Catchin' Up (Some More)

Read the post under this one first if you haven't already (yes, I actually posted something else). Feel free to insert a snarky comment here.

So anyway, here is the rest of my completed list:

#9 - Check (again) In my previous post I mentioned a road trip with my sister this summer, but there are two other trips that I had to mention. In October I went on a cruise with 3 other friends from church. Our cruise left out of New Orleans and we ended up going to Progreso due to a hurricane (we were supposed to go to Cozumel). We had a great time and it was a perfect break from school.

In December my best friend, Stacey, and I went on a road trip to Nashville for the weekend. We toured the Opryland Hotel and saw the Rockettes. It was a blast to get out of town for the weekend with her.

#13, 14, and 24 - DONE

I finally finished off the Growth Track at church by attending Discovery 301 (where you take a spiritual gifts assessment to determine what areas you can best serve in at the church) and Dream Team 401 (which allows you to talk with leaders from lots of different service areas at the church). I signed up to become a greeter (yes, like the friendly folks at Wal Mart) and started doing that back in the summer. It has been great to welcome other people into my church that I love and I have enjoyed meeting some new people. That covers 13, 14, and 24.

#11 - Volunteer for something new: Ongoing

Last January God really laid on my heart to become more servant minded. We live in such a "me" focused society and it is easy to become very focused on what I want and what I think I need or even deserve, but God really opened my eyes to the fact that I am called to be His servant and a servant to His people. I asked Him to begin showing me opportunities to be His hands and feet to others. Of course there have been many times where His voice has been muffled out by my selfish nature, but the times when I have really focused on where He was leading me I have been so blessed by being able to be a blessing to others.

#18 - Cooking Class: DONE and another one planned for

This summer I started looking for a cooking class I could take, but the ones I could find were either too expensive, too fancy, or too far away, so I decided that I had so many great cooks around me that I should just tap into their expertise and get them to teach me some of their recipes. I immediately thought of my friend, Jessie, who moved to Birmingham from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. She loves to cook and always talks about what she whipped up from leftovers she had in her fridge or spare ingredients in her cabinet, so I asked her to plan out an authentic Cajun menu and send me a grocery list. I got the ingredients and she came over to give me a lesson. My friend, Myra was also in on the lesson. We made BBQ shrimp po'boys and bananas foster. Both were very simple and delicious. After our class Jessie bought me a Groupon for a cooking class that we are going to together soon. I will update you on how it goes afterward!

#29 - Visit Nathan in Colorado - DONE

In November, Mom and I went out to Denver to visit Nathan. We were there from a Wednesday night until early Monday morning. We had a great trip! It was so neat to see where he has been living and get to see some amazing mountain scenery. We laughed a whole lot, admired the gorgeous views, visited the Coors brewery (Mom's favorite part of the trip), relaxed, and enjoyed spending some great time together.

Now, I just have to find a time to get back out there so I can check #22 off my list (skiing).

Catchin' Up

So I looked back over "The List" today to see what all I had and had not checked off this year. I was going to blog about several more things that I actually did do, but I realized that pretty much everyone who reads my blog (or still reads it now that I have fallen off the blogosphere) already knows about all of these things, so I am going to write a short summary here of what all I have been up to:

8, 9, 25, and 26 - DONE: This summer I went on a trip with my sister. She planned the whole thing and every bit of it was a surprise (which if you know me then you know how much I love to have a plan and be in control, so it was quite amazing that I did not plan one single thing for this). I rode out to Texas with Ashley and her family (yes, you read correctly... rode, like in a car, not a plane, to Texas) and we spent a few days with my brother-in-law's family in Waco. Before we headed off on our road trip we crossed #26 off my list by going to a flea market.

Next, we headed off on a road trip to Fredericksburg and Austin (#9 - DONE). We visited several wineries (#8- DONE), ate great food, stayed in an awesome bed and breakfast, shopped, laughed lots, and simply enjoyed undivided time together.

We ended our trip in Austin where we had some great BBQ, drove through the University of Texas campus (#26 - DONE), and made a pit stop at the Friday Night Lights set before I caught my flight back to Birmingham. It was such a sweet time with my sister and so fun to check some things off my list with her!

Okay, change of plans... Blogspot can sometimes be a little hornery, so instead of getting halfway through this post and having it magically disappear and me scream ugly words I am going to save this one and then start another.