Sunflowers and Sunrise

On my drive to clinic early in the morning, I get the glorious pleasure of driving past this BEAUTIFUL farm of sunflowers. Not sure why they're growing all these sunflowers, wether for seeds or to sell to a florist, but nonetheless I get to enjoy their beauty as well- which is wonderful for me since sunflowers are my absolute favorite! And in the morning when I'm driving past them, the sun has just come up and is shining on them- Oh it's just breathtaking! I stopped one day to take some pictures- but it didn't do them any justice at all.

  

Morrow Mountain

Saturday afternoon we loaded up my car and headed towards Albemarle. This time we were headed to Morrow Mountain to see, and feed some deer! This place is pretty neat- you can camp, hike, picnic, rent cabins, canoes, paddle boats, go to the pool, you name it- they pretty much have a bunch of different activities you can partake in. However, the two times I've been, we just ride around and feed the deer (technically you're not suppose to feed the wild life though- shhhh). We had a nice dinner at a local Italian place, picked up some saltine crackers at the family dollar and then headed to the mountain. Getting there a few hours before sunset, we had plenty of time to make several loops to see how many deer we could find. We all made guesses of just how many deer we would spot. With a guess of 27, I came the closet, we saw 30+ and Travis even got to feed one right from his hand. We saw a baby fawn, and when I saw baby, that thing was TINY and ohh so precious. I wish we could have gotten a picture of her and her momma, but momma wasn't going to come anywhere near us unfortunately. We had a great time and I highly suggest you check out this place at some point if you get the chance. 

Diet Coke Chicken

Someone at clinic told me this recipe, and to be honest, I was a bit skeptical. Once you see the ingredients, you'll understand why. However, because it sounded so strange and yet she promised me it was actually pretty good, well of course I had to try it for myself, cause you all know how often I actually cook... She was right though, it was good!


Here's what you need: 
1 Cup of Ketchup
1 Can (12 oz) of a Diet Coke/Pepsi
Chicken

Here's what you do:
Put the THAWED chicken in a pan. (When I didn't understand why I couldn't just put frozen chicken in the pan, my chef of a brother thought I was a cooking failure)
Pour the diet drink and ketchup over the chicken.
Put a lid over it and let it simmer for 45 minutes. Flipping occasionally.
Enjoy!

I accompanied my chicken with cheesy mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Delish! 

And since it's such an easy recipe, and you've got 45 minutes to let it simmer... you've got time to change a toilet seat while you're waiting! At least that's what I ended up doing. I don't actually recommend doing this unless it's absolutely necessary. 

Sunday Fun Day

So I'm back in school and very busy with hardly anytime to do anything "fun". But last Sunday I took half the day off and did somethings that didn't involve work.

The first Sunday of June is National Cancer Survivors Day. The Moore Regional Cancer Center had a pretty big event for all the survivors and their family. There was a lot to do! Bingo, plinko, a cake walk, doctor dunking booth, raffle prizes, and lunch was provided. Just to see all the people whom cancer has affected in some way or another, and to see all the survivors was really something else. I was really honored to be a part of this event.

After Survivors Day was over, Travis and I went over to our friend Eric's house to go fishing with him and Kristyn. I can't say that any of us actually "caught" any fish, but nonetheless we still had a good time. I actually hooked Travis in the arm when I went to cast my hook. Whoops! Here's a few photos at the pond.

Eric

Travis tying my lizard back on after I hooked him. What a sweetie! 

After the lake we had our regular Sunday dinner... Burrito Brothers. Yumm! I love me some chips and salsa :) 

Jeremiah 29:11

'"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."'  -Jeremiah 29:11


I've heard that that verse since I was in middle school and could repeat it to anyone who asked. However, as I'm becoming older and more wiser (or maybe just older), I'm beginning to understand it rather than just saying it. 


God already knows our plans in life. He made them. However, He gives us a choice to follow them, or follow our own plans. In Jeremiah 29:11, He said that HIS plans will prosper us and not harm us. 


In youth group, what feels like many moons ago, one of the women that volunteered and taught our class told me a story that has always stuck with me. She said:
She used to pray and ask God to show her who she was going to marry. He did one night in a dream. That marriage was difficult on her and in the end not the right one. She realized that she asked God to show her who she was going to marry and not who HE wanted her to marry. 


So having said all this, it's about time for me to graduate. Ten more weeks and I couldn't be more excited!   With all this excitement there is also a lot of stress, anticipation, and worry with becoming ready for the registry and then trying to find a job somewhere. It's scary really. I'm growing up and would rather just move to Neverland with Peter, but I couldn't find any airline that offers flights to Neverland so that's out of the question. I've applied for a few jobs now, and have heard about an opening at Moses Cone in Greensboro and also applied there. 

  

Instead of Neverland, I'll just keep praying that God opens the right doors for me and uses me where He wants me.

Adventure to Africa... on Horseback

Last year, Travis took me to go ride horses. It's something that he really enjoys and I really thought I'd enjoy it to, I mean, what person doesn't like horses, right?? Little did I know what I was about to encounter: a huge four legged creature that had the capability to crush and/or throw me to my doom. After taking off from the pasture, I realized it wasn't going to be that bad. Wrong again. Apparently Jezebel, my horse, had ear mites. What that translated to was she didn't want to venture too far from her home in the pasture and didn't care if I wanted to or not. Not to mention it was HOT that day, and the poor horse was just sweating like crazy. That was the quickest horse ride I've been on.

So, when Travis asked me again if I wanted to go ride horses, I was a bit leery, as you can probably imagine. However, with the promise that Jezebel's ear mites had been fixed and that she really was a good horse, I gave in and tried it again. This time... much better! 

Our horse ride this time was in the little town of Happy Hollow- what a cute name for a horse ride! It was just Travis, his Uncle Mike and me. We had a great time! Went on a relatively long ride and even stopped at the NC Zoo to have our picture made with the Elephants! 

I forgot to mention that right before this horse ride, I had run a 5K that morning. By the end of this ride, my body was KILLING me. My poor little knees weren't sure they'd ever be able to walk again and the next morning my back was cursing me in every language. However, I didn't mind it too bad because I did the same exact thing two weeks later!

This time, it was a HUGE horse ride with LOTS of other people and horses. When I say lots, I'm talking 250+ horses. For this ride, in order to feel like a true country girl on a horse, I purchased a little something for myself...
 I couldn't be left out now, could I?! Everyone had a great time and after the ride there was a BBQ dinner and good times with good people. I can't wait til my next horse ride! Forgot to mention the ABSOLUTELY CUTEST thing I've ever seen: a little boy, maybe seven or eight, that was riding a miniature horse. That horse was barely off the ground. Probably one of the most precious things I've seen. Hate I didn't get a picture of it.

run·ning (noun): the act of a person, animal, or thing that runs.

Back in March I ran my first 5K in Cullowhee, NC. Since then I've run four more 5K's... it's pretty addicting I must say.

"That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a run... from that day on, if I was going somewhere, I WAS RUNNIN'!"

-Forrest Gump 

Running for a Reason

Since March, I've recruited a new running partner, a girl from work, Robyn. I found that running with someone works way better than running by yourself. This proved true of my first race with her. We raced in Troy, NC at the 1st annual Running for a Reason 5K to support Relay for Life and finished within 31 minutes. A whole three minutes faster than my first race (granted the course was MUCH easier and not in the mountains). 

Rugged Maniac 

My next race after that was not your typical 5K. It was 3.1 miles, but it was also an obstacle course.... in the mud. Rugged Maniac is what actually what got me motivated to run. 10,000 people, wether spectating or racing, where in and out of that place all day long.... along with the ambulance. I guess having to sign a wavier form to run this race was a good indication that there was a possibility of getting hurt. Running through mud pits, crawling in ditches, climbing over walls, swimming through muddy waters, jumping over fire pits, you name it, we probably did it within that three mile course. I ran with a "team". That is, a group of people that all ran the race during the same time wave. We were there to help each other over the different obstacles. Our team name: The Mud Slugs. Clever huh? I only really knew two of the members of our group, but non the less we all still had a good time. To be honest, I kinda broke away from the group shortly after the buzzer and ran it at my own pace. Unfortunately, a guy on our team fell off one of the walls you had to climb up and over and ended up breaking his ribs so I was told.

 One muddy stained girl. 

Randolph RoadRunners 5K Health Run 

The next race that Robyn and I entered was a local one here in Asheboro. This one was not our best race by any means. In fact, it was probably one of my worst. The course for whatever reason, always proved to kick my butt every time I attempted to run it. None the less, we did finish it in 35 minutes. I was shooting for under 40, so I guess you could say that I accomplished my goal. 

Beach Blast 5K

After doing the RoadRunners 5K, someone told me about the Beach Blast 5K in Albemarle, NC. Well heck, since I was on a racing streak, I might as well enter this one as well. This course was pretty difficult with the hills that were in it. However, when I run, I run in my neighborhood of Greystone. If you know Greystone, you know that it is made up of nothing but hills, so I was somewhat prepared. I didn't do too terribly bad here, finishing in 32 minutes. 

My goal is to become faster, obviously. I really enjoy running. It clears my head and is a GREAT workout. I am also working on my distance. The furthest I've run is 5.1 miles with the hopes of one day soon stepping up my game and entering a 10K. However, I do have one more 5K in mind for the future and as soon as registration opens up I'm signing up for it. I encourage you to check this one out if you live in NC. It looks like soooo much fun! I would like to get a bunch of people to run/walk it wearing a white t-shirt and tutu. So if you're interested, let me know!