A Picture-sque Weekend

Happy Monday everyone!

I'm actually really sad that the weekend is over. I took a half vacation day on Friday and I literally had the best weekend I've had in months.

Here's the weekend-in-review-via-pictures (I like combining words today):

Friday Jason and I went to see one of my best friends graduate from Samford's nursing school. I am so proud of her and it was also great to see my Little (little sister in Phi Mu)!

Yay MK!!!!

After graduation, Jason and I drove to Decatur, AL to see our friends Mark and Lindsay. Lindsay was on the Casting Crowns tour opening for the band while Mark, her husband, was also on the tour as an assistant tour manager. Jason and I became friends with them in the fall and we were excited to get to see Lindsay play at Soul Stock.

Lindsay McCaul - and yes, you should go buy her album, right now!

The event was sponsored by Show Hope, which is an organization that helps people adopt from overseas by raising money for grants and also raising awareness about orphan care. If you've ready my blog at all...you should know that I was totally excited about going to a Show Hope sponsored event (I cried like three times while we were there).

One of the cool things that is connected with Show Hope is called the Red Bus Project. It's literally a big red bus that goes around to college campuses and it's set up like a thrift store on the inside. It's super awesome and if you ever see this thing, you should definitely check it out!

After Lindsay played, Steven Curtis Chapman's sons played. I'd heard a lot about their band, Caleb, but I'd never seen them live before. They were great and Jason and I had a great time relaxing outside listening to their music.

After Caleb, there was a speaker from Show Hope who talked a lot about adoption and what the organization does. Jason and I listened for a little while, but then we got super hungry so we hit up the booth that was selling Chick-fil-A sandwiches. YUM! Jason also bought us matching-ish Show Hope t-shirts! Thanks Jason!

I promise the top shirt (Jason's) is blue, not pink.
The editing made both of these shirts look super girly.

The headliner for Soul Stock was Steven Curtis Chapman. He and his wife started Show Hope after adopting their three little girls from China about 12 years ago. It was only appropriate that that headlined for the first Show Hope sponsored event, right? I definitely re-lived ages 6-9 since he played a lot of his older music.

I loved everything about the event (except the bugs).

Saturday morning I woke up early, per my usual weekend routine. I waited to get a text from Jason saying that he was awake. We were able to go for a walk and do some work around his apartment and mine. I made us some lunch to save money. I hadn't been to the grocery store yet, so I literally threw together random things for myself, but it ended up being pretty good!

I had Italian seasoned green beans with shrimp and a baked sweet potato on the side.

Later that evening, Jason and I went to Chili's for dinner. I had the chicken fajitas with no sides while he went for the chicken crispers with corn on the cob and fries. We had a coupon for a free molten lava cake (hello splurge day), so we split that for dessert. It was good, but not sure if it was worth the calories (that sounds like crazy talk coming out of my mouth, but it's the truth...my how things have changed). Jason made me promise I'd never tell him how many calories are in that cake.

Saturday lunch, Sunday lunch, Saturday dinner

After Chili's we used another coupon and saw What to Expect when you're Expecting at the Edge Theater. It cost $6 for both of us to see a movie and for Jason to get popcorn. Now that's what I call a cheap date :)

The movie was actually really funny...and surprisingly clean. It has some language in it, but I was pleasantly surprised!

Sunday was the greatest day of all. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was great for some reason! I was actually able to sleep in (which is unusual for me), and then Jason and I went for another walk. After our walk, we made lunch and caught up on some TV shows. After TV/lunch time, we went to the pool for the first time this season (it was Jason's first time ever).

When we walked up to the pool, there was a man laying on a float in a teal speedo. Last year, my mom came up to stay with me on Memorial Day weekend and this same man was in the back of my apartment (I guess his backs up to mine) doing yoga in his chair. Well, yesterday Jason decided that it was too hot  to just sit in the chair, so he got in the pool (Jason, not speedo man...he was already lounging on his float). Speedo man started talking poor Jason's ears off. Turns out...he's from Miami and he's an alligator wrangler.

I couldn't help it. I had to take a picture.

I texted my mom while Jason was talking to the man and she said, "Well, it's official. Jason will literally talk to anyone!" So much truth.

After about an hour at the pool, we had to go back to my apartment to wait on the guy from Charter to come fix my internet...again. After he left, it was time to head to church.

Church was great, dinner was get (yummy yummy Thai food), and then we went to Jason's apartment to work on getting the pedestals off of our new washer and dryer.

They're so dusty, which wasn't a big deal. The pedestal came off of the dryer super easy. But the washer was a whole different story.

After about 45 minutes of trying to get the bolts out, Jason decided we'd go buy a better tool later. Poor guy, in the middle of all of that, he killed at least two spiders (probably more) and had to clean off all kinds of bugs and nasty stuff that we apparently purchased with the washer.

Overall, great weekend. I honestly didn't want it to end. But next week is a long weekend (WHOOHOO!!!) and I'm sure it will be great as well!

Enough of the rambling from me...what did YOU do this weekend?

A Good Friday Indeed

Do you ever have those Mondays when you get to work, sit back at your desk, and think, "Whoah, I could totally take a nap right now?" Well, that was me this morning...after my dentist appointment.

Don't get me wrong, the weekend was oodles of fun and was everything I could have hoped for in my first holiday weekend away from home. So rather than taking you through a long drawn out explanation and giving your a report called "What I did on Easter Weekend," I have pictures.

I started out on Friday, the morning of Good Friday, with a slow morning. I was dumb and forgot to turn off my weekday alarm clock, so I didn't really get to sleep in, but I did take the morning slow. I went to the YMCA and swam some laps (fortunately, I have no photos of this event). I thought I was going to drown because I literally have not been swimming for exercise the whole time Jason and I have been together...so at least a year and a half.

After I ate a little lunch, I headed out for my thrifting adventure. Jason left his Explorer here with me, so I was so excited I'd actually be able to buy stuff and take it with me. And I sure did take advantage of that! I started at some thrift stores close to home and then worked my way out. I picked up some little odds and ends including these windows. I'm hoping that they'll eventually look more like the other window frames I found...but I guess we'll see after a little bit of work. I also picked up some candle holders and vases that I was very pleased with. Everything together was less than $20.

Windows for $5 a piece.

What I would like window frames to look like.

I headed South about 15 miles to America's Thrift Store. Now, something to realize about me is that I absolutely love going to thrift stores, flea markets, antique stores, etc. But I love going for the deals. I get a little bit creeped out by the fact that everything has been used. Which is why, as much a I want to, I can't buy clothes from places like that. I just feel like I have other people touching me all the time, and I cannot live like that (I'm even starting to get a little bit anxious just thinking about it)! When I arrived at America's Thrift Store, I almost turned Dora the Explorer right around and head back to my cozy apartment that is clean and not germy. But I was brave. I went in, got a buggy, and got busy searching for furniture.

America's Thrift Store

After finding my buggy (it was sticky) I found these two matching night stands that were $30 for the set. They were in decent condition and really just need some TLC. I sent a picture to Jason, and he asked if I can, and I quote, "Make them cool". I said, "Yes sir, for $30 I can!" I'm sure the people of Alabaster are talking about the short girl trying to get the tables off the shelves and into a buggy. Two square wooden tables into one rectangular buggy. I'm not sure how I managed it, but I got both night stands in and headed off to the check out. Nightstands: Sold to the short, feisty brunette, who didn't put her hand sanitizer away the whole time.

Let's see if I can make these babies cool

After a day of thrifting adventures, it was time to head home, change, and get snacks together for Secret Church. If you haven't heard of Secret Church, you're missing out. It's basically a 6 hour (but more like 7 hour) bible study that my faith family puts on twice a year. It started out just something that our church did together to grow in the Word, but it has grown so much in the past 6 years that it was actually simulcasted to about 50,000 people this Friday through LifeWay (to learn more about Secret Church, visit the website here).

Over 200 pages of notes

I settled into my comfy church chair surrounded by my 3,000 best friends and got my pen ready to write. I've attended three other Secret Church sessions since my time in Birmingham, but this was by far the best. I missed having Jason there, but I was with some great friends. The topic was "The Cross and Suffering" which was so convicting, encouraging, and just all around good. I always forget how amazing it is to spend concentrated time studying the bible, praying for a persecuted people, and worshiping our Creator. It was definitely a Good Friday!

When I got home around 2:00 a.m., I found this: A WEDDING GIFT! I was way too tired to open it then, and I didn't want to open it without Jason, so I went to bed and decided that Arnold (that's what I named the box) could wait until the next day.

Our first wedding gift!

Saturday morning I woke up, dragged Arnold to my car, and headed off to to meet Jason. We were able to open the gift the in the parking lot and we were greeted with a beautiful wooden salad bowl from Jason's family. This is our first gift and we're already so blessed! What a whirlwind this Good Friday was...and the weekend had only just begun!