"best week ever!"

so there is one perk of stilllllllllll being in school: a little thing i like to call spring break. i mean, i didn't go get crazy in PCB or anything, but i still had some good times. so here's a quick rundown of d-rap's SB2K8: whoo.

i started off the week with a trip back to good ole furman university. i hadn't really been back since graduation, so it was both weird and wonderful to be there. i loved seeing everyone, and eating at my favorite spots, and just being in a city i grew to love and now miss a lot. however, it was a bit odd being back. i guess sometimes when i leave a place, the way i deal with not being there anymore is to think that it doesn't exist anymore, like things don't keep happening when i'm not there. but they do. and so it's weird.

3 of my favorite things from the g-vegas trip:
1. izzy totally got my YL girls to ambush me, that little stinker. they all came and jumped on me saturday morning and i was completely confused. once i found my glasses and figured out who these twelve people were in bed with me, though, i loved it. we all ate breakfast together and just caught up on life. i miss them so much--i can't believe they're almost old enough to go to college!


2. needtobreathe at mcalister auditorium. if you haven't discovered this band yet, do so immediately. the show was awesome, and the encore was incredible.

3. monday morning i dropped izzy at her internship, and then proceeded to have one fabulous morning. first, i breakfast at greenfield's with my girl alex and got caught up sice she was out of town that weekend. then i had about two and a half hours to kill and it was too early for anything to be open so
i headed downtown and i walked. just walked. for blocks and blocks. and took pictures. it was a perfectly beautiful day........ the most relaxed i've felt in a long long time.



i was sad to leave but i headed home for a few days. nothing terribly exciting, it was just nice to be home and hang out with mom and alpal for a few days. shoutouts to:
1. emmy mathews, whose 21st birthday i helped celebrate on tuesday.
2. my hairdresser tracy who got engaged!

my tour of the south brought me back to chattanooga on wednesday night, when i was introduced to my new favorite activity: geocaching. it's like a treasure hunt in your backyard that no on else knows about. seriously, i felt like freakin' nick cage in national treasure or something. here's the website: they describe it way better than i can.

after hanging out and watching basketball for a few days, we celebrated saint patrick's day in grand fashion at murphy's on our last night of freedom. hilarious. here's a few snapshots, but see facebook for way too many more.

on a beautiful sunday, we ate lunch downtown at mudpie and sat on the deck enjoying the day. then, after almost eight months of living in chattanooga, i finally got to go hiking! we took a trail from snooper's rock, did some climbing, got saved by brandon and josh from certain death, and took some incredible jumping pictures.

it was a great week.

i saw so many people i love, and it was so incredible to relex and find rest and comfort in those relationships. i feel so incredibly blessed to have all of you in my life, so thank you for being such a source of strength in my life.

and for those i didn't see, i miss you a lot. expect a road trip soon. unless you've decided to live really far away, like say, i don't know, mexico. or california. you jerks are SOL. i'll have to love you from afar.

like it's just r-r-random, r-random.....

alright, sarah, here you go.

7 random things about me:

honestly, i'm pretty random, so it was more an issue of narrowing this list down to the most random. however, i'm getting pretty good at "choosing the BEST answer" because my teachers are psycho test-makers, though, so i hope i chose the seven BEST things.

1. i'm a compulsive sequential tv flipper. i watch the preview channel, identify however many show i wish to watch, and in what order those channels are arranged on comcast cable. for example, let's just say what not to wear, scrubs, and rob and big are all on. (key to this technique is that it can't be any super-intense shows like CSI or house hunters--- i hate it when i watch the whole dang show and miss which house they pick.) i'll watch what not to wear until it goes to commercial, then flip to scrubs and watch that until it goes on commercial, and then go to rob and big (people let me tell ya bout my beeeeest friend...). here's the really weird part: if they're ALL on commercial, i watch a commercial on TLC, and if stacy and clinton don't immediately appear at the conclusion of that commercial, i go to comedy central and watch that commercial to the end, and i'd better see j.d. or you know i'm going to MTV. that's right, i am a psycho.

2. slightly less complicated than #1, i have exactly three beverages in my daily repertoire: water, milk, or diet coke. yes, i am from the south, and no, i do not drink sweet tea because it is deeee-sgusting. i know. apparently it's blasphemy and i could probably get banished to missouri for it. keep this one on the DL.

3. i pump gas and tip to the even dollar. the gas thing is all john rap's fault, he's the one that taught me how. the tipping thing is just my own weirdness. i'm a good tipper to begin with, but sometimes, i tip like 80 cents extra just so it'll be even. but i figure, hey, i've been a server and it sucks 72% of the time, and my 80 cents could easily make someone's day. it's all about giving back, people. remember your roots.

4. speaking of work, let's have a rundown of the random jobs i've had, shall we?
- countless babysitting jobs/ tutoring/ getting roped into helping with preschool biz-nass (props to patty cake for those.)
- birthday party hostess at Smart Toys and Books (where learning is fun.....)
- ice cream scooper at Baskin Robbins (i make a mean cappucino blast.)
- lifeguard at Whittington Creek Pool (thanks katie.)
- water aerobics instructor for Furman Learning In Retirement (and....jog it out..)
- server at Italian Market and Grill and also Cozymel's a.k.a. the Cozy (none otha........)
- nanny to the most adorable baby on the planet. (see below for proof.)

5. i buy books like most girls buy shoes. seriously, barnes and noble is my financial kryptonite. if i go in there, i'm dropping at least forty bucks on books i may or may not have time to read. i'll wander in there for hours, sit on the floor and look through the photography books, whatever. i love it. it's very soothing. i think it's the coffee/new book smell.

6. i am terrified of any and all things related to E.T. i watched the movie as a kid and it scared the junk out of me. if anyone so much as does the "E.T. phone home" voice, i flip out. reese's pieces are ruined for me. i still cannot watch it. people keep telling me "oh, it's such a sweet story." h-no it's not. finding nemo: sweet. ice age: heartwarming. monsters inc: precious. what is so adorable about a boy who befriends a slimy brown alien and keeps him in his closet and then they both almost die? no, thank you.

7. i have random pet peeves. to name a few:
- children on leashes. seriously. if you wanted a pet, you should have gotten a shi tzu.
- slow walkers. especially in the mall. move it or lose it, sister. i got places to go.
- when people use homonyms in the wrong place, a.k.a. your/you're, there/their/they're. i know this is picky, but annamarie hughes ruined me for life in the ninth grade with that freaking green pen of death and i never forgot.
- people who don't use blinkers. really, is it that tough? burn a calorie or two, save a life; it's a win-win situation.
- usage of the phrase "all that and a bag of chips". it made me cringe in '98 and still does now.

so there you have it. all my deepest, darkest, most random secrets.

oh, and here's my nayla bug :)