i'm goin' to jackson.....a tribute to johnny cash

ok, this isn't really a tribute to Johnny Cash. although, i did pay tribute to him earlier this semester at the Johnny Cash "Flower Pickin' Festival" in downtown Starkville, at which i saw his sister, Joanne Cash, perform a very awkward gospel service (thanks to someone other than a member of the Cash family)...but that's another story entirely, and once again, i have managed to immediately wander off topic. My point is, I went to Jackson this week. I went to see some good friends and pick my little brother up from the airport. I got an early start on my visit when my friend, Margaret, called me Tuesday morning and insisted that I come that night and go to a prayer meeting with her at her friend's house. She said the meetings have been really powerful...like on the level of Bethel, so of course I dropped all of my SUPER important work and threw some stuff in my bag and took off towards jack-town. Let me just say, the prayer meeting (which lasted 3 hours) did not disappoint. I am officially obsessed with Margaret's Jackson friends. We spent the rest of the night laying in the bed and talking about everything under the sun...I had to attempt to sing myself to sleep because she wouldn't sing for me, which kinda pissed me off, but I got her back with an "updog" joke I told as we were going to sleep, which she TOTALLY fell for. classic. I am going to miss her SO much when she leaves for Australia!! I am going to go ahead and bet that she goes there, falls in love with the first Aussie she meets, and lives happily ever after writing and singing music with her mate (literally) in the down under. But that's just my bet. Anyway, the next day, I got an early start shopping, and I got it ALL done in ONE DAY!! Yeah, I am just good like that, I guess. After my shopping was pretty much finished, I met my roommate from DC this summer (Anne Van Devender) at her beautiful house in Jackson. She is in the running for the funniest person I know, and I love getting to be around her....which isn't much since she goes to school in Virginia. But those few hours were definitely entertaining...oh, and she has a stuffed alligator (and multiple other animals) in her house, which kinda freaked me out. Just a random side-note. After leaving Anne's, I went to Barnes and Noble and got some coffee and sat in the floor of the store and read Bridal Magazines for a good hour. I must admit, it is one of my favorite things to do. Sad, I know...but I mean, hey, I might as well plan my wedding now...who knows if I'll have enough time when the question actually gets popped!! (disclaimer: I am not in any form of a relationship right now) After indulging my guilty pleasure for long enough, I headed to eat with some friends, which ended up being quite interesting....but fun. After dinner, we decided to get a movie...which has to do with one actual point i will make in this rambling post. Here's some advice for all of you movie-watchers: DO NOT EVER RENT "THE WENDELL BAKER STORY". Despite an all-star cast of Luke AND Owen Wilson, Eva Mendes, and even a brief appearance by Will Ferrell, this movie is pretty lame. (Well, I must say, there is ONE funny part of the movie, so if you are really in THAT much of a need for a hearty laugh, rent it and fast-forward to the grocery store scene. It's one with Will Ferrell...of course). This morning, I woke up bright and early (7 am!!) to Jack texting me, making sure I was still going to pick him up from the airport at 9:30. jerk. kidding, I couldn't really be mad at him because I was so excited about finally seeing him!! Delta lost his luggage, but it finally came in on the next flight and we made it back to Vegas in time for an afternoon latte at Bops with my mom. (By the way, Bops has a Latte machine now....everyone needs to try one out...they are LEGIT) I spent the rest of the afternoon and night hanging out with the fam...almost complete- Bo will be home tomorrow afternoon. YESS. Life is good.

the most wonderful time of the year

A few reasons why I LOVE the Christmas season, especially this year...

1. no school, very little work...therefore TONS OF FREE TIME. This year, that time has been spent sleeping in until noon, watching EVERY episode of The Office...which is the funniest show i have ever seen in my life and I could probably write an entire post about it... facebook-stalking everyone I know, having late-night heart to hearts with my mom, and nightly phone dates with all of my Texas buddies. I haven't gotten hardly ANY presents for my family yet, so I should probably spend some of that time doing that?? I am one of those people who performs well under stress, so I figure I at least have until like Sunday to switch into panic mode and get it all done. It's worked pretty well in years past...

2. GOOD FOOD. Going home so early may have been a really bad idea. Being from Starkville, we usually put off going to our parents house as long as possible (we see them all the time anyway), but this year, I decided to go ahead and go home early to spend some time with my parents...before my brother comes home and gets all the attention...but since I have been home, I think I have gained about 10 pounds. My mom is the BEST cook in the world, in my opinion, and here is just a sample of what she has made so far: peanut brittle, fudge, million-dollar cookie bars, pecan tarts, puppy chow (now gone)...and thats all PRE-boys getting home. She will undoubtedly go crazy for their return. And on top of all of that, I am working at Bops tonight for some extra cash. NOT GOOD. I think we lose money when I work because I eat so many toppings. ugh. I swear I am going to work out.....tomorrow.

3. HANGING OUT WITH OLD FRIENDS. I love my Starkville friends. Ask anyone, and they will tell you...Starkville people are one of a kind. We all grew up in a college town...that should tell you something right there. But during the semester, we are all doing our own thing, and I don't see all of my old friends as often as I would like, which is why the holidays are so great. Everyone who is not from Starkville eventually goes home and leaves downtown to us. One of my (and all of my Vegas friends') hugest pet peaves is when people just hang around Starkville indefinitely and won't go home for Christmas...this is our freaking town...get outta here. But that's another story....I am supposed to be talking about my friends. They are great. We can go months without talking or seeing each other, and whenever we get back together its like nothing ever changed. I love that. I am pretty excited about some Starkvegas Christmas parties coming up...they are always interesting, and I have been promised that this years' will not disappoint. A few selective ones here and there, and of course the "big party" right before Christmas. Thank goodness we are moving the big party somewhere besides Ricks. I have had enough of that place for a good long while. Bringing it back downtown..where it belongs.

4. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! I love Christmas lights and such. I don't love actually putting them up as much as I love looking at them...I do like to TELL people how and where to put them though. Some people would call that lazy/bossy....I prefer to think of it as delegating. My tree this year is legit. Actually, I have two trees. One at my apartment that is WHITE and has really funky decorations and stuff, and then the one at my parents house that is a huge REAL spruce tree and it has tons of lights and all of our classic ornaments. My roommate and my mom are pretty much the same person I think....they both love to read Southern Living, decorate, cook, etc....therefore, I am surrounded by southern hospitality at all times. I am definitely not complaining. I also love to look at Christmas lights. I can't wait for Bo and Jack to come home so we can all go to Baker's Acres! They have the best lights I have ever seen, and I love going to look at them! I always try to take pictures, but they never do it justice. I will try again, though, and post about it afterwards, I'm sure.

summer camp: round 3

I have officially made my decision to go back to Camp Ozark this summer. I have never been so excited about a job as I am about this one. Since I am too old to return as a counselor (being a college graduate and all) I will be going back as Top Staff. But not just top staff...it gets better. I am going to be LAKE CREW top staff! This means I get to go out to the lake everyday, along with the guy Lake Crew Director (who hopefully will be Nathan LeFever) and hang out with kids and take care of the Lake Crew. This is literally my dream job. I will mostly just be responsible for the Lake program and making sure the Lake Crew girls are doing ok and just being there for them. Not that that is an easy task...it's unreal the things that come up out there. But that's part of the experience, right?? Here comes another summer with some killer one-peice tan lines, hoagies and chips everyday for lunch, constant laughs, and the making some amazing friendships with some really awesome people. And hopefully "shredding the gnar" on the side...omg, I can't wait. I want to be there right now.

lake crew boys. yess.

lake crew day offwho wouldn't want to work here every day??

a serious case of the Mondays

if you thought i was joking about being bored at work...well, here is proof. my second post in 24 hours. so far today at work, i have read all of my daily political blogs and sites, looked online for a new car, chatted with Dr. Wiseman about some possible upcoming debates in Mississippi, checked my email about 40 times, checked facebook about the same amount and added the top friends application, which i have always said was so gay and i would never do it...oh well. And I have only been here for 3 hours!! Before I came to work, I hung out with Bo (he came back in town very briefly for Uncle B's funeral) and we went and shopped around town and went and ate at Harveys for lunch. yumm. He got me out of bed before I would have liked, but it was worth it to spend some quality time together on such short notice. I am about to leave work early today to get ready for visitation tonight. As sad as the circumstances are for our family being together, I am grateful for the opportunity for us to be there for Bo. So this will be all for today. I plan on spending the rest of my night with the fam and starting my new book that a friend gave me to read called, "In the Meantime." It looks like it's going to be just what I need right now. I will fill you in later on all of that. Tomorrow my job at work is going to be to write a paper about my internship this summer to turn in to my boss/professor for a grade for the internship. He said he wanted to know all the juicy details of my summer, including the "dancing incident" instead of all the boring office details. What a fun paper this is going to be....i may just post it if I am pleased with the outcome.

a window seat view

well hello. as is the case for many bloggers these days, i have decided to put my love for writing and my obscene amount of free time at work (well, at least during the holidays) to good use. For the third time in my life, I am going to attempt to maintain a personal blog. I should point out that I read at least 4 political blogs every morning, the occasional gossip blog, and when i remember to, I check out my friends' personal blogs to catch up lives and such. So it was inevitable that the blogging world would beckon me back. Although my facebook profile paints a very accurate picture of what is going on in my life these days, some close to me do not have access to that avenue of information...hence the reason I have once again taken up blogging. A few things going on in my life right now...



1. I am on a 5-month strong "guy-break." If you really know me, you know how impressive this is. Considering the fact that I have one of the most important decisions of my life (thus far) to make in a few short months as to what I want to do with my life after graduation, I don't think now would be the best time to jump head first into a relationship with anyone. God has kept me from developing any super serious relationships in college, and although I have, at times, been bitter about this in the past, I am fully embracing this as a gift at this stage in my life. God is about to use me to do something really big, and I am excited about the fact that I have NOTHING holding me back from going wherever He leads me this next year! FYI: God can change your whole outlook on something that you may be thinking is SO important at the time...I know this because this is exhibit A of how he has done it in my life. And the best thing about all of this is that I have developed more really good friendships with guys this semester than ever before. Girls, guys CAN be awesome, non-dramatic, advice-giving, sympathetic friends. as long as you're not searching for anything more out of them...another FYI for you.





2. I miss my brothers TERRIBLY. For the first time in my life, my entire family does not live in the same town. This fall, Jack made the big move to California to go to Bethel School of the Supernatural Ministry (or Bible College, if you will). Although I have been to see him once this semester while he has been there, a weekend which happened to change my life (but that's for another time), I have still missed him more than I ever imagined I would. He has completely turned his life around and is the Godliest young man I have in my life right now. Wow, God is so good! As for the other brother, Bo just took a job in Texas (I AM SO JEALOUS!!) working with oil. that's really all i know about it. But i know that he loves his job, and he is freaking brilliant and good at it. He's way smarter than I ever gave him credit for growing up. So with them both being in other states, that leaves me all alone in Starkville with the parents. Not that I mind...I get way more invites to dinner than I used to, and I just so happen to adore my parents and think they are the greatest things since sliced break...so I mean it works out. But back to missing my brothers. Thankfully, they are coming home next week for Christmas, and I have never been so excited about my family being all together as I am this year!! I can't wait to play games, watch old family videos (mostly just to make fun of Bo's country accent as a little boy), cook sausage balls and rotel, make fires and all watch movies together on the couch, go hunting, play soccer in our front yard with our dogs...I could go on forever...but you get the point. I am pumped.




3. A big girl job is beckoning me. I have finally made the decision to take a year off from school and work before going to Law School (for 3 more years...ew). One reason being I still haven't decided where I even WANT to go to Law School. I mean I want to stay in the South, so maybe I will go somewhere around here. But I love Texas and DC, so maybe I should look around there?? Ah, I am not ready for this kind of a decision. And thankfully, God has given me peace about not going anywhere just yet, so I am currently looking for a job opportunity in either Texas or DC. Or anywhere, really. I just think I need to get out of Mississippi for a while. I mean, my 22 years here have been wonderful, but feel like I need just a little break from the deep South. As far as immediate plans following graduation in May, I think Camp (well, mainly Lake Ouachita) may be beckoning me back...I just can't seem to make myself say my final goodbyes to such a wonderful place. But we shall see. One more semester at dear Ole' State before all of that becomes a reality. Thank goodness.


There is so much more stirring in me, but this initial briefing will have to do for now. Updates will undoubtedly follow.