Who me? Not update my blog?

You must have me confused with another, much more irresponsible blogger. I would never do that. If I WERE to do that though, I would blame it on the busy holidays. Not laziness.

So, Happy New Year everyone! And by everyone, I mean the approximately 5 folks who read my blog. My audience is small, but my readers are dedicated. Hope you all had a good one. :)

This entry doesn't so much have a topic so much as to let you know that I'm back and my New Year's resolution is to update my blog more. Hopefully this one will go better than most all of my other New Year's resolutions have gone.

Lily, however, is much better at keeping her resolutions. This year they are to learn to appreciate good art and be cuter. As you can see from the picture below, mission: accomplished.

Looking Around

One of my favorite quotes, sayings, whatever you want to call it goes:

Sorrow looks back
Worry looks around
Faith looks up.

I have been spending too much time looking around lately. I'm a worrier by nature, but have been especially so lately. And I find, naturally, that when I spend so much time worrying and "looking around", I don't have nearly enough time to look up. This is not what my Heavenly Father wants for me. He doesn't want me dwelling on things I have no control over. He doesn't want me so caught up in my own mind that I'm not focusing on my relationship with Him. It's so much easier to brood, and dwell and sigh a lot and wonder if this is the plan He has for me than to realize that it is EXACTLY the plan He has for me. Even if I don't get it. And don't like it. I'm not supposed to. My human nature tells me that I should, but I'm not promised roses and sunshine throughout my time on this earth. That's not the deal. Jesus didn't get that. So why on earth would I, sinful, flawed me, expect to? Human nature. The constant struggle to realize that it's NOT all about me. It's all about Him. I pray and pray that His will is MY will - and I don't think it's wrong to pray about/ask for things I want. He wants to know the desires of my heart. I just can't expect that they are always in line with His plans. That is a hard pill to swallow. It's big and tastes gross and needs a lot of water to get it down. Or a lot of faith.

So all that to say, I'm going to start spending more time looking up. And in keeping with the season, being thankful.

I'm so thankful for:

A loving, supportive family
Prayerful friends
My solid-as-a-rock, not to mention, handsome, husband
The coming Advent season
My grandmother's turkey and dressing!
Time with aforementioned family
The armful of love that is my dog
Leaving work early
Faith
Hope
and Love

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I pray it's a blessed one for you all.

Happy Birthday, Peyton!

Today is our nephew, Peyton's, birthday. So of course we have to give him a little blogger birthday love in honor of his big day.

And not only is it his birthday, it's his THIRTEENTH birthday. Big stuff. Peyton, we hope you have a great day and we'll see ya soon!

Love ~ Ty-Ty and Jennifer

PS - Yes, that's a UT hat he's wearing, but we try not to hold that against him. :)


PPS - You might find some more flattering pictures of our handsome nephew over at his family blog, linked on the right, but we're all about posting the most embarrassing pictures we can here at The Dojo.

MckMiracle

You may have noticed the new button "MckMiracle" button on my side bar. Look at me, getting all fancy! I have been following this blog for a while and want to encourage you to jump over there and read all about this family and their little miracle baby. "MckMama's" faith is inspiring and I've been so blessed in reading some of her posts. I'll let you read all about her and her family yourself.

We all have dark days and times in our lives - I know I do. Sometimes it's impossible to understand why things happen. And I constantly have to remind myself that I may never understand, no matter how desperately I want to. My job is to trust completely in my God and His goodness and mercy. And while sometimes, a miracle happens, sometimes, one doesn't. But that doesn't change who He is. This is a struggle for me to understand from an earthly perspective, but I cling to it and know in my heart that He has "plans to prosper and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11). Amen!

Country Road

One of the many blessings in my life is having a wonderful family - both mine and Tyler's. Not only are Tyler and I big fans of each other's families, they also seem to be big fans of each other too. So, it wasn't weird to me that Tyler, myself, my mom & dad, and his mom & dad packed up a van and took a 12 hour road trip to West Virginia to see the Auburn Tigers take on the Mountaineers. It was, however, weird to almost every other person I told about it. I was met with incredulous looks, much questioning, and finally astonishment that I was, actually, telling the truth.

We had a great time, apart from the 34-17 loss and Tyler's losing battle with car sickness. Or, I guess I should say, van sickness. The drive up was lovely - West Virginia in the fall is beautiful.

This is New River Gorge. Isn't it pretty?


















We stayed in a little town called Shinnston on the way - it's about 40 minutes outside Morgantown. Lots of fresh air, beautiful countryside and even a pet cow.















This is Sharlyn. She likes grass, head scratches, and long walks in the pasture.















This is where we stayed in Shinnston. Can't you just taste the fresh air?

And we did actually go to a football game, so I GUESS I should post some pictures from that. As much as I'd like to forget it.















Smiles before the game. Poor saps. We had no idea what was about to happen.















I think this must have been the first half, since everyone is still smiling. Or maybe they're just putting on a brave face. Oh look, Tyler's trying to get in the picture. Ham.















West Virginia has a lovely stadium, though. And some cold weather. And a fast offense.

On the way home, we stopped in Jonesboro, the oldest town in Tennessee. What a great little town. Very Southern Living.

The Block is Back

Can I tell you how much I used to love New Kids on the Block? Let me count the ways... I genuinely used to believe that if I could just MEET Jon, we would be happy together forever. Even if he was 11 years older than me. And I was 10. Oh, the crazy daydreams of my youth. And yes, Jonathan was my favorite. I realize I'm in the minority there. I bet your favorite was Joey. Or Jordan. I liked my quiet, shy Jon. I was quiet and shy too. We were a perfect match! And then he had to go and date Tiffany. Jen's dreams = crushed. But honestly, I loved them all. I had the buttons, the pins - I was part of the loud fanfare.

Well, imagine my delight upon hearing of the NKOTB reunion tour. I immediately recruited 2 of my most fanatical friends and we jumped on the Ticketmaster* pre-sale. I looked and looked for all of my old New Kids memorabilia, but could find nary a t-shirt and therefore had to go dressed like a normal person. I never thought I would stand out by NOT wearing giant buttons, day glo and leg warmers. Luckily, my friend Rachel had her awesome New Kids jacket, so I was cool by association.

And let me tell you - the Kids did not disappoint. It was the most fun I've had at a concert in a long time. They are still great performers, they looked great and they sang every single old song I wanted them to. I have shin splints from jumping up and down. And people, shin splints = wicked fun.

Here's my rundown of the guys, 15 years later:

Donnie - Still likes to be a little "gangsta" and so wore a sideways hat and sparkly track pants with a watch chain. Excellent. Also is a big fan of his butt, as he kept having the camera zoom in on it and asking the crowd how we thought it looked. Well, if you didn't have baggy gangster track pants on Donnie, perhaps I could tell you. He's a ham and I heart him. And he sang Cover Girl. All is right with the world.

Jordan - After almost having a heart attack upon hearing he hurt his leg and may not be performing, I was delighted to see that he brought his A game to the concert. Still sings a wicked falsetto. And, no lie, he performed what I like to call the "Jordan Special" - white shirt, unbuttoned, fan blowing, solo. He did EXACTLY the same thing in 1990. Awesome.

Joey - Joey looks a little like my brother. It's totally weird. But he's still cute as a button. And the man can sing. And he did a little interpretive dance duet too - way to branch out, Joe. And thank you for making all our dreams come true by singing "Please Don't Go Girl" again. Sniffle.

Danny - He has HUGE muscles. He did back in the day too. It's nice to see these last 15 years have been good to him. He can also breakdance - you go, Danny. And his face has changed, so he doesn't look as much like a monkey as I used to think.

And to save the best for last, Jon - Oh, Jon. It was so nice to see you again. Thanks for coming to the ATL. Sorry things didn't work out for you and Tiffany. I have a special place in my heart for Jon, which is why it pains me to say, he's the most awkward and uncomfortable looking of the 5. He was MUCH better than their debut performance on the Today show, but he got little camera time on the big screen last night for good reason. But I like to look past the superficial and choose to believe that he's the nicest, sweetest of the 5, so he's still my favorite.

The low of the evening: not having my camera. It said on the ticket they were not allowed. LIE. Everyone had their camera. So I had to rely on my lame Blackberry camera. High of the evening: Laughing hysterically because I couldn't get over the fact that I was actually at an NKOTB concert again, at age 29, and it was like I was in the 5th grade all over again.






























PS - I did not buy their new album on iTunes today. That would be completely dorky and ridiculous. And my favorite song on it is not Summertime.

*Ticketmaster, I hate you and your stupid fees.

Defying Gravity

Tyler and I are headed to The Fabulous Fox Theater tonight, to see Wicked with our friends Brenda and Jo. This is the second time I'll be seeing it and I'm super excited. It's an amazing show. Does anyone else get choked up when they watch a really amazing play/musical even when it's not sad? No? Yeah, me neither.

The first time I saw it was in NYC with the original Broadway cast. My sweet husband surprised me with tickets. I don't know how he knew I wanted to see it so badly. It couldn't have been because I had been obsessively looking for tickets for months before we went to New York. And it definitely couldn't have been because I kept complaining that they were sold out and that the only tickets I could find were outrageously expensive. I think I shrieked in our hotel room when he told me he had gotten them. Maybe I cried a little. It's all a blur. Score one (or maybe a few more) for Tyler.

It was amazing on Broadway and I have no doubt it will be amazing here at the Fox. Also, I just love going to the Fox. It's such a cool venue - it used to be a mosque and it is beautiful. And not a bad seat in the house.

Side note: I've also read the book by Gregory Maguire. I recommend the musical. Which is odd, because I most always think the book is a thousand times better than the movie, musical, etc. This book was HARD to get through though. It was certainly compelling and interesting, but a little hard to follow and honestly, kind of disturbing. Read it and see for yourself though!

Now, I'm off to see the Wizard...