"Princess and the Passenger"

This past weekend, I drove down to Orlando on Saturday morning, straight to Jenni's house (well after a few wrong turns of course...), for a wonderful evening of fun. Her Mama bought us Chicago style hot dogs for lunch, which were quite delicious, and we had some coffee to perk us up for a late night, accompanied by some delicious cupcakes I brought from Lucy & Leo's Cupcakery. We dressed cute but comfy, and headed to Tampa for the Rascal Flatts concert!

Our directions were perfect, and there was no traffic, so we were there 2 hours and 15 minutes early. Oops. OH well, because we had a ton of fun filling that time with our goofiness. Some lady knocked on our car window and gave us rediculous stickers, which Jenni was super excited about.Then we headed over and waited in line for a while. We saw a sign that said Kellie Pickler would not be performing due to illness, and I was quite OK with this, because that just meant more stage time for Rascal Flatts, which I was already dreaming about anyways!

Once inside, we got the most perfect lawn seats, spread out our blanket, took off our shoes, and marvelled at how well this was all going so far. We had a great view of the stage, and were not jealous at all of the regular seats. We were so comfy, had a ton of space, and had our own cooler and card games! Perpect.

We took a TON of silly pictures of ourselves, and had a TON of fun doing so. Here's an example:Then the concert started! Chris Young was the opener, and I had never heard of him. But I actually knew a few of his songs, I just didn't realize it at first. And he was quite good. I enjoyed him a lot more than I thought I would, so that was a pleasant surprise.

And then my beloved Rascal Flatts came on! This is their 10th Anniversary tour, so they are celebrating all ten years of their music! And to do so, they sang a few songs from each of their albums, from oldest to the most recent, and they were so awesome! I loved every minute of the show, and when it was "done," I didn't want to leave because I knew there just had to be more. And I was right. They came back out again, and sang some more great music. After an amazing night of great singing, laughing, pictures, and fun, we went to a nearby steakhouse for some line-dancing. It was quite spontaneous, but ended up being real fun! And, it was a nice way to wrap up our country-themed evening.

Side note: Rascal Flatts was the first concert I ever went to, when I was 13! So it was great to get to see them again for their 10th anniversary tour! Such great fun. Oh, and the title of this post is from one of my favorite songs of theirs, "Secret Smile." (Not a good video, but you can at least listen.)

Probably the Best

On the way home from church tonight, Mama says, "You know what we should do? We should take home frozen yogurt for us and Meg, and Papa."

And you know what I said? "OH YES PLEASE!"

So we stopped at the amazing Fuzions Frozen Yogurt, and made 4 cups, to go. And this was Probably the Best one I've ever made myself. Here was my "recipe:"
Mango yogurt--topped with almonds, mini chocolate chips, Fruity Pebbles, and kiwi.
And it was so dadgum delicious! I am hoping to re-create this flavor combo as soon as possible. Who's with me?!

Pancakes, Percussion, Pizza & Praise

Rock the Universe is always the last event of our Youth Extreme Summer Spectacular. And we just went last weekend. And it rocked. Quite literally. (Except on Friday morning: I had pancakes for breakfast, and no coffee. [Feelin' me Bridget?] So I was fading, quick. I had to load up on some caffeine to counteract that bad decision...but then I was ready.)

We arrived at our giant hotel Friday afternoon which is directly across the street from the park, checked in, painted my fingernails an awesome shade of Robin's Egg Blue, and then we all walked across to Universal!

First order of business was the new roller coaster, Rip, Ride, Rock It. And we did Rock It. That Friday night, my wonderful group was Chandler, Taylor and Aaron. And it was great.

We did a few more rides, ate dinner, and then headed to some concerts. That night we saw Jars of Clay, (I wasn't too impressed with them...) and Skillet. And they were real good.On Saturday, we went to Islands of Adventure, and went straight back to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And it was so amazing looking! It really looked like Hogsmeade, and I felt a little like I was on the set. (Aside from the hundreds and hundreds of people all smashing into each other.) We saw the whole "town," rode The Hungarian Horntail, and then decided to try Butterbeer. (For those non-HP fans, it is not alcoholic in any way.) But it was waayyy too sweet. And no one finished drinking theirs.We stayed in that park all day, riding all the most awesome rides, eating some delicious pizza for lunch, and laughing and having a good time. New and different people flowed in and out of our group for the day, and we had a lot of fun. Including Hannah, Meagan, Sara, Kristen, Kaitlin, Jacob, Daniel, Nikki, Will, and maybe a few more...We then met Duncan for our check-in time, and were back into Universal for another night of concerts.

After dinner, Chandler and I went to the Needtobreathe concert. And they were soo good! I'm going to be purchasing their new album this weekend, The Outsiders.

And then we waited for our beloved tobyMac! There were tons of people all around us, but it was worth it, because we were real close, and the concert was real great! I've seen him probably six times now, and every time I love it just as much!

We then saw some of Jeremy Camp, and just kinda hung out, because we were exhausted by this point. At midnight, we met up with the group, and walked back to the hotel all together.

Sunday morning we got to sleep in, and then had a small Sunday school lesson with Duncan. Packed up and left after 11, got gas, and headed home. The bus was silent as everyone was asleep, which it was nice for Duncan and I. After a few hours, lunch, and countless bathroom breaks, we were home. A great weekend in all. With great kids that I love.

Oh, and here's a picture of me and my weekend-roommates.

Papa's Homemade Lasagna

Yesterday, my Papa didn't have to go to work. So he stayed home and played home-maker. When Mama and I got home from work, we found him in the kitchen making homemade lasagna for our dinner!

It was his first time making it, and it was absolutely delicious! (And since there were plenty of left-over's, Meg and I will be repeating it for lunch in an hour or so...yum.)

He didn't even use a recipe, and he was so proud of himeself. We gave him the go-ahead to make this whenever he felt like it, cuz we really loved it!

Today, I don't have to go in to work, so I'm taking it easy at home. Here's a sample of things I've been doing lately since I've last posted: ultimate frisbee with the youth, sleepover at my old friend Callie's (felt like we were in high school again), swimming-a lot, reading, finished moving all my stuff back into my room here, catching up with old friends! This afternoon, I will be updating my recipe book, which I love doing, and then cooking dinner for my family tonight.
Also, FSU football starts real soon, and I'm super excited! I'm trying to get tickets for the first game, FSU v. Samford, because I LOVE football games! And I'm looking forward to seeing my best friend ever, Ochuko, play his senior year of college ball. (The picture is from our senior year of high school, in 2005. Forever ago, at the homecoming game, when senior girls didn't have to cheer And it's my favorite picture of us, maybe ever.)

Oh, and I ordered my TOMS! They should be here today or tomorrow, so I'm excitedly awaiting their arrival. Yay!

Purchasing TOMS

So I've been thinking about buying some of these shoes since last December-ish. When I first saw someone wearing them, I thought they looked funny, and didn't really like them. But then I learned a WHOLE LOT about them when I did a group project on the company. The more I read, the more I was impressed. They really are a great company, doing really great things all over the world. And now, everyone I talk to is becoming fans of them as well. So I will finally be purchasing my very own pair of TOMS. (The ones pictured below. I figure I'll wear them most often if they're neutral.) And I'm really excited about it! I am excited to support their mission, and aid them in their incredible goal of providing shoes for children in desperate need of them.

Here's one quick story of something we take for granted. A single mother of three children in South America only had one pair of shoes to share between all three of them. In order to attend school, they were required to wear shoes. They would rotate the one pair, and take turns going to school with the one pair of shoes. When they each received a new pair of TOMS, all three were finally able to go to school.These are things we take for granted, and something I'm excited to change.