the one to shag.

I beam when I see older couples happy.  I love to see them hold hands, laughing together, eating side-by-side rather than facing each other, & nothing gets me more than seeing them dance.  Seriously, most precious thing ever.  At North Hills, during the Beach Music Series you see older couples dancing the night away.  You can just see them turn into young teenagers again as they step 1-2-3-1-2-3-rock-step to a classic song.  I want that.  I want that more than anything...  to be in love with my husband after years & years marriage without ever letting our age determine how we think of each other or how we should act towards another.  I want to dance with him.. in the kitchen while we wait for chicken to finish cooking, as we get ready for work (toothbrushes in mouth & all), as we listen to music in our screened in back porch, at beach music series.. I want to dance with him.

Well the reason why I am talking about this is because we went shagging again last week.  This time, it was a million times more fun..  one reason being that we finally had partners, another reason was because it was The Embers.  We had a big ol' time.. watching older couples swing their hips to the music & us getting our hips in motion as well.  :)

Home boy's got it cocked in 2 gear doesn't he?

P.S.. Liza turned 21 at midnight after shagging.. hence the TWO-ONE.

We danced with each other before our partners got there.. & took a break because it was blazing hottttt.  We were so thirsty that we didn't even wait for one to finish their sip of water.

Once our partners got there.. we did not stop dancing.  We had the biggest time. :)

Shorty wanted me to take his picture.. so I did?

Sam is a closet dancer, yall.  I was very impressed by his ability to lead so well. :)

Okay, stop staring at the oil spots all over my face.  We were having so much fun.. we got over the sweat dripping off our bodies.  We actually took this last picture to show how much we were sweating.. haha.  We are gross little girls.

You'd think, I'd be embarrassed by that.. but seriously, we had a great time.  It was worth a sweaty shot. :)  Sadly, the Beach Music Series at North Hills is over.. but TJ's here we come!

Happy Tuesday.. 

for your iTunes Tuesday fix.. The Embers Pandora Station.. toe tapping, hip swaying, finger snapping good music.. I never have to hit the "skip" button.

the one for a random photo dump.

Random post of the past week.

Im loving doing devotions in our dining room with coffee in a giant, burnt yellow cup.

Im loving GiGi's cupcakes with one of the rooms & her "little sister".

Im loving these clouds Irene has delivered to us.

Im loving getting to see all my roomies/suitemates from the past two years at Red Robin.

Im loving first time experiences at the Farmer's Market restaurant.

&& loving the fact that they have a picture of my hometown on the wall.

Im loving dragging one my roomies to my early morning cycling classes.

&& Im loving seeing her knocked out afterwards.

Im loving seeing my roommates freak out  from seeing/feeling a rat when taking the trash out to the front of the house late one night this past week.

Im loving beach music & shagging!  -- Pictures later this week! :)

the one with mumford & sons in elementary school.

For iTunes Tuesday.. I got you a really good goodie..

Do you know the band Mumford & Sons?

source.

If not.. get to know them.  They are absolutely incredible with lyrics that speak a lot of truth.  They are constantly playing in my car & I definitely regret not going to their concert this past summer.

But anyways...

I was Facebook creepin' earlier & my friend, Taylor, had this link on his wall:

 Seriously? Ahh, melts my heart.

Happy Tuesday!

the one for random update & things to come.

So I was gonna do a post of the ABC's of the Raleigh house.  (&& we just recently dubbed our home with a name.. gotta wait for the ABC's though!)  But I wanted an array of pictures for the post & not just words.. because y'all know I can't handle that mess. :)  So anyways.  Now that school has started back, I am kind of excited to start my errr-day routines.  

Today was wonderful.. I got to hang out with my 2nd mama - Angie.  I love her to pieces & she was so sweet.. she even took me out to lunch! :)  Afterwards went back to campus & gave some blood!

&& today, when you gave blood they gave a coupon for a free sample of Edible Arrangements!  Seriously, y'all -- it was incredible.  It was so so good!

Also, today the housemates & I went and saw The Help.

Oh. My. Word.

First off, amazingamazingamazing book.  Followed by an incredibleincredibleincredible movie!  We absolutely loved it.  We were cracking up one minute, then tearing up the next.  I love me some Abilene & Minnie! :)

If you haven't gone to see it.. do yourself a favor!

Tomorrow night, Sarah & I are hosting a suite dinner (with all our loves we lived with in the dorms the past two years!).  We are so excited!  I will definitely be taking lots of pictures & posting about it! :)  Yay for exciting stuff to come!

the one to break bread.

You know when you have really great nights?  Like nights where you just can't wait for people to ask you what you did last night, so you can tell them about it?  Well even though we (we as in my housemates & I) stayed in close quarters tonight, we had a really great night.  We decided to fix supper together, talk about expectations/considerations/preferences about living together & taking care of our Raleigh home, & we wanted to pray together.

First off, we made honey mustard chicken with asparagus, mac n' cheese & salad.  Seriously, delicious!  && we had so much fun making it!

I love my roomies. 

The apron ladies. 

&& tonight we danced.  We danced from start to finish.. & then some.  The Embers, Usher, Nsync, Natalie Cole, R. Kelly, Chris Brown, James Taylor... errrthing.  

We set the precious dining room table & enjoyed our delicious first meal together!

Then we baked some cookies...

 Some for us.. && some for a bribe.  We are liable for our own yard keeping at the Raleigh house.  We don't have a push mower & don't wait to pay a lot of money for someone to do a fairly simple job.  So we know our next door neighbors, as they are friends of friends.  They are boys around our age & are too liable for their own yard keeping.  So we decided to go over, introduce ourselves, deliver milk & warm cookies, & perhaps persuade them into mowing our yard for milk & cookies, or a meal or something.   We thought it was a pretty good idea.. & I think they did too!  They seemed to be game for the exchange!   For future reference, when in doubt (or in need of a bribe)... go with milk & cookies.

After we made the deal.. we came back, hung out & just talked about living together.  Since we have all moved in, we haven't had a night just to us four to talk about all this stuff.  But tonight, there was great conversation that led to the idea of praying together.  I am completely blessed to be living in a house of believers.  I am so excited to grow with them & see what the Lord has in store for our journey together. :)  We decided that a couple times a week we could read a short devotional, talk about it & pray.  :)

Ahh, seriously.. tonight was a really great night.

For where two or three [or four] gather together as my followers, I am there among them.

Matthew 18:20

the one for beach music in raleigh.

I am officially back in Raleigh & I am pumped to be in the house!  I will give you guys the grand tour (including all my summer projects) sometime this week!  We are still trying to get settled & adjusted to everything.  Can't wait to show y'all.

The other night, instead of just sitting in our precious little nest, we decided to go listen to some beach music in North Raleigh.

The Band of Oz was there.. playing a plethora of good music.

We sat outside Chic-fil-a at first to enjoy supper & ice-dream! (did you know that if you order a kids meal, you can exchange your toy for a cone of the ice-dream! :) )

Then joined in the beach fun & danced! 

 3 of the 4 Raleigh house roomies!

Then we meandered into Target to just dilly-dally around. 

It was such a good night! (We missed you Sarah!)

Yay for lots of new adventures with my lovely roomies!