Tuscaloosa Tornado + Prayers

 

Most of you know that I attend the University of Alabama which is located in Tuscaloosa, Al. If you have seen the news at all then you know it has been a rough 24 hours for the community. We were devastated by a F4/F5 tornado. It was over a mile and a half wide. honestly one of the most scary things I have seen in my life.

My roommate and I hunkered in the bathtub with pillows and blankets, our apartment was fine besides loosing electricity. But I cannot describe the destruction in the path of the tornado. There are a ton of blogs and news sites with pictures and videos. You can watch an actual video of the tornado coming through the town.

Today we got out and tried to see some of the damage – again, the worst I have ever seen. Complete areas flattened to the ground, as the death toll continues to rise please pray for the community and the entire state and the south as the destruction spreads far. There were many areas of Tuscaloosa hit that are completely gone, I could not believe what I saw.

Here are some of the pictures I caught on my phone…

		Damage-Phone Pictures VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The university has cancelled finals and basically all operations, which is appropriate…the community is grieving and rebuilding.

there is a YouTube video of the destruction from an aerial view..

Good Friday

Thankful today because it is Friday but Sunday is comin'. Today we celebrate the death of Jesus and just three days later we will celebrate his rising. Death could not hold him down. Praise Him for paying the ultimate price to overcome our sin.

"Forever Reign" Hillsong United

I hope everyone has a lovely Easter weekend.

Wedding Wednesday

 

There is two..okay three things about our wedding that Matthew and I have known for a long time. It was not even a question to us when it became time to “officially” plan and that is where the ceremony will be, who will marry us, and who will do the music.

The ceremony – First Baptist Church of Fort Walton Beach, this is the church that Matthew was raised in and played and major role in my life in both middle school and high school.

Who will marry us? – Shaun Ellis. Shaun was the youth pastor at FBC and now is the lead pastor at Beachside Community Church. He was “our” youth minister and impacted both of our lives in tremendous ways. We like to say we have traveled the world with Shaun…India, Mexico, various states…and through him we have been able to experience some life changing events. He is so very dear to us and we honestly could not imagine anyone else doing such an honor.

(Shaun and I in India riding in some form of a rickshaw, or maybe a camel?)

What about the music? – again… not even a question. Shawn and Katie Sandlin are dear friends of ours. We met Shawn when he interned for the summer at FBCFWB, he went on to marry his beautiful wife Katie and they currently live in the Birmingham area – being in school just 40 min. down the road we try and meet them for dinner or hang for a weekend – But the best part is they are both incredibly talented musicians…check out their website here. Look how cute they are.

 

All of these places and people hold very special places in both of our hearts and we are ecstatic knowing that they will be a part of this special day!

A glimpse of the Fall.

This past weekend was A-Day down here in Tuscaloosa. Which means it is the end of spring practice for the football team and they hold their annual crimson/white game which is free and open to anyone.

For all of the football fanatics it is a glimpse of the fall, something to hold ya over until August and September. It was a beautiful day after experiencing horrendous rain and tornadoes the night before. We went to the game, walked around the stadium. It always cracks me up because, I love Alabama football…A LOT. But it is a spring game and we are playing ourselves but yet people tailgate and dress up as if it’s the biggest rivalry. Again, this is like a snack for all of the football crazies to keep them sane until the fall.

I will admit, it was nice to see the boys all suited up, hear the band playing and seeing Coach Saban and the Crimson Tide take the field. Sad this will be my last football season as a student… =(

Here are a couple pics…

A beautiful Saturday at Bryant-Denny

Coach Nick Saban

the fiancé and I..(still feels weird saying that!) =)

 

Have a good week!

Scrumptious

This weekend I offered to make some cupcakes for my friend Carlin’s lingerie shower. I am always looking for an excuse to bake. For both of these cupcakes I used chocolate fudge box cake mix. I am 100% not opposed to box cake mixes…I believe that the skill of baking comes from putting it all together and baking it right – time, temperature, texture – I do love making things from scratch, but let’s face it. The on sale dollar box of cake mix is cheaper and makes just as tasty cakes.

I made Ina Garten’s peanut butter frosting, topped it with crushed Reese's and drizzled with chocolate sauce. I used the brown eyed baker’s vanilla buttercream recipe and topped it with some mini chocolate morsels, just for fun. I did actually add heavy cream to the vanilla frosting, because well, I believe heavy cream makes the world taste better. I will post links to all of the recipes below…

I normally do not eat a lot of the things I bake because after licking the mixing bowls and what not I am a little bit over sugared.. but sadly, that was not the case here. I could eat that peanut butter frosting on anything. It would probably be a good substitute for pb&j’s. (just sayin…)

recipe links -

Peanut butter frosting

Vanilla Buttercream (I added the heavy cream)

chocolate sauce for the drizzle

Wedding Wednesday

The ball of “wedding planning” has been at a slight halt due to this notion of school and getting an education. I have been brainstorming and looking at magazines but besides the date, my dress, and reserving the church…most everything else will have to wait until summer! It is only a few weeks away and I am excited about working this summer, no summer school and full on wedding planning! But until then… here is a little sneak peak of our “theme”…

Wedding Wednesday

It is official, we have set a date.

 

February 4, 2012

We have booked the date officially at the church, First Baptist Church of Fort Walton Beach, Fl. We are excited!

Now it is time to focus and finish this semester strong and then I am free to a wedding planning filled summer! =)

I Passed!

 

I found out this morning that I passed the social studies praxis exam. This is the test that I had to pass before I could student teach in the fall, I was quite nervous. But YAY! I passed and I will be officially student teaching and graduating in the fall! That is a weight lifted off of my shoulder!

Have a good Tuesday!

Nail polish obsession

Within the last 6 months I have become infatuated with nail polish. I am a big fan of OPI but in love with Essie. Just last weekend my roommate informed me that she bought some essie (normally 8.00) on sale for 2.99.

I got to ulta as quick as possible. There wasn’t a huge array of colors but I bought two and so did my roommate.

Above is the color “It’s in the bag” and what I am currently wearing. This is one of the colors that my roomie bought and she so graciously let me borrow.

This is called “damsel in a dress” and is a deep purple color, I have really been drawn to purples lately.

The other one I bought is called “Bordeaux”, who does not need a good bold red color in their collection.

This is sort of a weird obsession because I bite my nails and I try and keep them short to prevent the biting. I also tend to pick the nail polish off and thus it seems like a waste of time and energy. But it actually works out well because it gives me another excuse to use an array of colors.