Craft Night

The girls and I got together about a month ago, to make some pretty wreaths. I, of course, had to document the night with my camera... Not sure I could live without my camera (much to my husband's dismay). :-)

Here are some pictures of Tori and Sarah working hard! This took us about 4 hours to do (maybe more). Lots of work, but definitely worth it!


Sweet little Roxie. So precious. She just loves to be loved. And that Halloween shirt is darlin'!

Tulle, tulle, EVERYWHERE!

This was our inspiration! Tori and Jessica Coleman-Crye had made these a few weeks back. It turned out so cute, Sarah and I insisted on making us one. She had a couple of different tulle colors than we did so you can see how hers is just a little richer than ours. (Compare below)

Tori's Christmas wreath... Turned out really cute. She wanted to try something a little "different" than mixing all the colors together. I like it!

This one is mine. :-) It is hanging in my house right now. I'm sure I will use it for many fall seasons to come.

This one is Sarah's... She had a much bigger styrofoam form so it took her a little longer than it took us. But it sure was pretty!

Our finished products. I look terrible in this picture, as it was very late at this point... and I had walked a half marathon that day. So I think that gives me an excuse. ;-)

Aren't they pretty? They are even more beautiful in person. I made it originally for my secret pal but then got all selfish and decided to keep it for myself. I know, I know. To redeem myself, I made a big Christmas one and gave it to my friend Megan. She now has it hanging in her home in NWA.


I plan on making me a Christmas one like this before the end of the season... if I ever have time. This next Saturday is my last free day for quite a while. Until after Christmas. *Sigh* I'm tired just thinking about it. :-)

To Buy:

• Round Styrofoam Form
• 2 yards of 4 different colored tulle (2 yards of each color)
• Ribbon

(Total Cost can be $7-$15. If you plan adequately, you can purchase items around the Hobby Lobby sales to get your items half off)

How to Make:

• Take the 2 yards of each color and fold the tulle (as you would folding bed sheets) until you have a 12x12 square.
• Cut the tulle into 1 (or 1 1/2) inch by 12 inch strips
• Cut the ribbon purchased into 12 inch strips
• Take one strip of tulle from each color and tie the ribbon around the wreath into a double knot. (Each knot should have 4 pieces of tulle in it, one of each color)
• Repeat this step over and over again until you have covered the entire wreath form
• Place the strips of ribbon sporadically throughout the wreath

After the form is covered, add to places that need more "fullness." Keep in mind, that imperfection is key. :-) And really, it is almost impossible to mess it up!

Lost in Memphis

To fully understand our "wild goose chase" experience, please read my parking decks post first. Then come back and read this post. :-)

After we finally found our misplaced vehicles in the parking deck, our ladies began to load up into the church van which holds at its maximum 15 adults. Really, if you want any sort of comfort at all... it holds 14. We, however, did not have that luxury on our journey back to our hotel. At final count... TWENTY women piled into that van. Seats were divided in half, laps became viable options, and suddenly the front passenger bucket seat became a home for two. Our caravan also contained Toya Aultman whose vehicle grew in size and suddenly her 7 passenger van was seating 11.

We were both bustling at the seams and assured our ladies that their discomfort would only be temporary. Before we knew it we would be arriving at the hotel... only a mere five miles, I assured them.

In the chaos and confusion of trying to find the evasive parking spot, I somehow didn't register the fact that I didn't know my way from the Fed Ex Forum to the hotel. You would have thought that my mind would have realized... "hey, you might need to figure out how to get out of here" but it did not. (I am blaming Beth Moore for my lack of brain cells that evening. She prayed for a wild goose chase, and I think her prayer cascaded unto us. Didn't her momma teach her to never pray for patience? Well ladies, I am telling you... never pray for an example of a wild goose chase. Cause He will show you! ha!)

Luckily, I was able to wave down Toya who was in front of us before we got out of the parking deck. She and her handy dandy iPhone GPS application would get us back to the hotel. No worries, she assured us.

All started well at first. We had to go this way and that to get out of the traffic around the Forum. Police barricades to help traffic flow really only allowed one exit path. We finally make our way to a main road in which we could turn right or left.

Right would have taken us to the interstate.

We turned left.

And then, we turned left again. And again. And again. It didn't take long for us to quickly realize that we were circling downtown Memphis. I think my biggest clue that we were lost came after we entered a run-down neighborhood and my first instinctual thought was "we could get shot." I didn't actually voice that opinion. I don't think.

I am feeling, at this moment, a little stressed. Which may, quite frankly, be the understatement of the year. After all, I am only 24 and am in charge of the 20 ladies in this van, all of whom are older than me take one, and driving a vehicle that is lost in downtown Memphis. I can laugh at this moment now, but honest to goodness, I thought to myself, "are these ladies crazy?! Why in the world did they put me in charge of their lives! I'm going to get them shot!" Honest to goodness, I had that exact conversation in my head as I am turning street after street.

Soon our ten minute drive becomes a twenty minute drive which then becomes a thirty minute drive.

FORTY-FIVE minutes later, we finally manage our way to what seems like a well lit street. Still not safe enough for us to get out and ask directions but it held potential. What I would realize the next day is that this street was the exact street that we had veered left on at the start of our journey.

This time, we turned right.

Honest to goodness, a mile down the road we saw that beautiful vision otherwise referred to as the on-ramp. Oh Blessed Be the Name!

Five minutes later we finally pulled into our hotel parking lot. After I pried my fingers off of the death grip I had held on the steering wheel for the last 45 minutes, I made my way into the hotel lobby where all of our other ladies were waiting for us. I may have just imagined this, but it felt like applause broke out upon our arrival. But maybe I just imagined that. :-)

Turns out, Toya's GPS was really acting very strange. The guidance dot would show that we were on the right street for one second and then the next it would jump over a street. Which is why we made so many turns, as the GPS kept showing that we were on the wrong streets. That is the last time I put so much faith into a phone GPS. Geez Louise.

Here is a view of some of the ladies in our van. This was actually after we had been going for a while. See those smiles.... that is why I love them. Cause trust me, at this point, they were not in the mood to smile. hahaaa


For the ones that were apart of the church van & Toya's van... I sincerely thank you for not letting the situation get the best of you. What an encouragement to me you were... even amongst the uncomfortableness, fatigue, frustration, and stress.

All of these ladies are captured in the below photos... as well as the select few from the bus that stayed up to wait on our arrival. Of course, some of them didn't have a choice. Their roommates were stuck on one of our vehicles and they didn't have a room key. ;-)

Again, I want to stress that our ladies were wonderful. Such troopers! It was difficult getting them to pose for this picture... but bless their hearts. They finally gave in. It's a little blurry, but we had 46 ladies journey with us to Memphis. Each one of them holding a special place in my heart. What an honor it is to serve with them.

Let's Play A Game

Today, I exhort you to play a game with me.

Can you tell me the difference between these two pictures?



Bah hum bug. Raise your hand if you could tell the difference right off the bat?

I can't tell you how many times I looked at that stupid poster, both prior to printing and after printing. It was only after several of our church members pointed it out to some of our staff on Sunday (who then with a little too much pleasure, might I add, pointed it out to me) did I ever see the error.

Geez louise.

Although, I do have to tell a funny story on Mitzi (our other secretary). We have a Food Pantry that we offer to the public once a week. Well, we have a sign that we put on our front door that lists the hours. When she first made the sign, it said "Food Panty" hours.

The sign was up for weeks before anyone noticed.

Monday Madness

**Thank you Cari! I am using your suggestion... my Monday posts will now be called "Monday Madness" :-)

Pranks around here are like tornados in the night. You can't see them coming until they are upon you. And usually, all is still until right before it hits.

I was sitting at my desk, working on entering Sunday's attendance when I see David walk up out of the corner of my eye. Not really paying much attention to him, I was quite surprised to look up and see this...

This scanner sits at the corner of my desk. It is mostly unused, but I have found on occasion that it is convenient to have. I think you can rest assured, it has never been used in this manner. Until now.

This oh so lovely portrait popped up on my computer screen a few seconds later.

You can see the man's nose hairs. Is that not too funny?

After laughing for an appropriate amount of time, I then printed the picture out for David to use. Immediately he went into Shawn's office and replaced one of Shawn's pictures with his own self portrait.

Which of these do not belong?

This is the view Shawn had when he sat down in his chair. I honestly figured that it would take him a while to notice, but it didn't. Almost immediately upon his return you could hear Shawn start to chuckle. I can't imagine why.

Shawn took down the picture and placed it on Mitzi's desk for awhile so that others could behold the majesty. It eventually ended back in David's office.... but I have a feeling that one day the picture will make a comeback.

Like a tornado in the night. You don't see it coming.

Monday Shenanigans

So much happens around my workplace that I have decided to dedicate a day per week on my blog to chronicle them all. Monday seemed the most fitting since A) a lot of the pranks occur on Mondays since all the staff are in the same place for Monday morning staff meeting and B) who doesn't like to start off their work week with a laugh? So Monday it is!

As of this moment, I have enough material for six months worth of Mondays but of course these guys never disappoint and provide me with even more every week.

A couple of weeks ago, on an innocent Tuesday morning, I came into the office and sat down at my office chair. I was probably here for five minutes or so before I looked anywhere but my computer screen. Eventually, I looked up and behold, what did I see? Two scary masks looking at me!


Shawn (our youth director) had purchased six masks several months ago for a skit he did with the youth. It was a phenomenal skit done with black lights to the "Champion" song. He spray painted three white to represent angels and three black to represent demons. The masks have since then been laying on his desk...

Which in this office, anything left laying out is fair game.

To understand the mastermind of David (our music minister), you must first understand that inspiration finds him anywhere. All he simply has to do is look around. He can pull pranks with trash, car keys, papers, musical instruments, phones, a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. So in my mind, I can easily picture David perusing Shawn's office trying to find something to do and behold... six masks lay before him.

It just so happened that these two were staring towards my desk. At me (gulp). They are a little creepy, are they not?

Two more were situated towards Shawn's desk and two more were hidden throughout the office. Can you find one of them?

I didn't notice this mask right off the bat... but within a few minutes I felt it's stare.

As of the middle of last week, Shawn still had not noticed it's presence on his shelves. He finally noticed it Wednesday, but I am pretty sure it was only after someone asked him why it was there.

Men. Being observant isn't one of their strong suits.

Needless to say, these masks have been used in several pranks since then. One day Shawn came in and opened his blinds only to find one of the masks staring at him from the window. David had stuck the mask in between the blinds and the window... ha!

More "war" stories to come! Stay tuned. :-)

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

What should I call my Monday posts each week? Today I titled it "Monday Shenanigans" but I'm not in love with the name. Any suggestions?? We could take a fun little poll!

Parking Decks

During our Beth Moore trip to Memphis, I was in charge of driving the van. (Refer back to this post to see my first experience driving a church vehicle). Being in charge of driving the van meant being the one who parked the van once we arrived at the FedEx Forum. Thankfully my pal Robin Berg, kept me company while I would go and park in the Peabody Parking Deck a couple blocks from the Forum.

On Friday night, Toya Aultman (and her parking buddy, Mary Ellen McBurnett) and me & Robin parked without incident in the parking deck and quickly made our way to the conference.

The one thing that we did fail to do was look to see what parking deck we were on...

*I know, I picture men rolling their eyes at that statement, but ladies you know what it is like to not remember where you parked! Of course, typically you aren't in charge of 40 other sets of eyes who all become witnesses to your loss of memory. Oh the stories that this trip provided me.

Naturally, the moment that we realized that we didn't know what parking deck we were on came after we crammed an elevator full of women and went to press the deck number...

"Which number do I push?"
"Umm... you know, I don't know."
"I don't know either."
"I can't believe none of us looked to see what parking deck we were on."
"Well, we went up for a little bit, try #3."

So off we went to try deck number three. A quick glance and we realize, nope, not this one... Hmmm...

Keep in mind, only a third of our ladies were able to cram into the first elevator. The rest are still on the first floor, waiting to meet us on deck three. So half stay behind to tell the other ladies to go up another floor, while the rest of us stay in the elevator and ride up to number four.

Elevator doors open... hmmm... not deck number four? What, not the fourth deck?? Where in the world were we? We drove up for a little bit, but surely not five floors!

Well now our group is scattered amongst three decks, and again another half of our crew rode up to the fifth deck while the rest decided to hoof it. Once we arrive at the fifth floor we again realize this is not only not our deck, but apparently nobody in Memphis parks on the fifth deck. It was as empty as a ghost town.

Embarrassed sufficiently at this point, the remainder of us get back onto the elevator and realize that the only floor we haven't pushed is the second. Oh that blessed second floor.

Behold the elevator doors open... and there we are. That beautiful Antioch Church Van and Toya's black minivan stood before us. Oh how magnificent a sight were thee.

The only thing that remained was rounding up the 40 women who were scattered across five different parking decks in the Memphis Peabody Hotel. Oh goodness gracious. Have I mentioned the emabarrassment part? Cause I was quite embarrassed. If only this had been the end of our "wild goose chase." Oh no... more adventure awaited us before we slept in our beds that night.

Some of my elevator buddies (minus Jessie Morgan who stubbornly refused to be in the picture).

Julie Turner, Robin Berg, Jennifer Harrell, and Molly Bowman.

This next picture was taken from the oh so delightful Jessie Morgan. Who at the time that she posted this on Facebook I wanted to kill. The only reason I post it here is because it is an oh so delightful view.... of the van in the lost parking spot in the parking deck. Not because it is a great view of my backside.

*To clarify, the entire contents of my purse had toppled out into the floor of the van. My feeble brain thought it would be easier to do this than to climb all the way to the back seat of the van to scoop up my belongings. Of course, looking at this picture makes me second guess that. haha

More to come... we had quite another experience on our "5 mile journey" to our hotel from the Forum. Have I mentioned that this weekend provided me with a storehouse of memories? ;-)

Office Pranks

For those of you who may or may not know, I am one of two secretaries at Antioch Baptist Church.... home of the biggest pranksters known to man. I rarely go a single day where I am not in stitches laughing over something that one of the guys has pulled. In my year here, I could easily write a novel over all the different pranks pulled on one another. Of course, I happen to find them all hilarious so it is quite enjoyable entertainment.

My desk is kind of in the midst of all the commotion so I get a front row seat to most of the action. Especially since two of the biggest prankster's offices are directly in front of me. Both of whom happen to have a "pranking" war going on... Our music director versus our youth pastor. Occasionally our senior pastor gets involved either in the pranking or in the being pranked. He however always gets payback after being pranked... so you see how this is quite possibly a never ending war.

Last week, our music man (David) saw Shawn (our youth pastor) coming into the office and went out into our Atrium and hid underneath a table (that had a long table skirt covering it) waiting for Shawn to come in the front door. As soon as Shawn came through the door, David jumps out from under the table and scared the ever living daylights out of Shawn. Well, this of course was coming on the heels of them jumping out of the bushes to scare each other, banging on their office windows when you least expect it, and also the hiding under someones desk ploy.

Every once in a while, innocent bystanders become casualties of war however. Such was the case this a.m.

I arrived at work about 8:15, with only our youth pastor's truck in the parking lot. I came in and he (Shawn) was no where to be found, but his office door was closed. As with most mornings, that usually means he is doing his devotional, so I didn't think much about it. Around 8:30, the next staff man to arrive is our music director (David). He walks in and goes to his office door all the while asking me "where Shawn is?" I told him that I hadn't seen him yet that morning, but I figured he was doing his devotional in his office.

David proceeds to say to me, "I bet he is hiding in my office." I look at him like he is a paranoid man, tell him that I doubt it, and he goes to unlock his door. Well he flips on his light and skeptically looks around the room and begins to walk in after he doesn't see him. Well about half a step into his office and out leaps Shawn from under our "Voice of the Martyr's" banner that David had draped over a chair in his office.

I, having the best view of David's reaction, laughed hysterically as I watch him jump and stagger backwards. All the while I am replaying the conversation in my mind that David and I just had about the fact that he figured Shawn was in his office, and yet still he jumped a foot into the air!

Well, immediately one of them says (and for the sake of their own lives, I will keep annonymous which one suggested this) "we need to get Lynn when she comes in." So sure enough, Lynn (our children's director) comes in the office about 10 minutes later and David calls her into his office to "ask her something." After being in his office for about 30 seconds, out jumps Shawn and she screams her head off. Then Jason (our senior pastor) comes in... and well they got him too although he would never admit to it. On down the line they went... Joey (college director) next, then Randy (singles/senior adult director), and finally Jerene (David's assistant). Oh poor Jerene. She had the best reaction. She not only screamed, she did a little jig to go along with the scream. So funny.

I would laugh in anticipation of the next person being scared, crack up at each reaction, and then laugh and laugh and laugh remembering each reaction to the scare. So so funny. Laughter is good for the soul, and I got a good heap of it this morning.

Here is the chair and banner that Shawn hid under. Not a single person suspected him to be under it.


Crazy bunch of goons.

Remind me sometime to tell the stories of the Pheasant Feet, Apple Core, Gong, Dead Fish, Big Dog, and Snake. Those are probably some of my favorite pranks... of course, those are only scratching the surface of the daily shenanigans of the Antioch Baptist Church staff.