SNOW.....and ice...

We had our first snow of 2010 this past weekend in Raleigh. It started snowing Friday night around seven and continued into Saturday morning. I love snow and typically get very excited about the white fluff that falls from the sky, but this snow was different. It wasn't so much snow as it was ice and I mean LOTS of ice and the ice didn't do much for my weekend. You see, my birthday was Sunday and my parents were supposed to come up Saturday to take me to dinner, but that didn't happen. Thank you snow/ice.

Aside from that, it was a pretty good birthday weekend. I did get to see snow on my birthday, which was pretty awesome. Saturday night, Colleen and Tiffany (two of my Bible Study girls) stayed the night, which is always fun to hang out with my girls. Sunday, for lunch my amazing roommate, Emily, fixed cowboy stew for everyone. She also fixed me a pound cake, which was delish! Here are some pics I grabbed of my roommate Avis Sunday afternoon!

I took this in the living room before heading out.
I thought it was pretty. Avis...not so much.

We ventured over to a nearby building that had these awesome doors.
Thought it made an interesting look.

Another at the building.

I was pretty proud of myself with the light in this picture.

Another pic of the lamp post.

And yet another one. Which is your favorite? Feel free to comment!

I hope you enjoyed being snowed in this past weekend! Have a wonderful week!

Why Yes, I am a SENIOR!

Fall Semester came and went and it happened rather quickly and I am already in the midst of Spring Semester, or should I say my last semester of college. I guess you could say, we started the semester off right by having our annual Campout for NCSU/Carolina basketball tickets. It was rather cold and I can check off "sleep in Talley" from my list of to-dos for my college career. Even though it was freezing, it was nice to be able to spend time with some awesome people after a few weeks apart for Christmas. Since classes have started I've been going non-stop. My teacher internship semester has been crazy, and I'm only two weeks in.

This semester I will be Student Teaching at Knightdale High School alongside Mrs. Melinda Mouzzon. My friend, Jodi, is also at Knightdale, so it's great seeing a familiar face when we are there. I will be teaching 2 classes of Algebra I and one AP Stats class! Yikes. I'm super excited though. I already love my cooperating teacher and the other teachers in the Math Department at Knightdale. I don't officially start teaching until February 26th. Until then I am taking my Senior Block Methods Courses. I am learning a lot about teaching and managing a classroom. I am also learning a lot of different math, teacher's math, as we call it. It's been rather interesting. I think some of the stuff we are learning is just to help us realize that our students are not going to always understand our number system and the math we are discussing, so as teachers we must know multiple ways to help our students understand math.

Overall I am really excited what the Lord is going to do this semester during my time as a teacher. I know it's going to be a hard semester but I also know I'm going to learn a lot about teaching, the real world, and myself.

I will try and continue to update my blog a bit more, the goal is once a week, with happenings at Knightdale HS, at NCSU, and some photography I'm doing. Oh yea, did I mention I'll be 22 next week! YIKES! :D

The Fattest Cheeks I've Ever Seen

Lorie Smith, my youth leader from middle school, had a baby last March. Emma Claire is the cutest little thing I've ever seen. She by far has the fattest cheeks on any baby, EVER. Alex and I spent some time with her after church one Sunday, and I used that opportunity to take some pictures. These were some of my favorites! Let me know what you think!

A beautiful (in my opinion) picture of the sun beaming through the trees.

Alex and PawPaw driving off.

Erica (Alex's Sister), Fran (Alex's Mom), and Alex

Fran and Erica, one of my favorite pictures.

Christmas with the Greers

After Christmas I was able to spend a few days with the Greers. The Greer men have a habit of busting wood to put in their stove to keep their house warm in the cold winter months. I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out my new DSLR, a Nikon D-3000. It has been so much fun learning how to use this camera. I'm still learning a lot and hopefully will have many opportunities to get to know my camera better.

This is Alex's PawPaw...Buddy. I see a resemblance.

This is Alan, Alex's Dad, throwing wood onto a pile.
It's awesome that this camera stopped the motion in mid-air.

Father and Son working together.

Another shot of Buddy. He's such a fun character!

Looking Back

Well 2009 has come and gone and it was a fabulous year. I thought I would celebrate 2009 with a year of photos. Enjoy!

My beautiful birthday cake that Lauren got me for my 21st!

With the Rooms at the UNC/NCSU basketball game on said birthday.

Some awesome people at the Annual UT Dance Party

I got to go to Atlanta, Georgia for Crusade's Preview Weekend.

Then I went to New York City with Crusade for Spring Break.

Then I met this amazing man, Alex Greer, after Crusade in March.

After classes ended, I went straight to Uppsala, Sweden on Summer Project.

While in Sweden, I was excited to find Pepsi.


I also met Malin, my sweet Swedish friend, my first day there.

Fellow Wolfpack in Uppsala.

Roomies and I fixing to leave. We weren't that excited.

Reunited with my man after six weeks!

Barn Party. Rooms and their men came!

Right after we whooped some Carolina butt in football.

Project Reunion in Black Mountain, NC.

Went to Old Salem with Emily to practice taking pictures.

Semi-formal with some of my faves!

I shot my first deer!

Crusade Christmas Party

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures. I'm really looking forward to what 2010 brings. Tomorrow is my first day as Miss. McLawhorn at Knightdale High School and I begin my student teaching Feb 25th. It's going to be a busy semester, but I'm excited it's going to be my last!

Oh yea...new years resolution...blog at least once a week. I know I've already been slack on it, but give me a break. Hopefully I'll reach my goal somewhat.

Merry Christmas!

¹Now in those days a decree went out from ^A)">(A)Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of ^B)">(B)all ^a]">[a]the inhabited earth.

²This was the first census taken while ^b]">[b]Quirinius was governor of ^C)">(C)Syria.

³And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.

⁴Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because ^D)">(D)he was of the house and family of David,

⁵in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.

⁶While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.

⁷And she ^E)">(E)gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹And ^F)">(F)an angel of the Lord suddenly ^G)">(G)stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

¹⁰But the angel said to them, "^H)">(H)Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

¹¹for today in the city of David there has been born for you a ^I)">(I)Savior, who is ^c]">[c]^J)">(J)Christ ^K)">(K)the Lord.

¹²"^L)">(L)This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

¹³And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
¹⁴"^M)">(M)Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men ^d]">[d]^N)">(N)with whom He is pleased."

¹⁵When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us."

¹⁶So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger.

¹⁷When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child.

¹⁸And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.

¹⁹But Mary ^O)">(O)treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.

²⁰The shepherds went back, ^P)">(P)glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

In the hustle and bustle of the season it is so easy and tempting to forget why we celebrate Christmas. Christmas is such a wonderful time, especially as a college student. It gives me an opportunity to spend more than a day and a half at home with my family. This Christmas is especially special since it may very well be the last Christmas I get to spend a few weeks at home with my family. Christmas traditions are so much fun with my family. We start by celebrating Christmas Eve at my grandparents with my aunt and uncle from Goldsboro. Then it's back home with my parents and my brother to watch A Christmas Story. It is by far the best Christmas movie ever. We love it and laugh the whole way through. Well, my mom hates the movie, but she watches and laughs with us. Christmas morning it's up at 7 am to open gifts at the house and then it's back to the grandparents for fried oysters for breakfast and to open a few more gifts. We come back home to straighten up (especially today, we have a house viewing tomorrow!) and rest before heading to my dad's moms to eat lunch and celebrate Christmas with his side of the family.

You can see why it's so easy to take Christ out of Christmas. Not only is my Christmas packed full of time with family but it's the shopping and busyness that occurs before Christmas. Rushing around trying to find the "perfect" gift for friends and family. I am sad to say but I can forget that the perfect gift has already been given to us in the form of a baby in a manger. Christ's birth is so amazing. We often think of Christ as this all powerful man who had the strength to persevere a crucifixion to save the world from sin. We rarely think of him as a baby. Ponder that for a second. Christ was a baby. He didn't have the comfort of being born in a warm inn room. He was born in a manger, a pig's trough. Today, if a baby was born in a manger it would be in the headlines. Take time today to be thankful of Christ's birth. If he had never been born, he would have never died.