trip to ohio: part two

Saturday was Elliv day!  After we got ready for the big show, we headed over to Cedarville's campus and caught up with some friends before heading to our seats!

Paul modeled for me while I adjusted my camera settings.  Natch.

The first performance was to Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair"!  I flipped out!

A bunch of the students put on crazy costumes for the event, including my good friend Rachael's sister, who arrived as the underpants in this Fruit of the Loom gang.

But the Army Men won the grand prize for best costume!

Ok, these guys were easily my favorite performance of the night.  They covered Mumford & Sons' "The Cave", and it. was. incredible.  Be sure to watch the video below!

Then, my good friend, Grant (the Student Body President), came out and thanked Jill for putting on such an amazing show.  She did a fantastic job!

The Grand Finale!

Then we stuck around for about two hours just socializing and being photogenic.

We heart Sarah Brittan a ridiculous amount.

Since the show was circus-themed, there was cotton candy and popcorn everywhere!

...and Clara and I did a fake photoshoot in the lobby...

Just a couple months until these two will share a last name!

Bob thought he was extra cool on the Genie lift.  Clara yelled at him to put the harness on, but of course, that fell on deaf ears.

PB and I struggled with the camera handoff.  So, this is what I got.

Love my girls!

And then we wandered into a random classroom and Paul serenaded us again...

And we FINALLY got to dinner around 10:30 PM!  We were starving, but Paul did a FABULOUS job picking the restaurant.  It was delicious!

After joining Paul for church the next morning at Apex Community Church (which was a-ma-zing), Molly and I hit up Fazoli's and got back on the road!  Props to Ohio for being way more fun than I ever gave it credit for... I had a blast!  But I have a feeling it's the people, not the cornfields.  :)

p.s. Our softball game got rained out this week, so our first game isn't until the 18th!  Bummer!

p.p.s  My baby sister graduates from college this weekend!  OH MY GOODNESS.

Happy Friday!

happy birthday, mama!

Today's my mom's birthday!  Isn't she so lucky to have a birthday on Cinco de Mayo?  It's like every burrito and giant sombrero goes out of its way to make sure her day is a party.  I'm jealous.

For those of you who don't know, my mom is the BEST.  Here are some things she's good at:

1. Being the most competitive person ever.  Ever ever.  She will change the rules in the middle of the game to make sure you don't win, and then she'll play a Jedi mind trick on you to make you think you wanted them that way.  Then BAM.  You have no property left, you owe her $5,000 in rent, and you haven't passed go in about three years.

2. The Stanky Leg.  I am really, really not making this up.  She performs upon request, most often in the kitchen.

3. Making me blonder.  I get asked all the time who does my highlights, and the truth is that my mom has been doing them for almost ten years!  Hairdressers are always impressed.  Always.  She calls our bathroom Chez Liz Salon.

4. Going for the physical traits.  This happens most often when her team is losing or someone is mean to a person she loves.  It takes all of thirty seconds, but she'll reduce the opposition to a puddle of physical malformations that you'll swear could only be caused by the world's worst disease.  In a hilarious way.

5. Cooking.  Cooking, cooking, cooking.  I learned everything from her.  Chicken casserole and coconut cake are two of her very best!

6. Taking care of the dogs.  Reba will turn sixteen this September, and I'm convinced my mom is the only reason why.  She's their whole world, and they love it to pieces.

7. Taking care of US.  When she was shuttling my grandfather back and forth to Cleveland Clinic for his surgeries last fall, my dad and I survived, but just barely.  I still wonder how we got through that period of time with a reasonably clean house and plenty of food to eat.  If ever there was proof that God lives and loves...

8. Picking her own words.  To songs, to sentences, whatever.  If she doesn't know the word she really wants, she just picks a different one.  It's efficient, and in our house, "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" will always be "Honky Tonk Your Monkey Butt".

9. Being good at every sport ever.  There literally may be two or three she has never played, but she could probably still teach you how to play them, because I'm pretty sure she was born with the ability to do so.  Over the years, she's taught me softball, tennis, golf, volleyball, and basketball.  I am good at maybe one of them, but I love watching all of them because of her.

10. Being a proud mama!  She has never made it a mystery how much she loves Leanna and me, and as Leanna graduates from college this weekend, I know she's going to be so proud she could bust!  She was sad to see me move to DC, but she always tells me how happy she is that I have this opportunity, and I get a care package at every holiday.  I know lots of girls say this, but my mom is absolutely one of my best friends.  She knows EVERYTHING about me!

So, happy, happy birthday, Mom!  I love you SO, SO much!

trip to ohio: part one

Every year, Molly and Clara's alma mater, Cedarville University, hosts a big end-of-the-year talent/awards celebration called Elliv ("Ville" backwards), and since pretty much half of the friends I've made since moving to DC went there or currently go there, Molly was sweet enough to invite me to come along!  I've only done that drive to the Midwest once in my life, and it was SUPER long, but let's be honest, West Virginia is beautiful.  And you're in it for a long time.

We did lots of car singing to this song and this song.

I was also ordered to take pictures of the sunset, which are not fantastic...

Paul VERY graciously let us stay at his house, and we gave him his bottle of Riesling for winning our house basketball tournament pool!

On Saturday morning, Molly, Paul, Clara, Katy, and I all slept in and made brunch together, and it was DELICIOUS.  Our mothers would have been proud.  These biscuits were my project...

...and the Skier's Skillet was Molly's!

Love them!

They posed patiently while I set up my camera...

Yay us!

We were also entertained by the musical stylings of Paul and Molly...

Then Molly did Katy's hair for the big show!

But you'll have to wait until Friday to see the show (and what we wore)! 

Also, my softball team at work has its first game tonight, so I'll let you know how we do!  (I am not always a gracious loser.  If you have any questions about that, speak to my mother, please.)

the royal wedding!

Well, even though it's safe to say the United States has ridiculously upstaged all the royal wedding craziness, I won't lie, I'm still SO in love with it!  I just thought it was stunning, right down to Sarah Ferguson's daughters' crazy hats.

Of course, I had absolutely no problem getting up at 5 am to watch it.  Especially because mimosas (and English muffins) were involved.  (That also meant that I drank alcohol a solid two hours before I normally wake up and promptly fell asleep on the couch while William and Kate were signing their marriage license.)

And these lovelies were sweet enough to get up and watch it with me!

And yes, I did wear my tiara from Amanda's wedding.  It was almost as fabulous as Kate's.  And on that note, I have officially handled a train longer than that of a princess.  So, take that, Pippa Middleton.  I would have been happy to "train" you.  :)

I also took pictures of the television because I was delirious.

But for real, can we talk about how perfect Kate's dress was?  Not only did she pay a stunning tribute to Alexander McQueen, but she ushered the sleeved dress back in, and I couldn't be happier about it.  Except that now everyone will have it, and I'm going to have to wait fifteen years for it to go back out again so I can be unique.  And if you haven't seen the dress she wore for her evening reception, well... try not to pass out.  The Queen was also just a little ray of sunshine, and I don't know if anyone else noticed, but Kate's mom wore Carolina blue.  Just sayin'.

Most of all, I just loved how worshipful and traditional the ceremony was.  As royals who don't necessarily have to work for a living, I really do think they're in a very special position to be an extension of the love and compassion God has for His people, and I think they'll both be quite good at it!

So, I guess this means wedding season is here, right?

God Bless America!!!

Needless to say, the past few hours have been really exciting here in DC!  It's so celebratory, which is a weird word to use after a government-ordered death conducted by a peace-loving country, but I'll be the first to admit I cried the very minute I found out bin Laden was dead.  I was 14 and sitting in my Algebra II class when America was attacked on 9/11, and it just feels like we can breathe a little easier now.  I know we may have essentially just kicked a hornet's nest, but I have immense faith in the ability of God and our troops to keep us safe despite the persistence of evil in the world.

I actually spent all day Sunday driving back from Ohio (more on that later this week), but as soon as I found out, I wanted to hop back in the car and drive down to the White House and party with everyone!  I didn't, but this happened...

(That's my roommate, Stacey, and it's actually her birthday today!  Happy Birthday, love!)

And then I ran down the street like a crazy person.  Yes, I did.

 

 

"After the chaos and carnage of September 11, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers."

- George W. Bush