Forever Friends

How did I get so lucky to find such a strong and loyal group of friends?  

Two weeks ago, I went to the beach with these girls, and of course, had the BEST time.  I hate that my favorite twins, Emily & Carrie, couldn't be there.  We missed you so much!  

These six girls are the best friends any one could ever ask for.  They are so kind, funny, loyal, and honest.  We are all each other's biggest fans.We don't have to talk every day or even every week.  We know we are here for each other and we can always pick up right where we left off.     

I think what makes our group of friends so special is that we all have very different personalities.

 

Coley is the 'glue' that holds our group together.  When it comes to being loyal and loving with every ounce of you, Coley's got it down pat.  She is best friends with each one of us and we can always count on her to bring us all together when we haven't spoken or seen each other in a while.  If it was possible, she would be every one of our maids of honor.  So far, she's 2 for 3.  Not too shabby.    

Kelly...oh Kelly.  She is the funniest person I've ever met, hands down.  We always know we will probably end up being sore from laughing when she is around.  There is never a dull moment.  She brings such a brightness and excitement to our friendship.  What I love most about her, is she's not embarrassed or ashamed to talk about ANYTHING, which makes for some very interesting ocean-side conversations. 

Lindsey- our 'smart' friend.  She is the kind of girl that all high-school teachers stress about having in their class, because chances are, she's going to be smarter than you.  Lindsey is so kind-hearted and has such a positive outlook on life.  You can't help but be happy when she's around.  She is so down to earth and everyone who meets her loves her instantly.

Carrie amazes me daily with her strength.  I love that she does not let her diabetes define her.  She never complains and she takes on every struggle with that beautiful smile of hers.  My favorite thing about Carrie is how she makes you feel when you walk through the door, waiting with her arms wide open.  It's like she knows you are there before you even knock.

Caroline...aka Shannon Miller.  Caroline and I have been friends since we were five.  We spent a lot of time in my back yard digging holes to China and doing gymnastics.  I like to give her all the credit for my successes in cheerleading.  She taught me everything I know, since Forest Hill wasn't cool enough to have sports and Oak Hill did.  Caroline is my partner in crime when we are together, especially when we call Coley out...(sorry Coley!)  She is our most 'worldly' and 'independent' friend.  Her brave adventures always make for some great stories.

Emily, sweet Emily.  Her strong devotion to God is so admirable.  She is such a strong person and handles everything with her faith.  She makes us all want to be the best people we can be.  Whenever we email the group with a problem, we can always count on her to make us feel better and let us know she's praying for us.  My favorite thing about Emily is our friendly banter...got rice?

I want these girls to know how much they mean to me and how much they've helped me through some hard times the past several years.  It is my wish that everyone in this world finds friends as true as you all are.  We've made it through many years of ups and downs and our friendship never once wavered and I know it never will.  I love you all to the moon and back!   

"Best friends are the real fairy tales of life.  They've been there since once upon a time and will stay there until forever after."

All quiet on the Pickens front...

There hasn't been much happening here at Pickens Plantation recently...

Clay and I have been adjusting to him staying in Atlanta during the week and leaving me here to hold down the fort.  Thank goodness he came home one night this week to change my oil and mow...I hate to think about what would have happened if he had let me use our "new to us" riding lawn mower.  I would have ended up in a ditch, the woods, or through the shed or fence.  I'm glad he knows me well enough to know better.

Last weekend we went to Heath Springs to stay with Clay's family.  His sister, Kelly, had her baby shower on Sunday.  Baby Bailey will be making her appearance in just a few short weeks!  I am so excited to be an aunt for the 4th time!  Every time I go visit his family, I realize how truly lucky I am to have such an amazing 2nd family. 

On the school front, everything is going well.  I am about a week and a half away from being finished with 2 of my pre-requisites.  They have been tough, but I've learned a lot!  I'm sure my family is sick of hearing all of my "facts of the day" that I have learned in my nutrition class!  Although it is tough cramming 2 classes into 5 weeks, I am so thankful that I don't have to drag out statistics for 3 months!  Awful.

Moving on to more exciting news, my sister, her husband, and Zoey have moved back from California!  I know you all know how happy I am to have them back.  Donna and Zoey flew out to stay with me while Matt and his dad drove all their stuff back from Santa Monica.  Zoey is just the sweetest little girl, with so much personality.  Everything she does makes you smile.  It is a great feeling knowing they are now only a car ride away, instead of a flight away!     

Welcome back Matt, Donna, and Zoey! 

We love you!                   

Exciting times...

Coley is here for the week (to save me from my boredom) and she ran across this great article that gave me the last little "you're doing the right thing" nudge I needed:  11 Things to Know at 25(ish).

Of course it's hard to go to back to school, become jobless, and change careers at 25ish, but apparently I'm not the only one and it just might not be as scary as it seems.

This was my favorite part of the article:

Now is the time to figure out what kind of work you love to do. What are you good at? What makes you feel alive? What do you dream about? You can go back to school now, switch directions entirely. You can work for almost nothing, or live in another country or volunteer long hours for something that moves you. There will be a time when finances and schedules make this a little trickier, so do it now. Try it, apply for it, get up and do it.

Pretty insightful, huh?

Even more exciting than going back to school is the fact that my sister, her husband, and my niece are moving from California to Raleigh in 6 days!  I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving so needless to say, I am ecstatic.  It is going to be bittersweet to see how much my sweet little Zoey has grown and changed over the past 7 months, but I am so happy that I am going to get to be present in her life now.  Not only have I missed my niece terribly, but I've missed my sister more than you could imagine.  It has been so hard to have her so far away through some of the most important times in both of our lives...going off to college, graduation, cheering at college football games, new loves, babies being born, wedding showers, holidays, birthdays, deaths, and all the every day things that you want your family to be a part of.  Even though we couldn't always be together in person because of the distance, there is no doubt our hearts were always together.  I can't wait for all the fun times that will most certainly be had now that my family is back together on the east coast!  





 

Bittersweet...

Tomorrow is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.  I will make that 40 minute drive one more time, pack up my things, and leave my classroom, some of my best friends, and 17 little lives that I hope I've made a difference in.

The way I feel is nothing less than the epitome of bittersweet.  I am happy, relieved, sad, and scared all at once.  I am so sad to leave what I've grown to know the past 3 years.  I am even more sad to leave the amazing friends I've made...Susan, Megan, Keri, and Adrienne.  Without those girls, I couldn't have done it.  I know this isn't goodbye, but I'm sad I won't pass them in the hall or 'live' beside them anymore.  On the other hand, I am so excited to start the next chapter in my life.  I pray for strength, courage, and guidance as I switch from teacher to student.  I pray for the opportunity to learn the things that will lead me to a job that I love.    

With this change, comes many goodbyes.  I hate goodbyes.  I hate saying bye to Clay when he leaves for work. I hate saying bye to my mama when I leave home.  I hate saying goodbye to my sister and my niece when I know I won't see them for another 6 months.  I hate saying goodbye to my girls after an amazing weekend together.  Today, I got a little taste of 'goodbye' as I had to tell one of the sweetest little boys I've ever met goodbye.  This same little boy is going into surgery tomorrow morning to have biopsies taken to confirm the doctor's diagnosis of Crohn's Disease.  As I hugged his mother with tears streaming down both of our faces, trying to console her and tell her that everything will be alright, I looked at that sweet little face beginning to walk down the hall, and thought "THIS is why I became a teacher."  At the same time, I also thought, "this is why I'm going to be a nurse."  What I would give to be the nurse that gets to hold his hand and comfort him as he gets ready for his surgery.  Students like this, and students like my sweet girls from last year are exactly why I did this for three years  I did it for them.  Not for the state department of education, not for the administration, not for anyone but them.

So, it is with a slightly heavy heart that I say goodbye to education and hello to the amazing opportunities that are to come.  

        

You've got to be kidding me...

On Inside Edition tonight, they said that 4 out of 10 men have a "gene" for cheating.  Seriously?  Clearly, the doctor who discovered this gene is a cheater and just looking for an excuse.  If this is true, can cheating be cured or managed with medicine?  Does anyone else find this as completely absurd as I do??  Let's not give men an excuse to be idiots.  How about we just call it like it is and blame it on their selfishness and ego instead.  :o)    


Inside Edition also said these are signs your man might cheat:
-SAT scores- studies show that high intelligence is linked to monogamy...duh- smart men know better than to cheat on us! ;o)
-Middle aged men are more likely to cheat.
-Guys who are adventurous tend to cheat.


Moral of the story-  Date a guy that is smart, old, and boring.  

Hope this gives all of you single ladies some renewed faith in men!  :-/  Yikes!


PS-  I'm glad I found a good one.  ;o)

THIS is why I hate bees...

So, my knee is scraped, my head is throbbing, and I'm pretty sure I broke a bone in my hand.

What happened might you ask?

Well, I had a run-in with a wasp, or a "wost" as my sweet husband calls them.

I went out to the shop to get Hank, like I do every day.  Only today, there was a wasp building a little hive on the door.  If only I had seen him before he saw me.  I go in, no problem.  Come out, shut the door and suddenly I feel something (a wasp) in my hair and something that feels like a bite (a sting).  Yep, I got stung on the top of my head, all while trying to hold Hank by the collar because I didn't have his leash.  I am in a furry, panicking, trying to get the bee out of my hair.  Then, I start running, get ahead of my feet, and fall...HARD...with Hank's collar still in my hand.  I scrape my knee and my hand and I'm pretty sure I have a broken bone because my palm is super swollen and in pain.  So I put Hank in the car and try to figure out what to do next because my keys are still in the lock, I can't get in my house, and I am not about to go near that door.

As if you aren't amused enough already, it gets better.  Better than me falling?  Oh yes.

I stand there, by the car, looking in at Hank wishing that he could help me out somehow or give me some advice.  Round 1...I walk up to the door and try to sneak up and its as if the bee sees me coming.  So, he swoops down off the hive and tries to sting me again.  I run back to the car.  Round 2.  I see a water bottle in the car....grab the water bottle, hide behind the door with one foot in, and throw it as hard as I can at the door.  Of course, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, so naturally, I missed the nest.  Round 3...I see a stick.  I throw it.  Miss.  I see another one, throw it, miss.  Then I debate whether or not to get close enough to the door to grab the stick and bottle and throw them again.  Nah, too scared.  Round 4...I grab a rock..throw it, ding the door and knock the black paint off.  Oops.  No more rocks.  Round 5....I grab the floor mat, yep.  That's right, the floor mat.  I put it over my head (go ahead, laugh) and sneak up to the door.  I get scared, and go back to the car.  It's like the bee is waiting on me.  I look at Hank, still nothin'.  He's so confused.  Round 6...I go back...and my heart is beating a million beats a second.  Anyone that knows me, knows that I am deathly afraid of bees.  I FREAK out (obviously).  So, I put the floor mat back over my head, stand with my back up against the shop, as if I'm a navy seal or FBI or something, and inch towards the door.  Of course, I couldn't get the key out.  So, I have to turn it every which way because I had left it mid-lock when I was being attacked the first time.  I can't get it out with my left hand so I switch the mat to the my left hand, trying to keep it between me and the bee.  After a couple hard tugs, I get the key out and what does the bee do?  Swarm at me again.  What the heck is up with this bee?  I just want to get my key and leave you alone!  So, I get the key, try to fight off the bee with the floor mat, breathe a huge sigh of relief when I get away...without falling, and PRAY that I'm not allergic to wasps.

All I can say is, it's a good thing I got Hank out before I got stung, because he would have been staying in there until Clay got home.

First up on the agenda when Clay gets home...pick up the water bottle that I was too scared to get and KILL.THE.BEE.

You're welcome.  Go ahead and laugh, I would too.              

 

   

Mama...

On Sunday, we celebrated the most important women in the world...moms.

For those of you that know my mama, you know she is the sweetest and kindest woman in the world.  She puts others before herself, always.  As I've gotten older, I've come to truly appreciate the amazing woman she is.  She is the most selfless person I've ever met and would do anything for anyone.  She loves her family and sticks by us through thick and thin.  My mama has had more heartache than anyone deserves and she meets every challenge with style and grace.  I admire her more than she could ever imagine.                    

Mama, I hope to be HALF the woman you are one day.  I love you so much and I hope you never forget how much you are loved, admired, and appreciated by everyone who knows you!