Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can't Lose

What a night of W's!!!! I must admit, sometimes being from and living in Austin, it's hard to root for any other team besides UT. Eeeeeeven when you're a Baylor grad. I must also admit I had no idea Baylor even had a good basketball team or such a cute muffin of a coach. But look at those Bears as they played their little pea-pickin' hearts out and beat Texas, winning THREE tourney games and now onto the Big 12 championship tonight!! (This would also be a good time to probably admit I don't really like basketball. And have no idea what I'm talking about. All I know is that during this time every year, I hear the word "bracket" entirely too often.) I found this picture that pretty much sums it up. Look at the Goliath Longhorn and that giddy huddle of Davids down below... Sic 'Em!!

So I'm torn because I want all of my excitement and pride to go towards the Bears, but there was another big win on the big screen last night... The Panthers won their first play-off game and move forward to regionals!!! That's right, the Dillon Panthers pulled off a nail-biting victory against Arnett-Mead to advance them onto the next "bracket"... This was an especially sweet win, due to the fact that Matty Saracen pulled it thru in the end with his newly discovered receiver talents. I would post a pic of the winning team celebrating on the field, but why do that when I can show you this instead...

Sigh.

So there you have it. Two reasons to be grateful you're alive today. I currently have on a green party cardi to show my BU support for the next showdown in a couple of hours... What about you? Pumped about Baylor or still basking in the glow of Coach Taylor's cunning move at the end of last night's game, cinching the final points they needed? Feel free to comment. And if you do not watch Friday Night Lights, I will now kindly ask you to log off this blog and do not come back again until you have rented all seasons and get caught up. C & P will then accept you back with open arms.

convenient trivia

tonight i stopped at the tigermart to get a diet dp on the way to my monday night girls group and ended up leaving with a little nugget of information that i will not soon forget.

after checking out the lady in front of me who purchased a large bag of cheetos, connie (woman behind counter) leaned in really closely, as if getting ready to kiss me or about to share the secret to the fountain of youth, and says... "hey. d'yoo know you can light a cheet-o on fiar and it won't ever go out? it's the truth. soldiers in iraq do it all the time."

you know what, connie? i did not know that. and i think i can safely say i'm a better person now that i do.

after researching this topic a little further, i'm sad to say i did not find anything that supports connie's theory. but i did find this:yay for rain in austin, texas! someone finally heard jim spencer's pleas. ok. i've enlighted you all on several subjects this evening and now i'm tired. sleep tight.

Weekend Moments...

So every now and then I have these moments (and this weekend I seemed to have more than usual)…

Friday evening I was driving home from a business trip and realized the previous days spent in San Antonio had truly grown me ‘professionally’…

When I got home that night I was exhausted, but my mind was racing with thoughts ranging from what I needed to do over the weekend to what’s the next challenge I’m going to tackle in life…

On Saturday morning, I was working and reacquainted with a client I had helped several months back. He is my Grandpa’s age, a cardiologist in town, and recently lost his wife…

I gave my brother and sister-in-law a tour of the neighborhood where I will eventually be working. When we got to the housing section we got out and toured a couple row homes…

I went to dinner at Mighty Fine (one of my new favorites) with my family and then went back to my grandparents and watched Fireproof…

I enjoyed my usual Sunday afternoon bike ride. Today’s was particularly nice because I realized spring is almost here. Wildflowers are starting to bloom on the Veloway. Trees are blossoming in the medians of my neighborhood…

I went to church tonight and the music was on- it seemed like we sang all my favorites. Then, the message was on 1 Corinthians 13:1-8…

...when I can’t wait to find my soul mate and share my weekend with him!

So until I find him, I am going to keep living life to the fullest, spending as much time with the ones I love, pursuing my personal and professional dreams, and praising Him… easier said than done- right?

birthday cards

i don't mean to be a party pooper, but are birthday cards really necessary? i mean, i get it if there's money inside (clearly), or if it's a picture of a boy pouring glitter from his hand, or if you are mailing b-day greetings from far away, or if you need to tell the person something special that is easier to write than say... but if you're just getting a card to say you got it, and it's just some un-funny hallmark with your name scribbled at the bottom, the practical side of me thinks it's just wasteful. save your $3.99 and get me a bag of sour punch straws instead.

this is not true for my mother. for ANY family birthday, there HAS to be a card involved. i should preface this by saying we are not a family of, how do i put this... pre-planners. so every single time we are getting together to celebrate someone's big day, there is always, without question, the obligatory card being "secretly" passed around underneath the table and everyone is blindly writing "happy bday, love ya" somewhere on the inside of the card. it goes without saying that this card was picked up at the nearest wal-greens by whoever is running the latest to the party destination. but we HAVE a card and that is the most important part, right, mom?

well, so yesterday was my grandma's birthday. and unfortunately, mimi is in the hospital right now. but does that mean there will not be a celebration (complete with hey cupcakes) involved? no, ma'am. so i get to Mimi's room and immediately my sister shoves the card and a pen in my hand... i of course know the drill, so i sneak over to the other side of the room to sign it, but my sister tells me: "don't open it. mom got a music one. if it goes off, mimi will hear it too soon." hmmm. sign the card, but don't open it. i manage to bend down a corner and scribble "love you, sem" in tiny tim handwriting.

long story short, Mimi finally opened the card (that she watched all of us sign five minutes before) and it WAS in fact one of those sound cards. it was a card with those two obnoxious pink cartoon things that talk in high pitch squeals (do you know what i'm talking about?) on the front and Mimi gets so excited and puts it up to her ear and hears these things screeching at her, saying (among other things): "You are a freak of nature and belong in the circus."

ummmmmm, what?! mimi doesn't get it at all, but we all bug our eyes out and look over at my mom who just shrugs and says, "what?! i didn't have time to listen to it beforehand!"

awesome. happy birthday, mimi. we love you. sorry you're in the hospital. and also sorry we apparently think you are a circus freak.

tootsie shout out at the stone!!

lct and i loooooove our church. the two people that immediately drew us in were the preacher (matt carter) and our favorite band member (jimmy mcneal). jimmy gets us going every single week during praise and worship. i mean just look at him...how could you not want to raise those hands and sing your heart out with this guy?? we have been very fortunate to have met him half a dozen times and don't worry, he is well aware of our obsession. however, he would probably think it a tad weird to see his pic on our blog.... oh well.

so back to the convo at hand... we got a major life giggle this past sunday night when matty c was discussing spiritual gifts and drove it home with this verse...

"Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body."

-I Cor 12:14-15

as if we needed more confirmation on the absolute necessity and importance of our feet... Jesus even agrees. so the Lord spoke thru matt and honestly and truly, he gave an awesome message. there were several great points, but more than anything he challenged us to FIGURE OUT what our "spiritual gift" is (aka the supernatural calling the Lord has specifically for you on this Earth) and then GET IN THE GAME. we can't assume someone else who seems to be better "gifted" is going to make sure others know of His life-changing, all-encompassing, unconditional love and grace... it is up to individual believers to make His kingdom alive here. this isn't an insignificant thing. people's lives are on the line. and it is the Holy Spirit's use of our time, our money, our administration skills, our creativity, our encouragement, our feet... that's going to make the difference. i'm just praying this truth becomes active in my life and doesn't just go in one ear and out the other.

ok, so not every one of my posts is going to be so serious and Biblical. but please, i couldn't let that blatant reference to cankles & petikei go without notice!! if you have about 30 minutes and want to hear for yourself, you can listen to it by clicking here.

also, get ready because we have a VERY important person we will be introducing you to soon. and it is going to be hilarious, i promise :) L, let's get on that this weekend, k?

and i will leave you with this tid-bit... i got a big 'ol chunk of skin scalpeled out of me today. talk about holy mole-y. not melanoma, but could've turned into it eventually. ugh. it hurts. (thanks mom and dad, for taking care of your daughter who is in her late-20's...) i have no idea what i am supposed to do with my self and my life this summer. i hope and pray i can still find it in me to go on living while i'm slathering on spf 110, trying to act normal underneath a silly, wide-brimmed hat. there was one highlight though- my dermie said my scar (from the last 'procedure') looked better than any she had ever seen!!!! i'm a miraculous healer. wait. now that i think about it, healing is a spiritual. gift. wow... we have come full circle, haven't we? i think i just fell in love with blogging! k bye.

R.I.P. Poker Face

Dear Poker Face,

You did it again. You called (oh wait I mean texted) our friend that you were in town, waited for the response (to help boost your esteem), got the witty hello (smiled), continued flexting (a.k.a. flirty texting), made plans to meet up… Then you disappeared (again). Bad news for you- our friend went out, sparked with someone else, called your bluff, and deleted all of your electronic communications.

R.I.P. P-p-p–poker face, p-p-poker face (Mum mum mum mah)!

Heart,
Lady LaLa

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I love when Google gets festive! It's the little things... Take a moment and do something that makes you feel like a tot- if only I had a heart shaped cookie cutter to make a heart sandy... guess I'll go see if Jeff wants to Go Fish or Play Uno!