chickens, chickens, and more chickens...

After waiting and waiting for months, the weekend was finally here! My high school Young Life leader was getting married.

She called all of us girls her "chickens" and we called her "mama hen."

She helped shape many of the experiences I had my junior and senior year. She showed up. She loved me for where I was at and what was going on in my life. And we always had the best time ever.

And, then, with the most perfect timing, all of the chickens moved across the country to start college and she moved off the Arizona to live with her boyfriend.

Who, as of this weekend, is now her husband!

Six of the chickens assembled, stayed in one hotel room, and took over Phoenix, AZ. Things were gonna get crazy.

It took a lot of planning and logistics to get to this place. Throw six 20-year-old girls in a random city. Some of us rode a cab for the first time. There may or may not have been a moment where some of us didn't know what city we were in. But, after a week of stressful finals, all of us were just ready to be. We didn't have any agenda. We didn't even know what was going on half of the time. And it was great.

We made it to the wedding ceremony. Which was the definition of hipster. Danielle did a beautiful job; it was very her. She bought a lot of things at thrift stores, made the benches and tables out of old doors. There were empty frames decorating the walls. It was straight out of Pinterest.

And of course, the best part was getting to see Mama Hen. And watching the beautiful love that her and Josh share.

What a beautiful ceremony and weekend! I love weddings. I love Danielle. And I love all of my fellow chickens.

oh, the english language

One of my favorite parts of this weekend was spending some time hanging out with Avery, Mary Ellen, and Courtney. We had big plans to bake some Christmas cookies or make an awesome craft. But after a long week, we were ready to just relax.

Which involved talking about Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. And our YL girls. And, the best topic of them all: what Mary Ellen wish she could tell her kindergarten class parents. Hilarious.

1. Do NOT put apostrophes in your child's name.
2. Do NOT put unnecessary letters in your child's name.
3. Only flat shoelaces; the round ones come again too easily!
4. Every once and awhile look at your child's backpack and empty it.
5. Do NOT ask for homework for your five-year-old.
6. Do NOT say too much at home because your child WILL repeat it.

Do you want to know why she has all of these rules? Because she has kids who have names like this...

Try pronoucing them...I dare you. I guarantee some of it will be wrong. When you think it should be "ay", it's actually just "ia." I don't understand.


Also, drew these beauties yesterday instead of studying for finals. I'm sick of studying.

a very "butler" christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in the Butler University Admissions office.

Butler comes in with the win for "its the little touches that count."

The tree is up. Our work Pandora station is set to repeat on Mariah Carey. And it's Admit Packet Time.

For those select few out there who don't work in a university admissions office, this is the time of year when all of the students who applied for the Early Action deadline will receive (or not receive...guess I never thought about that side) that beautiful envelope in the mail telling them they can be a future Bulldog.

This is a serious process. Not taken lightly at all. This week we are in the first stage of the process: filling the folders with all of the goodies. We have to fill 6000 folders. I repeat, 6000. It's not a small number by any means. So, to help my coworkers along with their lofty pursuits, I made this wonderful addition to the office:

We can track our progress now! We were halfway done when I was in on Friday afternoon...it's a long way to the finish line.

And yes, I made this pointless piece of paper instead of actually helping with the packets...maybe that's why it takes so long to finish...


This upcoming week, we start to put all of the folders into their envelopes. And more importantly, we start the "Wax Seal Process." It's kind of a big deal. You have to try out. I have mine tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!

I'll keep you updated, because I know that the behind the scenes work at Butler is just riveting. You're welcome for the knowledge.

so much...

Sometimes I really just like college. There are some things that I don't like. There are some things that I feel very "eh" about. But, every so often, I feel this overwhelming need to just yell to all of the world, "COLLEGE IS AWESOME! GO COLLEGE!"

There are just so many different opportunities that happen when you're in college. That you won't get any other time.

Prime example: Going to the Board of Trustees dinner last week. I got the chance to sit with our new president and his wife. He is hilarious; a very dry sense of humor. And she is just the most precious person ever. We chatted for a long time about her dog, Zoe. So cute! When else am I going to have the opportunity to do that!?

We talked about what's working at Butler, but also what we want to see changed. The night was so full of potential. Potential for what the new president is going to do. Potential for all of the changes that can happen. Just straight up potential. Which is probably one of my favorite things in the world.

Tonight is another night of potential. North Central Young Life's CAMP SIGN UP PARTY! Woo!

I can feel it. It's going to be another great week with another wonderful group of girls. And I just love all of the excitement of who can go and who we are trying to get to sign up.

All of these girls. Plus more. I can't wait.

So much potential.

hey bests...

ONLY TEN DAYS.

Until we will all be reunited in the warm weather of AZ for what promises to be one of the cutest weddings ever.

Once a chicken, always a chicken.

Just some gems I have been saving from Thanksgiving break.

a little song never hurt anyone.

This picture makes me happy. When I can walk in the front door of a house on Monday night and see this. Lots of shoes...which means lots of North Central HS friends to hang out with.

And since we had just finished reading the book of Ephesians together, we decided to have a worship night. Oh, was that a good idea!!!!

We sang songs, kids read their favorite Bible verses, and I got to have a post-worship sophomore girl team huddle to talk about our Thanksgiving breaks. And we all know how much I love team huddles! :)



AND this Tuesday was the return of Karaoke night for the NC YL team. The one year anniversary celebration, if you will. We all assemble at the classy establishment of Applebee's, order up a bunch of appetizers, and proceed to take over the restaurant with our awesome singing abilities. It doesn't get any better than that. Except maybe if Ethan was there to serenade us with some Kelly Clarkson. Then the night would have been complete.

And this was all in celebration of our new leader, Jasmine! YAYAYAYAYAY! She's great. And I can't wait to see what God has planned for her at North Central. I would've taken pictures of the new leader placement reveal party, but someone (cough Doug) told me it was too creepy to take a picture of her reaction as she walked through the door.

Yay for Young Life. Yay for community. Yay for fun people who let me stay up way too late before class the next day just to sing some "Sweet Caroline." Classic.

he's back!

Dominick the DONKEY!

One of the fraternities at Butler takes it upon themselves to play one single Christmas song for the last two weeks of class before break. All day. Every day. Nonstop.

Last year, I hated my life because of it.

This year, I'm feeling like it's a way to get everyone in the spirit. And it's kind of fun.

Ask me about it again by the end of next week.

But, for now....enjoy it!

fresh air & exercise

Thanksgiving. It's not my favorite holiday by any means. But, it's still great to be able to come home and spend time with people I love doing wonderful things.

Like hike with my family.

I love that I can hike in CO in November. It was a little chilly, but totally worth it to see this:

What a beautiful view off of Horsetooth Rock!! The sights were great, but my family is also just really funny to hike with.

We gave out awards to each other for different things. We sang songs (mainly me, actually only me!) We took cool pictures. And most importantly, Jared and I taught Maggie how to play leap frog. We didn't know if dogs could play, but we forced Maggie to. I don't think she liked it very much.

Then, because Colorado is so awesome, my family went skiing for two days! What!? I can ski and hike in the same week! YES!

So, yes, my family spent Thanksgiving up at Keystone/Breckenridge. Seriously, can't complain.

Our Thanksgiving consisted of skiing, meeting up with the Verde family, eating at a random restaurant in Breckenridge, and the most delicious crepes! I'll be heading back to the crepe stand every time I'm in Breck from now on. They were delicious! And the guys working there were a riot! Brian and I watched the man making them; he didn't smile/laugh/say anything for 45 minutes! And the guy taking our money was not on any drugs, but should've been. He kept sticking his head out the little window, resting it on the ledge, and saying..."Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!" Probably every three minutes.

Not a traditional Thanksgiving by any means, but wonderful nonetheless.

And it doesn't hurt when it ends like this...

I love you, Colorado.

my favorite thing ever...

is crafting.

And I got to spend some of my time doing that over break!

With my best friends! Which is why she posted all about it on her blog.

I'm not crazy about my craft...but it was still so fun to make!

"i wish you wouldn't stand so close..."

This is a joint blog post. Between best friends. Yay.

Because we are all together. All the gehls. (gurls/girls/gerls/gahls/etc).

Well, not all of us. But enough of us to fill a room with lots of laughter and inappropriate comments/jokes.

We baked.

Peanut butter Nutella cookies. Pretty much heaven in a small little package that you can eat. Nom.

We also played fun games...where we say "This is very fun."

And it IS very fun. HAHAHAHA.

Welp, now we have better things to do than write blog posts together.

Ellen & Abby signing off...(and Amanda & Laney too)....

i'm coming home, i'm coming home...

I sat in the Indy airport...(my second fav behind the Denver one)...and called all of the people I loved. I also left a wonderful message for Amanda and Ellen singing this song...I thought I was funny....

And now I'm here. First day was a TOTAL success.

Woke up to this! Who knew it was supposed to snow my first night in CO??

Sleeping in and then making banana pancakes. "Whole Wheat Brown Sugar Banana Pancakes" to be exact.

YUM. YUM. or NOM. NOM....just to annoy Jared. :)


Going out to eat for "linner" with the fam. Also, nom nom.

Early on in the day, I asked my family a question that we had talked about in YoungLife a few weeks ago.

"If someone new came over to meet your family, what are the things they would notice in the first five minutes"?

So, we talked about that. And decided that:

1. I talk a lot.
2. A lot of times, no one answers me. So then, I feel awkward. And keep talking.
3. We usually have 12 million different conversations going on at once. Which ends up in us asking things along the lines of "Who's on first?"
4. Gregory likes to do random things...."typical Dad."
5. "Mom is weird." Direct quote from Jared Miller.
6. We never have a plan. But that's okay.

Great choices, Miller family. We're awesome. And funny. And weird.


So, here's to a week full of bad communication skills, no plans, and family time. YAY.

30 hours and counting...

THANKSGIVING BREAK!

what what.

It's so soon! And I can't wait! It's just the best thing ever.

I get to go to the airport, which may be one of my favorite places in the world. I love airports. I love people watching. I love flying Southwest; they are funny when everyone else traveling is usually grouchy. I love getting a little drink and some pita chips and reading the Southwest Spirit magazine. I love the feeling that happens when you take off...the dropping of your stomach. And then flying and looking out the window at all of the lights. And then getting off the plane and being in Denver. And waiting for my suitcase to come out of the little hole at baggage claim.

I think I might have a weird and unhealthy obsession with everything airport.

Tomorrow night, I will see this...

I keep imagining in my head the moment when I'll see my family in the airport. It's going to be beautiful.


And then, my wonderful week at home will start...full of coffee at the Alley Cat, skiing, crafting, going on a hike in the foothills, seeing my best friends, cuddling with my dog, playing cards with my family, baking some cookies, reading, watching some movies, making fun of my brother, and sleeping in my bed!

WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

You know you're ready to go home when you're sitting in Sociology class and writing a blog post....

i love this...

This semester, I've been trying to think of things I love. Things that make me happy. Things that are fun and wonderful and make me want to sing and dance.

And this weekend, I came up with number twelve.

HOUSE TOURS.

Where you get to go into other people's houses and see their stuff and how they live and how they decorate and what kind of stuff matters to them. I'm a big believer in the idea that the stuff that you surround yourself with helps define and/or show who you are.

I know, it sounds creepy. Why would I LOVE going into other people's houses? And don't only old ladies do this kind of stuff?

Well, it's true, the house tour was dominated by old people, but there was also me and my lovely friends, Avery and Mary Ellen, who were just as excited as I was.

This was one of my favorite houses! We all loved the red brick with the white pillars and the black shutters.

My fav kitchen! I love being able to see how other people decorate....so I can take pictures of it and use it in my future house one day.

Love this! Sketches of your family members as your portrait wall of pictures...maybe a little weird. But it's cool.

Leaves stained the cement sidewalk outside some of the houses.

YAY for spending Sunday afternoon doing fun things like this instead of doing homework inside the library all day. YAY.

11.11.11

BEST MOMENT EVER.

"what's a really good song that we could play?"

"that one from 500 days of summer...what's it called..."

"it's 11:11pm...play it!"

"let's hold hands and stand in a circle!"

"and DANCE!.....with our eyes closed!"

And that is exactly what we proceeded to do!

to this song...

CELEBRATE....it's November 11, 2011.

what i love about right now...

A while ago, one of my favorite blogs posted something great about living a life that is full of gratitude, along with my best friend's blog. One where we don't have to remember to say thank-you. But where we are just so happy with what we have at each moment in our life. The ability to appreciate the everyday wonder that is special.

Because truly, I do believe that life is good. We can always find something that is wonderful.

So, here's what I love about right now...

1. Rewarding myself. 
      I skipped my morning classes today. Because I had huge tests in them on Monday & needed a break from learning about psychology. There's only so much brain neurotransmitters and statistical notation I can take. So, I slept and read some blogs. Good life choices.

2. Writing letters/notes
      I'm pretty sure that this may be my most favorite thing in the world. I love the process of writing my thoughts down on paper and expressing them to people who matter. I'm a firm believer in the wonderful, great feeling that comes from receiving a handwritten note. And so, I'm a happy camper when I sit down to give that gift to both myself and others.

3. Great food at Alpha Phi
      Pizza for lunch. Yum. Apples from the orchard for snack. Yum. And cashew chicken for dinner. Yum. The only thing that would top it is some Huddles or Brics....the night is still young...

4. My Fav Candle
      The Bat Cave is really into candles right now. And so I love it when I get the chance to burn mine when no one else is in the room fighting to burn theirs. We're weird, I know.

5. The Countdown
      ...is at NINE DAYS. I am having trouble focusing on anything that isn't relating to what will happen in nine days. In Colorado. Back home. For over a week. I'm bookmarking all of the crafts I'm going to do. Looking at pictures of mountains. And anxiously thinking of when I will finally get to see my friends, my family, and my lovely puppy dog!

The heart of life really is good. 

weekends are the best...

Why can't it always be a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday???

Life would be so much better. Really, it would.

Highlights of my wonderful weekend:

1. Going to tea with Avery
      Friday afternoon tea. How precious! We tried this new tea place downtown and it was just the best time ever. Why would we not want to sit for an hour and talk about life, all while drinking a pitcher full of sweet tea!? (It was a LOT of liquid...)

2. Going to visit Mary Ellen in her classroom

      She's got to be one of the cutest teachers ever! I have been wanting to go visit her and see where she spends all of her time and look at all of her hard work! And finally, I made it! Avery and I decided to go after tea...what a perfect Friday afternoon! Look at how cute her classroom is and how much her children probably love her! 

3. Going to the FOODTRUCK Fest! & First Friday

      I had been waiting for this for.....months. All I wanted to do was to go to a place where I could eat all the food from the back of trucks that I wanted to. And look at cool artwork. Well, after YL leadership on Friday night, they all made my dream come TRUE. 

      We headed downtown for my first ever Food Truck Fest. I tried to eat at as many as I could and try everything. It was wonderful. No words to describe it. And then, the cherry on top of it all, we went to First Friday at the Harrison Center. We didn't get to see much because we had spent so much time with the food, but I still loved the atmosphere of First Friday. I can look around at the weird paintings. And yell at my YL team for not loving it all as much as I did. 

4. Going up to the top of Jordan Hall

     My first trip up on the roof...do I really go to Butler?? I was just excited to be up that high on such a beautiful night. 

5. Babysitting

     Not always the most fun activity. But sometimes it's just good to get away and spend time with people who are younger than me....a lot younger. I loved hanging out with Eli and Ben. They have so much energy and wanted to run around and do everything, even though it was supposed to be bedtime. Why not run around the living room and dancing like crazy and singing all the Top 40 hits? I didn't know that kids under 5 years old knew Katy Perry and J-Biebs. I was loving it. 

It was hard to get pictures of them because they were moving so fast! 

6. Alpha Phi Elections 

      Now, it may seem contradictory that one of my favorite parts of the weekend was where I had to sit in a room for 3 hours and talk about the same things over and over again. But, electing the next set of officers/positions for my sorority was actually kind of fun. I liked the idea that we are deciding the future of our house. And giving credit to people who we think will do great things. It's all about seeing the potential in people and giving them that chance to use it. 

Hallelujah for WEEKENDS. 

holi festival

I was sitting at work today at the elementary school and realized that I miss reading little kid books! They are just so great and so funny and so random. A talking cookie? Yes. A boy who runs around in his underwear and yells? Of course. I love it.

So, as I was sitting there, I saw this beautiful cover and had to pick up the book to read it. It was about the Holi festival, a religious celebration in India. They also call it the festival of COLORS. Here's why...

People run around and throw this special colored powder on each other. Basically, it looks awesome! I love bright colors and parties. So this looks like a perfect opportunity to combine both!

It's now officially on my bucket list!

booo.

HALLOWEEN.

Kind of a cool holiday. Because we can dress up in costumes and carve pumpkins and eat lots of candy. All great activities.

My favorite part of this year was my costume. My roommates and I were a group costume....

SHARK WEEK. We all made shirts that had a picture of a shark along with a day of the week. So great! I really enjoyed making the shirts...took me back to Superfan days at FCHS.

It was a great Halloween weekend...