Weekend Recap!

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!!

It was a gorgeous weekend in the Sunshine State.

Saturday I met up with a couple of friends from school and went to the Orlando Chili Cook-off. It was packed and SO very hot. It seriously felt like a 100 degrees outside and I got totally sunburnt. Only in Florida can you get sunburned in February, ha! But it was alot of fun. The great thing about this is all the proceeds went to benefit the Special Olympics, and not to mention WONDERFUL chili.

There was entertainment.

My friend Danielle and her daughter Avery.

Tons of food besides chili.

My friend Lynne.

Can we please have a moment of silence for these deep-fried oreos? Amen!!

Saturday night the whole family cooked out over at my brother and SIL’s house and my sister and I spent the night over there with them. Then we all went to church Sunday morning. They go to the cutest little country church. Wish I had gotten more pictures but these are the ones I got :)

Loved waking up to seeing these sweet nieces!!

The sweet family before church!!

After church we all went out to eat and then we left my brother and his family and headed back home. Sunday was another GORGEOUS day!!! The parentals and I took a bike ride.

Seriously, couldn't have been a more picture perfect weekend!!

It was nice to spend some time outdoors this weekend and spend time with family and friends!!

Princess meets country girl.

I have to laugh.

I love that my brother and sister-in-law have a facebook page because I can stalk their pictures of my nieces, ha!

Lets make a comparison here, shall well.

My niece the princess.

My niece the country girl.

I love this girl and she's growing up WAY too fast!!!

And can't leave out this cutie :)

Could this family possibly be any cuter??

Thought of the day (and a winner and a poll.)

An OLD woman once said …There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good. So, love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down ...is a part of LIFE, getting back up is LIVING ~


And congrats to the winner of my little name game:

Cindy said...
I grew up in Houston, TX. We were touring some of the historical Mansions. One house used to belong to the Hogg Family. There pictures of the family all around. They had 2 girls. The girls names? Seriously....IMA HOGG AND URA HOGG. Those poor girls!!!!!!

I'll be emailing you to get your address for your little prize!!

This was so fun and some great names! VERY unique ones to say the least and I trust that each and every one of them were ligit, and on second thought, for some of the people's sake, hope not, ha!

Also, on a more serious note, I have a poll for you, my wonderful readers.

I just wanted to get some feedback from you. How long have you been reading this blog? What do you get out of it? What do you like or dislike? Any and all feedback is appreciated.

I know I strictly blog for me and for me alone, but I enjoy your input also.

I've been struggling because I feel like I've kind of gone away the past few months or so from the documentation of my life, and just blogging about random things.

Honestly, I'm in a season of my life where I have absolutely no idea of what kind of season this exactly is. I feel like my life isn't as exciting these days. Keyword being "FEEL" and I know that's not true. But my life is just kind of at a point right now where it "just is"... Does that make sense?

Doesn't mean I'm not enjoying my life and this season and I know I have lots to looks forward to, but trying to be discerning of what God is trying to teach me and want this time and season to be purposeful.

So bear with me, please! There are exciting times in life and those times where the words and life don't come as easily to the keyboard.

I know this is kind of all over the place, sorry!

Wordless Wednesday: Picture fail.

I just came across this and it made me laugh today, and hope it does you too, haha!!! We were taking pictures and this is obviously a blooper!!

No Miss Photogenic award for me. LOL!!

This was over the Christmas holidays as you can see, and of course my goofy sister :)

PS: I realize I'm totally late on naming the winner for the name game. I'll be back tomorrow with that.

Light

Matthew 5:13-16:

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? ... You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.


Took this picture a week or so ago one evening and thought this scripture was appropriate. I was scrolling through my pictures on my phone and had forgotten about it.

Go light your world!

Unexpected blessings.

I go a week without blogging and I have no idea where to start.

It's funny, because I'll think I don't have anything to say or share at the moment, but when I come back, I find that I indeed do.

Life has been interesting.

God is good.

Life is good.

I have to share something with y'all. God once again showed himself to me these past few days and constantly reminding me of how truly blessed I am.

I got my income tax return back and was able to pay off one of my credit cards and a majority of my other credit card and still had a big doctor bill that I was paying off on.

This past Saturday morning I went online to my banking and see that a deposit had been made that I know I DID NOT make. I'm thinking it was an error by the bank surely.

I call my Mom up and was like Mom, I'm not sure what's going on but there's money in my account and a deposit has been and I know something is not right.

At this point, I'm totally clueless.

I can hear the smile in my Mom's voice and she was like "Happy Valentine's Day".... Obviously this was after Valentine's Day, ha. And then she said we(meaning she and the hubby) put it in your account because they know how hard I've been diligently trying to work to pay off stuff, and they wanted to bless me so that I could pay off my remaining debt.

My mouth dropped. Was not expecting it at all. And I wanted to cry, cry, cry.

So I'm proud to say that I am now DEBT FREE except for my car payment which I am diligently going to be working my hardest to pay off. NO MORE CREDIT CARDS!!!!!!! And now I have an emergency fund!!!

My heart is as light as a feather.

As I've shared before, my parents are awesome. Beyond amazing. Don't know what I did to deserve them, but I'm forever indebted. Also, as I've shared before, I've moved back in with my parents for the time being. It was the smartest thing for me to do at this time until I get in a better place to get fully out on my own.

Again, I say I am blessed. This is providing me the opportunity to save, save, save. I've started the Dave Ramsey class this past week and so I am well on my way.

I am so hopeful. I no longer carry the huge burden of credit cards and I'm so so thankful.

I don't say all of this to brag, I truly don't.... I just always want to remember this feeling though. It's so easy to let finances and all the other struggles in our lives weigh us down and it's just nice to be reminded that if we can just remember how blessed we are, everything else will work itself out.

I am blessed.

So truly blessed.

Talk about unexpected blessings.

L.O.V.E

In my jewelry box there are quite a few significant pieces of jewelry that have come to mean a lot to me. Most of them come from my grandfather who passed away in 2009. He was a jewelry maker.

He made me a necklace with Jesus’ face on it and it sits on the shape of a cross. It’s probably has become one of my favorite pieces of jewelry from him.

I’m wearing it today.

Today is Valentine’s Day and if you’re single it might not be one of your favorite days. I might joke about Valentine’s Day because I’m single myself. But if you put aside the candy, flowers, and stuffed bears, I really do love the meaning behind the day. A day to focus on love.

Love comes in many forms. But as a single, today I have one love to focus on.

Proverbs 3:3- Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.


And I bought a Valentine’s gift for myself. It’s the gift that keeps on giving (to my thighs of course).

Hey, it's Valentine's Day!! :)

Hope y'all have a wonderful one!

What's in a name??

Okay, so I just hung up the phone with a gentleman by the name of William Williams…..

Seriously?!?!?!?!

So I took it to Twitter and asked what interesting names people have come across.

Got some interesting ones:

Baby Girl Williams

Flossy Pillow

Precious Moments

Stephen Stevens

Rich Richardson

Carole Carrell

Just to name a few.

Do you have any to add of your own?

Just a little Thursday fun :)

And lastly, what are some parents thinking when naming their kids????

UPDATE:
Okay, so I've decided I'm going to have to give a little reward to the person who comes up with the best names. These are so great. My entertainment for today :)

Wordless Wednesday- Getting my hair did!

Today, I’m just excited to get my hair done.

This is kind of what I feel like right now; my hair is out of control, ha! The longer it gets the harder it is to manage and this hair cut is way overdue.

It’s the one thing that I do for myself; and it’s amazing how a hair cut can make you feel like a million bucks!

It’s the simple things. Amen?

Love,
Medusa

UPDATE:

I feel like a brand new woman!!!!!!!!!!!

You are my sunshine when skies are grey!

Right now I’m looking out the window. It’s like the grey skies are at war with the sun.

The sun so desperately wants to come out and it peeks out and then a few minutes later, the skies go grey again and it’s been going like this for awhile now, going back and forth, back and forth.

This morning I woke up feeling blah and like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. Just a lot going on and I’m a worrier by nature. I really don’t like this one attribute about myself.

When I woke up, I immediately started reflecting on my worries. I hit the snooze button and didn’t get out of bed until I absolutely had to.

Blah.

It’s so true when they say that the weather affects your mood. Immediately when I saw the sun this morning, my mood started to pick up.

Something about the sun makes the heart happy.

As I’m writing this, the sky is back to grey again. But the sun, or (“son” I should say) is still there. Still there waiting to press through the dark and gloomy clouds.

The grey clouds maybe you waking up in a blah mood such as myself today.

The grey clouds maybe worry and doubt.

The grey clouds might be any hard time you’re going through right now in life.

"You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away"


I know Jesus is my sunshine, and it was like he was audibly speaking to my heart this morning and this song instantly came to my mind, and it was like he was saying you’ll never know dear, how much I love you.

And I know he won’t take my sunshine away!

10 years seemed so far off!

Back in May of 2002 when I walked across that stage to receive my high school diploma, 10 years seemed SO far off.

I still remember Vitamin C’s graduation song “Friends Forever” playing as we threw our caps up in the air.



10 years felt more like eternity.

Didn’t believe it when people said time flies after high school. But it is so so true.

It just kind of hit me today; NEXT year is my 10 year class reunion.

As I reflect on these past years I think about where I am versus where I thought I’d be. I think about where others will be in their life as we all gather to reconnect again.

Every time I think of my reunion, it takes me back to the movie Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.

I guess I could always say I invented the post-it notes?!?!? (If you’ve never seen the movie, you won’t get that, ha)

This is by far my favorite scene in the whole movie while they’re at the reunion.



Maybe my best friend Melissa and I could pull this dance off??

10 years did seem way far off, but guess not as far as I thought!

Gonna be a "Wicked" time!!

There are so many Broadway musicals I’d love to see. Seriously, I’d love to go to NYC and just spend my money seeing ALL of them, ha! They are just amazing and I know it’s some of the hardest work those people have to do.

I’ve only seen the Broadway musical “Cats” and “42nd Street.”

When I heard that Wicked was going to be coming to town next month, I was thrilled.

I love Wizard of Oz. And this should be really good.

The tickets have been purchased and March 13th just my Mom and I are going to go see “Wicked.”

It will be a great time with just us girls.

So, what about you? Like Broadway musicals? What’s your favorite? Have you seen Wicked?

Thoughts?

Sweet Tea: 25 cents

I stole these from my brother and SIL’s Facebook page.

My niece, the sweet tea entrepreneur!!

Bless her heart, they live out in the boonies on a country road and no one stopped by.

But she sure does look so CUTE on the job!! :)

Big House!

I’m just getting these words out for my own sake.

I’m sure y’all have all experienced times of transition. Well, I’m kind of going through one myself right now!

For the last 5 years I’ve lived in the same house. It’s a house I lived in with my Mom and sister. Our family went through a rough time and it’s kind of the house where my mom, sister, and I started over together, just us girls. So it's kind of bitter sweet. Then my Mom got remarried and my sister went off to school, and that left me just living there with my doggy. It gave me a good dose of what it’s like to be on my own, but without all the added responsibility of being the sole homeowner and it being “my house” that I owned.

I really did have it made. I was blessed, no denying that.

Well, the house went up for sale, which I was expecting but it sold A LOT quicker then what we were expecting it to. So I have 3 WEEKS to be out!!!!!

No worries though, I won’t be left to fend for myself out on the streets.

It turns out this is going to be a HUGE benefit for me and a major blessing.

So when I’m completely out of the house I will be splitting my time between my Mom’s house and my Granny’s house. My Granny lives by herself and my dog will stay there. There’s no telling how long my Granny will still be around, so I think this will be sweet time with her, and will be great for her. And my Mom’s house is closer to my school, so that works out as well too.

It’s going to be interesting how this works, but I believe everything happens for a reason. This is a season that is allowing me to save and pay off debt and get more financially stable to be completely and fully on my own. I’m taking full advantage of this time and going to use it wisely.

It’s will just be another season. The going back and forth between places will be crazy, and I’m trying to look at this season in a positive way. It’s hard to not have a place to call my own and a sense of belonging in a place that is mine.

But I do belong.

I will have two homes to call home right now :)

And then I come to this video by Audio Adrenaline:



And I’m forgetting one house. It’s a big house, with lots and lots of room. It’s my Father’s House :)