A New Guilty Pleasure

So, I have had a rough few days...a lot going on, a lot of emotionally draining stuff. I figured chocolate was in order. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted...and then I saw them. Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms. I happen to LOVE peanut m&ms, and I thought heaven had come to earth when I found dark chocolate m&ms. So the 2 together?!?! It was just too good to be true. And then I tasted them...OMG. I would like to kiss many times the person who came up with this genius idea. I am an official convert and will never go back to plain peanut or plain dark chocolate again. They absolutely must be together. They were meant for each other. Pair a bag of Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms with a Dr Pepper...the perfect combination for a new guilty pleasure.

 

 

And just for fun, here are a few quotes about chocolate. Enjoy!

 

"I could give up chocolate, but I'm not a quitter."

 

"Among life's mysteries is how a two pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain five pounds."

 

"Stress wouldn't be so hard to take if it were chocolate covered."

 

"Chocolate is nature's way of making up for Mondays."

 

"Chocolate is cheaper than therapy and you don't need an appointment."

 

"There's more to life than chocolate, but not right now."

 

"Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies."

 

"There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE."

 

"I have this theory that chocolate slows down the aging process...It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?"

 

"If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated."

Baylor Homecoming!

"Will you not, as a loyal student of dear old Baylor, lay aside for a few days the usual cares of life, come back to your alma mater, renew former associations and friendships, and catch that Baylor spirit again?"

- Samuel Palmer Brooks, 1909

This weekend was Baylor Homecoming! I wasn't able to make it last year, but things worked out for me to head down for a portion of the weekend festivities. And I am so glad I went! It was so great to be back on campus. It made me miss Baylor so much! It was great to walk on campus, see old friends, and just reflect on my time at Baylor. I feel so blessed to have spent my college years at such an amazing school. And I feel even more blessed to be a part of such a rich history and longstanding legacy. I loved being a student, and I love being an alumn!

Homecoming is, to say the least, a big deal at Baylor. We have the largest homecoming parade in the nation, and the city of Waco is overrun by alumni and students for an entire weekend. It's fun to see the alumni on campus, hear the stories of the sweet elderly couples who met at Baylor 50 years ago, learn how Baylor has changed over the years.

Laura and I were only able to make it down for the Saturday festivities, so we were going to make the most of our time in Waco! We headed out early Saturday morning so we could make it to the parade. We were there early enough to claim our front-row seats and even spend some time visiting the bears and shopping in the bookstore. We were able to catch up with Nicki and Mathis at the parade. It was so great to be back with friends! It has been hard to have her in a different city, so it was great to see them and catch up. I was able to see a number of the girls who lived on my hall when I was a Community Leader...I can't believe that they are seniors! The floats were great and I loved seeing that the bears were still a part of the parade! Who else can say that they have live mascots (that aren't normal household pets) who walk in their parade and attend their football games? The bears even know how to do a sic 'em! I love Baylor :)

After the parade, we headed over to Bush's for sweet tea and rolls (a Waco favorite!) Then we headed back to campus to walk around and see what all had changed. We stopped off at Dr Pepper Hour for a famous Dr Pepper float! Laura had never actually been to a Dr Pepper hour, which I could hardly believe, because it was a frequent break for me on Tuesday afternoons between classes. While we walked around campus, we ran into Courtney from BSF! It was fun to see her and reminisce together about our Baylor days. And of course, we had to take a walk down Founder's Mall and take a few pictures with good ol' Judge Baylor.

We had lunch with Nicki's family before heading over to the game! I don't know what happened, but somehow I bought us tickets right in the midst of the Mizzou fans. To say the least, it was an interesting experience. Gotta love being the only Baylor fan yelling for the bears in your section. Haha. Oh well. After we were sufficiently appalled by the Mizzou fans and burnt on our left side from sitting directly in the sun, we were able to join Nicki on the other side of the stadium. Baylor put up a good fight, staying tied to Mizzou until the last 2 minutes of the game, only losing by a field goal. The bears have come a long way, and even though we lost, it was such a good game! Before heading out of town, we stopped at Katie's to enjoy another Waco favorite. It was a really great day and I loved being back for homecoming. And I definitely caught the Baylor spirit again :)

A Battle of Epic Proportions

Today was such a beautiful day outside! The weather was perfect, so I decided to open up my windows to let the sunshine and cool breeze in. I opened up the back door to my patio so Sasha could enjoy the nice day too. I was enjoying the day, studying a little bit of Exodus, basically minding my own business. I was unaware of the battle that was brewing...[enter Jaws theme music for dramatic effect]

Sasha had already come inside and was taking a nap at my feet, when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the first one. A wasp flew into my living room and started buzzing around. Of course, Sasha was up and on the prowl. While I was keeping an eye on where it was heading (and making sure Sasha wasn't getting stung), I started willing it to fly back outside, figuring it would eventually. And then I noticed the next one. Another wasp had flown into my living room. Now I had a situation on my hands. For those of you who don't know me, I confess I have a terrible fear of pretty much any and all insects. Large flying insects with stingers are at the top of the list. Sasha was going crazy because now she had 2 flying toys to play with! It offered a little more of a challenge for her since they weren't exactly flying in unison. And my heart started beating a little bit faster as I honestly just started praying that God would suck them back outside.

I was trying to get Sasha to leave them alone (because the last thing I needed was for her to eat one, get stung, and have some awful allergic reaction), when all of a sudden my heart stopped. I now had 3 wasps flying around my apartment. They were on the attack! I grabbed the nearest blanket to offer some sort of shield for myself, grabbed Sasha by the collar and ran to the bedroom. (And just so you know...the situation was far from funny at the time. Remember- major fear of large flying insects with stingers...now multiplied by 3). While I was hiding in my bedroom, I realized that my back door was still open. For anyone else who wouldn't have been so bothered by this situation, the wasps probably would have made their way back to the outside world and gone about their merry way. Not so in Erin-world. I peeked my head out of the bedroom door just to make sure...and you guessed it. There were now 4. I slammed the door and decided I needed to get a grip before the entire wasp population took up residence in my apartment. And so the battle began...

The first obstacle I had to overcome was the fact that I had to make it across the apartment to the kitchen, where the wasp/hornet spray resided. I grabbed my blanket/shield and ran for my life. All the time by brain is thinking a million things at once. I can't believe I have 4 wasps flying in my apartment. I really hope I am not allergic. Oh my gosh, I really hope I don't get stung. The odds don't seem to be in my favor. I really hope I have wasp/hornet spray. Remember when we had that invasion of killer bees? I wonder if killer wasps exist...Those are wasps right? Maybe the ant/roach spray will work. They're all toxic to bugs right? I can't believe I am doing this. I really wish I had a boy right now. Will I ever grow out of this fear? If people could see me now, oh my gosh. If people could know what is running through my mind, they would think I am nuts. I am officially crazy. Ok. Seriously. Suck it up. Spray the wasps. If I spray one, will the others attack? What if they don't die right away? Please just fly outside so I don't have to do this. I really feel like a sissy girl right now. I really just want to run out of the door and never come back. The wasps can have the apartment. I wasn't really attached to it anyway. Am I screaming? Ok. Seriously for real this time. I can do this. I can't do this. Grow up. Just spray the darn things.

The battle waged until there were 4 casualties, the back door was secure, and my heart stopped racing. I have to say that I happen to have excellent aim! And I highly recommend Raid Wasp and Hornet Killer Spray. It sprays up to 22 feet (which is probably the only thing that gave me courage to face the vicious beasts...the fact that I could attack from a distance), and it only takes one hit to make those suckers drop to their death. I won the battle. And lived to tell the tale...

3-day Weekend!

For the first time in a long time, I took a day off of work...just because! Crazy, I know. My parents were traveling into town, but I decided to go ahead and take the full day on Friday. So when I got off of work on Thursday, I felt like I was back in school and I had the sudden urge to burst through the office doors and run to the outside screaming "yippee!" Because I am an adult now and am told maturity is the ideal option, I refrained from this outburst, but still couldn't help but smile as I walked into my 3-day weekend!

I started the weekend off right by heading over to Laura's for dinner and The Office. For those of you who don't know, I am what you would call a "fan" of the show, so there is absolutely no better way to start off any weekend :) Friday morning, while the rest of the world was heading off to their last workday of the week, I was sleeping in. (I am sure that most of you are not interested in these details, but just let me enjoy every moment of this 3-day weekend...they don't happen often. Haha). At least, I "slept in" as late as Sasha did. Which translates to- I didn't wake up to my alarm, but to Sasha alarm (which is about a 20 minute difference). But I'll take it. I took Sasha for a run, I went to vote (don't forget that early voting ends this week!), went grocery shopping, finished laundry and cleaning, worked on my Bible study lesson, then took a nap while I waited for my parents to arrive.

Friday night we met my brother for dinner and a movie. Saturday we played the part of tourists, rode the DART downtown, then walked to the Dallas Museum of Art for the King Tut: Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit! We are pretty big nerds and have been anticipating this exhibit for awhile now. We were able to see some really awesome pieces from the artifacts recovered from King Tut's tomb. Since we are studying Moses at BSF, it was really cool to learn more about the culture of Egypt- it's history, religion, and age of the pharaohs. It was awesome to be able to relate what we saw in the exhibit to what we have been studying in God's Word! It really made the pages of the Bible come alive...and the mystery-lover in me enjoyed digging into the details of the ultimate cold case... [the mysterious and still unsolved death of the boy king]

We spent a lot of time in the exhibit, examining each artifact and reading all of the museum plaques. Some of the pieces had never left Egypt before now. At the end, we were a little disappointed that we didn't get to see King Tut's sarcophogus...guess I'll have to save that for my trip to Cairo ;) But overall, it was really awesome! The photographer in me was really disappointed because I wasn't able to take any photos of the exhibit. So I had to limit the pictures to outside the museum. Here are a few from the day:

The one and only picture I was able to take at the exhibit. The door to the galleries. Oh well.

Such a fine looking family...haha.

We are related. Good times.

We just couldn't resist. And as my brother said, "when in Rome...or in this case, Egypt..."

The rest of the weekend, we just hung out and ate good food. It was so great to have mom and dad here. With things being crazy the last few months, a mom and dad hug was just what the doctor ordered. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family!

Currently Listening: Go Down Moses, by Chicago a cappella

State Fair of Texas!

Laura and I have continued on our fall adventures and today brought us to the State Fair of Texas. I had never been before, so it was a fun new experience! Here are some pictures from the day...

We started our day by test driving Chevys! It was free, so I couldn't resist. Especially when they told me I could test drive a truck on an off-road track. Heck yes! Off-roading in a Chevy?!?! Sign me up! What can I say? I'm a truck kind of girl.

We spent the day walking the fair grounds. The weather was absolutely beautiful and was perfect for a day at the fair! We saw all kinds of things...the auto show, show goats, Big Tex, the DAR museum, the bag pipe playing marines, senior citizen sqare dancers, teeth whitening (no joke!), Dancing with the Dogs show, and the pee wee stampede. There were tons of rides...but we decided a) we wanted to spend our money on food instead and b) we didn't want to be sick. We did, however, ride the Texas Star Ferris Wheel. It was definitely worth the 12 tickets! We had an awesome view of downtown Dallas and the breeze felt amazing! And it was fun to see the fair grounds from 23 stories up!

And the best part of the fair...the food! I started my marathon of junk food with a hot dog. I needed to have a base food so that my stomach could handle the rest of the junk food. Haha. For those who don't know, the State Fair of Texas is famous for its fried foods...of every kind. Fried bananas, fried s'mores, fried ice cream, fried snickers, fried oreos, fried truffles, chicken fried bacon, fried jelly beans, fried cheescake, fried pb&j's, fried grilled cheese, fried cheese on a stick, fried cookie dough, fried marshmellows, fried apple pie, fried banana split, fried green beans, fried honey buns, fried everything. With so many choices, it was a difficult decision on which ones to try. Laura and I decided on the fried cheesecake and the fried oreos. Definitely the right decision!

And I couldn't leave the fair without a funnel cake and a turkey leg. But don't worry. I took the turkey leg home for dinner tomorrow night. Despite the onslaught of junk food, my tummy is miraculously not upset with me. It's all about timing. Pace yourself and you'll be go :) All in all, it was an amzing day! I am now a huge fan of the State Fair!

Currently Listening: What Life Would Be Like, by Big Daddy Weave