Freakin’ Fantastically Fun Friday!

Or as I like to call it, “FFFF.” Much to the discontent of anybody within range of my spit.

So, my very dear and amazingly awesome friend Erin (visit her blog here) was sweet enough to include me in a post concerning her favorite blogs that she enjoys visiting, so I figured I should probably cook up a nice little post. Had some fun stuff happen in the past couple weeks, so here’s a rapid fire update for you, starting with something incredibly exciting.

I got a haircut.

Okay, okay, I’m sorry.

I grilled a heart-shaped ribeye for Jenn and me on Valentine’s Day.

I used a new seasoning on it that I hadn’t used before, much to the delight of my easily amused palate. Jenn loved it, too. She cooked a mean pot roast that day for lunch. Our V-Day gift to each other was to stay at home and cook for each other. Best V-Day ever, seriously.

It snowed shortly before V-Day.

Just a little.

Some jerk kids knocked over our snowman. Here’s a dramatic reenactment of the discovery from after our second snowman fell over on its own…

Also, here’s Maddie catching a snowball.

Words With Friends is awesome. Here’s a screencap of the most epic opening word I’ve ever started a game with.

You can see my username on there, so feel free to challenge me. It’s a fun little diversion when I have some downtime at work.

I found this really awesome artist who makes some killer poster art based on favorite comic book characters. Here are two of my favorites, Green Lantern and Iron Man.

I especially love that GL poster. I mean, GL’s my favorite in general, but that’s just cool in its simplicity. Wish I had it framed for my nonexistent man cave. Heck, might as well throw in that Iron Man poster, too, if we’re talking nonexistent things. 🙂

Let’s see, what else? School’s going okay, graduation’s getting closer and closer. Work’s going fine, even though I’m beyond ready to move up into the world of teaching.

Jenn and I doing marvelously. We had our first premarital counseling session with our pastor and his wife last Sunday, and we’ll do our second/last one this Sunday. Planning the wedding and the honeymoon have really brought us together as a team more than ever before, and it makes me all the more excited to tackle life together with her.

Speaking of the honeymoon, I’ve been using Yelp and this excellent book to assemble a “bucket list” of sorts of restaurants and other stuff we have to check out while we’re in Kauai. It’s turning into quite a list, and I’m having a blast compiling all this info. There’s so much to do during the week that we’ll be there, and we’re so freakin’ excited about it. 🙂

Guess that’s about it for now. I hope you have a blessed and FFFF.

Excuse me, I need to get a paper towel.

Ho ho ho.

Been real busy this month! Biggest thing was probably wrapping up my next-to-last semester of college. One more semester, and then I’ll be done forever. 🙂 I’ve been enjoying this past week of not having to go to school in the evenings. It’s nice to be able to relax with Jenn, eat dinner at a normal time, and just generally not having a whole lot to do. Makes me look forward to being done with school even more.

Can’t believe Christmas is just over a week away. We had our Christmas program at church last Saturday. Jenn had an awesome solo right at the beginning, when the choir sang “Joy To The World.” Erin and Kevin had an amazing duet during “Ring The Bells,” which made Jenn and me even more impossibly excited about having them sing at our wedding. Click on the picture below if you’d like to see all the pictures I took:

We had the choir Christmas party at church last night. We watched the DVD of the Christmas program, ate several different varieties of cheese log (Jenn’s is SO my favorite), and then went caroling through the neighborhood behind the church, which was cold but quite fun! The only part I was sad about was the party was basically over soon as we got back. I wish we could have all sat around just a little bit longer and had some laughs. Though we did get to have plenty of that at our Refuge Christmas party, which was a total blastie blast.

Once I’m done here at work today, I’m heading up to the FLC at church to help Matt setup his blog that he wants to start. I tried to convince him that if he wanted to connect with his Youth, he needed to call it “Kilo 4 Christ” (his last name is Killough). But he said that was a loser name. Hey, if the shoe fits. O SNAP. Anyhoo, after that, Jenn and I are going to ol’ Arlington High School to see their Christmas orchestra concert. I am SO excited we’re going, I haven’t been to my old high school in several years. And the Symphony orchestra does Sleigh Ride every Christmas, so I can’t wait to see that again. The memories, they will be a-floodin’ back into my noggin, I tell you what.

Can’t wait for Christmas Eve/Day. Jenn and I are going with my family down to West to see my grandparents on Christmas Eve. Then we gotta fly back here pretty quick after lunch so we can get ready for the Christmas Eve service at church, because Jenn and I (with the assistance of the epically talented Dr. Gordon Page) will be doing “O Holy Night.” I am very excited about that, I haven’t played a candlelight service in several years, at least not since I was going to St. Andrew’s UMC. Anyway, once all that’s done, we’ll spend Christmas day with Jenn’s family, which is always a treat. 🙂

So what are your plans for Christmas? Got anything big planned, or are you just staying home for the holidays?

Agradecido.

Can you believe it’s that time of year already? I’m off for the rest of the week after today, so this’ll be it until Monday. Jenn and I are spending Turkey Day at Aunt Martha’s house, then we’re going with my mom down to the Hill Country, and Jenn’s going to meet Mom’s side of the family for the first time ever. Very exciting!

As we take the time to celebrate this wonderful holiday full of family, friends, and the best food in the universe, don’t forget to count your blessings and be thankful for what you have in your life. In these turbulent times, it’s more important than ever to remember that while there’s a lot we don’t have, there’s plenty more that we DO have.

I am thankful for the Heavenly Father above, and his son who was sent to die for our sins, both of whom I would be completely lost without.

I am thankful for my beautiful and amazing fiance, who I’ll be marrying in just a little over six months and spending the rest of my life with.

I am thankful for my awesome parents, who have been there for me more times than I can count.

I am thankful for my excellent friends, who bring so much laughter into my life.

I am thankful for my job, which allows me to earn the money I need to pay my bills.

I am thankful for my college education, which I will be completing in the Spring so I can earn MORE than the money I need to pay my bills. 🙂

I am thankful for you, friend. Thank you for reading my quaint little ol’ blog whenever you get a chance. I’m not exactly bringing in massive amounts of traffic here, but I know I have a dedicated few who enjoy reading my blog as much as y’all can. And that’s all I need.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, my dear friends. I hope you are able to enjoy it as much as I will. And when it’s over with, let’s all celebrate that magical time of year where we dust off the Christmas albums and listen to them until our ears bleed. Ha!

So what are you up to this week? Travel plans? Eating plans? Sleeping plans?

Where in the World is Allen?

So, my best bud of nearly 20 years is leaving on Sunday to go on a grand adventure in South America. All by his lonesome, he will be spending about three months traversing almost the entire continent. He’ll be staying at hostels, and hopefully the homes of missionaries, thanks to a connection we have to a former youth minister who’s done a ton of work down there. The journey is outlined below…

Click to embiggen.

Pretty insane, huh? If anybody can pull it off, I know it’s him. But I’m still a little concerned for his safety. So please pray that he makes it home in one piece.

Also, please pray that he makes it back in time to be my Best Man. Otherwise, I will strangle him.

Caffeine Withdrawal Sucks.

Trying to quit soda again. Freakin’ sucks, my head is killing me. Hopefully I’ll get over it soon enough. Sorry for not blogging yesterday. I was lacking inspiration, I guess. Wasn’t even a busy day or anything!

Anyway, this past weekend was a blast. Friday night, Misty and Jenn and I had dinner at Los Lupes. Had some most excellent tamales. 🙂 On Saturday, Jenn took her bridesmaids to Ocone’s to look at dresses. They found the one they liked best, so they’re on order and will be delivered in February! Afterwards, Jenn and I took Angela to Crystal’s Pizza in Irving, because her sister organized a surprise birthday party for her. It was fun, their pizza is REALLY good! The restaurant itself was interesting, though. I felt like I was on the set of a Ghostbusters movie or something. Just, like, oddly creepy, but not in a bad way. Regardless, we still had a great time!

That night, Jenn, Misty, and Samantha had a girls night while I stayed with my brothers. Mom and Dad were out of town for their anniversary, so I hung around to keep an eye on Mark. Allen came over, and we watched Snatch and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. Snatch was hilarious as always, but we hadn’t seen Public Enemies yet. It was a sweet little flick. Probably my favorite out of these new animated movies DC has been putting out lately. The animation style matches exactly with the drawing style used in the comic it was based on. And it was sweet to hear Tim Daly as Superman again, along with Kevin Conroy as Batman. Cool stuff.

Sunday, we took Allen to Genghis Grill for lunch. Allen’s getting ready to go to South America for his big solo adventure for three months, so we wanted to take him out one last time before he goes and gets lost in the Amazon. After lunch, we went down to Joshua to see his parents. It was the first time Jenn and Misty had met them, so that was pretty cool. We stayed until somewhat late in the evening, playing with the goats and watching the Cowboys game. Definitely one of the more relaxing Sundays we’ve had lately! I hated that we had to go home and get ready for the work week. That’s never fun.

Ugh, this headache is making me over-sensitive to noise. The kids yapping in here are driving me nuts, and I have to keep reminding myself that they really are being relatively quiet and good, it’s just me being too sensitive. Wish I had a soundproof room right now. Hah! Hopefully this headache will be gone soon, once the effects of caffeine withdrawal diminish. I’m back on the diet as of yesterday, too, so talk about quitting cold turkey. Think I’m getting the shakes. LOL

Guess that’s it for now. Hopefully I’ll get the pictures from this weekend online tonight, so keep an eye out for those on my Flickr. Have a good one, friend.

All quiet on the… laboratorial front….

No classes in either lab this afternoon. It’s exquisitely quiet here right now. Just how I wanted to end my week.

We celebrated Jenn’s birthday last night with her mom. Her dad was off on a fishing trip, so he couldn’t make it. But it was cool, we still had a lot of fun. Went to Olive Garden for dinner and got nice and stuffed there. Then we went back to Jenn’s for some cake. Little did I know that this was not just a cake… it was a Cheesecake Factory red velvet cake cheesecake. O. M. G. Let me tell you, friend, thanks to the night we first tried it at the CF for her mom’s bday, this is seriously my new favorite cheesecake.

It’s a layer of red velvet cake, a layer of cheesecake, another layer of red velvet, another layer of cheesecake, cream cheese frosting, and white chocolate shavings along the edge. WOWEE WOW WOW. Not only that, but Jenn’s mom got some Blue Bell Southern Hospitality ice cream to go with it. That sucker’s loaded. It’s vanilla ice cream with cherries, pineapple, pecans, and a strawberry swirl. Talk about a deadly combination with the cheesecake, huh? Needless to say, I was amazingly stuffed when it was all said and done. Good times, good times.

Oh, and for her birthday, Jenn’s mom got her all three boxes of our new dishes that we registered for at Bed, Bath, and Beyond! They look REALLY slick…

Jenn was SO cute when she opened the wrapped boxes. She was all giggly and excited, it was greatness.

So tonight, we’re gonna eat somewhere cheap, then go to the Highlands to look at furniture. Tomorrow, Jenn and her bridesmaids are all going to Ocone’s to pick out the bridesmaids’ dresses. While they’re doing that, I will be taking a nap, and it will be awesome. Dunno what we’re doing after that, though. At one point, we were talking about going to Crystal’s Pizza with Angela and James and the girls, but I’m not sure if that’s happening still. Guess we’ll just play it by ear. I’m just glad we’ll get to hang out with them regardless. 🙂

Guess that’s all I got for now. Have a great weekend, friend!

Dadgummit.

Sorry the blogging’s been all but nonexistent the past couple days. Between school and work, I’ve been having a hard time shifting gears enough to do this. Had a major paper due in Archaeology yesterday, plus an exam in Criminal Justice. So that was a little nuts! But, it’s all over now, so I’ve got at least a couple days of respite before it gets wacky again.

So Friday night, I surprised Jenn for an early birthday treat. I had Misty tell us that she wanted to go to Chuy’s for dinner with us after we finished registering at Home Depot. When we got there, Misty walked us back to where she had already got us a table. What Jenn didn’t realize was that there were a whole bunch of people waiting for us there. 🙂 My dad, Brad, her parents, her aunt and uncle, and several of our friends were all sitting there… and she walked right by them! Only when Kevin jumped out from behind a wall and surprised her did she realize what was going on. We got her good! LOL So that was a lot of fun. She totally had no idea, which was awesome. Tomorrow night is her real birthday, so we’re going to spend some time with her family to celebrate it.

Let’s see, what else has happened?… Oh yeah, Halloween was Saturday! That was a hoot. I volunteered my car to participate in our church’s Trunk or Treat party for the kiddos. I couldn’t believe I was the only one who decorated my car like this:

And the icing on the cake, of course, was Scottie volunteering to be eaten:

After we finished up there, we went to my family’s house for a little Halloween party. Nothing fancy, just hanging out and heating hot dawgs ‘n s’mores from the fire pit. The motley crew for the night:

So, fun little turnout there. 🙂

Sunday was our new music minister’s first day on the job. That was an absolute blast. Plus, even though we couldn’t have service out on the new property (dang mud), our pastor brought in a tub of dirt from the property and blessed it. It was very cool, and the service as a whole was SO much fun. We also raised nearly $200,000 in one-day offerings as part of the “first fruits” offering to go towards the development of the new church. I’m pretty sure that was the largest one-day offering in the history of the church. Very awesome.

That’s about all I got for now. Peace out, homeys.

Relief.

Well, thank God that’s over with. The Archaeology test I’ve been sweating over has been vanquished. I think I did a pretty darn good job on it, so hopefully the good doctor will see it the same way.

Big weekend ahead! Jenn and I are going to register at Home Depot, which will be our last one on the list. After that, we’re gonna go eat with Misty and then take a look at some furniture at the furniture store over in the Highlands. What is it, Ethan Allen? The one by PF Chang’s, whatever it is. Anyway, tomorrow is All Hallow’s Eve. Along with the el cheapo masquerade we’re gonna enjoy with the fam and some friends tomorrow night, I’ve volunteered my car as part of the church’s Trunk or Treat party tomorrow afternoon. If you’ve never heard of this, basically church members line up their cars in the parking lot, decorate ’em all spiffy, and the kids go around trickrtreatin’ for candy from the trunks. It’s meant to be a super-safe way for the kiddos to enjoy Halloween without worrying about evil folks out there in the world. Should be a lot of fun. I heard through the grapevine that everyone’s doing a fall/harvest theme with their vehicles. I’m like, UM WUT!? I’m so turning the trunk of my car into a monster mouth. Rawr! Happy Halloween!

Have I mentioned lately that I have TOYS FOR SALE?

Post Thumbnail? Huh.

So Saturday is Halloween. We’re doin’ a little summin-summin at my family’s house that night. But, I’m having a hard time getting into it. I mean, I know I’m gonna have fun with my family and friends there. We’ll have hot dogs and sodey pops and goodies, and we’ll have a good ol’ time. But since I’m pretty dang broke right now (hence the title, heh), I’m not spending any money on a costume this year. We’re just going to have a masquerade of sorts, and I’m going to try and find something to use that I already own.

I don’t know if my lack of excitement is entirely because of a lack of funds or not, but don’t you hate when that’s the case? Don’t you hate when, whether you like it or not, your happiness ends up being related to the amount of money you have? I HATE that. I think it’s completely absurd. I hate that whenever the money dwindles down, there’s a direct correlation to how depressed I get. And no matter how much I sit here and thank God for all the blessings I already have– Jenn, a healthy(ish) life, the ability to pay my bills– I still kill my own buzz by subconsciously thinking “Well, this would be a whole lot better if I had some cash.” LAME, Collin.

But what can you do? We’re so flippin’ brainwashed into thinking this way. There’s just no escaping it, short of almost completely withdrawing from society in general. All I can do is continue to pray and thank the Good Lord for everything I do have in my life, and hopefully that will win out in my brain eventually.

But right now, right this very moment, when I have something I really want to get excited about and spend money on… well, this round is a losing battle.

Friday! You’ve come back to me!

How’s the fam?

Not much to say today. Had a whole lot of fun at Bible Study last night. Seems like we leave later every time, which I think is awesome. Tonight we’re going to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Jenn’s mom’s birthday, so that will be marvelous. I’ve already been thinking about what flavor of cheesecake I’m going to get. Haha! Have a good weekend, friends.