All Day Long They're Singin'...

I thought it might be fun to participate in Kelly's Show Us Your Life today! Plus, it's baby names and who doesn't love that ;)

I've always loved coming up with names for my future children. I had a little drawing book that I would fill with poems, drawings, and names I had heard. Of course at the time I wanted at least 6 children so I had several names picked out. They've changed over time, but its always fun to look at.

Originally Phil and I picked out four names; two per gender. However, because of my recent diagnosis with PCOS, we have narrowed it to two names; one per gender. We have the other names just in case the good Lord decides to bless us more :) I'll give you our two names, then the two back ups.

Boy

Hunter James

Phil and I both love unique names that wouldn't cause children embarrassment, like Apple or Forka. We knew a few Hunters, but not very many. Plus, its a type of green which is Phil's favorite color! James is one of two family names on Phil's side. The other family name is George. In fact, his dad's name is James George! HAHA The tradition is to give the family name as the first name, but I liked the flow of Hunter James better.

Girl

Lillian Rose

I wanted the opportunity to honor my family using names from both sides of my family (since I love all of them and not just my mom's side or dad's side). We discovered the name Lillian when I was creating a family tree to get my CDIB (Certified Degree of Indian Blood) Card. I had to trace my tree back to my great-grandparents. Lillian was on my mom's side and Phil really liked the name. Plus, we're really into How I Met Your Mother, and one of the main characters' name is Lilly. Plus, I just think it's a cute name :) Rose is sort of a family name on Phil's side. His grandpa's mother's name was Rosa, but I like Rose better. We originally liked the middle name Mae (which is another family name on my side), but we found out a girl I know named her dog that. Awesome. Plus, now Lilly will be my bouquet of joy instead of bundle ;)

Those are our two primary names. Our secondary names are:

Boy

William Michael

I'll have to start with the middle name first. Both my father and brother have the middle name Michael. I wanted to have a son named Jonathan Michael for as long as I can remember to honor the two of them. Well, we have a good friend named Jon and we didn't want things to get confusing so we decided to find a new first name. Not many names went well that we could agree on. We talked about William and liked it best. We always joke that if we have twins, a boy and girl, we could name them Will and Lil ;) EDIT:: According to my mama, William is a family name on her side, so it works!

Girl

Margeaux Louise

This is mostly me :) I LOVE the name Margo for some reason. I think it sounds sophisticated, classy, and just beautiful. I once saw it spelled the French way and knew instantly I would spell it that way if given the chance. Louise is my mom's middle name and my dad's dad was named Louis. I felt it honored both families like I aim to do with any tribute to them.

As I said before, we hope to use all four names, (and by we I mean me ;P). However, we will be very happy with any amount of children God blesses us with. Whether they be of our own flesh and blood or if we have to adopt them all, we will love our children dearly.

Peace to you,

"Chain Gang" by Sam Cooke (Stuck in my head all morning!)

When You Can't Contain Your Joy Inside...

I'm back! I have one last final tomorrow morning, but my first summer class starts on Monday. Luckily its online only so I'll still have plenty of time to work and relax. I realized the other day that Phil's brother, a co-worker of mine, and the wedding I'm in this summer are all happening three weekends in a row! Not complaining since I love weddings :) It's just interesting that it worked out that way.

Happy National Prayer Day! I was grouchy this morning, but listening to KLOVE reminded me its not about me and I had the opportunity to join in several prayers during their show. Whether you pray or not, as a Christian, I find it refreshing to stop and reflect on the good going on in the world and hoping for the best in the future.

Tonight Phil and I went to this cupcake place we read about in the Oklahoma Gazette. It was in downtown, but it was intriguing to us because it had a milk bar instead of the typical coffee! We got there and the cupcakes were delicious!! Their milk cups are frozen so the milk is very cold. They have white, chocolate and strawberry and it's all you can drink! I mixed strawberry and chocolate and had a red velvet cupcake. It was great. Plus, the restaurant is a refurbished home so we got to eat on the patio. Beautiful night to do that. It's called Sara Sara Cupcakes and we'll definitely going again soon :D

I decided I needed to re-watch Sex and the City since I haven't done that in our new apartment yet. Really its just an excuse to watch the series from start to finish ;) I've also been planning how to decorate our future house. Wherever we end up when we're both done with school, we'll be able to afford a house soon after moving. So I'm doing what I do best; plan. Its making me want my house now, but I guess I can wait a little longer.

This weekend we're going up to T-town to see the in-laws. We'll go bike riding down Riverside and then go to a Drillers game at the new stadium. Despite a rainy Sunday, I think it'll be a good weekend. Also, I'll get to have video call with my mom online for Mother's Day! Its not the same, but it'll be great to see her lovely face :) Mother's Day is going to be a little hard for me this year after what Phil and I went through last year. Its made me a little grouchy this week. I feel bad for Phil especially because I've been extra short with him which isn't fair to him. This is my stuff I need to get over. However, I know those I love will be very helpful in getting me through the day.

Other than that, just happy the spring semester is finally over. April was just crazy for me and just really drained me and Phil. It's been hard getting out of bed the past few days. We recently switched to our light quilt since its been warmer and its just extra comfy lately. After this weekend we should be able to catch up on sleep. We have been keeping up with our bible readings too! We haven't missed at night! I'm very proud of us.

Hope y'all have been doing well! I'll be slowly catching up on blogs so I can feel more in the loop.

Peace to you,


"Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)" by Chris Rice (beautiful song :])

I Declare My Independence From The Critics And Their Stones...

I finished all the typing I needed to until my group meeting at 6pm so I had a little free time. :)

As I mentioned in my long winded about me, I am an alum of the fabulous Kappa Delta Sorority. There are many great things about KD, but one in particular is the newest campaign supported by KD; the Confidence Coalition. It's celebrating women and how wonderful, beautiful and inspiring we all are despite what we are told by the media. This video is from the main website and it made me smile. I hope it makes you smile too and that you realize you are beautiful, powerful and amazing!

Go Confidently! from Confidence Coalition on Vimeo.

Peace to you,

"One Girl Revolution" by Superchick

Someday We'll Find A Place Here In This World...

This is just a quick little post to let you know I'm still alive! Here is a list of the things I've had to do/deal with since my last post:

- 2 wedding showers on one Saturday

- Team report check point at school

- Last minute registration for a youth retreat (by last minute, I mean 4 days before we leave :-/)

- Resume and cover letter assignment

- Mock job interview in class

- OIL Session starting

- Enroll in class

- Not in bed until at least 2 in the morning two nights in a row

- Leave for said youth conference with 10 children in tow

- Have it rain the entire weekend (non-stop I might add)

- Dealing with teenagers 24/7 for 3 days straight (all the hormones and mood swings... so glad I'm past that part of my life!)

- Getting home and cleaning half the apartment

- Test the next day

- Voice lesson

- Church meeting

- Work

- 2 papers due yesterday

- Team meeting for rough draft of our report (plus one later today)

- Run to library to check out 7 books for my various papers

- Team report due tomorrow

- Research paper due tomorrow (plus do a presentation on it in class)

- Church choir practice

Yep, and that didn't include some other personal things I had to deal with. Oy. After tomorrow, Phil and I are escaping to Tulsa for Friday night and most of the day Saturday. I have to be back at church to do the children's sermon, but hopefully by then my soul will be recharged again :) I still have 1 more assignment and 1 more presentation before I'm officially in finals mode, but it's nothing compared to the past two weeks plus everything I'm doing tonight. One silver lining: Monday I'm meeting my advisor who will look over the courses I've enrolled in and then, depending on what she agrees with, she will be applying for my graduation this fall!! Eeek! I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! It's a little dim for now, but it should only get brighter :D Let's hope I don't screw it up...

I hope y'all are doing ok! I'm sorry I haven't even touched my Google Reader in 2 weeks. I'll try to catch up as soon as I can.

Peace to you,

"Temporary Home" by Carrie Underwood

Something And Something And Lots Of Big Kittens...

First I would like to clarify the title of this post. I've seen The Sound of Music more than I'd like to admit. Up until my junior year of high school, substitute teachers thought this particular movie would be good to show a choir class since they knew nothing about music. Here's the deal with this movie for me. 1) With the limited amount of time for class, I always thought the movie ended after the big wedding. I was watching it with my mom and when it kept going I asked what was going on. That started quite a laughing riot. 2) (The reason for the title) Despite having see this particular scene several times, I never really learned the words to "My Favorite Things". Even as a small child, I would make up words if I didn't know them. So one day, (fairly recently), I'm in the car with my family and the song comes up and I start to sing along. "Something and something and red woolen mittens. Something and something and lots of big kittens!" My dad just started laughing really hard. With the "big kittens" line, he decides to make a loud "MEEEOW" in a deep voice. Ever since then, it's been a big joke in our family. For those who don't know, the first two lines are actually "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens". I was off and out of order! Oh well...

Second, I thought I'd do something different today. I seem to post when something major happens to me. By major I mean a trip or when something is bothering me. So today I'm posting pictures of a few of my favorite things. At least, my favorite things right now ;)

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Peace to you,

"My Favorite Things" by Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music

Now I Don't Mind Working So Hard Everyday...

I'm sure you don't know this about me, but I'm a very competitive person. I find it funny that one of the reasons I changed my major from Vocal Performance is because I'm not competitive enough to sing professionally. I personally don't think my voice is extraordinary although I'm corrected by others all the time. However, when it comes to my personal life, I'm very much competitive. I like knowing more people like me. I like knowing I'm doing the best out of everyone in the group. I like knowing I'm the main person others rely on to get things done. If there's a situation where I feel there's favoritism going on that is not beneficial to me, I get upset and step up my game. I. must. win. every. single. time.

There's a big problem with this: I can't be #1 all the time. Oh I want to be, but I can't do it. Sometimes other people are preferred over me. Sometimes I make a mistake and let people down. It's very frustrating for me, but its nothing I can change. That's just life. That's how you live life among other human beings. They have their issues/preferences/problems that have nothing to do with you. For someone with confidence issues, I really think the world revolves around me.

I guess I'll just have to be happy with being me and not losing the part of my competitiveness that keeps me on my toes and happy to please those whom I'm working for. I've never been criticized for my work ethic before and I doubt I'll ever lose my desire to be #1. I just have to remember that striving for #1 and being #1 forever are two separate things.

Also, I've heard this song several times, but it really struck a chord with me yesterday. I even had it on repeat for a little bit. Having to live in transition until Phil and I move to wherever we're going is really hard for me. I felt this song just really said everything on my heart right now. Even if you've heard it before, just read the lyrics. Maybe they speak to you a little bit too :)

"Stop & Stare" by OneRepublic

This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us
It's time to make our move, I'm shaking off the rust
I've got my heart set on anywhere but here
I'm staring down myself, counting up the years
Steady hands, just take the wheel...
And every glance is killing me
Time to make one last appeal... for the life I lead

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can you see what I see

They're trying to come back, all my senses push
Untie the weight bags, I never thought I could...
Steady feet, don't fail me now
Gonna run till you can't walk
Something pulls my focus out
And I'm standing down...

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're here not there
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, you don't need

What you need, what you need...

Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be
Oh, do you see what I see...

Peace to you,

"A Change In My Life" by Rockapella (also a good song)

But Then Love Comes In...

I'll be doing two posts today. I wanted to keep this separate from my other post :)

1. Showers or baths? If I had to choose, I'd probably pick baths. Mostly because, as of lately, my sense of balance has been off and I've almost fallen as I'm washing my hair. It's kind of scary

2. Do you have any crazy urges? I'm guessing no, but I guess I don't really understand the question??

3. What is one thing we don't know about you? Oh goodness, I'm not sure. I'm a little rusty, but I know ASL (American Sign Language). I took two Spanish classes at TU, but I wasn't doing very well so I switched to sign language! I already talk with my hands with lots of facial expression so it was fun learning!

4. Exercise...love it or hate it? If I'm doing something fun that doesn't feel like exercising, then I love it :) Otherwise, no thank you. For example, I was always in shape in the fall in high school because of color guard. Jazz running across the football field, doing tosses, flipping flags and guns.... it didn't feel like exercising which is why I liked it! Plus, I like dancing around. If I took a dance class, maybe that would help.

5. Do you think you have a good body image? Nope not really

6. Flour or corn tortillas? I like flour the best. Corn is ok for dishes like enchiladas and the like.

7. How do you celebrate Easter? It always involves church from 6 am to 1 pm, family photos (if there's family around), a light lunch and then napping/relaxing the rest of the day. Having my parents as ministers at different churches and now being so involved at two churches, as soon as services are over I crash on the couch and stay put :)

8. Hard boiled Easter eggs or plastic eggs? If I had the time I'd say hard boiled. However, until I have children/more free time before Easter, it looks like plastic eggs

Peace to you,

"Many the Miles" by Sara Bareilles