lots of food and a bit of history

i accompanied jill to church today. Actually, it was the second oldest baptist church in the country! We pulled up into the gravel driveway, surrounded by nothing but horse fencing and woods. The sign read: Ye Olde Yellow Meeting House. The house wasn't really yellow, more like a tan, and that was because when they repaired it, they painted it a more neutral color. A huge cemetary dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War was in the front of the house. Inside were a few pews, about ten, a big pulpit was in the front, with the swinging door and steps leading to it. there was a huge balcony but we didnt have time to explore...much to my disappointment. The walls were painted just the right color of lavendar, the windows trimmed in white. Sconces with old oil lamps were placed on two walls. In the middle of the service, the sky began to darken and a huge crack of thunder sounded, making an older woman practically jumped out of her skin. it took all my strength to not just burst out laughing.

after service, a lunch of fried chickennnn, baked beans, potato salad, red velvet cake, carrot cake, and other cakes were served. the chicken definitely was to die for. oh my gosh, jill and i ate so much. she ate way more than me. i had a little bit of everything. The rain poured over the tent, making the grass around it wet. Jill and i took our shoes off as we waited for her mom to finish all her conversations. We ran barefoot through the grass to the car. Thankfully, my white halter dress is made of a fabric that dries quickly so it wasn't a problem that it got dampened by the rain. We piled into the car and headed to my house so i could get a change of clothes. The rain ran down in buckets making our road vision close to none. It was kind of cool, felt like going through a tunnel. I ran into my house and threw some clothes into a plastic bag and headed out the door once again.

at jill's house, we mostly talked, took model pictures, looked at d.becks pics, talked some more. we did persuade her mom to take us to the ne high school to drive. i recorded jill's progress on her camera. funny stuff. i got behind the wheel and showed her how it's done though...you know, since i'm the veteran (psh yea right hahaa) after driving, we picked up more food--dinner. we ordered taco salad, a calzone, and fettuchini alfredo with chicken and broccoli. of course we split everything but it was a lot of food. the italian people didn't give us jill's order and we didn't realize it until we got back to her house. so, we ate the calzone and taco salad while we waited for her meal to come. in the meantime, jill and i walked to the car to check my cell phone. We were walking down her pavement when all of a sudden we see this big black thing come walking towards us from the shadows. Jill is like "Amanda, RUN!" I saw him and screamed so loud and grabbed her arm. it's a wonder the entire neighborhood didn't yell at me. we ran to the porch and only then did jill start laughing hysterically. I was like "what?!" she said "it's just zach. he's the neighbor's dog." once he got up close i began to laugh so hard my stomach hurt. i seriously thought he was either a really big raccoon or he was being walked by a huge scary dude. so, after we pet zach we turned to walk back to the house. Only, in jill's yard a guy in all black was walking across. My eyes became huge and jill whispered, "run!" we screamed our heads off and took off behind her shed. i had my cell in hand and i was about to call the police when jill starts to crack up. exasperated, i asked her why she was laughing. "that's just rob!" (he's this goth kid who never wears anything besides black, so jill tells me) i crack up at myself. "good thing i didn't call the police!" we walked back into the house because the food finally came.

even though we were already comfortably full, we just had to try the fettuchini alfredo. After that, we were stuffed. i felt like i was going to bust! never again jill...well maybe one more time. haha. it was a good, relaxing Sunday. we're gonna try to get together and cook up a recipe or two. more developments of that story still in progress.





tomorrow is laundry and closet cleaning. perhaps i will dance in my dining room since it's open and clean...finally! i think we're thinking of redoing it soon, very soon. please, let it be soon!






"carved my name into his leather seats"

rip van winkle has awaken

I have finally been able to catch up on some sleep that had been stolen from me for two days straight. Thursday morning i had to awaken at 6:30am to my dad pounding on my bedroom door (no thanks to my youngest brother for telling him i was still asleep), forcing me to get up, feed the cats, get ready and out the door to make my brother's baseball practice. After that practice, I went home and caught an hour of sleep on the couch before i was 'wide awake'. Okay, so i was stupid to stay up thursday night until 1:00am but i couldn't sleep. AND when i did try to sleep, my mind wouldnt rest!!
I got about 5 hrs of sleep until i was woken up friday morning at 6am. Again, my brother had to be at trenton thunder for his game at 8:15am. what in the world is up with these coaches??? if i absolutely have to be up at that hour, there should be french vanilla coffee from wawa waiting for me. but, alas, there wasn't and i had to rub the lbs upon lbs of sleep from my eyes and stumble through my chores and into my clothes. I did my makeup in the truck (which, from the many bumps and brakings, it's a wonder my makeup was perfect). We arrived at the stadium about 20 minutes before austin had to be on the field and stretching. I was able to catch my breath and relax for a little bit before walking into the stadium and sit for 2 hrs. I did bring my book but with the many fouls hit by the boys i felt it was best i kept my eyes on the game rather than the print of my book for fear of getting knocked in the head with a small white round ball.
with the first game over, we came back home around 11am. it felt like a whole day was wasted! i felt so...weird. Again, i collapsed on the couch and slept for about 2 hrs. I woke up, stuffed a grilled chicken wrap in my mouth, chugged some water, and headed out the door with my family for austin's second game. this time, my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin accompanied us. sadly, though, the guys acted lathargic. I would too. i think it was very dumb for the coaches to send the boys home and then bring them back for another game. In that amount of time the kids probably took showers (at least i hope so), ate, relaxed. you can't expect them to come back when it's hotter than it was in the morning and play another game, especially if that game is postponed due to another team waiting for photographers from ny to come see the 'major league players' (please! they're in high school for cryin' out loud!), it's just physically impossible...well maybe it's possible for some but the majority really didn't seem to care as much as they did in the morning. but, the game was played almost until dark and they didn't even put the stadium lights on for them.
today, i didn't even know it was saturday. i've been in a daze for two days and now i'm just recuperating! good thing my parents didnt make me do heavy labor today or else i would be completely spent.
tomorrow i accompany my friend jill to a church service in the second oldest baptist church in the country. should be interesting. she's obsessed with the chicken...went on and on about how i should come, that the chicken is to die for. she's soooooo beyond crazy it's hilarious.



"are you sure i'm not alright? cause lately i've been feeling fine"

boring life?

ok so if i ever complain about my life being boring...please someone hit me across the face. it seems like i'm always doing something...
today i had to travel to trenton thunder at 7:15 am because my brother was nominated to play for this blue grey classic baseball thing. apparantely, colleges come see the guys play and have the option of picking them to go to their college. But, the percentage of that happening to kids is like 30 out of 100. it's pretty bad. however, we didn't go so that my brother could be picked up by a college and thrust into the world of major league baseball (he's only going to be a sophomore in high school). He merely went out there today because he wanted to see how it would be, the non-stop practice of throwing, catching, running, and batting. in the beginning (8am) it was fun because, since i was the only high school female present, i got a lot of looks and side way glances from the senior and junior boys. i was flattered and loved to see them act all manly, trying to get my attention...okay, so only one kid seemed interested. BUT he was cute and i will see him again tomorrow.

can you believe i have to get up at like 5:30am tomorrow? yea, that's right. AM. two games tomorrow. definitely bringing a book and perhaps some music...okay maybe not music but i will be bringing a book. a nice big thick book.


please pray for me....oh and for austin to do well =)

last night...

so yesterday, i mentioned my friends and i were going to go see josh groban in concert. let me just tell all of you who read this, it was more than amazing. it was so fun, so amazing, so captivating. Allow me to regail our adventure...

we all met at our high school and piled into Michelle's mom's van. As soon as we settled ourselves into the seats, i took out the Awake cd for michelle to put in the cd player. With the music blaring, we drove to a rest stop and picked up a slice of pizza, a drink, and some of us needed starbucks (anyone who knows me, when theres a starbucks in the area and i have money, watch out!). Pizza, coffee, and drink in hand, we headed back on the road. 45 minutes later we arrived at the arena, excited beyond belief. We found our seats, the highest section (almost nosebleed) in the eleventh row. We were optimistic, ooing and ahhing over the fact that we could actually see the stage. haha. Only five minutes later, a man comes up to us and asks to see our tickets. Michelle hands them to him. He tells us we would be welcomed to the VIP section of the stadium. I could not believe my ears. "Wait...where are we going?" i asked the man. "I'm giving you VIP tickets" I almost jumped out of my seat and hugged him! we were all in shock. At first, he was only going to give the tickets to michelle, oyin, beth anne, and i because we bought ours in bulk haha. ashley paid for hers later. but, with a little persuasion the man counted out five tickets and allowed her to come with us. We God blessed him over and over again. Excitedly, we found our seats and praised Jesus. I could not stop smiling! Oyin definitely thought he was an angel because she turned to see him and he wasnt there. Even if he wasn't a real angel with wings, there's no doubt he was an angel at heart. :) so...we took our seats and waited for the concert to begin.

before josh came out, we listened to some african music that got michelle, oyin, and me up and dancing. we were cheered on by the people in back of us. oh it was fun! after our five minute dance, mr. groban finally graced the stage, opening with Don't Give Up (You Are Loved). as soon as we heard his voice come over the speakers, we were screaming our heads off. Oyin was about to go into labor pains hahaha. but oh, was it wonderful. the video for so she dances was amazing. i dance sort of just like that in my kitchen which was kind of weird haha. there were a few laughs...josh tried to dance, which i think he can if he was serious (just like he said he was taking some lessons on how to play the drums but it's difficult because he has a short attention span...he got on those drums during one of the encores and rocked out. so don't tell me, josh, that you can't dance). "coming soon, to exit 16 W, josh groban. oih oih oooooo wooo. oih oih" hilarious... some of his fans gave him gifts, like it's christmas!! haha, and he spoke to ashley. funny stuff. when everything was quiet she shouted "YOU'RE AMAZING!" and he looked in our direction and was like "thank you" that put her on a high for the rest of the evening...probably for the rest of her life hahaa. he also talked about him being interested in theatre and musicals. when i heard that i woohooed, then oyin and michelle joined in. Again, he looked in our direction and he was like "oh, we have some theatre people here. i am one of you!" i woohooed again. haha...

all too soon, the night came to a close. he received three encores. THREE! the first, he sang some italian song that isnt on the actual Awake cd, it's like a special thing. the second, he sang Awake (the most beautiful song i have ever heard!) and for the third encore, he sang You Raise Me Up. spectacular!! He said "thank you for coming, God bless!" and went down the trap door thingy for the final time. We were still screaming...that is until the lights of the stadium came on and the entire audience whined. it was hilarious!

i didn't get home until like 1 am. it was definitely worth it though. the most amazing night of my life thus far. being with my girls, listening to a beautiful man sing, dance, act crazy, and dancing to african music: the night doesn't get any better than that =)

♥

josh groban tomorrow

so, first blog. awesome. i'm pretty excited. want to know why? well, if you've read up to this point, you're gonna know anyway! haha. My friends and i are getting together and going to see josh groban in concert tomorrow at the continental airlines arena! :) i'm excited to see him in person, singing, having a grand ol' time on stage, but i'm more excited to see my friends, hang out, take some wacky pictures like we always do when we're together. i love them to death! so...without further ado allow me to introduce them...

Elizabeth Anne: my bestest friend in the entire world. she's my support system, my advice counselor. she takes any problem and makes it seem so simple, it's pretty amazing. she does try to listen but mostly, i do the listening as she talks me through what i'm feeling. i know why God didn't give me a blood sister when i asked for one. He knew she would be like a sister, and that's plenty good for me. Even thinking about how great she is, i'm tearing up so...moving on

Oyindamola: yes, her name might be a little hard to pronounce but that's okay because it makes her even more unique. She always makes me laugh. Her outlook on life is so comical. She definitely brought out the crazy side of me when she came to my high school freshman year. "Oyin took me to the dark side" hahha. we play softball together and are in theatre, yea we're that cool :)

Michelle: This girl is definitely my go-to girl for Christianity. Not saying that none of my other friends are strong Christians. It's just, Michelle and i have some pretty great conversations about the Lord, what we're dealing with spiritually, what we feel about the world today. She is always there for an encouraging word or a great big hug. "get 'em girl! get 'em!" we're so crazy together it's awesome!

Rudi: she's so fun, energetic, loves to laugh...oh, and dance. Yea, when she showed us her dance moves we were all amazed hahaha! no, i love her! we're more alike then we think we are. but, that's what makes us interesting. we both have male problems and we discuss them with each other which is kind of cool. i guess you could say we're the world dominators muhahhaa. our conquests are fun! O=)

Jill: my NE girl. we live like 10 minutes away from each other and hardly ever go over each other's houses. haha. see, she lives in a development i live out in the country in the middle of nowhere. but, we do go to youth group and go shopping sometimes together. we're always texting each other. i bet i'm the reason why her bill is so high every month haha. i am older than her, only by like 8 months. we still get along, have laughs. "give me a margarita. heavy on the marga, light on the rita"

so, there ya have it. my go to girls. i do have my other friends: kharissa, vanessa, se ryung, ashley. those girls, though, are just fun in general. still love them!!



so, i'm going to josh groban's concert with beth anne, michelle, oyin, and ashley. we're gonna rock the house. WOOHOO

ecstatic