just.an.average.jo

a lot to look forward to

2011-03-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that it is already the third day in March. It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating the turning of the new year in Charleston. The older I get the faster time seems to move. However, the next couple of months is filled with exciting things and a lot to look forward to. Here are just a few...

leading an alternative spring break trip to Honduras
my birthday
a long trip to Gaitlinburg in April (will include a festival on the way up which makes for good people watching, meeting Mark's family from Syracuse, a cabin that sleeps 36, hot tubs, and a week to think about NOTHING)
several special weddings this year to include: Rob & Amy, Brittany & Speer, Tracey & Andy, VJ & Joanna, Jacob & Amanda, Megan & Zach, Erin & Michael and MANY more
2 bachelorette parties
my dad's 50th birthday!!! (He will be the first man in his family to live to 50!)
moving into a house by myself, meaning I am finally grown up enough to not have to deal with roommates!
SUNSHINE!
hopefully learning to play the guitar this summer
participating in my first 1/2 marathon
multiple trips to the beach
and all of the other small things in life like lazy days spent laying in my hammock, getting my tan on, and planning exciting things at work

I look forward to the rest of 2011. It will be a year of making memories to last a lifetime!

perfect.

2011-02-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

(continued from previous)...I opened my eyes just in time to see a sign that read, "George L. Smith State Park". Now this may sound insignificant to some, but Mark and I both enjoy the outdoors and have always talked about visiting Magnolia Springs and George L. Smith. So, needless to say, I was excited to see what he had planned for the day. We pull into the main office, a cabin of sorts, and proceed inside. We were going canoing! I was very excited for our plans--although it may seem to not be the "norm" activity for Valentine's Day, it was perfect in my book. As previously mentioned, Mark and I enjoy the outdoors and when the weather is nice and time permits, we often kayak down the Ogeechee River.

We grap our oars and life vests and head towards the water. We put the canoe in and the fun begins. For those of you who have never been to George L. Smith, the lake there is filled with trees--I think a truly beautiful scene. As we begin paddling, I am in the front of the boat with a permanent smile on my face; I was so shocked at his thoughtfulness and effort put into the event--how could a guy be so perfect for me? We paddled a while and soon came to the picnic area of the park. We decided to pull the boat on shore and walk around a bit. We made our way to the playground (if any of you know Mark, you should not be surprised by this). We competed on the playground in the rockwall climbing and on a balance beam of sorts. Afterall, who doesn't like a little friendly competition? :) After taking a few trips down the slide and "rescuing" a young boy who had climbed too high on the rock wall that he was too scared to jump down, we headed back to the boat.

Once we were back in the canoe and on the water, Mark insisted that I put my paddle down. He wanted me to relax and just enjoy my time in the presence of one of God's most beautiful settings, nature. We paddled, and talked, and enjoyed the time together, just the two of us. After Mark attempted to walk to my end of the canoe to give me a kiss as I panicked that we were going to tip over in the freezing water and paddling to retrieve an empty bottle that was polluting the water, we had made our way back to our starting point. We retuned the boat to land, the life vests and oars to the park ranger, and headed back to the car. But that's not the end of the date...

Mark had also planned for us to have a picnic dinner at the most perfect location--the bottom of a dam right next to a grist mill built in the 1800s. The scenery and setting could not have been more perfect. The water was beautiful running over the rocks out of the dam, the sun was beginning to set, and the weather was gorgeous. I was still in awe of how thoughtful, endearing, and romantic Mark was being--in our very own perfect way. I am such a lucky girl. He had packed a plethora of items for our picnic: celery and carrots with bleu cheese, pitas and hummus, chicken salad, goat cheese, a blanket, bottled water, a bottle of wine, and last but not least dark- and milk-chocolate covered strawberries. Did I mention what a lucky girl I am? We ate, enjoyed a glass of wine, chatted, enjoyed the beauty that is nature, and watched the sun go down. SUCH AN AWESOME DAY!

The weekend was summed up with a wonderful church service on Sunday morning at First Baptist, followed by a round of golf and a few dollars spent in the arcade at the Clubhouse. We made it to his house that Sunday evening just in time for nice afternoon fire and a divine 5-course Valentine's Day dinner. We ate with his mother, step-dad, and Courtney and Derrick Sharpe (friends of Mark and I). It was such a wonderful weekend--definitely one for the record books. I can only hope that our adventures continue on into the future--as I am definitely a lucky girl to be paired with such a wonderful man!

celebrate love

2011-02-14T05:42:00.000-08:00

For all of you hopeless romantics out there, this post should be right up your alley.

With Valentine's Day falling on a Monday, and the boy and I having late commitments on Monday nights, we decided to celebrate love on Saturday, February 12th. However, the entire weekend was a blast, and so I will re-cap it all.

Friday night started off at the Miss Georgia Southern University pageant. I had a slight interest in going to the pageant, but the boy definitely could care less about attending. However, after much convincing that this could be a wonderful opportunity for people-watching, and because I am often in attendance as support for events I could care less about, I somehow was able to secure some arm-candy to attend the event with me. Needless to say, the Miss GSU pageant was quite comical and rather entertaining. We stayed for about an hour, then decided we had done our fair-share of people watching. To sum it up, you know the saying, "Friends don't let friends drive drunk"? Well I think friends should not let friends embarass themselves on stage in front of 600 people. After the pageant we headed to Millhouse to hang out for a while. Just so happens there was a great blues band playing that night. I maybe even managed to squeeze a dance out of Mr. Mashburn. We soon called it a night and prepared for the adventures to be had on Saturday.

Saturday morning Mark had to "get some things ready" for our Valentine's Day adventure to be had later that afternoon. But before the adventure could get started, I had to go to my last Upward basketball game of the season. We headed over to Eastside in Claxton, secured a win for the game, said our goodbyes, and then made a quick stop at Krispy Chic for a bite to eat (We could not go to our usual choice of Harry's Bar-B-Que, because our "plans" were time-sensitive, and Harry's generally takes a while). After lunch, we were now ready to begin our grand Valentine's Day adventure. Keep in mind that Mark has kept this all a secret from me. He tells me that we have about a 45 minute drive ahead of us and that I will need to keep my eyes closed the entire drive. HA! He hoped that I would be sleepy and would simply take a nap on the way. However, with such anticipation about the big adventure, my mind was racing trying to figure out exactly what we were headed to do and needless to say I was unable to sleep. So, I kept my eyes closed for most of the ride--Mark was nice enough to let me open my eyes occassionally if he knew we were driving in a spot that I wouldn't recognize. So we drive, and drive, and drive. We were almost at our destination and Mark informs me that he forgot something. So, we pull into a gas station, still with my eyes closed, and he runs in to get whatever it is that he forgot. While inside, I was in the car, still with my eyes closed. I would like to know what people must have been thinking who walked past the car--why is this girl sitting in the car with her eyes closed so tightly? Oh well, the adventure in store was well worth looking a little silly at a gas station.

Mark returns to the car with all of the needed supplies. We continue on our journey down the road. As we are pulling up to our destination, he tells me to open my eyes. And what do I see as I open my eyes??

You must tune-in to the next blog posting to find out :)

food for thought...(not for young eyes)

2011-02-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

So, here is some food for thought.

Today, a student came into my class and asked the co-instructor whether or not we would be doing mostly interactive things in class or if they would be taking notes. The student proceeds to offer the information that since we would mostly be doing "interactive things" that while participating in class she would also be busy making condom roses. Yes, you read it correctly, condom roses. The student wanted us to be aware that she was making the roses, so to speak, for a departmental sponsored event that would be happening later that evening and so we shouldn't be alarmed that she had a bag full of condoms in class.

Now, there are several things that I see to be "wrong" with this picture, but I do not have the time nor energy to convey all of those to you tonight. However, I will convey one thought that has continued to flood my mind all afternoon. The roses were being created for a "Singles Mingle" that was to be hosted by a department on campus. Yes, I understand that we are talking about a college campus. Yes, I do know that college students are having sex. And yes, if they are having sex, I would LOVE for them to be using protection. But all of that is besides the point. Back to the "Singles Mingle"...

From an outsider looking in, and perhaps even if I worked in the same department, I do not think that programming for singles that are wanting to mingle with other singles necessarily should equate to condoms being given out. In my opinion, I think that the message that is being given out is that if you are single, come to our program, meet some people, exchange phone numbers, perhaps become facebook friends, and oh yeah, here is a condom for when you "hook-up" with your new found friend. Why is it that we are encouraging students who are not in significant relationships and/or marriages to meet other single people and have sex? I mean, what other purpose does a condom serve? I could not help but to think about all of the children in America that come from single-parent homes, children that don't make it to birth because other decisions were made, rates of teen pregnancy, the continual spread of STDs, and a plethora of other issues that could arise from encouraging students to engage in sexual relations with other students they just met.

Again, as stated before, I understand that I am speaking of programming conducted on a college campus. And yes, it is important that "safe sex" habits be promoted. But whatever happened to the idea of getting to know someone before sleeping with them? Perhaps I am on a soapbox, but I was slightly alarmed by the message that was being conveyed. That is my opinion on the topic--take from it what you want.

giving in to fascination

2011-02-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

So, as you may have guessed, this is my first attempt at blogging. I am a little uncertain as to why I have not taken up the hobby in the past, as I have ALWAYS been fascinated by reading other people's blogs. Perhaps it was that I didn't deem myself, nor my life for that matter, to be interesting enough to write about, much less interesting enough for others to want to read about in their spare time. And that case may still be true--in fact, I have not had any major life changes to deem my life to now be "interesting enough" to blog about, and perhaps only time will tell if others think it to be interesting enough for me to gather a few followers. However, giving in to my fascination, I have decided to start a blog.

I recently posted on facebook my toying with the idea of blogging, as is customary in today's world to gain feedback from others. I was testing my "friends" to see their thoughts on blogs and to see if they, by some crazy chance, might be interested in what is going on in my life. I was encouraged by many friends (who are also bloggers themselves) to try it and was even given hope when one friend said, "I'd read it. Occassionally".

So, upon coming home with no pre-planned schedule for the evening I found myself thinking more about the whole situation, and here I am. I received advice from a fellow blogger to "have a plan because if you don't have a general topic idea, it can be hard to come up with new topics". She also stated that "people who follow you get antsy if you take a long break between entries, so having a plan/direction it keeps you going." Well, I am here to say that despite NOT having a topic, or a plan, or any real exciting things going on in my life, I am going to try this out. This is my ATTEMPT at blogging, for not only your entertainment, but also as a means of tracking the journey of my life. Maybe I will enjoy it and find ease in picking topics to write on. If not, then what have I really lost?