On Our Way To Crazy

Friends, we are now entering year four of the Good Things posts. Year four! Crazy. One of my favorite things about these posts is looking back at what the good things were in years past. For example: on January 4, 2010, I apparently bought some awesome new boots. Do I know what boots those were or if I still wear them and think they are awesome? No I do not. On January 4, 2009, Miles ate a bunch of candy and threw up all over the house. It was red and stained everything and smelled like cherries. I remember that very clearly. On January 4, 2008, I took some of our youth who’d been volunteering a lot around the church to Chuck E. Cheese, and also learned that it is not called Chucky Cheese as I had always believed. These are memories frozen in time, people. So here we go, 2011! May you be full of awesomely good things.

(Also, whoa, on January 8th in both 2010 AND 2011 I got free food at Chuy’s. WHAT IS UP WITH THE UNIVERSE.)

Jan 1 – Some of our favorite people threw a New Year’s Day party and we won a giant jar of black eyed peas.
Jan 2 – I cleaned out my closet and watched Sister Act 2, the better of the Sister Acts.
Jan 3 – Super fun game night with the kids that resulted in a few less-than-stable sanctuary chairs.
Jan 4 – I was home sick but I watched some awesome TV.
Jan 5 – Baja Burrito. Oh how I missed it.
Jan 6 – I started a meeting with a bad and cynical attitude but it got better.
Jan 7 – Donated a ton of stuff to a family still recovering from the flood.
Jan 8 – Our awesome friend/waiter at Chuy’s comped our meal, making us feel way less bad about all the calories we’d just consumed. Free calories don’t count.
Jan 9 – Lunch with the college kids.
Jan 10 – Snow day! I don’t love Monday snow days (no youth group), but it’s always nice to stay in.
Jan 11 – SO MUCH SNOW. CAN’T FEEL TOES. (Drank lots of chai? That’s the good part.)
Jan 12 – Ate dinner out alone with my book.
Jan 13 – Day at the movies and frozen yogurt with the kids on their fourth snow day in a row. Love my job.
Jan 14 – Ate delicious burgers and dessert with Susan.
Jan 15 – Finished all my Christmas returning/exchanging/gift card spending. It’s amazing how far $10 will go at Kohl’s.
Jan 16 – Aaron went to the movies and I watched the Golden Globes.
Jan 17 – Had a super crazy long day, came home to find that Aaron had made roast. No lie, that instant feeling of relief and comfort and being taken care of might be the best part of being married.
Jan 18 – Made some new friends at the gym. They all have at least 60 years on me.
Jan 19 – Downton Abbey! I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
Jan 20 – I learned that my spiritual gift is being awesome and wii dancing games.
Jan 21 – Downton Abbey! STUFF GETS REAL.
Jan 22 – New phone! Oh my gosh, I love it so much. Like, I want to marry it and have little tiny phone babies.
Jan 23 – Really moving Sunday service.
Jan 24 – Downton Abbey! OH THE DRAMA.
Jan 25 – Enjoyed watching the State of the Union with Aaron and Twitter and the salmon.
Jan 26 – More snow, OMG, but this time there was homemade broccoli cheese soup.
Jan 27 – Split an Oscar’s quesadilla with Aaron. First fried food in ages. So amazingly good.
Jan 28 – I finished all my work for Sunday and Monday so I could actually be off on Saturday!
Jan 29 – Lunch with the college girls, then drinks and Blue Valentine with Becka. Nice girly day with a little dose of gut-punching heartbreak.
Jan 30 – Unexpected lunch out with friends.
Jan 31 – We played a game I made up on the fly in youth group and it was super fun.

Dec 1 – Unexpectedly spent the afternoon getting manicures and coffee and almond cake with a friend.
Dec 2 – Spent a thousand hours at a high school wrestling match with one of my favorite families.
Dec 3 – Got to hang out with a kid we don’t see much anymore, and it was awesome.
Dec 4 – Fun morning with the kids ministry at breakfast with Santa.
Dec 5 – Really beautiful music in church made me cry.
Dec 6 – Interesting youth discussion on what from the Bible you ‘need’ to be true.
Dec 7 – Got the last of the gracetree angels adopted.
Dec 8 – I wrote a guest post for a youth ministry website that didn’t totally embarrass me.
Dec 9 – Sanity-restoring lunch with a fellow female youth leader in town.
Dec 10 – Delicious lunch and gift exchange with one of my favorite friends. Avett Brothers hatch print! I win!
Dec 11 – Youth group service day and Christmas extravaganza in the freezing rain. Super fun.
Dec 12 – Amazing Christmas music service at church. We got super fancy and looked fabulous for a party. We got stuck in the snow on the way to the party and ended up eating frozen Trader Joe’s meals in our fancy clothes.
Dec 13 – Snow canceled youth group and I worked from home in my pajamas.
Dec 14 – Good coffee and conversation with a friend.
Dec 15 – A predicted ice storm sent me home early from work and then didn’t happen.
Dec 16 – Had a blast wrapping the church gracetree gifts with the women’s ministry ladies.
Dec 17 – Hung out at the ‘kids table’ at the very grownup church leadership party, then packed up the snacks and drove all night. Thankful for trivia podcasts.
Dec 18 – Slept way in and spent the whole day with my parents.
Dec 19 – A rare Sunday morning at a non-GracePointe church. It… made me miss GracePointe.
Dec 20 – Shopping at the good mall, wrapping extra pretty gifts, eating late night Whataburger with my parents.
Dec 21 – Really, really good night with my high school girls. Lots of crying and eating and telling REALLY old stories. I am so lucky to have them.
Dec 22 – Dinner with Aaron’s high school friends.
Dec 23 – Spent the day with my favorite college friend.
Dec 24 – Really nice visit with my grandma, catching up on family gossip and drinking extra sweet tea out of Schlitz malt liquor glasses.
Dec 25 – Christmas Day! Bedazzled zonk repellers, cinnamon rolls, winning lottery tickets, major family drama over the rules of dirty santa, homemade wahoo boards, Avett Brothers DVD watching, bananagrams, reading the books we got for Christmas by the fire, general awesomeness.
Dec 26 – Family Christmas with the Maneses. Hung out with our awesome niece.
Dec 27 – Good, lazy day with Aaron’s extended family.
Dec 28 – Good shopping with my sister-in-law followed by delicious engagement dinner with the Manes siblings.
Dec 29 – Free lunch at La Madeline and a fun birthday party for Aaron’s brother.
Dec 30 – Delicious Taco Cabana lunch with my family. Broke down on the drive back to Nashville in a place that had a restaurant, motel and a mechanic (and literally nothing else). Very lucky.
Dec 31 – We made it home! Celebrated new year’s with pizza, wine and a movie on the couch.

Oct 1 – Really, really interesting discussion in class.
Oct 2 – Spent the evening with forty kids in an arena full of giant inflatable bounce houses.
Oct 3 – Nap nap nap nap nap.
Oct 4 – Hilarious conversation with the high schoolers about how things would be if they were God. Favorite answer? “No donkeys”.
Oct 5 – Goonies on the big screen and 2-for-1 with friends afterward.
Oct 6 – Free curriculum about social justice!
Oct 7 – A night home alone means chinese food and Can’t Buy Me Love.
Oct 8 – Aaron went out of town and I spent all day shopping with no purpose.
Oct 9 – Some of my college girls came over and stayed til 3am. So fun.
Oct 10 – Fun pizza lunch with some kids after church.
Oct 11 – I spent a long time planning snacks at Costco. I love that place.
Oct 12 – Monty Python on the big screen!
Oct 13 – Registered myself and three team members for the youth worker’s convention.
Oct 14 – We missed the recycling truck but pulled the bin across a major road to get it picked up.
Oct 15 – Good conversation with the parents of some kids I’ve been trying to connect with forever.
Oct 16 – Very not fun workday at the church, but the kids helped out and they are awesome.
Oct 17 – Really fun cookout in the park with our care group.
Oct 18 – Minute to Win It game night! Turns out chocolate donuts stain concrete. Who knew?
Oct 19 –
Oct 20 – Shared spicy fries, peanut butter cookies and coffee with one of my favorite kids.
Oct 21 – Chihuly at Cheekwood! So very cool.
Oct 22 – The Rangers made it to the World Series and we ate tiny corn dogs.
Oct 23 – Super fun fall festival at church that ended with my youth kids winning the pumpkin carving contest by sticking a huge cleaver in it’s head and letting pumpkin guts run down the side.
Oct 24 – Spent the afternoon outside reading an excellent book.
Oct 25 – Our very nice neighbors let me come over and shower because ours was broken.
Oct 26 – First pumpkin muffin awesomeness of the season.
Oct 27 – Unexpected nice long talk with a good friend. Also FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.
Oct 28 – Today was lame. But we had dinner with some fun new friends.
Oct 29 – Great seats for the Avett Brothers at the Ryman. Easily the best show I’ve ever seen.
Oct 30 – Slept in. Costume shopping. Fancy dinner. Sweet tea vodka. Pumpkin frozen yogurt at Pinkberry. MUMMY AVETTS.
Oct 31 – We dressed up for Halloween for the first time in a thousand years.

Sept 1 – Celebrated Susan’s birthday with delicious food and deliciouser sangria.
Sept 2 – No big deal, just took a limo to eat barbecue and see the last Brooks & Dunn show ever.
Sept 3 – First high school football game of the season! Kettle corn, drum corp, pom poms. So fun.
Sept 4 – Spent some good time with one of our new families.
Sept 5 – Finally heard from a kid who moved away and kind of fell of the earth for a while.
Sept 6 – Minute to Win It game night with the kids. So amazingly awesome.
Sept 7 – Lunch with my first Nashville friend. I am thankful for her.
Sept 8 – Belated birthday spa manicures with a friend.
Sept 9 – Aaron started reading The Hunger Games.
Sept 10 – Aaron and I saw amazing dancing kids and toured the local Orthodox Church at the Greek Festival.
Sept 11 – We grilled delicious steaks and I read a whole book.
Sept 12 – Lazy day, lots of football, two walks around the neighborhood.
Sept 13 – Today sucked. Our sweet boy Miles passed away.
Sept 14 – Retail therapy.
Sept 15 – A sweet older lady at church gave us a ton of homemade bread.
Sept 16 – Olivia Newton-John was put in the Celebrity bucket by three different people. Game night is awesome.
Sept 17 – Great meeting with some new parents who want to start a youth parents group.
Sept 18 – Movie date! One married couple, two separate movies, two happy people.
Sept 19 – Our sweet moms sent us sweet flowers.
Sept 20 – Had a confusing but hilarious conversation with one of my kids.
Sept 21 – Beautiful weather, lots of outside time, good music.
Sept 22 – Fun fun fun night of chili and wii and midnight trampolining and tipsy falling.
Sept 23 – Delicious Cuban lunch with a new/old friend.
Sept 24 – Yogurt with an awesome volunteer, coffee with an adorable 6th grade girl.
Sept 25 – Spent a lovely afternoon on the church patio reading and talking baptism with some of the kids.
Sept 26 – I baptized three of my youth group kids. And almost died of nervousness.
Sept 27 – Interesting conversation with the kids about their how their beliefs came to be what they are.
Sept 28 – Coffee with one of my favorite parents, lunch with a new friend, and Ferris Bueller on the big screen.
Sept 29 – Good catch up time with one of my favorite college girls.
Sept 30 – Much needed breakfast catch up with a friend, followed by mani-pedis and a long wandering walk around Trader Joe’s.

Aug 1 – Had a giant relay day for the youth and upcoming 6th graders. It was hilarious.
Aug 2 – Post-youth dinner at Peter’s Sushi. This is a routine I could get used to.
Aug 3 – Weird day. Weird weird day. But then our friends had a super cute baby, and that was awesome.
Aug 4 – Fun text conversation with a friend.
Aug 5 – Came in to work to find a Justin Bieber poster on my door.
Aug 6 – Holiday World! Best day of the summer.
Aug 7 – Spent some fun time with a new youth group family.
Aug 8 – Thai food and frozen yogurt (with Lucky Charms in it!) with Susan and Brandy.
Aug 9 – First youth group with the new 6th graders, great parent meeting, and a surprise birthday cake from the kids. Oh – and then they covered my car in streamers and Post-It notes.
Aug 10 – Best birthday party in the history of birthday parties. Ever. EVER.
Aug 11 – Movies and frozen yogurt with a bunch of kids on their last day of summer.
Aug 12 – So You Think You Can Dance finale party! And Mike and Kari are having a boy!
Aug 13 – Renewed my tags two weeks early and my license three days late. I call that success.
Aug 14 – Took the kids to help teachers get free school supplies for their students.
Aug 15 – Played what was possibly the most hilarious game of Telephone Pictionary of all time.
Aug 16 – Loved listening to Aaron lead high schoolers in a discussion on story.
Aug 17 – One of my favorite senior girls gave me a really sweet note. Totally unexpected and amazing.
Aug 18 – Had some meetings that were really good and productive, if a little intense.
Aug 19 – Good conversations all across the board today.
Aug 20 – Loaded up on new music and podcasts for our drive to Texas.
Aug 21 – Read Hunger Games.
Aug 22 – Some of our kids helped serve communion. It is so great getting them involved in big church.
Aug 23 – Drove a thousand hours in the middle of the night to get to Texas.
Aug 24 – Wedding dress shopping with my sister! And we found one! And it’s awesome! (Also. Read Catching Fire.)
Aug 25 – Massive Rock Band concert in the living room with my family. I have a newfound respect for Ringo.
Aug 26 – Drove to Austin. Ate delicious food. Read Mockingjay.
Aug 27 – Spent all day at the pool, then walked to a record store and ended up at a Hot Hot Heat show.
Aug 28 – Texas high school football, long nap, delicious mexican food and an amazing 80s cover band show at one of the coolest venues ever.
Aug 29 – Breakfast quesadillas, meeting our new future sister-in-law, quick IKEA trip, Whataburger with my parents, and… oh yeah, FIFTEEN HOURS ON THE ROAD.
Aug 30 – Fun meeting with the kids who have dubbed themselves ‘Team Awkward’.
Aug 31 – I went to the grocery store for the first time in about a thousand years.

July 1 – The flamingos are over! Oh, happy day.
July 2 – Got a lot of work done for the new youth service.
July 3 – Art crawl and Sweet Cece’s with Aaron and Becka. Excellent night.
July 4 – Swimming, grilling, good friends and a spot on a backyard deck that let us see fireworks in all directions.
July 5 – Tons of new kids came to our ultimate frisbee night.
July 6 – Aaron made a really hard decision today. Right, and good for us, but really hard.
July 7 – Surprise lunch with a friend.
July 8 – We went to a birthday party for one of my favorite people. It included a Waterdeep concert. Seriously.
July 9 – Watched one of my awesome kids totally smoke the competition at a swim meet.
July 10 – Last minute camp planning scramble.
July 11 – Our last Sunday morning youth group. Sad but fun. Exciting things on the horizon.
July 12 – Camp day! Whataburger! Stressful check in time! Exhaustion!
July 13 – Stayed up way too late talking about major stuff with a few of my middle school girls.
July 14 – It poured down rain on us when we tried to go to the waterpark. Water slides in the rain are fun.
July 15 – I watched some of my most shy kids have long conversations with intimidating homeless people.
July 16 – Great, emotional senior time on the last night of camp.
July 17 – We made it home safely! On one hour of sleep!
July 18 – Lunch with my college girls, some I hadn’t seen in ages.
July 19 – First Monday Night youth service! So good! So fun! So much pressure!
July 20 – Oh my gosh, I was so sick. I fell asleep in a meeting. But then I got to go home and sleep in my bed, which was much better.
July 21 – We sold a ton of stuff on craigslist. Thank you, internet.
July 22 – Day at the lake with the youth group girls!
July 23 – Went to the Bluebird Cafe for the very first time. It’s a pretty amazing place.
July 24 – Lazy, lazy Saturday.
July 25 – I got to hang out with our fourth and fifth graders at church. They are awesome.
July 26 – Eight years! We celebrated with brownies and champagne.
July 27 – Our friend had a huge showcase and she rocked it. So fun.
July 28 – I found a long lost groupon and we had amazing margherita pizza.
July 29 – Spent all day on the parents of our upcoming 6th graders. So excited.
July 30 – Really great night with old old friends.
July 31 – Fun last minute late night dinner with friends.

June 1 – Got to spend some alone time reading and wandering around Target. Not at the same time.
June 2 – Fun meeting with a brand new youth volunteer. She is awesome.
June 3 – Four meetings in a row at Starbucks, split up by periods of being hit on by the elderly.
June 4 – Really good lunch and talk with a new youth leader and good friend.
June 5 – Sushi and Exit Through the Gift Shop with Aaron. Great date night.
June 6 – Took a long walk and had a great discussion with one of my girls.
June 7 – Dinner and LOTS of margaritas to celebrate a good friend’s birthday.
June 8 – Peter’s Thai with friends… pad siew and a weirdly flirty waitress.
June 9 – One of our youth families had us over for dinner. Grilled shrimp and scallops and peapods and rice. It was amazing.
June 10 – Really fun lunch with some new youth group parents. So encouraging. Also, Travis choreographed Mark. LOVE.
June 11 – My dad’s birthday!
June 12 – Great service project with the kids. They are such hard workers.
June 13 – Took a great nap. I love naps.
June 14 – Rock and Roll Trivia! It was really, excessively hard. But! We won best team name! Go Wyld Stallions!
June 15 – Good lunch with some staff folks.
June 16 – Great youth staff meeting. They are so awesome.
June 17 – Watched So You Think You Can Dance, basketball and lots of music on TV with friends.
June 18 – Evening swim with friends, AND we bought tickets to see the Avett Brothers at the Ryman two nights in a row.
June 19 – Friends gave us a copy of their pool key and I spent the whole afternoon reading and swimming and listening to Josh Ritter.
June 20 – Third pool day in a row, followed by a cookout. I love summer.
June 21 – My first Monday in the office on my new schedule. It’s amazing how much work you can get done when no one’s around.
June 22 – Frozen yogurt with Cinnamon Toast Crunch mixed in with one of my college girls.
June 23 – Spent the evening alone, watching So You Think You Can Dance and eating Trader Joe’s veggie enchiladas. Heaven.
June 24 – Girl’s night at adults-only night at the science center. Planetarium + wine = awesome.
June 25 – Stopped in at the outlet malls on my way to visit my sister and found some great deals.
June 26 – Spent the morning with my sister before a whole afternoon of solo Atlanta shopping. Crate and Barrel, H&M, IKEA.
June 27 – Went out for drinks with some new friends after our church small group.
June 28 – Great turnout at our ultimate frisbee night. Also, not many bugs.
June 29 – Had a really good, really honest meeting with my boss.
June 30 – We had a super fun artsy-craftsy girls camp planning night.

Lots of food related good things this month. Also, every month. I just censored myself a little less this time around.

May 1 – Rain rain rain rain rain. Also, grilled cheese for lunch. From a restaurant. I am such a grown up.
May 2 – Ummm… it rained. A lot. We couldn’t leave the house, so we ate frozen pizza and watched Arrested Development.
May 3 – I made pasta from scratch. THAT’S RIGHT.
May 4 – We learned very quickly how to use very little water.
May 5 – Lunch with a youth family. Delicious burrito bowls, sunny patio, hilarious kids.
May 6 – Birthday lunch with one of my college girls. Hello, caprese sandwich.
May 7 – Lots of churchy flood relief organizing stuff.
May 8 – Took a bunch of kids to volunteer with flood relief. They are awesome.
May 9 – Thai food and a great Jennifer Knapp show with a friend.
May 10 – Volunteered with Hands on Nashville to sort flood donations. Met some very cool people.
May 11 – Got some unexpected good news today. So that’s, you know, good.
May 12 – Good lunch and boyfriend struggle discussion with a high school girl.
May 13 – Eighth grade graduation. Lots of Justin Beiber haircuts.
May 14 – Beautiful weather. Excellent music in the car.
May 15 – I orchestrated a super stealth sneak in to a very ritzy neighborhood and flamingo-ed the crap out of it.
May 16 – Great discussion with the girls about hypocrisy. Sometimes you have to end a class without a clear answer. That is hard for me, but it’s how life works, so I think it’s good for them. We will see.
May 17 – Delicious cheese plate, wine, olives and crab cakes with a friend. I ate meat on a Monday. But it was for flood relief, so it doesn’t count.
May 18 – Swell Season at the Ryman!
May 19 – Silent football showdown at youth group. That game is awesome.
May 20 – Sushi lunch with a couple of my graduating girls. They are so grown up.
May 21 – I went to an awesome middle school talent show (hula hoops! Taylor Swift songs! Inappropriate thrusting!) and then a graduation party with one of my favorite families.
May 22 – Graduations! Graduation parties! Lots of pictures and chips and dip.
May 23 – Met some fun new people at care group. Also, held my tongue when it was appropriate. That’s growth, people.
May 24 – I made crepes with strawberries and fresh whipped cream. I am awesome.
May 25 – So! Many! Meetings! But they were very good and full of iced green tea.
May 26 – Very interesting and very good discussion on homosexuality in my ordination practicum.
May 27 – Great meeting with one of my favorite youth parents, watched some of my kids play softball and ended the day watching So You Think You Can Dance with some new friends.
May 28 – Two more great parent meetings. I have the best job in the world.
May 29 – Helped some good friends move and did some stealth flamingoing. As in, I was crawling on my stomach across a yard while the front door was open and the house was full of people.
May 30 – A pool trip was rained out but replaced by a super fun relaxing afternoon with friends and lots of junk food.
May 31 – Where to begin… honey lime chicken, grilled sweet corn, tomato avacado salad, fresh salsa, and, oh yeah, SOPAPILLAS. All homemade. Including the sopapillas. By Aaron. I married well.

Apr 1 – I discovered the free Pandora app for my phone. Oh my gosh, y’all. It is amazing. David Gray radio ALL THE TIME.
Apr 2 – Delicious avocado enchiladas with friends.
Apr 3 – I ran the church wide Easter Egg hunt and everyone survived. I am SO not cut out for children’s ministry.
Apr 4 – We had a wonderful Easter lunch and afternoon with some new friends. I am so thankful for our adopted family in Nashville, especially on holidays.
Apr 5 – Duke won! I don’t really care about that, but Aaron does. So there you go.
Apr 6 – Reconnected with a kid we hadn’t seen in a while and had a great conversation about relationships. High school dating is so hard.
Apr 7 – I had a rough morning. But then I realized that I can order Jimmy John’s online and they will bring it to me in my office. And that is amazing.
Apr 8 – Lunch with a fun new youth ministry friend. Who is a girl. That’s always nice.
Apr 9 – I set up a makeshift office in the backyard.
Apr 10 – Had some fun new kids show up for our Second Saturday service project. The project? Not so great.
Apr 11 – David Gray David Gray David Gray David Gray.
Apr 12 – I refinished a desk! And it doesn’t suck!
Apr 13 – What looked like it was going to be a disappointing meeting turned out to be really great. And then I ate at Chuy’s.
Apr 14 – Two of my kids finished reading Catching Fire today and sent me awesome text messages when they were done.
Apr 15 – The most amazing birthday gifts of all time were delivered to my house. Will Farrell Sexy Hot Tan sunscreen? Bacon chocolate chip pancake mix? A 90′s coloring and activity book? You know you’re jealous.
Apr 16 – I used my ‘choosing-to-ignore-horrifically-insensitive-people’ skills to great effect.
Apr 17 – Went to a tour of homes with a fun friend and then to a super fun redneck birthday party. Good day.
Apr 18 – New grill! For free! Sometimes working at a church has its benefits. OK, a lot of the time.
Apr 19 – We both had super stressful days but they got better when we walked around and around the neighborhood complaining until we felt better.
Apr 20 – Today didn’t start off very well, but then I had a great meeting and a delicious birthday dinner with a friend. So that helped.
Apr 21 – I had a long overdue meeting with a kid at a fantastic make-your-own frozen yogurt place. Cinnamon Toast Crunch and mini chocolate chips? Yes please.
Apr 22 – My mom came to town!
Apr 23 – Lunch and shopping in downtown Franklin.
Apr 24 – Made an apple pie from scratch, shopped with my mom, read in the backyard. Then my mom ate Indian food. Crazy.
Apr 25 – Ordination Sunday! What a weird, crazy, awesome day.
Apr 26 – Lunch and more shopping, this time in Hillsboro Village. Do you see a pattern here? This is what the Smith girls do.
Apr 27 – Went for a run and got caught in the rain. The Avett Brothers are the perfect soundtrack for a rainy neighborhood walk.
Apr 28 – A new mexican place opened across from the church and it is DELICIOUS.
Apr 29 – Very productive day in the office.
Apr 30 – After THREE FREAKING YEARS, we finally had our neighbors over for dinner. And it was great.

Mar 1 – GREAT meeting about the future of the youth group with my amazing staff.
Mar 2 – Spent the evening talking church planning and marketing with our pastors and some friends. Very interesting.
Mar 3 – Looooong day that ended with pineapple salsa and fruit tea. Delicious.
Mar 4 – Attended a hilariously awesome middle school production of Willy Wonka.
Mar 5 – I FINALLY got our camp plans nailed down. For real this time.
Mar 6 – Taco and game night with our care group.
Mar 7 – Lazy dinner and Oscar watching with Aaron.
Mar 8 – Good night planning a youth event and hanging out with fun people.
Mar 9 – Breakfast with a friend. Days that include pancakes are always good.
Mar 10 – Drove to Rome, GA, for a last minute and totally free youth conference at a beautiful retreat center with amazing food.
Mar 11 – Long long long awesome day of seminars and conversations with youth workers from all over the country. Also, apple pie a la mode.
Mar 12 – After stopping because it was raining so hard I couldn’t see, I googled lunch places in Dalton, GA, and ate the most delicious chicken salad sandwich ever made.
Mar 13 – Spent the afternoon at a middle school girls volleyball tournament. It was a blast and made me want to coach.
Mar 14 – Giant Smarties.
Mar 15 – Took the afternoon off and went outlet shopping. The people are insane but the deals are awesome.
Mar 16 – Made contact with some local youth pastors about a big event we are hosting. It’s always fun to talk to other people who do what I do.
Mar 17 – Green shoes.
Mar 18 – From my front door to my parents’ in four hours. American Airlines is awesome.
Mar 19 – Shopping shopping shopping, followed by pancakes for dinner with two of my favorites.
Mar 20 – Breakfast with my high school girls. LOVE.
Mar 21 – Manicures with my entire family, free dinner and a movie, second dinner with an old friend and his family.
Mar 22 – Spent some time with my old youth pastor. Very fun and encouraging.
Mar 23 – A tough day was made better by pancakes for dinner.
Mar 24 – A mini-service project that I thought would kind of suck turned out to be really fun with the kids.
Mar 25 – Delicious sushi awesomeness at Peter’s with a friend.
Mar 26 – A couple of our students put together a city-wide youth service event and it turned out really great.
Mar 27 – Aaron and I found a sweet vintage furniture store and ate pineapple chicken salad at Calypso Cafe.
Mar 28 – We hosted an impromptu birthday party for old and new friends and I laughed until I cried.
Mar 29 – Lasagna, salad, apple dumplings and wine with good friends and a sweet new baby girl.
Mar 30 – Windows down, flip floppy, Texas music kind of day.
Mar 31 – Super fun pizza/plastic egg stuffing party with the kids.