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Best Week Ever

This past week (and a half) was awesome! Three great things happened this past week: I was a bridesmaid in Kim and John Garrett's wedding, I went to the beach with Marie and Lyla and I met Lauren Conrad from the Hills.

I rode with Chris, Elena and Sam to Abilene on Thursday and that was when all the Kim and John festivities began. Thursday we celebrated with Kim for her "bachelorette" party and that was fun and entertaining to say the least! Friday was the bridal luncheon, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. I always like when people have their friends (at the dinner) get up and speak on their behalf because it makes it very sweet and personal. Unfortanutely, I get really nervous in front of people when I speak so I never stand up and say something. I always want to, but I never do. I don't have a cute or subtle cry, so if I start to cry when I am speaking I just end up apologizing for crying and then I lose my train of thought...not very graceful at all. I wanted to speak at Josh and Emily's, Garrett and Stacy's, Karissa and Justin's and Kim and John's rehearsal dinner but my nerves got the best of me. Maybe I should take toastmasters or something. Anyways, Saturday was awesome! John couldn't take his eyes off of Kim and they seemed so happy to be getting married! There were a lot of ACU people there that I hadn't seen in awhile which is always fun to catch up with old friends. That night, Kim and John arranged for the wedding party and close friends/family to come out to Perini's Steakhouse for dinner. I had a great time catching up with Becca and Emily (my old roommates). I miss those girls a lot! On Sunday, a group of ACU people got together for lunch and then saw the hangover before everyone went their separate ways. I get shy in front of big groups of people so I was pretty quiet on Saturday night/Sunday but I still had so much fun. I felt so blessed being a part of Kim and John's big day! And what a fun group of people to have in your wedding if I do say so myself!

Then after the wedding, Marie, Lyla and I went to Mustang Island for two days. It was only 3 and half hours away from Austin. Um, where have I been? Where we went was amazing because it wasn't crowded and the water felt great. I could have stayed there for a week. Hanging out with Marie is great because we know each other so well that we don't feel the need to always talk or be funny. We can just be ourselves and not be worried about what the other one is thinking. Marie has seen the good, bad and ugly side of me so there is nothing to hide! After relaxing with Marie's sweet mom and sister we headed back to Austin only to turn around the next day and do something we had both been anticipating for a week.

Ok, let me just say that you can make fun of us all you want. We are not at all ashamed to admit that we have a big friend crush on LC. We have both watched her since Laguna Beach and when I found out she was going to be in Austin I was pretty excited!! I had never been to a book signing so I was very interested to see how this was going to work. First, you buy the book and then get a wristband. After you get your wristband you come back and wait for them to call your band's color. Luckily, since we had Lyla we kind of got the baby VIP treatment. haha Since we had a stroller, they had to take us on the elevator to the floor LC was at. When we walked through the door she was right there and it was so weird! I wasn't expecting to see her that quickly so I got a little flustered and I couldn't stop laughing (Marie was making me laugh). I seriously felt like a tween meeting the Jonas brothers. As silly as it sounds, meeting LC was so much fun and it made my day.

I added a play list with a bunch of random songs that I love to listen to. The worship songs are close to my heart because of Austin Stone and my brother and I listen to those songs while riding around in his truck. Johnny Cash is great because my brother and I will sit on his front porch at night on the farm and listen to Johnny on his record player. Take it easy is what I listen to when I need to relax and put things into perspective. I love "I got soul but I'm not a soldier" because of that Nike commercial. If you don't know what I'm talking about you HAVE to watch! It's so inspiring!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ae3tFI8wXE Ray LaMontagne is one of my new favorite singers and of course, beautiful day by U2 was the inspiration for this blog!

Take time to have fun and enjoy your beautiful day!

Summer time and the livin's easy...(because I'm unemployed!)

Ok sorry for waiting three months to post a new blog! I have no excuse since last summer my excuse was that I was in Africa with internet access every other day. I changed my blog format and I absolutely love it!!! I searched and searched and finally there it was...the perfect free format.

I started my job search and needless to say it hasn't been going very well. I had a really sketchy interview and all I can say about that was the guy that was interviewing me 1) showed me documents with customers personal info including a ss# that I could have easily snatched 2) at one point said "man, I'm so good at what I do....am I superman? I must have an S on my chest." Um, yeah. Need I say more? I have about 12 applications pending and I am about to apply for approximately 10 more jobs tonight. It truly is about who you know and not what you know!

On a more interesting note, I experienced the coolest thing about a month ago and I think everyone should know about it. Ok, so here is how it went down. I started having really bad back pain. It kept getting worse everyday and finally it was so bad that I decided I needed to do something about it quickly. My friend Kelley was experiencing back pain earlier that year so I called her up because I remembered her saying that she went to this great back doctor that basically fixed her problems. First let me explain what NUCCA is and then I will tell you how it helped me A LOT!

This is taken from their website:
NUCCA is an upper cervical technique that is very gentle. The top vertebrae in the spine is called the Atlas, this is the bone that surrounds the brain stem and also the bone on which the skull sits. If this bone is not in the correct position, messages aren't going to travel properly from the brain to the rest of the body, or from the body back up to the brain. This phenomenon is known as nerve interference and it can show up in many different ways throughout our bodies. Some symptoms that might indicate your atlas is misaligned:

acid reflux (check)
allergies
asthma
a.d.d
cerebral palsy
constipation
depression
diabetes
digestive problems
female disorders
headaches (check)
infertility
knee problems
low back pain (check)
migrain headaches
nervousness (check)
numbness and tingling in limbs (check)
parkinson's
rehumatoid arthritis
t.m.j. (check...mild though, not terrible)


I got my initial "adjustment" and my doctor told me my atlas was shifted to the left and twisted four degrees. My head was permanently tilted to the side, one leg was longer than the other and I was putting 10 more pounds of weight on one leg than the other! Who knew?? As soon as my doctor aligned my atlas back into place my back pain instantly went away, my jaw didn't hurt after I chewed a piece of gum, my acid reflux hasn't come back, and I have had maybe one headache since my adjustment when before I would get like 3 or 4 a week. You can imagine why I am such a firm believer in it! And the best part about it is that it doesn't require any medicine and it's probably going to help me in the future to prevent more back, neck, knee, shoulder pain. Awesome huh?? It is in the chiropractic family so many people (especially doctors) are very suspicious of it but I am living proof that this kind of technique was exactly what I needed! This is also not like a trip to the chirporactor...they don't bend and twist you like a pretzel. This is simply a technique where they gently press on the sensitive part behind your ear. That's it. It is worth a try if you have any kind of chronic pain. Check it out! http://www.backnbalance.biz/about_nucca.html

A few more things...
I am going to Abilene for Kim and John's wedding this weekend
Marie and I are starting a fun crafty business to sell cute stuff at Canton
Karen is having a GIRL!!! I'm having a niece!
Elena is having a BOY!!!
I'm going to a fabulous book signing next week but hopefully I will have great picture to reveal who I might possibly get to meet. It's exciting...get pumped!

Alright, that's all I got. Keep your ears open to possible job opportunities for entry level management majors and in the mean time enjoy your beautiful day!

The End of an Era

Yesterday I packed up all of my stuff that I have collected in the past five years in Abilene and moved back home. It was a very sad day and all I could say was, "I'm so sad" with tears rolling down my cheeks. I wasn't prepared for the sadness that overwhelmed me but then I started to think back on the past five years that I had spent in Abilene.

Where do I even begin?? I couldn't possibly write about all of the memories so I just listed them out!

Christie Thomas, my freshman and sophomore roommate
-messy...no, trashy dorm room(s)
-chocolate milk
-Family Guy!
-Oh what a night...doot doot doot de doot
-late night english lessons and grammer check
-buying a dog together while we stilled live in the dorm
-late night art projects (Christie's, not mine)
-"Do you like the Darkness?" Uh I mean yeah I like to leave a lamp on sometimes...
(I was referring to the band, The Darkness and she took it literal)


Freshman year
-Sing Song...I distinctly remember 1) making fun of "the group" and not b/c we were wishing we were apart of it but simply b/c they were an easy target. (I love you Emily!! I just didn't know you then and besides I didn't even know you were a part of "the group" until you told me.) 2) being a black key and getting to stand during the coolest part of the act 3) not only WINNING but also receiving an award for innovation. I'm not gonna to lie...we were awesome!
-Friday Fun Lunch
-BDub's
-nine o'clock
-the introduction of facebook
-living on the same hall as Jessica Jennings, Stacy Farmer, Elena Coggin and Shelby Skidmore!
-The Great Merger '04 also known as TGM '04
-Intramural games
-Austin road trip to Bwood's homecoming
-Elena's performance at Freshman Follies of Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway

Sigma Theta Chi
-rushing and pledging! Hands down, my favorite memory of pledging was when we stole the Kojie letters...uh-mazing!
-winning sing song even though they didn't announce us as the winners?
-serving as Treasurer my senior year
-Sunday night officer meetings
-supporting our intramural teams
-Elena passing down special siggie to me
-passing special siggie to Candice
-Elena's pass the key

Mr. Daniel Bynum
-going to prom w/my infamous high school boyfriend freshman year
-going to Daniel's playoff games for football my freshman year, they were one game away from the championship!
-watching Dan play intramural waterball, football and basketball
-taking a tennis class together! that was really fun b/c we later bought racquets for each other and we try to play every once and awhile
-worshipping in chapel together daily
-celebrating our one, two, three and four year anniversary!
-going to church (almost) every Sunday when we were in town
-numerous road trips mostly to Austin but also to DFW, San Antonio and Monroe, Louisiana
-countless club events including formals, christmas socials, mystery match, fajita fiesta, and my favorite, Siggie/Moonie Skate
-playing tennis, racquetball, and basketball at school and at the park by Daniel's house
-cooking pizza from scatch and other yummy meals that we will store in our recipe box for the future
-taking walks around ACU to catch up
-learning SO much about each other, , learning how to express our love and gratitude, growing up together and falling more in love =)

and only one more category and then I'm finished....

Precious friendships I made because I went to ACU and lived in Abilene...
-Benay Dennis
-Marie Nordman
-Christie Thomas
-Katelin East
-Amanda Wassmiller
-Stacy Upton
-Emily Saller
-Becca Frei
-Kim Leedy
-Cara Gentry
-Suzanne Langston
-Emily Barnes
-Becca Woolfolk
-Kaylie Huddleston
-Briana Litton
-Brooke Johnson
-Jessica Hopkins
-Candice Wood
-Leah Robison
-Sylvia Tucker, Cassey Owens and Jenny Dodd
-all my friends that I knew before ACU and still love today!

I know this was super long but it feels great to reminisce about Abilene and all that it had to offer me! I could seriously write all night long about great memories from college b/c it was such a great time in my life but for now I hope you enjoy your beautiful day, wherever you may be. =)

Meagan Lately

Well this blog might be kind of long since I have not posted in awhile! Oops! If you have tried to keep up with my blog you know by now how bad I am at posting.

Where do I start? I could tell you about Christmas but that was so long ago I can barely remember anything significant except for my nephew stealing the show and being as cute as a button. Speaking of nephews....my sister-in-law is pregnant! Luke is set on having a baby sister and Karen said that he kisses her belly every morning and will tell Karen that he can hear her. I wish I could move in with them and hang out with Luke everyday! Karen and Ashton always have funny stories about what Luke is up to that day. I talked to him on "Balentines" Day (Luke sometimes pronounces v's as b's) and he said, "I love you today." Needless to say that melted my little heart. He turns three in May and I can't believe it!

Speaking of pregnancies...there will be a very special baby arriving one month before Luke's new sibling. Chris and Elena are going to be having a baby! She is already three months pregnant and they will soon find out the sex of the baby. So exciting!!! I will definitely be updating my blog with news about both pregnancies!

For three days I have been Ms. Suzanne Langston's substitute. The teacher that Suzanne student teaches with went out of town therefore I was hired to sit here while Suzanne teaches. It has been so much fun!

A couple of weeks ago ACU put on their 53rd (ish) Sing Song Production. I can't describe to you how wonderful it was to come when the show started and leave when the show ended. No practice, no face paint and no community red lipstick. Don't get me wrong, I love sing song but I appreciated the fact that I didn't have to participate this year. I was very proud of my little siggies even though they didn't "win" the whole thing they still continued the eight year streak of winning vocals without any help from alumni or freshman! =)

Karissa and I have become running partners and it has motivated to be more active! I have enjoyed jogging and walking together and it is amazing how your self confidence changes when you work out. I know my body doesn't look that different but I feel so much better about myself and that is very important.

I am going to San Antonio with Karissa and Kelley for the next couple of days as a sort of "spring break." They are some of my close friends from high school and we always enjoy each other's company no matter where we are!

I hope you enjoy your spring break AND your beautiful day!

p.s. In my next post I plan on putting up pictures from Daniel's Senior Art Show!