Maggie-Thoughts

PEACE, Y'ALL!

2012-02-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,

I've been struggling to find things to write about over the past few months. It seems as if life isn't as adventurous since Randy left. We have so much fun together. I think that since he's been gone I've crawled into a little shell. It is probably my own fault I'm not having as many adventures lately.

Oh, but there's also good 'ole Dave Ramsey.

He has imparted a good bit of wisdom into me over the past couple of months. And when I do have the urge to be spontaneous he reminds me that I'm planning for our future right now.
And fun can wait until later.
You know how in cartoons there's a character who is having a battle within and on one shoulder there's an angel and on the other is the devil? Well, lately I've felt these two characters on my shoulders, and luckily I've been listening to the one on the left! YEA!

But honestly, I have to say, finding my role as a responsible woman has been kind of fun. I've learned how to STICK to a budget, and say NO, and to be FUTURE minded. I do, afterall, desire to have little chil'ren one day and I know that my actions now will affect them. Also, I can't TELL how rewarding it is each time we pay off another debt! I just want to SCREAM!-in a good way. :)

I've been praying a lot lately. I know that should be quite obvious since I'm a Christian, but honestly sometimes I slip away from prayer and reading the Word & that is NO good for your walk with God. Anyway, since the beginning of the year I've made it a point to spend more time with God. Since I've committed to it, He has shown me so many things! I learn something new every day from Him.
I've been praying for direction after this deployment. For a while there Randy and I were both frustrated as heck trying to figure out what could possibly be next.
But, in Phillipians 4:6-7, Paul tells us,"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation , by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

One part of that scripture that sticks out to me is that part where he says "with Thanksgiving". I think that when we THANK God for everything He has done it REMINDS us of his faithfulness...I know for me it has. As many of you read on a recent Facebook status of mine, I was told recently by someone to every night write down all the things I had to be grateful for that day. I have been doing it for about a month now, and I can't tell you how much it has changed my mindset! When you dwell on what you CAN'T see yet, or what you DON'T have yet... you lose faith and fear creeps in. But, when you look back and see what you DO have and what God HAS done for you....WOW, it builds your faith! And seeing how He has answered your past prayers and seeing all He has done already BRINGS PEACE. It makes sense, doesn't it?

I look back on the past two years of mine and Randy's life together. There have been some majorly confusing and difficult times. But, I look where God has brought us. I see how He caught us EVERY time it looked as if we were going to fall. EVERY TIME! That makes me certain that He has something up His sleeve that we can't see yet. He's not going to let us fall. :)

I cannot WAIT to receive our next adventure assignment from HIM!

On another note,

It is February! WHAT?! Already? I'm not complaining! This deployment has flown by! (Sometimes I don't like to admit that.) I can't believe that in June it will have been a year since Randy left for his pre-deployment training. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. He's coming home soon! My knight in shining armor is coming to me! :)

I can't believe all that has happened for the good during this deployment. I could go on and on all day about how this deployment was a blessing, although being away from each other stinks. We've both grown so much. I feel like I've become a better wife.
I've grown so much musically as well, and have had so many musical opportunities arise. As you know, I'm working on an EP right now. I am SO excited about it! I'm so glad that I haven't had to compromise my dreams. I have the best husband in the world who supports me in everything I do. And God has a plan! I'm sure of it!

Anyway,
It is sunny out, which has been rare lately, so I think I shall take Kujo-pup on a walk. :)

Speaking of Kuj,

I caught Kujo watching "House Bunny" last night.. & everytime Anna Faris came on the screen he was zombie-fied. Oh dear.

Enjoy it while you can Kuj..I'm calling Wiregrass Spay & Neuter this week! ;o)

CHAU!

-Margarite.

PS....STAY TUNED IN MARCH!!!! I"LL HAVE A HUGE TESTIMONY TO DECLARE! :o)

The Yucky Subject. CRINGE

2011-12-28T10:20:00.000-08:00

....FORGIVENESS....

Webster's Dictionary:
FORGIVE:

a : to give up resentment of or claim to requital for <forgive an insult> b : to grant relief from payment of <forgive a debt>

: to cease to feel resentment against (an offender) : par

Many people avoid the subject...
But how can you? That very concept is what our whole existence in Christ is based on.
Forgiveness. *CRINGE* ....For some reason, we don't like to see that word as a black or white/concrete thing. We like to give conditions for the word "forgive."

-If they don't confess they've done wrong..you don't have to forgive... NO.

-If you're hurt bad enough...you don't have to forgive.... NOPE!
-If the person who hurt you keeps on and keeps on hurting you...you don't have to forgive...NUH UH!
-If you are a Christian and they aren't..you don't have to forgive.. MOST DEFINITELY NOT.

Let's see what the Bible says about forgiveness:

Then Peter came up to Him and said, Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? [As many as] up to seven times? Jesus answered him, I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven! Matthew 18: 21-22

For if you forgive people their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6: 14

He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends. Proverbs 17: 9

So also My heavenly Father will deal with every one of you if you do not freely forgive your brother from your heart his offenses. Matthew 18: 35

For I will be merciful and gracious toward their sins and I will remember their deeds of unrighteousness no more.
Hebrews 8: 12

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop. Mark 11:25

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32: 1

Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.(attitude: loving and forgiving just like God forgave you.

Well...It's pretty clear what the Bible says about forgiveness. It has no exceptions...

Sorry folks... it's clear... regardless of your situation or who your enemies are... The Bible says to FORGIVE... TO "give up resentment of or claim to requital for <forgive an insult> b : to grant relief from payment of <forgive a debt> & to cease to feel resentment against (an offender)"

Now I will say this... I believe forgiveness is a CHOICE/STEP in a PROCESS.. Of course you aren't going to instantly feel okay toward that person/people, like magic..but the CHOICE to make the effort is what will get you there.

With all this being said...
I have had people I hold very dear to my heart do some very dirty things to my family throughout my life. Lies have been told, attempts to tear my family and my parents apart have been made. Things have been done behind our backs. Other than that, people have used my family. People have manipulated and twisted the truth regarding my family. People have put on Christian masks but have done evil while making themselves look good. All this has made me sick. BUT REGARDLESS OF ALL THIS...I CHOOSE TO FORGIVE, BECAUSE GOD FORGAVE ME. I CHOOSE TO HAVE JOY BY FORGIVING. THE ONLY PERSON YOU ARE HURTING BY NOT, IS YOURSELF.

Now with THAT being said... I don't think that is is right to stand by and not address evil and dissension being done by another Christian brother or sister. We need accountability as the body of Christ. Address that person DIRECTLY (otherwise it is gossip and you are then creating dissension) and in your heart FORGIVE them. And I say this,..PLEASE, when I do something out of line with God's Word, tell me, and I will work on it. (Gal. 6:1/1Cor. 5:12/1 Cor. 12) ...If I see someone doing wrong towards another person...I'LL CALL YOU OUT. Don't underestimate quiet little Maggie. I don't put up with crap.

In ending,

I have had to ask God to forgive ME, for doing wrong towards others. And not forgiving. And for slashing and talking behind backs of those who have hurt me.

Let us all forgive one another despite ANYTHING, and "let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds" -Hebrews 10:24

*Sigh of Relief*...Starting to feel better already.

Margarite..

PS...I understand that with this post I now have to uphold everything I've said in here.
...CRAP.

What happens when you plant a nomad....

2011-11-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, wow, wowzers it's been a million years since I wrote.

What happened? Life got....busy.. and not quite as adventurous as usual.

Although, It's not been bad. God is doing so much in this season of my life. Although I'm a nomadic soul, it's sometimes good to settle for a bit. To be planted. When you are planted...you can grow.

Since Randy started his deployment, I've been (or should I say God's been) working on myself quite a bit. I started back to music school. And I got involved in church. I decorated MY (rented) home. I became responsible. Took care of a pup. I'm finding out more and more each day who I am and what I am indeed capable of.

I hate Randy being away, but having to be by myself and carry two lives on my shoulders has made me stronger, and wiser. I've found myself doing things that I never in a million years thought I'd be good at.

I, MAGGIE DOWNS, manage finances!! (GASP!!!!) And keep a clean house (most of the time)!! And take care of a dog-child! And work (part-time, but still.)!And still manage to pass all my classes! Don't get me wrong....I don't do this all in my power. It's all through Christ who gives me renewed strength each and every day. He knows I NEED it!!

It has all been a growing/stretching/molding process, that has not been so easy at times, but I am so proud of the person all this is making me! And I can't wait to see what the remainder of this deployment does to me! I feel that God is molding me to become a better wife, a one-day fantastic mother, more of a contribution to society, and a better a representation of Him.

In more specific news,...

Randy came home recently for his mid-tour leave. It was a great 2.5 weeks. We got to live regular life together! No vacation, just living everyday life together. Oh how I've missed it. We did go to Ohio to see family and friends, though, and had a fantastic time. For a 1st Year Anniversary gift I bought Randy and I Ohio State tix and invited his brother, Brandon, and his girlfriend, Liliana, to come with!

I have to say...I was pretty darn proud of this gift. I don't think I'll EVER be able to top it! HA! We had a BLAST! The game was awesome (stress-inducing, but AWESOME) and the company was even better. :o) I can't wait til our next double-date!

Randy left a little over a week ago. He's made it safely to his "home" for the next few months. I miss him terribly, but I am oh so proud of my husband & what he's doing.

(Photo taken by Marcie Talley w Lyrical Lifestyle Photography...She's AMAZING!)

SO. PROUD.

On another note, Kujo was hit by a car this week.

Yes, he's alive. God knows how much that pup means to me. He's been the best little companion while Randy's been gone. God knew that...and He CARED! He CARED! About a dog! He showed me just how much he really does CARE-about EVERY detail of my life. So glad my Kujo-Bear is okay. He's quite sore, but he's been gaining strength and recovering quickly!

..... & that is all for today, kids. I need not desert my blog like I have. I'll try to do better.

Goodbye, my friends.

-Margarite.

"Huggin' Molly's"...A Scrumptious Step Back in Time.

2011-09-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

I apologize (once again) for not blogging in so long. School started recently and it's been madness.

Today I'm writing a food blog. (And yes, I know it looks ridiculously LONG, but it's only because of all the photos that I thought were necessary). I think that there are certain little places of food that need to be recognized. A couple of weekends ago my mom and dad took me and Abbey to Abbeville, AL to Huggin' Molly's. To be honest, I was a little hesitant to go considering it was 45 minutes away from Enterprise. But OOOOOH, was it worth the ride!

Huggin' Molly's is located in the quiet downtown of Abbeville,AL in what used to be an old drugstore/soda fountain and when you walk in the door you can tell! It's like stepping back in time! The entrance takes you into the actual drugstore part where there are candy jars filled with goodies and a homemade cake sittin' on the counter. And of course, the old-fashioned soda fountain! Also, original "artifacts" from the drugstore!

To the back-left is the entrance to the actual restaurant section. You walk in to see old/vintage posters and advertisements on the wall adding to the 50's feel.

Huggin' Molly's is the place to go in Abbeville. The environment is lively and friendly. I saw all ages, old and young. There I saw big families laughing together, couples having a nice quiet dinner, and some girlfriends just catching up.

On the menu is Huggin' Molly herself, the lendary 7ft tall, round woman who wandered the streets after dark, chasing children to whom she could give a big ole' hug!

As for the food... WOW. oh WOW. There's a WIDE variety of options. Sandwiches, burgers, steaks, porkchops, pasta, chicken... and on, and on... Also, when you're seated, they serve hot, freshly made homemade rolls! Excellent!

Abs and I ordered the sirloin... Was the perfect size, not real thick...but FULL of flavor and juuuicy :o) The meal also came with 2 sides of our choice. The garlic mash potatoes were mmm,mmm, good and the mixed veggies were cooked and buttered nicely.

Dad ordered the hamburger steak. . OH MY...Best hamburger steak I've EVER devoured! It had a smoky taste almost..SO much FLAVOR and the gravy was SCRUMPTIOUS! Being the sweet fatha' he is, he let me mooch off of him. And did I...whatever he let me have disappeared in a matter of seconds! Also, served with homecut fries..didn't try those, but they look pretty dern good.

As for Mom, she went with the chicken pot-pie. I'm not a real big pot-pie person...Actually, I'm NOT a pot-pie person AT ALL so I can't tell you first hand how good it was..But Mom seemed to like it....A LOT. She pretty much destroyed it.

So that was dinner, now for dessert. Huggin' Molly's had one of THE BEST dessert menus I've ever laid my suga'-lovin' eyes on.

It was oh so hard to decide, but I do love a nice warm slice of apple pie (with vanilla ice-cream melting over it) and I couldn't resist. Mom ordered the peach pie (the whole reason why she wanted to come here in the first place), and Abs ordered Molly's Half Brother (basically an ooey-gooey brownie topped with ice-cream). Oh Laaaaaawd, it was Heaven on Earth.

So, that was my dining experience at Huggin' Molly's. I'm definately going back...& taking Randy with me when he returns. He'll LOVE it. And so will you! GO!!!

Maggie Review: (measured in smiles 1-5)
Atmosphere- :):):):):)
Food- :):):):):)
Service- :):):):):)
Price- $$ (out of $$$$..$ being oober cheap & $$$$ being rediculous expensive. They have pretty decent pricing, especially for the amount of and deliciousness of food!)
Dessert (Yes, it deserves to be rated)- :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

If you want more information visit their TOTALLY ROCKIN' site! ... HUGGIN' MOLLY'S.COM

There you can find out more about the history, look at photos, find out their hours and exact location, view the menus, and even buy Huggin' Molly's merchandise! :o)
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On another note...
Randy comes home tomorrow for Labor Day weekend before he flies out to Hungary. I'm so excited to see my love! Time to go straighten up and get everything ready for his arrival! Later y'all!

-Margarite.

How to Outsmart a Pup..& Other Things..

2011-07-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since Randy left for his pre-deployment training.
Luckily, I got to see him last weekend. He was off for July 4th weekend, so I journeyed to the good ole land of Louisiana. We had planned on going to New Orleans, but found ourselves quite content with just enjoying our time with each other in Baton Rouge..where our hotel was.

Louisiana...what a state. I don't mean that negatively. It was just different.
Randy and I got lots of weird looks in small towns..it seems as if mixed marriages are looked down upon in "them parts". haha. Like I said on Facebook...just keep walking, and just keep smiling. (It confuses them ;o)
It was a great weekend. It mostly consisted of laying around all day being lazy and relaxing. Most of the time I'm a get up and get out and DO something kind of person. But, it was really nice.

Oh I have a cute story. We woke up Friday morning and were set on going out and finding a nice Breakfast joint. I looked on the GPS and found "Another Broken Egg", which I love... so we set out across town. We finally arrive to our destination and its a private driveway to apartments. Apparently, it had closed. No big deal. We were across the street from a nice outside mall..we spotted a security guard in the parking lot and tracked him down. He was this nice old man. We pulled up and rolled down the window and asked if he knew of a good unique breakfast place around. He thought REALLY hard for a minute or two and all of a sudden this glow comes about on his face! ..As if he has had an epiphany or something! He then bursts out, "IHOP! There's this GREAT place called IHOP! You need to go try that IHOP. I eat there alot and it's real good...they got pancakes and just lots of good stuff." hahahaha. Bless his little heart. I just loved him!

Anyway.. The days that Randy and I have been a part haven't been too bad. Although, you know I'd always perfer to have him here. I've been trying to keep myself busy busy busy. I've been making friends and hanging out with some great people. Which has been really good for me. :o)
It's great being home. I've missed my family and familiarity..ya know? It's nice to go to Walmart and see a bajillion people I know. I'm not gonna lie..sometimes I go JUST for that reason. teehee. It seems to be the happenin' place in Enterprise. ;o)

Living on my own is a very new thing for me. I hope I don't sound dumb when I say this, but I've never really had to pay bills, and upkeep a house, and finances, and all that comes with living on your own. I lived with my parents until I got married. I was quite overwhelmed with the whole thing, up until Randy left and I've started just doing it. You just take one thing at a time. It's not so bad. :o) I love learning and growing. Things may not always be easy, but you learn from every uneasy task/experience.

Kujo pup has been my best friend. I think God created a special rank for dogs in the "animal kingdom"...I don't think they're "man's best friend" by accident. I think God made them that way.
Oh, what joy that little runt brings to my day. :o) He's growing quickly. Gaining 10 pounds every month. He's also getting smarter. He never ceases to amaze me, that little fella!

Kuj loooves watermelon!

Ha...the other day I was putting stuff in the car. Kujo and I were going to my parents' for the weekend. I opened the house door and Kujo shoots out the door. I put the things in the car and opened the passenger door for him. I called him and he stuck his butt up in the air and started pouncing around like he does when he wants to play. Oh dear. I walked slowly up to him and ALMOST got close enough to reach his collar when he dashed off. He ran around the yard a few times wanting me to chase him. I figured I'd bribe him. I grabbed a "Pupperoni" and dangled it out in front of me. No luck. I threw it in the car..Still no luck. I then bent down and laid it on the ground in front of me. He slowly crawled toward it. He got SO close! I reached for his collar and he dashed off again. AH! I was in a hurry! I had to outsmart that pup somehow! .... :o) ....So...I hopped in the car (leaving the door open) and started backing out of the driveway. "He stopped..his ears and eyebrows went up..and he bolted towards the car and jumped in. hahahaha. He thought Momma was gonna leave him! I love him!

I'm pretty sure there's a lot more I could probably write about. But, I really only wrote this blog to make myself sleepy. And I am. So..Goodnight friends.

Margarite.

What's that on your carpet?

2011-05-26T15:24:00.001-07:00

Hey friends,

I'm attempting to blog via IPhone, so I'm going to go ahead & apologize for any typos...Gotta love autocorrect. I have so many autocorrect stories. My phone loves to do stupid things like type "thongs" instead of "things", which can be really embarrassing if you're talking to someone important and professional. eek.

Anyway,
Randy and I have moved to Troy, Al where I'll be completing school while he's deploying. I started piano lessons a couple weeks ago. Two intense hour long lessons per week. Phew.
It's a good thing though.

I love our little house. It's perfect for us. I've been having a blast FINALLY using all the stuff we got for our wedding. And decorating has been so exciting!
Kujo loves his new home also. It's sooo much bigger than our Ohio apartment...which is good because he's growing fast. He's almost 4 months old! He's quite a mess... He loves to eat everything...especially things out of the trash can. That's a really bad thing since he has such a sensitive stomach. The other day his poor tummy was upset. I was in the office that morning and Kujo was sitting in there with me. I turned around and lo-&-behold there was a tiny piece of yuck (you know what I'm talking about) on the floor. Ugh. He is getting REALLY good at pottytraining. This was totally involuntary, poor guy. Haha.
I went to find something to clean it with and told Randy. He insisted that we use BLEACH. Well, I INSISTED that bleach would turn our tan carpet orange. "No it won't, trust me." he said. ....... :o)
So, I said okay, if you insist, YOU go ahead and bleach the carpet. So he did.
A few minutes later I noticed he was in the office and had shut the door. So, I decided I'd check on him. I walked in to see him sitting in the chair staring at the carpet. I look down and this is what I see...

"It turned orange," says my darling husband. Oh how I love him. :o)

Not only is the carpet orange, but the first thing people think of when they see it is not usually a rocketship. Oh dear.

So I guess we'll be dying or replacing carpet. Any helpful tips????

On another note, we are on our way to Birmingham. I can't wait to spend time with my family up there. They're awesome. :o)

My poor thumb is getting tired. Must. Stop. Typing.

Ps...please don't tell our landlord about that thing on our carpet. Let us. :o)

Much love to ya,

Margarite.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The things you'll do for love...

2011-04-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hi.

To my lovely friends and family who enjoy reading my thoughts, I apologize for not blogging in so long.
It's not that I stopped thinking, I was just without a computer for a few weeks.

This week is another one of packing. Randy and I are becoming professionals.

As most everyone knows already, I have a new distraction who is making my packing process not so productive.

Oh, how I love this precious pup.
He's mah best friend when Randy's away.
Even Randy agrees that goodbyes aren't so bad anymore...considering he doesn't have to drown in puddles of tears. haha.

Having a puppy has given me a teeny tiny taste of what being a mommy is like. (There's a billion times more to being a real mommy). I've had to do the not so pleasantest of things. Like the other day..
"Jo" and I were spending the night at a hotel in Bowling Green on our way back to Ohio Thursday night.
He had to potty so I let him out in the grass. He did his business and I realized there was something hanging from his butt.....it was a turd...and it just would NOT fall. Kujo was going CRAZY because of the hanging turd. I bent down, looked closely, and realized it was hanging from a nice long hair. Kujo loves to attack my hair when I'm sleeping.

So, I had to do the unthinkable.
I looked around to make sure no one was looking as I slowly pulled the rest of the loooong Maggie-hair out of my poor pups behind. Oh my. Disgusting. I hope no one saw.

The past few weeks have been busy but extremely productive. Randy was in training for two weeks, so I was in Alabama taking care of things. He have found a CUTE CUTE CUTE house to rent in Troy. I absolutely love it. It's perfect for us. It's close to school, but out in the country so it's quiet.
I think my favorite part of the whole house is the spacey kitchen. AHHHH.
Compare the kitchen I currently cook meals in compared to the one I get to start cooking in in a week!

On another note, my musical side has started flourishing again. :o)

God has been making some crazy awesome things happen.

I've started singing on the worship team at Highpointe.

It feels so good to lead people into worship again.

Also, I auditioned for an ensemble last week at Troy University.

I thought I did absolutely horrible at my audition since I haven't really sung in so long.

BUT, I made it! AND, I was offered a position in the Jazz ensemble I had made a year ago but couldn't participate in because of my conflicting schedule. That was such a fantastic surprise!

And these ensembles give scholarship money!

Also, someone offered me to give me a guitar. So now I have a little gee-tar to write on. :o)

Randy came home Saturday from A.T. and I arrived back from Alabama.

The only thing I like about being apart from my husband is that coming back together is so sweet. I just love it.

Saturday he called me and told me to be ready by 12:30 because he had a surprise for me.

I was thinking a nice romantic lunch?

I asked him what we were doing. He said, "It's something you HAVE to experience before you leave Ohio."

He arrived at home and we left for the "surprise"....

...the Ohio State spring game. pahaha.

That boy's a mess.

But it was neat.

I can't wait to watch the Royal Wedding.

It's going to be..just magical.

I saw someone post on Facebook the other day that they didn't understand why the US was so intrigued by the BRITISH royal wedding.

Because it's history!

WORLD history that will be remembered forever...that will be written in future History books.

Do you think she EVER imagined as a young girl that she would one day be a PRINCESS? Do you think that Kate's parents ever thought their daughter would be making history?

It's a modern fairy tale. Call me a hopeless and nieve romantic if you want.

But, I love it. :o)

These are the thoughts of Maggie.

Army Strong Wives

2011-03-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

Listening to "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys...I really love this song.
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As you know, Randy's deploying to Afghanistan in June for almost a year.

There have been a lot of mixed emotions...
On faithless days I ask God if He really knows what He's doing...

Did He forget that we were apart from each other our whole engagement? Doesn't He remember how hard that was for me? Doesn't He realize we JUST got married & doesn't he realize that we had plans for our life together after we got married? Honestly, I get angry at Him on those negative days. I tell Him how unfair it is.

And then, He reminds me that He has a plan. That my plan is miniscule compared to His. And He shines light in the dark. He shows me all the positives. He shows me just a glimpse of how He's working in this...for good..Not to harm us. And when I fear for my hubby's life, He reminds me of the Bible verse that I've had memorized since I was 13 years old. The one that I say every day:

"The Angel of the Lord encamps those who fear Him and He rescues them." -Psalm 34:7

...and Randy does fear Him.

He has sent women my way to encourage me and to build my faith, and I appreciate it so much. I want to choose to have FAITH in this and only listen to people who build it. Oh, and....I guess I can't really ever get mad at God for allowing my Randy to be deployed. I DID marry a soldier.....& I am so proud of him. :o)

I choose to accept things, & to be the best little military wife I can be.I choose to trust that God is in control. It is, in fact, a choice. I know I'm not the only one dealing with this. There are so many military wives around the country/world dealing with the same issues. But, what a great thing unity is. And what a great thing it is when we stand by one another & strengthen each other.

I hope that one day God will use ME to inspire & encourage the young women who will stand where I am now.

Encouraging stories aren't the only thing needed, though, to stay positive and build faith.. Over the past four months, I've realized how much of a neccessity prayer is. Since being married, I've REALLY had to depend on God.
We've had many frustrations over the past few weeks/months on top of the whole deployment thing. I hate to see my husband frustrated. He tells me things that we're dealing with that bring worry initially. But then, Oh my...I remember that my God is so much bigger than ANY body or ANY thing. And we pray.

And WOW, what peace that brings to your life. .

...These are the thoughts of a military wife....

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

2011-03-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness... THIS IS AWESOME!
I dream of having a floating balloon house..one day.

National Geographic tests the logic of Pixar's 'Up' News In Brief Marketplace from American Public Media

Saw this on the Today Show this morning...& put me in a really happy mood.

Anyway...

Today, we have been in the South for a week. We spent a few days in Alabama. I've been sleeping like a baby since being home. I like that.
It's been fantastic seeing all of mi familia. I love them so much. I appreciate them all. Here's a recap of my week in Alabama...

Monday night we stopped in Birmingham on our way to Enterprise. The next morning we ate breakfast with Aunt LeeAnn, Sydney, & Andrew (cousins).
I love them and have missed them so much! They are really fun people. :o) Then we hit the road and headed to Troy where we took care of school stuff. I was invited to attend piano studio and to meet with a couple of my instructors to discuss school plans while Randy's deployed. My, oh, my... I can't tell you how blessed I am to have supportive/helpful instructors like I have. It was good seeing my friends too. I've missed my good friend Wendy Cho. She's awesome...She put a smile on my face every day last year at school. She even threw me a birthday party in Music History class for my 21st birthday! :o) We also stopped by and saw JanJan at work. I've missed my JanJan visits at work between classes!

So, then we went home. Mom opened the door with a huge welcoming smile on her face. We ate at Cutt's...ofcourse. You should if you're in Enterprise.

Wednesday was Daddio's birthday. He's 50! Wowzers. That makes ME feel old. ...I mean, not that you're old Dad. No, not old at all. Just "seasoned." :o)
That night we went to the trailer park so I could see my babies. Oh how I love them. Mom asked Randy and I to go to a house with her to ask a dad of a couple of my babies for money so the mother could pay the power bill. They had been without electricity for a week or two :o( and had a "string"(extension cord-the little girl called it a "string" lol) going from her house to another family's house. Wow. I can't imagine living that way. I am so blessed. Probably overblessed. And I proooobably have no reason to ever complain. That's not the worst that's going on in their house either. That's a whole 'nother (horribly sad) story.

Thursday was Daddy's birthday celebration. All three Averett gals were home along with hubby/fiancee/boyfriend. I love it when we're all home. Good times. :o)

It was a fun night. Lots of laughs and some really yummy steaks Randy grilled.

Have I ever told you that I have the most outstanding daddy in the world? He's extraordinary. I wish everybody could have a dad like him. I love him.

Friday night was dinner with Mom's fam. We went to McLin's. Oh my. My favorite. Randy says his steaks are way better than theirs...Don't tell him, but Mclin's ribeye is my favorite...but his are really good too. :o)
Afterwards we went to my grandparents' house where Nana demonstrated to us how to safely and effectively clean your ears. Very entertaining....

AND...This was the result. Warning: If you have a weak stomache, what you are about to see is SLIGHTLY yucky :o) ....

:o)

Saturday night was dinner with DonDon , Uncle Earl, & Granny. Fun times. The waiter was super.

He gave us free mud pie and made an aluminum duck filled with rolls to take home!

Sunday we went to church, visited Lifegroup (where today a year ago,we met!) and headed to Destin where we are til Friday. Ah, it's lovely. & I might get to stay another week!

I love Randy. Isn't he a cutie?

...I know.

...And those are the thoughts of Maggie.

Breaking News!

2011-02-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

BREAKING NEWS! This just in... WE LIVE IN THE HOOD!

Randy went to the Barber Shop down the street the day before yesterday. He asked the barber to tell him about the area. His words exactly, "Well....Ya in da hood." Hrm, excellent. He also gave Randy some other useful info about the area.
1. Our apartment building used to be druggie-ridden. Until they kicked most of them out and did renovations.

Although I think we still have "weed-ies" in the room below us..because the smell seeps up through our radiators. UM,Yuck. I have a headache today it's so bad. Yep, I'll be filing a complaint today.

2. Don't be walking the streets past 8 or ya gonna get robbed. Hrm, I don't think I'll be walking the streets before 8 either.

Our apartment serves its purpose. Just gives us a place to lay our heads when we are actually home and not traveling. It's REALLY cheap..just $550 per month, all utilities included. We should have known there was a REASON why it's so cheap. ha. They ARE renovating though so it's not bad. I have a reccomendation for the next renovation. Replace these super sensitive fire detectives with something else. Randy and I had an incident the other night. We bought ribeyes and started cooking them on our grill pan. Well, stupid us...We forgot the fact that ribeyes are fatty which means they produce a lot of smoke when cooked. Smoke started billowing from the pan so we opened the windows. Well,.....that didn't work. I fanned the fire detectors and kept them clear of the smoke. Aaaaand...that didn't work either. They go off...BOTH of them..they are within 6 feet of each other. You can imagine how loud it was. Oh, I was so embarrassed! I knew all of our neighbors heard it and was afraid we were creating an apartment-wide panic! After a while we FINALLY got them to stop. Whew. A few minutes later then firemen came and knocked on our door. I opened the door and told him we were just cooking and everything was ok. They left. Then the security guard came up and wrote an incident report.

I have to say though...it was worth all that trouble. Those ribeyes were the bomb! :o) We'll stick to chicken from now on though.

Oh, and the security guard told Randy the other day that we weren't in trouble. He said that in the past week FIVE people have set off the fire detectors because they're so sensitive.

Anyway,
Thursday was Randy's Grandma's 70th Birthday. The family gathered at her house and ate pizza, wing, ribs (oh my, his grandpa makes the BEST!) and cake..and had a great time. We sang happy birthday and let her blow out the candles.

She's so cute. LOL.

Anyway, Randy's at drill today. So I'm singing, playing, and writing my day away. Oh..and PACKING for ALABAMA and the BEACH!!! AAH!!!

-Maggie

Oh! PS! Look at this awesome egg Randy cracked open the other morning. TWINS!!

Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours..

2011-02-20T21:10:00.000-08:00

(pssst..This logo was not created by me, it was created by someone else..If I found out who that person is, I will definately give them credit)

Today was an outstanding day! Randy & I went to this new church called Rock City in Columbus and we both LOVE it! HOORAH! Then we had lunch with the couple, Meridith and Kyle, who led us to this awesome church!
God is so, just, crazy mind-blowing. Randy and I got to Columbus and instantly started looking for a church. We tried a couple, but, they just weren't for us. I was super frustrated. I've ALWAYS been involved in a church. I've never had to LOOK for a church. So, we went to God about it, ofcourse. We wanted a place where we could receive and grow but also a place where we could serve and help others.
Well... A few weeks ago, I was shopping in Easton for house stuff. I had been looking aroud for a couple hours and Randy was about to get off so I decided it was time to head that way to pick him up. I decided to stop at Target, though, to look at rugs before I left Easton, even though there's one RIGHT across from Randy's work. I went to the rug aisle and was browsing through the rug collection when a girl walked by me. I noticed her SUPER cute hair. She walked to another aisle and I continued my browsing. A second later though she came back and told me how cute my outfit was. I told her how cute her hair was...and VUALA! Conversation. :o) LOL. We chatted for a few minutes and all of a sudden she asked if Randy and I were looking for a church. I said YES! She told me about her church called Rock City in Columbus. She talked about how awesome it was, and gave me their card. So I went onto the church Facebook site and realized that it's an ARC church! (Assembly of Related Churches...which is what we had been looking for it's the association that my church at home is under) I was so ecstatic. I told Randy and he said we'd visit as soon as we got back from DC. (We were leaving the next day for 3 weeks)
We went today, and think we've found "the one". LOL. Thank you, God!

Others might call the situation coincidence, but I call in divine appointment. Ahhhh, I never get bored serving God. He amazes me more and more every day. :o)

You should check the church out, it's really cool. Right now it's in the pre-launch phase...The actual official launch of the church is April 3, 2011 at the AMC Cinemas near Ohio State Campus.

Check out the Rock City Church Website HERE!

I really enjoyed the sermon today. At one point in it the pastor talked about how we as Christians should mourn for those who are lost..our hearts should break for those who are broken and don't know the over- whelmingly amazing love of God. Which reminds me of something that happened later in the day.

Randy and I had just helped pack up his sister's house and were on our way to their new house when we passed this used car lot. There was a car pulled up to it and a guy was picking up a girl trying to shove her in the car. We thought they were playing around..until I saw the look on the girl's face..then I knew it was bad stuff. So I told Randy we needed to turn around. We went back and pulled up...apparently another couple saw what was going on too because they pulled up the same time we did. Randy and the other guy got out and approached the guy and girl. They asked what was going on. The boy got REALLY defensive and told them to mind their own business. He told them to leave. The girl was apparently his girlfriend & the comments he made made the implication that she was HIS and he had the RIGHT to treat her any way he wanted. But Randy and the other man stood their ground. He got very angry and started cussing the other guy out. Every few second though he'd turn around and pick up the girl and try to push her in the car. He wanted her to get in the car and leave and she didn't want to. (Obviously there's a reason why she didn't want to go.) I was on FIRE at this point. He kept cussing the girl out while shoving her. She stood there crying with a helpless look on her face. She didn't say anything. It pushed me over the edge. I got out of our car. I walked to the car and asked if the girl wanted to come with me. The guy told me to get in the car and mind my business. I told him he didn't know how to treat a woman. He cussed me out. Eh, whatever.
He took off his shirt and acted like he wanted to fight. The other lady and myself both called the police. They came and handled the situation from there. Apparently, they've delt with this couple before.

Why does she keep going back? Why does she tolerate such disrespect and verbal (possibly physical) abuse from her "boyfriend"? Maybe she feels insecure? Maybe she feels trapped? Or threatened?
It breaks my heart.
I so pray for this girl. That one day she would know how she DESERVES to be treated by a man. I pray that she would come to meet the Man who died for her and rose again so that she could not only be forgiven and get to spend eternity with Him, but so that she could experience a LOVE that not even the most amazing guy on Earth could give.

Ouchy, my heart hurts for girls like this.

These are the thoughts of Maggie.

Our First Valentines', & Why I'll never forget It...

2011-02-15T18:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.
It was mine and Randy's first together.
Randy called me during the day and told me to be dressed, semi-formally, and ready to go by 5:15 that evening. I was so excited! I even went out and bought a new dress and pumps with birthday money. :o)
I hurried home, showered and got all prettied up. Randy came and picked me up. We went to the car where a card, teddybear, and this were waiting for me...

Pearls :o) They were a birthday/Valentine present.

I like this guy a lot.

Anyways, we were rinding to our destination when he told me what the evening was to hold.

We were going to the Officer's Club on Ft. Belvoir for a Valentine's dinner, where there would be a meal, live music, and dancing. Fantastic! Also, it was on the Potomic River and he got us window seats! :o)

So... We arrived, claimed our reservation, and followed the hostest to the dining room..

And this is what we discovered..

WE WERE THE YOUNGEST COUPLE THERE!! By a LOOOOONG shot! LOL. Oh my. There were old classic tunes being sung/played by the live band and sweet old couples doing the twist!

Poor Randy, I could see the disappointment all over his face. It was nothing that he had expected...and you couldn't even see the river because it was nighttime. But, you know what? It's the BEST Valentine's Day I've EVER had! We got the MOST absolutely exquisite chocolate cake I have EVER consumed. And we met the cutest old couple! Frank and Gene were their names. Frank was in the service for 43 years and retired as a W5..Wowzers! I love meeting people with awesome stories. We both agreed that our Valentine's dinner was not what we had expected, but it was definately one that we will never forget. :o)

I love my husband so much. I couldn't have asked God for anyone better. I'm so glad I got to spend the evening with the love of my life. And I hope to be JUST like those sweet old couples when we're old and gray.

Anyway..
Let me tell you about today!
I was just ironing away and when I heard motorcycles outside. I looked out the window, and saw that there were a few motorcycles with police lights riding down the road...then I saw a police SUV, then another, and another, and another, and ANOTHER! Then came a black SUV...then more police SUV's!! I then realized what it was so I ran to the window (forgetting i was in panties and bra, oh my) excited out of my mind! I saw the PRESIDENT! Well...his motorcade. Still,..MEGA cool. :o)

On another note...
By marrying my Randy, I have had the priveledge of getting to know one of the most inspiring women I have ever met. I have never met anyone so motivated, so full of life, and so fearless as this woman. She puts no limits on herself and isn't afraid to step out and try new things. She always has a smile on her face and a pep in her step. :o) And people love and RESPECT her because of her spectacular personality. She inspires me personally to live life to the fullest and put NO limitations of myself. Aunt Lille, YOU are truly an AMAZING woman! Thank you for inspring me!

On another-nother note...This day is a historic day for Maggie-Thoughts as I have my very own domain!
http://www.maggiethoughts.com/ !!!!! :o)
...These are the thoughts of Maggie...

"It's business, It's business TIII-IME!"

2011-02-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

I've been missing my piano lately.
We've been apart for way to long.
Next week I get to take it home with me though. :o)
I've been missing writing.
I used to write like a MAD WOMAN.
Yesterday, I found this..
"Changing " by Maggie Averett

I wrote this when I was 19.
Fnding this reminded me what I was made to do.
I so badly want to get back to that place.
Where I eat and drink music, where I breathe notes.
Where I hear songs in my sleep.
I'm gonna do it..Yep, I am.
You watch.

In the words of the Flight of the Concords..

"It's business! It's business TIII-IME!"

-Margarite

Hair and the Holocaust

2011-02-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

So I dyed my hair today.
I know you're not surprised.

You have to give me credit though. The last time I dyed it (&it was only highlights) was 4 weeks before my wedding...which was two months ago. And before that, I hadn't dyed it in months. I really don't care what you think though. It's my hair :o) And YOU won't be the one bald if it all falls out one day.
Randy really likes it when it's brown (this has a reddish tint). And so do I. I'm sure my hair coloring obsession has something to do with my personality...maybe the fact that I get bored VERY fast with everything. I like to change things up.

Randy and I went to the Holocaust museum the past weekend. It's my favorite part of history to study. I was pumped. It was interesting. It was very...long, though. I hate the fact that I have an extremely short attention span. After about 45 minutes, I was kind of ready to go. But,...unfortunately it's Randy's favorite era in history also. We went through all 4 floors...and Randy read EVERY sign. We were there for THREE HOURS. But I'm glad Randy enjoyed himself. I could tell he was very interested. I did learn quite a bit though. Going there made it so much more real to me.

You even get a little booklet with a person's name and picture in it who was in the Holocaust and it tells their story. Cool.

Meet Erzebeth Buchsbaum. She was born in Poland and when she was young her family moved to Hungary. But, in 1941 all foreigners had to leave Hungary, forcing her and her family back to Poland. They were moved to a Jewish ghetto. She noticed many around her were being killed. So, she, along with her family attempted to escape back to Hungary. They were smuggled through the woods, sleeping during the day and walking all night. About a week and a half through their journey the group was caught by a German soldier. Erzabeth hid inside a hollow tree trunk but her family was killed.

Wowzers. Can you imagine living like that? And witnessing your family's murder?
I'll always hold a place in my heart for Jews.

Anyways.
I've been in a happy happy happy mood the past couple days since I decided to stop taking my horridly strong "Stop-the-baby" pills. Who knew they could be such a joy-sucker? I feel like Maggie again! YES!

Birthday Blessings..

2011-02-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 4 of being in DC. I've had a lot of time to blog lately. I like it.
My birthday Tuesday was a success. It was much better than I expected it to be. Ofcourse I was stuck in this daggum hotel room all day, but I was showered with all sorts of love throughtout the day..So it was made up for. :o)

Every birthday Momma has made French toast for breakfast for me and the sibs . But this year I was stuck with crappy pancakes in the hotel restaurant. The waiter gave us a tab at breakfast (before he realized we got FREE breakfast)...Wanna know how much they think those crappy pancakes are worth?...16 bucks per person! Hilton Hotel, you have LOST YOUR MIND.
Anyway, I slept in til lunch, Then sulled because it wasn't fair that I was stuck in a hotel all alone on my birthday. That's when mom called and told me to get all pretty and go downstairs to Houlihans. So I did. The staff treated me super sweet. The food there is outstanding. For appetizer, I was served yummy Chicken Tortilla Soup.. Oh my.. SO GOOD. Then came the entree..I ordered the Down Home Pot Roast (It reminded me of home)..Sorry Mom, but I have to admit that it was kind of better than yours. But yours is really good too!
Here, we have a bed of garlic mashed potatoes topped with roast beef, carrots, some other green veggie, and onion straws. It was drowned in a red wine mushroom gravy. YUM!
After that the waiters sang happy birthday and served me a SCRUMTIOUS Snicker's ice cream dome. :o)

Mom paid for my lunch from afar. :o) She's cool. OH! And look what else she did....

She went around her school and took pictures of teachers and my Katebug (top right corner) with a homemade happy birthday sign.(These aren't all of them)...It totally made my day! SHE'S THE BEST MOM I HAVE! :o)

So, after lunch I went to the fitness center and worked out.. puts me in such a fantastic mood.
Randy texted and said he was on his way home. I worked out for another 15 minutes or so.. went up to the room, and still waited for him to arrive... It only usually takes him about 10 minutes. Hrm.
I finally hear a knock on the door and lo-and behold..This is what I see.

Randy walks in with a cake with a HUGE FIRE BALL on top! LOL! I think he really put 22 candles on it. I was fanning the fire detectors. haha. He's the sweetest hubby ever. That night he made reservations at 6:30 at MARVIN...a restaurant tributed to Marvin Gaye Since he knows how much of a music fanatic I am. Seemed like a nice quiet unique little restaurant with jazz music playing softly in the background. And one of their signature dishes is Fried Chicken with Belgian Waffles. Excellent! We rushed to get ready. Out of the three outfits I had with me at the moment I couldn't decide what to wear so we left the hotel at 6:10-ish. Got to the train station and the guy told us it would take 40 minutes to get there. So we drove. Nothing frustrates me WORSE than DC traffic...especially downtown. It took us FOR-EV-ER to find the restaurant..It would help if they'd actually put a sign out. We made it...only an hour and a half late for our reservation. We walked in and it was nothing like what we expected..Apprently Marvin is the place EVERYONE in DC likes to hang at after work. The bar was filled with drunk people and the whole restaurant was crazy loud and super crowded. We had really wanted a quiet little joint where we could spend our evening together. So, we politely left, and found... YOU GUESSED IT....

PIZZA!!!
The place was called Angelina's and was the most UNIQUE little pizza joint ever. An Italian restaurant run by West Africans with Jamaican music playing in the background. SO CUTE! :o) And you might not think so..but Africans can make some pretty darn good pizza!

We came back to the hotel and ate the cake Randy got for my birthday and we called it a night. :o)
I'm so thankful for all my fantastic family and friends and my extraordinary husband who make me fill like a trillion bucks and SO LOVED.

I can't wait for Randy to get home today. I'm going to smooch him all over his cute little face. Yep, I am.

Home, Sweet, Hotel..

2011-01-30T20:32:00.000-08:00

Randy and I have made it to DC, where he'll be in another Army school for the next three weeks.

Yes, typing from another hotel room, I am..Getting used to living in hotels. This time it won't be so bad. We are going to pick up my car from the Paycheck's house tomorrow so I won't be stranded! Also, it's a Hilton.. so if I were stranded, I wouldn't mind too much. :o)

I'm ready to get back to Columbus, believe it or not. God is..wow..undescribable. So many things have been changing for the good. He takes such good care of us. It's amazing what a little faith and trust will do.

Tonight we ate pizza at Bertucci's Italian Restaurant. Twas fantastico. I recommend, for sure. Fantastic bread/fantastic pizza/fantastic-looking pasta. Two-thumbs up.

We've eaten more pizza than EVER since we've been married. Really. Probably twice a week.

The other night Lindsey Poling took us to this delicious little Pizza joint on Ohio State's campus called Adriadico's. Probably the best pizza I've ever tasted. The crust has garlic in it. Mmmm..mmm, good.

On another note.. With my birthday money & a bajillion BB&B gift cards, I bought a coffee table that matches our couch, as well as a awesome red rug and a cute little lamp. Our little home is finally "Home-y" :o) Oh...and on a random note..Did I tell you that the other morning a maintenance walked into our house..all the way to our bedroom door..where I was laying in bed half-naked. Wow...embarrassing.

And no, it wasn't what you're thinking..He was legit. He came to fix the sink in our bathroom. He was just as embarrassed as I was, he left immediately before I "woke up" (I acted like I was still asleep) Even though I've met the maintenace guy before and he's nice.. it's still a little scary that the maintenance MEN have keys to my room when I'm home by myself all day. eek.

Today my mom sent me a picture of what our child is going to look like one day.......

PAHA! He looks like a mini-Randy.

Goodnight, friend.

-Margarite

The Extreme Couch Catastrophe..

2011-01-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

I was up til 2 last night trying to decide what to buy with all my giftcards. All night I dreamed of area rugs, and wall decor, and lamps. I've always looked forward to decorating my own home. It's starting to actually feel like a home now that we finally have a couch. :o)
Oh, what a couch-catastrophe we have had the past week. Couch 1-We attempted to get Randy's bachelor-pad couch into our room,...Wouldn't fit in the elevator OR up the stairs. So...we gave it away. Couch 2-We bought a futon for a hundred bucks at Target, brought it home, sat down, and could have sworn we were sitting on a rock. We took it back. I wasn't sad. Couch 3-We found a couch for a hundred bucks at Big Lots that someone had brought back with a tiny rip in the arm. We were PUMPED! I even bought throw pillows and a super cute lamp that matched it. We were SURE this one would fit. It was shorter than Randy's. So here we go again. Some poor guy volunteered to help Randy move it, not really knowing what he was getting himself into. They pushed it into the elevator, but the door wouldn't shut...Randy broke a light bulb in the process. So next they tried the stairs. I met them on the 2nd floor where they were killing themselves trying to get it around the corner. The helper guy said it was a lost cause. How dare he?! I was desperate. I tried everything. I snatched off the cushions thinking it might help and pulled as hard as I could..it wouldn't budge>>>FAIL. We took the couch back. I cried. I had been so excited about the cute pillows and lamp I bought to match it. :o( Couch 4- The day before yesterday we searched around for some consignment stores and found a cool German one in Dublin. That's where we found our baby. Randy spotted it as soon as we walked in the door and knew it was "the one", so he says. LOL. Even though it was a little more expensive, we decided it was the one for us...but before buying it we actually had someone MEASURE the elevator (Especially since there was a no return policy). It fit! And my throw pillows give it a cute color pop. :o)

On another note,
Today was Randy's first day at work at his unit & I've started back on my house-wife duties. What a priveledge I feel it is to get to serve my hubby. He only works a few minutes from our apt, so I cooked for him today.I got to use my brand new grill pan to grill some chicken breasts! I also made some fruit salad. A light but filling meal that I knew Randy would like. And he did. I don't require praise. But how rewarding it is when he tells me what a great job I did. I like him. Lots.

This afternoon, I'm thinking and praying, needing direction. If you don't already know, Randy's deploying in June to Hungary/Afghanistan. I'm really sad that I'll be without my hubby for 6-9 months. But we both see how this is a blessing to us. 1st of all, it's not a YEAR.& we'll be debt free when he returns, & he'll be promoted to Captain,& I get a DOG!!!! Also,Randy and I have realized that while he's gone I will have a chance to grow and to set a foundation for my career and pursue my dreams. The question is..Should I go back to Enterprise to be with my family? Where my comfort is? OR...should I get over being home-sick and go see new places and stretch myself? I've always wanted to move to Birmingham. I love that city. It's close to home AND Nashville. I could go home whenever I wanted. Or why not just move to Nashville? ha. We'll see.

These are the thoughts of Maggie.

God & Marriage....

2011-01-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

Randy's at drill today, and I am stranded all day in our lovely hotel room. So, to keep myself from going insane from having no PEOPLE to talk to...I'll settle for the next best thing-My blog.

Anyways,
I'm married now. Marriage is awesome. But honestly, It's been a hard transition from Live-at-Home-with-Parents Maggie to Wifey-Maggie. We've moved up North, something I always thought I wanted to do.. But, you realize all that you took for granted when you don't have it anymore. I miss my family, and my church, and my friends, my Hispanic kiddos, my piano teaching, warm weather/beach, and believe it or not...school?
I am thankful for such a fantastic husband who is patient and understanding and who wipes my tears when adjusting seems too hard..
God definately has blessed me. Randy is more than I could have asked for. I'm so fortunate to have a hubby who loves God and seeks for His direction.We pray together every night (Well, except for last night thanks to NyQuil)..and boy has God come through for us in so many ways!

I think sometimes God takes us out of our comfort zone so that we soley depend on Him, and so that we can truly see Him work in our lives. And Randy and I soooo have! I love it. :o) And btw, everything He takes away, He gives it all back plus more!! :o)

Anyways...I've found a vending machine full of snacks.. And I have a match on Words with Friends. So...blogtime is over. It's been a nice chat.

-Margarite.

How I lost Jesus, today....

2010-11-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." James 1:20

I lost Jesus today.

For a whole 15 minutes.

Let me tell you how it happened...

Randy drove to the ATL airport this morning.

He missed the drop-off/pick-up zone right up at the terminal, sooooo.. we stopped for a second, I ran and got in the drivers' seat, he kissed me goodbye, then he got bookbag out of the backseat. A police lady asked if we were dropping off or picking up and we said yes...And she said OK. Randy stood there for a minute while I entered my address in the GPS. Right then, police lady's power-trippin' coworker walks over and starts yelling at me... "OK, ma'am, you can park as long as you want, Give me your license!" I looked at him like, What? Randy tried to explain..but once again he yelled for me to give him my license... That's when the waterfall started...And it was downhill from there.

Randy had to catch his flight so he went inside the terminal. I sat there in my Honda as other policemen told me to leave, but, ofcourse I couldn't because Mr. Powertrip had my license and was writing me a ticket. And this made me cry harder, adding to the potential for attitude :o)

Randy came back out. He tried to calm me but I looked at him with teary, hateful eyes...afterall, HE was the one who stopped there, not me. Mr. Powertrip approached my window, cited my fault, and instructed me to sign my name.....

This is where I lost Jesus.

I don't know if Jesus ever uses the bathroom; but if He does, He probably was on a bathroom break...Because when I went look for Him in my heart...He disappeared...And I did something totally Un-Maggie-like...and even worse...UnJesus-like....

(All the meanwhile, mumbling how STUPID he is)

I know I probably had a good reason for being angry, BUT...It's not an excuse for acting out of anger.

I realized that Mr. Powertrip actually has a name...R. Young....That God knows. That God loves. That God wants to show His love to. But, unfortunately God will probably never be able to use ME to show Him His love anymore.

And just as bad...If i go to court to get it appealed or get a cheaper ticket, the judge will see my signature and probably not help me out. (Although, it would be halarious to hear her/him say, "Maggie F.U. Averett, are you present?" teehee.. okay,..no...BAD!

Lesson learned.

P.S. I have to say, I would NEVER say those words... buuuuuuut... i guess there's not really a difference. :o)

Forgive me Jesus! Help me to look at difficult people as PEOPLE that you LOVE rather than difficult people. And help me to act of out your love rather than anger.

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27

ps...Randy, I forgive you :o)

The reasons why I gained five pounds in Arizona...

2010-10-12T21:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I arrived back at home from a two week visit to Arizona.

It's good to be home I guess. I love seeing trees and grass. And it flooded today.

Anyways... Here goes a review of my trip. And for the few people who read my blog. I don't really write so much for you, as I write for me. It's a great outlet. That's why even if no one read my blog, I'd still write.

Sierra Vista isn't the most awesomest of places of earth... it's very...dry...and..quite boring.

Thank God for Randy. Otherwise I would have gone crazy. I realized while being there just how important human interactions are to me...While Randy was at work all day I was by myself...no one to talk to...nothing. I found ways to entertain myself though. I discovered this amazing little nail salon called "HIGHLIGHT Nails" that does $10 manicures! This became my Friday ritual. And the nail lady became my best friend and she didn't even know it. She hardly spoke English but I talked her head off...ya know... making up for all the talking to people I didn't get to do for the whole week. She did a really good job. And she gave me EXTRA arm massage time! WOO!

I also made a homemade red velvet cake

...thank you Paula Deen. It was...DEVINE.

And...of course...I shopped. Bought a few new things. My bag weighed 42 pounds when I arrived in AZ and luckily it still weighed under 50 pounds when I left... otherwise I would have had to pay a hundred bucks. YUCKY.

Let's see...

Oh, Randy and I did a lot of traveling on weekends. Went to Bisbee, as you know from my previous post, and ate at an outstanding restaurant-Cafe Roka. The next weekend we drove to Tuscan for the afternoon. Stopped at the Kief-Joshua Vineyards. I've always wanted to go to a vineyard.

Got to check that one off my list. There are a few vineyards/wineries in that one little area that we visited. All with in less than a mile from each other. These people must really like their wine. We continued on to the gas station before we headed to Tuscon. It was a Shell station..But the actual gas station building was a little log cabin country store.

I realized I still had a hole in my shirt (BTW...If you take a layer out of a shirt and it falls apart, don't try to sew it back up yourself by hand. Take it to someone who knows what they're doing) We went inside the little country store and I asked the lady if she had a safety pen. To my surprise, she handed me a stapler. lol. I gladly accepted and took myself and my shirt into the bathroom and performed surgery. And VUALA! FIXED! The only problem is.. I had staples sticking in my side all night. Oh, and we bought some homemade beef jerky! WOO!

K anyway.. Tuscon was nice. Went we to a fancy-smanshy little outdoor mall and ate dinner at Firebird's Wood Fired Grill. EXCELLENT food and the service was EXCEPTIONAL. Oh and Sunday I went to church with Randy. It was fab. I like his church. It's Thunder Mountain Community Church. It has a neat name.

During that next week it was back to boringness. But at the end of my day Randy made up for it by taking me to this amazingly beautiful part of base that made me feel like I had just stepped out of Arizona and into the Alabama countryside. It has become one of my favorite places. We made it a mini-tradition to walk there every afternoon when I picked him up from work. And there was a mountain that we climbed and halfway up was a parking lot that overlooked the whole city of Sierra Vista as well as Fort Huachuca. Breathtaking.

We decided to climb to the top of the mountain one evening and discovered and even more breathtaking view. There's something so fulfilling about climbing. Whether it's mountain or trees. I really love it.

The last weekend, we journeyed to the massive town of Phoenix. We actually stayed in a nice town called Scottsdale. I felt really poor there. Even though we were riding around in an Acura. This is the most upscale place I think I've EVER been to. It was really fun playing rich for a couple of days though. :o) Saturday, we went into Phoenix and visited some festivals. Cause that's what you do in Fall. You go to festivals. Phoenix has a TACO Festival. How cool. I'm really sad I talked Randy out of going. BOO. We did go to the Phoenix car show though and saw some really cool oldie cars.

We went back to Sierra Vista Sunday and stopped at a pumpkin patch where I picked my VERY FIRST pumpkin! It was GIIIIINORMOUS!!!!!! :o)

Then we went to his house and I cleaned out my very first pumpkin. DISGUSTING. We cleaned off the seeds...wait, I lie... RANDY cleaned off the seeds while I watched.. and we were going to roast them but we forgot. We did bake a cake though! And...it felt apart. But it was amazingly delish nonetheless.

I ate lots of French toast while in Arizona. Pretty much EVERY time we went out for breakfast. Here's my top picks for French Toast in AZ.

1. Denny's (Anywhere in USA)

2. The Breakfast Club (Scottsdale, AZ)

3. The Diner (Sierra Vista, AZ)

4. Cafee Ole' (Sierra Vista, AZ)

We actually went to a FRENCH restaurant called The Metro for breakfast the other day and their FRENCH toast SUCKED!

...And Randy found a hair in his eggs. EW.

Yea, and after a long day of flying yesterday....I am back in Alabama. Taking care of wedding stuff full force. I am getting my wedding dress fitted/altered Thursday. Good thing I lost five pounds before I went to Arizona.

...and bad thing I gained it back by the time I got back from Arizona.

Darn you French toast. .

Oh, and PS... I'd like to let you know I have the best fiance' in the universe. I'd like to thank him for making it possible for me to do all this.

He is the best ever.

And so darn CUTE! I love his silly face..it's my favorite. I get to marry it in less than two month.

-Margarite.

Classy Elegance with a Retro Flare..

2010-09-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

So,
I am visiting Randyman one last time in Arizona before we get married in December. BOO.
BUT... I am having a blast.
We went to a cute little town in the mountains called Bisbee last night.

The town in very historic and kind of has a hippy/bohemian feel. It is a very artsy town. A quiet and homey little town with lots of old hotels, bed&breakfasts, old-timey saloons, cute little non-franchised restaurants.

And there's a well-known (in South-eastern AZ) local coffee shop called Bisbee Coffee Inc. where they roast their own coffee and make their own blends. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I had their Autumn Flowers and Herbs hot tea and it was delish :)
Anyway...
The main reason I'm writing this blog is to tell the world (or just the ten to twenty people who read my blog) about this amazing little upscale restaurant in the heart of old historic Bisbee called Cafe Roka.

Randy made reservations for us at six. We arrived and we were seated on the 2nd floor. It was a balcony level that overlooked the first floor....

The restaurant very very classy and elegant with a fun retro flare... There was a giant fake mosquito on the wall. I thought it was neat. You can see it in the pic above.
Our waiter was AWESOME, as well as the rest of the waiting crew.
K, on to the food. This was a 4-course affair.
First was a chic pea and fennell soup.

It was so smooth and tasty and was excellent for dipping the fresh bread in. Next was a salad of dark greens drizzled with a roasted tomato vinagarette...To be honest....I can't really tell you how it was, because I don't eat dressing so after Randy ate his salad he switched plates with me and ate mine... I didn't want to look like a picky food-snob...you know??
Anyways.. after that lemon sorbet was served... to cleanse the pallet for the main entree.
Randy and I both ordered the Roasted Half Duck. The duck was laid over a bed of new potatoes and surrounding it was a colorful plate of sauces..cranberry, honey, & merlot sauce to be exact.

The duck was so tender and just FELL off the bones. The whole plate was bursting with flavor mostly because of all the sauces. SO many different flavors hit my tongue..it was Fantastic!
There were also roasted veggies (some kind of weird asparagus, carrots, baby tomatoes, and zucchini). I was pretty much STUFFED by this point, but the food so far was soooo very delicious we COULDN'T skip dessert! There were some great selections such as Tiramisu, a Key Lime Tart, flourless chocolate cake, and a couple more that I can't remember. We decided to go for the flourless chocolate cake. Partly, because I'm a female which means I'm slightly a choca-holic and mostly because we were curious how you could make a cake with no flour.
I never knew a flourless cake could be so delicious!!

It was rich and had the consistency of a custard/mouse. It was topped with a raspberry sauce, spearmint, and some diced fruit that I can't think of the name.. but it definately balanced out the richness of the cake.
...And by this point, we were BEYOND stuffed. But it was okay, since we didn't eat anything since breakfast yesterday morning. Saving room. :o)
Can I say again how wonderful the service was? Everything was served promptly and we never went without anything we needed. Also, every time we finished a course it was removed from our table quickly which was nice because our table would have become REALLY crowded. ha.

The restaurant didn't really become too crowded until we were leaving around 7:15ish.
You could tell this was definately a "happenin" place in Bisbee.

This dining Experience was outstanding. One of the best meals I've had, thanks to Chef Rod Kass.
I would definately recommend Cafe Roka to anyone traveling in the southeastern Arizona area. (It is only 30 minutes from Sierra Vista/Ft.Huachuca) And if you don't necessarily feel like eating at Cafe Roka, atleast visit Bisbee. It has a lot to offer. Cute shops, more good food, annual festivals (such as the Blues Fest that I'm so SAD we missed!!!) AAAAAAAAND...It's only 10 minutes from the BORDER OF MEXICO!!! :o)
How amazing is THAT?!

Maggie-Review:

Atmosphere- :):):):):)(Five Stars)

Food- :):):):):)

Service- :):):):):)

Location- :):):):):)

Price- :) But it was definately worth the price...so I'll give it another smile.. :)

Overall Experience: :):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

For more info on Cafe Roka, visit http://www.caferoka.com.

Anyways... My fingers hurt. You should go to southeastern Arizona sometime...just so this entry doesn't go to waste.

K. Bye.

Hello Friend, It's nice to see you again.

2010-09-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

So...

I had to come and dust off my blog.

Why has it been SO long since I wrote?!!!!

Don't worry, it won't happen again.

I feel as though I should update you on the past few months of my life....

As it turns out, my "friend" I so often referred to on my blog has become my fiance'.

"Uh..YES?!?!?!"

He actually has a name-Randy D. Downs. wow. He's amazing. I love our story. (Will give you the printer-friendly version)... Met at a Lifegroup of a church I don't even go to on March 7, 2010..We went out for smoothies that Thursday night and started hanging out LOTS...I ran a couple of times.. Realized I was stupid and that I loved everything about him.. And tada! We're getting married in December. God has "over-blessed" me. When you trust him, he will bless you with something(or someone) that's MORE than you could ever ask for.

I like him a lot...I probably can go as far as to say I LOVE HIM. Yes, I love my little milk-chocolate boy.

Let's see. I've traveled a lot.

Went to Texas..And Randy & I went to Savannah, GA and Charleston SC.

And I've visited him in Sierra Vista, AZ.

(Please, Lord, don't make us go back there for his Captain's Career Course...Please?)

jk...it's not TOO bad i don't guess.

There aren't luscious green yards there like here in Alabama.

But there are mountains to hike in! :o) WOO!

I went to Lifegroup for the first time in a while tonight.

I learned alot.

Like,...did you know it's approximately 103 degrees inside a whale.

I didn't. But because I went to bible study...now I do.

Thank you, Lord (and Ross), for that revelation.

Tonight I was asked (for the 23859283467014761013946518th time) if I wear a "BUMP-IT".

NO...I do not wear a bumpit, nor will I ever.

I will not CHEAT my way to a perfect bump.

I have perfected the craft of the "bump" by hand over the past 2 years.

Just so you know.

So, that sums up Maggie's life over the past few months.

Mmhm.

I can truly say I am happy.

Maggie's Texas Adventure

2010-05-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

What an eventful past five days.
Ohhhh, the lessons I have learned from my travels.
I'll give you guys a review of each day.
Monday:
So Monday I woke up, went for a nice run around Kacy's cute little neighborhood, got ready and headed West toward Austin. I heard there are some beeeeeautiful vineyards over that way. I drove for a good hour and a half or two , and realized that it was a much longer drive than a thought.
Sooo,..I turned around and headed back to Houston.
Decided to go downtown and look for lunch.
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE...
-Went down a one-way street THE WRONG WAY.
-Finally found a parking spot,...but later on found a present from the City of Houston. Goodbye $25. I guess I was supposed to pay that big huge machine thing in front of my car. Oops.
-Was asked out by my waiter at Little Napoli...I said no, don't worry.
-Walked a marathon trying to find my car. I finally found it.
-Was asked for money by a couple of bums.
-I did all this in HEELS.
Later, I needed something to do, so..I went and got my hur did. :o) Surprise, surprise.
That night, Kacy took me to the Boardwalk at Keemah and we ate at the Aquarium Restaurant!

Was really cool. I would have felt really bad eating fish, so I got a chicken breast.

Tuesday:
Woke up early and headed to San Antonio!!!!!!!!
I think I it possibly my favorite city visited so far. Wow, amazing.
The Riverwalk was just.. Beautiful.
I could definately live there. For Sure.
I had lunch at Ritas on the River. Was a yummy little Mexican restaurant on the river.
Saw what I wanted to see and headed back to Houston.
Last night for dinner, we went to Jason's Deli; I had never been to one before.
DELISH!

Wednesday:
2:45am.. Woke up with extremely horrible VERTIGO! BOO!
Hit the road at 9:45am still vertigo-ish and headed back to bama. Got stuck in traffic on I-10 for about an hour. I was feeling pretty blah and sorry for myself until I got a loving call from Mr.Terry and Mrs.Jeannine Graves.. Yes, I am healed and healthy in Jesus' name! :o) Love them! I actually feel a bajillion times better this evening! Thank you Jesus! I made it to my hotel in Mobile at about 6:30pm and headed downtown for dinner. Found a cute little pizza joint called Buck's.

AMAAAAAAAZING PIZZAAA!!! And they have fried pickles too!..although I didn't get any. sad day. I also saw a little piano bar downtown that I was sooo wanting to go in..but...I didn't. Then, ...naturally..i went to the mall. Found my Forever 21, bought a couple things. The mall closed at 9. I had entered through the Belk outside entrance but when they closed Belk was all closed up, and i couldn't figure out how to leave the mall. Thought i was going to have to spend the night in the mall(which I wouldn't have minded) until I nice gentleman showed me the way out. Anyways...now I am back at my pathetic little hotelroom. The pillows have marks on them, the tub is dirty, and two of the lights don't work. GRR. JUST ONE NIGHT, JUST OOOOONE NIGHT. Good thing I brought my own pillow and blanket.
All I've seen here are grandpas. Feeling a little out of place. Need rest..Going HOMEEE tomorrow!!!

K, Gotta go sit in my car for a while and let my phone charge. I left my charger in Friendswood. Goodness gracious.

God, thank you for this little roadtrip. For giving me time to think and hear from you. And for all the little life lessons you've taught me. I love you. I really really do.

And thank you for all the people who truly care about me. I feel so loved. :)

-Margarite.

Good,Bad, & the Ugly of Road-trips..

2010-05-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

So,...I'm in Texas. Finally.
It has been quite a day.
Not at all was it was SUPPOSED to be in my mind.
Let's review all the suckiness of my day:
-It flooded 90% of my drive here.
-I got caught in two hours of barely-moving traffic
a. I drank too much LifeWater (it's just so good) and had to use the bathroom.
b. My gas light came on.
c. This put me two hours behind, so I got to my hotel at 9:30pm, therefore I didn't get to explore. :o(
- Went to find food, my gps got me lost, the only thing i could find was Wendy's. bleh. I got back to the hotel and something stung my foot.

BUT, WAIT!!! Don't leave yet!!
Let's take a look at the GOOD:
-I'M HERE!!! WOOO!!
-I have an awesome suite all to myself.
-I get to see friends tomorrow!!
-I'm sipping hot green tea with tons of vanilla and splenda, from Starbucks. Can we say Yum?
-I saw a weight loss center right beside a Marble Slab Creamery tonight... FAIL! It made me chuckle.
-I saw a double rainbow today after the horrid traffic jam and the sun came out right as i was driving over the bayous; Twas BEAUTIFUL. It's like God was saying, "Maggie, I'm still here. It's all good. Love you bunches. Love, God."
THE GOOD DEFINATELY OUTWEIGHS THE BAD. :o)
This is going to be a good trip. Fantastic.
Thank you God for your grace.

Oh!!! Did I tell you about the guy who PEED by the interstate today?!!?!?! Right in front of everyone! I mean I know we were in a traffic jam for two hours and when you gotta go, you gotta go...but couldn't he have atleast found a TREEE!!?!?!

... I guess it's just a guy thing.

So sleepy. Going to go cuddle up in my king size bed. :o) Night.

Knee-Driving , Stair- Falling , & More

2010-05-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today I discovered the awesome fun in driving with your knees. I put cruise control on and knee-drove almost all the way home from Troy today. Amazing.
Next, I'll take on knee-driving with eyes closed.

...Kidding kidding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mother's Day is coming up.
I've been missing my "other mother" a lot lately.
She knows me better than a lot of people.
She holds me accountable to the Word and keeps my head on straight.
She's fun to talk to.. and she just OVERALL fun.
Also, she's sooooo full of wisdom and experiences.
I love her lots and haven't seen her in a few months.
So sad.

Miss you Nora.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Found out something both shocking and upsetting tonight that made me want to punch someone in the face. ...with love, ofcourse. And afterwards I would tell them Jesus loves them. ...because that is the Christian thing to do... ofcourse.
Just a warning: If you hurt someone I love dearly, I will hurt you. Got it?

K, the end :o)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyways..
Working with the kiddos tonight was really fun. It always is, but tonight I had a helper. All the kids looooooooved him. lol. Poor guy, he had 7 year olds hanging all over him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I managed to make all A's and B's this semester (so far..two grades aren't posted yet but I'm pretty confident that they are good.)
It's a miracle. I don't know how I pulled it off this semester. Thank you Jesus. All things are possible with you. WOOP.
SO GLAD THIS SEMESTER IS OVER, BTW.
...& so glad I can make it to kickboxing class @ the gym again! YEEESSSSS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a new Maggie-Proverb:

If thou art in a hurry because thou-est woke up late and art late for Sunday morning practice, do not run down thy stairs with HEELS on. Heel will get caught on stair and thou shalt tumble down stairs...Causing bruising and soreness.

I should probably stop getting hurt before people start thinking I'm abused.
Maybe I should just STOP being in a hurry all the time.

K,
I'm tired tired tired. I'm going to sleep sleep sleep.

MWAH,

Margarite.

This is the day that never ends, yes it goes on & on my friends....

2010-04-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

What a week so far.
Yesterday was really nice.
After my 8am class i headed back to Enterprise and found my wooden swing overlooking the water at park.
Was really enjoying some peace and quiet until...
So much for peace and quiet.

Went home and took a fantastic nap, went to music practice for church, then to my friend's church softball game. Saw people from GTH there. Was so good to see Marcie. I have missed my "big sis" lots. Was good to see my crazy frand Kristi too. haha. Anyways..my friend Treybo gave me these awesome souveniers from England including a cool chalk-like rock from this really neat looking mountain, and some British coins which I almost put in the vending machine at school today.

Today was perhaps the longest day I've had in a long time. It's the day that never ends (reminds of that old Lambchops song :o). And what do you know..It STILL hasn't ended.ha. Had so much to do. Thinking my GPA isn't going to look too good this semester. But atleast I made an A in Voice. woop.
The day ended on a good note though. I came hom from Troy and ate Mellow Mushroom with my sister ..It was delish. Afterwards, we went and watched my 7-year old cousin, Bryant play baseball. I love my little cousins. They make me laugh. :o)

Notice the lady on the bottom row with the red shirt. She's the one I kept accidently hitting with peanut hulls. Sorry nice lady who gave me dirty look.
..Oh and to top off the night, my mom made some chesscake. oh my, it is delish.
K, BED. GOOOOODNIGHT.
-Margarite

ps...Did I tell you that I owe the Troy University Library $52.50 in late fees? Couldn't they have a little mercy? Whaaaaat? I forget things. Haven't they ever forgotten something? k, bye.

Maggie-Proverbs

2010-04-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

So, I have obtained much wisdom from mistakes I have made.
Just recently I learned a very good lesson.
As many of you read on Facebook,
I decided to steam a wrinkle out of my shirt with it still on to save time since I was in a rush. But in the end I wasted TWICE as much time as I had planned on saving because I had to take off my shirt anyways to apply burn cream to my scorched side. :o)
Here's a picture I took of it today. hrm..You can kinda see things in it.. like a heart.. oh, and i see a duck too.
What do you see?

(ps..let me say again, that this is a picture of my SIDE)

ANYWAY..

Lesson learned: Just do the wise thing, even if it's going to take a little more time. It'll spare you alot of pain...literally.

...OUCH.

Went to the beach Friday. What a time. It was fantastic.

...and i got tan. WOOP! Mom will be proud.
The rest of the day/evening was interesting.
Drove to Troy early Saturday morning for Piano studio party. It was a lot of fun. I'm so thankful for my piano instructors who have seen potential in me to succeed and have helped me.

So..
The next two weeks hold lots of expectancy. There's is alot of potential for them.

..Yep.

-Margarite

HATES, HOPES, & HEARTS

2010-04-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, this week has pretty much been a roller coaster.
So stressful but had some good moments too.
I am DEFINATELY ready for this semester to be OVER.
Then Hello Summer, and (MAYBE) Hello CHANGE and NEW OPPORTUNITY. :o)
Please Jesus let this work out.

I've realized it's time to make some big girl decisions.

Anyways..
Tonight I got to see my dear chicas and chicos.
They discovered tonight that my phone makes videos. lol.

So Flora TRIED to make a video.
But she thought she had to REPEATEDLY press the record button....
Attempt 1...

ATTEMPT 2...

SUCCESS!!....

haha, love her.

I am sleepy. Goodnight friends.

-Margarite.

PS...I've found a song that makes me happy. "Melody" by Kate Earl. It was on my Ipod and didn't even realize it. It's been on repeat all day. Check it out. It will make you tap your toes and bob your head,...And make you smile. :o)

My Fantastically Entertaining Requiem Experience

2010-04-11T10:50:00.000-07:00

So, last night I had an awesome extra credit opportunity.
Me, Andrew, and Dahveed all desperately needed those fantastic extra credit points,
so we all hopped in the car and took off to Niceville, Florida.
It was an entertaining ride to say the least.
And I documented our little roadtrip...

PRE-REQIUEM EXPERIENCE INTERVIEW....

We finally got there, picked up our tickets, and realized that Andrew and Dahveed were on row H ...and I was on Row V. No biggie. After intermission, I went and sat in the empty seat on row H beside my friends. Mozart's Requiem was kinda cool. There was this one part I really liked but I can't remember what it was. Anyway..over all great experience...

POST-REQUIEM EXPERIENCE INTERVIEW....

We then ate Subway. It was good. And headed home. And I got to see a Airforce Base! ..it was neat. K. The end.

-Margarite.

ps..Have you ever listened recorded yourself talking? BLEH!! Is it just me, or do I sound like BAAAAABY?

hrm. k, bye. :o)

EAT MOR CHIKIN

2010-04-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

Highlight of my Week:
My music theory instructor gave everyone in the class a box of Peeps on Wednesday.

Peeps are so cute that I never want to eat them.
I almost feel bad biting their cute little heads off.
...Almost.

Probably going to move away for the summer...which is a month away.
Where to? ...I don't know.
Any ideas?
Probably should figure that out pretty soon and start looking for a job.
I want to do something ministry-wise.
Something where I can serve others, instead of myself.
Any ideas?

Does anyone else out there ever feel like they can't hear God? Like there's a wall or something in the way? Like you can't FEEL Him? Like you're a million miles away?
If so, then you know it's absolutely no fun. I guess all you can do is keep seeking, keep searching.
In Matthew 7:7-8, He says:
"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."

So I'm going to keep on asking & seeking & banging on His door.

And even when I can't feel Him, I know He's there.
He hasn't gone anywhere.
He said He'll never leave me nor forsake me.
And this guy can't lie.

Yep.

-Margarite.

ps. Thanks Hollie.

Coldstone's New Doorman/Security Guard & More

2010-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

What an excellent weekend.
Here it is in pictures & video.

Friday night was fun. Got to hang with some old friends I haven't hung with in a while.
We went to Dothan and after dinner went to Coldstone for icecream.
Looks like they have a new doorman who is also a security guard...

Where is this kid's parents? He literally lingered at the door for an hour. omg. It was halarious.
Sometimes he would just walk up to the window and stare...and drool. And at one point he went inside, went up to the cooler with icecream cakes, and stood with his hands on the glass just staring at them. poor kid. lol. He was cute though. Oh, and excuse the IDIOTS narrating in the background in the vid. ..Boys..

Later came back to Enterprise, went and saw a fraaaand. And then hung with my sisters for a little bit. It was nice to see them as I haven't seen them in like, 3 weeks.

Saturday started off to be a pretty average day. But it turned out to be FABULOUS in the end.
Me and frand want to eat dinner somewhere outside. I say beach (kidding, but not really), frand says, lets go..I say...OK! So me & frand hop in the car & off we go to the beach for dinner.
The ride was wonderful..We let the windows down and turned up the radio..ahhhh..

It was the life.

In spite of getting lost and getting stuck in Spring Break traffic, the trip was totally worth it. We got a table right on the beach at Sharky's and right as the sun was setting.

From Maggie-Thoughts

It was absolutely gorgeous! And there was live music! AAAAND I got green chips to eat with the cheese dip! ...And there were fireworks! It was definately a fun evening. I love being spontaneous.

And today is Easter.
Thank you Jesus for loving me and dying for me..
And most importantly for resurrecting.
That sets you apart from every other religious figure.
He's aliiiiiiiive!
You rock, Jesus.

Also, thank you Easter Bunny for bringing me lots of chocolate and a cool book and stuff. You rock too..but not nearly as much as Jesus.

Happy Easter, my friends.

-Margarite

God Makes Everything Right.

2010-03-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

So..
I think I need a vacation.
Or maybe I should move.
There's alot going on right now.
I'm holding on to the psalms that say,
"God makes everything right."

I can't remember which number they are though.
But, that phrase is repeated multiple times in the book of Psalms..
And I do trust that God will make everything right.

I found a quote I really like:

A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful.

-Jacqueline Bisset (English actor)

Those are some standards I strive to live by.

I want to be a woman of integrity.

One who people know is grounded in the Truth and knows where she stands.

One who is honest with herself and holds herself accountable.

One whom a Godly man would be proud to have as a wife one day.

One who promotes justice and isn't afraid to stand up for her beliefs and convictions.

God help me to continue to be that kind of woman.

Story of the Day:
An old man came into my lane today and ran me off the road
It was scary.

I missed my pup,Fuzzy, alot today. I see everyone walking their dogs at the park and it makes me sad. Thinking about getting a new furry-friend.

Not much to talk about today.
Goodnight.

Margarite

ps. I am exicted about recording demos tomorrow that I will be sending off. YES.
.

The Ultimate South-Alabama Experience

2010-03-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Meet my good friend Trey Wheeler.

Trey hails from "The Old North State", North Carolina.

On March 27, 2010 Treybo got to partake in the Ultimate South-Alabama Experience:

RATTLESNAKE RODEO.
I hate I missed it (HA).. I would have loved to see the greased-pole climb race.
*snickers*

Anyway, Check out his RR apparel, complete with the RR tee and Dale Earnhardt cap.
(you can actually feel the "scales" on the rattlesnake!)

...Priceless.

Last night we all went to La Parilla for Will Leib's birthday.
My fiesta salad was muy delicioso and there was live music. Perfect!
Here is the Friendly Taste of Mexico we received after the waiters sang Happy Birthday.

This has to be the best face I've seen.
Will kept making donkey sounds everytime he showed this to anyone last night....???
Will, you are a funny funny guy.
Oh, notice the Justin Poss magnet holding down this amazing pic.
That's my uncle..he sells houses and is awesome at it..
You should give him a call @ Team Linda Simmons if you need to sell/buy a house.
He's super nice.
K, end of advertisement.
(you're welcome in advance, Jut ;o) )

Tonight at Lifegroup, Scott Keen made the most amazing homemade cheesecake I have EVER had in my life.
Holy COW.
I've realized I talk about tasty food in my blog alot.
but..I think good chefs should receive kudos for their deliciously outstanding work!

Anyway...Tomorrow is Monday. Hello week. I'm ready to take you on.

Margarite.

ps: I discovered today that I can ride all the way to Troy on empty and not run down by the road.
I love you Honda.

A moment on the Lips is a Lifetime on the Hips..

2010-03-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

K, so.

The sun is shining but, I'm still down.

That is weird.

Have no idea why.
Oh well, I'll get over it.
..Whatever it is.

This morning was quite refreshing.

I woke up, spent some time with Jesus, went to the coffeeshop to grab some greentea, and headed to the park where i laid myself down on a wooden swing overlooking the lake. I popped in my headphones and just sat. And let the wind blow in my hair. And I didn't even sneeze.

Then I took a little walk.

Have I mentioned that I love Spring?

Last night I was reminded of my love for kareoke...

even though I didn't even get to sing (bummer)..

I think listening to other people kareoke is just as fun as doing it yourself.

Saw my freshman speech teacher trying to kareoke it up...HALARIOUS.

So much I need to do today:

1. Make a resume.

2. Practice for choir concert tomorrow.

3. Hem dress for choir concert tomorrow. If it doesn't get done, though, I guess I can just wear my super-tall 3 inch heels and then they won't be able to tell that I didn't get my dress hemmed.

4. Somehow get over being nervous that I have to accompany a song at the concert tomorrow.

I want to do something.

I love my little town.

But I've been here for my whole life.

Would like to put life on pause for atleast a couple of months and do an internship in Nashville

or just work a job in cute little Franklin, TN.
We'll see if that actually happens.

....i think i ate all the Friendship bread.

oh my.

There's a Spongebob episode that has been stuck in my mind for years.

(Don't laugh at me)..
Squidward becomes addicted to Krabby Patties.
Spongebob walks in on him gorging all the Krabby Patties in the KrustyKrab vault and almost has a heart attack. He urgently yells for Squidward to STOP!
Squidward replies: ""What's gonna happen? Am I gonna blow up?"
SpongeBob replies "No, worse, it'll go right to your THIGHS… and then you'll blow up."

oh no!

Good thing I've been walking/bodycombatting/kickboxing/running my butt off lately..

Literally. :o)

Margarite.

Random Maggie-Rants...

2010-03-25T17:12:00.001-07:00

Here goes the most random Maggie-Thought entry in the history of all Maggie-Thoughts. Just bear with me. I have alot of my mind...

It has been a very interesting past few days to say the LEAST.

very, very...eventful.

I came home today and found on the counter what mom says is called "Friendship Bread" ... name fits it well..as I definately want to be friends with whoever made it. O.M.G. so good.

Did I tell you someone ransacked my car the other night?...oddly they didn't take anything..this time. A month ago my GPS disappeared from my car. hrm.

I am beyond ready for the beach.

I love warm weather. Well, right now, anyways. In a few months I'll be saying I hate warm weather. I like that God made seasons, cause He knows we are like that.

We can actually learn alot from seasons, as life has its seasons too. Although you may prefer one season over another, there is something beautiful about every season.

Like, in winter, although it's terribly cloudy all the time...

You get to wear scarves and boots. And drink hot chocolate while you cuddle by a fire. And the Alabama sky in winter is fantastically beautiful when the sun is setting. In Spring, you get that perfect temperature with a light breeze, that is fabulous to jog in. And you see the flowers bloom and hear the birds sing. And in Summer, you get a tan and get to swim alot and you get to sit in the back of a truck at the Drive-in. And in Fall...You get to see the leaves turn amazing colors and eat lots of candy corn :o)

Sometimes you just have to look for the beautiful things in each season, in both Earth-seasons & life-seasons.

Anyway,...

I spent all this morning searching online for jobs.

Need.job.desperately.

Today I woke up and went for a walk.

It's good "talk to God" time.

I've realized that everytime I go to the park I get this overwhelming urge to climb a tree..I guess I am just a monkey at heart.

OH! And today I saw the bad-guy from Jumanji.. Safari-hat, beard, the whole shabang!

...And he was talking to the squirrels. A LITTLE creepy, so I quickly walked to my car...and left.

Oh oh! I have a new friend who showed me this amazing little App called Shazam...It's the one where you put it up to your speakers and it tells you the name of the song playing and who sings it...AMAZING! I have been Shazaming all day. I even tried to sing into it to see if would show my name... It didn't. But wouldn't that be amazing if it did? ..Or maybe more like scary.

K, that it is all. :o)

-Margarite.

Blah blah blah

2010-03-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Didn't go to school today as I wasn't feeling well. Felt like I wasted half of my day. :o/ Started to feel better after noon though so got to do my evening activities. woop.

Got to see my babies tonight. :o) ..And once again, they stole my phone. Here's some of their picture-art.

I love them. :o)

After that I rushed to small group. Tonight was Italian night and someone made chicken parmesan..O....M....G.... It was DE-LISH. I'm really enjoying my small group. Even though I mees my old small group like crazy I LOVE meeting and getting to know new people.

Boy am I glad I'M not in flight school. Just helped someone study for their test Friday. He has to know Emergency Procedures verbatim. YIKES. But, I mean, I guess it IS pretty important. SO GLAD IT'S NOT MEEEEEEE. I'll stick with music school. ;o)

:) Nightnight.

Margarite.

ps...i am super pumped that The Swell Season is coming to Bham on May 26!!! AH! Anyone want to buy me a ticket? :)

How Do You Spell YMCA?

2010-03-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

O...M...G...
SPRINGTIME IS COMING!!!
I became overly excited when I saw these trees. :o)

Life is really crazy right now.
Agh. Very very crazy.
There are def some high emotions goin' on about everything that's going on right now.

Probably need some prayer.
...Nope, def need some prayer.
Thank you in advance...mmhm.

Random Maggie-story of the Day:
Today one of the teachers at Mom'school had a kid ask how you spell YMCA.
...
He probably isn't the brightest lightbulb in the third grade. poor guy.

Anyway, I am rediculously TIRED. LONG day tomorrow..
And I have to wake up before the Sun wakes up again tomorrow, which I do not like.

I feel like i'm being very moody...
So..NIGHT.

-Margarite

Don't compromise the THRONE..

2010-03-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

Wow.
What an eventful last couple of days.
Good eventful.

Smoothies have always been my favorite snack.
But this week, it seems my love for them has multiplied times...a bajillion. :)

I am sad that Spring Break is over.
This past week has been amazingly relaxing and refreshing.
Today was the perfect end to a great week.
Woke up to the sun shining. Ate a delish strawberry waffle with whippedcream at Huddle House, got to look at funny clothes at a gentlemen's clothing store for a long time. Then had the best walk in the world. I took a new trail today. Went to Fort Rucker to the trails there and it was BEAUTIFUL. I love being outside.

I just got home from a fun night with friends.
We had an interesting conversation about foreign toilets. My friend, Brian, said that when he was in Japan, the toilets had tons of buttons for like, "Massage" or "Turn on TV" or "Heated Seat"...etc...

...AMAZING.
I think that one of those really lives up to the term "THRONE". If I had one, I would NEVER leave the bathroom. ....People would probably become concerned.

What's wrong with America? Why don't we have such toilets? Sigh..the Japanese are so much further ahead of us. Come on, America. Get on it.

And now...tired. Oh so tired. And just had to set my clock forward an hour. Oh my. Getting up tomorrow will be fun. Excited that some friends will be coming to church with me! Woop woop! :o)

I love life.

-Margarite.

Eat French-fries at Own Risk

2010-03-11T17:09:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning to two snuggle-buddies. :o)

I love them :o) .
It was so strange taking them to school this morning. They are growing up so fast!

Haha, Bryant cracked me up this morning.
He said Abbey's friend went with them to eat at McDonald's last night and told him that was her boyfriend. He said," Well, he's mean. He was throwing frenchfries at my head. He almost broke my head because they were really sharp frenchfries."

When did Frenchfries become a safety-hazard? lol.

Me and Abs ate Myori today and the waiter just realized we are sisters. I swear he came to the table atleeeeast 5 times to tell us that he never knew we were sisters. lol. Oh, and he noticed that both of us take the mushrooms out of our chicken bowl. We found out that we can actually order our chicken bowls without mushrooms. Thank nice Myori guy. :o)

I went to the park today and had two dog incidents.

1. I saw my friend and he was walking his big lab. He stopped and we talked. He looked down and said," Oh, I think you have sunscreen or lotion or something on your leg."

...It was his dog's SLOBBER...YUCK. I proceeded to wipe it OFF my leg and onto his shirt. lol.

2. There was this guy with a huge German Shepard...
German Shepard poos. Guy bends down to pick up poo, not paying any attention to what his dog is doing behind his back. Maggie walks by. Dog runs and jumps on Maggie.Dog is as big as Maggie. Almost knocks Maggie down. Guy says nothing, not even I'm sorry on his dog's behalf....oh well. Was nice about it. Afterall, God loves "jumpy-dog-owners-who-let-their-dogs-jump-all-over-people" too.

Anyways.
Went to Darden's for the 1st time in forever and sipped some yummy Pomegranite greentea. :) I love it there. It takes me out of Enterprise and to another place.
Then, I got to take a nap. It was fab :o)

Oh! Tomorrow I am recording some demos with Jason. I am PUUUUUMPED.

...Can't believe Spring Break is almost over.

k, waiting for a phone call. Later.

Margarite.

I love Smoothies. :)

Windshield-Wiper Revelations

2010-03-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

SWELL DAY. :o)

1.Got to sleep in.
2.Had lunch with my amazing friend Jordan Lohr.

a. For lunch we ate Mellow Mushroom and i got to build my yummy salad:
-Romaine Lettuce-Parmesan-Terriaki Chicken- ...YUM.
Except they put JERK chicken on it instead and it was so daggum spicy that it felt like my tongue had gone to Hell and I couldn't eat my salad. oh well.
b. After lunch we walked to Dakotas and I got to sip delish green tea.

3. Taught piano for 30 minutes to one of my favorite students.
a. This other girl was in the other room getting her lesson. Her name is Quinn and she's like...8 or something and is a freaking piano prodige.ANNNYWAY... I walked in the other room to sign out of work and she said my hair looked very pretty. :o) It really made my day, since I'm HATING my hair and have been self conscious about it all day. lol

4.Got to see my precious hispanic-babies. :o)
We talked about the prodigal son. And they actually sat down and listened.
Except Edwin stole my phone and was taking pictures the whole time. :o) i love him.
Here's some of his photoart..

5. Went to small group at Hollie & Matt's tonight and ate Thanksgiving dinner!
a. Met some really awesome people.
b. Had the best mash-potatoes i've ever eaten in my LIFE.

6. Had someone really fun contact me tonight.

:o) Night my wonderful readers.

Margarite.

ps: I noticed something amazing tonight... When I slow down in my car my windshield wipers slow down and when I speed up they speed up... AMAZING.
Makes sense since it rains harder when you're driving fast and lighter when you're stopped at a stoplight. (So it seems).

UNRecommendation

2010-03-10T06:53:00.000-08:00

K so,...
In continuing my reading this morning, I realized that this guy is very opinionated and definately has some opinions I DO NOT agree with. I won't go into it.. it'll just get me riled up.
I know I recommended the book, but can I UNrecommend it? At least pages 92 through 94...
Other than that, I think It should be fine...maybe..I haven't made it to the end yet so we'll see.

Isn't it funny though how one thing someone says can totally undermine everything else they say? Not even sure if I want to read the rest of this book.

Some people..

Hair Adventures

2010-03-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

Going to fix this hair problem..Here goes nothing..

Going to cry.
My hair. My (usually) beautiful hair.
As of 5 minutes ago my highlights were pinkish-red.
Going to cry.

We'll see how this turns out in 30 more minutes.

I have officially learned my lesson..
NO MORE AT-HOME COLORING. EVER.
...maybe.

Today I saw my good friend Jordan as I was on my way to kickboxing class. :o) I miss her much. Me and her are alot alike. Wish I saw her more... but, GOOD NEWS!, There is a possiblity we may get lunch tomorrow :o) YIPPEE.

Biggest News of Today:
I read (almost) half a book! (Reading a book is one of my 2010 resolutions)

It's called "WHAT HE MUST BE...If he wants to marry my daughter"
My mom was reading it and she left it on her bed,...so I decided I'd take a peak.
It's for padres, but IIII have gotten so much out of it.
I'm learning what I should be looking for in a hubby in this perversed world full of JERKS. (paha jk)
It talks about the father's role in his daughter's relationships. Which is kind of neat. Not that there are to be arranged marriages or anything. But it is his duty to protect his daughter from an unGodly relationship. or something along those lines.. You should probably read it too. Whether you're a Daddy, or a daughter, or a son, you will get lots out of it.

That reminds me,
I met this one guy whose gentleman skills totally blew me out of the water. WOAH!

Anyway..
HAIR UPDATE:

YAY. I have pretty highlights :o) That was a CLOSE one!
Ok, I know all you cosmetologists out there who have been following my hair-adventures are about to pull your OWN hair out...I promise..I'll stop!..before MINE falls out!

I ate scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning... Sometimes I don't like eggs. I had to force them down. YUCK.

I almost cried today. It makes me sad when people aren't shown God's love by others just because they are different or they weren't as fortunate to be born into the life (or country) that they were. Especially when Christians do it. It hurts my heart. Really really bad...

Margarite

2010-03-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

Happy March 8th everyone.

Today the sun shone :o)
You can't imagine how fantastically excited I was.
I wore a TSHIRT and SHORTS! woo!
Went to the park (For the 3rd day in a row) and took a walk.

...It was beautiful.
Definately swim-weather.
I was tempted to hop in the lake with the ducks.
I decided not to.

So I thought it was great that I got to wear shorts today.
But...my mom told me I need to go to the tanningbed (THANKS MOM)
She's right. This winter's wardrobe has taken a tole on my melanin levels.
So, as unhealthy as I think it is...I will start tanning again...for everyone else' sake. Did you know that in the "old-days", being PALE and WHITE was favorable...it showed you had class. Can I just pull that card?
okay okay, i'll go...
But I'm NOT going to end up like those girls who look like leathery gingerbread cookies. :o)

Yes...i said it.

Went to a Bible-study with my sister tonight. I really enjoyed it.

OH....and I can't leave this important part of my day out.
k, so... my roots were starting to show and I can't stand that...So,...I made the impulsive decision to try and dye my hair back dark blonde/light brown....
My hair was bleach blonde SO I figured if I used a really dark color it would balance out and I would get that middle color...UM..

NOT SO MUCH.

My hair pretty much soaked up that "Nice 'n Easy: darkest natural brunette" and my hair is now DARKEST NATURAL BRUNETTE. Great. This isn't the 1st time. Guess I'll just have to live with it for a while.. atleast a few weeks anyway.

...Who needs Cosmetology school? I just learn by trial and error...LOTS & LOTS OF ERROR. paha.

THE END. :o)

Margarite

You wanna Donut?

2010-03-07T21:05:00.001-08:00

I went for a walk today.
Alone.
It was fabulous.

Today my sister's boyfriend came to church and to my Granny's for lunch and bless my Granny's heart (and his), She asked him atleast three times if he wanted a donut for dessert.
...And then she asked me if she asked him if he wanted a donut for dessert. :o)
I love her.

Tonight I met this guy who reminds me of my brother Terrell.
Don't know why I have to give you his name , haha..he's my ONLY brother.
Anyway..
This guy looks kinda like Terell and his mannerisms are alot like his.
I thought it was cool.
And he talked about how he wouldn't be where he is today if it weren't for the man who picked him up for church every Wednesday when he was a teenager. And I remembered the first time we ever picked Terrell up for church and where he was then and where he is now. He's come a LONG way. :o) What a mighty man of God my brother is now.
God used my mom.. Because she was willing to be used... And because she has the biggest heart in the world.

Just ranting..
But.. think... you never know what impact you could be making on someone else's life.

On a random note:

Timothy Keel makes the best banana pudding in the world. WOW. Fantastic.

Oh, and at Lifegroup i tried poppy-seed chicken. DELISH!
I just hope that I don't have to take a drug test for some odd reason tomorrow. Don't know why I would. But it wouldn't be good since I ate lots of poppyseeds tonight. Isn't that the equivalent of like... marajuana or cocaine or something?
Hrm.

K. Goodnight.

-Margarite.

PS: If you ever feel like commenting, I'm sorry, but this layout is a retard and made my comments box vanish; Sooooo..you'll have to leave one on facebook or something.

2010-03-06T15:39:00.000-08:00

Today was the most gorgeous day in the world.

This morning, ran some intervals with frands.
And laid in the grass for a few while doing ab workout...even though i'm allergic to grass..
It was very rejuvinating.

And I wished I had a kite.

Thinking..

Can God really watch one of His loves just walk away?
I think His love is greater than that.
He'll wait.
And when they come back around,
He'll be like the prodigal's father.
But I guess all I can do is pray. You know?
Prayer is pretty powerful.
Anyway, Was just thinking.

On another note..

My certificate of registration finally came in yesterday for a song I wrote a few years ago. I know it's registered the minute you click SUBMIT but it's just cooler to have it on paper. It makes it ...OFFICIAL :o) And more should be coming in the mail soon! yippeee.

Going to see Alice in Wonderland tonight. That's my favorite Disney movie and I'm excited but...It looks a little trippy, like it should be called "Alice on Drugs."
But excited nonetheless.. even if I am going to feel like I'm on acid....not that I know what that feels like.

:o) THE END

"Nice Goatee, Debussy"

2010-03-04T18:24:00.001-08:00

...My latest hit single..Here goes:

Nice goatee, Debussy
Writing them gangsta melodies.
Wagnerism out tha do'
You write betta
That's fo sho.
Arabesque, Clare de la Lune
You make really pretty tunes.
Nice goatee, Debussy
Ownin' that 20th century.

Thank, you. Thank you, very much.
K, time to get back to writing.

-Margarite

So there's this guy named Debussy...

2010-03-03T20:46:00.000-08:00

Nice goatee, Debussy. Hey, that rhymes. I feel a song coming on.

I am writing a paper.

...I am horrible at writing papers.
I figure that since I enjoy blogging, if I blog about Debussy it will make writing this paper funner AND easier. Two birds with one stone.
So...I am going to regurgitate what I've read so far..In my own words ofcourse.. then I will finish putting it in paper form.

K so..
Debussy's REAL name was Achilles-Claude Debussy. I'm pretty sure he was named after his padre, Manuel-Achille. Don't know why he didn't go by Achille (Isn't that the name of a part of the body or something?). I guess it's kind of like my parents' names. They both go by their middle names. Did you know that my dad's real name isn't David? It's really James. And mom's not really Rena'...Hello BEVVVVVERLY.:o)

Anywho...After Claude's daddy spent some time in the French marines he settled down & found him a wifey (Victorine Manoury). Together, they moved to a little suburb of Paris, Germain-en-Laye where they ran a little china shop(how cute!). Victorine also worked as a seamstress. They were your typical middle-class couple. While they were in Germain-en-Laye, they brought into the world their first little one: Claude! They probably didn't know that their kid was going to be one of the greatest composers of the 2oth century! (Atleast in my mind he is). I'm sure Debussy's daddy didn't. He had his own dreams for Claude to become a sailor.

K, so during this time The Frano-Prussian War was going on and the family was forced to move in with Dubussy's aunt, Clementine (I love all these pretty, Frenchy names). SHE saw potential in Claude to be a great musician and composer. She introduced Claude to Jean Cerutt, a rockin' Italian musician and he became Claude's piano teacher. This is where Claude Debussy started his extraordinary musical career.

*PAUSE*

....I'm tired. More to come tomorrow.

oh, and in case Dr.Phillips is reading this...
Don't worry. This is not what my paper sounds like. :o)

-Margarite

2010-03-01T21:21:00.000-08:00

It's raining out.
I love the sound of the rain.
It's like nature's music.

You know when you're looking forward to something, but there's something you're NOT looking forward to right before it? AHHHH...that's what's happening this week.
Next week is Spring Break, but THIS week I have SOOOOOO much to get done it's not even funny..Including a research paper I have yet to begin. LORD HELP ME!

Anyway...Tomorrow LIMELIGHT auditions are taking place. We have a pretty good number of auditionees scheduled..and there are sure to be walk-ins. YAY! Evidence that I'm doing my job right! haha. :o)

Today one of my friends' Facebook statuses read:

"Sandwiches: giving women something to make since 1959"

really? ...lol...i have to admit..it's kind of funny...but here's one for you guys..

"Foot: Giving men something to stick in their mouth since the beginning of time."

:o)

Oh, and there's this pastor dude whom I don't know, but he follows me on Twitter. He posts the cheesiest "GOD-is-like-Sayings" I have ever heard. I mean that in a nice way...heh heh.
Here are the latest:

-GOD is like BAYER ASPIRIN ... He works miracles.
-GOD is like ALLSTATE ... You're in good hands with Him.
-GOD is like COKE .... He's the real thing.
-GOD is like DIAL SOAP ..Aren't you glad you have Him.Don't you wish everybody did?
-GOD is like DELTA ... He's ready when you are.
-GOD is like VO-5 HAIR SPRAY ... He holds through all kinds of weather.
-GOD is like SCOTCH TAPE ... You can't see him, but you know He's there.
-GOD is like SEARS ... He has everything.

Let's see if I can come up with one:

GOD is like my HAIR.. He's big and bright.

eh? eh?

The End.

-Margarite.

ps: Thank you, God, for rain, even though it makes my hair frizzy.

2010-02-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

I love my silly friends.

Friends are the bomb. I would probably go crazy without them. That's not a bad thing..I don't think. I mean, God is the one who gives us friends. He INVENTED friends.
Friends keep each other accountable. Friends can strengthen you. Friends can see things in you sometimes that you can't see.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV
(Now I have that song "Two is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls stuck in my head.)

Point made...Friendship is good.

I felt so loved today, as maaaany of my friends showered me with comments/messages & such telling me how they appreciated me & were glad to be my friend. I have no idea where it all came from, but it totally made my day! :o) I guess God knew that it would. Amazing!

I was thinking today about what my ten-year high school reunion will be like (Still got a ways to go). I actually got a little panicky and worried..I thought to myself, "WHAT IF I'M NOT DOING SOMETHING AMAZING BY THEN?!" I quickly turned this worry/fear into MOTIVATION and my perspective on things totally changed. Now I'm thinking, "What all can I accomplish by then?"
I think it's good to set some goals for myself. Otherwise, I get nowhere and I become indecisive. An unknown author once said, "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." Simple, but so true.

Okay, I've rambled enough for tonight. Nightynight, my friends.

-Margarite

Kids Say the Darnest Things

2010-02-21T21:41:00.001-08:00

Weekend Review:
Good.
Simple.
Yet busy.
But Fun.

My cousins Baylee and Bryant turned seven this past week. It makes me feel old. Considering how I remember when they were born. I think about how tiny they were; how you could hold them in your hand. And how I was SO proud of them (& still am). And then came precious Brynna (The cutie in the picture)..THREE amazing little miracles. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! Eeeeeeven in moments like today: After gettng little sleep last night, going to church at 7:30am, and singing through two services I came home to take a loooong refreshing nap. About 45 minutes into my beloved nap I hear little feet stomping up the stairs. Then I hear little fists banging on my door and little voices saying "I think she's asleep. I don't think she can hear us." pahaha. They make me smile. :o)

Anyway, Baylee and Bryant had their birthday party at Cupcakes Ya'll. It was so cute. The kids all wore aprons and chef hats and they each got 3 cupcakes to decorate however they wanted. As Baylee was squeezing icing out of her bag onto her cupcake I STUPIDLY whispered in her ear that it looked like "Pink Poopoo". WHAT WAS I THINKING? "Mouth-of-the-south" proceeds to bust out laughing and yells across the room what her funny cousin, Maggie, just said. I could only imagine what was going through the moms' heads then. "Cousin-Maggie is a bad influence on my child. I'm never calling HER to babysit." GREAT. paha. Gotta love Baylee. She is something else. :o)
Oh, can't forget about Rice-Krispie girl.. K, so, all the kids got little bags to take their cupcakes home in. Well, I see this one little girl stashing a huge rice-krispie into her baggie. And I thought to myself, "I'm preeeeeeetty sure the kiddos didn't get rice-krispies as party favors." Suuuuure enough, I look over at the counter where all the sweet-treats are for sale and there is a chair pulled up to it. All the treats are lined up nice and neat and I see one huge empty space right smack dab in the middle of the rice-krispies. paha. Needless to say, she didn't get to take her rice-krispie home.

Kids do & say the darnest things. They are awesome :0)

THE END.

2010-02-17T21:29:00.000-08:00

Just want to start off saying how awesome my Daddy is. He's #1 in the whole universe.
This is the text message I receive EVERY single morning from my daddy. He probably thinks it's no big deal; that it's just a small thing. But to me, it's a such a huge deal. This teeny-tiny thing makes a huge difference in my day. It can totally turn a bad morning into a good one. It's nice to know that he thinks about me when he awakes in the morning. My Daddy's just like that though...He does the sweetest little things, but little does he know how BIG they are to me. :o) I love him.

Today was..eh..long.
I am quite FRUSTRATED.
Don't judge..I am just human...believe it or not.
So, give me just one minute to vent:
Marketing=STRESSED Maggie.
This CP class scares me to death. I feel like I did when I was in K-12: like I was the only one who wasn't getting it. Just kind in my own clueless little world. ha. I am trying to do everything right and I want to please everyone so so bad. but my little A.D.D. brain isn't the fastest "picker-upper". So...
I am definately going to need God to be my strength where I'm weak. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! woop woop! :o)

Ok,... THE END of that.

Why do I always try to keep myself up as long as possible? I am about to fall over. Should probably give in and let my body sleep. Yup..Night.

Yours truly,
Margarite

2010-02-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

This, my friends, is Jim Brickman. I was introduced to him by my good friend, Meagan King, @ school today via Youtube. Thank you, Meagan..you have changed my life. PAHA!
Check him out... I mean, check his music out....

Annnyyyyways..
I liked today. I got to have fun conversations with fun people, including my voice teacher. We discussed the fact that maturity levels don't always match age.
Example: Guy is 18, but acts like he's 25 or 30. (Thumbs up)
And then there's the way too common scenario: 25 year old acts like a 12 year old.(Thumbs DOWN)
I don't really know where I'm going with this...just stating a fact i guess.

My voice teacher has been letting me sing jazz lately, which makes me really happy..Because I was MADE to sing Jazz. haha. She told me I should see if there's a jazz band or something around here I can sing in. I've alway's imagined myself as Mary Jane in Spiderman, singing in Jazz-bars (uh...i mean Jazz-churches?) in NYC. Ahhhh, I would love it. :o)

On another note:
Concert Production wasn't as bad as I thought it would be today. I was definately put on the hotseat, but luckily didn't come out crying. paha. I know making this concert happen isn't an easy thing though and I'm having to push myself and not let myself give up. I'm not going to do like I've done in the past and give up every time something gets difficult. HOLD ME TO THAT. :o)

K, time to get things done. Byebye blog.

-Margarite

2010-02-12T17:01:00.000-08:00

K, so there was a "Blizzard" in Enterprise today. There's real snow EVERYWHERE!..like 5 inches! I woke up this morning amaaazed to find that the ground in my yard was completely WHITE..It felt like Christmas! I rushed to get out of bed and slipped on some clothes and my handydandy Uggs...They finally served their purpose!! Got hot tea and headed to the park. I was surprised to see that my friends also had the same idea! It was lots of fun. I made my first snow angel and sledded for the first time! :o) It was great. I felt like a little girl! :D
The down side of this day though... No trip to Florida to the "roll-throwin" place. Miss my friends down there. :o(

On a random note,
I've realized something about myself. I am not a very good "team-person", which is something I probably need to work on. I am very independent and like to do things on my own. Just be patient with me, I'm working on that! haha.

Don't get me wrong though, I am soooooo thankful for all the people God has put around me. I love all my great friends..and my amazing family too. :o)

K, The End.

2010-02-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

I've been "pondering" lately. I like that word "pondering"; It makes me feel...deep. PSSSSH..riiiight.:o) Here go some random Maggie-Thoughts:

1.We really are shaped by the people we hang around and let pour into us. They can totally change our mindsets, perceptions, & beliefs.
2. I am not indecisive, people, I just have so much I would like to accomplish in life and I forget I have my whole life to accomplish them. Because I subconsciously think that I only have the next 2 years too accomplish them all( this showing just how small my little mind is), I feel as if I can only commit to one of these passions/dreams/experiences. But,...the truth is... I CAN DO THEM ALL!!! ...just not all right now. :o)
3. I have eaten WAY too much sugar in the past week.. Good thing I'm starting training for a marathon. ha.
4. It's going to snow tomorrow! NO SCHOOL! ...Did Troy REALLY cancel classes? It's a miracle!
5. Tomorrow I am journeying to the land of "Throwed Rolls".. aka Lambert's. It's this awesome restaurant where they throw rolls at you. I've been pumped about this for weeks. Been practicing my roll cathcin' skills by playing some wall-ball with rolls.. or would that be "wall-roll"? hrm.... anyways.. i hope they don't make you eat them off the floor if you happen to NOT catch them. Can't wait to see my BFF's tomorrow!
6. I'm really liking school now. I mean now that I'm making friends. Everyone's really nice there. I appreciate how people have really made me feel apart of the Troy "family".
7. K, so.. I'm thinking I will do my internship at Integrity Records in Mobile.. I keep saying how I'm hesitant to get caught up in the music industry because it lacks alot of integrity and stuff.. but... how can I go wrong with the company whose very name is... Integrity. haha. I looked at their "About Me" section on their page and maintaining integrity is their mission. cool. plus, I really like their artists.
8.I could go on and on and eventually get to #1000 or something, but for your sake, and mine because i'm really tired, i'm going to stop here.

Night.

Proverbs 31 Chick

2010-01-20T23:20:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite chapters of the Bible is Proverbs 31, particularly verses 10-31. Here, the writer speaks of a virtuous woman and wife. I love to read this over and over again because it is what I strive to be..even as a single young woman. One verse that really jumps out to me is 31:12. "She does him (her husband)good, not harm, all the days of her life. I think a lot of people overlook what it really says here. Leslie Ludy, co-author(with her hubby Eric Ludy of "When God Writes Your Love Story") points out that the scripture says "ALL the days of her life" ..ALL..not just when she meets him and marries him...She cares about his good even BEFORE she is joined with him or even knows who he is! When I saw that it totally made me think, "Are some of the things I'm doing now bringing good or harm to my future super-man?..Would these things make my hubs smile or crush his heart?" Now, I sometimes imagine that "he" is watching the actions I take & listening to the words I speak. It makes me want to be careful what kind of relationships I have, what I do to my body, what I fill my mind with, activities I choose to be involved in, etc. I think that that is a really cool way of loving your future spouse before you even meet them, or, if you have met them, just not with them yet. Yah? Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there for all you ladies in waiting (& misters too). Peace Out.

God, Our Protector

2009-10-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

"The Angel of the Lord camps around those who fear Him and He rescues them."

Psalm 34:7

K so,

I was reading this scripture today (it's one of my favs)

and was thinking about the word "camp."

It made me think of soldiers when they go to Iraq or Afghanistan

or wherever they go and they set up camp in the warzone.

The Angel of the Lord ("Malakh Adonai") camps

around us in the warzone of our lives and protects us.

He rescues us from the attacks of the enemy, whether spiritual or physical.

I have a peace in knowing that He is camped right beside

me all the time & the enemy can't touch me :)

Not that He won't try.

Isaiah 54:17 says, "No weapon formed against you shall prosper."

Weapons are going to form, but they will not succeed.

Even in places where it seems like there is no God, He is there. He is "Jehovah Shammah" which means exactly what I just said..

"God Is There."

Isn't it great to know that Jehovah-Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts(Armies)

has His mighty Army standing up on your behalf? His Army is bigger

& stronger than all the armies on earth (and Hell) combined!

To me, that is quite comforting! :)

Build my Temple....

2009-07-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

k, so...

I found out a few days ago, that when you ask God to show things to you in His Word...

He actually will.

I turned to the book of Haggai. Such a tiny little book.. And so I really wasn't expecting

to get all that I did out of it.Boy, was I wrong..

In the first chapter of Haggai, God speaks through Haggai to the Jews saying that they were being disobedient because He had commanded them to rebuild His temple.

The Jews were lazy, unfocused, and had their priorities all out of order.

God said, " Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while my house is in ruins?...Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

He told me to apply this to my own life. I had become very lazy, distracted, and unfocused when came to the things of God and building my relationship with Him was becoming less of a priority of mine. I noticed after a period of time that I was reaping no good. I was not being satisfied

spiritually. Just about every area of my life was out or order.-My mind, my finances, my relationship with my family and close friends..So many things were on hold too, that it seemed as life had just stopped. I had no peace.

God really started tugging on my heart about a month ago, and I realized how much I missed my intimate relationship with my Savior. I felt like God was telling me that it was URGENT that I get refocused on HIM again NOW and let go of some things i had clasped onto.

I read through the 2nd chapter of Haggai where the Jews obeyed God and rebuilt His temple. They made Him their priority and when they did God spoke..

'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,'says the LORD Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."

He told ME that if I would make Him a priority again, that he would show me a glory that is greater than what I've ever seen in the past! And that He would grant me peace! :)

I asked Him for forgiveness and told him that that day I would begin pursuing Him again and seeking and making HIM my priority again. And that's when He showed me this next verse a few lines down:

.."From this day on, I will bless you."

..and He has already begun to.. in so many ways!

I love my God who's full of mercy and compassion.

2009-07-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

Did I really sing "Jose can you see" today?!

hahahahaha.

oh my.

you need to laugh at yourself sometimes. :)

2009-07-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

I guess

It's sometimes necessary to be alone.

Good time to find yourself again..

And God.

Or should I say, a good time for GOD to find YOU where you are,

and pick you up & carry you.

"He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand."

Psalm 40:2

"He's a Really Good Dog I Promise!"

2009-06-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

Okay so,
About 7 weeks ago my friend's dog had puppies. They were soooo darn cuuuuute, so I HAD to claim one. I picked one and named him Charlie. :) The day before yesterday, my friend called me to tell me that Charlie was weened off his mommy & was now eating real food so I could come get him. Well, I thought that by now I would be out of my parents' home and into my own place. But,...I'm still here; soooo, for 24 hours I had to hide Charlie in my bathroom and try to keep him quiet so my mom didn't totally flip out. Do you know how hard it is to keep a puppy totally quiet? I was up allll night! Anyway, Yesterday I decided that I should probably tell mom because I decided I really needed sleep AND I knew that if she found out on her own I'd be dead meat. I took Charlie to the park and when I got home I walked into my mom's room and introduced her to my pup. She said "NO" right off and I set him down on the bed while I tried to persuade her that it could work. Well, obviously, Charlie didn't care to stay at the Averett household; Right as I was saying "He really is a good dog, I PROMISE" the pup landed one right on mom's bed. And to make it worse, he had diarrhea. It's was priceless.
..Needless to say, Charlie is going back to his original owner..TODAY.

Scarred for Life....

2009-02-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Okay, so..... All of my blogs lately have been serious...& being serious all the time is BORING :) So, here's a funny story... My life has been filled with many embarassing moments-too many to tell-but i recently remembered one that made me laugh REALLY hard. In Kindergarden, we had a few days throughout the year that we could dress up. One day, it was Clown Day. So,.... my mom dressed me up in this EXTREMELY tacky outfit. And when i say tacky, i do mean TAAAAACKY. She put me in this huuuuuuuge sweater that had all the colors of the rainbow on it and put my hair in the most retarded looking "do" she could come up with. She also attempted to make me look as much like a clown as she could by putting makeup all over my face. She used bright red lipstick to give me the classic "clown lips" & drew huge circles on my cheeks. I definately looked like a clown...I was going to be the best-looking one in the class! My mom dropped me off at school...I walked into class & I was indeed the best-looking clown there!...That's because I was the ONLY clown!!! My mom had dressed me up on the WRONG DAY ... Clown Day wasn't until the NEXT DAY. Horrified, I ran to the bathrooom and tried my best to rub the lipstick off, but all I did was smudge it all over my face. I ended up making myself look even more rediculous than I did in the first place..Oh my goodness, it was aweful. :) And to this day I hate clowns.
"THE END" (Tribute to Max)

Life is Good.

2009-02-19T20:06:00.000-08:00

So,
tonight i was having tea with a good friend.
I was just sitting there sipping my Jasmine Green Tea loaded with Splenda.
(yes, i do know that Splenda creates Chlorine in your body)
And, well, it just kind of hit me like a ton of bricks..
I realized how much I really love life.
And I have such a peace.
I cannot even explain it.
It was like i had had a deep revelation..
but it wasn't deep at all.
Jesus, you amaze me.
Thank you for Life.
( and thank you for Dakotas, they always have my 2nd favorite tea. )

Can't Sleep..So Here's a Thought..

2009-02-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

K, So.... Did you know that in the New Testament the word "patient" (patience, patiently) is used almost 50 times?? I'm thinking that patience must be pretty important. Over and over in the Bible the importance of "patience" is stressed. What is patience? I never really looked up the word; i guess I just made it synonymous to the word "wait." Well, tonight my friend Max told me the definition of "patience." According to Wikipedia "patience" is "the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset. That "without becoming annoyed or upset" really stuck out to me. I can think of so many times when I have told someone "I'm being patient" but have said it in such a negative and "annoyed" tone. I wasn't really being "PATIENT"..I think when the Bible says to be "PATIENT" God means for us to do exactly what the word means. We endure with a HOPEFUL and POSITIVE attitude because we trust that God knows best & He has a plan for good (Jeremiah 29:11). It might just help if we take our eyes off of OURSELVES and OUR plans and look to HIM. I'm pretty sure He knows what's He's doing...I mean, come on, He's GOD.. He knows EVERYTHING. Anyway...it's really late and what I just TRIED to say probably makes no sense. But i will edit later, when my mind is sound and im not Zombie-like. :)

Love God, Love People

2009-02-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.” This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: “Love others as well as you love yourself.” These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s law & the Prophets hangs from them.”
Matthew 22: 36-38

I have one of the best jobs in the world. Three days a week I have the privilege of teaching piano lessons to kiddies in Enterprise. I teach kids as young as 7 and as old as 18. What I love most is not necessarily the teaching part, but the fact that I get to be a friend to these kids… someone that they trust. I thank God for allowing me to pour into them & have an impact on their lives. It touches my heart so much when a parent comes up to me and tells me how much I mean to their child. I get chillbumps just writing about it! There are sometimes kids that are quite “difficult” but, I try to look at the “difficult” students as opportunities. Alot of times, they are the ones that need Jesus’ love shown to them the most. I’ll never forget a girl I once had. She hated piano and hated being at piano lessons and made sure I knew it…every week. Every Monday she would come in and say “Let’s get this over with.” I would finish the lesson discouraged and frustrated at the girl and her bad attitude. I prayed about it one day. “Okay, God. I can’t take this anymore”, I said. “All she does is tear me down. She obviously hates piano…Why is she here?!” Quietly, He said, “She’s here for love.” Wow, you can imagine how selfish and convicted I felt! From then on I started looking at her as an opportunity to show God’s love. After a while, her hard “shell” started cracking. She began pouring out her heart to me. I realized that the reason why she had such a bad attitude and was so rude towards me was because of a lot of HURT that was inside of her. I did my best to show Jesus’ love to her. After about a year she quit piano lessons. A few months later, I saw her at a community event. When she saw me, her eyes got huge. She shouted, “Miss Maggie!”, ran over, and gave me a huuuuuuuuuge hug. Sometimes we don’t realize just what a little love can do!
There may be situations that you are in that you wonder whyyyyyy you are there. Maybe you are not there for you, but for someone else. Look for ways that God can use you. No matter where you are….I guarantee you’ll find an opportunity. People need Jesus’ love & we are the only Jesus some people will ever see.

Sweet Singleness

2009-02-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! :)

This is my 2nd Valentine's Day as a single..
Many singles despise this day and automatically have a negative attitude toward's it...
Not I. I personally, am having a great day with a 6-year-old cutie pie named Armando.
Don't get me wrong though..I USED to think of singleness as pure PUNISHMENT & would have preferred having all my teeth pulled out than to be ...SINGLE. And Valentine's Day was just a cruel tease...reminding me of my dreadful aloneness.
But, you know, I've realized that singleness really isn't a bad thing. For me, this time of being single has been a time of learning, stretching, and growing. It's been a time of seeking God and becoming more intimate with HIM. He's using me in ways I never imagined He would...and I'm loving it. He is showing me how He alone can satisfy. Now, I'm not saying I don't desire a husband & wouldn't like to get married one day.. but, while I'm waiting for that amazing guy I'm going to use this "single season" wisely. And to all you singles out there, instead of looking at your singleness as torment, use it to your advantage! :) Think of it as EXTRA time to get ready for him/her. Anyways...just a little for food thought. Hope your Valentine's Day is as Happy as mine. :) MWAH!

I have a "Blog" ??

2009-02-12T12:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so...

I've realized that I love to write. Not research papers necessarily (YUCK) ..but, I could spend hours writing in my journal and writing "notes" on facebook has become a fun thing for me! I love being creative with words and I love the fact that you can record a memory or a day on paper and in a way "travel back in time" whenever you want. I think it is amazing how words can grip emotions. I love that whenever you put something on paper,...an idea, thought, concern, fear, hope... it becomes tangible, and with the tangibility comes accountability. I love that words can spark a desire for change... which may just lead to change. I think writing is a gift from God. Could it be a way of giving our cares to Him? It seems as though when you put them on paper, burdens are lifted off. Anyway, because I love writing and words so much I have created this thing called a "Blog." :) Funny, yesterday I did not even know what a "Blog" was. However, now that I, Maggie Averett, have a >>"Blog"<<...i am going to wear it out with all my "Maggie-thoughts." :)

-Maggie
Chief Editor

Maggie-Thoughts

PEACE, Y'ALL!

The Yucky Subject. *CRINGE*

What happens when you plant a nomad....

"Huggin' Molly's"...A Scrumptious Step Back in Time.

How to Outsmart a Pup..& Other Things..

What's that on your carpet?

The things you'll do for love...

Army Strong Wives

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Breaking News!

Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours..

Our First Valentines', & Why I'll never forget It...

"It's business, It's business TIII-IME!"

Hair and the Holocaust

Birthday Blessings..

Home, Sweet, Hotel..

The Extreme Couch Catastrophe..

God & Marriage....

How I lost Jesus, today....

The reasons why I gained five pounds in Arizona...

Classy Elegance with a Retro Flare..

Hello Friend, It's nice to see you again.

Maggie's Texas Adventure

Good,Bad, & the Ugly of Road-trips..

Knee-Driving , Stair- Falling , & More

This is the day that never ends, yes it goes on & on my friends....

Maggie-Proverbs

HATES, HOPES, & HEARTS

My Fantastically Entertaining Requiem Experience

EAT MOR CHIKIN

Coldstone's New Doorman/Security Guard & More

God Makes Everything Right.

A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful.

-Jacqueline Bisset (English actor)

The Ultimate South-Alabama Experience

A moment on the Lips is a Lifetime on the Hips..

Random Maggie-Rants...

Blah blah blah

How Do You Spell YMCA?

Don't compromise the THRONE..

Eat French-fries at Own Risk

Windshield-Wiper Revelations

UNRecommendation

Hair Adventures

You wanna Donut?

"Nice Goatee, Debussy"

So there's this guy named Debussy...

Kids Say the Darnest Things

Proverbs 31 Chick

God, Our Protector

Build my Temple....

"He's a Really Good Dog I Promise!"

Scarred for Life....

Life is Good.

Can't Sleep..So Here's a Thought..

Love God, Love People

Sweet Singleness

I have a "Blog" ??

The Yucky Subject. CRINGE