Nostalgic

So tonight I'm feeling a bit nostalgic ... well, let's be real, I've been feeling nostalgic for about the past year and 3 months. So, in order to sink myself even more into depression (kidding!), here's a summation of what I loved most about college, and what I'll miss the most.

Top 5 things that made my college experience:

1) Alpha Gamma Delta: Originally I didn't plan to rush. However, after realizing that I would know literally NO ONE at Auburn, I decided to give it a try. Thankfully, with the help of some amazing people and God's divine plan, I pledged the best sorority and made life-long friends that have changed my life for the better. Not to mention I made wonderful memories with each of the them and will forever be grateful for their friendship.

2) Camp War Eagle: I knew from the moment I experienced CWE in the summer of 2005 (one week after having my appendix removed) that I wanted to be a Camp War Eagle counselor more than anything. My sophomore year Christmas break, right before interviews started, I began thinking of my costume for second round interviews. I knew that CWE was a super competitive organization, and in order to make it I was going to need a superb costume. My lovely Mother made a "shaker" costume so that I could be decked out in all my Auburn glory. Thankfully, it was a success and I made it! And yes, I do still have this lovely thing in my closet so that my war eagle kids can wear it someday. (They'll thank me, I'm sure!) CWE was such a unique experience and one that I will never forget. I was able to orientate 1/36th of the freshman class of 2007, and I made amazing friends that I probably wouldn't have otherwise known. Not to mention, I was able to share the experience with one of my best friends, Mary Lawrence, and now we share an AGD bond and a CWE bond!

Lovely costume, right?

Mary and Me on the 3rd day of CWE!

3) Assistant Director of Spirit: Yes, I realize that 3 of my 3 things are involvement organizations, but stay with me here. As assistant director I was able to hand out shakers at the football games, go on the field during the games, and conduct pep rallies. How could I not include this in my top Auburn experiences? It was seriously one of the coolest jobs.

4) Getting a tour of the Samford clock tower! During graduation week I was able to get a tour of the Samford clock tower. This was a HUGE deal for me and something I had been wanting to do for a long time. Three of my best friends and I spend an hour on a hot May day and experienced Auburn's amazing campus from the best view possible! It was glorious and a perfect ending to such a sweet 5 years.

5) My AMAZING group of friends: I'm not really sure what I would do without my awesome friend group. They have been there with me through everything, pushed me to be a better person, held me accountable for the silly (okay, stupid) decisions I made, laughed with me through the fun times, studied with me when I waited until the last minute to study for something, gave advice when I needed it, were silent and cried with me when the time was right, and shared the best years of my life with me. I will be forever thankful for the relationships that I made while at Auburn, and grateful to God for putting each of them in my life.

5 Things I'll miss the most:

1) AGD Socials: Now I don't have a reason to buy psychedelic clothing, awkwardly ask guys I just met to a function, awkwardly dance to 80's music in the back of Skybar, etc, etc. Need I say more?

Mary Lawrence and Me at Boot and Boxers social freshman year. Cute, eh?

2) RBD Library: Yes, NERD. I love the library. I love late night study sessions (or talk sessions). I love having a reason to down coffee at midnight. I love running into everyone I know around finals time ... I will miss it. Jessica and Mary Lawrence are probably the two main reasons I love RBD so much :) haha

3) Eating out for under $10: Auburn has the BEST food options. Big Blue Bagel, BBQ House, Pita Pit, Moes, Mamma G's. MAN. Awesome. Not to mention you can eat out for under $10 - something I've yet to do in Atlanta.

4) Student tickets to football games: While it took me a while to get a grasp on the concepts of football, I will miss being able to go to the games for $90 per season ticket, get crammed into a section made for way less people than are actually occupying it, and the excitement of the student section. Speaking of football - is it September 4th yet? WDE!

5) First Baptist Church Opelika: Best church EVER. As if I didn't realize what a great church FBCO is before, I really do now. Finding a church in Atlanta is quite the experience. Not only are they all HUGE, but none of the preachers live up to Brother Steve Scoggins. I will also miss going each week with my bffs and eating lunch at Whispering Oaks after :)

All in all, I MISS AUBURN and ... I BELIEVE IN AUBURN AND LOVE IT! :)

WDE.

New In Town

I have officially been a resident of Atlanta for the past 3 weeks! While it was extremely difficult to leave Auburn and all of my wonderful memories (and two best friends!) behind, I know that this next stage of my life is going to be just as wonderful and exciting as my "college" years. I'm so excited to meet new people, find a new church, start work, and of course, get a new wardrobe!

Here are a few pictures of the move and my new apartment!

Saying goodbye to two of my best friends in Auburn!

Possibly the best money I spent- Two Men and A Truck Movers!

New bathroom - notice, no PINK!

My new BLUE room. LOVE IT!

So what am I doing now? Well, I'm basically a housewife without a husband or kids. Yes, that means I cook, clean, and shop. My job doesn't start until September 15th, and while I love the idea of free time, no income can be pretty devastating when surrounded by amazing shopping and restaurants. So in the mean time, I'm trying to make new friends, find a church and a small group, get my life organized, visiting amazing Auburn, and making a trip or two to lovely Butler before I enter the real world.

Relief and Thankfulness

Words cannot begin to describe the different emotions I have felt over the past 4 months. I've been happy, sad, nostalgic, fatigued, sick, hopeless, hopeful, content, stressed, etc., etc. (I guess I found a few words ;) ) However, the best emotion just hit me tonight - RELIEF!!! As of today, I have officially passed all 4 parts of the CPA exam! Everything I've worked for came down to one (actually 4) TINY (ha) test. After months of studying, stressing, worrying - I FINALLY AM DONE!!! So now, I'm a Master AND a CPA. I'm pretty excited :)

All to Him I owe- for the strength to make it through, the opportunity to further my education, and His guidance which lead me through even when I didn't know where I was going and felt as though I could not make it. Thank you Jesus.

Contentment

Recently I started reading a book about contentment. If you haven't read Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow, I strongly recommend it. I read through the first 3 chapters rather quickly, and I am now going back and reading them more in detail. The first chapter describes a "prescription for contentment" in which the following are mentioned:

• Never allow yourself to complain about anything - not even the weather.
• Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
• Never compare your lot with another's.
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
• Never dwell on tomorrow- remember that tomorrow is God's, not ours.

Wow. What a concept, right? My first "wow factor" is the first word in each of the 5 "rules" - NEVER. When I was younger I was always taught "never say never," but I can't help but think how much more peaceful my days would be if I "never" did these things. Secondly, to never complain about anything - even the weather - is beyond me. Obviously this person does not live in the south- ha. What a challenge, what an awesome idea. Throughout grad school I've found myself finding more and more to complain about. This may sound weird, but it's almost like I've found it a challenge to be content, and found it easier to be discontented with my life. Generally when asked how my weekend was, I've responded with "not long enough" - how selfish can I be?

So here's my point: I'm encouraging myself to practice the prescription of contentment. Rather than focusing on the negatives, I'm going to look towards the positives. Instead of finding something wrong with my circumstances, I'm going to rejoice in the opportunity to learn from the circumstances. Contentment has nothing to do with circumstances or with people - but rather our outlook on it all.

Granny

Despite my efforts to sleep, I have a million thoughts running through my head. My Mom called today to tell me that my Granny is going to be placed in a nursing home. For the past few years she has lived with my Aunt and her family, but since her Alzheimer's disease has progressively gotten worse, it is necessary that she be placed in a more controlled environment. Mom and I think that she may like this better since she will be surrounded by more people her age, many of whom are going through the same things she is going through. Even still, it is difficult seeing someone you have looked up to your whole life go through something so life changing as Alzheimer's.

My grandmother has always been one of the most important people in my life. When I was little she always took me to church. My three cousins and I would accompany her to church every Sunday. We would sit on the pew and play Wheel of Fortune or Hangman until "big church" ended. She always had an endless supply of double-mint gum, and an unwavering patience for our loud "whispers." At the time we were too young to understand the sermons being preached, but looking forward to spending Sunday with her at church and growing up watching her faithfulness, made me long for a relationship with God - one like my Granny had with Him. I am saved by the grace of God, but Granny was His earthly way of showing me that there is more to life, and to truly experience love and grace, I needed Him.

Granny made sure each of her grandchildren felt special and loved by her. There were 5 of us which meant that we each got one night a week to spend the night with her - all by ourselves - and every other weekend we rotated between families. My night was Tuesday. I LOVED Tuesdays. Despite Granny's southern roots, she was not a cook. However, her "cooking" was my favorite. She introduced me to grape sandwiches, rice-a-roni spanish rice, tomato sandwiches, grilled cheeses, and fried cornbread. Dessert was usually milkshakes or blue-bell ice cream. She also made the sweetest tea imaginable - so sweet that if you left it out long enough sugar would settle in the bottom. Granny and I shared a special bond over television - All My Children to be exact. She would record it on VHS and then give them to me to watch. She thought most of what was on "modern" TV was trashy (Rosanne) so we watched Nick-at-Nite, which then consisted of I Love Lucy and Bewitched.

Granny lives out Galatians 5:22-23; "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." I can only remember once that she ever got mad at me- she was rarely easily angered and always patient. She was always content, joyful, peaceful and kind. When I was 8 I backed into her car with my Mom's truck. I was so upset I tried to run away from home. Granny told me that it wasn't a big deal, that it was only a car. Even though she couldn't open her back left door, she never fixed it and might as well have forgotten it happened.

Growing up means that things change; People change. While it saddens me that her brain doesn't remember all of the wonderful memories that I do, I know that my Granny is still there. She is still a role model to me, and some of my favorite childhood memories are with her. Her smile and witty remarks when I see her now still make me feel just as loved as her grilled cheese and milk-shake did when I was 13.

Procrastination

Here I am two weeks away from my fourth and final part of the CPA exam, and what do I decide to do? Format my blog. I started this blog over a year ago after discussing with Mary and Megan the upsides to blogging. I thought it would be a great way to keep up with everyone as we all went our separate ways after graduation. However, as things normally happen this way, I found myself immersed in school and the day-to-day happenings in my life were far from interesting. Now, after 9 months of a blogging hiatus, I'm giving the cyber-diary another try. My first attempt at "customizing" my blog is now complete, and I have wasted an hour of valuable study time :) Oh well, what else is new?

Keeping me guessing . . .

If you know me, and you should if you are reading this, you know that "blogging" is not my thing. However, thanks to my dear friend Mary Lawrence, I'm giving it a try. For the past few months I've been freaking out about growing up, making decisions, and life in general. Today, I discovered a song that has been on my ipod for some time now that I never listened to. The title is, you guessed it, "Keeping Me Guessing," by Francesca Battistelli, an awesome Christian singer I found while interning in Atlanta. These are a few of the lyrics to the song.

Slow me down, show me around
I wanna see the world that I’ve been without
I am here and now the future is out of my hands
I trust in you and how you move
I won’t forget that patience is a virtue
You’re teaching me to hang on tight

Cause I don’t know how the story ends
But I’ll be alright cause you own it
And I don’t know where the highway bends
But I’m doin just fine
Cause your in control
Even when I don’t know
Where my life’s gonna go
You’re keeping me guessing

Seasons come and seasons go
But you decide

This song really hit home because I love to be in control. I've struggled lately with being patient, and letting God take control of my life. I am the best at telling you that everything works out in the end, but I often have trouble letting my own life work itself out. I am not the one in control of my life, and if I was, I would hate to see how it worked out. Knowing that God has a plan for my life, and everything that is happening is happening for a reason, brings peace to my mind and joy to my life. I love it when God sends little reminders of His presence in our lives, and this song was such a blessing to me. I hope that you will listen to it, and let Him be in control of your life. It is an awesome feelings. So, if you ride in my car at all, plan to listen to this song a few times :)