*hiccup*

So, I feel pretty nasty this morning (my head and ears are going "bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" and I kept waking up last night feeling puke-ish.) But yesterday was Brandon's birthday and I needed to tell everyone. Even though he told me to stop talking about him on here. ^_^

Birthday weekend started on Friday, when we watched a movie at my house and mom and dad bought a brownie cheesecake (after I tried to get two or three other things from other uncooperative places.) He got his presents from me and from them on Friday. Saturday we both worked, then I went to church with him on Sunday and stayed at his house all day. Ice cream cake was had, and we went to Golden Corral for dinner. I'm pretty sure that that is always where he chooses to go for his birthday because they have ice cream. It's not because it's a buffet- he only gets one plate, usually. I had two, but I don't think the second one counts because it was just those yummy rolls they have with their honey-butter spread.
So despite the fact that his NCAA bracket is messed up now (he, like so many others, had U of L winning the whole thing. I figure, they haven't done it since 1986, they're probably not going to do it now. But didn't think they'd be out this early. I digress.) I think he's pretty happy with his birthday weekend. And that's a good thing.

*yawn*

Despite having a very sore foot and a tired body after an interesting day at work, I am quite excited as a brief, casual conversation today lead me to think that a very big prayer request I have had for quite some time has a chance of being answered in a very positive way. This makes me very happy and excited. My prayer request now would be for patience, and also understanding that God works everything out, whether it's the way I plan it or not.

I'm a follower, not a fan.

If you have a bit of free time on your hands, please feel free to watch this sermon from my church from this past weekend. As a bit of introduction, I would like to say that I appreciate both of my pastors so much, and Kyle's sermons are always awesome (he's the associate minister.) Every once in a while he just completely hits it out of the park, as it were. God has blessed him with a knack for delivering particularly powerful messages on our culture today and the state of Christianity- and where it's headed. This message was so powerful he received many emails and was compelled to record a tiny little follow-up on his webcam (which is on the site, as well.)
If you want to be a completely committed follower of Jesus, and not just an "enthusiastic fan", you don't want to miss it.

A brief exclamation.

I have come to the conclusion that weddings- the business, not the concept- are a racket.

Recently my dad and I went out shopping looking for some wedding decorations. We stopped in Factory Card Outlet, a party supply store. I have been looking for some different iron-on crystals and things that say "Bride" or "Just Married" to decorate either a few shirts or a bag for my honeymoon (special treatment at Disney World, aka "pixie dust", being my motive.) Wal-Mart used to have so me for like, $2.50, They were almost nine dollars at FCO. Nine! I found a hat- just a simple baseball cap- with plain stitching that said "Bride" on it for $18, and a pre-wrapped plain white t-shirt with a cheap looking iron-on transfer that said "Bride" for $35. Oh, my word.
That much money could get me at least three shirts (that arent' wrapped in plastic and therefore I can ensure they fit) from Target and decorate them myself with stuff from another store.
I have seen $50 tank tops, $30 beach towels, and other such atrocities selling for ridiculous prices, simply because they have a wedding-related word on them. It's weird and sad and mildly infuriating.

I guess I should go back to cleaning my room now.

I may be freaking out a little.

Oh me oh my.
Do you know who is coming to my city in June? Only the coolest person ever. Cooler than Steve Perry or Barry Manilow or any of the other random people I appreciate on an odd level. Cooler even than, I daresay, Bono.

Well, almost, anyway.

It's.....

JOEL MCHALE!!!!!

Oh my gosh. I am so excited. I told Kelli, and she maybe may look into getting tickets for a late birthday present for me maybe (it's in June, my birthday is in May). Even if that doesn't happen, we must go. I will find a way. Joel is awesome. He is hilarious and neat. And we are his biggest fans.

Yay! *claps hands excitedly*

Don't you hate it when your glass sticks to the coaster?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how tired are you?
I'm about an eight. For reals.

Inventory is over and it wasn't horrible. Well, for me it wasn't. I wasn't mutilated by a blood thirsty wall fixture. I found a couple of CDs and finally, after a year of searching (since last inventory, actually), I found a Bible cover I like. And I even bought it (doesn't that go without saying?)

I dropped another class at school, and we found out that I can't take the semester off in the fall, unfortunately, without committing some sort of insurance fraud (which we would like to avoid.) I submitted an application to U of L, and might also to the community college so I can stay full time without digging myself into an even larger hole financially (I added up what I owe so far and let's just say with the money I owe, I could pay for my wedding, honeymoon, and put a down payment on a house for the same amount of money. Plus buy plenty of souvenirs. But on the bright side, it's not as bad as I thought it was.)

And now I must get back to my studies. I have a quiz tomorrow, apparently, and I'd like to be at least somewhat prepared for it. How many days until school is out? Maybe then my blog posts will be more interesting, since I will have a wee bit more free time, and will be wedding-planning full time.

The break is over.

So WinterJam was pretty cool. We left before 3:30 and headed off to Lexington, passing our state capital and marveling at all the signs pointing out distilleries along the way. I was under the impression that Bourbon was basically invented in Kentucky, but I had no idea we were so proud of it. There were also lots of horses. I assume none of them were drinking bourbon.
Our parking spot was pretty close to the arena, and there seemed to be a little crowd of people gathered near the entrance when we walked up. We were quite shocked to see how long the line actually was. I've decided I'm not a fan of "general admission". And next time, let me tell you, I will wear more sensible shoes. My poor feet are covered in pink Hello Kitty band-aids.
When we finally got to our seats, some tween band was finishing up "Footloose". I enjoy that movie, and Kevin Bacon, and Kenny Loggins and all that, but I'm not really sure why they chose to sing the theme song to a movie that basically makes fun of some Christians and their anti-dancing policies. Hmm. Francesca Batistelli was pretty good, but I don't think most of the people there knew more than one of her songs, so I guess it was good she only sang three. The Afters were just great, and Hawk Nelson was a lot of fun. HN got to perform quite a few songs. I must admit I wasn't a fan of NewSong, but they "hosted" the event so they got to sing quite a bit. At least they didn't do Christmas Shoes. *_*
After some awkward pandering to the youthful audience from the speaker, we had the privilege to see Toby Mac. Well, most of the time we could see him. During the last few songs someone thought it would be okay for their middle school-age children to come stand against the gaping railings (we were pretty high up) that happened to be right in our line of sight. The music was fantastic, though, and I'm glad I got to go. After a stop at Steak and Shake we got back at 1:30, technically, because of the time change, and I actually got up later and went to church. Go, me!

And now spring break is over, and I am sad, and later I will figure out how many days it is until Easter break. It may only be a day or two, but I don't care. I despise school. Blech.

Hopefully those of you who are going to have your spring breaks at a reasonable, spring-y time will have fun, too!

Newsflash

Someone found their wedding dress today and put a down payment on it. And someone also has some pretty sweet pictures of it, and someone would love to share but someone thinks maybe she shouldn't, because that might spoil part of the awesomeness that will be January 2nd, 2010. So you will either have to deal with the suspense or go to someone's mom's blog and see the picture she posted of some skinny tall model wearing said dress.

It'd be nice if someone baked some cookies.

Zoo day was today. It was colder than expected, most of the eateries and half the bathrooms were closed, and the garbage can attacked me (it's too complicated to explain, but my fingers still hurt). Also about a third of the animals weren't out, but I was still glad to spend a day with Brandon. I feel like we don't see each other very much anymore, because before I saw him a lot at school, and now, not so much. Anyway. I will be happy when summer comes because we can hang out more, and also I won't have classes. Hopefully he will get a job quickly...that's another post for another time (and a topic that has been covered many times before).
So anyway, because my life is usually pretty boring, when I take pictures, it's kind of a big deal. So here are some MORE pictures of the same old animals at the Louisville Zoo.

Lunchtime

Good morning. I am sitting here at work, half asleep, eating a bag of "Funyuns" for lunch. What are funyuns, you ask? They are a cross between a potato chip and an onion ring. They are crunchy and delicious. I don't think I want to know what they are made out of.
I got to work almost half an hour early this morning, completely by accident. My original plan was to leave the house at eight and go to the grocery store. Well, I thought to myself, I'd rather sleep in. I didn't leave until almost eight thirty, got my groceries, and wandered aimlessly around the store for a little while, and I STILL got here early. I brought my things in and put them in the freezer (Kroger's frozen food is on sale, if you're interested.) I thought about going and relaxing on this couch that we have out in the library until I was supposed to work, but no. We had a computer class this morning, which started an hour before we opened. I got here about ten minutes into it. I didn't start working until five minutes before I was supposed to, though. And I am the only clerk here, which means I've checked in the bookdrop, done all the reserves and the route-in books (things that are sent back to us from other branches) by myself, PLUS put together two carts of books for our page to shelve. I feel pretty awesome in the work department right about now. We will see how things go when other people start to take lunches, though...
I'm glad I feel good about work because I've been feeling pretty bad about everything else lately. Really, I have spent so much time crying lately about stupid stuff. I'm not really ashamed to admit it because I know that I have trouble coping with life sometimes. This is one of those times. I feel very unmotivated and short on time. I also feel like I get things wrong a lot. I have spent a lot of time lately worrying. I am really looking forward to the end of the week- I might be feeling better then. It's supposed to get warmer here, and Brandon and I are going to the zoo on Thursday, we are going wedding dress shopping on Friday, and on Saturday I am going to "Winter Jam" with Kelli. It's a Christian music concert in Lexington. I'm really looking forward to it. Some cool artists are supposed to perform, and I have been working on some spectacular mix cds for the ride up there (or over there- where is Lexington again?) I am kind of worried about going because the last time I was in Lexington was not good (tummy issues and panic attacks) but I keep telling myself I will refuse to let it get to me, because after all, we are going to hear Jesus music, and that will make me feel better.

Ten minutes later....I'm going to see if I can find some games to play online. I'm still working on those Funyuns. And my feet are cold.