tells it like it is

My sister showed this to me a while back and I thought this girl's rap was AWESOME... enjoy!




I'll update soon with some of my projects, including my latest.. the rescue of two kittens! I am SUPER busy feeding and loving on these kitties.


sitting on my lap this morning.. not a great picture but he is shy :)

Thankful

Yesterday night, my best friend Stephanie and I were headed up to Tennessee to join my family at our cabin for a week's vacation.
At approximately 7pm, June 22nd, my car hydro-planed and began spinning off the road.
Stephanie had just taken over driving for the second half of the 9 hour trip.

She and I spun around in my car about 3 or 4 times before we landed in the median, facing the road. Upon hitting the cable in the median my survival instincts set in. I assured Steph it wasn't her fault and that we were okay and that's all that mattered.... but that was just the beginning.
I decided to get out of the car and check the damage. I got out of the passenger side of the car and walked around the car. Steph opened her door and I told her that the car looked fine. I remember picking up a piece of tire and asking Steph if she thought it was from my car and the next thing I know I see another car spinning off the road, coming STRAIGHT TOWARD US. I started screaming for Steph to get out of the car and to run with me away from where my car was parked. I just wanted to pull her out and get away as fast as I could. I knew that black pick up truck was going to smash into my car, and it would be a hard collision. Steph's foot was out of the door but she said all she could do was look away and hold on to the steering wheel as the black truck smashed into the passenger side door and spun my car around at least once. I just ran away as far as I could so I wasn't pinned between the two cars. I thought we would both die.
The black pick up truck landed on its driver side and the young man climbed out of the passenger side window. Steph got out of the car completely unharmed and I ran to her. (I know this sounds so dramatic but it really felt like a bad dream.)
As the three of us now stand in the median I notice 4 OTHER CARS spin out within 500 feet of our two car pile up. None of those were related to our crash though. They all spun out because of the hard rain that just began before our crash.

During the impact of the black truck, my car's windows shattered, the passenger side door smashed in (WHERE I WOULD HAVE BEEN SITTING), the bumper fell off, all lights smashed, door handle fell off my side, and trunk completely smashed in. And to think my car was still in one piece after we first spun off the road...
Long story short, we were able to get our cameras and phones out of the car with the help of some REALLY nice women who stopped and helped us, calmed us, and prayed for us. I have never seen such a thing in my life.
As I stood in the median with Steph and the pick up truck driver watching Semi Trucks sliding around and cars crashing, all I could think about was that we just barely escaped death. Praise God.
The fact that I got out of the car to check it out initially, my have saved my life and that is God. The fact that all windows except Stephanie's were shattered, saving her from being bloody and wounded, is God. The fact that the other driver's car got flipped and he still walked away from the scene, is God.
My parents, who were already in TN at the cabin drove to South Carolina to get us as soon as they could. We waited in a Waffle House in the middle of no where. Literally. I have never been so happy to see them.

I am SO thankful that God saved us and put a huge blanket of protection over us. He is so GOOD.
Even as I sit here just about to burst into tears, remembering the vision of the truck coming towards us and the initial spinning off the road, I am in AWE of the way God protected His children.

Isaiah 41:10
Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

Praise God for His goodness ALWAYS, and please be careful in the rain.

My Dance Project!

This summer I took a Fundamentals of Dance class, and our final project was to choregraph a dance. Although I have had lots of dance experience, two of the girls in my group had not. It was a challenge but we made it work!
I am the one in the front left at the beginning and then move to the back left. :)

a musical monday!

In light of the Tony awards on last night.. sorry if you missed them, they were awesome!

And, because I went to a show last night called "Broadway Nites" at the church I grew up at....

I will call this post "A Musical Monday!"

I just love musicals. But maybe love doesnt ever cover the depth of my obsession and complete devotion to the craft itself. haha!

Before I transferred over into the dance world, I was a theater girl. My first play was the Broadway version of Peter Pan. There was a Youth Theater program around the corner from my house and my neighbors introduced me to it when I was about 5 or 6. It was here that I really found out I loved musicals. I was never the lead role (although I did have some speaking parts) but was completely content with dancing and singing in the background.

Some of the plays I was in:

Peter Pan

Aladdin

Fairy Tale Factory (our theater's brainchild) where I played Penelope the ballerina pig of a spin off of The Three Little Pigs

Annie

Fiddler on the Roof (fun fact: although I was only 9 or 10 at the time, I played a "momma" in the show because I was SO tall..haha!)

....you get the point!

When I was in New York a few years back, I got to see my first show on Broadway which was Wicked, I LOVED IT! The music is by far some of the best written songs I've heard in a show, ever! If you haven't ever heard any of it or seen it, you should check it out!! Here is a video from the today show where Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth sing "Popular"

if that video doesnt work... here is the link to youtube, Popular

I guarantee if you buy the soundtrack from Wicked you will fall in love. I love to listen to it in the car and pretend I can sing as well as those two women!!

Have a great monday!

Oh and I almost forgot, here is a picture of the "africa purse" I got for Steph.

banana puddin' and john deere green

(Just me hanging out with Paula Dean in Savannah)

I have been super busy this week and haven't had a free minute to update about this weekend's birthday shenanigans in Savannah, GA for my

best friend's 21st birthday... until now!

Last week I posted some hints/ teasers as to the party goody bags I made for the girls that would be celebrating with Steph for her birthday.

Inside each of the bags were:

1. noisemaker horns (the ones you blow into and they make lots of noise)

2. glow stick bracelets (used as a way of keeping everyone in check when we were out and about Friday night!)

3. coozies!!! (my favorite part of the bags)

here is a picture I took of them when I made them, from my computer camera so its flipped. (i didnt get a picture of them while we were in Savannah)

All of the drink coozies say "Steph's 21st" on the front and the back of each has a girl's name on them... Steph's is the orange in the bottom left corner

and it says, "It's my 21st!"

Everyone really loved them and we had a BLAST in Savannah.

It is such a great city for walking around and... for good eating!

While we were there we ate at Paula Dean's restaurant, "The Lady and Sons"

Steph's birthday present from me was a new "africa purse" as she calls it. Last fall she ordered this really cool bag made in Africa by some tribal women. She loved that dang purse... until some person stole it from our friend's car. :( it was VERY sad. So when I was at the farmer's market a couple weeks ago I spotted some very similar bags like her beloved "africa purse" and I picked out one in orange (her fave color).

I don't have a picture of the bag to post for you,

but maybe I can get one of her wearing it soon and post it! :)

On Saturday night after returning to Jax, Katie, Steph and I went around the corner to Harmonious Monks in Mandarin. It's a very, very fun place with lots of good music to sing along to. All of the bartenders and servers sing or play instruments.

Also, here is a picture of our SWEET room that we got a free upgrade to because the Savannah hotel overbooked. It was a bi-level suite with a spiral staircase, 3 flatscreens and three beds!

view from the bottom of the girls on the top level

And the view from the window..

Katie and I in the car with the sunflower we bought for Steph.. it was kinda windy!!

I'm ready to go back to Savannah! I love that city! :)

happy hump day!

This week has gone by pretty quickly already- which is quite alright with me because this weekend has some exciting plans. STEPH'S BIRTHDAY! (pictures to follow!)

Also this week, I have endured the cough of death. I randomly started getting worse and worse, and with no other symptoms of cold or flu I headed to the Dr. today. My doc says I got an upper respiratory infection. Icky. So I am taking it easy in hopes that I will recover in time to properly enjoy the birthday fun coming up in about 48 hours!

What I do on my sick days:

--watch movies, last night it was Alice in Wonderland, and tomorrow will be Where the Wild Things Are

--crafty things (duh) and see below for tonight's creation :)

--re organize and re arrange things.. i actually enjoy this (I know, i'm weird!)

--catch up on reading, my most recent read: "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges (I met him in Colorado!)

I had some corkboard squares I was using to put up pictures and whatever else,

and tonight I covered them in fabric and ribbons glued down with buttons!

(not a good picture because I used my computer to take the picture)

and, with photos..

(top is my brother and his son, bottom right is my sister and I a few years back and group photo on the bottom left is the youth group I worked

with last summer before our mission trip)

[the words are backwards because photo booth on mac does mirror image]

HAPPY HUMP DAY :)