Think artsy!

Well, today I was determined to make my cloth-covered cork board! I found this tutorial a couple of months ago, and since then I knew I wanted to have one in the Fishbowl :) I didn't follow the tutorial exactly, but I did so enough to be satisfied with the result:

I cut the cork a little smaller than I should have, but it is hardly noticeable. And honestly, it was so hard to cut the cork material that I was NOT about to go through the trouble of re-doing it! Haha. The frame was provided by my mother; everything else was courtesy of Hobby Lobby :)

Now, a few weeks ago, my mother so kindly brought me a large, aged window that used to be a part of a church in West Virginia. Originally, I thought the window was paned (thus being easily turned into a "Pintrest-perfect" picture frame). Well, the window was actually pane-less, so I needed to think beyond the box. Keeping in mind the way in which I hung pictures on my dorm-room wall last year, I decided to try this as a means of photo display:

I think I like the clothesline style in the window frame. But then again, I haven't encountered or pondered any opposing ideas. If you have suggestions, please feel free to leave them in a comment! Oh yeah, I've also put an antique finish on all of the pictures that I plan to "hang in the window," so to say :) I think it will look neat that way! (Well, at least I hope so.)

Aside from that, I wanted to share this little gem I stumbled across today. Oh, how I do love McKayla Marooney :) (For those who are confused, this article explains it!)

Goodnight loves!

Nadia Comaneci

Okay, so those who know me are aware of my obsession with Olympic artistic gymnastics. I was all about the Fab Five this year. My Twitter feed has had more gymnastics on it than anything else. But anyways, those "Go World" commercials kept mentioning the first Olympic "perfect ten" in history, and I saw that it was earned by gymnast Nadia Comaneci. Naturally, my curiosity led my to Youtube to see what this routine was about. Y'all, this sport had changed SO MUCH since 1976! Just watch this video.



Now, let's compare that to the bar routines today...

(Mustafina from Russia.)

And how about beam? Comaneci scored a 10 there as well!



And today:

(Deng Linlin who won Gold on this event for China.)

Now, I love how the standards of difficulty have progressed over time, but I do wish the routines still had the element of grace that Nadia displays. Everything flows, and it truly looks like a routine     as opposed to a sequence of skills. That, and she just legitimately looks like she is having fun!

That's something that you don't see very often. Part of the reason I loved Shawn Johnson and love Gabby Douglas is because they would leave the floor smiling from ear-to-ear! I don't know, I just like to see people doing what they love, and being able to tell that they really enjoy doing it :)

By the way, I am in no way trying to bash today's artistic gymnasts, because I happen to really love them.... a lot. Haha. I just wish I could take their talent and intensity and blend it with some of that 1976 brand of poise, which one Youtube commenter referred to as "ballet on beam" (in response to her balance beam performance, of course). She looked like the bubbly, spirited 14 year old that she was, and I thought that was pretty cool :)

So yeah, that was my rant. Haha. In other news, I am going to she are my highlight of the day: Midnight Waffle House trip with Chandler, Jesse, Carlton, Ashlee, Elizabeth, and Julie :) I LOVE MY FRIENDS! Goodnight all :)

Haircut :)

Before:

After:

Yes, it's pretty subtle :) The original plan was to get side-swoop bangs; I had every intention of doing that. Then, Shelly (who is nothing short of PHENOMENAL!) starting doing my layers. She was examining the front of my head when she goes, "Oh hey cowlick..." Yes, my pesky cowlick makes bangs risky; it's why I've always been so hesitant about getting them. She looked at me through the mirror and sid, "Okay. I can either do strong layers in the front to frame your face. Or you can be bold and go through with the bangs... and possibly look like Alfalfa." Yeah... The Little Rascals look isn't really what I was going for. Haha. But I love the cut :) I have my layers back, and I think it's classy. Shelly really knows what she's doing!

To follow up my haircutting endeavor, I met Julie and Ashlee for boba :) Ashlee is considering starting SAO at UVA, and she just wanted to hang out and get to ask us some questions. All of that information is a bit overwhelming, but God's will shall be done! And if His plan is for her to start the sorority there, then it will be done :) Ashlee is so ambitious; it's a beautiful trait that I truly admire about her :)

That's all for today! Goodnight, my loves!

One, two, three, four!

1) I have my Purple Neptune back!

This beautiful piece of machinery has been greatly missed, and it runs better than when I bought it! No more hiccup, y'all! Do you know what this means?! I don't have to enter borderline panic-attack mode when trying to get out of a parallel parking space! HUZZAH!

2) I got my first school book in the mail. Guess what it is....

YES! THE BIBLE! I actually really love that the first one to get here was none other than God's holy word :) It's for my New Testament/Life of Jesus course. I cannot wait for my brain to be filled with more spiritual knowledge! For real.

3) Shenanigans with my church crew make me so happy :) I just love the methods that we utilize to all get together and have a good time. I can't think of a better group to laugh, fellowship, and goof off with :) I LOVE YOU GUYS!

4) I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow! I'll post a pic :)

Goodnight all!

Heather's hair cut!

Saturday,  August 4, 2012 (aka last Saturday)

My beautiful best friend decided that she wanted a change in style. So, lo and behold, she decided to go pixie! Check it!

 The before picture! (Thank you, Shelly!)

All chopped off and ready to donate!

 Shelly's doin her thang ;)

 There was hair.... everywhere!

Now you see it...

Tah-dah! Now you don't!

She looks SO adorable! I cannot even handle it :)

After cheering on the bestie, stopping into a shop across the street (and running into a co-worker), I headed over to get some boba. And though I did get some, I got two to go so that Heather and I could both enjoy it while we waited for her car to get opened. Yeah, she kind of locked herself out of her car; haha! But I mean hey, it happens :) And being there is what best friends are for! Haha.

From there, it was off to Jessica's baby shower! Yes, little AJ is coming soon; and he is going to look adorable in this little onesie I delivered on Heather's behalf :)

Dawww!

She is going to be such an incredible mom! I can't wait to see little baby Andrew :)

And for any who were thinking, "Uhh Steph, what was going on between the 26th of July and the 4th of August?", let me cut it short. I still don't have my car. Church activities and Teen Wolf screenings have continued as per usual, with this amazing and sacrificial love/help of my friends. I've been using my sister's car to get to work and such, but that should (hopefully) be over tomorrow.

Quick recap of Sunday (the 5th): After helping with Sunday school, I ended up not attending service, but instead took an opportunity to fellowship with my little love, Juliana. I hadn't had a heart-to-heart with her in quite some time, and it was really nice to have to share her heart and life as-of-recent with me. That girl is such a treasure; to know her and see her thrive is a blessing. After church, I hit up Stony point with some friends, and even ran into a group of my middle schoolers. I talked to most of that group more this Sunday than I ever had, and boy are they something! They are so witty, so funny, and can even roll with sarcasm. And two of them were texting me within 15 minutes of my departure, haha. I have new middle school friends, y'all. And I love it!

After some school supply shopping, I rendez-voused at Annemarie's Pintrest-perfect house before heading over to the Senior cookout :) We hung out, ate some food, made some plans, and simply enjoyed each other's company :) Once it got later, us youth leaders (and a few other cool kids) partook in some good-natured, spontaneous, and incredibly fun shenanigans :) I have an amazing community     such a loving family. Blessed by the best, truly truly! That is something I must always remember.

The Bar Exam: July 23-26, 2012

Let the game of catch-up begin.

About two weeks go,  I went to help with Bar Exam distribution for work. I was assigned to the largest testing room, where over 900 of our 1,500+ applicants were placed.

Setting up was tedious, the testing days were long (12+ hours of work), and packing for departure was a little hectic; but overall it was alright. I'd do it again, I'd say. Only next year, I hope to not have to call 911 for a man having a seizure (yep, did that), and I hope to not have to deal with immaturity. Yes, I re-discovered my lack of tolerance for a failure to act one's age. It happens.

On another note, Roanoke is SUCH a cute city! I loved it :)

And, while I was there, I got to see my beautiful Little on her birthday! Which also meant that I could give her the present I'd been working on! Yes, I can finally share the photo with you. In addition to delivering her family shirt, I made her this:

We have a thing for mustaches ;)

I also have one to match :) To my knowledge, she really likes it! That makes me so happy; I can't even tell you. I just like giving to/doing things for others.

SPEAKING OF! I can finally show you a finished picture of that project I mentioned a while back. While John and Nikki were in Brazil, a group of us leaders went to their house and helped fix-up their back deck a little bit. They have the PERFECT back yard in my opinion, and they are always such gracious hosts. Thus, I was so happy to get to show them some love by putting some TLC into the deck with fellow leaders/friends :) Staining, mulching, board reinforcing, and adding new rocks to the center, at the end of the day (even though I had to leave a little earlier) we had this:

Beautiful :) Nikki and John deserve nothing less!

A mosquito bit my face!

Hello all! I hope your Sunday was a beautiful one :)

Mac picked me up for church this morning (car is still dunzo), and we worked Echo Sunday School before third service. I got back-sassed a bit this morning by some middle schoolers, but by the time the morning was said and done they were close to silent. Why they choose to be silent during group discussion, I don't know. But what can you do? Anyways, Micah spoke this morning, and that is always a treat :) He talked about the fruits of the Spirit, and challenged us to consider if we were indeed bearing fruit, if our fruit was flourishing in abundance, and if our fruit was of good quality. Twas a thought-provoking call for self-analysis!

After service, I had lunch with Mac, Jim, and Christian at good ole Regency :) We enjoyed some nom noms before going to work on a little project Jim orchestrated as a means to help and surprise some dear friends :)

What's gonna work? TEEEEAM Work!

I won't go into more detail or post a completed picture, in the off chance they should stumble upon this post!

Upon coming home, I finished the project I mentioned last night! (I will post a picture of that completed task later this week.) Then, it was off to padre's for dinner and hangout. However, I could only procrastinate packing for so long.... Yes, tomorrow I leave for Roanoke for work. I will be there until Thursday, and I needed to assemble both casual and business attire. I was finally able to assemble outfits that got the "Jennifer seal of approval" (which I always trust), and now I am ready to rock and roll come morning!

I'm not sure if I'll be able to blog while I'm gone. If not, see you all Thursday or Friday!