Internal GPS Needed

I desperately need someone to invent an internal GPS. You know, something that could be implanted into my body and a little voice would whisper in my ear whether or not I'm going in the right direction. It would also yell "STOP" if I start to go the wrong way. I'm sure this probably already exists somewhere in the spy world. If it does, I need one. Anyone who knows me knows that I have the worst sense of direction. It runs on my Dad's side of the family. You may think that's impossible, but it really does. My brother once drove the wrong direction on the interstate and didn't notice until he crossed the border of the wrong state. I would probably do the same thing if I traveled by myself more often. I go the wrong way even when I use the GPS in the car. I can't always tell where it's telling me to turn when it says to turn now. I've tried to use my phone GPS when walking. I've had the little blue dot right on the place I was trying to go and still not seen the place. This bad sense of direction is a family curse.

Today my bad sense of direction kicked in when I had to go downtown to UAB to go to the eye doctor. One perk of Stephen working at the hospital is the pretty great health insurance we have. The one bad thing is that you pretty much have to go to UAB to make that health insurance worthwhile. I asked Stephen last night how to get to where I needed to go today, and he gave me pretty decent directions. The problem is that UAB covers 83 city blocks (according to wikipedia) and the hospital is about half of UAB. It's huge! So, I drove right past the building that I needed to go to this morning. I made the block and looked for the sign that said Callahan eye hospital patient parking, and I turned in. I thought it was a little weird that you had to press a little button instead of pulling a ticket. A lady asked me who my appointment was with. When I told her, she told me that I was at the wrong lot, and I needed to back up and pull in the lot next door. Well of course, there was a car behind me. I had to push the button again to tell the lady that there was a car behind me and I couldn't back up. She got frustrated and said she would let me through but I was not to park, I was to go right out of the exit on the other side. I did as she said, made the block again, and finally got to the right parking garage (on the third try).

I was once again directionally challenged after my appointment. Since they dilated my eyes, and I couldn't drive for a while, I decided to walk to the building Stephen works in and have lunch with him. Well, I got really lost on foot. In my defense, I kind of couldn't see anything because my eyes were dilated and it was really bright outside. I had to ask two people for directions. I finally found the main hospital building. Luckily my sweet husband (knowing how bad my problem is) took pity on me and walked me back to the eye hospital and my car after we had lunch. :)

The most fun part of this whole adventure was that they didn't have trial contacts in my prescription, so I get to go back next week. Hopefully, I will do better the second time. :) If anyone hears of the invention of an internal GPS, send one my way!

I made it!

I made it through Orientation Week, Pre-Recruitment/ Go Greek Activities, Sorority Recruitment, Fraternity Recruitment, and the Student Government Retreat. There were no major catastrophies, and I learned how to do the wobble. For those of you who are unaware of what the wobble is, it's a popular dance/song that is played at least twice any time we have an event with music. After a month of doing nothing but work, I am looking forward to a weekend off to spend with my wonderful husband. :) Things can finally get back to normal for a while. :)

As busy and crazy as the last month was, I have to say that I work with some pretty darn amazing students. They were a pleasure to spend time with, and I couldn't be prouder of all that they accomplished.



My beautiful Panhellenic girls before the Preference parties.




SGA Executive Cabinet at their retreat.



So, I Used to Be a Singer???

I commute an hour one way to work each day and an hour back, and the radio has gotten kind of old lately. I recently pulled out some of my OLD worship cds from back in the old junior high/ high school days. The worship music has been a refreshing addition to my commute, and I think it is definitely good for my soul. It has gotten me thinking about the last time I probably listened to these cds.

When I was in 7th-9th grade, I was in a singing group called "Forever 4 Jesus." I bet you can't guess how many of us there were in the group. If you said four, you are correct. We got a new youth pastor at our church the summer before 7th grade. He traveled across North Louisiana and South Arkansas almost every weekend speaking at youth rallies. One day he got some of the girls from our youth group together and asked if we wanted to put together something to sing at one of the rallies. That was the start of Forever 4 Jesus.

We started putting together a collection of soundtrack tapes (yes tapes), and practicing a couple of times a week. For a couple of years there, we were singing at least once a month in our church and a couple of weekends a month at youth rallies. We even entered the Gospel Festival in Minden, La. and came in first place in our division and second place overall. We got a trophy that we kept in the choir director's office at church. It was a really fun experience, and I have such wonderful memories of the three other girls in that singing group.

It's really funny for me to think about it now. I don't consider myself a singer by any means. I sing in the car, and that's about it. When I sing in the car, and Stephen is in the car with me, he usually makes fun of me. I can remember singing in the shower when I was younger, and my family would bang on the door and tell me to be quiet. I'm kind of thinking now that people were just trying to be nice to me by letting me be in a singing group. :) Nonetheless, I am really enjoying my old worship cds.

Too Short

Our weekend was too short but oh so nice! Stephen and I had a date night Friday. We went to eat at Zea Rotisserie at one of our favorite weekend night spots, Brookwood Village. Brookwood has live music outside every Friday and Saturday night. After we ate, we sat on a bench outside for a while and listened to the music. Brookwood is actually a mall, but there's a really nice area outside of it with shops and restaurants. Our favorite Italian restaurant, Brio, is there, as well as our favorite yogurt place, YOLO.

Zea is a really great place to eat too! We took Stephen's parents there last time they were in town, and they loved it.

Saturday morning, my friend Ellen and I (and her toy poodle, Buddy) went downtown to the Pepper Place market. I had never even heard of this place until Ellen asked if I wanted to go with her. It is amazing. It's an old Dr. Pepper factory that has been turned into an indoor/outdoor Farmer's market. There were also some crafts there too. I picked up some amazing jalapeno cheddar bread that Stephen has devoured and some fresh tomatoes. Stephen and I are going to go back next Saturday so that he can see it too. They have everything from baked goods and veggies to homemade icecream. There was also live music and cooking demonstrations. It is a really cool place, and I can't wait to go back!

We also cooked a LOT this weekend, which was good because the weekend is normally the time when we are the worst about eating out. We had sandwiches on the phenomenal jalapeno cheese bread, we grilled hamburgers, Stephen made pancakes, and last night we made a really good zuchini pasta bake. I'll have to post the recipe for that some time. It was excellent! There are only a handful of weekends left before life becomes crazy again, and I intend to enjoy every single minute of them! I hope everyone out there in the blog world had a great weekend too!

Just Because

Stephen took Step 3 of the Board Exam Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. He had been studying every night for the past month. I'm so proud of him for studying hard and making it past this exam. Once he gets his passing scores back, he will be a fully licensed (able to practice on his own) doctor.

We went out to eat last night to celebrate him finishing the test. We went to a place called Genghis Grill. It's a Mongolian BBQ place where you put everything you want to eat in a bowl and tell them which starch you'd like, and they cook it up and bring it to your table. We had been wanting to try it for a while, but it's a pretty new place and it's always busy. We were able to get in and eat last night, and it was really good!

The best part of the night was that when I got home from work, there was a pretty box from the Pandora store waiting for me. Stephen got me a Pandora necklace with my birthstone charms on it from the Pandora store for no reason whatsoever. It was a "just because" present, which in my opinion, are definitely the very best kind of present. I have a very thoughtful husband. He spent all week taking the Board Exams, and he got me a present. :) I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

What is an OL?

My job usually consists of Greek Life, SGA, Programming Board, Intramurals, and Student Organizations. However, this past semester, the "Other Duties As Assigned" part of that job description kicked in and I ended up in charge of the Orientation Leaders (or OLs). I just spent the last three days with them doing training for August and our Take Flight Week. It was incredibly rejuvenating, and these students reminded me of the reason I wanted to work in Student Affairs.

I was an orientation leader at Louisiana Tech in 2003. It was a life changing experience for me. The 18 of us on staff formed a bond like no other that year. They really helped me to be more open minded. It was the first time in my life that I ever did anything the slightest bit risky or dangerous, and it was great! We went to an orientation training conference that spring called SROW (Southern Regional Orientation Workshop). One of the sessions that I went to that week was titled "So, You Can do This For a Living?" I dragged my orientation partner to that workshop, and we learned all about Masters programs in Student Affairs and how we could get into that field. My partner hated every minute of that session, but I had just figured out what I wanted to do with my life.



La Tech OSLs 2003

I went back to school after that workshop and changed my major from journalism to speech communication. What was I thinking as a journalism major anyway? I can barely write this blog. :) Then I started researching Masters programs and found one at Southern Miss that looked promising. This was the beginning of my journey in Student Affairs.



USM Southern Style 2006

 When I was in grad school, I always wanted to get a job working with orientation leaders. My orientation experience was what made me want to go into the profession, so I felt like it was fitting. I had the opportunity to work with the Southern Style staff while I was at Southern Miss, and I even got to go back and present at SROW that year. It was great. When I left grad school, my first job didn't have anything to do with orientation. I was in charge of SGA, Sororities, and the cheerleaders and dance team. They definitely didn't teach me anything about cheer and dance in grad school. :) That job was a wonderful learning experience, and it introduced me to Greek Life and definitely prepared me for the job I have now.

This past week has been the first time since grad school that I have had the opportunity to work with orientation leaders. The group of students I have this year is amazing, and I had the best time helping them prepare for the new students who will be here in August. I hope that their experience as OLs is just as special as mine was. I am so happy that I had a reminder this week of why I first decided to do what I do. It's so nice to feel refreshed and rejuvenated in your job and to remember why you love what you do. Now I just need to hang on to that refreshed feeling when I'm living and breathing sorority and fraternity recruitment in September. :)


Univ. of Montevallo OLs 2011



Goodbye Old Friend

The time has come to say goodbye to the Xterra. The good news is that we are saying hello to a brand new Ford Fusion. :) The Xterra has seen better days. After it broke down in Ruston over New Years, it started smoking every time we sat in traffic. When you live in a big city with LOTS of traffic, this is not exactly a good thing. We decided it was about time to trade it in while it was still worth something. The people at the Ford dealership gave us a GREAT deal on the trade in, and we are really excited about Stephen's new car. I'm kind of jealous too.

It's a little sad to say goodbye to the Xterra though. I remember riding in the Xterra for the first time. It was sophomore year of college, and Stephen and I were going to see The Count of Monte Cristo over Christmas break. We weren't dating then. We were just friends. We ran into a friend of ours from high school that night, and she made a big deal about us being at the movie together. It's kind of funny to think about now. Stephen parked the car in the VERY back of the Tinseltown parking lot that night because he didn't want it to be near any other cars. This is a habit he inherited from his parents. :)

We also had a really fun road trip to the Tech/SMU game in the Xterra our senior year of college. There were so many people packed into it that someone was riding in the very very back. It seems like we also had a Mardi Gras trip too with about four people packed into the backseat. It has definitely been a great vehicle for fun road trips. It is also the car that we went on our first date in and the car that we left our wedding reception in.

Stephen's new car is really really nice. I can't wait until it's my turn to get a new car. I've never had a NEW car. I've had new to me cars. :) I have already told him that we are going everywhere in his car from now on. It will be the traveling car and the go everywhere on the weekend car. My car is going to go back and forth to work, and that is it! :) It drives over 60 miles a day, so it deserves a little rest, and I would rather go everywhere else in the new car.

So...sianara to the Xterra and hello Ford Fusion. I hope we have just as many good memories in you!