Thanksgiving

It's kind of cool that we set aside one day a year to just be thankful. I like that. I try to be thankful daily, even though I might not have been posting it on Facebook every day for the past month. Of course there are things in my life that I wish I had... But there's plenty I should be thankful for as well.

Of course, I am blessed with an amazing family and I don't often stop and think about that. Not many people have parents who, 38 years after saying "I do" are still madly in love with each other. I do. That's cool. I am also blessed with amazing friends. It just takes one or two people you think are friends to royally screw you over for you to appreciate the friends who have been standing there beside you. (In theory, I guess I could be thankful for those bad friends for showing me what good friends really are, but I'm not there yet). 33 hasn't been so great a year, and without hesitation I can say I wouldn't have made it through without my friends.

But this year, I have something else to be grateful for: the people I work with. Now before everyone else I've worked with before this year gets mad, let me explain. This year, I have a new job, and the four people I work closest with are actually my employees. I am a boss. (I know, right? It's weird!) Now that I'm settled, I can say looking back that I was really, REALLY nervous at the beginning of the school year. These were people who had worked together for YEARS, and were all great at their jobs, and all of the sudden I was in charge of them. It was like I was barging into their secret club and demanding to learn the handshake. But the most amazing thing happened... They let me in. They sent me Boss's Day Flowers (and I almost cried). In fact, we even rearranged furniture and cleaned seven years worth of junk out of the storage area so that I could have an office with them and we could all be together. And I love it. It's the happiest I've been at a job in a long, long time. So this thanksgiving, as I know they are spending time with their families, being thankful for new relationships, new babies, and healthy outlooks to the future, I'm just thankful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all! And to all of you cooking huge dinners... I'll think of you while I'm eating at the Carter Caves Lodge! No cooking OR cleaning for me today!!!! :)

Location:College Hill Dr,Grayson,United States

Holiday Cheer

Last year, I lost my Christmas spirit. Well, in reality, I allowed people to steal it from me. For the first time ever, I did not put up a Christmas tree, and I had no desire to. I was missing any holiday cheer and I didn't care to celebrate or decorate.

Not this year folks! This year it's not even Thanksgiving (sorry Lish... but I promise to make a Thanksgiving post next week if that helps) and I've got my tree up, complete with a few new ornaments and a much needed new tree topper. I even finally bought a tree skirt this year (and someone is making a killing on those! Thank goodness for 50% off at Hobby Lobby!)

So here's to a great holiday season. My Grinch heart has grown three sizes since last year and it's not even December!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Sometimes I get on my own nerves...

I heard someone ask a man once how he was (I could've sworn it was my grandfather, but Mom says I am wrong... Anyway...), and he said, "I can't complain." Then added, smiling, "Well, I could, but it wouldn't get me anywhere..."

You know, that's a pretty accurate statement. Complaining really doesn't get you anywhere... But that doesn't stop us from doing it, myself included. I feel like I've been complaining a lot lately. Actually, scratch that, I feel like I've been whining a lot lately. (The ironic thing is whining bothers me maybe more than anything, and yet sometimes I still get sucked in.)

So if I've whined or complained to you lately, thanks for listening. Sometimes I just need to vent. And if I've whined or complained to you lately, I'm sorry. I could make excuses about how I had to deal with a pretty big issue in my personal life, and work has been very stressful this year (but then again, if I have been whining to you, you probably already know that).

I so know my problems pale in comparison to others, and I also know I've got a lot to be grateful for. So I promise I'll try to be better...




(As an aside... The over abundance of these posters is super annoying, until you want to add a picture to your blog post and you KNOW that you'll be able to find one saying exactly what you want!)

My Life (according to Pinterest)

I have a board on Pinterest called "So True..." where I pin quotes that I really like. Tonight I was looking through them, and I noticed there were several that I identified with so much, I had apparently pinned them a second time without realizing it. Much like the victor's green cards in Apples to Apples, I feel like these describe me fairly well...

Blogging from the pool... Combining two of my favorite things.

There aren't many people at the pool today which makes no sense to me, but whatever. I'm here and that's all that matters. :)

Just within earshot to my left are two teenage girls, 17 at most. Just within earshot to my right is a woman every bit of 50, and a guy friend of hers. One of the teenage girls and the woman are each talking about guy issues and I SWEAR to you, I wish they could hear each other, because they're telling basically the same story.

"And we went on two dates, and I think we had a good time..."

"So he said he'd call the next day and it was two days before he did..."

"I think I really like him, but I'm not sure. It's still early on..."

It just strikes me as funny. As someone living happily in the middle (by current proximity as well as age) of these girls, I've uttered these exact same phrases on numerous occasions.

I guess at the end of the day, age really is just a number, and we're all more alike than we realize...

(ok time for a swim now...)

Location:Gainesway Dr,Lexington,United States

What a Difference Four Years Makes

Tonight as I was eating ice cream and watching the Olympics (don't judge), I started thinking of the last Olympics, and how much different things were.  And not just that the Opening Ceremonies and Michael Phelps were better (too soon?), but other stuff too!

The last time the Olympics were held...

• I was in my twenties
• I was an elementary school teacher with no real desire to ever leave
• I had not even thought of pursuing a Masters degree in administration
• I had not met 6 of the 8 friends on my recent calls log
• I didn't have an iPhone
• I still had a TV with a built in VCR (seriously)
• I had only been to 30 consecutive games at Commonwealth
• This blog had one post
• I was still six months away from "White Death 09" 
• UK Basketball was coached by Billy Gillespie
• I had never heard of Kentucky Sports Radio
• I was not on Twitter...
• But I am pretty sure I still had a MySpace
• I still had three grandparents living

I'm sure there is more too... that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.  It's funny that you don't notice these things happening, then all of a sudden, it has all changed...

Rain

We've had an especially dry summer, but finally the forecast is calling for rain for a week. This morning when I woke up at 9:45 and saw nothing but blue sky out the window, I decided to head to the pool to squeeze in all the sun I could.

About three hours into my stay, it barely started to rain. No "storm," just a sprinkle. Lots of parents were scrambling to get their kids out of the pool and into the car, and even some adults without kids left as well. But not this girl! I'd decided I was staying til they kicked me out... Plus it was still sunny and hot so the rain was actually refreshing. Less than five minutes later, the cloud passed and the skies were clear again. Of course within the hour, thunder rumbled and we were all forced to leave the pool, so I sadly packed up and came home.

As I was driving home, I couldn't help but think of the saying "If you want to see the rainbow, you've got to put up with a little rain." I've always loved that saying. But you know, sometimes the rainbow doesn't show up as soon as you want it to. Sometimes there's rain, then a break, then an even bigger rain. Sometimes life knocks into you, and you steady yourself and move forward, only to get knocked completely down. But it will get better.  There will be a rainbow.  You just have to wait for it. Today, the "little rain" was simply a precursor to a big storm and a dark day, and I saw no rainbow.  But by putting up with that "little rain" I did get 30 gorgeous minutes of sunshine, and if that's not worth a little rain, I don't know what is.

Sand

I know there are some people out there who don't like the beach.  I don't understand those people.  It's like not liking ice cream or puppies... it just doesn't make sense.  Do these people not like smiling?  Are they communists?  I just don't get it.

If you ask most non beach lovers, they will complain about the sand... that it gets everywhere and you can't get rid of it.  Not me.  I love the sand.  When I went to Hilton Head for fall break, I think I was as close to a stress related break down as I had been in years. And that first day, even though it was raining, we went to the beach just to see the ocean.  When I took off my flip flops and took my first step in the sand, I literally think that I could feel my blood pressure drop.

As far as the sand getting everywhere... I think that's one of the charms of the beach.  My beach/pool bag has two kinds of sand inside. My car is sandy, and as psychotic as I have been about my car, I am hesitating cleaning it because somehow I feel closer to the ocean with it in there.  Today I went to the pool for the first time since vacation, and upon opening the book I took with me (of course Can You Keep a Secret?) I was greeted with a pile of sand being dumped onto my lap, and I had to smile. In fact, I love sand so much that now when I go to the beach I purposely bring it home with me.  I want to get tons of little vials and fill them with lots of different sand (because that will mean I need to go to lots of different beaches, you know, for the sake of art).  But until then, I have this:

Top to bottom: Coronado Beach, Hilton Head, Tybee Island (I love that you can see the difference)

I love the beach, and more than that, I need the beach.  I need to get there at least once a year and put my toes in the sand, listen to the waves, close my eyes, and just breathe. It makes life better. Sometimes I wonder why in the world I don't live close to the beach, but then I think if the beach was an everyday thing, it might lose its importance (plus it would be hard for me to keep up my football attendance streak from the east coast). But I do think next time I might have to bring back enough sand that I can run my toes through it, even if I am in the middle of Lexington.

Resumes and Interviews and Waiting, Oh My!

I've always been a fan of The Wizard of Oz.  I can remember when I was a little girl, it would come on TV once a year and I always watched it.  Once I even got to record it on my VCR and watched it I think until the tape broke (oh, the things this generation of children doesn't have to deal with!).  (Of course now that I have seen the musical Wicked twice, I watch it with different eyes thinking "Well, that's not how it really happened!" but that's beside the point...) So I have seen the movie too many times to count, I know the characters and I know the lines, but the past few weeks I have definitely come to identify with the movie more than ever before.

The past couple of months I have felt like I was in the middle of a tornado. The position I currently have with Jessamine County Schools was eliminated, and I had no idea what I would be doing next school year. Having finished my coursework and tests for my principal certification, looking for an administration job was a possibility. After prayerfully considering my options, I really felt led to leave technology and get back into a school setting, so I applied for two assistant principal positions in my district, and was convinced not only was that what I wanted to do, but where God wanted me to be.  For six weeks I had no idea what next year would look like for me, which was upsetting and my MIND felt like it was in the middle of a tornado.  I wasn't sleeping well, I couldn't focus, I was mentally exhausted. I just wanted to KNOW. 

Honestly, I was sure I'd get one of the assistant principal jobs, because that was where God wanted me. But I wasn't praying that I'd get them.  All along I prayed that God would put me where He wanted me, and close the doors where He didn't want me. And you know what I learned?  When you pray that prayer, you've got to be ready that the answer you get might not be the one you want.  I found out I didn't get the first assistant principal job, and a little over a week later, I found out I didn't get the other one either.  My texts informing people were answered with a lot of "WHAT!?!?!"s.  But somehow I wasn't really sad.  I was at peace because I knew I'd end up where I was supposed to be...

And so I interviewed for the District Technology Coordinator position in Jessamine County.  This job was created with the funds formerly used for my position, and the job description was very similar to my current job. Today I was blessed enough to be offered the job, and gladly accepted it.  I love technology, I am good at technology, I have built a reputation for myself in our district and our region of the state as far as technology is concerned.  I love the people I work with, from the JCTC staff, to our Central Office staff, to the people I work with at CKATC and KySTE.  I am blessed to work in a district for a superintendent who values technology and what it can do for our students.
 
So while the tornado has stopped spinning and the house landed and I know where I'll be come July 1 , I feel a bit more like Dorothy now than before.  If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with...

I think I need to buy some new red shoes now.

Waiting

It was a long week at work this week. The days felt longer because I'm in the office more than out because no one really wants to collaborate on technology with less than ten days of school left, and because I was waiting for a couple of important phone calls regarding possible job changes for next year.

By mid morning Tuesday I was already worrying too much about things. Trying to busy myself in order to take my mind off things, I decided to open one of the internal websites I help manage for our school district, and do a quick check for any missing information. I went to open the site from my bookmark folder and there was a random site in that folder. Last week, a friend had told me about a website that had daily deals for etsy (veryjane.com if you care) and I'd bookmarked it, but somehow I'd put it in the wrong folder. Oh well, I thought, and decided to give it a quick look. One of the first things I saw was a print of this image and it stopped me dead in my tracks.




I have Faith in God. I do. I love my job and the people I work with now, I just feel like God is calling me to do something new. I pray every night that He opens the door where He wants me and closes the rest. And I'm okay if He closes them all and I stay right where I am. It's just that patience has never been a strong suit of mine.

Its easy to have faith when things are going your way and God is opening doors. It's sometimes even easy to have faith when He's closing them. But waiting for Him to just do something... ANYTHING is enough to drive someone crazy.

I know He knows what's best for me. And I know there's a bigger picture I can't see. So I'm going to post this quote on my bathroom mirror as a daily reminder that faith in God really does include faith in His timing.

Because deep down I know that whatever He's making me wait for is going to be worth it.

#BBN

Have you seen Fever Pitch? It was part sports movie/part chick flick (leaning more heavily on the latter) that came out in 2005 about Lindsey (Drew Barrymore) falling for Ben (Jimmy Fallon) who happens to be a teacher (trust me, no teachers are actually that cute and funny) and a Boston Red Sox fan.  I am pretty sure this was not a big box office hit, although I saw it in the theater and own the DVD.  There comes a point in the movie where Ben misses a game to be with Lindsey, and the Red Sox end up beating the Yankees, and he is uber pissed that he missed it, causing the following fight to happen:

Lindsey: Wasn't it you yourself that said just tonight..."It's only a game"?
Ben: Oh, that's great. That's great. Pile it on. Yeah. Kick me when I'm down. That's great.
Lindsey: It is just a game.
Ben: Clearly, it's not just a game! If it was, then obviously I wouldn't care about it this much. Twenty-three years. Do you still care about anything you cared about 23 years ago? How about ten? How about five? Name me a single thing that you’ve cared about for 23 years.
Lindsey: Yeah. No, um, there isn't actually anything I've wanted for 23 years...because 23 years ago, I was seven... and if I still wanted to marry Scott Baio, I would think that my life went terribly wrong.

So I said I didn't think this movie was a huge box office hit...but do you know who I bet did like this movie?  BBN.  Big Blue Nation.  Kentucky fans.  I bet Kentucky fans liked this movie.  I bet lots of Kentucky fans identified with this movie.  I'd actually be surprised if some Kentucky fans hadn't lived this out in some way, shape or form.  BBN is a Nation of Bens surrounded by Lindseys who just don't get it.

Because Kentucky Basketball is bigger than me.

It's bigger than you.

It's bigger than the actual University of Kentucky.

It's bigger than Lexington.

It's bigger than the entire Bluegrass State.

It's big enough to make people camp out for days for tickets to a PRACTICE in October. It's big enough to propel fans to drive 8 hours or 11 hours or 19 hours to make sure Kentucky has the most fans in the arena.  It's big enough to make grown men call in post-game shows and cry talking about watching the boys cut the net last night. It's big enough to make a lawyer quit his practice to start a fan site/blog that has turned into one of the biggest UK sites ever (KSR Shoutout in case you didn't catch that). 

It's big y'all.

And I love it.

Kentucky doesn't really have professional sports teams.  No NBA, no NFL, no MLB. So the Wildcats are the state's team.  I do not think that you need to have attended the University of Kentucky to root for the Wildcats, and I don't understand those people who do think that. I'm a Packers fan (unabashedly because of Randall Cobb), but I've never even stepped foot in Wisconsin.  Is that not okay?  I've always been a Cincinnati Reds fan, but I've never lived in Ohio.  Is that wrong too?  No, I don't think so.  You're fans of who you're fans of for whatever reason.  I was a UK fan long before I stepped onto campus in August 1997, but if you ask me when I became a fan, I couldn't tell you.  I don't remember my first game or my first UK shirt or any of that, because it was just a part of my life.  Now granted, when your Dad plays for UK (#32 next to Cotton Nash), then of course you don't really have a choice...

But that's what makes Kentucky fans so special.  We are all united for this team.  We love "our" Cats, because they are the Commonwealth's team.  Even Coach Cal says he wanted to win this for the players and the fans.  He gets it, and he's not a Kentucky boy.
BBN has members in all 50 states, and lots of other countries.  There are fans who have season tickets, and fans who have never seen them play.  Most fans have Kentucky roots at some point on their family tree, and I am sure some are fans just because UK is a great team.  And you know what, I'll take it.  Anyone who wants to cheer with me will not be turned away!

Now, are there some idiots that are UK fans?  Of course there are.  Along with the normal section of BBN, I was highly embarrassed by the couch burning and car flipping on campus. And, quite honestly, I was embarrassed that the local news outlets conducted the evening news shows from Louisiana, even on Sunday night when there were no games being played.  But if that's my trade off for being part of the most passionate fan base in America, I'll take it.  Because you know, there are idiots everywhere, and I am sure if you are not a UK fan, your team has idiots that follow it too.  And I am sure that if your team had beaten its biggest rival in the national semifinal game and then went on to win the national championship for the first time in over a decade, your fans might have acted a little ridiculous too.  It's like everyone is trying to pretend their fans would've just sipped tea and eaten crumpets or something.  Give me a break folks!  I am not condoning the idiotic behavior, but no one can control drunk college kids (if you were watching WKYT last night cut to live feed of campus, you saw first hand this was true!)

In October KSR founder Matt Jones wrote an article for Grantland about why UK was going to win it all this year.  One reason began with this quote: In Kentucky, we care more about basketball than you do. In fact, we care more about basketball than you probably care about anything.

As a Kentucky girl, a UK alum, and a proud member of BBN, I have to agree, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love being part of something that is bigger than me. I love going to games and making friends with the people around me. I love watching a game in a bar or restaurant in Lexington and seeing 40 or 50 people yell at the TV with me. You can call us crazy, you can call us paranoid (aside: I for one do NOT think UPS was out to get us, but hey Kansas fans, Louisville fans, let's see UPS make a commercial with a montage of Davis blocks, Jones dunks and Miller threes that kept you from advancing and see if maybe it annoys you a little bit), you can call us whatever you want.

We'll shrug it off.

We don't care.

Because when you still love something that you loved when you were five years old, nothing other people say is going to make you change your mind.

I'm ready for #8

The last time Kentucky won a national championship was 1998.

Fourteen years ago, folks. That's a long time. How long? you ask (ok, maybe you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway). I was a freshman in college. I was a teenager. I only had six nieces and nephews, not ten. I hadn't met some of the great friends I currently have. I had my very first cell phone, which did nothing except make phone calls, and looked remarkably like I had stolen it from Zach Morris. I watched every second of that game with bated breath... It was UK's third national championship game in three years. They'd won in 96, and come so close in 97, and I was ready for another championship. Of course the Cats did not disappoint, coming back from a ten point deficit at the half to beat Utah 78-69.
Then the drought. I'm not here to "blame" anyone for that (I will adore Tubby Smith until the day I die), but it happened. No final fours. Four NCAA tourney second round losses, the hiring of Billy Clyde, a first round loss, and then the sadness of not even hearing the Wildcats called on Selection Sunday. What the hell had happened?
Then Cal happened. An Elite Eight his first year. A Final Four his second. And a Championship game his third. Even if UK doesn't win, they're getting closer.
But even non fans will tell you this team is fun to watch. And tonight will be the last time we see this team play... So I'm hoping even more anxiously than in 1998 that these boys cut the nets tonight and bring the hardware back to the bluegrass.
For Cal. For Miller. For Davis, Teague, Jones, MKG, & Lamb. For the past 14 years. For all the boys in blue who didn't, who couldn't. For all of BBN... Bring home #8 boys.

For sale

My parents live in the same house that they built when my mom was pregnant with me, and no one in my family really did much moving when I was younger, so I have a hard time letting houses go.

When each set of grandparents sold their house in Florida, it was sad, and I didn't like it.

When my Mamaw and Papaw sold their house in Auxier (the house that my mom had grown up in) to move to Grayson, it was sad, and I didn't like it.

Yet somehow, seeing the For Sale sign in Gurnie's yard when I was home this weekend was the saddest.  It's not like I didn't know it was happening.  When she died in September, we'd talked about selling the house.  When the family got together at the end of October to go through the things in the house, we talked about selling the house.  Over the past few months, I've often talked to Mom and Dad about things they were doing to the house to get it ready to sell.  When they had the estate sale a couple of weekends ago, I knew selling the house was the next step.  But seeing the sign in the yard was just weird.  Thinking about someone else living there is even weirder.

Gurnie and Papaw's was basically my second home growing up.  It's where I learned to ride my bike.  It's where (SPOILER ALERT) I learned there was no Santa Claus. It's where I got my first scar when I fell in the dining room and bit through my lip. It's where I practiced my reading skills by watching Wheel of Fortune with my Papaw (yes, I'm serious), and where I learned to love game shows in general. It's where I stood on a wicker stool and cut my first gingerbread man out with a cookie cutter. It's where I played in the basement for hours on end, pretending that with its bathroom and second kitchen, that it was my own house. It's where I sat at a picnic table on the patio and had tons of watermelon, the best homemade ice cream, and once a McDonald's hamburger with a little dirt on the bun. (You can ask my brothers Chris or Brent for the full story there!)  I remember when the huge den was a just a garage, and when the laundry room was Papaw's TV room (with those sliding glass doors on both sides I could see everyone driving down Landsdowne... and when I turned 16, my grandparents could see every time I took the first curve of Shady Lane too quickly). The house was the starting point of too many Florida trips to count, and always my last stop before heading back to Lexington.

But time moves on... the tree that I loved to climb isn't even in the yard anymore, and the croquet set we played with as kids sadly never turned up. And soon one of those daily phone calls my parents gets about the house will be from someone who will actually buy it.  So if that person ever stumbles upon this blog (hey, stranger things have happened), just know that when you buy 405 Landsdowne, you're not just getting a brick ranch house with the best yard in Grayson... you're getting my childhood memories too.

Love

I saw this picture on the Post Secret app (back when Post Secret had an app) and it really resonated with me.  I took a screen shot, set it as wallpaper on my phone, uploaded it to my Facebook, and even broke my "Why is your profile picture not of YOU?" rule and set it as my profile pic for a while.

And today, on Valentine's Day, I really realize how true this is. My heart is full.  It is. I don't think I even knew how full it was until yesterday, but it really is.  I have the best friends a girl could want (even better ones than when I've said that before), a family that loves me (and makes me laugh) and a life that somewhere out there, someone is envying.

I'm happier than I have been in a while (exponentially happier than I was this time last year) and I have learned more about myself in the last year than maybe in the previous 30+ combined. I know what I want and what I don't want.  And I am okay if I find it or if I don't.

So my big Valentines plans are to watch the Princess Bride with Andi (who by the way has never seen it--how is that possible!?!).

Those of you who find yourself with a valentine this year, don't feel sorry for me, because there's no reason to (and because it will piss me off faster than basically anything else).

And don't waste your time telling me it's going to be okay, because it already is.


My ring finger may be empty, but my heart is not.  Love comes in all forms.

I finally got to Z!!!

My To Do list is possibly longer than it's ever been. I have grad school in less than 20 minutes and I need to be studying for the ISLLC test that I take tomorrow, but I am stressed.  And I cannot focus.  So I am writing...  Because that's what I do.

So I think maybe it's time I finish my ABCs of Happiness posts. When I wrote my A post on October 10, 2009, I did it because I felt like I was starting to be sad again... slipping into somewhere I didn't want to be.  So I decided to go through the alphabet looking for things that started with each letter that made me happy.  Some letters were easy, some were more difficult, and I still don't know how I left Patrick Patterson off the P post the first time I wrote it!  So over two years later, I am finishing.  And I know this isn't the only thing that kept me out of the "funk" I was slipping into, but I do think it helped.

So here goes the final one...

Ziti: C'mon, you can't be surprised.  I Heart Carbs.  That's all there is to it.

Zucchini: But let's be clear here: only if it's fried.

Zesta crackers: See: Carbs, I Heart.

Ziplock bags: Seriously... who uses those ones you just fold over? Ridiculousness!


And just to de-stress, maybe I will read all of the other posts during my grad class. :)

Not What I Had Planned...

It was a long week at work... And yes, I realize I only had to work four days, and that was after a four day weekend, but it was a long week at work.  And I also realize that every day is 24 hours and no day is really longer than another (someone I was once close friends with liked to point that out whenever I mentioned a day being long, yeah, it was annoying), but still... it was a long week at work.  It seemed that I couldn't get one thing done without several more things being dumped on my desk delegated to me, and I just felt like I was drowning.  Add to it that I haven't left work before dark since the new year (and my day ends at 4), and maybe you can see a little of my stress and frustration...

I was excited last night to get to spend some time with my siblings.  Most of us live in central Kentucky, but we don't get together as often as we should, so this year, we've decided to do family game night once a month.  (If you know my competitive family, you know this is a risk in and of itself!) Not everyone was able to come, but we had a great time eating, laughing, playing games, and making "That's what she said" jokes over the head of the one niece that was there (by the end of the night Chris and I had perfected a four part hum that translated into "That's what she said").  It was a great night.

But between coming home and getting up this morning, I just started to feel a little down in the dumps.  I won't bore you with the specifics, but needless to say, I was a little blue.  And when I woke up this morning, knowing that I had a day of homework and studying ahead of me, I really just wanted to stay in bed.  Stay in bed, and watch the UK game, and do my homework, and just ride out a case of the "blahs" that haven't hit me in a while.  It just wasn't going to be my day, I knew it. And that was okay. Everyone has bad days... today was mine.

Then a little before 11, I got a text from my friend Jane: Hey, I suddenly have an extra ticket to the game today. Last minute, I know but if u can make it down to Rupp I've got seats in lower arena.  Just let me know. My response was literally "Ummm... Seriously?"  Partly because I wasn't sure this was happening and partly because I'd run to Rupp Arena with two broken feet to sit lower arena in an SEC game.

So, since I am so low maintenance, I was showered and dressed and parking my car at Community Trust Bank by 11:35.

And our seats were great.

And it was a great game.

And UK won.

And I got to spend time with a friend I hardly get to see anymore.

And I'm glad I got out of bed and left the house!

So, Jane, last minute or not, you turned what I was sure was going to a day not worth getting out of bed for into a great one.

I'd like to think that maybe, just maybe, at a little before 11am, God was up there saying, "Not today Erin.  You're not going to be sad today.  You don't have a reason to be sad about anything... Here, let me prove it to you."

Funny how that happens sometimes...

Go Cats!