turning thirty-three.

i don't know if i've ever posted this piece of information about my life, but i'm in the education field. higher education specifically. like clock work every year, i get older and the students keep getting younger. it's also probably one of the reasons i have a hard time remembering how old i am. i don't feel old and i don't think i look old, but since i turned twenty-six i've had a hard time remembering how old i am. thirty was easy to remember. and this year i turned thirty-three.

why is getting older so weird?
do we only see others as getting older and feel like our age is standing still?
i do think that's one of the curses of working in education.

students in this year's freshman class were born in 2000. Y-2-K. how is that even possible??
in the year 2000 i turned fifteen years old. i was a freshman in high school in the spring and a sophomore in the fall. i lived for summers filled with friends and spending time outside walking down the dirt road we lived on. i enjoyed fighting with my brother and playing with our dalmatian puppy. i had given little thought or concern to college.

eighteen years later and i have an associate degree, bachelors degree and masters degree. i've been married for three years. i have a loving husband and two crazy cats. i have wonderful parents. a brother, sister-in-law, a niece and two nephews that are hilarious and lovely. i have a job that is challenging and that keeps every day interesting. i have a life that i could have never imagined, but one that i wouldn't trade for anything.

at fifteen years old i'm not sure what i imagined my life would be, but i'm more blessed than i could ever dream and i am so thankful.

happy fall everyone.

a quick rant...

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate."

Rick Warren

i will be willing to hear your point of view and perspective, but i have every right to not agree with you.
i don't have to agree with you to respect or love you.
i will respect that your opinions and convictions are different from mine and i hope you respect mine also.
don't shove your beliefs down my throat and i'll return the favor.

adult life.

in early 2017 micah and i decided we wanted to start the crazy process of becoming home owners.

since i am a military brat and micah is a pastor's kid, this is something neither of us knew anything about.

after getting pre-approved for a loan we made an offer on the first house we ever looked at. what a cinderella story this would be if i said that it was accepted and we are now living in that house with our two cats.....but it didn't exactly go that way.

our original offer was initially rejected. they wanted more money. more money than we could afford. note to anyone in the market right now--if you are in considering a house in a flood zone, be prepared financially.

about a week later the seller came back because they had another buyer and wanted to counter us (because the week before they simply rejected our offer). we considered, but ultimately moved on.

we just kept looking hoping that we would find something that we liked as much as that first house, but nothing seemed to be right.

the housing market was (and still is) extremely hot and houses were going fast. we were on our way to see a house after work once and it actually sold on our way.

we looked and looked and just couldn't find anything. we almost gave up.

in december we went and looked at two houses. out of the two we definitely liked the first one better...it was so open, spacious and in a great location.

we put in an offer on january first and thought we would hear back in a few days, but it took a couple weeks because the law firm dealing with the sale was out of the office for the holidays.

when they accepted our offer over a full cash offer we were shocked.

as it turns out the family of the owner (who had passed away) picked us because they wanted a young family to enjoy their sister's house and wanted it to be loved.

we closed at the end of february and have now been in our house for three months.

we are adjusting to this huge adult decision and loving having our own place.
the ladies also absolutely love the new house and all the windows they get to look out of.

the little ladies.

never in my life did i think i would be a cat lady.

we always had dogs in my family. micah's family always had cats.

over the summer of 2017 micah found out one of his friend's cats was having a litter. due to my mild allergy we were a little hesitate about getting one...much less two.

after reading loads of articles about cat allergies and seeing that a lot of experts say if you get a cat when it's a kitten your body sometimes builds a tolerance to their dander, we decided we would get one.

when the litter was six weeks old we went to go pick one from the litter. there were two that gravitated toward us, but we still only picked one.
later that week we were talking to micah's friend and she mentioned that the two that were around us a lot (including the one we picked out) were inseparable and joked that we should take both of them.

after a lot of talking and thinking and, yes, reading more articles about having two cats versus one...we decided to take them both.

we brought them home when they were almost eight weeks old and every day we say that we're so glad we did.

java and gizmo are completely inseparable still. they snuggle and sleep together all the time. they do not like to be apart....even when they are in the same house.

now they are eight months old.

on our last trip to the vet, the doctor told us she thought they were twins. she thinks it is likely they were in the same sack.

life is great with the little ladies.

i never, i mean never ever, thought i would have a cat. i definitely never thought i would have TWO cats. but they are the center of our lives right now. we actually feel a little crazy that we love them so much, but to have a pet that you love is a great thing.

hello there

my last blog was in January of 2014 about a blind date i had from December.
in October of 2014 i met the man who would become my husband.

i went to Ohio to visit my parents a week before my 28th birthday.
my mom had started getting involved in walking 5Ks and had signed us up for a Halloween 5K. with two of our friends we decided to dress up like, what else, the teenage mutant ninja turtles. with our turtle shells and tutus we got dressed up to walk our 5K.
mom had heard about a coffee shop from a guy she worked with and we voted to go check it out because hey, i love me some coffee. mom texted said guy and told him he should meet us there.
shortly after this guy walks in to the coffee shop. mom starts talking to him and we all sit down at a couple of tables and chat for a little bit.
i could tell we were trying to read each other, but i stayed quiet as i usually do when i meet new people. we finished our coffee and went our separate ways.

later that night we went to a hockey game and mom invited him to come. i was looking forward to chatting with him a little bit, but he ran into traffic on the way and didn't make it.

the next day i drove back home to South Carolina.

on my way home i received a friend request on facebook...i accepted and we began talking on facebook.

a few days later he asked for my phone number and we started texting.

a few weeks later he was at a conference and heading home. i didn't want him texting and driving, but i also wanted to talk to him on the phone, so i told him that he shouldn't text and drive and he should call me instead.

our first phone conversation lasted about 3 hours.

after Thanksgiving i went black Friday shopping with some friends. that Saturday my nephew, who wasn't due until December decided he was ready to be born. i knew i wanted to go see him and see my brother, sister-in-law and niece. i also knew that if i didn't go then i wouldn't get to see them until January.

so with little sleep i drove to Georgia.

i knew it was something serious, but by the end of November i knew that it was something serious and special and that i didn't want it to end.

i decided to drive to Ohio a day early and surprise him.

we spent two weeks together before i had to go back to South Carolina.

it was a great two weeks and we hated having to be apart after that.

we spent the next 3 months driving and flying back and forth as much as we could.

in March of 2015 we went to the coffee shop where we met. he bought a cake with a teenage mutant ninja turtle topper that said "will you marry me?"

we started to plan our wedding and continued to drive and fly back and forth as much as we could and i started applying for jobs in Ohio.

A blind date

It is simply amazing what one blind date can teach you about yourself.

First, a little back-story.

Let me start by saying that because December is, well, December it is an extremely busy month. Between the semester finishing up at work and making sure professors turn grades in, to the holiday parties, to the travel plans....absolutely crazy.

The second week of December I was randomly over at a friend’s house for dinner when she told me about this guy that her friend knew and asked if she could pass along my number. He was a coworker of her friend’s and they both thought it could be a potential match (side bar: she actually started referring to it as “Operation Christmas love” which I find pretty hilarious). I figured, “why not” and I agreed.

The next night we texted for about 3 hours.

The night after that we talked on the phone for about an hour and a half.

We had good conversation and I enjoyed chatting with and getting to know him. At the end of the second phone call (on a Wednesday night) he asked if I’d like to go out on the upcoming Saturday. I accepted.

He picked me up at 5:30PM (yes, he was on time) and we had dinner and then drove around to look at Christmas lights. He dropped me off at home around 10PM and we ended the date with a hug.

We texted for a few days after the date, but in the end I think we came up with the same conclusion: not a match.

This was totally fine. He was a nice guy, just not for me.

While I did enjoy getting to know him, after mulling over the date for a little over two weeks I’ve realized several things that I need in my future husband...my future partner:

1. First and foremost, he must be a believer in Christ. It’s very important to me that my future husband has the same faith as me. I am not interested in dating and attaching myself to someone who does not have that in common with me.

2. He needs to make decisions and take control. Biblically speaking, the man is the head of the household. While I’m not saying that during the dating relationship that the guy should call all of the shots 100% of the time, but I do think that he should actually plan the first couple dates, especially the first date, and not come in blind...that’s not the reason they call it a blind date. Also, if a girl asks you to pick a place to eat....pick a place.

3. He must be a gentleman. I think that the statement “chivalry is dead” is hogwash. Guys, don’t just open one door for a girl the entire time you’re out, open them all if it is possible...make an effort to get around to her side of the car when you arrive at a destination to open her door for her. I don’t think guys realize that girls like this as much as they do...I don’t think I realized how much I like it.

4. Several years ago I had a conversation with a co-worker, and fellow believer, about physical appearance. I once thought that I must be shallow if I needed a guy to be physically attractive to me in order for anything further to happen. She said to me, “Alicia, if you don’t like to look at him now, you won’t like to look at him in 25-30 years.” This guy wasn’t hard on the eyes, but he was about 2 inches shorter than me. I am only about 5’4’’/5’5’’, but I need my guy to be at least at eye level with me...that’s just how I feel and I’m good with that.

I will say that I learned a lot more than just those things, but in the time of thinking about it over the past month, those are probably the top 4. I never realized that I could learn just about as much about myself as I could about someone else on a date.

I am very thankful for this experience and now have a better idea of what I want, and need, in a future husband.

I also realize that for the time being I enjoy being single. And at this point in my life, I am okay with that.

Until next time, people.

Much love,

AMC

A little about 2013

The beginning of a new year always causes me to think and reflect on the year before.

Several people have said to me, “I’m so glad 2013 is over with, bring on a new year.” Honestly, 2013 was actually a pretty great year in my book. I feel like I did a lot more traveling than normal: Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Quebec Canada, Ohio, Indian, Illinois. In general a lot of things happened...here are a few highlights:

~~~~~~~

March

-- Camille Anne was born and I became an aunt! Even though I’m a state away and not able to see my niece as much as I’d like, I just love seeing her grow...thank God for technology and social media. I also had a second cousin born later the same day, Clayton Michael.

May

-- marked 10 years of being out of high school. I did not attend my high school reunion because I haven’t talked to a lot of them since graduation day. It was also the weekend of my graduation from graduate school.

May

-- marked 6 years since my undergraduate college graduation

June

-- celebrated 6 years of working for USC Sumter

July

-- went to Canada with a pretty great group of people. As a result of the trip I actually developed some of the best new friendships. For pictures and such of the trip, click here to see the slideshow.

August

-- graduated with my master’s degree! This definitely happened a lot quicker than I expected and I never actually thought I would have anything beyond my bachelors. I very thankful for the quick year-long program that I found and for some friendships that were formed along the way.

-- sang for the first time with the worship team at church with a great group of guys. I have avoided singing in front of people because I am not very confident in my ability, but apparently I sang a little too loud during the Quebec Mission Trip...I’ve sang a few times and it gets a little easier each time. I don’t plan to do it on a regular basis, but whenever they need me.

October

-- turned 28. 28 was definitely a weird one for me...not sure why.

December

-- went on my first blind date...more on that one in a later post once I fully process that one.

~~~~~~~

I feel so blessed and am so thankful for all that happened last year. 2013 would be nothing without all the people God has placed in my life.

My only hope for 2014 is that I grow closer to the Lord and that he continues to teach me through everything that happens in my life.

Since January has been a bit crazy, I am just posting this at the end of the month. Since I haven’t been at work in two days due to weather. Yes, that’s right...a snow day in South Carolina. The first day was uneventful and basically just ended up being a free day and it started snowing last night. It was absolutely wonderful.

At any rate, may each of you be blessed beyond measure in 2014.

-AMC

Random thought.

Have I mentioned that I like movies a lot? I'm sure I have.
I am also a nerd, but I'm sure you've figured that out by now. I really like all the MARVEL movies they are doing and Thor has always been one of my favorites.

I was watching the Thor 2 (The Dark World) trailer and towards the end the voiceover says, "What will you sacrifice for what you believe?" Wow.

Wow.
Wow.

The answer should be anything...everything. The answer IS anything and everything.
I just was definitely not expecting to hear that at the end of a movie trailer.

Sweet dreams all. It's about that time that I got to sleep.

~AMC

Marriage

Marriage has been brought up a lot in conversation lately. I'm not sure why....because I am not any where near getting married. I don't even think I'm anywhere prepared to being married. Which is fine. I am very happy at where the Lord has me right now. I enjoy being single. I am so busy and don't really have time for a relationship. I hardly have time for the friends I do have.
Speaking of not having time for things, I seem to always fit in some time to watch TV/movies.
Watching FRIENDS gives me a time that I can just not think and laugh a lot. A few months ago I started at the beginning of the series (again) and I am currently in season 8. In the episode "The One with the Secret Closet" Chandler discovers that the door to the room by the balcony in he and Monica's apartment is locked. He obsesses the entire episode on getting the closet unlocked. And when he did... http://youtu.be/apvf4UihPd8

The fact that Chandler is willing to help Monica deal with her junk is incredibly sweet. For 27 years I have been trying to deal with my own junk and I can never seem to grasp that the Lord is there to help me with that. When I eventually get married, it will also be something that my husband is there for...and I for him. Honestly, that KINDA terrifies me. Because I have gotten REALLY good at hiding my junk from other people. This is also, I realize, not healthy at ALL. That's something the Lord has been working with me lately. More on that to come later.

Looking a little more at the whole marriage bit, here are a few awesome articles that I have read lately. The first is one a friend tagged me in on Facebook about how it matters who you marry, which I've always believed, directed towards Christian gals: http://thechristianpundit.org/2012/08/15/it/
The second is an article, written by the husband of the woman who wrote the other one, directed towards guys: http://thechristianpundit.org/2012/09/12/guys-it-matters-whom-you-marry-too/

Both are equally awesome, true, and definitely worth a read.

Until next time people...

AMC

Anxious

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 6-7

As many times as I've read and memorized and been reminded of this particular passage, you would have thought that I have actually learned it by now. If it were only that easy...oh, the disadvantages of being a human.

I'm particularly anxious about grad school tonight. I haven't blogged in a while, have I? I started graduate school this past August and it's a year-long program. It's crazy...and that's saying it nicely. I've already finished 3 classes and am in the midst of taking 4. At the same time, I might add. The advantage of being in a year-long program is that I'll be finished at the end of this July. The disadvantage is that I'm stressed out most of the time. It's a great program and I'm learning a lot, but I still have not learned how to not procrastinate. I think I've learned sometimes, but it never actually sinks in. I'm not sure if I'm just too stubborn, or if it's simply the human thing again.

But back to my anxiety...

Right now, I think, my struggle is with my worth. Having to write papers constantly has made me more critical of myself. That sounds like a good thing, but I'm not sure if it is. I had a paper due tonight and while I was doing a final read-over, I began to question everything I had been writing over the past few days. I just kept thinking to myself, "this is horrible" "this is NOT what she's going to want" "I'm going to make an awful grade and be super embarrassed because I'm stupid". It got so bad that I finally just had to submit it.

"No mortal comprehends its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living" Job 28:13

"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than sparrows." Luke 12:7

Why am I constantly consumed with how the world views my worth over how my SAVIOR views my worth?

So the conclusion I came to while I was driving home?
I suck.
I completely suck.
I fall so short.
CONSTANTLY. Every minute of every hour of every day.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

I don't even think this really makes sense how I wrote it. But the Lord knows my heart. He knows me better than I know myself. I just needed to write something that I wasn't going to overthink and overanalyze.

Lord, I'm asking for your help. I ask you to forgive me for telling you I didn't need your help and that I think I can do things on my own. Without you, I don't know how I could function.

Bucket list item #47.

So far this year I've been working on Bucket List item #47:  take a picture everyday for a year. (On a side note: I would pick a leap year to undertake this, but I didn't realize it until February 29th and for me to remember that long, I was not about to stop.)

Today is day #144 so I'm not quite half-way, but I've already had so much fun with it.

I decided my common theme would be my feet. I've been posting them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook everyday, so I get a question almost every week to the effect of, "What's with all the pictures of your feet?" Yesterday at church someone even asked me, "Have those shoes been in one of your pictures? Because I feel like I've seen them before."

For anyone who has known me for more than a few minutes knows I'm weird. People who have known me for a few years know that I've always taken pictures of my feet. I'm not sure what it's all about, really, or when it started, but it has become a part of who I am. 

I try to tell a story with each of my pictures. Sometimes, I'll admit, they're not very creative, but I can only do so much with my feet. And while I know having 366 pictures of my feet is kind of extreme, it's just how I roll ;P

Part of the reason I'm writing this post is to give a little explanation of the feet pictures so that I may not get so many questions. And I guess the only other reason I'm blogging is because I haven't posted anything in a while....

I haven't been putting them on my blog, but I plan to start putting together weekly strips, like the one below, out soon. Or maybe next year...who knows.

For the time being I'll leave you with a story about the week-strip below.

The Saturday before week 12 I was at a church work day and had some shooting back pain after lifting up a basket of (plastic) toys. I ended up going to the fastERcare that afternoon. They gave me some good drugs to kill the pain and I spent the first half of week 12 at home on bed rest. I stayed on the couch, as you can see, through Wednesday. And was well enough to be at the beach that weekend.

Week 12

Much love,

~A