pasta with vegetables in it, and for dessert we had tiramisu and berry salad. I felt like I had traveled to Italy for the afternoon. I'd love to actually visit Europe and travel around someday, that's a kind of bucket list thing. But so is cracking an egg with one hand, and I'm getting pretty good at that! Hopefully when I have my education and career under my belt I can tackle some of my bucket list things, which I'll share at a later time. First thing's first though, and I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

I just need to see this every time I see my blog.

Post-Its

Most of you that know me know that I'm a big fan of Ashton Kutcher. Which might be an understatement, but you get the drift. Before you judge, know that I don't agree with all of his opinions, but I do think he's a pretty cool guy. Anyway, the whole purpose of this is that I was checking up on my E! news and came across an article about Ashton and Demi and I think they made some valid points and told a cute story. Kutcher says, "It's working on the relationship when it's good. As marriage goes, I think people set 'getting married' as the goal as opposed to being married." So true! A lot of times we just look for a Mr. Right, but not for someone that we imagine ourselves with for the rest of our lives. It's a constant struggle that, I assume (since I'm not married), you have to work on forever. And Demi goes on to tell about how Ashton will leave post-its around the house with different messages on them like, "You're magical." That's just so darn cute! And he says, "Post-its are much cheaper than diamonds." I read somewhere recently that hot guys may make you drool, but funny guys will make you fall in love without you even knowing it. Another little nugget of truth that I can totally agree with! And that's my two cents about this.

Grits

I know this is really weird, but I have a new found love for Grits. I just eat the instant kind for now because I don't have a lot of time on my hands, I guess I don't really know how long it takes to make un-instant grits, but I assume they take a while, and you know what assuming does. At least I do. But grits remind me of two things. My best friend Emily's old hamster that died of obesity and the popular books/t-shirts/merchandise. Girls Raised In The South for those who don't know or remember. Here's a little clip I found to describe the south that I think does it pretty good justice.

This is my South:

My South is full of honest, hard-working people. My South is colorblind. In my South, we don't put a premium on pigment. No one cares whether you are black, white, red or green with orange polka dots. My South is the birthplace of blues and jazz, and rock n' roll. It has banjo pickers and fiddle players, but it also has B.B. King, Muddy Waters, the Allman Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Elvis. My South is hot. My South smells of newly mowed grass. My South was the South of The Partridge Family, Hawaii 5-0 and kick the can. My South was creek swimming, cane-pole fishing and bird hunting. In my South, football is king, and the Southeastern Conference is the kingdom. My South is home to the most beautiful women on the planet. In my South, soul food and country cooking are the same thing. My South is full of fig preserves, cornbread, butter beans, fried chicken, grits and catfish. In my South we eat foie gras, caviar and truffles. In my South, our transistor radios introduced us to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones at the same time they were introduced to the rest of the country. In my South, grandmothers cook a big lunch every Sunday. In my South, family matters, deeply. My South is boiled shrimp, blackberry cobbler, peach ice cream, banana pudding and oatmeal cream pies. In my South people put peanuts in bottles of Coca Cola and hot sauce on almost everything. In my South the tea is iced and almost as sweet as the women. My South has air-conditioning. My South is camellias, azaleas, wisteria and hydrangeas. In my South, the only person that has to sit on the back of the bus is the last person that got on the bus. In my South, people still say "yes, ma'am," "no ma'am," "please" and "thank you." In my South, Sunday is for church. The Ten Commandments mean something. In my South, we all wear shoes & clothes....some of the time. My South is the best-kept secret in the country. Please continue to keep the secret....it keeps the idiots away.    -Robert St. John

In reading this, I found that the voice in my head read it with the most pronounced Southern drawl. Wonder why that is? Hope you enjoyed it!

Summer Lovin'

Whoa! Where has the time gone? It's been a good couple of weeks with no tests or much anything going on, but I feel like I'm at the bottom of the mountain heading up to a big couple of weeks and then to the downhill towards the end of the semester. Let me ask again, where has the time gone? Is it really this time of year again already? I'm so ready for it, that's for sure! This past weekend we had some visitors. Rachel and Randa were here, and it was such a fun time. Rachel brought the Michael Jackson dance game for the Wii and it was so much fun, but definitely made clear my apparent need to workout more often. I'm looking forward to the summer and getting to spend infinite amounts of time doing whatever like we did this weekend. What has two thumbs and is counting down to summer? THIS GIRL!

Swallowing Camels

I've been meaning to post this and it's kind of long so bear with me, but you should definitely read it. It is the appendix from Frederick Douglass's "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave". I recommend you read the whole book, but the appendix at the end was the most inspiring and eye-opening part to me. I was going to type it out, but realized it's much too long, so here's a link:
"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave"
He makes the comment, "Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be strictly true of the overwhelming mass of professed Christians in America. They strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Could anything be more true of our churches?" This was an inexplicably horrible time in the history of America, but I think we shouldn't believe we're so far removed from the people of this time in certain aspects. I'll speak for myself, but we will obsess over the tiniest imperfections in others and take our own with two grains of salt. (I'm not sure if that's the right analogy, I'm not very good with those) I pray that I can learn from the past to truly live the Word of God and not just interpret it to what I want to hear or what I think will fit my life. And heaven forbid I use it to justify my own sin. This is getting lengthy in spite of my efforts so please give it a read, you won't be disappointed!

After all... Tomorrow is another day

Gone With the Wind is on tv tonight. I've maybe seen it all the way through once, but I've seen multiple parts of it multiple times so I probably have seen it at least a couple times. In any case, it's such a classic that will always have my heart. I love history, American history especially and that is right up my alley. Sometimes I wish I could visit that time period, and then I remember corsets and no air conditioning and I'm content with my 21st century life. But the romance between Scarlett and Rhett is unique, and while it's not exactly what I would want, there are aspects that I believe show the reality of what real love is. I mean who wants to be with someone that's in love with their cousin? That's got to be real! In all seriousness though, it's something I look forward to, love that is. And when the day is done and I still haven't found it yet, there's always hope for the future because after all... Tomorrow is another day.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

 Today has been a great Saturday, I love the weekend! No offense to my roommates, but when both of them are out of the house I like to crank up my iPod and dance like no one's watching (because no one is, lol)! So tonight I danced and cooked white calzones. It was a new and very good recipe. I'm not the most blog savvy person and I'm trying to figure out how to have a separate page of recipes that I can post to, and when that day comes I will definitely add the calzones to it! My mom texted me tonight some lyrics to our favorite Eleutheran artist Eddie Minnis and reminded me of how much I miss it and want to go back. Here are some of my favorite pictures from past trips.

And just in case you were wondering, here is a song by Eddie Minnis :) 

And also in case you were wondering, Jimmy Buffett wrote the song Cheeseburger in Paradise after he ate at Ma Ruby's, which just so happens to be in Eleuthera :)