Br'er Rabbit

Or rather "brrrr" rabbit.

At least that's what I was saying as I walked outside after work today.

At which time I was thinking, "I'm going to go home and blog tonight."

Thanks for the reminder Butler.

Things that have been going on lately:

I got that massage for passing my test. I'm trying to find a reason to reward myself with another one sometime soon...but I haven't done anything worthy lately.

Rachel and I tried to have a football party to watch the Houston game. I say tried because we got food and everyone came over and BAM we don't have that channel.

Worst feeling ever.

Well, maybe not ever.

I sort of laughed a lot after the guys that were mad left to watch it elsewhere.

(You're probably thinking "man, why is she going all the way back to talking about the Houston game?" Well, I told you I would update you, and it's been awhile. So there.)

My sister, Sara, and her little Westie named Lucy came to visit me. Lucy l-o-v-e-d our balcony. She really loved going out there and letting everyone know she is capable of barking.

Sara and I saw Wicked for a third time, and it was awesome!

Duh.

We had great seats, but it seems no matter how great the seats I will never be able to see the actors' faces very well. I need some opera glasses....like on Pretty Woman....except I'll know mine aren't broken....thanks Julia.

I got my hair colored dark again. I wasn't really even thinking about doing it. I wanted a haircut before a family wedding, so I call and make the appointment. That afternoon I go check the mail and my Redbook has come. Katherine Heigl is on the cover and she has this awesome dark hair.

So I was inspired.

So I did it.

Love living on the edge.

(Haha!)

Lori and I put together a bench!!

It's now on my awesome balcony along with the tacky tailgating chairs that I'm trying to replace with some way more attractive chairs/table.

But now it's too cold to sit out there.

When in Rome.

Those of us who live in Memphis and didn't go to Stark for homecoming had a party at Thomas Marino's house.

Lialah brought Church, her white boxer puppy. He stole the heart of everyone there...including the guys.

I missed the Kentucky game because I was at the before mentioned family wedding.

Said wedding was outside and most of you have heard the following event already...

at the age of 23 I have finally been stung by a bee for the first time.

It flew up my dress when we stood up for the bride's entrance.

Nothing could be done except for me to bite my lip and breathe through the pain.

For the first time in who knows how long I did nothing for Halloween except go to bed at 8:30.

2005: cowgirl (wasn't too creative back then)

2006: can't remember (maybe I didn't do anything)

2007: pirate with Anna and Emily

2008: a red state while Ben was a blue state

2009: flapper girl with Anna

2010: fun-sucker

Last weekend we had a fun time throwing Abby's bachelorette party.

Many friends were missed but I think we did y'all proud.

Granola Girls

That's the name of the dietitians' bowling team we started at work.

(I can hear you laughing.)

Baptist came up with this "bowling challenge" and Brooke, another RD, decided it would be a great idea to have a team from our department.

I tried to tell her I'm terrible...I even confessed to bowling a 30 one time.

It didn't work.

So sometime this week or next 5 other dietitians and myself will be bowling it out.

Try not to be jealous.

My grandparents are coming to visit this week!

Love when people come.

HATE when they leave.

I'll be spending Thanksgiving with the Vanderpools/Orrs this year.

Then on to Oxford to beat up some black bears.

Love and miss.

Officially

It's officially been a long time since I blogged.

It's officially Fall.

(Are you suppose to capitalize seasons?? I feel like it needs to be done.)

It's officially 90 degrees outside in Memphis at the moment.

(Which sort of makes Fall slightly less fallish)

I officially had my first student with me this week.

(I officially don't think I'm a very good teacher. This will get better over time. I hope.)

One week ago tomorrow, I passed my Registration Exam for Dietitians at 9:45am.

OFFICIALLY

I can now sign my name Mary Renfroe, RD.

It's felt like I lost about 50 pounds of stress this week. I have watched way too much TV. I tried to enjoy a glass of wine Monday night but realized I still do not own a wine opener.

(Don't worry -- that problem has finally been solved.)

I am getting a massage tomorrow morning as my gift to myself.

Lately I have started attending Bellevue Baptist Church. It's right up the road from my apartment. I'm going to sing in the choir for the Christmas music. Excited about this. I haven't sung in a choir since high school and I realize I really miss it.

The people there are so kind. And let me tell ya, there are a lot of people there.

(I'm currently watching FRIENDS on DVD. It's the episode where Phoebe and Chandler go to pick out an engagement ring for Monica, and Phoebe tries on all the jewelry and then wants to hold the musket. I'm laughing.)

I have this inkling to go to Hobby Lobby and buy a whole bunch of Fall decorations.

I kind of love pumpkins and leaves.

As a housewarming gift, my parents gave me a piece of Tom Jones pottery.

An original Jack-o'-lantern.

He makes 200 every year in a different color.

This year they were maroon!!

Her name is Jackie.

Isn't she pretty??

Can you find the "M" for Mary??

Love and miss

Rest

I was off work today because I work Saturday.

I'll be working every 4th Saturday or so, and when I do I'll get a day off during the week.

I'm thinking I am going to like this.

Well, I'll at least like it on that day off - maybe not so much when I have to get up on Saturday morning to go to work.

I spent this morning getting a new drivers license, taking my car to get an emissions test, and going to the county clerk's office for my car title and tag.

I wanted to put it off and not spend my day off running around.

Now I'm glad it's all done.

I'm official.

I could totally start getting ready for the Miss Tennessee pageant now.

After lunch with Emily, I decided to take advantage of this unusually cooler weather we're having here in Memphis today.

I have not spent any time on our balcony yet, so this afternoon I took my book and Diet Coke out there and chelaxed.

New Peter Pezzelli book. One of my favorite authors.

Firehouse Subs was yummy.

I'm thankful for time to rest during this overwhelming time of life.

A few Sundays before I left Starkville, J.D. Shaw at Adaton Baptist Church gave a message on work.

He said that as Christians we should never work as if we have to work.

We should work for the joy of it.

Can we really even fathom that??

Working for the joy of working and not because we know it will support our needs/wants or get us to that next stage in life?

In order to enjoy work and bring glory to God we have to look at how we can serve others through our work and also figure out our own gifts and how they fit into our jobs.

The most important thing to remember in our work is to look to the cross.

Rest in the knowledge that Jesus finished the only work that will ever really matter.

The biggest problem is taken care of.

Rest in Jesus' work.

love and miss

Running 'Round in Circles

I'm not sure why I just wrote that as the title.

I think it's because I have been missing my Daddy lately and he always sings that.

"Running 'round in circles, running 'round in circles, running 'round in circles"

That's how it goes.

In case you were wondering.

I think the other reason I thought about that little song is because of the word "running".

If you keep up with my blog you already know so I'll try not to repeat myself too much.

AC, Butler, and I ran the Elvis Presley Run, Walk, Rock & Roll 5K this past Saturday.

It was great!!

Here we are after arriving at Graceland.

All bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Butler, me, AC

Yes, we matched on purpose.

This turned out to be a good idea (thanks, Butler) because we could easily keep up with where the other 2 were when we got separated during the race.

I'm sure you can expect this next comment, but it was so flipping HOT!!

My personal favorite part of the race was the wet paper towels at the halfway mark.

I've never been so happy to see a paper towel.

My goal was just to run the whole thing.

The recent heat wave has prevented me (how's that as an excuse?) from training like I should.

Just running the whole race, not worrying about my time, was what I needed as motivation to continue on this journey towards the St. Jude Half in December.

And I accomplished my goal!

As a non-runner (I guess at some point I'll begin to call myself a runner), this was quite possibly the farthest I've ever run at once.

No.

I take that back.

It was definitely the farthest/longest I've ever run at once.

Here we are after the race.

Same position, just a lot sweatier.

I wish we had some pics of some of the individuals at Graceland that day.

It was a fabulous people-watching opportunity.

As you can imagine.

Graceland

'Nough said.

Now I have to get back to one of my favorite shows:

Love and miss

For Real

Here we go!!

Pictures of my new apartment in Memphis and Anna's wedding weekend.

Our living room

Rachel and I are pretty proud of our lights on the counter.

This is my view when I wash dishes.

The view from our balcony

One day I looked out at the gazebo and a guy was doing pull-ups on it.

The 1 Mile marker for the trail that runs around the lake.

And by trail I mean sidewalk.

But it works for me...makes training for a Half easier.

Emily and I figured out it's 1.2 miles around.

(We had to "figure it out" because this 1 Mile marker is the ONLY marker on the whole thing.)

Our balcony...which I have been calling the porch.

No chairs or table or twinkly lights yet, but it's going to be an awesome place to sit and look at the lake when we do get it put together.

And when it cools off a bit.

My room...much bigger than my room in Starkville.

View from the bathroom

My view every morning when I open the blinds.

The view from Rachel's room.

Pretty awesome.

Me and AC at Anna's rehearsal dinner in Jackson, MS.

Butler and myself :)

Here's the Bride!!

Anna and myself at the Bridesmaid Brunch.

The beautiful bride right after she got ready.

Best friends

Anna's college buds:

Libbie, me, AC, Butler, and Lori

Just chilling before the ceremony.

Have fun in the British Virgin Islands!!

Memphis is great so far.

I (obviously) love where I live.

I'm one week into the new job. So far so good. Learning the ropes of a new hospital is always somewhat overwhelming, but I'm encouraged by the fact that I did it with every new rotation during the internship. Catching on quickly is something you get good at as an intern.

The people I work with are extremely friendly and encouraging.

There are even dietetic interns!!

That's sort of weird since I was just in their shoes a couple of months ago.

Having so many good friends here is making the transition from school life to the real world much easier.

I'm excited and praying over finding a new church home here.

Getting completely settled will take a little while, but I'm getting use to the fact that this is my new home.

I do miss me some Stark though. :)

Mary in Memphis

TEASER

haha

That was for all of y'all who are dying for me to update about Memphis.

I bet you got on your Google reader and were like "oh my gosh, Mary finally posted about life!! YAY"

Right??

Sorry, but this is all I have time for right now.

A REAL post is coming soon. It will include pics of the new apartment, job details, and Anna's wedding!!

Get excited. :)

Love and miss

Flashback

So I got on Facebook this morning and an old friend had posted these REALLY old pics.

I wanted to share.

I'm the one in the dress that resembles something a sailor would wear.

Some of you have heard me say that I always had a bow on the side of my head which in turn made me tilt my head to one side 99% of the time.

Here is proof of that:

This is my first dance recital!!

I LOVE it.

Those were my two best friends, Jessica and Johanna (they're twins if you can't tell), and I'm pretty sure we were 4 years old here.

(it's pre-the glasses years)

I still have that costume in a box at the top of my closet at home.

One day my little girls will surely argue over who gets to wear it first....seeing as it is extremely awesome.

I think the matching tap shoe ties are a big plus.

I only took tap for the first 7 years...I later claimed it gave me a headache and didn't want to take that class anymore. haha

Hope you laughed a little today!!

Change

Big post!!!

The last 10 days have been pretty significant.

First, I have decided to be a poser in the runners' world. AC and I decided we wanted to know the joy of accomplishing a half marathon. Actually this all started when Stacey posted the link (while on her honeymoon btw) to the Disney Princess Half Marathon on our Facebook walls. We got to seriously thinking about it and came up with the following schedule.

We started training Monday (Day 4: check!) and will be running in the Elvis Presley Run, Walk, Rock & Roll 5K in Memphis on August 14th. And Butler has decided to train with us too!! The three of us will be decked out in Elvis sunglasses at Graceland that morning. If anyone else feels inspired please join us!

Then we are planning to run in the Vulcan Run 10K on November 6th in Birmingham. We're setting smaller goals within the ultimate goal in order to work our way up and stay dedicated.

(Okay, this is all of a sudden underlined and I can't figure out how to ununderline it. Have you ever noticed there is no "U" on blogspot?? At least not on mine. Oh well. You'll just know I'm emphasizing everything I say today.)

And the ultimate goal would be this: the St. Jude Half Marathon on December 4th. The day we can put one of those 13.1 stickers on our car and know what it feels like to finish a half marathon. As people who are not runners, we can't imagine finishing it at this point in time. Every day will be an accomplishment, and that day will be one for our personal history books.

Then the Disney Princess Half Marathon is in February. Sounds like a plan to me.

I'll be spending a week at home next week. Learning how to function in the adult world and relaxing in the house my family has lived in for almost 30 years. It'll be the last time I'm there in who knows how long.

That's because I'll be moving to Memphis in a couple of weeks! I'm starting my first big girl job at Baptist Memorial Hospital as a Clinical Dietitian. I'm excited about getting into my first job and learning all that I can. Just can't get use to the fact that I'll no longer be the student.

God has been so incredibly faithful in all of this. He opened the door to this job before I even thought I was ready to look for one (man, does He know best), and He's also given me a roommate and a place to live before I could settle in to stress-mode.

But before I move I have to have one final weekend with my best friend, Anna. She's getting married the weekend after I start my job. Big changes in both of our lives. We decided to get together and be as silly as humanly possible before it's time to act like adults.

Anna and I met when we were roommates at Mississippi's Junior Miss in July of 2004.

We look like babies!!

She is 95% of the reason why I decided to go to MSU. I had 2 other schools at the top of my list. She told me I didn't want to go to either because one was too liberal and one was too expensive. haha

Six years later, we've been roommates 2 more years, laughed our heads off countless times, cried over each other, prayed over each other, and made more memories than I can even think of.

Love and miss...and sorry for all the underlining.