all things that are good

i have been very happy lately. i have enjoyed being happy. here are some materialistic, pathetic, shallow, ridiculous yet remarkable reasons that i am happy.

*yes i am happy even though the astros didn't even try to stinkin win all stinkin season and i just had to sit back and watch our hope for the play offs fall hard (like the tree in my front yard.)

1.) i have seen God's love for me when love is the last thing i deserve
2.) i got a tattoo and in a few days, i will have another one (it's tasteful and you can see it in the picture below)
a. tattoo numero uno says "speak" inspired by one of my favorite verses.
b. tattoo numero dos will have a pretty sweet (said with a lisp) design and will have the words "Talitha Cumi." (Bible
Quiz!)



3.) i became a 24 year old and my license went from vertical to horizontal.
3.5) the coen brothers have a movie in theatres. woo!
4.) i forgot about my emusic account and when i logged on i had 60 music downloads. i didn't even know what to do with myself.
5.) i got the oil changed in yara the yaris. everytime i get the oil changed i feel like it is a starting over point. i realize that it is probably all in my head that the car drives better than it did before...but it feels like a clean slate.
6.) i am moving to illinois. what? i really don't know if i have processed that all the way, but i am super stoked about this opportunity that God gave me and can't wait to see what happens.
7.) we have electricity (which really means that we have cable)
8.) i bought three new books after 2 hours in barnes & noble
9.) i have about 98% of "old gregg" memorized.
10.) ginny and lindsey visited houston.
11.) i am turning place mats into pillows. i went into Anthropology to "price" pillows for the couch in illinois. the pillows were $80! i can't spend $80 on pillows...i can't even spend $80 on much of anything. i took a stroll into the sales corner and i found place mats with the same design as the pillows. the place mats were $3.

take a hike ike

note: i heard that comment on the radio the day ike was to make his grand appearance. after relentlessly criticizing the dj i have now used it for the title of this blog. i am the ultimate hypocrite.

i flew out of houston on friday 2 hours before they shut down the airport. i am now sitting in atlanta waiting to return. there is this really weird feeling because i have heard about the damage and craziness back home but don't know what to expect. i feel like i have had to watch everything unfold on the news (a luxury that most in the houston area didn't have due to the lack of electricity.) i just kept watching the hour by hour updates but this time with a little different interest because i recognized buildings and streets and heard anderson cooper talking about places i had been that very same day. i was in illinois and got to experience the mild side of ike. all the way in illinois they received 60-75 mile an hour winds... i can't imagine what it was like to be at home.

my prayers go out to all of those who lost their homes and who are feeling displaced. i can't imagine how devastating that must be. my family got off lucky, our house is still in tact, just a few minor adjustments and one less tree. for now i am soaking up my last few hours of electricity. i must be crazy going back to muggy houston with no air conditioning. hopefully we get electricity soon.

until then...