Hiding in the candle isle.

So every Christmas I have to go shopping with both of my parents to help them shop for one another. This seems to forever leave me in the worst positions, including but not limited to:

• Being stuck in an isle full of cranky people trying to pick what color jacket to buy someone while none of us can actually reach said jacket because there are to many people are trying to reach it.
• In the most crowded shampoo isle I have ever seen in my life. Who needs shampoo for Christmas and why is all of the White Rain hairspray my grandmother uses gone?
• In that really crowded isle with all of the junk bath time gifts you buy for people who you don't know that well but are obligated to buy a present for. (Or maybe you know someone who loves three dollar bath soap. Who am I to judge?)
• Hiding in the candle isle.

I wind up hiding in the candle isle because that is the last place most people go when they are Christmas shopping. This is both convenient and fun for me because it lets me smell all the candles, create random flower arrangements and hide from the hoards of Christmas crazy people.

So if you need somewhere to hide in Wall-mart before Christmas try the candle isle. (Unless I'm there first. I call dibs.)

Christmas Pageant

I will be the first to tell you that there is no bigger critic of my small church’s Christmas pageant than me. In my humble opinion our pageant is a necessary evil that is always scraped together at the very last moment in order to please parents and and grandparent while annoying me to death. (Of course, I have been known to be prone to dramatics.)

I do not enjoy the bath robes, the people who read their lines from the paper that they got for the first time ten minutes ago, or the fact that I myself can never seem to play my part correctly aside from my own practicing. I do not like the choir arrangements that are both cheep and have poor musical arrangements and I absolutely abhor the hand bells. (Because no one can play them. No. One.)

Aside from all of my personal objections I understand that this pageant is not about how well we go through the actions of how the birth of Christ was described in a historic and holy text. (Because believe you me, if it were about talent and presentation someone would surly come in and shut us down.) It’s a lot less about presentation and how cute the kids look and a whole lot more about how we are going to give thanks for another year that we have lived in our lives underneath the grace that is Jesus Christ.

Because even though it’s not really anywhere near when he was probably born it’s important and even endearing that we can keep up a tradition that is so obviously flawed and painful for all parties involved. It’s important, it’s memorable, and it’s another reason to be glad that Jesus was born for us, not so that we could run around covered in glitter during the worst play ever preformed ever, but so that we can take a moment out of the church year where we don’t have to feel guilty, sad, or repressed and be glad that something has been done for us. We have been given freely a gift of redemption.

Sideways Christmas Trees.

My family's Christmas tree is leaning. This is normally not a problem. as I like to pretend it means we're the type of artsy people who find such a thing abstract and exhilarating. Even though we are nothing like that it's still nice to pretend.

There was no real issue until the tree fell onto mom the other day. She was nowhere near as amused as me. Part of the problem was that she was under it when it fell. She had been rearranging presents with ought the thought that they might possibly be what was holding up the thought that they might be what was keeping the tree in an upright position.

It's back upright now, but the damage has been done. So, you know, I think we might get a new tree.

The storm of the century is coming.

My part of the county is in the pink on the weather map. Pink has been saved to represent the scary part of the snow storm that is coming to eat me. The largest part of the storm is still in middle Tennessee and headed my way.

The news is doing nothing to pacify me from my fear of dying of boredom while being snowed into my house in the middle of nowhere. The anchorman told me to make sure that I have a "snow kit." I'm not sure if this is a kit made of snow, or perhaps a collection of things to help me survive a snow storm. I'm not entirely sure what such a kit should be composed of but unless said kit includes salsa I want nothing to do with it.

Parking Meters

So I already posted my photographs from First Friday but while I was there with three of my best friends I realized that I had gotten used to the idea of the parking meter. I was leading everyone down the sidewalk towards the old city when Ashley stopped the group to admire a parking meeter. She was really excited about it. Ashley was all "This is a parking meter!" and I was all "Correct!" Then I realized that this time two years ago I was really excited to see them too.

I would see a parking meter and become overly excited. Obviously this was a good parking place, you had to pay for it. PLUS the idea of the meter itself was so cool. To think that they had made something like that just in order to take change in order for you to park there. It was an incredible amount of awesome.

Now I see parking meters for the thinly veiled evil that they truly are. They just seem awesome if you've never seen one before, but they really exist to make your life difficult when the garage is down. The great thing about Knoxville is that on nights and weekends the parking garages are free, so when you can't park in one of them it's extra sucky to have to pay a meter.

This is what happens when I try to study.

This is what happens when I try to study with my computer.

On the survival of mankind.

It has recently come to my attention that the survival of all humans lies in the hands of girls who wear shorts in the wintertime and hipsters who want to be Davy Crockett.

I have had a revelation. The girls who wear shorts in 28 degree weather and manage not to look cold are actually going to save humanity. But this will only happen if they mate with hipsters that like to farm.

Now, I know that none of that made any sense, so let me elaborate. The girls in shorts are obviously a new species of human. They are able to withstand lower temperatures with minimal clothing. This will come in handy during the next ice age when humans have little time to make clothing and have no means of electricity to keep themselves warm.

I have also noted that several males walk around in the same weather as the girls with no coat in short sleeves and shorts. They, however, look cold. They must be inferior. Because of this I have started categorizing those who wear shorts into “specimen” and “non acceptable specimen” categories. Those who do not flinch and have obviously not been working out will be quality breeding stock.

For breeding partners I have chosen the farming hipster. My roommate informs me that these are people who can not only farm, but also find themselves quite at home with no electricity and a v-neck shirt. (I myself can grow things but fear a lack of electrical energy, making myself a “non acceptable specimen.”) These specimen's dedication to growing food for survival and not depending on 'the man' for their energy needs will make them a useful people during the next ice age.

Should the two specimens successfully create a hybrid we will be able to save humanity from the next ice age. The resulting human will be able to sustain cold temperatures in minimal clothing while growing all of it's own food and producing it's on energy. We're going to be ok guys, we're going to be ok.

I don't understand. I really don't.

First Friday!

Yesterday I went downtown and did my normal first Friday thing, but this time I had a camera, recorder and a cause.

Conversations with my bladder.

Just to set the scene for you imagine me in my bed in my dorm room as herds of what I can only describe as water buffalo wearing high heeled shoes run up and down the hall at 2:30 am because it's ladies night and that's when the water buffalo put on their heels and go dance. (It only makes sense.)

So here I lay and all of a sudden my bladder interrupts my frustrations toward the water buffalo.

Bladder: Hey! Can we go to the bathroom?

Me: No, there are watter buffalo outside wearing heels and I"m afraid that if I go out there I'll kill them.

Bladder: That's a fair thought, but we're still going. Nice try though.

Me: No, I'm serious, we are not going.

Bladder: How attached are you to this bedding and your sense of dignity?

Me: Fine, but if I kill the water buffalo it's your fault.

Sleep

Sleep, I need to sleep.

Why dose it sound like their is a chainsaw upstairs? Is there a spy coming to kill me? Is that not unfortunate after I spent all this time studying for that test?

For real, ninja spies, get your priories straight.

Yeah.

After 7 straight hours of class with no breaks my brain decided that it would be a good time to stop working. During my last class, a Journolisim lecture, I began to think illogical thoughts.

It started simply enough. I forgot about the time change and the fact that the sun would be setting at 5:45. This was the set up for a mental break down. As it rapidly became darker outside I became alarmed. I didn’t have a jacket and I didn’t want to be caught in a bad storm with ought a jacket. That must be why it’s getting dark, because it’s going to rain.

But….it’s not supposed to rain. What’s going on? As the sun goes down I become more and more convinced that the storm of the century is coming. I imagine terrible tornadoes and beg my friends to check the weather. Then, thankfully, my friend Brynn says “Brittany, honey? You know it’s just the sun going down right? It’s time for that to happen.”

I didn’t even have time to feel stupid. I just felt relieved.

The single most frustrating week ever.

I feel that if my professors could have said something to me this week as a collective group it would have been this:

"It starts out with a paper. Then you find out that you actually have two, plus homework. Wait, wait, we lied...you have three papers. They are due one a day three days in a row. And you have a test...but it's due on the last day with the last paper. We thought that would be cool with you, it's kinda cool with us."

It was a coffee filled week in which almost every day ended with me screaming at Quark at work while the design editor politely asked after my mental health. After work I would come back to my dorm room to listen to the rave upstairs. I imagine that it's a one man rave but nevertheless I can hear it two floors down and I don't appreciate their bad taste in music and neither dose anyone else, which is why everyone beats on their ceilings.

So yeah...that's been this week. Should you want to read more funny enlightening post go to my other blog on tumbur.....which I kinda love a lot more than this one.

http://brittanycoggins.tumblr.com/

I would NEVER blog instead of doing my homework!

So as a human being I have one major pitfall: I do not see the point of homework. I have lots and lots of things to do right now...but I would much rather blog, because that's more fun. And...um...if I'm typing and looking all serous with my coffee then it kinda looks like I"m doing homework anyway and isn't that just nice?

SO, um I really need to go do work now, and I should start coming back here more often and blogging, just not when I have homework. HAhaahahahahahah Nah I'm kidding, that's probably the only time I'm gonna update.

End of my summer freedom

So my summer break is almost over. Not that I haven't had the coolest summer ever, I'm just weired out that it's already time to go back. BUT I"m well on my way to being excited about decorating again. I bought two new posters and I'm pretty pumped about those, a Coexist one and another Van Gogh ( I have a huge weakness for him.) So now it's back to Knoxville and responsibility, what a drag. I'm really excited about these classes though. Basically this is going to be an awesome year. I'm pumped.

Back from Lutheridge

So after coming back from the beach I quickly unloaded all of my stuff, washed it, dumped the sand out of my shoes, and crammed everything back in my bag to go to Ashville for the week. Lutheridge is a Lutheran camp operated in Ashville, and it's quite the place. I spent the week working general duty and acting as "craft monkey" or craft helper. It was one of the great weeks of this summer. I mastered gimp, learned 5,000 names, and got the vibe of camp. On top of it all I learned just how much camp can touch the lives of kids, even today. You take away all the tec and they can work on who they are as people in all new ways. Now I just have to decide if I want to apply to work next summer.

Back from Lutheridge

So after coming back from the beach I quickly unloaded all of my stuff, washed it, dumped the sand out of my shoes, and crammed everything back in my bag to go to Ashville for the week. Lutheridge is a Lutheran camp operated in Ashville, and it's quite the place. I spent the week working general duty and acting as "craft monkey" or craft helper. It was one of the great weeks of this summer. I mastered gimp, learned 5,000 names, and got the vibe of camp. On top of it all I learned just how much camp can touch the lives of kids, even today. You take away all the tec and they can work on who they are as people in all new ways. Now I just have to decide if I want to apply to work next summer.

Pretty things for you!

So I finally got my camera to work!

We went to Harbor Town today and it was just gorgeous. If I ever happen upon a few billion dollars to waste on my home, you'll know where to find me.

This was my favorite sailboat, I know that there were lot's of huge boats, but I like this one with the pretty sails best.

So this is what I've managed to squeeze out of my unhappy little Kodak so far this week. Not very impressive, I know, but maybe I'll get something else before we leave tomorrow.

The First Day

The first day, and I already have the worst sunburn you could imagine. So much for 50 spf.

Beach!

So I'm about to head out to the beach for the week and I'm super excited. I plan on blogging while I"m there... if I can remember. Here's to hoping that my camera doesn't act like a jerk during the trip.

House Arrest

So my mom was getting antsy with my running all over town all week so I've put myself under temporary house arrest until possibly Wednesday. Why Wednesday? Well I'll tell you! I have a sleepover planed with some of my favorite friends and it's going to be perfect end to isolation. I'm also going to see Chris sometime (probably Friday) and we'll drive up to the park and see Emily doing her park ranger thing. I'm not sure about the rest of the week though. I know that at some point I'll have to start packing. Yes, the great interstate migration is upon me once again.

I love the interstate, I'm pretty positive that my blog name should have something about the interstate in it sometimes; "Interstate love affair" or something cheesy like that. Anyway, I'm going to Hilton Head island on Monday and it promises to be a long trip, luckily I bought enough new books at McKay's to entertain myself and hopefully 3oh3, the weepies, and lots of interstate coffee can keep me company.

3 am theology

So last night I declared that I would not stay up all night thinking about theology and life. I declared proudly on my twitter that there would be no "midnight theology" and that I would go to sleep. I was wrong. I know, who would have guessed? So no midnight theology turned into 3 am theology, and therein lies the reason I am so terribly tired today, and I'm not sure if it's in a sleep deprived way or in a 'I really need some ice cream way.'

So maybe I need to make myself a new promise. All the theology that I want at midnight, as long as I'm asleep by 2 am. Maybe that'll solve some sleeping problems before they start.

Splash Country

Today I went to Splash Country with my friends Hayley, LeeAnne, and Hayley's little sister. I had a blast and learned a few valuable lessons.

1. Don't worry about what what you look like in a swimsuit, everyone here looks equally terrible after being shot out of a high pressure water tube. (After that even the hottest of girls look soggy and terrible.)
2. Don't bring your sunglasses on the ride. My cheep dollar store glasses broke apart impressively with one lens popping seamlessly out and the right ear piece torn off. I have no idea what happened to this part of my glasses.
3. Having friends in tourism = very nice discounts and free tickets = awesome
4. The wave pool is a bit more treacherous than it seems.
5. Some people feel that it is their personal mission to prove that their Kindle can be read anywhere.
6. Random accents can make any conversation extraordinary.

photo update

I realized as I scrolled through my blog today that I had very few photos on here lateley and that need to change.

So I took this one because I was sitting in my living room and the white curtains were just the most beautiful shade of gold. I thought, "hey, I bet that's a pretty sunset." I ran outside to get the photo and after I took it I realized that I hadn't captured a sunset so much as I had captured a cross. I think that it looks awesome, and it shows that sometimes what we need is in places we never think to look.

This one is just a tree outside of my house after it rained. I thought that the colors were amazing. My friend Amber said that it was creepy, I guess in a way it is. You can see the house behind it though, and I thought that was cool once I noticed it. Well, uploading photos is taking a lot longer than expected so I'll come back later and put more up.

I love the interstate more than I care to admit

So i"m going on vacation to the beach again this month. The only problem is that it's going to interfere with my helping with bible school. Completely. I'm looking forward to seeing the beach again anyway. AND I'm going somewhere that I've never been before: Hilton Head! I'm excited!

AFFIRM 2010 continued

Tuesday

So sometimes everything inadvertently comes together to push you in one direction with such politeness that you can't even fathom what's happening to you. Thats been today.

A pastor told me that I was wise today. I've always liked to fancy myself wise, but I never really let myself believe . Weird.

One of the girls told me that she could really talk to me, that makes me happy. The idea that someone can open up to me and feel better about things is something that I love.

Wednesday

So today we broke into some small groups in order to do individual worship sessions for each unit. My small group wound up getting the youngest kids. (6th to 8th grade) At first I was doubtful but when it was finally worship time we all had a blast. We actually managed to entertain kids that young and have fun ourselves.

I also lead tonights devotion for our 22 campers and although I don't want to say it was great I will say it was good. (for on-the-spot-go-with-the-flow) A lot of them participated and I really didnt expect that. I also didn't expect how comfortable I would feel, it was a "yeah, I can do this" kind of feeling I often don't have. Irony, however, was still present during all of this. The devotion was over what they were going to do with their life...like I even know what I'm doing with mine anymore. (And I told them as much too.)

So I've had a lot to think about and see so far....and I'm still not sure what I'll do. I never expected to figure everything out in one week but I know that I have so far seen and been encouraged by many people who all are both great and encouraging. I'm scared, I mean...how do you get up and say "hey, I"m going to go learn how to be a pastor today?" It takes a long time and it's not cheep, and it could be hard, but I've been told and I feel that I could be good.

I know that I'm at a weird age, but I'm finding out that I'm good at something amazing...and now I just have to find out what to do with it.

AFFIRM 2010

So I am about to create the longest blog that you may ever see me write, it will cover the seven days that I spent on staff for AFFIRM at Berry College in Rome, GA. I had a blast, and I wrote in a little notebook every night so that I could remember what to post when I got back to my trusty little pc and write out the story for you.

So I arrived on Friday and I spent the weekend getting to know my fellow staff members (who, I assure you, are some of the most wonderful people you could hope to meet) and it involved a local ball game, time to get to know each other, riding in cars to the locations while we still could, and many coffee runs.
The youth started to pour in on Sunday around two thirty and from there on we meet all of our kids. I was worshiptivity staff, and we had 22 participants. The first night everyone was kind of tired and not quite ready to have to plan an entire service so we had parts of it already planed out for them with enough room for them to have a say so. Monday was the real test and they all more than passed it. This year's worship sessions were by far the best that anyone had ever seen, and for good reason, our group was great.

And now for my notes. :)

Monday
Today was amazing, the youth really pulled together and created one of the finest worship sessions I've ever seen. Though I have no set help position being the "floater" of the staff group I wound up working with was creative liturgy. The reason that I wound up settling here to begin with was because there were absolutely no youth lined up to help with it. ( I guess that liturgy doesn't excite everyone in the same way. lol ) Luckily for myself and the other staff, looking sad sitting on the front of the stage eventually brought around a few (4) kids.

The first road block that we hit was that no one understood what creative liturgy even was. Once we explained to them that they were "directing the service" then the planing picked up a bit. The four who volunteered did a wonderful job and the only other issue that we had was that they were trying to plan every single detail, when they were only supposed to outline things. (This wasn't the last time that this would happen during the week.) Eventually Ed got them back on track though and it was good.

So I've noticed that as a leader I hold a lot more authority over the 6th to 9th grade crowd than anyone else. In a way that makes sense because I am only nineteen myself and a friend to a lot of the people in the 10th to 12th grade range. One of the issues this has created for me is the "staff side hug issue." Remember how when you were a camper and you so terribly wanted to give that cool councilor a hug? Remember how they gave you that fake side hug? I now know why, and just how hard it is to stop one of your long time friends from tackling you.

Ok, I"m exhausted...more later.

Affirm

So I'm in the middle of staff weekend right now at affirm and I'm Noreen than excited to be here. The kids haven't arrived and I'm sure that this is going to be the highlight of everyone's year. :) more later

No Title

So my camera broke and it's almost time for AFFIRM. So much for bringing back pretty pic's for everyone. *sigh* I'll get it fixed though when I come back

This Friday I leave out for Synod Assembly, which is where all of the Lutheran churches are going to get together and discuss issues. "Discuss" could be a lose term this weekend, as the leading topic will be whether or not we continue to ordain openly gay and lesbian pastors. I think that screaming may more accurately describe what I'm going to see this weekend. It's going to be my first real look at what church business is like. I'm perplexed to be honest.

So after this weekend it'll only be two weeks until I go to that wonderful event that we in the southeastern synod refer to as AFFIRM. When I go to AFFIRM this year I was supposed to be in a class of about 10 or so "young adults" who all undergo training to be qualified as camp councilors and possible church leaders for the future. Yesterday my youth leader came up to me and informed me that my class actually wouldn't exist. I freaked. (By freaked I mean that I had a blank and confused look on my face.) She quickly followed by telling me that I was still going, but that I was the only one who had signed up so they were going to put me at a "half staff" level. I"m apparently going to to have one-on-one time with the Bishop and special training with the leaders. They've put me with worshiptivity so I have the suspicion that I may be helping lead worship for 300 people....this is going to be an experience.

Summer!

So first off I'd like to apologize for forgetting to update my blog. However! I am back from the trip of the summer, a Savannah/Tybee Island/Nashville/Sex in the City 2 blowout! So I left the week before last on Saturday and I got back on Friday so it's safe to say that I had plenty of time to have a blast.

SO, I arrived in Savannah and then we unpacked and drove down to the beach to scope a few things out and we ate before driving back to Savannah and checking out downtown, which was cool. The picture up top is from the boat dock in downtown Savannah and it was beautiful!

So I sorta cut this short because my parents made me shut off the computer so that we could go into town, but I'm not finished! I got my first sunburn in 4 years at the beach but it was worth it! After two days at the beach and one disappointing ghost tour Hannah and I packed up and headed to Nashville for the Sex and the City midnight showing. In true style, we dressed up to go to the show and ate at the cheesecake factory (which was delicious) and then we walked around the mall. We went into Louis Vuitton and Hannah told them that we were "just looking" and then we hit up Burberry were one of the awesome guy's behind the counter instantly recognized us as going to see Sex in the City 2. It was an awesome moment. Oh, and the movie was fantastic. I know that some reviews say they were disjointedness with the whole thing but I was pleased.

After the movie we stayed in town another day and I found out just how much fun it can be to play cards on the Parthenon after dark. I would call it a very successful trip. :)

Excitement

So I've finally decided on a new hair cut. I'm hoping that it turns out well. Otherwise I'll be forced to glue the clippings back to the ends of my new cut. (Wouldn't that look awesome?) and I'm very excited about an upcoming beach trip. I absolutely can't wait to be lying on the beach this time next week. I've had this trip to Georgia planed for a while and I hope that I like it better than Alabama. (Just in case you didn't know I absolutely despise the state of Alabama.) After that It's time with some of my favorite people in Nashville and I know that theres a hug waiting for me there from a really sweet guy.

Emily wanted me to put up my "artsy" photos.

It's finals week.

Finals week is finally here. Today is our day off, and it's a good thing, as a collective body of students we really needed the day off. My last day of classes will be on Tuesday, and I'm currently really hoping that I don't have to work on Wednesday. I know that if I can get through this week then I can get through anything.

The last week, the home stretch.

So I just interviewed my boss for a project in one of my classes and he continues to be one of the coolest people ever. I have a paper of 6 pages, two journals, and a speech due tomorrow. I am so overwhelmed that I fell my blog is suffering. lol

As an update, I'm officially going to synod assembly as well as the sex and the city 2 premier. I'm way pumped. Now I have to work some more lol. (sorry about my lack of visual aid, again.)

End of semester blues

So, I've had a great day and made a fabulous discovery. If I go to the Golden Roast and drink real coffee that is cheep instead of going to the library and drinking fake coffee that is expensive I am far more productive. At least it only took me two semesters to figure it out. Yay for cappuccino and real mugs in cute coffee houses!

For your viewing pleasure

My major!

So, I'm journalism and religious studies and I can hear it now, Brittany...what on Earth will you do with that? Here's the plan:

Get a job at a magazine (religious or otherwise) and write about how we can all connect trhough our varied religions and therefore resolve issues! Yay! ok...I know. Unrealistic. But still. That's the dream right now. Don't rain on it.

Oh gah, the work.

So I've been super busy lately. From test, to books, to speeches and journals I find little room to breath. But i finally have a funny story to share with you so here it goes.

Yesterday I woke up eight minutes before my English class started. I wouldn't have been up at all had Emily not said something to me. I have this great new habit of turning off my alarm clock when I'm asleep. It's fabulous, really. So I put on jeans that I had slung across a chair, a random shirt, my backpack and some mascara and took off. I magically got to class right before attendance was taken and all was well (and slightly grungy) until it started to thunderstorm outside. It was the type of biblical rain that comes to Knoxville and demands you close your windows and stay inside. Here at UTK staying inside is not an option. Now, I had known that it would rain so it only seems more stupid of me to wake up eight minutes before class. Not only did I leave the room without my umbrella, but I left in flip-flops. The irony of this is that you can't walk on the Knoxville streets in fip-flops when it rains because you'll fall. Believe me, I tried. So I wind up walking barefoot in a downpour up the hill. It was probably hilarious to pass me.

This is outside, it's beautiful. That's all I have time to say at the moment, though. I'll catch up latter

The coolest person on the sidewalk.

On Wednesday, after several hours of studying I received a call from Hannah telling me that I should ride around with her and Brynn. The natural response that everyone should have to this question should always be yes. Hannah was excited and told me to wait outside the library for them, I'd know who they were. Did I ever! They rolled to a stop in front of the library blasting "A Whole New World" at an impressive volume. Simply knowing that this car with my singing friends inside was here for me is enough to make me feel like the coolest person ever for a while.

So I'm looking forward to going home but I know that I'm still going to be working. This week has been slightly ridiculous. I turned in my rough draft for English and took a Geology test that I think I might have done well on. Might. I'm going to be working on my English paper all break so that's some major sadness but other than that I'd rather not scare you with this week's horror stories.

How about some photos? I think that's better than listing to me rant right now. :) I took them all a while back but I've unfortunately not got anything new at the moment.

Listen to BrittanyCogginss Playlist