laugh? or cry?

when i go out, i will sometimes leave the tv on for buck, so he doesn't feel so lonely. tonight i left on the family channel because the sound of music was on. well, when i came home tonight i saw the craziest thing on tv. and it really only caught my attention because i saw bastogne all over the tv - and that is zach's battalion or something. i was transfixed watching it. do i laugh? or do i cry? well, i actually did both. (mostly laughed, but cried a little because i was tired.) you have to experience it for yourself....

saturday morning randomness

i love uga - really, i love it. but, since i wasn't able to graduate from uga, i feel that i have lost the right to display my love. i told my mom this, and of course she didn't understand. but really, i am very stressed about this... i'm hoping to ride the coattails of zach's alumni status :) whatever, GO DAWGS!!!

ok, i feel better now. moving on: so has anyone heard that carrie underwood song i mentioned a while ago? i still don't like it. i find it very, very annoying and yet i can't not listen and so i spend at least 15 minutes freaking out until i can calm down.

on a happy and exciting note... it is practically september. in about 2 weeks we will hit the one year mark of the deployment. so, for that whole year, i saw zach 18 days... wow, that makes it a lot sadder. not my point. point is: God has been faithful and before we know it november will be here and we'll be having a coming home party! and there is a possibility that he'll be here for thanksgiving. which raises new concerns:

1. who is cooking? because i won't. (well, only the sweet potato casserole)
2. spending a holiday in TN... seems wrong
3. spending a holiday w/o my parents and fam (i think they will stay in GA .and this includes not being with the stephens and the hills, sad!!)

but here is the exciting part that negates all my concerns:

1. zach will be home!!!! (and he will get to take down the Chrsitmas decorations for me!)

ok. thats all. everyone have a fun, but safe, labor day weekend!!!

vacuums

its been a little while, so i am going to start off with a story of ridiculousness.

picture it: it's saturday afternoon, i'm just hanging out, waiting to go to my friend's house to play rock band. i'm in a good mood. someone knocks on my door. i answer. a man says "hey, we are promoting a cleaning service. we'll shampoo that area rug i see in your living room for free and if you like it, we'll give you our card. we are not selling anything."

here is my first mistake: i said ok. so, a guy comes to clean, but what does he carry into my home? a kirby vacuum. oh.my.gosh. he seriously stayed at my place for over an hour showing me all the bells and whistles of the kirby vacuum. he actually tried to vacuum my poor dog. i drew the line there. and he kept asking annoying rhetorical questions like, "now that you see what the kirby can do, do you really want to use your vacuum?" oh, and he said that he make 3,000 dollars a week and that he also bought all new clothes every week. which didn't make sense to me, because he had to use my phone to call his ride because he ran out of minutes. um, sure.

so at the end of his presentation, he says, "you look like you get what you want, so are you going to buy a kirby?" i, of course, say no and that i would never make a large purchase without talking to my husband. wow, his whole demeanor changed. he got all moody and childish. he left filters full of dirt all up and down my staircase AND about 4 downstairs.

it was a horrible experience. and all i can say is never, EVER, let someone try to sell you a kirby. it isn't worth the free carpet shampoo. not at all.

jazz on the lawn, very fun.

i had a very interesting weekend.
i would like to sum in up in a haiku:

jazz at winery,
crazy army people, wow.
i just danced a lot.



btw, i twitter.

(zach, that means you must join so that you can follow me :)

live a little

today i decided that every day i am going to "live a little." here is the thing, i love being comfortable and i avoid being uncomfortable. many times that means i miss out on things. my "live a little" really won't have too much of an effect on my social life, because i am usually uncomfortable in that aspect - it's more about being physically uncomfortable.

so today, i took a baby step in "living a little." the pool was really cold, and normally that means that the only thing going in the pool would be my feet. but today was different, i didn't wade in... i JUMPED in. and those who know me know i hate being cold. but it was sort of fun.

now for my daily olympic thought. synchronized diving. these athletes are very talented. (and ripped.) but i would like to meet the person who thought "i love to dive, but now i want to dive with a partner, and i want to do the exact same dive at the exact same time. i need two diving boards, asap!!!"

that said, go TEAM USA!


a mosquito just bit me on my forehead.

removed.

yesterday was sort of blah. the whole day i just felt lonely, and well, blah. tinsley and jessica (my 2 friends haha) were out of town. i wanted to go home... it was one of those days where spilling your diet cherry coke might make you cry - you know? thankfully, i made myself go to community group and was even able to put on a happy face. we talked about joseph, his sweet coat, and how he was abandoned , but still trusted in God. while I do not feel abandoned, i definitely felt removed yesterday. anyways, so I made it through community group and really enjoyed being with everyone. then, in the last 10 minutes, one of the ladies asked me how i was doing. did i say "fine"? oh no, if at all possible, i have gotten worse at hiding emotions and almost started crying when she asked. and i felt so silly complaining, but i got two sincere invitations to dinner next week from really sweet people. so, no, i don't have the same close (and accessible)relationships i had back in georgia, but i definitely can't say that i am lacking anything.


but let's talk olympics. again, phelps is amazing. (but i can't not look at his mouth when he talks. anyone else know what i mean?) but china's craziness sort of freaks me out... like replacing the girl singing at the opening ceremonies because she wasn't cute enough. way to boost self-worth, there china. and then the chinese women's gymnastic team... more like the chinese pre-pubescent gymnastic team. i'm sorry, they look CRAZY young. and glittery. ok, that was mean. but i get a creepy feeling at how obsessed china seems at having the "perfect package" thing. i could be over dramatizing. but that is what i do.

team USA

(it is imperative that you read the following post as one train of thought, and as quickly as possible. because that is how i would say it haha)

one year for my birthday or for Christmas or for some celebration, my good friend ben(ji) gave me a tambourine with "usa" written on it. i HAVE to find it because all i want to do it shake it when i watch the olympics. however, my new obsession with the olympics is making me nervous. here is why: my other tv shows will feel left out! haha, i wish i was being serious. the other day i was talking about all the shows i watch and get emotionally involved in and will, the lil bro, says "man steph, you love your tv." yes, yes i do. let it be known that i still read and stay physically active, but i will end my day with tv.

i love it.

oh, and don't you love that besides the the national anthem, of course, the other anthem is david cook's "this is the time" - i mean, he really is THE american idol now!! (corny, i know. whatev, ok.)

and since i'm on the subject of tv - anyone else more than a little upset that katee didn't win 'so you think you can dance.' i actually shrieked when she was cut. but josh would've been my second choice. BUT then people wouldn't let katee out to hug him, because they were trying to hog camera space. I WAS SO ANGRY.

oh brace yourself. i am on a role.

i had another crazy dream last night. here are some hints: i spent the day in miami. with a very tan and blonde family. think... wrestling. that's right - the HOGANS. in my dream though, the fam was pre-divorce, pre-car wreck, and pre-craddle robbing. AND they had another son. his name was, get this, valiento. isn't that weird? i don't even know if that is a real name. anyways, i hung out with them in miami and swam in the ocean and hung out with valiento because they really neglected him, i thought.

um, i need to use this crazy typing energy to finish homework. night!

(oh! shout out to kingsley - she is in the AL, shopping around for a sorority and making other girls jealous. :) we miss you already!!!)

i love my brother

i'm home. we were talking about will when he was a baby. here is what happened during that...

will: steph, can i be the first to hold your baby?

me: um, will you buy me dairy queen tonight?

will: yes.

*shake hands*

and so, because will is buying me ice-cream tonight, he will be the first sibling to hold the baby. sorry kara, blake, and josh. haha. but really, we did shake on it.

i do love being home.

diddy and disney

i fall asleep with the tv on. and lately, i just keep it on all night so i don't wake up in the dark and freak out. don't judge. last night i watched that show on mtv where people are trying to be p diddy/puff daddy/sean combs/pleasegetoveryourself 's assistant. then, before going to bed, i flipped over to the disney channel because their commercials don't scare me. on disney they were showing a clip of a jonas brothers concert thing. and then i fell asleep....

... only to dream that i was the personal assistant to the jonas brothers!! not.even.joking. it was so freaking hilarious too, because they would ask me to do something and i would be all "i'm sorry, i know you are famous, but what's your name?" so great.

VT!

unfortunately, i did a bad job at taking pictures. well, i did an AWESOME job at taking pictures during our weekend in vermont, but after that i felt silly at any other time taking pics because technically i was the one on vacation - but other people weren't. does that make sense? anyways, i also don't have any pics of me haha, so ya'll caught a lucky break this post.

here is a view from my fam's cabin on lake bomoseen, VT

on the top leftish, wonderful cat reading and chilling on the boat. in the bottom picture: sweet kara... smiling away while our cousins, cat and ben, feel the wrath of greg's driving.

these last two are a few of my favs. on left, of course, mom. being well, susan. now the picture on the right is from grammy's apartment. it isn't a great picture, but i bet you don't know what they are doing.... checking blood sugar levels! mine was 92! haha

i seriously had so much fun with family and the susans (mom's bff's) - who are family, just not by blood :) wish we lived a liiil bit closer though!!

insert cuss word here

OH MY GOSH. so after finishing the post for today, i am watching 'friends' downstairs before going to bed. out of the corner of my eye, i see something quickly crawl underneath the couch. i secretly hope its just a cockroach, but know it isn't. well, i find it. it sits for a picture, but when i go to kill it, it FREAKING GETS AWAY! so i vacuum around for at least ten minutes, jumping around and probably waking my neighbor. i could really cuss. this was a huge spider (anyone know what it is??) and it made my skin crawl. i was all okay being back in TN and then this happens. if only zach were here...

warning to the gross spider: tomorrow i am going to clean my condo to the point that if i don't find that spider, it will die anyways because any chance of it finding food will be destroyed. the spider will starve, and i will win.

well, while i am complaining... has anyone heard carrie underwood's new song, 'just a dream?' if i hear another sad military song i am going to march into nashville, find these recording studios and have a word with them. go ahead and put them on your album. fine. but why release them on the radio? let alone play them all the time near an army base - where people are actually worried about all that crap.

uggghhhhhh. spiders and military songs...thanks to you i won't sleep tonight.

my life is a-changing

i made a major purchase today: a t3 bespoke labs featherweight professional ionic ceramic hair dryer and i am not kidding when i say that it can (and will!) change your life too. i used my friend's while in NJ and knew i had to have it. well, i got it.

while in NJ i also made another big purchase: skinny jeans. and by skinny i mean not skinny, but you know, it isn't bootleg! i never thought i'd do it, but i did. we'll see how it goes though, because i am still a little skeptical.

um, anyone else keeping up with the miley cyrus vs selena gomez and demi lovato drama? what? i'm the only teeny-bopper? yea, that's what i thought...