Bieber Fever

Like every 12 year old girl east of the Mississippi River, Natalie and I packed up our bags and headed to Nashville this weekend to catch Justin Bieber play at the Bridgestone. Don't make fun of us, I know you're jealous. As we arrived at the hotel we knew we were in for a treat, with hundreds of screaming girls in matching shirts we knew he had to be prepared to not have eardrums when the Biebs took the stage.

As we were walking in, Natalie looks at me and says, "this is my first real concert." From that moment on I knew we were going to have a blast. When the first act took the stage Natalie and I agreed he was pretty cute. Until he said, "Hi my name is Cody Simpson, I'm 16 years old." We felt dirty, and continued to jam to his music. Then Carly Rae took the stage. And we danced around like the rest of the 12 year olds to Call Me Maybe. And finally, it was Justin's turn. After loosing my hearing from the teenage girl screams, we enjoyed a great concert. We danced the entire time and had a blast. Make fun of us if you want, it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e. When the concert ended at 10:15 we were extra excited, a fun filled night ending with hot wings and sweet potato fries and early bed time.

After spending a fabulous, much needed girls weekend with Natalie in Nashville I'm sad to be back in Knoxville. But, I head back to Nashville in March for church camp, Lady GaGa and Maroon 5. There isn't anything to complain about over here!

Here are some pictures from this weekend. I really loved how J.B. put on an actual show. Plenty of set changes, costume changes and lots of dancinggggg!

A little Tuesday Inspiration

It's Tuesday. And it feels like Monday. I woke up with a nice cough/sneeze and it only seems to get worse as the day goes by. With my eyes beginning to droop, it's now that I come with some inspiration.  That is the second time I had to right click to correctly spell inspiration. "Pray hardest when it's hardest to pray." And you can thank my oh so wonderful 17 year old that I once was her baby-sitter friend Lauren for this beauty.

I've tried to update Facebook status' today, failed each time with improper spelling and officially gave up. Instead, I'm going to make another glass of tea, turn on Taylor Swift and hope that I can push through and get some website writing done. And if not, I'll sit in my little office and listen to Taylor Swift anyways.

Happy Tuesday....

SNOW DAY

I'm about 3 days late but I got to experience my first, grown up, get out of work early snow day. I know that snow isn't that cool to a lot of people, but as a Knoxville native who doesn't get to see snow that often it's really fun. And Luigi loves it! We heard the roads were getting bad so I left work at 2:45. At 4:15 I was pulling into my drive way only after unsuccessfully trying to back in and having to do a loop around the cul-de-sac to actually make it into the drive way. This is normally a 20 minute drive, and I saw 2 cars in ditches. Last time it snowed I spun the baby cruiser, threw it into a ditch and gave myself a concussion, luckily that didn't happen this time. When I got home I knew I had to have a fire to actually enjoy the snow day. Only thing, I was home alone and had never made a fire. So, after a phone call to Dad and a few trips to the wood shed we were up and running. Luigi and I enjoyed the nice view of snow falling, the warm fire and a movie. That is where I got bored and decided I didn't really like snow days. So I made dinner, watched Scandal my all time favorite tv show, at least this week and headed off to bed. After waking up at 7:30 to make sure I couldn't get to work which I decided I couldn't I got to lounge around the house until it was time to head to Nashville to be exposed in a later blog. In conclusion, snow days are fun. For about 3 hours. And if you have someone to enjoy playing in the snow with.

Love.

This morning (it was still dark) I was reading Pope Benedict XVI tweets. His tweet from this morning was "If we have love for our neighbor, we will find the face of Christ in the poor, the weak, the sick and the suffering." The first thing I thought was "who ever tweets for the Pope follows AP Style grammar... Go you!" But the more I thought about this sentence I realized how true it was.

Now, I'm not one for pushing religion on anyone, it's your life, but how can words like this not make you thankful for a sweet, sweet Savior. I have been going to church since I was 4 and once I started college my appearances came few and far between. Senior year I became friends with the ever so wonderful Caroline Pekarsky and really started attending Mass again. I feel like she came into my life at the perfect time and spending my Sunday evenings with her and Father Eric made everything in my life seem a whole lot better. But, it's not just attending your weekly church service that makes you a better person. It's seeing love in those around you. And boy did the Pope hit the nail on the head this morning. After all, I do think that's his job.

After a stressful couple of weeks it's nice to be reminded that everything in your life will be okay, just see the love in the world. And I'm making that my plan for the rest of the year. Really looking for love in the smallest things. I truly believe if everyone took on this task this crazy world we live in would be a much happier place.

To remind me of this, I've written the Pontifex's words on my dry erase board at work. And I'm going to make it a weekly task--Find something that inspires me to be a better person. And you bet your bottom dollar I'll be sharing them too!!

Long Time No See.

Welp, it's been quite a while since I blogged last. But it's for a very good reason!! It was about a month ago when I worked two 80 hour weeks this is not a joke. And then it was Christmas. And then I flew alone for the first time to Chicago to spend a week with my love +Maggie Nichols. After a glorious, pizza filled, jacket wearing, Dance Mom watching week in the North I returned back to work. And since then I feel like I haven't slowed down. It's been crazzzzy! And I love it. But, now that I'm back into the swing of things, blogging will resume I know you were really worried. This spring should make for a fun one. It's packed full of concerts, home shows, weekend trips and maintaining some sort of life. I've included some pictures for your view pleasure. And a promise that the next blog post will be more than just an update on my boring life. But in the mean time, Natalie and I are going to Justin Bieber this weekend so you'll hear about that next week, don't you worry your pretty little mind. 

My cousin Brandon and me. He and his wife came from WI to see me!!! 

Brandon's wife, Candi, and me at the top of the Hancock Tower.

The view from the bar at the top of the Hancock Tower

Just the usual reunited pictures!

The first night there Maggie took me to a little bar around the corner from her apartment. 

The view from Maggie's window. And the most/only snow I saw while I was there.

The first full day I was there was spent shopping with my cousins and Maggie!

And the most important evening of the trip, NEW YEARS EVE!

Maggie took me to her old neighborhood where I got to walk around Lincoln Park and see the lake!

The day before I left Maggie had to work, so I ventured around Chicago alone, first stop after spending all my money shopping Navy Pier!

View into the city from the Pier.

Then I went to the zoo, and saw a sloth!!

Also saw a little hippo!

After the zoo I went to the Chicago History Museum. It was pretty cool. This is the bed that Lincoln died in... Pretty cool!

Grown Up Christmas

Well, this is my first "grown up" Christmas. I actually paid for all of my Christmas presents with my own money. It was really, really rewarding. It makes a huge difference to be able to buy someone something with money that you worked hard for. But, to work hard you have to go to work. And that makes it feel like it isn't Christmas. At least in my world. This is the first year that I've never had a month long hiatus from everything I'm doing to celebrate Christmas.

Especially since I'm working in retail again. Working in retail really puts a damper on Christmas. This holiday is suppose to be about love, joy and making the world a better place. So why are all these mall goers such pains? I'm SO thankful for two really great jobs and the money that comes with them but I wouldn't mind that whole month long break either.

But, to make things a little better I'll be in Chicago in 9 days. And I'm entirely more excited about that than I am about Christmas. I GET TO SEE MAGGIE!!! I'm beyond excited to see Maggie and my cousins are going to come down and visit. Hopefully after Christmas life will slow dow to a speed that allows me to blog more.

In the meantime, I'm making enchiladas for dinner tonight and am SO excited. This will be the first home cooked meal in a very, very long time. Especially one that I cooked. I have been looking forward to this all day. The next 3 hours need to fly by, I'm ready to be in housewife mode!!

I can't imagine blogging again before Christmas, so have a great and merry Christmas. Have a cupcake or 3 of Jesus' birthday!!

GRILLES

Well, you may or may not know depending who you are that I work at a window replacement company. I know nothing about windows. And that's an understatement. I do know a little about doors, which we also replace, because I sat through a 3 hour door class yesterday. Although, I'm still confused as to where exactly the "door jam" is.

Anyways, there are a lot of construction type words flung about here at the office, the most popular at least in my mind is "grilles." Being a child from the 2000s that wishes she was a cast member on Glee every time I hear the word I all want to do is sing.....

To make your day a little bit better since Wednesdays seem to just plan suck here's Grillz. By Nelly. Your welcome.