My Life as a Novel

Days off: 4
Relaxing days off: 3

FRIDAY
Hours sleeping in: 0
Flights of stairs to The Apartment: 3
Trips up and down those flights of stairs when moving Mendy out / Katherine in on Friday: 12
Trips with heavy/large boxes involved: 9
Hours spent packing / cleaning / moving stuff: 4
People helping: 8 moving out /9 moving in

SATURDAY
Hours sleeping in: 3
Hours cleaning the house: 2
Hours being lazy: numerous

SUNDAY
Hours sleeping in: 2 for me / 6 (SIX!) for Kyle!
Hours doing a whole lotta nuthin': 3
People at the Journey Church Memorial Day Cookout: 26
Number too many Shreks: 2

MONDAY
Hours sleeping in: 1.5
Times I was thankful for an extra day off: numerous
Bike rides: 2
Minutes spent "feeding" the struggling gardenias: 15
Laps swam around the pool at Leslie / Katherine's Apartment: 7
Applications of sunscreen to ward off the inevitable First Sunburn 2007: 2
Times I checked the gardenias to see if they looked healthier: 3,235,231
Times I could actually tell a difference: 0
Good conversations with husband over dinner: 1

TUESDAY
Hours sleeping in: 1 - Oops!

... until Danielle leaves for Africa!

Danielle has been a friend of mine for several years now. She is from Moncks Corner, which is how we met.

My First Danielle Memory: When we were in middle school, she showed up to the middle school prom with the "man" who I considered to be my future husband. I seethed with 8th grade jealousy! But I got over it and we became friends several years later ... and it didn't really work out for me and Mr. McCay like I thought it would! [I'm glad.]

She is a graduate of Winthrop University and currently lives in Rock Hill where she is a math teacher ('cause she's nerdy that way).

This summer she's spending several weeks in Uganda with the Invisible Children Teacher Exchange Program. All her plans and preparations are falling right into place and God has really been providing for her in so many ways (which she frequently recounts on her blog).

And when she returns from Africa, she's turning right back around and heading to Guatemala on a mission trip with her church.

Danielle has been an inspiration to me. And this summer, God is using her to inspire others, to bring His Gospel and His love to people all over the world!

Do it, Danielle!



Oh, also ... I found these and thought you would get a kick out of them, like I did!

Labels: Christianity, Friends

Labels: family, Friends, Wedding

While at church last night, Will, Clay, Kyle and I were having a conversation about some of our friends, several who are excellent musicians.

Kyle(to me): "It would be cool if we could get Jeremy to come in and play lap steel on some stuff every now and then. (to Clay and Will) He doesn't exactly like church, but he's a good musician."

Will: "Well that's the kind of people we want to get to know. We need to find some people who hate church and make them our friends."

Kyle: "I know one in particular. I sleep with her every night."

Labels: Christianity, Journey Church

Because Andrew did it (again) and I want to be cool like Andrew (again) ...

Emergent/Postmodern 79% Neo orthodox 50% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 43% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Modern Liberal 36% Classical Liberal 32% Fundamentalist 32% Roman Catholic 25% Reformed Evangelical 7% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

It used to look like this:

(Thank GOD that's in the past)

After a day's work of pulling weeds, it looked like this:


The next day, I brought in The Professional:

Very Professional Feet! :)

And I bought some flowers:



And now it finally looks like this:

Labels: flowers, home, photo

First off, we had a great weekend. Lots of things to love this weekend too, including visits from friends (Yay, Emily!), good live music (twice!), cooking, baking, preparing a meal for my family (which left them all amazed at my culinary skills ... or at the very least "satisfied"), a long afternoon / evening in downtown Charleston with Kyle's mom and brother, a good dinner out, and ... a few bonuses which will be expounded upon below.

John is Kyle's brother. For the past several months he's been working for the Carolina Polo Carriage Company. He has a great love for history, meets people very well, and can entertain and turn-up the Southern Charm like no one else I know. So the job he has with this company has been a perfect fit.

So these days, whenever we meet John for dinner at a downtown restaurant, we always get some tidbits of history tied in with our downtown experience. It makes it interesting to learn the history of the area we're in without being inundated with facts and dates and names, all while smelling a horse's butt. I guess you could say that if you're interested at all - even marginally, as I am - we have a good connection with John, in that we certainly don't pay the tour fees, we don't get the inundated with uninteresting, useless information. We just get fun facts while we walk around.

And since we've become accustomed to this, and since Kyle's mom was in town for Mother's Day, and since we felt we had all the time in the world, when we finished our dinner, we asked John to take us on a tour. "Show us something interesting."

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to The Wentworth Mansion. Hands down, the most beautiful, most intriguing, creepiest place I've ever been to. What was once a private residence has now been turned into a hotel.

Interesting Facts about The Wentworth Mansion:

• The house was built in 1885 and was built so well, that during the Earthquake of 1886, it suffered no structural damage.
  
• It is rated one of the Top 500 Hotels in the World, and is the Top Rated Hotel/Inn in Charleston.
  
• Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon spent their honeymoon at this hotel.

Being that this is a hotel (and a very nice one, at that!), people off the street are not normally welcome to just enter and walk around as we were. But John used his connections with the Charleston Hospitality Industry, and we were given free reign of the building.

Our first stop was the elevator. It was very small, so even just the four of us had to go up in shifts. So Kyle and I went up first. John and Ms. Edith followed shortly after. We were going up to the fourth floor.

As soon as Kyle and I stepped off of the elevator, I got a very eerie feeling.

At some point in here, I need to explain a little family history. This point is as good as any.

If you've ever been around John for any length of time, you know that one of his favorite things to do is to scare people with his stories about "the haunts and hags". In a way that no other family I know does, Kyle's family believes in ghosts! To the point that they speak this other language that I'm only just beginning to understand. Phrases like "jumpin' up on ya" don't have any sexual connotation at all, and are considered very serious. Kyle speaks of situations when he knew something was around him and just prayed that he didn't see anything.

And until we lived in a house that we believe had a ghost in it, I didn't understand any of this. And when unexplainable things would happen in our house, I would tell my family and they would laugh and kind of scoff at it, Kyle's family started praying immediately.

Ok, so back to last night. Kyle and I had just walked off of the elevator. It was a very slow elevator, so to kill time while we waited for the others, we started walking up the hallway. We found a spiral staircase heading into what appeared to be a small room upstairs. Kyle's curiosity got the best of him, so he started climbing the stairs.

No sooner had my foot hit the first step than I got the creepiest feeling. We were not alone. It was indescribable, really. Like the presence of someone in the room who ... was not present in the room. Who perhaps hadn't been for a lot of years.

We went upstairs and walked around this small room with lots of plaques hanging on the wall. There were windows all around, and it looked out over the whole city of Charleston. We decided to head back downstairs to meet John and Ms. Edith. We met them at the bottom of the stairs.

By this time, I was sufficiently creeped out. I did NOT want to go back upstairs. This feeling was not a passing feeling. It was with me the whole time I was walking up the stairs, while we were up there, and coming back down. Kyle, however, wanted to go back upstairs and see what John was going to show us. I tried to convince him to stay down with me, but he didn't want to, so I went up with him. (I was NOT staying down there by myself!)

So upstairs we went, and through a door where we walked around a balcony five stories off the ground. (It reminded me of the type of balcony that would be on the top of a lighthouse. It was very narrow and went around the windowed-in area with the plaques.) We were looking down on the tops of the many churches of The Holy City. I finally saw how crooked the steeple of the St. Philip's church is. (It was damaged during the Earthquake in 1886.) It was beautiful. And I relaxed while I was outside.

Back downstairs, we returned the first floor taking the staircase this time. The rest of the family laughed at me, as it seemed I was rushing everyone else downstairs. I was more than relieved to return to ground level.

We continued our mini-tour, constantly amazed at the beauty of this old house! It was just gorgeous. John found a sitting room with a lot of old books lining the shelves. He was snooping around in there, and Kyle and I poked our heads around a few corners. We found a stairwell that was in an area of the building that was probably "servants quarters" back in the day. Not as ornate. Plainly painted and carpeted, but still nicer than anything that would be in my house!

We returned to the sitting room with John and Ms. Edith, where John was still digging through the books. A few minutes later, he said, "Look at this! I think I found a diary!" He opened up to the front page. Apparently it's a secret book. (Sorry, I ruined it, but the story's not complete without it.) People who stay there who find the book are intended to sign it, write about their experience at the hotel, and date it. This small book only went back to 2005.

The very first entry that we read was from January 2006. "There's definitely something in the spiral staircase on the fourth floor ..."

And from February 2005: "While on the fourth floor, I was looking at pictures at the bottom of the spiral staircase when I heard a giggle. I turned quickly and saw a blond-haired little girl wearing a white dress as she disappeared up the stairs. I followed her up the stairs and once I got to the landing at the top of the stairs, I could tell that there was no one there. I heard a faint giggle before I headed back down."

Several people wrote of hearing giggles. "Room five is alive!" one writer said. And several people wrote about a secret key outside of Room 13 that gets you to "the room that goes nowhere". Everyone's experiences were positive, however. All the "beings" that they'd encountered were "not malevolent", as one writer put it.

Several people made mention of the staircase in the servant's quarters, the conference room, and alluded to secret passageways.

One writer shared some information that he believed to be true and that was that the ghosts were those of Mr. Wentworth and his three children, who all died very young and in the house.

Labels: Charleston, family, The Hubby

Both my sister and my future sister-in-law have asked me to do their invitations for their upcoming weddings. About six months ago, my sister and I brainstormed about what she wanted hers to look like, decided on something for sure, and then we went paper-shopping.

I've come to realize that we mixed-up part of the process. We shouldn't have bought the paper until I'd come up with some type of design that worked first. Because of this mix-up, I have had absolutely no inspiration concerning her wedding invitations. The first time I sat down to work on them, I found out that their names are both too long to fit on the shape and style of invitation we had discussed. And now, every time I sit down to work on it, and I get frustrated and bored with it in the first few minutes. She and Derek decided on the wording, so that part is done. It should've been the hard part, but ... :sigh:.

So last night, I sat down to work something up and just told myself to start from scratch. And after about 30 minutes, I had something that worked. And 30 minutes later, I loved it!

The only problem with this is that I don't want to strong-arm her into changing her mind about the invitations. They're hers and I want them to be something she likes and can be proud of.

I'll post what I've done when I can figure out how to get it from Kyle's computer to mine.

And, Amy. Let's get to work on yours soon, too! We can do things in the right order for yours! :)

Labels: design, family, Wedding

1. Who knows a bass player for The Apologies? Their bassist is phasing out and they're looking for someone to replace him.
   
2. Who likes the name "Bows and Sparrows" for a band? Kyle does. I do. Andrew does. Ethan doesn't.
   
3. I like Andrew Brown. He is a friend.
   

Labels: Friends, Music

1. Positivity on Monday mornings (this is two weeks in a row!)
   
2. ... fed by Journey Church on Sunday nights (So much J.C. Positivity.)
   
3. This song. You should like it too. Because really ... Wilco. Does it get much better? I submit that it does not.
   [How is it that I have not heard of this "vox"? Because this song, this song, and, oh especially this song are also (a) there and (b) GOOD! What a happy Monday morning discovery!!] [About that last song: am I the only one who hears that song and thinks, "Oh I’ve got reservations About so many things But not about you"]
   
1. We're going to see Wilco in Charlotte in June. And we're excited. It's Kyle's birthday present. And we got decent seats and did NOT pay $98 for them.
   
4. Spiderman 3: I liked. Kyle hated. "Too girly", says he. " :P " says I.
   
5. Friend Emily is coming for a visit this weekend!
   
6. The Explorer's Club is playing the Map Room this Friday night. They're opening for The Clientele, which should make for a good time. A very good time, indeed.
7. I got some bubble wrap in my office today that is loud and very easy to pop. And I love it. And there's LOTS of it! A good time will be had by me! :)
   

Labels: Church Hunt, Journey Church, Music

Sometimes it can be fun for me to reminisce about "the old days" (You know, 10 years ago, when I was in high school!) For the most part, I hated high school. But there are fond memories wrapped up in there too and those are the fun times to reflect on. This is not one of them.

I moved to South Carolina as a super-skinny, awkward 13-year-old who brought definition to the phrase "all elbows and knees". I found my home among friends I met in the youth group at my church and I fell into a "good crowd". Among those, however, I was always known as the country one. Hailing from Georgia, my accent definitely stood out among those of my peers. It gave me a solid grouping with "the rednecks" at school as I spoke their language, oftentimes more fluently than they.

As I moved into high school, I remember being very aware of my status as "redneck", but this was okay, as "redneck" in our school had two groupings: The Moncks Corner rednecks, who were 'disgusting' and the Lebanon rednecks who were ... not as disgusting. For some reason. And this mentality seems very backwards to me looking back on it (as Lebanon is not a wealthy neighborhood, and it's definitely WAY FAR OUT THERE in location), but I actually remember having conversations with friends about this, and it was decidedly so. I was NOT a Moncks Corner redneck, despite the fact that I did live in Moncks Corner. Whatever. Moving along.

I'll bring you up to January, 1997. I'm a high school freshman. I work at a day care center. I am single. I am not concerned about this, as boys are as foreign and disgusting to me as ... well, as Moncks Corner rednecks. I was spending a Saturday with my friend Carrie. I don't rightly recall what we were doing, but I remember wearing a pair of brown corduroy overalls. (Oh, this memory is getting ugly!)

As we were leaving Carrie's house, she was called across the street by her neighbor, Michael. Michael and his buddies (the "classy" Lebanon rednecks) were doing what "classy" rednecks do on a Saturday: washing their trucks. We walked across the street for a few minutes, long enough for Carrie to exchange a pleasant greeting with Michael. And then we were off.

At some point during the following week, Carrie said, "Is it ok for me to give your phone number out? Robert Lee wants it." YES!!! HIS NAME WAS ROBERT LEE!!! His truck (a hunter green 1996 Dodge Ram... why do I remember this??!!) had a tag on the front that said "The General". And he was a Junior. And he saw me that day in Michael's front yard and he LIKED ME!!! Hallelujah! I had arrived!

I spent a few weeks ignoring his advances. Finally, by February, we were "talking" and he asked me out for Valentine's Day. This was a big deal because it would be my first date. A group date which included Carrie and her boyfriend, our friend Courtney and her boyfriend, and Robert and me. Three girls and our "classy redneck" boyfriends. (If you're wondering, I bought him a Clint Black CD. This one.)

Anyway. It was a short-lived episode in my history, but was not without a certain level of teenage drama. But that was that, and we tried to be friends when it was all over and done with, but it didn't really work out.

Years have passed since then. And I've only seen him once in recent memory. This was as I was walking out of the grocery store and nearly ran him over with my grocery cart. I was apologizing profusely when our eyes met and I stopped mid-sentence and we both just kept walking. It was weird.

And now ... Now Robert's living next door. As in right next door. We share a property line. A fence. And some overgrown shrubbery.

I wonder if, after he saw me in the yard for the first time, he ran in and hit himself in the head with the palm of his hand and said, "WHY didn't I find out who the neighbors were FIRST?!"