Shout Out

Today is my birthday, and the perfect present would be if every person that is reading this would comment. If you don't quite know what to do, just use the anonymous button. I have no way of knowing who reads this blog except when you tell me or comment. I think about you a lot. Sometimes, when I write a blog, I know that someone really needs to hear this. Therefore, you are all in my thoughts often. I would love for everyone to comment today and tell me what you like most about this blog. Give me a shout out even if it's just your first name and where you are from. Shout out even if you know that I know that you read my blog. Just give me a shout out...

Fun Weekend

Yesterday, we began by watching a video with some people from our office. Then, we met up with some friends for lunch. We then went to the mall. It was crazy! Brock bought a ring, but he left his old-perfectly-good-looking-ring-but-it-had-become-too-big-for-him in the ring case. Someone is going to want to buy that ring someday!

Apparently, they were having a health fare at the mall. We saw a sign reading, "Your posture is a window into your health." Every one of us immediately stood up straighter. Brock and I took a posture analysis. Brock also began dancing while people onstage were doing aerobics. We also did one of those surveys at the mall and earned a whole $2 each.

Then, we met up with more friends to grab a bite to eat. When we came out of the resaurant, it was icing, so we decided that we needed to spend our $2 that we earned on some hot chocolate. Of course, we went to the Cocoa Tree because they have the best chocolate in the world! We got there at 7pm with the intentions of just getting a hot chocolate and going home. The owner ended up coming in and twisting our arms to be taste testers of the 5 different new hot chocolates that she had created! We definately got our hot chocolate and we stayed there for three hours! What fun!

Ho-Hum Day

Yesterday, I was having a very ho-hum day. I didn't want to do anything. However, I was bored. Do you ever have those times? You don't feel like doing anything, but you don't feel like doing nothing. It's weird.

I felt that way up until we went to our new small group at church. It's a group designed for artists. We had very stimulating conversations.

Then, we met up with our friends at the Cocoa Tree. I perked up to the point that I was hyper. They were having a special on truffles...a dozen for $6. Needless to say, I ate a lot of chocolate! That just might have contributed to my hyperness.

We went over to Kim's and hung out for a little while. At about 11:30pm, I began to come down off of my sugar high, so we came home. I crashed in the bed. Last night ended up being the perfect cure for my ho-hum day.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

As a birthday present to both of us, we went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert last night. Gnarles Barkley opened and I was excited about that because I really like his song "Crazy." However, the sound was so bad during his set that you couldn't even tell what song he was singing. It was extremely loud and distorted. I thought that if the RHCP sounded that bad, we were going to get our money back.

After a 40 minute set change, the Chili Peppers entered the stage. They sounded crystal clear and really good. What excellant musicians they are! Plus, they are in their mid-forties and still rocked like excited teenagers. I cannot even describe the lights they had. It was amazing!

When I go to a concert, I like to be comfortable. I especially hate it when everyone stands for the entire show. Not only must I stand all night, but being 5'2" I cannot see. That's why our seats last night were perfect! We were rather far up in the arena, but we were on the first row of our level. We could sit and see perfectly fine. It was great!!! I just danced around in my seat!

A Sabbatical

We have had a lengthy amount of time off. It's been really good for us. This is Brock's tenth year doing this and we thought about him taking a sabbatical this coming fall. However, I don't think that Brock would do very well with a typical sabbatical. Our first little bit of time off over Thanksgiving, Brock couldn't sleep very well, and he was bored.

This is why racing has been the perfect cure for him. It's distracted him enough to actually not focus on work for the longest time since he's begun this ministry. I think that his mind needed the rest. Plus, we naturally had time off. We didn't force a sabbatical. It just happened. It's as if the Lord planned a Brock-style sabbatical Himself.

Our "sabbatical" is coming to a close though. We have one show this weekend and one the next. Pray that we really take advantage of the rest of this week off yet not have any trouble getting back into the swing of things at our shows.

Singin in the Rain

Yesterday, I had lunch with my good friend, Tiffany. We grew up together in Daytona Beach, FL. Now, she lives in Murfreesburo only 30 minutes away from me! We get together every week that I'm home.

We were going to eat at Bonefish Grill and parked right up front. We then discovered that it didn't open until 4pm. Therefore, we walked across the parking lot to another restaurant.

When we came out later, it was pouring down rain. She didn't have an umbrella and you know I didn't. I told her that we had to make a run for it. I took off and then I heard her say, "Sing with me." She was strolling across the parking lot singin "Singin in the Rain." I slowed down and joined her.

I actually heard on MythBusters that if you run in the rain, you actually get more wet because more drops hit you. Anyway, it's just water! Next time it rains, don't run or huddle under your umbrella. Embrace the rain and sing..."I'm singin in the rain...just singin in the rain...what a glorious feeling..."

A New Journal

Yesterday morning I had a thought to journal about some of the things the Lord is doing in my life. However, I had almost run out of pages in my journal. I began thinking about buying a new journal. Since money is tight this month, I decided to wait until next month, so the journalling would have to be put on pause.

I walked into my friends' church later on that morning and there in the entryway were stacks of brand new journals. My friend, Emily, leaned over and whispered that they were for visitors. "I'm a visitor!" I said a little too loudly since church had already begun. I got my new journal and it was even my favorite color, green!

This tells me a couple of things. First of all, the Lord is so sweet. This is not the first time He's given me a little gift that I asked for on that very day.

Another thing is that He's telling me that He wants me to journal. I used to journal all the time, but since I've been blogging, the journalling became less and less. I think that the Lord still wants me to write letters and prayers to Him...personal stuff between us.

I'm going to commit to journalling everyday! I will write my dreams, thoughts, prayers, praises, and everything.

Finding Your Spiritual Gift

We talked about spiritual gifts last night. If you are a follower of Christ, you have a spiritual gift. However, every gift needs to be developed. Once you find out what it is, it's really incredible. It is just what we call it...a gift. Ask the Lord to reveal what your spiritual gift is and start developing it if you haven't already.

Girl Weekend Vs. Guy Weekend

Brock is with our friend, Robby, this weekend while I'm staying at Shannon and Kim's house. Listen to how different the girls are from the guys: we girls are wearing pajamas all weekend watching movies and vegging out while the guys are wearing jerseys and racing their dirtbikes! That's funny!

Brock and I usually enjoy doing the same things. However, in these areas we differ. Brock is not much of a movie watcher...he's very selective. I would never race a dirtbike even though I do own one. What would you do for girl/guy weekend?

Umbrellas

My mom was always trying to get me to remember my umbrella when it rained. Now, I not only forget to bring my umbrella, I forget to buy one. On Sunday morning it was pouring down. I observed all of the people entering the church buried under their umbrellas. Then, I realized that we don't own one. I asked Brock if he was okay with not having an umbrella. He said yes. I said, "Good because I sorta don't believe in umbrellas. It's just a little water."

Our church is used to seeing us a little wet. We came to the "new members" meeting drenched. We rode over on our motorcycle when it began to rain. We put on our rain prevention gear. However, later we found out that we had accidently purchased windbreakers instead of the rain gear. That explains why it NEVER worked!

When you are riding a motorcycle is a time when you don't want to get wet. It hurts! I guess you would want to use an umbrella on your wedding day or prom night so as not to mess up your hair. Other than that though, I just don't think it's necessary.

Surprise!!!

Our friends were telling us all week that they had a birthday surprise for us last night. They would not even give us a clue as to what it was. All we knew was to keep Wednesday night open. Then, yesterday evening, one of them called and said that the plans fell thru. I didn't know if she was trying to trick us or what. However, she and another friend proceeded to go out to eat with us and then to the Cocoa Tree like we normally do on Wednesdays.

After we finished our chocolate, they said to drive to downtown Nashville. We picked up another friend and drove to a cool coffee shop downtown. Then, they took us to a lounge. We finally found out that they were taking us to a Family Force 5 concert! I was so excited! I've never seen them in concert, but I love their cd.

The venue was perfect! It was very small, so we were close to the stage. Plus, we were sitting on stools around a little table that was on a ledge on the side. I'm only 5'2", so the extra few feet of the ledge allowed me to see.

I knew and loved and danced to every song. It was amazing! Their road manager gets onstage and dances really funny the whole time. I told Shannon to take notes because she was going to get onstage and dance like that at our next show! Our friends are great!!!

Giggling While Being Pulled Over by the Police

Saturday, while we were on the way to see Brock race, I got pulled over. I knew exactly why. Our bumper is still all bent up. We haven't got it fixed yet which was no problem until we went to get our license plate tags renewed. Last year, they distributed new license plates. Our bumper is in such bad shape that we cannot put the plate on. So, I had the new tag sitting on the floorboard of the front seat.

A little tidbit of information about me: I have a nervous laugh whenever I get pulled over. Sometimes, it's all I can do to not laugh in the officer's face. As soon as he came up to the truck full of girls, I said, "Hi!" He got right down to business. "Your tags expired September of 2006," he said. I said in the sweetest most innocent voice I could muster, "I know. My bumper is so bent up that I couldn't get it on." Then, I handed him the new plate.

He walked around the back of the truck and I followed him. I got so tickled at the sight of him just standing there trying to figure out what to do as he held my tag in his hands. I could barely contain myself. He didn't give me a ticket. In fact, the guy who started out very adement about my tags softened to the point that he was showing me how I could fix my bumper good enough to put the plate on.

I've discovered that my laughing is usually very beneficial when I get pulled over. When you girls and ladies get pulled over, act a little dingy and giggly. That way they think of you as the women and girls that they are trying to protect. Guys, you are on your own! In the meantime, I'm planning on getting our bumper fixed this week.

"The National Anthem" for Brock's Birthday

We were eating lunch with a group of friends Sunday and our waiter came up to Brock and said, "Come with me." Brock didn't hesitate or question at all. He just stood up and walked with the waiter who went to the center of the room. We were in a smaller room in the back of the restaurant and it was packed. Our waiter said very boomingly, "Attention everyone! I want you to meet Brock." At this point, Brock began shaking hands with people from the other tables and saying that he was glad to meet them!

Then, the waiter said that in honor of Brock's birthday, our group wanted him to be embarrassed. So, instead of singing "Happy Birthday" to him, we wanted him to do his dance. Brock said that he needed someone to sing. Another table pointed out a girl that they said could sing. Brock told her to sing "The National Anthem." She very sweetly asked everyone to sing with her. Then, she said, "The National Anthem, really?"

It was one of the funniest things as everyone in the whole room began singing "The National Anthem." Some people had their hands over their hearts and were singing loud and proud. Brock did his silly dance with some karate kid/flag flying additions. You will have to see it. We're putting it up on his myspace sometime today.

People from other parts of the restaurant came and stuck their heads in to see what was going on. People who were in the room came up to Brock commenting on how bizzarre that was. One guy was convinced that Brock had bet us that he couldn't get everyone to sing "The National Anthem" and won! As we left the restaurant, Brock was famous in there. You know that everyone in that restaurant will be talking forever about the day that guy succeeded in getting everyone to sing "The National Anthem" as he danced! I don't think that you can ever embarrass Brock.

Brock's Birthday

We had such a good time on Brock's birthday. Me and a carload of people went to Memphis to watch Brock race. We met Brock and our friend who is involved with the Arenacross, Robby, at a restaurant early yesterday evening. Then, we hurried over to the arena.

Two of the girls with me went to help sell arenacross merchandise while me and another girl made posters to hold up for Brock. Our other friend with us sang the National Anthem to start off the night. She did so well and we yelled really loudly for her. In fact, she did so well and looked so cute that she received a few marriage proposals before the night was over. Then, the girls selling merch came over just in time to watch Brock race.

Brock raced against 12 other people. That's a lot racing at one time! A couple of the guys used to be pros. Brock still did very well and took home a 4th place trophy. That's not bad out of 13 especially since he was going up against people that had been racing for years. We yelled so loudly for him and held up our cheesy signs. It was great!

Later that night, I drew Brock into a side room where the girls had set up a decorative area with truffles from the Cocoa Tree topped with burning candles. They threw confetti on him as he entered. There he opened his gifts and ate his truffles. This is definately going to be a memorable birthday for him!

Marcus' Fake Birthday

First of all, Marcus was very convincing. He kept telling me the same exact date. I would ask him when his birthday was and he was say the same date everytime. I didn't get him a present, but I did get him a card. I prided myself on not being gullible like a lot of other girls, so this really made me mad.

What I did for revenge is passive-agressive and very uncharacteristic of me, but I learned it from my roomate, Gin. I went into his house (he was Brock's roomate) and hid one of his shoes that were sitting beside his bed. Then, I hid his glasses (in a safe place so that they wouldn't get broken).

The next day, I was talking to one of Brock's other roomates, Brian. Brian said that Marcus was late for class because he couldn't find his shoe. He said, "You would think that I would take off both pairs of shoes in the same place, but there is just ONE shoe!" That night, he was late to our Bible Study, Time Out, because he couldn't find his glasses. He finally gave up and came anyway. I told him where I hid the shoe and glasses and he never did anything like that to me again! Actually, the whole thing was really funny.

Birthdays

Brock's birthday is tomorrow. He is going to race his bike in Memphis for his birthday. He is feeling a lot better but still has a headache. Keep praying that it will go away completely. This is a story that he wrote today about birthdays:

ya know, birthdays only roll around about once a year for most people. but for some lucky people they come around every few months. i have a birthday coming up this year. it seems to be about the same time as last year. anyway, here is a funny story.
my friend marcus, who was also my roomate in college, is a very clever guy. we would always have fun when we lived together. we would make prank calls and play practical jokes on people all the time. well, one day he convinced a girl that his birthday was coming up. this girl was a very sweet gal and she believed him. i sat back and watched as marcus made up this whole story about his fast approaching birthday. well the nice, pretty girl found out later that it wasnt his birthday. i think that the fine looking girl had actually bought him a present. well that cute girl was named auny and i decided to marry her. read tomorrow about what she did when she found out about the scam. the birthday scam not the marriage.

Pray for Brock

Brock has had a massive headache for 4 days now. We thought that maybe it was his sinuses because the arena this weekend where he raced his dirtbike did not have good circulation. Plus, it was small with lots of dirt and exhaust in the air. Brock rode in it for two days. However, yesterday, we tried everything we could to clear up his sinuses and nothing even touched it. The only thing that came of it was that our house now smells like eucalyptus.

Today, we are going to try the chiropractor. We think that he might have something a little out of place in his neck or something that is causing pain in his head. Pray that he feels better today. His birthday is Saturday and he really wants to race his dirtbike for his birthday.

A Funny Story

The other night, a friend of a friend came up to me and said, "I have a funny story about you." This intrigued me because I don't know the guy very well. He said that over the Christmas holiday, he went into a specialty toy shop in downtown Franklin. He looked around and happen to see me standing there, so he went over to say hi. Just as he approached the girl, she turned around. That's when he realized that it was not me. It was, indeed, Sheryl Crow.

Can you believe that? For once, she got mistaken for me instead of the other way around. Maybe she gets mistaken for me a lot. We now live in the same town, so maybe she is wondering who this Auny girl is that everyone keeps thinking is her. I'm just kidding...I'm sure she's not, but it at least happened once!

New Year's Resolution

When I was about 14 years old, I would make a whole page full of New Year's Resolutions. I was naive enough to think that I would be able to keep them all. I had all of the excercises listed that I was going to do EVERYDAY. Yeah, that did not last.

This year, I decided that for my New Year's Resolution, I would focus on praying for 12 people. That way the pressure is off of me! Ha! It's funny that all of the people that I felt that I should pray for are actually strong believers. I guess after finding out that yet another minister that I know has fallen out of ministry due to adultery, I realized that none of us are above it. Satan seems to leave the mediocre Christians alone. However, the ones that are doing a lot of good for the kingdom, he comes after with full force in one way or another.

Do you have any new Resolutions? Does anyone ever keep their New Year's Resolution?

Happy New Year!

This year was the first year in seven years (except Y2K of course) that we haven't had a show on New Year's Eve. We were supposed to have one, but it cancelled. We had such a good time. We went over to our friend, Kim's house. She had all kinds of treats out and set up. Candles were lit everywhere and dance music was playing in the living room. About ten of us just hung out.

Our friends who were just engaged over the Christmas holiday came over and told their story. She showed us her georgious ring for the first time. It was exciting!

We played that game where you tell two true factoids about yourself and one false one. Everyone had to pick out the false one. It was fun! My three things were: 1. I ran crosscountry track in high school; 2. I was on the drama team in high school; and 3. I won a beauty contest in high school. Brock's were something like: 1. He talked about how rude one of the anchorwomen were in the greenroom of a local Fox news studio and then realized his mic was on; 2. A lady literally died laughing at one of his shows; or 3. He road his dirtbike up the excalator and into the lobby of the Crowne Plaza on Time Square. Which ones do you think are false about each of us? I'll comment later to let you know the answer.