Busy Little Bee

The past month has been crazy busy, but in a good way.

I rediscovered my love for graphic design and decided to take an online class to learn the new-to-me program, Adobe Illustrator. I'm taking Illustrator 101, and I just love it! I'd been using some trials of CS5 and the new CC platform, and I decided to bite the bullet and buy a yearlong subscription for a discounted price. My short-term goal is to master the pen tool, and my long-term goal is to open an Etsy shop (or something of that nature) and sell my designs, whether that is printables, cards, or something of that nature.

I got to go to Winter Jam for the second straight year with Melanie, and I had the greatest time! The music was incredible this year, Melanie adopted a Holt International child with special needs, and we got to hear Michael Tait sing Jesus Freak. We're 1/3 of the way to our dream of hearing Jesus Freak performed live by dc Talk. I finally got to see Lecrae perform, which was wonderful, though I wish he'd done something from his earlier albums. Melanie and I have a date every year, even if she goes to Australia to teach. I'm so grateful that she came up to me after the New Teacher Panel in 2012 and initiated a great friendship!

So far, I've run in 4 5ks (1/3 of my way through my 26 Before 27 goal!) and volunteered for one. I did my first trail run, which was intense. My slowest time so far (my slowest time ever) but not by much (less than a minute) and it was VERY hilly. I haven't picked a March race yet, but I'm doing the Color Run in April with Brittany, and we're doing the MS Walk with our work. (Please donate!) I'm also volunteering with Bubble Palooza in May, and I'll get to run that one for free, so yay!

We've had two different bouts of snow in a 3 week span. Thankfully, I wasn't stuck in it either time, but some of my coworkers were in their cars or in Home Depot overnight during the first storm. By the second one, nobody was taking any chances. I'm hoping that we don't have weather like that again for quite some time. I'm good with the cold, and I don't even mind the snow, but when it cripples a huge city like Atlanta... no bueno.

My best friend had her baby, and he is unbelievably cute. I mean, I'm biased and I admit it, but he is honest-to-goodness one of the CUTEST babies I've ever seen. Let's be honest; not all babies are cute fresh out of the oven. But he was. But when you have parents as good looking as his, I guess it's to be expected. My bestie is beautiful... and so is his wife ;) Sorry that I don't have pictures to share. I *have* pictures to share, but I'd have to check with Melissa and Russell before posting them.

I think I might try to redesign my blog soon, but probably in baby steps. I'm really really tired of this look. Gotta spice things up! So hopefully with the next post, we'll have a fresh new look.

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30 Day Challenge: Day 25

Day 25: iPod Shuffle

Warning: this will probably be an incredibly varied shuffle. my musical taste is quite eclectic.

1. Crank That Soulja Boy - Soulja Boy
   the shuffle WOULD start off with something like this. appropriate, since it's my guilty pleasure genre of music.
2. God Is In This Place - Plus One
   crankin' it old school. I def saw them in concert once.. so amazing. this was the song they dedicated to the guys in the audience [it was WinterJam, so it wasn't a specifically Plus One concert] who hated boy bands.
3. Real Thing - 4HIM
   I've been listening to this group since I could talk. one of the best concerts of my life, except they didn't play my FAVORITE 4HIM song [Ride Of Life]
4. Don't Save It All For Christmas Day - Avalon
   truly great non-traditional Christmas song
5. Breaking Free - High School Musical
   yes, I love HSM. don't judge.
6. Tell Him He's Yours - Frank Sinatra & Michael Buble
   I have this great cd that took all of Sinatra's greatest hits and made them into duets with Michael Buble. SO GOOD.
7. Call Your Name - Daughtry
   I like this song because it hasn't been beaten to death on the radio.
8. January Friend - Goo Goo Dolls
   Goo Goo Dolls. a blast from my childhood. and still so good.
9. Jigga What/Faint - Linkin Park & Jay-Z
   I would never have picked those two artists to make a cd together, but it's great. amazing compilations!
10. Softer To Me - Relient K
    my favorite RK song, thanks to my ex. it's a lesser known RK song, but I believe it's one of their best.
11. Two Worlds - Phil Collins
    anyone who knows me probably knows how much I love Phil Collins. anything he's ever done by himself, anything he's ever done with Genesis, anything he's ever done for a Disney movie.. I love it all. this happens to be one of my favorite Disney soundtracks: Tarzan!
12. No Such Thing - John Mayer
    this was our class song in 9th grade. we tried to make it our senior song [at a different school.. yeah, I went to three high schools] but our principal wouldn't let us. apparently "I wanna run through the halls of my high school" wasn't appropriate.
13. Crush - Gavin DeGraw
    GAVIN. one of my greatest musical finds ever. then he had to go and get all well-known. but I knew of him first!
14. Baby - Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris
    if there's a song with a rap section by Luda, I probably have it. oh, and I'm a closet Bieber fan too. sue me.
15. Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey
    this song reminds me of going to the skating rink when I was in elementary school. someone would always request this to be a couples song. -sigh-
16. I Write Sins, Not Tragedies - Panic! At The Disco
    wasn't sure that I'd like P!ATD very much, but Rylan bought the cd and let me borrow it, and I was hooked. the music videos, however, are a completely different story.
17. Why - Nichole Nordeman
    I get chills every time I hear this song. I first heard it when Lauren Parr sang it at high school camp for the talent show and then again a few weeks later at church. it's just so beautiful.
18. Just A Dream - Nelly
    best line of the song: "tried to get my Usher on, but I can't let it burn"
19. Stationary Stationery - Anberlin
    nothing will ever beat "Foreign Language" but this is a good one.
20. Joyful Noise - Flame
    best. dance. ever. I just wish I was a little more coordinated so that I could do it better.
21. Gaston - Beauty and the Beast
    one of the MANY Disney soundtracks that I own.
22. Dream On - GLEE
    I never get tired of this song. Neil Patrick Harris is amazing.
23. Come On Get Higher - Matt Nathanson
    I'm still not sure whether this song has any sexual connotation or not, but I choose to believe it doesn't.
24. Cigarettes Equal Pain - Bill Engvall
    not a song, but the FUNNIEST one off of the whole cd. if you haven't heard this bit, you need to.
25. Ain't No Party - The Chipmunks
    this would be Katie's doing. it's not a road trip if we don't have at least one Chipmunks song. it drove Jona crazy, but I liked it. who wouldn't love those squeaky voices?!

That could've been a lot more random. I don't feel like that was a true shuffle of my library, but oh well.

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