Like No One is Watching...

"Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt,
sing like no one is listening, and live like it's heaven on earth."
William Purkey

(Sorry for stealing your pictures, Kami!)

I’m sure everyone has heard that quote (it's really overused) or something similar to it. So… I obviously don’t have a problem with the first part of that quote. I’ll be honest, I love to dance. I pretty much always have. I was on the Drill Team in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. I was co-captain of our team my 5th grade year. I know it doesn’t sound that impressive, but I was a good dancer for a 5th grader. I grew up in a dancing family. My parent square danced when I was little. Bevin actually took the lessons with them but I never did. I just dressed up in the outfit and petticoat and twirled around. It was really fun. I also took clogging lessons… for less than a year. I still know the three steps I learned and Blake always tries to get me to perform for people. He gets a kick out of it, and I don’t know why.

Growing up in the C of C meant that most people I went to church with didn’t approve of dancing. Luckily my parents knew how much fun it could be and always let me go to dances when I wanted to. I watched other people dance in a provocative way, and I wasn’t really into that. I later learned you can have fun dancing and not look skanky at the same time. I didn’t really break out of my “dancing shell” until college. I think that Jen, Erika, and Kara helped me with that.

I’ve had more opportunities to dance lately, and I really love that. The pictures in the collage are just evidence that I don’t really think about what I’m doing while I’m dancing. I’m just dancing. I don’t care if I look silly or stupid because I’m having fun! One night at church camp we had a dance party. Dancing… at church camp? I know, all of you are going to want to go to Otter Creek’s Camp next year. When the music started playing I couldn’t control myself. I started going crazy on the dance floor. People were laughing at me all night long and I didn’t understand why they were looking at me instead of dancing themselves. I realized how much Katie and I were alike that night. It’s like we were both different people on the dance floor.

I know this all sounds pretty silly. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. Julie, Katie and I have been walking most days after work and we have been meaning to have a “Dance for Exercise Day” sometime soon. We had one planned last Wednesday, but no one even felt like waking. So instead, we sat on the couch and ate frozen chocolate chips. We’re going to have a “DFED” sometime soon. If you’re in Nashville and want to join us… just let me know.

I’ll leave you with what I’ve been listening to lately. Don’t judge me… I know you’re going to look at this list and think you’re looking at the playlist of a 16 year old. Don’t worry, I don’t care.

• My Humps – The Black Eyed Peas
• Ohio (Come back to Texas) – Bowling for Soup
• Candyman – Christina Aguilera
• Cupid Shuffle – Cupid
• London Bridge – Fergie
• Glamorous – Fergie
• Party People – Fergi and Nelly
• Low – Flo-rida
• In the Ayer – Flo-rida
• Leavin’ – Jesse McCartney
• No Air – Jordin Sparks
• Chop me Up – Justin Timberlake
• Summer Love – JT
• Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis
• See You Again – Miley Cyrus
• Lose Control – Missy Elliot
• Country Grammar – Nelly
• E.I – Nelly
• Hot in Herre – Nelly
• Shake Ya Tailfeather – Nelly, P. Diddy, and Murphy Lee
• Girlfriend - *Nsync and Nelly

Old School...

I know EVERYONE is doing this, but it is too stinking funny not to post. I mean seriously, look at the bottom right picture and tell me that is not actually me. Some of the pictures don't line up well, but when they do, it is SO weird.

Things are going well around here. I spend my time posting in class discussion forums and writing HTML. I don't hate HTML but I'll be glad when I can go back to Dreamweaver writing the code for me. I am learning a lot though. Enough about school. I've been a boring blogger lately. Sorry. Just unmotivated. Anyway. Maybe these funny pictures will tide you over for a few weeks. (Just kidding) I have several posts that I need to work on. Maybe tomorrow.

Bill Brown [BWOWN]

So it may not be the skin-fest your prurient interest desires, but this is the Aussie known as Bill Brown. Guess Mo should have brought the zoom lens, huh.

In seriousness, this is a crazy man. He climbed up this tower. Jumped off. Then flipped and twisted his way down 60-feet into a little pool. I really wish, though, we could all see his Tarzan Speedo. 

It's fair time in Tennessee...

Last night, we went to the Wilson County Fair. We piled seven people in to the Trail Blazer and headed to Lebanon, TN. (Yes, that's right... the home of the original Cracker Barrel). Two boys in the front, three girls in the middle and two boys in the back, with no seats and a Puppy Partition between them and the rest of the crew. We got lost on the way out there. We had 5 phones with internet mapping capabilities and still managed to get lost... Interesting, huh? Apparently the Wilson County fair doesn't actually know it's own address. Seriously, it was totally wrong on their website. Anyway. We had a blast! I ate a corn dog, half a funnel cake and drank two cokes. It was wonderful! The weather was perfect and the only thing missing was Julie. She was in Orlando for her nephew's 1st birthday. Blake came without her. Now that's friendship: going to the fair with three couples AND volunteering to sit in the Puppy Pen with someone who is 6'3".

It's Official...

My life has changed forever. My Jeep died last week and I got a new car on Wednesday. My Jeep didn't actually die, it was just about to 'throw a rod' and the air conditioning went out. Good ol Carmax gave us a whopping $750 for my pretty purple car (I think they were generous). We took it to a reputable mechanic and he said he couldn't fix but knew someone who could. He also said if it were his car he'd get rid of it as fast as possible. So we did. We weren't planning on buying a new car any time soon. Luckily, the Friday before we found out we weren't going to have to pay for any of my Grad school. Talk about a blessing! Here's a pic of my new ride. I really like it.

I started my new job at Lipscomb today! I'm excited to go back and see what tomorrow holds for me! (I'm not on fire in this picture... I just look like it)

.

I start Grad school on the 25th. I'm taking 12 hours this semester, which will be interesting. 12 hours of school + 40 hours of work = Not much free time for Mo. Blake said he'd be willing to take over the housework while I'm in school... I haven't decided if I'm going to take him up on it. He's a great husband, not much of a housekeeper though. That's all for now. I do realize I need to write another installment of "A Prequel to the Farmer's Almanac," gimme time. It will happen. :-)

Vacation

Last week marked 31 years of "Family, Friends and Fun!" (That's what the 30th anniversary T-shirts said last year.) But seriously, it was a week filled with the 3 F's. This year lake Ouachita was lucky to have a few new additions grace her shores. The Lipscombs, their puppy Maybel, and our buddy Maverick all joined the ranks of our 'red-neck yacht club.' Justin and Blake took the pups swimming every day, sometimes twice, and they couldn't get enough of the water. At first, Maverick was a terrible swimmer but he quickly got the hang of it. It wasn't terribly hot this year but the mosquitoes were biting like crazy. I still have the remnants of a few bites on my ankles... Our precious Brady Mountain Resort ('resort' is used in the loosest sense of the word) was sold to a group of investors from Dallas earlier this year. We were all a little hesitant about any changes but we managed to make it through the week with only a few disappointments. Luckily they didn't change the recipe for the biscuits, so I was happy.

It was wonderful having the Lipscombs there this year. We are lucky to have them as friends and are already talking about next year... TJ and Holly?? Blake and Julie??? Ready for some fun?

Our Chimney Sweep

Meet our chimney sweep.

Not really, just my first thought when I saw this picture Moriah took at church camp.

Sorry its not in a snazzy collage. No time.

-Blake

Church Camp!

All About Bo!

This is Blake and Julie Jones adorable dog Bo! Katie and I went with them to pick him out/up. Bo is Maverick's half brother and as you can tell by the picture above, Maverick wanted nothing to do with Bo. He is warming up to the idea of his little brother, though. Maybel on the other hand immediately loved little Bo. They might as well get used to each other, and quick. They are going to be spending a lot of time together! Anyway, Bo is adorable and much more active and vocal than Maverick ever was. Bo will play around and bark (even if it is a little bark) at you if you aren't paying enough attention to him. I love Bo... not as much as I love Maverick, though. That's all for now!

Wedding Season

About 3 weeks ago Blake and I drove to Austin, TX for Jen and Hayden's Wedding. It was a long trip but well worth the 24+ hours we spent in the car that weekend. Elijah , Janine and baby Micah were nice enough to share their house and bedrooms with Blake, Kenli, and me. We went to the rehearsal dinner and caught up with friends I hadn't seen in almost a year. Saturday morning Blake and I woke up and went to Round Rock Donuts. (We are seriously lacking good donut places in Nashville) Blake and I got a dozen donuts, 1 kolache (sp?), and a cup of coffee for only $7! It would have cost twice that here... Oh well! We went to the Texas Capitol Building and gave ourselves a tour Saturday before the wedding. I hadn't been there since elementary school so it was nice to go back. Saturday we went to the wedding where Blake was in charge of the music. We witnessed a beautiful wedding, ate great Mexican food, listened to a Mariachi Band and danced for what seemed like hours. It was so fun and the location was BEAUTIFUL. Sunday we drove up through Fort Worth and spent Father's Day with my family, which was really fun. Needless to say the weekend was a blast! I don't have time to blog about Hunter and Leslie's wedding so I will just leave you with their pictures!

We've been busy...

Blake and I have busy. I've mostly blogged about our love story and neglected the fun we've been having. So here's a recap of our last couple of weeks... in no particular order.

Beaufort, SC... Here we come!

Blake and I loaded up the car with our suitcases, beach towels, Maverick, and about 50 pounds of his food and headed to Beaufort, SC for the Memorial Day Weekend. My parents and little sister were already in Beaufort visiting Bevin and John so we got to spend the weekend with my whole family (minus Channing's fiance, Austin). We divided the trip into two parts, and I'm glad we did because Blake drove 65 mph the ENTIRE trip. Needless to say, I slept a lot. Blake and I stopped in Savannah, GA to try and get reservations at Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant). We got there at 9:20am to get our names on the list and there were already 200 people in line in front of us. I was pretty much the reason we were trying to eat there so I decided I didn't care if we ate there or not. So instead of eating at Paula Deen's we ate at Barbara Jean's... no lie. My mom, sisters and I shopped at the outlet mall in Hilton Head on Saturday while the boys played golf at the course where Bevin works... for free. Sunday we all went to the beach and then Bevin, John and their fiend Matt cooked dinner for all of us. It was delicious! Monday morning we headed back to Nashville and met the Lipscombs and the Jones at Casa Fiesta for dinner. We had a great weekend and I can't wait to see them at the lake in July.

Jellico, TN... Here we come!

Just kidding, we're not getting another dog, but it was Maverick's birthday on Sunday! He's one year old. We obviously haven't had him for the whole year but it has gone by really fast. He's grown so quickly and we love him a lot... probably too much. He's kind of spoiled. He loves playing with Maybel and can't wait to meet his new buddy Bo. The Jones are going to get one of Mav's (at least half, could be full) brothers from the Meeks in Jellico, TN. I can't wait to meet him and Maverick can't either.

University of Missouri... Here I come!

We're not moving... but I am starting a Master's program (online) at the University of Missouri in August. I will be studying Educational Technology with an emphasis in School Technology. I'm really excited. Over the past couple of months I feel like I have really figured out what I want "to do" for the rest of my life. Sometimes I sing this song to Blake, " I love technology, but not as much as you, you see... But I STILL love technology... Always and forever." This leads me to my next thing...

David Lipscomb... Here I come!

No, I'm not trying to get two Master's degrees from two schools, I'm going to work at the David Lipscomb Campus School!! I'll be leaving Otter Creek (the job) at the end of July and beginning a new chapter in my career. I'll be working with the Elementary, Middle and High school technology needs, taking care of their website, taking pictures as needed, and taking care of their design needs. It's a lot of what I'm already doing at Otter Creek, but with some changes. I'm really, really excited!

That's what has been going on around Binkley Drive lately. I'll post pictures of our trip in a few days!

“A Prequel to the Farmer’s Almanac” – Chapter 4

The Real Relationship Begins
Part One – by Moriah

I moved into my dorm a little early sophomore year. I might have not told the truth about helping out with Welcome Week (ACU’s Freshman Orientation) so I could move in early… oops. Anyway, all of my friends moved in early and I hung out with them at night and slept in while they were up doing Welcome Week stuff, it was the best of both worlds. One night my girlfriends and I went to dinner and then to ‘His Cup’ the local coffee house. I think I knew that some of our guy friends were going to be there but I tried not to get too excited about the possibility of seeing Blake. My friends and I got to ‘His Cup’ and just as we got out of the car I saw him. I knew it was Blake, but it didn’t look like the Blake I left at the end of freshman year. Over the summer Blake “lost” his earrings (he had two) and “lost” all of his bangs. He was also really tan from landscaping all summer. He was wearing a light peach colored polo that he still wears to work in the yard. I looked at him and my stomach jumped. I was so excited to see him, and he looked SO cute. We awkwardly hugged and walked inside.

Our group of friends sat down at a couple of tables and, of course, I ended up at Blake’s table. We all sat and talked for a while and about an hour into the evening my friend Ashley leans over to me and says, “You know that girl sitting across from you is Blake’s ex-girlfriend, right?” I didn’t know and I was a little heartbroken. I tried not to let it get me down. I don’t remember how he asked me out for our second “first date” but it was just a little over a week later. We went to Outback Steakhouse where Blake had lamb with mint sauce and I had the Outback Special, what I still order today. At dinner that night we saw Blake’s ex-girlfriend (whom I had become friends with) who was also on a date. After dinner we headed out to the “Mesas” as we so lovingly called them to sit, talk and look at the stars. Competitions to see who could see the most shooting stars later became something we (mostly Moriah, Blake isn’t that competitive) loved to do. We didn’t have our first kiss that night and it didn’t come for a few weeks, but that was okay with me. I just liked being with him and holding his hand.

The First Kiss
Part Two - by Blake

A Willy Nelson song inspired our first kiss – “Maria, Shut Up and Kiss Me.” However, by the time that first came around, it was more like “Moriah, Its About Time to Kiss Me.”

It was probably more than a month into our dating relationship. It’s not that there wasn’t plenty of opportunity. Abilene has a boat load of “parking spots.” Some of our favorites included a mesa south of town, an airfield just off I-20, and some of the farm to market routes around.

I (or we) weren’t too nervous. I think I just had a feeling that there was plenty of time for kissing. This wasn’t going to be a short-term friendship.

If memory hasn’t faded too much, I believe Moriah called while she was on the road on her pink Nokia phone. It was Saturday night and she was coming back to Abilene from Fort Worth early. Her call was rare. We hadn’t made the jump past me asking her out to her initiating the hangout time. She said she’d be outside my dorm in a few minutes. I grabbed a stick of gum and headed outside.

We drove to the 24-hour What-a-Burger, where Moriah certainly must have had French fries and her favorite ketchup tubs. I always got the potato and egg breakfast burrito. We came back to the Edwards dorm and spent quite a while sitting there, chatting.

I was trying to play it cool, but I knew this night wasn’t going to end without a kiss. Moriah had shown tangible evidence that she liked me too. SHE CALLED ME! I had sung that Willy Nelson song in my head, replacing Maria with Moriah. I thought this could make a relatively seamless transition from talking to locking lips. I leaned in, gave my line: Moriah, shut up and kiss me. She didn’t say ‘no,’ so I moved in.

The next time we kissed was at our wedding…at least in the video, which I watched yesterday to celebrate our third anniversary, my performance wouldn’t convince an audience that it was more than our second or third peck.

Attack of the Blog Stalker...

Yes, that's me. I'm a Blog Stalker. I didn't even come up with that term, I took it from someone else's blog. You know you do it too. You read your friend's blogs and then read the blogs they have linked on their blog. I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of. It's fun to read about other people's lives, it's why Reality TV is so popular. Blogs are more interesting and generally more family friendly. There are some people I feel like I'm friends with, although I've never even met them. This is where the actual story begins: Attack of the Blog Stocker...

Blake and I leave our classroom, walk down the hall and stairs towards the parking lot at church. Everything is normal, until I recognize this girl. I know her name, and I say, okay shout it. "HOLLY!" (Her name isn't Holly, I'm protecting her) She turns around and I realize, I don't really know her, I just read her blog. I introduce myself, and Blake, and explain how I "know" her. I tell her she was friends with my older sister in college and I that I read her blog. I ask her a few questions and quickly realize how strange I might be making her feel. I say, "It was nice to meet you," and Blake and I head towards the car. As we walk out of church I ask Blake if it was weird what I did, and he said, "Kind of." I immediately picked up the phone, called my sister, and told her my story. She laughs and thinks it's funny.

I hope that I didn't make Holly and her husband uncomfortable. They recently move to Nashville, visit a new church, and then all of a sudden some strange girl is calling out her name in the hallway after church. I'm really surprised I haven't done this more... calling out to people I only think I know.

So, from this point on I'm making it a point to make my presence known... on the blogs I read. You can do it too, if you want.

“A Prequel to the Farmer’s Almanac” – Chapter 3

Freshman Formal

After our AIM conversation I went out with Sunshine several more times. We had fun together but he wasn’t exactly “Mr. Traditional.” He told me several times that he had no interest in going to the Freshman Formal, but I didn’t think that meant I couldn’t go. So, when a friend asked me to go to the formal with him I said yes. I had no interest in my date what so ever, so it was no big deal to me. (I never dreamed that Blake might want to ask me.) One night, while talking to Sunshine he asked me to go to the formal. I explained the predicament and he didn’t take it that well. That is when I realized he had an anger problem, so to speak. I only went out with him a few more times…

So, formal night comes around and my girlfriends and I spend hours getting ready. Everyone helped each other with makeup and hair-dos. Getting ready for the formal probably was more fun than the actual formal. Formal Date comes and picks me up and we head to the Windsor Hotel where the formal was held. We sat at a table with Cheryl and her date (CBH boy), Ashley and her date, and I can’t remember whom else. Before dinner I wandered around talking to people and taking pictures with everyone. During my stroll I came across Blake and his date. We talked for a while and took a picture (see below). I didn’t really want to go back to my table, but I had left my date alone. Following dinner we sat around and listened to Stephen Speaks play his super popular music. It was obviously just TJ and his guitar, but I thought his name was Stephen, as did pretty much everyone else.

Formal ends and everyone heads back to their dorms to change clothes. Formal Date picks me back up, along with his friend from home who was staying in my room, and we headed out to lake Fort Phantom. We walk up to the bonfire, I find my friends and Formal Date disappears. I’m standing around, leaning on a truck listening to Ashley’s date play the guitar and up walks Blake, sans date. We stood there talking for a long time. I never noticed how late it was but after a while Formal Date walks up. He says (and I quote), “I’m going to go on back to campus, you can just ride home with Blake.” I turned and looked at Blake and he had the same shocked look on his face. I said, “No, that’s okay, I’m ready to go.”

I didn’t feel bad for Formal Date because he knew that I had no feelings for him, and I thought he felt the same way. I found out later that wasn’t necessarily the case. School ended and Blake and I talked over the summer. As he said earlier, that’s when things heated up.

A Prequel to the "Farmer's Almanac" - Chapter 2

The First Date
Written by: Blake Farmer

It wasn't so much what happened on our first date...but how we got there in the first place.

Once Sing Song concluded (and we sucked, by the way), I didn't see Moriah except for in The Bean, ACU's main cafeteria. So, I had my friends. Moriah had her friends. Every once in a while I would time my trip to the ice cream counter so we would stand in line together and be forced to talk, but I was struggling here. At one point, I just bit the bullet and started going over to her table and spending a few minutes each day before I would leave for my afternoon class (aka nap).

In these brief conversations we would have, I started throwing in this line about "we need to make some Blake and Moriah time." Upon reading this, it wasn't as sneaky as perhaps I intended to be. Eventually I was walking Moriah out of the lunch room each day. This was a new thing for me. All the girls I had tried to date before were first my friends.

One day, I decided it was time to just ask her out. I walked Moriah all the way back to her dorm, but we had a third wheel, a tagalong. Our good friend thwarted my efforts. I would persist. I eventually asked her out, right there in front of the fountain drinks. I said Friday. She said, "I can do Thursday." (little did I know, she already had a date for Friday.) I did back flips all the way to my dorm.

So we went out. Hit up a small Italian restaurant. I was funny. She was pretty and smiled a lot. And I remember she had a phone that lit up when you called it. I really hadn't gotten to talk with her at any length until this time. We then went to Grace Bible Study, which is more like a Jeff Berry concert.

I dropped her off that night at Gardner Dorm. She was wearing one of her knee-length, hooded sweaters, if I remember right. I said we should do it again. She said great. Almost asked her to freshman formal. Thought she already had a date. She didn't.

So later that night, I spend a few hours on AIM, chatting it up. We had already exchanged user names.

It went down like this:

Blake1005: I meant to bring this up tonight, but I didn't want to come off too strong. I've heard you're dating someone. Is that right?

moeydawn: Actually. Yes. His name is Gill.

Blake1005: I'm not trying to squeeze into anything. I don't want to mess something up. I really didn't know, but just to let you know, I'm around. I can wait.

moeydawn: Yeah. I had fun, but I feel bad. Gill and I already have this thing going. Sorry


Little did I know, I was talking to Moriah's friend, Kenli. We would talk aplenty on AIM and flirt from afar for the rest of the year. We chatted by phone several times over the summer, and then things started to heat up.

A Prequel to the “Farmer’s Almanac” - Chapter 1

It all began with Sing Song.

In the fall of 2001, I went to ACU without a care in the world… I also went not knowing a soul. Okay, I knew a couple people from Camp Blue Haven (CBH) and a couple of my sister’s friends who were seniors.

I was blessed with a wonderful (potluck) roommate, Cheryl. She was quiet at first but we really hit it off. Cheryl and I hung out a lot with the girls on our hall. I honestly didn’t have much interaction with a lot of freshman guys. I actually went on several dates that first semester but nothing ever came from them. Many times I didn’t want to go, but Cheryl always talked me in to it. She would say, “If they are going to get up enough courage to ask you out, you can’t say no… and it’s a free meal!” I would go and have fun, but I could always find some little something about the guy that I wouldn’t be able to get over.

I ate dinner a couple times a month with one of the guys I knew from CBH. He was nice but I honestly didn’t know him that well. He had been in my brother cabin a couple times and we won the “Best Boy/Best Girl Camper” award our last year at camp. During one of our dinners he asked me if I would be interested in helping him direct (I ended up mostly organizing things) the freshman act for Sing Song. I immediately said yes. I knew it would be really good for me to step outside of my comfort zone and meet A LOT of new people.

The week before finals we scheduled the try-outs for Freshman Sing Song. *For those of you who aren’t ACU people, Sing Song is huge and mostly everyone wants to participate, so you have to have try outs to whittle the numbers down. Try-outs were held, over a three night period, in the Gardner dorm. I sat in on every audition and ranked everyone as to how well they sang and how good their ‘Sing Song’ face looked. I’m going to be completely honest… I don’t really remember much about those nights, I don’t remember meeting Blake, but he does remember meeting me. I do remember not really caring about how people sounded but looking for people I thought I could be friends with. Totally shallow, I know. (Sorry to any of you reading this that did not get chosen… obviously we’re friends now, so it doesn’t matter, right?)

Christmas break happens. Blah, blah, blah. As soon as school starts we have our first practice. This first practice gives CBH guy and I a chance to see who has what it takes to stand on the front row. I (of course) put myself on the front row, and guess who stood just one person away?

A Prequel to the “Farmer’s Almanac”

I’m going to go ahead and admit that I’m copying Kara. I’ve enjoyed reading her “How I became a Sheets” story so much that she inspired me to write the tale of how Blake and I met and fell in love. I’m not going to promise that it will be very funny or even very interesting, but maybe it will give you a little more insight about us as a couple. More than anything, this will be for me to reminisce. I hope you enjoy our story. The first installment will be released tonight (I decided to change the date), and no, there are not any advance copies available.

Mule Day, eh?

3.29.08

*I will blog about the bottom three pictures later tonight.*

Better late than never, right?