From 10,000 feet to Sea Level...

I've had quite the week of adventures! (This was actually last week.)

I spent part of last weekend in Dillon, CO with my lovely friend Loray. She and her husband, Joe, invited me to their home and we had the best time! Loray is an incredible cook, and I got a bit spoiled. (When I'm by myself, I don't cook much. It's just not as fun cooking for one. :)) We also took a boat ride across Lake Dillon to Frisco for some lunch and shopping. It was gorgeous!! A note for any potential visitors: If you come visit me...I'll try to take you there!

  Loray and I on the water taxi from Dillon to Frisco. Yes...that's snow on the mountain tops!

This week's other adventure started very early on Wednesday morning. I woke up around 3:30, drove to the Denver airport, and flew to Houston, TX. It was VERY hot there! (I've definitely acclimated to the lovely mountain air and low humidity.) I was so excited to walk off the plane and find my sweet friend Sarah waiting for me. (That doesn't happen very often anymore...it was such a treat.) Sarah and I proceeded to pick up the rental car and head to our hotel that was just across from Johnson Space Center.

Sarah works for Boeing and is contracted to NASA at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She is super smart and so is her husband. (They always have the best stories!) Sarah won an award for all of her hard work and got a trip to Johnson Space Center and she invited me!!! I've always been a huge space nerd. I grew up visiting the Space Coast in Florida and have seen more Shuttle and rocket launches than I can remember.

SO we went on a "backstage" tour of Johnson Space Center. It was an incredible experience. Instead of writing about it, I though I'd share a bunch of pictures. Here it goes...

So...I'm still new at the blog thing and I can't get the pictures to be in the order I want...it takes forever for them to load...so...enjoy the randomness...

I'm in front of one of the Saturn V rockets. 

These pieces never actually went to space, but it was incredible to see. 

They also have one of these at Kennedy Space Station.

 This is the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL).

There are pieces of the International Space Station (ISS) and the Shuttle in the pool. 

While we were there, there were astronauts training in the water. 

Also, parts of the movie Armageddon were filmed here.

 Astronauts training in the NBL.

 NBL

 The outside of the Shuttle.

 The map of where the ISS was when we were at Mission Control.

The cast of Apollo 13 in the Food Lab. 

I was there too.

Now I'm only 1 degree away from Kevin Bacon!

 A delicious meal of astronaut food on NASA china at the Food Lab.

Sunset on the ISS.

The sun rises and sets every 90 minutes.

 Sarah and I at here celebration dinner.

I love that girl!!

 Astronauts hanging out on the ISS. 

Mission control was talking with them.

While we were talking with the current Flight Director, someone from the ISS called him on his cell phone.

 Sunrise in Clearlake.

Mission Control

 Flight Director desk at Apollo Mission Control.

This is where they put man on the moon!!!

In the Shuttle.

 The Russian space capsule that they currently use to send astronauts to the ISS.

It takes 2 days for them to get there and its TINY!

 Sarah in the Commander's seat on the Shuttle.

 One of the "bedrooms" in the Russian part of the ISS.

 The Japanese part of the ISS.

I'm flying the Shuttle! 

That's me in the Commander's seat!

I guess that's all...I hope you all enjoyed! I just looked back at my pictures and there sure are a bunch of me...sorry! I just wanted you all to see everything...

Blessings!

Yahweh...

It's still amazing to me that we can speak His name, come to His throne, and ask Him for what we need and He hears us. He loves us so much! I'm overwhelmed by Him and I'm praying that my bestie Mindi is too.

Min, this is for you...

Blessings!

Childhood dreams come true...

When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, a girl named Kelly invited me to go with her to the New Kids on the Block concert in Oklahoma City. I don't remember much about her other than that she had red hair, and she wasn't always nice to me. BUT...she invited me and I wanted to go SOOO bad. My mom, however, being the amazing mother that she is, recognized that this probably wasn't the greatest idea. So...I couldn't go. I came to understand why she made that decision, but I always wished that I could have seen NKOTB in concert.

Fast forward almost 2 decades, and I end up with an impromptu trip back to Tulsa. My sister Christine texts me the day before I'm headed home, and asks if I want to go to the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys concert!!! HELLO!!! YES!!!

My other sis, Lara, was supposed to go with her, but she was filming a movie (I love that I can say that!) and wasn't able to go, so I got the ticket!!

So as soon as I got into town, I cleaned myself up, gave hugs to mom and dad, stopped by to visit Mindi for a few minutes, and off we were to the concert. I didn't even realize how excited I was about the concert until I was sitting in my seat covered in goosebumps.

I have been to quite a few concerts in my life. Concerts and traveling are my entertainment of choice. BUT I have never been to a concert that was as loud as the NKOTBSB concert. The 20 something to 30 something women in the BOK were out of control! It was SOOO loud and SOOO fun! I definitely added to the decibel level in there. :)

 I'll add some videos of the concert soon!

Blessings!

Praying...

So my last blog was a while ago. I've been busy traveling to and from Tulsa. My trip came at the perfect time because one of my very best friends, Mindi, was just diagnosed with breast cancer. I spent last week going to drs appointments and trying to support her as much as I can. It's so hard to watch someone you love so much go through something like this. I don't have the right words to say to her, but I know that she knows whats in my heart. So...I'd like to ask you all to please pray for her. We are believing that she will be completely healed, that the chemo will have no adverse affects on her body, and for her emotional, spiritual, and physical strength through this time. Thank you friends!

Mindi and I at her graduation this spring.

Thank you all for praying!

Blessings

Heavy...

My heart is heavy today...I'll explain later, but I wanted to share this...

I'm so glad to serve a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He is ALL we need!
Blessings!

Truth...

I just felt that I should share this today...

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 

You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 

So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. 

Let it do its work so you become mature and well developed, not deficient in any way.

James 1:2-4 The Message

Here's to trusting HIM with everything!

Blessings!

Moooo....

I dressed up like a cow today for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A. I saw the sign that said "Free chicken if you wear a cow costume," so of course I figured out a costume...in my car...using scrap paper and a lint brush. Creative huh?? :) Free food when I'm working on building my business is always a good thing. So here's to Chick-fil-A for feeding me chicken strips, waffle fries, and lemonade today even though my cow costume was a bit under par.

Also...for those of you who didn't know...I was once the Chick-fil-A cow. Yes...its true! I wore that huge costume. The internal AC was out of order so every once in a while my "handler" had to bring me inside, take the head off, and put ice packs on me to cool me down. It was quite an experience. :)

Its been a while...

So I've been wanting to post something for the past few days, but I kept thinking that I needed to have a perfectly formed post before I could. Well...those days are over. I've decided that I'm not going to worry about having everything perfectly designed and written in order to post something. I am not perfect, so I'm not going to try to be on my blog. :)

The past week has been busy and fun! Here's the rundown...

Saturday - I spent time in the morning "hiking" at Garden of the Gods. I got a little sunburned. (I'm at 6000 feet here, and I need to get used to wearing sunscreen every time I'm outside.) In the afternoon, I spent some time at Buckys (Starbucks) working.

Sunday - I went to church and ran into old friends from Tulsa. Some who still live there and some who live here. It was nice to see familiar faces in a sea of people. New Life is a huge church and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the size of it. I think I may end up going to church on Sunday night. There are a few hundred people who go instead of a few thousand, and I know the pastors. :)

Monday - Happy 4th!! I cleaned my apartment in the morning and went to a BBQ at a friend's house in the afternoon and evening. We had a blast playing games inside and out and I saw fireworks on the way home at the Air Force Academy.

Tuesday - To be honest, I don't really remember what I did yesterday...OH....yes I do!!! I ran some errands and then went to the Denver International Airport to see my friends the Olivers. They were flying back to Tulsa and I spent an hour or so chatting with Raegan and Mike and giving Jack and Lucy as many hugs and kisses as I could get in. I sure do love those kiddos!!!

Today - I babysat for some sweet kiddos for a few hours. We played beauty shop and colored pictures. After that, I spent some time at Buckys working on some business stuff again.

That's all for today...pictures of my cute apartment coming soon...

Snakes...

So...I've encountered my first outdoor adventure in Colorado. I had a lovely dinner with my friend Tina and her family last night. I actually ate dessert too! (For those of you who don't know, I usually don't eat sugar, but I usually don't pass up homemade desserts. :)) It was so nice to spend time with their family. They have 3 sweet kiddos who are highly entertaining.

After dinner, we all went for a walk in the park across the street from their home. This "park" is nothing like the parks in OK. There are lots of trails for hiking and biking and its in the foothills of the Rockies. It was gorgeous!!

As we were walking to the base of the trails, a photographer nearby warned us that there were RATTLESNAKES nearby!!!! We got a bit closer and there they were! Two of them. Just lying on the sides of the trails sunning themselves. They blend in so well with the vegetation that it took me a bit to see where they actually were. Scary huh?!? I'm sure that you all already know this about me, but I HATE snakes. I didn't freak out as much as I thought I would, mainly because I was with friends. I figured that if one attacked me, they would take care of me. Tina's husband, Cody, also saw a baby one along another trail. I had my fill of snakes by that point so I didn't look at it. He also said that in the 8 years that they've lived near that park, there were only a handful of days when he had seen rattlesnakes in the park, and he'd never seen 3 in one day. Lucky me! :) Needless to say...I'm rethinking my decision to take up hiking...at least for this time of the year when the "rattlers" are out. :) I have heard though that they don't actually attack humans. They warn you with their rattles and then if you don't leave them alone...you better watch out. I also learned that if one bites you...call 911...

I thought about posting a scary picture of a rattlesnake, but then decided against it. The truth is...I don't want to have to look at it...so why would you?? :)

Since we're on the subject of snakes, I thought I'd tell my favorite snake story...

This past year at the dance studio, I had finished my classes in the morning, and I was taking some trash to the back door. I had a large black trash sack in one hand and pushed the door to the alley open with the other. As I stepped forward to walk out, a BABY SNAKE fell from the SKY and almost landed on my HEAD!!! I freaked out and began screaming! (Wouldn't you??) I guess the snake was slithering along the top of the door when I opened it. YUCK!!! I really do not like snakes and the thought that that slimy, slithery, gross thing could have been in my hair was almost more than I could take. Seriously...what if that had happened??? I wouldn't have slept for weeks!! God knew that I couldn't handle it, so He let it fall in front of me. That way it would be a really funny story and I could still sleep at night. :)

My only animal encounter so far today has been with my friend's great dane named Bailey. She's hanging out with me at the house for a few hours while her mom and dad run some errands. She really makes me love big dogs! I think I'd like having her around all the time!

That's all for now! I'm hoping that my adventures with poisonous snakes are now finished! At least I'm hoping so...

Blessings!

One of those days...

Yesterday was a hard day...my bestie, Naphtali, left to go home to Texas. I did the big ugly cry a few times and its continued into today. I think I got spoiled having her here to get me settled and learn my way around town. My apartment is now super quiet too. So...I have White Collar on DVD on in the background. :)

Naphtali and I hadn't spent this much time together since we were in college and it was SO much fun! We unpacked boxes, set up my apartment (It's super cute!! Pics to come soon!), watched the Twilight series (I've avoided them until now, but they're pretty good.), went shopping in Denver (Naphtali bought me the cutest floral tank top.), and visited the sights in Colorado Springs. It was a great time!!!

Gotta love the Kissing Camels at Garden of the Gods! 

We walked around the Broadmoor. So beautiful! It looks like Switzerland! 

I'm definitely going to stay there sometime!!!

This cute little deer was just walking around the Broadmoor.

We had a lovely dinner at a French bistro in Denver. Mindi and I found it when we were here in May. 

If you come visit me, I'll take you there! :)

I know that this new adventure will have its ups and downs, but I know that its worth all the work, tears, and difficult days. I went to a BBQ last night with some friends and it made me feel much better. My good friend Chris encouraged me to enjoy all the little things along my new journey and to let myself have as much time I need to adjust to my new adventure.

I'm so blessed to have so many wonderful friends in my life. You all know who you are! :) Thank you for all of your prayers, encouraging texts, messages, and phone calls. I love you all!

Blessings!

Well...here it goes...

I've never been much of a writer, but I wanted a way to keep track of all of my new adventures in life and share them with my friends and family. So here it is!!! My new blog! I'm sure that some of you are shocked that I'm doing this and to be honest, I am too. :)

My adventure began with packing up everything I own and stuffing it into a 14 foot U-Haul truck. I couldn't have done it by myself. Thanks to a bunch of friends, the process took only 2 hours...with a break for pizza. (Thanks Mom!) To my friends who helped...thank you SOOO much! You all are such blessings in my life!

After the truck was loaded, I had fun learning how to drive a semi. Well, it wasn't really a semi but it sure felt like one. A 14 foot truck pulling a full trailer with my car behind is as close as I'll ever get.

For my last night in town, Mindi, Amy, Naphtali and I went to a Hillsong United worship night at the BOK. It was a wonderful night of worship and the best way to end my time in Tulsa. For those of you who know my celebrity crush...I was also excited to see Joel Houston. He's still cute even though his hair is longer than mine.

On Saturday morning, more friends came to help with the last few details and brought Buckys (Starbucks) and Chick-fil-A for breakfast. The goal was to leave by 8am...we left around 9:30. Naphtali, Madame Blueberry (my hydrangea) and I left for the open road and new adventures in Colorado.

 More adventures to come soon...