Heard It Here First

How is it that The Bachelor/Bachelorette television franchise is still in existance? What's more... how is it possible that we all. still. watch?!? I happen to believe this might be one of the best seasons yet... Jilly is fun, down to earth and loves pahncakes, while the gents are all emotional/metro fame hogs, looking for their 15 minutes. This has hurling-off-balcony-meltdown written allllll over it. So, I'm not going to talk much about it, except to say my prediction for the winner... and if not the winner, then I'd like to say he's at least the best one on the show and if it doesn't work out with he and J, I'm pretty sure I could scrounge up a rose around here somewhere for him.

Without further adieu, SEM's pick for the winner of the Bachelorette Season Eleventy Billion & Two goes to...

Punkin Mister Ed!

You might be thinking you haven't really noticed him... which is how CH & ABC usually like to play it in the beginning. He's the dark horse! Trust me!

p.s. check out the ihategreenbeans blog on the right. this chick has been doing bach re-caps for ages and is hilarious.

one of those days

so i've been going back and forth with whether or not to blog about this. not because i don't want to talk about it, but i know most of our visitors come to c&p while they are at work and need a break or want to giggle and not think about debbie downer subjects. but, as i reminded myself, we started this blog to talk about LIFE and well, in life, sometimes... you-know-what happens.

it was about a month ago. i woke up late and was rushing downstairs to scramble some egg beaters and i quickly noticed i heard NOTHING from my right ear. (*note- this is not a story about me losing my hearing. but it adds to the drama for sure.) my balance and head and just about everything was so off. so i was running late, hearing-impaired for no apparent reason, wasn't paying attention and ended up tripping in the shower, bruising the back of my leg like you wouldn't believe. then i start putting on my make-up and just dropped my palette 'o eye shadows, breaking ALL SIX OF THEM and making this huge mess on my bathroom floor that i have absolutely no time to clean up. clearly worse things have occurred, but let's all agree that it just wasn't the greatest way to start a week. and after driving 20 minutes to my office where i was constantly swallowing, holding my nose and blowing, jerking my head down to the right like my life depended on it- having NO escape from the clogged ear- i got out of my car and decided it was just one of those days and i was going to be in a bad mood about it all.

you can imagine how overwhelmingly thrilled i was when i walk into my office and hear from my co-worker that our bosses were on their way over to meet with us. super. looooooong sales meeting staring us in the face... guess i now won't have my monday am ritual of going through all the weekend pictures posted by my facebook friends.

long story short... after the meeting, i leave to run a quick errand and my boss follows me out and he tells me he hates what he's about to do, but he has to lay me off. (i'm having to read his lips the entire time because i still cannot hear, mind you...)

yep. it's one of those days for sure.

i kinda look at him funny and say, "ok? what happens now?" he starts in on how sorry he is and here is how i'll be paid out and insurance this and sign here that and nothing is really computing in my brain because as he is talking, all i'm thinking is- the carpet has officially been pulled out from under me and i have absolutely no control over this situation.

i gave him a hug and told him i still needed to run this errand and would be back to get my things. i walked to my car, got in, sat there, and the first thing that came to mind was this. i know, i know, of all things a person's BLOG was what i immediately thought of. you must read this story if you haven't already, but the jist of it is about this precious woman who goes in for a sonogram for her fourth child and instead of hearing her little girl's heartbeat, she hears that her baby is ill beyond repair and will not live.

talk about one of those days.

and in the face of unbearable pain and disappointment, she heard this diagnosis from the doctor and simply says, over and over again, "i think that my Jesus is the same as He was before i walked into this room. He's no different... He's no different." that is the quote that came to my mind as i sat in my car and had to choose. was it going to be one of those days where everything went wrong and nothing is fair and my attitude will be that of bitterness and anger... OR... or is today going to be one of those days. one of those days i'm thrown a curve ball and have the opportunity to choose to believe that nothing is bigger than the Creator of days and the cry of my heart is to trust and love Him now more than ever?

one of those days or one of those days. it's our choice.


lct and i got the whole idea for cankles and petikei because no one told us what real life is really like. you graduate from college and think, "this is going to be a cinch! let the good times roll!" instead you are almost immediately thrown into this massive game of tackle football where getting the wind knocked out of you isn't so much a rare occurrence as it is the norm.

i'm happy and humbled to report that in the middle of my fourth quarter a month or so ago, my God came to me in the instant i called out to Him, met me where i was, and allowed me to experience His peace and comfort like never before.

and i say fourth quarter because as i am now in my late twenties, i feel like a new game has GOT to be about ready to start, right?! :) and as i get pumped up for it, i feel more prepared and more equipped than ever before... and i believe it is because of all this training i've experienced in the form of those days. they seem to make all the difference in the world.

Thank You, Jesus.

(thank you, Jesus, also for friday night lights, the greatest tv show ever, that never fails in giving me perfect life analogies right when i need them. thank you also for police cars. i know tripp black thanked you for those last night before dinner, but i thought they could probably use another shout out. amen.)

First Loves

Ok, so I had a really weird thing happen to me the other day…. I saw a picture of my "first love" holding his new little baby girl and I have to tell you, my heart m-e-l-t-e-d. I mean literally my heart was overcome with pure joy and excitement and might have even skipped a little beat. For a moment I looked at this picture and had a gi-normous smile take over my face, which then faded as tears of happiness began welling up in my eyes, which soon turned into streaming tears of "Oh my gosh...oh MY gosh... OH MY GOSH, you're a dad” tears! And once I got to that point, I got sad. My heart kind of hurt, like ‘Really, you're a dad?!... Really?... and why do you look exactly like I always imagined you would look holding your first child?’

I can’t even recall the last time I saw this person or even spoke to him, but for a split second I was taken back to the summer our paths crossed for the second time in our lives. Then, the next thing I knew I had a slide show of flashbacks flood my mind… It was a summer night before we started high school and we were both totally coming out of our awkward adolescent phases and immediately clicked in front of the Tabernacle at Highland Lakes Baptist Encampment. If I remember correctly, I referred to my Bible as a "Holly Bib-le", and he immediately caught my nervous, witty, attempt at flirting- turned his head to look at me, gave his cocky/notorious grin, squinted his eyes and flirted back!

The slide show continued to my first kiss (with him) on a church bus. I thought about John Michael Montgomery’s song I Love the Way You Love Me; David Lee Murphy’s, Dust on a Bottle; and the New Radicals’, You Get What You Give.

I remembered when we both got our driver's license, which meant we did not have to spend hours on the phone each night. Instead, he would come get me in his blazer (White Lightning) and we would just drive- usually out to the lake because that was “far” to us and would get us just enough outside the city limits that we could get lost in all the "what if'" conversations of life, ultimately dancing around the topic of "us". You know what I'm talking about or maybe you don’t because this was our M.O. We were notorious for “I won’t show my hand, unless you show me yours”.

The memories continued through numerous church events, a family trip to Lake Whitney, High School Graduation, Beach Trips to Port Royal, Ranch Trips, Lessons on how to drive a standard, Lake Days, Sonic trips, dinner at Shoreline, etc.

All in all we knew how to live and love each other to the fullest. Unfortunately, we also knew how to bicker and upset each other to the fullest. Our friendship continued through college and briefly after college. We parted ways after a visit to Atlanta when it became clear to both of us that we had each grown…in different directions, but the right directions that God had carefully planned for our lives.

First Loves- we've all had them. Mine was a good one and to this day makes me laugh, smile, and roll my eyes thinking back through the host of memories and fondly remembering the feelings that were associated with each. It’s funny how these memories resurface from time to time and absolutely weird at the same time. Now, if I know him like I think I do, he is going to be the best dad in the world and spoil his new little lady rotten… with camo gear!

Traffic Humor

I'm driving home from work tonight and totally got the giggles when I saw this to my right:

Rain Humor

Compliments of Theodore Dykoski!

Q: Why does Snoop need an Umbrella?

A: Fo' Drizzle!

We HEART Teddy and all his monogrammed Jon Hart luggage!

latest obsessions

i'm having a hard time putting into words how much i love amy poehler. it's hard to contain because she has been all over the place lately! a couple of weeks ago was her "best of" snl, "baby mama" has been playing on hbo non-stop, and "parks and recreation," while it is dragging a bit, still gives me such joy to know i can tune in each week and support this lady who i love. below is my favorite snl character she does. you might recognize it from the show, or your name might be rick and it will finally click to you why i yell your name really loud over and over and over again everytime i see you...




my next obsession, well, is pretty obvious... clearly if you know me at all you know justin timberlake and oprah are my guiding stars, but what i would like you to focus on is jt's GLASSES! aren't they adorable?! he is a style/dancing/sweet singing god amongst men... that's all there is to it. here's a tip to all of you guys, reading this blog, who have spent hours upon hours sitting in your room, wondering how to get my attention and make me fall in love with you... um, get some of these glasses and we'll talk.

this next picture also contains several obsessions in one as well. sweet blake chandler martin will be my obsession until the day they take me out feet first, as is her mother, who is one of my nearest and dearest, but again, you must look beyond the people and see the... wait for it... TOWN GOWNS! old navy town gowns are sweeping the nations, people. it is the most comfortable clothes item i own and at $15 a pop, they are recession-proof. i hope you can notice that we even put baby blakey girl in a tiny tim town gown for our big shopping excursion in sugarland last week :)

ok. that's all i have at the moment. good news- lct swore she had a post coming tonight, so be looking for that! (and yes, lauren, i put this in so that you feel pressure and will make SURE you post later...)

peace, love & the 3 W's... sem

come be my light

that's the title of the book i'm reading right now. it's a collection of mother teresa's writings and even though i'm only on page 50, i highly recommend it.

so after she received the call from Jesus to go to the "poorest of the poor" in calcutta, the words "i thirst" (words spoken on the cross before Jesus died) kept coming back to her. she meditated on thirst, that "physical need of longing for what is missing" and told her followers something that i want to pass on to you tonight, as they were such a word of encouragement to me today:

"Jesus wants me to tell you again... how much is the love He has for each one of you-- beyond all what you can imagine... Not only He loves you, even more-- He longs for you. He misses you when you don't come close. He thirsts for you. He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy...

Why does Jesus say 'I thirst'? What does it mean? Something so hard to explain in words-- 'I thirst' is something much deeper than Jesus saying 'I love you.' Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you-- you can't begin to know who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be for Him."

Jesus, help us to believe you thirst for us. it's impossible to understand. but it's real nonetheless. thank you.