you are the music in me...

:D i really like that song, and so what if it's from HSM 2??? it's one of those that i like to really belt it out when i'm riding alone in my car... but anyways, i had an inspirational moment the other night and i decided to try to capture all those thoughts into coherent words, so here goes...

i have realized of late that music has become quite a substantial part of my life. i mean, duh, i'm a product of my generation, so of course, i'm going to be slightly obsessed with music, but no seriously, it's a big part of my life. over the past few years i've become a GIANT fan of country music...i mean, 3 out of my 6 presets in my car are country stations; i watch CMT and GAC religiously; am a member on CMT.com; and spend ridiculous amounts of money to see my favorite stars in person (in the past 6 months i've been to see keith urban, george strait, brad paisley, and about to go see kenny chesney...). i seriously love it and think it is a passion of mine. and i think it's kinda funny because the extent of my musical ability is to play the kazoo and keep up when we're playing rock band... go figure.

but i was sitting the other night listening to my friends "jam" on their various instruments and i was just totally amazed at the gift God has given the world in music. my mind went back all the way to the first guy who thought "hey, if i stretch this string really tight and hit it, it makes a cool noise...and what if i put it together with this hollow box that i beat on...that makes a fun noise too..." and seeing how they all come together to make such beautiful sounds just utterly amazes me sometimes. because i try to imagine a world where music isn't there and it's impossible for my mind. music is a huge part of our world. it can influence our moods, our thoughts, inspire actions, whether their happy or sad. i mean, i've been in a situation before when i've had a totally crummy day and heard my favorite song and i cannot help but smile and feel my spirits lift.
music is also a huge part of how i talk to my God. there have been so many times when i've been praying and talking to God and my heart just picks up in the middle of a praise song. i'm so thankful for those who can put into words better than i can how i feel sometimes.

and to see people who have such a passion to play these instruments just totally blows me away. take one of my best friends for example. i was talking to his dad as he was playing the other night and he was telling me that when he was only 5 years old, his parents gave him a play drum set and he sat down that christmas morning and started beating out rhythms...which blows this little white girl's mind [i really have to work to have rhythm ;)]. and when he plays his guitar, you can just tell that he is in his element. its like that guitar is just an extension of his arms and hands, it's the most natural part of him. and he is doing what God has created him and blessed him to do, using his talents to glorify his Creator. and that's how i know he's gonna make it as a songwriter or recording artist, because i see how he is when he sings or performs, or the look on his face when he gets an idea for a song. his passion is real and he's got the determination to see his dream through.

i think if i could develop that kind of passion for the work that God has called me to do-- if i could look forward to going to the physical therapy office the same way i see my friends love their music, then my life will be one amazing ride. so challenge time: find your passion and follow it 100%. do the things you love and do them well. use your gifts that God has given you. if it's singing, then by gosh, sing. if it's dancing, then you better dance like there's no tomorrow dang it. or if its writing, preaching, racing nascar, knitting, flying airplanes, running, loving on kids, loving on old people, cooking, cleaning, talking, making movies, working on computers, training animals, or balancing spoons on your nose, then DO IT! find that one thing that when you do it, you feel like you're being your most...you. that one thing that if you had to describe yourself with ONE THING, that would be it. and then do everything you can to be the BEST at your passion. develop your talents and dreams.

wow, listen to me preach. guess i better get off here before i get too far gone. later days!

i'm just sittin' out here watching airplanes...

okay, so i'm not really sittin' on the hood of my car, lookin' up at a caramel colored sunset sky, but that song is still in my top 5 (gary allan, go check it out) and it fits my mood right now, so just indulge me a little...

today was just one of those days where everything kept making me smile. woke up and had some quality time with miley dog. went and worked out, FINISHED MY PROSPECTUS!!!
**just for the record, that was hanging huge over my head, but it's done, it was great, it's turned in, and i don't have to worry about it for a looooong while**

to continue my good day:
* got out of genetics lab early
* the weather was warm enough for a t-shirt and chacos
* spent some time at the smith farm with the animals YAY!
if you know me at all...me + the farm + the animals = me being my best me
* had the first "all intern, without brian, led wednesday night SOUL'D OUT and it went amazingly well!!! daniel did an amazing job communicating what was on his heart to our students. and they really got what he was saying. we had an awesome prayer time at the end. i love hearing my students pray. it blesses my socks off every time. they are developing such hearts for their lost friends and i can't wait to see what God has in store for them.
* surprise visit from joe! i really love that guy. he's always so encouraging and makes me laugh a lot! made me realize i need to go spend time with my second family before i leave for the summer
* got to talk to alan tonight about spending summer 09 in south africa... this seriously could happen and it would be an absolute DREAM COME TRUE! i'm stll praying about it, but God keeps opening doors and i'm still walking through them til He says stop!
* had late dinner with joe, pastor emmert, whit-dog, and daniel at SMOKEYS...mmm... we talked and laughed and closed the place down catching up.
* went to go check on the animals again with daniel. got to talk country music stuff and encourage one of my best friends.
*got a phone call from maddie and now have a "date" for spring formal...with all my girls!


it's days like these that make up for the not so great ones. i wish i could just bottle it up and bring it out when i need a little sunshine in my life. i know the next 2 months are going to be crazy busy, but i just try to savor days like today.

cowgirls...

just an update:

1. i worked for 8 hours yesterday at the PT clinic. LOVED IT. i really am excited that this is what i get to do with the rest of my life. i love talking to all the old people and hearing their stories. i had a conversation with a lady who was down in her back about sweet tea...made my day.

2. helped out at the Luke 14 banquet last night. every year our church puts on a night just for the mentally and physically handicapped people in our community. it was an amazing turn out. this year was county fair themed, which means i got to wear my boots and hat, which always makes me smile. my job was to get people dancing and having a good time. i loved dancing with some of the most precious men and boys that God has blessed in a unique way. they still look at the world through the eyes of a child and i love their carefree attitudes. if they felt like jumping up and spinning around in circles...or spinning me around in circles, they did. totally blessed my night.

3. may is getting close...which means camp is getting close. mixture of nervousness and excitement. still don't know where i'm going to be placed.

4. 27 DAYS TIL THE KENNY CHESNEY CONCERT! best birthday present ever. daniel and i will be on the 18th ROW to see brooks & dunn, leann rymes, gary allen, and KENNY CHESNEY. plus i get to spend the weekend in south carolina and hang out with daniel's family. totally stoked.

leaving to go adventuring with beka. later yall.

isn't it funny

so, the story goes: i was just about to fall asleep tonight when i got a call from one of my best friends. tonight he was fired up from being home for two days and having some restoration time with Jesus. he's started reading "wild at heart" (which, if you are a boy, man, guy, whatever, and you haven't read this book, DO IT!!!) anyways, he's been reading "wild at heart" which basically talks about how guys, in their innermost being, were created to be MEN. and on a grander scale, to be MEN, DANGEROUS MEN of God. and i think as a people, God has called us all to be like that, ladies too. our 45 minute conversation could best be summed up like this:

What if, as Christians, we were known for the way we LOVE people. not for what we stand against. instead of making what's supposed to be a personal relationship with a pretty amazing God into a list of do's and don'ts, what if we just passionately fell in love with Jesus and let the rest fall into place. i think the writer of Hebrews said it better than i could, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders us and let us RUN THE RACE that has been marked out before us" and, not just that this is a verse about racing, which i love, but i think he makes a good point here. if you've ever been part of the racing scene...real, road, on your feet, one foot in front of another racing, you know that it's not just this passive event that you go out and do on a sunday afternoon. it is a real battle that goes on between your muscles and your body and your mind. you're pushing yourself to a whole new limit and beyond even that to a point where you literally feel like you're going to die. but you wouldn't dare give up because, as painful as it is, at the same time, it's the best feeling in the entire world and you would rather die than stop...
what if our relationship with Christ were like that??? what if i were so passionately in love with Jesus, that i would love my daily walk the same way i love to run. and even on the days where i just don't "feel like it," i do it anyways because i would rather die than go a day without spending time with my Savior. i think that if i devote myself whole-heartedly to falling in love with God, then everything else will fall into place...things such as not having a quiet time or not witnessing to my friends will become a moot point because if i am 100% devoted to my cause, i would automatically be doing these things. i think this is what Jesus was really trying to say in Matthew when he said "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength...All the law and the prophets rest on these commandments."

the other thing i think the writer is trying to say is, although we are being watched, which we constantly are, the race we are running is a personal battle. we can't let others dictate to us how we feel or how our relationship with God should look like. all that we are called to do is run after God as best we can and trust Him to take care of the rest. if my God has called me to be a physical therapist, then dang it, i'm going to be the best darn PT that this world has ever seen, no matter what anyone else says. even if everyone else on the planet thinks i should be a missionary, teacher, or whatever. i would not "stoop to be a king" in the words of a good friend.

this life that my God has called me to is not some mamsy-pansy, flowers and rainbows type of lifestyle. it is a dangerous adventure, better than any plot that indiana jones would even dream about being a part of. and i can't wait to see where it takes me.

to top it all of, after i got off the phone, one of the better episodes from last year's 24 came on, so i'm going to go indulge myself in some way overdue quality time with jack bauer. i think that's enough to chew on tonight. night ya'll!

different perspectives...lessons from miley.

i walked in the door, exhausted, threw my backpack on the floor and collapsed in a heap on my bed, not even bothering to take my jacket off or untie my shoes. somewhere in that place between asleep and awake, i heard her pad softly in, jump up and settle down next to me. she promptly closed her eyes and picked up where she left off on her nap. i lay there for a while, staring at her rhythmic breathing, barely making a sound, wondering "how can she be so peaceful? it must be nice, to not have a care in the world, the only decision needing to be made is to even bother chasing that squirrel one more time..." she looked so serene, the only movement was the steady up and down of her golden brown coat, and before i knew it, my eyes too, were becoming heavy...

i heard her come in, there was something different today. she didn't come straight to see me, just fell on the bed. somehow, i knew she was exhausted, so i walked softly in to investigate. i recognized that look on her face, it had been happening a lot lately... her brow was furrowed, there was wet stuff coming out of her eyes and her mouth was downturned. i just knew something was wrong. i jumped up on the bed and gave her a quick lick, letting her know that i was here and everything was going to be okay. i lay there quietly for a few minutes, then took advantage of the opportunity to fall asleep on my mistress' bed. i don't understand her sometimes. why is she so worried? doesn't she know that ultimately everything is under control? maybe if she had gotten to chase that squirrel with me today, she could know what it feels like to run and run, barking out loud just for the sake of being happy. oh i know humans have their own worries, but i think they concentrate on them too hard sometimes. there's just something about spontaneous afternoon naps on your mistress' bed that lets a girl know that everything is going to be okay...

just an idea

i've come to the realzation as of late that life, as crazy, wonderful, dramatic, or whatever it is, is not just a smooth-sailing walk in the park. what makes life (or mine at least) even interesting is the quirky little ups and downs in the routine day-to-day. like the text message i got from amy that said "just wanted to remind you that i love you..." but then dropping a catch for a point during a frisbee game. or catching all the red lights on the way home from work, but having my favorite song come on the radio as i pull onto my street.

i think a lot of times people get so wrapped up in the big catastrophes that happen in their lives that they're constantly stressed out and trying to live from one big high to the next. what if we all stopped to appreciate those times when you get a good grade on a quiz and just learn to laugh at the times where you wear a pair of shoes that make your feet hurt...

just a thought...

the drink of the gods:

i read this article this morning and it was all i could do not to shout "Amen!" out loud here at work. if you know me at all, you know my obsession with REAL sweet tea and my never-ending search for the perfect glass...

so for all of you who enjoy the good stuff as much as i do, read on:



I Wish I Lived in a Land of Lipton …What makes Southern sweet tea so special?
By Jeffrey Klineman Posted Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007, at 1:06 PM ET
Cool and refreshing

"It's rough. It's been rough on that food. It's different eating here than it is at the house. Ain't got no sweet tea, and ain't got no fried chicken."—Boo Weekley, PGA golfer from Milton, Fla., interviewed by the BBC on Day 2 of the British Open, 7/20/2007

You can't blame Boo Weekley for not knowing—before last month, the man had never left North America. And there are some fairly major associations between Great Britain and tea. But poor Weekley had the same awful realization most of us have when we leave Dixie: When you order sweet tea, you probably aren't going to get it. And even if you're lucky enough to find something bearing its name, it's probably not quite the same.
Drinking sweet tea is one of the oldest and most exceptional Southern traditions. As Dolly Parton's character in Steel Magnolias puts it, it's the "house wine of the South"—a clear, orange-to-red tinted tea brewed from six or seven Lipton or Luzianne tea bags, poured hot onto a cup or more of sugar or a pool of simple syrup, and then diluted into a gallon pitcher in the fridge. It's served over a mound of ice in a huge glass—so cold that you can watch your napkin drown in a puddle of condensation.

By "sweet tea," we mean "sweet." As one food technologist told me, some of the sweetest glasses can hit 22 Brix of sugar. That means that 22 percent of the liquid consists of dissolved sugar solids, or, to put it in more meaningful terms: close to twice what you'd find in a can of Coke. Still, there's a balance to the flavor—the tea is brewed long and strong, so it gets an astringency that can only be countered by lots of the sweet stuff.
Southerners, of course, have a taste for sugar that is demonstrably stronger than what you find up North. We like our pecan pie and pralines sweet enough to make the dentist cringe. All of the major soda companies—the Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo, Dr Pepper—started in the South. Bourbon, that sweetest of whiskies, is from Kentucky. A mint julep, that classic Southern cocktail, is basically a whiskey'd up sweet tea, with mint, ice, simple syrup, and booze.
One chef I spoke with—Scott Peacock, who spent eight years bunking and writing with the Grand Dame of Southern cooking, the late Edna Lewis—suggested that Dixie's taste for sweet may have evolved from the use of sugar as a preservative. Peacock's dad grew up in a small Alabama town where they didn't have much refined sugar. In towns like that, he said, they grew cane, milled it, and put it in jars. People anticipated the crystallization of the cane sugar with great excitement, eager to stir it into their tea.
Sugar worship might account for much of sweet tea's popularity, but I think its appeal lies in the ice. Southerners seem to have a particular fascination with ice. This may stem, most obviously, from the fact that the Southern climate is often steamier than a Rat Pack schvitz. In an early essay about Southern cuisine published by the American Philosophical Society called Hog Meat and Cornpone: Food Habits in the Ante-Bellum South, Sam Hilliard wrote that a container of cool—not even cold—water, pulled from a nearby spring, was a delicacy at the table. Tea was mostly a drink for the upper class, and early on, it was the rich who had access to the ice that came down on ships or in wagons, at least until icehouses were built in cities (Southern farmers had to wait for the arrival of the Model T). If ice was a luxury, then putting out a pitcher of ice-cold tea must have been quite a bit of hospitality. One historian, Joe Gray Taylor, wrote in Eating, Drinking, and Visiting in the South: An Informal History that the rural electrification—and, consequently, refrigeration—wrought by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the 1930s was "probably more appreciated for the ice cubes it provided … than for any of its other services."
Offering up a glass of sweet tea on a hot day in the South is as welcoming a gesture as passing the doobie at a Phish show. It's so ingrained in the Southern DNA—Marion Cabell Tyree included the recipe in a cookbook called Housekeeping in Old Virginia as early as 1879—that people now post videos online of their infants sampling the stuff. It's a frequent menu item for the condemned, as well as a centerpiece at church suppers. As an April Fools' Day prank in 2003, Georgia State Rep. John Noel introduced a bill that would have made it a misdemeanor for a restaurant owner not to include sweet tea on the menu. Most Southerners can easily tell the difference between fresh sweet tea and the stuff from concentrate—and unless their sugar jones is too strong that day, chances are they'll send the latter back.


oh, and just for the record...my perfect glass as of right now is Beacon Drive-In's original...