Ode to Casie

It's never a dull moment at the castle.....the "JC Castle", that is!

Ok so yes, we named our apartment, we're dorks....what else can I say? But maybe the fact that we're just cheesy like that plays into why we constantly have so much fun, and why I absolutely adore my new roommate! Casie, I love your guts...this shout-out's for you!

Now i'll admit, I had quite a few reservations about getting a roommate. In fact, I didn't want one. I was very content living by myself, as I have for the past four and a half years. I've come to enjoy having "my space" (and no, I'm not referring to MySpace, that's a whole different blog for another time, one that will probably be titled "senseless addictions I should probably purge from my life, but im too hooked to let go of..." haha). Having just settled into my new place back in March, getting a roommate was not really on the agenda. Then I met Casie, We became instant friends, and randomly decided to take a road trip to Indiana together, where we had the absolute best time! We decided that we had so much fun, why not do it all the time, and save money too! :o)

Life with Casie, so far, has never been dull. Since she is a lazy teacher and home for the summer, I never know what im going to find her up to when I get home. Monday I came home to find that she had hung a shelf in her room - but the story can't be that simple. The shelf was slanted so far, I dont know how her frames stayed on it - and so were the mirrors that she permanently stuck to the wall behind it...she proceeded to remove them (and part of the sheetrock) with Windex, so that she could straighten them up, and put more holes in the wall to fix the shelf. Needless to say, we were laughing our heads off, and she is no longer allowed to do any decorating in the apartment without direct supervision from me. :)

And to add to the fun, here's part of our conversation while she pushed me around in the buggy (er, I mean "cart"...sorry Casie!) at Target the other day. (yes, you read right, she pushed me around like I was a 5 year old kid...we got a lot of weird stares, but it was fun! :)

Casie: (looking at a dog carrier bag) "Ooh, look how cute this bag is! I have to have it for my dog!"

Jamie: "Uh, Casie...you don't have a dog"

Casie: "Oh yeah..."

Since im a fan of top 10 lists (they're so much fun), here's a list of my top 10 reasons why I love my roomie:

10. We are in each other's space almost 24/7, and have yet to get sick of each other!
9. When either of us is down, we know just what to do to cheer the other one up.....go shopping!
8. You just never know what random comment is going to come out of that girl's mouth at any given time, and it usually makes me laugh my butt off.
7. She loves double cheeseburgers as much as me, and we've been known to venture out in the middle of the night just to satisfy a craving....(we suck, dont we Cas?)
6. She's the best hairbrush singer I know.
5. She has the coolest family ever!
4. She will chase a bug into the hallway, but make me kill it with her shoe.
3. I come home for lunch, and she's still in the clothes she wore yesterday, and just woke up (ahh the life of a teacher, haha)
2. She picked up and moved from small town Indiana to Atl answering the call of God to be involved at NPCC - the girl has such a passion for Jesus, it's incredible! She's on fire for God and it shows in all she does. I truly admire her passionate spirit.

And the number one reason I love my roomie is:

1. Saturday mornings when we sleep late, she'll plop down in my bed and we giggle like we're 14 again while we talk about everything in the world, and plan another exciting weekend - it's a neverending slumber party!

Casie, you've made it to my Blog Wall Of Fame...feel special, 'cause you certainly are in my book - i'm so glad we're friends, and even more glad that we're roomates!

How great is our God!

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast."
-Psalms 139:8-10

Tonight I tried to see just how far the far side of the sea is...and it's impossible. As I went for a walk on the beach this evening at dusk, and stood on the shore underneath the most gorgeous full moon i've ever seen, I strained my eyes to see how far I could possibly see... to catch a glimpse of what? I'm not quite sure. But what blows my mind is the fact that even though I can't see beyond the scope of the human eye, God can. He can do the impossible - He can see the farthest side of the sea, the heavens and everything in between, and doesn't even bat an eyelash doing so. He also sees the depths of my heart, and still showers me with grace, in spite of myself. Great is His faithfulness!
You're the name above all names
You are worthy of all praise
And my heart will sing
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD...

On the road again...

This time I flew solo...and it was fantastic! I love half-day Friday's at work!

After sneaking out of work at an astonishing 11:30am (a feat I rarely get to conquer), and having a great lunch (while meeting new friends!), I packed my bags and hit the road for South Carolina...a quick road trip to Hilton Head to spend some quality time with the family for the weekend. Since my parents and siblings were able to take off more work days than me, they were already at the condo - so I drove down alone. There's nothing better than being able to just take some time to close my mouth, open my eyes and ears, and bask in God's unyielding beautiful design in the landscapes all around me.

Apparently I was soaking in His glory a little too fast...or at least that's what my $180 speeding ticket concluded...oops.

Go figure that I drive 90 all the way there, and in the last 40 miles I get a ticket for going 75 in what I thought was a 70 mph zone (which actually turned out to be 60mph). Me and my stinking lead foot...oh well.

But even the speeding ticket couldn't put a damper on what was otherwise a fabulous drive. I just allowed myself to relax and try to clear my mind of all the clutter that has been my daily grind. Reeling in the warmth from the sun as I cruised with the top down, I turned my radio up and belted praise & worship music out at the top of my lungs, not even caring if I was on key! What a beautiful day to enjoy all the gifts God puts on display for us!

I'm here, and now after smothering my nephew in kisses (even though he's grumpy tonight and won't go to anyone but my dad), and spending a little time catching up, im off to go sleep with NO alarm clocks set for the morning! Tomorrow will be a nice relaxing day filled with napping, snoozing, oh and maybe a little relaxing. ;o)

Keep smiling...it makes people wonder what you're up to

Don't you just love it when your day gets off to a great start? It makes everything just that much better...

Today is a good day. I woke up on time (a rarity), and even had time to fix a cup of coffee on the way out. I hopped in the car, put the top down, and hit 11 of 13 lights green to make it to the office in record time (which also never happens). I settle in at my cube with my cup of coffee, and was elated to find out that my newest toy, my iTrip, will actually work on my little dinky radio that sits on my desk. Oh yes, I am quite content for the rest of the day knowing that my entire music collection is now at my fingertips all day long...my music can sometimes be my saving grace on stressful days - it calms me down, or revs me up when needed!

It doesn't even matter that some irate customer found his way to my phone line this morning and complained to me not once, not twice, but on THREE separate calls! For the record, I cannot activate/fix/repair/replace your phone...I just work in Human Resources for crying out loud people! haha. But it's ok - Mr. Groucho still didn't kill the happiness buzz that I have today.

Besides, his grumpiness was cancelled out when I went home for lunch and met Nate the Mailman, who was incredibly pleasant and overwhelmingly friendly. He took the time to learn my name so that he could put a face with the mail he was delivering, and apologized for only having junk mail to give me today. I told him I would rather get junk mail than more bills, but if he wanted to bring me a big fat check for a million dollars, or Mr. Right wrapped up in a nice little package, I would gladly accept them as well! He said he'd see what he can do. ;o)

Back at the office, my boss has left early for a weekend getaway, so I have a little bit of peace to catch up on the things I need to accomplish before I head out early tomorrow. I'm so excited, to only have to work 1/2 day tomorrow first of all, but also because im spending the whole weekend with my parents, sisters, brother-in-law and adorable nephew down in Hilton Head! It has been eeons since we've all been able to get away together, and im looking forward to the relaxation time just hanging with the family and enjoying their company. I'm driving down by myself, but im all set - I'll put the top down, my hat on, crank up Iggy (the iPod) and take some time to just breathe, soak in the solace of isolation, talk to God and maybe practice belting out a tune or two where noone can hear me mess up as I learn a new song. :)

Tonight...even better, dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday - sure to be filled with good food, conversation, and great fellowship! What a perfect end to a perfect day!

"Be happy, it's one way of being wise." -Colette

Memorial Day Mischief

Ahh...there's nothing quite like 4 days of friends, fun and sunburn all around!

As you know from previous blog posts, I LOVE a good road trip - and this weekend certainly qualified in my top 5. Our trip got off to a little bit of a slow start, taking us almost 2 hours to get out of Atlanta...gotta love that holiday traffic! I guess everyone and their brother (and their brother's brother for that matter) had the same idea as us...get outta town! But have no fear, we had plenty of iPods to keep us entertained while we sat in the parking lot we affectionately refer to as GA 400. About 7 hours and 200 girlie song selections later, we finally pulled into Destin. Poor Mark, he never had a chance to play iPod DJ with 3 females overruling him in the car. Needless to say, this is what he looked like after listening to our "chick music" for what must have felt like an eternity...


And wouldn't you know it, we got in trouble TWICE in the first hour that we were there! First, Kristin, Leah and a few of the other girls decided they wanted to go for a night swim...even though the pool was closed, and the gates were locked. They scaled the fence and hopped on in. Little did they know that there were security cameras all around the property, and before their fingers and toes could even begin to prune, a security guard came running out threatening to call the police! The girls shimmied back over that fence quicker than you could say trouble. Then just as all 16 of us decided to chill out, chat and enjoy the view on the guys' balcony, we get a knock at the door from security that we are being too loud and we have to move the party inside. Oops!

The majority of our days were spent lounging in the beautiful sand or at the pool, with a few volleyball games and a guys' golf outing thrown in the mix. Lesson learned: don't lather up in SPF 30, float around in the pool for 4 hours, THEN look to see if your sunscreen is waterproof (which it wasn't). Needless to say, aloe became our good friend. We filled the evenings with fun dinners out, and of course what trip would be complete without a little dancing thrown into the mix? Saturday night was dinner at Red Bar, and Sunday after dinner at Back Porch we hit up Baytown for some fun booty shakin', rolling back into the condo at about 3am. By the time we headed for home on Monday, we were burnt and tired, but it was well worth it. Fun times had by all!

And now, in true Letterman fashion, I will present to you the Top 10 Reasons I loved this weekend:

10. You CAN freeze to death at the beach in May...condo thermostats are posessed.
9. Surprise mystery guests are fun!
8. Ten girls in two bathrooms can get ready faster than 8 lazy boys.
7. Betsy can sweet talk her way to getting just about anything she wants (just ask the bouncer at Baytown!)
6. Go Kart races are fun, but you'll always catch Will "ridin' dirty"
5. 80's Mixes on iPods are the best for road trips!
4. Flipping Leah backwards off a deflating air mattress can never get old
3. New friends, new memories and endless laughs always make me smile
2. Food made with looove always tastes better (but not better than food fed via the airplane method)

And the number one reason I loved this trip...

1. You're never too old for a good 'ole fight-till-you-draw-blood game of spoons!

If this weekend was a preview for how the Labor Day Retreat will be this year, then I can't wait for September! :o)

Livestock in suburbia?

I saw the most random thing yesterday on the way home....

As I was sitting at the intersection of Glenridge Dr. & Johnson Ferry Road, I watched a very nice black Toyota pickup truck pull out of one of the upscale neighborhoods...with two BILLY GOATS in the back! In the infamous words of my good buddy Matt...what the pants?!?

Ok, yes I know this is Georgia, and it's not uncommon for people to let their dogs jump in the back of the truck and make a quick trip to the store...but I just don't see someone in a nice suburban neighborhood in Dunwoody saying "hey honey, ive got to run to the store and im taking the kids" (and by kids, I mean baby goats...yes, pun intended), then toss the goats in the back and head on down to Kroger? Hmm...not exactly something you see every day. I'll admit, I had to do a double take.

I laughed half the way home, and wondered what type of livestock or maybe even exotic animal I might see hanging out of the sunroof of a Lexus on Ashford-Dunwoody tomorrow...;o)

Wednesdays with Mema

With a busy and often chaotic schedule that keeps me all over the place, sometimes its nice to have just a little bit of pleasant consistency...

I know that I can look forward to this every week...I know that no matter what other crazy things are going on during the week, Wednesday evening means that im going to make the weekly trek up to Acworth for dinner with my grandma, a tradition we started when I moved a year and a half ago. She lives alone, and was so afraid that if I moved away from her (we used to live in the same neighborhood), that she would never see me again. So to make sure that didn't happen, I promised to come take her to dinner once a week to catch up, run some errands and just have quality time.

We go through the same routine every week - I call her when im on the way, and ask her where she wants to go eat. It's always the same response.."I don't know, where do you want to go?" When I get there, we ponder ideas of locations to eat while watching GSN (for those of you not in "the know", that's the Game Show Network....yes, ive gotten rather skilled at Lingo, Jeopardy and Who Wants to be A Millionaire...look for me on Wheel of Fortune one day!). One of her favorite things to do is have breakfast for dinner, so we frequent IHOP often...no complaints here, I love a good stack of buttermilk pancakes for dinner! One night, a man eating at the table next to us asked if we were sisters...we both looked at each other and died laughing. She was flattered (of course), I started to wonder how bad those smile lines on my face really were...but we both knew he was just a lonely old guy who wanted to strike up a conversation with someone...anyone, and flattery is always a good way to get people to talk back to you. Who doesn't like a compliment?!? ;o)

Our dinner conversations often center around the events of the week...the weekly bingo update with how many prizes she won, and of course how "so and so" wasn't there this week because they had health problems, or how "so and so" has a new great-grandbaby. I fill her in on my week, and then we'll often talk about her next field trip with the Senior Citizen group at her church, or how her next door neighbor is driving her nuts because he keeps taking her trash can from the curb instead of his own. And aside from someone mistaking us for sisters, we often have good laughs like the time that she tried to cut a baby tomato on her salad, but it flew across the table and landed in my drink. Our waitress saw the whole thing, and I thought she was going to fall in the floor from laughing so hard - we were all in tears.

Dinner is often followed by a late night trip to Kroger to pick up a few items, and get her weekly case of water that she cant pick up by herself. We do a little shopping, and when we get to the register, she always asks me if I have her "Kroger Plus Card" ready, and make sure to tell them to give her the Sr. Citizen discount! I just smile and say yes, as always (if I haven't gotten that routine down by now, then clearly there's a problem..haha). I'll fill up her car with gas (because she is still scared to pump it herself), and we head home.

Back at her house, im put to work...performing little tasks around the house that she needs help with, like changing light bulbs, etc. We'll sit around and watch her favorite Christian TV station, and sometimes we'll pull out old boxes of pictures to sort...we laugh (and sometimes cry...I miss my grandaddy dearly), and make fun of old hairstyles and clothes. But I always love to hear the stories that go with the old pictures of when they were young.

When it's time to go, she always walks to the door and says the same thing..."I love you, be careful, call me when you get home." Yes, im almost 26, and I have to call her every week to let her know I made it home safely...if I forget, she hunts me down. Even if it makes me feel like im 8, I happily oblige, because I know she does it out of love.

Our weekly rituals may be monotonous and expected, but I look forward to them every week. I know one day when im older, ill look back and long for that simple routine...so while I can i'll cherish every Wednesday, and all of the prized predictability that comes with it. :o)

Is it Sunday already?

I love the weekends...when else can you cram as much fun as humanly possible into a 48 hour period and not worry the least bit about sleep deprivation? (hrm...or maybe thats just me....but I refer you back to my motto in my very first blog.."ill sleep when im dead!") Sleep is highly overrated. This weekend, just like so many others, brings a smile to my face when I think of all the fun and excitement it brought about. I won't bore you with a play by play, but here's some of my highlights...

- New roomies
- Root, root, rooting for the home team with 25 of my closest buds
- Fireworks in the city skyline
- New friends
- Random detours around Atlanta (and when I say around, I mean AROUND...literally)
- Salsa shaking my 'bon bon'
- Late night heart to hearts in good company
- Sleeping in, even when we have a ton of things to accomplish
- One word...IKEA...enough said.
- Doing laundry, FINALLY
- Family dinners, lots of love and Grandmommie's home made cookies
- Amazing baptism testimonies
- Crawling into bed at 1am Sunday night, thoroughly exhausted, but already anxious to do it again next weekend..

Have I mentioned lately that I love my life...?

"Praise be to you, O Lord...Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you' you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name."
- 1 Chronicles 29:10-13

I'm in love...

...with my new ipod Nano!!! Now I can literally take the soundtrack to my life everywhere!

Yes, I know it took me a little while to get with the times - I'm usually the one on top of the latest technology (because im a techie nerd at heart, with a super cool exterior), but hey a single workin' girl's gotta pay the bills. Anywho, so last Saturday I finally spent about 4 hours loading my entire cd collection onto Iggy (yes, Iggy the ipod, I named it - I name everything-my car, our apartment, the plastic fish that used to sit on my desk...im retarded, deal with it), and started creating some really fun playlists. I love the fact that I can create crazy playlists like "Cheesy 80's Music" or "Line Dancing Songs"....anything to fit my mood! And I love the fact that if I want to pop in my earbuds and practice my John Travolta-esqe strut to the Bee Gee's 'Stayin' Alive', I can without ridicule from the outside world, because noone knows what im actually listening to!

I love music. I love to listen to it almost 24 hours a day, and I have been known to bust out in just about any song when random conversation triggers my almost ridiculously accurate memory of lyrics. I may not be able to tell you what I ate for breakfast yesterday, but I can spout out every single line of "Ice Ice Baby" on a moment's notice. (pitiful, yes I know - but you wouldn't believe how many times my lyric knowledge has come in handy!)

Seriously, if it weren't for the sheer fact that I would appear socially exclusive, I would wear my headphones everywhere I went. I can drown out the world, and surround myself in my guilty pleasure...music. It's my outlet, its my expression, and now thanks to Apple it's always at my fingertips!

Iggy, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship... :o)

I got tanked!!

And no, I don't mean that in the way you're thinking! Yesterday during lunch, I decided to stop for gas on the way back to the office. As I was listening to Q100 and pulling into the gas station, I heard them say to be caller 100 to win free gas for a month....and guess what, I WON!! Wahoo! The DJ thought it was hilarious that I was actually at the gas pump as I was winning, talk about irony!

Now here's the funny twist to the story...

So, as I pull up to the pump, my gas gauge is literally on E (yes, I procrastinated filling up when the gas light came on the day before, but I figured I would just stop on the way to work). What I didn't know (because im a new Costco customer, and this was the first time I used their gas station), was that they only accept American Express or their Costco card, to which I had neither...AND no cash on me. Normally this would not be a big deal, I would just drive across the street to another gas station, except there is NO gas station anywhere near there or within a few miles of the office. At this point, im running pretty late to get back from lunch. I figured I probably had enough gas to get back to the office, but I had no idea whether or not I could make it from there to find another gas station in the opposite direction.

When I left the office that afternoon, I prayed all the way down the parking deck that if I could just make it to the gas station, that would be super. :) I've never driven so easy in all my life - usually my lead foot likes to take the lead, but I was barely tapping the gas pedal for fear of using up the fumes I was probably running on by then. To make it more interesting, it was pouring down rain...wouldn't that just be the most fun time to run out of gas...rush hour traffic and torrential downpours? Nice!

Luckily I made it to the gas station with a sigh of relief. And next week, ill make sure my gas light doesn't come on before I fill up, compliments of Q100! ;o)