Mental Combustion

One of my very good friends, Torie-her husband created a blog to type his random, strange thoughts and encourage discussion. He asked me to add it to my friend's links and also make a note so that people would know about it. That's what I'm doing now. Now you all know, so you should go visit his blog when you have a moment. I'll post it as a link so you don't have to type it in, but just so you know, it's mental combustion-minus the vowels. Therefore, it is mntlcmbstn. Jon is weird. Enjoy.

Chill

My time in A town thus far can best be described as "chill." It's been really calm and relaxing, zero stress. Nice. Yesterday was fun...Monday night I stayed over at Nikah's apartment and we watched "The Family Man," which I highly recommend-especially this time of year of course! We got up early Tuesday morning and met her mom and another friend/bridesmaid for breakfast at Cracky, and then we were off to look at wedding gowns all day! First we went to a place called Brides, which is just local. Nikah found her dress there and it's gorgeous. It's actually ivory and carmel. It's very elegant and she's tiny so she looks perfect in it. It's a gorgeous dress. She tried on several others, but none of them took our breath away like that one. We went to David's Bridal as well, but nothing seemed as great as the one at Bride's. There was one that she tried on there that I absolutely loved...it brought tears to my eyes actually...but that might also be because she had the veil on and everything for the first time. I'm normally not very emotional, but she's my best friend and she's getting married!! Everything changes. It was fun looking at all of the different dresses, but when I get married I am going to be so indecisive about everything!! I already am about most things, but I like so many different types of dresses and everything, I have no idea what I'm gonna want! Anyway, enough about that. This morning was my nephew's Christmas party at school, so we went to that. I now remember why I am NOT a 4th grade teacher. Anyway, the principal of his school was my high school AP English teacher, so I went and said hello to him. I don't think I've seen him since I graduated 6 1/2 years ago. I always liked him, but he was way too easy. Anyway, if I do move back to Amarillo and teach, he will give me a job, so that's good to know. It's always nice to have back up. That's about it for now.

At the Airport

Thursday morning I was at Gatwick very early, so after falling asleep in a chair for a little while, I decided to go to the Starbucks upstairs. I was next in line and the guy in front of me, American I believe, ordered his beverage and then said "120 degrees please." And the barista said, "sorry, how many degrees?" And the man said "120," in all seriousness. When he first said it I thought that he was joking around, but no, this was a completely serious matter. I was thinking, "I wonder what 120 degrees is like, is that hotter or colder than normal? What's the normal coffee temperature here? Maybe I should order mine at 120. Sometimes I get it and it's not hot enough. Interesting." They are serious about having it your way at Starbucks. Anyway, I got my eggnog latte at whatever normal temperature is, and then was about to sit down when I looked up and noticed one of my middle schoolers across the way. He happens to belong to one of my fave church families too! So I walked over to them and found out that we were on the same flight! I just thought that was crazy because the kids still had 2 days of school left, but they were just missing and leaving early. Then we realized that we were assigned seats ON THE SAME AISLE. How crazy weird is that! What are the odds?? God is good and He even cares about the small details. He knows I'm not a huge fan of the 10 hour flight and He blessed me with a friend sitting right next to me. So we had some good convo during the flight.
I got to Dallas Thursday afternoon and hung out with Brandon. We met my friend Wendy for coffee and that night I went to bed at 8! That was really stretching it too because I was ready for bed around 5. Friday Bran and I went to breakfast at Cracky, which was excellent and then we met Darren at the mall in the afternoon. I did some good shopping at New York and Co. and then hung out with the boys some more. It was so great to spend time with them. Friday evening I flew to A-town and spent some time with the fam. Saturday morning we went to look at the house grandma bought and then met Torie for lunch at Kabuki. After lunch, Torie and I went to get my hair cut and then hung out a bit more. Saturday evening Nikah and BJ came over to my house for dinner and stayed for a while, so that was nice. They just got engaged a week ago and I have to say that she has one of the most beautiful engagement rings I have probably ever seen up close and personal. It's amazing. This morning I went to church with my fam FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, me, mom, Tom, and gram. This has never happened in my life and, therefore, should always be remembered. And then this afternoon I made some Christmas goodies that my mom asked me to make. It was fun. Gram helped me out. So that's pretty much the summary of my time in A-town thus far.

Two of the Greatest Nights of My Life

Monday and Tuesday night were both spectacular in the life of Lindsey. A while back I bought a couple of tickets to see David Gray on December 12th. Well...about 3 or 4 weeks before the concert, I offered one of the tickets to my friend/the boy I like Jordan. He wanted to go, and finally, Monday night it was finally time. We were really excited! The concert was awesome I thought, I really enjoy Dave's music and I think he has a remarkable voice-fairly unique and really beautiful. I could listen to him sing for a long, long time. His drummer was pretty interesting, in fact, the whole group was quite eccentric. Dave used the f bomb a little too much, like every other word, but he only spoke briefly so whatev. One of the highlights of the concert was when the people standing next to us almost got into a fist fight-a man and woman-over who knows what. All I know is, that woman saw David Gray at Wembley Stadium!! She like yelled that, amongst other things. Gotta love middle aged drunkards at a concert. I also enjoyed it when she was dancing a while later. There's nothing quite like a drunk 40 year old woman's dance. Good times.
Tuesday night was an actual date! I was pretty excited about it. Jordan invited me to go to a show with him, but he wouldn't tell me which one-it was a surprise. Surprises are so fun! We headed up to this Moroccan restaurant that I love and had some seriously great chicken and cous cous...and some seriously great conversation. Jordan asks really good questions and he's an excellent conversationalist. After dinner, we walked around Oxford Circus/Regent Street looking at the spectacular Christmas lights in the area. Very beautiful! The window displays were not, however, so beautiful. They were kind of strange actually and not exceedingly Christmassy. But it was really nice walking around looking at the lights, while being on a date with the boy I like. The time went pretty fast and suddenly it was like pretty much time to be at the show, but we were still at Oxford Circus...so we hailed a taxi-which was not easy at that time of night in that area, and barely made it into the show on time...a couple of minutes after it started. We were both worried that we wouldn't be able to get our tickets, but it was all good and we were on the end of a row, so none of that having to walk in front of all the people and disturbing everyone on the row. The show was The Rat Pack: Christmas Special. If you read my blog, you may know that I went to the Rat Pack regular show a few months ago and loved it. Jord knew I loved it and really like that type of music, so he did well choosing this show. It's such a fun one! After the show we just walked back to Waterloo station-crossed over one of the bridges on the Thames and looked at beautiful London at night. I love London! I'm so blessed that I can just hop on a train and be there in half an hour. It's awesome! So, these were 2 stinkin great nights...great because of the shows, but even greater because of the company.

Coming to America

Tomorrow I'm going to America, home sweet home. I'm so excited I can't even describe my feelings with real words. I will fly into Dallas and Brandon will pick me up and we will eat Chipotle. I'm so happy to be seeing my homeland for 2 whole weeks!!! Happy Christmas to you all!